DEUS VULT

OOC Name: Tealah
Character's Name: Orthos
Design Custom 2
Adult Height: 36"
Needed purchases: none? (character slot? will have to check if I still have one)
Ley's Role In Their Life: in public he played lip service to Ley - in private, blasphemy. Within himself he struggles to overcome the deeply rooted biases and fear that growing up within a religion has imposed on him. Outwardly he claims to care little for silly stories and a god that was made up to scare little pups into behaving the way society thought they should, but inwardly he harbors a distant, desperate terror that he will die to find out that Ley is real and knows just how much of a screw-up he is or worse, that Ley really is a lie and there's nothing waiting after death. Existential crisis ahoy!
Motivation: Whatever blasé excuse he might give - boredom, seeking adventure - or the pious lies - that he go seek out and bring home his siblings, or to spread the word of Ley - the truth is much more complicated. He wants to get out from all of the eyes constantly watching and judging, away from everyone constantly parroting the words of Ley, away from the loving but stifling embrace of a family that wants the best for him but that he feels can only ever be disappointed by him.
Personality: Orthos hides self doubt and self castigation behind a mask of lazy indifference and debauchery. He is the youngest son of a branch of the royal house that will never inherit, and even aside from them not inheriting the kingdom itself Yale already had his heir and a spare to inherit his own name, so what use was Orthos, the baby of the family? He could go for an officer, if he didn't find the idea of bloodshed so distasteful, or to the church - the very thought of going to the church terrified him beyond all reason. So there was nothing for him. He has always had trouble believing that he could ever live up to his family and so, conversely and quite stubbornly, went out of his way to be good at failing. He rebels against his family's morals not because he was driven to it, but because if he's going to be a fuck-up anyway he's going to be a fuck-up in his own way and in style. So he projects the persona of a lazy, debauched, jaded playboy. With his ever so handsome face and flirtatious ways that make him seem older than his actual age, there have always been rumors that unnamed wives of unnamed nobles had allowed themselves to be seduced by him despite his youth. The truth was that he merely plays the game for the attention it gets him, playing hard to get and dabbling just enough into the flirting to make them want him, then flitting away to the next chase. He takes nothing seriously and bounces from diversion to diversion as soon as he loses interest. He's clever, if he puts his mind to it, but he certainly tries not to do so. He always did quite poorly in his expensive schooling, though for lack of trying rather than for lack of knowing the material. It is, after all, difficult to pass exams when you don't bother to show up for them.

To summarize, Orthos seems to be nothing more than a spoiled, selfish little dilettante who pays more mind to drinking and gambling than he does to the world around him, but the truth beneath the surface is much more complicated than that. Yes, he's somewhat unmotivated and a little vain. But when it comes down to it, when it really matters, he can be counted on responsible guilted into coming to the rescue.
Sample Post: Orthos sighed and used one paw to tilt and roll the gold plated cup holding his wine. Ley's hairy balls but this damnable opera was boring. He risked a peek around him, but the others all seemed to be watching politely. It was after all what was expected of them. What a miserable waste of everyone's time.

He tilted the cup towards his muzzle to drain it in a gulp, then went back to rocking it idly back and forth. He was, of course, going to sneak out at the intermission and see if he couldn't find the worst, most disgusting den of inequity that he possibly could and spend the night drinking and gambling, but somehow even the thought of that had paled. A sick sort of feeling twisted in his chest. Would he not even be able to enjoy that anymore? Was he just going to rot away in a downward spiral of liver and soul destroying agony?

Oh, his parents would be distressingly supportive and loving the whole time, of course, all while despairing that the baby of the family would ever turn his life around and do make something of himself. The more he rebelled, the more they tried to wrap him up in familial love, and all that love was strangling him. Yale had been smart to get out when he did.

His paw froze against the cup. That was it! Yale had gotten out. Why shouldn't he be able to do the same? It wasn't like Triton couldn't fulfill his parents' need to have a son to ooze love all over all by himself, and they were certainly still young enough to have a few more litters to replace any children who happened to wander off, so why not?

Far too excited and impatient now to wait for intermission to make his getaway, he began to squirm past the other passive audience members, murmuring apologies when appropriate and slowly making his way out of the crowd. He knew he was causing a stir, and disapproving voices hissed at him telling him to sit down, or get out of the way, or grumbling about his lack of manners, but Orthos couldn't bring himself to care even as little as he usually did. He couldn't waste the time or the energy to care what a bunch of dotty old bats thought about him. He was leaving Aytepios for good.