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Time now for another Plague villain, and if you know your Bible, after the locusts comes Darkness. And it doesn’t come any darker than the Shadow King:
Name: Shadow King
Race: Shadow Demon
Birthplace: Shadow Realm
Powers: Flight, Healing factor, Manipulation of dark energy (shadows, dark matter, anti-matter, negative emotions).
Bio: The Shadow King was once a man, a mortal king from a time before darkness, who loved power and an audience more than he loved his people, and so he treated them poorly without remorse all the days of his rule.
But a man cannot rule in such a fashion for long without one day incurring the wrath of the wrong person. One such day came when the cruel king had his court magician executed for fear that the mage’s power would draw more attention than his own grandiosity and fearmongering. As the trap opened on the mage’s hanging, he used the last of his power to curse the king, swearing that one day the king would find himself more lonely and powerless than any other man deserved to be.
And it came true. As the days passed, an unnatural darkness crept over the land and his people began dying mysteriously in record numbers until nothing was left but the king and his dark, empty palace, figurehead of a dark and empty realm. Though he had nothing left to live for, the king found he could not take his own life–he was immune to mortal wounds and did not age or fall to any known disease. Living with the knowledge of his own cursed existence, the king lost himself in darkness day by day, the jagged wound that was his heart growing and eating away at the soul within, turning the king into a monstrous master of none…the Shadow King.
He has since searched for a way to enter other realms, to prey on the darkness in lost souls such as his, so that he may reclaim the kingdom he destroyed long ago. He counted the year of days between the first time the blue speedster from Earth brought Shadow into his kingdom and this day, when a tormented Shadow made her own way into the Shadow Realm, bringing with her hope for a new age of conquest.Thanks, Jeimuzu.
Here now are some old designs from the Opposites Attract contest that I’ve incorporated into the Clockwork Universe for storyline purposes, beginning with Ka’Li-Tetra’s mentor, Serene:
For those who don’t remember, Serene Bannon was a human girl who had her body possessed by a Shrike (a banshee spirit from another dimension). Though her family practiced witchcraft, and Serene was accustomed to strange occurrences like possession and astral projection, she lived in fear for most of her life, never knowing when the spirit would take over her body, killing or seriously injuring whoever set her off at the time. So Serene entered a life of secluded meditation in a Tibetan monastery (becoming the first woman allowed sanctuary in such a place), where she learned to make peace with the Shrike, who at one point began to meditate in tandem with her, until finally they were of one mind.
Here is Siren, the Ulfenian Shrike:
Siren was born into a brutal and chaotic world much like the early Vedanga dimension. The Ulfenian dimension was a realm of immortals engaged in a constant war of might, magic and bloodshed. Though she could not escape her nature, Siren felt from an early age that the violence in her world was pointless. So she used a spell to send her astral form to another dimension, where she inhabited the body of a young, human girl named Serene.
But Siren soon realized that beneath the calm veneer of our world, there lurked just as much potential for savagery as in Ulfenia. As a result, she would often take over the girl’s body, going to extreme, destructive, lethal lengths to suppress any evil she witnessed. She could usually feel the girl’s fear of her power at these times, and would then allow Serene to regain her senses. The girl always pleaded with her to leave, and Siren always refused, for although they were not the most obvious match, Siren believed (as do all Shrikes, and most Ulfenians) that names hold power, and that because of their similar names, she and Serene are soulmates. Her exposure to monastic life restored Siren’s faith in humanity, and she began meditating with Serene. The two have since come to a peaceful coexistence and ultimately their minds and souls were joined as one.
And finally, their unified form – Shanti, the Angel of Peace:
Name: Shanti
Alias: Serene O’Bannon
Race: Human/Witch/Shrike/Angel
Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
Powers: Telekinesis, Flight, Banshee wail, Superhuman strength, Healing factor
Bio: After unifying with Siren, Serene O’Bannon gained all the powers of a Shrike, in addition to telekinesis (a Wiccan ability that ran in her family, but remained dormant in Serene’s unfocused, youthful state), which she discovered and honed through meditation.
She returned to her hometown and began using her powers to fight crime under the name Shanti (a title bestowed upon her by the monks, which means “Peace of Mind” in Sanskrit). Her true identity was later uncovered by the son of a man Siren had killed when Serene was a child, and Serene was publicly executed shortly thereafter, burned at the stake for witchcraft.
But in death, Serene was recognized for her personal sacrifice and struggle for redemption, and was admitted into Heaven. Now a full Angel, and going by the name Shanti, she is Lady Icarus’ unofficial handler, and serves on Earth as a spiritual advisor and mentor for heroes looking to make peace with their inner demons. Her current assignments are Ka’Li-Tetra and Fallen Angel, although with the more powerful Plague villains having already taken control of several heroes, that list is likely to grow fairly quickly. Keep watching that clock!Thanks, Myro. OK, marathon over (for now).
Where to begin?
I guess I’ll start where I left off, giving you another “hero gone bad” look (first HGB looks were Flame Girl and Fever’s pyromancy transformations) for Tetra, whose exposure to Locust’s toxin transformed her into Ka’Li, the raging blue goddess of destruction.
She now has her destructive form held at bay by an Angelic blood seal, but the seal could break at any moment. In control of herself once again, Tetra leaves the team and goes in search of Serene, another hero trying to make peace with her violent inner spirit.Thanks again for the feedback, Linea. Couteau is also my favorite in the Clockwork universe so far.
Only two more members of Le Cirque before I get working on a group shot, and we can’t have an evil burlesque cyborg circus without an evil burlesque cyborg contortionist, now can we? Dire “bonjour” a Tordre (say “hello” to Tordre–which means contort in French).
Name: Tordre
Alias: Trois L’Orange
Race: Human
Birthplace: Paris, France
Powers: Cybernetically enhanced flexibility, dexterity, and reflexes, Ability to stick to any surface, Mastery of multiple martial arts disciplines, Expert hacker, Psychic Immunity.
Bio: Trois L’Orange’s bio is much the same as her sisters. She was brainwashed and cybernetically enhanced to serve as an assassin for a French organized crime syndicate. The Milieu designed Tordre to be the ultimate infiltrator, cutting open her body and replacing every joint (including those in her spine, fingers, and toes) with a frictionless, omni-directional servomotor, allowing her to theoretically bend and rotate her body in any direction and any shape at will. Like Couteau, her nervous system was destroyed by the augmentation surgery and can feel no pain. Her body’s other vital systems were replaced with state-of-the-art prosthetics and implants that are sufficiently elastic and durable enough to withstand her contortions. Tordre was trained by the Milieu’s top martial artists and computer experts, giving her every tool necessary to break into or out of almost any secured location undetected. She is the least human of the five sisters, and the emotional trauma of this fact is the only pain she is able to feel. Her role in Le Cirque’s Plague assignment is to disable the security systems at HallowGen and give the team unrestricted access to the building…but to what end?This is my first attempt at making an insectoid character out of human parts, and I kind of like the results, although I’m looking for feedback and technique suggestions to improve the overall impression of the character. I decided to make Locust (representing the eighth plague of Egypt of the same name) a female insect demon because female insects are known to be more dangerous than the males, and Locust just looked better in development using female body parts.
Name: Locust
Race: Insect Demon
Birthplace: Hell
Powers: Flight, Able to leap great distances/heights, Secretes a pheromonal poison that attracts locusts, giving her power over them (can also be used on human victims), can use her wings to fire sonic/concussive blasts while hovering.
Bio: Locust is an insect demon, and sister to the demon inhabiting the body of Aaron. Where he is a parasytic demon bent on destruction, Locust prefers to conquer and force her subjects to do her dirty work. She is immune to Lena Black’s second sight, rendering her invisible to the heroine. But she cannot fight while flying, so her swarm acts as her greatest offensive and defensive weapon. Both Aaron’s lice demon and Locust were pulled from the third circle of Hell by their Lord, who allowed them to unleash their gluttony (his for human flesh, hers for agriculture) upon the Earth, but encountered resistance from the remaining contingent of Clockwork heroes.
For various reasons, most of the heroes were able to withstand the consuming swarm unleashed by the two demons (Silver is a robot, Mad Jack is immune to toxins and can freeze time, Lady Icarus is an Angel, Shield uses dark anti-matter shields, and Rush can literally run circles around the swarm, disrupting their flight). But none was able to keep Locust from injecting her poison into Tetra. Locust had exercised her influence over human puppets before, but had never tried to infect a Ka’Lian, and now she knew why. The infected Tetra grew exponentially in size and power, becoming an uncontrollable and unstoppable force of rage that was too much for even Locust and Aaron. Tetra mercilessly ground her would-be masters into an unrecognizable pulp before turning on her friends.
Lady Icarus and Rush were able to get the rest of the team a safe distance from Tetra, and using her working knowledge of Hemotec (the term humans have coined for Angelic blood alchemy–the true name of the practice has been unpronounceable by the human tongue since the fall of Babel), Lady Icarus was able to fashion a seal from her and her teammates’ blood, and was able to survive against Tetra long enough to apply the seal and quell her rage. It’s unclear what the being’s endgame is to be, but I’m fairly certain He didn’t foresee having to deal with a Ka’Lian who has demon venom and Angel blood running through her veins.
Stay tuned as we get closer and closer to the epic conclusion of this Clockwork event.And now Cirque du Milieu’s resident knife thrower, Couteau:
Name: Couteau
Alias: Quatre L’Orange
Race: Human
Birthplace: Paris, France
Powers: Cybernetically enhanced accuracy, Psionic sensory enhancement, Energy knives, Psychic immunity.
Bio: Quatre L’Orange’s bio is much the same as her sisters. She was brainwashed and cybernetically enhanced to serve as an assassin for a French organized crime syndicate. The Milieu wanted to see if they could mechanically induce a sixth sense that would replace the other five. As Couteau, her nervous system has been disabled, so she cannot feel pain, nor can she see, hear, smell, or taste. Her brain was successfully augmented by electromagnetic implants, giving her a second sight that allows her to sense the world around her and “see” in different paraspectral wavelengths of her choosing, like X-ray or infrared vision. Though essentially blind, Couteau can defend herself far better than most sighted people, and throws her unlimited supply of energy knives with pinpoint accuracy. Like Solide, she does not speak (having never heard herself, she doesn’t find it necessary). She despises her vacuous existence, and awaits the perfect opportunity to take revenge on those who took the world from her. The being behind the Plague attacks has promised her the return of her senses if Le Cirque completes their mission, but you don’t have to be able to see to spot a betrayal (or a beast) in disguise.Here is another member of Le Cirque du Milieu (the Underworld Circus), Solide the Strongwoman:
Name: Solide
Alias: Cinq L’Orange
Race: Human
Birthplace: Paris, France
Powers: Cybernetically enhanced strength and durability, Psychic immunity.
Bio: Cinq L’Orange’s bio is much the same as her sister, Une. She was brainwashed and cybernetically enhanced to serve as an assassin for a French organized crime syndicate. Her arms and legs are augmented to increase her strength to five times that of the strongest human on Earth, and her spine and flesh are infused with a flexible titanium alloy to prevent breakage. She doesn’t talk much, but her strength enhancement had little to no effect on her thought processes. Solide retains some memory of her childhood, and secretly hopes to reunite with her lost sister one day.I got the idea to re-do Frank Hallows’ P.A.T.C.H. suit a little (some re-coloring and more armor to cover his vulnerable torso and arms) since he would have to have built a new suit to house his time travel hardware. This is also a small effort on my part to answer critiques about the team’s cohesive appearance and lack of number designations. Meet Frank Hallows’ new P.A.T.C.H. Mark 12:
While I’m thinking about what to do for my Locust character, here are Fever and Flame Girl in their Pyromanced costumes. Each was branded by Fire with the Mark of the Dragon (the same mark that is slowly transforming Fallen Angel into a demon). In this form, they have no choice but to obey Fire’s every command, She has set them against Shadow, Fever’s wife, whose powers become unreliable in the presence of firelight.
And now, a recap that’s as much to keep my own thoughts straight as it is to your benefit: Lena Black is off chasing Vlad through the streets of New York, all the while under siege by a horde of vampires. Deus X is occupied with the Hybrid invasion of Atlantis. Frank (with Silver in tow) was leading a small contingent of Clockwork heroes, composed of Mad Jack, Lady Icarus, Shield, and Rush, to find a cure for Aaron’s flesh-eating virus. With the appearance of Robbie Boyle, Frank is called upon to use his time-travel P.A.T.C.H. to retrieve the Pharaoh (whom he doesn’t yet know is his father) and Lady Luck (who may or may not be his grandmother) from the 1850s, causing a rift in the anti-Aaron team in the absence of their leader.
Tetra and Strong-Arm fight off Beelzebub and trap him in the Dipteran Dimension, not knowing that on the other side of the world, Dhanusha has sacrificed himself to defeat the Horseman of Pestilence, curing the skeleton demons but leaving the remaining citizens of Vedanga confused and terrified without their leaders. Tetra must return home at some point, but without Dhanusha’s alchemic powers she has no way of making the journey between realms.
Six L’Orange has abandoned her command post to investigate rumors that the crime syndicate who killed her family have contracted their Underworld Circus assassins to aid in the Plague carnage, not knowing that Le Cirque du Milieu are really her long-lost sisters.
Meanwhile, the two remaining Fifth Hour heroes are pitted against each other by a Pyromancer demon named Fire, forcing Shadow to seek refuge in the Shadow Realm since she cannot use her line-of-sight power. While there she tries to work through some dormant relationship demons of her own, and falls prey to an old enemy she hadn’t seen since her brother-in-law Rush ran her through a portal into the Shadow Realm over a year ago. But before we get to that, the remains of Frank’s divided team are joined by Tetra, who has learned that Lady Icarus may have a way to return her to Vedanga, and is elected to serve as their squad leader in Frank’s absence. But there is little time to appreciate each other’s cameraderie because they soon stumble across Aaron, who is now joined by another insect demon, Locust, whom I will reveal soon.Now for the Plague of Hail, represented by the villains Fire & Brimstone.
Name: Fire
Race: Demon
Birthplace: Hell
Powers: Pyromancy, Flight, Healing Factor
Bio: Fire was not always a demon, but so little is known of her life before being cast into Hell, and Fire herself has since been made to forget her mortal origins. Only her Lord, who has unleashed her upon the Earth, knows her true nature. Acting on a promise her Lord has made her, Fire is accompanied by Brimstone, a lava demon with rock-hard skin and inhuman strength she conjured as a pet of sorts. She has the ability to animate and control fire, and as part of her agreement with the Lord, has further divided the ranks of Fifth Hour and Clockwork by enchanting Fever and Flame Girl against the team.
Shadow barely escaped the three pyrokinetics with her life by hiding in the Shadow realm. For the first time in their marriage, Shadow fully understood the impact their contrasting powers would have on her relationship with Fever, but she would barely have time to contemplate their future (or her impending pregnancy) before being confronted by an old enemy.
SPOILER: After being betrayed by her Lord, Fire would release Fever and Flame Girl from her control. Prior to the events of Meridian, the trio formed a new team called Burn Unit, with Brimstone as their mascot. Fever would also kindle a romantic relationship with Fire, resulting in a daughter named Hellfire. Hellfire, alongside Fever and Shadow’s son, Nightfire, later became the new Fifth Hour members of the Post-Meridian Clockwork team.Making good progress on the Plague Event characters. Today you get four villains for the price of two, starting with the Plague of Boils characters, Boyle and Lashes. As you may remember, Boyle is a villain from the 1850’s American West who squared off against Hi-N’Un and Lady Luck on several occasions. So I won’t spend too much time rehashing an origin story for him. But Lashes…. Her development gave me an idea to expand Six L’Orange’s universe a bit. You’ll see how in a second, but for now let’s just say that comic book characters don’t stay dead for long, especially when you don’t see them die.
Name: Robert “Robbie” Boyle
Race: Human
Birthplace: Belfast, Ireland
Powers: Boiling touch
Bio: Robbie Boyle was a ruthless crime lord and railroad tycoon who liked to boil the skin off of his enemies. Prior to being killed in battle by Lady Luck, Boyle had no superpowers. But a mysterious being (the same one who is orchestrating the other Plague attacks) resurrected him in modern times, giving Boyle the ability to inflict his favorite punishment by touch. By spreading his MO around the city, Boyle was to draw Frank Hallows away from the hunt for Aaron and cause disharmony among his team through his absence. As an added benefit, Boyle would get to exact his revenge against his old enemies when Frank brought his father and Lady Luck to the present. The woman with Robbie Boyle would also play a key role in the Being’s endgame….Name: Lashes
Alias: Une L’Orange
Race: Human
Birthplace: Paris, France
Powers: Cybernetically enhanced strength and reflexes, Psychic immunity, Bionic whiplash arm (striking distance unknown).
Bio: Une L’Orange was one of six identical daughters born to failed movie producer Alex L’Orange, who was executed by a faction leader of the Milieu crime syndicate. Une’s sister, Six, witnessed their father’s murder and returned home to find that Une and her other four sisters had presumably been murdered as well. But the Milieu syndicate maintained an iron grip on every aspect of French society, including law enforcement. Under the guise of a multiple-murder investigation, a group of corrupt Police Nationale abducted the five L’Orange girls and handed them over to the local Milieu crime boss.
In conjunction with their partners in the Chinese Triad (who were locked in an illegal arms race with the Yakuza and their Shield battlesuit), the Milieu subjected the L’Orange sisters to brainwashing and cybernetic augmentation experiments. The Milieu boss had a fondness for Le Cirque, and so requested that in exchange for his help in destroying the Yakuza, the Triad must model his five new weapons after famous circus attractions. Une was re-named Lashes, and was modeled after the lion tamer. She became the de-facto tactical leader of the Underworld Circus group, who were later hired as mercenaries to aid Robbie Boyle in his Plague mission. She is with him now, and word has spread to The Director of Clockwork (Six L’Orange) that Milieu assassins may be involved in the Plague attacks. But where are the other four?Four days gone by, and I finally have a Pestilence character (the more common, pop-culture name for the biblical Horseman of Conquest) that I’m happy with. I looked at several images of the White Horseman online, and most of them had incorporated his bow into his body or his armor, and that idea spoke to me so I included it in my Pestilence as well. I also saw one or two that rode a white horse with six red eyes, something I had incorporated into Dhanusha’s horse prior to this discovery, so I continued that trend into Pestilence as well. But I had already done a rider, and thought Pestilence would look better as a full Centaur. Here is what I came up with:
Name: Pestilence
Alias: Conquest, White Horseman
Race: Proto-Sagittarian
Birthplace: The Vedanga Dimension
Powers: Superhuman strength, Impenetrable skin, Spreads disease through his bow and energy arrows.
Bio: Ages before Beelzebub’s rule, Vedanga was on the verge of collapse at the hands of its immortal peoples. Livestock had been mutated into grotesque, carnivorous monstrosities by warring factions seeking control of each other’s land. In an effort to purge the land of this destructive force, the being we call God sent down his Angels, led by four creatures designed specifically to bring about the Apocalypse in Vedanga. Though they fought valiantly for survival, the early Vedangans and their war-beasts were no match for the plagues, famine, infighting, and numerous deaths that dwindled their forces. But it turned out the Horsemen could not be controlled, and quickly turned on their Angelic subordinates once there were no Vedangans to fight. Using the blood of his defeated Angels, God devised a seal that would bind the Horsemen to the four points of the compass, ensuring that no one who was not of Heavenly origin could free them. He also gathered the blood of the Horsemen and that of the fallen Vedangans, and combined them to create new races to re-populate the newly cleansed dimension. The blood of Pestilence spawned the Sagittarian people, Famine gave birth to the Ekronian race, and War became the foundation for the Ka’Lians. Death’s blood was divided evenly among the three races, in an effort to control their populations by making them mortal. But as we know from the stories of Beelzebub, Dhanusha, and Tetra, mortality does not strictly imply weakness, nor does it mean a peaceful existence. With the surviving war-beasts still roaming the borderlands of Vedanga, the dimension was not a hospitable place to live. And when a powerful being made its first journey to Vedanga, breaking the seal that held Pestilence captive, things would only get worse for Dhanusha and Tetra, and for the people of the Earth realm as well.
Upon arriving on Earth, Tetra finds herself in London, where she begins hunting down Beelzebub and aligns herself with the Earth hero Strong-Arm. Together, they are able to subdue all of the giant flies and destroy the Staff of Baal, which Strong-Arm uses to impale Beelzebub, forever trapping him in the Dipteran pocket dimension.
SPOILER: Strong-Arm and Tetra would later forge a romantic relationship. Their children would later become Fortress and Tetra-Man, members of the post-Meridian Clockwork Team.
Meanwhile, God had ensured Dhanusha would remain in Vedanga for the time being, transporting him to the location of the broken seal of Pestilence rather than allowing him to continue on to Earth. He had Dhanusha use his amalgamation powers to absorb the Angel blood from Pestilence’s seal before completing his journey. Dhanusha would encounter Pestilence somewhere in Mexico, where attendees of a Dia de los Muertos celebration were being turned into soldiers in Pestilence’s army. Infused with Angel blood, Dhanusha was resistant to the infectious touch of the skeleton demons, and he was strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with his Apocalyptic ancestor. Dhanusha would ultimately fuse himself with the Horseman, dying from Pestilence’s poisonous magic, but sealing the Horseman away by transfusing his half-Angel blood into the creature in the process. The skeleton demons immediately reverted to their former selves, restoring some order on Earth but leaving Vedanga without a ruler and on the brink of war once again.
