Darren Astor/Death of Darren; Origin of Jaden

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Alright, cool. Story time. I hope you're bored, because you will be.

I think the first character I made that ever got anywhere RP-wise was Black Argonaut-83542. He was a cold old bastard that could care less about anything in the world, but he got the job done. He was quiet, and yet a total badass. However, it was because he was so quiet and indifferent about everything that made him such a boring character to play. He was uninteresting out of battle and just tiring to RP. While playing as him, however, I met another character known as Timmy Turbulon, who was a very upbeat, fun character who at the same time was just as much of a BA as Argonaut. I envied that. Why couldn't I have a character like that? Argonaut didn't really fit that aspect with who he was, and I doubted that he ever would. I got to know Timmy's player after a while and found that he was a pretty awesome person, and I enjoyed joking around with him. It was at that point that I decided I wanted to join in on his IC antics. I would make a character that was basically Timmy's ex-best friend. They'd meet up again, be just as much of friends as they used to, and shenanigans would ensue. Thus, Darren Astor was born.

Darren quickly became one of my favorite characters to play. Ever. He was the perfect blend of hilarity, asskicking, and sarcasm. He was the character that I think I've always wanted. Just playing him made me lol all the time. He motivated me to play CoH, he motivated me to meet people, and he got me to where I am in CoH now. It's strange how much an idea can change you. Not only that, but I got to know Timmy's player a lot more over time. We've OOCly been best friends for just barely over a year now.

After playing Darren for about.. oh, six or seven months, I noticed that he'd changed. He was no longer a jackass that constantly worked to irritate the hell out of anyone he came across just for the fun of it, he was an actual character. He served a purpose and actually had a story of his own. I didn't like that. The idea of Darren was strictly to piss other people off just to laugh at them. Darren hadn't done this as much. He was more into personal business, seeing as he'd gained a number of friends. I knew, deep down, although I'd denied it and promised myself I wouldn't kill him off, that Darren had to end someday.

This is where we skip ahead to about one or two months ago. Darren disappeared after losing a child before he could even see it, and was never seen again by his friends. I figured this would be a good time to bring him to an end. After finalizing my idea of how I wanted Darren to go, I went and talked to Tim's player. We agreed that Darren and Tim had gone through enough, and it was about that time where we put them to rest. We came up with an idea as to how we wanted it to happen, and we put it into action. I wrote up an end to their story in Darren's VirtueVerse page. They died as brothers.

But that wasn't the end of it for me. While Darren's character was gone, I still can't imagine letting go of his concept. And so, I decided that I'd tell another story, while still holding on to the concept that I'd created a year earlier. I wanted to make another character, and maybe start over with the idea of Darren, while still having a completely new character to try and play. It couldn't hurt, all I had to do was decide how I wanted to tie the two in. These two people would be very much connected, while very much apart from each other. Thus, Jaden Hadoch was born.

Darren died in a bright flash, along with his brother, Tim. However, if you know how Darren's body works, he can't die. ^[1] He's pure, raw, unconcentrated energy. The most that could happen is that the energy in his body moves to another source, which is exactly what it did. Darren came across Jaden, a person who was just like him, but much more responsible, heroic, and courageous. This was a perfect person for him to use. The entity that was Darren came across Jaden and entered his body, fusing the two together. Jaden received Darren's powers, and more. While Jaden didn't receive Darren's memories, he did receive small aspects of Darren's personality. I did this to be sure Jaden was just like Darren in almost every way. That way it'd be easier to try and play Darren in another form.

It's a very complicated, hard to explain idea when it comes to how Jaden and Darren are tied together, but I'll try to explain it to the best of my ability. Darren is basically inside Jaden's body, but it's only Darren's essence, not exactly Darren himself. The two don't share memories or thoughts, but Darren can still see through Jaden's eyes. There's no way the two can talk to each other, nor is there a way for Darren to show Jaden that he's with him. The only tie between the two that will ever show is when Jaden pushes himself to limits he can't imagine. Darren is obviously much more experienced with energy than Jaden, and so, when the time comes, Jaden will have Darren to help push him along in combat. If you happen to push Jaden far enough, in theory, you're fighting Darren. This does NOT mean you can make contact with Darren in any way. Darren doesn't exactly know everything that's going on, because he can't think for himself inside Jaden's being. It's not like Darren can control Jaden's actions or talk through him, and it's not like he wants to. Darren gave himself up for a reason.

That's about it, though. Jaden is Darren. Darren is Jaden. That's why they're so alike. If you have any questions or you don't understand something, the Discussion tab is your friend. So. Thx guise. <3

One final sidenote, anybody that knew and/or was close to Darren may or may not feel more comfortable around Jaden than usual. It's really up to you and your character to decide whether you want that to happen, but yeah. Seeing as they're the same person, you can go ahead and say you feel at ease around him. Doesn't matter to me. :P

1. ↑ If you have REALLY paid attention, though, you know that I've said that he can die, and I've also said that he can't. Before you freak out about this, know that it's really complicated. Darren can die but he can't, but he still can, but at the same time he can't, but I mean honestly who cares I killed him off.