The GiantitpAnime Fans' Visual Novel (now planning settings and routes)

[Prime32]

Alright. So you'd prefer Illa to use a melee weapon based on Imperial design? I guess it could be, as you said, a subtle hint as to not only her true feelings but also her origins (she prefers the feel of Imperial BTS melee weapons, so she had one improved with cultist technology and modified to fit her HERALD...or something like that).

Either that, or she wields brutal weapons while working for the bad guys and switches to ones better fitting her idiom after her Face Heel Turn, which comes with an increase in confidence.

Very nice backstory! However, this may require changes depending on how the plot goes (for example, it may be impractical for Illa to be completely blind to the cultist empire's evildoings: or, the cultist empire may have to be not so evil as people think it is, which could lead to some indications as to how sinister the Imperial propaganda specialists are...).

I imagine she's not blind, she just tells herself that their goal makes up for any dog-kicking that she might see happening around her (and if one of her men decides to start attacking civilians without orders he will be punished). She still feels uneasy, and it's only Roag's charisma that has kept her from defecting. Eventually this isn't enough.

For appearances, how about masks hardwired into the children's faces? It has a creepy factor (emotionless masks with empty holes always staaaaring at you), but as with Rei, if we moe them up in certain ways they can appear to be more sympathetic.

As for the masks themselves, I'm thinking of anything from the blank, white mask of Sachiel to comedy/tragedy masks to the freakish ceremonial Korean masks. The mask could be a filter/data processing device that manages the flow of information from the HERALD to the Prophet's own brain.

Awesome. For "realism" I'd imagine implants in a bald skull, but for style hair (possibly oddly-coloured) would work better. Maybe the Prophets are blind, like the Oracle at Delphi? (and as a result the mask has no eyeholes - the Prophets may not even have eyes) Will all masks look the same or will there be variations? (one might have a headband/visor and mutters while "in use", while another has their head covered entirely)

EDIT: Here's a thought - what if Roag doesn't need a Prophet, since his mutation is similar to theirs? It makes him "special".

[Kasanip]

Hello again...

If you have room for another female Bridge Bunny doing sensors or communications, I'd like to submit myself for the task. I know I'm not an 'active' poster in the anime area per say (though I lurk it pretty steadily), but I'd be willing to help with writing and doing some drawing of the characters if you need it.

[13_CBS]

Either that, or she wields brutal weapons while working for the bad guys and switches to ones better fitting her idiom after her Face Heel Turn, which comes with an increase in confidence.

I imagine she's not blind, she just tells herself that their goal makes up for any dog-kicking that she might see happening around her (and if one of her men decides to start attacking civilians without orders he will be punished). She still feels uneasy, and it's only Roag's charisma that has kept her from defecting. Eventually this isn't enough.

Alright.

Maybe the Prophets are blind, like the Oracle at Delphi? (and as a result the mask has no eyeholes - the Prophets may not even have eyes)

That could work. What use do such pitiful creatures have for eyes? It's not like seeing things aside from sensor data is really necessary for them.

Will all masks look the same or will there be variations?

Certainly not! Each Prophet will have their own unique mask.

EDIT: Here's a thought - what if Roag doesn't need a Prophet, since his mutation is similar to theirs? It makes him "special".

Piggybacking on that...what if Roag claims to not need a Prophet, and by all appearances he doesn't? The truth is, of course, that his Prophet is always locked up in the HERALD, with his limbs amputated (he doesn't need them, right?) and kept alive by a barely adequate life support system. Illa's discovery of this is the final straw that causes her to make that Face Heel turn...

Hello again...

If you have room for another female Bridge Bunny doing sensors or communications, I'd like to submit myself for the task. I know I'm not an 'active' poster in the anime area per say (though I lurk it pretty steadily), but I'd be willing to help with writing and doing some drawing of the characters if you need it.

Certainly! However, since the main character rosters are full, I'm afraid that the best you'll get is a brief mention and a line or two (something about how DAPSs are failing or how the readings are off the charts).

[Closet_Skeleton]

Piggybacking on that...what if Roag claims to not need a Prophet, and by all appearances he doesn't? The truth is, of course, that his Prophet is always locked up in the HERALD, with his limbs amputated (he doesn't need them, right?) and kept alive by a barely adequate life support system. Illa's discovery of this is the final straw that causes her to make that Face Heel turn...

Maybe Roag's prophet is his dead twin sister, who he has some transplanted organs from. Not very original but...

[Prime32]

Maybe Roag's prophet is his dead twin sister, who he has some transplanted organs from. Not very original but...

Eh. One of my other ideas was having Ila disappear in the testing of a prototype BTS with an experimental Plasm engine based on warp technology.

Piggybacking on that...what if Roag claims to not need a Prophet, and by all appearances he doesn't? The truth is, of course, that his Prophet is always locked up in the HERALD, with his limbs amputated (he doesn't need them, right?) and kept alive by a barely adequate life support system. Illa's discovery of this is the final straw that causes her to make that Face Heel turn...

Heck, he could have multiple limbless Prophets for crazy reaction times, though I like the idea of him using his own sister as a particularly powerful one (doesn't have to be a twin, could also/alternately be Ila's predecessor).

[Closet_Skeleton]

Why stop at just taking the guys limbs off? He could have a whole battery of brains in jars. If he has multiple prophets maybe he can sacrifice them for desperation attacks.

Maybe he's a brain in a jar himself and his body is remote controlled. Maybe his immobile prophet is secretly mind controling him.

Or maybe he's found a way to distill "prophetness" into a liquid form so that he can temporarily be his own prophet but has to keep harvesting this liquid from prophets.

Though if he has a sister, she has to be floating in a rather spatious tank of bubbling liquid. It's traditional.

Maybe in one of the story arcs or bad ends he tries to turn the heroine into one of his prophets.

though I like the idea of him using his own sister as a particularly powerful one

Maybe the one with his sister in it is his mid-season upgrade

(doesn't have to be a twin, could also/alternately be Ila's predecessor).

Maybe Ila is a clone of his sister. Maybe Ila finds out that Roag is attempting to sacrifice her in order to bring his sister back.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I support a ton of brains in jars.

Fricking Zanscare, *shudder*.

[Terraoblivion]

So is there no horrible and depraved deed that Tomino did not have Zanscare do. Do they also have a religion based on raping kittens ?

[Prime32]

I support a ton of brains in jars.

Fricking Zanscare, *shudder*.

A brain in a jar isn't as evil as a scared little girl with her limbs hacked off. It could have just been grown in that jar, for all the viewer can tell.

[Nerd-o-rama]

What about

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30,000 brains in jars?

[Prime32]

Only if Roag is kidnapping children and won't reveal what he's using them for.

Maybe in one of the story arcs or bad ends he tries to turn the heroine into one of his prophets.

Your biological and technological sophistication will be added to our own. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

Maybe the one with his sister in it is his mid-season upgrade

Would Roag be doing enough "dirty work" for him to feel the need for one?

[Closet_Skeleton]

A brain in a jar isn't as evil as a scared little girl with her limbs hacked off.

Depends how sentient the brain in a jar is. It could be just as evil, just depersonalised.

It could have just been grown in that jar, for all the viewer can tell.

Only if nothing specific is brought up in a plot point.

Though a "grown" person is still a person. The badguys could all be test tube babies for all we know.

He could just grow his brains though, maybe he takes a cutting off his sister's brain, puts it in a culture to stew into a full brain and then pops it in a jar.

Only if Roag is kidnapping children and won't reveal what he's using them for.

Maybe he has some kind of Hitler Youth style propaganda organisation as a front to groom prophets. Alternatively that could easily be where all prophets come from.

Would Roag be doing enough "dirty work" for him to feel the need for one?

He only needs to get his mecha severely thrashed (probably by hero in berserker mode) once to need one. It could be a final battle upgrade instead of a mid-season one.

I hope Rogue 7 doesn't mind coming back to find that his character is a brain harvesting kitten rapist.

What about

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30,000 brains in jars?

What if his mecha is composed entirely of brains in jars?

[Prime32]

Would Roag be doing enough "dirty work" for him to feel the need for one?

He only needs to get his mecha severely thrashed (probably by hero in berserker mode) once to need one. It could be a final battle upgrade instead of a mid-season one.

I'd say that Roag could start in a repainted mook unit rather than his normal mech, but HERALDs don't have a standardised design. If the first one was custom-built for him and still loses it just makes him look weak.

[Nerd-o-rama]

What if his mecha is composed entirely of brains in jars?

I would think that would be overly fragile for battlefield use.

[Rogue 7]

....Well, y'all seem to be having a lot of fun with my character. Something you folks aren't telling me?

But seriously, I've got very few ideas for this project, so feel free to go crazy. I haven't actually tried roleplaying an actively malevolent type before. So I'll take whatever you guys throw at me.

[Closet_Skeleton]

I would think that would be overly fragile for battlefield use.

Yes, yes it would.

[Lord of Rapture]

But.. but you play WH40k, right? Surely,Rogue, you have tons of ideas on how to be a horrible person!

I mean, look at my character. He's betraying his own species so that he can bathe his rotten psyche and ego in the fires of neverending war and suffering.

[Lord of Rapture]

I think this song might be a good basis for the philosophical difference between Furi and Roag.

[nothingclever]

So is there no horrible and depraved deed that Tomino did not have Zanscare do. Do they also have a religion based on raping kittens ?

The Zanscare Empire isn't so bad. Enemies are often sent to the guillotine and sometimes troops are punished by being sent into the vacuum of space with only a limited oxygen supply but they don't do a million evil things. They have a dictatorship and some really young people are soldiers in their army but it isn't said whether they willingly join the army or are conscripted by force. Many Zanscare characters think favourably of their government and don't need to be intimidated to follow it. They don't have brains in jars either. They had many many people sleep in pods and channel their psychic energy together on a giant ship to power a superweapon inside of it. Their ultimate weapon was pretty tame. It made people lose the energy to do anything so they basically just fell asleep and died from starvation if they weren't helped. I loved their giant wheel mechs/ships. I think one of the major characters got run over by one which cracked me up. I think they also did some brainwashing of the psychic energy givers or had some form of little cult but there wasn't mass brainwashing on a large scale. People were mostly natural fanatics because of propaganda.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Okay, so the brain-in-a-jar thing was an invention of Super Robot Wars Alpha, then.

Alright, I'll rephrase, then: Fricking The Balmary Empire, *shudder*.

Also, Angel Halo counts as "mass brainwashing on a large scale". Weaponized, even.

[nothingclever]

Also, Angel Halo counts as "mass brainwashing on a large scale". Weaponized, even.

Well I meant besides that. I also think the people powering it didn't really need any convincing to do so. I remember them basically just being tricked into thinking they weren't doing anything bad as well.

Anyways, geez, it looks like any idea is acceptable here with the idea of brains in jars being sop readily welcomed.
I was hoping the world would be less fantastical. I don't even know where to begin when trying to think of suggestions of my own.

[13_CBS]

Interesting ideas on the, er, "brain harvesting kitten rapist" stuff, but I think we ought to save those for the darker routes (otherwise, it's going to be hard making Roag sympathetic enough to do a proper Heel Face turn).


All we need now are some proper names for our two HERALDs--the rest about the Prophets can be planned once we start planning the routes and stuff.

Are we still going for Halo-themed names for HERALDs? Or Latin references to Lovecraftian things? The faster we choose, the sooner we can get to discussing plot and setting.

[Prime32]

Interesting ideas on the, er, "brain harvesting kitten rapist" stuff, but I think we ought to save those for the darker routes (otherwise, it's going to be hard making Roag sympathetic enough to do a proper Heel Face turn).

He's doing a what now? *checks* Oh, he helps the good guys in the idealistic route? I completely missed that. Well, in that case I suppose he'd only install the dogkick!Prophet before the final battle. Or maybe he pretends to reform and helps the good guys out of his own interests, while concealing his villainy from them? (the other routes reveal the SHOCKING TRUTH)

We need some terminology to refer to inherent mech-control ability, such as "neuro rating" (different from the "synchro rating" of Primary pilots). Secondary pilots and Prophets are selected for high ratings, and a Primary pilot with a high rating can ease their workload a little. Roag could have found Ila to have a particularly high rating and plan to turn her into a Prophet once she is no longer useful.

[Lord of Rapture]

Damn, now I want everyone to have their own theme song now, now that I've found a good basis for Dominic's theme song.

[Prime32]

Damn, now I want everyone to have their own theme song now, now that I've found a good basis for Dominic's theme song.

Iwillnotpostashtoash Iwillnotpostashtoash Iwillnotpostashtoash

[Kasanip]

Certainly! However, since the main character rosters are full, I'm afraid that the best you'll get is a brief mention and a line or two (something about how DAPSs are failing or how the readings are off the charts).

I understand I'll try to earn my place then!

In according with, I started doing rough sketches..only about thirty minutes of work and really just the bridge crew because I realized I have no idea what format you all were aiming for, and I realized character design is going to be very hit or miss.
So... I'll probably start by posting quick sketches and try to get some feedback

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Just a really quick sketch with the basics for the Bridge Crew of the Echo Wind ...I stopped about when I got to Rudy because there was no appearance info.


A quick fifteen minute 'paint' style of Neridia -> because I really couldn't stand how I drew her in the above

[Fri]

Holy cow that's so awesome. Question: How much time did you use to draw them?

I think we could set me to be the backup artist, since your pic are better and I like the style better for this game compared to my style.

[KnightDisciple]

That is, indeed, an awesome drawing.

I like "neuro-rating", Prime. It sounds nice and vague and sciencey.

[13_CBS]

Holy crap Kasanip.

I, uh, think you've done more than just earn your place. By, like, a lot.

Good god those are some nice drawings

[Kasanip]

Holy cow that's so awesome. Question: How much time did you use to draw them?

I think we could set me to be the backup artist, since your pic are better and I like the style better for this game compared to my style.

Well, I'd like to see your work too

The first one was about thirty minutes all and all. The second was, as I said, about fifteen minutes.


I guess my next question is - how much is this supposed to be dark vs comedy? A lot of the ideas I've seen recently are rather...grim. But looking at the character 'personalities' they look relatively...well, comedic.