How you thought up your character

I thought it might be nice if we started a thread to discuses the origins of your characters. Not the origins in there respected stories, but how You as a person came up with your characters. Did they just spring froth from you mind as fully formed creatures, or where they developed slowly over the years and existed in many forms before they became what they are today. Inquiring minds would like to know.

I base myself on a lot of media. Most of my characters are s subtle blend of many characters, or some tribute to them. However, I always make sure the differences between my characters and their source outweighs the similarity.

Many of my characters were for the most part already thought up long before I even knew what Felarya was. However, giving them some adaptation to eventually become born and raised natives of the place did make quite a contribution to their development. More or less what this means is that my method was to simply come up with the basic idea, and then let that change in response to the environment that it has to inhabit.

Wes'li: Was going to make a whole story around some planar-sphere traveling mages (Goin' round the universe). Kinda gave up on it. Originally there were to be a bunch of generic fantasy races, but the numbers eventually dwindle to a few unique beings.

Jacob: Inspired partially off Marquand Volker from the Mordheim specialist game. Wanted someone who wasn't overly cheerful, more powerful than a regular human, had a 'realistic' medieval lifestyle, etc. Might continue the story with him on Felarya, if I ever start it. One of my more 'holdable' characters (As in not likely to be dropped quickly).

Often times my characters just come to me at random, or are inspired by someone in a book. I tend to prefer 'low' characters, though. If I'm a sword master who wasn't trained in such since childhood, I'm going to be fething old (And even then 20+ years for the 'master' is going to be a minimum). As such, my characters are often older than the vast majority I come across (Well, excluding non-human beings). Similarly, I try to make them serious and competent, though this is sometimes hard to do while making the character draw someone's attention.

Dorian was sparked from a collaboration of my other characters, taking my favorite parts of each and putting them into one entity.

DorianTheBlind wrote:

Dorian was sparked from a collaboration of my other characters, taking my favorite parts of each and putting them into one entity.

So... it's a Felaryan Voltron?

lol essentially

Most of my characters don't really have any referances except for the fact that most of them are thought up with 'Disgaea' feel to it. Overlord Jermod himself is loosely based off of me while the other characters in my story are original (save for Terrance who has the concept of a Prism Skull mage).

Most of my chars are, I'll admit, fanbom based ones.

But I wanted to be sure they seperated from those fandoms used WAY too often. Sometimes one of my chars will appear cliche, but I'll add a twist to them to make them original.

Oooh boy where to begin...

Ryla's a pretty ancient character. Originally she wasn't Felarya canon, but was simply inspired by it. Originally I wanted to try making a semi-human translation of Rygama into a fantasy setting. I was so enthralled by vore-works like Vega, Jasophina and Felarya that I used it as a model. I chose the mythical siren as a base and went with that. But as time went by, that grew boring so I began to develop the island she inhabited. She went from a monotonous seductress to a full blown amphibious hunter. Her original name wasn't Ryla either, it was "Rygali", which frankly sounded as stupid to me then as it does now.

By the time I settled on something I liked, I had completely deviated from the original. Just was well, though, as I like this one better. I based her on my favorite conceptual and literary elements. I tend to write her as a slightly more impulsive version of myself, which as it turns out, is loads of fun. It doesn't sound all that cleanly composed, but it helps me get a real feel for the character.

Now Calvin had MUCH simpler beginnings. I felt Ryla needed a human to continually harass her. Someone militaristic and organized to contrast her chaotic nature. Her own Dellman, of sorts. Of course unlike other arch-nemesis, Calvin's not supposed to make a statement about life or prejudice or anything like that. Hell, if someone ate my sister, I'd wanna kill them too.
Calvin's just an attempt to create a fun contrast for Ryla in the hopes of an amusing, quirky relationship. So far I like him.

Liska, Strika and Balkim are the main satire in my work. They're prettymuch making fun of all the various things in Felarya fiction I don't like: Emphasis on elemental magic in nagas, dridder-prejudice, an attempt to be serious in a blatantly ridiculous setting...
I try to define them beyond this, though. As recurring villains, it's important to make them likeable for their role. They're not innately evil, ambitious or any of that so any sort of epic storyline is out, and personally I prefer it that way. The way I see Strika and Liska, they're less uber bad guys than annoying, violent neighbors - like Flanders.

Reika was another satire character. She's a likeable dridder. That's what I was going for when I wrote her and that's how I see her. She's an attempt to raise awareness that dridders are people too and it's unfair to judge an entire race because of one - frequently misinterpreted - statement in the wiki. I gave her a Scottish accent because I thought that would be fun. And I was right. XP
Instead of making her noble or perfectly innocent, however, I tried to make her seem more like a random civilian. A person with their own pros and cons, but ultimately a good person. If I rubbed in her good points TOO much, I fear it'd have been predictable.

Giles and the neko tribe are.... well, my own homage to Army of Darkness. A primitive civilization who hails the new guy with the gun as their savior from malevolent forces. That's their primary role in the story. Not satire, not an expression of myself, none of that. Just a group designed to work well with established characters in hopes of creating a colorful, fun cast and plot.
Meme and Dot are just there for funzies. And because I felt like throwing in one of Pendragon's crab-chicks. It works, I think.

The miratan squad, Liska, Strika and Balkim and the nekos names? Yeah, ALL of them are based on zoanoids from the Guyver series. XP Gregore, Vamora, Ziatt, Liska....

Fallen has been a character in my mind ever since the 5th grade, which I around the time I found vore on the internet. She started her life as a young little boy living in a word populated by man eating furries. The furries were there because I though I was in to that, and I did not realize until later that it was the vore aspect I liked. Anyway, the little boy was kind of insane, and in a desperate bid for survival fled into the wood to hide, then murder anyone who came into to get him. He wore there bones as a bizarre kind of trophy.

Anyway, once I learned I wasn’t into Furries at all, I abounded the setting. But I like the kid so I repurposed him into a new setting. I turned him into a guy who pretended to be like the New Jersey devil for fun, and gave him the moniker “Fallen”. He still killed people, just not as frequent.

It was a little later that one of my friends told me of a new “Dungeons and Dragon’s” campaign that was starting, and that they could really use a druid for it. I was originally going to make a stoner hippy druid but I then remembered Fallen and decided he would be perfect for the part. This is where he changed the most. After my first attempt to be all dramatic and cool, which failed completely due to nobody really caring about what I said. That’s when I realized that almost no one would be scared by a phantom of the opera type character, and that I might want to reconsider how other people might react to him. So he remind a monstrosity, just nobody was really was scared by him

My DM was completely incompetent, and would frequently kill me in ways that there was nothing I could do about it. Sneak attacking me with an adamantine golem that killed me in one hit, and having the lich I was next spontaneously explode for 12d6 damage, which also killed me in one hit, and other such experiences. This caused me to become extremely paranoid and I spent all of my spell slots on all day self buff and the like, making me hard to kill but also making me lose all of my attack spells.

Eventually I left that campaign, and that was around the time that Felarya really stated to become a coherent universe. So I started to think of my own characters in that universe. Fallen fit the wild and untamed atmosphere pretty well. I thought up a few stories in my head, but none of them where really that good. Then someone posted a link to the Marry Sue Litmus test on the form I realized that Fallen was actually a bit of a Marry Sue. So I stared bringing down his powers level until he was barely stronger then a normal person. Forcing me to think of new ways for him to interact with Crisis and the like. As an attempt to get a lower score on the test, I stated to change things around that I didn’t think were wrong, but would make him less of a Sue. One of those thing I changed was his gender. After that she really kind of developed on her own, so I kept the change.

I thought Crisis had enough in the way of friends, but not really any good opponents. So I made Fallen into her enemy. Her weak power but high adaptability and paranoia made for a more interesting new dynamic that I liked. Finally I messed with her name. While playing “D and D” I found it was very awkward when anybody called her Fallen, but I thought the name suited her so I wanted to keep it. I gave her the short nickname of “Len” because that felt more comfortable to say, yet made sense.

And then after a half-million mental rewrites, I came up with a storyline I kind of liked. So that’s Fallen’s odyssey. You have know idea how many of my characters had gone through similar journeys over the years.

zalzas wrote:

Fallen has been a character in my mind ever since the 5th grade, which I around the time I found vore on the internet.

Throne did I live a sheltered life. Didn't even know what vore was until around the 10th grade.

wrote:

My DM was completely incompetent, and would frequently kill me in ways that there was nothing I could do about it. Sneak attacking me with an adamantine golem that killed me in one hit,

This sounds more like an instance at an attempt to remove one from the campaign. Even the worst DM's tend to realize if they're doing something that wrong. Think they had a grudge against you or something?

wrote:

And then after a half-million mental rewrites,

Very good. If the character keeps changing, it means they're stuck in your head. A character stuck in your head is much easier to write about than one who you gradually lose interest over.

Malahite wrote:

This sounds more like an instance at an attempt to remove one from the campaign. Even the worst DM's tend to realize if they're doing something that wrong. Think they had a grudge against you or something?

Nah, he wasn’t trying to kick me out. He is one of those really smart guys who can’t do a thing outside of an academic setting, has no empathy at all. He put that golem there because he thought it was cool but didn’t introduce it, and he made the lich explode because they spell he use was on its spell list. He didn’t think how they might affect us.

i based my naga on Eurodex's work on DA.Hes a good drawer

I don't have any creatures like Naga's

But I have 2 Versions of my character Kevin

Kevin Lucratic Solaris (16): 16 year old Kevin is bassed off of me current day. I'm a gun toting, vore happy motherfucker who is at home in combat and assassination situations. His Love for violence arose form my love for airsoft, but "real steel" cause in Felarya plastic BB's won't do shit against the predators. He still has his cute and cuddly side though, whenever he isn't fighting or on an exploration he is at home sleeping in some beautiful temptress's arms. He will cling to any girl who likes him enough to hug back and is devoted to his friends.

All of this is bassed off of current me, like i said before. All of it is true about me as well. I don't care to have numerous characters, I like to be myslef in these things becuase it makes it more personal and I always like it when I feel like I really am IN THE STORY.


Lil Kev (6): 6 year old Kevin is bassed off of my deeper emotions as a child. He is lonely, like i was as a kid, feeling like no one loves him and he just doesn't care if he dies or lives, he just wants a hug before his soul leaves his body. He's depressed a lot, but once he gets a hug or a kiss, he can't kill the smile.

Again, like me. I had a crap childhood and playing it out through Lil Kev allows me to recieve the things I never got back then. I moved around a lot and almost never had friends that lasted more then a few years, some times less. Portraying this sense of lonliness, depression, but innocent yearning for love reminds me of the better times in my younger years and often makes me happy, though i seldom do use Lil Kev because sometimes it can have an adverse reaction.

I have no idea!

LOL!

I've had Flare around for a long time. She's basically me, with some slight diffrences. I change her backstory depending on how I'm using her. Though for most of mine, I end up seeing a picture, then I start forming a character around it.

I like improbable characters, irony, gts, kung-fu, magic and flying. These came together nicely for Mantis and Silvia, at least in my opinion. I didn't want to just make a pred character or a prey character. Mantis can pass for a fairy and has extreme strength if I don't want my characters eaten for whatever reason, but he can also become prey. Silvia is human, but there are circumstances in which she can be pred or prey. I don't like to be extremely limited to either.

I suppose my characters evolved from my personal interests and my lack of commitment to either side (prey or pred).

well for the moment my only character is Atlas
At the beginning, Atlas was the name of a elf hero who I've done in the game of "batle for the midle earth 2 " and he was my favorite hero
Later , i give the same name to another archer (because , the elf was an archer^^) in another game called Dofus (maybe some of you know it ) and was my best character too (a cra for those who know the game)

After using this name for a lot of things and after discovering Felarya , I've decided to do my own "Atlas "(a magic archer too ) inspirated by other characters
(clothes like the rangers of gondor , bow and arrows like those from quincy (from anime:bleach) , magic arrows like , fire arrow , ice arrow, etc.. and some magic items)

I've write a story about his past and him finding himself in Felarya, but for the moment in spanish and I don't think be able to translate it to english =s (but i can try)

Mickilla wrote:

Many of my characters were for the most part already thought up long before I even knew what Felarya was. However, giving them some adaptation to eventually become born and raised natives of the place did make quite a contribution to their development. More or less what this means is that my method was to simply come up with the basic idea, and then let that change in response to the environment that it has to inhabit.

Same here, I had thought up several characters over time, but I never really made a story or actually drew them. (Because I'm not a great artist...yet) but when i found Felarya I figured it was a perfect place to put my characters. I'm working on developing a few at the moment, but I still need to practice my drawing before I even try to sketch any. >_< One of the characters I'm making I'm kinda basing off of myself, (or who I want to be.) and It's working pretty well. I have a nice backstory and explanation drawn out, but actually drawing him is going to take some time and practice.

my character is based of me, its simple as that

Vide: She was spared her life but remembered nothing after she consumed a toxic fruit (amirora). This was the basic idea to kick off my story before I thought up a concrete plot; the idea of remembering nothing convinced me to name her "Vide," which means "void" in French. The name resembles her void state of mind brought on by the fruit she ate.

Hale: A water-based naga; hail is one form of precipitation. Hale and hail are homonyms. As for her personality and background, I just let the story guide me.

Nyla: A dridder, able to spin webs as (most?) dridders are. Nyla is derived from the word nylon, a synthetic yarn or cloth. Her personality was unnaturally altered due to being under mental and physical control for years.

Jennifer: No real reason behind my structure of Jennifer.

My Felarya version of Feign is really a lot different from my normal version of him, even before he got naga-fied in the Vally of the Serpents.

There's three versions, The Mindscope Feign, the Willworlder Feign, and the Feathered Feign.

Mindscope Feign was the original version started in 1998, pretty much abandoned. Actually seven characters that are each admittedly facets of my own personality developed when I quit my meds. Over time, they each dropped their "feign" title and became Lupas, Simon, Vaal, Jurai, Gevanelli, Nephanim and Nicadaemus. Most of these were horrible Gary Stus, and as such, the fictions they were in all pretty much died due to my own lack of interest.

Willworld Feign started in Gaia Online in early 2003, loosely based on Feign Jurai and was chiefly opposed by Nephanim (obviously based on the Mindscope Nephanim). The main difference between Feign and Feign Jurai was that shortly into 2004, Feign adopted a daughter, Shekinah. Eventually, his story migrated to City of Heroes where he still gallivants about as an enigmatic time traveling Elrich Jericho which becomes confusing, due to having five time traveled instances of himself at any given time in the city. He is opposed indirectly by Briaros "Nephanim" DuBain, who is more of a direct opponent for the now adult Shekinah Oldsoul, who herself is a fairly powerful and well established character (who herself has a little bit of a vorish streak).

Feathered Feign is slightly based on a combination of Lupas and Vaal, pretty much taking the worst aspects from each. He was sort of my attempt at making a non-sue, though he did end up keeping the title of "Feign", and wears it proudly. He will still be opposed by a Nephanim, but as a much different character than the previous incarnations.

Okie dokie, I think that's a good and comprehensive metahistory of Feign.

My first 'real' character (Chromatic Mage) I have had in my mind for a while off and on. I can't really pinpoint when I created him.

My others just kind of appeared when I decided to continue the Tiger-neko story after the first one.