Finding Children/Proteges

Nikodemus

Ey! I was just wondering about what's best for these things since, to be honest, I feel like it's rather hard to establish a bond with a player that is rather new and is likely to poof away soon enough.

I guess a House will make getting Proteges much easier (I'd still like to see rogues be able to RP mentor/protege relationships), but it's still rather creepy to look at newbies like "Oh, you could be my next child/protege."

I'm not sure I have a concise question or concern here, but I'd still like some tips and perhaps discussion on how to go about this topic. OOC? IC? Is mentorship through Houses really ideal? Isn't it better for the person to pick someone they believe is best, even if they're not part of the House? What about bloodlines?

EDIT: PS: I am currently looking for proteges/children, in case it wasn't obvious.

Siduri

I normally select kids I get along with to become my children. That's a spontaneous process, and sadly, most of the times, when I feel comfortable enough to bloodline them, they hop to another faction or get recruited by another family. Happens

Kaden

I generally try to at least get an ooc notice of interest in early on and see where that leads.

Aodfionn

I have no idea how to approach the idea with any novices. Wish I did, b/c family RP was something I've never really had much chance to try out.

Melodie

My honest best successes with children have started out as students. Whether official proteges or not, I occasionally run across a promising young Achaean in whatever city I am in (a few in Cyrene, one in Eleusis, not had it happen yet in Mhaldor), and I started watching them (not stalker-like, just sort of observing what they're doing and how often they're about) to see what kind of interests they have. Sooner rather than later, I'll manage to run into them (and often not even on purpose), and I'll have Melodie introduce herself. Usually this comes in the form of someone asking questions, and me answering them and giving additional information, and then encouraging continued interaction via more questions.

From there you just kind of start eventually delving off from questions to discussions. You can drive this in any direction you want - personally for me, I tend to take this as a great time to delve into lore, history, and stories (whether personal stories or otherwise). You start finding their interests and introduce topics of interest that involve that (assuming you have similar interests). @Cynders as a protege, for instance, had a really deep interest in the lore of the world and how the various beliefs (Nature, Good, Evil, Chaos, etc) interacted with the world, as well as historical events (Bal'met) and religion. It was very easy to take this from informational to personal (showing her what Melodie believed and why).

From there you just kind of tend to get to know people and you might "click" and it's usually pretty simple from there. I don't often bring up the idea of bloodlining for a few IC years, at least - I knew @Saeva from the time she was 18, but I don't think we officially bloodlined her until she was in her 40s. I think Tessa/Aeryllin took 5-8 IC years or so. There's no rush, all in all. Best to make sure everyone likes everyone (introduce them to people of your family, if you should need to) and that everyone is comfortable.

Eventually you'll be interested and you see their interest, and at this point (whenever you get to it), it's a good idea to pop up a party invite and have an OOC conversation about the possibility, and discuss the pros/cons, any sort of complications (if they have other potential parents, if their backstory already exists and you need to mesh it into your own, etc). Excluding Daklore, I think I had an OOC conversaiton with all of my potential kids before they became one. I'm also a really picky bloodliner, though, because I like Mel's kids to have quality. Quality > quantity always.

There's no cookie cutter way to do it, you mostly just follow a general guideline and see how well things work. I can say I'm pretty happy with the turnout of Mel's kids, though, for the most part. The key is to get them involved with you and spark their interest in not only liking being around you, but sticking around in Achaea in general.

Disclaimer: The above works for me as someone who is mostly roleplay with a side of combat. I figure combatives probably work this out a bit differently, often. My character also has a very rich personal history with more than her share of stories, and enjoys lore/history/religion; thus for people with a less defined personal history, this might be harder. But the idea here is: Take them out on adventures to bond! Discover things together. Explore Achaea, and be able to create and enjoy memories together.

 

Jeslyn

I'm speaking from the Cyrenian novice viewpoint, but it was not the mentor that sought me. I hunted the mentor down. I think this was a good thing for me, because my house did not have any priest mentors available in their list and it made me be proactive. I found the first one (Not too hard seeing that Cyrene only has a few active priests) that seemed approachable enough and was willing to put up with my questions without ignoring me. She was also available during the times I needed her, which was a plus.  After a couple of weeks of interaction and exploring, she approached me with the question of blood lining and told me to think about it till I was 20. She also went through the motions of introducing me to the family members, which made it all the more exciting. I adore the Vorondil family now and think I made a good choice.

So in my eyes, just be approachable and patient. I normally hang around the young Cyrenians (sometimes Targossians ... when it's not being raided), being young myself, and can kind of gauge their interests and whether or not they'll stick around. I'll then introduce them to older ones and let it work itself out from there. Usually proteges have someone in mind already, but some do like a little bit of help.

Volara

Hi, I've just made an account to say that I've been lurking on these forums recently, gathering some information to make an informed choice of what character I'd like to create. Frankly, it has been difficult because I can see myself playing a variety of roles or classes, and haven't yet had the opportunity to really flesh out an idea.

So I stumbled upon this thread (which was impeccably timed) and want to put my name out there. If anyone wants to explore the possibility of having me roleplay a family member or a protege, I'd love to hear from you. We can hash out some ideas, and even if it's not a good fit you might give me some ideas for my character.

Some brief info: I've been playing another IRE MUD on and off for several years, but have decided to make a move to Achaea. I do enjoy the PK side of the game, and I have a few classes in mind, but all from various cities and standpoints so there is room for negotiation The more unusual races and roles pique my interest most often, and would appreciate a firm idea or direction in terms of RP. (Absolutely no snuggling). My timezone is GMT, but I could be around at almost any time. I shall be lurking on the forums over the next few days.

For the tl;dr:
Have RP, can travel.

Kerria

I usually have some mentor type bond with my children's at least the ones that come to me for help at some point. 
We get along and they get along with the rest of the family. There have been a few "maybe children" that after some time go dormant or just turn out to be a bad fit

take time, get to know your parents. Kerria was approached by several parents during her time pre blood lining but she picked who she felt was best, not who offered first ( which would of been a very very poor fit)

Amarillys

From the side of someone who likely will not ever be bloodlined because of me being stupid, I've had a few different conversations to the extent of parenthood. My first one is with Ama's adopted mother Faustine who literally just saw me running around and was like 'hey, you look ridiculously like me (silver hair, golden eyes, she wasn't joking even if it was pure chance) are you one of mine?' We talked and I shared my back story (Which I had just made) and we came to a conclusion IG (probably my first real experience of an RP moment in Achaea, thanks @Faustine ^_^) that I couldn't be her's by blood. Still, she wanted to adopt me. I kind of wish I hadn't said yes. I love the family, but I already had them in my life and I think her and @Teghaine‌ would have been really amazing friends, maybe I should have even asked Faustine to be my mentor instead (I had no idea about mentors). A few years later, someone else who had been a friend for a while decided she thought I would make a good daughter. She brought it up IG, but when I started explaining things IG about my backstory, she took it OOC and she told me she didn't really care about any of it and just wanted me to be her kid. I would be stoked to find Ama's birth momma (Birth daddy would be great for RP but I doubt I'm ever going to find a Targossian/Targossian-minded person to be willing to play the bad/messed up man in my back story even if I made a few alterations) but I didn't want it to be someone who wouldn't help me RP it. Mind you, this is just me, and I'm more interested in having amazing roleplaying opportunities than a biological family. Heck, even more into having RP reasons than an adopted family at this point, but that's mostly because I know Faustine will always see Ama as her's, and Tegh will always be Ama's sister. So I have some ideas for fun. Anyways, I know not everyone is like me and they're okay with OOC talks, and I totally get OOC would have to be apart of Ama finding her birth family, especially her dad, but I still think... it would be way better to do most of it IC because... I mean, that's what this game is about, right? Rolling with the punches and if someone does something cool, either try to run with it or realise it isn't for you and go find someone else really cool. (I'm personally up for 'always run with it!' as @Shirszae and @Aeru might be able to attest to.) So yeah, that's my take on families. Remind me to ask Faustine to be my mentor before I get too weird...


ETA: And if you're a Targossian/Targossian-minded male individual who is willing to be the bad guy in the past, see if you can't get Ama to talk about her history. We'll see if you like the idea. 'Cuz that would be fun. 

Tharvis

Amarillys said:

ETA: And if you're a Targossian/Targossian-minded male individual who is willing to be the bad guy in the past, see if you can't get Ama to talk about her history. We'll see if you like the idea. 'Cuz that would be fun. 

paging @Caoimhaen, Caoimhaen requested in aisle 3.

Anedhel

Gotta be honest- I'm probably the pickiest person ever when it comes to proteges.

I can't imagine taking anyone on that doesn't share a fair bit of Anedhel's personality, although I wouldn't ever dream of having a protege who's exactly like him (two of him would be bad for everyone involved!).

I suppose, in the end, what I'm looking for is a person whom Anedhel can actually -teach- things to. I don't mean the player behind Anedhel, I mean Anedhel. I'm not interested in a protege who only learns mechanical stuff from me in OOC tells/pt, and I'm certainly not interested in a strict combat focus (which seem to encompass, between the two of them, the vast majority of what mentors end up teaching proteges, for the most part). I would like a protege who wants to drink in the game-world from a character's perspective, which has proven to be a challenge; for that reason, I don't think I'll ever end up with a protege who's fresh out of rebirth. I have a ton of respect for people who show new players the ropes, don't get me wrong. I just want more out of my Achaean experience (and am kind of a greedy person).

As for children, wife is dormant, so

Would be mostly the same, though, I should think!

Hasar

All my official protégés are dormant or semi dormant 

Tharvis

my only protege that's not dormant isn't even an official protege

Bukariin

Show me to your children.

Herenicus

Shara

Tharvis said:

my only protege that's not dormant isn't even an official protege

But I'm still the best protege you will ever have! So don't sadface me, damnit! 

evenifiamaterriblyexpensiveprotege

Tharvis

Shara said:

Tharvis said:

my only protege that's not dormant isn't even an official protege

But I'm still the best protege you will ever have! So don't sadface me, damnit! 

evenifiamaterriblyexpensiveprotege

so expensive.

Synbios

I do not have children. Once every 10,000 years, I may or may not experience mitosis depending on which side of a buttered bread falls in the 10,000th household of the 10,000th planet of the 10,000th galaxy. The split-off clone may or may not gestate into existence afterwards, depending on the presence of cat footfalls and whether a duck has grown teeth.

I also used to have proteges. But all of them apparently took a snipe to their locomotion systems, and thus are not present to this present time.

I certainly do not feel lonely. Not at all. Nope.

Sybilla

Nikodemus said:

I guess a House will make getting Proteges much easier [...]

 Is mentorship through Houses really ideal? Isn't it better for the person to pick someone they believe is best, even if they're not part of the House? What about bloodlines?

Regarding (House) mentorship, it's not so much that it's ideal or 'better', but it's preferred by organisations to train new members of said org by (from?) long-standing, experienced, proven/trustworthy members of that org.

In Houses, in my experience, the focus on mentorship isn't so much "learn x from y" and then eat bloodroot if you get rekt, but much more on fostering the whole culture and ethos of that faction, delving into the lore and 'mission' of that House - much like Anedhel says. There's often training programmes for mentors in Houses (most often you can't just become level 50 and start mentoring noobs, you have to have somehow proven yourself to the House first before they trust you to teach the new recruits), so it's generally a higher sort of standard and coherency.

That's not to say, of course, that rogue mentors can't be great. Just explaining it from the in-House side of the coin

Buka

I haven't played Achaea in years. Any evil dads or moms out there? Leave me a howdy.

Mannimar

My House is shifting away from the individual mentor attitude and moving into a concept that it takes a village.

Bluef

There are some class-focused clans out there that can be quite helpful. Shamans, for instance, has a pretty solid sense of itself and encourages the village approach Mannimar just mentioned. Obviously the Serpentlords, the newest high clan, can offer that as well now. Racial clans as well might be a place you look for someone to develop that protege/mentor or familial bond with. Keepers of the Song or Guardians of Moghedu, both high clans, come to mind. Likewise, the old Atavians clan used to be a quite wonderful place to develop such bonds (not sure how things go there now).

Apart from that, The Taverns clan (OOC) has an advertising system, where you can post that you're looking for family or a mentor, etc.

Personally, I think the old model for mentorship (choose a mentor as a newbie) was greatly flawed. It took players, many of whom had no real working knowledge of the realm, and allowed more experienced players to influence and shape them outlook of the world and the people and organizations in it. For example, I don't know how common this is today but many Guilds/Houses wouldn't allow you to pick a mentor from outside your faction at one time.

I was fortunate in finding a mentor that truly did his job (Love ya, @Flair) and helped me be open-minded about Sapience and who I wanted Bluef to eventually become. I encourage new players to do the same. Choose a mentor only when you feel you have a solid basis established for doing so. Bloodline only when you truly know the individuals you'll be roleplaying with as family for the rest of your character's RPed life.

Mingmei

For those looking for children/proteges, which cities are you with?

Kerria

Cyrene!