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Super Powered Character Designs (Free write-up)
7 years ago
General
So, I'm looking to do a bit of a writing exercise at the moment involving one of my settings/concepts. To narrow it down and simplify (by a lot), it's a setting based on the concept of superheroes and super villains. Timeline starts pre-WW1, continues through to modern day. It's a world that has discovered a shadow war between Alien races has been raging for centuries, maybe even longer, and mankind has been swept up in it. Mutations, cyborgs, extra-dimensional and extraterrestrial beings, super-scientists and evil geniuses, the whole nine yards. More technologically advanced than Earth as we know it, but with a sort of Retro-50's Fallout feel due to the historical malformation. Technology developed, but a lot of the aesthetics in major locations remain in an older era.
The main storyline setting is a series of islands off the Jersey and New York coastline, a city called Iron Heights. There're two major groups of heroic figures in the form of The Guardians and Vigilantes, Inc. The Guardians mostly consist of "Capes", or more heavily powered individuals who deal with higher-end super crime and the like, whereas V.I. is mostly ground pounders, pulp-style vigilante heroes and villains-turned-heroes looking to make up for past bad acts. That faction is known as "Masks", simply enough.
There's a major super group called The Five, but they're sort of the be-all-end-all defacto Avengers-type super group, and then there are organized crime families and a number of super villain groups as well.
What does all this mean to you, my readers? It means I'm looking to flesh the world out with some more villains and heroes, of course.
So, here's what I'm offering: You give me three prompts and some information, and I'll come up with a character for you. The character is yours to do with as you wish from that point on, but I reserve the right to use them as background characters or plot characters in future writing in the setting. This is the sort of character creation I've actually been paid to do in the past, and it will be in-depth and detailed. I will bring the character to life in my own unique way.
Here's what I'll need in a response to this journal:
Prompt 1:
Prompt 2:
Prompt 3:
These can just be words, a power you want the character to have as a focus, a name you want for the character, ethnicity, origin, etc. Keep 'em short for convenience. (e.g. "Non-Human", "Animal Anthro", "Robotic", "Extradimensional", "African heritage", "Undead", "Teleportation".)
Mask or Cape?: What kind of power set, inspiration and background do you want?
Gender: Anything you want, name it. Male, female, Other, Asexual, Hermaphrodite, Transgender, Non-applicable, Gender-shifting, etc.
Sexual Preference, and/or Approval for X-Rated Writing: Simple enough. Do you want me to use them for sexy fun-times in my writing, and if so do they have a preference?
Kinks you approve/do not approve: If you know my work, you know I'm willing to work with nearly anything. I personally have limits on more extreme stuff, but here's where you can either tell me the limits you have, or say no-holds-barred.
Hero, Villain or Neutral?: Simple enough.
Affiliation: Do you want them tied to a super group of some sort, a crime family, the Iron Heights P.D., anything like that? Just give me a rough idea.
What you'll get back: Full character Bio, connections to other characters, physical description, costume description, power set, explanation of their place in the world, and a brief Q&A with the Hero or Villain about who they are and what motivates them. Also, potentially future artwork tied to the character if I take a liking to them.
I'm not sure how many of these I'm going to DO, but it all depends on whether there's an interest. Just a writing exercise for me, and if you do like the idea...Hey, free character design and concept from a writer who's not necessarily bad at what they do. Just respond in a comment below.
The main storyline setting is a series of islands off the Jersey and New York coastline, a city called Iron Heights. There're two major groups of heroic figures in the form of The Guardians and Vigilantes, Inc. The Guardians mostly consist of "Capes", or more heavily powered individuals who deal with higher-end super crime and the like, whereas V.I. is mostly ground pounders, pulp-style vigilante heroes and villains-turned-heroes looking to make up for past bad acts. That faction is known as "Masks", simply enough.
There's a major super group called The Five, but they're sort of the be-all-end-all defacto Avengers-type super group, and then there are organized crime families and a number of super villain groups as well.
What does all this mean to you, my readers? It means I'm looking to flesh the world out with some more villains and heroes, of course.
So, here's what I'm offering: You give me three prompts and some information, and I'll come up with a character for you. The character is yours to do with as you wish from that point on, but I reserve the right to use them as background characters or plot characters in future writing in the setting. This is the sort of character creation I've actually been paid to do in the past, and it will be in-depth and detailed. I will bring the character to life in my own unique way.
Here's what I'll need in a response to this journal:
Prompt 1:
Prompt 2:
Prompt 3:
These can just be words, a power you want the character to have as a focus, a name you want for the character, ethnicity, origin, etc. Keep 'em short for convenience. (e.g. "Non-Human", "Animal Anthro", "Robotic", "Extradimensional", "African heritage", "Undead", "Teleportation".)
Mask or Cape?: What kind of power set, inspiration and background do you want?
Gender: Anything you want, name it. Male, female, Other, Asexual, Hermaphrodite, Transgender, Non-applicable, Gender-shifting, etc.
Sexual Preference, and/or Approval for X-Rated Writing: Simple enough. Do you want me to use them for sexy fun-times in my writing, and if so do they have a preference?
Kinks you approve/do not approve: If you know my work, you know I'm willing to work with nearly anything. I personally have limits on more extreme stuff, but here's where you can either tell me the limits you have, or say no-holds-barred.
Hero, Villain or Neutral?: Simple enough.
Affiliation: Do you want them tied to a super group of some sort, a crime family, the Iron Heights P.D., anything like that? Just give me a rough idea.
What you'll get back: Full character Bio, connections to other characters, physical description, costume description, power set, explanation of their place in the world, and a brief Q&A with the Hero or Villain about who they are and what motivates them. Also, potentially future artwork tied to the character if I take a liking to them.
I'm not sure how many of these I'm going to DO, but it all depends on whether there's an interest. Just a writing exercise for me, and if you do like the idea...Hey, free character design and concept from a writer who's not necessarily bad at what they do. Just respond in a comment below.
Prompt 1: Uneducated
Prompt 2: Poor
Prompt 3: Summon Demons
Costume: None
Gender: Male
Sexual Preference: Women
Morality: Neutral
Affilation: None
Alias: Caller.
Mask or Cape?: Mask, though power level has potential for Cape status in the future.
Affiliation: Unaffiliated at the moment, but has worked as hired muscle for several criminal organizations, been a brief member of the villain group T.O.N. (Thieves of Notoriety), and has more recently reformed and been seen working alongside members of Vigilantes, Inc.
Age: 26.
Height: 6'.
Weight: 175 lbs.
Ethnicity: Mixed, Ethnic Māori and European New Zealander (Pākehā).
Appearance: Albert is a healthy looking man, tan-skinned with intense, dark eyes and close-cropped chestnut colored hair. Facial features lean toward classical Maori, with a proud nose and strong jaw. Muscular and somewhat lean due to both hardship and physical labor, Albert looks like a scrapper. He tends to wear dark clothing, most often with gloves and boots, and as a part-time vigilante has a liking for a pair of mirrored sunglasses, a black bandanna worn over the mouth, and an oversized winter coat he managed to fish out of a dumpster during one of his rougher times. He has pierced ears with cheap plastic studs, and a distinguishing marking in the center of his chest: A black circle tattoo with a trifecta of claw-like markings, the source of his power. The markings change depending on which of his creatures he's summoning at the time.
Power Set: Capable of summoning demonic entities from a mysterious pocket dimension to do his bidding, up to three at a time as needed.
Biographical information: Albert Kimber was born and raised in Dunedin, New Zealand, by a pair of loving, though sometimes inattentive, parents. To say he lead an otherwise unimpressive childhood wouldn't be entirely unfair, though it wasn't for lack of trying. From an early age he fell in with a rougher crowd than his family would have liked, and by by fourteen he had decided he was bored with life at home. He packed his a bag, sold anything he didn't think he'd need anymore, and signed up as a deck hand aboard one of the fishing vessels that frequented Dunedin's port.
It proved to be a more than simply formative experience, as he spent the next few years hopping from one vessel to another, from one port to another, and learning about the world as he went. It was a hand-to-mouth lifestyle, rougher than most would be able to handle with any kind of ease, but he thrived. He got to see the world, and experience things he never could have dreamed of back home. Sure he made mistakes and had a few scrapes with the law, but such was life for a merchant sailor and sometimes fisherman.
It wasn't until the age of nineteen that Albert found himself on the receiving end of truly bad luck. A dispute with another sailor aboard a ship out of Miami lead to Albert getting stabbed in the chest and shoved overboard. He doesn't remember what happened beyond that point, though he has vague impressions of cold, scaled hands on his body, water pouring into his lungs and a strange glow in the night darkened sea around him. When he woke up a week later, naked and alone on the Iron Heights shoreline...Well, he was beyond confused. He was well away from where he should have been, and moreover the memory of being shanked in the chest lingered in his mind. He had no wound, not even a scar, but instead found himself with an entirely foreign tattoo mid-chest.
It took a few days to get his head together, Albert drifting through a dim haze. He remembered digging clothes out of the trash, and of using a public phone to call one of his friends in New York. Everything blurred together after that with Albert sleeping rough on the streets. He didn't have any of his belongings, no money and nowhere to go in Iron Heights. Perhaps were he a learned man he could have figured out something to do to improve his situation, but Albert had skipped school as much as possible. He wasn't illiterate, but he worked with street smarts more than intellect. Those street smarts worked to keep him fed and clothed, but they backfired spectacularly when he ran afoul of a would-be Supervillain named Dust-Up.
Dust-Up was something of a small timer with a low-level power set. Enhanced strength, enhanced agility and higher durability than a normal human. He could punch through a car door without flinching, so that still made him a cut above normal humanity. He also had an attitude problem, because he knew he was still little more than a footnote in the criminal community. He had a habit of picking fights with people he knew he could take, and Albert happened to be one of those victims.
Dust-Up beat the absolute hell out of Albert, hauling him into an alleyway and tossing him from one end to the other. What neither Dust-Up nor Albert anticipated was that the beating would trigger an unexpected power in the bewildered man. A flash of red light blinded both of them as Albert's shirt split open, the smell of charred flesh and coal smoke filling the air as a strange creature seemed to appear from within Albert's body. The creature, a blue-scaled entity with vicious, craggy knuckles, unloaded a shock and awe campaign on Dust-Up, beating him into a coma. In the end, Albert was left sitting in the alley, watching the strange creature as it returned to him. It was feminine, slender yet strong, and at first Albert was terrified it was turning its seeming rage on him.
The creature didn't attack him, though. Instead, it lowered itself into a crouch and watched him in return, giving him a sharp-toothed smile. "No worries, Master. You called, and I came. I came from the Dark Place, where the others are. We'll always come when you need us; that is the bargain forged in your flesh. You give us access to this world, and we serve you." The tattoo. Albert's tattoo had changed, a closed fist in the center of the tattooed circle. The creature was some sort of Demon, somehow he knew that much...And it worked for him.
Since that time Albert adopted the name Caller, experimenting with his powers in different circumstances. He found that he was tougher than a normal mortal, though no stronger. His powers relied on his will and thought, allowing him to call out into another reality when he needed an ally. From that realm, the Dark Place, Albert can summon a seemingly endless number of demonic beings to serve him. The only connecting theme? All of the beings are female, and all of them are roughly half the height of a normal human.
The primary beings are:
Clot, a red-skinned, slippery creature with an hourglass figure and hollow black eyes, bearing tiny gem-like horns and razor sharp claws that can shred through nearly any material.
Bruise, the blue-skinned reptile-like demon, whose rocky knuckles can shatter concrete, and whose powerfully muscled form can deflect incoming gunfire.
Bile, an eyeless yellow-skinned creature with feathery wings and a more Harpy-like form, capable of exhaling a cloud of powerfully corrosive gas that can rust away steel.
The Wrath Wraith, a transparent grey entity with a sultry shape and soft-spoken voice, capable of slithering through cracks in nearly any surface and jump from shadow to shadow, from which it can strangle victims with three-pronged tail.
Tiny, a heavyset little demon with coppery, oily skin and generous curves who can modulate her mass and weight to make her immovable and increase the power of her blows.
And finally we have Crackle, a beetle-shelled, horned demon that generates electricity from her forked brow horns and her whip-like tail, capable of stunning her enemies with a single touch.
Albert found the demons good company, and considered them more friends than servitors. There are many, many others, but it seems almost random as to which ones come when he calls for them. Either way, his time experimenting allowed him to make some better choices with his life. He tried being a thief and a criminal for a time, but he never quite felt right with that. He eventually decided to use his gift, mysterious as it was, to fight on the side of the angels. He now acts as a part-time vigilante, but otherwise works as a bouncer and bartender at a dive bar on the Iron Heights waterfront, making a meager wage to keep himself afloat while he tries to do a bit of good in the world.
Known foes: Dust-Up, hand-to-hand specialist.
Shadow-Dancer, expert thief who can become semi-invisible in low light conditions.
Known allies: Mad Ally, acrobatic former thief and Olympic-level athlete.
The Raggedy Man, possibly demonic contortionist, part-time criminal and part-time hero.
Mono, disease and virus triggering female Mask, capable of inducing illness in foes on contact.
Q: Do you have a favorite Demon you summon?
Caller: Not gonna lie, Clot and the Wrath Wraith are both really easy on the eyes for what they are, and Tiny's pretty cute. Like a girl with a bit of chub, yeah?
Q: So does that mean you summon the Demons for things other than helping you in combat...?
Caller: Fuck off, mate. I'm not about to tell you that. That's my business.
Q: Do you have a favorite hangout when you're not on the job?
Caller: There's a proper good chip shop down on the waterfront, Don's. I swing by every couple of days if I can, but sometimes money is a wee bit tight. Otherwise I'll just hang around with some of the vigilantes wherever they're getting together.
Q: Any particular allies you admire or having anything to say about?
Caller: Hrm...Not really. Everybody's got their own thing going on, and I try not to bother 'em. Ally's pretty nice, but a little on the crazy side.
Q:Why did you decide to become a vigilante rather than a villain?
Caller: Figured I'd made enough mistakes in my life, yeah? I've got this amazing power, though fucked if I know where it came from, and it's just a waste to use it for bad purposes. Besides, it feels good to help people out from time to time.
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Hope this is suitable. Let me know what you think?
However I'm not sure how much that synchs with your story so do what you and tell me if you write something with Albert.
I don't know if I'll use him for anything too specific if I do use him, but I appreciate the permission to do with him as I will. Anything that does or does not happen with him in the writing would be canon to that version of him, but I look at it like an actor in a role. Something can happen in a story that doesn't impact the actual character in the long run.
I'm glad you like it, though. I expected more response to this, but in the end I guess it didn't pan out. Hope you find some use for Albert down the line.