Player Name: Rona Character Updated: Emperor John Gaius Original Canon Point: post-Harrow the Ninth New Canon Point: post-Nona the Ninth
Summary of Psychological Changes: It's been a bad six months.
We don't get to follow John's POV through much of the timeskip, but we can draw conclusions: he escaped the River fight in which his two closest friends and lovers tried to kill him, and in which they destroyed the ancient home they'd built together. He probably pulled himself and his remaining Lyctor, Ianthe, aboard a ship in his armada. He declared at least two of his Lyctors dead, probably lied that they'd fallen in battle for him instead of against him, and had to restabilize his panicked empire after his brief death made the Sun itself flicker and threaten to collapse.
He probably searched for survivors Harrow and Pyrrha, and learned that Pyrrha was with his enemies. He fought those enemies and won the corpse of his daughter, Gideon, which he rendered indestructible via magic and housed her soul in. She joined his side alongside Ianthe as his corpse-daughter, and together he named them his two Princes: Ianthe now titled the Saint of Awe, Gideon renamed the Crown Prince Kiriona Gaia.
For months he has showered the Princes with honors, and for months they've watched him tenuously pretend he isn't totally breaking down. The Sixth House, one planet of his central star system, has evacuated and fled his empire wholesale through the treason of their leader. Horrifying, demonic enemies are massing throughout the universe against him. All his original Lyctors are dead, except Pyrrha, who seems to have turned traitor. Everything is falling apart.
To cope, John has been drowning himself in alcohol and sex with the officers who serve under him. He's been putting on an unconvincing front for the girls, Gideon/Kiriona and Ianthe, but they worry that even that will soon collapse. And he has apparently sent Gideon/Kiriona to kill Alecto, his beloved, the other half of his soul.
It's unclear how much John lied to Gideon when he assigned her mission; it's likely he wanted her to wake Alecto, and knew Gideon couldn't actually kill her. Still, it's possible that John is at such a low he would accept either answer, in the same way he once demanded that Harrow be "fixed or put down." All he wants is closure and a release from uncertainty.
I suspect John is in the final leg of his ancient vengeance quest, and is ready to lash out at his enemies— perhaps deliver his people to the promised land he intended for them ten thousand years ago— and then accept his own death. He has been patient for ten thousand years and he cannot be patient any more. This feels like the gloves coming off, like a grand finale.
When he arrives in Deer, he will be furious that he was robbed of a reunion with Alecto, and exhausted that he can't goddamn finish his unfinished business. He is also fresh off a heart-to-heart with Harrow, wherein he confessed his full, true backstory for the first time in ten thousand years. In some ways, he's primed for the emotional intimacy Deer demands, having been so worn down by canon that Deer will be a reprieve.
In most ways, though, he will be agonized by the prospect of having to live with himself, his terrible purpose incomplete, in this land of second chances.
Summary of Physical Changes: He will emerge from the moment the book ends: drunk and naked, with a rapidly-healing wound through his heart. Summary of Power Changes: N/A Summary of anything else significantly changed: N/A
no subject
Character Updated: Emperor John Gaius
Original Canon Point: post-Harrow the Ninth
New Canon Point: post-Nona the Ninth
Summary of Psychological Changes: It's been a bad six months.
We don't get to follow John's POV through much of the timeskip, but we can draw conclusions: he escaped the River fight in which his two closest friends and lovers tried to kill him, and in which they destroyed the ancient home they'd built together. He probably pulled himself and his remaining Lyctor, Ianthe, aboard a ship in his armada. He declared at least two of his Lyctors dead, probably lied that they'd fallen in battle for him instead of against him, and had to restabilize his panicked empire after his brief death made the Sun itself flicker and threaten to collapse.
He probably searched for survivors Harrow and Pyrrha, and learned that Pyrrha was with his enemies. He fought those enemies and won the corpse of his daughter, Gideon, which he rendered indestructible via magic and housed her soul in. She joined his side alongside Ianthe as his corpse-daughter, and together he named them his two Princes: Ianthe now titled the Saint of Awe, Gideon renamed the Crown Prince Kiriona Gaia.
For months he has showered the Princes with honors, and for months they've watched him tenuously pretend he isn't totally breaking down. The Sixth House, one planet of his central star system, has evacuated and fled his empire wholesale through the treason of their leader. Horrifying, demonic enemies are massing throughout the universe against him. All his original Lyctors are dead, except Pyrrha, who seems to have turned traitor. Everything is falling apart.
To cope, John has been drowning himself in alcohol and sex with the officers who serve under him. He's been putting on an unconvincing front for the girls, Gideon/Kiriona and Ianthe, but they worry that even that will soon collapse. And he has apparently sent Gideon/Kiriona to kill Alecto, his beloved, the other half of his soul.
It's unclear how much John lied to Gideon when he assigned her mission; it's likely he wanted her to wake Alecto, and knew Gideon couldn't actually kill her. Still, it's possible that John is at such a low he would accept either answer, in the same way he once demanded that Harrow be "fixed or put down." All he wants is closure and a release from uncertainty.
I suspect John is in the final leg of his ancient vengeance quest, and is ready to lash out at his enemies— perhaps deliver his people to the promised land he intended for them ten thousand years ago— and then accept his own death. He has been patient for ten thousand years and he cannot be patient any more. This feels like the gloves coming off, like a grand finale.
When he arrives in Deer, he will be furious that he was robbed of a reunion with Alecto, and exhausted that he can't goddamn finish his unfinished business. He is also fresh off a heart-to-heart with Harrow, wherein he confessed his full, true backstory for the first time in ten thousand years. In some ways, he's primed for the emotional intimacy Deer demands, having been so worn down by canon that Deer will be a reprieve.
In most ways, though, he will be agonized by the prospect of having to live with himself, his terrible purpose incomplete, in this land of second chances.
Summary of Physical Changes: He will emerge from the moment the book ends: drunk and naked, with a rapidly-healing wound through his heart.
Summary of Power Changes: N/A
Summary of anything else significantly changed: N/A