So, in a long term home game, most characters develop goals of some sort that aren't part of the main plot, rescue a sibling , get that minor official arrested , be the best at something, sleep with that barmaid ... etc.

In our shared campaign its a little bit more difficult to do that, but I know that people do, and some people even write some awesome fiction based on that. So what is your characters personal mission?

(to start this off) Delberts mission is two fold, one to find and kill the cultists responsible for killing most of his family and village and two reunite with his father.

While I haven't really fleshed out my Secondary and Tertiary Character as much as I'd like, I do have a very strong view about my Primary:

Haakon Marcus val'Virdan is a Fanatic. He isn't a zealot, but he is fanatically supporting (openly) of the Mother Church of Coryan, almost all the practices of Elandre' val'Assante' (again, openly), and the fact that he believes Coryan to be the only 'real' nation on Onara. To that end, he has made it his mission to spread the word about the need to worship all the Gods of the Pantheon equally, and not do like the Milandesians and effectively suppress the worship of some of them. This usually takes the position of him being an almost stereotypical Paladin-type, hoping to gain through actions what he doesn't think proselytizing will accomplish (because, you know, those Milandesians are not the most intelligent people, and have been brainwashed by the Heretic Sabinus. . . )

In the current campaign, my primary character is a bit lost and doesn't really have a plan for the future, yet. He was branded (unjustly, in his opinion) and was sent to the wall to defend it a die. Well, he didn't die and after the last crusade, he decided it was time to leave the wall. Now what? See what fate has in store for him, I guess.

But in the last campaign, my tertiary character became so much fun to play, I really ended up focusing a lot of my time on him. He was an order of the inner demon. And he had a succubus inside of him. After failing to escape from her fleshy prison, she went dormant. But all the while, she softly coerced him into believing that we was chosen by Sarish. When he came across a special blade, things started to click. He was the Vengeance of Sarish. But before Sarish would use him as his avatar on Onara, he had to prove himself. So that was his goal. He was a blast to play. And after playing Shadows of a Forsaken Past, he actually had a small following who believed he was the actual Vengeance of Sarish. By the end of the campaign, he had about 10 characters who believed in him. It was great. (A series of incredibly timely rolls and a statue that got up and moved out of his way when he commanded it, but wouldn't listen to anyone else sealed the deal. He had believers.)


Scott

That would be telling Josh...

Sometimes personal missions and goals are better revealed through play, be it forum RP opportunities, Interactives, or events...

Jeremy, your old character was a tease, not this one. you dont have to if you dont wanna, but I'm surprised i haven't seen a reunite the val tenses on here yet

Bringing that up reminded me of something, Player actions certainly have an effect on Campaign events... and Uncle Henry listens in to what people want ( maybe sometimes just to break their heart some more)

My old character was an open book, and was not shy about stating what goals existed (in truth, not many - cared more about the whims at the moment).

My new character certainly has goals, but doesn't advertise them too loudly. I've certainly revealed some in interactives and play, especially through his actions and words - needless to say, a val'Tensen Holy Champion of Hurrian, branded for murder and exiled for a certain city-state and region of Almeric, certainly does have some goals. Right now, his goal is serving Hurrian as best as possible, defending all 'man' from harm and injury, in honor of his teacher. He does wish to see mending between the two sides of the val'Tensen family, having seen and experienced the wound that it is to his Val family. In fact, some of his goals or interests were revealed with the Crossroad RP for the previous ArcanisCon.

When I was building Eisener I was reading a book called Meditations on Violence and it influenced me and him. The auther was ex military, ex swat, a martial arts enthusiast to the nth degree and a corrections officer and one of the central themes of his book is that even people who have a job that takes them into violence see only one facet of a many sided thing and don't have a clear view of what violence is like in other situations. And so they write memoirs and maybe give advice that is good in particulars of their experience, but maybe not good advice in other circumstances or even in a general sense. His experience in corrections, and in tactical response and in the ring were all different. Sooo.... tae that and imagine that you are a Nierite and ambitious in some way. You are not the avatar of Nier, that is/was the Sword of the Heavens. You can't ever top that. So what do you aim for? Eisener's "core" struggles with that question. So he wants to understand the totality of "violence" and "soldiering" from every angle and experience. And then relate that to piety, the gods and some higher good. Even though he's not exactly (remotely?) the most scholarly fellow he is essentially a strange pilgrim and/or mystic. When do you fight? How do you fight? When do you obey? When do you disobey? Is it ever right to surrender? He's kinda a simple guy, so he doesn't spout a lot of fortune cookie wisdom. He just looks for the next enemy to charge and as long as he doesn't die he spends some time at night around the camp fire or in a tavern wondering what it all means. I think he reads old military accounts in his spare time looking for the next big cause. Since the end of the crusade he's been looking for the next battlefield and the next commander to serve under. Eisener's one big insight so far is that Nier doesn't really get to pick his own fights in the Pantheon of Man. He gets his marching orders from Illiir. So maybe it stands to reason a good Nieirte finds someone to follow too. A question Eisener quietly wrestles with is: Did the Sword of the Heavens go wrong when he sought the crown of the Imperium for himself?

My other big Arcanis character is Tukufu, the self proclaimed Ambassador of Altheria. As a member of the Invisible Kings program in the last campaign I earned a special character to play complete with some previously unknown background information. And Henry was also kind enough to share some of the background information from the Blessed Lands book early with Michael and I. So I've used that double blessing of information with Tukufu who has originally just been the character on whom I've dumped all the volunteer certs I get for judging. As a player I have enjoyed playing him a few times as "an onion to be slowly peeled" ...but many players don't twig to the fact that he is "mechanically unusual" besides a vague general interest in being the recipient of a psionic Celerity spell. But Tukufu is also a great example of how a concept can morph as you play them. Everyone expects the Altherian to be a bloody genius and most local players know I am a trove of obscure Arcanis arcana, so Tukufu has developed in that direction with a strong slice of "Fox Mulder." Whatever Tukufu says, I'm not sure the really great researchers in Atheria think much of this guy out in the field "shooting from the hip." Often literally. And parlaying his temporary informational advantage into his "letters" as teaser information over in the Crossroads tavern has also been very rewarding to me. I am gratified by everyone who comes in to view new postings on that thread. Poor Tukufu, he says he wants to become acknowledged as the greatest sage of his generation .... but I haven't decided yet if I really believe him. You shouldn't either. His concept is still potentially morphing as I continue to figure him out. Maybe his letters are mostly bluff. The first letter I wrote in his voice was mostly just a shout out to the other Invisible Kings. All I really know for sure so far is that he has just as much capacity for sticking his nose into trouble as Indiana Jones.

My Nol Dappan priest is traveling Onara on a mission from the high clergy of Nol Dappa. Many stories of excess and corruption have made their way into the underground city, and the clergy is concerned that the world may need to be cleansed once more by the flames of Nier. Young priests were sent in all directions to examine these claims for themselves and report back to their superiors.

Thus far Rurik has found that the tales are true, and is increasingly of the opinion that Onara (above ground, at least) has few redeeming features.

Except for a dashing, flintlock toting, bawdy limerick spouting dark-kin!

Speaking of...

Kelb'Bakari has a few goals, none of them at the moment are 'world shaking' by any means, though that might change as the campaign progresses.

His motto "Never judge a wine by its label, for you will miss out on the sweetest vintages..." is one he lives by. As such, his main goal is to gain respect and show others that dark-kin are not all that the stories have made them out to be. He accepts his lot and uses his powers to create betterment for others...and possibly earning a bit of coin on the side to support his good tastes...

Second to that, he serves the Emerald Society, hopes to discover more and help the Brothers of Light in Darkness, is eager to explore unknown and undiscovered areas, wants to bring glory to Altheria, and captain his own ship one day!

Simple goals but with oh so complicated methods of obtaining!