Guest Blogger: Hawk

...and now we have another guest-blogger, which happens to be Hawk (the player other than Sable who happens to have an animal companion or two...). Hawk says her entry is in response to yesterday's blog from Sable, so here it is:

Testing by Fire

What defines a story? Makes it memorable and worth reading and rereading?

Challenges, Conflicts and Connections.

When all is good clear and happy--there is a passitivity. You see a person's true character when faced by challenges. Challenges can bring the monster out or the goodness of a person. Look at Zoot in the TV Show ("The Tribe"). Before the death of his parents he'd been a quiet boy in the shadow of his older athletic brother Bray. His reaction to the trajedy was to refuse to face it directly and rebel against everything he once believed. "Power and Chaos." Death, ruling by fear, force, and psychological torture. (Look at what he did to Ebony.)

Then on the other side of the spectrum is Dal. All he wanted was to have a farm away from the city. Yet he gave up that dream to stay with his friend Amber. And later, he died fighting for the values they held dear.

Conflicts emphasize the two sides of life. You treasure the good times, after you have suffered the bad times. These can be emotional, physical or a combination of both. Nothing is every trial-free. And sometimes when all seems dark--the one ray of hope or small happiness shared between two people becomes all the more meaningful.

I heard somewhere the saying: "You can't see a candle lit in the sunlight--you need the darkness to show the strenght of that light." In the tv show "Tribe," they showed this too. Baby Brady born right after all adults were dead. Baby Bray born on the day the Technos took over. Amber and Bray banished from the city--had each other. Cloe playing with her calf. These are just a few examples... Connections underlie all of life. Whether in love triangles, Lost loves, Friends, Family or Tribemates. Relationships good/bad or the lack of them. Ebony always going for Power, yet in the end had only a series of lost loves and an estrangement from her sisters. Amber as Eagle returning to the city to help the Mallrats. Lex and his two lost loves Taisan and Zandra. Both he and Bray went through depression and drunkness.

These are what made "The Tribe" great--and I think what makes KTDARPG last so long. In writing, we bring things alive so that we in a sense feel what the characters feel. Gold is refined by heating, impurites float to the top and are removed until the essence of the metal is seen. The testing by fire always changes people, gives them a depth, as do our Characters. Some die--heroically, tragicaly. There are conflicts, have been wars, and dark times. They face real problems, issues and go through all the emotions that "real" people experience. Still they choose to find happiness where they can.

So look to the horizon, good will come out of evil. It doesn't mean there won't be consequences, but hope will remain.

And remember: in the darkest night, a small candle of light can seem very bright. -Hawk