WhirlwindBrushMethod/IkselamIdea01
Eternally Triumphant Anathema-Hunter Task Force Zero
I actually got pretty far on this one before abandoning it. My main reason for dropping it was that I decided it would take too long for me to write the starter, which I felt would have to be pretty large and complex, since it would have to introduce at least five characters, plus detailing (or at least setting up) their first mission. I also really wanted to come up with a name which would be abbreviated "THAC0," but couldn't; "Triumphant Hunters of Anathema, Company Zero" is too cumbersome to be appealingly zany. Anyway, that's where the "Zero" came from.
- back to the Ocean of Notions.
This would be just a straightforward, possibly mildly tongue-in-cheek, action romp. Our heroes are a motley Dragon-Blooded sentai assembled by the Slug to fight the dastardly Anathema who threaten the Realm's holdings and allies in the Threshold. They have a variety of colorful yet complementary personalities and powers, and always manage to triumph over their foes through a combination of pluck and teamwork.
If this were a single-season TV show, the first half would probably be pretty episodic, with monsters of the week. The main purpose of these episodes would be to establish the group dynamic. The second half of the season would probably introduce a major recurring antagonist, probably a Circle of Celestial Anathema. Can our heroes triumph in the face of the overwhelming powers arrayed against them!?
Sesus Arjan - debonair Wood-Aspected playboy
- Arjan is the Slug's nephew, and the leader of the team. He has a glib tongue and a wandering eye, but although socialization is his forte, he is not unskilled in combat. He generally serves as the team's front man. He has brown eyes and hair, and is something of a prettyboy. He dresses to impress, in the latest styles. Arjan reflexively flirts with almost any woman who crosses his path.
Peleps Khaminet - brooding Water-Aspected ninja
- Khaminet is a thief. Her Exaltation allowed her to survive a severe case of smallpox when she was a teenager, but it did not erase the disfiguring scars which the disease inflicted on her face and much of her body. She is self-conscious about her appearance, and always wears concealing clothes, a cowl, and a scarf or bandanna pulled up to just below her eyes. Khaminet is standoffish, perhaps even a little shy. When she does participate in conversation, it is usually with cutting sarcasm. Khaminet is slim and athletic, with iridescent black hair and eyes the gray-green color of seawater.
Mnemon Pasachetas - hot-headed Fire-Aspected duelist
- Pasachetas was once one of his House's favorite sons, with a bright future ahead of him, but fell from grace when he killed one of Mnemon's younger children in a duel. As punishment, he was shuffled off to a dead-end bureaucratic position. He hasn't done his job in over three years, instead opting to drown his sorrows in drink and opium. However, he has never abandoned his martial exercises; if anything, he trains even more fervently (some might say desperately) than before. As a result, Pasachetas is one of the most deadly swordfighters in the Realm. He is a young-looking man, with a shock of unruly red hair and a strong familial resemblance to his grandmother, Mnemon. His temper is everything one would expect from a resentment-filled Fire Aspect, and he has yet to fully recover from his drug addiction.
Ragara Ochan - disgraced Earth-Aspected monk
- Ochan is extremely dedicated to the Immaculate faith. However, she is no longer a member of the Order; she violated her vow of chastity. Due to her family's influence, and her status as Dragon-Blooded, Ochan's superiors were willing to overlook her lapse. Their indifference backfired, causing the young monk to become disgusted with the Order's perceived corruption and hypocrisy. Since they refused to defrock her, she resigned and fled to the Threshold, where she adopted an itinerant lifestyle. She still believes in the Immaculate teachings with all her heart, but is disillusioned with the established Order, and is distrustful of most Dynastic monks and priests. Ochan is taller than average, and solidly built. Since she no longer considers herself a monk, she has allowed her sandy brown hair to grow out; it is bobbed off just below her ears.
Nellens Erishey - shifty Air-Aspected sorcerer
- Erishey is unscrupulous and power-hungry. He wants power and prestige, and it rankles him that his sorcerous proclivities, his outcaste birth, and the less-than-glorious reputation of his adoptive House conspire to make him a pariah. In a rather bitter gesture of defiance, he has retreated to the country, using Sorcery to raise up an estate of sorts and populate it with elemental servants. He is condescending, calculating, and unwilling to submit to authority; anyone who wants to employ his services must make at least a token effort to portray themselves as a partner, rather than a boss. Erishey is a tall, slender man with dark, closely-trimmed hair, beard and moustache. He dresses in stereotypically ostentatious "sorcerer's garb"; he's proud of what he is, which unfortunately translates into a desire to shove everyone's face in it. He is often accompanied by his air elemental assistant/familiar/concubine, Murmuring Zephyr.
There should, of course, be plentiful intra-group melodrama: rivalries, love triangles, dark secrets, &c. If we assume a "Dirty Dozen" style recruitment, where Slug basically blackmails these guys into working for him, a big part of the initial conflict might just be them doing the standard "learning the value of trust and friendship" thing. The main focus of the series, though, should be on fighting ever-more-challenging and diabolical Anathema threats. There probably should not be a point where our heroes find out that the Anathema are the good guys; there could be a mini-arc where one of them is won over by a silver-tongued Solar manipulator, or something, but the resolution of that would be that the character is saved by her friends just before the diabolical Anathema manages to cast 3x Binding of the Heart on her. Any moral ambiguity in this series should come from fellow DBs; our heroes could find themselves forced to oppose fellow Dynasts, recruit misguided outcastes, deal with Lookshy heretics, make hard choices about House commitments, and so on.
- back to the Ocean of Notions.
