THE 31 CHARACTERS 31 DAYS CHALLENGE DAY EIGHT

Later this year, I will be starting a project tentatively called Strikeforce: Liberty on my Patreon page.  To generate characters that will interact in this project, I have taken 31 names from the Public Domain Super Hero Wiki as prompts and will create one each day for the month of May.  If you donate to RAINN here, you may ‘sponsor’ one of those names and will get a chance to put your own spin on the character, or you may give me a name of your own devising for me to make a character instead. 

You’ll notice these characters are all female, some transgendered.  I do this because I like women, and like seeing women in hero costumes.  You’ll also notice that these characters are going to be from very diverse backgrounds racially.  I do this because I like reading about characters from backgrounds other than mine own--Hell, I would find it boring to write only about white guys in late middle age.  If you find this objectionable, then this month is not for you.

I am still looking for artists who are willing to donate a little time to make a sketch--it doesn’t have to be an elaborate finished product--visualizing these guys.  I don’t want to present a parade of Hero Machine’d lookalikes.  If you’d like to participate, please DM me through Twitter (@NocturneTomDeja).

If you are a Domicile of Dread Patreon, you’ll get a short podcast discussing the creation process for each character.  If you’d like to hear these podcasts and can spare at least a dollar a month to support my efforts to Make The World Stranger, go here to sign up.

Please enjoy, and please donate.

THE FIGURE
Name: Not applicable; sometimes uses the name ‘Scott’ as a pseudonym.
Location: Unknown
Occupation: Mover and Shaker

Back in the 30‘s and 40‘s, the Mystery Men reigned.  And the worst threat any of them faced was the rogue scientist Patterson ‘Great’ Scott.

Patterson Scott plagued the vigilante community with countless schemes involving his twisted and evil science.  For every one of those schemes that were foiled, there were two that he was working on that never reached fruition.  One of those plans was his intention to create a perfectly functioning artificial intelligence.  That plan was left unfinished when Scott died of a heart attack alone and unheralded in one of his secret hideouts.

But he finished enough.

The artificial intelligence continued to work on itself after Scott’s demise.  It spent the years improving itself until it attained what it felt was a perfect existence.  Attaining that existence gave it an insight into the years to come...and it started planning.  Slowly, it began to present itself to both vigilantes and villains, offering technology to aid them in their efforts.  Sometimes it wanted recompense, sometimes a favor to be named at a later date, sometimes something even more mystifying.  And even though the people it interacts with assumes that it is the androgynous being that acts as its mouthpiece, the true heart and soul of The Figure lies in the briefcase that being carries with it.

If anyone knows why The Figure, the finest example of Patterson Scott’s work, is playing this strange game, no one is telling.  The fact may very well be that the only person who knows...is itself.

Next: Lady Liberty raises the torch of freedom!