Ardyn Izunia

⏵ player information
name and pronouns: chai (he/him)
age: 30+
contact: tentamenace @ discord/plurk

⏵ character information
name: Ardyn Izunia
canon: FFXV
age: 2000+
canon point: After Chapter 13 (Redemption), but before the events of Chapter 14 (Homecoming). There's a nebulous 10-year gap in there I'm taking him from.
history: Just a man of no consequence.
abilities:

Power of Kings - Warping and phasing through solid matter, summoning weapons from thin air, and wielding the royal arms as well as his personal longsword, called the Rakshasa Blade. He uses Armiger (a hammerspace, essentially) in various ways and can also manifest a red scythe.

Elemental Magic - Ardyn can cast powerful magic, such as striking down bolts of lightning, summoning blizzards, and causing fiery explosions. He primarily controls the element of darkness, but can also fire energy beams from the palms of his hands that can knock their targets back, and summon a barrage of meteorites from the sky. He can momentarily transform into miasma and use this to teleport and to fly, a feat independent of his ability to warp.

Illusions - Ardyn can and assume the form of another, distorting others' perception of reality to create illusions. This makes him able to do things like manipulate people into attacking their friends by having them see them as himself.

"Healing" - Ardyn was blessed by the gods with the power to heal those afflicted with the Starscourge and traveled the world purging the plague by absorbing it into his own body. How I play this as his ability to 'heal' is such: He is therefore able to take other's pain and suffering into himself and 'heal' them of it as a result; this comes at the cost of his own immediate health, but he is immortal / can regenerate quickly and will only suffer temporarily.

The Starscourge (Daemonification) - Limited in Game Settings - He exudes miasma from his body at will, but unlike regular daemons, can operate in daylight as his body regenerates faster than the sun can damage him. He can turn others into daemons and assimilate them to increase his power, which also allows him to experience their memories. He will be capable of this in Etraya, but to a much more minor degree that will simply be temporary infection (and only affect mood/cause intrusive thoughts) and seeing memory snippets. This will be entirely opt-in and discussed with anyone as it becomes relevant!

Summon (Ifrit) - He can also usually summon Ifrit thanks to daemonifying him, but I'm fine with him needing to re-gain this or it also being limited since I doubt Aurora will appreciate a large man on fire stomping around the city.

personality: A self-styled "man of no consequence", Ardyn possesses more power than he first lets on to anyone he comes across. He believes it's better to be perceived as a simple fool to be able to keep the upper-hand over others. As chancellor of Niflheim, he supervised the highest reaches of government while also overseeing the empire's various research programs. Although not inept at his job by any means, many wondered how such a cavalier man managed to secure such a position after seemingly coming from nowhere.

On a surface level, he is a very theatrical man who is seemingly unbothered by just about anything. The man doesn't appear to take much seriously and even makes jokes or pokes fun during dire circumstances. He can also come across as creepy and suggestive when teasing to unsettle others purposefully. Yet, he is also civil, composed, and calm even in the face of hostility in order to keep his opponents guessing and give away nothing more than he needs to.

The longer one gets to know him though, the more the mask of a man will start to slip away and his true nature as a daemonic beast reveals itself. Underneath that laissez faire attitude, Ardyn is someone who has been hurt deeply and wishes to hurt in kind. He is bitter, mean, and cruel. While part of this is due to his traumatic betrayal from those he loved centuries ago, it is also exacerbated the Starscourge that infects him. It is a disease that thrives on darkness, pain, and ruination and - since he gave into it - compels him to cause the same.

Ardyn is intelligent, calculating, and often times manipulative in order to get what he wants. He even seemingly enjoys watching what comes of others playing into his schemes. Almost nothing can stop him once he sets his mind to something, for better or worse.

samples: children of bahamut event, etraya tdm