Desertgourd || Verses
Main Verses:
Default
Godaime Kazekage | Post-War | Pre-ch. 700
From the horrors of war springs hope anew. Not only do the citizens of Sunagakure view Gaara as a protector and leader, but he has also established many cherished bonds, such as those of Naruto, Rock Lee, and his siblings. He has worked tirelessly to improve Suna's economic security and political standing, from an upheaval of mental health treatment for shinobi to strengthened relations between the allied nations.Despite these bonds, his growing political prestige, and existing as one of the most formidable shinobi in the known world, Gaara still struggles with his own humanity. He often does not acknowledge himself as a person who can be loved or who can give love to others, and his interest in romance and sexuality is fleeting and largely academic in nature. He sees himself as an incomplete human; an outsider. He lives for his work as Kazekage and is not quite content but not quite surprised at his perpetual disconnect with what he sees as 'whole' human beings.Some might find him distant or standoffish despite the passion he pours into his work and the bonds he has cultivated with his friends. Others would argue that for a young man who had been denied his humanity since birth, who has only recently learned to care for others and who still believes himself incapable of love, the strides he has already taken are more than worthy of respect.This is the default muse used for all roleplays unless otherwise specified.
Default Gaara can be played at any age and/or with a slightly altered timeline. I do not incorporate Gaara Hiden or Boruto into this verse unless interacting with next gen characters.
Modern
City dweller | mid-20s | Recovering addict
Could anyone blame Rasa, a newly widowed parent of three children under four and a wife barely cold in her grave, for dumping his sickeningly premature newborn into the hands of his brother-in-law?Gaara could.Nothing could not erase the memory of Yashamaru's swift sickness and swifter death, nor the forced reconciliation with his father who in his grief blamed his youngest son for the passing of his beloved and her brother. The years in the Sabaku household were kind to none of them; distant, impossibly strained, the silence like shattered glass fraught with the hopes of what could have been. He fled the day after high school graduation, and immediately crashed and burned.It started small: Marijuana let him sleep dreamlessly for a few hours per night, until it didn't. He graduated to heroin, and soon the habit snowballed into a debilitating addiction as Gaara realized that with a single pinprick from a needle, every sharp, dark edge of his past softened to bliss, every echoing chamber of guilt silenced. The sleep aid had morphed into a tool for survival.In the years that followed Gaara descended into a shallow husk of the young man he used to be. He struggled to maintain relationships with his brother and select few others* , struggled to maintain the most tenuous grasp on his own life, and nearly ruined whatever chance he had for anything resembling normalcy.It would take years and the support of every relationship he did not demolish for him to tackle his demons head-on. He has fought tooth and nail towards a brighter, cleaner future for himself, though keeping his head above water is a daily battle.On better days there is a softness in him, and there is hope. Today, a sober Gaara struggles to make friends, though he does not prefer to be alone. He works a full-time job at a plant nursery. If not there, he can be found in a library, his community garden, pursuing self-defense classes, or even at a local board game night. On worse days he teeters on the brink of relapse.*This verse has developed organically over the course of a decade with strong connections to characters who are no longer active in this world. Yet Gaara, accustomed to loss, presses on.*Important context characters here. A bullet-point timeline of this verse here.
Modern!au-specific headcanons, musings, and drabbles here.
Other Verses:
Prince / Lord
Fantasy-Compatible | Mesopotamia | Teen+
Set in a fictional ancient land, Gaara is the youngest son of a lord who controls large swaths of territory analogous to a mix of Moroccan, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern cultures. Tended to hand and foot by a team of servants while simultaneously forced into the stuffy, rigid structure of royal life, Gaara's future has been predestined since birth: As the youngest of three, and the youngest son at that, his training gears more toward worldliness and a theoretical knowledge of political life rather than for preparation of assuming the throne; his life is that of a spare. His father has attempted to secure him a wife to ensure continuation of the family line and avoid the shame of an invalid son, to no avail.Gaara himself shows a penchant for solitary activities - books, stargazing, gardening, chess. He longs to travel among the "common people". To study their habits, even to walk among them in a bustling marketplace, would be a greater escape than any he could imagine.Rumors speak of a power sealed within him - a curse, a deal with a demon made in the midnight hour at the brink of his mother's death - but, of course, these are only rumors. Aren't they?Gaara has also been played as a young emperor forced into the throne after the deaths of his father and brother. This verse meshes well with non-magical historical fandoms, as well as fantasy fandoms involving dragons, vampires, gods/goddesses, and other magic and mythical creatures.
Super "Hero"
Experiment | Adolescence | Semi-feral
After being offered up for his father's military experimentation program like a pig for slaughter, Gaara has spent his life cordoned off in a secluded, confidential testing zone. He grew up subject to the Area 51-like experiments that eventually give him power to control the terrain around him: The wind, the dust, the earth. He is rumored to not be the only one of his kind; the government aims to use these experimented "super" humans to combat the rising forces of their rival world powers. So Gaara has seen naught but the cold walls of confinement - and in turn, he has been bred strong but wild, immeasurably powerful yet isolated, without a friend or conversation, fed and clothed by the country that owns him and existing only to serve their purposes.Generally played as an escapee.This verse can be adapted widely: Gaara could be a summoned demon or other mythological figure; perhaps, in a superhero fandom where powers are more common, he can have acquired his in some other way. Et cetera.His powers and weaknesses include:
Creation of dust storms: offensive attack + crowd control
Ability to transform himself partially to dust: evasion of attacks + speedy transportation
Manipulation of dry land: crowd control + offensive attack
Water: prevents transformation; makes attacks physically draining
Mental/psychological attacks: his mind is his sanctuary; breaching it can cause a breakdown
Excessive foliage/roots, pipeline, anything disturbing the earth: makes manipulating land difficult
Other
Varies | Infinite possibilites
Gaara's worlds are not limited to these. He can be transplanted into any alternate universe. Below are some examples of past roleplays, but they are by no means comprehensive.
A:TLA - Sandbender; Si Wong tribe/settlement native; varying ages
D&D/Baldur's Gate - Warlock/Human
Cyberpunk/dystopian future
The Last Of Us/Walking Dead/other zombie-type apocalypse
Alternate Modern AUs: High school, et cetera.