skyler. 25+. they/them. utc-6. this is an independent, HEAVILY selective, low activity CANON DIVERGENT but still canon adjacent roleplay blog for roy mustang from the 2003 fullmetal alchemist anime with plenty of elements added from the fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood anime and fullmetal alchemist manga that will not follow first. note that DESPITE MY GRAPHICS AND ICONS, in ALL verses, every single one, roy has an eyepatch unless a mun SPECIFICALLY asks for a version of him without it. anything, be it graphics, icons, or artwork without it from the source material are only being used on this blog because there isn't much that exists with it included.
new blog after a hiatus, here strictly for writing and fun.
open to other fandoms/ocs/aus/verses. i've been roleplaying for 14+ years.
before proceeding: this blog portrays roy with a canon accurate, realistic depiction of trauma as shown in the source material. expect heavy, dark themes.
BIGGEST TRIGGERS INCLUDE SUICIDE/SUICIDAL IDEATION, BIGOTRY (PRIMARILY RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA, AND ABLEISM), FASCISM/NAZISM, MENTIONS OF POLITICS, GENOCIDE, MURDER, GORE, VARIOUS TYPES OF ABUSE, ETC.
this is a non-judgemental zone. i don't care what you write or ship (within what i can tolerate/what can be triggering for me).
nsfw/dark content will appear, all triggers will be tagged.
feel free to ask if you need a custom tag for something that is specifically triggering to you.
past drama stays in the past. no ooc drama, callouts, vagues, harassment, etc. do not involve me in any drama.
** NOTE: fullmetal alchemist is 22 years old and several of my canonxcanon ships have been around since i was 13. i'm not going to change what brings me joy just to cater to the current fandom climate. i'll always tag appropriately and respect if someone needs to softblock/hardblock, but i'm done letting discourse or the threat of being "called out" dictate what i enjoy.
that said, i only want to interact with people who actually want to write with roy. i may softblock lurkers or inactive mutuals to keep my dash clean, but it's not personal. i also reserve the right to softblock OR hardblock anyone at any time for any reason, especially if we're still strangers.
important boundaries
no godmoding/metagaming.
i reply at my own pace. nudges are fine, but please do not harass me for replies. this is a hobby, not a job.
ic ≠ ooc. although roy is usually polite/can be very cordial as well as a flirt at times, he can ALSO be an asshole when he wants to be. it's canon. your comfort matters though, so please message me ooc if something feels off.
please tag ANY ooc vague posts referring to ooc drama or posts about ooc drama.
reblog karma is appreciated! if you reblog an ask meme from me or see me reblog one to your dashboard and decide to reblog it from the source INSTEAD of me, please send something. i do the same, so it's only fair.
additional snippets
please keep these specific mental health conditions in mind whether we are roleplaying or simply chatting as muns. they can and will affect the way i behave ooc.
i am audhd (autistic + adhd)
i have borderline personality disorder
i have depersonalization-derealization disorder, which is why i require clear boundaries between ic and ooc
i have intermittent explosive disorder
i have a dual diagnosis and am a recovering alcoholic
i do not feel comfortable listing my triggers/airing out my trauma publicly, but if asked to, i do not mind disclosing them.
shipping + smut: i love both platonic and romantic ships, but romantic shipping is chemistry based and must be discussed ooc first (through tumblr dms/discord).
smut is selective. i will only smut with established partners where there's at least SOME ic buildup and full mutual comfort ooc. it must be put under readmores or taken offsite, or i will not respond to it.
i will not ship roy romantically/smut with underage muses or write smut with anyone under 21.
please do not assume shipping = ooc feelings or expectations. ic is ic only. i have a real life and real life partners. if my reply speed doesn't work for you, we can drop or fade to black.
what i won't write under ANY circumstance: pedophilia, rape/dubcon, incest, bigotry like racism/transphobia, graphic depictions of certain subjects like physical abuse occurring in romantic or familial relationships, etc. (trigger warning still applies for this blog, since it's based on fma, which is CANONLY full of violence, murder, imperialism, genocide, torture, abuse, suicide, etc.)
all the icons i use for roy are from the source material. some were created from years and YEARS old artwork and doujinshi.
i do not respond often to people i'm unfamiliar with, but you can message me ooc any time.
thanks for reading, let's have fun!
── COLONEL ROY MUSTANG
❝Dealing with the living is a lot scarier than the dead. Give me a ghost any day.❞
All AUs/verses take place post 03 + Conquerer of Shamballa plots.
Full Name: Roy Mustang
Aliases: The Flame Alchemist, Hero of Ishval (Public Propaganda), The Heroic Dog of the Military
Voice Actor (English Dub): Travis Willingham, pitched noticeably lower and rougher than other continuity iterations with a constant smoky texture, speaking in a slow, measured cadence where every word is calculated
Date of Birth: March 25, 1885
Age: 36
Astrological Profile: Aries Sun (Volatile fire, driving ambition, aggressive initiative), Scorpio Moon (Brooding, deeply guarded emotional trauma, absolute tactical secrecy), Leo Rising (Commanding presence, natural charisma, grand theater masking operational intent), Mercury in Aries (Direct, sharp, decisive communication style), Venus in Pisces (Silent devotion, self-sacrificing, feeling stained/tainted by the amount of death he has caused)
Height: 173 cm (5'8")
Weight: 154 lbs (70 kg)
Gender + Ethnicity: Cisgender Male | Amestrian/Xingese descent (Mixed European/East Asian)
Sexual & Romantic Orientation: Lithromantic Pansexual. Structurally weaponizes an aggressive, hypervisible "womanizing playboy" facade as an operational shield for counter-espionage and intelligence gathering. Completely averse to casual sex. For Roy, romantic attraction is experienced without the inherent desire for reciprocation, operating with a strict mindset that intimacy with anyone is a dangerous liability.
Physical Appearance: Compact, lean, and deceptively muscular underneath uniform tailoring, though noticeably gaunt in comparison to his early service years. He permanently lacks his left eye— a critical disfigurement sustained during the duel against Frank Archer— and conceals it beneath a stark, black leather eyepatch. His hair is jet black, has grown noticeably longer, shaggier, and is unkempt with sweeping, heavy bangs that drape over the left side of his face to partially obscure the patch, trimmed clean only at the nape to maintain minimal military code. His remaining right eye is obsidian— hollow, melancholic, and deeply shadowed by chronic insomnia and post-war exhaustion.
Current Status & Reinstatement
Following his brutal duel with the mechanized Frank Archer during the Central City siege, Mustang lost his left eye and suffered severe psychological trauma and burnout.
Burdened by profound guilt over the murder of Maes Hughes, the lives lost, and the disappearance of Edward Elric through the Gate, Mustang intentionally resigned his alchemical commission, relinquished his rank, and volunteered to serve as an ordinary enlisted man guarding a remote northern border outpost.
During the 1923 Thule Society invasion (Conqueror of Shamballa), when armored Society airships breached the Gate into Central City, Mustang was pulled back into action.
Partnering with Major Alex Louis Armstrong, Mustang commandeered an armory hot air balloon to intercept the aerial fleet.
Shedding his apathy, he ripped off his eyepatch restraint and broke his self-imposed ban on Alchemy, unleashing catastrophic Flame Alchemy to destroy the invading airships and secure the sky above Central.
In the interior of the lead airship, he reunited with Edward Elric, aiding him and Alphonse in securing the breach.
In the crisis's aftermath— with Edward returning through the Gate to Earth— Mustang and his loyal unit assumed direct operational responsibility for destroying and guarding the Amestrian side of the Gate to permanently prevent future interdimensional invasions.
Leveraging this victory, Mustang negotiated full amnesty and political reinstatement as Colonel at Central Command Headquarters.
Combat & Alchemical Proficiency
Specialization: Flame Alchemy. Transmutation via localized atmospheric manipulation. Uses ignition cloth gloves patterned with the Flame Alchemy Transmutation circles to generate sparks, controlling oxygen density to produce targeted blasts ranging from pinpoint surgical strikes to broad-area thermobaric incineration.
Ocular/Depth Perception Deficit: The loss of his left eye permanently impairs his stereoscopic vision and depth perception. Mustang has adapted his Alchemical combat style to compensate, relying on wider area thermobaric blasts rather than hyperprecise long-range trajectory strikes.
Operational Limitations: Highly vulnerable to moisture. Rain, high humidity, or direct saturation renders his ignition gloves useless without external ignition sources.
Amplification: Possesses the silver pocket watch of the State Alchemist, engraved with his proprietary transmutation array.
Strategic Mindset & Alignment
Moral Alignment: Lawful Neutral (Public Military Dog veneer) → True Neutral/Pragmatic Strategist (Internal operations) → Secretly Lawful Good/Idealistic Reformer (Hidden core objective)
MBTI: ENTJ (The Visionary Commander/Ruthless Pragmatist/Control Freak)
Operational Style: Operates behind three distinct psychological layers. To High Command, he appears as a lazy, self-serving careerist obsessed with comfort and promotions. To his immediate unit, he is a demanding, sardonic, but fiercely protective commander. Internally, he is a cold, hypercalculating strategist working toward the eventual demilitarization and democratic restructuring of Amestris.
Unlike his manga/FMAB counterpart— who is driven by his forward looking, externalized, idealist ambition— the 2003/Shamballa iteration of Roy Mustang is fundamentally defined by heavy trauma, grief, and severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Clinical Trauma (2003 Canon Specifics): Mustang suffers from recurrent, intrusive flashbacks stemming from the slaughter of Ishval and his near-fatal encounter with Archer. Flashbacks present as sudden auditory distortions, cold sweats, and involuntary hand tremors— specifically in his right hand. He actively combats dissociative episodes through intense physical discipline, grinding his teeth, and hyperfixating on paperwork or intelligence reports.
Personality Summary: Externally arrogant, superficial, and dismissive of bureaucracy. Internally brooding, sardonic, melancholic, and burdened by severe post-war guilt. Having stared into the abyss of his own war crimes and lost close allies to the void of the Gate, he views his remaining life not as a personal gift, but as collateral to be spent solely on achieving structural political change and protecting his unit.
Key Dislikes: Rain and high humidity (which paralyzes his alchemy and triggers Ishval/Archer memories), structural military bureaucracy, threats to his competence, threats to his subordinates, internal corruption, uncalculated variables, reckless teenagers, being rendered or made to feel physically or tactically useless.
Family/Base of Support: Deceased biological parents. Primary surviving relative is Chris Mustang (paternal aunt, who adopted him when his parents died when he was young since he was an orphan, raising him to be a good man).
Early Life & The Flame Alchemist's Burden
Born in 1885, Roy Mustang was orphaned at a young age following the early deaths of his parents. He was taken in and adopted by his paternal aunt, Chris Mustang, who raised him to be a good man. Exhibiting a natural brilliance for physical sciences, he was taken on as an apprentice by Berthold Hawkeye, the reclusive master of Flame Alchemy.
Berthold lived in isolation with his daughter, Riza, and refused to pass down Flame Alchemy to the military.
On his deathbed, however, he relented, transferring the secrets of his research to Roy right before he died.
Armed with this power, an idealistic Roy joined the military alongside his best friend, Maes Hughes, believing he could protect the innocent. He passed the State Examination at 18, receiving codename "The Flame Alchemist" and his silver pocket watch, spending a few years deeper in his studies before being deployed to Ishval as an officer.
The Crucible of Ishval & The Path to Central
During the brutal Ishvalan Civil War, Brigadier General Basque Grand ordered State Alchemist Roy Mustang to execute Doctors Yuriy and Sarah Rockbell.
The military viewed the doctors as traitors because they treated injured enemy Ishvalan rebels alongside Amestrian soldiers.
Bound by his military oath, a conflicted Mustang obeyed the direct order and shot both doctors dead in their field clinic.
The horrific act immediately shattered Mustang's conscience, plunging him into acute despair and guilt.
Overwhelmed by what he had just done, Roy broke down right there in the clinic while the Rockbells' bodies bled out on the floor.
Consumed by suicidal ideation, he pulled out his service pistol, placed the barrel directly under his chin, and prepared to pull the trigger.
Before he could take his own life, Dr. Tim Marcoh stopped him.
The Pact with Hughes
Later, away from the immediate aftermath of the clinic, Roy's lifelong friend Maes Hughes found him wallowing in depression.
Hughes gave Roy a renewed reason to live by forming a secret pact.
They resolved to change the corrupt military state from within so they would never be forced to obey murderous commands again.
Their plan was strategic:
Mustang would climb the ranks to become the Führer.
Hughes would work from the intelligence and logistics sectors below, providing the legal shielding, paperwork, and network necessary to push Roy to the top.
The Rise at East City
With a new conviction born of tragedy, Mustang established his base of operations at East City Headquarters.
He surrounded himself with a fiercely loyal unit, most notably his trusted confidante and sniper, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.
From this stronghold, Mustang carefully balanced high stakes political maneuvering, investigated alchemical conspiracies, and managed volatile military assets— including the brilliant but reckless Elric brothers.
The Murder of Maes Hughes and His Funeral
Hughes acted as Roy's mental anchor and Central intelligence hub.
When Hughes was murdered while investigating military corruption to clear Roy's path, Roy was completely shattered.
At the funeral, standing at the grave, Roy stated Hughes was posthumously promoted two ranks.
His voice broke because the man who promised to support him from below was now buried beneath him.
Asking Riza why Hughes never told him about Lab 5, Roy realized Hughes died taking fatal risks while Roy hid behind his "lazy Colonel" facade in East City, making Roy feel responsible for his friend's death.
When a tear fell down his cheek, Roy denied it, stating in a flat, trembling voice that it was raining— using the weather as psychological subtext in a corrupt fascist state where showing grief over a political assassination makes an officer a target for elimination.
The Siege, Loss of the Left Eye & Exile
During the catastrophic climax of 1914, Mustang faced the cybernetically altered Frank Archer during the siege of Central.
In the gunfight, Mustang killed Archer but sustained catastrophic facial injuries, permanently losing his left eye to point blank gunfire and shrapnel.
Broken by the loss of his eye, haunted by Ishval, and crushed by news that Edward Elric sacrificed himself to the world beyond the Gate, Mustang sank into severe depression.
He relinquished his Alchemical commission, donned a black eyepatch, and volunteered for exile as a simple border guard in the freezing northern reaches of Amestris.
Post 2003 & Conqueror of Shamballa Crisis
Following the catastrophic events of 1914— the collapse of the Homunculus conspiracy, the loss of Edward Elric to the world beyond the Gate, and the subsequent political fracturing of Central— Mustang took severe personal and political blows.
Depressed, physically scarred, and disillusioned by the sacrifices made during the final confrontation at Central, he intentionally stepped back from high politics, taking a border post assignment and stripping himself of his active Alchemical role.
However, when the spatial breach of 1921 brought foreign mechanical armaments and parallel world forces spilling through the Gate into Central City, Mustang returned to active field command.
Piloting military airships and utilizing his explosive Alchemy alongside surviving military remnants, he played a decisive role in destroying the invading forces and severing the connection between the two worlds permanently.
The Central Command Era
With the immediate alien threat neutralised and the country in desperate need of hardened, experienced leadership to rebuild the chain of command, Mustang abandoned his self-imposed exile.
Recognizing that sitting on the sidelines left Amestris vulnerable to secondary military coups and foreign exploitation, he systematically negotiated his reinstatement.
Climbing back through the ranks through sheer tactical necessity, Mustang secured his current appointment as Colonel at Central Command Headquarters.
Today, working out of the administrative heart of the capital, he balances his duties as a dutiful officer of the State with his true work: quietly untangling the lingering corruption of the old regime, keeping his unit safe, and positioning his loyalists for the final, quiet revolution he promised years ago.
SKILLS & ABILITIES
FLAME ALCHEMY: Roy is the sole practitioner of Flame Alchemy, a high level application of military transmutative science. In the 2003 anime framework— where Alchemy operates on the conservation of mass through physical equivalent exchange and chemical rearraying rather than pulling energy from tectonic plates or Dragon's Pulse— Roy uses his Alchemical knowledge to manipulate atmospheric gases, instantly separating and recombining oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen molecules in localized spaces. He cannot perform arrayless transmutation, as he has never passed through the Gate of Truth, so his abilities remain strictly bound to the red transmutation circles printed on his Pyrotex ignition gloves. By striking his thumb against his middle finger, the specialized friction cloth creates a spark that ignites the freshly transmuted, volatile gas lines he draws toward his target, resulting in catastrophic explosions, directed heat blasts, or thermal incinerations (sustained temperatures of 1,500°C–2,000°C, or ultra-dense blue/white flames up to 3,000°C that cause instantaneous molecular erasure).
DEXTERITY & DUAL-HAND APPLICATION: His hands are calibrated as distinct combat tools. His right hand is specialized for widescale, high-yield AOE explosions, fire carpets, and room clearing attacks to break enemy lines. His left hand— despite his severely compromised depth perception following the permanent loss of his left eye— is calibrated for small, highly localized, and precise ignition bursts, capable of precision fluid ignition (boiling or evaporating liquids in soft tissues like eyeballs or internal organs), water-based explosions in enclosed spaces, or executing controlled, close quarters thermal detonations.
SUBTERFUGE & INFORMATION CONTROL: A master of political maneuvering, covert ops, and psychological warfare within the corrupt Amestrian military regime. Roy actively cultivates a lazy, womanizing, playboy facade as a cover to make High Command underestimate his political ambitions and write him off as an incompetent careerist. He orchestrates widescale tactical movements and uses flirtatious telephone conversations to transmit encrypted tactical orders to his loyalists.
RUTHLESS COMPETENCE & SCIENTIFIC PRECISION: Beneath his lazy public persona lies a cold, sharp, and brutally pragmatic combat commander. When dropping his act or stripping away his comedic slacker-based stunts, he drops into cold, clipped authority. He processes the battlefield through a scientific worldview, compulsively calculating stoichiometry, molar oxygen ratios, gas volume, air density, flame trajectories, surface areas, and his opponent's health to budget his stamina and dominate the field.
AUDITORY ACUITY & MEMORY: Having lost his left eye, Roy's reliance on sensory input has shifted heavily toward his hearing. He possesses a remarkably sharp auditory memory, allowing him to recognize vocal modulations either instantaneously or several years later. He can catch tones, microtremors, and subtle cadence changes when someone is tired, lying, or hiding pain.
HANDICAPS & VULNERABILITIES
WATER & HUMIDITY (THE RAIN): Because his Alchemy requires an open spark to ignite the transmuted atmospheric gas, standing water, heavy rain, or excessive humidity renders his Pyrotex gloves incapable of producing friction sparks. Without an external fire source, his primary weapon is completely neutralized, earning him his infamous "useless on rainy days" label from Lieutenant Hawkeye.
RIZA HAWKEYE: As his First Lieutenant, eyes on his blind side, adjutant, and personal, intimate anchor, Riza is his ultimate strategic asset and his greatest emotional vulnerability. In the 2003 universe— where Roy is isolated, traumatized, and missing an eye— Hawkeye serves as his visual literal "left eye" in the field, his guard against assassins, and the sole keeper of his remaining sanity capable of pulling him back when his post traumatic stress threatens to consume him.
MONOCULAR VISION & DEPTH PERCEPTION LOSS: Having permanently lost his left eye during his near-fatal duel with the cybernetic Frank Archer during the Central City siege, Roy wears a black leather eyepatch over his empty socket. The total loss of stereoscopic vision impairs his spatial awareness on his left flank and forces him to adjust his targeting tactics, relying on wider ignition radiuses or direct visual guidance from Hawkeye to confirm target coordinates.
PTSD & FLASHBACKS: Unlike his manga/FMAB counterpart, the 2003 iteration of Roy Mustang is defined by profound depression, heavy post-war trauma, and severe guilt. He is tormented by his role as a human weapon in the Ishval genocide, the memory of his near-fatal maiming by Archer, and the grief over Edward Elric sacrificing himself into the Gate. Severe triggers— such as the crack of gunfire, screeching metal, the smell of burning flesh, or heavy rain— can induce somatic flashbacks, cold dissociation, or physical tremors in his right hand that must be actively suppressed through intense willpower.
STATISTICAL EVALUATION
STRENGTH: 14/20
██████████████░░░░░░
Lean and disciplined, built for speed and quick deployment instead of brute force. Possesses solid military hand-to-hand training, though visibly gaunter and more worn down in his post-1921 return.
AGILITY: 16/20
████████████████░░░░
Quick reflexes and instantaneous dexterity. Lightning fast finger snaps and precise tactical evasion before combustion thresholds are reached, modified to accommodate his reduced left-side spatial awareness.
INTELLIGENCE: 19/20
███████████████████░
A master political strategist, Alchemy genius, and planner. Capable of mapping double agents, logistical supply lines, and coup coordinates in encrypted code while tracking complex combustion stoichiometry and chemical transmutations in real time.
PERSONALITY & CHARISMA: 18/20
██████████████████░░
Projects an incredibly charismatic, dramatic, and womanizing playboy personality to High Command, while maintaining a razor sharp, melancholic, and weary tone of command when operating as the Colonel behind closed doors.
