Name: Amis Thysia
Age: 20
Appearance: Amis is nothing spectacular at a glance: though tall, he is not lanky; though vaguely attractive, he falls closer to "average"; though often sort of dishevelled, he is not messy (or neatly groomed) enough to be especially noticeable. Perhaps the one feature he likes about himself is his eyes - a fairly striking blue-grey that varies in hue in different lights. He tends towards dark, fairly dramatic clothing, but again, nothing that makes him stand out too much. He's an average 20-year-old uni student, with a vaguely, subtly emo/gothic look still haunting his wardrobe from his melodramatic teenage years, and who sports a bedhead more often than a carefully-coiffed hairdo.
Inherited ability: Metal (I will admit that my undying love for Magneto may have had a part in this choice.
)
Brief History: "There is a distinct difference between an atheist and an anti-theist; the former is passive, the latter active. One describes one's own beliefs; the other describes an attitude towards others' beliefs. One believes there is no God; the other knows, knows. I am the latter, the other, the different. I believe that humanity cannot live eternally in fear of these creatures, cringing before them, stone throats frozen by petrification distorting the truths we all have a right to hear and know. They act as false Gods, controlling us without ever revealing their faces, and with our fear we worship them; we fetishise silence! I am an anti-theist; I oppose these false Gods; the stifling of truth cannot continue."Amis is a scientist at heart. He is curious about the world, and believes in the power of truth - and in the importance of humanity's search for it. Imagine, then, his inquisitive child's mind attempting to reconcile itself with a society-wide conspiracy - a silent and unspoken agreement to hide, to
conceal the truth of the past from young ears. The conservative hush that pervaded the room in the frozen, petrified moment before his queries were brushed aside was always compelling, alluring to him. Of course, the universal taboo was impossible to resist, and, just as teenagers everywhere today type the word "porn" into a web browser for the first time with their hearts in their throats, Amis quietly delved into a quest for the truth of the past - anxious, excited, nervous, exhilarated.
He hated the fear in the eyes of his parents and his peers when he attempted to speak about what little he found. Inevitably, he became rather ostracised for his obsession with uncovering the past, and as is the fate of any who are isolated during their early, formative years, he grew up as an angry soul. His intelligence and passion went to waste on philosophising about that which nobody would discuss with him; he was yet another great philosopher who was limited to intellectual masturbation, without another to share in his ideas, consumed with angst on the problems he felt only he noticed in society. One must somewhat question reality, or rather one's own perceptions, once they reach the point of feeling utterly estranged, their worldview completely removed from that of those around them. Amis grew more frustrated, and more miserable, and more challenged. His university work started to suffer, his personal life was already a mess.
And then, of course, eventually he stumbled across like-minded individuals, his salvation from himself and his isolation: the cult around which this story centres. Universities have famously been a place for the seeds of revolution and alternative thinking to grow, and that has not changed with the coming of wider peace. With a release for his woes and the knowledge that he wasn't the crazy one
*, he stabilised, as did his life. He began to live normally again, with the exception of a hidden double life with the cult; his grades picked up, as did his social life, and with being able to pursue and express his personal beliefs on truth and the past as well as live a somewhat ordinary life, he felt fulfilled.
Undeniably, however, the glowing coals and embers of anger still rested in his breast - ready to be fanned and flamed.
* Or rather, simply reassurance from potentially equally flawed sources - but he views it as
knowing; oh, how appropriate for the themes of personal truth!
Note on personality: Amis is somewhat inspired by Winston Smith from 1984 and Bernard Marx from Brave New World. Their characters, similarly, feel they are the only one to see the truth of the world around them, as opposed to the indoctrinated minds of those around them - and yet, of course, if you are the only one to feel a certain way, are you not perhaps the crazy one?
Amis' reassurance of his sanity, that self-verification, after meeting the cult is dangerous - it is the same as in today's world, where we end up with echo-chambers or "circlejerks" of people with the same views all patting eachother on the back and assuring one another they're correct, closing out opposing views, and taking that as knowledge of their collective rightness. He takes the cult's reassurance of his sanity as
knowledge. He believes that they are in possession of the one truth. I can feel Herr Born turning in his grave.
Also, similarly to Bernard, he is willing to put aside and ignore the previous ostracism from his peers once he can be accepted by them. Amis is fiery and passionate, and not a weak person really, but he is also young and frustrated, and was very alone for a very long time - and so he has somewhat "given in" and compromised his principles there. It's only human to not want to be alone.
I suppose what I am trying to convey is that he's not a great martyr or anything. I don't want to make him a Gary Sue - persecuted by society for believing in his good principles, the great and noble hero, blah-di-blah. He's very much flawed and compromised in his philosophies and ideas, which are still forming - he's only 20, and who truly knows their whole philosophy on life at 20 (regardless of what youthful arrogance makes us think we know)?
