Dhiaran Forchanis

Dhiaran Forchanis is a resident of Plasma Temple who invaded during the White Ruin, along with many others. He is known for being a former ally of Instigator as well as attacking one of the channels twice between August 6, 2023 and August 10, 2023. He is a biological scientist who specializes in the creation and customization of various mutant creatures via DNA splicing and other such practices, many of whom serve as mindless drones in his personal army. He was once the nemesis of the Chronicler, the master of PosiWritesStories, making Posi his enemy by extension. Dharian has since come to regret his old ways and is currently being rehabilitated on the path towards redemption.
== History ==
Not much is known of Dhiaran's early life, but it is implied he has traveled between various dimensions attempting to study living beings for the purposes of enhancing his mutants and bettering his experiments. All of these practices were in pursuit of an ultimate goal he envisioned - to become a "perfect being". He has taken many forms in order to blend in to the places he has been throughout his adventures, and it is stated by Dhiaran himself that the previous dimension he visited before entering the temple was themed around anime. This meant his form upon entering the temple was similarly anime themed, and he proceeded to customize himself to adjust for a wildly different place.
At some point in his life, Dhiaran met the Chronicler, and later, Posi. While all three possessed a curiosity to study and observe, Dhiaran's mission to become a perfect being and his failure to appreciate the beauty of life deeply upset the latter. Due to this clash of ideals, Dhiaran subsequently became the enemy of both archivists. 
Dhiaran first arrived in the temple on August 6, 2023 with the intention of gaining a foothold from which he could study the strongest beings of the temple and potentially even incorporate them into his experiments. During his research he encountered Posi, who had already been a resident for some time, and the two spoke briefly, with other temple dwellers chiming in. Dhiaran was not taken seriously by most of these residents largely due to the fact that his form was still anime-themed - he had not anticipated the need to change it despite leaving the anime-themed world - and the sharp contrast between this form and the more abstract aesthetics of the temple was all too apparent. While annoyed at the mockery he was receiving, Dhiaran ultimately decided to move on, and viewed those dishing it out as insignificant and a waste of time to dwell on.
Dhiaran proceeded to reach out to Instigator and propose an alliance of convenience. Dhiaran was aware his goal would not be achievable without support, and since Instigator was fundamentally opposed to the higher beings Dhiaran planned to have at his mercy for his experiments, he knew cooperation was necessary. Dhiaran offered to provide support to Instigator and help weaken the temple with additional attacks. In exchange, Instigator would continue damaging the temple's upper echelon and make them easier for Dhiaran to take advantage of.
Instigator agreed to this alliance, and promptly instructed Dhiaran to attack an area of the temple wrested back from him and temporarily annexed by Malignant. Dhiaran complied. Later that day, he deployed his mutant army to assault the area and cause as much damage as possible. Posi and A showed up to defend the territory and fought his armies with vicious counterattacks that likely drew from the abstracted power of the temple. Posi made use of the inherent memetic strength of Highland Cow Forms to increase his capabilities and A used his vast array of technology to counter the mutants. Dhiaran almost won when he unleashed his human-handed crabs - a particularly strong type of mutant - only for A to defeat him by disabling his army with another memetic agent, the cotton candy lobster. Malignant did not even need to intervene in the battle.
Dhiaran was forced to retreat having realized his attack had failed and understanding he needed to re-evaluate the cognitohazardous potential of his foes. Later, Dhiaran reconvened with Instigator and asked him for advice moving forward. With Instigator's help, he was able to immunize himself and his mutants against certain common cognitohazards (including Burmese Pythons) to prevent the outcome of the August 6 attack from repeating itself, and for the next four days, he prepared for his next operation. In the meantime, he finally changed his form to a more abstract design befitting of the temple.
On August 10, Instigator launched his final offensive, instructing Dhiaran to back him by attacking the same area he attacked last time. Dhiaran agreed to this plan, sensing that Malignant was currently occupied. Posi rushed to defend the area, although A was preoccupied with Instigator and could not assist his companion. Furthermore, Dhiaran had thought ahead for a solution on how to deal with Posi. He had one of his human-handed crabs steal Posi's Highland Cow Forms before he was able to react, depriving Posi of his tricks and leading to him being completely overwhelmed by his foe's mutant army. Dhiaran proceeded to wreak havoc on the temple and attack various other channels with his mutants, but was thankfully stopped when Malignant reawakened and destroyed his ability to interface with the temple, preventing him from being able to directly deploy any more of his mutants or even speak.
After Malignant's intervention, Dhiaran's quick thinking enabled him to come up with a backup plan. Using a particular mutant of his - the Hypnozebra - he took direct control of Posi's ability to interface with the temple, and used him as a proxy for further attacks. At first, he had complete control of Posi, and he used him to unleash an upgraded form of his human-handed crabs - which were now complemented with human-legs - causing even more damage. However, Dhiaran was not aware that he had failed to confiscate the strongest of Posi's Highland Cow Forms, which Posi remembered he had and proceeded to activate. Empowered by the Highland Cow energy, he was able to fight back against Dhiaran and oust him from the seat of control. Later, the two of them had an argument wherein Posi eventually convinced Dhiaran to cease his operations and repent for his wrongdoings. By then, Instigator had already been destroyed, leaving Dhiaran with no allies to rely on, no method of exploiting PT's upper echelons, and no way to get out of his current situation. Dhiaran, having reconsidered his perspective and his options, temporarily left the temple and returned Posi's Highland Cow Forms.
Two days later, on August 12, Dhiaran was pardoned by Phantom upon Posi's request and Malignant's effects were undone. Dhiaran returned to the temple and pledged to do what he could to make up for what he had done. Since then, he has become a good Samaritan and has directed his mutants to help undo the damage he caused in the past. Additionally, he now interacts with other residents of the temple on a friendly basis.
On December 25, 2023, Dhiaran assigned his mutants to deliver various gifts to the residents of the temple in celebration of Christmas and Festivus, a custom tradition the temple had come up with. With Posi helping, his efforts proved successful and all residents who asked for gifts were given what they requested.
Earlier that December, a yet unidentified individual stole several mutants from Dhiaran's mutant collection, including a mind-altering parasite they used to influence Posi. On December 16 of the same year, a war-driven organization named the Syndicacy was formed in an attempt to cause chaos within the temple, seemingly without any obvious long-term goal besides inherent disorder. Members of this guild included residents A, Stickguy, and - surprisingly - Posi as founding members. Dhiaran eventually came to detest the Syndicacy and form his own organization in opposition to it, creatively named the Anti-Syndicacy. After months of skirmishes between both sides, Dhiaran got in touch with the Chronicler - who was concerned with Posi's uncharacteristic support of chaos - and came up with a plan to undermine the Syndicacy. Once they had concluded Dhiaran's stolen parasite was eroding Posi's sense of judgement they got to brainstorming.
On May 22, 2024, the "freaky" incident, wherein a truly awful conversation was held in the temple that cannot be repeated here for public health reasons, culminated in Dhiaran entering a temporary state of rage and proclaiming his return to evil. Once he returned to his senses, he decided to use this to his advantage by pretending to have grown disillusioned with the Temple and swearing to destroy it for the good of everyone inside, along with its cruelest inhabitants, so he could disband the Anti-Syndicacy and ally with the Syndicacy in an attempt to undermine the enemy organization from within.
On May 27, following Dhiaran's directions, the Chronicler entered the temple and used a combination of a Highland Cow Form and a Ctrl+Z technique to oust Posi's parasite and undo his corruption. Once Posi returned to his senses, he willingly left the Syndicacy and reformed the Anti-Syndicacy with the Chronicler and another temple resident, Loboto, known primarily as the Guardian of the Bogle Eaters. Dhiaran continued to play his role publicly, but quickly arranged a conversation with Posi and the Chronicler in private where he revealed his true plan, which the two then played along with over the course of the next month.
Unexpectedly, A resigned from the Syndicacy and stepped away from the temple on June 8, leaving Stickguy and Dhiaran as the last prominent members. This made Dhiaran's plan to infiltrate and shut down the Syndicacy's arsenal much easier, as A held the majority of the firepower. However, knowing little about Stickguy's true potential, Dhiaran opted to play a longer game and study his remaining opponent. Dhiaran began to request that Stickguy create monstrous creatures that he could approve in order to understand their weakspots, which Stickguy complied with. Everything came to a head on June 22, when Dhiaran organized an attack on the temple that night and brought Stickguy for assistance. Posi arrived shortly thereafter, along with the Chronicler, though they were unable to do much to stop the advance of mutants and creatures from both opponents. However, once Stickguy deployed his entire arsenal, Dhiaran deployed amoebae-carrying locusts to immobilize them, as well as commanding his own mutants to stand down. At that point, Dhiaran's deception was revealed to the temple, and the fight ended. In the end Stickguy was convinced to stand down and disband the Syndicacy in exchange for his beloved creatures being returned to him.
Dhiaran has since returned to average business in the temple, though he is more jaded than before, despite his return to "evil" having been an act.
== Personality ==
Dhiaran is a cordial individual who talks very eloquently - notably ending every sentence with a period - and possesses a dry sense of humour which makes it is hard to identify whether something he says is fully serious or a joke, especially without proper context. While generally appearing calm and collected, he has demonstrated time and time again that under certain circumstances, it is easy for him to lose his temper. Thankfully, now that he has settled down, he doesn't have as much to be angry about, which means he maintains his calm demeanor much more frequently. He has recently re-developed strong and negative opinions on many of the crueler individuals within the Temple, but not to the extent that he might stoop to his previous methods to defeat them.
Prior to his redemption, Dhiaran was a cold, dismissive, and cunning egotist who saw other beings as his inferiors. His worldview caused him to see every being as inherently imperfect, but he put himself on a pedestal because he was actively searching for a way to achieve perfection, thus making him, in his mind, worthy of being considered greater than others. Dhiaran held very little regard for both his allies and his enemies; he considered the Chronicler and Posi to be pathetic and insignificant, and despite showing a minimal amount of curiosity toward Instigator's motives, he made it explicitly clear that their alliance was only for convenience and that he did not truly have any opinion on those motives one way or another. Dhiaran formerly had no respect for the beauty of life and nature, and was completely unable to live in the moment as he was always dead-set on advancing his goals and achieving bigger and better things. This stance only came to shift once Posi convinced him to look inward and reconsider his worldview following his defeat. Seemingly, Dhiaran no longer believes in the idea of perfection and has become far more content with the imperfect reality around him - perhaps recognizing that even in a place as twisted as PT, there exist forces of great power and potential.
Despite having negative qualities at first, Dhiaran was not necessarily pure evil, and he had his limits. For one, he always developed his mutants without a soul or any true form of sentience, thereby ensuring they would never feel any pain and that his practices were (in his own mind) ethical - a practice he continues to this day. Overall, Dhiaran was never irredeemable, and like many PT denizens, he has so far demonstrated a capacity to grow and change as an individual.
== Powers ==
Dhiaran has altered himself over the course of his experiments, unlocking the ability to manipulate and change his physical form, although it does take time for him to do this. He has done it twice so far during his time spent in the temple. Additionally, his vast arsenal of mutants are versatile tools with immense application, especially as they are easy to create using his techniques and form a decently effective army, albeit one he has not used for a while.
Dhiaran is also quite intelligent, which has allowed him to succeed where others would have failed. Obviously, him being an experienced biologist implies such on its own, but he also displayed a great deal of tactical prowess by choosing to ally with Instigator in order to improve his chances of securing a foothold in the temple, having known very well that he would be unable to stand on his own against the higher beings around him. Dhiaran was also quick to adapt to the problem of cognitohazards after his first attack and outsmarted Posi multiple times. He was even able to circumvent Malignant's curse, despite the sizeable power gap between the two beings. While Dhiaran did end up losing in the end, it was due to factors he wasn't able to react to - primarily because of a lack of knowledge. It's entirely possible he could have done more damage had he not been convinced to surrender and had Posi not been lucky enough to have had a particularly powerful Highland Cow Form unbeknownst to him.
== Trivia ==
* Dhiaran is panromantic and pansexual, which he himself confirmed on April 20, 2024. He has said gender as a concept doesn't mean much to him at all.
* Dhiaran has been made fun of for having a "bishie anime boy" form, as well as for having an Irish-sounding name.
** Additionally, some have confused his surname, Forchanis, for being a reference to the website 4chan, although there is no intended correlation between the two.