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[ravkas]

OOC
Name: eden
Contact: eloquents
Other characters: n/a

IC
Name: nikolai lantsov
Canon: grishaverse
Canon point: mid king of scars, during the obisbaya in sankta elizaveta’s floating castle of terrors just as he asks zoya to remove the thorn from his heart.
Age: 24

History: wiki, spoilers for the entire series here.

Personality:

( - ) DUPLICITOUS — nikolai is a lying liar who lies. honesty is the one thing he freely admits he isn’t very good at. he knows exactly when to be friendly, ruthless, or charming, and can easily slip into the role of the humble soldier, the arrogant prince, or the authoritative king. nikolai’s personality can be incredibly contradictory. he wears many different faces and changes the way he presents himself to manipulate his situations despite his personal desires or feelings. he’s stated before that he doesn’t have the luxury to be himself, so it can be hard to parse out which parts are really him and which parts are just what he wants you to see. this makes him difficult to trust.

( - ) ARROGANT/PREENING/RIDICULOUS — nikolai is allergic to taking anything outwardly seriously, which makes everyone in the world want to slap him. he has little desire to express doubt or weakness except with brainless charm. his walls are almost impenetrable and it’s difficult to have an honest conversation about his (often) fragile emotional states. being the second son and a bastard child, he was never important at court, and so from a young age he decided to become charming as a way to gain sway and attention. this became an integral part of his personality that he uses like armor. he wears his confidence extremely well and it’s nearly impossible to rattle him, but it hinders his personal relationships to be unable to be honest about his many growing fears — the darkness eroding his will, his failures as king, the notion that he is largely unwanted and unlovable. he has a tendency to laugh off his angst, but the cracks are there for those who know where to look.

( - ) INSECURE/LONELY — this may seem at odds with his arrogant confidence, but nikolai is a highly insecure person that parades as the opposite. he is keenly aware that he was never truly loved or wanted as a child and had his parentage constantly questioned at court and even into his kingship. he strives toward an impossible ideal of perfection and throws all his self-worth into ravka despite knowing that his country will never love him in the way that he loves it. he has a terrible track record when it comes to romance and tends to fall very quickly into things because of his perennial loneliness and constant craving for attention.

( + ) SELF-SACRIFICING — nikolai suffers from terminal heroism and is always the first to jump into danger. despite knowing that a king does not belong on the front lines, that’s pretty much where you’ll always find him, as he does not believe in allowing others to wage war for him. he is fiercely protective of his friends and his people, and is constantly shown to be willing to risk his life for ravka’s independence and die fighting for what is right. he is very glib about his own death and shows no fear of the notion of dying. he can be reckless to the point of absurdity and would rather die than allow his mind to unravel completely, in part because he wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of hurting the people he cares for, and in part because of his stubborn pride.

( + ) JUST — nikolai is seen as the only lantsov who has a sense of justice and cares about right and wrong. he does not approve of his father’s methods of ruling and takes it upon himself to save ravka from his own family. he strongly believes that the law should not bend to rank or status, and forces his father to abdicate when genya reveals the king raped her for many years starting at a young age. while in the first army he fights side by side with the other soldiers without concern for wealth or pedigree, and as king he makes a point to know all of his servants and guards not only by name but to know of their lives and families as well. he puts in place many reforms to ease the burdens of the common people, raises taxes on the rich, and works tirelessly to protect grisha from the persecution they’ve historically faced. nikolai gains the respect and love of his people by making promises and then putting in the work to see them done.

( + ) CLEVER/JACK OF ALL TRADES — nikolai is incredibly gifted in many areas. he used to sneak away from the palace at a young age with his friend dominik and learned to fight in street brawls, and later trained in the first army and excelled in swordsmanship and marksmanship. he studied at the university of ketterdam, but left partway through because he doesn’t learn well by sitting through lectures, instead opting to apprentice with a civil engineer, a shipwright, and a gunsmith during his extensive travels. he is a gifted inventor and has designed and piloted his own submersibles, airships, and fighter planes. nikolai’s true strengths lie in his fortitude, intelligence, and ability to think quickly through problems, which is why the darkling specifically targets his mind and will by infecting him with merzost as punishment for betraying him.

Powers/Abilities:

MONSTER — in ruin and rising, nikolai was infected with merzost and transformed into a winged monster with an animalistic mind and a hunger for human flesh. at his canon point, the monster has begun to show itself again, generally breaking free at night while he sleeps to feed on animals. nikolai will often wake miles away from the palace with only fractured memories of the crimes he might have committed.

because of this, he sleeps in iron chains and/or uses a powerful sedative that slows his heartbeat to near dangerous levels so that the monster cannot access his consciousness. when he turns into the demon, his fingers become tipped in long, black claws, his teeth grow into sharp fangs, his eyes turn black, and dark veining appears across his skin. he sprouts wings that seem to be made of shadows and can fly long distances. he gains enormous strength and is able to tear easily through flesh and bone, break through glass, and rend metal. he loses the ability to speak and read.

FIGHTY — nikolai is in excellent physical condition and is a skilled fighter, has perfect aim with a gun, has a fondness for sabers, and most of all is recklessly brave. he is often armed but is not the hotheaded sort, so he's not going to pick a physical fight with you and generally will only fight to defend himself or others.

Regret: nikolai’s biggest regret is leaving ravka prematurely without an heir or an alternate path of succession. his fear is that ravka will fall into another power struggle and ultimately descend once more into a war it will not survive.

Inventory: two revolvers of zemeni make, and his regular military jacket uniform minus his gloves.

Sample:

XIMILIA TDM TOP LEVEL
— and branching threads ( daisy, rhysand, zoya, alina, the darkling. )

XIMILIA TDM THREADS — mal & tolya.

BONUS SAMPLE #1 — psl with kaz brekker

BONUS SAMPLE #2 — psl with cersei lannister

BONUS SAMPLE #3 — psl with alina starkov