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  • Artist Info: I'm an RPC. I belong to The Occasional.<br />
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    Whoever goes to himself risks a confrontation with himself. - Jung, 1954/1968<br />
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    Personality: As a man whose perspective on life is as well-tailored as his suit, Lethe Dasein considers his personal goals to be just as coordinated as his outfit. Serious-minded and goal-driven, he finds himself both driven and disappointed by the idealism he often places on himself and other people. As a result, Lethe often finds himself struggling for stability in his personal and professional life, but is far too critical and repressed to keep it for long. Even when the world around him is deconstructing, however, Lethe can’t help but be interested: his natural analytical talents serve him best in solitude, and the only thing he enjoys better than the mild luxuries of appearance is when the world, finally, just makes some sense.<br />
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    Age:
    Lethe appears to be 32, which is the physical age of The Body at the time of possession. However, Lethe is much older....though, just how much older is a little bit foggy. He can say with certainty though that he has been in The Body for at least seventy years, and for now, that’s all that matters.<br />
    Birthday: September 29th, 1940...or at least, that’s the first day Lethe can remember, at least.<br />
    Western Astrological Sign: Libra<br />
    Numerology: 7<br />
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    Race:
    a 1st Generation Demon, otherwise known in polite company as an Obligate.<br />
    Martial Status: Single<br />
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    Bio: For most Demons without a Host, there is only the Void. And for Lethe, there was only the Void. In the far corners of his memory, he knows that there was once a Material Plane, and that there was once a physical Host, and that like all Obligates, he used that husk to be a part of the world. But for so, so long, there has only been the Void...that vast, uncertain, and immaterial place that forms the Formless and cradles the Legions. This, at least, Lethe is sure of, though the immaterial weight of time has eroded away much else that he once knew.<br />
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    Time passes differently in the Void. Years are seconds, and seconds are eternities. Lethe had forgotten most of what he knew, but when he saw the small window of opportunity to possess another body, he remembered enough to want to battle for it.<br />
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    The soldier had suffered some sort of accident, a trauma to the brain. By the time Lethe had won entrance to the mind, the personality that had once existed was already long gone, and he ignored the uninteresting sounds that attempted to creep in as he worked to repair The Body enough to hold him. To the German doctors who watched, however, the process was very interesting, and very worth talking about: by the third day, the comatose body had gained thirty pounds in invisible weight and stretched two inches in height before waking up and remembering nothing but a name: Lethe. They had kept the Wehrmacht officer alive in the hopes that they’d be able to recover the information he’d been working on, but what they gained was far more interesting.<br />
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    The more they talked to him, the more it was apparent that something extraordinary had happened during the officer’s coma. The scientists found that in addition to the unusual physical effects, the man who only remembered himself as “Lethe” had quite a few other new traits as well. Unusually capable of discerning pattern and predicting outcomes, Lethe soon surpassed his caretakers in a scientific capacity to diagnose, chart, and communicate with the other patients, filtering each new experience through the lens of his own. As a joke, the doctors surnamed him “Dasein,” - after Heidegger’s concept of a being in question of himself - and together they investigated his unusual talents.<br />
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    Lethe spent several years with the doctors under observation, his powers challenged and pushed by experiments. What begun as simple analytical skills was found to be even more unusual: at first, it seemed that Lethe was merely good at predicting pattern, but as the trials continued, it was suspected that he held the ability to suggest and even produce pattern in inanimate objects where none had been before. Towards the end of his stay, it was determined that the subject had advanced his ability to point of being able to manipulate thin fluids into coherent structures and specific designs. Despite the fascinating ability and the obvious benefit a vivisection would have produced, such an extreme observational test never occurred...and those critical of the patient were even known to remark this fact seemed to prove that his powers of suggestion and manipulation extended beyond the inanimate and into the mind itself. However, no such findings were proven during Lethe’s stay.<br />
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    In the final months of the war, the German army began losing ground fast, and soon the hospital itself was in danger of being overrun by Allied Forces. When efforts to transport the more unique patients failed, the doctors, in a last ditch effort to keep the information out of the hands of the enemy, set fire to the hospital and everything inside...notes, papers, and patients alike.<br />
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    His newly keen senses picked out the flames before they reached his wing, and frightened, Lethe threw himself against the others in an effort to escape. The enhanced strength and speed Lethe lent The Body was enough to initiate his freedom, and his unique talents served to ensure it. Lethe found himself free...and out in a world that he had no context for understanding.<br />
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    Appearance: As an Obligate, Lethe is contained within and wears the physical form of a Host body: in exchange for the housing, Lethe is, of sorts, a groundskeeper, maintaining The Body in a constant but stable series of repairs. As a result, to those who view him, Lethe appears to be a man of around 32 years of age, with close-cropped dirty blond hair that Lethe finds easier and cooler to manage. The smile upon the narrow lips is often small, tight, and self-contained, and his light blue eyes are often serious, with irises streaked with amber, which at a deeper look are evidence of the Demon within. The Body is tall, 6’2”, and so it wears Lethe’s 180 pounds in a fashion as trimmed down as his own haircut. Though Lethe is athletic (all the better to keep the body in peak condition), his narrow, ruler-shaped body lacks the defined muscles stereotypical to the role, and instead carries his ectomorphic muscle mass in the practical, whole-bodied manner of a daily bicyclist or a backpacker. Despite his preferences for biking or walking, Lethe is extremely fastidious, determined to keep a professional appearance and very meticulous with his possessions. He is equally careful with The Body, and is aghast at the idea of any piercings or tattoos...though he can do nothing about the number that is tattooed neatly on his upper left forearm.<br />
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    On his own, Lethe lacks a substance that can exist within the physics of these Material Planes, and in the advent of the destruction of The Body, would revert back into the Void. For telepaths unfamiliar with the double signature of an Obligate, the waves of ‘Lethe’s’ brain resemble that of an ocean’s details obscured by the translucent stretch of a weave of fabric, and pose some difficulty as to discerning their purpose.<br />
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    Occupation: Years have passed since Lethe found his way in the world, and though he has grown to understand more of himself, Lethe makes his way by utilizing his talents to make a living. Most commonly, Lethe works as a mapmaker and a restorer of antique papers, documents, and images, and his relative (if “inexplicable”) success in this field has made him a respected name among his colleagues. Less well-known, though considerably more lucrative, is his work among the mental health and sleep fields. In the confines of his years, Lethe has honed his ability to tap into the subconscious of others and create and disrupt patterns, though his success with this has only been within the shaping of a subject in sleep, primarily those experiencing REM cycles, whose bodies are more open to hormonal and psychological suggestion and manipulation. Using these talents, Lethe works with patients to tackle and confront personal issues through dream therapy, to improve upon their quality of sleep by stabilizing sleep disorders, and to rewrite behavioral habits through conditioning therapy and a form of post-hypnotic suggestion. Lethe occasionally refers to himself as an oneironaut, and his field as oneirology, depending on who is listening. <br />
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    Given his introduction to the world, however, Lethe is inflexible about the conditions in which such work takes place. Only consenting, informed applicants are interviewed, and he would much rather work on paper than ever enter the mind of someone who lacked permission or preparedness. Additionally, many who’ve never experienced the field tend to think of it as a “quack” profession, posing an obstacle for Lethe to further his studies. As a result, the work, while profitable and educational when it happens, is not as stable as Lethe might like.<br />
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    Weapons:<br />
    Can of Mace: Lethe abhors violence for multiple reasons (the least of which involves the potential for damage to The Body), and will avoid it at all costs. That said, he recognizes that his fine clothes, professional appearance, and unfortunate habit of working in unfamiliar territories makes him appear to be an easy mark. As a precaution, Lethe usually carries a can of Mace on him, though he often forgets about it entirely.<br />
    “Maha”/Brute Strength: Though not necessarily supernatural, Lethe’s tall form holds more preternatural strength and speed than meets the eye. The addition of the Demon weight and reflexes allow The Body to exert extreme strength at times, though Lethe rarely calls this into play: the strain on the structural elements of The Body is enough to keep him repairing for days afterwards, much like a normal human experiences a delay in recovery following a car wreck. Though the use of speed does not inflict the same damages, Lethe does find The Body is more fatigued after such displays, and again, is hesitant to display these skills except in the most important of matters.<br />
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    Powers:
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    Heritage: Catalyst: 50% LOCKED AND SPECIALIZED; As Lethe is a 1st Generation Demon, he did not inherit his talents from a lineage, but instead must hone his abilities, generally without the benefit of guidance from others of his kind. His major Heritage is referred to as a ‘Catalyst,’ a power which allows him to influence the molecular composition of the objects he comes in contact with. However, this ability is primarily hidden from Lethe, as his own explorations have been sporadic and largely specialized, limited to thin fluids, his own Host body, and to encouraging or restricting the hormonal secretions of the patients he works with.<br />
    Navigator: Lethe’s analytical talents aid him in a variety of ways, most particularly in the ability to quickly grasp directions and the natural lay of the area around him. As a mapmaker, this helps his job immensely, and as an oneironaut, within his patients dreams and mindscapes, Lethe uses his talents to manipulate the space around him and to judge a patients progress. Lethe’s goals are far broader, however: as the Demon continuously finds himself in a world more and more dangerous, his mind has begun to shift to the possibility of finding himself unwillingly back within the Void. Though, as a shifting space, he considers it impossible to map, Lethe spends many a night considering that it may be possible to actually chart the factors that control it, as if in a tide system....<br />
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    Weaknesses:<br />
    Bloodless: Though he is a Demon, Lethe, as an Obligate, lacks the acidic blood that is protection to many of his kind. For him, this is both a blessing - The Body, being a human form, could not handle the peculiarities of Demon blood even if he could - and a curse, as it does not automatically cleanse his blood of impurities. This is a task Lethe must handle for himself.<br />
    Hosted: Though it generally refers to First Generation Demons, an Obligate is any Demon who requires a Host form to exist outside of the Void and within the Material Planes. As an Obligate, Lethe is required to maintain The Body to optimal levels in order to preserve it as the ideal vessel. Though he has the innate ability to repair The Body on microscopic levels - thus being able to heal it over time, as well as keep The Body in a state of suspended age - much of this work requires constant attention. After seventy years, Lethe is capable of performing many of these tasks ‘in the background’ without interfering in his other interactions, but any major upkeep or repairs require him to sequester The Body into a state of ‘sleep’ as to avoid distractions. As a result, The Body must eat, sleep, and exercise regularly to make this job as easy as possible. To further complicate matters, Lethe is sensitive to any extremes The Body might experience, finding them difficult to process and ignore.<br />
    Voided: Lethe, like many Demons, finds it difficult to articulate exactly what living within the Void is like, further complicated by the fact that the longer one dwells in the Void, the less individuality and ‘humanity’ the personality retains. Some speculate the Void itself is a creature composed of these souls, while others think it is merely a digestive tract or channel within something much, much greater. Lethe prefers not to think of it at all, if he can help it: as a one-time resident, he has no fondness for the idea of returning...but more and more, when The Body is resting, Lethe can almost hear its call....<br />
    The Tipped Scales: Lethe abides by a certain set of moral standards and social expectations, and tends to be extremely critical of those who fail to live up to these guidelines. Though this trait can be a strength if it is harnessed properly - Lethe is much less prone to being intimidated, strong-armed, or persuaded into situations he feels are insincere - it can also serve as a disadvantage. In his own interactions, Lethe rarely withholds the truth (even if doing so might serve to his benefit) and can be known to come across as tactless or critical; as he sees it, being honest is more valuable and useful to a person than flattery, and his sometimes harsh manner often stems from actual concern, respect, and hope for the person’s development. Once a person has disappointed him, however, Lethe can be difficult to persuade once his mind is made up, and requires a very good reason to care if the person is aware of his poor opinion of them.<br />
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    Of note:<br />
    Brood: Lethe does not maintain a Brood tradition, having no conventional Demon ‘family’ as much of the lesser Generations understand it. Though he remains cordial and respectful to the other Demons he comes across, Lethe is less concerned with the politics of the Demon social structure, and is largely inclined to treat the majority of them the same way he treats any else.
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