Elaenadaere Dhoelachnal

[Thelandrin]

Discussion thread for Elaenadaere Dhoelachnal.

Considering that I originally conceived of Elaenadaere as a mystery, which even her daughter is unaware of, I obviously know nothing about the dear lady. Now I'm curious as to where you planning to go with her, Kenneth, considering that you gave her a surname

[kgauck]

What I had was a picture. Based on what you described, I thought the picture worked well, and before I gave the lady a page, I needed a surname. I picked an elven house we haven't seen much of, and now she has a picture.

I hadn't much more thought than that, though I do think the picture gives anyone a lot to work with.

I often find it much easier to develop a character once I have a picture. A good picture can write the whole character description for you.

What is hard is finding a good picture for a character already well developed and not conventional. The hardest picture so far has been for Rhuandice Tuarlachiem. She was well developed and needed a cruelty and coldness.

[Mojczak]

I wonder, why don't you try picking up published pictures for known characters? Like Rhuandice's picture... maybe use both a new version and the original "core book" ones. And thinking of that, shouldn't we put a reference for the characters on where they can be found in the D&D materials for 2nd edition, at least if not in the BRCS, in the wiki.

[Thelandrin]

Well, since she (now) belongs to one of the Five Great Houses of Tuarhievel (the neutral faction), I think that it is likely that she has a middle ground between "embrace humans as our allies" and "kill them, kill them all!" Perhaps she went out specifically to bend a human ruler to her will and produce a child to bring Sidhelien influence into humans, much like the stated goals of the Hanner Sidhe, as a way to bring Elven influence into the heart of Anuire and keep the humans from ever fully allying against the Sidhelien.

[kgauck]

I wonder, why don't you try picking up published pictures for known characters?

Sometimes I do use the published pictures. Rahil the Falcon and Arlando el-Adaba being very recent examples. But some of the PS's are mostly cartoonish drawings. Others, such as Endier make we wonder whether they tried to print a pencil drawing, Alieyn Duniere and Cieron Elvenshadow are so light they appear translucent.

Right now about a third of the portraits are colored versions of the published portraits, some including unnamed characters, employed as Barak Wohlken and Njall Olvisson. I prefer using BR images (including sidebar images), even to make new pictures. Both Darien Avan and Aeric Boeruine have three pictures, their image from their realm page in Ruins, their color image at the back of ruins, and I made each a new one using a combination of the original art and other stuff. I happened across this idea when I found a way to put Gavin Tael into his own portrait without sharing the image with someone else.

But, I'm not going to put up work I don't like. Tuarhievel and Halskapa had particularly bad art.

[geeman]

At 12:48 PM 8/8/2008, Mojczak wrote:

>...shouldn`t we put a reference for the characters on where they can
>be found in the D&D materials for 2nd edition, at least if not in
>the BRCS, in the wiki.

I think references would be a nice addition, but there`s been some
resistance to the idea. To what I`ve already argued, I can only add
to the issue that when I`ve written new BR materials in the past
(mostly the awnshegh descriptions) anyone who cares to look at them
will note that I footnote and reference with an awful lot of
zeal.... In fact, I do it to an extent that would be unnecessary for
the wiki or even to satisfy any sort of emphasis on noting original
sources to avoid any possible hint of plagiarism.

I go to that extent for one reason: It`s just cool in that
nerdy-but-let`s-embrace-our-geekdom kind of way.

One of the things that has always appealed to me in fantasy/sci-fi
literature is the use of things like appendices, a glossary, maps of
the fantasy world, etc. I love knowing Aragorn`s family tree. I
want to read about the history of the CHOAM corporation. I find the
books about the monsters in the Harry Potter books more interesting
than the actual Harry Potter books (which, I admit, I`ve not been
able to get through....) I prefer the Shakespeare texts that have
extensive editorial notes that explain the context of the words used,
their etymology and relations in context. I guess these things
strike some as being too pedantic or something, but they`ve always
struck me as being a method of taking something that could be dry and
turning it into its own little portion of the pleasure in reading any
sort of speculative/fantasy fiction. It`s like getting a look at the
clockworks when telling the time.

When it comes to inventing new materials for a game world, figuring
out how to insert new materials into the published materials without
contradiction is important. But if one can do it in a way that makes
the plot of _Back to the Future_ look like a plodding snoozefest then
one has reached another level of inspiration and design. If one
doesn`t footnote and reference well then how are people to know how
neatly stuff fits into the existing materials? Footnotes and
references are how one illustrates a piece`s inspiration and how it
fits in the game world. It`s hard enough to write something worth
reading, of course, but references and footnotes provide that extra
little flourish that helps distinguish a masterly piece of work from
one that is "merely" an entertainment.

Gary

[kgauck]

If one doesn`t footnote and reference well then how are people to know how neatly stuff fits into the existing materials?

If I thought this is how people would use the footnotes, I would love to use them. Instead I think there is a strong tendency, in some people it seems overwhelming, to regard canon as something that needs to remain pristine and then regard everything else as something that has its own license to ignore. Most people don't want to contribute to a project that immediately comes with a label that means "inferior".

The fan fiction tag, the NPC tag, all of these were originally worded with a strong attachment to canon, and as such read:

The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official Birthright lore or history. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and are applied for roleplaying purposes only.

Or

The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official Birthright history or occurrences which are accurate. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and applied for roleplaying, fictional, speculative, or opinions from a limited playerbase only.

In so much as these sentiments reflect attitudes towards canon, they inhibit the much more important job of creating new material. '

In no way accurate? Independent? Opinion? Limited? These are not sentiments calculated to encourage creative contributions. And these sentiments are not unusual. If one wants to preserve canon, they are appropriate. If one wants to fill up all the empty realms for which we have a page or two, its far from encouragement to offer up some limited, independent opinions that are no way accurate.