Hydaelyn Role-Players

My knowledge about lore is still a bit fuzzy, but reading through these boards have helped a lot, and I'm really excited to be role playing with you all soon!

Yet I still have questions:

The first is for my boyfriend who I will be RPing with right off the bat because we would like our characters to have history. We will both be working toward Monk so he thought his Lalafell might be my Miqo'te's teacher in martial arts. He would be taking the role of a curmudgeonly "sensei" of sorts and my character would be the somewhat bratty student. How viable would that situation be?

Second, I would like my character, Nako, to be a Wood Wailer. Is that a viable profession someone (from Gridania) might have within the lore, or would I be stepping into Mary Sue territory with that?

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll have tons more later. I appreciate any help that can be offered! 

Seeing as Monk is my main and forte, I feel comfortable giving a brief history lesson here~

Obviously, this is just lore and a bit of personal suggestion. Take it with a grain of salt.

It really depends on what type of character your boyfriend wants to play. Monks follow a rather specific discipline that heavily incorporates religion. That isn't to say there couldn't be Monks who aren't necessarily religious, but the teachings of the Monks are very deeply rooted in worship of Rhalgr, the Destroyer. If some one were to be seasoned enough to be a teacher of the art, chances are they'll have hailed from Ala Mhigo or the surrounding area. I'd recommend doing some research into Ala Mhigo as a whole. There's plenty of lore surrounding it's history. Wrote out the established background on the Monks themselves fairly recently, which can be found over here on the wiki.

Again, though, there's always room for interpretation. For example, my character doesn't necessarily consider himself a true Monk. He was actually trained by a real Ala Mhigan Monk. He's mastered the art of the Coeurlfist, and even was nearing completion of forging a pair of Sphairai before the coming of the Seventh Umbral Era. However, he has more of a scientific mind due to his background and doesn't necessarily believe the fount of his power is influenced by Rhalgr himself.

Now, if your boyfriend planned on playing some old Lalafellin Monk, I'd say statistically it would be much more likely for them to have been a devout follower of the Fists of Rhalgr until it's eventual destruction.

If he's going to be younger, it'd be much more likely for him to have been say..  ...taught by a Monk as a child and over the years developed his own modern approach to the art that isn't so heavily tied to old traditions. The Fists of Rhalgr has been all but destroyed in this day and age, so most Monks that are around are learning from what little remains of the culture. Most won't get the real experience of being trained as a full-fledged "Monk".

But that's just Monk itself. If the whole religious deal isn't your boyfriends bag, he could always have a martial artist that isn't a Monk per say, but studied their forms and styles. Or whatever he wants, really.

Wood Wailers are simply a specific unit of Gridania's defenses (The Twin Adders being their actual millitary force) that specialize in using the lance. Their primary and pretty much only concern is the defense of Gridania and the Twelveswood. Being a Wood Wailer would be perfectly fine. You're actually able to join the Lancer's Guild in-game.

I can't give you any advice on monk related stuff. So instead I'll give you some advice on another, perhaps unexpected, facet that came up in your post: RPing with a significant other.

I've seen a lot of RP between couples over the years, and there are some things such couples should be made aware of. It can certainly be a very rewarding experience to RP with your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife. But it can also be very damaging if you're not careful.

For starters, you run the risk of isolating yourselves from others. This doesn't happen intentionally obviously. But it's the number one problem I tend to see with real life couples who RP a relationship between their characters. The reason this happens? Because outsiders looking in become increasingly intimidated to approach either of the two players or characters. They know that they're not just approaching or coordinating anything with one person, but instead TWO. That's double the amount of effort and stress and can be a huge turn-off for the outsider. They often deem it not worth the effort and headache and target their RP toward someone who's more approachable.

The other big issue is the risk of crossing IC with OOC. I'll use myself as an example. In another MMO, my character (let's call him Kylin for easy reference even though that wasn't his name xD) developed feelings for another character. This other character was ICly in a romantic relationship with her OOC romantic partner. Anyway, Kylin had feelings for her that were 100% IC onry. When I started to RP this more publicly in hopes for some interesting dynamic interactions, the couple started to mix OOC and IC. The girl's real life/IC boyfriend got really defensive and jealous OOCly. Long story short, the interactions were disastrous and I was more or less told (OOCly) that I had to stop ICly pursuing Kylin's feelings. This left a very bitter taste in my mouth seeing as I was 100% IC and had no OOC feelings toward this person. I was merely RPing, but the couple (because they were a real life couple) were incapable of handling this type of RP situation. Obviously this may not be a problem with all RL couples. But it's something to be aware of. Somewhere along the line, someone may ICly fall for your character regardless of your IC relationship status. So make sure the IC and OOC remain separated at all times if/when this happens.

I'm not telling you it's a bad idea to RP a relationship with your significant other. I'm just asking you to be aware of the position it puts you in and how less approachable it may make both of you in the RP world. So just be aware of that. You may have take the initiative in reaching out to other RPers to avoid that kind of isolation rather than hoping people come to you for the RP.

(02-21-2013, 08:01 PM)Merri Wrote: [ -> ]Seeing as Monk is my main and forte, I feel comfortable giving a brief history lesson here~

Obviously, this is just lore and a bit of personal suggestion. Take it with a grain of salt.

It really depends on what type of character your boyfriend wants to play. Monks follow a rather specific discipline that heavily incorporates religion. That isn't to say there couldn't be Monks who aren't necessarily religious, but the teachings of the Monks are very deeply rooted in worship of Rhalgr, the Destroyer. If some one were to be seasoned enough to be a teacher of the art, chances are they'll have hailed from Ala Mhigo or the surrounding area. I'd recommend doing some research into Ala Mhigo as a whole. There's plenty of lore surrounding it's history. Wrote out the established background on the Monks themselves fairly recently, which can be found over here on the wiki.

Again, though, there's always room for interpretation. For example, my character doesn't necessarily consider himself a true Monk. He was actually trained by a real Ala Mhigan Monk. He's mastered the art of the Coeurlfist, and even was nearing completion of forging a pair of Sphairai before the coming of the Seventh Umbral Era. However, he has more of a scientific mind due to his background and doesn't necessarily believe the fount of his power is influenced by Rhalgr himself.

Now, if your boyfriend planned on playing some old Lalafellin Monk, I'd say statistically it would be much more likely for them to have been a devout follower of the Fists of Rhalgr until it's eventual destruction.

If he's going to be younger, it'd be much more likely for him to have been say..  ...taught by a Monk as a child and over the years developed his own modern approach to the art that isn't so heavily tied to old traditions. The Fists of Rhalgr has been all but destroyed in this day and age, so most Monks that are around are learning from what little remains of the culture. Most won't get the real experience of being trained as a full-fledged "Monk".

But that's just Monk itself. If the whole religious deal isn't your boyfriends bag, he could always have a martial artist that isn't a Monk per say, but studied their forms and styles. Or whatever he wants, really.

Wood Wailers are simply a specific unit of Gridania's defenses (The Twin Adders being their actual millitary force) that specialize in using the lance. Their primary and pretty much only concern is the defense of Gridania and the Twelveswood. Being a Wood Wailer would be perfectly fine. You're actually able to join the Lancer's Guild in-game.

Thanks so much for this advice. I'll direct my boyfriend here to have a look and see how he wants to build his character's background. Really though, thank you so much for the detailed information!! It really helps.

(02-21-2013, 08:25 PM)Kylin Wrote: [ -> ]I can't give you any advice on monk related stuff. So instead I'll give you some advice on another, perhaps unexpected, facet that came up in your post: RPing with a significant other.

I've seen a lot of RP between couples over the years, and there are some things such couples should be made aware of. It can certainly be a very rewarding experience to RP with your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife. But it can also be very damaging if you're not careful.

For starters, you run the risk of isolating yourselves from others. This doesn't happen intentionally obviously. But it's the number one problem I tend to see with real life couples who RP a relationship between their characters. The reason this happens? Because outsiders looking in become increasingly intimidated to approach either of the two players or characters. They know that they're not just approaching or coordinating anything with one person, but instead TWO. That's double the amount of effort and stress and can be a huge turn-off for the outsider. They often deem it not worth the effort and headache and target their RP toward someone who's more approachable.

The other big issue is the risk of crossing IC with OOC. I'll use myself as an example. In another MMO, my character (let's call him Kylin for easy reference even though that wasn't his name xD) developed feelings for another character. This other character was ICly in a romantic relationship with her OOC romantic partner. Anyway, Kylin had feelings for her that were 100% IC onry. When I started to RP this more publicly in hopes for some interesting dynamic interactions, the couple started to mix OOC and IC. The girl's real life/IC boyfriend got really defensive and jealous OOCly. Long story short, the interactions were disastrous and I was more or less told (OOCly) that I had to stop ICly pursuing Kylin's feelings. This left a very bitter taste in my mouth seeing as I was 100% IC and had no OOC feelings toward this person. I was merely RPing, but the couple (because they were a real life couple) were incapable of handling this type of RP situation. Obviously this may not be a problem with all RL couples. But it's something to be aware of. Somewhere along the line, someone may ICly fall for your character regardless of your IC relationship status. So make sure the IC and OOC remain separated at all times if/when this happens.

I'm not telling you it's a bad idea to RP a relationship with your significant other. I'm just asking you to be aware of the position it puts you in and how less approachable it may make both of you in the RP world. So just be aware of that. You may have take the initiative in reaching out to other RPers to avoid that kind of isolation rather than hoping people come to you for the RP.

Um, wow. Deeeeeerailment City. Uh, it seems this is a hot button issue for you? 

Our characters are not going to be in a romantic relationship at all. I didn't think I implied that either? To me, that seems a bit... odd between a Lalafell and a Miqo'te, you know? Aside from that, I never make characters defined by romantic entanglements and never seek them out for my characters. If I allow it to happen, it's only with characters owned by long-time OOC friends. I personally don't want to invite the drama of it, and I don't find romance-centric stories very interesting normally.

Should one of us pursue IC relationships with others, we've already privately discussed how that would play out, and there's no hard feelings there.

In the past, when my boyfriend and I HAVE played our characters as couples, we always try to be very inclusive. You wouldn't see our characters off to the side whispering cute things, making out and ignoring everything else around them. That kind of thing annoys us. We like to be involved in the stories of others.

So, don't worry! We will not be a heart shaped wrecking ball bent on crushing the RP of others! (」゜ロ゜)」

So, thanks for the well intentioned advice though! Maybe next time send something like this in a PM? ヾ(＾∇＾)

There was no reason to send it via PM. It was intended advice for everyone to see, not directly aimed at you ^^.

Not really a derailment either, as you mentioned in your OP that you were RPing with him "right off the bat" and that your characters had a history. So it was only logical to imply the possibility that it was a romantic history. I apologize if that's not the case though. And while I personally, like you, find it odd for a miqo'te and lalafell to RP something like that, I have seen it done before so it wouldn't have surprised me xD. But it seems that's not the case anyway, so I again apologize for inferring that from your earlier words.

(02-21-2013, 07:39 PM)Nako Vesh Wrote: [ -> ]My knowledge about lore is still a bit fuzzy, but reading through these boards have helped a lot, and I'm really excited to be role playing with you all soon!

Yet I still have questions:

The first is for my boyfriend who I will be RPing with right off the bat because we would like our characters to have history. We will both be working toward Monk so he thought his Lalafell might be my Miqo'te's teacher in martial arts. He would be taking the role of a curmudgeonly "sensei" of sorts and my character would be the somewhat bratty student. How viable would that situation be?

Second, I would like my character, Nako, to be a Wood Wailer. Is that a viable profession someone (from Gridania) might have within the lore, or would I be stepping into Mary Sue territory with that?

That's it for now! I'm sure I'll have tons more later. I appreciate any help that can be offered! 

1). That situation would be quite viable, for reasons Merri explained. It would be fairly easy to say your boyfriend's character has some past training with the Monks or history in Ala Mhigo. Your own character would fit without incident.

2). Don't worry, it's absolutely a profession Nako could have. Belonging to her city-state's police force, which is basically what Wood Wailers are, is nowhere near Mary Sue territory. Unless she rose to command them inside of six weeks.

Thanks much for the feedback, all of you! And not to worry, I don't plan on making Nako a commander of anything. That would be a disaster for all involved. （ ´∀｀）