Jude Mathis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
actsofconviction) wrote2014-02-07 09:55 pm
actsofconviction) wrote2014-02-07 09:55 pm
[Court] App
character:
character name: Jude Mathis
info:
au: Tales of Xillia
please put any major/most important points in bullet points
objective: Jude Mathis is a medical student in the country of Rashugal, top of his class and poised to graduate. He's the perfect student: earnest, smart, willing to take on whatever duties he has to, and generally a teacher's pet. Or, to put it another way, Jude is socially awkward around his peers, doesn't know when to keep his nose out of other people's business, and is pretty much a doormat when it comes to people requesting things from him. He's always been a people-pleaser. His mom and dad are the only doctors in his home village of Leronde, so he was a latchkey kid for most of his life. As a result, he ended up craving friendship to the point where as a chid he'd come home smiling even if the other kids picked on him, because at least he got to play with them! So it's only natural that when his professor disappears without signing a paper Jude needs for graduation, he'd follow him to the top-secret lab he's been doing work at... and when it becomes obvious that there's something really suspicious about said lab and its connection to said disappearance, that he'd look into it.
In canon, this leads to him meeting Milla Maxwell, who's breaking into the same facility to destroy a weapon called the Lance of Kresnik. Jude witnesses his professor being sacrificed as fuel for the Lance, and gets swept up in Milla's journey. During the course of the game, he learns to think for himself and stick to his convictions, even if it brings him into conflict with others.
In this AU, he and Milla just miss each other. Jude does enter the facility and witness his professor's death, but instead of being attacked by the spy Agria... well, Milla's already taken care of Agria. Jude's do-gooder med-student instincts take over when he finds Agria unconscious, and he brings her back to the school for treatment, running into Alvin along the way. To cut a long story short, Alvin and Prinn (one of Jude's friends, and also a spy) convince Agria not to kill Jude due to his potential usefulness as an informant. Jude gets shipped off to Kalanbar, the capitol of Rashugal's rival country Auj Oule, against his will. But when he meets King Gaius, he ends up liking him. Gaius explains his concerns about the Lance of Kresnik quite frankly. Feeling somewhat responsible for the Lance (given that his professor both worked on and died because of it) and inspired by Gaius’s words about leadership and protecting others, Jude agrees to keep an eye on things in Fennmont. He's not ready to turn traitor against his country, but he also doesn't want a war to break out.
Like in canon, Jude finds his footing through a determination to protect and help others -- not just through his training as a doctor, but through his own strength and convictions. The difference is, his growth is based on interactions with Gaius rather than Milla (the two are set up to be parallels in canon, so this isn't much of a stretch), and he spends a good part of the early game in Fennmont with Agria and Prinn instead of journeying around. When shit hits the fan with the plot and war between Rashugal and Auj Oule seems inevitable (and then It Gets Worse when the up until then outside world of Elympios attacks), Jude decides he can't just do information work anymore and becomes actively involved.
This is where he meets Milla, when the two become separated from their respective groups and have to work together to survive. He's impressed by Milla’s convictions and her philosophy of everyone needing to make decisions for themselves and find their own missions. When Gaius offers him a position in the Chimeriad, his personal guard, Jude accepts. Milla and Gaius's groups work together against Elympios, but Jude -- who has been corresponding with Alvin (who is originally from Elympios) since they first met, because Alvin likes to keep his fingers in all of the informational pots -- starts to doubt whether or not Rieze Maxia and Elympios should be in conflict in the first place. He ends up believing that there should be a way for the two worlds to exist in harmony, something that puts him in conflict with Gaius. But thanks to Gaius and Milla's influence, he doesn't back down. Gaius won't be convinced, so Jude leaves the Chimeriad to try to talk to Milla about his ideas instead.
Basically, AU Jude is very similar to canon Jude in terms of the character arc he takes -- gaining confidence in himself and a desire to use his convictions to help others, both human and spirit, Rieze Maxian and Elympion -- but the events that push him to that growth are different. Because he initially imprints on Gaius rather than Milla, his philosophy is slightly more in the direction of "the strong should lead the weak" rather than "the strong should protect/nurture the weak until they can become strong themselves." He cares deeply about both Alvin and Milla even though they're technically opposing Gaius for part of the story, as both of them have taught him what he feels are valuable lessons about the real world and how people work. Because of his time as a semi-spy-type-thing, he's better at lying and stealth than his canon counterpart, but as a tradeoff, he's more of a midboss figure when it comes to attacks than a fully-powered main party member, whoops.
objective: I'm thinking that one of his objectives will be bondage, for a couple of reasons. It's something of a running joke in canon (Milla's special ability involves freezing monsters in place, and there's a skit where she, Alvin, and Jude end up discussing bondage because of it), and one of Jude's defining traits is the trust he has in those he supports vs the trust he starts to inspire in others. So exploring that trust through bondage seems like it would be fun to me! Especially since this version of Jude, unlike his canon counterpart, doesn't have quite as solid a base of trust to work from when interacting with people.
sample:
Jude had been expecting a lot of things after leaving the Chimeriad. Wingul attempting to subtly have him killed off, despite Gaius's orders to let him be, was one of them. Milla refusing to speak to him when he finally caught up with her and his plans completely falling apart as a result was another.
Ending up stranded in Elympios due to Muzét's interference before either of those things could happen, on the other hand... well, he hadn't really even considered that possibility. In retrospect, he probably should have been more careful. He knew that Muzét was dangerous, and that she was willing to do whatever it took to uphold Maxwell's ideals -- and that he was now actively working directly against the foundation of those ideals.
Still.
Here he was. So he'd just have to make the best of it. If he tried to look at his circumstances from another angle, it was something of a blessing, really -- here was his chance to learn about Elympios firsthand. If he talked to enough people and learned the details of spyrix technology, Milla would be more likely to listen to him when he broached his ideas to her. A good theory should always be backed up with plenty of empirical data, he thought to himself, and then made a face. This wasn't school. There was a lot more at stake than grades or reputations.
Seeing Elympios with his own eyes -- the smog-filled streets and the brown, withered grass -- drove that fact home. Alvin had been vague when he talked about his home, mentioning something about it not being all that pretty, but this... this was definitely a world that was dying. There was no way Jude was going to let Maxwell pass a death sentence on Elympios, even if they did use spyrix.
He wondered how he was going to get inside the city, attempting to brush away any worries by reminding himself that he hadn't been learning how to bluff from Prinn and Alvin for nothing. He might as well put their teachings to some use.
character name: Jude Mathis
info:
au: Tales of Xillia
please put any major/most important points in bullet points
- This is the same AU that Lepi is apping Milla from!
- Basically, instead of being a party member for most of the game, Jude is working for Gaius instead. He and Milla don't meet at the Fennmont research facility.
- Despite this, Jude does eventually go through a similar character arc as in canon (details below in paragraph form.)
- He just has this arc while being a spy and then a member of the Chimeriad, before striking out on his own in an attempt to resolve the conflict between Rieze Maxia and Elympios.
- He greatly respects both Gaius and Milla and really just wants everyone to be able to work together, is that so hard? (Yes, Jude, you're a largely a midboss in this universe, you can't just say everyone should get along.)
objective: Jude Mathis is a medical student in the country of Rashugal, top of his class and poised to graduate. He's the perfect student: earnest, smart, willing to take on whatever duties he has to, and generally a teacher's pet. Or, to put it another way, Jude is socially awkward around his peers, doesn't know when to keep his nose out of other people's business, and is pretty much a doormat when it comes to people requesting things from him. He's always been a people-pleaser. His mom and dad are the only doctors in his home village of Leronde, so he was a latchkey kid for most of his life. As a result, he ended up craving friendship to the point where as a chid he'd come home smiling even if the other kids picked on him, because at least he got to play with them! So it's only natural that when his professor disappears without signing a paper Jude needs for graduation, he'd follow him to the top-secret lab he's been doing work at... and when it becomes obvious that there's something really suspicious about said lab and its connection to said disappearance, that he'd look into it.
In canon, this leads to him meeting Milla Maxwell, who's breaking into the same facility to destroy a weapon called the Lance of Kresnik. Jude witnesses his professor being sacrificed as fuel for the Lance, and gets swept up in Milla's journey. During the course of the game, he learns to think for himself and stick to his convictions, even if it brings him into conflict with others.
In this AU, he and Milla just miss each other. Jude does enter the facility and witness his professor's death, but instead of being attacked by the spy Agria... well, Milla's already taken care of Agria. Jude's do-gooder med-student instincts take over when he finds Agria unconscious, and he brings her back to the school for treatment, running into Alvin along the way. To cut a long story short, Alvin and Prinn (one of Jude's friends, and also a spy) convince Agria not to kill Jude due to his potential usefulness as an informant. Jude gets shipped off to Kalanbar, the capitol of Rashugal's rival country Auj Oule, against his will. But when he meets King Gaius, he ends up liking him. Gaius explains his concerns about the Lance of Kresnik quite frankly. Feeling somewhat responsible for the Lance (given that his professor both worked on and died because of it) and inspired by Gaius’s words about leadership and protecting others, Jude agrees to keep an eye on things in Fennmont. He's not ready to turn traitor against his country, but he also doesn't want a war to break out.
Like in canon, Jude finds his footing through a determination to protect and help others -- not just through his training as a doctor, but through his own strength and convictions. The difference is, his growth is based on interactions with Gaius rather than Milla (the two are set up to be parallels in canon, so this isn't much of a stretch), and he spends a good part of the early game in Fennmont with Agria and Prinn instead of journeying around. When shit hits the fan with the plot and war between Rashugal and Auj Oule seems inevitable (and then It Gets Worse when the up until then outside world of Elympios attacks), Jude decides he can't just do information work anymore and becomes actively involved.
This is where he meets Milla, when the two become separated from their respective groups and have to work together to survive. He's impressed by Milla’s convictions and her philosophy of everyone needing to make decisions for themselves and find their own missions. When Gaius offers him a position in the Chimeriad, his personal guard, Jude accepts. Milla and Gaius's groups work together against Elympios, but Jude -- who has been corresponding with Alvin (who is originally from Elympios) since they first met, because Alvin likes to keep his fingers in all of the informational pots -- starts to doubt whether or not Rieze Maxia and Elympios should be in conflict in the first place. He ends up believing that there should be a way for the two worlds to exist in harmony, something that puts him in conflict with Gaius. But thanks to Gaius and Milla's influence, he doesn't back down. Gaius won't be convinced, so Jude leaves the Chimeriad to try to talk to Milla about his ideas instead.
Basically, AU Jude is very similar to canon Jude in terms of the character arc he takes -- gaining confidence in himself and a desire to use his convictions to help others, both human and spirit, Rieze Maxian and Elympion -- but the events that push him to that growth are different. Because he initially imprints on Gaius rather than Milla, his philosophy is slightly more in the direction of "the strong should lead the weak" rather than "the strong should protect/nurture the weak until they can become strong themselves." He cares deeply about both Alvin and Milla even though they're technically opposing Gaius for part of the story, as both of them have taught him what he feels are valuable lessons about the real world and how people work. Because of his time as a semi-spy-type-thing, he's better at lying and stealth than his canon counterpart, but as a tradeoff, he's more of a midboss figure when it comes to attacks than a fully-powered main party member, whoops.
objective: I'm thinking that one of his objectives will be bondage, for a couple of reasons. It's something of a running joke in canon (Milla's special ability involves freezing monsters in place, and there's a skit where she, Alvin, and Jude end up discussing bondage because of it), and one of Jude's defining traits is the trust he has in those he supports vs the trust he starts to inspire in others. So exploring that trust through bondage seems like it would be fun to me! Especially since this version of Jude, unlike his canon counterpart, doesn't have quite as solid a base of trust to work from when interacting with people.
sample:
Jude had been expecting a lot of things after leaving the Chimeriad. Wingul attempting to subtly have him killed off, despite Gaius's orders to let him be, was one of them. Milla refusing to speak to him when he finally caught up with her and his plans completely falling apart as a result was another.
Ending up stranded in Elympios due to Muzét's interference before either of those things could happen, on the other hand... well, he hadn't really even considered that possibility. In retrospect, he probably should have been more careful. He knew that Muzét was dangerous, and that she was willing to do whatever it took to uphold Maxwell's ideals -- and that he was now actively working directly against the foundation of those ideals.
Still.
Here he was. So he'd just have to make the best of it. If he tried to look at his circumstances from another angle, it was something of a blessing, really -- here was his chance to learn about Elympios firsthand. If he talked to enough people and learned the details of spyrix technology, Milla would be more likely to listen to him when he broached his ideas to her. A good theory should always be backed up with plenty of empirical data, he thought to himself, and then made a face. This wasn't school. There was a lot more at stake than grades or reputations.
Seeing Elympios with his own eyes -- the smog-filled streets and the brown, withered grass -- drove that fact home. Alvin had been vague when he talked about his home, mentioning something about it not being all that pretty, but this... this was definitely a world that was dying. There was no way Jude was going to let Maxwell pass a death sentence on Elympios, even if they did use spyrix.
He wondered how he was going to get inside the city, attempting to brush away any worries by reminding himself that he hadn't been learning how to bluff from Prinn and Alvin for nothing. He might as well put their teachings to some use.