Denzel

Backstory: Denzel was born to a naive if book-smart union leader (his father) and a shrewd politician (his mother). From an early age, he was significantly smarter in academic matters than the other children, leading him to begin to feel he was superior to them. The fact he had several siblings none of whom were on his level didn't help.

From a young age, Denzel always felt that he shouldn't connect with others who weren't his peers- although this was partially imposed on him, as his intelligence isolated him from them to an extent anyway. He didn't have any real friends, although he did have flunkies he had holds on to do as he wished. But all this was reinforced by the downfall of Denzel's father.

The man's demands had become so great they were proving unacceptable to the establishment. Denzel's mother, hoping to earn points with her Minister (who was responsible for the strikes), began a campaign behind the scenes to discredit him by revealing. Although Denzel knew, his father would never find out about this betrayal.

Another persistent aspect of Denzel's early life was his frustration. Partly from genetics and partly from his environment, Denzel had always felt himself simply better than others- even his own parents, who had achieved nowhere near as much when young. Yet for many frustrating years he had no way to influence world history. This frustration ultimately reached the point where it would boot him out of the Dream World.

Nowadays, Denzel manipulates in the hope that his Three Precepts can come to the fore. The first is Military Rule- that those who defend humanity (the Pilots and Anchors) should get as much of the resources as possible diverted to them as their emotional state is vital to humanity. The second is that there be One Head, who creates relationships as necessary in order to give the Pilots and Anchors the fighting power they need but who is not a Pilot nor an Anchor themselves and who has no relationships (as that would make them biased). The third is a Disciplined Society- new conscripts for Pilots and Anchors might be needed at any time, and it is best that all learn to be obedient so they can be dispatched as a last line of defence if really necessary.

Personality:

Denzel sees himself as basically Light Yagami in skill level, and Hammurabi in ultimate purpose- a great reformer who uses manipulations to achieve his goals as he lacks the sovereign power he rightly deserves. This, however, is far from the truth.

In reality, Denzel is not selfless like he thinks he is but an egotist- he wants to be important so badly it broke him out of the Dream World. His dream is a rationalisation for manipulating people 'for their own good'- at one point he was going to advocate orgyesque polyamory to build relations but decided against it primarily because he couldn't get himself to accept an obligation to be intimate.

Denzel is cold because of his fear of intimacy, but not properly stoic despite his attempts to put it on. He is a skilled manipulator, but nowhere near as good as he thinks he is.

Relationships:

Zackary: 4-2

Denzel still feels a significant grudge against Zackary for the time they got into a serious fight. Denzel sees Zackary, although not good enough to be a leader, as the primary potential leader of anti-Denzel forces. As a pilot, this makes him more dangerous.

Although Denzel doesn't want to feel angry with Zackary over this, if he's honest with himself he has to admit he is. He's honest enough with himself to admit this much- the anger is too strong to do otherwise.

Ellie: 3-2

A bit vapid, but Denzel has an odd feeling about her- as if she's not all she looks. Denzel isn't sure what to make of it. If you were to ask Denzel outright, he would rate Ellie as a 2-1 but that's because he's lying to himself.

In Denzel's heart of hearts, he likes having somebody to talk to. He can't reveal everything, but he can reveal more to Ellie than he can to anybody else because he has a "hold" over Ellie- if their Relationship breaks Ellie's life will be at risk. He feels he has to be careful not to let the relationship get too close, but he has already crosed his own lines...

Ollandah: 2-3

Zackary's pawn(in Denzel's mind), and an idealistic kid. Denzel considers her a tool of the enemy but valuable due to the lack of a new generation. Because of their relation as cousins, however, Denzel is a bit more attached to Ollandah that he would admit.

To the small extent that they have talked, however, you wouldn't see it- it's mostly been Ollandah gushing about Zackary and Denzel trying to no avail to point out his weaknesses.

Vickie: 2-2

A selfish Pilot, and a prime candidate for Denzel's "Shipping" plans. In his mind, although Vickie-Alex would be the obvious choice but he sees the guy as too insignificant. Throwing her at Oku would make him act less rashly as he needs to survive and make them both less selfish, whilst throwing her at Zackary would, if played right, create a more intense relationship than the one with Elizabeth to power them both up.

Denzel hasn't really thought that much about Vickie as a person, however. She's proactive in his mind, but at this point Ellie and Zackary are the only breaches of his anti-emotional attachment rules.

Oku: 2-1

A rash git in Denzel's mind, who desperately needs to be controlled by an authority figure such as himself. Unlike Zackary he isn't an outright enemy, but Denzel feels that if his supremacy is going to be formally established one day he needs a way to bring Oku to heel.

The difference between Denzel's view about Zackary and his view about Oku is that he doesn't feel that much anger against Oku- this is because Oku, unlike Zackary, is not a rival for the leadership of the group.

Dominic: 1-4

Denzel dismisses Dominic, rightly, as easily manipulable. Dominic is easy to provoke to anger and gets drunk a lot of the time. Even when he isn't drunk, the facts he reveals when drunk mean that Denzel knows him like the back of his hand.

Dominic really is to Denzel what he sees Ellie as- a person who he understands well enough to know won't betray him, but who he doesn't really feel anything about.

Everybody else: 1-2

Nathan is a mysterious figure who needs to be checked out in more detail. Denzel links him to the base and so figures his agenda is in their interests- but he isn't sure what it is.

Vera is a mere fixture around Vickie.

Denzel doesn't know most of the Anchors that well- Elizabeth is a potential spanner in the works for him, but he doesn't know that yet.

Current Trauma Score: 0

Current Bliss Score: 0