Age: 24
Race: Human(ish)
Sex: Male
Appearance:
He's a strange looking fellow, not exactly out of place in a land such as Nod.
He wears a ragged looking long-coat and a patched up wide brimmed hat, both black as coal. Underneath he's got a plain black shirt, jeans and dark brown hiking boots. On his back he wears a big travel pack which seems to hold an assortment of things.
His hair is raven black, around neck length and rather frayed like a mess of old wires. His irides are perfectly black. He isn't very tall and his face is somewhat youthful. His body is skinny and sort of gangly. He looks like he'd make a decent scarecrow.
What is strange about him isn't so much what he looks like but rather how he looks. He's extremely pale which contrasts strongly with his eyes. He's almost always smiling but it's sort of a nervous smile, not entirely genuine. Some might call him creepy but out in Nod there stands a chance he might fit in. After all, this is how he saw himself.
Personality:
He's funny, not just ha-ha funny either.
At a glance most people would describe him as a squirrely shut-in who loves puns. That much is true as he finds it uncomfortable to stand still, he doesn't leave his room often and he does make a lot of puns. He always greets people with a smile and an odd quip. His love for comedy has a presence in almost every aspect of his life, both good and bad.
He can be a rather friendly individual, always bringing his mirth along for the ride. He enjoys adventure and despite his reclusive habits he enjoys good company. His way of humorously deconstructing the world around him gives him a certain level of pragmatism but he'll never truly forsake a friend. He loves adventure, craves it as a matter of fact. As an avid gamer the idea of going on a journey through a fantastical and strange world excites him. Whether alone or in a group he'll follow his curiosity regardless of the dangers and obstacles he might face.
In a sense his love of humor can carry him through even the darkest times. Whether he's making jovial puns in pleasant times or cracking darkly sarcastic jokes in the more dire of times he almost never takes anything seriously. Occasionally this can drive people away from him as it might seem as though he doesn't care about others as he makes light of problems they deem as important to them. He can't help himself, it's how he approaches anything in life. His motto is that there is nothing in life that is so important it cannot be taken in jest. While he is very difficult to insult he finds it far too easy to get under other people's skin. This can work to his advantage against enemies but it can also work against him around friends.
Beneath it all he isn't quite as silly as he might portray himself as. He enjoys bringing joy and laughter to others but often finds he empathizes more with those who are sad. While he enjoys company he fears any form of genuineness or intimacy from others or even himself. Though he might seem happy and playful he is pessimistic and cynical. In a way he uses humor to sugar-coat the bitter pill that is reality which even he has to swallow. Beneath his mask he is a sensitive man who is greatly dissatisfied with life in general. Perhaps his greatest fear is being exposed as the person he believes himself to be.
As far as vices are concerned he holds a great affection for junk food and video games. He enjoys art and even draws an online web-comic but he constantly finds himself distracted by his games, drawn into fantasies he can escape into.
Abilities:
The main core of his abilities is that he embodies video game tropes, the effects of which are described below:
Shield: He possesses a shield which envelopes his body like a second skin. This shield protects him from all forms of harm up to a certain amount. All forms of damage are assigned a numerical value which is subtracted from the shield's remaining hit points. Once the shield reaches zero it no longer protects him, allowing all forms of damage to hurt him. If Rick can avoid taking absolutely any damage for six seconds the shield will start to regenerate. No matter what state it's in the shield will always start regenerating after six seconds until it's hit points reach their limit.
Inventory: He has an inventory system which places items Rick collects in some strange demi-space which is not limited by all the barriers of three dimensions. Simply by touching something and thinking about placing it in his inventory he can instantly place said item into a pocket realm where everything is static. In this realm all things within are perfectly preserved until he recalls them from a menu. There are select limits as to what he can place in his inventory however. He cannot place items who's physical mass exceeds his own into his inventory. He can only place up to fifty items in his inventory, regardless of what size they might be so long as they are under the mass limit set for each item. He can place living entities inside his inventory however these beings though preserved are still able to think as well as see, hear and smell things around Rick. In addition any living being inside his inventory has the freedom to exit it at any time. Rick cannot store energy inside his inventory unless it is in a container. The same rule applies to liquids.
Double Jump: Rick is able to jump twice, once in midair. He is able to choose the direction of his second jump just like he did with his first jump so long as he decides before he lands on the ground. In addition his ability to jump has been greatly improved, giving him an average jump height of roughly twenty feet.
Status Bars: Seen above his head are two bars. The first bar is a green bar which represents the current points in his shield. As the shield loses hit points the green drains away, leaving behind a grey bar. The green section represents his current shield hit points and the grey one represents his maximum number of shield hit points. The orange bar beneath the shield is his stamina level. The more exhausted Rick becomes the more the orange bar drains. Behind the orange bar is another grey bar representing his max stamina level. The stamina bar is situated directly below the shield bar.
Lives: Rick has the ability to come back to life a limited number of times. Should he die his body will explode in a shower of red pixels and he will immediately appear at the last safe location he was at. When he dies everything in his inventory is dumped out upon the location of his death. If he wanted anything from his inventory back he would have to go and get it back from where he died. When his lives count reaches zero he won't come back after he dies. Game Over.
At the beginning of the story he'll start with three lives. The method by which more lives are acquired is unknown to him. It is theoretically possible that there might exist items in Nod with the power to grant enough life energy to bestow an extra life upon him. It isn't guaranteed.
Equipment:
- Large backpack which seems to act as his inventory.
- Flashlight with self-recharging battery.
- Sawed off double barrel shotgun.
- Case of buck shot ammo.
- A crowbar, the weapon of true heroes.
- Fifty feet of rope + a grappling hook.
History Overview:
From the beginning he was a strange fellow. Since childhood he'd always been making jokes though often times it was only him who was laughing. He never let that stop him however.
After finishing school he went on to study art so he could find a medium to express his creativity. This was around the time he started his webcomic. It was going well enough but college was difficult so to ease up on the stress he played video games. He always loved video games. They helped him escape the monotony of life. He could live different lives, interesting lives. To him there was nothing interesting about his life. The people in the games were so much more interesting he envied them in a way.
Of course as he wasted more time playing games his web comic and art studies were starting to fall behind. This was also compounded by the fact he didn't have any job-applicable skills and his parents never failed to remind him of that every time they passed him by. It wasn't too often as he was more of a night owl, rarely coming out of his room and staying up really late doing little else but playing video games. In a sense he did regret the fact that he was doing so poorly in his classes and falling behind in his comic. He liked art even if it wasn't a very financially successful field. Simply put his his love of games and desire for escapism were the biggest obstacles in his path to defeating apathy.
Alas, it was he who was defeated. Defeated by his own apathy. His self loathing ate at him like a potent acid yet he could hardly pull himself away. For as much fun as his games were there were never enough to fill the hole in his heart. No matter how much he laughed, how hard he smiled, he could only pretend he wasn't angry with himself.
And then he appeared within Nod where his true story began.