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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What's your story?
by Adam Parkinson 
Jul 27th 2010 at 8:00AM
I have a confession: I am not a roleplayer, yet I feel the need to create a backstory for every single one of my characters, from the mighty main to the lowly banker alt who sits comfortably in Stormwind. I do not really know why. Maybe it is the storyteller in me, the sheer boredom, or the 60 ounces or so of various energy drinks that keep me up at night, but I begin to imagine the details of my characters, even going so far as to create a web of connections between them, as if when I'm not playing, they are banded together, battling side by side as brothers and sisters in arms.
A main example is my main and all the human alts I play on. There are only two at the moment, but a third shall arise, of the wolfish variety, come Cataclysm. Their story? All of them are brothers, my death knight being the eldest, a once-accomplished paladin who fell during the purging of Stratholme, being one of the very few against it. My main warrior is the middle child who was the least likely to accomplish anything of the three brothers but fought nonetheless as part of the Stormwind guard, before becoming a mercenary for hire. The newest addition will be a worgen rogue, the long-presumed-dead, sickly little brother who was astute in the arcane and was taken under tutelage of a sorcerer in Gilneas before being infected as a worgen. He will return instead as a quick and nimble character, one of the few worgen who likes his new form.
Heck, I have even made a blood elf paladin that is a half-brother of the humans. Don't even get me started on the draenei brothers.
So, tell me readers, what's your story? Even if you don't roleplay online (or only dabble in it), do your characters have stories? Untold love stories or rivalries? Is your bank alt the head of a powerful mercenary corporation that your characters work for? Are your characters connected, or merely single entities that have never and will never cross each other's paths?
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Norai Jul 27th 2010 10:28AM
I played WoW back in Vanilla, set it aside for school, then played on a private server for a long time. I have several 80's on that server but decided it was time for 'real' WoW again. I'm the same way- I don't RP, but I love creating a backstory for the characters. They aren't related though. The hunter I have ready-to-play may end up being Norai's sister though. Haven't thought that through yet.
Norai (my login's namesake...) is a Warlock. Her parents, ordinary merchants in Silvermoon, were killed during the invasion. She quickly became distrustful of... just about everyone. She found herself in the path of the warlock, preferring to keep to herself and her demons, who she knows she can rely on- because she has them under her control. She's not inherently evil, but she doesn't trust a soul.
Adreilia is a Blood Knight. Her story is still being fleshed out, and depending on if I like her or not I may even transfer her to an RP server. She believes in defending her home, the forests of her youth, and aspires to be the greatest Knight the city of Silvermoon has ever seen. She secretly adores Champion Vranesh.
Tirrai is the as-yet-un-backstoried hunter. What I have so far is that after hearing the tales of the great Ranger Sylvanas, she wants to be a Ranger as well. Beyond that, I'm not sure.
Vard Jul 27th 2010 10:34AM
My 2 main characters & my new main in Cata are all the same person. Born from a Bronzebeard mother and a Dark Iron father, he grew up mostly in Loch Modan and became a hunter. Ultimately, he overcame (most) suspicions about his loyalties to the Bronzebeard clan, and was allowed into the order of paladins. However, he continues to experience suspicions from some. In Northrend, he sees Ulduar and the origins of the dwarves, comes to believe that the dwarves should pursue knowledge of their past, and feels that the Light is more for humans than dwarves. When the Cataclysm happens, Magni's sacrifice will confirm his thoughts and he becomes a shaman. Adding to that, the return of a faction of Iron Dwarves into alliance with the Bronzebeards via Moira allows him to finally return to Ironforge without facing suspicions about him personally.
Terethall Jul 27th 2010 10:47AM
Holy crap, I thought I was the only one.
I've never RPed, but I have a ridiculously long backstory for my human warlock and draenei shaman. To put it concisely, they have the same goals but radically different motivations. I suppose that's the result of my own difficulty in choosing a perspective on WoW politics.
For my own amusement, my warlock is an ardent follower of the Holy Light, and my shaman is an engineer who prefers to spend all her time indoors.
Nagaina Jul 27th 2010 10:48AM
I'm not only of an RP bent, I'm actually the officer in charge of roleplaying events for my guild so...yeah, there are actually a *lot* of connections between my assorted characters, though I've refrained from actually making my bank alts the heads of major criminal cartels. Though I might. Now that you've mentioned it. *Damn you.*
Admittedly, part of this comes from having outlined/written a good bit of my mains' backstories, in some cases a while before I began playing them or even had the capacity to play them. F'rex:
My paladin, Ashatha, is the daughter of a pair of Farstriders who left Quel'Thalas just after the end of the Second War, while she was just an infant. Her father, Ashten'ar, was unable to endure living there any longer, having been a prisoner of war of the Horde and having come back home not entirely intact in mind or body; his wife, Elitheia, had always wanted to roam further than the borders of her homeland to begin with and was not opposed to leaving now, especially as Quel'Thalas was becoming even more isolationist than it had been before. Ashatha more or less grew up on the road, never living in a place for more than a year or two, immersed in a multitude of different cultures. When the Plague of Undeath happened, her parents were among those who fled Lordaeron for Kalimdor with Jaina Proudmoore -- and, from Theramore, the wandering continued. They eventually ended up more closely aligned with the Horde than the Alliance, by virtue of the Quel'dorei/Sin'dorei split making them feel somewhat less than welcome among their former human friends and Ashten'ar finally finding some peace for his battered spirit among the Tauren. Ashatha eventually returned "home" to Quel'Thalas -- a place she had never really seen and didn't actually remember -- against the wishes of her parents. There she discovered that the rest of her Big Screwed Up Family -- her uncle, aunt, and most of her cousins -- were presumed dead, though she eventually learned that this wasn't *precisely* the case. She also discovered her calling as a paladin, came to the inescapable conclusion that the Blood Knights were a bunch of insufferable douchebags, and ran screaming away to the Argent Dawn to complete her training. She now mostly serves the Crusade in Northrend where she was unhappily surprised to discover...
Her cousin, Solivar, my death knight. Solivar is Ashatha's elder by a good number of years, having been born in the bordermarches of Quel'Thalas, along with his twin brother, prior to the First War. He and his brother got the full brunt of the Big Screwed Up Family effect, being the heirs of their ancient noble family of warrior-sorcerers, and the offspring of charming sociopath who had spidered his way into control of their house by virtue of murdering (by troll) his own eldest brother and (by poison) his father, and who went out of his way to encourage murderous sibling rivalry between his children. Solivar attempted to opt out but was eventually forced to run screaming away to Lordaeron to take holy orders among the novices attempting to join the Order of the Silver Hand. There he met his Nakama in the forms of the friends he made among the other novices, his One True Love, and eventually got field promoted from knight to paladin during the outbreak of the Plague of Undeath...just before Arthas came home from Northrend. And killed everybody. Including him. He was promptly raised as a death knight and served with perfectly horrifying distinction until he was freed at Light's Hope Chapel by the spirit of one of his dead old friends among the thousand righteous souls sanctifying that place. He is presently Walking the Earth trying to put matters to rights and following a vision he received to seek out the remaining living members of his Nakama, though he knows not why. He believes this vision came from the Light, and he might even be right about that.
Solivar's twin brother survived the fall of Quel'Thalas and grew up to become a warlock, played by my husband. ^_^
Most of my Alliance-side alts are members of Solivar's old Nakama, or relatives of the same. I haven't rolled the One True Love because the human male models are afflicted with egregious fug, but that lover's sisters, Tardyth and Kaetrin -- a baby paladin and shadow priestess respectively -- are two characters I want to spend more time with in Cataclysm. Brathaliana, their mutual big sister figure and also a paladin, is on my list of things to power level via dungeon finder as soon as I can. And then there's the bitter, bitter undead ex-paladin-current-Psycho For Hire Forsaken rogue who'd like to stab them all in the face.
...And that's totally leaving out all the guildie connections...
Kira Jul 27th 2010 10:57AM
Most of my toons don't have much, but my main, a Paladin is a fairly serious protector, even taking part in the epic battle for darkshire during the scourge invasion at the beginning of wrath, where paladins from both sides of the faction line on my server came together as one against a seemingly unending horde of undead. My mage is a fun loving pyro who used to have friendly competitions with a frost mage who she misses dearly. My Priest just has a soft spot for big cuddly tauren warrior tanks.
Aro Jul 27th 2010 11:01AM
My Orc Shaman was a warlock acolyte during the first and second wars. When the Horde broke up, she ran deep into the Hinterlands until she was found by a group of Orcs that had been living in Atlerac. It was there she first met My Orc Warrior who had been imprisoned at one of the internment camps. The same camp that My Human Paladin was Sergeant at. When he was young, My Human Paladin had been best friends with my Human Warrior (Later my Undead DK) as soldiers of Lordearon. My Human Paladin had also been with a diplomatic mission to Silvermoon, where he had a fling with an High Elf inn keeper who would later give birth to a Half Elf daughter (My Blood Elf Rogue.) My Rogue would later be chased down by my Orc Warrior for crimes against the new Warchief. After the sunwell was destroyed, my Rogue became fast friends with my Blood Elf Paladin who had lost her nobility status when her father betrayed the High Elves to the Scourge. My Blood Elf Paladin had been looking after her older sister (My Warlock) who was going through serious magic withdraw. Eventually my warlock would betray the Shattered Sun Offensive and became a Fel Blood. When the sunwell portal was closed my warlock was captured by her sister and my Rogue to be put on trial for war crimes. The Naruu decided to punish her by forcing the light into her soul which, to this day, causes her immense pain.
Thats pretty much the stories of my characters.
feniks9174 Jul 27th 2010 11:06AM
I did this all the time in City of Heroes. Each of my characters had a unique backstory, even though I never really RP'ed. My main was a college student who's powers awoke in a fit of rage when he came home to find a couple thugs assaulting his sister. Later he found out that he was not Human at all, but rather the long lost prince of a warrior race on another planet. When he discovers that his "true people" have the technology to make his sister walk again (paralyzed in the assault) he decides to claim his rightful throne. The succession is long and bloody and even though he wins in the end, he gets royally messed up in the process and has to be reconstructed all Vader-style.
My "main alts" were 1) a noble of my mains lost race, chasing him around hoping to win his heart and boost herself up a rung or two on the social ladder, 2) his girlfriend, a young widow whose husband and baby were killed by her employer as a way to steer her towards a specific field of research (she found out that it was them who orchestrated the murders and is bloody pissed about it) and, 3) an android built specifically to infiltrate said evil corporation and spy/assassinate/sabotage/etc.
In WoW, not so much. My two mains have personalities, but not necessarily stories. My Death Knight is a hardened soldier, disciplined, calm and no-nonsense. My lock, on the other hand is a sadistic psycho-b**** that only cares about the rush of battle and indulging her carnal desires.
fearthefireblade Jul 27th 2010 11:09AM
Not to be a fuddy duddy, but aren't paladins immune to the plague of undeath? They simply cannot become Scourge, meaning the OP's DK can't have formerly been a paladin.
I know. I'm fun at parties.
Nagaina Jul 27th 2010 11:17AM
The OP's DK suggests less of a 'death by plague' than a 'death by being repeatedly stabbed and being raised later by necromancy.'
Kira Jul 27th 2010 11:53AM
While your correct they are immune to the plague, once they die, they arent paladins anymore, just corpses that used to be paladins, and can be raised as normal.
restodr00d Jul 27th 2010 11:49AM
Not a RPier however i do have background for my characters for example the father of my main was in the army that was sent to OL with Kaelthas he was one of the Dragonhawk riders however he died in one of the battles before the Scryers faction was created. so he wanted to be a dragonhawk rider but in that moment when he was a proud member of the army our price betrayed us... so he wouldn't rest until the prince was kill... twice... and it goes and goes... but this is just a comment :P
arixian Jul 27th 2010 11:54AM
I've never really thought of ways to connect my different characters though I like the idea since they do help each other out by crafting things and sharing gold etc. I think the only times I've felt like I was casually RP'ing are with my 80 DK and my new mage alt. With the DK he only uses the DK mounts and his hearth is set to the Sewer in Dalaran because he feels that he doesn't deserve to be hearthed to the main inn, he feels the need to suffer to pay penance for his past. On my new lvl 18 gnome mage I found myself at the barber wishing I could have blue hair to go with my planned Frost leveling spec. Don't know if that really counts as RP or not. Since I couldn't get blue I settled for Red hair and am seriously considering changing his lvl'ing spec to Fire to match though there's no good reason for it.
chetoos Jul 27th 2010 12:03PM
I dont RP, but I do add backstories to my characters. for instance, my main, the most fleshed out, level 80 paladin, started out training as a warlock, but killed his master to get more power, tried to summon a demon that was too powerful, and almost destroyed the place where he was training. luckily, Tirion Fordring was going along in the countryside that day, and just happened to be nearby. My paladin saw the power used by tirion to fight off the demon, and so trained to have that power. now he is a mercenary for hire, doesnt matter the job, just pay him.
My mage is far less so fleshed out, however. she has been partially insane all her life, and that condition was increased with the crashing of the exodar, and being a mage, mastered the chaotic art of fire magic. when she reached the level that she could learn another specialization, she gained a dual personality as well, and became much more calm with frost spec. now in northrend, however, she has become much more sane with her fire spec, and is now a master of the arcane arts.
my worgen warrior, whose name I have saved, will have lost his friend during one of the early gileanan raids, only to later learn that the friend survived, much like crowley, and now tries to help, my character, not his friend.
RetPallyJil Jul 27th 2010 12:07PM
I know all about RPJ's life. However, I only share that info with other would-be rpers in the vast loneliness of a PvE server haha
ElrithCC Jul 27th 2010 12:29PM
I,.. am your dungeon master,....
shadcroly Jul 27th 2010 12:32PM
"Cestus was born a few years after the creation of the Greymane Wall, having became afflicted with the Worgen Curse before he is capable of remembering. Given his infantile age, his elder sister Schiavona, had no trouble in keeping the boy under control (although ironically, it was Cestus who spread the curse to his mother).
Cestus was one of the later cases Gilneans being treated for the Worgen Curse, alchemists administering the treatment on him as part of a test project to ensure the elixir had the desired result of restoring the minds of those afflicted for younger people. Naturally, it did, but it also gave him an altered perception of reality, given his particular circumstances.
He believes that Gilneas was always a Worgen nation, unable to comprehend that he and the rest of Gilneas were once humans. All he ever remembers was being a Worgen, and such was all he ever saw when he wasn’t driven by instinct anymore (or “made smarter”, as he calls the result of the elixir). Such details aren’t very important, so no one has bothered much to try and get him to accept otherwise.
Cestus was evacuated from Gilneas during the attack by the Forsaken, taking up residence in the Night Elf city of Darnassus. The Forsaken invasion of Gilneas has given Cestus a deep seeded hatred for the faction, its leader: Sylvanas Windrunner, and the acting Warchief of the Horde that ordered the attack: Garrosh Hellscream.
While it doesn’t help any, Cestus always carries around a worn map of Gilneas with him. It serves as a memento of his destroyed home nation, and the hope that one day the Worgen will be able to reclaim it, while also reminding him of those responsible for its fall in the first place and fuel his desire for retribution."
And that's just one of my characters...
Nawaf Jul 27th 2010 12:54PM
I'm just like you, I don't RP but I think of character stories. My first character, a draenei paladin, was only a baby when he left Argus with his father and mother. He lived in Nagrand. He had two brothers and a sister. They were all paladins and warriors. Arechron fought in the battle of Shattrath, and was one of the few survivors. My character, thinking that his father and his brother (who was in Shattrath, too. Although he didn't fight, he escaped), decided to follow Velen and take the rest of the family with him. The crash on Azuremyst killed his mother.
His brother decided to become a shaman (another character of mine). The three (paladin, shaman, and their sister warrior) went on adventuring through the world (aka leveling). When the reached the plaguelands they fought in a battle against the scourge. Only the shaman survived. The paladin was raised and became a death knight (also a character of mine). He returned to his brother after he was freed (you all know how that goes) and convinced him to go to Outland.
The two brothers went to Outland. After some leveling they met the Kurenai and went to Telaar. They were surprised to see the leader of the Kurenai. It was their father, Arechron. After they talked to him, he told them that their brother was in danger. They went to save Corki, twice. The shaman decided to stay in Telaar, while the DK went to avenge his sister's death. He went to Northrend.
When he was a paladin, he befriended a Night Elf hunter and his Druid brother. The hunter was wealthy, and he sponsored a gnome rouge gladiator (level 19 twink). The gnome became one of the most powerful rogue twinks.
When in Northrend, the DK became wealthy, and needed someone to manage his wealth while he fights the scourge. He hired a gnome to take care of his money (banker).
Brittyl Jul 27th 2010 1:06PM
My main is my only character to have a backstory, and I've tied it in to my biggest "quirks" in game.
1. Cannibalize disgusts me; I don't use it.
2. I _hate_ it when I am tanking and give people an opportunity to flee on a wipe and they either ignore it, or fail at fleeing. I know that I am only saving them about 5G on repairs if they run out, but I really believe that the tanks should chain cooldowns and sacrifice themselves for the team. In my eyes, it's the ultimate way of saying "I'm here to protect you."
3. Related to 2, tanks that forget that their number 1 job is to protect their team really piss me off.
4. When it isn't related to any of the above pet peeves, irony really amuses me.
That all being said, as the story goes when my Forsaken warrior was a human, she was Brittany, a warrior of Darrowshire. At the time she was much more like an arms warrior, a swift and precise weapon specialist. However, she was something of a glass cannon, earning herself the endearing nickname of "Brittle Brittany."
Before the famous Battle of Darrowshire, Brittany implored her family to leave the village. Having been deployed in other areas of Lordaeron, she had witnessed the Scourge first hand, and wanted to save her family from even the sight of such horrors. With her family convinced to leave, Brittany joined the front lines in defense of her hometown.
During the battle, Brittany fought valiantly, but fell to a ghoul, a former ally resurrected as Scourge from a previous battle. As she lay wounded and helpless before the ghoul, he recognized her. In what would become her last human memory, he mocked her with her nickname, malovently growling "Briiiittttllle" before violently demonstrating the fragility of her ribcage. She was crushed both physically and emotionally, her last thoughts of being too frail to protect herself let alone her family.
When Redpath's corruption spread over the battlefield, she was reborn as Scourge. She could feel the Lich King in her mind. He used her own childhood memories against her, directing her to her family's house, to the secret cellar that only her family knew about...
...to her family that had chosen to hide instead of flee.
When she was done feasting there was nothing left to reanimate.
The Forsaken are her family now, but she chooses to carry the name Brittyl. It is a constant reminder of her former weakness, the former failures of herself and her human family.
An ever present guilt to fuel her rage and make her a stalwart defender.
"I am Brittyl. I _am_ your tank. I _will_ protect you, no matter how many of my lives it takes."
Rheni Jul 27th 2010 10:03PM
I love your backstory; it's poignant, doesn't involve main lore characters personally, and sounds like it's natural for you to play the game with it in mind. Kudos.
I'm in the personality camp, but I would call my personification of my hunter RP-light. She's lithe, loathes having to swing a sword, and is incredibly observant, always standing apart in the best position to unload an ungodly amount of pain on her target.
My main source of a backstory is the fact that this was my first character in my first MMO; all my blundering and trial and error translated well into a narrative detailing how I went from whacking mana wyrmlings to shooting giant dragons in Northrend.
Ellemir Jul 27th 2010 1:32PM
You *ARE* a roleplayer! You don't have to stand around in the park and do emo dramatic scenes with other people doing the same thing in long storylines to be a roleplayer! All of us who know the background of our characters are roleplaying. It's fine to have it in little things - like how my dwarf rogue always has bread as her health food in her bags. Her mother's that wandering baker in the Ironforge commons, and she gets care packages. I know which alts are likeliest to flirt and which are serious. I know which will pick perfume and which cologne for Love is in the Air. I'll stop to /comfort a Dispirited Ent. (http://www.wowhead.com/npc=31041) Have fun with it!
One of my favorite stories is that of Jorline, my bank alt. Technically he's a warrior - but actually, he's a quiet accountant, who likes to fish and is into herbalism, but every now and then he gets the wanderlust and goes out, usually on holidays. He's never trained any skills, taken any talents, and is in clothes like tuxes or the pilgrim outfit, and usually is carrying something like a mug or egg basket, unarmed - and I've gotten him up to level 42. After the 2009 fire festival, he woke up the next morning hungover, with his bags full of booze, wearing a dress and his shoes were on fire! Must have been quite a party!