schietto | somnia app

Name: seiko
Preferred Contact: PM
Age: 21+
Invite Link: NA (current player)
CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Dante Falzone
Canon: Piofiore
Age: 23
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: NA
Canon Point: End of Common Route/Day 1 of his own route (catches the protagonist when she falls from her window while trying to escape the Falzone mansion)
Wiki Link(s): Terrible Wiki Link
Slightly Less Terrible VNDB Link
Supplement Background and Personality Link (technically still in progress)

(extra additional note.)

Even though there no section for abilities, I feel like it's worth mentioning (because I'm pretty sure his skill is due to his ability to be so calm and focused in even most chaotic and unexpected situations) that Dante is a long range fighter with incredible sharpshooting skills, and shoots one-handed. Despite that, he's known to never miss his target (except when plot decides it is inconvenient.) He is a marksman rather than simply a man that has learned to use a gun. Dante is not very confident in himself and his abilities, but his skill with guns seems to be an exception (he will often only pull his gun when he has no choice, as he usually aims to kill.) However, he isn't proficient with any other weapons or close quarter combat (beyond general training a mafia heir would probably need, anyway, and definitely below what is learned in the standard military.) He's very squishy for a Mafia character in terms of his fighting abilities. I feel like his skill with guns is needed to be mentioned because it seems to tie a lot into his personality more than it was simply a skill he jut happens to be good at because it's cool for the story that he is competent with a gun.

SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somnia— a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?

A wish, a wound, and a weakness all wrapped into one. Where Dante comes from, he is nothing more than a normal human with an inhuman responsibility that he sees himself at his canon point failing horribly, even though he doesn't let anyone know such things and there is no obvious outward signs of this failure to others. Dante sees the power and influence of the Falzone weakening since taking over after his father's assassination, and he only sees himself to blame. He is desperately seeking some way—any way—to be worthy of the title of Boss of the Falzone family and not make his father's decision to have him succeed him be the downfall of the family. He wants more power/capability to protect the people of Burlone and Liliana, wants to be less of a coward, wants someone to see the young man crying for help behind the mask of the newest and youngest Boss of one of the most powerful Mafia Families of Italy that are the de facto rulers of the town. He'll take anyone that will not look down on him for his insecurities, that can help him become more of the man he sees the world expecting him to be rather than anyone that can help him resolve his own issues regarding his value as a human being.

He would hear Sleep's offer, and any sympathy or soothing she would give him, any encouragement or offer in helping him fulfill his duties to protect Burlone and the mission assigned to his family by the church, would make him reach for her. He would follow without question if he truly felt he would find what is necessary to make sure he succeeds in his duty and upholds the reputation and name of the Falzone family, even at the cost of his own existence.

2. Somnia is a slow unraveling—of worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?

Dante sees himself as perpetual coward, so fear is always a constant with him (despite being able to main calm in almost all situations that involve danger and fear.) He doesn't know how to handle it other than swallow it and lock it away—which lets him function quite well even at an emotionally-stripped level day-to-day, the stress (and his chronic insomnia) eventually leads to him physically collapsing.

However, despite Dante's views of himself, he also possesses a very stubborn and accepting view that whether things go as they should or not, that he absolutely must see them through to the end even if it will be a complete loss. He fights back against his own unraveling and his own weaknesses, but as time has continued forward it's stacked quite high. His ability to control his emotions and remain calm despite what he is actually feeling allows him to adapt to situations and keep pushing forward despite the odds, even if this perseverance becomes increasingly fragile and dangerous as his need do what's expected of him becomes a blind obsession. He very rarely loses control of himself, but we see that when he snaps, if someone has harmed those he loves, he is just as vicious and ruthless without care for any of his morals or his normal self, so it will depend on the circumstances in Somnia.

As for transformation of self, he will certainly come to fight with it initially (which I plan to explore a lot with him being reshaped as a Necromancer,) but Dante will ultimately come to adapt to it when he realizes he can't fight against it. He's resistant to change as he has been conditioned since he was a child and brought up in a very strict fashion and expectation, but above all it's been drilled into him that he has to succeed, which means no matter the obstacles he will adapt however he must, even if he doesn't personally want to.

3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character form— fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?

Dante's bonds are slow and wary. He has been strictly raised and mostly never allowed a childhood to act like a child (as a small child he was already acting like an adult) and make bonds with others, learning and feeling that all he is to everyone around him is the future boss of the Falzone. No one sees him as Dante, and Dante himself doesn't have much faith that anyone wants to see or even like that side of him. As a mafia boss, his mask doesn't allow him to make connections, he's quite distant and reserved, and so in a world where putting on the mask of the boss of Falzone no longer matters, he will be very wary of others and their expectations. It will be very hard for him to trust and open up as he'll even have to be learning how to open up to the man that he's closest to (Nicola) during his time in Manhattan.

The connections he does make will be loyal and steadfast. As time goes on connections will be part of what helps him (or hurts him) as he navigates Sleep's world and her desires to get the vessels onto her side willingly.

4. What are two major forces in your character’s personality that are often in conflict? (Ex: logic vs emotion, power vs guilt, obedience vs rage, etc.)

Duty (expectations) vs Guilt (self-viewed inadequacy) {

Dante has a lot of personality conflicts due to being the head of the Falzone family, but his duty vs his guilt over what that Duty requires of him (as well as his own capabilities to complete said duty) is probably the most important. Dante struggles immensely with the balance between what's good for the Falzone family and what's good for himself; and his upbringing has driven him to a point that that anything that conflicts with how he's supposed to act in regards to the good of the Falzone are not merely a conflict to be sorted and resolved, but that he is actually lacking and unfit for what fate has decided he is meant to do in life.

Dante's obsessive need to fulfil his duty as the successor of the Falzone at any cost is conflicted by his view that he is entirely undeserving of being the leader to his Family. Before he was born, his cousin Nicola was raised as the intended heir, and Dante has always seen everything about Nicola as more worthy for the position of Capo of the great Falzone Family. The mask that Dante wears as the boss of the Falzone is convincing to those who don't know him, but deep inside that mask hides a young man that sees himself as a coward and an imposter that can't possibly live up to what he's been shouldered with. He has to kill to protect, but he loathes killing, admitting to the main character that he can't stand it every time he has to do such a thing *and he does it a lot. He wants to protect, not hurt, and he struggles with the ruthlessness required to maintain the power of his Family in terms of respect and fear both of his family's rivals and concerning the people that his family watches over.

Everywhere Dante looks at himself, he sees inadequacy, but he doesn't know who or where to turn for help, and so he keeps his feelings and thoughts locked tightly away, pushing through to fulfil his duty no matter the cost to himself. His lack of self-esteem and self-worth, both of which are unacceptable for a man that is the Boss of a powerful mafia family, is only compounded by the fact he feels that no one ever sees him as himself (Dante), and instead only as the Boss of the Falzone Family.

While he wants to be a good boss, he also wars with the fact that he's alone with no one there that can help him navigate his doubts and mounting pressure (Nicola tries very hard, but it isn't enough because Dante is really lost in his mind concerning what his Duty is.) In truth, most in his family love him far more than simply as their leader, but he is so coiled up in his own high standards and fulfilling the duty his father left to him that he fails to see it. It leaves him vulnerable, frightened, and confused behind his mask of the ruthless Capo of the Falzone Family and thinking the only option is to bury it.

VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character? Dante is not a character that is very explored in terms of his logic versus instincts. Despite him being a mafia boss and having done some truly horrible things to his enemies, he's not particularly hiding an animalistic side or the ability to embrace such an idea. In fact, because his duty has him expected to be so ruthless and monstrous, it better fits his true character that he be a man with power as a mage versus a monster (i know the troupe here is usually the opposite for characters.)
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Necromancer

I'm choosing Necromancer because I hope to explore the ideas of life force as a source of power and the need for equivalent exchange that is part of necromancy. As a pious man that has a duty to act rather useless but has always been human and felt himself useless, I think it would be fascinating for him to have to explore and come to terms with that not that he has a higher power from a deity, he isn't free of the tough decisions he must make and how he does them. I'm also hoping since necromancy is forbidden (at least, the divination aspect of it) by the church and their strict views on the body (including as a corpse) and the soul, that he'll have plenty of struggles to sort himself out and what really makes someone with power a hero or a villain (as necromancer, in my opinion, is one of the easily best opportunities in terms of how it's used can show a good or evil individual and their own strengths and weaknesses.)

Samples:
TL. https://sacktime.dreamwidth.org/1821.html?thread=2726941#cmt2726941
Toki. https://sacktime.dreamwidth.org/1821.html?thread=2751773#cmt2751773
Kuneshige. https://sacktime.dreamwidth.org/1821.html?thread=2743581#cmt2743581
Ruhong. https://sacktime.dreamwidth.org/1821.html?thread=2751261#cmt2751261