I actually had some of this conflict when the Ministry first started up. Originally Armand had a friend that worked in the Ministry, and he would do odd jobs for him. But as the Ministry grew to be a much bigger thing, it was hard to fit that in properly. Particularly since the person to play that friend wasn't even on SS! Though typically, people can be fairly good natured about that sort of thing. Sometimes it was as easy as having been a rather quiet individual that kept to themselves, which was fitting for Slade. Then both he and I applied for Ministry positions to lock us in at the Ministry.

There are other things that seem to crop up and are handled fairly easily. I wound up roleplaying with two Malfoys. I don't know if they started as such or they just went with it along the way, but they were just cousins. I have no idea if they went for any family history beyond that.

Lina is something of a difficult one, but there is one thing that I've noticed beyond anything else: You time roleplaying with others builds your character's credibility. I've been roleplaying online since I was 16, and I'll be 27 in November. I started in the Klingon chats at the Star Trek site, went to a place known as Phoenix chat, or TrekkerNet (I went from one to the other, but that was a long time ago), to Guinan's Bar which was connected to the UEP, then from the UEP to MU. I started with simple characters, and as we all grew to know each other and role playing styles, we accepted different kinds of characters, backgrounds, and odd abilities of many sorts. But we also know whether the other people were going to play the characters well, or abuse them. God-moding was simply ignored, and a newbie would be too if their character was too extravagant (much like our grandson of Harry Potter and Voldemort both who is a werewolf vampire dementor house elf). It was a very sink-or-swim environment, but a good deal of us learned how to swim very well. Not that we discouraged bad role-players. We have our share that are welcomed and taught, but it was still through this basic process.

Lina is probably going to be my hardest where credibility is concerned. She does know things she shouldn't, she is a very young potions 'master' *coughexperimentercough*, and she's interestingly light-of-foot. Though for the most part, I think she's been accepted fairly well. This might be in part due to the fact that she can also be very entertaining. But it might also be in part because some of the older players here know me and my style, or know that I played one of the professors, or have simply played with me a term or two ago. And if you even have a few that view you as credible, especially those who are known to be older players, then you often catch the attention of the newer players and those you haven't played with before.

I think the best way to really say it is, start small, get a little attention just by playing. Heck, play yourself. As people know you, you gain credibility for yourself and your character.