Character inspiration... As in yours!

[Alexander Knight]

Oh so Hiho is like hi in german?

[AlexRose]

LotR style dwarves would not say "hiho". It's a merry thing that LotR style hobbits might say.

(Excuse the LotR - Illarion comparisons that really deserve no place in a discussion, but the dwarf and halfling races is at least vaguely modelled on Tolkein's, even though they're seperated in background and other characteristics. What I'm saying is, dwarves are more gruff than in Disney and hobbits are more like Disney style dwarves )

[orgis]

"Hiho hiho its off to bake I go" then? lol daft

[Alexander Knight]

LotR style dwarves would not say "hiho". It's a merry thing that LotR style hobbits might say.

(Excuse the LotR - Illarion comparisons that really deserve no place in a discussion, but the dwarf and halfling races is at least vaguely modelled on Tolkein's, even though they're seperated in background and other characteristics. What I'm saying is, dwarves are more gruff than in Disney and hobbits are more like Disney style dwarves )

Saying that almost every fantasy film and game is modeled off Tolkien.

Example:

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II.[1] Although generally known to readers as a trilogy, the work was initially intended by Tolkien to be one volume of a two-volume set along with The Silmarillion; however, the publisher decided to omit the second volume and instead published The Lord of the Rings in 1954-55 as three books rather than one, for economic reasons.[2] It has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into many languages, becoming one of the most popular and influential works in 20th-century literature.

Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD)[1] is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game is currently published by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro. It was derived from miniature wargames with a variation of the Chainmail game serving as the initial rule system.[2] D&D's publication is widely regarded as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry.

The modern use of the English word "orc" to denote a race of evil, humanoid creatures begins with J. R. R. Tolkien.

Tolkien's earliest elvish dictionaries include the entry "Ork (orq-) monster, ogre, demon" together with "orqindi ogresse." Tolkien sometimes used the plural form orqui in his early texts.[1]

Tolkien sometimes, particularly in The Hobbit, used the word "goblin" instead of "orc" to describe the same type of creature, with the smaller cave-dwelling variety that lived in the Misty Mountains being referred to as "goblin" and the larger ones elsewhere referred to as "orcs".[2] Later in his life he expressed an intention to change the spelling of "orc" to "ork" in The Silmarillion[3] but the only place where that spelling surfaced in his lifetime was in the published version of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, in the poem Bombadil Goes Boating ("I'll call the orks on you: that'll send you running!"). In the posthumously published Silmarillion, the spelling "orcs" was retained.

An elf (plural elves) is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine or semi-divine beings (wights, vættir) endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind. In pre-Christian mythology, they appear to have been divided into light elves and dark elves, difficult to delineate from the Æsir (gods) on one hand and the dvergar (dwarves) on the other.

In early modern and modern folklore, they become associated with the fairies of Romance folklore and assume a diminutive size, often living underground in hills or rocks, or in wells and springs. 19th-century Romanticism attempted to restore them to full stature, often depicting them as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty. From their depiction in Romanticism, elves entered the 20th-century high fantasy genre in the wake of the publications of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially the posthumous publication of his Silmarillion where Tolkien's treatment of the relation of light elves, dark elves, black elves and dwarves in Norse mythology is made explicit.

Halfling is another name for J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbit and is a fictional race sometimes found in fantasy novels and games. In many settings, they are similar to humans except about half the size. The original Dungeons & Dragons included hobbits,[1] but later Dungeons & Dragons began using the name halfling as an alternative to hobbit for legal reasons.

One possible origin for the word derives from the Scots word hauflin, pre-dating The Hobbit and Dungeons & Dragons.[citation needed] It meant an awkward rustic teenager, who is neither man nor boy, and so half of both.

Infact Dwarves were the only race that does not take the form of Tolkiens mould.
He basically created the grounds for the modern fantasy/RPG game and film.

You wanna know the best bit?

He was English

[AlexRose]

Indeed, but as I said, his ideas form the basis. You shouldn't really at any point in illa say "halflings should do x because they were like that in lotr".

[Alexander Knight]

True, but with the exeption of Orc's the Illa races take a totally different path that the current mould.

Take Elves for example, they would never let a human roam their lands free let alone be part of the guard.

But i understand that with the current char-database we cant really stick to moulds that much.

[Rugh'toh]

True, but with the exeption of Orc's the Illa races take a totally different path that the current mould.

Take Elves for example, they would never let a human roam their lands free let alone be part of the guard.

But i understand that with the current char-database we cant really stick to moulds that much.

Hail the Orcs for being green moulds since ebburrrr!

[orgis]

I'd say for all the groups out there the orcs have to be the best can still remember when we stole that pig from varshikar

[AlexRose]

Some Illarion orcs befriend humans and fight for good. They can be shamans and reasonably intelligent etc. They're not made from elves. How are they like the LotR orcs?

[Kevin Lightdot]

True, but with the exeption of Orc's the Illa races take a totally different path that the current mould.

Take Elves for example, they would never let a human roam their lands free let alone be part of the guard.

But i understand that with the current char-database we cant really stick to moulds that much.

Hail the Orcs for being green moulds since ebburrrr!

Where did you come from!? D:

[Velisai]

http://www.moonsilver.de/english/races/halfling.htm

Illarion's Halflings are pretty much like Tolkien's, at least I see no big difference. Same can be said about Dwarves. At least if you go by the background.
That said, Halflings can be played quite differently here, as the background only dictates some specific traits, like love for food, importance of family and dislike for politics. They tend to live in the present and don't worry much, but all that doesn't mean they can't be greedy or unfriendly and they certainly aren't typically childish.

As for Dwarves, Tialdin is the closest one to the background, that I know of. Civilized, hard working, tough, a little bit greedy, but also honorable is what I'd describe him with.

Illarion Orcs are pretty unique and can vary greatly in personality. I'd really like to see some flame orcs here though.

I won't start on Elves, since that discussion deserves an own ten-page thread imo.

On topic:
Velisai was my first char and is still my main/only one I play at the moment. She was supposed to be a test char at first, to explore the crafting system. Her background and personality was supposed to make her curious, obedient, shy and quite naive.

In game events and Banes anarchic society quickly changed her to be independent, emotionally cold, exceptionally fearless, very curious, scheming and prone to fits of anger in very specific circumstances, although she isn't without compassion for the weak.

She hates some of her traits and fights her own feelings constantly, trying to be nice, calm and selfless. She follows a philosophy of the Ama-Shoon mostly and tends to see certain few things in black and white, which has lead her to write a list of people, she wants to murder. Her current agenda is balancing her twisted mix of good intentions, compassionate and caring side with the cold, blood thirsty and self righteous side she developed.

Some of the inspiration for her recent development came from Dexter Morgan, main character from the series Dexter, although heavily modified and based off ig events.

[orgis]

I tried a flame orc, I ended up in the orc jail and got battered up by the cheif

[rakust dorenstkzul]

To be honest, i think that elves should be split into three groups.

[orgis]

how'd that work out

[rakust dorenstkzul]

Alright, so, in the playerbase we see generally see three "hats" on elves, these are:

1. Ancient, wise elves.
2. Treehuggers.
3. Humans with pointy ears.

These never overlap, alright, so mabye the second and first do, but since when was an enviromentalist wise?
So the differences should at least get a handwave.

and before the "WOOAAAAAR" from the background writers, you guys should've accounted for people being people with pointy ears.

[orgis]

ahh you forgot one group, the racists, elfs before anyone else group. Mind I guess this lot end up in the wise group at some point or another

[rakust dorenstkzul]

ahh you forgot one group, the racists, elfs before anyone else group. Mind I guess this lot end up in the wise group at some point or another

Thing is, even if the whole "I wish i was a human/ I wish a was a tree" elves are just going through phases, it's not stated as a phase.

Also, ancient elves = racist ones.

[AlexRose]

Nah there's the elves who are humans with pointy ears except they act elitist towards humans.

And there's the elves who chose elves for the extra int stats for magic.

[Kevin Lightdot]

There's the elves that choose elves to cybermoar

[Pterry]

Thig: I'm always drawn to nature-magic in any sort of fantasy context, so it was fairly inevitable that I'd start with a Druid. I chose an elf and made him >2000-yrs-old because I liked trying to imagine how different the experience of a person who lives for thousands of years would be. Initially, he was supposed to be shy, awkward, and clumsy when not out in nature, and then he was supposed to be crotchety but basically good-hearted. I don't know how well I ever succeeded on either score. Part of the inspiration also was the image I had of him as a beardless Abe Lincoln with long ears.

Tikir: Poor Tikir was my second attempt at a mage. (The first was a human I created before realizing that I just don't like playing humans.) The inspiration for Tikir's personality was that I wanted a character driven by curiosity --- curiosity about all things, but the more fundamental the better --- and so drawn to the Arcane. The inspiration for his backstory was a random mental image of an elf riding an elephant, along with another image of a band of turbaned and scimitar-wielding humans riding out of the desert.

[Sssari]

Sssari: Well, looks wise, my inspiration for him was from the Argonians from the game Morrowind. There has been a few alterations, but he still shares a lot of characteristics with them. Even at the beginning, I modeled his speech after the greetings they would give in the game as well. That's changed quite a bit, but I still wanted him to have speech problems.

Thats about it


I'm not sure about my other characters besides Tyrion Godhand, as he was easily based off every crazy, religious fanatic badass hypocrite you can think of.