Characters:
 | Liesana |
| Rilna |
| Wyn |
| Morallen |
Projects:
| The Harper Biographies |
| Tips for Stablehands: |
| Physical Therapy: An Introductory Guide: |
Other Stuff:
| Character Sketch Gallery: |
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I'll probably write back, if it's not spam or random flames.
Why did I choose this for a project?
This idea of biographies was one that first occurred to me a few months after joining the Harpers. It was triggered by the fact that many of the more established harperfolk would talk about characters that had @nuked, or retired to NPC-dom long before I arrived, leaving poor little me quite lost as to the goings-on. As I stayed longer with the craft, I began to find myself doing this as well. And the idea became more formed. It would benefit the craft if people could get an understanding of it's members, past or present. People that I knew as apprentices are now journeymen, mysterious and inscrutable figures to the newer members, who IC-ly don't get much of a chance to RP with them, outside of classes or chores. Therefore, they don't see them as human beings, as much as someone who recalls all about good times shared, good pranks pulled, or more serious matters that have occurred in bygone days. But IC-ly, anyone living in a large group of people, confined mainly to one building, will soon grow to know about the personalities and quirks of even the most august persons.
And so, the histories. Collect the stories of how the harperfolk became who they are, and list them all on a web page. Right now, they're fairly current, but give six months to a year, and they'll tell some interesting stories for newcomers to the Craft, MOO, or anyone who wishes to take a look. While most of the real work for this project has been OOC, it was a great excuse for RP with a wide variety of people, and it helped develop a side of my character that had always been present, but needed a little refining. Since Kryz was planning a project of drawing character sketches for the Harper Craft, this was a nice chance to work with someone I've come to consider a friend; he'd be drawing the harpers, and I'd be telling their tales. Also, it fitted in with my intended specialization in Archives/Law. The 'Archives' part of it, in any case. Enough of the 'Why', it's onto how I accomplished this.
How was this project accomplished?
After initially consulting with Jueann about the idea, and sending it off to *Harper-Council for approval, the project can most easily be described as occurring in three phases, which sometimes overlapped each other. What follows is a copy of the mail sent to *Harper-Council, stating my idea, and the reasons behind it:
Message 1 on Liesana:
Date: Mon Jul 31 20:50:23 2000 CDT
From: Liesana (#19291)
To: *Harper-Council (#712) and Liesana (#19291)
Subject: Liesana's Project Idea:
Here goes,
After some thought, planning, and revision (thanks for the input, Jueann!) I've finally put together an idea for a project. My proposed project will tie in with Kryz's project idea of making character sketches for whichever members of the Craft wanted them, and then posting them on a webpage. My proposed project will be to document the character histories of these players, and any others harpers who wish to participate, and display them on the webpage along with Kryz's sketches.
This proposed project will have both IC and OOC aspects and, I believe, fits in with my character's intended IC specialization in Archives/Law. I believe that this will benefit the Craft by leaving a record of the characters of the Harper Hall at this time, since, by it's nature, the MOO has a fairly high rate of turnover, and many newcomers know absolutely nothing about characters that have come and gone and left lasting memories with the 'old hands' of HT. I hope that, by combining sketches and stories, a legacy will be left for the future denizens of HT and the Harpercraft. My prospective project can be organized into three phases, as described below:
Phase I: After obtaining approval for my project, I'll post to *Harper, explaining what I am doing, and that I'll need all those who are interested, and especially those who commissioned Kryz to do a character sketch of them, to send me a brief history of their character. For example, What is their background before joining the craft? Are they an only child, or do they have 14 siblings? What are some formative events in their lives? What is their life like, now that they're a part of the Harpercraft? I'll emphasize that I'd *really* like to RP with them, IC-ly interviewing them for their story, but, since we all live in such disparate time zones, I know that this isn't always possible, hence having them send me their histories. I'll also be in contact with Kryz, both IC-ly and OOC-ly, regarding who he's 'painted', etc.
Phase II: After compiling my list of subjects, I'll begin collating the stories into a collection, and, at the same time, RP-ing with those who are able to do so.
Phase III: This final phase will be OOC, as I organize the stories to be placed on the website. Ideas for layout will have to be discussed with Kryz and the owner of the website.
So, there you have it, that's my project idea. Sincerely, Liesana --------------------------
The project has progressed quite nicely within these outlines, although the number who participated was a little disappointing. Having sent a total of three posts to *Harper regarding it, I've decided that I'll settle for using those that I have collected so far as project material, but that I will continue to take in character histories even after the project is completed, although I'll dispose of the IC process of interviewing the subjects where possible.
The Histories submitted can be grouped within the following areas:
| Histories already completed, such as Tolia's, Fennara's, Sorcen's, and Caramak's. OOC-ly, the only work I did was to upload them to my website, and check for spelling errors. IC-ly, I RP'd interviews where possible, for example with Sorcen and Caramak, and in Oli's case, our characters are cousins, hence the fact that my character would most likely already know her history. Moonn's history is also of this type, although as hers was copied from a Search application, I made a few changes in styling and grammar in order to make it fit more easily with the other histories on the site. |
| Histories already completed, and posted on another website. Kaeryn, Lorsalia, and Cattana have histories of this type. With Karyn and Lorsalia, I merely created hyperlinks to their pages, and with Cattana, I took a more active role, helping with editing, and getting her history to match up with 'cousin' Fennara's. |
| Histories partially completed. Kazyndra and Kristiana have histories of this type. They had sent me written histories, but I felt that they needed fleshing out, and so I either requested more information, or conducted an IC interview to get it. The resultant information was paraphrased so as to fit in with the information already given to me. Lionel's history was created with my OOC help, although he created most of the final version himself, with paraphrasing of some of it done by myself.. |
| Histories created completely from interviews. This is the category into which Rijalvas', Falada's and Torlan's histories fall. An IC interview yielded answers to my standard set of questions, which were then paraphrased by myself into a history. This is the OOC area that would most closely resemble what my character would IC-ly be doing, and while it was the one involving the most work, it was also the one I enjoyed most. |
Listed below are the standard questions I asked in an interview:
- What is their pre-Hall history? Ex: What Hold were they born/raised at. What did their parents do? Did they have siblings?
- Why did they decide to join the Harpers?
- What was their interview like?
- What memories have they made of their time at the Hall?
- What are their future goals?
Naturally, the wording of these questions shifted from interview to interview, and questions of varying detail would be posed, depending on how much information I required.
And so I present my project. I hope that it will prove to be, if not useful, than at least an interesting piece of history for those who are so minded to browse through it's pages. Perhaps they'll even learn something...