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Player;
Character;
CHARACTER NAME: Illumi Zoldyck
AGE: 24
CANON: Hunter x Hunter
CANON POINT: Episode 146. In the middle of confronting two of his younger siblings, Killua and Alluka, Illumi is teleported away by Alluka’s abilities - his canon point would be the moment this teleportation takes place.
BACKGROUND/HISTORY:
Born as the first son in an infamous family of assassins, Illumi was thrust into a life of killing. The Zoldycks train their children to be assassins from birth— and thus, most of his childhood was spent learning to endure various types of torture, building immunity to lethal poisons, and most importantly, learning how to most efficiently kill someone. As his younger siblings were born, Illumi took a hand in training them, as well, meaning that he grew up doling out this kind of torture with little remorse. He eventually developed an obsession over protecting one of his younger brothers, Killua, and at one point implanted a needle into Killua’s brain, which subtly manipulated Killua to always flee from battles that he didn’t feel that he could win. As an adult, Illumi stepped into his assassin work, but more importantly, continued to monitor Killua’s progress in his training. Following Killua’s decision to run away from home, Illumi was sent by their mother to watch over him. He followed Killua to the 287th Hunter’s Exam, where he competed in disguise and under an alias to avoid being recognized by Killua. In the exam’s final phase, he revealed himself to his brother, and coldly manipulated him into returning to the Zoldyck manor, stating that it was pointless for Killua to pursue anything other than a life as an assassin— including trying to make friends.
Following Killua’s second escape from the Zoldyck household, Illumi later took a contracted hit from the Phantom Troupe, a world famous band of thieves, to kill ten of the most powerful mafia bosses in the world. However, in a display of the ease with which he can change sides, just hours after killing these ten bosses, Illumi aided his only ally, Hisoka, in his (failed) attempt to kill the Phantom Troupe’s leader.
Months later, Illumi heard that Killua’s close friend Gon was on the verge of death. With the knowledge that only the wish-granting power of his younger sister, Alluka, might heal Gon, Illumi embarked on a no-holds-barred mission to either 1) kill Alluka, or 2) make sure that Killua would use her power in a safe way. Under the impression that the price of using Alluka’s ability to heal Gon may be the lives of the entire Zoldyck family, Illumi killed dozens of other Hunters and civilians in his chase, even going as far as to offer his own life to ensure Killua wouldn’t use Alluka’s power recklessly. When Killua eventually proved that Alluka’s ability would cause no harm to the family, instead of backing off, Illumi then became obsessed with putting Alluka’s ability under his control. Upon witnessing the reality-defying strength of Alluka’s wish-granting ability as she healed Gon, Illumi stated that he wanted her power for himself “above all else.” He then confronted Killua and Alluka, demanding to control the two of them, which resulted in Killua wishing for Illumi to be teleported away to the Zoldyck family manor.
PREVIOUS GAME HISTORY: N/A
PERSONALITY:
Illumi’s primary strength is that he is super unbothered. Even when under great pressure, or when being directly provoked, he maintains a detached air - and this mental fortitude makes it exceedingly difficult to rile him up. He is capable of staying calm in the most extreme of situations, making him a valuable ally and cooperator.
However, when it comes to taking into consideration the thoughts and feelings of others, Illumi is someone who largely elects to do neither. This is because when Illumi thinks, he thinks first of himself and what will benefit him. He generally acts only in his own interest— regardless of law and how others may think of him in turn. If he feels something is necessary, he’ll do it, even if it goes against social order or law - up to and including killing innocent people. This disregard for others is a crucial weakness, as it tends to paint him as a heartless and dangerous force.
This ruthlessness, while cruel, also offers him strength in his capability to view life from a coldly logical standpoint. Illumi can easily make difficult decisions with a discerning eye, and views most things with an analytical lens. Part of this coldness is because of the way he was raised; Illumi was raised to have little desire to see people as anything other than targets (other than his family, who he is loyal to and protective of), and so, when he looks at people, the main things on his mind are 1) can I kill this person? and 2) can they kill me? As a result of this way of thinking, his positive relationships are considered by him to be impersonal and plainly mutually benefactory, making him difficult to get close to and earn the trust of. In general, he will only aid allies if he feels they can provide him something worthwhile in return— be that material payment, or the skills to help him when he needs help.
Speaking of relationships, Illumi is also incredibly controlling. If challenged, he feels he can just force people into submission or cooperation. If he wants to protect someone, he’ll manipulate them himself using his mind-control to ensure their safety. Even his ambitions for power and morbid curiosity towards otherworldly strength, like his sister’s, stem from intense desire to put such power under his own control.
On the lighter side of things, Illumi, thinking so little of others, tends to talk very casually, and like an airhead. Bluntly honest, he doesn’t always think of the consequences of what he says, which can result in him giving away vital information by accident, or wondering aloud if he should kill someone (to the alarm of others). He’s a relatively easy-going person, often speaking in a lighthearted tone that is at odds with his neutral expression. The good part about all this is that conversations with him are casual, light, and to the point - the bad part is he can’t always keep a secret.
SUITABILITY:
The biggest thing that makes Illumi suit a survival-type setting is his assassin training; he was raised to survive in extreme conditions and to withstand all sorts of pain. He can go multiple days without sleep or food, and has a pain tolerance that is exceptionally high. For this reason, he’ll be able to endure and adapt to the tough living conditions in the game quite well - and he would be a really valuable ally to put on dangerous missions, given how well he performs in danger and conflict.
However, despite being primed to physically suit the pressures of the setting, Illumi is also extremely self-serving and lacking in compassion, which may lead to problems when it comes to the social aspect of surviving among (and suiting) the existing community. I intend to approach this by playing with the balance of 1) his value as a contributor to the survival effort due to his training and 2) his unsavory, and frankly untrustworthy personality. I feel he has the potential to contribute a lot to the existing crew, given his extraordinary and powerful skills, but he is simultaneously only interested in the survival of others if it benefits him somehow, which makes him suited to giving unique answers to the moral questions of survival that would be at the game’s core.
ABILITIES/SKILLS:
Hunter x Hunter abilities are a little complicated, so I've broken up explaining his abilities into sections! For clarity's sake, I'll denote each specific ability or skill listed with this 📍 needle emoji as a marker.
NEN
Illumi is a nen user, which in the Hunter x Hunter canon, means that he can use his life energy (called "aura") to accomplish all sorts of things. Nen users often have 1) mastery over a number of "basic" techniques, and 2) a technique (called a "hatsu") they develop that specifically suits their skills and nen affinity.
As far as basic nen abilities go, here are Illumi’s notable abilities:
📍 Ren — This technique involves a nen user projecting their aura out of their body forcefully in order to fortify their physical defense and up their physical offense - it can be considered a technique that makes one battle ready. Nen users typically perform this technique to show an opponent how much raw power they have. However, when ren is performed with malicious intent or hostility (ren tinged with hostility is referred to as “bloodlust”), once the user's life energy comes in contact with the people surrounding them, it can make others feel intense fear, paralysis, and in some cases, if the the people surrounding the user are not nen users, it can even kill them.
Illumi's ren is noted to be particularly malevolent. When he performs this technique, it's powerful enough to be felt from hundreds of meters away, and knocks normal people unconscious from its strength. Due to the sinister feeling it invokes in those within it’s range, animals (like these birds) are generally scared away from him when he performs his ren.
📍 Zetsu — This technique involves a nen user sealing their aura off, which effectively conceals their presence. It doesn't make the user invisible, but it can be thought of as a technique that enhances stealth. However, because this technique requires the user to shut off their aura, it makes them especially vulnerable to attacks. Illumi uses this technique regularly to conceal his presence from others.
📍 Life sensing — Because all living things emit aura, nen users can typically sense and locate other living things, particularly people (unless they conceal their aura using a technique like zetsu). In Illumi’s case, he can sense the general location and distance of other people, particularly if that person has a strong aura.
Aside from basic applications of nen like ren and zetsu, Illumi has also developed special techniques that suit his nen "type." Illumi's nen type is Manipulation, which means that his nen is particularly suited to controlling living things and inanimate objects.
MANIPULATION TYPE NEN
Illumi has several different Manipulation techniques, which he generally performs through the use of special needles of different sizes. As a result of this weapon choice, he has deadly accuracy when he throws them.
📍 Shape-shifting — By piercing his own skin with medium-sized needles, Illumi can manipulate his appearance. This includes changing his bone structure, his height, his hair color, his hair length, his skin color, his voice, etc. until he's completely unrecognizable. Here is an example of one of his shape-shifted forms.
He can also accomplish this without piercing himself with needles (this is him in another disguise)— however, if he performs this technique without piercing himself, he can only hold the shape-shifted form for 4 to 5 hours. It should also be noted that this technique is excruciatingly painful to perform. Because of this as one of his abilities, Illumi is also a skilled impersonator, capable of taking on the affectations of others with ease.
Illumi can also forcibly warp the faces of others by piercing them with needles - either to change their appearance, or simply as a way of causing horrific pain. For example, he once forcibly changed the shape of a man’s face as an interrogation tactic to try and squeeze information out of him.
📍 Subtle mind control — Through embedding a small needle in a target's brain, Illumi can force a target to follow a set of conditions or orders. As an example, Illumi embedded a small sewing needle into the head of his younger brother, Killua, with the intention of conditioning him to run away from any opponents that he didn't believe he could defeat. Unaware that Illumi had placed the needle in his head, Killua spent years feeling intense fear and feeling that he had no choice but to run away whenever he was faced with someone strong— this is the extent of Illumi's ability to subconsciously control someone. The physical presence of the needle cannot be felt (although it can cause headaches), and the person it's embedded in cannot resist it's effects so long as the needle stays put. The target will also believe that the emotions invoked from the needle (like the fear Killua felt) come from themself, and not from an outside technique. While under the influence of this technique, victims still retain their sentience, and are not physically harmed in any way.
📍 Complete mind control — By piercing the head of a target's brain with larger needles, Illumi can completely overpower someone's sentience, and force them to do his bidding. Someone who falls victim to this technique will follow Illumi's orders to the point of overexertion and death - although, if they survive (assuming they’re a normal person), removing the needle from them tends to put them into a vegetative state for life. Illumi can control dozens of people at one time, and can make them perform complex actions: he's forced people to drive cars, act as themselves, speak on the phone, kill others, and more. People under the influence of this technique have absolutely no willpower or thought of their own, and are more like puppets. Illumi can use this ability on corpses, as well, allowing him to force even the dead to do as he wishes.
ASSASSIN TRAINING
Illumi was also raised in a family of assassins, and was trained to be able to endure all sorts of pain and torture since his young childhood. Here is a list of the skills he acquired through that training and his profession as a killer:
📍 Increased tolerance to poisonous substances — Illumi can ingest lethal poisons and other substances (like laxatives) and have little physical response to them.
📍 Increased tolerance to electrical currents — from enduring exposure to electric forms of torture, Illumi can endure high voltages of electricity being sent through his body.
📍 Increased tolerance to pain in general — for example, he doesn’t react to his bones being broken.
📍 Enhanced control over his body — he can go without sleep, or sleep for five days straight in a row.
📍 Unnaturally high physical strength and speed — he can move fast enough to incapacitate 20 skilled fighters without any of them having a chance to react, and has the physical fitness to run 80 kilometers without getting tired.
INVENTORY:
One set of small sewing needles
One set of medium needles
One set of large needles
Nothing else!
Samples;
SAMPLE ONE: Communication
SAMPLE TWO: Thinking
SAMPLE THREE: Conflict. I chose this as my conflict sample because it shows that Illumi, even when faced with cut and dry opposition, simply does whatever he wants to anyway. His response to conflict is never to get agitated in response - he remains calm, and feels no remorse for when he upsets others.
Character;
CHARACTER NAME: Illumi Zoldyck
AGE: 24
CANON: Hunter x Hunter
CANON POINT: Episode 146. In the middle of confronting two of his younger siblings, Killua and Alluka, Illumi is teleported away by Alluka’s abilities - his canon point would be the moment this teleportation takes place.
BACKGROUND/HISTORY:
Born as the first son in an infamous family of assassins, Illumi was thrust into a life of killing. The Zoldycks train their children to be assassins from birth— and thus, most of his childhood was spent learning to endure various types of torture, building immunity to lethal poisons, and most importantly, learning how to most efficiently kill someone. As his younger siblings were born, Illumi took a hand in training them, as well, meaning that he grew up doling out this kind of torture with little remorse. He eventually developed an obsession over protecting one of his younger brothers, Killua, and at one point implanted a needle into Killua’s brain, which subtly manipulated Killua to always flee from battles that he didn’t feel that he could win. As an adult, Illumi stepped into his assassin work, but more importantly, continued to monitor Killua’s progress in his training. Following Killua’s decision to run away from home, Illumi was sent by their mother to watch over him. He followed Killua to the 287th Hunter’s Exam, where he competed in disguise and under an alias to avoid being recognized by Killua. In the exam’s final phase, he revealed himself to his brother, and coldly manipulated him into returning to the Zoldyck manor, stating that it was pointless for Killua to pursue anything other than a life as an assassin— including trying to make friends.
Following Killua’s second escape from the Zoldyck household, Illumi later took a contracted hit from the Phantom Troupe, a world famous band of thieves, to kill ten of the most powerful mafia bosses in the world. However, in a display of the ease with which he can change sides, just hours after killing these ten bosses, Illumi aided his only ally, Hisoka, in his (failed) attempt to kill the Phantom Troupe’s leader.
Months later, Illumi heard that Killua’s close friend Gon was on the verge of death. With the knowledge that only the wish-granting power of his younger sister, Alluka, might heal Gon, Illumi embarked on a no-holds-barred mission to either 1) kill Alluka, or 2) make sure that Killua would use her power in a safe way. Under the impression that the price of using Alluka’s ability to heal Gon may be the lives of the entire Zoldyck family, Illumi killed dozens of other Hunters and civilians in his chase, even going as far as to offer his own life to ensure Killua wouldn’t use Alluka’s power recklessly. When Killua eventually proved that Alluka’s ability would cause no harm to the family, instead of backing off, Illumi then became obsessed with putting Alluka’s ability under his control. Upon witnessing the reality-defying strength of Alluka’s wish-granting ability as she healed Gon, Illumi stated that he wanted her power for himself “above all else.” He then confronted Killua and Alluka, demanding to control the two of them, which resulted in Killua wishing for Illumi to be teleported away to the Zoldyck family manor.
PREVIOUS GAME HISTORY: N/A
PERSONALITY:
Illumi’s primary strength is that he is super unbothered. Even when under great pressure, or when being directly provoked, he maintains a detached air - and this mental fortitude makes it exceedingly difficult to rile him up. He is capable of staying calm in the most extreme of situations, making him a valuable ally and cooperator.
However, when it comes to taking into consideration the thoughts and feelings of others, Illumi is someone who largely elects to do neither. This is because when Illumi thinks, he thinks first of himself and what will benefit him. He generally acts only in his own interest— regardless of law and how others may think of him in turn. If he feels something is necessary, he’ll do it, even if it goes against social order or law - up to and including killing innocent people. This disregard for others is a crucial weakness, as it tends to paint him as a heartless and dangerous force.
This ruthlessness, while cruel, also offers him strength in his capability to view life from a coldly logical standpoint. Illumi can easily make difficult decisions with a discerning eye, and views most things with an analytical lens. Part of this coldness is because of the way he was raised; Illumi was raised to have little desire to see people as anything other than targets (other than his family, who he is loyal to and protective of), and so, when he looks at people, the main things on his mind are 1) can I kill this person? and 2) can they kill me? As a result of this way of thinking, his positive relationships are considered by him to be impersonal and plainly mutually benefactory, making him difficult to get close to and earn the trust of. In general, he will only aid allies if he feels they can provide him something worthwhile in return— be that material payment, or the skills to help him when he needs help.
Speaking of relationships, Illumi is also incredibly controlling. If challenged, he feels he can just force people into submission or cooperation. If he wants to protect someone, he’ll manipulate them himself using his mind-control to ensure their safety. Even his ambitions for power and morbid curiosity towards otherworldly strength, like his sister’s, stem from intense desire to put such power under his own control.
On the lighter side of things, Illumi, thinking so little of others, tends to talk very casually, and like an airhead. Bluntly honest, he doesn’t always think of the consequences of what he says, which can result in him giving away vital information by accident, or wondering aloud if he should kill someone (to the alarm of others). He’s a relatively easy-going person, often speaking in a lighthearted tone that is at odds with his neutral expression. The good part about all this is that conversations with him are casual, light, and to the point - the bad part is he can’t always keep a secret.
SUITABILITY:
The biggest thing that makes Illumi suit a survival-type setting is his assassin training; he was raised to survive in extreme conditions and to withstand all sorts of pain. He can go multiple days without sleep or food, and has a pain tolerance that is exceptionally high. For this reason, he’ll be able to endure and adapt to the tough living conditions in the game quite well - and he would be a really valuable ally to put on dangerous missions, given how well he performs in danger and conflict.
However, despite being primed to physically suit the pressures of the setting, Illumi is also extremely self-serving and lacking in compassion, which may lead to problems when it comes to the social aspect of surviving among (and suiting) the existing community. I intend to approach this by playing with the balance of 1) his value as a contributor to the survival effort due to his training and 2) his unsavory, and frankly untrustworthy personality. I feel he has the potential to contribute a lot to the existing crew, given his extraordinary and powerful skills, but he is simultaneously only interested in the survival of others if it benefits him somehow, which makes him suited to giving unique answers to the moral questions of survival that would be at the game’s core.
ABILITIES/SKILLS:
Hunter x Hunter abilities are a little complicated, so I've broken up explaining his abilities into sections! For clarity's sake, I'll denote each specific ability or skill listed with this 📍 needle emoji as a marker.
NEN
Illumi is a nen user, which in the Hunter x Hunter canon, means that he can use his life energy (called "aura") to accomplish all sorts of things. Nen users often have 1) mastery over a number of "basic" techniques, and 2) a technique (called a "hatsu") they develop that specifically suits their skills and nen affinity.
As far as basic nen abilities go, here are Illumi’s notable abilities:
📍 Ren — This technique involves a nen user projecting their aura out of their body forcefully in order to fortify their physical defense and up their physical offense - it can be considered a technique that makes one battle ready. Nen users typically perform this technique to show an opponent how much raw power they have. However, when ren is performed with malicious intent or hostility (ren tinged with hostility is referred to as “bloodlust”), once the user's life energy comes in contact with the people surrounding them, it can make others feel intense fear, paralysis, and in some cases, if the the people surrounding the user are not nen users, it can even kill them.
Illumi's ren is noted to be particularly malevolent. When he performs this technique, it's powerful enough to be felt from hundreds of meters away, and knocks normal people unconscious from its strength. Due to the sinister feeling it invokes in those within it’s range, animals (like these birds) are generally scared away from him when he performs his ren.
📍 Zetsu — This technique involves a nen user sealing their aura off, which effectively conceals their presence. It doesn't make the user invisible, but it can be thought of as a technique that enhances stealth. However, because this technique requires the user to shut off their aura, it makes them especially vulnerable to attacks. Illumi uses this technique regularly to conceal his presence from others.
📍 Life sensing — Because all living things emit aura, nen users can typically sense and locate other living things, particularly people (unless they conceal their aura using a technique like zetsu). In Illumi’s case, he can sense the general location and distance of other people, particularly if that person has a strong aura.
Aside from basic applications of nen like ren and zetsu, Illumi has also developed special techniques that suit his nen "type." Illumi's nen type is Manipulation, which means that his nen is particularly suited to controlling living things and inanimate objects.
MANIPULATION TYPE NEN
Illumi has several different Manipulation techniques, which he generally performs through the use of special needles of different sizes. As a result of this weapon choice, he has deadly accuracy when he throws them.
📍 Shape-shifting — By piercing his own skin with medium-sized needles, Illumi can manipulate his appearance. This includes changing his bone structure, his height, his hair color, his hair length, his skin color, his voice, etc. until he's completely unrecognizable. Here is an example of one of his shape-shifted forms.
He can also accomplish this without piercing himself with needles (this is him in another disguise)— however, if he performs this technique without piercing himself, he can only hold the shape-shifted form for 4 to 5 hours. It should also be noted that this technique is excruciatingly painful to perform. Because of this as one of his abilities, Illumi is also a skilled impersonator, capable of taking on the affectations of others with ease.
Illumi can also forcibly warp the faces of others by piercing them with needles - either to change their appearance, or simply as a way of causing horrific pain. For example, he once forcibly changed the shape of a man’s face as an interrogation tactic to try and squeeze information out of him.
📍 Subtle mind control — Through embedding a small needle in a target's brain, Illumi can force a target to follow a set of conditions or orders. As an example, Illumi embedded a small sewing needle into the head of his younger brother, Killua, with the intention of conditioning him to run away from any opponents that he didn't believe he could defeat. Unaware that Illumi had placed the needle in his head, Killua spent years feeling intense fear and feeling that he had no choice but to run away whenever he was faced with someone strong— this is the extent of Illumi's ability to subconsciously control someone. The physical presence of the needle cannot be felt (although it can cause headaches), and the person it's embedded in cannot resist it's effects so long as the needle stays put. The target will also believe that the emotions invoked from the needle (like the fear Killua felt) come from themself, and not from an outside technique. While under the influence of this technique, victims still retain their sentience, and are not physically harmed in any way.
📍 Complete mind control — By piercing the head of a target's brain with larger needles, Illumi can completely overpower someone's sentience, and force them to do his bidding. Someone who falls victim to this technique will follow Illumi's orders to the point of overexertion and death - although, if they survive (assuming they’re a normal person), removing the needle from them tends to put them into a vegetative state for life. Illumi can control dozens of people at one time, and can make them perform complex actions: he's forced people to drive cars, act as themselves, speak on the phone, kill others, and more. People under the influence of this technique have absolutely no willpower or thought of their own, and are more like puppets. Illumi can use this ability on corpses, as well, allowing him to force even the dead to do as he wishes.
ASSASSIN TRAINING
Illumi was also raised in a family of assassins, and was trained to be able to endure all sorts of pain and torture since his young childhood. Here is a list of the skills he acquired through that training and his profession as a killer:
📍 Increased tolerance to poisonous substances — Illumi can ingest lethal poisons and other substances (like laxatives) and have little physical response to them.
📍 Increased tolerance to electrical currents — from enduring exposure to electric forms of torture, Illumi can endure high voltages of electricity being sent through his body.
📍 Increased tolerance to pain in general — for example, he doesn’t react to his bones being broken.
📍 Enhanced control over his body — he can go without sleep, or sleep for five days straight in a row.
📍 Unnaturally high physical strength and speed — he can move fast enough to incapacitate 20 skilled fighters without any of them having a chance to react, and has the physical fitness to run 80 kilometers without getting tired.
INVENTORY:
One set of small sewing needles
One set of medium needles
One set of large needles
Nothing else!
SAMPLE ONE: Communication
SAMPLE TWO: Thinking
SAMPLE THREE: Conflict. I chose this as my conflict sample because it shows that Illumi, even when faced with cut and dry opposition, simply does whatever he wants to anyway. His response to conflict is never to get agitated in response - he remains calm, and feels no remorse for when he upsets others.