Feedback How to keep a character’s faith

[Minuteman75]

To be honest folks after the Taris mission I don't know what to do with Minerva. I know she has a place in the GA defense force and really grateful for that but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how she can stay loyal to her own Mandalorian code of honor when so many who bear similar armor carry out mass murders like recently on Cathar.

I know a crisis of faith can help with character development but it’s just at the same time I want her to remain a Mandalorian. But how can she can keep her faith when many fellow Mandos repeatedly choose to commit atrocities?

 

[Drego Ruus]

I've been trying to put together a minor faction based on anti-crusader mandos, so if you wanna join that I'm up for it.

Other than that, have it be a part of her character. Not a crisis of faith, but a reaffirmation to find people who are like her, and redefine what being a mando is.

The Crusaders want to hold the big stick and define what the mando code is, but they aren't the entirety of mando writers on the board. Being a mando, much like being a jedi or sith, is a broad spectrum of ideas based on your own ideas about the franchise.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Minuteman75

For my part, I don't try to keep my characters where I want them. I let them decide, I watch the situations in their point of view, what suits them, what they would do, and I write them accordingly. So try this and write as the character would choose, it's much more interesting. I know sometimes they do stupid things that can turn into disasters, but at the end of the day, that's character development.

 

[Minuteman75]

Minuteman75

For my part, I don't try to keep my characters where I want them. I let them decide, I watch the situations in their point of view, what suits them, what they would do, and I write them accordingly. So try this and write as the character would choose, it's much more interesting. I know sometimes they do stupid things that can turn into disasters, but at the end of the day, that's character development.

Being her own definition of a Mandalorian is who she is. Having her give up her adopted identity would be letting the Crusaders win in the regard and spit on the memory of her late father. That doesn‘t fit Minerva’s character at all. She wouldn’t want what she sees as a bunch of self-destructive zealots define who she is even when struggling in her soul over all that‘s going on.

Going against the flow is her style, mistakes and all. Of course development is essential so I’ll consider more from her point of view and see what goes from there.

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

Minuteman75 you could always follow a similar path to Jenn Kryze , another GA affiliated Mandalorian who is an enemy of the crusaders. My Sith PC is actively fighting her forces and allies in an invasion right now, and it seems clear to me at least that while she maintains her Mandalorian ferocity and fights for- among other things- revenge, she does so for the right reasons.

It's also important to remember that the crusader culture so prevalent on chaos is dead in canon and by thousands of years. There are other canon philosophies that have made it onto chaos that originate from Mandalore, such as the Supercommando Codex which was a response against factions who tried to revive the crusader aspects of Mandalorian culture.

One thing i've noticed during my time playing Mandalorians, which has been my entire stay on chaos until switching to sith within the last few months, is the factions who love to commit atrocities and focus solely on those mandalorians never last long once they go down that route. They have strong starts but lose steam. Those of us who don't? we're few but we also endure.


All that being said, it might be good to find your character a mentor, someone to keep them on the path. I can't fill that role rn because my muse for mandalorians is shot, i wouldn't be able to keep up. But it might be worth checking the GA and it's allies for someone who could fit that bill.

If you don't mind someone with a much smaller impact though? I could offer a thread or two if you wanted to ask Aloy for advice. She's become a grandmother now and pseudo-retired to Concordia which she now governs as it's moody guardian, staying out of the war and focusing on shoring up defenses and taking care of the next generation.

 

[Carduul Akahl]

Speaking as one of said crazy crusaders in a new crusade...

Mandalorian culture is extremely open to interpretation. What Aloy Vizsla said is very on-point; the only 'true' tenets that can be considered are that of the Resol'nare, and even then the interpretations of which are often hazy. It's how seemingly outlandish doctrines still fall under the category of 'Mando' - the original Neo-Crusader doctrine is a prime example, as the Mandalorian tenets do nothing to restrict rapid indoctrination, mass production, and uniformity, despite most of these things being the antithesis of what most people know to be how Mandalorians operate.

Crusaders are a revolving door for Mandalorian culture; they exist, but they do not speak for every Mando. From the mercenaries who follow the tenets of the Supercommando Codex (such as Shuklaar Kyrdol 's Strill Securities, bounty hunters like Koda Fett himself) to those who simply forged their own path to join forces with others (the likes of which Minerva, Jenn Kryze , Drego Ruus have done), to those who strike out on their own personal quests for vengeance like Aloy Vizsla , they are all still very much Mandalorians. They still follow their tenets, codes of honor, and wear their armor. More violent groups like the Crusaders can't truly refute that so long as they believe themselves to be Mando'ade.

Internal dispute between said interpretations on Culture is usually a recurring plot hook for Mandalorians on Chaos. There have been Civil Wars, Rebellions from splinter sects, and those who have risen up to rebuild the scattered remnants. They might call each other names because they are on opposing sides, but in the end, they're all still Mandalorians.

This questioning of faith seems like it would be a good character point, and she is far from needing to forsake her heritage entirely to develop upon it. It's up to the character to hold fast to what they believe is the right Way forwards, either with the help of some outside advice, the vast experience and connections she has gathered in her time with the GADF, or simply her own sheer grit and will.

 

[Jenn Kryze]

I won't lie, I'm truly flattered I've been mentioned here as an example - especially considering my own worries at times when it comes to my writing and Jenn's place as a Mandalorian. It is a great comfort, to know Jenn's vibes hit right. Now, with that out of the way...

The two comments above mine are completely right. The Mandalorian people are, as Jenn would (and has!) put it several times, far from monolithic in their structure. Do they follow the Resol'nare? The Supercommando Codex? The Way of the Mandalore? The Catechisms the Enclave had going on? Or even the ways of the Neo-Crusaders? Factually speaking, although all of these groups may very well just consider themselves "True Mandalorians" and throw out accusations of being dar'manda at opposing sects - there is no way to truly determine who is more right or wrong in their interpretation of the culture.

I look at your conundrum and I am reminded of how I was left in a similar situation with Jenn. During the Enclave's war with the Galactic Alliance, I was given the opportunity to explore the push and pull between her loyalty to her people - and her morals standing in the way of fully committing herself to the Crusade. When the Enclave went minor, I re-examined where I wanted the character to go, and I am not ashamed to admit that it took me some time to really understand what I wanted to do with her. I considered having her join the GA, but avoiding joining any faction, minor or major, gave me the luxury of time to throw threads around and get into the character's headspace a little more. What would she do, now that she was free? What creed would she follow? I think Minerva could ask herself the same question. What is her guiding set of principles, as a Mandalorian? Is it an existing one, or is she perhaps not content with choosing the options presented to her?

The advice given by Ingrid L'lerim is excellent, in that way. Get in the headspace of your character, see what it is they would do, what they want. For instance, when I realized that Jenn just didn't mesh with the Protectors at all, on account of their breaking bread with unga bunga old ways Mandos (I mean this with no distaste for those who roleplay those Mandos at all, I'm just oversimplifying for the sake of argument. I am, if anything, glad that we can provide ideological contests for each other and can only hope that Jenn is a satisfying adversary in that regard) and disregarding her advice when it was given, I went back to the drawing board! I even had a period where both myself and the character questioned whether or not she truly was Mandalorian still, when she found herself cutting ties with so many of her people - and surrounding herself with outsiders.

Don't be afraid to write Minerva blazing a trail of her own, rather than one already trodden. I couldn't be happier with the direction I took Jenn as a Reformer, no matter how "un-Mando" it might seem from an outsider's perspective. The way I approached it was thus; figuring out which parts of the culture Jenn wanted to keep, and which parts she was fine with throwing away, until I ended up with the rough outline of what her vision entailed and rolling with it.

I hope the ramblings may be of some help to you.

Carduul Akahl and Aloy Vizsla are lowkey some of the only people Jenn considers her equals for instance, but in MASSIVELY DIFFERENT WAYS. The former is a grudging respect she somewhat resents herself for feeling, the latter is borne out of genuine and open admiration.

 

[Hakon Fett]

The Crusaders want to hold the big stick and define what the mando code is, but they aren't the entirety of mando writers on the board.

That’s an incredibly untrue and disparaging statement. As writers, we do not hold nor want to hold a ‘big stick’ over what other Mandalorian writers choose to write as a Mandalorian.

 

[Drego Ruus]

That’s an incredibly untrue and disparaging statement. As writers, we do not hold nor want to hold a ‘big stick’ over what other Mandalorian writers choose to write as a Mandalorian.

I didn't mean that as an OOC statement. It was meant as an IC statement. The NEO had done nothing other than spit on anything that isn't their rhetoric IC.

You guys are chill OOC, but IC y'all are big meanies.