Today’s warmup doodle of @thornandshield’s boy Newn with Glade, while I break canon to let the two smartest interpreter Skritts have a moment together (but together they are probably too powerful, actually…)
To this very day I find it remarkable about how Arenanet copied me (for legal purposes, this is a joke).
Thank you so much for this delightful gift! You draw the lad so well!!
Chatting Trahearne things with @/thornandshield, and Trahearne post-Core probably had severe health issues. He’s spent the better part of 25 years breathing vile, rotten air and likely not eating much better (I imagine he was foraging when he wasn’t eating what was likely tasteless rations, which I don’t imagine was the most nutritious or healthy option for two entire decades). Whether or not fish from Orr’s oceans are edible is up for debate, even if you can in fact fish there–
He probably had enough problems just returning to the Grove on the rare times he did, but after Zhaitan’s death he doesn’t have to spend almost all his time in Orr anymore, so the effects would be much worse. Likely coughing up constantly while he tries to adapt to regularly breathing clean air, not to mention the stomach problems he’d have from being able to consistently eat proper meals.
That’s not even getting into the fact his foliage colours are so dark and dismal likely because of the environment he was in, so it’s possible his leafage could have become much more vibrant as he adapted to being in a place that wasn’t completely dead and full of rot and mold. I imagine the process would be uncomfortable at the very least. Perhaps he’d have had to regrow a lot of it.
Something of an updated/alternate design for my time-dimension-hopping Trammander baby, Tahanen. If he’s going to be crossing across different versions of reality, he might as well look fancy doing it.
So my problem with most ‘get to know your character’ questioneers is that they’re full of questions that just aren’t that important (what color eyes do they have) too hard to answer right away (what is their greatest fear) or are just impossible to answer (what is their favorite movie.) Like no one has one single favorite movie. And even if they do the answer changes.
If I’m doing this exercise, I want 7-10 questions to get the character feeling real in my head. So I thought I’d share the ones that get me (and my students) good results:
What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/resturant)
What is their grooming routine? (how do they treat themselves in private)
What was their most expensive purchase/where does their disposable income go? (Gets you thinking about socio-economic class, values, and how they spend their leisure time)
Do they have any scars or tattoos? (good way to get into literal backstory)
What was the last time they cried, and under what circumstances? (Good way to get some *emotional* backstory in.)
Are they an oldest, middle, youngest or only child? (This one might be a me thing, because I LOVE writing/reading about family dynamics, but knowing what kinds of things were ‘normal’ for them growing up is important.)
Describe the shoes they’re wearing. (This is a big catch all, gets into money, taste, practicality, level of wear, level of repair, literally what kind of shoes they require to live their life.)
Describe the place where they sleep. (ie what does their safe space look like. How much (or how little) care / decoration / personal touch goes into it.)
What is their favorite holiday? (How do they relate to their culture/outside world. Also fun is least favorite holiday.)
What objects do they always carry around with them? (What do they need for their normal, day-to-day routine? What does ‘normal’ even look like for them.)
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