Player Name: Nao Contact: seer0ftime @ discord Invited by: th profecy Other Characters: Waver Velvet (fionnuisce), Scintilla Caminus (sunforging)
Character Name: Ardyn Lucis Caelum/'Ardyn Izunia' Canon: Final Fantasy 15 Canon History:wiki link, there's literally no way to do this that isn't a novel
Canon Personality: The initial and vital distinction to make before describing Ardyn in any detail is that he is a person whose development can be split into three sections: his past as a healer, his ingame presence as a villain, and the midpoint in between displayed in his own DLC episode.
Healer: In his past as a relatively normal human, Ardyn was intensely selfless to the point of self-destruction. Tasked by the gods with the healing of the Starscourge through divine magic, he accepted his responsibility without question and seemed to take a small amount of pride in carrying out the will of the gods. Taking his role incredibly seriously, he rarely smiled or did much else but act stoic and professional in front of the people he worked to help. Implied but only seen in the novel is a falling-out with his own younger brother over a difference of opinion in how to save the world from the plague, demonstrating that Ardyn took the matter seriously enough to leave both home and his only apparent family entirely to continue his work. More to the point on the 'self-destructive' front; his task to heal the Starscourge was actively causing him agonizing pain and deteriorating his body, but he clearly prioritized the people in need of salvation over his own life with no hesitation or question.
...What I'm saying is he's an incredibly thinly veiled messianic archetype and the only way the comparison would be less subtle would be if his birthday were on Christmas. It's Walpurgisnacht, which isn't much better.
Adagium: In being rejected by the gods, executed by his brother, and sealed away for two millennia, to say Ardyn's mental state took a hit would be an understatement. In his confinement he retreated into his own head, living in his own hallucinations of the past as resentment and hate fueled by the Starscourge built within him. Despite this, when released by Verstael his prevailing emotion seems to be apathy. He's largely indifferent to Verstael, the world, and everyone in it--briefly thinking that just being left alone in Angelgard would have been preferable. While the resentment fostered in his imprisonment is still present, it is also directionless; with Somnus dead, Ardyn finds little point in revenge. He spends several months in Niflheim sleeping; ostensibly as recovery, but it's equally likely he simply felt he had nothing better to do. While he is a barely-human passing avatar of malice and hatred, enough of his original human self remains that though he resents his own mistakes in working so hard to accomplish basically nothing, he won't simply destroy everything indiscriminately in vengeance. At this stage he's very tired and very mentally unwell--he's prone to nightmares and, when under significant stress, outright dissociation and waking hallucinations (both auditory and visual) centering around both Somnus and Aera alike. Ultimately, at that point he wasn't even an open threat at all--while he did in fact kill several of the Crownsguard on the island, it was done in self-defense and also one such hallucination implied a genuine sense of guilt; a spectral version of Somnus taunting Ardyn over having killed an innocent man and Ardyn claiming 'my calling is to save lives, not take them'.
Ardyn Izunia: The tipping point of finally shattering a fractured grasp on sanity lies with Verstael convincing Ardyn to daemonify Ifrit; pushed into seeking power he swears vengeance on the line of Lucis and in sublimating a god Ardyn also sees fragments of memories implying it was he and not Somnus that was chosen. That, specifically, is the point that causes him to utterly snap and decide to take his vengeance on gods, kings, and everything else on the planet. In the years that followed he killed people indiscriminately in order to steal their memories and learn more about the world, as well as contribute to creating Niflheim's magitek and highly unethical cloned daemon army. In his DLC episode preceding the game itself, he proves to be a force even Niflheim can't hope to actually control; he goes rogue on an already violent invasion mission, seeking to kill the then-reigning king and only being stopped by the intervention of both his spectral younger brother as well as Bahamut himself, learning of the prophecy that names Ardyn as nothing but an agent of darkness whose purpose is to suffer as an immortal plague until the true Chosen King can arise and kill him. Depending on player choice, Ardyn either completely gives up and accepts this as an inevitability, or rages against the draconic deity and is summarily harshly punished for the hint of rebellion. (It isn't clearly stated ingame which option is game canon, but the second is explicitly canon to the light novel/alternate timeline.)
Which leads into his role in the game itself: a manipulative chessmaster who orchestrates the fall of both Lucis and Niflheim, kills several named characters either directly or by proxy, and spreads the Starscourge to the point of creating a ten-year-long night over the planet only ended with Noctis defeating Ardyn and sacrificing himself to bring back the light. He is constantly bitter to the point of vicious mockery to everyone around him, ally and enemy alike. His bitterness at having been cast out is projected clearly on those who had nothing to do with it--specifically Noctis more than anyone, being Somnus' identical-looking descendant. Ultimately, it may all just be a decades long lashing out in anger and vengeance, and once the prophesized end does come about Ardyn seems content with the idea. After a fierce final battle in the destroyed streets of the crown city he accepts his defeat quietly, and is eradicated from all existence with little more than a bow to the true Chosen King who saved the world as neither brother could.
AU Name: Same as canon; he's probably gone by a lot of names, but settled on 'Ardyn Izunia' while with the Black Order. AU Age: 2000+ (physically 33) AU Birthday: April 30th Faction: Black Order
AU History: -Firstborn son of a politician in the Roman empire circa the first century, Ardyn Lucis Caelum was known as a wise and charitable man. Charming, very focused upon matters of justice and fairness, and with a mind to enter into politics himself for the betterment of the people around them, he was never one to put himself or his ambition first. Unlike his younger brother, who sought wealth and power for their own sake. As with quite a lot of politicians of the time, said father was of course assassinated by his second son over a matter of inheritance, with Ardyn swiftly following when he discovered his brother standing over their father holding a knife. -Utterly shattered by a betrayal he had never suspected or anticipated, on the brink of death the prevailing emotion he felt turned from sorrow to rage; demanding to understand why his own blood hated him so, cursing him in turn for so ruthlessly destroying all in his path, and feeling a small spark of vengeance spring to life at the very end of Ardyn's own life. At which point a devil came to him from the Spirit Realm and offered a chance to live again; to right the wrongs of the world by whatever means necessary. Accepting the contract, Ardyn awoke in exhaustion to a home reduced to bloodied rubble in the wake of his own demon mode rampaging briefly. -[cw: suicide] Presumed dead along with the rest of his family, Ardyn quickly left the city and indeed the country in short order, hiding among shadows and constantly shapechanging with the powers he found his nameless devil had granted him. Finding himself deeply conflicted between his innate compassion and the contracted devil screaming revenge, not long afterwards the memories began to surface in tiny shreds; memories of a creature slaying humans indiscriminately, sublimating them body and soul. Horrified by the glimpses of a life that was and wasn't his own, Ardyn sought to put an end to himself...only to find he couldn't. In his impulsive and angry decision to accept a chance to live again, he had been made an immortal creature of shadow exactly like the monster now in his memories. -With no choice but to accept that fate, he took to wandering; rarely staying in any one settlement or even country for too long, the world gradually changed around him...and yet it didn't. No matter where he went, the pervasive nature of humanity followed. Injustices, cruelties, conflicts, and betrayals were all intrinsic to human nature, and the more he witnessed the more he felt the need to make sure justice was done. Oftentimes where he went, particularly cruel or disliked individuals simply 'disappeared' only to turn up as a corpse covered in bloody claw marks or stab wounds. Except when it wasn't the particularly cruel or disliked and instead just the mildly assholish. Or someone who just looked at him wrong when the bloodier memories began to creep back up again. -Needless to say, as the ages passed and Ardyn adapted time and again to different places and eras the human that he used to be faded, and he largely forgot why he even cared in the first place. There certainly didn't seem to be much reason to, when humankind was seen to have nothing worth caring about in the first place and his memories painted him as some kind of murderous apocalyptic monster anyway. What good was a world that only ever let one down? -At some point (likely a number of decades ago) he encountered the Black Order somewhere in Europe, and while letting himself be sealed probably would have been sensible to him in the past he instead signed on readily and with very little hesitation. In his twisted logic, maybe guarding the Spirit Realm however necessary felt like something justified, or maybe it was just that he wanted an excuse to continue on as he already had been doing. Maybe even a warped combination of both. -Whatever the reason, Ardyn Izunia eventually became the Guardian no one actually wanted to see dispatched--the kind that handled problems needing handling. His abilities to shapeshift and travel between shadows made him an ideal assassin, and his complete lack of hesitation in that regard made him terrifyingly efficient. Which isn't to say that every assignment he's sent on ends in bloodshed, but he's definitely the solver of (and sometimes causer of) the Order's more persistent headaches. Hence why he's getting assigned to this complete mess. For the sake of...well, November, I'd like to assume he's been here since late October shapeshifted and under the radar, if that's possible?
AU Personality Differences: The major difference is that canon Ardyn's incredible anger management issues are a perfect storm of eternity in solitary confinement/a rebellious god's memories in his head/knowing he's fated to be a literal dictionary-definition scapegoat. Because of that, he's far more indiscriminate and wide-ranging in the damage he cheerfully causes, knowing absolutely nothing he does matters on a cosmic scale (because that's what prophecy does!) so he can in fact destroy and kill whatever he likes as long as it isn't Noctis. AU!Ardyn, however, is moderately narrower in his approach and wider in his experiences: he believes having traveled the world gives him perspective, and in the words of a different antagonist: 'there are no innocents'. Would he kill indiscriminately, probably not. Does he believe that the people the Order tasks its Guardians with handling probably did something to deserve it in a karmic sense? Absolutely. Not only does he lack any ability to conceptualize most people as innately good, he believes for a fact that he certainly isn't--so far his past life memories are only of himself as a full-on murderous scourge on the planet, which colors the issue considerably.
Element: Shadow Purchased Powers: Immortality - Full (8) Shapeshifting - Medium (3) Shadow Jump - Low (3) Shadow Claws - Low (1) Basic Markings - (1) Possession:Rakshasa - a shapeshifting illusionist demon with a thirst for blood. The contract price is 'seek vengeance by any means necessary'; failing to specify 'vengeance for what', Ardyn simply feels a constant undercurrent of hatred and need to lash out against perceived injustices in ways ranging from passive aggression to outright violence.
Ardyn | Final Fantasy XV | Black Order AU
Contact: seer0ftime @ discord
Invited by: th profecy
Other Characters: Waver Velvet (
Character Name: Ardyn Lucis Caelum/'Ardyn Izunia'
Canon: Final Fantasy 15
Canon History: wiki link, there's literally no way to do this that isn't a novel
Canon Personality: The initial and vital distinction to make before describing Ardyn in any detail is that he is a person whose development can be split into three sections: his past as a healer, his ingame presence as a villain, and the midpoint in between displayed in his own DLC episode.
Healer: In his past as a relatively normal human, Ardyn was intensely selfless to the point of self-destruction. Tasked by the gods with the healing of the Starscourge through divine magic, he accepted his responsibility without question and seemed to take a small amount of pride in carrying out the will of the gods. Taking his role incredibly seriously, he rarely smiled or did much else but act stoic and professional in front of the people he worked to help. Implied but only seen in the novel is a falling-out with his own younger brother over a difference of opinion in how to save the world from the plague, demonstrating that Ardyn took the matter seriously enough to leave both home and his only apparent family entirely to continue his work. More to the point on the 'self-destructive' front; his task to heal the Starscourge was actively causing him agonizing pain and deteriorating his body, but he clearly prioritized the people in need of salvation over his own life with no hesitation or question.
...What I'm saying is he's an incredibly thinly veiled messianic archetype and the only way the comparison would be less subtle would be if his birthday were on Christmas.
It's Walpurgisnacht, which isn't much better.Adagium: In being rejected by the gods, executed by his brother, and sealed away for two millennia, to say Ardyn's mental state took a hit would be an understatement. In his confinement he retreated into his own head, living in his own hallucinations of the past as resentment and hate fueled by the Starscourge built within him. Despite this, when released by Verstael his prevailing emotion seems to be apathy. He's largely indifferent to Verstael, the world, and everyone in it--briefly thinking that just being left alone in Angelgard would have been preferable. While the resentment fostered in his imprisonment is still present, it is also directionless; with Somnus dead, Ardyn finds little point in revenge. He spends several months in Niflheim sleeping; ostensibly as recovery, but it's equally likely he simply felt he had nothing better to do. While he is a barely-human passing avatar of malice and hatred, enough of his original human self remains that though he resents his own mistakes in working so hard to accomplish basically nothing, he won't simply destroy everything indiscriminately in vengeance. At this stage he's very tired and very mentally unwell--he's prone to nightmares and, when under significant stress, outright dissociation and waking hallucinations (both auditory and visual) centering around both Somnus and Aera alike. Ultimately, at that point he wasn't even an open threat at all--while he did in fact kill several of the Crownsguard on the island, it was done in self-defense and also one such hallucination implied a genuine sense of guilt; a spectral version of Somnus taunting Ardyn over having killed an innocent man and Ardyn claiming 'my calling is to save lives, not take them'.
Ardyn Izunia: The tipping point of finally shattering a fractured grasp on sanity lies with Verstael convincing Ardyn to daemonify Ifrit; pushed into seeking power he swears vengeance on the line of Lucis and in sublimating a god Ardyn also sees fragments of memories implying it was he and not Somnus that was chosen. That, specifically, is the point that causes him to utterly snap and decide to take his vengeance on gods, kings, and everything else on the planet. In the years that followed he killed people indiscriminately in order to steal their memories and learn more about the world, as well as contribute to creating Niflheim's magitek and highly unethical cloned daemon army. In his DLC episode preceding the game itself, he proves to be a force even Niflheim can't hope to actually control; he goes rogue on an already violent invasion mission, seeking to kill the then-reigning king and only being stopped by the intervention of both his spectral younger brother as well as Bahamut himself, learning of the prophecy that names Ardyn as nothing but an agent of darkness whose purpose is to suffer as an immortal plague until the true Chosen King can arise and kill him. Depending on player choice, Ardyn either completely gives up and accepts this as an inevitability, or rages against the draconic deity and is summarily harshly punished for the hint of rebellion. (It isn't clearly stated ingame which option is game canon, but the second is explicitly canon to the light novel/alternate timeline.)
Which leads into his role in the game itself: a manipulative chessmaster who orchestrates the fall of both Lucis and Niflheim, kills several named characters either directly or by proxy, and spreads the Starscourge to the point of creating a ten-year-long night over the planet only ended with Noctis defeating Ardyn and sacrificing himself to bring back the light. He is constantly bitter to the point of vicious mockery to everyone around him, ally and enemy alike. His bitterness at having been cast out is projected clearly on those who had nothing to do with it--specifically Noctis more than anyone, being Somnus' identical-looking descendant. Ultimately, it may all just be a decades long lashing out in anger and vengeance, and once the prophesized end does come about Ardyn seems content with the idea. After a fierce final battle in the destroyed streets of the crown city he accepts his defeat quietly, and is eradicated from all existence with little more than a bow to the true Chosen King who saved the world as neither brother could.
AU Name: Same as canon; he's probably gone by a lot of names, but settled on 'Ardyn Izunia' while with the Black Order.
AU Age: 2000+ (physically 33)
AU Birthday: April 30th
Faction: Black Order
AU History:
-Firstborn son of a politician in the Roman empire circa the first century, Ardyn Lucis Caelum was known as a wise and charitable man. Charming, very focused upon matters of justice and fairness, and with a mind to enter into politics himself for the betterment of the people around them, he was never one to put himself or his ambition first. Unlike his younger brother, who sought wealth and power for their own sake. As with quite a lot of politicians of the time, said father was of course assassinated by his second son over a matter of inheritance, with Ardyn swiftly following when he discovered his brother standing over their father holding a knife.
-Utterly shattered by a betrayal he had never suspected or anticipated, on the brink of death the prevailing emotion he felt turned from sorrow to rage; demanding to understand why his own blood hated him so, cursing him in turn for so ruthlessly destroying all in his path, and feeling a small spark of vengeance spring to life at the very end of Ardyn's own life. At which point a devil came to him from the Spirit Realm and offered a chance to live again; to right the wrongs of the world by whatever means necessary. Accepting the contract, Ardyn awoke in exhaustion to a home reduced to bloodied rubble in the wake of his own demon mode rampaging briefly.
-[cw: suicide] Presumed dead along with the rest of his family, Ardyn quickly left the city and indeed the country in short order, hiding among shadows and constantly shapechanging with the powers he found his nameless devil had granted him. Finding himself deeply conflicted between his innate compassion and the contracted devil screaming revenge, not long afterwards the memories began to surface in tiny shreds; memories of a creature slaying humans indiscriminately, sublimating them body and soul. Horrified by the glimpses of a life that was and wasn't his own, Ardyn sought to put an end to himself...only to find he couldn't. In his impulsive and angry decision to accept a chance to live again, he had been made an immortal creature of shadow exactly like the monster now in his memories.
-With no choice but to accept that fate, he took to wandering; rarely staying in any one settlement or even country for too long, the world gradually changed around him...and yet it didn't. No matter where he went, the pervasive nature of humanity followed. Injustices, cruelties, conflicts, and betrayals were all intrinsic to human nature, and the more he witnessed the more he felt the need to make sure justice was done. Oftentimes where he went, particularly cruel or disliked individuals simply 'disappeared' only to turn up as a corpse covered in bloody claw marks or stab wounds. Except when it wasn't the particularly cruel or disliked and instead just the mildly assholish. Or someone who just looked at him wrong when the bloodier memories began to creep back up again.
-Needless to say, as the ages passed and Ardyn adapted time and again to different places and eras the human that he used to be faded, and he largely forgot why he even cared in the first place. There certainly didn't seem to be much reason to, when humankind was seen to have nothing worth caring about in the first place and his memories painted him as some kind of murderous apocalyptic monster anyway. What good was a world that only ever let one down?
-At some point (likely a number of decades ago) he encountered the Black Order somewhere in Europe, and while letting himself be sealed probably would have been sensible to him in the past he instead signed on readily and with very little hesitation. In his twisted logic, maybe guarding the Spirit Realm however necessary felt like something justified, or maybe it was just that he wanted an excuse to continue on as he already had been doing. Maybe even a warped combination of both.
-Whatever the reason, Ardyn Izunia eventually became the Guardian no one actually wanted to see dispatched--the kind that handled problems needing handling. His abilities to shapeshift and travel between shadows made him an ideal assassin, and his complete lack of hesitation in that regard made him terrifyingly efficient. Which isn't to say that every assignment he's sent on ends in bloodshed, but he's definitely the solver of (and sometimes causer of) the Order's more persistent headaches. Hence why he's getting assigned to this complete mess. For the sake of...well, November, I'd like to assume he's been here since late October shapeshifted and under the radar, if that's possible?
AU Personality Differences: The major difference is that canon Ardyn's incredible anger management issues are a perfect storm of eternity in solitary confinement/a rebellious god's memories in his head/knowing he's fated to be a literal dictionary-definition scapegoat. Because of that, he's far more indiscriminate and wide-ranging in the damage he cheerfully causes, knowing absolutely nothing he does matters on a cosmic scale (because that's what prophecy does!) so he can in fact destroy and kill whatever he likes as long as it isn't Noctis. AU!Ardyn, however, is moderately narrower in his approach and wider in his experiences: he believes having traveled the world gives him perspective, and in the words of a different antagonist: 'there are no innocents'. Would he kill indiscriminately, probably not. Does he believe that the people the Order tasks its Guardians with handling probably did something to deserve it in a karmic sense? Absolutely. Not only does he lack any ability to conceptualize most people as innately good, he believes for a fact that he certainly isn't--so far his past life memories are only of himself as a full-on murderous scourge on the planet, which colors the issue considerably.
Element: Shadow
Purchased Powers:
Immortality - Full (8)
Shapeshifting - Medium (3)
Shadow Jump - Low (3)
Shadow Claws - Low (1)
Basic Markings - (1)
Possession: Rakshasa - a shapeshifting illusionist demon with a thirst for blood. The contract price is 'seek vengeance by any means necessary'; failing to specify 'vengeance for what', Ardyn simply feels a constant undercurrent of hatred and need to lash out against perceived injustices in ways ranging from passive aggression to outright violence.