  Greetings Mizahar!! April's Featured Character selected as always by the Founders Circle and RSes. This individual is an active grader, vlogger, lore writer, and a force of productivity and storytelling. If that wasn't enough for you, both her and her writer can also dance  . Without further ado I present to you Sayana, Congratulations for joining the ranks of Featured Character's, you've most certainly earned it! |
1. A lot of people have roleplaying experience before arriving at Mizahar, and you are no exception. Can you tell us about any previous roleplaying sites or experience you've had vs. how Mizahar has been for you? My very first roleplaying site was none other than Neopets. Granted, roleplaying was only a small facet of Neopets, but it was enough to get me started. This style was rather fast paced single paragraph posts in which you usually wrote out a response in 3-5 minutes. I started when I was in grade 10 or 11 because I had always wanted to write a medieval fantasy book and I thought it would be a great place to get me more comfortable with the idea of writing. This soon molded into one-on-one roleplaying via email when I found a great roleplay partner from neopets and wanted to take things further. This particular roleplay with this partner lasted about 6 months and it was a fabulous experience in many ways. It also happened to be the roleplay in which Sayana was born (personality and characteristics), although she was only a secondary character in this story. The primary character of this story was a blind woman named Samantha who in hindsight was too much like me, and thus I haven’t played her since. After that roleplay came to a close, I did a few more one-on-ones with various people I found through neopets and usually I played Sayana but in different forms to fit the genre. Sayana has even been a vampire once. *Watches as all of you cringe* Then university hit, and I put roleplaying on hiatus for about 4 years. I can’t remember what numbers I said in my vlogs, but these are much more accurate since I’m actually thinking them out. Then, last fall I thought I’d peek around some roleplay sites and Mizahar caught my eye. Mizahar has been very different from my past roleplaying experiences. I struggled a lot of with the time fluidity and keeping track of how things were going chronologically. It was challenging writing different threads at the same time and not knowing if someone might disappear. The extensive lore was very different and very appealing, but it meant that I had to do a lot of reading before starting plots. One of my biggest struggles was increasing my word counts. I was used to a much quicker paced style of roleplaying with shorter post lengths, and now in Mizahar I had to adjust for longer wait times and also creating longer and more detailed posts. Overall, despite the challenges I think I got a lot better with my writing and I no longer struggle to get that minimum 300 word count on my posts. I also think Mizahar helped improve my quality of writing and I get really excited whenever I find out that people are reading my threads. 2. What are Sayana's greatest hopes and aspirations? Funny you should ask. I just wrote a solo titled “Ideals and Aspirations”. Sayana has a lot of short term goals such as becoming a better dancer and getting hired at the Herald’s Arms (the goals outlined in that particular thread). She’s also preparing to become a mother and might need to plan a wedding soon *wink wink nudge nudge*. She’s also been trying to overcome her fear of Zith and get over the trauma she experienced with such a creature. In terms of greatest hopes and aspirations, Sayana is a little more flimsy about them. They are more like potential ideas that she may or may not live to see, but I will list them anyways. She would love to have a big enough party that Sivah himself attends. She would also like to open a dance school in the distant future but first she wants to travel enough to see other styles of dance throughout the world. 3. Sayana's sordid past with Zith has shaped her quite a lot. Has any PC interactions she has had shaped her to such a degree? Why or why not? Currently, the most important PC in her life is Aren. You know, that sexy blue Akalak who wields fire like it’s nobody’s business and swings about a scythe just for the fun of it. He will be shaping her a lot as she figures out what it means to be in a committed relationship and what it will be like to be a mother. She’s already had to submit to the fact that her child, or son specifically, will not have six arms like her and will hardly look like her at all. She’s also going to have troubles changing her frivolous flirty lifestyle to one that is more loyal and committed. I’ll have to see how successful she is with that. So yes, there have been some PC interactions that have begun shaping her quite strongly and that’s because as a writer I feel that this is the meat and substance of roleplaying. Her past with the Zith was a good jump start into some rich character development, but I want other characters to impact her (including the lovely Zith named Treachery). 4. If things were different where would you see Sayana, and what would she be doing if you had picked a different race for her when you made her on Mizahar? I’m going to answer this as if I didn’t need to worry about adequate activity levels in certain cities (because that was the most important reason why I started her in Syliras). If Sayana were a Dhani, she would be kicking butt in Zinrah and potentially antagonizing the Myrians. She would be a constrictor and would be skilled in unarmed combat. She would also dance, but in a more serpentine sensual way. She would also be much more religious and in tune with the nature around her. If she was Myrian, she’d probably be doing the exact same but in Taloba and antagonizing the Dhani. Though her dancing would be more tribal and she’d have a bigger weapon. If Sayana was a human, she’d be in Sunberth. And even if she was a Dhani, she might managed to get to Sunberth… somehow. And in Sunberth she’d be rather similar to her current character but more openly vicious with her daggers. This was actually my original design of Sayana, but due to the laws and peace and imminent punishment if you were to break such laws in Syliras, I had to tone her back a lot. She would also do rather well in Ravok if she wasn’t so obviously non-human. But that would bring out the darker side of her. 5. Dancing is a love of both Sayana and you as a writer. What would happen if you two had a dance off? (and had to perform a variety of dances) Voila. I’m on the right and she’s on the left. In all honesty, she would beat me in belly dancing now (this is with her being closer to novice skill level instead of competent and also being a little anxious about the competition). However, I would totally own her in partner dances (she doesn’t know them at all). It would be a toss-up in terms of modern dance or ballet. It was actually rather challenging to dance with two distinct personalities and I feel like I didn’t give her enough credit. But I still wanted to show an epic dance off. 6. Where would you see Sayana and what types of dancing would you see her doing if she was transported onto Earth? (you can pick if its today or sometime in the past) If Sayana was transported to Earth, she would find her way to Jamaica to eat the hot spicy food there and dance the Salsa, Cha cha, Merengue, Bachata, and all the rest of the Latin dances. She wouldn’t totally abandon belly dancing but she would use her hip movements to spice up the Latin dances. She would also be very flirty in such a context and would probably pick up a lot of guys. Sorry Aren, the question didn’t suggest that you got transported with her, so she’d be rather lonely. 7. What are your and Sayana's favorite types of music? I’ll start with Sayana’s because it’s more straightforward. Sayana likes the earthy drumbeats of Ahnatep and the Benshiras. This music is modeled after Arabic drumming with a few other percussive instruments. She has recently started enjoying various drinking songs often played at the taverns in Syliras, mostly because they are lively and filled with euphemisms. My favourite music often depends on the purpose of the music. For example, I like partner dancing to swing/jazz music and also typical pop music. I like to belly dance to Arabic pop music, drum solos, or regular pop music. When I’m seeking motivation for writing (or even for doing my schoolwork) I like to listen to soundtracks or “epic music” (like battle music or other fantasy-like music). When I want to see a really fun concert, I adore a capella music especially if it’s got a barbershop quartet style to it or where the singers create instrumental sounds with their voices. The songs themselves might be a whole range of styles and genres but usually I can count on those concerts to be enjoyable. All in all, I like a lot of music. There are only a few types like rap that I’m not a fan of. 8. As a Grader what are some of your favorite types of threads to read? As a caveat, I’m probably going to list a whole slew of threads here. I love reading threads with strong character development and big choices that the character has to make. I love it when bits of foreshadowing are thrown in. I remember reading one thread in which I positively squeed when I realized which goddess he was going to put his faith in, since it was foreshadowed really nicely. I like watching characters struggle. If you get a thread graded from me, usually one of my comments will be along the lines of, “I like how the PC struggled to do such-and-such and you put a lot of detail in describing it.” I have a soft spot for romance and I’ll quickly nab those threads for grading so I can read all the gossip about those characters. And lastly, I like threads with unexpected surprises. As a reader you think it’s going to go one way and then nope. I also really enjoy playing/writing those sorts of threads (though it kills me when I’ve got threads going on after it that rely on the events of the earlier thread – which suddenly changed its direction). Specifically as a grader, I really like threads that contain well thought out posts that contain a single idea or theme to them. It gives the thread a sense of clarity and makes it really easy to read and grade. In particular this applies to solo threads. 9. What is a dream article or lore for you to work on if you could grab any one thing and either make it or develop if further? I’m currently working on my dream article – Skill: Dance. It’s slow going since I seem to get easily distracted by threading partners… and I have so many plots to write. But expect a full write up including how to dance, different ways to categorize dancing, and many specific styles of dance found in Mizahar (by race, city and religion). If I were to try a second one, I might consider Architecture. I’d have to do a load of research into building methods of the time and what mathematical principles they would have access to. This would cover both buildings and bridges as well as the design and construction methods of these structures. But first things first. Let’s get the dance article done. 10. Is there any advice you wish you knew when you first started on Miz that you could give to new players now? First off, don’t make the mistake of writing a 7 page thread with posts that are only 200-300 words each. I did that. And I won’t do it again. Usually threads that are 4 pages or longer are considered long and a pain to grade. Yes, it can be a lot of fun to do frequent short posts but it doesn’t match the writing style of Mizahar. Secondly, for those who struggle to make long or meaningful posts, there are two things that really help me. Firstly, find a source of conflict. You can drastically increase the length of a post if something goes wrong and it also makes it more interesting and engaging. Secondly, find a secondary skill you’d like to learn. As soon as you realize that you’d like to add some persuasion, or planning, or singing to a thread it opens up a whole range of ideas to explore and consequently makes it easy to write a longer post. Plus you get the bonus of more experience points. And finally, find those rich details in everyday life. Maybe I’m a sucker for simple “easy” plots, or maybe I find it too tricky to coordinate with an ST to make large world shaping plots, but there’s a lot of meaning and depth you can put into what seems like a simple plot. You could go chasing monsters or… you could have a party, redecorate your home, force someone on stage, pull a prank, have a one-night stand and deal with the consequences, suffer through an illness, suffer through morning sickness, or just meet someone who hates your guts for no apparent reason. If you can make the small things fun, then the big things will be petching awesome. 11. Here is the wondrous blank spot to write whatever you wish, have at it! Whooooo!!! I most definitely did not expect to be awarded featured character. Thanks everyone =D First off, I’d like to give a few shout-outs to some of my awesome thread partners. Thanks a million Garland for being that first strong and steady roleplay partner when I was a newbie. I remember when I first joined and made an open thread, I specifically targeted you with it. And like a charm you took the bait. But really, thanks a lot. I wouldn’t have gotten very far if I didn’t have a great roleplay partner near the beginning and I think you have successfully made it to 11 of my threads now. Thank you Aventis for being the first character to actively dislike Sayana, despite all her attempts to make him like her. And thank you for being such a sweetie OOC. I’ve only had one thread with Aventis IC but I’ve chatted ridiculous amounts with you OOC. Thank you Aren for agreeing to that first one night stand, which turned into something even more. Thank you for all the awesome awesome long-term plotting (for better or for worse) and I can’t wait to see how all that will turn out. Thank you Treachery for letting Sayana throw daggers at you. Despite the fact that he’s being treated as ‘an evil zith’, each plot with you has been really dynamic in terms of character development and I can’t wait till the next one. And also thanks to a few more awesome PCs and graders: Devi, Nivel, Orin, Zyd, and Kat. Now with that out of the way, I’ve got a sneak preview of upcoming plots: Sayana’s baby doesn’t make it. In fact, when she goes to see the Sunset Falls she gets into a fight with Aren. The heated argument soon comes to blows and Sayana slips off the edge of the cliff to plummet into the rocky waters at the base of the waterfall. The water is not deep enough and she snaps her neck on a rock and slowly sinks into the water becoming one with the river. She does not become a ghost because she has nothing to live on for. Her baby is dead, she is at odds with her lover, and it simply makes sense to join the spirit of Eypha beyond the world of Mizahar. I realize that this might be hard to take in because she just got the award of Featured Character. But all good things must come to an end. Now is the time to say your good byes. Sayana is going to die this Spring… April Fools! Sayana will be alive and kicking for a while yet. Stay tuned for fun plots. |
