what can i say, I'm a grey morality guy.

By weather, do you literally mean all weather? Like heavy storms and heat waves? Sounds like a superpower to me. And mustard gas? Why mustard gas specifically? There's plenty of nerve agents out there, some even more dangerous. Why do they not mass produce super soldiers by kidnapping random children from Africa? Does B.Hood know who Lucia is, since she seems to be a completely different identity, or does she recognize Lucia's mother as her own mother? Sorry for all the questions, but that's to see if you really thought things through. Despite being run of the mil, you seem to have put a lot of effort into her backstory, but make sure to check for possible contradictions and make sure what her limits are, before someone say something is an Ass Pull.

Name: Gerhardt

Age:300

Appearance: Gerhadt is a fairy, and while he looks human, there are many features that are unique to his species. His eyes are completely black, like insects. His lack ears(pointy ears belong to the elves), though he can still listen through sensing vibrations. Gerhadt looks like a dashing human male, with long hair reaching his knees. On his back are scars where his wings used to be, torn of by humans. He keeps himself in armor all day, revealing only his head. He is 5'9, but wear heals to appear taller.

Personality: Fairies are pretty much the most arrogant individuals to ever exist. Gerhadt in particular, is vain, obnoxious, egoistical and stubborn. He is rude to all non-fairies, believing them to be beneath him. Fairies enjoy being naked, not because of being nudists, but because they are so arrogant that they believe its a sin to hide their beautiful bodies. They honestly think that god created them as works of art, and that covering themselves is depriving the world of god's gift. Gerhadt believes that due to his lack of wings, he is imperfect and must cover himself,but is not willing to wear human clothing, so he wears armor that he handcrafted. He thirst for revenge against the ones who tore off his wings, killing all who stands in his way. No beings except fairies are worth anything to him. If he finds anything beautiful, he find ways to keep them as possessions, be it as a trophy or a servant. Gerhadt is a control freak, demanding respect and subservience from all, and will dictate the life to all those under his possession. Over the course of the story, he is humiliated, beaten up and tasted multiple defeats, but instead of becoming a better person, he becomes even more needy and insecure.

Abilities: He wields the Silfnir, a spear crafted using wood from the Tree of birth. It can plant seeds into living beings when the tip pierces the skin, turning them into slaves and drain them of energy. It can plant itself into the ground, absorbing nutrients from the ground and surrounding plant life, rendering the surrounding area dead and infertile, though its limited in range. It can shapeshift, turning into monstrous plants that Gerhadt mentally controls. After absorbing nutrients, the spear can bear fruit, which can be eaten to rejuvenate Gerhadt. By himself, Gerhadt is a master with pole arms, attacking with deadly precision and is extremely agile.

Weaknesses: Due to losing his wings, the part of a fairy's body that help manipulate mana, he can't use magic, and is just as vulnerable to magic as humans. Due to his insistence on wearing heavy armor, his agility and stamina is greatly decreased in battle. His vanity is also a great weakness, often hesitating in attacking if it would leave blemishes on his body.

Goals: To take back his honor by taking revenge on those who took his wings.

Motivation: Extreme pride.

Role in the story: Is one of the generals under the Big Bad, and Foil to one of the main characters.

Backstory: Gerhadt was born in one of the noble families, thus he started even more arrogant than the average fairy. He often abuses his noble heritage to abuse other fairies around him, as well as play sadistic games on humans. He had a sister, who unlike the other fairies, was actually humble and nice to other beings, thus ostracized by other young fairies. Gerhadt particularly hated her, regarding her as a shame of the family, while his inferiority complex contributed to his hatred, since she was regarded highly by elders for her talents and beauty. Seeking power, he aims to prove himself as a warrior by stealing the family heirloom, Silfnir, to kill a dragon. Being overconfident, he attempts to kill a ancient dragon, which are considered to be kings of other smaller dragons. Said dragons are over 500 years old at the least, thrice the size of the average dragon, has human-level intelligence and immunity to most magic. Understandably, Gerhadt was swatted away like a fly. Gerhadt tried again when the ancient dragon was asleep, but destroyed the dragon's egg by accident, causing the dragon to attack in rage. As Gerhadt fled, he led the dragon back to the fairies' homeland, causing widespread destruction.

In attempt to save his own skin, he framed it on his sister, who was ímprisoned and scheduled for execution. Scouts of the Aquilon empire reported the event to their emperor, who decided to attack the fairies while they were weak to wipe them out. With the assistance of the other fair folk who hated the fairies, they managed to drive them to near extinction. Gerhadt's sister, who escaped during the chaos, begged for the remaining fairies to be spared. Smitten by her beauty, he agreed if she was willing to be his consort. A treaty was sent to the fairies, demanding them to become vassals under the Aquilon empire, or be exterminated. This divided the fairies, with those who were not willing to surrender wanting to fight to their last breath. Gerhadt declared his sister a shameless traitor, and as the only one of noble blood left, led the remaining fairies into battle. They were captured and imprisoned, with their wings torn off to render them powerless. They were spared from further torture due to Gerhadt's sister, but remained bitter and waited for their chance for revenge. Gerhadt's sister was assassinated by one of the princes who fought each other for power when the emperor died, so Gerhadt switched his target to the Aquilon empire in general. He was finally released after a century by the Big Bad, who employed him under his services.

Relevant Tropes

Pride: His fatal flaw. It screwed him over many times, especially since his sister even reached out to him to release him from prison, having forgiven him for his actions, but he refused.

Narcissist: Nobody can stand him other than himself, who believes that he is unmatched in beauty.

{{It's All About Me}}: He only ever cares about his own problems and those who ever wronged him. He believes himself to be an innocent and noble warrior, and only hates his sister because he took it as a personal betrayal.

Jerkass: He is worst in character out of the villain faction. Even the Big Bad loved his wife and one of his children(specifically, his oldest son and heir). The Evil Chancellor genuinely believes he is doing what's best for the country, and his authoritarian methods do work, albeit with thousands of lives sacrificed. The other generals have their own principles they follow.

Bullying a Dragon: Literally tried attacking one of the strongest dragons that ever existed. Multiple times in fact.

Break the Haughty: Has so many Humiliation Congas that by the time he dies, he is a shivering wreck, no saner than a mad dog. The heroes leave his corpse to rot out of disgust.

Ungrateful Bastard: His sister forgave him and tried multiple times to save him, and he spits at her face in response.

{{Don't You Dare Pity Me!}}: He takes it as insolent peasants trying to rub salt in his wounds.

Never My Fault: He caused the destruction of the fairies, but he completely shifts the blame to his sister. From blaming her for being born, which caused his inferiority complex and his "justified" attempts to prove himself, and that she should have taken the rap for causing his problems.

Moral Myopia: Believes himself to be the most noble and righteous being, but none of his actions ever display any sense of nobility.

Combat Stilettos: He wants to always look down upon others, despite the impracticality of such a footwear. Especially considering all that armor.

Blade on a Stick: Slifnir, a family heirloom. It was suppose to passed down to his sister, but he stole it for his own use. Afterwards, he claimed it as his after his sister got married.

Kick the Dog: Both straight and literally, since dogs are further down the hierarchy in his mind.

Berserk Button: His sister. Unless you're insulting her, don't even try mentioning her name.

The Friend Nobody Likes: Friend is a stretch. A co-worker at best, and even then nobody likes associating with him.

Fantastic Racism: He's racist even to his own kind if they don't make it to his standards, and will not refer to anything less as fairies.

First off, this villain shares my name. That's awesome. That out of the way, I like it, although there are a few things I have to note; first off, heavy armour does NOT significantly reduce a wearer's agility in a combat scenario. It can make it harder to do fine movements with one's fingers, and you can forget about stealth, but there are actually videos of people breakdancing in it. Now, pet peeves aside, to the character. From what I can tell, this guy is basically a lower-functioning narcissistic psychopath, right? He seems to care nothing for anything besides his own vanity and need for gratification. Personally, I think that's great, especially if you have more principled villains to contrast. Maybe show that even the other fairies, alien and egotistical as they can be, aren't really as uncaring as this guy. All in all, I'd say go for it. You seem to be fully aware of what you're getting into writing this kind of villain.

Yes, she's not affected by the weather. This allows her to operate in any condition, making her more effective. Also, it's not specifically mustard gas, that's just what she uses. There aren't any toxins that affect her, and she'll brag about it herself. As for why they don't do that, because it's not that simple. Syd Wilson's specialty is to turn people into loyal minions, and enhance them into being living weapons. He can only do it one person at a time, and it's a lengthy process. This is why Mist cannot just "mass produce" them.

Also, B. Hood is still Lucia Gane. Granted, her personality has been twisted to the point of being nearly unrecognizable from what it used to be, but she is still Lucia. This is why she still sees her mother as her own, and why she models herself after the Little Red Riding Hood, because that was her favorite childhood fairy tale.

I must say that poor girl is truly pitiful - brainwashed and forced into evil by no choice of her own, and her original personality and brainwashed personality are so dissonant that its easy to pity her.

• Name: Bryant Witfield / Bryant Streiss
• Age: Technically 29.
• Personality: He started out as the older brother to Matthew's "dad" Kyrio, and was a crude, adventurous hedonist in contrast to the bookish nerd his brother started as. He was and is willing to do anything to scratch whatever itch he happens to feel at the time. Of course his extreme It's All About Me focus on his own pleasures resulted in a really, really ill-advised Deal with the Devil with the local Satan stand in, the Prince of Demands. When he manages to come back, it becomes clear a stay in Hell made him worse than the "careless sadomasochist" Kyrio remembered. He possesses a grudge toward Matthew and that entire half of the family for Kyrio never making an effort to help him, no matter how little Kyrio really could have done. As far as he is concerned, other humans exist to provide him with experiences, and he reacts violently when rebuked of this notion. Note; do not assume because he is a hedonist that he's by any stretch stupid. "I didn't get out of the hotbox by being dumb".
• Abilities: Until his heart can be totally destroyed, due to The Punishment inflicted on him - he has an undying body and thus a nigh undying heart (fit for hell's denizens to torture endlessly) and a Healing Factor absolutely insane in its scope granted to bodies he inhabits - he is not someone you can easily kill. Due to his stay down there and affiliation with some of the darker types of magic, he can use black spears and hands made of blood coming from his heart, which seems to exit through a small hole in his chest or his hands.There's also the problem that his heart tends to exercise Demonic Possession by some grotesque measures. He also gains in power, Internal Mana, and other resources by killing people, a trait even Ein Woe - his former torturer - has no idea about, nor where it came from. His Voluntary Shapeshifting can get rather scary given how good he's got at mimicking people.
• Weaknesses: his heart is the center of his power, and his greatest weakness. Damaging it sufficiently can result in his soul losing its connection to the surrounding body, whereupon his old "friends on the other side" so to speak would grab him right back up.
• Goals: He has none, besides enjoying himself (through horrible methods, including serial murder, vampirism for shits and giggles, and hurting Matthew and his friends and family)...well, he's none too keen on getting sent back to Hell, more or less because it means he cannot "enjoy himself" as much as he wants.
• Motivation: His motive is that everybody else noticed Kyrio for his achievements, so he went further and further trying to force people to pay him mind instead of Kyrio. This escalated over time, and he lost track of why he was really doing this - a classic case of Drunk on the Dark Side. Eventually, he was doing everything just for kicks. Which led him to The Deal, attempting to renege, and getting dragged down.
• Role in the story: Big Bad of a selection of short stories about Kyrio and Bryant’s earlier days, and New Dawn: The Beating Black Heart.
• Backstory: Bryant Streiss always felt like the third wheel of his family - they always noticed Kyrio, his younger brother, more than him, and he never did well enough in sports to merit much attention there. So to “shock” them into noticing him again, at his high school graduation, he seduced his English teacher into the family home. He found he enjoyed it more when his parents showed revulsion for his “state”, and this molded how he would interact with his family since. He and Kyrio were always adversarial, and even entering into the Magical Side of the World didn’t dull this in the least. While Kyrio went into research, Bryant became a decently respected combatant. However, as time went on, he needed ever more extreme material to satiate his increasingly warped tastes. Eventually he decided after his parents left everything to Kyrio that he would ruin the one thing Kyrio cared for as an act of petty revenge. He conspired to get Kyrio to give the ten year old Matthew to him “so he can live a life of enjoyment, rather than fighting”. Kyrio apparently knew this entailed something disturbing and so said not just no but hell no - a statement Bryant took to be a hint. He thus went to summon the more powerful demons of Hell for a deal; he gets the power to seize Matthew, and they get a certain sacrifice from him. However, he attempted a Faustian Rebellion on them when he decided he did not want to honor the deal. As a result, he was dragged off to hell, his heart left entombed in a cellar down in one of his retreats as part of the ritual of turning his body into Hell’s plaything.

• Relevant Tropes:
• Abusive Parents: According to Bryant, they were puritanical loons who tried to make sure both of their male children grew up “wholesomely” and in Bryant’s words “nothing more extreme than a peck on the cheek to show affection. How they managed to have two children is beyond me.” While they reigned cruelly in the younger days, they in part realized that trying to continue controlling Bryant when he became bigger and stronger was not a smart move.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In a way; Kyrio’s stories describe his brother Bryant as a big, dumb footballer with a gut, a rotund face, a badly trimmed beard and with terrible body odor. Compare this with how he actually looks, a hunky guy with gelled back hair, no beard, and impeccable hygiene.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Did he want to bring up Matthew as a hedonist and thus “ruin” the one thing Kyrio cared about? Or did he want to molest Matthew for the sake of hurting his younger brother? Both ideas are repulsive and have their own evidence.
• Beat Still, My Heart: His heart was locked away in a cellar by Ein Woe and the other Demons as a ritualistic method of enacting The Punishment. The problem is that Matthew got cut in a fight with Ein, and Woe forgot this was where he kept Bryant's heart. Result? "Bryant's back, babe. And I've got scores to settle."
• Beauty Is Bad: A total hunk as a normal guy, and also a hedonistic lunatic who, among other things, sadistically fought his foes and tried to take Matthew for his own ends.
  • Over time his suburban dad appearance; once he had the strength for it, one of the first things he did was give himself abs and a more muscular look. He is a vain hedonist, so of course he would want not just a powerful body, but a handsome one.
• Blood Magic: Resuscitated himself with Matthew’s blood - going from a dead heart to a horrific living one moving around with the arteries. He also gains in power by devouring the blood and “other fluids” of other people, which, disturbingly enough, looks like it gives him pleasure.
  • Bloody Murder: Then there’s his fighting abilities, which boil down to black blood shapeshifting weapons, which he uses by cutting open areas on his chest and both hands.
• Body Horror: Bryant's "initial form"; he looks like a strange, overly large black heart with a large number of black lines and arteries coming out and an eye seemingly sewed on the front. Hearts, suffice to say, do not look like that.
  • Then there's what form his Healing Factor takes - stitching himself back together with strange little black threads, which he does at one point to his left eye.
• Came Back Strong: Coming back left him with far more powers than he had as a regular human.
• Combat Pragmatist: He fights really dirty, grossing out his foes and then attacking them, going for the eyes...it’s more or less that he realizes he is far from the biggest fish Matthew has faced lately so he needs to fight like this.
• Combat Sadomasochist: His reaction to Shuuji stabbing him with an electrified spear is to ask Shuuji to push it in deeper, and then repay the favor with six dark blood lances. However its shown he does have some limits - namely, whatever it was the Demons put him through.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Matthew Adarker and he have this going on; Adarker had a large scale Top God scheme and wanting to recreate the world in his image, while Bryant wants to be allowed to do whatever he wants, and without interference - thus he’s smaller scale but also more personal given what he did in the past and his connections to Matthew and Kyrio. Matthew Adarker was Made of Iron, while Bryant here is Made of Plasticine at certain times, and he requires his Healing Factor to really last very long in a fight - his interpretation of indestructible being simply that he's next to impossible to permanently injure and heals from everything.
• The Corrupter: Some evidence suggests he wanted to corrupt Matthew into being a miniature version of himself, just to hurt Kyrio. “What? I want the little guy to know pleasure. The path you want for him is nothing but a series of pointless sacrifices. I’ll break him in a little…”
  • He also corrupts his new wife, Judith, who becomes almost as evil as he is, and without much if any magic initially. She becomes more important later.
• Dark Is Evil: The first sign of something bad happening when Matthew's blood touched that heart was a lot of black mist and strange dark tendrils emerging from it, followed by Ein Woe realizing what just happened.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Oddly, both the Demons and Bryant pull this on one another. Bryant claims that he was almost driven mad by what he saw and experienced down there, while Ein Woe calls Bryant a revolting man and the Prince of Demands himself despises Bryant entirely for the Deal he tried to craft.
  • Prince of Demands: Let me tell you, Son of Kyrio, what he wanted. He desired the power of Hell, to seize you...and then bring you into his hellbound life for things even I can scarce imagine. When I saw him attempting to cheat me, I knew he was dissolute, unable to fathom giving anything to anyone, only thinking in taking for himself.
  • Played with between him and Kyrio; he claims Kyrio did “far worse than he ever wanted to” in turning Matthew into a Mage Killer (basically an assassin trained from very young ages), and Kyrio calls him a freakish vicious idiot when he was originally around, and a desperate monstrosity when he comes back.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: To a point - he cannot comprehend selflessness. Why give to someone else for no reason when you could enjoy yourself as you please?
• Evil Feels Good: Why does he do bad things over good things so often? The “forbidden” allure of doing evil makes the result all the sweeter to him.
• Evil Is Sexy: A trope examined with him - his parents seemed to take the Sex Is Evil approach and were horrified by the fact he did all this sexual stuff, and he seems to take gratification from that. He deliberately tries to follow this trope, and he is absolutely devastated when, no matter how many people he drinks, he cannot get back to his hunky human body’s appearance. Looks and sexual allure are a large part of his character, rather than just for Fanservice - most scenes with him present have an undercurrent examining just how he interacts with each generation’s views on such subjects, from his parents’ puritanical disgust to the more permissive modern day.
• Evil Uncle: Matthew does not remember much of him, but it is made clear despite seeming nice in his early appearances the young Matthew could detect there was something off there. In the modern day, hoo boy is he ever. It would not be an overstatement to say he ruins or destroys everything he touches.
• Fate Worse than Death: For him, he regards getting dragged back to hell as this and for good reason. The Prince of Demands is extremely sour about him managing to escape, and would make the resultant torment even worse.
  • Sense Loss Sadness: however, Matthew and Kyrio argue about this morally, with Kyrio advocating for sending his heinous brother back to Hell to be tortured, while Matthew opposes torture. They come to an agreement during the end, with Matthew requesting that the Prince of Demands not torture Bryant...but instead, completely revoke any sensation at all from him. The Prince proceeds to call such a thing “a more ruthless measure than I would’ve expected” and agrees to it. Bryant, previously held up by the Lemures Chains, is pulled down and screams and begs because he finds this trope even worse than what Hell did to him before.
• Faux Affably Evil: His first words to Matthew? “So...glad...to see you, Nephew. Thanks for the help getting me out of there.” Matthew quickly learns what, exactly, his blood let out. Namely, a vampiric serial killer with a taste in disgusting hedonism, who on top of that has a grudge against his entire side of the family. How do the heroes follow his trail? Follow the emptied out bodies, among…other things. Then its discovered what role he played in Matthew’s younger years...
• Grand Theft Me: He takes over bodies, and it seems like he retains that body's abilities in a way - it takes him a while to make use of them and the more time he spends in the body, the better he gets.
• The Hedonist: A sense freak who enjoys every experience, he's by far concerned most with his own experiences and pleasure, and damn what everyone else thinks or wants. Among other things he did, he floated the idea of taking Matthew into his custody at age 10. When Kyrio said not just no but hell no, Bryant took that as a hint to try to get Hell to help him violate the one thing Kyrio cared about. Because he wanted it, you see.
• Hemo Erotic: owing to his hedonism, he requires some really extreme versions of this, including asking his "new wife" to bite his lip enough to make him bleed and to cut his forearm. She is left freaking out because it was all so entirely out of nowhere, and because it was such an extreme thing jarring her from the usual life she had that...she actually enjoyed it.
• Horrify The Horror: When he shows back up, Ein Woe does not hesitate to warn Matthew of him, saying of Bryant that "he is a despicable creature, do not be fooled by his relation to you."
  • on the same note, Woe and any other demon makes Bryant wince and flinch, an ingrained reaction. While he maintains his composure most times, the Prince of Demands is his biggest fear.
• It's All About Me: When his antics result in his new wife Judith getting dragged into danger his only response to her worry about her daughter’s safety is “why worry, babe? I’m here.”
• Kick the Dog:
  • Inhabiting the departed Jackson White's body and faking bringing Jackson's consciousness back in an And I Must Scream way really set up what kind of monster he was. He felt Matthew needed to see something "amazing", and that qualified under his world view as "amazing".
  • At one point he took over the father in a totally random suburban family, and while he prioritized doing this to avoid Matthew, he also could not restrain his sadism and made his "new family" miserable for little or no reason. He also gets a kick out of having sex with the guy he's wearing's wife.
  • Making moves on Judith’s daughter was grotesque. Trying to invite Judith to partake reads like an excerpt about Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, considering he was thinking of drinking said daughter after the “act”.
• Lack of Empathy: He never once even thought that Kyrio might say no or that he would care enough to try to save Matthew. As Kyrio puts it, Bryant never quite learned you should put yourself into the shoes of other people.
• Laughing Mad: after the initial panic, once he's confronted inhabiting the suburban dad's body by Kyrio.
  • Bryant: ha...ha, I'm back baby brother. I see you're just as boring as usual.
  • Kyrio: I see you're just as psychopathic as ever. You're going back to Hell. You earned that and more.
  • Bryant: Ha...ha...yeah, right...fuck you too, Kyrio.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: His true nature as an intelligent, disembodied heart with tendrils puts him squarely within this trope. His interpretation of a Healing Factor is also pretty disgusting.
• Manipulative Bastard: He is very talented at using and abusing the emotions of others to get what he wants. This extends to being adept at gaslighting people, including convincing Judith she actually enjoyed him more than her original husband, contributing to her turn to malignity, and when he and Kyrio were teenagers, he convinced Kyrio that both one of his friends and the girl the young Kyrio liked were more into Bryant.
• Oh, Crap!: In reaction to Matthew almost tricking him into a summoning circle the filler Satanists at the very start of the book used to try to summon a demon (namely, Ein Woe).
  • Bryant: You...you batshit crazy brat...! Are you gonna send your own uncle to Hell?
  • He gets another one later, when he realizes Kyrio knows who and what he is when he thought he’d disguised himself well enough, though he moves suddenly into Laughing Mad to allay his worry.
  • And lastly, he really, really loses it when Matthew successfully convinces the Prince of Demands ‘’not’’ to torture him. “You...you're really pulling the mercy crap!”
• The Punishment: In punishment for attempting to cheat his deal, he was given a punishment of...being made almost indestructible, his heart left behind in the human world while the Prince of Demands' retinue torture him. It would've ended there if it wasn't for how Matthew's blood interacted with that heart. As a result, his consciousness entered his horrid black heart…
• Sanity Slippage: Compare him before his trip downstairs (cocky, playful, sarcastic and coy) to his demeanor after coming back (urgent, semi-Ax Crazy at times, desperate and seemingly traumatized). He’s seen things no regular man should see.
• Sense Freak: He needs ever escalating extremes to feel anything good, after his explorations and time in hell left him with somewhat dulled senses and a feeling of trauma due to all that happened down there.
• Serial Killer: Even when he was first among the living, as a combatant for the Association, he preferred sticking swords in peoples' hands to pin them in place, a modus operandi followed either by summary execution or if he was ordered to, taking them in. In the present, he uses his dark blood constructs to drink everything but the skin to become stronger and enjoy himself.
• Unholy Matrimony: He and Judith, the wife of the body he wore. After corrupting her, she ends up part and parcel of a large number of his crimes. She even gets her own book and independent “career” as a villain after Bryant gets dragged back to hell.
  • It says a lot that he needed someone as morally deficient as himself to feel any kind of bond to. During Judith's book, when she enters Hell and finds him there, he is overjoyed to see her, showing he had come to truly love her...just as he hugs her and asks to leave, she runs her hand through him to absorb some of his Mana. For all his depravity, it was very clear he was completely heartbroken in that moment. "But...I...I loved you..." Judith rubs salt in the wound by replying, "I loved how you made me feel. But I don't need you for that any more."
• Vampiric Draining: Some of his dark blood weapons can do this - basically impaling someone, lifting them up and then drinking them until all that's left is skin and clothes. Additionally, he becomes more powerful for each time he does this.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: He was at a really high level, but he notes in a Genre Savvy way that Matthew has probably fought worse than him lately (he has). And so, Bryant decided to go with a plan that was more cunning than brute force, until he was sure he'd gotten a good level in relation to Matthew.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: he has two methods - either taking in enough of someone’s blood, or, disgustingly enough, invading their body and then he can either repair it and make it look like nothing happened or start changing the body to become like his original one.

edited 16th Dec '16 10:34:20 PM by NickTheSwing

It sounds like you've got a solid recipe for a nearly-unbeatable villain, which is always good. Means the hero has to do a lot of work to beat them, which makes for good conflict.

On the more personal level, a hedonistic villain is going to make for a pretty interesting character to observe—especially since he seems fairly charming from the few brief quotes you have there.

I also love a villain with a close relationship with the protagonists. If their backstory with the family is important to the story, that could definitely be interesting. Does he ever come back around to remembering why he was doing what he was doing, or does he remain in 'hedonism/fuck with brother' mode for the whole story?

Name: Ko-Kraham

Age: Difficult to say, but somewhere in the range of 650. Possibly even older, but he doesn't much talk about it.

Appearance: Ko-Kraham is a mature Dragon, one of the oldest currently known. As Dragons are natural shapeshifters, and Dragon Magic becomes stronger as they age, this means he does not, strictly speaking, look like anything. However, in his default state, Ko-Kraham is a quadrupedal dragon in the vein of classical European Dragons. His skin is like that of a crocodile, but vivid gold. His head is crowned by four curving horns, and a ridge of spines runs down his neck and back. He's about 15 feet long from tip to tail, and has a set of wings that are about the same.

However, while this is his true appearance, Ko-Kraham spends the majority of the story disguised as a teenage human Princess, Sabrina Bunhar.

Personality: Ko-Kraham is what happens when an only child gets older, but doesn't grow up, for centuries. He's entitled and deeply avaricious, and genuinely believes that everything in the world belongs to him. This belief comes from the Dragons religion, of which he is a fervent observer. He believes that Dragons were the first creatures in the universe, and that the world and everything in it was created as a gift for them.

His belief in his ownership is unshakable, and leaves him with an attitude of irreverence and carelessness—after all, what does it matter if one of his toys breaks? He has others—and it's easy to mistake him as good natured. In truth, however, he harbours a deep jealousy for what he considers his, and he can turn savagely cruel at a moments notice if he believes he is being stolen from. This is largely directed towards humans, as his religion holds that all the world was made for ALL dragons. Dragons cannot steal from one another, he feels, but humans can steal from dragons.

Abilities: Ko-Kraham's natural dragon abilities include flight and possibly immortality, as well as several unique magical gifts. Dragons are shapeshifters, and their transformation is both perfect, and near-limitless. He is able to transform himself to adapt to any situation. In addition, he also possesses fire breath, and a greater gift: The Breath of Life. If he chooses, rather than immolating what they touch, Ko-Kraham's flames can bring inanimate objects to life, and make them obey his whims.

In addition to these natural abilities, when Ko-Kraham impersonates the human princess, he taps into her magic to do so. Doing this gives him access to human magic, which is a much more flexible gift—albeit one that requires a great deal of study to master.

Weaknesses: Ko-Kraham's plot hinges on his ability to impersonate the princess. Although he can perfectly imitate her body, he does not have access to any of her memories or thoughts. He also needs the princess alive so that he can continue to tap into her human magic. All of this means that he needs the real princess nearby, but completely out of sight. He does this by magically transforming her, and compelling her to silence, but even this spell has a hitch: Ko-Kraham must refresh the princess's orders once every 24 hours, or the spell will fade, and she will be able to tell people her true identity once more.

Goal: Ko-Kraham's ultimate goal is to return control of the human kingdom to dragons, which he plans to do through legitimate ascension. By impersonating the princess, and producing a legitimate heir to the kingdom, he plans to usher in a dynasty of dragons.

Motive: Ko-Kraham's religion states that all of the world belongs to dragons, and he therefore loathes the idea of humans owning territory in the first place. More pointedly, he hates that young dragons currently engage in trade with humans, trading mineral resources for the food, dyes and materials in the swamp the humans inhabit. Wars had been fought over the minerals in the past, and he feels that by freely trading those minerals, the dragons are admitting defeat to humans.

Backstory: Although he was always a practitioner of the dragon religion, Ko-Kraham was initially friendly towards humans, and accepting of their kingdom. He believed that the humans were just another kind of animal, like the water buffalo or the mountain goats, and that they, too, existed for dragons to own. He accepted that they simply needed somewhere to live.

This changed, however, with the advent of the Stone Wars. Humans began to expand out of the swamp into Dragon Territory, attempting to claim the mineral resources their swamp lacked. Ko-Kraham was just entering adulthood when the wars began, and while it chafed him, he initially didn't think anything of it. He retreated into the mountains, as all newly adult dragons do, and forgot about the humans for almost a century.

When Ko-Kraham returned, the wars were still raging in fits and skirmishes. The dragons still controlled all of the territory outside of the swamp, but many dragons had been killed in the battles—including some adults Ko-Kraham had known as an adolescent. He returned to the swamplands from time to time, and grew steadily more furious as the humans began to gain ground. When the dragons were forced to propose a peace treaty and trade arrangement, he was disgusted. He watched for nearly two centuries as the dragons traded more and more heavily with the humans, and became more integrated into the human kingdom as craftsmen, merchants, and even common laborers. Eventually, it was more than he could take. Ko-Kraham vowed to correct this injustice, and take back the lands that had been stolen from the young of his species.

Related Tropes

• Baleful Polymorph: In order to pull off his plan, he transforms the real princess into a dragon whelp and takes her place.
• Bed Trick: While it's up in the air if he actually sleeps with him, Ko-Kraham does continue a pre-existing relationship with the princess's suitor while disguised as her.
• Berserk Button: Implying that humans are superior to dragons, or that they won the Stone Wars.
• Charm Person: Ko-Kraham ensures the princess doesn't tell anyone about his deception by using a spell of compulsion, which forces her to follow his commands.
• Evil Is Petty: Enjoys tormenting the princess just a bit too much in very minor ways, such as forcing her to wait on him while he flirts with her suitor, deliberately attempting to drive away her friends, and animating her childhood toys to torment her, for the 'personal touch'.
• Faux Affably Evil: Ko-Kraham is charming and friendly on the surface, but can become violently angry at a moment's notice, and is deeply cruel in his tormenting the princess.
• The Fundamentalist: Of a very dragon-centric religion.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Can switch from cheerful banter to dangling the heroine out the window with no warning whatsoever.
• It's All About Me: Ko-Kraham's entire motivation comes down to feeling like he's being robbed, because nobody should be allowed to own things but dragons.
• Let's You and Him Fight: A milder version. When he sees the princess is beginning to make friends after he's transformed her, he responds by taking them both on as personal servants, showing kindness to the friend, and then taking it away and favouring the princess in order to drive them apart.
• Moral Myopia: He believes that Dragons are incapable of stealing, because everything already belongs to them, but humans owning anything is theft from Dragons. Relatedly, he believes anything he does is fine, because he owns everything.
• Sense Freak: While disguised as the princess, Ko-Kraham discovers that humans have much more sensitive tongues than dragons, and enjoys the richer tastes quite a bit.
• Values Dissonance: Ko-Kraham's villainy could just be said to come down to a more conservative interpretation of his culture.
• Villainous Glutton: After his discovery that humans have more sensitive tongues, Ko-Kraham takes a lot of pleasure in eating, and is eating something in most scenes. He doesn't gain any weight, however, because of his shapeshifting.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: One of his natural abilities as a dragon.

You gotta review the one above you first. Also, I believe you should only post one villain at a time.

Interesting. A dragon with great power, yet acts petty. His shapeshifting abilities makes for all sorts of possibilities. I wish I knew more about the story, though.

Here's a character I recently created for my superhero story Protectors.

Name: Siren / Julia Lin Vincitori

Age: 19

Appearance: Siren is young, barely an adult, and stands fairly tall at 5'7". She possesses mid-length black hair, and matching irises. In her costume, she wears a mask that covers her mouth and reaches up to her nose. On her body, she wears a black spandex suit with a dark purple short jacket on the top. The right leg has a violet line running down. She wears boots with a minor heels to them, but aren't full-fledged stilettos. In her civilian attire, she favors dresses, something that contrasts the more practical wear of her costume.

Personality: She shows - and feels - little emotion as she goes about her job as the top assassin of the Vincitori crime family, other than the feeling of pride in herself for getting the job done. The main reason for this is because she was specifically raised into being this way by her father for her entire life. What drives her on the inside is the desire to seek her father's approval, believing that she can earn it by doing him proud. What she doesn't realize, or rather what she doesn't want to think about, is that he views her as a weapon and a means to an end, nothing more.

Abilities: Even without using her powers that were granted to her, she was trained extensively in the art of infiltration, stealth, and assassination. Siren is extremely mobile and agile, capable of infiltrating a location and stealthily assassinating a target, before leaving without anyone realizing she was ever there. With her powers however, she is even more dangerous. The Vincitori experimented with her and granted her superhuman abilities to be even more useful. She possesses Super Sense, allowing her to see and feel body heat through walls. Not only that, but she can also turn herself invisible and create forcefields. These however, play second to her proficiency with the quick, silent, and deadly throwing knives. Even without using her abilities, she has extremely dangerous at hitting her target with them. In fact, she often doesn't use her powers and relies solely on her natural skills to get the job done. Most of the time, that alone is enough.

Weaknesses: Siren, as a result of growing up as both an outcast and an experiment, has No Social Skills. She cannot communicate with others very well, so she is limited to working alone (though she prefers it this way). Outside of that, she can overestimate her abilities.

Goals: Her primary goal is to earn the approval of her father, Vincenzo Vincitori. She'll do anything just to hear him say he is proud of her.

Motivation: To her, those who stand in the way of her family must die.

Role in the story: Siren serves as one of the villains in the story, albeit one with a tragic past and ambiguous morals. She also gets the occasional POV as well.

Backstory: Julia Lin Vincitori was born out of wedlock in 2038 in New York City to Vincenzo Vincitori, head of the Vincitori crime family - one of, if the not the most powerful crime families in the world, and Chunhua Li, a Chinese mistress from Shanghai, who has since disappeared, leaving Vincenzo as the one to raise her. From the beginning, it was clear that Julia was not considered to be a part of the family, entirely due to her Mixed Ancestry nature. The Vincitori family prided themselves as being full-blooded Italian, so having a Chinese among them made them look bad to the others.

Raised as an outcast, within the comfortable mansions and penthouses she called home contained loveless and abusive conditions for her. She also had siblings, seven of them to be precise (three sisters, four brothers), and they were instructed to view her as someone who doesn't belong, and they complied. Despite all of this however, Vincenzo knew there were uses for her. So as a child, she was trained extensively in the arts of covert assassination. For years, she was molded into a ruthless killer who feels no remorse. At the age 10, she took her first life under the direct orders of her father, specifically a member who had failed him one too many times.

Eventually, the Vincitori family made a deal to ally themselves with the terrorist organization known as Mist. As part of the deal, Mist was allowed to experiment on Julia, and through operations by Dr. Syd Wilson, was granted superhuman abilities. All of this made her the most deadly member of the Vincitori family. Everything was complete. With everything said and done, Julia was given a new name — "Siren". When she turned 16, she was set out on her first mission to assassinate a target that threatened the family. She did just that, and came back hoping to have finally earned the approval of her father. To no avail, he simply told her she was doing her job.

Now after three years of doing her job, she hopes that one day he will say the one thing he's never said to her before: "I love you".

Relevant Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Her father was Mafia don Vincenzo Vincitori, a politically incorrect and cruel man who views his daughter as nothing more than a tool of murder. Definitely not going to win any "Dad of the Year" awards anytime soon.
• All the Other Reindeer: In the Vincitori family, where pure blood is everything, her "unpure" heritage meant she was an outcast for everyone.
• Barrier Warrior: Can create forcefields, to both fight and protect herself.
• Big Brother Bully: Actually invoked. All of her siblings treated her like trash, and that's explicitly because that's what their father told them to do.
• But Not Too Foreign: Half-Chinese, half-Italian/American. Sadly deconstructed in one way, as she was born to a Mafia family who views everyone non-Italian as being beneath them, which went a long way into shaping what she became now.
• Fights Like a Normal: Often she operates without using her powers, believing them not to be needed. She's more than willing to use them when they are, however.
• Improbable Age: She's only 19, and is the top assassin of one of the biggest Mafia families in the world. This is a position she has held since she was 16.
• Invisibility: Able to turn herself invisible, which she uses sparingly.
• Knife Nut: Throwing knives and blades are her weapon of choice, and she's extremely deadly with them.
• Missing Mom: Whatever became of her mother, she doesn't know.
• Mixed Ancestry: Was specifically told that she was a "Half Breed" due to being half-Chinese, and would never be accepted as a member of the family.
• No Social Skills: A result of being raised in isolation with everyone around her viewing her in contempt, she's not much of a people person.
• Professional Killer: She's the top assassin for the Vincitori family.
• The Stoic: She doesn't emote much, if at all.
• Super-Senses: Possesses the ability to see and feel body heat, essentially giving her X-Ray Vision.
• Tested on Humans: After the Vincitori family allied themselves with Mist, they agreed to have her become the test subject to Syd Wilson's experiments, in the promise that it would make her more useful if she doesn't die from it. She had no say in this.
• Tyke-Bomb: Raised from childhood to be an emotionless killer.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: The only thing she wants is the approval of her father, it's what drives her through each mission. Too bad he has no intention of ever giving it to her.

edited 19th Jan '17 8:39:20 AM by UltimateLazer

So, I'll start by saying I rather like Siren overall. I might be biased a bit because one of my own villains has a similar job and personality, but I just generally like villains who have backstories twisted enough to justify them being emotionally dead.

Anyways, let's start with the personality and backstory of Siren. Normally I'd be quite critical of an emotionless assassin character, but the fact that she was raised and trained to be like that on top of the fact that she's motivated to be a perfectionist to try and impress her father allows me to mostly forgive that. Only problem I have is her not feeling any emotions as she does her work. Not showing them at all or letting them get in the way of her work is perfectly reasonable, but I think someone with such a past of abuse would be bottling up a lot. You noted she has pride in doing a job right, and I think this would mean she'd get progressively more frustrated over the fact that she's not getting any praise for her good work. If her work really is flawless, that frustration and pride could get her to eventually get sick of waiting for anyone to show respect for the work she knows is great. After all, how successful would the crime family be if she wasn't doing her part? There's many directions to go from there, and I certainly don't know which is the best one for your purposes, but it seems logical to me to have that kind of frustration set off a character arc.

As for her abilities, they're quite creative. I especially love the body heat sensing ability. It's an ability I envision a bloodthirsty predator possessing, which makes it perfect for an assassin. The invisibility power also fits well, and the forcefields add a unique spin to her power set. I have to mention a personal peeve I have with her non-superpowers that she uses for her work though. Mainly regarding the throwing knives. I know fiction is stylish and all with its weapons, but throwing knives in real life are so unreliable that I can't find myself holding on to my suspension of disbelief when they appear (not something I'd imagine a serious assassin would really use) and honestly I've seen a few too many fictional killers who use them. The fact that it's 2057-58 in your story makes me think that there's probably another kind of technology available to silently kill people with. Maybe something that functions similarly to throwing knives but adds something onto them to make them a reasonable weapon of choice would be good if you don't want to change her assassination style much.

Right, now on to my villain. This is pretty much a repost, but last time I posted this villain it got skipped over in the chaos and I really think I need an outside opinion on this villain as it deals with kind of touchy subjects.

Name: Courtney Sable

Age: 21

Personality: Courtney is a fun-loving rebel through and through. There's nothing she enjoys more than defying authority and living a wild and free life. This is what led her to join a Robin Hood-esque band of vagabonds who travel around the country, pull off heists, and then distribute the takings to the poor and disadvantaged.

To most people, she appears to be a kind and generous person who always knows how to get people into a good mood, although many people may be taken aback by her unapologetic vulgarity. She's enthusiastic about her work in her vagabond group, and she's more than happy to give the scores her group takes to those who need it. Besides that, she carries a lively energy wherever she goes. She loves physical sports/competition, she loves entertaining people by showing off her great acrobatic skill, and when the day is through she likes to get drunk and have fun with her fellow group members. Essentially, she's a classic Lad-ette.

However, Courtney has a serious problem with anyone who tries to control what she can and can't do. She despises the police in particular, and this more than anything else is her true reason for being a part of the vagabond group. Normally Courtney gets her satisfying jabs at the police simply by breaking the law and outmaneuvering them with her fellow vagabonds while maintaining her fun and energetic exterior. However, if anyone, police or not, poses a serious threat to Courtney's lifestyle, she'll mark them as a sworn enemy and a hidden, much darker personality will be exposed. To be specific, a personality which has no problem with cold-hearted manipulation, sabotaging other people's lives, and the use of brutal violence in order to eliminate a perceived threat. It should also be noted that her usual outward kindness and generosity towards others is really a facade. In the end she cares about her own satisfaction above all else. She only appears generous and kind because she sees no value in the material wealth she gives away as part of her illegal charity group and has no reason to want to harm people who aren't in her way.

Abilities: Courtney is a very useful asset to her vagabond group, primarily due to her amazing physical ability. Courtney demonstrates olympian levels of speed and dexterity which almost nobody in the country can hope to match. She's capable of very high level freerunning, along with some highly impressive acrobatics (just because she likes doing it). Courtney's also incredibly skilled at hand-to-hand combat, using a brutal street fighting style where she weaves and parries around her opponent's moves while delivering debilitating and painful blows. Courtney is also smarter than she looks, being more than capable of emotionally manipulating people for her purposes when she wants to.

Weaknesses: While Courtney is highly intelligent when it comes to social skills, she's quite stupid about how she manages her own lifestyle. Courtney is extremely reckless and impulsive, and she does not tend to think too far into the future. This has always gotten her into trouble in the past (more on that later) and continues to be a source of her problems in the present. Her philosophy of doing what she wants, when she wants has directly "created" the majority of her problems in life. While she's managed to overcome plenty of close calls with the help of some quick wits (not to mention quick feet) and plenty of pure luck, she hasn't really learned anything. The ramifications for her reckless actions have been building, threatening both herself and those close to her.

Goals/Motivation: Courtney only has two primary motivations. The first is the pursuit of a fun and exciting life. The second is a desire to give the finger to the law. She won't cause any problems for people who don't get in her way. In fact, she'd probably be nothing but nice to most people. She WILL, however, do whatever nasty thing it takes to make sure her delinquent lifestyle doesn't come to an end.

Role in the Story: Courtney is the main villain of the story. While the main conflict of the story is between two old friends who have to oppose each other (one being a police officer, and the other being the leader of the vagabond group), and that conflict is there without Courtney, she serves as a huge instigator.

The leader of the vagabond group is Courtney's boyfriend, and she genuinely loves him (well, she loves the lifestyle he gives her access to, anyway). She has no positive sentiment towards his old police officer friend, however, and she strongly fears that she'll either convince her boyfriend to abandon the vagabond band or have everyone in the band arrested (neither of those fears are completely unfounded). So, Courtney's goal is to emotionally manipulate her boyfriend into hating his old friend while at the same time trying to ruin that old friend's life.

Courtney is also meant to represent the idea of rebellion to an extreme. The story is centered around the theme of the upsides and downsides of rebellion as well as the law/establishment, and Courtney is meant to be a sort of "warning" on the rebellion side of the coin.

Backstory: Courtney used to live a relatively ordinary life. While she always had a rebellious spirit and got in trouble more frequently than other children for minor rule-breaking, she was much like most other kids. However, a life-changing moment occurred when she was 13 years old.

At the time there was a terrorism problem (to grossly oversimplify), and Courtney's family ended up being a victim of one of their attacks. They set fire to the north end of Courtney's hometown, and as a result her family's house burned down. She almost died in that fire, but she was saved by a teenage boy (who would later become the leader of the vagabond group she would eventually join). After that her parents couldn't recover, so Courtney and her parents were forced to live on the street.

This transition didn't actually end up being too difficult for Courtney. She learned how to live the street life quickly, and soon enough she learned to be an effective thief. This went on for four years until the day came that her parents were arrested and jailed for thievery, assault, and other charges while Courtney herself escaped (even though it was Courtney who did the overwhelming majority of the crime her parents got locked up for). Unwilling to let this stand, Courtney gathered up a bunch of criminal allies and organized a successful prison break where she not only freed her parents, but also every other criminal in the prison, all while keeping her identity hidden. After this, she decided it was time she lived on her own. So she followed the direction the wind blowed for the next few years, all the while frequently getting in hot water with the police. That is, of course, until she heard about the emergence of the vagabond group, loved what she heard about them, and made the decision to join them.

Relevant Tropes:

• Action Girl: Her primary role in the vagabond group [is it clear yet that I haven't thought of a good name for the group?].
• Even Evil Has Standards: While she can sink to some disgusting lows when trying to deal with her enemies, she won't ever sink as low as murder.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The vagabond group as a whole has a good reputation for their charity towards those in need. Courtney, as a member, is well-liked by their sympathizers, and her upbeat exterior only adds to her popularity.
• Manipulative Bitch: She knows how to pull people's strings, and she's not afraid to do so when she needs to. She can do it to people without them even knowing they're in her fingertips.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: ...Sorta. She thinks the law and its enforcers are inherently oppressive, and so she spends her life attempting to defy the law whenever she can.
• Keeping the Enemy Close: Courtney goes out of her way to get to know her boyfriend's old friend in order to eventually ruin her.
• Domestic Abuse: Towards her boyfriend. She never physically assaults him, but instead partakes in extremely controlling behavior. She gets her grip on him by formulating lies, tearing him down when he has a "wrong thought", and guilt-tripping him in order to make him believe that everyone but her can't be trusted. She hides this manipulation under the guise of kindness and concern to cement his trust in her and prevent him from deviating from her ideals.
• Miss Swears-a-Lot: She swears more than any other character.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Courtney always opts to fight with her bare hands. If her opponent has a weapon, she'll aim to disarm them, dispose of the weapon, and then continue to beat her opponent down with her fists.
• Combat Pragmatist: While Courtney doesn't use weapons to fight, she doesn't fight clean either. If she wants a fight to end, she'll aim her strikes at areas like the neck, liver, nose and eyes and she'll make use of moves specifically meant to break bones.
• Hidden Villain: Her role as a villain is intended to be revealed around a third of the way through the story. Before that point she is meant to look like a genuinely decent person (well, decent enough).

Well, a female domestic abuser - new, and her hidden villain and manipulative tendencies lend a more insidious and less "ME SMASH INSIGNIFICANT OTHER" route for her villainy, which is both refreshing and oddly disgusting - she's definitely a heinous customer.

• Name: U-01 / Starchild / "My Child"

• Age: Multiple Millenia Old

• Personality: Starchild's personality and drive can best be summed up as "you took my planet away from me, and now I want it back". As a scion of the scientifically super-advanced Uldoans, he sees himself as a higher life form cheated of what he was owed by a race of people "too ignorant to know how to live functionally". A consummate misanthrope, he cloaks most of his actions under the blanket of well intentioned extremism, but peel back the layers and the shrieking, sadistic brat emerges in full. What he lacks in personal might he more than makes up for in pragmatism - using literally everything at his disposal to take violent and personal revenge on those he blames for his losses. Notably, he is petty and vindictive, never one to forget a grudge or hatred. Despite the Uldoan Caretaker existing to care for him, and guide him toward his designs, he spitefully murdered the Caretaker within minutes of awakening...because he didn't care for the crooning of "My Child". Believing humans to be nothing but animals, he justifies every single horrible act as one being done upon a rampaging herd of monstrous animals.

• Abilities: Created from a potent brew of magic, nanotechnology that was cutting edge even among the Uldoans, and some other sources, he can possess any body some of himself gets into, and can very well operate multiple bodies at once. He can immediately scan and use whatever magic or technology the bodies he's operating can use, and can even use his abilities to augment and empower his victims, usually well beyond their actual desires. He can recover From a Single Cell, and on top of everything else has a Life Drinker and Rapid Aging "drain" magitech weapon he can call upon.

• Weaknesses: Childish. Utterly, utterly childish. For all his power, the minute things start turning against him, he grabs for a hostage, tries to use blackmail, or even runs for the hills to try to preserve his own worthless life. He is also a Bad Boss on a par with the likes of Freeza, resulting in a betrayal as stunning as it is telling of just how unbearable he is to be around.

• Goals: He wants to have his empire he was promised.

• Motivation: He claims it is justice for his much abused people. Its actually revenge, sadism, and boredom.

• Role in the Story: Big Bad of the pen-ultimate book, New Dawn: Steel World.

• Backstory: This one requires a bit of backstory; The Uldoans were highly technologically advanced aliens who inhabited the Earth at the same time as the Vonnic Kingdoms, who came to Earth as part of a settlement, and created a city called Atlantis. For all of Atlantis' magical marvels, the Uldoans commanded a rich reserve of technology far beyond that which the Vonnic Kingdoms could call upon. There was some envy present as a result - a suspicion that Uldoans were holding back things that could cure major ills present in the Vonnic Kingdoms. It was the invasion of the Viseilians that pushed things over the edge - the metallic invaders were like the Uldoans a highly advanced race, and due to old connections to Viseilia the Uldoans kept out of the war. While the Vonnic Kingdoms were able to persevere, there was a definite sense of betrayal. Racism against the Uldoans was building, and before long a hotheaded prince stoked it and resulted in a full fledged genocide conducted upon the Uldoans. Few survived, and moved off-world to a moon near Jupiter, and the surviving ones bound to Earth ended up tortured, experimented upon and turned into what we know as Sasquatches and Bigfoot. Those who left the Earth took with them a project, which became a revenge plan against those from Earth who wronged the Uldoans. Yet, years passed, and even though the people who victimized the Uldoans were all dead, the plan proceeded and ultimately attained the name Starchild. Finding out about this and venturing to put a stop to a plan by the Caretaker, Matthew is witness to the birth of the Starchild...

• Tropes:

• The Assimilator: His standard mode of operations.
• Ax-Crazy: By the mid point of his battle with Matthew, he's come unhinged - and his previous gloating turns into "I HATE YOU!!!" and "SMASH APE SMASH APE SMASH APE!!!"
• Bio-Augmentation: Magic and technological implants are used by him, willy nilly, in his attempts to create a body that cannot ever be defeated or matched by anyone.
• Body Horror: The...things...he does to the bodies he inhabits, casually so, make him seem like a childish and sadistic iteration of The Thing, even menacing Matthew once by infecting twenty five dogs and then turning them into "The Quomera", a horrific merged being and a Shout-Out to Dog-Thing. Just the fact it has six mouths all merged roughly into one should tell you how little Starchild regarded such concepts as dignity of life.
• Creepy Long Fingers: All the better to be used as Femme Fatalons in his ultimate body...and also, to be inserted into his subjects heads, so as to read their thoughts and alter their hobbies and thought patterns on the spot, to a very detailed level.
• Cuckoo Nest: An elaborately constructed nest, meant to convince Matthew the entirety of his adventures were his guilty conscience playing things out to keep him from going back to a world he views himself as unworthy of. The scary thing is Matthew falls for it for a while. Its made obvious when Sorata and Carbo showed up that his adventurous life was the real one.
• Demonic Possession: With a side order of Body Snatcher. He can inhabit and manipulate the minds of his victims, making them think whatever he wants, and even convincing them they want to commit suicide if he wanted.
• Eldritch Abomination: Mostly a humanoid abomination for most of the book, but he takes a hard right turn to eldritch monstrosity in his One-Winged Angel form. Fittingly, the chapters dealing with it will be titled "Starchild - Abominable".
• Evil Is Petty: Ripped the Caretaker in half and ate his power source to get a start...because he hated that My Child thing. "Stop that you babbling old pile of vomit!"
• Evil Is Visceral: Few foes outside the mechanical Viseilians manage to make for quite so uncomfortable scenes - including a scene where he converts a woman into a tentacle over her objections...by making her insides squirm out of her and become part of him.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: No, Starchild, eyes do not belong on the inside of your wings.
• Fetus Terrible: His starting form resembled a gigantic, horrifying fetus with gaping red eyes and a circular mouth. Yes. The Uldoans on that moon were convinced that was gonna be their savior.
• Irony: The very same guy that compared humans to apes ends up turning into a more ape-like form to try to get the better of his foe. Guess its obvious who the real "violent chimpanzee" in the room is...
• It's All About Me: For all his talk about preserving the Uldoan race and avenging his race upon those who committed genocide on them, Starchild is an immature and violent jerkass who uses everything and everyone as vehicles for his own self aggrandizement.
• It's Personal: U-01 is easily one of the villains that enrages Matthew the most. From the Mind Rape covered below, to possessing Shuuji's body and gloating about the kind of alterations he made and the implants he forced on Shuuji and others, its clear by the end that Matt is just plain done with Starchild.
  • Matthew: You wanna know why I'm not saying anything funny? Because I'm gonna be busy beating the shit outta you.
• Mind Rape: he conducts the most thorough Mind Rape ever devised in New Dawn on Matthew;
  • After Matthew returns home from the Remote Colony he'd seen Starchild on, he fought some of his Uldoan followers on Earth and got knocked unconscious. Matthew then wakes up in a mental health facility, and is told he's finally woken up after two years - the psychologists tell him he has been insane and unable to wake up after getting drunk at a party, drunk driving and killing Jackson White in the resulting accident. He's told all of his many adventures were just fevered delusions he concocted in his mental state. Reinforcing this, due to a jamming device in Matthew's necklace, he cannot use Mana or detect it.
  • The psychologists, all operated by Starchild, proceed to tell Matthew horrible stories of what happened to his friends, such as Shuuji going away for 25 years to life for a gang related murder, Sorata actually being a prostitute who hanged herself, and his father being a deadbeat drunk who invented incredible stories to explain his constant absence. Starchild so thoroughly absorbed the psychological studies and processes that he convinced Matthew of this version of events.
  • He then left Matthew in that facility and subjected him to debasing tests and "treatments", reducing him to a wreck of a human being addicted to anti-depressants. It takes Sorata and Carbo breaking in and crushing the necklace, demonstrating the truth, for Matthew to start getting back up and out of that. And boy, is he pissed.
• Misanthrope Supreme: "Humans are garbage! Trashy trashy trashy trash!" Not the most mature for the most part, but definitely given to vile deeds based on it.
  • Even after he starts turning humans into Uldoans, he never saw them as his countrymen, just as pawns in his bid for total domination.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Ultimately, most of his converted Uldoans get so utterly sick of him they turn to Matthew to save them from their race's savior.
• More than Mind Control: What he does to most of his victims when he doesn't directly possess them. As they think they were always Uldoans, they're loyal to him and devoted to his idea of justice. To a certain point anyway.
• One-Winged Angel: He makes his ultimate body hulk out in his final battle with Matthew...which doesn't help. He then cobbles together a body of his worshipers into a gigantic and horrifying creature that half resembles a sasquatch and an ever shifting mass of ooze and tentacles. That one proves more helpful, but ultimately its sheer size proves its undoing.
• Organic Technology: The crux of the connection of Magic, Technology, and Flesh.
• Orifice Invasion: How he took Shuuji over - more or less just liquefying and forcing himself in through the ears and mouth.
• The Power of Hate: All his spells are powered by his hatred - and he has a lot of it. The most deadly is called Carnage Hatred Shell, which gathers not just his own hatred, but the collective grudge of his people from across the history of the Earth.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Even amounts of both the psychopath - hurting people more or less just to - and the manchild, including having a play room full of toys...dismembered and rebuilt toys.
  • Matthew: ...what a sick bastard...
• Puny Earthlings: And, ironic enough, he decides to use such puny earthlings to recreate his self-proclaimed higher race. Even so, he remained a prejudiced and domineering bastard to the end, never seeing any of them as HIS equal.
• Puppeteer Parasite: He takes over bodies and uses them to his own ends. His 'ultimate battle body' is Shuuji's, optimized well past the point Matthew could even recognize him. Even so, he still retained the ability to use Liam and several compromised members of the 317th.
• Revenge Before Reason: He knows the people who victimized his race are dead. Does not care. He knows the Vonnic people are now nothing but wandering tribes. Still wants them to suffer more.
• Slasher Smile: he shows off some really sick smiles, especially when he's Mind Raping Matthew, showing he does in fact enjoy doing this.
  • His face in his One-Winged Angel form is permanently stuck in this, with a side dish of Nightmare Face.
• Take Over the World: He...actually does it momentarily, albeit in secret. Thing is, this is not nearly enough for him. He has to create an empire that "spans the stars", due to his own ego.
• Underestimating Badassery: For all his A God I Am and powers of control, when he faces Matthew at the end, he makes several key errors. Namely, thinking Matthew was playing around and doing the same.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Matthew one shots two of his guards without killing them even in his enraged state, and fights Starchild a bit, ah, more than equally. He really doesn't handle not being able to get a hit in very well. "When I'm done...when I'm done here I'll rip your girlfriend in half! I'll dissect Carbo! I'll make everyone you love submit to anguish and tell me they love it!!"
  • He's also in this state in his disgusting One-Winged Angel form.

edited 21st Jan '17 12:46:08 AM by NickTheSwing

Looks like a cool villain, him reminding me of Frieza (as you compared him to). Definitely one I would want to see killed spectacularly.

Another one from Protectors.

Name: Queen Viper / Mercedes Serpico

Age: Older than she looks.

Appearance: Queen Viper is tall, standing at 5'11" without heels (which she always possesses). In her "Viper" form, she has grey and scaly skin, long red hair and green eyes, and bright red lipstick. Her outfit is a skin-tight dress featuring Absolute Cleavage, a skirt that is asymmetrical (long on the left, short on the right, giving us a good view of her leg), and high heels. Her dress is backless, giving a view of a snake tattoo that runs down her spine.

Personality: Queen Viper has the aspects you would expect from a Femme Fatale. Sexy, sultry, depraved, manipulative, and speaks everything with a breathless tone. At the same time, she is extremely cunning and resourceful. After all, she was the one who founded and leads the organization of her namesake, Viper. Additionally, she is highly charismatic. Her command is through respect, not fear, and gets along swimmingly with her followers, especially the top brass. Also, she is very loyal to her followers. Harming them or worse, killing any of them (even a mook) is a surefire way to make an enemy out of her and the organization. Don't let this fool you however, as she is an utterly ruthless individual, who will not hesitate to kill someone for being in the way of her goals.

Abilities: As you can imagine, her powers are themed around snakes. She can shoot venom, extend snakes from her wrist to bite down on something or someone, and has the quickness and strength of a snake magnified to that of a humanoid. Also, she can shed her skin, which removes any injuries sustained instantly (though she can't do this all of the time). When things really need to be done, she has a One-Winged Angel form. Appropriately, she transforms into a giant snake. This is a last resort, mainly because, she prefers to be beautiful.

Weaknesses: The fact that she's vain about her appearance, which is why she dresses the way she does and prefers not to use some of her abilities when they're not needed. She also has flaws regarding her personality, such as how she will seek revenge above all else.

Goals: To lead Viper into glory.

Motivation: Money. She wants to have as much money as she can, which is why she founded and leads Viper as an organization willing to serve anyone for an exorbitant fee.

Role in the story: She acts as the leader of Viper. A mercenary faction that serves the highest payer.

Backstory: Mercedes Serpico hails from Italy, born in Venice to an aristocratic family at an unknown date. The Serpico family possesses Superpowerful Genetics that enables members to have snake-like abilities. When she was a girl, she lived in a lap of luxury that the family could afford, while her father Clemente handled the the business. That of course, being criminal affairs involving numerous illegal operations in Europe. One day however, it was brought to an end. The Serpico family, for all their power, were wiped out from a secret attack from within. Clemente had a notorious reputation for being a Bad Boss, which led to his own men betraying him when he least expected it. This led to the once-power Serpico family to be rendered virtually extinct. Mercedes was the only survivor.

Mercedes decided that she would work her way to the top. Her family wealth was gone, but she had her natural cunning to rely on. Indeed, she wasn't going to let this stop her from reaching her full potential. Using her beauty, she would build up her riches at the cost of other men. Eventually, she inherited the wealth of an American billionaire named Zachary Blythe. Using the new wealth and resources she built up, Mercedes founded Viper, which is a mercenary faction looking to make more money by carrying out missions for those willing to pay the price for it. In the wake of the Protectors, an international task force of superheroes that serve the government, they stand out for being an organization of villains that serve the buyers.

After this, she shed her identity as a "normal" human and assumed her scaly form, and took on a new name: "Queen Viper", a reference to her status as the leader of Viper and her aristocratic background from a family of snake-like people. As the leader, Queen Viper values the lives of her followers, but understands that lives are inevitably going to be lost in their work. The majority of Viper consists of mere rank-and-file grunts, but their top brass are far more lethal. In addition to Queen Viper, other top operatives include Marauder, Alice, Prototype, Knifepoint, Strider, Aquamarine, and Kitsune, among others.

Queen Viper serves as the charismatic leader of the organization. Viper runs on the motto "Your worst enemies are our worst enemies — for the right price". Things are looking very good for them, and it's only going to expand from there.

Relevant Tropes:

• Affably Evil: Considering the kind of person she is, Queen Viper is a very benevolent figure to her followers. She never abuses them, and allows members to quit at any time on amicable terms. Its telling that her command is through genuine respect, and not fear.
• Animal Motifs: Snakes. She has the appearance and powers involving them, and even has a snake tattoo on her spine.
• Berserk Button: There are several, though she tends to react with tranquility:
  • Betrayal. For a client, trying to put an end to Viper once they "outlived their usefulness" is a very bad idea. Though this doesn't happen often, after an example was made out of one client who tried to do this.
  • Harming her followers. She doesn't take kindly at all to people who hurt or kill the people who work for her, and will make you a sworn enemy of the organization, to which they won't stop until your dead.
  • Bad sex. Yes, those who have failed to satisfy her have paid dearly for it.
• The Chessmaster: How she orchestrated her way to the top after the fall of her family. Basically, she manipulated the circumstances to make sure she would regain her riches and become more powerful than ever.
• Combat Stilettos: Fights in heels, though they do little to hinder her movement.
• Dark Action Girl: She's an extremely dangerous individual who happens to be a woman.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Queen Viper doesn't give a damn about background so long as you can serve her. Case in point, the top members of Viper include herself (an Italian woman with snake features), Marauder (an African-American gunslinger), Alice (a British female teenager with magical abilities), Prototype (a robot), Knifepoint (an Australian who is practically immortal), Strider (an Irish ninja), Aquamarine (a Portuguese woman with hydrokinesis), and Kitsune (a Japanese demon and a woman).
• Even Evil Has Standards: Finds the things that Mist does to be appalling.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Herself and the other members of Viper see themselves as such, as they fight alongside each other and are loyal in a genuine way. Not to say they don't bicker, though, but that's true for all families.
• Evil Is Petty: She is very vein about her appearance, hence you'll never see her wear practical attire nor will she use her Scaled Up form unless things get really bad.
• Femme Fatale: A sexy yet depraved and manipulative woman, not to mention highly dangerous as well.
• Gold Digger: Grew her riches by being one. Though unlike the normal example, she is far from idle.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Yes, she fights in a dress.
• Kiss of Death: One way she can poison someone to death, and it's very effective.
• Iron Lady: She's a woman, very strong, and the unambiguous leader of Viper.
• Lady of War: A very feminine Dark Action Girl.
• Mama Bear: She looks after her followers very seriously.
• Meaningful Name: Her surname "serpent" in Italian.
• A Mother to Her Men: The leader of Viper, and a benevolent figure who looks after them.
• Ms. Fanservice: A tall, curvaceous, buxom woman who wears a backless dress with heels, and rocks Absolute Cleavage. Also Evil Is Sexy.
• One-Winged Angel: Has a Scaled Up snake form she can transform into when things really get messy, though she detests the form because it is hideous.
• Pet the Dog: Much of this comes from the fact that she genuinely cares about her allies, unlike many, many villains.
• Scaled Up: Her One-Winged Angel form is a giant snake.
• Statuesque Stunner: 5'11" without heels, and is absolutely sexy.
• That Woman Is Dead: No longer answers to "Mercedes Serpico", she is Queen Viper now.
• Vague Age: She appears in her thirties, though her exact age isn't known other than being "older than she looks".

She reminds me of a mafia boss, with the nicknames and the treating subordinates like family thing. However, you should note that Machiavelli stated that it's better to be feared and loved. If you're saying that her entire organization is completely loyal to her without question out of respect, it will really stretch the suspension of disbelief. It is made up of people of questionable morals, not saints. There are bound to be dissenters and ambitious people wanting to take her place, so one would require fear to keep them in line. Showing only kindness is a sign of weakness to such people, and charisma also means being capable of intimidating people as well.

Name: Clay D. Strom

Age: 26

Appearance: Is 5'5" tall, lean and muscular. Has messy black hair and blank, soulless eyes. Wears nothing except a pair of pants and a necklace, not even shoes. In his monstrous form, his body grows significantly, tripling in size and becomes way more muscular. His skin becomes like rock, his teeth and nails sharpen and his irises sharpens. His mouth constantly releases a poisonous mist and his hair lengthen.

Personality: Clay is pretty much what happens when a Creepy Child grows up, seemingly innocent and unknowing, but gives off an unsettling chill. He doesn't talk much, and even when he does, often ends with two or three words per sentence. He is mysterious, often staring into the distance with a blank expression. Clay is perfectly willing to kill things that annoy him, usually without warning. One second the other guy is threatening him, the next second his head is ripped off. The only way to be safe is to never interact with him at all, and if he just stares at you, walk away slowly. He communicates with his stares, expecting people to understand how he feels, meaning that understanding animals is an easier task. Usually when he threatens people, he would grab the person, mostly by their limbs, and start twisting slowly as he stares at them. As the person struggle uselessly, their words ignored and attempts to break free fail against his great strength, his eyes stare stare into theirs, showing that he doesn't care about them. Children are not spared, even babies. He is smarter than he lets on, knowing full well when someone is using him.

Abilities: He is immortal as long as his soul exist, capable of regenerating from a single cell, and if there is nothing left, possess the objects around him. He is immune to most magic, all forms of curses and poisons. He doesn't need food, water or oxygen, nor would the lack of them make him weak. He eats because food taste good. He doesn't feel pain or fatigue. In his base form, he can rip humans in half and tear through armor like paper. His monster form is even more dangerous, tanking cannonballs point blank. His body can act without a brain, and his limbs can act without being connected to the body.

Weaknesses: His strength has limits, so he defeats superior opponents by exhausting them to death, which may take hours. He can't swim, and is afraid of drowning. Not that he can be killed, but because of a traumatic experience as a baby. His vocabulary is limited, so he can't really express himself, even if he wanted to.

Goals: No long term goals. Usually he just follow the orders of his friend, Rosalind.

Motivation: Thinks of Rosalind as a family member, and he doesn't mind listening to her.

Backstory:Set in a Medieval European Fantasy. Clay almost died the moment he was born, due to a difficult birth. Not wanting her child to die like her previous one, his mother brought him to their equivalent of the devil, exchanging her soul for Clay to never face any threats in life. Unlike the usual devil, this one doesn't cheat, and kept his end of the bargain, even giving some additional benefits beyond what she requested. Clay would have become an absolute monster even without the deal, which makes it ironic that his mother gave her life to make the Complete Monster an actual one. His father, obviously upset about this, blamed Clay, neglecting him. When he was 5, his father sired another child with his new wife. Clay tried killing him due to the baby's crying, but his father stopped him. Which then led to Clay burning the house down and everyone in it. Thus, he made himself an orphan, not that he cares. If he's hungry, he just takes the food nearest to him right in front of the owner's face. If they try stopping him, they die. Quickly, people learn to let him take what he wants, since he typically just take food and doesn't care about anything else.

One day, he woke up and saw an injured girl collapsed in front of him. This is Rosalind, who is also a thief. She offers him some of her stolen stuff if he would help her. He helps not out of compassion, but out of curiosity, since he has never been injured before. He steals medicine, which made the commoners curious, since Clay heals from everything they tried throwing at him. They follow him back to his home, and sees him helping Rosalind. Rosalind doesn't understand how he managed to steal so much medicine without people noticing, and since he doesn't talk, she offers to partner with him. Clay doesn't understand thievery, since he basically takes what he needs. As Rosalind continues talking with Clay, the commoners become worried that Clay's moral compass would become screwed even further, so they attempt to kill Rosalind. Not wanting the person who says interesting things to die, he protects her, slaughtering them with ease. Rosalind realizes he was the infamous monster, thus becomes determined to bring him to her side. Together, they lead a group of bandits that terrorizes the continent, taking down armies if necessary.

Relevant Tropes:

Ax-Crazy: Has never hesitated in killing. When he wants to kill, the person is dead.

Breath Weapon: His can spew poisonous mist. Said mist causes blisters when exposed to human skin, kills instantly when breathed in, ignites with the smallest spark and lingers for a long period of time.

From a Single Cell: There is nothing he can't regenerate from.

Genius Bruiser: Despite how he acts, he is actually really smart in combat.

Healing Factor: Only a minute or two is needed for an entire limb.

In a Single Bound: He can jump over castle walls.

It Can Think: The silent, seemingly childlike Clay is actually way more perceptive then he lets on. Many people tried betraying him, only to get literally stabbed in the back out of nowhere, which illicit this reaction.

The Juggernaut: He usually walks through an entire legion of soldiers.

The Needless: While he enjoys eating, he doesn't need to, nor drinking or breathing.

One-Man Army: To get rid of Clay and his bandits, it is usually wise to bring two legions of armies, one to hold down Clay and the other to kill the bandits. Also, the former would definitely be wiped out.

Sealed Evil in a Can: They tried to do so, but his immunity to magic means it fails.

Adorable Abomination: Admittedly, Rosalind has weird taste in men, but ignoring the copious amount of murder and just based on looks alone, Clay is actually quite cute.

Ambiguous Innocence: He doesn't have a moral compass. Even when told that what he does is wrong, he just questions why.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: Nobody can quite understand how he determines who to not kill. Once, he killed a baby because it was crying, then he spared a baby because it started crying.

Bodyguarding a Badass: Rosalind has bodyguards set around him, because absolutely nothing is the one thing that would not set him off.

The Dreaded: The only reason people attacked Rosalind is because they feared a Clay who actually desired doing evil.

Killed Mid-Sentence: He deals this out to others so many times to the point of it being his Establishing Character Moment.

Mood-Swinger: The most terrifying aspect of him.

Tranquil Fury: So tranquil that his facial expression or tone doesn't even change when he's angry.

That's pretty nice villain. You know he is better suited for a dark fantasy. Here is my villain.

Name: Elisa Auberton Shrike

Age: 47

Personality: A ruthless holder of the Shrike Modifications megacorporation and secretly the leader of ETERNAL YOUTH, a criminal organization. She is absolutely powerful in her country of Israel, controlling parts of the government with her corporation and her criminal organization.

She is extremely arrogant and vain, pushing every piece of her organization to defeat the Black Hand terrorist group and achieve her beautiful world. She kills anyone who double-crosses her and holds a tight grip on her criminal organization.

Weaknesses: Her arrogance what causes her to make mistakes and do acts of evil eventhough it is useless.

Goals: To gain immortality by any means necessary and to create a beautiful world where Modified Humans can exist at cost of dominating the Non-Modified Humans.

Motivation: As she sees herself a beautiful person thanks to countless usage of Mods such as Augmentations and Enhancements from every field of Human Modification.

Backstory: A powerful woman from the nation of Israel who dominated the Human Modification industry with her megacorporation, she formed the criminal organization ETERNAL YOUTH with like-minded individuals to achieve her perfect beautiful world.

Relevant Tropes:

• Above Good and Evil: She has once a morality, but she dumped it long ago.
• Motive Rant: Delivers to our main characters.
• Transhuman: She is basically an villainous and deconstructed example. Elisa often uses Modifications to the extreme, causing relapse (Insanity).
• The Sociopath: Absolutely sees most of the Non-Modified Humans as filth and sees her minions as disposable.
• Übermensch: Deconstructed. Due to her rejection of morality and the usage of Modifications, it had left her insane and deciding to .
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Constant usage of the Modifications on her human body had gone extreme and left

Those "deconstructions" aren't actually deconstructions at all.

seems nice but I feel you could have given her more of nuance in her personality. (warning: very spoiler heavy)

Name: Alastair Campbell

Age: looks to be his forties but is actually 700 years old due to immortality

Appearance: he's a tall and lean man. his short hair is a shade of reddish brown and wearing it in a neat comb cut. the sides of his hair have a bit of gray on it with his eyebrows being a bit thick and furrowed. his eyes are dull gray, having a cold, strange visage every time someone's eyes meets his. he commonly sports the usual pastor attire: a long, black robe that reaches his knees, long pants underneath them, and a white collar. if he's not wearing that, he's usually seen wearing a three-piece suit.

Personality: once, he was a man who cared for his wife and anyone he knew. but after making the deal, he dived headfirst to the path of a recluse. Campbell had preferred to live a life by himself, rarely, if ever partaking in any social events in the church. he instead is inclined to go about his days working the inner workings of the church. as a leader, he's seen a father who can be kind but cruel if needs to be. if anyone does not do what he has stated before, terrible things will happen upon them. he treats every plan and everything as just a game of strategy. he wants everything to be orderly. absolutely everything. if there was so much as a screw in the plan, everything falls apart for him.

Abilities: as someone who was cursed, he has a few tricks up his sleeve. he uses some bits of black magic to change the probability of the situation. this comes in handy in case his plans aren't coming accordingly. he also has an understanding of self-defense training, using it to fend off incoming attacks.

Weaknesses: however, his magic only works 50% of the time and has a tendency to backfire. his arrogance can also get the best of him which could catch him off guard at any minute. due to his orderly nature, he wants every single bit of his plan to work accordingly. if it doesn't follow along as it's intended, he won't be able to adapt it into something else and the plan falls apart.

Goals: after making a deal with the Morrigan, he lives forever until he atones for his sins. but instead of doing that, he tries other means to lift his curse. later on, he wants her adopted son so that he could send a message to her.

Motivation: he wants to reunite with his wife after she dies and goes to the afterlife. in addition to his plight, he wants to exact his revenge for what the Morrigan has done to him

Backstory: in ancient Scotland, Alistair was a respected war leader of his clan. he never seemed to have lost a battle in his life. the way he employs his battle tactics always guaranteed him that. with talents such as his, the Morrigan had grew interested him and offered to give him her blessings. in exchange, he must give up his firstborn son in order to receive them. but Alistair refused her offer, claiming his son was his dearest possession. the phantom queen, displeased by his rejection, tells him that a terrible fate will meet him and his family in time.

and she was right. during a siege from an opposing clan, his wife and son were killed in the process. coming home from fending them off, he finds their corpses. a white raven stood on top of them and squawk "you broke a promise", over and over again. he fell to his knees and asked the Morrigan for forgiveness. the Morrigan tells him the only way to make it up is if he atones for the promises he broken during his life. he agrees, letting Morrigan bestow immortality upon him. but as the years gone by, his tasked proved to be difficult. the sins and lies that he committed were too great to atone. so, he begged her again to lift this curse so that he could see his wife again and finally be at peace. The Morrigan told him that if he doesn't do the promise he made, he will never see his wife again. frustrated with the circumstances, he wandered the earth, slowly growing insane at the thought of never seeing his wife in the afterlife.

many years later, it was the 21st century. he now works as a pastor in a small town in Scotland. he uses this as means to build his deeds so that one day, he can finally lift this curse. but with rumors talking of the "prince of ravens", he believes he could use him as bait against the Morrigan.

Relevant Tropes

• Magnificent Bastard: not only did Alistair Campbell tried to screw with main character claiming he can cure his gays. he even attempted he throw him into a ditch in order for him to get eaten by Coin-Sìth. another little thing he did is capturing the Morrigan's adopted human son so that she could destroy half of the town. and, when she was close enough, he attempts to impale her with a spear made of her son's own blood.
• Badass Preacher: for a man who claims to be only a humble speaker of god, he sure can kick some ass when needed.
• Cursed with Awesome: living forever in order to make up the sins that you've done sure can suck, especially when you have the deal with the constant reminder of them. but hey, you got scarlet witch powers and magic as an added bonus.
• The Atoner: becomes this in order to reunite with his wife. it's not exactly helping his situation, however.
• Winds of Destiny, Change!: Campbell has the power to change the probability of the situation for a short amount of time. the downsides to this are that it occasionally backfires on him and can't be used it to undo his curse.
• Evil Redhead: more or less is in some cases. back in the day, he even use to torture captured war criminals for his amusement sometimes.
• Anti-Villain: though he is no doubt a Manipulative Bastard, he cares about his wife and kindly did offer some advice to our main character before he knew his true intentions.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: he's done both cruel things in the present and the past but he only does it so he can be with his wife in the afterlife.
• Redemption Equals Death: when Alistair realizes what he's done, he sacrifices himself in order to stop The Morrigan and her army from overtaking the town. his soul becomes a white raven as a result and is able to reunite with his wife at long last.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Alistair sacrifices himself in order save the town from being put asunder by Morrigan's wrath. as a reward for making up all the sins he caused, his soul becomes a white raven and he reunites with his wife in the afterlife.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: in a promise he's made in the past, he is bestowed upon the gift of immortality in order to make up the sins he's caused over the years. more years will be added the more he sins during his lifetime.
• Affably evil: before we find out about his intentions, he was a kind and approachable man who sometimes offered advice to our hero.
• Deal with the Devil: after seeing his wife and son's corpses after the siege, he begs The Morrigan for forgiveness and the both of agree that he must atone for his sins in order see them again. in exchange, he must walk the earth as an immortal for the time being.
• Light Is Not Good: Alistair showcases this by using a bit of holy magic to kill one of his henchmen.
• Did You Just Have Tea With Cthulhu: in the prologue, The Morgan takes the form of a mortal woman and asked Alistair that she needs to have a talk, along with some tea, too.
• Evil All Along: it turns out that Alistair was trying to exploit our main character in order to get close to the prince of ravens.
• Really 700 Years Old

edited 12th Mar '17 6:46:49 PM by ewolf2015

[anyone or the guy who owns this thread, is it mandatory for someone to critique and make a character at the same time? because it seems like it's taking forever for anyone to review these post]

Your character has a very interesting backstory, and is certainly a memorable figure. I generally do not like Who Wants to Live Forever? as a motivation, but in this case it works very well, and the way he ends has a fitting mythological feel.

But I think you should consider the following:

• Why did Morrigan want his son? What were her plans for him? Is there any precedent in the original mythology for her behavior?

• You make it sound like Alistair's sins were many more than simply refusing the goddess' offer. It would be mention some, even if many may be typical for warlords.

• How exactly being Barred from the Afterlife wears on him? No need to be overly specific, and being kept apart from his family is already one of the reasons, but I think that there is still potential for more examples. Maybe when he masks himself as kind and helpful some of the things he says or does could reflect the melancholy he truly feels, or a belief that all things need to end one day to have any meaning.

edited 13th Mar '17 9:28:49 AM by EternaMemoria

Why did Morrigan want his son? What were her plans for him? Is there any precedent in the original mythology for her behavior?

You make it sound like Alistair's sins were many more than simply refusing the goddess' offer. It would be mention some, even if many may be typical for warlords.

• yes, he did rape, pillage, burn but also was a liar.
• at some point, a war broke out when Alistair didn't keep his promises concerning a truce, especially when one of the people he hired kills one of the opposing clan's heirs.
• in pillage, he fell for a foreign women and didn't consider promising his wife that he'll never love any women but her.
• and finally, when his brother was next in line to be new warlord, he poisoned his drink, intoxicating him.

How exactly being Barred from the Afterlife wears on him? No need to be overly specific, and being kept apart from his family is already one of the reasons, but I think that there is still potential for more examples. Maybe when he masks himself as kind and helpful, some of the things he says or does could reflect the melancholy he truly feels, or a belief that all things need to end one day to have any meaning.

Note: I’m reconsidering changing the location to Ireland since apparently, certain beast hailed from there rather than in Scotland.

From my Epic Fantasy story, The Gods Can Bleed.

Name: Toric Dumont

Age: 66

Appearance: Toric is a tall man who stands at 6'3" and has white balding hair with a beard. He possesses green eyes, and a scar on his right cheek. He primarily dresses in the kind of clothing one would expect from a man of his high status.

Personality: Cold, cunning, and utterly ruthless. He feels little pity or remorse, and wouldn't hesitate to exert his wrath on anyone who he feels deserves regardless of their age, sex, or familiar status. Toric at the same time, acts polite as he goes about his business. There are no qualms to him about making threats, because he knows he has the power to back it up. At the same time, he holds a degree of Pragmatic Villainy, because he values keeping everything in order so he can stay ahead. Toric holds a disdain for the Bloodsworth family, namely his old "friend" Silas, which eventually makes him the enemy of his grandson, Eliot.

Abilities: Toric is a strong, not just for his age, but also for any person in general. He can easily beat a man in hand-to-hand combat, and is even more dangerous with a sword. His greatest asset however, is his mind. He ascended from an orphan to one of the most powerful figures in Arcania's criminal underworld through his planning, and possesses the resources he needs to get the job done.

Weaknesses: His biggest weakness perhaps is the fact that, as strong and cunning as he is, he's still an old man. There's only so much he can do, and relies primarily on others to back him up.

Goals: To get the Debt Collector back and make an example out of Eliot Bloodsworth. Outside of that, he wishes to grow more in power, becoming a player in the story as a whole.

Motivation: Money and power is his primary motive.

Role in the story: One of the villains in the series, he is the personal antagonist of POV character Eliot Bloodsworth.

Backstory: Toric Dumont was born in Olaius, a kingdom in the land of Arcania. Other than his name, he knew nothing of relatives, as he was left on the doorstep of an orphanage. Knowing the hardships of life without a family, and with others who would mock him for being an orphan, he grew to become what he is today. Toric became a thief in his youth, and was a skilled master in the craft.

When Toric turned 18, he left the orphanage behind and turned to life of crime. He had no intentions of being just a petty thief, for he had bigger goals in mind. As a skilled thief, who grew up stealing things from the wealthy, he was recruited into Company of Thieves, a secret organization that spans Arcania, where the purpose is to stick together and plot out heists, as well as provide a home for thieves in general. Toric was considered one of the top thieves in the organization.

In this time, he formed a fierce rivalry with Silas Bloodsworth. Being that both of them were the most skilled thieves in the company, it was only natural they would butt heads. They competed over who could be the best thief, and eventually Silas proved to be the superior. Feeling disgraced, Toric left the organization behind. However, he wasn't going to wager everything on this.

He had used his skills as a thief to build an empire, stealing riches from others, and then taking part in the underground crime syndicate. Toric eventually began funding raids on others, and sent a raid out on the Bloodsworth family, stealing their heir loom, an enchanted sword known as the Debt Collector. A blade that heals the owner upon inflicting pain to their enemies, it was a priceless artifact that became a symbol for how powerful Toric Dumont had become.

Eventually, Silas retired and raised his grandson Eliot on a farm in Olaius. Having trained his grandson to be a skilled thief like him, but one with morals. Eliot would happen across Cage Dumont, the grandson of Toric, who bullied an orphan girl named Roses. After Eliot taught him a lesson, he reported back to Silas, and he told him the story. Silas then sent his apprentice on a mission to retrieve the Debt Collector back from the Dumont family. He succeeded.

However, Toric knew exactly who was responsible, and how to find him. He took his men and confronted Silas at his farm. Though he acted polite, reminiscing about the old old days, he did so while casually threatening to kill him and his whole family for standing in his way. Silas refused, and instead fought him and his men head-on with the intent to kill. Though he managed to take out several men, Silas was eventually slain. When they searched the farm however, it was nowhere to be found.

Eliot escaped with it, just as Silas wanted. Toric eventually discovered exactly who Eliot was, and made him his personal enemy.

Relevant Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Thinks nothing of beating his grandson Cage. Granted, Cage wasn't exactly a nice guy, but he was still brutal enough that even Eliot reserved a shred of pity for him.
• Arch-Enemy: Originally Silas, being his rival who he made into his enemy and stole his beloved sword. His grandson Eliot become this after he takes it back from him, and Silas is killed.
• Badass Grandpa: An old man who isn't just strong for his age, but strong in general.
• Beard of Evil: Has a white beard, and is undoubtedly a bad guy.
• Berserk Button: Do not bully orphans just for being orphans, as Toric will react violently no matter who you are. Him, having grown up as orphan himself, was utterly disgusted to learn that his grandson Cage bullied an orphan girl just because "her parents didn't want her".
• The Chessmaster: Very skilled at using his resources and manipulating others for further gain.
• The Don: Perhaps the closest example you can get in fantasy. He's the leader of an underground criminal organization that spans Arcania, which he grew through his attained wealth as a thief.
• Evil Is Bigger: 6'3", in comparison to Eliot only being 5'6".
• Evil Old Folks: He's 66. While there's plenty older than him, some being Really 700 Years Old, he's still an old man for a non-magical human. Also an utterly ruthless individual who will kill anyone for standing in his way, or if it would get him more profit.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's perfectly willing to act nice, just as he casually makes threats on the lives of the lives of his enemies and their loved ones.
• Freudian Excuse: What made him into what he is now. Being an orphan, he faced hardship and torment until he eventually cared about no one but himself.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: A penniless orphan turned skilled thief, turned criminal kingpin.
• Genre Savvy: He immediately knew that Silas was behind the theft of the Debt Collector, because Silas was the one who originally had it to begin with. After that, it was a simple matter of uses his resources to pinpoint his exact location to find him.
• Pragmatic Villany: Holds some standards, but not because he truly feels this way as much as it would cause trouble for him later. For one, he doesn't kill his own men. He knows that's how empires are crumbled.
• The Rival: Silas was this before he became his Arch-Enemy.
• Would Hit a Girl: No qualms about hurting or even killing an innocent woman for opposing him.
• Would Hurt a Child: Thinks nothing of the idea of killing a non-adult to get what he wants. He says as much when threatening Silas before killing him in their fight.
  Toric: This isn't a threat, it's a promise. Give me the sword back, or I will kill you, your grandson, and everyone you love.

Sounds like a very threatening villain - heinous as well, as his threat to the life of a child indicates. He is not afraid to kill for that sword, and it evidently means a lot to his plans to get that sword back. Though his fondness for orphans is pretty odd - it adds a nuance to him that might have otherwise been lost.

Here is a villain of mine from a fairly recent short story I'll be submitting to a class.

• Name: Bruce Vinsdale / The Berserker

• Age: Apparently 18. Try more like a spirit that has been around since the Viking Times.

• Personality: It...does not seem to have much of a personality beyond being a snarling, hateful rage monster that kills for thrills and occasionally for food. As a human, Bruce...was basically a Jerk Jock who hinged his entire career as an athlete on the Artifact of Doom containing the Berserker Spirit, basically using it as an undetectable steroid. He was a brute, became a sexually violent little monster, and has zero respect for anyone except "Coach"...and even that quickly evaporated as the weight of the Berserker Coat settled on him. The Berserker certainly does act like a horror movie monster, and Matthew even wonders if it thinks. It does. The human who was once the Berserker made a deal with the Light God of the Hunt, Kazuryas, to be able to fight forever and hunt humans just as much as animals. Inside that incoherent shell is a combination of Bruce's personality and that of the original Berserker.

• Abilities: Its body is capable of healing from small arms fire instantly, and even getting blasted by Matthew's Sword Beam barely harmed it, thus indicating it has a deadly combination of Nigh-Invulnerable and Healing Factor. In as far as its offences, those claws are diabolically sharp, and it can apparently swing them hard enough to send Razor Wind in a straight path. The Berserker Coat is also functionally its Soul Jar, and as long as it exists, it can warp anyone who puts it on over time into being its vessel.

• Weaknesses: That aforementioned enchantment does not work on Matthew, due to his body being warded against curses. It is also remarkably bad at detecting threats, and assumes its defensive abilities can cover that. Hence, some of its bodies have met some pretty flashy ends.

• Goals: Hunt humans. That is literally all he lives for by the present.

• Motivation: Originally, the Berserker had been a Blood Knight Viking Lord who was angry about his son's death at the hands of a rival group. He was approached by the Light God and offered a Relic, and used his newfound power to hunt down his enemies and avenge his son's death...but these things have a way of corrupting people, and he degenerated after it was discovered his son was murdered as part of a plan by a local noble, thus necessitating him to expand his revenge, more and more...

• Role in the Story: Technical Big Bad, though more The Heavy - Coach Brondson is the cause of all the bad stuff going on.

• Backstory: originally a Viking Lord, the Light God of the Hunt approached him when his heart was full of rage and revenge, and gave him a Relic with which to scourge his foes from the earth. He hunted them as the first incarnation of the Berserker, and degenerated from a human into the horrific monster we see today. He was eventually killed by a wandering knight who looked remarkably like Matthew. The Berserker Coat languished throughout the ages until it was found by archaeologists, and brought home and given off to a local coach "as a gift" (read; he stole it and blackmailed the archaeologist to keep him quiet). He discovered the power of the Coat, and made a habit of letting his player's keep it for a while to obtain residual power from the Berserker, only for some of his players to get a bit too much...

• Tropes:

• Ax-Crazy: The Berserker naturally. Bruce himself sinks more into this over time, his Sanity Slippage becoming increasingly obvious.
• Bad Things Only Happen At Night: Justified, given that the Berserker much prefers hunting at night, and utterly refuses to come out during the day.
• The Berserker: Right there in the name. Apart from hunting and stalking like a predator, it fights hyper-aggressively, using its healing and nigh invulnerability to its advantage.
• Blood Knight: Some things never change. It enjoys fighting Matthew and its behavior in battle with him is half being convinced Matthew is that errant knight's reincarnation and thus wanting revenge, and half enjoying the thought of a rematch.
• Body Horror: In among wolf and bear fur growing out of human skin, we see skin broken and muscles growing too large to remain within the skin, in some places it doesn't even have skin, just musculature releasing a lot of steam.
  • Bruce was given an indication why this steroid was not to be messed with when his entire lower body, previously mentioned as lagging behind, started convulsing and forcibly strengthening, outright showing the fat being turned to steam and forced out of him and muscle growing in ways it really, really shouldn't.
  • Then there's Bruce's ultimate transformation into the Berserker, replete with his eyes falling out and being replaced with bright gold eyes, and his skin rupturing and falling off in numerous places. Eugh...
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The entire adventure involving the Berserker entails gruesome murder, hilarious commentary on ridiculous events, Body Horror done on young people, Matthew having to go undercover and deal with a combination of Dumb and Jerk Jocks. In the day, campier, more funny things happen. At night things tend to be more sinister, and foreshadow disturbing events. The sheer corruption involved in Brondson's scheme is also shown, and his son Ian had apparently intended to get more strength from the Berserker Coat himself after killing its current vessel and tricking it into killing a rival of his.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Coach Brondson turned what was originally the Berserker Pelt into the Berserker Coat to make it less odd for players to run around with a wolf pelt. How? He...had it fashioned into material on a letterman jacket. Yes. An evil letterman jacket. Matthew even calls the very concept "something from a Stephen King novel made when he was on some kind of drug. Is the laundry folding machine going to be possessed by Dhakar next?"
  • Antonius: ...Please don't give him any ideas...
• Enemy Mine: Antonius and Reiji are basically Guest-Star Party Member types for the last battle with this creature. Screwing with and destroying creatures of the Light Gods pretty common behavior for them. Antonius even proves invaluable, almost exorcising the Berserker Spirit from Bruce's body outright.
• Hearing Voices: Bruce hears the voice of the Berserker as he wears the coat, slowly degenerating over time into the perfect vessel for its immortal spirit.
• Hollywood Exorcism: Antonius uses the power of the Dark Gods to try to exorcise the Berserker Spirit from Bruce's body on the spot, via a lot of spell circles and bindings made by Reiji. It only fails because Brondson ran in like an idiot and disrupted it.
  • Too Dumb to Live indeed - the Berserker promptly repays Coach Brondson by eating him gut first, to repair some of the damage done by Antonius' exorcism. Even still, its healing was slowed and it was not quite as difficult to damage from then on.
• Jerk Jock: Initially - and he only gets worse from there, ultimately becoming some sort of horrible mutated werebeast.
• Motive Decay: Originally the Berserker was out for revenge. This declined over time and it barely even remembers that it even had a son. Now it just cares about the hunt.
• Mundane Solution: How does Matthew deal with a jacket that can turn people into monstrosities and has proven difficult / nigh impossible to destroy? Initially he agonizes over it - giving it to Antonius could end with the Dark Gods doing something bad with it, and giving it to Reiji was likewise a bad idea. Then it hits him. He takes advantage of his curse immunity and simply wears it himself. Because the enchantment acted as a Curse, Matthew cannot suffer any effect from the Coat, and its by and large kept out of the hands of people who might want it or be tempted by the whispers into using it.
• Sanity Slippage: As Bruce is influenced, more and more, by the Berserker Coat, his sanity declines, going from a Dumb Jock with jerk tendencies to a terrible Jerk Jock and then alleging that as a "valuable man", he "should be allowed to do as he wants to the people at the school". Then comes his final psychological degeneration before his body warps into that of the Berserker.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Once it decides someone is its prey, it never stops hunting them. Ever.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Very, very strong, but its battle plan is hardly more advanced once forced out than Attack! Attack! Attack!. Matthew, a more skilled combatant, equals it easily, and when Antonius and Reiji join in, the fight quickly turns against the Berserker.
• What An Idiot: Bruce heard the whispers and saw the Body Horror effects...and decided it was well worth the pain if it muscled him up like that more often. Matthew even says, "Bruce, I really don't like it when jocks are as dumb as you are. Its a stereotype, man, don't reinforce it..."
• Would Hurt a Child: It picks up Coach Brondson's teenage son Ian and starts eating him even as he lived. That was the moment Matthew realized this thing could not be reasoned with, and needed a more decisive end.

edited 14th Apr '17 1:03:11 PM by NickTheSwing

Edit: This shameful villain is blanked.

edited 18th Apr '17 12:22:51 AM by Huthman

Wait wait wait, did you seriously create a story where the main villain is a cartoonish, unrealistic version of an atheist? You do realize how offensive that is, right?

Yeah, I find that very offensive, and he isn't even a real atheist. Is that what you think all atheists are like?

Yes, Huthman. Honestly, I'm not one to scold other tropers on this damn site, but you have repeatedly shown a lack of understanding of the word "deconstruction". The word "deconstruction" implies that the realistic effects of a trope is shown, not when a trope is taken to the grimdarkest extreme. It is not "sliding down the slippery slope". Honestly, mate, I used to be like you and used to be obsessed with the concept of "deconstruction" as "dark-ifying everything", until I really looked into what it really means.

Your portrayal of atheism is not at all realistic. It is, like Golgothas has said, "cartoonish, unrealistic version of an atheist". It is an exaggeration, a stereotype.

My suggestion? Get out of Yahoo Answers and maybe interact with actual atheists. Learn what they believe in, and why they don't go to such extremes like your atheist characters would. Quora is a good place to start. Looking at pre-existing examples of deconstructions would also help you do it right. You've got a lot to learn.