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Concluding FNF with the main man. I didn’t make it past the first round but had a lot of fun imagining and designing these characters. That’s why I sought a program like HeroMachine in the first place.
Robin Hood
Close-up
Background story
Robin Hood, son of a mining company supervisor, was bored with middle-class life. His thirst for adventure landed him in trouble. He started computer hacking to escape the stale existence of the bio-complex he called home. He made public some sensitive information that the Sheriff of Nottingham did not want anyone to see.The Sheriff laid a trap. He offered a reward to design new security software. Robin could not resist the challenge. Being young and foolish, Robin exposed himself by using the same coding and subroutines he used to crack the Sheriff’s original system.
Fortunately for Robin, his father had some influence with the nobility. Rather than prison, Robin was offered a scholarship in a Royal Military Academy. Nottingham had wanted death. So, the lad shipped to the Heart of The Kingdom to learn to be a Royal Marine.
At the Academy, Robin met his future first friend John Little. The Academy Instructors found him to be lazy and inattentive. They realized his potential, but he was hard to motivate. He did excel in military strategy and theory. He also took to social sciences and politics. His instructors grew concerned over his democratic tendencies. Graduates of the Academy were to serve the Monarchy and the Kingdom not advocate voting and property rights.
Robin eventually fell in line. He became a strong and decisive leader. So impressive, he became the youngest commander of a Royal Expedition in history. Or was he?
The Sheriff of Nottingham had not forgotten about the young hacker. Nottingham worked a deal with the Academy. Promote Robin to Commander then send him to the remote colony of Loxlie. The Academy agreed so Robin would be out of sight, out of mind.
Nottingham had an ulterior motive. He knew that the French Empire was preparing for war. He struck a secret deal with King Louis XXXIV. He would sue for peace after L’Armée des étoiles took the planet. The Loxlie System would serve as a buffer zone between The Kingdom and the Sheriff’s control over the Nottingham System, the Outlands, and beyond the Pale. As an added bonus, the snot-nosed brat who embarassed him would be dead.
The Battle of Loxlie cost Robin dearly. He lost his right arm and right eye. More devastating, his stubborness cost the life of his most trusted friend John Little. Robin was taken prisoner by the French Empire. He would have been executed if not for a daring rescue financed by Maid Marian Fitzrobert.
Robin now fights for the Liberation Movement in the Outlands. He has an ambitious agenda: liberate Loxlie from the French, liberate Nottingham from the Sheriff, liberate The Kingdom from His Majesty.
Robin uses his computer hacking skills to spread the word of democracy and engage in sabotage. In this realm, he has found an ally in Frère Tuk. He uses his military training to lead his fellow Liberators, known as the Merry Men. To His Majesty and nobles throughout the known Systems, he is a terrorist. For now, they regard him as one of many “upstarts and rogues.”
The People have mixed opinions of Robin Hood. Loyalists would turn him and his “Murderous Mercenaries” to the Royal Guard or kill them outright. The Peasantry admires him for his political message of civil rights and calls for representative government. His Majesty is wary. Deep in his heart, he sympathizes with Robin. His Majesty is tired of the wars, but he cannot be party to a civil war or the collapse of civilization itself.
Friday Night Fights: I can’t find the link…
There’s a new sheriff in town.
The Sheriff of Nottingham
Close-up
Background story
His Majesty originally entrusted the Sheriff to protect the mineral rich system of Nottingham and its trade routes. Though Nottingham has no habitable worlds, it is considered the Key to The Kingdom. Without its endless supplies of ores, gasses, and exotic materials, The Kingdom’s star would surely fall.By shrewdly manipulating finances and treaties, the Sheriff dominates several systems. In the Outlands, he speaks for His Majesty. Beyond the Pale, his word is Law. He keeps the Systems in line through political coalitions, heavy taxation, and brute force when necessary.
Nottingham is a master manipulator who plays all sides against each other. Though he has many enemies, his chief rival is His Majesty’s son, Prince John. The two have been known to set aside their differences if only to fight King Louis XXXIV of the French Empire or that pesky rogue, Robin Hood.
Sheriff Nottingham rules the Systems from a palatial Dreadnaught class starship christened The Nottingham. One of the greatest vessels of any age, The Nottingham is a battleship and invasion platform. The complement of Royal Marines on board is vastly outnumbered by the Sheriff’s own private army. The Sheriff’s most elite force is his wing of Gisbourne-class LAMs (Land-Air Mechas).
One of my favorite HM creations, Mech Marian is a main character in the original story that I was developing.
Maid Marian Fitzrobert (Mech Marian)
Close-up
Background story
Marian Fitzrobert, daughter of war industrialist Lord Robert Fitzwalter and his fourth wife… or was it his eighth? Lady Fontane… Lady Tolliver… Dame Sarah… that barwench from Crow’s Fish and Chips?Obviously, no one much paid attention to the lass in her formative years. She was a tomboy. Though born into nobility and unimagineable wealth, Marian was not accepted by the other royal children. She went through the motions of court etiquette and the role of a proper lady. When her tutors retired, she would sneak to the Squires’ Quarters.
She would flirt with the lads but was quietly learning the ways of young mecha pilots. One night, she was caught by a Knight while she was trying some combat moves in the Lancer Room. Sir Wentley was impressed. Rather than taking her straight home, he decided to secretly teach her to be a Knight.
The day of her 16th Birthday, May 1st, her father was arrested as a conspirator along with Kai Fox and a few other noblemen. Sir Wentley spirited Marian to the far outpost of Loxlie. He was arrested upon his return to The Kingdom. Prince John had him executed alongside Lord Fitzwalter.
Marian was no safer on Loxlie. Within two years, the colony was under assault by L’Armée des étoiles. Marian volunteered to pilot one of the few mecha available. The King’s Men and the colonists laughed at her. During the siege, the French managed to destroy two of the mechs and assassinate five Knights.
It was a brash, handsome Commander Hood who agreed to allow Marian to work the Lancer Room after she demonstrated considerable piloting skill. The Royals fought bravely, but Loxlie fell. The French ransomed Marian back to The Kingdom not realizing that she was the one responsible for single-handedly destroying four of the ten mechs that they used in the invasion. In fact, Marian was the cause of heavy French losses.
Marian returned to The Kingdom, fully aware that Prince John had executed her father, and more importantly, her mentor Sir Wentley. His Majesty himself could not touch her. She was a heroine of the People. Her father’s vast fortune and immense mecha factories made her the object of every noble’s desire. Marian wanted none of it.
Then she learned of Robin Hood’s fate and the Sheriff of Nottingham’s treachery. With the help of her father’s spies and a major credit transaction, Marian was able to have a Domestic Sentry Mark IX re-programmed on Papillon. That DS-9 unit was able to save Robin from execution in a daring escape.
Marian now lives a double life. In The Kingdom, she is known as “Maid Marian Fitzrobert”, the fabulously rich heiress, populist reformer, and socialite. To Robin Hood and his Merry Men, she is “Mech Marian”, the financier of the Liberation. None of this keeps her from the front lines. She has Lancer Rooms and mechas hidden throughout The Kingdom and beyond the Pale. Marian has even disguised herself as a man just so she can get into tavern brawls.
