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OOC INFORMATION
Name: Alex
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
cancerously, discord cancerously#6043
Other Characters: N/A
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Taako Taaco
Age: ~225, though hasn't aged in over 100 years. Due to elf heritage, appears mid 20s.
Canon: The Adventure Zone: Balance
Canon Point: Episode 69, after the world is saved but before the timeskip to the wedding.
Character Information: Here is his wiki page, but since he's a main character and effectively in every episode (and that wiki isn't very descriptive), I'd also think it helpful to include the arc reference guide and transcripts of the episodes since he's from a podcast and an audio medium will take a long-ass time to get through.
Personality: Taako is complicated, mostly by his own design. He frequently thinks one thing and does another, says one thing and means another, and does one thing with intent to do something completely different. Mostly it boils down to the fact that Taako intentionally keeps himself an enigma to throw others off his trail- including how he thinks about himself, to protect himself from getting hurt.
On the outside, Taako keeps himself to a rather scripted and specific part of what's the most fun and what he wants others to know about him. Primarily Taako does whatever he thinks will be funniest; he'll make jokes, play pranks, and outright insult people if the opportunity is presented. It's often nothing personal- if it's funny, it flies (a la Roger Rabbit) even if it comes slightly at his own expense. Further on in his canon, he's even gone so far with certain people like Leon the Artificer that Leon won't even be in the same room as him after a long-running joke about a fake inability to put a coin in a slot. He can often be greedy, and has been known to hoard money and treasures, going so far as to literally steal the shoes off a corpse's feet and pocketing a significant amount of silverware just because of it's perceived value. He's even been seen to take items without a necessary money value just because he enjoys them, like asking Paloma if he can have one of her crystals for no other reason than 'he wants it'. He often outwardly downplays his own intelligence (claiming to be just a "simple idiot wizard") while talking up his magical skill, primarily to keep people on their toes and to stop them from truly knowing anything about him. While he's not a coward, he frequently prefers to use magic to charm his way out of issues to avoid conflict, and has an affinity for money and power, going out of his way to acquire those things for his personal gain. He's also plenty vain, caring a lot about his appearance and even burning limited magic just to keep himself looking flawless. Ultimately, his outward persona is a contradiction if anyone looks too close- he wants to be thought of as strong, but able to be underestimated. Adored, but not touched. Memorable, but not attached. Luckily, if his plan works, no one can see him close enough to notice those inconsistencies.
That said, internally it becomes a different story. Taako's pushing off of others and aloof nature is due primarily to the fact that he doesn't care too little- he cares too much. Taako's upbringing was rough to say the least- after being passed around a variety of family, he found himself out on the streets with just his sister Lup for almost a hundred years, clawing their way up from nothing. This action of only getting affection from others when he has something useful to contribute or do bleeds roughly into what happens with the IPRE's mission, and the way they traverse worlds. After cursing a world to war just to escape the fight of the Hunger they've endured for a hundred years, Taako speaks to Barry, one of the few people he trusts, about his position on the matter:
Taako knows, when he allows himself to be this self-aware, that if he allows himself to truly feel he'll be completely overwhelmed. So he keeps himself guarded instead of processing the emotion or existence laid out in front of him.
It's also important to note that a huge part of Taako's identity is that he considers himself one half of a whole- the other being his twin. While the elves have different ways of dealing with things, Taako anchors himself to her more than she does to him, and places more value on himself when they're together. While both of the elves make connections within the IPRE, Lup pulls herself to citizens of the world and shows empathy for the crewmates much earlier than Taako does (such as her actions on robot planet and her willingness to go off alone for months at a time on mushroom planet), and finds a romantic bond strong enough to become undead- something that scares Taako horribly enough not to follow her. In addition, he considers himself incomplete without her in his life; when he regains his memories of her after losing them for a long period, his statement is clearly "you took everything from me". He considers the person he is without her to be worse, lacking the moral compass she provides as well as the security that comes with knowing he's ever been loved, and the grudge he keeps against the one that took it from him lasts a very, very long time.
However, his personality shines distinctly from her in ways best described by their magical proclivities. While Lup's specialization is evocation, Taako's is transmutation. While he does take pride into changing his body into animals and warping himself into different planes, it's ironically not him he's interested in changing. Lup prefers to steamroll through the world and break what doesn't bend- Taako, on the other hand, will move the world until it suits his needs. Where Lup is fire, Taako is water; she'll blast a hole, but he'll wear away the path until it's exactly the road he wanted it to be in the first place.
While this more private side of Taako doesn't often appear externally, those who work his way into his inner circle are held close to his heart and his willingness to protect them shows. For instance, despite sitting back while Magnus and Merle get attacked at the beginning of the Crystal Kingdom arc, when Magnus is knocked out of his body near the end of Suffering Game, Taako doesn't even hesitate to throw his soul from his body in an attempt to save him. Another example would be Taako initially stealing Angus McDonald's (a 12 year old's) silver set. He had no interest in giving it back, but as soon as Angus mentions that his Grandfather will be incredibly mad at him, he immediately gave him a few pieces of it back and offers to train him in magic later on. When he does open up of his own willingness, it is hesitant and sudden, such as his admission to Kravitz during their date about his abandonment issues ("I'm afraid no one else will have me"), and multiple times in descriptive flavor text about his fear of being alone. He's very adamant that he isn't ashamed of his flaws, but that they're "nobody's business", and sometimes it seems like the sudden way he approaches confessions is to get it out before he stops himself.
Ultimately, neither of these sides of him are lies- he enjoys keeping people away to adore him and making connections with those he deems to matter, loves to keep things for himself while sharing everything with the few people closest to him, and keeps himself tied to Lup while still being very much his own person. He wants to be an enigma even to himself- if even he doesn't know where his true self lies, there's nothing that can really hurt him, and that's the only way he knows he'll survive.
5-10 Key Character Traits: Smart, Clever, Sneaky, Charismatic, Chaotic, Tricky, Liar, Aloof, Selfish
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Fits please!
Opt-Outs:Simulacrum, Arachne, Goblin, Slime, Gargoyle, Troll Taako was previously sorted as a Naga!
Roleplay Sample: a more recent TDM!
Name: Alex
Contact:
Other Characters: N/A
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Taako Taaco
Age: ~225, though hasn't aged in over 100 years. Due to elf heritage, appears mid 20s.
Canon: The Adventure Zone: Balance
Canon Point: Episode 69, after the world is saved but before the timeskip to the wedding.
Character Information: Here is his wiki page, but since he's a main character and effectively in every episode (and that wiki isn't very descriptive), I'd also think it helpful to include the arc reference guide and transcripts of the episodes since he's from a podcast and an audio medium will take a long-ass time to get through.
Personality: Taako is complicated, mostly by his own design. He frequently thinks one thing and does another, says one thing and means another, and does one thing with intent to do something completely different. Mostly it boils down to the fact that Taako intentionally keeps himself an enigma to throw others off his trail- including how he thinks about himself, to protect himself from getting hurt.
On the outside, Taako keeps himself to a rather scripted and specific part of what's the most fun and what he wants others to know about him. Primarily Taako does whatever he thinks will be funniest; he'll make jokes, play pranks, and outright insult people if the opportunity is presented. It's often nothing personal- if it's funny, it flies (a la Roger Rabbit) even if it comes slightly at his own expense. Further on in his canon, he's even gone so far with certain people like Leon the Artificer that Leon won't even be in the same room as him after a long-running joke about a fake inability to put a coin in a slot. He can often be greedy, and has been known to hoard money and treasures, going so far as to literally steal the shoes off a corpse's feet and pocketing a significant amount of silverware just because of it's perceived value. He's even been seen to take items without a necessary money value just because he enjoys them, like asking Paloma if he can have one of her crystals for no other reason than 'he wants it'. He often outwardly downplays his own intelligence (claiming to be just a "simple idiot wizard") while talking up his magical skill, primarily to keep people on their toes and to stop them from truly knowing anything about him. While he's not a coward, he frequently prefers to use magic to charm his way out of issues to avoid conflict, and has an affinity for money and power, going out of his way to acquire those things for his personal gain. He's also plenty vain, caring a lot about his appearance and even burning limited magic just to keep himself looking flawless. Ultimately, his outward persona is a contradiction if anyone looks too close- he wants to be thought of as strong, but able to be underestimated. Adored, but not touched. Memorable, but not attached. Luckily, if his plan works, no one can see him close enough to notice those inconsistencies.
That said, internally it becomes a different story. Taako's pushing off of others and aloof nature is due primarily to the fact that he doesn't care too little- he cares too much. Taako's upbringing was rough to say the least- after being passed around a variety of family, he found himself out on the streets with just his sister Lup for almost a hundred years, clawing their way up from nothing. This action of only getting affection from others when he has something useful to contribute or do bleeds roughly into what happens with the IPRE's mission, and the way they traverse worlds. After cursing a world to war just to escape the fight of the Hunger they've endured for a hundred years, Taako speaks to Barry, one of the few people he trusts, about his position on the matter:
Taako: You know what’s kinda fucking me up?
Barry: What’s that, Taako? Speaking personally, I would assume a lot of stuff.
Taako: Yeah, it’s weird though. We traveled around for a hundred years, and… didn’t really have a place to call ours. And… now that we’re stuck here… I can’t stop feeling like, we’re technically homeless. Like, think about it for a second. We’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop for so long, over a year now. And we live on a spaceship? It’s still really weird to me (...) I don’t know, it just, seems weird.
Barry: No, I know what you’re talkin’ about, and, you know, we talked about, it’s- it’s not right for us to really live in that world until… I don't know, we see how things play out. I would feel guilty being a citizen in a world that I… poisoned. But like, can I speak frankly? I- You’re my family, Taako, can I speak frankly? I can’t believe that’s what you’re worried about right now.
Taako: Listen, I’m just trying to get by, man. Thanks for the shade, I guess. This has been great. Thanks.
Barry: I don’t mean to, it’s just like… I’m struggling with it too, and I don’t know how- I don’t know how you shut yourself off from that.
Taako: We- I mean- I’m sorry, but I’ve been living a hundred years with me and one year with millions of people, interchangeable. I guess I just got to a point where… I was the one that I could focus on, because, everybody else that I ever met, aside from the six of you, were dust. They were just talking dust, okay, so I started worrying a lot more about me, because what was the fuckin’ point?
Taako knows, when he allows himself to be this self-aware, that if he allows himself to truly feel he'll be completely overwhelmed. So he keeps himself guarded instead of processing the emotion or existence laid out in front of him.
It's also important to note that a huge part of Taako's identity is that he considers himself one half of a whole- the other being his twin. While the elves have different ways of dealing with things, Taako anchors himself to her more than she does to him, and places more value on himself when they're together. While both of the elves make connections within the IPRE, Lup pulls herself to citizens of the world and shows empathy for the crewmates much earlier than Taako does (such as her actions on robot planet and her willingness to go off alone for months at a time on mushroom planet), and finds a romantic bond strong enough to become undead- something that scares Taako horribly enough not to follow her. In addition, he considers himself incomplete without her in his life; when he regains his memories of her after losing them for a long period, his statement is clearly "you took everything from me". He considers the person he is without her to be worse, lacking the moral compass she provides as well as the security that comes with knowing he's ever been loved, and the grudge he keeps against the one that took it from him lasts a very, very long time.
However, his personality shines distinctly from her in ways best described by their magical proclivities. While Lup's specialization is evocation, Taako's is transmutation. While he does take pride into changing his body into animals and warping himself into different planes, it's ironically not him he's interested in changing. Lup prefers to steamroll through the world and break what doesn't bend- Taako, on the other hand, will move the world until it suits his needs. Where Lup is fire, Taako is water; she'll blast a hole, but he'll wear away the path until it's exactly the road he wanted it to be in the first place.
While this more private side of Taako doesn't often appear externally, those who work his way into his inner circle are held close to his heart and his willingness to protect them shows. For instance, despite sitting back while Magnus and Merle get attacked at the beginning of the Crystal Kingdom arc, when Magnus is knocked out of his body near the end of Suffering Game, Taako doesn't even hesitate to throw his soul from his body in an attempt to save him. Another example would be Taako initially stealing Angus McDonald's (a 12 year old's) silver set. He had no interest in giving it back, but as soon as Angus mentions that his Grandfather will be incredibly mad at him, he immediately gave him a few pieces of it back and offers to train him in magic later on. When he does open up of his own willingness, it is hesitant and sudden, such as his admission to Kravitz during their date about his abandonment issues ("I'm afraid no one else will have me"), and multiple times in descriptive flavor text about his fear of being alone. He's very adamant that he isn't ashamed of his flaws, but that they're "nobody's business", and sometimes it seems like the sudden way he approaches confessions is to get it out before he stops himself.
Ultimately, neither of these sides of him are lies- he enjoys keeping people away to adore him and making connections with those he deems to matter, loves to keep things for himself while sharing everything with the few people closest to him, and keeps himself tied to Lup while still being very much his own person. He wants to be an enigma even to himself- if even he doesn't know where his true self lies, there's nothing that can really hurt him, and that's the only way he knows he'll survive.
5-10 Key Character Traits: Smart, Clever, Sneaky, Charismatic, Chaotic, Tricky, Liar, Aloof, Selfish
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Fits please!
Opt-Outs:
Roleplay Sample: a more recent TDM!