In the mind of a dryad. Thoughts about character development in the story of my game

I've been very busy these weeks writing the story of the Purple King chapters. It's the first quest for players of my game Caverns and Dryads on Steam.

I also watched videos and podcasts between hours about storytelling. I learned a lot, although I also disagree with many techniques about character development.

I find that the Eneagram, and other simplistic (yes I said simplistic) techniques are not enough to develop unique characters.

They usually just produce similar characters with different body and appearance, but the same personality. Joining multiple pieces doesn't lead to a real person, only to a Frankenstein monster.

MY TECHNIQUE FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

When you create a character, you are discovering the complexity of a real person:

• Think about their physical nature: their sex, age, appearance.
• Think about how their physical nature impacts their personality (appetites, perception, etc)
• Think about how their physical nature and their personality impacts their life experiences. (consequences of the previous point because they select the kind of experiences they have, or someone selects them for our characters)
• Think how those experiences influence their behavior. (the modification of their behavior, the cosmovision they have, the way they perceive themselves)

I will illustrate this with Tamzyn, and that way if you are a player, you can start knowing her deeper.

EXPLORING THE MIND OF A DRYAD: TAMZYN

Tamzyn has some features that define her existence as a physical being:

• Dryad - nature connected
• Nymph - goddess and muse
• Woman
• Eternally young - can die by violence but not because of aging - out of time
• Unearthly gorgeous - provokes strong emotions, Stendhal syndrome

 Because of these, this is what she feels:

• Loves nature, and is very conscious of her connection to what is natural, much more than any ecologist you know :D She is in fact, by definition, a guardian of natural places, plants and animals. This will prevail over any other reason.
  
  
• Being a goddess, she sees all other humanoids not as equals but as less gifted animals. She can love them, but she seems them as mutable, temporal, and limited. This includes, at the start, Sioul, and that's the reason she will refer to him as "beautiful animal". This has no negative meaning, but good in fact, but also sadness because of what separates her from humans is the same as we feel when we watch a monkey.
  
  
• Muse: she has a strong intuition, powers to see immediate future or sense it. She can also inspire ideas, calm the mind of a creative mind to envision a purpose.
  
  
• Woman: she is in deep contact with her femininity. In fact, she as a nymph is a symbol of femininity. In the case of Tamzyn this means that she can cut the head off of an enemy in one second. She also likes flowers and romanticism, but WE ALL DO (men and women). If you don't, what are you doing here? :D She loves to be beautiful because it's a strength of her, and by that same reason also loves to looks nice, dresses, moments that are beautiful, places that are dangerous but gorgeous, Loves showing off, and gives a big meaning to her feelings even if they are not the most adequate for her own safety. If you don't agree these features are in her because of being feminine, just comment! :D
  
  
• Eternally young: many authors don't think in this seriously. That's my opinion. Being eternally young means she will never age and die because her organs decay. Her body will never look old, her beauty will stay as is. All this has implications, that are not bad or good, but they exist. It means that she is out of time. Unable to understand the hurries of humans, calm because she has lived for centuries (300 years or so). Has developed a self-consciousness and acceptance of herself to a degree that only an old person does, and this way she likes and accepts her own body, her own flaws and limitations. Knows who she is and what she wants. She has a strict list of things she would do and which one she wouldn't. One of them is becoming emotionally close to a human "animal". This provokes internal conflict because of the feelings she is developing for a similar soul like Sioul, who also embodies several of her ideals for a male. 

Here, I have to do a stop. Immortality is one of the major features of her. She is set apart from all other beings, except other dryads. It takes her out of society, makes others feel envy of her, and makes relationships with mortal beings just a waste of energy. For her, a lifetime is just a wink.

• Fearless nature: nymphs do that. They party, run on the fields, become wild, and have a strong appetite for pleasures. If they hadn't, they would not represent Mother Nature and the joy of life. In the case of Tamzyn, who is careful by nature, it makes her passionate and having strong appetites, but she is in control. In some moments, other characters may take advantage of her tastes or try to do it. If I was them, I would not play with fire, though. She is also in control of her feelings, mostly. She can feel fear but faces danger. 

A wanderer by nature, a woman that follows her nature, which doesn't mean she will do crazy things all the time, but she loves her freedom, that includes doing things that not always are accepted by the restrictive society of humans. She is eternally young, and then eternally fearless, careless, lively. She usually behaves but her ideal love interest is someone marginal to society, to follow her into the wild (yes, I know).

• Nurturing: as a dryad, she is supportive, nurturing. These feelings of care about who she loves may turn into destructive behavior if she feels betrayed or someone menaces her loves ones. Her violence is defensive, but may reach a high peak when she enters into guardian mode.
  
  
• Unearthly gorgeous - provokes strong emotions, Stendhal syndrome, as seen in the intro. I can't reflect how she is completely. She doesn't move like a human, but something more sinuous. Her voice is sweet, musical, expressive. Her body scent is like flowers and wood, and her touch is the most smooth possible. The color of her eyes, deep ivy green, is impossible. She's a nymph, not from this world. This can provoke envy, but most of the time it can provoke isolation, even fear, or in some people, overwhelming feelings of all kinds. Sioul already knows this sensation, and he fights it with her intellect, which makes him a bit confused about what he really feels. The Purple King is too dreamy to be affected, but we see he is at some moments.

And let's leave it here, because with all these ingredients, I am going to develop a back story for her.

I will discuss in other posts her inner conflicts, her limitations, better. But you can also just play the game, as soon the story of the Purple King will be there, and you will begin to feel her "human" side, that is huge. 

For now you can think "lucky one that doesn't die or age", but she is much more than that. You can already begin to see her vulnerable side, her difficulties, and start falling in love with such a creature.

I dare you to tell me in comments what do you think that the dandelion seed symbolizes in this image of her below, and why she is crying: