Neverath was something that was being tossed around back in 2006 or so, but things didn’t quite take off. High expectations of other people joining and the fairly steep barrier to entry probably being the most noticeable problems. I’m not quite sure if HMF will work out for Neverath, and I’m not sure if I still want to be engaged in this as before.
Kaoru was a character that developed during Jim and I’s initial talks about Neverath. So as much as Neverath expanded to what it is now, Kaoru did as well. I had Kaoru’s profile taking a backseat while Neverath slowly progressed. Even still, I’m not quite sure what the final profile will look like. Kaoru, in my mind, is a very dynamic character that I think could go well with anything. Without further ado:
Kaoru Minamoto
Magical Trap
Name: Kaoru Minamoto
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Weapons: Kaliedospear - your standard magical wand but with a spear at the end instead. Candy red is the main color of this weapon.
Magic: I imagine Kaoru would have a variety of abilities at this point. But main ones would be magical bindings and traps. Bit of knowledge in both fire and ice as well.
Personality: Alright this is where things start to get difficult. This is where you basically describe how your characters acts, what fears they have, what strangle little quirks the may have, and anything else along those lines. Try to be more descriptive than just listing personality traits, for instance, Loner (Though to start out there is nothing wrong with that). Possibly the hardest part of this is when you have figured out your character’s personality you have to try and post accordingly.
Originally, I had setup Kaoru to be, amusingly, a loner. I’m still working out his character as I’m writing up his story, but he’s not as much of a loner anymore. He’s the friendly sort, nice guy, all that. I would think others see him as moralistic. Doesn’t believe in ignoring those who’ve hit rock bottom. The kind of guy who attempts to see the best in people. Wants to help in anyway he can.
He doesn’t want to be the hero. He wants to be the guy who helps the hero stop the villain with sage advice, or finds the uber-weapon. He WANTS to be the “other guy” in the adventure. Whether or not that happens is anyone’s guess. The limelight really isn’t the place for him, he thinks.
Some negatives…Biggest one I would say going into this is his self-esteem. If he’s not being useful to other people, he feels like he’s nothing. It’s going to be hard when there are situations he can’t get himself or others out of. Another negative would be his patience. If there’s a problem or situation, he wants to be there and doing everything he can to resolve it ASAP. Anger might be an issue related to the other two negatives, but that isn’t something I see happening early on.
Appearance: This section can or can’t be omitted depending on if you have a picture of your character. Make sure to include basics like hair color, eye color, height, weight, build and than you can move on to other more defining features. Does your character have long legs? What kind of facial structure do they? Any scars or tattoos? These are just a few things you can ask yourself when trying to describe your character to someone else.
Kaoru stands at about five foot six inches. His short, charcoal black hair and royal blue eyes are the first things one can spot from a distance. Up close though, his feminine build throws you off. One could use the term “pretty boy” and they would be correct. One wouldn’t notice him in a crowd with his nondescript standard shirt and pants. However, with his uniform on, his girlish face and frame become just that much more noticeable with the school’s small class sizes.
Biography: If you recall the opening text to Neverath, that was written by none other than Kaoru himself. Standard invitations to the school result in a limo ride and brief talk about the school. I originally had planned a fight in which Kaoru would be sent to the office. He’s not in trouble, and a mention of Neverath by the Principal before being excused to go home. The next day would start with the limo appearing outside Kaoru’s house. I scrapped this and right now, I’m thinking either a message from the source of the Kaliedospear, Kaoru’s cousin, or a challenge by Jim’s character, Marilyn.
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Notes:
Like the title suggests, it is still in progress. I originally planned on writing a prelude to Neverath with Kaoru being the main character, and some other characters in Neverath playing some sort of role. Central characters to Kaoru would be JUNA and Marilyn. Initial discussions being that Marilyn would be Kaoru’s main opponent, and JUNA being thrown in the mix somehow. Though Jim had Marilyn being the main villain in a lot of this, I see Marilyn just being thrown into a situation where there isn’t much of a choice but be evil to escape her predicament. The whole vampire thing being a problem that Kaoru would have to deal with. Vampires just might be the biggest problem Kaoru ever faced…I see Kaoru and Marilyn’s relationship being that of what one is expected to do and what one wants to do. Srsly, Kaoru doesn’t think anyone can be truly be evil. Just annoying as heck. I really see some blurring of the lines in Marilyn’s/Kaoru’s story, because Marilyn being the good character and Kaoru being the bad one would just be fun.
JUNA, to me, is a character who slowly builds up emotion and starts from scratch to build up a personality of her own. That, in my mind, is cute. My prelude to Neverath includes Kaoru meeting JUNA very early in development. I want to say Kaoru plays a role in JUNA’s development in a big way, but depending on the situation, that may or may not happen.
What else did I want to say…Kaoru’s main concept was that of the magical girl. "Girl? Kaoru’s a guy, right?" Well, genderbending has always been an amusing concept. Magical girls in anime tend to be overused, and I thought to combine both genderbending and magical girl transformation sequences. But, I also made Kaoru’s female personality distinct from his male personality. So there’s some multiple personality/schizophrenia involved. I’m very curious to see how well this all works in action. Perhaps the personalities are distinct enough that people think of them as being two different people altogether. I haven’t really worked this whole thing out.