Polymythos App

[inlovewithmycar]

PLAYER INFO

Name: Green Rivers
Age: 35
Contact:
Current Characters: n/a

CHARACTER INFO

Name: Anthony J. Crowley
Journal: inlovewithmycar
Age: 6000+
Appearance: Tall, slim, ginger haired, with yellow snake eyes (usually covered) and a 50/50 chance of being daydrunk and Emotional.


Canon: Good Omens (TV)
Canon Point: Post-series

History: Fan Wiki

Abilities:

Physics are Optional. A deleted scene shows Crowley sleeping on the walls and ceiling of his flat, and another part shows that angels and demons can shrink down to be smaller than electrons when Crowley escapes into the phone lines to trap Hastur in his answering machine.

Sin sense! Can generally sense emotions tied to sins and use that to give people what they want (for example real guns instead of the kind that just shoot paintballs)

Talks to vermin (in the deleted scene to show how he knocked down the mobile networks in London, he's shown to have conspired with a large colony of rats and talks to them amicably like some sort of Disney princess)

Demonic miracles: don't have any hard and fast mechanics or consistency to them so this is just sort of an overview.

• Effectively angels and demons can cause minor warps in reality. These seem limited to being within a localized area around them or one has to be intimately aware of the area they're miracling if doing it remotely. Miracles are largely convenient in nature; Crowley and Aziraphale's favourite table in their favourite restaurant is always available when they want it. A stain or mess can be blown away with just a thought. A satchel of books survives a church bombing unscathed during the blitz. A traffic warden's notebook goes up in sparks to avoid a ticket (Aziraphale does this in the book, Crowley does it in the show). A recently deceased dove can be revived by breathing life into it (Crowley does this in the book, Aziraphale does it in the show).
  Trickier things like passing through a wall of flames unscathed, and driving a burning car for 45 minutes without it falling apart takes a lot out of Crowley physically and requires a good imagination to maintain certain degree of denial for that long. So for miracles to be performed, the mindset of the one performing them is integral. For example, Crowley has an unplugged fridge stocked full of gourmet food that never goes off because (while we know that's not how any of that actually works) Crowley assumes that putting food in a fridge will keep it fresh indefinitely and so reality warps around that assumption.
  
• Demonic miracles are not necessarily used for evil. Angels and Demons are functionally similar so Crowley can use his reality bending powers to do blessings as well as temptations.
  
• Stopping Time (Temporarily): Not necessarily sure if this is a miracle or something unique to Crowley. It's definitely something that only happens in the TV series. It could just be a little Dr. Who reference. He does it twice, and one time it takes them to a completely different place, and I have no idea how it works.
  
• Angels and demons can perform some degree of mind manipulation. Crowley is shown to put Sister Mary in a brief trance where she can tell him only the truth (though the truth isn't always the same as 'useful information') and Aziraphale makes it so that she awakens from it having dreamed of 'whatever she likes best'. Hastur and Ligur are able to plant temptations directly into the minds of mortals. It is possible to extrapolate that this is just a general thing demons can do since they seem to expect the same methods from Crowley. That being said, Crowley is never shown to use this ability so either he can't or won't.

Weird biology:

Ageless (or just perpetually middle-aged), Crowley is effectively immortal - his physical form can be destroyed fairly conventionally. If it would kill a human, it will discorporate him (barring a few exceptions like fire and disease.) Mostly "death" is just really, really annoying inconvenience to him.

His corporation is effectively a meatsuit with organs being optional (and so too are food, water, sleep, and air). He's pretty fireproof (kind of? Good Omens is a bit inconsistent about this, given Crowley resists the Hellfire no problem but Hastur discorperates in the wall of flames around the M-25 while Crowley needs to be in deep denial to resist it). He can also possess a receptive host (we never see Crowley possess a human, but it's shown he can leave his body when Aziraphale and Crowley switch before their execution and Aziraphale also mentions to the Heavenly Quartermaster that demons can possess people)

He has some serpentine traits he can't just glamour away and his other corporeal form is a giant red and black snake. All we know about his "true", demonic form is that it's reptilian and has a lot of teeth, and is so terrible to behold that it makes normal humans pass out.

Angels and Demons got big ol' feathery wings. Like everything Crowley has, they're sleek and black. They can flap. Presumably he can also use them to fly. Fanon is that they occupy the same plane of existence as his true occult form and only manifest at his choosing.

Weaknesses:

Crowley may not be subject to the entire range of ills that can befall the average mortal, but being a demon does come with a number of downsides.

• Consecrated ground and holy artifacts won't kill him but they will burn like hell.
  
• Holy water will utterly destroy him. Completely. No more Crowley, corporeal or otherwise.

Questionnaire:

1. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed?

Crowley is a demon who's lived on Earth for the majority of his long lifespan and this is what has shaped him most as a person. He likes living on Earth - it offers all sorts of fun trouble to get into, and a sense of freedom he didn't have in either Heaven or Hell. It's also the home of the one consistent friend he's had since Adam and Eve got kicked out of Eden; the angel Aziraphale.

Crowley, much to his own chagrin, cares a lot about Aziraphale, well past the confines of their professional Arrangement, and is the one person Crowley would put his neck on the line for. And they both share a deep, abiding affection for the world they've been stationed on, despite the attitudes of their respective superiors. Especially because there are so many things to like; good wine, fast cars, daytime telly, excellent music, interesting people -- when you compare it to the dullness of Heaven and the suffering in Hell, it's little wonder he and Aziraphale risk everything to save the world they call home.

This isn't to say Crowley hates being a demon; his faith in God and Heaven are well and truly gone, and his assignments to cause mayhem allow him to flex his creative muscles which he truly does enjoy. He takes a lot of pride in a bad job well done, though his demonic activities are rarely violent in nature. Even when he swaps the paintball guns for real guns, he makes sure everyone involved has a miraculous escape and no one actually dies. It's more than enough for him that the intent to kill was there and people knowingly tried to act on it. He doesn't really have the stomach for what the aftermath would look like if they'd succeeded, which tends to make Crowley more of a force of chaos than actual malice.

2. What kind of person could they become in the future? What are some developmental paths that they could take: best, worst, most likely?

The best case scenario for Crowley is also the most likely - he's known for a long time the kind of person he is, and the kind of person he isn't. He's thrown his lot in with humanity, for better or worse and is largely happy with who he is. He has a lot of unresolved trauma and anger issues with how he got there, though he's mostly at peace with the fact he'll probably never get closure on those matters.

That being said, it isn't impossible for him to go down a darker path and act like the demon he is; he is not a particularly selfless person and the list of people he wouldn't throw under the bus to save his own skin is a very short one indeed.

3. How do they behave within a group? What role(s) do they take? Does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? Why?

Crowley is very comfortable in most social situations; he's good at being charming when the situation calls for it and will happily ingratiate himself to strangers, though he won't volunteer much more than superficial information about himself. A more friendly scenario would see Crowley open up quite a bit; he has a fondness for theatrics and he likes to socialize, though it takes him a bit longer to form deeper connections than most (both given his wariness of revealing his demonic nature, and how he perceives a 'long' and 'short' period of time), so most friendships are closer to shallow acquaintances.

He can be a pretty good team player in smaller groups, or with just one other person, but he can also be infuriating in larger crowds given he does tend towards passive-aggressive rebellion if he feels maligned, or if unquestioning obedience is expected of him. He is not a leader by any stretch of the imagination; he tends to walk a fine line of not necessarily being immediately important, but also not being expendable.

4. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?

Crowley desperately wants and needs acceptance. Not unconditional acceptance (he knows too well how absurd that is), but at least with the understanding that he is the person he will, for the most part, always be. He may improve on some levels, but he isn't looking to be redeemed of his demonic nature. He doesn't want someone befriending him with the intention of leading him down the path of some grand salvation even if such a thing were available to him.

Beyond that, he likes some assurance of permanence. It isn't unheard of for Crowley to befriend mortals, but he tries not to get too attached; a few decades may seem like a long friendship to us, but for him it's a flash in the pan. He will generally seek out others who are immortal or at least long-lived like himself and forge stronger connections there.

He tends to show his affection with acts of service; little gifts, remembering important dates, outings to nice places - Crowley likes making the people in his life feel happy. It's a rare treat and a small act of rebellion for him, given he is expected to only make people miserable.

5. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why?

A core component to Crowley is that, on a broader level, he doesn't understand. He is constantly questioning the why and how of things, trying to new things out. It's what got him into so much trouble to begin with, and what continues to get him in trouble.

This has led to a rather contradictory worldview; he is both deeply cynical and an optimist. He knows all too well the lows humans will reach (in the book having an inner monologue that demons could take a few pointers from them) and will not hesitate to point out the ugly underbelly of just about anything. And at the same time, he has an innate sense that it will all be okay, that things will get better, everything will, eventually, work itself out. This has largely been his mantra for the last 6000+ years, and as the master of the way of 'fake it till you make it', it's gotten him this far.

6. How much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions?

Crowley is very emotionally intelligent. He's sociable and good at having his finger on the pulse of various trends, and can quickly read a room. He's also creative - a profoundly rare trait in both angels and demons. His capacity to imagine things that aren't is kind of a big deal and the core to the person he is.

His intelligence is… broad. And eclectic. He may be very knowledgeable on some matters, and several centuries behind on others. Let's say if one were to summon Crowley to acquire secret occult knowledge (as one does), he'd happily regale you with fun and accurate facts about weird space stuff, but if you needed help on your biology paper, be prepared to receive a mix of the contents of medieval bestiaries and whatever he remembers from nature documentaries made in the early 1990s.

Crowley's spirituality is …complicated in the way a disowned child's relationship to their estranged parents is complicated. He remembers Love, in a sense, but it was conditional to his blind obedience (something he is physically incapable of being). He considers the Fall cruel; a disproportionate retribution for the small infraction of curiosity, but also, ultimately, freeing. He still prays (re: yells at) God on occasion; he doesn't hate Her, but he's repeatedly appalled by the lengths She goes to mete out Holy Retribution on those who have offended Her.

Ironically enough, he acts out the circumstances of his Fall with his plants, sending those that don't live up to his high standards down the garbage disposal.

It's about as close to therapy as he's going to get.

7. What is something others might find intolerable about them?

If they're able to look past the whole demon thing, Crowley is still A Lot to handle. He's very melodramatic, can come across as condescending or often just being contrarian for the sake of it, and even though he's not as malicious as other demons, he still delights in trickery, taking a certain professional pride in a bad job well done. There's also a degree of superficiality to him - he's very good at pretending to be human, but he still gets things wrong and can come across as a bit Patrick Bateman levels of uncanny to others if they don't know that he's a timeless occult entity that's just picked up a lot of human habits like a roller brush picks up lint.

Samples:

Anders

Nicky

The Doctor

Why are you interested in this game?

I've been itching to toss Crowley into a fantasy-based rp with emphasis on character development for a while and this one really piqued my interest.