Weekend Challenge (7/8/9/10th June)

[Gossamer]

The Past Will Haunt You!

Hello Folks!

Its about time for another Weekend Challenge. Starting Midnight PST tonight running through friday, saturday and sunday with it closing 9pm Monday.... (that's four full days) we are all going to work on character development. I was having a conversation with a player about further rounding out your character and their personal stories and it got me to thinking I need to encourage people to develop their history/backstory/families more.

In this challenge, you need to learn some aspect of your character's past that your character did not know before and have that aspect affect their current present and possible future.


To play... sign up below and turn in your thread or threads before Monday night at 9pm PST. There will be a whole brand new prize list and several categories of winners based on content content content, word count, and maybe a poll for most originality. Before your threads are turned in, all you really need is your character's name and a small brief summary. Once you turn in the threads, please make sure you edit your summary for a cliff notes version of what happens to your PC with all the juicy details!


Character's Name:
Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:
Thread(s) List + Word Count:

Code: Select all

[b]Character's Name:[/b]
[b]Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:[/b]
[b]Thread(s) List + Word Count:[/b]

Everyone enjoy! And remember if you are waiting for a city to open and it hasn't yet, all wilderness areas are open, and flashbacks or placeholders can be utilized for the contest as well.

Goss

[Kamilla]

Kamilla Circe Gordon

Sounds like my toughest challenge yet... looking forward to it.

Character's Name: Kamilla ‘Circe’ Gordon

Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How: So since creation, Kam's past has not been fleshed out AT ALL, she had a doormat of a mother, a mage of a gran and knows nothing about her father other than a very dismissive "he was a sailor"... I intend to change that with this challenge and give Kam an idea of her heritage and the source of her exotic features. This discovery will bring with it the knowledge that she is missing an entire aspect of her being and set her on a quest to learn more about her father’s people and perhaps even adopt some of their ways.

Thread(s) List + Word Count:
A Revealing Glimpse 5 549 Words

[Nadjia]

I'm just getting started with my character, but what a great way to dive in.


Character's Name: Nadjia

Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:

I learned several things about my character's family - basic name, characteristics and roles which I noted in my character sheet and a couple of their experiences in Taldera / Alventhal. Nadjia suspects (and later I plan to flesh out this with confirmation) that her great aunt is human/Vantha mix, and my great uncle was killed as a result of the hunt (he was a member of the Iceguard). I previously did not know that my father's friend Vegard came with us when we migrated to Lhavit in 506AV.

Thread(s) List + Word Count:
We are Sprinkled with Stardust WC: 278
The Journey Begins WC: 390

So, while the word count wasn't as strong as I hoped, there was a lot of backstory and research done which was productive.

[Kelski]

This might be what I need to jumpstart plots and rejazz up my writing lightening bug which has been a little burnt out lately.

Character's Name: Kelski

Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:

Stolen as an infant from her family by a rival family, Kelski was not killed but was sold into slavery and a fake story was put into place around her to obfuscate the truth. Her real family has discovered her survival. Her brother sent his youngest daughter to Kelski to act as a companion and to slowly induct her into the ways of the K'etir family. Her brother was supposed to show up in Spring but failed to arrive.

There's some mystery why he didn't appear.

Secretly though, in his place he sent his best friend who had been promised the young female Kelvic as a wife to unite him into the family when she was born. Dess has inserted himself into Kelski's life quite creatively to study her and find out just what sort of creature she has become raised away from her family and her roots.

I think I will use this challenge for Kelski to discover who Dess actually is and why he is there. He wasn't another stray she took in. But he was rather a very calculated risk that paid off.


Thread(s) List + Word Count:

[The Midnight Gem] Gently - 2,921
* Please note this is the last two posts in this thread. The whole thread is a lot longer.

[Draven McNiel]

Character's Name:Draven Mcniel
Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:
Currently looking to have him discover the existence of his adoptive mother. His adoptive father, as a coping mechanism, didn't tell Draven about her. Hopefully, it should lead to some disconnect of his image of what his father is, and what his father actually was.

Journeying with Open Eyes - Idea behind this was to explore Draven's thoughts on moving cities and finally beginning his goal as an adventurer, which was different to what he'd expected. He runs into an old acquaintance of his father, and they begin talking about life eventually leading to Draven's adoptive father and later on his adoptive mother, things from there will have gone onto exploring their collective pasts, and something potentially waiting for him in Zeltiva.
Thread(s) List + Word Count:
Journeying with Open Eyes - 1589 Words

[Rohka]

There is so much room to play with this challenge! I've wanted to bring Roh back into the folds of her family eventually, and this would be a great way to do it.

Character's Name: Rohka Calico

Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:

Rohka’s past has been haunting her since birth. In the Fall of 517, she was called back home to help build ‘a road’ for her uncle Mattias, and yet again, being the poor leader that her mother always knew he was, the plans ceased. Roh returned to the city proper that season knowing she would never again answer to her uncle’s pleas for assistance.

Her mother, however, has always wanted Rohka and her sister to think more critically about the family’s history. About the Calico legacy. They were founded as a matriarch, after all… and Rohka is the oldest granddaughter of the Calico clan. Vida has been keeping tabs on her daughter in various ways, proud of her beginnings as a sybil in the city, yet wary of the influences that could lead her daughter astray. There’s pride and responsibility in such a birthright, but Roh has never wanted any of it. She felt zero calling to lead the lumber business.

I’m using this writing challenge to convince Rohka that her family needs her. I want to explore the drama, the feud with the Bartons, the family’s mysteriously criminal Zeltivan past! All of the Calico clan would have known of the legend of Tasha and her daughters: the women who ruthlessly built the foundation for their long-standing legacy. I’ll write about the fact that it had been Leonara, Cyrus’s mother, the last matriarch, who was keen on keeping the stories alive. She would’ve known that the controlling of stories holds more power than the workings of their company. I’m sure Vida would’ve learned a lot from her grandmother, and would subtly be raising her daughters to understand how to weave the tale to their advantage.

Thread(s) List + Word Count:

Last Chance
WC = 3251 words

Rohka was visited by her father, Meer Iceglaze. Yes, a Vantha background! She discovered that her father is going to Zeltiva in search of her missing grandfather, a full Vantha marked by Morwen. Her father sought to ask her to help take care of the family.

She refused. Why?

I can't wait to find out

Thanks for this challenge Goss!! You designed a really cool way to bring out character development, which puts the focus on the PC's story instead of the PC's skills... which ultimately seems to help build realism for the skill-building.

[Anja Nightwatcher]

This challenge is really giving me something to chew on. I don't know how much of it I can get done with my schedule this weekend, but I want to try! Let's see if I can shake this writer's block.

Character Name: Anja Nightwatcher

Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Affecting Them and How:

How was it that Anja came to Sunberth? Although he is indeed a Spiritist, the task given to him by Dira was to hunt Nuits; specifically the one who took the body of his son. This is something Anja has done very little of in the year I've written him. I plan on writing a flashback giving context as to the places he's been since leaving the Sea of Grass, and why his travels brought him in the direction of Zeltiva and Sunberth in particular.

Along his way, Anja met a Syliran Knight who became consumed with Anja's mission. With his help, Anja was able to track the nuit who took his son's body. This flashback will tell of their travels together.

Thread(s) List + Word Count:
The Price of Peace I - Words 2511
Anja, impatient to track the Nuit who stole the body of his son, is forced to rest for the night. He is soothed by his companion, a Syliran Knight, who talks to him about his own motives for pursuing the monster. This is part one of a planned three parts.

The Price of Peace II - Words 2888
The tracking dogs lead Logan and Anja to a camp where another massacre has occurred. Anja is shown an Eiyon vision and discovers that the Nuit not only caused the slaughter but also took a new body. Anja despairs over finding the Nuit, and Logan tells him not to give up. They bury they dead, and find a new scent to follow.

The Price of Peace III - Words 3060
Anja and Logan enter the city of Zeltiva in pursuit. After being delayed by the Waveguard, the discover that the Nuit has fled Zeltiva by ship, with Logan hypothesizing that he has fled to Sahvoa. With it unsafe for them to follow, the pair make a decision to wait for the Nuit's return. Logan makes a vow to investigate how it was that the Nuit was able to leave Zeltiva so easily, and Anja realizes that while he waits he can focus on aiding the souls of the dead. The two reaffirm their bond.

Total word count: 8459

[Sophia Sunshore]

Character's Name: Sophia Sunshore

Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How: Sophia's father was everything to her - a beacon if you will. I think for this challenge I will have Sophia find out something about him that tarnishes how she sees him. What he did, and what he used to do it, is going to seriously alter her view of not only her father but of other things she will be faced with in the future. (I am welcoming the opportunity to develop Sophia's past a little more! I gave her such a plain history, so this really is a challenge.)

With the thread finished now, Sophia has discovered that her wonderful father used to terrorise other ships using the magic of reimancy. He did something truly terrible that then led him to seek out a fresh start. Sophia's shining light is tarnished forever, and she likely will never be able to bring herself to see him again. While she started out knowing little of personal magic, the idea of it now also scares her and sees it all as a potential for evil.

Thread(s) List + Word Count: Rumours on the Breeze: 3848 words.

[Vasin]

Character's Name: Vasin
Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How:
The memories of the evening Vasin 'lost' his father during a raid in a storm have haunted him for a long time now. Those bad memories reinforced by the follow up when Vasin's mother was stabbed to death right in front of him while they were desperately waiting for his father's return. Those memories have crept in his mind for years now, brought to the forefront when on one spooky night they were forced clearly into his memory. It was there that he realized his memory had been starting to fail him, that his father's face had become a blur to him, that he could not recall what his father looked like. He realized all he could recall of his mother were her striking eyes. He had given up hope of reconnecting with his past, his familiy, and those friends on the voyage he had been born into.

However, one morning while traveling along the shore he runs into someone that rips the past straight to the forefront of his mind just as he had gotten ready to put it behind him. He learns about the circumstances or situation in regards to the relationship between his father and mother. Not only that, but he learns that his father is in fact alive and well! However, his father has moved on and would rather not see Vasin. His father being different from what Vasin recalled of him, and that they are not so ideal. This brings forth strong emotions from Vasin and new motivations.
Thread(s) List + Word Count:
Old Acquaintance - Words: 2,983

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Character's Name: Crylon Stonecraft Summary Of What Past Aspect Is Effecting Them and How: Crylon finds a journal and learns that one of the members of his family was in Sunberth before him, something he had never heard before. He finds a run down building which shows signs of Isur use, and he learns that this family member was in the city for a time many years ago, though he does not know why it was kept secret from the rest of his family or what they were doing there. Needless to say, this story will likely lead him down some dark alleys and to some not so nice things. Though he has yet to put the pieces together. Thread(s) List + Word Count: Of Runes and Writings- 628+656+492+423+727 Total Word Count: 2,926