APPLICATION PART ONE
Character Information
General
Canon Source: The Sandman (DC Comics/Vertigo)
Canon Format: Graphic novel/comics.
Character's Name: Delirium of the Endless (previously Delight)
Character's Age: The family of the Endless are as old as this version of the universe, but Delirium is the "youngest" of the family. More or less, she looks like a young girl, aged 13-14 years old.
History/Personality
Character History: Despite its redundancy at this point, it has to be said that Delirium, above all else, is the lady of insanity and craziness. She rules over those who have reached an unreachable state of mind. What's important to take into consideration is the mystery that lies behind Delirium's past, as she was not introduced into the universe as Delirium. She used to be Delight. Something happened that caused her to change, an event that only she knows about, one-upping Destiny (who has the book, claiming to know the past, the present and the future). The only time we see a very young Delirium as Delight is in Endless Nights, when Killala of the Glow speaks with her about the gathering of the stars. In her next appearances, she is already a very incoherent Delirium.
The Endless is her family, wherein she is the youngest of them all (but none of them have specific ages). With the exception of Death (whose job requires to move about absolutely anywhere, even in the realms of her siblings which, generally, are uncomfortable places for them), the Endless rule in their realms/domains that reflect on what they themselves embody; Destiny is located in the center of a labyrinth, Dream lives in a vastly populated, ever-changing landscape called the Dreaming and Despair lives in a room full of mirrors and mist, gray and drab and rats aplenty. Delirium's realm is unsurprisingly, chaotic. When Dream entered her realm, it was nothing more than a mess of faces, ideas, words, thoughts and colors. A sundial with the words "Tempus Frangit" written on it, stands inside ("Time Breaks").
In each of their realms, they have a gallery where their other siblings' sigils are placed. These sigils are the symbols to call on the other Endless in times of family meetings or emergencies. Destiny's sigil is a chained book, Death's is an ankh, Dream is his helmet made out of the bones of three gods, Destruction's is blank (though it used to be a sword), Despair's is a hook, Desire's is a heart, and Delirium is a swirl of colors.
Delirium is one of the two (Despair being the other) that appreciates and enjoys the family when they are all gathered together. She relies heavily on the support given by her siblings, and abhors it when fights break out and when they are not complete. Unfortunately, this will always be the case, since Destruction abandoned his realm and refused to oversee it, taking his sigil with him. Thus, he is referred to as "The Prodigal". Delirium often times comments on how she misses him, and how she would like it if he returned to the family again. Out of all the Endless, she is closest with Death and Destruction, calling out their names when she is strained and feeling pressured or scared.
However, during the events of The Sandman, Delirium and Dream also have their chance to bond. Her sentiments regarding Destruction's leave start a chain of events that eventually culminate when Delirium stars a search for him. She is turned down by Desire and Despair harshly, and she goes to Dream in the hope that he might agree to help her find Destruction. He does so half-heartedly (and for all the wrong reasons), and during their journey to find Destruction, they bond to a certain extent. Intimidated by Dream, yet at the same time, reliant on him like the rest of her brothers and sisters, Delirium thought he would follow-through with his promise, and was heart-broken when Dream backed out, last minute. She returned to her realm and closed it off, and only at the insistence of Death did Dream enter her realm and apologize. In the end, the two were able to find Destruction, living on an isolated Greek island. Despite Delirium's pleading for him to come back, he declines and re-affirms his reasons for abdicating. He leaves Barnabas, his sentient talking canine companion, to look after his sister and disappeared into the night sky.
The events that took place in Brief Lives set the stage for the end of Morpheus as Dream, and while it could be said that Delirium played a part in the catalyst for the Furies to kill Morpheus as Dream, it was more on the orchestration of Dream himself that caused his downfall. He wanted no part of his role as Dream any longer, and could not accept change as readily Destruction did. During the last week of his life, Delirium somehow realized that Dream was in danger, and went to his realm to try and convince him to help her find Barnabas. Her efforts were in vain, and the moment she found Barnabas, Dream was already gone and she stated that "[I] can't feel him anymore."
In Endless Nights, Delirium's story was focused on how she was too deep inside of herself that nobody, not even her brothers or sisters, could help her get out. Only the truly insane could enter her realm without getting harmed, so Daniel as Dream and Barnabas gathered five of the most mad individuals to go inside her realm to save her. The mission was a success and to recuperate, she was sent to Destruction, who was currently residing on a peninsula digging site.
Delirium, seen looking worse for wear, interacted with a human woman who was looking for "Joe", or Destruction. She states important context clues and hints about the end of the universe; that her sister would be the one to do it, and she would take Destiny's book and bid goodbye, and then it would be the end of that version of life. She also states the reason for the existence of the digging site. It is because of their presence, hers and Destruction's, that the digging mound was there. In the end, the mound of land disappears in a flash of light, and the human woman never saw either of the two again.
Character Personality: In a nutshell, Delirium's personality is confusing. She displays tendencies of extreme bipolarity, which might be in sync with her nature as of current, and tends to speak and point out things that are generally considered inconsequential. She uses metaphors that are extremely far-fetched and is easily distracted as well. Despite her lack of coherence in terms of expressing herself, Delirium continues to be one of the most caring among the Endless. She is unlike Destiny and Dream (at least, before the start of the series) who act detached and cold as they perform their duties, and she is most certainly not like Desire, who acts in the cruelest and most acerbic way possible for mortals. This is probably the reason why Death and Destruction cater to her whirlwind of up-and-down emotional needs; they sympathize with her in a way she yearns for. Even though she is, technically, ageless, Delirium is considered as a child by her family and acts like one; she constantly wanders around, speaks to herself and to others in a very child-like pattern, seeks familiar faces and almost always loses herself and her composure when she thinks about something too much.
Delirium is also quite sensitive, especially with sarcastic quips, blunt statements and harsh replies. She goes off like a broken timer and will react violently to ridicule, or take a 360-turn and act like a frightened kitten. When she is taunted or is reprimanded, Delirium usually does either of the two, and sometimes both, consecutively. As quickly as she attacks such behavior (usually from her sibling Desire and Dream, for sarcasm and bluntness respectively), she is also quick to brush it off and speak randomly again. When Delirium is left alone, we see her mind wander to a greater extent than when she has someone to talk to. In Brief Lives, Dream only disappears to speak with Desire for a short while, and as she waits in his gallery for him to return, Delirium's thoughts pass by the time she changed from who she was before, and how she turned out after. She doesn't mention it in detail when Dream returns, but this may be the reason why Delirium craves for company; she seems to be pulled back and forth by the turbulent winds made and found in her own incomprehensible mind.
At the core, it shouldn't be overlooked that Delirium is simple and is easily pleased as she is easily angered or annoyed. The company of her family, Barnabas her new guardian, or even the friendly mortals she meets are enough to strike her interest and put a smile on her face. Unfortunately, her attention span is short and as previously mentioned, Delirium is the epitome of the term "distraction-prone". Her boredom takes over in a snap, causing her to constantly change subject in conversations. It takes some prodding on the other person's part to bring her attention back to what they were talking about before. This, coupled with the fact that Delirium says things that not even her siblings can truly comprehend, make it difficult for people to get to understand what she's trying to say. They tend to take her statements at face value, which is in all honesty, easy to do because of their ridiculousness.
What nobody realizes in the entire series is that Delirium actually makes plenty of sense, depending on the situation and how you interpret her words. Other than Death, Delirium has hinted repeatedly that she also possesses an intricate foresight and understanding of the bigger picture. In Endless Nights, she briefly tackles the argument she used on Destiny in Brief Lives; that there are more pathways in Destiny's garden than he knows, and she knows some of them. Paralleled to her conversation with the young human woman, Delirium mentions that there are many possible futures, "like worms wriggling to the same place". In Brief Lives once more, Destruction mentions that Death once told him about how everybody knew everything they needed to know, and chose not to know them. The two brothers did not really get the meaning of what she said, but Delirium replied that she was right. She says that sometimes, not knowing something makes it all better, which in fact, is a truth of life; "One who knows only the world of truth cannot comprehend a world of lies."
One of the most philosophical questions and points was raised by Delirium in The Kindly Ones. During her conversation with Dream regarding responsibility, Delirium states that he uses that word too often, and that regardless of their jobs and offices as the Endless, it is ultimately their presence in the universe that deforms that very plane of existence, and that is responsibility.
Considering all of those points where Delirium seems to make no sense at all, yet when analyzed correctly give the reader the underlying message of the conversation, Delirium might not actually be as clueless and lost as she tends to be conceived. Underneath the layers and layers of her insanity, Delirium still holds very firmly a sort of logic that only she can understand, which is why she herself represents her opposite. When Dream crumbles to depression after talking to Destiny about Destruction's whereabouts, Delirium forced herself to be composed and dignified, and spoke clearly and calmly. She admitted later on that the act of becoming her opposite was painful for her, but this, together with Death visiting those who are newly born, prove that the Endless indeed, personify or give meaning to the opposite of their nature.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Character's Canon Abilities: Delirium is the very personification and Lady of all things mad and insane, and has displayed omnipotence regarding that realm. With that stated, it's needless to say that Delirium, together with the rest of her anthropomorphic family, is a very powerful being. Canonically, they're all god-mods. Fortunately for roleplaying purposes, Delirium's powers will be watered down greatly, and a permissions post will be set up for any future plots or interactions.
As we focus on what she has displayed in the graphic novels, Delirium is capable of the following:
● Instant teleportation ● (though in any game setting which forbids inter-dimensional eleportation, teleporting back to her own realm will be impossible to do) Either through plainly disappearing from sight or physically changing her own form to travel short distances (seen in Brief Lives, when she turns into a whole bunch of butterflies to go inside Desire's gallery, and in Endless Nights, when she 'poofed' out of the room after speaking with Killala of the Glow, as Delight).
● Immortality ● The Endless have no definite age and are not bound by mortal time. They are as old as the universe itself, and when one says "the death of an Endless", it refers more to the death of that perspective, that physical body and that appearance. Their essence is still the same, and will never die so long as there exists life. Delirium is subject to this as well, though Delirium will be harder to encounter, as she personifies a nature that not everyone completely adapts. As stated by the write-up for Delirium during Seasons of Mist, her realm is easy to visit, but extremely hard to comprehend. Those who can enter her realm usually come out with only bits and fragments of one huge, complicated whole. It remains that her place in the Endless is "immortal" because there will always be people who truly, go insane.
● The ability to materialize her imagination ● Delirium has, on more than one occasion, shown this ability. Most of the time, this happens when she becomes bored, or her mind stars to wander from the conversation (and that's quite frequent). The most appropriate scene that depicts this is seen in Brief Lives, when she started creating little, multi-colored frogs, as she and Dream waited inside a travel agency. In Fables and Reflections, Delirium was able to create a heart in the palm of her hand. In games that limit powers, Delirium's ability to materialize things will be reduced to simpler forms. This ability might also be considered as a form of magic that only the Endless are capable of performing.
● Omnipresence ● Like all the Endless, Delirium is everywhere in the world at the same time, though she can't be seen in the regular way mortals are used to. However, only Death is there for everybody in the world at the same time; the rest of the Endless are only there for mortals they "own", meaning to say if a person is despairing, Delirium won't be there for that person. Despair will. She will be there for those who have gone insane, strange, mad, so on and so forth. In the games that Delirium plays in, this applies as well; she'll know only the in-depth stories of those with histories of insanity (Which is also subject to a permissions post to avoid god-modding). That last portion of her ability might refer more on a select type of omniscience.
● Manipulating objects ● The most famous example of this ability was during Brief Lives, when Delirium started blowing bubbles that formed into impossible shapes like crosses, puppies, telegraphs and perfectly-shaped fishes.
● Shapeshifting ● All of the Endless are more or less, capable of changing their physical appearance on a whim. Dream and Delirium are the two Endless who do this the most, with Desire coming in for a close third. In Delirium's case, her hair style and color, plus her clothes, change on an almost split-second basis. She is also capable of changing her appearance completely, like in Brief Lives; Dream tells the bouncer to the club that they are three men legible to enter and patronize the club's entertainment, and in the next panel, we see Matthew the Raven, Delirium and Dream going inside as actual men. Delirium has also done this by herself previously, when she entered another club after convincing the bouncer there that she was well-dressed (We don't see her well-dressed as she enters, though. That part of her ability might be more connected to the next ability to be stated.)
● Invoking her essence through physical contact/mental manipulation ● For physical contact, Delirium has shown that for some beings, she can invoke delirium by her touch or presence. When the Wyvern captured her as she tried to enter Dream's castle, she kissed him when Dream arrived to clear things up, and his eyes became swirly in the next panel. However, we see her touch and hug Barnabas many times, and he doesn't become delirious at all. A more concrete ability is seen in Brief Lives. Delirium is pulled over by a police man for reckless driving. She gets annoyed with him and tells him that he has hundreds and hundreds of invisible insects all over his body "forever and ever". He is completely convinced of this, and starts prying non-existent insects from his body. At the end of the story, the police man is seen again, this time in a mental institution, strapped down to a bed. From that length of time that had passed, he was still convinced that his body was being invaded by invisible insects. Game-wise, this really requires a permissions post, and if ever she is forced to destroy someone's mental stability as with the police man, it will only be temporary. Perhaps only a few days or a week at most. Again, it all depends on a permissions post.
The Endless seem virtually indestructible after one reads through all of that, but they are also bound by a set of rules that none of them can go against. The three eldest of the Endless are very strict followers of the rules, though Dream might be slightly biased against one of them. The first rule is that they cannot spill family blood. Basically, that means if one of them hurts or kills their sibling, it will automatically alert the Furies (or the Erinyes, the embodiments of unadulterated revenge) and give them the license to hound on the perpetrator until they die. The second rule, the one that Dream was able to experience for a short time (twice, might I add), is that the Endless cannot fall in love with mortals. Should there be reciprocation on their part, the mortal they love will die, no buts about it.
Additional Information:
Appearance/PB: Here, here, here and here! She tends to change her clothes (which are never clean. they always have holes in them, and look tattered and ragged) and hair color very frequently, so those aren't exactly her constant appearances, but it gives a general idea of how she looks like. Also, Delirium's eyes are mismatched. The left is green and the right one is blue. ("...one eyes is a vivid emerald green, spattered with silver flecks that move; her other eyes is vein blue.")
