(A quick note on this one, I’m not really using Eridan to inform my… profile(?) on Prince of Hope. I don’t think he was a great example. However, I hope it still manages to apply to him. I believe it does.)
A Prince is one who destroys their aspect or destroys with their aspect. Hope is the aspect pertaining to belief and good outcomes.
The Prince of Hope is a difficult Title to understand, mostly because it seems at first that there is little benefit to having a player that is specifically dedicated to destroying hope, their own beliefs, or good outcomes. However, it is important to remember that Princes can also destroy with these concepts. Nevertheless, the Prince of Hope is a challenging role, and the player must have exceptional emotional and mental stability in order to wield this title to it’s fullest potential.
Before they become fully actualized, a Prince will go about their session under the influence of their aspect, but never fully able to control its use. A Prince’s aspect is used offensively, much like a Knight’s, and will power the Prince. In this case, whatever holds the Prince’s belief will be powered up and used to destroy. The Destroyer class is fickle, however, and the destruction a Prince brings about is not always what the Prince wants to be destroyed. In the Prince of Hope’s case, they may be forced to deal with the destruction of their source of hope. While this may cause some players’ minds and spirits to break, for those who manage to weather the storm, they will come out of it all the stronger for it. While destruction is difficult to live through, it offers a complete and new beginning and, in a way, is the most intense sort of healing.
The Prince is an odd class among the active classes. Like the others, the Prince’s power revolve around the self, but due to the destructive (and often negative) consequences of the class, the Prince is often much more concerned with matters outside of themselves. This doesn’t mean that they are immune to selfishness, but it is not a pitfall of the class as it is with other active classes such as Heirs or Mages. One problem Princes do have to watch out for is letting their emotions get away from them. This is particularly problematic for a Prince of Hope, as Hope is fueled by the subconscious and if a Hope player starts to get down, that negative subconscious energy will manifest, in a Prince’s case, through a destructive force.
If a Prince of Hope does manage to avoid a downward spiral or come through their turmoil in one (sane) piece, they will be one of the more powerful players for it. An actualized Prince of Hope will be able to channel their pure belief into destructive power, which, when direct appropriately, makes them an offensive force to be reckoned with. Used correctly, a Prince of Hope could also channel their power so destroy the Hope of their enemies, though due to the active nature of the Prince class, this is more difficult and takes some creative use of power.