Hullo! Would you mind analysing a prince of doom? Your take on classpects is always a lovely read
Thanks so much! I’d be happy to give you a glimpse into the mind of a Prince of Doom.
The Prince is a Class I’ve not yet analyzed here, so this should be exciting! First thing’s first--your Prince is going to have an incredible amount of offensive power. By nature, a Prince destroys their Aspect both in themselves and in the universe itself, while also using their Aspect as a weapon of destruction. We’ve seen this most notably in the case of Dirk Strider, a very logically-minded young man whose inability to understand the emotional nuances of his friendships almost led to their destruction. He was also able to use his own soulforce as a weapon, and he even tore Aranea’s soul from her body, effectively destroying it in the process. Destruction is not inherently a bad thing, however--after all, old plants and animals inevitably die, effectively making room for new generations, new growth. Destruction can precede creation. The destruction of Doom, then, is no doubt a very powerful ability to have.
A Prince will typically “ghost” their opposite Aspect while destroying their own. Dirk was filled to the brim with Mind traits, and Eridan--the resident Prince of Hope--was the epitome of Rage at his peak, forgoing all other options in favor of surrendering to Jack when all Hope seemed lost. When a Prince determines something to be true, that belief sometimes becomes the cause for which they fight. Even if it stays as a mere belief, their convictions are steadfast. Dirk, for example, truly believed he was doing Jake a favor by “teaching him a lesson” with Brobot, effectively “toughening him up” and making him think more rationally. This, like many of Dirk’s plans, backfired spectacularly. What Dirk effectively did was try to destroy parts of all his friends’ identities in order to make them fit the mold he thought was best. It took a very long time for him to finally realize what he’d been doing, and that realization didn’t come without a lot of guilt and shame.
Essentially, your Prince is going to be someone to watch out for, as far as emotional instability goes. A particularly immature Prince is going to be especially troublesome, as Princes aren’t typically the most amiable people to begin with. Given time, however, they can become a valuable ally if they don’t destroy themselves first through self-loathing or emotional theatrics.
The Prince of Doom is going to ghost Life, effectively becoming one of the more rebellious members of the session, as their desperate need for independence will lead them to break every rule in the book, including the universe’s structural system itself. If we’re thinking abstractly, this could be something like, say, the laws of physics. Granted, it would take an incredibly high level of power to do so, but a Prince’s determination and natural combat abilities would let them skyrocket to the peak of their echeladder more quickly than other Classes. On a more literal level, a likely target might be living matter that they see as “decaying” or on the verge of death. They’d be the type to burn the prairie, metaphorically speaking, in order to let it grow back stronger without unwanted shrubs and the like. Be very careful how much influence the Prince has at any given time, because if that prairie grass happens to be an entire civilization, things can get very messy.
Destroying through Doom implies that there are going to be a metric fuckton of explosions at any given time on the battlefield. Bombs are a very prominent symbol of Doom, after all, and Princes are usually big fans of spectacular offensive assaults. They’ll also be happy to use decay as a weapon, much like other Doom players, so expect a lot of rotting enemy corpses to litter the battlefield once the Prince has had their fill.
In essence, the Prince of Doom isn’t necessarily an omen of complete and utter failure if they appear in your session, but they aren’t exactly an easy ally to handle at first. Give them a chance to prove themselves loyal, however, and they’ll become one of your most impressive offensive teammates.
“Method involves a slavish addiction to laws, and we can only aspire to anarchy.” - Robert Pinsky
