Kasmandre

[Kasmandre]

~Introduction~

 

Kasmandre is the first character I wrote a story of significant length about. This has pluses and minuses. The big advantage is that I'm very personally connected to the character and, when I sit down to write, I want to write about Kasmandre. The disadvantage is that as I progress in my writing, the character in that first story seems poorer and flatter. So, from time to time, I rewrite him. I can think of five different incarnations of the character off the top of my head, each used to varying degrees in different stories and settings (and occasionally, the same story and setting). So sitting down and writing a profile of Kasmandre is next to impossible simply because the various stories I've imagined him (them?) in. He's been young and brash, old and cantankerous, unaging, dying, a mage, a monk, good, evil, a savior, a genocidal maniac, and a good deal of what goes in between.

 

At this point, you're likely thinking why I'm bothering to post anything in here at all on the character(s). After looking at the differences, the similarities become clear to me. Kasmandre is never an obvious hero. He's almost always caused horrible bloodshed, either directly or through inaction. He's a weak person, more than willing to look for the easy way out and used to turning away from the suffering of others. He falls victim to his vices over and over again. He should be written off as irredeemable. And yet, somehow, through circumstances beyond his creating, he winds up a hero, on the side of good. To me, he represents the worst parts of myself, what I think of myself at my most self-destructive. Making that vision of myself a hero gives me hope. Which explains why I haven't let go of the character despite the convoluted history of the people bearing that name.

 

Plus, I happen to think it's a pretty cool name.

 

Anyway, I'm gonna post the various "versions" of Kasmandre here with as much information as I have. Who knows, maybe I'll find some use for them all...

[Kasmandre]

~Kasmandre the Koot~

 

Probably the easiest to talk about is Kasmandre the Koot, mostly because there isn't a great deal to talk about. He was originally created as comic relief (a role he fulfills often enough even now) and to create a "character" for more lighthearted roleplaying than I can usually put to the name. This is probably the first time I actually tried to make a definite difference between various ideas of Kasmandre. He's essentially a cantankerous old coot who spends his days decrying the actions of the younger generation, going on and on about how things used to be, and falling asleep.

 

Even though I've never used him in anything more than some lighthearted RP, I'd like to use him in a more serious role at some point, just to see where the character could go and to try to assemble some kind of history for him.