taketheearsoff | application

Player Information

Name: Scrib
Age: 22
AIM SN: Scribble Cloud
email: i.speak.gnomish[at]gmail[dot]com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yes
Bonus: How did you hear about Siren's Pull? Through a friend

Character Information

General
Canon Source: Bioshock
Canon Format: Video Game
Character's Name: Sander Cohen
Character's Age: 46
Conditional: -

What form will your character's NV take?
Shortwave Service Radio. It operates on a small band of frequencies and is easily disrupted. The device, in Rapture, was limited strictly to audio. However, on his arrival to Siren's Pull, his radio will pick up a few more buttons, knobs, and other gizmos to satisfy the communication requirements. For more personal messages, Sander will create audio diaries utulizing the voice recorder made by Accu-Vox. These messages may be used as personal notes or as letters directed to others.

Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities:
In Bioshock, Sander is a Splicer. Splicers are a result from excessive splicing. ADAM, a substance that modifies the body on a genetic level, gives the user abilities they otherwise wouldn't possess. These abilities are ranked in two categories: Plasmids (offensive abilities such as Incinerate or Telekinesis) and Gene Tonics (genetic modification that enhances one's attributes on a molecular level resulting in varied effects [example: moving faster, hitting harder, and quieter footsteps]). Those who splice will find themselves craving more and the more they splice, the more disfigured they appear (and the more marbles they lose along the way). Those unfortunate enough (sane enough) to realize their condition, hide their faces behind masquerade masks, a remaining token from New Years 1959.

Cohen is a variation of the Houdini Splicer and utilizes hit and run tactics. The importance of Sander as a Houdini means that he has the ability to teleport short distances and has a penchant for flinging fireballs. It's speculated that he also caries a variation of the Incinerate 2 Plasmid. He has fire in the palms of his hands...and lots of it.

As an added bonus, Sander is naturally gifted in the arts. Though his paintings may leave more to be desired, he is well versed in other mediums ranging from: composition, writing, conducting, singing, dancing, and sculpting. Despite his display of some limited skill for the drawing surface, he excels in the music and performance department. Sander is noted for composing a myriad of pieces including "Rise Rapture, Rise" and "Cohen's Scherzo no. 7".

Conditional:
Not really an ability, but a result: it's a proven fact that those who splice will experience withdrawal symptoms when away from ADAM for a long period of time. Sander will have to find an alternate method of coping once the yearning to sedate his need to splice becomes all consuming. There is the possibility that the city could fulfill his ADAM cravings. Make it so that he doesn't feel the pangs of withdrawal.

Weapons:
Although there's a shotgun in Sander's bedroom, he doesn't carry any notable firearms on his person, as he relies entirely on his Houdini abilities. However, it's possible that he carries an x-acto blade due to his occupation as an artist (among other things).

History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:

Sander Cohen was an artist who lived in New York. Although little is known of his life pre-Rapture, some of the scant information tells us that he eventually became colleagues with an Elgar Vankin and Mimi Tabor. It is implied that he converted them to the Ryanist [Objectivist] philosophy since they began speaking of a coming utopia with an almost religious-like fervor. It could also be assumed that Cohen's talent as an artist was looked on as dubious at best, given his frequent run-ins with the "doubters" and Lee Wilson Seward's commentary that he was a "fraud". Given Cohen's role of proselytizing the Ryanist philosophy in this case, it seems possible that he and Ryan may have already been close colleagues before the creation of Rapture.
-Bioshock Wiki (on Sander Cohen)

Cohen most likely arrived in Rapture 1946. Unlike other residents, he was already well established with Ryan and such, was given a seat among the Rapture Elite. Due to his artistic talent, Sander served as Ryan's right hand man. His job was to show Andrew Ryan in a positive light. He also wrote for Ryan's ideals and composed Rapture's anthem; "Rise Rapture, Rise."

However, Cohen was not without opposition. There was one other notable artist who contended for the spotlight. Anna Culpepper was highly critical of Cohen's position among the Rapture Elite and sang against Ryan's 'Great Chain' philosophy. As an added touch, she made a jab at Cohen in her latest 'musical gremlin', Ryan's Songbird. Outraged by Culpepper's cynical view and blatant mockery of Cohen's love for the founder of Rapture, Sander approached Ryan and asked to 'put the bump' on the female composer.

With Anna gone, Sander was able to monopolize Fort Frolic (whether he was in charge of Fort Frolic before Anna's death is still unclear). It's during this time "Cohen experienced a rare era of extravagance". While Rapture was on the brink of Civil War, Andrew Ryan handed the keys of Fort Frolic over to Sander. He, in turn, placed the Fort under lock down. No one in and no one out. It's during this time Cohen took a deep plunge into insanity. The remaining inhabitants of the Fort were in a very precarious situation; those who expressed doubt or stood against Sander quickly found themselves exiled to the corners of the Fort, on his blacklist, or simply dead (their throats slit and bodies later posed and slathered with plaster, a series of plaster statues set up throughout the fort). Those who said nothing were left with two choices: splice or die.

There were four other men in the fort that, at one point, were on friendly terms with Cohen. They were his apprentices and all had a degree of varying artistic talent. In 1960 (and during the events of Bioshock), only one of the apprentices (or disciples as Sander may refer to them at times) remained loyal to Cohen.

During the events of Bioshock, while Jack crossed Fort Frolic to reach the Bathysphere, Cohen jammed his transmission with Atlas (with the beginning notes of the Rapture anthem) and intercepted the boy. With no other choice then to enter Fort Frolic's lobby, he was greeted by a room flaring to life after months of inactivity and a spotlight tracking Jack's every move. However, that wasn't all that greeted him...

The radio sputtered to life, Cohen's voice greeting Jack and welcoming him as a guest of honor, invited to gaze upon the various sculptures before heading to Fleet Hall. There, Jack witnessed a young apprentice plastered to a piano seat and forced to render Cohen's Scherzo no. 7 flawlessly. Unfortunately, Cohen never planned to let him live and detonated the dynamite strapped to young Fitzpatrick's waist and piano. With the pianist dead and captured via photography, Sander sent Jack to kill the three remaining apprentices and take pictures of their untimely demises as well. With their photos, Cohen's "Quadtych" was complete and Jack was free to go.

Point in Canon:
Moments after Sander warmly welcomes Jack in Mercury Suites, after Jack so rudely disrupts the two waltzing splicers from their timeless dance.

Conditional:
Though I've previously played him post Bioshock (1) in other dressing rooms, for Siren's Pull I'll be pulling him fresh from canon.

Character Personality:
Cohen's certainly a piece of work. Presplicing, he's been described as a hack and a brown-noser. What Ryan wants, is what Sander wants. Since Ryan is an objectivist, it's a give-in that Sander is one as well (although based on his way of dealing with people and his personality, he was most likely one before he met Andrew Ryan). He's a drama queen spliced with an attention whore, large-and-in-charge and over-the-top. During Jack's time in Fort Frolic, he wasn't left alone for a second--constantly monitored by Cohen via security cameras and other feeds--and had to endure Cohen's extensive metaphors on beauty and "conception" as the masterpiece came together. If the player decides to invoke Cohen's wrath at the end of the level, the spotlight follows Cohen (where it had previously followed Jack).

Despite his position as an objectivist, he is also a man who lives for the audience--a secondhander--his thirst for attention also his downfall. As Rapture declined, so did Sander. Already a man starved of attention, keening for someone to tell him "you've still got it" (by this time, Ryan had cut his ties), Sander worked for himself, tweaking and perfecting for an audience that would never come.

Post splicing, he's a dyed-in-the-wool psychopath. It's in this insanity that Sander is most beautiful and most pathetic. Fort Frolic reflects what's going on in Sander's head--the place fallen into decay, neon lights only flickering to life when a worthy audience comes by. During this period, Sander began churning out a series of pieces. What appeared to be rough sculptures were actually people encased in plaster. People who crossed the line and were subjected to Sander's increasing paranoia.

Other signs of Cohen losing his marbles is: an Audio Diary (a poem Sander composed called "The Wild Bunny". In it, he recites how he wants to take the ears off, crescendos in a fit of hysteria, before lapsing into defeated silence), his metaphors involving the creation of his work to a mother giving birth, and his obsession with bunny masks. Provided the player gains access to Cohen's room, in it they'll find themselves greeted by a violet lit room filled with rabbit masks of various sizes hanging from the walls and ceiling. One large mask with a red light placed behind it to illuminate the eyes, is mounted above Cohen's bed. Four more statues are located in Cohen's home: two posed around his bed, one in the bathtub, and another sitting on the toilet.

Cohen not only suffers from mania, he's also subject to bouts of depression (understandable considering his circumstances). Wherever Cohen may reside, numerous bottles of Moonbeam Absinthe may be found, littering the ground and table tops. Since Absinthe was also known as the green muse, it's most likely he also drank when his inspiration was as dry as a bone.

Conditional: -

Character Plans: As a man who lives for his work (and for the audience), he'll first start off just trying to make a decent living. He'll be in no hurry to go home and so will make the most of what he's got. Due to his own interests, he'll be attracted to Afterglow, Inc. and possibly work for them. He may be a source of trouble as time goes on, considering the artistic liberties he takes with his work (and his short fuse).

Appearance/PB: canon full body shot | userpics
edit post-acceptance: after replaying the Fort Frolic level and getting a gooood look at Sander, I've discovered some particularly nasty looking scars/mutations along the right side of his face, near his ear, temple, and chin. Possibly why he wears so much goddamn make-up.

Writing Samples

First Person Sample:
Cohen sits back, kicking his feet up, the shortwave radio clutched to his chest like a child clings to their toy or a drunkard his bottle of gin. On the desktop lies a pile of papers filled with scrawls of musical jargon. Beside them, a pen exhausted of its ink. The desk lamp hangs low, illuminating the surface of the desk and the heels of his shoes. He flicks a button and the radio flares to life with a burst of static. Cohen fiddles with a few of the buttons, his voice sailing along the radio waves.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it - is - ...accomplished! Years of stagnating in that soggyyy bucket to find that all my muse needed was a breath of fresh air and a firm prod forward. No longer will she have to gasp, crushed under Atlas' heel and stifled by salty air. Noooooo, with Poseidon's shadow stretched across the surface, kept down by Apollo's gentle rays, I can do what I was born to do!

"I ^know what you're thinking; 'what about the Darkness?' What of it? So what if the night brings death--if the reaper swoops through dank alleys, keening for souls--it's no different than Poseidon's doorstep. SO WHAT if there's blood on the streets. The rain will wash it...-away-...."

Third Person Sample
"I'm coming down there little moth! Coming down to teach you to dance," Sander bellows, tossing his paintbrush away angrily! Who did the moth the angel the muse think he was? A clumsy lout, no doubt. Time to put a rhythm to his step, to up the ante and give him a reason to swing that wrench of his to the primal beat of war.

Cohen plucks up his beloved black rabbit mask, donning it before striding down the steps, away from the comfort of his violet-lit room. Away from the pile of patronizing posters. Away from them...What greets him on the other side of his door, though, was a firm wrench to the head, followed by darkness.

When the world comes back, it's the light he notices first. That and the feeling of soil pressed against his cheek and fingertips. Cohen rolls onto his back with a groan, eyes dilating from a vision of something he'd been deprived of for fourteen years.