Ghost rival for the protagonist?

I was working on my rpg-game "Fallen Origins" when I accidentally came across the description of an Onryo which brings me to my next point... The aim of the game is to basically exorcise a thousand ghosts.

Would a ghost-clone (rival) of the protagonist work for this game seeing as The Hero is mainly focused on justice and the albino-haired Onryo is supposed to be focused on honour? What motive would the Onryo have for causing the disturbances in the local area? Suggestions would be nice.

Also, would a pun for the ghost's name work (Oniryo)?

edited 28th Mar '15 11:39:53 PM by sabrina_diamond

I know next-to-nothing about that game so the best answer I can give you there is tentatively yes. I don't know of any reason for it not to work, but since I've no knowledge of it that doesn't mean there isn't any such reason.

That being said, for as long as you can justify what happens, a ghostly version of the hero that acts against them sounds like a fine idea. Although why exactly is that ghost focused on honour specifically is something you might want to think about, as ghost-clones generally have personalities and all that in some way dependent on the original's so the question is "why exactly would that particular ghost be fixated on honour?"

The pun is ... sorry but I'll be blunt and say that the pun is really crappy. Because it's a pun on a Japanese name, that wouldn't work in Japanese at all as "n" and "ni" are very different things in Japanese.

If you want to use puns, use those native to the language you are writing it in, otherwise you might very well mess up and get something inedible.

edited 28th Mar '15 10:52:15 PM by Kazeto

The reason why I punned the name Oniryo is based on two main things. The concept of Oni in Japanese folklore and the concept of ryo which is Japanese money.

Now, let's talk about the concept of honour, motives and how it relates to this Onryo. I'm planning to have a very dark backstory for the Onryo which has to do with this ghost's particular family, but we can all discuss the possible reason(s).

edited 28th Mar '15 11:25:53 PM by sabrina_diamond

I'm not sure if I can actually discuss any possible reasons before you show any, though. I could say whatever it is that could be said by me, but if you don't have anything of your own there then I'm pretty much just throwing random stuff and hoping it works because it's supposed to be a whole game with its own system that I know nothing about and thus don't know what I should be aiming for.

And if it so happens that you aren't giving anything because you don't have anything, then you can make the ghost's motivations to be pretty much anything and I'm not sure why there is a need for the ghost to be fixated on honour.

Getting back to the "pun", yeah ... the thing is, I'm not sure if you are aware but even now that you'd explained it the "pun" is really bad. I am aware that there are better and worse puns and not every single one has to be the pinnacle of human creativity and sophistication, but the one you gave out seems to be more of an example of "oh, hey, I found these things and I think I sort of like what the individual words mean so I'll mash them together as if it was supposed to work and call it a pun". You have two kanji that are not used together, that use different readings (one uses the kun reading, the other the on reading), and all that for an obscure ... let's say "joke" that most people won't get. And because it uses completely different kanji from "onryo", it can't be a pun on that one either, which it seems to have been supposed to be.

Yeah, puns in Japanese are hard to get or make if you don't know it well enough. And if you do know it well enough, there's a high chance that any puns you do make will not translate well into other languages because they will rely on some nuance or quirk of Japanese language that you can't translate into English or any other such language or even on some cultural aspect that is even more of a nightmare for translators.

Mainly because the ghost onryo and The Hero are complete opposites despite their appearances, hence the ghost is mainly fixated on honour and The Hero is fixated on the concept of justice while adhering to the concept of wrath. Since the onryo is orchestrating the game's events Behind the Black, the onryo is also the Final Boss of the game and the undisputed leader of the thousand ghosts (and Queen of the oni). Now all I need is a main motive for the onryo for causing all the chaos...

edited 29th Mar '15 5:23:36 AM by sabrina_diamond

Hmm ... if the ghost is supposed to be the opposite of the hero, who is fixated on justice, why exactly does that imply that the ghost is fixated on honour?

I mean, you clearly are following some idea there, so you should know how that fixation on honour could serve as the trigger if you know why honour is supposed to be the opposite of justice, or mayhap opposite to justice.

edited 29th Mar '15 7:59:35 AM by Kazeto

Because to me the concept is that honour and justice are opposing goals. Striving for honour conflicts with the drive for justice. So the onryo embodies the concept of honour just as much as The Hero embodies the concept of justice (and wrath in its purest form)

The honour refers to "family honour" as the onryo has slain her own family in a bid for ghost powers (which is quite unlike The Hero, who is more concerned with justice but is still fixated on wrath).

edited 29th Mar '15 8:22:56 AM by sabrina_diamond

And that still doesn't answer the "why". Because really, it's about the details.

Why is the concept of honour opposite to the concept of justice? Show your train of thoughts, show how you got to that. Then you might get help.

If you don't do that, well ... aren't you wondering why exactly are there no people other than me who are replying to this thread? It's either because of me, or because of you. And in spite of how abrasive I may occasionally appear, in other threads people don't run away just because I appear. So very likely, very likely, the reason why people aren't replying is that they don't see the way to write anything that could actually be helpful; and though you might not be aware of it (I do admit that sometimes I completely fail at conveying what I mean), I had tried to get details of some sort out of you in every single one of my previous messages and yet every one of your replies was ... not really useful in that regard.

PS. No, I am not angry. Nor am I annoyed. But I do not want this whole thing to become an exercise in pointlessness.


Edit:

Since I might not have explained it properly before, which might very well have been at least part of the reason why this thread is going in a rather weird direction, I'll say this now:

When two things which are not natural opposites are treated as opposite, the reason why exactly they are treated in such a way, the exact train of thought that lead to the decision to make them so, is important. I could make a wild guess as to the reason why would honour result in violence, but even knowing what sort of honour it is supposed to represent, if I do not know how such "honour" came to be, why it's taken such a form, this guess might be very far from what is allowed.

Normally, that would not have been a problem. However, I do know that a problem it does become if you are working in a system with specific rules, and due to your proclamation that you are working on an RPG I had made the assumption that this is indeed the case. And I know that it can be a problem because "been there, done that": I had actually once spent time helping a friend with his concept of a system for role-playing stuff, and I know that details really are important if you are asking people for help.

Because in the end, it's world-building, and it's your world that is being built. I can give you a blueprint for something if you ask for it, but if I don't know what materials and methods are available then I might as well stick that blueprint ... you know where. The blueprint is the help, the materials are details.

edited 29th Mar '15 8:37:25 AM by Kazeto

Okay then, let's talk about general onryo from Japanese mythology then. I haven't completely forgotten my earlier questions.

edited 30th Mar '15 1:08:23 AM by sabrina_diamond