C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A LW Y N D
P O E N A V I D S O N ♦ F E M A L E ♦ 1 8 ♦ G O T H A M
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
"Here then at long last is my darkness. No cry of light, no glimmer, not even the faintest shard of hope to break free across the hold."
A dark, troubled girl, Poe is on-the-run from forces of all kinds - the mundane, the oppressive, the supernatural, the eldritch - but most of all, she is on the run from herself.
Escaping from Gotham after a short stay at Arkham, she remains a 'person-of-interest' to any sapient party aware of her existence. For her part, Poe seeks to drop off the grid entirely, but seems fated to be unable to do so. She has been haunted her entire life, by every corridor she has walked through, every archway she has passed beneath, every stone she has stepped across. The haunting is inside her, and it is hers to release or consume or subdue or, in her most terrible moments, surrender to.
Perhaps there is help in the world outside to calm her world inside; perhaps not. She runs regardless, ever-escaping. All she truly desires is a home to flee to.
"What miracle is this? This giant tree.
It stands ten thousand feet high
But doesn't reach the ground. Still it stands.
Its roots must hold the sky."
Poe is a portal.
Within Poe there is a great and terrible labyrinth - an eldritch, shifting space she has dubbed 'The Finite Passage' - and through navigating this labyrinth, she finds her way across the world when she cannot travel in the conventional method. Provided you can navigate it - some journeys easier, some harder - you can arrive at any destination you require. Assuming you don't get lost along the way.
Poe can manifest the Finite Passage two ways: she can disappear into herself, stepping through the portal that is her own body and finding herself on the other side of herself within the labyrinth, re-manifesting at her destination when she has found the exit; or, she can unfold herself into the world around, letting the labyrinth spool out and creep across her surroundings and impose its own surreality upon the world, until it has subsumed where she was and made it where she isn't, just another twisting hallway of the maze. In this way, she can bring others into the Finite Passage in greater volumes, or swallow up those who won't enter the labyrinth willingly.
Poe has a limited degree of control over the labyrinth; well-rested, focused, clear-of-mind, exits manifest plentifully and well-marked, allowing for quick journeys to where she intends to go. Tired, stressed, stricken with strife, the labyrinth becomes confounding, eluding escape and only allowing passage to the most stalwart of navigators. Catatonic, storm-minded, blackout - the labyrinth closes its walls completely. At any time, the Finite Passage is a reflection of the psyche of its avatar, and can present itself as serenely or nightmarishly as is appropriate in the moment.
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
"Little solace comes
to those who grieve
when thoughts keep drifting
as walls keep shifting
and this great blue world of ours
seems a house of leaves
moments before the wind."
Despite her use of it and her limited understanding of its mechanics and relation to her own mind, Poe is deeply frightened by the Finite Passage, and desperately seeks a salve for the labyrinth that is in equal parts intrinsic to Poe herself, and so alien as to be counter to the human understanding of itself and its place in the universe.
Her fear causes irrationality and paranoia, and most of all she is frightened of uncharted territory within the Finite Passage, of which there is, counter-intuitively, potentially endless acres. She has fled from all shelter, been examined by all practitioners, been incarcerated within all walls, and now seeks what she believes may be her last and best chance of not only understanding - from others and herself - but of belonging as well.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
R E L A T I O N S H I P S:
Short summary of your characters thoughts, feelings and regards for the rest of the cast. Optional and can be added to whenever.
