The other day, while cleaning out my storage closet, I found several boxes that I forgot I had. In them were old comic books, trading cards (hockey and football along with old Magic The Gathering cards) and my old table top D&D sheets. It was a really cool surprise, because there were characters that I hadn’t touched in such a long time.
And I noticed two characters that have evolved over time.
Those sheets were from fifteen years ago and ten years ago. And today, I want to show case one character. Her name is Fadra Englen.
Fadra actually began as an NPC (non player character) and was the sister of my were-tiger character Fena. Fadra was a quiet, rather reclusive elven druid. And she was only mentioned in passing in table top sessions. It wasn’t until Neverwinter nights came about did Fadra see the light of day.
Even within that game, Fadra evolved more. Both in single player campaigns and in the online persistent worlds. She was a mute, a druid, and very passionate about her duties. She remained an elf in the online campaigns, but her form changed over time. Weapons really didn’t change much, she carried a pair of scimitars and a kukri, and fired a longbow.
She became a bit of a mainstay in the persistent world, never becoming an arch druid, but dictating who would lead the druidic circle of the Neverwinter Wood. It was pretty fun to play her (yes, I play female characters, imagine that).
For several years, I played that character in Neverwinter and Legacy of the North (the aforementioned persistent world server). But, like all things, they usually come to an end.
During my own game play, slipping into City of Heroes, I started playing Guild Wars, and after picking up the expansion called Nightfall, I made Fadra once again. And again, she changed and evolved.
Guild Wars was limited in race, there was only humans as player characters. But then, Tyria was a far different world than the Forgotten Realms setting of Faerun. And Fadra changed and became the dervish class in Guild Wars, wielding a scythe instead of a pair of scimitars.
Even her appearance changed, not only because she was human. Fairer skin was changed to darker tones, mostly to fit the setting which was quite evident. Nightfall was a sort of African setting, and it seemed much more plausible that someone with darker skin would be born there instead of someone with fair skin tones.
Her story changed slightly as well, to fit the setting, but some aspects of the original stayed. She was mute, knew sign language (you know how hard it is to play someone with a hearing disability, and have them communicate in sign?).
During this time, I was still flipping back and forth between City of Heroes, Neverwinter Nights and Guild Wars. Then, along came Neverwinter Nights 2. Just like the two fantasy based games, Fadra found a new home. Thus far, I’ve only played the single player campaigns with her, I haven’t ventured out to any persistent world servers in NWN2.
But, she changed again, going back to an elf, with darker skin, and could speak but in incredibly quiet tones. She always maintained this very animalistic attitude that I came up with because she was a druid and took her work in the grove very seriously. Even if it wasn’t the grove she was originally a member of. She had always come from a very desert like nation, in every game I played her in. But like everything, I’d move on, but she’d come too, and she’d change again.
To Champions Online.
And again, Fadra changed.
She went from being an elf to completely human, with minor traces of panthera tigris in her DNA. Instead of a druid, she was an environmentalist and a surgeon. Instead of being born in a desert nation, she was born in Canada, but her parents emmigrated from Palestine. And Fadra has made her way into my writing. In two forms. Both the elven form and the newly created human form will show up in some of my works, from Black Mask & Pale Rider to Canyons of Steel. She will most likely continue to evolve and grow, just as most of my characters in my writing do continue to grow.
It’ll be fun to see what the future holds. But fifteen years is a long time to hold onto a character.
Until next time…
…keep ’em flyin’!
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