Name: Hydok Personal Journal:hydok Contact Info:hydok, AIM: swarmqueenhydok Other Characters Played: N/A Preferred Housing: Hastings 835, permission has been granted
Character Name: Van Hohenheim
Character Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood anime)
Character Age: ~18
Background:Wiki, looking at "Manga/2009 anime". Canonpoint is slightly after his first conversation with Homunculus, after he's had some training but before he starts his intensive alchemy education.
Personality: Slave number 23 (also known as Van Hohenheim) is the boy who will, in several hundred years, become the father of Edward and Alphonse Elric.
He's a fairly passive sort of person, much more willing to just go with the flow than try and change things. When he's first introduced, he's a slave doing basic manual labor, and more than content to stay in that position. He's not concerned with any sort of education, whether expanding his vocabulary or learning to read or write, because he's a slave, and slaves don't need that sort of thing. It's probably worth a note here that apparently in Xerxes, a form of debt bondage was the norm, with slaves working for a small amount of pay, which they could save up to buy their freedom. So it would be advantageous for a slave to learn how to read and write, if only to increase their ability to earn their freedom (for example, later in canon 23 teaches other slaves basic literacy, and the comment is made that now that they know how to read, their masters can't cheat them out of their pay anymore). So while education would be beneficial, it's not necessary (or easy to come by), doesn't have obvious rewards, and so 23's not interested.
That's not to say that he doesn't absolutely jump at the chance to better his station in life when he's given the opportunity, it just has to practically fall into his lap, with all the benefits laid out for him to see. He's just not willing to take risks or make any sort of effort without a clear reward.
One of the most striking ways this trait shows itself is in the first few panels of his introduction. He barely bats an eye at an amorphous blob in a chemistry flask suddenly striking up a conversation with him, because, hey, it's just how things are, and there's no benefit in getting thrown off by something as minor as that.
Admittedly, he's not calm all the time. He's got a fairly quick temper, and when he's not apathetic, he's annoyed. Van's even got a flaily rage trigger involving his intelligence (calling him dumb will pretty much get the same reaction as calling Ed short, though with more flailing and less eloquence). Regarding that particular aspect, he's not actually stupid, just completely uneducated. He's barely literate, has a very limited vocabulary, and doesn't have any experience with any kind of intellectual work. However, he does prove himself to be a very fast learner (in everything he's taught), and a decent teacher.
He's fairly trusting, and that eventually proves to be a major problem, since he didn't realize that his close friend and teacher (the aforementioned amorphous blob in a flask, Homunculus) was plotting to destroy their entire country and turn himself (and Van) into immortal near-gods until after it happened, and Homunculus explained what he'd done.
Abilities: He has the ability to perform alchemy, the ability to manipulate and transfigure matter using a combination of chemistry and runes that harness energy from the earth.
While alchemy has some connection to innate ability, it's also a skill that needs a lot of training, which (at this point in canon), 23 doesn't have. The little seen in canon of alchemy in Xerxes seems to indicate that it uses more direct chemical reactions and fewer runes and circles than the version used in Amestris, and it's probably closer in base principles to Alkehestry, but that's neither here nor there.
Van Hohenheim | Fullmetal Alchemist | Not reserved
Personal Journal:
Contact Info:
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Housing: Hastings 835, permission has been granted
Character Name: Van Hohenheim
Character Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood anime)
Character Age: ~18
Background: Wiki, looking at "Manga/2009 anime". Canonpoint is slightly after his first conversation with Homunculus, after he's had some training but before he starts his intensive alchemy education.
Personality: Slave number 23 (also known as Van Hohenheim) is the boy who will, in several hundred years, become the father of Edward and Alphonse Elric.
He's a fairly passive sort of person, much more willing to just go with the flow than try and change things. When he's first introduced, he's a slave doing basic manual labor, and more than content to stay in that position. He's not concerned with any sort of education, whether expanding his vocabulary or learning to read or write, because he's a slave, and slaves don't need that sort of thing. It's probably worth a note here that apparently in Xerxes, a form of debt bondage was the norm, with slaves working for a small amount of pay, which they could save up to buy their freedom. So it would be advantageous for a slave to learn how to read and write, if only to increase their ability to earn their freedom (for example, later in canon 23 teaches other slaves basic literacy, and the comment is made that now that they know how to read, their masters can't cheat them out of their pay anymore). So while education would be beneficial, it's not necessary (or easy to come by), doesn't have obvious rewards, and so 23's not interested.
That's not to say that he doesn't absolutely jump at the chance to better his station in life when he's given the opportunity, it just has to practically fall into his lap, with all the benefits laid out for him to see. He's just not willing to take risks or make any sort of effort without a clear reward.
One of the most striking ways this trait shows itself is in the first few panels of his introduction. He barely bats an eye at an amorphous blob in a chemistry flask suddenly striking up a conversation with him, because, hey, it's just how things are, and there's no benefit in getting thrown off by something as minor as that.
Admittedly, he's not calm all the time. He's got a fairly quick temper, and when he's not apathetic, he's annoyed. Van's even got a flaily rage trigger involving his intelligence (calling him dumb will pretty much get the same reaction as calling Ed short, though with more flailing and less eloquence). Regarding that particular aspect, he's not actually stupid, just completely uneducated. He's barely literate, has a very limited vocabulary, and doesn't have any experience with any kind of intellectual work. However, he does prove himself to be a very fast learner (in everything he's taught), and a decent teacher.
He's fairly trusting, and that eventually proves to be a major problem, since he didn't realize that his close friend and teacher (the aforementioned amorphous blob in a flask, Homunculus) was plotting to destroy their entire country and turn himself (and Van) into immortal near-gods until after it happened, and Homunculus explained what he'd done.
Abilities: He has the ability to perform alchemy, the ability to manipulate and transfigure matter using a combination of chemistry and runes that harness energy from the earth.
While alchemy has some connection to innate ability, it's also a skill that needs a lot of training, which (at this point in canon), 23 doesn't have. The little seen in canon of alchemy in Xerxes seems to indicate that it uses more direct chemical reactions and fewer runes and circles than the version used in Amestris, and it's probably closer in base principles to Alkehestry, but that's neither here nor there.
Sample Entry: Testrun post