Arno Victor Dorian (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stubbornlittleshit) wrote2014-12-11 08:18 pm
stubbornlittleshit) wrote2014-12-11 08:18 pm
Entry tags:
Nothing is true, Everything is permitted...(Tushanshu Ap!)
Player Information:
Name: Sar
Age: 31
Contact: Plurk: Combeferret
Other Characters Played: Enjolras
Character Information:
Name: Arno Victor Dorian
Canon: Assassin's Creed: Unity
Canon Point: Post Expulsion from the Order
Age: 25
Reference Links: http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Arno_Dorian
Setting:
The Assassin's Creed series takes place in a universe that is rather similar to our own, with some additional changes and powerplays enacted by two warring factions who attempt to gain control over life, and the course of history itself. The Templar order seeks to control the choices and will of the people by influencing them into certain directions, politically and otherwise, while the Assassins order, also referred to as "The Brotherhood" seeks to allow humanity its own rights and choices in the struggle, playing more to human nature than to what it can influence.
Throughout history the assassins and the templars have been fighting a war amongst themselves, through secret factions stationed throughout the world, at various key points in history. Typically, the orders will appear in places during times of great change, placing high ranking figures in key positions in either order. This gives each group a chance to influence the people without revealing their true motives. For example, in Unity, Mirabeau, a well known figure in the French Revolution, is the Grand Master of the Assassin's order, and Robespierre, whom modern historians like to stick with the brunt of the French Revolution's insanity, supports the Templar cause.
Generally speaking, the Assassins promote new ideas and approaches, while the Templars seek for things to remain the same, and will seemingly stop at nothing to make their goals come true. A good example of this comes when Arno brings Elise, a Templar, to a meeting of the brotherhood to request their help. The head of the order is willing to help her, even in her position, while the rest of the Templars want her dead, preferring to follow the orders of a false leader who promises to uphold the balance to the way that things always were.
This is not to say that the assassins play fast and loose with rules, by any means. They are simply more progressive, and more willing to look toward embracing changes that will allow for greater freedom and the growth of ideas. They are not stuck in the past in the same way that the Templar order seems to be, although assassins follow a specific code, a creed, that is laid out to them, and has three specific tenants:
1. Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent.
2. Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd.
3. Never compromise the Brotherhood.
By following these rules, and by promoting the general idea of peace as much as they can, the assassins of the order seek to keep life moving forward. While they do resort to out and out murder, along with political machinations, the Assassins do believe that the lives they take are for the greater good, and they certainly debate and carefully consider the idea of murdering someone, or sending out a killer before they do so. When an assassin kills, it is meant to be dignified, and to serve a greater purpose in the end of things. An assassin might also work to discredit people through a variety of means if death is not on the table. In particular, they might spread rumors, plant false documents, steal other items of importance, or anything else to achieve the ultimate goal of promoting peace and freedom for all. Keeping these tenants and beliefs in mind, one can almost certainly imagine an assassin reaction to the French Revolution, and Arno, a newer assassin in the order, certainly applies these concepts to his life, which has been fraught with many changes nearly from the start of things.
Until the age of 8, Arno grew up with his relatively well off father, a secret member of the assassin order. When his father was killed on a visit to Versailles, Arno was taken in by François de la Serre, the grand master of the French Templars. He grew up as a ward of the family, becoming close friends with François's daughter, Elise, who grew to become the most important person in Arno's life. As his best friend, and maybe something more, Elise encouraged Arno in his wild pursuits, often running into, and getting Arno into, trouble of her own making as well. After Elise was sent to finishing school, with the idea that she was there to finish her education, but also to complete some of her training to become Grand Master, the pair of them drifted apart, according to the tie in novel, and Arno was left to do almost anything he pleased, though he was still given lessons in things like geometry and the like. Along the way, he did learn how to use a sword, and some pretty nifty parkour tricks demonstrated early in the game during a mission that involves running through the rooftops of Versailles.
In the year that Elise was due to become Grand Master, everything changed. His foster father was killed, and Arno was accused of taking the action himself, and jailed in the Bastille, where he met Pierre Bellec, who recognized Arno's skill in reading Assassin markings hidden on the jail walls, and who remembered meeting, and working with, Arno's father. Bellec became Arno's teacher, and, when the Bastille fell, encouraged him to join the Assassin order for good. After finding out that he could very well have prevented François's death, Arno did decide to become an assassin, so that he could both get revenge on the actual killer, and so that he could redeem himself for the mistake he had made in not acting as he should have when it came to preventing said death.
The desire for revenge and redemption lead Arno into the streets and underbellies of Paris, looking for answers, and along the way he found some betrayals, reconciliations, and the answers to a few dark secrets. Arno's desire also acted as a curse of sorts, causing him to act when he was not authorized to do so, which created problems for the brotherhood as a whole. Eventually, after one of those moments where Arno took things into his own hands without consulting the brotherhood, he was removed from the order altogether, the canon point I will be bringing him in from.
Personality:
If Arno's personality can be boiled down to two words and concepts, they would be both "young" and "learning". What this means is that, while Arno definitely demonstrates an ability to learn from his mistakes, and one to accept responsibility for his actions, he lacks the self awareness to fully understand how, and why, his choices end the way they do, often because he is unable to fully comprehend and articulate the reasons for his actions.
Arno's tendency, when he makes a mistake, and realizes he's the one who has made a mistake, is to assign guilt to himself without fully thinking of why he is guilty. An early example of this takes place during the death of his foster father. Arno feels guilty about the man's death because he watches him die and is unable to save him, and spends a chunk of a murder sentence in the Bastille wanting to find the man's true killer for both revenge, but more importantly, for redemption. Redemption, however, is not easily found when one fails to understand the specifics of the situation they attempt to make up for.
After the storming of the Bastille, and his escape from prison, Arno learns from his former foster sister and best friend, and now love interest (and still best friend), Elise, that a note he was to deliver to his foster father's own hand, which he chose to slip under the man's office door in interest of sneaking into a party Elise was being honored at, spelled out a warning of the man's death.
This furthers Arno's need to redeem himself, but wanting redemption, and understanding the specific reasons why it is needed are two different things. While the case of his foster father's death becomes much more clear cut as far as Arno's "involvement" goes, there are several, rather more subtle decisions that Arno makes through a viewpoint of youthful idealism that he does not fully understand the consequences of at the time (to name a few examples, we have: joining a death cult on the advice of his cell-mate, taking matters into his own hands when it comes to choosing his marks, including going after those with whom he has an emotional involvement, volunteering the Brotherhood to protect Elise when the Templar order want her dead, without asking for permission beforehand).
The list can go on from there, of course. Really, a lot of Arno's life in the Brotherhood so far has consisted of a series of mistakes built on smaller ones. While Arno is also highly idealistic in that he expects others to see the world as he sees it, he often fails to consider the thoughts of other people, or the potential backlash his ideas might have for those who come to support them. He lacks proper forethought, and tact, in delivering some of his ideas, has a tendency to take the lead where he definitely should not, and worst of all, does not always seem to understand the building up of his mistakes, or, more importantly, perhaps, the reasons that he makes the particular decisions that he does. Because Arno tends to act mostly on his feelings and impulses, he rarely takes the time to consider his actions in the moment, and, when considering them after, is inclined to dismiss looking at his true motivations for something in favor of simply blaming himself, or someone else, for a problem that comes his way.
One of Arno's major weaknesses lies here, in fact. While not being able to totally understand the reasons for his actions is understandable, he is also rather unwilling to make the time to think them through. In an order like the Brotherhood, and a position like his, the development of hindsight is particularly important, and Arno's lack of willingness to devote time to the issue makes him a particularly dangerous loose cannon. The fact that he spends a lot of time hiding from himself and his true motivations is a problem that he certainly needs to devote some time to working on, and he could badly use some time, and room, for inner reflection as far as things go. Instead of simply recognizing that something happened "because" of him, Arno needs to learn to understand not only the whys that it happened, but also how, and what was going on in his head at the time of the event. If he does not learn to process situations completely, down to the last detail, he is likely to land himself in trouble again and again.
This is actually one of my major goals for Arno in game. I'd like to give him a place where he can experience successes and failures, and learn to take the time to understand the reasoning for, and details behind each. Given that at his current canon point, he'll be coming into TuVishan after being expelled from the Brotherhood for refusing to consult authority, and for impulsive actions taken without thought behind them, this seems like an excellent motivational skill to start him with.
Some of the other fun aspects of Arno's personality that do not have to do with his major issues are his wit, charm, and intelligence. In the tie in novel, Elise mentions that while she was training to take her place as a Templar Grand Master, Arno "spent more time with their geometry teacher" and has had to work fast to gain fighting skills similar to those she's been learning since she was a small child. Arno has certainly been well educated, and he certainly has been known to slip into literary and cultural references that indicate a man who is very well studied. His wit is evidenced in several amusing quips, and Arno's ability to be charming has bought him understanding from François on a number of occasions. The tie in novel suggests, quite obviously, that he means for Elise to bring Arno into the Templar order and marry him at one point, and his ability to charm his foster father has certainly served to keep him out of trouble during his rather misspent youth.
Besides those things which circumstances dictate, when it comes to Arno's attitude in general, he does tend to use his cultivated wit and education where he needs it. There is a part of Arno that seems to rely on using humor as a means of deflection from any trouble he gets himself into, or problems that he ends up wandering into. It's easier to toss a quick joke over his shoulders, and to have it be a smart joke, sometimes, than to deal with a situation at hand when it is too difficult to deal with discussing. Arno also is prone to some quiet sarcasms, and to letting them drop among people he is comfortable sharing his feelings with.
This is demonstrated by his antagonistic relationship with the de la Serre servant, Olivier. The two of them make no attempts to hide their disdain for each other and trade barbs about Arno's social standing, Olivier's lack of real work when he can use Arno to get it done, and the like. Arno also does not hold back from sharing his thoughts and feelings with Elise. They've understood each other since childhood and have been almost perfect copies of each other, save that one is a Templar and one an Assassin. They regularly tease and egg each other on, in many aspects of life, and have grown up together, becoming aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses in a way very few people can be. This means that they've seen a good deal of each other over the years and know each other's bests, worsts, and feel free to discuss topics ranging on both topics. She's probably the person Arno feels freest with as well.
Arno also develops this sort of a relationship with his assassin mentor, Bellec. By the time he is ready to graduate into independent work, Arno doesn't seem to hesitate by holding back on teasing the older man during some of the earlier jobs they are shown taking together. While Bellec enjoys taunting Arno in much the way a much older sibling or uncle might, Arno's definitely learning to get back his own and can be seen muttering some sarcastic asides to commentary that's clearly meant to put him back into his place on missions, and definitely develops both a mind of his own and a tendency to share it with his teacher, which seems to be relatively welcomed and tolerated with a wry sort of good humor, at least until Arno starts getting completely stupid about things down the line. This does, admittedly, happen, as their relationship devolves, mostly due to the presence of Elise, but for the most part, Arno's relationship with Bellec up until the end of it, tends to be one of mutual, though somewhat grudging respect, and one where he feels comfortable enough airing his thoughts and being Arno, rather than simply being a charming rake playing a role that he knows will help to keep him relatively safe, socially.
Perhaps part of Arno's problems come from the fact that he has had an easy time of charming his way out of most things in the past, without having to resort to being genuine, as such. As the ward of his foster father, but not his heir, Arno was never quite given real work to do in society, and though he straddled a line between being aristocratic and common, he did not fully find himself on either side as a young man, which meant that he did not have specific jobs and tasks to do. This left him with time on his hands that he devoted to playing, and cheating at, cards, stealing back the property bet on, and to escaping and getting away from enemies he's happened to make.
This situation is how he developed his ability to throw off charming and amusing, and ultimately fairly meaningless quips as he darted away from a situation, and also how he managed to learn some of his more skillful escape attempts, which obviously made him much bolder and more likely to try pushing his luck again. His youth was largely spent being indulged in his rakish, irresponsible and downright bratty behavior, so the idea that he must suddenly learn a new way of life was probably overwhelming at first, making it all the more understandable that he would sink into the easier tactics of blaming himself without fully examining a situation first. While he uses these abilities in his relationships with others as well, there is a marked difference in the way that he uses them, and what he chooses to let these comments and interactions reveal about him in the process. For many people, what you see with Arno is exactly what you get, and he makes it easy to dismiss him as a careless, childish brat without a lot of other facets to his personality, all roles he is certainly skilled at playing in his turn, which serve to keep others away pretty effectively.
However, Arno definitely has time to change, a desire to do what is right, and demonstrates definite sympathy toward the poor of Paris as he points out the equality that they are fighting for, shows sorrow towards those who are being harmed, and has a definitely chivalrous attitude toward Elise. He also very much wants to do right by people in general, and really does seem to care about being a decent person. He'll try to reason with those who he cares for who he feels are making mistakes in their lives, and to bring them back to (what he believes is the cause of) good, and seems to have a definite understanding of the more universal concepts of Just and Good and Right and Brotherhood in general, and there is a part of him that really does wish to make the world right, at least right as he sees it.
With a lot of work on himself and his emotional abilities and reasoning, and some extensive time dedicated toward truly examining his thoughts and actions, Arno is a decent young man who is capable of being great.
What is most important now is that he does not skimp on the precious last steps toward getting there.
Appearance: Arno has dark hair and eyes, is reasonably tall and cuts a rather dashing figure, though he does have a long scar that starts across the bridge of his nose and stretches across to his left cheek. He usually pulls his long hair back in a queue and can most often be seen hiding in his blue assassin's robes, with the hood pulled fully up to hide his face. He does clean up well when it comes to parties or more casual encounters.
I'll simply be using his game images for icons, some of which can be found here:
Arno with Elise, in his Assassin robes
Arno in the Bastille during early game events
Master Assassin Arno concept
Abilities:
Arno is in top physical condition and is an excellent fencer and has very good aim when he shoots. In addition, he is highly skilled in parkour and can easily climb walls and leap from rooftop to roofop. He's learned a variety of assassin skills, including the Leap of Faith, which allows him to jump from heights and find soft landing places without being harmed. He has some pretty standard assassin skills and is also very good at landing secret kills and cover-kills. He can effectively sneak up on and choke a man, is good at bribing people, and really knows his way around the rooftops of Paris. Given enough time, I think that he could easily learn his way around the rooftops of most of the island's sectors as well!
Arno has learned and works with the ability called Eagle Vision, which allows him to briefly see through walls for a quick period of time. With this ability, Arno is able to spot his enemies, potential allies and anything else that stands out as important to him. Generally, he can spot an aura, toned for each category of person or object through a wall, indicating a silhouette of the person or object that he needs to find. This is a helpful ability that I think could be a lot of fun in game as well! For example, he could use this ability to locate an enemy that he is tracing, a friend, or a particularly important object. This is the sort of thing that might work at the black market, actually, if allowed!
One specific gift that Arno possesses is the ability to connect with his targets, those he has made a specific connection with, at the time of their deaths. While his targets die, he is given visions of their lives. In gameplay, these flashes are used to further the plot, and lead him on his path of revenge and toward finding the reasons and people behind the death of his foster father. He has been able to learn many secrets of the Templar order through this ability.
Note that this gift is rather a special one, as cited in the game's tie in novel. When Arno explains these visions to Elise in one section, she is surprised and stunned, which indicates that they are not so standard when it comes to the whole standard assassin hidden blade, training and special abilities package.
Inventory:
Arno will be arriving with a full set of clothing, including his assassins' robes, though he's somewhat lost the actual RIGHT to wear them these days. It's not like anybody HERE is gonna know that.
He'll also be coming in with the following weapons:
1 rapier
1 dagger
1 pistol with no ammunition.
His Hidden Blade Gauntlet (called The Phantom Blade, in his case, and outfitted with a mini crossbow) is something I'd prefer for him to redeem during landfall at some point further down the line, after he's started learning and working on some of his considerable issues.
Suitability:
If being a member of the brotherhood has taught Arno anything, it is how to move in the shadowy areas of life, both literal and figurative. He's picked up a great deal of street smarts that will allow for him to thrive in the current environment. In particular, Arno is very good at infiltrating certain areas, blending into crowds and bribing others where he can to allow himself access to certain areas otherwise off limits. He's very much the cloak and dagger sort of character, with the smarts that will allow him the chance (a chance I plan to take with him if accepted) to move between rival gangs in the city.
Arno also is talented in the art of parkour and is good at quickly taking down his targets both from a distance and in person, though he's much better at actually sneaking towards his objective and avoiding drawing trouble to himself, at least while he is in full assassin mode, that is! He is certainly physically suited to surviving in a place where subterfuge would prove useful, with a mental discipline that he has honed to be of use while he is working. Arno would treat the issue of wading into kedan gang life with the utmost seriousness, and his approaches would be reasoned and well thought out. While he'd prefer not to look where he leaps, and sometimes does have a problem with this, or taking off before he's gotten all of the facts, and does not always follow orders, Arno does recognize the need to stay in the "mode", so to speak, and would, generally, be able to keep it together long enough to complete whatever task he might be given.
He's also very willing to throw himself into trouble and would certainly enjoy trying to gain a foothold for the foreigners through any variety of actions possible. Arno's dedication, needing a new focus before he loses it completely after the events of game so far have left him a bit disillusioned, would certainly find direction as he is presented with the situation of the foreigners. Finding a new group of people to be loyal to would definitely be good for him, and his loyalty can know no bounds when it comes to the right sort of people.
He will certainly miss Elise, his best friend and partner in crime, which could be something of a problem for Arno, as he would be very frustrated about not being able to reach her in a time of great need, but Arno is friendly and charming enough when he tries, and could certainly enjoy making new friends and allies throughout the city. He'll need the distraction to keep from worrying about a great number of things as it is!
A chaotic world, which presents opportunities to play out his own successes and failures would suit Arno particularly well, and he would be very motivated to gain whatever successes that he can for his new allies and his own well being. He's certainly very good at the sort of underhanded, secret dealing, stealth assassination/action that could allow him to do well here while keeping up a cover story and a profile that would serve to protect him here.
One problem that I can see arising as of being in game is that Arno is bound to clash, at some point or other, with any leaders among the foreigners. One thing that Arno definitely needs to work on learning is that sometimes people in authority do know what they are doing, and at any rate, should usually be respected. He can be extremely argumentative, dismissive and a bit of a jerk when ordered to carry out certain tasks, tends to act without thinking, and could really use a few lessons in being a teamplayer and learning to respect the authority of others. This could lead to some interesting clashes with several of the characters who have emerged to a position of respect among the foreigner population. I would very much like to explore these interpersonal issues through game.
Honestly, Arno could use a bit of an attitude adjustment, and I feel like it would be interesting to explore the issue here, though he might end up a little isolated from the others at first, depending on how he chooses to respond to given situations and how the foreigners choose to handle them. I can see him moving into the main throng of the current community, but he'll need some help from time to time with understanding a few key things about respect, following the rules and taking the time to work with others before jumping into action. Using his finely honed assassin skills and allowing him to grow through interactions in game would prove especially interesting here.
Also, given that his world is a bit odd, anyway, what with some of the brotherhood rituals that he's grown accustomed to, Arno will not think being on the back of a turtle is so VERY odd at that. It will be different, certainly, but the blend of dreaming and life realms will not be as unfamiliar to him as they might be to others, as he does get visions, snippets of the lives of several of his targets, so is used to the concept of seeing other realities unfold before him. All of the spiritual and mystical elements of the island would be things that Arno takes in stride aside confusion about the idea of where he is and why he is here now. He is likely to have an easier time with manipulation of the environment, as he is able to learn how that works.
Overall, I think that he will fit in well given the new focus and approach to life on TuVishan!
In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):
It might not be the smartest way to spend an afternoon, but Arno was not quite the smartest man he'd ever known, and when there was adventure to be found, he'd sooner take that over being smart and bored out of his mind. What was there to life without a little risk, and what was a little risk to a talented assassin, anyway? Nothing Arno wished to personally experience, thanks very much, he thought, lightly racing over a rooftop and towards the hanging sign outside a tavern, when he grasped, only too easily when he leapt down, tucking himself into a little ball, then launching himself across the distance, graceful as the tumbler in a troop of players.
Every power of science, and of nature, seemed to think men could not fly, but Arno, happily enough, had proved them wrong, and done so with the sort of joy that had him laughing out loud as his robes swung out behind him, and his hood fell back from his face for a moment, revealing a boy who'd been forced to grow up too fast, but somehow managed, still, in happier moments, to remain carefree enough to take advantage of a moment between jobs, between unraveling the ages old mysteries that, valuable as they were, left little room for any kind of enjoyment, and between Elise, who he suspected was put out again, not that he blamed her. It didn't take much, these days, for wedges to fly up between Arno and someone or another; that much was for sure. While he accepted that for what it was, there were still times he enjoyed forgetting, even for an hour, losing himself in the ages old rituals he'd let himself get lost in before he was twenty, and long before the world was a matter of assassin versus templar, when liberte, egalite and fraternite were not the buzzwords for a world that grew more complicated by the day. There was something to be said for reliving the days when flight itself, when being fearless reigned, and Arno had been happy to accept the burden and the blessing that they were.
Now, if only for a little while, he could put it all aside, and live those days again, when everyone was safe, and things were well, and he returned home to a family, who at the most would roll their eyes when hearing of whatever antics he'd found now. Back before failure, and responsibility had set him on the path to retribution, and redemption for all that he'd ruined. Much as it could not last, much as he'd needed to grow up, he could not help but want those things back all the same, to lose himself, as he once had in twists and turns and landings on rooftops where he could watch the people passing by. That was until a woman screamed about a stolen purse, and Arno, where he was, immediately leapt from the roof's current vantage point, and after a hulking brute who darted off into the crowd, whom he was quite sure he could tackle easily enough.
Well, if nothing else, it seemed the lack of fear survived.
Network:
[There's a young man starring out at the video feed, his expression wavering between extremely bored, and extremely curious. That is, he's starting out with bored, starring straight out at something that does not seem to impress him very much, though the expression shifts every time he catches something offscreen, his eyes glinting and shifting at whatever each new object of interest is.
This keeps him occupied for a few moments, at least until he seems to remember that others can see what is happening, at which point he clears his throat, pasting on a smile that, for all that it is big, is somewhat less than sincere.It's a social smile, practiced, rather than natural, but it should be dazzling enough to serve, and he's leaning forward, seemingly eager to speak.]
Well, let us get the introductions done with, shall we? I think they've given me enough detail to explain what's going on here, even though the last time I got hit with half of this, I wasn't exactly sober, and were it not for lacking the requisite headache, I would probably assume I've either drowned my current sorrows way too much, or someone somewhere's dosed me with something, again. It wouldn't be the first time it's been tried.
Speaking of druggings, other people, and the like, I don't suppose anyone here's spotted a redhead with a sword who looks like she was born to it? She would as likely run me through as soon as hear she's pretty, but all the same between us, Elise de La Serre's rather stunning, sometimes literally if I'm not being careful.
[At which point, he's rubbing his temple exaggeratedly, the implications of that pretty clear, even before the smile turns into a smirk instead.]
Since I am pretty sure, I'd rather not be knocked out in a strange new world, where the boundaries between reality and dreams are blurred, humans are part of an invading force, and local gangs don't like us much, you can say that Arno's been sniffing around for her, and things shouldn't get too heated.
While I'm waiting the mademoiselle's appearance, what's the going rate on work and food these days, have foreigners become the national symbol and currency of the current situation like the nobility's done in Paris, and is anyone eager to tell me how that came about if what seems to be true is true?
I wait with baited breath if nothing else.
Name: Sar
Age: 31
Contact: Plurk: Combeferret
Other Characters Played: Enjolras
Character Information:
Name: Arno Victor Dorian
Canon: Assassin's Creed: Unity
Canon Point: Post Expulsion from the Order
Age: 25
Reference Links: http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Arno_Dorian
Setting:
The Assassin's Creed series takes place in a universe that is rather similar to our own, with some additional changes and powerplays enacted by two warring factions who attempt to gain control over life, and the course of history itself. The Templar order seeks to control the choices and will of the people by influencing them into certain directions, politically and otherwise, while the Assassins order, also referred to as "The Brotherhood" seeks to allow humanity its own rights and choices in the struggle, playing more to human nature than to what it can influence.
Throughout history the assassins and the templars have been fighting a war amongst themselves, through secret factions stationed throughout the world, at various key points in history. Typically, the orders will appear in places during times of great change, placing high ranking figures in key positions in either order. This gives each group a chance to influence the people without revealing their true motives. For example, in Unity, Mirabeau, a well known figure in the French Revolution, is the Grand Master of the Assassin's order, and Robespierre, whom modern historians like to stick with the brunt of the French Revolution's insanity, supports the Templar cause.
Generally speaking, the Assassins promote new ideas and approaches, while the Templars seek for things to remain the same, and will seemingly stop at nothing to make their goals come true. A good example of this comes when Arno brings Elise, a Templar, to a meeting of the brotherhood to request their help. The head of the order is willing to help her, even in her position, while the rest of the Templars want her dead, preferring to follow the orders of a false leader who promises to uphold the balance to the way that things always were.
This is not to say that the assassins play fast and loose with rules, by any means. They are simply more progressive, and more willing to look toward embracing changes that will allow for greater freedom and the growth of ideas. They are not stuck in the past in the same way that the Templar order seems to be, although assassins follow a specific code, a creed, that is laid out to them, and has three specific tenants:
1. Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent.
2. Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd.
3. Never compromise the Brotherhood.
By following these rules, and by promoting the general idea of peace as much as they can, the assassins of the order seek to keep life moving forward. While they do resort to out and out murder, along with political machinations, the Assassins do believe that the lives they take are for the greater good, and they certainly debate and carefully consider the idea of murdering someone, or sending out a killer before they do so. When an assassin kills, it is meant to be dignified, and to serve a greater purpose in the end of things. An assassin might also work to discredit people through a variety of means if death is not on the table. In particular, they might spread rumors, plant false documents, steal other items of importance, or anything else to achieve the ultimate goal of promoting peace and freedom for all. Keeping these tenants and beliefs in mind, one can almost certainly imagine an assassin reaction to the French Revolution, and Arno, a newer assassin in the order, certainly applies these concepts to his life, which has been fraught with many changes nearly from the start of things.
Until the age of 8, Arno grew up with his relatively well off father, a secret member of the assassin order. When his father was killed on a visit to Versailles, Arno was taken in by François de la Serre, the grand master of the French Templars. He grew up as a ward of the family, becoming close friends with François's daughter, Elise, who grew to become the most important person in Arno's life. As his best friend, and maybe something more, Elise encouraged Arno in his wild pursuits, often running into, and getting Arno into, trouble of her own making as well. After Elise was sent to finishing school, with the idea that she was there to finish her education, but also to complete some of her training to become Grand Master, the pair of them drifted apart, according to the tie in novel, and Arno was left to do almost anything he pleased, though he was still given lessons in things like geometry and the like. Along the way, he did learn how to use a sword, and some pretty nifty parkour tricks demonstrated early in the game during a mission that involves running through the rooftops of Versailles.
In the year that Elise was due to become Grand Master, everything changed. His foster father was killed, and Arno was accused of taking the action himself, and jailed in the Bastille, where he met Pierre Bellec, who recognized Arno's skill in reading Assassin markings hidden on the jail walls, and who remembered meeting, and working with, Arno's father. Bellec became Arno's teacher, and, when the Bastille fell, encouraged him to join the Assassin order for good. After finding out that he could very well have prevented François's death, Arno did decide to become an assassin, so that he could both get revenge on the actual killer, and so that he could redeem himself for the mistake he had made in not acting as he should have when it came to preventing said death.
The desire for revenge and redemption lead Arno into the streets and underbellies of Paris, looking for answers, and along the way he found some betrayals, reconciliations, and the answers to a few dark secrets. Arno's desire also acted as a curse of sorts, causing him to act when he was not authorized to do so, which created problems for the brotherhood as a whole. Eventually, after one of those moments where Arno took things into his own hands without consulting the brotherhood, he was removed from the order altogether, the canon point I will be bringing him in from.
Personality:
If Arno's personality can be boiled down to two words and concepts, they would be both "young" and "learning". What this means is that, while Arno definitely demonstrates an ability to learn from his mistakes, and one to accept responsibility for his actions, he lacks the self awareness to fully understand how, and why, his choices end the way they do, often because he is unable to fully comprehend and articulate the reasons for his actions.
Arno's tendency, when he makes a mistake, and realizes he's the one who has made a mistake, is to assign guilt to himself without fully thinking of why he is guilty. An early example of this takes place during the death of his foster father. Arno feels guilty about the man's death because he watches him die and is unable to save him, and spends a chunk of a murder sentence in the Bastille wanting to find the man's true killer for both revenge, but more importantly, for redemption. Redemption, however, is not easily found when one fails to understand the specifics of the situation they attempt to make up for.
After the storming of the Bastille, and his escape from prison, Arno learns from his former foster sister and best friend, and now love interest (and still best friend), Elise, that a note he was to deliver to his foster father's own hand, which he chose to slip under the man's office door in interest of sneaking into a party Elise was being honored at, spelled out a warning of the man's death.
This furthers Arno's need to redeem himself, but wanting redemption, and understanding the specific reasons why it is needed are two different things. While the case of his foster father's death becomes much more clear cut as far as Arno's "involvement" goes, there are several, rather more subtle decisions that Arno makes through a viewpoint of youthful idealism that he does not fully understand the consequences of at the time (to name a few examples, we have: joining a death cult on the advice of his cell-mate, taking matters into his own hands when it comes to choosing his marks, including going after those with whom he has an emotional involvement, volunteering the Brotherhood to protect Elise when the Templar order want her dead, without asking for permission beforehand).
The list can go on from there, of course. Really, a lot of Arno's life in the Brotherhood so far has consisted of a series of mistakes built on smaller ones. While Arno is also highly idealistic in that he expects others to see the world as he sees it, he often fails to consider the thoughts of other people, or the potential backlash his ideas might have for those who come to support them. He lacks proper forethought, and tact, in delivering some of his ideas, has a tendency to take the lead where he definitely should not, and worst of all, does not always seem to understand the building up of his mistakes, or, more importantly, perhaps, the reasons that he makes the particular decisions that he does. Because Arno tends to act mostly on his feelings and impulses, he rarely takes the time to consider his actions in the moment, and, when considering them after, is inclined to dismiss looking at his true motivations for something in favor of simply blaming himself, or someone else, for a problem that comes his way.
One of Arno's major weaknesses lies here, in fact. While not being able to totally understand the reasons for his actions is understandable, he is also rather unwilling to make the time to think them through. In an order like the Brotherhood, and a position like his, the development of hindsight is particularly important, and Arno's lack of willingness to devote time to the issue makes him a particularly dangerous loose cannon. The fact that he spends a lot of time hiding from himself and his true motivations is a problem that he certainly needs to devote some time to working on, and he could badly use some time, and room, for inner reflection as far as things go. Instead of simply recognizing that something happened "because" of him, Arno needs to learn to understand not only the whys that it happened, but also how, and what was going on in his head at the time of the event. If he does not learn to process situations completely, down to the last detail, he is likely to land himself in trouble again and again.
This is actually one of my major goals for Arno in game. I'd like to give him a place where he can experience successes and failures, and learn to take the time to understand the reasoning for, and details behind each. Given that at his current canon point, he'll be coming into TuVishan after being expelled from the Brotherhood for refusing to consult authority, and for impulsive actions taken without thought behind them, this seems like an excellent motivational skill to start him with.
Some of the other fun aspects of Arno's personality that do not have to do with his major issues are his wit, charm, and intelligence. In the tie in novel, Elise mentions that while she was training to take her place as a Templar Grand Master, Arno "spent more time with their geometry teacher" and has had to work fast to gain fighting skills similar to those she's been learning since she was a small child. Arno has certainly been well educated, and he certainly has been known to slip into literary and cultural references that indicate a man who is very well studied. His wit is evidenced in several amusing quips, and Arno's ability to be charming has bought him understanding from François on a number of occasions. The tie in novel suggests, quite obviously, that he means for Elise to bring Arno into the Templar order and marry him at one point, and his ability to charm his foster father has certainly served to keep him out of trouble during his rather misspent youth.
Besides those things which circumstances dictate, when it comes to Arno's attitude in general, he does tend to use his cultivated wit and education where he needs it. There is a part of Arno that seems to rely on using humor as a means of deflection from any trouble he gets himself into, or problems that he ends up wandering into. It's easier to toss a quick joke over his shoulders, and to have it be a smart joke, sometimes, than to deal with a situation at hand when it is too difficult to deal with discussing. Arno also is prone to some quiet sarcasms, and to letting them drop among people he is comfortable sharing his feelings with.
This is demonstrated by his antagonistic relationship with the de la Serre servant, Olivier. The two of them make no attempts to hide their disdain for each other and trade barbs about Arno's social standing, Olivier's lack of real work when he can use Arno to get it done, and the like. Arno also does not hold back from sharing his thoughts and feelings with Elise. They've understood each other since childhood and have been almost perfect copies of each other, save that one is a Templar and one an Assassin. They regularly tease and egg each other on, in many aspects of life, and have grown up together, becoming aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses in a way very few people can be. This means that they've seen a good deal of each other over the years and know each other's bests, worsts, and feel free to discuss topics ranging on both topics. She's probably the person Arno feels freest with as well.
Arno also develops this sort of a relationship with his assassin mentor, Bellec. By the time he is ready to graduate into independent work, Arno doesn't seem to hesitate by holding back on teasing the older man during some of the earlier jobs they are shown taking together. While Bellec enjoys taunting Arno in much the way a much older sibling or uncle might, Arno's definitely learning to get back his own and can be seen muttering some sarcastic asides to commentary that's clearly meant to put him back into his place on missions, and definitely develops both a mind of his own and a tendency to share it with his teacher, which seems to be relatively welcomed and tolerated with a wry sort of good humor, at least until Arno starts getting completely stupid about things down the line. This does, admittedly, happen, as their relationship devolves, mostly due to the presence of Elise, but for the most part, Arno's relationship with Bellec up until the end of it, tends to be one of mutual, though somewhat grudging respect, and one where he feels comfortable enough airing his thoughts and being Arno, rather than simply being a charming rake playing a role that he knows will help to keep him relatively safe, socially.
Perhaps part of Arno's problems come from the fact that he has had an easy time of charming his way out of most things in the past, without having to resort to being genuine, as such. As the ward of his foster father, but not his heir, Arno was never quite given real work to do in society, and though he straddled a line between being aristocratic and common, he did not fully find himself on either side as a young man, which meant that he did not have specific jobs and tasks to do. This left him with time on his hands that he devoted to playing, and cheating at, cards, stealing back the property bet on, and to escaping and getting away from enemies he's happened to make.
This situation is how he developed his ability to throw off charming and amusing, and ultimately fairly meaningless quips as he darted away from a situation, and also how he managed to learn some of his more skillful escape attempts, which obviously made him much bolder and more likely to try pushing his luck again. His youth was largely spent being indulged in his rakish, irresponsible and downright bratty behavior, so the idea that he must suddenly learn a new way of life was probably overwhelming at first, making it all the more understandable that he would sink into the easier tactics of blaming himself without fully examining a situation first. While he uses these abilities in his relationships with others as well, there is a marked difference in the way that he uses them, and what he chooses to let these comments and interactions reveal about him in the process. For many people, what you see with Arno is exactly what you get, and he makes it easy to dismiss him as a careless, childish brat without a lot of other facets to his personality, all roles he is certainly skilled at playing in his turn, which serve to keep others away pretty effectively.
However, Arno definitely has time to change, a desire to do what is right, and demonstrates definite sympathy toward the poor of Paris as he points out the equality that they are fighting for, shows sorrow towards those who are being harmed, and has a definitely chivalrous attitude toward Elise. He also very much wants to do right by people in general, and really does seem to care about being a decent person. He'll try to reason with those who he cares for who he feels are making mistakes in their lives, and to bring them back to (what he believes is the cause of) good, and seems to have a definite understanding of the more universal concepts of Just and Good and Right and Brotherhood in general, and there is a part of him that really does wish to make the world right, at least right as he sees it.
With a lot of work on himself and his emotional abilities and reasoning, and some extensive time dedicated toward truly examining his thoughts and actions, Arno is a decent young man who is capable of being great.
What is most important now is that he does not skimp on the precious last steps toward getting there.
Appearance: Arno has dark hair and eyes, is reasonably tall and cuts a rather dashing figure, though he does have a long scar that starts across the bridge of his nose and stretches across to his left cheek. He usually pulls his long hair back in a queue and can most often be seen hiding in his blue assassin's robes, with the hood pulled fully up to hide his face. He does clean up well when it comes to parties or more casual encounters.
I'll simply be using his game images for icons, some of which can be found here:
Arno with Elise, in his Assassin robes
Arno in the Bastille during early game events
Master Assassin Arno concept
Abilities:
Arno is in top physical condition and is an excellent fencer and has very good aim when he shoots. In addition, he is highly skilled in parkour and can easily climb walls and leap from rooftop to roofop. He's learned a variety of assassin skills, including the Leap of Faith, which allows him to jump from heights and find soft landing places without being harmed. He has some pretty standard assassin skills and is also very good at landing secret kills and cover-kills. He can effectively sneak up on and choke a man, is good at bribing people, and really knows his way around the rooftops of Paris. Given enough time, I think that he could easily learn his way around the rooftops of most of the island's sectors as well!
Arno has learned and works with the ability called Eagle Vision, which allows him to briefly see through walls for a quick period of time. With this ability, Arno is able to spot his enemies, potential allies and anything else that stands out as important to him. Generally, he can spot an aura, toned for each category of person or object through a wall, indicating a silhouette of the person or object that he needs to find. This is a helpful ability that I think could be a lot of fun in game as well! For example, he could use this ability to locate an enemy that he is tracing, a friend, or a particularly important object. This is the sort of thing that might work at the black market, actually, if allowed!
One specific gift that Arno possesses is the ability to connect with his targets, those he has made a specific connection with, at the time of their deaths. While his targets die, he is given visions of their lives. In gameplay, these flashes are used to further the plot, and lead him on his path of revenge and toward finding the reasons and people behind the death of his foster father. He has been able to learn many secrets of the Templar order through this ability.
Note that this gift is rather a special one, as cited in the game's tie in novel. When Arno explains these visions to Elise in one section, she is surprised and stunned, which indicates that they are not so standard when it comes to the whole standard assassin hidden blade, training and special abilities package.
Inventory:
Arno will be arriving with a full set of clothing, including his assassins' robes, though he's somewhat lost the actual RIGHT to wear them these days. It's not like anybody HERE is gonna know that.
He'll also be coming in with the following weapons:
1 rapier
1 dagger
1 pistol with no ammunition.
His Hidden Blade Gauntlet (called The Phantom Blade, in his case, and outfitted with a mini crossbow) is something I'd prefer for him to redeem during landfall at some point further down the line, after he's started learning and working on some of his considerable issues.
Suitability:
If being a member of the brotherhood has taught Arno anything, it is how to move in the shadowy areas of life, both literal and figurative. He's picked up a great deal of street smarts that will allow for him to thrive in the current environment. In particular, Arno is very good at infiltrating certain areas, blending into crowds and bribing others where he can to allow himself access to certain areas otherwise off limits. He's very much the cloak and dagger sort of character, with the smarts that will allow him the chance (a chance I plan to take with him if accepted) to move between rival gangs in the city.
Arno also is talented in the art of parkour and is good at quickly taking down his targets both from a distance and in person, though he's much better at actually sneaking towards his objective and avoiding drawing trouble to himself, at least while he is in full assassin mode, that is! He is certainly physically suited to surviving in a place where subterfuge would prove useful, with a mental discipline that he has honed to be of use while he is working. Arno would treat the issue of wading into kedan gang life with the utmost seriousness, and his approaches would be reasoned and well thought out. While he'd prefer not to look where he leaps, and sometimes does have a problem with this, or taking off before he's gotten all of the facts, and does not always follow orders, Arno does recognize the need to stay in the "mode", so to speak, and would, generally, be able to keep it together long enough to complete whatever task he might be given.
He's also very willing to throw himself into trouble and would certainly enjoy trying to gain a foothold for the foreigners through any variety of actions possible. Arno's dedication, needing a new focus before he loses it completely after the events of game so far have left him a bit disillusioned, would certainly find direction as he is presented with the situation of the foreigners. Finding a new group of people to be loyal to would definitely be good for him, and his loyalty can know no bounds when it comes to the right sort of people.
He will certainly miss Elise, his best friend and partner in crime, which could be something of a problem for Arno, as he would be very frustrated about not being able to reach her in a time of great need, but Arno is friendly and charming enough when he tries, and could certainly enjoy making new friends and allies throughout the city. He'll need the distraction to keep from worrying about a great number of things as it is!
A chaotic world, which presents opportunities to play out his own successes and failures would suit Arno particularly well, and he would be very motivated to gain whatever successes that he can for his new allies and his own well being. He's certainly very good at the sort of underhanded, secret dealing, stealth assassination/action that could allow him to do well here while keeping up a cover story and a profile that would serve to protect him here.
One problem that I can see arising as of being in game is that Arno is bound to clash, at some point or other, with any leaders among the foreigners. One thing that Arno definitely needs to work on learning is that sometimes people in authority do know what they are doing, and at any rate, should usually be respected. He can be extremely argumentative, dismissive and a bit of a jerk when ordered to carry out certain tasks, tends to act without thinking, and could really use a few lessons in being a teamplayer and learning to respect the authority of others. This could lead to some interesting clashes with several of the characters who have emerged to a position of respect among the foreigner population. I would very much like to explore these interpersonal issues through game.
Honestly, Arno could use a bit of an attitude adjustment, and I feel like it would be interesting to explore the issue here, though he might end up a little isolated from the others at first, depending on how he chooses to respond to given situations and how the foreigners choose to handle them. I can see him moving into the main throng of the current community, but he'll need some help from time to time with understanding a few key things about respect, following the rules and taking the time to work with others before jumping into action. Using his finely honed assassin skills and allowing him to grow through interactions in game would prove especially interesting here.
Also, given that his world is a bit odd, anyway, what with some of the brotherhood rituals that he's grown accustomed to, Arno will not think being on the back of a turtle is so VERY odd at that. It will be different, certainly, but the blend of dreaming and life realms will not be as unfamiliar to him as they might be to others, as he does get visions, snippets of the lives of several of his targets, so is used to the concept of seeing other realities unfold before him. All of the spiritual and mystical elements of the island would be things that Arno takes in stride aside confusion about the idea of where he is and why he is here now. He is likely to have an easier time with manipulation of the environment, as he is able to learn how that works.
Overall, I think that he will fit in well given the new focus and approach to life on TuVishan!
In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):
It might not be the smartest way to spend an afternoon, but Arno was not quite the smartest man he'd ever known, and when there was adventure to be found, he'd sooner take that over being smart and bored out of his mind. What was there to life without a little risk, and what was a little risk to a talented assassin, anyway? Nothing Arno wished to personally experience, thanks very much, he thought, lightly racing over a rooftop and towards the hanging sign outside a tavern, when he grasped, only too easily when he leapt down, tucking himself into a little ball, then launching himself across the distance, graceful as the tumbler in a troop of players.
Every power of science, and of nature, seemed to think men could not fly, but Arno, happily enough, had proved them wrong, and done so with the sort of joy that had him laughing out loud as his robes swung out behind him, and his hood fell back from his face for a moment, revealing a boy who'd been forced to grow up too fast, but somehow managed, still, in happier moments, to remain carefree enough to take advantage of a moment between jobs, between unraveling the ages old mysteries that, valuable as they were, left little room for any kind of enjoyment, and between Elise, who he suspected was put out again, not that he blamed her. It didn't take much, these days, for wedges to fly up between Arno and someone or another; that much was for sure. While he accepted that for what it was, there were still times he enjoyed forgetting, even for an hour, losing himself in the ages old rituals he'd let himself get lost in before he was twenty, and long before the world was a matter of assassin versus templar, when liberte, egalite and fraternite were not the buzzwords for a world that grew more complicated by the day. There was something to be said for reliving the days when flight itself, when being fearless reigned, and Arno had been happy to accept the burden and the blessing that they were.
Now, if only for a little while, he could put it all aside, and live those days again, when everyone was safe, and things were well, and he returned home to a family, who at the most would roll their eyes when hearing of whatever antics he'd found now. Back before failure, and responsibility had set him on the path to retribution, and redemption for all that he'd ruined. Much as it could not last, much as he'd needed to grow up, he could not help but want those things back all the same, to lose himself, as he once had in twists and turns and landings on rooftops where he could watch the people passing by. That was until a woman screamed about a stolen purse, and Arno, where he was, immediately leapt from the roof's current vantage point, and after a hulking brute who darted off into the crowd, whom he was quite sure he could tackle easily enough.
Well, if nothing else, it seemed the lack of fear survived.
Network:
[There's a young man starring out at the video feed, his expression wavering between extremely bored, and extremely curious. That is, he's starting out with bored, starring straight out at something that does not seem to impress him very much, though the expression shifts every time he catches something offscreen, his eyes glinting and shifting at whatever each new object of interest is.
This keeps him occupied for a few moments, at least until he seems to remember that others can see what is happening, at which point he clears his throat, pasting on a smile that, for all that it is big, is somewhat less than sincere.It's a social smile, practiced, rather than natural, but it should be dazzling enough to serve, and he's leaning forward, seemingly eager to speak.]
Well, let us get the introductions done with, shall we? I think they've given me enough detail to explain what's going on here, even though the last time I got hit with half of this, I wasn't exactly sober, and were it not for lacking the requisite headache, I would probably assume I've either drowned my current sorrows way too much, or someone somewhere's dosed me with something, again. It wouldn't be the first time it's been tried.
Speaking of druggings, other people, and the like, I don't suppose anyone here's spotted a redhead with a sword who looks like she was born to it? She would as likely run me through as soon as hear she's pretty, but all the same between us, Elise de La Serre's rather stunning, sometimes literally if I'm not being careful.
[At which point, he's rubbing his temple exaggeratedly, the implications of that pretty clear, even before the smile turns into a smirk instead.]
Since I am pretty sure, I'd rather not be knocked out in a strange new world, where the boundaries between reality and dreams are blurred, humans are part of an invading force, and local gangs don't like us much, you can say that Arno's been sniffing around for her, and things shouldn't get too heated.
While I'm waiting the mademoiselle's appearance, what's the going rate on work and food these days, have foreigners become the national symbol and currency of the current situation like the nobility's done in Paris, and is anyone eager to tell me how that came about if what seems to be true is true?
I wait with baited breath if nothing else.