Understand the secrets and have some fun

[these_balls]

APPLICATIONS!
Currently: Closed!
Route 29 has closed as of May 30th. For the continuation of the game, please visit victory_road!

Applications will be normally checked during the weekend following the first and third Sunday of each month unless otherwise stated, and we will allow one application per person during one application cycle. Remember, the most characters one player can have at a time is currently set at five.

Applications received after 11:59 PM EST on Saturday of the first and third weekend of each month will be checked the following app weekend unless otherwise stated.

We now ask that potential applicants post their application in comments rather than linking. If their application contains explicit references to 'hard' spoilers (character death, unforeseen plot twists, big reveals, he was evil all along etc), players should put the application in their own journal or their character's journal and link it, making sure to mention the presence of spoilers within. For further clarification on our spoilers policy and whether or not your application needs to be linked, please check this page. Thank you for your cooperation!

The comment character limit on dreamwidth is 16,000 characters so apps no longer need to be split into multiple comments; however this is at players' discretion.

Please use the form below and post your application in comments rather than linking if you can. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either of the mods. You can reach us through emails, IMs, or PMs.

A reminder for those waiting to hear back, please don't be worried if we skip yours while going through them. It only means we needed a little more time to research!

Helpful links!
Taken: 1|2|3 / Reserves
Please do not app a character from either of these unless you reserved them!
Starter Pokémon!
A compiled list of the starter pokémon to choose from offered in Route 29!
Word Count Tool!
Word count! It has other pointless stats too.
Navigation


<u><b>Player</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Personal Journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>E-mail:</b> <b>AIM/Plurk/Etc.:</b> <b>Timezone:</b> <b>Current Characters in Route:</b> <b><u>Character</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Series:</b> <b>Timeline:</b> <b>Canon Resource Links:</b> Here we would have the links to wikis and other information sites. If none of those seem to provide enough information, feel free to add more about the character here. However, please do not use this section as a full history section unless your canon is ridiculously obscure. General rule of thumb: if there are a good amount of descriptive resources, please just link them and use this section to add in what may have been left out, as opposed to writing an entire history section. <b>Personality:</b> Give us at minimum 2-3 full paragraphs of how you understand your character's personality. Talk about basic characteristics, any major developments over the course of their canon, their motives, their social behavior, and anything else you can think of that shows off your knowledge of this character. <b>Strengths/Weaknesses:</b> Try to cover the good points of what they can do, their life skills (not necessarily powers, but things they're just good at). Go into their biggest fears and what they just can’t do. <b><u>Pokémon Information</u></b> <b>Affiliation:</b> What career path will your character be taking? Breeder, Trainer? Or maybe even down the dark path of becoming a member of Team Rocket? Note: All Rocket members start as grunts. (For right now, only those three positions are available, whether your character chooses to follow their assigned path or not.) <b>Starter:</b> What starter pokémon do you want your character to have? Please use the list linked above to choose from. Certain pokémon have an orange star next to their names; if you choose one of these starters (Deino, Zorua, Litwick, Pikachu, Scyther, Dratini, Bagon, Gible, Axew, Ralts, Riolu, Beldum, Larvitar, Eevee, or Beldum) you must provide reasoning. You do not need to explain your reasoning for pokémon other than those listed above. <b>Password:</b> This is where you'll put the passwords from the Rules and the F.A.Q. There are two words, to assure you've read both. <b><u>Samples</u></b> <b>First Person Sample:</b> The sample must take place in Route_29's setting. Eight sentences is the minimum. This is a PokéConnect post--one that will be on the character's journal, broadcast to the network. Although it is short, it needs to show how your character would communicate with others, as well as be descriptive enough to express the character's voice without sounding too generic. <b>Third Person Sample:</b> The sample must take place in Route_29's setting. The minimum is 300 words. Please note that what we are looking for is an inner working into the character’s thoughts and actions, and how the character responds to the setting, not something that could be taken as an excerpt fanfic. You may use other characters to bounce your characters actions off of, but everything should still be mostly from their point of view.

Comments

Revised Personality

[forcefateshand]

One word to always keep in mind while thinking about Illidan is "destiny". He was born with golden eyes, which were said in Night Elf society to indicate a "glorious destiny". Though it was later revealed that what they actually indicated was a heightened capacity for druidism, there's no doubt that being told he was destined for great things shaped Illidan in many ways, good and bad. He believes, deep down, that he is meant to be a leader, to change the world, and to have his name written down as an important figure in history.

This view of himself comes into play a lot when we consider his actions, his plans, and most of all his interaction with those around him. Though boastful and arrogant, he's usually working for the benefit of those around him, or at least what he sees as such. He makes daring plans, takes risks, and even goes borderline self-sacrificial all in the name of saving those around him, though how much of that is due to caring for them and how much is due to his desire to be recognized is debatable.

Things are made more interesting when we note how these plans turn out. Perhaps his biggest success was infiltrating the highborne in the War of the Ancients, where he managed to get the Demon Soul, gain new power from Sargeras, open a route to attack the Well of Eternity, and played a major part in shutting down the portal leading the demons of the Burning Legion into Kalimdor. Ironically, this fake defection was a large part of what earned him his title "The Betrayer", and despite the role he played his fellow Night Elves were leery of him even before he recreated the Well, an act he believed to be necessary lest the Legion return, as without the power of magic, they might not be able to win against them a second time. He was imprisoned for ten thousand years with a woman who had a personal grudge against him that easily reached obsession as his jailor as a result of this act. Small wonder he finally ran out of patience for his people as a whole.

Still, even then, he does keep affection for two of them, namely his brother Malfurion and his childhood friend and long-time crush (and Malfurion's lover), Tyrande Whisperwind. His relationship with his brother is particularly interesting, as Malfurion has achieved many things Illidan only dreams of, gaining the "grand destiny" Illidan sought as the first and greatest druid, being heralded as a saviour, and of course, winning Tyrande's heart. Unsurprisingly, Illidan feels a serious amount of jealousy towards his brother, twisted to hate at times when he thinks, or is pushed into thinking, too hard about what Furion has that he doesn't. Yet even despite that, he's shown to care for Furion and want his approval. One of the first things he said upon being freed from his imprisonment (though this was to himself) was that he intended to show Malfurion that the demons had no hold over him. His desire for approval and recognition probably shows itself the most in his relationship with his brother, and it genuinely hurts him, though he tries to hide it, when Malfurion withholds that approval. Their relationship is probably summed up best in the final thing Illidan ever says to him.

"We have had much strife between us, my brother. I have known only ages of hate for you. But for my part, I wish it to end. From this day forward, let there be peace between us."

With Tyrande, things are equally complicated, but largely for different reasons. In many ways, Illidan views her as much as a goal to be obtained as he does a person. This isn't to say he dehumanizes (or rather, de-night-elfs) her, but he can often get lost in his desire to have her by his side and be incapable of fathoming why she wouldn't want to be there. This was especially a problem back in the days before his imprisonment, but it surfaces later on as well, when she's assisting Malfurion and Maiev in attempting to recapture him after he kills off many of the wardens trying to bring him back to his imprisonment, and he demands to know why she's with Malfurion and not him.

That said, he clearly still cares for her, and honors her decisions, as later on after saving her from an entrapment by a legion of undead horrors, he carries her safely back to Furion and never seems to even consider the possibility of taking her with him instead. It's probably this moment that shows best that although Illidan would much rather Tyrande was with him, he's not going to get all Nice Guy about it and try to take her from his brother. Granted he might have considered it during the War, but that's a side of him that he thankfully seems to have put to rest.

Beyond those two, his primary relationships with others are either adversarial or that of a leader. He almost never seems to place others as equals, though that's not to say he talks down to them or belittles those with him, in fact he's a very good leader. He just expects his commands to be followed and his will to be obeyed. This is largely shown in his relationships with Vashj and Kael'thas, his primary subordinates. Fortunately, neither of them have any real objection to his orders, as by and large they tend to make sense. Every so often one of them will interject with a comment or suggestion (usually Kael) and more often than not Illidan will consider it fairly, showing that he may consider himself on top, but he still values their opinions.

One of the suggestions he agrees to is to save the village of a group called the Broken Draenei (though they simply call themselves Draenei), an act of compassion that earns him their loyalty. While this could just be an "enemy of my enemy" situation, it's just as likely that Illidan genuinely did want to help them, and their aid was simply a bonus. After all, he already had several powerful allies and a great deal of strength in his own right. Regardless, when the Draenei leader Akama pledges his aid to Illidan as a result, he doesn't hesitate for a moment to welcome them into his forces and place them under his protection.

And that's really another important thing to keep in mind about Illidan. Every action he makes could have many different motives, and it's hard to tell which one was his true one. Did he revive the Well of Eternity to feed his own addiction for power, or to ensure the world had a source of magic to aid in fighting the Legion should they ever return? Did he take Prince Kael'thas and the Blood Elves in to help them with their addiction magic, or just to bolster his fighting forces? Was he trying to save the world from the Lich King when he attacked Northrend, or just attempting to pacify Kil'Jaeden's anger? Most likely, the answer to all those and more questions which could be raised about him lies somewhere in the middle, though he'd always give the answer which paints him in the best light.

In the end, despite all his flaws it's hard to say Illidan is truly a bad person. He's dangerous, reckless, arrogant, selfish and a dozen other unpleasant things, but he can also be compassionate, generous, noble, even wise. He has all the makings of either a great hero or a great villain, but it's hard to tell which one he'll finally prove to be... if either.

ACCEPTED

[these_balls]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon!
Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: # thru H, I thru R, or S thru Z.
[○] Comment to the Friend Add/Remove, and update your friends list.
[○] Join the following communities: route_29, route_006, route_1065, pokedaycare.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you reserved, please let us know that they've been accepted.
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[○] Route 29 has an optional spam/meme community; it's slowpoke_gif!

Thank you! See you in Johto!

[forcefateshand]

Time to unleash the Tides of Doom on Route. Thank yoooooou!