Forum:FC:Café Fanfic III

Forums > Fanon Cantina > FC:Café Fanfic III

Welcome back to Cafe Fanfic, where both the drinks AND the stories are fresh, creative, and filled with variety. At least we hope so. No, you can't have another Gizor just because you found a bug in it. It won't kill you, you probably put it there yourself anyway.

Just like last time, we're going to talk about fan-fiction (yours). The basic ground rules are the same. Please restrict this to stuff from your fan-fiction, but aside from that, no pressure. You can suggest, make observations, but no condemning other people's work and "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer.

Also, please do suggest topics for future months if you like this little feature and want to see it continue.

So here's the deal. Let's talk about diversity and speciesism.

June's topic: Pick a character, and list one species that they like and one that they naturally dislike. And then state why. What are you waiting for? Go!

Feel free to discuss what other people have written whether or not you decide to share. This does not have to be something you've already written or included within your "official" storylines. It can be first or third-person perspective. It could be made up on the spot, which is what I'm going to do. Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 00:21, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

Characters

Goodwood's Laera Reyolé

Character: Laera Reyolé

Species she likes: Laera has always had respect for Twi'leks; she admires their warrior spirit and their pragmatism both, and has never met a Twi'lek who failed to meet her expectations as a soldier for the Republic. One in particular was Lieutenant Ibratu'na, who served under her command during the mission to capture a Sith Lord. She also holds Bothans in high esteem — particularly given her choice in companion. She respects their spirit of ingenuity and how they perceive the galaxy; she's no politician and she knows it, and Laera is grateful to have someone to help navigate that realm when necessary. She would look upon Humanocentrism and Human High Culture with a highly-disdainful eye.

Species she doesn't like: This has yet to be explored, so I don't know. Taungs would undoubtedly rank pretty low, since she probably killed a good deal of them — and lost friends to them — during the Mandalorian Wars.

Fiolli's Asana Lani

Character: Asana Lani (Formally, Asana'alani)

Species she likes: Asana has a bit of an infatuation with Humans. She's envied them in someways and had even secretly wished she could be one when she was younger. This stems from her upbringing, during which Twi'leks on her homeworld were somewhat rare and the most substantial female "role models" were dancers, actresses, and sex symbols. Since Asana desired to be more in life, she always surrounded herself with Humans. This partially explains why she has a measure of attraction with Waron Danstari.

Species she doesn't like: Asana is pretty open-minded about these things, but she does have issues with Rodians. The reason is quite simple for her. She saw Rodians as bounty hunters growing up, even kidnapping one of her young friends. As an investigator for the GIN, she encountered a large number of Rodians as part of criminal empires. She even joked that, "if you're running a search for a baddie, check the Rodians first." During a prisoner transfer on Thyferra, three Rodian criminals ambushed and nearly killed her. She's got a bit of an anti-Rodian streak in her.

• Has this ever negatively impacted her cases? Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 18:30, June 24, 2011 (UTC)
  • I'm glad you asked, Ataru! Not to spoil anything too much, but yes, it has. This is part of her backstory that will be her major plot point in Ghostly Images, that's partly why I used her to answer this question. She immediately assumed something that was not correct, and even though it was able to be rectified (e.g. no one was executed on her account), she's still somewhat paying the price for it. — Fiolli ^{{Alpheridies University ComNet}} 18:45, July 3, 2011 (UTC)

Trak's Camilla Sookanado

Character: Camilla Sookanado (as "Cami Sookanado" in Breakfast in Bedlam)

Species she likes: Cami doesn't quite have an entire race that she prefers overall, though she does have levels of respect for representatives of various species. Her loyalties will still lie with the Rodian race, but due to experiences shared with Ric'ah T'rib (CJ008: Only a Sith Deals an Absolute) and Zuckuss (Breakfast in Bedlam), Cami does hold Twi'leks and Gands in some regard. She cannot form an opinion on those races as a whole, however. Ric'ah traveled with Cami for a few years, and the two were friends. After a mission that landed Cami in prison on a parole violation, Ric'ah worked to secure Cami an early release. While in prison, Cami was a cellmate of Zuckuss, who watched out for her. If given the choice, would Cami hook up with a Twi'lek or a Gand? No. She'd stick to finding a nice Rodian chap. But, she wouldn't shy away from friendships with the former.

Species she doesn't like: Cami is wary around Humans, due to a past imprisonment. She won't totally shun them, and if needed, she will associate with them, but Cami will be hesitant to enter into any relationship with them, business or otherwise. She knows that she shouldn't stigmatize an entire race based on the actions of a certain few, but she is still wary around Humans.

• What led her to be so distrustful of Humans? Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 18:30, June 24, 2011 (UTC)

Warrick McQuarrie (I'm the Chosen One)

Character: Warrick McQuarrie

Species he likes: Since he was born into a Mandalorian family, he liked civilizations that promoted combat, honor and bravery. He respected the Jedi Order for the honor they displayed and their reputation for bravery. He also held Iridorians, the Old Mandalorians and, to a lesser extent, the Echani in high regard. A proponent of Canderous Ordo and ancient Mandalorian philosophy, he urged his people to fight the dominance of the Human Imperium for the honor and glory of defeating the dominant government in the galaxy and to free themselves from its heavy hand. However, he grew bitter with the passive stance the Mandalorians had taken and was appalled that they allowed the Imperium to boss them around. He disowned them and consciously chose not to identify with them any longer. Rodians and Wookiees were placed on a pedestal in his mind because of their long history as warriors and bounty hunters.

Species he dislikes: First and foremost, he hated the Hutts and Trandoshans for their slaver cultures. He disliked slavers because he felt he was once a slave under the Imperium and could identify with the enslaved party. However, his sympathy only extended to those that chose to fight for their freedom, like the Wookiee race and was a major factor in his embitterment of his people. He felt the pacifistic contemporary Mandalorians paled in comparison to the old Mandalorians and Taungs. He hated the Imperium and thought that most of the upper-echelon was filled with cowards and weaklings.

Even though Warrick did hate and like certain species, there were, of course, exceptions to every rule. He was more of an idealist than a species-ist and identified his likes and dislikes that way.

• The Mandalorians have previously shown contempt for the Echani (KotOR I), so how does Warrick still hold them in high regard? The Wookiees are also not generally an aggressive race in general—most of them are not expansionistic or violent unless agitated first. How does that fit into his perception of them, given that they're a warrior race that doesn't do a lot of preemptive or non-defensive fighting? Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 18:30, June 24, 2011 (UTC)
• Warrick was more like the Mandalorians cut from Canderous Ordo's cloth. The ones that sought battle for honor and glory (if I recall the KOTOR Mando that Revan speaks to was a greedy merc and not an ideal representative of the people). He, like most his kind, hated their use of light armor and weapons, but he respected the dominance battle played in their culture and their ideology.

One reason he idolizes the Wookiees has to do with their reputation. Wookiees were known for their fighting prowess, almost on par with the Mandalorian warriors of old. He also appreciates those guys because, unlike the pacifistic nature of the contemporary Mandalorian leadership, they choose to fight to prevent invaders from taking them away or forcing them into slavery. He despises the fact that the Mandalorians allowed themselves to be taken advantage of and enslaved to the agenda of their oppressors.-I'm the Chosen One^{You must see it...} 09:46, June 25, 2011 (UTC)

Ariada Cerulaen (Atarumaster88)

Species she likes: Ariada feels a close affinity for species that were oppressed by the Empire, such as the Nosaurians and the Aruzans. In particular, the color similarities between Wroonians and Aruzans leads her to feel they are kindred spirits.

Species she dislikes:' Ariada dislikes Hutts, whom she sees as exploiting the weak endlessly. She has mixed feelings on Humans—her people and family suffered heavily at the hands of the Empire so she's seen their bad side, but she also has seen humanity's good side with her friends on Yanibar. The species she harbors the most animosity for would definitely be the Yuuzhan Vong. While she's capable of seeing a good side in most people, the ravages of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion have convinced her that they as a species are virtually beyond redemption and that they must be first crushed rather than reformed in order to stop their wanton destruction, torture, and enslavement of billions across the galaxy. Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 18:30, June 24, 2011 (UTC)

Is it safe to assume she dislikes the Trandoshans for their aggressive behavior and wanton violence toward the Wookiees? Also, how does she perceive races like the Tusken Raiders and the (extinct) Taung? Does she sympathize with them because of their treatment at the hands of others (mostly imperialism by Humans)? If not, did she at least garner an understanding of their predicament, their indiscriminate violence toward perceived invaders, via the Vong attack?-I'm the Chosen One^{You must see it...} 10:10, June 25, 2011 (UTC)

• Ariada is no fan of Trandoshans. And while it might seem like a cop-out answer, she's probably not familiar with the Tuskens and not knowledgeable enough about the Taung to make an informed decision. Her character skills/interests lean more towards biology and computer science than history. Which is to say, I don't know the answer to that question because it doesn't seem like one the character would be able to answer. In general, Ariada would be more sympathetic towards populaces that resorted to drastic measures to deal with invaders/oppressors, but would reserve judgment on a case-by-case basis. For example, she wouldn't condone the use of the Krytos virus as a defense against the New Republic seizure of Coruscant. Ariada's largest distinction there is the use of weapons to deliberately cause widespread suffering on non-military targets, which the Vong have done and which the Empire before them did. Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 17:56, June 27, 2011 (UTC)

Future Suggestions

I had a future suggestion: A character type questionnaire. Similar to the one Dorak gave Revan when the player had to figure out what type of Jedi they wanted to be (The Guardian, Consular, Sentinel questions).-I'm the Chosen One^{You must see it...} 00:42, June 4, 2011 (UTC)

• Go to 4:41 in this video, to understand what I mean.-I'm the Chosen One^{You must see it...} 00:58, June 4, 2011 (UTC)
  • I like this idea, ITCO. The only problem I see is that we will undoubtedly have a myriad of individuals from differing backgrounds. For example, I'd be prone to pick someone who is unique to my stories; and, other than Shalli, m'Ord Vinka, and Starbuck, none are Jedi. There are always generic and open-ended questions like what Ataru is doing now (which is actually really cool), yet I think a series of questions would be a bit more involved than that. Maybe this would be too complicated, but if we had a press conference or interview type of thing? Something where a character is put on the spot and asked four or five questions that a moderator (Ataru would be a logical choice) or small panel would ask. That way they can be at least somewhat catered to the particular individual.— Fiolli ^{{Alpheridies University ComNet}} 02:05, June 4, 2011 (UTC)
• I didn't mean they had to be Jedi. I meant something similar to what they did in KOTOR. General scenarios and solutions and you would explain why your character chose a particular solution. I suppose it would only work for character archetypes though since more complex characters would seek more than one solution to a given scenario. I don't know if that was any clearer though. Also, your idea seems pretty cool to me.-I'm the Chosen One^{You must see it...} 03:49, June 4, 2011 (UTC)
  • I like the concept behind the idea, let's see if we can't refine it into something a bit more fitting. That's an interesting way of sounding out a characters's strengths or weaknesses, and it could be made to fit into something that works very well with the Cafe Fanfic idea. Maybe something like "Your character is walking in a dark alley when they are accosted by an assailant who demands their money. What is their response?" or "Your character sees someone being robbed, what do they do?" I don't know, but let's brainstorm it out a bit more and see if we can come up with something cool! Atarumaster88 ^{(Talk page)} 01:15, June 5, 2011 (UTC)

Here's an idea: Describe a typical day for your character. Every character has days where nothing really happens, how do they spend their lives when their not busy saving/terrorizing the galaxy? Do they have a job? A family? Maybe they spend their off days training. Whatever it is, write it!--Josh Bender^Talk 07:14, June 7, 2011 (UTC)

• I like this idea, actually. It'll get me and possibly other whenever-the-muse-strikes-us writers to start becoming a bit more prolific. Trak Nar ^{Ramble on} 09:36, June 7, 2011 (UTC)
  • I like this idea as well. It'll gimme a chance to maybe do something for one of my /other/ characters.

GoodwoodDebating Society11,988 Edits 10:58, June 7, 2011 (UTC)

• • • That, too. I'd like to give some of my other characters a bit of spot light, though no namesake characters. The most they get in fics are mentions. Else, it's pretentious. Trak Nar ^{Ramble on} 07:55, June 8, 2011 (UTC)

I don't know, if we really did a day in the life segment, it would really be filled with boring bureaucracy and paperwork. The exciting stuff is usually not a normal day.-I'm the Chosen One^{You must see it...} 21:34, July 8, 2011 (UTC)