Swashbuckler!: Personality

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Skies is its cast of interesting and engaging characters.  Despite the fact that most characters can be catagorized into set archetypes, each person is given unique traits that makes them more believable--a weakness to balance a strength, realistic motivations to explain near-superhuman feats.

Given the general trend in main characters in most RPGs, Vyse is rather normal. Something that I found quite noticable was the fact that Vyse has no obvious talents....he's not an incredible swordsman, or a brilliant strategist; it's mentioned once or twice that he's a good helmsman, but that skill is more from years of being on a ship than from inborn talent (although he probably does have more natural skill than others, given his family linage...).  When compared to other RPG heroes, who have supernatural powers or are destined before birth to destroy evil, or are just really, really good with weapons, Vyse is something of an anomaly.

So how does someone so "average" end up commanding a fleet of ships and become known as a living legend?

Gilder is the first person to pinpoint the aspect of Vyse's personality that makes people follow him--his strength of will.  Of all of the characters in Skies, Vyse has the most forceful, driving persona, and in a world full of selfish pirates, powerful admirals and countless dreamers, that's quite an achivement.  The drive to succeed at all costs defines nearly every aspect of Vyse's life.

"Impossible is a word people use to feel good about themselves when they give up."  These are the words Vyse leaves Marco after he [Marco] tries to stop Vyse from leaving Valua. Vyse is an ardent believer in this type of mindset; tell him that he can't go through the Dark Rift, and he'll do whatever he can to prove you wrong.  Vyse doesn't limit his ideals to himself, though; he firmly believes that all people have the potential to do incredible things....if they try hard enough.

It's that strong belief in others that makes Vyse such an effective leader.  The trust Vyse has for his friends, his crew, for people in general...it makes others feel stronger, more confident, and ultimately pushes them to doing things they never thought they could.  Vyse has a very unique ability to give people goals when they had none, and make near-impossible dreams a reality, by simply refusing to believe that things can't be done.

There is one other very important ideal that makes Vyse such an effective leader. It's also what (imo) makes Vyse a heroic figure, despite the fact that as a Blue Rogue, his morals may seem somewhat lacking.  Vyse never, ever forces his opinions or ideals on others. Tells people about them? Yes. Shows them to others? Of course. Tries to get others to see things his way? Yup. But, in the end, Vyse always lets people choose what they want to do, not what he'd like them to do.  The most obvious example of this is during Vyse's stay in Esperanza-if the people there would rather stay in a dead town and give up on life, they can go ahead and do that...but if anyone wants to give life a second chance, there's always room on the Delphinus. 

The freedom of thought that Vyse values so highly is, in the end, what seperates him from the "villians" of Arcadia. In almost every case, the "bad guys" are not acting with evil in mind...they want to make things better. Galcian, Ramirez, Belleza, the Shrine Elders...they all want to change the world and its people to make it better for everyone.  However, if there are people who don't fit in with the "good" the Armada or Shrine Elders have defined, then they can't exist.  *That* is what Vyse hates about the villians--not their ideals, but the fact that everyone must think and act as they do, with no room for exceptions.  The ideal of free expression is very important for Vyse, and it's why people enjoy following him....because they aren't really "followers", just a group of people working toward a common goal.

On the surface, it doesn't seem as if Vyse really has what it takes to be a leader. But the most important aspect of a good leader is having a strong personality and presence to inspire others...and it's that quality that Vyse has in abundance.



Whew. That took *much* longer than I thought....if you have something you'd like to add, go ahead and contact me.