Shaun Newmann [Shadow Self]

Subject: Shaun Newmann [Shadow Self] Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:03 pm

Shaun Newmann

It's obvious to anyone with the tiniest smidgin of common sense. Which, of course, means that my secret is safe.

The Biography

Birth Name: Shawn Harry Newmann
Aliases: N/A
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Birth Day: April 2nd
Arcana: Hermit
Place of Residence: A small apartment within the Vista Square District
Academy Semester: Second year of college
Class: (We'll fill this in once you're approved. This will be your class in school)

Sorority: N/A

Part/Full Time Job: Freelance Computer Work

Base & Transformed Appearance:
Shaun has short curly dark hair, which he often (unsuccessfully) tries to straighten out with a comb. His piercing green eyes (which have a tendency to turn yellow when he's very annoyed or during supernatural events) are adorned with rectangular spectacles, and he has a very elegant nose. All in all, his face would be quite attractive, were it not for the widespread acne on his face.
Shaun is 5'9'', but usually puts on platform boots to appear a bit taller. Clothing-wise, he wears blue jeans coupled with a white button-up shirt, as well as a deep blue bowtie.

In its transformed state, Shaun's Shadow assumes the form of a large robotic creature. Its main metallic body is shaped like an upside-down dome, with two arms extending from its sides and a monowheel supporting it at the bottom.
On top of it, there's something that sticks out like a sore thumb - a tank filled with bubbling blue fluid, where Shaun's normal body resigns, sleeping with a mechanical-looking helmet on his head. In front of the tank, a monitor is located, displaying Shadow's face as a white outline on a black background. All other gadgets, like a small raygun, a hologram generator, and a vane (don't ask), extend from the flat space around the tank.

Personality:
Shaun (or, well, his Shadow) has a very cynical worldview, considering most people (whom he dubs "ignorant masses") idiots who barely deserve to live, and viewing the current state of the world as a result of such stupidity. He places more value on a person's intellect than on anything else, but his (pretty broad) definition includes things others would call "wisdom" and "common sense".
His views would place him firmly into Cadet supporters, not because that's most people believe in, but because he does consider the Queen a very smart person who is fit for leadership, and feels like the masses don't deserve the freedom that the Psyche Terrorists are promoting.
However, he has at least some respect towards the Terrorists - they were able to rise from the masses and see through the deception, after all. He just believes that their cause is pointless and would simply bring about short-term anarchy in the best-case scenario - or destroy the whole world in the worst.

The Potential

Strengths:

—Strength Name: One Who Claims Himself Smart Ought Not To Be Dumb
—Description: With the dichotomy between smart and stupid being a central part of the Shadow's worldview, it's only natural that it constantly pushes itself to improve that part of itself. All Intelligence Social Quality gains are doubled.

—Strength Name: Reverse Psychology And Other Smart-Sounding Terms
—Description: "Ignorant masses are easy to manipulate" - this realisation caused the birth of the Shadow, and it still believes the idea. +10% success chance to skills that cause a Charm or Despair aliment.

—Strength Name: A Strong Soul Resides In A Smart Mind, Not A Strong Body
—Description: The amount of SP restored by the Invigorate skill tree is increased by 1.

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—Floating Strength Name:
—Description:

Weaknesses:

—Weakness Name: Fallacy Fallacy
—Description: This idea (just because the argument is wrong or the person suggesting it is dumb doesn't mean that the conclusion is wrong) yet eludes the Shadow, and because of this, it is prone to discarding and dismissing 'stupid' ideas without thinking them through or correcting people suggesting them. Understanding requires two rank-ups to reach rank 2.

—Weakness Name: Brute Forceless
—Description: -10% Ppstr.

—Weakness Name: What About A Strong Body?
—Description: -10% PEnd.

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—Floating Weakness Name:
—Description:

-Soul Bound Weapon:

Weapon Name: Mechanical Claws
Weapon Description: Two metallic three-finger claws, located on the ends of the Shadow's robotic arms, which can be used for grabbing as well as attacking.
When used in normal form, those claws (about eleven inches long in total) extend from metallic gloves that appear on Shaun's hands, and can be easily controlled by moving fingers inside of those gloves.
Weapon Attack Type: Strike
Weapon Element: N/A

-Side-Arm Weapon:

Side-Arm Name: Garin's Death Ray
Side-Arm Description: A small black box with a cone-like extention, capable of shooting "energy beams". This weapon still consumes ammunition (as "fuel") and, from a game-mechanical standpoint, is indistinct from a normal gun.
Side-Arm Attack Type: Gun
Side-Arm Style: Revolver

The Background

History:
For the longest time, Shaun's school and then college life was pretty normal. (Well, aside from the world almost ending, but that happened to every Endymion citizen and didn't really affect Shaun much, so it doesn't really count as abnormal.) He strived for good grades and achieved them, he spent more time with textbooks than with people, and he worked a part-time job to support himself (his father pretty much followed a "you do whatever you want and then deal with consequences yourself" parenting dogma).

Seeds of things to go wrong were planted when Shaun, more out of curiosity than out of practicality (and also out of desire to somewhat improve his social skills), decided to minor in Sociology (his major was Computer Science). Among the list of the "read if you want" books there was one called "Influence: Science and Practice", describing various manipulation techniques and ways to identify them. The way to counter those techniques, from his point of view, was easy - one had to always think about what and why one was doing. "Just don't be stupid", Shaun internalised it.
Then he looked upon the world and saw just how widespread and obvious the manipulation was, and it was then when he began doubting the intelligence of general public.

From there, it was a downward spiral. Shaun saw more and more sheer stupidity around him and the way it led to tragedy, suffering, or simple inconvenience, and his cynicism towards humanity grew. For a while, his moral compass was sufficient for keeping those thoughts in check. But - invariably - when he would be faced with his own Awakening, simply 'keeping it in check' might not be sufficient...

Subject: Re: Shaun Newmann [Shadow Self] Wed Aug 21, 2019 8:21 pm

Looks decent, I like the background including the Eternal Divide so much. Just a few things however.

For your Reverse-Psychology And Other Smart Sounding Terms Strength you'll need to pick one if you're boosting it by 15%. You can have both at 10% since that about balances with a stat drop.

For A Strong Soul Resides in a Smart Mind, Not a Strong Body we don't allow HP or SP-increasing strengths, sorry. HP and SP scale much MUCH faster than other stats do and Endurances also scale off them so we can't allow it, same with PEnd or MEnd increases. I can give you suggestions on if you want to get more SP mileage if you want.

Lastly for your Soulbound weapon you can use your Soulbound both as a "normal" human totally-not-Shadow-Self and as your True Form so you can make it fit your human self too, but it needs dimensions of size for PvP if it ever comes up. Even relative ones like "covers just the hand" or "extends an inch or two past the fingertips".

Subject: Re: Shaun Newmann [Shadow Self] Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:35 pm

Approved yo.

» Shaun Uberbot Newmann [Shadow True Form]
» A Comprehensive List Of Reasons Why Shaun Newmann Is Better Than The Ignorant Masses (Shaun's Compendium)
» Light Studying [Shaun - SQ - Morning]
» An Honour Student's Study (Yukino and Shaun)
» Void The Shadow Wolf (Shadow Self)