Hey everyone, here is the character sheet I promised. It's only for the members of the team. I tried to avoid spoilers, and give a quick commentary on their function within the team, and why I'm writing them.
Leader – Ezinma Dynamo
Stella Ezinma Dike is an African Icon. She has revolutionized numerous aspects of
technology, from health to warfare. She
is a super-genius who made Nigeria the first African superpower. However, she has a dark secret, one that
could ruin everything she has built.
Stella is the most
feared superhero in this world I’ve created.
She made Nigeria an influential part of the world stage, but also a
potential threat to the western world’s national security due to their disdain
for the superhuman defense corporations.
She is the scenario where an African Nation gets a Superman. Don’t worry, she will not be absolutely
perfect, and always right like what people criticize Superman as. With her backstory, that will be impossible. But she will be a strong, daring, and
controversial character. When it comes
to her chapters, the gloves come off.
Co-Leader – Sky Maiden
Carrie Crockett is a part of a legacy of African American
super-soldiers. She was a part of the
defunct superhuman defense division in the US government and a former defense
contractor, but then she betrayed her legacy in order to be what her family
hates: a superhero. Unfortunately, she
will learn that the grass isn't greener on the other side. And speaking of other side, she is a
lesbian. She just hasn't revealed that to the world yet.
Carrie is supposed to
represent the superhuman defense (aka anti-superhuman military) side of the
world. She used to work as a defense
contractor, and just because she is vigilante now, doesn't mean she has changed
her method of combat. She will be
leading her own strike teams, manning vehicles, and utilizing artillery. Yes, she’s the "Black Widow" of the team. As for her character, if there is anyone who
can be considered the “only sane man in the room” within the team, it will be
her. However, that will be the opposite
of how the world at large sees her.
Heavy Artillery - Quantum Jones
Derrick Jones is the son of the first superhero, Roland
“Light Bringer” Jones, and the grandson of the first super-villain, Ken
Ashbury. Both legacies have brought him
a life of luxury and stress. However,
those factors fail in comparison to his biggest problem: his ego. The leader of his own superhero team, we will
see how he leaves the team. And it isn't pretty.
His backstory makes
it seem like he will be THE protagonist of this story. That remains to be seen, but as of right now, "nobody is" (in other words, readers will decide). He’s the blaster of the team;
raining enemies with energy blasts from a distance. That suits him greatly because he would never
want his looks to be ruined. I think he’s
the character I have the most fun writing due to his many, many quirks.
Extra Dimensional (Magic) Specialist – Mister Oni
Marcel Ashbury is Derrick’s cousin. Unfortunately, his father was a super-villain
much like his grandfather, but went to Japan to stay away from his superhero
brother. Marcel is a dual citizen and is
of Japanese and African American descent.
His monster hunting business in Japan runs dry, so he must find a way to
keep himself busy and earn a living. A
quick trip to the US wouldn’t hurt, would it?
I had to do a bit of
a personality shift for Marcel. At
first, he was extremely movie Blade like. I felt that didn’t work because that’ll put
him as another “only sane man in the room” character when compared to the
warring personalities of Renata, Sam, Stella, and Derrick. So, I decided to make him more accepting of
the “supernatural” parts of his job. In
other words, he’ll be reflecting both of his backgrounds. He’ll be street smart and tough, but he’ll
also be pretty weird. Expect some
extremely strange things to happen in his chapters.
Scout - Neon Beetle
When Renata Dixon was a little girl, her small town in
Brazil was annihilated by extra-dimensional forces. After eating a corrupted fruit to survive,
she gained super-speed and a strange form of energy manipulation to stabilize
it. After living as a model for a
while, she was inspired by Ezinma Dynamo to become a superhero. Now, she’s
considered one of the most successful superheroes in the world, and the only
hero to defeat The Demon. However, the
man who gave her the strategy to get that big win wants a favor from her, one that will change her life forever.
Renata is the
Wolverine to Stella’s Cyclops: big
personalities, but dueling ideals.
Renata wants to save the world, while Stella wants to change it. She is the bombshell of the team, and much
like Derrick and his good looks, she can and will exploit that fact. She’s flirty, cheery, hot-headed, and
strong-willed. She’s an idealist, but
her ideals are really simplistic. I made
her specifically to be the opposite of Stella, just like Derrick is for
Carrie. She’s also the Tribe’s
speedster, possibly the fastest human in the world. And that makes her near unstoppable, the key
term being “near”.
She is also one of the team members that rejects sexual binaries. In other words, she's pan-sexual.
You are probably thinking, with all these numerous sexual identities, there will be some graphic moments and such that will make this an adults only book? Nope, I want to portray these numerous sexual identities as part of their lives and characters. Just like their race and sociological environment. I wanted to aim this story towards adults. In my earlier drafts, I had some rather graphic dialogue (mostly from Derrick). That is no longer the case. I'm making sure it's young adult (teen) friendly now.
You are probably thinking, with all these numerous sexual identities, there will be some graphic moments and such that will make this an adults only book? Nope, I want to portray these numerous sexual identities as part of their lives and characters. Just like their race and sociological environment. I wanted to aim this story towards adults. In my earlier drafts, I had some rather graphic dialogue (mostly from Derrick). That is no longer the case. I'm making sure it's young adult (teen) friendly now.
Ok back to the Character Sheet!
Strategist – King Cicada
Jean Massoud is another super-genius, and pen-pal of Stella
Dike. After watching the anti-superhero
firms gain more and more control of her hometown of Las Vegas Nuevas, Jean
finally decides to take action and become a superhero. However, the threat is too great for her
alone to handle, so she enlists the help of a mysterious man to help her form a
superhero team.
Jean is the “kid” of
the team; the naïve, innocent member that idolizes the veteran members of the
team. However, she’s also an emerging
super-genius, so she’s not dumb. I
wanted to create a character that could introduce the world and the big
conflict, so she was the last member I created.
I made sure her name was a gender ambiguous one because gender identity will play a
big part for this character's development. Oh, and I
based her on the Spider-Man villain, The Beetle.
Spokesman – The Syndicate
The only member of the Sovereign Tribe that will not have a
chapter focused on him. His influence will be very clear throughout. His background is as mysterious as his goals,
but three things are made clear. One, he
is a multiple man. Two, his one-man army
is scattered across the globe. And
three, he cannot be trusted.
I had to make two
major changes with Samuel Watts. One, at
first he was gay. That didn’t make sense
because I specifically had each of his clones carry different personalities and
sexualities. So instead, I made him the
other hero in this group that has rejected the notion of sexuality and gender
binaries. Two, he was going to have at
least one chapter, just to show how he got the group together. I want to be a bit more subtle with the
approach instead. Sam’s clones will be
used for a variety of things, but for the Tribe, they are spare units (and they
will act as Carrie’s strike team). He’s
sort of the Coordinator of the Tribe as well as the Spokesman.
So, there's the team! Now, I was going to talk about some of the changes I made to the novel so far, but that might be a tad bit useless. I mean, I will be doing PLENTY more changes before anything gets published. So instead, I'll talk about the first chapter next.
Thanks for Reading!
O.O.U