Alleyverse Character Discussion

[mathiau he/him]

21 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Hi! Human brains can’t really do the whole trauma-splitting-DID thing after the age of I think 8, by that time your personality and brain have already solidified. If your brain was already doing that before that age, it’s possible it would fall back on that same method of protecting itself, but you can’t start developing new identities as an adult. He could have some similar things happen, but not that, if that makes sense? 

I don't think anything is sure about split personality, even whether it's actually a thing

[AonEne he/him]

3 minutes ago, mathiau said:

I don't think anything is sure about split personality, even whether it's actually a thing

It is most definitely a thing, all the good psychologists agree on that. The controversy about whether or not it exists is, to be frank, really silly - there are thousands of people dealing with it and it’s in the DSM-5. 

[Ashbringer he/him]

*Cough* Shallan *Cough Cough*

[kenod]

To be fair, the existence of the cognitive and spiritual realm might cause DID or something similar to work slightly differently in the Cosmere (like with Shallan, possibly. Did she actually start developing alternate personalities as a kid or just do some really unhealthy repression? Can't really remember).

[mathiau he/him]

Just now, kenod said:

To be fair, the existence of the cognitive and spiritual realm might cause DID or something similar to work slightly differently in the Cosmere (like with Shallan, possibly. Did she actually start developing alternate personalities as a kid or just do some really unhealthy repression? Can't really remember).

She definitely created all the ones we know as an adult

[18th Shard he/him]

You could say that when he's tapping/storing Duralumin, the differing Connections change him as well as those around him. I think we've seen that in the cosmere, Connections can have a really big effect on who you are, possibly enough with the right mental states to cause some disassociation. 

[BringerOfLight]

Just now, 18th Shard said:

You could say that when he's tapping/storing Duralumin, the differing Connections change him as well as those around him. I think we've seen that in the cosmere, Connections can have a really big effect on who you are, possibly enough with the right mental states to cause some disassociation. 

that's exactly what I did- he either fills or taps his duraliminminds depending on which persona he's in.

[AonEne he/him]

Ah, that makes more sense than a purely mental-based thing. Cool cool. 

Shallan definitely doesn’t have DID, she has something else. There’s dissociation involved, but it’s not the same disorder, and I think Brandon has said her being a Lightweaver is involved? Idk. 

[SingingMosaic]

For people wanting to build systems, I live in one and have for pretty much as long as I can remember. It's a small but stable functioning community, and it's seen its share of rough patches over the years. We also know a lot of other systems, and have resources so you can see just how much variety there really is between systems. But there's also that. There's so much variety--systems of people who blend into a greater whole, systems of branches which are semi independent, systems of wholly separate individuals who lead different lives, systems based in trauma, systems which aren't, systems that are safe, systems that are getting there, systems that are broken. Systems that are combinations of some of these things. So you could really go all over the place with it. Hollywood's evil side lurking beneath your mind ready to take over and ruin your life depiction is actually pretty uncommon and way more complex than they ever describe. There's a lot of potential to work with when portraying systems, and if you want to look into that, whether it's to glance in or dive in, prior to creating sheet(s) for one, I'm happy to help. -Feather

[Coffeecat she/her]

Hey, i will soon introduce my second character, and wanted to ask if anyone sees anything really broken with this character.

Name: Iza    (damnation, i cant have another Lord-Silberfarben, i need to start making real names.)

Origin: Was an Alethi Parshmen before the Everstorm.

Family: Unknown, he was sold to a different household at a young age.

Investiture: Stormform. This is the only form he has ever been in, so i guess it doesn't much change his personality... in fact, if he adopted another form, he would consider that form to change is personality. basically, subcutaneous chitin armor, agility and strength. the ability to summon red lightning or weak gusts of wind.

Personality: ANGRY. he is secretive and... stormy. very private. hates being told what to do.

History: He was bought by worldhoppers, who wanted to investigate parshmen at better detail. other than that, he tended camp for them, and was basically a servant like he would have been in any Alethi household.

He was lucky to have been in Roshar during the first Everstorm, and even luckier to have gotten Stormform.

At first, the Worldhoppers were amazed by his sudden intelligence, and his form. But eventually, his grating personality began to irritate them. the only useful thing he could do other than carrying heavy loads was as a test subject. he got irritated at not being able to be autonomous, and also got irritated.

This continued until eventually they left him in the Alleycity with Lord-son-son-son-Silberfarben. May Iza learn something storming useful for once.

Weakness: Has trouble making friends(not that he minds) He can't control where his Stormform lightning goes... it is as likely to his enemies as it is to hit his friends(oh, he doesn't have any... well, allies. those he could have. perhaps)

 

I am slightly afraid Iza will eventually kill Lord-son-son-son-Silberfarben. well, why not? maybe later

[SingingMosaic]

I like it! I admit I might be somewhat biased, as Nnimm is essentially the only Singer of any description around.

Which reminds me, off topic question to the rest of the thread: Have there ever been mention of NPC Singers in Alleycity? What's their presence, if any?

Based on that description, I imagine their interactions would be interesting. They don't have their memories of Roshar because of fake Alleyverse. Oof.

Anyway, what skillsets are you thinking he should have? Has he essentially always been used to lug stuff around? Puny humans, heh. How old is he and how long has it been since the Everstorm for him? There's some timeline weirdness with Nnimm, I think my original timeline for them essentially has them ahead of the books but not by much.

@Lord_Silberfarben

Edited June 21, 2020 by SingingMosaic
Tagging. Always with me and forgetting to tag.

[Coffeecat she/her]

On 6/21/2020 at 2:12 PM, SingingMosaic said:

I like it! I admit I might be somewhat biased, as Nnimm is essentially the only Singer of any description around.

Which reminds me, off topic question to the rest of the thread: Have there ever been mention of NPC Singers in Alleycity? What's their presence, if any?

yes, i have always wandered how singers would fit into the alleyverse.

Technically, Iza is not a Singer... if i remember correctly, that is how the people on the shattered plains called themselves, he is not one of those, so he would be called Parshendi.

On 6/21/2020 at 2:12 PM, SingingMosaic said:

Anyway, what skillsets are you thinking he should have? Has he essentially always been used to lug stuff around? Puny humans, heh. How old is he and how long has it been since the Everstorm for him? There's some timeline weirdness with Nnimm, I think my original timeline for them essentially has them ahead of the books but not by much.

His lack of a skillset is what is going to drive him in my RP, so i guess carrying stuff and cooking is the only thing he was used for.(no, not actually cooking... just chopping onions... or whatever irritating food there is to be chopped on Roshar)

Timeline... just after the everstorm he left Roshar with the worldhoppers, so i guess a little bit after OB.

He is therefore...

2 years old!

I would say around his 20's he didnt really keep count of the years as a parshmen.

 

[SingingMosaic]

So it's a bit complicated. Somewhere I saw a really good description of it, let me see if I can find it now.

I'm not at all sure how you're supposed to quote a post from another thread, so this might break. But here's R J's post from a topic about this.

 

Their names are a bit complicated magi-socio-politically

Parshendi is the exonym, given to the Listeners living on the Shattered Plains by the Alethi

The Listeners themselves are a subgroup which diverged from the Singers long ago (see WoR, Eshonai's mother's songs, or Rlain in OB differentiating between his people, the Listeners, and the wider Singers) The Listeners were a group, previously called the Last Legion that fled from the Fused by giving up their Forms of Power and taking on Dullform (which protected them during the False Desolation when Melishi imprisoned the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and accidentally transformed the Singers into what modern Rosharans call the Parshmen (and the Listeners call the Slaveform))

The Singers is a term that refers to their species which was used during the time when they were a part of Odium's forces. The Listeners prefer to call themselves, well, the listeners rather than singers. This is also probably where the term Dawnsingers came from.

 

So basically this is why I've been using Singer even though even that will probably not be correct. It looks like they'll have to forge their future, there's nothing left of the past that someone didn't/still doesn't take advantage of. RoW is going to be. Interesting.

@Lord_Silberfarben

[AonEne he/him]

I’m fairly certain singers have been mentioned as living in the AV before, though they’re rarer than humans. 

[Gears]

I'm making a second character and I can't decide the gender. Quick overview: The Anarchist is a flamboyant individual who orchestrates the fall of empires in their spare time. Envision the most over-the-top colourful crazy person ever [like the Sixth Doctor but with a better fashion sense]. Has a cape, a tattered coat, knives, explosives, guns, a really nice hat, cool boots, and some fancy jewelry. May or may not have a significant other named Malcolm.

Gender's always been more of a *confused helpless shrug* than an actual thing for me, but the Anarchist knows themself perfectly, down to the bone marrow, so I need this to be a certain thing, not a thing I stare at blankly hoping something makes sense. The they/them pronouns kind of work, but those also feel a little eh? to me, like words I've thrown at this character in hope that they stick. Help?

[AonEne he/him]

9 minutes ago, Gears said:

Gender's always been more of a *confused helpless shrug* than an actual thing for me, but the Anarchist knows themself perfectly, down to the bone marrow...

The they/them pronouns kind of work, but those also feel a little eh? to me, like words I've thrown at this character in hope that they stick. 

Have you considered agender, bigender, gender fluid, etc.? Or neopronouns like s/he or xe? 

Edited June 23, 2020 by AonEne

[Gears]

Just now, AonEne said:

Have you considered agender, bigender, gender fluid, etc.? Or neopronouns like s/he or xe? 

I think that the problem is not with the gender itself, but with my distaste for pronouns, labels, and names in general. The Anarchist's gender exists, I just can't find the perfect label for it. E/em or ey/em are sort of a little better possibly, but they still clash somehow. As of right now, they/them, e/em, or just avoiding pronoun usage in general seems to be the best bet, but that still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

[+Invocation]

51 minutes ago, Gears said:

I think that the problem is not with the gender itself, but with my distaste for pronouns, labels, and names in general. The Anarchist's gender exists, I just can't find the perfect label for it. E/em or ey/em are sort of a little better possibly, but they still clash somehow. As of right now, they/them, e/em, or just avoiding pronoun usage in general seems to be the best bet, but that still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

An idea: no pronoun stated. Let people use whatever pronoun for this Anarchist they want. Make it part of their confidence in knowing themself: if they know themself that deeply, what does it matter what anyone else calls them? In your own posts, you can just use the name, each repetition inscribing that sense of self-awareness deeper.

Edited June 23, 2020 by Invocation

[Coffeecat she/her]

On 6/23/2020 at 2:40 PM, Invocation said:

An idea: no pronoun stated. Let people use whatever pronoun for this Anarchist they want. Make it part of their confidence in knowing themself: if they know themself that deeply, what does it matter what anyone else calls them? In your own posts, you can just use the name, each repetition inscribing that sense of self-awareness deeper.

It might be hard to only use their name.

the archivist orchestrated the fall of empires, even the archivit's own empire had fallen to the archivist's machinations.

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Not nailing down a gender or specific pronouns/ physical description can definitely limit the people who will want to RP deeply with your character. I know that if I don’t have a concrete idea of who your character is and what to call them, I will avoid interaction rather than risk incorrect characterization or context. This might be fine with you, but just a fair warning! :]

[+Lotus she/her]

Question about the post on tag-teaming.

If I made a character who was a Aes Sadai, who had a warder, and the two of them worked together, would that be ok?

Sorry, I'm new to all this.

[Silva]

Being new is where we all began at some point or another. We're happy to have you, questions and all. 

Typically, if a character is initially proposed as always being with another character, the two are ranked together. So, with the current point limit of 150(?) from the Index, one could have 60 points worth and the other 90. Given weaknesses to cancel it out, those numbers could go a bit higher, but the idea is that both would be combined, requiring the two to be somewhat weaker individually in order so that they aren't overly powerful, if I recall correctly.

As long as together they fit that requirement, it should be okay, though, granted, I might be wrong.

@MysticLotus

Edited June 23, 2020 by Silva
Added tag

[mathiau he/him]

24 minutes ago, Silva said:

Being new is where we all began at some point or another. We're happy to have you, questions and all. 

Typically, if a character is initially proposed as always being with another character, the two are ranked together. So, with the current point limit of 150(?) from the Index, one could have 60 points worth and the other 90. Given weaknesses to cancel it out, those numbers could go a bit higher, but the idea is that both would be combined, requiring the two to be somewhat weaker individually in order so that they aren't overly powerful, if I recall correctly.

As long as together they fit that requirement, it should be okay, though, granted, I might be wrong.

@MysticLotus

@kenod  has two characters that are always together (KanMien and Kumiko) and both have almost 150 index points  so I guess it doesn't work that way

On the index a warder bound cost 15 for the channeller and 5 for the warder so I'd guess you're creating two characters with a total of 150 points each but we'll need the input of the mods to be sure

@MysticLotus@Sorana@Voidus@I think I am here.

[kenod]

16 minutes ago, mathiau said:

@kenod  has two characters that are always together (KanMien and Kumiko) and both have almost 150 index points  so I guess it doesn't work that way

On the index a warder bound cost 15 for the channeller and 5 for the warder so I'd guess you're creating two characters with a total of 150 points each but we'll need the input of the mods to be sure

@MysticLotus@Sorana@Voidus@I think I am here.

True, but I haven't actually used them together in a combat situation, aside from a single scene during the Acute plot last Era, which was done after discussing it with the other person, and only against npcs. They are together now in this Era, but the plot they're currently in is a pve exploration plot, not a pvp combat plot.

On that note though, I'd say it probably won't be too much of an issue in a fight if they don't gang up on the same character, but each fight different ones. Other than that, I'd say them working together on non-combat things wouldn't be an issue, as long as you're not doing anything that somehow abuses the fact that you have multiple characters present. Of course, you could always ask around if anyone else is interested in rping the Warden and solve things that way.

Of course, keep in mind that that's just my opinion, and that I'm not a mod.

Edit: Ah, nevermind, misunderstood what you tried to illustrate. Yeah, having two characters hang out together doesn't give them a combined points limit. The only reason I can think of where this applies is if the characters are basically one person, which I don't think a Warden and Aes Sedai are, unless they are never apart and always work together, with the warden always doing what the aes sedai says without any sort of input, in which case they become more like a tool than a character.

Edited June 23, 2020 by kenod

[18th Shard he/him]

I think another thing to take in consideration is how fleshed out each character is. If you really develop both the Aes Sedai and the Warder, giving them distinct characteristics and personalities, it would be far easier to see them as two characters, whereas if the Warder's characterization ends at "___'s Warder who is good with a sword", that would make them act as essentially one entity, and probably be the situation where they'd count together. (I believe the idea behind counting them as one is if you have, for example, bodyguards, a spren, a pet, etc. that are literally always with the character and aren't really their own entity).

Also not a mod, though.