Well, seeing as there's been no more answers, I'll give my own vision of every character than, and hear what the opinions are. :)

As far as Dusk Rat is concerned, Maisie Williams is the one that springs to mind more easily (most people will know her as Arya in "Game of Thrones"), as she has that small, scrappy feeling to her very well.

Sabre Fox, given his choice of avatar, I always envision as black-haired young Brad Pitt; my ideal visualization would be what he looked like in "Interview with the Vampire", with the scar added on.

I think that Sun Snake, Swift Fox and Rain Feather all already gave the names of actors that would fit them well enough to mostly match my imagination; if I hadn't had their suggestions... I think Daniel Craig (the most recent James Bond, for anybody who's not aware) for Sun Snake, young Jennifer Lawrence (about what she looked like in X-Men Fist Class) for Swift Fox, and actually Christina Ricci (that'd be Wednesday Addams) for Rain Feather would have been my original suggestions. But, as I said, the actual players' picks for them feel much more fitting, now that I've seen them.

That leaves us with Frost Ferret, Water Hornet and Laughing Shark as PC without an assigned person.

For the way she handled herself and the level of energy she showed, I think something like young Sigourney Weaver would have been a near perfect fit, although, after Rain mentioned her, I do think that Megan Fox as of her more recent action roles would be fine, if she was just a bit less attractive - Shark is supposed to be somewhat plain and extremely tough.

Water Hornet I believe could be interpreted by an actor like Martin Freeman, with that very "everyman" look, although he'd obviously need to be twenty-five years younger than the actor is right now, and Freeman wasn't yet an actor twenty-five years ago. And I really have no idea who to go with for Frost Ferret, since his one most defining characteristic was to be undescript.

As the honorary PCs, Alyne is supposed to be stunning, so I'd be going with Scarlett Johansson for her, only with her hairs black and very long, as that's Alyne's style. For Sun Fox, somebody with a more compact and athletic build would be best, so maybe Kaley Cuoco as she was in "Charmed" would be a good fit, although Sun Fox's hairs are very very curly, much like her avatar, so try to picture that.

Silver Raven I think would be more of a Eddie Redmayne (which most people likely know from the "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them" franchise these days), maybe? The thing about Silver Raven is that he's a very effeminate-looking man, it's part of his backstory, and it's very hard to find a male actor, especially Hollywood actor, with a properly effeminate, bishonen look. It's quite vexing, and I'm very open to suggestions on this one.

Now, as for NPCs, I suppose Valador and Shining Peacock should have place of pride here, shouldn't they?

For Valador, Tom Hiddleston would be the only pick I'd go with; considering how many times Thor Ragnarock was mentioned so far, I don't think that's gonna be an actor that people here are unaware of.

Shining Peacock is more difficult, because he's so very charismatic and difficult to pin. I think perhaps Christian Bale would be a good choice, as he's an actor with a great ability to remain very seductive in a wide variety of very different looks.

Moving to the others, the starting five are relatively easy, since three of them, as said, already have an actor avatar, and I already agreed to Swift Fox's suggestion of having Cate Blanchett take the White Mantis role. That leaves Phantom Steed, who I'd assign to Ewan Mc.Gregor as of his lock in "SW Revenge of the Sith".

As for the other three "big" Kai, Moon Shadow I always imagined as Eva Green, who I imagine is most famous, especially among British people, for her role in Casino Royale, although when I envision her for the game, the version in "Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children" is more what I have in mind. I think Robert Pattinson (of "Twilight" fame) would be perfect for Golden Sparrow, since he has that mix of wild and confident down very well, and for Summer Wasp, I think Shannen Doherty in "Heathers" has just the right level of arrogant and comforting to fit the bill - the hair color doesn't really fit, but that's not as important for Wasp as for others in my mental image of her.

My ideal actor for Vyctar would be Rutger Hauer when he was in his forties, which would be around the time he starred in "Blade Runner" and "Ladyhawke", and for Zhira I would say India Eisley as she looked in "Social Suicide", where she was twenty-two, would be a perfect fit. This is obviously not the kind of casting that would be workable in real life, but that should have been clear from the other actors I picked above (Maisie Williams wasn't yet born when "Interview with the Vampire" was filmed, for example).

And since Wol-Dumar already was assigned to Christopher Lee, I think it'd only be right for Banedon to be given to a young Alec Guinness, right? Sorta gotta fill the wise mentor quota, and all.

I think that's it for most of the important characters; I can't possibly go after every single small one, since this game has dozen of them. Still, I'm open to comments, critics and, most importantly, everybody else's opinion on their preferred picks! ^_^

Cool, that was actually my first impression, just wasn't sure if it was intended or not :)

Not sure about Shark's pick there.  I kind of imagined someone tougher looking.  More buffed-up, so to speak.
Can't really think of anyone like that off the top of my head though.

Anyways.  So we can make this into a movie.  All we need are huge funds, and also the use of a time machine so we can pick up cast members at the right age.  Easy! :)  hehe.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:56, Tue 09 Feb 2021.

In reply to Swift Fox (msg # 116):

That would be amusing, yes.

Although I must admit, the last thing I imagined to read was that Alien's protagonist didn't look though enough for you... what sort of imagine would you have in mind then, when you thought of Shark?

And by the way, I might have mentioned it before, but just to be entirely clear, my headcanon is that Laughing Shark fought and sneaked her way out of Argazad to make it to the town's port, stole one of the boats there, and sailed it to Toran on her own, but once she made it there, she neglected to inform anybody she'd survived, because she had enough of playing at being a Kai and wanted to go back to being a pirate instead. And, as I said, if Valador escaped you all, she would have ensured he didn't escape her. It seems like the only adequate sendoff to such an incredible character. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:21, Tue 09 Feb 2021.

Well, if you're going with Aliens characters, I was thinking more Vasquez than Ripley.  I dunno, have to think about it.

Might have been intriguing if Swift did go back there looking for her :)

Actually, she could have been easily persuaded to just let Shark go.  Dunno if there was a way for her to modify her own memory so that the leadership back at the Monastery would have believed a faked report of Shark's death (assuming they would have memory-dived Swift just to confirm it or been warned by Divination if she was lying).  Swift did kind of owe her one for her help breaking Silver Raven out of Argazad after all (not to mention Colin being responsible for ending the slave trade, she wasn't sure if he was a good guy or not, but when Raven told her that she decided he was)...

One big question though...
Did that trap Frost Ferret set with the Crystal Explosive in the lab ever catch anyone? ;)

It's kind of on par with sabotaging the wiring in the giant warship in Argazad and setting a magical trap on Baron Sadanzo's safe in the books and never finding out what happened with them afterwards!
This message was last edited by the player at 14:48, Tue 09 Feb 2021.

In reply to Swift Fox (msg # 118):

You know, now that you've mentioned that possibility, I can kinda see it, but it also brings to mind that probably a latina actress like Michelle Rodriguez would probably be a superior fit for Laughing Shark, since she did mentioned herself has having darker skin than the rest of the team a couple of times.

As for the trap... I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you; with how badly damaged the fortress was during your escape, there's a substantial chance come rubble collapsed on the room, and you killed the Nadziran yourself so that one wouldn't be entering it. On the other hand, if the room had survived, somebody at some point would likely try to ransack the Nadziran's laboratory, probably another Nadziran or similar dark sorcerer, and the bomb would destroy the laboratory and probably kill them, too. So... consider it a future evildoer preemptively destroyed, but with no precise date as to the when.

Hmm, yeah, her too.  Basically, someone who's really good at playing 'tough girl' characters and looks like someone capable of swinging a mean punch when needed too.
(Also helps if they have the ability to mangle speech effectively too, hehe).

Still reading through this.  Years of posts take time, especially since I'm not on it all day.
Read all of Team Swift's adventures up to their arrival at the Maakengorge (kicking myself at some of my older posts, hehe), read through Shark's storyline (epic adventure on its own!), and been reading Team Snake's threads now too.  Just got to the bit where Vyctar left with LW's body and the Sommerswerd.
I'm sure I'm missing bits here and there though since it's not always obvious where side threads split off.

(*heads back in to wander the maze of huge walls of text...*)  :)

In reply to Swift Fox (msg # 120):

What do you think of Rain Feather's first dream thread, the one with all the symbolism? I really liked that one, if I'm honest, and you should have already read it, so I'm curious of your opinion of it.

The one with the different versions of her and the animals representing the rest of us?

I liked that one :)  Was very cool.
If there was more than one dream thread though, I might have missed the others.

Oh that reminds me.  Was the girl Rain Feather met back in Toran also a latent Kai?

Also, nearly forgot to ask again...  Could Shining Peacock have used the Sommerswerd, or would it have considered him to be too corrupted?
I remember being curious about that at one point :)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Wed 10 Feb 2021.

In reply to Swift Fox (msg # 122):

There are the various dream threads where her ghost appeared to each one of you, but those were much later; that with the animal you was what I was referring to. Glad that you liked it! ^_^

Lym did not have any Kai power, she was just an albino kid with a very weak constitution and a bit of anemia. Albino people can be more sensitive to strong light, incredibly so in a few extreme cases. Other than that, she was a perfectly normal girl.

Shining Peacock would have been able to use the Sommerswerd, yes, although he's a bad swordsman so it wouldn't have been very useful in his hands. Valador, however, would not have been able to access the sword's power, and Fall Lobster (or any other hybrid) would have been destroyed if he tried to wield it.

Me again...  Nearly finished the read-through now :)

Not sure if I already asked somewhere else (can't remember if so), but was it actually possible to "fix" Red Dawn, or was there nothing at all left of her original personality?

And could Fall Lobster have ever been cured of his desire to give Sun Snake stabby hugs? :)

Absolutely not on the Fall Lobster question; the dislike of Sun Snake, heightened to undying hatred, was the only thing left of his original personality that hadn't been destroyed by either the process of creation or the Nadziran's tortures. Without that as his absolute driving force, he'd have become a vegetable.

On the Red Dawn question, the fact of the matter is, it's not like she had an original personality that Peacock deleted and replaced; he changed her memories of her infancy so that she was not left constantly incapacitated by her mental pain and was able to control the powers. The personality of Red Dawn was fully her own, developed through her life, as a result of her experience, only that it was interpreted through the filter of a fictional infancy and different feelings and sensations than what she would have otherwise had.

If some different memories could be found that allowed her to control her powers and not be incapacitated by her chronic pain, inserting them would require a total rewriting of her memory again, the exact same way Peacock did the first time, except you'd be deleting over twenty years of memories, instead of just a few. Assuming she didn't die from the sheer pain of that (Sun Snake can confirm that messing with memories is impossibly painful), Red Dawn would not be getting her original personality back, but rather be, once again, rewritten from inside out.

Even if one was somehow able to collect the original memory of Red Dawn's infancy and re-implant those (which would leave her a cripple in constant pain and with constantly randomly firing powers), there'd be no equivalent substitution available for all of the memories she formed after that point, so in the worse case scenario she might gain something like a split-personality disorder or likewise.

And, of course, Red Dawn herself would not willingly subject herself to this procedure, which would make it extremely hard to actually apply, since she has full knowledge of how it works and would oppose it every step of the way. She's quite happy with the person she currently is, and would see that kind of procedure as attempted murder. Peacock explained her situation to her quite thoroughly; part of the reason Red Dawn is in love with Peacock is because she fully understand what he did to her and she's extremely grateful for it. Which, I know, is not good at all from an outside perspective, but she wouldn't particularly care for other people's opinions.

So, that's a very long-winded way of saying "no", I guess, but hopefully the explanation makes the answer easier to understand?

Also, is there anything you want to comment on what you read in the various side-threads, like Dusk Rat's mission or the various conversation Sun Snake had with pretty much everybody? I'd be curious to get an opinion of it all. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:33, Thu 18 Feb 2021.

Been reading through this in bits and pieces for weeks now, so lots going on to comment on.
Just made me wish it could have run all the way to the end, 'cos I'd have liked to see a lot of stuff resolved (especially if all that magic absorbing/reflecting gear we made up during the last crafting thread would have made the fight with Valador an easier one) :)

And Swift would have definitely been looking for ways to sabotage Peacock's attempts to gain immortality ;)  hehe.

Speaking of which, did we actually have some means of destroying the Deathstaff?  I know the Sommerswerd couldn't do it, and the Five Flowers didn't seem to be destructive in nature (except for the Blue Iris perhaps).
I remember Peacock seemed insistent on getting it to Black Beaver and letting him find a way of destroying it (although me and Swift were pretty sure he had no intention of actually destroying it, given that Beaver seemed a bit too enthusiastic about tinkering with dark artefacts and crafting techniques.  Swift got the impression he was a bit "mad scientist" at heart).

Anyways, yeah, would probably take way too long to list all the thoughts I had.  (Also I'd have to start reading from the start again and note them down as I went!)

Definitely liked Shark's story though.
And part of me was kind of feeling sorry for Sun Snake by the end (although maybe that's what he wanted!) ;)  hehe.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:17, Thu 18 Feb 2021.

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, if nothing else. :)

Black Beaver would definitely not have immediately destroyed the Deathstaff, he'd have wanted to study it and learn from it for however long. Once he was done, if he failed to find a way to destroy it, the Deathstaff would probably have met the fate of the Dagger of Vashna and Helshezag, being put in the Vault of the Sun for safekeeping until a way to destroy it could be found.

Peacock didn't particularly care what fate the Deathstaff would have had, other than in ensuring Black Beaver had the time to study it and knew he had to thank Peacock for being able to do so. Keeping Beaver constantly founded with artifacts to study was one of the ways that Peacock kept the man's support, which he then used for his plan (such as having extra Seeing Stones crafted to carry out his plan), and bringing him something as unique as the Deathstaff was bound to earn Peacock a lot of leeway.

Aside from that, Peacock would have cared little if the staff was destroyed or not; he'd have preferred if it was, because he's in favor of destroying evil things, but if it couldn't be, he'd just have looked for ways to use it to further the cause of the Kai. That's just the way Peacock works, very utilitarian.

Yeah, I guessed Black Beaver would have been crazy enough to be more interested in studying it than destroying it.  Although I'd assumed that was part of Peacock's plan, that him and Beaver were working together, and that the Deathstaff was part of his immortality trick, enlisting Beaver to figure out how it worked and how he could use it.

Not sure how he'd have done it otherwise, unless he'd gotten Sejanoz to turn him into a vampire too (dunno if vampirism in this world can be 'passed on' like that, or if it's more sort of 'arcane vampirism', (like Neclord in the Suikoden series)).
But yeah, Swift would definitely have dedicated herself to finding a way of thwarting his attempt at immortality, whatever it took.  She was ok with him joining in with Sun Snake's plan (though didn't trust Peacock not to have found a way of leveraging the situation to his own benefit), but she would definitely NOT have wanted the Order being stuck with him for eternity (bad enough they had to put up with him for ONE lifetime, hehe)!

As for the actual leadership debate, after the event at the Maakengorge, she'd kind of given up on talking it out with the others.  She'd become convinced that Sun Snake's judgement was too clouded by Blue Snake teaching him that "Moon Shadow is the enemy, she's out to destroy the Order", and knew she couldn't match him when it came to swaying others to the cause ("His walls of text!  They're over 9000 words!!!" :o hehe).

If she'd known Summer Wasp better, she might have played on Wasp's own dislike of the Order becoming a division of the King's Army to try and sow the seeds for an alliance with Moon Shadow at some future point.  But either Swift didn't know her well enough to think that would work, or I'd forgotten what I learned about her.  Wasp just wasn't someone I was focused on as a potential flashpoint in the debate, so her appearance at the end kind of blindsided me while I was focused on Golden Sparrow and Shining Peacock being the dangerous ones.

Ultimately, Swift had fallen back on her usual tactics of lurking in the background, gathering information, and eventually reporting everything she'd learned to Moon Shadow at the first opportunity.
She'd then have followed whatever orders Moon Shadow gave her (though if she'd really told Swift to stand aside and let Peacock win, she'd have been suspicious of him playing his blackmail card.  That's the only situation that might have made her deviate from Moon Shadow's instructions.  In which case she might have conspired with Silver Raven to try to find some way to take down Peacock or break his influence over her).
Inwardly, she kind of hoped Moon Shadow would go along with Sun Snake's multi-leader plan, since her experience with memory-diving the Five Flowers had made her see the sense in that (and tactically-speaking it would have been an interesting way of defusing the power struggles if everyone else accepted it).  So she wouldn't have objected to being told to work with that.

The only thing that would have provoked a significant reaction from her during the standoff with Wasp at the end would have been if anyone had attacked Rain Feather or any other member of the group.  She'd have immediately sided with them and fought back against their attacker, though she would have deliberately fought to incapacitate rather than kill.
(If someone had attacked Peacock though, she'd have just (metaphorically) sat back with popcorn and observed, focusing on gathering information on how he fought.  Just in case it was useful... For... Reasons!) ;)

Anyone has any other questions about Swift, feel free to ask.  Like I said, no more secrets in the shadows. :)
*giggles creepily and sharpens daggers...*

Moon Shadow would have agreed with Sun Snake's plan, so I imagine Swift Fox wouldn't have a problem with that.

And Shining Peacock sort-of explained his plans for immortality in Dusk Rat's separate thread - have you not yet read that one, perhaps, or were you left confused by it?

Ah ok, hadn't gotten to that one yet.
All the side threads seem to be more 'tangled up' near the end.  Some of the earlier ones show up later, and vice-versa.

And I'm easily confused to start with...  (O.o)'

Currently at the bit when we're on the Skyrider heading back home, so will just read any remaining side threads and fit them into the right places in my head hopefully :)

Yeah, that's the point where I started using the same side thread for multiple conversations across different spans of time. And the threads are timed based on the time the last post in that thread was made, which confuses the order some more. Not much I can do about that now, however, other than apologize, so... I'm sorry?

No worries :)  I'll just reorder them in my mind.
It would be more confusing if it was just reading a simple story, but having actually controlled one of the characters and taken them through those events does help solidify the proper order that things happened in my mind :)

I noticed the conversation between Swift and Raven on their flight from Argazad ended up near the ending threads somehow too.
That was definitely a defining moment in Swift's character evolution, so glad to see it didn't end up staying hidden like other PM stuff.
(In-Character, Swift herself might have been a little annoyed at having that moment broadcast to the world though, hehe) :)

I wonder if everything I made visible changed anybody's perception of other characters?

Still haven't managed to look over the threads yet, though got less busy now so should have time. From the little I've skimmed over Red Dawn seemed a little more reasonable and RainFeather and Red Dawn had a better relationship than I thought they did. Very surprised she knew what had happened to her, I thought Shining Peacock had hidden that from her, and so that was one of the things he had hoped to undo.

And Sun Snake was all broken by the end, so you should feel sorry for him! It wasn't a trick :p

Yeah, Sun Snake was set against Moon Shadow at the very start, and very much of the 'what's wrong with how things are going already' mindset, but did change his outlook and was genuine in what he was saying. He even busted up Blue Snake's plan well, much better than I thought since I didn't realise it was all going far more on track than it was anyway :p

Well I can still only see my own private messages, and those directed at me.
But yeah, being able to see what was going on in other characters' side threads was intriguing :)

Also, just got to the one where Sabre met with Valador to resurrect Rain Feather by pinching a bit of Lobster's soul.
The weapon he used for the ritual made me double-take a bit, hehe :)

Kind of amusing that Valador didn't know it was magical.  Definitely wonder how the soul fragment in the dagger would have reacted to what it was being used for there, probably wouldn't have been best pleased with Valador :)

Probably not, no.

Speaking of, any reaction to the fact Sabre Fox had a perfect chance to get the dagger to you, and refused to? I was curious to hear what Swift as a character would have thought of it, but then Sabre Fox (perhaps wisely) never brought it up, so I wonder what you make of it now that you know it was so close to being in your grasp. :)

And yeah, Sun Snake, when you get around to reading the Dusk Rat side-thread (the one named "the shadows of a large wing"), Peacock explained that Sun Snake's position was so strong he wasn't sure exactly how to tackled it; what you did with your character there was really interesting, in my opinion.

Yeah, I'm reading over the Shining Peacock/Dusk Rat team thread now :)

And yeah, that was kind of a missed opportunity for Sabre too, considering that if he'd taken the dagger from Valador there, and got it to Swift and Raven, and they'd figured out how to use all five, the group could possibly have resurrected Rain Feather in a safer way with no strings attached ;)
(Certainly Swift would have been happy to at least attempt it, given that she at least partly felt like she had failed to save Rain Feather by navigating the temple traps quickly enough).

Also...  Aww.
*hugs poor Sun Snake*
At least Swift didn't hate him.  Just thought he was a bit naive and judgemental  ;)
I'm not sure if he'd have been able to patch things up between them to how they were before the teams separated, but he definitely got close after they memory-dived the Pink Rose together.  Maybe over time in the epilogue :)

Curious what everyone else's epilogues might have looked like...

Well, that's something only the players involved could say, which likely means we'll never know, since I think everybody who is still around and wanted to offer their opinion on the matter already has.

Finished reading Team Peacock's thread.
That tree thing was CREEPY! (O.o)'

Interesting how, as Peacock was explaining his plans, he seemed totally hyper-focused on Sun Snake as being the only possible threat to him...

Swift likes it when she goes unnoticed by potential enemies ;)  hehehehehehehe.
Also being a psychic wrecking ball didn't save the High Priest of Vashna from Sabre...
And maybe Hornet would finally have snapped after being called a bug once too often...
And even if he had defeated Sun Snake...  Dawn Sword would have avenged him! :)