Azazeal's archive

[Azazeal849]

Thanks, lady S.

I couldn't really give you a definitive answer, I'm afraid. Some of my characters use people I know or have read about as guidelines, some of them I've fleshed out by assigning them a Myers-Briggs personality type and then looking into the other traits that usually go with it, and some I've just tried to stay true to a few "core" traits to make it easier to decide how they (rather than I!) would react to a given situation. Stupid little quirks that don't (usually) add to the story but serve to humanise the character can help too, like a relatable hobby or a recognisable physical tic - usually drawn from somebody I know in real life.

Occasionally, my fellow RPers help me figure it out - for example, PaintSerf seems to know Alia Machairi better than I do.

[Azazeal849]

ENGINEER VESPA TEHRANI

"Does a history book instil the same conviction as feeling what our predecessors went through? Humanity's been at war with itself for a long time since it started recording history."



Featured in: Wreckage (retconned), Wreckage (reboot)

As I have mentioned in a couple of other entries, I'm a fan of the Sins of a Solar Empire franchise, and one of its three races in particular: the Advent. For the uninitiated, the Advent were a pacifist human sect that developed psychic powers through genetic/cybernetic enhancement, the primary use of which was to link all their acolytes together into a single consciousness called "the Unity". The galactic government of the day didn't like this (for unspecified ideological reasons) and banished them. Unfortunately a hive mind has a long memory, and 1000 years later, the exiles returned on a murderous crusade against their former oppressors (though some have since begun to repent). Interestingly, they are not a "hive mind" in the classic sense since their collective is distinctly subdivided into various factions, and even individual members seem to retain enough individuality to talk about themselves in the first person.

I've had an idea for an Advent character bouncing around my head for a while, and I'll freely admit that my initial pitch for Dakkagor's Wreckage was essentially this with the serial numbers filed off. It was more the Advent's intriguing society I wanted to explore rather than their vengeful crusade, and so I set myself to picturing what they might have been like in their pre-exile days. Another major influence on creating Vespa's character came from this essay, which discusses how a hive mind might operate in practice (and, interestingly, that it need not necessarily lead to destructive group-think).

Eventually, Vespa morphed into an exploration of a potential post-human society and how it would affect people, with a potential dose of commentary on today's information- and internet-culture thrown in. The main thrust of this exploration was the idea that people could connect with each other at all times, but by the same token also have essentially unlimited access to what other people were doing. This violates all sorts of human instincts towards privacy (and this is indeed one of the first discussions that is had with an uninitiated character in the original RP), but the interesting thought remains that it would be essentially impossible to commit any sort of crime under such a system. Even abuse of the open access might be somewhat mitigated - it is, after all, a lot harder to snoop on someone getting dressed if their partner or parents are also watching you.

I'll put my hands up right now and say that such a society would almost certainly never work in real life. The "total freedom of information" part would likely get quietly dropped some time after the "total surveillance" came into effect, much as real-life attempts at communism have always got lost somewhere between "total government control" and "fair distribution of the now government-controlled resources". I also wouldn't put it past some clever hackers to be able to mask their presence in the collective, thus defeating the "community watch" effect. Still, it's interesting to imagine how someone with no concept of privacy, who is used to simply sensing someone's emotions rather than asking about them, and has a very weird concept of death, would interact with "normal" people.

Vespa's character arc was still very much in its infancy at the time the original Wreckage folded, and so now that Dakkagor is rebooting it I have taken the opportunity to modify her a little. This was partially to make her a better fit for the revised universe, but also because I noticed that previously I had been focusing on the Harmony as a society more than Vespa as a person. Part of a hive mind she might be, but I thought that she would benefit from a less vague personality and backstory. The change in her appearance was incidental, since I was browsing around for more "realistic" shipwear, but I don't mind because this thread could probably do with more actors of colour anyway.

Trivia: Vespa's first name comes, of course, from the Sins ship class of the same name (Advent Rebels for the win!), although her surname is that of one of my work colleagues.

Spoiler: Vespa's original profile 

Name: Vespa Tehrani

Age: 34

Race: Human, born on the planet Senar. Member of the Voice of Senar cult and its highly spiritualised hive mind, 'the Harmony'.

Appearance: Vespa is of average height and build, with a sandy complexion and wispy, mousy brown hair that she wears short for work purposes. She has a nubian nose and thin lips, though her eye colour is not natural due to a pair of sight-enhancing implants that have replaced the original lenses of both eyes. Such occular implants are extremely common on Senar and have the side effect of colouring the user's irises a milky silver-blue...which doesn't help Vespa's rather odd demeanour one bit.

The traditional dress for members of the Voice of Senar is their distinctive white and blue robes. Obviously this is not always practical on a starship, and the crew of the Chiaroscuro are more likely to see her in a simple engineer's jumpsuit or else her sealed hazardous environment suit.

Job Description: Drone controller (although she prefers the more floral Senar title, 'animus'). She remotely operates a team of salvage androids in environments which are too extreme or too dangerous to send human operators.

Education: Vespa is a qualified animus of the Voice of Senar's kine guild.

Prior Experience: She has eight years experience in repairing and directing drones in mining operations on Senar's mineral-rich moons. Currently, she is qualified to operate up to four drones at once.

Personality: Serene, spiritual, and has an unfortunate tendency to stare due to her mind often operating on two planes at once. Vespa is quite talkative and is happy to discuss work and her philosophical views with the rest of the crew, although her use of “we” as a personal pronoun can take a bit of getting used to. When she is alone ('alone' being a relative term for a member of a hive mind) she likes to pass time by stargazing.

Background: Of the various groups that retreated to the fringe worlds seeking spiritual escape after the Triple Alliance War, the Voice of Senar (hailing from the planet of the same name) is probably one of the strangest. Believing that all conflict stemmed from disunity, they sought to merge their acolytes in a single gestalt consciousness which they called 'the Harmony'. This was achieved by integrating each citizen with a cortical implant, each of which was in turn connected to a vast data transfer network. This artificial hive mind allows the members of the Harmony to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences on an almost innate level. As the Voice of Senar began to spread out across space, a series of hyperwave transmitters allowed the members of the Harmony to hear each other even over light years of distance. While undoubtedly advantageous in terms of empathy and information exchange, the Harmony gives its members some unusual outlooks on personal identity, privacy and even death - which outsiders find weird if not outright disturbing.

With every citizen of Senar receiving a cortical implant at a young age, the members of the Harmony have little reservation about fitting their bodies with further implants to assist in their work and their day to day lives. Not surprisingly, many outsiders find this practice strange, or even repulsive, adding to the Voice of Senar's mixed reputation.

Strange though they are, no-one could argue that the Voice of Senar aren't productive members of the Terran Alliance. Because of their emphasis on integrating the bionic with the organic, the Voice of Senar also produce some of the most advanced robots in the Alliance. Many of these are operated by specialists known as anima, who direct the androids as if they were extensions of their own bodies. Their ability to multiply labour by controlling several drones at once (easy for someone who has been sharing and partitioning their mind for most of their life anyway) is their unique selling point in a market of historically unpopular AIs and more limited non-sentient robots.

Because of Senar's rather esoteric technology, the qualifications of their kine guild were only officially recognised by the Athenian IRE (Institute of Robotics Engineers) two years ago. However, it wasn't long after that before an influx of Senar anima and other technical specialists entered the market as they sought out lucrative employment opportunities for their skills (and, inevitably, a chance to spread the ideals of the Harmony across the wider Terran Alliance). Vespa is one such specialist, who until recently was working on reconstruction work on the glassworld of Haber VI. When a job opening was announced on the salvage vessel Chiaroscuro, the group of anima working on Haber put forward Vespa as one of their more experienced engineers. The offer of a Senar drone squad - with a dedicated handler and maintainer - was a welcome opportunity to reduce the risks (and costs) of a generally dirty and dangerous operation, and Vespa secured the job despite seriously weirding out her interviewers.

Personal Equipment: Vespa brought a team of six androids with her to the Chiaroscuro, as well as all the equipment and tools she needs to service them. Her hazardous environment suit includes a hyperwave transmitter in the helmet, which allows her direct control over her drones.

Nestled unobtrusively inside Vespa's skull is the cortical implant that all members of the Harmony use. She also has a pair of implants in her eyes which provide image enhancement in poor visibility, as well as limited mechanical interfacing (though generally only with Senar tech which is designed to receive it).

Spoiler: Vespa suited up for a salvage op with her drones 

Spoiler: Vespa's revised profile 

Name: Vespa Tehrani

Age: 34

Race: Human. 8th generation member of the Harmony Project, now known simply as 'the Harmony'.

Appearance: Vespa is of average height and build, with a nut-brown complexion and wavy black hair that she wears long to soften her strong jaw, although she usually ties it back for work purposes. She has a nubian nose and amber eyes. The crew of the Jackal are most likely to see her in a simple engineer's jumpsuit, or else her sealed hazardous environment suit.

Job Description: Engineer (drone controller). She remotely operates a team of salvage androids (either from the ground or from orbit) in environments which are too extreme or too dangerous to send human crewmembers.

Education: Vespa originally wanted to study robotics at an offworld university, but lost out on a Harmony scholarship to a more promising candidate. She graduated from Senar university as a qualified drone controller, and has since passed UN courses in sphere trade language, hazardous environment training and orbital training.

Prior Experience: She has seven years experience in planetside ops, repairing and directing drones in mining operations, and one in orbital working aboard the Jackal. Currently, she is qualified to operate up to four drones at once.

Personality: Though Vespa was introverted as a child, you wouldn't know it now; she is quite talkative and is happy to discuss work and her philosophical views with the rest of the crew, occasionally bordering on being a bit of a missionary. She can also get overly defensive if the Harmony is criticised (an especial pet peeve is being compared to the Seph), though other members of the Harmony tend to step in and mitigate these faults. She loves tinkering with things, either to fix them or simply to find out how they work, and her ambition is to have her name on some big archeotech find from the dead worlds. Because the Harmony internalises a lot of verbal and emotional communication, Vespa doesn't outwardly emote much (often having to consciously "hitch up" smiles and the like for the benefit of outsiders) and conversely can get quite frustrated at her hit-and-miss ability to read people (something that the rest of the Harmony are rarely any help with either). When she is alone - 'alone' being a relative term for a member of a hive mind - she likes to pass time by stargazing or messing around in the Jackal's workshops.

Personal Equipment: Vespa maintains a team of six androids aboard the Jackal (four active, two replacement), as well as all the equipment and tools she needs to service them. Her hazardous environment suit includes a hyperwave transmitter in the helmet, which allows her direct control over her drones.

Nestled unobtrusively inside Vespa's skull is the cortical implant that all members of the Harmony use. She also has a pair of eye implants replacing the natural lenses of her eyes, the primary purpose of which is to display data from the Harmony. They also provide image enhancement in poor visibility as well as limited mechanical interfacing (though generally only with tech which is designed to receive it).

Spoiler: The Harmony Project 

While the Seph are indifferent to humanity at best, and many humans in turn regard the Seph with fear, this attitude is not universal. A cabal of scientists in the border worlds became fascinated by the Seph's hive mind, and sought to emulate their radio-based telepathy. Bringing together a loose collection of like-minded volunteers, they eventually succeeded in integrating each citizen with a cortical implant, each of which was in turn connected to a vast data transfer network. This ten year endeavour was originally known as the Harmony Project, although over time it came to be known simply as the Harmony. In creating a true Seph analogue it was unsuccessful - computing limitations capped the number of minds that could access the network at several hundred, although the test subjects still viewed the instant sharing of information and empathic signals as an almost transcendent experience. The artificial network was not a hive mind in the traditional sense, as (so far) its members retain their distinct personalities, although said personalities are inevitably somewhat altered by being able to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences on an almost innate level.

Though the project itself was a failure, the hive mind endured at the wishes of the test subjects. The number of minds supported by the network has been steadily increased down the generations, now standing at several thousand, and a large amount of the Harmony's collective brain-power is geared towards improving their network to support yet more acolytes.

While undoubtedly advantageous in terms of empathy and information exchange, the Harmony gives its members some unusual outlooks on personal identity, privacy and even death - and outsiders often find this aping of the Seph Reaching (down to the adoption of "we" as a personal pronoun) weird if not outright disturbing. The Harmony has an uneasy public image, especially with followers of the view that attempted transhumanism was the bane of all the dead civilisations, or with people who distrust anything associated with the Seph in general.

One of the Harmony's more controversial practices is the induction of most of its members at a young age (typically 7 or 8 Earth years for the children of existing acolytes) in order for them to learn to cope with the hive mind and utilise it to its full potential. With every member receiving a cortical implant during childhood, the Harmony have little reservation about fitting their bodies with further implants to assist in their work and their day to day lives (eye implants being the most common).

The mental changes wrought by the Harmony do result in several unexpected upsides. For example, Harmony members frequently use their implants to remotely link with robots or other technology - much as a re-sleeved human "wears" an android - though a natural aptitude for sharing and partitioning their minds allows Harmony acolytes to direct several androids simultaneously and independently. Their ability to multiply labour by controlling several drones at once, and as precisely as if they were extensions of their own bodies, has allowed the Harmony's technical specialists to find lucrative employment across the Terran sphere. Vespa is one such specialist, and works as a dedicated handler and maintainer aboard the Jackal, allowing its crew to reduce the risks of its generally dirty and dangerous planetside operations.

[dakkagor]

One day I will reboot Wreckage. A black day, when the courage of man breaks and wolves howl at the gates.

But that day IS NOT TODAY.

Might be later this year though.

[Azazeal849]

THE INQUISITION

A trio of short profiles today, since none of them are traditional PCs, but two of them have received almost enough screen time to qualify as such.

Spoiler: INTERROGATOR JAVID SCHAFER 

"Lone wolves get killed, agent Sonder. Pure and simple."



Featured in: The Replicants, The Prophet In Silver

The above list of RPs is a bit deceptive, since the real Javid Schafer barely featured in the one, and not at all in the other. The alien clone wearing his face however was a perfect match for his personality and mannerisms, so in a way the difference is immaterial. When I was brainstorming Javid (and his arch-rival Alia, who didn't appear onscreen until later) I tried to think about the kind of people that the inquisition would select for leadership. Well, leaders obviously - but then there are several ways to lead, and I deliberately crafted Javid and Alia to embody different philosophies on the subject.

Javid is the no-nonsense taskmaster who leads by example and doesn't spare the feelings of others when they make a mistake or get in his way. There are however hints scattered throughout Replicants that he reserves the majority of his ire for the newbies, mostly to make sure that they don't pick up bad habits, and gives his agents a bit more leeway once they've proved that they know the ropes. This can be seen most obviously in the slightly more relaxed way he interacts with Clement and Sapphira in Replicants. He also isn't without a certain caustic humour, which I enjoyed bringing out on occasion - not to mention an underhanded reference to Monty Python's famous "no-one expects" joke.

One mistake I feel I made with Schafer was that he and Alia never managed to meet onscreen in my RPs. While of course two people who are used to being the sole one in charge are bound to clash, and a blazing row between them would have been a sight to behold, it also limited my ability to contrast the two. You can, however, hopefully pick up something from the way they act when the other comes up in conversation (though of course their opinions of each other are flagrantly biased!).

Trivia: I chose his surname because he is a "shaper" according to the Belbin team roles - the authoritative leader who makes sure that things get done.

Spoiler: INQUISITOR ALIA MACHAIRI 

"Going somewhere, heretic?"



Featured in: The Prophet In Silver, Penitence

Alia is the flipside of Javid's very direct, stern leadership, basing her command style more on charisma and clever diplomacy. She inspires loyalty in her agents by investing personal time in them. I find her a rather complicated character because there is an element of deception to this - she is genuinely personable, but isn't above using it to manipulate people, and she doesn't react well when her authority is challenged. She also considers the key ability of an inquisitor to be able to essentially switch off empathy.

Small wonder then that the straight-talking Javid's first IC opinion of her is "a two-faced bitch". All the same, I enjoy writing this character and I don't think of her as sociopathic. It is clear from certain scenes in Prophet that she does genuinely care about her people and the decisions she has to make. It is just that the duty always comes first. In this, she is perfect inquisitor material, although I could personally never make the calls that she does. But then, to quote Alia herself, that is why most people will never be inquisitors.

I also enjoy Alia's interactions with her subordinates, including her close friend and bodyguard Tomas, and the ever-reliable confessor Solvan who is anxious to remind her that even aspiring inquisitors need advice. Perhaps the most interesting is her unusually candid talks with the blank Martin Crenshaw (the closest thing she has to an equal in her RPs) about the state of the imperium. All of these give the reader little snapshots into a woman who doesn't normally make a habit of sharing her private thoughts and feelings.

Trivia: Alia's surname is taken from the Greek word for "knife" (although in Alia's case I always imagine it pronounced "Ma-KYE-ree"), making her a fairly obvious homage to the Dune character. This is carried forward to her physical appearance, which I based upon her actress in the Sci Fi channel miniseries (if you get the chance, watch both trilogies - I highly recommend them). All I need to do now is get her declared a saint...

Spoiler: INQUISITOR FEYD LUCULLIS 

"I trust the Tarot. I don't trust the psyker reading it."



Featured in: Penitence, Shades of Grey

This is a character that's been going around in my head in various permutations for a while now, even though all of the RPs I plan to feature him in will essentially be cameo roles. His original incarnation (for a story that never made it out of my head) was quietly pious and quite personable, but when I eventually assigned those traits to Kimmie Raeden instead, he morphed into someone much colder and more mysterious.

I forget the exact topic we were discussing, but in a thread on Warseer another poster brought up the idea of an inquisitor replacing his eyes with those of an executed heretic, so that he could "see the world from a sinner's point of view" and thus better pick out his targets. It was just insane enough to be right at home in 40K, and while it was a bit too insane to outright confirm one way or another, I thought it was exactly the kind of rumour that might spring up around a man who works a sinister job, doesn't let on much about himself, and doesn't pay much attention to what other people say about him. In a similar vein, I genuinely haven't decided at this point if Feyd is a psyker or not. All we know is that he doesn't like blanks, and is extremely good at knowing when people are lying.

The one thing I was sure of about Feyd was that he would be scrupulously fair despite his dark reputation, and this will come to light in both Penitence and Shades of Grey.

Trivia: The fact that he has turned out almost like Stannis Baratheon in space is perhaps more PaintSerf's doing than mine (he has a wonderful ability to extrapolate my characters beyond the basic traits I had originally planned for them) although I will admit that Stannis is one of my favourite ASoIaF characters and had some influence on Feyd's eventual incarnation. Not to mention his physical appearance being taken straight from the TV version of the character.

[Azazeal849]

RHISIART CORBYN

"If only my little sister had had the courtesy to die."



Featured in: War of Succession, A Bridge of Tears (pending)

Believe it or not, this guy started out as an Ork. It began when Hoef had asked my advice on some rules he was drawing up for a new 40K RP which featured the Orks. During the process I briefly considered joining, even though I had never particularly felt the inclination to write an Ork character before. I had never really seen much scope in their "War! War! War!" mindset, nor in their occasional niche as comic relief, but it suddenly occurred to me how downright frightening it would be to write about someone who literally didn't understand how the human mind worked, and didn't see how anyone couldn't thoroughly enjoy warfare. I had an image of the Ork boss conducting an experiment on captured humans, where he observes a couple's reaction to him ripping their child out of their arms, and although he simply doesn't understand why they would attach any importance to something smaller than them (Orks only show deference to those bigger than themselves), he draws the conclusion that he can lure human troops out of their positions by attacking civilian towns.

I eventually decided against pursuing the idea (mainly because I found the final ruleset for the RP a little too complicated), but then while I was still musing about sociopathy I came across Emperor Tiberiu's sparsely-detailed but potentially interesting low fantasy story Wars of Succession, that my fellow writer DoK was already signed up to. I messaged Tiber and he very kindly opened up an extra space for me. Thus I took the basic idea of a frighteningly amoral creature and toned it down into something a bit more relatable - an aggressive young man with severe entitlement issues. Enter Rhisiart.

I made Rhisiart's mercenaries an archer company, because I wanted to write about the medieval longbowmen made famous by battles such as Halidon Hill, Crecy and Agincourt, although I am aware that they weren't quite the godlike armour-piercing weapons that they are sometimes portrayed as. I am also aware that it was actually the Welsh, not the English, who first invented and mastered the war bow, and I have attempted to pay homage to this in the Welsh names and syntax of the characters (Rhisiart - pronounced RHISH-art - is of course the Welsh form of Richard). I had fun coming up with some larger-than-life secondary characters to act as foils to Rhisiart's constant sneering and brooding, and I also thought it was important to contrast how he sees himself when he's the POV character with how he actually appears to an objective observer.

As the title of the RP suggests, there were several potential factions for Rhisiart to fight for. I aligned him with lord Madlynvr (for the sake of reader sanity, it's pronounced MALLY-nor), who was the son of an impoverished noble looking to elevate himself and other members of the local middle class. This sounded to me like a goal that would appeal to an ambitious mercenary with an inferiority complex - though being the massive cynic that he is, Rhisiart doesn't believe Madlynvr's populist words for a moment and assumes that he's really just manipulating people for his own gain. I have been told by the GM whether his assessment of his lord is accurate or not, but I won't spoiler it here.

Not long after beginning Rhisiart's arc, I felt that I needed to tell the other side of his story as well, and so I started fleshing out his luckless half-sister Lowri (which, after the Welsh fashion, is pronounced LOH-ree). I have attached her profile below Rhisiart's.

Trivia: Yes, that is Anguy the Archer from Game of Thrones. Or at least it was before I aged him down for A Bridge of Tears.

Spoiler: Rhisiart's full profile 

Name: Rhisiart Corbyn ("Sir" Rhisiart Corbyn to anyone who will listen)

Age: 27

Faction: Mercenary, currently fights for lord Madlynvr

Appearance: An unremarkable young man, with roughly-chopped brown hair and an overlong nose, though there is something confident (or perhaps arrogant) in his thin face. He has an appraising gaze and a phlegmatic manner...most of the time.

Armour: A simple brigandine and open helmet (of worn but good-quality steel)

Weapons: War bow, buckler. Has proficiency with a short sword, but prefers the maul.

Equipment: Horse (rouncey), dagger, waterproof arrow bag, dark green waterproof cloak, various non-combat equipment stowed in the company baggage

Backstory: Rhisiart (pronounced RHISH-art) is not a knight, and technically he's not even a Corbyn - having been illegitimately fathered on a favoured serving girl not long before sir Dylan Corbyn's official marriage to Seren Wrexham. His father allowed him to grow up in the Corbyn castle at Ruthin (on the border of the lands now claimed by prince Esdori and lord Madwynvr) and train with his master at arms. He even put Rhisiart in charge of training the House's archers at 18, which most would have considered generous, though Rhisiart was still resentful of the lack of respect and privilege archers commanded compared to knights. He was even more resentful of his younger trueborn siblings, only one of which survived infancy. When lady Seren died suddenly, leaving her sickly teenage daughter Lowri as the only heir to House Corbyn, Rhisiart confronted his father. An argument ensued which led sir Dylan to send Rhisiart and his archers to garrison nearby Holytown, as much to send him away as to give him a command.

This proved to be a mistake; after sir Dylan was set upon and killed by bandits on the road to Longdale, Rhisiart promptly took most of his father's bowmen (who by now had more loyalty to him than to his half-sister) and rode east to find his own fortune. Casting aside the raven-on-silver insignia of House Corbyn, they found themselves new raincloaks in Holytown, and green happened to be cheapest. Styling themselves the Green Company after their new cloaks, they enjoyed moderate success fighting orc raiders in the far east and, after the death of king Friav, in helping petty lords settle old grudges. Now comprising a number of men-at-arms as well as their core bowmen, Rhisiart's company of 100 have recently enlisted with lord Madlynvr, who Rhisiart is told plans to upset the old nobility and put his own supporters into power. Rhisiart had always had a vague dream of returning to Ruthin and claiming his father's seat for himself - it would be interesting to have the chance to make that dream a reality.

Spoiler: Lowri's full profile 

Name: Lowri Corbyn

Titles: Lady Corbyn; Warden of Ruthin

Sigil: Black raven on a silver field

Age: 19

Faction: Prince Esdori

Appearance: Lowri (pronounced LOH-ree) has her father's long nose and her mother's brown hair. Her eyes are blue beneath thin, gull-wing eyebrows, and her face is soft-featured, although her skin is sickly pale from seldom seeing the sun. Her mother always said that she was pretty when she made the effort, but finding the energy to make that effort is something of a challenge for her. She stands tall for a woman, but there is little meat on her thin frame.

Weapons: N/A, though she generally travels with Corbyn family guards equipped with helmets, breastplates and either spears or swords.

Backstory: Rhisiart's younger half-sister by 8 years, Lowri was the only one of lady Seren Corbyn's children to survive infancy. As such her mother doted on her, and her father, expecting her to be his only legitimate heir, had her educated in the management of the Corbyn estate of castle Ruthin. Though a sweet girl, Lowri never got on well with her half-brother Rhisiart - or rather, he never got on with her, making it quite plain that he saw her as an unjust obstacle to his own inheritance, denied by an arbitrary rule of blood.

Lowri was unfortunate enough to suffer from M.E (chronic fatigue syndrome), which began to present problems for her from the age of about six or seven. While her case was not severe enough to be debilitating, it was sufficient to curtail a lot of the day-to-day activities that most people took for granted. Most of the symptoms being invisible made it particularly hard, and Lowri has gotten used to being called cursed, hypochondriac or even just lazy behind her back. She isn't sure if she hates these disbelieving reactions worst, or the pitying ones that she also sometimes gets.

Having to deal with a relentless disease and her needlessly hostile brother changed Lowri into a slightly bitter and cynical person, but she retains the core of her practical and dutiful personality. This should have stood her in good stead when she had the ownership of castle Ruthin thrust upon her, after her father died in a brutal bandit attack (one of the precursors to "lord" Tiberiu's rise) during a routine visit to the crownlands town of Longdale. However, the fates were against her when shortly afterward, Rhisiart convinced a number of house Corbyn's soldiers that he was more deserving of their loyalty than his well-meaning but sickly half-sister. The defection of those soldiers to form the Green Company was a slap in the face from which House Corbyn's honour never truly recovered.

Lowri marshalled her remaining men in a purely defensive stance during the war that followed king Friav's assassination. Lying on the eastern border of the crownlands, the lands around castle Ruthin saw some conflict, and the castle itself was besieged once early in the war, but was relieved three weeks later by prince Esdori's host returning from the north. Lowri has always declared for prince Esdori, seeing him as king Friav's rightful successor, but with many of the borderland lords declaring for lord Madlynvr she is anxious to prove that loyalty.

[Azazeal849]

CHARACTER REVIEW

With a couple of complete or nearly complete RPs added to my repertoire since I posted some of the characters in this thread, I thought that now might be a good time to take stock of how they've progressed and a few lessons learned. As always, anyone who is passing by feel free to leave your own thoughts, especially if you were involved in one of these RPs. It's always useful to get an outside view of a character, since what's going on in your head (and especially my head...) might not be quite what other people are seeing on the page!

Decius Marcius (Eternum series): Decius has come a long way since his inception, largely due to the incredibly broad yet decently guided storyline of DoK's Eternum trilogy. Decius was very much a protagonist (if not the protagonist) of the first RP, partly due to him being in all the right places at the right times and partly due to my own rather aggressive posting schedule. I deliberately scaled this back a little in the second RP, partially to avoid dominating the story by myself, but also to allow some of my minor characters to come to the fore. The different characters offered different writing challenges while also allowing me to get involved in all the branches of the story that Decius wasn't a part of. Despite the reduction in focus on him, I still feel that Decius received a clear and satisfying arc in the second RP of dealing with the death of his family.

The third RP again sees Decius taking a back seat (albeit as de facto ruler of the imperium!) for now, though I expect he will be rising to prominence again come the finale. I am generally happy with the way his story has developed, although I would like to hear other opinions (hint hint, dear reader).

Raechel Kuscelian (The Silent Forge): I've been feeling for a while that Raechel's story hasn't gone as well as it might have done, and it's taken me some thought to pin down why this is. My initial idea for her character arc was for her to eventually deal with her paranoia but maintain a healthy suspicion of her fellow magi, thereby becoming a good candidate for the Lords Dragon (her organisation's secret service equivalent). I probably should have thought this through a little better, since for most of the story (and what is revealed of her past) she does not really have a good reason to be suspicious of everybody. Attempting to rectify this by summarising the previous story in a single late flashback might have come across as a bit melodramatic and unsatisfying.

I have come to the conclusion that weaving a slow reveal into a story is only easy if you are controlling the events that trigger it (i.e. you are the GM) as it is otherwise quite difficult to make it feel organic and not like a random aside to the real plot. It can also be difficult to have your arc make sense within the wider story - in Raechel's case she had fellow tech-priest Nikolai, who she should have trusted and didn't, and who teaches her to do so, but then she also had an inquisitor (a rank she originally had a high opinion of) turn out to be spying on her. It's difficult to draw a conclusion to her desired arc based on those events, and I will probably be making significant changes in editing to make Raechel's subplot run more coherently - and make her own reactions make more sense. As it stands, the character seems incompetent and irrational enough to have a legitimate sexist writing charge laid against her (or rather, me).

On the plus side, one thing that worked reasonably well was Raechel's progression towards rogue magus hunter, as both the main villain of the story and the subplot of an unknown enemy who has framed her for heresy (the whole reason the inquisitor was after her in the first place) somewhat facilitate this. I am hoping that Nikolai (already a Lords Dragon agent) will join her in going after the unknown enemy at the end of the story, since he will likely be her eventual recruiter. If I can fix Raechel's currently rather irrational-seeming "paranoia" arc in editing and make her seem reasonably competent in the final fight, then it might be believable for her to reappear as a full-fledged Dragon agent by her next RP.

Whether she can be salvaged in editing or not, Raechel has been a learning experience that I can hopefully apply to other characters with emotion-based arcs and slow-reveal stories. The main test of if I've learned anything will be Kimmie Raeden in the eventual Shades of Grey, and I invite you to critique me on it!

Gina Wright (The Reborn): If Decius has gone well and Raechel not so well, Gina is one I'm still on the fence about. One advantage I have in writing Gina over Raechel is that I don't have a predetermined arc for her that I want to shoehorn into the story; it's much more a case of having her react to her immediate surroundings and see how events affect her over time. There are, however, a few things that make Gina's inclusion in this RP challenging.

Firstly, she's somewhat underpowered compared to her fellow characters, being a baseline human with ghost-hunting experience which may not apply to her new setting(s), while her companions are a magic user and a gun-toting werewolf respectively. I don't mind this overmuch, as it makes me think outside the box a bit (and I trust the GM not to set Gina challenges that she can't actually overcome). Also, Gina retains a natural niche as the leader / planner of the group, although that in turn leads into a second issue; from a meta perspective, it is not ideal to have one player / character dictating the group's actions. This is something that is going to require some thought.

Another meta influence that I have been becoming increasingly aware of is Gina's core drive of keeping her friends alive clashing with players dropping out of roleplays (usually, resulting in their characters being killed). While these deaths are never presented as Gina's fault, I imagine that it's extremely hard for her to feel like she's constantly failing at her job. Even if she is as determined as all get out, I get the feeling that she'll need a win pretty soon. Minkasha has pointed out that she is essentially inflicting this pain on herself by always assuming responsibility, but I find it difficult to imagine Gina (who is an ENFJ personality type) reacting in any other way.

Like I said, it's too early to tell whether Gina's outing in Reborn is going to be a success or not.

[Azazeal849]

CHARACTER REVIEW II

I'm always keen to improve as a writer, especially in my handling of characters. I often wonder about how my characters look from an outside perspective, and I also like to "test" them using various metrics lying about the Internet. Which led to this.

I came across the "Strong Female Character" test and thought it would be an interesting exercise to apply to my own creations - after all, not being a woman myself, I should probably be more mindful of how I write female characters than male ones. I found this particular test on Jo Writes Stuff, though I'm not sure of the original source of it. The test involves answering 10 questions, which are as follows:

1. Does the character shape her own destiny? Does she actively try to change her situation and if not, why not?

2. Does she have her own goals, beliefs and hobbies? Did she come up with them on her own?

3. Is her character consistent? Do her personality or skills change as the plot demands?

4. Can you describe her in one short sentence without mentioning her love life, her physical appearance, or the words ‘strong female character’?

5. Does she make decisions that aren’t influenced by her love life?

6. Does she develop over the course of the story?

7. Does she have a weakness?

8. Does she influence the plot without getting captured or killed?

9. How does she relate to stereotypes about gender?

10. How does she relate to other female characters?

The blog I found the test on considers 8 or more out of 10 to be a "pass", which seems like a rather high bar for me but I'll see how it goes. In any case, it should be useful to highlight which characters need more focus.

I have applied the test to most of my female characters who get at least one full RP of screen time. Characters which I considered but decided didn't have enough screen time to make the test fair included Vespa Tehrani (Wreckage), Natalia Veiss (Prophet), Eppie von Scharn (Hearts of Darkness), Kira Loque (Hearts of Darkness) and Kimmie Raeden (Shades of Grey)

First up, the ladies from Business Is War, which I still consider to be my best GM job so far. But how do the characters measure up?

Spoiler: Britta Engel 

1. To some degree, Britta's story is decided for her - first as a EuroCorp handler and later as an (initially unwilling) accomplice to the newly-freed agents. Once she does some soul-searching however, she takes an active role in shaping and enabling the agents' plans, and it's arguably for her own redemption as much as for the greater ideal. 0.5/1

2. Business doesn't tell much about Britta's hobbies (not that the team have much down time), and her eventual goal is arguably set by the group rather than herself. Her beliefs - pragmatism, harm minimisation - are her own, but I won't count ambition because it is ultimately the team's actions not her own which put her at the helm of EuroCorp at story's end. 0.5/1

3. Britta has a definite character arc but her rational approach remains constant, and I don't think I gave her any abilities that weren't set up earlier in the story. 1/1

4. A self-assured, level-headed handler who is forced to face up to the reality of her organisation and her own complicity in it. 1/1

5. She doesn't have a love interest in the story - her decisions are all driven by her values and her job, or else by her own survival. 1/1

6. Her outlook changes significantly after agent Wallace throws a blood-soaked handkerchief in her face. You could almost say she "wakes up" at the same time as her agents. 1/1

7. Her major flaw is the cognitive dissonance she displays prior to the agents' awakening. Though it doesn't disadvantage her personally so much as drive the plot. 0.5/1

8. Together with Lisa, she is one of the most influential NPCs for the main characters. 1/1

9. The decisive, authoritative female boss isn't a traditional feminine stereotype, but it's common enough nowadays that it's not directly subverting any stereotypes either. 0.5/1

10. Britta's main female interaction is Lisa, to whom she intentionally provides a foil. I won't count her sister Jess, who to my shame is an almost painfully straight example of a Woman In The Refrigerator. 0.5/1

Total: 7.5/10 (nearly a pass, but not quite)

Spoiler: Lisa Asari 

1. Much less ambiguous than Britta; her actions largely kick off the plot and she's trying to follow her own plan throughout. 1/1

2. Again not much time for hobbies, but her goal is ultimately to free everyone from the CHIPs, driven by her clear-cut morality on the subject. 1/1

3. Her main skill (crashing CHIPs) is a constant, as is her idealistic streak. 1/1

4. An idealistic scientist who wants to rid the world of a dangerous technology, but whose desperation leads her to make costly mistakes. 1/1

5. She doesn't have a love interest in the story, and her decisions are mostly informed by her personal values. 1/1

6. She becomes somewhat less naive and uncompromising over the course of the story. 0.5/1

7. Her naïveté and desperation give her trouble almost throughout, and the team quite rightly call her out on it. 1/1

8. Not going to award a full point here, because for the first half of the story she's effectively the McGuffin the players have to catch. 0.5/1

9. The plucky scientist isn't really new, and arguably neither is the woman as the more idealistic / emotional gender. 0.5/1

10. Her main interactions are with Britta, contrasting her desire for the ideal (but likely chaos-inducing) outcome with Britta's more measured compromises. 0.5/1

Total: 8/10 (pass - woohoo!)

Moving on now to the girls of the 40K universe; let's see how they do.

Spoiler: Kelly Black 

1. Debatable. A lot of the time, she's following orders from one higher authority or another. She does, however, make her own call on field work, and on joining Walt's mission to Saros to help her brother. 0.5/1

2. Kelly's a social girl, although often we only see hints of it. She is very clear about her beliefs and isn't afraid to argue them. 0.5/1

3. There is something of a shift from "the tech" to "the heart" over the stories, partially because there's not always ways to showcase her SOCO skills. 0.5/1

4. A logical but empathetic field agent with a strong moral compass and a perceptive concern for her friends. 1/1

5. Despite a healthy sex drive, she doesn't have any onscreen love interests, and her decisions vary between being informed by concern for family, friends or more general morality. 1/1

6. She is always cool-headed and empathetic, but I think the sense of justice that gets explored in Prophet counts as character development. 1/1

7. I'm struggling to think of one. I won't count her principles as a weakness - although it did lead to a mission-threatening intervention in Prophet, neither she nor the team suffered any major setback. 0/1

8. She affects her peers, and I give her as much agency as I can given that GMPCs shouldn't take centre stage away from the PCs, and she is occasionally responsible for plot-moving breakthroughs, but there is an upcoming event in Penitence that's making me withhold the full point. 0.5/1

9. The "heart" of the group is a fairly stereotypical female role, though her cool head and lab skills were showcased first. 0.5/1

10. She has regular strong interactions with Sapphira and Kally, the other principal female team members (though PaintSerf and Dakkagor get more credit for this point than me!) 1/1

Total: 6/10 (Hmm...I was actually hoping that Kelly would be one of my better scores)

Spoiler: Ella Seren 

1. She tries to improve her skills within the confines of her assigned "role", but is generally quite humble about her duty. So in general she (deliberately) stays where she is (her game-changing force sword was given rather than taken). 0.5/1

2. We know that she likes choir music, and her main belief - selfless duty - is well showcased. 1/1

3. Her desire to help people remains her main driver through most of her appearances. 1/1

4. An inexperienced but strong-willed psyker with unshakeable conviction and a desire to do her duty. 1/1

5. I actually can't answer this one without spoilers for Penitence. N/A

6. While her skills develop, I wouldn't say we learn much more about her as a person until her sexuality gets broached in Penitence 0/1

7. Pushing herself beyond her limits to help as much as she can has landed her in psychic trouble a couple of times. 1/1

8. She gets the point for Short Run, where her actions significantly influence the outcome. Her readings provide subtle help throughout the series. 1/1

9. I'm withholding this point; making the selfless, pure, dutiful one a woman is hardly groundbreaking. 0/1

10. She had interesting exchanges with Janie (and somewhat tenser ones with two Sisters) in Short Run, but oddly enough she seems to have interacted mostly with men since. A budding friendship with Dosi redresses the balance slightly in Penitence. 0.5/1

Total: 6/9 (Fail - damn!)

Spoiler: Alia Machairi 

1. Offscreen perhaps, but Alia is very much in control of where she's going and how she handles the missions she's assigned (and she'd probably push back hard if it was any other way. 1/1

2. I don't think writing theses counts as a hobby, but we do know about her ambitions and her worldview - both from Schafer's POV and her own. 1/1

3. She's a diplomat first and a fighter second, and I think her leadership style is more or less consistent. 1/1

4. A Machiavellian leader who uses both diplomacy and dispassionate pragmatism to achieve her mission. 1/1

5. As seems to be becoming a pattern in my characters, she doesn't have a love interest and calls her shots based on her values. 1/1

6. We discover throughout Prophet that she's neither ruthless nor truly a "mother to her men", but somewhere inbetween. 1/1

7. She hates being talked down / back to, but it hasn't had any significant consequences for her so far. 0/1

8. As the GMPC leading the team through the plot I think she qualifies, even if she disappears offscreen sometimes to help keep the focus on the players. 0.5/1

9. I like to think that she's a progressive character, in that she's in charge with a flexible leadership style and her gender isn't particularly commented on by anyone. Half a point off because I focus a lot on her stately clothing and I know it. 0.5/1

10. She interacts with the women of the team, but not often in a deep way (Sapphira, the main candidate, has a past association with Schafer that keeps Alia standoffish to this day). Her main confidants are Tomas. Solvan and Crenshaw. 0.5/1

Total: 7.5/10 (Again nearly a pass, but not quite...)

Spoiler: Raechel Kuscelian 

1. She certainly tries to forge her own path - it just doesn't always work out very well for her. 0.5/1

2. We know she likes Menial music and amuses herself by bullshitting people about how classified tech works, and we know that she values humour and humanity (in conflict with her religion). And her main goal is to learn and understand. 1/1

3. Due to my sloppy writing, her distrust of authority is consistent but not always logical. 0.5/1

4. A tech-savvy woman with trust issues following past events, who struggles to reconcile conflicting loyalties. 1/1

5. Yes - although her decisions are sometimes based on faulty logic. 1/1

6. I had a clear arc in mind, but it got muddied by the way the story and the other characters turned out. 0.5/1

7. Her paranoia definitely qualifies. 1/1

8. As one of the PCs, she obviously has some influence on the story. 1/1

9. While "irrational and overly emotional" was emphatically not what I was shooting for, she may come across as such, and that's a pretty bad stereotype. 0/1

10. She spends a lot of time interacting with Elizabeth, and her handling of the agent is somewhat plot relevant. 1/1

Total: 7.5/10 (Actually better than I was expecting)

Next the women of DoK's excellent Eternum series. Being a more fantastical (though also slightly more progressive) spin on the Roman Empire, with most of them taking the role of ancient nobles, I'm interested to see if I've broken away enough from stereotypes.

Spoiler: Lycinia Marci 

1. Although her goals mirror her husband's, she has her own way of going about them and deals with different problems on her own. 1/1

2. We don't learn much about what she does in her time off (other than mothering), though we get a feel for her perceptive mind and Machiavellian values. 0.5/1

3. She is consistently shrewd, diplomatic and loving towards her family. 1/1

4. A confident politician with a keen eye for new developments, who is focused on the safety and stability of the empire. 1/1

5. While she and Decius want the same things, her handling of her side of the story is separate. 1/1

6. She doesn't really develop during Gods. 0/1

7. She doesn't have a particular weakness that I can think of. 0/1

8. Her influence on events in Emor is significant. 1/1

9. I think I've shaken up the traditional mother role a bit - unfortunately her death arguably serves little narrative purpose except to screw with Decius (although, I will point out that I did not plan or expect her to be killed). 0.5/1

10. I'm hesitant to award the full point, because while she does frequently interact with female friends, it's often not particularly deep. 0.5/1

Total: 6.5/10 (Although her Refrigerator death brings the score down, the main things I will take away are character development and interaction)

Spoiler: Seppia Octavi 

1. She makes a few difficult and important choices in Blood, which are important to defining her character. 1/1

2. We don't know much about what she does in her free time other than she spends some of it down the baths with Lycinia and Julia, though we can see her values in how she puts family first but still tries to do the moral thing for the people around her. 0.5/1

3. She is consistent in her values, and doesn't magically gain Lycinia's talent for public speaking. 1/1

4. An anxious wife and mother, who tries to do right by the wider empire while also keeping her family safe. 1/1

5. While the safety (and sanity) of her husband does understandably affect a lot of her thinking, it's not the only thing that influences her choices. 0.5/1

6. I won't count a point for this, because her growth is essentially from an extra to an actual character. 0.5/1

7. She's a nervous public speaker and not the most assertive - both of which work against her in-story. 1/1

8. She does a lot to advance the Emor plot in Blood. 1/1

9. Again we're still half in the traditional wife and mother role, so although it doesn't totally define her character it's hardly groundbreaking. 0.5/1

10. She has some fairly significant talks with Julia, so I'll give her half a point. 0.5/1

Total: 7.5/10 (Doing better now)

Spoiler: Julia Agrippi 

1. This girl definitely knows what she wants to achieve and sets out to do it. 1/1

2. While it isn't outright stated, we can infer that she's well read. We also know that she's plucky, egalitarian and in the habit of giving zero fucks about other people's opinions of her (for better or worse). 1/1

3. While she's not been in the spotlight for long, I think she's been reasonably consistent. 1/1

4. An outspoken teenager with a strong sense of right and wrong but a naive outlook on how to achieve her goals. 1/1

5. Although she is married (like Lycinia and Seppia), a fair bit of her arc is actually independent of Marcus, and she pursues her own pet project. 1/1

6. Like Seppia, her development from extra to main character doesn't really count as growth, although I will cheat and award myself half a point because she's learning some important lessons in the story's present / near future. 0.5/1

7. Her righteousness is well-meaning but not well thought out, and her self confidence strikes at least one other character as bratty. 1/1

8. She has had some impact, albeit mostly on side-plots. 0.5/1

9. I'm not going to award myself a whole point here, because the plucky girl is almost a cliche of its own nowadays. 0.5/1

10. As well as Seppia, she has small but important exchanges with the older and wiser senator Aemilia. 1/1

Total: 8.5/10 (PASS!)

Spoiler: Suriyana 

1. I won't award a full point, because some of it is facilitated by other people, but when she's given a choice she makes up her own mind. 0.5/1

2. We know she's devout, but that's hardly a hobby. Her goals, beliefs and values are well defined. 0.5/1

3. Her quick wit gets downplayed in times of danger, but it's usually present alongside her moral principles and realistic view of her own circumstances. 1/1

4. A religious former slave with a cutting sense of humour and strong moral beliefs, who wants to forge her own place in the world. 1/1

5. Yes - in fact she leaves her short-term boyfriend because his views don't match her own. 1/1

6. She adapts to consecutive new roles well, and we learn about her sense of right and wrong. 1/1

7. There isn't any particular trait I can think of that sets her back in-story. 0/1

8. After navigating several subplots, she joins the Quest Party on what may be the most important mission of the series. 1/1

9. ...Yeah, I really should have paused after thinking "Hey, let's make the slave girl black!" 0/1

10. Her interactions with Anne and Nesara are quite important to her course. 1/1

Total: 7/10 (Not bad, but I evidently need to think of a character weakness for her, or have her inflexible morals hinder her more significantly)

And finally Gina, our resident (unwilling) magnet for strange and deadly adventures.

Spoiler: Gina Wright 

1. She certainly tries to - she had a life plan before things took s turn for the supernatural, and since then she's been doing her level best to help / save people. 1/1

2. For once we do know her hobbies (running, hockey and music) although they don't often come up in a plot relevant way. Her altruistic values are also usually front and centre. 1/1

3. I can't think of any blatant out-of-character moments, and she usually comes off worse in fights with supernatural foes until she figures out their weaknesses (at which point she becomes more of a badass). 1/1

4. A determined, altruistic girl who tries to protect her friends even in the face of incomprehensible enemies. 1/1

5. While we can infer that she's had partners in the past (she tells a vampire stalker that it's none of his business), she's generally far more occupied with surviving, and her mind is usually focused on problem solving. 1/1

6. Unfortunately I can't count Austere as character development, since so much of that happens offscreen. After that, she doesn't change much. 0/1

7. "Baseline human" probably doesn't count, but her saviour complex and tendency to blame herself can and do work against her. 1/1

8. She leads the group in West Hills (and occasionally in Reborn) and is rarely just in the background. 1/1

9. I'm assuming that breaking down when people die is a human stereotype rather than a feminine one, though you could make an argument that "plucky schoolgirl" and "wants to work in healthcare" are somewhat cliche. 0.5/1

10. Gina has plenty of interactions with female friends/colleagues and family, including some illuminating heart to hearts. 1/1

Total: 8.5/10 (PASS!)

So, with only three characters scoring the required 8, there's clearly room for improvement. My main takeaways from this test are that I need to give my girls some more hobbies, ensure they continue to develop across RPs, and have them talk more to each other! Any thoughts on my analysis? If you'd like me to run a similar experiment on one of your own characters, just say the word!

[PaintSerf]

Honestly, I would say that you’re being harsh on yourself with the 40k ladies. Firstly, consider that most of them who’ve featured as your characters (rather than as GMPCs – who, as you’ve said are naturally limited to ) have been unlucky enough to be in games that shuttered early rather than playing out to what would’ve been a natural conclusion. Survey says:

Ella: It's Just A Short Run, Gibbous, A Wash Of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence

Ella’s only had two competed games, and all things being equal, Gibbous was a fun-size sampler compared to A Wash of Black. Short Run and Kaleidoscope died prematurely, and we’re still in progress with Penitence – where we simply haven’t yet been able to have Ella speak most of the other ladies aboard, simply because we’ve all been swamped with other scenes and real-word distractions.

Raechel: To Cleanse The Stars, Sins of Ambition (retconned), The Silent Forge (part 1), The Silent Forge (part 2), Penitence

Zero competed games for Raechel, including the retcon from (again, failed) Sins of Ambition where surprisingly enough all of the deployed tech-priests were female – although not that there was much time for idle conversation, being priestesses of Mars and almost immediately deployed into the hulk. Also, we haven’t even seen Raechel in Penitence yet.

Kelly: Lucius Pembroke Is A Dead Man, The Replicants, The Prophet In Silver, Drowning for the Cure, A Wash of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence

Outside of Kaleidoscope, all of Kelly’s games have completed…although she was never the player character herself, and either makes brief cameo appearances – Pembroke, Drowning, Wash, and for what it’s worth, Kaleidoscope – purely due to GM limitations on the number of characters allowed as full PCs. Kelly’s only full credits are as a GMPC in Replicants, Prophet, and the presently running Penitence.

I would also point out that those completed games where Ella and Kelly featured were SandQueen GM’d. I’ll always be thankful that she started this whole series, and that you’ve continued it in motion.

Now that being said, SQ’s games were essentially action movies in terms of content and pace, both the characters and the writers producing the material – and often at an uncomfortably breakneck pace. Objectively, it’s hard indulge in a showcase hobby, and have some character development girl talk when there’s almost no downtime because shit’s exploding and you and your characters are constantly reacting to that. Another issue with those earlier games was that the GMPCs and their dramatic issues (Hi, Walt/Julia/Eileen) were quite often monopolizing a lot of the non-combat screen time.

Secondly, this test already has a significantly high pass criterion…and mechanically there is a not insignificant amount of conflict with these questions and 40k as an IP. For instance the first question asks Does the character shape her own destiny? Does she actively try to change her situation and if not, why not? That’s a slight bit unfair to Ella, Raechel, and Kelly as the mindboggling overwhelming majority of all human beings have little personal agency over their situation. Alia’s a supremely rare example of that sort of person, and it just so happens that she’s a female with the ability, ambition, and opportunity to have such a privileged (in a sword of Damocles sort of way) role in the Imperium of Man.

There’s also the fact we haven’t had the opportunity – again, due to what’s already on our collective plates as writers and real world obligations, to fully exploit our untapped opportunities for character development. I’m still absolutely in for Girl’s Night Out with Kally, Kelly, and Sapphira (perhaps joined by McKenzie?) after Prophet. I would also be intrigued to see what could be explored in the interlude aboard the Mooncalf as it travels to Terra after Wash.

Lastly, let’s not forget what’s already on deck for the ladies in Penitence, Shades of Grey, and Adrantis War – and that’s just what’s been planned to occur, never mind what’ll spawn from a live game!

[Azazeal849]

Ella’s only had two competed games, and all things being equal, Gibbous was a fun-size sampler compared to A Wash of Black. Short Run and Kaleidoscope died prematurely, and we’re still in progress with Penitence – where we simply haven’t yet been able to have Ella speak most of the other ladies aboard, simply because we’ve all been swamped with other scenes and real-word distractions.

True - I'm currently in the annoying position of my only potential writing time being the train to and from work (you may have noticed that Shades has slipped behind schedule along with a general slowdown in everything else).

Zero competed games for Raechel, including the retcon from (again, failed) Sins of Ambition where surprisingly enough all of the deployed tech-priests were female – although not that there was much time for idle conversation, being priestesses of Mars and almost immediately deployed into the hulk. Also, we haven’t even seen Raechel in Penitence yet.

The Kuscelian Curse for jinxing RPs is still in effect, it would seem. Hopefully she won't do the same to Penitence!

More awkward I think is the need for "offscreen character development" that dead RPs cause. I usually go into a RP with an idea of my character's arc, and if I don't want to retcon out the whole thing and repeat the arc next time (which I usually don't) then I have to adjust the character as if it did happen.

Raechel, Ella and Gina have all been victims of this, and unfortunately flashbacks to try and fill the gaps can come off as clunky if they don't relate enough to the alpha plot (case in point: Raechel in Silent Forge).

Another issue with those earlier games was that the GMPCs and their dramatic issues (Hi, Walt/Julia/Eileen) were quite often monopolizing a lot of the non-combat screen time.

That is something I had noticed and I've actively been trying to avoid - when it's essentially impossible to get every character to talk (deeply) with every other one in the limited "quiet" scenes, I'd rather see the players get the chance to write something rather than just read my GM text.

Although there's also the fact that certain characters just naturally pair off / play off with each other (in Ella's case, it happened to be Marc until Dosi arrived).

There’s also the fact we haven’t had the opportunity – again, due to what’s already on our collective plates as writers and real world obligations, to fully exploit our untapped opportunities for character development. I’m still absolutely in for Girl’s Night Out with Kally, Kelly, and Sapphira (perhaps joined by McKenzie?) after Prophet.

I get the impression that McKenzie would have hung around with the other "higher ups" in Sidonis' retinue, though she might well take the opportunity to dress Sapphira up again.

If we're going to crack on with that short story, we should probably hammer out a few worthwhile things for them to talk about, and possibly a background plot / event. I've thought about it a couple of times but I keep drawing blanks.

I would also be intrigued to see what could be explored in the interlude aboard the Mooncalf as it travels to Terra after Wash.

My approach so far has been to add those scenes to the beginning of Kaleidoscope - I've so far added an introduction for Zerlinda, Ella's birthday party and a confrontation between Marc/Alley and Arcolin.

Now that being said, SQ’s games were essentially action movies in terms of content and pace, both the characters and the writers producing the material – and often at an uncomfortably breakneck pace. Objectively, it’s hard indulge in a showcase hobby, and have some character development girl talk when there’s almost no downtime because shit’s exploding and you and your characters are constantly reacting to that.

It's no easy thing to strike a balance between a fast-moving plot and just the right amount of down-time to let the characters develop, I can tell you that! I have definitely been helped by the sheer willingness of you guys to craft character-driven subplots.

[dakkagor]

What can I say? Love me some drama

I think Paints pretty much on the money regarding his analysis of your analysis (analyception, if you will), in that when you are running NPC's the chances to develop them are actually pretty limited to what your players are interested in. I keep meaning to get started on a scene between Kelly and Kally after certain 'revelations' have been made, and I think that would give Kelly an excellent chance to shine as a more complex character.

I need to go back and look at Girls Night Out. It was probably going to end up feeling very much like the start of the Citadel DLC. . .

And I would be honoured if you put Kally through the test!