Empatheias Application

[lordofthefiends]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Carbon
Contact: godofpaper84 and you can PM this journal
Age: 27
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Magus (Janus)
Age: 30s
Canon: Chrono Trigger
Canon Point: Before obtaining the Chrono Trigger

Background: http://chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Magus
https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Magus.html

Personality:

At his core, Magus is a strange, introverted type of person who has little compassion for others. He is not completely evil nor is he a sociopath, but he reserves his positive feelings for very few in his life. He is out for himself, but not in the way one might think. He is glad to throw his own life aside just so he can reach that one goal he has based his whole life upon: vengeance.

As a child, his only friends were his sister, Schala, and his cat, Alfador. While a positive relationship is never shown between Janus and his mother, it's likely that they were closer in the past before Lavos corrupted her mind. It's unknown how close Janus was to his father, but the death of King Zeal was a huge blow for the kingdom. He presumably has very little memory of his father, and very few positive memories of his mother.

Before being ripped away from his childhood, it was still corrupted by Lavos - his mother essentially became a warped, evil vessel for the monster, the kingdom suffered, and Schala was abused by Zeal and her adversaries. Even then, at least Janus still had his sister and Alfador, until Lavos pulled the final straw and sent him into the future. The only beings he ever loved were in 12000BC, and it is presumed that he likely never found anyone or anything afterward he cared about to that extent - that is, except revenge. It fuels every action he does, every minuscule step in his life.

Magus, though, is both patient and impulsive in a way. He spends several decades building up his power and amassing an army, becoming the leader of an entire race just so he can finally summon and defeat Lavos. However, it is presumed that had Crono and others not intervened, he would have been killed by Lavos or at the very least, the act of summoning him. A Mystic in 1000AD remarks that Magus had failed in summoning Lavos (this was before the timeline was altered), and Magus was known to have disappeared right after. Perhaps he felt he had built up enough power by then, or perhaps he simply couldn't have waited any longer for his revenge. However, he has stated that he doesn't care if his own life ends, as long as he can get that chance of revenge. "If the world is to be destroyed, so be it! If my fate is to be destroyed...I must simply laugh!!"

In that sense, he knows very well that summoning Lavos in 600 AD could destroy the entire world. While at that point he is unaware of the events of 1999AD or the destruction of the Ocean Palace in 12,000BC, he is well aware of the destructive nature of Lavos. After all, to actually gain the magic to summon - or partially summon - the creature would require some knowledge of its capability. If Magus had succeeded in completely summoning Lavos in 600AD, cataclysmic events similar to 12,000BC and 1999AD likely would have occurred. Even so, he was prepared to make that sacrifice out of his pure selfish need for revenge.

While his leadership of the Mystics is a ploy for power on his part, it does not take just anyone to become a powerful leader. It can be assumed that Magus knew how to rally up his troops. After all, he had convinced his lackeys that he was going to summon - or even create - Lavos in order to destroy the opposing human forces. In addition, he somehow took on the appearance of a more Mystic-like being as opposed to the fully human look he had as a child. It's possible he took on that appearance to gain more favor with the Mystics and appear as one of them. Because why would they let one of their enemy - a human - lead them? Even so, Magus is revered as a great leader long after he dies (in the unaltered timeline). 400 years afterward, Mystics still worship his statue and chant praises, even though they had essentially lost the war. Obviously then, Magus's capabilities as a leader go far beyond just demonstrating his power. He is a cause for the troops to believe in.

Because of his effectiveness with his troops and successfully duping his top generals for years (convincing them that he wanted to create an empire of Mystics), Magus is a good liar. In fact, he masqueraded as a prophet for a while in 12,000BC. Because he had come from that era, he knew of the events that would transpire for the most part, and used his silver tongue to earn good favor with the Queen. (Note: Nobody in 12,000BC was aware that Magus was the adult version of Janus.)

Even if he's willing to throw his life away for revenge, he still knows how to preserve it when he needs to. As a child, Janus was thought of as lacking magic, but he did possess it, remarking several times about the Black Wind and gaining a premonition of Crono's death. It's likely he kept his magic hidden so that he wouldn't be used like his sister for their mother's nefarious deeds. But when he was thrust into the 500's AD, he used his magic to defend himself against being attacked by Ozzie's minions, presumably earning his favor.

If he's willing to throw his own life and that of the world away, surely he is willing to throw away the lives of others. And indeed, it is shown multiple times that he exterminates lives with little regard. Most notably, he kills the Captain of the human army, Cyrus, after making a mocking remark about Cyrus caring more about the wellbeing of others. This is an act of war, though, and can be said to be "necessary" in a way, especially since Cyrus arrives with the full intention of killing Magus with the only weapon (at the time) that could hope to harm him.

However, it's his mockery of Cyrus's squire Glenn afterwards that shows it was more than just an act of war. Perhaps Magus would not have transformed Glenn into an anthropomorphic frog if Ozzie hadn't suggested it, but he still does, which in some sense could be considered less merciful than outright killing him. If it was just war, then Glenn would have likely simply been killed, but Magus left him alive simply to mock him. In 12,000BC as the Prophet, he also tries to have Crono's party killed. Only the begging words of the only person he loves (and his past self) change his mind. The War between the humans and Mystics is a great war, referenced several hundred years in the future, so Magus easily was responsible for many, many lost lives. All in the name of revenge.

Magus is coldhearted and cares nothing for others, but he has a softer side. He does join Crono's team in the end (well, at that point Crono is dead, so it's not really "Crono's team") in an effort to have a better chance of defeating Lavos. And while he never says anything that might show he cares about them, there are future actions that show otherwise. In Radical Dreamers, Magus (as Gil) is asked if Frog/Glenn was his friend. He responds no. When asked if Frog/Glenn was his enemy, he hesitates before saying no. Frog and Crono were the biggest threats to him, in a way, having interrupted his summoning of Lavos and nearly killing him. Yet in the end he doesn't consider them enemies. In fact, he even helps the party revive Crono. The canon point I'm taking him from is right before this happens, but after he joins with the intent of helping. He even accompanies Frog and others to put Cyrus's vengeful spirit to rest. (Well, that's if you have him in your party.)

Of course, his deepest care goes toward his sister, Schala. Magus shows marked distress whenever Schala is abused by her mother, and it is presumed (though he doesn't say anything) that he searches for her after the game as long as possible. In Radical Dreamers, Magus (as Gil) stays with Schala (as Kid) and protects her, even if he reveals nothing about himself or his intentions. The alternate ending in the remake of Chrono Trigger shows Magus fighting in vain to save Schala from her awful fate. He completely despairs when he cannot save her, and even erases his memory. It can be assumed that after defeating Lavos, his new purpose in life is finding and saving his sister. In some universes (Radical Dreamers), he succeeds and devotes himself to protecting her. In the DS alternate ending, he loses all sense of purpose and erases his memory. In other universes, it's likely he dies before finding or saving her.

When it comes between revenge and his sister, though, it's difficult to say. Arriving in 12,000BC enabled him to become a Prophet, but at no point does he attempt to stop Zeal's abuse of Schala. It distresses him to watch, but he knows that her work will summon Lavos. In one of the alternate endings where he delivers his famous line about the world being destroyed, it can be inferred that he would willingly let his own sister perish to satisfy his goal of revenge. Had he known Schala's ultimate fate, though, perhaps he would feel differently.

In Empatheias, due to the canon point, Magus will be more focused on revenge. However, due to the patience mentioned before, he is willing to play it out and see what happens. After all, he joins Crono's team to help the others revive the dead Crono, knowing that it will delay his revenge against Lavos. However, he had waited for decades, so what's a bit more time? And even then, he has been humbled a bit by his defeat by Lavos.

Magus has a lightly humorous side to him as well. He makes occasional quips here and there, such as when he turned Glenn into a frog, remarking on having a bit of fun. In Radical Dreamers, he is shown to make strange jokes occasionally, breaking his otherwise mysterious demeanor. In the SNES translation, he mockingly tells Ozzie, "Say, can you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper," before attempting to kill him. When Frog appears to defeat him in the castle, he laughs and asks if he has kissed any princesses lately.

Abilities: Magus knows eight spells at this time, and has a limited amount of MP, which can be restored through rest or ether. The spells are as follows:
Ice 2 - A powerful spell that summons boulders of ice to come crashing down
Fire 2 - A fire spell that attacks everyone in range
Lightning 2 - A spell that damages everyone in range with electricity
Dark Bomb - An explosion of shadow energy in a small range
Magic Wall - A spell to strengthen his magic defense
Dark Mist - A powerful spell that engulfs the enemy party in damaging shadow magic
Black Hole - The spell engulfs enemies and sends them... away. Into a singularity, perhaps. This spell has a high failure rate and will not be used or succeed without permission.
Dark Matter - Magus's most powerful spell. The enemies are blasted with shadow magic.

In addition, Magus is decent at fighting with a scythe. He is presumed to be strong, judging by the size of his muscles, and can do decent physical damage, though his strength is in his magic. He also has the ability to fly or levitate. Being aligned with shadow magic, Magus is weak against light and lightning magic.

Magus mentions the Black Wind a few times in-game, and it can be inferred that it's some sort of "connection" to the shadows, perhaps. As a child he was able to use this to predict that Crono would soon die. The premonition abilities don't go much beyond that, though, so at most it might just be something to heighten the emotions influenced by Empatheias.

Alignment: Magus is most likely to be aligned with Peromei. While he has revolved a lot of his life around revenge, the core of that desire comes from his despair. He has lost what is important to him, and wallows in that misery. Interestingly, Magus is the one to inspire hope in the party of the game when he tells them that Crono may be revived. He himself has that moment of hope, realizing that joining the party may finally enable him to complete his quest for revenge.

Other: A couple times I reference the game Radical Dreamers. Chrono Trigger is a complicated universe where there are several timelines and parallel universes. Radical Dreamers is one such alternate universe - it's both canon and not canon. While Chrono Cross is the "canon" sequel, it acknowledges Radical Dreamers as taking place in an alternate timeline. However, my portrayal of Magus is 99% based on what we see in Chrono Trigger. I also mention the alternate ending in the DS version of Chrono Trigger, which falls under the same "sort of canon" category. Look, the game has 12+ endings okay.

I'll mostly be using the SNES translation for consistency's sake (plus, I've played that version about 800 times more than the DS retranslation).


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: Test drive

Emotion Sample: Same thread, but the emotion part is specifically continued here.


Questions: Nop.