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@morreafirebird
Thanks, and thank you so much for the critique! <3 Also I love your premise (I’ll probably come back and try to articulate some questions about the story cos it sounds so intriguing!)

Ooh I probably would go with that but I’ve already tied their history into the theme as representing the Church. I might go back and write a different story delving deeper into their reasons but mostly the political atmosphere and the varying accounts are just a web there. Although there were ability-borns who abused their powers there’s, at this point in their history, no way to know whether it was just a couple bad apples or the majority and there were enough people who hated them as a whole and enough rumors everywhere that the damage was done on both sides. The thematic idea surrounding the ability-borns is that instead of getting lost pointing fingers for the damage caused in the past both sides need to see the damage they’re causing that’s right in front of their faces. And, since they represent God’s chosen people it a thematic matter of can the people regain their faith in the Church before it’s too late? And how will things shift after this abuse?
But this one might be just in the very background for most of my story since there’s a lotta “plot bunnies” I’m trying not to chase XD.

I love this question! One of the most important facets of his character is that he’s a really compassionate (and sarcastic) person and that’s constantly in conflict with how desperate he is.
Uh, lemmie see…medically speaking when someone is abused–especially during childhood–there are two basic patterns most victims follow growing up; to be a repeat victim or become an abuser. The reason for this is that while the brain is developing of course it imprints behavior patterns to establish a “normal” so you either learn how to imitate the key figures in your life or to fit into your “role” in a family or team or unit. So, for example, victims very often imitate their abusers mannerisms in specific instances and there’s a survival mindset for everything.
Alessio leans heavily on the repeat-victim spectrum and he knows it but he doesn’t know how to break out of it. There’s no understanding of boundaries for people who’ve been abused, there’s no sense of what’s appropriate/safe/proper to say or do. So he’s always in conflict because he has a very strong moral compass but he believes he’s a villain because he can see how much he’s been influenced by his abusers.
In this story he’s trying to distance himself from another bad situation and establish an identity outside of his trauma. But he always puts other people first, he’s learned not to hear his own needs or wants, and so he can’t articulate anything emotionally and he can’t ask for help, part of his trauma response is being unable to ask for help because he can’t allow himself to be vulnerable.
But the main villain is a good foil to Alessio’s character because he’s been through a lot of trauma too but he responds by using his trauma as a way to gain sympathy and has become an abuser himself, but Alessio can identify so well with the villain (who he grew up with) he’s always struggling wanting to redeem the villain and a sense of dependency toward the villain who’s one of the few people who understands Alessio emotionally.