The Cosmic Blunder is the working title for a SOPL (slice of space life) episodic comic I'm in the midst of developing my regulars for and deals with (or will deal with) shenanigans across the big ole stretch of space Starbound takes place in. Anything pertaining to said comic will be here and only that. I won't be mucking up the thread with unrelated artwork or ideas. For those you can head over to my request/personal art thread which you can find here. What I'm looking for now is three characters created by other fans to be featured at yet to be determined points within the first chapter of said episodic comic. You can apply your character via reply through this thread, but it should be noted, I'm looking for characters and not pretty looking avatars. Requirements: Dimension, the character's attributes, from physical to personal should be well explored. If they aren't well-rounded I'm much less likely to even consider them. Reference. Ideally they'd be fleshed out enough that I'd have more than a limited pixel count to build a representation off of, but this is less important than the above. Reference can also mean inspiration, so if there is music, wordplay or imagery that you've taken inspiration from, include it Good communication. If your post jumps all over the place without any structure and I have to backtrack to find information, or wonder at gaps, I may cut my losses. Take whatever time you need to clearly and concisely communicate to me what you wish to communicate. Things to Consider: I will pick the characters that have the best chance of having a strong presence in the comic itself. I won't be playing favorites, and will happily reply with constructive criticism if you want to improve your chances. Two entries per person (unless I end up hurting for entries, and then I may consider more than two.) By being selected you agree to give me artistic liberties in representing your character in good faith that I will always stay true to the core concept of the character. There is no ETA on this comic, but when there is one, it will be noted in the masterpost. Stuff here, placeholder for my future reference, pay no mind. News - Working on Turnaround style sheets for the three main characters. Completed Leo (3/21), working on Eva and Trigger will go last. Setting is complete (3/20). Post is active (3/22). If you're a writer interested in collaborating, hmu in conversation, I'm always interested in outside ideas for future stuff.
Haven't really got too many ideas for what might make a good character for this, but I think I'll stick around and see what happens.
Might as well throw in a horse for the space races. Name- Royal-Top, For some reason calls itself Mavi. Also goes by 'Toppie, Tiptop, Little Bugger, Bitey, and Sir Toppington' Race- Augmented Poptop Appearance- http://i.imgur.com/CGKYqBS.png http://i.imgur.com/XfieIBr.jpg Height, Weight- Stands at 2'8" and typically weights around 25 lbs in it's average form, though Can 'Ageify' to it's Mature point where it stands 11'5, and weights over a Ton. Voice/Speech Patterns- Has no vocal cords but instead translates it's thoughts into a though-to-speech machine attached onto it's forehead, Speaks in a Formal, Elegant, Feminine voice (Despite claiming no real sex or gender), that often sounds like it's slightly musical. Personality- Tends to act like an Overly Intelligent researcher, and loves examine things unknown to it. However it's size often makes it look like a child babbling techno jargon, and often fills a more comedic role with it's lack of social educate (Example, it might enter a woman's restroom unsure what it is, get yelled at, leave go into the men's room, only to get yelled at and leave, then wondering why it would be yelled at for being near such large water fountains, and why they where segregated.) Tends to act easy going, even in the face of danger, though can grow stressed, especially around food, which it then uncontrollably drools over it's own face trying to avoid giving in to it's natural instincts to chew. Does- Travels space, discovering and recording tech from every race possible, in a attempt to replicate the experimental avian gem tech that gave it it's sentience. Part times as a vendor of said technology to other space explorers, and supposedly toppled a evil military regime on a far off system. Likes- Chewing, especially the human treat 'Gum', also enjoys things that others would consider cutesy, and often gets picked up and cuddled due to it's cute appearance, Actually likes it though. Dislikes- Aggression towards it's 'Poptop Brethren!' Despite them being mindless animals compared to it, can lightly communicate but can't over write their wish to chew everything they see. Abilities- Outside of being a 'Super genius' Mavi has no real special abilities, outside of what little it's tech can do, Which includes translating it's thoughts to voice, and allowing it to control it's age between immature and mature forms. Owns- A teeny tiny space ship crafted out of spare parts from the same ship that the experimental intelligence tech came from, the Gem tech on it's body, and a Old broken Matter Manipulator, that it swears works when nobody is looking (Sometimes pretends it's a gun around people that have never seen one.) Backstory- Once a pet poptop on a rather low tech florian world, a great flying primary crashed into the dense jungle near the village. The villages entered, raided what they could find, though where mostly interested in the new freshly cooked meat. After a particularly intense night of reveling at their feast, one drunk man decided to take some of the shiny bits he found in the ship and put it on one of the many pet poptops of the village, having the strange side effect of boosting it's intellect far beyond what it's florian owners had. Wandering off in the middle of the night, it salvaged the remains of the ship and began to expand upon it's new intelligence tech, making wondrous upgrades for itself, before taking what it could of the ship and making a small space pod, leaving it's home-world with the intent of figuring how ot replicate it's intelligence tech to gift to the rest of it's race some day. Edit: Maybe I put too much detail, looks like I'm overselling the it despite being all accurate to the character Edit-Edit: Put it all in a spoiler to avoid just pure walling the thread X~X
Let's see what I can do... well, shnap. Looks like I'll have to leave this and finish it later. Name: Kade Timothy Ingensson Description: Standing at 6 foot 2, the Human Kade Ingensson shows his Scandinavian ancestry well. He's built strong, but not overly muscled, with a clearly military posture and figure. He's let his blonde hair grow out, the tips of which barely reach his shoulders. His naturally pale skin has nevertheless gotten tanned from the light of many suns, (to be continued whenever I can) Backstory: Kade was born in a pioneer Human settlement, where his father Mark served in the army. He learned guitar when a teenager, and formed an indie band with a few of his friends (although he left eventually, the band is still in existence). His older sister, Lyn, left home only months before his parents (his mother Julie had rejoined the army as well by this time) were both declared missing. Kade was on the team that recovered their bodies. After that, he served out the rest of his term, then packed his belongings (as well as a remarkable number of novels) and set off urgently to find his sister. With only a few scattered clues, it may seem impossible, but the tricks he's learned while in the army will hopefully make it (to be continued)
@Royaltop & @Miss Alkane - Both look good! I'm probably going to keep this open for about a week and see what kind of attention it draws before deciding!
Thank you! I might take a while to finish mine, depending on time available and my level of interest.
So, I'm not really sure how to get exposure for this badboy, you'd think a free design and feature of one's character would draw in more people! My comic style will be minimalistic and simplified for flow, but, for the person who can refer enough people to this thread, I might be willing to sweeten the pot. Ideally I'd like to have three characters by the end of the month (that's the 31st.) For those of you willing to nudge people in this direction and have them post small bios/ref/etc, have your referrals bold your name at the beginning of their post. By the 31st, I will count (your) character post and any referrals towards your overall total, whoever has the most will get a free rough paint render from me that is something similar to... this is quality. Alternatively I could also go more cartoony and make you a 500x500 piece with a quality similar to this. Think of it like a contest.
I've been thinking of a good character to post for some time now. Here's the stuff: Name: Fuchsia Whitman Race: Human Gender: Female Image: Personality: Fuchsia is is a quiet, skittish, and somewhat childish character. Don't let that fool you though, she's got some mad skills with her laser sword. She's also a fairly decent actor, as well, although her skittishness (is that how you even say that?) has led to a few scrapes while she was trying to act. Profession: Actor/Spy Significant other: none Hope you like it!
Well since I have not artistic tallent I'll go ahead and throw in my guy. Name: AlexZander "Alex" Hoffman. Age:27 Race:Human Image: Details : He's 5 feet 11 inches tall, His build is a bit average, He has a gotee and five o'clock shadow and a scar across his right eye from a sword slash, When he's shirt less he has a few blast scars and blade scars from the several attacks he's endured during his adventure, His skin is tan and he has blue eyes. His hair color is chestnut brown with a few grey hairs since his family has a trait of greying early. Also he has one tribal tattoo on his left shoulder in remembrance of his mother. Profession:Smuggler,Explorer Personality: Alex is kind and caring to a degree but growing up as a smuggler he's always in it for a profit and always seems to have a gut feeling about when things are about to go bad. He's also smug and over confident in his own abilities sometimes which can lead to hilarious accidents Backstory: Alex grew up on a smugglers ship but in his younger years was the son of a military commander. His mother died at a young age and his father wasn't always around and when he was he was always subjugated to his fathers creed for perfection. Now on his own with a lucky hat he loves more than life its self. Trouble always seems to find him and worse so. Also he is always finding trouble and make life rough for those around him even tho he tries to make up for the mistakes that happen. He's talented at using pistols of all sorts but he can rig up a few traps if it means he can get out alive. He's also a flirt and hopeless romantic trying to find that special lady. Favorite weapons: Anything that's a pistol. Favorite quotes: If there's a Profit in it sign me up./ Something tells me were in trouble/ I smell profit. Spouse: None but is always looking. My next Character Name: Lucy "Lulu" Hammerton. Age:22 Race:Human. Image: Details: She's 5 feet tall 1 inch high. She has blond hair and green eyes, She's got a deep scar on her left arm. She's got an athletic body built for working around tight and dangerous scenarios. She loves ware jean shorts and sleeveless shirts for comfort. Profession: Mercenary Personality: Cocky, Flamboyant, Sarcastic, Ruthless, She also deep down inside want's to be loved.Only someone really close to might be able to unlock that secret. Backstory: Lulu grew up as an orphan not known her family she doesn't care to talk about it since it only brings up bad memories of her past. She's prefers to live in the here and now phases never thinking about tomorrow or yesterday. As a child she was trained to fight by a Floran that was more of a parent to her than anything else. Now in her early twenties she's become a popular Mercenary for hire often being hired by smugglers and lesser sorts that don't care to get there hands dirty. Her one weakness tho is new and exotic foods. Favorite Weapons: Rifles, Swords Favorite quotes: Look hun I'm not your typical blond looking for a good time. / I like a good fight / What is that your eating? I want some. / I only work for the highest bidder. Spouse: None. Hope this helps you Des
Axe Grawsbeak: Race: Avian Gender: Male Personality: Likes to be in charge, loves humor (of all forms), polite and kind when he needs to be Relation to others: Married to Haley Lochness, (Adoptive) Father of Gekk Lochness Position: Captain, “Archaeologist” (Pirate) Quirks: Addicted to beakseed, very critical of those around him Story: Born in a bustling Avian city to unknown parents, Axe had to learn to steal early on in his life to survive. At the age of 13, the city was pillaged and raided by airship pirates. When they returned with their ill-gotten gains to their ship, they discovered Axe hiding in their storage room. Instead of executing him, they realized his talents and recruited him into their band of pirates. He spent years looting, pillaging, and honing his skills as a pirate and a mechanic for the crew. When the captain considered him too old to stay, he gave him a battered, broken space ship and shot him off to foreign galaxies. Years of piloting and fixing the airship gave Axe the know-how to repair the damaged ship. After a few unsuccessful expeditions, he discovered his future wife and child, Haley and Gekk Lochness, at the ruins of a burning village. Feeling pity, but also love for them, he took them in and offered them a chance to work with him as a crew of archaeologists. They soon figured out his true occupation, but Haley had fallen in love with his cocky, but likable character. Because of this, she offered to become his wife, if he would agree to becoming the adoptive father of Gekk. Axe happily agreed, and the three are currently roaming the stars, searching and looting ancient, forgotten civilizations (as well as some more recent ones). Image for character: http://imgur.com/r6ukspk Haley Lochness: Race: Hylotl Gender: Female Personality: A bit bossy, but kind and reassuring, acts like a mother would to others around her Relation to others: Married to Axe Grawsbeak, Mother of Gekk Lochness Position: First Mate, Chef Quirks: Values vanity above all, very devoted to culture and her beliefs Story: Raised on a small island for her first 20 years of life, Haley grew up learning all of the proper culture and arts of the Hylotl. She was fascinated with the absolute vanity of the Hylotl ways, always finding new ways to construct or create beautiful clothes and dishes. She was content with her life, and would have stayed that way if not for the invasion of her home town. Her village was mercilessly looted and raided, losing almost all of her friends, family, and her husband. Only she and her son, Gekk, stayed alive throughout the fighting. As the ships flew out into space, they remained stranded at the burning remains of their former home. With no way to access other islands, they silently prayed for a saviour, as their culture had taught them. It definitely did not come in the way they expected. Another ship, much like the previous invaders, flew in and landed at the island. Waiting with bated breath, Haley and Gekk could only watch as a strange Avian poked his head out of the docking hold. Within the time of a small conversation, she and Gekk were offered transportation off the island and an occupation as archeologists with the bird, who called himself Axe. As they roamed together, she found that she was beginning to love the bird. After praying and discussing with Gekk, she decided to marry Axe if he would become the child’s adopted father. He happily agreed, and now the three currently roam the galaxy, serving as “archeologists” to get income and necessities. It’s an exciting life, in quite a different way from her childhood, but she enjoys it with a different kind of passion. Images for character: http://imgur.com/7ZlcVzR http://imgur.com/ePU2TbZ If you need anymore information, just let me know.
Well, Mega Flapper decided to send people this way, so here I am. There is only one logical choice that I can submit for this comic. The original Dusty. Marius 'Dusty' Oswald Age: Late 30s. He stopped keeping track. Species: Human Physical characteristics: Dusty is 5'6" tall and has an averagely proportioned body. His hair is short and dust colored, and looks to have never seen a comb. A permanent smile is affixed to his sharp face, his eyes a pleasant shade of blue. Dusty has several animal characteristics due to experimental testing, which consist of sharp teeth, padded feet and hands and a brown striped tail. Reference: Personality: Three things are usually attributed to Dusty: his energy, his naivete and his kindness. Dusty tries to be a friend to all living things, attempting to talk things out before walking into conflict. He doesn't understand very well why people need to harm others, and often pleads others to see there is always another way to resolve an issue. Dusty loves companionship and friends He also cares greatly for animal life, be it Terran or alien, and likes to keep random monsters he finds as pets (whether they like it or not). This ties into Dusty's love for exploration, enjoying the travel to new planets all the time to find whatever mysterious or monsters exist there. Of course, his tastes tend to the macabre and horrific on occasion, and people tend not to know how to react to watching Dusty take joy in finding a carving of what looks to be from a book by H.P. Lovecraft. While upfront Dusty shows off a simple-minded intelligence, which supports his child-like attitude, Dusty also is very smart. Naturally people view this from his cloudcuckoolander personality, but when he's angry he won't hold back a heavily logical response. Tl;dr : Dusty is a child in a man's body who enjoys adventure and the abnormal. Backstory: Dusty was the Secretary of the Interior back when the Earth was attacked by the Tentacomet. He's also the person who stopped the president from launching the nuclear strike against it, in case the creature was friendly. After the Earth's subsequent destruction, Dusty traveled the stars in the ship he woke up in. His travels through the stars are too many to enumerate, but the most critical was this one: While running after a large bug-like bird, Dusty found himself at the doorstep at a large Apex Lab. Entering the building, Dusty was captured by the scientists inside and was subjected to hundreds of genetic experiments, ripping apart and piecing back together his DNA over and over. Sometime later, Dusty woke inside a vat of green liquid, with various wires and tubes threaded in and out of his body. He took this chance to escape, killing several scientists in the process. Resting under a tree far, far away, Dusty noticed some differences granted to him thanks to the power of science fiction genetics. He now had a tail, the rough padding on his feet and hands, the meat-ripping canines, and increases smell and hearing. Unperturbed by the transformation into an abomination, Dusty found his spaceship in slight disrepair, but capable enough to keep traveling the stars for as long as he wishes
I think I might toss Nezun this way. I'll do up a full bio once I get some free time at work. c: EDIT: Found free time! Name: Nezun Skyfire Race: Avali Age: 23 Sex: Female Height: 3ft Weight: 30lbs Physic: Slim/tone Colour Pattern: Sky-blue plumes with no trimming with a white underbelly plume References: Favorite food: Steak Personality: Caring, slightly childish, meat addict, big hearted, short tempered, fighter, self-incriminating Likes: Kindness, meat, being around others, training, fighting, teaching/spending time with youth, honesty, outcasts, cold/cool air, Mira Dislikes: Fancy things, hypocrites, oppressive authority, burnt meat, snobby personalities Bio: Born into a military tribe, Nezun grew up with a mindset that survival was second to your pack. As a young hatchling, Nezun had a knack for close-quarters combat with her bare hands and claws, along with small blades such as daggers and short swords. In an age where high-powered weaponry and armament were the norm, Nezun preferred to use traditional weaponry and pugilism claiming that they were more reliable, as such, she rarely wears armour, preferring to wear nothing at all as it didn't restrict her movement, but will wear a white-fur parka if it was cold enough to call for it. Into Nezun’s juvenile age, she took the stealthier style of combat, this landed her a position as a scout within her pack. Along with her fiery combat personality, she also covered as a fighter as she never shied away from a brawl; she appeared to revel in it. Along with her normal fighting style, Nezun took up training in as many fields of combat as she could during her later juvenile years. Although she had much success in the theory areas of ranged combat, she somehow managed to fall short in practical uses. Her excuse was that it wasn't fast-paced enough for her and that taking the time to aim was boring. After an incident where she ended up killing someone during a spar, to which wasn't a rare occurrence, Nezun spent some time in self-imposed solitary confinement. This incident weighted heavily on her heart and she swore to herself that she would attempt hold back her urges to fight. After her self-imposed confinement was over Nezun took up the reins of teaching younger avali combat and survival training, using her pent up urges for the better. Through training with the youth, Nezun developed a fondness for children and was able to successfully hold back her urges to go all-out when fighting. If you find anything that's inconsistent or could be further elaborated, let me know, and I'll try my best to fix it up.
You know what? My character Gina doesn't get enough love any more since Aquaris died. You can have her if you want. Character name: Gina Elsen Paige Race: Floran Picture: Thank you @desbro! Physical Description: 23yrs, 5' 10", 268lbs, cybernetic eye and arm, singed cyan-colored flower. Internal biomchanical organs: heart (along with her normal organic heart), right lung, left kidney, lower jaw, right part of upper jaw, right side of face. Backstory: orphaned as an infant and sold into floran slave trafficking with her older sister Gale Paige (formally named fire-bud), they eventually escaped on a city-slum planet through questionable means. There, they were taken in by the Warm Hearts orphanage and spent most of their life there. Gale started working as a field nurse while Gina became engrossed and captivated by the world of technology and engineering. They both soon left the orphanage to pursue their own interests. Gale pursuing a career as a doctor, Gina working as a techie for a large clan of vigilante criminals. Several years later, the city descended into total chaos, and Gina's sister became one of many victims of police brutality after trying to help save a rioter. Gina also fell victim when she got caught in an explosion during the same riot, losing her both legs, her left arm and right eye, along with several organs. The few remaining survivors of her clan pitched in to help her medical bill and with getting her limbs back. After recovering, she soon began operating on her self, starting with basic servos and eventually creating artificial muscle and entirely rebuilding her left arm arm with it, and soon replacing every basic limb the doctors gave her with her own advanced bionic muscles, and as an experiment, gave her self a second heart, this one cybernetic. After spending another two years scraping together whatever pixels she could get from her professions as a mechanic and toy/weapons manufacturer, she eventually saved up enough to get smuggled off planet to god knows where. Traits: extremely talented engineer, very good inventor, excellent hover car and mech mechanic, intuitive, creative, resourceful, has mechanical arm w/ built in short range precision matter manipulator, great with technology, street smart, owns modular omni-tool, open to being wrong and making mistakes, handy in a fight, has cybernetic eye, no hissing lisp when talking. Flaws: aggressive, short tempered, very sensitive about topics related to her history, disorganized, has bad experience with hylotl, "eccentric" (mad scientist level), tends to not avoid risks, has tendency to go apeshit with a wrench when pissed off, not particularly one for aeronautics and rocket science, awful leader, PTSD, quite vulnerable to inebriation at low blood-alcohol levels. The nerve-network she implemented in her artificial skin allows her to feel like normal people. Including pain... When she hasn't taken her pills: Sociopath... Cold and calculated at times... Quick to anger, Brutal and unfeeling killer... Very sadistic... Other notes: being a former and experienced prostitute makes her an excellent partner in bed. Her favorite drinks are variants of different citrus sodas (lemon, lime, lemon-lime, occulemon-lime, cranberry-orange, etc.), She's not picky when it comes to food. Her favorite form of entertainment are books. Especially ones on engineering and technology. As repulsive as she may act, she's actually a lover of making new friends and meeting new people.
Bloop- Wound up getting a slightly more fancy redesign of Royaltop- http://orig07.deviantart.net/10bf/f/2016/095/8/1/commission__royaltop_by_dragonith-d9xv1l0.png
Is this still a thing? Man, I hope this is still a thing. In any case, I dig your work, and I do love writing up characters, so here are some characters. Built to be a footman, but profoundly unsuited to the role in disposition (being both averse to violence, and far too curious), the glitch that would later be known as Scribe was outcast and chased from his home upon being caught reading in the King's library. He was lucky enough to be picked up by a passing exploration ship, scouting the planet. Since then, he's travelled. At first, while finding his footing, he signed on to cargo ships as a labourer (a strong back and indifference to physical hardship being a far more marketable skill than a curious and thoughtful nature). Later, with both experience and resources at his disposal, he set out to travel with a goal in mind, fuelled by a powerful curiosity; not merely about the galaxy, but the people, cultures, histories, and literature that populated it. In this, he has been fairly successful, having visited a great many places, and recorded everything of interest he could find. He's even published a few books (that awkwardly straddle the line between travel guide, and cultural anthropology text), although he is by no means well known. More recently, he assisted a similarly curious floran in absconding from her home planet, and they've traveled together since. Disposition: Generally speaking, Scribe is thoughtful, mild, and polite. In social situations he is affable, and a pleasant conversationalist, though not everyone appreciates his curiosity. While he greatly enjoys rational debate - academic, philosophical, or otherwise - he tries very hard to avoid adversarial argument and confrontations. Unfortunately, his typical approach to defuse that kind of thing (waiting politely for an emotional outburst to run its course, then try to re-initiate calm conversation) often has the opposite of the intended effect. This attitude stems from a deep-seated aversion to violence, regarding it as an absolute last resort, and its outbreak as a personal failure on his part. That said, he is by no means detached or passionless - Scribe is deeply passionate about that which is important to him, including his work. However, because of a strong tendency to consider his actions thoroughly before enacting them (and indeed, to over thinking, and procrastinating about important decisions), he tends not to act emotionally. Habits: Scribe, as his nickname suggests, spends plenty of time both writing and reading, when left to his own devices. His cabin is, inevitably, packed with books, scrolls, and writing materials, to the point of being an extreme tripping hazard. They're real, dead-tree books, too, although he likes electronic backups where possible - when pressed on this choice, he has no better answer than 'force of habit'. He is generally quite happy to work for room and board, even volunteering for the more physically demanding chores. In port, however, he has no time for any of that, particularly at a place he hasn't been before, and will spend almost every waking moment visiting, watching, and listening to as much as possible, journal and pen in hand. Competencies: Scribe is foremost a scholar, of cultures, history, and literature. He has no technical or scientific training, no any particular interest in those subjects. He's great at getting along with (most) people, being generally pleasant and polite company, and makes a fairly good negotiator (assuming the other party's reasonable, and things don't get too confrontational). He's dynamite at rational debates, though, assuming he believes whatever he's arguing for. Being fairly big, and tolerant of exertion, he is well suited to physical labor. While he doesn't particularly like spending his time like that, he doesn't mind it if necessary. Finally, he's alright in a fight - he's been caught in enough of them that he doesn't tend to freeze up under fire. He's a fair shot with a rifle, and he bears his armor like a pro. That's all compromised by a powerful distaste for violence, however, and a complete unwillingness to throw the first punch. Appearance: A glitch of generally unremarkable appearance; dark metal plating, warm orange eyelights, and the 'rabbit-ears' antennae, that seem to subconsciously adjust their angle according to mood. Not huge, but reasonably big - if you went purely by size and build, he'd be prime soldier material. For someone so interested in the fashions of unfamiliar cultures, Scribe is remarkably uninterested in his own, and generally dresses in plain and serviceable clothing in browns and greys. In addition to pants and boots, he tends to wear a long, quilted coat-like garment that doubles as the underlayer for his armor. The armor itself is plain steel plate in the typical glitch style. Wears spectacles, though whether this is due to an actual optical flaw, or is just an affectation, is unclear. Quotes: Apologetic. Excuse me, sir! I'm afraid I'm newly arrived - I was hoping you could enlighten me... (finishing writing rapidly in a journal) Grateful. Thank you kindly, miss, for indulging my curiosity. Cheerful. So very nice to meet you, my friend. Amused. I am afraid you may be barking up the wrong tree, miss. (to an overzealous crewmate) Apprehensive. Forgive the interjection, but I'm not entirely sure you've considered the ethics of that course of action... Hunting, stabbing and eating are all well and good, but surely they can't be everything? These were the questions that ate at the young floran; and ate at her all the more because they didn't seem to bother her cocoon-kin. It's not that those things weren't good - her every cell thrilled at the exertion of the chase, and pushing her body to the limit in mortal combat, if not the killing itself. She was just so curious about what else might be - but she was smart, smart enough to know that curiosity was not well-looked upon, and so kept this to herself. Right up until the strange robot-man from the stars showed up. The older hunters didn't like him poking about, but tolerated him (where they had not tolerated other, less fortunate travellers) because he was not made of meat, and so was clearly not food. Seeing her opportunity, the young floran cornered the glitch (away from the ears of the others) and demanded answers to her questions - all the questions she'd ever thought up, one after the other. To her surprise, she received answers, and enthusiastically - answer after answer, and to those things to which the glitch had no answer, the floran instead received a reciprocation of her curiosity. That, more than anything, made up the floran's mind, so she threatened the glitch her stabber, demanding he take her to the stars. She was somewhat wrong-footed by the assurance that the threat was unnecessary, and he would do this happily. But the floran was nothing if not a quick learner. The glitch asked her name, but the floran had decided her old name wasn't hers, anymore, and perhaps, never was. It was the name of a much less interesting person she had only ever pretended to be. Much to her annoyance, he also insisted he couldn't simply call her 'Name'. But after a little hassling, questioning, and tricking the floran had an answer - and gleefully declared that she'd be called 'Moniker'. Disposition: Typically, people describe Moniker as being ‘horridly enthusiastic' - in that she is very enthusiastic, and they would prefer it if she wasn't. Whatever she does, she does it entirely, with nothing held back. This is partly because she pretty much never does anything she doesn't want to, and partly enjoys pushing her limits - to push every fibre of her being to a single end, and bask in the thrill of competence. This unrestrained attitude, along with her lack of education, and distinctly floran manner of speech (sans pronouns and with a bit of a hiss) often give the impression that she's stupid, but that's actually far from the truth. Moniker is highly intelligent; just not prone to introspection or thinking things through. Socially, she is very positive and very happy, laughing and grinning near incessantly. Unfortunately, people mostly find this unnerving. This (entirely unintentional) unpleasantness is compounded by the fact that she's remarkably good at pushing people's buttons, and has no compunctions about doing this so her own amusement. She's not really a bad person, though - ethically speaking, Moniker and Scribe are almost completely on the same page. Moniker just doesn't really see 'hurt feelings' as a real thing that should matter (though she rarely sets out with the objective of hurting them). This also means she's remarkably chill about being insulted; her usual reaction would be to laugh, and reply in kind. The other main point of difference is that once she's identified that violence is inevitable, she has no compunctions about utilising it immediately, and generally doesn't feel bad about it. After all, she enjoys the fighting for the exertion (rather than hurting people, or defeating them). Habits: First and foremost, Moniker loves doing new stuff. New and interesting places, people, music, food - especially food - these are what Moniker really lives for. She can read, now, and will do so if the subject matter is interesting enough - and particularly if it has practical applications, which she can then go and do. Absent sufficiently interesting courses of action, she tends to sleep a lot, offsetting her disproportionately energetic activity with equally disproportionate amounts of sleep (and food). She has a bad habit of sitting on anything that isn't a chair, and sleeping anywhere that isn't a bed, and is frequently discovered napping in odd places aboard the ship. Competencies: Moniker is far smarter than most people give her credit for. She has an exceptional memory, and a natural knack for picking out the important details from a complicated mess. The latter trait is what makes it so easy for her to push people's buttons, but also means she's surprisingly good at fixing broken machines, despite a lack of any formal training. Physically, she's stronger than she looks, and fast. More than that, her movements can be extremely abrupt; her biggest advantage in a fight is that she goes from 'standing cheerfully' to 'biting your nose off' without any intermediate steps. On fighting, she has no special training, but plenty of experience, and is fairly 'traditional floran' about things. Her typical approach is the close, grapple, then bite, stab, punch, or break, as necessary. Skilled with a variety of stabbing implements, but usually only carries a knife or two. Appearance: Olive-green bark, with greyish-purple foliage, of which she has quite a lot, in a messy mop on her head. Physically, she's very small - Moniker is about 2 persons worth of energy packed into 2/3 of a person of mass; a tiny, jittery dynamo. Tends to wear dresses, somewhat incongruously. Hates both pants and shoes, but doesn't mind skirts (at least, ones she can run in). Doesn't really wear armor, but has a pair of leather armguards she wears if she's expecting a fight. Has a short, fur-lined cloak with a high collar for cold weather (preferable to a coat; doesn't restrict movement). Sometimes wears an interesting hat (depending on where she last visited). Quotes: Fight fair? Fighting fair sstupid. Moniker ssays, if want to fight fair, reasson for fighting not good enough. Hahahah! Meat-human has big wordss, but Moniker thinkss there is nothing to back them up. Run along now, meat-human! (wearing a shit-eating grin) Not confusing, ssimple. Moniker is Moniker's moniker. Hrmph. Hurt feelingss. Sso dumb! Moniker ssayss, wordss are wordss, not sstabss. Why is ape-lady ssurprissed? Of coursse Moniker is right. Moniker is geniuss. These two have travelled together for some time before joining the crew. They're very close, and nigh-inseparable, but their relationship is entirely platonic. Their similarities are few, but profound; they are both driven by an immense curiosity about the innumerable people and places of the galaxy. They are both tremendously interested in all the myriad details and differences of those people and places, and believe those things to be important. If asked, they'd phrase it entirely differently, but they understand each other well enough to know they're on the same page. Conversely, their differences are numerous, but complementary. Scribe is thoughtful and slow to act, where Moniker is adaptable and impetuous. Each covers the other's blind spots, and shores up their weaknesses. Scribe is there to smooth over ruffled feathers and prevent unnecessary fights; Moniker is there to throw the first punch when a fight is unavoidable. Scribe pulls Moniker up short when she's about to rush into something unwise, and she short-circuits his procrastination by acting. This continues on an intellectual level; Scribe taught Moniker, among many other things, to read, but relies on her to remember all the many details that he couldn't write down in time. In short, they're equally dependant on each other. They're not 100% a package deal, but I think the characters are much more interesting as a pair than alone! I'm more than happy to make adjustments, or add details as necessary. Good luck with the comic!
If anybody wants, might I suggest using the guidelines that I used in a character creation thread. I made it so that you can create a super dynamic and well made character in 10 steps. Check my signature for the link. I'll post the thing here. Step ONE: Start out with the basics: name, race, gender, basic appearance. Step TWO: Think of a general character archetype you'd like to model them around. IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH THIS ONE, REFER TO BREAKFAST CLUB(the princess, the jock, the rebel, the outcast, and the geek). Step THREE: Mold your character's fashion sense, posture, and possibly redo the appearance to LOOSELY, AT LEAST to fit your character's archetype or general personality(93% of communication is nonverbal). Step FOUR: With an archetype, basic appearance, and fashion all set in mind. Now try to complete your character's aesthetic, possibly with the aid of someone more visually minded if you don't believe you can manage that on your own. Step FIVE: Now that you have a roughly completed aesthetic and archetype, now try to make your character less static by giving them a backstory. NOTE: a backstory doesn't HAVE to be original, you can go with the classic traumatically losing parents or family kind of thing if you want or if it fits the character well. Although it does help if there's something to specifically discern your character from others(PLEASE ATTEMPT TO CONTACT SOMEONE ELSE ABOUT A BACKSTORY, to check that it makes sense or seems right for your character). Step SIX: After you've roughly completed your character's backstory I suggest that you think of some strengths and weaknesses. If your character is a main character then generically it's crucial that they have a fatal weakness, something that the villain can use to their advantage to the point where your hero could die if it weren't for something else. I think a hand full of strengths and weaknesses that balance each other out, not literally but in terms of value to the character. Example: High intellect balances the fact that maybe your character has a weak frame. THE MORE THE BETTER, but don't get too crazy with it, a character with 50 strengths and 50 weaknesses seems very silly, unless most of them are smaller things. Step SEVEN: At this point you can start to really flesh out your character's personality, loosely basing a lot of how they act from their past or the dire weaknesses they may be aware of, maybe a character has a paranoia over people finding their weaknesses and could lose their cool once even their friends start to find out things. Which would also provide a handy character development arc(or HCDA as I'll call it from now on). So by all means at this step try to get a friend to help you look at all the parts of your character's archetype, their weaknesses and strengths, their backstory, and try to flesh out their personality a ton more. Step EIGHT: Now you can really start to step back and see that your character is starting to seem very dynamic as opposed to the static guy/gal/etc you started with. So before step 10, step 8 and 9 will be more relaxed so your brain can cool down a bit. For step eight I'd like you to look at how you character solves problems, how your character fights, whether they want to even fight or not. All of the things that are more based on circumstance. I make this step SOUND complicated but in reality it's pretty SIMPLE. PROTIP: Throw your character into a random scenario that fits whatever world or universe they'll inhabit, and then just daydream about how they'd go about the scenario. This is important because in stories of any kind characters are constantly having obstacles thrown at them, it's very important to know how your character solves these problems and gets past these obstacles. Depending on how well their way of thinking works this can also provide an HCDA for developing your character further to OTHER people. Step NINE: Now like I was saying, step 8 and 9 are more relaxed. Step 9 is more about your character's possessions, for example something that their dying grandmother(perhaps the only person who cared for them) gave them to treasure and remember them by. This, as well as providing a pretty solid HCDA, will also be an important piece of your character as a whole, it may be something like a weapon or locket or watch, the size and shape doesn't matter as long as it carries a heavy message and an even heavier metaphorical baggage for your character to carry. If your character is possibly on the edge of losing an important battle they can hold their special locket with a picture of the wife and kids and then rise up and turn the tables! Possessions can also be people, I don't mean slavery. I mean. If you want. But I mean people as in maybe your character loves someone deeply and has a piece of their clothing sewn into their shirt or something of the sort, possessions for your character play a big role in making them more dynamic. Step TEN: Well, we've made it, the final step. Step 10 as you hopefully could've guessed is mainly about looking over your character as a whole at this point and just filling in the gaps, maybe making small adjustments to their backstory so the possessions fit better into it or vice versa, step 10 is really just bringing your character together as a whole and finishing the process. Again, I recommend a friend for this one as sometimes looking at things in the big picture sense can be difficult since you're also trying to nitpick the smaller details at the same time. Step 10.5 can basically be visualizing your character via artistic media, you don't have to do it but you can if you want to. Congratulations! You've completed my 10 steps for creating a wholly dynamic character, now go use them wherever, whenever, and however you want. You deserve it! Good luck in making some awesome characters, guys! I'll think about submitting my own character here as well
