115151-help-me-be-a-draken

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Bear with me.  Some background info:
 
I was what I would consider a "hardcore" RPer way back in early WoW.  I went on to do lots of RP through GW2 and SWTOR, and now Wildstar.
 
I used to take the time to make good, thorough posts - nothing buffer-breaking generally (I dislike that, takes too long for folks to respond and keep a scene/conversation going), but lots of descriptive content.
 
That was then.
 
I've been RPing around non-RPers for so long now that the extent of my roleplay has become goofy one-liners and puns, letting my in-game avatar simply be the description of my character.  I could also attribute some of this to Wildstar's overall light-hearted tone.
 
This was all fine and good except that now my RL lady is playing with me and she wants much more 'grounded' roleplay, and after some thought I would like to get back to this as well and I'm having a tough time breaking myself of the casual/light/jokey RP mold.  I'm not looking to become totally humorless, but I want to be more immersive than I have been.
 
Does anyone have tips/advice?
 
I have started playing a draken warrior guy, and I'm having a hard time even placing a personality to him.  I suppose a good place to start may be some sort of resource for draken as a race/culture, if such a thing exists.	
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Why not both?
 
Wildstar-Roleplay.com has a compilation of Draken lore to get you started...
 
But having a traditional Draken with a sense of humor sounds fantastic. Personality takes time, experience and situations. My characters always start out simple. But I generally pick a theme for the character ("I didn't choose the Thug life") and develop specifics around that theme (including the inevitable contradiction and hypocrisy: "What if I did choose the thug life?")	
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Good advice all around, I appreciate that.
 
Personality is not so much the issue (agreed, that tends to come over time anyway) as making myself take the time to think out a pose with some content to it, I suppose.  That's probably more what I'm looking for advice on.	
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Ohhh okay.
 
Well, what I usually do is look at a handy thesaurus and look at some common words to describe my characters usual expressions.
 
What is his or her general mood? Posture? Mannerisms? For example if they're always smiling, you can pick up words like bright, jaunty, bemused or coy.
 
Take those notes with you as you RP. Then after you've familiarized yourself with that vocab, you can dump the cheat sheet.
 
Another thing I do is... ok this is kind of embarrassing to admit /facepalm
 
I'll act out IRL what he's doing for a moment. Especially if it's something unusual like fighting or dancing.
 
Of course, I'm a bit into it obviously, but I think the fact that you're preparing and thinking as being on the right track.	
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Draken go like like this, "RAWR RAWR IMMA DRAKEN IMMA BANG ROCKS TOGETHER AND YELL YELL ABOUT GHOSTS AND DYING IN BATTLE HONOR HONOR HONOR WRRAAGGGLLBBBLLLLPPPBBBBBTTTT!!!!"
 
Just just do that, and will be Draken, yes.	
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My main RP toon is a Draken so I can only share with you what I took into consideration building my profile.
 
On the basic level our home world is a dry planet, heat and dust is used the most to describe the climate we're most used to. So Crimson Isle, Deradune and Malgrave has a climate which is familiar but how do you react when you enter Whitevale or similar extreme opposite climates? Do you react well because you've been pillaging different planets with the dominion for sometime or is this the first time you've felt cold? 
 
Next our basic personality traits are described as "...the most badass warriors in the galaxy. Eviscerations, disembowelments, and decapitations will definitely be involved." With that in mind how do you act civil around cities? DO you act civil or do you let nature guide you (push in line, cause fights etc) Also it is described "the eternal respect and loyalty of these ferocious hunters could only be won through strength and violence"... so how do you make friends, how do you judge who is worthy of your time? How did you become loyal to your lady's character? How do you react when faced with a prim dominion or cold mechari?
 
Then there is our purpose of being on Nexus. Keep in mind we as a race have swore eternal loyalty to the dominion, so are you just there because you're following the dominion? Are you there because the exiles and you want to kick their arse? Nexus is known to be rich in untapped resources have you traveled there to be the tapper? Nexus is also known to have powerful beasts on it, are you there for the challenge of a great fight these beasts could offer you? In a nutshell are you there for War or there to prove your skills?
 
There are plenty of opportunities for humor with the Draken. Think about it, we're thug like savages on a invisible leash. In the wild we can unleash our nature but in cities with all that dainty crap everywhere, it's exhausting to behave. If you've seen Disney's Beauty and Beast we're like Beast trying to eat that porridge with a spoon and failing dismally and it's like that when it comes to us in towns and cities. Also there is the climate thing, I had a great time freaking out when I had to walk on ice for the first time. I haven't even started with our homes up in space... space?! are you frickin' kidding me, all we need is a fur rug on a warm earth floor. Another option is trying to RP a draken who is opposite to our natural nature, the smart weak geek amongst the strong dumb jocks so to speak. I had a RP buddy who was a vegan Draken, seeing him RP was hilarious because he was anti killing.
 
Anyway I hope this gives you some things to think about. I wish someone would start a wikia page for us RPers so we could make profile sheets which would help with RPing but for now I wish you luck.	
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I have just made a draken and am wanting to RP him as well :) I had a little go at an RP event last night, but I am pretty new to it, and I felt like my character just came off a bit wierd lol... so I am gonna be watching this thread as well to see what others suggest ;)) 
 
Kibbes gives some good info there, thank you for that! <3
 
I found some good info on the roleplay sites that I am gonna be using to try and figure out my character a bit more; 
 
http://wildstar-roleplay.com/mobile/forum/viewthread/m/11410152/id/8091363-draken-lore-compilation
 
Plus this AWESOME bit of nerdery on theorycrafting some lore for how the planetary state of Mikos might have affected draken culture; http://www.wildstar-roleplay.com/forum/m/11410152/viewthread/14277979-sunny-side-up-or-how-tidelocked-mikros-may-affect-draken-culture/post/last - including really interesting ideas about Aphelion and Perihelion (the time in which the planetary orbit comes furthest and closest to the sun respectively) 
 
A little nugget on draken courtship and the potential dangers of a blood pact; http://rigenadriftwooduniverse.tumblr.com/post/90111386987/how-would-a-draken-attempt-to-charm-his-her-potential
 
Plus the "female draken thread" which, if you sift through the furries ;), has some interesting nuggets and speculation about draken culture (most of the posts are from pre-beta so it's all the lore geeks doing what they do best, speculaaating! xD) http://wildstar-central.com/threads/the-female-draken-thread-images-specualtion-discussion-blood-wine-with-a-side-of-fresh-meat.2016/
 
 
Also there are some things I personally thought about when trying to come up with a backstory;  There is a huge emphasis on honour, servitude, bravery, ferocity, respect and tradition. And you can decide whether you want your character to be part of that culture, or not. If you are a part of the "traditional" draken culture, are you happy about it? It could be that you are a begrudging heir to a mighty clanlord, only doing things because they are expected of you but you don't really have your heart in it (to me that has the potential for some rather fun "dry wit" and "exasperated" type humour?) - or are you fully immersed in your duties as a servant of the emperor? Do you follow the old gods or are you so devoted to the dominion that you have been convinced to join the vigilant church? 
 
Also the loremaggeddon drop on draken is soon so maybe that'll have more info to help :D
 
I am sure you've done all that stuff before but I find the roleplay wiki templates really helpful as well :) - I also LOVE this massive character template http://www.wildstar-roleplay.com/forum/m/11410152/viewthread/12963078-mega-bio-template-thread-has-kitchen-sink and will be using (most of) it to build my toon, maybe it'll help you?
 
GOOD LUCK fellow draken ;)	
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Anyway I hope this gives you some things to think about. I wish someone would start a wikia page for us RPers so we could make profile sheets which would help with RPing but for now I wish you luck.
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			For some reason that race reminds me a lot of the Klingons from star trek.	
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			Tormund Giantsbane.  You know what to do.	
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