I'm writing the backstory of my character Aurus. Aurus' childhood is supposed to kind of suck, or at least the people in it kind of culminated in creating or exacerbating Aurus' social shortcomings.
Aurus' legal guardian is a wizard named Demir. I don't want Demir to be too For the Evulz (though for some reason my drafts always make Demir seem like a jerk jut for the sake of it... guh, words, why do you never come off how I mean for you to come off?). Aurus is a bit dense, but it just doesn't make sense for him to trust Demir's opinion and consider Demir as the worst parental figure in the universe. Though like most normal children, Aurus does spend a lot of time insisting chores are pointless.
Aurus exhibits a slightly messed up attachment style in that he has some separation anxiety, but at the same time doesn't quite grasp the level of emotional sensitivity friends are supposed to have for each other, so while he is very fond of his friends, he has little to no social empathy and sometimes dismisses his friends only to want them back instantly and can be clingy to the point of being irritating especially to his adult friends with lives to attend to. As an illegitimate child and Demir occasionally calling him a bastard out of annoyance, Aurus also has an incredible fear of dealing with the opposite sex because Demir explained the birds and the bees in the vague way a child would grossly misinterpret and Aurus is convinced that too much contact of any sort with the opposite sex will result in children and has just enough empathy for his hypothetical illegitimate child to wish it never to happen (and he loathes all the girls he knows due to self-fulfilling prophecy because he treats girls badly because he doesn't think he'll like them so they hate him back). Demir halfheartedly tries to correct Aurus, but Aurus just thinks he is lying. Aurus is also amazingly literal-minded, can't stand lying (but is amazingly gullible. His lack of social skills probably leads to being incompetent at reading faces), and despite being as erratic as the average child, is intensely rigid about what the right or moral thing to do is and hates moral gray areas and occasionally uses Insane Troll Logic to beat square pegs into round holes. Aurus also insists he doesn't want to find out who his real parents are. He wants to become the greatest wizard in the world one day so his parents will find out and be so terribly sorry they thought he was trash. Aurus is very vindictive.
So Demir's behavior would probably play somewhat into Aurus' behavior. Though the society Aurus grows up in also gives him grief for being an illegitimate child and possibly not being magical enough to be a proper wizard since the identity of his parents are kept a secret by Demir to protect the mother's honor (dunno how she hid that belly) and because Demir has no idea who the father is. And being immortal for every appearance besides his backstory, Aurus' abandonment fears pretty much cranked Up To Eleven at some point, but he's always had them.
Demir hates children, but can't quite find it in him to boot Aurus to the street due to some relationship he had with Aurus' mother. He believes in the "withholding love" method of berating children for being bad and spends a lot of time telling Aurus about how Aurus isn't loved at all and hurting Aurus emotionally. When you're a wizard, bribing people usually ends up turning into a mess of spells of escalating complication and Demir just doesn't feel inclined to do that. At the ripe old age of 60, he's also pretty useless at hitting Aurus (magic in this universe does not usually include making robots or magical creatures to do your bidding and created sentient beings are kind of derpy). And for lack of Aurus' parents to yell at, takes out his rage on Aurus whenever he feels like childrearing is being too inconvenient for him (he refuses to hire someone to help because he is paranoid about his magical secrets). He is initially reluctant to teach Aurus magic because Aurus' father is the unidentified one for him, so he didn't know if Aurus could.
Demir also has some guidelines on how to live, which Aurus warps a little due to being immature.
Never ask for a favor if you are not willing to return an acceptably equivalent favor. (This belief might have been what lead to Demir raising Aurus. Aurus hates the idea of "random acts of kindness" because he thinks it means he needs to do something in return.)
Never touch a woman you don't intend to marry. (Aurus is very stubborn about this)
All promises must be held. (Aurus also takes this to mean that all friendships are forever because you can't possibly take back a promise to be a friend)
Bad people deserve to die. (Their society is big on dueling for honor. Aurus also takes it to mean that violence in self defense is always okay because it must mean the other person is "bad" if they bother you first)
And considering Aurus' distaste for lying, Demir must lie to him fairly often or just be really wishy-washy so that Aurus thinks he's lying when it's just a misunderstanding. But I dunno how someone could lie constantly and still be trusted. Or maybe it's not Demir lying and Aurus considers being made fun of "lying" since Aurus is of the sentiment that he is not a worthless magically stunted rube.
I dunno if this is an entirely cohesive character...
I'm writing the backstory of my character Aurus. Aurus' childhood is supposed to kind of suck, or at least the people in it kind of culminated in creating or exacerbating Aurus' social shortcomings.
Aurus' legal guardian is a wizard named Demir. I don't want Demir to be too For the Evulz (though for some reason my drafts always make Demir seem like a jerk jut for the sake of it... guh, words, why do you never come off how I mean for you to come off?). Aurus is a bit dense, but it just doesn't make sense for him to trust Demir's opinion and consider Demir as the worst parental figure in the universe. Though like most normal children, Aurus does spend a lot of time insisting chores are pointless.
Aurus exhibits a slightly messed up attachment style in that he has some separation anxiety, but at the same time doesn't quite grasp the level of emotional sensitivity friends are supposed to have for each other, so while he is very fond of his friends, he has little to no social empathy and sometimes dismisses his friends only to want them back instantly and can be clingy to the point of being irritating especially to his adult friends with lives to attend to. As an illegitimate child and Demir occasionally calling him a bastard out of annoyance, Aurus also has an incredible fear of dealing with the opposite sex because Demir explained the birds and the bees in the vague way a child would grossly misinterpret and Aurus is convinced that too much contact of any sort with the opposite sex will result in children and has just enough empathy for his hypothetical illegitimate child to wish it never to happen (and he loathes all the girls he knows due to self-fulfilling prophecy because he treats girls badly because he doesn't think he'll like them so they hate him back). Demir halfheartedly tries to correct Aurus, but Aurus just thinks he is lying. Aurus is also amazingly literal-minded, can't stand lying (but is amazingly gullible. His lack of social skills probably leads to being incompetent at reading faces), and despite being as erratic as the average child, is intensely rigid about what the right or moral thing to do is and hates moral gray areas and occasionally uses Insane Troll Logic to beat square pegs into round holes. Aurus also insists he doesn't want to find out who his real parents are. He wants to become the greatest wizard in the world one day so his parents will find out and be so terribly sorry they thought he was trash. Aurus is very vindictive.
So Demir's behavior would probably play somewhat into Aurus' behavior. Though the society Aurus grows up in also gives him grief for being an illegitimate child and possibly not being magical enough to be a proper wizard since the identity of his parents are kept a secret by Demir to protect the mother's honor (dunno how she hid that belly) and because Demir has no idea who the father is. And being immortal for every appearance besides his backstory, Aurus' abandonment fears pretty much cranked Up To Eleven at some point, but he's always had them.
Demir hates children, but can't quite find it in him to boot Aurus to the street due to some relationship he had with Aurus' mother. He believes in the "withholding love" method of berating children for being bad and spends a lot of time telling Aurus about how Aurus isn't loved at all and hurting Aurus emotionally. When you're a wizard, bribing people usually ends up turning into a mess of spells of escalating complication and Demir just doesn't feel inclined to do that. At the ripe old age of 60, he's also pretty useless at hitting Aurus (magic in this universe does not usually include making robots or magical creatures to do your bidding and created sentient beings are kind of derpy). And for lack of Aurus' parents to yell at, takes out his rage on Aurus whenever he feels like childrearing is being too inconvenient for him (he refuses to hire someone to help because he is paranoid about his magical secrets). He is initially reluctant to teach Aurus magic because Aurus' father is the unidentified one for him, so he didn't know if Aurus could.
Demir also has some guidelines on how to live, which Aurus warps a little due to being immature.
And considering Aurus' distaste for lying, Demir must lie to him fairly often or just be really wishy-washy so that Aurus thinks he's lying when it's just a misunderstanding. But I dunno how someone could lie constantly and still be trusted. Or maybe it's not Demir lying and Aurus considers being made fun of "lying" since Aurus is of the sentiment that he is not a worthless magically stunted rube.
I dunno if this is an entirely cohesive character...
edited 18th Feb '12 12:25:58 AM by Kaxen