panzana | somnia info

stats; Nicola Francesca NAME Piofiore CANON Fated Memories, post-death in Best End of Yang Route CANON POINT Token, Shadowbinder VESSEL TYPE & SUBTYPE Human SPECIES 28 AGE June 28 BIRTHDAY Male GENDER 5'10" (177cm) HEIGHT Crosby Street Hotel RESIDENCE
inventory;

player; Ori NAME she/her PRONOUNS EST TIMEZONE

maragidyne PLURK monocerosnoctua DISCORD

Please note that I'll only accept Plurk and Discord friend requests from people I have CR with.

summary; Nicola is a 28-year-old Italian man from the year 1925. He was a WWI veteran and the underboss of a mafia family known as the Falzone Family, however I took him from a route and canon point where he was killed before arriving in Somnia and his Family will collapse following both his and his boss's (who he also considers his little brother) deaths, so now he is simply a man who's lost everything. On the surface, he comes off as someone who is gentle, sociable, charismatic, playful, and flirtatious towards women. However, he is a chronic liar who is very slow to trust others and keeps people at as much of a distance as possible while maintaining a friendly front. He also has a ruthless side that won't hesitate to kill, torture, or sacrifice others to achieve his goals, even if they're friends. He's generally pleasant enough to be around when he's in his right mind and not threatened, but he's secretly carrying heavy feelings of grief, regret, and anger due to the circumstances of his death.

Now that said dead boss, Dante Falzone, is in Sleephattan, Nicola will also be worrying constantly about his safety and may resort to drastic actions when he deems it necessary for Dante's sake.

vessel traits; APPEARANCE

Eyes reflect no light but absorb it.

ABILITIES

Increased energy during nighttime
Night vision
Can step into shadows to travel short distances or become intangible
Can manipulate shadows to form hand-shaped tendrils, barriers, or cloaks that blend into surroundings
When he feels the desire to kill, a shadow entity that resembles a grim reaper will either manifest itself to engage with the target directly or lend him its scythe, which increases the potency of his shadow magic. This entity will also shield him from fatal blows. Its presence exudes a thick aura of malevolence that can be felt by all Vessels in its vicinity. To any that meet its gaze, they'll feel like that malevolence is directed at them personally.

WEAKNESSES

Lethargic during daytime
Eyes become extra sensitive to light while using night vision
Bright light or intense illumination disrupts or disperses his power.
Overuse causes fatigue, disorientation, and an aching void where light should be.
Vulnerable when separated from shadows; unable to manifest abilities in direct, open light.
Emotional instability fractures control, causing shadows to writhe unpredictably and his shadow entity to manifest itself even when he doesn't want it to.
His shadow entity has an unsatiable desire to kill and is incredibly malicious even to Nicola himself. It takes advantage of moments of mental vulnerability with the goal of breaking Nicola down enough to take over his body so it can combine their abilities and kill as much as it pleases (it's far more interested in killing Vessels than Hosts).
Prolonged absence of darkness weakens his connection to his magic.

blessings;

Ritual Flame (from November 2025 event): When engaging in violence or intimacy, your blood runs hot— literally. Touch from you burns faintly, and wounds you inflict may leave a searing mark. In extreme moments, this heat can ignite a ritual fire in your surroundings, especially near altars or other blessed places.

tethers; Only long-term tethers that have been OOCly agreed on will be listed here. If we have not threaded in 2 months and no further plans have been made by then, I will assume that the tether has faded and remove your character from the list.

Caelus (Token; Platonic)

Ironeye (Token; Platonic)

Aventurine (Token; ???)

Dante (Token; Familial)

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CODING

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PLAYER INFO

Name: Ori
Preferred Contact: PM,

maragidyne, monocerosnoctua @ discord
Age: 33
Invite Link: link

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Nicola Francesca
Canon: Piofiore
Age: 28
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: N/A
Canon Point: Fated Memories, post-death in the Best End of Yang Route
Wiki Link(s): link

SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somnia— a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?
Nicola enters Somnia through a lethal wound accompanied by two wishes: a burning, hateful wish to witness the downfall of a rival criminal organization known as the Lao-Shu and their leader, Yang, and a rueful wish that he could have saved the life of his boss and "little brother," Dante. In the Best End of the Yang Route, he is killed at Yang's hand during a battle he initiated in an attempt to avenge Dante. Nicola's violent death underscores the limits of his charm and calculation; for a man who lived by control, his end comes as the ultimate loss of it, cut down in a world where his strategies, his loyalty, and his careful balancing act were not enough. Having never experienced anything supernatural or left his world before, Nicola would find the dream terrifying, but he would not run from it. He would follow it with the same grace he showed in life, smiling even as he hides that fear and the bitterness of a life cut short.

2. Somnia is a slow unraveling—of worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?
Nicola's unraveling begins with his death. In life, he was quick to adapt. He stood firm against Yang and the Lao-Shu even when the odds were hopeless, and he met authority with sharp words hidden behind a polite smile. Yet in Somnia, haunted by the circumstances of his death, he would find himself face-to-face with a fear he never wanted to acknowledge: the fear that charm and strategy cannot stop fate. His instinct remains to adapt, to go along with the dream with a practiced smile, but beneath the surface lies the memory of how his life ended. When the Murmur threatens to consume him, Nicola would fight to reassert control, unwilling to collapse a second time. The man who faced Yang in the church with a smile as the blade struck would reveal the ruthlessness beneath the elegance, refusing to be undone again.

3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character form—fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?
On the surface, Nicola is a charismatic man who can form fast, dazzling bonds, winning others over with ease, but most never go beyond the surface. Despite his silver tongue, he is more of an introvert, preferring to keep others at a respectful distance and actively avoiding people when he's tired. In this canon point, he was only able to form two deep bonds in his life. The first was with a boy named Henri when they were both children, who told the lonely Nicola that he would be his older brother. Tragic circumstances tore the found brothers apart not long after, and they never met again. The second was with Dante, to whom Nicola subconsciously passed on the love Henri once showed him by telling the young Dante to think of Nicola as his older brother. Nicola dedicated the rest of his life to serving Dante from that point onward, going to unspeakable lengths to try to ensure that his little brother lived happily and successfully. Now that he's lost Dante as well, Nicola would yearn for yet another person to pass on that brotherly love to, but he would always be haunted by the shadow of the little brother he could not save. His charm would make him magnetic in Somnia, but his grief would render those bonds heavier, more fragile, and more dangerous.

4. What are two major forces in your character's personality that are often in conflict?
Loyalty and freedom. Nicola's loyalty to Dante and the Falzone bound him. He lived every waking moment of his life in service to the Falzone Family and worked hard to ensure that the Family prospered under Dante's rule. However, he often acted on his own behind Dante's back, unafraid to do things his boss would not approve of for his sake. Nicola also secretly despised the outdated traditions that the Falzone clung to and was the only member of the Family who didn't believe in God. Ever since the young Dante blurted after a heated argument with his father that he didn't want to be boss, Nicola spent years quietly formulating a plan to free him from the Family's shackles, though it never came to fruition in the Yang Route. He convinced himself that it was what Dante truly wanted, but Nicola was really projecting his own desires onto him. This is shown in the Good End of his own route, where a failed execution of the plan led to his own freedom instead of Dante's. Nicola tarnished his reputation to the point that he had to flee his hometown for his own safety, but before he left, Dante told him he was proud of the life he was living as the Falzone's boss and asked Nicola to find his own path without worrying about his blood. Nicola was happy and even excited to embark on the journey with the woman he loved by his side, but the freedom would hit much differently in Somnia, where he would begin his path of self-discovery alone after losing his life in a failed revenge scheme.

VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character?
Nicola is someone who commanded great respect as the underboss of the Falzone Family. There were those in the Family who thought so highly of him that they believed he should have been the boss instead of Dante. When he briefly took over the Family following Dante's death, his subordinates continued to follow his orders without question. Nicola's strong leadership qualities make the Token type fitting for him. I also think Shadowbinder specifically suits him because Nicola has always lived his life in the shadows, drawing as little attention to himself in the eyes of the general public as possible. Most didn't even know he was the Falzone's underboss. I've always liked the idea of him having powers that play into that.
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Shadowbinder