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[amnesiak]

▶ PLAYER
HANDLE:
CONTACT:
OVER 18?
CHARACTERS IN-GAME:

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Eliot Durant
CANON: Original Character
CANON POINT:
AGE: 18
BACKGROUND:

The world Eliot comes from is painfully cliched: A modern Earth where supernatural beings secretly exist side-by-side with regular humans. While a supernatural government does exist, it is not universally respected. In the modern era, the "Immortal Council" rules more in theory than practice. They struggle to maintain council over a population that evolves more powerful with every generation, while "Immortals" are stuck, un-evolving, in a single life. Stubbornly, this council acts as if they run the world. But in the modern day, some supernaturals don't even know the council exists. They only become relevant to criminals and stay relevant to fellow immortals.

In general, these supernatural populations can agree on one thing: Humans are below them. Like how humanity views themselves as caretakers for animals, the supernatural see themselves as caretakers for humanity. Some also view the human population as their prey, but even for those folk it is beneficial to protect their livestock. Hurting humans without just cause is a crime. Even those who need to eat humans have to follow specific rules.
It should be noted here that though these rules are common knowledge to supernaturals, few know they are enforced by an Immortal Council. They are respected as social norms.

Civilized co-operative living is highly valued in this society. One method of enforcing this is to create "Protected Cities." These cities have barriers around them, and everyone within the barrier has their power levels lowered. Some seek these cities on their own, as they provide safety for supernaturals with little to no power. Some are banished to these cities as punishment.

Those who are banished to the city where a special piece of jewelry that almost negates their power. They are forced to live almost mundane, almost human lives to repent for their crimes. The philosophy being that someone who is a danger to humans can learn to respect them by living in the herd. It is this "Prison System" that Eliot's story revolves around.

But first, let's backtrack:

---

Eliot Durant was born into a Georgian Era France. He was orphaned at a young age and left to live in a workhouse. The workhouse could hardly take care of the numerous orphans that appeared on its steps. Eliot had to find his own food, which for an orphan often meant finding money through thievery. But Eliot was lucky. He had been born with an exceptional gift: A pristine, photographic memory. Eliot could instantly memorize anything that he experienced with his five senses.

At first, it was the older kids that used his memory as a parlor trick for earning money: Adults would make bets as to whether they had a better memory than a grimy toddler. As he grew older, Eliot would initiate these bets himself. Though he never got rich (he always had to give money back to his workhouse family,) he was in a better situation than most. He even found warm places to spend the night, which was particularly important during this time.

In these days, the supernatural communities of Europe were fearless. They prowled the streets at night and gorged on the homeless. Eliot was not a stranger to stories of 'the thing' that would pluck sleeping bodies off the street and eat them. Many members of his orphan gang went missing over the years, and their disappearances were often chalked up to 'the thing.' If for no other reason than it was a more honorable and awesome way to die than simply getting too cold or sick.

When Eliot was twelve years old, the stories of 'the thing' became frightfully real for him. He showed off his memory talent to a nobleman traveling by carriage. The man was very interested in Eliot and tested him for hours, often over restaurant meals or while buying him luxurious sweets. Then, after a week of these memory tests, Eliot was kidnapped off the streets by 'the thing.'

The nobleman who had been testing Eliot was a vampire. He took Eliot away to the Durant Family Estate in England and set him to the odd task of memorizing a library of books. Preferring the cozy mansion to the streets of France, Eliot agreed to the job. It wasn't until he had been in the estate for three months that Eliot was given a bizarre ultimatum: He would become a vampire, or die.

Eliot chose to become a vampire. Because vampirism halted aging, Eliot would be allowed to mature into a young adult before his turning. During the five year gap, Eliot was pushed to continue memorizing things. Whether it was literature, music, art, recipes, or live events such as parties or battles: Eliot was tasked with memorizing it all. When not working on his mental catalog, Eliot would stay in the estate as a glorified prisoner.

By the time he reached "adulthood," by the family's standards anyway, he had also learned to hate vampires. Eliot saw the Durant family take in other orphans and homeless, only to drain their blood after fattening them up. Even knowing how awful vampires could be, he did not want to die. A grand party was thrown to celebrate his turning. Eliot would never forget how painful and awful the process was.

It was only after being turned that Eliot learned why he had been afforded this privilege. The Durant Family was one of special vampires, whose rare bloodline granted them immortality. Normally, Durants were tasked with using their endless lives to record the world's history. It was time consuming business that sapped up time otherwise spent having fun. Now that they had Eliot, they could focus less on their traditional job and more on having fun.

Eliot was a former human, so was looked down upon. Ironic since all Durants are sterile, but they did traditionally share their bloodline with non-humans. Eliot was called "The Living Library" and treated like an object. He would be sent around Europe to both share and gather histories, often netting invites to extravagant parties in the process.
The Immortal Council had a particular fondness for The Living Library. Eliot was one of the few allowed to visit them. They even treated him like one of their own, which granted him a protective status. To harm the council's property was a grave crime at the time. For decades Eliot lived under the thumb of cocky immortals, who starved him to limit his ability to fight back.

But this lifestyle did not last forever. The very thing that Eliot represented came back to bite the community that mistreated him. Knowledge spread. And humans took firm hold of it.

Humans learned to craft dangerous weapons. They taught each other how to destroy the supernatural threats that had once confidently roamed the streets at night. Eliot was not particularly sad when humans, armed with guns and knowledge, stormed the Durant Estate. He quietly escaped while his supposed family was slaughtered.

Eliot decided not to stick around to watch as knowledge fought back. He knew who would win. Instead, he took a ship to America.

PERSONALITY:

 At the core of Eliot's personality is his decision to have two. Unfiltered, Eliot carried the tremendous burden of 300+ years worth of pristine memories. He was once tired, depressed, and miserable as a result. To cope, Eliot began using his own hypnotism against himself. He cannot completely erase his memories due to being The Living Library, but he will seal them away temporarily. It is the relationship between the resulting two personalities that defines a lot of Eliot's personality and conflicts.

The Human Personality

Let's begin with Eliot's preferred personality, and the one he will primarily show In Game. "Human" Eliot is a carefree and ditzy airhead. He may retain his practical knowledge (he can math and play instruments,) but he forgets anything "harmful." In particular, Eliot knows only a textbook version of history. He does not remember living through it, so he does not remember to be bitter about it.

At first glance, Eliot is an idiot. While he tries to portray himself politely, Eliot wears his emotions plainly on his sleeves. He tends to emote loudly, making his mood easier to read that a moodring. This can lead to him seeming childish and immature, and is unhelped by how innocent he appears. It is quite easy to trick Eliot for the first time, because he actively chooses to trust. 
But "actively choosing" is the key factor here. Even in ditz mode, Eliot does choose to be happy. He can never erase his human memories and can never truly escape his past: He can only make it easier to bear.

Actively choosing means that Eliot is filtering which emotions he shows. While he seems like he has no control over his outbursts, Eliot is actually curating every one of his responses. He chooses to be loudly happy, because he likes to be happy. He chooses to throw a tantrum, because he is sincerely angry and wants it known.

Likewise, Eliot chooses which emotions to hide. You may catch him comically crying over spilled milk, but you won't as easily catch him crying over heartbreak. He doesn't mind being upset in the moment, but he won't indulge in emotions that will have lasting consequences. The difference between what he shows and what he hides is a question of "will this still hurt tomorrow?" If a feeling might taint a relationship or spoil a memory, Eliot will try to ignore it. And when he can't ignore it anymore, he will literally erase it with his pocket watch. This coping mechanism isn't healthy, but the "human Eliot" personality was never a healthy coping mechanism to begin with. He does not see erasing unpleasant feelings as bad, because erasing unpleasantness is his entire survival strategy.

The Vampire Personality

In contrast, there is "vampire Eliot." This is Eliot's unfiltered personality, who cannot guard himself from his memories. Those memories have made Eliot bitter and resentful. When he is "vampire Eliot," he comes off as grouchy and rude. But despite this slightly darker personality, he retains his optimistic core. It's that optimistic desire to live and love that drove him to create the split personality method at all.

Firstly, it's worth noting why Eliot chose to erase his 'true' personality. Eliot has seen humanity make the same mistakes over and over, and he began to logically lose faith in the world. He saw so much suffering and hate and disagreed with all of it, but saw no way to change it. It became tiring to live day to day when he knew of so many reasons to mistrust society. 
Added to this was how Eliot felt like he was losing his humanity. As time went on, he began to see humans as lesser than him. He lost respect for their short and foolish lives, because his was so long. Eliot realized that he was becoming an arrogant immortal. As a former human himself, Eliot has an ingrained hatred for immortals. To see himself becoming what he hated filled Eliot with depression and self-loathing.  
And at his core, Eliot was still an optimistic human. Despite knowing so many reasons not to love the world and humans, Eliot wanted to love them. That is why he erased his memories: To save his optimism and humanity, which he believed his immortal memories were threatening. This is also why Eliot himself labels the personalities "human" and "vampire."

However, his 'true' personality is more human that he gives himself credit for. He is an empathetic person, whose many memories make it impossible not to empathize with nearly every person that he meets. Eliot knows what hatred does to people, so tries to be understanding and unbiased. He knows what ignorance can do, so tries to learn about those around him. But he's also exhausted from putting forth so much effort and receiving such little in return.

His vampire personality also emotes differently from human Eliot. Whereas his human self filters his feelings, vampire Eliot is too tired. He can't erase feelings with his pocket watch, so he expresses them bluntly. Sometimes he will 'wake up' with emotions his other self erased too, which cause him to have seemingly random outbursts. Though he knows it is wrong, vampire Eliot will also carry petty grudges and have moments where he just doesn't care enough to be polite. 

He's also real tired. He almost always has a headache when he first wakes up, so a newly awakened vampire Eliot is not someone to mess with. Eliot is especially rude and snappy when he just woke up.
 

A Living Library

Tying both of these personalities together is the reason he can't straight up erase his memories: Eliot is the last remaining Living Library. This job entails memorizing and reciting all history, so his memory is very valuable. This job was also the reason that Eliot ever became a vampire and it justifies his entire existence.

Whether he is human or vampire, Eliot is burdened by this title.

For starters, Eliot is always an observer. He tries not to interfere with the world, but only to record its history. This can make him come off as distant, but rarely uncaring. Eliot may not directly help with a problem, but he will offer advice and materials so that others can solve their own problems. He helicopter moms around his friends, but rarely makes a landing.
This aspect of him is changing. At his current canon point, Eliot has made a very nosy friend in Ophelia and she has been getting into EVERYONE'S business. As a result, Eliot has been forced to engage more actively in events as he is constantly helping Ophelia help others. He's also finding that if he cares too much, it gets harder to be a mere observer. At his current point, Eliot may experiment with more assertive attempts to help. But it is a work in progress: Without Ophelia to spearhead the endeavor, he quickly gives up and retreats to his comfortable observer position.

Eliot is also timid and submissive. His entire life has been spent under the thumb of authority. As a Living Library, Eliot was treated as less than his fellow immortals. He existed to serve them. Everything he does with his life is in service of his job. Even his hobbies, like painting and playing music, were developed so he could record art and music. Eliot rarely self-expresses with his own original thoughts or creations, because he is not important. He is an observer to a more important history, carved by people more valuable than himself. And after 300 years of this being his only constant, Eliot can't easily shake the idea of his life holding less value than others.

He comes off as weak-willed and meek as a result. Eliot has trouble expressing his own opinions and feels guilty for having them. He does not want to taint his memorized histories with his own feelings. And yet, he values the feelings and opinions of others: Because theirs are valuable components in changing the world.

Further enforcing Eliot's negative self-image is how he has been forced to be weak. He is purposefully starved by other immortals, because Eliot has a lot of potential. He is made to be an anemic vampire with less physical strength than even a human. Eliot cannot resist his mistreatment, so tends to give up quickly. It's tiring to fight back. He won't win. So why bother?
Again, this is a trait being changed by Ophelia. She is a confrontational person who drags Eliot along with her. Due to her influence, Eliot has changed aspects of his own life. Ophelia keeps him fed, for example, and starts fights with those who hurt him. Even without her by his side, Eliot is now more willing to stick up for himself. It's just very hard. He'll likely crumble without someone to support him, but he will at least make an initial effort.

Lastly, there is the guilt. Eliot's long life is built on a foundation of blood. He has fed on humans and even killed them in order to survive. Throughout his long life, Eliot has had romances and friendships that were severed by his immortality. He views himself as someone who takes from others, but is unable to give. He is, after all, an observer. So to make up for all of his taking, Eliot puts a ton of stock in being a Living Library. Something that is slightly unfortunate in a digital age, where his job is becoming less and less valuable.

When Eliot is feeling down about himself, he'll run off to memorize a new book or pester people for an oral history to memorize. He needs to be useful, or all of the lives he has ruined were wrecked for nothing. And secretly, Eliot does enjoy his job. It lets him be close to his favorite things: Art and History. Eliot is especially attached to art and how it relates to his own immortality. If he asks you to paint him a picture or write him a song, it's because Eliot wants you in his life forever. He may be an immortal oscar the grouch sometimes, but he wants to the mortal moments to last.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

○ VAMPIRISM: Eliot is a form of “vampire” by most definitions. He has a body that doesn't produce its own blood, so he is generally cold to touch and looking very pale. His style of vampire can become closer or further from a healthy appearance depending on the amount of blood that they drink. A vampire that is well wed even becomes "superhumanly attractive," while a poorly fed vampire looks like a corpse. Eliot is the corpse type.

Eliot is generally hovering just above "poorly fed." His diet has always been controlled so as to keep him weak enough to be controlled. Eliot needs to drink blood at least once a month. He can supplement with any "living fluid," such as fruit juice or animal blood, but they are less effective than human blood. If Eliot does not drink enough blood, he gradually becomes more and more lethargic until he falls asleep. At which point, someone needs to force blood in his mouth to revive him.

Most of Eliot's vampiric abilities depend on how much blood he has recently consumed. Like his apparent health, they get stronger (or weaker,) depending on his state. Eliot tries not to drain his victims dry and is modest in blood consumption, so it is unlikely he will ever reach his full potential. Even in a game where he has access to blood substitutes, Eliot feels guilty for overconsuming.

○ SUPERSTRENGTH: At full health, Eliot has obnoxious superstrength. Vampires could even lift a car: It's insane, unfair, and unlikely to ever happen with this pink idiot. Eliot's typical strength is actually below the human expectation, because he doesn't drink enough blood. He's usually a twig who needs help, and is rather embarrassing. But if he were to drink blood from another character, he would quickly develop strength for the next 24 hours.

○ PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY: This is a natural talent, so is unaffected by blood consumption. Eliot's memory is as superhuman as his vampirism. He can memorize anything that he encounters in perfect detail. This includes books, movies, music, and art. More than being photographic, he can almost relive an experience in his head. However, this starts driving a person crazy when they have over 300 years of traumatic vampire memories. So Eliot has developed a unique coping mechanism:

○ LIGHT HYPNOSIS: This is a mean and manipulative power, so Eliot doesn’t use it often. It does allow him to get along with most people and to sometimes force them to do his bidding, though that would require both a permissions post and Eliot having the guts to do such a thing. This ability also requires very little blood, so is constantly within his reach. Eliot typically uses it to run his businesses; He hypnotizes a stranger off the street to run his business and allows them to take a cut of the money. All the while, this “business owner” is oblivious to how they are actually just a puppet. Eliot is sure to make sure they live comfortable lives.
At full strength, a Durant vampire can use hypnosis for much larger scale mind control. They used to wipe memories or inject fear into whole populations, just to control them. However, Eliot is a Library: It never even crosses his mind to force fake memories or feelings on someone, even if he has the potential for it.

This ability is important to Eliot, because it's also how he copes with his own memories. Eliot has trained a hypnotic reaction to the melody of his pocket watch: If the tune plays forward, Eliot begins 'forgetting' his longterm memories. This creates his spacey persona. He does not have full control over what he 'forgets,' so sometimes loses memory of people he loves or modern conveniences he needs to function, like wtf is an elevator.

However, his memories never truly disappear. He just moves them out of his conscious reach. When the melody plays backwards, Eliot remembers everything again. This control of his memories allows Eliot to preserve his sanity in his daily life, but continue to be a Living Library. Eliot prefers living in his 'human' persona... But if he had to pick one personality to keep, he would suffer with his 'vampire' persona. After all: His only use is as a Living Library, so he can't give that up.

○ IMMORTALITY / RAPID RECOVERY: A true perk of being a vampire. Firstly, Elly’s body no longer ages. He cannot produce his own blood, which is why it’s so important that he occasionally partake in human blood, or at least a lot of animal blood. When Eliot is injured, he is able to rapidly heal his body and pull through injures that would kill a mortal. On the flip side, any blood he loses from an injury can only be replaced by feeding. If he has not fed recently, then his healing is slower and he may not recover from otherwise non-fatal injures.

O PSYCHIC POWERS: Vampires have some psychic abilities, which usually come from their specialized bloodline. In the case of the Durant family, their shiny special feature was their immortality: No other vampire bloodline had that. But they were also the "superior" Vampire bloodline. Durants had been mixing bloodlines and stealing powers for centuries. This makes Eliot a potentially very powerful psychic threat: He can manipulate objects, apply crushing pressure, mess with peoples' minds, and even create psychic blasts of energy.

But he doesn't. Or rather, he's purposefully underfed so that he can't. The current Immortal Council, and the previous, were very aware that Eliot could kill them if he was well fed. Eliot knows he has psychic powers, but he doesn't realize his own potential. If they were to be unlocked in game, then Eliot still wouldn't know how to use them. In all 300 years, he has never trained them. They would be clumsy, mostly out of his control, and dangerous to himself.

With his limited blood, Eliot can move small objects. Even that gives him a massive headache afterwards.

INVENTORY: Pocket Watch (with the memory wiping tune)

MOONBLESSING: Cordis (House Cat)

▶ SAMPLES

link #1
link #2