Where do your characters come from?

[Raeflyn E'doras]

Most of my characters, if not all, come from ideas that sprout up in my head, or from quick bursts of creative inspiration.

I will often roll a character because I am inspired by the story potential. Thénlaus, for example, was an idea that had crept into my head during the launch of Aucklorn Mill. The idea of a druid character that wears robes and carries a staff appealed highly to me. He is, in part, inspired by the old "druids" from the northern Germanic areas, the pagan cultures that existed before the Dark Ages.

Euldrich stems from a character idea I had about five or so years ago. I've written about Euldrich for years, and I often think on how I want his character to evolve.

Néloas was my attempt at playing a complete mute who only communicates with hand gestures, the idea came to me during character creation. I created him to back-up Maeve when she created her character. He has since been retired.

I have other characters, but most of them aren't inspired at all. Just quick creations in order to play a certain class, or to stretch my legs.

[Will]

Kudos to Greyshore for mad thread ressurection skillz.

Will - Said on my first post I wanted him to be different from the average cleric. He has no solid foundation with his faith other than that he knows the gods powers exist, has a messed up past that wasn't supposed to be, fears the unknown, yet seeks to find a way to live, not necessarily worshipping good or evil, nor taking an oath of neutrality.

As an update, he still hasn't taken a liking to any of the gods, but may have an inkling of respect for Iaosia. Then again, blames lots of things in his life on how unnatural the world is to him, so he may or may not come around. Basically, still has a grudge against the gods and the whole world in general. It's cool. Waiting to see how things turn out for him.

Ganrai - A post-campaign character I invented in the first Dasaria. A foreign man who's motherland surrendered to Varana and aids them in their war against Dasaria. Meets the people of Dasaria as a POW, but is treated with kindness until his regiment reappears and attacks his new home. Gets caught between Dasarian and Varanite forces as a traitor to both sides in a final confrontation that transforms him into a timeless drone with a new master.

Ganrai was inspired by The Terminator, among other things! He's still being processed through the staff to decide whether he's acceptable for the new campaign.

Branson Chaparral - Average elf druid I always wanted to play, with the added twist that he is Will's father and has a thing for death.

Amroth Ju'ein - One day in IRC chat baby1111007, the player of Pylia Ju'ein among others, lets me have the role of Pylia's eldest brother out of three to personify. She informed me he was to be a militaristic figure, taking after his father, and let me decide the rest of his traits. I gave him a stand-out image of fiery red hair, brighter skin, and brighter eyes because I wanted him to be a disciplined figure and at the same time a warrior for good and justice. I also decided his first name. Woo hoo!

[Elrith]

Why not.

Camryn - I based her personality off of Rico from Gunslinger Girl, and what I'd imagine the witch hunters from 40k would be like. She was also heavily influenced by the character style of Claymore (see avatar). Of course, a big thanks to (you know who) for submitting that entry in the first place and inspiring me.

Elrith - As I made her on the fly with little thought before hand she has really been an evolving process for me. You could say her personality is a mix of everything I hate about someone plunged into a sea of lies; a sea of lies also full of mentally unstable psychopaths.

It's good to be evil.

[Mon-da-oth]

When Wyvern sees the cat, he will give it 40 monk levels and perma haste.

Does that count?

Then Rhode will again die unwittingly to a monk, who can see through walls and shut doors.

[LONOmakesWAR]

I don't know what to say without giving too much away.

[Wumpus Slayer]

After completing the OC, I decided to do what I did with NWN1 and look for a fun online world to play on. I looked at a few and settled on Dasaria 2 based on the website, backstory, and the fact that it had a decent amount of players.

That said, you never quite know what you're getting into, so I went with my favorite soloist build (rogue/fighter with a dash of shadowdancer) because I'm curious like a cat and want to be able to explore all the nooks and crannies of the world and live to tell about it. Also, I was keen to try crafting, and figured it would provide a good opportunity to interact with others. I'm still stuck in 3.0 in my PnP games, and the idea of playing a more exotic race seemed appealing, so I ended up making a Svirfneblin character. Thinking about my backstory, and why the heck a Svirfneblin would be on the surface, I originally conceived the typical "my village was wiped out by drow and I'm the only survivor...". Then I realized that was kinda overused, so I decided to challenge myself to write a more hobbit-like "I'm from a happy family and just out for a stroll" backstory, which I've started but not yet completed past an outline.

And thus, Friam Fole was born. Of course, I expected to encounter a bunch of selfish jerks who would booby trap the gates, pickpocket you whenever possible, shoot you in the back while you're fighting monsters, etc., because that's what I've encountered on other servers. Then the clouds opened and the light came down from above and I realized that 99% percent of the people here are NOT jerks. That took Friam from being a loner to being sociable.

Most of my other characters are meant for a laugh or a groan, such as the bard Aluicious Repetitious. As I absorbed the backstory, I thought it would be great fun to make a bard who's performances push the boundary between entertainment and that which could land him in Gaol or worse. I also enjoy Marco's endless game and figured that maybe I would try to give him some competition. Over the course of a few weeks, the muse struck me and I composed a few "songs", which conveniently happened around the time that Pylia decided to organize a show. Aluicious survived the first performance and seemed to be popular with the crowd, so I'm sure he'll be back when the time is right.

My most recent, and now #2 character, is a brutish half-orc built for one thing: hitting things really hard. With a build like that, there was only one possible name... Craig Hack. (Named after a character in the Heroes of Might and Magic series that was absurdly focused on offense, to the detriment of his defense and other abilities) I started him as an answer to the "where are all the fighters" thread, but he's actually developing a personality, including the mistaken notion that his tiny mask and cloak make him a hero with a secret identity.