Taln is October's Featured Character!

[Tarot]

Hello Mizaharians, October's pick for the Featured Character award is a lovely PC by the name of Taln who lives in Wind Reach and has impressed us with great writing and character development. Endal are not the only ones who can get the award! Please enjoy the interview and congratulate the lady behind the PC. Let's break the ice! How did you get into roleplaying and how did you stumble upon our little site? It all started innocently with a friend of my boyfriend asking if he could use our patio for something called a D& D game. I shrugged, said yes and set out some soda and salty snacks for them. I’d barely had my own place and it was a revelation to see guys hunched over and around screens, and dice shouting vehemently (think football game) about rolling initiative. They’d had only one female player who ended up moving out of state and they needed a replacement. Always the volunteer (sucker) I said I’d fill in if they’d help me. There began a lifelong addiction to roleplaying and it’s made me some good friends and brought me years of enjoyment. I recently finished a high level online campaign with some old friends and felt a bit disillusioned with the forced feel of it. When I did a search of RPG’s the pickings were identical to what I was trying to leave behind. When I put in role playing forum, I noticed an interesting name and made that very first click on Mizahar. I browsed the lores, as always, hoping for something original. When I saw the list of races and read it for an hour, I was thrilled to find not a single elf or orc anywhere! Since then, I’ve never looked back. Looks like we have one of them gingers under the spotlight this month. Why did you choose the Inarta and what do you like best about them? Go Gingers!! Where do I start? I was a regular in chat for a while and I heard someone mention a Wind Eagle. Now I didn’t remember that as a race, so I scoured the forum looking for them. This led me to the Inarta and their amazing way of life. The more I read about the castes and how the community worked to support each other, ICly and OOCly, I got hooked on them! Have you seen the posting in Wind Reach? It’s great how such highly independent people work so very hard to keep their community together. The best thing about the Inarta is their pride. Pride in what they have worked to accomplish, pride in hunting to keep their community as one unit, and the fierce ethnic pride of simply having Inarta blood. Your character is a Dek, the lowest caste in Wind Reach society. Most players in the city tend to prefer the higher castes such as Endal and Avora. Why did you seek the other end of the spectrum? What's the challenge and what's the reward? Why? Because I wanted to see the true side of the Inarta as a people. As an Endal, people could cower to someone’s face and then complain behind their back. An Avora is sandwiched in the middle with the place of not good enough to be an Endal but high enough to pull rank. Being a Dek, allows others to simply be themselves around Taln. How an Inarta treats their lesser in rank or wealth, is a good measure of their true personality. I could say the obvious challenge was that his rank doesn’t allow him free will. Actually, the reward and the challenge, are of a personal nature. I went through a similar situation as Taln does back when I was a teen. Taln is the challenging therapy of facing my past, reconciling it to come out a survivor. The biggest reward is the hard earned friendships during times of trial. The friendships last the longest and have the strongest impact on enjoying the role playing to its fullest. Even if it’s just an easy acquaintance, it’s fulfilling. Most players put mention of a Dek always around in their scenes and it’s great to actually be one of those conveniently placed persons to interact with. Character diamonds are popular in the scrapbooks these days. Gossamer rejects diamonds for squares. I reject both because it's obviously a rhombus. Still, can you define Taln in four adjectives, two permanent and two situational? *facepalm* I meant to do that in my scrap, but I got distracted by all the thesaurus definitions. Oh and this whole thing is neither a diamond or a rhombus—it’s a cube! Permanent Traits. Taln is Opportunistic. If there’s something for free, he’ll usually take it immediately and always remains on the lookout for more. This isn’t to say he’s greedy, because there’s a difference. He doesn’t take more than he needs, but he will accept all that he’s given, regardless of need-especially food. Unpretentious would be his second permanent trait. He doesn’t expect expensive clothes or fancy meals. Taln fully accepts that the clothing he wears is all he needs and he’s thankful for every mouthful of food he gets. Some might say pessimist, but as a Dek, he’s just a realist in his rank and so far it’s been the key to his survival. Situational Traits. Taln is Ardent and this could be both negative and positive depending on the situation. He expresses a great depth of feeling in every happenstance even when he’s limited in what he’s allowed to say. His words, temper, posture, and thoughts all convey his redheaded, ardent nature. Dogmatic is the second situational trait for him. Taln doesn’t always have the right to voice his opinion, but he’ll still have a strong opinion, even if only in his thoughts. Granted, it’s not very smart to have an opinionated Dek, but that’s just who he is. Not caring about anything would be one of the most difficult things Taln could ever attempt. Do you have inspiration sources in reality or fiction for your characters that you're aware of? If so, do you have any for Taln? Absolutely! I have my friends, family and co workers as my muses for characters. One of my brothers really is a Drykas in real life, I swear! Also, Orson Scott Card and Anne McCaffrey are amazing inspirations. Yes, Taln represents my redhead self with bad eyes, great hearing and a piece of my past. I originally started with an idea to make a female Inarta. However, there’s a special something about the hulking masculinity that I adore in my husband, that just took over Taln’s CS! Let's talk ambition. Taln keeps struggling to emerge from the hardships of life as a Dek. Is it working? Is it even supposed to work? Do you want him to succeed, to fail or are you indifferent as long as it's fun to write? Taln’s struggle to improve his station is difficult at best, but it’s still in the beginning stages, so we’ll have to wait and see if things work out for him. He’s just recently discovered an affinity for languages and it’s given him something to work and hope for. I would love for him to succeed, but the journey to the goal will shape his personality far more than reaching the goal itself. Success, struggle or failure for Taln will each have interesting aspects to explore. After all, these PC’s are the vehicle we roleplay for and with. Technically, the first Endal PC around could claim Taln's life at any time and hardly anyone would shed a tear. Is it hard to get attached to a character who, realistically, shouldn't have a long life expectancy in the game? Are you prepared to lose the PC because of a social thread going horribly wrong? Great question, and I have to answer: very definitely hard. I’ve only just begun to make him realize his mortality. Granted, his possibility of death is much higher than average, but we all reach an almost morbid stage in recognizing that none of us will live forever. Yes and no on being prepared to lose Taln. I knew from the start that it would/could be a distinct and terrifying likelihood. If it should happen, then it will be a shock as the death of any of my characters would invoke in me. But Taln says cheer up, and keep on going because there’s always something new around the warren corner. Taln's threads are vivid in their depiction of abuse and slavery, and he bears the consequences on his body. Do you find it difficult to roleplay someone who gets beaten within an inch of his life and has chronic impairments to show for it? Yes, it’s very hard sometimes to write out those scenes in all their gory details. Reality and fantasy have their own thorny details that make situations larger than life, and not everyone can write butterflies and unicorns. It’s not easy, but to me, writing these more violent or emotionally tearing parts are what makes the difference between just another post and very serious roleplay. Taln’s major chronic impairment is his bad eye sight and no depth perception. Those are just my traits carried over into my PC. I don’t mind sharing a unique facet of myself in each of my PC’s but Taln will always be that little extra special to me. Reading your threads, I was impressed at your ability to convey a sense of gloom and despair from seemingly minor events. The way Taln recently lost his falcon is a great example. How much of this (and of your storylines in general) is planned in advance and how much is spur of the moment? Thank you! I wish I could say that I was just one way or the other. Then I could either be totally spontaneous or well organized. I’ll have a general idea in mind of how I’d like to respond and slap some notes on a post it while I read the thread. Maybe sixty percent of the time, I know how I’ll respond and how I’d like to write. The other forty percent seems to write itself like that author in the Dark Half. There are some times where I’ll do a final edit on a post and it will feel like I’m reading it for the first time. To see the descriptions of ugly, half healed cicatrix or scenes of violent rage scrawled down the page is a bit unsettling; especially to me. What's your secret dream thread for Taln that you'd KILL to write? Any chances of seeing it on a forum near you anytime soon? *grins secretively* Actually I’d kill for a thread where Taln could be a part of someone’s greatness. Not for Taln himself, (he’d never accept it) but for him to be the domino effect on another PC to decide on or do something that could change history! Yes, you’ll see it in a forum near Taln sometime in the not too far future. It might even already be there…

[Aidara]

YAY LISA!!!! Congrats!! I love this PC, I've told you so before. Probably one of the only Dek's ever to actually....be good. I am so proud *Tear* Our little girl is growing up. Ps. I'm still waiting for a PM about our thread.

[Cheshire]

Super congrats Lisa!!!! *super hugs*

[Gossamer]

Grats Taln! Thanks for shedding some light and attention on the lowest of the lows in a far off corner of Mizahar. And I think its important to note Tarot picked you out of the crowd, suggested you, and rallied for you while I was like...

"But its only a Dek! Dek can't win things. We kick them and they clean up our vomit after all night feasting and drinking, warm our beds, and peel our spuds! They can't be recognized." But he fought me off valiantly and insisted.

I think I've been in Wind Reach and super dosed in its mentality too long because I just simply couldn't see a Dek as anything but a distasteful piece of necessity.

[Caelum]

Well deserved, Lisa. Congratulations! It's a Dek!

[Lariat]

Congrats Taln! Haven't been able read any of your threads over there yet, but I think I'll take a peek over in Wind Reach and properly stalk them!

[Taln]

Big thanks and hugs,Tarot, Jules, Katie and Lariat! I can't reply to Endal Gossamer yet, because I have to finish cleaning her shoes and doing her laundry....

[Drusilla]

Congrats!!!! Taln so deserves it!

[Rista]

Congratulations!

[Taln]

I took it for granted and didn't realize this until I'm on my laptop after midnight. Ok I'm so flipping used to my book print being that big, I didn't stop to THANK YOU TAROT for making the effort of such lovely big bold letters for the interview!! <3

Thanks and hugs to Dru, Sarye and Rista.