Archive for November 21st, 2011
#21 Filename Not Found
A distorted projection that roams intermittently though several hallways. It rarely communicates with anyone, though it will answer questions several hours, even days later. It flickers between a correctly-rendered woman, apparently in distress, and a blank-eyed ghost-like form. It’s audio feed is also corrupted, and ranges from terribly low rumbling to semi-audible screaming, and with regular bursts of static.
Day # 21 Sean McClaren
Sean is a heavey machinery mechanic affectionitley dubbed the greasy leprechaun much to his dismay.
#21 – Andrew Curry
Andrew has a little bit of a crush on the little pink haired main character, August. He has a habit of finding the pencils that she drops all over the school. He’s a killer at writing English essays, but is nearly failing all the rest of his classes. He’s a bit of a roleplaying nerd, and loves both tabletop games and MMORPGs. He also has a bit of a problem with being possessed by demons. Regularly.
He’s gotten used to it, though. Andrew’s taken a certain fondness to rolling dark or evil side characters because of it. He knows August is a professional demon hunter, but he’s never had the courage to so much as ask her what the weather is like today, let alone to take care of his little demon problem. Awkward and shy, Andrew seems to be a shadow in the background… the weird kid who occasionally bursts out in class, screaming about “filthy humans” and “we will enslave you all!”
Needless to say, poor Andrew has enough on his mind at the moment, and not just from the demons.
#18 – Pygmalion
Stop me if you’ve heard this one:
You are a struggling art student, trying to make your way in the big city after coming from somewhere in Middle America so boring you thought you would die, only to find out that the kind of excitement you can’t find in Nowhere, Oklahoma is the kind you have to pay for. Only two hours after your first class you realize the horrible mistake you’ve made. Your teachers are either pompous know-it-alls or complete whack-jobs and neither of them likes you or your work and don’t have any real aspirations of you mattering in any sort of significant way.
Let’s not even discuss your classmates and save us some grief.
You have two jobs and barely make tuition, survive mostly on ramen noodles and peanut butter, you don’t have any shirts that aren’t stained with paint, ink or both and everyone already has a preconception of you five seconds after you enter any room because you are an art student.
This, in a nutshell, was Aubrey Doolittle’s life.
She probably would have gone to graduate and go on living in obscurity as yet another unemployed Arts mayor, but destiny seemed to have a different plan for her. Or, you could say that destiny had a different plan for Prof. Walter Blackwell.
Mr. Blackwell, the head of the Arts department in Aubrey’s school, was an old and crotchety bastard from years of trying to make it big in the art community with nothing but failures and terrible reviews to his name, relegated to having to teach people with not even half the talent he possessed. It was around this time that Blackwell heard about the myth of “Pygmalion’s Touch”, a rare gift the Muses would give to their favorite artist in every generation and would make the artist capable of breathing life and conscience into his or her art.
It took Blackwell most of his life to research, locate and acquire the source of Pygmalion’s mythic power, a multicolored ancient necklace that seemed to shine and change with a life of its own.
It took Aubrey about three minutes to see the package outside of Blackwell’s office and steal it in revenge for a recent critique he’d done of her work.
Now imbued with the magical power of Pygmalion, Aubrey has the ability to bring to life everything that she draw, sculpt or create in any sort of way with whatever materials she has at hand. She can use art supplies to affect the environment around her in a million ways, either creating objects out of thin air, editing or erasing existing objects.
However, there are also drawbacks to her powers.
Mostly the fact that she has no control over whatever she creates.
She could just be doodling in her notebook and suddenly the doodles will stand up and start running around, causing mayhem. And she also has no control over what kind of personalities her art will have once they come to life. She could draw a ferocious lion that will end up being tame as a kitty, and then sculpt a piece of conceptual art that will stand up and start punching people with whatever it has instead of fists. And finally, she cannot control what she creates. The only control she has over her art is the ability to erase it, and if her art is crafty enough, it could escape and go into hiding.
Still, Aubrey is mostly enjoying her newfound powers and making the most out of them without drawing too much attention to herself. This in order to keep her powers a secret from the World, to keep fooling Mr. Blackwell who is already more than a little suspicious of her and to specially to keep evading the mysterious Order of New Dada, a secret society of crazy artists and philosophers that seek to bring the end of the World through art and look to harness Pygmalion’s power in aiding their cause.
Add to this the usual quota of wacky villains like the Back Alley Carnival of Carnage, The Mime, Copycat Salvatore, Mushroom-Head, Death Nature, the Mean Clique, Beret Barrionuevo, the Idea Conqueror, the Hummel Figurine Gang and Casanova Contra-Revolución looking to terrorize the big city, not to mention deadlines, tests, lack of inspiration and sudden visits from her parents, and Aubrey has more than enough on her plate to keep her happy until she graduates.
If she even graduates.
#17 – Doc Sage
It was 1925, and science had done all it could for Doctor Leonard Sage Jr..
Having grown up as the only son of famous scientist Leonard Sage, science had been the only true friend and family that he’d ever known. Science comforted him for every moment of affection his father refused him. It motivated him for every nod of disapproval and every sigh of impatience. Science even had to make due when his mother finally left her father, running away with the family bodyguard, never to be seen again. So, for Leonard, finding out that he was dying of a very aggressive case of cancer at the age of 21 and that there was nothing science could do about it was probably the biggest moment of betrayal of his life.
Initially, Leonard refused to give up and started researching his disease, confident that science would find a way. After three years of constant study, cooperation and experimentation that resulted in nothing, Leonard even went as far as going to his father for help. But his father just gave him the same response science had already given him: There was nothing to do.
He was a walking dead.
For the next year, Leonard lost himself at the bottom of a bottle, trying to fill the void of science with liquor and women.
But nothing could take away the fear and the anxiety. Nor his ever-growing desire to live.
By this point, he was desperate and willing to try anything and look everywhere for a cure. It was in this crucial stage in his life that Leonard realized that now that he was no longer shackled by the cold logical methods of science, a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities was open to him.
Leonard travelled around the globe, meeting all sorts of people and visiting all sorts of places that science had once thought him were nothing more than charlatans and hoaxes, but now willing to believe, death having lifted the veil that covered his eyes all these time. For three more years he travelled and studied, learning magic and mysticism from all schools and strains. From ancient Roman auramancy to Haitian voodoo, and from medieval alchemy to Nordic rune incantations, anything that could offer him a cure or even the chance to continue living.
His journey came to an end at the top of the lost mountain, Solomon’s Peak, in the Himalayas. There, he took everything he had learned so far and using his own experimental methods, fused his magic expertise into a single binding spell that would keep the tumors in his body dormant, allowing him to continue living while he still searching for a cure.
With a new lease on life and a new World view, Leonard triumphantly returned to L.A. in 1932, boldly declaring his victory over cancer and announcing he would make his mission in life to once again introduce the study of magic within modern society, claiming science had narrowed our view of the World and denying us of thousands of possible advancements in various fields. However, the media took his declarations and made him look like a mad man, discrediting his efforts under the orders of Sage Sr., who would go on to become his son’s biggest detractor and critic.
In order to achieve his dreams, Leonard founded Sage Solutions, a company dedicated to use both magic and technology for the betterment of mankind, as well as finding ways for both to help each other progress and evolve.
With the assistance of Pamba Yan, the keeper of Solomon’s Peak who agreed to return with Leonard to the modern world and continue instructing him in the ways of magic, Professor Arthur Snark, Leonard’s old tutor and closest friend, and Silvia Munroe, his personal assistant and business manager, Leonard, who would be come to be known as “Doc Sage†would go on to defend Los Angeles from all sorts of threats, both magical and scientific, in the name of mankind’s betterment through knowledge and clarity.
#20 – The Gentleman Archer
I have no idea why I came up with this character. I love Robin Hood, I like Green Arrow…still, the thought in my head was, “What if the Spirit used a bow and arrow?” That’s pretty much it!
Still behind one day…gotta try to make that up.
NOTE: I’m using Hero-O-Matic (aka Fabrica De Herois) to create my characters. If you’re a writer who can’t draw (like me!), you might want to try it!
#20 Christophen Hienz
Adorable little guy with a passion for martial arts, sweaters and catchy songs.
(The words are lyrics from one of Mika’s songs)
ZEROX
Sophisticated artificial intelligent robot programed  to copy the abilities of the worlds meta-humans!
#21 – Hosea
An insecure girl who developed color changing abilities.
Wow, it’s already been 3 weeks!!!! Only one more week to go, so I’m REALLY PUMPED ABOUT IT!!!!
Hopefully I can get so quality ones going on because starting Wednesday my Thanksgiving break starts!
#21 Dice
Dice
Miles Preston is the most laid back superhero in the world. He saunters around the battlefield with a confident smile. He never directly engages any threat. Every few minutes he takes out his pair of dice, throws them on the ground and says: “A pair of fours… Pop the cap on that fire hydrant and push that car into the middle of the intersection… Count to thirty then charge out of that alley way.†No one knows how he reads his dice, or how his bizarre plans always lead to swift victory, but his teammates trust him to make the right calls.
#21: The (Would-Be) Baroness Torrington, Vera Newport
I am Vera Newport, the Baroness Torrington. Or I would be, if British peerage laws did not prevent me from inheriting my rightful title. As it is, I am the heiress who cannot inherit, and now the woman without a fiancé.
…Ah, yes. Thank you for your condolences, but I do not feel much grief over my loss, as harsh as that may sound. My fiancé was my first cousin, originally set to inherit my father’s title, as per his (apparent) right as the next male.  Our marriage would have been one of convenience, designed to keep him in line and the title in my hands. I did not particularly like him – he was cruel at times and weak-willed at others – but I would have put up with it.
I don’t now, but I have larger issues to contend with. You see, once I am out of mourning officially, I will have to find a husband. It is not only expected of me as a lady of fortune (and it is times like this that I wish I were a man, who would not be so harshly obligated to do things), but also required as a person of noble blood.
If I only did like the company of men, it would be so much easier. Any affection I have felt towards men has been familial or platonic. My younger sister, who is coquettish to the point of embarrassment, would be much better suited for this position, to find a husband and pass on the title. However, she will have to pry that right out of my cold dead fingers before that happens. I am the first born child and will inherit what is mine, regardless of what lies between my legs. Pardon my French, there.
What sort of man do I like? I do not know. I have seen many different types of men – suitors before I became engaged, military men, working boys – and none have been to my liking in a romantic sense. (If I must confess, I liked that delivery boy best, with his gay smiles and blunt personality. He was refreshing to be around. A shame he had to go to war and die.)
This all bores you, doesn’t it? To listen to a woman of high birthright complain about needing to find a husband. There is a war going on. People are dying, rations are becoming tighter, and I am complaining about something trivial. Well, it might be trivial to you but my future depends on this.
…why don’t I go and try to solve this problem a different way? You think I hadn’t thought of that already? You think I am not trying to? Plans like this take time, effort, and a lot of manipulation. Be patient. I know I must be. This plan is not my last hope. It is a ongoing project which I started a very long time ago. I must wait still before it bears any fruit.
…What sort of person do I like? A gentle disposition, but an iron will. Keeps a cool head in the face of adversity. Appreciative of humour even if it does go beyond their mental facilities, and willing to explain their jokes if they are met with confusion instead of laughter. Good with their hands. I also like dark hair and an olive complexion. So many people are as pale as ghosts that any sort of colour is wonderful.
–WHAT? How could you – you think that I – but we don’t even – I was not describing my lady’s maid. No, I was not. Go now. I don’t wish to talk to you any longer. Send Melissa along. I wish to see her (and if you dare insinuate anything I will personally make sure that you never step foot in England again).
Day 21: Sidearm
Since 1981 as an implimentation of THE METAHUMAN REGULATION AND VIGILANTE PROHIBITION ACT OF 1978, a Department of Metahuman and Extralegal Affairs was created. Its enforcement arm is known as MEGA: Metahuman Enforcement Goverment Agency. It is basically a band of sanctioned super powered individuals policing other metahumans and costumed vigilantes. One of MEGA’s members is the enigmatic individual known as SIDEARM. This person’s origins lied burried in government secrecy. All that is known is he most likely mute, communicating to other members through gesture. He can morph his arms into some form of organic gun barrels of various shapes and sizes, that emit a likewise organic projectile that will either fire on contact with target or through mental command by Sidearm.
#21 Harry
Harry rides his bike everywhere and has a big problem…He doesn’t want to share the road with cars. Every time a car drives down the road and passes his bicycle, he freaks out and gives them the finger.
#19 Molly Fletcher
Art school drop-out, bisexual love machine, general saucebox.
Image from the Sartorialist
#21 Ed The Third World Smokin’ Baby
The video of little Ed smoking cigarettes went viral before Ed could light up another Camel. Unbelievably this two year old smoked 2 packs a day.
When asked why he smoked Ed had this to say. “It takes the edge off of my otherwise stress filled toddler day man. Oh yeah and my parents are douche nozzles.”
He says he’s going to take “baby steps” and quit tobacco in stages in what he calls “the three year plan.” As of last week Ed has quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey. He’s switched to Cigars, which he will stick to for a year and from there he’ll go to chewing tobacco for another year and then nicotine gum for the final year. He is confident that within 3 years he will be tobacco free.
When asked about the hard booze, pills, gambling, and hookers he replied ” Go F@CK yourself!”
Good for him!
#21: The Seer
Day 21 – The Seer
One of his eyes see other things. Despite the prophet-like properties he has, he and The Teller don’t know each other. They’re thousands of miles apart.
18 – Azzah Zahawi
During a trek across mountains in Afghanistan to escape the coming Winter, a young Azzah Zahawi encountered an old man who Donkey had broken a leg. The man seemed to be in despair, for all his possessions were upon the Donkey, but he couldn’t take them. As a gentle soul, Azzah relieved the Donkey of some of the weight, allowing the donkey to be able to move enough to get back to the old man’s shack. It was treacherous, and three times the old man suggested she could leave him and continue with her own journey, but she assisted anyway. Eventually they reached the old mans hovel, and in gratitude he provded her with a strange object. It appeared to be a shield – intricatly carved from white-gold wood, and with an inner warmth and glow.  The man said that she had proven worthy of such a gift, and having finally found someone to pass it onto, he could leave this world easy in the knowledge that it was in good hands.
The shield, it was revealed, is made from a piece of wood from Paradise, and as such, contained within is immense power for goodness.  Even having born it for 8 years now, Azzah does not claim to comprehend the shield, for it seems to know some greater purpose – it heals the sick, rests the wearyand sooths the suffering. However, evil cannot bear its presence, looking into it seems to stare into the soul of evil, and people find themselves unable to lie in its presence.  In the occassional extreme case it has been known to do more radical things demons are burned by its presence, and on at least one occassion it has struck a man mute for trying to decieve his way out of a great crime. Azzah suspects it of having even greater capabilities, but she has no desire to test them, for such things shouldn’t be toyed with. The way that is guages these things seems is impenetrable however – though Azzah herself is a Muslim, it does not seem to adhere to the specific trappings of hers or any other faith that she can tell – it tends to act most decisively on clearcut sins where one person does evil unto another.  She partially suspects that the shield forces people to judge themselves by their most deep values, as well as those of some greater power…
#21 Emaline Amity
Emaline is Riordan’s best friend. She is unaware of Riordan and her brother’s being fae though. Even though the twins aren’t her brothers Emaline treats them like they are. Emaline becomes very lost after Riordan and her brothers’s disappearance, with no trace of where they went. Afterwards she becomes very secluded.
17 – Mrs Honeyford
During the 70’s, Cleopatra Honeyford was a glamourous private detective fighting corrupt cops and gangs alike in the infamous Docks district of . At the time she was a crack shot with a gun and better fighting unarmed or with knives than almost anyone in the city. Unlike many of her peers, Cleo survived, and continued to live in the area for years to come. While she is certainly no longer considered the pin-up she once was, she continued training her fighting technique, including a stint where she incorporated large quantities of the technique of her martial artist then-boyfirned into her own style, she has general incorporated, and is generally considered to be one of the deadliest martial artists in the world. Her style is incredibly potent, and adjusts well to improvised weapons, and seems to excel in taking down multiple armed opponents, quickly and brutally. Though she is more or less retired from crime fighting, many come to train with her, even if it means putting up with her famously bad cooking, which she never got round to learning how to do in her youth.
16 – The Lion of Assur
Despite their reputation for glamour and daring, sometimes the people in the profession of Adventurer-Archeologists make mistakes. The Lion of Assur is possibly the most notable and well publicised incident which bought the profession into disrepute. In 1962, the Oxford University contacted one Texas Smith, a world reknowned expert on ancient languages to come decipher a tablet that some students had uncovered in Syria. Texas deciphered them to be describing “The Lion of Assur – the greatest weapon known to man, a weapon that can level cities, crush armies and should it not be hidden, unstoppable as it is, it will destroy the world”. It went onto describe how a peace deal made had included the permenant hiding of the Lion to prevent its abuse. Texas immediatly set off on a several week long adventure involving Nazi’s, gunfights, motorbike chases and lots of snakes.Â
When the Lion of Assur was revealled however… it was a bit of a let down. While a giant 120m tall mechanical man is undoubtedly impressive, Texas and his Nazi foes hadn’t taken into account the ancient Assyrians ability for hyberbole, and while it could certainly have defeated ancient buildings and crushed armies armed with bronze weapons – but, it turned out that it had not only decayed a little in its long history, but thin sheets plate enough to protect from a sword or arrow turned out to be no match for a standard modern gun. The whole affair took Texas Jones decades to live down even after he defeated some evil Mummies threatening Paris. The Lion of Assur remained in storage for years, until eventually it was bought by a British Muslim businessman who is currently restoring it and upgrading it with modern materials so it can be used to fight the Giant Monsters that have been attacking cities more often in recent years.Â
15 – Samuel Khan-Bonaparte
The League of Solomon is an ancient order dedicated to ruling the world through their own superiority. Their core project to bring this about is a selective breeding project which stretches back over a thousand years and is more ambitious than anyone realises. Taking the bloodlines of some of the greatest leaders and fighters in human history and through extensive selective breeding trying to create the ultimate humans to lead the new age. Samuel Khan-Bonaparte, as the name suggests was a result of the combinations of Ghengis Khan and Napoleon Bonaparte, with various other great tacticians in smaller percentages.Â
 Although ranked only a level 6 on the purity scale, and deemed only suitable as a soldier rather than a general, the bloodlines bred into him to learn quickly and solve problems are particularly successful within him – a chance overhearing of an offhand comment allowed him to finally discover what the League of Solomon had bred him for and triggered his escape. He now acts sometimes as a mercenary, and sometimes as a fighter on his own quests, trying to uncover the League of Solomon once more, but has never found so much as a trace of them since he left.
 Samuel came about as I wanted a character that came out of a Secret Society of some sort, and the idea of trying to selectively breed people with the traits of great historical leaders seemed like a fun one to pursue, and made a certain kind of sense enough to appeal to mad people. They’d have been working at it for so long they’d have different bloodlines, and breed in traits from people who had useful things like excellent memory or problem solving ability, as well as creating optimised training regimes to produce the perfect childhood to produce the kinds of personalities they would like.
14 – Ireitchitan
Ireitchitan is a Djinn – a creature of almost pure magic, capable of enormous feats of power and revelling in chaos. He is quite possibly the oldest and most dangerous of his kind, and has suggested that various religious figures of evil were based upon him, although given his perpensity for lying this must be taken for a pinch of salt. Indeed, up until August 12 1876 he was considered one of the three most dangerous villains on the planet.Â
On this date however, one hundred and seven of the worlds most powerful Wizards, Sorcerers, Conjurers and Demonologists finally cornered him in a small town in the southwest of the Arabian penninsula. Out of them, only 21 walked away that day with their lives. Ireitchitan was too powerful to kill, and too powerful to imprison, so infact they decided to do something else – to redirect him. They bound him with dozens of complex spells, powerful geas and chained him both mentally with power and physically with chains of cold iron. They bound him into being a hero. This actually seems to have had an unprecedented amount of success – since then he has been one of the most valued assets of the world’s efforts in preventing evil, through having one of the most cunning minds on the planet – he frequently lays traps decades in the making only to spring upon opponents no one has even guessed at. However, amoung the higher eschelons of powers, they fear him – not only should he ever get free of his bonds, but worse should he have never been contained at all, and is merely playing along with them for his own amusement…
 Ireitchitan started off as a concept of a dark god bound into the service of good, and being so good at it it creeps everyone out a little. I decided to change it from Demon to A Djinn as I liked the idea of a something a little more and less predictable than a demon. I’m slightly going with the “Fables” approach to Djinn – wildly powerful beings who are more or less pure magic, although in this case with a bit of a Pan’s Labyrinth aesthetic going on that suggests demonic without actually being one.
#30Characters Chatter…