Introducing VW

[Dr Tanner]

Phew, finally found the right section. Wow, I feel silly for not seeing it sooner.

I did some drawings of my characters and posted them on my dA. I've currently only got the one character and her creations, but that might change with time.

***

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38893815/ <-- HOLY CRAP, AN ILLUSTRATION!
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38916172/ <-- HOLY CRAP, ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION!

VW is, by every definition, a scientist, and a scientist above all else. She makes lemonade of nature's lemons, although that lemonade isn't always exactly the kind of lemonade that VW expects it to turn out to be. She views this uncertainty as a positive thing, however, as while all mistakes can be learned from, often times a "mistake" turns out to be more wondrous and endlessly useful than what she'd had planned in the first place. A failure need not be a failure if one learns something from it.

Almost invariably dressed in her labcoat and gloves, VW is a somewhat sinister figure, and worse, an opportunist. Be careful where you leave your loose hair, skin flakes and bloodstains, people. Even though VW rarely takes part in fighting, if a battle is taking place, she will be nearby, waiting to literally pick up the pieces. Even winners of such battles should be wary - if VW offers to dress your wounds, it's a cinch that she's on the lookout for a blood sample or something similar, either with or without your knowledge.

It is not inherent to VW's character to do things "out of the goodness of her heart". Even if an action or service offered by her appears benign, it's highly likely that there is some kind of ulterior motive to that action or service. She has no concept of giving something away for nothing; everything has got a price. She has to fuel her research, after all. She can't just give her resources away, or her work would suffer terribly.

VW's concern above all else is, obviously, knowledge. It is her singular goal to know you, inside and out, by the mapping of your genes. What makes your hair grow that way, for example? Which section of your DNA gives you that unique eye pigmentation? It's all highly interesting to her, and she cares for little else. Such knowledge allows her to partake of her very favourite hobby, which she calls "improving on nature's designs". While it's true that nature's creatures are wonderful, they became that way by accident, via the slow process of evolution. The way VW sees it, she can create perfect creatures quickly, for a specific purpose, with all the traits they'll ever need for living in their designated habitat, doing away with all that tedious and unnecessary trial and error.

"Eddie" is the first truly successful example of VW's creation techniques. While not as bright as say, the average ape, Eddie is intelligent enough to understand and follow his creator's orders, which he does with unwavering loyalty. VW is essentially his mother, after all, as she made him. If you happen to see Eddie hanging around, it's likely that VW isn't far away, and he's not hard to spot, being a 12'4" humanoid crocodile monster. Having been made from a real hotch-potch of things VW found lying around her laboratory, Eddie looks more like a gorilla hybrid than a humanoid, with broad shoulders, long arms and short, strong legs. While Eddie's numerous smaller brothers roam the laboratory as a means of security, none of them are quite the achievement that Eddie is.

VW's second great creation is called "Brawn". It's a truly gigantic creature, walking on four legs but standing at around 14' at the shoulder. With its heavily-armoured hide and great size, Brawn is as strong as they come, but is regrettably really rather stupid. After all, he's a herbivore, unlike the majority of VW's creations, and it doesn't take much intellect to hunt plants. Because of this lack of intelligence VW uses him as a beast of burden and little else.

Although, perhaps the largest flaw of VW's character is that she is so very driven, not by a hunger for knowledge and the power it grants, but a distinct greed for it. Occasionally this greed will cloud her better judgement.

***

I'll probably add to this as VW's character takes shape. Eddie's also quite likely to develop a personality with time, so I'll be editing this bio every so often.

[Dr Tanner]

As VW only has the two creations at the moment, they can stay in this thread for now. I imagine they'll become more numerous with time, though, possibly warranting their own thread. We'll see. First up, Eddie.

Eddie

Appearance:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38893815/

Eddie's colouration is much like that of a regular alligator or crocodile, being an almost black dark green on the top and a pale greenish-white on the underside. His eyes are golden with black slit pupils. He is very heavily-built and muscular, particularly around his neck and shoulders, for the purpose of grabbing and bringing down strong prey.

Eddie has a small crest of whitish spines that runs from the top of his head to the bottom of his neck; these flex to express his emotions. When Eddie is relaxed, they are held up somewhat loosely and face backwards. However, when Eddie becomes agitated, the muscles at the bases of the spines tense and they stick upwards and outwards.

Being a monster, Eddie naturally has a truly terrible voice. He tends to click or hiss when irritated rather than growl, but when he does growl, the sound is low, deep and strong, not unlike a crocodile's. His roar is somewhat more high pitched, however, sounding somewhat like the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park.

Abilities, Strengths And Weaknesses

With his huge, densely-muscled frame, Eddie is immensely strong. A single swipe from his clawed hand could easily snap a man's spine. His jaws close with incredible force, and, being mostly alligator, biting things is one of the things he does best. However, like an alligator, his jaws can be held shut with relative ease, rendering his terrible bite useless. Also like an alligator, Eddie possesses incredibly tough scaly skin. Being so heavily armoured, it's difficult for most anyone to hurt Eddie badly.

Due to his reptillian nature, Eddie is cold-blooded and not terribly fast-moving. While capable of short bursts of speed when attacking he tires quickly and must spend time absorbing heat from his surroundings before he can become very active. At the same time, however, Eddie is naturally nocturnal and becomes more active in darkness. He may also remain in "suspended animation" for up to two hours if necessary, not even so much as breathing. This is particularly useful if Eddie is hiding underwater and is waiting to spring an ambush, and while Eddie is always happy to eat, he can go without food for some months due to this same ability.

Eddie's senses are somewhat disproportionate to eachother. While his senses of smell and taste are truly remarkable, his eyesight is relatively poor and while he can see better in darkness Eddie is incredibly short-sighted, preferring to identify friends and foes by scent. His hearing is also rather below-average. His sense of touch is above average, making him highly sensitive to things moving around near to him.

Having been made from any number of creatures found around the EC's cave, Eddie does possess some magical capacity, although not much. He has two chief magical abilities, one being the ability to spit super-heated fireballs and the other being a technique called "BULK UP". "BULK UP" allows Eddie to temporarily boost his strength and speed for a period of up to fifteen minutes at the cost of huge quantities of energy. While Eddie may use "BULK UP" when cornered or outmatched, when its effects subside he will require four times longer than the spell's duration to rest and regain his energy, longer if the environment he is in is particularly cold.

Personality

First and foremost, Eddie is fiercely loyal to his creator. He will do her bidding above all else and her word to him is law. Eddie will always do as VW commands him unquestioningly, even if her orders put his wellbeing at risk, and his demeanor towards her is a very gentle, loving one. If somehow intimidated or threatened, Eddie will seek VW out for comfort and reassurance. Towards all others, though, Eddie is hostile and aggressive, and unless VW states otherwise he would sooner eat anyone that came near to himself or his creator than make friends. Which is just as well, really, as Eddie never seems to feel full.

It's fortunate that Eddie seldom listens to anyone but his creator, as he is not incredibly intelligent and is highly susceptible to suggestion. He understands language but cannot speak except through physical gestures such as signals or posture; however VW did manage to teach him sign language to a degree. If he doesn't try too hard, Eddie can make himself understood to just about anyone.

When relaxed and comfortable, Eddie can actually become quite playful and often engages in recreational activities with his lesser siblings such as mock-fighting and wrestling. He prefers physical play over intellectual challenges, naturally, and despite his inability to move overly quickly, he greatly enjoys chasing and catching games. In fact, VW often coaxes him into doing work by making a game out of it and it is for this reason that Eddie is so loyal and eager to please his mistress. Doing her bidding is seldom unrewarding.


ORDER ROLL VALUES:

These values dictate by random dice roll whether one of VW's creatures will obey a given order. There are three sets of these values: Values for orders given by VW herself, values for orders given by EC members not VW, and values for orders given by non-EC members. These values are rolled on D100.

ORDERS GIVEN BY VW

* 1-100 - Eddie will obey.

ORDERS GIVEN BY EC MEMBERS NOT VW

* 1-30 - Eddie will obey.
* 31-90 - Eddie will ignore orders.
* 91-100 - Eddie will turn on and attack the person giving orders.

ORDERS GIVEN BY NON-EC MEMBERS

*1-40 - Eddie will ignore orders.
* 41-100 - Eddie will turn on and attack the person giving orders.

***

That's all for now on Eddie. Next, Brawn.

[Dr Tanner]

Brawn

Appearance

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38916172/

First and foremost, Brawn is huge. Being half-dragon and half mystery-creature, it is also very strong. Its scaly hide is a dark, reddish-brown colour on its back and sides, with a pure white underbelly and throat. It also possesses a bright white blaze over each of its small, greenish eyes and a white, horny growth on the end of its snout. Brawn is remarkably heavy-set and has a great deal of muscle, distributed more or less evenly over its massive frame. It also shares the same white spines possessed by its predecessor, Eddie, but Brawn's spines run the whole length of its body and are somewhat shorter and more blunt past the base of its neck.

Brawn is particularly vocal and can produce a wide variety of sounds, ranging from its usual low grumbles and moo-like drones to trumpeting, howling bellows that can travel over long distances. When threatened, Brawn's voice greatly adds to its inditimation factor, as it can also roar loudly to frighten away attackers.

Abilities, Strengths And Weaknesses

Brawn's great physical strength allows it to be used with great success as a beast of burden. Not unlike a shire horse or a bull, it can haul heavy loads, even those many times greater than its own massive weight, with relative ease and has a great deal of stamina for such work. VW also uses Brawn as a steed when the need arises as Brawn is usually very obedient and will do as it is told. At the same time, though, Brawn may spook if surprised and panic, resulting in a highly dangerous stampede.

Like most, if not all of VW's creations, Brawn is a reptile and possesses a particularly thick hide, and while not wholly invulnerable, Brawn's attitude to pain is far removed from that of more intelligent creatures and it will continue to work or fight even when severely injured. It does, of course, share the same limitations of VW's other reptilian creations in that it cannot produce its own body heat and needs to rest and warm up before it can become very active.

Brawn can, however, move quite quickly when it wants to, capable of keeping up a speedy gallop over short distances, a more relaxed canter over mid-length distances and a heavy trot over long distances. Naturally though it prefers not to expend energy without needing to and will never stand when it can sit down, and will never sit down when it can lie down and sleep. Unlike VW's other creatures, Brawn is a herbivore and as such is easier to feed and maintain. It also gains more energy from its food than a carnivore would and as such has greater stamina.

Brawn's senses are reasonably good across the board. It has an excellent sense of smell and taste, and with eyes on the sides of its head it can see all around its body at the same time. While it does not possess colour vision, Brawn's eyesight is quite good and it has no difficulty in identifying people by looking. Its sense of touch is average, but its hearing a little below average.

Being a mostly physically-focused creature, Brawn possesses no magical abilities of note except for the same "BULK UP" ability shared by Eddie. Brawn may also be capable of telepathy, but this remains unclear as it really is somewhat stupid and generally doesn't acknowledge people very often, even less often actually paying attention or listening when they speak to it. Brawn's intelligence appears to leave a lot to be desired as it is merely a herbivore and simply doesn't require the kind of intelligence that a hunter would need. For this reason, Brawn has been easy to tame and once dominated will obey more or less anyone.

Personality

In all honesty, Brawn doesn't have much of a personality. It's the strong, silent type, getting up briefly to do the work demanded of it by its creator before lying down and going back to sleep, occasionally waking up to eat when there's food on the horizon. Brawn does not play, except on very special occasions. The height of its understanding of language is answering to its name, along with a few simple commands such as "walk on" or "wait".

For the most part, Brawn is fearless and if commanded will charge into battle without hesitation. It generally tries to avoid confrontation or conflict but will retaliate if threatened, first by means of intimidation but if its attacker persists it will use brute force. Brawn is naturally fearful of strangers and will often stamp its feet, swing its tail or bellow if approached by someone unfamiliar.


ORDER ROLL VALUES:

These values dictate by random dice roll whether one of VW's creatures will obey a given order. There are three sets of these values: Values for orders given by VW herself, values for orders given by EC members not VW, and values for orders given by non-EC members. These values are rolled on D100.

ORDERS GIVEN BY VW

* 1-94 - Brawn will obey.
* 95-99 - Brawn will ignore orders.
* 100 - Brawn will react dangerously to orders; e.g. stampede.

ORDERS GIVEN BY EC MEMBERS NOT VW

* 1-94 - Brawn will obey.
* 95-99 - Brawn will ignore orders.
* 100 - Brawn will react dangerously to orders; e.g. stampede.

ORDERS GIVEN BY NON-EC MEMBERS

* 1-94 - Brawn will obey.
* 95-99 - Brawn will ignore orders.
* 100 - Brawn will react dangerously to orders; e.g. stampede.

***

That's all for Brawn. Next, who knows?

[Dr Tanner]

Bump for edits to the way VW's creatures function. See individual descriptions for details.