Pirate - Red S. Sollen

[Emma T. Baskerville]

Red S. Sollen

And here I dreamt I was a soldier
And I marched the streets of Birkenau
And I recall in spring
The perfume that the air would bring
To the indolent town

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~Identification~
Birth Name:Red S. Sollen
Aliases: Traitor Marine
Gender: Male
Race: Super-human
Sexual Preference: Celibate, but probably bisexual
Age:25
Date Of Birth: January 30th
Affiliation: Pirate
Crew: None
Character Alignment: Lawful Good
Character Sign: Aquarius
Personal Jolly Roger: None yet

---

~Physical Specifications~

Height: 6’3’’
Weight: 87kg
Eye Color: Black
Hair Color: Black
Attire:

Red normally covers his head with a conical straw hat (sakkat), either cobbled together out of whatever materials he has at hand or bought cheaply from wherever. For some reason, these hats always seem to get damaged during his fights and thus look to be of rather poor quality even if nearly brand new.

Due to his status as more or less a vagrant he has one main set of clothes, a set of black garments that he wears at nearly all times. Of somewhat exotic make, they are the signature garments of the Sollen family and as such are purposefully made to be functional during combat. Loose-flowing and utilitarian they double as being perfect for night-time camouflage.

He also has two other garments. One is a white robe that bears his family crest except scratched out. Another is a pink lady’s kimono. There’s a hole through the middle that he refuses to explain. Usually he will wear both though not always.

He also carries two swords. Although they resemble cutlasses, their appearance is actually closer to that of somewhat broader, heavier scimitars. Due to a unique process in their forging, the blades are jet black and the edges colored silver. This doesn't really have an effect other than looking pretty. Although the hilts used to be a golden color, they have dulled into a more appropriate-looking dark yellow. Although there used to be red tassles at the end of his swords, he has long since removed them, considering them to be much too gaudy. Each is functionally identical to the other although a sharp eye will notice that one of them (Mercy) has no notches on the blade while the other (Irony) has exactly sixteen.

---

~A Little About You~
History:

“Why... why? WHY?!”

She was crying. Frothing. Choking. Dying.

There was something wrong about this picture. Something that wasn’t... that wasn’t right. He couldn’t put his finger on it but her words had shattered something. Him, maybe. He couldn’t tell. The bile at the back of his throat might have been his, might have been hers – bitterness given shape and taste. This was wrong, all wrong. Her words, so much more effective than the flailing, blood drenched fists – (children’s blood, but no, best not to think about that or the corresponding sheen on his blade).

/Breathe. You’re a marine./

“Why...?”

“Justice.” He told her softly as the blood on her palms soaked into his uniform. Elsewhere, his comrades continued their duty. ‘Purging’ the World Government called it. Ostensibly, it was a reclamation of World Government Islands from the hands of revolutionaries and other seditious forces.

The wind brought the scent of blood and smoke and his eyes teared only because of the smoke, nothing more.

“They... were just... children.”

He wasn’t sure why she was still alive. She had weathered the brunt of his attacks, ineffectively keeping him away from the progeny of revolutionaries. One of her fingers was hanging on by a strip of flesh thinner than the blade of his cutlass. He was sure that only the maniac strength of imminent death was keeping her alive, those iron hands clutching his shirt about to relax or remain forever frozen.

“They were...” traitors he wanted to say. But in the face of death, the justification left him: his training, his promising future, his family tradition fell silent.

“They were children.” He agreed.

“PRIVATE SOLLEN!”

Outside the hut that had served as both refuge and burial ground for little ones the marine spotted his immediate superior. From somewhere far away, he noticed himself salute. His superior gave him a nasty smile and wink in return. He wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Almost didn’t think you were human Sollen... anyways, hurry up. We have a schedule to keep.”

“Sir, yes sir!”

He looked down. The woman gave him a messy laugh. Bits that should have been inside of her seemed to have decided to leak out of her mouth.

“Kill me... already.”

He wondered at the state of his soul when he realized that if he could do it all over again... but no, that was not possible any longer. Something here was wrong. He hoped it was him.

“Do you believe in justice?” He asked instead.

Whatever retort she was about to give him was caught in the back of her throat. She stared at him incredulously. Then gave him a mirthless chuckle before answering.

His whispered thank you was accompanied by a body hitting the ground.

---

Red was born to be a marine. His family had worked closely with the world nobles for centuries, never once having broken tradition though their place in the hierarchy had gradually diminished from their glory days until they were merely well known for the numerous mid-level marines bearing the family crest alongside the marine ones. As firstborn it was his duty to carry on the family name and rise as far in the ranks as he could go.

Studious, tenacious and persistent he quickly rose in the ranks of the Academy, managing to get one of the coveted ‘Island liberation’ posts that promised very nice bonuses to an otherwise meagre paycheck and a good chance at rapid promotion. Island liberation was never an enjoyable post, but it was a duty he completed without fail despite routine bodily injury and tendency towards grievous harm. Until... until one day he cracked. Reports were inconclusive as to why – he simply stopped responding to orders despite verbal and physical cajoling. Once, for reasons that are crudely understood, he attacked his superiors in full view of the rest of his crew. Although the attack was definitely not a lethal one, nor did it leave any permanent damage he was demoted and transferred back to a calmer post in East Blue where he helped fight off marauding pirates and bandits.

After two or so years at this post, he took a vacation and went home to see the family. He reportedly had some sort of falling out and at the end of it simply handed in his resignation letter and... disappeared.

In truth, he began wandering the world, seeking to atone for what he had done. Although he did seek, at a certain point, to lay down his blades, the reality of the world is not so easily forgotten and he was forced to pick up his blades once more. His experiences have greatly aged him: although only twenty-five, he looks closer to forty and is nearly unrecognizable from when he was a marine.

At a certain point his family decided that he was a traitor. For what exact reasons Sollen is unsure of, regardless of the case, however, a bounty has been placed on his head and when recognized, pursued as 'pirate scum.'

Your Good Side: Just 5 Good Traits. Explain as much as you want.

• REVELING IN FREEDOM; Although very low-key, Red is quite enjoying his time away from the marines.. He might not express it very well, but he does enjoy it and is more than happy to let others feel the same.
  
  
• A MAN OF SIMPLE NEEDS; Red doesn’t need much to get by in life. Some fresh air, a spot of coffee, and a little wholesome exercise. His body is ridiculously easy to maintain despite his sensitive stomach.
  
  
• CAREFUL JUSTICE; His own personal brand of justice, Red does his best to make sure he has ‘all the facts’ before deciding on something. And even then he knows the story might not be complete.
  
  
• COOL HEAD; While not what you might call an intelligent fighter, Red is difficult to ruffle and nearly impossible to panic. This makes him a difficult opponent to control because he moves exactly how he wants to, when he wants to.
  
  
• KIND; Exceedingly generous and gentle, Red almost seems to be too good to be true. He probably is.
  
  
• TRAITOROUS MARINE: He has a lot of knowledge from when he was an enlisted marine which can be helpful when running away from them or trying to guess their movements.

Your Bad Side: Just 5 Bad Traits. Explain as much as you want.

• SELECTIVE AMNESIA ; Red cannot for the life of him remember names for longer than a minute or two. While awkward, he’s usually quite fair about this: people can call him whatever they please so long as he gets to do the same.
  
  
• ADDICTED; There’s little the man won’t do for a little caffeine. Creepily enough, he doesn’t act like he needs his daily dose or say he does when he’s lacking it, instead his body just… jitters.
  
  
• TRAITOROUS MARINE; Being a former marine of a relatively big-name family, marines are more liable to know what he looks likes, what his abilities are and maybe even how he thinks. In addition, they are more likely to pursue him, believing that he is more dangerous than his bounty might suggest because he once worked with the world government and knows how they think.
  
  
• STILL HONORABLE; Despite, or perhaps because he was a marine, Red doesn’t fight to kill when he comes up against marines unless he’s in a really desperate situation. If, however, they’re practitioners of Absolute Justice…
  
  
• EASY COME, EASY GO; Being extremely laid back, Red doesn’t really care at all about money. As anyone who has tried living on their own without a penny to their name can tell you, this sort of mentality really isn’t conducive to long-term survival. For similar reasons, he doesn’t really mind getting pick-pocketed or swindled out of all his cash.
  
  
• DIDN’T THINK THIS THROUGH; Red tends to take the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance, however, is often the path of either acting too soon or not acting at all.
  
  
• EXTREME DOORMAT; He’ll let people walk right over him. Literally. Unless he’s shaking for a coffee in which case he’ll just let them walk around him. That scene where Luffy got his head jammed through a window? That happens to him all the time.
  
  
• DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT’S BEEN?!; He’s not a picky eater. His stomach, on the other hand, is. This combination is about as ideal as projectile vomiting which is what often happens to him after he’s stuffed the latest fruit or mushroom or thing-that-may-or-may-not-have-been-a-shoe into his gullet. Luckily, even if his stomach is picky the rest of him is tough and hardy so it doesn’t affect him much. His companions on the other hand…
  
  
• EXISTENTIAL CRISIS; Due to recent events in his life, Red is undergoing one. In the meantime he’s just… drifting. Without a dream and without purpose.
  
  
• NEVER SAY THOSE WORDS TO ME AGAIN; There are certain expressions that Red hates. Hates hates hates hates hates. ‘Collateral damage,’ ‘necessary evil’ and ‘absolute justice’ are just three examples. While he won’t go out of his way to harm people who say them, he… well, he won’t be friendly to them either. Those who are aware of this can exploit it to their advantage.

What Do You Enjoy?: Just 5 Things You Like. Explain as much as you want.

• Pacifists
  
• Civilians
  
• Children
  
• Dreamers/Artists
  
• Dental Floss
  

Grind Your Gears: Just 5 Things that get on your nerves. Explain as much as you want.

• Watermelon Seeds
  
• Threatening/Harming/Killing Civilians
  
• Green Toothbrushes
  
• Misused Authority
  
• Most things relating to his family
  
• Coffee
  

What Do You Carry With You?:

• Clothes
  
• Two swords, one named Mercy and the other Justice.
  
• Can of Coffee Beans
  
• Dental Floss
  
• Compass
  
• Spare Change
  
• Bubblegum
  
• Crumpled IOU
  

What Drives You?: Red has always fought for ‘Justice.’ Since he’s searching for a new purpose for that justice, his motivations remain murky, even to him. He will, however, always protect civilians no matter the cost to himself.

Commonly Associated Numbers: 2

Commonly Associated Color: Black and White

Associated Animal: Tiger

Scent: Coffee beans

Favourite Foods: Although he absolutely loathes coffee due to his addiction to it, one has to admit he drinks an awful lot of it. Mapo Tofu may be a more conventional example.

Face Claim: Bleach, Shunsui Kyoraku, Red S. Sollen

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[Darkwings]

Ok, to start, your icons are too big. 100x100 icons.

I'd like some description on his swords.

Next. Sad fact of life is, as it is now, your character isn't a Super Nova. That little tag line at the end "oh hey, he killed an ENTIRE Marine fleet by himself" doesn't work. Speaking of which, half your history is wrong. Right at the point where it says "and he attacked his superior", the next sentence should read "then got sent to Impel Down for life." Trying to kill a superior doesn't net you a demotion and a ticket to somewhere else. Plus, how does one just kinda stumble upon a group of people and know that they're practicing something they hate? Also Lawful Good plus trying to get Supernova doesn't work. Supernovas and Yonkous are the antithesis of Lawful Good.

Might want to change your "Traitorous Marine" good trait name. Nothing with the word "Traitorous" in it comes across as good.

Fix this and get ready for round 2.

[Emma T. Baskerville]

You're going to have to give me some flexibility with regards to character history or else this really won't work. At all. In that I'll have to give you a brand new character because I won't be able to role-play this one.

Or I'll just leave - don't let that color your decision though. I leave role-plays all the time and it's kind of a really lame threat. I'm just letting you know that this particular piece of characterization *is* that important to me.

Supernova, fine, that was somewhat tacked on, I admit. He was originally a bounty hunter until, well, I saw that other former marine bounty hunter and went, ah, too much overlap. I can make him a run-of-the-mill pirate quite easily.

(I do resent the implication that a lawful good character cannot - by definition - become a Supernova. I mean the World Government *did* slaughter pregnant women for the sole purpose of getting at Roger's supposed progeny. Any lawful good character would have tried to stop that and if they had succeeded? At *least* a supernova bounty.

But that's something else entirely and I don't particularly want to get into that because it's bordering on fanwank and discussion about power levels which has always been bleh.)

The superior thing, however? That's somewhat intrinsic to his entire personality. If he *hadn't* attacked his superior officer he'd have absolutely no self-respect for himself and would be a very different sort of person. More angry than anything else and that character-type has been done to death and isn't very fun to play. I put my foot down on that point because he would actually be vengeful rather than careful.

Originally, I didn't want to expand the scene because it touches on some more mature subjects that One Piece doesn't really touch. How it happened in my head though is as follows:

-Red returns to the ship after having actually killed the children and their caretaker. Technically, this is all in keeping with the actions of a lawful good character (in the OP worldview, apparently children are just as evil as their parents and can be executed for their crimes and is mandated by those in power). But only very technically and he is conflicted about it and understandably suffering from PTSD.
-For some reason, he keeps the caretaker's kimono. He's not sure why either, he just does.
-Days pass. He begins wearing it. A reminder of sorts.
-His superior makes a rather crude comment regarding the kimono. Something along the lines of "You never do forget your first, do you?"
-Yes, his superior thought he raped the revolutionary and was doing the whole 'you're not so above it all' routine if you didn't already catch the implication in the above. Superior's something of a major asshole if you hadn't already noticed.
-Red punches superior in the face before getting restrained.

While yes, it is a punishable offence to strike a superior officer... they're not sending him to Alcatraz for it. Especially since he was from a well-known family and performing in a high-stress occupation. Moooost they're going to do is put him on some really demeaning job for the next few months, possibly more but that's totally up to his superior officer or to the officers reviewing his profile.

Why didn't I explain this before? Obviously, I didn't think it was necessary to spell it all out, secondly, um, anyone with any passing familiarity with the military would be aware that while discipline can be harsh, it's usually not the 'let's shoot our own men'-type. Like police officers, soldiers usually get much more lenient sentences than ordinary civilians for any infractions they commit while on duty (unless widely publicized a la Rodney King). Obviously One Piece provides many exceptions to that rule (looking atcha Akainu), but it kinda is obvious that there are a lot of different interpretations of justice and discipline in the One Piece world and to automatically conclude from that one sentence that he would be going to Impel Down is kind of... hasty. Just a bit.

Third, that sort of thing is *much* better hinted at than overtly displayed. I will if you want me to though.

Still not convinced? Eh. I tried.

Now I'm off to do all the other little things. Will post up notification in appropriate thread when I'm done.

Edit: Keeping the nickname. It's plot relevant for him.

[Darkwings]

You, apparently, greatly over estimate the amount of beli put on someone's head for simply not agreeing with what the Marine's are doing. Either that or you don't know just how high a Supernova's bounty is. It's 100,000,000 beli. If you think that raising a sword against a bunch of asses nets you 100,000,000 beli bounty, you need to step back and take a look at the larger picture. Look at Canon. It took Luffy and Zorro close to 300 episodes of beating the piss out of everything the marines held dearly in life to gain the bounty to be called a Supernova. Raising a sword once, maybe 3 or 4 times doesn't net you that bounty. Lawful good doesn't have the umph to do what it takes to get that bounty. The only Lawful Good person, and that's seriously stretching the bounds of lawful good, would be someone like Vash the Stampede from Trigun. He didn't destroy everything, other people did, but he got blamed for it.

As far as your history goes. In your history it says, and I quote "he attacked[/u] his superiors in full view of the rest of his crew." Attacked gives the impression that he drew his weapons and ATTACKED. Not threw a punch. Not flicked his forehead. Attacked isn't "tried to punch him." Attacking a superior officer nets you Impel Down. And I do know a bit about the military. Pulling your gun and shooting an officer gets your ass destroyed. Punching an officer is much more lenient. They have to look into "well, maybe he was a d bag" but that doesn't change your punishment regardless.

Its very nice to see a person who was told their character would work sit down and try to explain as opposed to having a hissy fit and throwing a temper tantrum. For that, you earn a bit of my respect. Honestly, if you change "attacked" to "threw a punch" or something along those lines, I'll approve you and you can get on your way.
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[Emma T. Baskerville]

Going to ignore that first bit like I said I would lest this start getting messy. I've used Red in every One Piece RP that I've ever been in since I made him. He's ridiculously fun to play so I'll make the effort to explain these things. Also, I'm horribly, horribly old (okay, not that old but I thought I was old three years ago) so I had better start showing that age somehow or else I'm gonna have to stop this hobby. *_*

[Darkwings]