app: karteria

[nuhysissa]

OOC INFORMATION

Name: Michelle
Are you over 18?: yes
Contact: speaksincolor
Other characters: Natalie Scatorccio
Permissions & opt-out: Permissions, Opt-out

IC INFORMATION

Name: Daenerys Targaryen
Canon: Game of Thrones (tv series)
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Appearance: About 5'2", blue eyes, pale blonde hair usually worn in complicated braids. Image link.
Canon point: Immediately after her death in season 8, episode 6.
History: Here


Personality answers:

1. Explain which event in canon is most pivotal to your character's development, and who they are today.

The moment in which Dany walks into Khal Drogo's funeral pyre and emerges, not only unharmed, but with the only living dragons in generations, shaped the rest of her journey from beloved champion of the people to villainous tyrant. Dany walked into the fire with nothing but a belief in her own destiny. She may have truly believed that she would not burn, but from her point of view, there was nothing left for her to lose if she was wrong. She had already lost her only remaining family, her child, her husband – and with him, her status. She had no acceptable future that she could see, so she took a chance that rewarded her with seeming proof that she was special.

This theme repeats itself again and again throughout the series as Dany walks into situations that seem stacked against her and emerges victorious -- whether through luck, skill, her own ability to empathize and connect with others in order to win them over to her side, or sometimes solely through the threat that her dragons represented. These improbable victories allow her to gather resources and power, but more importantly reinforce her own belief in her special destiny. It is this belief that keeps her afloat when she faces resistance; eventually she seems to believe that she cannot fail, and that even her most brutal choices can be justified as this is the life she was born for.

2. What is your character most afraid of?

Loss of power, which to her represents loss of freedom, particularly freedom from subjugation. She has experienced life at the mercy of others, first when she is sold into marriage as a teenager by her older brother in exchange for the promise of an army. She was a child, and though she came to love and respect her husband, Khal Drogo, she was also raped repeatedly by him and lived under the constant threat of death or further harm if she displeased him. After Drogo's death, she has chosen the way forward that will secure her power and autonomy, refusing even to marry again when the promise of power and relative safety is offered to her in Meereen. She insists upon having her own army, their loyalty secured by her own actions, and also refuses to lean merely on the threat that her dragons represent.

Rather than seeking the power to enslave others, Dany instead wishes to "break the wheel", and ensure that no one may ever be enslaved again. This is due partially to her own empathy for those who have been oppressed, but also due to her own fear of ever returning to that fate. She does feel a genuine responsibility to use the power that she has earned for the good of others, but she also deeply fears any threat to that power because of what it would mean for her to lose it.

3. What is your character's biggest ambition at their current canon point? To what lengths would they go to see it to fruition?

At her current canon point, she has fallen just shy of her ultimate life's ambition, and has demonstrated exactly how far she will go -- even intending to go further still, had she not been killed.

The Iron Throne of Westeros became the goal as soon as her brother Viserys died. Believing it to be her stolen birthright, she felt justified in pursuing the throne that her brother claimed was waiting for him. Because of Viserys's claims, she believed at first that Westeros was actively waiting for a Targaryen to return to the throne and set the Seven Kingdoms to rights. However, as her journey progressed, she also began to see the value in using her power to help those oppressed by the existing power structures, first in Essos, and ultimately in her home continent of Westeros.

Though successful at first, upon reaching Westeros, she is not welcomed, and meets challenge after challenge to her throne. She loses two of her dragons and two of her advisors before finally snapping and setting fire to King's Landing, and by that point she believes she is entirely justified. She continues by stating her intent to conquer the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, using the same force, and so she is killed by her lover and nephew, Jon Snow, before she can continue her reign.

Given that she is appearing in-game after her death, her immediate goal is going to be sorting out her place in this new world. After that, I think she will set aside dreams of power, as this isn't Westeros, but will still seek to secure her safety and surround herself with people who owe her their loyalty. However, she will also genuinely seek to help the people of Karteria once she gets her bearings.

4. What would be your character's lowest, darkest moment they've lived through? How did they respond to their troubles and face their demons?

The execution of Missandei, which represents the point of no return for Dany. She has lost two dragons -- her children, as she constantly refers to them. She has executed one formerly trusted advisor. She has learned that the man she loves is also her nephew, making him the true heir to the Iron Throne, and furthermore he has begun to withdraw affection as he grapples with the moral dilemma of being in a relationship with his aunt. Dany feels isolated and unloved, a feeling that she has not experienced since her early days of her marriage to Khal Drogo.

Missandei was Dany's last anchor, her last true confidant, and with her final word -- Dracarys, she sealed the fate of the people of King's Landing. Dany chose revenge, and set fire to the streets of King's Landing, wantonly and intentionally killing innocents for the first time in her life. It is at this point that she becomes irredeemable, but by this point she is also incapable of seeing her actions as anything but justice.


Inventory:
- a grey wool coat
- her mother's pearl ring
- a pin with a three-headed dragon on it
- a petrified dragon egg -- as a note, this dragon egg does not have the capability to hatch; whatever magic it held was removed by whatever process nerfs magical powers in Karteria.

Powers/Abilities:
- fire resistance; Dany has twice walked into fire and emerged completely untouched, as well as not noticing when a bath was scalding hot or her hand is on a red-hot object. It is unclear whether this ability is magical or genetic (sources disagree so my official stance is she doesn't know and neither do I); nerf as appropriate!
- precognition; while she does not have as strong a gift as her ancestor, Helaena, she has shown some ability to foresee events: she dreamed of her dragons before they hatched, and was granted a vision of the Iron Throne with ash falling around it while in the House of the Undying.

Samples: One & Two

Player Goals: I'd like to see how a transformation-style game changes Dany, particularly now that the stakes have changed for her entirely. This is not her world, she has no claim to rule -- what will she fight for now that she's gained and lost a kingdom and woken up on the other side of death? With a good chunk of her family line present, even?

I'm not interested in having her try to rule anything here or set dragons loose! There will be plenty of chaos without dragons or mad queen takeovers, I'm sure. I just enjoy putting beloved characters into Situations and seeing what they do.

Soul Choice: Aves