as you know...

[throwaside]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Celen
Contact: celen
Age: 24
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Soo-won
Age: 18
Canon: Akatsuki no Yona
Canon Point: Chapter 73.

Background:

As the son of General Yu-hon and the nephew of Emperor Il, Soo-won visits castle Hiryuu often as a child and becomes close friends with both Princess Yona and Hak, the adopted grandson of the Wind Tribe's General Mun-dok. He treats Yona much like a little sister, helping her after her mother has died, and works together with Hak to protect her as all three play and have fun together.

However, the death of his father changes everything, and for the next ten years, Soo-won lives only for the thought of killing Emperor Il who is responsible for the murder of his father (an accident to the outside) and fulfilling his father's dying wish to become the king. He doesn't show anything of his plan on the outside, acting the same as always with both Yona and Hak, until the day of Yona's sixteenth birthday, which is the day when he finally puts his plan in motion. Soo-won kills the emperor with his sword, to match the way the emperor killed his father, but is caught by none other than Yona, who has come to talk to her father about her feelings for Soo-won. He tells her of his reasons for killing her father and turns his blade on her as his troops come to the scene, but she flees, and manages to escape with the help of Hak. Soo-won orders that they are to be found, but doesn't pursue them himself.

Soon after that, there is a meeting of the Five Tribes, where Soo-won is suggested to become the next king, and he asks to have the support of all the tribe Generals. Despite Mun-dok initially objecting to this (not least because Yona is gone and Hak is rumored to be the killer of Emperor Il), Soo-won finally gets the support of all five tribes, and is crowned king at the age of just eighteen.

A few months after his coronation, he goes to visit General Geun-tae in the Earth Tribe. On the way there, he stops by in Awa, to investigate the rumors of human trafficking in relation to the overlord of the city, Yang Kum-ji, but he finds out that pirates have already taken care of the business. While investigating incognito in the city, he runs into a girl… who turns out to be Yona. He thought her to be dead, so suddenly bumping into her in a quite literal way is a shock to him, and he inquires after Hak (who he thought to be equally dead), but then states that if she is alright, then it must be because Hak is still protecting her with his all. He wraps his cloak around her to conceal her from Joo-doh and the others, so the truth about her being alive doesn't come out, and he leaves her telling her it is natural that she should want to kill him, but that he can’t die right now as there is something he must do.

The very next thing he must do ends up being the task of acquiring Geun-tae's trust and loyalty. He goes about this by going "sight-seeing" in the Earth Tribe's capital Chi'shin, arranging a battle game as he’s there. His side ends up losing the game, but entirely on purpose, and he leaves an annoyed yet impressed Geun-tae behind, with an improved economy for the Earth Tribe and a respect for himself and his capabilities in Geun-tae's eyes.

This becomes useful later on, when the Fire Tribe allies itself with the Sen province and launches an attack on Hiryuu castle and Soo-won. He creates a strategy for the battle that includes leaking false information about pits on the sides of the attacking force, using tiger masks on horses to create an illusion of the army riding on tigers and asking for assistance from Geun-tae, who brings reinforcements into the field and the combined forces of the Sky Tribe and the Earth Tribe win the battle easily.

The first thing to do after the battle is over is to establish a treaty with the Sen province, which Soo-won does with fairly lenient conditions but a threat that should the non-aggression pact ever be broken, the Sen province would face all the five tribes, not only two of them. Then he goes to establish order in the Fire Tribe, and even as the oldest son of the former Fire Tribe general begs for Soo-won to judge him because even simply being ignorant of his father’s plans was already a sin, Soo-won refuses to do that and instead tells him he was very impressed with his leadership skills and that he is the only one who can lead the Fire Tribe now, making him the new general.


Personality:

The first and most important thing about Soo-won is that his personality is always two-fold, always two things at once: tying back to the person he used to be as a child, and the person he turned into after the events of his father's death.

As a child, Soo-won was the very image of carefree, gentle and happy. Brought up by a father he both respected and adored, and having friends who he admired and cared for, Soo-won was rarely anything but cheerful, easily excitable and above all kind, whether towards his friend (or more like the little sister he never had) who had lost her mother, or the ordinary people outside the castle, as even then he never judged a person by their looks or acted spoiled or haughty towards the so-called commoners. Unlike Yona, who was spoiled and sheltered, or Hak, who was rash and rude, Soo-won was both aware of the goings-on outside and always kind and polite – but also already clever and able to use both his brain and his connections with people to manipulate them. Nothing showcases this better than the instance Yona was kidnapped and had to be found: Soo-won used his connections with the "drunkards" and Ogi's intelligence network to find her. Not only had he established the connections before because, as he stated it, he heard a "lot of interesting things" that way, he was able to manipulate Ogi into helping with some carefully-chosen words and a check-mate. So even as a child, despite his childish and excitable appearance, Soo-won was already a master at mobilizing people for him, creating useful connections, aware of the importance of knowing what the ordinary people do, and not least of all hiding his own identity behind that of "Won" to move in the city incognito.

Many of these qualities remain with him even as he grows older, but equally many of them are transformed, mutated into something more secretive and scheming, all because of his father’s death. This secretive personality manifests in never quite stating outright his intentions ("there is something I must do") and avoiding answering or outright changing the subject when someone starts questioning him.

That death and its circumstances, pushing the idea of taking revenge by killing Emperor Il who was responsible for General Yu-hon's death and assuming the crown after him into Soo-won's head, and everything after that to the point where he finally goes ahead with the plan is all for the sake of his goals. In fact, this causes his goal-oriented way of thinking from his childhood (after all, he declared Hak as being one of his goals, back then) to turn into something more twisted: killing Emperor Il and assuming the throne becomes his only goal, now. This goal is larger than life for him as there is little he would not do to achieve it, not only killing Emperor Il, but being prepared to kill both Yona and Hak, his treasured childhood friends as well. This shows even before he becomes the king in short moments of something that seems to be sorrowful resignation, especially in regards to both Hak and Yona – that the dream of spending his life with both of them by his side is nice, but only a dream that he can’t ever have.

Perhaps the most obvious connection to the person he used to be is the way he presents himself, even after becoming the new king. Most of the time, he is carefully cheerful, gentle, kind and easy-going, chattering easily and smiling all the time. Sometimes, he can act even overly childish or naïve, especially when scolded by General Joo-doh to act more seriously. However, this cheerful and easy-going manner is mostly a front that he takes great care to maintain, as it is all about what is more advantageous to him: people respond easier to someone who is kind and sociable, and it is better for him to be underestimated as a king rather than the opposite way around. Soo-won never reveals his true strength unless it’s absolutely necessary, and he uses his silly mannerisms and cheerfulness to fool others into thinking he acts without care or a plan.

But plans are something he excels at. Whether it be forming a plan to rejuvenate a tribe's economy on the go, acting foolishly to make the "enemy" think he is running away when in reality he is directing his own troops, or making an entire strategy to win a war from the get-go, these are Soo-won's strengths. He has a strategic, calculating mind and is both smart and clever, able to see both the big picture and details in any situation. This makes him a capable military leader – and not only that, but Soo-won is also extremely skilled in the art of the sword, despite his somewhat frail and non-violent appearance. But that is yet another front that he hides behind, and this is another strength that he doesn't reveal unless necessary; for example, he shows glimpses of his serious fighting spirit in the Battle Game against General Geun-tae, in order to show him he is a king worth following. And despite hiding his talents in this area, Soo-won is confident in them, easily protecting a girl with nothing but an umbrella and later on promising Joo-doh that the next time, he would kill Hak – and considering Hak's strength as a fighter, it is no easy promise to make.

His confidence extends to other things than only his fighting skills: he is a natural leader, possessing both the charm and the capability to use it to get others to follow him, and he is used to commanding others. Even in the face of an impending battle, his demeanor is nothing but calm and not tense in any way one might expect, all because of his own confidence in his strategy and the capability of his allies. While his default mood might seem to be the aforementioned calm and cheerful façade, when the occasion calls for it, Soo-won is nothing if not serious and determined – so much so that the leader of the Sen province pales in the face of the threat he issues. In fact, while Soo-won is not an unnecessarily cruel person, thinking that it is his job to make sure as little lives as possible are lost in the war, he is cold and heartless enough when the occasion calls for it, calmly smiling in the face of his enemy… and more often than not, the occasion that does call for it is making sure Kouka kingdom is strong and united.

That is, after all, what Soo-won is working towards: all his actions as a king are spent towards making the kingdom stronger, better, and more united. And rather than go about this the way of waging war, Soo-won spends his time going incognito in the cities and investigating so he can resolve the internal conflicts inside the kingdom. This is an example of not only his realistic thinking and world-view and the way he believes in doing things yourself, but also caring: he truly cares for the kingdom and its citizens, his subjects, and once again like he used to do as a child, he goes alone into the cities to find out more about what is happening, because the people living there are the best source of information. He has a strong sense of justice and right and wrong, as evidenced by the fact he wants to make their lives better by investigating such things as human trafficking, as well as telling Yona he understands if she wants to kill him. He doesn't hold himself above anyone simply because of his noble birth – going to a makeshift hospital with sick people in it doesn't make him worried or disgusted (again, proving that his quality of not judging anyone by their looks hasn't changed), and instead, he starts washing laundry. In a similar manner, he thinks others who rule the tribes should be aware of what is happening in their lands, instead of being confined in a castle.

In the end, his caring nature isn't able to completely throw away the friendships with Yona and Hak, even though he knows his own actions have severed them – but even then, Soo-won protects Yona from being seen and possibly captured by Joo-doh and the others, shows concern for the wound on her back, and is completely unable to so much as lift his sword when Hak charges at him. However, despite regretting that throwing aside those friendships was a thing he had to do, Soo-won doesn't really show much sadness or sorrow: his devastation over his father's death changed into a plan for revenge and turned him into a colder, more calculating and ruthless person, and whatever sadness he feels over his actions towards Hak and Yona is overshadowed by the goal he is striving towards, and nothing will get in the way of that, especially not his own regrets.

In the end, Soo-won is perhaps best described in the words of General Geun-tae: What a frightening person. His calm, cheerful and harmless appearance hides a sharp intellect, a strategic mind to rival any military commander, a cold determination to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals and yet a true caring for his people, a shadow of a kind, sweet and happy child before tragedy changed him; someone who looks like a rabbit, but is in truth a hawk circling their pray before swiftly, cleanly snapping their neck.

Abilities: Extremely skilled with the sword, and with an intelligence to match. Nothing supernatural here, though!

Alignment: Sosyne. Because Soo-won, despite whichever way he is acting at any moment (keeping the cheerful front or acting more serious and/or outright confident or determined) is always calm, and yet his long-term goal for revenge shows an anger and hatred he can't let go of.

Other: He'll be arriving with his sword, and if possible, Gulfan as well.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
musebox thread | threads from another game's TDM

Questions: None!