I believe in reinvention

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Keri
AGE: 38
PLAYER JOURNAL: kseda
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: AIM: mirzath, keriseda
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Ambrose
CANON: Tin Man
POINT IN CANON: post-canon AU
AGE: roughly 50
APPEARANCE: Ladies. Fellas. People. And with less canon ridiculousness. Ambrose is 5'10" and has a slender dancer's build, with pale skin, brown eyes, and curly salt-and-pepper hair. Of note there is a metal zipper on his head, starting at the center of his hairline and running to the back of his skull. His fashion sense is a bit eccentric by 21st-century standards; expect a lot of waistcoats, embroidery, and the occasional ascot. He likes basic black, earth tones, and dark reds.

CANON HISTORY: As his pre-canon history is sketchy, I've tossed in some generally accepted fanon and bits of headcanon to flesh it out a bit. More detailed canon info can be located at Wikipedia. And since the wiki entry is awful, I'll give you the TV Tropes page too and also elaborate:

Once upon a time Ambrose was chief adviser to the Queen of the Outer Zone and had a reputation for being the smartest man in the land. While he dabbled in several areas he was primarily an inventor, and he designed many creations for the people of the O.Z. He was very close to the royal family, and the Queen thought of him as a friend rather than just a member of her staff.

Then it all went wrong. The queen's eldest daughter became possessed by the spirit of an ancient Witch, her younger daughter was sent to the Otherside (aka Kansas) for protection, and civil war broke out when the Witch began to seize power. The queen and Ambrose were eventually captured, and Ambrose was ordered to give up his plans for the Sun Seeder, a machine allegedly intended to slow the suns and extend the growing season to help the famine-ravaged land.

The Witch, however, wanted to use the machine to bring eternal darkness to the Outer Zone. Even after extensive torture Ambrose refused to help her and so she had him headcased: removed part of his brain and sealed his skull closed with a zipper, a procedure usually performed on criminals to make them docile prisoners of their own minds. With the brain matter containing the plans in her possession the Witch had no more need for Ambrose and so sent him out to fend for himself.

Soon he forgot his real name and began calling himself Glitch, as that is what he did - forget things, repeat himself - and it seemed fitting. For years he wandered the land, until one day he met a girl looking for home, a man who'd lost his heart, and another in need of courage. Together the four of them set out on a quest to defeat the Witch, return the queen to her throne, stop the eternal darkness of the Double Eclipse, and along the way find out their missing were Within Them All Along.

...except the other half of Glitch's brain, of course, which was conveniently being kept alive in a jar in the Sorceress' tower.

CANON PERSONALITY: (Hope I'm doing this right: below is his personality as presented in canon, not all of which is relevant to the character as I'll be playing him. This is the foundation that I built the information in "point of departure" on since we don't see much of Ambrose in canon. Also note that the use of "Ambrose" and "Glitch" is in no way indicating a split personality, it's just a way to distinguish his non-lobotomized status from when he was less brainy. Okay, disclaimer over.)

Glitch is a man with no past who is constantly building his present and striving for a better future. He has been accused of being a wide-eyed optimist, and if he does tend to look for a silver lining to most situations it is with good reason. He has seen true wickedness, and so has a inclination for looking towards the bright side of things.

It's not always sunshine and rainbows, however. He gets snappish when he's frustrated, petulant and whiny when he doesn't get his way, and his mood can swing towards melancholy if he dwells on all he's lost. He also carries the burden of nearly ten years meandering a war-torn realm with the zipper on his head marking him as a criminal. Most of the memories from this time are buried, and if they emerge he tends to quickly forget what's put him out of sorts and rebounds as if he'd never felt sadness in his life. In this way his condition acts as a defense mechanism, one of the few good things to come of the headcasing.

His more minor resets or "glitches" can be annoying if one tries to hold a conversation with him. He can get stuck on a phrase and repeat it over and over until distracted via physical contact, or he can loop back on himself and start an entire discussion over again. If he is given a stable environment and a willing person or two to keep him on track, the glitches will be less frequent and he will improve dramatically. This does not mean he requires any sort of constant supervision as he managed to make it nearly ten years on his own and has developed a keen sense of self-preservation. Being underestimated will rile him.

He loves logic, order, and structure but his mind is made out of chaos. Sorting through all of this takes up much of his mental energy, so he relies heavily on his instincts and intuition. He also depends on the people around him to give him context and will take his cues from them.

By and large he is an extrovert. He wants to know people as much as he wants to know things, so he is prone to stick his nose in other people's business. His sense of humor tends towards the sarcastic, he loves the occasional bad pun, and he has no trouble laughing at himself.

With his whimsical, scattered nature it can be easy to forget that Glitch is a grown man with all the emotions and experiences that entails. He is also a gentleman to the marrow, and while he's forgotten most courtly etiquette he will still strive to be polite. His loyalty to the people he cares about is unwavering, and once you've become his friend he will stand by you through almost any hardship.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: Following the Eclipse it quickly became clear that the amount of work which needed to be done in order to restore the realm would be staggering. Glitch immediately found himself at the epicenter of this, both in terms of being instrumental in assisting the process and being a project himself. It was determined that surgery to reverse the headcasing was possible, though not without tremendous risk. The final decision was Glitch's alone, and he concluded that on an objective quality-of-life basis it should be done. So it was, and successfully at that.

"Successfully" in this case meant that he survived, retained his sanity, and most of his memories integrated. In the end he was able to collect the pieces of himself, put them together, and delighted in answering to both Glitch and Ambrose with equal eagerness (though officially he resumed using the latter). After recovery he threw himself into advising the queen and re-engineering the Sun Seeder so it worked as intended. He retained a certain wanderlust and spent a lot of time traveling the O.Z. as a sort of goodwill ambassador for the royal family.

Some things are constant: whatever name he is going by, whatever volume of brain matter exists in his head, Ambrose wants the world to be better and he believes that it can be. If and when he feels he can do so he tries to help it on its way. His inherent optimism has grown from coping mechanism to lifestyle choice, one that he cheerfully tries inflicting on others. He'll take most anyone at their word until they prove themselves untrustworthy. He spent years being judged harshly at first glance and doesn't wish that on anyone.

He possesses a voracious curiosity and a desire to try and thoroughly understand how things work. Combine this with a short attention span and Ambrose will frequently be found surrounded by projects - inventions, recipes, furniture restoration, etc. - in various stages of completion and his nose buried in a book unrelated to any of them. Occasionally he will latch onto one subject or project and obsess over it until it's done/he knows all he can about it, in which case diverting his attention elsewhere (to things like "eating" or "sleeping" or "putting out that fire") can take some doing. He’s not outright forgetful, just – appropriately, perhaps – scatterbrained.

Even so Ambrose is highly intelligent, to the point of being (very) arguably the smartest person in his world in regards to science and innovation. Articulating his ideas can be difficult for him and as a general rule he’d much rather show than tell. He's a visionary first and foremost, seeing the end product of something and then attempting to work towards it. The possible rather than the probable or even practical appeals most to him, and he’ll often find himself coming up with solutions in search of problems. While he is more careless than reckless, his impulsive tendencies - scientific and otherwise - may occasionally need to be reined in.

Socially he is by and large a people person and enjoys being around others. Ambrose fancies himself to be a good listener, though once you’re done talking he’ll offer his advice, opinion, and maybe some armchair psychology in response whether you want it or not. He’s quieter than he once was but can still go on a meandering ramble if a subject interests him or he thinks it important. In general he doesn’t seek leadership roles and is more than happy to provide support, whether it is in intellectual, moral, or physical form.

New for re-app: Ambrose's time as a Traveler has made him a bit more cautious and reserved. He's been humbled by how much he doesn't know, and spends a lot of time observing and learning, and coming to terms with all the changes he's gone through, from marriage to immortality. In a lot of ways he's gone into survival mode, simply wanting to make it through the journey without rocking the boat too much. However, he knows that's not what's in the best interest of his Arcana, and if he wants the Fool to win (which he sort of totally does ngl) then he needs to put himself out there more.

VETERAN?: He was there, mods, he was there three thousand years ago. Or for Belljar and the game opening hahaha oh God.

ABILITIES:

CANON: Ambrose is skilled in a martial art that resembles taekwondo (only with more gratuitous showy kicks) and in canon was able to incapacitated four trained-but-unarmed soldiers without breaking a sweat. He also claims to be a "fantastic dancer" with an excellent sense of rhythm.
Thanks to the decade spent basically homeless he's learned both wilderness and (early twentieth century) urban survival skills like feeding himself and finding shelter.

He has a great deal of knowledge in the fields of physics, chemistry, mechanics, audio/visual/holographic recording, and energy production but all of it is Ozian-based and subject to magical influence. The usefulness of this knowledge away from his homeland is dubious, but he is eager to learn and a quick study so he may be able to adapt to what’s available.

As chief advisor to the queen his job involved dabbling in the bureaucracy of politics, and in canon it is implied he assisted with military strategy during the war. Also he can ride a horse.

TRAVELER SKILLS: /gestures

INVENTORY: he clothes on his back, steel-toed boots, a silver pocketwatch, and a leather satchel containing a Phillips head screwdriver, a small ratchet set, needle-nose pliers, a fountain pen with ink, a small journal, and a bag of caramel candies.

Traveler flotsam: a needle gun, a vial of Lust, a jian sword, a Starmover static bell and harmonic carving knife, and a cowrie shell wedding bracelet.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? This is that face he makes all the damn time.

M A R K S;
JUSTIFICATION: Y'all he's an OG Fool-pick let's give bandage man a pawn ok ok.
VETO: N/A

S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: A network post.

PROSE SAMPLE: Test drive thread.

[ .....open post???? I suck at making things pretty. ]

Why did I not do this sooner. Spread description based on the Celtic Cross Reading in Tarot In Ten Minutes. Card keywords from Sacred Tools. Heehee. Tools.

COVER: the current situation -
CROSS: the challenge you face -
ABOVE: what is possible, given the situation & challenge -
BELOW: how you got into the situation -
BEHIND: something done recently about it -
BEFORE: what you will do next -
WHO YOU ARE: the role you play in the situation -
WHAT THEY WANT: the role others want you to play -
WHAT YOU WANT: your desired outcome -
WHAT YOU GET: outcome you can expect given all the above -

Somewhere in the Throneless Keep is a portrait of a seated regal woman. Her hair is gray but her chin is held high, she is both proud and powerful. Standing behind her is a young man with dark curls and sharp eyes. His bearing is also proud, his chest puffed otu to best display the realm's arms on his livery uniform: two purple gryphons rampant.

The woman was the young queen’s great-grandmother who died fifty years ago. The young man was her personal attendant and sometimes adviser. He was a low-born wizard from Hedgerow with a large repertoire of charms and glamours at his disposal, talents he used to win a place at the royal court and then Queen's side. She praised his skills perhaps beyond their merit, and he employed them - discretely - to ensure that she looked her best. One must always keep up appearances, after all.

The few records that mention him say he was dismissed from the Keep after her death, but what they don’t show is that he was driven away by grief for his monarch’s passing. He traveled south to his old home in Hedgerow in the hope of finding some way to be relieved of his heartbreak. He spoke to several lesser witches and wizards, but all they could offer were snake oil potions and, occasionally, their beds for comfort.

One night whilst deep in his cups at the tavern he once again lamented that he wished he could forget his pain, forget all of it. An elegant blonde woman with a sprig of lilac in her hair (not an Illuminant herself,merely a more powerful witch)approached him, placed her amethyst-jeweled hand upon his brow, and hissed done.

The next - the first - thing he knew was waking in the Thicket with no knowledge of his previous life and no notion of what had happened to him. The only clues to his identity were the silvery scar atop his head and the well-tailored garments he wore. Hopelessly lost, he wandered deeper and deeper into the forest where brambles caught at him and tore his finery to rags, until he was trapped in a tangle of thorny vines.

He's never spoken of, nor does he care to think about, what happened next.

When he next emerged from the Thicket it was the day after the Westgard Rebellion when the young queen's power was at its height. He'd accompanied her on her tour of the realm and gained access to her inner circle, though not the place at her right hand he clearly sought.

Once she and the throne vanished it seemed the Violet Illuminant had gone as well. For a time he did retreat to his home in the Thicket to recover from the brutal blow to his power and obsess over finding a way to get it back.

Some months after the disappearance a young lady called Ginger arrived in Hedgerow asking for tutelage, though she already seemed rather adept with several spells. Six week after that a youth named Edward was found playing a lute at a woman's graveside in Rivergard, promising his late mother he'd continue her legacy. A year later a lady with an infectious laugh and a lilac sprig in her golden hair began gathering attention in Postern.

Five years ago the Illuminant himself began making appearances at festivals and tournaments, sometimes accompanied by his knight and always leaving a longing for the crown's restoration in his wake.

The Violet Illuminant - master of illusions and patron of royalty, there is nothing you want more than to fill the throne. Find the Queen, elevate a Baron, support a rebellion and sponsor its leader to the Throne - under a number of different disguises, you do your best to support any effort to claim kingship or queenship and reunify the land.

re: anything else I should know
Not at this point! You will pretty definitely be getting privileged information as the plot goes on. Flesh him out as you like, but his specific origins and even what type of being he is must remain shrouded in mystery.

It's going to take a while for people to find out, but this Investigation is much more about the illuminated than about the queen or the throne.

First information update: each Illuminant has a place of power in one of the forests, some item that symbolizes their power. This is unlikely to be specifically relevant at this point, save for the fact that the Yellow Illuminant's power source is probably at or near his cottage, although likely concealed or hidden from visitors.

Ambrose's, specifically, is the missing Throne - while Ambrose was in no way directly responsible for the disappearance of the Queen, in the wake of her vanishing, fearing the diminishing of his own power, he found ti necessary ro seize on the most powerful available symbol.

plot update #1: Over this week, you'll have felt a slow swelling of parts of your own power - somewhere in the kingdom, a great illusion is being worked.

BIG OL' INFODUMP:
Everything You Needed To Know About Being An Illuminated, But Didn't:

First- there is little doubt in your minds that the Curses & Blessings in this kingdom are the result of multiple Illuminated occupying the same place. All of you are here because Dolorosa was the richest unguarded reservoir of magical power you could find, like an invisible untapped oil well - but your methods of drawing on this energy cause interference patterns with one another. The more of you are in the kingdom, the more pronounced those patterns. The Queen's disappearance was probably Curse-related, but you don't control the curses, and there's no way to know for sure unless she's found.

Incidentally, another side-effect of drawing that magic into circulation is an increased birth-rate among dragons, whose eggs require a certain amount of ambient magical energy to gestate fully.

Understandably, you keep these things secret as a general rule.

Second - while all of you were once in some way human, the studies which refined you to become Illuminated added something - more an essence than a consciousness, but nonetheless, something Not Of This World. You are all very clear on the fact that this joined existence is superior to both parts of you, now integrated, and that leaving your domain (or your energy source) is strongly undesirable. You're also likely to be... cautious... to any other sources of power Not Of This World, especially if they appear more advanced than you are. Learning that these foreigners were literally otherworldly wouldn't necessarily turn you against them (that is a character call and completely up to you), but it would be a source of concern. So would learning of portals into the kingdom from elsewhere.

And despite your powers, you might not notice if, say, your body and consciousness were subtly altered by sharing all that with an infiltrator, too - it's too similar to how your own power and identity function.

Thirdly - sadly, none of those shared interests actually makes it easier to combine your disparate interests into teamwork. You are what you are.

Fourth - because someone asked - that quick travel of yours is the result of being able to travel nigh-instantaneously between wooded areas. While there are only the four major forests, even a copse of trees is sufficient as a transit hub.

The final update
SO here's what is probably the final update for the Illuminated:

-The dragons on the tournament ground are growing because of proximity to a large amount of magic - probably, the source of those portals you've heard mentioned. Since the rush of foreigners happened during the tournament, it's not too hard to figure out that the Investigators are all otherworlders, sent by some kind of otherworldly Illuminated-like beings... and probably threatening to your powerbase.

-Speaking of powerbases, it's impossible for you to tap into that source of otherworldly energy on your own... but if the focus point of your power is mobile, and you bring it on-site, you might be able to use your focus as a siphon.

-At the end of this week, we'll be moving into Final Showdown stage... the reveal of the Queen, the news of the Illuminated as source of the curses & blessings coming out, and whatever reckoning the Queen will have with the mages. It is absolutely up to you if they'll respond as a team or as individuals, if they'll fight or disperse for the good of the kingdom's stability or something else entirely; if they'll turn on the Investigators or try to turn them to fighting FOR the Illuminated against the Trumps... if such a thing is even possible.

Ambrose will certainly be able to figure out that the illusion he sensed is what's been keeping the Travelers blending in. And while the temptation of the other Illuminated into feeding off portal energy is much more optional, we would very much appreciate it if the (disguised) throne made its way to the tournament ground. If this is likely to cause a problem, let us know!

The post-canon AUish version. For Glitch, see here.

Character Details: Ambrose is basically a reimagining of the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, after he got his brain back. His story is he's a mega-genius and consulting adviser to the Queen of the Outer Zone (O.Z.) who once had half his brain stolen by a wicked witch because of reasons. He got better. He's generally a happy-go-lucky optimist with a tendency towards making the improbable possible and making occasionally careless choices.

All the tl;dr can be found on this app here.

( Singing like a hurricane, dancing like Fred Astair. )

Yeah sure.

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Keri
AGE: 33
PLAYER JOURNAL: kseda
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: AIM: mirzath, keriseda
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

( You flick the abacus. )

In no particular order:

Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen
All Is Not Lost- Ok Go
Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs - Sparkadia
Steam Engenius - Modest Mouse
Pride - Syntax
I Shall Be Free - Kid Beyond
Peacekeeper - Fleetwood Mac
Dulcimer - Blue Man Group
Animus Vox - The Glitch Mob
People As Places As People - Modest Mouse
Where Is My Mind? - The Pixies
Retirement - Kaiser Chiefs
Live Forever - Oasis
We Used To Wait - Arcade Fire
I Know What I Am - Band of Skulls
Ask - The Smiths
The Good, The Bad, and The Queen - The Good, The Bad, and The Queen
Damn Thing - The Meatpuppets
Everybody Got Their Something - Nikki Costa