So, I'm a fan of Rooster Teeth's animated series RWBY, and I love a lot of the character design that goes along with it, especially the colorful naming convention. One of the aspects of character creation that I love is coming up with a good, meaningful name, so Monty Oum's (RIP) rules about the naming of characters within its setting are right up my alley.
I've dabbled in the idea of creating my own characters within the world of Remnant (the setting of RWBY), and often wish I had better artistic talent to draw or otherwise create visual aids for the characters in my head. So in place of that, I'll just provide some descriptions of the characters and some of the ideas I have in my head for them.
(Note: Below the break, I do make mention of things that happen toward the end of Season 3, so beware of spoilers. And seriously, just go watch the series! It's all up on RoosterTeeth.com or YouTube. Do it now.)
Team SABL
This was the first team that came to mind when I started dreaming up my own characters in the RWBYverse. SABL (pronounced "Sable") did train as Huntsmen and Huntresses, but they are also a band, so most of their weapons not only have a gun shape, but also function as their musical instrument within the band.
Slate Koch is the leader of the team, though not the lead vocalist in the band. Level-headed, Slate is a collected individual, not prone to bursts of emotion, unlike Auburn or Beryl. This serves to keep the rest of the team grounded. His level-headedness makes him a sound tactician in a fight, and once he has a chance to get the measure of a battle, he will often come up with a strategy on the fly to deal with it.
His laid-back nature is further emphasized by his choice of clothing, as he prefers baggy pants, sneakers, and shirts with long sleeves that tend to hide his hands. (Though when playing or in a fight, he rolls his sleeves back). He has a tendency to wear sunglasses at almost all times. He likes to wear watchcaps or knit caps in a variety of colors, though always with a gray band on them. He has ash-blond hair and dark-gray eyes, and usually has the stubble of a beard on his chin.
Weapon & Instrument: Thunder Stringer is Slate's weapon and instrument. As an instrument, it is a guzheng, a Chinese zither, giving their music a bit of an Oriental feel. In a battle, Slate uses it as a focus for his Dust spells, playing particular chords or notes to tune the spell. In addition, his music helps coordinate and direct his teammates' actions. At range, it also functions as a mortar, allowing him to drop Dust-charged projectiles and explosives on attackers.
Semblance: Slate's Semblance is Barrier. When he uses it, it allows him to erect one-directional barriers to protect himself or others from harm. These barriers allow things to pass through them in an "outward" direction, but doing so causes the barriers to dissipate.
Auburn Heckler is Slate's best friend, having known him since they were children. He's a lot more direct a person, sometimes impulsive, in contrast to Slate, and can come across as "dumb muscle" as a result. This does Auburn a disservice, however, as he's smarter than he lets on, just less interested in mincing words or being diplomatic. This often puts him at odds with Beryl, who will frequently mock or insult him over it. He's a big guy, and likes working out to keep himself in shape. His directness leads him to be a close-combat monster in a fight, and is the first to step up to go with Slate's ideas and plans.
On stage, he'll start out in short-sleeves, and progress to no-sleeves, and sometimes take his shirt off completely. Auburn prefers wearing an unbuttoned short-sleeve shirt, typically with either tribal-style designs or the band's logo on it, over a tank-top. He tends toward wearing fatigue-style pants and steel-toed boots. He frequently wears bracers on his forearms, and tapes up his fingers. He wears a ring on his right thumb. He has red-brown hair, trimmed into a short mohawk ("warhawk") and trims his facial hair into a horseshoe mustache with sideburns (a la Lemmy).
Weapon & Instrument: Blitzenbeil is Auburn's weapon and instrument. As an instrument, it's a bass guitar, on which he can play at great speed, owing to his Semblance. In a battle, it becomes an axe, which Auburn can swing with deadly speed and power. It also functions as a shotgun, making him even more devastating in close quarters. Owing to his close-combat skills, he will often be told to hang back to protect Slate, who is better at range.
Semblance: Auburn's Semblance is Hyperkinesis. While similar to Ruby Rose's speed, Auburn expresses his differently, moving only shorter distances and using it to increase the speed of his swings of Blitzenbeil. This serves to give him even more power with his blows and evade counter-attacks. He uses it in a more mundane fashion to play his guitar at incredible speed.
Beryl Ingram has known Slate and Auburn a while, though not as long as they've known each other. She's not the nicest person, frequently concerned with her own well-being, then the team's, and anyone else is not really her concern. She is always looking to increase her own standing, both monetarily and socially. She comes from a disadvantaged background, and would hate anyone to know it. In her mind, she's really the team leader, and she's always wheeling and dealing to get rich faster. She likes to think of herself as tactful, but sometimes she'll say something unkind or mean-spirited, which causes her plans to deflate. This is why Slate is really in charge. In a fight, she is a mid-ranged fighter, but can be devastating up close when using her Semblance.
She is fashion-conscious and tries to make sure she has styles that are "in," so she can wear just about anything when she's not on stage. When performing or if she knows there's going to be a fight, she swaps out for trousers and short-sleeves, often with shades of green in them. She'll wear bracelets and rings frequently, and always wears an emerald pendant, which is a family heirloom. She has dark hair and green eyes, and when on stage or fighting, will tie her hair (which goes past her shoulders) back into a ponytail.
Weapons & Instrument: Eisern Stocke are Beryl's weapons and instrument. She is the band's drummer, using Eisern Stocke as oversized drumsticks or baton-hammers. The extra size does not hinder her, due to her Semblance. There is very little change needed to shift them from instrument to weapon, as she uses them as a pair of clubs or cudgels. They also have pistolas built into them for mid-ranged firepower.
Semblance: Beryl's Semblance is Gravity. It allows her to manipulate gravity in her area, weighing down opponents, adding weight to Eisern Stocke to make their blows more powerful, and can lighten herself to jump farther or land safely from great heights. She uses it in a more mundane fashion to lighten the weight of Eisen Stocke so she can use them on the drums.
Lilac Barrett is the team's "little sister." The youngest of the team, she lost her parents and some of her siblings to a Grimm attack on their town. Her older brothers Carmine and Ross took care of her from that point on, and are fairly protective of her, even if she can hold her own now. She is notable for her perpetually cheerful demeanor, to the point of creepiness. Her cheerful disposition and mode of speech never wavers, even when discussing terrible things, like her family's deaths. ("And there was blood everywhere! ^_^") While this can disturb people, Lilac is never anything except friendly to everyone and actually has coped with her tragedy well. Slate and Auburn both care about her, and want to see her kept safe, and Beryl likes having her around as someone she can be less uptight around, since Lilac doesn't judge anybody. In a fight, she's a mid-ranged fighter.
She isn't quite as fashion-minded as Beryl, and can be a little eclectic about her attire, much to Beryl's dismay. She can have as many varied outfits as Beryl, therefore, and almost always has at least two necklaces around her neck, plus bangles and other "shinies" that she likes. She keeps a lilac-colored ribbon on her at all times, whether tied in her hair or knotted around a wrist. This has the names of her family on it. When on stage, she tends toward dresses or skirts that she can move around freely in, but in a fight, she'll go for combat skirts with typical Remnant Anti Upskirt Technology (thank you, Monty, RIP) to keep her modesty, with knee-high boots and a dark purple jacket, which belonged to her father.
Weapon & Instrument: Le Mot Juste is Lilac's weapon and instrument. She's the band's lead vocalist, as she has a fantastic singing voice, with an incredible range, comfortable singing arias or screaming death metal. (This is at least in part due to her Semblance.) As such, Le Mot Juste is a microphone stand, often with ribbons or colorful cloth flags hanging from it, which she uses on stage. In a fight, it becomes a halberd that she can use with deadly effectiveness, and can also become a rifle.
Semblance: Lilac's Semblance is Sonics. She can manipulate sound waves to a profound degree, distorting them to disorient opponents, amplifying them to create devastating shockwaves, or even mute them altogether. She uses it in a more mundane fashion while performing.
Additional notes: I don't really have much else about their origins nailed down, such as what kingdom they hail from, apart from the fact that they aren't Atlesian. SABL squabble at times, but they all do care about one another. Auburn and Beryl will scream and insult one another, but at the end of the day, they have one another's back. Obviously, the team's surnames were all taken from gun manufacturers, and Beryl's name in particular was borrowed from the wife of British entertainer George Formby, then adapted to fit the naming convention here.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Team GRIM
I came up with this team more recently, and sort of cobbled them together from snippets of other villainous sorts I had bouncing around in my head. Like the name implies, GRIM are bad guys, and their team name is deliberately chosen because of that. They did not come together through one of the Academies like many other teams, but came together under Grayson's guidance and possibly at Salem's order. They are the Hunters of Huntsmen and Huntresses, tracking them down and killing them, sometimes for money, but sometimes because Salem says so. They are wanted criminals, but-- especially in a post-Season 3 Remnant-- the authorities have not been able to capture them. Adding to their fearsome reputation is their tendency to wear stylized Grimm Masks, not too dissimilar from White Fang's, but noticeably different. All of this comes to the point that GRIM are very much Not Nice People.
Grayson Gallows is the team's leader. Nicknames that law enforcement or the press have given him include "The Gray Wolf" or "The Hangman." The oldest of the group, he has the darkest demeanor of all of them. The Gallows family line has its roots in the losing faction of the Great War, and after the War, have maintained their hatred of Remnant as it is now. The Gallows family had degenerated into aimless thieves and malcontents, but Grayson cultivated his antipathy to a severe extent. He despises his own family for how fall they've fallen, and now works willingly with Salem to sow chaos and despair. He believes that civilization will inevitably fall to the Grimm and that attempting to forestall it is a pointless endeavor. He views his teammates as tools, though he does have at least a passing fondness for Ivoire. He knows that Roux would kill him if she thought she could get away with it, and that Matte would abandon them if he thought it practical to do so. He does not begrudge them this.
He is in late middle age, with graying dark hair and dark gray eyes. He sports a grizzled beard and is missing left eye, for reasons unknown. His mode of dress evokes a gunslinger, with a duster coat and a wide-brimmed hat, and a black eye-patch over his missing eye. His clothing is monochromatic, blacks and grays, and he wears a noose around his neck in a mockery of a necktie. He has a couple of scars on his face, one on his jaw on the right side, and one across the bridge of his nose. His mask is a full-face mask, evoking a wolf.
Weapons: Ulme Fessel are Grayson's weapons, a pair of hooked chains. The hooks have pistolas built into them, with the hooks themselves curving back and up from the barrels. He is capable of remote-triggering the pistols, similar to Blake's Gambol Shroud. Grayson is known for strangling his victims with Ulme Fessel's chains, then leaving them hanging from a high place with a noose.
Semblance: Grayson's Semblance is called Blink. It is a short-range teleportation ability, and he is incapable of "blinking" more than fifty feet away, and must have line-of-sight on his arrival point. He uses this to outflank his opponents so he can more easily ensnare them.
Roux Haine is the team's bludgeon. Nicknames that law enforcement or the press have given her include "The Dragon" or "The Firebrand." She is the tallest of the group, and the most physically powerful (though Matte can give her a run for her money). She does not do "subtle." Coming from an abusive household and a decidedly unhappy childhood, Roux had been the target of bullies and other unpleasantries, so when her Semblance manifested, she took it out on everyone that had ever wronged her, and promptly got arrested for it, only further adding to her hatred of everyone and everything. She personifies the axiom of "some people just want to watch the world burn." She even take any pleasure in destroying things or hurting people. She just hates. This includes her teammates, though she has respect for them. Grayson has almost as much hate as her. Matte is the only one capable of going hand to hand with her, and even she's not sure who would win in a protracted fight. And Ivoire is one of only two people in the world that she actually fears. (The other is Salem.) Roux is a reckless fighter, possessing a powerful Aura, but she fights as if she does not care if she lives, which isn't that far from the truth.
She's the youngest member of the team, barely out of her twenties. She has copper red hair that she keeps buzzed short to keep it from getting burned, and hard yellow eyes. She typically wears an armored vest and leaves her arms bare to the forearms, which are usually covered by her gauntlets or arm-gloves. She sports dragon tattoos on both arms, as well as scars from her childhood. Underneath those gloves/gauntlets, Roux has extensive scarring on her wrists, which she keeps hidden. She wears thick cargo pants and heavy boots. Her mask is a re-purposed firefighter's gas mask, stylized now to sport a dragon's maw around its air filter.
Weapons: Mal and Furie are Roux's weapons, a pair of gauntlets. Mal and Furie have large-bore guns built into them, allowing her to fire powerful slugs at range, often charged with Fire Dust. She prefers to fight up-close, however, so she can smash her victims, if she isn't just trying to burn them alive.
Semblance: Roux's Semblance is Pyrokinesis. She can control fire and amplify it, cause it to burn hotter and higher. This grants her protection from fire as well, but if she lets it get out of control, she can still pass out when the fire consumes all the oxygen in the area. When she uses her Semblance, her eyes glow.
Ivoire Sirène is the team's support and Dust specialist. Nicknames that law enforcement or the press have given her include "The Pale Hawk" or "The White Liar." She has known Grayson for many years, and shares much of his philosophy and outlook, though does not present the same dour demeanor. Indeed, outwardly, she seems the most approachable and the friendliest, but this belies her ruthlessness. She is a skilled manipulator, and can read people very well. She uses these abilities to talk people around into either doing what she wants, or to sow doubts in their mind, to make it easier to get them to drop their guard. Of her team, she views Matte as something of a liability, not trusting that he won't end up being a turncoat, and Roux as "an idiot child." Grayson she views as a kindred spirit, and does have a more intimate relationship with him, but she and Grayson both say they will leave the other one to die without hesitation if it comes to it, although there are doubts about this.
She is younger than Grayson, but not by much. She is an albino, with long white hair she keeps back in a braid, and red eyes. She does tend toward pale grays in her clothes, preferring a pale kimono over tight trousers and a simple shirt, with simple pumps. Her major trademark is a long white sash she keeps tied around her waist, the ends of which are stained red, from the blood of her victims. Her mask resembles a Carnivale-style mask, evoking a bird of prey.
Weapons: Amour and Perte are Ivoire's weapons, a pair of kukris, which also have pistolas built into them. She is quite skilled at using them, and uses Dust in fights to disorient her victims, leaving them exposed for a brutal attack from her at close range.
Semblance: Ivoire's Semblance is Reflection. This ability allows her to absorb kinetic force or projected energy and either turn it back on its source or deflect it away. This does not protect her completely, but it makes it hard to hurt her.
Matte Black is the team's scalpel. Nicknames that law enforcement and the press have given him include "The Night Stalker" and "The Black Diamond." The brother of Marcus Black, he is also a skilled assassin. He serves as the stabilizing force, in some respects, to Roux's belligerence. Unlike the rest of the team, he does not share the same hatred for the world, but has a fatalistic approach to it. He simply thinks that he cannot stop Salem's plans from coming to fruition and so he sees no point in trying. He has said he won't turn traitor on them, though his exact words are "I'm not stupid enough to turn my back on you." Personality-wise, he comes across as stoic, and this "flat" demeanor makes it very difficult for Ivoire to read him, which quietly frightens her. He respects Grayson's abilities, thinks of Ivoire as meddling, and actually has something like pity for Roux, though he does not let her know it, since he knows she'd try to kill him if she knew. What his opinion of his nephew Mercury is after the death of his brother, Matte isn't saying.
Matte is about the same age as Ivoire, keeping his dark hair shaved to a military-style crewcut. He has the same gray eyes as his nephew. He keeps himself clean shaven. He goes for functionality over anything else in his attire, wearing dark gray colors and tactical vests, along with his armor. Unlike the rest of the team, Matte does not go for an animal motif with his mask, which is simply a tactical face mask painted in a Grimm-style skull design.
Weapons: Similar to his nephew Mercury, Matte eschews additional weapons and relies on a martial arts style combining elements of various forms of kickboxing. These are augmented with gauntlets and boots that have guns built into them, but for practicality's sake, there's nothing else that fancy about them. He does not even name them.
Semblance: Matte's Semblance is called Black Body, and is what makes him a particularly dangerous foe. When struck, his body hardens to protect him, his skin turning carbon black, making him incredibly resistant to injury. He is not completely impervious, as sufficiently powerful blows or energy attacks can bypass it. It is this ability, on which some weapons have shattered, that gave him the 'Black Diamond' moniker. For an excellent idea of how it would work, please see the movie from which I
Additional notes: Obviously, GRIM almost immediately became villains in my head, and I pieced together bits from various bad guys I've had in my head. I suppose part of me figured, "With Roman dead, Neo's status unknown, and Cinder possibly out of play after the finale of Season 3, Salem would turn to other pawns of hers to fulfill her plans." If nothing else, they'd provide excellent threats to the principal cast while the plot spools out further. Grayson started out as a concept I had for a villain character that liked to hang people, and briefly would have been an Abyssal Exalted, if I could ever wrap my head around the Exalted system and find an Exalted game that would let me use him. (He probably would have been named something like "The Just and Final Arbiter.") Roux, meanwhile, was a minor side villain in a superhero setting I once wrote something for, adapted to the setting. Matte is a combination of various bad guys I've had in my head, distilled down to "no nonsense nemesis." Ivoire is the only one not to start out as some previous villain notion in my head.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Final notes from Jay: I have at least one other team notion in my head, all of whom draw direct inspiration from four Japanese wrestlers, but they're just ciphers for the moment, with nothing more than RWBYverse names and a brief idea of the personality, and nothing else to them. Maybe I'll revisit that idea later if I come up with more. And maybe I'll get my hands on Poser or Maya to see if my lack of hand-drawn artistic talent equates to a lack of artistic talent on a computer. (It probably does.) And then I can actually try to provide visual aids.
Anyway, looking forward to Season 4 of RWBY, debuting the 22nd of October 2016!
No comments:
Post a Comment