application for penancerp

[highercommitments]

OOC Info
Name: Alishia
Age: 37
Contact: knightinqs / knightinqs#1243
Current Characters: Aiden Pearce, Nathan Drake


IC Info

Name: James Kidd (Mary Read)
Canon: Assassin's Creed, more specifically Black Flag
Age: 33
Appearance: As James Kidd | As Mary Read
Canon Point: Late 1718, after returning the Jackdaw to Edward Kenway.
Background: Here.

As a sort of aside, I want to mention that while James is really famous female pirate Mary Read, the character is known as James and passes as male for the better part of the game. That in mind and for consistency's sake, I'll probably use male pronouns and James rather than Mary for the character while he's presenting male, in game -- and for the better part of this application.

Personality:

• Outwardly, James is what you'd expect from a pirate -- a little hard around the edges, and only invested in what he can steal. While that's true to a point, however, James is not entirely as greedy or bloodthirsty as some of his peers. He's more likely to offer someone he's beaten, in combat or otherwise, a chance to see things his way, as he did with his game's protagonist, Edward Kenway, in offering him a second chance to make up for the wrongs he did to the Assassin Order. He's also less likely to make trouble or get into a fight he may not be able to win just for the sake of fighting, a more tactical mind than most, and won't hurt an innocent if he can afford not to. He's more the Robin Hood type, over all.

• Like most pirates, however, he has a sort of wanderlust and a love of life and freedom. It's why he joined the King's Navy, first, and turned to a life of piracy later, when it turned out a more stable home life really wasn't his thing. He believes that every man and woman has value and the ability to do whatever they set their minds to, and as such, he's not a fan of slavers or Templars (the rival secret order to his own Assassins), or people who abuse or confine women. He was one of the first people to try and convince Anne Bonny that she'd make a fine pirate, for instance, and had no problem working alongside Edward Kenway's black quartermaster, Adéwalé.

• In terms of temper, James is surprisingly quick to anger, despite his usually analytical mind. On the plus side, though, while violence is always an option, it's not usually the one he reaches for first, particularly when it's a friend he's upset with. No, thankfully instead, he usually starts and finishes with verbally dressing someone down. He's also not one to hold his tongue, even when it's some close to him -- if you're not being your very best you, if you've hurt him or the people around you, he'll let you know.

• On the flip side of things, James has a fairly sarcastic sense of humor, willing to poke fun at the people he's close to, albeit all in good fun. He also has something of an competitive streak, though again, all in fun -- he's the type to rise to a challenge a friend has set forth or make a friendly wager over a game of cards, all with a smile on his face the whole time. It's something of a point of pride that he can go toe to toe with the boys, maybe if only because he isn't a boy. What's that old saying? A woman has to work twice as hard as a man to be considered half as good as a man. Yeah, that.

• Finally, it's probably important to note, somewhere, that while James passes as a man, it's not out of shame or dysphoria or anything like that. More it's a means to an end, for all that he knows he wouldn't be allowed half the rights he has, otherwise, without most everyone thinking he's a man, and even among pirates. He may relax a little, as time goes on, but at least to start, he'll continue to guard that secret fiercely.

• Other: INTJ (The Architect), Gryffindor, Sagittarius, Wood Ox, Choleric Temperament, Chaotic Good

Weaknesses/Temptations:

• Slow to trust and prone to keeping secrets.
• Really, really hates the Templar Order, to the point of probably leading with murder, if and when one of them shows up here.
• Unflinchingly loyal to the people he's dedicated to and the Assassin Order, to the point where either might be something that can be used against him.
• He's from the 1700s, so while he might not be horrified by technology (he's seen some things, working for the Assassins), he's really not good with it.
• Along the same vein, while he does have his Eagle Vision, he really doesn't have anything going for him beyond that. He has no resistances to anything supernatural, as a result.
• Adrenaline junkie.
• Too nosy for his own good, to the point of sticking said nose in places it really doesn't belong. He's likely to believe he'll get away with it, too, for all that he has years of training in doing just that.

Sins:

• Aggravated Assault
• Alcohol Abuse
• Breaking and Entering
• Criminal Threat
• Conspiracy to Commit Murder
• Deception
• Dealing in Stolen Goods
• Destruction of Property
• Grand Theft Ship
• Greed
• Identity Fraud
• Lying
• Murder
• Piracy
• Pride
• Reckless Endangerment
• Resisting Arrest
• Stalking
• Theft
• Trespassing
• Wrath

Powers/Abilities:
James has several skills picked up over the course of his career as sailor, Assassin, and pirate, as detailed below.

• Assassin Training: Like it says on the tin, James is a trained assassin. Over the years, he's learned how to tail someone, kill them and then disappear long before anyone even realizes there's been a murder. He has a number of skills related to this even beyond just stealth and where to put a blade to kill someone quick, too, such as how to pick a lock (sometimes, the person you need to put out of their misery is behind closed doors) and how to make and use poisons (most notably to put someone to sleep or cause them to lose the ability to recognize friend from foe for a few minutes).
• Disguise: James is a woman who's been successfully passing as a man for the better part of two decades. He also knows how to be she when the situation presents, however, which is just as important, given that he's from a time period who very rarely saw women as a threat, what with being the weaker sex and all. Either way, while he probably wouldn't be able to pass as a specific person without outside help, he's at least good at pretending to be someone he isn't in a more general sense.
• Expert Combatant: James is quick with a sword and a pistol, and he can hold his own without either, otherwise. He frequently had to fight for his life, while trying to capture English or Spanish ships for their cargo.
• Freerunning: James was a skilled climber, even before his time with the Assassins, that skill something he learned serving on ships, and having to climb rigging on the regular. Joining up with them only strengthened this skill, however, teaching him how to move from rooftop to rooftop with ease, in a more urban setting, and how to perform the Assassin's trademark Leap of Faith.
• Sailing: Obviously, as a pirate more recently, and a member of the Royal Navy first, James is a skilled sailor. He knows his fair share about navigating by the stars, swimming, some sewing and carpentry to maintain the integral parts of a ship, light cooking, and so on and so forth. Basically, if it was involved in sailing in the late 1700s, James probably knows how to do it.

Finally, James does have one supernatural ability to his name:

• Eagle Vision: With a little bit of focus, James is able to perceive how people and things relate to him. People or creatures that are hostile to him appear with a reddish aura around them, allies appear with a blue aura; any potential useful sources of information, whether they're people or objects, glow gold, and anywhere that would serve as a hiding place appears white. Canonically, however, this ability isn't absolute -- so if, say, something had some important plot significance the mods didn't want him to recognize as such right away, it'd be easy to say he didn't see it for what it was. Finally, the ability also does require active focus -- to the point where if James does anything more strenuous than walking, his extrasensory awareness fades.

Items:

• A flintlock pistol.
• A British-made cutlass.
• A pair of Hidden Blades.
• A set of lockpicks.
• A satchel containing five smoke bombs.
• A blowpipe.

SAMPLES

Network: Here
Log: Here