User:Neria

About me
''As you probably have figured out, I am the person responsible for the creation and character development for Neria Oleandris Coppermane, a half-lycanthrope character in Gina's Eberron campaign. Neria is one of the original characters who entered at the very beginning of this campaign and has managed to survive all the way up to level 15 (as of Feb. 2010). She's become a very complex character, thanks mostly to the assistance and efforts of both Adonteon De'Cante's creator and the 'loverly' GM herself. My inspiration for this character was simple: a half-lycanthrope fighter who turns out to be the half-sister of the Bannon brothers (Raithos and Tethos) who are Church of the Silver Flame big-wigs just sounded like a cool idea. I did not expect her to really make it this far, much less become such a powerful force in this campaign! There were several times the life of the character was threatened, but only in two instances did the GM need to intervene to prevent Neria's untimely demise *THANK YOU GINA!!!!!* Both instances resulted in other story arcs that could come back to haunt the group, but we'll just have to wait and see! ''

''Neria herself started out as a shy, introverted girl with some skill for ass-kickin' and just happened to get wrangled in with a group of misfits (and boy, were they ever...). She quickly became known for her prowess with a scythe and her scathing remarks that would either bring laughter or (more often) anger and a resulting fight. As she warmed up to the group, she became more sociable to them, but remained introverted and cautious to a certain degree. At the beginning, Neria was lotted to be a fighter, but after some issues with townsfolk and monsters, she began to develop a knack for scouting. This worked well until later in the campaign when a certain GateKeeper Druid (Caradoc) forced himself on her (she didn't realize at the time he was, in fact, possessed, but she never forgave him nonetheless), and she grew to have a special-blend of dark hatred for him and his 'useless kind'. She became severely withdrawn and introverted as she learned she was knocked up from the encounter and vowed she would never lose her willpower ever again. She hated Caradoc, but she hated those who could control people's minds and wills even more. Casters had to be to blame, so she took up arms against them under the tutelage of an Occult Slayer. When her personality resurfaced, there was a much darker quality to it, and she began to tip the scales slightly from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Evil. This decline continued throughout the campaign, and the process was greatly pushed along by the group's enslavement in the demon city, Ashtakala. By then, Neria had gained access to a weapon of unknown strength; he called himself Atropos, and was, without a doubt, an Evil Artifact of The Keeper. He was lost to her in Ashtakala, but their bond was strong (considering he owned her soul...) and in a nearly-suicidal escape, she reclaimed him from the Lord of Blades and she and the group along with an army of fiends fled Ashtakala into the Demon Wastes. There was an issue with a Doppleganger, and, unbeknownst to the group, Neria was taken captive in the desert and left for days in the 'care' of an unknown creature with a knack for torture. Atropos saved her and she was later reunited with the group, heavily scarred and only somewhat aware of what happened. ''

''As the campaign continued, it became obvious to certain party members that Neria was slipping deeper into Evil ways, and a few made an effort to reclaim her soul and keep her growing bloodlust under control. That only worked for a time, however, and very soon, she began to experience the same abuse from society as she had in the beginning of the campaign. The bond between her and Atropos seemed to be strengthened by every injustice they experienced, not to mention newfound abilities began arising from their association. It became clearer to the party that Neria could be as much a threat as an asset if her fury was not controlled. ''

''Later in the campaign (@ level 15, to be precise!), Neria and Atropos underwent a 'bonding' experience, which backfired for Atropos. His original intent had been to completely obliterate Neria's mind and take over her body for his own nefarious purposes, but he was stopped short by her Will-saving tactics. For seven days, Neria wandered the campaign without any memory of Atropos. When she finally recalled him, all of his memories merged with hers and they became one being- a Chaotic Evil Outsider that would come to be known as Agro Shartun. ''

My contributions

 * Neria Oleandris Coppermane story and picture
 * Adonteon De'Cante (re-write of original concept and editing)
 * I keep nagging the GM to add Matthias's picture, but she's not listening!!!
 * The "I HATE this guy!" comment on Caradoc's page
 * Agro Shartun story and (eventual) picture

My favorite pages

 * Neria Oleandris Coppermane (of COURSE it's top-o'-my-list; it's MY page!!!)
 * Agro Shartun (yet another page o' mine.. mwahahaha!!!)
 * Adonteon De'Cante (is well-written *ahem!* and has a pretty picture!)
 * Charala Mavra (is also well-written and has also a pretty picture!.. unlike Matthias...and some others...)
 * Marcus Shinhigh (is well-written and VERY amusing!)

A Note on RPing Agro
Considering I've never attempted to play any character with a Chaotic Evil alignment, this has been a major learning experience. I've always heard (and therefor assumed) that CE characters are twisted, malicious creatures with no regard for anything or one, and oftentimes their actions result in their own demise. For this reason, Agro started out as a psychopath, even turning against her own teammate, Eurface. The trouble that this caused (both in and out of game) made me feel that either the alignment or the direction of the character should be revised. Keep in mind, also, that the creation of Agro was in no way part of any backstory or plotline that I had dreamed up for Neria: Agro resulted from a completely different turn of events devised by the DM, so learning to play this character has been... strange to say the least!

Considering I would like to keep things 'party-friendly', I curbed Agro's bloodthirst and began allowing the character to show some restraint over future situations. I approached it ultimately using Freudian psychology.

As presented by Freud, a person's psyche is broken down into three primary components: the Conscious (what we present to others as 'ourselves'), the Subconscious (what we're really thinking when someone shoves a picture of their hideous kid in our face and asks us if they're cute- in a more intellectual sense, the impulse-controls that help 'edit' how we express the Conscious self), and the Id (the representative of our most basic impulses, oftentimes identified as 'animalistic' in nature). This model represents Agro in the following manner:

Conscious- Agro Shartun: the character as she appears both physically and most often socially in-game (working towards Neutral Evil alignment...eventually.)

Subconscious- Neria Coppermane: because her Will denied the original intentions of Shartun, she becomes a 'voice of reason' for Agro- helps with self-preservation, restraint, not killing everything in the game...

Id- Shartun: expressed in the fury and hatred towards the creatures Agro encounters in negative situations- the most relentless and psychotic episodes are encountered when this trait is dominant, typically in battle- occasionally surfaces in conversation as a sharp remark or scathing retort

Hopefully this explains some of the crap I've been putting my game-friends through, and prepares them for some of what may lie ahead in-game. The psyche breakdown may also help clarify the Agro character as a single entity, not one person with multiple personalities.