Character Profile:
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 11"
Build: Average / Athletic
Age: 24(?)
Hair: Browish Black; mid-length (for a guy), parted down the middle
Eyes: Brown
Right Handed
Weapon: None(?)
Clothing: Prefers blue jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers, and light jean jacket. He also wears a silver chain with a pendant around his neck.
Background: Josiah is a famous author who published his first book while still in his mid-teens. He's a bit of a dreamer and loves stories. He novels are known for their memorable characters and shocking plot twists. However, he suddenly and mysteriously canceled the release of his previous novel shortly before it was scheduled to be sent to the editor. He declined to comment on his reasons and has been rather withdrawn ever since. While he has started on a new story, he's having difficulty with it and the writing is going very slowly.

Designer's Comments (5/8/2009):
Ink is the story of a writer who is pulled into the world of his unfinished novel, so naturally the main character has to be an author. I'm not entirely sure why I chose to base that author directly off of myself. I'm not usually one for inserting myself into my stories (in fact, it's quite rare) but the whole young real world author character does fit who I really am and since I'm the one writing Ink in the "magic book" (which will be covered more in depth in a later section), it's kind of logical, or perhaps ironic, to cast myself as the lead.
However, it should be noted that the Josiah in Ink is not actually me, he's just based on me. For one thing, I'm (unfortunately) not a famous author yet (getting a novel published isn't easy). Someday, I hope, but not right now. Also, if was faced with the same situations as the Ink Josiah, I think that I'd react differently to some of them. Not all, of course, since his personality is still based on mine, but I need to tweak it a bit to better fit the story I have planned. To point out one important difference, unlike the Ink Josiah, I don't think I would have canceled the release of a book. Of course, in order to explain why, I'd have to tell you what brought him to make that decision in the first place; but that would be giving away an important part of the plot so I'm gonna keep it a secret for a bit longer.
As for his appearance, that's pretty much the same as the real me. I'm not entirely certain about the age yet though. For the purposes of the story, I'd kind of like to have Ink Josiah be a bit younger (maybe 21 or 22). However, if I make him too young it may not fit too well with his back story. Becoming a famous author, canceling a mostly finished book, and starting on a new one all take a good amount of time. 24 seems to be a decent compromise, though I may change it later. I'm also not sure about his lack of a weapon. I'll go more in-depth when discussing the specifics of the game play, but I haven't yet decided if I want Josiah to actually fight or not. On the one hand, in the real world I've got a second degree black belt in Shorin Ryu Karate and some sword training, plus people generally expect the main character to be at least a passable fighter. On the other hand, Ink Josiah's greatest power is manipulating the world through his writing. If I allow him to fight just like the other party members, it may dilute his roll a bit. For now, I'm leaning towards him not do any direct fighting but I may change my mind later on.

Character Profile:
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 8"
Build: Athletic
Age: 19
Hair: Dirty Blonde; goes a few inches past her shoulders, cut somewhat raggedly
Eyes: Brown
Ambidextrous
Weapon: Hand-and-a-Half (Bastard) Sword
Clothing: Dresses like a man in a tunic and trousers. Wears dull colored peasant clothing so as not to attract attention.
Background: Jessica, or Jessie as she prefers to be called, is the heroine of Josiah's unfinished novel. She and her twin brother, Ralin, are on the run from an army for unknown reasons. Life on the run has made her tough, but she has a tendency to let her emotions get the better of her and isn't very trusting of others. Her brother is the main exception, and the two of them are completely dedicated to protecting each other. Despite her tough exterior, she has a hidden love for stories of adventure and far off places.

Designer's Comments (5/13/2009):
I came up with Jessie and Ralin very early on, at least in a general sense. As soon as I decided that the story would involve an author being transported into the world of one of his books, and that it would be a medieval fantasy world, I began thinking about who the main characters would be. My first thought was that there would be a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, and that they'd be on the run from a king/emperor/warlord/whatever and his army. I don't know why I made that decision, that's just how it goes when I come up with an idea for a new story, there's always a few aspects that I just know right from the beginning. And this story was about a pair of twins on the run. Though I still didn't know exactly who those twins were or who was leading the pursuing army and why. In fact, I still haven't figured all of that out yet. Some of it, but certainly not all. Though it'll come with a bit more time and thought. Unlike some authors, I don't plan out every little detail right from the start. In fact, there's some things that I really don't figure out until I'm actually writing that section. I usually have at least all the key plot points worked out before I start seriously writing, but I typically spend quite a lot of time running through things in my head before I get to that point.
But back to Jessie. With the twins on the run concept established, I moved on to other things. After deciding that the author would be a version of myself, I knew that the girl would have to be named Jessie. See, there was a character named Jessie in Final Fantasy VII (a member of Avalanche). At the time, I had never seen it used as a girl's name before and really liked it. So much so that I named a character in one of my earliest novels Jessie. I've long since decided that said novel isn't good enough to publish, and that the basic idea isn't really good enough to bother rewriting either, but after that I started using the name Jessie for some unamed game characters. My first Jessie was a Geomancer/Chemist in Final Fantasy Tactics. She ended up being extremely useful and I got rather attached to her so I used the name for generic female characters I made in other games as well (including FF Crystal Chronicles, Tactics Ogre, Disgaea, and Guild Wars). I guess you could say that I kinda see Jessie as my imaginary ideal girl, or something like that, even though the exact details of her appearance and personality vary a bit with each incarnation. So, if I was going to be the main character, it made sense to have her as the heroine.
This Jessie's full name and personality were decided on a bit later. There's nothing special about her last name, I just thought it sounded good (which is how I come up with most of my character names, actually). Her personality is partially based off of my "ideal" Jessie, though changed a bit to better fit the specifics of the story. I'll save the details on her backstory for a later entry.

Character Profile:
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 10"
Build: Average
Age: 19
Hair: Light Brown; mid-length, neat
Eyes: Brown
Right Handed
Weapon: Spear
Clothing: A tunic and trousers. Wears dull colored peasant clothing so as not to attract attention.
Background: Ralin is the hero of Josiah's unfinished novel. He and his twin sister, Jessie, are on the run from an army for unknown reasons. Life on the run has made him tough, but he's generally calmer and more rational than Jessie. The two of them are completely dedicated to protecting each other. Ralin sees himself as the more responsible of the pair and does his best to rein in his sister when necessary.

Designer's Comments (5/18/2009):
Like I already mentioned in Jessie's comments, I decided on the twins on the run theme for Josiah's novel early on. I always knew that the twins would be a boy and a girl, but Ralin's name and personality didn't come until after I'd already worked out Jessie's details. Unlike Jessie, there's no significance to his name. Like I said before, the vast majority of my character names fall in the "I thought it sounded cool" category. Not that I don't use symbolic names from time to time, just not all that often. Ralin's personality was mostly based around my desire to create a foil of sorts for Jessie and her more impulsive behavior. As such, he isn't too developed as a character yet. A foil to Jessie is all well and good, but that's hardly enough to sum up a person's personality. I'll be working to flesh him out and make him into a more interesting character as the project continues.
Quick note. Although Ralin and Jessie are twins, twins of differenet genders can't be identical (there's a scientific reason for that, but I can't remember the details), which is why they have different heights and hair colors.

Character Profile:
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 1"
Build: Muscular
Age: 21
Hair: Sandy Red; a little sandy and unkempt
Eyes: Green
Right Handed
Weapon: Chain Flail
Clothing: A tunic and trousers, tight and functional. Wears a weapon belt with a pair of knives.
Background: Xavier is a young mercenary / bounty hunter who makes his living guarding caravans and hunting criminals. He genuinely enjoys fighting, but tends to take things with a light hearted air. He tends to avoid killing his opponents when possible and captures them alive instead, though whether he does so out of kindness or for the generally higher bounty is anybody's guess. Xavier was originally written as one of the main characters in Josiah's unfinished novel. In the original story, he teamed up with the twins and became Jessie's love interest. Josiah's presence, however, changes things and leads him down a different path...

Designer's Comments (10/9/2009):
Xavier was the first major character I planned after Josiah, the twins, and the main villains (who I'll be discussing another time). Josiah (the one in the game, not me) created Xavier as a more experienced fighter who would end up joining Jessie and Ralin. His experience (not a lot, but more than the twins have) and carefree attitude would be a big help on their journey and he'd eventually become Jessie's love interest. At least that's the way things were supposed to turn out... Though Josiah tries his best not to interfere with the story (at least at first), his presence changes a lot of things. Some are barely noticeable while others take the story in entirely different directions. Xavier is one of the people affected the most by Josiah's presence and his role changes considerably as a result. I'll save the specific details for the script.

Designer's Comments (6/18/2010):
Talina is a character I've been thinking about for quite a while but I only finalized her name and backstory recently. The things I always knew was that she was a young girl with an important power who had grown up serving a noble family. As a very unemotional character, she'll make a good foil for the other more hot blooded members of Josiah's group. While her lack of training and weak build make her unsuitable for close combat, she excels in magic, having been trained from a young age as part of her duties as an aide. As with many of the important characters in Ink, Josiah's presence causes her place in the story to shift away from what he originally intended, though in a much different way than Xavier. But I don't want to give too much away here...

Character Profile:
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Build: Fit but haggard
Age: 43
Hair: Dirty blond with streaks of gray; medium length, rather untidy
Eyes: Dark Green
Right Handed
Weapon: Knife
Clothing: Peasants clothes, on the nice side but very old and worn. He also wears a ragged cloak.
Background: A doctor who never wanted anything more than to help others. He worked hard and started his own practice in the city where he grew up. One day, his best friend was horribly injured in a fire. Jackson did his best to save him but he knew that there was little he could do. Just as he was about to give into despair, he felt a strange power growing inside him. He used this power to save his friend and many others who seemed to be beyond hope. He never told anyone the reason for his miraculous skills and, for a while, all was well. But then strange people began to visit his clinic and press him for information about his powers. At first, he pretended not to know what they were talking about and sent them away. A week later a group of soldiers broke down his door with orders for his arrest. Scared and confused, Jackson tried to escape. It was then he discovered that his powers could be used not only to heal, but to kill. In a way, that terrified him even more than the soldiers. On the run from the soldiers and scared of his powers, Jackson began his life as a fugitive. After years alone and on the run, he encounters a strange group of travelers...

Designer's Comments (5/27/2011):
Jackson is a character I only recently created. I wanted a character who was older and more experienced than the the other members of the group. I started with that basic goal, came up with a moment of power I liked, and then went from there.
Josiah's original intention was for Jackson to act as something of a mentor to the rest of the group. As with everyone else though, Josiah's presence changes things. He doesn't believe he can learn anything from a character he created yet Jackson does have things to teach him, and things to learn from him as well. Their relationship is a strange one that changes many times throughout the course of the game.

Character Profile:
Gender: Female
Height: 5'10"
Build: Willowy, tanned
Age: 20
Hair: Red; Very long
Eyes: Dark Green
Right Handed
Weapon: Chakram
Clothing: A wispy colorful dress, suitable for a dancer.
Background: Razelle was found in a forest by a group of traveling performers when she was six years old. Although she had vague memories of her parents, she couldn't remember where they were from or why she was on her own. She was raised by the members of the troupe, eventually becoming a skilled dancer and acrobat. Traveling from place to place and putting on shows, while not without its hardships, is a life she truly enjoys. Razelle tends to display a very carefree personality, but she's actually a very smart girl and puts a lot of thought into any important decisions she has to make. Yet there's one secret she never shared with anyone, not even those who raised her. A strange power that she keeps hidden. When she discovers other with the similar powers, she feels drawn to them in a strange way...

Designer's Comments (10/3/2011):
Razelle was sort of a spur of the moment creation. I thought it would be better if Jessie wasn't the only character in the story with a romantic interest and it would be interesting to see how she reacted to a girl her own age, especially one with a very different personality.
Razelle can be very good as dissipating tension between the members of the group, or causing it to flare up. While she and Ralin quickly hit it off, much to Jessie's annoyance, she soon forms a strong friendship with Josiah as well. More than anyone else, she's able to look past his status as the creator of their world and see him instead for the person that he is.

Character Profile:
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 3"
Build: Athletic
Age: 36
Hair: Black; short, perfectly combed
Eyes: Green
Right Handed
Weapon: Sword
Clothing: Wears fancy expensive clothes befitting a lord. Always impeccably dressed
Background: Alzen became head of the Lesheer family at the age of 16 after his father and eldest brother died of illness. Under his direction, the Lesheer family's wealth and influence rose rapidly. After years of services to the crown, Alzen became the king's most trusted advisor. It's rumored that he is the one who truly rules the kingdom behind the scenes. He's smart, cunning, and an expert at winning the trust of those around him. He is also one of the kingdom's foremost experts on moments of power, though he keeps the results of his research closely guarded.

Designer's Comments (7/1/2011):
Alzen Lesheer is everything a main villain should be. Powerful, smart, ruthless... He's also a bit on the generic side, at least on the surface. I created him specifically to fill the role the story's main villain needed to play. He needs armies to pursue Jessie and Ralin and that requires money and power. He needs to know a lot about moment of power. And, of course, he needs to be evil and relentless. Most importantly, he needs to play a certain role in Josiah's story. The details of that role, however, are a bit vague.
As I explained in other areas, Josiah has been having a lot of trouble writing this story. He's been struggling with writer's block and many elements of the plot are a bit more generic than he'd like. Alzen is one of them. While he makes a decent villain as is, Josiah always intended for there to be more to him. A shocking backstory, a terrible secret... Something to surprise readers and make him stand out as a truly great villain. The problem is, Josiah never was able to figure out exactly what that crucial element was. When he was pulled into the world of Ink, Alzen Lesheer's character remained annoying incomplete. And, like so many other characters, Josiah's appearance in the world affects his ultimate role and fate in unexpected ways...

Lord Alzen Lesheer's Moment of Power
Lord Lesheer's moment of power is Window to the Mind. It allows him to look into the minds of others and learn the deepest fears and desires, along with their darkest secrets. He uses the things he learns to manipulate others for his own ends. He has become so skilled in this that others don't even realize they're being manipulated.

Designer's Comments (7/8/2011):
I always intended Alzen to be a skilled manipulator. His moment of power, combined with his intelligence, had to be the key to his success. The question was what type of moment of power would best suit him. For a while, I considered giving him a geass like ability so he could directly control others' minds. But, in the end, I decided that was a bit too easy. Anyone can control others with a power like that. But it takes a truly clever person to skillfully manipulate others with only a bit of extra knowledge.
While you might be thinking that his moment of power is similar to Talina's, they actually differ quite a bit. Talina's power gives her a quick overview of those around her (their general power, skills, and personality) but doesn't let her actually read anyone's thoughts or memories. Alzen's, on the other hand, gives him access to the target's mind. With enough time and effort he can delve fairly deeply into their thoughts and memories but a quick scan is enough for him to see the strongest presences in their mind (generally their greatest hopes and fears, most important secrets, and current feelings).
So how does this work in battle? I have some ideas but I'm not going into that right now. Alzen obviously isn't going to join up with Josiah and the others so he's not playable. He might end up being a boss, but when it comes down to it, he really isn't a fighter. He's the kind of guy who would manipulate others to fight for him rather than doing so himself. So he may not ever have a reason to use his powers in battle.

Character Profile:
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 1"
Build: Average
Age: 26
Hair: Blonde; fashionably styled
Eyes: Green
Right Handed
Weapon: None
Clothing: Dark slacks and a button down shirt (not tucked in). Goes for a very stylish look..
Background: Deke is a young author from the real world. Highly ambitious, he was determined to make it into the big leagues. He met Josiah and a writers conference. The two spent quite a long time talking. They seemed to be becoming fast friends and Josiah shared some details of the novel he was currently working on. Deke took the key elements of Josiah's novel and wrote his version, working hard to ensure that his novel would be finished before Josiah's. The result was a runaway success, gaining Deke the fame and success he desired. Millions of fans are eagerly awaiting his next book, but Deke has been strangely silent on the subject...

Designer's Comments (11/16/2009):
Deke is the one who stole Josiah's story, leading to his current predicament. He's a skilled writer in his own right, especially in regards to the speed of his writing However, he lacks Josiah's creativity and knack for creating masterful plot twists. Extremely ambitious, he's as much of a suave con man as he is a writer. Deke plays a far greater role in Ink than just the cause of Josiah's current slump, but that'll be covered elsewhere...