Michael Rathlin/Character Questions

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Answers to 20(ish) Questions for Character Design

Concept

1. What emotion best describes your character? Paranoid
2. What emotion does your character evoke in others? Antipathy
3. What does your character need most? Acceptance
4. What is your character’s goal in life? Redressing the balance, latking the life that was denies to him.
5. How does your character believe this goal can be accomplished? Acts of spiteful malice and vengeance, so far.

Background

1. Where did your character come from? Michael's moher left when he was 10 as she could not bear to be around his alcoholic father any more. The father owns his house due to working a lot in the 70s and so subsists on very little. Michael is used to being unsure when he’ll eat next. Latchkey would be a good descriptor. Poured a lot of frustration into studies, dreams/fears one day doing something terrible with this knowledge. Lessons learned: Life's not fair, on purpose. The undesirable can never be accepted, no matter what they do, it is an indelible mark. The Resistance is its own reward.
2. When did you grow up? When his mother left.
3. What values does your character hold? Fairness, clear-headedness, responsibility and action.
4. How does your character dress? Nondescript clothing, usually scarves/hoods to disguise appearance. Clothing is noticeably worn, jeans faded and hoodie fraying in places.
5. What are your character’s means? A civil engineering degree, an incredible amount of focus and willpower that borders on pathological. Many years of escaping from fights.

Details

1. What are your character’s personal tastes? Even though he got into engineering for violent reasons, in his lighter moments he does get some childlike glee from seeing how things work, figuring out systems. It makes his brain light up. Likes heavy music, punk/metal, but has never had the courage to go to a gig. Really likes ice cream from a very specific vendor near the waterfront - pleasant memories attached. Likes cats. Dislikes loud, crowded spaces, classical music, and mushrooms.
2. What are your character’s opinions? The wealthy are the problem and should be destroyed. Addicts are weak and abuse the people around them. Religious people are lucky.
3. What is your character’s comfort zone? Reading, listening to music. In a library, or in a café, or just in the park. Focused entirely on what’s in front, so that no attention may be paid to what’s inside.
4. Who has had the biggest impact on your character’s life? Father. Inverse role model - strives to do the opposite of everything the father did.
5. What are some of your character’s unexpected quirks? Writes things a lot but doesn’t show it to anyone. Got really really into the BBC Radio show “In Our Time”. Enjoys christmas movies

Miscellanea

1. What is in your character’s pockets? Some change, a phone. In bag - spraypaint, flickstick, firecrackers, cans of aerosol. Bleach.
2. How does your character get around? Walks everywhere.
3. Where does your character live? Lives in his father’s run-down old house, tries to spend as little time there as possible.
4. What is the routine of a normal day for your character? Get out of the house as quickly as possible, walk around, read somewhere, maybe see a movie, go to work in the evening, after work engage in some destructive behaviour.
5. What three words best describe your character's personality? Vindictive, Moralistic, Sad.
6. What three words would others probably use to describe your character? Arrogant, petty, threat.

Player

1. What kind of story does your character belong in? I hope things get better for him, but he’s probably going to find himself in a lot of unpleasant situations and cause a bunch of them too.
2. What role does your character fill? Skulduggery.
3. What should the other players know about your character? Michael tries and fails to seem emotionless and detached, he is in reality very fragile and his emotions readily surge up like pustules.
4. What is your play style? I don’t mind the rules so much, as long as they’re functional. The story is the point, and getting to share it with everyone else.
5. How do you want your character to die? I hope his death means something, to him at least.
6. If you could, what advice would you (the player) give your character? Get help, man.