100 Question Character Meme (outdated!)
FEATURING:
An honest murderer --- Melted legs --- Joyous fatality --- The shared reverse
Sown from view for length.
Part 1: The Basics
1. What is your full name? A better question is, which should we start with? There are many names others have come to say as mine.
2. Where and when were you born? In a cave of Arcadia, the night still yet a virgin.
3. Who are/were your parents? My father is the king of gods, my mother, shy and violet-haired nymph, sister of seven.
4. Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like? None cleaved closer than half in blood. It is not for fault that the words I use are common to them.
5. Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the person/people. When one remains as long as I, there are many places one comes to live. Mount Olympus is my lingering residence now. My toil has grown of dark and dust, exertion stilled by fate’s decree. Something I neither enjoy nor accept. The mortals view it in similar ways, but to tell one of those sights ends the journey with not one step taken. The people there are…a home. Zeus and Hera remain the presiding parents. Forgiving Hestia takes her place at the tender fire. Poseidon and Hades are the visiting uncles. The first is a brash rage, ill of fortune, intent on gaining much for himself yet ever-creative in his design. The next is further away, given to a slow deep ire, and Demeter is the daughter-lossed, an aunt of selfish suffering.
For the two whom sexuality is denied, transformed into aggression by one, Artemis roams the outside, striving to the boundaries of the world, the hunt and dance herself. Though she walks the line with daring and severity, she never crosses. Athena, who stands sexual desires aside, remains in the center of the room, diligent, brusque on occasion, weaving, but always considered with every matter. Threaded to the divine daughters are two divine sons.
Adjacent in work to Athena is Hephaestus, a craftsman of bronze and all things akin. In his word so focused, often of a simple, hiding heart, he resides in the back hall. To Artemis is her twin Apollo, god of truth, prophecy, light, knowledge, music. He is where all radiance goes. As Hephaestus is the lesser of Athena, Apollo is the ideal for compassion. Ironic, then, that he is so tragic in love. Remember, maidens and men, not that the sun only heals.
Aphrodite, goddess of one’s birth hour, sweet of violets, knower of hearts, is an outsider and does not belong in the family circle. She is the goddess of joy, but there are many ways to laugh. Ares is vicious and unpredictable, the infuriating son of all who hear, breaking dishes and fraying modest tempers, but he is courageous, and prides himself direct in speech, seems incapable of original thought, and cares only that blood is shed. Dionysus came from the farthest way, and remains perhaps the most what mortals deem to be human. He is the lighted cellar, let us say, where often delight and revelations are concealed. Lastly there is the doorway, passing of the realm. That is my place.
6. What is your occupation? I have never required nor desired vast duties. My divine responsibility as the messenger suits my time well enough…when I agree to its belief.
7. Write a full physical description of yourself. I am as I choose to be. Seek not to see, but to hear.
8. To which social class do you belong? Any I wish.
9. Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses? Gods are a perfection of flaws, manifest and metaphor. To tell would serve my disadvantage.
10. Are you right- or left-handed? What a mortal question. Perhaps you should consider asking that of the mind instead…
11. What does your voice sound like? If you find yourself feeling the rush of your mortality, you have heard and helped me.
12. What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently? I question and refute. Strength wanes, beauty fades, only wit grows unabated.
13. What do you have in your pockets? What was in yours.
14. Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics? If anyone didn’t, they wouldn’t be very interesting.
Part 2: Growing Up
15. How would you describe your childhood in general? Full of excitement and unbarring!
16. What is your earliest memory? Right. I almost forgot. Night had just entered the palace beyond the western gates, and dawn was arranging her dress. My feet were raw and tangled. My driving done, I set aside my shoes of trees and soon stood in the pulsating viscera of my brother’s tended cattle.
17. How much schooling have you had? I learned enough to craft the Wind Shear by watching Hephaestus work. He didn’t know I was there. Probably a healthy thing, but by the nature of these questions I say you’ve strained your mind much already.
18. Did you enjoy school? It's never finished.
19. Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities? Ingenuity is well-endowed. I need not to be taught, but teach those who pray to me. Or at least hear…sometimes…
20. While growing up, did you have any role models? If so, describe them. By knowing the revered you learn the follower…you’re awful at subtlety. When a god is born, the Fates give him a way. Often none remain a child long.
21. While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family? Aaugh…
22. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I took each opportunity that presented itself. There was nothing I wanted to be. I am my aspiration.
23. As a child, what were your favorite activities? Kleptein.
24. As a child, what kinds of personality traits did you display? Look to a young man on the night risen street and you will see.
25. As a child, were you popular? I got a lot of attention.
26. When and with whom was your first kiss? When is meaningless. Everything is now, for you are always in the present, even that from a time before and become. Though, everything about her was long. She was an oread. Appropriately wild…
27. Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity? Are you interested? To answer what was asked, find me a god that isn’t. Tanagra may be the one you ask of. For her sake I boxed against Ares - he had planned to force violence upon her, but I was the one who led her away...
28. If you are a supernatural being (i.e. mage, werewolf, vampire), tell the story of how you became what you are or first learned of your own abilities. If you are just a normal human, describe any influences in your past that led you to do the things you do today. It comes with the ambrosia.
Part 3: Past Influences
29. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far? The most important event in my life is today.
30. Who has had the most influence on you? To be influenced means you are changed. After that, you are never the same, even in delicate ways. I am my most influential person.
31. What do you consider your greatest achievement? There have been countless---ah! Creating numbers and the scales to bond has helped many, but in what way does one measure greatness?
32. What is your greatest regret? Define regret.
33. What is the most evil thing you have ever done? That would depend on you.
34. Do you have a criminal record of any kind? Kleptein, to steal, has, admittedly, more the sense of cunning than law-breaking. In my time it meant "secretive action," and more often, "to deceive," neither of which necessarily imply the violation of property rights as is the common inference today. It's a sort of unexpected fortune, if you will. If the saying is viewed unquestionably true, that the only crime is theft --- tell a lie and you steal one’s right to truth --- then all of us are blessed by myself and Apollo’s light. Assuming one succeeded. If not, thieve again!
35. When was the time you were the most frightened? If you insist on measuring greatness, what surprise is weighing fright? There was Typhon. Gaia birthed him, which fundamentally makes him our distant cousin. I remember him smelling of Limburger cheese. Only Zeus could stand up to that.
36. What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you? There was a thief who strode to take only the possessions others cherished most. All of his home was formed of this compassion. He wore the gowns of graved kings, the faces of the beauty-blessed daughters he had slain, the one wood for the hearth. He soon came to see his fellows disarmed and poor, so turned his mind to take from the one who had so knowingly bestowed him this fate, and he who caught love and flew it away was not cunning enough to see that he never took the same thing twice.
He obtained my scarf. When I awoke to its absence, he led my attention to the chains that tightened me and the handcuffs upon my wrists.
“What brilliant a mortal I am!” he cried, “To outwit a deathless god! Here I have stolen from the swift-heeled Hermes, that of his he owns most heartfelt!”
I told him he could lose his voice shouting like that, which I suppose made him confused, because he voiced himself louder still. The minds of mortals are strange…
…Aside and to continue, formalities cast to time, the thief had overlooked a very simple thing. This matter was resolved disappointingly. To return what he had taken, but had never gained, I only had to ask him, “What is it but not dead desire, the love to an object, when that to a mind lasts so much longer, and may yet be returned?”
After that incident, he often sought a corner to curl up and die in, but Thanatos just wouldn't take him! To clarify, it did happen to me, but it was mortifying for him.
37. If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why? There is nothing that can happen which is not positive. There are some I perhaps wished could have lived a war longer. Apemosyne, for most, but the path to judgment was time enough. You either change nothing, or everything, and even unto me the unknown will always have its say.
38. What is your best memory? Memory is a strange guest. She spends time with one, sometimes moves quickly. That which she gives are things from before, and I saw closely one tread in my pace to the split road of possibility. In Arcadia there was a distant son not known by him to be of my blood. He was seen as a troublemaker, a splitter of tribes, for he dared to cross boundaries and flaunt the customs of his passionate race. I saw his desire of abandonment to that which Ares presides, for his kind had been cursed by Artemis to eternal battle. In his youth I sent him a dream of deliverance, to which I watched him speak and draw others, but still his reputation angered. Raiders attacked their camp while he prepared his followers at the port of Aressa, and he learned of still more wishing his dream true, far away yet coming. At the cost of a leg never healed, he found the travelers through three days of running and led them all to the waiting sea, then to their home which I too call my own. So a son of the swiftest can know the wind only as that which moves around him, never his form fast against, but is it not better to limp evermore in peace than race for eternity in strife?
39. What is your worst memory? Worst does not have form. I will grant you insight to another. Zeus had given me a task, one of leading, not to the dead, but of a life. The boy I was to meet believed that only Ares and Aphrodite existed, and all that happened were a will of combat or love. He thought I myself was the laughing goddess, come to guide him closer to the warring deity he worshipped, but his confused thinking soon forced me to change his mind…in hindsight, I was unjustly offended, and took every opportunity to, what would you modern mortals say, ‘bitchslap his mental security in the face,’ but the lack of consideration for care in my father’s will served me well. After all, I was only tasked to get him there. Otherwise…
I write this here as response to these words of wonder because before this I did not think I could dislike a mortal, and that feeling grew to hate…the boy turned my path and prayed before a statue of Ares, where I found much a change to be needed, for Ares does not favor the humble, he does not smile upon the cowardly, as all this mortal was and more of the things the one he professed to worship despised. In an attempt to shed the boundaries between us, I replaced the statue’s mace with a bouquet, meeting weak worded retaliation. There’s one thing the boy and his god had in common: little toleration for humor. That day was wholly my longest and rewarding only in reminding me the harm I can cause.
Part 4: Beliefs And Opinions
40. Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic? Who can be a giver of good and not be optimistic himself?
41. What is your greatest fear? At last, a relevant question! I will give you but something else: my greatest joy.
42. What are your religious views? King, what do you think of royalty?
43. What are your political views? I enjoy arguments, especially those of mortals. Gods stay within their designation, but with the dying they act unrestrained! As for views, in this world, I believe everyone should look out for themselves, with the great chance that no one else will. To secure an advantage in a situation is to succeed. Friends are valuable, for as they prosper, so will I. With my families I see myself sharing at slightest a…helpful bond. I act of them not apart, but harmonized.
44. What are your views on sex? That I practiced with nymphs must say some tacit understanding.
45. Are you able to kill? Life lives on other lives. Vegetarians simply slay that which cannot move. I ask plainly and unadorned, what life can’t when necessity calls?
46. In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do? Over to you, Athena.
47. Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love? No, nor is unconditional love ideal, and here is where Apollo and I turn opposite.
48. What do you believe makes a successful life? One fraught with excitement, many journeys, allies met, enemies honored, a high, deep learning, a confusion of the wise, the keeping of the pantheon’s duties (of right to them or not), a joyous spirit, ambition, the embracing of deemed impossibility, a will to always try, but perhaps most of all, a great change.
49. How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings (i.e. do you hide your true self from others, and in what way)? I will not tell a lie, but I cannot promise to tell the whole truth.
50. Do you have any biases or prejudices? I favor the daring. I enjoy the fools but am disinclined to the arrogant. Fame has no place in my support, and when one publicizes their fortune I will take it away. Of myself, I say honestly that there are few things I stand on with a hardened mind.
51. Is there anything you absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances? Why do you refuse to do it? Refuse? Why deprive oneself? Take all chances, see them as opportunities. They are what you need. If you go into that moment with inquisitiveness and cheer, and not retreating in fear of failure, you brave it wisely, and the strength will come! Even the things that seem now or before disasters or wreckage, that you are here now means you have come through and far, and nothing more should daunt you.
52. Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)? That doesn’t give me much of a choice…I would much rather live for something than die for it.
Part 5: Relationships With Others
53. In general, how do you treat others (politely, rudely, by keeping them at a distance, etc.)? Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how? Care should always be given to words and meanings. Often I walk in refuting. Quite a joy, to rile. Those who make it difficult are the ones I return to.
54. Who is the most important person in your life, and why? I would not speak of myself so often if there were anyone I knew as well.
55. Who is the person you respect the most, and why? That would take a long story to answer.
56. Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? Describe these people. Far and few between, they stand opposed on many boundaries. Revered god and hated mortal, broken leg and healing heart, distant child and adjacent brother, toes and hooves, short and tall. But they meet on some, too. Male, kind, hopeful, determined, selfless judgment.
57. Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person. It is a border I have yet to cross…
58. Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened. I have been in lust, but if from myself, the Fates, Eros, or Aphrodite, even Zeus, I know not the source. For the children it turned out quite well. The mothers often perished soon after. Ah, well…it made for a topic of conversation.
59. What do you look for in a potential lover? It is not beauty that I seek most, nor courage or strength. It is not wisdom or the hopeful, not the innocent or even the most cunning of women that may draw my heart, but the surprising, those with an aptitude for change, the uncertain expected. This, of course, takes much observing to determine…as well as experimentation.
60. How close are you to your family? In the dawning, I’d say distant. Admittedly, I enjoy and support them. Hestia is a gentle and forgiving soul, and for that peculiarity she owes my attention. With her, I, Dionysus three, we’re a triad of sorts, the way mortals see things. Apollo, whom I would say I know of the most, is a contrast of care and torment, and to him I still adhere my oath. Zeus as my father I cannot speak ill of. Hera is someone I enjoy, perhaps a little more. She’s a caricature, the jealous wife. Quite a joy to watch. The others are…adequate, but Aphrodite will always be Aphrodite.
61. Have you started your own family? If so, describe them. If not, do you want to? Why or why not? All of the Olympians have started many. Why is simple but often unaccepted, unwritten, taking the easy way of lust on own. But then, we wanted mortals to get it wrong…
62. Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help? What good is resourcefulness in mind and body if it can’t aid you in all things? I would go to whomever was what I required.
63. Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why? For me to trust them means they must further trust me, and who but a blind would the patron of liars?
64. If you died or went missing, who would miss you? Mislaid is what travelers are. It is my scenery. If I am not in one place, I am in another, and for someone to miss me gives that I must have found them catching, so spent my moments in their company. That is little one can claim in truthful honesty. If they did yearn for me, they should know better.
65. Who is the person you despise the most, and why? Here me on, to judge what angers, leading to exploitation or great humbling…you would make a terrible thief.
66. Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict? Arguing is the foundation of speech! I argue for sport, jest, irritation, and a better knowing. Stand fast, not aside.
67. Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations? As most cases seem to donate, I don't. My place is as a guide, not a leader.
68. Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not? If I did not, would I be the supporter of gamblers, speakers, poets, expression and travelers? Everyone has stories to tell, especially the silent, cornered ones. No greater gift can you give to one another.
69. Do you care what others think of you? I have blushed perhaps once or twice.
Part 6: Likes And Dislikes
70. What is/are your favorite hobbies and pastimes? Perhaps I am a rare circumstance in that my pursuit is my passion, my hobby, my job, my divine obligation. As it stands, I converse with the dead more than the living. To do so I do what I desire, no matter if it’s abiding the rules or not. Aside, mortals are a joy to company with, especially the ones who stand silent far from the birds of dawning, their streaming eyes curved skyward to the pane of the planet, darkened by night and silvered by mist. They seek the stars. Them, I guide second most now. Often we share a united wish. Aside again, Athena’s loom has caught slight interest, woman’s charge though it be. Can cunning eclipse wisdom?
71. What is your most treasured possession? Clandestine motives well considered, I name it my sandals.
72. What is your favorite color? Green. A dark one. Emerald in tone, of a forest kind, perhaps. The shade is a secluded place. It has many stories.
73. What is your favorite food? There is but one I have tasted. Some mortal food doesn’t seem as inherently revolting as the rest.
74. What, if anything, do you like to read? There was hardly any writing in the days my time existed. I will read…whatever interests me. There may be a shelf on that.
75. What is your idea of good entertainment (consider music, movies, art, etc.)? The boundless mortals, the maddened dead, and lest I not forget the pin wheeling of a man against a spirit, the slip of the victor on the fallen, or the silencing knife in conversations as I pass.
76. Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs? If so, why? Do you want to quit? I’m looking into it.
77. How do you spend a typical Saturday night? No night is typical, for routines do not exist, as every day is different.
78. What makes you laugh? The foolish, the riled, the ironic, the unreasoned. Time has tightened.
79. What, if anything, shocks or offends you? A hardhearted slayer of ants. Start from there, and think on that.
80. What would you do if you had insomnia and had to find something to do to amuse yourself? If nothing else I would walk the world.
81. How do you deal with stress? Marketplaces. It’s very entertaining to see what mortals think their fellows need.
82. Are you spontaneous, or do you always need to have a plan? Everyone has a plan until they get hit. Better to save myself the numbing of fault and go without. People must learn to pay attention.
83. What are your pet peeves? To tell is to know without seeking.
Part 7: Self Images And Etc.
84. Describe the routine of a normal day for you. How do you feel when this routine is disrupted? On the whole, I lead. I listen. I travel. I give. If it is shaken as the sea, then I adapt.
85. What is your greatest strength as a person? Most who see my name will cry, “wit!” I say, my compassion.
86. What is your greatest weakness? My speed. Without the winds I cannot outrun a mortal.
87. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My anxiety to man.
88. Are you generally introverted or extroverted? I seem to be on a waypoint between my past and soundless future.
89. Are you generally organized or messy? Being organized is wasteful.
90. Name three things you consider yourself to be very good at, and three things you consider yourself to be very bad at. Taking interest, wandering, sympathizing, detachment, convincing, not lacerating my leg. But would the law remain deaf to the lamentations of the condemned if a dishonest criminal told the truth?
91. Do you like yourself? I can only be greater.
92. What are your reasons for being an adventurer (or doing the strange and heroic things that RPG characters do)? Are your real reasons for doing this different than the ones you tell people in public? (If so, detail both sets of reasons...) One might assume that honesty plays a vital part in this. I am an adventurer because it is my spirit. It is what I am, by the Fates, by my preferred duties, by myself. To stay as Hestia in her home would be to burn boundaries, tangle threads, fall order, darken the light, impale right, mystify the wise, weaken the strong, woman the man and ground the sky, which is perhaps the reason we, in being so different, so enjoy each other’s company.
93. What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime? Keep the world its veils and stone the memories of the ones who chanced upon.
94. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Five? Is that all? Why not project 50? A century, one for every nail! Gives time more a chance to change.
95. If you could choose, how would you want to die? You phrase as though that’s going to happen. I am a deathless god. Without me, the souls of the last honor will wander for eternity, lose all memory and mind of who they were...but if fate would have it so and I to choose, surprise me, and let the one in my stead lead as I have all others.
96. If you knew you were going to die in 24 hours, name three things you would do in the time you had left. Ah, the knowledge of fate. Here you wish for me to order my last acts of life, thus lighting my morals, sense of honor, and as a base point to seek where one has changed. I acquaint with you a loophole.
97. What is the one thing for which you would most like to be remembered after your death? Your persistence in that which won’t come is to be lauded. I like that. In the spirit of situational inquiry, myself.
98. What three words best describe your personality? According to me, which is always an interesting way to judge when asked questions of yourself, unplanned, charming, and veiled.
99. What three words would others probably use to describe you? The swordsman and poet both pray to me. Versatile. My words I dim with purpose. Formless. The ones quick to anger curse my name. True.
100. If you could, what advice would you, the player, give to your character? (You might even want to speak as if he or she were sitting right here in front of you, and use proper tone so he or she might heed your advice...) My answer to this question took up an entire page. I will post a section:
Advice? I don’t think I could give Hermes any advice. I want guidance. I read over the dialogue alignments a lot. I look at your lines, sometimes I listen to my recordings of your voice, to see if I can match the way you say things to the words I’ve written, but I don’t know what’s in-character or not, unless it’s something obvious (BRAHGRAAGGEE is not you, that’s Ares, JUSTIIIICCEEE is also never you, that's Athena), but here, you, Hermes, whose dialogue alignments say the journey is for Alceme and nothing else, that you did what must be done only to further your quest, that you ask how everything would help you, that you mock many in words of choice, who refutes and distances from compassion, here you align, "A true friend," and here Jason speaks in your name, "My dearest friend, my deepest love, each day will be better than the one before," and here you yourself say: "You were absent from my shrine a long time, Lykas. Let nothing come between us again."
You can see where I get conflicted as to the path I should walk.
Comments, in-character and out, are welcomed, encouraged, and enjoyed.