The Spectacular Exhibition (S3G2) [Round 2: Space - Abridged]

Originally posted on MSPA by cyber95.

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The Counsellor was delighted when she was approached by The Fool.  She had, of course, been watching the battles for a while.  Taking notes, and observing the changes in the contestants.
Eximo Pulvis.  Started out the Grand Battle with certain inferiority issues, which, by the end had been completely resolved.
Whit O'Donal.  Throughout the battle had developed a greater confidence with himself and his abilities.
Maxwell Deakin has grown much more mentally unstable since the beginning, but his elimination seems to be coming up soon.

It was certainly an interesting idea for an experiment.  The other Grandmasters ran their battles based merely on the idea of entertainment.  True, there is something... appealing about a battle of this caliber, but why not a practical application of the battles?  With only a few exceptions, it appeared that being thrust into such a strange and dangerous situation is not detrimental to the average psyche.  If anything, it can produce the opposite effect, helping one overcome certain mental issues.  Those that couldn't simply weren't fit for survival.

Okay so the idea may have been flawed in some way, and it probably couldn't be fully explored well enough unless it were some kind of spinoff of sorts, but with the standard format, she would do what she could.

She supposed she would need a name or something.  Hm... she could think of it while scouting for potential subjects.  Whatever the results of this, it was sure to be a Spectacular Exhibition.

...oh hey!

Oh snapsicles is it that time already? Yes, happy birthday to me, but my present today is one to be shared!  This is the Spectacular Exhibition!
If you don't know what a Grand Battle is then you've been living under a rock or just don't really frequent this part of the forum.  It's okay, I understand.

The story is that once upon a time I took a game with a dumb name and altered the rules and now there are 17 of them and now 18 and then there will be 6 more and then more seasons and it spiralled out of control and long story short there are a lot of options to read up on it.  The gist of it is that there are 8 contestants and 7 rounds, and each round somebody will be eliminated based on who has the worst writing.

Now here is the patient chart.  Please fill it out legibly.  Only people with MDs can scribble it.

Subject name: What's your character's name?
Gender: Yep.
Race: What species is your character?  Robot, werewolf, eldritch entity, we've had it all!
Colour: Whatever color you'll be posting in.  (I appeal to both demographics with both spellings!) Whatever color Counsellor uses is right out.
Weapons/Abilities: What does your character fight with? Do they have any special powers or just great skills?
Description:  Personality and looks.  If "sword" is mentioned in weapons, and "beard" is used in here, consider something else.
Mental diagnosis:  The Counsellor has a plan!  Perhaps this battle can help your character overcome some sort of mental deficiency.  The question is, what is it?
Biography: Tell me your character's life story.

And that would be it!  So yeah.  The one caveat for this is that your character can not be 100% mentally stable.  Which shouldn't be a problem because when was the last time you saw a mentally stable character in a Grand Battle?

Signups are done for! Here's the lineup.

1. Crepitans Bloodbark - #8B6D47 - SleepingOrange
2. Norman Randall Pollet - #E07040 - wheeeeeeatthins
3. Tria - "Navy" - Mirdini
4. Brooklyn Taylor - 3E275F - Schazer
5. Red - "Red" - Pick Yer Poison
6. Nemaeus - #225C54 - whoosh
7. Blazaard - #876543 - Akumu
8. Gepetto Morti - "Olive" - pandaExtremist BURNT AND BURIED

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Originally posted on MSPA by Wheeeeeeatthins.

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Show Content

Spoiler[spoiler]Subject name: Norman Randall Pollet
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Colour: #E07040
Weapons/Abilities: His main ability is his voice.  As the archbishop of the Church of the Second Radicle, and the one responsible for its growth and prominence in Port Merleau, he has an almost supernatural amount of charisma, charm and sway. 
Also, as the archbishop, he is entrusted with a Core Staff--a staff supposedly crafted from a tree which grew from one of the seeds of the Tree of Knowledge.  This staff supposedly enables him to divine certain intangible powers by affecting prevailing animist forces--for example, he can affect luck, make a thunderstorm more likely to happen, etc.  However, this power "only works if God and his Forces have been curried in their favor" [Doctrine of the Word of the Church of the Second Radicle, art.3 sect.12.35].  In actuality, these staffs are not carved from saplings of the Tree of Knowledge.  They are produced in the nearby Halfrus Lumberyard, and are really only good for swinging at people or using as a cane.  He can, however, convince people that his spellcasting is real with his eloquence.
Lastly, he has that Pollet libido.  This can lead to some... happenings... when coupled with his charm.

Description:

Physical: A stodgy man of average height and a well-combed and well-kempt head of brown hair.  Has started to get a bit of a belly after failing to exercise.  When not in ceremonial robes, he is always well-dressed, wearing suits or shirts of silk--for Godliness is next to Cleanliness.  You'd best believe his shoes are shined. 
He has the symbol of his church carved into his hand, which is a tree blooming from the stem of an apple, crucifix inside the apple.  He claims that he was struck by a bolt of divine presence one night, and thus His Word was imprinted onto Norman forevermore. 

Personality: For Norman, Pragmatism comes before Idealism:  He's always been about being a businessman first.  When he was growing up, he saw that the clergy held the lion's share of Port Merleau's wealth.  So he knew that, to get out of the indignifying poverty trap that was his family, he would have to play off that. 
Norman is self-centered and untrusting.  He has always thought that his days of youth were where he fended for himself; he only prevailed because he was individually strong (forgetting all of the contributions of his family).  He rides on convenience and opportunity as his real prevailing gods.  If someone offers him something, he will not only leap at the offer, but try to find a way to make it better for both parties--business is best done through long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships.
Of course, he wouldn't be in his line of business if it didn't do some good for people.  He feels pride in the fact that the religion he helped make gives people confidence and meaning to their actions.  He often makes a great deal about shows of philanthropy, and is known to appear at the right times in the community for the sake of strengthening his public image.  He is not the type for boasting out loud, but rather radiate pride in a back room.

Once he heard news of his brother's death, he began to feel uneasiness and unsureness at what he was doing.  Soon after, he began to see hallucinations of his brother, telling him that there was a good reason for him to feel bad: he has not done one concretely good thing in his life.
And so, now Norman has begun to feel split down the middle--half of him wants to prove his way is right by using his powers as much as he can, while the other half wants to destroy the other half for being a cruel fraud.


Mental diagnosis: Monomaniacal hallucinations and paranoia centering on his brother's death.  Claims to be "haunted" due to his poor treatment of younger brother during youth and on--and it is a trick his bastard conscious is trying to play on him.

Biography: Norman Pollet is the third to be born of the nine children born to Ethan and Nara Pollet.  (From first-born to last, the nine Pollet children were Vena, Clancy, Norman, Sarah, Trenton, Burwell, Aaron, Eloise, and James.)  Norman was closest to Clancy for the first few years of his life--something that changed when Clancy suddenly died of Typhoid when Norman was three.  This trauma is what led him to be so untrusting--the experience left on his malleable mind the fact that who he was closest to him could be taken away from him at any time.  He became uneasy with the prospect of getting too close to anyone--it could have the same result.  His brothers Aaron and Burwell died when he was eight and ten, respectively; his father died when he was eleven in a boating accident.
A month after the boating accident, a storm blew through the town of Port Marleau.  It was said to be caused "The Dread Spirit," the specter of a sunken ship that had been attacking and marauding the town.  Whatever the source, the high winds of change lead to a social upheaval:  though surface damage took about 50 lives, the ensuing several days rioting and civil war in the streets lead to a third of the population dead, another quarter wounded, and nearly sixty percent of the town entirely in disrepair.  It was said that the catastrophe left a specter of bad luck on all of the survivors--perhaps God had damned them all, or perhaps it was God that should have been damned for turning his back.  Either way, the town, which had recently been ruled over by the clergy of the Vercorpolic Church, stood to have something new take its place.

For ten years, the town was left in fear of having any type of religious organization be allowed near power as rebuilding happen.  And rebuilding took place. Meanwhile, Norman was building a worldview of his own:  if he were to escape this pit of poverty and death that was his family, he would have to grab his share in the rebuilding.  It seemed almost obvious where he would make his money: where had the greatest hole been left when the clergy was decried?  In belief.  The town showed both potential for the future and a paranoia of the past beneath the surface, so he would have to make people believe again.

Luckily, when he was 16, he was able to find an Animist prophet who was wandering from town to town and convince him to stay in Port Merleau to try to found a church.  The newfound religion stayed small, at first.  Then, Norman decided that it would be most attractive to the populace if the religion he was leading contained some familiar element to it instead of being pure Animism, so he mixed Animism with Vercorpolism.  The idea struck him like a lightning bolt in a dream.  It spread like a prairie fire across the town.

At the age of 21, the most significant event in the Church's history occurred:  Norman Pollet was introduced into the Society of Merleau Elites.  For the ten years previous, people had been wary of letting anyone in a religious position anywhere near a position of power.  This, however, was different:  the Vercorpolic Church was a big, evil organization, while the Second Church of Radicle was a hometown effort--it still had a soul to it.  Besides, most of the other Merleau elites were already a part of the Church.
At the age of 19, he had married his first wife.  With his induction into the Society, he divorced his first wife and married his second.  Like how he had turned aside his first wife for not fitting the mold of the Elites, Norman had, by now, turned aside his family.

Norman's success in the church caused even more resentment between him and Trenton--he had always treated Trenton like less than a brother, knocking him down to get his own rewards (when he was a teenager, he stole the fishing rod their father had left Trenton and pawned it for several pints of beer), while squabbling with him to no reward regarding their vastly conflicting ideologies.  Trenton, a bacchanalian cynic who saw things fatalistically, would grow red in the face screaming "Wrong!" at the walls of straight-laced, pragmatic eloquence Norman built in front of him.  Once the Church became proof that Norman was right, things came to a head.  Eventually, Eloise, Trenton's closest confidant and their sister, confronted Norman on Trenton's behalf, which resulted in Norman rebuking his brother and sister by name public sermon.  This caused Trenton to leave Port Merleau and wander the world, hoping to find his way somewhere.

The next thing Norman heard about Trenton was that he had died.  Also, that Trenton had explicitly gone out of his way in his will to mention that Eloise was the only sibling of his remaining.  For some reason, that, over anything else that had happened in his life, gave him a feeling of guilt.  From then on, it felt like there was some kind of demon weighing him down.

And then the hauntings began.
To spite his dead brother, he became more aggressive in his sermons.  At times, he would say things only Trenton would understand, or things directed straight at the dead man, and he would then stop to stare straight at him--only to realize that there was no one there he was talking to.  Later, he'd curse his brother for making him look like a fool in front of his congregation.

Of course, his brother would be there to tell him, "that's because you are one."  And so Norman would set out to prove his dead brother wrong even more and more, until one day he tore a chunk of his hair out of his head.  With his scalp still bleeding from the skin he had torn, he passed out on the floor of his rectory and woke up in the realm of The Spectacular Exhibition, knowing his purpose:  to prove that he was right, and that he was being guided by something more than a fake ghost.

I made a second one, because at first I couldn't decide.  I guess read this if you want more backstory on the Pollets.

Subject name: Eloise Pollet

Show Content

SpoilerSubject name: Eloise Pollet
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Colour: #E08050


Weapons/Abilities:  Barring her most recent job, Eloise Pollet has never held a job long enough to be considered "skilled" in anything.  The longest that she's held a job in her filth-stricken hometown of Port Marleau is eight months--she was a lumber-miller at Halfrus Lumberyard, a logging camp outside town.  She had to dress as a male to get the job, due to the strict no-female policy of the lumberyard, and was thrown back onto the streets after her gambit was discovered.  Has experience with sawing wood, though does not currently have a saw.
She also has experience in being a:

• barmaid (fired for spilling drink on town elite)
  
• housecleaner (fired for spilling drink on carpet of town elite)
  
• journalist (enitre office was shut down after spilling secret of town elite)
  
• cartographer (fired for seemingly no reason)
  
• three-card monty host (quit due to it being unprofitable with her luck)
  
• inn porter (fired for not being able to perform job after guest's luggage landed on arm)
  
• mother (stopped being one after daughter died and husband left)
  
• beggar (stopped being one after being put in jail for vagrancy)
  
• thief (only three experiences, never caught but still guilt-stricken.  Decided to take up shoecobbling job.)
  
• shoecobbler (fired for failing to give right-of-way to social elite after job)
  
• cook (fired for failing to submit to employer's desires)
  
• fishgutter (current job, has had for past 2.5 years.  Has fillet knife on her at all times so that she can skin the fish of a passer-by at a moment's notice for a few bits of currency.
  

In addition to her knife, she has with her 68 boxes of unpublished manuscripts about teenage wizards coming to terms with things.  She originally had seventy, but she has sent two of them in to a publisher.


Description: 
Physical: The first thing one will notice with Eloise is that she's missing one eye, something she refers to as "her constant reminder."  The hole is covered by a bandage.  She's short, with short, disheveled greyish-brown hair.  She wears modest clothing typical of the lower-class in Port Marleau, with one exception: she wears a cut-and-sewn set of stockings made from a fishing net on her legs.  This is so that when she goes wading out to shallow water outside of town to fish for herself (the fish she cleans are for sale to restaurants only), the stockings collect seaweed which she then uses in her home cooking.

Personality: due to her lowly status, she has been conditioned to be quiet, reserved and subservient.  Used to want to travel the world in a sailboat of her own and discover a nation for herself.  Her dreams have faded away over time, like the lines of color in her hair.  Harbors deep resentment towards social elites, and has been waiting her entire life to "get her turn," but doesn't wish harm against anyone else.
More likely to take something in stride than to lash out--has run into too much misfortune to know better.
Clever and knowledgable about certain crafts, but not intelligent due to only having basic schooling.  Though she's of a low status, is literate. 


Mental diagnosis: Monomaniacal hallucinations centering on her brother's death.  Often found "talking to him," though no one has ever reported anything there.  Claims to be "haunted."  In a fit, used fillet knife to take out own eye to try to get rid of the visions.  Possibly stemming from lack of closure surrounding loved one's death.


Biography: Eloise Pollet is the second-last to be born of the nine children born to Ethan and Nara Pollet.  (From first-born to last, the nine Pollet children were Vena, Clancy, Norman, Sarah, Trenton, Burwell, Aaron, Eloise, and James.)  She never knew Clancy, as he had died four years before she was born to typhoid, and Aaron died when she was only one to diphtheria, so she didn't remember him.  She barely remembered Burwell, who died of consumption when she was three.  The sibling she was closest to was Trenton--her closest older brother who looked out for her almost zealously, due to him having watched the two other siblings between them die.
When she was four, her father died in a boating accident.  A month later, a storm blew through the town of Port Marleau.  It was said to be caused "The Dread Spirit," the specter of a sunken ship that had been attacking and marauding the town.  Whatever the source, the high winds of change lead to a social upheaval:  though surface damage took about 50 lives, the ensuing several days rioting and civil war in the streets lead to a third of the population dead, another quarter wounded, and nearly sixty percent of the town entirely in disrepair.  It was said that the catastrophe left a specter of bad luck on all of the survivors--perhaps God had damned them all, or perhaps it was God that should have been damned for turning his back.  Either way, the town, which had recently been ruled over by the clergy of the Vercorpolic Church, stood to have something new take its place.

For ten years, the town was left in fear of having any type of religious organization be allowed near power as rebuilding happen.  And rebuilding took place. Eloise grew into being a product of that society: one fearful of large organizations, one who could charm the boys at school dances, one who could mend a pair of socks or boil a stew if her mother was out and her siblings needed it.  Despite Sarah and James both dying in those years, she had a rather normal upbring for a lower-class child in Port Merleau. And all the while, Port Marleau was giving itself a second fledgling status: after its near-annihilation, it now showed both potential for the future and a toxic paranoia against the past running beneath the surface.
Eventually, old habits arose. With the Vercorpolic Church having been all but banned from the town, new sects had been created while different blends of animistic and totemistic mysticism rose in their practice.  Her brother Norman became an archbishop in the Church of the Second Radicle, a sect of Christianity that mixed Old and New Testament teachings with dark Animistic rituals and interpretations.  He became one of the new social elites, working very seriously for spreading the CotSE's message across town and its success--going so far as to forget about his destitute family and turn them aside.
Norman's success in the church caused even more resentment between him and Trenton--Norman had always treated Trenton cruelly, knocking him down to get his own rewards (when he was a teenager, he stole the fishing rod their father had left Trenton and pawned it for several pints of beer).  When Trenton couldn't take it anymore, Eloise confronted Norman, which resulted in him rebuking her in a public sermon.  This caused Trenton to leave Port Merleau and wander the world, hoping to find his way somewhere.

Trenton's departure marked the start of her work life (as detailed in the abilities section).  She married once and had one child; these ended in a divorce and consumption death, respectively.  Her life was one of isolation:  the only thing that would break this was a letter from Trenton every week or month or so.  He traveled from town to town, writing when he could, while picking up work or joining groups--but never joining anything permanently.  He would always see that things had gotten warped or corrupted somehow, that they had become too much like the Church of the Second Radicle.  Eventually, he settled into some guild life--which was a mistake, as it was a blood-out guild--meaning that until one died, membership was compulsory.  The inevitable happened, one way or another, and letters stopped coming in.
Her fears mounted as she waited for her one connection to the outside world.  She began talking to herself.
Four months later, she received a delivery of 70 boxes of unpublished manuscripts and word that her one remaining brother was dead.  (Norman was still alive, but he was dead to the family.)  She never found out the exact terms of his death (the guild was a secret guild, after all, with a mail censor and all), so in addition to her grief, she had to live without any sort of explanation or resolution as to why he had been taken from her.
Two days of grieving passed.  Then, she saw her first vision of Trenton.  His face was trapped inside the eye of a fish she was gutting.  He didn't say much, except things like, "Hi Eloise, I'm dead," and, "What's the weather like over there?  It's freezing here being dead."  She stabbed the fish through the eye, ending the conversation right there.
Over the next six months, the visions increased in frequency and intensity.  After a while, she learned not to fight it--a lesson learned very abruptly as she dug her own eye out of its socket with a knife. Obviously, fighting it only seemed to make things worse for her.  Besides, it didn't seem like he meant her any harm--he never said anything rude or foreboding.  He just held idle chit-chat with her. Sometimes, he would count the gills on fish, or play guessing games of who in town was cheating on their significant other.  Still, it was pretty disquieting, and has left her on edge as to when he will appear next.
She looked for information as to what happened with her brother's death, but she could find no trace of evidence.  Meanwhile, she kept on working as a fishgutter.

And then she was warped to The Spectacular Exhibition, for whatever reason.  She guesses that someone here's was going to have to catch fish and cook them for everyone else.