Considering Character Wipe -- Opinions?

[Nevermore]

I'm considering completely eliminating all of my characters in my current roster, and here's why.

1. Sorin Rahn, Naomi Whiting, and Julara DeRain
   • All part of the independent faction, the Initiative. With Saul being gone for reasons unknown with no definitive date of return, and the semblance of a second-in-command, Solaris, banned, there's practically no hope for any of these characters. All of their threads are dead because Saul has disappeared, Solaris is banned, or people just flat-out aren't interested or lack motivation.
2. Constance Maier
   • Now this is one character I hate to see go, but again, with Solaris' ban the whole arc I had going for her has gone up in flames. I made her with essentially one intention, and perhaps that was a bad idea, but I hadn't really seen Solaris getting banned. Either way her whole purpose is now nonexistent, so I don't particularly see the point of keeping her.
3. Temperance Couteau
   • The independent character everyone seemed eager to save, now not-so-eager. Two of the volunteers haven't posted, others are MIA, and her introduction thread has come to a stop. Unless things can pick up in it, I don't particularly see her going anywhere either.
4. Vodinh Vhett
   • The first character I made for the site, Vodinh is the only character who's been getting much of anything done in a RP aspect. However, it's not fun to write as Vodinh anymore. It feels like work; the same thing in every thread, every time. It's monotonous and dull. There used to be the air of, "What's going to happen?" Now it's simply, "Maim, kill, burn, fight, drink, more fighting, more drinking, blood, even more fighting and, for a little change of pace, even. more. fighting."

Bear in mind this isn't a thread to bitch. I'm simply getting community opinion: are any of these even worth fighting for, or keeping around? I'm beginning to think not. Tell me what you think.

So I'm considering a character wipe, and starting over with one character and one character only. Focus on that character, build them up, get as much done with them as I can. When I feel I have enough player connections and activity, maybe start making more again; and never, ever more than one for each faction. That was obviously a mistake.

 

[Chairdor]

The Initiative at least seems worth fighting for, it's a tremendously well written faction that can be saved with a rather simple story arc. You're leader has vanished from the site, in that case so has the actual leader of the Initiative, now without central purpose one of the people within the organization must ascend and attempt to go through records, past conversations, and other routes to lead the Initiative along its previous course as best as they can. I haven't been about here long so I know my opinion aint no thang, but that's just my two cents.

 

[Jason Webb]

I think it may be a good idea to keep them around until the time skip, and give them some new beginnings if you want to keep RPing them. I have a character who could be useful to Temperance possibly. He is a young rogue who could use some help in the brain power area, but is more than adept with weapons and in combat, and is notoriously strong willed.

Back on track, with The Initiative you could just NPC their parts, or someone could, if the people left have enough interest. But in the end, the time skip may help you redirection them in a more desirable way if you wanted too. I'd hate to see such well developed characters get scrapped.

 

[Butler]

Here's some ideas to hopefully inspire:

!. Use the IC lull in the Initiative (here being an OOC lack of activity/presence) to be interpreted as an internal power struggle. Perhaps an internal conflict can be written in for the time skip to redefine the Initiative and its leaders? Surely not every character got along swimmingly. Maybe one of your characters, or one of the inactive ones attempted at a power scheme and in doing so nearly tore the faction in half, breaking the structure as a result of political and possibly violent acts. You then can align yourself on either side of the newly defined Initiative on the other side of the time skip, taking control as either leader of the successor half or choosing to lead the defeated half with a vengeance. If need be, and you decide to take over the Initiative as its only active member, you can shift the inactive writers onto the roster of the defeated half so that if they do return to this website they can pick up in the new storyline without any character deaths and can broaden an interesting plot.

Also, I have been toying with an idea lately that I may ask to introduce to one of the Initiative's stories if they do survive into the time shift.

2. Perhaps a plot twist is in order involving her mother that you did not intend. I'm not sure what you had planned, but perhaps Solaris' character (which I'm assuming was going to help her rather than hinder her) instead had secretly been the source of a foul truth involving her mother's death... or perhaps she never died...? If you're willing to scrap the character, then perhaps it is just as well to turn a friend into an enemy for the sake of story and keep the character? Or she could venture to search for her missing comrade(Solaris) to the ends of the galaxy and discover that her mother was never her mother after all and that her entire life was a lie? Okay, maybe a little overboard lol. If you have more information you're willing to share, perhaps I can take a better stab at this issue with you if you'd like?

3. This one should rp with my Lucifer. They would make a grand show of proper mayhem in the name of knowledge and 'life'. Otherwise, maybe see if you can find a new batch of active writers to step in and interrupt that thread so that her story can resume as 'smoothly' as possible?

4. Is it possible for him to meet a child that completely reshapes his application to life? Or maybe he meets a young girl (PC) that instills the same fatherly affect? Or perhaps an attractive female android crosses his path that leads him to question when machine becomes human and what his boundaries are? Or maybe think about being captured and becoming a slave to someone's character? Having to adjust to that lifestyle would completely turn his table upside-down.

---

I like your characters and would hate to see them go, though that is entirely your choice of course. And I don't even know you so you may think my ideas are complete rubbish, but many of my threads are a little stuck atm too so I thought I'd take some time to imagine in your shoes. I too share the belief that a single character carries greater benefit, though I have succumbed to the desire of two. And maybe you can toss your characters in favor of a single new one, but I don't think you should abandon the Initiative. Personally I'm very interested in some of your characters and would gladly help you pick up some slack if I can, and only if you wish it. At least I hope my input was something similar to what you were looking for. Good luck to you!

 

[Nameless]

Solaris' ban is temporary.

 

[Cisco]

Solaris' ban is temporary.

According to others, and himself. Solaris has no desire to come back at this time.

 

[Jason Webb]

Use the IC lull in the Initiative (here being an OOC lack of activity/presence) to be interpreted as an internal power struggle. Perhaps an internal conflict can be written in for the time skip to redefine the Initiative and its leaders? Surely not every character got along swimmingly. Maybe one of your characters, or one of the inactive ones attempted at a power scheme and in doing so nearly tore the faction in half, breaking the structure as a result of political and possibly violent acts. You then can align yourself on either side of the newly defined Initiative on the other side of the time skip, taking control as either leader of the successor half or choosing to lead the defeated half with a vengeance. If need be, and you decide to take over the Initiative as its only active member, you can shift the inactive writers onto the roster of the defeated half so that if they do return to this website they can pick up in the new storyline without any character deaths and can broaden an interesting plot.

His character Sorin Rahn has leadership qualities if anyone does, he would do an excellent job at leading The Initiative I think.

 

[Nameless]

According to others, and himself. Solaris has no desire to come back at this time.

Nevermore's wording made it seem as if the ban was preventing the characters from continuing. I was saying that wasn't the case and, according to you, I'm right. Thanks for the input.

 

[Cisco]

'Tis always a pleasure.

 

[Nephill Kilner]

Nevermore's wording made it seem as if the ban was preventing the characters from continuing. I was saying that wasn't the case and, according to you, I'm right. Thanks for the input.

All the same, Nevermore's point still stands. Soalris' ban has caused many story arcs to go afoul - something I can personally attest to alongside my good friend Nevermore.

RIP to all those chars. Hard questions and without an easy answer.

My two cents is, given the current course, Init is basically done...considering a stagnation in activity and without leadership, it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to take the helm and reshape it into what it used to be. Going through endless conversations to piece leadership's plans is tedious and I doubt anyone is up for that.

 

[Butler]

My two cents is, given the current course, Init is basically done...considering a stagnation in activity and without leadership, it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to take the helm and reshape it into what it used to be. Going through endless conversations to piece leadership's plans is tedious and I doubt anyone is up for that.

Trying to puzzle broken pieces back into their original form usually is tedious, but reshaping them into a new abstract picture can be quite interesting I think.

 

[Master Maverick]

I don't really have an opinion on what you should do with your characters, but I would give the advice to not make a character one-dimensional like that again (referring to Constance). I made sure to have both of my current characters have plenty of back story and plenty to go off of. More so with Ashara at this point than Tuwan, but Tuwan is wide open for all kinds of stuff... I just haven't gotten around to it yet. :/
I mean, as it is, I pretty much have too much to do with Ashara at this point. Not sure if I'll ever get through it all. ^.^

If you like the characters then I believe you'll figure out a way to save them. If you can't (which I would make more accurate as 'won't', because you can clearly do so), then you obviously don't like them that much and should probably start over.

And then there's Vhett who, as you inferred, became one-dimensional, though through different means. A person's character should be changing almost constantly. Especially in a time like this timeline. Of course I know there are others who disagree, but most people do change. I realize that some don't, but they are few and far between and are probably the most difficult to RP, eventually becoming boring as you claim.
I'll just exemplify Ahsara again; she was really a sweetheart, loved everyone and everything, very much like Della. Now she's becoming more realistic. I've had her in situations where she had to kill, which I never originally intended (as I wanted her to be a complete pacifist). However, there was no legitimate way to write that out, so she ended up killing people. Being the traditionalist that she is, it's weighed heavily on her and is changing her slowly over time. This, however, was more due to the fact that I was getting tired with making her so nice and everything. It gets boring after a while and something needed to change. I would suggest, then, having Vhett go through, or doing something that will make him reconsider something, or at least start to. Give him conflict (the most basic part of any character).

Anyway, that's way more than I was going to say, so I'll stop there. :D

 

[Nevermore]

Here's some ideas to hopefully inspire:

!. Use the IC lull in the Initiative (here being an OOC lack of activity/presence) to be interpreted as an internal power struggle. Perhaps an internal conflict can be written in for the time skip to redefine the Initiative and its leaders? Surely not every character got along swimmingly. Maybe one of your characters, or one of the inactive ones attempted at a power scheme and in doing so nearly tore the faction in half, breaking the structure as a result of political and possibly violent acts. You then can align yourself on either side of the newly defined Initiative on the other side of the time skip, taking control as either leader of the successor half or choosing to lead the defeated half with a vengeance. If need be, and you decide to take over the Initiative as its only active member, you can shift the inactive writers onto the roster of the defeated half so that if they do return to this website they can pick up in the new storyline without any character deaths and can broaden an interesting plot.

Also, I have been toying with an idea lately that I may ask to introduce to one of the Initiative's stories if they do survive into the time shift.

Leadership roles haven't always been for me. The only reason I took up a leadership role in the Mandalorians is because I wanted to see them restored to the state they should be in. Reviving the Initiative at this point may be a lost cause, and if it is I don't really want to commit to it. It's to my understanding that Saul had a lot of inner workings going on for the Initiative, and I'm not entirely sure what all they were. With Solaris' brief position as the leader of the Initiative, he too implemented a lot of things that simply had no avail. Nephill tried to inspire activity as well.

If it survives the jump, it will be by a benevolent miracle. As of right now, it seems pretty hopeless.

2. Or she could venture to search for her missing comrade(Solaris) to the ends of the galaxy

That is actually something I could potentially work with. I'm going to try and work off of that to see if I can conjure up anything.

3. This one should rp with my Lucifer. They would make a grand show of proper mayhem in the name of knowledge and 'life'. Otherwise, maybe see if you can find a new batch of active writers to step in and interrupt that thread so that her story can resume as 'smoothly' as possible?

Finding a new batch of writers would be the more difficult part, I'm pretty sure. Not to mention finding active writers. I know many of them are bogged down by other RPs. I'll see what happens with her current thread, if anything.

4. Or maybe he meets a young girl (PC) that instills the same fatherly affect?

That sounds like something I could work with. Again, if only I can find someone within the highly inactive Mandalorians.

I like your characters and would hate to see them go, though that is entirely your choice of course. And I don't even know you so you may think my ideas are complete rubbish, but many of my threads are a little stuck atm too so I thought I'd take some time to imagine in your shoes. I too share the belief that a single character carries greater benefit, though I have succumbed to the desire of two. And maybe you can toss your characters in favor of a single new one, but I don't think you should abandon the Initiative. Personally I'm very interested in some of your characters and would gladly help you pick up some slack if I can, and only if you wish it. At least I hope my input was something similar to what you were looking for. Good luck to you!

If you'd like to do something together sometime, just shoot me a PM or a VM. I once told Padmé that I'm an RP whore, only you don't have to pay me. So far Master Maverick's points are turning out the most truthful; maybe I don't want to save the characters. Maybe I'm just too lazy to do it. I'm not entirely sure, but if there was one I would want to save on that list, it's Constance. I'll just have to see how I feel about things later on, though the character wipe seems more appealing at the moment.

Thanks for the input. While I see that a lot of people are rooting for the Initiative, I honestly just don't see it happening. If I can come up with some grand plan to save it then perhaps I'll implement it, but not at this time.

 

[Charli]

Finding a new batch of writers would be the more difficult part, I'm pretty sure. Not to mention finding active writers. I know many of them are bogged down by other RPs. I'll see what happens with her current thread, if anything.

I'm a new batch of active writers. :] If any of my characters would help you potentially save any one of yours you're particularly fond of I'd be more than willing to help you out. I'm only really involved in one RP right now, Solaris was in my other one ;-;, so I'm not involved in much to distract me otherwise.

 

[Padmé]

Don't get raid of Maier! You can count our engagement over if ya do. *nods*

No, seriously, i see no reason why you shouldn't be able to keep your characters irrespective of Solaris' ban (temporarily mind you). You can develop new character arcs, etc etc. Now if only I can get myself to post- but that's another story entirely.


and yes, Skippy *is* a RP whore.

 

[Nevermore]

You can count our engagement over if ya do. *nods*

Low blow, sweetheart. :CSad
I'm going to try and keep Constance, but she'll likely be the only one.

I'm a new batch of active writers. :] If any of my characters would help you potentially save any one of yours you're particularly fond of I'd be more than willing to help you out. I'm only really involved in one RP right now, Solaris was in my other one ;-;, so I'm not involved in much to distract me otherwise.

If you think you can find something to do with Constance, who shall no longer ICly be on the Celestial Phoenix because of its vanishing, then by all means.

 

[Charli]

Are you set in that you want to keep her light sided? If not Victor could probably teach her a few new things to do with that scythe-saber. ;] Otherwise Ariel had met Char and a few of his crew, so we could just pretend that thread got finished and she and Constance were at least acquaintances or on their way to being so.

 

[Nevermore]

I hadn't planned on her to lean more towards one side or the other. I'm hoping to focus her more towards a neutral area.

 

[Charli]

Hm, well Victor isn't "omgsupersithevil" or anything, and wouldn't consider someone not specifically aligned with the Jedi as hostile unless provoked. If you'd be interested in getting her a little combat training or just to have her learn some "dark-sided" force powers he'd be willing to show her providing he sees her fit to be taught. Just an idea.

Ariel is currently in zero RP's right now so I'd be willing to do almost anything with her. She's an ex-slave looking to stick it to slavers across the galaxy atm, but she's not single-track so any interaction with other people in general would be good for her. She's beginning to gather dust. D=

 

[Nevermore]

Then how about we do a little Ariel/Constance team up for a while? Perhaps, after the Celestial Phoenix vanished, they both took off to go find it. They'll stop by places every once in a while to hand it to some petty slavers or criminals, of course.

Maybe at a later point, Constance can meet Victor and he can train her some more in combat.