Mara

That's pretty dang sweet, Bea! Thank you. :love:

Name: Mara Sutton Race: Hyur Midlander Age: 22 Date of Birth: 32nd Sun of the 5th Umbral moon (10/31 - Halloween) Guardian Deity: Rhalgr, the Destroyer Profession: Pirate; Captain of The Bonny Rose; Treasure Hunter; Head of the Sutton Trading Company in Ul'dah In-Game Classes: Thaumaturge, Black Mage... Possibly Summoner later on down the line. Goldsmith. Skin: Fair Scars: Mara sports no noticeably visible scars, and carefully hides those she does have - circular markings around both of her wrists and ankles - from public view. She achieves this either by use of long sleeves and skirts/trousers or by wearing wristbands, bracelets, gloves, shoes, or whatever sort of other accessories she can get her hands on to cover the markings in order to avoid questions about their origins. Hair: Dark brown, falling just below her shoulders, with a slight natural wave to it. Eyes: Green Build: Mara stands a little below-average for a Hyur Midlander female, coming in around 5'3", and weighs in at approximately 120 lbs. While rather petite, she has what many call an "hourglass figure." While not very muscular she has a sort of lean, graceful physique which has matured greatly in recent years from the body of a girl to one of a woman. Demeanor: Seductive, flirty... Generally smirking and jovial, but occasionally one can catch a glimpse of her looking like she's in a very dark place in her mind. Clothing Style: When not wearing the typical robes of a mage, Mara is usually seen out and about town - especially at night - in skimpier outfits which show off her figure. She is certainly not above using her "assets" to get what she wants from men. Possible Depictions: Wearing a pirate hat with while holding a ball of fire in one hand and smirking; winking while leaning over a table to gather her winnings from a game of cards; bent at the waist, flashing her cleavage while blowing a kiss; in a heated verbal argument with Zarek... or locked in a passionate embrace with him, depending on the day Reference Pictures:

You might know Mara Sutton from... -The Bloodsands in Ul'dah, watching her personal favorite fighter in action and/or waiting for him by the exit door. -Various gambling establishments and taverns in Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa, drinking rum and using her "assets" to her advantage to help her win at cards. -The Thaumaturges' Guild in Ul'dah, looking utterly bored while reading some text or other on spellcasting techniques. -Merchants' shops in all three major cities, haggling over prices while buying and selling various goods. -Barking orders (rather loudly) from the deck of her ship when it's at port in Limsa.

First of all, if Mara suddenly had no responsibilities whatsoever... she'd go insane from boredom. Sure, she might complain about how she's the one stuck trying to dig her family business out of the hole her father put it in, but all of the work keeps her busy and she doesn't really like sitting on her ass doing nothing. (Hence the reason she hates formal thaumaturge training: she'd rather be out blowing stuff up than sitting around reading boring books on spellcraft and magical theory.) A day off would start with sleeping in. Late. Like, noon or later. (Much to the chagrin of her caretaker, who would get her cute little head bitten off a couple of times when she tries to rouse her mistress for meals.) Once she finally drags herself out of bed, she would spend some time soaking in the tub, relaxing. Then she'd dress in one of her more provocative outfits and hit the town for the evening. Much drinking and gambling would ensue, with her winning every hand thanks to the low cut of her blouse and the fact the men she's playing just love watching her lean over the table to collect her winnings. Assuming she'd be in Ul'dah, she might check out who's fighting that night. If her personal favorite is on the card, she'd certainly stick around to watch and place a bet on him. In the event that he's not fighting - or they're not in Ul'dah - she would head to the bar he'd most likely be at and start flirting around with other men until he showed up... and then she would probably continue flirting with other men to get a jealous rise out of him, because that's just how she is. Okay, so... She actually does it because she knows what it will lead to and that is exactly what she's aiming for. The night would, of course, end with the two of them at her place... and you all can just use your imaginations for the rest.

Looking For Interested Parties There are a few people from Mara's life who I am looking for someone else RP in order to help flesh out her personal/social life better. Here's the basic information on these characters. Any characters with a strike-through are roles which have been filled. The Missing Uncle - Mara's father had an older brother, who was the original heir of the Sutton Trading Company, but he wanted to be an artist rather than take over the family business. When he left home to pursue his dreams, he was disowned. No one has heard from him since and no one knows of his current whereabouts, so it is entirely feasible that he's still alive out there somewhere and could someday return. Would definitely be a Midlander Hyur; may or may not share the same surname as Mara. (It's highly likely he changed his entire name after he left home.) Various Lovers - Mara's been a bit of a loose woman over the past few years. While she's never gotten into an actual relationship with anyone, she certainly has a list of men she's been "involved" with, some more often than others. She's had elezen, hyur, and miqo'te lovers, so this one is open to all males (sorry ladies, she doesn't swing that way) of those three races who would have had reason to be in the Limsa Lominsa area at any point in the past 3-4 years. For those playing lalafell and roegadyn men: She would have flirted heavily with members of those races, but she isn't attracted enough to them to actually end up in bed with them. (However, with the amount of perversion I've noticed in some of the lalafell NPCs, I would really like to find a male lalafell who she has a sort of recurring flirting relationship with: full of innuendo but they've never actually hooked up.) Crew Members - Mara took over her mother's ship, The Bonny Rose, shortly after her arrival in Limsa Lominsa (with the help of her mother's former first mate). Within a year, she had a crew and they were off seeking adventure and treasure on the high seas. These men (and women) are very loyal to her - to the point that they went against their "do no harm" honor code and viciously massacred an entire ship full of men who had captured and tortured their captain - and when Mara decided to go back to Ul'Dah for further training in thaumaturgy as well as to try to save her family's business she extended an open invitation for any of them to come to her should they ever need something. The Betrayer - One of the biggest mysteries in Mara's life is who was behind her mother's death and why. It is quite possible that Amalia Sutton had a brief affair with one of her usual adventuring companions - none of whom Mara or her father actually met - and that could have possibly led to a jealousy-induced plot to kill her. (Think of it as one of those, "If I can't have you, no one can!" kind of situations.) It might have been a plot born out of jealousy because Amalia had a better life waiting at home than one or more of the others in her party did. Or they simply could have been paid off by someone to do it. It's a great, big question mark right now. All I know is that someone betrayed Amalia and the rest of her party and either led them into an ambush or took them all out. The exact who and why are up in the air, and I'm open to pretty much anyone who wants to take this role on. Just step forward and we'll see what we can work out. If you are interested in filling any of these roles, please feel free to contact me using your preferred method of communication from those listed above.

Yes, yes... The Bonny Rose needs a crew. And Zarek will be useless, unless there's a job on the ship which requires one to be seasick all the time. Eventually, maybe I'll set one up. Once she straightens out the mess her father left the family business in. Ahem... Getting a bit carried away, there with the plotting... Sorry about that. *shoves her muses into a closet and locks them up for a bit* @Asyria - I know I'm going to have one alt, just for the sake of playing with my dad, who's a straight-up PvE player and will be on a totally different server from the RP one. More likely than not, said alt will be a Lalafell Ranger. (Hush, Zarek! I can hear you laughing over there...) And Mara's not really a bad pirate. She does have a certain honor code she tries to enforce with her men. It's not like they're all, "rape and pillage, rape and pillage!" But they do like their treasure and aren't above fighting people who get in their way when they have to. I like to think of her (and her crew as a whole) being Chaotic Neutral but with leanings toward the Chaotic Good side, from time to time. @DimmerMeerkat - I would gladly share the list with you if I could remember! lol... I played for about five months after launch and then I sort of just lost interest. The only one I really remember was a purple-haired Elyos sorcerer named Cirucci. (Yeah... I was in a pretty big Bleach phase around then, too.) @Dogberry - First of all, I just have to say I love your handle. It makes me smile. Mara's actually descended from a line of pirates on her mother's side, and spent the past few years sailing out of Limsa Lominsa on her inherited ship... but now she's back in Ul'dah for a bit of family business before she'll eventually end up back in Limsa and likely out at sea for fun times once more. And she's been drinking and gambling since before she originally left Ul'dah as a teenager. So bring on the debauchery! (Man, I really need to finish this wiki page and get it posted, lol...) Also, it's totally awesome you've got a pirage - as Kyatai coined the phrase, above - too! /highfive. Great minds, indeed, my friend!

lol... It's never too late to join a party! *passes a couple of shots* And I love made-up words, by the way!

Back during the first server vote my guild made up a fake server and tried to get people to vote for it VOTE SERVER BALTHIER Where do I sign up for this one?

Ooooh... A LARPer. *bows in respect* That's something I've always wanted to try, but in this backwards-ass country town I can't even find regular RP, lol. Very cool that you've done it! Welcome aboard, and don't worry about not having any friends playing. I'm pretty much in the same boat. (As in, all the friends I have going into this game with me are online buddies, rather than RL pals.) Just pull up a chair and we'll all buy you a drink - or three.

I. Basic Info Primary character: Mara Sutton Linkshells: None, currently Primary RP linkshell: N/A II. RP Style Amount of RP (light, medium, heavy): Mid-Heavy. I can lose myself easily in my characters, but I also like to be a little more casual about RP at times and get to know some of the people behind the characters I'm traipsing around with. So don't be afraid to drop into OOC chat while hanging out with me - just so long as you differentiate between the two so I know which is which. Views on RP combat and injuries: I won't do anything to your character which would cause any injury without your consent to do so. I expect the same courtesy. Views on IC romance: If it's something that both players agree upon, then great. Go for it, and best of luck to you both. Personally, I'm open to the idea (as well as the practice). However, Mara isn't on the market for a meaningful relationship, for various reasons. Negotiable for past flings, however. Views on non-romantic RP (family ties, etc): These can be fun, so long as people aren't resurrecting dead relatives. For example: Mara's parents are both deceased. If someone shows up trying to RP as either of them, that's not acceptable. Kinda iffy on relatives who suddenly come out of the woodwork that I had no knowledge about, too. Okay... More than iffy. If you simply show up in-game claiming to be Mara's long-lost twin sister, you WILL be shot down. If you wish to bring in some sort of "long-lost relative," please contact me and I'll be happy to see if we can hammer something out prior to your character showing up out of the blue. Views on lore: I'm not a lore whore, nor do I appreciate those who constantly correct every single little tiny detail I might miss. I know enough of the lore to keep things realistically believable within the limitations of the game's setting, though, so I won't be breaking it all to pieces. I'm simply not a Nazi about it. As long as it's doable (or you can explain how you think it is in a reasonable, non-convoluted way that makes sense with the current conventions of the in-game universe) I say go for it! Views on chat functions (/say, /linkshell, etc): /say is great for RP out in the open, public arena. It gives you the opportunity to pull in other people who you might not know and potentially find yourself a new buddy, either IC, OOC - or perhaps both! Private conversations that other players/characters shouldn't be privy to can stay in whispers or party chat. If a certain LS is meant to be in-character, then one should remain as IC as possible when speaking within that particular chat. (But I don't mind people going OOC for a good night shout-out or other brief moments like that.) III. Other Info Country: USA Timezone: Eastern (EST/EDT) = GMT -5 Contact info: email: [email protected]; PM on this site; Enjin: MagicGirl [align=center][glow=blue]~Special announcements can be found in the posts below~[/glow][/align]

:blush: Aww... Thank you, sweetie!

You're not the first person to think that, but not quite, it was actually from the legend of King Arthur. Arthur was the illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon. All of my character names are Arthurian. My alt in this game's name is Wart which was Arthur's nickname when he was a child servant in the book The Once and Future King. It's my favorite legend. Of course! *smacks herself upside the head* I knew that. I watch Merlin. But since that was the current topic of discussion, it was the first place my mind went. Very cool, going with the Arthurian naming theme. +10 Awesome Points @Kari - I'll have to check that game out. Thanks for the recommendation! And yeah... BioWare really needs to make up for a lot, with the bomb that was SWTOR and the huge fan backlash after ME3. If they don't nail DA3, they may very well be finished. You should totally check out the books if you ever get the chance. Once they've all been translated and released, I'm planning to read them through and then play the games, which pick up where they left off. There's a couple of things from the books that I'm really, really hoping they manage to get into the third game. (Yennefer, especially. I would kill for any sort of reunion between her and Geralt.) No matter what, though, I'm sure it will be awesome. Especially if it does have over 100 hours of gameplay!

Oooh... *noms on pie* Thank you, Elka! @Gerik - Thank you! Gerik is quite the handsome devil, as well! I perused the Wiki page about him while figuring out how I want to set up mine. @Uther - Is it safe to say your character's name was WoW-inspired? Glad to hear I'm not the only one who went a little overboard with the alts in that game! @Kerr - You're on! I could totally use some pirating buddies. Let's see what sort of mischief we can get into! :evil: @Kari - Yeah... DA2 was a total disappointment. They rushed it too much to cash in on the first - and best - one's popularity. I'm... not sure about DA3, yet, though the new trailer revealing Morrigan sort of has me with low expectations because is means yet more retconning of decisions made by players. (i.e. Having the OG baby be around when the ritual wasn't done; her even being alive when someone chose to kill her in Witch Hunt.) I could really go on and on for hours with rants about the horrible inconsistencies, but I'll be good and stop there. I'll probably still play DA3, but maybe not until after I hear what it's like. (And possibly pick it up super-cheap like I did the bundle off Amazon.) Have you read the Witcher books? I'm still waiting on the third one to be released... And wondering which will come first: it or the third game.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes, guys! I think I've got my head mostly wrapped around all the 1.0 lore. Still some things as far as in-game cultural practices go that I'm going to have to dig deeper into, though. @faceman7381 - The wiki page I'm working on for Mara is about half finished. I might post it up a bit before I get it totally done, but I'm trying to get as much of it put together as I can before I reveal it to the public eye. @Scarlet Willow - I love pirates and mages, lol... The combination was inevitably going to happen some day. This game seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

This is one bandwagon I can't help but jump on... Mara the Pirate: Mara the Mage:

I really, really don't like retconning things... Which is why Mara will only age a single year until someone official says, "We've moved from year X to years Y in the timeline." That way I don't end up aging her two or three years then realize only a year has actually passed in the game and not only have to change her age, but potentially other big stuff that takes a while and she wouldn't have had time to actually accomplish in that short of a span (like having a child in the second, non-existent year, for example). In the same vein, though, if the in-game time skips ahead three years... Then the character would get a couple of years added on. (And I get to play around and add in stuff that happened over those two years.) My personal method of choosing birthdays... I tend to try to pick dates which will be fitting for the character, be it the astrological sign's traits fitting their personality or the specific significance of the date linking to them somehow. Mara, for instance, was born on the 32nd Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon - the date with the RL equivalent of Halloween. She's a Black Mage, so it seemed fitting.

Mara lived out the five years. At the time of the battle, she would have been on a ship in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Which isn't to say she didn't feel the effects of it all in some way. (And since that's a part of her backstory that only a certain special few will be privy to ahead of time, I'm not going to say any more than that. ) Those five years were spent pirating, treasure hunting, learning the basic tenants of thaumaturgy, picking up a few other fighting skills, and... stuff.

Here we have the lovely Mara upon the tail end of her return trip to Ul'dah after the past few years she spent pirating and learning magic in Limsa Lominsa... http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f231/hdry/FF14/Mara.png[/img] And reunited with her old "friend," Zarek... http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f231/hdry/FF14/ffxiv2013-06-2212-40-29-13.png[/img] Joining up with the Thaumaturges' Guild... http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f231/hdry/FF14/MageApprentice.png[/img] Then taking some time off to enjoy a couple of her favorite past-times - drinking and gambling... http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f231/hdry/FF14/ffxiv2013-06-2214-21-20-09.png[/img] And, finally, looking every bit the Black Mage that she is (I really love these robes)... http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f231/hdry/FF14/MaratheMage2.png[/img]

You're, like... the fifth person to point this out to me. I think maybe I should start putting a disclaimer that I KNOW about this thread, I just haven't had the time to actually give it a thorough read, lol. Thanks for pointing it out again, though.

Yay for the pirate speak! Double yay for the psychology major! Triple yay for the music-loving! :lol: Welcome... back? You said you played before, so I'll go with that. And don't listen to Zarek. Pirates are way cooler than ninjas. Just wondering, though... Are you actually going to be playing your character as a pirate? And don't worry about not knowing the lore. I'm still trying to figure it all out, myself, being new and all. So you're definitely not alone in that boat!

This right here. I always play ranged classes, and so I think they're more likely to come out of fights unmarred than, say... A warrior who charged head-first right into a battle. Casters (and rangers) are trained to stay out of harm's way and fight from afar, because they lack the strength and stamina to withstand the harsh blows of melee combat. So I agree that class would play a fairly large role in just how beat up/dirty/blood-soaked your character gets on a regular basis. As far as my character is concerned, she sometimes relies on her looks to help her get what she wants. So keeping up a certain standard as far as her appearance is concerned is pretty important. She's still got some scars, though... but she strategically hides them. (Partly because she doesn't want to have to answer questions about how she got them.) And while she's not afraid to get a little dirty, for the most part she remains out of harm's way due to being a mage and also not wanting to damage her goods, so to speak.

Hi, my name is Heather, and I'm an altoholic. It all began when I started playing WoW about two weeks after launch. By the time I ended my career of adventuring around Azeroth over six years later, I had close to 30 characters. A full roster of Alliance on one server, a full roster of Horde on another, and a handful of each spread around on various other servers. The same process repeated itself in various other MMOs. Aion... Rift... The Secret World... Guild Wars 2... All of them found me making character after character and swapping randomly from one to the next in order to play with different classes and as parts of different factions. I had a problem. I know it, and I freely admit it. More recently, however, I've broken the pattern with Tera. I have just two characters in that game. One for RP and one to futz around with my dad in PvE, since he just started playing, as well. I'm quite proud of myself. That's not to say that Tera is the only RP experience I have. Oh, no... Go back 15 years or so and you'll find my original roots back in the old-school WoD games (specifically Vampire and Mage). Most of my RP experience is from outside of any actual games, usually the more story-based play-by-post sort of stuff you find on message boards, though I did have a couple of friends in WoW who I used to get into trouble with ICly from time to time and now my RP character in Tera. I was once part of FFVII RP in which I eventually ended up as all of the Turks, so there's my previous link to role-playing in the FF-verse for you! I wasn't in 1.0, so please don't expect me to be all up on things prior to that big O.S. moment. I'm still learning the details and trying to get things figured out, so do bear with me for being a total noob. But I already have a character pretty well fleshed out (currently working on getting everything down on paper, as it were, so I can publish a wiki page for her) and I've been thoroughly enjoying myself in beta so far. Right now I'm not really doing RP in beta, though. I'm just messing around and getting familiar with the game mechanics and whatnot and leaving the RP for when launch comes and everyone will be present and accounted for. Which isn't to say I'm not open for exploring future RP options/partnerships/groups at the moment. So anyone who's interested in having fun with a Black Mage pirate of sorts should feel free to drop me a line. :moogle: (Yeah... couldn't resist the Moogle.) I'm not a "hardcore" player, by any means. I prefer as stress-free a gaming environment as possible, which is why I sort of stopped raiding and don't ever PvP. I'd rather be out picking flowers and running through dungeons or questing than getting ganked because I'm squishy or listening to the 30th fight over who gets the same piece of gear this time around. So I guess you'd call me more of a casual player. I'm also a total achievement whore. RP-wise, I'd say I'm mid-level. I'm not looking to be in-character with everything I say and do from the moment I log in until I log out. I like to get to know the people behind the characters, too. But when I'm IC, I'm no longer Heather. I'm Mara the Black. Um... Anything else about me... I tend to ramble, in case you couldn't already tell. I have a cat who I named Leon partly after the character from Resident Evil and partly after the incarnation of Squall from Kingdom Hearts. I love fantasy magic and mages. Every game I've ever played where there's an option to make one, that's the class I go for. This is one of the few times said mage I've made is not an elf/elven in appearance, because I also love elves. I love cute little things, too - like Hello Kitty and asuras and lalafells. Aside from MMOs, I enjoy fantasy RPGs (Dragon Age; The Witcher) and survival horror games (the Fatal Frame series being my favorite). I like watching anime and 1/3 of my iPod is Japanese music. I write fanfiction. Basically, I'm a huge nerd. But I like it that way. Oh! And Zarek is my partner-in-crime who bugged me to finally write this. So blame him for this super-long intro taking up your valuable time. So, to summarize: This is my brain on drugs. (Don't worry, they're all legally prescribed medications.) Any questions?

Honestly, those who know me are probably really surprised by my choice of Hyur over Elezen because of my obsession with playing elven mages every chance I get. (I'm still making a Black Mage, though.) I guess I just wanted a change. And after seeing just how big and clunky the Elezen are in-game, I'm glad I went that way because I just don't like being that tall. (Probably something to do with my being short IRL.) That "I don't want to be some big hulking chick" mentality is also why I went with Midlander rather than Highlander. So... No real story reason for my choices, lol. It was more of a personal preference/aesthetic reason. Call me shallow, I don't care. I stand by my choice. Oddly enough, this character was loosely based on the main character I played in Skyrim and had a name before I made the final race/clan decision. Luckily, it ended up fitting pretty well with the naming conventions and went with her actual character background. So I guess I lucked out pretty well. To be fair, though, I'm also planning to make a non-RP Lalafell just because they're cute and I'm going to need some cuteness to escape to when my RP character's life starts taking darker turns.