application: theposthumans
Character Name: Jason Todd
Canon source: DC Comics, specifically the Lost Days miniseries, with information from Under the Hood and other appearances
PB: Johnny Pacar
Personality: Strong determination the same trait Batman possesses characterizes much of what Jason does. It leads into other traits like stubbornness, bloody-mindedness, and contrariness. When Jason sets his mind to something, he will try to accomplish it by any means possible, and he is considerably less morally discerning than Batman. Like Batman, Jason has a code, but his code metes out death to those that break it. This includes drug dealers (especially those whose product is cut with dangerous substances), rapists, killers, pedophiles, and those guilty of general kinds of human abuse, particularly of children. So it may be gathered that Jason does have a very sober side. He is dead serious (...) about these things. At the same time, however, he has a sense of humor which he variously uses in taunting his opponents, trolling people, mitigating his own anger, generally being playful or obnoxious depending on your point of view, and just because he can't help himself. (To the dozen or so Russian mobsters pointing guns at him in his flat: "Wow. Hi. Hey there. Are you guys here to fix the toilet?" and later on in his career, having been informed he's been ~TRICKED!~ to his DEATH: "Oh, my goodness gracious! I've been bamboozled!") It's worth noting, however, that in the beginning, Jason's personality is sort of in hibernation; he's still recovering from being dead and being dipped in a freaking Lazarus Pit while Ra's al Creepyfuck was sitting in it. For lack of better phrasing, he's a little dead inside. However, life will keep issuing Jason the challenge of staying alive, and he'll keep answering it, waking up and becoming animate again a little at a time. There are still signs of humor, particular when he's interacting with strangers and wants to appear normal, but it will take time for him to get back to his usual talky self. In this "dead" state, he tends to act cold-blooded and intense. One of Talia's underlings referred to him as a sociopath and a "tin man".
That isn't really a good description of who he is during this period, but that's certainly how it may look from the outside. For one, he never shows much in the way of emotion when it comes to killing people, though he is, as I mentioned earlier, selective. After he poisons Egon, his assassin instructor, because he'd been trafficking in children sex slaves, he calmly drops the kids off at an embassy, then returns to burn the whole place down (Egon included). He and Talia have this conversation about it (important parts bolded): TALIA: This is an odd turn. I find you a teacher, and you murder him.
JASON: "Murder" sounds a bit fancy. I didn't orchestrate whacking him over an inheritance. I spiked his bug juice because he was a dirtbag. He was a killer for hire who made more money on a single job than most people in the world will see in their lifetime. But he still thought he needed extra cash, so he kidnapped children and sold them as sex toys.
TALIA: Why not just walk away and call the authorities?
JASON: I heard stuff. He had connections to the cops. Had a few politicians who he did work for. He wasn't gonna get locked up. But he was greedy. No lieutenants. Just muscle. The operation went through him. So, if it was going to end, it had to end with him. I didn't "murder" him. You murder people. I... put this reptile down. Don't tell me the world isn't better off.
He goes on to kill a few more of his teachers: his surveillance instructor was a pedophile, the small arms expert sold bad drugs, his close combat master was planning on killing her husband and children, and the mercenaries he may or may not have been learning from were "scum". He shows no remorse for any of their deaths, or for beating up his demolitions teacher Shurik barely a day after he'd been amiably drinking with him. Nor does he give a crap about the Russian mobsters he manages to kill while in London. But all these deaths are tempered by his use of the code. He doesn't kill the helicopter pilot even though he's a mercenary because he's "just the driver". He kills the Russian mobsters only after he spends all day gathering and disarming the bombs they planted in a bid to make English security focus on a fake middle eastern threat, and then only because they attack him.
It should be noted that by the end of his training, however, he seems to have (selectively) changed his mind. Telling Talia about how he had the Joker at his mercy, but chose not to kill him, Jason says (important part bolded): "He would've been dead. A quick, agonizing death. And this world would have been a much better place for it. But I don't really give a crap about the world." It's at this point that his "revenge", or rather, his desire to force Bruce to confront his decision not to kill the Joker, takes precedence over the code. When Jason arrives in the PH universe, he is almost but not quite at this stage.
History: Up until his resurrection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Todd
How does your AU differ from canon? The first deviation is his resurrection. While he does wake up in the coffin and has to claw his way out, he is found by Talia much sooner, effectively shaving off a year of stupidity i.e. instead of staggering into the road, being put in a clinic, falling into a coma, then randomly escaping to live in the streets, he exits his coffin in better shape physically and mentally. The brain damage is decreased but still present; instead, he has retrograde amnesia and acts borderline autistic. A couple driving by the graveyard nearly hit him with their car, and take him into the city proper to an emergency clinic, where he's treated as a John Doe. However, as he appears to be a minor (and he is), they make arrangements for him to be taken into government custody and examined, fingerprinted, etc. (It's canonical that none of the Batfamily have their fingerprints on file, so he would not be matched up.) Jason, however, may not remember who he is or the majority of his past, but he doesn't like the sound of that. He takes off to live on the streets for a few weeks. During this time he discovers he still has instincts and residual body memory for things like stealing, but also for martial arts. Someone eventually recognizes one of the moves, and calls someone, who calls someone, who calls someone, ... eventually reaching Talia al Ghul, who has Jason brought in. At this point he is still sixteen.
Talia determines that Jason still has his fighting skills, but the effects of the brain damage and amnesia persist; he doesn't recognize the significance of Bruce's name, or any of the details of his life as Robin. Eventually, she shoves him in the Lazarus Pit, which heals the damage and restores his memory. This act angers Ra's, so she has to send Jason away immediately.
From this point onwards, his history resembles that of Lost Days, except he is about a year and a half younger. He trains with a variety of people in a variety of vocations, and is taken from the end of what is essentially Lost Days #5. He will come to Posthumans at the age of 17 (and a half).
Strengths: Determination, strength of will, focus, a fast learner, physically fit, intelligent, cunning, quick thinker, thinks well on his feet, tough
Skills: acrobatics, martial arts and hand to hand combat, criminology, reading lips, conversational or fluent in several languages (German, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, [...]), firearms, toxicology, demolitions, surveillance, computer technology, sniping, driving
Weaknesses: Short-sighted, prone to anger, anger clouds his judgment, violent, amoral, abrasive, loner, callous, (yet also) emotional, sociopathic tendencies, harsh, cold, not always the best planner, may act before he thinks, often rude
Preferred drop-in point: Truth or Consequences
What are some of your plans for this character in their new environment? I would like Jason to grow from the emotionally dead state he's in currently to something that actualizes his full potential as a smartass and a troll. I foresee much Batdrama, but while reconciliation probably won't happen, neither will an explosive encounter unless you put him in Seattle (but without the Joker around, who knows what would happen). I don't necessarily want him to become a rational, balanced individual (THAT'S NO FUN TO PLAY), but if he's deprived of his revenge, there aren't a lot of other ways to go unless he's given a replacement to focus his anger on. There are plenty of people in the game that I would love to throw him against, and in most cases, I can only think that interaction would help him get better instead of getting worse.
First Person Journal Sample:
I used to spend a lot of time thinking of what I would say to you.
Then I used to spend a lot of time forcing myself not to think about it.
One way or another, you've occupied my thoughts for five, almost six years nonstop. First you were my teacher. Then you were my father. You were Batman. You were my entire fucking life.
Now I know I'm no one's son.
I used to spend a lot of time staring at those photos. The ones of the replacement. Then I burned them. But after I did that, I wanted them back. I didn't know why. Can you guess?
Detective that you are, I'm sure you have me all figured out, in my teenage rage and angst. I'm sure you have every last detail charted out in your computer. After all, you made me: you took me from the street and put me together better. You know everything there is to know, it seems, except about being a decent fucking person. About being the father you made yourself out to be. And I know what I am to you. I am your failure. I am the crack in your armor. I am fallibility, action before thought, a monument to those who die waiting, barely hoping. You know me like a crossword; you fill me out in ink.
You are wrong.
I will take everything from you. I will be what Gotham needs. I will go where you won't. I will be what you can't.
Soon.
Third Person Sample:
He took the train into Gotham, waking to the fact that everything was new while still remaining vaguely familiar. The sheer bloody-mindedness of Gothamites to put right back up what the earthquake had knocked down did not surprise him. It was all ghosts set in cement and stone a city haunted by a city, a million footsteps in the dark. A city haunted by itself.
With his hands in his jacket pockets, the wind rushing against his still figure and stirring his hair, he listened to the traffic, to the clamor of the city, from the high ledge of a rooftop. He discovered he hadn't really missed it. No, what he missed had to do with other places entirely; what he missed was the Cave, the empty halls of the Manor, the tension of his grappling line as he flew through the air. But even those, he missed with a strange hollowness. Maybe it was because he knew he could never have them again.
The moon was a sliver in the sky, set in the darkness between skyscrapers and the cold drift of clouds.
Jason closed his eyes. He listened. There was no welcome. But Gotham would come to know him by the strength of his devotion. He would be what Batman was supposed to be. Not just a protector, but an avenger. And Bruce would come to understand the depths of the wrong he'd dealt Jason.
The city flowed before him.
He was home.
Canon source: DC Comics, specifically the Lost Days miniseries, with information from Under the Hood and other appearances
PB: Johnny Pacar
Personality: Strong determination the same trait Batman possesses characterizes much of what Jason does. It leads into other traits like stubbornness, bloody-mindedness, and contrariness. When Jason sets his mind to something, he will try to accomplish it by any means possible, and he is considerably less morally discerning than Batman. Like Batman, Jason has a code, but his code metes out death to those that break it. This includes drug dealers (especially those whose product is cut with dangerous substances), rapists, killers, pedophiles, and those guilty of general kinds of human abuse, particularly of children. So it may be gathered that Jason does have a very sober side. He is dead serious (...) about these things. At the same time, however, he has a sense of humor which he variously uses in taunting his opponents, trolling people, mitigating his own anger, generally being playful or obnoxious depending on your point of view, and just because he can't help himself. (To the dozen or so Russian mobsters pointing guns at him in his flat: "Wow. Hi. Hey there. Are you guys here to fix the toilet?" and later on in his career, having been informed he's been ~TRICKED!~ to his DEATH: "Oh, my goodness gracious! I've been bamboozled!") It's worth noting, however, that in the beginning, Jason's personality is sort of in hibernation; he's still recovering from being dead and being dipped in a freaking Lazarus Pit while Ra's al Creepyfuck was sitting in it. For lack of better phrasing, he's a little dead inside. However, life will keep issuing Jason the challenge of staying alive, and he'll keep answering it, waking up and becoming animate again a little at a time. There are still signs of humor, particular when he's interacting with strangers and wants to appear normal, but it will take time for him to get back to his usual talky self. In this "dead" state, he tends to act cold-blooded and intense. One of Talia's underlings referred to him as a sociopath and a "tin man".
That isn't really a good description of who he is during this period, but that's certainly how it may look from the outside. For one, he never shows much in the way of emotion when it comes to killing people, though he is, as I mentioned earlier, selective. After he poisons Egon, his assassin instructor, because he'd been trafficking in children sex slaves, he calmly drops the kids off at an embassy, then returns to burn the whole place down (Egon included). He and Talia have this conversation about it (important parts bolded): TALIA: This is an odd turn. I find you a teacher, and you murder him.
JASON: "Murder" sounds a bit fancy. I didn't orchestrate whacking him over an inheritance. I spiked his bug juice because he was a dirtbag. He was a killer for hire who made more money on a single job than most people in the world will see in their lifetime. But he still thought he needed extra cash, so he kidnapped children and sold them as sex toys.
TALIA: Why not just walk away and call the authorities?
JASON: I heard stuff. He had connections to the cops. Had a few politicians who he did work for. He wasn't gonna get locked up. But he was greedy. No lieutenants. Just muscle. The operation went through him. So, if it was going to end, it had to end with him. I didn't "murder" him. You murder people. I... put this reptile down. Don't tell me the world isn't better off.
He goes on to kill a few more of his teachers: his surveillance instructor was a pedophile, the small arms expert sold bad drugs, his close combat master was planning on killing her husband and children, and the mercenaries he may or may not have been learning from were "scum". He shows no remorse for any of their deaths, or for beating up his demolitions teacher Shurik barely a day after he'd been amiably drinking with him. Nor does he give a crap about the Russian mobsters he manages to kill while in London. But all these deaths are tempered by his use of the code. He doesn't kill the helicopter pilot even though he's a mercenary because he's "just the driver". He kills the Russian mobsters only after he spends all day gathering and disarming the bombs they planted in a bid to make English security focus on a fake middle eastern threat, and then only because they attack him.
It should be noted that by the end of his training, however, he seems to have (selectively) changed his mind. Telling Talia about how he had the Joker at his mercy, but chose not to kill him, Jason says (important part bolded): "He would've been dead. A quick, agonizing death. And this world would have been a much better place for it. But I don't really give a crap about the world." It's at this point that his "revenge", or rather, his desire to force Bruce to confront his decision not to kill the Joker, takes precedence over the code. When Jason arrives in the PH universe, he is almost but not quite at this stage.
History: Up until his resurrection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Todd
How does your AU differ from canon? The first deviation is his resurrection. While he does wake up in the coffin and has to claw his way out, he is found by Talia much sooner, effectively shaving off a year of stupidity i.e. instead of staggering into the road, being put in a clinic, falling into a coma, then randomly escaping to live in the streets, he exits his coffin in better shape physically and mentally. The brain damage is decreased but still present; instead, he has retrograde amnesia and acts borderline autistic. A couple driving by the graveyard nearly hit him with their car, and take him into the city proper to an emergency clinic, where he's treated as a John Doe. However, as he appears to be a minor (and he is), they make arrangements for him to be taken into government custody and examined, fingerprinted, etc. (It's canonical that none of the Batfamily have their fingerprints on file, so he would not be matched up.) Jason, however, may not remember who he is or the majority of his past, but he doesn't like the sound of that. He takes off to live on the streets for a few weeks. During this time he discovers he still has instincts and residual body memory for things like stealing, but also for martial arts. Someone eventually recognizes one of the moves, and calls someone, who calls someone, who calls someone, ... eventually reaching Talia al Ghul, who has Jason brought in. At this point he is still sixteen.
Talia determines that Jason still has his fighting skills, but the effects of the brain damage and amnesia persist; he doesn't recognize the significance of Bruce's name, or any of the details of his life as Robin. Eventually, she shoves him in the Lazarus Pit, which heals the damage and restores his memory. This act angers Ra's, so she has to send Jason away immediately.
From this point onwards, his history resembles that of Lost Days, except he is about a year and a half younger. He trains with a variety of people in a variety of vocations, and is taken from the end of what is essentially Lost Days #5. He will come to Posthumans at the age of 17 (and a half).
Strengths: Determination, strength of will, focus, a fast learner, physically fit, intelligent, cunning, quick thinker, thinks well on his feet, tough
Skills: acrobatics, martial arts and hand to hand combat, criminology, reading lips, conversational or fluent in several languages (German, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, [...]), firearms, toxicology, demolitions, surveillance, computer technology, sniping, driving
Weaknesses: Short-sighted, prone to anger, anger clouds his judgment, violent, amoral, abrasive, loner, callous, (yet also) emotional, sociopathic tendencies, harsh, cold, not always the best planner, may act before he thinks, often rude
Preferred drop-in point: Truth or Consequences
What are some of your plans for this character in their new environment? I would like Jason to grow from the emotionally dead state he's in currently to something that actualizes his full potential as a smartass and a troll. I foresee much Batdrama, but while reconciliation probably won't happen, neither will an explosive encounter unless you put him in Seattle (but without the Joker around, who knows what would happen). I don't necessarily want him to become a rational, balanced individual (THAT'S NO FUN TO PLAY), but if he's deprived of his revenge, there aren't a lot of other ways to go unless he's given a replacement to focus his anger on. There are plenty of people in the game that I would love to throw him against, and in most cases, I can only think that interaction would help him get better instead of getting worse.
First Person Journal Sample:
I used to spend a lot of time thinking of what I would say to you.
Then I used to spend a lot of time forcing myself not to think about it.
One way or another, you've occupied my thoughts for five, almost six years nonstop. First you were my teacher. Then you were my father. You were Batman. You were my entire fucking life.
Now I know I'm no one's son.
I used to spend a lot of time staring at those photos. The ones of the replacement. Then I burned them. But after I did that, I wanted them back. I didn't know why. Can you guess?
Detective that you are, I'm sure you have me all figured out, in my teenage rage and angst. I'm sure you have every last detail charted out in your computer. After all, you made me: you took me from the street and put me together better. You know everything there is to know, it seems, except about being a decent fucking person. About being the father you made yourself out to be. And I know what I am to you. I am your failure. I am the crack in your armor. I am fallibility, action before thought, a monument to those who die waiting, barely hoping. You know me like a crossword; you fill me out in ink.
You are wrong.
I will take everything from you. I will be what Gotham needs. I will go where you won't. I will be what you can't.
Soon.
Third Person Sample:
He took the train into Gotham, waking to the fact that everything was new while still remaining vaguely familiar. The sheer bloody-mindedness of Gothamites to put right back up what the earthquake had knocked down did not surprise him. It was all ghosts set in cement and stone a city haunted by a city, a million footsteps in the dark. A city haunted by itself.
With his hands in his jacket pockets, the wind rushing against his still figure and stirring his hair, he listened to the traffic, to the clamor of the city, from the high ledge of a rooftop. He discovered he hadn't really missed it. No, what he missed had to do with other places entirely; what he missed was the Cave, the empty halls of the Manor, the tension of his grappling line as he flew through the air. But even those, he missed with a strange hollowness. Maybe it was because he knew he could never have them again.
The moon was a sliver in the sky, set in the darkness between skyscrapers and the cold drift of clouds.
Jason closed his eyes. He listened. There was no welcome. But Gotham would come to know him by the strength of his devotion. He would be what Batman was supposed to be. Not just a protector, but an avenger. And Bruce would come to understand the depths of the wrong he'd dealt Jason.
The city flowed before him.
He was home.