I posed an idea for a philosophy based alternate path one could take with undead/hollowing, and it was suggested I share it with the group and see what the 'group's' opinions are on it, so here is that info-dump + character.

[quote]I was curious of a 'new' type I've been using in recent dark souls RP, though I wouldn't call it so much a 'curse' as a philosophical re-imagining of the hollowing process, and I'm not sure how it may or may not tie in with 'this' RP of yours, but in the past it has worked well and appealed well when I've asked about it, So I figured I'd try and salvage it once more for this RP :D

The basic concept looks at the various characters who, if you progress their stories successfully, seem to lose themselves and 'hollow' more and more the harder they try to hold on to their past, and asks the question 'what if someone let that past go and filled 'themselves' with 'new', new memories, experiences, new portions of 'what makes us what we are'. Would they, rather than hollowing and going mad or feral, simply 'change' as they progress onward?

It also uses the concept of some of the creatures in Dark souls and their 'quirks', along with the typical undead pattern of absorbing the souls of their enemies, and imagines that as the original 'soul' fades, which I 'think' has been alluded to, this particular style of existence would, instead of manipulating those absorbed souls to be used to strengthen the original, would literally replace the missing portions, most likely leading to strange mutations related to the particular creature, though also dependent on how strong that creatures 'soul' was. [i.e. normal hollows would still be pretty much fodder, but if he 'farms' them he might very well begin to emulate those twisted lost souls. Where-as a 'boss' soul would yield a more profound effect on him, both physically and psychologically, yet would likely make him stronger for it... that is of course assuming 'he' is given the boss soul, but he could still gain 'something' from the residual.]

Ultimately, this equates to replacing the standard spells, as well as some armor and weapon availability, in exchange for somewhat 'quirkier' alternative spells, and natural armor and weapons... and of course, not descending into a mumbling moaning mess of mindless hollow.

All that said, in terms of 'play' it equates to a limited system allowing him to, instead of learning or needing 'the right stats', or attuning, he can gain new abilities, strength, weaknesses, and potentially detrimental traits based on the creatures he fights the most. The general system I work with is that anything that isn't a boss that is either sufficiently strong, or that he absorbs from in large enough numbers, will grant him a new ability or improvement [like casting conflagrate without a pyromancer flame or 'limited charges'], but also a new weakness or balancing negative to the change [Like that conflagration cast burning his arm as much as it does the enemy.], all with limited, albeit long, periods of persistence through which it will fade away just as everything else in his past does.

That said, Boss souls are a different matter, being vastly stronger than normal monsters they'll grant some improvement or ability without a major debuff aside from relevant weaknesses that said boss 'had'. [Like, for instance, if he absorbed 'duke's dear freya' he might be able to produce poison and have chitinous armor, along with relevant resistances and immunity to his 'own' poison.] That is, 'again', assuming he actually 'gets' the boss soul given that this is a group RP, but something lesser could still come from that residual.


below is the character I used for those other RPs, and now that I think about it in the 'curse' sense, it kind of forces him to walk a path of seeking dangerous enemies to face in order to avoid being 'over-filled' with the essence of the land's endless hollows which would ultimately lead to the same fate as any other undead that went hollow the normal way.

all of 'that' said! I am okay with relegating him to simply being a remarkably eccentric, but otherwise standard, undead... and just to note, the 'additional skills' at the bottom were added in the last RP because it called for those, being based on setting up a new settlement and each one needing something to contribute in the sense of NPCs providing services XD... those may or may not be at all relevant here, heheh.

[hider=Asta, Paragon of Change]
Name – Astavyastamaina Marpunu [He just goes by Asta][And yes, that is a made up name, he made it up himself! it even has a meaning.]
Age – Unknown
Gender – Male
Sexuality – Undefined
Land of Origin – He doesn't remember where he came from before.
Covenant – Marpu yokka margam [The path of Change]
Title of Government - None yet!
Appearance – He's a rather odd looking person, seemingly not an inch of his body is actually visible, fairly tall and covered from head to knee's in a strangely fibrous looking white material that appears to be done up in a cloak of sorts. There is clearly something worn under it, as there are thick leather sleeves protruding from it, though they look needlessly wide and they terminate in a pair of gauntlets that are attached to the sleeve's outer edges and almost seem as if they are sealing them. These gauntlets appear to be made of some form of chitinous material, as if they were made from the pieces of some over-sized bug monster, the boots might be similar, though there is some slightly obscuring mist lingering at the base of his cloak that blurs the view beneath it.

More note-worthy still is the helmet, also wrapped in the strange white stuff and comprised of a large green orb whose surface creates the illusion of a giant eye that turns in whichever direction it is viewed from.
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[img]http://oi59.tinypic.com/244p0dk.jpg[/img]
[img]http://oi61.tinypic.com/2cqz90n.jpg[/img]
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Personality: Personality – Asta comes across as a bit of a loon, not a violent one, just a real odd-ball, with strange mannerisms and an equally strange language that joins his speech from time to time. He often seems to take nothing as seriously as anyone he meets, but the smart traveler of Lordran would easily consider that, like countless other things in this land, there is more to him than meets the eye.

He bears strong beliefs about the undeadening, some which differ intensely from most groups and, while he may not have personal problems against certain groups, some of them may have issues with 'him', particularly since he is not shy about sharing his strange philosophy with whoever will listen, though he still refrains from wanton preaching.

Backround - He doesn't remember where he came from, and only a few tidbits of who he used to be that he decided were worth recreating, mainly some personality traits, especially those that set the foundation for his philosophy, skills, and useful knowledge. Otherwise, he considers his 'old self' to be dead and gone in favor of the new self, in standing with his philosophy, the process of becoming undead was simply the death of his old life, which he released to oblivious in favor of going head-long into forging a new life, one full of change rediscovery.

He does not view the undeadening as a curse, but simply another stage in life that gives him the chance to become a whole new person! In fact, he came to Lordran seeking adventure, and prophecies tended to be great guides to finding exactly that! The interesting people sure don't hurt the experience either.

What he 'does' remember is that since becoming undead, he has never felt freer, letting the old slip away in order to discover the new, ever changing as he forges new memories, finds new knowledge, and learns new skills to play with... He can't imagine why anyone would be afraid of new things!


Weapons, spells, armor, other equipment go here: Arsenal –
[hider=arsenal]
Bone Greatbow - An almost comically large bow, formed of surprisingly flexible bones from some unknown creatures, with skulls of some other creatures fused to it. It is surprisingly durable for it's rickety appearance and often used as a make-shift shield if anything gets too close while he has it out.

Bone Great Arrows - Giant Arrows made from the bones of some large creatures, shaped similar to lances and useless on anything less than a great bow, can also be used in melee if one doesn't mind something being more fragile than a proper weapon.

Screen of Marpu - The strange helmet worn by a mysterious man, the unusual shaping of it's giant crystal eye, though appearing solid from the outside, provides the wearer with a refracted view that shows all before him, allowing unhindered vision despite being a full helmet. It also has the added effect of being remarkably creepy to the onlooker.

Fibrous Cloak - A cloak made of an unknown fibrous material, though it appears fragile, it is surprisingly effective at 'catching' sharp objects such as arrows or lighter swords and appears to be resistant to Fire, Electrical currents, and Cold weather. It can in-fact be used to store small objects or lighter weapons by setting them amidst the odd material.
Deep contents - Estus Flask, Several healing poultices, a couple of smoke bombs, some snack meats, a couple of rusty old broken swords he usually throws at things for the hell of it.

Gauntlets and Sabatons of Marpu - A Similar set of gauntlets and boots that appear to be made from the remains of some giant insect, fashioned into clawed hand protectors and sharpened boots, they are useful for climbing and clinging, as well as improvised melee, while the boots seem to exude a strange mist that the Muffles sounds of contact with various surfaces. It is possible that, like their wearer, there is more to these things than what is visible on the surface.
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Magical Traits – 
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Magic Imitation? - There are several 'spells' he uses that resemble others while not being literally a learned/attuned spell in the same way other's know them.

Combustion - It behaves identically to it's actual pyromancy counter-part, producing a blast of flame from the hand, yet where a pyromancer is untouched by their own flame, his seems to leave his gauntlets singed and smoking.

Soul Infusion - It has an affect similar to Resonant weapon and other infusion spells, however, rather than empowering a weapon with a particular element it infuses it with a non-elemental boost. Ironically, this does not work with most 'equipped' weapons, and in-fact can only be used while un-armed, using simple natural weapons, or those with special properties such as being made of bone or 'designed' to channel it. As this uses his gathered souls, repeated use is costly, however he can choose how much to use in each strike and can even do so with 'single souls', although the out-put of power is directly proportional to how much is 'paid'. [Hint: His bone-greatbow counts and he can form soul arrows for it, but naturally this is costly in souls.]

Poison Mist/Acid Surge/Flash Sweat - Acid, poison, and sweat have been a few things he frequently displays the ability to produce in large quantities without afflicting himself with their negative side-effects, whether as a cloud or a spray, or simply 'washing' himself in it for one reason or another [like resisting fire], and interestingly enough this is one of his spells that does not appear to have a drawback that works against him when using it. [Hint: There's a reason for that :3]
[Note:When I think of acid and poison, I usually imagine that different things produce different kinds, and while immune to their own, they may not be immune to different kinds of such from a different sources, perhaps resistant though.]

Iron guard - Technically speaking this one behaves exactly like 'Iron Flesh', Except that it focuses on specific portions instead of the whole body, thus restricting his mobility less than the original spell, but this is solely because there is less 'metal' by comparison, and as such less protection. In addition to 'still' restricting his mobility somewhat the 'iron flesh' is actually thin enough that it will simply break against heavier blunt or piercing strikes instead of protecting him. [Note: By specific portions, I'm referring to his 'Gauntlets' and 'boots', so body blows will still be un-hindered by the metal addition.]



Paragon of Change - Little is known about this strange power, one needs to see it for themselves to grasp it, and even then they may not realize what it means, though interestingly enough, it is actually the source of his other so called 'spells'. [There's several things under this category I would use, I'll detail them when Asta reveals them =3 but they won't even be relevant until then.]

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Any relations?: Many, forgotten and not. [though in the context of the current group, I'll let everyone else decide if they want to do that XD]

Additional skills:
Soul Transmutation [Specialization - Spells? Armor? Effects?], Crafting [Variety, Weapons, Armor, Accessories. Restriction - Primal materials, bones, chitin, hide, etc.], Climbing, Archery, Joke Telling, Acrobatics, Chaotic Melee... Also knows all the emotes, and Praises the sun whenever he pleases!
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