Background

Characters don't wind up in Silent Heaven because they're okay. They're not okay, even if they act like they are. Your character is among this twisted cast of characters. Your character has a DEEP DARK REPRESSED SECRET that you CANNOT REVEAL. Under no circumstances while your character is in Silent Heaven will they admit or even recognize what this secret is. However, it will help shape your character's actions and decisions while in Silent Heaven. In your character's backstory, you MUST include: - Your character's deep dark repressed secret. Things that aren't necessary, but will help flesh out your character: - Your character's age or date of birth. - Your character's relationship with their family and a few of their friends. - Any friends and loved ones your character won't be able to say goodbye to. - How your character gained their skills. - Any desires or goals your character has. - Your character's morals, and how they act when things don't go their way. - Any fears your character has. - How your character will react to entering a dangerous town that shouldn't exist. - Anything else you'd like Storytellers to know about your character or their past. You don't need to write a whole story. It could even be one sentence, as long as you include your character's secret. To write your character's background, type BACKGROUND. BACKGROUND You can update your character's background at any time. Below are some ideas to get you started with your character's dark secret. VANITY, NARCISSISM, AUTHORITARIANISM, OR MEGALOMANIA - Perhaps your character compulsively lied to friends and took advantage of their livelihoods, in order to be the one on top. Maybe your character believes their friends were weak and needed someone like you to be in charge and to dominate. - Or your character was one of the victims who lost their livelihood and doesn't believe their narcissistic friend could have ever done anything wrong--they were just looking out for your character, and your character's always the screwup... right? MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - Perhaps your character got half of an entire small town addicted to a medication they had no need to take and then blamed them for being addicts. - Maybe your character was paid to actively sabotage medical equipment in order to get clinics to purchase from another brand, costing lives. - Or your parents forced you to get a life-saving surgery that wasn't actually necessary, and it was botched, leaving your arms barely functional and ruining your chance at your dream job; then they blamed you and said you were always like this, and now you believe it and make up lies and excuses for your injury. - Or your character couldn't stand years of long-term care of a severely-ill loved one, so your character put them out of their misery, and then blamed the illness. - Or your character is responsible for helping develop a devastating chemical warfare agent. After witnessing the resulting relentless torture exposed people endure, your character believes that it's not that bad and downplays their involvement in its development. - Or, as a forensic analyst or autopsy technician, your character was paid to doctor evidence and make audacious claims to support the narratives of your boss. Your character is worn down into believing that their false testimony is true, and that they've done nothing wrong. ABUSE, POWER EXCHANGE, PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, OR WAR CRIMES - Street violence, domestic violence, or classist violence are okay. - Hatred and/or abuse based on gender, sex, presentation, orientation, age, nationality, skin color, heritage, religion, political belief or affiliation, disability, or immigration status is NOT ALLOWED for in-game roleplay, but is allowed to be part of your character's background only. - There's a lot of nuance here, so if you're interested in something along these lines, type CHECK and select the Forbidden Content List for a more clear-cut answer. - Maybe your character was a victim of a power-tripping business owner who abused your character for being gay and believes that their two-year employment nightmare never happened, and that they were just a bad employee. - Maybe your character was a gang member who abandoned their gang at a critical moment when things got tough, leaving your character's best friends to die in a clash. Your character claims they fought alongside them and tried to save them, but your character was the only one on their block who survived. - Maybe your character trapped someone in a relationship because they don’t want to be alone, which drove their partner to end their life. - Maybe your character grew up being abused, and used that education to abuse others when your character was older, believing everything was justified. - Or your character is living with an abuser, and ran off after your character killed your abuser, believing that your character is evil for having done that. RELIGION - Anything to do with religion is encouraged, as long as it doesn't frame any particular real-life set of beliefs as evil. - A fictional cult is okay, as long as it has no relation to any real world cult. - Perhaps your character was a cult leader and accidentally or intentionally led all your followers to their deaths based on your character's beliefs. Maybe it was just a belief that everyone would survive a 400-foot dive into a shallow river. Whatever the case, your character doesn't believe it happened, and is searching for a new band of followers. - Maybe your character straight up robbed people blind by running a charity for sick war veterans in the name of a place of worship, but funneled all the funds to yourself. - Then, after realizing the consequences when veterans started dying, your character claimed the money was already sent and had documents forged saying it happened. Or your character is someone who lost their sick spouse due to said embezzler running off with your character's life savings, and your character believes that they were the one who killed their spouse, and admitted to putting their spouse out of their misery. ANYTHING ELSE! - This suggestion list isn't exhaustive. There's plenty of terrible things that could bring your character to Silent Heaven. You may use one of these ideas as-is, or edit one to suit your preference, or even make up your own backstory. - Still unsure if it'll be okay? Go ahead and put it as your character's background anyway. Then ask staff by typing: GM Would you please check if my background is okay? Happy roleplaying! Category: HELP 3 (Character) < Previous - Describe | Next - Stats >