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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 17, 2013 10:46:37 GMT -5
Everyone needs other people to bounce ideas off of and hone their characters. This thread will serve as a casual, unstructured ideas thread for character and story discussions, allowing people to get others' input on their character, story, and even RP idea/plot development. There are no rules other than to keep it about writing/character development--RP posts and chitchat belong elsewhere--and to be respectful of everyone's thoughts and ideas. Even if you don't agree with someone, you can find a way to phrase it kindly and respectfully so that your input is still helpful.
I'll totes go first here, cuz I need help with Valeriana's life history. >.< I think I've talked with Crys about it a little and never really decided on anything, but I really want to because I'd love to be able to use her more in RPs. Val is shy/fearful and extremely superstitious, which is her base personality, and eventually I know she kind of becomes this soothsayer/mystic and goodbeasts and vermin alike are kinda nervous about her and there's a lot of rumors and whispers and whatnot, but I'm not sure how to get there. I have this sort of vague idea that as a young adult she goes out to collect some herbs and gets captured by one of the Mossflower vermin tribes, probably the Flitchaye, and with her knowledge of herbs and such she's able to con them into thinking she's a seer or something and they revere her, bladdyblah, she stays with them and grows in "power" (not actual power, since it's just control over superstitious minds) and never really returns to the the abbey and just becomes this weirdo hedgehog out in the woods who they scare dibbuns with so they go to bed. So yeah once I actually type it up, I'm like "wow that is the lamest thing I have ever heard" so I need help. X'D The things that I see as really necessary here are that she 1. has the chance to become more soothsayer/herbalist-y and 2. is given some sort of impetus/stress/danger from which no one saves her, forcing her to become braver/stand up for herself.
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Post by Burfle, Brookfill & Madrigal on Oct 17, 2013 11:16:57 GMT -5
Well I assume wen you're talking about the rps, you mean the adult rps, because that's the only section I see affeted by this idea. So I'd say you want a situation where Valeriana is free to be present in a story, and for me that causes difficulties if she's meant to be staying with this vermin band, unless your intention was that she remained with the group only until she was strong and independant enough that she felt she could ditch the gang and make do for herself. Perhaps she could gain a mentor in the ways of the seer? Whether through an encounter with vermin, or even stumbling across an 'old crone' figure while taking a ramble in the forest. I think the habit of wandering through Mossflower would be a fitting idea for her, although now that I think it through it might not go well with her timid nature to be travelling alone so frequently in such an unpredictable environment. This may not be very coherent, but at least I tried right? And at least I got another post in this month
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Oct 17, 2013 11:43:42 GMT -5
Ooh hmm, old crone, there's an idea...I could see her going out on her own just once or twice to try to be "brave," and stumbling across said crone. After that I think she might have the curiosity and defiance to sneak out to visit him/her. She has a family too--mom and dad and a brother, I think a little younger but I can't now remember--so they'd be pretty worried about her strange behavior and that could pose some more good conflict and development.
As for the timeline conflict, I would most likely use her for adult RPs past young adulthood, since when she was a teen through young adult she was developing her weirdness and didn't talk much with otherbeasts, particularly her peers (which basically all the characters in an RP would be). Once she loses her baby spikes and grows to her full size her age becomes ambiguous anyway, as she's all white. XD I think she'd use that to her advantage and just let people wonder whether she was 30 or 70 and never tell them anything. I know her voice develops a gravelly/crooning quality, so that adds to the age uncertainty.
Should I make her talk in riddles and rhymes as an adult or am I just going a little too crazy here? >_>
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Post by Aquamarine on Oct 17, 2013 14:50:36 GMT -5
I think the riddles and rhymes could go either way; it just depends how far you want to take it. I can totally see her being generally cryptic. Have you thought about maybe giving some rhythm to her speech instead of always rhyming? If you throw an occasional rhyme in, that could add emphasis/draw attention to that point. (Or I could be getting too technically crazy here myself. XD It's your choice in the end.)
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Crystal M. V. Rosepaw
Loyal Dibbun
Even if I am inactive, if you need to contact me, messaging me will send me an email! :)
Posts: 439
Main: Crystal Rosepaw
Alt 1: Rikian Zarooah
Alt 2: Kaede Dawnshadow
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Post by Crystal M. V. Rosepaw on Dec 10, 2013 9:18:40 GMT -5
Hey guys! :3 I know I haven't been around too often lately, and for that I am really sorry. That in no way, though, means I haven't been thinking about stuff here!! I've actually been working a bit on an in-depth profile for Rikian, and hit a kind of very important roadblock, and I wanted to see if anyone might be able to help me out. ^^; So let me explain! Normal sort of backstory, and the information that's kinda known. Rikian's family comes to Redwall, and the kids settle down there. His parents are merchants of sorts and travel a lot, so he and his younger sister are taken in by Crystal's family. The important thing, though, is that after a while of being there, it comes to be known that his sister is suffering some sort of illness. It's a pretty big thing in Rikian's life, as this illness (whatever it is) is unable to be cured and ends up killing his sister when she is about 14 (which would make Riki 17, going along with this timeline). Her death is the reason he leaves, as he is still somewhat of a child and resents his parents for not being around when she dies. Well, that and his best friend running off to find adventure. My problem, though, is what the illness is. My medical knowledge is fairly limited (actually, I don't know too much about serious illnesses apart from mental ones, being a psychology major). It needs to be something that would show fairly early on (around the age of six), but not actual kill her for several years. As it's written, she's fairly well off at the start up slowly gets weaker. I know that it is entirely possible that the Redwall infirmary-workers may not have encountered the illness before, but I'd like something with symptoms I can play with. My first thought on this was some type of cancer, but I do not know how accurate that would be. I'm not sure when the disease first started appearing. All the diseases I know that would have been in the time period were very rapidly fatal. Also, I'm wanting to tread somewhat lightly, as this can be a triggering subject for some. Any ideas? D:
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Post by Otus Shortwing on Dec 11, 2013 17:49:59 GMT -5
What about muscular dystrophy? That slowly eats away at the muscles, and it can start very young--I knew a two-year-old who had it and he's still fading now that he's near eight or nine. It stunts growth and even today there's no way to cure it, though there are some ways to slow its course, but they weren't discovered until the 2000s so Redwall definitely doesn't have it. You can look it up, but so far as I remember an MD kid would gradually grow weaker and weaker until they couldn't even walk or sit up in bed without help. Childhood MD is a tragic disease, so treading lightly around the subject would still be a good idea. You never have to name it by name in Riki's profile, but if you look up the disease's course you'll at least be able to portray it consistently. Hope that helps. And to add a ray of hope to the situation, the pharmaceutical world my father works for is working on cures for childhood MD! He's like an IRL medicine knight. X3
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Post by Aquamarine on Dec 12, 2013 13:09:41 GMT -5
Another possibility could be CML, which is a type of chronic leukemia. It has a slower chronic phase and eventually accelerates. There's a high survival rate today, but again, those are due to recent discoveries that definitely wouldn't be in Redwall. I don't know much about it, although the Internet has plenty of resources. And it's like Ottie said about treading lightly -- I think you're on the right track there, since you're clearly thinking about it and won't be treating it callously.
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Crystal M. V. Rosepaw
Loyal Dibbun
Even if I am inactive, if you need to contact me, messaging me will send me an email! :)
Posts: 439
Main: Crystal Rosepaw
Alt 1: Rikian Zarooah
Alt 2: Kaede Dawnshadow
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Post by Crystal M. V. Rosepaw on Dec 12, 2013 19:53:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the input guys. I'll have to look into both of them a bit more so that I can see which one I feel I could write more convincingly, but both seem like strong options to go with. And yeah, Aqua, I'm going to be as careful as I can. I'll allude to the illness but never really bring it up entirely, so that helps... And also the cheerful demeanor of the character makes it a bit less heavy-handed to deal with. Hopefully I can come across as both respectful but pointed in the end of it all. ^^;
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