Most of you don't know this, but I've been selected as the writer for a smallish, unpublished comic book (ah, the wonders of no one being paid). Well, I've been looking over what we have for a plot so far, and damn, but we'll be tearing through main characters like tissue paper. Maybe this is overcompinsation for all the times no one but the old dude dies, but we're quite possibly gonna kill off everyone but him...

Anyway, I'm moving my request for character ideas for the comic book I'm doing the writing for here. I'm looking for characters as non-sterotypical as possible, in a fantasy world. Predominantly human city, and elves can't be introduced as good-guys for complex reasons of plot (and nothign to do with the fact I hate the bark-eating point-eared pUnkz0rs). All heros must have a reason to be chasing after a relic... note this doesn't really mean they have to want to use it. At least one so far is trying to beat his father to it to prove he's a better man.

Oh, and because I'm a sexist pig, I've only got one halfway decent female character. No caretakers, thank you very much.

Here's a recap from what I posted earleir...

Well, the relic wasn't really all that well known, and only one group of people knew (the king and a few close advisors.) But a nonhuman spy/freedom fighter/weirdo slipped in the window and stole all the notes about it, and decided that humans wern't smart enough to controll it. So in order to keep the pieces from being assembled, he promptly made copies of the notes and gave them to pretty much anyone who would stand still long enough to take a copy.

The relic is extreamly powerful, and the reason a once great magical empire is now nothing but immutable black rock in the middle of a desert.

So all the factions are after it... amoung others, the fairly professional crown, the disturbingly rag-tag thieves guild, and the just plain creepy mages (Pedophelia is viewed by them much the same way a preference for chocolate ice-cream is... merely a matter of taste). The 'heros' are going to be a small group thrown together by chance, but I want to deviate from the norm as much as possible from there.

That's about it. I know it's a lot, but you're a creative lot, and I know I can count on y'all. Oh, two last things... Mages are total sociopaths, so without a good reason, they make poor choices for heros. And I'd like more than a one sentance outline. Don't worry about town or city names, or history, or whatever else in the background... I'll change them to the setting specific.

Time to do something with those apps you made for characters you never intended to play.

By Casske on Friday, June 29, 2001 - 05:04 am:

I'm also currently working on a comic (manga style) and not getting paid a single cent...

Anyways, I haven't had much in the way of rejected applications... at least not OC ones. I reccomend that you have a group of people searching for each sort of view on such a relic. One group, the jaded travellers, want to sell it for money. You mentioned the man trying to show up his father. Another group may want it for studys. Another may want it for the raw power. Still another simply to be able to say they have it.

I'll give it some more thought, when I don't have the tyranical producer's deadline hanging over my head like a guillotine blade. ^^

By Duran on Friday, June 29, 2001 - 10:04 pm:

Hey, Joseph, can HALFELVES be introduced as characters?

After all, they can be introduced as deviants of society, and be isolated from both humans and elves as a result of their crossbreeding.

Also, before I suggest anything more, what kind of effect does the "relic" have? Does it give mental powers to the user? Advanced military power? Or maybe even money?

I'd just like to know, because different uses for the relic can concern different types of people.

By Casske on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 07:14 am:

My take on the relic idea is to use a sort of Triforce theory, in that whomever discovers it first and gains possession of it will have their desires represented by the relic. If the person wants money, the relic will become invaluable. If knowledge is the key, the relic could become a catalyst to awakening the mind's dormant 90%. Etc... you get the idea.

By Duran on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 05:39 am:

Generic! OK, gotcha.

In that case, crossbreeds like halfelves can have all sorts of desires for that relic. For instance, a halfelf (or whatever type of crossbreed) is usually isolated, so he'll want money/respect/power to gain respect from everyone else who is repulsed by the thought of humans/elves.

OR, some sort of treasure hunter/thief might be a good selection as well, since they have a wide range of specializations and reasons for wanting a relic (one of the most likely would be money, or having to sell the relic for money).

By Rani on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 09:17 pm:

Hmm... Mind if I jump in with a concept? Mind you, when it comes to character concepts, I try to be as unconventional as possible. ^_^

Maybe there should be another female- pear-shaped, not thin, but just as sexy and kickass as any Lara Croft lookalike. ^_^ Maybe it could be a sorceress, but not a kooky one, or a fighter. Really, if you wanna get points from the female crowd, try that. -.^

By Joseph on Monday, July 02, 2001 - 04:26 am:

Sorry, and I'm greatful for all your help and all, but Casske's hit my secret weakspot: That absolute c&%p that is the rumor that humans only use 10% of their brains.

Once upon a time their was a magazine editor named Campbell. He raised Science Fiction from absolute trash to the quality it is today. Not that most people think it's anything more than trash, but it was a lot worse before hand. He was a great man in Sci Fi, but he had his faults.

One of these faults was he would make up scientific facts, and then tell his writers to put them in their stories. One of these facts was that humans only use ten percent of their brain. As a result, it became a staple of science fiction.

You all hear that? It was made by a hack in New York who wouldn't know a CAT scan if it bit him on the butt! He was a science fictioin editor! An editor! Not even a writer! And now everyone on the freaking planet beleives it's true! Argh!

Glad I've got that out of my system.

Thanks for everything I've got so far... I'm already thinking of a sorceress, but the problem being that learning magic makes you a sociopath... eventually, she's probably going to turn on the heros and try to kill them all. Like I said, we're burning through MCs like nobody's buisness.

By Casske on Thursday, July 05, 2001 - 02:35 am:

Heh, hmm... you're just like me with evolutionary theory. O_o Well, thanks for the info... glad to know it.