Harris Powell-Smith

Writing Honor Bound Characters: Matia

Note: this post contains spoilers about a major character from Honor Bound, my upcoming dark academia text game from Choice of Games. If you don't know anything about Honor Bound, read more here.

Leading up to the late 2024 release, I'm posting about Honor Bound's characters and some of the thoughts and processes that went into writing them.

Matia Character Rundown

Matia and Work

Nowadays Matia has three jobs: working for Ozera School, helping their parents run the Elene's Prospect grocery store, and looking after their parents' health. They've left their military job behind and don't want to return to it, but they do feel a little wistful about the excitement they had before even if they don't fancy getting stranded on remote mountaintops. They're not much of a leader, but are stubborn about getting things done when they need doing.

Matia prides themself on doing their jobs and doing them well, but they also like to play hard when they can. They'll occasionally take holidays to visit nearby gambling-and-dance-hall cities.

Writing Matia

Matia's original concept came from a different project idea in which they were a current explorer and general survivalist badass helping the PC through rough terrain. As I started sketching out the Honor Bound characters, this kept tugging at me and I liked the idea of showing the same character idea at a different stage in life.

Although the PC doesn't know Matia well from their childhoods—their timing didn't quite match up—Matia represents a figure strongly embedded in Elene's Prospect, the community, and the opinions of the townsfolk. They're interested in the school, certainly, and enjoy their work there, but the town is their main priority and they want to protect it and the people there, no matter if the people drive them up the wall sometimes.

Matia does not have an uncomplicated relationship with their family. They love their parents and worry about them as they get older, but they have decidedly negative feelings about their older sister, who did not return to their town to help back when Matia did. Where their sister's involved, some of their worse impulses come out and they get petty and passive-aggressive. A lot of their storyline involves navigating these tangles of personal histories and unexpressed (or too-much-expressed) strong feelings.

In general, though Matia is an unpretentious sort of person who likes to enjoy life.

Matia leads you confidently out of the tent and around the back of the main building. You find yourself in a parking driveway in which the bus you came on has been parked. Beside it is a large pick-up truck, dusty around the wheels and well-used. Beyond sits a more traditional coach house and stables. A couple of grooms are bringing in horses from the paddock; they wave to the two of you as you pass.

"Kass spares no expense," Matia says, opening the truck. "My first week working for her, I mentioned that my old truck was breaking down. Next day she told me she'd ordered a new one from New Belmir. Said she didn't want any inconvenience. Hop in."

You climb up to the passenger seat beside Matia. The seat's plush and comfortable: certainly nicer to sit on than seats in a military vehicle.

"The whole of Ozera's like this," Matia tells you as they start the truck. "Anything you want, Kass and her wife Doria arrange. One of the students wanted some fancy paint for their project last year, and Kass got it imported from Westerlin."

Matia was a lot of fun to write. Most of the time they say what they mean, and they have a tendency to be forthright; they bear a grudge with the best of them, though, and their mean moments were also delightful to indulge in.

Like Fiore, Matia is an explicitly trans character regardless of the gender the player chooses them to be. Matia realised they were trans during their mid-to-late thirties, after they quit the military. I was keen to show a character who'd transitioned as an adult thriving, and for a PC who'd transitioned as an adult to be able to chat with them about it. With Matia, they can have in-depth chats about their shared and differing experiences, and I really enjoyed writing those interactions.

They also enjoy telling lurid stories about their time in the military, some of which are true and others may be exaggerated.

Matia surveys the students ahead. "Yeah, and we've got good weather for it," she says.

"Where were you based before this?" Fiore ventures.

"Oh, I did a lot of work in the Arracin Mountains. Surveying for minerals, looking for new routes through and such," Matia says. She holds up her right hand to show that she's missing parts of her fourth and pinky fingers.

"That was almost the worst time. We got stranded. Started wondering if we'd have to eat the corpses."

Matia is intensely loyal in their friendships. They've been a close friend of Varenn Korzha, one of the other major characters, for several years, and they and the PC can form a polyamorous relationship. They like to tease Varenn, who's far more stiff-upper-lipped than they are, but they also genuinely care about them—and about the PC, if they grow close romantically or otherwise.

The points at which the PC can betray Matia or otherwise end up on bad terms were some of my favourite to write because Matia's so intense in response. Similarly, there are some truly heartbreaking moments that were delightful to write because usually Matia's relatively lighthearted. I love showing that kind of contrast and I can't wait for players to discover them.

Where some of the characters have slower-burn romances by design, Matia's can begin early on in the game if the player chooses. The PC can start dating, kiss, and/or sleep with Matia very early on. If the PC's shown they're interested, Matia's happy to jump right in—though they do want to make sure they treat the PC right if the PC's much younger than them.

While feeling very warmly towards the PC, Matia isn't expecting to make a romantic connection with intense feelings, and things between them can stay casual or develop into something else. In that regard they're one of the more flexible of the romanceable characters, although they do have opinions about who they're happy with the PC also dating. Either way, there's never any doubt about how Matia feels about the PC. Once such a connection sparks, they're keen to show affection and care for the PC and to carry on building their bonds.

Matia sits upright suddenly, shuffles over to the fire on her knees, and grabs one of the discarded plates of marshmallow and grilled peaches, and a bottle of wine. He offers you both the plate and the bottle.

"Here," he says. "It's good."

You’ll like Matia if you like: someone no-nonsense, who’s practical when it counts, who’s down-to-earth, who likes to have fun, who will be a rock to those they support, who will crack jokes to break tension, who has deep roots in their community and is eager to extend that community to newcomers.

You’ll like romancing Matia if you like: someone who’s upfront about what they like and want, who will take charge if you’re into that, who is straightforwardly affectionate, who will enjoy indulging you (and themself at the same time), who will cheer you up when times are at their toughest.

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