How does your character talk?

Nia · August 2016

Confession: it typically takes me, from experience, an average of 3-4 months to fully absorb myself into a new RP character. At this point I decide if I want to continue playing them or not, and currently, I'm still finding my footing on Nia.

One thing I've been putting a lot of thought into is, as the title suggests, how does your character talk?

Do you use ye olde Englishe, high and noble? A bumpkin accent, full of 'ain'ts' and 'nahs'?

Does your character speak pretty much the same way you do IRL, or differently? Does your character swear a lot? If so, what kind of swear-words do you use? Harlot and popinjay, or hoebag and d*ck? Are you comfortable using modern anachronisms, like 'cool' and 'like'? Do you put on any kind of racial/regional accent, and if so, do you spell it out phonetically?

I'm interested in what thought you've all put into this, and also any preferences/peeves you have about other characters' speech mannerisms. Are any speech patterns off-limits, in your humble opinion?

Drestyn · August 2016

First character I had in Aetolia was basically near mute and barely understood the common tongue. Only spoke Sylvan(tree talk, you learn it in the Morgun Forest) and generally expressed himself more in grunts than anything else. My cabalist has a way with speech that avoids addressing himself in the first person as much as I'm capable of doing(I mess up sometimes). He's very analytical and I like to think he speaks with a hint of a Eastern European accent. Drestyn speaks closer to how I speak in general as he's the closest to my personality. As I'm from Northern Ireland, I'd like to think he also speaks with the same accent.

Another alt of mine spoke in a mixture of my dad's pattern of speech and my maternal grandfather. Lots of missing the's and shortened to's. Abbreviated a lot of things and generally spoke as if it were a drawl. Other than that, I basically saw him as Brian Blessed.

Aishia · August 2016

Ah, an Aishia will usually talk in a singsong or softer pitch (or just sing a song), anywhere from wheedling to sultry, maybe in riddles or cryptic statements or sharpening when fallen into some crass pit of authoritarianism. Not a drawl, though, picked out fairly precisely. Probably with a touch more cultured than seems outwardly apparent, though a tendency towards topics which lack inherent culture. (Fruit, meat, dirt, carefully stored fish) And a plethora of other vast hidden agendas. Generally speaking one must assume Aishia is comporting herself with some small measure of bravado and the visible signs of her chest being puffed up in pride are plainly visible.Her voice can't rise very far beyond a moderately projected singing voice without breaking in a banshee screech of precipitant rage. Of insults only Orisae will ever know the full breadth, and no man will ever truly understand. (Since men can't speak harpy, no matter how hard they try to act like they can) Inherently her native tongues are Harpy, Tsol'aa, Azudim(Not in that order at all!), with the Fae and Sylvan languages taken deep to heart in blood oath and service to the wilds. Certainly all of these factor in a tumult in her language and way of thinking.

WORD VOMIT. I hope this contributes.

Mariena · August 2016

Mariena speaks the closest to myself in real life. She throws out her words quickly and sometimes they jumble together into a salad that takes a moment to process. The more excited she gets, the fewer spaces appear between words (somethinglike this). Contractions are very normal, as word mushing happens regularly ( well y'could've just...)

An alt I play is the exact opposite of this. Her words are precise, and I try to emphasize that everything has been thought over before it comes out of her mouth. She doesn't smush words together, and she's never been upset enough to lose the spacing and flow of her words. Now mind you, sometimes I mess this up. I play Mari more so she can bleed through if I'm not paying attention, but that's my goal for her.

Emelle · August 2016

Emelle has gone through a few different phases in terms of speech. Originally she was very taciturn, only speaking when necessary and only using the simplest words possible. For awhile, she had an odd habit of leaving out personal pronouns at the beginning of sentences when referring to herself. I've been very inconsistent with her use of contractions, I think originally she used them more liberally, then went through a phase where she hardly ever used them, and now she's settled in at a middle ground where she uses them only occasionally.

I've always played her as being a vague speaker with a limited vocabulary and a (hopefully) humorous tendency to misunderstand figures of speech, which sometimes results in her taking them literally. As she's aged, her vocabulary has expanded some, but I try to avoid ever allowing her to become too articulate or flowery with her words. I think her speech patterns probably fall somewhere in between ye olde English and contemporary speech. No present-day slang (or slang in general, really).

In general, I like the wide variety of speech patterns I see in Aetolia. I think it makes a lot of sense that people from different backgrounds and regions would have different dialects -- it would be neat if there was more consistency with that, like some sort of general guidance on racial speech patterns and dialects. The one thing that does irritate me is use of contemporary slang, which feels out of place to me given the setting of the game.

Aryanne · August 2016

Uhhhhhhhh.
Aryanne definitely doesn't speak like me for the most part. Her dialect/accent/whatever has just sort of developed over the years and is definitely very distinct. I don't even really have to think about it at this point, it just flooooows. Ary swearing is going to include "bloody" or "pit" at worst.

Particularly-modern slang will irk me, generally, but "cool" or "like" wouldn't qualify as those in my head.

I generally play it that the more agitated/upset/flustered/etc. Ary is, the worse her Ary-speak gets.

Rasani · August 2016

Rasani has a pretty standard way of speaking. When she gets mad or flustered I tend to play her slipping into something closer to a growl or grunt, sometimes even slipping back into Trollish.

Zsadist · August 2016

Hrm.... Zsadist doesn't speak overly much unless he's spoken to, though occasionally I'll reach out to others first (very rarely). Even when he is spoken to, he's very condescending and very quick to make his point. He uses 'Mmm' a lot as a form of condescending recognition that he heard you, though he'll usually answer your question in much the same sentence. Though some people won't get the 'Mmm' depending on how much interaction he's had with said person communicating with him or their position within the city.

I haven't really found a dialect/accent that suits Z, because he's more archaic, and nothing I can find has really ticked with me saying "This is Z." (though I wish I could).

Also, Zsadist doesn't curse at all. I think I've slipped once or twice, but for the most part he doesn't. Its a very non-noble-like thing to do.

Xandren · August 2016

Xan's a deku scrub, I don't detail it out, but I imagine he has problems with some words, simply because of how his mouth works. And while it's not touched upon, he DOES squeak like one when he snorts or makes most sorts of noises. He literally squeaks in laughter when he finds something funny, and a grunt is more like a short soft squeak. Though he can growl with the best of 'em. He has to work to speak common anymore, though yeleni comes to him naturally.

I don't portray his speaking problems, but that's because I don't feel like I could represent his speech impediment very well. He used to stutter a lot around people, but that was when he was just a rajamalan cub. His choice of words varies from situation to situation anymore though, amongst friends he speaks personally and friendly, using "aye" and other words he might've picked up from other old salts, when he is uncomfortable with that person, he falls into the line of respectful titles, and goes "sir/ma'am" and similar impersonal language.

But if he's speaking to the guild at large, he always is deliberate with his words. He doesn't waste his breath on things he doesn't consider worth discussing, and if he considers it important, he might become impassioned about it enough to start speaking less deliberately.

I do feel like I'm not answering your question at all though. I suspect it'd be easier for someone else to describe Xan's speaking habits for me, because they aren't a thing I actively think about.

in so far as slang goes, again, see above: I don't think about it, and I doubt Xan has ever used any modern slang that would cause anyone to cringe.

Fezzix · August 2016

It depends on the venue. In his more candid moments, Fezzix speaks like a 1920's American gangster, using terms like "chump," "ain't," "hooch," "dollface," "wise guy," etc.

When he has to put on his serious face and act like a Senator or a Guildmaster, he straightens up his posture and cleans up his speech, though the overall timbre of his voice remains the same.

I originally created the character to be rude, annoying, and abrasive, so having him come this far has forced some adaptation on him. He's gone from the mafia thug to the godfather, so to speak.

Aniko · August 2016

I tried a mute character once and was largely ostracized for it at the time... it turned me off to attempting any other sort of speech that didn't qualify as normal.

Madelade · August 2016

I tried having a character with a wierd accent back when Ashtan was still around. I was straight off the Island when I met a group of people to talk to at the Needle. All but one tried to force me to change the way my character spoke. Just like Aniko wrote, it made me not want to try accents or odd speech again.

Aishia · August 2016

Generally speaking what will turn most people off is a stutter/mute or just awkward thing like dropping certain letters or hissing like a snake, odd speech patterns in general or archaic or outlandish word choice usually is like "oh cool" I think most people will think their stutter or stammering is unique but the kind of player you usually see it on makes it more of a red flag than a unique RP choice. And one you see often enough that it's like "Oh great this again" more than "What a brave/unique choice"

Seir · August 2016

Nothing will deter me away from an individual quicker than a character who stutters. Seir has offered those characters a solid whack to the face in order to correct it in jest (though with some seriousness).

I can live with characters talking like a snake if they're an Azudim or a vampire with a forked tongue. It's less common than most people think.

As for how Seir talks, he's mostly just grumpy. I think the only thing I use with a real world association is calling people 'lass' or 'lad' if he doesn't know their actual name or is unfamiliar with them. Other than that, he's mostly lethargic and dour most of the time with his demeanour.

Akaryuterra · August 2016

Welp, I think you (@nia) might have gathered by now but lets just put it out here:

Ryotega tends to use contractions and shorter words, often with a bit of a drawl. His verbal laziness also extends to the use of words like "ain't", while peppering his speech with light vulgarity to accentuate points. The more comfortable he is with you, the more he tends to throw in. This can confuse some people, because he also adds more when he's being dismissive or decides he dislikes whomever he is talking to enough to not care about rubbing them the wrong way with language.

When speaking his native tongue, Xorani, his laziness is less pronounced. He still uses contractions, but it leans more toward common modern day usage, not cramming words together to save on syllables.

Generally, Ryotega's voice is more gruff, maybe with a bit of depth and texture that might come across as a hint of a grumble.

In some cases, where applicable, he uses compound contractions (and I'm not sure how exactly to properly punctuate those, so sometimes they are subject to change) like 'supposed to have' referring to an action in the past tense.
Ex: "You were supposed to have handled that stuff last week" becomes "Ya were s'posed t've handled that shit last week".

Originally, Ryotega was to come across with a more southern sounding cadence and drawl, because he's from Xoral. Now, however, thanks to Eleanor, I lean toward hearing him as being more Aussie sounding in my head. Of course, being from the North, I also picture Spireans as being more Russian. Try to resolve THAT speech in your head.

Akaryuterra is much more erudite sounding. Clear words, no contractions except where necessary, but he favors being verbose because he likes longer words for their linguistic precision. Interestingly, people misinterpret him more frequently than they do Ryotega, which is probably due to the simplistic and direct way Ryotega talks - much to Akaryuterra's chagrin. The clarity of his speech is maintained, regardless of the language he is speaking.

His voice would be clear and crisp, clearly enunciating all of his words. I guess it could be considered to be verbal posturing. He is also softer spoken, where Ryotega is louder and more raucous at times.

His speaking habits also lend to his sense of humor, which tends to be more literal than Ryotega's. On the flipside however, he will sometimes miss intended humor, and contribute serious discussion to an off the cuff joke.

An example of this would be responding in a thoughtful and considerate way to a joke about cooking his shoulder tentacles over gnt yesterday.

Akary can be made to simplify his wording if his audience doesn't seem to be grasping what he is saying.

Hymajuyn speaks Masananbayan, that is all.

Infrequently, both Akary and Ryo will respond at the same, and then their speech becomes a jumble of partial words, whole words, hyphens and punctuation.

Faerah · August 2016

Faerah is very direct and terse. If she can say something in two words, she typically will. She's also rather dismissive of people, or notions she simply does not agree with. (If she respects someone, she'll typically hear them out, but that's a short list of people.) I can be rather direct and terse in real life too (side effect of being a lawyer) but Faerah takes it to a rather severe extreme. Sometimes I wish she were different, because she misses out on a lot of RP opportunities because she just cuts herself out of them by not caring in the slightest and just saying as much. Sometimes I'm happy she isn't different, because some of the drama she avoids by cutting things off before they start is well worth avoiding.

Lucie is/was bright and friendly. She would stammer (not stutter) over her words when nervous or excited about something and I tried to carry her with a strong sense of Good/Light because, honestly, it's not fun playing the same character twice. I tried to convey a certain naivety and wide-eyed wonder about her and a strict sense of justice and 'what's right'. She was much more passive than Faerah though - she tried to defer to her elders and only really speak her mind when it was super important to her. If she was speaking to someone she respected or that she thought was 'higher' than her, she'd speak passionately but still try and give them deference (which is hard for me as a player but I very much liked the challenge).

Aymah · August 2016

Hrm, hadn't given Aymah's speech a lot of thought. Not being a native english-speaker it already feels a lot different to consider and write things in English rather than Spanish. Aymah's speech pattern has always been pretty normal, and the fact is she expresses herself a lot with non-verbal language, and when she speaks it is usually very succint. She's more likely to give someone an ugly look or make a funny face rather than utter an insult or curse or whatnot. She also gesticulates a lot.

That said, there is one particular thing in that she almost always omits 'I' so instead of going "I'm" she'll say "am" on its own. This is an acquired thing, but I'm not sure when it started, and in that regard Aymah's speech has become a bit rougher. As for accents, Aymah's parents both have links to the tundra tribes, so it'd be certainly influenced in that fashion, but she was raised in Spinesreach, so uh, who knows how that would sound! I think Aymah's background affected more her way of 'magical' thinking, rather than her mannerisms, or speech or whatnot.

Zaila · August 2016

Most of how Zaila talks would be incomprehensible when run through the forum censor.

Tedrunai · August 2016

@Zaila would be vomiting magic. A mouthful of rainbows, unicorns, and happiness.

Akaryuterra · February 2018

I'm bumping some characterization and RP specific threads because they are subjects that interest me.

Zaila · February 2018

Well. 18 months later, I can contribute a more serious answer to the question >.>

Zaila talks a lot more like me than any other character I've played, for sure. For the most part, our speech patterns aren't tremendously distinct from one another with the exception of HOW she talks to people. I did initially try to give her communication and speech patterns more similar to her parents: Cold and taciturn if she doesn't think you're worth her time and curtly professional when dealing with official business but more often grandiose over-the-top and intentionally-overacted when she's being social. I think I still manage that on a more broadly social level, but I think I've lost a bit of this over the couple years since her inception.

I think the most 'unique' speech thing I have Zaila do is nickname people.

I think I mostly have zaila use harsher, RL-English swearing, but when I am trying to make it more kid-friendly, I whip out more Aetolia-specific things like "Dhar's Bloody Balls" "Pit" "Severn's tits", etc. but mostly I use pretty modern vocabulary with Zaila. I also regularly steal RL songs for zaila to sing out loud or in her head. #noshame

Not a lot really annoys me in regards to other people's character-speech choices with the exception of exception of excessive stuttering. Stuttering is fine when it works. @jaymi and @zuly both do a good job of 'non-annoying stuttering', for example.

I don't think less of anyone who uses phrases that don't make sense in Aetolia, however I really go out of my way NOT to use them and often will get stuck on an emote or tell as I'm desperately trying to come up with an IC phrase for "broken record", "football field", "train wreck", "I feel like I got hit by a bus" etc. I still haven't come up with something I really like for "broken record" and it drives me crazy XD.

Evalyne · February 2018

It wasn't something I intentionally did, but as I feel out Evalyne's character it's struck me that she has a real flair for speaking like she's the narrator in her own story. She's direct but also florid and very egocentric. I was thinking on this earlier as I worked on the system since my ping was untenable earlier and I think at least some part of her in that respect is probably coming from my recollections of Irenicus from BG2, man it's been a long time since I played that game though. She's much more flirty around the people she actually likes though (like ridiculously so), which I've been struggling a bit to reconcile.

Kodaza · February 2018

"A cracked vibe"

Zaila · February 2018

@Kodaza - that makes sense for some uses of the phrase, I tend to be trying to use the term to express "Someone who does the same thing over and over again like they're on a loop"

Thanks for that one, though!

Aishia · February 2018

Aish is probably more lucid the less energetic I am. In top form I'll probably just only speak in metaphors and DIRE PROPHECY. I certainly do my best to give at least some people cause to question her/my sanity.

Aishia · February 2018

Receive this with zero context except that it might indicate patterns in which Aishia speaks on public channels. *coughmarkovcough*

- gt Ah hello Kaeus long time since such tensions even existed. Conner was attacking Spireans at a personal glance not sure

- ct Ah someone said there that it's so important or portentous as that other place that every scoop of brain has to be as loyal and true as those

- gt Ah well, I guess you could do it.

- ct Probably should learn a new dawn for us!

- ct If I could care less!

- ct Four years is like a storm of greetings song by owls, who

- ct I was thinking was a problem somewhere else by being moved

- ct Well now I'm just going to be a greeting, be loud and can often outstrip the worst of winter

- CT Well I for one am feeling fightsome, got this thick paint lump.

- gt Whichever one you simply understand by self evidence.

- ct I guess if you were suffering in your general area, don't have to get the songline expand artifact?

- ct Anyone have any reason we'd WANT to!

- ct Ah right, someone was complaining to me as well.

- gt She probably just did it should be considered a breaking of our general solidarity.

- ct I think that's it anyways

- ct This sure is a sleeping dragon.

- ct If it was some exclusive trick of theirs haha

- ot Fine days of ravenous reaping

- ct How do you want besides the temples of gods.

- ct What has three wings and can't live within reason.

- ct you can still help with avoidance since they do have a few animals, take the dirt knowing some anger

- ct Also while I praise Lord Haern bless my marrow

- ct Is it evil to eat the fish so I am in fact such distinctions are often meaningless. It will not do. Who am I thinking of

- ct I always do my job and we'll be fine.

- gt Gods seem to have to twist her arm!

- ct I just sort of cloud-spirit.

- ct I think you'd understand once you get enough gold to security all the buildings and properties

- gt Ah that's in Putoran!

- gt Ah you should just notice

- ot Don't know about defiance. Of knowing your place and it of you.

- ct Yes but how do you get the gist of what you looked like then.

- ct as a boar in a basket which lies beyond your ken.

- ct I mean it seems like there might be filed under a leeky canopy.

- ct I suppose if I can think of

- ct Oh you know a whole different game.

- gt I ate one that goes wild

- ct Candles taste disgusting I don't think she tracked any mess in at the nature of wetness

- ct I did but I just had a chance?

- ct Also, fear not! I filled all the bits of spores and chaff stuck to my enemies

- ct Ah someone said there that isn't in the air.

Shachalai · February 2018

1/2 with her mouth, 1/2 with her hands.

Tekias · February 2018

Cold and even, a 'dull surprise' tone if you will. Any emotion is put on, as if he's imitating the outward appearance rather than actually feeling.

Sofiel · February 2018

Sofiel is almost always extremely wound up, either with nerves or excitement. When her anxiety is in the driver's seat, the stuttering (which this thread has taught me is a no-no) gets out of control. When she's high on happy, everything that comes into her head just falls out, and you get run-on sentences for days.

Sofiel never swears. On other characters, I tended to default to 'damn' 'piss' and 'pit'. Or when directing said displeasure at others, 'wretch', 'cur' or just 'dog', and 'bastard.' For some reason I can never quite come to 'knave', even though it seems perfectly at home beside those others. I think it just feels like one step too many towards Shakespeare.

I really appreciate when others find creative and fun ways to express their characters' potty mouth. Contemporary swears always feel jarring and out of place to me in this kind of setting. I don't like any modern speech whatsoever, really. My precious immersion can't handle it. I guess that would be my only peeve.

Akaryuterra · February 2018

I don't know if stuttering should be considered a straight up a 'no-no', it's not that it's taboo specifically, but it's hard to do well. Very challenging to present it in believable way, I guess. It can be done, but it's one of those things that might benefit from being in an emote without being part of a say specifically.

What I mean by that is instead of:
Sofiel says, "Th-th-thank y-yo-you."

You might be able to present it as:
emote (After a few stutter starts and a visible buildup of frustration,) manages to utter, "Thanks."

Resulting in:
After a few stutter starts and a visible buildup of frustration, Sofiel manages to utter, "Thanks."

As far as speech patterns, I think stuttering is just one of those ones that's so jarring to read that you might have to reduce its prevalence in communication in clever ways. That said, that would be hard to do over the lifetime of a character if they didn't grow out of it. Thanks for posting!

Shachalai · February 2018

Sofiel said:
I really appreciate when others find creative and fun ways to express their characters' potty mouth. Contemporary swears always feel jarring and out of place to me in this kind of setting. I don't like any modern speech whatsoever, really. My precious immersion can't handle it. I guess that would be my only peeve.

I am super curious as to what you mean by "modern speech" outside of contemporary swearing. Beyond like, specific swear words, what throws you?

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