[一乗寺 賢] Ichijouji Ken (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
empireofmymind) wrote2016-06-12 09:06 pm
empireofmymind) wrote2016-06-12 09:06 pm
Entry tags:
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bravenewworld Application
PLAYER INFO
Name: Mari
Contact Information:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
ghoulfriend
Time Zone: Arizona (Mountain, doesn't observe DST)
Characters Played: Haruka Tenoh
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Ken Ichijouji
Character Canon: Digimon Adventure 02
History: Wikimon (Digimon wiki) entry
AU History: Ken's family is originally from Sanctuary. His older brother Osamu was the first Mage in the family for generations, so both his parents doted on him - Osamu's powers were extremely strong, and he was a child genius to boot. Ken, as a Far from Ordinary, often got passed over. He admired his younger brother but absorbed a lot of toxic beliefs from growing up seeing powers and intelligence valued by others over any good traits he himself possessed.
Despite his love for and absolute trust in his brother, Ken resented always being an afterthought. He wished his brother would disappear. As a result, when Osamu was killed not long after in an accident, Ken - now around nine years old - blamed himself. A scientist working in the Enhanced program spotted Ken at his brother's funeral (since Sanctuary was still under Gigan control) and made a note of his vulnerability.
About a year after Osamu's passing, Union helped Sanctuary liberate themselves from Gigas, which had its own Issues with the mageocracy. Ken was randomly selected from the children and relatives of known powerful Mages to be kidnapped and turned, unbeknownst to him, into an Enhanced. As far as he knew, he had awoken to these abilities naturally; his conditioning as part of the experimentation forbid him from thinking about his moment of awakening too deeply. All he knew was that he had powers now. And he was a smarter, too. Smarter than his brother, even. He must also be a Mage!
He was still wondering what to make of this when an anonymous letter arrived for him. Ken had never really had mail addressed to him before, so he was especially willing to believe the sender because they had taken the time to send something just to him. The letter congratulated him on his newly-developed abilities but also claimed to pity him, as this current world would soon become stifling for someone of his talents. Even the greatest Mages in the most secret towers would soon seem trifling to him, the letter stated. And what was worse, the only creatures that could rival him in power were those thoughtless brutes, Pokémon. Did that seem right?
No, Ken decided, as the mental instability from the Enhanced programming took control. No, it did not. He therefore doubly resented what pushback he got when unleashing his genius upon the city - he hadn't realized as a child just how much Sanctuary's bloodline biases might have weighed on Osamu, first Mage in the family in a long time - and he chose to ignore what few Analysts claimed boy genius Ken Ichijouji wasn't a Mage. He spent long hours holed up in secret, studying, and began wearing a mask and Mage robes to wander the surrounding area in search of the perfect Pokémon to complement and obey him, the perfect human. It was easier than confronting the flaws in his story. And beating up on these brainless Pokémon made him feel better.
Then his father received a transfer to Union: his work was attempting to open a new base of operations in their uneasy-ally city, and who better to serve as envoy than the father of the wunderkind? Ken's parents treated this as a great honor, but Ken, upon arriving in Union, disliked it almost immediately. Union doesn't play by the rules he's used to. Union doesn't value cleverness, intelligence, or the possession of secret knowledge above all else. They value being nice to each other. That includes to Pokémon. Which are treated like people.
Ken's inability to handle this culture shock, and hopefully the resultant growth out of the brainwashing imposed on him by his Enhanced programming, will form the bulk of his arc in-game.
Canon Personality: At the beginning of the series, Ken's natural personality has been twisted into a malicious version of his ideal self. Because young Ken saw his brother Osamu praised for his intelligence while being encouraged to grow up too fast, the Digimon Kaiser is a child genius who looks down on "pointless" activities - and a super athlete, to boot, surpassing his brother's achievements. Young Ken believed himself to be inherently worthless; the Digimon Kaiser believes himself to be the only perfect human being. Young Ken had an overinflated sense of cause and effect, blaming himself for his brother's death; the Digimon Kaiser runs away to a game world where he's master of all but his actions have (so he thinks) no consequence. Young Ken was lonely. The Digimon Kaiser shuns affection.
As the Digimon Kaiser, Ken is cunning, petty, and cruel, prone to both lashing out and rubbing his own superiority in everyone else's faces. He's a control freak, preferring to order his slaves to do things than to do them himself, and resents anyone who tries to get too close to him or classify him as "normal". He doesn't let minor setbacks deter him, but he won't forgive an insult to his pride. He feigns propriety around adults as boy genius Ken Ichijouji, but reverts to full-ham villainy as the Digimon Kaiser, complete with evil laugh. He simultaneously both craves acknowledgment and refuses to consider anyone else worth his time - but he isn't self-aware enough to realize this. Indeed, for someone who spends so much time braying his own praises, evil Ken can't confront looking at himself at all. Any time something might be his fault, or he doesn't like the way things are going, he tries to run away and start something else from scratch.
In this way, he's still very much Ken Ichijouji, a boy with a huge avoidant streak and poor social skills (normal Ken is both brusque and boringly terrible at smalltalk). Every version of Ken is obsessed with the reasons why things happen, particularly as they relate to him, and thinks via deductive reasoning - he observes some detail, interprets it in relationship to himself, then decides what he thinks it means. The Digimon Kaiser is much faster at this than normal Ken, however, and can take multiple factors into account simultaneously. Ken on his own has a tendency to overthink everything. At all times.
The Dark Seed's influence on Ken does, however, drown out his true most positive traits. Although his sensitivity makes him easy to manipulate, Ken's natural personality is kind, thoughtful, and gentle - he wants the people he cares about to be happy. Though not a genius, he is brainy, balancing his reflectiveness with an unshakeable drive once he's picked a goal. After taking responsibility for his actions, he works on fixing their outcome (even if he does have a tendency to blame himself for everything and therefore wants to fix everything). Ken is a natural sweetheart whose negative streak makes him his own worst enemy, but with enough time and positive reinforcement, he'll be able to start living in the moment while consciously moving forward.
AU Deviation: Young Ken grew up idolizing Mages, which means he prizes intelligence and secrecy above all other things but also that Enhanced!Ken feels more free to openly practice casual cruelty - Mages do what Mages want. Without a "game" world into which to retreat, Ken also won't try to set up his own separate empire, though he does still take his emotions out on Pokémon. He seeks instead to become the most powerful Mage in Sanctuary, acknowledged even by those who value bloodlines, and hopes to find a Pokémon to serve as the perfect servant. He brought a single Poké Ball with him from Sanctuary, choosing to catch and release as Pokémon in question first intrigue, then disappoint him. The two Pokémon he's beginning the game with, however, have been with him since childhood. They dote on him, but he's convinced they're worthless.
Ironically, Ken is far less famous than in canon since not all Mages acknowledge him. This makes the recognition he craves a much more uphill battle, but he's determined not to stop until every human and, especially, Pokémon recognize their inferiority. Ken will face different difficulties once he's broken free of his Enhanced conditioning, too: he'll have to unlearn a lot of toxic societal norms he'd absorbed from living in secretive, elitist Sanctuary. (One might almost say he'll have to...join the Union.)
Also, Bug Pokémon love him. He can't walk into a forest without at least one bug wanting to come home with him. This will irritate Enhanced!Ken and will likely lead to a lot of rapid-fire bonding once he's in full control of himself again.
Canon Abilities: Ken is a "Chosen Child", a human bonded to a Digimon partner. He possesses a "Digivice" that allows him to evolve his Digimon, Wormmon, into stronger forms. The Digivice can be used for a lot of other purposes, like opening a gate to the Digital World or serving as a general plot device. As the Digimon Kaiser, his Digivice was also able to prevent other Digimon from evolving.
Ken became the Digimon Kaiser thanks to the Dark Seed in the back of his neck, which raised his intelligence and athletic ability at the cost of his grip on reality. When the Seed is dormant, he loses these abilities but remains sensitive to the presence of the powers of darkness (they cause him pain).
Finally, Ken has a "Crest of Kindness" that represents his dominant trait. The Crest is kind of useless as-is, though.
Enlightened Abilities: Ken is an Egg Mastery Enhanced with Dark/Bug typing. His Enhancements increase his intelligence/cunning (Dark) and his athletic ability, particularly speed (Bug) at the cost of twisting his worldview so that he believes that not only is he an exceptional human being, his exceptional nature means he's the only person who matters. Ken's Enhancements haven't changed his appearance unless he chooses to use one of the moves listed below, in which case his hair stands on end and portions of it lighten. He looks the same as he always has when he's just doing his mild-mannered genius act.
The more Ken's egocentric worldview is challenged (both by others and by circumstance), the more megalomaniacal he'll get - but once he loses all touch with reality, being soundly defeated will snap him out of it enough to listen should anyone point out all the ways he's mistaken. He'll lose the perks of his Enhancements unless he starts using his moves, etc., again, at which point they'll start trying to creep back in.
Ken will not be evolving as an Enhanced. His moveset is as follows: Confuse Ray, Disable, Imprison, Me First, Nasty Plot, Payback, Punishment, String Shot
Starter Pokémon: Burmy & Venipede (Ultra Common)
Notes/Special Considerations: Ken does use a single Poké Ball; I'll make a note in his bond rolls when something's coming with him because it wants to vs. when he's using the Poké Ball.
SAMPLES
First-Person: Recovered!Ken on the TDM | Enhanced!Ken on the TDM
Third-Person: [[ Note: These questions will be answered as if Enhanced!Ken is being interviewed for a Sanctuary newspaper. ]]
• What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?
I can't say that's something I've really considered.
• To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?
Wouldn't it be better to prevent them from getting lost in the first place?
• What would you say the most important occupation is within your city?
Everyone has their own role to play.
• What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
Who knows.
• The gods of old have returned. How would you be judged if you were chosen as a representative of humanity?
I wouldn't dream of presuming I'd know what a god thinks.
• No Enlightened chooses their abilities - and not all are Enlightened. What type abilities would you most desire to manifest and why?
Well, because we don't get to choose, I can't help thinking that's a meaningless question.
Name: Mari
Contact Information:
Time Zone: Arizona (Mountain, doesn't observe DST)
Characters Played: Haruka Tenoh
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Ken Ichijouji
Character Canon: Digimon Adventure 02
History: Wikimon (Digimon wiki) entry
AU History: Ken's family is originally from Sanctuary. His older brother Osamu was the first Mage in the family for generations, so both his parents doted on him - Osamu's powers were extremely strong, and he was a child genius to boot. Ken, as a Far from Ordinary, often got passed over. He admired his younger brother but absorbed a lot of toxic beliefs from growing up seeing powers and intelligence valued by others over any good traits he himself possessed.
Despite his love for and absolute trust in his brother, Ken resented always being an afterthought. He wished his brother would disappear. As a result, when Osamu was killed not long after in an accident, Ken - now around nine years old - blamed himself. A scientist working in the Enhanced program spotted Ken at his brother's funeral (since Sanctuary was still under Gigan control) and made a note of his vulnerability.
About a year after Osamu's passing, Union helped Sanctuary liberate themselves from Gigas, which had its own Issues with the mageocracy. Ken was randomly selected from the children and relatives of known powerful Mages to be kidnapped and turned, unbeknownst to him, into an Enhanced. As far as he knew, he had awoken to these abilities naturally; his conditioning as part of the experimentation forbid him from thinking about his moment of awakening too deeply. All he knew was that he had powers now. And he was a smarter, too. Smarter than his brother, even. He must also be a Mage!
He was still wondering what to make of this when an anonymous letter arrived for him. Ken had never really had mail addressed to him before, so he was especially willing to believe the sender because they had taken the time to send something just to him. The letter congratulated him on his newly-developed abilities but also claimed to pity him, as this current world would soon become stifling for someone of his talents. Even the greatest Mages in the most secret towers would soon seem trifling to him, the letter stated. And what was worse, the only creatures that could rival him in power were those thoughtless brutes, Pokémon. Did that seem right?
No, Ken decided, as the mental instability from the Enhanced programming took control. No, it did not. He therefore doubly resented what pushback he got when unleashing his genius upon the city - he hadn't realized as a child just how much Sanctuary's bloodline biases might have weighed on Osamu, first Mage in the family in a long time - and he chose to ignore what few Analysts claimed boy genius Ken Ichijouji wasn't a Mage. He spent long hours holed up in secret, studying, and began wearing a mask and Mage robes to wander the surrounding area in search of the perfect Pokémon to complement and obey him, the perfect human. It was easier than confronting the flaws in his story. And beating up on these brainless Pokémon made him feel better.
Then his father received a transfer to Union: his work was attempting to open a new base of operations in their uneasy-ally city, and who better to serve as envoy than the father of the wunderkind? Ken's parents treated this as a great honor, but Ken, upon arriving in Union, disliked it almost immediately. Union doesn't play by the rules he's used to. Union doesn't value cleverness, intelligence, or the possession of secret knowledge above all else. They value being nice to each other. That includes to Pokémon. Which are treated like people.
Ken's inability to handle this culture shock, and hopefully the resultant growth out of the brainwashing imposed on him by his Enhanced programming, will form the bulk of his arc in-game.
Canon Personality: At the beginning of the series, Ken's natural personality has been twisted into a malicious version of his ideal self. Because young Ken saw his brother Osamu praised for his intelligence while being encouraged to grow up too fast, the Digimon Kaiser is a child genius who looks down on "pointless" activities - and a super athlete, to boot, surpassing his brother's achievements. Young Ken believed himself to be inherently worthless; the Digimon Kaiser believes himself to be the only perfect human being. Young Ken had an overinflated sense of cause and effect, blaming himself for his brother's death; the Digimon Kaiser runs away to a game world where he's master of all but his actions have (so he thinks) no consequence. Young Ken was lonely. The Digimon Kaiser shuns affection.
As the Digimon Kaiser, Ken is cunning, petty, and cruel, prone to both lashing out and rubbing his own superiority in everyone else's faces. He's a control freak, preferring to order his slaves to do things than to do them himself, and resents anyone who tries to get too close to him or classify him as "normal". He doesn't let minor setbacks deter him, but he won't forgive an insult to his pride. He feigns propriety around adults as boy genius Ken Ichijouji, but reverts to full-ham villainy as the Digimon Kaiser, complete with evil laugh. He simultaneously both craves acknowledgment and refuses to consider anyone else worth his time - but he isn't self-aware enough to realize this. Indeed, for someone who spends so much time braying his own praises, evil Ken can't confront looking at himself at all. Any time something might be his fault, or he doesn't like the way things are going, he tries to run away and start something else from scratch.
In this way, he's still very much Ken Ichijouji, a boy with a huge avoidant streak and poor social skills (normal Ken is both brusque and boringly terrible at smalltalk). Every version of Ken is obsessed with the reasons why things happen, particularly as they relate to him, and thinks via deductive reasoning - he observes some detail, interprets it in relationship to himself, then decides what he thinks it means. The Digimon Kaiser is much faster at this than normal Ken, however, and can take multiple factors into account simultaneously. Ken on his own has a tendency to overthink everything. At all times.
The Dark Seed's influence on Ken does, however, drown out his true most positive traits. Although his sensitivity makes him easy to manipulate, Ken's natural personality is kind, thoughtful, and gentle - he wants the people he cares about to be happy. Though not a genius, he is brainy, balancing his reflectiveness with an unshakeable drive once he's picked a goal. After taking responsibility for his actions, he works on fixing their outcome (even if he does have a tendency to blame himself for everything and therefore wants to fix everything). Ken is a natural sweetheart whose negative streak makes him his own worst enemy, but with enough time and positive reinforcement, he'll be able to start living in the moment while consciously moving forward.
AU Deviation: Young Ken grew up idolizing Mages, which means he prizes intelligence and secrecy above all other things but also that Enhanced!Ken feels more free to openly practice casual cruelty - Mages do what Mages want. Without a "game" world into which to retreat, Ken also won't try to set up his own separate empire, though he does still take his emotions out on Pokémon. He seeks instead to become the most powerful Mage in Sanctuary, acknowledged even by those who value bloodlines, and hopes to find a Pokémon to serve as the perfect servant. He brought a single Poké Ball with him from Sanctuary, choosing to catch and release as Pokémon in question first intrigue, then disappoint him. The two Pokémon he's beginning the game with, however, have been with him since childhood. They dote on him, but he's convinced they're worthless.
Ironically, Ken is far less famous than in canon since not all Mages acknowledge him. This makes the recognition he craves a much more uphill battle, but he's determined not to stop until every human and, especially, Pokémon recognize their inferiority. Ken will face different difficulties once he's broken free of his Enhanced conditioning, too: he'll have to unlearn a lot of toxic societal norms he'd absorbed from living in secretive, elitist Sanctuary. (One might almost say he'll have to...join the Union.)
Also, Bug Pokémon love him. He can't walk into a forest without at least one bug wanting to come home with him. This will irritate Enhanced!Ken and will likely lead to a lot of rapid-fire bonding once he's in full control of himself again.
Canon Abilities: Ken is a "Chosen Child", a human bonded to a Digimon partner. He possesses a "Digivice" that allows him to evolve his Digimon, Wormmon, into stronger forms. The Digivice can be used for a lot of other purposes, like opening a gate to the Digital World or serving as a general plot device. As the Digimon Kaiser, his Digivice was also able to prevent other Digimon from evolving.
Ken became the Digimon Kaiser thanks to the Dark Seed in the back of his neck, which raised his intelligence and athletic ability at the cost of his grip on reality. When the Seed is dormant, he loses these abilities but remains sensitive to the presence of the powers of darkness (they cause him pain).
Finally, Ken has a "Crest of Kindness" that represents his dominant trait. The Crest is kind of useless as-is, though.
Enlightened Abilities: Ken is an Egg Mastery Enhanced with Dark/Bug typing. His Enhancements increase his intelligence/cunning (Dark) and his athletic ability, particularly speed (Bug) at the cost of twisting his worldview so that he believes that not only is he an exceptional human being, his exceptional nature means he's the only person who matters. Ken's Enhancements haven't changed his appearance unless he chooses to use one of the moves listed below, in which case his hair stands on end and portions of it lighten. He looks the same as he always has when he's just doing his mild-mannered genius act.
The more Ken's egocentric worldview is challenged (both by others and by circumstance), the more megalomaniacal he'll get - but once he loses all touch with reality, being soundly defeated will snap him out of it enough to listen should anyone point out all the ways he's mistaken. He'll lose the perks of his Enhancements unless he starts using his moves, etc., again, at which point they'll start trying to creep back in.
Ken will not be evolving as an Enhanced. His moveset is as follows: Confuse Ray, Disable, Imprison, Me First, Nasty Plot, Payback, Punishment, String Shot
Starter Pokémon: Burmy & Venipede (Ultra Common)
Notes/Special Considerations: Ken does use a single Poké Ball; I'll make a note in his bond rolls when something's coming with him because it wants to vs. when he's using the Poké Ball.
SAMPLES
First-Person: Recovered!Ken on the TDM | Enhanced!Ken on the TDM
Third-Person: [[ Note: These questions will be answered as if Enhanced!Ken is being interviewed for a Sanctuary newspaper. ]]
• What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?
I can't say that's something I've really considered.
• To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?
Wouldn't it be better to prevent them from getting lost in the first place?
• What would you say the most important occupation is within your city?
Everyone has their own role to play.
• What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
Who knows.
• The gods of old have returned. How would you be judged if you were chosen as a representative of humanity?
I wouldn't dream of presuming I'd know what a god thinks.
• No Enlightened chooses their abilities - and not all are Enlightened. What type abilities would you most desire to manifest and why?
Well, because we don't get to choose, I can't help thinking that's a meaningless question.