Some Other Thoughts
I'm amused by White Wolf at present. Exalted has always been just a little on the racy side. When you have a tale of neigh-immortal god-kings who fell from grace due to pride and abuse of power, hedonistic excesses are hard to ignore. They tend to keep sex from falling into the limelight in most of their books, but there's been a long-running joke of an adult "Sexxxalted" version/suppliment that could be made.
For April Fools, they did it... sort of. They released a PDF "excerpt" of their not-really-existent book - free, or a dollar for the uncensored version. Cute idea (well, mature, but "cute" from a marketing standpoint). Now, in one of their official blog posts, it's been stated that they have have actually sold "nearly 1000 copies" and gone on to say "management's said that we get to make a real book if we sell 5,000+ copies." Doubly-cute, says I. Whether they're giving consumers what they want, or just milking a prank for all it's worth, it looks win-win for them.
On a completely different note, I found myself considering old characters of late - what they meant to me, and where I was in my life when I made them...
Marin "Redwolf Starborn" was the character I first made when invited to FurryMUCK oh-so-many years ago. He was a mage, though having come from a mostly-technological society. His backstory, though, was utterly unimportant and involved way too much... wish-fulfillment, to be honest. Too much power, and not enough realism.
Mostly, though, he was a filter for me. A weak one. His personality was mine. He was my conduit for interacting with a world of fantasy and science fiction. To this day (as you can probably tell by the name of the journal), Redwolf is me - or a me, or an alias... however you want to say it.
This sorta sucked, really, though it wasn't without its bright moments. I was invited to the MUCK by a woman I'd met, I think, back on Two Moons (an Elfquest-based MUSH I was on previously). She played a succubus, of course. And we fell into such a ridiculously-cliche relationship where she would go through lovers/mates, turning to my company as a friend when things didn't work out. It was, of course, a source of frustration beyond what I can easily express here. I rather felt that I'd always be relegated to the role of "oh, he's such a great guy... that's why we're just friends" back in those days, and it ticked me off when women couldn't see past that.
On the other hand, I met Moriah through Redwolf. I... still have difficulty in expressing thoughts and feelings about that relationship, but I will say some of those days are fixed within my memories as in comparably bright and happy.
The character is still there, but I almost never go to FurryMUCK anymore, really only popping on to test or look things up there. I decided I let myself feel too much through him. I was too invested. He was too much me, and not enough character. Moving from there, I tried to distance myself more from events that were being played out.
There were others along the way. I played Felinicia on FurryMUCK, as imported from my Makelia games. Again, overpowered, though far less "me." I played a couple garudans on a Robotech II: The Sentinels MU*, which was... interesting. Almost the entire player base opted for humans or races that looked human, so I like to think I was more unique there.
When I came to FurryFaire, I did so with Sylvie, Jezielle "Silverfur" Candricle. An anthropomorphic female fox, she was an adaption from a previous character. Sylvie had first appeared in a Makelia game as a spellcaster NPC. She started as companion and ended up a bit more important later.
Faire's Sylvie was a noble of a fallen nation. It's unfortunate, but her entire backstory has been rendered non-canon by the setting definition and changes that have taken place over the years. In retrospect, I wish I'd done more to "push" my ideas upon the MUCK so that wouldn't have happened. I seriously considered making the rooms for the small island nation, abandoned and haunted. That was about the time I got burned out on building rooms, however, having been asked to create an interlocked, multi-leveled sky grid over on Sentinels (soo...many... linking... exits and numbers to keep track of).
As originally conceived, and I'm going off memory here as I don't have my notes present, she was a princess of a European-style feudal island nation - mostly a keep and a few small towns - located east from Nycthanlinth. They traded some, relied heavily on the sea, and made use of non-morphic/non-senient gryphon mounts. The rulership had made a deal with a demon, connecting their bloodline to it in exchange for... well, I don't even remember for certain now. Sylvie herself, perhaps because of this, was a "sympathetic" being - one who could be used to amplify another person's magic. The nation - Far Reach, I think it was - fell and she was one of the few survivors.
She came to the region of play as an "adventurer" more or less. Generic, yeah. I... honestly can't say I remember much of her character personality/mindset at the time. She was a decent warrior, with a couple items of note. And she ended up getting involved with Kyn'Elwynn, the Shadow Mage, after a couple tussles with him. Heh.
Getting more into the MUCK, and wanting some variety, I make Killian. Again, a basic character imported over from Makelia. This time, the original was a PC of mine - a swordsman/spellcaster whose magic mainly centered on augmenting or creating temorary swords to use.
On Faire, he was actually Sylvie's half-brother, the other half being demonic. And he hunted demons. Yeah... half-demon demon-hunter... not like that idea hasn't been used before, eh? Though I wasn't trying for it, he became a very lonely person, and that dragged on me some. Eventually, he fell in with the crowd in Rath Sliabh Dorca, most of whom I don't really remember anymore. He got involved with a shapeshifter, if I recall, but the relationship was rather shot-lived as they stopped spending time on the MUCK, and Killian sort of faded into obscurity.
Mika was fun, no debate about it. The original was a demon-princess who assisted a PC party in maintaining an agreement between mortals and demonkind. The Faire incarnation was a half-demon sorceress of no small talent, driven to gaining more power and willing to use most means to get it. In personality, she always struck me as one part Lina Inverse from Slayers and one part Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo - flighty, flirty, and with no qualms about using excessive force and fireballs to resolve a situation.
Over the years, she grew up and changed. She fell deeply in love with the paladin Lairu. He had kids. She learned a measure of responsibility after an attempt at retribution caused wider casualties than expected. She shifted from a chaotic troublemaker on a quest for power to a guardian and protector. What strikes me as unusual, looking back now, is that it seemed to come about naturally. Things happened, and she reacted and learned from them. It wasn't sudden, it wasn't forced, and it certainly wasn't planned. I am, perhaps, proudest of her run a a player character, of all my characters.
Later, she was "revealed" to be the reincarnation of the god of sun/fate's wife. That... strikes me as a little heavy-handed, since I was never really asked beforehand about it, but I accepted it as "GM perogative" of a sort and rolled with it. Eventually, she was ascended to godhood and is now the goddess of Balance and Retribution. But, essentially, she's retired as a character. I only use her as such occasionally and for planned scenes. Otherwise, she's now my staff character and the character I log in to if I'm being OOC on the MUCK.
Kyle bears some mentioning, too. One of Mika's sons, he was the "rogue" of the group. While he looked the most lutrai of his siblings, he had a very un-lutrai sense of ownership. In fact, Mika's four initial childern were each designed with a bit of a Sin in mind. His was greed.
But he wasn't evil, or even mean. He started out his career as something of a treasure hunter. Sneaking, breaking in, picking locks - all happily his gig. And he had a good, cheerful attitude, too. Winning smiles, light comments... the otter was fun to play.
Getting involved in some plotted TPs, I think he earned at least a little bit of a name for himself. He was the sort of character who would opt to do the right thing and play it all to the hilt. He didn't always succeed (I remember him leaping out a window after someone only to miss a ledge and crash down into an alley), but he never failed to try. He picked up a magic sword along the way (which has changed now and then), that added a bit to his resume. He fell for a girlish dragon, Azura, who was really ages old and ridiculously powerful. And while she was "dead," he got involved with Sandra, the head of the Sisterhood of the Blade. He even went out of his way to free her of her cursed/blessed status as Untouchable/Unfettered.
Oh, he had flaws, too. His greed never really endangered lives, but his womanizing may have on occasion. He was prone to looking before leaping at times and, while trying to do the right thing, was willing to make hard choices even if he might regret them later. He was never actually the best fighter, but charm and cunning generally pulled him through any other deficiencies.
He too was "revealed" to be someone else - this time yon fate god's reincarnated quasi-divine son. See a theme? Through play on the MUCK and some crossover with an offline game, he ended up with toys such as a personal dimensional portal he could open to just about anywhere and a plane-traveling airship. Thus he ended up becoming a merchant-prince of sorts, doing interplanar/interplanetary trade. In play, he arranged a trade agreement between Drachenkeep and Naipon, and this just expounded on that.
Kyle has become something of an archtype in my mind: the fun-loving rogue.
For April Fools, they did it... sort of. They released a PDF "excerpt" of their not-really-existent book - free, or a dollar for the uncensored version. Cute idea (well, mature, but "cute" from a marketing standpoint). Now, in one of their official blog posts, it's been stated that they have have actually sold "nearly 1000 copies" and gone on to say "management's said that we get to make a real book if we sell 5,000+ copies." Doubly-cute, says I. Whether they're giving consumers what they want, or just milking a prank for all it's worth, it looks win-win for them.
On a completely different note, I found myself considering old characters of late - what they meant to me, and where I was in my life when I made them...
Marin "Redwolf Starborn" was the character I first made when invited to FurryMUCK oh-so-many years ago. He was a mage, though having come from a mostly-technological society. His backstory, though, was utterly unimportant and involved way too much... wish-fulfillment, to be honest. Too much power, and not enough realism.
Mostly, though, he was a filter for me. A weak one. His personality was mine. He was my conduit for interacting with a world of fantasy and science fiction. To this day (as you can probably tell by the name of the journal), Redwolf is me - or a me, or an alias... however you want to say it.
This sorta sucked, really, though it wasn't without its bright moments. I was invited to the MUCK by a woman I'd met, I think, back on Two Moons (an Elfquest-based MUSH I was on previously). She played a succubus, of course. And we fell into such a ridiculously-cliche relationship where she would go through lovers/mates, turning to my company as a friend when things didn't work out. It was, of course, a source of frustration beyond what I can easily express here. I rather felt that I'd always be relegated to the role of "oh, he's such a great guy... that's why we're just friends" back in those days, and it ticked me off when women couldn't see past that.
On the other hand, I met Moriah through Redwolf. I... still have difficulty in expressing thoughts and feelings about that relationship, but I will say some of those days are fixed within my memories as in comparably bright and happy.
The character is still there, but I almost never go to FurryMUCK anymore, really only popping on to test or look things up there. I decided I let myself feel too much through him. I was too invested. He was too much me, and not enough character. Moving from there, I tried to distance myself more from events that were being played out.
There were others along the way. I played Felinicia on FurryMUCK, as imported from my Makelia games. Again, overpowered, though far less "me." I played a couple garudans on a Robotech II: The Sentinels MU*, which was... interesting. Almost the entire player base opted for humans or races that looked human, so I like to think I was more unique there.
When I came to FurryFaire, I did so with Sylvie, Jezielle "Silverfur" Candricle. An anthropomorphic female fox, she was an adaption from a previous character. Sylvie had first appeared in a Makelia game as a spellcaster NPC. She started as companion and ended up a bit more important later.
Faire's Sylvie was a noble of a fallen nation. It's unfortunate, but her entire backstory has been rendered non-canon by the setting definition and changes that have taken place over the years. In retrospect, I wish I'd done more to "push" my ideas upon the MUCK so that wouldn't have happened. I seriously considered making the rooms for the small island nation, abandoned and haunted. That was about the time I got burned out on building rooms, however, having been asked to create an interlocked, multi-leveled sky grid over on Sentinels (soo...many... linking... exits and numbers to keep track of).
As originally conceived, and I'm going off memory here as I don't have my notes present, she was a princess of a European-style feudal island nation - mostly a keep and a few small towns - located east from Nycthanlinth. They traded some, relied heavily on the sea, and made use of non-morphic/non-senient gryphon mounts. The rulership had made a deal with a demon, connecting their bloodline to it in exchange for... well, I don't even remember for certain now. Sylvie herself, perhaps because of this, was a "sympathetic" being - one who could be used to amplify another person's magic. The nation - Far Reach, I think it was - fell and she was one of the few survivors.
She came to the region of play as an "adventurer" more or less. Generic, yeah. I... honestly can't say I remember much of her character personality/mindset at the time. She was a decent warrior, with a couple items of note. And she ended up getting involved with Kyn'Elwynn, the Shadow Mage, after a couple tussles with him. Heh.
Getting more into the MUCK, and wanting some variety, I make Killian. Again, a basic character imported over from Makelia. This time, the original was a PC of mine - a swordsman/spellcaster whose magic mainly centered on augmenting or creating temorary swords to use.
On Faire, he was actually Sylvie's half-brother, the other half being demonic. And he hunted demons. Yeah... half-demon demon-hunter... not like that idea hasn't been used before, eh? Though I wasn't trying for it, he became a very lonely person, and that dragged on me some. Eventually, he fell in with the crowd in Rath Sliabh Dorca, most of whom I don't really remember anymore. He got involved with a shapeshifter, if I recall, but the relationship was rather shot-lived as they stopped spending time on the MUCK, and Killian sort of faded into obscurity.
Mika was fun, no debate about it. The original was a demon-princess who assisted a PC party in maintaining an agreement between mortals and demonkind. The Faire incarnation was a half-demon sorceress of no small talent, driven to gaining more power and willing to use most means to get it. In personality, she always struck me as one part Lina Inverse from Slayers and one part Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo - flighty, flirty, and with no qualms about using excessive force and fireballs to resolve a situation.
Over the years, she grew up and changed. She fell deeply in love with the paladin Lairu. He had kids. She learned a measure of responsibility after an attempt at retribution caused wider casualties than expected. She shifted from a chaotic troublemaker on a quest for power to a guardian and protector. What strikes me as unusual, looking back now, is that it seemed to come about naturally. Things happened, and she reacted and learned from them. It wasn't sudden, it wasn't forced, and it certainly wasn't planned. I am, perhaps, proudest of her run a a player character, of all my characters.
Later, she was "revealed" to be the reincarnation of the god of sun/fate's wife. That... strikes me as a little heavy-handed, since I was never really asked beforehand about it, but I accepted it as "GM perogative" of a sort and rolled with it. Eventually, she was ascended to godhood and is now the goddess of Balance and Retribution. But, essentially, she's retired as a character. I only use her as such occasionally and for planned scenes. Otherwise, she's now my staff character and the character I log in to if I'm being OOC on the MUCK.
Kyle bears some mentioning, too. One of Mika's sons, he was the "rogue" of the group. While he looked the most lutrai of his siblings, he had a very un-lutrai sense of ownership. In fact, Mika's four initial childern were each designed with a bit of a Sin in mind. His was greed.
But he wasn't evil, or even mean. He started out his career as something of a treasure hunter. Sneaking, breaking in, picking locks - all happily his gig. And he had a good, cheerful attitude, too. Winning smiles, light comments... the otter was fun to play.
Getting involved in some plotted TPs, I think he earned at least a little bit of a name for himself. He was the sort of character who would opt to do the right thing and play it all to the hilt. He didn't always succeed (I remember him leaping out a window after someone only to miss a ledge and crash down into an alley), but he never failed to try. He picked up a magic sword along the way (which has changed now and then), that added a bit to his resume. He fell for a girlish dragon, Azura, who was really ages old and ridiculously powerful. And while she was "dead," he got involved with Sandra, the head of the Sisterhood of the Blade. He even went out of his way to free her of her cursed/blessed status as Untouchable/Unfettered.
Oh, he had flaws, too. His greed never really endangered lives, but his womanizing may have on occasion. He was prone to looking before leaping at times and, while trying to do the right thing, was willing to make hard choices even if he might regret them later. He was never actually the best fighter, but charm and cunning generally pulled him through any other deficiencies.
He too was "revealed" to be someone else - this time yon fate god's reincarnated quasi-divine son. See a theme? Through play on the MUCK and some crossover with an offline game, he ended up with toys such as a personal dimensional portal he could open to just about anywhere and a plane-traveling airship. Thus he ended up becoming a merchant-prince of sorts, doing interplanar/interplanetary trade. In play, he arranged a trade agreement between Drachenkeep and Naipon, and this just expounded on that.
Kyle has become something of an archtype in my mind: the fun-loving rogue.
Comments
Post a Comment