Forums » RP Discussion » How your character(s) are original

Alrighty. I noticed that everyone has their own special characters, but have you ever though how they are different from everyone else's? Such as, for people have a vampire, how are they different from other vampires? I've been thinking about this and though it would be a good idea for everyone to see how their characters are there own original person/bred/creation! I'm going to do this with all my characters but if you have too many to do this for all of them, it is alright. Try using the characters of yours that are most developed. Since I do have too many characters I'm not going to use them all. Okay, here we go.

Kuro Sakuranbo
With Kuro, she was the first character I made on here. Most people do the science experiment gone wrong, but with Kuro, she went right! Everything about her is what her master wanted her to be like, strong, smart, and quick but what he didn't want out of her was her short temper, how she doesn't open up so easily, just her personality he was not happy with. She is a nice a person when she wants to be.

Luna Nanada
With Luna, well she is a bred of angel that I made up. Luner Angel. Not to mention that she was outcasted by her own kind and could've been kingdom. Most people would do just the outcasted part, not that they were one of the most important part to te kingdom they belonged too. Luna was the hier to the kingdom that outcasted her, crazy right? Well it happened for the stupidest of reasons. She had black wings not white.

Kurai Tsuki
With little Kurai, she is the only person in her family that is both human and tiger. Impossible, right? Well, just look at her. She has three froms: Human, half, and tiger. You can guess what the human and tiger froms are, but what about the half one? The only thing strange about that one is that she has tiger ears and a tail.

Abby Sanders
With Abby, she is a witch. Most people wouldn't think of a motherly witch, right? That's Abby. She's a witch with a kind heart. She helps all that she can. She is almost nothing like my old witch Mai Schwarze, who I let FallenAngel123 have. Abby is not short for Abbgail or anything, her full name is Abby Sarah Sanders. Anyways, she is kind, calm, and nothing close to short tempered.

Well, since you brought up vampires...

Kai Zarre is one of a kind.

He wears a special trench coat that allows him to walk around in sunlight--not that he likes doing that. He's susceptible to regular vampire weaknesses: holy water, wooden stakes, bloodlust. But he has a conscience that fights him every time he feeds on a human; for he was once a promising young Hunter.

Sterling isn't so original--he's your classic Hunter, killing anything that goes bump-in-the-night, sworn never to fall in love hunter...who ended up getting married and raising two kids. So his life is just bitter irony. He's old though, and experienced, so he's fun to RP.

TLDR: Bella is my favorite original creation: The Aurean Wolf breed is one I created. Gold paralysis-inducing eyes to catch their prey, acid blood, and anesthetic-like saliva. I love her breed so much because they're super smart and deadly.

Kyraniu: One of my oldest characters, who was at one point a silver colored dragon. Old drawings show that her horns were orange, like ears. Over time they became yellow. She's your average fire-colored fire dragon, only oddity is that both her parents aren't fire dragons. Also controls electricity, from her parents. She's a dragon that doesn't want to collect hoards of gold.

Kyranaius: Second oldest of mine, whom started out as a wyvern that was kind of the 'alternative' side of Kyraniu. She has her flaws(teeny feathery wings), and her harsh attitude. She just looks like an average ice dragon until you'll see she controls ice, electricity,and came from the future. Funny enough, her colors are almost Kyraniu's colors reversed.

Darkness 'Light' Falls: Demon dragon with an Angel side, also a vampire and werewolf. Yes, a 'crossbreed' and to most he looks to be boring due to what he is. HOWEVER, I find it fair to state that his abilities only give him one horrible flaw. He can die, but appears hours later at his altar. He hates to drink blood from others, even starving himself. Things that usually hurt his kind rarely does harm him. But he's easily injured, and is actually pretty weak.

Silver's Fear Sinatra: Cute little creature...Who can turn into your worst nightmare. Angel with a hidden demon side. Also is the dragon version of my sonic char, ShadowFoxSiver.

Hybrid Elder: Old character too, a hurt human who's covered in blades. He's beyond being cold and mad, but look past his blades and you'll see that there's more to him than you'd think. An experiment gone mad who lost all but one of his family members.

and finally....

Agatha '54902' Ferarri: Aka 54, she looks to be an average AI gone berserk. What sets her off from my others AIs is that she's part of CD. Amazingly enough, this is kind of a spin off that she's like a car version of Kyranaius. Both are purple, both are snappy, and both can get chilly. However, tear her down to her basic build and one can find that she's got something Kyranaius lacks. What is that? The fact that 54092 has a weakness. She is kind, but it's hidden.

As Gatrasuuza isn't a typical dragon, and Ociede isn't a typical zombie >w<

I could go on and on, but I'll save that for those who are curious

Cici Rivers - A single mom. 'nuff said. Wait, she's not single anymore, but she started out as a "never going to be with a man" character and then some hunter tricked her into settling down when he knocked her up... Long story short, she's a normal person in a supernatural world.

Fiona Welsh - a lesbian terrified of going to hell over her sexuality. She's struggling with body image, sexuality and religion all at once. I haven't played her much, but I've been in the mood to play with something like this for a long time.

Actually, I like most of my "real life" character are pretty original, I think. Mostly because they aren't super powered or Mary Sue like. Well, a couple of them are. I try to give them real problems (mental illness, substance abuse, teen pregnancy) and go from there. Not many people want to play with them though

Let's see if I can hit the spirit of the topic as I believe Kuro intended...

...By tell you that originality is, partially, something of myth. Everything under the sun and more has been done in fiction-- the true 'original creativity', or so I believe, is in how you put your own spin on it.

*cracks knuckles*
Sir Draconus Alexander of the house of Forest
An Immanus paladin-- a Dovahkiin before Dovahkiin existed, and I'd never realized it. A human in genetics but a dragon in soul, he possesses golden-yellow eyes and unusually red hair because being a homo Imannus does that to one's genetics, in giving them highly saturated varieties of hair & eye colors one would find in nature anyway. I like to think he's somewhat original not in his previous occupations or the one he holds now, but in his mindset and morality, which I try to play slightly more true to the historical medieval eras than I tend to witness around me--while he may come off as a very polite, chivalrous man, which he is, he also has ideas on society that might make our more modern viewpoints cringe a little or cause him to butt heads with other 'medieval-fantasy' characters. Suspicion of gypsies and drow? Perfectly acceptable. Removal of hands for thievery? Acceptable. Royalty partying it up in the commoners' tavern? Completely unacceptable and highly baffling. Titles are definitely a must, too, and shouldn't go dismissed, ignored, or insulted. So on and so on-- it mostly happened after I realized people around me and myself didn't really have a medieval feel in how characters acted, so Draconus started to change and evolve accordingly.

Mister Malagrav
Aaah, Johann. I consider him only semi-original. He's a dark elf vampire in a more 'Dracula' sense; for example, making victims drink his blood is the 'turning' factor for his condition, and he has some fae weaknesses complicating his vampire ones. My ever-growing Gaia Online OC, he's somewhat original in what he is (I've seen maybe one other vampire elf before), but that's really about it. He bears facial hair due to the human genetics in his family tree, which I suppose is something else I don't see much these days in partial-blooded elves. Instead of a bow he wields firearms (except in medieval canon, where it's a crossbow), and despite being what he is, he's far more than just a blood-thirsty monster and actually has a moral compass, but he has come to accept what he is-- even if that causes him to butt heads with good characters sometimes.

He's also unusually tall and buff for an elf-- the human genes are probably the reason why, coupled with the fact that he works out and kicks all kinds of butt for a living.

I'll just leave it at these two for now because I've been playing them frequently and can't be bothered to put a ton of analytical thought into others.

Ooh, difficult. I wouldn't really say that many of mine are original as in, fully fledged from nothing, but I do try and give them interesting enough quirks and histories.

Decipere
He's an illusionist, and a mage. Probably what makes him original is that he's from a very regimental, hierarchy-bound society where your rank controls everything from what you can buy, to the clothes you wear to who you sleep with (if at all; your private life is controlled entirely). The world itself is like a mirror world, fitting snugly between Furcadia and Earth - the veil on either side hides them nicely from prying eyes. This area between the two was, in fact, created millenia ago by a primitive magic user who wanted somewhere to retreat to away from the rest of society. Over time and since his death, it was abandoned and began to deteriorate - monsters live here, and the animals are frightful mirror images of reality. The people who rule it now are essentially mere occupiers, but do so with an alarming degree of efficiency. That's what probably makes him the most unique out of my characters, unless you count his ability to mimic other people even when touched.

Ash, I consider the historical cross cultural research involved unique, but beyond that: this demon king is actually a harmless philosopher, wise and loved more than feared. He is feared by later corruptions of his identity but once known, is often "everybody's daddy". Similarly Luci and Ferous are mutually bound by fate, connected to the same fall and so on, sharing their burdens and sins and consequences. Ferous, commonly mistaken as male, is actually a former bride of the darkness born of their fall even though often seeming more harmless than Luci, the trickster free spirit borne solely from the impulse that caused the fall. Let's see... Zenthus is an extreme representation of hermetic and orphic belief, but personified. While we see him as evil, he tends to make everyone review humanity's idea of truth, and universal concept of responsibility. Rudianos was born from him, and while mobile I can not devote ample time to depict how I have never seen in book or movie something as truly vile as him. I'm(c)

Near impossible to scare, but he made my skin crawl; my own character gave me nightmares, and shamed freddy kruger; drayle can testify what happens when I play him: do not give me a sword, he is his own entity. He is the very idea of pain, and war, and trauma and he was a monkey on my back unlike any other character. It's part of why I was eager to write a sense of closure. Rumea is the antithesis of common neko girl, adventuring for ten solid years of story and rising to become the "king" of the force she fought for so long. I have others but that's a nice starter list and I'm making lunch right now!

post-dishes I realized I didn't include Rafe! While most super soldiers are by genetic experimentation or super powers, Rafe's only abilities spawn from the raw potential of humanity. His training focuses body, mind and ego as pillars to elevate the man. Nothing magical can overcome the physicality that belongs in his world. No mind can override his unless he is weakened or in doubt. And, a body needs to go par for par against him. He had no shortcuts, but intense and painful training. You know monks sleeping on beds of nails, or meditating on hot coals? That's some of rafe. His standpoint is showing what humanity can do all on its own. He's all about hard work and ingenuity. He machines his own parts, even.

My character's original because she's herself. Played by me. No one else can play Sneeuw but me. If you only look at characters in terms of category (Female, Vampire, Thief, Mother, Warrior, etc) then you're susceptible to see those characters in terms of stereotypes, and miss the details that make them individual. This is something I'm trying to unlearn when I look at other people's characters, and when it comes to making new characters. If I start with an idea like, "I'm going to make a shapeshifter!" I get tripped up, instead of starting out thinking of them as an individual, like, their way of relating to the world, their idiosynchrasies, the ways they contradict themselves, etc.

I think everyone tries too hard to be original and ends up being gimmicky. And I also think people are way too cynical when they look at each other's characters. We're more likely to think our own characters are original than other people's characters, so I try to, at least partially, see a person's character through the player's eyes.

I'm not entirely sure, I mean, it incorporates a lot of different ideas, but I personally enjoy the oddness and the eerieness of the character myself.

Though others don't seem to.

Oh boy, do I agree with you. Originality is a concept achieved only by putting together small tidbits of personality quirks and physical designs. None of these concepts alone portray an image of originality, but their combination makes a character unique.

I will use Naln as an example. Snails are not unique creatures in the roleplay world (rare, perhaps?) and it's common knowledge they do not go well together with salt! They are also not the only species with shells, and many creatures lose their shells or are capable of replacing them. I decided to combine multiple elements found in other animals to compose her species, but that hardly makes her unique. If I combine this with her attitude, her personality, her past and what the future has in store for her, only then do I get a character unmatched by any other.

I perceive a lack of originality when characters are shallow shells with little depth. There is nothing very exciting about a tall, dark anthropomorphic wolf with amber eyes whose primary drive is to kill. His shortcomings, skills and quirks are what would truly make him stand out in the crowd.

Based on a character from a video game! Off to a good start.

Well to be fair, the basis is a Silent Protagonist, so there was a lot of elbow room in that regard. Basically, she is supposed to be an homage / parody of "The Hero" archetype. Nothing is really original about her in terms of design space, but as far as medieval fantasy type heroes go, she is totally ordinary with the exception of her magic sword (which is 99% of the time necessary for her to have any kind of chance against the unfair nintendo hard bs villains she typically faces). In other words, she is like batman. Take away batman's stuff, and he still has his training and instincts - in other words, he's still batman. Incidentally, if she knew about batman, she'd probably write fanfics about him.

Ashley was conceived when I started thinking about a family for her, and also what kind of foil I could have for her outside of some saturday morning cartoon villain. She's a typical power-hungry wizard, but instead of being insane or unbalanced, she's just really prone to unnecessarily dramatic theatrics. As all wizards should be.

I think I've found fairly solid voices for them, but there's always room for improvement. Like any character, they're made to be in stories, which is why their description pages are so short - I feel like most of the things I'd put in there would be informed attributes, and therefore unreliable, so I'd rather show than tell.