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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 2125422" data-attributes="member: 7006">Festy_Dog... Carl Archer.  Very interesting character (both on the boards and in the email).  And I liked how you tied a number of your specialties into your history, but most importantly how you selected an overall goal for the character.  That helps us, because it gives us an endpoint to move the character towards.  However, I do question a number of the choices you made for the character to reach the goal... because it seems somewhat circuitous in many cases.  So I'd like to streamline the character a bit if I could... and gear everything Carl did towards the achieving of his goal (and how his hubris affected that).  I'll try to be discreet and not reveal too much from the email.  At least nothing of the major specifics.You said that Carl's ultimate goal was to become one of the greatest spies ever.  That is a an awesome desire to strive for, and it certainly should/will impact how the character lives and interacts with people.  With this desire however, this does change his main hubris though I think.  I would say his primary hubris should/would be Ambitious, and not Vain.  If he was Vain, I would expect his history would all be about how he was completely average growing up but he had an overwhelming desire to be more than what he was... probably first when it came to his looks, then to his stature in the community/world.  The only thing you touched on that had to do with his vanity was that he always made a point to look good (with clothing and such).  But in your case... you wrote that Carl's entire life was to achieve success in his chosen field - espionage.  Everything he did was to prepare himself for that eventuality.  That strikes to me of being Ambitious to a fault.  He wants/needs/HAS to be the best... and will do whatever it takes to get there.That being said... I really like your choice of Carl getting his degree right out of high school.  That seems like a very intelligent way for Carl to make his first steps towards his goal.  However, what you had next on his history did not strike a chord with me for some reason... you had him go into military service... and not even with his home nation.  This struck me as odd, especially with his going into the Airborne over anything else.  I would question why a person who has just spent six years getting a scientific degree would not go directly into his chosen field?  If he was truly as amibitious as you made him out to be, why did he not try and get work with ASIS straight away?  Or at the very least... if he did go into military service... why did he not select a part of the service where his degreee would actually MEAN something?  The way you wrote it... it seemed like his time in the service was just a way to get the firearms and special ops specialties... and not because they were the next logical steps to becoming a spy.  So I'd ask that you take another look at the history, and plot it out such that EVERY choice he makes is putting him on the fast-track to his ultimate desire... to become a spy, and eventually the greatest there ever was.  I think you'll find that you'll want to change a number of your choices because they end up delaying him on his path, rather than helping him.After all... there are numerous CIA agents out there in the field that went to college in the Washington DC area straight out of high school... got their degrees and probably interned at CIA headquarters... got jobs there upon graduation... and eventually moved into becoming field agents bright and early in their lives... all without ever serving in the military at all.  If Carl truly wanted to work for ASIS his entire life... THAT seems like the kind of path he would follow to reach his goal... without going off in different directions beforehand.  Now you can still absolutely keep the specialties of Psychology and Interrogation (as they fit in with your history to a T), and most of the history you had about China still works wonderfully... but I would perhaps re-think your specialties of Pistols and Special Ops (which is too broad a category to be a specialty anyway).  As far as Disguise is concerned... if you re-work your history such that the years you spent in the FFL instead became years spent working for ASIS in the relevant department (perhaps in Counter-Intelligence) taking Disguise would fit in better.  Your work as a mole in other governments would lend itself to a number of other specialties that would fill Carl out... like perhaps Voice Mimickry, World Politics, Oration, or Sincerity (to lie with perfection so as to avoid being detected, even with equipment).So go over some ofthese ideas... figure out what makes the most sense to get Carl to reach his goals with the most chance of success... and some of the remaining specialities will come out of that I think.  Thanx!!!</blockquote>

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