Difference between revisions of "Aladdin"

Latest revision as of 19:03, 24 September 2012

Aladdin
Gotta keep one jump ahead...
Age	16
Species	Human
Sex	Male
Height	5' 7"
Weight	67.5 kilograms
Background
Series	Aladdin
Combat Styles	Thief
Hometown	Agrabah
Group	Unaffiliated
Occupation/Job	Diamond in the Rough
Force:	Forces of Restoration
Theme Song	One Jump Ahead
Quote
"Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, tell you all about it when I got the time!"
Recent Events
Wandering the worlds under assorted false names.

A muscular youth wearing lightweight clothing, which leaves his feet, arms, and chest bare. He has a confident grin, a tiny hat, and a monkey perched on his shoulder.

Aladdin is a young man who grew up on the streets of Agrabah (a "street rat," some might say, though he hates that term passionately), becoming a masterful thief and acrobat.  He has an adventurous spirit, enjoying his life of being "one jump ahead of the headsman" to the fullest.  Still, for a | young man whose best friend is a trained monkey, he's surprisingly well-adjusted, and does his best to look out for others less fortunate (or, really, just as unfortunate, but less badass) than himself.

Unable to find Agrabah and unsure what's happening, Aladdin is wandering the worlds looking for answers. He doesn't use his real name or speak of his home, but he cannot resist swooping in (often literally, on a flying carpet) to help those in need.

History

"How can you say I don't come out of thin air?"

Aladdin has been alone on the streets for nearly as long as he can remember. He never knew his father (though he does carry an ornate dagger, the only memento of his past he possesses), and his mother died when he was only two years old, leaving him alone. Growing up, he was a quick learner - by age seven, his thieving had gained him the personal enmity of the head of the city guards (an enmity which only grew stronger as the years passed). Still, though his life was always meager and often lonely, he developed strong moral principles. Aladdin was resolved to steal only what he needed to survive, and never take the money of other ordinary citizens. Also, however great his need was, he would always try to share whatever he had with others.

His existence became somewhat less solitary in his early teenage years, when he fell in with a circus troupe (who were also thieves). Having friends to watch his back was a welcome change for the young Aladdin, even though his refusal to steal the customers’ money put them at odds. Sadly, it was not to be: the troupe tried to recover the legendary Destiny Stone, but things went wrong, and everyone save Aladdin and the circus’ trained pickpocket monkey, Abu, perished in the resulting cave-in.

Recently, Aladdin thought he might have found a new companion, in the form of a beautiful beggar girl he met in the market. Sadly, when he took her back to his hideaway, it turned out she was actually the Princess Jasmine in disguise - hardly someone who would willingly associate herself with the likes of Aladdin. His hopes were crushed.

Oh, and also, he was seized by guards, and locked in a dungeon to die. Bummer.

However, a surprising answer to both problems presented itself: an old man snuck in, offering Aladdin fabulous wealth if he would help to retrieve the fabulous treasures of the Cave Of Wonders - particularly, a certain lamp. Although he was suspicious, Aladdin accepted. He narrowly avoided death in the Cave of Wonders, but wound up trapped there when the old man - actually the evil Vazir Jaffar - betrayed and tried to murder him.

Still, Aladdin had Abu, a recently-discovered flying carpet, and the lamp he had been sent after. This last seemed worthless, until it proved to hold a powerful Genie, capable of granting any three wishes. To escape the cave, Aladdin used exactly none of them, instead tricking the Genie into helping him for free - but he barely even had time to celebrate his own cleverness, since the world he emerged into was not the one he’d left.

This shift of the universe confuses Aladdin, but he’s used to being in over his head, and never gives up. Unable to find the Agrabah of this new world, he strikes out into the unknown, more determined than ever to help the helpless, mock the mighty, and perhaps use his newfound allies to woo a certain princess.

Personality

"If only they'd look closer... they'd find out, there's so much more to me."

Aladdin is quick-witted and clever, always fast to come up with a plan or a pun. He is somewhat suspicious of other people, especially those in power (demonstrated notably when his first reaction to meeting both Jafar and Genie was to question each man’s abilities and motives), but will always try to help anyone in need, making him a true diamond in the rough. This combination of skill and morality make Aladdin that oddest of criminals: a master thief who never steals money. His thefts of fruit, bread, clothes and other essentials were so prolific (sometimes, it seemed like he fed half the orphans in Agrabah) that he has become, in the words of many, “a one-man wave of crime,” but he has never once stolen items of merely monetary value from a living person, and his only delve into tomb-robbing thusfar ended in disaster. He exhorts Abu to be the same, wth... mixed results.

He has boundless energy, and greatly enjoys his life of massive risks and excitement. He constantly makes jokes in combat, and seeks chances to dramatically show off. This sometimes makes him overconfident or gets him into trouble, but from Aladdin’s point of view, that’s all part of the fun.

A life on the streets has left Aladdin with keen instincts for predicting other people, and he is a skilled con artist (though he occasionally gets flustered). Sadly, those same instincts tend to make him quickly resort to lies in complex situations, even towards people he cares about.

He is NOT a streetrat. And he doesn’t have fleas.

Allies

"Gotta face the facts: you're my only friend, Abu."

Aladdin's best friend is the monkey Abu, an expert pickpocket in his own right due to time spent in a less-than-honest circus. Abu lacks some of Aladdin's moral compunctions, but is still a remarkably smart animal, and very loyal to his friend.

Recently, Aladdin acquired a flying carpet, and a Genie’s lamp. The carpet is smart and independent (and am amazing checkers player), and it both helps Aladdin in battle and allows him to fly with amazing speed and agility. But Aladdin has never had a friend like the Genie, who has “phenomenal cosmic powers” capable of virtually anything (except for mind control, clean resurrections, and killing people). Of course, Aladdin has access to such plot device-level abilities only twice (having promised to use his third wish to set Genie free), but sometimes uses his wits to trick Genie into the occasional helpful show of force.

He has yet to befriend any of the strange residents of this new, ruined world, but that is likely to change soon...

Abilities

"They're quick, but I'm much faster!"

Aladdin is an expert thief, and very skilled at both acrobatics and the fighting with his dagger. He’s good enough with locks to pick high-quality manacles while he’s trapped in them, good enough at sleight of hand to pick the pocket of someone watching him unnoticed in seconds, good enough at acrobatics to survive long falls and avoid punches from Hercules, and good enough at banter to make jokes while doing all of the above.

These skills are all impressive, but his true gift in battle is misdirection. On the streets, Aladdin learned that there’s always a bully stronger than you, but never a bully stronger than himself. He is constantly seeking advantages, tricking enemies into the path of obstacles, their allies, or even their own attacks. The same tricks which made whole squads of guards run through fire are just as useful at making demigods collapse buildings upon themselves, and so this skillset serves him well in the strange new world Aladdin was pulled into.

Aliases

"Next time, I think I'll use a nome de plume."

Aladdin is friendly, but naturally distrustful, especially in the strange new world(s) which confronts him. To maintain some degree of safety for himself and Agrabah, he has started going by a variety of false identities on his travels.

* Sin Bhed: While talking to Belle, Zeke, and Jack Skellington, a series of quick but unfortunate decisions lead Aladdin to claim he was an Al-Bhed named Sinbad, known as "Sin" to his friends. It is unlikely that anyone from Spira would be amused. Sin is, allegedly, an explorer from a world with sandworms as well as oceans, looking for a desert world.

Trivia

• When Aladdin was six years old, he stole the first and last pair of shoes he ever wore, save as part of a disguise.
• Aladdin's juggling tricks, such as contact juggling an apple across his back, were taught to him by his circus friends, when he told them he wouldn't use his thief skills for money. Abu still mocks him for them.
• Aladdin has currently been left for dead by villains once. Expect that number to go up.