 Hello Mizahar! This month the Founder's Circle and RSes have selected Noven as our recepient of the Featured Character Award. Noven is the essence of a born and raised Sunberthian, gritty, mouthy, and playing by no one's rules but his own. His character is a delight to read and I hope you'll joining me in congratulating this well deserved award. |
1. How did you come to find Mizahar? What was your roleplaying experience if any before us? I'd been working a soulless, full time cubicle job for a couple of months when I decided I needed something I could do--sneakily and on the computer--to maintain my sanity. The irony was that even though I was doing graphic apparel, I felt zero creativity when I worked. So, I considered my options and remembered how much I enjoyed writing stories with my friends in school. What we did was similar to RPing on Miz, but we had full control over all the characters and essentially no rules, which often led to some gnarly situations we had little to no handle of. I'd never done forum RPing before and a friend had recommended it a few years back, so to googling I went. The decision took all of thirty seconds and I haven't regretted a single tick ever since. 2. How did you create Noven's character and persona? Was it based off of anyone or anything in particular, and how has he changed since his creation? Oh man, where to start...well, I think the very first time I thought of making a character like Noven was during the process of creating a different PC. My past characters were so, for lack of a better word, soft and non-combat oriented that the idea of a gritty, hardened persona just sort of spawned itself from everything I was unaccustomed to. And when I finally decided to sit down and flesh out this PC concept, I found myself viewing it as a sort of personal experiment. It was hard at first, trying to nail down a writing style for him, and surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly?) killing people was the easiest part. I suppose it's because killing itself is already such a violent act you don't need much to make it morbid. But it was stuff like reacting to things other PC's did, or sensitive situations concerning morality and emotion, that made it truly challenging. I had to work hard to make Noven behave like Noven. To be brutally and utterly honest, without flinching and without apologizing. As for who or what he's based off of, I basically took every fictional antihero, along with some real life people I knew, that I admired and mashed them all together. I wanted Noven to be someone both simple and complex. A straightforward character that possessed hidden depth and the ability to evolve, to explore parts of himself as much as I would. My biggest influence was probably Jim Butcher's modern day wizard, Harry Dresden. The guy has a flagrant disregard for authority but a ferocious drive as well to protect everyone and everything he cares for. He also has this fantastic tendency to royally piss off all the baddies with his snark and sarcasm. I think that might be my favorite aspect of Harry Dresden and I definitely tried to yoink a bit of his flippancy toward villains for Noven. After roughly a year and a half, Nov has definitely changed as a person. He can still be his usual, rogueish self, but there's an air of somberness hanging around him as well. He's getting ever closer to fulfilling his vendetta and has discovered quite a few shocking truths about his past along the way. There's more of that to come, too, and I anticipate that by the time he has traveled all the way to Taloba and back, he'll be a refined, and hopefully much more formidable, version of himself. He's definitely a sort of man who is honed ever sharper with time and experience, as there's no going back from where he's headed. 3. Sunberth draws a lot of folks into its rebellious fold. What to you is the essence of a Sunberthian character? Are there any particular PC's or NPCs that you feel really exemplify what it is to be an entity in Sunberth? That it does! To me, the essence of a Sunberthian is a stark, do whatever it takes kind of mentality. No one has the luxury to worry about morals and sympathies, and even if they did they'd shy far away from both. A moment's worth of weakness, of hesitance, and you could end up with your throat slit in the backend of some alleyway. I'm pretty sure most Sunberthians could use a vacation and some therapy. It's a stressful way to live, to say the least, especially when every decision you make could end in your grisly death. Resourcefulness can be just as powerful as brute strength or skill and only the most cunning can avoid being murdered right from the getgo. Another essential trait I think most Sunberthians have is a true sense of practicality. When you live in a cutthroat world where literally no one can be trusted, skill and competence are sometimes worth more than gold. They're suspicious of anything that they don't understand, which includes a lot of foreigners and magic, but if a native of the Berth realizes the opportunities a certain person or ability can provide, they're not afraid of using it to their advantage. Noven himself possesses no -ism's (racism, sexism, etc.) nor does he particularly care what people do behind closed doors, so long as there's no hideous abuse he's unable to turn away from. He has a very blunt way of looking at things and has no time to wonder at political correctness or nuanced connotations. Stuff either is or isn't, good or bad, useful or useless, and I think most Sunberthians are the same. For instance, no one, except maybe whores, really thinks about what the outfit they choose that day will say about their self expression. They think about whether they can fit a loaf of bread under their cloak or if their leather armor might protect them from a slash of a dagger. It's just hard reality to them and the entire city is pretty dismal, so folks aren't really in a position to judge their neighbors. Unless, of course, their neighbors are weak. Children of the Berth are like sharks smelling blood in the water when it comes to weakness. I think most PC's I've come across have embodied Sunberthness quite well, but the NPC who pulls it off best is probably Brega. She's nothing if not a Sunberthian at her entrepreneurial finest. A beautiful woman who used what she had to make and hold onto what she could, having no doubt suffered much along the way. Yet, still she has/had to bow to the Daggerhands, and nothing quite represents the Berth as well as its hierarchy of carnivores. Dog eat dog and all that good stuff. 4. As the writer what are your favorite types of threads and situations to put Noven in? Conversely what are his favorite situations to be in? As a writer, I am sadistic and enjoy situations where Noven is completely out of his element and totally uncomfortable. Keene and I have both agreed that if our characters could find us IRL, they'd commit bloody murder. As for Noven, I think his favorite situations are where he can kick in a few Daggerhand heads, go home without a runty orphan or blind, judgmental landlady in sight, and cook himself a good meal before calling it a day. He might even visit Happy Endings to lie in Isme's soft, caramel lap, if he feels up for the travel. Course, that has pretty much never happened. I'm sure if he could he'd hate me more than Krysus  5. What are Noven's feelings on Krysus? Are there any other deities he acknowledges or respects in any way? Noven has more or less accepted his lot with Krysus, but he absolutely does not like her. He acknowledges her power, particularly the small shred she's endowed him with, and respects her only out of fear that she will catch wind of his loathing and end him most hideously before he's seen his vendetta through. She is as much of a necessary evil in his life as fighting, killing, and turning a blind eye to some of the atrocities that happen in the Berth. She also instills in him a slimy sense of revulsion that I'm fairly certain she knows of and revels in, because he still has to try and not displease her regardless. He might respect other deities if he knew who the heck they were, but alas he is rather uneducated in that aspect, as most Sunberthians are, and bows to no one unless he absolutely has to or believes them worthy of leadership. 6. If you could imagine Noven growing up in a city that wasn't Sunberth, what would it be and how would it change who he is as a character? What an awesome question. I think I'd choose Zeltiva, just because it is everything Sunberth isn't despite their proximity. If Noven had grown up as a Zeltivan instead, say from a family as well off as Matthew's, he would have been sent to the University to study. He'd probably be one of those naturally gifted students who don't really try but somehow get by anyway, much to the frustration of his peers, and actively athletic as well. I imagine he'd have a gang of good friends to hang out with everyday, strolling about the streets as they joked around and tried to talk to pretty girls. He would be popular in a sort of understated, non-spotlight hogging way, and only do particularly well in subjects he finds interesting. After a while, though, he'd likely grow bored of this lifetsyle and the incessant disappointment from his parents, who would view him as unambitious and wasteful of his given opportunities. Escape from home would be inevitable as a result, and he'd start off as a rich boy fancying himself an adventurous traveler before realizing how ignorant he is. A hardy, fiesty Svefra might school him in the ways of true survival and eventually he would learn to live both humbly and fully. Alternatively, he could be with his biological mother still, living in Lhavit or Zeltiva and learning magic. He'd really be a Mizaharian doppelganger for Harry Dresden then, and likely find the whole business of magic fascinating. He's the sort who likes to take things apart and put them back together, and while Nov isn't a big fan of fine print and detail, he could definitely keep himself preoccupied for days at a time experimenting with different kinds of magic. A lot of trial and error would be involved, as well as some singed eyebrows and other entertaining (for me) mishaps. Basically an "oh I wonder what would happen if I did this and this togeth--BOOM" sort of process. Or, you know, something along those lines. It's not like I've thought this stuff through ahead of time or anything  7. Chat asks Pug or Poodle? I pose this to both you the writer and Noven  Personally, Pug. Because they are so derpy looking and loaf shaped. For Noven, neither, because Pugs are too slobbery for him and Poodles too frivolous. Like, he would genuinely not understand who decided to shave a dog this way and why, and probably find it to be a phenomenal waste of time/effort. 8. Where would Noven be and what would he be doing if you plopped him down today in our world? He'd probably be into martial arts, or work as a car mechanic with side hobbies like skate boarding/surfing/playing video games with his friends when he's off the clock. A humble, uncomplicated sort of guy who likes the simple stuff in life, like eating a good burger or...I dunno, building a table. 9. Is there anything in particular that gets you in the writing mood? Sweet tunes, good snacks, etc? Hmm, nothing too specific, just exciting threads I guess. I don't really know how to label or describe them but some threads open a lot of doors in my head for new ideas and that gets me pretty pumped. I don't normally listen to music while I write, either. I prefer absolute silence to focus and if people talk to me while I'm writing I get pretty peeved. Though I'd never turn down a good snack! 10. What does Mizahar mean to you? Mizahar means creative wonderland for me. And because I hate doing most things alone, be it eating out or playing games, the fact that there is such an amazing community to share it with only makes me all the more in love. It's also a sort of testing grounds for my writing, and I feel like I've made so much progress just in the two-ish years I've been here that I can't not claim it as a significant part of my life. There are a lot of uncertainties from one day to the next, and I know Miz isn't for everyone, but this site has become so integral to my growth as a person and amateur writer that I'm dead sure it's been something I was meant to experience. 11. As one might expect this place is for you to put whatever your heart desires within it. Have at it! Well, thank you all for reading and making this place as wonderful as it is. I hope to be able to write with many, many more of you out there, so don't be strangers! *raises a mug of mystery brew* To Miz, each other, and doing what we love. Peace. |
