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[mywayofhelping]

Player Information

Name: Kaito
Personal Journal: kaito
Age: 27
Contact Info: AIM: Pippin Took424, kaitodoushi
Other Characters Played: n/a

Character Information

Character Name: Alex (Arcanus)
Character Series: Golden Sun
Character Age: Somewhere in his early to mid-50s, he looks like he's in his 20s.
Character Gender: Male
Original Canon
Canon Point: A few days after the Apollo Lens is fired at the end of Dark Dawn.
Background Link: Does a link to my own detailed history work?
Personality: The one word you could use to sum up Alex's personality in a nutshell is...well, Alex. Seriously. This guy is in a class all his own and he wouldn't have it any other way. The individual aspects have real words that go with them thankfully, but they all combine into the eternal enigma that is Alex.

Pretty much everyone that's met Alex would admit to some level that they actually can't figure him out. It's quite obvious that he's not telling everyone everything; in fact so obvious that he even admits to it a few times, such as when he blocks his mind being read by saying that his "thoughts will become all too clear in due time." Another thing that's easy to see is that he's incredibly self-centered. When Sheba tries to call him on it, he just ignores the comment so as to not verify or deny the claim, but his egocentrisim is really quite obvious in many ways. If the topic of fighting him ever arises, he tells everyone that they would not be able to defeat him. He also has no problem with insulting people to their faces, even the ones he's currently calling companions. For example: after he's traveling with Karst and Agatio, he insults Saturos and Menardi's puzzle solving abilities when the former duo was openly trying to avenge them and proceeds to admit that he was implying the same thing about them.

These things might be a huge turn off if he didn't manage to be perfectly calm and almost amiable at the same time. Normally Alex speaks quite normally and pleasantly to everyone in almost every situation. More often than not, when an emote appears above his head, it's of a smile. He'll smile in regular situations, while he's admitting something that someone won't like, or even after doing something that's potentially dangerous. He may get a bit threatening if a battle is possible, but even then he doesn't press it much. This attitude contributes a lot to what makes him such a mystery, really. Even if someone can't stand him, it's very hard to not give his ideas the benefit of the doubt when he's so polite and honest, albeit brutally at times. This is also a good example of why the best word to describe him is "Alex".

So what is really driving him? This actually can be summed up in a word: power. Alex wants all the power ever that's available in Weyard. Or, as he puts it, "limitless power and endless life." The blatantly obvious example was his attempt to capture the Golden Sun, but there's more to support this in his typical inscrutable behavior. He has a lot of interest in Alchemy and powers. He even comments on how strong the power of Mercury Lighthouse is once it's lit and is very pleased about it. He'll take the time to admire anything with unique powers. He also managed to acquire some rare and rather helpful Psynergy and no one we've met save for him knows how he did this.

Alex combines this thirst for power and his previously mentioned behavior to make himself one of the most magnificent manipulative bastards ever. If there's a way he can use you, he will find the way to do it. He even handles it well enough that Kraden, who knows about the Golden Sun incident, doesn't stop Matthew's group from following his lead. The people he uses could be in groups that are openly opposed to each other, but as long as they could help him achieve his goals, he really doesn't care. From what we've seen to date, he's never had any trouble with that strategy.

Even more facts about him contribute to his ability to do this. For one, he's very intelligent. Anyone that could pull this off would have to be. He also has a suspicious knowledge of Alchemy, its workings, and other details about the ancient world. A lot of the time he'll be the one revealing the plot points along these lines. But perhaps his most brilliant move in this game of World Chess is that he manages to stay as uninvolved as possible the entire time. Sometimes the things he wants done are going to be bad to some level, and repercussions from being solely responsible could hurt his chances a lot. So, whenever it's possible, he finds someone else to do it for him. He's very careful about this as well, seeking out people who would want the same task accomplished for their own reason and offering them his assistance. Said assistance mostly consists of him just saying things because he's really only in it to help himself. Plus it's the easiest way to control the situation without having himself be fully stuck with the blame. He's skilled enough by the time Dark Dawn rolls around that he's even managed to manipulate Blados and Chalis into manipulating Matthew's group and Ryu Kou.

Making sure everyone will continue to trust him enough until he's done with them takes some other skills on his part. For one, Alex will rarely say something that turns out to be untrue, if ever. The closest he's come to breaking his word was when he helped light Mercury Lighthouse after his clan had been instructed to never let that happen, yet it was also a promise he was born into and never necessarily agreed to. He's very careful about how he responds to people, and if it's something he doesn't want to reveal, he'll be incredibly vague or change the topic. Lying is something else that the others could use in an argument against doing what he wants them to, and he really can't have that. When Tyrell accuses him of tricking them, he flat out says that he was "nothing but forthright and honest throughout our brief relationship."

The final ingredient in Alex being able to use everyone ever? Keeping himself completely unattached to other people. As he tells Felix, he sees himself as the sort of person who can toss people aside when they're no longer of use to him. In the long run this helps him achieve his goals, since putting faith in the wrong person could be his undoing. Remaining distant is an easy way to be a puppetmaster and stay focused on the most important thing: himself.

Although here we run into the closest thing he has to a flaw in the personality he wants, and it's something that very few people would see as a bad thing. As much as he doesn't want to, Alex actually does have the capacity to give a crap about other people. He thinks of himself as weak for this. The prime example is when Mia is in danger at Jupiter Lighthouse, and if you read his mind, he's fighting his desire to help her. In fact, he pointedly stays clear of her and only shows himself at Mercury Lighthouse when he has to save Saturos. His "solution" for any relationship that could get in his way is to avoid the person like the plague. Another example of this pattern, as long as we can believe a third-hand account of something he said, is the entire Thing with Veriti. Paithos said that she said that an unnamed Alex said that he loved her and this was not during middle school. He did hightail it out of there after a short while never to be seen or heard from again, so it's definitely consistent.

And, to add one more point to prove that there is no single word that exists yet to describe him: although he's a villain (who's never antagonized the heroes) and someone that sees personal attachment as a weakness, he doesn't think that the desire to help others is something that everyone would be better off avoiding. Alex actually encourages Felix to aid people, quoting Mia's belief that it was noble to work hard for the benefit of others. He never says anything to argue against another person doing this. It's just...not for him. Alex doesn't appear to bear any ill-will toward other humans or the things they may hold dear. He doesn't care if they live or die, but he hasn't shown any sign of wanting to wipe out or punish humanity for some reason. He merely has more important things to worry about. Such as Alex. Because really, when you're in a personality class completely by yourself, who else is there to focus on?

Abilities: Alex has the ability to use Psynergy, and thanks to his contact with the Golden Sun, he is incredibly powerful. Alex is border-line immortal and it would be very difficult to completely drain his power. We actually don't know his full capacity for Psynergy because he doesn't show off his powers that often. The skills he uses the most are his ability to warp short distances (and he can take people with him when he does this by touching them) and his ability to levitate/move around while floating. We have also seen him cause geysers to shoot up from the ground, fully (or partially) heal people, and use a Psynergy hand to push people over.

Alex is originally a Mercury Adept, and since all the children seem to be carbon copies of their parents in this area, I assume he retains the same basic Psynergy abilities that Amiti does. Technically this would put Alex in the Aqua Squire series back in the days when he was at his most basic. He has been seen using the Ply series or something similar to it. It can also be assumed he is capable of Cure Poison, Avoid, Restore, Break, the Douse series, the Cool series, and Diamond Dust/Diamond Berg. He rarely uses them (see: never doing it in canon), but it's good to note that they're possible.

Also I am aware his powers will have to be nerfed in this setting despite his discretion in using them. He'll be so happy...

Sample Entry: Alex trolling his little cousin on dear_mun