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theprogressiveguyCharacter Name: Combeferre
Series: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Character Age: 22 (no canon age -- medical student/doctor in 1820s/1830s Paris)
Canon Background: Victor Hugo's epic French Romantic novel follows the hero Jean Valjean from the late 1790s through the early 1830s as he seeks to redeem his life through acts of compassion, having had his life saved by a compassionate act from a bishop whom he had robbed and considered murdering. The backdrop is all of the tumult of early 19th century French history, when the Revolution had come and gone and the people were still oppressed and suffering... and then the revolutions kept on coming and coming... Appropriately, a set of featured players in this drama are Les Amis de l'ABC, a secret liberal political club in Paris consisting young men, mostly students, who like democracy and don't like kings. While there's no formal hierachy, the de facto leader of the group is Enjolras, with two of his friends, Courfeyrac and Combeferre, being like his most trusted lieutenants. At one point, Enjolras is referred to as the chief, with Courfeyrac as the center and Combeferre as the guide.
Combeferre is a medical student (former engineer and eventual doctor) and a total geek, a slightly dreamy intellectual at times. A voracious reader, theatre-goer, current events-follower, scientist -- a real renaissance man. (And also a feminist. Pretty good for a 19th century guy!) Witty and realistic, but never bitter or cynical. In contrast to Enjolras's intense, militant, fiercely pure leadership, Combeferre tends to be more practical, more patient, more gentle, more geared toward peace, more partial to wisdom than harsh logic. His motto is "Revolution but civilization" and his thinking is that a fire will cause a dawn, but why not wait for the break of day? "A volcano illuminates, but the morning enlightens still better." Don't mistake him, though -- he's an idealist through and through, and he's very willing to fight if that is what must be done (and also very prepared for it, if the musket and two pistols with which he shows up to the intended uprising are any indication). And don't be surprised if he takes the opportunity during a lull in that fight to geek out about the physics of the new model of cannon that the enemies are using against him.
Regarding canon chronology (canon being Les Miserables + French history), Combeferre would be taken from August 1830, shortly after the disappointment of the July 1830 revolution, where King Charles X was overthrown, only to have another king put on the throne. At this point in history, Les Amis would have seen some action and that it was actually possible to depose a king, but they also have possibly been further radicalized by seeing the aftermath of all their efforts having been hijacked by the moneyed, more conservative middle class. Combeferre's beliefs and idealism remain consistent from beginning to end, but he has probably lost a certain innocence from having seen all of their hopes so frustrated.
In-Game: Combeferre would react to a survival horror setting the same way that he reacts to most things -- intelligently, calmly, practically and probably with a dry one-liner that could cut your feet out from underneath you. (Please see this fan comic. Fan art, of course, but the dialogue is lifted straight from canon.) He would put his medical training to good use -- 19th century medical training, but that might actually be something of a plus in a situation with such limited resources. He knows how to use a gun and isn't scared of violence. Still, he's no soldier and certainly no superhero or super-genius -- he's essentially a clever, skilled civilian. And his sense of practicality would mean that he would know when running away was the best strategic option.
Mentally/emotionally, he would probably be very adaptable to anything strange that would happen -- he "affirmed nothing, not even miracles; denied nothing, not even ghosts." His social/political open-mindedness extends to the philosophical and the practical.
Sample App:
There are two main possibilities at work here: one, that a new species of being has been created, or two, that a new species of being has been discovered. The incredible novelty of what now greets our sight would lead some to exclaim the former, but it is more often the case that such things speak merely to the limit of our own experience and the awesome vastness of life upon this world. Take a farmer who has never set foot outside of his village in Nièvre and show him a giant crocodile from the tropics of the Indies, and he will see the dragons of fairy tales suddenly brought to life, as if by sorcery. Likewise, deliver Cortés and his fleet of men on horses to the natives of South America and watch as the magnificent kingdom of the Aztecs is stunned so greatly by those strange beasts upon which the pale men ride so as to leave an entire civilization vulnerable to the blow that would collapse the dominant edifices of centuries in a handful of years. We, mankind, are prone to seeing the hands of angels and demons in all that we do not understand, and to attributing blasphemy or witchcraft to the man who would claim those hands to be his own.
Nevertheless, as impressive as a spider the size of a small cannon is, I have thankfully dodged the bolt of awe that threatens to strike and paralyze a man upon the sight of things both grotesque and sublime. As high as the esteem in which I hold the education provided to me by the École Polytechnique before my shift in vocation, I doubt that the reinforcement that I have given the door will sustain against this remarkable arachnid battering for more than another minute or two.
My official recommendation is that we run.
Series: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Character Age: 22 (no canon age -- medical student/doctor in 1820s/1830s Paris)
Canon Background: Victor Hugo's epic French Romantic novel follows the hero Jean Valjean from the late 1790s through the early 1830s as he seeks to redeem his life through acts of compassion, having had his life saved by a compassionate act from a bishop whom he had robbed and considered murdering. The backdrop is all of the tumult of early 19th century French history, when the Revolution had come and gone and the people were still oppressed and suffering... and then the revolutions kept on coming and coming... Appropriately, a set of featured players in this drama are Les Amis de l'ABC, a secret liberal political club in Paris consisting young men, mostly students, who like democracy and don't like kings. While there's no formal hierachy, the de facto leader of the group is Enjolras, with two of his friends, Courfeyrac and Combeferre, being like his most trusted lieutenants. At one point, Enjolras is referred to as the chief, with Courfeyrac as the center and Combeferre as the guide.
Combeferre is a medical student (former engineer and eventual doctor) and a total geek, a slightly dreamy intellectual at times. A voracious reader, theatre-goer, current events-follower, scientist -- a real renaissance man. (And also a feminist. Pretty good for a 19th century guy!) Witty and realistic, but never bitter or cynical. In contrast to Enjolras's intense, militant, fiercely pure leadership, Combeferre tends to be more practical, more patient, more gentle, more geared toward peace, more partial to wisdom than harsh logic. His motto is "Revolution but civilization" and his thinking is that a fire will cause a dawn, but why not wait for the break of day? "A volcano illuminates, but the morning enlightens still better." Don't mistake him, though -- he's an idealist through and through, and he's very willing to fight if that is what must be done (and also very prepared for it, if the musket and two pistols with which he shows up to the intended uprising are any indication). And don't be surprised if he takes the opportunity during a lull in that fight to geek out about the physics of the new model of cannon that the enemies are using against him.
Regarding canon chronology (canon being Les Miserables + French history), Combeferre would be taken from August 1830, shortly after the disappointment of the July 1830 revolution, where King Charles X was overthrown, only to have another king put on the throne. At this point in history, Les Amis would have seen some action and that it was actually possible to depose a king, but they also have possibly been further radicalized by seeing the aftermath of all their efforts having been hijacked by the moneyed, more conservative middle class. Combeferre's beliefs and idealism remain consistent from beginning to end, but he has probably lost a certain innocence from having seen all of their hopes so frustrated.
In-Game: Combeferre would react to a survival horror setting the same way that he reacts to most things -- intelligently, calmly, practically and probably with a dry one-liner that could cut your feet out from underneath you. (Please see this fan comic. Fan art, of course, but the dialogue is lifted straight from canon.) He would put his medical training to good use -- 19th century medical training, but that might actually be something of a plus in a situation with such limited resources. He knows how to use a gun and isn't scared of violence. Still, he's no soldier and certainly no superhero or super-genius -- he's essentially a clever, skilled civilian. And his sense of practicality would mean that he would know when running away was the best strategic option.
Mentally/emotionally, he would probably be very adaptable to anything strange that would happen -- he "affirmed nothing, not even miracles; denied nothing, not even ghosts." His social/political open-mindedness extends to the philosophical and the practical.
Sample App:
There are two main possibilities at work here: one, that a new species of being has been created, or two, that a new species of being has been discovered. The incredible novelty of what now greets our sight would lead some to exclaim the former, but it is more often the case that such things speak merely to the limit of our own experience and the awesome vastness of life upon this world. Take a farmer who has never set foot outside of his village in Nièvre and show him a giant crocodile from the tropics of the Indies, and he will see the dragons of fairy tales suddenly brought to life, as if by sorcery. Likewise, deliver Cortés and his fleet of men on horses to the natives of South America and watch as the magnificent kingdom of the Aztecs is stunned so greatly by those strange beasts upon which the pale men ride so as to leave an entire civilization vulnerable to the blow that would collapse the dominant edifices of centuries in a handful of years. We, mankind, are prone to seeing the hands of angels and demons in all that we do not understand, and to attributing blasphemy or witchcraft to the man who would claim those hands to be his own.
Nevertheless, as impressive as a spider the size of a small cannon is, I have thankfully dodged the bolt of awe that threatens to strike and paralyze a man upon the sight of things both grotesque and sublime. As high as the esteem in which I hold the education provided to me by the École Polytechnique before my shift in vocation, I doubt that the reinforcement that I have given the door will sustain against this remarkable arachnid battering for more than another minute or two.
My official recommendation is that we run.
