Carvaka app
Jan. 10th, 2016 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
averygoodshot▸CHARACTER
Name: Aramis
Journal: averygoodshot
Canon: BBC's The Musketeers
Age: never stated, but based on the book canon and the fact that Musketeers don't live to be very old, I would place Aramis at 29 years old.
Canon Point: Season 2, ep 8: "The Prodigal Father"
World Description:
N/A
Background Information:
When he was a child, Aramis thought he was going to become a priest. Based on the time period (the very early 1600s), this means his family was at least middle-class and it means he learned how to read and to write. His love of God stayed with him from this time, but, when he was still quite young, he also learned how deeply he could feel love. Thinking that he would marry early, having gotten a girl, Isabelle, pregnant, Aramis saw a different life spreading out in front of him. That did not work out for a number of reasons, but it spurred him away from the priesthood and toward a life of adventure. He was, as he noted, "better at dispatching souls to Hell" than aiding them in getting to Heaven.
This brought him to the Musketeers, where he became a vaunted member of the regimen from at least 1621 forward, having the scars and memories of the Siege of Montauban (1621) and the Massacre at Savoy (1625). In this time, he became the premiere marksman of the company and, in his own estimation, the most popular of the Musketeers.
Aramis's love life, from an early age, had its own drama as well. His affair with Cardinal Richelieu's mistress resulted in her death. Aramis put his life in danger not once, but twice for the Queen. His heart followed his duty and he fell in love with her, and she with him; they consummated that relationship and she fell pregnant. All Aramis could do was love her from afar and promise to protect her and her child with his life.
When the child was born, Aramis was forced to face the fact that he could not be with the woman he loved or his child. Were he to say anything, he - and Queen Anne! - would be subject to being hanged for treason. It was at this time that he found out about the death of the Cardinal's mistress. Between Isabelle who died, the Cardinal's mistress, and the Queen, Aramis was forced to realize that, despite being a lover of women, his role in those women's lives was destructive and/or dangerous. Of course, that did not keep him from seducing the Dauphin's governess in order to spend time with his son or risking his life again to protect the Queen when she ventured into the camp of some rebels and was threatened.
Aramis's life was becoming more complicated. Aramis's attention was very much splintered between the woman he loved, his son, and his duty. Where honor had always been his guiding focus before, now it was love and the abstract idea of a family that he never thought - and never would - have. He wasn't very good at balancing both, his quick reflexes not as reliable when he would get distracted by a crying baby, his mind distracted by concern for his son, his life would be jeopardized because of his desire to defend the Queen and his son. Complicating all of this is the entrance of Rochefort into the King's circle of trust. It is easy to see that Rochefort cannot be trusted and he has an unseemly interest in the Queen. Of course, this puts Aramis right in contrast to this new antagonist. I am bringing Aramis into the game prior to the final confrontation between these two.
Just before his CRAU addition, Aramis accompanied Porthos to meet his father, learning not only about Porthos' father but what it means to his friend to have a family, as despicable as the man turns out to be. The emotional and political world Aramis comes from keeps growing more complex.
Personality:
Aramis of the King's Musketeers is a seeming collection of contradictory, albeit charming traits and values.
While he might not call it this exactly, Aramis is a strong believer in the Golden Rule - treat others as you would be treated. This applies regardless of race, of creed, of class. This came from how he was raised: by his parents and his religion, which, even when he seems somewhat indiscriminate (and unwise) in who he sleeps with, he treats most people with respect. Of course, the exception to this is those who do not treat others well: men who beat women, for example. Really, if there is an achilles heel that he has is that he loves women too much and too well. This cannot be said to come from his parents necessarily, or from the Bible, even though he was born of relative middle class, comfortable enough that his parents considered sending him to a monastery to become a priest, Aramis is very much still a practicing and devout Catholic.
When the Queen gives him a crucifix for saving her life, he holds it near and dear to his heart, not so much because it's a crucifix, but from whom it came. He found the queen attractive from very early on and cherishes the gift he gave her (the Queen does look like Isabelle to a degree, it's later revealed).
All this is complicated by the fact that Aramis has a firm belief of who or what God is: a kind and loving God, who would not, for instance, let a woman be burned at the stake for witchcraft, when she's simply a learned woman who wants to educate other women. Aramis's Live-and-Let-Live mentality serves him in good stead, forming the foundation for his honor.
Aramis's next guiding principle is that he doesn't need praise nor glory (after all, pride goeth before the fall), but the knowledge that he has done the best he can, being the best fighter he can. For when the Musketeers come, unbidden, to help Athos defend a land he no longer cares about (it's complicated), Aramis has this realization: "This morning I realized it's just what I was born to … to fight. To risk everything, put it all on the line. How else do I know I'm truly alive?"
So, it is not as much the cause of the fight, but the fight itself. Whether it be with a musket or a rifle, Aramis has a keen eye and doesn't miss. His first weapon of choice is the pistol, however, he is an excellent swordsman, as well, and he relishes the chance to fight. He can often be found smiling as he engages in battle. This is not to be mistaken for bloodlust, but the knowledge that he does what he does very well. He does it to serve his country and that can be his source of honor in the Greek sense: being praised for being a strong warrior. Much like ancient Greek warriors, Aramis knows he will die an ignoble, anonymous death in a field somewhere some day, not being remembered..
Between being a "people person" and a good fighter, for the most part, Aramis is very good at "reading" people. He knows who to trust and not trust (which doesn't, though, going back to the Golden Rule, mean that he treats people any differently). As a matter of fact, when he learns that the massacre of a fleet of Musketeers at Savoy may have happened because of their trusted and even beloved captain, he seeks the truth, knowing that what he finds might make him question the leader he'd followed and respected. When Aramis trusts someone, he will be loyal to the end: his friendship - nay, brotherhood - with the other Musketeers is evidence to that. He will die for any one of them. But if that trust is broken as it was with this colleague from Savoy, Marsac, it is very difficult to restore. His belief in God and the Bible, however, means that he forgives readily, especially when someone dies. When he has to kill Marsac, Aramis doesn't stalk away, but closes his eyelids and wishes him God's speed.
To be a good warrior, Aramis regularly practices to not grow rusty and he takes diligent care of his weapons. A good weapon takes care of you, after all. He could even be called fastidious. But he calls it "prepared." Being without a weapon in Carvaka will be deeply unsettling for this Musketeer and once he gets a weapon, he will tend to it to keep it at the ready.
Aramis is canonically portrayed as having a good many lovers, often seeking them out to be patronesses, since Musketeers get paid but a pittance. That said, he is not mercenary about it. He truly loves and respects women, laying down his life more than once for the Queen. He puts his heart into his affairs, claiming to love Cardinal Richelieu's mistress - this left him hanging out of a window above a busy thoroughfare lest he get caught in her bedroom. The Cardinal knew about the affair and had his mistress killed. Aramis didn't know this or that he was made an enemy of the Cardinal then. He simply thought the woman had chosen the Cardinal, which … admittedly, made no sense, but such was life. He told himself to move on, which, with the Queen's attentions made that somewhat easy to do.
However, that love of women - or the use of them as a means to an end, can seem somewhat antithetical to all I have written thus far, but it is canon and I must include it. When Aramis is desperate, he does desperate things. When the Queen's son is born, Aramis takes the boy's governess as a mistress so that he can be close to the boy. He has also taken women as patronesses when he needs funds. He does do foolish things in the name of love, but when love is not involved, he's perfectly capable of going through the actions to get what he wants or needs. This will be a helpful trait in Carvaka.
Even when he is being somewhat ruthless though, most would agree that Aramis is charming. He uses that charm to get information when it suits him or the cause. When a prostitute has information that is needed about a potential assassination attempt, he is able to get it by flirting when Athos cannot by threat and even receives an offer to return to the prostitute's bed. He declines with a smile. The old adage of getting more flies with honey seems to apply well to Aramis. Somewhere along the way, he learned that he will get what he wants if he's respectful, kind and charming. That does not contradict the Golden Rule, though it can seem that it does. I choose to believe that it just makes Aramis more complex.
And I say that because Aramis takes tremendous risks for the women he loves and respects: He slept with the Queen and both he and she believe that the boy is his son, even if that can get them both killed (and with Rochefort closing in at his canon point, this is a very real risk). He has charged in to defend young women from being sold off as sex slaves, and he has led one woman to believe her baby son is dead, just to save her (later, revealing the truth, of course, which prompted her to invite him to run away with her, of course). Interestingly, he isn't a chauvinist, simply swooping in to rescue women. He admires their strength and lets them have their way. In fact, when an armed man comes after a baby they are tasked with defending, Aramis lets Constance Bonacieux fight the man, praising her for her acumen.
So, what does all this add up to? Aramis is not a caricature or a flat character. He is no one thing. He is not just a libertine, not just a soldier, not just a would-have-been-priest. He is not one trope. He is a lot of tropes that can seem contradictory. In whole, he is a man who loves, lives, and fights with great gusto, for tomorrow, they may be dead anyway. He wants to, as quoted above, know that he has lived.
Appearance:
Here: http://bythewatercooler.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Musketeers-2-7-Aramis-SANTIAGO-CABRERA-600x337.jpg
and here: http://cdn30.us2.fansshare.com/image/themusketeers/the-musketeers-season-stills-aramis-the-musketeers-aramis-783515762.jpg
Abilities:
N/A
BONUS OPTIONAL SECTION:
(See the Application page for full information. Warning: opting in means your character has experienced death!)
Opt-in?: No
What the character is going to lose: N/A
Why you picked it: (N/A
▸SAMPLES:
First Person:
[Aramis uses a book as a network device; it is reassuring to have a written text to work as communication. He takes a long time to figure out what he has to say, the benefit of writing out what he wants to say]
My fellow denizens,
I am communicating with a request and what can be called a bargain, I suppose. I am in need of a weapon, preferably a sword much like the one I am used to having. If it is true that such things can be created with thought and someone is willing to do that for me, I will be happy to provide a service in exchange, perhaps weapons or combat training.
[He is most notably not offering sexual favors; if that is even an option, it seems … gauche … to offer such things in a message.]
I look forward to talking and working with you, friends.
Merci,
Aramis, of the King's Musketeers.
Third Person:
A recent thread from the game is his hopefully being transferred from: http://teleios.dreamwidth.org/459740.html?thread=76710620#cmt76710620
A carvaka test drive meme thread: http://metakosmia.dreamwidth.org/6149.html?thread=1829637#cmt1829637
▸ADDITIONS FOR CR TRANSFER FROM ANOTHER GAME:
Name of the Game: Teleios
Length of Time in Game: one year
Summary of the Character's Activities:
In Teleios, Aramis has been able to experience a great deal more than he would ever have been able to do in Paris, 1630-31.
He has used more unique weapons, gifted a sword from a friend that is said to have been from Priam, allowing the user to be a more effective warrior with more focus. He has also had a chance to learn and practice with modern weaponry, especially pistols and rifles (firearms that fire more than one musket ball at a time!). Aramis and Porthos also took part in a mission away from Teleios, fighting as part of a team against a Leviathan. They were roundly useless in that battle because of their lack of magical abilities while surrounded by those with abilities. Through a "gifting" by the "agents" of the game, Aramis was gifted with "impervious skin," which gave him a chance to fight with less fear of dying. (That ability will not be carried over, of course).
He was assigned as a hunter in Teleios, which expanded upon his skills as a Musketeer. During an invasion of bad things from other canons, Aramis and Porthos fought a Weeping Angel and a mythical Hydra. Needless to say, his experiences and worldview have expanded. He has gotten to eat things he wouldn't have eaten, he's gotten to drink potable water (!!). He has gotten to see things he never would have seen: castles from other worlds, motorcycles, and cars as well. He will not miss any of these things, of course, never having moved from using a horse for transportation.
In the more extreme end of experiences in Teleios, he's had his body swapped with Porthos, he's seen beasts and magic. He's seen supernaturally-powered women and men. It's all been an adventure, which is just up Aramis's alley. It will help him more readily adapt to a new environment and to seek out ways to be of service in Carvaka.
Summary of the Character's Development:
Overall, the experience at Teleios will be viewed as a positive one in relation to coming to Carvaka. In Teleios, Aramis has been exposed to a world (to worlds) much larger and more complex than his own. Almost immediately, everything about his worldview had to change. Everything from the foods he had a chance to eat and what he could drink to what he could wear: modern clothing with things like zippers (!!). Those are superficial things, it's true, however, it's indicative of just how profound the shift was for him, how big and small at the same time.
That said, Aramis has shown himself in canon to be open-minded and nonjudgmental. The fact that his CR is all from his far-future has allowed him to meet people he never would have met otherwise. These interactions have put those two personality traits to a test and he has come out the other side better for it, first relying on his charm to meet people and make friends, then learning about the future from those more modern friends. He has learned that racism is something that exists not only in his time. Interestingly enough, however, he's learned that there are societies that do not have racism. Aramis has learned that people are not as limited by class or religion or even location as they are in 1630s Paris. All of this means that he has learned that some things change and others don't (this is reassuring in its own way: human nature is somewhat consistent). This has extended to romantic relationships: he has been in relationships with women from the seventeenth century, twenty-first and most notably, he has seen that same-sex relationships are more out in the open than in his day (of course, in his day, sodomy would result in a death sentence, so it's only up from there). This was something he got to observe close up as a good friend of his was involved in one.
When Porthos finally arrived in Teleios, first, Aramis was simply glad to have his best friend with him in this foreign place. On the sexual horizon, they had an opportunity to participate in a threesome with River Song (who alone has been a great source of enlightenment for both Musketeers). This gave Aramis and Porthos a chance to realize that their friendship had an added dimension of attraction as well (which might have been jump-started when they found themselves in each other's body early into Porthos's tenure in Teleios). Having been raised to be a priest in the seventeenth century, this is not something Aramis fell into easily. It is a new experience that he is just now allowing himself to have: this is important to him and will dramatically impact his experiences and approach to Carvaka. He will be even more open-minded and accepting now than he would be prior to Teleios. While he was already a libertine, he will be in a mental place where he can open himself up to even wider experiences in Carvaka, which can only aid how he interacts with others. He would be more comfortable taking part in group activities and work to help others and to better the small community being built. All in all, Aramis is more of what he was: more open-minded, more accepting, more libertine, more friendly, and more capable.
Name: Aramis
Journal: averygoodshot
Canon: BBC's The Musketeers
Age: never stated, but based on the book canon and the fact that Musketeers don't live to be very old, I would place Aramis at 29 years old.
Canon Point: Season 2, ep 8: "The Prodigal Father"
World Description:
N/A
Background Information:
When he was a child, Aramis thought he was going to become a priest. Based on the time period (the very early 1600s), this means his family was at least middle-class and it means he learned how to read and to write. His love of God stayed with him from this time, but, when he was still quite young, he also learned how deeply he could feel love. Thinking that he would marry early, having gotten a girl, Isabelle, pregnant, Aramis saw a different life spreading out in front of him. That did not work out for a number of reasons, but it spurred him away from the priesthood and toward a life of adventure. He was, as he noted, "better at dispatching souls to Hell" than aiding them in getting to Heaven.
This brought him to the Musketeers, where he became a vaunted member of the regimen from at least 1621 forward, having the scars and memories of the Siege of Montauban (1621) and the Massacre at Savoy (1625). In this time, he became the premiere marksman of the company and, in his own estimation, the most popular of the Musketeers.
Aramis's love life, from an early age, had its own drama as well. His affair with Cardinal Richelieu's mistress resulted in her death. Aramis put his life in danger not once, but twice for the Queen. His heart followed his duty and he fell in love with her, and she with him; they consummated that relationship and she fell pregnant. All Aramis could do was love her from afar and promise to protect her and her child with his life.
When the child was born, Aramis was forced to face the fact that he could not be with the woman he loved or his child. Were he to say anything, he - and Queen Anne! - would be subject to being hanged for treason. It was at this time that he found out about the death of the Cardinal's mistress. Between Isabelle who died, the Cardinal's mistress, and the Queen, Aramis was forced to realize that, despite being a lover of women, his role in those women's lives was destructive and/or dangerous. Of course, that did not keep him from seducing the Dauphin's governess in order to spend time with his son or risking his life again to protect the Queen when she ventured into the camp of some rebels and was threatened.
Aramis's life was becoming more complicated. Aramis's attention was very much splintered between the woman he loved, his son, and his duty. Where honor had always been his guiding focus before, now it was love and the abstract idea of a family that he never thought - and never would - have. He wasn't very good at balancing both, his quick reflexes not as reliable when he would get distracted by a crying baby, his mind distracted by concern for his son, his life would be jeopardized because of his desire to defend the Queen and his son. Complicating all of this is the entrance of Rochefort into the King's circle of trust. It is easy to see that Rochefort cannot be trusted and he has an unseemly interest in the Queen. Of course, this puts Aramis right in contrast to this new antagonist. I am bringing Aramis into the game prior to the final confrontation between these two.
Just before his CRAU addition, Aramis accompanied Porthos to meet his father, learning not only about Porthos' father but what it means to his friend to have a family, as despicable as the man turns out to be. The emotional and political world Aramis comes from keeps growing more complex.
Personality:
Aramis of the King's Musketeers is a seeming collection of contradictory, albeit charming traits and values.
While he might not call it this exactly, Aramis is a strong believer in the Golden Rule - treat others as you would be treated. This applies regardless of race, of creed, of class. This came from how he was raised: by his parents and his religion, which, even when he seems somewhat indiscriminate (and unwise) in who he sleeps with, he treats most people with respect. Of course, the exception to this is those who do not treat others well: men who beat women, for example. Really, if there is an achilles heel that he has is that he loves women too much and too well. This cannot be said to come from his parents necessarily, or from the Bible, even though he was born of relative middle class, comfortable enough that his parents considered sending him to a monastery to become a priest, Aramis is very much still a practicing and devout Catholic.
When the Queen gives him a crucifix for saving her life, he holds it near and dear to his heart, not so much because it's a crucifix, but from whom it came. He found the queen attractive from very early on and cherishes the gift he gave her (the Queen does look like Isabelle to a degree, it's later revealed).
All this is complicated by the fact that Aramis has a firm belief of who or what God is: a kind and loving God, who would not, for instance, let a woman be burned at the stake for witchcraft, when she's simply a learned woman who wants to educate other women. Aramis's Live-and-Let-Live mentality serves him in good stead, forming the foundation for his honor.
Aramis's next guiding principle is that he doesn't need praise nor glory (after all, pride goeth before the fall), but the knowledge that he has done the best he can, being the best fighter he can. For when the Musketeers come, unbidden, to help Athos defend a land he no longer cares about (it's complicated), Aramis has this realization: "This morning I realized it's just what I was born to … to fight. To risk everything, put it all on the line. How else do I know I'm truly alive?"
So, it is not as much the cause of the fight, but the fight itself. Whether it be with a musket or a rifle, Aramis has a keen eye and doesn't miss. His first weapon of choice is the pistol, however, he is an excellent swordsman, as well, and he relishes the chance to fight. He can often be found smiling as he engages in battle. This is not to be mistaken for bloodlust, but the knowledge that he does what he does very well. He does it to serve his country and that can be his source of honor in the Greek sense: being praised for being a strong warrior. Much like ancient Greek warriors, Aramis knows he will die an ignoble, anonymous death in a field somewhere some day, not being remembered..
Between being a "people person" and a good fighter, for the most part, Aramis is very good at "reading" people. He knows who to trust and not trust (which doesn't, though, going back to the Golden Rule, mean that he treats people any differently). As a matter of fact, when he learns that the massacre of a fleet of Musketeers at Savoy may have happened because of their trusted and even beloved captain, he seeks the truth, knowing that what he finds might make him question the leader he'd followed and respected. When Aramis trusts someone, he will be loyal to the end: his friendship - nay, brotherhood - with the other Musketeers is evidence to that. He will die for any one of them. But if that trust is broken as it was with this colleague from Savoy, Marsac, it is very difficult to restore. His belief in God and the Bible, however, means that he forgives readily, especially when someone dies. When he has to kill Marsac, Aramis doesn't stalk away, but closes his eyelids and wishes him God's speed.
To be a good warrior, Aramis regularly practices to not grow rusty and he takes diligent care of his weapons. A good weapon takes care of you, after all. He could even be called fastidious. But he calls it "prepared." Being without a weapon in Carvaka will be deeply unsettling for this Musketeer and once he gets a weapon, he will tend to it to keep it at the ready.
Aramis is canonically portrayed as having a good many lovers, often seeking them out to be patronesses, since Musketeers get paid but a pittance. That said, he is not mercenary about it. He truly loves and respects women, laying down his life more than once for the Queen. He puts his heart into his affairs, claiming to love Cardinal Richelieu's mistress - this left him hanging out of a window above a busy thoroughfare lest he get caught in her bedroom. The Cardinal knew about the affair and had his mistress killed. Aramis didn't know this or that he was made an enemy of the Cardinal then. He simply thought the woman had chosen the Cardinal, which … admittedly, made no sense, but such was life. He told himself to move on, which, with the Queen's attentions made that somewhat easy to do.
However, that love of women - or the use of them as a means to an end, can seem somewhat antithetical to all I have written thus far, but it is canon and I must include it. When Aramis is desperate, he does desperate things. When the Queen's son is born, Aramis takes the boy's governess as a mistress so that he can be close to the boy. He has also taken women as patronesses when he needs funds. He does do foolish things in the name of love, but when love is not involved, he's perfectly capable of going through the actions to get what he wants or needs. This will be a helpful trait in Carvaka.
Even when he is being somewhat ruthless though, most would agree that Aramis is charming. He uses that charm to get information when it suits him or the cause. When a prostitute has information that is needed about a potential assassination attempt, he is able to get it by flirting when Athos cannot by threat and even receives an offer to return to the prostitute's bed. He declines with a smile. The old adage of getting more flies with honey seems to apply well to Aramis. Somewhere along the way, he learned that he will get what he wants if he's respectful, kind and charming. That does not contradict the Golden Rule, though it can seem that it does. I choose to believe that it just makes Aramis more complex.
And I say that because Aramis takes tremendous risks for the women he loves and respects: He slept with the Queen and both he and she believe that the boy is his son, even if that can get them both killed (and with Rochefort closing in at his canon point, this is a very real risk). He has charged in to defend young women from being sold off as sex slaves, and he has led one woman to believe her baby son is dead, just to save her (later, revealing the truth, of course, which prompted her to invite him to run away with her, of course). Interestingly, he isn't a chauvinist, simply swooping in to rescue women. He admires their strength and lets them have their way. In fact, when an armed man comes after a baby they are tasked with defending, Aramis lets Constance Bonacieux fight the man, praising her for her acumen.
So, what does all this add up to? Aramis is not a caricature or a flat character. He is no one thing. He is not just a libertine, not just a soldier, not just a would-have-been-priest. He is not one trope. He is a lot of tropes that can seem contradictory. In whole, he is a man who loves, lives, and fights with great gusto, for tomorrow, they may be dead anyway. He wants to, as quoted above, know that he has lived.
Appearance:
Here: http://bythewatercooler.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Musketeers-2-7-Aramis-SANTIAGO-CABRERA-600x337.jpg
and here: http://cdn30.us2.fansshare.com/image/themusketeers/the-musketeers-season-stills-aramis-the-musketeers-aramis-783515762.jpg
Abilities:
N/A
BONUS OPTIONAL SECTION:
(See the Application page for full information. Warning: opting in means your character has experienced death!)
Opt-in?: No
What the character is going to lose: N/A
Why you picked it: (N/A
▸SAMPLES:
First Person:
[Aramis uses a book as a network device; it is reassuring to have a written text to work as communication. He takes a long time to figure out what he has to say, the benefit of writing out what he wants to say]
My fellow denizens,
I am communicating with a request and what can be called a bargain, I suppose. I am in need of a weapon, preferably a sword much like the one I am used to having. If it is true that such things can be created with thought and someone is willing to do that for me, I will be happy to provide a service in exchange, perhaps weapons or combat training.
[He is most notably not offering sexual favors; if that is even an option, it seems … gauche … to offer such things in a message.]
I look forward to talking and working with you, friends.
Merci,
Aramis, of the King's Musketeers.
Third Person:
A recent thread from the game is his hopefully being transferred from: http://teleios.dreamwidth.org/459740.html?thread=76710620#cmt76710620
A carvaka test drive meme thread: http://metakosmia.dreamwidth.org/6149.html?thread=1829637#cmt1829637
▸ADDITIONS FOR CR TRANSFER FROM ANOTHER GAME:
Name of the Game: Teleios
Length of Time in Game: one year
Summary of the Character's Activities:
In Teleios, Aramis has been able to experience a great deal more than he would ever have been able to do in Paris, 1630-31.
He has used more unique weapons, gifted a sword from a friend that is said to have been from Priam, allowing the user to be a more effective warrior with more focus. He has also had a chance to learn and practice with modern weaponry, especially pistols and rifles (firearms that fire more than one musket ball at a time!). Aramis and Porthos also took part in a mission away from Teleios, fighting as part of a team against a Leviathan. They were roundly useless in that battle because of their lack of magical abilities while surrounded by those with abilities. Through a "gifting" by the "agents" of the game, Aramis was gifted with "impervious skin," which gave him a chance to fight with less fear of dying. (That ability will not be carried over, of course).
He was assigned as a hunter in Teleios, which expanded upon his skills as a Musketeer. During an invasion of bad things from other canons, Aramis and Porthos fought a Weeping Angel and a mythical Hydra. Needless to say, his experiences and worldview have expanded. He has gotten to eat things he wouldn't have eaten, he's gotten to drink potable water (!!). He has gotten to see things he never would have seen: castles from other worlds, motorcycles, and cars as well. He will not miss any of these things, of course, never having moved from using a horse for transportation.
In the more extreme end of experiences in Teleios, he's had his body swapped with Porthos, he's seen beasts and magic. He's seen supernaturally-powered women and men. It's all been an adventure, which is just up Aramis's alley. It will help him more readily adapt to a new environment and to seek out ways to be of service in Carvaka.
Summary of the Character's Development:
Overall, the experience at Teleios will be viewed as a positive one in relation to coming to Carvaka. In Teleios, Aramis has been exposed to a world (to worlds) much larger and more complex than his own. Almost immediately, everything about his worldview had to change. Everything from the foods he had a chance to eat and what he could drink to what he could wear: modern clothing with things like zippers (!!). Those are superficial things, it's true, however, it's indicative of just how profound the shift was for him, how big and small at the same time.
That said, Aramis has shown himself in canon to be open-minded and nonjudgmental. The fact that his CR is all from his far-future has allowed him to meet people he never would have met otherwise. These interactions have put those two personality traits to a test and he has come out the other side better for it, first relying on his charm to meet people and make friends, then learning about the future from those more modern friends. He has learned that racism is something that exists not only in his time. Interestingly enough, however, he's learned that there are societies that do not have racism. Aramis has learned that people are not as limited by class or religion or even location as they are in 1630s Paris. All of this means that he has learned that some things change and others don't (this is reassuring in its own way: human nature is somewhat consistent). This has extended to romantic relationships: he has been in relationships with women from the seventeenth century, twenty-first and most notably, he has seen that same-sex relationships are more out in the open than in his day (of course, in his day, sodomy would result in a death sentence, so it's only up from there). This was something he got to observe close up as a good friend of his was involved in one.
When Porthos finally arrived in Teleios, first, Aramis was simply glad to have his best friend with him in this foreign place. On the sexual horizon, they had an opportunity to participate in a threesome with River Song (who alone has been a great source of enlightenment for both Musketeers). This gave Aramis and Porthos a chance to realize that their friendship had an added dimension of attraction as well (which might have been jump-started when they found themselves in each other's body early into Porthos's tenure in Teleios). Having been raised to be a priest in the seventeenth century, this is not something Aramis fell into easily. It is a new experience that he is just now allowing himself to have: this is important to him and will dramatically impact his experiences and approach to Carvaka. He will be even more open-minded and accepting now than he would be prior to Teleios. While he was already a libertine, he will be in a mental place where he can open himself up to even wider experiences in Carvaka, which can only aid how he interacts with others. He would be more comfortable taking part in group activities and work to help others and to better the small community being built. All in all, Aramis is more of what he was: more open-minded, more accepting, more libertine, more friendly, and more capable.
