Application for KoG
Canon Character Application
Player Info
Player Name: Meredith
Player LJ: shiplizard
Player Instant Messenger Type and Handle: AIM/Tejarik
Player Email: shiplizard at gmail dot com
Are you 18 years of age or older? Yes
Character Info
Character Name: The Earl Dorian Red Gloria
Fandom: From Eroica, with Love (manga)
Personality and History: What wikipedia provides
The article fails to delve far into his personality-- which is largely hedonistic, and often romantic at the expense of pragmatism. He is a serious connoisseur of art, preferring to keep and admire what he steals rather than selling it. He prefers to use non-lethal methods of dealing with his opponents, especially knockout gas, but he's quite handy with a knife-- thinks they're elegant, you know. Utter bollocks with a gun. Rampant misogynist; can barely stand the female of the species and is horrified of actually bedding one.
Timeline:
Dorian is from 12 years after the start of his canon, extrapolated some four or five years after the latest English release to 1989. He leaves canon shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Game Specific Info
Why do you want to play this character here? I've wanted to play Dorian Red Gloria off and on for quite some time and never had a place in which to do it well. While a slice-of-life game suits his foppish Earl persona, he does need danger and drama to thrive. A horror game is a fine place to explore an aspect of his character that rarely arises in a lighthearted manga-- his ability to survive, and fight.
Why do you believe this character fits into this game’s setting?
He is from a comedy manga, but I believe that there's enough of a well-rounded personality in there to be able to cope with the city of (to him) the future. Gotham is a fantastic place for a thief; he can cat-burgle to his desire, and deal with the consequences later. He's an aging but still attractive socialite by day, and a veiled, suited criminal by night. He can deal with Gotham just fine.
What are your plans for your character in this game?
I want to see Dorian confront his fear of aging, and become a bit sharper-edged himself. While he can save his own life, he's been rather spoiled by his nemesis, Iron Klaus, often sweeping in to save his life (or threaten it, mind) with a few well-placed profanities and the occasional punch to the jaw. He's allowed to play damsel in distress and lounge around with his loyal team of men, spoiled by would-be lovers in every port. He could do with a little hard work. I hope to have him survive largely as a thief at first, but be driven out by either Gotham competition or Gotham vigilantes and actually have to perform... work. The horror.
Writing Samples
Log/Third Person Sample:
Dorian looked down at the tools spread out in front of him and took cold, hard stock of them. Makeup sponges; five. Various brushes; at least a dozen, in a range of sizes. Pads and puffs. Creams. The Earl of Gloria was slowly acquiring more make-up impedimentia than his dashing alter-ego had tools of burglary.
Hadn't he been young just yesterday? His skin flawless and his cheeks plump and his brow unfurrowed? Now he had to mask smile lines, fine lines-- a whole murder's worth of crow's feet. Oh, for the day when a dash of eye powder and a dab of lipgloss had left him glowing. Sylvan and slender...
I shouldn't have chased that tank of a major. I should have made inroads with a painter, like in that fine old play... oh, poor old Oscar, you knew how that ended. It would nearly be worth it to end in Reading myself, just for the beautiful irony. Only I'll be too old for it to be beautiful, soon. Nearly... he couldn't even think the dread number. Four decades. Honestly.
A sudden impulse struck him, bittersweet, and he swept the various cosmetics into their drawers. He might not BE beautiful anymore, but he could still surround himself with beauty. Striding to the bed, he knelt and tugged out a footlocker. A tiny key unlocked the false bottom, exposed the black catsuit.
A veil and hood were a far more elegant way to disguise an aging face, he felt; knockout gas more effective than cold cream, a little dagger more useful than a brush. And looting the the Astronomer from the museum was going to be far easier than turning back the hands of time.
Some men buy themselves flashy cars. I prefer Vermeer. It's really all the same, was his last thought as he slipped out of his window and into the night.
Journal Entry/First Person Sample:
Well, darlings, I can't say that it was my idea to come here, but I'm sure we're going to get along smashingly.
[Tosses hair merrily, smiles: it actually dimples his face.]
You've plenty of nightlife... had to chase it off, actually. Oh, and local culture... the sort you find in a lab at any rate. Oh, heavens, don't look so sour. I don't have anything against yanks, and your country is very lovely. Look at all the buildings! So new! Not a day above two hundred years; it's rather adorable.
No, no, I'm sure that this will be a lovely little diversion. Now. Where can I get tea and some really decadent baking? There's a dear.