APPLICATIONPlayer Name/Handle: Marti
Plurk Handle: ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
texelationsPreferred pronouns (optional): she/her
Player Status: Current Player
Other characters: Agent North, Ian Malcolm, Michael Burnham
Character Name: Dayna Jurgens
Fandom: Stephen King’s The Stand
Character Journal: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bananaclipOU, AU, CRAU, Canon OC, or OC? Alternate universe – although I use mostly material from the 1991 extended edition of The Stand, I modernize elements of it using material from the 2020 CBS All Access limited series
Canon point: [tw: suicide] As she surges forward to drive her neck into the shattered window in Randall Flagg's office.
Age: 25
PB: Currently I’m using Yvonne Strahovski in a role she played on Dexter, but I eventually want to switch for icons made from her character as played in the 2020 version of The Stand by Natalie Martinez
SETTING BACKGROUND The world of The Stand is one where a superflu, capable of killing 99% of the population, was accidentally released by the US government in June of 2020. Those who survive begin experiencing unsettling, spiritual dreams where they are being led either to Colorado by Mother Abagil, a 108-year-old fellow-survivor, or to Las Vegas, Nevada, by Randall Flagg, a person who’s known as the Dark Man among those who see him. The community that follows Mother Abagail settles in Boulder and begins to rebuild their lives, but the Dark Man is arranging a confrontation between the two cities. After sending Dayna and two others as spies, the leaders of the Boulder community send 4 representatives to Las Vegas to confront him. After this, a nuclear blast wipes out the population of Las Vegas, and those in Boulder are free to resume their lives.
HISTORY [Please note that Dayna’s background includes tws for rape and suicide.]
- Dayna was a recent college graduate who had stayed in her college town of Xenia, Ohio after graduating. After the superflu hit, she began to have dreams of Mother Abagail, who was calling her to come to her. She found herself in the company of two men, and they left Xenia on foot. Not long after, they reached the limits of Williamstown, Ohio, where the three were attacked, and the men accompanying her killed. Dayna was captured by their attackers, along with a group of 7 other women, and for a little over a month, kept as a sex slave.
- One day she saw an opportunity to plan an escape—their captors had seen the group traveling with Fran Goldsmith and Stu Redman, and cracked jokes about capturing Fran. This gave Dayna the reason to plan their escape, and the next morning, Dayna and a few others in the group held their morning ‘medicine’—actually tranquilizers—under their tongues and spit them out at the first opportunity. This gave them the willingness to attack their captors when Fran’s group approached. Between Fran’s group and the women fighting back, the men who held them captive were all killed.
- At this point, Dayna and the other surviving women from the group join Fran and Stu in traveling to Nebraska, and then to Boulder, Colorado. She lives a solitary life there, helping to put together their new community, until Stu and Fran approach her months later with a plan: she should go to Las Vegas, where Randall Flagg has gathered all those who would oppose the people of Boulder. Dayna decides to go there not only to spy for their side, as they request for her to do, but also to assassinate Flagg.
- Dayna manages to live a completely ordinary life without detection in Las Vegas, and manages to even couple up with Flagg’s number two man. But Flagg becomes aware of Dayna’s efforts through supernatural means and calls for her to come to his office. At this point she tries to attack him—but the spring-loaded knife blade she had strapped to her arm turned into nothing but a banana. Desperate to avoid the fate of being forced to tell Flagg all that the Boulder side had been doing, she ran to the window, broke it by forcing her head through it, and then impaled her own neck on the glass.
- Dayna’s story and personality are almost completely unimpacted by the AU—I simply update the dates and elements of the story having to do with technology to 2020.
PERSONALITY In the face of devastating circumstances, Dayna hardens her resolve and strikes out with incredible bravery. Not only did she help plan the attack against their captors with the others who were being held in the so-called 'zoo' of women, she happens to be the one who gave the order to begin fighting. Before she was sent to the Dark Man's territory to act as a spy, she formulated a plan to kill him just in case she came face-to-face with him. In circumstances that most other people would find would scare them witless, Dayna prepares to do whatever it takes to do her part. She's not one to rest on her laurels when things need to be done. She makes up her mind about them and then goes after those goals with a single mind.
These qualities make her a natural leader, despite the fact that the events of the summer when the flu struck mainly make her wish she could rest and keep to herself. She's grieving, as everyone around her is doing, but she sees that she needs to set that aside and act in order to protect others in the community. Dayna is a quiet pillar of strength to those around her who need her help, including her friend Sue Stern. When Sue thought of someone who could spy into the Dark Man's territory, she knew that Dayna would be the best candidate—she would be discreet about carrying out that role there, and would pull off the plan in a determined manner.
Dayna's a private person, despite the way her business was laid out for everyone who was involved in the rescue of her and the other women who had been captured. She doesn't make a habit of broadcasting her business, and remained single after everyone arrived in Boulder, despite the way many of the people there were falling into new relationships. It seems that she's more likely to deal with a problem in her own time and in her own way than to seek out the comfort of another.
Dayna is selfless, as well. She doesn't think of herself when it comes to infiltrating the Dark Man's territory—she thinks about all the people who would be hurt by his leadership if he were to come to Boulder, and considers carefully what she can do to cut off his efforts without the people there being hurt. She doesn't want there to be a war or, worse, for the Dark Man to come and kill everyone in Boulder, so she does her best to put the burden of defeating him on herself.
Despite her private nature, Dayna can put on the sort of gregarious, apparently naturally social demeanor needed to infiltrate another society with little reason for anyone to suspect her of being from the other side. The only reason Dayna gets caught by Randall Flagg is that he can see into her mind with his powers. She made many friends in Las Vegas, and even infiltrated the bedroom of Flagg's number two man.
CANON POWERS n/a
POWER SELECTION Noospheric Powers:
- Weapon Transmutation: Dayna has the ability to create a harmless object out of something dangerous, the same way Flagg made a banana out of her knife. If someone pulls a gun or knife on her or a close friend, she can cause it to become a piece of fruit.
Mod Note: Dayna's weapon transmutation will have a temporary effect of ten minutes, and mods and other PCs may reserve the right for special weapons to be resistant to this noospheric power (for example, She-Ra's sword).
- Rescue Teleportation: This power is based on Dayna’s fear of ending up trapped in a situation like the one that led to her death. If she fears a situation is becoming incredibly dangerous, she can teleport to a location outside the danger zone.
Mod Note: Dayna's teleportation power won't take her further than a mile from the imminent danger. Additionally, the mods reserve the right to say that certain areas on the Rig can't be teleported into, even on accident.
ABILITIES Dayna keeps in shape, so I believe she has some skill with hand-to-hand fighting. In the show version of The Stand it seems to be implied that she was on Kent State’s boxing team, based on the fact that she was wearing a sweatshirt for the team during the scene where she was rescued.
SETTING/SUITABILITY Please answer all of the following. Keep in mind that if a character is not suited to a stressful intrigue and action setting, or if a character is aged 11-15, you will have to work extra hard to justify how they can function in the game as an equal (or learn how to quickly).
➤ How do you expect your character to respond to the setting? Even if they plan to rebel in the long term, will they be able to at least obey enough to not get shocked to death?Dayna will be stealthy about any attempts to rebel, especially when she learns there are others among the New Hires who are working on attempts. She can put on the friendly-and-enthusiastic-employee mask easily.
➤ What do you hope to do with your character long-term? Dealing with her own death and making friends among the New Hires.
➤ Does your character currently have skills that would allow them to adapt, survive, and do the heroic things being asked of them? If your character doesn't, do you think they'd have the capacity to learn quickly? Yes, Dayna was able to infiltrate the Dark Man’s side of the conflict without anyone suspecting her actual aims. She planned to kill the Dark Man if she had the chance, and even attempted it. The only reason she failed was that her knife turned into a banana.
➤ If they're not used to cooperating with others, what makes you think they'll be able to adapt to cooperating with the group?n/a
➤ Will your character have long-term plans to rebel against Jorgmund? If so, how? Will they betray the other PCs and cooperate with Jorgmund? If so, how do you plan to handle the negative CR that might arise? She would want to rebel, yes. She would do this by trying to infiltrate the ranks of the most-trusted employees.
SAMPLESNetwork Sample [ Dayna is still confused about finding herself here, and is inclined to think this is the work of whatever spirit was responsible for Randall Flagg’s role on earth. For this reason, she’s biding her time and appearing basically cooperative. She hasn’t done anything that has caused the shock collar to be used, at least, and she doesn’t intend to begin now.
For this reason, when she’s told she’s going to be the subject of a polygraph and interview, she does her best to put on a smiling face and appear completely at-ease.
The interviewer steps up and begins. ]”What is the one thing that you believe to be true that very few others do?” he asks.
[ Dayna thinks for a moment. ]Very few others? It’s hard to come up with a fact about myself that fits under that. I think that all conspiracy theories have a kernel of truth that explicitly contradicts the theory, but I think lots of people believe that. What about the fact that I believe this world to be a direct descendant of the world I came from? I guess not many people here would know about that, so they don’t believe in it.
”What is your least favorite thing about humanity?” he says next.
[ She responds without hesitation. ]The fact that they would do things like create a virus that could kill almost everyone. Government types were always so worried about defeating potential enemies to the point they did things that were far too aggressive, in the name of killing other humans who had done nothing wrong.
[ The interviewer takes a look at the polygraph and then looks at her. ]“I feel like you’re not being fully truthful with us about the world you came from.”What? Why would I hide anything about that? It affected me profoundly and I wouldn’t lie about it.
[ The interviewer makes a mark on the polygraph printout. ]”Keep it in mind,” the interviewer says.
”We suspect you might be lying.”[ Dayna seems to be reacting in a very measured way—she pauses, then smiles slightly. ]Look, I’m not lying about it. I’ll tell you the stuff you need to know.
[ The interviewer looks up from the polygraph tape. ]“What is your biggest regret and why?”[ Dayna takes a deep breath before answering. ]I regret not succeeding at killing Randall Flagg.
[ The interviewer raises an eyebrow. ]”You regret not killing?”[ Dayna shakes her head. ]He was an evil man and killing him would have made a difference to everyone on the planet. A difference in a
good way.
[ The interviewer makes another mark on the paper. ]”Do not continue to deceive us about the nature of your world.”[ Dayna looks like she might protest, then deflates and gives a small smile. ]I won’t.
Prose Sample LinkADDITIONAL INFO I want Dayna to arrive only with the clothes she was wearing when she died and one single, ripe banana.
FINAL QUESTIONS The players won't know what the mods are doing with these questions until sometime later.
➤ Will your character suspect some kind of guiding intelligence has brought them to the game? Or will they think it was random or done by Jorgmund? She will definitely wonder about it being a higher power, though she’ll have her doubts too.
➤ If they think it was something other than Jorgmund, like God or some other force of fate, what character traits do they think of that intelligence as having? Is it cruel or kind? Capriciously punishing them or doing it for good reason? If she thinks it’s a power she’ll think it’s the power affiliated with Randall Flagg, so she’ll think it’s cruel and capricious.
