The Elder Scrolls: Resurgence of the Frost

[Poeta Perdido]

Not to use your dismay as a discussion prompt, but I'm actually pretty curious: how does everyone here go about the first steps of making a character? What inspires you? How much of their backstory do you work out in advance? I'm just wondering how it varies from person to person.

Personally, I often find myself inspired by the plot alone. The possibilities begin flowing in, messy and unrestrained, and I simply come in and separate what has promise and what can be saved for another day. Otherwise, when inspiration is slow to come, I start with a challenge. To be clear, I went through a very solid character concept named Vaylin noted in my CS before scrapping him for Juin. I rarely construct a single character as I find it allows me to separate ideas I love from ideas that actually fit with that specific persona.

With this roleplay I knew I wanted to play an elf with a serious disease. An elf because I wanted to ensure my character was usable for quite some time, and a disease in order to create something immediately difficult. I enjoy a character who delivers their best despite a handicap. Who has to find ways around their significant shortcomings to produce a seriously unique and defining result. This developed into vampyrism for me as the disease is nearly incurable and the changes are more than physical. The idea of an elf who'd lived long enough to establish a sense of things thrown a curveball that causes them to do unspeakable things was perfect. Now we have Juin, the former Legion soldier, dealing with his vampyrism the best he can. Morally, he is constantly forced to differentiate the hunger as an urge and a need, essentially the only line between murder and hunting. Balancing both sides of his nature could honestly lead to his death and I think that dynamic is endlessly interesting in exploring a character. I mean for Juin to change in this game. Whether he turns out a true monster or otherwise, I don't much mind.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

Sorry, I was on my phone. Not really, Cub figured since Shavie could speak to the dead when he was alive he could haunt the living when he was dead. All the rest has been in the works since day one, I just never managed to set the stage for the big reveal. If nothing else, take away Cub and I missed you :p


Edit: Alright, Cub's officially outed, time to start on my new guy. I think the question this time is gonna be what if staves had on-touch spells. Wish me luck!

 

[Dervish]

While I'm at it, The reason cub was afraid of Shavie the mule is because he thought he was possessed by Mosty Tosty's character Shavi because Bal had Cub leave him to die by dragon after Shavi became a werewolf because Hirci e (and later Burkswallow's patron Nocturnal) could have interrupted his plan to have Cub save Urzoth thus gaining the Dwemer armour that would keep him out of Hammerfell without Bal's help, help he would only provide if Cub submitted wholly and destroyed Zhaveed an act which would destroy the Cub persona and unleash the Harbinger Balrath-gro-Bal the vessel promised to Molag Bal by Cub's father twenty years ago in exchange for victory in battle and dominion of his tribe; the Harbinger who would bring Coldharbour to Nirn and basically set the stage for ES:O

Great and all that, but ESO isn't technically canon, and it happens way back in the 2nd age yooo.

 

[O|NoSoul]

Great and all that, but ESO isn't technically canon, and it happens way back in the 2nd age yooo.

ESO to me is what the Bible is to Jews.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

*set the stage for Molag Bal to fuck everything to death. I was pissed when I heard ESO had a Lore Library.

 

[O|NoSoul]

*set the stage for Molag Bal to fuck everything to death. I was pissed when I heard ESO had a Lore Library.

Elder Scrolls are now powerups and it takes the assumption that every person of every race neatly coincides with the ideology of their given faction. Fuck you, what if I'm playing an Altmer who doesn't want the Aldmeri Dominion to win and thinks that Queen Fuckshit is too young to rule and instead wants to fight for the Daggerfall Covenant, as she believes that they have the right of it? It could be equally possible that there are Bretons who identify more with their Nordic roots and instead want to fight for an independent Skyrim in whatever that faction's name is?

And fuck you, "transcription error." /mini rant

 

[Artorias]

I don't play ES:O so I have no idea what the fuck is going on lol.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

Also Dervs, come on man, you know how long I've been working on that, don't steal my moment on a technicality u_u

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

According to Google Images no one in the history of timespace has thought, what if he just hits them with the staff?

 

[Mosis Tosis]

GLAD YOU ASKED, NOBLE CITIZEN.

This is how Dervs rolls;

Basically, I get a lose concept in my head of a character in my head that I find appealing. For Zaveed, it basically started off as "I want to play a roguish khajiit pirate" because I thought it had a lot of promise and would be fun for me to develop. Then I started working on what kind of skills he generally had, how he'd fight, and as I work on that the finer details start to come in and I'll usually think of appearance and personality traits and start writing those down as I go, and one of the first things I do with a character is I right down bullet points for their back story and personality and all that stuff and start to refine it. If it doesn't fit or I can't think of how to develop it meaningfully, I scrap it. Making a character for me honestly goes really fast. Think of the bullet points like the frame of a house and the rest of it like throwing up the walls and doing the finishing. It's not bad, honest!

Hell, I think I even have the very first draft for when I was working on Tanya kicking around somewhere... Ah, here we go.

Literally the first things I wrote down when brainstorming Tanya:

Spoiler

Tanya Carson
Former Alliance Combat Engineer, now works for exploration and prospecting company
Ace at repairing machines, uses old fashioned tools more often than omni tool
Has a defense drone she calls 'Shithead', uses it for repairs.
Always has a bottle and glass of whiskey while repairing things
Her best friend is Bob the Bartarian
http://www.yourhairstyles.net/hairstyles/mohawk-hairstyles-for-women-2012-.jpg
Has an old Lee-Enfield rifle that was her great-great-great grandfather's, been passed down from generation to generation.
Likes to paint, although it's often something inappropriate (Like a piece she tried to sell at an auction called 'Astroid over Terra Nova')
Name: Tanya Carson
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Class: Engineer (serves as vehicle mechanic and sometimes gunsmith aboard the ship)

You can see how those basic ideals were refined and evolved into the character you know and love today!

That's pretty much how I start every character, even if I don't write down the bullet points, I have them in my head and get it down as soon as possible.

Interesting to see that, I think the only character I developed in a similar fashion was Kosso. I knew I wanted to play a Drell because I wanted to play around with eidetic memory...once I had that decided, I worked off of it. Can't play around with memories if a character has an unremarkable past, right? So I made a whole tragic back-story, and made it the focus of his character. He's obsessed with his past, and (literally) can't forget it, which causes him to have issues connecting to people in the present. So a general character archetype (race) kind of guided the rest of the development.

All my other characters really started with details rather than broad strokes. Shavi, for example, only came about because of a song. Or more specifically, the title of a song. The phrase "The Dead Don't Starve" really resonated with me for some reason. And since I was combing through ES lore around that time, necromancy was the obvious direction to go in...I actually wrote up a little scene when I was coming up with Shavi (I think it was right after I did his CS), that explored some of his past. It involved him doing some necromancy work in the Dunmer refugee camps after the eruption of Red Mountain. It was on another computer, but maybe I have it stashed somewhere. Have to check sometime tomorrow. Same with Paints: came about simply because about a year ago I was playing an Argonian adventurer in Skyrim and I liked the way his red cloak looked against his armor. That apparently planted a seed that grew in my subconcious over the course of a year and eventually turned into Paints, almost entirely through just random brainstorming about his backstory. I had an image of a knight bedecked in colors, I just had to fine the right story to make him believeable.

So I guess yeah I get inspired from details, and then work my way outwards instead of the other way around. Weird.

With this roleplay I knew I wanted to play an elf with a serious disease. An elf because I wanted to ensure my character was usable for quite some time, and a disease in order to create something immediately difficult. I enjoy a character who delivers their best despite a handicap. Who has to find ways around their significant shortcomings to produce a seriously unique and defining result. This developed into vampyrism for me as the disease is nearly incurable and the changes are more than physical. The idea of an elf who'd lived long enough to establish a sense of things thrown a curveball that causes them to do unspeakable things was perfect. Now we have Juin, the former Legion soldier, dealing with his vampyrism the best he can. Morally, he is constantly forced to differentiate the hunger as an urge and a need, essentially the only line between murder and hunting. Balancing both sides of his nature could honestly lead to his death and I think that dynamic is endlessly interesting in exploring a character. I mean for Juin to change in this game. Whether he turns out a true monster or otherwise, I don't much mind.

I think that's a really great way to develop characters as well. I quite like Juin, specifically because he doesn't feel like an "easy" character. He's got a lot of issues, and you're not afraid to make them actually affect him and his life.

2. I go flipping through my massive collection of folders filled to the brim with character portraits, as I find ones that I like, I open them and keep them opened while I flip through the rest. The limit that can be opened is up to 5. Once I narrow it down, thin the herd, switch out selected portraits, I go through a list of concepts that I'd like to play and develop. Once I narrow down my interest into what I want to play and also what would fit the game, I start mapping out the character. Name usually comes first, then bio, then personality. If the sheet calls for it, and I like how RotF's sheet does, I get to thinking about what the character is good at based upon their bio and add that to the skills. The skills and the bio go into how the character fights, which is another reason I like RotF's sheet for including that section.

Thanks to this universe's Sevari, I get to knock out the character concept of drug addict and former run-of-the-mill bandit. I'm happy I get to play Sevari how I was going to play him. I'm happy with how Brooding Khajiiti Batman turned out but it's not exactly how he was initially planned.

I like this approach too. So you just have, like, a library of potential character concepts? That's kind of cool. For me, character names are almost always last :D

 

[Dervish]

Elder Scrolls are now powerups and it takes the assumption that every person of every race neatly coincides with the ideology of their given faction. Fuck you, what if I'm playing an Altmer who doesn't want the Aldmeri Dominion to win and thinks that Queen Fuckshit is too young to rule and instead wants to fight for the Daggerfall Covenant, as she believes that they have the right of it? It could be equally possible that there are Bretons who identify more with their Nordic roots and instead want to fight for an independent Skyrim in whatever that faction's name is?

And fuck you, "transcription error." /mini rant

Woah, don't get too deep for an MMO, broooo.

I actually think there's an edition of the game you can buy where you can play any race with any faction, so teeeechnically you could do such a thing.

I don't play ES:O so I have no idea what the fuck is going on lol.

Nobody plays ESO. We're calling it out on it's peepeeness.

Also Dervs, come on man, you know how long I've been working on that, don't steal my moment on a technicality u_u

Man, I had an entire final third of a roleplay stolen from me, I'll technicality you until you forget your safeword broooo.

According to Google Images no one in the history of timespace has thought, what if he just hits them with the staff?

The world explodes. Duh.

Interesting to see that, I think the only character I developed in a similar fashion was Kosso. I knew I wanted to play a Drell because I wanted to play around with eidetic memory...once I had that decided, I worked off of it. Can't play around with memories if a character has an unremarkable past, right? So I made a whole tragic back-story, and made it the focus of his character. He's obsessed with his past, and (literally) can't forget it, which causes him to have issues connecting to people in the present. So a general character archetype (race) kind of guided the rest of the development.

All my other characters really started with details rather than broad strokes. Shavi, for example, only came about because of a song. Or more specifically, the title of a song. The phrase "The Dead Don't Starve" really resonated with me for some reason. And since I was combing through ES lore around that time, necromancy was the obvious direction to go in...I actually wrote up a little scene when I was coming up with Shavi (I think it was right after I did his CS), that explored some of his past. It involved him doing some necromancy work in the Dunmer refugee camps after the eruption of Red Mountain. It was on another computer, but maybe I have it stashed somewhere. Have to check sometime tomorrow. Same with Paints: came about simply because about a year ago I was playing an Argonian adventurer in Skyrim and I liked the way his red cloak looked against his armor. That apparently planted a seed that grew in my subconcious over the course of a year and eventually turned into Paints, almost entirely through just random brainstorming about his backstory. I had an image of a knight bedecked in colors, I just had to fine the right story to make him believeable.

So I guess yeah I get inspired from details, and then work my way outwards instead of the other way around. Weird.



I think that's a really great way to develop characters as well. I quite like Juin, specifically because he doesn't feel like an "easy" character. He's got a lot of issues, and you're not afraid to make them actually affect him and his life.



I like this approach too. So you just have, like, a library of potential character concepts? That's kind of cool. For me, character names are almost always last :D

The amusing thing is both Kosso and Sevari heavily abuse drugs to cope with traumatic pasts and both are really good characters. Also, YOU OWE ME A REPLY MISTER. But yeah, sometimes characters come together by piecing together ideas like Lego blocks, it's great.

I can't say I ever based a character off of a song or was even inspired to do anything by a song; for whatever reason, my brain doesn't work that way, so whenever somebody's like "HEY PICK A THEME SONG", I get a 404 Error floating around in my thought box. I really liked Shavi and for whatever reason, I still really remember that one scene you wrote where he was visited by his mother's ghost and he was asking her if he was doing the right thing. I remember it being really profound and one of the saddest things I've read. Seriously dude, you've forged gold a lot.

I also want to throw in my praise for Juin, because honestly he's the first time I've felt comfortably enough to accept a vampire character because a lot of people don't go about it in the right way. Waaay too many people want to do it because they think of it as a power up. Fuck that.

Speaking of which, what's everyone's thoughts on the characters we have so far?

 

[Mosis Tosis]

The amusing thing is both Kosso and Sevari heavily abuse drugs to cope with traumatic pasts and both are really good characters. Also, YOU OWE ME A REPLY MISTER.

D:

I really liked Shavi and for whatever reason, I still really remember that one scene you wrote where he was visited by his mother's ghost and he was asking her if he was doing the right thing. I remember it being really profound and one of the saddest things I've read. Seriously dude, you've forged gold a lot.

I loved writing Shavi. If Paints hadn't come around, I'd still be playing him. I remember I din't know exactly how I wanted to play him: the "friendly, Lawful-good necromancer" isn't exactly a well-established character archetype. So I decided to make that uncertainty part of his character by making him unsure of his place in life. I'm glad you remember that scene, I really enjoyed writing it. Maybe one day I'll revisit him, it's definitely something I'd be willing to do. For now, Paints has my full attention. There's still plenty of stories to be told through him ;)

As far as everyone's characters...well, I enjoy them all. Wets especially, just because I think he and Paints have a really cool parallel that I really want to explore. I think you're right about Juin as well, Pellegrino is definitely doing a fine job with a complex character.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

I don't know how to post CS's on this format yet so I'll mess with it tomorrow, it's far past my curfew. Night guys.

 

[O|NoSoul]

I'm not actually too enraged by ESO. I just dislike it for disrespecting a series I really love and for tainting the Elder Scrolls name with a truly shit game... Anyways...

As for my opinions on the characters we have now? I think they're a good bunch with a lot of things to explore and really good dynamics for each of them to bounce off of each other. Having such a group that isn't so much alike, we can have a lot of potential for growth as the characters interact. I do want to see how Sevari's misunderstanding and suspicion of Juin and his vampirism pans out depending on the things Sevari sees and notices.

As for Wets and Paints, I'd love to see how they'd get along, seeing as they're the only two Argonians but almost polar opposites when it comes to socializing. The fact that Wets, Paints and Sevari all seem to be struggling with less than satisfactory pasts could yield some interesting conversations. I'm planning a tavern scene so everyone can socialize and we see what comes of it.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

Name: Markain Anuthian

Race: Reachman

Family Origins: Markain was born the only son of a silversmith in High Rock though he spent most of his life in Western Skyrim in the city of Markarth. His father never told Markain why they had left their home or why they had stopped in the Dwemer city, only that they were better off hungry smiths than dead travelers. Growing up in the Nord city of stone, Markain and his father took jobs under the Silver-bloods (albeit at less gold than Markain cared to have) his father reminding his son each day stale bread is better than no bread. This attitude would come to colour Markain's entire life, a respect and resourcefulness for the meager his higher born brethren may not share.

Appearance:

Spoiler

Age: 36

Equipment:
Reinforced Silver Focusing Staff, Unenchanted, acts as a focus for spells with the range of touch
Adept Robes of Alteration, Enchanted, adorned with custom silver inlays

Miscellanea:
Six Days Rations
Three Chunks of Iron Ore
A Small Silvermith's Hammer and Drowl Set
Four Healing Potions
Two Magicka Potions
Twelve Intricate Silver Rings

Favored Skills:
Highly Proficient: Alteration
Moderately Proficient: Unarmored, Blunt, Block, Restoration
Somewhat Proficient: Destruction

Spells:
Utility
Telekinesis
Transmute Ore
Detect Life
Iron Flesh
Non-Lethal
Absorb Fatigue
Absorb Magicka
Oppresing Grasp
Paralyze
Lethal
Entropic Touch

Character Background: Earning a barely livable wage under the Silver-bloods, Markain began looking for alternative means of employment, means the miners of Cidhna Mine were all to happy to provide. The work was tiring and Markain rarely slept but he would have enough for his father and he and, as long as Markain continued to preform his duties during the day, the Silver-bloods were happy to have an extra pair of hands in the mine.

Over time the miners came to consider Markain one of their own. One night, surrounded by hushed whispers, a man approached Markain with a question. "Do you know what you are?" Thinking the man simply delusional from lack of sleep Markain answered a miner and a smith a anything between. The man laughed and lifted a chunk of ore Markain had dug from the wall. With a single touch he turned the ore from silver to gold to iron and back again. "You, my young friend, are the manifestation of will. Reachman. The Chosen of these lands." Amazed and enthralled, Markain listened as the man introduced himself. "I am Madanach, the so called King in Rags though my reign has been a bit rocky. I said rocky...never any humour in the new blood."

With sweeping grandeur and tales of the Old Ways, Madanach revealed to Markain the true nature of Bretons, a wild and free people, the machinations of Man and Mer set forth to reclaim their rightful home. "And so we come to you my young friend. You have within you more power than you know. More power than even I. You can leave freely whereas my men and I are bound to this accursed mine. Unfortunately, that power has yet to be tapped. Fortunately I know just the people to help..."
Many years have passed since that night Markain packed his belongings and set out to learn what magics lay dormant in his blood. Within the hallowed halls of the College of Winterhold Markain has plied his trade, a unique approach to combat magic all his own, altering the very fabric of reality with little more than a stick and a wild touch.

Fighting Style: Markain is equal parts mage and monk, might and magic, Man and Mer. Attempting to embody his people's virtues of versatility and justice as well as his father's pragmatism, Markain combines melee and magic through his silver focusing staff and prefers incapacitating opponents with burden, drains and paralysis though sometimes simply beating something to death is the most logical solution to a problem. (He hits people with a stick and uses touch spells through it.)

Personality: Though excitable at times, deep down Markain is the product of his father's even-tempered approach to life. As a result, he constantly searches for the path of least resistance and often takes the most direct approach. His affinity for the school of Alteration springs not just for his desire to explore the Reachman's place in the order of things but also for the simple utility it provides. Restoration can save your life and Destruction can take your opponents but only Telekinesis can pour you a drink from across the room.

Font Colour: Sky Blue (Unless someone has it already :p)

 

[O|NoSoul]

I like the character. I really do and he is good enough to be accepted.

But Bretons =/= Reachmen, which are what the Forsworn are a faction of. Reachmen are even more of racial mutts than Bretons. Dervish has the say on this but I wanted to throw in my two cents as resident pain in the ass know it all.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

Now that is something I did not know. Hm... I'm not sure how to fix that without a total rewrite, I'll have to think about this.

 

[O|NoSoul]

Now that is something I did not know. Hm... I'm not sure how to fix that without a total rewrite, I'll have to think about this.

Perhaps change his race and write accordingly? It'd be easy. I didn't want to discourage you and it would be an interesting character as a Reachman rediscovering his roots.

 

[Wittiford R. Eference]

Thanks Soul, I'll see what changes Dervs suggests as well and start editing after work.

 

[O|NoSoul]

It's not exactly a big change. You could just change his race. People would notice that he's a Breton at first glance but then notice some differences. I'll link a bunch of stuff when I'm not on my phone.