First, I'd like to say that we are not completely anti-angst. For example, several characters, including Nabu, and my own Pazuzu, have no mommy. Apsu has no biological parents at all, and neither does Ninshar. This is allowed, especially in the case of the primals, because the game is set in ancient Mesopotamia. There are no doctors, or even nurses. Even the Astrals likely only have midwives to help with birthing, and it is not at allunreasonable for a woman to die in childbirth, or shortly after, under these circumstances. The characters with dead fathers have died under circumstances that also pertain in some way to the violence of nature (Apsu's drowned.) This is also not unreasonable. This is why life expectancies were so short in ye olden times. There will be deaths attributed to disease, childbirth, etc. There is, however, a catch. Since deaths due to these sorts of things were indeed far more common, they were far less lamented. For example, if a mother today dies in childbirth (and it does still happen), it is very likely that the father might hold a grudge against the child, or that the child, when he/she grows old enough, might blame him/herself strongly enough to affect his or her personality. This is because in this day of modern medical care, women almost never DO die in or because of childbirth, and when they do, it comes as a huge shock to that woman's loved ones. In older times, however, it is exceedingly LIKELY that this would happen. Women die in childbirth; men and women die of infections, diseases, and other acts of nature. It is something that HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. Most tribes have learned to live with the problems, and have alternate means of rearing a child bereft of his/her biological parents. If you want your character to have a lasting, bitter neurosis that his/her mother died, we are going to look askance at you. If one of your NPCs has a lasting neurosis of the same sort, we are going to look askance at you.

This brings me to the most important point of every example, every meaning, and everything in this article. Angst alone is not the problem. The two main problems are as follows: 1) The applicant wants angst to be the single character trait and motivating factor of the character or 2) There is absolutely no reason for the angst.. Let's address the first problem first.

The world is an imperfect place. I won't argue with that. You can't have a powerful, evil villian running around trying to kill people without him eventually... well... killing people. This is fine. If an applicant wants his or her character to have a vendetta against one of Marduk's ilk because of the death of a loved one, that is fine. (Clear it with the person playing that character first). If, however, the applicant wants his or her character to dwell on this fact to the exclusion of everything else, that is not fine.

As an example, I will use everyone's favorite revenge-driven Spaniard, Inigo Montoya from /The Princess Bride./ Inigo's father, Domingo, was the greatest maker of swords that ever lived, and Inigo loved him dearly. When Inigo was but a child, his father was commissioned to make a sword for a six-fingered man, which he slaved over for a year. When the six-fingered man came for the sword, he attempted to cheat Domingo out of the sword, which Domingo would have given him for free had he only acknowledged its superb craftsmanship. This was not to be; the six-fingered man slighted the sword, stating that it was not worth the wait, and Domingo refused to give it to him. The six-fingered man then /demanded/ the sword, which he truly wanted. Domingo refused again, stating that art had been there for the taking, and the six-fingered man had seen only his purse. The six-fingered man killed Domingo without another word. Inigo, then only a boy, challenged his beloved father's murderer, and lost badly. The six-fingered man gave Inigo two scars, down either side of his face, and disappeared. When Inigo recovered from the slashes, he took the six-fingered sword and disappeared himself, devoting the rest of his youth to studying the sword, and became the greatest swordsman that ever lived. He devoted his life to tracking down and killing the six-fingered man.

Here, however, is the catch: He did some other things along the way. Not only that, there are other facets to his personality. Inigo is not, by any stretch of the imagination, dark and brooding. He is, in fact, extremely impatient, which causes him sometimes to set aside aspects of his revenge in exchange for expediency. When he was unable to find the six-fingered man, he grew so annoyed at how long it was taking him to do so that he gave up, becoming a drunken nobody, until someone else (Vizzini) dragged him out of the slump. He also develops a great love the art o fencing, and prolongs some duels by fighting with his left hand (he is right-handed). He joins Vizzini and a Giant (Fezzik) to create the ultimate team of saboteurs, and attempts to start a war. He fails. I won't tell the entire story in The Princess Bride here; read the book. Watch the movie. The point is that Inigo, despite losing the man he loved more than anything else in the world, makes other friends, has other hobbies. Revenge is merely ONE of his goals, from which he is occasionally sidetracked. Inigo is a WONDERFUL character. He is my favorite character from The Princess Bride, and I know I'm not alone in my love of him.

Now, let's consider another way Inigo could have been written. What if Inigo had been so obsessed with the death of his father that he decided never to care for or about anyone else, ever again? He could have refused all human contact, apart from his attempts to learn the sword. While he probably still could have become the greatest swordsman that ever lived, he never would have joined with Vizzini and Fezzik, and he CERTAINLY never would have made friends with them. Imagine, if you will, the story of The Princess Bride without the duel on the clifftop between Inigo and Westley. If Inigo were so hung up on the death of his father that he became withdrawn and brooding, he never have joined the team that led him to this duel. Even if he had, he would be far less likely to waste valuable brooding time saving the Man In Black, with whom he then duels. The duel itself, even if it did occur, would be FAR less entertaining, since Inigo would not be inclined to duel with his off hand, or even duel for very long. Far easier to dispatch the Man In Black quickly, so he could get back to his brooding and revenge. Do you see where this is going?

Now, humor me a little more, and assume that the story got all the way to the Pit of Despair with a brooding, standoffish Inigo. In the story, it is Inigo's very ability to ADMIT that other people have also suffered just as he himself has suffered that allows him to get his much-desired revenge. When Inigo hears the scream of the Man in Black in the city, he says, "My heart made that sound when my father died. The Man in Black makes it now." It is this revelation that leads him TO the Man in Black, and from there, to the six-fingered man. The brooding, dark Inigo would never have this opportunity, at least, not if he were written like the apps I've seen. This alternate Inigo would merely sigh deeply, thinking to himself that the screamer just /did not understand/ real pain, pain like he himself had in his own wounded soul, and continue his quest... alone. Perhaps you think I exaggerate. I don't. One of the applications we received actually said that the character had the attitude that X, Y, and Z had happened to her, and therefore no one else's life could possibly seem that bad. Another application stated that the character was originally from a story which ended with the character's tragic death. We've received several applications for characters that hate everyone save one of two of their NPCs. We know where these characters are going, and we don't want to go there.

How many of you would like Inigo Montoya if, instead of buying a miracle to revive the Man in Black, he had merely left him dead upon a slab in the Pit of Despair? How many of you would like him if he had pushed the Man in Black from the Cliffs of Insanity, instead of dueling with him? What if, instead of saying fun things like, "I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using," and making rhymes with Fezzik, Inigo was sullen, quiet, and insistent that /no one could possibly ever understand him?/ I'd hate him. You would too.

To sum up this point: DO NOT make the central basis of your character's every thought and action some horrible tragedy that happened to him/her. This says one of two things to me. Either the character's entire past, present, and future have already been decided (in which case real RP is impossible), or the player really, really wants someone to come and melt their cold, cold heart. Both situations scream, "PAY ATTENTION TO /ME!/ I SHOULD BE THE FOCAL POINT OF THIS PLOT," the first because no deviation from the character's agenda is possible, and the second because the character's participation hinges on another player's willingness to pay attention to them. In both situations, the player is likely to become hostile, hurt, or unhappy with the game if RP doesn't go exactly as they had plotted out. No one wants to drop everything to read your fervid story in which Sailor Montoya dramatically confronts the Acolyte of Six-Fingered Men, uses the Silver Crystal Six-Fingered Sword against him, and dies or is tragically wounded in her lifelong quest for honor and redemption.

Avoidance Checklist:

Does your character have a horrible, dark past? Does she/he continually dwell on that horrible, dark past, to the exclusion of all else? Do you intend for most NPCs to shun or avoid the character because he/she is antisocial? Did you assume that other PCs will shun, avoid, or refuse to befriend your character because he/she is antisocial? Has your character withdrawn from the world because of her/his dark, horrible past? Will the dark and horrible past eventually devour them from within? Do you secretly hope to have a death scene like Nuriko's from Fushigi Yuugi? Do you secretly hope that your character's past will be the most tragic of any other characters?

If you answered any of these questions, "yes," you might want to rethink your application before you send it in. Unless the rest of the application is positively stellar, we are unlikely to accept it.

Now let's move on to the second point: angst with NO REASON. Genesis gets this far more often than the problem number one. The most common unrequited angst we get is with the astrals; either the astral has little to nil magic, or the astral and/or his/her family is /ashamed/ of the magic. The former presents several problems. Number one, astrals without magic are little better than dirt in the eyes of the other astrals. They aren't made fun of like the kid with the weird birthmark in school, they are THROWN OFF THE ISLAND. You can ONLY get away with this if you're part of a very rich or very powerful upper-class family. That's why we allowed this with Sin; he's the SEVENTH CHILD. With six other children to bear the family honor, one magicless child is less likely to be a source of shame. This does, however, make another point: Sin gets the "magicless astral" slot. That's one of his unique points; no one else can have it. This isn't just because he nabbed the slot first; it's also because the Powers Above that are handing out senshi powers are NOT smoking crack, people. The major advantage and skill the Astrals HAVE is their knowledge of and skill with magic. Senshi are meant to be the exemplary warriors of their races and clans; this means that most Astral senshi will have strong or unique magic. Magicless astrals are far less likely to be tapped as senshi; that's what the primals are for.

The second situation is even LESS acceptable. There is absolutely, positively NO REASON why an astral or his/her family would be ASHAMED of his/her magical powers. That's like your parents being ashamed that you made the Dean's List, or that you graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Medical School. It WOULD NOT HAPPEN. EVER. It wouldn't matter if you were a woman; your father would still not be ashamed that you were a mage and your brother was less of one. Quite frankly, it wouldn't matter if you lost your arms and legs in the war, as long as you were still a powerful mage. If you haven't played Chrono Trigger, don't feel bad if you thought you should be lower class because you were female; in most ancient civilizations, this would have been true. Now you know better. If you HAVE played Chrono Trigger, shame on you. You have no excuse. Queen Zeal was a woman. Schala was a woman. Janus wasn't. Who was the useless child? Janus. Stop smoking crack. There is only ONE situation I might be willing to allow magic as a shameful thing, and it DOES apply to one of the elements still open. I'm not going to tell you what it is, because someone will steal it. I'll give you a hint: replay Chrono Trigger. Yes, that's all you get.

That covers the biggest problem with unnecessary angst we get, but there are others. Here is the one that makes Ali and Cal want to hurt you A LOT. You may be tragic. You may be gay. You may not be tragic BECAUSE you are gay. Cal's best friend is gay. Ali's best friend from high school is gay. Guess what Ali, Cal, and both best friends hate more than just about anything in the world? Answer: people who think being gay is a horrible tragedy Atlantis was not founded by Puritans, nor were the earthbound clans. No one cares if your character is gay. No one is going to persecute poor you because your Rook thinks Iggy is hotter than Shasa. No one is going to look sideways at your sailor senshi because she thinks Anzu is hotter than Indalecio. Likewise, you should not make a big deal, tragic or not, out of being gay. No one expects straight characters to spend ninety percent of their time reminding you that they are straight; do not spend ninety percent of your time reminding everyone that your character is gay. In fact, we'd respect you more if you NEVER EVEN SAID in your application that your character is gay, but focused on other aspects of his/her personality. When you make a concerted effort to inform us that your character is gay, it makes us worry that gay is your entire character concept, and sexual orientation is NOT something upon which to base a character. If your character's entire life motivation and meaning derives from her/his sexual preference, we will reject you. It's fine if you want to be a lesbian or gay, and it's fine if you want to have a characteristic of which the other members of your society disapprove. Just don't use this as an excuse to turn Genesis into a bad Gundam Wing or Utena fanfic.

The problem in summary: Genesis is NOT TragicYaoi/YuriFest USA.

How to avoid this: If the most important part of your character is the side of the fence upon which they get nooky, you might want to rethink your character.

If you get ONE THING OUT OF THIS, take this with you: The Senshi in this game are, to the knowledge of everyone involved, the first Senshi anywhere, ever. They don't know that what they are has a name, and they've never seen anything like it. The planet has never needed protectors. Now it does. The Powers that Be are going to give starseeds, and thus senshi powers and duties, to the people They believe are best suited to guard and protect the planet and its indigenous life forms from evil smackdown. Tragic things may (nay, WILL) happen to them IN THE COURSE OF PLAY, but the Powers that Be are NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU A STARSEED IF YOUR LIFE IS ALREADY A LAMENTABLE MESS.

Period.

The Sailor Starlights were not granted starseeds BECAUSE they experienced the death of their planet, their princess, and ? hell, just about everyone else in the series. It was the other way around; all the horrible things that happened to them happened BECAUSE THEY WERE SENSHI, and they were chosen as senshi because somewhere, sometime, the Powers that Be dubbed them strong enough, wise enough, or enduring enough to fulfill those duties. Sometimes they had to be reminded of this, but in the end, they endured. Your character MUST BE strong enough, wise enough, or enduring enough to fulfill the duties of a senshi. If your character is already emotionally exhausted, the Powers are not going to percieve you as possessing the strength of will it takes to face evil. End of discussion.

x