Recolle Application

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PLAYER
YOUR NAME: Kenkai
18+?: Yes
CONTACT: PM this journal, or kenkai_chan @ plurk
CHARACTERS IN GAME: n/a
RESERVATION LINK: Here

CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Ilia Trevelyan
AGE: 27
CANON: Dragon Age

CANON HISTORY: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Storyline_for_Dragon_Age:_Inquisition
CANON PERSONALITY: Ilia’s difficult childhood and adolescence set the basis for much of her personality. Raised to be nothing more than a shadow of her siblings, Ilia rebelled and fought her parents’ expectations every step of the way. Since she had little to no power over the direction of her life, she lashed out in other ways. Every comment, no matter how trivial, was met with some form of biting retort from her. And often what was said to her was less than kind; when she wasn’t being actively ignored, she was ridiculed for one thing or another. Her mother considered her rather ugly and inferior compared to her sister, and she wasn’t as eager to impress her parents as her siblings were. All she had were her words. As a result, she’s mastered the art of sarcasm, specializing in sass and biting remarks.
But despite her resistance, her upbringing damaged her self-esteem quite considerably. Her childhood embittered her, especially given how little control she had had over her life and what she went through. The subject makes her extremely angry when brought up, and makes it difficult for her to be able to talk through it. She quickly gets defensive if someone blames her for something, even if it’s something minor. Too often she’ll eventually just buckle and take the blame, even if she didn’t actually do it. She finds it easier than arguing for too long. From past experiences with her family, she believes that she’ll wind up taking the blame one way or another; why drag it out? Those formative years also shredded her body image. After hearing you’re ugly and inferior so many times, it’s hard not to internalize it. (Yeah, those horrendous outfits the Inquisition wore to Halamshiral? She did not argue that one down; she was going to look awful no matter what, but that way, they all got to look terrible together.) And often that sarcasm she’s famous for is directed at herself, typically in a self-deprecating manner. Too often she’ll tear down herself, proverbially beating others to the punch. She’s come to expect criticism, so now she just does it herself so she doesn’t have to hear it from someone else. After the attack on Haven, Ilia is quick to blame herself for not being fast enough, or strong enough or… not something enough to save the pilgrims and townspeople who perished in the assault.

So it came as a shock when Vivienne reassured her that, no, it wasn’t her fault, she did the best she could. It’s a sentiment Ilia was not used to. Yet the Inquisition and its people gave it to her in spades, and having removed her from her family and propped her up into a position of power (as much as it terrified her, because she’d never done anything like this before and how the hell was she supposed to lead an entire Inquisition?), she began to heal and grow as a person. Cassandra’s admittance that she had been wrong about Ilia’s involvement in the Conclave explosion surprised her. Not only had the Seeker given her a chance to redeem/prove herself innocent, she then admitted that she had been wrong. Even more mind-boggling to her, Cassandra then defended her from the Chantry officials wanting to persecute her, despite the hit it must have taken to her reputation. It wasn’t just Cassandra, either. From witty Varric offering comfort with his humor, Solas providing advice with his oddly profound wisdom, to Dorian’s easygoing friendship and Sera’s ability to keep her grounded, Ilia was never lacking support or a shoulder to lean her head on when things became overwhelming. For the first time, Ilia had a support system. Over the course of the year or so that the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition took place, she learned to trust people and open herself up emotionally to them.

Still, it had been slow for her to open up to these people at first. With family who hardly bothered with her and would blame her for nearly anything they perceived as a wrongdoing, she had few people whom she could trust growing up. That has carried with her into her adult life. Initially she’d dragged her feet in helping the Inquisition, doubting her own capabilities and unsure as to what these people wanted from her. Naturally, she snarks at people when she’s unsure as to what’s going on or feels insecure. Most of her responses to the Inquisition advisors and her traveling companions were sarcastic or sassy in some way or another. It earned her the reputation of a relentless snarker. She also is known for speaking little about herself. Though she’s gotten much better about it during her time in the Inquisition, she still struggles with opening up to people.

Yet, once her trust is earned, she sticks by that person no matter what. Her loyalty is unshakeable. She stood by Blackwall when he revealed his identity and allowed him back into the Inquisition, partly because he was already making up for what he’d done, but mostly because he was her friend and she refused to abandon him. She abandoned an alliance with the Qun – something unheard of in Thedas – in order to save Iron Bull’s company. Whenever one of her friends needed something, she was there to help, whether it was confronting an estranged father or winning back a family’s fortune. Those people supported her after she thought no one ever would, so she was determined to do the same for them. That loyalty extends to the Inquisition as well. More than once she was willing to lay down her life for its members (namely at Haven, when she confronted Corypheus). She cares a great deal about her friends and her followers, though she often tries to downplay it or hide it, somewhat afraid of what people would think or do if they learned she had such a soft spot.

After finding herself suddenly the Inquisitor, leader of this makeshift organization trying to hold the world together, she slowly discovered that she wasn’t the fuck-up her family made her out to be. Ilia’s quick-witted and quick-thinking, able to think on her feet and come up with some sort of a plan in a short amount of time. When Corypheus attacked Haven, she remained calm and drew his attention to her, buying the escaping Inquisition time. When she launched the trebuchet to bring down an avalanche to wipe him and his troops out, she was quickly able to discern an exit and ran for it, narrowly outpacing an avalanche. It also revealed how tough she actually is. She survived the avalanche and a long trek through the Frostback mountains, in the middle of a snowstorm, before she caught up with the rest of the Inquisition.

The events at Halamshiral perhaps tested her the most, and it’s there where she really shined. Being raised amongst nobility gave her an edge in understanding how to play the “great game” of Orlais, helping her navigate the complex web of relationships amongst the Orlesian nobility. She learned that she was not only pretty clever, but also far gutsier than she realized. This came to pass when she gathered enough evidence and confronted all three major players of Orlesian politics, exposing their schemes in front of each other and essentially blackmailing all three into working together.

So in sum, it’s in large part thanks to her time in the Inquisition that allowed her slowly repair her self-esteem and see her better qualities. But those qualities take awhile to unearth, buried under a hard, sarcastic exterior.

SKILLS/ABILITIES:
Ilia is a rogue in canon, specifically of the dual-wielding type. So basically, lots of stabbing with two daggers. Her specialization is the Tempest, which basically involves throwing elixirs and causing elemental damage.
Those abilities include:
- Lockpicking
- Stealth: as a rogue, she can duck out of battle unseen. Usually used to escape or attack an unsuspecting enemy
- Twin Fangs: leaping out from cover and jabbing both blades into an opponent. Ilia’s favorite
- Spinning Blades: a flurry of attacks meant to knock the opponent back and bring her closer to prime striking range
- Knockout Powder: she throws a fistful of dosed dust into an enemy’s face, rending them unconscious for a time
- Shadow Strike: an attack from the shadows which deals more damage from stealth
- Flask of Fire
- Flask of Ice
- Flask of Lightning
The Anchor on her hand also affords her some powers:
- The ability to seal rifts in the Fade. Also, she can open them, although this is rarely done
- Mark of the Rift: she can create a sort of temporary rift which causes damage, particularly to Fade spirits and demons
- Aegis of the Rift: with the Anchor, she can manipulate the Veil and form a barrier that deflects missile attacks

CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Ilia Trevelyan
AU AGE: 25
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: Ilia will primarily look the same as she did in game, the only major differences being that she won’t have any of her battle scars, or the Anchor’s mark on her left hand.

AU HISTORY:
• Grew up in a wealthy family in Britain, the youngest of four siblings. Pretty much had everything handed to her on a silver plate.
• Attended private schools and essentially lived in a privileged bubble for most of her childhood. She only interacted with children from other wealthy families and knew very little about how the world worked.
• When she was a child, her parents traveled often so she rarely saw them; mostly raised by nannies and other caretakers
• After she turned fourteen, her parents retired and were at home constantly. She clashed often with them, as they were attempting to be actual parents but to her, they were more or less strangers
• Once she reached secondary school, she began lashing out and rebelling. She nearly flunked out of school and as a result, her parents tried reining her in, restricting her activities and essentially keeping her under house arrest
• This resulted in her sneaking out quite a bit. The more they tried clamping down, the more she fought it. She turned to shoplifting, getting a rush from the act. Eventually she got caught and nearly did a stint in juvenile detention
• After a violent fight with her mother about it, Ilia swore to finish her out school years and then get out as soon as she could
• Just weeks after her eighteenth birthday, having graduated from her secondary, Ilia packed up and left.
• Given her privileged life growing up, she had little idea of how the real world worked. She blew through what money she had on her within a year and wound up homeless for a time.
• Her parents found her about two years after she left and tried to drag her back home, citing her as an embarrassment. They even hired someone to essentially kidnap her and bring her back. She narrowly escaped and has done her best to stay off their radar since then.
• She traveled around, taking up temp jobs and either living in homeless shelters or, if she managed to befriend someone, crash at their place for a time.
• Very often, she would start running with bad crowds, people who wound up screwing her over and leaving her with nothing again. Often this would result in her leaving and going elsewhere, having to start all over again
• Came to Recolle about a year ago, set on making something of her life and not being a vagrant. She spent a year in the UK saving up for a planet ticket to come over. She now works a part time job and is going to the university to get a degree in… something. She’s undecided.

AU PERSONALITY:
With her parents absent for most of her childhood, Ilia had a much happier upbringing. Her parents only began to come down on her in her adolescence, and even then they were more just strict than they were cruel. As a result, she’s a lot less bitter and angry than she is in canon. Though her adolescence leaves a bad taste in her mouth, and she’s not on speaking terms with her parents, her being able to rebel and escape from her family made it a lot easier to bear it.
It also means she doesn’t have such a strong sarcastic streak. It’s still there – her humor tends to lean towards dryness – but it’s not as prevalent.
On the downside, without her time in the Inquisition and the support network she gained there, Ilia’s self-esteem is still in tatters. Though the damage done to it wasn’t entirely from her family in her AU history, but rather from all the years she spent homeless and on the road. She’s angry at herself for being so careless with her money and getting herself into such awful situations. A part of her almost regrets leaving, misses having a nice home and nice things, but she knows she couldn’t live and stay with her parents. But having gotten such a good education and basically being expected to be successful as well, she feels like a failure, and it hurts her to be cut off from her family and being the outcast. Her only hope is that things turn around for her in Recolle, though a part of her still expects this to fail, too, like her other plans in the past.
It’s still hard for her to open up to others, given how often she’s gotten burned by those she’s let in. She hopes that her time in Recolle will prove different, but she’s very cautious still about making friends and trusting other people.
She’s still as quick-witted and resourceful, though again, without the chance or opportunity to really showcase these, she’s not convinced she is. The most credit she’ll give herself is the ability to scrape by and being able to survive sleeping outside in the cold.

SAMPLE
Ilia is immensely unpleased about this Retrospec crap that just showed up on her phone. Social media networks and accounts and all that other “let’s all connect!” garbage just makes her extremely uneasy. It leaves a person open to being watched and followed at every step and turn. It lets people obsessively track a person and their life. Ilia’s not keen on letting people get inside her life too much. People liked to take advantage of that. Next thing you know, you’re arguing and they’re throwing everything that hurts you the most back at you.
But no matter what she does, she can’t get rid of the damned app. As soon as she deletes it, it re-downloads itself. Either something is wrong with her phone, or this company is a total hack. Whatever it is, she’s resigned herself to being stuck with it. When she finally does open it, panic strikes her like a fist to the gut when she sees her information all filled out. Quickly she tries to delete it and get it off of this app, but she can’t, no matter what she tries.
What if my parents find me on this thing? She doesn’t want to face them, not now or ever. As hard as it was to be homeless and on the road so much, it helped with keeping her parents off her trail. She really did not want a repeat of almost being kidnapped. If they had this app, who was to say how long it would take before they tracked her down? Shit shit shit. Am I gonna have to move again already? But I just got settled in here and started university.
She inhaled deeply, and then exhaled evenly, trying to keep herself calm. I’m not in the UK anymore. It’ll be lot harder for them to get at me here. And maybe it’s been long enough that they’ve given up. It was her best hope now.
Despite her paranoia, a part of her wanted to go into the app and reach out, to connect with people. She’s been so isolated for so long, keeping people at arm’s length. Short of this thing making posts for her, she still would have control over what was seen. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad, just to have a presence, see what’s going on around the city. She was new, after all…
“Oh bugger it,” she muttered as she began tapping around on her phone, seeing what all this app was and what it had to offer.