character survey!

[passio]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character’s height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?

dextera is a little taller than average, i headcanon him in the 5’10” area. before the events of the blaze, he was plainly slender with no muscle definition, but since he’s been running around in the neuro tower, he’s gained a little muscle and lost a little fat due to the absolutely bonkers amount of emotional stress he’s under.

2. How old is he?

early twenties! if we go by the manga he’s 22.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?

before the blaze his posture is extremely good, but after the blaze he has to cart around the angelic rifle and he’s miserable, so he slouches.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?

physically, he’s actually pretty hardy. as a child the only reason he survived was because he was the stronger/fitter of the two brothers, and that health has gone with him throughout his life. logically speaking he probably has some underlying conditions, but the game doesn’t point to anything in particular.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?

it again depends on the canon point… but the current “iteration” of dextera (that is, his existence in aion teleos) is quite tense and skittish. he’s a little different in a fight, where he can focus and work off some of that nervous energy, but his day-to-day interactions are pretty high-anxiety.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?

dextera is Average. he perceives himself as Average. he doesn’t like to look at himself in the mirror because he dissociates.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?

he’s spent nearly all his life inside, so he’s fairly pale—to a sickly degree, even—and lmao i think he’s pretty oily. i would like to say that he has smooth skin but i just don’t think that’s realistic.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.

he has coarse, black (anime dark blue) hair that is technically in a middle part but depending on the artist, sometimes it’s just generic anime boy bangs. for the most part i follow the manga design.

9. What color are his eyes?

light blue! this part of him is pretty, unlike many other aspects.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?

he has a big fucking scar on his hip from the surgery to separate himself and his brother when he was a child. despite all attempts to heal it, he retains it, as if the scar has become an indelible part of his self image…

11. What are his chief tension centers?

he holds it all in his shoulders/arms, and he’s prone to flexing his fingers and forearms to try to (futilely) work it out.

12. What is the character’s wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?

he’s worn a uniform his whole entire life. he doesn’t know how to dress himself and just wears whatever people give him.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?

his clothes fit fine! i think he doesn’t consciously have an opinion on what he wears, but i think he’s most comfortable in clothes that are thick and loose. he’s accustomed to wearing robes, but i think he prefers the… this is a weird sentence… he prefers the safety of pants.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?

his job is his free time.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?

it’s literally impossible for me to imagine what the malkuth-mandated underwear is but i think if he were given a choice he would go commando.



Speech
1. What does this character’s voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?

it was a very deliberate choice to have him voiced by a woman (promo for the PSX version, battle noises for the PS2) that unfortunately the english misses out on, so i Do Not Acknowledge the english voices. dextera’s voice is meant to be high and soft.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?

....he doesn’t speak!!! but when he does, it’s soft and hesitant, though he doesn’t stutter. he’s more prone to long pauses, but the sentences he decides to say come out with relative ease under normal circumstances.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?

he speaks pretty repetitively, like he’s turning over an idea several times in different ways. it might be an artistic feature of baroque more than dextera’s personal tic, but i think since he’s the main character he’s allowed to carry that distinctive feature.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?

if we go by the game, dextera is probably japanese, and probably therefore fluent in japanese, but we don’t actually know for certain. he was a religious scholar before the blaze, and due to the order of malkuth’s specific inclinations and evidence from the game’s aesthetics, i think he’s also comfortable in latin, ancient greek, and hebrew, both biblical and modern.

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?

nope!

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?

he really needs time to think. he’s the type to crumble under pressure, unless…

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?

the “unless” is related to this question. before the blaze, he was a crowd-facing member of the koriel. he was comfortable speaking in front of crowds and was able to command groups with nice, eloquent speeches. he wasn’t as talented or as charismatic as the archangel, but there was definitely a period between his childhood and the point the game takes place in that he was an accomplished public speaker. the apocalypse has completely scrambled his brain.



Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?

he’s book smart, and i think he’s fairly emotionally intelligent when he’s not all caught up in his own issues. unfortunately, he is not street smart at all, and everything he’s learned that people would put down to “common sense” was learned the hard way. usually with death, and explosions.

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?

he would prefer time to deliberate, but the circumstances he’s in force him to think on his feet. he’s not actually good at it, but he improves every time he dies. when he can sit back and plan, however, he’s not a complete idiot.

3. Describe the character’s thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?

he’s logical. not to say that he doesn’t occasionally follow intuition, but he also learns almost every time he follows said intuition that it was a bad idea. he needs to work things out in his mind as much as possible, but when he hits a road block and can’t see a practical way forward, he usually does something extreme to overcome whatever situation he’s gotten himself into. a very “all or nothing” type.

4. What kind of education has the character had?

a culty one. he’s basically only learned things that are directly relevant to the order of malkuth’s goal, and while that is more expansive than one might expect, it’s also incredibly specific. he would probably not be able to pass an elementary school history test, but he does have pretty advanced knowledge of the body and brain, as well as a great religious philosophy background.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?

he’s a religious scholar! he’s good with religion! but it’s more like religious philosophy, or religion as it relates to society and/or the individual. if it were up to him, however, i think he would prefer to know a lot about plants or animals. he seems intrigued by birds.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?

introvert, completely.

7. Describe the character’s temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?

he’s extremely melancholy. it’s pretty much his defining feature. people don’t want to be around him because he just radiates negativity. he’s sad, he’s anxious, he’s guilty, and all of this manifests pretty uncontrollably. he’s emotionally volatile as a result of the stress and uncertainty he’s under as well, and he’s quick to anger when he’s overwhelmed.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?

it depends a bit on the circumstances, but he’s largely more timid than anything. there are times when he’s suspicious, but suspicion never lingers for long, especially when it’s with a person instead of a situation. he prefers to give strangers the benefit of the doubt, though he’s also pretty sensitive about first impressions.

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?

react. he doesn’t know what he’s doing and wants to follow others’ lead, for good or for ill.

10. Which is his default: fight or flight?

flight. he’s just been forced into situations where that’s impossible, so he’s learned that fight is necessary.

11. Describe the character’s sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?

he has no real sense of humor… but i think in a perfect world, he’s got a dry, dark sense of humor. in the koriel, he didn’t seem above mocking others, but that was less humorous and more a display of power.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?

Oh Boy.

starting with the “canon” ones, over the years he has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria (back in 1999, when it was called gender identity disorder and was therefore considered A Disorder) and dissociative identity disorder in short stories by yonemitsu, but the most recent version of this story removed either diagnosis without any explanation. the gender dysphoria was only briefly assigned to him before being changed, but the dissociative identity disorder stuck around for several years until literally a few months ago.

i think rather than being explicit diagnoses, they speak to his identity issues and paint a picture of someone who doesn’t have a strong sense of self, and he deals with that Very Badly. he absolutely experiences some kind of subclinical but definitely pathological dependency on his older brother, and that has led to constant problems for his whole entire life, with a conga line of people taking the place of his older brother in his need to find someone to guide him.

13. What moments in this character’s life have defined him as a person?

absolutely the death of his brother. all his decisions have been made around the life and subsequent death of his older brother, and have led to lifelong attachment issues and depression. everything he does is in the name of recovering his older brother in some way and filling the hole that was left. there’s almost nothing to say about it because it’s so straightforward: his life is completely centered around his brother.

the other moment would be the dabar fusion, but even that was a choice made because he lost his brother. he likely would not have attempted to fuse with god had his brother not died and left him half a person.

14. What does he fear?

he fears being alone. of course ideally, he would not be alone because he has his brother, but on a broader scale he is scared to death of being forced to live with the emptiness that he suffers now.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations?

… sighs ...... he wants his brother back. by the end of the game, his goals have changed a little to be more robust and altruistic toward humanity, but making peace with his brother is his primary goal for the majority of the game.

16. What is something he doesn’t want anyone to find out about him?

in baroque itself, he’s in the unique and unfortunate position of everyone already knowing the worst fact about him: that he caused the dabar fusion that led to the end of the world. in aion teleos and any other games he’s in, he tries to keep this apocalyptic secret.



Relationships
1. Describe this character’s relationship with his parents.

none! he doesn’t know them. they don’t matter.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?

this is the big one. this is The Question.

dextera was born as the younger of a pair of conjoined twins.(don’t ask me how they can be younger/older, that’s just the terms they use!!!) and has adored his brother all his life. the only problem is that they had only one functioning heart, which was in dextera’s chest, and so they couldn’t be awake at the same time. dextera’s only communication with his brother was through letters they wrote to each other and their games of chess, played more or less one turn a day.

he felt that his brother was the only other person in the world like him, and although he appreciated the kindness of some of the doctors around him, he was completely fixated on his partially-fabricated relationship with his brother.

eventually, when his heart could no longer sustain them both, the decision was made to split them apart—effectively killing dextera’s older brother. dextera feels he didn’t protest enough (because he did want to live) and carries the guilt even now for “killing” him. the hole that’s been left in his heart because of the death of his brother is the motivating factor behind everything he does, and he’s got a very obviously unhealthy attachment to the concept of his brother, who actually disapproves of dextera’s death wish.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can’t stand?

nope!

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?

there’s an argument that he considers god and her offshoots, alice and eliza, part of his “family,” but he doesn’t think about it quite like that. while alice and eliza consider god their mother, and they were created from the fusion and subsequent separation of god and dextera, they aren’t his daughters. alice treats him more like a lover.

5. Who is/was the character’s best friend? How did they meet?

he doesn’t have one. his brother would have filled that role.

6. Does he have other close friends?

he doesn’t have “close” friends, but he’s on amicable terms with the baroquemonger and the coffin man.

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?

he has trouble, i think, mostly because of people’s reactions to him. it depends on how willing people are to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his silence/General Vibes.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?

family. (his brother)

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?

he is single! but the creator of baroque has talked about his inevitable marriage to the archangel.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?

SEE QUESTION 14.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?

i’m not sure that he’s ever had a crush as such, but the manga suggests an interest in alice. however, the manga also has alice a lot more present than she is in the game, and i think their relationship is a little different. “crush” also seems quite limiting as a term for the obsessive way he tends to think about people.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?

man....... i don’t know. he’s got unhealthy ideas about boundaries and personal responsibility so i think he really just wants someone who is nice to him and will also tell him he did nothing wrong. even if he doesn’t believe that.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?

no, no, and no.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?

SIGHS. his relationship with the archangel is so, so complicated, but i decided to put it here because it’s not that they’re in a relationship.

they’re mutually fixated on each other; the manga positions dextera as his right-hand man before the blaze, and even if he wasn’t that explicitly in the game, he is a member of the archangel’s kind of private inner circle. early supplemental material for baroque has the archangel being obsessed with dextera from when they were young, but they’re only a couple years apart so rather than grooming it’s just an obsession with dextera(‘s latent power).

this is cranked up to eleven after the blaze, when dextera loses his memories and gains the power of god, thereby becoming the perfect tool for the archangel’s plans, which sets the stage for dextera’s fucked up reciprocation. dextera is manipulated early on to think that following the archangel will abate his guilt. when nobody else in the world will explain anything or offer him another solution, he can’t help but listen to what the archangel tells him to do, and he follows orders despite the increasing disbelief in what the archangel is saying/planning to do. i could talk for paragraphs and paragraphs about the gradual shift in power between them, but although the archangel is definitely the major “villain” of baroque, i don’t think dextera ever hates him, even after he finds out that the archangel orchestrated a lot of what’s happened to him.

in the postgame, dextera is clearly full of pity/sympathy (both are sexy in different ways) for the archangel, and with the archangel’s plans utterly snuffed out, we see a man who is burned out and desperate for dextera’s acknowledgment because he has nothing else. and dextera gives it to him…

anyway tl;dr the archangel is completely obsessed with dextera and dextera is reliant on him in the early stages of the game and as he learns more he just kind of finds the archangel pitiful so they are never really rivals or enemies but their relationship is… erotic? rather than romantic.

15. What is the character’s sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?

we do know he is Attracted To Women, but the sexy woman that shows up when he’s in lust is very, uhh, fantasy pinup girl rather than grounded in any real sexual attraction. he’s a 1? I GUESS?

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?

it is not important to him. i think he gets horny! and i think he’s extremely attracted to the idea of sex, and would have sex if the opportunity presented itself, but i don’t think he would ever be satisfied of it because of his Miserably Empty Syndrome and would probably just give up on fucking another person.

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?

his turn-ons are canonically big beautiful breasts and long blonde hair. turn-offs are being mind controlled or being otherwise manipulated in some way. i also don’t think he likes pain very much… it all depends. so many things depend on so many other things.

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character’s astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?

NOPE. but he’s probably a gemini. you know…

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?

It’s Complicated! he grew up in the order of malkuth, which was a fringe religious group dedicated to finding and proving the existence of god, and then they did it. barring the archangel’s interference, dextera would have dedicated his life to protecting god’s physical body and ensuring that no harm came to her as she perpetuated the world. in that sense, religion has completely dictated every aspect of his life.

personally, i don’t think he has a strong connection to religion or spirituality as much as he has a connection to god herself and/or the role of god. i think when you discover that god does exist you sort of start to lose religion as an ideology and start to look at it more through the lens of a scientific framework, which is what the koriel were dedicated to. after the archangel assumed power, dextera’s role became more like a researcher than a member of the clergy, and i don’t think he’s deviated from that even after losing his memories.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?

n…o. i mean, not consciously, at least. i think he’s a pacifist after the blaze because he’s being run through a gauntlet of all human misery and doesn’t enjoy hurting things even when they hurt him, but he’s not so strongly devoted to that ideology that he wouldn’t crack under very slight pressure. he would also prefer not to hurt children, but like, again…

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?

he’s curious! it doesn’t bother him for people to believe different things, and since he’s always looking for ways to alleviate his suffering, he would probably like to learn anything that could help.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?

ok well… he doesn’t like guys that look fucked up. he doesn’t like weird monsters. this is not irrational because usually the weird monsters attack him.



Daily Life
1. What is the character’s financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?

there’s no money in the apocalypse! he’s broke!

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?

there’s also no social status in the apocalypse!! he was fairly well-regarded in the order of malkuth before the blaze, however. after the blaze, he’s a social outcast because he caused the apocalypse and the archangel is pretty insistent that he doesn’t receive too much help.

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?

no houses in the apocalypse… but i assume he had a nice little room in the neuro tower before everything got fucked up. i feel it was probably well-organized but remarkably impersonal due to the whole “no real identity” thing.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?

i do not believe he’s ever really left the order of malkuth’s walls, and has not ever had to spend money on anything.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?

i think being in a cult is not something he has ever consciously “enjoyed,” just because he doesn’t… know anything else.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?

HE LIKES CHESS!!!! that’s his one singular interest and hobby. he likes to play chess, and even after he loses his memories, i think he has a fondness for the peaceful, step-by-step progression of the game. he’s also very good at it!

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?

when he’s not in survival mode, i think he eats pretty lightly but regularly. when he is in survival mode, he’ll put fucking anything in his body and just deal with whatever happens to him. if it were all his choice, though, he’d prefer to simply eat some vegetables… some fruits…



Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:

1. Color? blue
2. Smell? water
3. Time of day? high noon
4. Season? summer
5. Book? ???
6. Music? ??????
7. Place? ??????????????
8. Substance? what does this mean. goop. mi…
9. Plant? a very tiny sprout growing up from cracked concrete
10. Animal? a bird…



END
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