Application for Empatheias

[whohassummonedme]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Weebee "Weebeesnargles" Snargles
Contact:
weebee#1589 on discord, whohassummonedme on tumblr, @weebeesnargles on twitter
Age: 26
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: The Nightmare Knight
Age: 500,000+
Canon: Cucumber Quest
Canon Point: Chapter 5

Note: The following is edited from the 'Application' section of whohassummonedme.tumblr.com, where I also play the Nightmare Knight


Background: Nightmare Knight is the main antagonist of Cucumber Quest, the webcomic. He has terrorized the planet of Dreamside for over half a million years. He has grown tired of this role, but must continue the 'Legend of the Nightmare Knight' or else his powers will weaken, and he does not want this to happen for his own reasons. He wishes to live a simple life, but the world will not let him.

He first came to Dreamside many years ago, his appearance as sudden as his complete takeover of the planet. In his stead, he made seven 'Disaster Masters', beings with only fragments of his power meant to rule over the kingdoms he conquered. When the protector of the planet, the Dream Oracle finally acted, she sent after him a mere child, Gherkin of the Doughnut Kingdom. He, and his friends, all defeated the Disaster Masters and eventually came up against him. With no chance of actually defeating him, Gherkin used the Dream Sword, given to him by the Dream Oracle, to seal away the Nightmare Knight.

This worked, for five thousand years. then he came back. Upon his return, after being locked away for five thousand years and allowed to seethe over his defeat, the Nightmare Knight wished to bring ruin upon the planet once again.

It was a brief moment.

Once he looked over the simple Doughnut Kingdom, and saw families laughing together, friends having fun together, people baking cakes and enjoying them together, he found himself confused and silent. He reflected on the memory of his defeat, and how the Hero's allies came together to celebrate. How they laughed, and smiled, and the feeling that grew in his cold, empty chest. Since then, he has cared not for destruction, and has thwarted the plans of his own creations, and especially those of the ones wishing to use his power for their own nefarious wants.

It has been a long time, faking who he is just so he can continue to see his children. Even if they hate him, he cannot just give them up.

In his arrival, the end of Chapter 0, he is intimidating to say the least. His summoners, Peridot and Cordelia, are silenced. This is the power dynamic that he shares with the would-be conquerors of Dreamside, with Cordelia telling him she has need of his power, and the Nightmare Knight seemingly agreeing to her demands.

Chapter 1 is when we see him next, he is interacting with Splashmaster. During his time informing Splash of his failures and reminding him of his purposes, he is introduced to Almond. He does not care for her.

In the first Interlude he appears to discuss with Cordelia about Splashmaster's fate at the hands of the adventuring party , sharing that Splashmaster, likely one of his first creations, was never the most capable of the Disaster Masters. When Cordelia shares her opinions on the Masters, he is quick to silence her, cutting out the lights in the room as he makes his final remarks. It is here that he interacts at length with Peridot and Princess Parfait, who face him much differently than most of the people of Dreamside.

Chapter 2 is the next time he's seen, is when he is discussing with Noisemaster about the diminutive Disaster Master's plotting. He is shown being very exhausted as he tries to speak to Noise, who seems to speak the way he does simply to bother him. He interacts with Cucumber for the first time, where he laments that the cowardly wimp he was told about was the truth about the latest Legendary Hero. Nautilus stands up for him, and stands up to the Nightmare Knight, prompting him to strike them with a massive fireball. When the attack seemingly misses, the Nightmare Knight is nowhere to be found, and the way forward is open to them. The ending of Chapter 2 is the turning point for the narrative of the Nightmare Knight. Noisemaster's plan seemingly succeeds as an orbital cannon fires down on the kingdom of Trebleopolis. As all seems lost, the beam is stopped, by a purple shield of shimmering stars created by the Nightmare Knight. Noisemaster is defeated, knowing full well who stopped him.

In the second Interlude, when the princess tries to escape the castle, the Nightmare Knight finds her. He brings her back to her room, and on the way, denies helping her with Tomato earlier. When he agrees to listen to her vent her frustrations, she thanks him for being her newest friend. He does not take this well, and the facade of a dark overlord falls for the first time. She is the first to see him act like this, and though he soon regains his composure and storms out, she is brought to tears realizing he has taken her letter to deliver it. What follows in the Interlude is his next discussion with Cordelia, where she questions him as to why he doesn't simply strike at the Legendary Hero directly. He reacts violently to this, possibly just as a warning, but it is short-lived as Peridot comes crying into the room, taking them both out of the moment and even shocking the Nightmare Knight as she rushes to her side. He lets them both go, but as Peridot approaches him to stick her tongue out at him, he's surprised.

Chapter 3, his meeting with Rosemaster goes the best out of all the Masters, with a friendly air and even a joke. She tugs at his heartstrings, as he reveals the one weakness in her plan. When she expresses a desire to have her plan succeed, though, he grows distant once more, and leaves her to her schemes. We see the Nightmare Knight open up to Cucumber. When the would-be hero offers words of peace, he considers it, but this is shaken up when he first notices a strange wand in Cucumber's possession, and when Almond comes to her brother's aid. When she does, and when her words remind him of his past failures, he grows quite angry, and shatters reality itself around them. Sir Carrot is able to stop him, at the cost of his own dignity and pride. He comes to even Carrot's aid, though when the knight falls, encouraging him at his lowest point and bringing him to a safe place. This leads to the death of Rosemaster, where when her Disaster Stone is left behind he appears alongside the Dream Oracle. He looks sorrowful, but then taunts the party.

In the third Interlude, all bets are off. The Nightmare Knight is revealed to have a hobby of baking, when Peridot finds him in the middle of the night, sifting flower in the castle's kitchen. Lacking her usual companion in Cordelia, she invites Nightmare Knight to watch her favorite show with her. During this, he remembers an earlier talk with Princess Parfait , where she encourages him to tell his Masters the truth of things, after he reveals the grand charade of domination that his life has become. He tells her the story of his rise and fall, his first and only attempt at peace. He explains how he gains his strength, through fear, and how that strength keeps his family alive. In the same interlude, he offers his aid to Cordelia, handing her a book with instructions for how to gain further power.

Upon her return, in the fourth Interlude she is introduced to the softer side of the knight, who greets Cordelia with a lemon cupcake and an apron that reads 'Luvin from the Oven'. He reveals to her that there were a hundred before her, all similar in their vanity and their hunger for power. He finds in her something different, though, and so he is trying to open himself up to her. They both find themselves wanting to care for Peridot, and for her, they can keep the show going if it keeps her safe and happy as they fake it. She sends him off to spend the night with Peridot, acting as her stand-in parent. She calls him 'Steve', believing it to be his real name, to which Nightmare Knight reacts angrily. He then realizes she doesn't understand everything, so he drops the issue. On her show, he is forced to endure a representation of his form and his Disaster Masters. He hates it. He meets with Princess Parfait on his own accord, informing her of his plans and that she may call on him if needed. He makes a jacket for Peridot and then leaves. When he arrives at the studio where the show is filmed, he begins terrorizing the cast and crew. The show's Nightmare Knight arrives, who he quickly destroys. He then views the most terrifying thing in existance. It's fine.

He meets with Quakemaster in Chapter 5, the latest chapter as of this writing, willing to share the truth, but when he sees how weak and tired he is, all he can do is continue the lie. He reminds Quakemaster of how another Master grew tired, and for that the Nightmare Knight seemingly destroyed him. The Nightmare Knight even goes so far to threaten Quakemaster with his one weakness, water. After this, he meets with the 'destroyed' Master, Mistmaster. His shame is brought to the forefront, as he relives his regrets, acknowledging his fear that keeps his lies going. He apologizes, promising to make the 'mistake I should have made back then.' When he finds no reply from the crying, broken Master, he leaves.

“The primary antagonist of Cucumber Quest. A nigh-omnipotent manifestation of fear who is desperately trying to relate to his kids. Wishes he could live in a farming sim.” - Gigi D. G., The Game Masterz Zine, 2016

Personality:The NIghtmare Knight is the ancient enemy of Dreamside, who appeared ages before to conquer the planet through terror and destruction. In his time on Dreamside, he has become the thing of legends for most but the most long-lived beings on the planet. Though the legends explain much about him and his Disaster Masters, there are things that most denizens of the planet do not know about him.

First is just the immediately apparent details. He is a tired old man, having lived for possibly over 500,000 years. His presence is overwhelming, intimidating, as if he looms over any situation no matter what his size is. He detests expressing any vulnerability or weakness, and has difficulty with letting people in.

The face most people see is that of the ruthless conqueror, an image he has cultivated over five hundred thousand years. This side of him is cold, uncaring, and mysterious. He tries to express himself with as few emotions as he can, but there is no denying that when his patience has run short, he will act on it. This is best shown in his interactions with Cordelia, how the Dream Oracle runs from him in Chapter 3, and how in bonus comics how a crowd of Dreamsiders react in fear. His Disaster Masters react with fear when he gets angry or more distant than normal, knowing that his power far outstrips their own.

In truth, he is simply as he looks, a tired old man spending his free time perfecting his baking and moping around. With an inability to connect with his children, the Nightmare Knight is slowly learning what it takes to open up to others and tell the truth. He has shown the Disaster Masters moments of kindness and vulnerability, though he has made strides to make sure they are unable to fully glimpse his moments of weakness. In the past, he has shown them great care, having done apparently the most for Glitchmaster, based on what Rosemaster says in regards to his betrayal of them.

His relationships with Princess Parfait and Peridot show his softer side, especially towards those he has yet to betray. Princess Parfait is the first to lower his guard, catching him unaware by calling him a friend, and further weakening him by gleefully chatting with him about the concepts of friendship and childhood. She reacts to his intimidation attempts with a calm face, knowing it to be a charade he hides behind. He considers himself her friend, and hopes to take her advice to tell his Disaster Masters the truth. Peridot, on the other hand, catches him off guard with her lack of fear and her ability to stand up to him. She's the first to find out about his hobby of baking, and brings him along to watch her favorite television show. He grows to care about her well-being, although he conflicts with Cordelia about it, and tends to her when she comes to him in the middle of the night with her problems. He considers himself her guardian, in a sense, although he does not care to let her know.

But, even as he tries to change for the better and grow from who he used to be, and from who he has pretended to be, his guilt and shame is something he struggles with. His betrayal of the Disaster Masters is a recurrant problem, he can admit, as he foils their plans if they ever get out of the Legendary Hero's control, but his worst choice was earlier in his attempts. When Mistmaster was the first to admit his exhaustion with the failures, and chose to surrender to the Legendary Hero, Nightmare Knight did not take kindly to his choice. Knowing that he couldn't let such insubordination slide or else he would lose his position with the other Masters, the Nightmare Knight made a terrible decision, and seemingly destroyed Mistmaster, the only remaining sign of him an ever-falling rain. In truth, he broke Mistmaster, leaving him in a secluded space where he could continue to exist, but with a lack of sentience. It has brought him enough shame that he does not let anyone else know about it.



Abilities: Nightmare Knight is able to teleport, appearing to rise out of a sparkly, shadowy mist that forms his long, flowing cape. He is incredibly powerful, physically and mentally, and is able to form energy into powerful magical attacks. Said magical power appears to lean towards fire-based attacks, as with his ability to throw fireballs and summon columns of fire, even to the point where he can summon meteors to attack. This same power can be manifested through an earthquake-like effect, cracking the ground and causing extreme heat in an area, from anywhere between a room-sized area to that of an island.

His magic can take other forms, as well, from simple lightning bolts to spheres of energy. Nightmare Knight is also able to change the ‘atmosphere’ around him, extinguishing all forms of natural or artificial light and instead surrounding himself with a dark, purple-ish light.

He can also create materials, both from regular means of crafting such as sewing and knitting, as well as forming physical objects out of crystal.

The Nightmare Knight is able to momentarily entrap individuals in bubble-like containers, made of stars that encircle the prisoner, signifying the limits of the bubble. He can also conjure these bubble shields to be massive in size, covering entire castles if need be. The shields are able to protect whatever they are covering, and can withstand tremendous force.

Nightmare Knight is able to form cracks in space and time, separating tangible space with an indistinguishable void. These cracks are formed in that all manner of things can be reflected in the abyss below, and yet the edges of these cracks can be held onto by those who may otherwise fall into them.

The Nightmare Knight can change his size. At his largest, he can be several stories tall, and at his (current) smallest, he can be the size of a tall human. It is possible that he can even shrink to one foot in height.

What is important to understand, however, with regards to Nightmare Knight’s powers, is that they are based entirely on fear. To be specific, for the Nightmare Knight to have any meaningful amount of power, he has to be feared by a group of people. The more people who fear him, the stronger he becomes. Without being feared, the Nightmare Knight is powerless, weak, and pitiful.

Alignment: Peromei. Nightmare Knight is frozen by his memories of the past, of how his failures can only lead to further failures, and how defeat is all he's ever truly known. Guilt weighs him down, regret for what he has done, for what he believes is the only way. Ambition has given way to shame. Beyond his abilities to control the atmosphere around himself through darkening the environment and bringing in a force of cold, the Nightmare Knight's power would likely manifest as though gravity had increased, making people around him move sluggishly as though a great weight kept them down.



Other: N/A


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: https://memepatheias.dreamwidth.org/13602.html?thread=6895650#cmt6895650

Emotion Sample: https://memepatheias.dreamwidth.org/13602.html?thread=6843938#cmt6843938

Questions: