Character Inspiration Concepts

[CJB]

As a reward for hitting my first goal on Patreon I promised to release my inspiration concepts for The Monarch Papers’ characters.

As I said on Patreon, it seemed like a fine goal at the time, but now I’m a little nervous because I don’t want to spoil what you’ve all created in your minds.

SO… I’m only going to post these if we can agree that what I imagined is ONLY my initial inspiration and you’ll all promise to post YOUR ideas of the characters too. Deal? We’re building this together and I am MUCH more interested in how you envisioned this motley crew than I am in how I envisioned them.

[CJB]

ENDRI

[spoiler]

A Thornmouth, Endri grew up in a very strict, religiously conservative household in the south. But she remembers having a copy of the MAGIQ Guide and hiding it in the crawlspace under her childhood home. It made an indelible mark on her and she’s been pursuing The Lost Collection ever since.
She left her family and the south as soon as she could and now, in her 20s, only maintains a relationship with her paternal grandparents who are crazy but open-minded and accepting of all walks of life.

Endri is incredibly smart, wryly funny, and a little shy, but the forum has allowed her to come out of her shell and feel more confident. Her love of literature and history is only matched by her love of emoji, comics, and dyeing her hair a new color every couple of months. She does freelance research and book editing to support herself while devoting all of her free time to the forum, the Mountaineers, and the search for The Lost Collection.

---

NOTE:

I’ve been collecting these images over the past two years but I will try and credit the illustrator/photographer if I can find them.[/spoiler]

[Furia]

I can’t wait for the rest!

[Robert]

Pretty much all of her backstory has come through in her postings very well. I think only the hair color and comics are new to me, but I remember crazy random stuff.

Actually when I finally realized Endri was female I remember being really surprised by that. I just figured Endri was the default “DM’s NPC voice” of the forum and it never occurred to me she’d be a she, or that she’d actually be an honest to goodness character in the story. That realization made me appreciate this forum and your characters a lot more. It would have been extremly easy for Endri to just be CJB using a funny voice.

I don’t fully comprehend her age as 20’s though. Maybe i’m misreading the backstory but in my head these mountainers (Endri, Eaves, Bash, etc) came together online in 1994 and were contacted by Ascender as the last survivor of the pre-94 Mountaineers that got blown to heck. But if Endri is 29 she would have been 8 years old back then? This may be dating myself but I hung out on BBS’s in 1994 and I met the occaisional 12 or 13 year old but 8 is kinda mind blowing.

But like you said, this was your initial concept. Maybe you changed it, but in my head she was a lot older than 20’s.

[Brendon]

I think I am really going to enjoy these updates. And I am really enjoying your approach to this all, and that your main concern is our immersion in the story.

That being said, I love how Endri has interacted with us in the story. Her personality and “character” really shines with the way she carries herself on the forum. Which isn’t an easy thing to do on a forum in general. I would agree 100% with Roberts post about being surprised that she is female, because I just always assumed Endri = CJB. But once it was known she was female she became this whole other entity/person/character in my mind and really helped my immersion into the story. If that makes any sense?

[CJB]

That’s awesome to hear, @Robert!

Ascender and Augernon were the last of the '94 Mountaineers.

Endri, Eaves, Bash, and Itsuki are the ragtag group of believers who either found Ascender or were recruited by him in the ensuing years.

I feel certain we’ll get into that in the future.

[CJB]

Totally makes sense, @Brendon!

[Furia]

Also, I imagined Endri having Brown hair and wearing Glasses I don’t know why but that’s how I imagined her

[TheBellsAreRinging]

I knew Endri was a girl but I always imagined the character as male. Dark hair with glasses, probably super freckly. The type to wear business casual too!
Although the character as a female, I can totally see what you had in mind!

I also had thought for the longest time that well… they weren’t necessarily characters like people who you chose to play a certain part when its needed but are basically themselves most of the time. Well, I feel a little dumb for that but I learned eventually ^-^

[CJB]

I love that @TheBellsAreRinging!

[Ricardo]

I’m with @TheBellsAreRinging, I also knew she was a female but my image of Endri was a guy with long messy hair and really cool glasses. Like one of those good looking geeks you know? Now that I see what she was supposed to look like I feel like it has the same “vibe” i sensed from reading her posts!

Great job on the artwork and I look forward for more!

[grimangel53]

I believe I found out about Endri being female early on, due to a small interaction on the forums. I had completely forgotten since though. I can see the glasses, or at least using some for computer time (blue light filtering lenses).

I kinda wanna think about how each character looks now that I have an idea of Endri’s look and style.
maybe I’ll post a small list here whence I am done!

[CJB]

ITSUKI

[spoiler]

A Balimoran, Itsuki is quiet, measured, and the oldest of the “core Mountaineers” at 42. He supports his wife and daughter as a risk analyst. He’s mentioned his daughter Kura on the forum.
Itsuki has a newfound passion after what mountaineers learned from Brandon Lachmann, that magic is created in the space between things - the hidden connections. He started Campfire on the forum to explore this with others through the creation of new ‘magic’ (writing, drawing, music, etc.) He is a keen amateur digital musician and likes to create what he calls “soundscapes.”

His parents are retired now, but they met when his mother moved to the UK from Japan with her family. Itsuki lives in the countryside now and commutes into London. He has a degree in mathematics and became involved in the Mountaineers almost by accident. He was playing an online rpg in the mid 00’s and fell in with a group of gamers. They started to tell him about their beliefs and he realized they were things he’d believed his entire life. He has a distinct childhood memory of two trees wrapped around one another, one living, the other dead. The crest of Balimora.

Itsuki is the perfect example of a Balimoran. A sharp mind for mathematics and a passion for music, a lover of structure who in turn also embraces the chaos of creation.[/spoiler]

[Furia]

Dang! I would have imagined him as a girl also with black hair and having a small daughter

[grimangel53]

i was going to imagine him as at least part asian due to the name, and probably as a quiet contemplative due, in his 30s.

oh well. thats another one i dont really have to do, (but will to add things i think he’d do in some cases, like aesthetic choices and general actions.) I am doing that for endri.

[TheBellsAreRinging]

Do we think it would be useful to perhaps… make our own drawings of the characters? Of course taking into account the overall character design, but we could add those drawings to the wiki.

[CJB]

Love that idea.

[grimangel53]

im writing up aesthetics to go with the descriptions, like what i could see around the people, and or what they might be doing in a space.

[grimangel53]

This is what I’ve got so far.

Ascender:
Appearance – Short black hair, full beard (trimmed, clean, but still full), Blue eyes, taller, built frame, carrying a backpacking backpack, dressed to hike, flannel, and jeans, sturdy boots.
Aesthetic – A chilly day, sun waning in the clear blue sky, the smell of pine and oak wafting around, hiking trails, and a secluded place atop a small mountain. He made his way up here, walking by the couple little lakes in the mountains, to find his next place for camp. He takes a breather before beginning, to admire the beauty of the sky, and to check his phone, though he knows that he hasn’t gotten many messages lately. He pauses, and with a sigh, begins the process of setting up camp.

Endri:
Aesthetic - A Cozy hipster Coffee Shop, A library, Free Wifi, half-done hair bun, the smell of coffee and a warm cup sitting in sight of a laptop. A legal pad sits on the table opposite the coffee mug, full of notes on an obscure piece of literature. She pauses for a moment, staring at the forums on her screen. A small smile plays on her lips for a moment before she clicks over a tab and returns to work. A small hum of conversation buzzes around her. She hums a small tune as she works, one of her own invention.

Itsuki:
Aesthetic – A lazy Saturday afternoon in a cluttered home office, with a large desk, monitor in the middle, sound equipment to his left, and a few sketch pads to his right, a coffee mug on his desk on a coffee ringed napkin. He’s caught between his work, some things he brought home from the office, and his next soundscape. Speakers are hidden in the bookcases and a small sub is placed on the windowsill. Books, sketchpads, and a few different CD sets sit on the shelves around him; easily in reach should he decide to need them. He absent-mindedly picks up his mug with his left hand and guides a pencil on the pad to his right, trying to parse what he will do next while sketching something familiar.

Bash and Eaves are next

have fun!