Alright! Did some work on personality. I'd like to respond to some of Arri's questions that she left me in her critique. But first, I should clarify just a little of the mythos stuff, so hopefully it'll be easier to see where I'm coming from.
I've defined the concept more with a story, and at this point I'm planing for Addie to be a blend of Malu and Mulumura. I think this works with the mythos and also better fits Addie's personality. How I explain for this to happen is, at the end of the story, when Mulumura and Malu's bodies are turned into stone, their spirits--in whatever limbo spirits exist in before being manifested as Fa'e--knit together so tight that they merge as one and can not be pulled apart. Hopefully, this is acceptable as Malu/Mulumura are two relatively mundane characters in aboriginee Myth, and it makes sense that they would be together with their deep bond. Dream time seems to be very fluid with spirits transferring themselves to other spirits or places, breaking themselves in two, coming together as one etc, so in the setting it does not seem something particularly radical. This way, Addie would draw more from Malu appearance wise and more from Mulumura personality wise. It also pulls a lot of things in her personality together.
Arrien, you asked some great questions about the feral, animal aspect of her personality, and I'd like to go into those but first I'd like to elaborate on my conception of the dream creatures. I think they're a very interesting concept as they're neither human nor animal, but a blend of both. I figure early aboriginees had very little knowledge of animal physiology and behavior, and so a lot of what you find in the myths--as seen in many other animal myths from other cultures--does not flow with logic. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm trying really hard to stay true to the concept by basing Addie off of the dreamtime myths rather than actual animals. (There is of course, that leg-tendon thing which is definitely more modern kangaroos and I don't have any explanation for that other than I think I really was picking and choosing, trying to incorporate at least a couple modern kangaroo facts, so I definitely see what you mean there. I like that trait, but I'm going to be thinking about it some more before I decide what to do or not do with it.)
Anyway, back to what I was saying. The dreamtime myths are extremely primal, and in my eyes at least, the lack of physical definition or knowledge is part of what gives them the spiritual power they have. One thing I have noticed is that many of the birds and animals in the dreaming seem to be in either half-human or completely human form. Since I don't know the appropriate ratio of human to animal in the story/myth I elaborated on, I specifically tried not to give much physical description to the characters in my version of the story. I wanted to continue in the vein of the dreamtime myths and emulate the same mystery that comes from just not being able to pin down a direct image in your mind.
Moving on, from what I have read, just as most dreaming myths do not go into concrete physical descriptions, they do not define personality either. Dreamtime emus, kangaroos, kookaburras, lizards, humans, all act much the same. They all seem to be based on a single spirit template, if you will. I like to think of it, in my own bizarre associative process, as a kind of unifying animal spirit of ancient Australia that permeates almost every dreamtime myth, no matter what the context. I personally think this creates a mystical air of interconnectivity. I actually tried to take this into consideration as I was designing Addie. So rather than basing her simply off a kangaroo--this is going to sound bad
xd --I tried to base her off…well, many animals. I was going for an indefinable animal spirit or soul, a blend of a lot of different things. I wanted her to be primal and strong and instinctual, the feeling I got from a lot of dream stories, and so, well, I admit I did pick and choose. But I tried to do so for a reason. I was trying to go for a blend of not just a lizard woman and a kangaroo man, but of many different things. Basically I was trying to flesh out and elaborate the personality which resurfaced in many many myths. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that.
Well, I think that's enough of a disclaimer for now. I'm just going to start answering questions!
Arrien
Personality-wise: excellent! Addie's personality is very well-defined, and flaws are difficult to find. The main question that arises for me when I'm looking over this pertains to how she makes friends.
From what I understand, Addie's personality is based heavily on an animal mentality; survival of the fittest, so on and so forth. This is why she is impulsive, why she grabs onto things that interest her and gets upset when people get in the way of her single-minded explorations, and, of course, affects how she learns language. With all these things in mind, why does Addie's personality make an exception at what is a personality I consider best described as "animalistically unreasonable", have a very human loyalty to the friends that make it into her inner circle? Generally speaking, the first rule when basing personality around an animal's is that of survival. A creature will only be loyal as long as it benefits them, unless you want to suggest that Addie is somehow "tame"- which, from the rest of her personality, doesn't seem that likely.
You're definitely right! I edited a little of the personality section on friends, to clarify that her loyalty won't last forever if there comes a reason to take it back. It's based more on hierarchy than anything else. She is instinctually loyal to those who have proved themselves as beneficial to herself, whether that be through protection, company, etc etc. I added a paragraph on Addie's perception of authority for a little more information here. Still, it is something I am hesitant to radically alter. She's not beyond leaving friends if the relationship isn't benefiting her, but the fact is, she is protective of those who come into come into her circle, just as many animals have a strong sense of survival yet are very protective of their families, packs, or harems.
Arrien
I want to pause here to go off on a bit of a tangent.
I think one of my main bits of confusion with her personality is that it is very unclear what animal she is intended to be based off of. Is it supposed to be a kangaroo, that determines her appearence? One of the ancient kangaroos you mentioned, that determines her dietary habits? And are there any traits at all that she picked up from Muluruma, other than just her gender? A lot of what I see in her are traits that have been determined on a "pick and choose" basis, where one rarely affects any of the others in any way that can be clearly read. And I honestly believe that that is Addie's greatest weakness as a character at the moment, where it seems like more effort being put in to clearly define the sources that influence her and making sure that those sources are fully incorporated into her character, and not just grazing it where it meets any predefined ideal, is what is going to further her character the most. Because you don't want to have to come back when she's teen questing or whatever and have to try and explain why Addie might be holding onto a part of Muluruma's spirit without showing any more traits from her than gender, y'know?
When we get into favorites, especially, is where this definition is very needed, along with a lot of heavy thought into the
why. Why would Addie's favorite drink be just... water? Why don't any other things play in? From what you've written as her favorite foods, it seems she has basically human tastes, with the exception of the raw meat/undercooked eggs thing. Human tastes buds
can find water pleasing, of course, don't get me wrong- but why doesn't Addie like something like juice, since she likes fruit and vegetables and such?
Re: the above defining her character, I hope I have explained some of this above and with the extended mythos. I can definitely see how it was patchy at best before. I hope it's improved some!
As for favorites, you're absolutely right. Even though I was trying to come up with a reason for each other, I pulled a lot of those from nowhere. They'll take some more thought for sure. I haven't tinkered with them yet, but I'll post when I do.
Arrien
One more thing I'd mention is that, perhaps in the personality section, you ought to describe her more "serious" and "solitary" side. Under favorite sounds, you listed "silence" as one of them; this suggests that Addie enjoys having some alone time to rest and recharge, but there's nothing about this written about her character. I'd say that's something that's pretty important to establish, if it plays so much into her character as that. In roleplay, solitary situations won't come up all that often, but in questing and the like, it can; establishing how her personality differs then, as compared to other times, could be a good bit of development for her.
Thanks for the suggestion! I've added a section on Addie's solitary side, and a reason for it to tie it into the Myth. And really, Arri, thank you so much for your comments so far. I hope I've fixed some things that were previously messy. I'm really grateful for your help! If you have any more comments relating to the new info I'd love to hear them. They will not fall on deaf ears.
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