And that mindset, Zal, is why it seems like your characters are husks.
People roleplay to experience alternate lifetimes and other mindsets. It doesn't
Matter if it's fictional. It's still a living, breathing creature to them. Try putting a mindless body with only a vague sense of direction that gets occasionally possessed by a negligent deity into real life. It won't accomplish anything besides causing one or two problems and it will be instantly forgettable. Apply that same idea to a fictional world of fleshed out and living, breathing creatures and toss in a husk. The husk at best will be avoided, as it truly isn't there. At worst it will cause problems and get put out of its misery.
Might as well watch you flippity floppers. While I am at it I will my most lazy "attempt" if you can even call it that to be apart of this beautious community. I feel like a creepy shop owner who follows you all on the adventures is the best way to go. LoL
I dislike it when people don't put effort into characters they make. When you make a character, you are creating life. If you feed it, it will grow. If you just make a husk and never feed it, it is a waste of both your time and the character's potential life.
But it is fictional.
Books. Read them, and you shall understand slightly better why a thing being fiction does not make that false. Don't get me wrong, I suck at this, but characters that grow or change - or show a different side - in stories are typically better than ones that unerringly stay the same the entire time.
Lyeos makes a very good point here.