(Furryfaire) Jezra...
So, I've mentioned lately thinking about what to do with Jezra, one of my more active-in-recent-memory MUCK characters. Plus, someone keeps encouraging me to talk about characters, so... some specifics, I guess...
I said recently: "... she seems to have hit a pretty static point that's not real inspiring either. Relationship drama has died down as she found a niche with Orion and Tash that (so far, at least) seems to be working fairly well. Business is fine and dandy. I find myself thinking 'something' needs to happen to shake things up a bit. Life without conflict is realistically nice, but narratively kinda boring. ;)"
Also, the character itself doesn't have a lot of excitement built in, which seems to be a frequent character creation flaw on my part. She's fairly well adjusted and perhaps disturbingly smart. I envisioned her as sort of like the movie portrayal of Tony Stark in creative brilliance, but she doesn't have the ego. That has a lot of potential when it comes to thinking of things she does/accomplishes, but it skips over the first step narratively by not providing any challenges to face in the first place. As a character, she's a little too neat and "perfect."
So, if I'm going to be interested in playing the character, something's got to change. Theoretically, there are a lot of options, but practically the list narrows.
I could rock the boat with the relationship aspect. It's a little touchy where it stands, if stable. She views herself more or less as friend and sort-of-mistress to both Orion and Tash, and she's okay with that so far, at least. I suspect either of them would try to "upgrade" her importance in that relationship to "second wife" or something. But they've gotten over the drama of her being involved, and they're all reasonably accepting of the state of things currently.
And while Jez was a little disappointed on the passion side of things, she's pretty happy with the comfort, support, and closeness offered by the situation at present. It feels out of character to really reach for anything else, so I feel disinclined to force something to happen there. I think it's possible the group may drift apart a bit over time due to different beliefs, but that's a long-term thing at the most.
Theoretically, she could have business enemies. I don't feel particularly inspired to push plot lines in general, but that seems one of the more "likely" possibilities. The Tarantian guilds could feel her a threat, or someone in Threshold might take offense at her creations in some way.
In my mind, her most lucrative business for the last several months has been locksmithing. Of course, in a world of magic, there are ways to bypass locks entirely, but she's got the technical know-how to make some of the most advanced locks around and her quasi-artifice could even make them resistant to magic. That seems like something the rich local nobles would pay for. It isn't likely to generate any relations problems or real enemies, though.
I have considered her possibly selling weapons - lodebows or firearms, but that gets into a moral area she's been hesitant to tread. It might be a leap that could be taken, and that would be more likely to generate outside interest.
I've also considered going a bit more "mad scientist" with her in general. Having been battered around in her armor and faced some decidedly difficult-to-kill creatures has left a few conceptual threads that could be followed in research.
She started out with quasi-artifice powered physical armor, and that worked okay with a few drawbacks. After shredding clothing repeatedly by materializing it around her, she's also researched (and maybe developed, I haven't decided) shielding that's less physical and more "magical." Based on Ralyn's protective spell demonstrations, her idea was to work up a similar effect she could generate around herself rather than actual metal armor.
Also up for consideration is the impact-absorbing properties of liquid or gel, which could lead to armor with an inner liquid/gel layer or more fully organic protection. I'm somewhat amused by the idea of an experiment along those lines getting out of hand and unleashing some form of ooze monsters on Threshold, though that does bring me up against my aversion to running things on-grid.
She's also bounced around the idea of designing a weapon that can absorb/destroy spiritual energy - something that can effectively kill beings like rukshasa and otherwise-immortal undead. That's some dangerous "superweapon" ground there, and certainly something could be done with that plot-wise, succeed or fail, though I'm not sure specifically where I would want to run with that idea.
But again, these ideas focus more on things Jezra can do more directly than things she (and those around her) might have to deal with.
I've considered the "missed opportunity" to injure Jezra, too. In the Winter Court plot, she ended up getting her hand crushed pretty well. Tash, however, is primarily a healer character. While I did think it potentially interesting to have Jez lose her hand (and probably replace it with something more mechanical), it didn't feel right to say to Tash "well, your character's primary specialty fails." Maybe I should have gone that way, maybe not. I'm not sure what it would have really added to Jez in the long term, though it would be something to think about.
So I've bounced around tangential ideas as well. Her research and explorations into the more metaphysical could lead to eroding sanity or morality. That might make for a more interesting personality, but I'm uncertain on whether it would be a good idea in the long term. And while the idea existed long before, it feels a little "overdone" recently with Scarlet's story in GW2.
I've thought about striking her undead. Admittedly, that probably came to mind due to playing Dark Souls. It could certainly happen with the above-mentioned weapons research. And there are several varieties, all with distinct traits and issues. While we've had a lot of mixed-blood characters on the MUCK, I've seen very few undead. It might be interesting to explore, though that's a pretty serious change to make to a character.
These ideas are certainly more on the personal side, with fewer rippling effects that need to be handled more widely on the MUCK and mostly lead to internal-based RP.
Right now, it's all just brainstorming, though.
I said recently: "... she seems to have hit a pretty static point that's not real inspiring either. Relationship drama has died down as she found a niche with Orion and Tash that (so far, at least) seems to be working fairly well. Business is fine and dandy. I find myself thinking 'something' needs to happen to shake things up a bit. Life without conflict is realistically nice, but narratively kinda boring. ;)"
Also, the character itself doesn't have a lot of excitement built in, which seems to be a frequent character creation flaw on my part. She's fairly well adjusted and perhaps disturbingly smart. I envisioned her as sort of like the movie portrayal of Tony Stark in creative brilliance, but she doesn't have the ego. That has a lot of potential when it comes to thinking of things she does/accomplishes, but it skips over the first step narratively by not providing any challenges to face in the first place. As a character, she's a little too neat and "perfect."
So, if I'm going to be interested in playing the character, something's got to change. Theoretically, there are a lot of options, but practically the list narrows.
I could rock the boat with the relationship aspect. It's a little touchy where it stands, if stable. She views herself more or less as friend and sort-of-mistress to both Orion and Tash, and she's okay with that so far, at least. I suspect either of them would try to "upgrade" her importance in that relationship to "second wife" or something. But they've gotten over the drama of her being involved, and they're all reasonably accepting of the state of things currently.
And while Jez was a little disappointed on the passion side of things, she's pretty happy with the comfort, support, and closeness offered by the situation at present. It feels out of character to really reach for anything else, so I feel disinclined to force something to happen there. I think it's possible the group may drift apart a bit over time due to different beliefs, but that's a long-term thing at the most.
Theoretically, she could have business enemies. I don't feel particularly inspired to push plot lines in general, but that seems one of the more "likely" possibilities. The Tarantian guilds could feel her a threat, or someone in Threshold might take offense at her creations in some way.
In my mind, her most lucrative business for the last several months has been locksmithing. Of course, in a world of magic, there are ways to bypass locks entirely, but she's got the technical know-how to make some of the most advanced locks around and her quasi-artifice could even make them resistant to magic. That seems like something the rich local nobles would pay for. It isn't likely to generate any relations problems or real enemies, though.
I have considered her possibly selling weapons - lodebows or firearms, but that gets into a moral area she's been hesitant to tread. It might be a leap that could be taken, and that would be more likely to generate outside interest.
I've also considered going a bit more "mad scientist" with her in general. Having been battered around in her armor and faced some decidedly difficult-to-kill creatures has left a few conceptual threads that could be followed in research.
She started out with quasi-artifice powered physical armor, and that worked okay with a few drawbacks. After shredding clothing repeatedly by materializing it around her, she's also researched (and maybe developed, I haven't decided) shielding that's less physical and more "magical." Based on Ralyn's protective spell demonstrations, her idea was to work up a similar effect she could generate around herself rather than actual metal armor.
Also up for consideration is the impact-absorbing properties of liquid or gel, which could lead to armor with an inner liquid/gel layer or more fully organic protection. I'm somewhat amused by the idea of an experiment along those lines getting out of hand and unleashing some form of ooze monsters on Threshold, though that does bring me up against my aversion to running things on-grid.
She's also bounced around the idea of designing a weapon that can absorb/destroy spiritual energy - something that can effectively kill beings like rukshasa and otherwise-immortal undead. That's some dangerous "superweapon" ground there, and certainly something could be done with that plot-wise, succeed or fail, though I'm not sure specifically where I would want to run with that idea.
But again, these ideas focus more on things Jezra can do more directly than things she (and those around her) might have to deal with.
I've considered the "missed opportunity" to injure Jezra, too. In the Winter Court plot, she ended up getting her hand crushed pretty well. Tash, however, is primarily a healer character. While I did think it potentially interesting to have Jez lose her hand (and probably replace it with something more mechanical), it didn't feel right to say to Tash "well, your character's primary specialty fails." Maybe I should have gone that way, maybe not. I'm not sure what it would have really added to Jez in the long term, though it would be something to think about.
So I've bounced around tangential ideas as well. Her research and explorations into the more metaphysical could lead to eroding sanity or morality. That might make for a more interesting personality, but I'm uncertain on whether it would be a good idea in the long term. And while the idea existed long before, it feels a little "overdone" recently with Scarlet's story in GW2.
I've thought about striking her undead. Admittedly, that probably came to mind due to playing Dark Souls. It could certainly happen with the above-mentioned weapons research. And there are several varieties, all with distinct traits and issues. While we've had a lot of mixed-blood characters on the MUCK, I've seen very few undead. It might be interesting to explore, though that's a pretty serious change to make to a character.
These ideas are certainly more on the personal side, with fewer rippling effects that need to be handled more widely on the MUCK and mostly lead to internal-based RP.
Right now, it's all just brainstorming, though.
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