Post by Thomas J. BoschlooMaybe I need to RP more. The way I see it every player
is orphaned in WoW. Much less I see is talk about who
their parents are (who wants to be the love child of
some other players???? I sure as hell do not ;-)
It depends on the players and the characters. One of the first things
my wife and I do is figure out what's going on with our families, where
they are, which of them are alive, influential, etc. Here's a few of
my and my wife's characters:
(me) Wraien, night elf hunter. Wraien is unique among night elves (or
so it seems). He's not related to Tyrande, or Illidan, or Malfurion,
or Staghelm... His parents were (and still are) quiet, peasant hunters
and trappers who lived their entire lives until the Battle of Hyjal in
northern Darkshore, and were displaced after the destruction of
Nordrassil. They're now quietly living in one of the (fictional)
villages at the base of Teldrassil, waiting for adventurers to clear
the naga from the Mathystra Ruins near their old home. Wraien became
curious about the Alliance, and decided to see what they're like. This
means he has absolutely no emotional or political investment in the
Alliance as a whole, and no overt objection to the Horde in general.
Wraien's life was almost completely and utterly unaffected by the wars,
so he has no grudges against anyone in particular. (I got so tired of
seeing all of these people who had their families killed by orcs...
Seriously, if every one of them had lost families to orcs, there
wouldn't *be* any more NPCs left.)
(me) Shrike, night elf warrior. Shrike is one of the oldest Kaldorei
currently living, but she doesn't like talking about it much. Unlike
most of the other ancients still alive, though, Shrike's position was
nothing more than a lowly Sentinel for many thousands of years. A
scandal she *also* doesn't like to talk about resulted in her expulsion
from the Sentinels, and several hundred years of wandering until the
Third War. After the War, she quietly enlisted as an adventurer under
an assumed name ("Shrike"), and refreshed her training, then went out
into Azeroth with her own goals in mind, independent of the Alliance or
the Horde. She's now gathered the Malakim about her, a somewhat ragtag
band of mostly-sane altruistic mercenaries, and she's starting to make
a name for the Malakim among the Alliance-aligned adventurers. Due to
Shrike's age and exile, her parents' status is unknown.
(my wife) Fidelity, human warlock. Fidelity is a daughter of
privilege. Pious sol Ironfaith, one of the major financial
contributors to the Cathedral of the Light in Stormwind City (and its
rebuilding) and his large family can generally get almost anything done
in Stormwind, provided they can avoid interfering with the governing
bodies. However, Fidelity, being a bit of a black sheep already, has
dabbled in the Shadow arts, finding solace from her political and
manipulative family in the company of amoral and directly-malicious
demons. Her father, angry at this behavior, paid a rather large sum of
money to the mercenary company known as Malakim, led by one Shrike, to
keep Fidelity safe while she "gets this stupid phase out of her
system". Unbeknownst to him, Shrike plans to win Fidelity's trust and
use her arts for the good of all Azeroth, while freeing Fidelity from
the social bonds placed on her by her family's position.
(me) Duskwren, night elf druid. Silatiar Duskwren is a quiet,
unassuming night elf druid who offers prayers and homage to Elune much
out of proportion to most Cenarius-worshipping druids. Often referring
to himself as the "Talon of Elune", Duskwren's past is unclear, except
that he has an unnatural fondness for birds of all kinds, and his face
becomes troubled and morose whenever the demigoddess Aviana is
mentioned.
So, of four characters off the top of my head, two were immortal and
were born many thousands of years ago, making parents somewhat moot...
The other two of whom have still-living parents that they may interact
with or not, as events unfold. Wraien's and Fidelity's parents are all
out-of-game NPCs, referenced only by mention in-game while roleplaying,
or used in forum-based play-by-post roleplaying or storytelling.
I've got somewhat less-structured stories for several other characters,
as does my wife (she's got detailed ones for some that I can't remember
at the moment). But the family and parents are one of the first things
we think about, usually.
--
Nik