athena_rose922

athena_rose922, 26 days ago

And I'm just reminded of a line #ElmoreLeonard had when it came to a character's name.

"Names are important to me when I’m writing a book. If I give someone the wrong name, he might not talk when he’s supposed to, or be comfortable with himself. In Bandits, I called the main character Frank Matisse and he almost refused to talk. I changed him to Jack Delaney and I couldn’t shut him up."

Alanik Ray just did that to me because once I started calling him "Alan" it was like the floodgates opened.

athena_rose922, 26 days ago

You see, Adam Worth does not actually exist. When Arthur Sedgewick writes his novels they are largely accurate to reality but he invented a character named Adam Worth as a nemesis for Ray to take the place of various criminals they dealt with he didn't want to directly name for fear of reprisal. And after the Rosenlaui Falls incident he attributed that to "Adam Worth" to obscure that it was actually Alcio Metus who attempted to kill Ray.

athena_rose922, 26 days ago

When the players themselves visit the falls I have an idea for an encounter where they run across a "phantom" of Adam Worth reenacting this battle, which at this point is famous across Ravenloft through the books. Except it's not quite Adam Worth and occasionally the fact it was Alcio bleeds through in places.

It's gonna be a bit until the players get to this point but I think it'll make a cool encounter and few things are as epic as a battle on the top of a waterfall.

athena_rose922, 26 days ago

And the name Adam Worth is itself a reference to real life and the man considered to be the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes' nemesis James Moriarty. So we have layers and layers of fiction and reality at work here.

athena_rose922, 26 days ago

@artemis I'm in absolute agreement as somebody who did spend my adolescence on a farm and did have to deal with occasions where we had to put animals down (horses in our case and because of medical issues like colic that we were not able to help them with after trying).

Which we did via a vet because we loved those animals and were not overly cruel. Unlike this woman.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

I didn't realize this consciously, but there's definitely a bit of my paternal grandfather in Van Richten when it comes to his general demeanor.

Because my grandfather was once described as "If he told a joke it would kill you."

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

So while writing the story that this article references I came to the realization that Arthur’s reply here was not actually written by him. Alan is the one who actually wrote this.

Because Arthur is still furious at Osgul and (correctly) suspects he was complicit in what happened to Alan but Alan himself still wants to try to sway him to their side which is why he addresses him by first name. Osgul knows damn well that Alan is the only person who refers to him as such.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

It's also kind of funny because in my own head ever since I started referring to him as Alan, he's opened up to me a lot more.

Like there are bits of his background that are honestly pretty dark that he tends to keep close to his chest.

Like the fact that he wears red tinted glasses because his father, a crime boss, thought that it was unbecoming for the son of such a powerful man to have such beautiful, beautiful blue eyes.

Ardal Ray was a fucking bastard.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

Like he gave his son all of the material goods he could ask for but was extremely emotionally neglectful and when Alan was a teenager rumors of his father's criminal activities started and when Alan confronted his father on them his father's response was to disinherit him and throw him out.

No wonder then that Alan's next move was to start working with the people trying to bring down his father which eventually got Ardal arrested and imprisoned for life.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

Most of this is based on the second edition version of Alanik Ray but with some embellishments by myself. I also now have a reason why when they get married Alan is going to change his surname to Sedgewick, and not just to protect himself from Alcio.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago (edited 26 days ago)

I might do another story from Alan's point of view at some point. With things like how the word "unbecoming" is something that annoys the shit out of him, and it's part of why he's known for having a somewhat eccentric style of dress as Chief Constable. He's vicariously getting back at his father, who went after him not just for his eyes but also his effeminate mannerisms.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago (edited 27 days ago)

That's also accidentally a bit of Pagan Min from Far Cry 4. Who is one of my favorite antagonists in anything I've seen in years. Except Alan doesn't turn into a brutal dictator.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

So I guess if Arthur is the part of me that's dealt with PTSD then Alan is the more sarcastic and "fuck you" part of me. Although Alan is better at hiding the anger than I am at present.

And In fairness to myself, I imagine Alan being about 50 years old, seeing as he's an elf. But he looks to be in the equivalent of his 20s physically.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

And I think one reason Alan dislikes Alcio Metus so much (even before she, you know, attempted to kill him) is that he recognizes the gimlet-eyed expression she has as the same one his father always wore. And like him she doesn't care who she has to manipulate or destroy to get power.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

This song is also on my inspiration playlist for Alan.

https://youtu.be/hzJOOZ5hnN4?si=pMUxZR_1t4ZtPmVE

athena_rose922, 28 days ago

Also results in a little bit of stretching of things like a truth spell because Arthur is completely telling the truth when he says that he saw Alanik Ray die. He did, in fact, die, but he left out the part where he was brought back by a resurrection spell.

athena_rose922, 28 days ago

An unintended running theme in this story is how people refer to each other and what it means.

Arthur calls Van Richten "Doctor" because while he sees him as a mentor there is emotional distance between them.

Alan calls him "Rudolph" because they have known each other for years and are friends.

And Aldemar calls him "Rudy" because he is literally family, even if by marriage.

I also didn't intend to have so many A names all in a single story. That was an accident.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

Also why there's both a Ray and a Faye in the same story. The character who eventually became Faye was actually named Minerva in my original campaign outline, but most of her character traits got transferred over to Priscilla von Aubrecker when I decided to shift the focus off Van Richten and make it more of a general Darkon story.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

That was also the result of me deciding that I really don't want to depict kids being put in mortal peril and hurt, so the original idea of Faye unknowingly being Alcio Metus' pawn went out the window.

Priscilla is still pretty young, but she is actually an adult.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

It also resulted in a significant shift to an upcoming plot where in the original 2e Ravenloft campaign a wealthy rug maker named Stefan Dyreth has staffed his factory entirely with zombies that are actually reanimated children.

I'm keeping the general structure of that plot, except the zombies are all adults. Zombie kids are a step too far for me.

athena_rose922, 27 days ago

Chapter Four, aka where things turn from a slow burn into an actual fire.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55347070/chapters/140926306