So not much of a blog post, but I feel like posting at least something more light-heated, and this is sufficient enough. Basically, remember that story idea a while back with the Batman expy? I decided I'd go ahead and give him a hero name. I decided that 'Ordeal' would best fit him, as in, he puts criminals through the worst ordeal of their lives. It also ties (very, very loosely) into primordial, which is something he also associates himself with: the fundamental driving forces of a person, and controlling them. (Batman expy means Batman Gambits, natch.) I decided that his logo would be a small silver crescent surrounded by black, and on his helmet, he has two, which are seen as the white eyes of death, since the crescent faces downward.
I also decided on his backstory a bit. When he decided to create his civilian identity, he didn't want it to be a polar opposite of his heroic persona, fearing that anyone smart enough could make the connection, nor did he wish for his civilian identity to be too close. He carefully crafted an identity, then, which he was reasonably certain would fool everyone: different enough that nobody would make the connection between the two, yet similar enough that the thought of "he'd be the total opposite" throws them off the scent, and being imperfect enough a balance to not seem suspicious, while having enough of a balance to hold some consistency.
To this end, he formed a corporation that's closely contracted with the government, to such an extent that he has basically the same amount of power as a lesser politician, whereas he has the fame and fortune of a billionaire. He maintains this company fairly effectively, albeit notably not as efficiently as possible, because he treats people humanely and is actively involved in humanitarian aid. In short, his company helps the people, and does so legitimately rather than as an investment or as a publicity stunt; they do it because it's the right thing to do, not the profitable thing. In spite of this technical-business shortcoming, he does still make profits, and it's off of these that he is able to fund his private affairs.
However, he is still frustrated with the corruption in the world and all the crime running rampant about, thus his double-life. Having been trained to fend for himself since childhood relentlessly by his mentor (and eventual publicly-known butler), he learned how to fight in multiple fighting styles, maintained his peak physical fitness, and began studying the criminal mind. After doing this for a few years and building enough connections, he had what he needed to begin his transformation.
So soon enough, there he was, and instantly he began to wipe away the corruption that bureaucracy had left unchecked. He exposed people's darker secrets to the world, many of them illegal, and even those that aren't were once made public available to basically reveal the corrupt's dealings, sabotaging their PR. The ruthless beatings he gave certainly didn't harm, and soon most traditional crime was falling apart. Not only organized, but vastly-reduced rates of muggings and whatnot were occurring, because the criminals kept on being caught--after the fact if they were lucky.
Enter the supervillains with their super-criminal networks. Most organized crime might have fallen apart, but the remaining organized crime was now in the hands of people he'd struggle to fight. Of course, there was also psychos to fight, real crazies. Even superhuman individuals that legitimately had superpowers. He managed it all, all while keeping his civilian life safe.
And I think you get the picture from there. Started a family, fought crime, he eventually dies. The C-list supervillain modifies his old costume to be more like that of Ordeal's, ultimately replacing him. I played around with the idea of a rename, though looking into secundus and the definition of ordeal, nothing struck me as a clever name. Ah, well. Definitely nice to have done something productive today. (Also, obviously, no family night.)
I also decided on his backstory a bit. When he decided to create his civilian identity, he didn't want it to be a polar opposite of his heroic persona, fearing that anyone smart enough could make the connection, nor did he wish for his civilian identity to be too close. He carefully crafted an identity, then, which he was reasonably certain would fool everyone: different enough that nobody would make the connection between the two, yet similar enough that the thought of "he'd be the total opposite" throws them off the scent, and being imperfect enough a balance to not seem suspicious, while having enough of a balance to hold some consistency.
To this end, he formed a corporation that's closely contracted with the government, to such an extent that he has basically the same amount of power as a lesser politician, whereas he has the fame and fortune of a billionaire. He maintains this company fairly effectively, albeit notably not as efficiently as possible, because he treats people humanely and is actively involved in humanitarian aid. In short, his company helps the people, and does so legitimately rather than as an investment or as a publicity stunt; they do it because it's the right thing to do, not the profitable thing. In spite of this technical-business shortcoming, he does still make profits, and it's off of these that he is able to fund his private affairs.
However, he is still frustrated with the corruption in the world and all the crime running rampant about, thus his double-life. Having been trained to fend for himself since childhood relentlessly by his mentor (and eventual publicly-known butler), he learned how to fight in multiple fighting styles, maintained his peak physical fitness, and began studying the criminal mind. After doing this for a few years and building enough connections, he had what he needed to begin his transformation.
So soon enough, there he was, and instantly he began to wipe away the corruption that bureaucracy had left unchecked. He exposed people's darker secrets to the world, many of them illegal, and even those that aren't were once made public available to basically reveal the corrupt's dealings, sabotaging their PR. The ruthless beatings he gave certainly didn't harm, and soon most traditional crime was falling apart. Not only organized, but vastly-reduced rates of muggings and whatnot were occurring, because the criminals kept on being caught--after the fact if they were lucky.
Enter the supervillains with their super-criminal networks. Most organized crime might have fallen apart, but the remaining organized crime was now in the hands of people he'd struggle to fight. Of course, there was also psychos to fight, real crazies. Even superhuman individuals that legitimately had superpowers. He managed it all, all while keeping his civilian life safe.
And I think you get the picture from there. Started a family, fought crime, he eventually dies. The C-list supervillain modifies his old costume to be more like that of Ordeal's, ultimately replacing him. I played around with the idea of a rename, though looking into secundus and the definition of ordeal, nothing struck me as a clever name. Ah, well. Definitely nice to have done something productive today. (Also, obviously, no family night.)
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