Anti Hero General Board

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Classic. A tyrant rules the land with an iron fist, a hero rises up from the ranks of the people full of vigor, ideals, and charisma. Brave heroes rise up to join his quest to free the land.

Unfortunately...

They fail. Their leader, the man on the forefront is killed on his journey to stop the tyrant. Their fire gone, the quest beings to lose footing. The other members of the party grow disheartened and eventually it all falls apart.

However...

Inspired by their trials and their progress another group shines though and riding the momentum and the damaged to the tyrants forces sustained trying to crush the first rebellion this second group succeeds and their leader takes the throne. As a reward and to show recognition for those who paved the way to the throne for him, the failed heroes are hired under his employ in high ranking positions.

Of course...

This new king of nations is eventually corrupted by his power, or perhaps he always was? Regardless his rule sours and eventually his reign becomes even more intolerable than the last. The people lose hope and many begin to simply settle into poverty, fear, and pain as a part of life forever.

Now...

Another young idealistic man decides that he's had enough. His childhood stories of the first failed group of heroes inspire him respecting and adoring their trial. These men and women are the bravest he believes in so he sets out to recruit them for one more journey. These 'retired', jaded, and generally complacent heroes.

You may ask yourself "Is he fucking serious?" but indeed he is. He is the most accomplished swordsman in the land. A prodigy and freak genius of the blade unmatched in skill and speed and holding an invisible strength most underestimate. His knowledge of the world however is limited and he is quite naive in his youth and success feeling a tad on the invincible side.

Without these grizzled, washed up, and uncaring heroes he's quite likely to be assassinated and forgotten among the countless bodies.

[Aldersmaine]

Hmm, I get to be a broody washed up has been?

. . .

I'm in.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Lol yes sir you do

Of course all the washed ups ultimately join the 'new kid' and the ones I/We come up with that are NPC will either be villians or killed off during the journey.

[Aldersmaine]

Sounds like it could be very entertaining if done right.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Well I still need plenty of help with it so feel free to pitch in

[Aldersmaine]

Whatcha need? lol

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Characters and Quaddy's input lol. We talked some about his one already. Gotta find what stuff we said...

[Aldersmaine]

Well you know me I always have an interesting character lying around with no story to place them in yet. lol

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Ah, so what about this one?

[Aldersmaine]

What you want me to plop down a short bio or something? lol

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Hey go for it What were you thinking?

[Aldersmaine]

Name: Makaelum Laroché

Gender: Male

Age: Thirty-Seven

Hair: Falls to jaw level in the front and is around two inches long in the back. Color is honey-red blonde.

Eyes: So green, people wonder if his mother fooled around with a cat. Golden sunbursts at the center.

Education: He can read quite well, and he can write though not terribly well.

Occupation(s): Dragon Rider, or was until his dragon was murdered during the war. Now he feels half-empty due to the emotional bond that he had with the dragon that was severed.

Marital Status: Bachelor (though technically celibate, but everyone thinks otherwise), acts like a man-whore but hasn't had any intimate relationship since his dragon died out of fear of those strong connected feelings and of course the eventual losing of another partner.

Ethnicity(s): He's of a Hume race. Though his people have always had an affiliation with Dragonkin.

Skin Tone: Pale yet coppery skinned.

Physique: Broad-shouldered, and slim at the waist.

Height: 6’9”

Weight: 225 lbs.

Language(s): Common-tongue, and Dragon-tongue

Birth Date: The Spring Season

Origin: Anatolie, Bronwynn

Dragon Bond: Talyn: Moderate in size, Talyn was a vicious creature, or at least often seemed to be. Jade scales littered his body, amidst golden fur. His face looked quite feline, his neck guarded by a mane of curling spikes the color of his scales. Tall as a Clydesdale and shaped like a lion, this beast used to jump right into battle slashing about before once again retreating to the sidelines to make another decisive attack. Its tail ended in a tuft of fur littered with short, nearly unnoticeable spikes. Even his feet were much like a lion’s though armored in scales, and claws strong and sharp like steel; teeth falling to below his elegant chin like a saber-tooth of old.

There were legendary rituals that would have been able to save Talyn's life, or even return it but the entire elder temple of dragon riders was decimated in the war including all records of old rituals including those on how to bond with new dragons. Only those things able to be passed down by teacher to student is left.

Weapon(s): Chainbow, A solid oricalcum bow with three anchor-sized arrow and chains. A useful weapon against large enemies able to pierce and tether down monstrous creatures.

Clothing: Tends to where light looking but very sturdy leathers in the style of an french gentleman's elegant wear, minus the fluffy collars and puffy shorts. He wears long pants and thigh-high riding boots. He also tends to wear reds and golds more often than any other colors.

Possession(s): He often wears a tooth of Talyn's on his belt. It's useful as a last resort weapon as it's the length of a long dagger. He keeps Talyn's bones locked away in hopes of one day reviving him.

Recreation: Running, Something he learned from Talyn and his bond with him actually allows him to run faster then almost any other human other than other dragon riders who had land speed dragons.

Obsessions: The restoration of the Dragon rider's temple, He's be slowly restoring the building with his own hands but he wants to restore the brotherhood as well.

Persona: He's rather stand-offish with new people, always holding himself back even though he's in desperate need of physical touch and conversation. He's become accustomed to driving people away to keep from attaching himself to them.

Fear(s): Losing more loved ones.

Power(s): Speed, strength, and emotional force (meaning he can literally make his surroundings appear so oppressive that people will run away, or he could make them so inviting as to lure in enemies or unsuspecting prey when hunting).

------

So what do you think?

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Hmm not bad, but in order to play a failed hero now in the employ of a tyrant you'll have to age him. Seventeen. We'll say their quest started about twelve years ago in their younger days (so if you'd like to age him from his current profile he'd be 29 which would still make him young in regards to the age I'm thinking most would be at) and it failed in the second year. So it failed ten years ago. It was three more years before the current tyrant/fallen hero finished what they started and hired them so they've been working for him for anywhere from 4-7 years depending on how hard it was to find them.

Does any of that make sense?

[Quaddy]

Yeah...we'd all need to be much older, unless that character was meant to be the "new" hero.

Think of this like the Three Musketeers. You have the three old-timers who've been in the game a long time and might have become a little disillusioned. Bring in D'artagnan, this idealistic little kid who thinks he's better than he is, knows all the tricks (because he studied the old guys), and is going to be able to do himself what all these old timers couldn't do.

And then this youngster is showed that he knows nothing, when the old timers show him how it's done.

That's what I think when I think of this campfire. A sort of Three Musketeers type of thing.

[Aldersmaine]

Yeah that was a mistake actually, I had this character around and I adjusted him to fit into the story, I meant to change, and have changed the post from before, the seventeen to Thirty-seven.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Cool cool that's much more fitting

And yes your 3 musketeers reference is quite similar there Quaddy. I wasn't thinking about that but yeah totally.

Of course you also have to keep in mind these guys are kind of broken on that whole hero thing. Otherwise they would not still be working for a tyrant. Of course they do know of him a bit as he approached them all personally for their employment.

We will reference their younger days a few times and such so that's something to keep in mind. Anyway I'll post my character on here as well as the young guy soon.

As for your character beast, what 'niche' would he fit into in the past while they were adventuring?

[Quaddy]

To let you guys know what I was thinking, I was going to go for an expert duelist with a bit of a drinking problem. She was the tyrant's lover back during their days as heroes and stayed with him out of the love they once had, forcing herself to see him as he once was instead of what he had become. Since then, she has turned to drinking to deal with the fact that she feels she betrayed the whole idea of what she lived for. The love is long gone between them, though they still pretend at it. He has many lovers since their marriage. Most people believe that she has lost her skills and is nothing more than a shell of a woman, a shadow of her former self. To a certain extent, it's true. But she is still the best damned swordsman the realm has ever scene, and she'll surprise the hell out of the youngster.

[Quaddy]

Make that seen.

[Aldersmaine]

What do you mean by niche in the adventuring?

What I do know is that he and his beast were like twins, they read each other without trying. He died at the end of the war and Makaelum has never figured out who did it though he's rather suspicious of the tyrant, who Talyn had bitten once when the Tyrant poked and prodded at him as if he were just another dumb beast.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

Ahhh cool cool. Which would be especially surprising since he's going to be so adept with a blade. Almost superhumanly so.

I can see there being speculation on if he could beat your character back in the day when she was a badass (since it's unknown to the public whether or not she still is) and such.

She's gotta have some kind of awesome nickname or something as cliche as that may be it's usually awesome.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

All the old heroes had once adventured together with the first hero (who died which ultimately fizzled the quest out). Before the current tyrant was evil he was a charismatic and idealistic hero himself riding the near success of the old group to victory with his own party.

So basically I was asking perhaps what role did he play in the original party? His expertise. What did he bring to the table that was unique to his skillset and experience. Ultimately, what would he have to teach our new very green hero about the world and about truly fighting against all odds toward a goal that may be impossible to achieve?

[Quaddy]

I think it's the breadth of her expertise that will put him to shame. She is well versed in much more than just a sword and in multiple styles. She is also willing to make a dirty play, especially now. "Your honor won't matter shit if you're dead, kid," I can see her saying when she beats him at swordplay. She is good with longswords, shortswords, knives, long knives, daggers, rapiers, sabers, scimitars, etc. Anything with a blade.

I'm thinking she also learned a fair few things from the Tyrant over the years. How he thinks, what he wants, what caused him to turn. It needs to be something a lot more...sympathetic than simply wanting power. Something understandable. Something that people can look at and say "Yeah, I understand that." It makes things more powerful.

I was thinking the Viper. And someone she's killed is said to have felt her bite.

[Aldersmaine]

Hmm that is a good question. Certainly swordplay is out, lol. How about Partnering?

Teaching him how to instil his weaponry or his soldiers with a kind of knowing when and what to do things? The ability to communicate with others almost instantaneously? Beyond that perhaps the skills of strategically laying traps for your opponents in the middle of fighting them, without them noticing.

As for his role in the ORIGINAL story, I'd say he was best friends with the first hero who died. (thus the beginning of his social complex) when the second hero rose up he rose up nearly immediately more to complete his late friend's goal then to follow the new hero but as charismatic as he was Makaelum began to follow him like all the others. It wasn't until Talyn died when his rose colored glasses shattered.

[Zephyr Shenkiken]

An interesting concept. I was thinking that after the first hero dies all your characters had basically given up. The second hero/future tyrant had his own party he completed the quest with, but he knew of their sacrifice and struggle which is why he originally wanted them working for him.

But it'd be cool if one of the characters had worked with him like that into the second adventure when everyone else had already lost their idealism. It means he'd probably have fallen even harder.

Cool!

Okay, and what's his current occupation? I mean what would he be good at that the tyrant would want to have hired him for?

[Aldersmaine]

Well he was a mason, he's a builder, and he's extremely if not superhumanly strong. So there's that for after the war. During the war of course he was a dragon rider and he actually helped raise new hatchlings until partners could be found for them.

or is that not what you're asking?