( incensed app )

[harb11nger]

OOC
Player/Contact: Rie, PM.
Other Characters: N/A

IC
Name: Starting off with a difficult question from the start! His harbinger title is "Tartaglia", his alias is "Childe". His real name is "Ajax", though he won't be using it.
Canon: Regrettably: Genshin Impact
Canon Point: After the completion of the Inazuma archon quest, where Tartaglia is assumed to be searching for Scaramouche.
Age: He's a young adult, late teens to early twenties. For the sake of continuity, let's say 20.

History/Personality: Here.

Would you consider your character to be heroic? Why or why not?:

According to Childe himself: it's kind of complicated.

Heroism is a nebulous concept from the start: are we talking Machiavellian heroism? Does a man who saves the world by murdering an infant still count as heroic? What if he's an absolute angel in his personal life?

Childe's not an angel.

He does, however, love his family deeply; his younger siblings believe that he could hang the moon. He's friendly. Charming. Generous with his money. People like him, for all that there's a sense of underlying unease when you get too close.

He also revived an ancient god and unleashed it upon Liyue Harbor, knowing that collateral damage in the form of innocent lives was an inevitability. He did so not because he reveled in the loss of life, but because he saw his actions as a necessary evil.

Canon describes him as a "battle-maniac", but battle in and of itself has no moral value — he's just as happy fighting a friend than he is destroying an enemy. He enjoys the thrill of challenging himself, pushing himself to new heights.

Furthermore, he's not proud of the work that he does as a Harbinger. There are aspects which appeal to him: the ability to roam the lands and seek out new challenges, broadening his horizons as he goes. Even so, he doesn't see himself as a hero, only as a tool — he doesn't speak much about the true nature of his work to his younger siblings. In fact, he actively hides the full extent of his Harbinger duties.

The issue lies in Genshin's storytelling structure: we know that Childe works as a Harbinger because it allows him the freedom to pursue battle across Teyvat. We also know that Childe believes whole-heartedly in his boss, the Tsaritsa's, end goals, but we have little idea what that might be. Is the Tsaritsa attempting to take over Teyvat because she wants to overthrow an oppressive rule? Is she a power-hungry psychopath, and Childe her bloodied knife?

No fucking idea.

So for now, Childe sits firmly in the "cheerfully unhinged" category: a cool guy! A fun guy! A crazy guy! Fifty-fifty on the heroism question.

Powers/Abilities:

The Wiki has a good overview of his abilities as a playable character.

However! Childe doesn't use his Electro Delusion or his Foul Legacy form.

This page has more information about his full array of abilities.

Tl;dr:

He can manipulate water

He can manipulate electricity

He can grow a couple of feet (giving up some sanity points in the process), and use both elements at the same time

He's a fair hand with weaponry in general

He's strong. Superhumanly strong. In fact, when he gets sick of using his bow and outright throws an arrow at his enemy, he does more damage than any of his previous shots.

Inventory:

His signature bow

A set of cooking knives in a leather sheath

A pair of chopsticks shoved into the same leather sheath despite not having a designated pouch. One is broken in half.

A few half-written letters and postcards

A small wooden toy

His hydro vision, usually clipped to his belt

His electro delusion

A wind glider (Defaulting to the Dragonspine wings since the Snezhnayan design hasn't been released in-game yet)

Coterie: Eagles

Samples: TDM, currently two threads ongoing.