The Spider King's Scrapbook

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

I only just now read your post from a couple weeks ago about Valerius's views. But I must say I found them fascinating.

I love it when people play a character that has so many flaws and is easily to dislike. There's so much depth and potential for conflict. That's part of why I made Tock as someone with such a smug attitude and short temper. Sometimes she just pisses people off, and they don't know how to deal with her.

I love Val (and we should do another thread together sometime). A couple things in particular I noticed in your post that drew my attention:

-All the parts about not wanting to touch people, thinking women need to wear a dress, not liking an assertive woman in pants... Well, I experienced that first hand. The best part I thought was not just that he had these prejudiced views... but that he seemed to really believe what he was saying. When Tock argued with him, he even made valid arguments to support his views! That's one of the things that I think makes Val a great character; that he is intelligent, motivated, and has reasons behind the things that he does. If I see a character that is just racist or whatever for no reason, it seems flat. But Val has a lot of depth behind his views, and that makes him very interesting.

Along those lines, when you say things like "Valerius doesn't get drunk... he wants to have himself under control at all times..." I find myself curious what it would be like if he DID get drunk. And how he would feel about himself afterwards. Whether he would admit to the weakness or become more reinforced with the idea that he must never do such a thing again!

Anyway, that's just my two coppers. Love this character, and hope to see more development from him in the future!

[Valerius Nitrozian]

I'm glad that you like Val. I like Tock as well and really enjoyed arguing with her and insulting her.

Maybe we'll get another opportunity to thread sometimes.

As for Val getting drunk, I'm not sure how I am supposed to go about it - Val would never voluntarily get drunk unless Rhysol ordered him to - but I'll add it to my goals for him.

It would be interesting.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

It always happen by accident. He's at some function, trying to be careful how much he drinks. But the servants keep refilling his glass and he doesn't pay attention to how many glasses he's had already. Someone starts stressing him out and he drinks more to relieve the tension. Etc etc. I know I've been in real life situations where I didn't realize until afterwards quite how much I'd had. And then you stand up from the table and feel a wave of dizziness that makes you think back on it and go, "Damn, I didn't think I drank that much..."

[Valerius Nitrozian]

Maybe some kind of dinner with somebody more powerful than him then where he can't just refuse a drink and is under a lot of pressure ...

Although I'm pretty sure that Val doesn't say "damn", even when he's drunk.

[Veldrys]

Here is a short analysis of my second PC who, as it turns out, is pretty much the opposite of Valerius (and a little too nice sometimes).

About Veldrys

1. Veldrys is probably one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. He’s calm, he’s kind, he’s gentle, and he always tries to help.
2. Veldrys is always a little shy, a little withdrawn and sometimes doesn’t talk a lot.
3. Veldrys has a problem getting angry.
4. Veldrys isn’t a particularly dominant person and finds it hard to give orders, especially to somebody he cares about (which was a problem in his relationship with Lucette).
5. Veldrys thinks that the hatred that many people feel for Symenestra is justified, but at the same time people should understand that there are exceptions – like him.
6. Veldrys has very low self esteem, but at the same time he is utterly confident in his abilities as a doctor and thinks he’s very good.
7. Veldrys disapproves of the Harvest, but he isn’t the kind of man who loudly and obviously rebels. He doesn’t think that there’s a point in it. He’s just quietly decided to find a way to save his people instead.
8. Veldrys doesn’t discriminate against other races. Oh, he kind of dislikes Zith a little, and he doesn’t particularly care for Myrians because they live in Falyndar where the Symenestra lived before the Valterrian, but in general he doesn’t see a point in hating/being suspicious of an entire race. People are individuals, not clones of each other.
9. Veldrys loves nature.
10. Veldrys isn’t gay or straight. He doesn’t care about somebody’s race or gender. He isn’t attracted to what people have between their legs or the color of their skin. He is attracted to personalities first and foremost (although he’ll probably never fall in love with a Jamoura or a Nuit, no matter how nice they are).
11. Veldrys desperately longs to be a father. As far as he is concerned, life is pointless if you don’t leave anything to those that come after you – he wants a part of him to live on - but he isn’t ready to make the necessary sacrifice yet.
12. His biggest fear is that he won’t accomplish anything of note and that he’ll die alone and be forgotten.
13. Veldrys is extremely religious. He often cuts himself in the name of his god and sacrifices his blood to show Viratas how much he cares. Sometimes he cuts too deep.
14. Veldrys isn’t afraid of blood, he doesn’t find it disgusting, he loves it and finds it fascinating.
15. Veldrys is fiercely protective of those he cares about.
16. Veldrys is suspicious of magic, even his own magic.
17. Veldrys has a hard time trusting people and confiding in them. Sometimes he thinks it’s better not to get too close to anybody.
18. Veldrys is always a little melancholic, but he’s not depressed.
19. Veldrys is interested in history, and he enjoys telling stories. Had things gone a little differently, he might have become a teacher rather than a doctor.
20. Veldrys’ biggest wish is to become a priest of Viratas and serve his god for the rest of his life.
21. Veldrys is a proud man.

[Poison]

Nissabella Rose

It doesn't happen very often that a PC genuinely surprise me, but Nissabella Rose did. In the thread I'm moderating for her her rival tried to set herself up as Moth Queen and steal Nissabella's place in the spotlight. She tried to push her off a stage as well. A guard was about to arrest her. I fully expected Nissabella to agree with that, but she forgave her rival and asked if they couldn't both be Moth Queen because the Morning of the Moths was supposed to be a happy occasion.

I'm not sure if I could have forgiven somebody who tried to hurt me. I don't think that even my Veldrys who is usually a very nice person would have reacted like that.

Read the thread. It's one of my favourite threads right now (that includes my PCs' threads).

[Nissabella Rose]

She surprised me too. Though it wasn't forgiveness so much as pity and the desire not to make a scene that motivated her to decide to share the glory instead. I have a feeling she'll try to get back at Soraya when all of Kalinor isn't watching her on a stage.

It's one of my favorite threads as well. Thank you for suggesting it and being such a patient and creative moderator while writing it.

[Poison]

The new semester at my university has started, so expect delays as I'm trying to adjust to my new schedule. There will be little posting until the end of the month (but I'll answer PMs and do some work behind the scenes).

[Valerius Nitrozian]

More about my Valerius because I’m doing NaNo with him and thus posting a lot with him. I usually make four to five posts a week (and that’s a good week). Now I post four to five times a day, and there is no end in sight. It really helps me to get to know him better. When I created Valerius I had a certain person in mind: rich, really rich and kind of evil. He was supposed to delight in torture and be powerhungry. He was also supposed to have had a few lovers already and probably a bastard here or there. I wanted to try a dark character because I’ve never played such a character before. Valerius showed me that he isn’t like that though. Oh, he’s rich and he tortures his slaves every now and then because they are slaves and it helps him relieve some tension, but he isn’t unncessarily cruel. He thinks he’s that big, bad guy, but in the end he’s just a spoiled, stubborn kid (that is 23 and has a university degree or two). He isn’t a nice man, not really, he’s indifferent towards a lot of things, but he isn’t evil. He just has a few issues. He worships Rhysol, but he’s never seen the darkest side of Ravok. He’s never known real violence and real suffering. He’s never been seriously hurt. He’s been protected by his family’s name and wealth all his life. He thinks that he wants to be evil and serve Rhysol completely, but I’m not sure what he’ll do when he sees the world he’s grown up in for what it really is. As Nya wrote in one of her post, he’s more like an expert on Ravokian fashion and etiquette than a torturer (even though he thinks he knows everything about torturing another person). He wants power, but I don’t think he’s willing to do whatever it takes. In a flashback I recently started he actually thought about how he wanted to stay in Zeltiva and become a professor or something similar (headmaster?) rather than contributing to the family business and becoming a slave trader. In his own way a professor has just as much influence as a man who sells slaves and belongs to the Mizaharian equivalent of a noble house. He can influence the next generation. And of course he doesn’t have a lover or a child either. He has a lot of issues when it comes to sex (and I still don’t know why exactly, I only have certain suspicions, my dear Valerius insists that this isn’t any of my business). Am I the only one whose PC turned out to be completely different?

[Oluse]

It doesn't sound to me that he turned out so much different than u anticipated but rather deeper. I think any "good" evil character has distinct motives, and personality influences for actions. When you dig down deep enough they are not as different as the rest of us. More often than not it comes down to upbringing. Still, I wonder what draws players to morally questionable characters. Why we take so my delight in seeing out evil characters trudge through their dungeons and recite their nefarious speeches. Odd ~.^

That said, Zeltiva is more than open to the hawty. Though, I am nearly certain the directors would take issue with a professor teaching torture in their university. haha