Entry posted by They
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Looking back at the past couple of years, I've seen quite a change in how I play the BZPRPG, as well as what characters I use to do so. My writing style has definitely shifted, and I have a more acute awareness of how my characters interact with others.
I joined the RPG group back in 2010 during the Ansetr Durim (spelled wrong, for sure) arc. At this point, the world was a massive air-borne city, with different districts not divided by element, but rather class or profession. Amidst the spheres of the city was the sky, and massive airships roamed the blue horizon in search of adventure and glory. It was into this technological world of magic I dropped Ishi, my first character and my first time every in a text-based RPG. In only a few days I was hooked, the connection between characters felt so real, so intricate. Ishi grew up faster than I could have dreamed, his magic becoming a vital part of the story-line. During this time, I didn't run into any "Staffies" (the admins of the group) in my gameplay, but I had begun to strike up a friendly banter with Friar Tuck upon his return to the game near the conclusion of the year.
After I'd god-modded and super-saiyan'd Ishi past the point of no return, I decided it was time for another, more humbling character instead of my all-powerful midget mage. I looked towards a toa ideal, and created Fraashion: a female toa of water with a mask of shifting. She was incredible to play, and through her I experienced a more martial arts/passionate form of play. Fraashion felt like the character out of a kung-fu movie who could do anything and beat anyone, as long as she had a cup of tea waiting for her on the other side of the room. Still overpowered and crazed as could be, I ended the year with Fraashion walking off into the sunset with two men, courtesy of a blooming romance with Viveloc and Mef (played by The Fearless Leader and Mef Man, respectively), while Ishi went into hiding after being transformed by his own magic into a strange bug-like creature with six arms and no mask. I felt happy to see them both go, but I cried a little when I realized I'd forgotten to save any of their stories on a word document.
The reboot of January 2011 was a blast. During the down-time of the RPG I'd been in almost constant contact with Friar Tuck working on a special character who later became known as Kriigata. I was done playing the good-guy and wanted a change of pace. My seeing the legality of a mask of reanimation keyed in on the thought of a evil toa who gave up her element and went about raising the dead. Kriigata, in all her sadistic and masochistic glory, arose from this one simple thought and reared her mighty head as soon as the game reopened, with Joske Nimil, a high inquisitor played by Friar Tuck, chasing after her in search of a tome of spells she'd stolen. Eventually, I had to leave the game due to life and the more pressing issues of education, and so Kriigata faded into the distance, imprisoned on a small island and tortured in near-death stasis. I was happy to see she at least went out with a bang, taking several blocks of ko-koro with her.
During the reboot I had also created several other characters. I attempted, and later gave up on, a wiry, le-toroan version of Ishi who was more akin to Robin Hood than the fantastic alchemist of the year before, mainly due to his sudden lack of magic or alchemy. I played around with a swashbuckling pirate named Gabel, who ended up not much more than a sleeping beserker on a pirate ship.
I had yet to make a character who was mentally stable.
The second reboot of the game occurred in October (yes, yes?) of 2011, where the evil religion of Xa was removed due to people adding to much high-tech into the island of shadow's infrastructure. At the reboot, I finally had some time and decided to rejoin. Once again, Kriigata appeared as my first character of the reboot, but remarkably altered.
This year's Kriigata is different from January's in many points. She doesn't wear a tryna, is somewhat childish, didn't speak matoran for a long time, and wields a strange weapon called a "spring-scythe" instead of the razor shield and mace of her first incarnation. The Kriigata of this reboot is a "prologue" of the original, and I do intend to make her the beautifully sadistic prophet she once was. However, how she comes to such a form is yet to be seen...
My second character this time around is my first time playing "the wise old man." However, he's not a wise old man. He's a scottish rogue with a flare for taking over people's businesses while they leave. At the moment, Ishi (yes, he's the third reincarnation of the mage) is busy paying off his debt to Marda in a po-koro bar. Afterwards, I have plans to send him South West into the colder regions, but for why I will not say at the moment. Playing Ishi heavily introduced me to writing in an accent. Most characters have a hard time understanding the phrase:
"ye got a prroblem wi' 'ow I talk, do ye'?"
Which is simply the written accent for: "You got a problem with how I talk, do you?" Ishi is my prankster, and the oldest sane character I've got. In fact, he's the ONLY sane character I've played. Wicked smart, Ishi's age has nothing on him as he travels from place to place, searching for the best noodles to eat. I will admit I drew several pulls from anime when creating him, especially from Jiraiya-sama from Naruto. The old man's perversive qualities in the anime seemed to scream: "Amazing old geezer who must be Ishi 3!" SO, in the hypocritical way of my life, I decided to draw inspiration from a source besides my own creative juices for once. I got bored with Ishi after a small bar-brawl and thought of having him assassinated, but now I've changed my mind and want him to live... Actually, I should probably call back on the Assassination forms and see if I can revoke my transaction with The Dark Chronicler. Otherwise, I'll be stuck role-playing a 60 year old man walloping a would be assassin with a hammer-stick. Nah, I can put off contacting TDC for another day or two.
With the entry of Draeverian Joskiir into my family of characters, I've finally done something I've never done before: play a traditional hero. As a blinded toa of sonics who thinks his sword is live, Draeverian has his differences and uniqueness from a standard "toa" to be sure. However, he has many overarching characteristics I'd been dying to try and play for a change. These include: wielding a sword, being male, and following the toa code. All my characters up until now have either been male matoran of stone or air, or female toa of water, and I've gotten bored with these experiences. Draeverian's entire character actually came about from one of the wierdest and most unlikely places: my computer bag. It's an older black computer back, with a sizable girth and weight when I stick my old iBook g4 into it, and I always have this sensation that I should really try and weight-lift before I go walking from school with the sucker on my back. About two weeks ago I was wearing the computer bag, it's case bonking my rear as I was running down a hill towards my home, when I had a single ray of "where the heck did you come from" thought:
Mother of all sword sheathes
The idea stuck, and in about six seconds Rivet was born: a sword shaped like a massive tuning fork which could fold up into a shield. It seemed obvious what element should be wielding a massive instrument of death: a toa of sonics. Draeverian's blindness came later, but only by a day. I spent the next few days contemplating the character and personality of my toa-hero, and settled on a somewhat cocky attitude, but caring. His love of music needed to be like mine: boundless and always craving. The colors for his armor and even the mask her wore didn't finally click until I stared at my computer screen and started to type, ending up with a MASSIVE description of appearance, for which I am quite proud of. The playing cards where a hold over from the first Ishi, who used a deck of cards to hide his spells and create alchemic circles. Although Draeverian isn't a magician, his usage of sound becomes almost like magic, having had to spend a great deal of effort just to be able to walk without getting run over by an ussal, slow as they are.
In all, I really have had a fantastic time playing and creating these characters. I can't wait to see where they go next, and what new characters await in the years to come.
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