To my 25 - 35 year olds, you've reached the age where people around you are starting to give up on themselves because they think it's too late. Don't let that energy rub off on you. It's not too late.
Could we get a summary of Robin's lore and personality (and his relationship with Templeton)? (I am new and nosey here :D)
hiii thank you for the ask! I don't know how new you are, so I'll try to cover as much ground as efficiently as I can o7
Robin Shaw is the player character for The Pale Beyond, a game about a polar expedition gone awry. Robin Aster (Tagayun) Shaw is my captain who answers the question "what if a guy who has issues w taking responsibility of his own life and actions was put in charge of 26 souls on a doomed polar expedition". He stares the Great Man theory in the face and proves it wrong by sucking very badly and kind of failing to fulfill his duty*. He's fat he's queer he's a brown man in Edwardian pseudo-England he's undesirable & awkward and he's also my cute funtime thang, my bobin shaw.
Most of his life is spent working and that's fine by him because he believes that hard work makes a good and righteous person. I wouldn't describe him as a workaholic per se because he doesn't Love working, he just really needs it because he's poor. He prefers doing service work, he likes being Nice and Outgoing to customers ie. accommodating passengers on the ferry (he's not the ferry captain btw!!!), being a railway porter or a waiter, etc, but more often than not he does physical jobs.
He truly believes in the premise that working hard and presenting yourself well will give you a better life. One of his goals for a long time was to buy himself a nice tailor-made suit. He really likes the coat Hunt gives him for the expedition, it's got (torn-off) epaulets and Big Important Buttons. makes him feel cool.
Fractured view of his cultural identity. Tries very hard to fit in, knows he does not. Tries to cling to the customs his mother taught him but also tries to be the good old Englishman his stepdad taught him to be. But its OK bc he saw a museum exhibit with stolen artifacts once and now he's very proud of the fact that the English think he's awesome and exotic and totally respects him (no). His second-greatest flaw is that he would love the British Museum.
His first greatest flaw is... heh
Robin is slow to (show) anger. He has to be, the person that he is in the word that he lives in.
He's not good at writing. His beautiful run-on desperate sentences that give historians a headache...
Generally dislikes the way he looks. Frustrates him that he can't grow a full beard. He started smoking to get thin. That hasn't happened yet.
Unwilling captain. Robin was surprised he was even made First Mate; he just wanted to be put on the ship so he could escape the law.
He's literally nice! If you catch him on a smoke break he will look like a deer in headlights <- feels weird socializing in a non-work capacity. He's just generally awkward and isolated by this awkwardness.
He likes to draw lala... He likes to paint the riverscape he calls home. He likes drawing cartoons but wants to be better at nice proper portraiture. I've been playing with the idea of his art style evolving throughout his lifetime. His art changes noticeably after the Pale.
His backstory (and Pale run. and post-pale story) is available on his Toyhouse, which is written as a Wikipedia page in a modern version of the world of Pale (with lots of place/language/person names I made up on the spot). it's not finished and his story is continually changing, but as it stands it tells a very limited, detached version of Robin's life and exploits as if he were a middling C-rank explorer lol.
TLDR: Robin was born as his parents immigrated to pseudo-England. He grew up poor, helped out with work. When his mother died, his stepfather functionally disowned him so he spent the next several years of his life wandering and taking odd jobs. He eventually landed a job as a seaman at a passenger ferry, which was smuggling artifacts to the museum (which was along their route) on the side. After killing a man in an unrelated bar brawl, the police would track him to his job, where they uncover this smuggling operation. Robin is aware that he is fully and utterly fucked and sinks the ferry in his panic to escape. A year later, he would find Hunt's ad for an expedition and figures it's his ticket out.
I recommend playing the game not just to understand his lore (since a lot of it hinges on a big spoiler, and the Wikipedia page obscures its ramifications) but because it's honestly a nice little game with fun characters. also bc you want to know my Robin (and Templeton! and the crew!!) so bad oooh.
going to do the Templeshaw addition another time! Suffice to say they do not actually get together until post-Pale. they're kind of Unwilling Captain Whos Never Had Power/His First Mate Who Worships The Concept Of Authority And Is Kind Of Weird About Hierarchy In General :]
*(spoilers for an asterisk note below the cut)
*Robin is quite literally unsuitable as a Polar Explorer Captain. he completely fails on his "first" attempt and is only able to survive to the very end after multiple timeloops, after retaining muscle memory and premonitions from past failures. he fails to live up to the Great Man theory; he would have doomed everyone without the time loop.
Now, it's a different question entirely whether he wants to leave the timeloop at all.
ok so. Templeshaw. a lonely man with abandonment issues and a cold old man experiencing several-years long slowburn. it's captain/first mate with its own quirks okay.
They did not like each other when they first met. Robin was shifty and detached during the first week of the expedition because he did not expect to stay much longer. Templeton saw this as a sign that he's very much not ideal for the role of first mate. And he's very quick to judge based on appearances, on his lack of literacy. Robin did not like him because, well. He's an asshole !!!! AND the vague blackmail/bribe after this vvv
What causes Templeton to at all consider Robin as Anything at all is the fact that he was the captain. He serves the captain, but he also serves the hierarchy itself. He would not see Robin as being worth anything but lower deck fodder, but he sees the captain's hat and is prepared to defend and uphold him. Far be it for him to question the hierarchy! <- (FUCKED UP AND NOT GOOD! but such is the kind of people they are and the things that draw them together.) And as much as Robin dislikes him, Templeton legitimizes his position. With him by his side, anything he says can be enforced, followed. When Robin says jump, Templeton jumps. And that power is... novel for him.
And from there, they inadvertently spend time together. With discussing plans and logistics and attending to the morning requests, they end up kind of glued to the hip. Virtually nobody in the crew wants to hang out with Templeton, Robin feels weird mingling with the crew outside of his obligations (he's getting better!) so. A lot of what contributes to their getting closer is sharing a tent (Robin arranges this because he knows nobody would be happy sharing a tent with him LOL), sharing warmth, Templeton talking about botany & attempting to teach Robin basic stuff because he has a captive audience. And, well. the other person isn't so bad.
The cool thing about this pairing is that without their life-or-death situation, they would have never gotten together. coffee shop AUs can only work if they were somehow trapped in a starbucks fighting for their life.
To reiterate, they only get together in post-Pale, years later after Robin is released from prison. it's basically,, a lonely man with abandonment issues and an old man still doing the whole slowburn song and dance for several years. I won't talk too much ab their relationship post-Pale here but! one of my favourite aspects about it is the way they can care for the other. Templeton is able to give Robin the stability he's always sought for + the companionship he craves. Robin takes care of Templeton especially as he grows older and his needs become harder to fulfill alone- and gives him the figure of authority that Templeton needs, esp in a life outside of Minerva. He never grew out of seeing him as his Captain.
I don;t even care about them. Anyways thank you for the ask I'm glad youre curious about them!!! I <3 them a lot. PLEASE if you're at all curious to hear more, or want to see me draw them, feel free to shoot an ask :)
short spoiler note below
we're not even getting into how the timeloop factors into their relationship. smiles big and wide
There are people who have kinks involving glasses and there are people who have kinks involving compression stockings, so by the Rule of Three there must be someone out there who gets hard for RSI wrist braces to complete the "aroused by assistive devices popularly associated with nerds" trifecta.
Person whose biggest fantasy is getting a handjob from someone who has a special wrist brace specifically for jerking cock because you need a different kind of support to wank someone off than you do for data entry.
friend whos always planning everything: hey guys lets do something this week!! when are you all available?
friend whos always available: i can do whenever
friend whos constantly busy: im sorry i have work and then school and then the labyrinth and then more work :( i can do tuesday at 3:00 am for five minutes tho
friend with the randomly generated sleep schedule: (no response)
friend who went missing in the woods behind their house 12 years ago and hasn't been heard from since: (no response)
friend whos really into genshin impact: does anyone want to play genshin impact
snowghoul
germansingergirl
romaincrisis
stormborns
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
