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applications.
Applications are currently: OPEN.
As of April 2021, Redshift is a sandbox game! We still have apps for some degree of quality control, but the form has been simplified to streamline the process for new players. Here's how it works:
▶ New Players joining us after April 2021 will need to submit an application for their first character coming into the game by using the appropriate form below. This is so we know who you are, and so we can make sure your character will be a good fit for our players!
▶ Returning/Current Players who have been with us since before April 2021 or are coming back to us only need to claim their character using the form below to bring in new characters. New players may do the same after two months.
▶ Returning/Current Players who have been with us since before April 2021 or are coming back to us only need to claim their character using the form below to bring in new characters. New players may do the same after two months.
Application Guide.
▶ Submission Format: All applications must be posted to this entry, and must fit within one comment with a subject line in the format of "CHARACTER NAME | CANON | RESERVED/NOT RESERVED." While applications should not be linked in the entry, players may link to an alternate source such as a wiki for the character's history and powers; for original characters, the world history may also be linked from an alternate source such as an entry on the character journal.
▶ Accepted Character Types: Fandom Characters, Original Characters; CRAU is welcome and encouraged. Please see the Rules & Game Standards page for more in-depth explanations of appable, non-appable, and case-by-case characters.
▶ Application Verdicts: Applications will receive a verdict of ACCEPTED, REVISIONS, or DECLINED. Revisions must be submitted within 48 hours of the revision request being sent out. If this is impossible due to extenuating circumstances, please contact the mod team. Declined applications can be reworked and resubmitted during the next application cycle. If an application is declined 3 times, it cannot be resubmitted.
▶ App Challenges & Reserves: Redshift will not have application challenges, but if you would like to apply for a character that is on reserve, please submit the application with "not reserved" noted in the subject line, and your application will be considered if the reserved application is declined or not turned in by the end of the application cycle. Applications will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis.
▶ Character Limits: Players may have a maximum of 3 characters in the game; the option to increase the number of character spaces may become available at a later date. A player may submit up to two applications at a time.
▶ Samples: Linked samples should be from a publicly accessible source, and no more than 1 year old. Screencaps or transcripts from locked sources are not acceptable as samples, unless the character is being apped as a CRAU from a locked game, and in these cases permission from the other participant(s) in the thread must be obtained and submitted as screencaps along with the sample. All samples should represent the character as they are being applied for; for example, samples cannot come from an AU setting or break the fourth wall (Dear Player, etc.) As long as they meet this criteria, samples from other games, museboxes, memes, other websites (Tumblr, Insanejournal, etc.) or any other source are acceptable. For CRAU samples a link from the character's original game would be preferable, in the form of a link to their tag on the relevant communities, or specific thread links.
Submit an Application.
To submit an application or claim a character, please fill out the information in the appropriate text box below, and paste it in a single comment in response to this entry. Applications should not be linked, though portions of them may be if a bulky history or world section would put them over the character limit for one comment.
Kieran Duffy | Red Dead Redemption 2 | Not Reserved
Name: Gen
Contact: Please DM
Current Characters: N/A
Name: Kieran Duffy
Canon: Red Dead Redemption 2
Canon Point: Kieran will be taken from the beginning of “Horsemen, Apocalypses”, which happens right before a large firefight with the O’Driscolls after they’ve sent a grisly message to the Van der Linde gang. (I’ve linked to the wiki entry for the mission to avoid spoilers for anyone casually browsing through the apps).
CRAU Timeline/Game(s): N/A
World Description: N/A
Character History: Before clicking this link, please be warned of two things: 1) Hardcore spoilers and 2) Lots of talk of potentially triggering subjects such as abuse (physical and emotional), intense violence/gore, and allusions to anxiety and PTSD.
Link to Kieran’s history at the Red Dead Redemption wiki
CRAU History: N/A
Personality:
Kieran lost his parents to cholera at a young age and has, understandably, been left with some anxiety issues that stem from that event. This anxiety is exacerbated by incidents that pop up throughout his life: he loses his first job when he’s kicked out of the stables he’d worked at as a kid, gets kicked out of the US Army, is the sole survivor of an attack on a group of outlaws he fell in with, is ‘involuntary enrolled’ into the O’Driscoll clan, and—finally—winds up captured by the Van der Linde gang, who tie him to a tree and starve him until he spills some of Colm’s secrets. Despite the mistreatment, Kieran does what he can to help out around the camp to prove his loyalty and his usefulness, displaying his 'need to be needed' and how his past pushes him to be seen as necessary, no matter who he is with or how they treat him.
Mostly, Kieran wants validation from his peers and will do everything he can to earn it. Additionally, he gets intimidated easily and will follow commands from people who are clearly higher than he is in the gang’s social hierarchy. The few times he does stand up for himself, he backs off quickly, either by running away or demanding to be left alone.
That isn’t to say that Kieran is completely lacking in confidence or optimism. He knows what he’s good at and he’s legitimately happy for every chance to put his knowledge to work. He lights up when he shares anything involving his expertise, especially when he uses his experience to become closer to another person. Kieran inviting Arthur on a fishing trip is a prime example of how his entire demeanor changes when he’s comfortable with someone else and finds the courage to drop his guard and show them what makes him happy. It’s also during this fishing trip that we see Kieran’s more positive and excitable sides. Any uncertainty he has regarding his place in the world gives way to the playful man that’s waiting in the wings, and it’s in these moments that he’s candid with his special brand of dry, quirky humor and sarcastic quips. If you fulfill his character item request, he’ll react with genuine surprise that Arthur thought about him quickly followed by an earnest and energetic offer to make a special item as a show of gratitude.
The game makes a point to showcase and emphasize Kieran’s gradual personality evolution through body language, as well. Over time, he goes from sitting with hunched shoulders and turned in on himself to approaching some members of the gang with wide, sweeping movements that allow for more vulnerability. That being said, he’s only open with a select couple of people, namely Arthur and Mary-Beth, and even then, he’s cringeworthy in how cumbersome his approach is in getting to know them better. Despite his social ineptitude, his awkwardness does endear him to at least Mary-Beth, who was pretty much the only person to be kind to him since the beginning of his run with the Van der Lindes. She’s also someone who he grows attached to quickly, in no small part due to her initial kindness in conjunction with an implied mutual attraction to one another. Kindness is a big deal to him, since he doesn't receive it often!
To summarize this soft, awkward horse boy, all we have to do is look at how Kieran manages to condense his life: “All I know is folks all seem to die, and I still love horses.”
CRAU Development: N/A
Powers/Abilities:
Kieran’s normal as heck.
His main abilities lay in his talent with horses (so taking care of them, managing their equipment, training them, riding, understanding their psychology, etc.) as well as fishing, which branches out from simply knowing how to cast a line to an implicit understanding of what to look for in a water source. Basically, he’s no scientist and he can’t even begin to explain the intricacies of any kind of ecosystem, but he can eyeball a body of water and discern what spots could make for some good eating.
Finally, while Kieran doesn’t take part in any scripted fights, if Arthur winds up in a random gunfight while Kieran’s present, he’ll join in. He owns a custom Cattleman revolver and he’s at least familiar with a shotgun (based on literally one cutscene) which hints that he knows how to protect himself. He’d just vastly prefer not to get into a fight in the first place, because chances are good he’d lose.
Inventory:
1) Custom Cattleman revolver
2) Ammunition belt
3) His horse (Branwen)
4) Whatever horse tack Branwen is wearing (bridle, saddle + saddlebags with little knickknacks like bits of food and alcohol in there)
Anything Else? A couple of things!
1) I read in the FAQ that animal companions can’t come in unless they’re about large dog sized. I was wondering if an exception can be made for Branwen by having him shrunk down to about the size of a Shetland pony. I’m cool with any decision that’s made on the matter! (If Branwen isn't allowed at all, then Kieran won't be coming in with his horse tack.)
2) Kieran is canonly illiterate, so I was wondering if there was anything that would be available on the devices to accommodate that (e.g., a video guide on how to make audio/video posts). If not, that’s totally okay (it’ll force him to make friends early on!), I just don’t want to overstep in-game mechanics! I was also wondering how/if this would affect his ability to choose a username for the network.
Thank you!
[It’s taken him a while to get used to using a tiny device to communicate with other people. Even if Kieran could write and read letters like the ones he’d seen other people send and receive over the years, the sheer convenience alone is overwhelming.]
[And so is the fact that he could say anything, anything, and it’d reach who knows how many people at once.]
[Nervewracking.]
[Kieran had been holding his device in his hands. He lowers it and takes a breath.]
[He has to face the truth: without learning—without adapting—he’s going to wind up alone. Again. He has to reach out. No matter how stupid, no matter how insane the very concept of technology is, the has to do it.]
[He presses a button. He’s pretty sure it’s supposed to play his voice, kind of like that gramophone that Dutch kept in camp to ‘raise morale with some cultured fare’. And if it doesn’t, well, he’ll find out sooner or later.]
H-Hello? If a-anyone can hear me, give a holler back?
The name’s Kieran. I-I’m, uh, I’m not sure what to do with this thing, to be honest.
[He pauses. It’s almost uncomfortably long before he continues.]
So, uh, h-how’re you? That works, right?
Prose/Brackets Sample:
In-game TDM
Thread on Bakerstreet
(If you need any other samples, I’m happy to provide them!)
Accepted.
▶ Join the communities:
▶ Add yourself and your character to the Taken Characters page.
▶ (Optional) Introduce yourself and your character with an entry to the OOC Community, or tag in at the monthly event log.
▶ (Optional) Join Redshift's Discord server by clicking this invite link.
▶ Activity Check Link: Please submit all activity for this character in the character's thread on the activity check post.
▶ For your character's experience upon arrival, please see the Arrival Page.
Questions Answered.
1.) Branwen would be allowed if he were to be shrunk to the size of a small Shetland pony, as that size isn't much different than the largest of dogs.
2.) There could absolutely be a simple video tutorial that could trigger when he picks up the device. There would also be functions for impairments that could help him with use of the devices, such as text-to-speech for blind users, etc.
Let us know if you need anything else!
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