Inspirations

[Charley]

The premise here is simple. Post a character, and list up to five (5) inspirations for that character that you draw upon to make that character work. The inspirations could be another fictional character, somebody famous, somebody you know, or even a part of yourself that you showcase.

[Sanis Prent]

Sanis's Inspirations.

1. Myself. Basically, a lot of what Sanis does is stuff that I myself might see me doing if I gave less of a damn about the consequences of my actions. He's a selfish and opportunistic coward who manages to fall upwards and has some amount of vestigial good intentions. That doesn't say a lot about me.

2. Han Solo. I mean, duh. Somebody here summed him up like that years ago, and yeah that's pretty airtight.

3. Kanye West. Somebody who's obviously talented but tarnishes that with his big stupid ego more often than not. I just picked Kanye at random because he represents one of about a thousand like-minded gluttons for attention, but Sanis would totally upstage some mousey Jedi getting a Rebel medal of honor to say that, in fact, he was the best rebel ever.

4. Otter, from Animal House. Again, fits the amount of swagger I've always wanted Sanis to have, deserved or not. Otter doesn't really deserve half of his, so there you go.

5. Jerry Welbach, from The Mexican. Of course, everybody knows that they technically used Sanis as inspiration for this character, I do really like how much of a fuckup he is, and completely at the mercy of whether or not he lands on his feet. That's one of my favorite things to do.

[Tionne Thanewulf]

Tionne Thanewulf

1.Myself. However, I need to tone down the snarkyness, because being my full fledged self would probably have me banned from here. And from the Interwebz too :lol

2.Emmet Brown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Brown Remember this guy? Tionne gets her ingeniously wacky ideas from him. Flux capacitor!

3. Isaac Newton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton I worship this man beyond belief. Tionne gets his insight, but also his paranoia. Isaac never had anybody get close to him because he was afraid his radical views on religion would be exposed.

4. John Cleese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese Obviously, Tio inherits his cynicism and sense for humour. Monthy Python anyone? Bring me a shrubbery? Do I need to say more? Kings of intellectual diarrhea.

5. Indiana Jones Yeah, I'd say she gets her boldness, big mouth and love for adventure from him.

So yeah, my list contains no SW characters, nor more importantly - women.

What's my diagnosis? :lol

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's Inspirations.

1. Again, myself. Probably a lot more of me in Cirr than in Sanis, but basically a lot of the part of me that never really grew up. Cirr believes in best intentions and that everybody's inherently good, and is quick to forgive and forget.

2. Tim Taylor from Home Improvement. All of Cirr's macho comes out in his handiwork, and while he may not put up a big front about himself, he's very, ahem, assertive about the quality of his mechanics chops and engineering skills. If (and when) something goes wrong, he takes it badly.

3. Dave Lister, from Red Dwarf. Big shock since its the avatar, I know. They've got the same moral compass and generally the same questionable eating habits. Yes, one's low-rent curries and another is live rodents, but I guarantee both of them would get ripped on lager and tear into a squirrel with enough Madras sauce on it.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Taataani's inspirations:

1. Southern women. Not sure if I can explain this one if you haven't lived in the South for a long period of time. Watch Gone with the Wind, Fried Green Tomatoes, Steel Magnolias, or The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Primarily, there is a chronic condition that afflicts women in the south of a more financially well-off status, but it's also not strictly class related. My family is traditionally poor to middle class. My grandmother was Taataani. My mother is Taataani. My sister will be Taataani. Christin's side of the family is LOADED with Taataani (they come from Georgia). Taataani's are in complete control of their kingdoms, and they're usually velvet glove dictatorships, where you don't actually see any sign of it until you look.

2. Lwaxana Troi, from Star Trek, the Next Generation. As powerful as she is, she's a free spirit who's most important priority is to enjoy life. Part of this comes from the Southern Disease I think, but she takes that kind of freewheeling to new heights.

3. Les Grossman, from Tropic Thunder. Basically Taa with her claws out. When she's stopped pretending that she isn't the complete master of her fiefdom. She's got a volcanic temper when she wants to have one. This is also where a lot of her self-assured, cigar-chomping cult of personality comes from when she's being all business.

4. Atia of the Julii, from HBO's Rome. Again, the likeness I chose for the character is apt. Scheming and conniving, and eager to flip-flop her positions at will if it will put her family on top. I really wanted Taataani to keep the same sort of mater familias kind of philosophy.

[Abarai Loki]

Loki Ahmrah: Those who knew this pre-reset character may very well scratch their heads at this but in my head Abarai Loki is exactly the same character, except he's just had a completely different life. His strong sense of curiosity and studious nature is still very much intact and he has the same kind of naive innocence about him too, it's just channelled very differently.
Kuchiki Byakuya/Hitsugaya Toshiro: Shinigami captains from the Bleach anime. Byakuya inspired the concept of nobility for the character, along with the pride and sense of propriety that comes along with it. Toshiro is Loki's indignant-child-struggling-to-be-accepted-as-an-equal; he is his faltering facade of control, he's his bad temper.
Spock: I think this one is fairly self-explanatory. Loki has a powerful and well-organised mind, he is logical to a fault and is contemptuous of fanciful superstitions. His origins are as much a source of pride to him as they are a means of giving himself a sense of identity. He pursues order and protocol is his crux. And all the while, deep down, the strongest emotions simmer, waiting for an outlet.
Harry Potter: One of the original inspirations for Loki Ahmrah, but for different reasons. Post-reset Loki never knew his parents, they died on Alderaan, but their sacrifice saved him and put him on the path to a much higher cause: the Jedi cause. He commits himself to honouring their memory and the aspiration to do right by them is what keeps him so rigid and focused.
Severus Snape: It's an odd one considering number four but for that infuriatingly condescending tone in his voice, who better to look to for inspiration? Plus he's a humorless taskmaster, and has the voice of Alan Rickman... perfect!

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il:

Myself - I'd say that most if not all of s'Il's patience comes from me, unless it comes to dealing with close friends or family. I channel a lot of my job mentality into how I write her, which is a bit weird, I know. It all boils down to getting to the finish line having done the best you can with what you've got; sometimes that involves improvising with solutions that more often than not don't work. And when you do find out the problem, it's such a little quick fix that you find it amazing how - if one tiny thing is skewed - everything either just doesn't run or it runs poorly.

Original Lok - Not from before the reset, but from before I even came to Fans. In that setting she was a moody, grumpy, and sour individual who damn near hated the galaxy. She also had the scar in her first incarnation ;) Kinda jilted and mostly forgotten, she liked it that way.

Brandy, from Liberty Meadows - Brandy is where s'Il gets all of her good intentions and some of her motherly attitudes. Also a good chunk of her innocence.

Marsala from Exo Squad - Not everything humans do makes sense, especially humor. There are a lot of things that s'Il simply can't wrap her brain around, and some jokes are beyond her grasp to understand. Oh, she's got a sense of humor, but it's a bit odd. Basically all of her perpetual 'stranger in a strange land' air began with Marsala.

[Tannis V'larr]

Since Loki already used Spock, I'm going to leave him off my list. :mneh

1. Sarda, Dreadnought! by Diane Carey. Really, Sarda is much more the creative progenitor for Tannis than Spock is. Sarda is a promising Vulcan cadet who was disgraced among his own people when it turned out he had a natural talent for designing weapons. He is as much an outcast as Spock ever was, and like Spock early in the Original Series, responded by becoming more stringently Vulcan than any other Vulcan in the fleet. Diane Carey also explored the development of the Vulcan mind, which involves being able to partition the brain into parallel processing threads. I've made this a core component of Sikarran mental training.

2. Horatio Hornblower, many novels by C. S. Forrester. Throughout the novels, Hornblower develops from a gangly, self-conscious, callow sailor who gets seasick at port into the English navy's most brilliant tactician - who's still terribly self-conscious and still gets seasick. He does this by pouring himself into the study of sailing and marine warfare, becoming so deeply familiar with his equipment and personnel that he sees possibilities no one else does. At the same time, he is ruthlessly self-effacing and berates himself for every perceived fault. He does not enjoy bloodshed, but he enjoys the mindgames of war so much that it's uncertain whether he can do anything else.

3. The Wing Commander franchise. I played the Wing Commander port to SNES before I even saw the Star Wars movies. Say what you will about the camp, the personalities and writing in the original game were fantastic, and it shaped my primordial concept of what an elite team of starfighter jockies looks like. Tannis draws from several pilots aboard the TCS Tiger's Claw: Spirit's selfless support as a wingman, Angel's obsessiveness over stats and probabilities, Iceman's professionalism, Knight's love of hardware.

4. My media law professor. The guy does a line item statistical analysis of a multiple-choice exam he handed out to a class of eighteen students, then spends twenty minutes presenting the results to the class. It probably says a lot about me that I actually really appreciated it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Arya Ravenwing's main inspiration is Trinity from the Matrix. Ass kicking, take no prisoners, etc. Also Han Solo, from an "always one paycheck away from total disaster so I have to take this job" sort of view.

I dunno, its hard to say where my other inspirations came from.

Serena Laran is inspired from Yoda and other Republic Jedi.

James Prent is mainly inspired from me. Except that i had a great childhood and hers sucked. But I channel all my uncertainties and anxiety into her.

Any kid characters I've played are all inspired by my many nephews and nieces, and now my own children.

Lilaena De'Ville is... I don't know. I hesitate to say she's totally original, but I can't think of anything I may have drawn from to create her. Part of her is me, but there's a part of me in all my characters I think. She's my revenge gland in human form, or something.

[Dai]

Dai (I dont think I have any cool characters, so I'll use this one)
-----

1.) Me. The good and the bad.

2.) I'm Not There. I really dig that movie.

3.) Cowboy Bebop. Spike mainly...

4.) Jack Lemmon from Irma la Douce.

5) Funk - All things funky go into this character. From Jimi to Curtis to...hmm, Will Ferrel? Haha idunno...

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I don't know if I can come up with five for each...

But here's a bit for some that instantly I can think of where I draw inspiration from for.

Emelie:

Myself... kinda. More like the me when I'm in that happy-go-lucky-I'-Don't-Give-A-Fuck state of drunkenness.
Actually did pick up a bit of the sass from Natalie Dormer's portrayal of Anne Boleyn
"Yo Saf Bridge" from Firefly. :cheersCharlotte:

Mostly myself. A lot of myself, really. Maybe more than is healthy.
The whole Band of Brothers series as well as Enemy at the Gates. Not really fitting into the character's personality so much as just inspirational when I need to get my soldier on.
Probably a little chunk of the endless hours I spent playing Borderlands and Fallout 3, to be honest.
Probably could have said a bit of Ashley from the show Sanctuary, but I think I found the parallels there after I pretty much had Charlotte established, I think.Cleo:

Delirium of Neil Gaiman's Endless.
And along that same road... Arkady from Warren Ellis' Freak Angels

[Akasha Khan]

1. Cats. Just pick any specimen you like. She only cares what people can do for or to her. If you have something she wants, she'll be your friend as long as necessary to get it; if you're a threat, she'll give you the appropriate respect until she can shred you; if none of the above, you're irrelevant. She's a carnal creature who loves comfort and power. And yet she does warm up to people eventually, once she's gotten used to their habits.

2. Aravis Tarkheena, The Horse and His Boy. I've always considered Aravis one of the most captivating characters from The Chronicles of Narnia. A Calormene princess on the run, she's poised, courageous, and mysterious, possessed of a fierce pride and exotic beauty. She can be savage with her friends but is incredibly loyal to them and never breaks her word. While these qualities make her alluring as a character, it's those beautiful moments of tenderness and vulnerability that make her human and relateable. That's very much the feeling I'm trying to strike with Akasha.

3. Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Unceremoniously banished from her house, she wants nothing more than to regain the honor and power that she's lost. She also stands at the intersection between light and dark and will keep you guessing until the very end which way she's going to fall. I actually hadn't seen Avatar before I created the character, but she's also got a comical and overweight guardian who was assigned to protect her in exile. ;) I'm going to have to bring Shiraga back one of these days.
<!---->
4. Ender Wiggin, [I]Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. A child navigating the process of being molded into a deadly weapon. She knows much is expected of her, but everything seems to be set up for her to fail.

[Inyos Aamoran]

1. All of my characters factor in a little piece of me. Well, most do, at any rate. I like to put a little piece of my personality in there, partly to let me indulge that potentially undesirable trait, and also to give me a bit more of a connection with my characters. In the case of Inyos, it's mostly my obsession over rules, patterns, details, and all that sort of thing. The two of us both like to "have an answer"; sometimes that means going overboard trying to find it. And unfortunately, the fact that we usually have an answer to almost everything tends to make us both think that we're right all the time... :uhoh

2. Castiel, the character portrayed by Misha Collins in Supernatural. Given my other Supernatural-based characters, it's something of an intentional choice; but when I made it, Castiel was still "just an angel" - over the course of Supernatural that evolved, and he had to learn to come to terms with all kinds of complicated issues that shook his faith and morality. So while that resemblance to Inyos was accidental, it still serves as a helpful reference and inspiration.

3. Data. Granted, he's an android, and while Inyos is relatively spartan with his emotions, he isn't quite a robot. That said, there are thinks about the character - and Brent Spiner's portrayal - that are helpful references. I try to avoid contractions in sentences, to make Inyos sound "clunkier", and less relaxed: there are times when I try to find out how Data would say something, as a reference point. Also, the way Data reacts when something "doesn't compute" or comply with rules and logic fits with the part of Inyos' personality I mentioned in 1).

4. The martial art Iaidō. This the martial art that a lot of samurai are classically depicted as using. Effectively, you keep your sword sheathed at all times, draw it in order to strike, and then sheath it again. In terms of Inyos' lightsaber style I intend to mimick that, but also in terms of his personality: he only speaks when he needs to; he observes, waits patiently, and chooses the most opportune moment to act in any situation. I view it as his particular brand of life philosophy.

5. Mace Windu. Of all the Jedi we saw in the prequels, I think Mace Windu is the one that Inyos would most aspire to be. He is a warrior, yes; but only when he needs to be. He's very calculated with what he does, and very precise. While he does use Vorpaad, for the most part his emotions are kept firmly in check: and even then, he's tapping into the dark side "when necessary", which certainly conforms with Inyos' philosophy. Windu is also quiet and contemplative much of the time; I get the impression that he likes to observe and read people.

[Blade Bacquin]

1. ME - Blade is the master of his own self detruction, his own worst enemy. That is a page taken from my own personal book of life. Blade often feel's a lone even when he has ton's of people around him, even one's that care. Very much his writer in that case more then any, always feeling awkward and out place in the back of my mind. He plays the roll that people expect of him. Weather it be villian, hero, or husband/lover. He often fit's himself into the roll he thinks people want him to play. He doesn't always agree with it and often tries to fight the new programing (part of his self destructive side). This me saddly to a fault if someone see's me as an asshole I will be an asshole. If someone see's me as the good guy I will be the good guy. If someone try's to exploit the roll I'm supose to play I fight it.

2. An immortal the High Lander - From the movie and tevision series. Again this play's into his always feeling outplace. On the surface it seem's he often lack's there wisdom that comes with age but he has it. There have only been a few occasions where he has despensed it but for the most part he feels no one listens so there is no point.

3. Artemis Entreri - Blade has so much of this man in his personality I almost don't know where to begin. If you don't know Artemis he is an antagonist/nemsis of the Main hero Drizzet in the Dark Elf series of books. He is an exceptional fighter who in the series his only rival seem's to be Drizzet. Blade like's to fight always looking for the bigger and better opponent to put his skills to the test (to bad I haven't got to do any dualing since the reset with him because I read R.A. over and over again to get how well he writes fight scene's). Like Entreri Blade is a little bitter towards the worlds around him (not quit on scale with Entreri). Once he find's his nemsis he will continue to pester and antagonise them until he beat's them. He doesn't often kill his oppenent's letting them live to fight him another day.

[John Glayde]

1. Me. As mentioned, most of my characters have a little me in them... I think of all of them, Glayde is one of the ones who represents a broad approximation of my personality; or rather, a broad approximation of what I aspire to be. Mostly, he wants everyone to be as happy as possible, and he often goes to insanely complicated lengths in order to achieve that; and he approaches his interactions with others like a mediator, trying to find some sort of compromise that fits everyone, even if his insistant attempts to reach that stage drive everyone up the wall. :lol

2. Everett Young, from Stargate Universe. Since Kavan Smith is a supporting cast member in Stargate Atlantis, I felt I needed to get someone in here. I take a lot of inspiration from the show in general, but most of the team leaders (particularly O'Neill and Mitchell) have a comedian slant that Glayde doesn't have. The recent introduction of Young however has been fantastic. I can't put my finger on it, but I respect the guy. He has a fantastic way with people, and knows exactly what to say to a person in a given situation, to help support and reassure them; and he goes to some pretty extreme lengths to reach his goals. Hopefully I won't have to give anyone the "Rush" or "Telford" treatment, though... :uhoh

3. Trip Tucker. Say what you like about Enterprise... I enjoyed it. Trip is a great inspiration for Glayde, because most of the time he's an "all round nice guy". When it comes down to doing his job... sure, he may complain and grumble about it, but he gets it done. He's the kind of leader who is respected (I hope, in Glayde's case) by the people he commands; he's approachable, for the most part. Plus, he has a pretty decent track record with the hot, alien babes. (Right, Mara? ;))

4. Mal Reynolds. Another one of those leaders who wasn't expecting it. Like Glayde, Mal started out as an NCO; and he did a damn fine job of it too. Then he winds up finding himself as a Captain, which comes with a whole new set of responsibilities. He's not just leading people into battle... he's leading them in life. And some of them have pretty crazy, screwed-up issues. Mal's approach is to be the "big brother" kind of Captain, rather than the "father" kind of Captain... that's the sort of role I want to create for Glayde.

[Darth Decepis]

1. My sort of philosophical curiosity with the concept of evil. Above all, this is what drives my machinations for Decepis. I've always believed "evil" as we're apt to claim as a real life descriptor is tough to use on real flesh and blood people, because I think that even people who are branded by consensus as evil are operating on some kind of values system that they believe is serving a just cause. The exception would be sociopaths, but they're more of a case of being "intent neutral". To create "evil" is to obliterate so many humanizing things and to celebrate the aggrandizing of self. That leads me to Ayn Rand. I have low opinions of her writing and "philosophy", but I think that it's an interesting way to sort of enter into option number one. Think of evil as that abstract that we're after as Ayn Rand's aggrandizing of self, but with enough gravity put upon it to collase into a black hole. There's a good quote in the western Tombstone where Doc Holliday describes what makes (the villain) Johnny Ringo tick. He says the man has a great big hole in the midst of him that can't be filled by any manner of horrible actions, no matter how many he commits. That, is evil in the sense that I have only barely scratched the surface of.

2. Emperor Palpatine came about as close to manifesting that sort of evil in any story I can imagine. His entire sum of villainy was to its own end. Further, I've found Ian McDiarmid's hateful inflections in his tone and voice to be so delicious they should be fattening, and I gleefully swag-jack them because I can't imagine any better way for somebody truly evil to talk than in a way which causes his bones to shake with pure dripping hatred. Every little emotion was in some way a tie-in to that sort of terrible feeling. Even his laughs were mirthless, mocking, and patronizing.

3. Satan. Not the Miltonian Satan, who is a pretty interesting fella in his own right, but the Deciever, the nasty guy out of the Bible, beyond any possibility of redemption, who is the manifestation of that abstract concept of evil we mortals struggle so hard to comprehend.

[Travis North]

Baron Soontir Fel - The original Travis pre-reset was based on Baron Fel, and to a lesser extent Maareck Stele (myself), in that they were both amazing pilots within the Galactic Empire. Baron Fel continues to provide much of the base for Travis, especially Fel's alignment issues.

Lord Vader - Not Anakin Skywalker, piss on the redemption aspect of his character. Rule the Galaxy as Father and Son - That's it and that's all. The iron fist that is Vader is exactly the kind of attitude that I use to give Travis his evil, militaristic view of the battlefield and the Galaxy in general. If someone isn't useful he gets rid of them. (The same goes for Kamvil Albrecht, only set to 11.)

Greg House - Man is House MD! Any character interaction Travis handles is pretty well the same as the character of Greg House. I'll admit OOC I deal with most things in the same manner. Problem = Solved.

Cannabis Sativa - I don't often write under the influence, however, from time-to-time I smoke and just let the ideas flow. That whole colony expansion idea was thanks to sweet Mary Jane. I probably thought it up on my own, but the Lady was making me think of how awesome it was... and still is! The whole plan would have crushed the Alliance.

Myself - I have a thing for Order, and my own brand of Justice. They go hand in hand everytime I put a plan into action to crush the Alliance.

Edit: AND THIS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVZczLuoJoU - Justice Prevails, Evil Justice.
<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

[Jane Starborn]

1. Winter in the EU. Jane's memory and use of it for the Alliance are nearly directly cribbed from Winter's role in the Expanded Universe.

2. Data, or any other robotic life form. Jane's brain is overloaded with facts and things, to the point where its hard to make emotional connections with people. She's got a lot to learn in a world where she already knows just about everything.