Space Station 14

Wisteria

Wisteria sighs.

I love Wisteria. I have to say it. She's absolutely my favourite character on my roster.

Wisteria's family of slimepeople lives on and operates a small civilian spaceship in the reaches of frontier space. I won't detail the full backstory, but Wisteria's slime core was formed from a little piece of each of her family's core. Her parentage is... atypical, being the "child" of so many individuals and being raised by them all in different ways.

The frontier space aspect of Wisteria's backstory is inspired by a Lancer campaign I ran, taking place in its Long Rim setting. That campaign, in turn, was inspired by Cowboy Bebop. The vastness and diversity of frontier space, as well as the personality people put into their ships and mechs, really inspired me. I realise I'm saying inspired a lot. A good reference for the kind of thing I wanted to emulate with Lancer is the Heavy Metal Queen episode of Cowboy Bebop, but I think I'm getting a little off-track.

Although she's now known for her role in security, Wisteria was originally created as an attempt at a librarian character that ultimately didn't work out. Her librarian origins do still live on in her through a fondness of books. I don't particularly enjoy reading books, both in-game and in real life, but I have taken time out in low population shifts to grab a few books and take the time to read through them. Commitment to character.

A lot of things about Wisteria were discovered over time, rather than set in stone from the beginning. I think developing a character naturally through interactions is the best way to do it regardless, but Wisteria was impacted the most out of all my characters by in-round events. For instance, I never really considered her sexuality at any point until Snow Cinders showed up and made a lesbian of her.

I think characters reflect their players, at least somewhat, and I don't know how I feel saying that Wisteria is alarmingly close to my own personality. She's a very easy character for me to play. That said, there are still plenty of differences: she's a lot more confident than I am, she gets things done, she's good at showing authority. She's like me if I were more functional, I guess.

As much as I love her, I do find Wisteria a little challenging to play recently. I think she's become a little too "perfect." I have the most fun with a character when there's some internal strife that causes conflict with other characters. With Artemisia, it's her chaotic nature. With Marisa, it's her cheekiness and abrasiveness. Wisteria is quite amicable, and characters tend to respect her. I need something to fight back against her. Perhaps her loyalty to a company that people hate will bring what I want out of her.