RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Erik Mynhier · **07-27-2014, 08:56 AM**

Ok, fun one here. Give a brief overview of your main for those who may not know you. Now give a description in anyway you wish of all the real world influences that lead you to create them. I will begin.

Erik is a Sultansworn from Ala Mhigo, who after his father and sister are killed moves to Gridania with his mother where she dies later. Moving to Ul'dah he joins the military and that leads to today. He is honest to a fault, though secretive too. Well educated and well spoken, he is multilingual and has a very sharp mind.

My real name is Erik Mynhier, I was born in Holland as many of you know, when I was thirteen my father and sister passed away in an accident. I moved to England with my mother where she too met an untimely end. After that I moved to live with relatives in the US. I served my adopted home in the sandbox starting when I was eighteen.

Sandbox
[Image: us-soldiers-iraq-war.jpg]

I am multilingual, and look very close to how I made him, though I lack the height, and we share the same birthday and age. Other influences include most poetry, which I enjoy weaving into Erik as much as possible. And my love of music, which while not part of his primary character, greatly aids me in "feeling" his emotional state, and can send him one way or another.

Obviously you do not have to speak personal information, you can list stuff instead or whatever. I just thought it may be fun to say where these characters we love really came from.

Gaspard · **07-27-2014, 09:06 AM**

I personally draw my influence for my characters from my favorite pieces of fiction mostly. Gaspard being in the vein of the Sherlock/Hannibal degree of sociopathy. Well functioning with pitfalls he wouldn't bat an eyelash about.

When it comes to myself, I find sometimes bits and pieces of myself in my characters, which inevitably come through (Such as my general flare for Anti-hero/Antagonist stories), but other then that, I do not draw from my own life.

On one side, it will create a very distinct character, because you can't 'get more real' then playing yourself in a virtual reality, on the other hand, it also invites that nasty parallel of my emotions = my characters emotions.

That being said, yeah. It's mostly dark, nasty fiction for me that inspires/used to inspire me. And good Videogame Antagonists.

Enteris · **07-27-2014, 10:11 AM**

Overall, I don't consciously think of any outside sources when creating my characters. There have been a few that I think, "I'd like this guy to be/act like this person." Otherwise, the majority of my characters are "unique" to me.

That being said, with the sheer volume of media out there and "unique" characters within each, it's hard to say that any of my characters are truly unique. Anyone that RP's with me may very well think to themselves that my character "is like so-and-so from such-and-such." And, to be honest, that wouldn't bother me as, like I said, there are so many characters already created out there that it's easy to come up with something that's not actually novel at all.

To quote a show that I actually can't stand, "Simpsons did it!"

On the other hand, I can't really say that my subconscious doesn't play a role, either. I may have chosen for some of my characters to be/act like others without actually consciously realizing it. In fact, not too long ago, one of my RPs apparently drew heavily from a scene in Casino Royale... and I honestly wasn't even thinking of that movie while I wrote it out. It was only pointed out to me later how similar the scene was.

Plus, as has already been mentioned, I'm sure each of my characters have a little bit of me in them as well. As much as I roleplay to be something I'm not, I can't fully escape from putting myself into my characters even to the smallest degree...

Zhavi · **07-27-2014, 01:47 PM**

Sure, I'll bite!

I play Zhavi Streetrunner. She's a total streetrat, daughter of a whore and an unknown man. She was born in Limsa Lominsa, and there she's stayed. She hasn't ever tried for a better life -- what she has is what she thinks is all that's open to her. Crime and risk. She's not a very nice person. She's what the streets have made of her.

IRL, I'm a character junkie. I tend to go for things I haven't written about before. Things that catch my interest. Things that I see around me and want to recreate better than reality. I've played a 50-year-old sweet grandmother who lost everything, I've played 40-something has beens, I've played teenage losers, thirty-something professionals (including a bureaucratic clerk trying to do his best in a corrupt system) and hunters, hundred year old inhuman monsters, twenty-something nobles -- the compliment someone gave me that I have relished was how different all of my characters were from each other. The second compliment that made me happy was how one of the people I used to rp with always thought of me, the ooc person, as being a 50-something year old grandmother. That told me I'd pulled it off, at least to some extent. Smile

For for Zhavi, the main reason I wanted to make her was because the last streetrat I made was a fairly incompetent coward (which, while fun in its own way, didn't quite settle the itch). I'm drawn to city rp because I all but live in a forest next to a very small city that is probably very possible to be compared to a small town. The largest city I've ever been in is probably Seattle . . . so cities fascinate me. How people interact in and make a living in cities fascinates me. I wanted someone who lived in that world, and couldn't escape it. I wanted someone to who that world is the world to her. Someone who can't see the forest for the trees, that sort of thing.

As well, playing someone so amoral is fun because it is so different from who I am (the choice word people tend to apply to me is 'sweet', with 'nice' being second place). I like playing the antagonist, the bad guy, the guy on the other side of the river who you don't understand and don't want to. I want her to be someone who lives and breathes in a space that is almost completely alien to me. I want to make it believable. At the end of the day, that's why I rp and go for disparate characters -- to create worlds, outside of my experiences, with other people, and watch how all those created characters interact with each other.

Nyx Ashkala · **07-27-2014, 03:34 PM**

My current two mains are based off of different facets of my own personality.

A'ria, my White Mage, is a very kind-hearted and gentle soul whose only purpose for living is helping people despite her own needs which is often how I handle things. I am a VERY outgoing, extroverted person so she is the inner part of me. I love helping people as much as I possibly can even if I'm also in need of help or don't have the ability to. Even when I'm ill or suffering from a lack of money, I will put my into things just because growing up I had a rough childhood and I hate seeing people suffer.

G'iselle is the outward part of me. I'm Scottish-Irish and redheaded so I am a pretty big spitfire. I'm also incredibly blunt and to the point, not afraid to tell people what I think in regards to things. But also, a lot of the times she is misunderstood and considered rude or standoffish when it's just bluntness (something I struggle with a TON).

Â Most of my outside influence for my characters comes from life experience, fictional characters from books I've read, or people I know.

One of my favorite characters I have ever RPed was a male Blood Elf warlock in WoW. He was roughly based off of a character from a romance novel called Gabriel's Inferno and then he evolved into a very deep, relatable character that many people enjoyed reading about. I hope I can find that with one of my characters soon. I haven't gotten to RP a lot in this game and so I'm searching for that character I can really lose myself in. Smile

Kellach Woods · **07-27-2014, 04:27 PM**

the only influence I've had on most of my characters is the lipstick matches color on their dyejob/clothing that JoJo's (mostly part 5 onwards) got going on.

Bumo · **07-27-2014, 11:55 PM**

What ended up influencing Bumo the most was actually the lore and the gameplay itself. While I knew that I was going to RP, I didn't know what kind of character I wanted to RP; as I was cycling through the classes and jobs in the character creator, I looked at the lalafells and thought, "It'd be hilarious to make a tank with one of these little guys, defending the party by thwacking monsters' kneecaps."

I started reading up on Lalafells to draw some ideas, and the main thing that stuck out to me was the history of the Plainsfolk: agriculturalists from fertile islands who expanded into the mainland through maritime trade, to become one of the most populous races. I started thinking, "What if there were pockets of Lalafell still isolated to this day, much like hidden tribes in real life? How would a Lalafell born to one of those islands behave in social settings? How would they react to other races and cultures? What kind of motivations and goals would they have that would make them want to leave, and how would they even find out about other lands?"

From there I started crafting his backstory, which featured heavily around why his class is a Warrior, but the game ended up having such a fun crafting system that that started to be all I focused on doing. I've never bothered with crafting in any other MMO I've played before, as I have found most crafting systems to be tedious and unintersting, but FFXIV's was so good I thought, "Why not just have Bumo put down his axe and become a crafter instead?" So that was something I fit into his motivations, but also creates a bit of conflict for him.

So Bumo was really shaped by the game, rather than being a character or idea that I had conceived prior to starting the game.

(07-27-2014, 04:27 PM)Kellach Woods Wrote: the only influence I've had on most of my characters is the lipstick matches color on their dyejob/clothing that JoJo's (mostly part 5 onwards) got going on.

Oh hey, another JJBA fan! Thumbsup

Lightningtear · **07-28-2014, 12:28 AM**

August Lansborough's name came from a different character I made which never got used, and I loved the name. His appearance won out when I made a character for every race, because normally I did not intend human as playing a human normally seems boring to me. Despite our rich and amazing history.

The FF version is a man who smiles and acts cheerily upon meeting you, belying not quite a sinister nature, but sinister teachings. He has never had a home, but never considered himself homeless. The world has always just been the world and he believes in individual will, or existentialism. He has a love of stories and is willing to listen to anything anyone has to say for the most part.Â
August is a character who I made to have a dark nature and past that is not grand, but he wants to overcome it.Â

The character was an antagonist for another RP I joined because they needed one, so I suppose August still has some of it.Â

Never knowing a father of my own, and having had some negative figures in my life August antagonizes his father for his past. Blaming him for much of his troubles.Â
Since I lost my mother some years ago August is also without. Though for him it's a matter of not knowing her, though he lacks any intent or care of ever learning the truth of it.Â
I like to think the best way to learn is to listen or be there, and there is nothing wrong with doing something a little crazy if the reward is worth it. The reward usually something interesting rather than material, so it's August's thing.Â

August is a BARD now though originally he wasn't. A couple of misunderstandings and some tests has lead me to a slightly lore touchy version of BARD for him. But I'll just test it and see what happens and if I don't like it I'll scrap it.

August was not my beta design and when he was first made when I bought the game a few months ago, I didn't know who or what he was so his personality changed a a lot and eventually it helped form his past and why he acts in a way that would hopefully be favorable to another. Though when he notices, he does his best to put such manners down because I can't say I'm a fan of it all of the time and it just suits him to not want to be that way.Â

Part of August's plot in FF is similar to his plot from the original story he was born, creating a former friend plot seeking revenge and a dead sister element and level or aristocracy you wouldn't expect. Even now he is touch and go as I don't get to RP as much as I'd like. I'm not the best at forming bonds so I guess that reflects on him.

Oh yes, I just remembered, elements of his character are based on the short stories: "Before Gwen", and another I can no longer recall... damn it.

EDIT: He is a bard because my friend who I joined the game with wanted to be a WHM. And I only got this game for RP and to play with them so I ended up going Archer in there because it was not my usual choice. It worked out wonderfully.

***Nero*** · **07-30-2014, 05:08 PM**

For every main character I've written, I've always tried to project the most identifiable aspects of my own personality on to them. "Write what you know", and all that. Common elements across all my main characters are sardonicism, flippancy, and a fascination for technology.Â

Obviously, writing the same character all the time across multiple settings would be boring, so sometimes I mix it up. My main character in Star Wars: The Old Republic, for example, was the exact opposite of my typical main character: bent on revenge, humourless, and serious.

If I had to identify one common element shared across all my characters, and probably the most distinct part of my own personality, is that they are all slow to trust. This is reflected in different ways; sometimes, obfuscating stupidity and bad jokes. Other times, a sense of conviction and duty, bordering on obsessive. How does this reflect a lack of trust? It's fairly simple: as far as I can recall, none of my characters have ever shown their genuine selves, except in those rare cases of very intimate relationships. They always wear some sort of mask, something to deflect attention to their real personality; this can also make them hard to trust, or at least seem mildly disingenuous to their peers.

Fates Skein · **07-31-2014, 01:51 PM**

Hmmm.

This subject has always fascinated me. Â I draw a lot of influence from archetypes with elements from literature, music, television, movies, things that I enjoy. Â I do draw on certain parts of myself to a small degree but often try and put the elements of myself in juxtaposition with things that I -don't- display.

Specifics are difficult but some common themes that I do try and work into my characters are love of song and/or dance, intelligence (often my characters are smarter than they appear/act), and a love of all things esoteric- though my current characters have trended away from that towards more 'mundane' studies.

I like introspecting into the influences that drive a character, I think it helps encourage people to create three-dimensional personalities.

***Maril*** · **07-31-2014, 06:40 PM**

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I play Sastra - Deliberately excluding her surname as that is OOC. I didn't read the naming conventions before rolling a character, and managed to start as a cat before finally deciding to go with Highlander because of their awesome hairstyles. turns out I like their lore too! - and due to how I create my characters, there hasn't really been any outside influences on her. I create my characters by deciding a few things upfront, such as their core traits along with a fault or two - and then I get them into RP and roll on from there. So I didn't actually fully write out a background story for her until I had been rp'ing her for about a month (keeping track of my answers to the common questions) - Meanwhile I also looked up the lore surrounding highlanders and their history.Â
The only thing that'll probably always shine through her from me is my autism, which can make me completely misunderstand things which then is shown through her - It's both annoying and fun.Â
Other than that her opinions on things like other races, politics and so on were all created by improvisation - As an example she's had bad experiences with lalafell and elezens, and thus she adopted the tendency to not fancy them overly much.

I prefer doing things this way as it feels easier for me to find their personality and get used to it, and the fact that the RP my characters get exposed to shapes them means that I'll very rarely have two characters that are very similar. When I started RP'ing many years ago, it also helped me a lot to learn the difference between IC/OOC because by creating a character that was not like me, there'd be less risk of me oocly getting offended :p Though it's hardly needed now, I've grown used to my characters also differing from myself to a large extend.Â
The downside of making characters this way is that it can take months before they feel "done" with their general creation, but it's worth it because when they are done it starts to quickly feel like it's not you who's playing them, but them playing you. In a completely sane way, which I consider a good thing.

Verad · **07-31-2014, 07:41 PM**

Verad Bellveil is an eccentric merchant who sells junk and tells people it's junk, but is nevertheless oddly personable and easy to get along with. He has an honest and idealistic streak - save where he is bragging about himself - that doesn't do him much good, a flair for the dramatic, and a tendency towards the verbose.

As far as my influences go, well, I read a lot of Terry Pratchett growing up. I generally play with an eye towards humor, in part because that just interests me more, and in part because I find that making a character most people associate with comic relief suffer is an act that hits the audience in the gut pretty hard.

I also tend to play him towards the verbose because I am fascinated with the aesthetic of writing, and with the use of style. I find that it's easier to get away with stylistic flourishes in RP if you're playing a funny character - otherwise, past experience has shown me that things like narrative voice and wordplay can be looked down upon by some players.

LiveVoltage · **07-31-2014, 11:53 PM**

My characters whenever I make some, usually draw influence from whatever I feel like drawing from at the time. I find that drawing from characters that dont have any IRL influences are usually more fulfilling to play out, but thats the inner fantasy geek speaking.

Really, its just boring adhering to real life stuff and stereotypes and it adds a flavor of drama to characters that you wouldn't find on others that draw from real life insparation as well.

Rosekitten · **08-01-2014, 09:47 AM**

Bored enough to finally do this.. ok more like free time finally without two wee ones screaming.

Lorraine or as most seem to know her as Sal orÂ Dunois is a tad on the anti social side with all that has happened in her past. Common born smiths daughter as she grew up in Coerthas where her family had moved with her brother a few years before she was born. Eventually ending up in Limsa where she tends to reside, if she has a say in it, she still holds up her father's heritage of being a smithy. Though not overly outgoing she hardly is defenseless if push comes to shove.Â

Now .. influences for this character.. I took a solid month if not longer back during FFXIV: ARR's beta to make her (at the time him, but that's a story for another time). There are a few things I took from my own pastÂ experiences, mainly the being able to fight despite being laid back and then the artistic ability in her trade. Personally I do not work well with metal.. at all. My talents lie in art such as drawing. Another side influence to make her a smith by trade or blood was my hobbies to repair and build computers. A skill set that has come in handy many of times.Â

The rest of the character personality wise is a mix of some of my close friends and my grandmother. Always willing to help out and keeping a fairly happy upbeat outlook on life no matter how many stones are thrown. Any other twists and turns in the character have either happened due to rp sessions or were influenced by past books I have read.Â

Ok.. I do have a lame reason for her picking up a two handed axe as her primary weapon choice... Limsa was part of this choice but the other reason is my own weakness for the weapon. <3Â

Influence

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes