Archive for November 28th, 2012
#17 E’zu
E’zu grasping a red swan emblem
Lumeng Zumei did not have a happy life. Frail and ill as a child, she rarely left her home, and when she did, she faced discrimination. With their men strong, wealthy, and just, and their women beautiful, fertile, and wise, the Lumeng were known for being a fast-growing family of great status. Zumei was a disgrace in the eyes of the Ao Liese community even though the family itself did not treat her as an untouchable. Zumei herself hated bringing shame to her family name. Gloomy and self-loathing, she was known for having a love-hate “relationship” with the red swan emblem of the Lumeng. The symbol stood for strength and grace, two things Zumei never had. When she was 17, the heads of the family arranged a marriage for her, but she was only just barely strong enough to move into her new husband’s home when she was 19. Despite her chronic depression, Zumei and her new husband grew to love each other quickly, and it would seem that she would have some happiness in life after all. The blow would come when the couple realized that she was more than just too weak to have a child, she was barren. The sadness was too much for Zumei, and she commited suicide. She’s now said to visit orphanages and watch the children, trying to pick out one that looks enough like her and her husband so she may claim a child and prove she was not a waste of a woman.
DAY 28: 21st Century Sandshark Studios presents…”MANTA” RAY
DAY 28
21st CENTURY SANDSHARK STUDIOS
IN CONJUNCTION WITH
THE 30 CHARACTER IN 30 DAY CHALLENGE
Presents…
MANTA RAY
Character Biography: Raymond “Manta Ray†Barstow was born in the sleepy fishing town of Belfast, Maine in 1920. His father was a fishing boat Captain and former decorated navy Chief Petty Officer in the Spanish/American War and World War I. His mother was oceanographer and marine biologist.  From the time he could walk both parents instilled a sense of love and wonder for the sea. Ray was both an exceptional student and athlete, having won the state diving and track and field varsity championships in 1937. Ray won an athletic scholarship to the University of Maine in 1938. Ray was in his junior year studying to earn a double major in oceanography and marine biology when World War II broke out.
Ray immediately volunteered for the US Navy and through a letter of recommendation from the state governor and local representative, was able to attain a special exemption for the four year degree requirement to enter officer candidate school after basic. Following graduation Ray became one of the first students of the newly formed Amphibious Scout and Raider School (A precept to The Navy SEALS) in 1942.
Barstow was a Lieutenant in 1943 when he was given his first post on the now fabled Special Service #1, where he was given a first class field education in map making, wilderness survival, jungle warfare, and small craft operation, having seen some of the most pivotal and bloody battles of the Pacific Theatre.
In 1945 Barstow led one of the advanced companies of about 300 men into the Battle of Okinawa. His expert planning and organization gave his company one of the highest kill ratios and lowest fatality rates of the battle. For which he was promoted to a full Commander and awarded a Silver Star.
After the war, Barstow returned home and earned a PHD from the University of Maine in 1949. Over the next 10 years, Barstow became one of the most high profile Marine Biologists, Oceanographer, explorer, and adventurers. Much of his expeditions have landed him in conflicts with hostile natural and often un-natural adversaries! His military skill, talents, strength, cunning, and resourcefulness has landed him as a media celebrity of sorts, that have won him high profile grants and even television and news coverage for his various expeditions.
#16 E’oo
E’oo holding the Eye of Ao Lai
In life, Chion Oowing was a treasure hunter, and a clever one. He was not always in it for the money: he loved to record the historical artifacts and study their aethetic beauty. A famous collection of treasures in Ao Lai consists of the many artifacts buried by Ao Lai and her allies, and the one that held his interest was what native Ao Liese call the Eye of Ao Lai for its vivid violet hue. As with many treasures, he was not the only one after it. Others tried to capture this treasure and sell it; during Oowing’s time, the jewel had only been buried for a few decades, and it hadn’t yet gained the status of national treasure. Oowing wanted to find it first to ensure its protection. He did manage to outwit the others many a time. The race for the Eye of Ao Lai was long and brutal, and in the end, Chion Oowing was killed by the opposing hunters. However, thanks to his ingenuity, he had safely hidden the Eye where still no one has found it. They say he can be seen wandering the sites where he tricked his opponents about the location of the Eye of Ao Lai. Every place he’s been seen, there has been extensive mining in order to find the Eye. No one has found it so far.
#28 – Emma O’Grady.
The end of 2012 was nearing; the days grew darker as the cold winter nights set in. They kept growing darker, and darker. We never made it to Christmas that year. The old gods rose as the Mayan calendar had predicted. In one night hell was unleashed on earth. Twisted and changed in to the image of the old ones. Mankind pushed to the brink of extinction. Demons and foul creatures of the deepest darkest nightmares began to walk the streets of our old neighborhoods. Anyone in the way was put to his or her death, or worse. Mankind hangs on by a thread. A few hide just trying to survive.
One stands up to face them.
As the old ones rose something long since dominant from the world stirred in young Emma O’Grady. She was to be the last hope of humanity to survive. She was the guardian of the light. Passed down through the ages, the guardian of the light is the one soul who has the chance to push the darkness back. It is how they where put to slumber last time they rose.
With the power now stirring inside her Emma pushes out into the wastes of her old world to face her destiny. Helping any and all she finds on her way as she battles and bashes beasts of all shapes and size. Emma is granted the courage and strength to stand against the threats before her by the light inside. The forces of pure evil stand against her, the light her only sources of guidance and instruction her in her mission.
She is a long way from her days spent learning art history at college and spending her weekends working behind a bar. Emma must face off against the very beings that created fear and hatred, and she must win if things are ever to be the same again.
#22 Abalone
Abalone is the daughter of two eminent scientist/ambassadors in the deep sea laboratory. She has lived with her parents and her brother under the sea for 5 of the 18 years she’s been alive and she loves it. She’s become an excellent spear hunter and is thinking about following in her parent’s footsteps and staying on as an ambassador herself. Especially since she’s had a long term crush that has blossomed into romance with Kai.
#15 E’mo
E’mo holding a mask of a Gakano woman
While she lived, historian Takeha Motoko of Nippon who studied the elusive mountain people, the Gakano, or Gakuno as mountain dwellers call them. She was very artistic and creative; she loved to carve and paint, and she created masks based on the faces of the Gakano people she met. She became very close to them and even considered moving into the dark caverns the Gakano spent their entire lives in. Unfortunately, the Takeha clan, a loyalty-based and solitary people, saw this as Motoko abandoning their clan, and they threatened her with extreme punishment if she continued to become close to the Gakano. She refused to give up her life’s work and fled to Masayama, or the City of Mountains. Within the year, Takeha Motoko was found and killed by hired Takeha assassins. Now she’s said to roam the summit of Masayama; eyewitnesses say they’ve seen her with various masks of Gakano faces.
#21 Oralie
Oralie is what they call a sea spider (despite the fact that she only has six legs). She tried for a time to have a truce with the deep sea merpeople so they would stop hunting her. And it worked until her appetite for their soft flesh got the better of her. She now lives the labyrinthine caves and uses a poorly constructed dummy to lure the unwary merperson into her clutches (which doesn’t actually work very well).
#27 and 28 – Mr. Holmson and Sprocket
There’s a great big secret hiding under the research the NMSA does into manipulating nanoparticle slime, and as the primary author of the bill that created the Agency, Mr. Holmson has spent his life surrounded by it. As he is not technically an agent of the NMSA, nor any more of a hacker than most slime trainers, Mr. Holmson’s intimate knowledge of the secrets of nanoparticle material gives him a unique and often incomprehensible motivation. Mr. Holmson can often be found challenging other trainers to fights, though his reasons for doing so remain inscrutable. On a personal level, he comes off as everybody’s funny old uncle, though every now and then there’s a hint that this is more an act than anything else.
As a combatant, Sprocket is actually fairly middling. Though very sturdy, its offensive capabilities are fairly limited, and its agility is very low. It’s main strategy is centered around its ability to subtly manipulate the nanoparticle material of enemy ooze monsters. Though it can’t break slime down, like Paracycle, or corrupt it, like Beelzebub, Sprocket’s ability to alter ooze at a distance makes it one of the more dangerous opponents a trainer can face.
Sprocket’s keywords were Modern Art, Cylinder, Hovering, Cracked, Orbitars, and Gears. We’re getting pretty close to the end here, and I’m really happy that these keywords lent themselves so well to the kind of character I needed. Leading up to the last two characters in this challenge was kind of a big job, ‘cos there’s a big reveal I’ve been planning. >:D
#14 E’ji
E’ji smoking from a bottle
As a man from the Xiu Janyang Province, the late Soo Jiyung was a reserved, opinionated but well-meaning scholar of Ao Lai history. People rarely saw him, but when they did, they described him as slightly cold even though he was intelligent and wise. He even had a wife who said Jiyung may have barely loved her more than his work. Shortly before his demise, Jiyung was said to have stated that he was at a historical breakthrough in his research. In one of the most mysterious and shady murder cases in Ao Lai history, Soo Jiyung’s charred remains were found in a ceramic bottle not a week after that. To this day, no one has found the murderer(s), a provable motive, or even the scene of the crime, though speculation dictates that he was about to uncover something in Ao Lai history someone didn’t brought to public knowledge. Even so, many agree that he haunts the Nation’s Library of Ao Lai, floating amongst the aisles of books, saying, “It’s a lie. It’s a lie.”
Day 28: Black Steel
Gary “Fox” Black used to be a teacher of swordmanship back in Earth. He then moved on to Planet 13 and one night, Spyrious’s murdering robots killed his whole family while they were asleep. And that night, Gary was on a night shift as a security guard, because they were low on money.
Since then, Gary Black is dressed in black and seeks vengeance, as Black Steel, the vigilante of the new frontier.
#28 T’Ganor
Height: 6’9Â Â Weight: 800 lbs.
Race: Naiodian
T’Ganor is a Naiodian and he’s here on earth so he can investigate it and inform his people if it is livable for them or not. Powers: process mental abilities, the ability of transform himself into any form he wants. Personality: Confident.
#30Characters Chatter…