Enishi wrote:
By any chance was that influenced by the Cybran doctor guy from Supreme Commander?
Sadly I'm not cultured enough to know the reference. As I said, she was mostly influenced by a lot of dark music that tended to dwell on a dark sexuality, the futility of life, and sort of being honest about the dark sides of man. Tool and SOAD sort of completed her sound track, though Vlad was probably closer tied to system.
(Edit: removed picture link in case someone might take offense)
I'll be posting a picture I found that related the image best on Javar's forums soon here. The 'play time' picture that Fepel on the other forums was good for a spark of inspiration. Ali often referred to killing people as playing with them. It all sort of fit with the apathetic sort of hatred she had for mortals. 'They are nothing, I am nothing, and you are nothing.'
Some more of her philosophy might make it in game in the way of books. I often used her writing as an excuse for why she was gone, though I didn't really tell anyone that. I just need to sit down and try and untangle it all enough to organize into a library of hate. There are very few books on Dabi. Most of what little literature there is on the faith is about Zynor still, which is utterly disappointing.
Originally I wanted to highlight a few key mistakes I made with the character. I made many more than these, but I'd like to explain a bit more about the situations and complications I came across. Hopefully in doing so I'll keep myself from doing it again and possibly help warn others.
Firstly, I rolled her without much thought, simply having this nagging vague image haunting me. This really wasn't the problem, but the name was. I couldn't think of anything better, so I smashed the keyboard, found a few sounds I liked and strung them together in a hurry. It wasn't until after I had already had an extensive amount of RP with a few lighties (one of them being a supreme interaction with Othet) that Jada inadvertently pointed out the major flaw in her name. I was playing her in secret still, and Jada laughed and pointed out how someone was being lame. Ever since I cringe when I type her name fully out.
The second major mistake was not holding out for the harlequins. I didn't really have a faction in mind so much when I created her. I had legitimate reasons for her to join each faction, though it really came down to Adepts or Harlies. I tried to RP with the Harlequins, but at the time, they were infested with the Mangos and other such people who didn't seem to care much about any goals or inducting people.
I really didn't want to do back to back Adepts, but honestly, the things I was hearing about the faction and its reorganization was enough to make me consider it. And when I was ignored by the harlies long enough to be invited to the Adepts, I jumped at the chance. It would have been much better for the character to be in more 'free' organizations, I think, and she was really built to be more of a solo character.
Going into the CoN only exacerbated the situation, as now she had to be responsible at least in some degree. I found ways around it for the most part and reasons for her to have more lucid moments. The fact that she lead well, at least in the opinion of some, was merely an accident. She never asked for respect, yet she received a lot of it. She never asked for loyalty to her, yet people would die for her. I always hated the moments when she began to seem too rational, though she was far smarter than people took her for. In the end, I wish I didn't have to deal with the politics, and being in a looser organization probably would have minimalize the problems.
Still, one of the few mistakes I regret was the fact that I began to play her for other people. Being that she started off as some kind of art project of sorts, I was constantly aware of how people interacted with me and was always worried what they thought. I don't think I can accurately describe the vast amounts of unnecessary stress this placed upon me, and it eventually turned me off to playing a few times, one of them being right before her death. I won't likely be creating such complex characters in the future, and I'll certainly be focusing more on my own enjoyment of them rather than trying to make them perfectly fit into the mold I've cast them. That isn't to say I won't make an effort, but at this point, if people don't think my characters are interesting enough, too bad.
Anyway, I've always considered it poor form for people to keep going on in their afterlife threads. I'll let it go unless anyone has any questions, which they may feel free to PM me as well. I'll eventually post some logs of her on the other site. I'm happy to say that I have every moment of this character logged.