BardCollegeQuill
New Member
So I've been working on a fic where my OC is a Companion, but I realized most fanfic just... skips past the actual job. Like, they join, do a couple radiant jobs offscreen, then suddenly they're a werewolf and the story pivots to Hircine stuff.
But what if your character just doesn't want the beast blood? Or what if they join for the steady work and the shield-brothers angle, not because they're chasing some grand destiny? I'm trying to write actual contract work - the boring stuff, the repetitive stuff - without it feeling like filler.
The weird part is how much the Companions questline assumes you want to be a werewolf. Like, the game barely gives you an out. So in fic, how do you handle a character who's genuinely committed to the faction but actively resists that path? Do they get sidelined by the other members? Does Kodlak respect them less? I'm trying to make it feel earned, not like they're just being stubborn for plot reasons.
Also curious if anyone's written a character who actually cares about the Companions' reputation being trash. Like, they join specifically to try and fix it, or they're frustrated that nobody in Whiterun takes them seriously. That angle feels way more interesting to me than "I want to be a legendary warrior."
What's your take - does a Companion OC need the werewolf stuff to feel like they belong, or can you make it work without it?
But what if your character just doesn't want the beast blood? Or what if they join for the steady work and the shield-brothers angle, not because they're chasing some grand destiny? I'm trying to write actual contract work - the boring stuff, the repetitive stuff - without it feeling like filler.
The weird part is how much the Companions questline assumes you want to be a werewolf. Like, the game barely gives you an out. So in fic, how do you handle a character who's genuinely committed to the faction but actively resists that path? Do they get sidelined by the other members? Does Kodlak respect them less? I'm trying to make it feel earned, not like they're just being stubborn for plot reasons.
Also curious if anyone's written a character who actually cares about the Companions' reputation being trash. Like, they join specifically to try and fix it, or they're frustrated that nobody in Whiterun takes them seriously. That angle feels way more interesting to me than "I want to be a legendary warrior."
What's your take - does a Companion OC need the werewolf stuff to feel like they belong, or can you make it work without it?