Dear Layonara ...
Or something like that. How do you introduce yourself to a community you've been part of for a year? That's the question I've been pondering and grappling with for a while now, and up until this point it's been much easier to just postpone creating this introduction than actually find an answer.
So why now, you ask? Well, today, as I calculate it, is my Layonara birthday—the one year anniversary of the approval of my first character—and as such is probably the most appropriate day I can think of to do this. So here goes, confession number one:
Until joining Layonara, I had never roleplayed a day in my life. In fact, had someone inquired as to my roleplaying abilities in casual conversation, my likely response would have been to blush and change the subject. I also hacked and slashed my way through the original campaign module and its offspring, pillaging, looting, and acting with a deep sense amorality that quite horrified my partner, who had given me the game to try. My first character may sound familiar to a few of you: a half-elven neutral good ranger who used a longbow and longsword. (Isn't it amazing how you can remain neutral good and still steal family heirlooms and do horrible things when they hand good points out like candy?)
My partner was the one who discovered Layonara, and after watching him enjoy it for a few months I was eventually goaded by him into submitting a character, Arynne Liadon, who basically became a much more moral version of my OC character, since unlike her predecessor, Arynne's actions had consequences. Well, one turned into four, as Eruanna Glorandir, Chiara Laecelam'lela and Jaelle Thornwood were all born into the world. And my partner? Yes, he still plays, though more rarely now. He's since discovered a myriad of other ways to torment the playerbase. Many of you know him, either as Darkstorme or Ouroboros. (I suppose he's my second big confession.
Try not to hold him against me!)
What else? I'm twenty-two, five-foot-eight, green eyed and brown haired, and lest this start to sound like a personal ad, I will refrain from commenting on my thoughts on candlelit dinners and long walks on deserted beaches. I'm a student, though the end of my university days draw nearer with each December final. I'm crazy enough to stay at university even once I finish my biology major and English minor though, and will soon be entering my university's education program. Which, it occurred to me one night, means I'm going to spend almost the rest of my life going to school. Oh well.
I'll manage somehow.
How much more should I divulge? After a year of silence, I suppose I owe you all more than that. Well, I've never lived more than a few minutes from the ocean, and honestly can't imagine living away from the sea. I've known how to swim almost my entire life, worked as a lifeguard, a swimming instructor, learned to sail, kayak, and row. I've played rugby, soccer, and field hockey, and a handful of musical instruments. I love tea, coffee, and chocolate, and not just because each go extremely well with a good book. I was always a precocious reader, though now I am merely a voracious one, and my tastes range from the Romantic poets to the Victorians, to American modernism and
noir, to the fantasy classics ... I could go on forever, but as this is already lengthy I'll refrain from listing my favourites right now.
Well, I've said a bit about me, but I suppose I should say a little about my characters as well. I suppose it is true that we all sculpt from the clay of our own lives, and this is almost certainly the case with me as well. However, I am as unlike my characters as they are unlike each other. I can see myself reflected in all of them, but they have their own lives to live and I am content to watch them develop in the world you have all helped shape. So let me conclude with thanking you all, for taking me into your world and letting me explore it, and for helping spin the stories we weave together for our characters. I cannot say how much I have enjoyed and continue to treasure the time I spend with you all.
~Carillon