I'm gonna have to grab an example from my old fandom for that one - I RP'd the lore character Prince Wrathion, who was fairly prominent, had a fleshed-out backstory, and three major "MSQ" chains to his name; but I also roleplayed his bodyguards, Left and Right. Canonically, those two barely even have speaking roles. They're just sort of there, behind him, constantly. Sometimes they threaten you if you try to talk to them. That's the only... characterisation, I guess, you get for them.
But you can already infer from that, alone, that they're very serious, business-orientated women. So something that portrays them as discerning and sensible is going to be more in-character than something that portrays them as silly or flirty.
They wear different uniforms than the rest of his servants - a uniform that happened to match that of the NPCs at Wrathion's old home, Ravenholdt. So you can infer they're probably from Ravenholdt (not new recruits that Wrathion made since he left). But Left is an orc and Right is a human; races that don't usually co-habit. Ravenholdt is historically human, yet it had some involvement in the Orcish slave-trade that used to frequent the area. So maybe Left is native after all - a freed slave, or the child of one.
Or maybe she joined after all that was over. Maybe Left grew up there and Right is new. The point is, you can still infer something about their backstory just from the simple matter of what clothes they're wearing, IF you are paying the right sort of attention.
When they're guarding Wrathion in-game, if you watch them for a while, sometimes another random NPC from Wrathion's organisation will come up to Left and they'll chat for a bit. When their conversation is over, Left will point, the other guy will salute and walk off, and she'll go back to her post. Right remains vigilant over Wrathion the whole time; so you can infer that they have different job priorities. Left is probably in some sort of position of authority over the rest of Wrathion's servants, while Right's main job is to protect the Prince.
You get the principle - it depends highly on the exact NPC and the exact type of setting you're dealing with, but most developers can't resist putting little easter eggs or clues in, even with NPCs who could easily be throw-aways. It's true to say that the closer they are to "MSQ" the more this is the case... but ofc in a canon-heavy environment, most of the characters people pick will want to be close to MSQ anyway, because otherwise everyone else all knows each other IC already and you have to "break in" or find an excuse and put all the extra work in that the other people around you don't. There's a certain amount of "natural selection" against more obscure NPCs in canon-heavy environments...
...and I think the opposite goes for canon RPers in OC-heavy environments, where picking an obscure NPC gives them more of a chance to fit in with the highly personal and customisable environment that OC RP tends to create.
Or that's - like I say - my experience, anyway! I'm sure other people (and those from other fandoms, or those who RP canons in-game as opposed to the website-based canon RP I'm used to... i.e. most people reading this thread lol) will have other perspectives.
But you can already infer from that, alone, that they're very serious, business-orientated women. So something that portrays them as discerning and sensible is going to be more in-character than something that portrays them as silly or flirty.
They wear different uniforms than the rest of his servants - a uniform that happened to match that of the NPCs at Wrathion's old home, Ravenholdt. So you can infer they're probably from Ravenholdt (not new recruits that Wrathion made since he left). But Left is an orc and Right is a human; races that don't usually co-habit. Ravenholdt is historically human, yet it had some involvement in the Orcish slave-trade that used to frequent the area. So maybe Left is native after all - a freed slave, or the child of one.
Or maybe she joined after all that was over. Maybe Left grew up there and Right is new. The point is, you can still infer something about their backstory just from the simple matter of what clothes they're wearing, IF you are paying the right sort of attention.
When they're guarding Wrathion in-game, if you watch them for a while, sometimes another random NPC from Wrathion's organisation will come up to Left and they'll chat for a bit. When their conversation is over, Left will point, the other guy will salute and walk off, and she'll go back to her post. Right remains vigilant over Wrathion the whole time; so you can infer that they have different job priorities. Left is probably in some sort of position of authority over the rest of Wrathion's servants, while Right's main job is to protect the Prince.
You get the principle - it depends highly on the exact NPC and the exact type of setting you're dealing with, but most developers can't resist putting little easter eggs or clues in, even with NPCs who could easily be throw-aways. It's true to say that the closer they are to "MSQ" the more this is the case... but ofc in a canon-heavy environment, most of the characters people pick will want to be close to MSQ anyway, because otherwise everyone else all knows each other IC already and you have to "break in" or find an excuse and put all the extra work in that the other people around you don't. There's a certain amount of "natural selection" against more obscure NPCs in canon-heavy environments...
...and I think the opposite goes for canon RPers in OC-heavy environments, where picking an obscure NPC gives them more of a chance to fit in with the highly personal and customisable environment that OC RP tends to create.
Or that's - like I say - my experience, anyway! I'm sure other people (and those from other fandoms, or those who RP canons in-game as opposed to the website-based canon RP I'm used to... i.e. most people reading this thread lol) will have other perspectives.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
