Come chat about your characters!

Oh my, I could stay in this topic forever.

My characters apparently love to suffer. You set everything nicely for them to have their adventures and then get a happy ever after, but it never works out easily. I blame them of course, not my own little inner whump-lover *chuckles*
I can definitely understand overactive imagination as well! It feels like I'm always in a process of putting a new story line or a character together. Don't forget AUs! Same favourite characters in like million of different settings? Sure, bring it on

I don't know if anyone else gets that probably not, but I'm always super prone to create a 'team as a family' scenario. Sometimes it all spirals down into polyamory, partially platonic partially full-blown romantic. I love the way their interactions slowly build up from somewhat forced need to work together to the point when they become a true team.

 

My characters are undergoing some major rehauls as I plan to shell them (and wait for my main character's shell), but I have a suggestion for the deer quints! Resinsoul has a series of YoSD-sized deertaurs, and Impldoll has a couple of MSD-sized ones. :3

 

This is a great thread! I guess it's nice to organize through talking/writing about your characters instead of just keeping them in your head. ( I tend to forget stuff or mix them up lol). You are also right about Character talk is fun Thank you for this thread!
I really like animal hybrid dolls! Especially deers Do you have any plans for a photo shoot of your dolls? I mean like a photo shoot for your story etc. I would love to see if you take pictures in the future!

For me, right now I have 4 dolls that have a complete profiles for each of them (excluding off topic dolls in DoA; like pullips). I like to set my characters background in a theme of fantasy/fairy tale. Because of this, I am a bit stubborn on the 'fantasy' theme topic. I have this one doll from the 4 that did not fit in that theme.. he was just the only doll that had a background based on a modern theme (wearing modern clothes).
I had a trouble to figure out what to do with that one doll that did not fit in with the rest of my dolls theme. I really didn't want to leave out and just give a separate story for it. (I don't know if that makes sense but I like to include all my dolls sharing same background story, and not leave one out).

In the end I ended up making a story that the modern character has leaped in to a fantasy/fairy tale world from the modern world.
(still have to figure out making more details in the story )

A little profile & short background story of my four lovely dolls :

Lance - a character that is based on the background of modern era world. He likes quiet places and enjoys tea time. He purchased a mysterious looking fairy tale book and started reading. Lance awoke realizing that he had fallen asleep, he noticed something was weird. Lance was awoken to a completely different era; a fairy tale era where he later meets Alice, Athren and Scarlet.
*Lance wears a modern clothes. He likes to look neat and stylish.
Doll type : Crobidoll R-line evolve body - Lance daydream type

Alice - a character that is based on the background of Alice in wonderland theme.
(as you all might have guessed from the name >_<).
*She is wearing the classic Alice dress.
Doll type : Visuadoll - Sora

Athren - a character that is based on the background of fantasy theme that has a mix of Alice in wonderland theme. He is a bunny but in a human form. He is a friend of Alice.
*Athren is wearing clothes that include a cape with a bunny ear (indicating that he is a bunny).
Doll type : Fairyland M-line boy - Mika

Scarlet - a character that is based on a fantasy theme mixed with red ridding hood theme. She is a elf.
*Scarlet wears a large hooded red cape that covers her dress.
Doll type : Fairyland M-line girl - A-line renewal event head

****

Aside from the introduction, when I have some time and organize stuff I plan on to take some photo for doll profile pic here in DoA. I also have a plan to take some photo shoot of all four of them together!
Right now, I don't have any detailed story line for all of them so this was just a quick and short background story for them!

 

Oh boy, I have a ridiculous number of characters, but only the ones I create for sculpts get shelled. Otherwise, I would go broke. Though occasionally I get the idea to make chibis. Bad brain! Those characters stay in written stories. Right now I just have Elliot (Migidoll Ell/Beyours hybrid), the resident dork/worrywort/angsty teen. I hope to get a body for his cheery roommate Olive eventually (Island Doll Sparkle, her head is my avatar), and then there is a third I told myself I wouldn't get, but he keeps going on and off my list: Bichun (LLT Red Dove, might change the name), sharply dressed and ready for anything.

 

I have... way too many characters.

In terms of ones already shelled or with plans to be shelled this year, my D&D party. They were designed to be dolls, so they're slightly different to my usual characters. I have a fair few "doll" characters thanks to collecting other customisable dolls over the years and they all became characters too.

So, my bjd lot are the D&D crew. They're for the AD&D Planescape setting because I LOVE PLanescape and any dang excuse to set anything in Sigil lol.
It all began with Arthur...
Now Arthur is a tiefling, but he grew up on the prime material plane. His father was a planeswalker, his mother the local druid of a teeny little village somewhere along the Sword Coast of Faerun.
Growing up with his father's tales of adventure across the planes and his mother's stories of her adventures it's little wonder he craved that sort of life as well. Once he was old enough he took his father's old journal and followed it across the planes, eventually ending up in Sigil, the city of doors.
Of course, Arthur grew up in a small village, and even after the somewhat perilous travel across a couple of planes to get to Sigil, he's never really had to deal with a CITY. Let alone a city as flat out INSANE as Sigil.
there's no sky, you look up and there's.. more city. There's all manner of creatures wandering around including DEMONS, actual demons, just... wandering around.
It was a bit of a shock to the system. Even reading his father's journal hadn't really prepared him for the reality of this place.

He ended up in a bar, got talking to a guy who told him he was an aasimar (descendants of celestials) and being the clueless country bumpkin he is, Arthur genuinely believed that meant this guy HAD to be good.
Auriel is however, anything but. He's a thief, and a rather shameless one at that.
But when he learned who Arthur's father was, he suddenly couldn't bring himself to shiv the guy and take his purse. See, Arthur's father was a bit of a big deal in Sigil. A famous hero of the planes, a bit of a hotshot. Auriel rather admires him because despite not being a rogue himself, that guy was incredible at getting out of scrapes and getting into gold.

Anyway,

long story short, Auriel decides he wants the journal Arthur has, but the problem is due to the magics on the dang thing ONLY Arthur can actually read it. Bah. So Auriel decides to keep him around, aaand eventually kinda... ended up liking him.

The rest of the group are Auriel's friends and adventuring buddies.

Lyric, the sour tempered thief who has a sort of sisterly relationship with Auriel. She hates Arthur, she thinks he's a moron and he keeps asking annoying questions.

Nhar, a water Genassi fighter with an ego roughly the size of Aber-Toril itself. He and Lyric have a sort of "thing" going on.
But they're both way too abrasive to ever be a proper couple.

Oisan who is a satyr cleric who mostly hangs out with these people because he's got nothing better to do. He kinda enjoys their company, but he's the stoic quiet one of the group.

and finally Sigrun, who's a Bariaur (goat taur) wizard who rather enjoys headbutting people in the face before she fireballs em. Ahem. She's a bit of a thug really. Enjoys going against that stereotype that all wizards are weak scrawny men with beards who fall over if you so much as breathe too heavily at em.

and finally there's Liara, who is a halfling (hobbit) Bard and a Sensate. She LIVES for experiences. She was recently seen down the pub in the Hive lamenting to the bartender that 4 different wouldbe muggers decided they didn't want her gold after all and wondering if maybe she "came on a bit too strong."
"I just, I get so excited you see. I've never been mugged before and I wanted my first time to be special!"
She's probably a bit nuts. Sensates are... odd people.

--

Then I have my Makies crew, who include Gabe, a reluctant medium and musician.
Nate, the ghost who haunts Gabe and is supposed to be a sort of spirit guide to the guy but mostly spends his time moaning about modern life and how rubbish it all is.
August who's a mad bio chemist.
Cass, August's brother who's a mad engineer/space ship pilot
Ig, the third brother who's also mad, but would rather just like to enjoy his cup of tea in peace and NOT be blown up, turned into something or attacked by monsters today okay!??
A few aliens
A vampire
And an extremely grumpy graphic designer who hates people, hates his life and wants to build a giant death mech/orbital death lasers/whatever else will destroy the world bwhahahaha. Also, his super power involves the people around him breaking into spontanious musical numbers. He literally LIVES inside a musical, with choreography and everything. He hates this, it's given him crippling social anxiety and yeah.. that whole, destroy the planet wish. Ahem.

--

and then there's my roleplay characters, and there's like.. 50+ of them. It's... it's a bit obsessive.

I have vampires, aliens, werewolves, ghosts, monsters, holograms, robots, cyborgs, just regular people, time travellers, demons... the list goes on.
I OBSESSIVELY and compulsively world build and character build. It's probably not totally healthy lol.

There's a group I want to shell into bjds though, problem is finding the sculpts.
I've found two so far, I just need one more for the twins.

---

I guess my brain is all "too many characters? NAaaaah, make MORE!" because since starting a sci fi rp with some people not that long ago, i've created 2 whole alien species complete with cultures and all that fun stuff, and fleshed out several characters i'd never gotten a proper chance to play with prior. Not to mention created on a whim 3 new ones just "because"

It's a sickness, I swear.

 

I consider creating characters one of my hobbies because is just so fun and I can do it everyday, I have over 60 OCs now and was a reason I decided to divide my bjds and other OCs so I could try keep the bjd number down lol otherwise I would want a doll for every oc and that wouldn't work out.

@Tarn I also love family of choice trope. I just think is so fun having people come together, forming bonds and being there for each other no matter what. Is not only great to show character development but pull on my feelings.

For me I always just imagine the character first, how they look and/or they doing something and it spiral out of there. Because then I want to know why they look like that, what situations they would get into and what world they live.

I also love to make worlds to be honest, I need to hold myself sometimes so I focus on what is necessary for a story. Because exploring worlds are fun, so of course I also did a multiverse so all my characters could crossover and I could give hints on stories and connect them lol

I really want to write it all and do extra stories after, because I don't think I can let them go after their main story.

 

Mostly I roleplay so that's where they get their uh.. "airtime" lol. I do write stuff as well but i'm not so good at well.. plot.
heh.
I'd love to do more with them, but i'm super lazy and unmotivated.

 

I do have some sculpts planned, for when I get the money, haha. :3 Angardia, my main character, is going to be a Doll Leaves Teresa in white skin. Her older daughter, Andromeda, will be a Doll Leaves Yoko on a Leekeworld Art Body, both in normal skin. Andromeda's father, Jeremy, will be a Souldoll Kids Nino in normal skin, and his wife, Renee, will be an Impldoll Dolores in dark tan. I already have Angardia's younger child, Amorra, who is a tan Littlefee Ante Elf. There's a lot of weirdness in the story... I'm currently working on writing the first installment, about how Angardia and Jeremy meet and such, but the characters I'll be shelling don't show up until the second installment. I'm also considering a few sculpts for members of a dragon-like shapeshifting race who also show up in the story, but I may need to focus on my little family here first. ^^;

Also, Resinsoul does have the MSD-sized deer legs for their female body... I wonder if they have those for the male body as well? Just a thought. :3

 

I'm thinking of using vampire sculpts and then making wings/tails out of wire/liquid latex/other movable (and cheaper) materials, haha. :3 There are three particular sculpts that I'm in love with right now: LoongSoul Lan (which actually is a dragon sculpt), Souldoll Clodia, and Souldoll Vampire Kuu. ;u; They're so lovely.... and Lan is on sale for 10% off at Alice's Collections.... and is limited but not for any specific period of time.... so it is taking quite a bit of self-control not to purchase her right away......

 

Oh dear, their wait times are wonky...? D: I've just rediscovered my tax refund and so I've lost all self control.... ^^; But after this current experience with DDE and Doll Leaves, I'm a bit worried about the whole wait time thing...

 

Definitely seconding the recommendation for Resinsoul deer tinies! I love mine-- the details on her deer half, like just the way her hooves are shaped, it's just so perfect. (of course now I have one, I need to get the other three, so it goes...)

I definitely know the 'way too many characters' problem-- and my brain is always coming up with MORE of them! But... as for the ones I sort of do the most with, either drawing or writing... or just plans to eventually shell, but not necessarily soon;


Lydia- Someday I do want to shell Lydia (but... the doll I like most for her wouldn't be able to work with the dolls I plan on having for characters she'd interact with, so... I don't have any concrete plans). I created her for a fandom AU RP just to fill out the side cast, since we needed to come up with OCs, and then I wound up really attached to her. She's the bassist in a queercore college band, eventually getting her degree in music education and pursuing that instead of performance (she went to a music college, though her bandmates are all in STEM fields at a different school-- of course, she was learning mostly jazz, since... there's no track for queercore punk rock, but yeah). And then she'll eventually marry her college sweetheart and adopt. I have a lot of fun doodling her, because she has this Joan Jett-inspired hair and general vibe, wears ripped up tank tops and little plaid skirts and shows off her tattoos on the weekends and then once she starts working in education, she has a weekday wardrobe of long skirts/dresses and demure sweaters and more neutral makeup, but then gets to transform into her punk rock self.

Calpurnia- I draw her a lot, but I've never written anything about her, so I don't really have a very set story or anything... except for the idea that she's a Victorian ballerina vampire hunter. Which means getting to draw a lot of fun ballet costumes, but then also she fights monsters. So she doesn't really fit in with the steampunk stories I'd written on and off since college or so.

Cass- Short for Cassius, he's an opera singer in a dystopian setting, where he sort of exists in this gilded cage, in the one functioning city with an upper class, and where being beautiful and talented keeps him there and he can have whatever material things he wants, but his husband winds up dying as part of the resistance, and he's just... stuck. I haven't done much with him, really-- I've drawn him a bit and never finished writing his story because it was just so tragic.

Aluru- My little genderless alien baby. Humanoid alien, but alien. Lives in the woods and is a sort of seer.

Jean and Luc- I have a weird AU version of them shelled as off-topic dolls. When I first wrote them as a side story to something else, they had a tragic ending, and then I had to write them in a happier universe because I loved them too much... Luc is a poet (if not... a particularly good one), and Jean had studied poetry in particular when he'd focused on literature in university, and then they both just... kind of fell into being spies, and wound up on opposite sides of a conflict where they discovered they had everything in common with each other, and not a whole lot in common with anyone they were supposed to be on the same side as.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, but I feel like I've been going on so long already.

 

Awww, a witch coven with an android! This sounds like so much fun, I'd like to know a bit more about them if you don't mind? And five deer hybrids. I imagine five little deers must be an adorable gang. What story line do they have? Love the L names, for some reason I'm really into characters sharing first letter of their names/nicknames

My current main story crew is basically a mix of my and my partner's RP OCs, but we've been playing them for so long they've somewhat mixed up, I can't tell which one belongs to who right now. Two out of nine were shared from the start anyway. They've went through so many AUs that I've mixed the versions while choosing scults to shell our guys... Say Icy belongs to a human verse but her incoming team member Falc (Doll Chateau Snowborn) will belong to the monster!AU. It's super complicated *chuckles*

But basically what we have is a big horrible mess polyamorous family/team of a wheelchair-bound ex-army officer with OCD, two traumatised former marines madly in love with each other and war, a cute and ridiculously useless cadet, an autistic affectionate yandere with unhealthy obsession with birds of prey, an extremely nice and responsible doctor, young sniper that dreams to be an engineer and is scared of his own shadow, and a misanthrope who prefers to hiss at people from his dark corner. Number nine used to train the marines looong time ago and still considers himself responsible for those idiots, even though they're veterans now. So he comes now and then to drink some tea and rant about how horrible things are now and how in his time it was so much better >D
Worst team EVER to be honest. They're literally a bunch of weirdos that became synergically weirder together. But they care about each other, and they're so much fun to play with~
I'm hopefully shelling the sniper and the yandere in next few moths, and my OCD officer lady is already with me. Can't wait to start a photostory to be honest.

 

*drifts in*

I understand the too many characters problem. TnT I'm beginning to get far deeper into it, because I'm formulating the second major story arc of my main crew's story, and oh no, more characters are coming out of the woodwork, and then one of the younger brothers is beginning to have his own side-story and it's beginning to get crowded in this room, because most of the characters need to be here in resin form. (But it's nice to have begun busting through some pretty solid writer's block.) And thankfully, with a lot of them, I have their noggins, it's just a matter of getting bodies for them all.

(But I'm having a hard time pinning down the dynamic between my mini-sized dolls. I only have a few, but their styles are divergent enough that they don't look good together as a whole group, only in pairs or in trios. So it's been really hard to string together a story for them! TnT So, they've gotten mostly ignored in favor of my bigger dolls. I love them, but they just haven't worked together as a group.)

But it's hard...I love my characters, I love writing, I like sharing my writing, but I'm really shy about talking about them because I think other people will think they're really boring! Everyone else has these very elaborate worlds and scenarios and the like, and my guys feel pretty boring in comparison! ^////^ (Except Sparklebutt. Because the world needs more tiny, drunk, misanthropic, "exiled" Dark Elf princes crashing on their couches.)

 

@KiyoshiSenshi
Ahhh, what a great crew you have here! Colour blind centaur and golden eyes, that's just... wow!
I wouldn't mind hearing more actually. I find listening about other people's OCs fascinating.

And Aloyscius and his baby deers are just fatally cute >DDD
One of out marines, Thunder (they all go by their codenames, I never wanted to give them 'real' ones - personal preference), is a bit like that. He's killed a lot of people while in the US army service, but he strongly believed they were enemies hence he did it for the greater good, and he's relatively not affected mentally. He's got PTSD for sure, but he's not aggressive or anything. Quite the opposite, in civilian life he's a type of person you'd probably like to hang out with. Rather gentle for an ex-military, likes company and genuinely cares about others, especially kids and those in need of help and protection. He's brought the whole team together, helped each and every one of them out in their worst times and loves them to the moon and back.
In fact he can be hyper responsible and care a bit too much, putting his own needs aside. He'd continue working even with something like broken bones and 42 degrees fever until he collapses or someone stops him.
His female partner, Fire, is a complete opposite, she was pretty much on the killing spree the whole service time, and she'd much rather just punch someone in the face repeatedly than deal with the whole adaptation to civilian life. Thunder and Fire are the most stereotype-breaking het pairing I've ever had tbh: Thunder is enthusiastic about family business, is really into cooking, loves a good dance and sometimes doesn't mind a romantic gesture or two, while Fire is all about brutal force and explosive temper and has literally zero feminine traits. They're equally brave on the battle field though. And they both adore sappy romantic comedies >з

Just random point to add to the topic... At first I expected to only choose dolls as a shell for my OCs, but some sculpts are THAT great, they literally tell you a story when you look at them and demand to join the crew, even you didn't plan any additions ._. That's how I'm ending up with a carnivorous bipedal mermaid and a gypsy theatre actor who only acts women. Goddamn Dollshe sale, I could not resist a caramel brown Husky. *sigh* I love saving up for a long time and then ordering a bunch of stuff together, but that gets pleasantly overwhelming.

 

Oh, this is my kind of topic!

I have been creating characters for my dolls since I was a little kid. One of the first developed characters I remember creating was when I was probably about two or three. I had this Tonka man who I named Doorbell and he was a mailman who was a milkman part time and lived on Main Street with the little people. He had all kinds of stories! XD

With BJDs, they've all got stories and characters too. All of my SDs are in the same storyline, and connected in some way, though they may not know it. (Example: Eirnin is the cousin to Kier, who is in a band with Parker, who is best friends with Jayden, who knows Hailey from summer camp, who goes to school with Michael, who is roommates with Luc, who is in theater class with Erica, who lives across the hall from Opaline. Eirnin and Opaline are not aware of each other' existence.)

My Minifee girls are sisters and in their own world with my Elleodolls dog.

Then I have several off topic (and one in topic) tinies who have a minor story.

 

enjoy reading these, nice seeing I'm not the only one with thousands of ideas that RP them out haha.

 

I'm sure they're great
When you put a lot of effort and, well, your soul into creating a story, it's always kind of really obvious. You can always see when a person who created the character loves them and is really interested themselves, and when it's like that, then there's no way they can be dull! Genuine interest matters the most IMHO.
I'd love to hear about your crew~ Tiny, drunk, misanthropic prince? Hell yes.

Speaking of mini sized dolls... so true. For me probably even more true concerning tinies. There's a couple I'd love to get but it would be really hard to fit them in, and I wouldn't know what to do with dolls I could not relate to others at all. I've made one exception for an MSD, having found a way to connect her story to the main, but hopefully this was just one exception. who am I lying to

I can agree, definitely an interesting face :0 If you were to get him, what kind of character would he be?

Thunder is one of my definite favourites in all storylines ever, deep down he's a sweetheart, that's probably why I torture him the most ._. I couldn't really pinpoint a fave in this particular crew though. Love them all too much >0

 

Yes, Sparklebutt is now his official name. XD I'm sure that he has an incredibly frilly, embroidered, overly-long and impressive decorative Dark Elf royalty name, but he's living with a bunch of teenagers, young twenty-somethings, and a plethora of magical beings, so he's Sparklebutt. (Especially since he is actually sparkly! He's got mica powder in his resin and he's very softly shimmery.) He also has a tiny sparkly motorcycle.

I keep thinking I want to go with a sci-fi/space opera theme with my minis, since my SDs have the "magic world" story tied up, and one of my minis is already a robot. I'm having a hard time getting that together, though, and I think it would mostly be told through photostories and the occasional comic.

 

Everyone has such fun characters and stories! As for mine, I can't say they all exist in the same world, just that they are all some flavor of monster/alien/abstract beings.
Pandora (DC lilly), Zelenia (akhmel aki), Aria (hybrid resinsoul deertaur body dearmine marie head) are all part of the same reality.

Aria as a being that used to be part of a collective that made up Mara, a divine monster that watches over dark matter and the sleeping conscious. Mara can be described as a sentient flock of sheep, and she places pieces of herself all over earth and the cosmos to watch everything. Aria is one of those pieces, except that her connection to the rest of Mara's consciousness was severed. She is her own being now, trying to learn and find a purpose. (To be honest thsi was the easiest way to shell mara into a doll, no way would I be able to find a doll for her!)

Zelenia is from a tribe of space creatures who survey the heavens. They chart the movements of all stars/planets/etc. Their body painting is an abstract representation of this, and differs from each individual. Zelenia studies planets, or more specifically moons. She is a quiet being, and believes action speaks louder than words.

Pandora is a reserved being, but her calm exterior hides a curiousity that cannot be satiated. She loves to experiment and hates times of peace and quiet. Her place in this world is that of an agitator. When the gods and humanity were about to enter an unprecedented era of peace, she encouraged Algol, a dragon of the stars, to rain chaos on the world. After a long bloody battle Mara defeated algol, and the threat was gone. Pandora is not one to let a good opportunity go, and when a falling star landed on earth with the remains of algol's power, she seized it as hers. Now she waits for the time when she may once again disturb the set order.

My other dolls don't have as much character/story development yet, so no need for me to spam this thread too much! I just hope what I typed actually makes some sense

 

@KiyoshiSenshi yeah is a great fun just see how world and characters complement each other, I was watching Pixar class on storytelling and they say story is when world and character meet and I was 'man, is true, why I never noticed this' lol

@FirecrackerSparks Your characters seen really interesting, would love to learn more about them.

I love to make my own races but with the bjd universe I decided I wanted to try my hand on making my version of mythological beings and revamped their story 3 times now.

I have a witch, Hana (dz feilian), who comes from a matriarchal society were gender is based on powers and is the annoyed heir of her bloodline.

A demon, Dante (dz hid), who is just trying to do his job to protect magical beings but they keep giving him headache.

A wendigo, Ajit (dz carter-1), and a dream, Madaris (miracledoll shuu), who become best friends because of human fiction and fandoms.

A muse, Lesath (miracledoll baiye), who inspire horror and erotic feelings and was being courted by a serial killer- who may or not be another supernatural being.

And there's also: a faery, Necco (luts mytyl); a will o wisp, Meissa (D.C. Beatrice; a hybrid imp/wendigo and nephew of Ajit, Milo (5sd Aiden5); a siren (dz trieda); and a nightmare, Bill (aod skull head that needs a body). I'm still deciding their main story.

But they are all from the same universe until an accident send them to another world filled with humans and without magic, and they need to figure how to get home.

I'm still trying to figure what other races to use that are not used often on fiction but still doable to make as bjds. I really like the idea of making a banshee, djinn, incubus and revamping a jorogumo oc to fit this universe.

 

I'm really enjoying reading about everyone's stories/characters! Watching youtube videos about characters and stories is what finally got me to take the plunge and buy a bjd though I'd wanted one for years.
I don't have any set storylines written out yet, but I do have ideas, I just can't get them into any cohesive form yet. :P
I have gotten to know the characters of my dolls quite well, though some like Aggi <-- *points to avatar* took a long time to get to know, and currently only two of my dolls for sure exist in the same world (my PKF Ante Tori and her little sister an OT Jun Planning AI named Moss) I have another doll I need to get because they are the first doll I'd ordered Leif's (Bobobie Elfkin) sister and I will probably work on bringing her home soonish.
The only doll who actually had a character before I'd decided to order them is my newest boy Vish (Doll-Love Kaja) and he's based on a character I'd had in a D&D campaign years ago and he's existed in some form or another in most of the RPs I've been involved in since.
I would love to work out some form of cohesive storylines to pop them into but it's not been very easy at all, and it isn't that they aren't 'speaking' to me but rather that I get random bits of information here and there and haven't managed to get things worked out to be of any interest to probably anyone but myself. xD

 

^ That's me in a nutshell. Also my OCs' names are super uncreative ... some of them are 20+ years old and boy does it show.
*goes into lurker mode*

 

We shall lurk together, @Jany !! XD 20+ years--Rei, Zoe, Christian, and Audrey have all been around in one form or another for around that long here!

 

One thing though, I can totally relate to the "too many characters" problem. I've had a bit of a population explosion on the doll shelf ... at first, I was going to shell characters from one story - the super old one that's been around since 1996. Then there were ideas for one more, helped along by a doll I just couldn't pass up (Iple Bianca, aka the beginning of my plans' downfall). Two stories still sound manageable, right? Especially with dolls pulling double duty? Yeah, well. Next thing I know, Cali happened - and with her story #3 (this one pre-existing). Then DiM discontinued everything, so Marcellina strolled in (#4, sort-of-story but more like a theme). Cue Iple's discontinuation of my "someday" hobbits (#5) ... now, what with a bunch of Granado heads and a random idea that attached itself firmly to Enoch and the DS Saint I've got on the way, I'm on story #6. And I can't even take decent pics.
Basically it's all just one big fat excuse to do other stuff than the real world, "dolls next door" look my main story cast is sporting. Everything that's not main story or elves is more like themes than actual stories ... currently it's all one big huge WIP as I'd need major help with the pics if I ever get to the point where photostories could happen.

 

*sits with the group of "I got way too many OCs* Heh, I can relate to the OC numbers a lot, at least though the scale I like there aren't many dolls that work for characters but I still have a couple I wanna shell out. Mainly my Lesbian space couple.

 

I also have characters that have been around for literally decades; Tyler & Michael, and a bunch of others who don't (and probably won't) have resin avatars.


This is probably a really bad thread for me to have drifted into, because I do have a tendency to go on ad infinitum about my original characters (and there are a lot of them!) I honestly don't think there is such a thing as 'too many characters'. That's like saying you have too much creativity, or too many facets and layers to your thoughts, feelings and personality.

For me, BJD and my original characters really aren't linked. I don't think of my dolls as the characters themselves, but more like 3D snapshots of that character. I like to think of my dolls as "avatars" raher than "shells" because the characters are dynamic and three-dimensional (in the metaphorical sense), and that can never truly be captured or represented by a doll, a photo, or any other static representation. Many of my characters existed long before I ever got into the BJD hobby, and they would exist even if I didn't have dolls of them. To me, they exist completely separate and without regard to whether or not I may have a resin avatar of them.

I'm not particularly compelled to create dolls of my OCs, but I've also found that if I get a doll that doesn't already represent one of my characters for me, I lose interest in it very quickly. Characterless dolls do not work for me at all.

That having been said, on to some of the OCs! I have characters currently in four separate storylines, plus a few miscellaneous ones. I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me, I've been creating characters and stories practically my entire life and it's completely manageable to me.

Tyler James Brightman and Michael Seraph Brightman (story continuity: Two Worlds) are fraternal twin brothers. Tyler is the older twin and is also the POV character for many of the Two Worlds stories. The twins were premature and, as a consequence, Tyler in particular had a number of health problems that continue into his adult life. Tyler was not expected to survive past the first 24 hours, but did so despite the odds, and frequently likes to remind everyone how happy he is to be alive. This annoys Michael, who doesn't share Tyler's sunny disposition. Tyler is easygoing and generally an optimist, although he's definitely not an idealist. Michael, on the other hand, is cynical and snarky and tends toward worst-case scenarios. Despite having very different personalities, the twins are practically inseparable. They share quite a few common interests and like to have (sometimes ill-advised) adventures together.

The most noteworthy thing about Tyler is that he's blind. This doesn't stop him from doing most things, though. He plays guitar and piano, loves horseback riding, swimming, camping and canoeing, and enjoys reading. He dislikes loud noises more than anything, and his worst fear involves getting lost in a place where there's no one around to help him. He's not a morning person...he loves his coffee and swears he needs it to function.

Tyler is married and has two children. He is a lawyer and works for Legal Aid where he mostly practices administrative and criminal law. Two Worlds is a universe very similar to our own, but in which aliens exist. Tyler's wife, Sini Iloa Brightman, is a native of the planet Eris. (If you're curious about my made-up planet and its people, click here) Their children, Skyla and Kiva, are highly improbable - yet obviously possible - hybrids. Kiva is also blind.

Michael is also married and has kids. His wife is Andromeda Smith-Brightman, and their children are Jack, Cleo and Lucy. Michael's favourite things are hockey, rock-climbing, camping, canoeing, swimming and reading. He's impatient and dislikes waiting in lines, dealing with people who don't understand him the first time he explains something, and getting stuck in traffic. Michael is neither a morning person nor a night person, and can get up at any hour as long as he's had adequate sleep. He works for a public relations firm, although he had dreams of becoming an archaeologist.

The twins' birthday is 16 December, which they don't like because it's too close to Christmas.

 

Wow, it's amazing hearing about everybody's characters! I've never really had that many OC's(I have a friend with over sixty) but I do have some that I'd really like to shell into dolls!

Branwen was basically the first human character I ever created, and she's sort of a spirit/fallen angel sort of character. I don't have a huge story for her, but what I do have is that she was (trigger warning) bullied into suicide and given a second chance at life, hence a large pair of dark grey wings(which I still need to buy!!) sprouting from her back. She's currently a Resinsoul Ya.
In her same universe is a faun boy who I haven't come up with a name for yet I was thinking about shelling him into a Resinsoul ming, with the faun legs Resinsoul has 0v0

In a completely different universe I have my main crew!!

Chase is my beloved gay boy, with slicked back hair dyed red and a staggering height of 6'4". He works as an inventor but gets invited by his future boyfriend to join a rebellion against a corrupt environment in a steampunk-esque civil war. He lives with some pretty intense anxiety and occasional auditory hallucinations, due to an awful childhood which led to the separation of him and his older sister.

Emily is Chase's badass older sister, the leader of the rebellion and a merciless fighter. She'll wear a steampunk style corset with cutoff jean shorts and look absolutely amazing doing it. She trains the new recruits to be able to easily kill you with nothing but a pencil if they try hard enough. As reckless she may sound, however, she's actually a brilliant strategist and plays the violin in her free time(though nobody but chase will ever know that XD) She and her brother have an incredibly emotional reunion after nearly ten years filled with crying tears of joy, sadness, and panic attacks.

Jaxon is Chase's boyfriend, a rebellion sniper almost as tall as he is who has a skin ondition called vitiligo. I don't have much on him yet, but for being a sniper he's a total sweetheart to Chase and was the one who convinced him to join the rebellion, though he didn't know Chase's sister was the leader.

Hopefully that wasn't too long.

 

Ahh, so many OCs, I'm in heaven! @Osaka I really love the idea of Prince Sparklebutt! I think I just have soft spot for characters like that, haha.

@KiyoshiSenshi, doing a sci fi theme would be really cool (and I'm not just saying that because sci fi is my favorite genre or anything, cough). I've been thinking of doing a sci fi AU for my dolls but it's hard to find the right kinds of clothes (mainly...I want leather and LED lights, lol).

The two completed dolls I have I don't really see as OCs? Because they still have their default names and default story, which I love, and is a huge reason why I bought them. However I've been coming up with a lot of cracky AU versions. Modern day, high school, sci fi, even a version where they're Pokemon trainers.

I'm a writer so I have a lot of characters from different stories, but I'm not interested in shelling most of them in doll form. Though there are exceptions. The incomplete doll I have (no face, no clothes yet) is going to be Aramy, who is one of the protagonists of my M/M fantasy novel Alone, Together. Basically Aramy begins the story as the Prince's consort, and he's beautiful and ambitious and constantly scheming. In any other story he'd probably be the villain, but not this one! I like to think of him as a male femme fatale and the whole story is basically him pulling one scheme after another, while slowly falling for a naive soldier and discovering to his dismay that he does have feelings. Does not stop him from trying to get the throne, though. He's probably my favorite character I've ever created and I'm sure he'll make a gorgeous doll, because he loves those fancy fantasy clothes and hair. And I intend to make his boyfriend Kestrel into a doll too, as well as some other characters from the story.

 

@bickazer and @KiyoshiSenshi I love SF too! Soft SF is what I normally write if I'm doing a SF story myself, but I love to read both hard and soft SF.

@flannelpaws sixty doesn't really seem like a lot... I have over 70 just in the Two Worlds continuity, including secondary and minor characters. Of course, to be fair, I've had some of those characters for decades and I've been building that universe for a very long time.
I gotta say, I really like your characters that you described. I'm particularly intrigued by Branwen, as I've had a long-standing fascination for the angel/demon/spiritual/second-life themes. One of my other storylines, Descent, is a universe in which angels, demons, ghosts and other spiritual beings exist.

I knew this would be a dangerous thread for me to dive into, 'cause now I want to talk about some of my favourite OCs from Descent. My biggest themes in Descent are the idea that 'good' and 'evil' aren't absolute, and that beings should not be bound by the expectations placed on them by their society. It's about the idea that just because someone is born with certain characteristics, those characteristics should not dictate that person's character. It's about challenging expectations, rising above circumstances and defying prejudgements such as "All [members of group] are [a certain way]."

Aubrey Jack Davenport (a.k.a. Abaddon the Dark) is a young demon who sees more in himself than what his own society's expectations are for him. Aubrey's demonic role is as a Soul Collector, and his basic purpose is to persuade humans not to put their trust in the Celestial Power (I deliberately don't refer to any specific god, and the Celestial Power is referred to with the neutral pronouns "They/Them") and to mark these human souls for collection at the end of their mortal lives by Couriers of the Dead. Aubrey explains some of this in his self-introduction, and there's more about it in this story, entitled Coming Home. Aubrey's difficulty is that he genuinely likes humans and doesn't particularly want to be an instrument of condemnation. He's gentle by nature and values kindness and compassion in others. He constantly struggles with his own identity, truly desiring to be good, compassionate and kind to every being, yet feeling a lot of self-doubt because he believes he cannot in the end overcome the fact that he is a demon. Although he's really good at presenting a confident and competent image, he's often afraid and insecure.

In his human form, Aubrey is a television actor, and his current role is as Captain Henry Mayweather, a British Navy captain during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, in a show called Stem The Tide. Aubrey loves acting and feels like it's one of his true talents. He's also reasonably good on the violin and can play the piano well enough to be entertaining at parties. He also loves to cook, although he doesn't enjoy cleaning up afterwards. Despite being moderately famous, he tries to live as normal and quiet a life as possible. He lives with his teenage ward, Sky Morningstar. (Coming Home explains a lot about the relationship between Aubrey and Sky.

The other important being in Aubrey's life is his best friend and lover, Zerachiel. Zerachiel is a Celestial Guardian (i.e. guardian angel) and Its main purpose is to protect the humans assigned to It by the Celestial Power. It is a genderless energy being that is capable of taking any form including human, animal or inanimate object. It has two human personae, Zach Gordon and Zera Gibson, which it uses to interact with people in the Mortal Realm (more about Zerachiel in this story: Frosting On The Cake). Zerachiel is thoughtful, curious and playful by nature. It loves mortals and It is fascinated by the Mortal Realm, so much so that It is practically pushing the envelope of what the Celestial Realm considers acceptable. Zerachiel has always been somewhat of a rebel and the proverbial black sheep of Its Celestial family, but It isn't overly concerned about that. Like Aubrey, Zerachiel sees Itself as different than others of Its kind and does not like the idea of conforming to all the expectations set out for It. Unlike Aubrey, however, It does not struggle with Its identity and generally doesn't lack self-confidence.

Zerachiel's Zera persona is much closer to Its true personality than Its Zach persona. As Zach, it tries (sometimes unsuccessfully and much to the amusement of people around It) to be a stereotypical "tough guy". Zach dresses in black most of the time, and frequently wears motorcycle boots and t-shirts with biker logos. He's tall and very muscular. His hair is black, straight and shoulder-length, and he has a beard that looks like it's in a perpetual state of being only half grown-in. The Zach persona is often loud and tends to come off as crass and obnoxious. The Zera persona is also tall and has black hair and grey eyes. She's also enthusiastic and tends to be loud, but where Zach comes off as crude and sometimes just plain dumb, the same behaviours in Zera often get interpreted as guilelessness and a kind of adorable cluelessness. Both personae are still Zerachiel, but the way each persona is perceived by the people around them is very different. Zerachiel finds this fascinating and has talked about it with Aubrey on several occasions in an effort to figure out why people see It one way when It's Zera and another way when It's Zach.

Aubrey actually prefers the Zera persona because he feels Zerachiel is allowing more of Its true nature and personality to come through in that persona, but sometimes he likes the idea of being "protected" by Zach. Zerachiel and Aubrey have a complex relationship, which is further complicated by the fact that neither of their respective realms approve of it, but nevertheless, it works for both of them

 

Other characters (because they just keep coming...)

Patrick Porter Englund- The main character of a story I keep not finishing because there's just not enough plot, just tons of characters... The not-the-most-recent-anymore in my long line of male characters with (usually long) red hair... Patrick is a part-time wheelchair user who writes and podcasts (might change it to vlogging?) about genre fiction and pop culture through the lenses of both queer theory and disability. He's got a very set routine, a cat, a small house that technically belongs to a relative... and a boyfriend who met him on a Wheelchair Day. (no plans to shell him at the moment, though for a while I was looking, when I was more focused on writing his story)

Xander- One of my newer guys. Was born of my trying to challenge myself to work with some bad AU fic cliches, and instead I created something original. Xander is a high school student who wishes he was already in college (he'll hate it when he gets there, but he imagines there's so much academic freedom and he has no idea about prerequisites...). He's asexual (maybe demisexual, but so far so uninterested) and the three things that make high school worthwhile are debate team, D&D during lunch, and his creative writing class. (he is, predictably, ginger)

Demian and Orlando- The poet and the pirate. Well, the pirate and the poet. This one is... old. I was writing their story back in... early days of college theatre, because I remember talking about them with another girl who'd seen my sketches and was really encouraging and enthusiastic. Demian fancies himself the Robin Hood of the high seas, and in truth is perhaps not cut out for piracy. Orlando lives in a garret writing poetry and doing whatever he can to pay the bills and feed himself. Then one day Demian tumbles through Orlando's window after a chase across the rooftops after getting into some trouble in port, and he winds up whisking Orlando off on an adventure at sea after having his life, or at least his freedom, spared by the offer of a safe hiding place. Sometimes I draw Demian as a shark merman-- when Demian is half-shark, Orlando has bunny features. But animal people wasn't really part of their world initially (though at one point a classmate suggested an evil sorceress be involved in the story just for the cool factor, so...)

Daniel 'Linda Low' Choi- Autistic drag queen. Two of his various areas of interest are theatrical makeup and music from the '70s and '80s. Also old movies, especially musicals (hence the name of his persona). Day-to-day Daniel is a little bit stiff and awkward at the best of times, 'Linda' is super flamboyant and outgoing, but mostly it's because he understands the social rules when he's playing that part, whereas it's much more confusing to navigate social situations in real time in the real world, without scripts and such. Newest OC, I have NO idea what to do with him... I just love him. Like, I have weird bits of his backstory, like he used to work in a video store while he was in college, had a bit of a shutdown when the store did, went on disability at that time because he felt like he couldn't do a different job and now his one thing no longer existed, and really had a rough time for a while, came around to realizing he could do other things, but also that being on disability for having a disability-- one that, at the time, kept him out of other work-- isn't something he has to be ashamed of. I just... don't really have a full PLOT and I don't know, I mean the disability stuff just feels more like background to me than plot fodder, since... well, as far as my life goes, disability stuff IS background, not 'plot'. So for now he does nothing.

Two nameless space girls- Definitely on the list to be eventually shelled into doll form, even though they still don't have names. There's a human who was born and raised out in space, and then your clicheed green-skinned space babe style gal. They're both massive dorks, but green girl in particular is like... 'I made us cosplays' level dork. Because in the space-dwelling future, there are still fan-conventions (for whatever franchises exist in sci-fi universe for them to geek out over), and still cosplayers. It's a fun break from engineering and hydroponic gardening on the space station.

 

@Anneko - ooh awesome characters! This is such a great thread because of all the unique personalities we're getting to meet here. I'm especially intrigued by Patrick and Daniel, but all your OCs sound like they're well-developed and interesting. I appreciate that Daniel's disability isn't "plot fodder" as you put it. As a person with a disability who also writes disabled characters, I feel as though disability should be viewed more as a characteristic than as a plot-driver in most cases. I mean, there are some exceptions, but generally I think a good three-dimensional character and their story should be defined by so much more than one thing about their life. Also, Ironically, I have a character with long ginger hair who is a wheelchair user (although mine is a full-time wheelchair user, as he has SCI). haha I'm so tempted to add more of my OCs, but my last post was so long that I think I've probably used up my share of 'air time' in this thread.

 

@SapphireStargazer Yeah, it's definitely one of those things where... like, with some exceptions, I can tell when a non-disabled person is trying to tell a disabled character's story? Sure, there's stuff to overcome, but there's always stuff to overcome-- it doesn't preclude the same kinds of real plots that abled leads have.

I mean, Patrick's story is more about disability, but that's because he's involved in his local disabled community and he writes about looking for himself in media through that lens... It's not because he doesn't have other stuff in his life, it's because that's where he focuses his energy as an activist and creator.

(Hey, gingers in wheelchairs for the win! And I don't think it's possible to use up too much real estate in this thread...)

 

My current doll collection totally 42 dolls from 3 different worlds, Big Mystic Smoke, The Dream Time and Divinity Beloved. Some of the stories are very large in size with the biggest being Dreaming Of The Void at a tick over 360K. I have multiple others over the 200K mark as well. Yeah, I'm a bit of an epic writer.

Big Mystic Smoke is set in modern day earth in and around Toronto, Ontario, Canada (I'm Canadian so...). It's pretty much our world with the addition of Otherworldly creature of all types. Characters I have as dolls include: Incubus, naga, wight, demi-Muse, half-dragon, half-satyr and demon/cockatrice. The story that started it all is Blind Desire, where Ryzel, an Incubus, meets Quinlin, a gifted human. Quin is a blind studio musician and, according to his best friend, Haskell, Quin was crowned pissy bitch of the universe the day he was born. The relationship between Ryzel and Quin is bumpy at first and both resist getting more involved with each other but Fate has other plans for the two. They eventually have a child, Haniel, who rescues, Aischylos, half-satyr, and later rescues Darius, a demon/cockatrice cross. Haniel and Darius accidentally have a child, Ferrous. I have a bunch of free fiction posted detailing all of that and Blind Desire is currently out of print but I can provide copies to those who are interested. Additionally, I have Misu, a demi-Muse and his Guardian, Gunari, a half-dragon. Their story is The Dragon's Muse and also out of print (my publisher folded last December *sigh*). And as far as dolls go, I also have Nassano, a naga, and Dolf, a wight. Their story is a WIP (one of far too many).

The Dream Time is set in the future in another galaxy. It is my oldest world and possibly most complex with many different species, created languages, world, social systems, etc. I've been writing stories in this world for a little over 25 years. It focuses mostly on the Awh'anise but there's also Vylfian, Naemo, Kith, Laiokians, Xysarasians, Tmmawerr, Ruislipians and Daquanies. The Awh'anise are my favourites which is reflected in the sheer size of the stories I've written with them. On the doll front I have:
Moswen (Awhanise) & Kijika (Vylfian/Naemo)-Balancing Karma (200K, completed)
Jaiseki (Awh'anise/Vylfian/Naemo) & Sarojin (Kith)-Enchanted Shadows (45K, completed)
Vuchel & Vashin (Awh'anise/Vylfian/Naemo/Kith)
Tyhlian (Awh'anise) & Dakvir (Laiokian)-Dreaming Of The Void (360K, completed)
Jolen (Awh'anise/Tmmawerr) & Kysmirhea (Xysarasian)-Sea of Stars (20K, WIP)
Tohan (Awh'anise) & Warrick (Daquan cyborg)-Escape Velocity (25K, WIP)
Fortunately, not all of the characters in that world demand resin shells because Awh'anise are a multi-birth species with 3 or 4 being common sizes but 6 or even 8 babies at once not being terribly uncommon. Moswen is a 6 kit brood while Tyh is from a 3 kit brood (Tohan is Tyh's brother). Moswen and Tyh are also 1/2 brothers as they're not generally a monogamous species so families get complicated and BIG really fast (it seemed like a good idea at the time). To describe the various stories would require another post (which I'm totally willing to do *grins*) and I an also provide links if anyone is interested.

Divinity Beloved is set in an unspecified past in our world although I never explicitly state that it takes place on Earth. The focus of the stories here are about gods and their lovers for the most part. Character shells I own are:
Fei-Lau (God of Winter Storms), Sleet (Fei-Lau's minion) and Khale (Shard of an Ice Demon Clan)-Absolute series of stories (200K, completed & WIP depending on story)
Saraf (God of Primal Flame & Lord of Metallic Dragons), Edenlei (Geomancer of Saraf) & Prasiolite & Rhodolite (twin dragonlings Saraf & Edenlei are fostering)-The Fire of Godly Devotion (90K, WIP)
Wu-Tyr (God of the Depths), Naicree (Herald of Wu-Tyr) & Yalaren (Limnad/Jinn)-Rolling In The Deep (to be started)
Sondo (psychopomp), Iwa-Xine (Dryad of a yew tree) & Cynara (Iwa-Xine's child)
Rhas-Khan (God of the Abyss) & Malachite (child of Rhas-Khan & Eilam)-various shorts
Ra-Sui (God of Decay & Guardian of Souls)-Soul Purpose (5k)
Ammiel (God of Perception) & Dashiell (Guardian to Ammiell)-various shorts

Slated to be purchased this year are Eilam (Rhas-Khan's husband) and Wisp (Ra-Sui's partner) but I need to save up for them *sigh*. However, I can also do another post on the various stories with these guys, too, because trying to cram all of that in here would likely exceed the post limit.

 

@Iron_Dog reading your description was a lot of fun. It's awesome to read about your worlds and characters, and it's also greatto know that there are other people who have multiple, complex worlds. Also, go Canada! Of course you know I'm Canadian too, and most of my stuff is also set in Canada. Not all of my characters have resin shells, and in fact fewer of them do now than ever before, because I've dramatically scaled back my collection and my participation in the hobby in general. Fortunately, my characters are not dependent on having avatars. Many of them existed long before I even knew what a BJD was, and will continue regardless of whether I have any dolls or not.

@Anneko - Exactly! I can mostly always tell when a (usually uninformed or misinformed) non-disabled person is writing a disabled character, too. Not going to get into any elaboration on that, as I don't want to set off an entire "social justice discourse" in here, and I've ranted enough about disability representation in fiction in the past anyway lol. But, I agree that some stories and characters are going to have more of a focus on the character's disability simply because of the character's circumstances and what's going on in the plot. Like, in my Still Bravely Singing, Reid's disability gets a bit more attention than Tyler's (or any of the other disabled characters') disabilities in Two Worlds because Reid's spinal cord injury and how he got it are, in fact, of some importance to the plot. It is by no means the main focus of the story; however, it does touch nearly every part of his life in some way. In Two Worlds, for Tyler and Kiva who were born blind and for Jex who was born profoundly deaf, their particular disabilities really are just additional characteristics and not really important to most of the plot lines. But, having said that, even though Reid's disability has shaped the plot in some ways, it doesn't diminish him as a three-dimensional person. He's still a regular guy, and has to deal with the same challenges as most guys of his age and social class.

Honestly, I feel like many writers lose sight of the fact that disabled characters (as well as LGBT, Indigenous, and POC characters) are still people above all. Yes, of course their disability is going to shape their character in some respects - they wouldn't be them without that characteristic - and will therefore influence the plot to some degree, but they still have thoughts, feelings and experiences that are comparable to their non-disabled peers and their stories are similar to those of others, disabled or otherwise.

Anyway, enough of my soap box rant... How about some more OCs, from Still Bravely Singing, this time:

Still Bravely Singing's main themes are about hope, trust, courage and the true meaning and value of love and friendship. It's about self-acceptance and self-love, too, among other things.

Reid William John McCrae is a former Canadian soldier who was injured while serving in Afghanistan. He has an incomplete spinal cord injury which means, in simple terms, that although he does have some sensation in his legs, he has no motor function in them and is therefore a wheelchair user. Reid's grandfather and one of his uncles were career soldiers, and that's all Reid ever wanted to be as well, so it was utterly devastating to him at first when he realized that was no longer going to be his future. He's a strong, self-confident and essentially irrepressible person deep down, and eventually came around to the idea that he could - and should - get on with his life even though it might not be an easy road ahead. He did adjust to his "new normal" and decided to go to college to become an educational assistant. He works with elementary school children who have learning disabilities. Reid is an extremely popular staff member at his school, mostly because the kids recognize a kindred spirit in him; there's a part of him that simply refuses to grow up and he knows how to make school fun (even if he's strict about following the rules). While he's a model citizen at his school, Reid is anything but refined most of the time. His penchant for swearing is legendary (although he somehow manages to keep it under control at work). He plays hard, drinks hard, and generally gallops through life like the proverbial wild horse. Reid's favourite things are classic rock music, racing video games, action movies, hockey, antique weapons, outdoor activities, and his beloved Harley, which his best friend Nathan has modified to allow him to continue to ride it. (Yes, that IS a real thing!)

It'd probably come as a surprise to some people if they learned that Reid's secret passion is knitting. His grandmother taught him to knit when he was eight years old, mostly to keep him occupied and out of trouble, and it turned out that he loved it. He has a YouTube channel - YarnWarrior1985 - on which he posts "hardcore fibercraft videos" which frequently feature a rock soundtrack and occasionally feature drunk!knit. He styles it "Not your grandma's knitting basket" and starts a lot of his videos with, "This isn't your grandma's knitting basket. If you came here looking for tutorials on like, f****** baby booties and tea cozies and s*** then you came to the wrong place." However, in one notorious video, he does share a project that he is making for his baby daughter. He's also made collaborative videos with his grandmother, Sadie McCrae, otherwise known as Nantastic41. The most notable of these are the YarnQuest videos, in which he and his grandmother go in search of interesting new yarn.

Reid has two children, Rowan Gregor Miller McCrae and Lark Melody McCrae. Rowan is eight years older than Lark and was essentially the product of a one-night stand Reid had with a former friend, Camille Miller. Reid and Camille hooked up at a party while he was home on leave. Shortly thereafter, Camille moved to Calgary, ostensibly for work, and Reid literally never heard from her again. He didn't even know Rowan existed until Rowan was four years old, when Camille's father tracked Reid down to inform him that Camille had passed away and that he was Rowan's dad. Currently, Reid and his wife Fiona Rose McCrae have full custody of Rowan, although Reid shared custody of him with Camille's parents for a brief period of time in the beginning. Lark is Reid and Fiona's child. She is stubborn, rambunctious and fearless, a lot like her dad. Reid chose Lark's name, inspired by a line from the poem In Flanders Fields.

Reid's wife, Fiona, is a critical care nurse. She really likes her job and is happiest when she's taking care of others. She likes to feel that she's needed. In many ways, Fiona's struggle for self-acceptance and her difficulties with learning to trust and depend on others are far greater than Reid's are. Growing up, Fiona's family was far from the loving and supportive group that Reid's family is. Fiona's father is a loud, abrasive and opinionated person who is used to controlling others with intimidation and fear. He was often verbally abusive and sometimes physically abusive toward Fiona's mother and also to their kids. Fiona's mother was always too afraid of him to stand up to him. As a result of the things she faced growing up, Fiona still struggles with her self-esteem, body image, and self-confidence. Sometimes, she still finds herself feeling amazed that a guy as smart, handsome and confident as Reid actually loves her and thinks she's beautiful inside and out.

The first time Fiona ever saw Reid, he was one of her patients. She felt horrible that her immediate reaction was that he was handsome, especially considering his condition at the time. She dwelled on her guilty feelings about that for days, and acted with a special degree of professional detachment for weeks afterward to compensate; however, her resolve to remain strictly professional utterly crumbled one day when she came into his room and found him crying. She stayed with him longer than she should have that afternoon, just because she couldn't bear the idea of leaving him so upset. She didn't get in trouble for that, but she stressed out about it quite a lot. As for Reid, he really didn't like Fiona at first, and it took him a while to warm up to her even a little. It was her genuine compassion and her gift for dispensing 'tough love', not just for him, but for everyone that eventually won him over.

Reid and Fiona are actually my favourite among my OC couples. Of all my OC pairs, I feel like they complete each other the most. They're far from perfect; they argue and they make mistakes and they're sometimes awkward. They're both flawed and they both consider themselves damaged in one way or another, but each one of them gives strength where the other one is weak. They're not romantic or idealistic in any way, yet they love each other fiercely and deeply, and that's obvious to everyone around them.

 

@SapphireStargazer now you've done the impossible and made me love Reid even more. I'd subscribe to that channel in a heartbeat!
(Unrelated non-native speaker q, what's POC? )

 

I'm glad Reid has such a fan! lol if Reid's channel was real, I think I would subscribe to it as well, honestly.
POC is "Person of Colour" (i.e. a non-white person)

 

@SapphireStargazer *waves to fellow Canuck*. Most of the modern world stories I write take place in southern Ontario because it's where I live and am familiar with it. I'm glad the uber brief descriptions was fun.

On the disabled front, I think the best compliment I got was about Quin's character. Someone said that they forgot Quin was blind several times while reading because he was just a normal guy doing normal things and wasn't waiting around for others to help him do everyday stuff. He also gets rightly annoyed when Ryzel tries to do things for him in the beginning and irritated when his disability prevents him from just doing something. His blindness is just a facet of his character and he's not pissy because of that. He'd have been pissy if he was sighted. Ryzel thinks that's charming *snorts*.

I have 2 others with disabilities (1 in this world and the other in my ZA world). Dorren (BMS world) is profoundly deaf due to getting caught in a terrorist bombing that ruptured his ear drums. He was buried in the rubble for several days before he was rescued and developed keltoid scarring so the chance of him ever regaining his hearing are slim to none. He's working through the change that his life has taken but it's only been 6 months so he's still got issues (and nightmares of his time trapped in the rubble as someone else was with him but died hours after the explosion, so he spent days with a rotting corpse in 100F+ heat).

Konrad (ZA world) suffered a TIA which left him with weakness on his left side, CPSP in his left leg and prosopamnesia. He walks with a cane (he loves that his husband, Jase, bought him a totally kick-ass cool one even if he hates needing to use it) and had a hard time coming to terms with needing to retire from his job as a helicopter mechanic in the Canadian military because he couldn't do his job anymore due to the weakness. Jase is still a helicopter pilot in the military when the ZA happens. Konrad is dead easy for me to write as the problems he has, so do I (although I acquired mine through 2 TIA's instead of just one). I did get slightly annoyed with one review that said I hadn't done my homework on TIA's because that sort of permanent problem didn't happen from what they'd looked up on the web. Uhhh, yeah, it does. Doctors just won't tell you that so as not to scare you *snorts*. Living proof right here and there are discussion groups for us TIA people with on-going issues. I've had prosopamnesia for 31 years, CPSP and mild weakness on my left side for 13 years. A miracle could happen and those things could vanish (and I'd dance for joy!) but I'm hedging towards the "permanent condition" label given the time frame involved.

But I digress.

Favourite character... That's a tough one. I love them all for different reasons. However, Moswen does seem to pop up in so, so many of the Dream Time stories, I suppose he could be my favourite character of all. He's got seriously messed up karma. Often what seems hellaciously bad often works out amazing in the end. It's just getting from beginning to end that is a trial and a half. His chaos effect also tends to rub off on those closest to him as well. Moswen never means for things to happen the way they do. It just does. It's probably not helped that he's also part of an elite military class, Shal-hazal, that are born to travel the Dream World.

One of the best examples of Moswen's chaos effect is right at the beginning of Balancing Karma. He sneaks into a top secret lab to play around with the cool stuff there (Moswen is eternally curious and an actual genius, a dangerous combo). Moswen's sister, Mahira, and her team were guarding it but she didn't know he snuck in. While there, he's discovered by team members who snuck away to get a little action. They thought he was allowed to be there and offered to let him join in the fun if he kept his mouth shut. He agreed because he WASN'T supposed to be there and hey, group sex! Things happened and Moswen kinda blew the lab up. He ran because his sister was going to kill him (or at least hurt him very badly). In running, he found Kijika, the love of his life and father of his children. He also unintentionally helped his half brother, Tyhlian, work things out with the love of his life, Dakvir. And through bringing Tyh and Dak together, foiled a plot to kill off all the Shal-hazal Litches, and helped set the wheels in motion to rescue an entire sub-species of Laiokian called Teichle. And with the Teichle coming to Awh'an, the Litches can be saved from the necessity of being killed when they become too mentally unstable from all the minds they absorb as part of their job as a Litch.

But wait, there's more (no, really, there is)! One of the soldiers on Mahira's team was Sjvone. Sjvone was a friend to and sometimes partner to Moswen's brood-mates, Makis and Mered. 4 years after the lab explosion, Svjone is in an animal attack and finds out she's pregnant. The injuries she suffers are eventually fatal but the babies, Namir and Nusair are delivered safely. They are Makis and Mered's girls (each fathers one, which is unusual for the Sub-tropical Awh'anise). Before Makis and Mered find out about their sudden fatherhood, they're rescued while in the Awh'anise desert by Kushaiah, an Equatorial Awh'anise, who happens to be in the right place at the right time to save their tails from certain death by a giant worm with teeth and mouth tentacles.

And all that is just from the chain of events from one little desire to play around with some really cool chemicals in a lab he'd been denied access to (through normal means). That story also spans 2 HUGE novels; Balancing Karma (a free read), Dreaming Of The Void (posted to a pay site) and Some Velvet Morning (posted to a pay site).

 

I Reid. He's my favorite ginger foul-mouthed knitter.

And, to avoid adding to the current rant except to say that neurotypical authors writing neurodiverse characters is one of my gigantic pet peeves, I'll share the oldest of my characters, who started out years ago in American Girl doll form and "grew up" into BJDs.

Audrey and Zoe are twin sisters with a somewhat one-sidedly contentious relationship. Both of them are on the Autism spectrum, with Audrey being somewhat (argh I hate this phrasing but I can't find a better way to parse it) "lower functioning" than Zoe. In a determination to mark herself as better than her sister, Zoe sometimes tries *too* hard to come across as "normal" which does cause her to act in distinctly inappropriate ways, notably in a lack of empathy toward Audrey and with a frequently short temper that stems from a great deal of pent-up frustration and anxiety. Audrey knows that her sister doesn't particularly like her or want to spend time around her, and suspects that it might be that Zoe sees too much of the parts of herself that she wants to hide reflected in Audrey.

The twins do have some marked differences in appearance, mainly due to Zoe's insistence on being the polar opposite of Audrey. Zoe is more athletic and spends a great deal of time out of doors, while Audrey is very content to stay inside and read or watch TV. Because of texture sensitivities, Audrey wears her hair short, where Zoe keeps hers as long as it will get, though she frequently wears it in tight braids to keep stray hairs from tickling her face or neck. Both girls have a preference for comfortable clothing, though Audrey will actively avoid anything with buttons or zippers, and she has a fascination for high-heeled and platform shoes. (She enjoys the sensation of wearing high-heels as opposed to flats.) While Zoe tries very hard--and fails-- to avoid wearing a predominant color palette (she loves garnet), Audrey gravitates towards hot pinks and dark purples.

Both girls are organizers to the utmost degree, with Zoe working as a hostess at the local college's favorite bar and grill and Audrey working in a second-hand bookshop. They both knit, mainly to have a socially acceptable "fidget" on hand, and Zoe also crochets because she has a deep and abiding love for amigurumi, particularly for cute food. Both of them love languages, particularly well-developed fantasy languages, though Zoe pretends that she doesn't speak fluent Klingon or can read Tolkien Elvish. They do not room together on campus, and have different courses of study that keep them from crossing the other's path too frequently, though Zoe does find herself double-checking on Audrey with regularity. Audrey doesn't mind, because she deeply and truly believes that Zoe will outgrow her need to prove how independent and different she is from her twin.

Both Audrey and Zoe are in relationships. Zoe's boyfriend Rei is completely devoted to her, despite her temper and highly-strung nerves. Audrey is in a highly casual, primarily physical, arrangement with Nadir, which does cause Zoe some genuine concern.


Right. That was bit rambly. ^^; Sorry!!

 

@Iron_Dog indeed it was fun. I love how complex your worlds and plots are, and how many characters you've got. I also love to indulge that way, and I've spent so much time worldbuilding for Two Worlds (in which there are actually six worlds lol) that it feels almost like it should exist out there somewhere, you know? Most of my stuff is set in Atlantic Canada, which is where I live and the place I'm most familiar with, too. Even the Earth parts of Two Worlds are mainly set in Nova Scotia.

That's a great compliment to have gotten for Quin! I've gotten similar comments about Tyler, which is really the highest of praise in my opinion. When your disabled character is just a regular person to the reader, you're doing it right as far as I'm concerned. My favourite comment that I've gotten about a number of my characters is how real people believe they are. I feel like I'm succeeding when people say they could actually believe my OC could be a living person.

omg that 'lack of research' thing kills me, especially considering it's also your lived experience. Sometimes people are really quick to assume they're right, especially if the internet was their main source of information. I can also relate to the 'lack of research' accusation, as I've been told that about both Tyler and Reid, too. Now, I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of Reid's particular disability isn't first-hand; I did loads of research and even talked to real life wheelchair users, but I have to concede that I don't have the lived experience of a wheelchair user. But...I do have lived experience as a blind person...40 years of it, in fact. I also have a number of blind family members and friends, so that's not a foreign subject to me. Having somebody tell me that Tyler was unrealistic in the things he does (i.e. horseback riding, camping, going to university, becoming a lawyer, parenting his daughters) and that I didn't understand blindness kind just left me sitting at my computer with my mouth hanging open. As a real-life blind person who LOVES outdoor activities such as camping, and who went to university and became a lawyer, I was marginally insulted by that allegation, but mostly just flabbergasted at the person's ignorance.

Tyler and Reid aren't my only disabled characters, either. Tyler and Sini's younger daughter Kiva is also blind, and Tyler has a blind friend named Garrett.

Also from Two Worlds, I have Jex Azmi (one of the Erisans) who was born profoundly deaf. Jex is also a telepath which, on his world, is far more of a disability for him than his profound deafness, as his telepathy means he was automatically exiled from mainstream Erisan society. His hearing loss makes him just like approximately 17% of the population of his world. In fact, hearing loss is so common on Eris that Erisani Common Sign is the planet's second official language. Erisan culture doesn't view congenital disabilities as "disabilities" so much as it views them as variations. The only true disabilities for Erisans are the ones acquired later in life, not the ones people happen to be born with.

Noé Perreault, from Descent, lives with depression and anxiety. Some people may not consider it a disability, but it certainly can be disabling for Noé at times.

Wyatt Anderson, also from Descent is living with schizophrenia. Wyat is a clairvoyant, but nobody believes him because they just think it's part of his paranoid delusions. He's also struggled with addiction issues and homelessness, and is no stranger to the stigma of living with addiction and with mental illness.

hmm... as for favourites, you know I'm gonna say Tyler, right? I could seriously write a whole essay on why Tyler is my favourite. Reid, Aubrey, Noé, Jex and Fiona are all very important to me as well, though, each for their own reasons, and I could probably write an essay on each one of them, too.

ETA//
@Osaka I think we were posting at the same time. Thanks so much...it makes me super happy that so many people like Reid so much

Audrey and Zoe sound like great characters too. I have an endless fascination with the relationships between twins. A friend of mine describes herself as having "low support requirements" in relation to her Autism, instead of being "high functioning". I suppose the inverse of that would be having "high support requirements" if the person is not high functioning. I really like the connotations of "low support requirements" actually, not just in relation to people with Autism, but in relation to any disability.

 

While I am not deaf and have only passing acquaintances with people who are deaf, I still intend to write Dorren as just a regular guy who is trying to cope with what is a life changing accident for him because that's the way I see things. Before he became deaf, he was actually an interpreter for the deaf. So he has experience with the hearing impaired but its a different kettle of fish when you're suddenly one of them yourself.

I find that I swing from favourites to write as the Muse takes me. I've been writing my Awh'anise constantly (I'm under contract for 1 chapter a month) for... 6 years now so they're always on my mind in some way. But I've also been spending a lot of head space recently in my Divinity world and they're also a ton of fun to play with because gods. I had a real bug in my brain over Ra-Sui (God of Decay & Guardian of Souls), likely because I'd just gotten his head (SD Azriel skull) about 3 weeks ago. He's like this ultra patient, serene guy who's very caring for the souls in his realm. I didn't know who he was with as far as the finer details went but once I started writing... yeah. Wisp happened and he's going to be a trial (in a good way) because he's stubborn and has very set ideas and he's quite bossy despite being a little wisp of a thing (hence his name). He's even straight up told Ra-Sui that they will be lovers and that he (Wisp) is going to be the one large and in charge, which both amused and pleased Ra-Sui.

 

Omg I love this thread! I'm so impressed with how creative everyone is!

All of my current dolls are in the same universe but don't necessarily have lives that intersect. In my universe the Supernatural is real and creatures regularly cross over into the fae realms. It's modern day, though, so it's magical realism. The dolls on my wish list fit into this world too. I have the heir to the elf kingdom, a 17-year-old mage, and a quartet of Japanese school girls all sharing my world! All of my characters were built around the sculpt though.

I have a huge cast of OC's that I've started to think about shelling. One is The Gryphon, a magically altered human girl who was rescued by a benevolent mage. She'd been purchased and altered by the devotees of the Cat Goddess, who had given her cat ears, a tail, and claws, as well as big floppy angel wings. The mage couldn't reverse all of the things done to her, but he could make her altered parts work, like building muscles and bones so she can fly and correcting her eyes so she could see. All of the magic she'd lived through had bleached her, so she's nearly white, with very pale skin, white hair, and white feathers. She's mute, probably the reason she'd been sold. I have a really detailed plot for her. I'd like to shell her as an Angell-Studio Gabriel in white skin. I should shell her eventual love interest, I hadn't thought about that! Dang it, time to look for a male sculpt...

 

@SapphireStargazer Oh man, I would definitely watch Reid's knitting channel... I'm not even a knitter!

(and oof, yeah... I could also probably rant about how disability/chronic illness is portrayed in popular media all day...)


Currently wishing I could do more actual story-writing with... any of my original characters. The lure of fanfic's got me, I have a hundred plots for other people's characters and a hundred characters that don't fit into a plot... and my original horror novella's been stuck at a stand-still for ages now, but I'll share about the characters a little and see if that jump-starts anything. (it always seems like I have the beginning and the end of a story and no middle to tie it together in a satisfying manner!)


Charlie- Charlie's name is a placeholder stolen from the main character of another story, actually. I don't want them to both be Charlies since these are the two things I have going on that feel the most completable and salable... But for now he's also Charlie. He's a scrawny small-town pre-teen with big glasses. Charlie is in a place where he's just really questioning everything about himself. His sexuality, but also his place in the world. He's surrounded by kids who are eager to grow up and he just wants to be a kid a little bit longer. He's got some general anxiety, OCD that at present is well-managed and doesn't interfere with his life, because there's not much for it to interfere with yet... His pervasive thoughts are usually of the 'what if (X disaster) happens?', but sometimes he just gets stuck on a random thought. Having had the same brain his whole life, he knows how to deal with himself when it happens, but if it's bad and he can't easily get his head in order, it's not like he has all that much going on for it to mess with. He likes people a lot, but feels awkward around anyone he doesn't really know, so it takes time for him to put himself out there-- living in a small town, luckily, he pretty much knows everyone already, which puts him far more at ease. Despite initially being far more scared of everything, really winds up finding his inner reserves of courage

Rhys- Also kind of a placeholder name, because I'm just not sure I like it for him? So much about these kids is set in stone but I keep second-guessing every name I try on them. Where Charlie is a scrawny late bloomer with giant coke-bottle lenses, Rhys has already really grown into himself, physically. However, despite looking like he could easily be the big man on the middle school campus, he's fairly introverted. He's not timid-- he just would rather be out in the woods around his grandparents' cabin than anywhere else in the world, and he'd rather be out there with either his grandfather or his best friend, and nobody else is required. He's fearless in terms of spending the night (or more) in the woods, less fearless when it comes to talking to girls, and initially super fearless about dragging Charlie out to the haunted cabin he believes is the Witch House of local legend.

Their story is heavily inspired by... well, growing up in the woods where there were old cabins in various states of returning to nature kind of all over. If you hiked out long enough, you'd find signs of people who had once been there, and you'd also find a lot of places that just felt weird for reasons you couldn't put your finger on. There's a little bit of my childhood self in both of them. I just really need names I'm HAPPY with, and to bridge the beginning and the ending.

 

Names are super important to me and if I don't have the name right, it'll actually prevent me from writing a story even if I know exactly what's going to happen at every step of the way. I've had 2 dolls /characters confound me with their names and I was getting very frustrated with them to the point where I started to wonder if I'd made a mistake in my purchase (they were both impulse buys). One, Darius, turned out to simply be a character that rarely spoke. He can speak just fine. He just chooses not to say anything unless he has something to say. The other one, Dashiell, was just difficult to name for some reason. I think I have his name nailed down now but it's taken me 2 years to do that, which was highly annoying to me.

I don't know if it's any help to you on settling on names, but I like the this site for names: 20000-NAMES.COM: 20,000+ Names from Around the World--baby names, pet, pets, sim, story character, meaning, origin, etymology, etymologies, meanings, origins And if nothing there tweaks me, I'll write down the characteristics of the one needing a name and start moving letters around until I get something that clicks.

 

@Anneko - thanks! haha I feel like a lot of non-knitters would watch it, just for the entertainment value (or to count how many times he drops the f-bomb during each video lol)

I absolutely love your concept for Charlie and Rhys. The place you described sounds a lot like the area where I spent a large part of my childhood, complete with the woods and the abandoned houses and buildings in various states of decay. There was an old dirt road out past our place that we called "Spook Road" because we were sure the old house at the end of it was haunted. My brother and I had a camp in the woods that was kind of like our secret base, and there were many summer nights when we slept either there or in a tent at the beach. We were less than a minute's walk from the ocean.

Honestly, I think some of the best stories are inspired by the growing-up experiences of the author. I absolutely enjoy stories where it's obvious the person is writing fiction strongly inspired by their own past, because it always has that ring of credibility, that truth, about it that I sometimes don't sense quite as much in other fiction (particularly YA fiction).

As for name resources, I also like Behind The Name. There's also a Behind The Name site for surnames, if you're ever looking for variety in family names for your characters. You might also find this article helpful.

@Iron_Dog - Names are really important to me as well. I actually don't think I could create a character if I didn't choose their name first before anything else. I've just...always done it that way. Character creation is one of my favourite things, and I find it relatively easy. That's not to say that there isn't thought or work involved, just that it's something I've always liked and have been really good at doing.

Also, for me, what characters call themselves and what other characters call them, and how they feel about it is just as important as the character's actual name. Tyler and Michael, for instance, both despise nicknames. You will never hear anyone call them 'Ty' and 'Mike' or any non-name-derived nicknames either, because they put their foot down immediately anyone tries it. Reid, on the other hand, gets called 'Reidy' by his mother and grandmother, 'Red' by his army buddies (this was due to a typographical error on some paperwork, not due to his ginger hair), and 'sweet pea' by his wife, all of which he accepts readily. Scarlett Collins, from Descent, is actually using her middle name; her actual given name is Diana Scarlett Collins. Xander, from Two Worlds, is using a derivative of his middle name, too. He's Perseus Alexander Smith. Xander's sisters, Rommie and Cassie, are actually Andromeda and Cassiopeia. Rommie is Michael's wife. He calls her Andromeda, and she lets him, but she cringes when most people use her entire name.

I also have characters who have chosen their own names within he context of their stories. Zerachiel (Descent) chose the names of both its human personae. Sky Morningstar (Descent) also chose his own name; the one he was born with was Scott Ivan Morganstern jr.

 

Yeah, some characters have nick names and some... don't you dare. Some names are just not made to be shortened. Moswen's name is never shortened to anything and doesn't lend itself to shortening. Kijika, well, Moswen is the only one allowed to shorten his name to Ki. That irritates Kijika's mother, Olanthe, to no end but Moswen argues that since Kijika doesn't mind, then he can do it. He'll also call Kijika shal-demsho (dream lover) or ha'keno (heart beat), which Kijika likes. He particularly like it when Moswen uses ha'keno as it's a shortening of the Awh'anise phrase "you make my heart beat" meaning that the person it's said to gives meaning and life to the one saying it.

Tyhlian on the other hand is frequently called Tyh and Dakvir is usually called Dak. Sleet chose his name after Fei-Lau changed him into his minion. His given name, which he loathed, was Spring Rain. Ryzel's full first name is Ryzelmei, but only those very close to him call him that, or even know what it is really, as he's a demon and knowing a demon's True Name, even part of it, gives you a measure of power over it. Ryzel always refers to Quin as Quinlin, as do all the other demons that cross his path.

Aischylos could probably stand to have his name shortened but he's pretty much surrounded by demons or demon crossbreeds so it never comes up (demons always use full names if they know them even if the person isn't a demon and the True Name thing doesn't apply). Jolen has an obvious nick name (Jo) but he's never called anything but Jolen and might end up slightly offended if somebody tried it. Prasiolite and Rhodolite chose their names, but they're also dragons and dragons name themselves. They do shorten their names to Sio and Rho but only between them, Saraf and Edenlei.

 

@Iron_Dog ahahaha your "ha'keno" phrase reminds me of my Erisan phrase 'the other half of my soul'. It's a special term of endearment used only in the context of a partnership bond (analogous to marriage), and essentially means that the partners complete each other. It's not used in every partnership bond though, and even if it is, it's not necessarily used for all three of the partners. lol yeah...the typical Erisan marriage contains three partners Fun fact: Tyler is the first non-Erisan to ever have the phrase applied to him.

As for my other characters' nicknames, now that I think about it, many of them don't actually have nicknames or shortened names. Maybe that's due in part to the fact that I personally don't like nicknames or shortened names all that much (for me) in real life.

 

For the Awh'anise there are different levels of commitment available depending on what each person feels comfortable with. The highest honour is someone declaring themselves shu'anad (braid partner) to someone. In this, they braid two, finger-width sections of hair at their left temple signifying them and their partner. If there are children of the union, the number of braids on the right side will correspond to the number of children they have with that person. It also doesn't have to be a mutual thing. One person can declare themself shu'anad to someone and that person doesn't have to do the same if they don't want to (or aren't ready to). It's also not acceptable to declare ones self shu'anad to someone without that person's permission. Shu'anad is also a very permanent thing for the Awh'anise. Death is the only way to dissolve the relationship.

For the Shal-hazal (and only Shal-hazal), they have something that's an even deeper connection although it is a rare occurrence. They have a Lor'fei (soul on fire for the beloved; Awh'anise is a partially polysynthetic language). A Shal-hazal will "hear" their Lor'fei calling them (usually in dreams). It can take months to track the dreamer down, but once they find them, the Shal-hazal will not leave the individual alone and will become extremely territorial, protective and aggressive to anyone who gets what they feel is too close to their Lor'fei. Once they pair is intimate (because everything with the Awh'anise comes down to sex), the bond is set. Their heat beats will synchronize (as will their breathing if they're close together). When the Lor'fei draws their last breath, so does the Shal-hazal. However, the Lor'fei can outlive their Shal-hazal but many choose not to because the connection is so deep.

A Lor'fei pair will also share a set of identical marks on their bodies. They can be born with them or acquire them later in life and they aren't necessarily in the same place on the body, but the marks will be identical. Tyh and Dak are Lor'fei. Dak has a 4-pointed white mark on his lower left back while Tyh has the same mark in black on his inner left thigh. Moswen, being Moswen, has tiger-striping over his entire body (he's a Throw-back, a rare, genetic anomaly). Kijika has what's best described as Blaschko's lines on his body that are only visible under the light of the triple full moons of his home planet. His Blaschko lines match exactly the stripes on Moswen.