FADE RIFT APPLICATION

[dastardly]

PLAYER

Name: Koke
Age: Fandom Old
Contact: mercutios, PM
Other Characters: Richard Gecko
Interests: Political stuff, getting my teeth into the setting, bringing in a character who does People a bit better

CHARACTER

Name: Josias di Jaconissa
Canon/OC: OC
Journal: dastardly
Race: Human
Nationality: Antivan
Occupation: Rich Kid/Merchant/Secret anti-Tevinter smuggler and fixer
Division: Diplomacy
Mage or Not: Not
Age: 27

History

- Lazzaro di Jaconissa, Josias' father, is the nephew of one of Antiva's merchant princes, but has managed to make himself independently wealthy through a successful trade and shipping business. He has been plagued by gossip regarding him gunning for his uncle's princeship for years, unfortunately gaining many enemies for it.

- Isabetta, Josias' mother, died of the wasting when Josias was 3. Struck hard by the loss as well as wary regarding his political position, Lazzaro became intensely protective of Josias. Josias was a curious child, always wanting to explore the world more than his father's cage would allow, resulting in him often ditching his governess.

- By the time he was ten, Lazzaro had managed to put together (and keep) a staff wise to Josias' ways. His life became a strictly regimented schedule of the lessons necessary to make him a worthy heir, and though there were some small allowances in the social events his father felt the need to show him off at, Josias was largely kept caged, observed and under a huge amount of pressure.

- It worked, for a time. All of the skill and curiosity he'd shown in his younger years, when directed into the channels his father chose, had him learning incredibly quickly. Finances, trade and business management, as well as the diplomatic and social skills needed to network politically all came to him remarkably easily.

- At 14, though, Josias' development seemed to plateau. His lessons would take three times as long, complex concepts eluding his grasp, and his testing grades began to drop. His tutors did the best they could, but at 17, they had to admit that although Josias had been a very bright and gifted child, as an adult, he was not so remarkable.

- He was still Lazzaro's only son, so was brought into the business as planned. Considered high-ranking on paper, his real work was basically financial clerking.

- His father began looking at having him married. There were many attempted arrangements, but all of them fell through for various and sometimes very strange reasons. Until at 25, he was married to Calanthia Albrecht. TBC LATER

- All of this, is exactly how Josias planned it. Frustrated and angry under the strict lifestyle his father had planned for him, Josias had taken the only road of rebellion left: to hide his natural intelligence and become a disappointment to his father. Though this was difficult at first, fooling his tutors and everyone else around him soon became a game, and one that he found himself very good at.

- As soon as the walls his father used to keep him caged had eased up, he had quickly grabbed up avenues to engage with the world the way he wanted. Careful to keep the sides of his life separate, he had constructed the persona of "The Tiger", an always-masked figure known in Rialto's underbelly for involvement in smuggling, fixing, and sometimes seemingly completely anarchic events. He has been living like this for ten years now.

Personality

Josias is a meek, excessively polite man with a nervous, awkward disposition. He keeps his head down and doesn't draw attention to himself, always quiet and reserved. He is of mediocre intelligence, offering little insight or furthering of the work he does, but always consistent in finishing what tasks he is given. Altogether there is nothing remarkable or even particularly memorable about him. His peers consider him to be 'nice', but tend to say it with a pitying look in their eyes.

Of course, all of this is not the real Josias, but a persona he wears.

In truth Josias is sharply intelligent, insightful and incredibly good at reading people. He uses this skill in order to keep his persona in place, as well as in his dealings within the network of smugglers and contacts that he keeps as "the Tiger". The maintenance of these two lives shows how highly Josias values personal freedom, and how greedy he is.

"Have your cake and eat it" is not something Josias has had reason yet to learn as anything other than a motto. Though he may have rebelled against his father's rule over him, he was still raised rich and influential, and is used to living well. His activities as the Tiger are incredibly risky, but he only views them as a challenge, craving the excitement while failing to understand how much danger he could land himself in.

He is arrogant and egotistical in this regard. Having successfully manipulated everyone in his life since he was a teenager, Josias has had little reason not to get cocky. This doesn't mean he's entirely reckless. While the possible repercussions of the Tiger's work don't seem to faze him, he is absolutely set on not living the life his father wants. Caution comes in more strongly when his identity could be at risk.

On a one-on-one basis he is an incredibly charming young man, educated and eloquent. He has a sly sense of humour which is usually underpinned with flirtation. He is very curious, will poke his nose into people's business without much regard for their feelings on the matter, much as he will also get into their personal space.

Though he can easily make someone think he cares about them, there are very few people Josias holds at that level. He is fickle in his interests, affections and moods. This is where insight into people means that he can also be cruel, brutally honest and tactless with their feelings or problems. This is, sometimes, not something he truly means to do.

Ultimately the reason why Josias is so good with people is because he likes them. He finds them interesting as individuals and as groups, and the only reason why he hasn't grown close to anyone is due to protecting his identity. He does not go out of his way to intentionally hurt others, and if it is in his capability to help someone in need, he will.

Opinions & Affiliations

Josias' general ideology is emphatic on personal freedom. Everyone should be able to do what they want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. He's also pretty removed from a bunch of stuff and so will be kind of small-talk over the morning papers about it - joining Riftwatch will probably knock him around the head on some of it.

THE QUN: Abso-fucking-lutely not. Honestly his worst nightmare.

MAGES: People with power can always be dangerous no matter what form that power comes in. Thinks they should in general be left alone to sort themselves out and/or someone should do some proper digging on just wtf happens with abominations rather than collaring and castrating them all 'just in case'. Templars probably necessary until that gets sorted out.

THE CHANTRY: Knows enough to keep up appearances, thinks a fair bit of it doesn't quite make sense, doesn't like the idea of forcing it on others.

RACE RELATIONS: Variety is the spice of life.

TEVINTER/THE WAR: Started out with a general "dictatorships are Not Cool, man" + "I kind of like the world, would be great if it didn't end" attitude, grew into something a bit more deeply rooted as he encountered cases of its impact on individuals while smuggling people/goods.

ANTIVAN NOBILITY: A couple of them are interesting. Most of them are lazy bastards who care more about their own self-interests than anything else.

Adaptation Notes

N/A

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths
- stupid rich
- too smart for his own good. Incredibly fast learner to anything he puts his mind to
- people. Reading them, understanding them, getting in their heads
- acting aka deception and manipulation
- probably had fencing lessons or something at some point just in case he was ever challenged to a duel?
- knows a lot about trade and shipping, Antivan politics, laws and infrastructure
- fluent in a bunch of languages
- really good swimmer
- as The Tiger, has a network of People, a reputation for getting stuff done, as well as a bunch of contacts and favours and little bits of blackmail material squirrelled away for a rainy day

Weaknesses
- stupid rich. Has never not had money to use/fall back on
- too smart for his own good. Basically lives Minimum Effort because he's never needed to try harder, he can coast on getting A's just from reading the textbook the night before the final
- Fucking Around is his whole life, he has not once really Found Out
- squishy. Probably knows how to wave weapons around menacingly when needed but has never been in a proper fight
- acquired a wife despite his best efforts, does actually try to make sure she's okay and stuff TBC LATER
- has literally no one who actually completely knows him, what is that like
- can have a REALLY sharp tongue that he's not so great on curbing when he's in a Mood
- as The Tiger, has a bunch of potential enemies and people who would take the first opportunity to one-up him or get rid of him
- fragile secret double life, of which he has been doing so long that he doesn't know how to live otherwise

Inventory

- a wife
- a whole household's worth of stuff in order to have her set up comfortably in apartments in the city. Probably a couple of staff and a horse or two as well
- a shitload of money, a full wardrobe, etc etc. Rich young Antivan couple not looking to live any less of a life than they're used to just because one of them's got a green hand now TBC LATER

Motivation

He's been hit with an anchor and it's honestly ruined his whole day.

SAMPLES

TDM