Gossamer: The Symenestra are one of the least recognized and played character races. What drew you to the Symenestra and what sort of challenges and rewards are you discovering in regards to this unusual race? Feel free to go on in depth about this race. Most people hear the word ‘spider’ and are automatically cringing or a bit put off by the concept. Why do they stand out so much that you decided to create a character that was a Symenestra?Velarian: The first time I really looked into Symenestra was after watching a conversation in chat. A new player had asked what races were especially suited to make an evil character. Among other options (my personal favorite was 'any') the Symenestra kept getting mentioned. Now I was still pretty new that day and had problems to connect the names brought up with the race descriptions, but I vaguely remembered the Symenestra and there was this gap between the details I recalled and their general reputation. And that caught my attention. So I started to read up on them.
I found the Symenestra to be a much more complex (and also darker) race than I first thought. On the one hand you have people who seem, their appearance aside, thinkable unsuited to inspire fear. They have very frail bodies. The most common skill for children to learn is weaving. They are literate and venerate a god traditionally associated with values such as life, heritage and connections. On the other hand of course there is the harvest and there is nothing to sugarcoat about a practice which involves abducting women solely for the purpose to have children with them. At first those two seemed contradictory, but then I came to realize that the former is very much inducing the later. I imagine for a race which puts such a strong focus on family and continuing ones bloodline, the idea their whole culture and legacy might be forgotten one day, is very hard to accept. For many other races the Valterrian was a the end of the world, but now there is hope for things to get better. For the Symenestra world is still ending, just at a slower pace. Surviving the cataclysm and building Kalinor and still face eventual extinction – it gives the race an post-apocalyptic feel I find very interesting to explore, especially the conflicts resulting from it.
I don't believe the harvest is easy on the majority of the Symenestra. There are Symenestra women who rather have a child themselves than put others through the ordeal and that shows to me that they are not necessarily the cold blooded murderers I sometimes heard people describe them. Although they certainly can be, which is fascinating. Their race, albeit working together for survival, allows for very diverse characters with complex personalities. From a player's perspective that is great, because it gives people something to discuss or have a conflict over (and right now there are active Symenestra with very different viewpoints on harvest and race), but it also gives them a good reason to work together and that's not always a given with differing personalities.
What I find most challenging about the race is their mindset. It is very hard to fathom how important ones culture has to be, to put another sentient being through so much suffering to preserve it. And at the same turn feel to be in the right about it. The Symenestra have a lot of potential for social and personal conflict and one does them injustice reducing them to the harvest alone. There are so many aspects of their culture worth exploring and some I really just come to realize. Architecture for example. To make a city like Kalinor they must have had some great ones. Maybe they still have? Or literature. For some reason I expect them to keep long records of their family trees to honor Viratas' teachings. Looking at the large garbage dump under the city, maybe they have some talented perfumers too? The harvest is an important aspect of the Symenestra, but for me the culture they are trying to preserve with it can be at least as compelling.
I would not say I like the Symenestra better than any other race I read, yet I was fascinated how well the different aspects of the race played together and the more I read about them, the more ideas for characters I had and that absolutely got me hooked.
Gossamer: Single-handledly one might arguably say you are jumpstarting the roleplay in Kalinor and helping motivate not only Symenestra to come visit the city but other races as well. What motivates you to stick to this forgotten corner of Mizahar and do this? We find your work is having a tremendously positive impact on the city and generating new denizens right and left. Please talk about what drew you to Kalinor and why you stay.Velarian: I believe it is always hard to decide for a player if he should start in a city thriving with characters to thread with or one which makes more sense for his character concept. For me Kalinor was an important aspect of playing a Symenestra. Isolation is probably one of the reasons their society can function the way it does. It was also an exotic city which seemed, in a good way, challenging to write in. In the end I decided it was more important for Velarian to stay close to his son and family, even when it meant playing alone for a while. And I fully expected to write alone for a few weeks before I could get other people interested to play there as well.
I absolutely do not regret my decision. Although I was worried no one would even notice Velarian I now believe the opposite is true. The quieter an area is the more attention ones writing eventually gets, both from mods and players. And mods have an easier time working with fewer players too. There are so many interesting places on Mizahar. They just needs one or two people who decide they want to invest their time into them.
Leaving the city was never really an option for me, not after the first burst of activity anyway. I have never imagines to create such a response, but it I am glad for the opportunity to play with so many great writers. Velarian plans to do a short trip to Lhavit at some point, but I don't plan to have him stay for very long. I dig Kalinor and its exotic architecture and would love to explore the city further in the future. I would love to see the city get even more active, I will surely be there to wait for it.
Gossamer: You are often seen background roleplaying with an NPC son. Many people find NPC characters, especially children, particularly difficult to incorporate into their rolepaly and maintain. However, your son feels fleshed out and has a truly discernable personality and impact upon Velarian. What motivated you to roleplay a child as an NPC and can you talk about the challenges and joys of doing so? Velarian: When I wrote Velarian's history I knew his family had a great impact on who he was and why he is the way he is. I wanted to explore what family means to him as a Symenestra, especially marriage and children. Unsure if I could find player interested to fill either role in the long run, I decided to use an NPC for his son and I am not regretting the decision.
NPCs, not just children, can be a great way to give a character more depth I found. They can provide motivation for a char. They can be a source of conflict. You can reflect on your character's reliability for five long paragraphs or you can have him leave a party with friends early to bring his son to bed. You can dedicate a whole thread on the topic what your character thinks about death and afterlife or you have his child present its dead pet platypus and do it in a short, crunchy conversation. NPCs are great when you want to show sides of your character he isn't aware of himself.
That's maybe what I like about his son the most. Velarian is trying hard to be a good father, but he tends to fail without knowing. His own father didn't pay him any attention before he was old enough for intelligent conversations and he was a very obedient child. His son is not. I am looking forward to write situations were his son is getting his will over his father's head. It feels good to write something fun once in a while and it helps to balance out darker aspects in Velarian's story. I imagine the most challenging part in playing his son will be to develop their relationship further as both of them grow older and they make new acquaintances.
Gossamer: Velarian has a very interesting and colorful Character Sheet. There are aspects of Velarian written into his Character Sheet that tells us a great deal of time and effort went into developing this PC. Can you talk about your methods – for others out there – of creating an exceptional (yet flawed) pc and how you go about putting him together so that he is both extremely complex and extremely playable? This is often a hard topic for most younger players and players that are new to the world of roleplay to focus on and know where to begin in terms of creating a flawed, yet believable PC. Insight from older more experienced players if often invaluable so we’d love it if you shared your tips and tricks in the ‘fleshing out’ process as we call it. Velarian: Creating characters is a rather dynamic process for me, so it is hard for me to break it into logic steps, but I will try.
What I like to do before starting a character is to think about what themes I want to explore in his or her story. Everyone knows what he likes to write about and what caught his interest about the race or professions he picked. When I read the Symenestra for example I wondered how people would feel knowing their mother died during their birth and that they either would never have children themselves when they wanted to live or that the woman having their child would likely die. I like to write about internal conflicts, so I knew family would be a big theme for Velarian's history. Subsequently I tried to outline what family members would have a great impact on Velarian and why. I did not flesh out all details about them and little of it went into his history even, but I knew for myself that when he had a problem he would rather go to his uncle than his father or that he envied his older brother for his position. Not everything you know has to go into the history. It helps to keep things flexible and playable.
Usually I like to pick two to three themes per character. A theme can be almost anything. For a knight it might be honor and duty. How came he to know the concepts? Is it easy to live up to them or is he constantly struggling? Was there a point he neglected his duty, why, during what occasion and does he regret it? Does he really care about them does he just try to keep up appearances when others around? One theme can spawn a lot of questions which help to detail out a character. Once I know such ground themes I find it very easy to arrange a story around those aspects and create events to illustrate them.
In the above example he might let a friend get away with a crime although it would have been his duty to stop him. It shows he values friendship higher than duty. Maybe lost his position because of it, but his mentor is not actually angry since she can understands his reasons. One event rarely has just one effect and exploring those effects can help you to decide where you want to go with a story or a character's personality. Often a history doesn't need more than a few key events for a character to make sense, while they can spawn countless details to enrich the story.
Two things I often like to think about still:
Character Development: Most everyone likes to talk how their character developed in the one year they played him, but few pay much attention to his development during the 15+ years before that. People change over time and so do their hopes and dreams and interests. To show how (or if) a character changed in his youth can add a lot of depth to a history. Only because a character is outgoing now, it does not mean he had to struggle making friends at first. Eventually there was that one boy who always had to drag her to the playground, before she started to develop social skills. And when they were older they fell in love. And then he dropped her. And now she still have a knack for social skills, but she is hard trusting anyone. That's not a story to be done in one flashback thread, but it can add flavor to a good number of threads during a long period of time. I often like to think about one or two areas in which my character underwent a major development and how it affected him and the people around him.
Good vs. Evil: Good and evil and maybe the most used labels in RPs, directly followed by alignments such as chaotic good and neutral evil and what other combinations there exist. In my experience worrying about those does most players little good when creating characters. Real persons defy such labels and so should complex characters. Is a murderer less 'evil' when he loves his own children? Probably not. Is a guard who would give his life to defend his city less dutiful when he tends to betray his spouse with the neighbor's wife? Not really. Many people who try to create 'good' or 'evil' characters are afraid to add elements which could blemish their character's reputation. In truth a good grain of salt can make a good character more realistic and a softer side can make an evil one more believable. Be brave. Add a little contrast. Sometimes the best characters are those where you can't say right from the beginning if they are good or evil.
Gossamer: You have been seen roleplaying with a variety of individuals from all races and cultures. When you agree to a thread or see someone you’d like to roleplay with, can you talk about some of the ways you either approach those people or if they have approached you make suggestions as to what sorts of threads you’d like to have with them? Do you mainly like going with the flow, starting a thread out directionless and see where it goes or must your threads be all topical and themed? How much pre-planning goes into your roleplaying or is most of what comes out accidentally interesting? Talk about this and how you plot threads with others.Velarian: To some degree all of the the above. So far I have been asked for most my threads, but for a few I got to contact, before I decided to rather focus on my current stories than start too many new. There people I still want to hit up at some point. My favorite way of approaching people (or being approached) is over forum pm, just because you can mingle a bit and discuss potential thread ideas or wishes. On days when the chat is slow, chat works almost as well.
I don't usually plan much ahead and particularly never the end of a thread. Sometimes people already have a vague idea of what we could do, other times there is an aspect I would find interesting to incorporate into a story, but from time to time when you can't tell how characters would get along, you just do a casual meet and greet to see where it goes. Most planning often goes into finding place to meet which makes sense for all characters involved. Over pm it is rather easy to bounce ideas back and forth until one finds something interesting.
Starting a thread can be a little challenging when you want to approach a certain topic and characters don't know each other. One time I had Velarian enter a thread with a caged rabbit in the hope another char might ask about it, so I could bring the conversation on animation without it looking too odd. Sometimes such plans work out great. Other times it is mere luck when things turn out good. Or, more likely even, the talent of my thread partners.
Gossamer: Animation is a magic/skill that everyone loves to either be really drawn too or flee screaming from claiming ‘complexity!’ or ‘confusion’. Yet when I read your threads I understand far more what animators actually do. Velarian’s curtains jerk aside as he walks through curtained doorways because hes animated them capturing a natural flight or retreat response from something hes studied and infused the curtains with this animation. There are countless details that make me really want to give animation a second look and hold it in a whole new light. Tell us what drove you to animation and what gives you your ideas for animating objects and honing your characters impressive skills therein.Velarian: Animation was an element I added rather late to Velarian's concept. Originally he was supposed to be an artist. While I tried to figure out his position in regards to harvest and religion I realized while he is supporting the harvest as means for his race to survive, he is also someone who values life in all his forms. So I was searching for a way to illustrate that fact outside of his personality and animation as a form to instill life on an unmoving object fit well. I knew I wasn't very interested in working with humanoid golems, but the article mentioned a few other examples I found rather intriguing. I also liked the idea of someone who studies nature to recreate life in an isolated place like Kalinor.
At first I was unsure what one could archive with animation. I started to play with the examples given and asked myself what I could do with them. When golems can have eyes and when locks can lock themselves depending on day time, couldn't one make a chest which unlocks only at the sight of a specific person? When you can animate a scarf with the behavior pattern of a snake, can you also animate it with the movements of a constrictor killing its prey? That was the point when I started to look at animals for inspiration, because I figured their basic instincts are something easier copied than complex movements or thoughts. At the beginning I came up with a lot of useless ideas, but once you start to think out of the box, it is fun to find new possible applications.
What I like about animation is its scholarly aspect. Two animators could probably have countless threads where they discuss ideas and theories and it would likely even be fun to read. At first I thought animation is a rather dry subject, but I don't think that's true. It certainly can get ones creative juices flowing.
Gossamer: Time for a few more personal questions! So how long have you been roleplaying? Your threads read like a beloved old English professor has been writing them, yet your mad skills at bbc code design as evident in your CS and posts tell us that you must be far younger than the old leather loving pipe smoking gentleman who lovingly caresses a first edition of Huck Finn even as he peruses Mizahar posts on his high-tech laptop. Care to clue inquiring minds in? You don’t have to give us an age, of course, but tell us a little bit about your generation and what drew you to Mizahar and roleplaying in the first place. You have no introduction thread, so this award and interview gives us a bit of an opportunity to gain at least a small tidbit about the player behind the character.Velarian: I feel this is the moment of awkward revelations
Velarian is not actually my first character on this site, but my second. Although my first is not considerably older. Some might know me from chat as Cathan. I told people the name of my alt a couple of times, one time after I accidently logged in with the wrong character, but I know people keep forgetting about it. Maybe it is hard to link my Symenestra to my goofy chat self.
About me though... I am 25 years old... and I am a girl. (And I am just adding this because it seems to surprise people.) Recently I started working as a marketing assistant in a small company, so I am most active in the late evening. In general I have a very thick skin and it is pretty hard to anger me. If I seem quiet it is mostly because I am quiet person and not because I am annoyed about anything. My roleplaying career started when I was twelve and I came to play game master for my siblings and some cousins at some family event. We had made the system up ourselves. In my early years I played a lot D&D and DSA (a german rp system). When MMORPGS became popular some years ago I tried to use them as an rp platform and failed. Everyone who tried that will know why. For a while I still helped out as a developer for the game Planeshift, but it was not really the same as tabletop or even writing. I never made good experiences with online rp, but Mizahar looked too interesting to not give it a try.
After I had created Cathan to test the water, I wanted to make an alt to experiment with my writing style. So Velarian came into existence. I imagined I would do mostly solo threads with him for a long while. Now I am glad I came to play him with other characters as well. Although my two characters are very different, I couldn't say which one I like more.
Gossamer: I spoke of your mad Character Sheet design skills and your exceptional use of BBC code in the previous question. What I’d like to know is what inspired you to pick your avatar and his subsequent shots that are displayed in your character sheet and the theme of your whole CS and post styles? How long did it take to come up with a theme for Velarian’s whole aspect and how much do you think style and theme ~ basically aesthetics ~ means and adds too a character and who they are?Velarian: By the point I had Velarian's history written, I had a good idea on how I wanted him to look like. I knew I wanted a rather typical Symenestra, somewhat pale and slender and that I wanted to avoid actors, since I didn't want the char to be associated with a famous role. After a longer unsuccessful search I found his picture at a model agency. (I figure pale and slender is kind of popular in that field right now.) Making the actual layout for his CS didn't take that long, from finding picture resources to implementing them maybe five hours. From the time I created Cathan I knew a good CS would get people's attention and so I tried to make it look interesting.
I believe a good design can absolutely support a CS. Images and style can convey a lot of subtle information hard to put into words. For Velarian I tried to pick an elegant, aesthetic style to distance him from the picture some people seemed to have of the Symenestra. He was not supposed to be a blood thirsty hunter, I saw him more an artist or scholar. With a darker edge here or there, but over all not unlikeable. I wanted the text to be easy to read, so I needed a certain amount of contrast in the colors. White, back and red are common colors for Symenestra to use and since Velarian is very close to his people, it made sense to adopt them for his character sheet.
A good layout is not the key to a good CS, but it can help to structure the information and tell a lot about the character in my eyes. I enjoy reading other people's sheets, in particular when it is updated with post creation history or details of the people they have met. And when they have a nice layout too (most do), it is double as great a read.
Gossamer: Normally it is unheard of for us to select a Character of the Month from an individual that has less than fifty posts and a presence on the site of less than two months. However, you stand out and were hands down our choice for Feb 2011. In still feeling ‘new’ can you please offer other new people advice on getting started and inserting themselves seamlessly into the game world like you have with your player character?Velarian: Make good use of your CS and pick an interesting avatar. Your character sheet is the best tool to not only advertise your character, but also yourself as a writer. It does not have to be perfect, but people will always see when you put effort into your sheet and history. Cathan's sheet is a far cry from Velarian's but it still got and gets people interested. A nice CS can give other players an idea of who you are and what character they are going to play with. Use that. And don't hesitate to contact a player whose sheet got you interested. I found most people are not opposed to thread ideas when you present them with a good one.
Another thing is patience. When you are new somewhere you know about your own skills and talents, but others do not. People might need a while to get to know you, especially when you not have the most outgoing personality. Don't give up when no one posts to your open thread in the first days. Come to chat. Mingle a bit. Update your sheet and read the lore. Not so much because it saves people to point out errors, but the lores are also great source of inspiration not only for character creation but also for possible threads.
If you are bored, why not start a solo thread for your character? I did with Velarian and found it worked out well for him. It gets you to know your own character and others have a chance to learn about him too. Especially when you have problems putting together a good CS, a nice introduction thread, maybe a flashback, can help. It is also a good training for later threads with others, hones your writing skills.
Gossamer: Can you tell us why you picked Mizahar as a canvas and backdrop for your roleplaying endeavors? What are some of your favorite aspects about the site and indeed what are some of your least favor things about the site?Velarian: I have never been a very avid online roleplayer. I had tried a few sites using D&D rules back in the day, but those focused strongly on mechanics. Either there was an online dice roller or you had to ask a mod about every marginal decision and in the end you either had to wait a long time to even do a solo thread (when you could do those at all), or your threads were cluttered up with dice rolls and out of character remarks. Or the other extreme – there were no rules at all and people pretty much did the craziest things at random. (It can be lightly frustrating when you describe a dire situation just to be rescued by the giant blue dragon of your travel companion. Who appeared out of nowhere. Unexpectedly.) When I found Mizahar I was surprised how well it combined the gaming aspect with creative writing. The system is fair and works no matter if you have a lot of time or not. Compared with tabletop like set-ups where a specific group of characters always has the same mod to lead their adventures, players have a lot of freedom here when it comes to thread partners, location or event thread theme.
Another great side of Mizahar are surely the players themselves. You people are so welcoming to new players, it is heart warming. The day I joined I already had someone ask if I wanted to join a thread with them and people are quick to answer questions to the best of their ability. That makes it very easy to feel welcome even as a new player.
I have not really encountered many problems here since I started. Sometimes people seem to generalize a bit too much. After a few weeks in chat you sometimes gain the impression Symenestra and Zith are just evil and Konti are all about being pretty and good, while in truth that is not all true. It gives new players a wrong impression and I think and that's a bit sad, often there is more to races than meets the eye.
Gossamer: What are your future plans for Velarian? Do you have some long term goals you’d be willing to share with us? We have high hopes that of all the PCs, yours will be one of the first Symenestra to actually tackle some of the tough racial themes that face symenestra players gamewide. Prejudice, misunderstanding, the harvest, unbelievable frailty. We have high hopes for Velarian and see him as a trailblazer of his race. How Symenestra are you willing to make Velarian and how do you see his future going at least in the short term? Velarian: How Symenestra am I willing to make Velarian. That's a good question. It depends to some degree on the people he comes to play with. When I find player willing and interested to explore such topics with me, I would love to write about them. Most of them are hard to approach alone. Velarian is no harvester, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be tempted to find a surrogate, given the chance. He certain has a darker side I would like to dip into at some point. I hate planning ahead, yet I hope I might come to show that such themes can be worthwhile to write about, for all parties involved.
Coming spring or summer I want him to make a short trip to Lhavit to visit Haeli, buy a few things hard to find in Kalinor and meet other characters of course. It is mostly depending on if he finds a guide, or can learn the necessary skills to brace the travel.
In the long run I would also like him to look further into Animation, as I feel the interaction with a golem able to develop an own personality or sense of self can create an interesting conflict for the Animator. I was always fascinated about the image of a creation working against its creator and while Velarian tends to be careful – mistakes can always happen. And sometimes it can be fun to make ones character suffer a bit.
Gossamer: Is there anything else you’d like to talk about? This is your opportunity to make statements that will be pretty much read by the entire staff and the majority of the playerbase. Feel free to add in anything here you’d like your fans to know about or that you find you’d like to speak of now that you have everyone’s undivided attention. : )Velarian: I really enjoy writing with you people. You have created a great imaginative world with enticing stories which draws in all those exploring it. I have yet to find someone who is not enthusiastic about his own characters or the stories he or she dreams up. That's a fantastic atmosphere to get creative in. It is good to see how people work together to bring something so big into being. My kudos to all players and especially mods who make this site so active and welcoming. I hope I will come to thread with many more of you in the future. Compared with a lot of players I am a really slow writer, but if you want to do a thread with me, don't hesitate to ask. When I am not swapped with threads or work I would love to come back to it.
I am in chat often. Mike likes to say I only pop in to randomly greet people, but truth is, 85% of the time I probably pay attention. This is the first chat I really tried to be active in though and I have a hard time to talk as much everyone else, hehe. I try my best to not seem like the biggest lurker in existence. Maybe I will get better at some point. I just doubt it. Just wanted to let you know that I am not ignoring you when I don't answer, I might just be writing or looking somewhere else. <3
I am looking forward to have a lot of fun here and I can't say how much I appreciate the nomination
by Gossamer on February 1st, 2011, 9:30 am 
