Appearance & City History: I've smushed these two sections together because they deal with his background.
Downing's family had originally been from the Center, but for various reasons (most likely some poor and/or shady business deals on his mother's part), the entire family packed up and moved out to the North. They had a history of working in import/export and couched it in terms of being closer to the source of many of their products. His brothers would've gone into the family business and while Huw had been trained in accounting, he would've broken tradition and struck out on his own pointedly not working on any accounts that could be connected with the Downing family.
In regards to his scarring, I think it would be reasonable to say that at some point his life (approx five years ago?), he was in some sort of accident - either boating or a car crash, whichever you think is more feasible for the game. While his scarring won't be over the course of many years, I think that it should be 'close enough' that he isn't too body disphoric.
Personality Doul is an internally focused and driven man who priorities his own goals and interests over those of anyone else around him. In regards to his morality, Doul is a profoundly practical man and is more concerned about his own relation to the world than any connection to an external source of authority (God, the Law, etc.) - he won't break the law without reason or if getting caught goes against his better interest, but he has no respect for the institution of law or lawmakers. He believes that it is better and more efficient to lead with stern compassion, but when that fails, force is acceptable. For example, the Lovers were 'benevolent' dictators and Doul didn't appear to have trouble acting as their chief enforcer for years. That all said, he is not wanton or cruel for cruelty's own sake.
When he is without a project to occupy his time, he is restless in a way that manifests itself through outbursts of bad temper and withdrawing from society. Conversley, when he has found something he wants, he is almost infiniately patient when it comes to the creation and carrying out of whatever meticulous and occasionally amoral plan he's created.
He tends to categorize the world around him into that which is useful and that which is not; promptly ignoring anything that doesn't aid or threaten him. That said, he is aware of his surroundings and often reevaluates his situation to better make use of his environment. In his canon, he desparages the ab-dead (vampires), but it is implied that this is done more to irritate The Brucolac (the ab-dead leader of an opposing political faction) than out of actual animosity. Doul has a host of flaws, but bigotry is not among them.
He is adaptable to all manner of strange situations. In game, I think that he'll be most shocked by how similar everyone is rather than their differences. On Armada, he was used to a bustling city filled to overflowing with humans, xenians (non-humans), and fReemade (recently escaped humans and xenians forcibly altered into new shapes as a form of punishment). Each riding (a political division) in the city was governed in a different way and it made for a profoundly patchwork and argumentative form of leadership.
Powers In game, I think that Doul will likely function as a 'baseline' human with a sensory processing disorder. On days when the world is too loud for him to function easily, he appears to suffer from sensory defensiveness, acting closed off, unemotional, and distant. Conversely, on Good Days, when it's easier for him to concentrate, Doul's ability to focus can be quite frightening.
If he is allowed to regain access to probability manipulation in game, I think there are a great many ways that it could be useful; but as it stands, it's more of a nuisance than anything else. When confronted with a situation where a choice needs to be made, he can explore the likely outcomes of various actions, but each 'branch' of any one choice-tree splits off in innumerable ways and usually serves more to overwhelm than provide valuable information. There's a big gap between being aware of probable outcomes and being able to influence which one he would want to have. Without access to his equipment, he would only have some knowledge of what might happen and that without exceptional circumstances, he would be unable to select and enforce any one option.
In his canon, this ability is harnessed and made useful through the creation of a device called a probability engine (a.k.a. the Might Sword, as in it 'might' do one thing or the other or both at once). As I said in the application, I think that building such a thing could be interesting to explore, but that it's not something he would be able to complete without a great deal of time and effort - at least a year of gameplay would pass before I'd be comfortable bringing that forward as a plot point.
Revisions
Downing's family had originally been from the Center, but for various reasons (most likely some poor and/or shady business deals on his mother's part), the entire family packed up and moved out to the North. They had a history of working in import/export and couched it in terms of being closer to the source of many of their products. His brothers would've gone into the family business and while Huw had been trained in accounting, he would've broken tradition and struck out on his own pointedly not working on any accounts that could be connected with the Downing family.
In regards to his scarring, I think it would be reasonable to say that at some point his life (approx five years ago?), he was in some sort of accident - either boating or a car crash, whichever you think is more feasible for the game. While his scarring won't be over the course of many years, I think that it should be 'close enough' that he isn't too body disphoric.
Personality
Doul is an internally focused and driven man who priorities his own goals and interests over those of anyone else around him. In regards to his morality, Doul is a profoundly practical man and is more concerned about his own relation to the world than any connection to an external source of authority (God, the Law, etc.) - he won't break the law without reason or if getting caught goes against his better interest, but he has no respect for the institution of law or lawmakers. He believes that it is better and more efficient to lead with stern compassion, but when that fails, force is acceptable. For example, the Lovers were 'benevolent' dictators and Doul didn't appear to have trouble acting as their chief enforcer for years. That all said, he is not wanton or cruel for cruelty's own sake.
When he is without a project to occupy his time, he is restless in a way that manifests itself through outbursts of bad temper and withdrawing from society. Conversley, when he has found something he wants, he is almost infiniately patient when it comes to the creation and carrying out of whatever meticulous and occasionally amoral plan he's created.
He tends to categorize the world around him into that which is useful and that which is not; promptly ignoring anything that doesn't aid or threaten him. That said, he is aware of his surroundings and often reevaluates his situation to better make use of his environment. In his canon, he desparages the ab-dead (vampires), but it is implied that this is done more to irritate The Brucolac (the ab-dead leader of an opposing political faction) than out of actual animosity. Doul has a host of flaws, but bigotry is not among them.
He is adaptable to all manner of strange situations. In game, I think that he'll be most shocked by how similar everyone is rather than their differences. On Armada, he was used to a bustling city filled to overflowing with humans, xenians (non-humans), and fReemade (recently escaped humans and xenians forcibly altered into new shapes as a form of punishment). Each riding (a political division) in the city was governed in a different way and it made for a profoundly patchwork and argumentative form of leadership.
Powers
In game, I think that Doul will likely function as a 'baseline' human with a sensory processing disorder. On days when the world is too loud for him to function easily, he appears to suffer from sensory defensiveness, acting closed off, unemotional, and distant. Conversely, on Good Days, when it's easier for him to concentrate, Doul's ability to focus can be quite frightening.
If he is allowed to regain access to probability manipulation in game, I think there are a great many ways that it could be useful; but as it stands, it's more of a nuisance than anything else. When confronted with a situation where a choice needs to be made, he can explore the likely outcomes of various actions, but each 'branch' of any one choice-tree splits off in innumerable ways and usually serves more to overwhelm than provide valuable information. There's a big gap between being aware of probable outcomes and being able to influence which one he would want to have. Without access to his equipment, he would only have some knowledge of what might happen and that without exceptional circumstances, he would be unable to select and enforce any one option.
In his canon, this ability is harnessed and made useful through the creation of a device called a probability engine (a.k.a. the Might Sword, as in it 'might' do one thing or the other or both at once). As I said in the application, I think that building such a thing could be interesting to explore, but that it's not something he would be able to complete without a great deal of time and effort - at least a year of gameplay would pass before I'd be comfortable bringing that forward as a plot point.