Evolution of Nany Katman

chaz · June 2018

Aloha and Good day everyone.

So, my character is a very old one. A long time ago when I was writing novels and comics I happen to have had this dream. Now you know how they say "You can't read in a dream"? Right? Well I was dreaming about being home and looking at this photograph that looked just like the one I had hanging on my wall, I had it in my hands and turned it around and there was a name on the back of it. It read "Nany Katman"

When I woke, oddly I remembered that dream, and looked at my photograph that I had for real and turned it around, and ..... no. No name of course. It was only a dream but it felt so real and the name stuck with me. Later, oh I say about a year I created a novel and sketch piece for a comic and created a new character. I named her Nany Katman. I was tinkering and hit a dry spot and 6 months later I find myself buying morrowind. Which was new at the time, so I created a new "female character" on what I thought my novel character would look like. Then Some time after Oblivion came out and it became my favorite.

{{{FOR LORD DAGON!!!}}}

Hahaha, then of course Skyrim. Both these two new games and it's graphics were updated and I kind of evolved my character in what I thought she looked like. Then of course here we are today with Elderscrolls online. And I had to just make her again.

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Bethesda and Zenimax provided me, unwittingly to them, a beautiful tool in order for me to bring to life a character I dreamed up in my head. Today , I know it's fantasy but I ran with it. It's kind of a role play thing now, for me it's very real. That I'm able to give a dream the breath of life. To see her walk and run in an open world. I have so many new ideas where I like to take this fictional character and expand on my comics and really give Nany Katman her own Series of adventures.

I would like to gradually meet other fellow novelists and comic makers for opinions on where I should lead her, but the sky is the limit. Hmm, or is it. In anycase, I wished to thank Bethesda and ZoS for giving me a chance to bring something to life that had a deep impact on my life. I'm no artist, in fact even my stick figures need work, but having a character building engine like these games really helped me bring a plausible image as to what I believe my character would look like had she been real, or had I'd been a better artist to draw and paint her to life.

I also thank you Zos and bethesda for giving me the opportunity to show others and share with people something I've dreamed up in my head probably about 18 years ago. I think, no pretty sure it was 2000 to 2001 where I started to dream up what the person to the name I dreamed up would look like. So, as of right now, I think it's safe to say my character is almost 2 decades old now.

And there you have it, this story is only one of the birth of how my character came to be.

Tank you, for letting me share her with you.

~Charles D
(Chaz)
Nany Katman.

Trabunt · June 2018

Very neat! I have a similar situation with one of my many ESO characters, a particularly dash fellow named Darren Crane. I've made and remade Darren in several games, including but not limited to:

Fire Emblem: Awakening
Skyrim
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Monster Hunter World
Bloodborne
Dungeons & Dragons

Despite these vastly different games, I like to make Darren have the same traits in each iteration to keep a sense of identity with him. He always has very dark grey hair (basically black hair, but just bright enough to be considered grey), brown/hazel eyes, an affinity for electricity, very fancy facial hair, and a very poorly planned out character build (this mostly stems from Darren being my very first character in each of these games, so I have no idea what I'm doing).

Much like yourself, I am no artist, so any time I'm presented a game that allows me to create my own character from scratch, I am all over that. I find it funny how, despite the many different possibilities each of these character creation engines can provide, I always end up creating the same person.

I'm an aspiring writer, and I plan on writing a novel someday with a much younger Darren Crane as the protagonist. He won't have the mustache, but he'll have everything else there. ...Well, I guess you can't really have a character build in a story, so that won't be there either.

I consider Darren, as well as the rest of my characters, an extension of myself, and I'm thankful for having the opportunity to bring these characters to life, albeit in other people's worlds.

Ghanima_Atreides · June 2018

You can definitely see the evolution, it's wonderful how newer games with better graphics have allowed to bring our characters to life more and more.

I also have some I've played in multiple games and even multiple settings.

chaz · June 2018

Nice, sounds like a strong character you have and kudos to you in trying to explore whom he may be by expanding the idea of him across several games.

I haven't done that probably because I feel deep down this person I dreamed up is unique and holds some kind of place in reality, I mean I know it's all from my mind and I don't feel crazy but I feel I share a bond with this fictional lady that I was inspired to bring into a real world.

Sounds odd yeah, sounds like male fantasy as well but to me it's not like that. It's more like dejavu. The feeling of something familiar. Who knows, maybe as a child I met someone like my Nany Katman and it's manifesting now from my subconscience.

What ever the case may be, I like chatting with others that have their own similar experience bringing the idea of another person or persona to life as we share the same sense of creativity and imagination and inspiration. What ever the reasons may be that others like us put a lot of emotion into a fictional person, it makes the story behind it fascinating to hear.

Yes, I wish I was a better artist. The closest I came to drawing and sketching a real woman was of my old girlfriend. It was really good and sketched by pencil perfectly. I wish I still had it, but my ex took it. She said it was like me keeping a photo of her. In any case, it seems that it's just coincidence that I'm able to use elder scrolls to bring my character to life.

Thank you for sharing your story about Darren, that is also my young nephews name. Good choice.