inthenightmods

[catholicisms]

PLAYER INFO

Player Name: Kitty
Player Contact: pm, meowed on plurk
Character(s) In-Game: none presently!

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Matthew Murdock, also known as "the Devil of Hell's Kitchen" or "Daredevil", though I sincerely doubt he'd ever admit that to anyone willingly
Age: Never explicitly said, but, 30-32ish. I usually go with 31.
Canon: Netflix's Daredevil (Marvel)

World Description & History:

❝ I'm not seeking penance for what I've done, Father. I'm asking forgiveness, for what I'm about to do. ❞

Death: Died in his bed after crawling home from fighting a little too hard. I am putting him between S1 and S2, so no particular name killed him, just his dedication to his brand.

What are your plans for this character in-game? Matt is incredibly self-destructive and tends to push people away, and he constantly relives the same mistakes. He doesn't ask for help and he literally killed himself fighting despite the fact he has people who care about him that would have wanted to help him. What I want for him is to get to a place where he can be open about what he does, and not feel like he has to punch every problem away. It's honestly a big ask. It'd be great if he were less self-hating and self-destructive, while he's at it.

Additionally, He would want to do what he can to help people. To that end he might have something to teach others about functioning in a world of darkness, since he is blind and rather used to not seeing things. This is sort of old hat for him, even if he has super senses to help him make sense of what he can't see. Another thing he'd get involved with would be the mystery of the town itself. Matt is someone who wants to help those that need it, and that includes an entire town drowning in darkness, whether it's the afterlife or not. He's too used to a life of darkness to wish it on anybody.

What aspects of this game and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with? Navigating the world setting from a different perspective than most (as he is used to darkness at this point, but he will still have to deal with the setting in his own way, especially because of the deprivation of some of his other senses). Additionally, the teamwork elements are intriguing, because Matt is horrifically bad at being a team player. He always wants to go off and do things on his own and he can be incredibly emotionally evasive and dishonest, which doesn't super gel in a team environment. I am also looking forward to pushing him to actually deal with being a more normal blind guy, since his senses are not going to be going haywire OP like they can be in the show.

How does your character generally get along with other people? Matt can usually get along with people and even if he does not like them, is more than capable of faking it. He is a lawyer; he doesn't usually let that sort of thing on. He gets along with more people than he dislikes, though it's not exactly easy to get close to him either.

The only thing that would completely turn him off another person would be incredibly immoral and abusive behavior towards others, and behavior that continues and escalates. He could probably still be congenial face to face, but that's the sort of thing he used to put a beanie over his face and punch people for. Just a fair warning.

What is your character's mental state upon entering the game? He will probably be pretty angry, because he feels responsible for Hell's Kitchen and certainly wasn't prepared to die defending it. He will feel like he left the job undone and the city with nobody to protect it. Not to mention there are probably a bunch of "I told you so"s will be ringing in his ears. He will be missing his friends and mourning his life, because he really wasn't ready to die. Still, he's catholic and will probably believe this is some sort of purgatory, and just be surprised to be here and not burning in the fires of hell.

Skills/Abilities: Matt might have been blinded by the accident in his youth, but the radioactive waste did more than that. It also incredibly enhanced his remaining senses. A combination of his attuned smell, touch, taste, and hearing allows him to "see" in an odd manner of speaking. It connects him to the world and gives him a pretty clear picture of what is happening in it, even if he can't physically see it. He also has extreme endurance, can take an unbelievable amount of hits and keep on kicking. Matt has mastered meditation and breathing techniques that help him ignore pain and recover nominally faster (probably not by much if at all, but he really believes it helps so he does it anyway). On top of that he's very smart (top of his class, a lawyer), trained in multiple martial arts and knowledge with weapons, speaks multiple languages, and is able to read braille.

Flaws/Weaknesses: Being so reliant on his other senses, disruption on any of them tends to incapacitate him. Be it partially (if he has a stuffy nose) or completely (when he lost his hearing shortly in S2). He will have to be dealing with some loss of senses in game and no doubt he'll be cranky about it. His need to be a hero could probably be considered a weakness as well. Matt will continually throw himself into dangerous situations, again and again, without considering the consequences to his own health (or, for that matter, for the fears and concerns of those around him).

Lastly, being this damn catholic is a weakness in and of itself. Catholic guilt is no joke. Matt constantly beats himself up (emotionally, he saves the literal beatings for criminals) for things that are not his fault, and he also considers himself deeply sinful and on occasion, a little evil. As for fears, Matt hates to be abandoned, even though he'd never admit it. He is terrified of losing any more of his senses. People in his life that could be used against him include Foggy, Elektra, Karen, and Stick. Pretty much having to witness any death would mess him up, though, because he'd find a way he was somehow responsible for it. He's a sucker for the downtrodden and those in need of help.

Personality: The bible speaks of the duality of man. That there is both a creature made in God's own image, of perfection and peace, paired with corruption and sin, of darkness and chaos completely opposed to godliness. The corruption began in the Garden of Eden with the pursuit of knowledge that was just beyond reach, and this duality causes a rift in each person, a mixing of good and evil, sin and virtue, a confused and incompatible combination of elements.

Since Matt Murdock is such a good catholic boy, of course it makes sense that he would embody this duality. Much like the devil and angel battling on the shoulders of some confused and conflicted cartoon character, Matt has a pull of good and a push of evil, facets of brightness and figments of darkness. Not always does one surpass the other, in fact he is often a complicated mire of both. All too often, actually.

The good is certainly easier to find than the bad. In fact, it is easy to argue that overall, Matt is a good person. He is likable, often funny, good-spirited. He is kind, soft spoken, and considerate. He cares about others. He cares a lot, in fact. He has frequent moments of selflessness and incredibly strong convictions about helping those in need. He dedicated himself to law school and becoming a public defender to fight for those who needed it to be a bastion to the people in the city he loved so much. He generally refuses to work for those he knows to be guilty and will risk his career and often his safety to defend those who have little to repay him with but their gratitude.

This sort of ferocious determination to defend the innocent and those in need of saving extends far past his law career as well. He throws himself, body and soul, into fighting on the behalf of Hell's Kitchen. Those that are maligned, lost, and abused, with no one to turn to, Matt is willing to champion for without them even knowing his name. He will risk his life and his happiness to protect those that need it, and not always because they deserve it.

All in all, he's a kind person and he has a sympathetic heart. Matt has plenty of empathy and he is more than capable of connecting to the pain of others and grieving for them as strongly as he might grieve for himself. He is not blind to suffering, despite the fact he can no longer see. One could almost argue he's all too aware of it, as he cannot seem to stop himself from stepping in, instead feeling an obligation that many do not understand. He cannot let go of a mission once he's connected to it, not even when the cost can be personal or extremely high. He is beholden to his convictions in a way that could be alarming as much as it can be inspiring.

They can be alarming in the fact he will carve apart so much of himself for them. His health, his happiness, his life, his connections to others — they all face strain, occasionally to the breaking point, because of Matthew's refusal to turn away from what he believes to be right. Even when the people in his life are begging him to, Matt cannot just leave well enough alone or give up, no matter the consequences. Win or lose, live or die, he'd rather fight to the end than give up without giving it his all. It's admirable when seen as determination, less so when looked at through the lens of stubbornness.

Matt also has difficulty seeing past his own world view and his own beliefs. He is painfully catholic, and he sees right and wrong through that narrow set of commandments. More complicated questions do not always fit neatly into the mindset he has always adhered to, and he struggles with the more difficult shades of gray. Matt would like every moral question to come with a clear yes or no, right or wrong. The world just doesn't work that way, despite his desperation to occasionally fit it in a more limited, roman-catholic understanding.

He can be incredibly selfish. Matt chooses to cling to his secrets instead of offering the truth to even those closest to him, both on the misguided idea that it protects them and to avoid conversations he doesn't want to have. Matt refuses to step down from a fight that is slowly destroying him, body and soul, even when many parties around him beg him to, thanks to his unshakeable determination to fight when Hell's Kitchen never asked him to.

Matthew fears that there is a part of him ruled by the devil, by hatred and anger and darkness, and perhaps that is not exactly untrue. He is capable of extreme and horrifying violence. He will hurt those who hurt others and he shows absolute brutality in his dealings with those he feels are dangerous. While he does not kill, he is not afraid to do everything but, even willing to torture when he feels he has to. There is a frightening side to him, a side that frightens even himself, but Matt will do what he feels he has to and sacrifice his own soul in the process if he thinks that it will protect innocents in the end.

As much as Matt might try to see things in black and white, the reality is far more complicated. And thusly, so is he. There is more to him than his violent, vigilante persona, just as there is much more to the soft-spoken defense attorney than meets the eye. Matt can be kind as much as he can be cruel, and he is just as capable of hurting as he is capable of defending. His finer points — his compassion for others, his belief in what is right, his willingness to sacrifice so much of himself — are cut and tarnished occasionally by his lesser ones. He is not complete if considered by one small part, however he is not ruled by one, either. His violent nature is conditional, and only drawn out by those deserving. His secrets are selfishly kept, yes, but there is a good part of him that does want to protect others from the truth. Especially those he loves the most.

Matt cannot always see himself as good, but let's be honest, that's the catholic in him. As much as he battles with his darkness, there is much in him to be admired. It is just important not to dismiss the flaws to his character because of all the ways he is so very good — don't worry, though, Matt Murdock is absolutely the least likely person to forget his own sinful nature.

Items: So, since Matt died in his bed trying to sleep off more injuries than he had any right to have, he will have... some boxer briefs. And maybe a bandage or two if he bothered to slap them on, but I imagine he'd take them off once he realized they were no longer needed. So basically, boxer briefs. At the very least, they're probably expensive??

SAMPLES

Log Sample: Link
Network Sample: Link
And the rest of my TDM is here if these are a little short.