App for Synodiporia

[papacerberus]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Bear
AGE: 31
PLAYER JOURNAL: naturalcyber
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: realisticfakefish [at] gmail.com and plurk naturalcyber
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: NA

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Lupa
CANON: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
POINT IN CANON: Game 1; post death
AGE: "It's complicated" (technically as an AI, he hasn't existed very long at all, but was an adult old enough to have a teenage kid before his original death and becoming said AI)
APPEARANCE: here!
CANON HISTORY: Here's a link, but it's a little sparse.

When he first appears in Game 1, Lupa is already the leader of a very large and successful tribe. He's quiet, but gets right to the point of asking a very important question during the meeting with the Dissemination Machine and the other tribe leaders. His tribe, The Wolves, is easily one of the most formidable, and through Lupa's leadership has been able to hold a standoff with the larger Brutes tribe, who have more manpower, and a fearsome leader of their own in Varin Omega. It's also made a visual point that Lupa wears strings of Tag Rings around his neck and waist. While the exact reasoning behind it is never elaborated on, anyone in the Junkyard would know what the Tag Rings are used for, and therefore represent. Tag Rings are the most basic possession of each person in the Junkyard, and record their exploits in battle, and their allotment of macca--money--, as well as allowing them to requisition necessities like weapons, ammo, and rations for themselves. Leaders, when called to the Temple, use their Tag Rings to confirm their identity and presence. In short, each ring represents a life, and Lupa wears over a dozen not his own strung together with blood-red cords.

Lupa doesn't make another "on-screen" appearance for a good chunk of gameplay, but the player can learn about him and the Wolves through dialogue with Wolves tribe-members in various places. The members emulate their leader in many ways, demonstrating an emphasis on knowledge, honor, and steadfast confidence in spite of being out-manned and surrounded by their enemies.

When Lupa does appear again, he's the leader of an essentially defeated tribe--because the enemy leader got an 11th hour villainous superpower and decimated his tribe with it--and he doesn't act the least bit defeated by this. He shows up to negotiate with the Embryon, who are the only other standing tribe, and have the trump card--the Cyber Shaman, Sera--working with them, as an equal, and retains his dignified bearing even as he offers his life in exchange for taking good care of his men, after he helps them defeat the Brutes. When his motives are questioned and his life threatened, Lupa doesn't flinch, and reiterates his position, insisting that he sees honor in the Embryon (and especially Gale, who's holding a knife to his throat at the time). Then he proceeds to lead the Embryon into a set of secret tunnels, that they can use to sneak into the Brutes' well defended base undetected.

While he leads them, Lupa helps guide the Embryon to discovering a fact he has already realized, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Junkyard and how things work, especially that they remember things that do not exist in their world. During this exchange, he reveals he has a son, a child, that he's been dreaming about since getting the Atma, and that there's something he needs to tell the child, but that someone else will do it for him.

Then the Brutes discover the tunnels, and Lupa tells them about Varin's new power (to drive demons instantly Mad, not that Lupa has confirmation of this beyond Varin "becoming unstoppable somehow") and how he used it to slaughter the Wolves all on his own, and claims he will provide a distraction and keep the Brutes busy while the Embryon continue with the plan. He gives his Tag Ring (again, symbolizing his life) to Gale (and not the tribe leader, Serph) before transforming into Cerberus and going off to do what he claims. But not before Gale declares that Lupa will go to Nirvana with them, even if they have to destroy the Temple that governs the whole world. To which Lupa replies, "So be it."

As the Embryon go through the tunnels, they see evidence of Lupa doing as claimed, but at first, each soldier of the Brutes is killed as quickly and cleanly as possible, and some are even left alive and unconscious. However, the further they go, the more vicious the deaths are, torn to pieces, and with evidence that this was done before death in some cases. One of the Wolves claims that Lupa growled at him as if he didn't recognize him, shakily making an excuse that it must have been dark. Finally they come across the body of one of the Wolves, throat completely torn out.

Then Lupa, gone completely Mad, attacks them, and the Embryon are forced to mortally wound him. Then Lupa, unable to transform back, shares a few last words, asking Gale to devour him, and passing along a message for his child to become a man of honor, and that said child will be holding an olive leaf.

Then he dies, but that's not the end of his story. Once the Embryon make it out of the Junkyard, they discover the real world, and that everyone inside the Junkyard, including themselves, was an AI. They also discover that almost all the AIs have part or all of the soul (or data) of people who had lived and died in the real world.

Lupa was one of them, named Greg, and he was the founder and leader of the rebel group called the Lokapala, who have been working to keep people safe and out from under the grasp of the Karma Society who were masquerading complete social control as salvation and eventually started turning people into demons and capturing "unworthies" like the Lokapala for food. Greg's son Fred, and Greg's best friend Roland, end up joining the Embryon, just as the Embryon end up helping the Lokapala with their goals.

About Greg specifically, he was a good leader, and remembered very fondly by his men, even two years after his death. He personally took the risk of leading the Lokapala against the Karma Society to protect themselves, and in the end he was abandoned by Roland (who later blames himself for Greg's death), after purposefully staying back alone to fight the Karma Society and save as many lives of his men as he could.

CANON PERSONALITY: One thing that the games make clear is that Greg and Lupa are very similar, if not outright identical to each other in base personality. The largest differences between them stem from the fact that Greg was a normal man, and a man of peace foremost, who picked up leadership to help and save his people, and eventually actual fighting as a very last resort in a world gone apocalyptic. Lupa, on the other hand, is tempered steel, forged by fighting, and long before he truly awoke to the depths of his personality, existed only for war.

The most quickly apparent trait that Lupa displays is honor. He holds true to his word, even at his own expense, and is steadfastly loyal, not only to his ideals, but to his men, and when dishonored by Madness, specifically asks for death ("Please… Devour me.") which fits in very well with warrior honor codes.

He retains high ideals, even in a literal dog-eat-dog world of the Junkyard. Lupa's first concern is that of caring for his men. What brings him to reach out to the Embryon is the destruction of so many lives of people he was responsible for, and knowing that he alone couldn't stop it, and on the negotiating table, his most important requirement is that the Embryon treat his soldiers "fairly." He retains this trait from Greg, who was a compassionate leader and was willing to sacrifice himself to protect the Lokapala. Indeed, Lupa is willing to literally offer the Embryon his head in order to see his men taken care of. It's the very definition of selflessness.

Lupa's compassion and sense of fairness extends to others not his own as well. In the tunnels, while he maintains control of himself, he leaves even his enemies alive if he can, and kills them as quickly (and presumably painlessly) as he can if leaving them alive is impossible. He doesn't devour a single one.

Lupa is also very intelligent and perceptive. He's the first to realize and point out in the beginning of the game that in spite of the new commandments, in essence nothing has changed, so how can they end the stalemate? He also accepts Gale's test for what it is, and can see similar traits to those Lupa possesses in Gale before Gale realizes them inside himself. Additionally, Lupa is also the one who makes the first steps towards realizing that they're all in an unnatural world, even if he doesn't have all the pieces in order to realize exactly how the world is unnatural.

Lupa is also a parent at heart. Right up there with taking care of his soldiers, who can be argued as family, given the way the games present relationships with the tribe that gets the most screentime, is finding and reuniting with his son, and if he can't, making sure his son gets his last message.

Lupa is also charismatic, this inherited directly from Greg, who was able to unite scared, hopeless and downtrodden people behind one cause. Lupa admittedly had an easier time of it, given the AIs in the Junkyard were essentially programmed to follow their leaders, but even in the Junkyard, his soldiers refuse to follow the law which states that they must join the victorious tribe. They continue to follow Lupa's memory to the very end.

In general, Lupa is serious and severe, as befits a soldier and leader of men, but there are hints of other emotions. There's the faintest hint of a smile when Gale offers to take down the Temple so he can join the Embryon, and he can't quite disguise things like surprise, or approval in his tone. Given a new environment that is less kill or be killed, that serious exterior would be able to soften a little. Lupa is pragmatic, but he still has the steadfast hope that Greg had underneath that exterior, even if he shows it in subtle ways, like the certainty that the Embryon and Sera will kill Varin and attain Nirvana.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Firstly, in non-magical skills, Lupa is a skilled leader, and well-versed with firearms, strategy, and other things pertaining to being a soldier.

In terms of more magical skills, Lupa has an Atma, Lavaflow, that allows him to transform into a powerful Asura (which is one of the rarest classes of demon) called Cerberus. Image here

While he is in the form of Cerberus, Lupa gains access to very powerful abilities. He absorbs fire (meaning it heals him), is resistant to damage from earth, force (wind), and electric, and to top that off, is completely immune to expel (light), death (also called dark in some SMT titles), and ailments.

Lupa is one of the end-game boss battles, and thus, has an extremely powerful skill-set. In addition to using a wide variety of skills that player controlled characters have the ability to learn (and theoretically every non-player character can also access), Lupa has access to:

Rend: this is a single target physical attack that is essentially the same as the skill called Executioner on the mantra grid.

Psycho Rage: grants four blinking turn icons (ie it gives him more attacks before he can be counterattacked)

Phlegethon: A "combo" between two of his heads that does slightly better than the most powerful fire attack (Maragidyne) to a group.

Pyriphlegethon: A super "combo" between all his heads that does mega fire damage to a group. Most powerful fire spell in the games.

In terms of non-unique skills, based on the skills he throws at the player during the boss fight, and given the fact that everyone apparently has access to the whole mantra grid, this diagram is what Lupa has mastered. (And because he won't be able to get to Karma Terminals to get new mantra, he won't get the rest.)

As far as magic in human form, some Asura class demons of high level do show an ability to create minor environmental effects relating to their strongest element (namely Heat causing small explosions, and Roland causing electrical discharges), so Lupa almost certainly can too. I will say for the record that instead of explosions, he can, with some concentration, increase the ambient temperature right next to his skin to incredible levels, and with some level of control on how hot. So he can, say, touch a piece of metal for several minutes and concentrate to turn it red or even white-hot, and he makes a very comfy space heater when it's cold.

Game adjustments!
Because bringing him in just as he is would be ridiculously overpowered in terms of some things, I suggest the following:
--He keeps his fire absorb, but loses the rest of his elemental resistances, so other elements will all harm him normally.
--He's naturally weak to ice (and a much lesser extent, to water), and has to consciously maintain the Ice Resist skill in order to reduce the damage to somewhat more than normal instead of knocking him for a loop. If his concentration ever slips (or he's sleeping, or hurt badly, etc) his ice weakness comes right back. Therefore, most of the time, Lupa probably won't keep the skill active, unless he's expecting to be attacked, or in a very cold and icy environment.
--Because it's so far outside his element, even though he's technically mastered powerful ice spells in order to obtain Ice Resist skill, casting one would take great concentration and maybe lower the temperature or frost up a surface instead of anything useful. He can chill a drink, but that's about it.
--His immunity to Expel (and therefore light/holy etc) is reduced to a slight resistance. His immunity to Death (dark, etc) is reduced to a strong resistance, and ailments will affect him normally.
--like player characters, using the powerful physical skills (and his own personal Rend) will "cost HP" and negatively affect his health/strength.
--psycho rage just ceases to exist, because what is translating that to a world where people don't nicely sit and take turns attacking each other anyway?

Other things:
--Cerberus has long spikes on each lower leg, hidden under the "feathers" of long fur covering his paws. He can extend them and stab people with them.
--Like all people infected with Atma, Lupa must consume a special, magical substance called magnetite to keep himself going, or go completely Mad to the point where only death will "cure" him. Magnetite is found most abundantly in the bodies of humans and demons, and at very low amounts in animals. So essentially, he's an obligate cannibal, but he can eek along for a little while if he eats massive amounts of animal meat.
--Cerberus's natural instincts are very powerful, and a combination of territorial and protective. Under normal circumstances, Lupa can control them, but if his control slips, those instincts will push him to viciously attack "intruders" and if he goes Mad everyone will become an intruder in his eyes. On the flip-side, it also makes him incredibly protective (and usually gentle) with those he considers "his people"
--Lupa doesn't have eyes in demon form but either he has some other way of seeing or additional senses to make up for it (headcanon: a little of both), and all of his senses are probably more acute in demon form
--tied to the sun: while demons are immune to being turned to stone by the black sun, they are also more sensitive to it, and disturbances (solar noise in canon) can push them into a berserk state where they are partially transformed against their will and have lowered self-control
--so, while they're transformed into demons, in order to use items and things, they must hack/spit them up. Yeah. They also sometimes regurgitate things that are irritating or they otherwise can't digest. (on the flip-side, transforming back doesn't mean nakedness because their clothes stay with them which is very useful when one transforms into a shoulder high, three headed dog demon)
--demon stomachs are pretty close to being bottomless pits in either human or demon form, but if by some miracle they do eat too much, or more usually, just eat something that disagrees with them, they'll end up getting debilitating stomach aches


INVENTORY;
--His armor, naturally. It's bullet-resistant, except that Lupa neglects to wear anything up top except a sleevless, open (and half-length) jacket, because he's just that badass.

--his personal weapon and ammo for it (not shown in canon, but headcanoned as a semi-automatic pistol.)

--A selection of restorative/curative items: 4 rations, 6 brave rations, 13 moldy rolls, 1 soma drop, 2 great chakras, 4 dis-aches, 2 panaceas, 1 dis-mute, 1 dis-stun

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?

S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: TDM thread

PROSE SAMPLE:
It's dark. Following on the heels of the first thought is, "but not peaceful." There are noises, some close, and some far. Rumblings of engines--tanks?--the whistle of things moving fast, and the screech of metal on metal. Breaks.

Lupa doesn't feel pain, but he tastes blood, smells it, and licking at his teeth doesn't cleanse his mouth--mouths of the slick coppery tang. He's dead, or should be, and even as he heaves himself to his feet, he can tell that this isn't the tunnels. There's no rush of water, and the air is moving freely. But light comes and goes, over and under, moving rapidly in looping paths.

There's no rain. It's strange and unnatural, and yet, at the same time a whisper of memory tells him that constant rain like the Junkyard has is the unnatural thing, just as the lack of children or animals is.

Before Lupa can think further, light careens towards him, so bright it's painful, and Lupa leaps out of the way, grateful for four legs and a stride longer than men are tall, even as the absurdity of preserving life already lost presses in on him. What is coming towards him is a demon, grimacing, and fire licks at his jaws before the thought derails. It's not alive, but paint and metal.

A car, the part of his mind that most easily touches and learns from the dreams supplies. But the car is empty and Lupa knows that that is wrong. Everything is subtly off, as Lupa moves and watches. None of the cars--or trucks, or vans--have people inside. They should not be able to move on their own, in this strange night.

More and more, Lupa is certain that this is not the Junkyard, but neither does it fit anything his mind conjures up when he thinks of Nirvana--but then, he wouldn't expect it to. Nirvana isn't for him, not with his tribe all but gone and his promise, his life given to Gale and the Embryon.

As another car goes flying past, Lupa decides it doesn't matter. He is here, wherever here is, and nothing will be accomplished by staying still. So he begins moving, picking a path at random, and careful to stay as far to the side as he can, outside the white lines if possible. Lane markers, something tells him, and the vehicles should attempt to stay within. His claws click on the surface of the-- road as he walks, reluctant to give up the bulk of Cerberus. He's more likely to survive a collision this way, and something in him desperately clings to that. Willing to die, for the right reason, but always, always wanting to live.

Now isn't the time for doubts, besides, and the whispers of what if--what if he can't change back? What if the hunger...--are pushed aside.

If someone else is here in this strange place, Lupa will find them, and proceed from there.