Richard the Third (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
traumaticus) wrote2025-10-30 04:39 am
traumaticus) wrote2025-10-30 04:39 am
laby app
CWs for this app: bigotry, transphobia (in religious context), child abuse/negligence
OOC INFORMATION
Player Name: kasta
Pronoun Preferences: she/her
Contact: pm /![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
sparklepire
Are you over the age of 18?: yep
Invitation Link: https://labyrinmods.dreamwidth.org/6704.html?thread=3611696#cmt3611696
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Richard Plantagenet
Species: Human
Canon: Requiem of the Rose King
Canon Point: vol. 12, chapter 54.
Character Age: 30
CRAU: No
Character Appearance: Here & Here
Powers and Abilities: Richard is a normal human being so there is no nerf-able abilities. He is trained soldier and esteemed war veteran. Though, it should be noted that he is from 15th Century so.. yeah...
What Did Your Character Wish For? Richard wished to obtain the Light.*
What Potion Did They Receive? scarlet one with fire elemental.
Did They Drink It? No.
If Yes, What Element/Animal? n/a
Character Questions:
1. Who is the person your character is most bonded with from their canon, or who is someone they miss the most and why?
Richard actively avoids creating bonds and connections to others that pass the superficial political acquaintances. He keeps everyone at the arms length and emotionally isolates himself. This is behaviour is product of the mistreatment and abuse at the hands of his mother. She raised Richard, who had been born intersex, to be a demon spawn because of his body, to believe himself to be a demon and more often than not placed him in situations that'd compromise his safety. So, Richard keeps himself shut to protect himself from the hurt, both emotionally and physically (the fear of Church's judgement & punishment is very real). However, the person Richard has the strongest connection with is his father, who was the only person who showed him love and acceptance. While his mother was openly hostile towards him, his father would protect and comfort him. Unfortunately, the father died in battle when Richard was very young, which led Richard to self-isolate even more.
However, as he grew up Richard formed a very romantized and unhealthy image of his father in his mind. The ghost of his father would even appear in front of Richard as a dark angel during his moments of dissociation as a vision and encourage him to do various cruelties and atrocities, giving him the validation that he needed. This is ghost is not reliable representation of their bond as it works more twisted manifestation of Richard's dark ambitions and self-destructive tendencies.
The only living person Richard shares a close bond with is his kingmaker, Duke of Buckingham. Their bond began with Buckingham actively pursuing Richard over years after claiming they were the same. Buckingham recognized the darkness in Richard that others were blind to and he was the only person truly to believe in Richard. Richard learned to properly trust Buckingham after the other man learned his secret and agreed to 'become a demon with him' (aka they started to have sex). They both share the same goal and dark ambitions to overthrow the king of England and place Richard on the throne instead, so they go on and enable each other no matter how toxic and unhealthy their relationship grows. Though, it should be said that Richard does not fully trust Buckingham and he continues to safeguard his own secrets and past crimes from the man.
2. What are they most afraid of and why?
Oh man. Richard is afraid of many things. God, eternal damnation, voices, magic, witches, demons, dark woods. But in the end they all lead to the same source: his mother abandoning him. When Richard was a small child she took him to the dark woods where a child-eating witch was rumoured to live and left him there, hoping that he'd die, As she left him she recited and prophecy at Richard (which I will not add here because it is long), which basically cursed his birth and told that he would only bring death and misery to world if he was allowed to live. Needlessly to say, this experience severely traumatized Richard and he is continuously haunted by it. His memories are somewhat hazy on the details but whenever he is under a great stress he suffers from nightmarish visions from that time and hears a disbodied voice repeating the curse. It is the fear and trauma from this abandonment that also is always affecting the choices that he makes. He shuts himself off from others, doesn't trust others and hides his true desires and self in fear of the rejection. It is also the motivation behind the violent atrocities that he commits, but more about that in the latter section.
3. What are their emotional, mental, and physical weaknesses and why?
Answer for all three.
Richard is very unstable individual who's constantly walking on a thin ice whenever it comes to emotional and mental wellbeing. Like mentioned above, Richard is emotionally insincere and he keeps himself unavailable to others. On top of that he's not very emotionally intelligent and has hard time understanding people and their feelings and emotions, especially if they are genuine and benign. His own emotional life swings between two extremes: apathetic and uncontrollable meltdown. And due to his emotional immaturity and lack of awareness most of times this means that he is thrown into blinding violent rage where he will proceed to kill just about anyone.
As much as I hate using word "weakness" to describe Richard's wavering mental state, I think they are best demonstrated with his tendency to dissociate from the reality. These episodes can honestly happen anywhere and anytime but stressful situations are most likely to trigger them. During these episodes Richard sees various twisted and nightmarish visions of the woods he was abandoned to as a child, or he's being haunted by two ghosts: Joan of Ark or his father. While his father represents the darkness in him Joan is represents Richard's sense of self (not that he is aware of this). She is also much more active presence in Richard's life and two of them have very hostile conversations that tap into Richard's insecurities and fears.
For physical weakness? Welll... Despite being renowned and feared war hero Richard is pretty small. His built is described as thin and frail. So while he's decently strong due to lifetime of exercise and battles, he is no doubt easy to overpower physically if one manages to knock the weapon off his hands.
4. What discrepancies are there between their inner self (who they feel they are) and their outer self (how they present themselves to others)?
Richard has himself described his outward appearance as nothing but a performance. While he disagrees with the rest of the court and nobility, finding himself stranger in their world, he has learned the convoluted etiquette and how to appear socially acceptable. He's polite and proper, always saying and doing what is expected of him as a Duke of Gloucester. He performs the role of a honest God-fearing man who's loyal to his family and crown. And while he might appear distant and mysterious no one in the court has a bad word to say about him as they fully trust him as they buy the performance he puts up.
Beneath that calm exterior, however, Richard is seething from bitterness and anger. He hates how he has to bow down to his family, finding it humiliating. Likewise he loathes the people who he perceives to live within circle of God's light, from which he's excluded from. Instead of a pious and righteous man Richard is prideful and bloodthirsty, one who's ready to slay even a God.
5. What would make them happiest and why?
Good question. Richard spends his entire life chasing after his happiness from different sources. At first he seeks for it from the other people like his father and Henry, his first love. And when those sources fail him he turns his gaze to the crown, believing fully that king has access to every joy and happiness on the Earth. However, after ascending to throne Richard does come to notice that the crown indeed is heavy, bringing only misfortune instead of happiness. Richard ends up sacrificing everything and everyone he holds dear because of that crown, leaving him hollow and empty. But at the same time quiet and peaceful life would not bring him happiness either, as it would leave him dissatisfied.
So, what does bring him happiness? Richard actually does come to conclusion of at the end of the canon (past the point where I play him from). What ultimately brings him satisfaction and happiness is acceptance from the others and himself. And for him, who's been rejected by the world, to have a meaning.
6. What characteristics does someone need to have to be your character's ideal significant other?
Despite not being the easiest one to connect with Richard has ridiculously simple cheat-code to his love life. He's been attracted to several people in his life: childhood crush on innocent Anne, first love in pious Henry and dark romance in cunning Buckingham. All these people have vastly different personalities and beliefs, but the one thing that they have in common is that they all loved Richard. And... that's really it.
Richard is so starved for acceptance and love that all one needs to do is to show honest attraction towards him and be ready to pursuit him and he'll lower his walls. However, for it to actually work the other person needs to accept him as he is. Darkness, fears, ambitions and all, as any attempts to change him will only result in Richard withdrawing further into his shell.
7. Would your character make a sacrifice to save someone else and why or why not?
That would honestly heavily depend on the situation and most importantly: what's in it for him? In the past Richard would have been more forgiving and ready to make a personal sacrifice to save someone dear to him - but unfortunately, he has been paid way too dearly for those choices and rewarded with lies and betrayals (you know. British monarchy). So he has grown jaded and looks for his own benefit first. Of course, he is willing and ready to protect those close to him but even that has limit. Seeing that he has already murdered his own family, betrayed his allies and in future he does end up beheading Buckingham for committing treason against the crown. Of course, it should be noted that despite sacrificing others for his own sake that does not mean he doesn't suffer from these choices.
8. What is one thing they would tell their younger self if they had the chance, or if your character is young, what is one thing they would want their older self to remember?
Oh man. From the canon point I'm taking him from? Nothing good, I am afraid. Richard would no doubt tell his younger self not place his trust in other people, like his brothers for an example, and not to let his heart or feelings run astray. To be more specific he would warn himself not to fall in love or seek salvation from Henry as that love ends up only in blood and tears. In fact, he' tell his younger self to kill the other man as soon as possible. And unfortunately, he would give similar advice to regarding his future wife, Anne - reminding himself that there is no way that anyone could ever truly love a demon like him.
9. When in dire circumstances does your character fight, flee, freeze or fawn and how does that look?
Fight. No doubt about it. Richard is someone who always chooses violence in some form or another when it's presented to him. And while in dire situations where his past traumas are being triggered his initial reaction might be to freeze he will struggle to overcome that shock and fight. He's sadly very accustomed to constantly fight both outer threats and his inner demons, which has led him to harden himself and to have rather ruthless mindset. To him there is no other choice but to fight as in any other option would mean death. He even feels some contempt to those who'd rather cover or avoid conflict. After all, seeing his older brother, the king, growing soft during the time of peace completely disillusioned Richard about his position in the power. He was disgusted how both of his brothers sought escape to their troubles from either drink or women. Their refusal to fight and other petty quarrels weakened their house's influence and thus affected their father's legacy. To Richard neither of his brothers were true kings.
I must add that the only exception to this rule is Richard's mother. When confronted by her he absolutely freezes and submits to her hate without putting up a fight. To even a point to allow her to try stab him.
10. Why did your character make the wish they did?
I've covered this a bit in previous answers. Richard's wish is to obtain what he refers to as 'light.'
Richard believes that his entire existence is a crime against God and the world. This belief is heavily tied into his self-loath and insecurities that were born from his traumatic and violent childhood. And since he can't find love or salvation, 'light' as he likes to call it, from within Richard seeks it from other sources. At first it was from his father and Henry. And when those sources turns out to be false he turns his gaze towards the ultimate source of power and acceptance: the crown. He believes that if he were to wear it he, too, would be loved by God and people. After all, king can have whatever he desires and has no reason to feel sad or suffer. So, maybe. Just maybe even a demon like him could have a taste of the paradise.
Samples:
thread from tdm
network thread from previous game
OOC INFORMATION
Player Name: kasta
Pronoun Preferences: she/her
Contact: pm /
Are you over the age of 18?: yep
Invitation Link: https://labyrinmods.dreamwidth.org/6704.html?thread=3611696#cmt3611696
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Richard Plantagenet
Species: Human
Canon: Requiem of the Rose King
Canon Point: vol. 12, chapter 54.
Character Age: 30
CRAU: No
Character Appearance: Here & Here
Powers and Abilities: Richard is a normal human being so there is no nerf-able abilities. He is trained soldier and esteemed war veteran. Though, it should be noted that he is from 15th Century so.. yeah...
What Did Your Character Wish For? Richard wished to obtain the Light.*
What Potion Did They Receive? scarlet one with fire elemental.
Did They Drink It? No.
If Yes, What Element/Animal? n/a
Character Questions:
1. Who is the person your character is most bonded with from their canon, or who is someone they miss the most and why?
Richard actively avoids creating bonds and connections to others that pass the superficial political acquaintances. He keeps everyone at the arms length and emotionally isolates himself. This is behaviour is product of the mistreatment and abuse at the hands of his mother. She raised Richard, who had been born intersex, to be a demon spawn because of his body, to believe himself to be a demon and more often than not placed him in situations that'd compromise his safety. So, Richard keeps himself shut to protect himself from the hurt, both emotionally and physically (the fear of Church's judgement & punishment is very real). However, the person Richard has the strongest connection with is his father, who was the only person who showed him love and acceptance. While his mother was openly hostile towards him, his father would protect and comfort him. Unfortunately, the father died in battle when Richard was very young, which led Richard to self-isolate even more.
However, as he grew up Richard formed a very romantized and unhealthy image of his father in his mind. The ghost of his father would even appear in front of Richard as a dark angel during his moments of dissociation as a vision and encourage him to do various cruelties and atrocities, giving him the validation that he needed. This is ghost is not reliable representation of their bond as it works more twisted manifestation of Richard's dark ambitions and self-destructive tendencies.
The only living person Richard shares a close bond with is his kingmaker, Duke of Buckingham. Their bond began with Buckingham actively pursuing Richard over years after claiming they were the same. Buckingham recognized the darkness in Richard that others were blind to and he was the only person truly to believe in Richard. Richard learned to properly trust Buckingham after the other man learned his secret and agreed to 'become a demon with him' (aka they started to have sex). They both share the same goal and dark ambitions to overthrow the king of England and place Richard on the throne instead, so they go on and enable each other no matter how toxic and unhealthy their relationship grows. Though, it should be said that Richard does not fully trust Buckingham and he continues to safeguard his own secrets and past crimes from the man.
2. What are they most afraid of and why?
Oh man. Richard is afraid of many things. God, eternal damnation, voices, magic, witches, demons, dark woods. But in the end they all lead to the same source: his mother abandoning him. When Richard was a small child she took him to the dark woods where a child-eating witch was rumoured to live and left him there, hoping that he'd die, As she left him she recited and prophecy at Richard (which I will not add here because it is long), which basically cursed his birth and told that he would only bring death and misery to world if he was allowed to live. Needlessly to say, this experience severely traumatized Richard and he is continuously haunted by it. His memories are somewhat hazy on the details but whenever he is under a great stress he suffers from nightmarish visions from that time and hears a disbodied voice repeating the curse. It is the fear and trauma from this abandonment that also is always affecting the choices that he makes. He shuts himself off from others, doesn't trust others and hides his true desires and self in fear of the rejection. It is also the motivation behind the violent atrocities that he commits, but more about that in the latter section.
3. What are their emotional, mental, and physical weaknesses and why?
Answer for all three.
Richard is very unstable individual who's constantly walking on a thin ice whenever it comes to emotional and mental wellbeing. Like mentioned above, Richard is emotionally insincere and he keeps himself unavailable to others. On top of that he's not very emotionally intelligent and has hard time understanding people and their feelings and emotions, especially if they are genuine and benign. His own emotional life swings between two extremes: apathetic and uncontrollable meltdown. And due to his emotional immaturity and lack of awareness most of times this means that he is thrown into blinding violent rage where he will proceed to kill just about anyone.
As much as I hate using word "weakness" to describe Richard's wavering mental state, I think they are best demonstrated with his tendency to dissociate from the reality. These episodes can honestly happen anywhere and anytime but stressful situations are most likely to trigger them. During these episodes Richard sees various twisted and nightmarish visions of the woods he was abandoned to as a child, or he's being haunted by two ghosts: Joan of Ark or his father. While his father represents the darkness in him Joan is represents Richard's sense of self (not that he is aware of this). She is also much more active presence in Richard's life and two of them have very hostile conversations that tap into Richard's insecurities and fears.
For physical weakness? Welll... Despite being renowned and feared war hero Richard is pretty small. His built is described as thin and frail. So while he's decently strong due to lifetime of exercise and battles, he is no doubt easy to overpower physically if one manages to knock the weapon off his hands.
4. What discrepancies are there between their inner self (who they feel they are) and their outer self (how they present themselves to others)?
Richard has himself described his outward appearance as nothing but a performance. While he disagrees with the rest of the court and nobility, finding himself stranger in their world, he has learned the convoluted etiquette and how to appear socially acceptable. He's polite and proper, always saying and doing what is expected of him as a Duke of Gloucester. He performs the role of a honest God-fearing man who's loyal to his family and crown. And while he might appear distant and mysterious no one in the court has a bad word to say about him as they fully trust him as they buy the performance he puts up.
Beneath that calm exterior, however, Richard is seething from bitterness and anger. He hates how he has to bow down to his family, finding it humiliating. Likewise he loathes the people who he perceives to live within circle of God's light, from which he's excluded from. Instead of a pious and righteous man Richard is prideful and bloodthirsty, one who's ready to slay even a God.
5. What would make them happiest and why?
Good question. Richard spends his entire life chasing after his happiness from different sources. At first he seeks for it from the other people like his father and Henry, his first love. And when those sources fail him he turns his gaze to the crown, believing fully that king has access to every joy and happiness on the Earth. However, after ascending to throne Richard does come to notice that the crown indeed is heavy, bringing only misfortune instead of happiness. Richard ends up sacrificing everything and everyone he holds dear because of that crown, leaving him hollow and empty. But at the same time quiet and peaceful life would not bring him happiness either, as it would leave him dissatisfied.
So, what does bring him happiness? Richard actually does come to conclusion of at the end of the canon (past the point where I play him from). What ultimately brings him satisfaction and happiness is acceptance from the others and himself. And for him, who's been rejected by the world, to have a meaning.
6. What characteristics does someone need to have to be your character's ideal significant other?
Despite not being the easiest one to connect with Richard has ridiculously simple cheat-code to his love life. He's been attracted to several people in his life: childhood crush on innocent Anne, first love in pious Henry and dark romance in cunning Buckingham. All these people have vastly different personalities and beliefs, but the one thing that they have in common is that they all loved Richard. And... that's really it.
Richard is so starved for acceptance and love that all one needs to do is to show honest attraction towards him and be ready to pursuit him and he'll lower his walls. However, for it to actually work the other person needs to accept him as he is. Darkness, fears, ambitions and all, as any attempts to change him will only result in Richard withdrawing further into his shell.
7. Would your character make a sacrifice to save someone else and why or why not?
That would honestly heavily depend on the situation and most importantly: what's in it for him? In the past Richard would have been more forgiving and ready to make a personal sacrifice to save someone dear to him - but unfortunately, he has been paid way too dearly for those choices and rewarded with lies and betrayals (you know. British monarchy). So he has grown jaded and looks for his own benefit first. Of course, he is willing and ready to protect those close to him but even that has limit. Seeing that he has already murdered his own family, betrayed his allies and in future he does end up beheading Buckingham for committing treason against the crown. Of course, it should be noted that despite sacrificing others for his own sake that does not mean he doesn't suffer from these choices.
8. What is one thing they would tell their younger self if they had the chance, or if your character is young, what is one thing they would want their older self to remember?
Oh man. From the canon point I'm taking him from? Nothing good, I am afraid. Richard would no doubt tell his younger self not place his trust in other people, like his brothers for an example, and not to let his heart or feelings run astray. To be more specific he would warn himself not to fall in love or seek salvation from Henry as that love ends up only in blood and tears. In fact, he' tell his younger self to kill the other man as soon as possible. And unfortunately, he would give similar advice to regarding his future wife, Anne - reminding himself that there is no way that anyone could ever truly love a demon like him.
9. When in dire circumstances does your character fight, flee, freeze or fawn and how does that look?
Fight. No doubt about it. Richard is someone who always chooses violence in some form or another when it's presented to him. And while in dire situations where his past traumas are being triggered his initial reaction might be to freeze he will struggle to overcome that shock and fight. He's sadly very accustomed to constantly fight both outer threats and his inner demons, which has led him to harden himself and to have rather ruthless mindset. To him there is no other choice but to fight as in any other option would mean death. He even feels some contempt to those who'd rather cover or avoid conflict. After all, seeing his older brother, the king, growing soft during the time of peace completely disillusioned Richard about his position in the power. He was disgusted how both of his brothers sought escape to their troubles from either drink or women. Their refusal to fight and other petty quarrels weakened their house's influence and thus affected their father's legacy. To Richard neither of his brothers were true kings.
I must add that the only exception to this rule is Richard's mother. When confronted by her he absolutely freezes and submits to her hate without putting up a fight. To even a point to allow her to try stab him.
10. Why did your character make the wish they did?
I've covered this a bit in previous answers. Richard's wish is to obtain what he refers to as 'light.'
Richard believes that his entire existence is a crime against God and the world. This belief is heavily tied into his self-loath and insecurities that were born from his traumatic and violent childhood. And since he can't find love or salvation, 'light' as he likes to call it, from within Richard seeks it from other sources. At first it was from his father and Henry. And when those sources turns out to be false he turns his gaze towards the ultimate source of power and acceptance: the crown. He believes that if he were to wear it he, too, would be loved by God and people. After all, king can have whatever he desires and has no reason to feel sad or suffer. So, maybe. Just maybe even a demon like him could have a taste of the paradise.
Samples:
thread from tdm
network thread from previous game