Discussion Character Ideas

[Zefgahld Qojex]

Not ideas FOR characters, mind you…

Rather, what ideas/archetypes INSPIRED the creation of some of your characters, and why?

I might go into some details about a few of my own OCs when I’m not typing into a phone keypad later. Also, let’s focus on you guys, primarily.

 

[Falentra]

usually I go on Pinterest search for art and character designs for the inspo boost. Not only characters but ships and weapons and all that.

My newest char, Valstraus is inspired much by the armorer in mando. But her faceclaim is what I fancied when scrolling through Pinterest.

Nouqai’s character was only developed after I found a faceclaim I liked - again on Pinterest. I had zero idea on the personality and all aside from the fact she was a unique tentacle haired teen and a padawan. I had a few art pieces commissioned for her since then.

 

[Valery Noble]

Valery started as a character in the Swtor MMO. I was RP'ing in a guild that had a very strict progression system, and she originally was just made as my Jedi character to go through it. I had no real inspiration from other characters or other franchises when I made her, and even as I began to develop her on the fly, I didn't really look at anything specific for it as inspiration. I wanted her to be my first combat focused character and I wanted her to become the Battlemaster and later the Grandmaster in that guild, which she did manage.

I gave her a very basic backstory without any tragedy or overly interesting story beats either. Back then, I felt backstory wasn't that interesting and I wanted to put more emphasis on what was actually RP'ed with others, rather than have my character defined by something I wrote alone.

Then I moved to chaos, and I ended up fleshing her story out a lot more because the site is a lot more story-focused. But still not with inspiration from other characters in mind. I've been told my character has similarities to some Legends Jedi, and people lean to Jaina a lot purely because of the Sword of the Jedi thing. But I've read very little of the EU, so anything on that front is pure coincidence xD

Most of what defined Valery is from how I feel Jedi should be. I never much liked the Clone Wars Jedi with the monk-like behavior while also being Generals in a war. But I do like the strict separation between Light and Dark, which is why I'll never write or enjoy a Grey Jedi or characters who blend the two sides of the Force. To each their own, but it's not for me.

Valery is meant to be a Jedi true to the Light, a leader and someone who can connect with and understand other people. My real inspiration for that is a blend of some traditional Old Republic values and some of what you'd see from Legends Jedi. To me, it makes a Jedi feel like a protector and servant of the Light, but also a person with strengths and flaws.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

I was playing Fire Emblem: Three Hopes and during one paralogue, three of the most obnoxious aristocratic characters had a competition to see who was the noblest noble. It was ridiculous.

Thus, Cora was born.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

If Saffron, from Firefly, had a heart of gold and fantastic business acumen. Fleshed out on SWTOR MMO, and then built ATC as a trading RP guild in the RP server and thus Danger, was born.

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

I really wanted to roleplay another kid character and long con develop her based on the interactions she ICly receives. I picked Lovalla as a species because I really wanted to challenge myself in being able to convey the color shifting and emotional resonance of the species. I thought it would be cool that she would have no concept of the Force, Sith, Jedi, or anything regarding it so that she is a blank slate regarding what she thinks of it, who she joins, who she befriends, and the like.

 

[Carlo Von Corrino]

Carlo came about from the concept of what would a sheltered persons aspect of the Galaxy would be like. Where the personal goal set for himself being to get out of the shadow of his families name and history, to carve out his own destiny and not be defined by what has been set for him

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

You know how Spaceballs took Luke and Han and made them one composite character?

Yeah, that.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Some other writers expressed interest in the idea of me writing an NJO padawan so one night on a whim I made Ko who quickly became my current main.

Initially I had a few aliens lined up for making Ko, that being Kel Dor, Gands, and Rodians. All species that I'm rather fond of. Naturally because I went with Kel Dor, Plo Koon became one of the bigger pieces of inspiration. I'm kind of a fan of writing aliens as closely as I can to the lore. Which in my opinion makes them feel more unique. Others might not like the somewhat monocultural approach but I have to writing aliens, but I think it helps as a tool to make them feel more distinct and add to his paragon-ish mindset.

I largely strive for writing Ko as a rather traditional Jedi, taking concepts from clone wars era Jedi to work off of. I know it's not the most ideal version of the Jedi but it's flaws are interesting to me.

Another thing I enjoy a great deal when writing light-sided FUs is giving them a somewhat strong connection with nature. For Ko I largely accomplished that by making a large part of his backstory dedicated to working in the Jedi Agricultural Corps. Providing Ko a decent mix of big picture concerns as well as simple and down-to-earth wisdom.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

I don't know that there was any specific archetype that truly inspired me when I began writing Briana, but one of the ideas I've sort of always kept in the back of my mind was, 'what if Leia had never been separated from Luke, and became a Jedi instead?', thrown in with a heavy dose of brat, family drama, and entitlement that's had to be worked out of her.

I also tend to go more with Luke's ideal of what a Jedi is in the old EU, rather than the pious monks that adhere to a very strict Jedi Code, like what we are shown in the Clone Wars. Luke's NJO was what originally inspired me and made me interested in Star Wars, so that's what I tend to default to. Plus, I overall feel like it was a more balanced approach/take on the Jedi.

A lot of my original ideas with Briana have changed, however. Including her leaving the Jedi Order altogether after becoming disillusioned by it, abandoning her family, killing her father (this was on the table for a long time) and going on an almost Ahsoka-like arc. Instead, she ended up being influenced by a lot of other writers characters who have either mentored her, befriended her, or whom she's had to teach - which has taken the natural progression of her story in an entirely unplanned direction, developing her into a stable/responsible and even more committed woman. Not only to the Jedi, but also to her family and loved ones.

 

[Jonyna Si]

Jonyna started as an Edge of the Empire tabletop character. I wanted to make a jedi, and didn't wanna just play a human. Went diving, and being the casual furry I am, I found Cathar and just casually commited to the idea of having a female jedi with a tail. Since Cathar doesn't have a lot of lore, I kinda just started making stuff up for it. I'm a big Tarzan fan, so I ran with the idea that Cathar is basically just Space Africa, and did a bunch of research on it.

As for the character herself, Jonyna was inspired by a few archtypes. I originally wanted to turn the Likeable Rogue archtype that Han occupied on it's head, making it about a female since I thought that was more interesting, but Jonyna's flirty tendencies have kinda fallen to the wayside since joining Chaos, turning more to the Girl Next Door that I like. She ended up as very much a Mary Jane Watson type, someone who's proud of the fact she is of the feminine persuasion, and doesn't see the point in being ashamed of her own beauty.

Her fighting style is kind of an accident. I originally wanted her to be the twin bladed duelist who just wouldn't stay down, but the EOTE system allowed me to spec into an "Unleash" skill in the Force, and I thought it would be fun to fly around and become a dodge tank instead. When I came to chaos, I wanted to expand on that and she ended up just becoming an elementalist duelist.

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

I usually have concepts that I build characters around.

Dreidi - A legacy character who feels she has to live up to the reputation of her parents and finds a path of being a witch of Dathomir and being a Jedi.

Kat - How would an Echani be seen when they have prosthetic legs and makes their combat moves less perfectly fluid?

Lily - Another legacy character that was initially scared of her Force Powers and while noble, she is also open to helping others and wanting to become as strong a fighter as her idols.

Others I write have specific trait or story beat that I wish to explore and expand from there. We all get inspired by media around us, rarely do we have a creative original thought but I don't know where I get ideas specifically from.

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna was created before the site banned prostitution; she was originally a hooker with a heart of gold who went on a quest for redemption. I'd say that while the rule change forced me to downplay that aspect of her past (probably for the best), the soul of the character remains the same. She is a reformed fallen woman.

I don't know where or when exactly this archetype was introduced to me. Probably it was Mary Magdalene, who has been (mistakenly) depicted as a former prostitute for about 1500 years now. She's also pretty commonly found in the works of Dostoevsky, one of my favorite writers - Sonya in Crime and Punishment, Grushenka in The Brothers Karamazov, etc. Those were probably my primary inspirations, although I never really thought about those characters specifically while I was writing Inanna.

 

[Ari Naldax]

Take Star Wolf (from Starfox), mix him with Maverick, Pixy from Ace Combat, and Corran Horn. The main inspiration was because I was listening to the X-wing audiobooks, and then when I started writing her character was the very end of the Bryn wars and beginning of the Maw, so I wanted to make a whole deal about how she explicitly opposes the sorts of governments that go around glassing/genociding/blowing up planets.