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1 yr ago
I have an RP idea in mind where you play either a militarized task force designed to eliminate paranormal activity, or something akin to the Umbrella Secret Service.
1 yr ago
I am trying to worldbuild god civs akin to the Time Lords or Xeelee, but so far I've yet to get anything concrete down. It is a tad frustrating, but I'll come up with something eventually. I hope.
1 yr ago
@Obscene: And that is true. I might try that with a character I'm making for a fic actually. Though they'll be no-nonsense in a largely jovial kind of way.
1 yr ago
Yeah. Static was just what popped into my head as the closest descriptor since those are less focused on the character's arc or internal struggle. Not the best wording to use admittedly.
1 yr ago
I just want more protagonists with that same resolve, or barring that ones who aren't confused young adults looking to find their place in life analogues.
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@Zyx
Interesting character, is he from some sort of rp game?


>No, they were made using a Choose Your Own Adventure. The format of which online has changed from picking paths to picking powers or choices to build a character, or your imaginary self-insert. Sometimes there's lore, other times there's not. In this case there is, though it's not too relevant beyond understanding the scale Lyren operates on. Though that too hardly matters since they won't be fighting.
~Lyren~




The door swung inwards softly as a tall figure, around ten feet or so in total, with an expressionless face akin to marble floated into the tavern, its obsidian robes trailing along the ground as it went. Drawing closer to a table, Lyren took a seat and put a pair of their arms forward, a drink conjuring itself seemingly out of thin air. Bringing the cup up to unmoving lips, they took a sip of the star-flecked liquid as their lidless gaze roamed around the room. Taking in the details of each and every occupant before returning to the beverage swirling within cup once more.
<Snipped quote by Zyx>

Depends on what you include in stereotypes, and getting into trouble about it doesn't necessarily mean it is actually a bad thing. They can be accurate or inaccurate or somewhere in that spectrum. They can also be positive or negative and have a lot of implications or very few. They can also be dealt with respectfully or disrespectfully. Delicate issues.

A lot of it comes down to perception. The whole general "token" concept. If you're writing a woman who is in every way a male character except that you note in your intro post that she's a woman and you use female pronouns. That's one end of the issue. The other end is a character who is little more than a pile of preconceptions.

If you write a Native American woman character during the days of the Wild West when one generation back her people roamed a huge chunk of Nebraska and moved with the seasons, but now her and her family have been moved to a reservation and they and their children are being taught new ways, new languages, and a new religion. If you write her in a way that is indie indistinguishable for a white male settler or a British railroad magnate, it's not gonna make some folks happy. It's not a very considerate way to write a character.


>I see. I'll admit that the reason for my confusion generally stems from making characters that aren't human, after all I think Draconians from Elden Ring have little in common with humans beyond being grey-skinned humanoids. Though I see what you're talking about with the Native American example. I can see how that would be offensive, not to mention confusing since the character isn't a settler or railroad magnate. But it would be a different context if said character was in reality an avatar of some eternal being living through various lives, and one of their old mannerisms bleeds through accidentally for a moment.
Writing as different races, particularly in worlds that are similar to ours, is wrought with pitfalls. People are particularly prone to offense these days, so do you write a character to subvert expectations? Could cause problems. Do you write someone entirely divorced from stereotypes? That could cause an entirely different set of problems.


>I fail to see how writing a being without stereotypes is a bad thing. Note that I say being rather than human, as with humans or adjacent cultures to our own it's harder to do. Or prevent interpretation of such.
>Alright, thinking of bringing in Lyren for a drink and maybe a philosophical chat.

>[Moved to the CHAR tab].
<Snipped quote by Zyx>
Can you explain what you mean?


>I might be explaining this poorly, but what I mean is imagine you write a character that seems like a stereotype at first. Like the Dumb Blonde stereotype, only to subvert it by not playing into said stereotype, or even deconstructing it. That's what I mean. You're still writing and using a stereotype ultimately, just not at the most basic level, and generally not in a way that positively enforces or promotes it.




You can play whoever you want. Have at it. The only thing would be avoiding stereotypes. I've seen guys writing females that have hit every type of stereotype in the book. I have also seen girls do the same thing. So, you can write who you want just do some research. The same thing with doing characters of a different race or ethnicity. Do. Your. Research. Don't be lazy about it either. I myself am a Person of color as they say. There's nothing worse than seeing characters like myself be made to as a walking talking caricature when a bit of research could go a long way. Or the focus of said character is just their skin color. It's annoying.


>Agreed. Unless it leads to a subversion naturally, but even then you aren't using it just to enforce a stereotype.

>Also, this applies to non-human characters too, albeit in a different way. Like maybe your demons aren't dicks but the angels are, or vice versa. Or maybe Cthulhu is just a chill alien god that wants to go on a date with you as opposed to being the not-dead/not-living priest of R'lyeh destined to bring ruin upon the world. But yes, I agree. Stereotypes are not only tired and overdone tripe characteristic of a lazy writer, but in more than a few cases they're downright harmful.
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