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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: Questions/Meta
[TIAG / SPEC] What are the CRT actually *for* ?
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Rand0m
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 		[TIAG / SPEC] What are the CRT actually *for* ?
When I was at school my old English teacher used to teach us that, if you were creating characters for a story, you should only create as many as you needed. So you wouldn't create a gang of boys called Spit, Mark, Ted, Paul, Simon, Brian and Peter if you only actually needed the first three for the plot. The others would be wasted and clutter up the story.

Which made me wonder what purpose each member of the CRT serves in the PXC storyline. Obviously, on one level they're neatly divided by subject in order to give a range of puzzles - Aiko the artist, Garnet the soldier and cryptographer, Anna the linguist and so on. But on another level, they all have - or should have - individual roles to play in the storyline. And if we can't see what that role is, maybe it's because we haven't reached the point in the story where it becomes clear.

So, I think while we're looking for who to blame for this, that and the other, I think it makes sense to analyse what role each character fulfills and try to spot who's relatively unexplored and therefore may have stuff waiting to surprise us - like being an evil criminal mastermind.

And this is what I reckon - you might think different:


Anna - the sacrifice

Initially I thought Anna was a shoo-in to be the uber-villain as part of a powerplay to replace Sente as master of the Academy. That's theory's now as dead as she is, but it still wouldn't totally surprise me to find that she was not as nice as she seemed and ended up losing out to a nastier bunch of villains. But that's just my spec. In story terms, she's clearly there to be an empathetic, helpful mentor whose horrible death near the end of the story demonstrates to everyone (players and characters alike) how high the stakes are. Gandalf without the resurrection, Dumbledore without the beard.


Aiko - the early red herring

Aiko isn't an instantly likeable character - rather spiky, rarely appears in person on the cards or reveals much about herself, and one of the few we can't contact directly. There was a spell before I started playing where she looked like a suspect. Once that was cleared up, she's rather retreated into the background. Unless she's about to leap centre-stage again (and there are signs she might) I think she's an example of a character who, in narrative terms, was "used up" early on.


Garnet - the late red herring

OMG - Garnet is taking over the CRT now Anna's dead! And he works for two masters! He must be the villain! Or not. Notice how Unfiction *isn't* buzzing with spec on how Garnet's clearly evil. He's certainly secretive, and he's obviously going to have a role in the climax, but none of us are buying him being this season's Big Bad. Which is a shame, because I think we're supposed to be thinking that right now. Garnet's Aiko in reverse - a red herring for the endgame rather than the beginning.


Caine - the Bellamy

In romantic comedies, there's always a guy who the girl nearly falls for - a plausible guy, a likeable guy, but not Mr Right. The screenwriter Billy Mernit calls this character a Bellamy, after an actor who used to play the role a lot in the glory days of black and white movies. Caine's role in Perplex City is to be the Bellamy to the Violet and Kurt romance. Sure, he's a few other things - a useful entry route into a particular side of the city's culture that the others have no contacts in, for example. But, basically, he's Violet's Mr Wrong.


Kurt - the players' surrogate

Violet's blog says "I'm Violet, so you don't have to be". Well, Kurt's Kurt because we *can't* be. He's our eyes and ears in the City and on the CRT, and for the most part his reactions are supposed to be those that we'd have ourselves. He likes the people we'd like, trusts the people we'd trust and he gets fooled by the people who - were we there and not here - we would also get fooled by. Every story needs a narrator and an 'Everyman' character. Kurt's ours.


Which just leaves Von and Tippy. And what are they actually *for*?


Von - the blank canvas

Von's 17, fresh out of school, wet behind the ears and he doesn't have much success with girls (according to card #006 Winning Lines). In theory that could equip him for a couple of roles in the story - as an innocent, he could be sacrificed for dramatic tension or he could learn about the plot at the same speed we do. But Anna filled the first of those roles and Kurt the second. So why create Von? And, particularly, why give him such a useful area of interest - Earth studies - if that's not going to be relevant to the plot? Well, we know a couple of other things about him too. Card #057 Volume demonstrates he's got a bit of spirit to him. And the leaked emails show that he'll do what Tippy tells him to do...


Tippy - the chameleon

Easy character, Tippy - she's there to make us laugh, right? I mean, it's not like she does a lot else: even her Academy bio says no-one ever sees her do any work. How easy it is to underestimate the characters that make us laugh... Like Caine, she allows the storyline and the players to move in circles that the core characters (Kurtnviolet, Scarlett) can't give us access to. But that's not really enough to justify her presence in the tale - a one-off minor character like Oistin Meade or Anna's old flame could do that. What is there about Tippy that we haven't yet seen? Perhaps it relates to this highly suggestive part of her bio: "Tippy is known to be an astonishing 'puzzle mimic,' able to perfectly re-create the style of many famous puzzle scribes." Are there any clues in the story where identity has been established by means of puzzle authorship? Or could she have forged key documents?


So here's my theory: Tippy is our arch-villain. The excessive drama and egotism is half a protective act, so that people under-estimate her, and half genuine criminal selfishness. She's a talented mimic who can impersonate others in writing, she does most of her work when no-one's looking, and for all that she appears to be a right ditsy fluffball she's actually sharp as a knife - she has to be, or how else would she have got into the Academy or on the CRT? And for all the things she can't do herself she has Von - naive, hormone-fuelled, Earth-obsessed Von - who she's pressured into doing much more than just fixing her coffee.

That's the way I see it, from identifying the two CRT members who've so far done least in the storyline. You may see it differently - and I'd love to hear what you think... maybe one of us will crack it by thinking this way.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:59 am
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myf
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 		I was thinking about this earlier, as I pondered my possible response to the "Who pinched the cube" sweep, and came up with pretty much the same thoughts - Tippy does not appear to serve any great purpose in the story, or at least hasn't so far.
Admittedly Von hasn't been the most prominent character, but he seems likeable enough (is that to lull us into a false sense of security though?). Tippy is just...........well, apart from 100% Acrylic giving an amusing insight into her (what I consider) less-than-conventional wardrobe, she's been a nothing really so far. Unless she's just there to add a bit of glamour.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:35 pm
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Rand0m
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myf wrote:
well, apart from 100% Acrylic giving an amusing insight into her (what I consider) less-than-conventional wardrobe


DAH-ling, everyone's wearing milkmaid outfits this Autumn - cream is the new black.

myf wrote:
Von hasn't been the most prominent character, but he seems likeable enough


Just the person to have an attack of conscience and start leaving guilty messages on the cards and in mysterious academy sub-directories!
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:02 pm
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myf
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Rand0m wrote:
DAH-ling, everyone's wearing milkmaid outfits this Autumn - cream is the new black.

Hmmmm, well I guess you'll be easy to spot at the next meet-up!
*Ahem* But anyway. Overall, I agree with your summary of the CRT. I reckon that if it was a toss-up between Tippy or Von, I'd point the finger at Tippy, but can't really say why. Confused I suspect it's just that I have an inherent mistrust of "trendies" - and I couldn't do her handbag puzzle card!
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:20 pm
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Tintintin
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 		Re: [TIAG / SPEC] What are the CRT actually *for* ?
Rand0m wrote:
Von - the blank canvas

Von's 17, fresh out of school, wet behind the ears and he doesn't have much success with girls (according to card #006 Winning Lines). In theory that could equip him for a couple of roles in the story - as an innocent, he could be sacrificed for dramatic tension or he could learn about the plot at the same speed we do. But Anna filled the first of those roles and Kurt the second. So why create Von? And, particularly, why give him such a useful area of interest - Earth studies - if that's not going to be relevant to the plot? Well, we know a couple of other things about him too. Card #057 Volume demonstrates he's got a bit of spirit to him. And the leaked emails show that he'll do what Tippy tells him to do...

I'd say he's also a good fit for The Prodigy or The Comic Relief roles. A lighter touch compared to the serious and/or self-absorbed other CRT members (apart from Tippy).

PostPosted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:38 pm
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mqpippin
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 		Von - The Blank Canvas
He's also the gay-bait. Every show has to have someone who's cute so that us pathetic loser old gay guys can fantasize about his 18th birthday.

.... Von's not going to read that is he?

.... maybe I should hush..... Laughing

PostPosted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:22 pm
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dekuprince
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He's also the gay-bait.


Neutral thats just wrong
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:47 am
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Benjaminbrum
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 		Re: Von - The Blank Canvas
mqpippin wrote:
He's also the gay-bait. Every show has to have someone who's cute so that us pathetic loser old gay guys can fantasize about his 18th birthday.


I'm not a pathetic, loser or old... but I love Von.

He's so wonderfully clueless.

And I've Spec'ed elsewhere about him being Combed Thunderclap.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:04 am
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Scott
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 		Von does seem to have a genuine appeal to gay men. It's a bit odd. I don't see it, myself, but the 2 gay fFriends I have who have seen his pic have concurred: Von is agreeable eye candy. Which is weird to me. We have only one pic of him, and it's not really the best, you know.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:07 pm
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Rand0m
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 		Re: [TIAG / SPEC] What are the CRT actually *for* ?
Rand0m wrote:
Caine's role in Perplex City is to be the Bellamy to the Violet and Kurt romance.


Or not. Embarassed
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:33 am
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lonadar
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 		No, Random, don't discount that train of thought completely. Granted, Caine had other irons in the fire, but he did nonetheless work as an effective wedge in the intra-personal lives of our characters/friends.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:56 pm
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