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industrythirteen · **09-01-2015, 05:23 PM**

Food for thought about putting a lot of emphasis on backstory: Have you done so much work on the backstory, given your character so much history that their story has already been told? Has so much happened to the character already that you may not know where to take it because the character has already, in your head, lived such a rich life?Â

If the answer is yes, I'd go in and take out the weakest aspects of the story, and then see what happens if you take out the strongest, as a mental exercise. I like to refer to my character's background as just noise. That is what it becomes for me, personally, because while I need to know where she came from, my interest is where she is at now, in the present. So, I need to know what makes the most mental noise for her to move her forward into the present.Â

Is there simply too much information to choose from, and you're feeling overwhelmed? Take one aspect you like the most from Mongolian culture, or the SENIX tribal canon lore, and build around that one thing. After that is comfortable, branch out to something related to that.Â

Do you know who the character is, do you know how the character would react to several different situations, or does this feel forced, and you are unsure? If that is the case, consider this, figure out a core consistency to the character. That isn't to say there won't be variation, or a situation may crop up where you do not know just yet how the character will react, but at the core, I would say, in my opinion, there should be a set of parameters.Â

These are all mostly rhetorical questions that I ask my friends when they are having trouble coming up with a character concept, or running into trouble playing the character. I just ask questions, and they answer those questions for themselves. There is nothing that says you have to have the character pat down, figured out when you start RPing. My final suggestion is that you may just need to put the character into practice, and hone the character based on your interactions, what feels right, what doesn't feel right, and cut the things that aren't working, or just feel unnecessary. Like Coco Chanel said:Â "Before you leave the house, look in the mirror andÂ take one thing off."Â

On an Au Ra specific-level, I invited you to Scales of Othard. Just talk at people. Seriously, just start laying out the character to folks, if you want specific opinions on Au Ra things. People will answer, promise! Feel free to hit me up in-game, too, if you'd like to chat, or RP. I co-run Remnant (remRP) with Bearcave/Ieyasu Ryushin and we have a ton of Au Ra RPers with all different types of personalities and histories. (Hi Kaiz!) We have so many in fact I feel like we ought to put a cap on recruiting Au Ra RPers XD XD XD

Cassandra · **09-01-2015, 06:11 PM**

Something I like to do when trying to jump start interest in a character is look for a source of inspiration. What characters or ideas have I seen in other forms that I would like to explore myself, albeit in a unique fashion? Say you're a Mass Effect or Dragon Age fan. There can be a place gather ideas and build a foundation. A good idea would be to separate the Au Ra aspect and focus on personality. Allow that to fuel her backstory; how she will react to the ideas you have and etc. That way you have a better template to work with when actually RPing. I've always found going into a character without any sort of plan can hurt my general interest because I'm forced to think how they will act instead of knowing, and that just pulls me out of the immersion.

That being said, if you continue to struggle. Don't pull your hair out. Sometimes, an idea just doesn't work out. It's disappointing, but in my experience, you are better off letting go than fighting a muse that isn't happening.

Gone. · **09-02-2015, 08:38 PM**

Not really...?

I'm far more attached to my two Raen than I've ever been with any other character in this game. Knowing their culture is essentially a fantasy version of feudal era Japan gives me more than enough to work with, not that it particularly matters; ethnicity doesn't define who or what a person is.

Perhaps you're focusing too much on history and not enough on the present?

Abbie · **09-07-2015, 03:12 AM**

I've been playing a Xaela quite a bit since the patch, and... yeah I haven't really had this issue. There's a lot of lore we don't have, but likewise, there's a lot of lore for a /lot/ of races we don't have. We're missing a lot about Ala Mhigo, the Lalafell, the Miqo'te...Â

I haven't really seen many other Xaela rpers out there (which is kinda fine and dandy because mine would be more like to avoid them, than anything else), so I can't speak for anyone else's interpretation of the race, but as far as lore wall's I've had no issues. The nomadic lifestyle and tribal information was more than enough for me to setup a personality I enjoy'd rping, and his travel to Eorzea was largely centered around both the destruction of large parts of Othard under Garlean rule, and voluntary separation from his family (which he angsts over night and day like the dumb, 50 year old baby that he is).Â

My suggestion, like most other here, is maybe a revamp of the character. As a man who has no issue playing male or female characters, I don't really understand your statement of "female characters are difficult to play", but if you're having issues, try looking at her from a different light, or possibly switching things up a bit.

Saraj Malqir · **09-07-2015, 03:54 PM**

I had some difficulty playing Saraj at first, and encountered a lot of the issues brought up here. The lore on the Au Ra is pretty thin, even moreso for the Xaela, and that makes it hard to find a good baseline for your character. Their method of speaking, their mannerisms...there's nothing to really go off of. But that leaves a lot of room for interpretation, which can be good for the creative process.

I tend to construct characters pretty organically. The first few times I roleplayed Saraj, I'm pretty certain she behaved very differently than she does now. That's not because she's developed as a character, but more because my understanding of how I want to play her shifted as I started experimenting. So that's the best advice I can offer, is to experiment with ideas, and see what sticks. As an example, I had this idea earlier on that Saraj was obsessed with the history of Ishgardian Dark Knights. It's an idea I've been leaning away from recently, and one which I've decided I'll abandon completely, because it's not interesting and it does not add to the character in any meaningful way. I only found this out after experimenting though.

There are a few things I can offer that might guide the direction a character goes in. First, we know that Othard was conquered by the Garlean Empire, within the past decade or two. The Domans and the Raen probably were better off under Garlean rule than the Xaela though. To the Garleans, the Xaela were probably no different than the beast tribes of Eorzea after all. They're primitive hunters and gatherers, divided into disparate and warring clans.

So that's a good starting point for any Xaela character: How did they deal with the Garlean invasion? Obviously they made it to Eorzea somehow. Were they driven out by the Garlean invaders, or are they here for some other reason? What happened to their friends and family back on Othard, if they had any?

Then there's of course the clan aspect. Every clan has a different "trait", so how does your character deal with adapting to life in Eorzea based on what they were used to in their clan?

As an Au Ra, and especially a Xaela, you're a savage refugee in a strange land. There's a lot of material there to take a character in all sorts of different directions. You'll need some creative license, and because there's few concrete details, you'll need to accept that the version of history you choose to base your character on might conflict with someone else's, but I'd like to think that the lack of concrete detail gives us the liberty to be creative.

In the spirit of being creative, I'll offer this idea: The Xaela, who revere the Dusk Mother, are attacked by the invading Garleans. Isn't it possible, and indeed likely, that out of desperation one of the clans may have summoned the Dusk Mother Primal to defend them from the Garleans? If that is so, what happened to those Xaela and the Dusk Mother Primal? Were these Xaela tempered? Was the Dusk Mother defeated, or trapped in an Ultima Weapon-style Allagan war machine? Food for thought, and perhaps a hook someone can use to make something interesting.

That Guy · **09-08-2015, 05:43 PM**

I don't personally rp an Au-Ra but a lot of my friends do. Honestly, the bulk of them treat the dark scaled ones like miqo'te - as in tribal and somewhat feral. Considering that there is lore stating that a clan of dark scaled Au-Ra were killed by some Ishgardian knights you could easily say your character is seeking revenge. Or maybe they want to team up with the Little Ala Mhigans to help take down Garlamald and learn the ways of the monk.

There's a lot of places you could go with it but it's all for not if you don't have the right people to rp with. Look around, try to meet some new faces and see if that doesn't help spice up your rp life.

If you're worried its because you're playing a girl character (which I totally get. I'm a female player who loves her boy characters) then think about what would change if you made her male. If those changes are positive maybe you should make a male Au-Ra.

SaintEaon · **09-08-2015, 05:49 PM**

This sounds terrible and its a huge generalization so I'm 100% sure its untrue of everyone, so take this with a grain of salt.Â

I have not yet found an Au Ra I was overly impressed with or even excited to RP with. I found the race underwhelming when they were announced and while they have two clans or whatever, their history is pretty generic and bland. They feel like hyper sexualized Qunari, and the Qunari had Ironbull, they didn't need to be any more sexy.Â

I've tried, we have a guy in our FC who is a great RPer, Â but his Au Ra is also a Ninja so its actually painful to RP with him sometimes because he's already in his own head most of the time and when he's not he's talking about boring Au Ra clan shit. I think the problem with bringing Au Ra into the fold the way they did is they just kind of appeared after years of not being there. I mean the Greatswords and Dark Knights are a little weird that they're just now showing up but there's a lore reason for that. Mechanists might be new but there was a precedent for guns already, same with Astrologians. The sudden influx of Au Ra coming from their respective clans however was a little unprecidented. It would be like if you woke up tomorrow and a third of your town was now immigrants who'd immigrated over night and they all came from like 2 families. Its a little strange on how to take that, and I'm sure its hard for some Au Ra RPers to justify why exactly they and every other member of their people decided for the first time ever, "You know I hear its nice in the South, maybe we should migrate." I would say Winter is Coming is an excuse but its been there for awhile, realistically it doesn't make much sense.

ZacharyVolfire · **09-08-2015, 07:32 PM**

MY Au Ra is on a path to discover his roots while also getting over the face he is one (he was fericly glamoured as a kid and only 2-3 years ago found out he was one when it was dispelled) so i got alittle freedom in discovering what it means to be a Kha clan memeber

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Is anyone else having difficulty RPing their Au Ra?

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes