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+--- Thread: Share the evolution of your character! (/showthread.php?tid=11765)
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RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Viola - 06-03-2015
Memenu (the visual looks) was first conceptualised during phase 3 beta. Unsurprisingly, her look changed rather drastically, and one of her earliest looks can actually be found as an NPC in the Amal'jaa camp in South Thanalan (A lalafell gladiator talking to one of the Amal'jaa), however this NPC is purely coincidental despite the almost exact visual likeness to her first concept.
http://i.imgur.com/Lk10V3y.jpg
Memenu's first picture as of Phase 4 Beta. Noticeable differences are hair color, earrings, pale skin and differently shaped eyes.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/37489778539836445/D43EDC9043734A8944A2FF766E272F339B3B642B/
Here's her current and and probably final incarnation. There's other differences, but they're minute compared to her Phase 4 version.
Originally, Memenu was a "Pint-sized yet silly hero", but this was changed due to being fairly cliche, yet was still adorable because Lalafell emotes. During the time of 2.1, she shifted from being a hero to being a Pope. This was changed once more because I couldn't get it to feasibly work in-universe due to obvious reasons.
Her current Backstory evolved around the time Moggle Mog (2.2?) came out, liking the idea that a being could be summoned into existence (without any elemental link, unlike Ifrit, Titan, Garuda, etc) if a large enough group both wished and believed in it, this sparked the start of her remold.
"The pleas and cries of countless Lalafell fell on deaf ears, those suffering at the hands of others banded together; wishing for both a savior and safety. They believed in a protector who would save them from their hardships, from the Garleans, from the beastmen. They called forth a being formed of the unbridled rage of countless other Lalafell who both suffered and died at the hands of their foes."
The thing is, if Moggle Mog isn't a Primal, then neither is Memenu. She'd just be a "Guardian" with Primal-like traits (IE being summoned by those who believe). However, unlike the Good King, she wasn't stopped by the Scions upon her first creation.
That isn't to say she's an "antagonist", she's done a lot of good for the Realm. Helping crush the Garleans, the Primals, clear the Crystal Tower of defenses and has even clashed with Nael Van Darneus several times. She's violent, yes, but only to those that not only pose a threat to her Lalafellin protectees, but to that of the Realm itself.
Personality-wise, being fueled by the rage of countless Lalafell makes for an interesting character. She's outright vicious in a fight, and the fury that fuels her shows it. She's angry. Like Hulk. More like Akuma. With Cirno from Touhou in the mix. However, the limits of the flesh are impressive, and she cannot go to full strength without the body decaying within mere seconds. (in layman's turns, her power is vastly limited, and if she ever remotely attempts full strength, back to the Aether she goes without posing much of a threat, ever.)
She's really childish, and due to her (very limited) time on Eorzea, sometimes very naive and easily tricked. Her intelligence is fairly high, but when it comes to things like every day things, she's completely aloof. Apparently the ones who summoned her didn't think about her need to cook.
Unlike the Primals, she cannot increase her strength. She cannot utilize crystals like the Primals, she cannot Temper others. Her strength is based around those who believe in her, and even that has its limits (as stated above).
-edit-
That's cool, I posted and it ate my entire post. -sighs-
Though she's still a bit rough around the edges, personality and whatnot-wise, I'm always open for suggestions on improving.
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Xivrez'to - 06-03-2015
When I created Xiv he was a rather goofy character that seems to be a little to high to be sane. He is a man who follows his heart in every way and aspect and he always speaks his mind.
Currently, Xiv is a rather goofy character that might be a smidge saner compared to when I created him. He still follows his heart and speaks his mind. And he has learned some healing magic too.
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Caspar - 06-03-2015
Like a lot of my characters, Virara is a re-framing of a previously made character from pen and paper or forum rp. When I made her, she initially was a D&D rogue, a child assassin raised by a corrupt but faintly paternal arms merchant in a decadent, Venice-style city. Disguised as his daughter, she was highly dependent upon his 'love' and expressed genuine affection towards her father figure by murdering others for him, since that was her primary form of communication. When karma finally found him, she was let loose in the seedy back alleys and crawlspaces of the city as a serial killer. The party adopted her largely to avoid the ugly issue of killing her and to keep her from causing more problems. Looking back she was a bit of a derivative character, and what I ended up with was something between Gunslinger Girl and that one movie Dog or Unchained or whatever starring Jet Li. My characteristic behavior for her was always walking in the steps of one of the larger party members like a trained pet, conveniently within range of her kukris. The campaign dissolved long before I had an opportunity to detail her development.
Virara is a bit more conventionally heroic, but shares a lot of the same themes, which I'll admit I'm often a little overeager to exploit. Their background, age and mental maturity aren't really the same though. Virara isn't quite as blatantly childlike as Vira was. (Since Vira was literally a child...)
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Naunet - 06-04-2015
@Memenu: Bold character! I approve.
 And I have to wonder what would happen to Memenu should her people stop "needing" her so much...I'll just introduce Antimony, as she was/is my main character in FFXIV.
This is her original incarnation:
![[Image: aKTNHkV.png]](http://i.imgur.com/aKTNHkV.png)
Forsaken for life? xD She started out as a bank alt with a nerdy name and then grew into an actual rp character. And then some time during ICC, she became my actual main... This one set the base trend for all future Antimony's. She is a manager of client goods and finances ICly, as well as an amateur mathematician who enjoys applying mathematical principals to magic. She's also extremely proper, motherly, and far too ambitious when it comes to science for her own good. I race changed her a couple times in WoW - to Tauren when Tauren could finally become priests, then back again to Forsaken, and then later to Pandaren for a while before returning to Forsaken - though those were never IC. xD
Antimony skipped an incarnation in Rift. The next time she came up was in TERA.
![[Image: gc5tseq.png]](http://i.imgur.com/gc5tseq.png)
Here she developed a ruthless streak. I played up the scientist aspect of the original Antimony until it warped into someone whose drive for discovering telling the truth governed her every move. She lost her motherly nature; instead she was a child who excelled staggeringly in a few things but never lived up to her parents' wishes and so struck out on her own. She was self-sufficient, wanting to do good but lacking a certain level of compassion, and willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve her goals. I say "was" because a series of very awful events have broken her down to someone almost unrecognizable.
During TERA, we dabbled in GW2 as well, and another Antimony was born:
![[Image: VfAZyFr.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/VfAZyFr.jpg)
She took the socially awkward and highly intellectual traits of TERA Antimony, but wrapped them in a more friendly package. I didn't RP her for very long (though I'm always willing to continue the RP at some point), so I didn't get to fully explore her character.
And then there was K'piru! Otherwise known as Antimony.
![[Image: gB1dBsb.png]](http://i.imgur.com/gB1dBsb.png)
I dug up those motherly instincts that were a minor aspect of the original Antimony's character and really explored them. I built her a family, and then got friends to RP that family, and then I took that family away from her. Family - blood or otherwise - has been a huge theme in her roleplay, and it plays a large role in her motivations. Before the start of the game, she was isolated, socially and culturally. I took advantage of the potential in Seeker lore to craft up an entire tribe sub-culture, and I've had a grand time weaving that into K'piru's character. She is also very other-focused, her every action taken so as to better the life of those remnants of family she's managed to salvage. The intellectual nature that seems to have become a common thread across incarnations is still there, but it's colored and altered by a very different background. While, say, TERA!Antimony would scoff at superstition, K'piru has a whole host of beliefs that influence her day-to-day life and behaviors. She is also more emotionally demonstrative and extremely anxious.
Aaaaaand most recently, WildStar has held my attention for the past year and a half:
![[Image: DwoB3Km.png]](http://i.imgur.com/DwoB3Km.png)
I love everything about this game and the character I've created. xD Although visually she takes her queues from the original WoW!Antimony, this incarnation is probably the biggest outlier of them all in terms of personality. Anne (as her friend Jack calls her) is staggeringly intelligent but has the emotional capacity and understanding of something along the lines of a 4 year old. She spent the vast majority of her life first isolated from her people (stowed away as a little kid on a small research vessel back when the Exiles made first contact with Arboria) and then isolated from all sentient contact whatsoever (the two scientists ended up dying in a pretty awful research accident). She doesn't handle people well, is extremely self-centered in a childish way, and grapples with a very simplistic understanding of right and wrong. Still, she craves some kind of personal connection even if she doesn't want to admit it, even as she's yelling at Jack and Spiderbot and Twig to just go away, let her stay on her crashed Spaceship alone forever, she doesn't need anyone, all she needs is her science stuff and herself.
She's a blast. xD
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Qhora Bajihri - 06-05-2015
(06-01-2015, 09:51 AM)Gegenji Wrote: I... sorta fall under the same scope? I like to think each new game - whether it be MMO or pen-and-paper or what-have-you - is a chance for a new story with a new character. It also doesn't help that I usually have, like, twenty million character ideas floating around in my head that I just can't wait to use.
Still, it's really neat to see how people adapt one character to a number of different games, molding and refining them based on the setting and what they've learned from playing them before. The closest I've done is adapt a goofball hero character from Champions online for a one-shot superhero game, which was quite fun. Lard Almighty is still my favorite superhero.
Echoing this, except the Lard Almighty thing, which I am still laughing at.
I've played some form of the emokid girlrogue thing from... oh, way back when, probably Neverwinter Nights was my first go at it, but they've never been the same person, never had the same name, nor even been similar enough to really invoke variations on a theme. FFXI was my first MMO, and I played a Tarutaru Ninja girl, so there are probably echoes even there, but every time a new game has come up, I've been too excited about trying something new to really draw someone out of the past and reconstruct them. My favorite characters have tended to be the ones who are completely out of my comfort zone that make me work at making them special in new ways.
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Kellach Woods - 06-05-2015
So first I made Kell on FFXIV.
Das it mane. I don't reuse characters through games, except maybe in looks and even then, because the games' storylines are so different.
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Uther - 06-05-2015
(06-05-2015, 07:03 PM)Kellach Woods Wrote: So first I made Kell on FFXIV.
![[Image: tumblr_lqg30vbrtu1qmqr2ho1_500.gif]](http://3mvski39h737ukzj13ko2h9n.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/04/tumblr_lqg30vbrtu1qmqr2ho1_500.gif)
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Shuck - 06-05-2015
So check this out. No, for real, check it out:
A solidly constructed character is not dependent on setting. Captain Nemo is Captain Nemo no matter what the setting may be. King Arthur is King Arthur, even if you call him something else, and throw him into the far future.
A narrative starring a character that is entirely dependent on setting and namedrops is fanfiction. There's nothing wrong with fanfiction, people love it, whatever. But, like...let's not pretend that FFXIV is an entirely original setting. It's Fantasy World #3000.
There's swords. There's magic. They got goofy names for gods and stuff. Just now, someone's decided guns are cool, and magic guns are cooler still. We've all done this a million times. The only thing that changes is the names of the cities, and what you call the races. Little details. A core personality is not details. Details, when regarding people, are measured in experiences.
In summary: Making a new character every single time doesn't make you cool or interesting. Not making a new character every single time doesn't make you cool or interesting.
None of you people are cool or interesting, and neither am I.
Ok, so on topic:
Isaac Jacobi, my character in 1.0 and into 2.whogivesafuck is basically Captain Nemo. I'm not lying, he's a guy with a head for building shit that was adamantly against imperialism and oligarchal governments.
Through repeated attempts to share what was basically an expression of hope with the rest of the world, and being told, in no uncertain terms, that he wasn't wanted because of his station/background/upbringing/doesn't matter, he retreated inward, and set on a goal to build himself what was basically to be his own little microcosm.
Experiences saw him shoved down the road of a violent, ruthless freedom fighter, and eventual inventor recluse.
You see this? You see this shit above? This is called brevity.
On Clementine:
Really, I just wanted to do a different thing with ESO, so I watched The Raid instead of thinking super hard about things, because that's exactly how you end up with overwrought, impossibly boring and hard to believe characters. I decided she would be a kind of lawman, and that her experiences growing up would've been as a kind of lazy fuckabout who like to drink, fight, and was grudgingly put through school.
Such was her spite that she did very well, in an effort to never see any kind of schooling again.
Experiences in XIV have taken her into military service, and now she heads Misericorde.
Again. Motherfucking brevity. You use...you know, you use fewer words to convey basic ideas, because it's fucking impossible to sum up a character with a D&D alignment and a bunch of pictures.
Ya'll feel me? Don't you worry. You will.
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Orlog - 06-05-2015
(06-05-2015, 07:03 PM)Kellach Woods Wrote: So first I made Kell on FFXIV.
Das it mane. I don't reuse characters through games, except maybe in looks and even then, because the games' storylines are so different.
Okay... Thanks for that fine contribution, I guess? I'm not really sure what the point of this post was other than to jump on the train of people saying they don't re-use characters for their MMOs.
I mean, it's fine if you don't. But at least everyone else gave two shits enough to actually contribute to the thread itself in their own way.
![[Image: 9tU9HcV.gif]](http://i.imgur.com/9tU9HcV.gif)
RE: Share the evolution of your character! - Kellach Woods - 06-05-2015
Saw the first post and answered.
If you want the actual evolution from the initial roll to now I can definitely write that up, but I don't think I have the proper screenshots from back then to properly explain it.
I saw the original cutscene having the adventurer come from a ship in Limsa Lominsa, I figured "Hm that sounds like a good hook". Asked around, saw it was a feasible thing in lore, so I just made up the rest of the lore.
As Kell grew into his own character the lore itself surrounding the character grew. I'd say it stands on its own two feet but definitely needs crutches. Some stuff I need to fix.
It's really in looks that he evolved though - Used to be I'd have purple/magenta highlights, or monocolored highlights matching his pants with dark lipstick, and try to play up the effeminate nature of the character.
Naturally nobody liked it, or the few who did weren't vocal enough, so while I didn't change the character all that much (he's still very, VERY effeminate if he wants to), he's a lot more serious after a "life" changing event. Still got long hair, but ties it in a more masculine ponytail. He only wears lipgloss now, and even his outfits haven't changed much these days, keeping the "gladiator superhero" outfit as many hated it in open defiance of their taste and a way to affirm himself, which he hadn't exactly done at the time.Â
From there, I started tying his outfits to his own personal lore as an attempt to keep close to home while he can no longer visit or get letters from it.