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➢ info
JAYCE TALIS
inventor . scientist . lover . creator . partner
ALIAS:
Defender of Tomorrow
DOB/AGE:
24 Mar / 31
PRONOUNS:
He/him
GENDER:
Male
SEXUALITY:
Bisexual
CANON:
Arcane
CANONPOINT:
Mid- to post-season 2
APPEARANCE
Jayce is tall and broad shouldered, muscular but in the way a laborer is, not a body-builder. He has large hands that are covered in old scars, burns, and callouses. He has the tendency to wear clothes that almost look painted on and are right about the edge of almost too tight, and he's recently given up the Piltover white in favor of darker colors, though he still keeps the house Talis red.
He has a number of scars, the most prominent of which being a chainsaw gash across his spine; a gnarled, poorly healed gash on his left leg; notch in the bottom of his right eyebrow, a well-healed scar on his left cheek. The scars on his spine and left leg are infused (corrupted) by the Arcane and are surrounded by a webbing of different colors. Jayce also has the Acceleration rune embedded into his left wrist, surrounded by similar scarring.
He has a number of scars, the most prominent of which being a chainsaw gash across his spine; a gnarled, poorly healed gash on his left leg; notch in the bottom of his right eyebrow, a well-healed scar on his left cheek. The scars on his spine and left leg are infused (corrupted) by the Arcane and are surrounded by a webbing of different colors. Jayce also has the Acceleration rune embedded into his left wrist, surrounded by similar scarring.
PERSONALITY
+
enduring . intuitive . courageous . relentless . loyal . focused
=
creative . resourceful . idealistic . ambitious . charismatic
-
yielding . selfish . oversensitive . indecisive . trusting . emotional
SUMMARY
Warm and bright like the sun, Jayce is a gentle-hearted man and a dreamer, who is not afraid to be affectionate or tender. In touch with his emotions, he expresses himself openly and freely, laughing with his whole chest, reaching out to touch someone to comfort them, lighting up a room with his pure excitement. It's hard for him to hide what's going on behind his eyes, to his own detriment. Resourceful and creative, Jayce has an artist's eye and a labourer's wit, and sees the beauty in the world but also the reality of it. He isn't wasteful, and makes use of every little scrap of metal, every nut, bolt, piece of paper, and this also helps him when it comes to solving problems because he can approach them in new ways and from different angles and perspectives.
At his core, he wants to make the world a better place, to pour his heart out to do good and hope that he can create things that can save lives, that can make people happy, that can keep families together. This motivation fuels his ambition, always picking him up and pushing him forward, and his own past reminds him of what he's fighting for, too.
Loss and grief are intrinstic to who he is, though Jayce has never managed to learn how to cope with them. He is sensitive and he is selfish and he is scared to lose the people he cares about, going so far as to break every code to save his partner regardless of the consequences. Jayce knows, on a fundamental level, a logical level, a scientific level, that loss is inevitable, but when he's already lost so much, losing more just seems so cruel and he's scared. Truthfully, Jayce is also scared to left behind, the thought of facing the world alone so utterly terrifying that it is paralysing to him.
And yet, in spite of this, Jayce is enduring and he is loyal and he is brave. Love pushes him forward, hope pushes him forward, his promises push him forward, and he will always keep putting one foot in front of the other so long as he has a goal to run towards. Once Jayce has his sights set on something, someone, nothing will stop him and he will hold on forever, he will stand by them forever, and nothing will ever change that.
In his youth, that was his naivety and it was readily exploited by all the upperclass people around him who saw him as an investment to be used for their gain. Even now, Jayce remains far too trusting, willing to give people a chance even if they don't deserve it, willing to try evening if he's been hurt before.
To that end, he can be rather yielding, doing as he's told, especially if someone has power over him. Coupled with his indecisiveness, Jayce can become overwhelmed when he feels as if he is backed into a corner and can lash out or make snap choices in the heat of the moment that he latter regrets.
BACKGROUND
FAMILY
Ximena Talis. mother.
Having always been closer to his mother than his father, Jayce would do anything to protect her.
— Talis. father.
Always working when Jayce was little, most of what Jayce remembers of him was his large hands and how gruff but gentle he was.
Caitlyn Kiramman. sister.
Not technically related, Jayce met Cait when the Kirammans became his patrons. They bonded quickly and were inseparable.
Viktor. partner.
Perhaps the most important person in his life, Jayce considers him so many things: his best friend, his soul mate, his perfect match, even after all that's happened.
Having always been closer to his mother than his father, Jayce would do anything to protect her.
— Talis. father.
Always working when Jayce was little, most of what Jayce remembers of him was his large hands and how gruff but gentle he was.
Caitlyn Kiramman. sister.
Not technically related, Jayce met Cait when the Kirammans became his patrons. They bonded quickly and were inseparable.
Viktor. partner.
Perhaps the most important person in his life, Jayce considers him so many things: his best friend, his soul mate, his perfect match, even after all that's happened.
PRE-SERIES
Born in a carriage in the mountains, Jayce was brought into the Runeterra between the two worlds of his parents. Behind them was his mother's home, and before them was Piltover, the City of Progress, where his father and his father's father and his father's father carved out meagre livings as they choked on coal to serve the gilded houses that never once thought about them. But his parents were happy; their son was healthy and that was what mattered.
Life was simple for them. His father disappeared into the forges, and his mother minded this curious little child who got into things. She saved coins from market runs to buy him used books, and she told him bedtime stories of her home. They would wait for his father, and they would eat as a family.
Life was simple. Until it wasn't.
Jayce's father died in an accident in the forge. Accidents happened. They always did. Men always died and no one thought about them. But Jayce thought about them, because it was his father they buried. It was his mother who went into the mines for crystals, braving the frigid mountains outside of Piltover to scrape together enough of them to sell in the markets to buy enough to pay for rent and enough to eat.
One day, they stayed too long. There weren't enough crystals in the cave and a storm rolled in. By the time they tried to go home, they couldn't see and were lost. Without the mage, they would have died in the snow that day, and the crystal he gifted Jayce sparked his enduring love and obsession for magic that would reveal the course of the rest of his life.
Life was simple for them. His father disappeared into the forges, and his mother minded this curious little child who got into things. She saved coins from market runs to buy him used books, and she told him bedtime stories of her home. They would wait for his father, and they would eat as a family.
Life was simple. Until it wasn't.
Jayce's father died in an accident in the forge. Accidents happened. They always did. Men always died and no one thought about them. But Jayce thought about them, because it was his father they buried. It was his mother who went into the mines for crystals, braving the frigid mountains outside of Piltover to scrape together enough of them to sell in the markets to buy enough to pay for rent and enough to eat.
One day, they stayed too long. There weren't enough crystals in the cave and a storm rolled in. By the time they tried to go home, they couldn't see and were lost. Without the mage, they would have died in the snow that day, and the crystal he gifted Jayce sparked his enduring love and obsession for magic that would reveal the course of the rest of his life.
WIKI
ABILITIES
INVENTOR + SCIENTIST
At his core, Jayce is a scientist and an inventor. He is a man covered in chalk dust and pen ink, fueled by coffee and daydreams and hope. He loves to tinker, his hands are covered in callouses and scrapes and bruises, his clothes are stained with grease. He's at his happiest when he can sit and solve equations and sketch designs and create, and he does his best worth with others. Well, specifically just one other.
BLACKSMITH
Smithing is in his blood. There is something about the vibration of the hammer on the anvil, the shaping of the metal, the spark of creation with his own hands, the blood, the sweat, and the tears. It's soothing in a way, because it's easy to slip into the repetitive motions and lose himself, and Jayce is very skilled at the forge. He's able to make great things, and what's better is that that they last, even without the Hextech. That's all Talis artistry at work, years and years of family tradition and experience.
TRIVIA
🧳 Jayce is half Ixtali through his mother, Ximena. Magic in that land is woven into the very jungle that protects them and into the very blood of its people, and it has always been a part of Jayce, even before his mother told him the stories of her people in the living room of their cramped, windowless apartment in Piltover, waiting for the sun to rise and for his father to come home. When he was young, and when his father was still alive, they could afford to visit once a year, but after he died, the visits stopped and Jayce only visited Ixtal in his dreams.
✨ Magic is in his blood and Jayce actually has magical talent, he just doesn't realize it.
🎨 A doodler, Jayce's lab notebooks, novels, post-its, and any loose papers or scraps all end up covered in drawings. Intricate plants, flowers, trees, and insects fill the margins of his notes. Landscapes are sketched into empty spaces in books he's worn out from reading a million times. There's only one person he's ever drawn enough to actually get good at though, and that is Viktor. He's drawn him so much that he could do it with his eyes closed.
🗯️ Intuition. Gut feelings. Those little thoughts at three am that needle you until you wake up? You know those thoughts? Jayce gets those a lot, and he keeps a little notepads close by (in his jacket pocket, in the bathroom drawer, at his bedside table) just for those. Some of those ideas have actually been really great. That one about eggs, rice, and cinnamon though, really, really wasn't.
🫥 (Ivisible disability, autism) It started as a child when the thudding of the upstairs neighbours became too much and he would hide under his bed with his hands over his ears for hours. It grew worse after his father's death, when he stopped speaking for years, just clinging to his mother's side and silently helping her with her menial labour mining jobs so they could have food. It was in his single-minded pursuit of the Arcane after his rescue by the hooded mage. Though over time, Jayce learned how to manage his overstimulation, he still gets overstimulated and he still gets nonverbal, and he needs quiet spaces and familiar things to comfort him, especually if he's too stressed out to be able to soothe himself.
💕 Born affectionate and not reluctant to show it or ask for it, Jayce shows his feelings through touch and also craves it himself. Jayce loves being the little spoon despite that being the greatest disappointment to any partner, given his large size and the fact he radiates heat like a furnace.
🛠️ As Viktor's health began to deteriorate, Jayce worked with him to design a leg and back brace, as well as a crutch that would allow him some comfort. He worked tirelessly for days and days on each piece, wanting each to be perfect, before he presented them to Viktor.
🍫 Though Jayce, unfortunately, did not inherit his mother's talent for cooking, he has been shaped by it and he loves foods that are both spicy and sweet, favouring flavours like chocolate and cinnamon and chili.
✨ Magic is in his blood and Jayce actually has magical talent, he just doesn't realize it.
🎨 A doodler, Jayce's lab notebooks, novels, post-its, and any loose papers or scraps all end up covered in drawings. Intricate plants, flowers, trees, and insects fill the margins of his notes. Landscapes are sketched into empty spaces in books he's worn out from reading a million times. There's only one person he's ever drawn enough to actually get good at though, and that is Viktor. He's drawn him so much that he could do it with his eyes closed.
🗯️ Intuition. Gut feelings. Those little thoughts at three am that needle you until you wake up? You know those thoughts? Jayce gets those a lot, and he keeps a little notepads close by (in his jacket pocket, in the bathroom drawer, at his bedside table) just for those. Some of those ideas have actually been really great. That one about eggs, rice, and cinnamon though, really, really wasn't.
🫥 (Ivisible disability, autism) It started as a child when the thudding of the upstairs neighbours became too much and he would hide under his bed with his hands over his ears for hours. It grew worse after his father's death, when he stopped speaking for years, just clinging to his mother's side and silently helping her with her menial labour mining jobs so they could have food. It was in his single-minded pursuit of the Arcane after his rescue by the hooded mage. Though over time, Jayce learned how to manage his overstimulation, he still gets overstimulated and he still gets nonverbal, and he needs quiet spaces and familiar things to comfort him, especually if he's too stressed out to be able to soothe himself.
💕 Born affectionate and not reluctant to show it or ask for it, Jayce shows his feelings through touch and also craves it himself. Jayce loves being the little spoon despite that being the greatest disappointment to any partner, given his large size and the fact he radiates heat like a furnace.
🛠️ As Viktor's health began to deteriorate, Jayce worked with him to design a leg and back brace, as well as a crutch that would allow him some comfort. He worked tirelessly for days and days on each piece, wanting each to be perfect, before he presented them to Viktor.
🍫 Though Jayce, unfortunately, did not inherit his mother's talent for cooking, he has been shaped by it and he loves foods that are both spicy and sweet, favouring flavours like chocolate and cinnamon and chili.
OOC: ell . they/them . ET . brutallyamish (discord)
no subject
theorem application
OOC
Name: ell
Age: 34
Contact:
Invite Link: here!
IC
Character Name: Jayce Talis
Canon: Arcane
Canon Point: Season 1, episode 9, "The Monster You Created"
Character Age: 31
History: wiki
Division:
Science and Engineering
Edict:
The Last Pilgrim
Powers:
blacksmith
inventor + scientist
As the Ascendants deemed your character worthy of being on this exploration voyage, what qualities did they observe in your character that they found appropriate for the mission?
Underneath his eagerness and his curiosity, Jayce is also seeking something like redemption, or maybe just a second chance to do the right thing. Losing some of the Hex gems and finding himself thrust into a position as a councilor, Jayce knows that he's lost sight of the things that matter, knows that he's let his strong opinions get swayed slightly, and he's breaking instead of yielding. Jayce wants more than anything to be a force of good, to offer strength and insight, to use his knowledge to make people's lives easier or safer, and not turn his work into weapons to hurt people. Here, he'd throw himself wholeheartedly into exploration and discovery, and then also using that to help instead of harm.
What is your character's best quality, what is their worst, and how do these two qualities affect each other?
Through adversity, Jayce developed a gentleness and a patience for the world around him, compassion for those less fortunate, and his natural warmth and desire to be affectionate lent him quite easily to being charming and charismatic when he needed to be. Jayce's intrinsic tenderness was manipulated and weaponized by those around him and then by himself as a way to navigate the world. Beneath that lies still this kind-hearted dreamer who wants to be genuinely friendly and warm, to be the sort of guiding hand he wished he'd had when he was younger. Flip that over, and Jayce is selfish and lonely, willing to do anything, including holding on too tightly and bending and breaking himself, to keep the people and things that he loves in his life. Jayce works so hard to help people partially because he wants to have some kind of effect on the world, and to fill the emptiness he has inside of himself.
Once, Jayce had been fueled by his own motivation to learn, his desire to solve problems, and somewhere along the line, that desire to do good was corrupted by the golden city he'd fought so hard to feel worthy of, and it turned into something else. Jayce turned into someone else. He sacrificed his own ideals, cut pieces of himself off to fit the mold that he thought he needed to fit into, and looking at the scarred remnants of what remains, Jayce barely recognizes himself. In the pursuit of great, as his partner said once, they forgot to do good, and Jayce can't help but think about that, how his own ego and need for praise clouded his vision and allowed him to lose sight of the things that were the most important to him. Jayce never thought that reaching high would mean letting go of the things he had before, and now he desperately is grasping for the people and comforts he took for granted.
Your character's Edict appears in front of them, and agrees to grant them one wish: what does your character wish for?
It's maybe a completely unconventional wish, not the usual extreme wealth or immortality or the ever popular more wishes, because Jayce, standing here in front of the Edict with all of his past tread and all of his future waiting, just wants to know if the choices he's made in his life were enough, if he made a difference, that he mattered. Recently, he'd felt like he started to lose his way, straying off the path he wanted to be on, and what he wants more than anything, is to know that it's still possible for him to find his way back, to hold onto his wonder and curiosity and that he didn't hurt more people than he helped with the choices he made.
Jayce knows, too, that it's an impossible wish to grant, but he would ask it anyway and he'd be content with any answer he'd get in response to it, holding it close as he embarks on the next step of his long, unending journey of discovery and learning, of progress and hope, wherever it leads him.
The Theorem has broken down, and is drifting toward a black hole. There is very little hope of outside rescue. What does your character do?
All his life, Jayce had been surrounded and touched by death. A few times, it nearly claimed him. More than a handful of times, he had begged for it. Death and Jayce have been old friends, always dancing around each other, and while he is oftentimes terrified of it, he only fights it, truly fights it, when death comes for the ones he loves.
If fixing the Theorem is impossible, and sinking into the black hole is unavoidable, Jayce would only fight harder, right to the very end. He'll die running from one end to the other, trying to save any and everyone he can and he'd never regret it, not even for a second.
Writing Samples: TDM toplevel