(07-24-2013, 06:44 PM)Spiritual Machine Wrote: Yet, when it comes to making ones character unique, I have to wonder why having an improbable accent is so popular, to where people will invent reasons to have one. What does having an accent add to a character? How does it enrich their interactions and development? If the answer involves an alien perspective of the modern world, why is an alternative language (or especially an alternative accent) in particular so important for expressing this characteristic?
Good questions. I assure you that my question is really only something that's on the surface of developing this character.
I've already brought Kaahi Faahtra in to the fray--a reinvention of my main character in FFXI, adjusted for FFXIV. I'm still working on her background, but I've thankfully been able to keep her name since it doesn't at all fall outside of the naming conventions of Keepers. That character's backstory is also similar in that she was adopted by an Elezen couple--one who loved her dearly, and the other who despised her, just as XI Kaahi's Elvaan foster parents were. Just like in XI as well, she became a thief at a rather young age after being cast out from her home following the death of her foster father. XIV Kaahi's hatred for Hyurs is the same as XI Kaahi's hatred for Humes, although XI Kaahi had reasoning in her backstory that I may completely drop and replace with something a little less sue-ish.
The character I'm asking for is a character who's seen reinvention in other games as well. She would, most likely, be a Seeker rather than a Keeper. In other games I've changed her backstory quite a bit--including her name (and obviously race), but in XIV, I figure I can keep things a lot closer to how they were in XI. This RP character was a member of an island tribe of secluded Mithra (that didn't speak the common tongue) who were wiped out, single handedly, by an antagonistic Elvaan Dark Knight. The character was only a child when the Elvaan decided to spare her and instead keep her in his service, during which she developed a pretty impressive case of Stockholm. Her debut as an RP character began shortly before her eventual liberation. I'm exploring my options for this character in XIV, to keep her as true as possible to her original character in XI. The accent was something unique about her that I liked. If I do follow this character through, I'm still debating on whether or not to phoneticize her speech or to simply type in relatively choppy and flawed English with the occasional declaration of an accent in her emotes.
![[Image: byda.png]](http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7874/byda.png)
