Character Inspirations

Sylandra

We all get some of our ideas for our characters from elsewhere. Books, movies, TV shows, comics, manga, anime, etc. A Facebook post has been circulating where you post the "three fictional characters you identify as" and it made me think of Lusternia and how that's often true of our own character personas.

So! What characters have inspired your Lusternian persona?

---

Sylandra I think has a bit of the following character archetypes in her DNA:

-Margaery Tyrell from Game of Thrones

-Highly ambitious player of the political game through social maneuvering, particularly through marriage.
-Careful in what she says to which people.
-Exceedingly well connected.

-Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby (The good and the bad!)

-Shameless flirt and a cynic. But sentimental.
-A bit self-serving, but never overtly so. Subtly manipulative.
-Appears more innocent than she actually is.
-Similar fashion aesthetics.

-Lady Amalthea from The Last Unicorn (mainly her appearance, but also a few mannerisms)

-Mainly the appearance, but also, Lady Amalthea's uncertain awkwardness in her human form is basically Syl at her most vulnerable.
-Also probably the part of Sylandra that's obsessed with writing tragedies.
-Also I could see her with Mia Farrow's voice.

-Lady Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey

-Both shady and a lady, but even though she's known her share of past scandal, manages to always redeem her image.
-Stubborn beyond all reason, yet manages to stay graceful.
-Ambitious and sometimes a bit too standoffish (particularly in matters of the heart), but actually a good person. Usually.

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Your turn! Share what characters have inspired your Lusternia personas.

Shaddus

Sylandra? Shady?

Tridemon

Shaddus said:

Sylandra? Shady?

All the other Syl Shady, they're just imitating.

Luce

Luce was created around a deep dark secret he refuses to share with just about everyone. Ever. Threw in a dash of manic depression and a smidge of Remy from Ratatoille and Grandpabbie from Frozen. (seriously, watch him when I emote him working with illusions or talking about food.) Season with crushing self-doubt to taste.

My Seren alt is one part Bellweather, one part Foxxy Cleopatra, and one part Porky Pig. She, oddly, does not have self-esteem issues, though she does have a tendancy to pause, stutter, and trip over her words.

Zoku

Zuko...then I read the rules for names then swapped the vowels >.>

(though at first I planned to be an orc bard, then I decided to go mage) so now I'm a firebender.

Shaddus

95% of my characters are picked guild first, then gender based on whether I feel a feminine or masculine vibe from the guild (don't ask how that works, because even I don't understand it).

Then I imagine a big fish bowl full of scrabble tiles in my head. I pour it out onto a table, and the name just jumps out at me. I don't instill a personality into the character, it just happens based on my reactions to my first few times playing them and reacting normally to stimuli like guild teachers and random players.


Most tend to hold various facets of my own temperament and personality, so I guess my inspiration is....me! I'm equal parts shameless flirt, temperamental a**hole, snarky prick, protector, teacher, and random act of randomness.

Ushaara

Ushaara mostly devolved into my own personality, but I like these guys as models for Ush.

Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler, code name HGW XX/7

- Big Brother is always watching.
- 'Sword and Shield of the Party'
- Sympathetic beneath many outward layers of stony authority.
- Culture vulture.

(all thanks to Llesvelt for introducing me to 'The Lives of Others')


Colossus

- Soviet metal man -> lucidian Sentinel (duh!)
- Peaceful, powerful


Karl Urban's Dredd

- "Ma-Ma is not the law, I am the law."
- Inexorable
- The Slo-mo drug is basically aeon.

(also worth watching for Cersei/Ma-Ma.)

and the best for last....

Thyelleia

Ushaara said:

and the best for last....

Oh, Mr Darcy

Lavinya

Thyelleia said:

Ushaara said:

and the best for last....

Oh, Mr Darcy

And that is why all the ladies loooooove @Ushaara. Brb making Halli-alt.

Eldanien

Insert wall of text warning.

So Eldanien's theme was originally planned to be Merlin-esque, full on mystic with a dash of Gandalf's vagrant busybody exploring and poking his nose in new places.  I built his (and Tarielenwe's) names using dialects of Tolkien's Elvish languages, and then bent his name so that it created a more adventurous expectation of him.  Even now, I sometimes 'hear' Dartanian when I read his name.  That original view of Eldanien didn't last long, but certain elements stuck around. Here we are, a decade later, and I can still recognize bits of Eldanien's (and Lusternia's) first few days in the character.

Eldanien started out as a Celestine with a strong Light Mage (rather than priestly) bent.  Influences were Final Fantasy's White Mage, World of Darkness Celestial Chorus.  I created him with the intention of defecting to Serenwilde early on, marrying the generally modern-good elements of the Light with the grimdark survival-of-the-fittest mode of Serenwilde.  But then Celest got curbstomped so hard that the population plummeted and I couldn't bring myself to abandon ship.  In the end, I decided to shift his planned future and stay in Celest.

Time passed, and I went dormant due to reasons.  I came back just in time for the monks to come out, something I had put a lot of hope into when I came to Lusternia.  So I was able to have Eldanien join in on that, and his theme became a bit more priestly.  I still considered him more Wizard than Cleric, yet here he was quite firmly a Monk.  It worked for me, at any rate.  Over the years he has leaned more one way or the other, but for the most part has stayed with the Wizardly (think wise man as opposed to magic man) theme, growing more serene and philosophical over time.

I have (and often still do) draw on these inspirations:

Sam Neill's Merlin.  Also Merlin from Microprose's Master of Magic.  Definitely more the ineffable mystic element here.  The fact that Merlin's story has certain darker tones available was a side benefit I never got to adopt, though I think Merloch pretty much nailed down.  That said, I'm revisiting the Wizard-In-His-Tower theme and may be incorporating more of that in Eldanien's make-up in the future.



What with my return and the rapid shift in my expectations for Eldanien's future development as a monk, I found a way to blend his past and existing themes into where I wanted to get him.  Though it was an in-between place, it definitely had its own flavor and lasted long enough to be a significant part of Eldanien's history.  The transition looked something like Ewan McGregor's Obi Wan Kenobi, mostly because I was looking for a mystic-martial blend that had the right flavor:



A certain confidence and certainty in his beliefs, having bled for them, angsted over the little inner conflicts, and coming to grips and peace with the Light, leaving behind an unshakable sense of wellbeing and contentment with his place in the world. Proud AND humble.  But again, this was a transition phase, marrying the Wizardly Light Mage/Priest of his past with the humble monk he was about to become.

For the longest time, Eldanien was a lot like Kwai Chang Cain in his mystic/priest mode (an aspect more emphasized in Legend Continues).



Eldanien and the Tahtetso shaped each other significantly early on in the guild.  In many ways, Eldanien is easy to overlook.  While I'm certainly vociferous and probably more memorable in OOC chatter, Eldanien is generally soft spoken, quietly goes about his work towards good things big and small.  And despite having stopped being a combatant way back in his Celestine days, Eldanien has a surprising amount of potency if one looks closely.

Even though he has fully adopted the humble monk persona, this does not keep his past knowledge and abilities from influencing him, contributing to his makeup.  To explore that further, I recently had Eldanien go on a spiritual journey of sorts to and through each guild in Celest.  Not only did he pick up every skill taught in Celest, he also delved into each guild's version of the Light.  I'm still looking for some way to tie all of this together into one concept, though the closest I'm coming up with is Ascended Daniel, played by Michael Shanks:

Zoku

For shits and giggles, I'm actually studying various philosophy since Gaudiguch is apparently like that. Still trying to decide what I'm going to run with, I've layed plenty of options out though.

Siam

This was Siam's inspiration:

Rancoura

Most characters I create in books or MUDs are usually inspired by pictures, rather than other characters. Something about beautiful artwork just inspires me to create my own story about it and whomever may be in it.

This was the original inspiration for Rancoura:



And if Rancoura had been an Ebonguard (which I strongly considered at one point), she would have looked like this:




After she became a demigoddess, she conducted a ritual for secret purposes with secret results, and her form ended up changing somewhat, and Nivn'falsia was born from a splinter of her spirit. This was the inspiration for that transformation (I even designed the belt in-game):

Zyphora

While I do not believe I had anyone particular in mind when creating Zyphora (in fact, I recall myself posting that her personality was more an extension of my own, but... a hundred times more elegant and graceful), I can look at different characters I've liked over the years and see some shared characteristics, possibly by subconscious influence.

Marisa Coulter from The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

• A beautiful, graceful, flirtatious, and elegant woman who clearly leads and enjoys a lavish, luxuriant lifestyle.
• Her aesthetic in dress and decoration is most similar to Zyphora's, especially with the golden colour palette. Zyphora's private study was specifically inspired by Marisa Coulter's home as described in the book.
• She often relies on more subtle means to achieve her ends. While Zyphora is nowhere near as manipulative/evil, she maintains a constant awareness of the possible consequences of her actions/words.
• She has an extraordinarily soft spot for her child and is protective of her.

Mitsuki Koyama / Full Moon from Full Moon wo Sagashite

• Has a beautiful singing voice, a characteristic that Zyphora shares through some of her cult's veneration abilities.
• She is a romantic, and for years her efforts were working towards getting the attention of the person she loved most.
• She is kind, supportive, and compassionate.
• She can be unsure of her abilities but tries her best anyway, especially with encouragement.

Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty

• Aurora has a beautiful singing voice, and hers is the closest approximation of Zyphora's voice.
• Zyphora's custom typecast is "auroral."
• Zyphora is princess-like, apparently.
• Also a pretty nice person and a romantic at heart.

Yuna from Final Fantasy X

• Noble, generally calm, self-sacrificing. Zyphora is ready to do whatever she can for the good of the Collective, especially as Vernal Ascendant, which tends to be domothing lately.
• Loyal to her friends.
• Formal and ritualistic.

Lavinya

Lavinya is a concept I carried over from another site, who has morphed and changed. She does have some definite outside inspiration, though most is from books so it's hard to give a picture, but I'll see what I can find!

     If you've read the Wheel of Time, you may recognise a touch of Lanfear and a liberal serving of black ajah. That is where a lot of her demeanour comes from - a cool facade covering a cruel and slightly crazy inside. Lanfear was also manipulative and power hungry, and reknown for her incredible beauty, and proud, arrogant and self-absorbed. Yeah I know, much familiar.

     If you've read any of the Kushiel books, you may see some shared traits in Lavinya and Melisande Shahrizai. Extremely cunning, manipulative, hedonistic and sadistic. Selfish, though loyal to family, and it's from her I got the love of politicking and string-pulling. Also very sensual, alluring and beautiful.

     As for appearance, I got a lot of inspiration from this picture (which I used to represent my original Lavinya character)

     


The snark and sass is all me, turns out it's irrepressible. My sense of humour bleeds through too, and a lot of the historical romance novels I've read have inspired her strong sense of being decorous and dressing appropriately and always helped her look down on her non-noble peers.

Deichtine

Lavinya said:

Lavinya is a concept I carried over from another site, who has morphed and changed. She does have some definite outside inspiration, though most is from books so it's hard to give a picture, but I'll see what I can find!

     If you've read any of the Kushiel books, you may see some shared traits in Lavinya and Melisande Shahrizai. Extremely cunning, manipulative, hedonistic and sadistic. Selfish, though loyal to family, and it's from her I got the love of politicking and string-pulling. Also very sensual, alluring and beautiful.

I absolutely adored the Kushiel books overall. Phèdre could get a little bit too much at times but some of the chapters with Melisande though I mean wow *fans*

Shaddus

My two year old's middle name is Phedre because my wife enjoyed the book series so much

Xeria

That's a classy sounding name. @Shaddus

Thyelleia

Out of my chars, Thyelleia is the easiest to RP because she's basically me with wings. When I created her, there was no inspiration involved...just 'I wanna make a char in that shiny science crystal bird city' But if I had to name characters who come close to her in personality, she'd be a mixture of:



Hermione Granger

• loves facts and learning in general
• likes to stand up for those who are wronged (she sometimes thinks that some of the lower castes are treated unfairly...if she wasn't so loyal to the Collective, she might have founded her own version of S.P.E.W.)
• wow. such pride. much stubbornness.
• would probably never admit if she liked somebody

Captain Tashigi

• clumsiness level: over 9000!
• constantly misplaces things
• very loyal to her friends and superiors
• always worries about everything
• wants to do her best to help enforcing the Law
• absolutely NO sense of direction

Dr. Holly Marten

• again: science ftw!
• likes to think out of the box (and often has ideas that get her killed)
• sometimes has no filter for what she wants to say (and talks a LOT)
  
• talent for ending up in chaotic situations
• loves to experiment R.I.P. James The Cactus
  

Everiine

My original inspiration for Everiine was this guy, Angel from the X-Men. Pretty much because he was a handsome guy with wings.


Later, as his personality started to develop, I tried to make him a little wiser, but still with his hot-headedness and a tendency to act before thinking things through, like Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker.


As he grew older, he got more bitter, but still (I hoped) brought wisdom to the table. Eventually he mellowed out, so went backwards from Gandalf the White to Gandalf the Grey.

Now, I try to keep him with the foresight and measured balance of Elrond, including his ability to act when necessary. A wise leader who is sick of war and wants nothing more than to live in peace.

Zoku

I've shifted so many times I first thought about being a silly pyro
Embodying this feel: 


But then I was like noooo I'll be an emo kid who likes playing with fire!

But then as I was reading Spider-Gwen (totally recommend) and I got the classic quote stuck in my head.
(pic is the original version, not the well known version but whatever)



So now the character of Zoku has his own super powers of FIRE and will help when he can. If he doesn't help, and something bad happens it's his fault. 

As for looks I'm just an argonian with nice horns

Enyalida

Irillia

Like Zyphora, I didn't think I had any particular inspirations in mind when I first started playing Irillia, but looking back on her history and personality, I can see some influences and inspirations, both conscious and unconscious, that have shaped how she thinks, acts, and expresses herself. Like Lavinya, a lot of these inspirations came from books, not movies or TV shows, so I'll share some quotes here instead of images.

- Amy March from Little Women
"Amy is with truth considered "the flower of the family"; for at sixteen she has the air and bearing of a full-grown woman--not beautiful, but possessed of that indescribable charm called grace. One saw it in the lines of her figure, the make and motion of her hands, the flow of her dress, the droop of her hair--unconscious, yet harmonious, and as attractive to many as beauty itself."
I shamelessly incorporated Amy's quality of physical grace into Irillia, to the point of using a similar sentence in her description (probably because my always being gawky and awkward made me want to play someone extremely graceful and poised in-game). Young Amy and Irillia share a tendency to be prim and prissy, while grown-up Amy's goal to become both a great artist and a great lady parallels Irillia's desire to be a great artist and civil servant.

- Ellen O'Hara from Gone with the Wind
"As far back as Scarlett could remember, her mother had always been the same, her voice soft and sweet whether in praising or in reproving, her manner efficient and unruffled despite the daily emergencies of Gerald’s turbulent household, her spirit always calm and her back unbowed, even in the deaths of her three baby sons. Scarlett had never seen her mother’s back touch the back of any chair on which she sat... She had never seen her mother stirred from her austere placidity, nor her personal appointments anything but perfect, no matter what the hour of day or night."
Speaking of great ladies, while Irillia isn't quite the paragon of serenity, elegance, efficiency, and inner strength that Scarlett's mother Ellen is described as being, it certainly isn't for lack of trying! They are also both haunted by personal romantic sorrow, albeit in very different ways. 

- Serai from Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher

"The courtesan's eyes became cold and hard as stones. 'You will control yourself, Steadholder, or for your own good, I will knock you senseless and drag you back to Nedus' manor.'

     Isana could only stare at the tiny woman, her mouth open.

     'There will be a time of reckoning for those who have sought to undermine the authority of the Crown,' Serai continued, iron in her eyes. 'But it must be done properly if it is ever to be done at all.'

     In the face of Serai's reasoned determination, Isana forced her bitter anger aside... 'You're right. I don't know what got into me.'

     The courtesan nodded, and her eyes softened to match her smile. 'Furies, look what you've done. You've made me threaten you with physical violence, darling, which no proper lady would ever do. I feel so brutish.'

     'I apologize,' Isana said.

     Serai patted her arm and said, 'Fortunately, I am the most gracious and tolerant woman in the realm. I will forgive you.' She sniffed. 'Eventually.'"
Although Serai only appears briefly in the Codex Alera books, I loved her dialogue and personality and felt like she stole every scene in which she did appear. Beneath her frivolous, ornamental exterior and amusing bon mots can be found a strong will, a sharp wit, steely resolve, and an unwavering dedication to law and order. Irillia isn't nearly as witty or quick-witted as Serai, but she certainly would aspire to be.

- Ellie Arroway from Contact by Carl Sagan

"Look at enough stars, and sooner or later terrestrial interference or the concatenation of random noise will produce a pattern that for a moment makes your heart palpitate. You calm down and check it out. If it doesn't repeat itself, you consider it spurious. This discipline was essential if she was to preserve some emotional equilibrium in the face of what she was seeking. She was determined to be as tough-minded as possible, without abandoning the sense of wonder that was driving her in the first place."
Like Ellie Arroway, Irillia's career has been a balancing act of emotion versus discipline and wonder versus logic and empiricism. She also shares Arroway's grasp of the beauty and poetry inherent in math and science and respects the scientific aspect of Hallifax very much, which is why her plays and stories usually have a major Institute character or two. Like Arroway, she also has dad issues (though not nearly to the same extent) and would also be unbelievably pissed if her mom ever remarried.

Vivet

I don't have much to contribute since my inspirations tend to be very mercurial and draw from all over the place, but I would definitely recommend reading this thread backwards. It is super fun to look at the reference material and try to guess who posted before you read their user name.

Talan

For the look, Tilda Swinton. Take away the ears, swap the hair for feathers, and add wings.
 

For the voice, Taylor Swift. Pretty enough, but not much resonance. Sharp in the high octaves, breathy in the low, which is about as whiskey as she gets. Wish I could think of her as an Amy or Janis, but alas, she is too chirpy and not a born-bard.

When I was in Halli I had the song Fifteen in my head pretty much constantly (When you're a hundred and fifty, and somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them.) This year, it's more like this:




Fashion Icons:


(Hence the glamrock.)

And because I play her as well, Widow's Web is all Moya.

Ulalah

Uuhm. Let's see; I never really thought about where I draw inspiration for Ulalah, but I'm sure it's from somewhere. It has to be. It always is. Appearance-wise, initially, I based her on pictures of women dressed up in faun costumes for Halloween - freckled and charming; add in a bit of faeling, a bit of Glomdoring, and you had the first version of Ulalah's body. Then I saw descriptions like @Salome and @Rancoura and decided it needed to change. (#EndRamble)

Personality-wise, Ulalah is a bit less simple to describe:

Harley Quinn

• Super unstable.
• High-energy.
• Fond of acts of violence rather than traditionally romantic gestures.

@Nienla

• Adapted personality traits from her.

And a bunch of other weird self-serving personality traits rolled up into her, because I'm bad at references.

Kistan

Ulalah said:

Uuhm. Let's see; I never really thought about where I draw inspiration for Ulalah, but I'm sure it's from somewhere. It has to be. It always is. Appearance-wise, initially, I based her on pictures of women dressed up in faun costumes for Halloween - freckled and charming; add in a bit of faeling, a bit of Glomdoring, and you had the first version of Ulalah's body. Then I saw descriptions like @Salome and @Rancoura and decided it needed to change. (#EndRamble)

Personality-wise, Ulalah is a bit less simple to describe:

Harley Quinn

• Super unstable.
• High-energy.
• Fond of acts of violence rather than traditionally romantic gestures.

@Nienla

• Adapted personality traits from her.

And a bunch of other weird self-serving personality traits rolled up into her, because I'm bad at references.

So different to what I imagined!

Based only on the name, which I can not help pronouncing Ooh La La! in my head, I was hoping you would be pursued by Pepe Le Pew, an insistent Furrikin.

I know I should keep these thoughts to myself

Oh and Hi!

Breandryn

Lili from WoW/Heroes of the Storm. Her catchphrase is "Ready for adventure!" and she often shouts out about finding pretty butterflies in the middle of battle. She is also very optimistic, positive and team-oriented.



Scylla from Smite. Cute girl but then, surprise, tentacles! I initially just included this as an Illuminati joke, but after some thought, there is a deeper inspiration here, in that Scylla isn't evil or scary and her tentacles aren't the more Lovecraftian horrors from the deep sort, but rather fond companions, which reflects Brea's almost reverent view of fleshworking and Vortex.



Kaylee from Firefly is a huge personality inspiration. She is a mix of child-like wonder, optimism and hope, but she's not a child and has her own deep desires and beliefs. It's tricky to RP something light and innocent without it becoming purely childish or ham, so I have found a nice excuse to binge Firefly again :P

This is totally how I imaged Breandryn rolling up to the Mag ball:


This picture was taken in 1948 at a home for emotionally disturbed children. The girl, who grew up in a concentration camp, is drawing "home" - so much about this image is chilling to me, from the heart-breaking drawing and its implications to the haunted stare. Despite her sunny outlike, Breandryn, like all of us, has her darker sides and fears in the night. Not going to elaborate a lot on this side of her, though, as that's something she keeps somewhat private.



Edit: Oh, and yes Brea can be shy and quiet and bookish at times. That's entirely something that's developed based on my own anxiety about approaching new people and being too slow of a typist at times for group RP or quick/snappy RP. Easy way out >_>

Skanylla

There are few people that might have influenced Skanylla

1. Cassandra Pentaghast 
Cassandra is drunk and hates the inquisitor:



2. Aveline Vallen
Aveline is being pushed over her limits by Hawke:

Aramel

I kept intending to post in this thread when it first came up, but never got around to it until a fit of boredom today - apologies for the (semi) necro.

1. Galadriel

- Nobody who knows about my Tolkien obsession is at all surprised.
- Has seen just about everything
- Is good at presenting an unflappable demeanor
- Has a slight wistfulness
- I am totally ripping off her wardrobe

2. Elinor from Brave

- Political intrigue (but hopefully for good causes)
- Secret matchmaker at heart
- Likes to organize events
- Cannot resist being a peacemaker (you will be nice to each other and you will like it!)
- I'm totally ripping off her wardrobe too

3. Anne of Green Gables

- How do you combine Anne of Green Gables with Galadriel? I don't know, but it's happening anyway.
- Irrepressibly blithe, with an impish sense of humour
- Somehow gets involved in everyone's lives and gossip
- Secretly a hopeless romantic who wants everything to be pretty and flowery
- Literary pretensions
- I'm not stealing her wardrobe

Kendra

Aramel said:

I kept intending to post in this thread when it first came up, but never got around to it until a fit of boredom today - apologies for the (semi) necro.

1. Galadriel

- Nobody who knows about my Tolkien obsession is at all surprised.
- Has seen just about everything
- Is good at presenting an unflappable demeanor
- Has a slight wistfulness
- I am totally ripping off her wardrobe

2. Elinor from Brave

- Political intrigue (but hopefully for good causes)
- Secret matchmaker at heart
- Likes to organize events
- Cannot resist being a peacemaker (you will be nice to each other and you will like it!)
- I'm totally ripping off her wardrobe too

3. Anne of Green Gables

- How do you combine Anne of Green Gables with Galadriel? I don't know, but it's happening anyway.
- Irrepressibly blithe, with an impish sense of humour
- Somehow gets involved in everyone's lives and gossip
- Secretly a hopeless romantic who wants everything to be pretty and flowery
- Literary pretensions
- I'm not stealing her wardrobe

Aaaaaaaah! I literally feel like squealing..just by seeing Anne of Green Gables. I know who's the Gilbert Blyth of Lusty. I'd show you a picture of me when I was 5, with ginger hair and pigtails, but I have a rep' to keep lol