Profile: Cebass is a troll comfortable in his skin and status. This is a troll who wants to live his life to the fullest and enjoy it for as long as possible. While he can be a bit of a thrill seaker to escape boredome, he doesn't have any particular goals or ambitious. He gets a kick out of using his high status on others just to watch them squirm and sneaking around on covert missions for news and gossip. Cebass also loves games of chance, the thrill of whether he wins or loses is more important to him than the cash out. His lusus is very strict about games of chance and intervenes when danger is present or potential.
When face to face with others, this troll can be seen readily socializing with all manner of trolls and will treat all trolls on equal footing, from low to high. He thinks of plays of power and manipulation as one big game and does not think that it's doing anyone any harm, even when they are obviously squirming or uncomfortable. He's friendly and cheerful to those that he comes across and giving to those that he decides are friends or allies. He's generally excited to meet people and will always be the one to make his presence known. Engaging others and dragging them into his games are his favorite way to get to know them, but he isn't opposed to simply stalking them. No harm, no foul, right?
When it comes to the hemospectrum, Cebass can be a little thoughtless-- make that extremely thoughtless towards others. He can and will step on others for the sake of his games and wants. Very few are safe from his antics since almost everyone is lower than him anyway, so: why treat anyone differently? He believes that everything should be accessible to him and he will do anything to gain that access if it's denied to him. Once he has his sights set on that thing, he will make sure it inevitably becomes his. He can become obsessed to an unhealthy degree and has a hard time taking no for an answer.
Cebass is very against the idea of being under anyone's control without some sort of permission from him. He accepts Ness's control and suggestion because because of her care, protection and presence. In his mind, she has done more than enough to elicit his almost complete obedience. Though, on occassion he does have disagreements or different ideas on whether or not he should do something, he's more likely to listen to ness without question. But for other trolls Cebass will not agree to anything that does not have his permission or some form of give and take. He refuses to be the one at a disadvantage in these cases. If you want to get him to agree to anything, be prepared to bargain. He doesn't need or want money, so your best bet is to show him a good time, bring him something or someone that piques his interest or feed him information he doesn't know.
Once a promise with Cebass is formed, he abides by it with his whole heart and soul. Ness has taught him, with some very harsh methods, not to break a promise or a contract. Their word is their bond, you'd be hard pressed to get him to break his word. But he expects the same from those who have made the bargain in the first place. He doesn't take breached contracts or being fooled very well and tends to more than overreact. While he's not old enough to put a hit on a person, he is not above holding a grudge and having the patience to wait on revenge until the most opportune moment.
This doesn't mean Cebass is completely heartless. He doesn't like the idea of hurting someone who doesn't deserve it. He just doesn't consciously think of others or the consequences of his actions. He makes conscious decisions to act, to try and get what he wants. He's just in the sense that he doesn't want to punish people who have done no wrong but, unless it's brought to his attention in a super obvious way, he'll brush it off and move on. He's pretty quick to make amends when faced with the consequences of his actions and is very easily disturbed by people crying.
Strengths: Enthusiastic - Cebass is not slowed down by self-doubt or anxiety. He will do anything he sets his mind to with the mass-energy that only a young child can have. He is just as excited to connect with trolls and hear what they have to say as he is sharing what he has to say, giving him a chance to glean information or other things from someone.
Reliable - He is a troll that believes in the power of one's word and promises. A contract is a contract and not something he's going to break willingly. This reliability gives trolls that have his word or his interest a safe rock to go to in times of need. He is not likely to make promises he can't or doesn't intend to keep. So you can trust that he'll be a reliable ally and mean what he says.
Inclusive - Cebass loves being around and dealing with other trolls, he feels that all trolls should be as included as possible or at least have the chance to be included, as far as they are capable of being included. This is how he expands his circle of friends and acquaintances as well as evaluate trolls of their capabilities.
Flaws:
Ruthless - He is willing to do just about anything to get his way, even if it means ruining someone. To him, it's all a means to an end. So long as he gets what he wants, it doesn't matter the cost.
Nosey - to a fault, he is very nosey. He'll often stop what he's doing if he passes by something interesting and he'll snoop in someone else business once it catches his attention. This is something that would get him into trouble and he knows it, but he can't seem to help himself.
Unbridled - Being so young he doesn't quite understand how to control himself. This has caused his nosiness, curiosity, and enthusiasm to go unchecked by him. He does not take no for an answer and this is something that could potentially ruffle enough feathers to cause him a LOT of trouble, if not immediately then somewhere down the line.
Weapon: Knifekind - a pen with a hidden blade
Appearance:A turn around for bass His hair is slicked back, his horns are nubby and also go back slightly. He wears
Home: Deep in the ocean in a cave hidden by a kelp forest. In the cave is a luxurious hive with everything a Seadweller could want, including a special tube/elevator to let in land dwelling guests.
Lusus: Ness is a very large six legged otter with elegant fins on her back that resemble butterfly wings. Ness is a really playful creature most of the time, but she can be incredibly strict. She loves doting on Cebass and is practically inseparable from him. She loves his fondness for gossip and is even a bit of a gossip monger among other sea creatures. Ness encourages Cebass to have fun with life and to not just sit around idle, as a matter of fact she'll throw him (sometimes literally) into the fray with other trolls to socialize or into activities she deems fit.
Ness is incredibly proud of herself and her child. She believes that she and her troll are the best and to be the best you need to act the best. She will not accept certain behaviors and attitudes. She enforces the idea that a broken contract or promise is as good as a besmirch on both their honor and she will not allow a broken promise to go unpunished. She is also firm in what the spectrum means and that it should be upheld, but also that all trolls have the potential to be romp mates.
Ness's form of punishment usually has to do with forcing Cebass to do intensive drone work around their hive, sometimes until he's so physically exhausted she has to carry him to his recupracoon. She is also prone to hiding his things in her burrow until he behaves. Ness takes punishments and besmirches very seriously.
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:45 pm
Hey Sai! Sy for a crit. Glad to see Cebass up! It’s been nice talking through some of his character quirks with you. There are a few angles (see what I did there) that I think you could plus, but he's got a nice solid direction so far.
The first thing I want to point out is that Cebass’s view of the world seems a bit contradictory to what you’ve written. You say he sees the world through two lenses, but then describe him as morally gray. In my mind I see this kind of thinking of “all or nothing” as totally black and white, but I’m lacking context to understand what you mean here. You should expand on this. Does he consider things that are “not his way” to be inherently wrong, or is he just disinterested? When he sees something is going “his way”, does he try to influence others to see that way or disapprove when they are not?
I am having a bit of trouble with that bit of the first paragraph in general, so deconstructing it will be useful.
You also frequently mention Cebass not wanting to take risks, but always compare it to a life or death situation (he won’t risk his life, etc). This is typical of pretty much everyone, so I would suggest figuring out exactly how much risk he’s willing to take Considering he is self-centered, there can be some difference in taking risks because he wants to advance his own status or improve himself, or not take risks for self-preservation. In that vein, how much money would he have to be offered to take a serious risk? He’s a seadweller (royalty), so with his caste his wealth can essentially be limitless. Would it really be that much of a draw?
Cebass seems to be a bit contradictory currently in the way he interacts with others. You mention earlier in the app that he is on his side and his alone, but then has a tendency to take those he pities under his wing and care for them. (Also, you mention this twice and the sentences are very similar and redundant – I would cut one of them). Because he’s at the top of the hemospectrum where there are not as many trolls he doesn’t pity (at least on a caste level), this may come across as more pitying/caring than you may have intended. Does Cebass generally care about those who are lower on the hemospectrum because they aren’t as well off as him? What does he think about the vast social distance between himself and non-seadwellers?
What does Cebass do with the information he collects? Does he keep it to himself, or is part of the thrill spreading it to others? Are his intentions good, or does he aim to gain anything from this information gathering, and how might his caste play into this?
Make sure you explain how Cebass’ “cautious” trait regularly helps him – right now it’s reading as fairly neutral, so you might describe some general positive outcomes of his cautiousness.
Cebass’ “Greedy” flaw is not reading as negative at the moment. How does this make his life more difficult from night to night? Same with “Vain”. Vain has a bit more description of how this can apply (as a distraction), but I’m not entirely sold on it.
Alrighty! That’s what I’ve got for now. You might want to also take a pass through for rogue apostrophes and capitalization. The app is much easier to read though, so thank you for running it through Hemmingway!
Okay, I saw what you meant about him being contradictory and I couldn't figure out how to make his flaws work in a very substantial way. I re-wrote his entire personality bit. I'd highlight what I changed, but it was pretty much the entire thing. I did not change the basic concept or structure.
his strengths now include organized rather than cautious because as I've written him out now, he is not cautious as much as he used to be. his flaws have been changed ruthless and nosey since I think those fit more.
I think I answered the questions you have as well as cut out unnecessary bits that didn't seem to fit his model as a high blood. Some quirks that we discussed before had to be tossed out for the sake of the slightly newer model however not too much was taken away.
And thank you for the crit. I was really glad to have it! I also really appreciate you talking to me about Cebass. biggrin
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 2:27 pm
Cebass is coming together pretty well! Though it’s not relevant to his character, I feel like I should point out, a number of paragraphs contain redundant sentences. (Things Hemmingway wouldn’t catch since it doesn’t check for content.) You could probably trim some of the writing down if you wanted to streamline the application.
Onto the crit!
What prompts Cebass to be reliable? Considering he’s so high up on the hemospectrum, and his general attitude is to be pretty flippant and self-serving, he doesn’t necessarily have to make good on anything he says. It’s interesting that he takes this detail so seriously, especially since he’s also considered ruthless and open to playing dirty. Does he have boundaries that keep his ruthlessness from compromising his reliability? In what matters would his reliability win out over his ruthlessness, or vice versa? Is one of these traits generally stronger than the other?
How does Cebass feel about his lusus? If he could, would he change anything about his upbringing, or is he pretty content with how Ness has raised him? It sounds like Ness is something of an absent parent when circumstances are less than ideal. If this is the case, is it something Cebass notices or does he just accept it as the way things are?
Cebass is coming together pretty well! Though it’s not relevant to his character, I feel like I should point out, a number of paragraphs contain redundant sentences. (Things Hemmingway wouldn’t catch since it doesn’t check for content.) You could probably trim some of the writing down if you wanted to streamline the application.
Onto the crit!
What prompts Cebass to be reliable? Considering he’s so high up on the hemospectrum, and his general attitude is to be pretty flippant and self-serving, he doesn’t necessarily have to make good on anything he says. It’s interesting that he takes this detail so seriously, especially since he’s also considered ruthless and open to playing dirty. Does he have boundaries that keep his ruthlessness from compromising his reliability? In what matters would his reliability win out over his ruthlessness or vice versa? Is one of these traits generally stronger than the other?
How does Cebass feel about his lusus? If he could, would he change anything about his upbringing, or is he pretty content with how Ness has raised him? It sounds like Ness is something of an absent parent when circumstances are less than ideal. If this is the case, is it something Cebass notices or does he just accept it as the way things are?
That’s what I’ve got!
RIght-o, I'll fix the redundancies as best I can.
It's more that his reliability goes hand in hand with his ruthlessness. Sure he could be flippant and yeah he doesn't need to deliver on what he says. Yes, trolls would give him what he wants through sheer power and possibly fear but what are the chances that he's actually getting what he wants? If he doesn't, what will that leave him with? Sort of like playing good cop in a very good cop bad cop kind of way of doing things. So long as he's fair he believes others will act fairly and if they don't, he's not the one in the wrong and will use that to his advantage. He's very underhanded and will even use a broken agreement as a means to do things he wants.If I had to say, I'd say his ruthlessness comes first since if push came to shove, he wouldn't promise to do something that would ultimately or obviously compromise and if he had, he'd back out as soon as it became a pressing matter.
His lusus isn't really absent per say, more has a hands-off parenting style. Not completely absent just lets Cebass do what he's fought for and then be there to teach Cebass when he comes back after he's made a mistake. Sort of like "fine, have it your way but when it goes bad, I did warn you and I'll be right here to wipe up your snot and tears when you realize you messed up," and as for whether he likes it or not,he does have a bit of a want for attention (being a heavy reason why he'll tell wild stories or try and manipulate people to be on his side/into his games) and wants most eyes on him. But he doesn't directly attribute it to his lusus.He adores his lusus and really can't bring himself to hate or want to change Ness.
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 10:50 pm
Alrighty. Cebass’ personality has been cleared of contradictions, so that's coming along really well. I still have some comments concerning his hobbies and flaws. As well, I didn’t see the answer to this from my previous crit:
Does he consider things that are “not his way” to be inherently wrong, or is he just disinterested? When he sees something is going “his way”, does he try to influence others to see that way or disapprove when they are not?
You may have removed this intentionally, but the idea of him seeing the world in “two lenses” is still present and so I’d still like clarification on that as I’m not inherently understanding it.
Without his information seeking, I am having a hard time imagining what Cebass likes to do otherwise. You do mention at some point that when he’s not snooping around he likes to do “things he deems fun” but what kind of things are those? Is he the kind of troll who likes a good Four Fronds lowblood hunt, playing jax, reading alone, partying with friends? What he enjoys outside of his primary interest is very informative to how he would act in shop with other trolls (not in an info-gathering setting), and I’m currently missing that.
Ruthless – this is not reading as a flaw right now. Since he’s so high on the hemospectrum, being ruthless isn’t really a risk to him, and with how clever he is about pretending to care and gets what he wants in general, it seems to only benefit him. Obviously he may not be able to maintain relationships or be trustworthy whatsoever, but it would be good to lay out those risks if they are present. Keep in mind, too, that this should affect him regularly!
Nosey – This one is reading better than ruthless, but it still has the same effect in that a seadweller snooping on basically anyone else (barring other seadwellers or the queen) will have a very limited effect. I can see both of these flaws working, but you’ll need to be clever with what angle you choose because of his caste.
Something I’d like to point out related to this, is that I’m not really seeing the fact that Cebass is a seadweller reflected in his personality. Being a seadweller is a really big deal on Alternia (and in shop where they are considered to be special trolls!) and so I would expect some of this to impact him. He doesn’t have to “act” like a seadweller, but he should be affected by (and have opinions about) the culture and obviously his physical condition! More things to consider in your edits.
I want you to know that you posted your and my sister pointed out the same problems. And they are some p obvious problems that I don't know how I ended up missing them. But yeah.
I took out the lens thing and brought that down to how he just has a superiority complex being so high.
I expanded on his nosiness and felt the need to add a couple of new strengths and flaws.
and I added the hobbies of writing and dancing as well as an example of his sense of fun.
Ruthless has been kind of expanded on as well. I think I got it all for sure this time?
Just an fyi, there's some hinky sentence structure, namely in the personality section. I'd personally suggest reading the app out loud to help cull necessary words and clean up phrasing.
I'd like to know some more specifics on Cebass's ruthlessness flaw. It says in his personality section that Cebass doesn't like hurting people who don't "deserve" it. However, he's also got a tendency to use people "no matter the cost." Where does Cebass draw the line? Is his behavior a conscious decision, or does he just not think about consequences? Does he want/try to be liked, or is that not so much of a concern for him?
Not that big of a deal, but Cebass has a hive in the cave, right? Like he doesn't just live in a plain undersea cave like an eel?
Okay, thanks for getting to me so quickly! I'll definitely employ that in the future. I know my sentence structures are REALLY bad.
Cebass doesn't consciously think of others or the consequences of his actions, but he does make conscious decisions to act to try and get what he wants. He's just in the sense that he doesn't want to punish people who have done no wrong but, unless it's brought to his attention in a super obvious way, he'll brush it off and move on. He's not looking at signs of distress. Distress and consequences need to slap him so hard in the face. LIKE, someone crying, bleeding or with a wrecked life would be enough to get him to feel sorry, but otherwise he won't take notice. He's incredibly thoughtless of others but not all around unempathetic.
HE ABSOLUTELY LIVES LIKE A SLIMEY EEL. NO COON TO SLEEP IN. SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK. (No, JK, he lives in a very fancy cave hive with a special elevator so people can visit him under the water) Thanks for getting to me so quickly Cylem!
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 5:58 pm
That answers my question! Just be sure to include what you told me in his profile proper.
