John is a knight. While that is obvious, what does it mean? A while back I came up with the idea to have him write a book on knighthood. It started off well, but brought up alot of questions. What exactly IS a knight? The Syliran knights are sort of stereotypical (thought obviously I love them, here I am, playing one!), with their plate armor and their chivalry, their swords, horses and lances. But is that what a knight is? Part of Mizahar's attraction is change from the typical elves, dwarves and dragons. It's new and exciting, turning typical fantasy on its head with great results. It's, to put it frankly, real. But how does one break the sterotype playing a knight amongst an order of knights that fit exactly that stereotype? Not to mention that alot of knights historically were NOT nice people. They took what they wanted, at the point of the sword.
The whole thing is a slight conundrum that leaves me at odds with myself. I see myself wanting to take John in several directions at once. Sometimes I want to go for the dark brooding knight, who is good at heart, but makes the hard choices and does the dark deeds that are beneficial for humanity and Syliras in the long run. But is that who John is? I don't think so. More and more I see him as the shining beacon of chivalry. How cliche, I know. And nobody is perfect. I've been trying to introduce some blatant flaws, but I'm just not sure what. Too nice, or too giving, at the expense of his own health and wealth? I've also been thinking of taking him down the path of duty. Strict and prickly, a man who lives for being a knight. But I don't know.
I think a balance of things may be best. A knight who can laugh and sing and dance and drink, but who takes his job serious. A knight that loves swordplay, and wordplay, writing and fighting. To put it simply, a real person. I don't really know anyone in real life that fits in to one set category. PCs should be the same then, I suppose. Mix and match to make a person that is interesting and unique, has a personality of their own. I'm still searching for John's voice, the little guy in my head that will say, "John would do this," or, "John would NEVER do that!" He sort of popped up in my first thread with Rhuryc. In the interest of conflict (which is always fun), both Rhuryc and I broke character, and I felt John saying, "I would never be such a prick!" But he hasn't spoken to me since.
Maybe some more character development flashbacks might do the trick. I'm thinking of working on one flashback or another for at least the next two seasons, to hopefully help flesh John out. See what happens with his first love interest, Karen. I think I know, but I don't want to ruin it, in case anyone here read Part One of what I intend to make a three part Flashback/Quest.
So, as the title of my scrapbook says, what color is a Griffin? What kind of knight and what kind of person is John? Let's find out together, shall we?
