Deerington Application

[wronganswer]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Cassandra Anderson
Canon: Dredd - 2012 movie and follow-up comic the Deep End
Canon Point: Post movie/Deep End

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Fairly small tattoo with flowers woven throughout the antlers, located above one hip on her left side.
Current Health/Status: Nothing to note. Normal biological human apart from telepathy due to genetic mutations from radiation exposure.
Age: 25
Species: Human

Content Warnings: Anderson deals with extreme violence and sexual violence on a regular basis, and although she hasn't been a victim of either personally, she is threatened with sexual violence disgustingly frequently and has a lot of associated PTSD with all of the above. I will never describe this in detail, but it could be mentioned in her threads and does come up in her personality section.

History: Fandom wikia page. I pull some very light influence from comics just to flesh her out a bit more, but the original comics version is extremely different from Olivia Thirlby's portrayal, overall.

CRAU History and Impact: None

Personality: At the heart of Anderson's character is the tension between personal judgement and the law. Judges are supposed to exercise impeccable judgement in pursuit of interpreting, enforcing, and executing the law, and ideally, these two things should cleave together closely; for Anderson, they can be as far apart as opposing magnetic poles. The primary drivers of her conflict here are her childhood in the slums, which gave her a deep-seated compassion for the humanity of those living in the worst conditions, and her telepathic abilities, which lets her see the motives behind criminals acts. Being exposed to the violence and trauma in others' minds can have a dark psychological impact on her, but it also makes her keenly aware of when someone is, as she puts it, a victim and not a perp. The law, especially in the post-apocalyptic fascist dystopia of Dredd, does not make those distinctions as keenly as Anderson does.

Judges are imbued with a high level of autonomy and what amounts to absolute authority while in the field, but Anderson always has to justify her actions later to her superiors. This means she has to make snap decisions in the heat of the moment that will hold up to scrutiny later, and having to balance that is a considerable strain. Anderson underwent years of persistent hardship to become a Judge. It takes fifteen years to train a Street Judge, which for her started at age six, and she consistently failed or barely passed her aptitude tests. She sticks with it doggedly because she sincerely believes it's the place she can do the most good. It makes a tough line to walk, constantly trying to simultaneously interpret and enforce the law absolutely correctly, sentence and protect citizens with compassion and leniency, and protect her position as a Judge so she doesn't get thrown out of the force.

The truth is, Anderson doesn't know what she would do if she weren't a Judge. As a mutant, she endures prejudice and bigotry, and there isn't anther profession that would make use her of abilities the way the Hall of Justice does - at least, not a legal one. She loved her parents, but they died long ago, so she's completely alone. Being a Judge is akin to being part of a military ascetic order: the code demands she have no family, no relationships, be celibate, have a minimum of possessions, and essentially give her life over to the law absolutely. As demanding and isolating as that is, it's not really any more demanding or isolating than it would be for her as a private citizen, and this way, she has direction. She can make a difference.

Anderson is deeply afraid of being helpless, both out of fear for her personal safety and fear for others. More than that, she has a hard internal limit on what she will do - in the movie, she chooses, willingly and consciously, to take a fail on her assessment to become a Judge rather than execute someone she doesn't think should be executed. Dredd passes her anyway because he likes strong independent thinkers, but she had no way of knowing that. For all that Anderson's put all of her eggs in one basket when she decided to become a Judge at a young age, she's absolutely not afraid to tank that dream if it pushes her morals too far.

On the flipside, Anderson doesn't lose any sleep over killing or even mutilating scumbags like Kay, a gruesome murderer who tries to shock her when she reads his mind by envisioning himself raping her. From the way she sharply counters this without surprise, we can infer this is not the first time that's happened to her. The mental retaliation and trauma Anderson's been exposed to is likely significant - to say nothing of the very real and extreme physical violence she constantly sees and commits herself - and I assume this makes it difficult for her to trust others and make bonds. She has a professional relationship with other Judges and shows true comradeship with Dredd, but Judges can be as corrupt as anyone else, and she doesn't necessarily trust them either. She realizes the Judges in the movie that showed up as 'backup' are actually there to kill her and Dredd instantly by reading their minds. She made no assumptions about what side they were on based on a uniform. That implies a deep-seated, and justified, paranoia.

However, she clearly has fond memories of her parents and her compassion is what drives her, so we can infer that she would like to have more companionship. It's a tough road for her, but Anderson is not at all ashamed of any of her feelings or any piece of her resolve, no matter what institution, authority, prejudice, or law it comes up against. It'll take a lot of time to adjust, but I fully expect her to grow immensely as a character from exposure to other environments and other people, who won't see her as a Judge or probably even as a mutant. She's terse and respectful as befits a rookie Judge in professional interactions, but under duress or with someone she's grown to trust, she'll bluntly express her true feelings without an ounce of reluctance. For being a tough action hero, she's remarkably forthcoming and unafraid to show her own flaws and weaknesses.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Anderson is psychic, which broadly includes telepathy and empathy, both broadcasting and receiving. She doesn't walk around with it on - it's off by default, and she has to concentrate a little to read minds.

She also primarily sees what people are actively thinking about at a given moment; she doesn't just suddenly pick up on their backstories or secrets. With great concentration or under duress, she can project one of her own emotions into someone else, overwhelming their current feelings with her own. She can try to trick someone into thinking about something with leading questions, but generally to get anything more in-depth or specific, she has to leave her own mind and go into theirs to perform an interrogation. This leaves her completely vulnerable in the physical world while she does so. She's also not immune to other psychics, and can be especially vulnerable to them. Though Anderson will eventually become the most powerful psychic in her canon, she's young here and needs a lot more training and experience to get there.

She can't mind control anyone (so that part isn't an issue), though she can have some very mild precognition based on sensing what someone is about to do the instant before they do it. This is mostly useful in combat. Her psychic abilities do extend to dreams. It's not her strong suit, but she's used to having total control over her own and others' mindscapes, so she can definitely tell she's dreaming in Deerington and vaguely feel her connection back to her body.

I would like to request a minor warping to give her mind-healing - in other words, soothing mental trauma - which will start out like every other healing ability, wherein she actually makes things worse every time she tries. Won't that be fun.

I have a full telepathy permissions post set up over here.

Inventory: Her standard issue (1) Lawgiver (outlined below) with her ammo belt. Aside from that, she has (2) the combat armor she's wearing as part of her uniform, complete with her Judge's badge on the chest, and (3) a flashlight and (4) a communicator on her wrist that serves as a direct line to Central command.

The Lawgiver is coded to her DNA, and anyone else attempting to use it will result in a spray of shrapnel that amputates their arm at the wrist. Anderson does not know the override function to allow someone else to use it (she's not a Senior Judge).

Lawgivers have several types of ammunition:
→ Normal
→ Incendiary: a white phosphorous cluster grenade
→ Hot Shot: a different type of incendiary, more focused and less explosive
→ Armor Piercing: capable of penetrating concrete wall and a Judge's body armor
→ High Ex: explosive capable of blowing out walls
→ Ricochet: what it sounds like
→ Stun: electric pulse rather than shot, similar to being tazed

Ammunition can be changed by voice command. Note that her ammo is not infinite and Dredd instructs her to conserve ammunition once they're in dire straits. There is a small view screen on the gun that displays how much is left and what is currently selected, as well as running the ID check. The Lawgiver can operate in a silencer mode or a rapid fire mode as well.

I would like to propose she enter the game with only normal and armor-piercing bullets, and only whatever is in her gun. The rest would have to be acquired through AC rewards.

Writing Samples:
Deerington TDM threads: one; two
Log threads from Mask or Menace: one; two

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Liv
Player Age: 30
Player Contact: chirality or PM

Other Characters In Game: None
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Cassandra Anderson: Liv
Permissions for Character: here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Sure -- Anderson in the original Dredd comics is all about the weird metaphysical bullshit, and it'd be interesting to put this younger and less hardened version of her through some of it!
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Difficult and complex moral situations that really push characters through more development. Grotesque violence and body horror don't bother me, but I mostly enjoy them in the context of character growth. I'm invested in horror as a way to have deep psychological impact beyond immediate hurt/angst fallout, so events that leave room for growth and impact after the horror elements are over are my personal favorite. As an example, SOMA is my favorite game and is sometimes branded "philosophical sci fi horror" so that's probably a representative sample! Marianne, the recent Netflix show, is another great example of using horror themes as a way to explore characterization.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Nah.
Additional Information: Nope!