By Care
ReVolutionary Theory is the magazine that’s all about you – whether you’re a chatter, a player, or even a character! For this issue, Care digs into the den of Miriam Jekyl.
This quarter we are taking a look at the Supernatural side of things. I was able to sit down with Kuro, the typist and creator of Miriam Jekyl, who is a rather old wererat. If you don’t know the world of Laurell K. Hamilton or free forming it, then you are missing out, as LKH is one of the best Supernatural worlds out there. This character is played within the room THE CONDEMNED. I sat down with Kuro first, learned a little about the typist and finally sat down with the character herself, which I have to say was a rather interesting interview.
So let’s start off with something simple – how long have you been roleplaying?
Kuro: In total, it’s been a little over 15 years, but chat based has been roughly 13,
How long have you been role-playing the character?
Kuro: On and off for about 5 years.
Tell us a little bit about your inspiration when you were creating Miriam Jekyl?
Kuro: The original reason was that I needed a leader character that fit for London around the late 1800s. I always enjoyed the Rats in the books (and I’m a rat in the Chinese Zodiac), so it seemed a logical choice. From there it was just drawing on the movies/books that dealt with the era.
As the author of Miriam Jekyl, has there ever been a moment where the character surprised you so much that you went “What the fuck”?
Kuro: Not to that point, although it’s gotten close. She’s meant to be a no-nonsense defender of her Rodere, but there’s been a time where writing her ended up going in the route of helping someone who’s not a rat. No full WTF moments yet though.
What advice would you give to someone that is wanting to start a character within the world that Miriam lives in?
Kuro: Have fun and avoid strange people in dark alleyways. I’m horrible with advice. lol
Now we will take a moment and do the interview portion for the character herself. Yes, folks, characters are beings within our minds, and this is something that I have always found fascinating.
Hello, Miriam Jekyl. Thank you for agreeing to this interview today. Tell me a little about yourself?
Miriam: Very well. My name is Miriam. I was born several centuries ago in a well-off family. My father’s stupidity led my circumstances to become far less but did result in me becoming a Rat. As a Rat, I once ruled London from the underground. I was the Lady of the Night, Queen of the Rats, and I was willing to do anything to protect mine. I even made deals with the -shudders- undead. Nasty things, the undead; they smell foul and they drop bits everywhere. These days, I just deal with the circumstances that brought me to this damn island.
Can you tell us how old you are? If not, then about when you were born?
Miriam: To be truthful, I’m not sure how old I am exactly. I was roughly thirty when I was stuck in the vampire’s thrall. So that’s about a hundred and fifty. Easier to talk about when my childhood was. Electric light had just started being popular among the rich. I remember my father having it installed. Of course, I also remember the Jack the Ripper murders. I was around ten, maybe twelve, when all that happened.
Oh wow, you are very old then. Tell the readers a little bit about what you are, for someone that doesn’t know what being a “rat” means?
Miriam: What that means is that I’m awesome. In all seriousness, becoming a rat saved my life. I probably would have been another floater in the Thames if it was not for becoming one. What a Rat is, is that I’m a lycanthrope. Infected since I was a teen. I can change into the form of a rat but think closer to the size of an average dog, maybe a little bigger. I can pass on being a rat to others by passing bodily fluids – that’s if they survive the initial method of infection, that is.
Tell us a little about where you live now. I know you said you used to be in London, but what about now?
Miriam: Right now I live in The Underground, a dance club I managed to procure under questionable circumstances. It’s just one of many places on this blasted island. Not sure what this place is actually called, but blasted island works well. It’s like the island of misfit toys, except for things like me.
You live on some island somewhere? Isn’t that a little odd? Do you think you will ever get off this island to come back to the States or other normal countries?
Miriam: It is. I only came here cause of a blasted rumor. As of right now, it looks like I’m here for the long haul, but I’m hoping to one day get back to England. Hell, I’d just be satisfied to get to the mainland. But it’s like that song says, you can check out any time you want, but you can never ever leave.
So, you are saying you can’t ever leave that island? So you have nowhere to go, but around an island? Is it a big island?
Miriam: At the moment, I can’t. I’m not far enough up the asses of the right people. The government has taken to shooting down any unauthorized planes, even blowing up fishing boats with “suspicious” cargo. It’s a decent sized one. There’s a large city and some forest, some hills trying to pass themselves off as mountains. Still, it’s too small for the amount of things that are here.
There are other types of things on that island with you? Like besides other rats, as you said earlier?
Miriam: There are. I’ve been running into more and more every day. Seems people got it in their heads to send us all here. There’s rats, wolves, even some vampires roaming about. Luckily, they mostly leave me to myself.
That’s interesting, and yet no one knows where this island is located? So what about you, what do you hope to do while upon this island?
Miriam: I think they know, I just think they don’t care. Well, I came here because I thought there was a vampire here, but it seems that was just a rumor. Now I’m just trying to get enough money to bribe my way off this hunk of rock.
With the little you told us about yourself, lets dive into that a little bit more. Do you have any hopes or fears? Something that will get you through this time stuck on this island?
Miriam: Well hope is mostly for pansies. I do have the goal of getting revenge on the people who tricked me into coming here but that’s about it. Fears – yeah, I got a few. I’m honestly bat shit terrified of fire, almost died in large fires twice and zombies – god. Why do people find those things so damn fascinating? What’s gonna get me through time on this island is money. That and focusing on that revenge idea. Revenge is a hell of a thing to keep a person alive.
I think, that’s all the questions I had, is there anything you want to tell our readers?
Miriam: All I can say is, don’t send anyone you actually care about here. Even for a tourist visit. It’s all horse shit and they’ll probably get eaten.