Post by Miss Jack on Oct 5, 2008 22:22:44 GMT -5
Jack Ira
Age: 273
Group: Marelock; his make-up is exactly half.
King of all Dreams and Nightmares
Age: 273
Group: Marelock; his make-up is exactly half.
King of all Dreams and Nightmares
Appearance:
Jack is naturally rugged and dark looking, with a vague wildness to his features that defies his noble position, as if he still lives on the streets, not in a castle. He is of average height, with a slender, agile build that has solidified over the years with age. His skin has olive undertones, and tans easily. He has expressive, intense eyes, the color of deep orange. They used to burn as brightly as his son’s, but they have mellowed into a hard, deep quartz. His hair is a rich black, and nearly impossible to tame. He has a thin nose, dark brows and dark lashes, and a mouth that automatically goes crooked when he smiles. His wardrobe is simple, mostly black if he can get away with it without his wife or daughter saying anything; his shirts are usually long-sleeved and fitted, comfortable pants and boots.
Jack has an imposing physical presence, with the posture and expressions of born-with-it arrogance. His laugh is husky and rough, and his voice is an easy, male tenor with an edge of irony to it. He tugs his hand through his hair when he’s trying to think, making it a worse mess than usual. He isn’t graceful, per se, but his gait is confident and sure-footed. There’s a indefinable, almost boyishness to his manner that even fatherhood hasn’t completely purged. Being the fear of shadows, his face seems to palpably darken when he’s upset or angry.
Only when Jack fully taps into his capabilities as the King of Nightmares does the dangerous, black side of him emerge; this side of him is a part of his self, but he doesn’t care to indulge in it because while although he becomes powerful, he is also vindictive, dark and frightening.
Personality:
Jack is a natural leader, not in the sense that he is extremely intelligent or honorable or good at solving complex problems, but people are drawn to him. He is charismatic and passionate, and that irresistible demeanor is contagious. He is tough-minded, assertive and self-reliant, and won’t hesitate to go full force with a decision he thinks is right. Often though, he doesn’t give his decisions much thought, preferring (often foolishly) to do first, think later. He is strong and ambitious, though years of maturity have made him slightly jaded. He’s very proud, and early hardships gave him an edge of bitterness that softened once he and Pia married and had a family. He’s arrogant, impulsive, and prone to lose his temper, but raising three kids (particularly Alexander) earned him a certain degree of patience.
Jack loves challenges and things supposedly out of reach, and there is an innate competitiveness in him that manifests itself in a semi-aggressive zest for life, and made his efforts as a thief particularly successful. He has a grim, somewhat wicked sense of humor, and he’s sarcastic almost more than he’s serious. His life is highly family oriented. His most rooted attachments are to family and friends, and he takes their well being and protection as primary responsibilities in his life. He is almost tender toward his wife and children.
Jack used to be reckless, belligerent and often foolish in his young, prideful take on the world, fraught with bad choices and an unwillingness to admit his mistakes, but once fearless and hotheaded, he is now much more mellow, and wise (relatively speaking). He has more compassion and tolerance, and he’s not as quick to rush into things; all traits compliments of experience, and especially, being a father.
Powers:
Jack is a possessor of shadows and darkness; the fear of loneliness, despair and helplessness. He is not the fear of the lack of light, but of the feelings which being alone in the dark provoke. He can blend his body into the shadows and move through darkness as quickly and effortlessly as wind (an attribute that earned him the symbol of a butterfly in Cold Shadow). Shadows elicit from his body like black flames, and he can create domes of blackness both overwhelming and consuming. Because the fear of being alone and helpless is common in nearly ever human, Jack is a powerful Nightmare simply by birthright.
When he became King of Chimera, he acquired the Jewel of Ages, an ancient artifact passed down from great king, to great king. It is a defense mechanism, activated in times of severe emotional stress or in danger, though Jack can willingly tap into its powers now, having mastered it over the years. When activating the Jewel of Ages, his eyes glow white, because he is channeling the knowledge of all the previous ruler’s past lives. He is granted the powers that they each had and exercised in their past lives. This can be especially frightening as he loses himself in the personalities of kings gone before him, and his conscience will lean more to the better of the kingdom, than those he cares about.
Jack is naturally rugged and dark looking, with a vague wildness to his features that defies his noble position, as if he still lives on the streets, not in a castle. He is of average height, with a slender, agile build that has solidified over the years with age. His skin has olive undertones, and tans easily. He has expressive, intense eyes, the color of deep orange. They used to burn as brightly as his son’s, but they have mellowed into a hard, deep quartz. His hair is a rich black, and nearly impossible to tame. He has a thin nose, dark brows and dark lashes, and a mouth that automatically goes crooked when he smiles. His wardrobe is simple, mostly black if he can get away with it without his wife or daughter saying anything; his shirts are usually long-sleeved and fitted, comfortable pants and boots.
Jack has an imposing physical presence, with the posture and expressions of born-with-it arrogance. His laugh is husky and rough, and his voice is an easy, male tenor with an edge of irony to it. He tugs his hand through his hair when he’s trying to think, making it a worse mess than usual. He isn’t graceful, per se, but his gait is confident and sure-footed. There’s a indefinable, almost boyishness to his manner that even fatherhood hasn’t completely purged. Being the fear of shadows, his face seems to palpably darken when he’s upset or angry.
Only when Jack fully taps into his capabilities as the King of Nightmares does the dangerous, black side of him emerge; this side of him is a part of his self, but he doesn’t care to indulge in it because while although he becomes powerful, he is also vindictive, dark and frightening.
Personality:
Jack is a natural leader, not in the sense that he is extremely intelligent or honorable or good at solving complex problems, but people are drawn to him. He is charismatic and passionate, and that irresistible demeanor is contagious. He is tough-minded, assertive and self-reliant, and won’t hesitate to go full force with a decision he thinks is right. Often though, he doesn’t give his decisions much thought, preferring (often foolishly) to do first, think later. He is strong and ambitious, though years of maturity have made him slightly jaded. He’s very proud, and early hardships gave him an edge of bitterness that softened once he and Pia married and had a family. He’s arrogant, impulsive, and prone to lose his temper, but raising three kids (particularly Alexander) earned him a certain degree of patience.
Jack loves challenges and things supposedly out of reach, and there is an innate competitiveness in him that manifests itself in a semi-aggressive zest for life, and made his efforts as a thief particularly successful. He has a grim, somewhat wicked sense of humor, and he’s sarcastic almost more than he’s serious. His life is highly family oriented. His most rooted attachments are to family and friends, and he takes their well being and protection as primary responsibilities in his life. He is almost tender toward his wife and children.
Jack used to be reckless, belligerent and often foolish in his young, prideful take on the world, fraught with bad choices and an unwillingness to admit his mistakes, but once fearless and hotheaded, he is now much more mellow, and wise (relatively speaking). He has more compassion and tolerance, and he’s not as quick to rush into things; all traits compliments of experience, and especially, being a father.
Powers:
Jack is a possessor of shadows and darkness; the fear of loneliness, despair and helplessness. He is not the fear of the lack of light, but of the feelings which being alone in the dark provoke. He can blend his body into the shadows and move through darkness as quickly and effortlessly as wind (an attribute that earned him the symbol of a butterfly in Cold Shadow). Shadows elicit from his body like black flames, and he can create domes of blackness both overwhelming and consuming. Because the fear of being alone and helpless is common in nearly ever human, Jack is a powerful Nightmare simply by birthright.
When he became King of Chimera, he acquired the Jewel of Ages, an ancient artifact passed down from great king, to great king. It is a defense mechanism, activated in times of severe emotional stress or in danger, though Jack can willingly tap into its powers now, having mastered it over the years. When activating the Jewel of Ages, his eyes glow white, because he is channeling the knowledge of all the previous ruler’s past lives. He is granted the powers that they each had and exercised in their past lives. This can be especially frightening as he loses himself in the personalities of kings gone before him, and his conscience will lean more to the better of the kingdom, than those he cares about.
History:
(brace yourselves, folks, because Jack's history is basically the history of our site, plus some)
Jack’s troubles began when he was born, nay, even in the womb, carrying the unfortunate DNA marking him equally Dream and Nightmare. Jack’s father, Tragedy, met his mother Genevieve in one of many wars between Dreamland and Chimera. Tragedy was wounded, and she took him in, they fell in love and before even of them knew what had happened, she was pregnant. Genn had another child, a daughter named Hina, though the father had since abandoned them.
Genn and Tragedy kept Jack’s birth a secret as long as they could, though it was clear they wouldn’t have long; their son was glaringly Nightmare. When Genn was discovered, it fell on Tragedy’s shoulders to deliver her execution. Genn told him that if he refused, their position would be obvious, and they would kill him too, and their baby. If he killed her, he could save Jack. Heartbroken, Tragedy agreed, and after executing the first and last love of his life, fled the country with six year old Jack in his arms. Jack was of course traumatized, but in his youth and with the help of a caring father, was able to emerge with only small scars. Hina, who lost every member of her family in one day, with no explanation, did not fare as well.
Tragedy, wracked with guilt, returned to Dreamland as often as he could to be with the daughter that he still loved. By the time she had reached adulthood, he realized how wounded his little girl had truly become, and he left Chimera for good to live in Dreamland.
Meanwhile, Jack (never knowing Tragedy as his true father; he’d witnessed the murder of his mother) grew up in the streets of Chimera, without a lot of parental influence. He became particularly rebellious when Tragedy left, feeling abandoned once more. In one of many episodes or foolishness, a young, teenaged Jack backed himself into a corner with his mouth and cocky attitude. He was saved by an unlikely hero, a soft-spoken ghost, recently broke out of Crazyworld.
Simon had worked the inner vein of Crazyworld, bringing patients things they weren’t supposed to have. Unwilling to take the stifling environment any longer, Simon escaped and now practiced the same sort of illegal venue on the streets. Jack took to Simon like peanut butter takes to jelly. Jack idolized him as both a father figure and friend. At first finding the little upstart slightly obnoxious, Simon soon took to Jack too, even coming to like Jack’s crooked grin and fiery eyes, the swagger of his walk.
Along with Simon, Jack took to being a thief. Deceit came as naturally as breathing; even Simon had to admit the uncanny talent. There were some things that couldn’t be taught, and Jack seemed born for the life of stealing and not getting caught.
Success made him arrogant (more than he already was), and ambitious, always ready for something better, more challenging. Simon and Jack paired up with Danny Jenkins by accident, and then later with a rogue named Johnny Nicholas for his expertise on the finer dwellings of Chimera. After roughly a year, the four of them enlisted the help of the infamous Vince Delano, someone even Simon only knew by word of mouth.
The rest, as they say, is history. For decades the unlikely group of Nightmares ran elite jobs for only the most impossible artifacts. They earned a type of fame in underground Chimera, and Jack, for the first time in his life, had the family he’d always wished to have. And in a sense, they were brothers.
One of these rare artifacts turned out to be the Mask of Death, a treasure Jack took a particular interest in. Absorbing fear had always been somewhat unpleasant for him, because the Dream elements in his blood always rejected it, but his core was still Nightmare, and he needed fear to survive. And where was the celebrated mask? —but at the castle itself, possessed by Queen Belladonna, who had acquired it via gift from one of her more wealthy suitors. In a ironic twist of fate, Jack left their robbery of the castle that day with not only the Mask, but a crush on her royal highness.
Aghast at the unexpected attraction he felt, Jack brooded over their encounter for several days, fighting valiantly to disregard her. But there she was— unattainable, beautiful, out of his league— the worthiest of treasures. She even glittered like one. The lure of the Mask of Death temporarily paled in lieu of this more enticing hurtle, and with typical overconfidence, charged head first into what would become an unlikely passionate courtship.
He didn’t expect to fall in love with Atropia Belladonna. He didn’t expect to fall in love with anyone, ever. But fall he did, and hard. He often left Cold Shadow to their own devices, preferring to spend his days with Pia, days that gave new definition to the term whirlwind romance. For months it was Pia this, and Pia that, until even Johnny was nauseous by it all.
Finally remembering the Mask of Death, Jack tried it out. The mask heightened his senses, amplified his energy and silenced his Dream side. To use it felt free, at last unburdened by his dirtied blood; it was wonderful.
And addictive. Like any drug addict, Jack became moody, irritable, his nerves raw, unless he had his fix. His relationship with Pia suffered, and they began bickering and arguing more than kissing and flirting.
Until Simon, ever Jack’s advocate, looked his friend in the eye and said, ‘Get rid of it.’
And so, Jack journeyed to the Eye of the World mountains with the intent to get rid of it. Unfortunately, he was detoured by the alleged Mirror Master, who knew upon seeing Jack that here, finally, was the king destined to bring the two realms together. Oron knew he would be a slave to this king, but he also knew it was only when this king came to power that he could fully come into his own power, eventually breaking free.
Oron presented the young thief with the Jewel of Ages: power beyond his dreams, but to attain it, he must become king. For weeks, Jack struggled with the temptation. Again against his better judgment, he returned several times, and each time, Oron played to the future king’s weaknesses, painting enticing lies and seducing him with black magic.
Probably the thing that kept him afloat the longest was his love for Pia. In a sort of desperate attempt to meet both of his desires, he asked her to marry him (or perhaps demanded is a better word). She refused him and spurred by rejection and the dark side of him ruled by the Mask of Death, Jack took the throne by force.
Appalled by his cruel and destructive actions, Cold Shadow abandoned him, except Simon, who even at Jack’s worst, still loved him like a son and brother and couldn’t bear to leave him alone. That night, alone in a now empty castle, Simon watched Jack suffer through the fires of his own, personal hell, tormented by guilt over what he’d done, and Simon thought maybe, finally, Jack might come back, but after that first night, Jack showed no signs of remorse— or rather, he hid it very, very well.
From there, things were a downward spiral from bad to worse. Jack didn’t know the first thing about ruling a kingdom and it didn’t take his subjects long to catch on (it didn’t help that one of the most influential socialites had a habit of slandering his name). Add to that the fact that his sister, who was the Queen of Dreams, had let all hell loose once she found out he was the king. But even as Dreamland and the civil rebellion (headed by Neo the Crow) bared down on him, he never subjected to sincere humility; never admitting that things did not look good for Chimera, most of it was his fault, and that maybe, maybe he was wrong and needed some help.
If Jack and Pia spoke at all, it was only with bitter hatred, though it could be noted that neither had a serious relationship during their decade apart. And of course, Oron always followed Jack around through mirrors, adding his “two-cent” advice where he could. Jack hated Oron, and Oron hated Jack. Not able to kill his dear master, Oron got creative thinking of ways to torment Jack.
And then, on a fateful Nightmare Masquerade, a Dreambomb hit the castle. Protected by ancient magic, the castle stayed in tact, but everything inside was turned to ash. Jack escaped with Pia, and they had their first encounter of almost-not-fighting. And October, secretary of the rebellion, stole the Mask of Death.
Jack was naturally furious, and thinking Hina had send one of her thugs to retrieve it, went to Dreamland to get it back. On his little escapade, he got himself imprisoned by his doting sister, who had developed a new purifying machine using the mechanics of the Mask of Death. The machine would utilize and strengthen his dream blood to weed out the Nightmare side of him, and if that killed him well, too bad. Perhaps the only good thing to come out of it was Jack’s initial withdrawal to the Mask, which resulted in a rather painful detox.
When it was realized that Jack was missing, Simon enlisted a search which initially comprised of only himself, but to his surprise, the other four members of Cold Shadow insisted on coming too, and the biggest surprise of all, Pia. So together they made the journey to Dreamland, aided by a fugitive Dream girl currently hiding in the cemetery, who would later become Simon’s wife.
They rescued him, Jack and Pia shocking each other by being happy to see one another, and when they returned, Jack finally apologized to someone, namely Cold Shadow. Tragedy returned to Chimera, due mostly to Hina’s exploits, and Jack discovered at last who is father was. In a dark twist of irony, however, it was only shortly after this knowledge that Tragedy was killed; caught in the middle of a violent feud between brother and sister.
Grieved, but also matured by this turn of events, Jack began to become the king he was meant to be. He and Pia were more civil to each other, in fact, even slipped a few times with hints of long lost love. He reorganized Chimera, creating the League of Shadows, and employing a few administrators.
And then after a very memorable, though not exactly pleasant, Gala Night at the Opera di Incubi, Jack broke down and told Pia how miserable he’d been without her for the past ten years, and how even if she never wanted to see him, he loved her more than he ever had. And wouldn’t you know it, she loved him too, and they shared a long overdue reunion (a night both would come to regret on occasion, particularly when Alexander had burnt something especially likeable to the ground)
Of course, nothing can ever be easy for too long. A new rebellion formed, this time headed unexpectedly by Pia’s best friend (and unrequited lover) Julien de Sang. The rebellion didn’t garner much destruction, in fact, the only things accomplished by it were some improvements to the monarchy, and two relationships, namely Johnny and Henriette, and Julien and October.
Jack and Pia’s wedding was held in the midst of this somewhat amiable rebellion (the bride just a bit pregnant). The twins were born and the newly parents spent much more time at home, trying to reign in one of the boys, and making sure the other didn’t get neglected in the background.
Another decade passed, and though Jack was happy with his family, the stress of impending war loomed closer. Oron had since broken free and Hina, her hatred driven deeper by the death of Tragedy, had been thinking of nothing but Jack’s ruin for years. And so when the greatest war in history between the two realms broke out, it was not wholly unexpected.
The war lasted several years, with each side suffering losses. Fortunately, Jack had gained a bit more popularity since he had initially taken over the throne, and the war made him especially liked because his innate criminal mind proved to be quite an asset in terms of military. Vince trained their armies, and Julien inspired passion in every patron, and though bloody and miserable, Chimera emerged victorious.
Using the Jewel of Ages, Jack combined the two realms, creating one united realm of Dreams and Nightmares alike. It was how it was in the very beginning. Jack banished Hina to the Eye of the World mountains, sealing her inside a crystal that could not be broken except by Ira blood. Initially, the Dreams were enraged, but they were a country beaten and whipped and any rebellion was quickly dispelled. After a century and a half, some feelings have softened, but there is still strong prejudice on each side.
Comparatively though, things have been pretty peaceful. The first night the war was won, Jack and Pia shared another “memorable” night, and their little girl became one of the first infants born into the Isle of Morpheus.
Other Information:
Relationships
Pia: Jack loves his wife more than anything in the world. Time and various challenges have settled him into a deeper sort of love than the passionate frenzy they began with, and although they don’t argue nearly as much as they used to, he still says she’s his greatest match.
His kids: Although he’d never thought he’d be a good father, and maybe he isn’t, he enjoys it immensely, and loves his kids with an unconditional devotion that often surprises him. He’s perhaps hardest on Alexander, who is exactly like him, but not tempered by the hardships of life, and he sees his son making the same mistakes he did. Armand often mystifies him, but he’s proud of the man he has become, and he loves the quiet strength so like Simon his eldest son possesses. Genn, named after his mother, is his little angel. When she was first born, he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life and needless to say, she has him absolutely smitten, and it’s very hard for him to step back and not protect her from everything.
Cold Shadow: What can be said? Once brothers, always brothers. Their loyalty and friendship runs deep, and having shared each other’s minds, they’re particularly close. And, as always, Jack loves Simon and feels forever indebted to him. They're like family, and with the wives and girlfriends and other additions, they've become quite the motley crew.
Hina: Jack had once been sympathetic to her case, and even agreed with her, blaming himself for their mother’s death. But after Tragedy’s death, those feelings ended and though he continued to appeal to her for peace, it never happened, and now Jack only thinks of her with sadness and resentment.
The Family Tree---> i36.tinypic.com/mv3hhh.jpg