Speaking of my backstory, lots of people have asked me lately how this whole turning Pirate fits in with the Soldiery ways that RJ has always adhered to. And to be honest that is a very good question that I have given a lot of thought to over the last couple of months.
The answer is in two parts. The first is the in-game character answer and the second is the out-of-game player answer. Let's start with that one and thru it we will come closer to answering the first one.
For much of my playing career in Eve my character has been drifting along on the Providence stream. One small decision to almost randomly choose a Corporation way back at the very beginning, set Rixx on a course that would dominate his first two years. Which has been well documented in previous posts.
The thing about those two years was that his destiny was mainly in the hands of others. And frankly, more often than not, those others sucked. Their decisions about where we would go, who we'd align ourselves with, and what we'd do once we got there, didn't exactly work out very well. Now granted, the first two years are difficult times, taking a character from Noob to semi-veteran is tough. And I don't regret most of what happened in that time, I'm just pointing out the obvious.
The point is, I've tried the Soldier's way. And it was fine for awhile, but in the final analysis it wasn't much fun. As a player my play style has changed as Rixx has gotten older. If I was in a typical Sov holding corporation as a player right now, I wouldn't be able to participate like I used to. Things have changed. As a player they started changing about a year ago honestly, and it has taken me a long time to figure that out. But it can't be ignored.
So either my play style needed to change, or I needed to stop playing Eve.
As for RJ, heck that's easy. There are more than enough bitter pills swallowed over the years to base his turn-around on, the fall of Providence, the betrayal of CVA, the wars in Paxton, the list is long and storied. Directing Rixx towards the life of a Pirate has been easy. He is pissed. He is bitter. But more than anything he is determined.
Put the player and the character together and you have a combination that cannot be defeated. Because we simply won't stop. And in the end, in Eve, that's the one thing that really matters.
So, new portrait.