Who is your favorite character and why?

[Katran]

I'm curious to know who everyone's favorite characters are and why they chose who they did.

For me it's a difficult choice. Lizbeth has that strange combination of beauty and monstrosity. Aaron is just plain fun to listen to (I really hated to get rid of him). Bethany has brains, ambition, and an incredible amount of power. And Ambrose is like our inner rage unleashed, not to mention HOT!

I think Jeremiah was the only one of the siblings I really didn't care for. Not that I didn't like him, but he seemed rather bland compared to the others (I know, I know, he was supposed to seem that way). Keisinger also didn't interest me as much, but I can't really explain why.

And Patrick is the hero, of course. Just plain likeable, not bad looking, and with a fun-to-listen to accent (at least, for this American). A guy who knows his stuff but manages to keep a wry sense of humor through it all.

So, who's my favorite? Hmmm....I'd have to say it's a toss-up between Lizbeth and Ambrose. I just found them to be the most interesting. Both have physical strength, power, and attractiveness that I'd love to have myself. Lizbeth gets to run around with the froggie-doggie howlers (who I actually found to be kinda cute, in a demonic sort of way), while Ambrose has that whole pirate-leader-type thing going on. I love pirates.

So, who's YOUR favorite?
_________________
You're more of a meal than a man. ~~Lizbeth

I am your friendly neighborhood Moderator--I will tear your heart out and eat it if you don't behave.

[burt]

Lizbeth is my favorite character. She has deep and strong temper, and I like her gloomy 'style'. At the same time she seemed to be the only kind person among all the family (I think it's because of her love to her mother, Evelyn!).

Aaron was a kind of dreamer, he was never interested in anything except his paintings and desires.

Bethany was too purposeful, seems that she never liked anyone.

Ambrose was trying to escape this family, his purpose of life was to change at least something. He became a pirates' leader, but never got rid of his family.

Jeremiah didn't deserve compassion nor sympathy, as he was officially too weak, and in fact too scared to act in a good or respectful way.

Kiesinger... Well, I can't say I understand him well. What I suppose is that Kiesinger is a kind of sincere and immersed man, despite his will to rule Oneiros, he did not lost poetry and some kind of romanticism of scientist and observer.

And finally, Patrick. Possibly a bit too straight, but certainly knows his stuff. If he'd a bit less trustfulness, his life could be better

I'd like to ask your opinion: how could be fate of all the characters moulded if there was no Undying King and they were not cursed?
_________________
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
Yet with strange aeons, even Death may die.
- H.P. Lovecraft

[Katran]

[the OTHER guy]

Personally, I find Kiesenger to be the most fascinating. (The second place would be our protaganist. ) While the others seemed to fall quickly into archetypes, Kiesenger still stood there, as mysterious as ever. Of all the major characters, he was the least explained. We never know his motives, nor the details in his longstanding relation with Patrick. Furthermore, we all know that he was to become the major villan in the (proposed) sequel.

I mean, the name Otto von Kiesenger is just plain cool.
_________________
Nyarlathotep
god of a thousand masks

[burt]

Hmm, it's quite interesting to compare different sights.

Otto Keisinger... By the way, what is the correct spelling of his surname? I found "Kiesinger" and "Keisinger" in game journal, "Keisinger" was 29 times, while "Kiesinger" only 1 time. It seems that developers didn't have any convention about it, as scripts contain both "Kiesinger" and "Keisinger" with the same frequency
Huh, closer to the topic: Keisinger (let me use this spelling) certainly plays one of the most important roles thru the game. It seems to me that he knows much more than anyone else about the King and other events.
Telling the truth, some time ago I've been thinking of how it could be taken from the completely different point. Here it is, briefly:

Keisinger was one of the mighty maguses, who formed a community with aim to protect Earth inhabitants from inventions from other dimensions. And the twist is: Covenants became owned by creatures from other dimension (let's call them 'Brainy Guys'). These Brainy Guys could break into our reality by capturing human's mind, and then they start to increase their presence in one's mind until they gain total control over the person. One of the bad things about these creatures is their ability to easily capture other human from the first one. It means that when Brainy Guy already has a control over one man, he can easily call other Guy to take his place while he himself capture other person. This is much easier than to break into our world from another dimension.
Now, please be indulgent to my imagination, as we're close to the beginning
For Covenants, it all started with Joseph, who with his addiction to mystical stuff was a nice way to start. He became infected by Brainy Guy during one of the meetings with other investigators. Then this BG thing had forced Joseph to manage children with the Spell Book. Children came to the Island, read the spells and invoked some more Brainy Guys in their heads... I know, I know, it all sounds a bit pessimistic and sad, but what if?..
Going further, Keisinger was send by the community of mighty magicians to check Covenants Estate, as that region seemed to have troubles. So Keisinger contacted Bethany and started to investigate the stuff.

I forgot to notice that mighty ones knew about Brainy Guys and extirpated them everywhere they could.

So, Keisinger is at the Estate, and Patrick, infected with BG by Jeremiah during the war (yep, yep, he-he-he), is coming there too to "help" Jeremiah.
Keisinger remembered Patrick as a 'clean' man, but they became enemies when Keisinger had to kill Patrick's wife as she was infected too (or by any other reason if this one is too stupid, huh).
Now Keisinger understands that Patrick is infected too, and he has to do nothing but to... right, get rid of all of the Covenants and of Patrick too.
He leads Patrick and forces him to kill all the Covenants, including the Undying King.
At the same time Patrick is going insane, as BG takes more and more control over his mind. Patrick is too strong, and fights against the BG, and this is the reason of sanity, which forces Patrick to kill maids instead of howlers time-to-time, etc. The Scythe of Celts makes Patrick even more crazy and sadistic, as it is a strong magical weapon dealing directly with soul.
Even more - why Patrick had to kill other Covenants? Could there be any other way (magical or occult rituals, for example) to get rid of them? Quite possible there was, but Patrick was, as I previously stated, insane...
By the way, the Undying King might be 1) some third side 2) someone from the Brainy Guys world 2) product of Patrick's imagination.

Now, Keisinger understands that Patrick's mind is not totally controlled by the BG, and he, as a good scientist, decides to study this phenomena, so he grabs Patrick near the Island (after the invisible fight of Patrick with his own mind in a form of Undying King). Later he will deliver Patrick to the community and they will carry out some experiments on Galloway.

Huh, you probably ask me about Oneiros and Keisinger's power...
Do you remember what a kind of person Keisinger was? Could he be called 'good man without unreachable ambitions'?
He was the member of mighty community, but it was not his only appliance. His hobby was gaining the knowledge, and the power too. So he felt free to invade in other worlds to find more power and knowledge, or at least more slaves, yeah

Well, thank you for your patience and indulgence, and please tell me: could this be one of the 'real' versions? Could this be the truth, and how close to that truth?

Katran, nice version of siblings life, I could only agree with you!
Aaron would have been better artist, or at least the same, I suppose. He was quite sensitive person, and our life brings enough stresses to choose, so he would always have enough material for perfect creations
Bethany could be a kind of basement for Covenants family, as with her steady temper she could provide reliable control over the family business.
Jeremiah could become a writer or possibly a historian. But most probably he would be dead from the cancer, as it should not be connected to the curse

Okay, don't want you to be tired of my everlasting talking, see you later!
_________________
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
Yet with strange aeons, even Death may die.
- H.P. Lovecraft

[the OTHER guy]

I myself had pondered over Kiesenger as a "good" guy. Perhaps his presence at the burial of the Celtic warrior was more than coincidence. He became one of the protectorates of mankind from the Undying King, as no man could withstand (or truely defeat) the King (at least, not yet).

Fast forward nearly three thousand years. Kiesenger discovers that Bethany (through her letter), and her siblings, were enwrapped within the curse. He accepts her offer (presumably to keep the King from awakening). There he discovers Oneiros, and then kills Bethany, perhaps in part to open the gateway. He quickly conquers this universe, and formulates a plan to kill the King and steal his power, something he could not have done without the power of Oneiros. Even then, he would need much more power.

Enter Kiesenger's old---friend---Patrick Galloway. He comes and manages to kill one of the Covenants, so Kiesenger (and Jeremiah, unaware of each other's dealings) manipulates Patrick into killing the other Covenants and maneuvers him into position for conveniently losing the Gel'ziabar stone, the last piece of the puzzle. Unfortunely, Patrick also foils Kiesenger's plans by killing him, a mere setback.

In that perspective Kiesenger was "good" because he wanted to rid the world of the Undying King, first by keeping him from returning to Earth, then by aiming to destroy him forever. However, Kiesenger was still a "bad" guy because he coveted the power of the King and stone, and he would of used both for his own nefarious plans.

***

The spelling of Kiesenger's name was probably finalized, but never corrected throughout. I myself wrote a (short) story where the protaganist's name was Arrinia or Arinnia. I finally settled on Arinnia for reasons of a more appropriate pronounciation of what I had originally chosen and ease of spelling (for others, of course, I had no trouble as I had invented the name). I never would have had her name consistent if it were not for copious use of Find and Replace.

[Katran]

[the OTHER guy]

[Katran]

Ack, I meant that for both you and Burt! Sorry. "Synopsis" should have been plural.

It's true that we never hear his name pronounced in the game. I was going off the journal entries, and most of them spell it with the 'ei'. Since 'Otto' and the spelling of 'Keisinger' are fairly typical for German names, I assumed it was German and hence went with the German pronunciation rule. I could certainly be totally wrong. After all, the game designers may not know the rule.
_________________
You're more of a meal than a man. ~~Lizbeth

I am your friendly neighborhood Moderator--I will tear your heart out and eat it if you don't behave.

[the OTHER guy]

I figured you meant the both of us, but it wasn't clear from your post.

I was assuming a German pronounciation too, but I assumed the opposite pronounciation. (Not to mention I don't really know German.)

I could have sworn one of the maids said Otto's name.
_________________
Nyarlathotep
god of a thousand masks

[Katran]

Oh, you're right! The chunky one in the kitchen said (in speaking about one of the other maids), "I believe she's cleaning Herr Keisinger's room...." And she pronounced it with the "eye" sound.

I am not fluent in German, but I took three years of it and one thing I do remember for certain is that 'ei' is almost always pronounced like "eye" and 'ie' is almost always pronounced like "ee".
_________________
You're more of a meal than a man. ~~Lizbeth

I am your friendly neighborhood Moderator--I will tear your heart out and eat it if you don't behave.

[the OTHER guy]

So are you telling me I've been misspelling Keisinger all this time?!?!?!?




Actually, I probably have been.
_________________
Nyarlathotep
god of a thousand masks

[Katran]

As far as I know, all the journal entries but one have it spelled as "Keisinger".
_________________
You're more of a meal than a man. ~~Lizbeth

I am your friendly neighborhood Moderator--I will tear your heart out and eat it if you don't behave.

[the OTHER guy]

I stand corrected.



And with red-hot cheeks, I might add.
_________________
Nyarlathotep
god of a thousand masks

[Katran]

LOL, don't be embarrassed! I've done that so many times. Usually it involves books that I've read that later become movies. I mispronounced most of the names in the LOTR books, and quite a few in the Harry Potter books, just to give some examples.



On a side note: Yay! We're finally Butlers!
_________________
You're more of a meal than a man. ~~Lizbeth

I am your friendly neighborhood Moderator--I will tear your heart out and eat it if you don't behave.