beyond birthday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
recinerate) wrote2015-05-31 01:29 pm
recinerate) wrote2015-05-31 01:29 pm
Entry tags:
ooc | application and character notes
User Name/Nick: Rae
User DW:eicastic
AIM/IM: last laugh blues on aim; ventose on plurk
E-mail: vespiaries at gmail dot com
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Beyond Birthday [canon aliases: B, Backup, Rue Ryuzaki]
Series: Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases
Age: Never specified in canon; he’s only described as a “young man,” which does imply over 18. I estimate his age as presented in-book at around 20 years - a little younger than L - and around 22 at death. UPDATE: Age 23 as of graduation and leaving the Barge; 24 as of his return. UPDATE AGAIN: Age 25 as of April 2016.
From When?: Post-death (January 21, 2004)
Inmate/Warden: Beyond Birthday did some pretty reprehensible things toward the end of his life - committing a series of three murders with the primary motivation being a grab for attention from L sits at the top of this list. He would fit best as an inmate here, which is especially relevant since the last year and half of his life before he was killed by the Death Note was actually spent in prison.
The thing about Beyond that would most need to be improved upon for redemption is his way of thinking, which is deeply flawed. For example, he thinks nothing of using human lives as pieces in a cleverly designed puzzle, a means to an end, and even though he did not act in an unnecessarily cruel way (choosing victims who were slated to die on the day he killed them and drugging them before committing the actual murder, presumably so they were not aware and would not suffer), I do not believe he would feel any sort of remorse for his actions. In his mind, everything Beyond did was justified in service to the bigger picture of creating an unsolvable puzzle for L and thus proving he was better than L. He’s stubborn, and would need to basically unlearn all of the bad habits that were likely drilled into him as part of his training at Wammy’s House (such as treating people as expendable resources - this is L’s method). He is not inclined to make these changes on his own, and even death would not immediately give him reason to rethink his priorities, but in the setting of the Barge with no means of escape, under influence from wardens, given enough time and pressure, I believe such attitude adjustments are possible to achieve.
Abilities/Powers: B is a skilled mimic and actor, capable of maintaining a convincing long-term public persona as an “unprivate detective” named Rue Ryuzaki with ease. Under the guise of Ryuzaki, B acts much less intelligent than he actually is, “playing the fool,” in effect, in order to gather information, subtly manipulate other people, and set his plans into motion.
Even outside of this act, B lies, frequently and with precise calculation, and will not hesitate to give misinformation if it suits his purpose - and it generally does.
B is not particularly strong or trained in hand-to-hand combat, but he is stronger than his twig-like frame would suggest, and he’s incredibly quick on his feet. B does not generally instigate physical attacks, but when he does, it’s always a calculated maneuver, and he favors stealth and small, simple weapons, such as the club used to test Naomi Misora.
As far as his personality is concerned, B’s greatest strength is his determination. He will do anything possible to achieve his goals - when his goal is to surpass L, B even turns to murder and becomes a criminal, in order to simply win and become better than L. Once he has a goal in mind, B does not give up. He is very smart, though notably misguided.
B’s only real otherworldly power would be his shinigami eyes. Unlike regular humans, who have the option of trading a shinigami this skill for half of their remaining lifespan, B was born with this ability at no additional upfront cost, and without the element of choice. With the shinigami eyes, B is able to see any live human’s true name and life span. Following Death Note in-universe rules about how the shinigami eyes work, this will only occur if B is able to see more than half of the face, usually the top half. Conversely, if more than half of the person’s face is covered, such as with a mask or large sunglasses, B will not be able to see that person’s name and life span.
Weaknesses: While he is stronger than he looks, B is still not particularly strong - no more so than the average person who spends most of the time indoors and does not train physically. He would be easily overpowered by a show of brute force, or an aggressive attack by someone trained in hand-to-hand combat or martial arts.
B’s greatest personality weakness is shortsightedness with respect to his obsessiveness; his eventual downfall is caused by the fact that he became so fixated on one thing - beating L - that he failed to consider anything else. For example, B underestimated Naomi Misora’s deductive abilities, and she was able to solve the mystery of his identity as the killer behind the series of murders and apprehend B before he was able to set the final stage of his murder plan into motion. B’s skewed world view is also something of weakness - though he is not prone to outbursts or displays of action not thoroughly calculated, B is still somewhat emotionally unstable, especially considering that the end result of the series of murders was intended to be a rather gruesome suicide.
Although not explicitly stated in canon, it’s most likely that B’s biggest fear is that of failure, on a general, all-encompassing scale. He’s dedicated a large portion of his life to training as a potential successor to L, and there seems to be a lot of personal investment in this one thing - that is, his sense of self-worth appears to be wrapped up in the idea of being good enough to be the next L, better than the other contenders. Failure in this respect amounts to a wholesale lack of purpose for B’s very existence, and it can thus be argued that this is another large factor in why B intended for his endgame to be his suicide.
Personality: The first proviso in describing the character of Beyond Birthday is that despite being a central figure in the story, the text is hazy on many of the details one would hope to find, such as thoughts, feelings, and motivations for his actions. (Personally, I blame Mello for being an unreliable narrator.) B is shown to act in certain ways, but as the story is not told from his point of view, we do not necessarily know why he makes the choices he does throughout the story. With such great gaps in the foundation, I as a player am left to fill in the holes with conclusions I have drawn that make the most sense, and I will do my best here to differentiate what is known and what can be deduced from what is known.
The second qualification in outlining the personality of Beyond Birthday is that there are two accounts of B in the text of Another Note - that of “Rue Ryuzaki,” the false detective, and that of B, the murderer. The Ryuzaki persona is a genuine weirdo capable of unsettling even a steady FBI agent like Naomi Misora; she describes him to L as “creepy and pathetic [...] such a complete freak that it amazes me he hasn’t killed himself.” B, the killer, is shown to be shrewd, calculating, and grimly determined; Mello describes him as “careful, and finicky.” The one thing, however, that ties both accounts together is the fact that Beyond Birthday is shown to be fundamentally strange.
The most important thing to know about B is the fact that he has possessed the eyes of a shinigami since birth. The eyes of a shinigami, or death god, allow anyone who possesses them to view any live human’s name and natural life span. Normally, in the Death Note universe, one must contract with a shinigami for this ability, but B received it without asking - it’s likely he himself never fully understood how or why he ended up with this gift, or even what its intended use is. But the ability to view life spans is the ability to view death, and thus B was surrounded with reminders of death from the day he was born. It is reasonable to assume, then, that his underlying eccentric manner stems from both this otherworldly ability and the fact he was orphaned at an early age. Surround a child with death at every turn, and it’s no surprise if he turns out quite twisted.
The second most important factor to consider about B is that he is a bona fide genius - “brilliant and deviant,” to use Mello’s words. Only the best and brightest were chosen for the program at Wammy’s House, and B was one of the original class trained to potentially succeed as L. We are not told exactly what sort of training B received in the program, but it is reasonable to conclude that it included extensive training in forensics and the investigative arts. He is adept at problem-solving, creative thinking, and logical reasoning, as evident in his prowess for both creating and solving puzzles, such as crossword puzzles and the carefully designed mysteries of his three murders. B is an expert speed-reader, speaks both English and Japanese fluently, and demonstrates high proficiency in mathematics. Although it is not stated in the text of Another Note, it is likely B is also proficient in a number of additional languages and skilled in various types of computer work, including some programming and hacking.
The third crucial aspect to B’s personality is that he is, in a single word, obsessive. He is driven, and will go to extremes - such as murder - to achieve his goals, yet I do not believe he is a sociopath or a psychopath, as he does not demonstrate key traits like a lack of empathy or consideration for others. His obsession is simply to surpass L, by any means necessary - he will commit murder to do so, but he chooses victims with a painstaking amount of planning. B uses his shinigami eyes to choose victims who are destined to die the same day he plans to commit the murders, and he drugs them before committing the actual, gruesome murders, presumably so they will not suffer. B may be emotionally misdeveloped in some aspects, but not does not appear to be entirely unfeeling or lacking a moral code. His general line of thinking seems to be “do as L, only bigger, better, more extreme.”
B is driven, rational, calculating - once he has a goal in mind, B does not give up. His determination is perhaps his greatest character strength, and likely a result of his training. L is known to meet his goal by whatever means necessary, even if they are sometimes questionable, so it’s reasonable to assume that a program based on his methods would teach the same.
We are told nothing about how B interacted with his peers at Wammy’s prior to leaving the house and commencing his private war with L, but I believe he did not, for the most part, maintain close relationships. Since he had been surrounded with reminders of death his entire life, and since he lost both of his parents at an early age, it’s reasonable to consider that B taught himself early on in life not to allow himself to form attachments with many other people, simply as a strategy for survival. However, I believe he craves affection, attention, and meaningful relationships, precisely because he has not had them. This sense of disconnect from other people and sense of loss in general can also largely explain why B’s personality is so obsessive in nature - he clings to things he holds dear because he knows he will, eventually, lose them.
Such an fanatical disposition would also naturally extend to L. I believe that, for a person without any significant close relationships, it would make sense to fixate on L as an idol of sorts, an absentee role model, on a deeply personal level. L would have been revered as a paragon to strive for in every way.
The most notable information absent in the story pertains to why B left the House and chose to start a war with L. “I have no way of knowing the inner workings of his mind,” Mello says, but he notes of the first generation at Wammy’s House: “They were prototypes, never even given the L code, expected to fail.” It’s reasonable to assume that B did not know he was an experiment; that fact would have been kept confidential in order to avoid contaminating the research. The most logical scenario I have been able to devise for B’s motivations is this: he somehow discovered that he was only an experiment and felt so personally betrayed by this man he had held in the highest regard, he retaliated with extreme measures. In order to beat L, the world’s greatest detective, into complete submission, B turned to the one thing he knew would attract L’s attention - crime, an inversion of everything L stood for.
Barge Reactions: Beyond is very intelligent, so I don’t see the setting as posing any sort of problem for him - he likely is familiar with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, at least in theory, so while the Death Note universe is pretty mundane (the only supernatural thing shown to exist are shinigami, and even he was not aware of their existence in the book canon), it wouldn’t break his brain to learn that there are, in fact, other worlds filled with all sorts of people and creatures.
The one thing that would be a shock for Beyond is not seeing the names and lifespans of the people he encounters. He has had this ability since birth, and never received any explanation of what it was; we as the audience only know because we have the benefit of Mello’s later knowledge of shinigami as related in the text of Another Note. The ability to see death is a huge part of why Beyond’s personality is so warped, so having that sudden absence would be deeply unsettling for him, as it is a large part of his sense of self.
Path to Redemption: I believe that what Beyond needs most for redemption is unconditional love and compassion and acceptance. He was orphaned at a very young age and likely developed deep attachment issues as a result, on top of the fact that he literally sees death everywhere, so he isn’t the most connected to other people. Genius intellect also makes it harder to relate to others, and Beyond has this in spades. And, Beyond’s life has been full of secrets, so he won’t exactly be forthcoming with details about who he is and what he did to end up in this situation. I think the best way for a warden to get through to him is to break down his walls with persistent attention and develop a meaningful relationship with him, which will not be easy. It will require a lot of patience and understanding. (Physical violence is also an option, but it wouldn’t be as effective.) Specific triggers would include his childhood, the death of his parents, and his feelings about L and his role in L’s world. As he has experienced his own death, he knows he’s a failure, which stings, but he’s resentful about it, and not inclined to admit to the bigger mistake of undertaking a criminal path in the first place. He would definitely need to be called out and held accountable for the terrible things he’s done; he was imprisoned after being caught, but never really forced to accept that what he did was wrong. He simply lost the war he instigated with L. Beyond does not believe what he did inappropriate, so it would take quite a bit of work for him to unlearn his previous teachings and learn how to be a decent person instead.
History: There are articles at both Wikipedia and the Death Note Wiki, but neither is terribly complete or accurate; my own canon history write-up follows:
There are not many specific facts known about Beyond Birthday from the text of Another Note before the events of the story in question. What is known, however, is that both of his parents were killed when he was quite young - his father was murdered by a thug, his mother died in a train crash - and he was eventually brought to the Wammy’s House orphanage in Winchester, England, to participate in a rigorous detective training program as B - Backup for the genius detective L.
B was the second candidate enrolled in the program, a child with a brilliant mind and an eccentric demeanor; the first candidate, A, was unable to cope with the various pressures of the intense training program and committed suicide. B excelled in the program for many years, yet ultimately was not chosen as L’s successor, for reasons not specified. It is speculated by Mello in his narration, however, that the first generation of trainees was perhaps meant to act as prototypes for the program, never intended to actually succeed as a successor to L. B disappeared from the House around May of 2002 - again, for reasons not specified - shortly before orchestrating what would come to be known as the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases in July and August of that same year.
The series of elaborate, grisly killings involved three victims, each seemingly unrelated to the next, save for the fact that each was found in a room locked from the inside, a decreasing number of Wara Ningyo dolls was nailed to the walls of the rooms where the victims were found, and each victim’s first and last name began with the same letter. Believe Bridesmaid, a 44-year-old freelance writer, was drugged and asphyxiated to death with a rope, with post-mortem cuts made on his chest, a code designed to indicate the second victim. Quarter Queen, a 13-year-old girl, was drugged and killed via blunt force trauma to her head; her eyes were crushed in post-mortem. Backyard Bottomslash, a 28-year-old bank worker, died from severe blood loss when her left arm and right leg were hacked off; the arm was never recovered.
The serial murders attracted L’s attention, just as B intended, and L enlisted the assistance of a suspended FBI agent named Naomi Misora in investigating the murders. B approached Naomi at the scene of the first murder, introducing himself as an “unprivate detective” named Rue Ryuzaki who had been hired by the murder victims’ families to investigate the murder, independent of the police. Under the guise of cooperative investigation, B skillfully led Naomi through the obscure clues he’d left behind at the scene of each murder, pointing to the location of the fourth and final murder. B’s intent at the final scene was to commit suicide by setting himself on fire after setting it up to look like another murder, and thus leave L with a puzzle he could never solve. This, in B’s mind, would prove that he was better than L. Naomi, however, was able to piece together the final clues and determine Ryuzaki’s identity as the killer, B (a fact that had been divulged to her by L), and place him under arrest before he was able to succeed in his suicide plot, though not before B was able to badly burn himself.
B spent the next year and a half recovering from his extensive burn injuries while serving a life sentence in prison for his crimes and died of a mysterious heart attack on January 21, 2004, one of the many, many victims of Kira and the Death Note.
Sample Journal Entry: Test-driven here, if that’s acceptable?
Sample RP: Beyond was dead, and he knew it.
He remembered his death quite clearly: a sharp, powerful pain in his chest, felt even through the constant medicated numbness of his seared skin; a desperate gasp for breath; flashes of lights and memories (fire, blood, Naomi Misora, the frenetic chatter from the hospital where he was taken after he was caught mid-suicide, the bars of his cell, the House, his mother) - then nothing. Blackness.
Then he remembered waking up, once again alive, his marred skin restored, the absence of pain a curious void in his body. Beyond was ready to die when he set himself alight, before meddlesome Misora put out the fire, put him under arrest, before he lost his challenge to L, but he felt certain there would be nothing waiting for him after. He never really believed in God or an afterlife in the traditional sense, and he stopped worshipping at the altar of L more than a year ago, but he couldn’t deny what his finely tuned senses told him - he was dead, and now he wasn’t. And he was on a ship - not flung into a burning pit of torment, not reposed in a refuge of peace, just a ship, populated with other people. Beyond supposed it must be some sort of limbo, then, and he wondered why he was here, and under whose authority.
He needed to investigate. Perhaps he was no longer L’s protegé (not that he ever truly was, he reminded himself, bitterly), but the instinct to inspect and analyze was a hard thing to kill. Beyond left his room to slowly wander the halls of the hulking vessel, committing a spatial map to his memory as he made his way around the walls and stairs. He kept his head bowed, gaze trained down at his feet yet still observing from the periphery of his field of vision. Always observe. It was an innate command, for Beyond, to take in as much information as possible and process it through quick mental calculation. From time to time, he reached out to trace the tip of his fingers along the walls where he walked, a tactile reminder that the ship was, in actuality, concrete fact and not a flight of fancy.
Onward, upward, Beyond explored. The relative freedom of movement felt foreign after months of living with the restriction of his grave self-injury and incarceration. He came across the library and stopped for a moment, considering whether to enter and investigate further. But Beyond hadn’t yet found the limits of this place, so he made a mental note to return later, and continued ahead. Offices, clinic spaces, the cafeteria - Beyond noted each new place with interest in his mental map, climbing still higher. He paused again at the chapel, momentarily regarded the location with wary curiosity, and pressed on. He’d found the ship’s deck.
Slowly, cautiously, Beyond shuffled his way over the enclosing rail and gazed out at the vastness of space surrounding the ship. He hadn’t seen starlight in more than a year, and suddenly, taking in the expanse of darkness and lights all around, he couldn’t help feeling very small.
Special Notes: Regarding B’s shinigami eyesight - it only works on live humans, so I’m assuming that since a lot of the characters in-game are dead, he will not be seeing much of anything aboard the Barge; however, I’m completely open to mod suggestion about specifics on how to further limit this power! (i.e., should the displays be partially scrambled or faded, blink in and out, etc.)
Also, I always throw up a permissions/explanation post like this for clarification on shinigami eyesight in games.
User DW:
eicasticAIM/IM: last laugh blues on aim; ventose on plurk
E-mail: vespiaries at gmail dot com
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Beyond Birthday [canon aliases: B, Backup, Rue Ryuzaki]
Series: Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases
Age: Never specified in canon; he’s only described as a “young man,” which does imply over 18. I estimate his age as presented in-book at around 20 years - a little younger than L - and around 22 at death. UPDATE: Age 23 as of graduation and leaving the Barge; 24 as of his return. UPDATE AGAIN: Age 25 as of April 2016.
From When?: Post-death (January 21, 2004)
Inmate/Warden: Beyond Birthday did some pretty reprehensible things toward the end of his life - committing a series of three murders with the primary motivation being a grab for attention from L sits at the top of this list. He would fit best as an inmate here, which is especially relevant since the last year and half of his life before he was killed by the Death Note was actually spent in prison.
The thing about Beyond that would most need to be improved upon for redemption is his way of thinking, which is deeply flawed. For example, he thinks nothing of using human lives as pieces in a cleverly designed puzzle, a means to an end, and even though he did not act in an unnecessarily cruel way (choosing victims who were slated to die on the day he killed them and drugging them before committing the actual murder, presumably so they were not aware and would not suffer), I do not believe he would feel any sort of remorse for his actions. In his mind, everything Beyond did was justified in service to the bigger picture of creating an unsolvable puzzle for L and thus proving he was better than L. He’s stubborn, and would need to basically unlearn all of the bad habits that were likely drilled into him as part of his training at Wammy’s House (such as treating people as expendable resources - this is L’s method). He is not inclined to make these changes on his own, and even death would not immediately give him reason to rethink his priorities, but in the setting of the Barge with no means of escape, under influence from wardens, given enough time and pressure, I believe such attitude adjustments are possible to achieve.
Abilities/Powers: B is a skilled mimic and actor, capable of maintaining a convincing long-term public persona as an “unprivate detective” named Rue Ryuzaki with ease. Under the guise of Ryuzaki, B acts much less intelligent than he actually is, “playing the fool,” in effect, in order to gather information, subtly manipulate other people, and set his plans into motion.
Even outside of this act, B lies, frequently and with precise calculation, and will not hesitate to give misinformation if it suits his purpose - and it generally does.
B is not particularly strong or trained in hand-to-hand combat, but he is stronger than his twig-like frame would suggest, and he’s incredibly quick on his feet. B does not generally instigate physical attacks, but when he does, it’s always a calculated maneuver, and he favors stealth and small, simple weapons, such as the club used to test Naomi Misora.
As far as his personality is concerned, B’s greatest strength is his determination. He will do anything possible to achieve his goals - when his goal is to surpass L, B even turns to murder and becomes a criminal, in order to simply win and become better than L. Once he has a goal in mind, B does not give up. He is very smart, though notably misguided.
B’s only real otherworldly power would be his shinigami eyes. Unlike regular humans, who have the option of trading a shinigami this skill for half of their remaining lifespan, B was born with this ability at no additional upfront cost, and without the element of choice. With the shinigami eyes, B is able to see any live human’s true name and life span. Following Death Note in-universe rules about how the shinigami eyes work, this will only occur if B is able to see more than half of the face, usually the top half. Conversely, if more than half of the person’s face is covered, such as with a mask or large sunglasses, B will not be able to see that person’s name and life span.
Weaknesses: While he is stronger than he looks, B is still not particularly strong - no more so than the average person who spends most of the time indoors and does not train physically. He would be easily overpowered by a show of brute force, or an aggressive attack by someone trained in hand-to-hand combat or martial arts.
B’s greatest personality weakness is shortsightedness with respect to his obsessiveness; his eventual downfall is caused by the fact that he became so fixated on one thing - beating L - that he failed to consider anything else. For example, B underestimated Naomi Misora’s deductive abilities, and she was able to solve the mystery of his identity as the killer behind the series of murders and apprehend B before he was able to set the final stage of his murder plan into motion. B’s skewed world view is also something of weakness - though he is not prone to outbursts or displays of action not thoroughly calculated, B is still somewhat emotionally unstable, especially considering that the end result of the series of murders was intended to be a rather gruesome suicide.
Although not explicitly stated in canon, it’s most likely that B’s biggest fear is that of failure, on a general, all-encompassing scale. He’s dedicated a large portion of his life to training as a potential successor to L, and there seems to be a lot of personal investment in this one thing - that is, his sense of self-worth appears to be wrapped up in the idea of being good enough to be the next L, better than the other contenders. Failure in this respect amounts to a wholesale lack of purpose for B’s very existence, and it can thus be argued that this is another large factor in why B intended for his endgame to be his suicide.
Personality: The first proviso in describing the character of Beyond Birthday is that despite being a central figure in the story, the text is hazy on many of the details one would hope to find, such as thoughts, feelings, and motivations for his actions. (Personally, I blame Mello for being an unreliable narrator.) B is shown to act in certain ways, but as the story is not told from his point of view, we do not necessarily know why he makes the choices he does throughout the story. With such great gaps in the foundation, I as a player am left to fill in the holes with conclusions I have drawn that make the most sense, and I will do my best here to differentiate what is known and what can be deduced from what is known.
The second qualification in outlining the personality of Beyond Birthday is that there are two accounts of B in the text of Another Note - that of “Rue Ryuzaki,” the false detective, and that of B, the murderer. The Ryuzaki persona is a genuine weirdo capable of unsettling even a steady FBI agent like Naomi Misora; she describes him to L as “creepy and pathetic [...] such a complete freak that it amazes me he hasn’t killed himself.” B, the killer, is shown to be shrewd, calculating, and grimly determined; Mello describes him as “careful, and finicky.” The one thing, however, that ties both accounts together is the fact that Beyond Birthday is shown to be fundamentally strange.
The most important thing to know about B is the fact that he has possessed the eyes of a shinigami since birth. The eyes of a shinigami, or death god, allow anyone who possesses them to view any live human’s name and natural life span. Normally, in the Death Note universe, one must contract with a shinigami for this ability, but B received it without asking - it’s likely he himself never fully understood how or why he ended up with this gift, or even what its intended use is. But the ability to view life spans is the ability to view death, and thus B was surrounded with reminders of death from the day he was born. It is reasonable to assume, then, that his underlying eccentric manner stems from both this otherworldly ability and the fact he was orphaned at an early age. Surround a child with death at every turn, and it’s no surprise if he turns out quite twisted.
The second most important factor to consider about B is that he is a bona fide genius - “brilliant and deviant,” to use Mello’s words. Only the best and brightest were chosen for the program at Wammy’s House, and B was one of the original class trained to potentially succeed as L. We are not told exactly what sort of training B received in the program, but it is reasonable to conclude that it included extensive training in forensics and the investigative arts. He is adept at problem-solving, creative thinking, and logical reasoning, as evident in his prowess for both creating and solving puzzles, such as crossword puzzles and the carefully designed mysteries of his three murders. B is an expert speed-reader, speaks both English and Japanese fluently, and demonstrates high proficiency in mathematics. Although it is not stated in the text of Another Note, it is likely B is also proficient in a number of additional languages and skilled in various types of computer work, including some programming and hacking.
The third crucial aspect to B’s personality is that he is, in a single word, obsessive. He is driven, and will go to extremes - such as murder - to achieve his goals, yet I do not believe he is a sociopath or a psychopath, as he does not demonstrate key traits like a lack of empathy or consideration for others. His obsession is simply to surpass L, by any means necessary - he will commit murder to do so, but he chooses victims with a painstaking amount of planning. B uses his shinigami eyes to choose victims who are destined to die the same day he plans to commit the murders, and he drugs them before committing the actual, gruesome murders, presumably so they will not suffer. B may be emotionally misdeveloped in some aspects, but not does not appear to be entirely unfeeling or lacking a moral code. His general line of thinking seems to be “do as L, only bigger, better, more extreme.”
B is driven, rational, calculating - once he has a goal in mind, B does not give up. His determination is perhaps his greatest character strength, and likely a result of his training. L is known to meet his goal by whatever means necessary, even if they are sometimes questionable, so it’s reasonable to assume that a program based on his methods would teach the same.
We are told nothing about how B interacted with his peers at Wammy’s prior to leaving the house and commencing his private war with L, but I believe he did not, for the most part, maintain close relationships. Since he had been surrounded with reminders of death his entire life, and since he lost both of his parents at an early age, it’s reasonable to consider that B taught himself early on in life not to allow himself to form attachments with many other people, simply as a strategy for survival. However, I believe he craves affection, attention, and meaningful relationships, precisely because he has not had them. This sense of disconnect from other people and sense of loss in general can also largely explain why B’s personality is so obsessive in nature - he clings to things he holds dear because he knows he will, eventually, lose them.
Such an fanatical disposition would also naturally extend to L. I believe that, for a person without any significant close relationships, it would make sense to fixate on L as an idol of sorts, an absentee role model, on a deeply personal level. L would have been revered as a paragon to strive for in every way.
The most notable information absent in the story pertains to why B left the House and chose to start a war with L. “I have no way of knowing the inner workings of his mind,” Mello says, but he notes of the first generation at Wammy’s House: “They were prototypes, never even given the L code, expected to fail.” It’s reasonable to assume that B did not know he was an experiment; that fact would have been kept confidential in order to avoid contaminating the research. The most logical scenario I have been able to devise for B’s motivations is this: he somehow discovered that he was only an experiment and felt so personally betrayed by this man he had held in the highest regard, he retaliated with extreme measures. In order to beat L, the world’s greatest detective, into complete submission, B turned to the one thing he knew would attract L’s attention - crime, an inversion of everything L stood for.
Barge Reactions: Beyond is very intelligent, so I don’t see the setting as posing any sort of problem for him - he likely is familiar with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, at least in theory, so while the Death Note universe is pretty mundane (the only supernatural thing shown to exist are shinigami, and even he was not aware of their existence in the book canon), it wouldn’t break his brain to learn that there are, in fact, other worlds filled with all sorts of people and creatures.
The one thing that would be a shock for Beyond is not seeing the names and lifespans of the people he encounters. He has had this ability since birth, and never received any explanation of what it was; we as the audience only know because we have the benefit of Mello’s later knowledge of shinigami as related in the text of Another Note. The ability to see death is a huge part of why Beyond’s personality is so warped, so having that sudden absence would be deeply unsettling for him, as it is a large part of his sense of self.
Path to Redemption: I believe that what Beyond needs most for redemption is unconditional love and compassion and acceptance. He was orphaned at a very young age and likely developed deep attachment issues as a result, on top of the fact that he literally sees death everywhere, so he isn’t the most connected to other people. Genius intellect also makes it harder to relate to others, and Beyond has this in spades. And, Beyond’s life has been full of secrets, so he won’t exactly be forthcoming with details about who he is and what he did to end up in this situation. I think the best way for a warden to get through to him is to break down his walls with persistent attention and develop a meaningful relationship with him, which will not be easy. It will require a lot of patience and understanding. (Physical violence is also an option, but it wouldn’t be as effective.) Specific triggers would include his childhood, the death of his parents, and his feelings about L and his role in L’s world. As he has experienced his own death, he knows he’s a failure, which stings, but he’s resentful about it, and not inclined to admit to the bigger mistake of undertaking a criminal path in the first place. He would definitely need to be called out and held accountable for the terrible things he’s done; he was imprisoned after being caught, but never really forced to accept that what he did was wrong. He simply lost the war he instigated with L. Beyond does not believe what he did inappropriate, so it would take quite a bit of work for him to unlearn his previous teachings and learn how to be a decent person instead.
History: There are articles at both Wikipedia and the Death Note Wiki, but neither is terribly complete or accurate; my own canon history write-up follows:
There are not many specific facts known about Beyond Birthday from the text of Another Note before the events of the story in question. What is known, however, is that both of his parents were killed when he was quite young - his father was murdered by a thug, his mother died in a train crash - and he was eventually brought to the Wammy’s House orphanage in Winchester, England, to participate in a rigorous detective training program as B - Backup for the genius detective L.
B was the second candidate enrolled in the program, a child with a brilliant mind and an eccentric demeanor; the first candidate, A, was unable to cope with the various pressures of the intense training program and committed suicide. B excelled in the program for many years, yet ultimately was not chosen as L’s successor, for reasons not specified. It is speculated by Mello in his narration, however, that the first generation of trainees was perhaps meant to act as prototypes for the program, never intended to actually succeed as a successor to L. B disappeared from the House around May of 2002 - again, for reasons not specified - shortly before orchestrating what would come to be known as the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases in July and August of that same year.
The series of elaborate, grisly killings involved three victims, each seemingly unrelated to the next, save for the fact that each was found in a room locked from the inside, a decreasing number of Wara Ningyo dolls was nailed to the walls of the rooms where the victims were found, and each victim’s first and last name began with the same letter. Believe Bridesmaid, a 44-year-old freelance writer, was drugged and asphyxiated to death with a rope, with post-mortem cuts made on his chest, a code designed to indicate the second victim. Quarter Queen, a 13-year-old girl, was drugged and killed via blunt force trauma to her head; her eyes were crushed in post-mortem. Backyard Bottomslash, a 28-year-old bank worker, died from severe blood loss when her left arm and right leg were hacked off; the arm was never recovered.
The serial murders attracted L’s attention, just as B intended, and L enlisted the assistance of a suspended FBI agent named Naomi Misora in investigating the murders. B approached Naomi at the scene of the first murder, introducing himself as an “unprivate detective” named Rue Ryuzaki who had been hired by the murder victims’ families to investigate the murder, independent of the police. Under the guise of cooperative investigation, B skillfully led Naomi through the obscure clues he’d left behind at the scene of each murder, pointing to the location of the fourth and final murder. B’s intent at the final scene was to commit suicide by setting himself on fire after setting it up to look like another murder, and thus leave L with a puzzle he could never solve. This, in B’s mind, would prove that he was better than L. Naomi, however, was able to piece together the final clues and determine Ryuzaki’s identity as the killer, B (a fact that had been divulged to her by L), and place him under arrest before he was able to succeed in his suicide plot, though not before B was able to badly burn himself.
B spent the next year and a half recovering from his extensive burn injuries while serving a life sentence in prison for his crimes and died of a mysterious heart attack on January 21, 2004, one of the many, many victims of Kira and the Death Note.
Sample Journal Entry: Test-driven here, if that’s acceptable?
Sample RP: Beyond was dead, and he knew it.
He remembered his death quite clearly: a sharp, powerful pain in his chest, felt even through the constant medicated numbness of his seared skin; a desperate gasp for breath; flashes of lights and memories (fire, blood, Naomi Misora, the frenetic chatter from the hospital where he was taken after he was caught mid-suicide, the bars of his cell, the House, his mother) - then nothing. Blackness.
Then he remembered waking up, once again alive, his marred skin restored, the absence of pain a curious void in his body. Beyond was ready to die when he set himself alight, before meddlesome Misora put out the fire, put him under arrest, before he lost his challenge to L, but he felt certain there would be nothing waiting for him after. He never really believed in God or an afterlife in the traditional sense, and he stopped worshipping at the altar of L more than a year ago, but he couldn’t deny what his finely tuned senses told him - he was dead, and now he wasn’t. And he was on a ship - not flung into a burning pit of torment, not reposed in a refuge of peace, just a ship, populated with other people. Beyond supposed it must be some sort of limbo, then, and he wondered why he was here, and under whose authority.
He needed to investigate. Perhaps he was no longer L’s protegé (not that he ever truly was, he reminded himself, bitterly), but the instinct to inspect and analyze was a hard thing to kill. Beyond left his room to slowly wander the halls of the hulking vessel, committing a spatial map to his memory as he made his way around the walls and stairs. He kept his head bowed, gaze trained down at his feet yet still observing from the periphery of his field of vision. Always observe. It was an innate command, for Beyond, to take in as much information as possible and process it through quick mental calculation. From time to time, he reached out to trace the tip of his fingers along the walls where he walked, a tactile reminder that the ship was, in actuality, concrete fact and not a flight of fancy.
Onward, upward, Beyond explored. The relative freedom of movement felt foreign after months of living with the restriction of his grave self-injury and incarceration. He came across the library and stopped for a moment, considering whether to enter and investigate further. But Beyond hadn’t yet found the limits of this place, so he made a mental note to return later, and continued ahead. Offices, clinic spaces, the cafeteria - Beyond noted each new place with interest in his mental map, climbing still higher. He paused again at the chapel, momentarily regarded the location with wary curiosity, and pressed on. He’d found the ship’s deck.
Slowly, cautiously, Beyond shuffled his way over the enclosing rail and gazed out at the vastness of space surrounding the ship. He hadn’t seen starlight in more than a year, and suddenly, taking in the expanse of darkness and lights all around, he couldn’t help feeling very small.
Special Notes: Regarding B’s shinigami eyesight - it only works on live humans, so I’m assuming that since a lot of the characters in-game are dead, he will not be seeing much of anything aboard the Barge; however, I’m completely open to mod suggestion about specifics on how to further limit this power! (i.e., should the displays be partially scrambled or faded, blink in and out, etc.)
Also, I always throw up a permissions/explanation post like this for clarification on shinigami eyesight in games.
death count.
2. Ripped to pieces by Aceman.
3. Eaten alive by Arthas' jormungar.