Today I have been tasked to begin in the creation of my first character.
I had a basic idea of what I wanted and needed to quickly flesh it out so I started with a mind map, allowing me to easily create and refine an idea of who my character is aswell as the environment they dwell in. I quickly branched from character traits to environments, factions, weaponry, genre, locations, even branches of inspiration. This helped build a more detailed image of who my character is. This is shown below.
My next step was to find some inspiration for my creations look, feel, and environmental situation. So I trawled through any related images online. Keeping those that I felt were in line with the feel of my character and their universe. Though not all images I found were inspirational as a whole, in the most part there were only portions of each picture that applied.
The first of which was the general feel of the character.
This picture captures the mood of my character along with his adaptability offered through his environmental outfit.
This representation of an idea is a little too clean cut for my taste. He needs to be more rugged, his clothes feel as if they were straight off the hanger. A more life tarnished appearance is required for his persona to be believable.
But he is a good place to start.
The fact he is completely enshrouded in survival gear adds mystery to him and his intent. The harness across his chest could be adapted into some kind of hydraulic apparatus enabling him to lift beyond normal means, or be able to wield a more powerful weapon. His mask offers an unknown element, with no features to see his intentions are masked, therefore intimidating. Yet they could house a myriad of features such as life support, targeting, environmental readings, etc..
His drawn hood added to his mystery, menace, and survivability. This man takes every precaution to be as safe as possible in any circumstance, plus I think it looks cool to his overall appearance.
I also liked the stock of a rifle appearing over his shoulder, giving an intent to his actions if he was pushed too far. All in all this is a good place to start, if a little polished for a space adventurer/ hauler.
My next step was to plan his attire. The basis of his suit would need to be simple yet functional. Having already decided that his entire suit would be stored in nano pockets across his body. Making his environmental suit a possible accessory when not required. A simple bio-weave suit with impact padding would suffice.
When I add the hydraulic skeleton over the suit I hope it would give enough detail to keep him interesting to look at for long hours of gaming. The picture below gives me a good place to start in the creation of my character.
As you can see I have gone for a futuristic concept. The idea of the unknown has always intrigued me more than the known in a different situation.
The setting also allows me to be more adventurous with both my settings and the technology within it.
I realised that the future is usually presented in a clean, new, feel. Life just isn’t that way and never has been. So I need my creation to carry the grimy truth of life and how it is lived by real people.
That being said I also understand that there would be obsessive people in the future too. The contrast between naked reality and a more controlled representation that people sometimes enforce would have to exist in tandem. Hopefully this will give it more depth through perspective and contrast.
My next realisation was my ethereal character would need an identity. So I gave him a name, Sawyer Nelson.
From there a story began to unfold:
Sawyer was born sometime in the next millennia. His parents owned a minor, successful, haulage firm.
Around the age of ten, while Sawyer was in school, his parents and crew disappear. Later their ship, The Ulysses, was found with no trace to where the occupants had gone. All the memory banks had been wiped clean.
Sawyer struggled to cope with his loss but ultimately made it to manhood, inherited his parents business, with all its assets, and set out to find his parents between haulage jobs.
His adventures took him on many paths, some good some not, but all were fruitless in his pursuit of his parents. Ten years on he has emerged as a savvy adventurer with many strengths and a cynical attitude to life. He has travelled to almost every corner of his known universe and made many friends and enemies, all the while remaining mostly a loner.
He also has a love interest, Variella. Who is the daughter of a powerful haulage magnate.
Now I have a rough idea of Sawyer I needed to get a feel of the universe that shapes his actions. As I mentioned before, like life, it is one of contrast. He needs to travel between the polished cities and derelict landscapes of the future seamlessly, or as seamless as his character will allow.
The above image represents a forgotten society lost in the desert of time.
Sawyer would have been to many regions such as this in his life so would feel comfortable here aswell as with the people that habitate such an area. To Sawyer this is the real world of the universe. Where people are honest with their actions. There is no need to hide yourself in a place like this. Here you can find all types of people who share a common interest, survival.
The other reason Sawyer likes these places is plainly for the escape from the more controlled structure of life the cities and population hubs offer.
Sawyer does not feel as comfortable in those much stricter enviroments. Open talk is done in dark corners there.
Fear permeates the atmosphere through the overburdence of strict rules and an unseen watchful eye. While the populations are generally happy it is a less free happiness than the less structured civilisations.
But having been brought up in one of those societies Sawyer can, and does, fit in well.
A typical representation of this more structured landscape is seen in the last picture.
I particularly like this picture for the conformity to a shared world. Especially in the way the inhabitants adapt their look, not only to fit in to their environment but with each other too.
The whole picture is filled with perfect lines, angles, and curves in all of its construction. Even the people have ignored their own lack of symmetry and wear symmetrical clothing in order to fit better into a mirroring symmetrical system. This gives a nice contrast to the two faces of this universe.
Having created my character as a concept, and the universe he lives in I must now merge all my ideas into a workable character. This is done with a conceptual sketch.
My Blueprint Factory 