How To Establish My Character

Kioha

Hi! I'm pretty sure several people have asked this before, but how do I establish myself in lusternia? I have several questions, like how to develop my character's arc, how to make a name for myself, and how to make my time so enjoyable that I won't want to leave.How can I find an arc that ties me to the world? I'm also looking for my famil
y. Any advice is welcome.

Ymuli

Well, the best start you can make is just to make sure you say hi every time to show up. Say hello to people in particular. Poke them in tells if you see them logged in, even if you have to make up questions to ask them to get their interest in you. Find them sitting around somewhere and go and greet them. Sometimes things come to you on the fly (to be honest, Ymuli didn't have much personality or development until I found the perfect counterpoint to her behaviours in Aramel, Falmiis and Saz to some extent!) Sometimes it requires you to find the perfect group of people who work for you to make up little bits of backstory with. Aramel in particular is great for me because we make up little stories about our family history as we go, and then involve them. 

For family in particular, I'd suggest just finding people you enjoy playing with and then express an interest in them ICly or OOCly and see how it goes. OOC is better if you're doing it pretty quickly or want to build towards things, just a general message saying 'hey I love spending time with you guys, I'd be interested in your family if you're interested in having me and we can work towards that roleplay' etc. 

You can also try reading the histories if you haven't already, to look for points of inspiration for your character. An interest in a particular story might help shape your feelings towards other orgs or your own. eg: The story of Grutina might be the inspiration you find to feel a particular way towards the wyrd, etc. It's all many and varied, really! Also make use of RPWHO!

Shaddus

Quite simply put, jump in head first and develop your character that way. Don't feel like you have to create a whole background and rp style right off the bat. Get a feel for where your character lives,  how it effects them, how it may shape them, and then go from there.

Allyrianne

Invite people to join you, don't wait for people to invite you to do things (although if they do, follow up!). Hunting, questing, watching a stage play, doing your guild tasks don't need to be solo activities.

Read newsposts to find out what events are happening or if people are looking for volunteers, offer to help with your city/commune's ministries if they interest you. Show up for revolts even if the only thing you can do is sit on a named npc and announce when they shuffle.

Wander around your city commune and read room descriptions and think about your character growing up there/discovering those places for the first time. Read the histories, pick something you want to learn more about, and ask people about it.

If you want to join an established family, it's worth thinking about whether you want to join a bigger family, or a historical family, and using HELP <your city/commune> and POLITICS FAMILIES to figure out what your options are. If there's a family you're particularly interested in, try getting in touch with people from that family with questions about things with either letters or messages or tells. If people are recruiting you and you want more time, it's okay to tell them that. You may want to consider whether you're trying to find your pre-portal parents, or whether you're fine with being adopted into a great house. Both can be fun.

Rancoura

One thing I'd recommend is finding/establishing an interest or set of interests for your character. If you feel like you're just sort of flailing about without any real sense of direction, putting focus on an interest is a great way to engage yourself, and something around which you could potentially begin to write a story. 

For example, say that your character has an interest in historical locations, and enjoys journeying to places like the Ruins of Shallach, Spectre Isle, the Tar Pits near Serenwilde, etc. Perhaps your character used to read books on them in their childhood, and now that they're old enough, exploring these places is something that your character enjoys doing. Perhaps you'll even encounter people in those areas who you could open up a dialogue with; social interaction usually has a large impact on character development, after all. Asking if anyone has any information on these areas over your org's public aethers is also a great way to open up dialogue with your orgmates as well, and maybe you'll find someone with a similar interest -- whom may or may not end up being a forgotten family member!

In essence, find something in the world of Lusternia that you can anchor your character to -- this should add to the feeling that your character is truly a living, breathing thing, which will lead to natural development and the like.

Breandryn

I'm not very good at organically making pals or establishing connections, so I tend to engage in activities which help naturally create interaction. This gets you out there bumping into people and also helps give you fall-back reasons for RP. For example, you can really throw yourself into advancement tasks (if a guild sec gets a witty report it shows that you're someone interesting to interact with), combat (gets you out there and meeting people), or aideships (you naturally interact with people when doing leadership stuff).

Everiine

My advice is to start small! Pick one or two specific things you're really interested in. Don't pick something big and broad, like "history", as you'll quickly overwhelm yourself trying to develop your character. But something like "History of the Holy Celestian Empire" or "History of rocks" will give you a much better focus for developing a strong character. Throw in a few defining physical, mental, or emotional characteristics, and you'll have a small, easy to manage, but solid base on which to build your character.

Breandryn

Brb rolling a geomancer obsessed with rock history. Or would that be Cacaphony?

Ulalah

I can actually offer advice! Yay! Candies all around.

I find the best way to establish a character is to first know what that character is like. (I treat mine like real people, for instance, and give them a plethora of stuff internally to deal with.) Then it's mostly about getting out and RPing, and participating in organizational stuff. I've made friends IC from raiding, domothing and just kinda sitting around.

It can also depend on the org, though; some have less obvious RP hooks than others.

Neftarys

There are some characters I've played that have come alive just based on an imagined mood or voice in my head.

Most of them, though, I've made up to various degrees elaborate RP backgrounds for, and personally, I find that really helps me know who they are.

In every case, they evolve through further play and things that happen IG, though. And it would seem like there are people who prefer very different approaches than I do! Anyway, there's no one right way, but try different things, starting with the easiest, would be my advice, and see what gives you a feel for your character. And then play and watch them evolve.