Azusa RP Online

Hello all, first of all I'd like to make clear that I am writing this as a personal impulse, since I had the idea in my head while in the bathroom thinking about life. I'm no expert in the game as I've known it for only 2 months, although I have been familiar with the source material/inspiration since childhood. I apologize in advance for mistakes, and I accept criticism as well as corrections
After talking and brainstorming with Inu about some things he didn't like many about Admins choosing Ranks and gods, and then the players turning out not to play the Rank/god correctly.
With that in mind, I wanted to explore some common themes that Azusa has, as a guide for character creation/development.
You can work on those characteristics of your character that I'm about to mention at creation (when you create them as a child, for example, already with a personality and backstory) and then later, as the story continues and affects them, they can change or mature in some ways

Understanding the gods

When following, or playing a god, it's important to understand as much as you can about it.
Most of the problems Inu mentioned having with gods is that players don't know how to correctly play them as characters, such as having a slightly (or heavily) good Hades that likes to help the children and other examples. The difference from creating a character and playing a god, which is a character already defined in the Lore/Mythos, is exactly that it already has some qualities defined about them.
So when applying to be a god, or when offered to be one, gather as much informations as you can. There is a BR wiki in progress, and future plans are to translate it in english, but still, if you choose to be (or follow) a god, you should inquire mostly Inutaishos, the Admins and experienced players to describe the god's origins, story, motivations, personality, goals, the following topics and etc. You can add your own twist to a god, changing some types of mannerisms, as you clearly won't be the same player to play that god everytime they get revived, it's only natural, however be careful.


Alignment
I see that Azusa uses a pattern of alignment that was made popular by D&D, and that also became popular as a meme because it fits most types of media that you can think of. It consists of 2 axes: Good and Evil, whether a character acts out of his intent to help or hurt others, and Lawful to Chaos, that defines whether or not a character is loyal to a certain set of rules or ideals, or prefers to live their life in a free way, some times chaotically. In both those axes, you can be neutral or slightly neutral as well.

A very underdeveloped topic in RP games, to me, are "Evil" and "Good" concepts. More than wanting to be the bad guy just because, or the good guy just because, our characters and our gods should have motivations for whatever their goals and actions are. You can work on those characteristics of your character at creation (when you create them as a child, for example, already with a personality and backstory) and then later, as the story continues and affects them, they can change or mature in some ways.

Evil people are considered evil because of a natural tendency to harm others, however that is just a simple way of looking at it. A character might pursue Evil interests because they have a different sense of morality and justice than the usual ones, being heterodox in that aspect, or simply act Evil when and because it is convenient to their personal gain.
Overlooking the motivations as to why your character might be a Villain is one of the reasons that RP gets stale and Villains come off as cheesy and underdeveloped.
A Villain sometimes, in his eyes, understands his actions as true justice, and in a way, as if Evil were Good, such as thinking the world needs tiranny to be controlled, and finally reach peace. Hades, for example, has hatred for Humans, and since his actions are destructive and cruel, he could be classified as Chaotic Evil, but that's simply a way of looking at things.

The same applies for those who want to be the good guy, basically a Gokunub, or since we're in Azusa, a Seiyanub, just because it's the standard thing to do.

Clash of ideals

As I've mentioned in the Alignment part of this Guide, one of the interesting things about a Fighting manga/anime, which is the inspiration for this game, is not just fighting, but the clash of the ideals of those who fight. Some villains come off as cheesy in some mangas/animes exactly because of the reasons I mentioned earlier
A bad example in my opinion would be some of the earlier villains of Saint Seiya such as the black saints, and a good example are the Gold Saints and Poseidon's Marines, who simply had different motivations and ideals from the Bronze Saints, being why they fought. Here, you can probably understand my point that antagonists aren't evil just because.


Why am I a Guardian?

I feel as if this is a question you should ask for your characters, and if you don't know exactly what the answer is, maybe think a little bit more about developing the character. It's important to note that Azusa is a world as big as ours, and the maps we experience are just parts of the World in which the Guardians and gods reside and act upon, so for a character to arrive in said maps/regions, there should be a motivation to being a Guardian.

About Human Creation

Azusa is a game that has a lore based around gods, and in result of that, a very common topic is Human Creation. Many of the already existing gods have different opinions about humans, whether they should hold the rights to hold armours and relics, or if they should exist at all. As I said above, you should make this very clear specially when playing a god, but as a follower of a certain god, being a human/humanoid or angel/demon, you should focus on this too. It should be one of the motivations as to WHY you're a Guardian, whether you think humans deserve to live or not, for example.

My Experience ingame

I've already acknowledge how some of what I wrote might be wrong or inaccurate, but after 2 months of playing two characters following Poseidon, I'd like to use him and my characters as examples.
Poseidon is supposed to be a greedy god who wants to flood the Earth. He undermines humans, but is willing to save those who follow him.
Just like I said that your interpretation of a god can have your own personal twist to it, the current Poseidon we have on the English Server is greedy, however he doesn't let it show. He's particularly charismatic and treats his followers with respect, even showing them love.
My point here is that while Poseidon might do things that are considered Evil, he has his own motivations and reasons to want to flood the Earth and control it. My two characters weren't exactly evil, but they both trusted Poseidon's sense of morality, believing he knew what was better for the world, even if it meant its destruction.
You can still have a character with good intentions, but follow Poseidon or Hades, which is something I'd compare to a sense of dictatorship for the best of mankind(like Anakin Skywalker supposedly had in the prequels, but let's not talk about that, I don't like sand.).

Conclusion

In the end, there are many things to think about in creating a character, as it mimics real life, and as we can tell from personal experience, people are complicated and complex. However, we can use our personal experiences and lives to help us create them better, and advance the RP Story. In a way, we're taking information from the real world and adapting it to a Fantasy world.
I admit I'm not giving too much credit to the good RPers in the game, but I see many players that aren't as good, and some that are convinced they're good, but in fact are committing some obvious mistakes(such as implying how the character is by words and not actions, or essentially, not following the basic concept of show me, don't tell me).


I'm sorry if you guys think what I said is just ranty, cringy or unnecessary, but I felt like writing it, so I apologize if you wasted your time reading this. On the other hand, you're the one who chose to read the entire thing, so fudge you, don't start complaining >:(