Character Inspirations & Portraits

Rather than resurrecting three old threads, I figured why not revive the conversations for the current server population in a combined thread here for anyone who wants to use it?

The old threads are here:

So for anyone who wants to share or discuss portraits or things that inspire them for their characters like theme songs/music, specific characters or people from media and pop culture, actors or actresses you think would represent your character well, ‘face claims’ or ‘voice claims,’ anything of the sort – feel free to do it here!

This can be a great exercise for building a better understanding of each other’s characters and personalities, so share away and enjoy. You can also feel free to add things like these to your character biographies if you want.

Here’s one possible template to fill out as an idea:

And another:

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SOHMA ANANTASARI
Matriarch of Redmoon Hall

SohmaPortrait.zip

Theme Song: Turning the Bones (Chvrches Remix), by John Carpenter

Voice Claim: Shadow Weaver (Lorraine Toussaint)

  1. Adrasteia from Lightbringer
  2. Akua from Practical Guide to Evil
  3. Harrowhark from The Locked Tomb
  4. Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2
  5. Taylor/Skitter from Worm
  6. Wei Shi Lindon from Cradle

Sohma draws from several of my favorite character archetypes: Affably Evil, Anti-Villain, and Pragmatic Villainy. However, most of her inspiration comes from trashy web serial cultivation novels. If you know, you know. If not, spend ten minutes here.

My RP goal with Sohma is to create a fun and cheesy wuxia villain within the Star Wars universe. A lot of her mannerisms are ripped straight from those books (as an example, saying Gratitude instead of Thank You is common in Cradle). In fact, Sohma is basically my vision of what a Sith would look like as a villain in a cultivation novel. Considering that even the heroes in those stories are usually dicks, and both Jedi and Sith philosophy are heavily inspired by Asian martial arts and religious beliefs, it was actually easier than I expected.

Sohma has yet to blossom into her full villainous glory, but once she does, I will be able to go full ham.

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Here’s Kiki’s portrait.

I just woke up so im too lazy to actually go into detail about her right now but I spent like a good hour making the portrait more EVIL so here it is in full.

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Silvia Elatar
Initiate of Dantooine

Theme song: Hello Rainbow Road 🌈 Lyric Video | Centaurworld | Netflix Futures - YouTube

Voice Claim: Kimiko Glenn - plays the voice of Horse in the theme song.

My RP goal with Silvia is to have fun while exploring a side of the Jedi that I dont believe anyone else has. Silvia is a challenge in her ideals and enjoyment. Having to learn to become a true master of each to follow her heart and dreams.

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While there’s six options, Sandra is only inspired by the weight and ideals of three characters. Fiona Glenane, Aya Brea, and Michael Weston. Since there’s only three, i’ve included the quick wiki facts on the personality and skills below. The MOST important of these being Weston. So i’d read his profile more carefully, lol.

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Michael Weston:
Michael demonstrates indomitable will and resourcefulness to accomplish his goals. He virtually lost everything he worked so hard to build a spy when he was burned such as his official CIA position, finance, reputation, and freedom having been confined to Miami. Yet he does not douse in self-pity or any destructive behavior but immediately starts building himself to works towards ascertaining the truth behind his burn notice which would take a very long time and many setbacks and failures.

Despite, or perhaps because of this, he’s a very skilled spy, using his abilities to help others in trouble. Unlike any fellow spies he’s met who kill for profit, Michael has a strong sense of empathy and refuses to kill anyone unless it’s really necessary–whether in self-defense, or to avoid unacceptable circumstances.

Michael is highly skilled and extremely clever, displaying his abilities by quickly thinking on his feet, improvising electronic devices from commonly available commercial equipment (e.g. radios, cell phones etc.) and using ordinary items (ranging from duct tape to cake frosting) in highly unorthodox ways in order to complete a job.

Michael also became an expert martial artist, with around 30 years of training and experience in karate. Westen has also demonstrated proficiency in the Russian martial art Sambo. He has received special operations training, has combat experience on 5 continents, and remarked that he holds “a rating with any weapon that shoots a bullet or holds an edge.”

Michael speaks several different accents that help him act out different persona, including Southern accent, Boston accent, Irish accent, New Jersey, and etc. He has shown proficiency and fluency in Russian, Farsi, and Arabic. Throughout the series, Michael has, ironically, shown little to no knowledge of Spanish, but by the time he was sent to the Dominican Republic, he had learned to fluently speak Spanish.

Michael has profound knowledge in the art of war that helps him create strategies and tactics in various combat situations such as seizing, breaching, defending, high-speed chasing, and capturing enemies. Almost more than half of his preformed plans often have to be altered due to unknown factors such as intrusion of new enemy personnel, reduction of collateral damage, or entering unfavorable terrains. He has demonstrated incredible improvisation skills that often turned the tides of the battles.

Michael often uses psychological warfare as the key component of his missions. He often prioritizes finding out enemy weaknesses and focuses on intimidating the enemies into hiding or deceives them until they are forced to fight the local law enforcement, rival enemies, or each other. Thus he is not an unstoppable juggernaut who can take down an army on his own but more of a virus who will break his adversaries from within systematically with wit, knowledge, and unbreakable conviction to uphold justice. To orchestrate such plans, he is aware of the behaviors, structures, and rules of various types of criminals such as local drug lords and international arms dealers as well as the those of law enforcement agencies and other clandestine services such as the police, FBI, and NSA. He has also studied interrogation tactics that are effective without the use of brutal coercion.

Though not on par with a medical professional, Michael has sufficient knowledge of the human body to apply the emergency treatment on the field and gauge the physiological changes of operatives in calmer situations such as stake-outs to intense firefights.

In addition to his trade-craft, Michael has also studied civilian life and behaviors such as the inner workings of nightclubs. His knowledge of banking and finance has proven pivotal to his missions.

Perhaps his most important skill is his ability to blend in and lie by assuming different identities which have helped him infiltrate criminal organizations located in both foreign and domestic.

Aya Brea:
Aya is a bit of a complex character. For the most part, she is portrayed as a strong-willed, intelligent and honest heroine. Although quiet on the surface, she can be very stubborn and unyielding, occasionally entering arguments with Daniel because of her stubborn nature. Aya is meek and modest in nature and does not boast about being a hero or possessing superhuman powers.

While Aya is mature where it counts, she also tends to be pretty sarcastic, cold, and brooding, with a sardonic sense of humor. She sometimes cracks silly jokes, likely to cope with her awful predicaments. It doesn’t help that Aya has a bad habit of not being able to take people seriously sometimes, particularly when they express any sort of interest in her; she tends to brush them off. Sometimes it’s easier for her to pretend that people are just being insincere most of the time. When Kyle says she has a pretty smile, her reaction is “W-What? …Hey!” which says a lot about her. In the first game, she only went with a “date” with someone simply because he kept pestering her about it - she only chose the opera as a setting.

Aya can be sensitive, compassionate, kind, and she is fairly forgiving. She can gentle and nurturing, almost maternal — especially with children. She does like kids, regardless of the fact that she’s never had any herself and she treats Eve Brea in a caring and almost motherly manner, although Aya prefers to thinks of her more as a sister than a daughter. She approaches with a welcoming nature to most people. Eve and Kyle are essentially her “family”.

Fiona Glenanne:
Fiona has a tendency to shoot first (or blow up) and ask questions later. She is a brilliant strategist, but her preferred method is going in with guns blazing or with exploding IED. Michael frequently has to hold Fiona back. Also, like Michael, Fiona knows how to adopt different personalities and accents, which she shows on a regular basis, as she originally spoke with an Irish accent, but started speaking with an American accent in the second episode to blend in. She has also used an English accent, a French accent, and a Boston accent. She also speaks French and speaks, or at least understands, Spanish, which is useful when with Michael, who doesn’t speak or understand it.

Arguably her most notable skill, however, is her expertise in bomb-making. She has been shown to be so highly effective at this, that she surpasses even Michael Westen. This was shown when they, along with Sam, were taking on Felix Cole, a local gangster, and car thief. Michael tried making an explosive called a “hockey puck,” which was a coil of detcord on a rubber mat but had trouble, so Fiona decided to do it, saying that she has a “more delicate touch.” She also has used her expertise to call Jason Bly’s bluff. When Bly tried to convince her that Michael was killed in a truck explosion, and showed her pictures of a truck Michael blew up, she knew that the truck wasn’t damaged in a way that fit Bly’s claim that Michael was dead.

Fiona is a very skilled driver, as she is regularly used as the driver of the group. When CIA Officer Strong and Michael were waiting for the group to arrive, an impressed Strong wondered how they got there so quickly, to which Michael simply replied, “Fi’s driving.”

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River Althea
The Blue Phoenix

Playlist of relevant music: River’s Spotify Playlist

Voice Claim: Female V from Cyberpunk 2077

In order from Top left-to-right

  1. “V” from Cyberpunk 2077
  2. Yang Xiao Long from RWBY
  3. Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect trilogy
  4. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider
  5. Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy 7
  6. Revy from Black Lagoon

River is a character I’ve had for quite awhile now. I originally created her as a Mass Effect fanfiction protagonist and have built upon her since then by RPing her in various settings and games. She’s been in other Star Wars servers like TLJ and ROTR (The Last Jedi and Rise of the Rebellion respectively. Huh, interesting how Disney effectively stole those names for a movie and park attraction.) as well as SWTOR. She’s also been involved in settings such as Terminator, Fallout, and Star Trek. Usually with each version of her I play I tweak certain variables to try something a bit different with her character and see how it works out. All of this ultimately fuels how I’ll eventually write the Mass Effect version out if I ever get around to actually writing that story.

What tends to be universal is her blue hair as blue is her absolute favorite color and her overall badass nature. She’s usually very confident, sometimes a bit cocky, but typically keeps her cool when in tense situations. Despite River’s overall streetpunk nature she can be very loyal towards her friends and allies. However building that level of trust tends to take time as there are often circumstances in her past that make it hard for her to completely trust most people. She is rebellious, doesn’t always follow the rules to the letter, and can be an absolute pain in the ass for anyone in a position of authority. But her skills usually make her valuable enough to the point where most people are willing to cut her some slack. She has a track record of being capable of solving problems other people either can’t or won’t handle themselves.

River also has a rather playful and flirty side that comes out when the conditions align for it. When she gets to cut loose she enjoys music and dancing. Spacer bars/cantinas are some of her preferred hangout spots as well. She’s even a bit of a romantic at times with girls (sorry boys) that particularly catch her interest. But overall she tries to not show this side of herself too much around anyone that she tends to do business with so as not to undermine her efficient tough gal persona.

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Vilnia
Theme Song: National Anthem of Lithuania (English translation) - YouTube
Voice Claim: Testing 100+ Year Old Watercolor Paint..(& trying to paint with it lol) - YouTube

WHO INSPIRED VILNIA?
I acknowledge that the majority of these faces are Russian and I acknowledge that they could prove problematic influences to a revolutionary named after a Lithuanian river. I would, however, posit Vilnia’s greatest inspiration to be Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who was a hard-fightin’ tomboy turned sniper, who was Ukrainian yet misrepresented as Russian in the west.
Other sources of inspiration for Vilnia include her Thayan incarnation, Vilnia Tarblood, who is a tiefling legionnaire (I even said “Tarblood” as Vilnia’s surname on accident once, teehee). They were both raised by single mothers (Tarblood being the daughter of a sex worker), they both love animals and preach conservationism (with Scifi-Vilnia having self-professed sympathies for Eco Terrorists), and both belong to species that are over-sexualized in their respective societies.
Another source of inspiration for Vilnia was my Drow, Vr’iima Rilyn’aun. Vr’iima was Chaotic Neutral, was a voice for moderation and tolerance, and suffered at the hands of a society that demanded evil of her. Vr’iima’s mother was a slave, like Vilnia’s, and became a leader of a House, much like Vilnia’s mother became some farmer on a no-name Sith spaceship the Hydroponics Officer of The Leviathan. Where Vr’iima and Vilnia differ is that Vr’iima was broadly rejected by her peers for her tendencies against evil and her preaching of unity between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Evil–to Vr’iima, Lawful Good and Evil were complicit in the crimes of each other, for where is the line between the brutal paladin and his endless crusade and the brutal tyrant and his endless oppressions? Do not LG and LE use the same tools of tyranny and brutality? Rise up, Chaos! Our time is now!

I don’t know where I was going with any of that. Hail Revan.

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From top left to bottom right:

  1. Terran SCV from Starcraft II
  2. Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series
  3. Cayde-6 from Destiny
  4. Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop
  5. Leonardo da Vinci
  6. Cid from the Final Fantasy series

Funny enough, Griggs was just a character that I cobbled together to try out the server and he ended up being a lot more fleshed out than I thought. Spike is probably the biggest inspiration out of the six of them, with Cid being a close second. Watching the engineer grow as a person has been a cool experience for me.

And yes, he’ll be voiced by Steve Blum.

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Tran is a character I play in scifi settings when I want to do some kind of a gunslinger, he is rather cocky in his own abilities and thinks he is the smartest person in almost any room he is in. He has shifted and changed over the years since I originally created him for a Starwars revised edition table top campaign, but he still retains a lot of that core of being driven by his passions and doing what he wants even if it isn’t a good idea.

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From top, left to right

  1. Joshua Nolan from Defiance
  2. John Sheppard from Stargate SG:1 and Atlantis
  3. Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop
  4. Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist
  5. Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly/Serenity
  6. Atton Rand from KOTOR II

Cato started out as a bit of a faffing about character, primarily to learn the game’s systems, and the first one I took beyond the plains outside of Veles. As I played and interacted on the server, I gradually got ideas to flesh out his character, drawing from past characters I’d played in other games, both online and tabletop.

A simple description of his character would be ambitious, but honorable. He views rules and laws as suggestions rather than something to define his conduct by, often taking the approach of “the ends justify the means”. He places a strong emphasis on integrity, believing that one’s word is the most valuable thing they possess, and will often put his own life on the line to keep his word and honor his commitments, whether in the fulfilment of a contract, or protecting those close to him or under his charge. Holding such commitments above all else has led him to do things he’s less than proud of, though not so much so that he wouldn’t repeat the same actions in a similar situation

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i forgot to post the actual box thing

image

i refuse to elaborate further, draw your own conclusions

top left to bottom left, top right to bottom right, is:

anakin obviously

veronica from new vegas

inuxius from delight games’ book series

chie from persona 4

sphynx from sphynx and the cursed mummy

payne from ffx-2

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Althea’s new look

Althea.zip

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The portrait for Griggs if anyone is interested.


griggsportrait.rar

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Tanya Karr
Widowed Pugilist/Aspiring Bounty Hunter

Top left to right, then down

  1. The Bride, from Kill Bill
  2. The Sole Survivor, from Fallout 4
  3. Sarah Connor, from the Terminator franchise
  4. Suyin Beifong, from Avatar: The Legend of Korra
  5. Velvet Crowe, from Tales of Bersiria
  6. Inigo Montoya, from the Princess Bride

Theme: Moonlight Shadow, Missing Heart (Orig. by Mike Oldfield)

If you’re familiar with at least a couple of these characters, I don’t believe I need to elaborate much. Inigo might appear a little out of place, but I can absolutely imagine Tanya saying “I want my family back, you son of a bitch!”

Actress I’d cast: Cate Blanchett


Cate Blanchett is exactly how I imagine a live action Tanya for looks and voice, plus she’d just nail the hypothetical role perfectly.

Tanya is a Mama Bear that became a Vengeful Widow/Action Mom after a Family Extermination in the crossfire of Revan’s forces and the Mandalorians. She was an Innocent Bystander, but now It’s Personal. She acknowledges that those Jedi are now Sith, but she still has a grudge against the Jedi Order that could be considered Misplaced Retribution.

Playing an older character that was leading an innocent life with their own family and is just now joining the conflict at the start of her middle-age with no prior experience as any sort of adventurer, seemed like a fresh take.

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New portrait for Kiki

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Psycho Mantis (Metal Gear): Her original inspiration, way back in the day. Master of telekinesis and telepathy, which formed the cornerstone of Iskellia’s Force power abilities. And, of course, the gas mask. She originally had a full-face mask like he did, but I eventually chopped it down to a half-mask to allow her to emote and make facial expressions.

Eleven (Stranger Things): Another powerful influence on Iskellia, particularly her as a little kid. The combination of “Powerful Telekinetic” with “wide-eyed innocence” is a wonderful blend.

Scarlet Witch (Marvel Cinematic Universe): Another fun spin on the “traumatized psychic girl” trope that Iskellia embodies. I particularly love the gestures and poses she uses and strikes when using her magic, and I’ve tried to incorporate those into Iskellia’s Force use.

Two-Face (Batman): Pretty obvious, her destroyed and burned half of her body.

Jack (Mass Effect): BIG BIG inspiration for Iskellia, particularly her blend of “MAJOR powerful telekinetic / psionic wrecking-ball” with the “badass-bitch posturing” that Iskellia did early on as a mercenary to survive in the galactic underbelly. Attitude, foul mouth, big flamboyant use of her telekinetics, her blend of telekinesis with gunplay/blasterfire…Jack’s a BIG one on the list.

Professor X (X-Men): Not just another “powerful psionic character” trops, but this one approaches it from a position of physical disability. That potent contrast of “superpowerful mind” against “ailing / crippled body” is a fun one.





Portrait: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xYUpqx-pJNfM0isJUUS_OqsL5RxLxVmq/view?usp=sharing

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My intention with Sheridan was to take a guy who had a bit of a tough life, make him force-sensitive and self-taught with no draw towards the Light or the Dark, then toss him onto Viscara and see where it leads. He has a virtue that he tries to represent (Compassion), a flaw that he tries to work through (Pride) and one thing he holds above all else - Individualism.

My intention with him was never to go “middle of the road” or “neutral”, I just wanted to let everything happen organically, because of this he has three “good” inspirations and three “bad” inspirations. You’ll notice that they all kind of straddle the line, because I tend to enjoy characters that are more than just their alignment would normally dictate.

Jason Todd (DC) - Otherwise known as the Red Hood. Jason Todd’s life was a roller coaster of good and bad. His mother was a drug addict who died, and he was adopted by Bruce Wayne. Bruce constantly tried to keep his attitude in check, as he had a very strong desire to harm those who brought pain onto others, and felt that Batman’s methods were simply not severe enough. After dying at the Joker’s hands, Jason Todd comes back to life via the Lazarus Pit, and his impulsiveness and brutality is amplified. He returns to Gotham to find that the man he saw as a father not only let him die, but failed to avenge him. Taking up the identity of the Red Hood, he becomes a vigilante crime lord who eventually makes his way back to the Bat Family. Jason is a man who wants to protect those who have no other protection, but also wants to punish those who prey on the weak. A man with good intentions, but a willingness to do bad things in order to see those intentions brought to reality.

Peter Quill (Marvel) - Star-Lord’s inspiration on Sheridan is a bit superficial. Peter’s attitude is that of a selfish treasure hunter who has had to live for himself for a long period of time, before finally finding some semblance of belonging amongst a group of friends. (The Guardians) He never really managed to shake the overall sense of selfishness and attitude that he spent his whole life cultivating, but when the chips fall he will always fight for what’s right. He wants to be part of something bigger. He wants to be famous, and have his name heard and recognized throughout the galaxy. He wants to be a hero.

Daniel Atlas (Now You See Me) - Daniel Atlas is a modern day Robin Hood along with his team of “Horsemen” (Magicians who use illusion and slight-of-hand to steal from the wealthy and distribute to those who don’t have much.) This is as noble of a goal as any could have, according to Sheridan. But that’s not the only part of Danny that inspired him. Daniel is proud, egotistical, narcissistic, and has incredibly control issues. When Sheridan is not in the lead, or not in control of the situation, he will do what he can to actively change the situation and mold it around his strengths, to cause himself to seem like the de-facto leader. (OOC: This doesn’t happen as much in game, since we’re on a server with a lot of players and we’re all telling each others’ stories. I will ALWAYS avoid shoe-horning myself into other folks’ spotlight.)

Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk 2077) - Johnny is what Sheridan would look like when he fully embraced his feelings of anti-authority, and took it to a point where he was willing to destroy large amounts of property/beings in order to bring down the system. He /hates/ the idea of someone else having any aspect of control over his life, and he’s willing to go to some pretty insane lengths to get there. Would Sheridan nuke a corporation that he felt was abusing its power to hurt those who couldn’t protect themselves? Hell, probably. He’d probably do it while preaching about how it was the right thing to do to anyone who would listen.

Edward Coventry (The Order) - I wanted to make Sheridan charismatic, and easy to talk to. Coventry’s one of those villains that you can’t help but like most of the time, because he tells you exactly what you want to hear, and you actually tend to believe him. He manages to make most of his crazy ideas sound not only sane, but compassionate and filled with selfless desire to help others. If Sheridan were to fully fall to the Dark Side, you’d likely find him acting with this very similar “cult leader” mentality, not searching out the evil or the malignant… but the lost and those looking for purpose.

Klaus Mikaelson (The Originals) - (Don’t you dare judge me, I like vampire shows.) Klaus is interesting because despite his incredible powers, he has a villainous streak due to the fact that he just wants to be wanted. He feels as though his family doesn’t want him, he has no friends out of love, only out of obligation, fear, and respect… so he acts out in an effort to be able to say “It’s not who I am, it’s what I do that pushes people away” so he doesn’t have to internalize his flaws. Like many others on this list, he’s egotistical, narcissistic, but also compassionate, and truly wants to be part of a family or pack that protects each other above all else.

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