[sblock=The Psychology of Palindrome]In Palindrome's head, whatever he's doing is the right thing to do. He's the good guy, and everything 'not Palindrome' is the bad guy. (In other words: he's about 12-years old. Unfortunately, he's a '12-year old' with the ability to kill things by pointing at them.)
He's formed enough of an attachment to Tander and Woe to listen to them, but he doesn't have that with Atreus. Since Atreus came in under opposition to Palindrome, Palindrome automatically views him as a threat and wants to...
a. kill him.
b. torture him.
c. torture, then kill him.
He's got too much ego to back down--because he's got that basic mindset that if he does back down, he has 'lost', and he hates the concept of losing so much that he considers on par with dying.
You've probably noticed that whenever he loses something (like arguments, back at the start of the story), he goes immediately into a long tantrum, taking his actions out on everyone/thing else.
He's a bad person. Pretty much a nasty little ball of unrestrained id. There's a reason for it, and it all derives from his odd relationship with Doddoddod--and explains why Dod*3 hasn't kicked him to the curb or sent him to jail.
Aw, what the hell...
[sblock=Palindrome and Doddoddod]Palindrome is Doddoddod.
Or, rather, Palindrome and Doddoddod are parts of the same person.
Doddoddod was trying to create an immortal repository for his soul. He copied off bits of his essence into a homunculus--not in the sense of a little monster, but of a little man in a germ cell that would grow into a mature individual by simple increases in size. As the little man got larger, Doddoddod then attempted to move his soul into the creature, but the ritual backfired. Only half of Doddoddod's soul moved into the creature--the half that contained all of his basic drives (id) and vitality. (Which is why Dod is a recluse and gourmand. All of his desires are stunted. He tries to eat, drink, etc. so that he can experience some degree of sensation, pleasure--but he can't and he just spirals into misery and malaise. He avoids long-term contact with people because he knows that they would know something is deeply broken about him--and he can't even really enjoy contact with them. It just makes him realize what he's lost.)
None of Dod's memories transferred into the creature, just part of his soul.
Unfortunately, as the creature 'matured', it demonstrated an intense freedom of will and resentment for Doddoddod--almost like a form of self-loathing, because Dod represents all of the bad parts of itself. But it's bound to Dod--because of their soul-link, fate will always force it back to Dod.
Dod wants to complete the ritual and move his soul into the creature--which will effectively kill the creature, Palindrome. (Does Palindrome know this? He has a general idea of it, based on some notes he managed to uncover before Dod locked all the 'good books' into a very complex series of wards.)
Also, since part of Dod's soul is within Palindrome, the evil actions that Palindrome does taints Dod's immortal soul. If Dod were to die and go to final judgment, the actions of Palindrome are called to his account.
If Palindrome were to die, Dod loses a significant part of his wizard powers and himself.
Dod originally tried to keep Palindrome under lock-and-key--which is why Palindrome has the thieving skills--he kept breaking out.
Eventually, one or the other will have to die.
And there you go. If you check the development of the thread, everything that's happened between Dod and Palindrome is consistent with that origin.[/sblock]
I hate PvP, but the character I created has such a well-defined persona, that I've ended up straight-jacketing myself on certain responses. I need one of you guys (Tander?) to do the Jiminy Cricket, and keep Palindrome from crossing the line and nailing Atreus.
Once Palindrome gets used to Atreus, he'll stop the aggression. Right now, he's doing the dog thing and pissing all over his territory.[/sblock]
. Good thing it didn't turn out to be a mess. Please feel free to npc my character the rest of this weekend since I wont be able to post. Going hiking in Sweden[/sblock]
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