Concepts in Brief

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Karl the Mad
 

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Concepts in Brief

Post by Karl the Mad »

Snippets of characters floating in mind. Suggestions and critique welcome!

-Elderly Japanese craftsman, a master of enchantment and imbuing; such is his skill and the value of his very existence on morale that the government is willing to take steps to extend his life, no matter the expense. A freakish coincidence sees him praying beneath the Tree of Life in Hiroshima (equivalent to Sophia's tree) on the morning of August 6, 1945. His proximity to the great Tree, the power swirling around him and the massive energies of the atomic blast transform him into a lich almost by accident, and his soul is forced into a wakizashi shortsword of his own making. Would the nuclear blast have any affect on his being after the fact? How would this alone make him different from other liches, if at all? (Shijima Yamamoto)

-Belfast, Ireland. The powers-that-be have gravely offended the Fae court, yet they are obligated to plant a sapling of the World Tree within the city. Unable to back out and unwilling to see them get by without grief, the Fae see to it that one of the most notorious terrorists and mass murderers of the day be physically and psychologically tortured before his unnecessarily drawn-out and painful execution. His blood soaks the ground on which the Tree will be planted; his body is buried six feet under that ground; his soul and spirit are bound to the tree, certain to poison and warp the dryad spirit to come.

Hundreds of years later, the terrorist's soul has melded inextricably with the dryad's being, and plans to resume his criminal ways once he amasses power. No longer human and not quite a dryad, this hybrid Abomination has slept for many long decades and wants nothing more than total revenge upon the British he fought against, and the Fae who sentenced him to a horrid death just to spite his Irish kinsmen. (Luca Stephenson)

-In Hope, the latest and brightest of a long line of clanksmen, the heir to the dwindled and crumbling Masterson empire, has his sights set on reclaiming what his family once held. On the way he has to keep an ailing vintage clank market afloat and gamble what remains of the family fortune on the safest gamble of all; the stock market. Lucrative and morally questionable defense contracts are a possibility he is willing to explore, as well. What would these contracts entail, and what personal cost would the brilliant heir have to pay? What lengths would he be willing to go to recover his family's prestige? (Bryce Masterson)
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TennyoCeres84
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Re: Concepts in Brief

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

I think they're all interesting concepts with potential. Here are my suggestions/critiques:

Shijima- He might have some ability to manipulate his shadow, given how impressions of shadows were left from the bomb. There'd probably be some mental trauma. It might've affected how he perceives his soul's appearance. I'd say some basic research into the Hiroshima bombing would be useful. I found this website that's pretty detailed (also graphic). http://www.gensuikin.org/english/photo.html

Luca-I'd figure out what both the pre-assimilation dryad and Luca were like before he was killed. Also, determine the species of tree and which court the dryad belonged to. In Norse myth, the World Tree was an ash; Sophia's tree is an oak. The "World Tree" may not be species-specific, and the related dryads are somewhat similar in appearance. The species of tree might affect his powers and personality.I used the adage "the wise, old, oak" to use as a basis for Sophia, but YMMV.

Bryce- I don't really have much to add for him. Though, why would he have not kept up with the tech over the years? Is it from some dislike of modern technology?
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IamLEAM1983
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Re: Concepts in Brief

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Shijima: do some research on the effects of radiation on the average bone structure, just in case there's some exploitable material waiting. If he didn't burn through his own flesh instantly, chances are he'd have been soaked in radiation for a long time. Add magic to the mix, and I think he would've spent a few years not being entirely sure if he was headed for lichdom or if he was turning into a Deadpool-esque character. It took the onset of decomposition for things to really click into place, in this case.

Luca: I'm getting some massive Swamp Thing vibes. :D

Check to see what tree essences are native to Ireland, or at least to Belfast's local forested areas. Owing to the fact that he'd basically be a perverted dryad, I'd steer clear of the typical "nicely carved tree-person à la Sophia" and just go nuts. Maybe he's so freaky he can't really go out and about on his own, or else all the forms of law enforcement from here to Sunday would just dive-bomb on him out of pure fear.

Considering, I'd suggest something like a dryad-based Cordyceps mechanic, where Stephenson has to produce spores that a decently useful human male has to inhale. Once that's done, Stephenson the Dryad has a human body to puppet around and to take care of everyday interactions, while he can just lurk in the forests outside of town, Slender Man style.

Bryce: considering the overall sociopolitical climate of Hope, he'd have to make a concerted push away from Vintage Clank stuff and towards Transhumanism. If he can't do it business-wise because of personal ethics, then he needs to do it on the stock market. There's virtually no demand whatsoever for old CHAP models, and trying to retrofit modern tech on old Clank frames is just too costly. The only way Masterson Armatures could get Defense contracts would be if Bryce hired top-of-the-line engineers from Alkaev's own talent basin, or went fishing in Japan.

His only choice, otherwise, is to sort of reposition Masterson Armatures as a prosthetics and augmentations manufacturer, while still keeping a Vintage line open on the side. He'll have to play Steve Jobs to a bunch of usually highly conservative individuals, since not a lot of Automatons tend to switch bodies the way the living switch smartphones. He has to update his own knowledge base and then get to work evangelizing the benefits of newer forms of tech to some of the oldest and neediest clients on the market.

Either that, or he finds himself an investor from the United Arab Emirates and starts selling tiny little cogs and pinwheels cast in pure gold, because there's always going to be a few obscenely rich Clanks that won't mind turning basic maintenance into a kind of useless statement of opulence. Then, though, he shrinks down his client base to a dozen or so billionnaires and a few hundred millionaires. At that point, he's better off abandoning the "Service Point" mentality and start looking at Masterson Armatures the way you would at a jewellery store.

That might hurt his morals, though, or drive him sick over time. After all, Clanks can be selfish assholes too.

Not that Hope has a Clank equivalent to Futurama's HedonismBot, but there's a few individuals on the globe that skirt the edges of that caricature. You're J.P. Morgan himself, Clank bodies are a thing, you're rich from your trust funds and you're on your deathbed. Cha-Ching!
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