Enervation Application

[onefortheland]

player info

Username: Diamond
Contact: lycanthropy101; PM
Rules and Conditions: Yes

character application info

basic info

Name: Dr. Percival Endicott Whyborne
Age: 28
Canon: The Whyborne and Griffin Series
History: Unfortunately there is no accurate wiki for the Whyborne and Griffin Series, so I have summarized what has taken place so far up until the canon point I will take him from here to the best of my ability.

What is not described in the history, because he discovers that in the next book is the fact that Whyborne is not entirely human. His father's side is, but on his mother's side he is part-human and part ketoi. The ketoi being a race of humanoids created before man to serve the gods (such as the dweller in the deep) more directly. They live under water and have gills, fins on their arms and legs, they have an overly wide mouth with shark-like teeth and in place of hair they have tentacles that can move about and sting like a jellyfish. But their eyes are very human and they can communicate (and breed) with humans as well. And they do, breed, with humans. A ketoi-human hybrid, like Whyborne, appears like any other person up until the time that they undergo a ritual to complete transformation and become full-ketoi. Ketoi do not inherently have magical abilities, but a few generations back Whyborne's ancestor on his mother's side, a sorcerer, was one of the unfortunate ones to mate with a ketoi, making him a sorcerer-ketoi hybrid. That, coupled with the fact that there are some other, more complicated things going on metaphysically with Whyborne (the god that is the magic of the town basically created him as a physically embodiment of itself -- he doesn't know that yet nor has that god really unlocked that potential there from this canon point either) is why magic, especially water magic, comes so easily to him.

personality

Strengths:
• Intelligent - Whyborne is a very intelligent man. He went straight on from secondary school to college to eventually earn his doctorate, before going on to get himself a job at the museum soon thereafter. He knows thirteen languages, but he can read more. He teaches himself magic by reading a book and though part of that has to do with his natural ability, part of that also has a lot to do with his scholarly zeal. He does cryptography in his spare time for fun, and when asked what he really does for fun, no really. That's it. He subscribes to cryptography magazines and works on puzzles to hone his skills.
• Determined - Going hand in hand with one of Whyborne's negative traits (that of him being stubborn) sometimes it can also be a positive and act in his favor. Especially when he puts this trait to use to get what he wants. Whyborne knows what he wants and he is not afraid to do what he needs to get it, no matter whether that means standing up to his father or society as a whole. He defied his father when he told him he would not be attending Widdersins University, that he would be choosing his own path and studying his own passions at Arkham University, and no matter what his father did, including disinheriting him, Whyborne refused to stand down from his dreams. The same can be said of his inclinations towards liking men -- he is determined to be himself and be true to himself, to be with Griffin, the man who he loves, no matter whether this makes a more difficult path for life than he might have found otherwise.
• Polite - Whyborne has had manners drilled into him from an early age, which dictate the course of his interactions with others. He is always certain to address his conversational partner in the right manner, and this includes being respectful of their title as well. It's Whyborne's manners towards women, perhaps more than any other trait of his (including his looks) that attract them to him. He is always courteous, conscientious, mindful (addressing Christine as Doctor Putnam when he first meets her gains him a lot of points with her, as does inquiring about the surname of the prostitutes he interviews in Threshold, so that he might address them properly as well), and polite towards them. Unfortunately, this politeness drawing them to him is also something of a drawback, considering the fact that Whyborne is completely blind towards feminine wiles and therefore has no understanding of when they are flirting with him to follow or not.
• Brave - Whyborne is a brave man, almost to the point of self-sacrifice. Griffin always comments on how brave he is and Whyborne never understands why he says as much himself, but he is. He faced down his father, when he was only a teenager, sacrificing his personal fortunes in order to pursue his dreams. He has never been with a woman, and never dreamed of taking a wife either. He would rather stay true to himself than bend to society's wills, and that is brave as well, especially for a time when homosexuality is still technically illegal. And when first confronted with magic and unspeakable monsters, instead of running screaming Whyborne faced them with logic and a clear head, which was unspeakably brave as well, considering they were so far outside the normal realm of his day-to-day life.
• Devoted - Lastly, he is devoted. Devoted first to the first love he had ever known, Leander, to the point where he had sworn off ever looking for love from another again, that is until Griffin came into his life. Then he is devoted to Griffin, such that although he has only ever been with Griffin romantically, he would never dream of ever being with another romantically, either now nor in the future, because Griffin is everything he will ever need both emotionally and physically. And devoted to his friends and family, going so far as to drop everything he is doing and travel nearly halfway around the world because he believes Christine to be in danger in Egypt when she sends for him, despite the fact that he hates travel and he's never been further away from Widdershins than West Virginia.

Flaws:
• Stubborn - While Whyborne being determined is something of a positive trait, it makes him quite stubborn and unyielding, which can be a negative as well. There are certain areas where he will not budge, no matter what another suggests on the matter. One is the area of magic -- Whyborne is determined to practice and learn no matter what, for it is the one talent he has that might be useful in defending those he holds dear. Even if that means he must go behind the backs of those he holds most dear (such as Griffin) in learning the spells in the first place, seeing as Griffin believes it's dangerous and unpredictable. Whyborne is also rather stubborn and blind when it comes to his father -- previous experience when dealing with the man has painted a certain image of him for Whyborne, and it's hard for him to see Niles Whyborne beyond the cruelties he allowed to happen to him while he was growing up. Niles does love his son, he just did not always make the best choices in raising him, and Whyborne finds it very hard to forgive him for those mistakes.
• Secretive - As mentioned previously, Whyborne is prone to keeping secrets to himself, especially when he thinks that revealing the truth might instead lead to a confrontation/might be more trouble than it is worth. The largest example of that is with his study of magic and his lying/hiding this study from Griffin. Most of the reveals that he has learned a new spell come out when he is using it to defend them from some attack or another, and while Griffin is grateful that he has just been saved from danger, he does not appreciate being lied to in the first place. Whyborne feels that he must hide these things from Griffin because it's easier for them to get along with one another if Griffin doesn't know about his studies, however. Much in the sense of "what he does not know cannot hurt him". Inevitably, these secrets end up being revealed and hurting him regardless.
• Melancholy - Whyborne can be prone to the melancholy, especially when he is left to his own devices. For example, once he lost Leander, he blamed himself for the other boy's death and he grieved his loss for years thereafter. Even though there was no one else pointing the blame at Whyborne but himself. Whyborne even went so far as to remain celibate as a way of repenting for the love that he felt for Leander, feeling that if he had not loved him then he would never have agreed to go along with his far-fetched ideas and then they would never have been out on the boat in the lake in the storm for Leander to have drowned in the first place. Whenever something goes wrong for Whyborne, he fears the worst, and begins to spiral down the path assuming the worst as well. This is true as well of when he discovers that Griffin had originally taken notes on him. Without allowing Griffin to explain, he automatically assumes the worst, that a man like Griffin would never be interested in a man like him. Even up until Griffin asks if he would be with him forever, Whyborne always assumes that there will be a time when Griffin eventually would call off their relationship to find someone better and more worthy.
• Melodramatic - Along with being melancholy, Whyborne also has a flair for the melodramatic. Though this is far from his worst flaw, there are times when he lets this trait get the best of him, causing his friends to have to sit him down and make him look at a situation rationally. This is mostly comedic in nature, although there are times when Whyborne's melodramatic side has shown its head in more serious circumstances, such as the times when he and Griffin have had more serious fights and he has questioned why he was born into the age that he was, when the Greeks were much more understanding and accommodating of people like him. And not only that but he bemoans the fact that even amongst people of a similar inclination such as Griffin he does not even seem to fit in, causing Christine to have to gently chide him for over-generalizing like that and leaping to conclusions.
• Fussy - Just as Whyborne was raised to have good manners, so too was he raised to have good etiquette, but this has a tendency to manifest itself into him being fussy more than anything else. He believes a man to be under-dressed if he is not wearing a jacket, for example. If he's out of doors then he must wear a hat. Any hat is better than no hat, and this is why Whyborne is stuck wearing a fez all through his trip to Egypt, after a camel eats his good one. He thinks electric lights aren't to be trusted (largely because they new technology and that makes him wary). He doesn't like the outdoors or the heat or bodies of water in general. He prefers to eat fish over meat. He does not like traveling by boat, horse, camel, or otherwise. He does not like traveling in general, for that matter. He does not like talking to people too much and he does not like parties especially. Any thing he does not like he will also be certain to fuss about and make certain you know he does not like as well, for that matter.
• Obsessive - Whyborne is the sort of person that can get easily carried away. Whether this is with a project, working at his desk all day to look up and find that he has not eaten lunch and it's already half an hour after closing, or whether it is with his studies of the arcane as well. Sometimes the power has a way of getting to his head, and stirring him up a little. It's seductive, that level of control over the elements. To have the universe bending to his will, when in general he is otherwise so meek and uncertain of his place in the universe otherwise. There is a draw to the power the he finds himself struggling with at times, and it's moments like that that he needs Griffin and Christine to call him back to himself and remind him however tempting such an offer may be, he is not that person.

Miscellaneous:
Whyborne has lived a rather sheltered life thus far. Although his brother, sister, and father all bullied him in their own ways, he was still born into a rich and privileged family. He knows little of personal hardship beyond the emotional abuse suffered at the hands of his bullying older siblings. He had a loving mother, and there was a member of the staff, Miss Emily, who raised him as her own as well. His only childhood friend died young and as such Whyborne has always had a hard time connecting with others, but that is not to say he is opposed to the idea of making friends, just that he's terrible at it. He likes his basement office and going out to lunch by himself and never really having to talk to people unless necessary, and it never really made him lonely. At this point in his life though he is all but married and he will miss his partner terribly. Any/all approaches from others will be a struggle in guilt, especially if he finds himself attracted to these people (he's not immune to attractive men). Finding a way back to Griffin will no doubt mean that he will need to give in to these demands, and even though Griffin has even given him permission to experiment with others in the past, Whyborne never anticipated needing to take him up on the offer.

game plans

Starting Faction: Warlord
Goals: Whyborne is a sorcerer and in bringing him in game I would really like to see him getting to explore the native magical creatures/mana magic in the world. In order to do so, considering Whyborne's devotion to his partner, he would need to be accepted to the game in the Warlord's faction so that there would be some element of force involved, and a lot of his own choice in the matter taken out of it. One of Whyborne's character flaws is that he is obsessive -- this means that while he will want to get home to Griffin, the more he learns in the game, the more he will want to learn as well. So of course while he will always be looking for an opening to get himself home, he will be looking to build himself more of a magical power base as well.

He will be coming into the game with the Arcanorum, his magical grimoire, in tow. It's small enough that in general, he carries it around in his pocket with him. As of the moment he is coming into the game, he knows the spells for fire, wind, water, earth, and lightning. There are many more spells detailed in the Arcanorum besides, however. If possible, I would like for him to be able to keep this grimoire with him, though I understand if you would want to keep a limit on what he would be able to learn further from it -- please let me know if that is the case. I would also like to let him keep his abilities as-is, if possible. I have listed the spells he knows already, making fire, summoning wind, lightning, and moving water and stone, none of it is anything too fancy, and he's still learning. Obviously I will ask permissions before I use his magic against anyone!