haveyouforgottenyourangel

PLAYER INFORMATION

NAME: Liz/EC
AGE: Too goddamn close to 40...I'm 38
CONTACT: Discord: madwomanwithabox#1521, Plurk: madwomanwithabox
CHARACTERS PLAYED: Morpheus
RESERVED? Nope!

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Erik {The Phantom of the Opera, Opera Ghost}
CANON: Phantom of the Opera / Love Never Dies - MUSICALS
CANON POINT: He is taken mere days after the events of Phantom of the Opera.
AGE: Indeterminate--anywhere between his early 40's and early 50's

HISTORY: (NOTE: while the musical provides precious little in terms of the specifics of Erik's early life (and even his name is omitted), allusions to Erik's past are made that tie to the original source material, such as his genius in performance and architecture, genius that has clearly been trained, not to mention his fondness for the use of the Punjab lasso, or the hangman's noose. As such, the book will be used to fill the holes in Erik's past, while the rest of his history will adhere strictly to the musical.)

Erik was born in a small town outside of Rouen, France. Born hideously deformed, he was a "subject of horror" for his family and as a result, he ran away as a young boy and fell in with a band of Gypsies, making his living as an attraction in freak shows, where he was known as "Le Mort Vivant" (the living dead). During his time with the tribe, Erik became a great illusionist, magician and ventriloquist, and came to be known to Madam Giry. Upon his eventual escape from the life of a side show freak, in his time spent missing, his reputation for his skills and his unearthly singing voice spread quickly, until one day a fur trader mentioned him to the Shah of Persia. The Shah ordered Erik to be fetched at once and brought to the palace.
The Shah-in-Shah commissioned Erik, who proves himself a gifted architect, to construct an elaborate palace. The edifice was designed with so many trap doors and secret rooms that not even the slightest whisper could be considered private. The design itself carried sound to a myriad of hidden locations, so that one never knew who might be listening. At some point under the Shah's employment, Erik was also a political assassin, using a unique noose referred to as the Punjab Lasso.

The Shah, to ensure no one else should have such a palace, ordered Erik executed. Escaping with his life, Erik went on to Constantinople and was employed by its ruler in similar fashion. Forced to flee for knowing too much yet again, he continued to wander until finally returning to his native France, where he aided in the construction of the Opera Populaire with many of the same trap doors and secret mechanisms he used in the past—and concluded with building a secret home for himself in the opera cellars where he could give himself over to the composition of his music.

From there, the events of the first musical take place, ending with Erik's departure from the Opera's cellars. Broken and devastated, mere days after the events of the musical, he is found and subsequently hidden by Madame Giry until he can be smuggled out of Paris. From here, he will enter the game.

PAST GAME MEMORIES: N/A

PERSONALITY:Erik's life, and his personality, is defined by rejection and isolation. From a very young age, his disfigurement was hidden by a mask given to him by his own mother, compelling him to hide himself in all ways, and at all costs. This left him very much alone, yearning for human connection despite the fact he believed that he wasn't entitled to it. As a result, growing into manhood and eventually falling in love with the ingenue Christine Daae, love for him became more about possession: though he cared for her and longed for her to love him in return, he showed his affection through violence and intimidation in his rule over the Opera Populaire, and treated her very much like a possession more times than not.

In addition to his belief that he is a monster that must remain separate from the human race, Erik is, to be blunt, a bit of a diva. Along with being disfigured, he is a gifted singer, musician, and illusionist, and he is in possession of a genius intellect that is geared heavily towards the arts and performance. He is a man born to be in the spotlight, yet believes he cannot enter it. Keeping to the shadows, while he remains unseen he cannot compel himself to stay truly hidden, and thereby turns himself into the Opera Ghost, the puppet master of the Opera Populaire and a primary focus of attentin despite the fact that no one ever directly interacts with him save for Madame Giry.

Warped by isolation and self loathing, bound to the shadows despite being built to stand in the light, Erik is, to all appearances, something of a violent narcissict or a sociopath, but these are in truth coping skills—terrible, bloody, wholly unacceptable coping skills, but thus they remain. He cannot have a part in the world around him, so he creates his own to feel like he's part of something. He even finds he has the capacity for love when he finds Christine, and shows he can be generous and supportive. He teaches Christine to sing from the shadows, and he works to further her career—both with deception and sabotage, but he literally understands no other way to engage with her, or help someone he cares about in a constructive manner. His time with Christine proves to be his first real, positive exposure to human connection, and through her selfless display of kindness, she brings him to an epiphany of understanding: that the milk of human kindness he sees in the world above is something he does have a right to, and that there is a place for him there—he can be more than a freak, more than a killer, more than a ghost, he can be a living, breathing, thriving person.

POWERS/ABILITIES: Erik is bog standard human--a talented intellectual, but he has no supernatural powers. He does, however, possess a severe physical disfigurement and a sudden lack of resources, which will compel him to petition his hosts for rewards and find a way to earn said rewards in lascivious fashion. :P

SAMPLES:

SAMPLE ONE: Erik greets a new community.

SAMPLE TWO: Erik runs into an old "friend."

ANYTHING ELSE? Just the request that Erik be allowed to arrive with his half mask and his wig! Otherwise, socializing will be, ah...difficult? XD

Player's Name: Liz/EC

Characters Played Here: Rocky Devereaux, Jack Kelly, Anne Forsythe, Mal, The Shade

Character: Erik {The Phantom of the Opera, Opera Ghost, Angel of Music, Mr. Y}

Series/Canon: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Musical/Novel), LOVE NEVER DIES (Musical)

From When? Just a few short days after the events of the musical—having fled the opera, heartbroken and alone, he is approached by Eli to join the community of New Dodge.

Previous Game(s): N/A

World Description: N/A

History:

(NOTE: while there are great disparities between the novel and the original musical, allusions to Erik's past are made in the musical that tie to the original source material, such as his genius in performance and architecture, genius that has clearly been trained, not to mention his fondness for the use of the Punjab lasso, or the hangman's noose. As such, the book will be used to fill the holes in Erik's past, while the rest of his history will adhere strictly to the musical.)

Erik was born in a small town outside of Rouen, France. Born hideously deformed, he was a "subject of horror" for his family and as a result, he ran away as a young boy and fell in with a band of Gypsies, making his living as an attraction in freak shows, where he was known as "Le Mort Vivant" (the living dead). During his time with the tribe, Erik became a great illusionist, magician and ventriloquist, and came to be known to Madam Giry. Upon his eventual escape from the life of a side show freak, in his time spent missing, his reputation for his skills and his unearthly singing voice spread quickly, until one day a fur trader mentioned him to the Shah of Persia. The Shah ordered Erik to be fetched at once and brought to the palace.
The Shah-in-Shah commissioned Erik, who proves himself a gifted architect, to construct an elaborate palace. The edifice was designed with so many trap doors and secret rooms that not even the slightest whisper could be considered private. The design itself carried sound to a myriad of hidden locations, so that one never knew who might be listening. At some point under the Shah's employment, Erik was also a political assassin, using a unique noose referred to as the Punjab Lasso.
The Shah, to ensure no one else should have such a palace, ordered Erik executed. Escaping with his life, Erik went on to Constantinople and was employed by its ruler in similar fashion. Forced to flee for knowing too much yet again, he continued to wander until finally returning to his native France, where he aided in the construction of the Opera Populaire with many of the same trap doors and secret mechanisms he used in the past—and concluded with building a secret home for himself in the opera cellars where he could give himself over to the composition of his music.

From there, the events of the first musical take place, ending with Erik's departure from the Opera's cellars. Broken and devastated, mere days after the events of the musical, he is approached by Eli to accept a contract in New Dodge.

Does your character have any close ties to existing canon characters? N/A

Why do you think your character would work in this setting? Being a frontier town, albeit in outer space, Erik has much to offer in terms of his creative genius with regards to architecture and engineering. New Dodge itself also has much to offer Erik, because it offers him a fresh start away from the blood soaked isolation of his life in Paris and abroad. Having lost his heart and succumbed to the pitfalls of true love by giving up the object of his desire for her own benefit, he hopes to heal, and perhaps make up for some of the blood on his hands by helping to forge this promising new world in space. The technology and advances he encounters will also capture his imagination, leaving him enthralled with his new home despite the fact that it will, initially, overwhelm him.

How do you plan to expand their CR? Even in seclusion at the Opera Populaire, Erik engaged with the outside world, even if he did pose as a specter in the shadows. Here, in New Dodge, he desperately yearns to find something that will fill the hole that losing Christine and his Opera has left behind. Though he will be resolute in spurning relationships, it will be the setting itself that draws him into doing precisely that. Curiosity about the technology, art, and even other races will draw him out of his shell. Any acceptance of him at face value, masked deformities and all, will bring him further out of seclusion. He will very much appear to be unable to cultivate CR at the start, but his inability to resist the trappings of this brave new world will lead him to start reaching out gradually, and eventually he will build a quietly extensive network of friends with his combination of charm, loneliness, and voracious curiosity.

What will your character do for work? With his creative genius and his desire to start anew and atone for the past, he will likely try to find work with city services in some capacity, at least until he can find a means of entering the world of the theater—or build a theater community of his own.

Inventory:

- one white half mask
- the clothes on his back
- a small satchel containing a scavenged change of clothes, some sheafs of handwritten musical compositions, and a length of rope
- a small amount of currency amounting to about one hundred francs

Samples:

Third-Person Sample: Erik and Christine are reunited (first subthread).

First-Person Sample: Erik and Anya speak on the network (second subthread).