I hope these continue to be fun and I don't drag down the interest by posting too many.
What about your character (or characters, if you feel like sharing more) has remained the same during their life in Elanthia? What's changed, and why? Did you start out a happy-go-lucky bard spouting love poems, and now you've had your heart broken one too many times? Or did something much the opposite happen, make you believe in true love again (as youuuuuuuuuuu wishhhhhhhhhhhh)?
Did your character cement their trait/belief/etc. or change it as a result of a storyline, interaction with another PC, and/or a change in how you viewed the game/world? For example, when they retooled the aging system a number of years ago, many of us had to make adjustments to our characters' backgrounds, resulting in a few character offshoots.
I thought about this reading Xorus' player's response to the astronomy question, about how sometimes we forget the scale of the cultures in the world our little facades live in, and sometimes beliefs or scientific knowledge are going to be challenged or evolve as we visit and migrate across the continent. For example, one could see how a runaway from a turnip farm outside the Landing might have a geocentric framework for his understanding of physics, but then realize how different it may be when he walks into the observatory in Seethe Naedal. And the world of Elanthia would promise even stranger realizations/alterations, as the catalyst to those physical changes may well be your fellow adventurers, or powerful magic users and spirits.
What have you held on to, and what did you let go?
(In other words, Xorus' player, please keep derailing threads, it makes for entertaining sidebar.)
-GK
Ysharra says, "One day, I'm going to have "What?" inscribed on your tombstone, with lots of helpful punctuation."
RAVENNA
FIREPHOENIX
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/15/2017 11:11 PM CST
What about your character (or characters, if you feel like sharing more) has remained the same during their life in Elanthia? What's changed, and why? Did you start out a happy-go-lucky bard spouting love poems, and now you've had your heart broken one too many times? Or did something much the opposite happen, make you believe in true love again (as youuuuuuuuuuu wishhhhhhhhhhhh)?
Did your character cement their trait/belief/etc. or change it as a result of a storyline, interaction with another PC, and/or a change in how you viewed the game/world? For example, when they retooled the aging system a number of years ago, many of us had to make adjustments to our characters' backgrounds, resulting in a few character offshoots. <<
Hm. Food for thought. I might manage this part.
Did your character cement their trait/belief/etc. or change it as a result of a storyline, interaction with another PC, and/or a change in how you viewed the game/world? For example, when they retooled the aging system a number of years ago, many of us had to make adjustments to our characters' backgrounds, resulting in a few character offshoots. <<
Hm. Food for thought. I might manage this part.
INIQUITY
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/16/2017 02:02 AM CST
Xorus is well over a thousand years old at this point, so I do not have him as all that flexible to life experiences. In his relatively weakened state (in spite of his hatred) he still regards it all in the same power framework of dealing with his brethren. Since the Elves are almost quasi-immortal in their longevity, and his cult has a form of reincarnation belief on top of that, I try to keep him in a frame of mind where things have to happen on the scale of decades to start becoming relevant. They will want him to kill himself and his role in the order replaced if he is too weak to execute his function, but since he will be fully recovered within a century he is unconcerned.
Humans will get bogged down in minutae with all of the different wars that have happened in northwest Elanith in the past twenty-ish years, for example, and he will dismiss the "petty details" and describe the whole period in terms of the underlying forces of fragmentation. Someone will say, "Hochstib did this, the Empress was assassinated, the Griffin Sword War, the Vishmiir, the V'reen Morphs, blah blah blah, then Grishom Stone did that, then Elithain Cross did this, then Walkar did that..."
Xorus will instead start talking about what has changed with the Arkati internal politics and the interplanar instability since the "Eye of the Drake" failed in Koar's Shrine twenty years ago. That sounds like a completely unrelated topic, but from his point of view that is the prime mover behind all of recent history on the continent. One of the more recent examples is the Red Forest unexpectedly anchoring itself while coexistent on both sides of the continent, which was ultimately caused by the Elemental Confluence, which became intersected by exploiting the valencial stresses around Solhaven, all of which could never have happened before the Vvrael incident.
In any event, he had become somewhat jaded by the fact that the humans were allowed to form an empire west of the Dragonspine over the past few centuries, and that the machinations leading to their war with the Faendryl did not result in its total annihilation. When he was younger he played some indeterminant role in helping collapse the Kannalan Empire, because his group wants chaos and darkness in the west for various reasons. His failed plot that resulted in being badly weakened was supposed to make all of that irrelevant. However, his mood has been improving since the Vvrael, as things keep getting worse and opportunities keep expanding.
- Xorus' player
>Level: 46
>Strongest foe vanquished: an infernal lich
Humans will get bogged down in minutae with all of the different wars that have happened in northwest Elanith in the past twenty-ish years, for example, and he will dismiss the "petty details" and describe the whole period in terms of the underlying forces of fragmentation. Someone will say, "Hochstib did this, the Empress was assassinated, the Griffin Sword War, the Vishmiir, the V'reen Morphs, blah blah blah, then Grishom Stone did that, then Elithain Cross did this, then Walkar did that..."
Xorus will instead start talking about what has changed with the Arkati internal politics and the interplanar instability since the "Eye of the Drake" failed in Koar's Shrine twenty years ago. That sounds like a completely unrelated topic, but from his point of view that is the prime mover behind all of recent history on the continent. One of the more recent examples is the Red Forest unexpectedly anchoring itself while coexistent on both sides of the continent, which was ultimately caused by the Elemental Confluence, which became intersected by exploiting the valencial stresses around Solhaven, all of which could never have happened before the Vvrael incident.
In any event, he had become somewhat jaded by the fact that the humans were allowed to form an empire west of the Dragonspine over the past few centuries, and that the machinations leading to their war with the Faendryl did not result in its total annihilation. When he was younger he played some indeterminant role in helping collapse the Kannalan Empire, because his group wants chaos and darkness in the west for various reasons. His failed plot that resulted in being badly weakened was supposed to make all of that irrelevant. However, his mood has been improving since the Vvrael, as things keep getting worse and opportunities keep expanding.
- Xorus' player
>Level: 46
>Strongest foe vanquished: an infernal lich
JADZIABLUE
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/16/2017 10:50 AM CST
>What about your character (or characters, if you feel like sharing more) has remained the same during their life in Elanthia? What's changed, and why? Did you start out a happy-go-lucky bard spouting love poems, and now you've had your heart broken one too many times? Or did something much the opposite happen, make you believe in true love again (as youuuuuuuuuuu wishhhhhhhhhhhh)?
>Did your character cement their trait/belief/etc. or change it as a result of a storyline, interaction with another PC, and/or a change in how you viewed the game/world? For example, when they retooled the aging system a number of years ago, many of us had to make adjustments to our characters' backgrounds, resulting in a few character offshoots.
I would say that what she believes and what she wants has not changed one iota - though the focus of it has shifted a tiny bit. However, her situation has changed a lot... which has forced some major behavioral changes. Those changes have led to a lot of frustration, since they seem like they're forcing her to stray from the core goals.
The big catalyst was a storyline - the Cataclysm in Solhaven. I don't think she's ever truly recovered from that. She's very vain about things like her perceived intelligence and expertise... as those are the things that actually matter to her. So when she screwed up on a level so epic as "accidentally destroying a town"... that was a big blow. (Important clarification - she was never upset that she destroyed Solhaven. She was upset because she didn't understand what went wrong.) As a result, she's become a lot more cautious. There's an element of fear there that wasn't pre-cataclysm.
To add insult to injury... that was the incident that finally elevated her to Magister. She was practically raised in the Hall of Mages. She's a 4th generation member. Growing up... becoming a Magister was just something she assumed would be a natural step in her life. It's what she was born for (literally). So, when something you assumed you would get as a reward is instead granted to you as a quasi-punishment... it puts you in a weird head space regarding your position. (IE - We're making you a Magister to get you under control, not to reward you for being such an awesome wizard.) So, the pursuit of knowledge has also been tempered by the fact that she now answers directly to an institution she's leery of defying... let also really wants to be excel within.
Short version: she's a lot less free to simply learn, study and experiment compared to how she used to be... and she's let herself get paralyzed by this. She recognizes this change in herself... and hates it. (I suppose this is where those anger issues come in?)
>Xorus is well over a thousand years old at this point, so I do not have him as all that flexible to life experiences.
>Humans will get bogged down in minutae
This actually brings up the same point I wanted to - just from the other side of it.
Raelee's human. She was 22 years old when she first wandered into Solhaven. Now she's 35. Of course she's changed. Some of the change in her is simply her growing up.
When it comes to backstory and character evolution, sometimes I find that playing human is like being on cheat mode. It's a lot easier to fill in 20 years of backstory than it is to fill in 1000. (5082 - Born, slept a lot, eventually learned to sit up. 5083 - Worked on mastering bipedal locomotion and the basics of the common language. 5085 - Learned to read. 5086 - Started formal education. Etc.) Likewise, with the whole evolution thing... it may come naturally because she's growing up right alongside me.
How do you handle it then, for the longer lived races? Do you consider the fact that the length of time you've been playing your character is but a tiny blip in their lifetime? How much does an elf really 'grow up' in a decade?
Signed,
Raelee and her Strings
>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, "See? Raelee knows all."
>Did your character cement their trait/belief/etc. or change it as a result of a storyline, interaction with another PC, and/or a change in how you viewed the game/world? For example, when they retooled the aging system a number of years ago, many of us had to make adjustments to our characters' backgrounds, resulting in a few character offshoots.
I would say that what she believes and what she wants has not changed one iota - though the focus of it has shifted a tiny bit. However, her situation has changed a lot... which has forced some major behavioral changes. Those changes have led to a lot of frustration, since they seem like they're forcing her to stray from the core goals.
The big catalyst was a storyline - the Cataclysm in Solhaven. I don't think she's ever truly recovered from that. She's very vain about things like her perceived intelligence and expertise... as those are the things that actually matter to her. So when she screwed up on a level so epic as "accidentally destroying a town"... that was a big blow. (Important clarification - she was never upset that she destroyed Solhaven. She was upset because she didn't understand what went wrong.) As a result, she's become a lot more cautious. There's an element of fear there that wasn't pre-cataclysm.
To add insult to injury... that was the incident that finally elevated her to Magister. She was practically raised in the Hall of Mages. She's a 4th generation member. Growing up... becoming a Magister was just something she assumed would be a natural step in her life. It's what she was born for (literally). So, when something you assumed you would get as a reward is instead granted to you as a quasi-punishment... it puts you in a weird head space regarding your position. (IE - We're making you a Magister to get you under control, not to reward you for being such an awesome wizard.) So, the pursuit of knowledge has also been tempered by the fact that she now answers directly to an institution she's leery of defying... let also really wants to be excel within.
Short version: she's a lot less free to simply learn, study and experiment compared to how she used to be... and she's let herself get paralyzed by this. She recognizes this change in herself... and hates it. (I suppose this is where those anger issues come in?)
>Xorus is well over a thousand years old at this point, so I do not have him as all that flexible to life experiences.
>Humans will get bogged down in minutae
This actually brings up the same point I wanted to - just from the other side of it.
Raelee's human. She was 22 years old when she first wandered into Solhaven. Now she's 35. Of course she's changed. Some of the change in her is simply her growing up.
When it comes to backstory and character evolution, sometimes I find that playing human is like being on cheat mode. It's a lot easier to fill in 20 years of backstory than it is to fill in 1000. (5082 - Born, slept a lot, eventually learned to sit up. 5083 - Worked on mastering bipedal locomotion and the basics of the common language. 5085 - Learned to read. 5086 - Started formal education. Etc.) Likewise, with the whole evolution thing... it may come naturally because she's growing up right alongside me.
How do you handle it then, for the longer lived races? Do you consider the fact that the length of time you've been playing your character is but a tiny blip in their lifetime? How much does an elf really 'grow up' in a decade?
Signed,
Raelee and her Strings
>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, "See? Raelee knows all."
CHIVERST
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/16/2017 12:53 PM CST
>>How do you handle it then, for the longer lived races? Do you consider the fact that the length of time you've been playing your character is but a tiny blip in their lifetime? How much does an elf really 'grow up' in a decade?
In Roh's case, I would say that the past decade and a half has been a mere blink of the eye in terms of age - she doesn't even take note of her nameday (birthday) - but her experiences have taken their toll as far ss her outlook on life is concerned, so I would say she has "matured" in the same way a human would have in thst time.
>>You slay me woman! ~ Wyrom
https://gswiki.play.net/Rohese_Bayvel-Timsh'l
In Roh's case, I would say that the past decade and a half has been a mere blink of the eye in terms of age - she doesn't even take note of her nameday (birthday) - but her experiences have taken their toll as far ss her outlook on life is concerned, so I would say she has "matured" in the same way a human would have in thst time.
>>You slay me woman! ~ Wyrom
https://gswiki.play.net/Rohese_Bayvel-Timsh'l
LUXELLE
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/16/2017 09:25 PM CST
Luxie is a very young elf, and raised in an out-of the way village far away. As such, she had a pretty protected upbringing.
After going out to adventure, those she has called friends, spent time with, and heard their stories ... these people change her, perhaps it is accurate to say that your characters are all molding her.
Other things, she clings to very stubbornly. She heard her Aunties tell stories about their time adventuring, and sometimes you will hear her call things very old names, not the correct ones. Very few people ever correct her. They get a nod and a predictable Luxie-like response. There are customs she was raised with that she does not, maybe will never, give up. You will notice you are called by a title, or Miss or Mister when she speaks to you, or of you, for instance.
Although the blog is sadly lacking for new stories, I will get back to it, I promise. The TownCrier's first year has left it a little more organized and as soon as I am out of this very busy season at work, I plan to carve out time to write again. Her early months of triumphs and heartbreaks during her adventuring time are all recorded there.
Music fills her thoughts and her dreams without end. Her tunes are memories that will bring tears to her eyes or merriment to her laugh.
I thank you all for making such a rich tapestry for Luxie to come into her own. She is still working that out.
---
Rohese: "... the TownCrier (tune in if you haven’t, it’s without doubt the best thing to ever happen on LNet)
After going out to adventure, those she has called friends, spent time with, and heard their stories ... these people change her, perhaps it is accurate to say that your characters are all molding her.
Other things, she clings to very stubbornly. She heard her Aunties tell stories about their time adventuring, and sometimes you will hear her call things very old names, not the correct ones. Very few people ever correct her. They get a nod and a predictable Luxie-like response. There are customs she was raised with that she does not, maybe will never, give up. You will notice you are called by a title, or Miss or Mister when she speaks to you, or of you, for instance.
Although the blog is sadly lacking for new stories, I will get back to it, I promise. The TownCrier's first year has left it a little more organized and as soon as I am out of this very busy season at work, I plan to carve out time to write again. Her early months of triumphs and heartbreaks during her adventuring time are all recorded there.
Music fills her thoughts and her dreams without end. Her tunes are memories that will bring tears to her eyes or merriment to her laugh.
I thank you all for making such a rich tapestry for Luxie to come into her own. She is still working that out.
---
Rohese: "... the TownCrier (tune in if you haven’t, it’s without doubt the best thing to ever happen on LNet)
INIQUITY
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/16/2017 11:58 PM CST
<<How do you handle it then, for the longer lived races? Do you consider the fact that the length of time you've been playing your character is but a tiny blip in their lifetime? How much does an elf really 'grow up' in a decade? >> - Raelee
Frozen in time, to some extent. Though you can offset that stasis with the fact that things have been way more chaotic on colossal scales in the past few decades than has been normal for thousands of years, otherwise the history documents would be overwhelmed with totally catastrophic world threatening events. The issue for me in a practical sense is trying to put myself in the mindset of someone with 100 times my adult life experience, and who should have a vastly greater knowledge of the world system than I do, because he was there for it rather than me trying to memorize the bullet points on a history document. World geography, magic, you name it.
The lore gaps can be awkward sometimes. If you had a similarly old Illistim elven scholar, they could only tell you the assumed names of two of the Argent Mirrors in their own life time, even though the others are in the procession on the Council of Thrones whenever Myasara holds court. There was only one Faendryl patriarch between Rythwier and Korvath. Xorus may have been there when Korvath ascended the throne, but I would not be able to tell you anything about his predecessor.
I try to scale his sense of recent. There were Illistim monarchs on throne at 5,000+ years old, and some gave birth when they were 3,000 years old, so Xorus not even being 1,500 yet in spite of looking "ancient" isn't that old by Elven standards. The Ardtin Greyvael Illistim NPC has to be in the neighborhood of 5,000 years, and she probably remembers the Sea Elf War. But that does not necessarily mean he is "young", either, because we do not know the shape of the statistical distribution. He might be the human equivalent of 70, but then the number of people surviving to 90 drops like a rock, except the tail flattens out reaching 130, 170, 210, 250...
Basically, 1 year to me is 20 years to him, so him talking about something 200 years ago is like me talking about something from 2007. The Turamzzyrian Empire is a bunch of millennials. That would put the whole Cold War in his life experience, but the World Wars in the analogous time frame behind him. However, with the way longevity stretches way out with Elves, living memory would reach back to the French Revolution. Like if someone was talking about Russia and Turkey today, and my natural instinct was to start talking about the Ottoman Empire and the Conference of Berlin in 1884, because you simply know such things if you were born in 1947. He would scoff and say of course that is the right way to look at it. It is why the world map looks the way it does and set the framework for the whole next century.
- Xorus' player
>Level: 46
>Strongest foe vanquished: an infernal lich
Frozen in time, to some extent. Though you can offset that stasis with the fact that things have been way more chaotic on colossal scales in the past few decades than has been normal for thousands of years, otherwise the history documents would be overwhelmed with totally catastrophic world threatening events. The issue for me in a practical sense is trying to put myself in the mindset of someone with 100 times my adult life experience, and who should have a vastly greater knowledge of the world system than I do, because he was there for it rather than me trying to memorize the bullet points on a history document. World geography, magic, you name it.
The lore gaps can be awkward sometimes. If you had a similarly old Illistim elven scholar, they could only tell you the assumed names of two of the Argent Mirrors in their own life time, even though the others are in the procession on the Council of Thrones whenever Myasara holds court. There was only one Faendryl patriarch between Rythwier and Korvath. Xorus may have been there when Korvath ascended the throne, but I would not be able to tell you anything about his predecessor.
I try to scale his sense of recent. There were Illistim monarchs on throne at 5,000+ years old, and some gave birth when they were 3,000 years old, so Xorus not even being 1,500 yet in spite of looking "ancient" isn't that old by Elven standards. The Ardtin Greyvael Illistim NPC has to be in the neighborhood of 5,000 years, and she probably remembers the Sea Elf War. But that does not necessarily mean he is "young", either, because we do not know the shape of the statistical distribution. He might be the human equivalent of 70, but then the number of people surviving to 90 drops like a rock, except the tail flattens out reaching 130, 170, 210, 250...
Basically, 1 year to me is 20 years to him, so him talking about something 200 years ago is like me talking about something from 2007. The Turamzzyrian Empire is a bunch of millennials. That would put the whole Cold War in his life experience, but the World Wars in the analogous time frame behind him. However, with the way longevity stretches way out with Elves, living memory would reach back to the French Revolution. Like if someone was talking about Russia and Turkey today, and my natural instinct was to start talking about the Ottoman Empire and the Conference of Berlin in 1884, because you simply know such things if you were born in 1947. He would scoff and say of course that is the right way to look at it. It is why the world map looks the way it does and set the framework for the whole next century.
- Xorus' player
>Level: 46
>Strongest foe vanquished: an infernal lich
JARHEAD
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/17/2017 04:26 AM CST
Compared to the last 2, this one's a piece of cake.
In his 20+ years of existence, Radeek has went from a card carrying, righteous member of the "Light is Right" movement (before the Griffin Sword Wars some actually referred to him as "THE Ranger of Phoen"). He even bent the knee and received the blessing, but it was VERY short-lived. That same war, and the choices he made to protect the innocent, drove him to become MUCH darker (I've heard the word Evil associated with him more than once), to the point of justifying the use of cold-blooded murder as a means of accomplishing his goals.
To this day he struggles to come to terms with what he was, what circumstances forced him to become, and what he is now, something that he and I have in common. I like to think of him as being on the good side of neutral at this point of his life, until there's a war, then he stuffs his humanity deep down in some dark place, and does whatever needs doing, and worries about the costs later.
I don't really know what he is right now, that's actually determined more by how other players see him anyway; but he's struggling with his religious beliefs and his honor. Honor and Phoen were all Radeek believed in, long ago; now his code is different. He feels betrayed by his deity and honor to him now is nothing like the chivalric code he once believed in.
General Radeek Andoran
Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq
Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato
www.radeekandoran.blogspot.ca
In his 20+ years of existence, Radeek has went from a card carrying, righteous member of the "Light is Right" movement (before the Griffin Sword Wars some actually referred to him as "THE Ranger of Phoen"). He even bent the knee and received the blessing, but it was VERY short-lived. That same war, and the choices he made to protect the innocent, drove him to become MUCH darker (I've heard the word Evil associated with him more than once), to the point of justifying the use of cold-blooded murder as a means of accomplishing his goals.
To this day he struggles to come to terms with what he was, what circumstances forced him to become, and what he is now, something that he and I have in common. I like to think of him as being on the good side of neutral at this point of his life, until there's a war, then he stuffs his humanity deep down in some dark place, and does whatever needs doing, and worries about the costs later.
I don't really know what he is right now, that's actually determined more by how other players see him anyway; but he's struggling with his religious beliefs and his honor. Honor and Phoen were all Radeek believed in, long ago; now his code is different. He feels betrayed by his deity and honor to him now is nothing like the chivalric code he once believed in.
General Radeek Andoran
Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq
Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato
www.radeekandoran.blogspot.ca
NAAMIT
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/17/2017 08:45 AM CST
> Griffin Sword Wars ... the choices he made to protect the innocent, drove him to become MUCH darker... He feels betrayed by his deity and honor to him now is nothing like the chivalric code he once believed in. ~Radeek's player
That is one of the best outcomes from GSS I can think of!
With love,
The Dark Alliance
LEAFIARA
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
02/17/2017 10:31 AM CST
For the most part I'm still in the process of discovering who Leafiara is, so although she's "changed" it's not really in a sense of flipping from one belief to another, but more about adding on beliefs and traits and backstory details that I didn't know were there.
Mainly I just want to say please keep interacting with her since you--and I--never know when a seemingly random conversation or interaction will show me something new that becomes a prominent part of her character. My favorite example is when Leafi won a free-for-all tavern brawl in Icemule at Winterfest, escorted a group back to the Landing afterward at full speed, got a compliment about not slipping, and bragged that's the grace you'd expect from a brawling champion. The word "grace" made me think of stage performers, I asked myself if it would fit for her to have been one, I realized it would be perfect for many reasons, so that day I wrote into her backstory that she's been an actor and dancer.
What a world, right?
AIM: sweetleafiara@gmail.com
Mainly I just want to say please keep interacting with her since you--and I--never know when a seemingly random conversation or interaction will show me something new that becomes a prominent part of her character. My favorite example is when Leafi won a free-for-all tavern brawl in Icemule at Winterfest, escorted a group back to the Landing afterward at full speed, got a compliment about not slipping, and bragged that's the grace you'd expect from a brawling champion. The word "grace" made me think of stage performers, I asked myself if it would fit for her to have been one, I realized it would be perfect for many reasons, so that day I wrote into her backstory that she's been an actor and dancer.
What a world, right?
AIM: sweetleafiara@gmail.com
RAVENNA
Re: Abiding or Emphemeral?
03/03/2017 03:56 PM CST
I was considering what question to post next when I realized I never answered this one for Ysharra. Therefore:
For being as mutable as she is, Ysharra's core personality is relatively unaltered. She has very little sense of personal reservation and generally trusts everyone with everything, as it involves her directly- her friendship, her background, and so on. One thing that has changed over time is realizing her oversharing often makes people a little uncomfortable so nowadays she makes some effort to not say the first thing that comes to her head. It doesn't always work. She thinks of herself as a pest that eventually everyone gets tired of, so while she may seem naive in her trusting nature, it's truly more of a fatalistic outlook that just saves her time.
Once she's developed an interest in someone, she considers them necessary and occasionally gets a little intimidating with the amount of questions and intensity she puts into the relationship. She is impulsive and often makes decisions based on little more information than a fleeting perception, and in the past this combined with her rather unhealthy bonding has resulted in some messy self-sacrificing gestures.
I did originally develop her as a barbarian, but found it far more difficult to portray a semi-literate grunt than I had imagined, so once she latched onto a Faendryl exile I deliberately and patiently added some education to her, starting with her speech patterns, then learning Elven, and finally Faendryl (don't know why, but I have always imagined Faendryl as being the Elanthian linguistic equivalent of Arabic, as it has some conventions in common with other continental languages, but also a different alphabet, word order, et. al.). Another one of her closest companions early on was a bardess, who felt her usual outfit of fur and skins to be a bit rustic and hopeless, so she set the stage for Ysharra's clotheshorse/vanity tendencies which now are of a truly epic proportion.
I could probably take up the rest of the forum page talking about her religious conversions, literally and figuratively, but since I've posted about that elsewhere I will spare you and just say it's complicated :)
-GK
Ysharra says, "One day, I'm going to have "What?" inscribed on your tombstone, with lots of helpful punctuation."
For being as mutable as she is, Ysharra's core personality is relatively unaltered. She has very little sense of personal reservation and generally trusts everyone with everything, as it involves her directly- her friendship, her background, and so on. One thing that has changed over time is realizing her oversharing often makes people a little uncomfortable so nowadays she makes some effort to not say the first thing that comes to her head. It doesn't always work. She thinks of herself as a pest that eventually everyone gets tired of, so while she may seem naive in her trusting nature, it's truly more of a fatalistic outlook that just saves her time.
Once she's developed an interest in someone, she considers them necessary and occasionally gets a little intimidating with the amount of questions and intensity she puts into the relationship. She is impulsive and often makes decisions based on little more information than a fleeting perception, and in the past this combined with her rather unhealthy bonding has resulted in some messy self-sacrificing gestures.
I did originally develop her as a barbarian, but found it far more difficult to portray a semi-literate grunt than I had imagined, so once she latched onto a Faendryl exile I deliberately and patiently added some education to her, starting with her speech patterns, then learning Elven, and finally Faendryl (don't know why, but I have always imagined Faendryl as being the Elanthian linguistic equivalent of Arabic, as it has some conventions in common with other continental languages, but also a different alphabet, word order, et. al.). Another one of her closest companions early on was a bardess, who felt her usual outfit of fur and skins to be a bit rustic and hopeless, so she set the stage for Ysharra's clotheshorse/vanity tendencies which now are of a truly epic proportion.
I could probably take up the rest of the forum page talking about her religious conversions, literally and figuratively, but since I've posted about that elsewhere I will spare you and just say it's complicated :)
-GK
Ysharra says, "One day, I'm going to have "What?" inscribed on your tombstone, with lots of helpful punctuation."
