Merlyn

[Merlyn 0]

 

Username: Merlyn

Real Name: Josiah Greene

Age: 18

Birthdate: September 21st

Gender: Male

Height: 5'9''

History:
The whole world was grey. I didn't know why I was alive. Just a replaceable cog in a machine as old as time.

There is no meaning to find in it. It's just a chain of events heading to a foregone conclusion. A chore that you do before moving on to the next adventure. This is what Josiah Greene felt during the school year leading up to the advent of the VRMMO. Withdrawn and suspicious of others, Josiah kept a small circle of friends in his college in America, wasting away watching anime while others explored their youth. When he learned of the new VRMMO technology taking place in Japan, the opportunity for a real escape to this boring life presented itself to him. He pestered his roommate Toby to get access to the Japanese servers where the premier game was launching, and was able to get access to the servers. Spending all of his saved college funds in order to import a VR set and a strong connection to reduce ping times, Josiah enters Aincrad in a state of wonder at seeing a world in color for the first time. Until all of a sudden, he realizes he can see things more clearly than if it was just a videogame's graphics....

Personality:

I can be anyone I want to be here.

Josiah at the beginning of his adventure is a man with something to prove. Lazy, tired, and addled with depression in his real life, he takes Aincrad as a chance to reinvent himself. Knowing that he would never fit in as a front-of-the-line fighter, however, he decides instead to invest his skills in the dagger, hoping to skirt around fights and pick off weak or wounded foes.

Josiah is a complicated individual. Although keeping an easy-going and sarcastic attitude on the surface, his inner demons are constantly rioting throughout his mind. He often feels that he isn't good enough for this world that he was shoved into, and that he will drag others down and get them killed. He has a crippling lack of self-confidence owing to emotional abuse he suffered throughout his childhood at the hands of peers, and obsesses over what other people think. He has grown very good at concealing these emotions though, and often manages to act as a confident man. He is reluctant to make friends, as he fears that they will get sick of him or he will fail them. However, once someone makes the effort, Josiah is loyal to a fault, willing to stand by a friend until the end, maybe as an attempt to repay the friend for putting up with him. While not necessarily smart, Josiah as a vague concept of tactics and a modicum of resourcefulness, able to think of advantages others would not in order to turn a situation in his favor. His ability to conceal emotions makes lying and negotiating easier for him then most.

Although lazy on his entry to Aincrad, the New World has revitalized him. If you asked him, he probably wouldn't want to go back to his world at all. However, the idea of becoming a hero unlike anything in his last world is a powerful thought, and so Josiah pushes forward through the floors, looking forward to either become a hero or die in this New World: where living actually means something.

Appearance:
Nobody needs to know who I am.

Josiah has long, unkempt brown hair that's constantly getting into blue eyes. As a foreigner, he is often looked at by the populace merely for looking different than the other adventurers that populate Aincrad. Because of his self-critical and distrustful nature, he believes that he is quite unattractive, and tries not to draw much too attention to himself by covering the lower half of his face with a black mask. He is currently wearing a set of cloth clothing from the beginner's set, as well as a green cloak. He uses the hood of the cloak whenever he is outside, only taking it down when alone in his room at the inn or when out fighting monsters.

Virtue:

There is no such thing as a good feature. It is invariably tainted.

Cunning: Due to his easy-going nature and self-confident surface, Josiah is practiced at getting his way. Josiah loves to gather information about the target of his manipulation, and through this worm his way into a favorable position, although admittedly he hasn't had to do it often in a world where everyone is working towards the same goal. He is especially good at reading emotions, and pushing buttons by finding a sensitive topic and needling his target until the target snaps.

Distrusting: Josiah reads between the lines. Every line uttered by anyone that isn't a friend is analyzed two or three times over, for certain meaning. Strangers expressing offers of help are often subjected to an unknown background check as Josiah travels around gathering information on the activities of the target. Although, this is flipped on its head if the target is a close friend: Josiah is loyal to a fault, and would walk through fire if somebody he considered a friend asked. He knows this is a failing of his, and will probably kill him someday in this world, full of Pkers in disguise and others whom are opposed to the climbing of the floors.

Resourceful: Josiah's guile expands to the battlefield. A fan of cheap tactics in war and in melee, Josiah will often sweep sand to blind an opponent, feint and take a dirty shot, and do whatever it takes to win. It is entirely possible, if he believed he was going to be killed, he would attempt to poison the attacker beforehand. However, it is also possible his crippling self-doubt and fear of failure would prevent him from acting until directly attacked, in the chance that the suspicious target was actually innocent of this.

Kind-hearted: Josiah, although distrusting, manipulative, and dirty in his methods, has positive virtues as well. Josiah will not leave someone behind to die except for extreme circumstances. Even strangers. His fear of failure and wish to be a better person do not allow him to run away. This can also lead to extreme danger for Josiah, however. He is intolerant of Pkers, and even to those whom had a good reason for doing so, will often needle and insult them if in the same party. If he was paired with an unstable person whom accidentally murdered, his needling and prodding might lead to violent conflict. This kind heart could also leave him open to Pks, as he would try not to kill unless absolutely necessary, when it might be too late.

Flaw:

Humankind is full of flaws. There is so such thing as a saint or angel among us. We are all just pigs climbing over each other for the biggest piece of slop.

Cynical: Josiah's worldview is very bleak. Before he entered Aincrad, he constantly thought of God, and why he was put into the world he was. Since entering Aincrad, that has since passed, but he still loves to ponder the inherent evil in humanity. He believes that the majority of people, if offered the choice, would escape the game alone and leave the rest to die rather than die to allow the others to live on, if that makes sense. Although this leads to trust difficulties, it also gives him his analytic and cunning approaches to situations.

Self-Critical: Everything that Josiah does wrong, he reviews over and over in his head. Every moment, every word in a lost debate, even saying something stupid to a pretty girl. He hates himself for not being good enough to be a leader, for being weaker than the others that came at the same time as him, and even for many of his virtues, which he sees as weaknesses or traits of evil men. However, his ability to analyze every little detail of his actions help him in dealing with assholes. While others may stay away from quirky people, he can act normally with them, usually able to determine why they are acting like an asshole and just run with it with an easy-going smile and a patient attitude. This widens his pool of possible allies should he ever want something in the future.

Atychiphobia  : Josiah's fear of failure can lead to many things in the game. He is hesitant to make allies because his mind tells him that he isn't good enough; he will fail his partner and kill him or her. For the first two weeks the Death Game began, he did nothing but train his body because he did not believe himself strong enough to fight (not that it would do anything in the first place, with everything being decided by stats). He needs to calculate, to estimate, to fight monsters below his level several times and take several tiny steps forward. He yearns to be a hero, but also doesn't want to. For if he is the hero, any deaths that result during the floor fights are on him, and he couldn't bear that responsibility. This fear of failure and his desire to overcome it both create his reason for moving towards the frontline and also prevent him from ever achieving that goal.

Profession:

Even still, my arms... they are shaking. This feels like something I have been waiting for all this time.

(Haven't done the quest yet)

Skills:

Maybe, in a place like this, even I could be a hero.

Remaining SP: 0
Starting SP: 5

Roleplay SP:
Quest SP:
Non-combat:
»
Passive:
»
Combat:
»
Weapon skills:
» One Handed Dagger: Rank 1 (5/50)

Inventory:

Even though I am weak, and have nothing to offer.

Weapons/Tools:
» One-Handed Dagger x2 (one for backup in case of disarm)

» Basic Black Cloth Set. Contains a green cloak with hood.

» 10 bread, 15 Water

Roleplays(comin soon!)

Even though the journey will be long.

Relationships:
And even though I may lose everything.

Lauren – Sister two years younger. She wanted to play Aincrad, but was not able to secure a copy as it was not yet released in the United States. The two were close and played lots of League of Legends together in the months before the Death Game

Toby – Roommate with connections to the company that made the game. Managed to snag two VR machines and game copies from across the sea. Josiah does not know if Toby entered the game before it started, or if he is alive in the game. Toby always did have delusions about what would happen if he was in a videogame.

Story So Far: (also placeholding, I guess?)

My name is Josiah Greene. But everyone here will know only Merlyn.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Merlyn

[Lowenthal 0]

Approved, Welcome to Aincrad