I had The idea but I had previously boxed myself in a little bit. Anette at the start of the campaign was a twenty two year old human fighter...I was a little confined in possible backgrounds. If she was an elf, she would have had at least one hundred and ten years before maturity to gain wisdom and live her life... on the other side, if she was something like a mage or a thief there could be some behind the scenes stuff involved with the girl gaining her prowess in either field... but alas Anette was a fighter. So I surveyed my situation, I was playing a young Female Human fighter...my challenge here was to make something I found interesting around "I hit stuff really hard" with no reasoning behind it. I first looked at my rolls, which were stupidly good on her stats. (to anyone who does not know, stat rolls are set for Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Constitution and Strength, determined by dice rolls) She was strong, dexterous and charismatic, though she was not particularly bad at much.
Anette's Charisma could be easily worked in as her being good looking and somebody who could give an awesome speech or utterly intimidate people. The latter stuck, but I decided against Anette being an inspirational speaker for a reason I will mention in a moment. High Charisma could also indicate Anette being a good liar, a level head, and good with animals, among other things. I ultimately decided that none of these should really be her personality, though she does like animals. Charisma wise I wanted to make her less of an obvious idea, so this incredibly strong and deadly woman would eventually be settled upon in my head, as a person who is not nearly assertive enough to take advantage of her charms and looks, admittedly with a breaking point. Anette would rarely speak up on things she felt were unimportant to the overall picture was my first decision. One of the few I have actually acted out well. (dare I say good?) Out of battle, Anette is a relatively quiet person around people she does not know, and she likes to think her self sociable around her friends and her family. This was the idea, however my lack of comfort with acting a character sometimes completely derails this idea into pure silence with a great sword. On top of that, I didn't want Anette to stress over her looks or really use them too much, she is there for a cause, not to look fantastic. even if her training and genes have given her a well toned and all around good looking body. The red hair was me self inserting something I like, no big reason, I just like red heads, but the striking blue eyes were placed for her to be able to hopefully strike some fear into her foes. (which at the point of writing this, has happened twice with the eyes mentioned) Anette looks good however since it is not her top priority, she rarely shows she even knows. This was a choice I made for her because I wanted her to be focused, and as of now, she has been hit on a few times, only to get confused and think they are talking to the other female of the party. This route has been met with some jokes and insults at me being uneasy to actually play somebody where I have to act as a confident female (I am neither) where there is a little truth behind that, I certainly would have tried if I wanted to, again, I wanted Anette focused on what she was alive for.
With a terrible segue I will jump from her Charisma to her Dexterity and Strength. The back story I eventually chose for Anette left her with a handful of years to her self (detailed thought behind her past will be in part three) these years separated from the most important people in her life (admittedly she still had her Mother) she began to grow a little mentally unstable. Focusing on thoughts more than she should, doubting herself, a little bit of schizophrenia and of course, basic depression. These all played a factor in the last years of her home life before setting out on an adventure...a huge factor in fact. Anette's Mother (Isabelle Decille) grew worried for her daughter, and rightfully so, her attempt to help was a little left field but she thought it would work...Anette needed to help out around town, needed to socialize with people, needed a life, one that would not get up and leave upon reaching maturity. Anette toiled in the small farming town extensively at the request of her Mother, she began learning about the people around town more and becoming less...shut off from everyone. The extensive work around the town, as one could imagine worked wonders for a frail young girl's musculature, she built muscle...a lot of it in the years she spent helping out. Alternatively she spent a lot of time with the people of the city, learning a few things about herself that would stick with her. She hated drunks, and adored children. She often would accept tasks of looking after children in the small town because she and them were friends... no asking for her help with her muscle, no attraction no ulterior motives, The children needed to be watched, Anette obliged and was great with the kids, forming some friendships with them. When she was around the kids, she felt that she was depended upon, and not depending on somebody like the rest of her life. of course, her freakish strength also helped her get out of her little pit of despair, she was happy helping out the town and kids in it, even if her mind was elsewhere. Off to the side, during the years where she was fighting through her demons she did start trying to learn a little about self defense with a sword. This process was rather simple, she progressively learned how to optimize her swings of the sword, as not to injure herself while swinging her weapon of choice. She also learned how to fire a bow...not very well but she has not splintered an arrow into her own eye yet so she considers it acceptable. (she has had horrid rolls on her attacks every time she uses her bow) I decided character wise, that it would be best if she trained in secret due to an incident from the past of Isabelle and herself. Anette wanted to train in secret, thinking Her Mother would stop it the second she found out.
Anette lived her life, day by day, building strength, confidence and escaping her depression. I wanted her to fight inner demons for a few reasons. First of all I wanted her relationship with Clayrion to have more meaning than just friend's but not the level of romantically attached. Secondly I thought the idea of a character with two distinct mind sets would be fun. Combat Anette and non-combat Anette are two very different personalities. and admittedly, it has been thus far. and lastly....and likely the most condemning of all I felt like I could accurately act as somebody with such glaring emotional issues...and I believe I have done decently at it.
Of course, this entire section means very little without context into her past, so I think that is what I will start next...
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