Post/Author/DateTime	Post
christianx 04-11-05, 01:14 AM	I'm trying to cook up a shifter soul eater character's background, but everything I think of sounds absurdly cliche. And I hate that. The character is a shifter soul eater who is on a personal quest to taste the most delicous souls in the universe. Early on he tasted a soul (I've got a number of ideas for this) and developed an unhealthy addiction to it and now he's out and about looking for adventure, because there is always something new and tasty along the way. I know the concept sounds sem-comical, but I intend for him to be completely serious in his quest. Think of it more like a tribal warrior who practices cannibalism and goes looking for the most powerful foes to devour their essence and make himself better. Anyways, as a shifter he has lycanthropic blood, so I initially thought his mother was a rape victim of lycanthropes or something along those lines. Cliche. Either he is raised in the village and despised until he leaves, or is thrown aside as an infant in the wilderness. Both cliche. I know they are cliche because they work best, but I want something different. I need to come up with a way for him to come into the world, develope a hatred for most life, and then develope an endearing love for eating life. Any suggestions are welcome - I don't expect you to write my history for me. :D But I just need to hear someone else's take on this kind of setup, because it might stir my brain from its stupor.
DTemplar5 04-11-05, 01:35 AM	Well, a little twist- make the mother just as evil as her child- and spin it from there. I'll leave the rest to you.
b6 04-11-05, 10:35 AM	...make the mother just as evil as her child- and spin it from there. actually, i have an idea that is somewhat similar to this. somewhere in his past, your character had the unpleasant experience of running across another soul eater. this soul eater was a true villain, however, who thought (for some reason or another) that this kid's soul might taste good. perhaps your character's father was a particularly strong warrior who had just died (at the hands of soul eater no less), and the warrior tasted great. thus the soul eater came looking for any relations to this strong warrior, thinking that the taste must be passed along through the generations. he can even tell your young character this, planting the seed for your character's eventual growth into a soul eater! (he could realize that he isnt strong enough on his own, so he needs to eat others to improve.) how you would allow the character to survive this encounter is up to you. perhaps the soul eater took a bite off his hand and didnt like the taste, so the kid was spared. perhaps the kid just ran as fast as he could, and through some [deus ex machina] he escaped. it really would be more open-ended here, and you can surely do as you wish. as another twist here, having a father that was so renowned would probably mean that the kid WAS going to grow up strong, and not only that, he would have perhaps known the benefits of being famous. that might have instilled his love of life you were looking for. hope some of this can help... if not, well, maybe youll gleam something from it at a later date.