Archive for November, 2010
#3 Penultimate Black
The second best assassin on the planet. He works for the government. George Bush was his biggest client.
Day# 30 MobU and Stats, robot symbiotes
#30 MobU+Stats, robot symbiotes for Wheeler's Orbits by Jande Rowe
“Days like this make me think I was manufactured under a bad sign.” ―C-3PO.
#30 MobU & Stats, Robot Symbiotes
You might be forgiven if at first glance you think there are two robots in this artist’s sketch of Stats and MobU (pronounced “Mow’bew”). And in one fairly obvious way you would be right. They look separate, though MobU can attach itself to Stats’ head piece once the antenna has been retracted. But they were created in fact as a single unit. Though if Stats‘ personality splits any further, there may be a true dichotomy.
Wheeler and Ikey assembled Stats when they were kids from parts scavenged from the local industries on their home planet of Foglio IV, many of which were experimental, some of which were top secret. That may have been the reason why Stats often had memory failures. It may account for the fact that the robot could spout statistics about things that Wheeler or Ikey had never even heard of. It also may be why he or uh.. lets just call it “he” for now, since it, uh… he has just achieved a conscious state of sentience for the first time in over a decade –Well its system combination of CPU [Central Processing Unit] and HMC [HoloMemoryCore] had. Consciousness had been hard-wired in by a series of bizarre accidents, perhaps even before Wheeler dug the logic core out of the recycle bin. Then again, with Wheeler’s luck, not to mention timing, and total lack of training, the boys might have had a little to do with the personality, or… Personalities, that emerged. But to all intents and purposes Stats had finally been delegated to a dark corner of the jet park cubby-hole the last time he had a memory failure. Wheeler wasn’t that interested in statistics anyway, though Ikey got a bit of a kick out of them. By this time he was frustrated by the breakdowns, and he and Ikey having just discovered that girls were not the icky fragjaws he used to think them, he managed over time to forget all about having tried to create the world’s first Super-Destructo Paintball Robot (Some fads never die).
Later with the rise of the family fortunes, the house and jetpark were sold off, the contents of the jetpark including the deactivated robot were sent to a Goodwill recycle plant, and the family moved literally up to the next level on Foglio IV.
The Techs at Goodwill were astounded to find the rather scuffed Robot as part of a donation delivery. They tried activating it. The lights blinked and went on blinking, but nothing happened. No response to voice input anyway. One of the techs thought he might have an old keyboard stashed away in the back, but when he looked for it, he decided it might not be worth digging through centuries of museum pieces for it. Then another truckload of donations came in and he left the Robot powered up and didn’t remember until the following day when he came in to find its lights had stopped blinking and it was turning its head this way and that as if looking for something, or maybe… scanning?
He tried voice commands again but all the tech could get out of it was a stream of archaic statistics. It did however make a fine cup of tea, and so it was installed in the tech lunch room. There it stayed for about a year, entertaining them with tea and statistics, until one day they arrived for tea and the robot was gone. No one seemed to know where or why. It hadn’t been sold. It might have been stolen, but who would steal from a charity organisation run by volunteers. Nah. The Robot was an unstable device at best. It probably had the mechanical equivalent of a brainstorm and wandered off. They would miss the tea.
And brainstorm was exactly what had happened. A kind of accidental pre-programmed brainstorm caused by conflicting commands, and timed relay synapses opening certain logic gates that weren’t meant to be opened. And so a robot child was born. And it wandered away in search of its mother, with no clue of how to interact with the world as a sentient being. But it was learning. And one thing it was learning was that that nagging voice in his head really WAS in his head. The MobU was still firmly attached, and wasn’t much liking it.
MobU is the shortened form of “Mobile Unit”, even though its base also had a more limited form of mobility. It was designed to be a completely separate Unit from the MainFrame “parent” (note: MainFrame has a whole different meaning in the 24th Century) while sharing memory and some of the parent unit’s CPU cycles. During the time Wheeler and Ikey were trying to get the darned Robot to do anything but recite outdated statistics, more and more of the MobU’s capacity was taken up with memory backups from the main. Which had the unexpected result of both units becoming sentient at the same time but growing differentiating personalities based on their differing functionality and mobility.
The MobU was a free-floating (some say flying, but it couldn’t go far from the parent unit, although no one has had a chance to determine how far that is), dish-shaped device that had one curious aspect. The material it was made from was a top secret amalgam of human biologicals and mineral-metallurgicals at the molecular level. It could not only heal itself, but its logic boards could really think. It’s only limitation to the kinds of changes it could make to itself was that it could not change its own total mass. In that, it was one singular and unique unit. And its biggest problem, as it soon learned, was that it was trapped in a relationship with a slower “thinking” and much more confused other half. But that was only the beginning of its problems. They were stuck with each other and would have to make the best of it. Unless…
Perhaps could those who had created Stats and MobU find a way to separate them? If MobU was to turn its vast and unique fledgling intelligence to work in tandem with Stats‘ longing to find his creator. More than a decade had passed since lights out. Could they do it?
~~~~~
I had a hard time stopping writing long enough to upload this one. These guys really caught my imagination. Hard to believe I sat and stared at a blank sheet of Strathmore Bristol for over an hour this morning with an equally blank mind. Later, as my panic grew, I started scribbling heads in the hope it would get the juices flowing again. This piece is the result and I’m extremely happy with the Characters, their relationship, and the many ideas for fun story arcs they have given me. I hope you enjoy my Finale piece as much as I do, and will continue to enjoy these two Characters when I incorporate them into Wheeler’s Orbits comic.
#6 Cheshire
This guy has powers of intangibility and invisibility and a penchant for wearing catsuits
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#30
#30 Is a demon who plagues 30 Characters Challengers. He has a ray gun that shoots obstacles that get in the way of completing the challenge…there are setting for:
– Extra assignments at work.
– Sudden onset of illness
– Computer failure
– Carpal tunnel
And a host of other things that get in the way of completing the challenge.
He’s a real bastard, that guy.
#27 Zacharael, the Fallen
Once the Angel of Surrender, Zacharael himself surrendered to the doubt building in his heart, and in so doing became one of the Fallen.
22-30. Final Characters!
The basic concept of Trish Decker is her connection to the number 13. She’s 13 years old. She was born on Friday the 13th. Her name is suspiciously similar to the greek for thirteen– “Triskaidekaâ€. (The root of “triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen.)
I imagine her as being a tween/teen adventure character, in the vein of Kim Possible. Her who deal is good and bad luck– Not so much a specified power, and a strange connection to luck and superstition.
She’s a lanky girl, with wild curly hair. She enjoys life, and plays with superstitions– She’s not afraid of them, but she’s curious about them. She believes in some of them, but doesn’t tend to think they are a big deal– unless she’s teasing someone about one of them to get a reaction.
Visually, it would be great if things came in 13s. Thirteen polkadots or stripes visible on a piece of clothing. Thirteen curls on her head. Thirteen stitches around the patch on the knee of her jeans. Thirteen freckles on her cheeks.
The basic concept of “SODOFF†is the intersection of the phrases “sawed-off†(as in shotgun) and “sod offâ€. Somewhere between a Hell’s Angels style biker and a British criminal thug that might be played by Vinnie Jones or Ray Winstone in a Guy Ritchie movie.
Nobody really knows his real name, in part because most people would be too afraid to approach him in the pub and ask. They mostly think of his either as “Sawed-off guy†because he carries a snub-nose shotgun, or as “the Sod Off guy†because that phrase is the longest one he’s likely to utter with any regularity.
He’s a very bulky and muscular guy, with a bit of a pot belly in addition to all the muscles. He’s more stocky than burly, in large part due to his relatively diminutive height. (Never say he’s called “sawed-off†because he’s short!)
SODOFF is probably in his 50s, or even early 60s. He has unusual facial hair, perhaps something link the man on the left in this photo. His hair and beard are mostly gray, and he’s balding. He’s hairy, and has a lot of tattoos.
He’s mostly likely to be seen wearing a black leather vest (er, waistcoat), dark jeans with leather chaps, big heavy biker boots, and perhaps a surprisingly stylish leather jacket. He always carries a wide-barrelled sawed-off shotgun with a wooden stock.
He has an oversized belt buckle, with a Union Flag on it. It would be great to add some other hints of his British background, or the tone of recent British Crime movies, though I’m open to suggestions. He could possibly be a bit of a comical character, besides his more sinister nature.
Serena Jordan knew from a young age that she was likely to inherit super powers upon reaching adulthood. Something similar had always happened to the women in her family, and she seemed to be in line for the gift.
She sardonically adopted the name Babe when she discovered what they would come to be…
At a key moment (her 18th birthday) she became trapped in her crushed car, and was in danger of freezing to death. Her physiology adapting to the situation, she wound up with both super-strength and powers over ice and cold. She’s strong as an oxe, and cold as ice, but she doesn’t have a boyfriend named Paul.
It’s important to note that Serena is an intelligent woman, and doesn’t have any particular interest in strength. She always imagined that she would gain powers to allow her to help or protect people, possibly through healing– but she’s also quite practical, so she makes the best of the gifts she was given. A calm practicality pervades her personality, she’s not at all a savage brute.
Belle is truly a giant of a woman, at over eight feet tall. She’s statuesque and muscle bound in the extreme. Her skin is a cool pale blue, more so towards her extremities, and her beautiful long wavy hair is white.
Her body temperature is so low that it affects the air around her, and anything she touches. Frost tends to form on her, including ice crystals on her knuckles and the back of her hands. These can come in handy in a fight, as they invariable hurt her opponent without affecting her.
Her costume is fairly simple and utilitarian. She doesn’t need to keep warm, or protect herself from the elements, so it has been designed to protect her modesty without getting in her way. It consists of a somewhat stylized royal blue and white set of bicycle shorts, strapless sports bra, and boots.
There’s something strange about Jane Clary.
They say her father once built a tessaract in his laboratory, and that the family and their home were never the same thereafter. Certainly, it was short one Doctor Sam Clary from that point forward.
Jane usually wears all white, perhaps to minimize her unusual appearance. Her clothing tends to have a fairly straight (geometrical and stylish) cut to it, but somewhat loosely draping. (Long white slacks, a white blouse, silver-framed glasses.)
Perhaps the most striking thing about the girl is that parts of her are missing. Not in a gruesome way, more in a geometrical sense. It’s as if geometrical slices had been subtracted from her, very even gaps as if a cube with 4†edges had disappeared and taken part of her with it. Even her clothing is affected, so her condition can’t be disguised.
These gaps do the girl no harm whatsoever. It’s simply as if flat “slices†of her– through her arm, neck, shoulder, and legs– were invisible.
Further, instead of seeing her insides, the area visible because of these “slices†is pure simple white.
Otherwise, Jane is a fairly normal young woman in her early 20s. She is intellectual, with a penetrating stare. She has an interest in math and science, like her father, but also in art– especially M.C. Escher.
She’s slender and fairly tall, with an almost androgynous slim figure. She has very straight fine light blonde hair, to her shoulders and slightly longer in front. (Or held back in a pony tail, except for at the front, her hair framing her face.)
Meet the Crowd.
Not long ago, a man had a new kind of idea. An idea that could be perfectly shared. An idea that can join people together, but in a sense erase them. And the man began to share his idea. To have this thought is to be changed, to join the crowd. The crowd wants to share this perfect thought with everyone.
Life has changed for everyone, whether they share this idea or not. Those who have heard or read about the idea, and who understand it, become a part of the crowd– individuality shed for perfect understanding and belonging. They are often seen standing in groups together, usually in public, perfectly silent.
Those who have not yet shared the idea range from curiosity to fear. How long can a person avoid coming across an idea. Is there reason to fear joining the crowd? Have those who have heard it achieved a Utopian ideal, or lost their souls?
Nobody knows who hasn’t joined the crowd, and they aren’t saying.
Visually, the crowd is fairly simple. A group of people, any kind of normal people (from a dozen, to thousands, and anywhere in between) all standing quietly and calmly, staring in a single direction– Directly at the viewer.
(They aren’t unfriendly, or violent, or aggressive. They want to share their idea, to explain their new discovery, but they are very calm and serene about doing so– not in any hurry.)
The super-heroine known as Terrapin was born Tracy Templeton, but her life changed forever when the young archaeology student discovered a turtle-shaped amulet in a Phoenician burial site.
She always had a somewhat full figure, womanly but not slender, with a friendly and somewhat round face. She has kept the same basic shape, after her apparently irreveseable transformation into the mighty Terrapin.
The Terrapin doesn’t need a costume. She has an appearance somewhere between a woman with an hourglass figure, and a giant sea turtle. Her head is bald but with elegant plates. Her figure is covered by her under-plating and shell, giving the impression of strong shoulders but a full bust. She has strong and muscular but shapely arms and legs. She has a tiny tail, and calm wise eyes.
Tracy’s powers all derive from the abilities of a turtle. She can go many hours without breathing air, and can swim gracefully despite weighing over 400 pounds. Her new-found mass makes her very strong, and her shell makes her incredibly tough. Her aging appears to have stopped, and she can expect to live a very long time indeed. Speed is not her strength, but she has quick reflexes nonetheless.
Michael Grackle is a fairly normal guy, but he’s somehow blessed or cursed with a tie to the supernatural world. He doesn’t have powers, doesn’t know anything special, but strange things happen around him– and unlike most people, he notices them.
The main thing is that Michael is unusually likely to be followed by medium sized black birds– not as small as a blackbird, but not as large as a crow. He’s not aware that these birds are often called grackles, and aren’t just small crows.
He’s a man in his mid 20s. He tends to wear jeans, and a hooded sweatshirt, under a simple black dress jacket (or blazer). He has fairly short light-brown (or dark blond) hair, and dark brown eyes. His clothing is a variety of shades of dark grey and black, with hints of purple, green, or blue– the overall effect is slightly like the coloring of a crow.
Michael is in graduate school. He’s intelligent, but not perceptive– Well educated, and good at problem solving, but usually too enthralled by his books to notice what’s happening around him. A typical story isn’t so much about him, as around him.
Sheriff Vitus Hale is a tough man, with steel-grey hair and an iron-hard will. He keeps the peace in a small remote mining town in 1850s California, with nothing more than hard work, stern words, the threat of violence, the trust of the everyday folks in the town…
…and a laser gun.
Vitus Hale is a time traveller from the distant future, lost in a tough time and place, after an accident disabled his time machine. He comes from a Flash Gordon world of shining rocket ships, jet packs, ray guns, adventures, and limitless possibility.
Now he’s stuck in Pyride Gulch.
Only he knows for sure that the rapidly fading town has a solid vane of gold deep beneath it. His only hope to return to his own time, after almost two decades stuck here, is to keep the mines working despite terrible output, until he can gather enough gold and platinum to repair the chronal apparatus he invented in a time where materials were much easier to obtain.
He’s a strong-built man, in his late 60s. He has mostly grey hair, and a short darker beard with stripe-like patches of grey. He wears the typical clothing of a wild west sheriff. A big hat, a leather vest, chaps over faded denim jeans, a tarnished pocket watch, an ammo belt, a shot gun… and a few space-age instruments, and a tiny last pistol— usually tucked away out of sight.
“Nav†is a modified Lytron Systems Autonomous Navigation and Piloting Unit Mark-4. (“ANPU†just isn’t catchy.)
Her usual function is to pilot a light spacecraft, and indeed she was designed to replace a co-pilot’s seat– chair and all– in such a vessel. She was adapted by Vitus Hale as the control unit for his time machine, and is now unfortunately trapped in the machine. This makes her his only company that is at all aware of his origin.
The unit is fitted to the cockpit of a spacecraft in place of one of the pilot seats. It is roughly humanoid in appearance, except that in place of legs it sits on a revolving podium that replaces the seat and is bolted to the deck. The unit can swivel 360 degrees on the base.
The Mark-4 unit was engineered with a friendly, female appearance, a bit like a stylized version of a 20th century “flight attendantâ€.
Created by Ian Struckhoff. A Black Label Comics production.
#30 Kan’ahn-Greatmother, She Who Is
30 親
Kan’ahn-Greatmother • She Who Is
She goes by many names and in many variations, but she is the Greatmother, the Grand President, who officially welcomes the new Parade participants after the long walk. Her tattoos tell the story of the world. Once a new Parade participant enters the City for the first time, she herself paints on them their tattoo. Every soul gets one; in the event that some acquire multiple passes and return to the Layer of Mortality, the tattoo stays with them, branded in their minds, hearts or motor function, often predetermining certain key events that led them to acquire the tattoo.
She is also inspired from renditions of the goddess Kan’on, of mercy and life. My take on how death is actually another beginning and a blessing, I hope, that everyone’s characters are little beginnings of awesome things.
I thought she would be significant to add to the lot as the 30th, instead of the 2nd as I initially hoped, and I will dedicate her to all of those struggling to finish their 30th, who have killed their 30th early on, and here’s to another Ghost Parade next year. It was an honour.
#26 Coriander Cindersilk
The epitome of a perfect faerie: Wild at heart with moxie to spare, but delicate and inviting on the outside.
#29 Kuulam, The Sieve
29 ç§
Kuulam • The Sieve
Despite his impressive apperance, Kuulam has only been to a few centuries’ worth of Parade, having shed sometime during a great plague in a village he was made custodian of. In shame, he disembowels himself, but in an act of treachery, his assistant leaves him without finishing the task. Kuulam was then briefly picked up by Hyomiyaku » whom he talks to on the way to the Parade preparation grounds. Because his death was in time for the Parade of that century, Kuulam was pleased to find the faces of the other dead villagers, although many decided to simply observe the parade from their plane of existence.
He is a flying torso, with four wings that keep him aloft. Highly skilled in apothecary, he works part-time in the drug department, mixing concoctions for souls who have difficulty shifting and moving in between World Layers.
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Based off Filipino mythological creature, The Wakwak » which is a flying torso. Where I suppose Buggy the Clown from One Piece is based off of!
#25 Gnorn, Lord of the Gnoll
Frightening to behold, but beyond gentle, the Gnoll call mountain-ranges home. Rarely coming to the surface, Gnoll prefer to let the surface-dwellers bicker amongst themselves. Gnoll are one of the oldest lived of all creatures, and their leader, Gnorn, remembers the birth of the first Dragon. Gnorn was also the first Gnoll to slay a Dragon, and because of that terrible accident, Gnoll’s are the only living creature Dragons fear.
Done
Whoo-hoo!
Finished at last. I wasn’t able to upload them day by day, but now I finally caught up. What a ride!
I hope it’s not a problem that some of my characters appear together in one post, but they are thematically connected and make better sense together.
I’d be grateful for feedback.
Cheers,
Sam
#28 Suigamma, The Serenade
28 ã¸ã³
Suigamma • The Seranade
The serpent princess who creates everything that is not above ground. Sui is in fact an accomplished singer, sometimes accompanying the Daitenggu as he plays for the Parade, and sings for sailors over the seas. She is careful with how she dresses her hair, which is red as seaweed, often leaving behind her a rippling of red water. For this the Kappa duo have mde themselves her unofficial bodyguard, though Sui treats them more like reckless little cousins than anything.
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Inspired by ‘Zun.
She is also based off of the nureonna » which, I suppose, are quite like the mermaids and sirens of the west.
#30 – Ggr Fzzah, Ruler of Vermin
Ggr F’zzah is an ageless alien emperor, calling himself the “Ruler of Vermin”, with vermin being any other being except for him. Ggr F’zzah considers himself the one being entitled to ruling every planet. In his verly long life, he has conquered and worn out several hundreds of worlds, always moving on to the next planet after having had enough distraction from his everlasting boredom by watching every culture on a planet live in fear and die.
Ggr F’zzah is huge (see the human figure next to his foot for comparison) and heavily armored with thick, impenetrable scales.
#29 – Master Mold
Master Mold (yes, the name was chosen on purpose) hardly remembers being human. He was a sewer maintenance man once, but has forgotten his name, after he had fused with an aggressive, poisonous mold which infected him somewhere in the depths of the sewer network. Now he is a protector of the homeless and all creatures of the canalization. This brings him into contact with Gator Percy and his alligator family.
#24 Zorn Glitterscale
Dragons are regal even at their worst. Zorn could very well be the most evil dragon to have ever lived. He has devoured seven of his own riders, and while some think him misunderstood, the grin he wears after every despicable deed is easy enough to read.
#28 – Honest John
Honest John is a superhero who must never know. John Canfield, customs officer, emits a field around him that makes people within a 5 meter radius tell the truth. John has never had to face a lie from anybody in person, and considers lying an invention of (bad) authors and television producers. The trouble is, he can’t tell a lie, either. So if he was ever to find out about his powers, he would tell people eventually, and lose his advantage. Thus, the Marginal Men always have to find ways of working with him without telling him.
#27 – Hemp
Hemp claims to be an actual elemental, and serves as spiritual consultant for the Marginal Men in their later battles. His element is hemp, and he can control any amount of it completely, using a set of hemp ropes tied around his waist to produce fabrics, clothes, ropes, nets and other accessories. Nobody knows where he came from, he seems to have wandered the world for ages.
#30 Urlock
Urlock is a man on the run with the most powerful objects on the planet following him like a lost puppy.
#25 – #26: The Voice and Gravity
The Voice is a mysterious alien visitor come to annonce the coming of his master, Ggr F’zzak. The Voice has no name, whatever he speaks can be understood by any being in existence in its respective native tongue, and he introduces himself as the voice of Ggr F’zzah. Thus, to the Dutch Xroma he is “de stem”. The Voice has a mighty weapon that appears to be his headset and is capable of controlling gravitation. He is almost invincible with this device, decimating Earth’s heroes, until he is stopped by Glitch.
Gravity used to be Cavity, but after the defeat of the Voice he decides to toy around with the device implanted into the alien’s head, inserting it into one of his cavities through his skull. He merges with the device, instantly gaining access to vast powers and knowledge, leaving Earth in order to explore the depths of space, assuming a new name and slightly changed costume.
#27 Fengryuu, The Wind of the Beginning
27 竜
Fengryuu • The Wind of The Beginning
Feng is the department’s mischievous dragon, and playmate of Makktanh ». He is one of the very few select who works directly for the Great Mother, in the Creation department. He was the air that bore all the god-seeds in the world, before land was created. In the Parade, he often enjoys heckling the serious organizers, often correlating anarchy with fun.
His breath is the breath of life, and is often invoked by mortals who are in creative crafts.
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Fengryuu’s design was based on the more snakelike Asian dragons, and the Japanese creationist myth.
#24 – Lambda
Lambda is one of the world’s greatest heroines. Capable of running at speeds near the speed of light (the Greek letter lambda is the scientific sign for wavelength), she has saved the planet single-“foot”edly on numerous occasions, once even using her speed to set the world in motion again after it had been stopped by the supervillain Ragnrok.
Careen uses her for a publicity stunt, beating her in a super-fast 100m-dash by a nose, thus appearing as the fastest woman alive.
#23 – Homerun
Homerun is a teleporter. He used to be a highschool baseball-star in his younger days, until his power manifested in the final inning of what would have been his greatest game. While sliding towards the home plate, he teleported into the centerfield, and his team lost. The young man’s career ended that day, and he decided to use his talents for a little bit of heroism. He uses an array of trick balls as throwing weapons, is an accomplished martial artist and an inventive gadgeteer. His teleportation powers are limited in their function, though. Homerun can only teleport to the same spot he materialised the first time, the centerfield of his old highschool. Not being able to teleport back, Homerun has a number of vehicles parked in the area. Homerun uses his talents mainly to get people to safety from hazardous situations.
#22 – The Thieving Magpie
The Thieving Magpie or “Lady Magpie” is a very shady figure. A thief by day, a hero by night, this cleptomanic young lady believes to have no power of her own, but can copy the abilities of any person she steals from, as long as she holds on to the stolen item. It is Nevermind who discovers that this theory is totally absurd (since “possession” is not a physical law), and deduces that the beautiful Miyo Harada has the potential for near-omnipotence, and that her guilt-complex keeps her from realising this herself. Nevermind suspects that she actually is the most powerful superhuman on the planet, having possessed every power she “mimicks” all along, but unable to access them without a psychological trigger.
#30Characters Chatter…