- Amicae: Latin for "friends."
Pernoa A slight rearrangement from "persona," in the context of a front or face presented to others.
Blood Color: Yellowblood - #C3B400 (Hue: 55, Bright: 76, Sat: 100)
Gender Male
Symbol
The joyous man is dear to his kinsmen // yet every man is doomed to fail his fellow // since the Lord by his decree // will commit the vile carrion to the earth.
The runic letter 'mannaz,' of the Elder Futhark.
Personality:
TL;DR jumping point: Quiet, weak boy is raised by an agoraphobic parent figure and is terrified by life. Decides to become a therapist emotional prostitute to make himself worth something. Actually very lonely and kind but hides himself in order to manipulate the ever-loving s**t out of life to the best of his ability. Pretty sure everything wants to kill him. Thanks, mom!
Amicae is a quiet, sweet, delicate boy - or, rather, he would be, if not for the fact that he is a troll and quiet, sweet, delicate trolls tend to end up on the bad side of a culling sooner than later.
As it stands, he doesn't really know who he is; he spends far too much time investing himself into being what others want in order to appreciate his own natural personality. From the beginning, life has been fairly clear in its hints that the yellowblood was not wanted - having a bigger wriggler chew you out of your shell early would send the same message, wouldn't it? And so in turn young Amicae has fought back in the only way he knows how... by using others to accomplish his own goals.
He isn't a grand mastermind, of course - at least, not yet. Rather, he simply nudges others towards his own ideals, regardless of what they may be at any given time. Sometimes it's checking out that completely safe rock over there blocking the way out of the brooding caverns... but mostly it's just convincing people they like him. Spending his earliest sweeps in isolation due to being rather sickly alongside Sneakmom's determination that he live, Amicae initially had little interaction with trolls beyond a mound of salvaged books and a few scattered films that his lusus brought home. This secluded beginning brought out a duality in the weak creature; he is extremely interested in others, while also being quite scared of the prospect of easy violence and a swift, painful end. Thus, Amicae has developed a taste for learning everything he can about troll psychology in order to be whatever it takes to be liked... or at least hated in just the right way.
His primary goals in life include staying as unharmed as possible, living comfortably, and making enough beetles to indulge a few whims now and then. Being that military service is far from his ideal career, and also being that he isn't terribly talented with technology, Amicae focuses his interest in winning friends and influencing people towards the goal of becoming a sought after therauspitice (or perhaps moonlighting as a tempoirail, though mediating feels less... personal to him, and thus is preferred). It's a point of semi-shame early in his life, but by the time he is out interacting with other trolls, he's read enough options (all of them too dangerous or too low paying) to accept his percieved destiny. In truth, he does feel pity for those who can't properly fill their quadrants, but it's much easier to simply say "it's for the beetles," isn't it?
Better to be greedy than emotionally available.
When he's alone or, more rarely, around someone he feels safe enough around to drop the act, as it were, Amicae is a rather subdued, almost introverted sort. He enjoys reading immensely, and not only the stock of psychology texts he struggles to master. If Alternia had such things - or, at the very least, patronized them instead of looking down on them or calling them rebellious - he would be more apt to be a philosopher, using his skill at conversation and convincing to make them question the status quo. After all, why should blood color resign you to a restricted pool of options in life? Why is such easy violence encouraged rather than decried? Why is it wrong to genuinely care about more than oneself and a handful of close relationships? Unfortunately, being alone and not terribly worldly, not to mention in a somewhat warm hue and very aware of his, at least percieved, lack of worth in the grand scheme of things, Amicae isn't precisely super forthcoming with such thoughts, not even to himself. He tries his best at being a good member of society, with much agitated existential thoughts channeling into selfish motives instead.
It's not that he cares about the hemospectrum being unfair! It's just a ladder for him to take advantage of to climb himself to better things.
It's not that he is disgusted by the fact that being weak makes him a lesser troll! It's just physical strength just isn't his thing, but he can wear down opponents mentally or physically just as well as an idiot brute with their fists.
It's not that the world he lives in is terrifying and twisted to a poor child who doesn't understand why it is the way it is! It's just always been how it is, so the less whining about it and the more fighting back against it, the better!
More than anything, Amicae had way, way too much time to think as a tiny tot. The propaganda, scraps of media, and totally not biased textbooks that formed his earlt introduction to other trolls has not left a great impression on him. Sneakmom's overbearing nearness and insistence that trolls are a horrible, vicious lot that want nothing more than to cull her precious baby have certainly not helped him form a healthy view on life and its many possible outcomes. It has given him a deeply instilled distrust of revealing himself honestly, and it has also given him a massive drive to prove himself and become worthwhile despite it all.
When not wrapped in existential crisis (which is, as it were, less and less as he ages), Amicae does legitimately enjoy reading. He primarily indulges in grand fantasy, with tales of trolls in epic adventures in far off worlds taking his active imagination far away from the colder harshness of reality. Romance is of little interest early on, though something about the idea of blackrom - a willing indulgence in danger and mutual hatred, courting the edges of death without falling completely into the void - has an unusual draw on him. However, he doesn't quite understand why, and at least at a young age is very quick to simply push the idea away most of the time. Unlike many, he's in no hurry to fill quadrants nor even play at doing so - there's too much he wants to do and having real emotions could very much get in the way!
He also enjoys exploration, as his mind is quite curious about anything new, but Sneakmom's active discouragement and his physical frailty has kept him from being too adventurous. He is very interested in FLARPing, going so far as to have a complete identity mapped out as well as several scenarios for clouding created and ready to go ... but doesn't really do much in the way of actually playing, as much as he'd like to. He will indulge if it gets him closer to another troll - and the benefits outweigh any potential danger - but for the most part it's a lot of reading and planning and not actually doing.
Finally, he's a bit of a collector; it isn't really related to anything else, but when he has a few extra beetles, he does enjoy buying Boxes Containing Small But Unidentified Toys In Various Aesthetically Pleasing Shapes And Colors (TM). He has a rather large collection of them and is always willing to trade for something he doesn't have. It's one of the few passions that draw him out of his hive for something other than basic supplies or trying to forge networking links for his future.
Strengths:
Intelligent: Amicae's mind is sharp and active. Where other trolls might hone their bodies and their physical skills, young Amicae tends to stay inside and study or read whenever possible. He loves learning new things, and he greedily eats it up when he's given the opportunity too. He learns and adapts quickly, and he relies on intellect to solve problems if it's at all an option.
Meticulous: Amicae is nearly constantly thinking about something he needs to do or has done and could do better. His actions are guarded, and even his words are generally planned out to some degree. He considers and attempts to prepare for any eventuality that springs to mind, whether it be creating a FLARP scenario, seeing a client, or just meeting new trolls - Amicae has a word and an action ready, constantly.
Understanding: Whether naturally or simply learned over trial and error, Amicae has a naturally understanding nature. Even if a view doesn't coincide with his own, he is generally able to at least reason and gather how the other feels in and because of a situation. This is often useful in calming and comforting other trolls he encounters - and people are much more apt to go along with what you want if they feel comfortable around you, after all.
Creative: Amicae has a very open and flexible view on situations. He tries not to box himself into standard practice if there is an easier or better solution - being so low on the hemospectrum presents plenty of opportunities to die, after all, and since he'd rather not do that he's become quite resourceful over time. Note this is situational, and not artistic creativity. Amicae doesn't have a drop of artistic blood in his body.
Flaws:
Frail: While he might be nimble, Amicae is also weak. Though no longer so sickly he can't go outside, he is on the low end of physical strength; it would be very unusual for him to overpower another troll in straight on combat. It also causes him to rely on his lusus' aid for hunting large creatures or for moving large pieces of his hive or furniture about.
Shielded: While Amicae is everyone's "friend," he is very rarely open about his true feelings. He spends much of his time around higher trolls scared that he's going to do something wrong, and his career pursuit means less time relaxing with friends closer to his own hue. Combined with his own early isolation, he's rather guarded on how he actually feels at any given time.
Selfish: Always wearing a face and looking to advance his own well being, this troll is a manipulative, selfish little s**t. Whether it's getting Sneakmom to dig him a new block or convincing that highblood that it was totally a good idea to cull her old kisemesis - after all, it wasn't really blackrom! If something will benefit Amicae, he will do his best to make it happen, regardless of what morally questionable strings he needs to pull to do it... and when a plan inevitably blows up, he's always got someone else to convince to take the fall, right? After all, fate hasn't been kind to him so far - just missing being cool blooded, nearly being eaten alive, being sickly then weak... It's not his fault the world owes him, big time!
Cowardly: While he will rarely directly admit his fears about his physical shape andhow easily crushed or maimed it could be, Amicae is as yellow as his blood (perhaps more so, really). He will do everything in his power to avoid direct danger, regardless of it it requires sending someone else to do it or just running away. The only time he seems 'brave' is when the danger of refusal outweighs the danger of doing - such as acting as the unfortunate therauspitice for a juggalo ... at the request of a sea-dweller.
Weapon: Amicae uses a spiked shield, like his fantasy/ancestor idol Shielder Goldwind. In direct combat it's not useful for much but running away, but it's excellent for crushing an enemy in a trap - just hide, jump down, and slam it on their head! Good times.
Appearance
Facial structure.*
Amicae dresses in the nicest clothes he can find when he's out and about - a good chunk of anything he earns goes to dressing nicely, as a good appearance is key when making first impressions! While he isn't much for accessories, he always makes sure to fix his hair nicely and he's fond of layers - vests with long sleeved shirts, scarves or mantles, and the like. While he does display his symbol and color, he does so as discreetly as possible, and never buys anything with more of his color than absolutely necessary.
When he's at home, Amicae rarely wears more than a set of loose, beat up pajama style pants and, in cooler weather, a snug sweater. He's fond of scalemate imagery, but would die before he let the general populace know how damn cute he thinks they are.
*Designed as an older face, obviously.
Home: Plains. (Slightly outside of the main city in an underground hive.)
Lusus:
Sneakmom is an interesting lusus, being somewhat small - only reaching Amicae's waist as a child - but of an incredibly industrious nature. She has the appearance of a pouncebeast at first glance, but further inspection reveals too many limbs and a chitinous, if covered in fluff, exoskeleton.
Amicae thinjs his lusus is positively the best one in existence; she practically dragged him to safety from his astounding escape of the caverns, and she kept him hidden away in comfortable burrows for the first couple of sweeps of his life, digging much of his underground hive herself while still keeping a few watchful eyes on him. She has done the best to educate him on survival skills, including her favorite methods of hunting (wait and pounce) as well as how to hide and blend in as well as possible. Unfortunately, she has also instilled in him a distrust of the outside world, as it will totally kill her precious baby.
Despite her efforts, however, Pernoa refuses to hide away and live underground forever. As much as he is nervous about his own frailty, he craves finer things in life than silk lined burrows - which means, ultimately he has to interact with his own kind.
(Cat / Trapdoor spider mix.)