What are your cultural influences?

[Caden Law]

Specifically: What cultures influenced the creation and development of your character? Not just appearance and what you're slinging around, but the actual personality of your character.

Feel free to post about it as well. Because we're RPers and we all love to brag. :D

Considering the broad nature of this topic, I've included the maximum ten options and multiple choices in the poll. Try to restrict your influences to the top two, please.

[Saxon]

I picked my choices before I had read your post, thinking it was what cultures influence your writing the most as opposed to what makes up the majority of your character.

Brom was influenced heavily by Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, since really he's supposed to be my way of paying homage to him. Where Brom and Conan are both well versed in battle and war, extremely bull-headed and tough, that's where the similarity ends. Brom takes on a more germanic/nordic approach to the warrior aspect in much of the same way barbarians were in Germany during the times of the Roman Empire. He's also supposed to be a lot stronger and bulkier than Conan ever was, given their differences in cultural origin. But, what Brom lacks in speed, he makes up with in power. I also tied in a lot of native american myths into the character, concerning 'medicine', spirits, etc.

I'm really proud with what I managed to come up with aside from the influences I've drawn upon from Conan and Howard's stories. He's probably going to end up being one of the characters I've gotten that can succeed where I've failed with Saxon, Jobe, etc. But, who knows, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the ToC pans out, and if all goes well, Brom might just become my new primary character.

[Mabus]

Maus finds his origins in the gritty reality of the largely technologically and ideologically unsophisticated, regressive and oppressive European Middle-Ages, the continuation of which and intrusion to of persons and things from a modern or post-modern reality make ample breeding grounds for nihilism and anarchism.

I'm also largely influenced by Conan as well, but I more so find my muse in the creeping, inexorable horrors of Lovecraft, the political nuances of Frank Herbert, and the science fiction wizardry of the typical mad-scientist type character, from Trevor Goodchild to Desty Nova, for whom society is merely the raw materials by which to carry out their experiments.

[Shadowed]

Well, obviously, as Honuse Relaiyent is entirely based within the existing structure of Norse mythology, that's where the primary influence comes from. However, I took several influences from history and societies outside of that.

One of the primary themes in my character's history is based upon vassalage, primarily that of medieval societies of the west; he swore fealty to his lord, and gained honor not only through servitude, but through the gains of his lord, as well. However, in its practice, Honuse Relaiyent would be more considered a thegn than a vassal. One of the primary objectives of his history was his attempt to regain honor after slaying his lord; even without the betrayal of that act making him forfeit his honor, his lord no longer had any honor, thus no honor could be had by the vassal. So later in his life, he is given the opportunity to serve a new lord, one who is lord over everything, thus Honuse Relaiyent would have his honor restored, even beyond what he had originally lost.

The overarching storyline, however, was more closely influenced at its roots by the ronin of feudal Japan. After slaying his lord, he wandered the land, still considering himself to be a warrior, still seeking honor, but without a lord to answer to. Even after he accepted the position of Lawmaker, his actions were closer to that of a ronin than a samurai; he didn't actively fight with, and was not numbered with the army of his lord; as the army of the gods was the Einherjar, valiant men who fell in combat, Honuse Relaiyent didn't fit into this description.

Instead, he was a servant that answered to his lord, was given tasks, but then wandered the nine worlds alone, going where he saw fit to go, doing as he desired, but with his mind towards the desires of his lord. So while not precisely fitting into the description of a ronin, that is where the basis for his actions come from. However, even though that was the early origin used to influence his actions, further detailing was influenced by the stories of the Chinese Yóuxiá in the Han Dynasty; the literal translation is 'wandering force', which is precisely what Honuse Relaiyent is.

When creating his stockpile of weapons, I did so with the intention of giving it a feel for being a collection from a widespread area; this was a man who traveled often, so even though the weapons were procured for him early in his career as a warrior, it still embodies the fact that he is not a man bound to one general location. The two axes he wears at his back are modeled after the francisca, due to the fact that it was unheard of for a Norse man to not own a single axe; yet it was impractical for him to carry a more traditional battle axe. So, the smaller francisca filled this role quite well.

The very fact that he carried four swords about him is critical, for in Norse times, those who could afford to own a sword were often very wealthy, and already had great honor; it was not the weapon of the common man. So for a single man to own not one, but four swords, showed that he was above all others. The design for the swords is that of the spatha typical for the Viking era, though the difference in lengths signified both early and late era designs, pointing to his long life.

The pair of blades protruding from his arms was inspired by Musashi's art of niten'ichi, which held that a warrior would use both a shorter, secondary sword, and a longer, primary sword in tandem. As Honuse Relaiyent's size and abilities lends to the assumption of doubling the standard, I opted for a way to double the art of niten'ichi without giving him four arms; that being, he always held a shorter sword along with his primary weapon, as it was attached to his arms.

Though the more culturally classical interpretation of his throwing knives would be that of shuriken, they are, in practice, the much more functional leichter breitsax, a traditional knife found in Germanic cultures. As mentioned earlier, his size lent to the idea of doubling everything, though in this sense it is that he has hands twice the size of a regular man, and as such uses normal knives as smaller projectiles. Though he is not that large, the narrower form of the seax found in the leichter breitsax would make the weapon preferable as a missile weapon.

His final weapon, Alsvid, takes its name from one of the horses drawing Sol's chariot across the sky; the implication, and in fact the name (Alsvid meaning "All Swift" when translated) implies that, despite its large size, it is as fast and capable as the more traditional spatha. Though described as being of 'foreign make', I have not yet assigned a definitive origin for the weapon. Its crafting and design comes straight from common mythological elements - there is no real world cultural association to a weapon invisible to the eye, yet visible to the immortal.

For the armor, I opted against traditional chain mail and plate armor types found in most cultures, as he was a man who was to be seen as having no fear of death. To appear as immortal, yet be covered as any mortal in a metal shell, would work to cross purposes. Therefore, Honuse Relaiyent wears a sleeved brigandine, without the attached metal plates common with that form of armor, along with leather trousers, gauntlets, and fully-enclosed shoes. Finally, his headgear, an executioner's mask, stems from traditional feudal Europe judicial executioners.

[Taskmienster]

I tend to not use a certain cultural influence as much as philosophy from a certain culture. Most of what I write is in some way against politics, social issues, or religion. Just depends on what I feel like. Character's are influenced by the idea's I attempt to represent each as... so again more of idea's from cultures than cultures themselves.

[Caden Law]

I tend to not use a certain cultural influence as much as philosophy from a certain culture. Most of what I write is in some way against politics, social issues, or religion. Just depends on what I feel like. Character's are influenced by the idea's I attempt to represent each as... so again more of idea's from cultures than cultures themselves....close enough? ;)

As for me, I take my influences where I can loot them. Right now I'm on a big kick for mixing European fantasy and Far Eastern fantasy influences. Not sure how much of that shows up in Caden, but Aeraul is pretty reflective of that: His appearance, weapons and fighting techniques are inspired by Far Eastern influences (China and Korea, specifically) while his personality is derived in contrast to European fantasy (and by extension, American fantasy) influences.

[AdventWings]

What Taskmeinster said. ;)

I'm actually more interested in cultural dystopianism (is that even a word yet?) and non-conformism in a culture where strict tradition is the reigning power. Therefore, most of my character creations revolve around interaction with culture, beliefs and social norms. While I'm still not the best writers out there (hell, I've never really won a big writing battle against anyone) I like to write just to explore social interaction.

And this comes from someone who's been called a "hermit on a mountain" by a security guard. :rolleyes: I guess in one aspect you could call me a mild case of Hikikomori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori), then. ;)

[Kially Gaith]

Kially is a mixture of my British heritage (Victorian Elegance), my personal beliefs (Gaian), my infantile persona (I'm a paraphilic infantilist and proud) and a Norse/pagan esque magick style, focussing on drawing energy from ones self and that around them thus giving an endless supply that does however drain the user mentally and physically.

I suppose I have vast influences, with Kiallys' mainstay coming from I suppose would be european/eastern fantasy (Final Fantasy/Fire Emblem) where his primary look is an offstay of my minds idea of a younger Soren (See my Display Picture) and his future look is something of a mix between Soren (Fire Emblem) and Freya/Lenneth (Valkyrie Profile). Though my own creation. (Hey, I had to give SOME sort of comparison)

[Atle]

Zhang Konji and his homeland draw largely from Far Eastern reality and fantasy- Shintoism plays a huge role in Oromonai Tel (everything is possessed of life/a guardian spirit/etc, so respect everything and you'll go far). The man himself began as a military exile and ended up with a mixture of the knight errant/ronin archetypes, although he forsakes edged weapons for the (usually) nonlethal quarterstaff. He prefers to subjugate rather than destroy where possible, considering the desire to kill to err on the side of passion.

I recently discovered that the philosophy of stoicism suits the basic framework of his principles quite nicely. So thank you, ancient Greco-Roman thinkers.

[Mikeavelli]

'Hopper comes from Sigil, A creation of the D&D Planescape setting, which was originally based off 18-19th century London, a place the residents considered the capital of the world. It even went so far as to develop the 'cant' a slang system derived from Cockney rhyming slang that I've taken into the speech patterns of my character. Sure, he COULD talk like a normal person, but he chooses not to.

The Planescape setting is all about belief too, namely, the Planes are human belief taken physical form. All of the various mythologies on all of the planets in the "real world" are represented on the planes, driving home the idea that it isn't so much the gods that created the multiverse, but the focused beliefs of billions of beings that created the god. Going further, if the accidental belief of billions could create something like this, than it's reasonable to assume that the intentional belief of a few million individuals might make a significant impact on the Planes!

That said, 'Hopper himself thinks this is a load of bollocks, and rides through the Planes like a Cowboy, shouting "Yippie Kai-yay," making his own laws as he goes.

[TwinDeath]

I hate to admit it, but Xaul began his life as a Drizzt clone. Since then, he has become one of my favorite characters to use, and comes from many cultures.
Germanic: His name and speech styles (Knofker is actually Old High German for "knife"). Xaul's dress, as well, comes from both european fact and fantasy.
[u]Indian: Xaul's weapons. While in the ToC he has only the two katars, I have also given him an urumi before. (Katars=punch daggers. Urumi= a multi-bladed sword which has blades that are as flexible as bandsaw blades.)
Middle Eastern: Resheph is actually a real god from Canaanite mythology, and has the aspects in real life that I have given him here.
Other: Xaul's actual personality owes a lot to Deadpool of Marvel Comics, as well as Heath Ledger's Joker. He is also my way to have a little fun with insanity, though.

[Typheus]

Marvel, Shonen Jump, Celtic style tales.

I can't imagine anything from real life influencing my characters too much...

[Inkfinger]

Cael's history, as a wanna-be Salvar-expatriate, is psuedo-realistic European (specifically Iron Curtain countries during the Cold War) that turned into a somewhat horrific mishmash of England and Russia. His Inkmage abilities were something I came up with based on the old story The Boy Who Drew Cats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Drew_Cats), and since then they've been developed further thanks to a friend bringing Onmyōdō (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onmyodo)to my attention. His way of dressing and fighting are both meant to be traditional Japanese-based.

And for the record, his appearance is 100% ripped from Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/OzymandiusJones/0118.jpg) and The Reckoning (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/OzymandiusJones/cap131.jpg), but I've tried to keep his characterization and personality free from references to either movie (other than, yanno, him being a scribe. And a tendency to say "Oh my giddy aunt," but really that's just silly).

TL;DR: Europe and Asia, both realistic and fantasy on both parts, though in my case the realistic has more an effect on my writing. I have more fun trying to fit the fantastic into something vaguely realistic than starting completely in the fantasy. FWTW, YMMV, etc etc.

[Schrodinger's Nirvana]

Considering Nirvy and Guthy are both ripped from a series and remade over to fit my leanings towards comedy I CAN'T VOTE FOR ANYTHING THERE BECAUSE YOU CAN THROW ME AT ANYTHING AND I WILL ADAPT! Most of the time!

I'm sad, I wanted to vote!

Insofar as NPCs go, Jay, Daphne and Lask were all reactions to what's considered the stereotype. In some ways I run with it, and sometimes I twist and pervert it into something new. It just happens to be fantasy because we're in a fantasy setting. But like several people here it's a case of what ideas come at the time and what the setting is.

Although Cinnamon was inspired by my dogs and her former variant on the now defunct Metal Machine Music site. I have no idea how to convert computer smiley faces and corrupted code from an AI into a living creature except to have them as crude crayon drawings.

Waaaaaaaaaait a second...