For Science!

[nightmare_scientist]

OUT OF CHARACTER:

Name/Handle: Zet.... though I may actually change my handle to Voot soon.
Contact: It's on the player contact page. You know. THAT one.
Other characters: Jon & Bruno
Reserve: Naw.
Referral: Nope.


IN-CHARACTER:

Character name: Wilson Percival Higgsbury
Character journal:
Series name: Don't Starve
Canon notes: AU - Kind of. He's taken from the end of the original Don't Starve game where he has taken Maxwell's place as Nightmare King, bound to the Nightmare Throne in Maxwell's stead. Canon never truly explored this scenario aside from a note at the very end of the game and via the 'Triumphant' skin depicting Wilson's Nightmare King persona. Hence it's an AU based on a very specific canon point.
Species: Human
Age: Around 35

Arrival Condition: Physically fine.

History:

Wiki link for canon Wilson, who is technically the same person, but before being put on the Nightmare Throne. Which doesn't give a lot of actual background of him, so we will flesh this out with some headcanon stuffs, patchworked together out of ingame quotes and some of the more random Don't Starve trivia.

Wilson was born in England as the only son of a wealthy family that ended up sending him over to the US to study medicine after he got himself expelled from various boarding schools across Europe for reasons ranking from being excessively disobedient to (accidentally) destroying school property. Though it shall be noted that his grades were always exceedingly good, which made it easy to get him accepted in universities overseas. And while he excelled in his medical studies there as well, Wilson wasn't really interested in practicing as a physician by any means. He loved science and learning anything science-y, which naturally included how a body worked in as much detail as possible. Hence he studied chemistry on the side to further his understanding of chemical processes within a body.

Rather than practicing as a doctor, Wilson opted to work as a surgeon, but ultimately got bored, considered his time better invested in scientific research. After you cut open a body enough, you know your way around it and there's nothing really new. So he bought some land where he could live and experiment unbothered by anyone. And while Wilson was intelligent and certainly enthusiastic about science, he wasn't a particularly good scientist and most of his tinkering and experimenting resulted in failures, explosions and frustration. It's after one of these failed experiments and bouts of frustration that Wilson heard a voice from the radio talking to him, promising him Secret Knowledge when he builds a portal after the voice's instructions and Wilson made the obvious choice: He agreed.

He successfully built the portal and after a moment of hesitation activated it, which resulted in him being dragged him into The Constant, a hostile world that forced him to figure out how to survive and wouldn't even accept death as an escape. Wilson went through countless deaths, having to start at the very beginning of a world that changes itself every time he got resurrected, punishing every time he made a bad decision, ran out of food or misjudged an enemy. But he pulled through and made it to the one responsible for trapping him there: Maxwell, the Nightmare King. A tired, elderly man bound to the Nightmare Throne, unable to leave himself.

Against Maxwell's warnings, Wilson set him free, unknowing that he would have to take Maxwell's place on the throne as a result. The Constant needs a ruler and a pawn reaching the end of the board gets promoted to a king, right?

From there he will have been snatched away when brought to Temba after having spent an undisclosed amount of time as ruler of the Constant himself.

Personality:

We have already established that Wilson likes everything science and considers himself a scientist. Though he also tends to be moody, has an attitude and more often than not his mental state is questionable, which resulted in Wilson never quite having held any respect from his peers and was more the laughing stock of the scientific community back on Earth. Which didn't stop him from trying, though. He's determined and not one to easily get discouraged, which were attributes that helped him survive in the Constant. Regardless how many times he died and had to start over again, Wilson kept getting back up. He kept slamming his head against the challenges Maxwell posed for him again and again and again until he eventually succeeded. And once he succeeded and finally, FINALLY made it to the man that trapped him into this nightmare of a world to show him a piece of his mind... Wilson took pity on him.

It's not merely pity for the old man bound to the throne against his own will, but also understanding that Maxwell himself has only been another captive of the Constant - And of Them. That even the king is only just another piece bound to the board and at the whims of Them. Who They are? No one knows...

Wilson is creative and resourceful, which is another reason he managed to survive in a world literally made to act hostile towards him in any imaginable way. He gathers simple resources and turns them into all kinds of tools, devices, food and whatnot to help him not only survive, but eventually also have him find his way to Maxwell.

As Nightmare King, Wilson keeps most of Wilson's attributes, just that a few get turned up to eleven. He remains resourceful, is even more persistent, recklessly creative and needlessly curious. Since his sanity levels stay incredibly low at pretty much all times, he is less inclined to listen to reason when he could be doing some weird experiment instead. He is playful in a sinister way, pushy and abuses his powers however he feels like abusing them. He will totally invade your personal space and bother you for hours if he wants something from you. And yes, this includes popping up in your home in the least opportune moments to make a bother out of himself.

A thing to note is that Wilson has never been exceptionally nice in general. Having made himself a bit of an outcast and even alienating himself from his family to the point where he lived in solitude in a different country, on a different continent, somewhere in a lone house in some forest and even put up 'Keep out!' signs around his house speaks volumes about his social behavior pre-Constant. He isn't interested in making friends, but meeting other people obviously opens up possibilities for potential experiments, so Wilson isn't going to try and avoid strangers, though he won't be tactful or even bother to try hiding his intentions. If Wilson finds himself properly rebuked, he can get moody and even aggressive. Should someone make him positively furious? Good luck.

Abilities:

GROWS A MAGNIFICENT BEAR- uh.... okay. Yes. Wilson may still grow a magnificent beard, but due to being the current Nightmare King, he also gets his own set of shadow powers despite not being too keen on magic. Because SCIENCE. Speaking of science, Wilson is a bit of a genius when it comes to science. But while he's intelligent, he's also an idiot. An idiot that studied medicine among other things and knows his way around the human body. Keep in mind, though, that any medical knowledge he may have will be from 1921.

But let's get to his shadow powers. These are the result of being bound to the Nightmare Throne and being corrupted by it as ruler of the Constant. Yes, his suit is literally shadow. As is his hair most of the time. When his powers get taken away, Wilson's entire appearance shifts back to regular Wilson, though his attitude won't change too drastically aside from him being possibly a little less insane.

Wilson can summon large shadow hands to grab stuff and people as well as an assortment of shadow creatures (one, maybe two at a time) that will only be visible to people low on sanity. These creatures aren't aggressive initially, but should a person's sanity drop even lower or Wilson actively sends them to attack a person, they will be drawn to them and not only become visible, but also hostile. Wilson can also summon a single shadow clone of himself. It always appears with an axe and appears to have a mind of its own. In most cases it will just run off to chop down a tree. Unlike Maxwell, Wilson has never learned to split his mind into pieces to not only control his shadow clones, but also maintain his own sanity at the same time. And with Wilson's sanity being debatable on a good day... Well. He can use his powers to levitate (not fly), teleport short distances by poofing away in a cloud of shadow or doing the cartoon-y thing of dropping into a shadow-y hole. There's also a shadow sword he can pull out of his shadows. It will steadily drain the sanity of anyone wielding it. Fun times.

His hands and arms are tainted black up to almost his shoulders and his hands have morphed into sharp claws. Those claws and his already sharp teeth grow when he gets agitated, with the latter, while almost perfectly triangular and neatly fitting together reminiscent of a bear trap in his calm state, also turning more numerous, more vicious and needle-like in appearance with serrated edges in the process. This as well as his hair are a hint at the more monstrous form the Nightmare King can take when positively furious. His physical strength is something Wilson has already possessed before taking over the throne. For a good part it's the result of spending many years and many lives surviving in the wilderness. A necessary training regime of chopping wood, mining rocks, hunting animals and fighting off monsters may do that. He isn't much about physical combat when he can avoid it, however. Though as a former surgeon, Wilson does have a bit of an affinity for knives and has used various improvised weapons to survive. These include spears, swords, magic wands, darts and even boomerangs. He can kite a massive Deerclops that's trying to scatter his guts all over the snowy landscape, thank you.

For all his weird powers and insanity, Wilson remains as vulnerable as any regular human. As demonic as he may look, it's all just nightmare fuel and shadows and a good punch will knock him out. Someone obviously forgot to invest in some proper defensive abilities, but... Well.

Personal Item: His straight razor - to keep that magnificent beard tamed.

Sample: TDM thingie

Comments

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[trpmods]

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