Post by jialingjin on Jan 4, 2006 23:54:10 GMT -5
Hello there! I'm Jialing and welcome to "Advice for Characters!" Here at Feng Shui, the profile mods like to see characters that will stand out in a crowd and be something refreshing within the RP community. I'm going to help guide you through our profile process.
Name - A name is very important. It helps us identify who the character is and can say alot of a character's personality, history or life. We have one rule concerning names names: They must be Eastern/Asian at least in look and sound.
We define Eastern/Asian as anything from Israel/Egypt/Turkey, all the way to Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines, excluding Russia in most cases. Sure, the name Sarah is Hebrew for Princess.. that falls under Israel correct? Yes, and under normal circumstances, we'd be obligated to accept it. However, Sarah is far too common now as a English name. A good example would be Jericho. It doesn't scream Eastern does it? No.. but it's Hebrew and very unusual to see in an English Speaking Culture. Therefore it's acceptable.
Have a Greek Name? A Scottish Name? A Swedish Name? If it's unusual enough, you might just get to use it. It's always worth at least asking a mod "Hey, would this name work?" and if we don't think it will.. we'll find you a name that will work. Don't forget too Native American names are a good source too, especially for the Water Tribes!
Sekar graciously took the time to find a ton of name databases for various cultures around the world.
Please take the time to check out her name list Sekar's Name List
Age- Another basic area, but we have some problems with this. Surely, this is Avatar and people may not live to be 80 years old. However, Try to go for an age outside of the 10-18 year old. Most characters in Feng Shui fall into that age range and as much fun as it is to RP teenagers, we'd like to see a variety. Have you ever considered what fun you could have playing the motherly matriarch of a Noble family? Or perhaps playing a father with a troublesome son? Or even just playing a crazy hermit!
Also, a note to you soldiers. A 20 year old will rarely have a significant rank. Maybe a 25 year old would be a Captain at best.. Always remember, the older you are the higher your rank. An Admiral or General would be 30-50 probably as a good example.
Ladies, remember that young women, especially under the age of 22 or so are considered prime age not only for marriage, but also to fall prey to the wandering lust of men. Women would not be allowed to travel alone very often, especially if they were of higher class.
Nation- Okay, Nations we don't have a problem with. What we have are with people falling out of nation context. Sure.. we encourage you to be creative and unique, however there are just some things you gotta follow. The Water Tribes are full of traditions that children would have grown up following. Enculturation works in such a way that unless you're exposed to other ways of thinking.. you'll follow the culture you grew up with. So that means that Northern Water Tribe Women think it's appropriate for Women to learn healing over fighting. Same thing in the Fire Nation, except we see a dominance streak, a divine destiny belief. At least the current generation, surrounded by a war to conquer the world, believe Fire to be the supreme element. They have been raised that way. Men like Iroh have been exposed to other ways of thinking.. thus they see things from alternative points of view. But a child, who was raised in the Fire Nation among this war.. will have never seen that. They see their Fire Lord hailed as a god, they see this war as their destiny.. Enculturation at it's best.
That's where one of our biggest problems is.
Benders- Benders tend to get out of hand if they aren't controlled. Since this just an RPG and not real life, Genetics and Environments don't control bending, the mods do. Think of the coin flip as a genetic match up of chance. You can't change your genetics can you? No. We won't change a coin flip.
Edit: Nick has confirmed that Bending is NOT genetic. However, we still will not drop the coin flips unless it is proven that anyone can just at any random time say "I wanna be a bender" and become a bender.
Try not to think of us of denying you the awesomeness that is a bender. This war isn't about benders. It's not even about the Avatar. It's about Saving the World. The world is not benders, but a world of people just trying to raise a family, farmers, weapon smiths, weavers, doctors, nurses, Gypsies, children who just wanna penguin sled, it's full of nobles, of royalty, of people who are crippled or blind, people who spy for either sides, for the soldiers, for the average Joe who barely earns a copper a day, for the lazy ones, for the hippies, for the musicians, for the singers, for the dancers, for people who just want to be fun, for the women forced in marriages, for the babies just born, for the orphans, for the resistance, for the cowards, for the brave, for the herbalists, for the twins, for the hunters, for the knowledge seekers, for the professors, for the spirits, for the desert dwellers, for the ostrich horse farmers, for the brothel workers, for the children and for the elderly.
Avatar is about these people. Not Benders. So take a minute and try to think of qualities that have NOTHING to do with bending that could make your character really special.
Physical Appearance- Not too much a problem anymore, thankfully. We've seen a huge reduction in the people who try and pass off a human character with black eyes, or red eyes or white hair without a reason.
And because of this, we've become more more accepting of usual characters. Why we just accepted a character with Vitiligo, a documented genetic skin disorder that can leave skin patchy in color, and even lead to *gasp* Pale hair. We let him through because he did his research.. and applied it.
And another note on Hair - The most common variant of Albinism leaves people with Yellow Hair. Not White/Translucent hair.
However, we still occasionally get people wanting colored hair, blue and red being the most common. We don't allow hair dye. Why? First off, culturally, Avatar is based off the ancient cultures of Asian. These cultures have always placed importance on conformity. Yes, that's a scary word here in Individualistic America (yet why do we ridicule people are different?). The truth is.. people were expect to conform in those cultures, and having strange colored hair .. simply for the sake of it.. goes against that culture. "But maybe Mary Sue didn't want to conform!" So where did she get the idea? Culture is learned, it's called Enculturation and we learn our culture throughout our whole lives. If we never leave that culture.. we don't learn anything different from that culture. In the Avatar-verse, where everyone (except Yue and the Old) have dark to medium toned hair, there is no place for Mary Sue to get the idea of coloring her hair. We won't even go into the lack of bleaching products and the fact that she'd have to re apply color on a near weekly basis because dark hair does not hold color well (trust me, I've tried.)
Then there's the ridicule. The stares. The comments. You think that no one will bat an eyelash at a girl walking around with blue hair? Think again. People would shout demon, thrown rocks at her, curse her and possibly worse. People are cruel. I was pushed and shoved, had my hair pulled, had things thrown at me, and humiliated infront of my peers as a child. Want to know why? I stutter. In this supposedly great culture where individuality is embraced.. I was beaten down for being different and unique. Imagine what could happen in a culture where conformity is embraced.
Below is a guide based on the Four Avatar Nations and what we know them and the theory of genetic isolation.
This is the standard, and by no means are you restricted to simple having "yellow eyes" if you're Fire nation. try Goldenrod, Spanish Orange, Sunburst. There are a VARIETY of colors for each shade.
Fire Nation - Dark brown or black hair. Pale skin. Gold, amber or light brown eyes.
Water Tribes - Various shades of dark brown hair. Dark Skin. Various shades of blue eyes.
Earth Kingdom - Various shades of brown hair. Various shades of skin. Brown or green eyes.
Air Nomads - Possible various shades of brown hair, maybe ranging to wards blond. Grey, Brown, Blue eyes possible?
Clothing and Armor -
A lot of people have this down pat. You go with the color scheme of the country. It's simple. Yet a lot of people don't realize the wide variety of colors. That's why we have this!
List of colors Use it all you like.
However, a lot of people think that wearing all white or all black will make their character appear neutral and will not draw attention. Not sure. In Asian cultures, White is a color of mourning. It's not neutral. It can however be an accent color. So go ahead and use black or white, but not as entire outfits. An assassin will not wear all black, a bounty hunter will not wear all black. They will wear clothes that allow them to BLEND IN and NOT be noticed.
Rules of thumb when it comes to clothing - Layer. Asian style clothes in general are composed very much of layers. People might wear three shirts at a time and a pair of pants, with a tunic over it. Buttons at this time period were probably only in the possession of upper class citizens, though I could be wrong. Tying ribbons, or folding clothes would be an excellent way to keep clothing on and closed, but please.. if you want to use buttons.. go ahead.
Kimono - Generally.. Kimono are heavy, cumbersome full length robes of the Japanese culture. Formal Kimono have anywhere from 7 - 15 layers and can weigh up wards of 10-20 pounds. I know, Kimono are pretty and a lot of girls like to use them on their characters, but usually.. people are referring to a Less formal Kimono or perhaps a Yukata (a lighter kimono with perhaps one or two layers at max). We're not that picky here unless people really don't understand Kimono. If you want a Kimono.. we just ask that you state that it's a simple kimono, with one to two or three layers.. not formal.. etc. etc.
And Shoes - People.. you forget shoes way too often! Earth benders however.. don't wear shoes it seems.
Personality- Again, something that should be easy, right? Not so much. A lot of characters come to us with happy, cheerful and kind personalities. They're social and love people. Yet they have the world's shortest tempers and will absolutely destroy anyone in their paths. Doesn't this seem a bit extreme? Sure, a person can have anger. That's not the problem. The problem is people are going to the extremes.
A quiet, soft spoken person will have quiet anger. They might not shout, and they probably don't react physically. However, they are thinkers.. they will manipulate to get revenge, and do things subtly.
A brash, loud person whose very excitable and social will probably have loud anger. They might shout, flail their arms and legs, perhaps even hit people. They are in your face at their extreme.
Quiet often, we receive people who either have been abused as a child, or are heartless killers.
Abuse of any kind is a touchy subject and a lot of people really take it lightly. Too lightly. In respect for victims of Abuse, those who we have on this forum, when we are presented with a character who has been abused we ask that you either Portray that character accurately or remove the abuse entirely. We ask that you research that abuse, and the effects it can have on a person and incorporate them into your character.
Murderers and Killers - Flat out.. unless your character is mentally deranged or has some valid reason.. we won't let this. Seriously. Killing is not in human nature, and it's an incredibly complex act. There are many effects killing another human can have on the murderer and their is such a degree of differences. Over all.. portray it correctly. No murdering of complete innocents without mental problems or strong desires.. no murdering for fun.. no children killing..
Just be smart.
Background - It is CRITICAL that you develop an entire character's background. Why? Well just telling us about the past year of a character's life doesn't tell us anything about who that character is and why they are like how they are. It's always wise to start from birth. You do not need to develop entire stories for their parents.. not even names, but telling us how the parents welcomed their child or raised their child is important. Include the family's occupation, any siblings and how the siblings got along. Describe the child's education.. whether they were home schooled, sent to a public school, or privately educated is important. Describe the child's close friends, any games they may have played, or hobbies they enjoyed as a child.
Now, a common problem is that people want their children to be orphans. This is understandable in times of war for orphanage rates to be higher. However, a lot of people don't understand that many times FAMILY steps in and takes care of the child. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents.. all can take care of the child in place of the parent. If the child had no relatives, chances are children were not thrown out onto the streets by angry landlords because the child couldn't pay rent. If anything, the child would be placed in an Orphanage. I'm sure all major cities have one or if anything, one of the members of the community might take in the child. Perhaps an elderly couple who could use a farm hand..?
The other problem is unnecessary deaths. A lot of characters have their parents just up and dying without reason, or with a poor reason like a "Sudden illness". Um.. yeah there are numerous illnesses that kill within a few days, but even so.. describe how the character felt, and what they went through. My own father is battling cancer (If you can call his mindset 'battling' -_-
and the past 3 months have been nothing but a roller coaster hell for me and my family. I could build an entire character around this summer.
It's also very unusual for children to become thieves or assassins, let alone right off the bat at the ripe age of 10. If you want a thief, make the character a thief from the beginning. Give him or her a thieving history, family influence, poor living conditions to facilitate thievery and the right attitude.
Children are rarely hated by their families so much that they are beaten and abused. Children are rarely hated to begin with! In farming community, Children can mean more working hands, in the city, children can be a bit more burdensome, but they can be hired out to work at various ages, and in noble families, Children can mean more chances for fame. It's not logical for parents, especially mothers to feel such anger and hatred toward children. Sure.. children are annoying and can be the source of many headaches.. but that's not enough reason for the Sues we receive.
Make sure you cover the major areas of your character's background. Birth, Family, Toddler Years, Childhood, Teenage years, Education. Give them an occupation, hobbies, interests, pets.. all sorts of things. Maybe they like a certain kind of music, maybe they like studying maps.
RP Sample- Spell Check and Grammar Check..if not the whole profile then this. We like to see descriptions of environments. How Characters interact with their surroundings and other people. Do not feed us a bunch of two way conversation without some beef in there. Describe how the character stands.. or any habits they may have when they're nervous or excited. These things make a RP sample fun and interesting. Remember, we want to see this in our heads.
And that, my friends, is Jialing Guide to Creating Unique Characters. Enjoy!
Name - A name is very important. It helps us identify who the character is and can say alot of a character's personality, history or life. We have one rule concerning names names: They must be Eastern/Asian at least in look and sound.
We define Eastern/Asian as anything from Israel/Egypt/Turkey, all the way to Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines, excluding Russia in most cases. Sure, the name Sarah is Hebrew for Princess.. that falls under Israel correct? Yes, and under normal circumstances, we'd be obligated to accept it. However, Sarah is far too common now as a English name. A good example would be Jericho. It doesn't scream Eastern does it? No.. but it's Hebrew and very unusual to see in an English Speaking Culture. Therefore it's acceptable.
Have a Greek Name? A Scottish Name? A Swedish Name? If it's unusual enough, you might just get to use it. It's always worth at least asking a mod "Hey, would this name work?" and if we don't think it will.. we'll find you a name that will work. Don't forget too Native American names are a good source too, especially for the Water Tribes!
Sekar graciously took the time to find a ton of name databases for various cultures around the world.
Please take the time to check out her name list Sekar's Name List
Age- Another basic area, but we have some problems with this. Surely, this is Avatar and people may not live to be 80 years old. However, Try to go for an age outside of the 10-18 year old. Most characters in Feng Shui fall into that age range and as much fun as it is to RP teenagers, we'd like to see a variety. Have you ever considered what fun you could have playing the motherly matriarch of a Noble family? Or perhaps playing a father with a troublesome son? Or even just playing a crazy hermit!
Also, a note to you soldiers. A 20 year old will rarely have a significant rank. Maybe a 25 year old would be a Captain at best.. Always remember, the older you are the higher your rank. An Admiral or General would be 30-50 probably as a good example.
Ladies, remember that young women, especially under the age of 22 or so are considered prime age not only for marriage, but also to fall prey to the wandering lust of men. Women would not be allowed to travel alone very often, especially if they were of higher class.
Nation- Okay, Nations we don't have a problem with. What we have are with people falling out of nation context. Sure.. we encourage you to be creative and unique, however there are just some things you gotta follow. The Water Tribes are full of traditions that children would have grown up following. Enculturation works in such a way that unless you're exposed to other ways of thinking.. you'll follow the culture you grew up with. So that means that Northern Water Tribe Women think it's appropriate for Women to learn healing over fighting. Same thing in the Fire Nation, except we see a dominance streak, a divine destiny belief. At least the current generation, surrounded by a war to conquer the world, believe Fire to be the supreme element. They have been raised that way. Men like Iroh have been exposed to other ways of thinking.. thus they see things from alternative points of view. But a child, who was raised in the Fire Nation among this war.. will have never seen that. They see their Fire Lord hailed as a god, they see this war as their destiny.. Enculturation at it's best.
That's where one of our biggest problems is.
Benders- Benders tend to get out of hand if they aren't controlled. Since this just an RPG and not real life, Genetics and Environments don't control bending, the mods do. Think of the coin flip as a genetic match up of chance. You can't change your genetics can you? No. We won't change a coin flip.
Edit: Nick has confirmed that Bending is NOT genetic. However, we still will not drop the coin flips unless it is proven that anyone can just at any random time say "I wanna be a bender" and become a bender.
Try not to think of us of denying you the awesomeness that is a bender. This war isn't about benders. It's not even about the Avatar. It's about Saving the World. The world is not benders, but a world of people just trying to raise a family, farmers, weapon smiths, weavers, doctors, nurses, Gypsies, children who just wanna penguin sled, it's full of nobles, of royalty, of people who are crippled or blind, people who spy for either sides, for the soldiers, for the average Joe who barely earns a copper a day, for the lazy ones, for the hippies, for the musicians, for the singers, for the dancers, for people who just want to be fun, for the women forced in marriages, for the babies just born, for the orphans, for the resistance, for the cowards, for the brave, for the herbalists, for the twins, for the hunters, for the knowledge seekers, for the professors, for the spirits, for the desert dwellers, for the ostrich horse farmers, for the brothel workers, for the children and for the elderly.
Avatar is about these people. Not Benders. So take a minute and try to think of qualities that have NOTHING to do with bending that could make your character really special.
Physical Appearance- Not too much a problem anymore, thankfully. We've seen a huge reduction in the people who try and pass off a human character with black eyes, or red eyes or white hair without a reason.
And because of this, we've become more more accepting of usual characters. Why we just accepted a character with Vitiligo, a documented genetic skin disorder that can leave skin patchy in color, and even lead to *gasp* Pale hair. We let him through because he did his research.. and applied it.
And another note on Hair - The most common variant of Albinism leaves people with Yellow Hair. Not White/Translucent hair.
However, we still occasionally get people wanting colored hair, blue and red being the most common. We don't allow hair dye. Why? First off, culturally, Avatar is based off the ancient cultures of Asian. These cultures have always placed importance on conformity. Yes, that's a scary word here in Individualistic America (yet why do we ridicule people are different?). The truth is.. people were expect to conform in those cultures, and having strange colored hair .. simply for the sake of it.. goes against that culture. "But maybe Mary Sue didn't want to conform!" So where did she get the idea? Culture is learned, it's called Enculturation and we learn our culture throughout our whole lives. If we never leave that culture.. we don't learn anything different from that culture. In the Avatar-verse, where everyone (except Yue and the Old) have dark to medium toned hair, there is no place for Mary Sue to get the idea of coloring her hair. We won't even go into the lack of bleaching products and the fact that she'd have to re apply color on a near weekly basis because dark hair does not hold color well (trust me, I've tried.)
Then there's the ridicule. The stares. The comments. You think that no one will bat an eyelash at a girl walking around with blue hair? Think again. People would shout demon, thrown rocks at her, curse her and possibly worse. People are cruel. I was pushed and shoved, had my hair pulled, had things thrown at me, and humiliated infront of my peers as a child. Want to know why? I stutter. In this supposedly great culture where individuality is embraced.. I was beaten down for being different and unique. Imagine what could happen in a culture where conformity is embraced.
Below is a guide based on the Four Avatar Nations and what we know them and the theory of genetic isolation.
This is the standard, and by no means are you restricted to simple having "yellow eyes" if you're Fire nation. try Goldenrod, Spanish Orange, Sunburst. There are a VARIETY of colors for each shade.
Fire Nation - Dark brown or black hair. Pale skin. Gold, amber or light brown eyes.
Water Tribes - Various shades of dark brown hair. Dark Skin. Various shades of blue eyes.
Earth Kingdom - Various shades of brown hair. Various shades of skin. Brown or green eyes.
Air Nomads - Possible various shades of brown hair, maybe ranging to wards blond. Grey, Brown, Blue eyes possible?
Clothing and Armor -
A lot of people have this down pat. You go with the color scheme of the country. It's simple. Yet a lot of people don't realize the wide variety of colors. That's why we have this!
List of colors Use it all you like.
However, a lot of people think that wearing all white or all black will make their character appear neutral and will not draw attention. Not sure. In Asian cultures, White is a color of mourning. It's not neutral. It can however be an accent color. So go ahead and use black or white, but not as entire outfits. An assassin will not wear all black, a bounty hunter will not wear all black. They will wear clothes that allow them to BLEND IN and NOT be noticed.
Rules of thumb when it comes to clothing - Layer. Asian style clothes in general are composed very much of layers. People might wear three shirts at a time and a pair of pants, with a tunic over it. Buttons at this time period were probably only in the possession of upper class citizens, though I could be wrong. Tying ribbons, or folding clothes would be an excellent way to keep clothing on and closed, but please.. if you want to use buttons.. go ahead.
Kimono - Generally.. Kimono are heavy, cumbersome full length robes of the Japanese culture. Formal Kimono have anywhere from 7 - 15 layers and can weigh up wards of 10-20 pounds. I know, Kimono are pretty and a lot of girls like to use them on their characters, but usually.. people are referring to a Less formal Kimono or perhaps a Yukata (a lighter kimono with perhaps one or two layers at max). We're not that picky here unless people really don't understand Kimono. If you want a Kimono.. we just ask that you state that it's a simple kimono, with one to two or three layers.. not formal.. etc. etc.
And Shoes - People.. you forget shoes way too often! Earth benders however.. don't wear shoes it seems.
Personality- Again, something that should be easy, right? Not so much. A lot of characters come to us with happy, cheerful and kind personalities. They're social and love people. Yet they have the world's shortest tempers and will absolutely destroy anyone in their paths. Doesn't this seem a bit extreme? Sure, a person can have anger. That's not the problem. The problem is people are going to the extremes.
A quiet, soft spoken person will have quiet anger. They might not shout, and they probably don't react physically. However, they are thinkers.. they will manipulate to get revenge, and do things subtly.
A brash, loud person whose very excitable and social will probably have loud anger. They might shout, flail their arms and legs, perhaps even hit people. They are in your face at their extreme.
Quiet often, we receive people who either have been abused as a child, or are heartless killers.
Abuse of any kind is a touchy subject and a lot of people really take it lightly. Too lightly. In respect for victims of Abuse, those who we have on this forum, when we are presented with a character who has been abused we ask that you either Portray that character accurately or remove the abuse entirely. We ask that you research that abuse, and the effects it can have on a person and incorporate them into your character.
Murderers and Killers - Flat out.. unless your character is mentally deranged or has some valid reason.. we won't let this. Seriously. Killing is not in human nature, and it's an incredibly complex act. There are many effects killing another human can have on the murderer and their is such a degree of differences. Over all.. portray it correctly. No murdering of complete innocents without mental problems or strong desires.. no murdering for fun.. no children killing..
Just be smart.
Background - It is CRITICAL that you develop an entire character's background. Why? Well just telling us about the past year of a character's life doesn't tell us anything about who that character is and why they are like how they are. It's always wise to start from birth. You do not need to develop entire stories for their parents.. not even names, but telling us how the parents welcomed their child or raised their child is important. Include the family's occupation, any siblings and how the siblings got along. Describe the child's education.. whether they were home schooled, sent to a public school, or privately educated is important. Describe the child's close friends, any games they may have played, or hobbies they enjoyed as a child.
Now, a common problem is that people want their children to be orphans. This is understandable in times of war for orphanage rates to be higher. However, a lot of people don't understand that many times FAMILY steps in and takes care of the child. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents.. all can take care of the child in place of the parent. If the child had no relatives, chances are children were not thrown out onto the streets by angry landlords because the child couldn't pay rent. If anything, the child would be placed in an Orphanage. I'm sure all major cities have one or if anything, one of the members of the community might take in the child. Perhaps an elderly couple who could use a farm hand..?
The other problem is unnecessary deaths. A lot of characters have their parents just up and dying without reason, or with a poor reason like a "Sudden illness". Um.. yeah there are numerous illnesses that kill within a few days, but even so.. describe how the character felt, and what they went through. My own father is battling cancer (If you can call his mindset 'battling' -_-
and the past 3 months have been nothing but a roller coaster hell for me and my family. I could build an entire character around this summer.It's also very unusual for children to become thieves or assassins, let alone right off the bat at the ripe age of 10. If you want a thief, make the character a thief from the beginning. Give him or her a thieving history, family influence, poor living conditions to facilitate thievery and the right attitude.
Children are rarely hated by their families so much that they are beaten and abused. Children are rarely hated to begin with! In farming community, Children can mean more working hands, in the city, children can be a bit more burdensome, but they can be hired out to work at various ages, and in noble families, Children can mean more chances for fame. It's not logical for parents, especially mothers to feel such anger and hatred toward children. Sure.. children are annoying and can be the source of many headaches.. but that's not enough reason for the Sues we receive.
Make sure you cover the major areas of your character's background. Birth, Family, Toddler Years, Childhood, Teenage years, Education. Give them an occupation, hobbies, interests, pets.. all sorts of things. Maybe they like a certain kind of music, maybe they like studying maps.
RP Sample- Spell Check and Grammar Check..if not the whole profile then this. We like to see descriptions of environments. How Characters interact with their surroundings and other people. Do not feed us a bunch of two way conversation without some beef in there. Describe how the character stands.. or any habits they may have when they're nervous or excited. These things make a RP sample fun and interesting. Remember, we want to see this in our heads.
And that, my friends, is Jialing Guide to Creating Unique Characters. Enjoy!