Wrathful and Unrepentant Jade (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jadedmusings) wrote2011-11-09 10:14 am
jadedmusings) wrote2011-11-09 10:14 am
Role-Play: Death Knights
Going to make myself write today for Selene to finish the story that's been sitting here for a couple of weeks. I love the idea I have and I'm going to run with it. Pity I don't know enough RPers on Virtue to really have more fun with it. There are hundreds of them, but I've never quite been able to figure out how to role-play over City of Heroes. Then again, Sam's the one I rp with on occasion, and really, I kind of like keeping it to just us and maybe one or two other people should that come up. I have WoW for larger group roleplay.
Speaking of WoW, playing around on Savitry (who is level 76) has me thinking about Death Knights. I've written a couple of stories for Savitry and, in my head, her background is written. However, I've been toying with an idea, but I'm not quite sure how reasonable/logical it is.
I've already given Savitry the requisite angsty Death Knight background (I swear it's a law somewhere). She died protecting others only to be brought back to destroy the very people and home she was trying to save in life. She has a husband who still honors his vows to her despite her repeated attempts to explain that she simply doesn't feel any sort of connection to him save for the occasional memory that slips through the blocks she's put up. (Still need to write that little thing.)
Now, Savitry chooses to forget she had a life before becoming a DK. She doesn't always succeed at this, and she's not entirely incapable of feeling (as she tells Andor), but she does make a concerted effort to remain cold and distant. Part of it is that allowing herself to remember what she was will force her to face what she became and the awful things she did while in Arthas's thrall. If she's an emotionless unliving thing, then she has every excuse for why she did so many horrific things. If she admits she retains some of her, for lack of a better word, humanity, then it means she has to come up with a reason for what she did, she feels "I had no choice" doesn't really cut it, especially when she encounters survivors of the war who lost everything. It would also mean admitting she enjoys inflicting pain, even if causing pain is necessary to her continued survival (have to scroll down a bit to find the question about blood elves and arcane magic addiction) and she's not quite sure where her need ends and her pleasure at what she does begins. So long as she's still the monster she doesn't have to think about it too hard. (To her credit, she doesn't attack the helpless unless she's gone into full-on blood lust. She's enjoying Northrend because of its endless supplies of heads to bash in, heads that deserve to be bashed in.)
One of the things I've considered is that perhaps on some level Savitry is also looking for someone to serve. I know very few Death Knights marched willingly into the Lich King's service, but I also wonder if something in the transformation from living soldier to Death Knight can permanently alter a person. What I mean is that while Savitry has had her free will restored to her, is it possible she might feel a sense of loss with the Lich King's "death"? Could she be, in a weird way, mourning that morbib sense of security that came with mindless servitude? If she screws up now, she can't claim her actions weren't her own and she'll have to take responsibility. And while she has sworn fealty to the Ebon Blade and Highlord Mograine, is it possible she would welcome belonging to someone again in the sense that she is bound to serve the will of another? (Oh yes, I know this potentially makes her ripe for the picking for certain Old Gods and other assorted "evil" forces. Probably not a good combination in a Death Knight.)
Naturally, she wouldn't willingly return to what she had before. She does happen to enjoy having control over her thoughts and actions. And, in my head, I imagine her reacting with anger to anyone who suggested she yearned to serve like that, but that anger would be rooted in deep denial. Ultimately, if there were someone she deemed worthy (rules out Garrosh), she might consider devoting her entire existence to them.
I don't know if that's making much sense. Just an idea that's rolling around in my head. I ought to drag Savitry out for some rp at some point, but first Folami has quite a bit to focus on.
Speaking of WoW, playing around on Savitry (who is level 76) has me thinking about Death Knights. I've written a couple of stories for Savitry and, in my head, her background is written. However, I've been toying with an idea, but I'm not quite sure how reasonable/logical it is.
I've already given Savitry the requisite angsty Death Knight background (I swear it's a law somewhere). She died protecting others only to be brought back to destroy the very people and home she was trying to save in life. She has a husband who still honors his vows to her despite her repeated attempts to explain that she simply doesn't feel any sort of connection to him save for the occasional memory that slips through the blocks she's put up. (Still need to write that little thing.)
Now, Savitry chooses to forget she had a life before becoming a DK. She doesn't always succeed at this, and she's not entirely incapable of feeling (as she tells Andor), but she does make a concerted effort to remain cold and distant. Part of it is that allowing herself to remember what she was will force her to face what she became and the awful things she did while in Arthas's thrall. If she's an emotionless unliving thing, then she has every excuse for why she did so many horrific things. If she admits she retains some of her, for lack of a better word, humanity, then it means she has to come up with a reason for what she did, she feels "I had no choice" doesn't really cut it, especially when she encounters survivors of the war who lost everything. It would also mean admitting she enjoys inflicting pain, even if causing pain is necessary to her continued survival (have to scroll down a bit to find the question about blood elves and arcane magic addiction) and she's not quite sure where her need ends and her pleasure at what she does begins. So long as she's still the monster she doesn't have to think about it too hard. (To her credit, she doesn't attack the helpless unless she's gone into full-on blood lust. She's enjoying Northrend because of its endless supplies of heads to bash in, heads that deserve to be bashed in.)
One of the things I've considered is that perhaps on some level Savitry is also looking for someone to serve. I know very few Death Knights marched willingly into the Lich King's service, but I also wonder if something in the transformation from living soldier to Death Knight can permanently alter a person. What I mean is that while Savitry has had her free will restored to her, is it possible she might feel a sense of loss with the Lich King's "death"? Could she be, in a weird way, mourning that morbib sense of security that came with mindless servitude? If she screws up now, she can't claim her actions weren't her own and she'll have to take responsibility. And while she has sworn fealty to the Ebon Blade and Highlord Mograine, is it possible she would welcome belonging to someone again in the sense that she is bound to serve the will of another? (Oh yes, I know this potentially makes her ripe for the picking for certain Old Gods and other assorted "evil" forces. Probably not a good combination in a Death Knight.)
Naturally, she wouldn't willingly return to what she had before. She does happen to enjoy having control over her thoughts and actions. And, in my head, I imagine her reacting with anger to anyone who suggested she yearned to serve like that, but that anger would be rooted in deep denial. Ultimately, if there were someone she deemed worthy (rules out Garrosh), she might consider devoting her entire existence to them.
I don't know if that's making much sense. Just an idea that's rolling around in my head. I ought to drag Savitry out for some rp at some point, but first Folami has quite a bit to focus on.