PLAYER INFORMATIONName: Casey
Timezone: PST
Personal Journal: no
Player Contact: ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
hootlordCharacters in Game: Yenh Quryoja
CHARACTER INFORMATIONName: Ciaphas Cain
Canon: Warhammer 40,000
Age: Physically in his early 40s; actual age is roughly 120 years. thank u space medicine
Suitability: Cain would be alarmed and cautious, since he is from the canon that coined the phrase "grimdark" thanks to being in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future. Everything except your fellow
Romans humans loyal to the Imperium are
Probably Trying To Kill You. He'll do whatever it takes to achieve his primary goal of dying peacefully in his sleep at a ripe old age. Which more or less means he'll take part in the "local culture," even if cautiously. All that magic is not really his bag, but he'll do the sex. And, hey, say what you want for the Imperium of Mankind, but at least they're on board with the natural spread of sexuality and gender norms, so none of that will bother him much.
Species: Human.
Canon Point: Freshly retired.
History: He's got a big ol' wikiPersonality: To most of the Imperium of Mankind, Ciaphas Cain is known as Cain the Hero—humble, charming, valorous. An upright and pious military man beloved the galaxy over, whose exploits are celebrated in movies and novels and other propaganda. But to Cain himself, he is little more than a selfish, dishonest coward acting out of self-preservation alone. Cain is a man whose motives and personality are convoluted and self-contradictory. He IS incredibly hard on himself: while there's no denying that he is a manipulative liar who thinks of his own safety first and foremost, his overpowering cowardice more often than not twists around in a bizarre moebius strip that leads him to performing acts of heroism and bravery.
He believes that if he doesn't make calculated risks that fall in line with his reputation for heroism, then his troopers and officers will distrust him and "accidentally" get him killed. He is a morale officer, a Commissar, who are often the least-liked part of any Imperial Guard unit due to their tendency to improve said morale through fear (ie: shooting at their own troops). Cain takes a different approach—the idea of turning his own unit against him is nothing short of stupid. To him, the best way to ensure survival is by making "friends" who will watch his back.
This even applies to his enemies. Cain shares his society's hatred of anyone who isn't an Emperor-fearing,
completely normal human. But he can put it away and treat aliens and psychics with diplomatic friendliness. He is even willing to accept their help and generosity if it means survival. This makes him incredibly open-minded compared to other people in his society to the point where you could argue he's performing acts of low-key heresy.
In terms of his own feelings and internal processes, the man is a closed book—even to himself. He is baffled by his own feelings and thoughts (especially when they're related to traumatic events). Yet, despite not being able to analyze himself well, he is a charismatic and charming social butterfly, always ready with a quip or friendly word, or to listen quietly to those who need a caring ear. He is definitely not a stoic military officer who lusts for battle, but a counselor and father figure for his soldiers and officers who tries to bring them all home at the end of missions. But even though he enjoys other people, Cain isn't earnest. He's downright manipulative—an easy and skilled liar who is ready to suck up to the right people at the right place in order to get perks. Which isn't to say he's socially perfect. He makes mistakes and misjudges people, too.
Whatever you do, though, don't take Cain as someone who is soft or timid: he IS a product of his Commissarial training. He will kill without a second thought if the situation calls for it, and he won't lose sleep if he feels the person deserved it. However, if they
didn't deserve it, guilt tends to set in: he has described himself as feeling haunted by the faces of the innocent and the nearly-forgotten.
Other than after when he's had one too many drinks, Cain rarely expresses bitterness for his lot in life. He's resigned to the idea that bad things are going to happen, and all he can do is hang in there until he reaches the end. Even in an empire that fervently believes their God-Emperor watches over all, Cain thinks that the He is too busy with bigger issues, such as keeping the galaxy from imploding into the hell dimension. Cain believes that he has to watch out for himself. As of his current canon point, he is freshly retired, and has some sense of existential relief, but a century of habits dies hard.
No matter what, Cain keeps his persona going, even if he loathes it and rails against it being honored as heroic. Besides feeling like he doesn't deserve it, the hero worship tends to entirely exclude the troops who he feels did the bulk of the work—such as his decidedly uncharismatic aide Jurgen. Sure, Cain has a few dramatic solo stands, but he has never wanted anything more but to lurk as a minor footnote in a history book. Every time he tries to point out that others did most of the work, or that he was just at the right place at the right time, people assume he is only being humble and lavish even more praise on him. Which, of course, only serves to frustrate him more. His tone often changes from flippant to genuinely furious as he contemplates how people get cast into his shadow. He appreciates their contributions and sacrifices beyond even his own ability to voice them—which goes a very long way in debunking his own ideas about himself as being a big grand jerkass. Again, he's not very good at analyzing himself. He might have noticed that terrible self-loathing by now, after all.
Abilities/Weaknesses: Cain is a normal-ass human with no magical abilities or superpowers. He's only long-lived because he's in a sci-fi military with age-extending technology to go along with that 100 year long minimum service time. Part of his hand got shot off by Alien Laserbeamz so he does have a Cyborg Feature (aka fingers) that he claims helps give him a steady grip, but he could just be Dad-ing at us. They do make for an uncomfortable handshake, at least.
He's a huge jock who is good at both marksmanship and swordplay, and he especially enjoys Doing Sports. He didn't even get better-than-average grades in school for anything except athletics and combat, though mostly because he didn't try; all he values are street smarts, instinct, and social graces. He's also just really damned lucky and relies on that luck a little too often.
Cain is super good with social situations and people. You could also call him an opportunistic suck-up. His top priority is his own safety and survival, so he'll be performing no great acts of Courage. He'll lowkey hate himself whether he does or doesn't, don't worry. Aside from Death By Painful Means, the thing he is most afraid of is being revealed for the liar that he is; he is extremely wigged out by powerful psychics for that reason, and that'll be worse without his aide Jurgen around (who served to mask his thoughts by having a special anti-psychic "power"). And, in general, Cain is constantly paranoid and looking over his own shoulder, no matter how nice he behaves.
RP Samples: TDM!
And for good measure, a sip of
PSL with way too much meta CRAUing.
