Next Night

[axecop]

PLAYER INFO

Player Name: GG
Player Contact: theggnator
Character(s) In-GPSL: N/A

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Joseph Oda
Age: 33
Canon: The Evil Within

World Description: TEW is a psychological/sci-fi horror video game that takes place in a modern setting, in an American metropolis embarrassingly called Krimson City. The real action takes place within a machine called STEM, a device that creates a collective "dreamscape" by linking people's brains together. When the brain running the show belonged to a sadistic serial killer, this gets real bad, real fast.

CONTENT WARNING: The canon information below contains mentions of dark themes such as graphic violence, child death, mental illness, alcoholism, and suicide.

HMD: Here


History: The plot of TEW is very dense and involves a lot of piecing together notes, journals, and other clues to make sense. The wiki is also crap, so we'll just write this sucker out.

Ten years ago, Joseph Oda became a detective in the Krimson City Police Department. He was partnered up with notorious loose-cannon Detective Sebastian Castellanos. Against all expectations, the buttoned-up and by-the-book Joseph made a perfect teammate for wildcard Sebastian. They became highly regarded within the homicide division and also formed a close, trusting personal friendship.

In February of 2012, a house fire claimed the life of Sebastian's daughter Lily, and in the aftermath his marriage to fellow detective Myra crumbled. Sebastian developed a drinking problem, though he was very careful to keep it from impacting his police work. Joseph was aware of it all the same and he watched, helpless and worried, as his best friend's life spiraled out of control. In late August, Myra Castellanos disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Sebastian descended into paranoid mania, developing wild conspiracy theories about what happened to his family and pushing the limits of his badge.

Joseph did his best to help his partner, but he was unable to pull Sebastian out of his personal darkness no matter what he tried. Desperate to save him from himself but unable to reach him any other way, Joseph filed an Internal Affairs report on Sebastian. The investigation ended up clearing Sebastian, and he was allowed to go back to work without incident. It was not the wakeup call Joseph hoped it would be. Instead, the report struck a tremendous rift in their friendship, which has never fully healed. Though they are able to keep their personal feelings separate from their work, both struggle with their feelings and both are terrible at talking things out.

Meanwhile, Sebastian's wild theories were all totally correct, all involving the dark dealings of a mysterious group named Mobius.

While responding to an incident at Beacon Mental Hospital with their junior partner Juli Kidman, Joseph and Sebastian hear an ear-splitting high-pitched noise. From this point on they have been remotely drawn into STEM--a machine constructed at the hospital by Mobius. For much of the game, the protagonists don’t realize that the world they are seeing is nothing more than a cobbled-together Inception-like “dream” that happens to take place within the mind of a serial killer.

Said serial killer-- Ruben Victoriano AKA Ruvik-- was the creator of STEM, and because he is the host, he has godlike influence over the environment. He takes the collective memories of those trapped within the machine and warps them into a nightmarish hellscape, gleefully torturing them with their greatest fears. Those whose minds break in STEM become the Haunted: deformed zombie-like creatures that Ruvik can shape into even more horrible monsters as he pleases.

Initially Sebastian is alone as he struggles through Ruvik's twisted world, but he finds Joseph unconscious a few chapters in. As Joseph awakens he complains of feeling ill and suffers from a splitting headache. A few minutes later, Joseph begins to transform into a Haunted and tries to strangle Sebastian. Sebastian fights him off and Joseph is able to recover himself with some effort. Later, he turns again and attacks Kidman; she is able to defeat him and he wakes up again a short while later uninjured, with nothing but an uneasy feeling that he may have lost control again. He and Sebastian both fear that Joseph may turn permanently at any moment, but soldier on together regardless, because that’s what partners do.

In addition to the swarms of monsters out to kill them, Joseph is continually tormented by intrusive thoughts and the urge to succumb to the evil influence. Struggling against it gives him nosebleeds and causes him to cough blood. Eventually, he is so frightened of turning that he steals Sebastian's gun and attempts suicide. Sebastian is quick to disarm him and tells him off, but it's apparent that Joseph's condition is getting worse by the moment. Ruvik soon appears in person and tries directly forcing Joseph to change-- Sebastian stops this by injecting a syringe (healing item) into Joseph's spine, and he passes out, overwhelmed by the shock.

When Joseph wakes up again he is alone, but much more stable-- protected, it seems, by Sebastian's intervention. He reunites with Sebastian and the pair later discover that Kidman is working for Mobius and trying to kill Leslie, an innocent mental patient with an unusually strong connection to Ruvik. Joseph leaps between Leslie and Kidman as Leslie begins to warp reality around them. In the confusion Kidman accidentally shoots Joseph in the chest. He falls to the ground wounded just as Sebastian plummets through another crack in reality.

Joseph survived his injury, though his body was removed from the STEM machine by agents of Mobius a few moments before Sebastian awakened. His current whereabouts are unknown because they didn't bother to tell us in the sequel


Death: The STEM system is extremely dangerous, and "dying" within the machine causes the body attached to it to die as well. Joseph died upon being re-attached to the machine after his endgame abduction by Mobius. He does not remember this and likely fears that his death was a suicide within the machine.


What are your plans for this character in-GPSL? Joseph fits like a glove in scenarios that require survival and intellect. I would like him to get involved with trying to help the Beacon community however he can, by fighting, solving mysteries, and trying not to get killed every five seconds like the woobie he is.


What aspects of this GPSL and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with? Spooky mysteries. Joseph is a massive nerd on top of being a detective and will want to figure out wtf is going on.


How does your character generally get along with other people? Joseph is extremely good at getting along with others. He is always polite and professional and has a truly inhuman amount of patience. He takes his badge extremely seriously and views it as a privilege and a promise to protect others who need him. He absolutely does not tolerate cruelty or abuses and will always put himself in the line of fire to help others. He comes off as hugely uptight, but this comes along with some major dad energy. Joseph's calm and paternalistic nature make him trustworthy to others. He tries to be a source of stability no matter what's going on within his own head.


What is your character's mental state upon entering the GPSL? NOT. GREAT. Joseph is fresh out of the reality-warping hellhole of STEM, doubting his own senses and experiences, and still terrified that he might yet be trapped inside. It will take some time and reassurance for him to believe that he's not still in STEM. The horrors he experienced within the machine have seriously traumatized him and though he prefers to struggle silently with such things, they are going to be with him for a long time.


Skills/Abilities:
-Police Detective: A talented homicide detective, Joseph is highly intelligent and organized with sharp deductive skills. He's more observant than the average person and habitually takes notes in a pocket notebook. Even in a cast of detectives, Joseph is shown to be the "brains" of the operation and solves multiple puzzles and mysteries single-handed. In a canon where reality is constantly warping in on itself, this is pretty damn impressive.

-Lockpicking/Bomb Disposal: Joseph is shown to be skilled at picking even complicated locks, and dismantles several complex explosive devices without breaking a sweat. This seems to be a unique skill of his, perhaps suggesting previous experience on a bomb squad or other specialized training.

-Combat: Despite the tendency to dismiss him as a frail bookworm, Joseph is a police officer and has been through all the necessary training. He is physically fit and comfortable with using multiple types of firearms. He's also shown to be capable with improvised weapons (fire axe, molotov cocktails.) He uses violence only as a last resort, but doesn't flinch if the need arises.



Flaws/Weaknesses:
-Crippling Perfectionism: Joseph's biggest flaw. He values his competence and effectiveness over all other personal traits, as though he is only worthwhile when he is useful. As forgiving and patient as he is with other people, he is extremely hard on himself. He takes his own flaws and failings to heart and gets easily discouraged, taking the blame for things that he would never judge another person for. He has a hard time forgiving himself for even honest mistakes and gets unfairly upset with himself for being a burden to others, even when the situation is completely out of his control.

This gets worse when Joseph takes on problems that are entirely too big for him to handle alone (like Sebastian's alcoholism.) In his desperation to prove he is competent, he can become uncharacteristically reckless and make more mistakes, which makes him hate himself more, and it's a nasty cycle.

In his pursuit of perfection, Joseph swallows down any and all negative feelings, only rarely slipping enough to let them show. Anxiety, despair, frustration, and a perceived lack of control over his life build into a poisonous cocktail inside him and he seems to have few outlets for working through them. It's unsurprising that within STEM, Joseph's Haunted form is a cruel, cackling, vicious, violent maniac-- the complete opposite of what Joseph wants to be.

-Suicidal Depression: During the worst moments in STEM, Joseph confesses that he struggles with suicidal depression, something he has clearly never shared with Sebastian before. His depression gives Ruvik a foothold into his mind and the STEM host uses it to torment him. Joseph puts a gun to his head onscreen at one point, and other files state that this was one of only four attempts within STEM (all unsuccessful.) It's doubtful that Joseph has ever sought help for his mental health, though given how badly it works against him in canon, he is at least aware that he probably should.

-Uptight: Joseph endeavors to appear professional at all times. He is careful and by-the-book, following rules to the letter in the course of his job and insisting that others do the same. He doesn't tolerate poor or foolish behavior and is prone to lectures.

He's not completely inflexible, given that he's had a fruitful partnership with cowboy cop Sebastian for ten years. Still, it's very fair to say that Joseph could stand to unclench. A lot.

-Other Weaknesses:
- Joseph's eyesight is bad enough that he needs his glasses to be functional at most tasks. They are his only pair, with frames inherited from his grandfather, so he will guard them with his life.

- Sebastian Castellanos, his best friend and longtime partner. Their relationship is still rocky after the IA incident and Joseph fears it may never go back to normal, though ironically they made a few strides that way while stumbling around through Uncle Ruvik's Wild Ride. Joseph cares deeply about Sebastian, despite also having a lot of Complicated Feelings about him: guilt, anger, regret, frustration, fear, resentment... the list goes on.



Personality: Joseph is a consummate professional. A man of words and intellect, he is well-spoken, polite, and gentle, with a dry wit that he allows to slip out occasionally. He does his best to remain calm and pleasant even when dealing with unreasonable people, even when it’s not expected of him. It is practically unheard of for him to be rude or inconsiderate, and it takes a truly inhuman amount of frustration before his patience wears thin. He is careful, by-the-book, and meticulous to a fault.

Though forgiving of others, Joseph is extremely hard on himself. His perfectionism and anxiety are constant struggles. He is desperate for others to see him as reliable and competent, and holds in any and all negative feelings and weaknesses regardless of their impact on his well-being.

He takes his vow to serve and protect very seriously and he has little tolerance for people who flout the law, who willfully misbehave, or who harm others. He will never hesitate to stand up for a person in need. Joseph believes that a police officer's badge is a privilege and comes with an obligation to be an example to others.



Items:
- Colt M1911A1 automatic handgun, his police-issue weapon
- Three clips of ammunition
- His KCPD badge
- Lockpicking multitool
- His notebook and a pen
- His clothes (White dress shirt, black slacks and waistcoat, red necktie, shoulder holster, leather gloves)
- His glasses

SAMPLES

Log Sample: Link
Network Sample: Link