So. The Line SMP is only 4 days old, and yet here I am, trying to write an analysis of the characters I am most interested in. It will most likely not be the most accurate, but at 4 days old, characters aren't really fully formed either. What I have found out, however, is quite interesting to me.
I will discuss the characters first, and dynamics between some of them after. In this post, I will focus on the four guys I am rotating in my head - 4C, Apo, graaavel and StyStatic. You have no idea how interesting these guys are to me.
As much as I want to go in alphabetical order, line!4C is a creature I don't understand completely still, so I will keep him for last. So, starting with Apo instead.
Apo is an interesting case, mostly because of how people on the server mischaracterize them. Most of the server members look at her and all they see is the yellow circle that means he has killed someone - refusing to understand the circumstances of that kill.
Yeah, it was a social experiment to find out if someone actually would do it, but Abolish wanted to die. He spent the first two hours on the server afk with a sign asking to kill him, and Apo was the one who actually did it - because Abolish was literally asking to be killed. From Apo’s point of view, they just did what was asked of them, and they see nothing wrong with that - and gets angry and confused when people call them out as a killer. Sometimes he tries to play into the role, threatening to kill someone or jokingly critting someone out, but he cares about people still. He is loyal to a certain few, and despite his reputation, tries to do good - disrupted by occasional mischief, of course. It wouldn't be Apo if they didn't cause mischief.
While certainly not on a good side of the alignment spectrum, Apo isn't evil, either - despite what some people would portray them as. If anything, they're closer to chaotic neutral, but with quite a lot of care for other people, despite what their attitude might suggest. But he certainly isn't the most chaotic neutral person out of the four characters here, and certainly isn't the one most leaning towards evil. And this is what makes him so interesting - the disconnect between how the world sees him vs how he sees himself.
graaavel will also be left for later because of. cough cough. reasons. So. StyStatic time! I love this guy! He is my new blorbo. I am not sharing him with any of you guys. You are not allowed to have him. I’ll bite you. You have no idea I’m not normal about this guy. I love him so much.
Anyways. StyStatic, huh? His morality is so interesting to me and became even more interesting after today’s (yesterday's, let's be honest here) stream. Thing is, he tries to portray himself to the majority of people as true neutral. As someone trying to keep balance and right the wrongs. But oh man if it isn't the biggest lie ever. No, oh no, this guy is chaotic good to the core. Not even chaotic neutral, no, there's no neutrality in this guy whatsoever. He does whatever he thinks is funny or interesting, unless it stops him from helping people. Which he does unconditionally. He farmed 10 sets of diamond armor to give out to everyone just to keep them from dying, because he is desperately afraid of death, it is one of his biggest fears in the world. He is so, so, so scared of death and of anyone suffering from it, and will drop any bit going on if there's even a chance the other person involved might die in the process.
And even though today he tried to hide that fact by pushing down Apo after they pushed Gravel, he knew it was safe to do so - there were almost ten people there, ready to revive them, and they were instantly given a gap to reset the number of downs they could have. It was a very controlled situation, very safe one, and Sty would've never done this attempt to ‘keep balance’ if he knew nobody would've resuscitated Apo.
And the fact that he who is so afraid of death has doom written all over him, destined to die by an eldritch entity, makes it so much more tasty and fun. Oh, doombringer, you have doomed yourself in the process. Let us hope you can survive.
line!graaavel. Gravel, Gravel, Gravelgravelgravel, oh the guy you are. Oh they guy you are indeed. The definition of lawful neutral if I ever seen one, so tied to his own moral code that he can't allow it to be disrespected even for a second. If you go against the community, you go against him, if you go against him, you go against the community, and are not welcome in it anymore. He has built a gated community to protect the people of the server from the many threats out there in the world, and keeps anyone he sees as a threat away from it, not allowing them nor their allies to enter. He stands against chaos, he hates chaos, and whenever someone spreads chaos they are seen as a potential threat. And if they continue? Well, they are no longer welcome. They deserve the deaths that will inevitably come to them. They deserve doom, they deserve to suffer, they don't deserve safety. Gravel always tries to give people a second chance, but if they refuse to take it, they're seen as unable to change, as monsters, as someone to be defeated and banished. And Gravel will mourn them in the process, but he will be the one to banish them from safety. Oh Gravel, how I love your character.
And here we come to him. Line!4C, oh line!4C. I love you, line!4C. You are so interesting to me. I have watched so many hours of you, and one would think I would know you pretty well, but while I do, I feel like there are so many layers I am just missing completely.
What makes him so interesting? Well, on this hardcore server his only goal is to die. He craves death, he dances with death, he doesn't fear it in the slightest - no, no no no, death is his friend, death is his final goal, he has accepted his own mortality ages ago and is just here to have fun! He will live life on the edge, he will sow chaos, he will cause mischief, he will teach ghosts how to kill and how to break blocks, something they're not supposed to be able to do. He will risk his life in numerous ways without a care in the world, he will almost drown just to hang out with some ghosts, he will repeatedly shoot himself out of a cannon and down himself in the process, all just to have fun. If you're not living every moment of your life to the fullest, are you even living life?
And yet. There's something there, behind all that. He is so easy to convince to steal, to break parts of someone's build, to attack someone as a joke. He loves to joke about killing people, he loves giving ghosts ideas on how to cause destruction and mayhem and death. Yes, his final goal might be his own death - but there is a chance there are more deaths that will precede it. I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the server he has an orange or a red coin, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he remains green. What is the most likely, though, is him utilizing ghosts for his attempts at murder. After all, if it's not him doing the deed, will it even count for him? He has so much potential behind him, and the spark of chaos is burning brighter with each passing stream. The emphasis of the tnt in his final performance… I feel like there's a chance the tnt doesn't kill him, yes, but kills everyone in the audience. 4C would be the one to plan to take out everyone if he takes out himself.
And this is me not even mentioning the fact that he feels like he is already a ghost, like he belongs with the ghosts, he just has to shed his body. He doesn't belong amongst the living, he feels like he is already dead. Oh, line!4C, the creature you are. Chaotic neutral in its purest form, with a great chance to dip into evil alignment. I hope you fulfill that chance.
And now, we go to dynamics. I’d love to go to doombringers first, they are my guys, after all, but no. I have kept it within me for too long already.
Guys. Guys. line!4c and line!graaavel are just so. They are so, so interesting to me. They are great antagonists to each other and it's not even intentional. Especially if 4c goes full into the more chaotic side of his character, it has a potential to develop even further into this, but even already, their dynamic is getting close to perfection.
4c is sowing chaos. He is taking down walls around Gravel, he is taking down a roof above his head, he is intentionally doing things to annoy Gravel just because he finds his reactions funny, because he loves to instigate, because he loves mayhem. And Gravel isn't having any of that.
Gravel burned down 4C’s ship as a response and warned him to never again go against the people, never again go against him. He gave him a second chance, a benefit of a doubt, an olive branch as an opportunity to change. But even then, he never fully trusted that 4C would change, telling Sty to seek out less morally ambiguous allies. And he was right. 4C goes against Gravel again, proving that Gravel was right to doubt him, forcing Gravel to banish him from the community, forbid him entry into its walls, forcing Gravel to promise that he would deal with him for the safety of the people. And this is without any players getting hurt. If anyone did? Oh, it would only get worse.
For understanding, there are only two people that are banned from the community, and those people are Apo, who killed someone - and 4C, for his potential to cause an infinite amount of trouble. And Sty got caught in the crossfire, too, getting soft banned because of just being teamed with 4C.
Gravel despises 4C for what he is, and 4C just loooves to mess with Gravel. Their dynamic is quite something.
Gravel and Apokuna are quite curious as well. Gravel has admitted to Apo’s face that he is scared of him. He is afraid of what Apo can do because of what Apo has already done. And he promised that he will kill Apo if he has to do it to protect himself and his people - and Apo, in turn, promised that he would kill Gravel after being pushed to his doom by Gravel twice (second time was Sty but it was because of Gravel). Gravel is afraid of the fact that Apo has shown both ability and willingness to kill, and the yellow coin above his head will forever be a reminder of that. Apo, in turn, is annoyed by that fear, and by Gravel’s misunderstanding of him. And, most of all, by Gravel’s attempts to kill him.
And this is without mentioning that those two so far share the only moment of serious lore on this server, and hate each other beyond belief. Except Gravel’s hate is fueled by fear, and Apo’s hate is fueled by rage.
At this point I’m leaving doombringer for last, so, Apo and 4c. Lovely guys. My favorite instigators. Those who cause mischief together. 4C loves to enable Apo, and Apo loves to enable 4C. They bring out the worst in each other, and that's what makes them the best. They love to cause as much trouble as possible, they nudge each other towards chaos, and they love every second of it. 4C doesn't care about Apo having a mark of a killer - he likes Apo, he likes to hang out with him, and he would never let something as small as murder change his opinion of him. Meanwhile Apo cares about 4C immensely and fears for his life. Each time 4C threads the line between life and death and does something meaninglessly dangerous, Apo worries beyond belief, trying to save him from himself. 4C is one of the few people Apo truly cares about and would never even think about harming him. And he is oh so afraid of losing him.
Doombringer duo time! These two have doomed the server to destruction by bringing it to the attention of an eldritch entity of indescribable power, and that isn't even the reason I love them so much.
I think the moment that solidified my love for Sty and 4C as a duo was the moment where Gravel told Sty to look for less morally ambiguous allies, and Sty didn't even humor him.
Sty knows 4C is morally ambiguous, he sees the potential for chaos and destruction in him, and still decides to stay around, to stick as close to him as possible, and seems to only like him more the more chaos he causes. Sty isn't even afraid to nudge 4C towards more chaos, but more subtly and less roughly than Apo, thus allowing himself to go more under the radar. And he cares about 4c so much. He doesn't ever really leave his side - because even when they're away from each other, Sty is almost always looking through his chat, asking 4C to be careful, to not risk himself, and freaks out every time 4C even jokes about his final goal being death. The person who is afraid of death and a person who embraces it being teamed is just so lovely to me. Oh the potential here. I hope 4c kills himself in front of Sty to change the trajectory of his life forever.
Oh and 4C also cares about Sty quite a lot, he just doesn't show that care much - but the one time Sty got downed, 4C freaked out because he knew he would never be able to get to him in time. He had to rely on other people to resuscitate Sty, and blamed himself for not being there when Sty needed it. Sty didn't die, of course, but I think if he did, 4C would feel so lost there. He feels at home with the ghosts, he is friends with death, but he knows just how afraid Sty is of death and wishes for him to escape it for as long as possible.
I wish for 4C to take out as many people as possible and then come to Sty, covered in blood, and finish himself off in front of him, both fulfilling his own dream and keeping Sty alive through everything. I live for doombringer duo.
Sneeg will be a cameo on Rats SMP tomorrow (Sunday) at 1pm CST!
If you were here for the last season of rats SMP, you will know that cameos don’t normally gets streamed from their own POVs so if you want to watch Sneeg be a crazy little raccoon, you will have to watch someone who’s gonna be on rats tomorrow!
Here’s the list of EVERYONE on Rats SMP! Just pay close attention to their twitch accounts to see if they’ll go live!
#project hail mary
#lana del rey
