Character I'd like to share one of my central roleplay characters with you. Her name was originally Gwendolyne. It fit the medieval/fantasy genre of that play place I'd found. Even with my limited roleplay experience, I knew the basics of creating a character. You need to establish some boundaries, some history, a set of skills and basic personality traits. The depth of the character will develop as you play or write for them. Gwendolyne was rather nebulous at first, as most fictional characters are, especially in gaming. Some particulars are decided up front. Others, you make up as the need for such detail arises. The first big change in Gwendolyne's 'life' was completely outside the play. Among groups of players, it's important to have a unique name to eliminate confusion. Names also get abbreviated because there's a lot of typing involved in online playing as it is. Gwendolyne was often abbreviated by other players as 'Gwen', which was fine with me, but not with another player Gwenivere, whose name was also abbreviated to Gwen. She'd been around longer than I had, so in the interest of peace and fairness, I had to change my Gwendolyne to something else. But... I really liked the name. I'd played in it a while. It was good. In a moment of serendipity or synchonicity, I thought of a way to retain the sound and flavor of the name without changing it all that much. Thus, Gwendolyne became Wenndolyne. It was good and very unique. It still rolled off the tongue. It could be abbreviated to Wenn, which was still unique and had much delightful pun potential. I do love a good pun. In designing Wenndolyne's character traits for medieval/fantasy play, I looked at basic needs with an eye on leaving room for potential growth. I gave her a little bit of magical power, but barely any knowledge of it. I gave her a pouch of gems and stones, all of which contained some magical property or other to suit most any situation. She would be able to sift through the stones and find one to do what was needed but I had decided that it would rarely be anything magnificent or fantastic, just a little help here or there. The gems would also be useful for money to pay her own way in the fictional world. I gave her a weapon, just in case. She owned a fine bow and some arrows. She wouldn't care much for battle, but defense capability seemed to be a good idea. It could be developed later, if needed. Mostly she was just happy for some occasional harmless target practice. Wenn was alone in the world. It made it easier to play without the encumbrances of family members for me to keep straight. Her mother had died while giving birth to her. Wenn's father and a haphazardly magical uncle had raised Wenndolyne. She was an only child and despite the times and being female, the two men who supported her saw to a good education and some practice in archery. The pouch of magical stones had been a legacy from Wenn's mother, for she was a magical person as well, like her brother. With the pouch, Wenn received a book of prayers or spells to help her with the understanding of the stone magic, but... Wenn couldn't read it. It was written in a language she didn't know. Her father, uncle and tutors couldn't decipher it either. So, Wenn entered the scene in sort of a happy-go-lucky way, with no real agenda except to be a part of things. I used a tag line for her, "I step lightly to leave no impressions unintended." Honestly, much of Wenn's demeanor and usual behavior came directly from me, my own real self. However, she was what I considered the best of me. She was friendlier, more cheerful, always happy to help, very forgiving of transgressions. She would rather be disadvantaged herself than to disturb another. All children and small creatures drew her attention and affection. She never met a stranger. She was open, honest and cordial to everyone. Unlike me, Wenn had no flaws. However, there were many things she could not do. For instance, she couldn't swim. She had no idea of her light and beauty. She thought herself to be a rather plain girl despite a volume of long firey red hair and sapphire blue eyes. She had no concept of the power at her disposal in that magical, infinite pouch of stones, nor did she realize that she herself was a conduit of magical energy which could be used by others. I had no ideas on that either until one of the other players came up with it. It suited her. It suited me. Wenndolyne's openness and humility in the face of what everyone else saw as great value in her, was part of her charm. I am only now learning and believing that it's part of my charm too. Until I got onto this deep soul path, I was sure that I was just tossing things into Wenn's character mix on a whim. I'd get cornered during play to think up some trait or skill or action she would perform 'in character', something consistent with who I'd built her to be. I was, in a way, building a character whom I would like to be. I don't mean that I'd like to live in medieval England and carry a pouch of magical stones. I mean that in the crux of a situation, Wenn reacted as I wished I could react in similar circumstances. She was very patient, kind, loving, compassionate, empathetic, helpful... and so on. She was the 'perfected me.' Now I have come to see that I can be the 'perfected me.' In some ways, I was giving myself hints, while playing, that told me what I really want, what I really like, what I want to change... about me. That work may never be done, but you must understand that I didn't previously realize that it was even possible to try. (Character)

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