Northern Iron - Writing female characters - character influence - Maya the Siren

As people who know me in person will tell you, I am a passionate fan of the Borderlands franchise, the aesthetics and light hearted humour combined with a very serious background lore, makes for a very interesting story scenario.

I wanted to emulate this in Northern Iron without being a direct copy, using a blend of humour and a tragic world with unique and interesting visuals to create a fun and interesting player experience. A big part of this would be the player character. 

Because the player character of Northern Iron, Rachael Chadwick, is female, I decided to look up good and well written female characters in other franchises for inspiration, this included the Siren class Maya from Borderlands 2.

Personality wise, Maya has a much calmer demeanour than the majority of characters within the game, although she is still prone to the outbursts of her male companions.

Aesthetically, while Maya can be considered attractive, this is achieved without over sexualising her, she shows no more skin than the other male playable characters, and is often shown in practical combat poses where she guards her vital organs, rather than thrusting out her chest and butt.

With the female characters in Northern Iron, I will attempt to maintain the same level of balance as Maya and the other female characters in Borderlands, showing a diverse range of personalities, while maintaining a sense of agency and avoiding unnecessarily sexualising the characters.