Category: Ry Phirunaden

The New Improved Kooky Character Quiz!

With as stressy as things have been getting lately with deadlines and such, I thought we could use a break with something completely different! So I present to you, the new, improved kooky character quiz! Be warned! Your characters will never be the same again!

Character Name:
Age:
Species/Race:
Piercings/Tattoos:

1. What kind of modern music would your character like? Any specific group or band? Or would they hate music?

2. If your character had a theme song, what specific pre-existing song would it be?

3. If your character had a speaking or singing voice, what actor or singer would they sound like? Can your character sing at all?

4. If you were to cast a movie of your character’s story, what actor would play them?

5. If your character could play an instrument, what would it be?

6. What is their favorite meal?

7. If your character was in a high school drama, what subject in school would they have been the best in? What about the worst?

8. What normal, everyday job would your character have if he or she were in modern times?

9. What would their favorite hobby be if they were in normal, every-day, modern times?

10. What pasta or fruit could your character’s endowments be compared to? (ie. For guys: angel hair noodle, penne, thick spaghetti, etc. For gals, apples, melons, watermelons, etc. Hey…just answer the question!)

And here are a couple of my own characters to answer the call!

Character Name: Aurora Adonai
Age: 20’s
Species/Race: Cybernetic Elf (Goblinized Human)
Piercings/Tattoos: Tons mostly along the ear lobes. Aury’s fully tattooed on her stomach, face, wrists, shoulders, and ankles. No ‘secret’ tattoos or piercings to speak of.

1. What kind of modern music would your character like? Any specific group or band? Or would they hate music?

Aurora would probably like lots of angry, angsty screaming rock and metal or monotonous with a hard beat, like trance and techno that she could lose herself to dancing. Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Metallica, Paul Oakenfold.

2. If your character had a theme song, what specific pre-existing song would it be?

Too many to count on Aurora’s Playlist, but if I had to limit to one song, Haunted by Evanescence.

3. If your character had a speaking or singing voice, what actor or singer would they sound like? Can your character sing at all?

Angelina has the perfect voice and way of speaking for Aurora (well when she’s not doing a horrid accent a la Beowulf). Angelina can yell with the best of them and she’s good at taking on a dark, cutting tone when insulted (see Girl, Interrupted for the best example).

4. If you were to cast a movie of your character’s story, what actor would play them?

Angelina Jolie, of course. She has that sort of self-destructive anger and beauty combined with a sensual, deadly aura that’s just perfect. Alternatively, Kira Knightley MIGHT work, but Angelina would be my first choice (and yes, I have thought about this more than a person should).

5. If your character could play an instrument, what would it be?

Something to get all her anger and violence out, like drums.

6. What is their favorite meal?

She loooves the taste of beef, but is allergic to it, being an Elf. Therefore, her favorite meal is a Caesar Salad.

7. If your character was in a high school drama, what subject in school would they have been the best in? What about the worst?

Tough one. She sucks at cooking, drawing, and just about anything dealing with domestic skills. She is rather interested in dance and martial arts so the closest equivalent would be Physical Education. Her worst topic would definitely be Home Economics.

8. What normal, everyday job would your character have if he or she were in modern times?

Pretty much what she does in her own universe: Waitress, Exotic Dancer, and/or Bounty Hunter.

9. What would their favorite hobby be if they were in normal, every-day, modern times?

The same hobby she has in her universe: Reading comic books and collecting swords and guns!

10. What pasta or fruit could your character’s endowments be compared to? (ie. For guys: angel hair noodle, penne, thick spaghetti, etc. For gals, apples, melons, watermelons, etc. Hey…just answer the question!)

A decent set of modest sized melons!

Character Name: Ry Phirunaden
Age: 200’s
Species/Race: Elf (Half Fae, Half Human Descent)
Piercings/Tattoos: Tattooed on the biceps with the military emblem of his unit. In an older design, he had “Have Ye Merry Day” tattooed somewhere, but I’m not sure if that still stands or not. It’d make a nice tattoo across the buttocks.

1. What kind of modern music would your character like? Any specific group or band? Or would they hate music?

Being a bouncy fellow who likes a good jig to dance to, I can see Ry liking Swing and Jazz and possibly some techno. The serious side of him would probably enjoy a good classic ballad as well. I will forever associate him with Cherry Poppin’ Daddies thanks to Windfalcon.

2. If your character had a theme song, what specific pre-existing song would it be?

Again, When I Change Your Mind by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.

3. If your character had a speaking or singing voice, what actor or singer would they sound like? Can your character sing at all?

Hands down, Ry would completely sound like Iarla Ó Lionáird from Afro Celt Sound System. Ry’s a rather accomplished singer, despite appearances

4. If you were to cast a movie of your character’s story, what actor would play them?

Torn on this one. Seann William Scott has the look, but I prefer the more tongue and cheek sarcasm of James Marsters as Spike.

5. If your character could play an instrument, what would it be?

A fiddle or violin suits Ry and his propensity for breaking out into song to pass the time.

6. What is their favorite meal?

An Ale and YOU, baby!

7. If your character was in a high school drama, what subject in school would they have been the best in? What about the worst?

He would have been good on the Track team and one of the sexy popular Drama class students who sells drugs on the side to afford a nice car and to date a different chick every night of the week. And maybe he’d be in Band too. Worst topic would be History.

8. What normal, everyday job would your character have if he or she were in modern times?

The high class Drug Dealer and Conman conning old ladies out of their money and selling Weed to their husbands.

9. What would their favorite hobby be if they were in normal, every-day, modern times?

His job IS his hobby, in addition to womanizing.

10. What pasta or fruit could your character’s endowments be compared to? (ie. For guys: angel hair noodle, penne, thick spaghetti, etc. For gals, apples, melons, watermelons, etc. Hey…just answer the question!)

A robust penne!

Introducing the Muses – Ry Phirunaden

Last week, you were introduced to my dark Hunter, Melakim Fahre, this week, I have the pleasure of introducing the gentleman thief, coinessuer of the female form in all its variations, and sometimes cross-dresser, Ry Phirunaden.

That ONE cross-dressing incident only happened because he needed a creative way to avoid the Law, honest!

Ry’s Artistic Evolution:

The Short Bio: Ry likes to play up being the mystery man by pretending his past is more complicated than it really is. He will often lie to sensationalize it, but what can be told of the truth is that he was a child of a destitute noble family. His family saw more potential in their heir, his sister Ciela, and so put his needs second to hers to the point of neglecting him utterly. He ran amok as a form of getting attention, womanizing and getting into fights around town until he was finally enlisted in the Elvish military by his parents as a way to somehow bring honor to the family. It was their hope also that he might be killed at the front lines as a way to be rid of him for good.

In the army, he found a family amongst the other misplaced grunts and descended into a world of drugs, women, and atrocities, returning home as a war criminal instead of a hero. He and his other comrades earned the name Wing Cutters from their habit of taking the dismembered wings of faeries as trophies. Each bares a tribal tattoo that marks them as a Cutter.

The Cutters were put on trial for their crimes, made scapegoats by their government, and Ry completely disowned by his family. Instead of dying at the gallows, however, he was offered a position by an up and coming duke as a secret mercenary for the Elvish government. Ry opted to live, though someone was sent to die in his place. There is not even a grave marker placed for him at his family tomb.

Now when not in the covert service of the government, he spends the long years of his Elvish lifespan in boredom doing whatever odd jobs come his way and whatever sparks his waning interest in life.

The Long Bio: Available Here

What Inspired This Character?

Ry started out as one of those background characters invented purely as a foil to the main character, who was in this case, Melakim. He was to be the thorn in Melakim’s side, his stalker, his rival as a fellow Hunter, and the culprit for getting poor naive Mae addicted to smoking weed. Since those days, however, he’s found a place in my heart as one of my all-time favorite characters to write for and has far surpassed status as merely ‘supporting cast’. Ry comes easily to me and I never have to think when he is on scene, which is perhaps a bit disturbing when I think about it overly much.

Ry is one of those characters that I can toss into a scene anywhere and something fun or unexpected will happen. In one story line, he returns to his home and slaughters his entire family, with the exception of his sister. While in another completely different storyline, he falls for a lovely lady strong enough to kick his butt who then inspires him to reform his ways (if only for a little while). Anything can and will happen when a character has the moral flexibility to be good or evil.

Again, I think he emerged as a reaction against all the wholesome characters I invented in the past and evolved into yet another hero with a skewed sense of morality, for as much as he enjoys playing the villain. A villain is never a villain without something in his past that made him want to kick the dog. Perhaps he was attacked by a dog and scarred as a child? That’s how I like my characters and what interests me in any story…finding out the why.

Unfortunately for Ry,the endless years of his near-immortal life have caused him to take on jobs solely out of boredom. He’s been a circus performer, a waiter, a deck hand, a bodyguard, and oft-times, a Hunter. His stories are endless, but there will always be that hint of his unspectacular past that haunts him and reminds him that his life isn’t really worth much at the end of the day, and he knows it.

Which is why I named him Phirunaden, an amalgamation of a name which means those who walk the rainy path with Ry being a spin on the Gypsy name Rye, meaning Gentleman. Ry is yet another character awaiting novelization.

How do you get inspired for this character?

For Ry, Afro Celt Sound System rings in my head channeling the Celtic feel Elves in my stories have. Not to mention that the lead singer sounds a lot like how I imagine him to sound. Anything with a smart, slippery gentleman thief in it (mainly fantasy novels and games like Thief) gets my gears going for him.

Ry’s Playlist: Available Here

Until the next Muse, who are your personal favorite characters of your own creation? Why do they inspire you? How do you prepare yourself to write or draw for them?