Player name: Jess
Contact info: Firebenderjess for AIM and Skype and Plurk
Other characters currently played: Apping Jade Chan

Character name: Allen Ridgeley
Age: 25 (22 at death)
Canon: Xenosaga (AU)
Canonpoint: After Shion learns the truth about the Gnosis and summons Abel's Ark.

Background:
Canon: Series background and Allen's history.

AU: This Allen's early life went more or less exactly as canon: he was the son of a wealthy CEO, decided to follow his own path instead of the family business to go to technical school, graduated from Bormeo with top grades, was hired by Vector Industries straight out of college and quickly fell in love with the Jr. Chief of his Division, only to find out she was engaged to the Chief. It wasn't until a year after he joined Vector that his history deviated in any tangible way from canon.

On that day, a large group of U-TIC soldiers invaded the lab where Allen was working and activated the KOS-MOS Archetype, which went berserk. In most versions of this event, Allen was not present, instead attending a business meeting, and Kevin Winnicot was murdered by the Archetype. This time, however, the meeting was delayed and Allen, seeing the Archetype targeting his beloved's fiance, grabbed a fallen soldier's gun and started firing on the berserk android. He was successful in drawing her attention away from Kevin, but was no more a match himself than Kevin would have been. The Archetype killed him, ramming her hand straight through his chest, but was destroyed before she could return to finish Kevin.

In most cases, death would be the end of the story. However, Allen in all incarnations has a rare potential that, in most versions of events, goes unrealized. This time, it did not. Upon Allen's death, the CEO of Vector and Guardian of the Lower Domain, Wilhelm, approached his not yet dissipated consciousness and made him an offer: a return to some semblance of life, unimaginable power and, most importantly to Allen, the opportunity to keep Shion safe in exchange for his aid in bringing about the Eternal Recurrence, rescuing the universe from the looming threat of dissipation by reversing time and bringing the universe back to a point as close to its very beginning as was possible, and a promise that he would only reveal his identity to those who knew him to be dead until the appropriate time. Allen agreed and was thus reborn as a Testament, a being of pure consciousness that could still interact with the living and, in fact, wielded a great amount of power over physical space and the perceptions of mortals. Along with this pact came knowledge that the offer had been meant for Kevin, who had arranged the incident to bring about his own death.

Skip three years later, time mostly spent overseeing the movement of Wilhelm's pawns, and Allen is given a new project: T-Elos. Created from the body of Mary Magdeline, she was to replace KOS-MOS as the vessel of Mary's consciousness. As the director of the T-Elos project, Allen assumed the alias of Justin Partridge, a secretive engineer working for Vector. T-Elos outperformed KOS-MOS in every way, as in canon, and this time “Justin” brought the news of KOS-MOS being scrapped to Kevin. The next day, he visited a recreation of Old Miltia. There he witnessed Shion learn the truth of the appearance of the Gnosis: that it had been the result of her own anguish as a child. With both her emotions and those of her younger self in a state of extreme despair, her power went out of control once again, this time calling forth a manifestation of U-DO known as Abel's Ark.

Though Allen knew it was now time for him to step in and tell her what she needed to know to move forward, all that was on his mind was how much he hated watching her suffer.

Personality: At first glance in canon, Allen seems to be that perfectly generic guy who will never do anything important. When not actively drawing attention to himself, he's easy to overlook and prefers a quiet lifestyle. When he's forced out of his element, his first reaction is usually to whine and complain while still allowing himself to be dragged around, seemingly lacking the spine to actually refuse to get involved. He constantly worries about what his friends are getting themselves into, and generally just comes across as high strung.

This is, in fact, not the case. While he is generally high strung when he's nervous, his reluctance to speak up for his own desires isn't out of timidness, but rather because he's too nice. He cares deeply for his friends, enough that, despite several opportunities to hop off the crazy train and go back to a normal life, he remained on board until the end and then got on again when his friends needed him. He has repeatedly shown that his spastic nature in unexpected situations quickly gives way to a cool head and, while not necessarily confident, stubborn assurance when people are counting on him. Taken right out of a civilian life, he was able to take the death of someone who had been trying to protect them with dignity and pragmatism, acknowledging that it was a horrible thing while at the same time convincing his panicking boss that they needed to use the opening provided by his death to escape, or else it would mean nothing.

In his element, Allen is a very different person. Though modest, he is confident in his skills and, though frequently teased, is a respected leader within his field. He's always well prepared for likely situations, although he can sometimes go overboard with responsibility, as evidenced by the fact that he carries stimulants whose most likely purpose are to keep him awake well past when he would have normally fallen asleep in order to finish projects. Although he is capable of enjoying a vacation, he feels a need to pick up any and all of his subordinates' or even superiors' slack and personally take it on himself to make up for any deficiencies in his division's output.

Allen's biggest flaw is actually his inability to hang his friends out to dry. Although he's a largely ordinary civilian with no proper combat experience, he's willing to follow his friends and especially the woman he loves into dangerous situations that even trained soldiers might balk at for the sake of providing a voice of reason and whatever of his skills end up applicable. Although this has repeatedly put him in situations where he feared for his life, he hasn't once ignored a chance to be of use and has willingly entered combat heavy situations for the one he loves. The most glaring example of his kindness being to his detriment, however, is in dealing with that very loved one. Although he had many chances to tell her, his fear of opening wounds left by the death of her fiance left him feeling like his emotions would be too much of a burden for her. This tendency to place his own desires after others often makes him a perfect example of nice guys finish last.

Unlike most other nice guys who get trampled on, however, Allen can and will say enough is enough if something personally offends him. While he's willing to put himself in danger for his friends, he is also willing to stand up to them for his morals and even give passionate, heart wrenching speeches about his beliefs. Like all of his friends, he can be incredibly stubborn when he sets his mind to something and is more or less impossible to dissuade from his choices by any means short of death, even if it means calling a nigh-omnipotent enemy a coward to his face to make his point.

However, being a Testament has changed him to some degree. The transformation in and of itself has left him feeling disconnected with humanity. Although it would be easy for him to create a new identity and live a normal life when not busy with his duties, he refrains out of the belief that he no longer has a place among the living. Even when doing so to fulfill his responsibilities as a Testament, he remained distant from his new coworkers, not uncaring yet still a presence that seemed only interested in his work, where he otherwise would have treated a team like friends.

Even further, he does not believe he has a say in humanity's future, as he is no longer one of them. This is why, despite his hatred of what he has to do to enable Recurrence, he swallows his resentment and does his job. Recurrence must be an option before humanity, a path those who still exist in the physical domain can either choose or defy. Even later, when he will be interacting directly with Shion to inform her of what everything has been leading to, he will present it neutrally, it isn't his place to try to sway her opinion. This attitude is also why his wish is passively voiced: though born out of a desire to change things, his wish is only to present an option beyond activating Zarathustra or just accepting the inevitable destruction of the universe.

This laid the foundation for his time as a Testament to change him. Inevitably, being so thoroughly immersed in the strange while excluding himself from the mundane have reversed his comfort zones. Very little can jar him in terms of danger or the seemingly impossible, but he's forgotten, in a way, how to deal with people on a purely social level. When faced with such a situation that isn't simply an act to get the other party to do what he wants, he's quick to turn awkward and nervous, stuttering and second guessing his words in ways he never does when acting as Wilhelm's representative. It's not fear, precisely, so much as an utter uncertainty when it comes to interacting with normal people.

When he's comfortable with a person, or at the very least used to their presence, a difference in his general attitude shows. Having spent large amounts of time in the company of abrasive and aggressive sorts, his tendencies toward being too nice to others have been trained out of him. Where he would have bitten his tongue on his more sarcastic thoughts in the past, his new habit is to respond to snark in kind. While it started as a defense mechanism to keep those aggressive types from harassing him into a corner, he's found that speaking his mind has left him feeling more comfortable with himself and those thoughts he used to hide from.

There is, however, a darker side to the imprint his job has left on his psyche. Where before he was reluctant to hurt others unless they tried to hurt someone first, it's become impossible to turn a blind eye to the lives sacrificed by Recurrence, especially as he spent two years as the only Testament that hadn't simply taken the deal for the power and immortality it offered. Often he has had to either kill people or facilitate destruction in order to keep things moving as they should. This has bred a form of rationalization, a willingness to get his hands dirty so long as he knows it's to the benefit of the world at large. It's not without regret, but he's developed a tendency to look at the bigger picture and use it to convince himself to follow orders that his gut reaction to is outrage and disgust. But even so, his loyalty is intact. Should it come down to it, he will always side with the people he cares about, regardless of what it means for him.
Wish: “I wish it didn't have to be this way.” An ambitious wish, Allen wants a third option that doesn't require sacrificing either Shion's happiness or humanity's survival. He wants to see the universe protected, without driving Shion to the point of resetting the entire universe. As this would require restructuring reality in a way very similar to Madoka's wish, the Incubators will be granting it in an unconventional way: he will be given knowledge of the canon timeline, wherein Shion rejected the idea of Recurrence and chose to forge a new path, and informed that this will be the reality created when Zarathustra activates. To ensure the Recurrence occurs, a duplicate of Allen will be created to carry out his duties as a Testament.

In terms of powers granted, this is a wish born from a desire to protect everything, granted due to another version of him enduring immense pain and fighting through injuries that should have been crippling. As such, his body will be much more durable than those of other Magi, able to endure blows that would incapacitate others. A mortal blow is a mortal blow, however, and anything that manages to pierce his defense to damage a vital organ will still kill his new body.

Power: Allen wants to shield his loved ones from pain, even if it means taking it on as his own. His power will be the most literal interpretation of this: he'll be able to heal others with a touch, but he will feel the pain of any injury he repairs.

Weapon: Benzer Ace: a high tech crossbow configured to fire bolts of the user's energy rather than physical ammunition. At the beginning, these bolts will do no more damage than a normal crossbow, but they might be upgraded with later powers.

Sample: The sunlight, sea breeze, even the sand beneath Allen's legs felt nice as he sat on the beach, staring out over the ocean. But after three years of being immaterial, unable to feel anything from the physical world, they also felt strange. Was he really alive again? Was such a thing even possible? As if the line between 'possible' and 'impossible' even really existed. Just three years ago he would've thought it impossible for someone to die but still exist, short of transformation into a cyborg, so was it so strange to think someone could come back from the dead completely?

The bigger question was whether or not he'd done the right thing by making his wish. It had let the humanity of the next Recurrence attempt their own path, a third option between giving up on the future of the universe and giving up on reality as a whole, but he couldn't tell if humanity would succeed or not. He should've been more careful with the wording of his wish, made sure the new option would be successful, but it was too late for that now.

“It's not like I'm going to get a chance to re-do the wish. But...maybe I'm just worrying too much?”

He leaned back as he muttered to himself, burying his hands in the cool sand. He couldn't help worrying, really. After everything that had led up to this, the history of the universe twice over and the suffering of countless people across two timelines, he couldn't stand the thought that it might come to nothing. Even the knowledge that another version of him—a version that was still alive, still human—had managed to win Shion's heart was only a small comfort. She'd still suffered so much, after all, and his knowledge stopped short of telling him if she'd ever truly recover from it.

“Ugh...why couldn't the vision have given me the rest of the story? You'd think he'd at least let me know how my wish turned out...unless he's some sort of magical lawyer or something.” Now that was a scary thought. “But maybe I can ask him about it if he ever shows back up. I mean, it's not like he'd have any reason to keep it from me, is it? Then again, he wasn't very helpful when I was asking about these Soul Gem things, either. I'm starting to think he's one of those people who considers it his job to be as frustratingly vague as possible...I guess he fits in with the rest of the company I've been keeping lately.”

Absurd godmode ahead! Allen is ridiculously powerful thanks to space and mind affecting powers, so I need to know what you're cool with and what he can't/shouldn't do.

<b>1. He can mess with people's minds to affect their perceptions. This essentially translates to hyper-realistic illusions with no real tell. Can he control your character's senses in this way?</b> <b>1a. If he can't, what's blocking it?</b> <b>2. If pushed, it's entirely likely that he'll try to use telekinesis to defend himself or otherwise fend someone off. May he do this to your character?</b> <b>3. He has a tendency to wander around invisibly and intangibly when he wants to be left alone and to turn invisible or intangible when he feels threatened. Can your character see/affect spirits in any way?</b> <b>4. Teleportation. Unlikely, but is there anything about your character that prevents them from being teleported? Alternately, can they anchor him so he can't pop off to the other side of the tower?</b> <b>5. It's vague, but canon hints that Testaments have some ability to read a character's will to find out what motivates them. Can he do this to your character?</b> <b>5a. If yes, what is their primary motivating emotion?</b> <b>5b. If no, why not?</b> <b>6. Tying into his ability to manipulate senses, does your character have any extra senses he'd notice?</b> <b>7. Anything else you think is worth mentioning?</b>

Even nerfed, Allen has a few powers that might be considered godmoding or might work differently on certain characters, so I'd appreciate it if everyone who tags him would answer the following questions:

1) May he use illusions on you? It's a powerful mental affect that lets him control all human senses, but if your character has strong enough mental blocks/you'd just prefer he didn't use them, he won't.

2) May he communicate telepathically with your character? Again, he's pretty powerful, but strong enough mental shields could keep him out.

3) Status effects. This will most likely only come up if he has reason to fight, but if he does, it's definitely going to be a question. The two most likely to be affected by character weirdness are poison and magic/'magic' sealing. Will these work?