Kelari Backstory

[rosenoire]

I'd like to try RPing, but I'm having some difficulty developing a backstory for my character. I'm still not real clear on the timeline for Rift, especially on the Defiant side. Given that the Defiant Ascended start in a future that their trip through the Failsafe renders null, where, exactly, are they coming from? I'm not sure if my Kelari would have been born in the Isles, or after the crossing, or in Meridian. For that matter, is her soul actually even Kelari, or is that just the body Sylver put her in?

Any advice welcome. TIA!

[parangea]

what i think (i have 2 kelari chars, fem cleric and male mage):

The way defiant ascended are made is by putting sourcestones into their machines (this is part of the lore i believe), they infuse that sourcestone with magic and an old soul. your "main soul" i like to call it. the original race, gender, calling and appearance of that persons soul will determine what you will be. if that soul just so happens to be (in my case) a kelari female cleric, with beautyfull black hairs, pale white eyes, and crazy black tatoo's on her dark purple-ish face, then she will be that.

in some way, you dont choose your character, your character chooses you..
waht i think flawed about the defiant lore tho: defiant create ascended just before the world gets eaten by reggy, they send them back in order to prevent that, thus preventing their own creation. so what ARE defiant ascended?
or am i just plain crazy and need to learn to understand some laws of physics dont apply in this magical place (probably the case)

but hell, what do i know, and where did that come from, idk, never tried role-play. i've always been very interested in all kinds of lore i guess. like tokliens world, dear god, amazing..
but im getting off topic i guess.

hope i have been of service ^_^

cheers \m/

[Talila]

As far as I know, it's not possible to Defiants to match the wrong soul with the wrong body. I believe once they have the soul, the machine can see who they were and what they looked like, using the soul to re-create the body stronger than before.

Our take on Defiant Ascension (and heck, guardian ascension too) on Argent has always been to assume that only one person went through terminus. When you look at the instance in that perspective, I find that it makes a lot more sense - They line up for you playing "The" great hero, they describe that they only just managed to ascend you in the nick of time (suggesting there's only time for one), and the thing I payed most attention to:
You get a quest to deliver the template for creating the ascended in the life-factory, where they estimate you will arrive just as they have discovered the first life factory. You give them the template, enabling the defiant to ascend more people so they can match the Guardians Army and change the future.

And that's where us roleplayers come in. We know for a fact that there are multiple ascended, and we all have to play unique characters. Sidelining "The great ascended hero" with the rest of Trions major lore characters makes a lot more sense, than to attempt playing them - Not only does it make you really vulnerable to any lore changes Trion might make, but it also causes a lot of confusion and it reduces how much room you have to make your character unique and your own.
- This also means that a Defiant Ascended as such can have been ascended up to 2-3 years ago. Guardians have more wiggle-room there.

For guardians, it's the same thing with assuming only one went through the whole war-story. We know that despite the silence of the Vigil, ascension still occurs (Stillmoor questline) and that it doesn't seem the vigil has to be in over it directly, it seems more they've given the task to their messengers of various shapes and forms. Again, this also makes it more possible to create a character that is unique and not bound to the same element in time.

Kelari and High Elves are in my opinion the most difficult to roleplay, because they have so much history and so many things to take into account. I'd say: Place your Kelari where you are comfortable having her.
She could have died recently, and got ascended just the same - or she could have been around when some of the historical events for Kelari happened, such as the Crossing. And if she was, there'd be a big chance she could even have died during the crossing.
If you choose to place your character close to a historical event, you should prepare yourself for the possibility of having to tell of it during roleplay - it might come up, I'd say anything that happened in the past 26 years of history has a high chance of appearing as elements in a conversation.

Now, through all of this mess I should probably mention that it is possible to roleplay as a regular mortal as well. The only thing you have to "accept" there is if an Ascended challenges you in a fight, you'd have to beat them on tactics and knowledge and now raw strength (physical and magical). Of course a mortal is a weaker character, but on the other side it gives the ascended roleplayers something to protect and fight over

I hope it doesn't sound too confusing, it will eventually start making more sense as you get used to the universe.

(Wall of text.. Sorry!)

[NearioNL]

just 1 thing:

Defiant arent sent back! Well at least not in the same timeline.
As explained by Sylver when you arrived in Meridian fior the first time, its a different timeline.
The defiants original timeline has been conquered by Regolus. When we were sent back, we thought that we would manage to change this.... but we cant since its not the same timeline.
Sylver also explained that there it wouldnt be 100% sure that he would be able to recreate the invention that could make defiant ascended in this timeline.
this is important to understand I think

and for kelari's: Since we are from the future(in a different timeline) its quite possible for you to come either from Ember Isle, or anywhere from Mathosia really.
I do believe your main soul is your own soul, just like with Asha Catari Sylver didnt just pick a random someone to bring back to life. You were of importance to the defiants before your death. So I do believe your main soul is the original you(and in this case thus Kelari).
The other souls you get aren't perse Kelari though

[rosenoire]

Thanks for the comments, everyone! I've got a lot of possibilities, it seems.