There was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which Data meets a woman who claims to be his "mother", the ex-wife of his original creator. At some point during the episode, she falls in a chasm and her arm breaks away, revealing to the crew that she is an android like Data - but she was programmed to "go unconscious" if damaged in a way that would indicate her true nature, with a hologram message that would display asking whoever found her to not reveal her true nature to her if she was repaired. Presumably, the implication is that she wouldn't "go unconscious" if she were verbally told of her true nature and shown evidence of it, it only happened in accidental circumstances. The crew repaired her and chose to abide by the wishes of Data's creator, who had also created the android version of his ex wife, and not tell her.
It was an interesting episode, but suffered from a glaring flaw in that most people realistically injure themselves in minor ways on a regular basis - a small cut in the kitchen, a sprained ankle, a stubbed toe, a cat scratch, falling and scraping a knee, and so on. Any of these minor injuries would've been enough to reveal that she was an android, because as we could see during the scene where her arm had been broken away, she didn't have blood. So the episode presumed that for years and years and years, she never was injured at all, not even a little bit.
The reason why this is relevant is that regardless of whether or not this is a good idea, when you take a setting even further away from "safety" as Star Trek's is (let's face it, day to day life in a medieval fantasy world filled with monsters is way, way more likely to have minor injuries happen compared to life aboard the starship Enterprise)... the likelihood that it could remain secret that she's not organic drops substantially. That's only addressing the issue of her nature becoming revealed when she's injured (which would probably happen within a week or two of her activation). What happens when a friendly magic-user tries to Cure or Physick her? Does it work? Should it work? Do those magicks work on inorganic targets? I don't even know. Is it even plausible that someone who can use magic wouldn't be able to tell via the aether that she is or isn't organic?Â
In other words, it seems like there's almost no chance of this remaining secret for very long at all, and once it becomes revealed, you're left with only two outcomes:
1: You play up the fact that she's inorganic, making it a very relevant part of the character's day to day existence, which has the side effect of forcing anybody who interacts with her to either accept/approve of your concept or avoid the character (which can itself be problematic, since within a group, if one player accepts/approves and another declines, what does the group do?). I could foresee that creating some OOC conflict between players, and possibly causing you frustration.
2. You don't play up her inorganic condition, and in fact go out of your way to keep it as concealed as possible except in situations where it can't be concealed (such as when she gets injured, etc). This option has problems too, though. The first is that if we assume that it successfully stays hidden, then it doesn't actually add anything to the character, because she'd be getting roleplayed as basically Hyur (or whatever her physical representation form happens to be). The second is that if it does become discovered from time to time, as a result of injuries, those discoveries are bound to happen at times when the attention of the scene shouldn't be upon the Big Reveal of your character. For example, if you're taking part in a plot where she goes along with some friends and they get ambushed by bandits... in a sense, you'd be interrupting the plot if her inorganic nature became known. However, if one of those bandits stabs her, you kinda can't avoid it being revealed. At that moment, not only does everyone's attention shift from the plot to your character (which may even derail the scene from continuing and concluding in a timely manner that the person running it may have had in mind), but, you also run into the original problem all over again - everyone involved in the scene has to decide to accept/approve or decline of what's going on (and you may have some of them choose to withdraw from the scene rather than having their character's canon suddenly include an encounter with an inorganic person).
I'm afraid I just don't see any option with the idea where it won't probably cause some sort of frustrations for you and conflicts for others.Â
That said, if you're determined to go forth with the idea anyway, I wish you luck with it - but it's not something I'd personally touch with a ten fulm pole.
It was an interesting episode, but suffered from a glaring flaw in that most people realistically injure themselves in minor ways on a regular basis - a small cut in the kitchen, a sprained ankle, a stubbed toe, a cat scratch, falling and scraping a knee, and so on. Any of these minor injuries would've been enough to reveal that she was an android, because as we could see during the scene where her arm had been broken away, she didn't have blood. So the episode presumed that for years and years and years, she never was injured at all, not even a little bit.
The reason why this is relevant is that regardless of whether or not this is a good idea, when you take a setting even further away from "safety" as Star Trek's is (let's face it, day to day life in a medieval fantasy world filled with monsters is way, way more likely to have minor injuries happen compared to life aboard the starship Enterprise)... the likelihood that it could remain secret that she's not organic drops substantially. That's only addressing the issue of her nature becoming revealed when she's injured (which would probably happen within a week or two of her activation). What happens when a friendly magic-user tries to Cure or Physick her? Does it work? Should it work? Do those magicks work on inorganic targets? I don't even know. Is it even plausible that someone who can use magic wouldn't be able to tell via the aether that she is or isn't organic?Â
In other words, it seems like there's almost no chance of this remaining secret for very long at all, and once it becomes revealed, you're left with only two outcomes:
1: You play up the fact that she's inorganic, making it a very relevant part of the character's day to day existence, which has the side effect of forcing anybody who interacts with her to either accept/approve of your concept or avoid the character (which can itself be problematic, since within a group, if one player accepts/approves and another declines, what does the group do?). I could foresee that creating some OOC conflict between players, and possibly causing you frustration.
2. You don't play up her inorganic condition, and in fact go out of your way to keep it as concealed as possible except in situations where it can't be concealed (such as when she gets injured, etc). This option has problems too, though. The first is that if we assume that it successfully stays hidden, then it doesn't actually add anything to the character, because she'd be getting roleplayed as basically Hyur (or whatever her physical representation form happens to be). The second is that if it does become discovered from time to time, as a result of injuries, those discoveries are bound to happen at times when the attention of the scene shouldn't be upon the Big Reveal of your character. For example, if you're taking part in a plot where she goes along with some friends and they get ambushed by bandits... in a sense, you'd be interrupting the plot if her inorganic nature became known. However, if one of those bandits stabs her, you kinda can't avoid it being revealed. At that moment, not only does everyone's attention shift from the plot to your character (which may even derail the scene from continuing and concluding in a timely manner that the person running it may have had in mind), but, you also run into the original problem all over again - everyone involved in the scene has to decide to accept/approve or decline of what's going on (and you may have some of them choose to withdraw from the scene rather than having their character's canon suddenly include an encounter with an inorganic person).
I'm afraid I just don't see any option with the idea where it won't probably cause some sort of frustrations for you and conflicts for others.Â
That said, if you're determined to go forth with the idea anyway, I wish you luck with it - but it's not something I'd personally touch with a ten fulm pole.
Lydia Lightfoot ~ The Reliquarian's Guild «Relic» ~ Lavender Beds, Ward 12, #41
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
