Thoughts Over Lunch.
Sep. 29th, 2006 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fangrrl_squeesRamblings about a fictional character that I didn't create, but insist upon trying to play nonetheless over in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
b7_rpg.
As I expected, various bits of my personality are being grafted onto![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
b7_soolin, without much in the way of rhyme or reason. Oh, I'm sure I could be more methodical about it, but I rather like letting these things come naturally and then tracing their roots and deciding if they make sense. More often than not, they do.
It seems that my version of Soolin has picked up my lack of imagination. I'm not kidding - I'm great at playing with other people's settings, but original ideas all on my lonesome? They don't happen. I'm a born fanficcer/gamer, for that reason. She's also picked up on my little streak o'sensualism. I don't let it out much, but it's there. She seems to be a very much in-the-moment type of person - not looking forward or back, which is a divergence from my usual manner of so nostalgic, I've a crick in my neck - and I know she's got a big streak of ruthless pragmatism that I just don't have.
I enjoy playing the little what-if/whyfore that goes with the territory of picking up a character established by someone else, especially when so much of them is undefined. A lot of Soolin's (potential) behavior can be derived from what little has been written about her. But the much funner bit is taking those identified factors and extrapolating from them - and filling in the blanks of course.
Her parents were killed and family scattered when she was quite young - still a kid, iirc. Going from there, I figure she must have fallen into whatever the Feds have for a foster family system (raising 'em in creches turns 'em into sociopaths, which is fine and dandy for young people already earmarked for a certain career path, but Soolin wasn't one of them) and, because I really hate character's who's lives are an unending series of tribulations, I've decided that Soolin would be spared all the oh-so-tempting horrors that lurk in that situation. Being in a foster family ain't so hot, but it beats being in a state-run orphanage. In fact, in a rare stroke of luck (and because the bureaucrats were having a good day), Soolin spent a few more years on a food colony, before being moved in one of those pointless bureaucratic shuffles to somewhere more urbanized and emotionally distant. That, of course, is the beginning of a few Important Life Lessons for Ms. Soolin.
I like the idea of a character who considers herself a farmgirl at heart - probably 'cos I'm not entirely sure which end of the cow the milk comes from. It's quite a change from me and my usual characters.
So she's a farmgirl at heart. As I've already mentioned in her LJ, farmfolk are long on pragmatism and not overburdened with squeamishness. Oh, there's room for sentiment, but that's a whole 'nother animal. She was spoiled, in her way, by easy access to fresh food and fresh air, and if there's anything she'll admit to missing during a fit of nostalgia, that would be it - fresh food, fresh air and a big empty horizon. Ironic that she's a space-rat now, hm?
So how'd she become a space-rat? Let's see.
Turn 18 in the foster system and you're out on your ass. The ever-benevolent Federation hopes that you picked up some kind of education in the meantime, or the grades to earn a scholarship to a college or trade school, but too bad on you if you didn't. How'd you like to dig ditches? So, she's on her own without much in the way of resources, aside from a certain amount of street smarts and a reluctance to starve.
Herein begins the vast, gray Here There Be Monsters area of her background, imho. Which is fine by me, 'cos that means I get to create all sorts of things to fill it up. I tend to seed ficlets with bits that I can ignore or follow up at my leisure - such as her mentioning having her heart broken three times - but more often than not, I just cheerfully toddle around within whatever parameters plausibility requires and see what develops.
My only rule is to do my damnedest to ignore the temptation to put the character through hell for no good reason. It's he ongoing fear of Mary Sue, of course. Truly, an interesting character needs a few bumps in their life's road, but there's a big difference between a pothole and vast, abyssal chasm.
Sooner or later, I'll give a serious think to what happened to Soolin post-fostering and pre-Dorian, as that's going to have a lot to do with her personality and, of course, provide potential plot fodder to throw at the playership when I'm confident enough to do so. ("Drat. You think you've left someone for dead..."). Go figure, I love this stuff.
Other Bits
Soolin has a competetive streak - the legacy of fighting for limited resources in a foster system - but she resents it when put into a competetive situation not of her own devising - another legacy. So she can get sulky and stubborn when pitted in opposition to something/someone against her will. (yet more of me, I think). She's not one of those people who cheerfully wades into conflict with a hue and cry and an intention to come out on top - even when it's just a fight over who gets the last of the pudding. Ergo, she picks her battles - or tries to.
Her anti-Federation feelings are personal, not political. She could give a damn about how the Federation is being nasty to other people. It was nasty to her and that's enough. Overall, she's not a political person - when you spend an awful lot of your life focused on survival and/or making a buck, I believe the only politics you care about are those that immediately impact your well-being.
Selfish? Certainly - although I like to think that part of her PGP development has featured a shucking off of that behavior, as well as combatting the urge to keep everyone at arm's length, emotionally. Hard-boiled hired-gun types aren't known for being all, y'know, all touchy-feely 'n' stuff, but her life has changed quite a bit in the past couple of years, and that's going to change her/has changed her. Evolution is necessary.
I've been told byvilakins that the previous Soolin-mun in b7rpg had her involved with Tarrant, but it seems I've got room to re-define (or at least, severely fuzz) that relationshp a bit, and that works for me. After being played for a sucker by Dorian (as she sees it) I think Soolin's not quite ready for anything beyond friends-with-benefits at this point - of course, tho', it'll be hilarious to slowly demolish that notion. But that's something I'm putting in the Things To Look Forward To box. It's important to keep that box full, I'll have you know.
I assume she likes her fellas a bit on the fey side - I mean, c'mon, am I the only one who laughed herself sick at Dorian's appearance? He looked like he'd just wandered off an early Duran Duran video...
*pause for the actual eating of lunch - grilled veggie sandwich, yum*
Well, that was interesting.
An incredibly rash marriage and an ex-husband just popped up out of the murk and waved hello. Hm. Puppy-love and sheer lack of ideas re: the future fuels an oe'erhasty marriage at 18, with absolute loathing and mutual contempt flourishing within a year. What the hell... if nothing else, getting out of such a situation can motivate a person in all sorts of ways. That could be what really put Soolin on the road, back in the day...
b7_rpg. As I expected, various bits of my personality are being grafted onto
b7_soolin, without much in the way of rhyme or reason. Oh, I'm sure I could be more methodical about it, but I rather like letting these things come naturally and then tracing their roots and deciding if they make sense. More often than not, they do. It seems that my version of Soolin has picked up my lack of imagination. I'm not kidding - I'm great at playing with other people's settings, but original ideas all on my lonesome? They don't happen. I'm a born fanficcer/gamer, for that reason. She's also picked up on my little streak o'sensualism. I don't let it out much, but it's there. She seems to be a very much in-the-moment type of person - not looking forward or back, which is a divergence from my usual manner of so nostalgic, I've a crick in my neck - and I know she's got a big streak of ruthless pragmatism that I just don't have.
I enjoy playing the little what-if/whyfore that goes with the territory of picking up a character established by someone else, especially when so much of them is undefined. A lot of Soolin's (potential) behavior can be derived from what little has been written about her. But the much funner bit is taking those identified factors and extrapolating from them - and filling in the blanks of course.
Her parents were killed and family scattered when she was quite young - still a kid, iirc. Going from there, I figure she must have fallen into whatever the Feds have for a foster family system (raising 'em in creches turns 'em into sociopaths, which is fine and dandy for young people already earmarked for a certain career path, but Soolin wasn't one of them) and, because I really hate character's who's lives are an unending series of tribulations, I've decided that Soolin would be spared all the oh-so-tempting horrors that lurk in that situation. Being in a foster family ain't so hot, but it beats being in a state-run orphanage. In fact, in a rare stroke of luck (and because the bureaucrats were having a good day), Soolin spent a few more years on a food colony, before being moved in one of those pointless bureaucratic shuffles to somewhere more urbanized and emotionally distant. That, of course, is the beginning of a few Important Life Lessons for Ms. Soolin.
I like the idea of a character who considers herself a farmgirl at heart - probably 'cos I'm not entirely sure which end of the cow the milk comes from. It's quite a change from me and my usual characters.
So she's a farmgirl at heart. As I've already mentioned in her LJ, farmfolk are long on pragmatism and not overburdened with squeamishness. Oh, there's room for sentiment, but that's a whole 'nother animal. She was spoiled, in her way, by easy access to fresh food and fresh air, and if there's anything she'll admit to missing during a fit of nostalgia, that would be it - fresh food, fresh air and a big empty horizon. Ironic that she's a space-rat now, hm?
So how'd she become a space-rat? Let's see.
Turn 18 in the foster system and you're out on your ass. The ever-benevolent Federation hopes that you picked up some kind of education in the meantime, or the grades to earn a scholarship to a college or trade school, but too bad on you if you didn't. How'd you like to dig ditches? So, she's on her own without much in the way of resources, aside from a certain amount of street smarts and a reluctance to starve.
Herein begins the vast, gray Here There Be Monsters area of her background, imho. Which is fine by me, 'cos that means I get to create all sorts of things to fill it up. I tend to seed ficlets with bits that I can ignore or follow up at my leisure - such as her mentioning having her heart broken three times - but more often than not, I just cheerfully toddle around within whatever parameters plausibility requires and see what develops.
My only rule is to do my damnedest to ignore the temptation to put the character through hell for no good reason. It's he ongoing fear of Mary Sue, of course. Truly, an interesting character needs a few bumps in their life's road, but there's a big difference between a pothole and vast, abyssal chasm.
Sooner or later, I'll give a serious think to what happened to Soolin post-fostering and pre-Dorian, as that's going to have a lot to do with her personality and, of course, provide potential plot fodder to throw at the playership when I'm confident enough to do so. ("Drat. You think you've left someone for dead..."). Go figure, I love this stuff.
Other Bits
Soolin has a competetive streak - the legacy of fighting for limited resources in a foster system - but she resents it when put into a competetive situation not of her own devising - another legacy. So she can get sulky and stubborn when pitted in opposition to something/someone against her will. (yet more of me, I think). She's not one of those people who cheerfully wades into conflict with a hue and cry and an intention to come out on top - even when it's just a fight over who gets the last of the pudding. Ergo, she picks her battles - or tries to.
Her anti-Federation feelings are personal, not political. She could give a damn about how the Federation is being nasty to other people. It was nasty to her and that's enough. Overall, she's not a political person - when you spend an awful lot of your life focused on survival and/or making a buck, I believe the only politics you care about are those that immediately impact your well-being.
Selfish? Certainly - although I like to think that part of her PGP development has featured a shucking off of that behavior, as well as combatting the urge to keep everyone at arm's length, emotionally. Hard-boiled hired-gun types aren't known for being all, y'know, all touchy-feely 'n' stuff, but her life has changed quite a bit in the past couple of years, and that's going to change her/has changed her. Evolution is necessary.
I've been told by
vilakins that the previous Soolin-mun in b7rpg had her involved with Tarrant, but it seems I've got room to re-define (or at least, severely fuzz) that relationshp a bit, and that works for me. After being played for a sucker by Dorian (as she sees it) I think Soolin's not quite ready for anything beyond friends-with-benefits at this point - of course, tho', it'll be hilarious to slowly demolish that notion. But that's something I'm putting in the Things To Look Forward To box. It's important to keep that box full, I'll have you know.I assume she likes her fellas a bit on the fey side - I mean, c'mon, am I the only one who laughed herself sick at Dorian's appearance? He looked like he'd just wandered off an early Duran Duran video...
*pause for the actual eating of lunch - grilled veggie sandwich, yum*
Well, that was interesting.
An incredibly rash marriage and an ex-husband just popped up out of the murk and waved hello. Hm. Puppy-love and sheer lack of ideas re: the future fuels an oe'erhasty marriage at 18, with absolute loathing and mutual contempt flourishing within a year. What the hell... if nothing else, getting out of such a situation can motivate a person in all sorts of ways. That could be what really put Soolin on the road, back in the day...
