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The Subject of Sonas: Isis, art Raina, Distant, and Nymphie
6 years ago
As this might get a little long-winded...
TL;DR: After a great deal of thought, I've decided to reevaluate my sonas and characters. In so doing, I've decided to re-categorize Nymphie as a character rather than a sona. I no longer see her as a direct reflection of me, Raina, the real world person, but as her own character with her own history, story, and world to inhabit. Art Raina will, naturally, continue on as my art persona, Isis will continue as my sole fursona (a role she has shared with Nymphie for nearly a year), and for the purposes where it would be relevant, Distant will continue to serve as my sole ponysona. If something is meant to reflect -me- as a real world person, those would be the appropriate sonas to use.
Okay, so the long of it. This may be a bit stream of consciousness so I don't know how much sense it will make. Apologies in advance.
This is sommat that I've been thinking about for a long time. When Nymphie was first created, she pretty easily split the difference between having her own character narrative and being a reflection of me as a person. And for a long time, I found that balance easy enough to maintain. Her character and narrative wasn't so defined that I couldn't see myself in her. In fact, the skew between Nymphie-the-character and Nymphie-the-Raina-surrogate went far more in the direction of the latter than the former.
Over the last year or two, as
MedicatedCannibal and I have grown our stables and expanded on the world and narrative in which Nymphie resides, inviting a small handful of others like 
blueeagle55 to help flesh out that narrative and expand it even further, I've found myself connecting with her less and less as a reflection of myself. The more we defined her story, the more she has grown and evolved into something more than me; into a character, with her own feelings, thoughts, agendas, motivations, past, future, and experiences. Through the wonderful storytelling and world-building we've done, Nymphie now has such a rich backstory, full of friends, loves, relationships, and experiences... A whole reality that is as separate from my own as can be. And that's not a bad thing!
But it has has unquestionably changed the way that I internally see and interact with Nymphie. There is a schism there that wasn't before.
And I want to be really clear here; this isn't me retiring Nymphie. I still love Nymphie to bits, and I will continue to get art with her. She's not being put in a bin. It's just that art I get of her will be from here on out solely reflective of her as a character and not myself as a person.
Any and all art reflective of me, Raina, will be done through my persona (art Raina), my fursona (Isis), or my pony sona (Distant) as appropriate for the art: all three of them are simply me. They have no character, my history, no stories other than my own. Art Raina is just a much cuter, prettier version of myself, Isis is just myself but furry and fluffy, and Distant is just myself but My Little Pony shaped.
I'm sorry if this felt a bit waffling and pointless. I just felt it was finally time to acknowledge that the way I personally view and interact with Nymphie has evolved pretty drastically over the last year or so. That when I see art of Nymphie now, I no longer see think -- oh, that's a lovely drawing of me. I think, oh that's a lovely drawing of her/Nymphie. And a big part of the draw of a sona I feel is being able to feel how they represent you and to escape in them, while still having that intimate sense of self.
Thank you all who managed to get read this far!
I hope that made even the slightest bit of sense and you all deserve a biscuit and a cuppa!
TL;DR: After a great deal of thought, I've decided to reevaluate my sonas and characters. In so doing, I've decided to re-categorize Nymphie as a character rather than a sona. I no longer see her as a direct reflection of me, Raina, the real world person, but as her own character with her own history, story, and world to inhabit. Art Raina will, naturally, continue on as my art persona, Isis will continue as my sole fursona (a role she has shared with Nymphie for nearly a year), and for the purposes where it would be relevant, Distant will continue to serve as my sole ponysona. If something is meant to reflect -me- as a real world person, those would be the appropriate sonas to use.
Okay, so the long of it. This may be a bit stream of consciousness so I don't know how much sense it will make. Apologies in advance.
This is sommat that I've been thinking about for a long time. When Nymphie was first created, she pretty easily split the difference between having her own character narrative and being a reflection of me as a person. And for a long time, I found that balance easy enough to maintain. Her character and narrative wasn't so defined that I couldn't see myself in her. In fact, the skew between Nymphie-the-character and Nymphie-the-Raina-surrogate went far more in the direction of the latter than the former.
Over the last year or two, as
MedicatedCannibal and I have grown our stables and expanded on the world and narrative in which Nymphie resides, inviting a small handful of others like 
blueeagle55 to help flesh out that narrative and expand it even further, I've found myself connecting with her less and less as a reflection of myself. The more we defined her story, the more she has grown and evolved into something more than me; into a character, with her own feelings, thoughts, agendas, motivations, past, future, and experiences. Through the wonderful storytelling and world-building we've done, Nymphie now has such a rich backstory, full of friends, loves, relationships, and experiences... A whole reality that is as separate from my own as can be. And that's not a bad thing!But it has has unquestionably changed the way that I internally see and interact with Nymphie. There is a schism there that wasn't before.
And I want to be really clear here; this isn't me retiring Nymphie. I still love Nymphie to bits, and I will continue to get art with her. She's not being put in a bin. It's just that art I get of her will be from here on out solely reflective of her as a character and not myself as a person.
Any and all art reflective of me, Raina, will be done through my persona (art Raina), my fursona (Isis), or my pony sona (Distant) as appropriate for the art: all three of them are simply me. They have no character, my history, no stories other than my own. Art Raina is just a much cuter, prettier version of myself, Isis is just myself but furry and fluffy, and Distant is just myself but My Little Pony shaped.
I'm sorry if this felt a bit waffling and pointless. I just felt it was finally time to acknowledge that the way I personally view and interact with Nymphie has evolved pretty drastically over the last year or so. That when I see art of Nymphie now, I no longer see think -- oh, that's a lovely drawing of me. I think, oh that's a lovely drawing of her/Nymphie. And a big part of the draw of a sona I feel is being able to feel how they represent you and to escape in them, while still having that intimate sense of self.
Thank you all who managed to get read this far!
I hope that made even the slightest bit of sense and you all deserve a biscuit and a cuppa!
