Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

#11300001333 12/26/2005 19:36:42 Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Rarebit made an excellent suggestion for a good topic, so I'm acting on
that source of feedback and making something I haven't seen here yet.

Your character in the Matrix. What inspired you to make them as they
were? Movies, books, role models, music...? It can't just be 'b cuz i
wont 2 b teh one lollolol'!

Share your inner eye...

My character Sykin is somewhat of a spinner of events. He was a writer
in his past life and is kind of like a writer of events for the current
Matrix. He likes to craft the destinies of certain things; important
things. Throughout his existance in the Matrix he knows for himself
that there is an absolute Truth somewhere that must be found. He
retains a stone face most of the time and can be considered as a
distant old man of many tricks and stories.

My inspiration for Sykin comes directly from a novel I'm writing;
there's a character named Sykin in it who is the guide and guardian of
a young man whose destiny entails great things in the world of the four
Realms. I don't want to give away too much about my novel, but I think
Sykin fits a sort of profile for a dark, brooding type of Gandalf the
Grey in a sense that he is not human and he knows many things and leads
the main group of characters in the quest as it were.

Sykin in the Matrix also shares my interest in Clint Eastwood's The Man
With No Name and continuously makes certain gestures and comments that
mirror the spaghetti western hero.

So you can see it's mostly characters from other forms of fiction that
I tend to draw my ideas from. There's plenty more, like Snake Plissken
from Escape From New York, or the Shadow (The coolest super hero ever).

As for movies and books that inspire me in general, well, those would
have to be Memento, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, The
Good the Bad and the Ugly, 12 Monkeys, Escape From New York, The Life
Aquatic, Stephen King's Dark Tower novels, Big Fish (Come on, this Tim
Burton movie is just too cool), Isaac Asimov's short story named Cal (A
robot that wants to be a writer so badly he'd kill for it... How wicked
slick is that?), The Last Samurai, Die Hard, many poems by T.S. Eliot,
many poems by W.B. Yeats, and First Blood.

#11300001334 12/27/2005 01:08:35 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Well, the main inspiration for Ryumanjisen is myself. In fact, Ryu is an hiperbolic exaggeration of my personality. He´s the answer to the question "How will react if you find that your world is a lie?"...but that doesn´t necesarily mean he doesn´t have another influences.

In no particular order and to list a few: Lone Wolf and Cub, The Seven Samurai, Matt Wagner´s Mage, Versus, Street Fighter, Hellblazer, Vagabond and probably a lot, lot more. An interesting and eclectic mixture, I know.

P.D: In fact, Big Fish is the best movie made by Burton, in my opinion.

#11300001336 12/27/2005 08:07:07 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Being how there are maybe... 7 people on vector that RP..

My character really has no backstory or anything..

but...

Back in the summer of 04 my original character idea was a guy named "Sojourner" who wore a robe and a satanic bible and searched throughout the city for no reason. MUWAHAHAHA.

#11300001337 12/27/2005 08:11:31 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

*applause* Bravo, Sykin! It's great you've started this thread so ppl can finally explain why in bleeding heaven they chose one thing and not the other, without launching into a 300-page fan-fiction character background masterpiece. SMILEY

Inspiration for Hymenoptera would be of course the Matrix series, as unoriginal as it may sound. I try to come up with something that has "Matrix" written all over it when creating all of my characters for MxO, i.e. one word, CORRECTLY SPELLED, that has a meaning and reflects the character's personality/purpose. Not an easy thing to do, not at all. SMILEY

So, Hymenoptera, the little things that sting. Very self-explanatory. Something sharp, stinging, potentially deadly yet evasive at the same time, just like those little hornets. It's sort of a cheerier Marvin, smarter Zaphod and wilier Ford all put together. Douglas Adams definitely a strong inspiration for this type of wiseass character. Also, of course Crowley & Aziraphale, the cheery Vipers, with Cottonmouth in particular, Tolkien, Count Olaf, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde spiced up with some Poe. Quotes are a must-have for this one.

In the Matrix the closest personality would be Alexa from the "Matriculated" or even Niobe, if any of them actually had sense of humor. SMILEY

My favorite series, rivaled only by the "Dune" books and the "Ender's Game" series, continue to inspire.

Here's why in a nutshell (real in-game dialogue):

Hymenoptera: "Huh... Dead... 's what I get for AFK lol"

Toaster X: "If you had given me one reason, I would've let you live."

Hymenoptera: "Well, I probably still wouldn't have given you one on principle, but at least I would've had a witty comeback."

#11300001338 12/27/2005 08:29:28 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Almost all of my character development and roleplaying was and as impromptu, on-the-fly stuff - and while it might show smatterings of various influences - none of them are deliberate!

If anything, it began as an extension of myself and what I beleived I would do given the situation my character was in, in terms of my faction (which was, at the time, supposedly an information-trafficking business), and with the server merge just having took place, I followed a route that allowed me to sit back, listen to convos and learn the characters - because IC, thats exactly what I was doing - researching the new additions to my world.

I was lucky enough to actually have laid some RP backstory prior to the server merge, and long before I was a roleplayer - simply for use in a player event I organised. After digging that up, I settled on a concept that would shape the rest of my character development - which was simply "what happens when an ordinary mind is exposed to an extraordinary world?" - in that my character should never have been given the redpill as his mind did not have the capacity to handle the true reality. Following that, I just focused on really dissecting the inner workings of his psyche and exploring as many facets of his gradually decreasing sanity as I could.

The only real influence that I know to have crossed paths with my character is, embarrassingly, Buffy The Vampire Slayer ... :smileyindifferent: However, I had developed that specific side of my character before I realised something similar had taken place in Buffy, and only learned of that when I let my fiancee read my RP stories.

#11300001340 12/27/2005 09:03:48 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Zampano:

The name was taken from House of Leaves by M.Z. Daneilewski. Its a twisted and riddled book that has, at its centre, a house with a doorway leading to a dark and infinite labyrinth. The book is a reflection of academic works and it's complexity is satirical of the use of references within some scholars work. But it's a hard book to explain. You're better off reading it and trting to understand it's importance yourself. The Character Zampano in HoL is a blind old man, but little is known of him.

MxO Zampano is blind but his blindness is not a weakness. His "blindSight" has many influences but was not thought of as a result of any. It could be linked to Daredevil (the actual comics, not the terrible film) or to a number of japanese/manga films. The blind warrior is prevalent in many of these.

Zamp is also a scientist and a scholar. These things about him developed throughout the game, while involved with the Oriens Veritas. He is a scientist that seeks answers through his research, always for the greater good. The greater good gets him in trouble sometimes though. I guess his scientific nature is based upon the classic comic books. The greatest superheros are always smart (spiderman in the comic was a gifted scientist, Bruce Wayne had a passion for research and furthering knowledge).

#11300001341 12/27/2005 11:33:37 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

My "Rarebit" character's name was inspired by Winsor McCay's "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend." I'm not sure where her punk-girl look and tendency to dance in the street by n00b hardlines while whispering vague profundities came from--my inner Cindi Lauper?

My other character was inspired by Bubba Smith's officer Moses Hightower in the "Police Academy" movie series, and by cheesy '80s crime movies in general.

#11300001342 12/27/2005 12:13:27 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Hehe, hmmm, trying to remember the inspiration for CheshireCat... ::grins::

Well I'm a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and I wanted to play with
the wonderland elements of the Matrix, so I made a character that
embodied the traits that the real Cheshire Cat has. It is clear
that she is a good person, but she is incapable of picking one side
over the other consistently in the conflict. She is knowledgeble
about the matrix and can often act as a guide of sorts. She is
inconstant and vanishes without warning. She is extremely
friendly but mischevious. Like in the croquet match in the
castle, Cat often seems to float above the danger and she is a constant
fixture in the matrix. Like all wonderland creatures she is
dangerous and does not stand for being trifled with.

For the character herself I wanted someone who had been around for a
while. She has been a redpill for about eleven years now, and
she's just about seen it all. She is human but has many exile
like traits and sympathizes with them more then her own species most of
the time. I wanted her to be independant from Zion and a bit of a
hermit, so I gave her a base by the seaside.

I also dipped into fairy tales in a lot of her creation. She was
born a changling, meaning a human child stolen by Exile parents, hehe,
simply replacing Fairies with Exiles in this case. She is the
almost leader of a group called Knights that hopefully will get its act
together once I'm around more. She occasionally tells folk tales,
either of the Matrix, or else just ones from her childhood.

She has many cat like traits, as befits her name. She says Meow
whenever it pleases her. She purrs, hisses, and sniffs at
things. Her nails are long and sharp and she carries a butterfly
knife. Despite being fully human she has bitten people in the
past, and drunk blood on more then one occasion.

Other inspirations would be the main character from the Japanese movie
Pistol Opera. The character there is called Stray Cat, and I
always imagined that Cheshire has the same sort of movements she
does. Hmm, a little Battle Angel Alita, a little Catwoman,
classic cyberpunk like Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Philip K. D!ck, (stupid censoring thing doesn't like that name) and
a
little ditzy generic anime catgirl all thrown into the mix.
Hehe. Anything not accounted for in this long rambling post is
probably just my personality shining through. ::grins::

~ CheshireCat

Message Edited by -CheshireCat on 12-27-2005 12:20 PM

#11300001343 12/27/2005 13:51:26 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

PORPHYRION was the King of the GIGANTES who, in their war against the gods, was inflamed with desire for the goddess Hera. When he attempted to *CENSORED* her Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt and Herakles with an arrow.

#11300001344 12/27/2005 14:06:18 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

The main influence over TekMon should be my graphic card... Really! I had a low spec NVidia when I enrolled at Beta and later at the beginning of live. I thought that the features selection was limited, because I didn't noticed any change over hair colors or tattoos.
When I changed the video card, I discovered the green hair and the whole body tattoo. From there, being a Merovingian wasn't hard as my soft spot for Persephone weighted heavy at the balance.
After that, I should say that other sources of influence are the books 'Neuromancer' and 'More than human'. For movies I must go for 'Nirvana' and, of course' 'The Matrix'

TekMon, The New Order

#11300001345 12/27/2005 14:38:33 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Hmm. Interesting.

The character of Sarah Connor in Terminator and Terminator 2 is a big influence for Skyscream. Sure, I'm still not happy that Cameron stole the story from Harlan Ellison but that was settled in court long ago. The character is still a good one. She starts out as normal as can be and is thrust headlong into an impossible situation. Her resulting obssesion and near insanty from the situation is something I draw on regularly.

--------------------------------------------------------

Elsie "Queen of the Hurricanes" Macgill is a big influence on the character of Skyscream as well. She was first woman in the world to design an airplane.

Here is the wikipedia entry on her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_MacGill

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And Joan of Arc. Not the fictional romanticized version of a mighty warrior but the real Joan of Arc. She was a master tactician that happened to be a teenage woman. She was not a mighty warrior princess. Joan was also kinda odd with an uncompromising fantical religious view of the world which got her into a bit of trouble shall we say. But without a doubt she could command an army and win. Very hard life that girl had.

------------------------------------------------------

Those are the main influences for the character of Skyscream.

#11300001346 12/27/2005 14:39:26 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Phrack's RSI design was more or less inspired by my own appearance, in the real. Shaved head, about the same build, the only thing that doesn't follow suit is that Phrack's of Asian heritage, whereas I'm Texan.

The Asian heritage of my character comes from a sincere appreciation for Ghost's character in the movies.

#11300001348 12/27/2005 18:23:40 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Very cool, everyone. 5 stars all around. I enjoyed reading them and can't wait to read more!

Message Edited by Sykin on 12-27-2005 06:26 PM

#11300001349 12/27/2005 20:06:46 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

My character has a very large story, which I plan to try to actually make and post, but the minor details that won't likely be going into the story I'll share here.

The first aspect I always put important focus on is choosing a name. I wanted to go with Darkness Flame here, and I always translate my names to Japonese (though I don't know the language but I do have a minor vocabulary to go with), so the closest I could get was Dark Fire, Kurai Kaji.

This was decided before I even preordered the game. I eventually went to my friends asking what name they'd likely be going with (it had been decided that they too were going to eventually get the game). I gave him a large variety of words to choose from that I could translate, and he chose Black Fire, Kuro Kaji.

After hearing this, several ideas were going through my head seeing as we were planning to form a crew and our names were fairly similar. So I told my last friend who hadn't thought of a name yet to choose a word to go before fire, in the dark range (as Darkness and Black both were) or also short and began with K.

So he chose Kuru to go with the Ks, so Kuru Kaji, Cool Fire (not the temperature cool).

**Next two paragraphs are a bit obsolete...**

Next I was working on other details about us forming a crew (still all before even preordering it). The name was to be along Fire Team, and the best I could come up with in the end was Fire Death Team, Kaji Shi Chimu. (Just some minor sidenote I noticed: I was the leader with a five-letter, name beginning in Kur. Kuro was to be my First Mate, name began in Kur, four-lettered name. Kuru was to be next in line, name was initially Koro, a typo, which wasn't in Kur, another four-lettered subordinate.) We were going to be a band of Mercenaries. Knowing that organization alignment was required, we were going to go with Merovingian, being the most 'in-the-middle' but still go to the highest bidder. Back when the first imformation was released about Soldier, Spy, and Hacker being the main paths for people to take, I was going to be the Soldier, KuroKaji was going to be a Spy, and KuruKaji was going to take Hacker.

Before knowing details about combat, weapons, clothing, etc., we designed our characters already (I was the only one with it actually drawn). My melee weapon chosen would be twin katanas, ranged weapon would be twin handguns, martial arts would be Kung Fu, abilities would be well rounded out. My character's current clothing and hair style are almost identical to what I sketched. KuroKaji's melee weapon ...I forgot..., ranged weapon would be an AK assault rifle, martial arts would be Akido, abilities would be focused around assassinating, and clothing would be very dark, in the purple range by request of KuraiKaji. KuruKaji's Melee weapon ...I forgot as well..., ranged weapon would be a sniper rifle, martial arts wasn't factored in, abilities would be focused around gunfire, and clothing would be red.

**

So that explains some stuff about KuraiKaji, why the purple eye and hair, and red eye and jacket. And yeah, many facts contradict each other due to the development of MxO.

This was all eventually scratched when they purchased Xboxes for the sake of Halo. It was still fun though. But the only part about that that upsets me is my bio speaks about the Kaji Shi Chimu. I don't know what it says plus the fact I can't change it to something appropriate.

So I've created a new background to KuraiKaji that still explains everything about him and that'll be made into its own story (...if only I could change my bio).

As for the Past of KuraiKaji, when he was a Bluepill, that reflects my plans for the future. But that will be in the menioned story.

*Oh, there was also a KaraiKaji...* But I'm done with explaning.

#11300001353 12/28/2005 20:13:17 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

These threads are wonderful ways to really see how people think. Thanks Sykin for creating it. On a side note, I see why you were attacking critics in another thread! You're a writer! Best of luck on something that is quite the undertaking!

As far as my name, the main influence was actually the Philosophy section on whatisthematrix.com. I read an article titled "Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in the Matrix" by Frances Flannerly-Daily and Rachel Wagner. I then started reading about gnosticism in general, and learned of the Nag Hammadi library. After reading the Gospels and teachings in the Library, I started reading on the subject. I read a couple of books by an historian named Elaine Pagels (wonderful writer), and came across the concept of apolutrosis. It is a Greek word for "redemption", but is also the name of the ritual where an individual undergoes a second baptism, an event that occurs when an individual achieves gnosis, or spiritual enlightenment. When I was thinking about a handle, I was trying to imagine what I would call myself if I had truly been "Awakened" like people are in the movies. I decided that the concept of "awakening" would be a digital enlightenment of sorts, on par with the spirtual awkening achieved in apolutrosis. Taking the red pill would be my second baptism where true understanding of the way things are would be revealed to me.

As far as my character, I don't have a solid back story. When I try to put myself in that situation however, my character would be a man trying desperately to find the loved ones he lost while being awakened, knowing that The Matrix is interactive, and that they had to be in a pod somewhere. He would do anything to be with his family again, believing that love transcends anything, especially something as artificial as The Matrix.

#11300001486 01/10/2006 14:47:03 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Sykin wrote:
The past entries here have been great to read. I especially like your story, Iceman (Or Treil, heh). Smith needs some love, too!

Dangit, I just noticed I spelled my own name wrong.

"BANG", Triel shoots himself

#11300001510 01/13/2006 00:36:18 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Quite simply put the life of Croyez inside The Matrix is basically myself.
I lead a normal life in The Matrix until the age of 20 when I was given the choice and therefore was released from The Matrix.

Since that day every action I have taken inside The Matrix has been an extension of my life.

Basically when I'm jacked in and am operating in The Matrix I remember many things.
The war, the false reality, the lies, Neo's sacrifice, the current truce, who can I trust and who can't I trust... As well as many other things.

Then every action I take is drawn from my own personal reaction to the questions above.
Always asking myself...

What shall I do?
What can I do?
Where is this going?
Where will it end?

#11300001602 01/24/2006 02:24:35 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Oh, good topic.

Well, the name Fygment came about because, honestly, I couldn't use the name Figment. My base concept way back in March was to have her be a Master Shadow and I thought the handle would be appropriate. Over time, though, as my thing with the Masked blossomed someone had asked if it was a contraction of an appropriate phrase that'd describe what I was doing: F***YourGovernMENT. I only wish I was that witty way back when!

As for character concept I wanted to create something a little different than the other player characters I had come across. I knew I didn't want to be an average redpill, and I knew that I didn't want an 'Uber' character either, so after a bit of thinking I came up with the idea that I wanted a character that blended the then Three Organizations. That is, someone who combined Machine, Merovingian, and Zion, and also someone that had a bit of history as an observer from the last instance of the Matrix as shown in my posts One-Four.

Some of Fygments personality traits I derived from myself, namely the desire to be heard and to leave a lasting imprint, her fear of losing friends, somewhat bitchy attitude, and self consciousness.

To balance and set myself apart from other people who had some biomechanics, I decided that I wanted something a bit more realistic and something of duality so I made her incredibly frail, failing, and fragile (dying), in the real. Could you live when over half of your flesh had been replaced by somewhat alien technology? I thought it'd be more realistic if you couldn't and every moment spent in the Real would be a hellish experience. So I doomed my character a couple months after playing, 'cause I thought it was interesting :robottongue:

I don't know what my other inspirations were, as its 5:30 in the morning at the moment and I want to sleep.

#11300001607 01/24/2006 12:39:20 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Hehe, good post, Fygment!

...It's interesting to see you back. Now there's tons of conspiracy theories on whether or not you are just logging in to email your stuff to an alt or... Something more...

SMILEY

#11300001611 01/25/2006 05:25:23 Re: Things that inspired your character's role in the MxO.

Mesa is the remainder of the sum of an equation which in fact led you to this thread. Ergo, he cannot be described in one simple sentence:

I wanted a character who blended what I thought made myself unique, including weakness, as well as what I thought a series of my "heroes" would be like if they were in a similar situation. From myself I drew the fact that Mesa can adapt and be fully confident in whatever he is doing. He can change on a dime and in at least his eyes, justify it. However, as you can obviously tell this could also be a drawback. I also took from myself the skill I (pretend) to have in dealing with every type of person you can think of. Some people don't like Mesa, but he is approachable by all.

I didn't really take any personality traits from other persons. I figured that if I was going to be playing as Mesa, I would end up acting like myself anyway. With that said though, I do tend to throw in actions based on how I think a character would act in my situation. Sort of a...WWXD... kind of idea. Those influences include: my all time hero Jake Burton (if you know who he is then..YES believe it or not I have included him), James Bond, Any character from The Sting, and plenty of others. I try to keep away from being someone else though, what you see is pretty much what I am.

I also like to toss in reference to religions, because I myself am not very religious. Mesa you could say, has that taste for religion for a little bit of irony.

If you ever get a chance to find the ONE back story I ever posted, almost everything is drawn from real life experience also...

Message Edited by Mesajeri on 01-25-200605:28 AM