Seamus Zelazny Harper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bravelyrunaway) wrote2018-04-17 07:44 pm
bravelyrunaway) wrote2018-04-17 07:44 pm
OPT OUTS
Harper is not from a shiny sci fi universe; it's a very run down one with lots of horror in it, which means that he has tons of potentially squicky issues that other players might want to opt out of dealing with.
CW: child death/mercy killing, slavery/genocide, violent parental death, cannibalism, rape/body horror, suicide
BACKGROUND
Harper is from 3000 years in Earth's future. In his universe, the equivalent of the Federation failed and fell due to an internal rebellion, leading to a 300 year period of darkness and terror across the galaxies. Harper was raised on post-fall Earth, which faced raids from aliens called Magog that slaughtered, ate, and infested other species with their larvae (which hatched and ate their way out). The planet was also cruelly ruled by Nietzscheans, a genetically-engineered offshoot of humanity that treats non-modified humans (derivatively called kludges) as slaves.
Harper's situation is better (sort of) because he got off Earth onto a grizzled-but-loyal freighter/salvage crew, and then recently joined the crew of Dylan Hunt, aFederation Commonwealth captain who was frozen for 300 years at the edge of a black hole with his warship pre-fall, and was brought into the modern day by Harper's salvage crew. Dylan is trying to do the impossible and restore the Commonwealth and civilization, with Harper acting as the ship's lead (and only) engineer.
Because he's no longer living in the same dark circumstances before, and because he tends to fall back on humor and lightheartedness and not dwell on the horror in his life, it'll be pretty easy to avoid the darker subjects, if necessary. Really. He's reached a state of being pretty glib and desensitized to Earth's general awfulness, but he's also not the type to have his heart bleed all over other people and the shittiness that is Earth is not his favorite subject, even if he's blunt when it is brought up. It's pretty easy to avoid. And for the more personal issues like his Magog infestation, especially, he'll be pretty tight lipped.
Some of the issues that are a possibility, though:
POTENTIAL ISSUES
1) Child Death/Mercy Killing: Harper's two cousins Siobhan and Declan, who he was very close to as a child, were infested by Magog larvae and had to be mercy-killed by Harper's family to avoid a grisly fate of being eaten from the inside out. It's implied that Harper and his cousins were all just children at the time.
2) Slavery/genocide: In Harper's time Earth is a "tributary" world, enslaved by the Drago-Kasov, a Nietzschean pride (ie clan) who look down on humans as lower lifeforms. This means that Earth provided a backdrop of ten thousand screaming nightmares, ranging from summary executions, to public crucifixions, to slave ghettos, to concentration camps. While Harper's earliest days were in a village outside the Drago-Kasov's control (which wouldn't have been so bad if not for the Magog raids) he spent most of his life in refugee camps and slave ghettos, which were downright nightmarish. While he was lucky enough to avoid ever having to endure a death camp or one of the slave labor camps (like the mining camps) it's definitely a "but for the grace of God go I" situation and he knows it. And even then, he still had to suffer through constant malnutrition, famines, plagues, the works.
Just to belabor the point for the unwary, but the Nietzscheans' particular brand of hatred is really nasty and rooted in some very modern modes of thinking. Though they started as humans that believed in personal enlightment and self-improvement (and thus the movement gained traction across a lot of societal lines) they genetically engineered themselves to become "better" and read way too much philosophy as undergrad freshmen, so it all panned out to them being good ol' fashioned eugenicists in the end anyway, natch. If this makes you hella uncomfortable to tangle with given the current RL climate, I don't blame you in the least, and will totally understand if Do Not Want.
Though Harper doesn't contextualize it that way, with the Dragons looking at the humans of Earth as penned slave stock, Harper's effectively a runaway slave. (He'd punch someone in the face if they ever insinuated as such, though.) As it is, just "Earther" alone carries a lot of baggage back home and he'll be fascinated by alternate Earths/times where Earth is less garbage. He canonically romanticizes ancient Earth culture, though definitely with the critical view that he's looking fondly at times where it was still partly or mostly garbage - just not maximum garbage.
3) Violent Parental Death: Harper only avoided the slave camps because when the Nietzscheans came to take Harper away to be worked to death, his parents resisted them to save his life. He saw their throats slit in front of him before he escaped. Canon doesn't state his age at the time but it was implied to be relatively young (I'm headcanoning it at 12).
4) Cannibalism: The sentient aliens known as the Magog are a violent parasitic species that maim and devour other sentients alive. Their culture is based around eating other sentients and serving their dark god, a hateful cosmic being called the Spirit of the Abyss. Due to a childhood facing Magog raids, Harper hates the Magog and is terrified by them. This hate and fear is especially strong due to Harper being maimed, captured, and infested by them while on Dylan's crew.
5) Rape/Body Horror: Magog are able to infest individuals with their eggs by biting them. The eggs hatch into larvae that wrap around an individual's organs. The larvae then eat their way out of the host, devouring their organs in the process, before they burst free of their host's stomach, killing them. The young Magog actually take half their DNA from their host, making it so genetically their host is their second parent. People in the canon - Harper included - have openly referred to this process as a form of rape.
Harper himself was captured, maimed, and infested with larvae, and had to use a medication in his home canon to keep them dormant, as they cannot be surgically removed without killing him. Recently, the medication stopped working and he was in the process of destroying the device that could've saved him (to save the life of a friend instead), after which he was going to have his friend Tyr mercy kill him. In game, he'll still have his infestation, and the lucky rabbit's foot he carries in his home canon will have been converted by the Green to be an amulet keeping them dormant so he's not reliant on a dwindling supply of no-longer-functioning medication.
Harper's infestation is something he doesn't like talking about, as he's slightly ashamed of it and feels violated by it, but it's a reality he has to deal with. Canon treated his situation as if his infestation had a similar weight to a sexual assault victim struggling with the results of their assault (kind of "unwanted pregnancy" meets "HIV infection," but with a particularly gory ticking clock). However, his canon point is from almost a year after he was infested, so he's reached a point of adjustment where he's able to have a mostly normal life. He was pulled from the point the meds stopped working but he's not the type to get defeatist and getting extra time on the clock will make him more hopeful, if anything.
6) Suicide: After getting infested, Harper had a period of several weeks where he was suicidal and overwhelmed. However, his canon point is from almost a year afterward and he's reached a level of adjustment where he's at least on an even keel again, so this is not a subject he talks about openly and he's no longer suicidal. He'll only consider suicide as an alternative if it looks like he's going to die painfully from his infestation.
7) Opt out of being tagged by him entirely: While I can have Harper avoid talking about these subjects, since he tends to cover everything with jokes, his behavior sometimes shows off that he's faced hardship and trauma in his past. If you need to avoid being tagged by him entirely, opting out of playing with him might be best, so please tell me if I need to avoid tagging you. I don't want to put any other players in an uncomfortable place.
Or you can choose any combination thereof! I know some people might be okay with some of these issues but not others. If you're okay with some, but not all, let me know which need to be avoided.
Even if someone doesn't respond to this opt out, I'll ask my threadmates if it's okay if any of these issues seem like they'll come up in the thread. Things can be veered off if necessary for the comfort of who I'm playing with.
Post screened for privacy.
CW: child death/mercy killing, slavery/genocide, violent parental death, cannibalism, rape/body horror, suicide
BACKGROUND
Harper is from 3000 years in Earth's future. In his universe, the equivalent of the Federation failed and fell due to an internal rebellion, leading to a 300 year period of darkness and terror across the galaxies. Harper was raised on post-fall Earth, which faced raids from aliens called Magog that slaughtered, ate, and infested other species with their larvae (which hatched and ate their way out). The planet was also cruelly ruled by Nietzscheans, a genetically-engineered offshoot of humanity that treats non-modified humans (derivatively called kludges) as slaves.
Harper's situation is better (sort of) because he got off Earth onto a grizzled-but-loyal freighter/salvage crew, and then recently joined the crew of Dylan Hunt, a
Because he's no longer living in the same dark circumstances before, and because he tends to fall back on humor and lightheartedness and not dwell on the horror in his life, it'll be pretty easy to avoid the darker subjects, if necessary. Really. He's reached a state of being pretty glib and desensitized to Earth's general awfulness, but he's also not the type to have his heart bleed all over other people and the shittiness that is Earth is not his favorite subject, even if he's blunt when it is brought up. It's pretty easy to avoid. And for the more personal issues like his Magog infestation, especially, he'll be pretty tight lipped.
Some of the issues that are a possibility, though:
POTENTIAL ISSUES
1) Child Death/Mercy Killing: Harper's two cousins Siobhan and Declan, who he was very close to as a child, were infested by Magog larvae and had to be mercy-killed by Harper's family to avoid a grisly fate of being eaten from the inside out. It's implied that Harper and his cousins were all just children at the time.
2) Slavery/genocide: In Harper's time Earth is a "tributary" world, enslaved by the Drago-Kasov, a Nietzschean pride (ie clan) who look down on humans as lower lifeforms. This means that Earth provided a backdrop of ten thousand screaming nightmares, ranging from summary executions, to public crucifixions, to slave ghettos, to concentration camps. While Harper's earliest days were in a village outside the Drago-Kasov's control (which wouldn't have been so bad if not for the Magog raids) he spent most of his life in refugee camps and slave ghettos, which were downright nightmarish. While he was lucky enough to avoid ever having to endure a death camp or one of the slave labor camps (like the mining camps) it's definitely a "but for the grace of God go I" situation and he knows it. And even then, he still had to suffer through constant malnutrition, famines, plagues, the works.
Just to belabor the point for the unwary, but the Nietzscheans' particular brand of hatred is really nasty and rooted in some very modern modes of thinking. Though they started as humans that believed in personal enlightment and self-improvement (and thus the movement gained traction across a lot of societal lines) they genetically engineered themselves to become "better" and read way too much philosophy as undergrad freshmen, so it all panned out to them being good ol' fashioned eugenicists in the end anyway, natch. If this makes you hella uncomfortable to tangle with given the current RL climate, I don't blame you in the least, and will totally understand if Do Not Want.
Though Harper doesn't contextualize it that way, with the Dragons looking at the humans of Earth as penned slave stock, Harper's effectively a runaway slave. (He'd punch someone in the face if they ever insinuated as such, though.) As it is, just "Earther" alone carries a lot of baggage back home and he'll be fascinated by alternate Earths/times where Earth is less garbage. He canonically romanticizes ancient Earth culture, though definitely with the critical view that he's looking fondly at times where it was still partly or mostly garbage - just not maximum garbage.
3) Violent Parental Death: Harper only avoided the slave camps because when the Nietzscheans came to take Harper away to be worked to death, his parents resisted them to save his life. He saw their throats slit in front of him before he escaped. Canon doesn't state his age at the time but it was implied to be relatively young (I'm headcanoning it at 12).
4) Cannibalism: The sentient aliens known as the Magog are a violent parasitic species that maim and devour other sentients alive. Their culture is based around eating other sentients and serving their dark god, a hateful cosmic being called the Spirit of the Abyss. Due to a childhood facing Magog raids, Harper hates the Magog and is terrified by them. This hate and fear is especially strong due to Harper being maimed, captured, and infested by them while on Dylan's crew.
5) Rape/Body Horror: Magog are able to infest individuals with their eggs by biting them. The eggs hatch into larvae that wrap around an individual's organs. The larvae then eat their way out of the host, devouring their organs in the process, before they burst free of their host's stomach, killing them. The young Magog actually take half their DNA from their host, making it so genetically their host is their second parent. People in the canon - Harper included - have openly referred to this process as a form of rape.
Harper himself was captured, maimed, and infested with larvae, and had to use a medication in his home canon to keep them dormant, as they cannot be surgically removed without killing him. Recently, the medication stopped working and he was in the process of destroying the device that could've saved him (to save the life of a friend instead), after which he was going to have his friend Tyr mercy kill him. In game, he'll still have his infestation, and the lucky rabbit's foot he carries in his home canon will have been converted by the Green to be an amulet keeping them dormant so he's not reliant on a dwindling supply of no-longer-functioning medication.
Harper's infestation is something he doesn't like talking about, as he's slightly ashamed of it and feels violated by it, but it's a reality he has to deal with. Canon treated his situation as if his infestation had a similar weight to a sexual assault victim struggling with the results of their assault (kind of "unwanted pregnancy" meets "HIV infection," but with a particularly gory ticking clock). However, his canon point is from almost a year after he was infested, so he's reached a point of adjustment where he's able to have a mostly normal life. He was pulled from the point the meds stopped working but he's not the type to get defeatist and getting extra time on the clock will make him more hopeful, if anything.
6) Suicide: After getting infested, Harper had a period of several weeks where he was suicidal and overwhelmed. However, his canon point is from almost a year afterward and he's reached a level of adjustment where he's at least on an even keel again, so this is not a subject he talks about openly and he's no longer suicidal. He'll only consider suicide as an alternative if it looks like he's going to die painfully from his infestation.
7) Opt out of being tagged by him entirely: While I can have Harper avoid talking about these subjects, since he tends to cover everything with jokes, his behavior sometimes shows off that he's faced hardship and trauma in his past. If you need to avoid being tagged by him entirely, opting out of playing with him might be best, so please tell me if I need to avoid tagging you. I don't want to put any other players in an uncomfortable place.
Or you can choose any combination thereof! I know some people might be okay with some of these issues but not others. If you're okay with some, but not all, let me know which need to be avoided.
Even if someone doesn't respond to this opt out, I'll ask my threadmates if it's okay if any of these issues seem like they'll come up in the thread. Things can be veered off if necessary for the comfort of who I'm playing with.
Post screened for privacy.