Therion

Player: Snarky
Age: 30s
Invited by: Vil
Contact: plurk @ wildzubat or just PM me

Character: Therion
Canon: Octopath Traveler, after everyone's chapter 4s, but before completing Galdera questline.
Age: 22

Background Information: !! CW for: emotional and physical abuse of a minor !!
convenient wiki link!

Personality:
1) Tell us about who your character is and what someone’s first impression would be upon meeting them.

"Your name is Therion, and you are a thief. While your past is a guarded secret, your exploits are known far and wide. Mere whispers of your extravagant heists strike fear into the hearts of the wealthy." - intro blurb, if selecting Therion as your main traveler.

Just meeting Therion on the street, you're likely not to have much of a first impression of him at all - at most you might remember someone in a shabby shawl passing by, maybe that he had white hair, but you won't have seen his face, and he won't have done anything memorable to draw attention to himself. By the end of the night, you'll probably have forgotten all about him - just another passing shadow. He's a deft pickpocket and a master thief for a reason, after all. He knows how to keep himself to himself.

Meeting him while on a heist is a different matter entirely, however. Therion isn't only capable of just melting into the background - he can also melt right into whatever role he might with to play. A skilled actor, he puts this talent to good use to wheedle information out of others or bluff his way in through the front door. His impression then will be whatever the role demands, confident that he is exactly who he says he is, that he belongs here. Friendly or pompous, cheerful or impatient - he knows what people think they ought to see, and he'll deliver.

But what about just meeting him in a tavern? Or trying to strike up a conversation with him while you're both hanging around? Well, that'll get you a bit closer to what he's really like. Usually quiet and withdrawn, Therion is not a particularly social person, although he's warmed up more to working with others over the past year or so. He's not easy to catch off guard, and he's liable to be rather sarcastic and cynical. But he does have a kind heart. He might be a bit mean and prickly and rude, but he'll never be purposefully cruel. So you might walk away from the encounter thinking ah, another glib asshole, but you probably won't walk away thinking much worse.

2) What is a driving force your character has? What goals do they have, what motivates them, etc?

To be free.

That was his primary driving goal until very recently, when he achieved it, and now he wishes to maintain it. Freedom from the fool's bangle and his obligation to Cordelia Ravus. And eventually, freedom from the shackles of his past. Now, he is free to go where the wind takes him, a life of wandering once more. And he values his independence and self-reliance.

But on a more base level, his motivations have largely been both to just get by and to hone his skills as sharp as he can, though that motivation itself is in its own way rooted in the desire to survive. He didn't take up thievery for fun, after all. It started as a way to live, and as he's reached a point where mere survival is less fraught, there's also a pride to it. A thrill. He's worked hard to be where he's at, and he enjoys the thrill that comes with the hunt, the chase, the claiming of a closely guarded treasure. He also has his own personal code of honor of sorts when it comes to these things - lows to which, even as a thief, he won't stoop as well as an acceptance of the risks and consequences that come with his line of work.

Now, though, he's a little less inclined to do go through everything alone. He's made friends, found himself a family of sorts. And while he's still not liable to be tied down anywhere, their safety and well-being is now incredibly important to him. He would do anything for them, though you won't hear him say so aloud. He has chosen to believe in trust again. To believe in them.

3) What are their flaws as a character? What is something they've messed up, or have done that they regret?

Therion is a prickly cactus of a person who has a difficult time opening up to others. Even if he has chosen to at least believe in trusting others again, it's still no small task to move past the scars of his past. He doesn't hold onto grudges or anger towards others, but Therion does internalize a lot of self-blame and does regard his own self-worth as revolving mainly around what he can do rather than anything intrinsic. And even though his recent experiences and the closure he's found on some of the things he's lived through have helped, recovery is not a straight road, and so part of him remains cynical and slow to trust. He can also be downright rude and mean, especially when he wants to be left alone. So, needless to say, he's still not the easiest person to get along with...

Although he won't brag about his achievements and prefers anonymity, Therion does have a streak of pride in his skills and competitive bravado that will lead him to sometimes bite off more than he can chew. Indeed, it's exactly that pride that got him started on his journey to begin with, as rumors of a treasure no thief could touch turned out to be bait in a trap for a skilled thief just like him. Has he really fully learned his lesson? Probably not - at least, not when it comes to tantalizing rumors. What's life without a bit of risk? A bit of adrenaline?

4) Optional: What is something unique and interesting about them, or what is a fun little tidbit that sets them apart from the crowd?

Therion is incredibly superstitious. He has a number of rituals he'll do before entering a house he's breaking into, such as always knocking first (quietly, of course), always entering with his fight foot first, never looking portraits in the eye, and so on. He'll never steal from a child's lockbox, and he never invokes the gods by name when channeling the divine skills.

Abilities & Inventory:
Therion is a thief who can do thief things. He is a master thief, in fact, so he's very good at his work, especially as pertains to pick-pocketing, sneaking, lock picking, disguises, bluffing, lying, and so on. He's a good actor when he wants to be, and he's pretty handy in combat. His main asset is his speed and evasive abilities, and his in-game skills focus on debuffing enemies' physical attack and defense.

On the note of supernatural, however, he also is capable of some magic. Innately, he can use fire with this Thief job, he can 'steal' health & energy from enemies, he can transfer energy to an ally, and he is capable of using a Divine Skill called Aeber's Reckoning that attacks a large number of targets with daggers with superhuman speed. Divine speed, you might even say.

Additionally, over the course of their adventures, the party travels to shrines for 12 gods. 8 of those gods corresponding to the party's starter jobs simply bless them with the ability to dual class into that job, and the remaining 4 grant them access to 4 additional powerful jobs after passing a test. Now, mechanically, only one party member can have any particular given other job as a subjob at any given time, but they can equip passive skills from any job they've learned abilities from. Unlike in Octopath 2 where there are actual job licenses, the game never once discusses how this works in universe, however. Do they pass around a gods-given token a la a job crystal like certain final fantasy games? Is it something else? Who knows! Fanfic & doujin writers everywhere just make up whatever feels right for their story!

BUT I HAVE A PROPOSAL... while in Escordvi, the standard initial magic tattoo would give Therion access to his innate abilities (i.e. fire magic, energy stealing & gifting, etc.), BUT if he wants access to one of the other subjobs and corresponding god's blessing, he'll have to get a second tattoo corresponding to that job.

Inventory:
clothes he's wearing
dagger
some other knives tucked about his person
sword
set of lockpicks
odds and ends that were in his pockets such as: leaves (currency, useless here), some candy, an apple, etc.

"When I was a kid, I had my share of beatings from people who thought they could break me. But I'd shrug it off, and vowed that no one would ever tell me what to do." - Therion, to Olberic in a travel banter in Olberic's Ch 4

Corsairs because Therion is a career criminal with little respect for authority. Lock him in jail, and he'll just find a way to break out again and be on his merry way, unrepentant for his thievery. He values his freedom and enjoys the thrill of a challenging heist for its own sake. While he's regained some of his ability to trust in others and is more willing to work with others now, he still remains an independent soul who is all too aware of how easily power can be misused. Therion does have his own set of morals, and he is not a cruel person, nor will he kill if he can at all avoid it, and in turn, among the Corsairs, he'll be sure to avoid either associating with or antagonizing the more bloodthirsty among them, but he's a survivor who knows how to get by.

Test Drive Sample: here!

Questions: