0:00

Hello everybody,

0:02

welcome to

0:04

a special

0:06

bonus episode,

0:08

our character,

0:10

Background, Meet and

0:13

Geek of Eye

0:15

Cast Fireball. I'm

0:18

Jacob, your guide

0:20

through this character.

0:22

background questionnaire and

0:24

our character and

0:27

the player playing

0:29

that character is... well

0:31

that character would be Adaraxia

0:33

Kalyan and the player behind

0:36

him is me Ned Wilcock

0:38

hello! Oh it's Ned

0:40

everybody! We are here for

0:43

a party! Party time. I

0:45

don't know why I led

0:47

such a long like, oh,

0:49

who is it when literally

0:51

the title of this will

0:53

say Right. So not too

0:55

much of a suspense filled

0:57

intro. But yes, we are

0:59

talking to Ned tonight today

1:01

or whatever time you're listening

1:03

to your podcast and we

1:05

are talking specifically about the

1:07

captain Atoraxicadian. Now, as a

1:09

reminder, we're not diving too much

1:12

into backstory per se. We might

1:14

give a little bit of details

1:16

obviously for those that have the

1:18

details that have already been kind

1:20

of brought to light in just

1:23

the natural progression of the episodes,

1:25

but this is more focused toward

1:27

the background of the character, specifically

1:29

what motivated Ned to create this

1:31

character, what choices he made in

1:33

creating this character, and Again, just

1:35

the overall vibes he wanted to

1:38

achieve, because if we know vibes,

1:40

we know that's Adoraxia's MO right

1:42

there. Very much so, very very

1:44

much so. Well, let's dive into

1:46

it. Net, my first question for

1:48

you is, as all of us

1:51

know by now, Adoraxia is a

1:53

bard. So the question is, why

1:55

did you choose this campaign, this

1:57

season, this moment, to play a

1:59

bard? Well, it largely goes to the

2:01

fact that during our first campaign, you

2:04

know, you and I would often joke

2:06

about whoever's character dies first gets to

2:08

bring in their barred backup characters. And

2:10

we saw a kind of an interesting

2:12

amount of hype amongst our... fans like

2:15

we were getting even emails coming in

2:17

being like I hope that somebody does

2:19

play a bard in the next campaign

2:21

and I was like well I really

2:24

do like my bard backup character so

2:26

I figured might as well bring it

2:28

on in and I do really love

2:30

playing support classes I love playing spellcasters

2:32

I have a very very hard time

2:35

actually playing martial classes because I just

2:37

don't feel like I have as much

2:39

versatility to play around with stuff. I

2:41

like being able to have a big,

2:44

like, box of tools that I can

2:46

reach into with different spells and whatnot

2:48

to try and solve a bunch of

2:50

different problems. So I very much lean

2:52

towards the spellcasters for that reason. And

2:55

again, like, Fleeple was, even though he

2:57

did have a lot of offensive capabilities,

2:59

he also was a support character. that

3:01

you've played so far in our campaigns

3:03

have been very much. I mean, Fleeple

3:06

has had a certain amount of, I

3:08

mean, who can forget the amount of

3:10

times he called down moon beam on

3:12

anybody. Yes. But they definitely have a

3:15

support focus to them. Kind of, I

3:17

guess, a side note, have you, it

3:19

seems like that's your, your forte, the

3:21

place you like to play the most.

3:23

Have you ventured in kind of being

3:26

more of the. I'm going to be

3:28

like a front line heavy or glass

3:30

cannon just a heavy hitter character. Have

3:32

you ever ventured in that? And I

3:35

guess what is the pros and cons

3:37

to you for both sides of that?

3:39

Yeah, I haven't had a ton of

3:41

opportunities to be the player in D&D

3:43

unfortunately. It's like most of the D&D

3:46

that I have played as a player

3:48

is recorded. It's what you're listening to

3:50

right now. But I have for like

3:52

I did a very brief. It was

3:54

like a maybe three session like test.

3:57

campaign where I played as a fighter

3:59

a battlemaster because I wanted something again

4:01

with some complexity so I tried out

4:03

the battlemaster and it wasn't really feeling

4:06

it quite so much I tried playing

4:08

a monk in a campaign for a

4:10

little bit and it was a fun

4:12

character but after all I was like

4:14

I'm just hitting stuff over and over

4:17

again and it started to get a

4:19

little bit bland to me. I've had

4:21

a couple of those experiences here and

4:23

there and For me, what it really

4:26

comes down to is like the amount

4:28

of options that I have available to

4:30

me to solve problems as a player

4:32

will really help kind of determine. how

4:34

well I'm able to pay attention and

4:37

stay invested with what's going on during

4:39

the session. Because if it's like, okay,

4:41

I am a fighter, I hit things

4:43

with my sword. When it's my turn,

4:46

I will hit things with my sword.

4:48

When it's my turn, I will hit

4:50

things with my sword, and then as

4:52

everybody else's turns, and then when it's

4:54

my turn, I will hit stuff with

4:57

my sword again. I will hit stuff

4:59

with my sword again. Well, the mechanical

5:01

reason, I lean towards spellcastings casting characters.

5:03

But thematically, it's just really cool being

5:05

able to have these weird little guys

5:08

who can do weird little things. Yeah.

5:10

What I imagine because you saying also

5:12

that you haven't been the player much,

5:14

you've been more of the DM and

5:17

a lot of your experiences, DM is

5:19

wielding some heavy hitters. So it's true.

5:21

It probably is a nice thing to

5:23

be like, you know what, I'm gonna

5:25

take the support role and that opens

5:28

up the options, like you said, and

5:30

creates or gives you the ability to

5:32

create. more opportunity of, okay, how can

5:34

I support what, you know, Jacob's character

5:37

is doing, or Mickey's character is doing,

5:39

or just the battlefield, or situation, puzzle,

5:41

dungeon, crawl, whatever it is in general.

5:43

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, going back

5:45

with Adaraxia, the bar, now, Adaraxia is

5:48

a very unique, unique background in his

5:50

race. Adaraxia is a sater. Tell us

5:52

a little bit about that choice and

5:54

why you were drawn to the sater

5:57

specifically and especially the sater for. this

5:59

barred character? Yeah, there were a few

6:01

different things that happened kind of in

6:03

a row that led to the introduction

6:05

of this character, and I suppose I

6:08

should say that this is not the

6:10

first time I have actually played Adaraxia

6:12

in a campaign. Like with Fleetle, I

6:14

played him for like three or four

6:16

sessions or so way back in the

6:19

day when Thomas was trying to get

6:21

a group of people together to play

6:23

Forger Fury. And I believe you were

6:25

in that campaign as well. You were

6:28

the Bard in that one, weren't you?

6:30

When did we do that. remind me

6:32

of that it was it was back

6:34

in like 2018 was that like a

6:36

in-person one like just a one-shot little

6:39

thing it was it was online and

6:41

there were a whole bunch of people

6:43

there that I didn't recognize I don't

6:45

remember that but I mean that if

6:48

it's the bar that I play this

6:50

isn't my background or my backup bard

6:52

character, but I did play a dwarf

6:54

bard who had like a fiddle and

6:56

I think we're going through a cave

6:59

system. Yes. What you're talking about? Yes,

7:01

that's the one. Yes, I totally in

7:03

my memory for some reason put that

7:05

in person, but I guess it was

7:08

online. Okay, so yes, you were a

7:10

sater in that experience you sent? Well,

7:12

Fleeple was the character that I played

7:14

in that campaign, and I decided to

7:16

bring him back for this campaign. And

7:19

then, Atoraxia, it was actually the campaign,

7:21

it's the only campaign aside from I-caste

7:23

Fireball that I have played from beginning

7:25

to end as a player. And it

7:27

was run by my friend Christian from

7:30

Improv Tabletop, and that's actually the campaign

7:32

where I was playing a monk, I

7:34

started playing a monk for the first

7:36

few levels. And then after a while

7:39

I was like, I can't do this,

7:41

I need to switch to a magic

7:43

character. And so I started coming with

7:45

ideas for who I wanted to bring

7:47

in. And so the name Adaraxia actually

7:50

comes from a song by a really

7:52

obscure band called the One and Only

7:54

People Noover. It's a weird band. I

7:56

will admit, it's a weird band. Spotify

7:59

that one. Yes. Yeah, the

8:01

one and only people mover PPLMBR they

8:03

dress up as yetes and they've got

8:05

like this hard rock heavily like auto

8:08

tuned vocal style It's wild But the

8:10

song on their album the chosen it's

8:12

called Adaraxia and that was the first

8:15

time I'd heard that word and Adaraxia

8:17

itself is a word for a state

8:19

of being. It's very similar to nirvana,

8:22

but it's like sort of the Greek

8:24

way their interpretation of what that state

8:26

is. It's a state of imperturbability. So

8:29

when I say occasionally in the campaign

8:31

that Adaraxia literally can't be bothered, like

8:33

imperturbability, you cannot be perturbed when you

8:36

are experiencing the state of Adaraxia, you

8:38

cannot be bothered. And so with this

8:40

name in my like I really loved

8:43

this song and I was listening to

8:45

over and over again thinking I want

8:47

to make a D&D character based off

8:50

of this and I for a while

8:52

was thinking maybe it'd be like a

8:54

celestial warlock or something this character that

8:56

can only feel bliss that was like

8:59

the first concept I came into it

9:01

with was this character who can only

9:03

feel atoraxia and After a while, I

9:06

got in the mail a Kickstarter, a

9:08

D&D adventure that I'd kick-started, called Odyssey

9:10

of the Dragon Lords, which I believe

9:13

I've mentioned a few different times. It's

9:15

the book that Fleeples subclass was from,

9:17

it's the book that Adaraxia subclass is

9:20

from, it's this Greek mythology themed adventure

9:22

that was kick-started before Mythic Odyssey's of

9:24

Theros was even announced. And I was

9:27

looking in this book and I saw

9:29

the... College of Epic Poetry barred and

9:31

I was like that would be so

9:34

cool and they had a Seder race

9:36

in there as well and I was

9:38

like that's a really cool combination of

9:41

just like this little Seder barred writing

9:43

down the stories with people that he's

9:45

traveling around with and so that was

9:47

really kind of how that character came

9:50

together the selection of the class and

9:52

the main character concept but as I

9:54

played as a Seder in that initial

9:57

campaign I came to just really love

9:59

the thematics of it playing this little

10:01

Faye Wild creature who's managed to kind

10:04

of slip into the material plane and

10:06

there is that mythological aspect of it

10:08

where there's always this sense of like

10:11

this creature is something a little bit

10:13

more than it probably seems on the

10:15

surface and for this campaign I am

10:18

using the Sator rules that were released

10:20

officially for D&D5E and I think they're

10:22

better than the ones I was using

10:25

initially. But yeah, when it came time

10:27

to sort of repurpose this character for

10:29

this campaign, it took largely the same

10:31

concept, but tweaked a couple things here

10:34

and there, and now here we are.

10:36

Here we have the man. The man,

10:38

the legend, or the teenager, I should

10:41

say the bit, the legend, which I

10:43

love that element too, because you're this

10:45

Adaraxia nir nirvana, I can't be bothered,

10:48

and you picked an age. Probably all

10:50

of us were the most bothered by

10:52

things like 13 years old. A teenager,

10:55

that's like the epitome of everything can

10:57

annoy me. I am the most insecure

10:59

about myself and my state of being.

11:02

I don't know who I am. And

11:04

yet that is the age of the

11:06

person who cannot be bothered at all

11:09

of this campaign. Now I think about

11:11

the reason I think why I chose

11:13

to make him a 13-year-old is around

11:16

that time I was getting kind of

11:18

annoyed with a lot of the D&D

11:20

class tropes that we're getting. like super

11:22

popular all over like R slash D&D

11:25

memes and stuff where it's like okay

11:27

if you're playing as a rogue that

11:29

means you have to steal stuff from

11:32

your party when they're not looking. And

11:34

if you're playing as a war like

11:36

that means you have to betray your

11:39

party and if you're playing as a

11:41

bard you have to be seducing stuff

11:43

all time. And I was like I

11:46

am going to play a bard who

11:48

is 13 years old so that he

11:50

will not be seducing anything because I

11:53

was not seducing anything anything when I

11:55

was 13 years old. for this is

11:57

specifically the background of Adaraxia in D&D

12:00

5e. You can pick a background that

12:02

kind of gives you some abilities. You

12:04

can also, it can just be a

12:06

pull, or a full ability polar, if

12:09

you will, and you don't really have

12:11

to actually connect that to your character

12:13

at all. But as we've known, we

12:16

kind of like to build a little

12:18

bit into our characters. So I'm going

12:20

to ask, what is Adaraxia's background and

12:23

how did that help you... if at

12:25

all, shape the character that you created.

12:27

I really, really went back and forth

12:30

between two different backgrounds. The haunted one

12:32

and the investigation. Oh, you're like a

12:34

lance with the haunted one. That's what

12:37

lances was. The haunted one, yeah. And

12:39

that's what he was the first time

12:41

around that I played him. And you

12:44

know, it makes sense. He's this cursed

12:46

little kid. And so... There's obviously a

12:48

haunted aspect to that just right from

12:51

the beginning, but also he is trying

12:53

to seek out new stories. He's trying

12:55

to figure out what happened to his

12:57

mother. He's investigating. So that's why the

13:00

investigator also spoke to me. And thematically,

13:02

I thought both of them fit really

13:04

well, so it did really kind of

13:07

come down ultimately to which one gave

13:09

me the proficiencies that I thought were

13:11

better suited towards Adaraxia and his goals.

13:14

So I ended up going with Investigator,

13:16

ultimately speaking, because of those proficiencies, and

13:18

because it's got this fun ability official

13:21

inquiry, which I haven't pulled out yet,

13:23

but I think could do pretty well

13:25

for Adaraxia as the captain. Your experience

13:28

at gaining access to people and places

13:30

to get the information you need. Through

13:32

a combination of fast talking and determination

13:35

and official looking documentation, you can gain

13:37

access to a place or an individual

13:39

related to a crime you're investigating. Those

13:42

who aren't involved in your investigation avoid

13:44

impeding you or pass along your requests.

13:46

Additionally, local law enforcement has firm opinions

13:48

about you viewing you as either a

13:51

nuisance or one of their own. Interesting

13:53

how that could definitely play into future

13:55

things we get into. Yeah, especially as

13:58

we start interacting with maybe... some people

14:00

a bit higher up in like I

14:02

don't want to give away too much

14:05

about like sort of the lore of

14:07

the shackles but as the free captains

14:09

certainly there is a much more free-booting

14:12

lawlessness to this conglomeration of people than

14:14

there aren't a lot of the other

14:16

nations on Gallarian but even still there

14:19

is some need for a little bit

14:21

of order you need even if you

14:23

don't have rules you have to have

14:26

guidelines and so there is like a

14:28

ruling body of the shackles of the

14:30

free captains and so maybe at some

14:32

point we'll start interacting with them a

14:35

little bit more and if we do

14:37

get to that point this feature could

14:39

come in really sure and what abilities

14:42

remind us again what abilities are you

14:44

that's the kind of special one for

14:46

the background but what are the proficiencies

14:49

and things that you get as an

14:51

investigator yeah let me pull it up

14:53

real quick yeah so the skill proficiencies

14:56

that you get to choose from as

14:58

the investigator are insight investigation and perception

15:00

These are like, for me, the top

15:03

three skills in the entire game. Because

15:05

for me, as a player, I love

15:07

the information exchange that happens in D&D.

15:10

I am in it to discover the

15:12

story. And so with perception, that's being

15:14

able to notice the things happening around

15:17

you with investigation. It's being able to

15:19

deduce things about what you're finding. And

15:21

with insight, it's being able to know

15:23

what other people are thinking and what's

15:26

going on kind of internally with them.

15:28

And so all of these are perfect

15:30

for the investigator and perfect for a

15:33

player like me who is very motivated

15:35

by gathering information and knowledge within the

15:37

campaign. And so I think ultimately I

15:40

chose perception and insight. And actually those

15:42

are the two that as a bard

15:44

you get expertise which means you can

15:47

double your proficiency bonus and those are

15:49

the two skills that I have taken

15:51

my expertise in. Smart smart yes I

15:54

loved as a rogue you could do

15:56

that as well Lance had that ability

15:58

and actually my my character right now

16:01

Max actually has somewhat of a Ranger

16:03

ability to bump up his perception. And

16:05

so that is really nice where you

16:07

just double it up and you're like,

16:10

yep, I'm pretty good at this. It's

16:12

so great. And like of those three,

16:14

I said that like those three are

16:17

top tier for me, but perception is

16:19

absolutely the top of the list. That

16:21

is my favorite skill in the entire

16:24

game. It is really good, really good.

16:26

Yeah, this is, this is my first

16:28

time really. playing a high, high perception

16:31

character and it definitely has its benefits.

16:33

The last campaign we did, our first

16:35

campaign, Lance was okay at perception, but

16:38

investigation was his big thing, which is

16:40

also a fun thing, especially when you're

16:42

trying to, you know. look for particular

16:45

documents or secrets in a room. So

16:47

definitely all great traits, all great traits

16:49

and a great background to give you

16:52

those things. Yeah, and the thing that's

16:54

actually just coming back to me right

16:56

now is both of these backgrounds that

16:58

I was debating between are in Van

17:01

Richton's Guide to Ravenloft. So even though

17:03

I didn't choose the one that has

17:05

the word haunted in the name, I

17:08

still got one of the spooky backgrounds.

17:10

Yes, yes, yes, strod strikes again. That

17:12

he does. All right, our next question

17:15

is one, I don't think we've acknowledged

17:17

or specifically touched on in campaign yet,

17:19

your alignment in D&D 5E, you have

17:22

an alignment which definitely has loosened over

17:24

the years in its interpretation. Again, it's

17:26

more of a like a background, it's

17:29

more of a guideline of, okay, what

17:31

is kind of your moral sense as

17:33

a character? But it's not like you

17:36

only can ever act this way and

17:38

how dare you. The DM, especially at

17:40

the cool DM, like our DM Thomas,

17:43

it's not gonna restrict you in your

17:45

actions, but it's definitely something that can

17:47

help base your character as you start.

17:49

So what is Adaraxi's alignment? Yeah, I

17:52

went into this trying to kind of

17:54

go a little bit against type because

17:56

I love playing neutral characters, like trying

17:59

to delve into the idea of what

18:01

does it mean to be. true neutral.

18:03

And so Fleetel, he started the campaign

18:06

being true neutral and by the end

18:08

of it was neutral good. And with

18:10

Adaraxia, I was like, okay, I played

18:13

him true neutral last time I played

18:15

him. I played Fleetel true neutral. I'll

18:17

make him neutral good. And we'll start

18:20

the campaign there. And then like five

18:22

episodes in, he's true neutral. He's no

18:24

longer neutral good. I ended

18:26

up in exactly the place I was

18:29

trying to avoid starting. You reversed

18:31

it. You reversed what happened last

18:33

time. I think that's interesting, especially

18:35

because Adaraxi has been chosen by

18:37

the crew and fate and whatever

18:39

you want to say, Chaos and

18:41

Chance, as the captain, it's hard,

18:43

I would say, to stick to

18:46

neutral good as a pirate captain.

18:48

You definitely have to be a

18:50

little bit more even keeled in

18:52

terms of... Yeah, we get in

18:54

a messy situation. I have to, I

18:56

have to be the judge almost of the

18:58

ship and that definitely can lead to

19:01

a shift in alignment or a

19:03

different approach to it. Yeah, because

19:05

by his nature, Atoraxia is very

19:07

kind of egalitarian in the way

19:09

that he likes to interact with

19:11

people, and it still does have

19:13

quite a bit of that, but

19:15

very early on he was like,

19:17

oh, but sometimes stuff needs to

19:19

get done. we don't necessarily have

19:21

to worry so much about how

19:23

other people feel. So yeah, there

19:25

we go. Yeah, especially because he's

19:27

in a state of bliss. So

19:29

it's kind of like, I don't really

19:31

not care how you feel, but regardless

19:33

of how you feel, that doesn't change

19:35

me. So it's very much a neutral

19:37

position. Yeah. In fact, just today, earlier

19:39

today on the Discord, based off of

19:42

an episode that we just released, and

19:44

I mean, this will be coming out

19:46

after that episode. So hopefully you've already

19:48

listened to it. To avoid spoilers, there

19:51

was this point where Josh reached out

19:53

to me and was like, hey Ned,

19:55

if this character were to die, would

19:57

Adaraxia, you know, how would you feel?

20:00

about it because Adaraxia loves this character

20:02

and that's like exactly why it is

20:04

a curse to only be able to

20:06

feel bliss because Adaraxia would look at

20:09

that situation and want to feel sad

20:11

about it but not be able to.

20:13

That's so interesting I haven't I guess

20:15

thought to at least that in depthly

20:18

about it because I knew you know

20:20

he feels bliss no matter what happens

20:22

hey it's all good but I never

20:24

thought Does he want to feel something

20:27

else and because he doesn't doesn't that

20:29

cause frustration, but it can't cause frustration

20:31

because exactly so how we're all that's

20:33

that's that's a quandary Yeah, and That's

20:36

another thing that I was thinking of

20:38

while I was creating him. You look

20:40

at Saders in their traditional role in

20:42

Greek mythology and they're very hedonistic little

20:45

creatures in the sense of like they're

20:47

trying to experience a wide gamut of

20:49

emotion and sensory experience. And like, I

20:52

think it was a bit more... It

20:54

talked about this a bit more in

20:56

the Odyssey of the Dragon Lords version

20:58

of the race, I think, than in

21:01

the official version, but about how Sadr

21:03

culture, they're all about like, you know,

21:05

they want to feel deep sorrow and

21:07

deep anger, so they'll throw parties where

21:10

they can have these feelings. And Adaraxia,

21:12

even though he is a member of

21:14

this ancestry that is all about feeling

21:16

and all about kind of that hedonistic

21:19

aspect of living, he is unable to.

21:21

That's interesting, yeah, I've just never thought.

21:23

at least that extra layer of it.

21:25

Because he, I guess, I mean, this

21:28

is going on a tangent of the

21:30

feeling of Adiraxia, and I don't know

21:32

how much we want to get into

21:34

it now versus obviously getting into it

21:37

in the, in our campaign, in the

21:39

story. But do you think he, because

21:41

he just feels bliss, but yet, does

21:43

he get frustrated? Does he get, I

21:46

guess he gets puzzled or he gets

21:48

like. I don't know how to handle

21:50

that. Like he feels those things, but

21:52

you can still feel bliss. Like how

21:55

do you feel frustrated and feel bliss

21:57

at the same time, if that's possible?

21:59

Yeah, that's the tricky needle to thread,

22:02

because if you look at like Adaraxia

22:04

wanting to be able to feel sad,

22:06

for example, like the sort of gut

22:08

reaction that we have looking at that

22:11

is, does that frustrate you? But I

22:13

think for him, it's just kind of

22:15

like, I think it would be really

22:17

cool if I could be really cool

22:20

if I could feel sad, if I

22:22

could feel sad. because he doesn't know

22:24

what he's being deprived of, it's based

22:26

out of more just curiosity, I think.

22:29

That's cool. That's really cool to play

22:31

with the bliss of curiosity, but then

22:33

curiosity is a curse. And that's the

22:35

bliss, the bliss is a curse. Interesting.

22:38

Well, and that brings up one more

22:40

if we still want to. if you're

22:42

still okay talking about this particular subject,

22:44

because there was one moment, I think

22:47

it's, was it with the mutineers and

22:49

everything, there's one moment where you actually

22:51

as the character raise your voice, I

22:53

think it was against Ignis, where you're

22:56

like, wait, wait, you do something like

22:58

that. And I'm like, that was always

23:00

interesting to me, because I'm like, wait,

23:02

this guy doesn't feel anything but bliss,

23:05

but yet he's raising his voice, which

23:07

usually is an act of frustration or

23:09

of frustration or of anger. What's your

23:11

take on that? In that moment, what

23:14

do you think Atoraxia is doing or

23:16

how is his bliss being, not perceived,

23:18

but demonstrated even with wanting to take

23:21

command of that scene? Yeah, I think

23:23

there is a certain blurring of the

23:25

lines between player and character in that

23:27

particular instance because like I mentioned in

23:30

a word of recall this is one

23:32

character moment that I had thought through

23:34

beforehand and I really wanted to make

23:36

land and so there's an aspect of

23:39

me as Ned being like no I'm

23:41

gonna have my moment but also you

23:43

can look at Adaraxia being like he

23:45

you know he's all about the branding

23:48

he had that conversation with Busring he's

23:50

like this is an opportunity for me

23:52

to do my branding and just like

23:54

just imagine this 13 year old who

23:57

has this really cool plan that he's

23:59

come up with and somebody is coming

24:01

in here trying to like subvert that

24:03

and he's like well no check it

24:06

wait wait wait this is my plan

24:08

check out this plan so yeah in

24:10

all those instances it's based out of

24:12

kind of this childish excitement interesting yeah

24:15

that he's working like it I like

24:17

it and we'll see how that develops

24:19

further as we dive more into our

24:21

story and see if Adoraxi's backstory gets

24:24

drummed up more and more and more

24:26

That's fun. Indeed. All right. Well, my

24:28

last question actually is not my question.

24:31

If you listen to the first Meet

24:33

and Geek character background building episode with

24:35

Josh, Josh actually added an extra question

24:37

at the end, which was actually really

24:40

good. And it actually comes from Josh,

24:42

but it also comes via through Josh

24:44

from Abria Aingar. who is part of

24:46

the D&D world, if you've listened to

24:49

a critical role or dimension 20, all

24:51

the different medium. She pops up because

24:53

of just how intricate she is with

24:55

it and obviously her skill. Her question

24:58

that she has posed to herself a

25:00

lot of times in creating characters or

25:02

worlds or things like that, and that

25:04

we are going to pose to our

25:07

characters, is what lie does your character

25:09

believe in? That there's something that your

25:11

character thinks... that probably isn't really true,

25:13

or at least is jiving with the

25:16

rest of the world, but yet, it's

25:18

the flaw, if you will, and that's

25:20

actually something in D&D. You can't write

25:22

down a flaw for yourself, so this

25:25

almost fits into that. What is Adaraxia's

25:27

lie that he probably buys into and

25:29

might demonstrate conflict and compelling story in

25:31

the future? Yeah, I was actually, this

25:34

ties into something I was thinking about

25:36

just earlier today, with some of the

25:38

conversations that were happening in the discord

25:41

and it's something that I am willing

25:43

to let be a lie. Let's put

25:45

it this way because there's a lot

25:47

of speculation going on in the discord

25:50

and you know probably throughout the rest

25:52

of the community and within the cast

25:54

Josh was the one who originally brought

25:56

it up where he's like is this

25:59

guy really 13 years old there's something

26:01

uncanny going on here and I like

26:03

it's my intent for him to just

26:05

be a 13 year old kid but

26:08

if Thomas thinks that it's more exciting

26:10

that as part of this archfake curse

26:12

that's going on that I am not

26:14

just a 13 year old kid who

26:17

knows. Interesting. And I don't know, maybe

26:19

that dispels some of kind of the

26:21

mystique that's going on, but maybe it

26:23

builds more mystique, you know. Well, it's

26:26

just which direction it will take. We

26:28

don't know which direction it will take.

26:30

You almost left it as an ambiguity

26:32

for it to develop later. So sometimes,

26:35

as we've even learned, like you mentioned,

26:37

in our in our patron, if you

26:39

haven't signed up for our patron, we

26:41

definitely have some channels where people dive

26:44

into conspiracy theories, sometimes we as the

26:46

players don't have all the answers, and

26:48

we are. making it up as we

26:50

go along, not making it up, because

26:53

that sounds disingenuous. More of we are

26:55

discovering it and creating these characters live,

26:57

if you will. And that actually leads

27:00

to some of the best moments I

27:02

think we've ever developed in I Cast

27:04

Fireball. Yeah, and that is a way

27:06

that I find we can bring some

27:09

of the like live action feel of

27:11

improv into this game, because you and

27:13

I both know the feeling of being

27:15

on a stage in front of people.

27:18

making stuff up on the fly discovering

27:20

as you go and you get a

27:22

reaction from the crowd and based on

27:24

what the crowd is doing that informs

27:27

your next decision that you're making on

27:29

stage. It's this very immediate back and

27:31

forth between performer and observer. And it's

27:33

really hard to do that in a

27:36

pre-reported medium like this. But when we're

27:38

able to have these moments where we're

27:40

getting this feedback from our listeners of

27:42

like, isn't it weird? Like maybe what

27:45

if Atoraxia isn't actually a 13-year-old kid?

27:47

What if? What if? And me being

27:49

like, well, when I came up with

27:51

the character, he was just a 13-year-year-old-old-old-old-

27:54

now, but now, but now, but now,

27:56

maybe it would be really cool if

27:58

he wasn't. And that's something I get

28:00

to discover as well. Or maybe it's

28:03

something that he is a 13 year

28:05

old, and if a curse breaks in

28:07

the future, he all of a sudden

28:10

gets flooded with 13 year old emotions

28:12

and that just causes you. There's a

28:14

lot of possibilities. Wouldn't that be something

28:16

that can happen for it? Yeah, it's

28:19

definitely fun to play into where all

28:21

this goes and. Even with us building

28:23

these characters and building the background to

28:25

them and building kind of the back

28:28

stories, it definitely takes on a life

28:30

of its own and things can be

28:32

adapted, changed, or just, again, like I

28:34

said, built as we experience it together

28:37

in recording this awesome adventure for y'all.

28:39

Yeah, and whichever way it ends up

28:41

going, one thing that I have been

28:43

kind of just leaning into a little

28:46

bit with the characterization of Adoraxia is...

28:48

I want him to be a little

28:50

bit unsettling, and there is something to

28:52

me that is weirdly unsettling, just weirdly

28:55

unsettling about a young person who seems

28:57

to know so much more than you

28:59

feel like they should at that age.

29:01

I think all of our, we've really

29:04

kind of, I think every one of

29:06

us is actually kind of tapped into

29:08

that Adaraxia, definitely. I mean, literally he's

29:10

just like, I'm full of bliss, and

29:13

then his eyes go black, and you

29:15

know, like, it just gets like, oh,

29:17

like, like he doesn't. He doesn't feel

29:19

anything, so he doesn't feel remorse for

29:22

whatever he's about to do. Obviously, as

29:24

we're gonna dive into it more, in

29:26

her episode, Mickey's character is definitely having

29:29

a little bit of a dark side,

29:31

a little bit of an ominous, you

29:33

know, kind of, I don't know what

29:35

they're about to do. Max is definitely

29:38

experiencing that. We've tapped into a little

29:40

bit more of the unpredictability of a

29:42

character. There's definitely a... a dark side

29:44

if you will to each one of

29:47

these people and yeah it'll be fun

29:49

to see how they either fight against

29:51

it give into it and how that

29:53

interacts with the whole party yes and

29:56

very well suited for a piratical adventure

29:58

such as this. Yes, definitely, definitely. Well,

30:00

those are all of my questions for

30:02

you Ned on our character background episode.

30:05

Do you have anything else to say

30:07

to throw out there about Ataraxi, about

30:09

the background of you building this character

30:11

or just anything and everything? about Ataraxia.

30:14

What final thoughts you have for us?

30:16

Yeah, you know what? I'll go ahead

30:18

and pull this up. While I was

30:20

creating Ataraxia and trying to figure out

30:23

how I wanted to portray him... in

30:25

this iteration of the character, I went

30:27

through and I wrote down a list

30:29

of what I thought would be his

30:32

favorite music albums if he were actually

30:34

a 13-year-old kid in our real world.

30:36

And so, listeners, if you want to

30:39

get a taste of just some of

30:41

my weird musical interests and a bit

30:43

more of like what Adarax is about,

30:45

here are a few albums you can

30:48

check out. El Oso by Soul Coughing,

30:50

The Chosen by the One and Only

30:52

People Mover, Comfort Eagle by Cake. Plastic

30:54

Beach by Gorillas and Spirit World Field

30:57

Guide by Aesop Rock. Interesting. All right

30:59

you can check that out. See if

31:01

you can add to our conspiracy channel

31:03

on Patreon as you listen to those

31:06

that music you can maybe try and

31:08

drum up some oh I think this

31:10

is where that's coming from or maybe

31:12

this is what we're gonna reveal. more

31:15

about Adaraxia, definitely some fun things that's

31:17

happened to, or just to get again

31:19

a general feel of Ned's mindset when

31:21

he created this awesome character that we're

31:24

growing into as we listen. Alrighty everybody,

31:26

well thank you so much for listening

31:28

again to this special meet and geek

31:30

character background episode of I-cast Fireball. I'm

31:33

Jacob and again with me tonight is

31:35

Ned Wilcock and I play Atoraxia Calion.

31:37

Don't forget to like subscribe and share

31:39

I cast Fireball with anybody and everybody.

31:42

Give us a review on any of

31:44

your podcast mediums of choice and also

31:46

check out our affiliated podcast with us

31:49

that some of our cast members have

31:51

created. Obviously we have with Josh we

31:53

have the sneak attack podcast which kind

31:55

of started a lot of us out

31:58

in this idea of creating our own

32:00

story. He also has Titans Volterra and

32:02

then obviously we have Ned's improv tabletop.

32:04

Ned what's going on in improv tabletop

32:07

right now? This episode usually we actually

32:09

record episodes and they get released like.

32:11

like a month or two after we've

32:13

recorded them. This one though, is actually

32:16

gonna be released pretty close. So what's

32:18

actually going on right now? And I

32:20

cast, not I cast fire. We are.

32:22

an improv table top. Because when this

32:25

gets released, we'll actually probably be right

32:27

around that time. Yeah, so we ended

32:29

up needing to take a little break

32:31

from the Nightmare Before Groundhog Day recording

32:34

that. So in the meantime, yes, the

32:36

Nightmare Before Groundhog Day, you heard that

32:38

correctly, in the meantime, I don't know

32:40

how this happened, but Sonic the Hedgehog

32:43

has become a part of the improv

32:45

tabletop brand. Particularly, Sonic the Hedgehog movie

32:47

from the... called Sonic the Hedgehog the

32:49

Movie and we reviewed it and it

32:52

was it was something it was really

32:54

something to observe that movie and to

32:56

get into a fever dream discussion about

32:58

it. Oh my gosh that's beautiful it's

33:01

beautiful I actually forgot the name of

33:03

it I follow another thing on social

33:05

media where they do that as well

33:08

and it's definitely fun to dive into

33:10

those obscure movies and hearing you and

33:12

who else is recording on that? That

33:14

is Christian who I mentioned earlier and

33:17

Connor also from Improg Tabletop. and then

33:19

special guest correspondent Sammy Ryan who is

33:21

the biggest Sonic fan I know and

33:23

has watched pretty much every bit of

33:26

Sonic media there is to watch and

33:28

played all of the games as well

33:30

so we had a professional to join

33:32

us for this conversation rather than just

33:35

the rest of us chocolate heads. Well

33:37

there you go if you like Sonic

33:39

the Hedgehog or you just want to

33:41

hear some awesome commentary about a strange

33:44

movie from the the 90s.

33:46

check out out Improb

33:48

special episode that reviews

33:50

that. don't forget

33:53

to like, subscribe, and

33:55

share with your

33:57

friends share fellow wacky

33:59

adventurers. Until next time,

34:02

I'm Jacob, and

34:04

we have Ned here,

34:06

and and keep that

34:08

fire here, and we'll

34:11

see y 'all next

34:13

time going. We'll see y'all next

34:15

time on I-cast Fire.