This is likely one of the harder steps and one of the easier ones in character creation. A lot of times you have to play the character out first so you have an idea of the area they are in so you can decide where they are from. Once you know the background of the scene you’re playing more becomes obvious. I’m going to use the scene I was given with Iason from the other player.

 

The setting is New York City, an all boys boarding school for rich kids. I am supposed to be playing a rich bully and the other player has set up a new young kid who has skipped a grade. The new kid is a closet gay who has never had any experience with relationships nor sexuality. Iason is used to introduce him to the other unsheltered side of life.

 

This was all the information I was given. Now I know Iason is from New York. I know he is 16 and a half and he is supposed to already understand the adult realms of relationships and desire. He also is supposed to be a bully, which from the other information tells me he likely was introduced at a very young age to these things. As a bully one can assume he was probably brought unwillingly himself into this darker world and takes it out on his victims.

 

The two can fall in love but it might not happen so it is best not to assume those things immediately, but rather build a history for our bully Iason to allow him to find a soft spot for the new kid. He also has to have something to make the new kid like him back. As a bully the new kid will only think of him as an arrogant ignorant older teen, so building a story to create pity and a want to bring the new kid to want to heal him.

 

I decide what age Iason began his trek into this other world to make him so violent towards it. I choose to start him out very young. It builds his story to be more likely to gain attention. Abuse often leads a child to become a bully. The longer it’s sustained the more shattering it becomes.

 

I choose to have it start ten years previous. Iason has been abused since he was about six. Forced into a world he should know nothing about by a stranger and used to create underground business deals for his father. He grows to hate all forms of the abuse to the point he feels no love or compassion at first towards anyone else. He becomes a bully to take out this aggression.

 

Iason however is also a closet homosexual leading to conflict of interest and giving him a reason to attack other homosexuals to hide this hidden desire for self preservation. It gives a reason to pity him and allows for him to be a bully.

 

Now that he has a basic history the character is ready for play. Iason can enter the story and the blanks of his past can be filled in any way you feel best suits him.