#character exercise

A lengthy questionare about your character's moral compass, or lack thereof. Meant to be used as an exercise to think deeper about a character's morality at any point in development.

꧁ ༺ ─── ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ─── ༻ ꧂

At 2 years old, she was a demanding, curious, always-on child, needing constant attention and engagement.

At 4 years old, she was “difficult”. Clingy, jealous, prone to temper tantrums and squabbling with the other children.

By 6 years old, she had become a flighty loner of a child, prone to running off and refusing to deal with her problems. She acted out frequently and was picked on by other kids, mostly older than her.

By 8 years old, she was a budding young athlete, able to scale walls and outrun any of her peers and most adults. She still struggled with bullying from the older kids, but had learned to retaliate viciously enough that her own age band left her alone.

At 10 years old, Ariadne was a wild child, usually alone, always scuffed and bruised from her increasingly ambitious climbing and free running, and from fighting. She was an opportunistic bully, lashing out pre-emptively at her peers, and still sometimes a victim.

By 12, she had discovered an interest in her schoolwork, and was acting out less. A very intense child, always either studying or on the move. She was getting into fewer fights, and starting to make friends - and attract attention from peers impressed by her athletic ability.

By 14, she had an active social life and had discovered the joys of clubbing. She worked hard, played hard, and slept little.

At 16, she graduated from the educational system with top marks and was granted a place in her desired career: law enforcement. She was an eager recruit, keen, smart, and enormously committed.

By 20, Ariadne had climbed a rank or two and been thoroughly initiated into a culture of casual violence. She had a circle of close friendships with her comrades, she was happy and healthy, and she’d learned to think nothing of being brutal with uncooperative suspects.

By 25, she had been recruited by the Inquisition. She had left behind everyone and everything she knew, been introduced to a wide galaxy full of horrors, and learned how little she really knew about anything. She’d been put into dozens of life-or-death situations. She’d been tortured and taught to torture others. She’d seen comrades die. She no longer felt confident, successful or adult, but lost, scared and lonely in a vast and hostile galaxy. She clung desperately to the solidity and purpose provided by the command structure.

By 30, she had learned to put walls up and grow a thick skin against the horror. She had loved, and lost that love to violence, and learned not to love again. She’d grown callous to the suffering of others and jaded towards personal danger. This was praised by her superiors as personal development. Between that and the skills learned on the job, she was well on her way to promotion.

By 35, she had been given that promotion and taken under Bright’s direct tutelage. She was granted increasing freedoms and promotions, and groomed as a potential candidate to become an Inquisitor herself some day.

Dreemurr kids homework assignment

An Open Letter to Who I Was

Dear Andy,

Do not be ashamed of your name. It is the one your mother gave you and the one your father agreed on. It was given out of love. Once, it belonged to your mother’s mother, a woman whom you used to believe was braver than yourself. 

In truth, you inherited her courage, and have helped it grow beyond its roots. Though she may have grown up in more difficult times, you have faced similar difficulties within yourself as she had without. And though it will take you many years to realize your strength, you will see that it has always been there, waiting for you to see just how brightly it shines.

It takes courage to learn who you are beyond the ages of childhood. Especially when one does not have the words to guide them. Many of your friends ran from their own discoveries, but you never did. You searched and searched until you found the fleck of Truth buried deep within your heart and brought it out for the world to see, baring the core of yourself with strength that even now amazes me. 

Words were your weapons and your shield; you wielded them with an exacting grace that often brought you more trouble than they were worth. But you always pulled through, even when your friends told you to abandon your cause for your own good. 

The problem with that was that it was never for you. It was for everyone who didn’t have a voice to float into a microphone, or the vast reach of gifted airwaves. The quiet letters of thanks and courage you received were more precious than your own heartbeats. 

And your heart was for them. As it always will be.

[An excerpt from a letter written as part of development for my story, “The Tin Man DJs on Weekday Nights in Jersey.” Andy is a low-octave radio DJ who uses her voice for her own purposes, no matter the consequences. 

Send Peter a number in his ask, and he’ll respond to the best of his ability!

Character basics should include easily sketched out pieces of information. This is what some would call a police profile sketch. Anyone that’s dealt with roleplaying on forums will likely already know about putting together this information, and profile skeletons. Over the years, I got to see a lot of what people were doing with forum roleplays and profile skeletons. It was interesting to see how…