Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sana Bale

General, 18th Generation, Retired
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Radiation Manipulation

Height: 165 cm
Weight: 44 kg
Gravity Rank: 18
RPP: 792
RMP: 4,400
Birthdate: 9,324.177

Artifact: Prismatic Scales
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 15,840
Dark RMP: 88,000

Active Dates: 9,350-9,850
Residence: Planet 912

Sana Bale's psychic ability enables her to sense, differentiate, and produce all forms of radiation. When Dark, she transforms into a being of living light, with her innate powers greatly enhanced.

Aila Schosser

General, 19th Generation, Retired
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Feline Transformation

Height: 185 cm
Weight: 70 kg / 90 kg
Gravity Rank: 22
RPP: 1,540 / 1,980
RMP: 3,900
Birthdate: 9,826.216

Artifact: Cat's-eye Marble
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 39,600
Dark RMP: 2,000

Active Dates: 9,850-10,350
Residence: Planet 1035

Aila Schosser has the ability to transform into a stark-white bipedal hunting cat with enhanced senses, increased strength, speed, and reflexes, and the ability to project a bolt of kinetic energy. When she goes Dark, her Artifact completes the transformation, turning her into a great 4-legged, white armored cat, standing over 2 meters at the shoulder. The Cats-eye Marble, visible while Dark, also enhances her prowess with the kinetic bolt.

Isker Vays

First General, 19th Generation, Retired
Category: F-Gene Fighter
Discipline: Single Element Ghost Sword

Height: 179 cm
Weight: 79 kg
Gravity Rank: 22
RPP: 1,738
RMP: 100
Birthdate: 9,819.184

Artifact: Jaaku Thorns
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 34,760
Dark RMP: 2,000

Active Dates: 9,850-10,350
Residence: Planet 1019

When Dark, the Jaaku Thorns sheathe Isker Vays in a tough layer of plant fiber, studded at intervals with deadly sharp thorns. He wields the Willow Sword, a a foil which is little more than a nearly unbreakable reed and which is produced as necessary from a dislodged thorn.

The Jaaku Thorns also give Vays the ability to animate and control all manner of plants, turning those of sufficient mass into a monstrous, creeping army. His power pushes plants far beyond their original biological designs. After about 20 hours of constant animation, all affected plants burn out, wither, and die.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Brin Karvasti

Specialist, Emergency Squad
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Suggestion/Compulsion

Height: 157 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Gravity Rank: 5
RPP: 225
RMP: 4,200
Birthdate: 10,664.304

Artifact: Dharma Engine
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 4,050
Dark RMP: 75,600

Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace

Brin's Artifact becomes visible at her back when she goes Dark, but otherwise she doesn't change physically. She has the innate ability to make people do what she says. In general, her victims must be able to hear her voice, but she is able to transmit her power, chaining it between minds when they are in close proximity to one another.

Of course her Artifact substantially increases this ability, but it also enables her to inflict the Dharma Clock on individual victims. This attack crucifies the victim and forces him or her submit to first psychological then physical trauma according to "guilt" they feel based on criteria—genuine, manufactured, or twisted—set by Brin.

Gast Froster

Specialist, Emergency Squad
Category: F-Gene Fighter
Discipline: Wind Fission Sickles

Height: 188 cm
Weight: 78 kg
Gravity Rank: 22
RPP: 1,716
RMP: 100
Birthdate: 10,660.142

Artifact: Particle Distributor
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 30,888
Dark RMP: 1,800

Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace

While Dark, Gast Froster appears to be an anthropomorphic raven, covered completely in a smooth, electric blue metallic shell. He has the further ability to transform into the Scavenger Cloud, dispersing his body over an area and becoming insubstantial, unaffected by all but powerful incendiary attacks. In this state, he is still able to affect those within the Cloud, often using his sickles to attack.

Ren Fauer

Specialist, Emergency Squad
Category: F-Gene Fighter
Discipline: 10,000 Paths

Height: 175 cm
Weight: 74 kg
Gravity Rank: 23
RPP: 1,702
RMP: 100
Birthdate: 10,661.217

Artifact: Riot Knives
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 30,636
Dark RMP: 1,800

Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace

While Dark, Ren bristles with knife blades and only retains a general humanoid outline. The blades can be set to motion in countless individual tracks across and along his body that work miraculously in concert to produce an unbelievable display of deadly motion. Within an atmosphere, this motion can provide lift and gives him total control over his movement. This is, of course, in addition to his pre-existing ability to fly using Approaching Infinity theory, which is also enhanced by the power supplied by the Riot Knives.

The knives can provide a great offense if he attacks bodily, and offer an excellent defense against projectile attacks, batting away incoming fire. The knives are durable, but not indestructible. When broken, they quickly grow back.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Tia Winn

General, 20th Generation
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Dream Control

Height: 215 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Gravity Rank: 10
RPP: 800
RMP: 4,000
Birthdate: 10,326.192

Artifact: Keepsake Cameo
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 14,400
Dark RMP: 72,000

Active Dates: 10,350-Current
Residence: Root Palace

As is the case with many psychics, Tia Winn does not have a separate Darkened state, but had her skin permanently bleached by her Artifact when she received it.

The Keepsake Cameo significantly boosts Tia's innate ability to create, enter into, and control the dreams of others, enabling her to create a shared experience for up to 36,000 people. Her dreams are vivid and memorable, but if they lead to violence or death, the victims suffer the same fate.

Mefis Abanastar

General, 20th Generation
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Concentration, 9 Order Fist

Height: 145 cm
Weight: 38 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 760
RMP: 5,000
Birthdate: 10,327.255

Artifact: Focusing Lens
Artifact Rank: 18 (36)
Dark RPP: 13,680 (27,360)
Dark RMP: 90,000 (180,000)

Active Dates: 10,350-Current
Residence: Root Palace

It may be that Mefis Abanastar is constantly in his Darkened state. His face is always covered and completely obscured by the Focusing Lens. He is darkly clad, literally from head to toe. Besides the Emperor, no one alive knows what Abanastar looks like or what color his hair is.

The Focusing Lens allows Abanastar to augment just about anything, ranging from the physical to the abstract, through an arrangement of lenses which he is able to produce.

Though Abanastar isn't an F-Gene Fighter, he has intermediate mastery of the 9 Order Fist, which has served as an invaluable aid in developing his powers of concentration.

Wheeler Barson

First General, 20th Generation
Category: F-Gene Fighter / Psychic
Discipline: 9 Order Fist / Gravity Sense & Control

Height: 221 cm
Weight: 110 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 2,750
RMP: 2,900
Birthdate: 10,322.106

Artifact: Gravity Spike
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 60,500
Dark RMP: 63,800

Active Dates: 10,350-Current
Residence: Root Palace

The Gravity Spike is visible when Barson is Dark, and he appears as an anthropomorphic black unicorn. While Dark, the black of his body seems to possess depth and has been observed to cause vertigo in some.

The combination of his abilities, as both an F-Gene Fighter and a psychic, make him one of the strongest Shades the Empire has ever known. His Singularity Punch, though inexplicable to even the most advanced science, does exactly what people say it does, producing a microscopic black hole that can be banished immediately by Barson's will.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Elza Steinz

Specialist, Death Squad
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Telekinesis

Height: 162 cm
Weight: 56 kg
Gravity Rank: 10
RPP: 560
RMP: 4,900
Birthdate: 10,664.227

Artifact: Crush Box
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 88,200
Dark RMP: 88,200

Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace

When Dark with the Crush Box, Elza becomes a 40-meter tall giant of crackling yellow energy. In this state, her Dark RMP also serves as her as her Dark RPP. She is able to move at will through three dimensional space, unaffected by all but the most intense gravitational forces.

Forbis Vays

Specialist, Death Squad
Category: F-Gene Fighter / Psychic
Discipline: Single Element Ghost Sword / 20% Physical Augmentation

Height: 180 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 2,000
RMP: 1,000
Birthdate: 10,663.015

Artifact: Titan Star
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 44,000
Dark RMP: 22,000

Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace

While Dark, Forbis Vays is clad in a gleaming suit of angular armor that will conform, to some degree, to his will to temporarily adapt to circumstances. Along with its excellent defensive properties, the Titan Star also provides a potent weapon, the Titan Saber, which is housed within the helmet, its hilt forming the distinctive horn rising up from the forehead.

When Vays invokes his psychic ability to augment his physical characteristics by an additional 20%, his armor undergoes a physical change in order to release the power.

When sufficiently enraged while Dark, Vays gains access to the Grudge Star, a devastating attack that crucifies his opponents and subjects them to six explosions, the intensity of which are determined by a combination of the degree of his indignation and his composure in the face of that indignation.

Jav Holson

Specialist, Death Squad
Category: F-Gene Fighter, Superior Grade
Discipline: 18 Heavenly Claws

Height: 172 cm
Weight: 73 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 1,825
RMP: 500
Birthdate: ??,???.???

Artifact: Kaiser Bones
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 36,500
Dark RMP: 10,000

Active Dates: 10,682.031-Current (replaced Karlan Farsal)
Residence: Root Palace

Jav was the Block 2 champion at the 10,688 Artifact Competition. He won the Kaiser Bones, and thus replaced the ailing Ritual Mask and removed the imminent death sentence that came along with it.

While Dark with the Kaiser Bones, Jav looks like a stylized skeleton, with the actual bones providing excellent protection. The space between the bones is inky black that seems like animate "nothing" and offers somewhat less protection. Besides the standard augmentation, the Bones enable Jav to animate and control up to 20,000 skeletons, making them rise from their graves and fight on his behalf. He can sense bone matter, "feeling" it as well as "seeing" it through earth or flesh and blood. The Bones also make Jav exceptionally resilient in that they respond quickly to physical damage, rebuilding and restoring tissue at a fantastic rate.

Lor Kalkin

First Specialist, Death Squad
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Cancer

Height: 174 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 1,875
RMP: 5,300
Birthdate: 10,475.253

Artifact: Contamination Pump
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 41,250
Dark RMP: 116,600

Active Dates: 10,500-Current
Residence: Root Palace

When Dark with the Contamination Pump, Lor Kalkin becomes a giant, sickly-purple walking cancer, increasing to 3 meters in height and 3 meters across at the shoulders. He is surprisingly agile for his bulk, however, and is able to direct his potent psychic power to instill rot through unnatural growth by touch or up to a range of 20 meters. His innate discipline enables him to regenerate tissue at an already fantastic rate, but with the aid of the Contamination Pump, he is, perhaps, physically immortal, able to reconstitute himself even after significant loss of body mass.

Buy My Book 2: The Sequel

I spent the day getting it ship-shape, and it's ready!  The Gun Golems, with a fantastic cover once again from Chris Seaman by way of 99designs.com, is available on Amazon.com.

I've tried to make these two books affordable.  I definitely think they're worth $2.99 a piece.  Please support me as a starving artist, one with a family depending on me for food and shelter...  Okay, I won't try to guilt you into anything, but $2.99?!  Come on! :-)

Anyway, for those of you who do purchase the e-book, please don't hesitate to give me feedback.  Each of the books has its own individual page here where comments are welcome.

Thanks again in advance!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Buy My Book!

Okay, it's been a long time coming, but here it is!  A world, over 9 years in the making (don't know if that's impressive or, uh, the opposite of impressive, but...), makes its commercial debut!  Please check out The Artifact Competition, available from Amazon.com (click the picture).  

The Gun Golems, the immediate sequel, should be available next weekend or shortly thereafter so you won't be left hanging once you finish The Artifact Competition.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

99designs.com

A friend of mine told me about 99designs.com last week and it sounded too good to be true.  But the very night he told me, I started a contest with my fingers crossed.  When I got home from work the next day there was already a striking design waiting for my feedback.  It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but first drafts often aren't.  I continued to work with that designer, and others as they tried match my criteria and my taste, until I got the final product you see here by Chris Seaman.

I'm very pleased and cannot put into words how valuable I find this site.  It's good for everyone.  You get what you want and the designers get a place to show off their work.

Thanks, Jesse!  I owe you dinner in Roseville.  My mom'll drive us there if your mom'll pick us up.  (Ah, just like back in junior high...)