Lupa

This post is for any comments, questions or concerns regarding my play of Lupa in victory_road. I don't screen unless requested, but Anon is enabled, and IP logging is off.

Additionally, if you'd like to plot and would prefer to do it here you can!

Also, below the cut is records, for easy cataloging and access:
( Cerberus used Cut! )

Player
Name: Bear
E-mail: realisticfakefish at gmail
Preferred Contact: naturalcyber
Timezone: CST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Thace

Character
Name: Lupa, of the Wolves
Series: Digital Devil Saga
Timeline: game 2, Sun arrival
Canon Resource Links:
a link but it's sparse, and some of the info isn't entirely correct. (Especially about the circumstances of Greg's death. It's blatantly wrong about that.)

So my attempt to summarize without being too wordy:
When he first appears in Game 1, Lupa is already the leader of a very large and successful tribe. He's quiet, but gets right to the point of asking a very important question during the meeting with the Dissemination Machine and the other tribe leaders. His tribe, The Wolves, is easily one of the most formidable, and through Lupa's leadership has been able to hold a standoff with the larger Brutes tribe, who have more manpower, and a fearsome leader of their own in Varin Omega. It's also made a visual point that Lupa wears strings of Tag Rings around his neck and waist. While the exact reasoning behind it is never elaborated on, anyone in the Junkyard would know what the Tag Rings are used for, and therefore represent. Tag Rings are the most basic possession of each person in the Junkyard, and record their exploits in battle, and their allotment of macca--money--, as well as allowing them to requisition necessities like weapons, ammo, and rations for themselves. Leaders, when called to the Temple, use their Tag Rings to confirm their identity and presence. In short, each ring represents a life, and Lupa wears over a dozen not his own strung together with blood-red cords.

Lupa doesn't make another "on-screen" appearance for a good chunk of gameplay, but the player can learn about him and the Wolves through dialogue with Wolves tribe-members in various places. The members emulate their leader in many ways, demonstrating an emphasis on knowledge, honor, and steadfast confidence in spite of being out-manned and surrounded by their enemies.

When Lupa does appear again, he's the leader of an essentially defeated tribe--because the enemy leader got an 11th hour villainous superpower and decimated his tribe with it--and he doesn't act the least bit defeated by this. He shows up to negotiate with the Embryon, who are the only other standing tribe, and have the trump card--the Cyber Shaman, Sera--working with them, as an equal, and retains his dignified bearing even as he offers his life in exchange for taking good care of his men, after he helps them defeat the Brutes. When his motives are questioned and his life threatened, Lupa doesn't flinch, and reiterates his position, insisting that he sees honor in the Embryon (and especially Gale, who's holding a knife to his throat at the time). Then he proceeds to lead the Embryon into a set of secret tunnels, that they can use to sneak into the Brutes' well defended base undetected.

While he leads them, Lupa helps guide the Embryon to discovering a fact he has already realized, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Junkyard and how things work, especially that they remember things that do not exist in their world. During this exchange, he reveals he has a son, a child, that he's been dreaming about since getting the Atma, and that there's something he needs to tell the child, but that someone else will do it for him.

Then the Brutes discover the tunnels, and Lupa tells them about Varin's new power (to drive demons instantly Mad, not that Lupa has confirmation of this beyond Varin "becoming unstoppable somehow") and how he used it to slaughter the Wolves all on his own, and claims he will provide a distraction and keep the Brutes busy while the Embryon continue with the plan. He gives his Tag Ring (again, symbolizing his life) to Gale (and not the tribe leader, Serph) before transforming into Cerberus and going off to do what he claims. But not before Gale declares that Lupa will go to Nirvana with them, even if they have to destroy the Temple that governs the whole world. To which Lupa replies, "So be it."

As the Embryon go through the tunnels, they see evidence of Lupa doing as claimed, but at first, each soldier of the Brutes is killed as quickly and cleanly as possible, and some are even left alive and unconscious. However, the further they go, the more vicious the deaths are, torn to pieces, and with evidence that this was done before death in some cases. One of the Wolves claims that Lupa growled at him as if he didn't recognize him, shakily making an excuse that it must have been dark. Finally they come across the body of one of the Wolves, throat completely torn out.

Then Lupa, gone completely Mad, attacks them, and the Embryon are forced to mortally wound him. Then Lupa, unable to transform back, shares a few last words, asking Gale to devour him, and passing along a message for his child to become a man of honor, and that said child will be holding an olive leaf.

Then he dies, but that's not the end of his story. Once the Embryon make it out of the Junkyard, they discover the real world, and that everyone inside the Junkyard, including themselves, was an AI. They also discover that almost all the AIs have part or all of the soul (or data) of people who had lived and died in the real world.

Lupa was one of them, named Greg, and he was the founder and leader of the rebel group called the Lokapala, who have been working to keep people safe and out from under the grasp of the Karma Society who were masquerading complete social control as salvation and eventually started turning people into demons and capturing "unworthies" like the Lokapala for food. Greg's son Fred, and Greg's best friend Roland, end up joining the Embryon, just as the Embryon end up helping the Lokapala with their goals.

About Greg specifically, he was a good leader, and remembered very fondly by his men, even two years after his death. He personally took the risk of leading the Lokapala against the Karma Society to protect themselves, and in the end he was abandoned by Roland (who later blames himself for Greg's death), after purposefully staying back alone to fight the Karma Society and save as many lives of his men as he could.

Personality:
One thing that the games make clear is that Greg and Lupa are very similar, if not outright identical to each other in base personality. The largest differences between them stem from the fact that Greg was a normal man, and a man of peace foremost, who picked up leadership to help and save his people, and eventually actual fighting as a very last resort in a world gone apocalyptic. Lupa, on the other hand, is tempered steel, forged by fighting, and long before he truly awoke to the depths of his personality, existed only for war.

The most quickly apparent trait that Lupa displays is honor. He holds true to his word, even at his own expense, and is steadfastly loyal, not only to his ideals, but to his men, and when dishonored by Madness, specifically asks for death ("Please… Devour me.") which fits in very well with warrior honor codes.

He retains high ideals, even in a literal dog-eat-dog world of the Junkyard. Lupa's first concern is that of caring for his men. What brings him to reach out to the Embryon is the destruction of so many lives of people he was responsible for, and knowing that he alone couldn't stop it, and on the negotiating table, his most important requirement is that the Embryon treat his soldiers "fairly." He retains this trait from Greg, who was a compassionate leader and was willing to sacrifice himself to protect the Lokapala. Indeed, Lupa is willing to literally offer the Embryon his head in order to see his men taken care of. It's the very definition of selflessness.

Lupa's compassion and sense of fairness extends to others not his own as well. In the tunnels, while he maintains control of himself, he leaves even his enemies alive if he can, and kills them as quickly (and presumably painlessly) as he can if leaving them alive is impossible. He doesn't devour a single one.

Lupa is also very intelligent and perceptive. He's the first to realize and point out in the beginning of the game that in spite of the new commandments, in essence nothing has changed, so how can they end the stalemate? He also accepts Gale's test for what it is, and can see similar traits to those Lupa possesses in Gale before Gale realizes them inside himself. Additionally, Lupa is also the one who makes the first steps towards realizing that they're all in an unnatural world, even if he doesn't have all the pieces in order to realize exactly how the world is unnatural.

Lupa is also a parent at heart. Right up there with taking care of his soldiers, who can be argued as family, given the way the games present relationships with the tribe that gets the most screentime, is finding and reuniting with his son, and if he can't, making sure his son gets his last message.

Lupa is also charismatic, this inherited directly from Greg, who was able to unite scared, hopeless and downtrodden people behind one cause. Lupa admittedly had an easier time of it, given the AIs in the Junkyard were essentially programmed to follow their leaders, but even in the Junkyard, his soldiers refuse to follow the law which states that they must join the victorious tribe. They continue to follow Lupa's memory to the very end.

In general, Lupa is serious and severe, as befits a soldier and leader of men, but there are hints of other emotions. There's the faintest hint of a smile when Gale offers to take down the Temple so he can join the Embryon, and he can't quite disguise things like surprise, or approval in his tone. Given a new environment that is less kill or be killed, that serious exterior would be able to soften. Lupa is pragmatic, but he still has the steadfast hope that Greg had underneath that exterior, even if he shows it in subtle ways, like the certainty that the Embryon and Sera will kill Varin and attain Nirvana.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Houndour
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample:
TDM thread

Victory Road Sample:
Lupa opens his eyes to light, soft colors, a breath of air rushing into his lungs and... too quiet. The Junkyard is gone, but the lack of the hiss and patter of constant rain feels wrong. All of this, the colors, bright and everywhere, the softness beneath him, the... the toys, speaks of a child's bedroom. A child's bedroom the one in his dreams never got to have...

"Wake up, sleepyhead! Today's the big day!"

Lupa jerks his head toward the woman standing in the door. Her face is unfamiliar. Her clothes are soft and flowing and not armor at all. He towers over her when he stands, and she doesn't seem to notice how he fails to fit into the rest of the room. "I don't understand."

She laughs. "Oh you're still half asleep, aren't you? Breakfast will fix that!"

He doesn't want to dev-- But the tearing, burning pain of the Hunger isn't alive in his stomach and trying to crawl up his throat and seize his body. "I'm not hungry?"

"Oh hush, you! You need a good breakfast. Mom knows best!"

"Mom...?" Lupa is numb as her hand finds his wrist and he can do nothing but follow. Mom. Mother. The female counterpart to Father. But he is not a child; he has never been. Did he have a mother once, in the life he's dreamed of? Did his child?

His mind reels. His stomach twists at the food. Toast, 'Mom' had said, with eggs and bacon... something about the smell sends flashes through his mind. Images and sensations lodge behind his eyes, echoing in his ears and in his mouth, of his teeth, slick with blood, cutting through living, screaming skin and muscle and-- He shakes his head and backs up until he runs up against a wall.

'Mom' clucks her tongue and pushes some kind of pack into his arms, and makes motions toward the door. Lupa can only go, wanting to be free of the memories, and jerks at the sound of the slam behind him. He makes it two steps before his knees jar against the ground.

His breath heaves against his ribs for time. How much, Lupa doesn't know. Then the bright light from above, soft, dry ground beneath, and the feel of an invisible touch (a breeze) against his skin become strong enough on his mind to pull him from his memories. It's beautiful. Nirvana was a lie so this can't be...

"What is this place?"

Last update: feb
Learned in-game!
Liminal
-Portal Creation (Stationary)
-Hammerspace I
-Liminal Manipulation I + II
-Room Creation I-III
-Dimensional Senses
-Intra-Liminal Skills
-Liminal Bridge I + II
-Liminal Power (x2)
-Liminal Permanence
-Wardrobe Manipulation I + II

Psychic
--Network Archive Retrieval
--Psychic Protection I
--Psychic Detection I (for Asura extra senses) + II
--Filter Intrusion
--Psychic Bridge I
--Sensory Livestreaming
--Memory Sharing
--Investigator Mind Reading
--Infiltrator Knowledge


Favor Skills
--Emperor's Mark/Favor
--Immovable Object
--Emperor's Aura

Jaunt/Other
-Interface
-Archetypal Oracular Knowledge (Will)
-Siren Song III (will link/make a list at some point and includes ability to compose new songs w/ Mod permission)
-Mastery of Disguise
-Dreamcatcher
-Eidetic Memory
-Wilderness Hunting
-Advanced Werewolf Bloodline Ulfsarkr (specialties: partial shift, strength, instincts)
-Eldritch Defense
-Assist
-1920s music: single-reed instruments: includes ability to play clarinet and sax, and a working knowledge of music played in the 1920s, mostly jazz, but a little classical too
-gladiatorial combat
-Parkour
-Advanced Mantras (post dungeon. see link below)
-Three-Dimensional Stealth
-Tiresias Syndrome (plus S-Tech: Instant Clean/Abrupt Makeover) visual reference for lady!Lupa here
-Sensory Conditioning
-Eagle Vision
-Musical Proficiency: Guitar
-Control Panel (grid skill)
-Merge Pending
-Calm Companion (Plot Role skill) Pending

Pre-game skills and abilities
( This gets long, so under the cut )

[Player Info]
Name: Bear
Timezone: CST
Contact: I have a plurk naturalcyber and a gmail (realisticfakefish). PMs to this journal also work!


[OOC Permissions]
Backtagging: Yes, of course. I'm disabled, and tend to be exhausted after work and so rarely tag on work days (on the flip-side I only work part-time right now)
Threadhopping: If it's IC, by all means, go ahead!
Fourthwalling: I honestly don't think any characters will ICly know his canon, so if one would, talk with me first?
OOCly offensive subjects: There's nothing that I know I can't handle at all, but I'll edit if anything comes up.

[IC Permissions]
(In general, while Lupa is physically and mentally adult, he's also a strictly combat AI (meaning a lot of non-combat-related things/concepts got neglected in his "programming") that has been in existence for less than 2 years. Emotions are very new things for him, and while he's slowly remembering his original self/soul's life in bits and pieces, he's going to be very naive and confused about some things, especially at first.)

Hugging: His very first hug will be a confusing experience, but after that? Yes, Lupa will very much enjoy giving and receiving comforting hugs.
Kissing: Again, once he's reacquainted with the concept, chaste/familial kisses will be good, welcome things to/from those he has close CR with. Romantic kisses? He definitely doesn't have those memories yet. Be prepared for questions and confusion if going that route. Also it's canon that demonic hunger and attraction/lust have some wires crossed. Oops?
Flirting: Going to go right over his head for a while, but he won't react badly to it.
Fighting: Combat AI, so he's very, very good at fighting, but while he has developed moral objections to killing/hurting people, he's also still got very strong reflexive responses to go for the kill. Lupa won't start a fight unless someone else is being threatened/bullied, but if attacked, he will (try to) end it, swiftly, and potentially with deadly force.
Injuries: Injuries are okay! Just talk to me OOCly first if it involves serious maiming (ie crippling injuries)
Killing: should be planned out OOCly first!

Opt-Outs:

Okay, in canon, Lupa is an obligate cannibal with the potential to go completely feral and out of control and attack anything in his path with intent to viciously maim, kill, and possibly eat. He is very much against this (and starves himself for a time in canon to avoid eating people), and honestly, even with new emotions it's pretty damn traumatizing. Luckily he won't need to eat people in Tributary but it probably will come up in conversations with him. Other things that will come up are the fact that he was basically part of an eternal war game in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, where kill or be killed was a daily fact of life even before the obligate cannibalism got forced on everybody.

And then there's all the awful stuff that was happening outside said war game, including but not limited to: extreme classism with people the organization in charge of things decided were "unworthy" of their "paradise" being basically exiled. And later hunted for food. Child abuse. So much murder. Heroic sacrifices six ways to Sunday. Substance abuse. And the list continues. Lupa will be less likely to mention those things, but he does know the broad strokes and they may come up.

If that or anything along those lines is something you as a player don't want to deal with, comment here with the characters you play, and I will avoid those subjects with your characters IC! Likewise, if it's not a complete no-go territory, but specific details/descriptions may also be a problem, let me know! Also please comment if you don't want to interact with Lupa at all! Comments screened for privacy.