Post/Author/DateTime	Post
angel_raziel 09-29-06, 07:23 PM	I am having trouble working out the motivation for my Nihilistic fighter. He is to the villian in a story I am trying to put together, but I keep stumbling over my main villian. First, he is not fully a nihilist, he does believe in his own strength and ability to survive, but he's jaded to everything else. I want him to be not really out doing evil to be a bad guy or anything, that goes against the concept, but rather out seeking out the answers to his questions of why "creatures" are so cruel and beastial to each other. He does not really comprehend love, so he only sees the cruelity that man inflicts on its fellow man. In his search for his answers, he does not apply any type of morality to his actions, its more of a situation of doing what must be done at the time to move on, without really holding a grudge against anything because he doesn't really feel anything towards his actions. I want him to be a large grey area. I want this character to be more thoughtful than combative. He will fight, and can fight, but thats not what he's about. I see him making comments and talking to his opponents while engaged in combat. Wity remarks, and smiles that don't quite reach cold deep and soulful eyes. As you can see from above, I've got an idea of what I want him to be like when the characters would encounter him, but I really can't work out why he would be like that. I was thinking of taking the out of some form of child-hood trauma, but, I really couldn't think of a reason for that either, because I keep coming up with a revenge motivation when I take that path. Any suggestions for either the backstory, or the rough out I have above would be really appreciated.
VrecknidjX 09-29-06, 10:10 PM	He was abandoned fairly early. Either his parents just left him, or he was taken from them, or something similar. It happened early enough (say, before he was 5), so that his memories of the period before then aren't clear enough for him to really remember his own past. The disconnection that he feels with the world is a reflection of his real disconnection with his past. He wants to know, but he's not even sure what he's after, because he's not really sure what he lost. And he's angry, but his anger isn't directed at anyone or anything specifically. But the anger is mollified, because he isn't really hateful or vengeful, it's not as if he's out to cause evil, it's just that he cannot bond with others. The capacity for forming relationships is lost--he's not really sure why, but an objective observer who knew his past would understand it's because he cannot trust that the closest attachments won't be severed by forces beyond his control. And so, of course, he doesn't want to be there. He doesn't want to find himself facing forces beyond his control. And so he's become hard. He must have the control if he's to prevent it from being used against him. Dave
angel_raziel 09-30-06, 03:33 AM	Thats a good idea, being abandoned as a small child, it would later lead him to seeking his past out, even though he has no clue where to start since he really isn't a part of who he is or was. I could probably use this as an opening for a more Evil character to use as a means for being introduced into the game when this character seems to be...weakening, so to speak. Perhaps the new evil character is just using his search for who he is to progress his own evil.
Stormbrand 10-02-06, 12:25 AM	An abandoned childhood is a little cliched and it takes away some of the impact of his personality if he is just 'like that cos he was abandoned as a baby.' Play down the reason for it is my advice because that is not what you want him for. Rather than a childhood trauma, he could just be a merc or something like that who has seen too much bloodshed in his time. A life of killing can blunt your ability to deal with love.
Reversefigure4 10-02-06, 01:43 AM	Has he always been this way? Once he was young, and full of hope. He would be a mighty hero, fighting the good fight against evil, helping the helpless! Only, it didn't really work out that way. While he was fighting the orcs on one side of the town, they simply snuck around behind him and murdered the villagers. When he tried to raid that lich tomb, his friends were all slaughtered and he barely escaped. No matter how much good he did, the next costly screw up was just over the horizon. All life has ever shown him is that nothing he does matters. All he has ever learned is cruelty and pain. He wants to know why life is the way it is, and believes he'll find those answers by his current actions.
Telsiin 10-05-06, 02:42 PM	Perhaps in one of his many adventure he came a across something that changed him and left Permanent brain damage, Demon Possession , Mindfly, poison or just fell off a 20 foot wall
Solnath 10-05-06, 06:25 PM	First, he is not fully a nihilist, he does believe in his own strength and ability to survive, but he's jaded to everything else. I want him to be not really out doing evil to be a bad guy or anything, that goes against the concept, but rather out seeking out the answers to his questions of why "creatures" are so cruel and beastial to each other. This made me consider that he might be seeking out the answers by being cruel and beastial as while he necessarily can't understand others, he can understand himself, and being a "creature" too, he can study his questions by pondering upon his own actions. In battle he could say stuff like: "Why are you forcing me to be so cruel?" "Does either of us deserve this kind of treatment?" "I might be cruel, but that is only so I can stop others from being such!" Basically someone blinded by their cause. -Soly