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Nonstandard Character Creation Questions

I

Icra

Inactive Member
Hi. I am obviously very new here, and thusly have a few questions.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that I like bending rules, then bending them back into place for a good story or character background or what have you. My most notable was for a character that was totally magic-immune, and there was much complaining.
However! Lucky for you, this is not nearly as drastic. What it amounts to is a somewhat questionable back story and some strange quirks in the character.
To address the most eyebrow raising (in my opinion) issue, the character I have (mostly made) is a Nekovalkyrja, and is entirely genderless. Lacking the bits that characterize the female form is referred to as 'he' or 'it' if one is feeling particularly nasty. Before becoming enraged and banning me from this RP forever, I ask you refer to the history I have thus far at the bottom of this post.

The less obtuse changes are a rare hair color (white), a way with engineering and numbers, blind in one eye (therefore that eye is white) which facilitates a sort of data readout in the lost field of vision, as well as causing the obvious downfalls of only having one eye. Lastly, the telepathic 'voice' of the character is far more suited to technological interface, and is 'quieter' than the average telepath's.

On a side note, I know this is a terrible way to introduce myself, but these questions needed asking.

Relevant history excerpt:
Isaagaz was originally created as a private-sector project run by half-mad rouge scientists to create a series of NH-29s with vastly superior psychic function. However, due to the science of psychic function being patchy at best, there were no modified models produced that achieved nearly what they had aimed for and in fact seem to have achieved the opposite effect. Tests run directly before their resources were liquidated and the group dispersed showed only superficial physical and psychological differences between a standard NH-29 and the Project Mannaz modified NH-29s, most notably being that the Mannaz NH-29s are totally genderless and therefore unable to reproduce (this was done to prevent the potentially super powered beings to increase their population out of control).
 
>_> very carefully. A few thoughts came up when thinking about how it manages waste, everything from very boring 'it has a hole' to excreting the liquid waste through sweat-like glands. I think I finally settled on the urinary tract is routed to the butt. *shrugs* Seems like the simplest answer, aside from totally denying that it makes liquid waste, which of course would put the character even further from the norm.
 
Why hasn't she/he/it just transferred conciousness to a new body? It's free and widely available.
 
I didn't know this, so give me a few moments to formulate a delicious answer.
Isaagaz is possessed of a submissive personality, and if pressured by someone he trusts, would seriously consider a body transfer. However, he has grown accustomed to the body he was given, and finds no disadvantage in its continued use. The blindness in his left eye is compensated for easily enough by interfacing with surrounding sensors. This gives rise to his being anxious when far from high technology, and would not simply go away if he were to change bodies. He has also become reliant on the readout that replaces that field of vision, and would be utterly lost without it.
Overall, the disorientation he would suffer transferring into a standard NH-29 body would seriously outweigh the benefits in his perception.

Out Of Character-ly, having the consciousness denoted as Isaagaz transfered to a standard NH-29 body would close many many doors I would like to leave open. I aimed to have an easily recognizable character with superficial differences that would make it unique. I enjoy having an outstanding character, which is probably some sort of subconscious want, but I needn't go into that. My point here is that Isaagaz's unique properties will not only allow me to enjoy an equally unique roleplay, and others that interact with the character will have the chance to respond to something wholly different than what they are used to. Overall, everyone's experience is improved.
 
... Forgive me for treating a new player so. I love bending rules. It's fun, especially when done well.

But ... this shit just don't make sense. Yangfan's well-taken point aside ... what the hell is the point of such a specialized character? My first character here was goofy and strange, but I don't think I'm wrong in saying he wasn't quite as mad as this character seems to be.

Your writing, just from these couple posts, seems sharp enough. Do you need a character this special?
 
To be honest, the Nekovalkyrja seem like an awesome race to roleplay as. However, I must admit that I find myself uncomfortable playing a gender I am not outside of small games with close friends. That was the primary reason for the character's genderless-ness, and I created the character around it. If it is unacceptable, I will scrap the character.
I have no doubt that I could take weeks out of your time and mine to explain and develop the character to fit well enough into the world of Star Army. However, I would prefer not to, so if the general or authoritative consensus on the matter is that it is not allowable, I'd like it if you would kindly specify what is unacceptable.
 
It's all in the CCG ... if you follow that, you can't go wrong, dude.

And I take back what I said about your writing. It seems exceptionally sharp!
 
The foreseeable problem with strict adherence to the CCG is that the characters, while superficially different, end up much the same, in my opinion. I began making a standard Nekovalkyrja character, resigning to just suck it up and play a female character, but what I came up was decidedly cookie-cutter. There was very little variance to be had, so I thought I'd ask about some (what I thought were) minor modifications.
I would request that, if this character concept is not solidly turned down, that it might be considered a viable secondary character for later on, or even GM character. I just find the character concept too interesting to give up on entirely.
Edit: On an aside, I'd like to note that I deferred to making a modified NH-29 rather than attempting to platform an entirely new species. The specific abilities I was interested in were the inertial/gravitational control, mind-machine interface, enhanced intellectual capacity and agility.
 
All character biographies should probably start with, "She started out like any other regular soldier..." -- That is to say, the non-roleplayed history of a character should probably be somewhat mundane, as it is fairly unimportant. The moment your character comes to life in her first roleplay is a turning point in your character's life. She's no longer a nobody, but rather someone worth writing about and someone on her way to becoming great.

That said, the very nature of Nekovalkyrja implies a sacrifice of uniqueness; however, I would ask that you please keep in mind that although characters, especially Nekovalkyrja, will start out similarly, their experiences and surroundings will influence them in such a way that they will become unique over time. The formation and development of a character through role-playing is the quintessential element of this community. You wouldn't start a novel by opening to the 200th page, so why put a lot of history behind her like that?
 
You can always play a Yamataian, Nepleslian, or Elysian if you want to play a male character. Yamataians possess some Nekovalkyrja traits, but they're much weaker.

I'm afraid that our genetically engineered super-soldier catgirls only come in "female" flavor. :)

Nekovalkyrja characters start out with pretty bland appearances and abilities. This is intentional, and you wouldn't be the first one to call them "cookie-cutter".

To be fair, they have a conformist culture and they are mostly manufactured in vats. So give the Nekos a break. :D

However, we trust the players to distinguish their characters through personality traits, character development (emotional, knowledge-wise, skill-wise), and performing the feats of daring-do that make role-playing so much fun.

And yes, there will be opportunities for player advancement. If you can show us that you're an excellent writer and possess leadership skills, you can work your way up the ladder fairly quickly. And we do let the GMs get away with a bit more. :)

However, a character doesn't have to be unique to be "special". I hope to demonstrate this in a few days, when I submit my new character bio.
 
Wes, it seems you and I have an extremely different view on what kind of history makes a good character. Personally, (and frankly) I'd slap anyone that came to my campaign table with a bland, joe/jane smith history, with little or no detail of their life before the campaign. However, I do respect that you prefer to have a simple/sparse background for characters, and will keep that in mind while making a new character. I apologize if I keep coming to you with characters that have too much history, it's in my nature I suppose.

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I've spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams."
 
"You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one."

- James A Froude
 
Something I'm unclear on; what exactly is the extent of the Yamataian inertial control? I found a thread about it that seemed to resolve it, but the second page just turned it into a can of worms again.
 
If you fell off a tenth-story balcony, you could probably stop your fall and slowly float back up to where you started.
 
I'm sorry for being a nag, but
If you fell off a tenth-story balcony, you could probably stop your fall and slowly float back up to where you started.
Click to expand...
Is terribly nonspecific to me. For example, the force exerted to stop a fall after falling 3 seconds is considerably more than the force exerted to stop a half second fall, so on. Or is it merely an instantaneous suspension of momentum/inertia, which is then modifiable to slow directional motion?
 
It's not instant, but it does not take long. I don't have specific statistics; Yamataians' abilities can vary.
 
The inertia control ability is exactly that, inertia control. You essentially decide in which direction you fall, thus emulating floating or flight, take your pick.

Yamataians can manage it and thus reverse their falls. It's probably mostly based on their reaction times in having their ability kick in to full strength, but by that point, the speed they are falling at is probably irrelevant. However, once a yamataian exerts his ability to 'float around', she/he's fairly slow (around brisk walking speed).

Also, that ability becomes significantly stronger in a no gravity environment. It's also noticably faster (running speed? full sprint? Wes didn't give clear indication - it's what I'd put if I had to make a judgement call on that).

Nekovalkyrja inertia control is a whole lot stronger. If you're in 0 to 2 G, they can manage to go as fast as 70mph (100 km/h, if you prefer). Not faster than a speeding bullet, but they can keep pace with your grandpa's car. Once they get into stronger gravity environment, their capabilities become seriously crimped and all they can manage is to enhance the momentum behind their movements. At extremes, their inertia control likely would allow them to keep moving and withstand pressure while others would be incapacitated.
 
Can we get this stickied? These are some of the best explanations we've given a player in a while, and the player has articulated them well.
 
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