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» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Dist the Reaper (Dist the Rose, Dr. Saphir Ortion/Wyon Gneiss)
Canon & MEDIUM: Tales of the Abyss, Video Game
Canon PULL-POINT: Just before the epilogue of Tales of the Abyss
Character AGE: 39
Character ABILITIES: Unlike many characters in the game, Dist isn't shown to have much magical ability at all. His main skills are that he's a genius with fontech- engineering technology and magic into robots and other weapons.  He has a very good understanding of the magic of Auldrant and can harness it to make things, and can inscribe fonic glyphs on someone, but he's not exactly able to fight with it very well.

Dist's fontech creations tend to be things like giant robots that he can use to fight for him in battle, and refined things like a flying chair, or machines used to replicate objects and living things.  Replica devices are shown to be small, almost the size of a kitchen appliance, all the way up to being large enough to contain a human.  Replication basically takes the magic particles that make up a thing, and recreates them using magic.  Dist has specialized in replication since he was a child, and helped to refine the science behind it.

He has medical knowledge and is a doctor, as well, though I tend to think he's not as skilled with that as technology and generally only dabbles with the organic for research purposes.  That is to say- he's much better at taking people apart and studying them than curing sickness.  Want an autopsy done?  He's your dude.  Want someone to set a broken bone?  No thank you, Dist will be elsewhere.  That isn't to say he doesn't know how- he certainly has enough medical knowledge- he just doesn't care to.

He also has an uncanny ability to avoid dying.
Character HISTORY: I am sorry this isn't a main character and still has like 50,000 words of history I'll summarize as best I can.

Dist was born Saphir Wyon Gneiss and grew up in the snowy town of Ketterburg, and had a fairly good childhood except for when he decided to start chasing after Jade Balfour.  Jade considered Dist to be annoying, and set him up to take the fall for things, manipulated him, and did things like dropping him into a freezing lake just to torment the boy for annoying him.  Saphir still clung to Jade, and started to delude himself into thinking that Jade really cared for him.  He and some of the other children, including the future emperor Peony and Jade's sister, Nephry, attended a private school taught by Professor Gelda Nebilim.  Dist adored the Professor as much as he did Jade.

When he was 12, an experiment Jade was conducting at the Professor's home went horribly wrong, and the Professor died.  Saphir was there, and believed Jade when he said they could simply use fomicry magic to create a replica of the Professor to bring her back to life.  Jade attempted this, and a replica was created.  This replica didn't have the necessary magic fonons to stabilize her, and instead of being a replica of the kind, loving Professor, was little more than a monster bent on killing everything.  The replica escaped before she could be destroyed.

From that moment, Saphir became obsessed with creating a perfect replica of his beloved Professor.  He followed Jade to military academy and the two pursued developing fomicry to create perfect replicas.  Dist graduated from the academy as a proper doctor.  Things were going perfectly, in Saphir's mind- they had advanced the theory behind fomicry from Jade's childhood and had started to use machinery, not just magic, and were making steady progress.  The military was using fomicry to manufacture an army for itself.  Jade and Dist were creating and destroying replicas very rapidly, in an effort to perfect the process and see if it was possible to create a replica that still maintained the memories of the original.  Jade decided to try and experiment to extract the Professor's data from his own memories of her.

And then things went wrong.  Jade nearly died in the process of the experiment, and the incomplete replica was destroyed.  Jade decided to leave fomicry research and the science was banned in the Malkuth Empire.  Saphir felt deeply betrayed and switched allegiances to the Order of Lorelei, who held neutral territory where fomicry was not outlawed.  He adopted the new name "Dist Ortion Gniess." They were a religious sect, though Dist has never shown to have any sort of faith or caring for the foretold score (fate) of the planet- all the cared about was bringing the Professor back.  Dist was promoted through the ranks (I assure you, it was because of his fomicry work and his superior, Van, having plans for him and not due to any military competence).  As a God-General of the Oracle Knights, Dist gave the other God-Generals their titles.  Dist was given the moniker Dist "the Reaper", a title he hated and frequently demanded to be called Dist "the Rose", instead.

Six years later, a young Fon Master Guardian named Anise arrived and didn't know Dist, who was avoided by the rest of the Oracle Knights, and sat with him for a meal.  She didn't much like him, but this meant a lot to him, to the point that he sought out her company to sit with her again, though he's shown to be very nervous and trembles at the idea of sitting with someone.  Though she thought he was weird, he appreciated that at least one person didn't avoid him, and considered her a friend.  When Anise was being bullied, he interrupted and chased off the bullies.  Anise yelled at him after he tried to console her, but left behind her doll, a keepsake from her parents.  He took her doll, Tokunaga, and repaired it and modified it to be a weapon that she could use in battle.  He gave it back to her, claiming he only did it for research purposes and not because he was fond of her.  Dist and Anise sat with each other for lunch after that, I tend to think frequently, though they never exactly got along.

Dist was soon afterward involved in another fomicry experiment.  A young boy named Luke fon Fabre was kidnapped and brought to Choral Castle, where Dist's machinery was used to create a replica of him.  The replica was returned to his family, and the original, now named Asch, was brought back with them to neutral territory and became a God General.

And now we're finally at the opening of the game!

Dist has Luke kidnapped shortly after his adventure begins, and he's dragged back to Choral Castle and used for fomicry research by Dist and Sync, another of the Oracle Knights.  Luke's data is stored on a fon disc that was dropped by Sync and given to Jade.  Dist corners the party shortly afterward and demands the disc back.  When Jade informs him that he's memorized the content after Dist snatches it back, Dist attacks with Kaiser Dist R, one of his fontech robots.  He is defeated and Van shows up, playing the part of a good guy.  Dist is last seen flying off into the ocean.

Though not an appearance, the main party travels to Ortion Cavern (named after Dist) and discovers more fomicry research materials and leftover experiments that Dist has abandoned.  Dist next directly appears at St. Binah and attacks the party with another robot, Kaiser Dist Rx, while attempting to retrieve Fon Master Ion.  Dist is apparently killed for the second time when the land around St. Binah collapses.

Dist shows up shortly thereafter and helps to capture main characters  He takes the flightstone from their airship, and takes it back to Oracle headquarters in Daath.  Dist leaves the main characters a message to meet him in Ketterburg if they want it back, but it's clearly a lie.  They storm oracle headquarters and recover the flightstone from Dist's assistant, Reiner.

While all this was going down, Dist waited in Ketterburg for the main party to meet him.  He stood in the town square for so long without food and water that he eventually collapsed and Nephry, now the mayor, gave him a room at the hotel.  The party arrives shortly thereafter, and Jade literally beats the information about a monster outside of the town from Dist, and Dist is captured and hauled off to prison.

Throughout the game, Dist seems to switch allegiances.  In truth, he's playing Van, his commander, and Mohs, the magic Pope.  Whichever one gives him the better chance at Professor Nebilim's data and therefore, replicating her, has his allegiance.  Dist breaks out of his prison, rescues Mohs, and uses fonic glyphs to infuses Mohs' body with the seventh fonon.  Mohs is transformed into a monster, and Dist doesn't care- Mohs should have understood the dangers of such a procedure.  Dist then vanishes, flying off into the sunset on his magical armchair.

Dist's next appearance is at Tower of Rem he's there to destroy the assembled 10,000 replicas at Mohs' orders to keep them from sacrificing themselves to save the world because Mohs hates heroes.  Dist attacks with Kaiser Dist XX and is defeated, for the final time, and the group wonders if he's finally dead.  Jade muses that Dist was a "charming pet" because Jade is a horrible human being.

HOWEVER, IN THE OPTIONAL NEBILIM QUESTLINE, IT'S SHOWN THAT DIST SURVIVED!  AGAIN!  He certainly earns the title "the Roach" that the party gives him.  This is mostly covered in the Jade-centered manga tie-in to the game, but Dist discovered where the replica of Professor Nebilim had been sealed, and releases her in an effort to use data he's recovered to complete the replica.  The replica attacks, and Dist steps in front of a spell meant to kill Anise.  Once the monstrous replica from Jade's childhood is defeated, Dist is discovered to be STILL ALIVE and is hauled off to prison again in Malkuth.

Then the heroes to their hero thing, save the world, Luke and Asch apparently die, and Dist is put under military supervision and begins fomicry research with Jade to help the existing replicas.  I don't believe for a minute that he dropped his mission to resurrect the Professor.  I'm pulling him from this point in time, just before the main party returns to Tataroo Valley to mourn Luke.

Character PERSONALITY: Dist is easy to write-off as a simple person. Outwardly he is very flamboyant, boastful, and generally over-the-top in everything he does. He is a bit full of himself, almost childishly so, and likes to boast about himself or talk down about people or insult them.  Things only truly matter if they have an impact on him and what he needs, otherwise he doesn't really care unless it interests him.  He's very self-centered and doesn't care that some might think negatively about him for it- he thinks you'd be self-centered, too, if you were as amazing as he is!

While he's a technical genius, Dist is an emotional wreck. He's extremely dramatic, and is hot-blooded and very quick to temper. He is definitely not one to hide his feelings in the least- he'll tell you exactly what he feels about something. He's prone to screeching about his "revenge journal", where he writes down the slights everyone has given him and where he plots his revenge on people.  He has a very easily bruised ego.

He has very few friends, due to his temper and often insulting nature, but he can be very kind to people he considers friends. When Anise showed him kindness by sitting with him in the cafeteria, he created her an extremely complex and sophisticated fontech doll in thanks. However, as with everything, Dist even takes friendships to the extreme. He obsesses over people, especially his childhood friend Jade and their Professor, Gelda Nebilim.  

While obsessive and self-centered, Dist is also very insecure.  He needs other people to prop him up and constantly validate him.  Like an overgrown child, he wants to be around the people he's obsessed with and seeks their approval to make him feel better about himself.  Likewise, he is rather self-deluded and constantly has to twist scenarios to support his own views of things, to validate himself.

The truth about his character is that Dist is completely stuck in the past. Everything he does is motivated by his desire to bring back Professor Nebilim and thus put his life back to where it was when he was a child. He's very emotionally immature, and almost stagnated from the point that Professor Nebilim died. Dist does not move on with things simply because he can't- he doesn't know how to.

He's obsessed. Completely and blindly, consumed by two things in his life- Jade and the Professor. The Professor is the only thing that can eclipse his obsession with Jade. When Jade calls off replication, and Dist continues his experiments, Dist is deeply betrayed. He hates Jade, as much as he cares about him, but not because Jade has hurt him or been awful to him. No, he was angry with Jade because he turned his back on bringing the Professor back. Dist will do anything to satisfy his obsessions. People very rarely truly matter to him- they either help him further his goals, or they're insignificant. I think a lot of his anger with Jade was simply because Jade caused this awful cognitive dissonance for him between the fact that Jade is always right, and Jade is calling off resurrecting the Professor. Both could not possibly be true, ergo, Jade betrayed him.  He sees this perceived slight as a deep betrayal and is very upset by it.

Dist is an almost typical "mad scientist", obsessed with his goals and willing to sacrifice anything to achieve them. Any lives lost are simply the price of progress, a stepping stone to bringing the Professor back and making his life right again. He shows no regret for anything he does because he's too egocentric to think he's done anything wrong.

In many ways, Dist displays the traits of a narcissist- especially the type that seeks to compensate for low self esteem.  He brags about himself, seeking to boost his own ego, and though he does have actual accomplishments, he does tend to greatly overestimate his own genius.  He's excessively vain and self-centered and I don't think there's really an easy way to fix what's wrong with him- he's had that opportunity in canon and it didn't change him at all.

» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: Dist's weapon will be chosen from the Initiative weapons, and will be a pair of otherwise plain-looking white gloves. They would enable him to channel electricity into people and objects and power machinery via touch. He can also use them to channel electricity through conductive objects, such as metals and water. He would be able to deliver a jolt strong enough to stop a heart...or restart one, using them like defibrillation. Eventually, he will be able to manifest lightning balls and shoot bolts of electricity, but at first he would be limited to having to touch an object to zap it.

I expect they will be backfiring occasionally.
Character INVENTORY: HIS CLOTHES, a snappy suit and attached neck ruffle, glasses, various scraps of paper, and a small toolkit that includes things like a multitool, screwdrivers, clamps, a scalpel, a notepad, bits of stuffing, a small sewing kit, and various wires and other small spare parts.  He has a capacity core on him that I would figure would boost defense (lots of people, even civilians, wear them).  Badges from Professor Nebilim's private school.

» PREVIOUS GAME INFORMATION ( IF APPLICABLE )
Previous GAME(s): N/A
Previous GAME SETTING(s): N/A
Previous GAME CR: N/A
Your character's DEVELOPMENT: N/A

» SAMPLES
First PERSON: [Video Post]

[The camera shows a rather irritable man with glasses and purple lipgloss. He laughs softly and leans back a little]

Listen closely, you ignorant savages, and you shall hear my beautiful name! I am Dist the Rose, the renowned fontech genius!

No doubt your small minds cannot comprehend my genius, so I will make a simple request of you and leave you to your dull lives:

There is a man among you who is named Jade. If any of you inelegant fools know where I can find him, I highly suggest you speak now!

[He leans close into the camera.]

JADE! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE.

[...then promptly cuts the feed.]

Third PERSON: TEST DRIVE LINK HERE

» ADDITIONAL NOTES
I'm so, so sorry.