Character Quiz

Food Love Guilty Bandit I Death Guilty Bandit II Greater Evil

Murder Rooms Music Self Improvement Perfect Mate Servants

Sacred Items Devil's Advocate One's Own Universe Revenge First Battle Voice

What is your character's favorite food? Drink? What food does the character hate?

She doesn't really have much in the way of food preferences, really; ditto for drink. As long as it's not moving, she'll eat it. Or drink it, as the case may be.

Describe the character's first, or most memorable, love affair. Can be anything from pre-teen crush, to a long-term romance. Be sure to describe the object of your character's affection, along with the changes that your character went through in terms of feeling and thoughts about that person. Did it start out as a maddening hatred? Instant love? Who fell for who first? Was love a surprise? How did it all end? How does everyone, including you, your lover, rivals, parents, friends, observers, feel about it now?

"No, I really don't want to talk about it.

"Because it's stupid, damnit!

"All right. Fine. His name was Joran; lived over in the next town. He was a big redheaded goalie, with a mean right hook, and he'd spend off-time coaching local figure skaters on how to move faster on the ice. But he was handsome, kind, and two-timing. Well, it wasn't so much that he was two-timing me as it was three- or four-timing. Four girls, all at once. I knew about them - hell, we even got together and had lunch a couple of times - but I didn't really care. I had a huge crush on him at the time; after a while, I have to admit I was mostly still in it for the sex, the companionship, and the hockey gear he'd buy me. Can't really say that I loved him - love's too permanent and too exclusive a word for what we had going.

"Anyway, Joran's problem was that he couldn't say no. All four of us had asked him out. (Not that we let on about that to other girls - four was a bit of a crowd already. At least we got along well.) If you asked him to take you out one night, he'd say yes - even if he already had a date with one of the other girls that night. It could be awkward, but we'd usually solve who he was going home with by going off to the restroom and flipping a coin.

"All that 'yes, dear' crap is why I finally had to dump him after a year and a half. The girl he'd been with the longest, Rosette, asked him to marry her. Of course he said yes. Then he told the rest of us, and actually asked if we wanted to stay on as his girlfriends (I think it was Rosie's idea). Now, I'm not that jealous a person, and multiple girls in a relationship with one guy doesn't bother me, but I do have a bit too much pride in myself to be one of three mistresses for a married man. That's just too much. Besides, the sex had been... well, declining in quality, shall we say? And I had my eye on a right-winger named Lars from down the street.

"So we broke up, right there on the spot. He seemed a little confused, like it was some great honor he was offering me. Bullshit; if he wanted a harem, he should have known better than to ask me to be one of his concubines.

"Heard later that Jacqueline broke up with him too, when he asked her to keep being his girlfriend; only Arabelle stayed on. Jacquie's married to Joran's best friend now; she and I still sometimes meet for lunch. Last I heard, Joran and Rosie and Belle had moved to the Silk Coast, where the figure skating is better.

"Mom hated Joran. She thought it was him doing the using, even though I kept telling her otherwise. She damn near threw a party when I told her I'd broken up with him. Jacquie and I had a bit of a party of our own, but that was after he'd moved; I found out then that she'd broken up with him for much the same reasons, only she had her eye on his best friend instead of my right-winger.

"The guys I was playing with back then - Rikki, Cortez, Lars, and Tomas - didn't say much about the whole thing, other than a few nudges and winks the first time I showed up to play at the same time as Lars instead of Joran. Got some catcalls from other players about the whole thing, but I fixed that problem with a few well-placed checks.

"There. That's the whole silly little story. No blood and gore or anything, but it's idiotic enough without injuries."

You return to a comfortable, way-shadow inn that has housed you in comfort numerous times over the years. You find that the kindly family has just been threatened, beaten up, and robbed. You track down the guilty bandit leader and capture him. What will you do now?

"Beat the hell out of the bastard. Then take him back and ask the family what they think a good punishment is. Of course, if they're going to be a bit too lenient... well, what they don't know won't hurt them."

Your character gets into a discussion about death and dying. How would your character describe the perfect death?

"The perfect death? No such thing. I'll be happy if someone takes me out while I'm doing something I enjoy - but they better have the guts to come down and get me from up close. None of that sniper crap."

Going back to the guilty bandit, assume that you decide that banishment in a far-off shadow is an appropriate punishment. Describe the shadow you would seek for this purpose.

"Pssht. Well, all right. If I dump what's left of the stupid bastard in Shadow... well, hell, it'll be something appropriate. Depends on whether there was rape involved, I guess. If not, well, I guess just somewhere impossibly weird; if there was... well, it'll just be somewhere impossibly weird and unsurvivable."

Which would your character describe as the greater evil - murder of a Shadow person, or the maiming of an Amberite?

"I don't know... I guess the Family-maiming... I mean, hell, you can go find a duplicate of your average Shadow person, right? That's as long as it's not one of my friends that gets the axe."

What would provoke you to murder a Shadow dweller? A lie? An insult? An attack? A crime against one of your friends? Nothing?

"Well, trying to kill me is a good start! Whether I kill them for attacking me depends entirely on whether they're stupid or not - I'll spare the stupid ones. Crimes against my buddies are a good way to piss me off, but it's gotta be a pretty nasty crime for me to cut off someone's life allowance."

Describe your character's personal bedroom or suite. Where is it located? Describe the contents and the various rooms. What is the style of the furniture? Describe your favorite reading spot, and your favorite chair.

She's got a tiny house in her home town. It's basically arranged with one big room that has the kitchen, living room, dining room, etc. There are three smaller rooms: her bedroom, a guest room, and her practice room. Two bathrooms, one off her bedroom, and one connected to the larger room.

The music room is painted a pale, pale blue and is basically unfurnished; it's got her music stand, a couple of cabinets full of music books and sheet music, and an under-stuffed and much-(ab)used green sofa.

The guest room is also pretty plain: a double bed, a pair of bedside tables, and a dresser along one wall. The walls are painted white.

Her bedroom, somewhere under the stacks of dirty (and neatly folded, clean) clothing, invitations to things, hockey gear, and other items that are peculiarly hers, is basically as simple as the guest room. She's got a closet that tends to be half-empty (since her clothes are on the floor, even if they are folded), a dresser that usually only holds underwear and jewelry, a double bed pushed against one wall, and a single bedside table. There's a tiny safe in the closet, and a second one bolted to the wall under her bed. This room is also blue, but a darker one than the music room; the bathrooms are both done in blue and gold.

The big common area is actually white; there's a small painted border of morning glories and honeysuckle along the top of the room, on all four walls. The front door is right next to the kitchen, on the north wall; the guest room is on the east wall, on the north side of one of the bathrooms. The south wall lets out into the back yard and the two-stall stable attached to the back of the house; there's a large stone fireplace on this wall. The west wall is Oriana's bedroom and the music room, with the music room to the south of the bedroom and the bathroom making the music room smaller than the bedroom.

Generally, all of her furniture is of the comfort-before-looks type. She seems to prefer older furniture that's been well-broken-in but was once on the overstuffed side, with no particular preference as to color. She's got a black leather sectional sofa and an orange armchair, paired up with a coffee table tiled in purple, while the kitchen is done mostly in greens and blues. The dining room table and chairs are all the same color, but that's the best that can be said for them; it's clear that they're all from different sets, and it looks like a couple have been recently stripped and re-stained to match. This room is nearly as messy as her bedroom, with a trail of papers coming out of the music room, and a perpetual damp spot on the tile next to the front door where she drops her hockey gear when she comes in after a game. A crooked bookcase near the guest room has a pile of books next to it and very few books on the shelf. Cushions and piled-up blankets are skattered everywhere, and it's entirely likely that she's stripped on the way to her bedroom at some point, although she might not leave underwear sitting out for long.

The stable is fairly small; an aisleway, two stalls (both about 12' square), and an enclosed area (with a door) smaller than the stalls that has a couple of bales of hay, some grain, and riding equipment. One of the stalls has a door in the outside wall; the door is usually kept open.

It seems that Musical Talent seems to pop up from time to time among the Amberites. Random plays drums and loves Jazz, Martin plays Alto Sax and has tastes ranging from Ritchie Cole to ultramodern Punk/Fusion, Corwin was a lyricist who composed the famous "Ballad of the Water Crossers" and one could easily see him with a guitar doing Johnny Cash covers. What instrument, if any does your character play? What styles do you prefer? Or do you have different performing talent such as Stage Drama? Stand Up Comedy? Do you ever perform "professionally", or merely for your own entertainment?

She's a singer; she doesn't play instruments. She hates playing instruments - even though she can find notes on most of them. In terms of musical taste, right now she's into classical vocal pieces - but not belt-it-out operatic. I could see her getting into the hard end of rock music later (the stuff that is still actually singing, not shouting), when she decides to broaden her horizons musically. She usually only sings for friends and family, but can be convinced to entertain a small-to-medium-sized gathering, say 30 people or less.

Which self-improvement course does your character need more: "Assertiveness Training", "Ten Steps to a New Love Life", "How to Win Friends and Influence People", or "Organizing Your Life."? Why? Which course would your character be qualified to teach?

Heh. Well, I think she might find "Organizing Your Life" the most useful of the four... She's very tidy when it comes to things she enjoys doing and focusses on... Everything else suffers from absent-minded messiness. As for teaching - well, I don't think she's going to have issues with being assertive... so "Assertiveness Training" it is.

How would your character describe his or her perfect mate/spouse? Do you, the player, agree? How is your character mistaken? Overly idealistic? Or is your character looking for all the wrong things?

"Pssht. I'm too young to find a perfect mate, if there is such a thing. I guess I want someone who's not gonna be too clingy. They'll have to let me go my own way when I decide to do something. They'll need to respect my privacy and my pride. And the sex better be good. But I don't know beyond that, not yet."

*chuckle* I suspect she needs someone that will be willing to argue her out of stuff occasionally, but I'm not really sure otherwise. I'm not good at this kind of stuff.

If your character uses servants, which servant is most trusted? Most liked? Most indispensable? Describe each of them.

"Servants? Why would I need servants? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Just because I'm a slob doesn't mean I can't do it - I just have better things to do. And if I had servants, they'd have to touch my stuff, and there're things I don't let anyone touch."

Everybody has some little item that they regard as somehow sacred. A piece of clothing, a memento of some event, whatever. What is your character's sacred item? Tell the story of how your character found it, or why it came to be so important.

"Stuff I don't let anyone touch? Well, I mean, anyone who fucks with my hockey stuff or my sword or my music is just asking for it. More specifically... well, you see those? *points to a shadow box containing a pair of skates - skates are blue and gold, with musical notes etched into the blades* Yeah. My Uncle Max - one of Mom's brothers - made the blades... he had some health issues, and died right after he gave them to me. He was a sweet guy. Yeah... the rest of the skates were made by a good friend who took a bad check right after he finished. He didn't survive either - I swear the damned things are cursed. I wore 'em a couple of times and nearly broke my neck every time - on the other hand, we did win those games. They're beautiful skates, and I cared a lot about the people that made them for me... but they're gonna stay in that box until I start feeling self-destructive or something. And nobody better mess with them, 'cause unless they're better than me at everything, I'm going to do my damnest to make them an acceptable casualty. *gestures at a music stand made all of wood; the stem bit is made of three types of wood twisted together like a braid* Similar thing for my music stand, although no one died to make it. Well, that I know of; it was kind of a family heirloom, so someone could have... But I get real bitchy when someone messes with it; the damned thing's fragile."

Take a Devil's Advocate stand. Describe what you (the player) hate about the character. What are the good reasons for other characters to dislike/hate the character? What little, minor bad habit does your character have that would annoy anyone after a while?

I'm a little creeped out by the fact that she seems to completely disbelieve in the idea of perfection. And by her idea that humans are like animals when it comes to punishment (umm... question after next - the one about revenge). She's just not that interested in metaphysical and philosophical questions. And she hums. All. The. Time. She doesn't hum for the following reasons: it's important that she shut up (i.e., stalking something/one), she's eating, she's talking, she's singing, or she's completely out of breath. She doesn't necessarily hum tunes, either. She's very protective of things and much less so of people. When she's got her blood up (excited, up in arms, involved in something high-energy, etc), she's much more likely to have "accidental" violent encounters - not necessarily fistfights, but rough bumping into people, etc. Other than that, she's reasonably good-natured.

At one point Corwin said, "...It is an academic, though valid, philosophical question, as to whether one with power over Shadow could create his own universe. Whatever the ultimate answer, from a practical point we could." How would your character respond?

"Uh... riiiiight. I don't really care, to tell you the truth. Stuff in Shadow is there when I want it, and philosophy isn't my thing."

To your character, does revenge mean (1) "an eye for an eye" (2) "repayment with interest" (3) " the only good enemy is a dead enemy" (4) something else? In exacting revenge, would your character serve it hot, as soon as possible after the offense, or cold, awaiting a perfect time and place?

"Well, hell, if someone's going to screw with me, I'm going to give it to them right back. Might be a little harder, or a little more efficient, but that's insurance. Wouldn't want anyone getting any bright ideas...

"I'm not gonna wait, either, most of the time. You know that thing about punishing animals as soon as they misbehave, or they won't know what they're being punished for? Yeah, well, there aren't too many people around here that think better than animals when they're excited - you gotta kick their ass now, or they're going to try to be pissed off because you're correcting them later. Some times I'll wait until there's a good and ironic place to right the balance... but most of the time it's best to do it now."

The character's first battle, first hunt, or first killing of another person. Try to make it as vivid as possible, including the character's age, training and inexperience, plus details on the surroundings (weather, terrain, uniforms or clothing of self and others).

"Yeah, I've been hunting. About fifteen years back, Uncle Jesse took me off to the southwest mountains to knock off a few eilid [OOC: Word is Gaelic for female deer. They'll be described in a few...]. It was pretty much just me and Uncle Jesse and our horses. It took all day to get over to the mountains; we stayed that night with a friend of his, somewhere in the foothills. Next morning, bright and early, we rolled out of bed and headed up the mountains; the horses stayed in the stable. Uncle's friend supplied us with a pair of crossbows on the way out the door.

"We had to head up to the upper meadows, where it evens out enough for a herd to hang out. As we moved through the trees, Uncle explained the local hunting laws and pointed out the tracks of things we don't usually see in the coastal areas. It was a nice day, with just enough sun to keep it warm and not enough to start things melting. Through the trees, we could see the silver-dappled hides of eilid just beginning their search for food. Just glimpses, though; the trees are too thick below the upper meadows to get a good shot at anything.

"The walk wasn't short, but that was all right. It'd been a while since Uncle Jesse and I had time to talk. We chatted about my current fling, and the horse herds, and about the idea of me claiming a permanent mount instead of depending on potluck all the time. We discussed Mom, and Uncle Max's death, and he gave me the third degree on my current round of hockey buddies. It was a quiet talk, though, since the eilid were all around us.

"We came up out of the forest and into the scrub trees that ring the upper meadows; they're leafy, green things, a hair taller than me and insanely bushy. As we crept up to the edge of the nearest open area, our conversation faded to silence.

"The meadow was full of eilid - gangly-legged, barrel-chested, silver-coated deer with burnished steel hooves and matching racks of horns that precede their dark eyes by half a foot and trail behind their ears another two feet.

"Uncle Jesse hissed softly after a moment, and I glanced towards him. He nodded towards the far side of the clearing and whispered, 'Poacher.'

"I looked and damned if there wasn't. One of the regs for hunting is that you're not supposed to wear greens that blend in with the forest, white, or silver. And there was this guy all in dark green, his head shaded by leaves of the nearest scrub bush, with a crossbow. I leaned over to Uncle Jesse. 'See him. What now?'

"'You can catch your first poacher.' He smiled a little. 'Aim for the shoulder. You should be able to pin him.'

"I nodded, aimed, and fired. I did aim at his shoulder... but he took the moment after I shot to start kneeling. And damned if the bolt didn't go through his head.

"I swallowed and looked over at Uncle. He was as pale as I was. 'Oops.' "The body started toppling, and the eilid fled. So much for that hunt. Uncle Jesse stood up, and I followed him across the snowy clearing to the ex-poacher. There really wasn't anything to do for the guy - he'd knelt at entirely the wrong time, and there was a huge hole through his head.

"Uncle sighed, ran a hand through his hair, then shrugged. 'Get me some firewood while I start a fire. We'll dispose of as much of this as we can.'

"'Uh... That's kind of illegal, Uncle.'

"'You want to take responsibility?'

"I thought about it for a minute. 'Not really.' I went looking for firewood.

"There's not much more to it after that. We burned the body and the crossbow bolt, then walked back down the mountain. Uncle Jesse told his friend that I'd missed and spooked the herd, which was true in one sense and completely humiliating in another, and we rode home the next day. Never did get to go out there again."

Describe your character's voice. Would you say your character speaks with formality? Casually? Does the character have any favorite expressions/curses?

LOL Well, I think at this point, one has to admit that she's got a very informal voice. The closest to favorite expressions seem to be that dismissive "Pssht" she comes out with, and "the damned thing" in reference to some object she's exasperated by.