Talk:Cathak Cainan Kallisto

I think Kallisto's backstory needs some ironing out. You've basically just made a super-Sentinel, which cheapens both Kallisto's and Sentinel's significance. Also, I wouldn't think that Sentinel would neglect his only son -- Despite being busy, he knows that Dragon-Bloods don't live forever, and he would hope to raise Kallisto as an heir to his future fortune. I would not think him to play so distant a part in raising him, especially as he grew older. It is true that he would have been gone often, but keep in mind that he was not assigned to a Threshold legion until after the Zerund Conflict, and would have had more time to spend with Kallisto before that. You and I also discussed having Sentinel put Kallisto in charge of a scale when the group traveled North, which Sentinel absolutely would not do if he were so distant from his son as to not trust him (Sentinel's top intimacies are to the Realm, his son, and his troops on his character sheet, and his Oath of Ten Thousand Dragons is to his men, so he places immense value on their lives, and would not put them in the command of a soldier he did not respect and trust absolutely).

If we can, we should see if we can re-work this to soften some of that resentment -- I think the story would be richer if we were able to play out the process of Kallisto initially looking up to his father, and coming to form opinions differing from Sentinel's as the story progressed.

I do like that Kallisto wants to exceed, not emulate his father, and Sentinel would certainly approve of that drive. I just think we should discuss his starting points and initial relationship with Sentinel.

Also, that's a pretty weak motivation, even for a Terrestrial. If his only goal in life is to surpass Sentinel, he's a pretty one-dimensional dude. Wanting to surpass his father is fine and well, but it's tough to build a believable character on that alone.

I didn't edit the page; I want to preserve the integrity of your writing until we can agree on what, if anything, should be changed.

-Dan

I hesitated putting what's this up, because I haven't revised or thought out everything to completion. To be added later was the fact that Sentinel was actually keeping a close eye on Kallisto without his knowledge; but I think now that's a little melodramatic/cliche, so you'll definitely get a change here. I don't mind changing the resentment, my heart isn't set on that. But a core part of his character is his ridiculous drive to succeed and overachieve, so he does need a good reason to work that hard, which is where I thought up the resentment and inner drive to be accepted by Sentinel in the first place. I thought it might be appropriate since parents don't typically acknowledge their children personally until the child has proven themselves in DB society, so I'm open to suggestions here.

I put his motivation as what it is with the intention of it being temporary (sort of a childhood motivation) to be changed as he develops as a character later in the storyline. If you'd like a more permanent long term motivation, I'll work one out. I'm not entirely sure where Kallisto's character is going long term: he's at a very open-ended point in his life and I'm still giving this thought.

So, sorry for putting that all up without 100% thought, but I was bored today, so I just did anyway. None of it's set in stone, and I planned on the possibility of changing most of it anyways. So we'll work it out.

-Drue