Featured Character: Saoirse Uí Niall

We're not sure why we grew motivated to interview the Red Terror, since both of our characters have had run-ins with the woman in Scotia, and Orquist bears the undesired and underhanded scar from that woman's knife. After all, while Fintan is a man of the cloth (of sorts), Orquist is not known for many lapses into kindness even under better circumstances. Rather than an interview, perhaps a roast?

Stepping back and looking at the situation with a clear eye, Saoirse Uí Niall makes a worthy opponent in roleplay. She shows, shall we say, a presence throughout Scotia, bringing an intricate and forceful character to bear there.

In the realm of Survivor! Pan Historia, Saoirse Uí Niall serves as the producer/director of the enterprise, as well as one of the talented cast of actresses, helping to make that novel the exciting and unique locale that it is.

So, with no further ado, let's corner her and throw some questions her way:

Saoirse: Wait just a minute here. *eye the interviewers suspiciously* Whose bright idea is this? Is this a set up? I want to talk to my lawyer.

Q: What inspired you to create this character, Saoirse Uí Niall? What part of her creation led to what? She's in three novels; how do they fit together personality-wise, or would they?

A: Saoirse was born long, long ago, on a website far, far away... Oh wait, that's a different story, isn't it? Close to the way it happened though. Saoirse is a hold-over from the old Ancient Sites. She's actually a character in a novel I've been working for about a millennium. I was having problems finding her voice, so I decided to give her a character space, drop her somewhere in history, and let her walk around for a bit. Since then, she's appeared in stories set in the fifth, ninth and eleventh centuries, before settling into sixth century Scotland here at Pan.

Saoirse is a little different everywhere she turns up, but she's always built around a core set of personality traits. She tends to stand outside the norm of her environment, is competitive in nature, and possibly not quite as confident as she appears to be. In all her historical roles, she's tied to Clan Niall. They sort of wrote the book on Irish arrogance, enjoying a strangle hold on the leadership of Ireland for nearly 700 years, so she has plenty of that in her make up as well.

Q: What brought you to the wild world of Pan?

A: I came to Pan way back before the beginning. Ancient Sites was breaking up and Clan Niall scattered to the winds. I like writing in an RP environment, as it is a great place to do character work. Derdriu Urchurdan offered a place for Saoirse to come make trouble, so I took her up on the offer, although it's just been in the last year or so that she's become active in the story at Scotia.

Q: You are part of the creative force behind Survivor: Pan Historia!, which has turned out to be quite the creative venture from all of the participants. As the concept seems to work differently than the reality TV series, since people aren't teaming up to make other players lose, how did you and your fellow board members come to develop this idea? What plans do you have for settings in that novel?

A: The Survivor! experience has been great. We're running the very first episode, so we're still working out a lot of the kinks. But the cast is awesome. And it's turning into a great story. Our current episode, Rasgones del Coya, is an archaeological adventure set in the Peruvian Andes. We're about one third of the way through the story now.

The format is a bit different from the popular television show, but the concept is basically the same. Survivor! is a story/game and the goal is to be the last man (or woman) alive. The weeding process is well under way. We started out with a cast of twelve and have already produced four corpses. We should have another one on ice any day now.

Future plans for stories at Survivor! are in the hands of the novel members. Currently we are in pre-production for our second episode, High Rise: An Urban Adventure. The story is present day and will be set in a 1920s or 30s high rise that has recently been renovated and populated with a very interesting cast of characters. Where we'll go after that, I'm not sure. It depends on what everybody wants to write. The entire purpose of Survivor! is to create an environment for short run fiction in a variety of environments so the players can try out different kinds of characters.

Q: There are some who want to know what your character's intents are in the novel, Scotia. We're sure you will dissemble a bit, but it might be fun to read something about that, even if your interviewers will reserve judgment... For starters, Fintan would like to know where his cross is, Orquist would like to know when the honeymoon's over, and both of us want to know what plans between Saoirse and Emchath are in the works.

A: *turns to her attorney* Do I have to answer that? Saoirse's intent in the current story line is the same as it ever was; power, property and revenge. Fintan, for the last time, I did not steal your cross. I just borrowed it. *frowns* Ummm... perhaps I forgot to mention it at the time, but things were a bit confused right then, what with all the blows flying and being naked and having had my bath interrupted and all. I told you I'd give the cross back when Red and Fintan crossed paths again. It's not my fault it's taken you MONTHS to make a two-day journey up the lochs!

And Orqui, consider the honeymoon over now. I know, it hasn't started yet, but that's beside the point. You know as well as I do that whole point of this marriage is to rob you blind and leave you a broken man. Don't ask how or why; for that, you'll just have to continue reading!

And as far as Red knows, she's probably seen the last of Emchath. I don't think he knows what his plans are, but Red is okay with that. The important thing is that he's left Pictland and is out of harm's way. At least for now. Or so Red thinks. Of course, if he ever finds out what she's done, he'll probably track her down and strangle her!

Q: This seems to be a standard question, and an interesting one as well -- tell us about something you are particularly proud of in your life, whether in virtual reality or offline.

A: No question, that would be my children. All five of them. Being a single parent is an interesting challenge, but the pay off is no small thing. I have three of them out of the house already, and two more heading quickly in that direction. They're all intelligent, literate people and good conversationalists (which I'm no end of thankful for, as I get to spend so much of my time conversing with them!). And they're all storytellers. Three of them are here at Pan and involved in different stories, so I get to write with them and that is a great deal of fun!