Dr. Casper Darling (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
darlingcalling) wrote2026-03-25 11:48 pm
darlingcalling) wrote2026-03-25 11:48 pm
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User Name/Nick: Kates
User DW:allikateor
E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: allikateor at plurk and discord
Other Characters Currently In-Game: none currently!
Character Name: Dr. Casper Darling
Series: Control / Remedy Connected Universe
Age: middle aged man! (We do not have a specific canon age. For what it’s worth, his actor was in his mid to late 50s during the making of Control)
From When?: Post Alan Wake 2. At this point, Darling is trapped in the Dark Place, a spooky weird darkness dimension full of plenty of things that could have killed his ass.
Inmate Justification: Darling has been complicit in the ‘old boy’s club’ mentality of the Bureau, perfectly willing to ignore problems with the Bureau’s structure and operations so that things can operate ‘as normal.’ Special attention has to be paid to Dylan Faden, a child with supernatural abilities who Darling (and Director Trench) basically kidnapped to try and mold into the perfect fit for the Director position. When Dylan didn’t fit that image, he was promptly squirrelled away, locked up, and kept in solitary for years. Likewise, Darling’s needless secrecy and paranoia have actively hindered the Bureau in their dealings with a major threat.
Arrival: Darling agreed to come. Listening to the weird voices broadcasting inside his head hasn’t steered him wrong before!
Abilities/Powers: Dr. Darling is a normal human man with zero supernatural powers. He’s the head of the Research Department at the Federal Bureau of Control, so he’s got knowledge of physics, dimensional research, electronics, acoustics, and just general weird mad scientist shit. His focus is more on the physics side than biology or chemistry, but at the same time he can jerry rig a radio to cut through electrical interference and can study the ‘resonance’ emitted by a supernatural entity.
As a note, Darling has exposed himself to a large amount of Hedron resonance, to the point where he believes Hedron has changed him. We’re not entirely sure what this means or how the resonance has changed Darling, but at the very least it would protect him from having his mind taken over by the Hiss, a different, more hostile type of resonance.
He’s also weirdly toned for a guy that you know has slept in his lab on multiple occasions. Hedron gives you abs, I guess???
Inmate Information: Darling’s a fun guy. He’s a bright, cheerful nerd who makes goofy little instructional videos. But it’s due to his perpetuation of the Bureau’s absolutely fucked up work culture, his treatment of Dylan Faden, and his own secrecy and paranoia that the Oldest House is absolutely fucked once the Hiss enters.
It is obvious that the Federal Bureau of Control isn’t run the best. Under the authority of Director Trench, the Bureau was run under a culture of paranoia, secrecy, and favoritism. For example, the entire Investigations Department was shuttered because it was poking too far into some of the more shady aspects of the Bureau. While Trench was the one making the decisions, Darling was complicit in a lot of them. As the Head of Research and a close friend to Trench, he had the means to say “hey, cut that shit out” at any given moment. Instead, he contributed to that culture, running Research in a way where he could prioritize what he was interested in, promoting people because of favoritism and his personal interest in a project that might not be all that useful as a whole, and promoting a culture of secrecy just because. Darling is well aware of the Bureau’s morally gray actions and doesn’t seem to push back against them in any way. Of course the Bureau is watching their employees’ every move, of course there are people hidden away in Containment, of course an Altered Item might eat someone every now and then, that’s a total bummer but that’s part of the job. Darling is a brilliant man and a good scientist—he’s just a dogshit manager, which is bad when you’re managing a department full of things that can kill people.
The culture of secrecy aspect also plays into Darling’s relationship with Hedron, a paranatural entity that made direct contact with Darling. Darling keeps all of Hedron’s revelations to himself, focusing more on diving in and trying to understand everything instead of actually talking to people about his worries. There is zero reason for you not to tell Emily Pope what the HRAs do! Maybe more people need to know about your fears involving Trench and the Hiss! He’ll make a cute little presentation about the HRAs but not tell people the full extent of what they’re protecting people from—only that it’s classified.
Perhaps one of his most egregious fuck-ups is related to the treatment of Dylan Faden. Dylan Faden is a parautilitarian (a person with supernatural/paranatural powers.) As a child, Dylan was also basically kidnapped by Darling and Trench and enrolled in the Prime Candidate Program, a program focused on training potential replacements for the Director position. Dylan accidentally killed someone, which led to more restrictions, fewer freedoms, and more vigorous psychological examinations. Unsurprisingly, Dylan reacted poorly to that, lashed out even more violently, hurt even more people, and then was shoved in a cell, in solitary confinement, for the rest of his life. We don’t know how old Dylan was when he killed someone, but based on Darling’s comments on the matter (“He’s just a kid.” “Boys will be boys.”), Dylan must have been young, probably an early teenager.
While Darling was possibly the person who was the most on Team Dylan, due to being the one who helped train him and who pushed for forgiveness when Dylan accidentally killed someone, he still just let it happen when Trench decided to stick Dylan in Containment. There’s no pushing back against Trench, no trying to spring Dylan out, Darling is absolutely complicit in shoving a young man into super jail and leaving him to rot. And really, even though he tried to stick up for Dylan and tried to brush past the accidental murder, Darling still lied to Dylan (claiming that he’d totally be able to see his sister). From the start, Dylan was treated as ‘the next best candidate for the Prime Candidate Program’ and not as ‘Dylan Faden.’ And Darling’s one of the people most complicit in that.
Also, there’s the whole “my organization kidnapped a kid and I’m totally fine with that” elephant in the room. Even if this kid has the most potential to lead your morally dubious organization, buddy, don’t kidnap kids.
Path to Redemption: You gotta learn how to trust people, my man.
So much of Control could have been avoided if Darling actually talked to people, actually explained what he was doing, actually explained the dangers that were looming over the horizon. Instead, he dove right into an ‘I can fix it myself’ mentality. And that ‘I can fix it myself’ mentality did mitigate some problems with the Hiss’s invasion—but it didn’t fix everything. And things could have gone a lot more smoothly had Darling actually talked to people and warned them directly of the potential problems.
Another thing he needs is to have his faith in the Bureau challenged. There are a lot of aspects where the Bureau isn’t that great! And Darling is in a position where he could change those aspects! His faith and belief in the Federal Bureau of Control probably won’t be outright shattered, but he needs to learn to actually take initiative, step up, and change things for the better instead of going along with Trench’s morally dubious flow. Darling needs to acknowledge the flaws of the FBC, acknowledge that he helped perpetuate those flaws, and acknowledge that he was in the position to change them, he just chose not to. Again: he works for an organization that kidnaps kids. And he sees nothing wrong with the fact that a kid got kidnapped in the first place.
Obviously a warden with a scientific bend would be great for Darling. He’s a big ol’nerd who loves to talk shop and having someone to yammer about theories and run weird experiments with is automatically a point in their favor. But the best sort of warden for him would be someone who pushes him, someone who isn’t content to let things sit at face value. Because again, Darling’s a fun guy. But he needs someone to look past those bowties, wide smiles, and goofy jokes to actually poke at the real problems. And until he gets a permanent warden or someone who is willing to look past that goofy demeanor, there is zero percent chance of Darling actually improving. Why would he focus on something weird like ‘work on yourself’ when there are new things to learn! He’s gonna figure out how the Barge works, baby! No need for personal growth here!
History: Darling’s history on the Control wiki and the two seconds he shows up in Alan Wake 2.
Sample Network Entry/Sample RP: both can be found here!
Special Notes: hi guys. :3
User DW:
allikateorE-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: allikateor at plurk and discord
Other Characters Currently In-Game: none currently!
Character Name: Dr. Casper Darling
Series: Control / Remedy Connected Universe
Age: middle aged man! (We do not have a specific canon age. For what it’s worth, his actor was in his mid to late 50s during the making of Control)
From When?: Post Alan Wake 2. At this point, Darling is trapped in the Dark Place, a spooky weird darkness dimension full of plenty of things that could have killed his ass.
Inmate Justification: Darling has been complicit in the ‘old boy’s club’ mentality of the Bureau, perfectly willing to ignore problems with the Bureau’s structure and operations so that things can operate ‘as normal.’ Special attention has to be paid to Dylan Faden, a child with supernatural abilities who Darling (and Director Trench) basically kidnapped to try and mold into the perfect fit for the Director position. When Dylan didn’t fit that image, he was promptly squirrelled away, locked up, and kept in solitary for years. Likewise, Darling’s needless secrecy and paranoia have actively hindered the Bureau in their dealings with a major threat.
Arrival: Darling agreed to come. Listening to the weird voices broadcasting inside his head hasn’t steered him wrong before!
Abilities/Powers: Dr. Darling is a normal human man with zero supernatural powers. He’s the head of the Research Department at the Federal Bureau of Control, so he’s got knowledge of physics, dimensional research, electronics, acoustics, and just general weird mad scientist shit. His focus is more on the physics side than biology or chemistry, but at the same time he can jerry rig a radio to cut through electrical interference and can study the ‘resonance’ emitted by a supernatural entity.
As a note, Darling has exposed himself to a large amount of Hedron resonance, to the point where he believes Hedron has changed him. We’re not entirely sure what this means or how the resonance has changed Darling, but at the very least it would protect him from having his mind taken over by the Hiss, a different, more hostile type of resonance.
He’s also weirdly toned for a guy that you know has slept in his lab on multiple occasions. Hedron gives you abs, I guess???
Inmate Information: Darling’s a fun guy. He’s a bright, cheerful nerd who makes goofy little instructional videos. But it’s due to his perpetuation of the Bureau’s absolutely fucked up work culture, his treatment of Dylan Faden, and his own secrecy and paranoia that the Oldest House is absolutely fucked once the Hiss enters.
It is obvious that the Federal Bureau of Control isn’t run the best. Under the authority of Director Trench, the Bureau was run under a culture of paranoia, secrecy, and favoritism. For example, the entire Investigations Department was shuttered because it was poking too far into some of the more shady aspects of the Bureau. While Trench was the one making the decisions, Darling was complicit in a lot of them. As the Head of Research and a close friend to Trench, he had the means to say “hey, cut that shit out” at any given moment. Instead, he contributed to that culture, running Research in a way where he could prioritize what he was interested in, promoting people because of favoritism and his personal interest in a project that might not be all that useful as a whole, and promoting a culture of secrecy just because. Darling is well aware of the Bureau’s morally gray actions and doesn’t seem to push back against them in any way. Of course the Bureau is watching their employees’ every move, of course there are people hidden away in Containment, of course an Altered Item might eat someone every now and then, that’s a total bummer but that’s part of the job. Darling is a brilliant man and a good scientist—he’s just a dogshit manager, which is bad when you’re managing a department full of things that can kill people.
The culture of secrecy aspect also plays into Darling’s relationship with Hedron, a paranatural entity that made direct contact with Darling. Darling keeps all of Hedron’s revelations to himself, focusing more on diving in and trying to understand everything instead of actually talking to people about his worries. There is zero reason for you not to tell Emily Pope what the HRAs do! Maybe more people need to know about your fears involving Trench and the Hiss! He’ll make a cute little presentation about the HRAs but not tell people the full extent of what they’re protecting people from—only that it’s classified.
Perhaps one of his most egregious fuck-ups is related to the treatment of Dylan Faden. Dylan Faden is a parautilitarian (a person with supernatural/paranatural powers.) As a child, Dylan was also basically kidnapped by Darling and Trench and enrolled in the Prime Candidate Program, a program focused on training potential replacements for the Director position. Dylan accidentally killed someone, which led to more restrictions, fewer freedoms, and more vigorous psychological examinations. Unsurprisingly, Dylan reacted poorly to that, lashed out even more violently, hurt even more people, and then was shoved in a cell, in solitary confinement, for the rest of his life. We don’t know how old Dylan was when he killed someone, but based on Darling’s comments on the matter (“He’s just a kid.” “Boys will be boys.”), Dylan must have been young, probably an early teenager.
While Darling was possibly the person who was the most on Team Dylan, due to being the one who helped train him and who pushed for forgiveness when Dylan accidentally killed someone, he still just let it happen when Trench decided to stick Dylan in Containment. There’s no pushing back against Trench, no trying to spring Dylan out, Darling is absolutely complicit in shoving a young man into super jail and leaving him to rot. And really, even though he tried to stick up for Dylan and tried to brush past the accidental murder, Darling still lied to Dylan (claiming that he’d totally be able to see his sister). From the start, Dylan was treated as ‘the next best candidate for the Prime Candidate Program’ and not as ‘Dylan Faden.’ And Darling’s one of the people most complicit in that.
Also, there’s the whole “my organization kidnapped a kid and I’m totally fine with that” elephant in the room. Even if this kid has the most potential to lead your morally dubious organization, buddy, don’t kidnap kids.
Path to Redemption: You gotta learn how to trust people, my man.
So much of Control could have been avoided if Darling actually talked to people, actually explained what he was doing, actually explained the dangers that were looming over the horizon. Instead, he dove right into an ‘I can fix it myself’ mentality. And that ‘I can fix it myself’ mentality did mitigate some problems with the Hiss’s invasion—but it didn’t fix everything. And things could have gone a lot more smoothly had Darling actually talked to people and warned them directly of the potential problems.
Another thing he needs is to have his faith in the Bureau challenged. There are a lot of aspects where the Bureau isn’t that great! And Darling is in a position where he could change those aspects! His faith and belief in the Federal Bureau of Control probably won’t be outright shattered, but he needs to learn to actually take initiative, step up, and change things for the better instead of going along with Trench’s morally dubious flow. Darling needs to acknowledge the flaws of the FBC, acknowledge that he helped perpetuate those flaws, and acknowledge that he was in the position to change them, he just chose not to. Again: he works for an organization that kidnaps kids. And he sees nothing wrong with the fact that a kid got kidnapped in the first place.
Obviously a warden with a scientific bend would be great for Darling. He’s a big ol’nerd who loves to talk shop and having someone to yammer about theories and run weird experiments with is automatically a point in their favor. But the best sort of warden for him would be someone who pushes him, someone who isn’t content to let things sit at face value. Because again, Darling’s a fun guy. But he needs someone to look past those bowties, wide smiles, and goofy jokes to actually poke at the real problems. And until he gets a permanent warden or someone who is willing to look past that goofy demeanor, there is zero percent chance of Darling actually improving. Why would he focus on something weird like ‘work on yourself’ when there are new things to learn! He’s gonna figure out how the Barge works, baby! No need for personal growth here!
History: Darling’s history on the Control wiki and the two seconds he shows up in Alan Wake 2.
Sample Network Entry/Sample RP: both can be found here!
Special Notes: hi guys. :3