- How does your character deal with killing?
According to a few sources, the violent death rate was 30 times higher in the late middle ages or early renaissance than it is today. Â If I apply that to Eorzea, then violent death is almost as common as heart attacks are today. Â That is, it would almost be a certainty that someone you knew was violently killed or that you had killed someone.
So I try not to apply current world moralities to my characters efforts. Â D'aito Kuji kills when commanded, kills in self-defence, kills in the protection of others, and there is little resistance to doing so. Â Before our modern conveniences, lots of people had to kill their own food or at least knew more about where and what their food came from. Â People were far more comfortable with death because they were very familiar with it.
Add to all that, the rates at which people died form disease, infection, childbirth, and accidents, people had a tendency to become callous about death, even violent death. This helps to explain why so many people enjoyed public executions or animal torture as a form of entertainment. Â The psyche simply had to be far more impenetrable to the softer emotions.
That's all a lot to throw onto Eorzea. Â Our world doesn't have magic and some of the technologies used in the realm are beyond what we can do today. Â So, Eorzea isn't as grim as our world was back then. Â But I still believe that the average Eorzean is very familiar with death (especially post Calamity?)
But I use some of these historical things to inform how I think D'aito would deal with death. Â Which is to say, she doesn't really think much about it at all unless the death was as a consequence of her own incompetence. Â That would plague her both for the permanent nature of the failure but as a stain on her own sense of self and her pride.
- How did your character feel after his/her first kill?
D'aito was no doubt elated and flush with the thrill of victory. Â In her tribe, like most of her sisters, she was raised as a hunter. Â This helped to familiarize her with death and what it means to take a life. Â When she joined the Maelstrom, her and fellows were ambushed by pirates and D'aito killed two of them but only after her commander had been run through. Â To this day she regrets not acting faster and she is determined to not let another person die for her mistakes.
- Does your character mull over it later on? (Exe. The nightmares)
It would be wrong to say that she does not. Â She chooses not to speak about them only rarely mentioning that she has killed anyone. Â But she knows exactly how many and is no stranger to the soothing power of alcohol. Â It quiets the mind before sleep and generally cures the nightmares. Â She can become highly agitated when it is not available and will experience nightmares without it. Â So there's no doubt that she's uncomfortable with what she's had to do but I feel that she's more haunted by what she was unable to do and the price of her failures.
According to a few sources, the violent death rate was 30 times higher in the late middle ages or early renaissance than it is today. Â If I apply that to Eorzea, then violent death is almost as common as heart attacks are today. Â That is, it would almost be a certainty that someone you knew was violently killed or that you had killed someone.
So I try not to apply current world moralities to my characters efforts. Â D'aito Kuji kills when commanded, kills in self-defence, kills in the protection of others, and there is little resistance to doing so. Â Before our modern conveniences, lots of people had to kill their own food or at least knew more about where and what their food came from. Â People were far more comfortable with death because they were very familiar with it.
Add to all that, the rates at which people died form disease, infection, childbirth, and accidents, people had a tendency to become callous about death, even violent death. This helps to explain why so many people enjoyed public executions or animal torture as a form of entertainment. Â The psyche simply had to be far more impenetrable to the softer emotions.
That's all a lot to throw onto Eorzea. Â Our world doesn't have magic and some of the technologies used in the realm are beyond what we can do today. Â So, Eorzea isn't as grim as our world was back then. Â But I still believe that the average Eorzean is very familiar with death (especially post Calamity?)
But I use some of these historical things to inform how I think D'aito would deal with death. Â Which is to say, she doesn't really think much about it at all unless the death was as a consequence of her own incompetence. Â That would plague her both for the permanent nature of the failure but as a stain on her own sense of self and her pride.
- How did your character feel after his/her first kill?
D'aito was no doubt elated and flush with the thrill of victory. Â In her tribe, like most of her sisters, she was raised as a hunter. Â This helped to familiarize her with death and what it means to take a life. Â When she joined the Maelstrom, her and fellows were ambushed by pirates and D'aito killed two of them but only after her commander had been run through. Â To this day she regrets not acting faster and she is determined to not let another person die for her mistakes.
- Does your character mull over it later on? (Exe. The nightmares)
It would be wrong to say that she does not. Â She chooses not to speak about them only rarely mentioning that she has killed anyone. Â But she knows exactly how many and is no stranger to the soothing power of alcohol. Â It quiets the mind before sleep and generally cures the nightmares. Â She can become highly agitated when it is not available and will experience nightmares without it. Â So there's no doubt that she's uncomfortable with what she's had to do but I feel that she's more haunted by what she was unable to do and the price of her failures.
