The best and the worst.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That is suitably creepy. I like how alien, yet he has semi-understandable motives. Can we get abilities and weaknesses?
Also, the comic has several castes. Plebs and Irrits are mostly normal humans, with the former being more resistant to disease and the latter being resistant to mutation, but the Optims are genetically modified humans, so far advanced that they are almost a separate race. They are immune to all disease and infection, heal quickly from injury, have eyesight that extends into different spectrums, and are very intelligent. Their cells are similar to stem cells, and when they are killed by the other castes, the smart ones preserve the bodies to use to treat injury. Some, like the Beast, went a little too far.
Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged Men
Sir Night, Wayward Hunter-Angel
OK, that makes sense.
And for Nigredo: Since I intend for the fic to be a little more action horror than the typical NWOD chronicle, he has a wider variety of powers than recommended for qashmallim in Pandora's Book. Besides being able to throw Flux (ie, elemental dissolution) at people, he can manipulate random chance and probability without even really thinking about it, and control the layout of his castle without actually needing to expend Pyros.
For actually drawing on his reserves, he can assume a powerful battle form for an hour or so, during which he becomes a heavily armored and armed creature with the capacity to fly, create Pandorans, trigger a Firestorm, or most importantly to his schemes, forcefully infuse Flux into life forms, inducing some pretty bizarre mutations that often cause lasting health problems (they aren't quite horrific or life-affecting enough to count as the trope, just changes to general appearance that will cause double takes). He aims to do this in order to ferret out the genes he needs for his creation, since minor Flux mutation (not the Lovecraftian Superpower variety, which has more to do with alchemy than biology) works by activating dormant genes and causing them to rapidly express. Thus, he develops an increasingly complete lexicon of genetics by observing the mutations he induces.
His primary weakness is, as mentioned, the fact that he needs Pyros to live and to fuel most of his abilities, and if he runs out, he's done. Psychologically speaking, while he does have the capacity to explain who and what he is if asked (the Mission can cover willing test subjects), he can't really work outside his role as the builder of a new variety of monster, and thus, sticks out like a sore thumb when he's around. This isn't helped by the fact that his minions are...Pandorans.
edited 4th Nov '12 5:34:09 AM by Leliel
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.
Name: Nox. Also known as D-Zero
Age: Unknown. For all intents and purposes, he is probably in his late 20s or early thirties.
Personality: Starts out as Alien as possible, unable to fully understand reality, only interested in obtaining something from the protagonist. Acts aloof, due to having undergone a severe Time Travel experience. His mind is barely holding on to reality, and has a generally ruthless and cunning demeanor, mixed with a sense of serenity. However, if he is genuinely furious, he goes into a feral mode.
Abilities: His own presence causes certain shifts in reality, giving him a certain amount of control over space and time. By using a certain chemical that was infused into him, he gains an enourmous amount of strength, but it only functions for a limited time. By the end of the story, his telekinetic abilities and agility make him the most powerful force in the story, though at the cost of his sanity.
Weaknesses: Is linked to the main protagonist, cannot touch him at all. His mind is constantly messing with him, making him forget certain lapses of time. This leads him to lose certain battles, and, in turn, be easily manipulated by other forces.
Goals: Obtaining "The Soul" program from Max Beckett, bring about a Darkling invasion, Destroy the force known as "The Jury" and build a different future from his own reality.
Motivation: He is the main protagonist, ten years into the future. He has seen not only a bad future which he seeks to avoid, the experiments which he endured, mixed with the things he saw in the time journey he made, has left him as a broken shell of his former self. He seeks to avoid the same fate he endured, which, mixed with the influence from beings known as "The Darklings", has turned him into a harbinger of the apocalypse.
Role in the Story: Starts out as part of the Big Bad Ensemble and generally remains that way until the end of the first book. His importance constanltly varies through the series, but he is always one of the bigger threats. It's just that he is not a force of power like The Jury, or any of it's partners, keeping him as more of a threat for the protagonist, though he provides most of the main conflict, even if indirectly.
Backstory: Max Beckett, after joining part of the Inteligencia Aeterna to stop The Jury, took part in a dangerous experiment. A program only known as "The Soul" was implanted into him, which would let him create portals. After... Something ocurred in the future, he used it to travel ten years in the past, the perfect time to stop the Criminal Sindicate known as the Jury from overtaking Umbra City and the rest of the Republic. However, the soul almost killed him, changing his psyche, and led him to make contact with an ancient race of precursors known as The Darklings by most people.
Now, The Soul was implanted by accident on the younger Max Beckett, due to them sharing the same body and all that. Now, the future one, Nox, is too weak to use it, and seeks to regain the the other part of The Soul, so that The Darklings can enter this reality and reclaim it, and stopping whatever The Jury unleashed in the future...
Relevant Tropes: The Heavy , The Dreaded , Big Bad , Evil Counterpart , Humanoid Abomination
Damn, I hope it's not too long.
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
@On everyone who asked about Vice-Admiral Wodash: The thing on him having no motivation is more that he's living his life on the automatic, he has no "clear long-term motivation". He's just living his life, trying to do his job and be healthy. Sort of like a villainous The Everyman. He's just trying to live his life. Problem is: He has a seriously fucked up sense of morality, so his solution to everything is exceedingly brutal.
That said, he has a extensive interest on his family in general, which is why he targets the main character [his grandson]. He does what he sees as best for his descendants, but again, so he ends up mostly making their life a living Hell [see the Abusive Parents part].
Also the protagonist is a pirate. His job is to wipe out piracy. Do the math.
And techinically? He doesn't care about living. Which is why I linked Empty Shell [or at least attempted to link...], he is hollow on the inside. Part of the reason he doesn't flinch upon being impaled, and when he finally is slain at the end of the story, he's pretty chill.
And I said, his goal is his job: wiping out piracy. People follow him because that's the goal of every marine in this story. Also, fear [he's a fifteen foot tall purple giant who can lift ships with one hand and shrugs off cannonballs, people are obviously scared shitless of him].
Weaknesses, yes, he is meant to be absurdly overpowered. That said, Evil Cannot Comprehend Good trips on him frequently [there's a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal somewhere along the story which is fairly obvious to every single character present, but Wodash is completely dumbfolded when it actually happens].
Finally, yes, he was meant to be utterly Alien in general.
Damn that took longer than I expected.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Apparition in the Woods
You should try to give some criticism of the previous entries. Really, at least a paragraph or more. Otherwise, you're basically cutting in line.
On an unrelated note, I have several antagonists whom I might like to put up for critique, but I'm having trouble making a decision, partly due to my own reticence to post spoiler-y things about my work publicly and partly because I simply have more of them than most people. Anyone want to help me somehow?
edited 5th Nov '12 1:56:29 PM by JHM
I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
State of Mind
Narrow it down to the ones that require the least amount of spoiling to still get their character across. Then pick one via Eeny-meeny-miny-moe.
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
Apparition in the Woods
I feel a bit foolish having not already thought of that—which is not to say that it's foolish advice by any means—but thank you.
And now I'm down to choosing between a woman, a middle-aged man, and a... thing, none of which are well-represented here. Points for diversity! Which sounds most appealing? (I mean that in a relative sense, naturally.)
I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
State of Mind
Middle aged man. If only because I'm imaging him as balding and getting overwieght and the idea of that as a threatening villain amuses me.
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
Apparition in the Woods
All right then! But first, I'll give Polarity some things to think about.
An essential problem with my fairly assessing Nox as a character or even as a threat is that I don't really understand what's driving him to villainy per se. Sure, he wants the other half of this mystical MacGuffin, but why does he need to antagonise the protagonist/his younger self to do it? And if this extraction requires harming that other self, why is he concerned about this other version of him living through this bad potential future in the first place? Also, you don't explain how the Darklings' wants and needs would affect Nox's behaviour in the first place. What do they want? How are they using him?
It all reminds me vaguely of Noein, an interesting series that I've seen only parts of and about which I have very mixed feelings. Especially similar is the whole "future me but semi-evil and has superpowers" thing, which is a major plot point in that story.
On a somewhat unrelated note, the suggestion that time manipulation powers might effect deleterious changes in memory is a cool one, as is probability manipulation. Coincidentally, I've used both in my own work. Does that make me biased? Yep. But still, cool concepts. Fun to explore. Do me proud, bro.
And now, to someone completely different.
Name: Ossian Wendell Pulver
Age: About 59.
Personality: Pulver can perhaps be best described as serene. He is entirely secure in what he can do and entirely at peace with what he does. Occasionally he has moments of anger and impatience, and he is often dry and sarcastic, but he is certainly far from completely dispassionate. From time to time he even feels great remorse, and he certainly has a very particular set of standards. Yet he never lets these worries or moments of uncertainty dispel his almost zen demeanour.
In keeping with his almost incongruous serenity, Pulver has a fondness for riddles and philosophical conundrums, as well as challenging but understated music (Anton Webern, etc.) and simple but intelligent poetry. He keeps a Japanese watercolour print of a garden in spring in his apartment, serving as its sole non-functional adornment. (Whether or not it was stolen, purchased, or given to him is up to interpretation.)
Abilities: Ossian Pulver is an assassin, and he is wonderful at it. He has great dexterity and aim, surprising strength, practical sword training and unmatched knife-fighting abilities alike, an encyclopaedic knowledge of poisons, reasonablenote forensic skills in his own right, and fantastic improvisational abilities.
Weaknesses: He is slower and weaker than he used to be, and beneath his façade, far less certain (see "Motivation"). Hereditary joint problems are just beginning to exhibit themselves, as are minor heart problems. While still in good shape, he is wearying. Further to his detriment, he is now in the very bosom of the supernatural—a field about which he knows nothing, and possesses little understanding of. While this does not frighten him, it makes things harder to plan, even on the fly. His own slow-burning resentment for those who he works with (and their sometimes even greater disrespect for him) also poses a problem.
Goals: To complete his job to the best of his ability and go home, even if it means cleaving more to the spirit of the contract than its letter.
Motivation: On the surface, Pulver is motivated by fear and greed: His contract has gone south, yet he still intends to collect on his commission, so he switches targets and improvises as he goes along. On a deeper level, it is a matter of honour; he refuses to leave a job undone, regardless of personal cost.
But at the bottom of it all, the question of motivation is one that dogs him more than anyone else: "Why do I kill people?" It's not a matter of thrill or rage, lust or money; unlike many of those he works for or with, he isn't really a psychopath or a sadist, simply... unfazed. It's not even because he's good at it—although he certainly is—or because he simply can. He simply puts one foot in front of the other, and inside he wonders...
Role in the Story: Pulver has been called into the employ of the Veiled Lord, a mentally unstable crime boss with exceptional scope and bizarre interests. He has been tasked with the murder of a magician named Guénolé and the retrieval of certain unusual items from the late sorcerer, including a very peculiar sigil. In doing so, however, he has been saddled with a team of other malcontents and a kind of "minder" in one Threscer Lang, who... probably deserves his own description.
Anyway, things do not go well. When the group arrive at Guénolé's estate, things have clearly gone awry in their absence—think "mysterious explosion and tons o' dead people" awry—forcing Pulver to make a snap decision to pursue another target that he believes to have made off with the sigil: A hapless, traumatised young fellow named Nolan Noss, who just boarded the train that they just left.
They return, lay low, and make designs on their target, who is now in the company of a group of protagonists, but things start to get strange when they realise that they are not the only people looking for Noss on the train...
...for a certain value of "people."
Backstory: Not much to say, really. Born into an upper-middle-class family in Northern Ireland. Went through some unfortunate things in his childhood and adolescence. Became a criminal, then a killer.
But do these two things follow?
Or was it a brief talk with a certain stranger, himself well worth discussing...?
Relevant Tropes:
- Affably Evil—Very much so.
- Cool Old Guy—Weeeeell...
- Dissonant Serenity
- Enigmatic Minion—In some respects.
- Freudian Excuse—Averted. Possibly.
- Gentleman and a Scholar—Would be, if not for... err, yeah.
- Noble Demon
- One Last Job—A borderline example.
- Professional Killer
- Punch-Clock Villain—Of sorts.
- Villain Protagonist—For a certain value of "protagonist."
- Wicked Cultured
Discuss as you will.
edited 5th Nov '12 5:33:12 PM by JHM
I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
Sounds like a very compelling villain. The heroes had best not treat him like The Man Behind the Curtain.
I am looking forward to seeing how the end plays out for him.
(yes, another one)
- Name: Ein Woe
- Age: 25
- Personality: Ein is a very sarcastic and glib individual who seems to have a sense of mocking politeness to his personality, he is enjoys stating complements to people they do not apply to when the reality is that they are almost the exact opposite from the complement. He has this tendency to overreact as if he's about to lose, only to suddenly become calm and deadpan again, and present a way for him to win quickly. He is a very sadistic individual underneath his veneer of politeness, inflicting humiliating demises on people he thinks deserve it. His Blue-and-Orange Morality means nobody can really be sure when he'll find somebody's death funny. He seems to be something of a Troll, at one time, disguising himself as a hero's girlfriend, and then making the poor guy passionately kiss him. Ein then revealed himself and said, "You are an amazing kisser, you know that, big boy! Now, if you don't want me to send this image to everyone over the internet, you'll listen, and you'll listen good." At heart, he seems to have a consuming hatred for his old friend Gabe, who is seen by Ein as a violation of his bizarre moral code. Gabe made their mutual love interest almost suicidal due to obliviousness and a devotion to duty, which means, to Ein, he should've been announcing his evilness wherever he goes. That Gabe insisted he was trying to do the right thing infuriated Woe. So, Woe is trying constantly to find a way to prematurely end Gabe's pilgrimage, and then make him miserable...without killing him. Ein does seem to have some bizarre standards, for example, you had better not take women and children as hostages, or he'll kill you even if you're on his side. Another standard he has is his absolute loathing for people who would have their own family used in their schemes. That is as low as Woe goes. He might directly fight his brother-in-law (its complicated), but he won't play around with their family's emotions. Ein also seems to dislike the use of faith as an excuse for evil actions, as he puts it, "You should be open, evil, and proud of it."
- Abilities: Ein Woe is basically a Poisonous Person Up To Eleven. He can synthesize poisons - very nasty poisons - in his body and then shoot them at people in the form of a gaseous blast, strange poisonous ooze, or incredibly corrosive acid. He can even make poisons that didn't exist until he made them. Its all a part of his Shapeshifter deal. He is a very precise shape shifter, being able to change what his body is composed of, create new flesh and blood, and even make clones to take hits (compare Elder Toguro). A very cruel trick he often uses is letting an opponent get in what really should be a lethal blow, just to get his blood on his opponent, which becomes a disturbing toxin that rots the musculature, turns bone incredibly brittle, and leads to boiling lesions and pus build up. Needless to say, he's a combat pragmatist who doesn't know the meaning of fair play. He can even create whole, new beings out of himself, these beings typically get used to ware down heroes. An even more nefarious trick involves scattering his flesh into water, which can lead to 1) a Zombie Apocalypse or 2) a Kefka Palazzo-esque castle poisoning scenario. In terms of weapons, Woe prefers a long scythe with the blade sharp on both ends. He is actually very good at using it, having studied ways to use the curving blade to take whole limbs off. Its also certainly not above him to coat the blade in nerve toxin.
- Weaknesses: Like most demons, Legend-Class weapons are his weakness. And while most demons are gargantuan Lightning Bruisers, Ein is comparatively smaller, weaker, and wiry. He has no Super-Strength to speak of, and every bit of his capabilities he needed to train extensively for. He is also weak to holy items.
- Goals: Goal #1: Drag Gabe back, by any means necessary, and let him live with some nasty suffering. Goal #2: For the Evulz. Goal #3: Mess with heroic folks, because that is what demons do.
- Motivation: Ein's motivation is that Gabe's betrayal taught him the world was evil, nasty and cruel, and that no matter how good things were going, Reality WILL Ensue. The only way to survive if you're like him, he posits, is to become worse than those who are trying to screw you over.
- Role in the story: He is the Big Bad a couple of times, The Dragon other times, he some times helps the heroes out against a mutual foe,
- Backstory: Covered in Ein Woe's thread on TV Tropes. To give a gist, The Woobie / Cosmic Play Thing makes a friend in The Ace Nice Guy who turns out to be in line to go on a magical pilgrimage as an animal of some sort, in his case, a large bird of some sort. Said friend breaks their mutual love interest's heart in the process of revealing it to her, and she almost attempts suicide. Ein had already given her up to him, so this sets him off. He snaps, and vows to force the whole pilgrimage thing to stop. It involves trying to beat Gabe (and his parents) to death with his bare hands in a maddened fury. Woe is a lot more coherent after he got himself back together.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Badass: You...really...wouldn't expect a shrimpy, deformed guy like Ein to be able to fight The Ace, who had some of the strongest magic in the school, to a stand still. He is also ranked as a Grand Duke Demon. That would be the fourth or fifth highest rank in the Demonic Hierarchy. He was not given the title as a pity gift, or for no reason. He earned it...by killing his predecessor, his own father. Granted, old man was a bastard, but still...
- Casting a Shadow: One of a few people who can quick cast Erebus Runes, which do very, very bad things.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ein Woe has some of the best lines. Case in point, when Matthew summons a humongous sword to blast a gateway to hell, "Well, since nobody else is going to do it, I say he's compensating." After saving Matthew from a murderous Yandere, and seeing poor Matt is in his underwear, he takes the time between kicking said Yandere through a wall and escaping to remark, "Oh, looks like I was wrong, he's not compensating at all...he was just communicating the size of his manly sword to us demons." Somewhat earlier, when transporting a past villain to the future, the villain asks if he's transporting them "through heinous black wizardry." Ein remarks, "No, I'm taking us to the future in a chariot pulled by zonkeys...of course its black wizardry!"
- Enemy Mine: Multiple times. Usually in RP's, once the stronger villain or Sealed Evil in a Can shows itself.
- In the main books, the Gaol Liner Efrava Prison Arc is the craziest it gets. Matthew's been thrown down there, and is trying to find Eddie, the local Macguffin Boy, who's slated to be killed due to how his innate ability is basically a WOMD. In the course of this, Ein Woe joins Matthew, bringing Callodes along. Then they end up having to escape from the second lowest level, The Endless Gaol Plight, and every Big Bad from the previous books and their henchmen join in. Caine, Nebiros, Sharon Tate Roman, Hector Gibbs, Dolph Gradich, Aldoss (Big Bad of the Interquel), with even some of Nebiros', Sharon's, and Hector's henchmen joining as well.
- Evil Brit: Talks in a somewhat smarmy and naturally sarcastic british accent.
- Evil Is Cool: Despite the deformed nature, most of his plans are freaking cool. Special mention goes to one particular plan he made, which involved faking a Xanatos Roulette to lure the heroes out, at which point he couldn't lose. Either the Mole that he (forcibly) made one of them into would help him and he'd win, or the device he put on said guy would go off and he'd win.
- The Gadfly: Ein just seems to like freaking people out, and doing nothing evil at that time because its not what they'd expect. One notable occasion was launching a terrifying looking spell...that disintegrated everyone in an area's clothes.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Many of his appearances involve him clowning around, getting harassed by the Quirky Miniboss Squad, and embarrassed time and time again. Makes it much, much more surprising when he suddenly enters the scene and outright murders everyone. One notable case was an RP. Fifty pages he spent doing nothing useful. He then murders the hero's army's leader, a group full of advisers, and then magic blasts the hero's girlfriend out the window before impaling the hero himself, a seasoned veteran of many battles, in a brutal, no nonsense Curb-Stomp Battle.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Averted. He likes...playing...with people too much to kill them all. In fact, this is usually what gets him to ally with the heroes.
- Poisonous Person
- Psychotic Smirk: His default facial expression
- Servile Snarker: He's really snarky to his own side. At one point, when a person in his army is whining about losing his fight while Ein won his, Woe rubs it in, while stating all the things said person could've done differently in his battle as if said guy could've done them, but chose not to.
- Sinister Scythe: His weapon of choice. Actually very talented with it.
- Slasher Smile: When his plots and plans get really close to fruition, he'll show one of these. Usually, Woe is Smiling is code for "BAD THING IMPENDING!"
edited 8th Nov '12 11:35:58 PM by NickTheSwing
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Apparition in the Woods
Nvm, I personally think he may be one of the stronger older villains I have seen thus far.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.I quite like the whole Blue-and-Orange Morality shtick and how you worked into it, provides some quite good twists and turns for the villain [which is even better considering he switches from villain positions often, according to you]. He sounds like a interesting baddies.
Well, I dislike young villains. But it's more something I hate for no reason than anything else, so 'tis cool.
—-
Now for the Big Bad of a steampunk story of mine [whose main Protagonist I posted in the hero critique thread].
Name: The Sky Baron.
Age: Sixty-years old [much like the protagonist], Badass Grandpa all the way.
Personality: The Baron is a extremely grim old man, always sounding like a ominious warning of doom every time he opens his mouth, constantly making bible-esque speeches on the world's philosophic nature. Imposing, threatening and ruthless, nothing can take The Baron's natural cool and soft-spoken methods, even when a explosion goes off two inches away from him, he'll be talking as if nothing happened.
He is extremely serious and stone-faced [You see him smiling once, and its a Psychotic Smirk] and has no sense of humour to speak of. He is, however, quite charismatic [in a tough, imposing and inspiring way] and polite to his enemies and allies.
That said, he won't think twice about murdering his allies or civilians in cold-blood for his own gain. And he won't give much of a damn about it, either.
Abilities: Master strategist on aerial combat [pretty much the only type of combat this story has], good with speeches and a excellent swordsman. Also a Clock King.
He is also the leader of a titanic militia that is seizing control of the world slowly [they offer protection for small villages in exchange of complete and total obedience, and if they refuse the offer....
Weaknesses: Shares the classic Clock King's overall weaknesses [i.e not good with psychological manipulation, lacks "thinking-on-his-feet-skills"]. He also has something of an obsession with the protagonist, which causes him to go a little too far on going after him.
Goals: Take Over the World, OF COURSE. He also has a strong hatred for aristocracy in general, so wiping out all noble families is a lesser goal of his.
Motivation: Besides being a power-hungry asshole, it is implied his Start of Darkness is related to noble families in some way.
Role in the story: Bigger Bad at first, then Big Bad firmly. [the heroes fight members and officers of his titanic militia in the beginning but he isn't involved directly, after a while he notices someone is taking out his officers and steps in directly].
Backstory: Nobody knows for certain, but it is conffirmed that he is a Self-Made Man and that originally there were others Sky Barons, he destroyed all of them and took over their empires becoming THE Sky Baron.
Relevant Tropes:
- Affably Evil: Usually, but if the situation gets mildly complicated, he'll go to Faux Affably Evil pretty quickly.
- Badass
- Cultured Badass
- Badass Grandpa
- Badass Longhair
- Badass Beard
- Badass Boast: About 80% of his lines.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Dresed in a 18th century suit
◊.
- Badass Longcoat
- Big Bad
- Color Motif: All his clothes are red, his swordcane cane is red colored, his right eye glows red and his flag is a red skull. Naturally, his color motif is blue.
- Diabolical Mastermind / Evil Overlord: A Mix: Because of Great Offscreen War, this world has no unifying governments [being essentially feudal: Each island has its own laws and government], so he offers military protection to the islands [and takes over by force if they refuse], so he is essentially a criminal that controls governments. This has worked preeetty well thus far.
- The Dreaded: Expect everyone to run the fuck away when they hear his army is coming. Triple that reaction if the man himself is coming.
- Evil Counterpart / Foil: Both him and the protagonist are cultured old masters of aerial combat who fought in THE Great Offscreen War and dedicate their lives to exploring the skies. The protagonist however, is a former Aristocrat where The Baron is a Self-Made Man with something of a irrational hatred for Aristocrats, and the protagonist is a cheerful, friendly and noble guy, while The Baron...isn't.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Very deep.
- Hero Killer: While he doesn't kill any of the protagonists [thus far], his first appearence ends with the hero's ship destroyed and half of his crew captured and about to be executed [he rescues them]
- Hollywood Cyborg: His right eye is mechanic.
- Knight of Cerebus: Every time he takes the center stage, the story becomes MUCH more serious.
- Leitmotif: Chopin's Funeral March.
- Master Swordsman
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His appearance, mannerisms and voice are taken from the actor Sam Elliott◊.
- No Name Given
- Red and Black and Evil All Over
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His right eye is a mechanic eye, and thus, glows red.
- Red Right Hand: The aforementioned mechanic eye.
- Shrouded in Myth: To the point of No Name Given.
- The Social Darwinist: How he justifies most of his actions [when he even bothers to]. This, of course, ties into his hatred for nobility.
- The Stoic: Stone-cold at all times. Psychotic Smirk is the most expression you'll get from him.
- The Unfettered: He explicetly states such.
- Visual Pun: He's dressed in red. Remember his name. Do the math.
- Warrior Poet
- Wicked Cultured: He comamnds his army while listening to Chopin's Funeral March [which is also his Leitmotif] and drinking a bottle of skotch.
edited 10th Nov '12 11:53:15 AM by Gaon
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Sounds like he can be a pretty entertaining, Archetypal villain. The story your writing sounds like a simple and straight action-adventure story, so he's probably meant to come across that way.
This is the villain of the post-apocalyptic Dungeon Punk-ish story I'm planning to write. The heroine was posted in the Hero Critique thread.
Name: Nera/Null
Age: Unkown, but presumably she's around 200 years old. Physically she look like she's in her early 20's
Personality: Cool, calm, collected, but still very vicious and nigh emotionless with an incredibly bleak outlook. Null will do whatever it takes to gain more power, regardless to the cost of those around her, or how many people she has to cross. Despite her vicious persona, she does have a sense of honor as a warrior, and dislikes dirty tactics. She is very quiet when not giving out commands, and is incredibly confident in her abilities. She believes that in order to truly protect something, one must be ruthless and merciless.
Abiilities: As a Demon, she has enhanced speed, strength, durability, agility, high-regeneration, etc. She is able to summon swords made of pure ghostly and demonic energy. Master Iaijutsu Practitioner, and is skilled with Katana's in general. Her katana has some level of spatial and dimension manipulation, allowing her to do such things as slice up enemies from a distance, attacking multiple enemies with one slash, etc. Also has a small degree of Ice and Darkness manipulation.
Weaknesses: Very emotionally withdrawn and has trouble expressing more positive emotions, and even emotions like sadness. Arrogance.
Goal: To gain more power, and kill her former best friend Stella. She is currently planning to unseal a poweful Demon that nearly destroyed the world, and was sealed away by the Holy Order 5 years ago. Presumably, she intends to control it, or possibly just let destroy the world.
Motivation: It's believed that Null had become the way she is due to her failure to protect someone who was precious to her and Stella, it was this failure that caused her to change her name from Nera to Null, and to forsake any humanity she had as a demon, and changed her into the person she is now.
Role in the Story: Big Bad of the first story arc. The Rival and Anti-Villain afterwords.
Backstory: It's known that like Stella, she was also a human who made a Deal with the Devil to turn herself into a Demon. It's also known that she and Stella were part of the same mercenary organization until a tragic event caused the two to be seperated (see "Motivation"). Sometime after changing her name to "Null" she started her own Nebulous Evil Organization composed of former members from her old mercenary group.
Relevant Tropes: Anti-Villain, Ax-Crazy, Blood Knight, Bifauxnen, Badass Longcoat, Hot Chick In A Badass Suit, Waist Coat Of Style The Stoic, Emotionless Girl, Expy (inspired by Vergil, and a bit by Vicious, appearance wise she looks similar to Rei Ayanami) Straw Nihilist, Foe Yay (loads with Stella, might also count as Ship Tease), The Rival (one of two for Stella), Worthy Opponent, In Love with Your Carnage (played with in that Stella's rather unrepentant about her monstrous nature), Love Makes You Evil, Psycho Lesbian, The Unfettered, Woman In Black, Evil Counterpart, The Only One Allowed to Defeat You, Woman Of Wealth And Taste.
edited 12th Nov '12 1:06:20 AM by CrimsonFlameKnight
Time to leave them all behind
What?
So does she do things on her own or does she employ a band of henchmen for the Hero beat up first? Also is she part of an organization?
Now as for my villain it is actually two villains but I switch between singular and plural.
Name: Commander
Age: Appearance wise late 20s or early 30s. Physically unknown.
Personality: He varies between The Quiet One (usually when his lieutenants talk for him) and Large Ham(when he personally addresses his audience). The only people he respects are those that show him devotion and those that now not to stand in his way. He cares not for the suffering of lesser beings while he wars with his differently colored counterpart.
Abilities: He has super strength, speed, and endurance. He can also fly and project energy blast from his hands and eyes. But his signature ability is to create an infinitely large clone army from thin air, and though the clones take the form of weak expendable riflemen. Nonetheless he likes see foes defeated through sheer attrition.
Weaknesses: He only be incapacitated by sealing his lieutenants inside of him, preventing him from creating new clones, and applying copious amounts of damage. The last part is necessary due to the sideffects of the first two steps. The best bet protecting civilization from his wrath is strand him and his counterpart on a dead planet and ignore them.
Goals: If he is red, kill the blue one. If he is blue, kill the red one. If anyone tries to stop them, declare a truce to annihilate the third party then proceed to war with each other once more. Motivation: None given.
Role in the story: Play a role similar to that of the Orks in WH 40 K. They exist only to fight every possible hero and villain in the story.
Backstory: They came from another universe centered around a red vs blue conflict. Now they want to continue the war in this world.
Relevant Tropes: Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Made of Iron, Self-Duplication, Voice of the Legion, I Am Legion, Hive Mind, One Wing Angel, Color-Coded Armies, We Have Reserves.
edited 12th Nov '12 12:00:49 AM by Worlder
His powers sound pretty cool. The "is actually two villains" has me intrigued as well, is his counterpart a villain as well?
At first she just sends mooks and henchmen after the hero to test her strength before fighting her herself. For the other characters she just sends in the mooks and henchmen and usually doesn't bother with confronting them directly. After her stint as the big bad, she does things on her own a lot more. And yes, she's the leader of her organization.
Time to leave them all behind
feeling blue
He looks like an interesting villain, though I do wonder if he's cloning capacibilities have some sort of limitation.
Name: Dan Reyson
Age: Seems to be in the late twenties
Personality: A fun loving guy who is always trying to lighten the mood and isn't afraid of making a joke every now and then, he sometimes acts on a very stupid way, but is actually quite clever and seems to always be able to take advantage of the situation, no matter how bad it is. He hardly ever gets serious, but when he does, it means the situation is really serious. Loves technology and could possibly spend all day talking about it until someone makes him shut up, overall he is a pretty nice, friendly guy that manages to hide his more dangerous side pretty well.
Abilities: He relies on pure skill with weapons, he's only real power is changing the appearance of metallic objects, that he uses to create new weapons in times of need. He's quite skilled with both close and long range weapons, particularly swords, but he is quite skilled with many other weapons too, making him quite versatile. He also uses crystal runes to give his weapons an elemental affinity most of the time.
Weaknesses: Not the best defensively, tends to get very nervous when things aren't going the way he wants and can be quite vague even to his own allies, never fully explaining what they have to do or why.
Goals: Wants to become the ruler of his kingdom as well as improving his mechanical skills to be able to create even better robots.
Motivations: Thinks that the current king isn't capable of perfoming his duty well due to being too stubborn and angered easily, thus, thinking that the kingdom would be better being ruled by him. Also partly because of his own greed.
Role in the Story: Dragon with an Agenda, Dragon Ascendant, Big Bad Friend
Backstory: Dan is a Therian that unlike most of his species, was far more interested in human technology than magic and with a lot of study and determination, he recently managed to create almost perfect robots and became famous for that and became one of the richest persons in the kingdom, losing perhaps only to the Royal Family itself. He managed it due to being assisted by the Royal Family, that decided to fund his project as a reward from saving the young prince's (The Hero) life, eventually befrieding them and becoming the prince's mentor, teaching him all about sword combat, however, he soon started to want all the power for himself.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Affably Evil - And how.
- Deadpan Snarker - Particularly with his teammates..
- Even Evil Has Standards - Wouldn't Hurt a Child
- Gadgeteer Genius - And how. Notably carries a wrench around that he can transform into a weapon when needed.
- Manipulative Bastard - And how
- Obfuscating Stupidity
- Quirky Miniboss Squad - Is the leader of a particularly effective one
- Robot Buddy - Has one, the best of all the robots created of course.
- Those Wily Coyotes - He's a coyote, and certainly a Trickster
- Villain with Good Publicity
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
edited 11th Dec '12 9:06:20 AM by FullMoon
What?
The more clones he uses the less he can personally use his other powers. So at one extreme you have Superman and the other extreme is an Agent Smith infestation.
edited 12th Nov '12 5:03:47 PM by Worlder
Instrument of Destruction and Rebirth
Sounds pretty cool to me. Although I wonder how threatening he actually is to the hero. Does his Quirky Miniboss Squad do all the work?
Name: Kain Allagos
Age: 20
Personality: He acts as a Foil to the typically uptight and dour Protagonist, with hints of Red Oni, Blue Oni. Cheerful and friendly to most, if not all of the people he meets. As a Royal Knight, he has a strong sense of nobility and justice. And it’s all an act. Kain is a cold-hearted sociopath, with little to no sense of morality. He is more than willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, including trying to murder his closest friends.
Abilities: While also an advanced sword-fighter, Kain is also skilled in unarmed combat. He is also secretly a magic-user, having learned dark arts from the Big Bad.
Weaknesses: He is often overconfident, a weakness he shares with his best friend, Aen. But while Aen overcomes his pride and becomes a strong hero, Kain does not. While he would never admit it to anyone (least of all himself), Kain believes himself to be weaker than Aen. What Kain wants is to be the strongest in the world, and if he can’t even beat the ones closest to him, he takes it hard.
Goals: To take over the world. (Of course!) Well, that’s more of a side-goal, really. What he really desires is power beyond mortal imagination. But after he’s been taken over by Ragnas, his goals become much more destruction-oriented.
Motivation: Power. All his life, he has felt powerless. The lowest point in his life was when he was disowned by his father, and when his mother died soon after. Even as a knight, he feels like a mere pawn of the King, of the nation itself. All he wants is to control his own world.
Role in the story: The Sixth Ranger to the Hero’s party, leading to Sixth Ranger Traitor. He works as The Dragon, before becoming The Starscream, and then the Big Bad.
Backstory: Kain was born into a family of rich nobles, the bastard son of a lord and one of his servants. But as the lord’s only child, he was groomed as the heir, and Kain’s mother was treated as a noble consort. Unfortunately, it all changed when Kain was about nine years old, when the lord’s seemingly infertile wife gave birth to a girl, and Kain and his mother was kicked out of the manor, left to fend for themselves in the wilderness. Kain’s mother grew ill, and she died before they could find a doctor. Kain buried her, and then wandered alone until he reached a great castle. The king who lived there was kind, and could not bear to see a young boy suffering and hungry like Kain had been. The king took the boy in as one of his own, and raised him to be a proud knight. Although Kain was somewhat happy with his new life, he never forgot his origins, and how he and his mother had been treated. One day, at the age of twelve, he begged the king to allow him to leave the castle for a few days. The king agreed, and Kain payed a visit to his father’s house. It was the middle of the night when he broke in and murdered the lord’s wife. The lord awoke from his slumber, and, recognizing his disowned son, begged for forgiveness, and his life. Kain responded by slitting the throat of his own young half-sister as she lay sleeping in her bed. Then he killed his own father. Kain burned the house to ashes, eradicating all traces of his former family. He returned to the castle, and went on to become a high-ranking Royal Knight.
Relevant Tropes:
- The Ace: Appears as such to the heroes.
- Always Someone Better: A mutual version with Aen.
- Bastard Bastard
- Beneath the Mask
- Blood Knight: Although he hides it well.
- Demonic Possession: By Ragnas, the Eldritch Abomination that the Big Bad was unknowingly attempting to release from its Can. Kain pulls a Starscream and kills the Big Bad during the ritual for releasing Ragnas, and receives its power instead. It doesn't become a full Demonic Possession until later, when Ragnas’ influence becomes too strong for Kain to handle, shattering his mind.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Aen, at first.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: His encounter with Ragnas.
- Hannibal Lecture: He gives one to the heroes, who were Chosen by the Powers That Be to destroy Ragnas, Kain’s new master. Kain’s argues that if they weren't chosen, they would have no reason to fight him, making them mere pawns.
- Lack of Empathy
- Mercy Kill: How he is eventually offed by the heroes. Ragnas used him as a vessel, and when it is destroyed, all that is left is Kain’s empty shell, still breathing.
- Self-Made Orphan
- Where I Was Born and Razed
- Would Hurt a Child: His half-sister.
edited 13th Nov '12 11:23:42 AM by CamrocG
Bímíd ag troid le chéile, bímíd ag beo le chéile.
feeling blue
That's right, he leaves them to do all the work for him while he works on other things, he actually prefers to not confront The Hero because he sucessfully tricked him into believing that he was on his side. He ends up actually wanting The Hero to be successful due to him being more useful to him than most of his team.
Neverthless, I really like your villain, I can't really point why, but he sees like a very interesting character for me.
Sir Night, Wayward Hunter-Angel
S'cool. A relatively simple and yet slightly sympathetic baddie.
Just don't push the Freudian Excuse too much, at least after he makes his true side official.
Also, to round out my trinity of New World Of Darkness / My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic villains, here's the sympathetic, "but for the grace of [insert deity here] go I" baddie (roll over spoilers to get a larger picture of him):
Name: Canta (real name Ardan O'Conell)
Age: 24, later 25. In fact his age is kind of a plot point, given how far he's advanced along the mystic arts despite being so young, and looking it. It's because he Awakened at an early age (11), and his mentors wasted no time in training him. It's for this reason he isn't that great at word comprehension, though codes hold little problem.
Personality: Warm, friendly, idealistic, and completely assured of his right to decide what's best for Sleepers. An Anthropomorphic Personification of his Order, the Silver Ladder's ideals, in other words. One of the Aesops of the story is that we we are not always who we say we are, and Canta is a lot less cheerful then he wants desperately to think he is. Underneath the skin, he's a depressed ball of paranoia and feelings of worthlessness, carefully induced by his teachers in order to both induce a constant thirst for magical power (not Ambition Is Evil, his hunger for more Arcane Experience is carefully handled) and sense of disassociation with the Sleepers. All in the name of creating the Sage, but it backfired completely-he's the Last Man, going through the motions of the laws and regulations imposed on him without any real passion. He knows it too-unfortunately, he hasn't caught on that it's the fact that he knows the moral standards beaten into him are malformed that causes his sense of ennui, not the world. Which is why he's a Cwn Annwyn, trying to create a world that will actually fill the void he feels.
Abilities: As a Cwn Annwyn (hereafter referred to their nickname, "Gardeners") who has advanced to true mastery of the Legacy, Cantus can create Hard Light Phantasms with minimal effort and without fear of Paradox. More frighteningly, he also has a Hound of Annwyn as a familiar. Like all Hounds, it only makes its presence known its powers, not fully existing (hence being invisible, intangible, and usually invulnerable). Besides that, he is a master Obrimos, with utter command of the Prime and Forces Arcanum, and being no slouch in Mind or Spirit either, not to mention being extremely intelligent, patient, and brave, with a strong grasp on politics and large-scale social events.
Weaknesses: Equestria may be free of the Sleeping Curse and Paradox may not be as strong, but it's still there, and unfortunately for him, he tends to remember this after the fact (indeed, this is how the Mane 6 escape their first battle with him-he provokes a Havoc Paradox, unintentionally giving Fluttershy a speed boost that sends both her and an unconscious Twilight (who she's carrying) off in a Sonic Rainboom). He's also a victim of Crippling Overspecialization, not being that great shakes in the other Arcana, if he knows them at all. That, and there's his emotional stresses-he possesses little-to-no composure and tends to panic when he senses a Xanatos Gambit failing. He is also honestly more literate with codes (his old mentors thinking it was better that he could read grimoires then, uh, actual books), which becomes a problem when he's scouring Twilight's bookshelves. Most damming, however, is his general distance from everyone-he has the kind of personality that picks up friends like honey and flies, but he can't really relate at all-his mentor taught him to view people as puzzles and tools, not companions. The only thing he's really friends with is his Hound, and that's more of a Canine Companion than anything.
Goals: He was sent by the Silver Ladder to explore Equestria after they discovered it, but their goals come secondary to the Gardeners' goal of absorbing things into Annwyn-namely, by feeding things he wants to add to his Hound, causing a copy of it (or her, or him-the Hounds powers work on organic life just as easily) to form in Annwyn. Beyond that, he has an alliance with the Lumen of At'Enar, and wishes to understand and utilize the power of the Ba'Ke to further the cause of the Silver Ladder (not being aware of what their creator actually is). To that end, he helps further their schemes, though not being actually loyal to them.
Motivation: The general motivation of the Gardeners-to create a paradise free of the Exarchs' influence in the Lower Depths, In Their Own Image. His personal motivation is to create a new world that makes him feel like a living person, rather than an Empty Shell going through the motions of living. Twilight calls him out on his Jade-Colored Glasses: "When you hear a symphony, all you hear is the notes out of tune".
Role in the story: Twilight Sparkle's Evil Counterpart-like her, Canta's a gifted and brilliant magus who learns at a phenomenal rate, but unlike dear Twi, he uses his powers to make the world fit him rather than the other way aroud. The comparison becomes more clear when his Belated Backstory comes to light-like Twilight, he was a magical prodigy, but unlike Twilight, he had a teacher that encouraged-or rather, forced-his introverted tendencies, and imposing standards on him that were way too high to meet. The defining difference, however, is that whereas Twilight confronts and solves her problems, Canta hides from them, which is why the Gardeners, who want to create an entirely new world to hide in, were so appealing.
Backstory: The Earth side of the portals to Equestria wasn't unnoticed by the humans, as shown by a few of them appearing on Equestria and, for the most part, making trouble (the humans aren't sure what's on the other side, so the only ones who appear on Equestria are the supernaturals who were kicked out by their peers and on the run-which, given how cutthroat the Earth shadow community is, generally means they're the absolute worst humanity has to offer). The Silver Ladder, politicians and social engineers among the mages' Pentacle Orders (and arrogant Well Intentioned Extremists extraordinaire) happens to have one right in the Boston Consilium, in the center of their territory. By the prerogative of them both leading the Consilium and (unofficially) finders keepers, they sent one of their best archaeomancers and, given evidence of sapient life, social scientists to explore it.
Unfortunately, what they don't know is that Canta is a walker on the Left-Hand path, having been enthralled by the new and relatively obscure Cwn Annwyn. Thus, when Canta discovered just how much of a beautiful Sugar Bowl Equestria was, instead of deciding "what a wonderful place! I should report back to the Consilium immediately and bring in a full cabal to initiate First Contact.", he thought "what a wonderful place! I want it." Thus, he has feinged losing contact with the portal, knowing the Consilium does not ascribe to We Have Reserves, and giving him ample time to take the things he finds most beautiful and add them to Annwyn. It was soon after that that he found the Lumen, and decided that when he did eventually report back, he would have a new and interesting thing in store to increase his standing with the Mysterium and his own order.
How he got this way is a bit of a sad story. While most people are at least pubescent before they awaken, little second-generation of Irish immigrants Adran O'Malley was always mature for his age and a dreamer, both attitudes conducive to Awakening. He did so after he fought a pair of bullies harassing his friends into unconsciousness (himself, not the bullies), during which he had an Astral Journey to the Aether, taking the form of a school cracking with lighting and fire. After the Winged Humanoid principal convinced him to take up a new form of study, he signed his name in the registrar and awoke an Obrimos mage. Of course, when you take a tween and give him superpowers, he's going to use them, but thankfully before he turned the school into a crater entirely by accident, the Pentacle found him.
Unfortunately, that particular cabal was a group of Ladder extremists to end all extremists. Even the Guardians of the Veil, who have Necessarily Evil as part of their religion, would wonder exactly when they lost their minds.
Rather than quietly bringing Arden under their influence, the cabal covertly murdered his family and posed as an adoptive family (his sister was left to rot in the system). Their, they revealed the world of magic to him and lied about who killed his family, saying it was the Seers of the Throne. They taught him the basics, and after about two years of grueling, nigh-abusive training, they brought him before the Boston Consilium and petitioned for a direct mentor.
Believing fully in the idea that Misery Builds Character, the man they chose for the future Canta's mentorship was the current Hirearch, ie, the Nemean-The Caligula, Corrupt Politician, Jerk Jock All Grown Up, Manipulative Bastard and all-around unpleasant person. Really, its amazing he didn't snap and turn Banisher at some point.
Eventually, though, the truth will come out, and as soon as Canta found out, he put that Xanatos Gambit instinct the Nemean instilled to good use, eventually leading to the cabal's deaths. This also permanently soured him on the idea of cabals to begin with, and he became a solitaire, drifting from place to place and helping out the Ladder and the Mysterium if he happened to be in the same place as them doing something entertaining and high-paying. One day, he crossed paths with the founder of the Cwn Annwyn, and the rest, as they say, is history.]]
Relevant Tropes: Anti-Villain (due to sheer force of Affably Evil-he's way too nice to act viciously when the mission doesn't require it), Battle Aura (his Nimbus), The Chessmaster, Dark Is Not Evil (the Hound-it may be a reality-devouring monster from the Lower Depths, but ultimately, it's hungry, not evil-and it likes its master a lot), Hell Is That Noise (the Hound's howling, which happens whenever it destroys something), Magic Knight, Manipulative Bastard, Synchronization (any damage to the Hound is translated to him-which would be more useful if it wasn't Nigh-Invulnerable), Meaningful Name (as per Mage tradition-Canta is both short for "incantation" and a name for the Celtic god of healing. His proper name is meaningful too-Arden means "great aspirations", and O'Donnel means "of the wolf"), Xanatos Gambit (loves these). Spoiler tropes:Cry for the Devil (what I'm going for when his backstory is revealed), Heel Realization (late in the story, when he realizes that destroying bits of a world to make a personal paradise makes him just another Exarch), Intelligence Equals Isolation (he could have become less isolated, but the cabal who raised him shut down his social abilities to make a better political genius) Journey to the Center of the Mind (how the Mane 6 finds out his backstory) Raised by Wolves (reality terrorists, to be precise), Used to Be a Sweet Kid, Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds (invoked-the cabal destroyed and rebuilt him to create a living weapon against the Exarchs and their Lie-they got what they wanted).
edited 14th Nov '12 2:26:53 PM by Leliel
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.
- Name: None yet
- Age: Somewhere between 30-early 40's
- Personality: Usually quiet. He occasionally has spells where he gets extremely depressed or unusually angry. It is difficult for one to make him visibly angry. He very rarely shows his emotions and has difficulty connecting with people.
- Abilities: He had been trained as a fighter and can wield many weapons quite well.
- Weaknesses: It is very difficult to get him motivated most of the time. If you get him angry it can be very difficult for him to calm himself. He doesn't have the leadership or skills to rule on his own.
- Goals: He wants to ensure that his kingdom won't be overthrown by the good guys
- Motivation: He inherited the throne from his father and wants to maintain his status and lifestyle
- Role in the story: He's the Big Bad. He rules the Evil Empire and his death leads to the fall of the Evil Empire
- Backstory: His father was king of the Evil Empire. Our villain was raised as essentially a Child Soldier and was occasionally physically and verbally abused by his father. Later he realized his father was using him as a pawn and planned on killing him, so he killed him and inherited the throne.
- Relevant Tropes: Child by Rape (has little mention in the plot) Self-Made Orphan, Self-Harm (heavily implied) Ambiguous Disorder (He has Borderline Personality Disorder, only this is never explicitly stated) Driven to Suicide, Freudian Excuse (subverted, his abuse is used to explain exactly why he is so messed up mentally, but isn't used to hand wave all his evil actions) Cry for the Devil, Psychopathic Manchild (Type C)
Sounds interesting due to the distinct direction he comes from, but could potentially become boring very quickly. Unlike most villains, especially on this page, he's seems to be neither a Large Ham, Anti-Hero, or Complete Monster. I think the apathy and personal scale of his ambitions(i.e. he doesn't want to rule the entire world or conqueror the next kingdom over, he just wants to hang on to what he already has) make him very different from the norm.
I would just be concerned with how he is a threat, how that threat manifests itself, and how he maintains that power, especially if there is any magic/special abilities/etc. in your setting, doubly so if they are common or well known. Perhaps he uses hostages to keep the local Lords/power holders at bay, or other political and/or emotional blackmail or manipulation. Maybe magical artifact of doom or the absolute loyalty of his Dragon, who does the heavy lifting. Or perhaps he acts like a non-action mastermind acting behind the scenes, sending out scores of Challenges/Threats for the heroes to deal with(e.g. Sauron and Saruman, Aku from Samurai Jack, most major villains of the various Power Ranger/Super Sentai series, etc.). Also, how will you make the final confrontation not be anti-climax(unless you want it to be)?
Just my two cents. Now if someone would critique mine:
Name: Shumalco Varlith, the Mad Demon Emperor of the Varlith Empire (and variants of the above based on mood and/or who/what is possessing him at the moment, see back story below)
Age: Chronologically about a century old. Appearance wise, its dependent on who/what is possessing him at the moment, but his most common forms are a youth(of either gender), a wizened scholar, a mighty warrior, a seductress, a crazed old man, and an animated skeleton.
Personality: To an outside observer, completely and utterly insane. On the inside, it is a maelstrom of demons jostling for control based on a complex hierarchy of bargaining, power, and the amount of pain, suffering, destruction, and death they can reap on the mortal world on one side and a single human host who long ago stopped caring about anything but power for its own sake, and who enjoys sampling the different kinds, means, and degrees of power that each demon brings him on the other.
Abilities: His myriad demonic contracts essentially grant him deity-level reality-warper powers in aggregate. Individual demons will generally grant him one specific spell or ability, generally a portion of Hermetic Magic, a demonic transformed state, or a curse that he can levy against someone. Additionally, he also has innate(independent of demonic possession) necromantic abilities, which he can and does use on himself. Also, he is completely unpredictable in his actions, save that he prefers to have underlings do things independently as much as possible.
Weaknesses: First and foremost, while his aggregated powers are vast, he can only use the power granted to him by his contract with the demon that is currently possessing him at the moment, and no others. He can not invoke nor resist a change of demonic possessors, nor can he select nor predict which one he will get, nor how long this particular possession will last. From his perspective its random. Hermetic spells and necromancy are limited to the normal rules of the setting(needing time and prepared rituals), and curses are rarely instantly fatal/debilitating, as well as having loopholes and escape clauses, and only usable on one target at a time. Also, he and his demons are prideful and prone to boasting, as well as completely lacking in any consistent, sustained goal, save one. Moreover, the power of his abilities is directly related to how long it has been since he has performed a horrific ritual comprising of torturing someone to the brink of death, breaking their spirit and plunging them into the depths of despair and then drinking their life-blood.
Goals: Enjoying exercising his power. Also, after books of level-grinding for competence, the heroes discover that he is on-again-off-again working on a ritual to unseal the Door of Everlasting Night(read: Gates of Hell), in order to release and form a contract with the Maw of Despair (Read: Satan/Devil/Ultimate Evil), to gain even more power.
Motivations: He lost his humanity LONG ago. Power is the only thing he cares about.
Role in Story: Big Bad, Dragon to Ultimate Evil, but out side of the spoilers, there is no stopping him. He's already won, not just the kingdom he started in, or its neighbors, but nearly the entire continent. Those areas not under his control are because, on a whim he decided to let those areas be for the moment. Why no more than the continent? Because he's not bored with it yet. He'll get to those other places eventually, when HE feels like it.
Back-Story: Minor lord learned some necromancy, and was shunned/stripped of his title as a result. Made a deal with a demon, trading periods of demonic possession for power. Standard villain, until he realized that his contract was not exclusive, and he started grabbing contracts with every demon he could pull through the Door of Eternal Night to make a contract with. He's ruled over the majority of the continent for the last two generations or so, and made any and all corruptions of the landscape he chose to. He has large numbers of lord and warlord types under him. So long as they pledge loyalty to him, he doesn't care if (and even encourages) them to fight one another to increase their holdings. Atrocities and depravities are considered bonus points.
Relevant Tropes: -Big Bade -Demonic Possession -Social Darwinist: Effective result of underlings battling each other -Magic and Powers: He probably has the majority of the list (excluding holy themed ones), and then some.
Nihil assumpseris, sed omnia resolvere!
Giant alien spiders are no joke.
I really, really like it, especially the idea of how he has deals with legions of demons, although perhaps you could explore more on his personality a bit.
I also am a bit vexed at my own description of my story's Anti-Villain mostly because I left out a lot of key information. *sigh*
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
Hm, nice starter baddie. Though I'd like to understand the difference between a Pleb and an Optim. Pleb-ian and Optim-al?
And because people keep on skipping him:
Possible New World Of Darkness / My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Crossover Fic bad guy. I recommend reading the spoilers after you've skimmed through the unspoiled, to judge him both before The Reveal and after.
Name: Dr. Nigredo, The Ghost Alchemist /The Gardener of the Everfree, Patriarch of Monsters
Age: Unknown. He looks to be a human (despite being in Equestria) man in his sixties, but he moves in a highly-precise, forceful demeanor that suggests a much, much younger man. In reality, this incarnation of Nigredo is only a couple months old by the time of his introduction, but the previous iterations have been around since shortly before the creation of the Everfree Forest.
Personality: In a word? Odd. Besides the strangeness of a human who seems to have been born on Equestria by his manner of speech and references, he doesn't seem to understand sapient reactions well, regarding them with the same distant curiosity as a child might view an ant farm. This includes happiness, sorrow, pain, even death threats. Mainly because while he has enough emotion to understand the concept of other minds, anything greater than that doesn't relate to his Mission, and thus, is irrelevant. Apart from that, very focused to the point of tunnel vision on his goals, because as a qashmallim, literally nothing else but the purpose he was created for matters.
Goals: Collect interesting and unique plants and animals, robbing the populace if need be, observe Mane 6 in action. All in service to the Mission, create a new genus of monster to inhabit the Everfree and provide a stress on the social structure of ponies.
Motivation: ...Um. Wait a minute-ah yeah. "The Principle sent me to do so, ergo it is the reason for my existence." Do we have a trope for that? Not Undying Loyalty, since that would imply he has a life beyond the Mission.
Backstory: Pony legend has it that, when the stars are arranged just so to form a pentagon with the moon as a point, a dark castle, menacing and foreboding, appears from a strange fog in the southern, jungle-like reaches of the Everfree Forest. Constantly attracting lighting bolts with the Tesla coils that wrap inside and around the towers at the four points of the square walls made of grey steel and white marble, it is said that the bastion itself is a tall, slender tower. Seemingly too thin at the bottom to support its weight, it drips with a strange, black substance that evaporates into nothing as soon as it falls from the tower before it hits the ground. At its exact center, you will find a perfectly cubed chamber, 256 feet across, with an obelisk make of the black substance at its center. There, it is said, you will find the ghost of the human Dr. Nigredo, hard at work in his lab.
They say he was a Mad Scientist, back on his homeworld. A brutal and vicious one too, devoid of even the bizarre morals of their kind, who experimented on others in the most savage, cruel ways simply because he was curious. Eventually, a hero of Equestria, lost on their Wounded World (AN:A term for New World Of Darkness Earth) slew him with the help of a friendly human, but his dark soul remained. The hero's companion banished him, but Nigredo was a clever man in life and in death, so while he was forced to leave the Wounded World, he followed the gate the hero took home, and built a memory of his palace in the Everfree, where he accepted an oath of protection from Nightmare Moon. There, when she permits, he is allowed to have a relatively short time to experiment once more. It is said that when his palace disappears, you can always find one more kind of monster left behind...
The myth is also a load of bullshit, the result of ponies trying to explain away something that baffled them. In reality, Nigredo has never been anything mortal, in none of his incarnations. In reality, he is simply the latest form assumed by a series of Lilithim, the qashmallim of Chaos and Flux, sent by the Principle to maintain the balance between Flux and Elpis (no, its not the Balance of Good and Evil, its the balance of Order and Chaos. Big difference, even if it doesn't look that way at first glance). To put it simply, Equestria and the planet it is on was created by the Elipidos, the qashmallim of Elpis and Order, and thus it has a hard time, well, living without a chaotic element in its foundation, hence the whole Painting the Frost on Windows thing. To allow life on the world, the Principle sends wave after wave of Lillithim to force dynamism and change on the planet. The Everfree Forest being the result of a particularly large one meant to restore the ability of natural world to regulate itself, thus serving as a "dynamo" for the rest of the world.
Dr. Nigredo and all of his predecessors are the source of all the infamous armies of monsters, with each manifestation meant to create a single species to induce a specific fault in the pony way of life and force it to adapt. The Mission flaw, however, is that they are only given the specifications and infrastructure to build what the Principle wants, not the ingredients or the blueprints. Hence, Dr. Nigredo must both look for both components of the new Monster Progenitor and research the needed method, as well as search for Pyros to sustain himself long enough to do so. But his template is relatively patient, for a qashmal. He can find Pyros in the Everfree quite easily given its origins, and then he may have all the time he needs. Particularly given the Mane 6 and their...new vocations providing an excellent spread of data.
Role In Story: Disc-One Final Boss, especially given how Luna knows the myth, and is understandably alarmed when the stars stop behaving as she tells them and form the summoning pentagon. Intially seems to be the Big Bad, especially given his Diabolus ex Nihilo status and humanity, much like some of the villains. Of course, he has no idea what a human is, only that if you showed him one, they'd look like him. He's both meant to serve as Foreshadowing of what the Lumen of At'Enar really want and as a sign that Earth and Equestria are more linked than it first seemed...
Tropes: Creepy Monotone, Dissonant Serenity, Mysterious Watcher, The Minion Master (the Pandorans he animates), Numerological Motif (4+1; four of something plus one unique thing, symbolizing the classical elements plus Ectoplasm, Wham Line ("Humans? What is a humans?"). Spoiler tropes: Above Good and Evil (as a qashmal, he really doesn't fit into conventional definitions of morality), Cast from Hit Points (he needs both Pyros in his system to live, and to perform most of his experiments and fuel his powers), The Corruption (Flux, though it isn't actually evil), Dark Is Not Evil (without him and his fellows, life could not exist in Equestria or anywhere on the planet), Determinator (he will not stop until his mission succeeds or his qashmal biology gives out, whichever comes first) Entropy and Chaos Magic (his powers), Genius Loci (he and his caste are one and the same-kill his body, and you've destroyed the mind of the castle), Load-Bearing Boss (see previous trope), Mechanical Lifeforms (his battle form looks kind of like a Clock Punk Reploid, with angelic traits), Our Angels Are Different (see the Promethean page for more, but for a quick summary, he was essentially created out of nothing by the Principle to accomplish a specific task-his Mission-and will return to nothing when and if he completes it. While there may be another Dr. Nigredo if the Principle desires the creation of a new kind of monster, he will simply be a new qashmal with the same face and personalities-there will be no memories transferred between incarnations. And no, if he fails the Mission, the Principle just can't send a clone to finish the job-if the Mission fails, the Principle shall never try that particular task again.)
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.