Character Profile Excercise

[Aes]

One more time! This is for Alma's "pet demon" or whatever you want to call it.


CHARACTER PROFILE

Full Name: Sei (more fancy mumbo-jumo will be tacked onto it later)

AKA: Sei

Age: Over 700 years

Birth Place: The royal palace of Anecia. More specifically, in the laboratory of the Royal Archmage as one of countless arcane experiments that is to recieve the branding of "failure."

Physical Description: Sei has no physical form, however he first encounters Alma in the body of a decrepit old man, dying in a pile of his own waste. Hot stuff!

Nervous Habits: He doesn't really get nervous unless his host (Alma) is in a life-threatening situation, because he needs her to live in order to survive. When this happens, he tends to take a much greater amount of activity in terms of helping her get out of what she's gotten herself into.

Common Swear Words/Phrases: None.

Vocal Patterns: He speaks as a voice in Alma's head, either telling her to do something or explaining something to her. His manner of speech is pretty bland.

Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences:: No physical body = no desire to really "hump" anything. So "n/a."

Family: A formless, synthetic entity has no family.

Friendships: Unless Alma counts, he really has none. He doesn't desire friendships either, just the fulfillment of his personal agenda of vengeance.

Religion: The Royal Archmage is the closest thing to a god he knows, or recognizes at least. However, his creator isn't an object of worship but rather, a target for revenge.

Dislikes: The Royal Archmage. (Poor wizzy needs a name, like so many others in this story before I can sit down and start writing it) That's about it.

Likes: Nothing. Aaw!

Habits: None, aside from whispering things into Alma's head in order to manipulate and/or help her.

Hobbies: None.

Professional History: Experimental product in the Royal Archmage's laboratory. That's about it.

Educational History: No real education, however he "learns" whatever his host knows.

Social Class: None.

Prejudices: None.

Faults: Self-serving, just like his host. He is also manipulative, but that's often kept in check by Alma's equally self-serving nature combined with her stronger-than-average will to put herself first.

Attributes: He offers wisdom, advice, and power to aid his host, Alma. Of course, it's not for free...

Origin (pre-existing story): Sei and many others abominations were created by the Royal Archmage as experiments to give the royal army some kind of advantage over the neighboring kingdoms. The failures (Sei is one of these) are destroyed, locked deep in the dungeons to be forgotten, or sealed away, as is seen fit for each subject.

[asher marquering]

Full Name: Asher Marquering
AKA: the protector
Age: 17
Birth Place: the capital city Aafjes
Physical Description: short and lean
Nervous Habits: quickly looking around or up
Common Swear Words/Phrases: “… I won’t fail you, I promise…”
Vocal Patterns: always a hint of oath and duty in his speech
Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: none, his mentor Alvis Bardsley protected him from relationships; it appears that he prefers politicians
Family: parents died when he was very young, sir Bardsley was like a father to him
Friendships: all his comrades died in the battle for the relic
Religion: basic belief in God and morality (although he hates the religious beings known as The Governing Angels)
Dislikes: betrayal and The Governing Angels
Likes: sparring with a friend
Habits: being too formal at informal times
Hobbies: sparring
Professional History: training to become a soldier, the battle for the relic was his first battle experience
Educational History: trained as a infantry soldier
Social Class: infantry soldier
Prejudices: none, later: against anyone in search of power
Faults: Cannot let go of the past, cannot identify the voices in his head properly, and slight personality disorder - too many voices in his head, indecisive, and may be unsocial at times
Attributes: loyal and fierce on battlefield
Origin (pre-existing story):
When Asher was still an infant, The Governing Angels killed his parents. Sir Bardsley who heard of the incident rushed to the scene where he found only a baby Asher among tons of rubble. At the age of eight, he showed an affinity to hand held weapons, especially short clubs, and began his training as an infantry soldier; during his training, he disarmed many of his sparring teachers, including Sir Bardsley, several times. He, according to his mentor, became a knight at the age of sixteen. He was part of the patrolling squad that found the location of the relic. At seventeen, he became the sole survivor of the great relic battle. Thus, he swore to his master that he would protect it and never use it against any mortal. And the story begins…

[Ben.ak]

Hello everyone, Id first like to introduce myself. Im brand new here and this is my frist post! So I hope to have an awsome experience here on the forums you all are great!


Full Name: Jack Manning
AKA: Jack
Age: 22
Birth Place: Colony Ship, Liberty
Physical Description: About 6', dark short hair, uncombed and messy, athletic build
Nervous Habits: tapping his fingers in various beats
Common Swear Words/Phrases: "I wouldn't worry about it."
Vocal Patterns: casual, side spoken and not much rehtoric
Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: prefers women; has no previous relationships
Family: put up for adoption when he was very small and grew up in a orphanage that was not very well kept.
Friendships: one life long friend Named Mark
Religion: Christian
Dislikes:
Likes: bagels, skipping classes to work on projects with Mark
Habits: not taking problems serious enough
Hobbies: designs computing programs for various classes of star ships
Professional History: apprenticed at engineering institute that developes new technologies for cruisers and battleships
Educational History: High School, skipped College and proved himself to the institute to get the appenticeship
Social Class: middle
Prejudices: none
Faults: takes large matters too casually and thinks that he can fix anything with a bit of time and confidence
Attributes: very smart, extremely good at figuring problems out and confident in doing so.

[Rider of scaled wing]

i've seen many character profile outlines before, but this one looks to be the most complete i've ever seen. Thank you immensely for sharing this with us...

Is it required that we put up a character here though?

[Culhwch]

Yes! Or else we'll come 'round your house and pelt you with rotten marzipan.

If you mean do you have to do this to participate in other workshop activities, definitely not. Everything here is voluntary, Rider. If you want to post you can. If not, no big. Have a poke around, contribute if you want, or else just marvel at the combined brilliance of the many aspiring (and several successful) writers who populate these boards...

[Coolhand]

The problem with this thread is if you're not careful, you can accidentally give away some whopping great plot spoilers. So here is one of my secondary characters with a massively “censored” profile…

CHARACTER PROFILE

Full Name: Proximus Lucius Gaius
AKA: Gaius, The Libertine
Age: Over 500 years old
Birth Place: Chapter House of Lucius, in the South West of England
Physical Description: Tall, broad shouldered with handsome Arabic features and thick dark hair currently worn short.
Nervous Habits: Tends to chew his cigars or swirl his drinks when unhappy about something.
Common Swear Words/Phrases: “So it goes.” A sighed reflection on the cruelty of life.
Vocal Patterns: None
Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: Gaius is best described as try-sexual. He’ll try anything sexual. Though he seems mostly to prefer women.
Family: As with all Chapter-Born, his Chapter is his only family. Friendships: Close relationships with fellow members of Ordo Praetorianus, the elite group he serves. Soft spot for Ophelia, leader of the order.
Religion: Chapter Born have no real religion as such, though in his more reflective moments Gaius feels a certain attraction for certain forms of paganism. But that might just be due to the sex worship.
Dislikes: Pain. His role in the Chapter. Increasingly tired and weary, some Chapter Born see him as a burned out old man.
Likes: Fine food and drink, beautiful women, smoking, anything classed as luxury. Strong attachment to Ordo Praetorianus, though not necessarily the entire Chapter.
Habits: Cigars, sex, alcohol.
Hobbies: See above.
Professional History: Has served the Chapter as a Praetorian for the past five centuries. Was captured and tortured horribly by a Degenerati splinter cell early in his life, and this left him with a strong desire to “live for the day, tomorrow we may die.”
Educational History: Fully trained Praetorian, skills in languages, infiltration, survival, weapons and combat, social and psychological manipulation, mental conditioning.
Social Class: Ordo Praetorianus. One of the elite.
Prejudices: Initial hatred of the Degenerati due to his torment at their hands. Over the centuries, this has cooled a little, though seeing a Degeneratus die still brings a cold smile to his face.
Faults: Weary and tired of service, would much rather be enjoying whatever years of life are left to him than fighting the Chapter’s battles. Yet he took an oath of service and he will not break it. He can be indiscreet with his affections. His firearms skills are somewhat lacking by the standards of Ordo Praetorianus as he was born long before such weapons existed, as opposed to being raised a Gunfighter like Ophelia or Kerion.
Attributes: Vast experience of the world means that Gaius’ opinions of events usually pan out to be the correct ones. He’s a very good judge of character.
Origin (pre-existing story): Born in the 16th century, Gaius is old even by Chapter standards, having had his life extended due to an incident in 1754 that was covered up and suppressed by the Chapter leadership. He has spent most of his operational life in the Middle and Far East of the globe, and has therefore been afforded a unique perspective on many of the troubles that have swept the area over the centuries, even if those troubles are not his direct concern. He fought during the Degenerati rebellion and suffered horribly at their hands, forever altering his outlook on life, changing from a dedicated Servant of the Order to someone who seeks pleasure first at all times because the next moment may bring pain or death. This apparent hedonism conceals a man scarred and weary of service, and sorrowful of the pain he sees all to often in the world around him. His many lovers always die, leaving him an ocean of bittersweet memories.

[HoopyFrood]

CHARACTER PROFILE

Full Name: Mellix (no last name)
AKA: Um...Mellix?
Age: 20
Birth Place: Mormite
Physical Description: shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, slim, around 5 ft 5/6, wears quite bright clothing and usually has a bag slung over one shoulder.
Nervous Habits: Fiddles with her little hand-help computer.
Common Swear Words/Phrases: "Oh Numkins!" and "Jesus!" (one she happened to pick up!)
Vocal Patterns: quite a cheery, enthuisatic voice.
Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: Men, but not much past history.
Family: Comes from the usual mother/father combo...
Friendships: Has a travelling companion who begrudgingly went along at first, but now seems to be enjoying himself: Cuthbert. And a couple of Judicial Forcers (police people!) Lummix and Bromks...and an engineer, Lutha.
Religion: Athiest
Dislikes: Not knowing what her job is...it really annoys her!
Likes: Travelling to new places and getting lots of information for her job...whatever it might be.
Habits: Saying sarcastic things, getting into trouble (the usual protagonist stuff!)
Hobbies: travelling
Professional History: Has a job...doesn't know what it is though...something to do with collecting information, which she's very good at!
Educational History: The usual school thing...has the her world's equivelent of A Levels in English, Politics, IT, Languages, Travel and People Skills (which she doesn't always use!)
Social Class: ah...citizen of Mormite.
Prejudices: Hates anyone who can't see the fun and adventure of travelling.
Faults: gets angry quite quickly and can't help provoking people, even when she's in some quite dangerous situations.
Attributes: determined, friendly, loyal
Origin (pre-existing story):

[SpaceShip]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Several writing sources suggest that writers make sure that they can answer anything about their main character, regardless if the details would ever make into the story. Below is a quick template of a character profile sheet that I have whipped up. Fill it out for a character you are currently writing about, plan to write about, or simply make up a character on the spot.


CHARACTER PROFILE

Full Name: Jack
AKA: Percival (or Percy)
Age: 9+ and ageing with each sequel
Birth Place: Devon/Cornwall borders
Physical Description: Mid brown hair, dark brown eyes, scar at corner of eye
Nervous Habits: Weak bladder when scared!
Common Swear Words/Phrases: None - as yet
Vocal Patterns: Like any boy's I should imagine
Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: Too young, but does like one particular girl
Family: Mother, father, older brother and favourite uncle
Friendships: a young dark ages Arthur before he knew he would be king, a wolfhound called Cabal
Religion: wrote CofE on all official forms
Dislikes: bullies and liars
Likes: adventures with close friends
Habits: Hasn't really grown any yet
Hobbies: Reading, especially stories about Merlin and King Arthur
Professional History: N/A
Educational History: Still at primary school
Social Class: Working class/farming community
Prejudices: Not grown any yet
Faults: Daydreams too much
Attributes: Helpful
Origin (pre-existing story): Jack was born at the beginning of WWII and was raised in a farming community on the south coast of England. He finds a stone (the Arthur Stone?) when visiting Tintagel. It is the start of his interest in anything Arthurian. Little did he know it was the beginning of Merlin taking him back in time to the days of a young pre-King Arthur where he would share adventures with him and aid Merlin in saving him from the mad witch Mab.

That was an interesting exercise - not done anything like it before.

[Coolhand]

This is a really interesting thread. I love it when writers discuss thier characters. It's like catching a fleeting, tantilising glimpse of a world that I might otherwise never have seen.
Keep going guys (and gals).

[Faceless Woman]

Full name: Lady Daena bar Moonriver
AKA: Dae
Age: 22
Birthplace: Moonriver Manor
Physical discription: Tall and muscular, red hair, hard green eyes
Nervous habits: glares, touches weapons
Favourite swearwords / phrases: I don't give a flying f***
Vocal patterns: very precise, enunciates, but has a tendancy to swear
Sexual preferences / history / relationships: princess Hariana's lover. No prior experiences.
Family: Her younger sister and her sister's husband and children
Friends: The Moonriver soldiers, prince Morien
Religion: Agnostic (not to be confused with athiest)
Dislikes: Pointless rules and organised religion
Likes: Dogs, horses, hunting
Habits: bathes in cold water every morning regardless
Hobbies: hunting, sparring
Profesional history: N/A
Educational history: Tutors
Social class: low nobility
Prejudices: Dispises all priests and whores (which by her definition is a lot of people)
Faults: Almost perpetually angry, sarcastic
Attributes: loyal, good heart

[Faceless Woman]

Just to say, I have another such profile, less complete than this one but with some interesting points not mentioned here, such as most treasured posession, manner of dress, favourite and least favourite memory. Others are the same.

[goddess_of_hades]

Full Name: Aonarach Ciocras

AKA: Dorchadas

Age: 33 at the beginning of the story

Birth Place: Bann, Germany

Physical Description: Her hair looks mostly brown, but it is also has strands of black, red, and gold. She has copper eyes. Her features are defined, but not sharp. Her cheekbones are somewhat high, and her ears are slightly pointed. Despite her age, she only looks somewhere between 15 and 17.

Nervous Habits: None.

Common Swear Words/Phrases: None.

Vocal Patterns: She has an educated, musical voice with the trace of a German accent. She usually sounds almost mocking, and very arrogant, but once or twice she has been known to speak to a person as her equal.

Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: She is a virgin and intends to remain that way, or so she says. She has only ever been attracted to one man and she currently views him as out of her reach. She prefers intellectual relationships.

Family: Her father was Christopher Ciocras and her mother was Trer Abhar before she married. Her siblings were Christian, George, Zel, Libby, Joseph, and Thomas. They are all dead.

Friendships: She used to have three friends: Nathaniel Nimes, Trom Abhar, and Simon Ruprecht. One of them is dead, one has simply ceased to be on good terms with her, and the third is on the other side of what seems to be becoming a civil war.

Religion: None

Dislikes: Not getting things her own way and jokesters number highest, but she has any number of things that could irritate her.

Likes: When plans work out perfectly and everything goes smoothly. She's pretty much a workaholic, so she likes it when she shines at what she does, but she doesn't have much else in her life.

Habits: The usual habits you acquire in her line of work, such as always checking over a room for potential exits or weapons as she enters.

Hobbies: As I said, she's a workaholic, so pretty much just that. However, she does like to collect Gifts (this will become clearer as you finish reading).

Professional History: She works as a full-time, self-employed thief and has done so ever since she graduated. She has quite a number of impressive lifts to her resume.

Educational History: Graduated from Meanscoil, school for the Gifted.

Social Class: She comes from an aristocratic family. Her cousin is Head Councillor. However, she abandoned all this along with one of her friends, Simon, a year before their graduation. Simon changed his last name, and she began going by 'Dorchadas.' She still belongs to the upper classes, just in a different circle.

Prejudices: She doesn't really have any, although she tends to judge harshly those she labels as 'jokesters' or anyone who just likes to goof off.

Faults: She is a perfectionist and expects everyone else to be as well. Like most rogues, she has a moral code, but it differs from the norm so greatly that most people say she has none. She is very suspicious and demands complete loyalty from her allies and her friends. She is proud and is prone to avarice. She keeps her feelings completely locked away beneath a sophisticated facade.

Attributes: Incredibly intelligent, ambitious, and cunning. She has the Gift of Shifting, a very rare Gift that enables her to turn into anything and anyone. This can be a real creature, or even plant or mineral formation, or one that she has imagined. If she changes into someone with a Gift, she can use their Gift not only while in that form, but can even bring them back as she returns to her own form (hence 'collecting').

Origin (pre-existing story): I've pretty much already said it all. She graduated from Meanscoil, and has been a thief since. She used to work with Rogair (Simon Ruprecht), but he turned a new leaf and at the beginning of the story she hasn't seen him for ten years. She never worked with anyone else, exempting Nathaniel and Trom but they don't count because they both left the group within a year after graduation.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by goddess_of_hades

Full Name: Aonarach Ciocras

AKA: Dorchadas

Age: 33 at the beginning of the story

Birth Place: Bann, Germany

Physical Description: Her hair looks mostly brown, but it is also has strands of black, red, and gold. She has copper eyes. Her features are defined, but not sharp. Her cheekbones are somewhat high, and her ears are slightly pointed. Despite her age, she only looks somewhere between 15 and 17.

Nervous Habits: None.

Common Swear Words/Phrases: None.

Vocal Patterns: She has an educated, musical voice with the trace of a German accent. She usually sounds almost mocking, and very arrogant, but once or twice she has been known to speak to a person as her equal.

Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: She is a virgin and intends to remain that way, or so she says. She has only ever been attracted to one man and she currently views him as out of her reach. She prefers intellectual relationships.

Family: Her father was Christopher Ciocras and her mother was Trer Abhar before she married. Her siblings were Christian, George, Zel, Libby, Joseph, and Thomas. They are all dead.

Friendships: She used to have three friends: Nathaniel Nimes, Trom Abhar, and Simon Ruprecht. One of them is dead, one has simply ceased to be on good terms with her, and the third is on the other side of what seems to be becoming a civil war.

Religion: None

Dislikes: Not getting things her own way and jokesters number highest, but she has any number of things that could irritate her.

Likes: When plans work out perfectly and everything goes smoothly. She's pretty much a workaholic, so she likes it when she shines at what she does, but she doesn't have much else in her life.

Habits: The usual habits you acquire in her line of work, such as always checking over a room for potential exits or weapons as she enters.

Hobbies: As I said, she's a workaholic, so pretty much just that. However, she does like to collect Gifts (this will become clearer as you finish reading).

Professional History: She works as a full-time, self-employed thief and has done so ever since she graduated. She has quite a number of impressive lifts to her resume.

Educational History: Graduated from Meanscoil, school for the Gifted.

Social Class: She comes from an aristocratic family. Her cousin is Head Councillor. However, she abandoned all this along with one of her friends, Simon, a year before their graduation. Simon changed his last name, and she began going by 'Dorchadas.' She still belongs to the upper classes, just in a different circle.

Prejudices: She doesn't really have any, although she tends to judge harshly those she labels as 'jokesters' or anyone who just likes to goof off.

Faults: She is a perfectionist and expects everyone else to be as well. Like most rogues, she has a moral code, but it differs from the norm so greatly that most people say she has none. She is very suspicious and demands complete loyalty from her allies and her friends. She is proud and is prone to avarice. She keeps her feelings completely locked away beneath a sophisticated facade.

Attributes: Incredibly intelligent, ambitious, and cunning. She has the Gift of Shifting, a very rare Gift that enables her to turn into anything and anyone. This can be a real creature, or even plant or mineral formation, or one that she has imagined. If she changes into someone with a Gift, she can use their Gift not only while in that form, but can even bring them back as she returns to her own form (hence 'collecting').

Origin (pre-existing story): I've pretty much already said it all. She graduated from Meanscoil, and has been a thief since. She used to work with Rogair (Simon Ruprecht), but he turned a new leaf and at the beginning of the story she hasn't seen him for ten years. She never worked with anyone else, exempting Nathaniel and Trom but they don't count because they both left the group within a year after graduation.

Oh, I like the detail in this. I must ask. Has Dorchadas fallen into any of your stories yet?

[goddess_of_hades]

Well, I have the beginnings of a plot. I'm still working it out, but there's a treasure hidden somewhere and Simon is supposed to be protecting it. I'm considering putting it in Meanscoil, so I can have some student characters, but wherever it ends up, Dorchadas comes after it, but she doesn't know Simon's there. And... stuff happens. Like I said, the beginnings of a plot.

[stringingwords]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Below is a quick template of a character profile sheet that I have whipped up.

This is excellent, thank you so much. It was exactly what I needed to start forming my secondary charatcer:-

Full Name: Serena “Sera” [last name not picked]
AKA: Madam Serenity
Age: 30
Birth Place: Kendal, United Kingdom
Physical Description: 5' 7, slender. Had pale blond hair and grey eyes. Her features are regular enough to class as “pretty”
Nervous Habits: Twists her hair around her fingers
Common Swear Words/Phrases: None
Vocal Patterns:
Sexual Relationships/History/Preferences: Hetrosexual. Has had several boyfriends but only one sexual relationship to date
Family: Mother and father, one younger brother
Friendships: Teasing at secondary school has left her wary of female peers, so her few friends tend to be male
Religion: Pagan
Dislikes: Unfairness, predjuice, bigotry
Likes: Telling fortunes, msuic, playing guitar
Hobbies: Painting and drawing, reading classical literature
Educational History: Left school with a good basic knowledge in Maths and English, studied Art at college
Professional History: Worked in sales part-time and sold paintings. Is working as a fortune teller in Blackpool at the start of the story.
Social Class: Offically working class, though she pays no attention to this
Prejudices: Tends to think that anyone in “proper” work is part of the system and ignorant of the world's problems
Faults: Is naïve and prefers her “innocence” (although this is really igronance)
Attributes: Honest, trusting and loyal to a fault
Origin (pre-existing story):