OOC - Character Workshop

For the Rules, Character Workshop, and other general discussion of the game.
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Alberich
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Alberich »

Goriel may not be representative of the entire Northern Confederacy, since we played it as barely over the horizon of civilization -- with a hint that the "French" parts considered them backward -- so I think a noble might well come from another, hitherto unnamed, country in the N.C.
Browncoat
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Browncoat »

I think I'll run with the idea that he's originally from the Southern Continent, but I really just threw in the 'nobility' detail to explain why he had such easy access to learning. Where he originally came from is going to be one of the things that he can't remember.
As for introducing him, I threw this design together without trying to make him fit a preexisting story-line, but after reading some of the Douaga stuff, that does seem like the perfect place to bring him in.
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Alberich
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Alberich »

Name: Anfisa Duravsky

Alias: Anika ("Nika") Azaka

[Note: As she is effectively an orphan, she has taken the surname of the house where she works.]

Race: Gorielian Human

Age: 19

Profession: World's oldest; sometime Tsuirakuan spy; and Foreign Sensuality Consultant for the Tsuirakuan Department of Homeland Security

Description: Approximately 5'2", a little taller with her hair piled on top, small-breasted and svelte, dark brunette hair, black eyes. Her face and preferred hairstyle strongly resemble those of Nancy Kovack's character in Diary of a Madman,* but she's smaller and slimmer.

History: Anfisa was a getera (that is, an upper-rank "mistress") for Clan Duravsky, the Prime Clan of Goriel, which presumably makes her a distant cousin of the ruler. Desiree infiltrated her zenana as a "sojourning getera from Clan Cleiviein," and they quickly became lovers. Desiree and Drusia contrived to abduct her from the seraglio, so that she travelled with Desiree to Saus, Kiyoka, the Southern Continent, Port Lorrel, and Rinkaiel. It was in Port Lorrel that Anfisa and Desiree were recruited by Captain Kitaura to carry his magic card on a highly secure Veracian airship to Rinkaiel, and also to report on the capabilities of that ship. In exchange they received passports for Tsuiraku. An unfortunate incident with an elf left Anfisa unconscious on board an airship headed for Tsuiraku while Desiree was back with Rose and her companions on the way to a dangerous adventure in the Northern Confederacy.

Skills: As a getera, Anfisa specialized in putting men at their ease, with simple prattle and a nonthreatening attitude. (This is why she was often chosen for young beginners and older men who might lack confidence in their abilities.) Her time with Desiree taught her many sensual truths unknown to other Gorielians. She's also skilled at dancing, hairdressing, and storytelling, but her repertoire of Gorielian folktales is not suitable for all audiences. She has no magical talent whatsoever.

Assuming she continues to work covertly for Tsuirakuan Homeland Security, it may be expected that she will learn some "tradecraft" and unarmed self-defense.

[UPDATE: This has now occurred. She also has some skill at massage.]

Personality: Anfisa was, and is, passionately in love with Desiree, and being torn apart from her has surely torn her apart. She was always jealous of rivals, especially Therese, whom she saw as a cunning snake-in-the-grass always looking to steal her lover away. However, as a matter of surviving in Goriel, she is very good at hiding her feelings. For the same reason she is naturally security conscious, suspicious of strangers and of strange coincidences--a useful trait in her covert work.

Anfisa has little respect for men who do not measure up to Gorielian standards of manliness, and this extends especially to Veracian priests. She has a few other characteristically Gorielian habits of thought - for example, in delineating what is or is not "men's business."

Quotes: "Anfisa drank in Desiree's tale of her homeland uncritically. When you've made love to an angel, are you surprised that she comes from heaven?"

(Mordan) "I'm not worried about danger. I always say that death-traps are the spice of life" (Anfisa) Anfisa, now administering a gentle ear massage, thought that deliciously-scented female flesh was the spice of life. She elected not to say so, though. She might win that argument, and for her pains she'd be stuck with another rival.

(While shopping for magic items in Kiyoka) "There were magic rings as well. One had a large stone that changed colors with the wearer's mood. Keep that away from me! thought Anfisa. Letting people know how she was really feeling? Back home, that would be suicide. Even here, with this group, it would be unwise. Who would make such a thing? It would never be popular with girls, that was for sure."

"Asking Anfisa whether she'd like to go dress shopping was like asking Tim whether the Patriarch was Orthodox. Except that Tim's 'yes' would'nt've been half so bouncy. Or touchy. Or kissy. Or ambushing-Desiree-from-behind-and-nibbling-her-eary. Come to that, it really wasn't like asking Tim whether the Patriarch was Orthodox."

(Supporting Desiree's efforts to convince a Tsuirakuan portal guard to let them wait inside for a contact.) "She kept quiet, stood close, and looked sweet, alluring, and trusting, wearing the mien of a poor orphan girl whose one hope in the world was that the nice guardsman would take pity on her and her fellow waif and save them from destitution and shame. And who could give awesome oral if he did."

_____
*See especially the scene where she's posing for Vincent Price's sculpture and lets her hair partly down at 38:30. (And then see the whole thing because it's awesome.)
Last edited by Alberich on November 3rd, 2017, 6:31 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Graybeard »

I hadn't really planned for Anna-Lisa to be anything but a character encountered in passing and never seen again, but consistent with the above, and with stuff going on in Background Noise, here's a little more about her in case a new thread involving Khoo, Anfisa, etc., lights.

Name: Anna-Lisa Po

Race and nationality: Human, Tsuirakuan

Age: 21

Profession: Entry-level mage; intern at Mesuinu Enterprises, currently on assignment to the Tsuirakuan Department of Homeland Security

Description: Tall (5'9" or so) and skinny, with scraggly blond hair that calls to mind an animated broomstick. Her blue eyes are full of fun and wonder, and she wears a wide, open smile as naturally as the headbands that she favors. Her tastes in clothing run to the "flamboyant" as a result of her unfortunate apprenticeship at Mesuinu Enterprises; however, she does have enough sensitivity to those around her to have realized that those clothes don't go over well at Sashi Mu, in no small part because they remind people of Kureji Mesuinu, a fact of which she remains unaware even though she and Kureji have a friendship of sorts. Her normal wardrobe is therefore more functional and conventionally Tsuirakuan than she really prefers. Anna-Lisa would actually be a comparatively attractive young woman if being attractive was a priority for her. However, it isn't.

History: Her history resembles Khoo's in many ways. She grew up in a small fishing village (larger than Khoo's, but still a far cry from Tsuirakushiti) on one of the outer islands of Tsuiraku, where her latent magical talent was recognized early as she did ... interesting ... things with campfires, stoves, and so on. This led to her recruitment for the same "outreach" program that brought Khoo to the sky city. She has recently finished her "undergraduate" studies there, but unlike Khoo, isn't sticking around for grad school; rather, following some months off to see the world in her personal submarine, she has just started employment with the regrettable Mesuinu Enterprises, where she was an intern during her student days. This mixed background has had several effects on her, many of them ... unfortunate. An experience during a class where Khoo was a teaching assistant left her with an almost childish crush on the young man, which she has not by any means outgrown. Worse, her internship brought her into close contact with Kureji Mesuinu, who is not the kind of role model a young woman from the sticks should be seeking in Tsuirakushiti. The effects of this friendship have been mitigated somewhat by her work in the Hiratsuka Foundation, which supported her senior thesis, but one never recovers fully from a brush with the Mesuinus ...

Skills: She's typically Tsuirakuan, with abundant magical skills and little to no experience in prosaic adventurer's skills like hand-to-hand fighting, firearm use, etc. Her specialty is fire magic, destructive and otherwise (which at least is a big improvement over what she learned from Kureji), but she has a generalist's skills with most every element of Tsuirakuan magical society. Note that she has never seen any real combat, although like most Sashi Mu students, she got a brief, ROTC-like exposure to the battlemages and the way they use magic.

Personality: Any resemblances between her and Kureji Mesuinu are ... unfortunate. Fortunately, she's scaled down from the full Kureji treatment -- at the minimum, she doesn't share Kureji's propensity for incredibly powerful, but also incredibly misguided, responses to perceived misperceived problems -- but she's still a wide-eyed young woman enjoying her freedom and out to see the world. She has no significant other, partly because she still has that crush on Khoo (who does not reciprocate in any way beyond nervous friendship).
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Boyd
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Boyd »

Concept: Itinerant Martial Artist.

Background and personality: Xun Fan (almost certainly not his original name) is a half-elf wandering martial artist who travels the lands learning wherever he may. He will join up with others on a temporary basis, but sooner or later the rumor of a new school or Troll incursion lures him away again. He is aware of the Errant War, not paranoid or angst-ridden (it was over before he was born), but aware and is wary of Elves. He has come into conflict with them a couple of times in the past (usually in the defense of other halfies) but his habit of KO'ing them then leaving them makes his 'threat rating' much lower than it should be.

Strengths: Martial Arts, some magic (mostly moving meditations), freaky ninja shit.

Weaknesses: Only really interested in the Martial Arts, rootless.
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Graybeard »

Interesting, and nice to know there's still interest in this game! So would it be your intention to introduce this character in the action currently happening outside Santuariel? Or try to revitalize one of the other threads? The latter may be a tough sell, as they've been inactive for a long time.
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Boyd
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Boyd »

Well it is still being advertised, but quite frankly it was that you are still posting that got my interest.

I am looking for a shared story not a book, so yes, other characters. Atm I will look for group with other new (or returning old) characters for a while but may well end up outside Santuariel by default (depending on interest). There is no real ST to run npc's that I can see (although someone presumably acts a moderator, 'no, you can't blow up XXX because YYY has already done so' so it really is a question of other peoples interest.
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Graybeard »

OK. Easiest would be to integrate your character into the one ongoing super-thread (see here for the relevant stuff -- the top-level thread, of which this one is about the 50th sub-thread/topic [literally], has an INCREDIBLY long history, but the most recent topic covers most of it that would be of interest to you). It is right at a major fork in the road right now and may offer a way to get your character in that's consistent with continuity. (He could be one of the militia mentioned in the most recent entry.) Three things to be aware of in this thread: it's moving slowly at the moment because of reduced number of players, it's definitely dramatic rather than comedic, and it also is long (incredibly long) on character development and short on hack-and-slash/swords-and-sorcery. I don't know whether that fits your tastes, but if it does, it's been years of fun.

The other possibility would be to try to revive the dormant "Airship Pirates" thread. That one was much lighter and funnier and there are lots of opportunities to take it in weird directions. However, nothing has happened there in literally years. I'd work with you on reviving it, if that was your preference, but it might drag for a while. On the other hand, maybe re-starting it might bring other new players out of the woodwork. We can give it a try.

Let us know your preference.
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Boyd
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Boyd »

Hmm, as far as story goes I'm hoping for a mix of character development and kung-fu badassery (more Errant Story than does not Play...). For the moment I am putting up a lfg, we will see what response (if any) I get.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: OOC - Character Workshop

Post by Jack Rothwell »

An update on the first character I ever introduced to Errant Road, actually I think this was my first post as well. Ahh.... nostalgia.


Name: Jade Ermingard
Age: 28
Occupation: Blacksmith/ Mercenary

Appearance: 5”8, dark red hair, green eyes, angular face, has a thin scar which runs down from her right eye

Typical Equipment
A customised scimitar with a long, thin, slightly curved blade
Half a dozen throwing knives
Revolver with two dozen bullets
Basic blacksmith repair tools
Hunting knife

Attire
Canvas type clothing
Leather longcoat
Leather sling for sword (hangs off her hip)
Boots


History:
An unremarkable upbringing by the standards of the downtrodden populace of Solshire (a small village a few days travel from Port Lorrel). Jade was a middle child in a household of two parents and three brothers which, of course, meant she spent a sizeable chunk of her free time being mercilessly picked on by her male siblings. After a testosterone dominated childhood it was little surprise when the young tomboy followed her father into his blacksmith trade and even less of a surprise when she exhibited a natural aptitude for the job. Under his tutelage her understanding of the craft grew and began to rival her fathers. The pair often worked side by side as suppliers for local military forces and did the occasional commission from Ferrel's standing army. Jade spent a fair amount of her free time training and providing support for Solshire’s privately owned and funded military (which was a twenty strong 'unit' that included her brothers and was led by a retired Ferrel officer called Lato)

This relatively idyllic existence didn’t last. The rising taxes in the region had driven many of the populace to bankruptcy and unemployment, and as a result groups of bandits began to form in the surrounding countryside and launch raids on the increasingly terrified populace. Eventually those smaller bands unified under the banner of the strongest leader, a monster of a man named Theodore Reks, and made a concentrated push to strip the border towns of Port Lorrel dry. It was the summer of Jade’s 23rd year when the hundred strong mob arrived in Solshire with swords, guns and burning torches. The fighting was short, one sided and brutal. The town militia was butchered, the store houses were looted and the residences burned to the ground. Jade was one of the few survivors, left wounded and weeping with only the corpses of her family for company.

With no home to go to and no family left Jade took to wandering. She crossed the country searching for the chance to change her circumstances, taking odd jobs and putting the skills she’d learnt to use whenever she could. With a need for revenge burning in her heart she eventually fell into bad company, lawless mercenaries who were all too happy to take a lost and pretty girl under their wing. Jade continued her education, learning the dirtiest ways of fighting and the quickest ways of turning a profit in a corrupted society. It was only years later when she found herself holding up an old man at gunpoint that Jade realised she’d become no different from the people who’d taken her old life away from her. Shamed, she finally found the strength to leave her immoral employer and strike out on a new journey. This time seeking repentance.

Jade eventually fell in with a mercenary group called 'The Silver Hands' who finally gave her a surrogate family and helped to bring her back to the more optimistic person she used to be. She found love in Leo Landau and, after some ups and downs went to Rinkaiel to put down some more permanent roots. Her home is their guild in town where the blacksmith set about perfecting her craft in earnest. The recent acquisition of a golem, however, sent Jade off on another adventure to find the right materials to bring it back to 'life'.


Personality:

Jade's is generally a stoic person but given to bouts of levity thanks to her long companionship with the Silver Hands, and periods of mania when indulging in craft that exercises her creativity. Generally the kind of person who fights on the side of good as long as there's some kind of a profit involved. She's given to occasional flirtation and playfulness when in the right mood, aggression when in the wrong one.

Abilities

An accomplished sword fighter, particularly when using her customised sword which she’s developed a rapid, whirling style that takes advantage of the thinness and general shape of the blade. A talented blacksmith which a knack for bringing the potential out of most conventional weapons (although it helps for her to have a working forge and proper equipment to take advantage of that). A good shot with a firearm. About as magic as a brick
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