Why Ash isn't really a villain anymore
Around 6 years ago, I created a character who was a harmful stereotype of DID, or Dissociative Identity Disorder. DID is primarily a trauma response, but in the media (See Split or other such movies) those suffering from DID are portrayed as violent and unpredictable, and are often the villains. In reality those with DID are more likely to be re-victimized and suffer violent attacks.
That's where Ash comes in. 14 year old Riley had soaked up these negative portrayals, decided to give an otherwise fine character (Sterling) a crippling disability that was vastly misrepresented. I gave Sterling DID, and made it a crucial part of his backstory. The problem? I made his Alter a villain. And not just a small one. A genocidal maniac. Ash on conception was the second villain I had created in my universe, and there was no such thing as subtlety. He was the epitome of harmful DID stereotype.
Ash today has changed a lot, but that first iteration was irredeemable. It's easy to say that the current Ashton Shadewalker, and the original are two entirely different characters. And that's kind of because I think they are going to be.
As I work to write a novel surrounding Sterling, I've had to do a lot of research on this illness to make sure that I represent DID as accurately as possible, and the more I research, the more I realize the current iteration of Ash just isn't possible. That's why here soon, I'm going to be splitting the boys up officially in the RP canon, and rewriting Sterling and Ash's backstories so that they are separate from one another from day one. They will still be halves of the god of balance, but this is the only way I feel comfortable allowing Ash to go back to being just a complete dick. He can't be a DID alter.
TL;DR: Ash was an offensive stereotype I've spent years trying to fix, and the only way I can think to fix him to rework him from the ground up. Current continuity remains the same, but his story leading up to that is going to have massive changes.
