4, 8, 9, and 19 for the oc ask (SWTOR/DA/ME whichever you want for whoever you want)
4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?
For Amitia - my knight - I tried to translate her motivations from a modern context into something that would make sense in the Star Wars universe. Modern!Amitia would be a superhero growing up in the inner city who decided to be a hero because of TV shows she watched,or something like that. Inner City became Corellia, superhero became Jedi and TV show became holo vids. Ayrs is similar - he’s basically a farm boy/military brat type exported into a Star Wars context.
Two other examples would be Malicineve and Mina. Malicineve is a reflection of what growing up as a Sith (especially a Sith with potential) might be like when it turns out particularly bad - as time has gone on I’ve tried to emphasize that as horrible as she is, she didn’t have to be that way and might well have been someone else entirely had she been luckier in where she was born and what powers she was born with. And with Mina, the Star Wars context helps a lot with building on her being on Outsider - Imperial society is very different than Chiss and rather than moving to another city or state, she’s been forced to move to entirely different regions of the galaxy!
8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?
9. Are they based off of you, in some way?
Amitia is my idealized self-insert of sorts - she’s a hero in every sense of the word and refuses to be anything less. Veresia’s kind of her dark mirror and reflects how I sometimes feel about the not so great times in my life. They’re basically both based on aspects of my personality that aren’t who I am most of the time (especially in veresia’s case!)
Olympia (my Consular) is probably who i’d relate to most - she’s a nerd, quiet, overshadowed by other characters but still a good person who makes the galaxy around her a better place (the last two are things I hope are true for me!). She’s like my main Ryder from ME: Andromeda in that respect - I basically played her as myself.
I also sometimes use other people to influence how I design characters. My main male Shepard from the original ME trilogy and inquisitor from DA:I (as well as Ayrs) are a mix of inspirations which include my boyfriend. One of my former coworkers inspired a background character in Ayrs’ story (in a negative way, sadly). I try not to make them too 1:1, though.
19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?
I’ve only used it once in a story, but after Ayrs gets to know Elara he gets around to memorizing as much of the regulations/laws/codes/etc. that he can so he can randomly drop his knowledge on/around her to impress and/or irritate her.
Malicineve has a fondness for animals (if not people! :X) - i introduced that to help move her away from being a Total Monster ™
Amitia and Olympia having a shared obsession with Cadbury Creme Eggs (or their equivalent, I should say) - also based off me, so I could have mentioned it in my previous answer.
I’m also fond of Vharmir being a useful SIS agent because he was really into holovids and acting so he developed the ability to fake accents and mannerisms from around the galaxy.
