Hello Fellow Mizaharians!
Keeping with our tradition, the Founders Circle and Regional Storytellers are proud to announce that the Featured Character of the Month of July is Raeyn. Raeyn is one of Lhavit's newest denizens. He seems to have developed a wide fanbase of folks who frankly love to both love and hate him. That's quite the feet on this site. So, please join us in welcoming her to the elite club of Featured Character! His interview is below! |
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The Interview
1. What does collaborative storytelling do for you that other types of writing does not? What do you consider are its advantages?
Well i suppose the first and most important advantage is that it keeps me writing. As somebody who'se deeply deeply lazy, knowing that somebody is there on the other side, waiting for me to reply is THE best motivator. Additionally I think all forms of creative outlets benefit strongly from feedback. Writing alone, it's (at least to me) so easy to get stuck in my own head, whilst every single person I met on Mizahar so far has managed to inspire me and keep my character's story moving when I'm out of ideas.
The other major reason I'm here is that english is my second language. And not being able to practice it all the time, being self employed and working alone from home most days, means I forget how to speak. And being eloquent is so so important in a country where foreigners aren't always treated with tones of kindness because of the language divide. Creative writing is not only awesome for practicing my language skills but also being able to do it with other people means I learn A LOT in a really fun way.
2. How did you decide what sort of character you wanted to play on Mizahar? Did you have a character in mind already when you joined the site or did you start with something completely unique to Mizahar’s landscape?
This is a really hard question as most of my character creation is very random. They are usually (excluding the last alt) very simple at the start with a lot of scope to grow and change in game though role play rather than having expensive backgrounds that have shaped them. I'm the kind of person that likes to throw my self into stuff without thinking it though very hard and rely on my creativity to carry me. More recently I've started to set my self goals for a character at creation that have something to do with me OOCly wanting to explore certain parts of Mizahar lore that make it very unique. An example with Raeyn is his almost intrinsic need to learn all he can about Mizahar magic.
3. Do you feel more satisfied after writing a social post, pc development post, or a combat post? Why?
I enjoy all three but PC development is always top priority in my heart. To utilise a little gamer vernacular; seeing my PCs character change a little for better or for worse is like levelling up. Being able to look back on his thread list and see all the hard work it took to push him inch by inch to discover new things, develop new ideas and even new relationships is extremely satisfying.
4. What are your favorite types of threads and what do you always try to inject into threads to keep them interesting?
I'm a complete sucker for drama, even unnecessary drama. I love for creating highly emotional settings for all characters involved to find them self in where a lot is at stake, they're challenged at every step and both, the character as well as my self, know that one wrong turn means they can loose something of great value to them... I'd compare it to the adrenaline rush of watching a really engaging movie only I get to write half the plot. What could be better?
It helps that I'm very very emotionally involved with my characters. Whatever they feel, I feel vicariously though them as hours spent on writing their stories builds a sort of bond of empathy. (And yes I am a nutcase)
I always like to throw a small element of ridiculousness into posts however. Perhaps not all of them but it entertains me no end to put my boys in a position of ultimate cringyness. I can't have my stories be all dark all the time after all as that would get boring very quickly.
5. What is some of the favorite aspects of Mizahar that keeps you coming back?
Theres two aspects that Make mizahar such a uniquely enjoyable place that pop to mind straight away. The first being an incredibly fun, tight knit, supportive community. I genuinely look forward to waking up each morning and getting off work each evening to see familiar faces joking about in chat or discussing plot points. The other aspect is the lore of course. I LOVE the fact that none of the races are your standard elf, dwarf, orc etc. Each race, each magic and city has so many unique facets, and yes it's a massive learning curve at first to remember everything but it gets easier down the line. I think this is something that draws a lot of people to the site. Mizahar has something for everybody whilst still being creative and thinking outside the box.
6. On the subject of Alt Creation… what is your motivation for creating alts and what sort of satisfaction does it give you? What do you consider the downsides?
The main best thing about having an alt is that I can do things with him that I cannot do with Raeyn. With my alt I get to explore a whole new city, a whole new set of skills and interact with completely different characters and their respective players which is always tones of fun. It also gives me a break from Raeyn's perpetual grumbling. Boy really needs to learn how to lighten up a little...
The massive downside of having an alt, which I soon came to learn that now I don't just have one set of skills to build, but 2. And so I'm not only having to be rather choosy about which skills to learn, but also make sure I'm making the most out of my solo time. Skill building with one character is hard enough but doing it with two is definitely a challenge. To overcome this I had to make the decision which character to focus on in terms of skill building. But not to worry! I'm still keeping up hope that somebody will figure out how to put more hours in the day!
On the subject of motivation to actually create an alt in the first place: I think all of us are guilty at one point or another of getting really inspired by an aspect of the lore and going "Oh I wan't to RP that!" and jumping the gun before really thinking the decision over. That's precisely what I've done. When I made Raeyn I promised my self to stick with this one character for a least a season.... then made the mistake of reading the Akalak lore less than a month later and the rest was history. I don't regret it though. Not for a second!
7. Can you talk a bit about the benefits of an NPC companion or presence in your PC’s life? I recently approved an NPC Kelvic bondmate for your PC and I was curious how that is going to affect your PC? Frankly he seems too good for him.
Oh there's so much to talk about here I don't even know where to start so please forgive my rambling. The main purpose of this NPC at least at this point is to balance out a lot of the damage I've done to Raeyn's psychological well being by being a really mean mean writer. This kind of NPC is so much more than just a plot device however, in spite of perhaps starting off as one. He's a way of introducing new purpose in Raeyn's life, new set of benefits and draw backs. But also Raeyn is a curveball in the Kelvic's life just as much. Just like in any normal relationship, some people will bring the best out of their partner whilst others do quite the opposite and there is just as much good in Raeyn as there is evil.
Yes he's going to completely offset Raeyn's grouchy, egoistical, antisocial personality with his almost mainly social ratty ways but, being a Kelvic, there's no one better for Raeyn to grow to care deeply about. Sasha, being a Rat Kelvic who will, due to the nature of his species, have a remarkably short life, in itself, poses a whole lot of issues. Extremely fast ageing (roughly 10 years per season) and the inevitability of death are just a few that instantly pop to mind. The scope of ways for Raeyn to deal with these problems is endless but so are the risks. And only time will tell what happens but it sure as hell is going to be emotional. (As I mentioned before... I'm a very mean mean writer.)
8. What are your PC’s long term goals? Do they change season to season or are you slowly working towards something specific?
Raeyn's long term goals are to master all forms of world magic (apart from webbing of course). And if it sounds like an impossible goal, well, that's because it is! He's a man that dreams really really big. And whilst OOC i don't care if he ever reaches this goal or not, as I'm more concerned with the journey there, in his mind IC there's no doubt that he will reach it one way or another. In my experience very flawed characters who are quite self aware in their flaws need a big, hard to achieve goal to keep them afloat. Raeyn would become bored with his life if things came too easily to him so he naturally gravitates to the things which are the hardest to achieve.
OOC I do set seasonal goals just to give my self more manageable expectations. Mastering a bunch of complex magics is a rather overwhelming goal so I like to take it little bits at a time. Baby steps.
9. Talk a little bit about why you decided to play male characters on Mizahar instead of females. What do you find easy and challenging about them? Do you enjoy the gender roll switch in writing?
I LOVE playing male characters. Theres just something that makes it so much easier to me to empathise with a very flawed male character. Just as I'm not very successful with writing female character, I'm not very good at writing happy, perfect male characters either or children for that matter. Why that is? I've been trying to Dr Phil this question for a long time and with no lock as of yet.
10. You always build in a lot of flaws in your PCs right out of the gate. How do you decide what sort of flaws they are going to have and how do you work through them in game (or have you)?
A lot of the flaws of my characters are heavily inspired by the setting they're in. For example a result of Raeyn's egoistical nature is that he grew up in a city with relatively little prejudice, with loving parents who had a steady income and relatively little to worry about. A lack of adversity in one's life doesn't build a strong character with a rigid moral compass. He's constantly working though it, albeit in his own little way but hey, this is where the character development comes in. It's hard to develop a character who'se easy going and chilled out right out of the gate. Building a lot of very specific flaws into them means I've actually got a place to start posting and see where these posts lead.
A lot of the time it takes far longer than a single encounter or a single thread to work though a character's flaw even if its very small. It's a bit of a push and pull with Raeyn especially as I often find that after conquering one fear or quirk, ten more sprout up in it's place. But as I said, these are what keeps his story moving.
11. Finding a core RP group is often difficult. You seem to be talented at setting up your PCs in situations where they always have a lot of company in terms of other characters driven by other players. How do you manage to accomplish this? What is your secret to making friends and enemies?
I'm very much guilty of sitting in the discord server at all hours of the day and night. Most of my plots and threads are planned out there with the help of the extremely creative and talented friends I've made, completely accidentally, though just being there and unable to keep my mouth shut.
But the seasonal character registry is also a blessing. Most people reply to PMs and if I approach them with an idea of "Looks here's how my character can make your character's life better/more interesting." I find that a lot of the time they're at least willing to consider giving RP with me a go. There's no point being shy about these things. If someone says no to a thread its never malicious and usually at least starts a conversation going which can lead to many fun ideas to be exchanged down the line.
12. Here’s your soap box question! Is there anything you want to talk about in regards to your character and or the game itself? You have an audience so feel free to jump on the soapbox and talk a bit about anything you want!
Er... uh... I'm never good with these things. I guess I'd just like to say I'm extremely thankful and lucky to be surrounded by such a vibrant community of writers and characters who all have something unique to add to this already amazing forum. Writing here has pulled me though some really dark times by being able to separate my self from whatever negativity was going on in my life at the time. I could not be more appreciative and humbled by this. Just like any form of self expression whether its music, drawing or anything else, Mizahar its more than just a hobby and I could not be more grateful that I found it.
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by Okara on July 1st, 2018, 3:58 am 
