Is Thanoss God-Modding?

[Thanoss]

I've gotten to the point where I'm focusing more on Thanoss' character rather than his gear and skills. I want to make him a greater presence in the roleplaying world of Nyx, but I'm nervous as to how acceptable he is to others as a character, more specifically if people think he's a god-modder. Some might have an idea of what I'm referring to, others not so much, so I'll explain.nnAbout a year ago Thanoss was killed (story-wise). While dead his soul was taken to the Twisting Nether, what I tried to substitute for Azeroth's version of Hell. This is where he gained unique knowledge of demons and, more specifically, souls. Some hours later he was miraculously resurrected by his brother Soleon, but with only a small amount of his soul returned. In Azeroth, people are traditionally brought back from the dead one of two ways: through resurrection, or as undead. Since Thanoss was dead longer than what was traditionally considered possible for full resurrection, yet was brought back despite this and with only a piece of his soul intact, I've attributed him to being what I call "partially undead".nnSince Thanoss had died and remained dead longer than most, yet had managed to come back more or less alive, he theorizes that his body has developed a resistance to death. While he feels pain the same as everyone else (his high pain tolerance comes from his realization that he's not as fragile as he was before), his body will heal at an accelerated rate, making what would be fatal to most a temporary inconvenience to him. He can't, however, regrow limbs, and should he break any bones they'll remain broken (or mend incorrectly) until put back into place. Furthermore, he's by no means invincible; while he usually heals too quickly to succumb to fatal injuries (eg. to a vital organ), he can (and almost has) bleed to death should there be too many injuries. Of course, decapitation will kill him like anyone else.nnThis resistance comes at a great price however. He only has a piece of his soul intact, and while this makes his soul incredibly flexible (he's taken pieces of his own soul to use as weapons), it also makes it very fragile, and regenerates slower than the souls of others. Basically anything which can affect his soul will cripple him. While warlocks would be the first to come to mind in dealing with souls, in Thanoss' case other forces such as voodoo can have the same effect. On top of this, unknown to Thanoss, his soul treats his body as though it were undead, and as such he has a natural intolerance to the Light (he has in the past, however, taken steps to develop a resistance, but only temporarily). While Thanoss is aware of his soul's fragile state, out of paranoia he discloses this secret to only those he trusts most (just 'cause you're reading this doesn't mean your character knows about it!).nnThis, in my opinion, is the most controversial part of Thanoss' character. If you think that this should be considered god-modding, or think that I'm just being paranoid, vote or post a comment accordingly. If it turns out a lot of you believe this to be god-modding, I've already got a plan to neutralize this part of Thanoss' character, which I'll execute either by forum post or through in-game events. Otherwise, if you have certain parts you don't agree with let me know and I'll try to get them taken care of.

[Asarelah]

One of the Lore folk will need to comment on the ... suitability ... Lore wise of this story line. That is not my expertise.nnThat being said, from a G&N perspective - which is where I view things from - I do not see that you are manipulating or controlling some one else, either IRL or in character. As long as what you do does not affect or impact some one else either directly or indirectly without their knowledge, consent and direct involvement, then you are not "God Modding."nnBut that absolutely does not mean that this story is practical from a Lore stand point. That I simply do not know.nnYou might be closer to being called a "Mary Sue" though.....nn*grins wickedly*nnSee:nviewtopic.php?f=50&t=4967&start=0&hilit=Mary+SuenAitananPost subject: Is your character a Mary Sue?nPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 10:56 amnnOh, and you might include "I do not know" for one of the Vote criteria. I can not vote on the above questions, due to the reasons stated above.

[Lokistrazsza]

What Lah said basically.. But don't let anyone give you any crap about being a Mary-Sue.. Just politely remind them that Lady Nyx is probably the most blatant Mary-Sue on the server. : )

[Thanoss]

From a manipulation standpoint, I agree that Thanoss wouldn't qualify as a god-modder at this time (however I HAVE done that in the past without knowing it, was called on it, and have learned from it).nnI guess I should've clarified better what I meant... From my limited experience, I've learned that people see god-modding as one of two things. The first is manipulating other characters against their will or consent, which as I said I've tried hard not to do since learning of it. The other is making your character god-like, invincible, or anything close to it, which Thanoss does do but at the cost of other weaknesses.nnAnd yes, I'm fully aware that Thanoss is definitely a Mary-Sue. If I'd known what that was before I formed his backstory and personality, I would've made some changes. Unfortunately, I've made him what he is, and to me it'd just be too unrealistic to change his past and overall person for the sake of making him avoid stereotypes. That being said, I don't take offense to Thanoss being called a Mary-Sue; I didn't make him that way on purpose, and really there's nothing I can do to change it at this point.nnThanks for the link Lah, but I already took that quiz... and failed... and you even responded to my results XD And I'd gladly add an "I don't know" option on my poll, but... I don't know how to make changes to it. I do appreciate the responses though.

[Eyesore]

Anyone have a moment to let this old orc in on who Mary-Sue is?

[Warburn]

...nnAbout a year ago Thanoss was killed (story-wise). While dead his soul was taken to the Twisting Nether, what I tried to substitute for Azeroth's version of Hell. This is where he gained unique knowledge of demons and, more specifically, souls. Some hours later he was miraculously resurrected by his brother Soleon, but with only a small amount of his soul returned. In Azeroth, people are traditionally brought back from the dead one of two ways: through resurrection, or as undead. Since Thanoss was dead longer than what was traditionally considered possible for full resurrection, yet was brought back despite this and with only a piece of his soul intact, I've attributed him to being what I call "partially undead".nnSince Thanoss had died and remained dead longer than most, yet had managed to come back more or less alive, he theorizes that his body has developed a resistance to death. While he feels pain the same as everyone else (his high pain tolerance comes from his realization that he's not as fragile as he was before), his body will heal at an accelerated rate, making what would be fatal to most a temporary inconvenience to him. He can't, however, regrow limbs, and should he break any bones they'll remain broken (or mend incorrectly) until put back into place. Furthermore, he's by no means invincible; while he usually heals too quickly to succumb to fatal injuries (eg. to a vital organ), he can (and almost has) bleed to death should there be too many injuries. Of course, decapitation will kill him like anyone else.nnThis resistance comes at a great price however. He only has a piece of his soul intact, and while this makes his soul incredibly flexible (he's taken pieces of his own soul to use as weapons), it also makes it very fragile, and regenerates slower than the souls of others. Basically anything which can affect his soul will cripple him. While warlocks would be the first to come to mind in dealing with souls, in Thanoss' case other forces such as voodoo can have the same effect. On top of this, unknown to Thanoss, his soul treats his body as though it were undead, and as such he has a natural intolerance to the Light (he has in the past, however, taken steps to develop a resistance, but only temporarily). While Thanoss is aware of his soul's fragile state, out of paranoia he discloses this secret to only those he trusts most (just 'cause you're reading this doesn't mean your character knows about it!).nnThis, in my opinion, is the most controversial part of Thanoss' character. If you think that this should be considered god-modding, or think that I'm just being paranoid, vote or post a comment accordingly. If it turns out a lot of you believe this to be god-modding, I've already got a plan to neutralize this part of Thanoss' character, which I'll execute either by forum post or through in-game events. Otherwise, if you have certain parts you don't agree with let me know and I'll try to get them taken care of.

nnMy dear Thanoss, or should I call you, "your holiness goddess Mary-Sue"?nI quoted you above. Italisizing what I see as "Magnificising" your character. i.e. went to hell and returned, is only partially undead, or has the power of advanced regeneration.nI put in bold what I think is obvious god modding: For example he is a result of a miracle, and is resistant to death.nnIt's your character, and back story. But if say my character heard someone ooh and ahh about "Did you hear Thanoss came back from the dead and can use his soul to destroy his enemies with a blink?!" Most likely Warburn would just chuckle and consider who ever told him that gullible. Why might you ask? Because it would be easy to disprove by a simple dueling match.nnI think your story is creative and thought out. Just maybe a tad too divine or supernatural to be considered seriously for a player character.nnThat being said if you add in Arthas, as the one who "miraculously" rezzed you... It would turn into a WoW lore accurate account of how a DK is born. Add to that Lady Nyx freeing your mind from the Lich King's control and you have yourself a Nyxian Death Knight back story

[Thanoss]

The Holiness Goddess Mary-Sue writes:nnWarburn, I think you've best summed up what I was afraid I've made Thanoss become, I just needed it observed from another perspective. If it isn't obvious, my original intent when developing Thanoss (while in the Azerothian Dreamers I'll add) was to make him follow some of the warlock stereotypes (which I didn't think was a bad thing at the time, remember I had no idea what god-modding, magnificising or Mary-Suing was yet) while creating a part of him that would make him as unique as possible, something bizzare, almost farfetched, but when studied close could almost make sense -- as you said, the product of several miraculous occurrences against what would normally be considered impossible odds.nnKeep in mind I was in the Dreamers when I made Thanoss' backstory and personality. God-modding was happening around me before I even knew what it was; essentially someone could kill off your character on a whim, and if that happened then you'd basically have to pretend not to exist whenever you played that character in the future. To avoid this, I made Thanoss have a reason to be more resilient than most. For their original means and purposes, it worked; no one other than Vayn managed to kill Thanoss, and he was the only one with my consent to do so. But obviously I'm not in the Dreamers anymore, I'm in Nyx, and I've been with Nyx as long as I was with the Dreamers... and Thanoss has yet to even be adequately threatened. His "resistance to death", as such, is basically wasted and now, as I'm sure many would agree, has become a flaw in his character's development.nnBoth in character and out of character, I'm certain Warburn could beat Thanoss in a duel, as could many others. The idea behind Thanoss wasn't that he was stronger than others, and as such for him to be defeated in a duel really wouldn't disprove his resilience, since technically he would survive either way. That said, I'd never considered Thanoss' inevitable deaths to various mobs and Alliance as acknowledgeable deaths in a roleplay sense, mostly because from an out of character standpoint players can't stay dead this way while everything else can, which from my perspective adds too much inconsistency; if your character's going to die in a roleplay sense, I don't think of running from a spirit rezzer to your corpse and coming back as part of the process, the idea (to me) is more like in real life: you stay dead, unless someone else acts on it. But maybe what I really should do is change how I'm seeing it...nnAnyway Warburn, thank you for your response, it really meant a lot to me. I've made a decision on what to do with Thanoss. I have a story all planned out, likely being kept strictly on the forums, and while it may seem as farfetched as Thanoss' current backstory, the end result should make him more realistic. In fact I've already started: there's a wanted poster up in the Tavern of the Setting Sun, kicking off the story I have in mind which I'll post in the Bard's Chamber.

[Asarelah]

EyesorenPost subject: Re: Is Thanoss God-Modding?nPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:43 pm n nAnyone have a moment to let this old orc in on who Mary-Sue is?

nnI do not know. All I can do is point you at Aitana's link, in the earlier post above.

[Lokistrazsza]

Anyone have a moment to let this old orc in on who Mary-Sue is?

nnBasically a character who's story ties in with main lore characters I think.. Yeah check Aitana's post about it.nn

Azerothian Dreamers

nnI think I found the problem. lol

[Ianodil]

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