APPLICATION FOR silenthell_rpg
Player Info
Player Name: Ant
Age: 24
Personal Journal Name: darin56
Characters Played: None
Character Info
Character Name: Van Hohenheim
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)
Canon Point: He will be taken from chapter 90 of the manga, shortly after the assault on Central begins and he parts ways with Ed, Ran Fan, and Scar to search the catacombs for Father.
Character's Age: Over 450 years old
Canon resource: FMA wiki article on Hohenheim right here
How familiar are you with your character's canon? Very familiar, having played him in other games as well as read the manga in full.
History/Personality: (Note: I pulled this from an app I used from another game. If that's a problem I'd be happy to rewrite the personality part as its own separate entity.)
Hohenheim was born circa 1464 in the country of Xerxes, a country that was once in the desert between Amestris and Xing. Details of Hohenheim’s childhood are mostly unknown, save for the fact that he was sold into slavery. Known for most of his early life as Slave Number 23, he was content with his life as it was. He possessed no ambitions, no goals, nor any drive to be anything more than he was. As a young man, he had a bit of a hair trigger and would snap, much like his son Edward currently does. One day, while sweeping out his master’s alchemy lab, he encountered a being that would set into a motion a chain of events that would alter not only his life, but the fate of three separate countries. The being was known simply as Homunculus, and it was the living result of an experiment Hohenheim’s master had performed involving Hohenheim’s blood. The creature thanked Hohenheim and gave him his name, which in its entirety is Theophratus Bombastus Van Hohenheim. The Homunculi shortened it to Van Hohenheim immediately after, simply because he believed the poor man to be incapable of remembering the whole thing himself. From that point on, Homunculus taught Hohenheim how to read, write, and perform basic alchemy. This furthered his rank in Xerxes society from slave, to his master’s assistant.
Time passed, and Hohenheim had begun to make a comfortable life for himself, when the Homunculi presented the King of Xerxes with what he explained as the key to immortality. The King proceeded to carve a nationwide transmutation circle which, when completed, was activated with Homunculus and Hohenheim at its center. The entire country, its king, and its people were sacrificed and when Hohenheim awoke, he found Homunculus looking out over a dead and barren nation. He had crafted a body identical to Hohenheim’s and as thanks for not only his blood and his image, he explained to Hohenheim that he bestowed upon him the gift of immortality. With that, he left Hohenheim to wander the desert, where he was found by wandering Xingese. From there, they took him to their country to recover and he taught them the art of alchemy (known to them as alkahestry). How long Hohenheim remained in Xing is never explicitly stated, only that he is known currently as the Sage of the West to them, as he gave them the knowledge and teachings he had learned through Homunculus.
It is generally assumed that Hohenheim then wandered for several hundred years until he came to Amestris and met Trisha Elric. Many details of their relationship are unknown save for the fact that Hohenheim and Trisha met when she was a young girl, and that when she was old enough, he revealed to her the fact that he was immortal. Clearly having fallen in with each other, she accepted this aspect of him, and he sired two sons; Edward and Alphonse Elric. However, the burden of living for four centuries was taking its toll on him, and seeing his family growing older around him while he stayed perpetually the same was enough to spur him into his first real goal. One morning, he left to find a way to become mortal in order to grow old with his family. During his wanderings, he caught on to Homunculus’ plan to turn Amestris into yet another nationwide transmutation circle and began taking steps to prevent that by traveling to key points along the nationwide transmutation circle and depositing bits of his own Philosopher’s Stone into the soil. When and if Homunculus’ transmutation circle was activated on the day of an upcoming solar eclipse, his own circle would be activated moments later by the shadow cast by the moon itself during the eclipse; a circle that would undo the first. Needless to say, this trek took many years of preparation and calculation, and as such, the events of the series were transpiring in the foreground while Hohenheim worked behind the scenes.
When Hohenheim reappears, it is as Trisha’s grave, having lost his house (since Ed and Al burned it to the ground so as to have nothing to hold them back). It is there that he is reunited with Ed who is none too happy to see him. He follows Ed back to the Rockbell residence, and while he seems distracted and not entirely aware, he casually drops hints to things when he knows Edward is listening. It is this characteristic that allows Hohenheim to get a feel for a person’s intelligence and ambitions, as well pass information along to those he feels require it. In this instance, he pointedly says to Pinako “Was it really Trisha they made?” in reference to Ed and Al’s attempt to bring their mother back to life. He goes on to list several features such as eyes, hair color, and voice, that would determine if the creature they had made was indeed Trisha, knowing full well that Edward was eavesdropping. The following morning, he left again, taking the only family photo taken of himself, Trisha, Ed, and Al.
From Resembool, Hohenheim traveled to Dublith, where he met Ed and Al’s sensei, Izumi Curtis, who had her internals ravaged when she attempted human transmutation in order to save her unborn child. Hohenheim managed to help ease the pressure and strengthen her blood flow by inserting his open palm into her abdomen and rearranging her organs. When asked how, he simply replied that he was the Philosopher’s Stone in the form of a man and then disappears again.
Later, he resurfaced in Liore, where he had a brief face off with Pride in the caverns beneath the city. He asks Pride to deliver a message to his Father, that “Number 23” is coming to see him. With that, he returns to the surface where he meets Al for the first time in twelve years. Naturally, he doesn’t recognize Al right away as he’s in his armor body, and instead exclaims “My vintage armor!” upon seeing him. When Al reveals the truth about what happened to him, Hohenheim makes an attempt to excuse himself, feeling that he has no right as a father to become involved with his children. Rather, it is the guilt and the acceptance that he is a failure of a parent that leads him to try and leave on his own. Al stopped him, however, and the two share a heart-to-heart, in which Hohenheim explains his past, and the truth about who he is. Not long after this, Ed comes back into the picture, and after decking him in the face with his automail fist, Hohenheim admits to the same story he told Al. Again, seeking to quickly remove himself from the picture and his son’s immediate attention, he attempts to amble off, only to be stopped by Ed in order to deliver Trisha’s final words to him: “I’m sorry I can’t keep our promise. I have to go first.” Upon hearing these words, Hohenheim began to cry out of a mixture of grief and love for Trisha. Even at the end, she knew that he would find a way to make himself mortal and be with her in death.
Not long after, Pride is encountered again, and after another fight where Al requests that Hohenheim seal him and Pride into a lightless dome, he leaves the area with Edward, Greed, Ran Fan, Scar and their chimera allies to go to Central, where the final battle for control over the military capital had already begun. Making their way into the catacombs, Hohenheim reasons that the alchemists should be divided up efficiently. He instructs Ed to go with Scar while he asks Ran Fan to accompany him saying that “An old fart like me would much prefer to be alone with a young girl.” Once the group had separated and they had gone far enough, Hohenheim dismisses Ran Fan, telling her that it’s okay for her to leave him and go search for Ling.
Through all of this, Hohenheim had an air of an aloof old man, one with little to no pressing concerns. He is quiet spoken and keeps much to himself, relying more on indirect actions in order to aid his friends and family. Despite all of this, however, he is a good man, and very much aware of his own shortcomings. He is shouldered with the burdens of not only his inability to stop Homunculus from destroying Xerxes, but the collective minds and wills of 536,329 souls that inhabit his body. Throughout the four centuries he wandered, he took the time to personally converse with and learn about each soul, picking them out of a roaring mass and sorting them into a sea of souls willing to fight with him until the very end. His one true goal in life is to fulfill his promise to Trisha, and above all else, his sons are the greatest things in his four centuries of life.
How will your character react to the setting?: He will be baffled as to how he managed to arrive in such a town and why he cannot use alchemy. When he discovers this and gains insight into the various mysteries of the town, he will spend his time quietly researching and helping others behind the scenes.
Writing Samples
First Person: [The recording begins with muffled scrapes, as if someone were passing a heavy, weary hand over a microphone. It's one of those sounds that is instantly recognizable, but at the same time raises questions as to the source. Behind the scrapethumptaptaptap one can hear the grumbles and harumphs of a soft spoken, older gentleman. The interference clears slightly and then]
Hm...is this some sort of telephone? It doesn't appear to be connected yet...hello?
[Silence.]
If...this is indeed sending a signal, then I would like some information as to my current whereabouts. I'm in the middle of some important business that I must see to.
[There's another pause, and the clearing of a throat as he gathers his bearings.]
And if anyone has any information in regards to the state of Central, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
[The familiar sound returns, but only for a brief moment before the phone is hung up.]
Third Person: (This is also taken from another game)
Hohenheim stared out the window at the empty void before him. Well, not empty per se. Certainly there were planets and stars and asteroids and all other kinds of--
He felt his mind begin to wander, growing detached from the matter at hand. He was aboard a ship of alien origin, uprooted from his own world during a time of crisis. The lines on his face, world weary lines carved throughout the centuries like the great canyons of the world, creased and furrowed. Where were his sons? What was the fate of the people of Amestris, his world? Why was he here when the battle had just begun to reach its climax?
Why was he once again spared? Living while others could not be allowed to?
Suddenly, the near empty vacuum carried with it a harsh pang of loneliness. He turned his thoughts inward, into the sea of consciousnesses that dwelled within him.
Is something wrong, Van Hohenheim?
No, Kaya. I am fine. Are you doing well today?
The young flower girl’s voice rang in his mind, distracting him from his tumultuous thoughts. She was always helpful in cheering him up, and he couldn’t thank her enough today for her company. The seconds turned to minutes, turned to hours, and before he'd realized it, the stars that he had been watching had shifted, new celestial bodies at new spatial coordinates, and suddenly nothing was the same anymore. He took notice of this, and the sight struck him. Everything was always changing around him. He was a rock, a permanent fixture in the time stream, though not by his own decision. Lives flowed around him, flowed through him, and nothing ever stayed the same. Nothing except for him.
Player Name: Ant
Age: 24
Personal Journal Name: darin56
Characters Played: None
Character Info
Character Name: Van Hohenheim
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)
Canon Point: He will be taken from chapter 90 of the manga, shortly after the assault on Central begins and he parts ways with Ed, Ran Fan, and Scar to search the catacombs for Father.
Character's Age: Over 450 years old
Canon resource: FMA wiki article on Hohenheim right here
How familiar are you with your character's canon? Very familiar, having played him in other games as well as read the manga in full.
History/Personality: (Note: I pulled this from an app I used from another game. If that's a problem I'd be happy to rewrite the personality part as its own separate entity.)
Hohenheim was born circa 1464 in the country of Xerxes, a country that was once in the desert between Amestris and Xing. Details of Hohenheim’s childhood are mostly unknown, save for the fact that he was sold into slavery. Known for most of his early life as Slave Number 23, he was content with his life as it was. He possessed no ambitions, no goals, nor any drive to be anything more than he was. As a young man, he had a bit of a hair trigger and would snap, much like his son Edward currently does. One day, while sweeping out his master’s alchemy lab, he encountered a being that would set into a motion a chain of events that would alter not only his life, but the fate of three separate countries. The being was known simply as Homunculus, and it was the living result of an experiment Hohenheim’s master had performed involving Hohenheim’s blood. The creature thanked Hohenheim and gave him his name, which in its entirety is Theophratus Bombastus Van Hohenheim. The Homunculi shortened it to Van Hohenheim immediately after, simply because he believed the poor man to be incapable of remembering the whole thing himself. From that point on, Homunculus taught Hohenheim how to read, write, and perform basic alchemy. This furthered his rank in Xerxes society from slave, to his master’s assistant.
Time passed, and Hohenheim had begun to make a comfortable life for himself, when the Homunculi presented the King of Xerxes with what he explained as the key to immortality. The King proceeded to carve a nationwide transmutation circle which, when completed, was activated with Homunculus and Hohenheim at its center. The entire country, its king, and its people were sacrificed and when Hohenheim awoke, he found Homunculus looking out over a dead and barren nation. He had crafted a body identical to Hohenheim’s and as thanks for not only his blood and his image, he explained to Hohenheim that he bestowed upon him the gift of immortality. With that, he left Hohenheim to wander the desert, where he was found by wandering Xingese. From there, they took him to their country to recover and he taught them the art of alchemy (known to them as alkahestry). How long Hohenheim remained in Xing is never explicitly stated, only that he is known currently as the Sage of the West to them, as he gave them the knowledge and teachings he had learned through Homunculus.
It is generally assumed that Hohenheim then wandered for several hundred years until he came to Amestris and met Trisha Elric. Many details of their relationship are unknown save for the fact that Hohenheim and Trisha met when she was a young girl, and that when she was old enough, he revealed to her the fact that he was immortal. Clearly having fallen in with each other, she accepted this aspect of him, and he sired two sons; Edward and Alphonse Elric. However, the burden of living for four centuries was taking its toll on him, and seeing his family growing older around him while he stayed perpetually the same was enough to spur him into his first real goal. One morning, he left to find a way to become mortal in order to grow old with his family. During his wanderings, he caught on to Homunculus’ plan to turn Amestris into yet another nationwide transmutation circle and began taking steps to prevent that by traveling to key points along the nationwide transmutation circle and depositing bits of his own Philosopher’s Stone into the soil. When and if Homunculus’ transmutation circle was activated on the day of an upcoming solar eclipse, his own circle would be activated moments later by the shadow cast by the moon itself during the eclipse; a circle that would undo the first. Needless to say, this trek took many years of preparation and calculation, and as such, the events of the series were transpiring in the foreground while Hohenheim worked behind the scenes.
When Hohenheim reappears, it is as Trisha’s grave, having lost his house (since Ed and Al burned it to the ground so as to have nothing to hold them back). It is there that he is reunited with Ed who is none too happy to see him. He follows Ed back to the Rockbell residence, and while he seems distracted and not entirely aware, he casually drops hints to things when he knows Edward is listening. It is this characteristic that allows Hohenheim to get a feel for a person’s intelligence and ambitions, as well pass information along to those he feels require it. In this instance, he pointedly says to Pinako “Was it really Trisha they made?” in reference to Ed and Al’s attempt to bring their mother back to life. He goes on to list several features such as eyes, hair color, and voice, that would determine if the creature they had made was indeed Trisha, knowing full well that Edward was eavesdropping. The following morning, he left again, taking the only family photo taken of himself, Trisha, Ed, and Al.
From Resembool, Hohenheim traveled to Dublith, where he met Ed and Al’s sensei, Izumi Curtis, who had her internals ravaged when she attempted human transmutation in order to save her unborn child. Hohenheim managed to help ease the pressure and strengthen her blood flow by inserting his open palm into her abdomen and rearranging her organs. When asked how, he simply replied that he was the Philosopher’s Stone in the form of a man and then disappears again.
Later, he resurfaced in Liore, where he had a brief face off with Pride in the caverns beneath the city. He asks Pride to deliver a message to his Father, that “Number 23” is coming to see him. With that, he returns to the surface where he meets Al for the first time in twelve years. Naturally, he doesn’t recognize Al right away as he’s in his armor body, and instead exclaims “My vintage armor!” upon seeing him. When Al reveals the truth about what happened to him, Hohenheim makes an attempt to excuse himself, feeling that he has no right as a father to become involved with his children. Rather, it is the guilt and the acceptance that he is a failure of a parent that leads him to try and leave on his own. Al stopped him, however, and the two share a heart-to-heart, in which Hohenheim explains his past, and the truth about who he is. Not long after this, Ed comes back into the picture, and after decking him in the face with his automail fist, Hohenheim admits to the same story he told Al. Again, seeking to quickly remove himself from the picture and his son’s immediate attention, he attempts to amble off, only to be stopped by Ed in order to deliver Trisha’s final words to him: “I’m sorry I can’t keep our promise. I have to go first.” Upon hearing these words, Hohenheim began to cry out of a mixture of grief and love for Trisha. Even at the end, she knew that he would find a way to make himself mortal and be with her in death.
Not long after, Pride is encountered again, and after another fight where Al requests that Hohenheim seal him and Pride into a lightless dome, he leaves the area with Edward, Greed, Ran Fan, Scar and their chimera allies to go to Central, where the final battle for control over the military capital had already begun. Making their way into the catacombs, Hohenheim reasons that the alchemists should be divided up efficiently. He instructs Ed to go with Scar while he asks Ran Fan to accompany him saying that “An old fart like me would much prefer to be alone with a young girl.” Once the group had separated and they had gone far enough, Hohenheim dismisses Ran Fan, telling her that it’s okay for her to leave him and go search for Ling.
Through all of this, Hohenheim had an air of an aloof old man, one with little to no pressing concerns. He is quiet spoken and keeps much to himself, relying more on indirect actions in order to aid his friends and family. Despite all of this, however, he is a good man, and very much aware of his own shortcomings. He is shouldered with the burdens of not only his inability to stop Homunculus from destroying Xerxes, but the collective minds and wills of 536,329 souls that inhabit his body. Throughout the four centuries he wandered, he took the time to personally converse with and learn about each soul, picking them out of a roaring mass and sorting them into a sea of souls willing to fight with him until the very end. His one true goal in life is to fulfill his promise to Trisha, and above all else, his sons are the greatest things in his four centuries of life.
How will your character react to the setting?: He will be baffled as to how he managed to arrive in such a town and why he cannot use alchemy. When he discovers this and gains insight into the various mysteries of the town, he will spend his time quietly researching and helping others behind the scenes.
Writing Samples
First Person: [The recording begins with muffled scrapes, as if someone were passing a heavy, weary hand over a microphone. It's one of those sounds that is instantly recognizable, but at the same time raises questions as to the source. Behind the scrapethumptaptaptap one can hear the grumbles and harumphs of a soft spoken, older gentleman. The interference clears slightly and then]
Hm...is this some sort of telephone? It doesn't appear to be connected yet...hello?
[Silence.]
If...this is indeed sending a signal, then I would like some information as to my current whereabouts. I'm in the middle of some important business that I must see to.
[There's another pause, and the clearing of a throat as he gathers his bearings.]
And if anyone has any information in regards to the state of Central, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
[The familiar sound returns, but only for a brief moment before the phone is hung up.]
Third Person: (This is also taken from another game)
Hohenheim stared out the window at the empty void before him. Well, not empty per se. Certainly there were planets and stars and asteroids and all other kinds of--
He felt his mind begin to wander, growing detached from the matter at hand. He was aboard a ship of alien origin, uprooted from his own world during a time of crisis. The lines on his face, world weary lines carved throughout the centuries like the great canyons of the world, creased and furrowed. Where were his sons? What was the fate of the people of Amestris, his world? Why was he here when the battle had just begun to reach its climax?
Why was he once again spared? Living while others could not be allowed to?
Suddenly, the near empty vacuum carried with it a harsh pang of loneliness. He turned his thoughts inward, into the sea of consciousnesses that dwelled within him.
Is something wrong, Van Hohenheim?
No, Kaya. I am fine. Are you doing well today?
The young flower girl’s voice rang in his mind, distracting him from his tumultuous thoughts. She was always helpful in cheering him up, and he couldn’t thank her enough today for her company. The seconds turned to minutes, turned to hours, and before he'd realized it, the stars that he had been watching had shifted, new celestial bodies at new spatial coordinates, and suddenly nothing was the same anymore. He took notice of this, and the sight struck him. Everything was always changing around him. He was a rock, a permanent fixture in the time stream, though not by his own decision. Lives flowed around him, flowed through him, and nothing ever stayed the same. Nothing except for him.