@shylarah Thanks for that, Shyla! I didn't even notice all of the problems with the benchmarks but I suppose that's what happens when you're writing it at 2am! :P
Eh, from what I can tell everyone else sorta had their profession in their benchmarks unless I need to mention that she's a high level glassblower? Everything else seems cool so I'll get that changed before a spooky @Gowi review!
Sorry for the triple post but eat shit character sheet:
S K Y L A R /// R E D S K Y
“One thing I don't understand is why you go to such a length making fireproof robes then forget the underwear! This is my third pair this raid alone, I'll have you know!”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Skylar Moore
A V A T A R
Redsky
A G E
23
G E N D E R
Female
V I S A G E
Skyla's appearance depends on a lot of things but for the most part, she's normally quite normal. Chocolate brown curls, an average bust and standing around 5'6 affords her the luxury of fitting in. But it's the small details that make her undoubtedly conscious. From the small scars on her lips to the dusting of freckles and weaves of laugh lines, she becomes something more than an arrangement of pixels. The small hiccup to her otherwise pretty design is the burning red of her eyes. No matter the occasion, her eyes look like there's a small firestorm whirling around in her head. Despite being a distracting centre piece, she seems fond of them and the odd looks they usher from others.
In terms of clothing, Skylar likes some opulence. Finding clothes imbued with fire resistance runes isn't particularly easy but she gets by. She also has a thing for witch hats. Don't question it.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Ever know one of those people that you wish had an off switch? That's Skylar. Talkative doesn't quite do her justice considering the sheer quantity of mindless garbage that flows from her mouth. Although annoying, it has its ups and downs. She trusts very easily and would give you an entire history of her life within a minute of meeting you but she's also exceptionally easy to talk to. A lot of that is down to her also being a warm individual, someone who you could confidently confide in without fear of a single secret ever being leaked.
A lot of people are hesitant of her, however. Although genuine, sometimes her happiness seems a whitewash rather than a true display of her emotions. Happiness is her only method of dealing with life and the rocks it enjoys throwing at her. If she wasn't happy then she'd crumble under a whole heaping of fear and responsibility.
Their hesitancy is not entirely unfounded, however. Although she tries to treat everyone equally, her hypocrisy can become blindingly obvious when you examine her actions. The truth of the matter is Skylar is a very passionate person and being someone who doesn't just have herself to care for, she isn't above stepping on others to reach a better place. Her child bears the highest priority and anyone who steps in the way of getting a better life for her and her child will be shoved aside without much thought.
Inside the game, she's exactly what you'd expect of a Mage DPS. She has random bouts of anger which usually ends in something burning and seeing an enemy means engaging said enemy. She's no coward but she's an idiot - a talkative idiot who could probably make your day very unpleasant if she wasn't paying attention.
B A C K G R O U N D
Skylar Elizabeth Moore was born in 2089 to the Moores, a power couple who were rising figures in the tech industry. Their company, based in London, specialised in communication technology.
Her parents, surprisingly, were quite liberal in her upbringing but that didn't mean she rejected all their influences. In fact, some of her fondest memories were of getting lost at technology exhibitions.
Primarily, she played a lot of video games when she was younger. She wasn't shy or introverted, she simply enjoyed getting lost in other worlds. Her parents were approving as long as she got a good balance and for the most part, she did. She blossomed into her own person within no time at all.
Blazing her own trail, she chose not to follow her parents into the tech business. Skylar loved art. As a child, she would paint mindless things for the sole purpose of just painting but as she grew older, she followed her hobby into education. Her parents were more than happy - she was dedicated and it earned her more than enough friends in the process. Her teenage years were a bit of a social awakening and her social circles were wide but she always found time to slip in a few games here and there. Her parents' company had expanded quite a bit during her upcoming so money was never a problem and anything she did want, she often got but they somehow managed to never overtly spoil her. It was a strange relationship but she loved them.
During this time, her parents had another girl, Lyla. They were both as stubborn and headstrong as one another but they were sisters so that didn't really matter in the end.
As she grew older, her world expanded even more. Her social circle expanded; she got her first boyfriend and had her first kiss. Mostly rudimentary - she kept her art up right until the end of school where she graduated with good grades and went on to university.
University was a whole different kettle of fish. She followed her passion, art, but that didn't mean she didn't live the student life. Drinking and sex were often synonymous and despite it being the future, unprotected sex is unprotected sex. Without much warning, Skylar discovered she was 4 months pregnant at the start of her second year in Uni.
She had half a mind to get rid of it but something compelled her to keep it. Whatever it was, 5 months later Leo was born. The responsibility acted like a cement in Skylar's life. She didn't have time for procrastination or taking a back seat. Finishing her degree in night time classes with support from her parents, she eventually graduated and went on to work in graphic design, all the while shouldering the task of raising a child by herself.
A few years down the line and Skylar was as independent as she had ever been and she was happy with what she had earned. Leo took priority, followed by her job then her own life fell in last. She didn't have a great deal of time for socialising so her return to games was expected.
Pariah arrived in her hands through her family's links. She often kept one foot in the door of the tech industry so when she got to transform a few hours of downtime to days upon days of socialising and adventuring, she took the chance.
Pariah, to Skylar, was never an escape. Pariah was another chance, a chance to be her but become something radically different. A chance to grab life by the balls and take it for a waltz.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
AoE Caster DPS
A F F I L A T I O N
QUEON
P R O F E S S I O N
Glassblowing
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Caster Gloves: Skylar originally used staffs but she was never too fond of them. They were very prone to breaking and she preferred the idea of slinging spells from her hands. Although the magic was possible, the gloves didn't have the amplification of a staff if they were already inlaid with fire resistance runes. After reaching high level Glassblowing, she created glass fibres and along with a weaver and enchanter, she made caster gloves with fire resistance and magic amplification.
B E N C H M A R K S
Firebug - Firebug is a benchmark gifted to players who have spent the majority of their playtime swamped in flames. It doesn't just imply a small resistance to fire magic, it denotes an almost total resilience to fire attribute attacks. It gives the user extra passive abilities as well. Although Redsky can ignore fire attacks, she's quite weak to other elemental attacks but Firebug also gives her a buff to her own fire magic.
Glass Cannon - Glass Cannon is a lot like Firebug but it's often a benchmark most players look down on. Glass Cannon is a recognition that the player has one of the lowest possible health pools in the game but also one of the highest damage outputs. It has an extra active ability which allows Redsky to sacrifice percentage health in return for temporary percentage damage increase. She will only ever activate the ability when she has someone soaking aggro for her, allowing her to do a lot more damage.
Chaotic Touch - A benchmark awarded to a player who the system doesn't quite understand, combat-wise. It's a marker of terrible positioning to the point where the AI and other players find it very difficult to predict how she will move and what she will do. Often frustrating, it can drag more aggro but it allows her to dodge a few ranged telegraphed abilities.
Firestorm - Firestorm is one of the specialist trees in the fire mage benchmark. It allows the player to use primarily AoE spells. It doesn't support high single target damage but allows the player to cast spells which inflict medium damage on multiple targets. Redsky was built around Firestorm. It allows for some self-peel and a lot of AoE attacks and paired with her ability to sacrifice health for damage, she can deal high damage to multiple targets. It also has extra benefits by giving the player much more spell control, allowing them to maintain one spell while casting and maintaining another spell. This can tire out a mage but increases the amount of damage they do in a certain time.
Flames of the Dragon King - There's a joke in the small circle of high level fire mages that players who spec into FotDK either have a special death wish or are just outright masochists. The tree is an additive one to the mage’s primary tree and requires a number of prerequisites. First of all, the player must have a low base health pool, secondly they need to be a high level fire mage and finally, they must complete a solo questline about the fall of the great dragons. Once all of this is completed, the player unlocks the Flames of the Dragon King benchmark. Suicidal isn't quite the right word for it but it's a simple idea. The benchmark gives the players three abilities of varying power but they all have a similar trend - they do a massive amount of damage but completely exhaust the user and reduce their health by eighty percent and upwards. If a fight isn't over when one of the abilities are used, the user is dead. It leaves them unable to escape, on low health and with a great deal of aggro.
Glassblowing - Glassblowing is one of those professions that most people remain entirely unaware of. Low level glassblowing is largely uneventful; you make some nice jugs and glasses which often fetch a good price from richer players and NPC nobles but it's quite boring. The higher you get, however, the more interesting it becomes. It allows the creation of glass tipped weapons (in conjunction with a weaponsmith) which are fragile but extremely sharp and glass fibres which can be woven into various garments to increase their strength. Overall, the role is a bit meaningless and requires working with others but Redsky enjoys it.
Explorer - A benchmark given to players who have been around the block a few too many times. It allows the player to easily discern maps (including treasure maps) and gives them a good sense of direction so that they usually find their way back to civilisation one way or another.
Negotiator Extraordinaire - Surprisingly, for someone who spends the most of her time burning things, Redsky is quite good at negotiating. Allow her negotiations don't often make sense, it means that not every fight has to end with some poor chap burnt alive. It also comes in handy when trying to bargain and convince people to do it her way.
Mother’s Voice - A benchmark which has always been with her character. She never quite understood why considering Pariah was just a game but she reasoned that it must have detected something in the complex architecture of her mind. It's mostly passive but allows her to calm others and occasionally (and accidentally) cast a buff which increases perseverance.
Arcane Knowledge - Arcane Knowledge is a benchmark which notes a good understanding of magic and its applications. It derives from a basic investment in learning in the Queon Familia and allows Redsky to talk competently on her and others’ magic.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Redsky is a name that quite a number of players are familiar with. She's been there since the very start and she's a regular that seems to come and go in the world of Pariah. Not involving herself much in the politics of the world, she's often frowned upon in Queon but that could be to do with her being a klutz. Primarily, she's known for being the crazy, suicidal fire mage that can either be dropped in a moment by a boss or can wipe entire dungeons of mobs. For that reason, most people have a love-hate relationship with her. She's fun to be around but she can occasionally mess up depending on her mood.
Love her or hare her, however, most people have to admit that she's one of the most potent mages in the game. Although she can blow up in an instant, she's built to dish out massive damage and people don't often forget that. Plus she talks a great deal of shit. People sort of appreciate that as well.
