elijah crescenti (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
negotiators) wrote2012-02-05 12:00 am
negotiators) wrote2012-02-05 12:00 am
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Out of Character Information
Name:
Contact: private message
Current Characters: none
Do you need a Dreamwidth Invite? no
In-Character Information
Name: Kyuubey
Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (AU: “The World Is Waiting For Sunrise”)
Canon-Point: Post-series; end of fancomic.
History:
A self-proclaimed "messenger of magic," Kyuubey is a being tasked with the responsibility of granting the wishes of young girls in exchange for their services as Puella Magi - contracted "magical girls" who must fight monsters known as Witches that sow the seeds of despair, such as anxiety, hatred, and wrath across the world. A just cause, to be sure, if not for the fact that becoming a magical girl is simply one step to becoming a Witch: it requires the contracted girl to not only risk the possibility of death and sacrifice all semblance of daily life, but also basically just damn her soul to oblivion. Put bluntly, "becoming a magical girl is simply suffering," and Kyuubey is well aware of this.
It is eventually revealed that Kyuubey is an Incubator, a member of an alien race which has developed technology to harvest energy from emotion. Because Incubators cannot feel emotion, and subjecting young human girls to utter despair provides the best possible quantities of energy, Kyuubey contracts magical girls in order to gather energy to delay the heat death of the universe, otherwise known as entropy. Under the scientific laws of entropy, all energy in the universe will eventually be made unusable, causing all lifeforms to eventually die; therefore, the Incubators presumably collect energy to give entropy the middle finger and save the universe.
Understandably, not everyone believes this. For more information on entropy please see the Puella Magi Wiki and other related links (notably the Thermodynamics page).
The anime series does not elaborate further on Kyuubey's motives for contracting magical girls. The AU from which Kyuubey is taken - The World Is Waiting For Sunrise, a fan comic by Kurono Yuu (黒野ユウ) on Pixiv - depicts his eventual fate thusly:
Elaborating on the tidbit where Kyuubey states that his race can feel emotion, but that those who do are considered mentally unstable, as well as the idea that despite stating that he does not feel emotion, Kyuubey does in fact show signs of possessing human emotion, The World Is Waiting For Sunrise depicts Kyuubey in a human form, returning his hard-gained energy to his home planet. After Sanbey, his "coworker," fails to impress him in various ways, he retires to his quarters and contemplates the eventual fate of Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura - even though he should not.
His supposedly non-existent "guilt" apparently getting to him, Kyuubey brushes past Sanbey in order to return to Earth to find Homura, only to arrive just as she dies in battle. Overcome by memories and emotion he does not understand, he falls, crying, as he is shot by Sanbey, who explains that he must "clean up after his fellow colleagues" and, implicitly, kill Kyuubey for having developed what is in the Incubator view a mental illness.
Sanbey does so, but as Kyuubey is dying, Madoka comes and presumably takes his soul into paradise where Kyuubey reunites with the magical girls. The manga ends with Sanbey talking to his "employers," stating that Kyuubey's body could not be recovered and that he "just can't understand those with emotions" - while crying over Kyuubey's death. Thus - for all its dramatic liberties - the intent of the manga seems to portray the fact that the Incubators themselves are a wretched race being forced to sacrifice their emotions, possibly for a purpose unrelated to entropy.
Something of note is that the manga portrays Kaname Madoka, Sakura Kyouko, and Tomoe Mami as males instead of females (magical boys!). In the event that Kyuubey should encounter any conflict with their genders, he will recognize the girls regardless of gender but be mildly surprised that they are not male.
Personality:
Name:
Contact: private message
Current Characters: none
Do you need a Dreamwidth Invite? no
In-Character Information
Name: Kyuubey
Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (AU: “The World Is Waiting For Sunrise”)
Canon-Point: Post-series; end of fancomic.
History:
A self-proclaimed "messenger of magic," Kyuubey is a being tasked with the responsibility of granting the wishes of young girls in exchange for their services as Puella Magi - contracted "magical girls" who must fight monsters known as Witches that sow the seeds of despair, such as anxiety, hatred, and wrath across the world. A just cause, to be sure, if not for the fact that becoming a magical girl is simply one step to becoming a Witch: it requires the contracted girl to not only risk the possibility of death and sacrifice all semblance of daily life, but also basically just damn her soul to oblivion. Put bluntly, "becoming a magical girl is simply suffering," and Kyuubey is well aware of this.
It is eventually revealed that Kyuubey is an Incubator, a member of an alien race which has developed technology to harvest energy from emotion. Because Incubators cannot feel emotion, and subjecting young human girls to utter despair provides the best possible quantities of energy, Kyuubey contracts magical girls in order to gather energy to delay the heat death of the universe, otherwise known as entropy. Under the scientific laws of entropy, all energy in the universe will eventually be made unusable, causing all lifeforms to eventually die; therefore, the Incubators presumably collect energy to give entropy the middle finger and save the universe.
Understandably, not everyone believes this. For more information on entropy please see the Puella Magi Wiki and other related links (notably the Thermodynamics page).
The anime series does not elaborate further on Kyuubey's motives for contracting magical girls. The AU from which Kyuubey is taken - The World Is Waiting For Sunrise, a fan comic by Kurono Yuu (黒野ユウ) on Pixiv - depicts his eventual fate thusly:
Elaborating on the tidbit where Kyuubey states that his race can feel emotion, but that those who do are considered mentally unstable, as well as the idea that despite stating that he does not feel emotion, Kyuubey does in fact show signs of possessing human emotion, The World Is Waiting For Sunrise depicts Kyuubey in a human form, returning his hard-gained energy to his home planet. After Sanbey, his "coworker," fails to impress him in various ways, he retires to his quarters and contemplates the eventual fate of Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura - even though he should not.
His supposedly non-existent "guilt" apparently getting to him, Kyuubey brushes past Sanbey in order to return to Earth to find Homura, only to arrive just as she dies in battle. Overcome by memories and emotion he does not understand, he falls, crying, as he is shot by Sanbey, who explains that he must "clean up after his fellow colleagues" and, implicitly, kill Kyuubey for having developed what is in the Incubator view a mental illness.
Sanbey does so, but as Kyuubey is dying, Madoka comes and presumably takes his soul into paradise where Kyuubey reunites with the magical girls. The manga ends with Sanbey talking to his "employers," stating that Kyuubey's body could not be recovered and that he "just can't understand those with emotions" - while crying over Kyuubey's death. Thus - for all its dramatic liberties - the intent of the manga seems to portray the fact that the Incubators themselves are a wretched race being forced to sacrifice their emotions, possibly for a purpose unrelated to entropy.
Something of note is that the manga portrays Kaname Madoka, Sakura Kyouko, and Tomoe Mami as males instead of females (magical boys!). In the event that Kyuubey should encounter any conflict with their genders, he will recognize the girls regardless of gender but be mildly surprised that they are not male.
Personality:
"Your population is six billion, nine hundred million right now,
and it increases by ten every four seconds.
What does it matter if one of you lives or dies?"
and it increases by ten every four seconds.
What does it matter if one of you lives or dies?"
— Kyuubey, Episode 9
Kyuubey does not feel emotion.
This is the basis for his actions as well as the driving force behind his motives. Incubators are supposedly driven by logic and strict utalitarianism. He is perfectly wiling to sacrifice the personal happiness of individuals in exchange for the overall well-being of the universe as a whole. He states quite plainly that he does not understand human values throughout the series; when the girls accuse him at various times of having tricked them, he replies that it was their fault, not his, for not having asked him about the consequences of becoming magical girls, which is an immutable truth.
After the events of the AU from which he is taken, Kyuubey is largely unchanged. He holds a certain amount of respect for the magical girls, a great respect for Madoka in particular, and is no longer motivated by the Incubator agenda; however, he remains as indifferent to human emotion as ever. He does not understand humans, and therefore does not understand himself, making him very, very lost in the grand scheme of things indeed.
It is worth noting that Kyuubey never lies outright; he simply either sidesteps the truth or withholds important information for the sake of convenience.
This is the basis for his actions as well as the driving force behind his motives. Incubators are supposedly driven by logic and strict utalitarianism. He is perfectly wiling to sacrifice the personal happiness of individuals in exchange for the overall well-being of the universe as a whole. He states quite plainly that he does not understand human values throughout the series; when the girls accuse him at various times of having tricked them, he replies that it was their fault, not his, for not having asked him about the consequences of becoming magical girls, which is an immutable truth.
After the events of the AU from which he is taken, Kyuubey is largely unchanged. He holds a certain amount of respect for the magical girls, a great respect for Madoka in particular, and is no longer motivated by the Incubator agenda; however, he remains as indifferent to human emotion as ever. He does not understand humans, and therefore does not understand himself, making him very, very lost in the grand scheme of things indeed.
It is worth noting that Kyuubey never lies outright; he simply either sidesteps the truth or withholds important information for the sake of convenience.
Powers:
Much of Kyuubey's original power has been limited for obvious reasons. He can no longer contract magical girls or grant wishes; given human form, he is restricted from otherwise simple tasks such as concealing his presence from ordinary humans. Additionally, since he has been exiled as an Incubator, he no longer possesses whatever connections to his race he may have had.
He remains, nonetheless, inhuman. This is manifest by his apparent ability to teleport; he is seemingly able to move from place to place without walking, effectively disappearing and reappearing instantaneously, though the distance traveled is usually no greater than a few yards. He also retains his Oriko Magica ability to levitate short distances if he so chooses; generally speaking, he does not. He also still possesses his ability to communicate with others telepathically - he's basically a highly limited psychic.
Kyuubey will also act as though he is immortal. Whether he is or isn't is quite negligible.
Starter Pokemon:
Zangoose. No reason other than that it resembles his "cat" form. He does not care to give it a name.
Writing Samples
First-Person Sample: "I'm afraid I can't answer your question. Incubators do not feel emotions. More specifically, they do not feel what you humans call emotions. All that matters is the universe before us - after all, if we can save the universe, we are in effect saving every being that resides in it. I've explained this before, haven't I?
You humans are interesting, you know. We don't know what it's like to be connected to someone emotionally, and yet you all use it as a basis to obtain the feeling that your existence has meaning. But that in itself is unusual. The truth is, no one has ever been forced into this contract. No one has ever had their soul stolen or forcibly removed. It was given up in exchange for a wish. And we granted that wish. You talk of betrayal, but I don't know when it would have been possible for me to deceive you. You talk of cruelty, but I don't understand what part of my methods are cruel to begin with. This was your contract. You agreed to it.
You can insist that you don't understand. But as you may have concluded, I don't understand what it means to personally know another being. That argument is irrelevant to me."
You humans are interesting, you know. We don't know what it's like to be connected to someone emotionally, and yet you all use it as a basis to obtain the feeling that your existence has meaning. But that in itself is unusual. The truth is, no one has ever been forced into this contract. No one has ever had their soul stolen or forcibly removed. It was given up in exchange for a wish. And we granted that wish. You talk of betrayal, but I don't know when it would have been possible for me to deceive you. You talk of cruelty, but I don't understand what part of my methods are cruel to begin with. This was your contract. You agreed to it.
You can insist that you don't understand. But as you may have concluded, I don't understand what it means to personally know another being. That argument is irrelevant to me."
Third-Person Sample:
It was too much to expect that Kyuubey would be anything close to human after encountering death.
He did not feel different. He had experienced a kind of relief after seeing the Puella Magi alive, and allowed himself to fall into the embrace of Kaname Madoka after being shot by Sanbey, but this was superficial; it bore resemblance to the feeling he often experienced after fulfilling his energy quota, or watching events unfold just as he'd expected. The most accurate human expression of it would have been success, but success was not synonymous with anything like happiness. Therefore, it was not emotion.
Right?
"Incubators do not feel emotion," he murmured. Blankly he stared at the ceiling, allowing a breeze from the window to brush through his hair. "It happens so rarely it may as well be a mental illness..."
Mentally ill. Unusable. There were countless replacements - he had probably already been deleted, replaced with someone else exactly like him. Conformity. Sanbey had nothing to think about when he pulled the trigger. For him there were no ends; there were only beginnings.
Kyuubey... had seen too many ends.
"Is this... humanity?"