The Story in a nutshell- Humanity just barely avoided extinction due to a race of mutants called Otherkind, but humanity formed an army called Bloodbane using a science so advanced it was dubbed magic. Bloodbane split into two groups, the independent states, and the Bloodbane Empire. Among the independent states, there is Arulan the border state, but using child slavery they managed to become strong, but recently, there has been a revolution. As the new queen, a sixteen year old girl named Reina, prepares to switch over the city's alliance to Bloodbane, the remnants of Arulan's old army prepare for a daring counter revolution backed by the independent state of Kagegakure. However, the situation is delicate, the revolution must be reversed before Reina's political marriage, or a civil war will erupt, but if Bloodbane sends in troops to quell the rebellion before the marriage, the independents will rally together, and a bloody war will erupt as well.
Characters:
Name: Doom
Alignment: Neutral Evil, he won't do anything unless ordered to by Haruka, but he is over the top in his methods.
Personality: He rarely sees the need to talk with people for politeness, but if he's curious he'll ask questions. He almost always expresses his thoughts out loud, but cares very little for other people's thoughts, save Haruka. Because he almost lacks the capacity to care for another's thoughts, he is bad with people and lack charisma. However, the few people that do like him seem attracted to the surprising complexity of his deeper emotions, and his deep loyalty for people he comes to like, so far only Haruka.
Bio: The sole survivor from within the city of Hokuda, Doom was adopted by a Bloodbane general and fought as a child soldier for most of his youth. Afterward he joined the Bloodbane military academy Miskatonic University. He soon became one of Bloodbane's greatest knights, but one day he betrayed them, and killed everyone at the academy in a single night. Since then he's been roaming the country side, and has apparently been taken under Haruka's wing, still, he has no official alignment, and is highly dangerous. Currently, he has been called to Arulan as back up, and if need be, to destroy the city if the civil war starts.
Magical Ability: Night at The Opera- it is unknown what the full extent of this ability is, so far it's only use has been basic attacks and spells that seem more like beginner spells tailored to Doom's tastes and amplified. Still, even with that he's defeated countless heroes, and somehow survived Hokuda's destruction. No one knows how it actually works, or what its purpose is.
Name: Hiro Noyabr
Alignment: Lawful Good, he always tries to be a good as possible, and will always try to work with the laws, though, if Doom is involved he will shift to Chaotic Good.
Personality: Hiro is the ideal knight. He's always looking to help people, and is constantly trying to be polite. However, the strange world he lives in sometimes causes him to panic when he meets more...animated characters. Seven is the biggest offender, as she hissed at him in their initial meeting.
Bio: Hiro lived in the town of Dunwich since he was young; the town was filled with poverty and funeral bells regular enough to rely on for wake up calls. Still, when offered the chance to join Miskatonic, he signed up immediately, and was a part of the elementary school there (Miskatonic trains from kindergarten to well into college, though you can enter at any stage). There he met, and over the years fell in love with a girl named Rin. Later, Rin befriended Doom, and later admitted to loving him. However, on the night of Doom's massacre, Doom killed Rin, but spared Hiro per her request. Rin asked Hiro to forgive Doom in her last breath, but he couldn't. Since then he has fought with Doom seven times, losing each time, and being brutally wounded. He's been rebuilt with more and more mechanical parts each time. His current orders are to travel to Arulan to cement their alliance with Bloodbane by marrying Reina.
Magical Ability: Heavy Metal Baby- is actually the name of his entire mechanical system. The machines focus magic into bullets and allow other abilities. Still, he has a limited supply of physical ammunition for such things as his magic missiles and more potent magical weaponry. The system is designed for the purpose of fighting Doom, and includes a device called the Trapezohedron that apparently counters Night at The Opera.
Name: Haruka
Alignment: Chaotic Good, she doesn't care much for the rules of any particular game, or even follow most war treaties (by extension of Doom). She'll cheat to win, but is undoubtedly the one of the most noble of the main characters.
Personality: Haruka shows respect for other people, but tends to think of herself as being better; still she legitimately cares for others and put their well-being above her own. Actually it's as if she's so arrogant she crossed over into admirable, by taking the "lesser people's" burdens and fighting to protect them. She has begun to notice that her armies have become slightly lax, and so she no longer fights so that they will not rely on her. She shows a lot of affection toward Doom, and calls him little brother. This is possibly do to his utter lack of charisma, and her strange charisma complementing each other. Of particular note is that she detests being called cute, and always cites her age (28) when called cute, or referred to as a child/
Bio: Haruka's past is written down somewhere, but few people have read it. This is because of the secrecy of her nation, and because she doesn't want her past known. Being the leader of an independent state, Haruka has fought in many minor skirmishes over land, and was one of the first of the leaders of the independent states to stealthily begin war preparations. In the past she had six younger siblings, who were ahead of her to the throne due to her stunted growth. However, they disappeared. Currently, Haruka is backing the Arulan counter-revolution and using the tension of the situation to her advantage. She called Doom into the city, and since he is officially unaligned, he can act freely, so she uses him to do most of the dirty work.
Magical Ability: Main Theme- Haruka's magical ability is unknown even to her, though the effect is clear. It is her god-like charisma, though she hasn't acknowledged it yet. This ability is more tied to her personality than magic, but its potency is what makes it seem like a magical skill.
Names: Cherry and Rose Voltsfeild
Alignment: Neutral Neutral, she just wants to be normal, but she has to act on her orders or die.
Personality: Cherry is a kind girl who likes making friends, and so she tries to be friendly to everyone, but her parasitic twin sister Rose is very rude, and also very solitary. The two can't stand each other.
Bio: Cherry was found abandoned during the Otherkind war, and taken into custody of the Voltsfeild family. She grew up like any ordinary girl, but Rose lived as a parasitic twin, appearing as a small fetus like growth near Cherry's stomach. She went undetected for years, but harbored a secret; she was a vampire due to a wound sustained as a baby. Slowly, she took over Cherry's body, but soon found that living Cherry's life only made her feel hollow. She was jealous of Cherry's chance to live a life, and turned Cherry's body into a vampire body as well, and killed her family and friends, before retreating into her original body. Cherry awoke unaware of what had happened, but found herself craving blood. She ran away, and soon she nearly died of starvation, as she refused to drink blood. Rose awoke to save them both, and went on another killing spree. Soon, she was discovered by Bloodbane, and given a choice, use her powers for them, or die. Currently, she has been deployed to Arulan to back up Hiro; Cherry's unique ability to absorb light makes a good defense to Doom's light based attacks.
Magical Ability: The Rest, The Return, and Vampirism: The Rest is Cherry's ability to absorb light, it allows her to operate in sunlight, and if she had better combat instincts and fighting spirit, she could use it to become invisible. The Return allows Rose to reverse mutations, but it cannot reverse vampirism. Vampirism allows them to control their bodies 100%, such as mutating their bodies into several different forms, heating, pressurizing, and increasing the acidity of her blood, and regenerating from even a single cell. Thanks to The Rest and The Return, they have surpassed most of vampirism's limitations, and are considered high level vampires. Few other vampires have the skill to put themselves back into their original forms and become grotesque monsters.
Name: Seven
Alignment: Lawful Neutral, she follows her employer's contracts to the letter, other than that, she cares more about what video games are being delayed than the war
Personality: Seven acts very childish even for her age (14). She spends her considerable mercenary checks on arcade machines and regularly plays video games to pass the time. She's also very friendly, inviting complete strangers to play with her. She harbors a very deep adoration for her unknown brother, who she often talks about. Still, when contracted professionally, Seven is a ruthless warrior, and the most powerful of the three mercenaries. Her actual name is Fafnir, and like the Norse dragon, is greedy with money at times.
Bio: Seven was outside of her home town of Hokuda when it was destroyed. She's was picked up by a kind old man, and lived with him until his eventually death, she lived with his brother next, who hated her and sold her to Mr. Skinn a notorious pimp who also allows his whores to be rented out as mercenaries. However, Seven was too powerful, and he felt it would be far too dangerous if she were to get pregnant and made her a mercenary only. She dislikes Skinn, but still loves money too much not to accept.
Magical Ability: Bizarre Adventure- look at her hat, what famous anime hero also wears that kind of hat. Look at the villains in his series, and see what's in common between all of them besides the Pillar Men, she can do that. I like puzzles!
Name: K1n
Alignment: Lawful Neutral, similar to Seven, she follows her employer's to the letter
Personality: K1n is the most mature of the three mercenaries. She keeps the other two grounded, and even has a sort of motherly affection for Seven.
Bio: She was found by Mr. Skinn one day, and forced into a life of whoredom. One day, a certain instinct awoke in her, and she fought against her client. Skinn disfigured her face as punishment, and then subjected her to a series of experiments using Scylla's DNA in an attempt to reproduce her powers, but the experiment failed. Since then, Skinn has used her as a mercenary, though he'll still rent her out as a whore if requested.
Magical Ability: Vapor Cage- It allows her to control and "harden" the smoke from her pipe, but that's not all it can do. The smoke has hallucinogenic effects, and can be used to create illusions, but it's not perfect. As the effects vary from person to person, though those can be suggested to see something, a strong will can resist the suggestion, and have a pleasant hallucination.
Name: G1nAlignment: Chaotic Neutral, he just does whatever, he'll be on your side one minute, then at your throat the next
Personality: He's very self-centered, caring only for his own well-being. He is obsessed with defeating Doom to prove he is better, but lacks the power to match him.
Bio: G1n is an illegitimate child of Mr. Skinn, he was infused with Doom's DNA and given powers greater than K1n. Skinn made him a mercenary, and officially is the leader of the three Arulan mercenaries, though in fact K1n leads them.
Magical Ability: Stigma of Sacrifice- He can brand his opponents with a mark that allows him to fire a beam that will hit that mark, no matter what.
Name: Scylla
Alignment: Neutral Evil, as long as Doom isn't involved, she could be nice...but if you insult Doom, you will most likely die.
Personality: She acts cold and indifferent like Doom does, but that is just an act. She is afraid of nearly everything do to childhood trauma, and spends much of her time using magic to suppress her fears. However, when Doom in involved, she can be legitimately cruel, because she loves him, and can't stand other people talking bad about him or stealing his attention away from her.
Bio: Scylla's past is mostly unknown. She was adopted by a wealthy noble at age sixteen, and grew up with his daughter Ingrid. The two went on to found an organization called Saint Cross that is dedicated to the persecution of Forbidden magic. She seems to know details of Doom’s past that he is unaware of, but Doom claims to remember everything about his past.
Magical Ability: Stormbringer- it would be esier to list what it doesn't do. It's definition is to allow the user to do whatever they want to do, but they have to want the desired effect to happen. It's weakness is Scylla's unsureness of what she wants, which means it can be used against her.
That's it in a nutshell. I'll add the other characters as I get more pictures. Currently, it's me and a few friends working on it, with me writing and my firends doing all the art. I'm open to any questions one might ask, and critiques on the character designs as well. Don't really take the pictures too seriously though because my firend did them all really quickly.
UPDATE 7/20/2012- Will now have VN elements, but it's still a multi-character story. The basic plan goes that each in game day multiple characters are avalible, some times there will be choices that may lead the story down a different path, or possibly get a dead end. These alternate paths, shift the focus to a single character and expand their backstory where as the main story wouldn't. So in a way you can choose who the main character is. Certain paths do not shift the focus, but instead have alternative ends to the Arulan Conflict some better than others. Oh, and there are about 120% more metal refrences. What do you guys think?
