Things to Consider when creating a compelling character
Introduction
When beginning to think about a new character, nailing down the basics can go a long way to help characterize your dragon. Think about what you enjoy most about your dragon: their appearance, their personality, the vibes and moods they inspire. Consider things like their physical appearance, unique traits, motivations, hopes and fears. If they have a history or backstory, how has it turned your dragon into who they are today?
Answering these questions are is a great first step to take if you want to evolve your dragon from basic characterizations into a more complex character. Think about the following things to build a sturdy, thoughtful foundation for your dragon.
Species
Physical Appearance
Personality
Apparel
Occupation
Motivations
When beginning to think about a new character, nailing down the basics can go a long way to help characterize your dragon. Think about what you enjoy most about your dragon: their appearance, their personality, the vibes and moods they inspire. Consider things like their physical appearance, unique traits, motivations, hopes and fears. If they have a history or backstory, how has it turned your dragon into who they are today?
Answering these questions are is a great first step to take if you want to evolve your dragon from basic characterizations into a more complex character. Think about the following things to build a sturdy, thoughtful foundation for your dragon.
Species
- What is your dragon's breed? Are they happy as they are?
- Have they ever been breed changed? If so, what were they before?
- What breed-specific stereotypes does your dragon adhere to or break?
- Are there species-specific mannerisms your dragon has that is noteworthy?
- What relations do they have with dragons of the same species?
Physical Appearance
- What is your dragon's colors, gender, sexuality, etc?
- Their size compared to their siblings, clan, dragons of the same species?
- Are there special markings, scars, birthmarks, wounds on their body?
- Are they missing any limbs or objects (ie: Pearlcatcher without pearl)?
- Is your dragon is wearing a skin or accent? Born that way vs altered after?
Personality
- What are the most important personality traits of your dragon?
- Has their personality evolved over time or stayed the same?
- Has your greater clan lore impacted the dragon? If so, how?
- If personality has changed, what events spurred the change? Good or bad?
- Is your dragon a reliable narrator? (proximity in values to the implied author).
Apparel
- Does the apparel have a theme? Is it serious, functional, whimsical, haphazard?
- Does your dragon's occupation factor into their apparel choices?
- Does your dragon's apparel express or hide who they are as an individual?
- Is your dragon's apparel light, medium, or heavy in terms of weight? Why?
- Does your dragon's apparel clink, bang, drift, shimmer, etc as they move?
Occupation
- What is your dragon's job in the clan? Do they have one?
- How vital is their work? Are they a respected member of the clan or an outcast?
- What kinds of tools, supplies, physical characteristics would this dragon have?
- Does your dragon like their occupation? Do they have more than one job?
- What responsibilities does this dragon have? What is their day-to-day like?
Motivations
- What drives your dragon? What fears, goals, hopes, aspirations do they have?
- Is your dragon a lawful, neutral, or chaotic individual?
- Is your dragon a staunchly good/evil character, or are they morally grey?
- Is your dragon motivated by ideals, money, power, revenge, something else?
- What is your dragon's end goal? What do they wish to achieve?
Bonds & Relationships in Lore
Introduction
A great way to flesh out existing characters is to consider their relationships with the individuals or factions around them. Not all dragons need to be associated with others, but if they are, consider who they are friends or enemies with. What is the history and motivations of other groups?
These questions can create a complex, rich environment where changes and lore developments occur organically. Consider the following relationships to help you characterize your dragons.
Family:
Friends:
Mentors:
Romantic Partners:
Offspring:
Familiars:
Individual Clan Alliances:
Flight-Wide Lore Alliances:
Rival or Enemy Flight:
Beastclans:
A great way to flesh out existing characters is to consider their relationships with the individuals or factions around them. Not all dragons need to be associated with others, but if they are, consider who they are friends or enemies with. What is the history and motivations of other groups?
These questions can create a complex, rich environment where changes and lore developments occur organically. Consider the following relationships to help you characterize your dragons.
Family:
- Is the dragon an orphan or if they have family?
- Is there an existing lineage, parents, offspring or adopted family?
- Are the other dragons in the clan, or are they in other clans or flights?
- If they're elsewhere, who made the choice to leave, and why?
- Are they still in contact? Why or why not?
Friends:
- Is this dragon a loner, or do they have friends?
- Consider if this dragon naturally has associated dragons (ie: Coliseum team).
- Who would their occupations, hobbies, motivations have them associate with?
- Is it a partnership of convenience and shared interest, or a deep bond?
- Do these dragons have a shared past? Does it include other dragons as well?
Mentors:
- Would this dragon naturally have a mentor in their line of work or interests?
- If so, how did the two meet? What were their first impressions?
- Has your dragon changed or matured over time? What were they like before?
- Has the mentor changed your dragon for the better or worse?
- What are the mentors external and internal motivations? Are they genuine?
Romantic Partners:
- Does this dragon have a single partner, multiple partners, or no partners?
- Are they seeking one or are they uninterested?
- If they have partner(s), are they close? Does this dragon have past partners?
- Is this an arranged partnership for political or social reasons?
- Is this dragon intentionally celibate? Can they physically bear offspring?
Offspring:
- Why did this dragon choose to bear offspring? Personal, Dominance, Other?
- Did this dragon produce offspring with a single partner or multiple partners?
- Are all of the offspring biological, or are some adopted (scavenged egg, etc)?
- Between siblings, are there any issues of inheritance, rule, jealousy, etc?
- What is the relationship between hatchlings and parents? Surrogate parents?
Familiars:
- How did your dragon and familiar meet? How did their relationship evolve?
- What relationship does your dragon have with local Beastclans?
- Has your familiar changed the way your dragon characterizes Beastclans?
- Is your familiar more of a simple pet, or is it a companion? Friend? Confidant?
- Does your familiar have its own motivations? What are its primary goals?
Individual Clan Alliances:
- Do you have an IRL or Online family member or friend interested in lore?
- If so, what elements of their clan or lore pique your interest?
- What is the Leadership of the other clan(s)? Why are they your allies?
- Is the other lair led by one dragon, a pair, a council, multiple factions?
- What is your relationship with the other clan? Are you trade or political allies?
Flight-Wide Lore Alliances:
- What flights might naturally ally with your clan?
- If you have moved flights, are you allied with your old flight?
- Is the alliance bond strong or weak? What could be done to test or break it?
- History of the alliance? Why did it form, and under what circumstances?
- If you have more than one clan alliance, are your allies friends? Enemies?
Rival or Enemy Flight:
- What flights naturally have different ideals or motivations than yours?
- Why are these two particular flights or clans hostile?
- Do they have leaders, rules, ways of life, or practices you disagree with?
- What is the history (old allies, betrayals, etc) that may have led to this point?
- If your clan is split into warring factions, what factor(s) caused the schism?
Beastclans:
- If incorporating existing FR lore, what Beastclans are native to your region?
- What history does your clan or individual dragon have with the Beastclans?
- Are the Beastclans enemies or allies? How have they helped or hurt you?
- Do the Beastclans have internal motivations? Are they sentient or animalistic?
- What is the overall goal of the Beastclans? Territory? Revenge? Something else?
Using In-Game Mechanics as Inspiration
IntroductionFor many people, incorporating the In-Game Mechanics of Flight Rising (as a web and mobile browser game) can be challenging when considering its impact on lore. Some people choose to ignore things like Flight dominance, exalted dragons, undesirable offspring lists, the Dragon Sales section of the Auction House, and other factors beyond their control. There is nothing wrong with that and it can be interesting and rewarding to create lore without certain elements of the game.
However, for those who are open to game mechanics as a medium for character development, there are also many great ways to incorporate these elements into your lore to create something truly unique to your dragon. Consider the following FR Game Mechanics and see if any of them would add to or enrich your clan's lore.
DominanceAs an Influence on the Dragon:
As a Catalyst for Change:
If this is a problem for your lore, do not sell, gift, or trade dragons to other lairs.
However, for those who are open to game mechanics as a medium for character development, there are also many great ways to incorporate these elements into your lore to create something truly unique to your dragon. Consider the following FR Game Mechanics and see if any of them would add to or enrich your clan's lore.
DominanceAs an Influence on the Dragon:
- What Flight had Dominance when your dragon was hatched? (Dom Tracker)
- Was its power waxing (just achieved Dom) or waning (nearing end of week)?
- What energies (calm, chaotic, peaceful, etc) do you associate with said Flights?
- How would those energies affect the shaping and creation of your dragon?
- Any extra powers or stronger magic due to the Flight in power?
As a Catalyst for Change:
- Does your lair participate in Dominance efforts (particularly Conquest Pushes)?
- In important lore battles, did your Flight win or lose that week?
- What were the rewards or consequences for won/lost fights?
- For clans with cross-flight allies or enemies, what happens when flights fight?
- If your lair is split by Flights, what happens when the two go to war?
- What happens to dragons who go to serve their deity?
- FR's definition of exalting is intentionally vague, what does it mean to you?
- How does your interpretation of exalted dragons affect your clan lore?
- Can an exalted dragon "die" by other means in the lore?
- Lore reasons for exalted dragons that came back via Dragon Restoration?
- Are dragons sold or purchased from the AH part of your clan's lore?
- What is the relation of the rest of the AH compared to Dragon Sales?
- Is the sales and trades of dragons legal? If not, how are sales completed?
- Do themes like slaves, prisoners of war, social ranks, etc exist in-lore or not?
- Lore reasons for Unhatched Elemental Eggs purchased from the AH?
- How many offspring did your dragons have in-lore?
- How does that affect their personality and outlook on life?
- Did their offspring go on to serve a different Deity? Why?
- What is the lore reason for offspring with undesirable names (ie: FODDER)?
- Has this dragon has decided to stop having offspring? Why or why not?
If this is a problem for your lore, do not sell, gift, or trade dragons to other lairs.
- Does your dragon have parents or offspring with existing lore?
- If so, does it conflict with yours? Is the narrator telling the whole story?
- How can you incorporate themes from their story to characterize your dragon?
- What unresolved feelings stemmed from your dragon's past due to this?
- If your dragon did something in the past, have they changed or moved on?
Tools & Resources
Huge thanks to the many resources that exist to help people write lore, format bios, create Lore Clans, RP with others, and more. I have linked several extremely useful Resources and References below in the hopes that they can provide further help to you. Good luck and happy writing!
Resources & ReferencesCharacter Creation:
Resources & ReferencesCharacter Creation:
- Name Generator (Names, Locations, Familiars, Weapons)
- Dragon Titles & Classes by biohazardBroski
- Comparative Dragon Size Masterpost by Rauxel
- Apparel Catalog by EclipseDragon
- Lore Clans Guide by Demesme
- RP Practice Space by Amalythia
- Dominance Tracker by Alisette
- Dragon Bio Resources by sgkat
- Dragon Description Templatesby Snapdragon
- BBCode Guide by aisumoka
Dominance & Its effects on lore (WIP)
Flights are ordered by Festival Dates from Launch Day.
Light Flight
Brightshine Jubilee
July Flight
Thundercrack Carnivale
Fire Flight
Flameforger's Festival
Arcane Flight
Starfall Celebration
Plague Flight
Riot of Rot
Earth Flight
Rockbreaker's Ceremony
Ice Flight
Crystalline Gala
Shadow Flight
Trickmurk Circus
Wind Flight
Mistral Jamboree
Water Flight
Wavecrest Saturnalia
Nature Flight
Greenskeeper Gathering
Light Flight
Brightshine Jubilee
July Flight
Thundercrack Carnivale
Fire Flight
Flameforger's Festival
Arcane Flight
Starfall Celebration
Plague Flight
Riot of Rot
Earth Flight
Rockbreaker's Ceremony
Ice Flight
Crystalline Gala
Shadow Flight
Trickmurk Circus
Wind Flight
Mistral Jamboree
Water Flight
Wavecrest Saturnalia
Nature Flight
Greenskeeper Gathering