Character Update: Midnite Tempest

Hero Name: The Bold Captivating Midnite Tempest
Character Name: Raene Barsa
Blog page
City Game Tracker page
Server: Champion
Level: 42
Archetype: Kin/Dark Defender
SG: The Mavericks
Personality: Friendly, but guarded. Somewhat broody at times.
Currently: Ran Manticore ooc-like with the Pingus and picked up TF Commander. :)
The character Raene has come a long way from her original concept. In fact, she was originally a tank and a Roma. When I re-rolled her, I decided to make her more of an American gypsy.
When I did a little research on the Roma people, I learned that the term 'gypsy' was an insult equivalent to calling African Americans or Hispanic Americans by racially-based insulting names I will not repeat here. It's vile and represents generations of hatred and ostracism to the Roma people. Their history is rife with controversy and discrimination. They've been accused of everything from witchcraft to theft to murder based on little more than their heritage and the fact that their culture is different.
I want to thank each and every person who contributed to the ooc controversies surrounding this character. In a way, you built a testament to the 'Roma' in her nature. Raene is a woman without a country in spite of her American birth. She embraced a different lifestyle and outlook than what mainstream society would consider the 'norm'. She (most often) refused to play by anyone else's rules but her own, and she marched to the beat of her own drummer. And every conflict proved it. I just wasn't always strong enough to stand up for her when the conflicts came.
In the end, though, she's mine. She's one of my favorite characters ever, and she's taught me a lot. She carries within her some of myself, yes, but please try to remember that she's not me. She is one of those rare characters that lives and breathes wholly on her own in my mind's eye, and she often surprises me with what she does.
The story I'm currently writing for her has some dark moments and some of the growth that I've looked forward to for her since her beginning, and I hope that you'll like it when I finally get it finished and posted. More importantly, though, I hope that it rings true to Raene and the character I intended rather than anyone else who has at any point seemed so vested in her story as to try to influence it in any given direction.