Hello Again Audience

In the words of Tobuscus, Hello Again Audience. If you're looking for entertainment, watch Tobuscus review Zelda: Skyward Sword. I never played the game but still found it the most hilarious thing I've seen all week, which is saying a lot.
In other news, I am going to put up a little Blurb for yall to help you in your rp life. This is kind of going along with something I wrote on my Aisthesis site, and I was getting on a tangent, so I decided to put it on my blog instead.

MAKING A MILLION CHARACTERS AND TAKING CHARACTER RISKS

A million and one characters: I can already feel the outcry coming my way. "A million characters!? How can I possibly roleplay a million characters!? What would I even do with all of them!? And don't get me started on writing their bios!"
I am being figurative, sort of, not really, when I use the number million. But the point is that more characters = better.
Perusing others' sites, I usually notice that there will be that one member who only rps one character (maybe two). Now, if that member was only on to roleplay once every other week or twice a month, that is understandable. Obviously getting into a lot of roleplay would prove to be a mistake since other members would be stuck with them, or have to make some awkward excuse in-game in order to pull their stuck characters away.
But for the most part, even when school is super hectic, members can get online at least once a week. Even when I was taking 15 college credits in less than 6 months while attending highschool, job searching, and graduating, I was able to get on at least 4 times a week, which was pushing it, admittedly, but I made it work.
So why a million characters? If having one or two is good for the not-on-so-much people, why can't it be good for the active people?
For massive sites like Aisthesis or Desai or Mortalatitis, I always follow one of two rules of thumb. 1: Make as many characters as I want rather than need. 2: Put at least 1 character in every conceivable position available on the site.
Why? This gives me more opportunities to be involved in plots, major or minor, and makes me be more creative with my characters to avoid copies and similarities.
Sometimes, I find that a random side character I made is the one I love the best, rather than the character I initially put more importance on.
Example: I joined a site called We Are Gifted, run by Phoenix. Awesome site (just wound up not being the site for me, so I left later)
My initial main characters based on favoritism were Navi and Regor, who had cool powers and stuff. Then we randomly needed some killers, so I made Callisto (from Rampant Unicorns) and Minstrel.
OMFG.
Minstrel, the random guy I made who was actually supposed to die early in the rp, suddenly became my favorite character, ranking it up there with my few other favorite characters. AND he became my most developed character EVER next to Kieran Draeyva from Were Myths.
I was actually loathe to leave the site simply for that he was there, and I couldn't see him being anywhere else.
But now, I never would have found this character if I had not decided to make a bunch of characters at random to fill in the needed positions.

On to the next half that ties in the first, taking character risks.

The beauty of having random side characters is that this part is easier to do (especially if you don't care about them), but risks need to be taken by the main characters we love as well.
All in the name of character development of course: your own characters and others'.
For those on Aisthesis, I was actually going to kill Eriacu in the name of character development. Everyone else's that is. I was interested to see how it would affect the rest of the St. Cerveaux children, especially Luca, who would be the reason for his death and all.
Only reason he's still alive is because my curiosity at how he would develop from the incident won out over curiosity of Luca's development.
On the same note, let me share with you what I wrote on my character's site concerning my old character Severin from Roanoke.


BLURB, July 4, 2014

I'm so happy! Last night I found a picture that matches Severin from Roanoke to a T.
I know Roanoke died long ago and I never really played the same character anywhere else, but he will always be a favorite of mine.

How did it all come about?
Well, Severin was sent off to kill another character named Alphard (a one armed chick). They fought, and in their battle, she chopped off his arm. Something to remember her by. Forever.
It's not exactly the most memorable scene in and of itself. I've read rps with far worse incidents that ended in limb loss. But what made this one stick out in my mind so much was the fact that we never plotted it out. It just happened. She went out on a limb and cut off his arm.
Usually permanent scenes as such are plotted out. Rpers ask other rpers what is cool with them and the like. The only times I've cut off limbs in rps (or worse) is after I got the other player's permission.
But with Alphard, I just refreshed the page and found that post staring me in the face. No warning. No plotting. Just total surprise and randomness.
It was absolutely perfect. I actually had to take a moment to read it over a few times, trying to make sure I'd read it right. But there it was. Severin had lost an arm. In that moment, we both connected, author and character, responding to this loss with shock, as well as uncertainty and fear for Severin's well being afterwards
I think that is true roleplay beauty right there. Going outside the box and doing things unexpected. Because the way we respond is what will build or break our ability. In real life, we can't plan out everything that happens to us and people around us. Amputees did not voluntarily plot out the loss of their limbs. So long as we are not god modding or powerplaying or something, why shouldn't we go out on a limb and do something unexpected?
So that is the lesson I learned from Severin, and though he only lived for a few months, he taught me something amazing, and I have come to feel closer to this character than all my other hundreds, for the simple reason that I was able to share such a moment with him.

And Severin still is my closest character. In character-closeness rankings, it goes Severin, Minstrel, Arkadi, Niitari, and Anarawd. Yah, he's even higher than the character I named myself after.

But that never would have happened if RPERS HAD NEVER TAKEN RISKS!
I admit that the Severin example was a different rper taking a risk with my character, but the point is that risk taking is good and should be done more often.

And what was my tie in with these two?
More characters = More risks!
Cause then you won't care if your random side character whose name escapes you decides to go crazy and jump off a cliff.

To get ideas for risk taking or plotting in general, I made a generator long ago called the Hand of Fate. I've used it before, and it helps to get the mental gears churning.

Alright, that's all for the moment. I may make more to this point in another blog post. On to other stuff!


AVATARS!

I was stalking Dawny's blog and found her awesome new avatars from renmarugames and I couldn't help but make my own.

Advent Notredame

When he was little and cute before being kidnapped and experimented on.

Eriacu St. Cerveaux

After he got older and grew his hair more. His eyes are supposed to be more blue.

Jaehazerys East

When he also was younger.

Taikatalvi Norcross/Tockspringe

:< I'm so mean to him...

Tara Solomon

From Death Eaters! Whoo! Her eyes are actually blue-gray hazel, but gray is the best I could pick.

Zeke Romulan

Not the best of him, but I attempted. He's probably thirteen or fourteen in this picture.

 I may just add on more to this blog update this evening, but we'll see.

Peace out minions.

Thirteen (fourteen) Blah!

So I said I would cut down to thirteen sites for rping, but if I do decide to make characters for Desai officially, then it will be at fourteen. Currently I am "unofficially" rping there by simply making a bunch of filler-side characters. Currently I am making the parents of Lighty and Dawny's two characters as well as he King and Queen of Lytane who are about to die anyway.

Ta Wei and Infinite Sorrow are near completion! I am just working on forums. Yes, I think I've decided that Infinite Sorrow will have forums. Still kind of struggling on that decision. Ta Wei forums will be easy, but IS has a lot of complex city structures that I need to rework. Since IS and Ta Wei are so big, I am basing the forum structure off of what I have seen on Mortalitatis. Kshi is amazing when it comes to neat and concise.

Aisthesis is booming as far as productivity. I am debating on giving Kiba the Engelkönig godfather or not still, mostly because he has not written any bios. I'd feel bad about not giving it to him because I did promise it, and he has been on the site pretty much the longest. If I keep the position open, I hope to secure new members. But there are also special ranks opening for Episode 4 along with other awesome stuff, so we shall see. As far as waiting to open it, I just have two paragraphs on the info page to write. Then the site will be pretty much done. Keep your fingers crossed.

As far as Mercury goes, Lighty joined (whoo!). But we need a lot more members. I am also debating on switching to forums with that site because of how much has yet to be added and how much easier it would be to add it. It is such a vast world, but there's hardly anyone in it (sad). I am going to invite the Mortalatitis and Were Myths peeps to come on over.

Speaking of Were Myths, there is so much going on over there, I think my head is going to explode. There's no shortage of plotting and drama on THAT site, which is definitely refreshing but also overwhelming. I'm kind of hiding out as I try and put my brain together and think more on my posts and plot directions. Still haven't revealed my secret plot, but I'm waiting for more hawks to join.

*sigh*

In other news, I am still on vacation, and will be for roughly another week and a half. So I am hardly on cause I'm off doing stuff. But I am still working on stuff occasionally albiet slowly, as well as rp and book writing.

That's all for now. I need food. Peace off minions!

Good Lord, It's July

My, my, time does fly. It's already July.

Well, I graduated highschool a state certified firefighter. yay! Only 1 and 1/2 years of college left if I'm lucky.

Now unfortunately, my camera broke. So until I figure out how to work my temp replacement camera that my dad is lending me, I won't be able to get any pictures up. I have a few pictures left on my chip from costume making, so maybe I can get that up...

My kitten has officially stopped growing. She is roughly a foot long and about 9-10 inches tall. She'll be kitten sized forever.

Anyway...

In RP news, I need to cut back on my rp sites, mostly because I now have 5 Epic Scale Sites D:
So I've cut back to thirteen.

My five are Were Myths, Aisthesis, TaWei, Infinite Sorrow, and Mercury
I will be joining Mythical Tamed, Vigilantes, Alignments, Chromacity, and (currently unnamed, ugh)
I'll be sticking around on Mortalatitis, Valentino, Janlea City, and Skyrim (oh wait, that one is mine...)

Unofficially, I will still be on Hunger Games and Dark Easter Rising, but there's only one other person on DER and we hardly do anything on HG, so.... yah.
I'll probably hire mods and stuff for my sites so that I'm not totally swamped >.>

But yah, that's my dealio.

I'll be more adamant about posting updates, I swear.

Peace out minions.

LARP! Southern Michigan May 2014

Ah, larping.

Dawny asked me to put up the pictures, so here they are!

Remember: click for full size!

Just a quick explanation of races: 

wylderkin are essentially anthropomorphic beings. Wylderkin is the colective name, but there are many types of wylderkin. They distinguish their species by slapping the word -kin on after the animal name. ie: Bear-kin

Saar are essentially anthropomorphic cats. They do not always possess ears, tails, etc. There are different clans of Saar and their histories are extensive. (seriously, someone went to town on those. just look up Saar)

Gypsy is an actual race of powerful humans. Race. Not a class.

Now, the following pictures are from a mod (quest) that involved clearing a path of undead. It took three and a half hours. We were also near a swamp, it was hot, mosquito everywhere, and I had food poisoning. Yay!

It was actually ironic because I kept getting hit by nausea spells from this one undead guy. xD

Left to Right

Jeyou (Rabbit-kin)

Trellis (dryad)

Spoons (raccoon-kin) [TheJazzPony]

Neo "Shiny" (human)

Saara (quetzal-kin) [me]

I survey my minion horde!

In the front there we see Csero (saar) [Lief963]

Between Csero and Shiny, we see Binks (gypsy).

Die friggin undead!

Spoons and Saara charge at a zombie attacking Neo!

Totally ready for action!

I always keep my back guarded.

Csero slices and dices.

Another day, another village road saved! The weary adventurers head home.

Now this is a different mod we were on where we had to attack a cave of giant bugs. Ugh. No pictures of the cave battle as it took place indoors in cramped quarters. But here are some pics of outdoors.

That green guy in the background was a bug. it dead now!

The guy standing nearby was Momo (another raccoon-kin). 

And that completes our party list. Momo had left in the afternoon before we went on the undead mod (yes, my pics are out of order). He was tons of fun!

So all in all, we had Jeyou, Binks, Saara, Spoons, Csero, Trellis, Shiny, and Momo. We were a happy group!

Saara concentrates to fix and recharge her arcane armor. Trellis and Momo stand guard. 

The party takes a break before heading into the cave. Jeyou fixes Momo's armor. Saara takes another refit break.

And that concludes the Larping photos. Hopefully I will get photos up of just the costume. I did promise a post on how to make cheap costuming.

Peace out for now minions!

Shifty Shifting Shapeshifters

Hmm, a help post! Yay! Here is a little blurb to guide you on the path through roleplay! Whee!
Though I'm pretty sure you guys reading this already got this down pat. You're all pretty inventive.

SHAPESHIFTERS
Mostly because the past three sites I've been on (Forgotten Souls Evermore, Tempting Fate, and Our Playground World) all feature shapeshifters as a playable race.
When people think of being a shapeshifter, they automatically think 'werewolf'.
It's kind of an engrained thing. We think werewolves because werewolves are the most common type of shapeshifter in media.
And then when you run around shifter sites, you see some other very common form choices: dog, cat, fox, tiger, and hawk/eagle/falcon. If sites allow it, then of course dragon and phoenix are along the lines of the above mentioned.
What is it with these animals that we are always so ready to pick them? Are they really the best forms possible?
I know that they are intriguing, and you can be strong, cool, and 'mysterious' all at once with one of these forms, but what are some other animals that are friggin sweet?
Let's step outside the box and take a look!

Mandrill Baboon

The mandrill baboon is a vicious predator. Yup. Predator. Though not your typical meat eater, these bitches are the natural enemies of leopards. LEOPARDS! Freaking jungle cats are scared of these freaks. They look mean and tough when snarling in your face like this bad boy. But otherwise, their pretty blue and red faces are kind of sweet.

Venezuelan Poodle Moth

This pokemon... oh wait, I mean uh, this mythical...

Oh, it's a moth.

Well, this adorable cutie is just on of the sweet little creatures you could possibly shift into. Though pretty much useless, it is adorable.

Boomslang

Thinking of being dangerous? Instead of a wolf, try a boomslang. Though small and lithe and not that creepy looking, this beauty's venom inhibits the blood from clotting properly, and causes the victim to bleed out of every hole and pore in their body.

Much more effective than teeth and claws.

Blue Shark

One of the stars on Shark Week, this bad boy will gorge itself on its prey until it throws up, then keep on going back for more. Imagine facing off against one of these bad boys.

Sugar Glider

Another cutie. Yah... be a sugar glider...

I'm sure there are plenty of cute and useful animals out there... Oh!

Maned Wolf

Don't just be a boring-ass grey wolf, be a maned wolf! Beak that werewolf stereotype! Maybe your character is from Brazil or something.

Honey Badger

I'm just gonna leave you with this lovely and hilarious video explaining all the reasons why you want to be a badass honey badger!

Oh I'm just gonna stop there and tell you to youtube HoneyBadgerNarrates. He makes all animals sound amazing. Just pick one of those.

Of course there are plenty of amazing animals all around the world to turn into besides what he lists wether because they are cute or creepy or friggin badass.



ROLEPLAY
On a roleplay note, nothing major to report. Mercury is growing into one big freaking project, but that's only cause I keep getting inspiration. Hopefully more people will join. I need to invite more people >.>
Were Myths is also starting to grow some.
Aisthesis is plodding along...
My other sites are just kind of there. I don't really care either way as they are not my focus.


NOTE: I will be gone over the weekend. No updates from me till Monday. Hopefully I will get a crafting post published tomorrow. Monday I will hopefully get to post up pictures from the LARP ^^

Peace out minions!

Grad

I'm graduating this year.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I can't wait to be free of the high school shackles and an official college student. Even though it means I have to pay for my college now. *sigh* But it's nice knowing I won't have that crutch anymore.
I apologize to those who actually like high school.... oh, who am I kidding. I honestly did not like high school one bit. Loved my math teacher. But otherwise, high school was full of awful memories, crappy/creepy children that crawled out of the woodwork, and a lot of useless drama. So bye bye highschool, hello LIFE!

Anyway.

I got my Senior photos taken by the amazing JazzPony a few weeks ago. Here are a few all of my favorites!

(terrible squinty friggin sunlight in my eyes AGGH!)

Yay! Senior photos!

Okay, I'll post something worthwhile tomorrow.

Peace out minions!

Mental Disorders, RP Help, and Sitelies

So my friend Phoenix and I are on the subject of mental disorders in RP characters. I thought this was interesting, because mental disorders are hardly ever played out in rps, or they are just done very poorly.

Phoenix joined my site Were Myths (more info below) and her character is a Were with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).
We were character plotting because my character (we'll call him Fred) is going to be her character's (we'll call him Bob) older brother. Fred also caused Bob's MPD. Fun.
But while we were talking, some things I noticed she mentioned about Bob's MPD that I think are common misconceptions of the disorder. I also included a few other things I believe are common misconceptions (I had these too before I learned more about MPD):

1. The personalities are based on emotions
She mentioned that two of Bob's MPs are fear and anger. A personality cannot be fear or anger individually. They may be a result of that emotion or triggered by that emotion, but they are not that emotion personified. The personalities could also heavily express those emotions, but they can express other emotions as well. They may start out as little clouds of emotion, but they will eventually develop into their own personality with different thoughts, viewpoints, behaviors, etc.
2. The personalities are very different from one another.
While there can be defining characteristics that set one apart from the other, the personalities can also mirror each other or be exactly the same.
3. It is very obvious someone has MPD.
No. And I am saying this as someone who knows. Someone I Know (SIK) was diagnosed with MPD just a few months ago. They had it since they were a kid. They are now a teen.
4. The personalities all are trying to protect the person. OR All the personalities are bad. OR All the personalities are good.
No. This is another extreme from "they are all different" to "they are all one thing". The personalities can be good or bad. They could try to protect the real person by using destructive behavior or could protect the person by merely taking over and seeing the bad things instead of the real person.
THEY CAN ALSO HARM THE PERSON. SIK was badly injured by one of their personalities once, and I mean BADLY.
5. My character has three personalities. That's a lot.
No. Most people with MPD have about 40. SIK currently has 10 KNOWN personalities. They probably have more that aren't showing themselves yet.
6. MPDs don't have names. That's a myth.
FALSE! SIK's guardian personality named itself Seven. The others have not revealed their names yet.
7. MPDs are super smart and powerful and stuff.
Debatable. The personalities are limited mostly by the real person. Personalities are also created by a break in the real person's psyche. This break is an actual trauma to the brain. The personalities are usually stuck at the same age level that the trauma happened. Some may grow and adapt as the real person grows and adapts, but some tend to stay at that level. (I believe Seven and 'the bad one' are stuck at age 8).
8. People who suffer from it don't know it.
Some are aware. Some are not. Most of the time, they have to be told about it. There are also those who may be able to talk or hear their other personalities talking to them.

Here is a link about how to treat these people.
Here also is a link about more on MPD (Note: they say that most people have 10, but the psychologist who treats my friend says the number is 40)
Also a note: I do not know everything about this disorder. Just some basic facts 3


So that was a blurb about MPD. Aren't mental disorders interesting? I mean that seriously. Granted, I thank God I do not have one. It can be terrible for those who do. But it is an interesting thing to explore in writing. Especially since so many people get things wrong about them, I think it's time a few people get it right.

And that brings me to my next point: I've been thinking about adding RP Help stuff to this blog. Just little paragraphs or links to other blogs that can help advance our rp experience, from stuff like a description on MPD to other stuff. Thoughts?


And now, Sitelies: all the sitely stuff.


Were Myths. I mentioned it before. It is now open. Again. Got two members (including Liam) and my friend Frosty will probably be joining (and she'll probably join Mercury too)


That's all for now. Peace out minions!