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Does your character have an interesting history? Are you just curious about how other people came up with their characters? Got writer's block and need some suggestions about some aspect of your story? This is the place for you!

Post character histories, descriptions, artwork with particular meaning behind it, and any questions you might have towards other guild member's characters in here!



Let's not make this another picture post thread, but rather try to only post pictures which support the discussion at hand. As such, links or thumbnails are appriciated.

Augh. The next few stories are long'uns.

Click here to read the full sumary of the events : The Return of J. Azaheir

My personal favorite bit of that story, and something that I actually drew two nights ago at work. I'll edit this post with the picture as soon as it's been scanned!

That Thing That Happened In Mechanus
Involved characters:
Lilith Aelorothi
J. Azahaier
Jack of the Hill
Jared Tabit
Rika

LittleDream: I have that dictionary (: It's a great reference. I've tried to get friends on board for name suggestions before, too, though ultimately I find none of the names put forward are appropriate - it does, however, help me to come up with my own. Just talking about things like that oftens encourages information to materialise, I find.

Alienarose: I have to ask - can you tell us what is it that the city offers? Or do we have to buy the book? (;

It's interesting to meet a writer whose goal isn't towards publishing - I've only met a few others like that and their world-building skills are incredible. I think I might be a bit too slack for details - I need to dialogue to keep me alive in the writing world (;

Kyrra: It's all right to take inspiration from existing creations - it certainly looks like you've built about ten squidillion levels on top of ideas from games and the like (: Kyrra really has gone through a lot of changes as a character - do you write her story? Or RP it? Or ... something else?

WoefulInfinity: I must be very blind and too far away from the scene, but I never thought he looked "emo" - there's too many other details in his clothing for him to pass as a tortured teen (unless he started wearing only black or stripey clothing ...). Meanwhile, I think the idea of a potentially genetic scar is completely cool and I wish I'd had the idea myself (;

A vaguely related question: since he's a hawk-mage, would typical victims of hawks react to him similarly? I read (I think - I hope I'm not imagining it) somewhere that hawks prey on hares - if Rivek stepped in the midst of a room full of hares, would they run away? Do all animals know of his birdish tendencies? Or only hawks?

Raesha: I'd hate to attend a family reunion at Raesha's place (;

I thought your elven races were likely completely unique - I wouldn't call myself King of the Knowing of Elven Races, but a lot of existing ones I can usually recall, and none of yours sounded familiar to me. With the Greek naming principle in mind - are the elves connected to the things they're named for? i.e. tree/forrest named elves living in trees/forrests and/or having an appearance related to that (I don't know how that would work, but it could!). Also, since Raesha's name is like Nafreaja's, is that a common naming convention in Nafreaja's society?

Interesting method used to pick Neila's name (; I'm also envious of your world name - that is excellent.

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I hope all of my responses/questions weren't too boring (and I hope I didn't miss responding to anyone who answered my questions before) - I still want to go through Anetra's posts in this thread more thoroughly and grill her ask her relevant and not boring questions (: I do have another question for everyone, though, inspired by Kyrra's remarks on how her character represents her:

Writers are often prompted to name one of their characters who they are most like. Which of your characters is most like you? I know a few people around here have the same username as their OCs, so it's likely a given in some cases, but if you care to expand on similarities between yourself and your character, that would be excellent, too.

Audley - Most animals will be able to sense the hawk-magic, humans will mostly not. For example, hares do freak out, he naturally doesn't really like cats, but horses don't give a damn.

Haha, I forgot to say that he;s kind of connected to his own bird, Vika, so, like, the two of them can communicate on an almost human level. With other birds, it's more like talking in pictures - with Vika is pratically verbal.

:p Pah, if it's not obvious, Rivek is probably most like me. Just because I've worked with him so long.


Hehe... wow.
... I don't know much about elves, but I'm learning. XD;


Lol. I'm not gonna post profiles in this thread or anything. I'll only respond if asked. I'm too lazy... XD;

Audley,

Basically the history is this. These 10 people discovered a power source in the land - I haven't fully developed what exactly it was, but they were each able to take a piece of it and it manifested itself within them as a different ability. So one man received strength and longevity, another the gift of music, another supreme intellect, another the power to dream and see visions, another the ability to make all things grow, and so on and so forth. They built the city where they discovered the power source and transferred the gifts to their families. However, unfortunately greed prevailed and they all began fighting among each other and it escalated until the original 10 decided to seal the power back up within a 4'x4' stone named the "Vion," engraved with their family names to prevent anything further from happening. They discovered that they still retained a fraction of the power, though, in their family lines. The is the beginning that I've not written yet...the rise.

So my long novel is set several generations later and it focuses on many people who are among the ten families. They're the nobility of the city and they keep their abilities private, attributing it all to simply being the trade with which they're gifted rather than anything supernatural. So the story of the power source is considered just that...nothing more than a story. In this novel, though, the guy who becomes the leader in the ruling dynasty, is obsessed with the old stories and wants to be privy to Vionelle's power. When he discovers that it is spread through the bloodline only, he goes into a rage and makes it his mission to destroy anyone who's of the ten families. So this novel isn't too happy...I'm stuck at my first execution and even after that, there's going to be a mass killing of one of the families in its entirety. The families, once comfortable in the lap of luxury are forced to either leave the city or go underground. So this is basically the fall. This story is long, but still only halfway complete! I'm already brainstorming for the next generation of kids who'll come from the current cast.

And then fast forward to my novella, which was actually written first. The families are long gone and nothing more than a myth. The bad ruler from the long novel had history officially rewritten so now the families only have a brief mention in the founding of the city and nothing more. However, there were those who lived underground all this time and they fight to keep the legacy alive. A great earthquake befalls the city, but one portion of it remains untouched, as if something was shielding it. A young man, Gilbert, who's actually descended from the protective family of the city (the Moreighs - more about them in a second), knows that the prophecy that a key will emerge is taking place and he's determined to find that key. One person will be able to unlock all of Vionelle's power from that stone (which is far underground and only a few people know where it is). So he's got to find the person and the stone.

My character, Elle, gets sucked into the drama, accidentally so she thinks (and so thinks John, younger brother to the leader of the Moreighs), and the two are involved in a race against Gilbert to the stone. What they don't realize is that Elle is actually the "Key" that was prophecied about. And incidentally they learn that after they fall in love. As she gets closer to the stone, the city responds to her. It pulses, she discovers an underground garden, long dead, and it blooms at her touch, etc. When they reach the stone, the older brother is able to verify that yes, indeed, she is the key and she's got to get out of the city or risk dying at Gilbert's hands because the locked away power is so great that if she were used to release it, in it's rush to escape the stone, the sheer volumn of it would kill her (and could cause a great explosion that could take out most of the city too).

So this wouldn't be so bad love-wise if it weren't for the fact that the Moreighs, the defending family of the city and one of the original ten, were supernaturally bound to the city. They had the greatest power of all the families, but the highest cost. They could not set foot outside the city's boundaries or they'd die. So John can't leave and Elle can't stay. The story ends with Elle riding away and John's older brother assuring him that it can't be the end, that there's got to be a happy ending somewhere, but for now, they have much to do.

Heh heh...probably much more than you wanted to know, but it's kind of hard to explain without really telling the story. I've left the novella open ended then so I can write a sequel to it - perhaps a way that John and Elle can be reunited and the threat from Gilbert or anyone else who would want to unseal the Vion can be eliminated.

And oh yeah...with character names, Elle's name was key because combine that with the name of the stone, and you have the name of the city. Vionelle.

And lastly, which character is most like me? I can't really say. I put a little of me in all of them. So I take different traits of mine and accentuate them in different characters. So little insecurities I have may turn up as big ones in a character. My dorky sense of humor is hightened in another. The way I react to difficult situations is apparent in yet another.

Yes, yes they are. 3nodding Besides thier appearances, and the terrain they live in (both connected), they also draw thier power (those that use magic) from the element with which they are associated--air, sun, flora, and stone. [Read about thier uniqueness in responce to Anetra, below.]



Yep. 3nodding Parents will typically take a bit of thier own name and incorporate it into thier child's. They see it as kind of giving a piece of themselves to thier child. "Raesha" however, is not a typical Ouranos name. Nafreaja herself had a very hard time accepting the birth of this 'abonination'. She suffered many bouts of insanity durring which she hated herself and hated her baby and even tried to smother her a few times. It was durring these bouts of insanity that Raesha got her name. What her real full given name is, I can't tell you...but basically 'Raesha' is a derogatory nickname (adding the suffix 'sha' after the first sylabal of someone's name) that Nafraeja used to shout at her as a baby durring her fits of insanity. Eventually it just stuck, and Raesha was never aware of it's neggative connotations (and by never, I mean never whilst growing up--she later finds her mother's journal and...well, there's a whole mess of stuff that comes out of that!).


While my Gaian name is the same as my Raesha, I can't say I'm really much like her. whee ;; Sure, I'm angsty, bitchy, and misanthropic, but really we just share a name because when I origianlly joined Gaia, it was just to get art of Raesha. I used to dress my avatar must like her as well *puts that outfit back on just for kicks*--hence the dark skin and grey hair. If any of my characters resembles me more than the others, it's Neila. Like Neila, I'm insecure, untrusting of other people's motives and sencerity, yearning for love....


Actually they're less alike than you assume. ^_^;;; Originally, yes, the Ouranos and Petros were based on Avariel and Drow, buuuut.... Psycologically and culturally, the Ouranos are more similar to Grey Elves. But much more ethnocentric. Extremely so. The Helios are sort of a Sun and High elf mix, though probably more similar to the High Elves or the Qualinesti. Then Dendros are less from any particular setting and more just your sterotypical wild or forest elf that non-gamers/fantasy readers are familar with. If I had to pick a known elven race to identify them with, it would be most closely Wild Elves or the Kagonesti, with a fair sprinkeling of Sylvan. As for the Petros...well, they're really quite similar to the Drow. A bit toned down though, yes. They do have thier fair share of differences (I actually changed thier name originally because a 'Drow expert' was drilling me and getting all pissy trying to get me to change Neila's background because it wasn't 'correct' and she couldn't really be a Drow or some such nonsence... ), but I don't really want to go into thier full racial description. whee ;;
If you're not familar with some of the races I mentioned, here is a great reference. They don't, unfortunatly, discuss the elves of Kyrnn (Dragon Lance). D:


Hahaha, yeah I hate it when people do that. xp

purposeful. I was in the part of the story where Shavi's memories got erased and he got adopted by the one who did it.....he definetely needed a new name so Shivas won't find him that easily...at that moment all I knew is that in the fake memories he was given he'll kill his brother....that's why I called him Cain....andbecause of the influence of the Book of Nod which I was reading xD xD....I love the beginning where it's said that Cain killed Abel from love and not jealousy....besides it's the same thing why my Cain cilled his brother, so I thought it suited him quite good....at first I wanted to name Enoch Abel, but telling the truth, I think that name sounds awful gonk .....again, in the Book of Nod, I've read about the third son of Adam and Eve, named Enoch....I liked how it sounded, and it wasn't that far away in the story, well, he WAS the brother of Cain....so I used this name for my second brother xD xD

What's the Book of Nod? I've not heard of that, but in Genesis of the Bible, it reports the 3rd son of Adam and Eve as being Seth. I think Cain had a son named Enoch and then a little later down in Adam's generation, was the other Enoch - the one who didn't die, but was whisked away by God. He was Methuselah's daddy.

Heh heh...sorry! The Old Testament stories really interest me.

I really like it when people use names from a particular religion or set of myths and they kind of keep the traits of the original characters. Kind of like in Xenosaga, how there were so many religious names for things.