Name: Zukin or Tanuki | 23 | I mostly repost random stuff | I do art!! :) | May contain some sensitive content | commissions open! https://ftcommissions.carrd.co/)
hello fellow artists. google has fallen. pinterest/duckduckgo AI filters don't work. do not despair; here is a list i made of places to find reference images without having to sift through piles of worthless garbage. (for future editing convenience i am just linking my blog post on dreamwidth.)
✨ good places to find art reference that are not full of AI trash 🌈
Occupation: jobless (Selling his belongings, living off his father’s wealth.)
Appearance
Height: 183cm
Build: average
Skin Tone: Fair
Hair: Dark blonde, usually in a low ponytail with a bow.
Eyes: grey
Notable Features: His hair is wavy/curled
Clothing Style: Noble 1660s
General Impression: Observer
Personality
Core Traits: Curious, Intelligent, Determined
Strengths: Determination, big brain
Weaknesses: Idealistic, Trusts the wrong people
Fears: Being unable to change the world
Values: Honesty, Strength, Intelligence
Habits / Quirks: He can be too intense when talking about the things he stands for. He has a monotone voice until he gets passionate. He touches his face and picks at his face when anxious.
Public Reputation:
The rich crazy orphan in the streets. The crazy guy that yells nonsense.
Private Self: An intelligent young man who’s determined to use all the knowledge he got from reading all sorts of philosophy to make the world a better place.
Powers:
Dissonance Field – Arcane ability with a range of 3 to 4.5 meters. Florentijn can activate it at will and adjust its intensity precisely. Effects include dizziness and nausea, disorientation (loss of direction or spatial awareness), and a shielding effect that makes hostile actions (grabbing, striking, spellcasting) miss or falter. He uses it to escape authorities, avoid arrest, and make witnesses forget or dismiss his actions. The field requires concentration; stronger bursts drain his energy and may give him migraines or temporary fatigue. He cannot affect people outside the range. Emotional spikes do not trigger the field unless he chooses to release it. This control is why he stays just within the law.
This power is passed down from his parents, his mother helped him control them as soon as she noticed the skill start to affect those around him like the maids and the animals outside.
His mother has always told him to use his skill when he really needed to.
History
Childhood & Early Life
Florentijn was born into a noble family. He spent his life at his father’s manor just outside Amsterdam. The manor had a handful of people working under the family. Florentijn learned to read and spent his entire life reading books from all sorts of places, his favourite? Philosophy. All kinds: science, religion, war, life and death.
His mother often taught him, alongside his father, about human equality, anti-slavery values, and critical thinking.
He rarely left his home, only playing outside the manor or visiting the harbor to welcome his father back into the city.
The manor was filled with foreign books, manuscripts, maps, and other trinkets and belongings his father had brought home from his journeys.
He had an older sister. She became ill and when Florentijn was 13 she passed away at 16 years old.
Adult years
Around 18, Florentijn’s father was documented as 'lost at sea.' His father had discovered something dangerous. A group of Manus Vindictae members were on his ship. Not knowing anything about them, he didn’t think much of them at first, the captain had told him they’d be traveling along for that one journey. But soon enough, by accidental eavesdropping, he found out what they were really after. Manus Vindictae were targeting his son. They were on the ship to try and figure out more about Florentijn’s family history before approaching him when the time was right. They knew his father would be a dangerous man if he tried to protect his son, so they managed to throw him off the ship after a heated fight.
Florentijn heard the news. Lost at sea, that meant he was most likely dead.
The manor became even quieter after this. His mother, grieving now that two people she loved had passed away, grew restless. She went out more. She was already often looked down on for being extremely feminist, but now that she had no one left, she became outspoken and angry at the state for paying her no pity. When Florentijn was 19, she was arrested for "disturbance" and "disobedience."
In the courtroom, Florentijn stormed inside. Guards tried to stop him but failed. He yelled at the judge, telling him he was wrong about her, that she was innocent. He moved to use his arcane skill, but his mother stopped him with a gentle, defeated voice, telling him to quit it. Unable to ignore her, he did as she asked. While he was dragged back out, she pleaded guilty.
Florentijn received a warning not to do such a thing ever again and that he should be more careful with his status. "You have to fend for yourself now. Watch your tone."
His mother died in prison, from grief and starvation.
Alone
Now orphaned, he had to leave the manor and find work. He began to wander the streets of Amsterdam. The streets were busy, something he wasn’t used to at all. As he looked around, he encountered slavery for the first time, poverty, and corruption. His entire worldview shattered.
Walking the docks, he spotted a man who seemed familiar, it was one of the men who had come to his house to deliver the news of his father getting lost at sea, a colleague of his father’s. Speaking to this man, Florentijn noticed the enslaved man next to him. That was not right. He asked questions, but unable to go into depth, he was waved off. The man decided to help him pay for necessities like food and the people who still worked at the manor.
Florentijn started planning. He decided he wanted to know what really happened to his father, and why did his mother plead guilty? He felt there was more to the story.
He began speaking publicly about equality, injustice, and the state’s cruelty. He stayed within the law, thanks to his intelligence and his arcane skill, which he used only to keep the officials off his back.
The authorities warned him repeatedly: "You don’t want to end up like your mother."
Because of his yelling out in the streets, he became known as 'the rich madman.' By this point, he had grown too visible. Everyone knew him, knew his parents, and some nobles feared the poor might actually listen to Florentijn. Luckily for them, however, many poor people thought he was too loud, that he made them look worse, and wanted nothing to do with some 'noble who thinks he knows what it’s like to be poor.'
His first friend
Florentijn met a student from Leiden who was visiting Amsterdam. The student heard his yelling in the streets and became interested. Florentijn seemed intelligent, but the student had never seen him before, and so they started talking.
The student, whose name was Piet van der Kwast, grew close with Florentijn. Florentijn had never had a friend before, but he could tell Piet was special. Piet seemed to understand Florentijn more than anyone Florentijn had met so far.
Piet took Florentijn to Leiden, giving him access to more students and people who were similar to Florentijn, people who doubted the state’s system.
A Revolution? Or Betrayal?
After some time, when he was 20, he became a fairly respected leader of a group. They came together in secret, talking about all the things wrong with the country and agreeing that something had to be done. They started planning protests in Amsterdam as a group. That was the plan. They wanted to start a new revolution.
However… when he got to the place where they were supposed to meet up to spread pamphlets and yell in the streets… he was on his own. Not even Piet was there. He felt betrayed. Thinking maybe they would join in later, he started off alone. Moving through the city, spreading pamphlets and calling out all sorts of claims just like he used to. All alone. Like a crazy person. He had nothing to lose. He ended up standing at the city hall, yelling around as authority approached him. Once again, like always, he was too emotional. How dare they leave him behind, those he had considered his friends. He had to fight on his own. He fought with words against the general, going back and forth until things started to spiral out of control.
In the distance, members of Manus Vindictae watched, ready to take the vulnerable Florentijn.
Once again, getting away with his yelling, he left the scene, visibly upset and continuing to yell. He was stopped by an anonymous member of Manus Vindictae right as he came around a street corner.
The group tried to recruit him: "See? They’re not taking you seriously. You’re just like us. We could use someone with powers like yours."
(notes: Florentijn eventually does not join Manus Vindictae and gets discovered by the Timekeepers instead because of the multiple encounters with Manus Vindictae through different sources. The Timekeepers mistake him as a member of Manus Vindictae at first as he does start using his arcane abilities to ‘fight’ against authority more often, finding a new way to try and change the world.)
