"I'm NOBODY'S puppet!"

Your name or online alias: Ben, aka maruhkati, aka BBQ Platypus (bbq_platypus)
Your email: [REDACTED - available upon request, if I like you]
Another preferred means of contact: Plurk (maruhkati), AIM (bbqplatypus_318)
Character's Full Name: Dominar Rygel XVI
Character's Canon: Farscape
Character's Journal Name: heliumfart
What would you like your character's tag to be?: Rygel

Answer the following questions in no less than 300 words but no greater than 1000 words put together...
Character's background (their past and present): Dominar Rygel XVI is the deposed ruler of the Hynerian Empire. Over 130 cycles ago, he was overthrown by his treacherous cousin Bishaan and publicly declared dead. In reality, he spent those long years being held prisoner by the Peacekeepers, who humiliated and tortured him in countless ways.

After many transfers to various planets and prison ships, he found himself aboard a Leviathan - a living ship named Moya. This ship had numerous passages and ducts that only a creature of his size could use, and he used these tunnels to engineer a jailbreak. After helping Moya and her passengers (themselves wanted criminals) escape Peacekeeper imprisonment, he has spent most of the last cycle either eating or stealing everything that isn't nailed down.

Character's personality: For the most part, Rygel is a greedy, selfish, and altogether untrustworthy little bastard. He lies and cheats almost pathologically, and he's not above robbing the dead. His first and second concern in life is to depose his perfidious cousin and regain his lost throne. His third concern is to acquire as much wealth as he can in the process. His fourth concern is to eat any food he sees in front of him. On most occasions, all other concerns are ephemeral.

However, he also possesses a shrewd intellect which proves quite useful in bargaining situations. He even shows a developed sense of courage and inner strength, on such occasions as he chooses to display it. He was able to remain strong in the face of decades of torture and imprisonment, and even managed to face down one of his old torturers to save a shipmate's life. Although he couches everything in terms of his own self-interest, he is not wholly incapable about caring about others - as dominar, he must concern himself with the welfare of his subjects as part of the job. Privately, he considers the crew of Moya to be his friends, though he would never dare tell them so directly.

Character's skills/abilities/powers: He is a shrewd and skilled liar and diplomat. His small size and crafty nature also give him a great advantage when it comes to escaping tight situations. When he has eaten of the tannot root, his indigestion becomes literally explosive. This can, in a pinch, allow him to be used as a Hynerian flamethrower.

Any special equipment your character is bringing along? This includes weaponry, magic items, etc.: Rygel gets around on a hovering chair called a thronesled. He occasionally carries a small rod which can dispense lethal electric shocks.

Are you bringing your character to ten_fwd from another game? If you are, which game?: No.

Why do you want to play this character in Ten Forward, and what do you plan to do with them? Because I love Farscape, I love the character, and I love the John and Aeryn that we have in Ten Forward. He is a fun, off-beat character that will bounce off other people very well. I'm looking forward to playing him.

Writing Sample #1: Here.