von Vermont, Dietrich

FULL NAME:
→ Lord Dietrich Von Vermont, Duke of Philadelphia, Baron of Sylvania, Prime Minister, and Rightful King of Creta

AGE:
→ 37

SEX:
→ Male

BIRTH PLACE:
→ London, Creta

RACE:
→ Cretan

DATE OF BIRTH:
→ October 9, 1976




HEIGHT:
→ 182.9 centimeters.

WEIGHT:
→ 68 kilograms.

PICTURE:
→

Spoiler:

DESCRIPTION:
→ Dietrich immediately comes off as a man out of the ordinary. Standing at six feet tall, his posture is perfect, elegant, and refined. His long fingers end in imaculate nails, and ever-immaculate clothing. His blond hair is well-kept, and his red eyes – an ancient trait leading back to the near-mythical King Arthur – are sharp and examine nearly every detail around him. His suits are tailored for him, and his shoes made from the finest leathers. Not only does he look like he's royalty, he's got the money to dress like royalty as well.

His actions are always precise. Everything he does is calculated for specific effects. His steps are even, his stride always exact. Except when on the battlefield, he is always seen with his walking stick. His face is expressive and warm, though those close to him tend to find it rather cold. What emotions he shows are usually just as calculated as what actions he takes, and while they're often fake, he's been playing this game since he was young and they're evolved into something very natural. It's not that he's a sociopath – that's a matter for professionals to decide – but rather that he was born into a high-stakes race from childhood. To be king was his dream, and when direct actions are frowned upon, he learned the game of the throne instead: political intrigue, manipulation and blackmail. To give mis- and dis-information at the right times, and when to tell the truth. These things, these skills, allowed him to rise to the top of the royal family, and also provide an edge when handling international deals.

Rarely will someone find Dietrich not wearing a suit. If he isn't, he's either dressed up for a situation that requires attire more formal than that or he's expecting to show up on the battlefield. Most people assume that he simply likes to dress nicely, which is true. Others say that he really like suits, which is just as true. What only the crazy people suggest, however, is that he's hiding something. And, ironically, it's the crazies that are correct.

Dietrich's skin, for most of his life, was without any blemishes. He did not do hard or manual labor, and until he was shot in Drachma, he had no scars. What he did have, though, were tattoos, all along his body that he received when he was in college. Amestrian alchemy with Earth elemental symbols, Cretan Magic for metal, Xingese Alkahestry for body augmentation, even Esparian Witchcraft for a purpose he doesn't repeat. All branches of alchemy are etched into his skin somewhere along his body, and, due to the stigma associated with it in Creta, he consequently keeps them covered.

The original description, if anyone's interested, can be found here:

Spoiler:

PERSONALITY:
→ This one's an interesting one, they say. From birth, and all throughout his childhood, he was cruel. He had a hatred for all those who weren't of Royal or Pure blood, a hatred that has stood to this day. He has a habit of persecuting those who do not meet his requirements, and yet... his hatred for his cousin, who is the most Royal person in the family, is unchanged. It's strange, really – his mind is purely focussed on destroying those who aren't “pure”, yet his cousin, a Royal by blood, is his true enemy.

In his mind, he has always been the greatest. His ambition, the greatest. His skill, the greatest. His ego, his greatest weakness. As someone who hasn't learned the idea of humility, he is weakened by it, and easily succumbs to the idea of the villainous monologue, going over the possibilities and the what-ifs, in an attempt to highlight the futile nature of opposing his wishes. Now, if you were to take away every thought of him being the greatest, you'd be left with an empty shell of a man, who looks for gratification in the smallest victories, right? Wrong. In fact, he is just as strong without the gratification – his ego is only useable as a distraction, not a defeat option. He's not that gullible.

That makes another facet of Dietrich's personality. Whatever he tells you, is what he wants you to know. If he doesn't want you to know something, he will refuse to tell you – and quite possibly remove ties with you in the process. His mind thinks only of the future, and if he thinks that someone doesn't deserve to know, or will not understand, he will not tell them – he thinks through his thoughts and his words quite often.

Onto Dietrich's personal fascination with the human mind, and it's limits. He takes a particular interest in the placement of fear and doubt within the realms of someone's mind – as a matter of fact, his greatest techniques for gaining the following that he has were mass fear transmissions, about the “evil of Amestris.” This facet is famously shown in a collection of world leaders in Carraig in the aftermath of the Dietrich War, and the eventual signing of the Carraig Accords, a list of punishments that most nations signed to uphold should Amestris go too far in its actions.

Not only that, but he shows a disturbing lack of discomfort when it comes to torture. While he seems to gain no particular pleasure from it, he would, if pressed, admit to it as a small hobby of his, and he's taken the time out of his own schedule to personally administer his own brand of torture on high priority prisoners in the past. He would also, however, point out that the end sometimes, but not always, justifies the means, and while torture is horrid, it does tend to get the job done.

Dietrich often comes off as a cold individual, provided he's not in a public situation. Other people are tools for him to use to his own advantage, much like how he molded the Royal Guard from a purely ceremonial force into a highly trained and well-equipped paramilitary force. While he is not above backstabbing and crossing individuals, he avoids doing so unless the situation absolutely calls for it. Surprisingly, he takes great pride in keeping his word, acknowledging that the moment he becomes untrustworthy is the moment when he'll have no allies to speak of. This does not mean he's a being of mercy, however. Cross him and he will rain a swift vengeance down upon you, possibly rivaling the anger embodied by the personification of Wrath itself.

However, Dietrich does have some mercy in him. If he finds that an opponent is not worth killing – because their mind is turmoiled, or they cannot bring their full potential out to fight him, he will call the fight off until a later date. Well, it's called “mercy”, but it actuality it is simply Dietrich performing for himself, wanting to relish the fullness of their defeat, rather than torturing and killing someone who can't completely fight back. So really, it's not mercy, but self-gratification.

In terms of charm and charisma, Dietrich has a lot. He looks good, and he knows it – he'll use it to his advantage. If he doesn't want to use fear, or he finds that a potential tool will be too strong in their will and their heart to succumb to his own will, he will charm them instead. The smoothness of his voice can sweeten most hearts, and it's entirely possible for him to take an entire room of people onto his side, simply with a few well-placed and charming statements. It's not as fun, though. Not in his opinion, anyway.

He is also... rather ambitious. Sadly, to a point where he is no longer simply looking for power, but simply wanting it all. His true goal is followed by his ambition, and will be explored later. But, to put it simply, he wants to be the “King of Everything” - and the way that he has conducted himself around those of interest shows.

He has a completely Royal air to him; he frequently talks down to the “Peasants”, aka anybody not of Royal status. His willingness to execute those who deny his commands with his bare hands is another facet to this Royal illusion in his mind – yes, it's an illusion. He rules Creta, not through monarchy nor democracy, but fear. Fear that he will snap and destroy Creta along with whatever remains of his mind. Fear that his willingness to become “King of Everything” will drive him insane, and give the people more to worry about.

He makes a better chess player than a pawn – his mind allows him to work through plans that would take multitudes of people, and at least three brilliant minds. Everything is like a game of chess; the pieces make their moves, and he sacrifices those who are weak to help those who are strong. But he knows that only one piece matters, the King. Then there's the Black Queen... Aren.

Aren. Euphemia Til Alexandros. His cousin. The fascination that he has with his cousin bounds on obsessive, and he frequently lays awake, considering different ways that he can kill her, or exactly what he's going to say when he stands over her dead body. She's the only thing standing between him and completely ruling Creta, and he knows it all too well – his slight psychosis means that he hallucinates about her often. He claims that by ridding the world of her, he'll rid his mind of her as well. Not only that, but his hate is unfounded – no matter what she says, he thinks that she's going to try and usurp him; no matter how many times she's told him that she doesn't want the throne... he refuses to listen.

Next, his goal. As stated above, he wants to be “King of Everything”. It's a simple goal, really – but with complex intentions beneath. He doesn't really want to rule everything – he's not a fan of the work involved. He wants the satisfaction that being “King of Everything” would bring. Don't get him wrong, ruling everything would be useful as well – it means that his power would allow him to destroy anything, even those unexplored countries outside the Five.

He has no intentions of destruction within the Five Countries, claiming that he doesn't need to destroy those that he wishes to rule – and refrains from performing acts of pure destruction, unless it is aimed at an army.

LOVE:
→ Plotting/Planning
→ Being charming
→ Torturing
→ Monologues
→ Chess
→ White Tie events
→ The rare times that things actually go to plan

HATE:
→ Pity
→ Poorly chosen moments of mercy
→ Homunculi
→ Setbacks
→ Aren
→ A severe overuse of chess-related analogies

DEEPEST SECRET:
→ His greatest fear is that Aren will come into his life and take the power away from him.

IDOL:
→ Alexander the Great



HISTORY:
→ From birth, Dietrich was a troubled child. He frequently fought with his siblings, and made sure to revel in their defeat at his hands. Even when it was a small and insignificant competition, it was always his “right” to win, as the second from the throne of Creta. He had a constant rivalry with his cousin, James – who took it in his stride; while Dietrich was actually serious and wanting to do anything to defeat this boy.

At the age of eight, his first accident occurred – and Dietrich pushed James off a bank. It wasn't a particularly high bank, nor was there too much danger at the base – James was unhurt. It was what Dietrich said afterwards that scared the family.

“I wanted to get rid of my competition.”

Nobody knew what to do with him. They just knew that he couldn't be allowed the throne, and that they were sure that James would take his place atop Creta's highest honor, King. It was found that James and Dietrich shared equal rights to the throne – they were actually discovered to have the same amount of Royal Blood. However, due to his actions, Dietrich was stripped of his right, and reduced to second in line, in the hopes that he might learn to be a Prince, and then take the place of a Cretarian Duke.

Of course – he didn't like this. Dietrich wanted the power of King, not the power of a Duke. Even though this thirteen year old knew what was going on – and that he'd be nothing if he wasn't the King. James wasn't just a rival, or simple competition. He was the opponent in all of this. He was the one that he had to eliminate.

Not only that, but a third heir was born. Euphemia Til Alexandros, the daughter of the Queen, but born to a commoner. He didn't like her. She wasn't Royal enough for him, and so his superiority complex took over – and his hate for Euphemia grew and festered.

His first act of sabotage happened when he was eighteen. He knew that the life of being a Royal was beginning to stress out James – the boy had confided somewhat in him. Not only did he think this a prime chance to take control of James' mind, he also knew that he could discredit this man in the eyes of their parents.

He slipped him a bottle of alcohol, and told him that it would 'make his life better in the end'. James believed him pretty readily, and started to hit the drink pretty hard. When he went into Euphemia's room to talk it out with her, Dietrich's mind found even more advantages to this. If they were caught together with alcohol, she'd be sent away too, right?

Wrong. Only James was exiled. But that didn't matter. Because when Euphemia got narcolepsy, she also left the palace. That worked in his favour – sadly, she wasn't removed from the lineage... but he could fix that later.

Over the years, he bided his time, manipulating the people in the palace to his whims, making sure that everything was set up, ready for his takeover. It still took a while, though, and then 2008 came by. Dietrich saw his chance, and approached the King of Creta, gun in hand, supporters behind him. They'd subdued the guards, and Deitrich was the one to raise the pistol to kill the King. He shot him three times – one in the head, one in the heart, one in the stomach – trying for a symbolic kill.

As the Queen tried to escape, Dietrich raised the pistol and emptied the magazine into her back with a snarl. His bloody coup of the throne over, he claimed the spot as his own, and began to run Creta's royalty. Sadly, that wasn't enough. He couldn't do anything in his position, even as King. The next one on his list was the Prime Minister of Creta.

He found himself in a bad position. He couldn't assassinate him, but couldn't do anything with him. So he manipulated the current leader of their army into taking a bad mission – one that he himself had suggested to the Prime Minister. He told Markus to kill the inhabitants of West City. That done, Markus performed his own coup, and took the power of Creta's Prime Minister, much to Dietrich's dismay.

So he had another obstacle to take down. But that one was easier. All he needed to do was suggest that Spade Aeries may or may not be conspiring to kill Markus, and that he needed to take care of him before he killed him first. Markus fought Spade, and died. This was all that Dietrich needed.

With the claim that it was an “Amestrian conspiracy to destroy Creta”, he took control of the country's highest position, and changed it's Government into a wartime Government once more. His next goal was to take care of all obstacles in his way – and to become the “king of everything”. Eupehemia was one of the biggest obstacles that he faced, and since he manipulated the combined Alchemic strength of Daigoro Ito and Harumi Tsukino, he felt that he was truly unstoppable.

The end result of what has come to be known as the Dietrich War can be summed up simply: Creta and Amestris clashed until RIOTE revealed itself once again to the world. Assessing the threat of RIOTE, and the subsequent sabotage at the hands of Dai, he agreed to a hasty Cease Fire with Reila Tsukino, and quickly took to reaffirming his position in the international scene. When RIOTE overthrew the Drachman czar, he offered Amestris his support via a compliment of Royal Guards while the houses of Parliament squabbled over whether to go to war or not.

Learning of an offensive RIOTE was going to be launching, Dietrich attempted to settle things simply with the installed Head of State in Drachma. Evacuating border towns and holding back the military, he grew angry at RIOTE's sheer nerve to invade his land and destroy his property, but attempted to hope that Alena was greedy enough to want to double-cross the wretched Aurel. After much talking and chess analogies, Dietrich saw words would not be enough, so he went with Plan B: he shot Alena thrice and walked away. Considering he was surrounded by bodyguards, it wasn't a bad plan on his part. Aurel's hidden presence was not an issue, nor a detriment to the plan, but rather learning of Alena's seeming immortality was one thing he could not have predicted.

Dietrich was poisoned, captured, and taken to Amestris with RIOTE, and has been in a coma since his rescue. He is unaware that he has been dethroned – by a woman with no claim to the throne, no less. In addition, his claim to the Prime Minister spot is being eyed, due to his medical condition.



TRIVIA:
→ Fluent in Cretan, Amestrian, Drachman, Xingese, Esparian, Creig, Rouenian (Gelemortian Dialect), and Aerugese, with perfect accents in each.
→ The original description of Dietrich is still applicable, aside from the scar on his chest and the tattoos etched along his body. While I wanted to go for a more direct approach, I decided to keep the original via a spoiler in case anyone's every interested.
→ Dietrich is ambidextrous, and often switches the use of his hands for his own amusement.
→ He always has at least three weapons on him: a sword (most commonly a sword cane) and two loaded pistols.
→ In Creta, “Lord” denotes that he's an established member of the nobility, with his family going back several generations as such. Before he was Prince, he was left to be Duke of Philadelphia, and his family (denoted by the “von”) already ruled over Sylvania, a commonwealth in the Southwest of Creta. While Dietrich rarely breaks out his entire list of titles, he doesn't do it just for dramatic effect or (surprisingly) to inflate his ego.




ALIAS:
→ Izzy

OTHER CHARACTERS:
→ Isabella Galicia, Viktor Stalin

CREATOR'S COMMENTS:
→ Credit to Dai for the original personality and history. And the name (but not the obnoxious amount of titles I tacked on). And the face claim.
→ The redone personality is a hodgepodge of Dai's original writing and my own, but is still mostly Dai's. I've decided to make some personal edits because, ever since I started posting as Dietrich, I simply didn't follow his written personality to a “T,” and that's largely because I decided he should be genre savvy. I still have the wonderfully written Personality saved to my computer, should anyone be interested in reading it.
→ If it's this color, it means it's been edited in as of 1-30-2013.

FACE CLAIM:

Code:

[b]Fate/Stay Night[/b]/[i]Gilgamesh[/i]

CUSTOM RANK:
→ It’s Good to be the King

APPROVED

He doesn't look 34 XDD;
Prepare yourself. You're going to have A LOT of competition with Briggs, with Aurel, with Toss, and I'm sure a bunch of others. This will be exciting, but watch your back. <3

I see no problems with this