choirmaster: (La Betulia liberata)
Sunday ([personal profile] choirmaster) wrote2026-01-26 11:20 pm

So... Why does life slumber?

Player: Psi
Contact: [plurk.com profile] PsiYamaneko
Age: Precambrian
Pronoun: She/Her
Timezone: EST

Current Characters: N/A
Character Name: Sunday
Character Canon: Honkai: Star Rail
Canon Point: His ascension in the quest "Everything That Rises Must Converge."
Age: Ostensibly in his mid to late 20s. Let's say 28.

Crime: Deicide. Sunday is a man of faith and staunchly believes in the existence and influence of the Aeons. Unfortunately, experience has taught him to be very skeptical of their benevolence and right to divinity. He feels humanity would fare better under his own tutelage. So, when he takes on the power and identity of the fallen Aeon of Order, he doesn't just attempt to merge the dreamscape into reality; he also attempts to destroy the Aeons and all Paths they preside over. If he succeeds, this will lead to one of the four universe-ending calamities foreseen by Terminus: The Apocalypse of Harmony.

Sunday does not feel any guilt about slaying the Aeons at his current canon point. In fact, he would like to go home and finish what he started. Over time, he may grow to learn he was wrong, as he does in canon, and then the guilt will nearly eat him alive.

Background: History on the Villains wiki. Appears to be written in part or in full by a rambling, drug-addicted AI but is mostly accurate.

HSR Wiki

What if you put a baby bird in a cage and poked it with a stick for 20-odd years while showing it human horrors Clockwork Orange style?

Personality:
"Let transgressors face deserved punishment, and let guests receive deserved courtesy. Such should be the law of harmony."
-Sunday


Sunday presents himself as a kind and affable, if eccentric, man. To most people he meets, he is an honorable leader and a model of moral virtue who tries to ease the burdens of those around him. If you were to meet him, he would welcome you with open arms and a warm smile. Moments earlier, you may have seen him mercilessly punish someone he considers wicked to send a message.

The moment anything threatens his sense of control, his affable mask cracks, showing the icy thorns beneath. Sunday is an infamous "control freak". Groomed from a young age to take over as the figurehead of a cult devoted to celestial order, he sees it as his duty to keep everything around him in its place. He seeks not only to control his environment but also the thoughts and actions of everyone in it, leading to an oppressively domineering personality. If someone is too chaotic or "unrighteous", Sunday is unrelenting in chastising them. He has placed psychic death curses on opponents to force them into obedience. He punishes criminals in front of the innocent, so they can witness his wrath. When wronged, he quickly develops obsessive fantasies of revenge. He is intensely paranoid and surrounds himself with traps and puzzles that others must solve just to have the right to speak to him. Over time, he has rightfully developed a reputation for being intimidating and dangerously insane. As Dr. Ratio says, "he's not someone easily handled". Penacony is ruled by his velvet-clad iron fist. Yet he isn't the tyrant he may seem to be, either. Sunday does not crave control because he takes pleasure in dominating others. He craves control because it is the only way he can assure his successes and prevent failure and all the guilt and shame that comes with it. When he is in control, he feels safe.

"Ena's Dream... is too cruel for him, and everyone else."
-Robin, Sunday's younger sister


While growing up, Sunday learned that every quirk that made him unique was ugly and shameful. A good leader isn't playful or self-expressive. He is dignified and austere. (The tie should be on the center line, the shirt must not protrude from the vest, trouser creases should be perfectly straight, and always aligned with the tips of one's shoes.) Yet the flame of his old self was never truly extinguished; it went deeper. Beneath the trauma-induced calluses from his upbringing beats the heart of a very sensitive, artistic soul who has difficulty living in the world as his authentic self. The compassion he feels for people and the yearning to see everyone happy are genuine. His controlling iciness, however, is armor, a form of hypervigilance, so nothing unexpected will ever happen and disrupt his peaceful world.

This armor came on over the course of years. He'd been a mischievous child, but that changed when he entered his adolescence and began his training as Bronze Melodia. Once he became Bronze Melodia, his books were replaced with scripture, and he spent most of his time taking confessions from the citizens of Penacony's eternal dream world. The long-term citizens had long ago lost their ambition, creating a culture of aimless hedonists. Sunday tried to improve the lives of his flock, but every time he attempted to do so, he made things worse. The rich and powerful used their money to cover their sins. The impoverished and weak would do anything out of desperation to survive. Nothing he did ever changed this, so he decided if he wanted everyone to be happy, he would have to seize absolute control over the dream himself...

"From where I stand, society's ideal system should be 'seven rest days'. Following Sunday, there should ensue a second, a third, and indeed an infinite procession of Sundays. This should be the face of the new world — idyllic, eternal, peaceful days."
-Sunday


Since childhood, Sunday has longed to create a paradise without suffering. Penacony's dreamscape, he thinks, would make an ideal foundation for it. In this paradise, he believes it would be better to be safe and secure than to be free. And humanity, so prone to self-destruction, needs to be kept safe from itself. As far as he is concerned, humanity is weak, and as someone strong, he must guide them. The origin of their weakness is each individual's perceived "self-value". When given options, a person will always choose what benefits them most, even if it causes suffering to others. The universe will be better off if everyone surrenders their free will and lives forever in a blissful dreamscape where Sunday rules over them as the Sun. Within his "Dream of Order," there will be no more suffering. Only he will suffer as the lone soul trapped in eternal waking, managing the dream in solitude until the end of time. Once he is the Sun, he will gather the souls of humanity against his heart and enclose them in his hands, where they will never again be free, but will be protected.

Sunday has poured his entire being into creating his paradise, to the point that he has abandoned the idea that he will ever live a personally fulfilled life. It is not his job to be personally happy; it is his job to make sure others are. Trauma and ambition have created several layers of masks and armor around him, so it is difficult to get to know him.

His austere presentation and stony expressions belie his intensity. If someone makes an enemy of him, they make a vicious and dangerous enemy. But if someone manages to make a friend of him, they've made a friend for life.


Abilities: Sunday is a Halovian Pathstrider of Harmony, and attacks with imaginary energy. This means he utilizes a great deal of light magic and possesses psychic powers centered on the concepts of unity and order.


GLEAMING ADMONITION (Light Magic): He can harness imaginary energy and use it offensively by blasting people with it...

BENISON OF PAPER AND RITES/ODE TO CARESS AND CICATRIX (Support Magic): ...Usually, however, he stays away from the front lines and uses his power to bolster his allies. In the context of DWRP, this "magic" would energize characters around him. Other players would decide what that means for their specific characters.

THORNS: He has been seen turning imaginary energy into a thorny vine whip. Thorn imagery is usually used to symbolize the solipsistic psychosis he is still very much a prisoner of at the canon point I am taking him from. I like to think he has to overcome the thorns before he can manipulate them. So this is a "maybe someday" ability.

TRUE SIGHT: If someone is obscuring themselves or has turned invisible, he may be able to detect their presence psychically.

TELEPATHY: Sunday can use telepathy to silently communicate. He can also read the emotions of others through his halo and transmit his own emotions.

TUNING: His most notable ability is "Tuning". Using a combination of his psychic prowess, his connection to the Path of Harmony, and his powerful voice, Sunday can manipulate the minds of others. This manipulation can occur in a variety of ways, from soothing a tormented mind to disguising himself and creating illusions to implanting a geas into the mind of a victim, forcing them to tell the truth. His geas can also kill people who disobey him. For example, he might give someone an intricate task and kill the person remotely if they fail. In the most extreme situations, Sunday can trap the minds of others inside his own consciousness, where they cannot hide any secrets from him (and he cannot hide any from them). Physically, people trapped in his mind are left in a standing torpor and remain that way until he lets them go.

Through Tuning, he is also able to invoke the power of the Aeons of Harmony and Order (both now one being), albeit in a very limited way. He might do surprising things with this ability, but it would never let him turn the tide of a battle single-handedly. A good example of what he does would be the Paladin "Channel Divinity" ability in DnD 5e.


For obvious reasons, most of his abilities will not be used without player permission.

Despite all of the above and his celestial appearance, Sunday is mortal. His species is not known to be any more impervious to harm than a human. If the man is shot in the head, he'll die.

...He is also a musical genius and preternaturally beautiful for whatever that's worth.

Samples:
TDM
From Etraya -- this happens a few months after his arrival in Etraya, so it shows him turning on the charm, having adapted to his new situation (somewhat)

Questions: I hate bringing this up because it is very "I am probably thinking too hard about this," but: Would Sunday lose his Path abilities (Tuning and support) or keep them? I feel there are arguments for either.

In Honkai: Star Rail, there are Emanators who draw their power from the Aeons and are, themselves, incredibly powerful, and Pathstriders who draw power from the Paths. Paths are composed of various real world philsophical concepts bound through imaginary energy and survive even if the Aeons presiding over them die. So it could be


a) Pathstriders lose their Path ability/abilities when arriving in Edictum and must regain access because the Paths do not exist in Edictum
b) Pathstriders retain their ability/abilities because even if the Path does not technically exist, every concept it was composed of does and that's close enough.


I am happy to play with whatever mods decide! Keep in mind this could apply to any character apped from Honkai: Star Rail in the future as well, so obviously contact Phainon's player with any relevant decision there.