Character Solidifying: Aderyn-1, 2, 9, 21, 50 Dommil-6, 12, 19, 37 Heysu- 4, 17, 29, 35 Zeg- 3, 14, 34, 38, 49
1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have? -Ā Aderin comes from a large, loving family, which sheās quite close to. I admit I have very little previously established on her father, but thatās what this is for, no? Heās perhaps more ambitious, more driven, but she gets some determination from him. And she admires his focus on family and community. Is there anything she hates about him? Hate seems too strong. But of course all parents and children have disagreements.Ā
2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have? -Ā Aderin gets her work ethic from her mother, I think, and maybe some of her tough love. Maybe not in the same form - Iām envisioning her mother as a firm but warm household manager. I know she had quite a few kids to wrangle. (spoiler, one day Aderin will as well. so undoubtedly thereās a good bit of influence there as well.) I think her fatherās more smarts and her motherās more common sense, and Aderin got a nice blend of the two.
9. What about political beliefs? - Aderin is Not A Fan of the Emperor, and has mixed feelings on the empire her homeland has become a part of. On the one hand, it offers protections and privileges Alefor has never enjoyed before, and holds their historical enemies at bay. But she really wishes they had the capabilities to take care of their own affairs, and fears the Empire wishes to erode their culture in the name of hegemony.
21. What are your characterās manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate? -Ā Aderin can sometimes be a bit blunt but on the whole she does her best to be considerate of others. She likes local or national folk heroes, but her hero would be⦠those who stand up for whatās right even if they arenāt the ones being hurt. Someone who listens to others, and cares. Someone like⦠well, like someone. ;)Ā And she hates those who exploit others.
50. What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating? - Determined, Iād say. Sheās got a good determined look. A get to work, take on the world if needed look. But sheās also got a playful side, so plenty of smiles too.
6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child? - Yes. But, to elaborate. His mother is very affectionate. Very busy, and depended on him a lot as heās the oldest, but never let him doubt she appreciates him, and loves on her boys well into adulthood. Maybe he felt some affection from his father as a young child. Maybe his father liked that he was big and strong, or that he was responsible, or that he was a good kid. Maybe he never appreciated him enough. I have, by conscious choice, never developed him as a character. But Dommil certainly felt rejection when his father left the family when he was thirteen.
12. How does their education and intelligence ā or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations? - Dommil isnāt unintelligent. And he isnāt uneducated - heās literate, he can do enough math to do business, he knows some of the history of his kingdom and its religious teachings. But he didnāt take his education any further than he needed to (he stopped going to the local chapel school after his father left.) Anyway, all this to say his manner of speech is certainly what would be consideredĀ ācommon.ā Not country bumpkin, heās a city kid, but certainly no refinement to it. That said, heās also a soldier - an officer - so he does know how to be⦠professional, I guess.Ā
19. What were your characterās deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now? - His father leaving, of course, kind of shattered his world - he was used to having someone to depend on, and now his brothers depended on him. I think he might be a little disillusioned with the military. He joined to provide for his family and keep his kingdom safe, and now all of a sudden theyāre conquering and maintaining an empire. (and he doesnāt believe for a moment his promotion to officer is on his own merits.) But heāll keep doing his duty.
37. How is your characterās imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories? - Heās more of a straightforward guy. The past is in the past dwelling on it wonāt help - what are we going to do now? Thatās what you need to think about. Thatās his mindset.Ā
4. What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient? -Ā Heysuās a farm girl, so they canāt be too lenient of course because they have a farm to run. Thereās got to be a certain amount of discipline to get the work done. So strict, maybe, but reasonable.
17. Did they travel? Where? Why? When? - the very first time she has traveled any real distance is to enroll in Edefana and learn how to be a soldier.Ā
29. What is your characterās weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling? - Heysu is none of these things. Her biggest weakness is probably a severe lack of self-confidence, but sheās working on it. She doesnāt trust to her own strengths, so when people have an accurate read on them she fears theyāre asking too much. Sheāll undersell herself.Ā
35. Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures? -Ā no, sheās pretty irrational about errors, more willing to take blame than she should be. But she doesnāt let those feelings just keep her down in despair. She has to keep trying, has to do something, no matter how bad the situation seems. Sheās a lot braver than she realizes.
3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings? - He has only half-siblings, and he despises all of them, largely because they despise him, which in turn is because their father (his stepfather) despises him. And his mother certainly prefers them, her trueborn, fullblooded, children she can be proud of. Itās not a great family situation. When his oldest half-brother got old enough for his bounty to wake, he spent a lot of time putting curses on him, even though itās generally considered petty and mean-spirited to go after those so much younger than you, so that fueled the hate. Basically, he hates them because they had what he wanted. He wants different things now. Maybe.
14. Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected? - in Edefana, the student body is too small for clubs. There are six of them. okay to be honest by the time he comes there are probably more but heās still part of and trains, studies & works with the core 6. With Tomiv heās part of the two with the Something, training for the Twelve, so thatās a group. When he was with his motherās people, though, he was mostly a loner. Not entirely by choice.
34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous? -Ā All of these things. Everyone else, they just donāt see, heās better than all of them! Heās better than the clans, better than the People, better than the Twelve, blessed with double measure. Theyāll see, theyāll have to respect him when they realize what they can do, how great he is! Theyāll pay for the way he looked at him! Theyāll step aside for him, all of them, those wide inferior masses will bow before his might. How dare they think they can equal him! Donāt they know what he is? Well, they will, oh, they will.Ā
38. Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic? - Not enthusiastic, exactly, but⦠undaunted. Heās always prepared to rise to new challenges.
Heās also quite perplexed, while heās getting used to the culture of the People. What do youĀ meanĀ you can just change my name by public consensus at the drop of a hat?Ā
49. What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm of speech? Pronunciation? Accent? - He certainly has an accent, on account of the fact he was raised in a different people group than the one of the rest of the main characters of the story. But since all these people groups are not real-world I canāt put a name to his accent that means anything. His speech is somewhat refined, clear, but with a sharp edge to it.Ā Deliberate.Ā