Sydney Sage

Player Name: Ashley
Player E-mail: ashleylabrasseur@gmail.com
Instant message contact (AIM): fiendishfanfares
Plurk (if applicable): fiendishfanfares
Is the player at least 18 years of age? try old as fuck, kthx

Character's Full Name: Sydney Katherine Sage
Canon Vampire Academy
PB/Actor: Saoirse Ronan
Character's Starting Level: 3
Character Age: 18
Physical Description: Sydney is about 5’7” with a slim physique (she counts calories to make sure she’s as close to stick thin as possible). She has layered golden blond hair and brown eyes that look gold in the light. She wears expensive makeup in a way that accentuates her features without making her look made-up, as is described as being very pretty. She wears business-like clothing in neutral/muted colors nearly at all times (slacks, blouses, dress). She has a golden lily tattoo on her cheek.
Character's Species/Race: Human/Alchemist/Potential Witch

Character History (Pre-Veil): Vampire Academy Wikia Entry Here

Post Veil History:

If possible, I’d like her to have very recently passed through the veil, possibly even having it happen in game. If this isn’t okay, we can discuss what she’s been up to.

Chosen Canon Point: End of Last Sacrifice.

Personality and Psychology:

Sydney Sage didn’t have what most would consider a normal childhood. She and her younger sister, Zoe, were trained/homeschooled by their father, a well-known Alchemist, in his job. Her father was very strict and no-nonsense, not allowing any kind of failure and making sure that Sydney and her sister knew an insane amount of knowledge, resulting in very lacking childhoods when it came to recreation, relaxation, or anything resembling fun. She’s never been to an arcade and played ski ball, she’s never played putt putt, or any other kind of normal afternoon activity. It’s likely that all she did was study and read pretty much all the time.

It paid off, and Sydney is an incredibly intelligent girl. No subject is out of her reach, and it’s implied that she would likely get through college without breaking a sweat, even at her age. She comes off as nerdy, a brainiac, even something of a know-it-all, which isn’t helped at all by her tendency to be shy, introverted, and her lack of social skills. She often comes off as awkward and unsure, having never had a chance to fully come into her own.

This works to her advantage in her job, however, which requires her to keep a sort of mechanical distance from her work. Her job is to cover the tracks of vampires, both living and undead, and keep their existence from the humans of the world. She believes both versions of vampires to be completely evil, despite their rather obvious differences from one another. This fact has been ingrained in her since she was old enough to understand speech, and is just a part of the brainwashing that the Alchemists require in all of their members.

Magic is also considered evil, since it comes easily to living vampires, because Alchemists consider it unnatural. It is shown later in the series that humans can also perform magic, but they have to draw power from outside themselves instead of inside. It also requires a human that is capable of doing this, and Sydney is later shown to possess this ability to a far greater degree than most.

Sydney also has rather poor self-esteem, stemming mostly from her father’s influence. Sydney’s father always regretted not having any boys, which is shown through his favor of Keith, who was also tutored by Jared Sage. Keith is shown to be a snake, lying to get what he wants, and being a douche in general behind Sydney’s father’s back. He also rapes Sydney’s older sister, Carly. Her father’s blatant approval of Keith over her is a constant reminder of her supposed failures, and it doesn’t do anything good for her self-esteem. Sydney also has issues with food, stemming from a conversation where her father mentioned that if Moroi girls could be stick model thin, than so could she. She has counted calories ever since, and has to struggle to keep in her size four. Fat/grease and sugar are incredibly difficult for her to stomach without feeling some representation of guilt about it later.

While Sydney is very good at performing her job with a sort of clinical separation, she does let her emotions get the better of her from time to time. After finding out about her sister’s rape, she spoke to a shady Moroi and arranged for an attack which resulted in the loss of Keith’s eye. She allowed herself to get too close to Rose Hathaway in Siberia, and thus helps her stay on the run when she’s falsely accused of the Moroi Queen’s murder. Later in the series, she neglects her duties from time to time to help several other Moroi whom she ends up feeling attached to. Despite her ingrained feelings on vampires, she still has the ability to see past what they are, even if some of the things they do freak her out.

While at her current canon point, Sydney most definitely carries a lot of her prejudices around with her, it’s known that she can work past them given time, patience, and good people. Being away from the Alchemists is nothing but good for her. It’s also not entirely known how much the compulsion in her tattoo has to do with her negativity toward them; it’s like a bit from column a and column b in this case. Either way, the only reason she hasn’t been able to make up her mind or become more of her own person is because she hasn’t had a chance yet. Sydney has all the potential to be a strong and brilliant woman, she just has to find people willing to help her bring it out.

Memories Retained or Lost:
Sydney will retain all of her logical knowledge; languages, Alchemy/Alchemist duties, book smarts, Moroi vs. Strigoi, etc. She will know that her father was also an Alchemist. Her prejudices against vampires/magic will also linger, as they’re part of the Alchemist ‘brainwashing.’ Much of her recent life has revolved around Rose Hathaway, so Sydney will find her extremely familiar, but only be able to recall her name at most.

Powers and Abilities:

Most of Sydney’s abilities are intellectual in nature. She’s incredibly smart; she can read/write in five languages, including Latin, and is incredibly well educated in all subjects (except for maybe pop culture). She also knows how to mix together certain herbs/oils/components in order to create different results. The most common of these creates an acid that can eat through metal, and was used primarily to dissolve Strigoi bodies without a trace. This same acid is shown to be able to burn through locks and door handles.

Though Alchemists highly dislike magic, further into her canon it is revealed that Sydney actually possesses a ‘knack’ for magic, and has the potential to become a very powerful witch with training.
In addition, her Alchemist tattoo, which is a combination of gold and vampire blood injected into the skin, gives her the ability to heal fast, live longer, and keeps her from getting sick. However, the tattoo also compels her into being unable to talk about vampires/supernatural things to anyone who might expose it to regular people. This compulsion would likely not work after passing through the veil, seeing as the world is already regularly exposed to supernatural creatures and, thus, she’s in no danger of exposing people to things they already know about.

Roleplay Samples

Link to a sample of your character in action:

here and here

Link to a sample of your prose writing style:

Kawakami Bansai had not experienced a battle worth his attention in a long while. It seemed like it had been ages since he’d had the opportunity to enjoy the steadily increasing tempo of an epic fight, to get wrapped up in the notes that sprang from each clash of metal upon metal, jumping octaves along with the bright sparks. To be completely immersed in the sway of another’s sound. The last time it had happened, he had made the decision to follow that person into hell with little more than a second thought. This time, though, it had been almost dizzying. Overwhelming.

That had been what it was like to fight Sakata Gintoki. No, to fight Shiroyasha.

His music had been brilliant, as bright as the unusual color of his hair, and yet it had been maddening because he hadn’t been able to follow it. It was unruly and unkempt, changing and shifting with each passing measure, and it had taken all of his skill to keep the man from instantly defeating him with each of the swings of his wooden sword. That one encounter would most surely inspire many of the songs he would write in the coming months, perhaps even longer. Bansai hadn’t enjoyed a fight like that since…

Well, since he’d met Shinsuke, who sat on the opposite side of the room he now inhabited, years before. Though to most people, the room would have simply been filled with silence other than the gentle tones emanating from the shamisen in each of the men’s hands, Bansai heard an entire chorus; this tune was deeper and darker than the man who had eventually defeated him, but it enthralled him all the same. Even moreso, as it always had, and it came from the only other person in the room.
He knew what the man was going to ask for before he even opened his mouth. Shinsuke would want answers, and as a man of his word, Bansai would answer them truthfully. Though he had been defeated, the main task he’d been set to accomplish, to distract the government’s military, had been successful. It was the side mission, the one that would have been most difficult, that did not happen, and he easily shrugged off Shinsuke’s comment about being weak. They both knew that wasn’t the case, it was simply a way of expressing mild disappointment.

And the musician himself couldn’t possibly be disappointed. Even with the peak of the piece being that fight with his master’s old comrade, there were other shining examples of sounds he always craved to hear among the Shinsengumi as well. Sounds that he wanted to hear again someday, to see what other tunes they could make together. It reminded him of Shinsuke’s own organization, only the music had an entirely different feel, and although he didn’t believe he could, or would ever want, to harmonize with them, it was most certainly intriguing to hear.

It was the first time he hadn’t been upset about losing, if only so he could experience it again in the future.

Any other important information (including special inventory items in their possession):

Sydney always keeps an alchemist kit with her so that she can do damage control at a moment’s notice. It would contain various chemicals/compounds needed to create a variety of the most used potions/concoctions. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be bringing anything of note with her.

Why do you think this character would join/work with the Knights?

Though she may be hesitant at first, and disapproving of all the vampires around (and what is with all these other supernatural creatures oh god halp), Sydney will both be drawn to the fact that they’re obvious a large organization and that they are working for the greater good. Sydney has always felt that her life’s work as an Alchemist has been for the good of the human race as a whole, and the Knights are simply doing what they can and working toward a similar goal of peace.
Fortunately, she’s worked much more closely with supernatural things than most Alchemists, and has even come to consider one or two of them remotely trustworthy, so while it’ll take some time for her to turn her back to one, she’s at least not completely freaked out by them anymore.

Do you have a preference for which NPC brought in your character?

Nope!