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Divine DarknessC H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L
T H E B A T M A N
Bruce Wayne .♦ .Philanthropist .♦ .Gotham City, New Jersey, USA .♦ .Wayne Industries
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
...
"It's about identity. If you can choose that, choose who you are in the world... you can choose to call yourself sane."
Nine months ago, billionaire Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City to claim his inheritance and take an active role in his father's company, Wayne Industries. Or at least, that's what the public was intended to believe. In reality, Wayne had spent the last fifteen years of his life testing the limits of his mind, body, and soul in order to prepare for a self-imposed war against crime in an effort to avenge his murdered parents and bring order to his corrupt home. While spending considerable time learning all that he could of Gotham's inner-workings, wining and dining amongst the elite class to discover the depths of their apathy towards those affected by the criminal fraternity, Wayne also took to the streets in disguise to see just how the disenfranchised and the desperate could be corrupted. Thinking he had it all figured out, Wayne donned the garb of a masked vigilante and set out to reclaim the night.
He was wrong. He had learned nothing, as he found himself beaten beyond recognition by the ruthless Red Hood Gang whilst attempting to interfere with a turf war between them and the The Falcone Crime Family. Desperate to know where he'd gone wrong, he found himself barely clinging to life in his father's study, looking toward the bust of William Shakespeare and hallucinating it to be the late Thomas Wayne. He'd developed the skills, the knowledge, and the will to carry on - but until he had the method, there was nothing he could do to turn the tide.
Resolving to let it end then and there, Wayne's answer came in the form of a leathery-winged creature of the night that had struck fear into his heart as a boy. It's wings expanding, it lowered itself over the bust until it had covered the top half of the face - creating a terrifying visual that imprinted itself onto Bruce's psyche. Criminals, as he had learned, were ultimately a superstitious and cowardly lot. If he was to wage war, he'd have to utilize methods that they couldn't predict. Become something that they could never fathom, even in their nightmares.
He'd have to become a Bat.
He was wrong. He had learned nothing, as he found himself beaten beyond recognition by the ruthless Red Hood Gang whilst attempting to interfere with a turf war between them and the The Falcone Crime Family. Desperate to know where he'd gone wrong, he found himself barely clinging to life in his father's study, looking toward the bust of William Shakespeare and hallucinating it to be the late Thomas Wayne. He'd developed the skills, the knowledge, and the will to carry on - but until he had the method, there was nothing he could do to turn the tide.
Resolving to let it end then and there, Wayne's answer came in the form of a leathery-winged creature of the night that had struck fear into his heart as a boy. It's wings expanding, it lowered itself over the bust until it had covered the top half of the face - creating a terrifying visual that imprinted itself onto Bruce's psyche. Criminals, as he had learned, were ultimately a superstitious and cowardly lot. If he was to wage war, he'd have to utilize methods that they couldn't predict. Become something that they could never fathom, even in their nightmares.
He'd have to become a Bat.
"What in the name of Bill Finger is this?", you may be asking yourself. Well, oddly curious reader, this is me throwing up my hands in defeat. While the idea of what I was trying to do with my first concept for this game's Batman sounds great in theory, actually practicing it turned out to be a highly tedious process where I just wasn't having any fun with what I was writing. It took me until the third post to really realize it, and I had already had doubts before that. In order to really commit to a version of Batman so reliant on redefining the Bruce Wayne half of his identity, you tend to be forced to do alot of character building in addition to world building. And in order to get to one of the villains, not to mention get Bruce into the suit, I would have to compromise and cheat my way to getting there in a way I just didn't feel was worth it.
So I'm starting over. First post is going to deal with Bruce's first night donning the cape and cowl, with all of the gadgets, the money, the training, and everything that makes him traditionally Batman. Where it goes from there is anyone's guess, but doing it in this way will at least give me the freedom to build the world that he inhabits without having to learn just who he is all over again. I'm also taking more of a hand's off approach with the supporting cast, as I see no reason to reserve characters for my story until I've gotten to them - with the exception of The Joker and, of course, Robin, since you can't really drop them in there from the get-go.
This is actually more in line with how I originally saw the RPG, anyway. I don't have any explanation for why I chose to do such a dramatic departure for my first sheet other than "my kneejerk reaction is to figure out how I can 'ultimize' a character", which was never actually what I thought of when developing DCU: Genesis. My mindset was to take the character as they were traditionally presented, at their start, and build up the changes to the world from there.
So I'm starting over. First post is going to deal with Bruce's first night donning the cape and cowl, with all of the gadgets, the money, the training, and everything that makes him traditionally Batman. Where it goes from there is anyone's guess, but doing it in this way will at least give me the freedom to build the world that he inhabits without having to learn just who he is all over again. I'm also taking more of a hand's off approach with the supporting cast, as I see no reason to reserve characters for my story until I've gotten to them - with the exception of The Joker and, of course, Robin, since you can't really drop them in there from the get-go.
This is actually more in line with how I originally saw the RPG, anyway. I don't have any explanation for why I chose to do such a dramatic departure for my first sheet other than "my kneejerk reaction is to figure out how I can 'ultimize' a character", which was never actually what I thought of when developing DCU: Genesis. My mindset was to take the character as they were traditionally presented, at their start, and build up the changes to the world from there.
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
The why should be obvious at this point, and I've already outlined the motivation. What I want to do is build the myth of Batman using bits and pieces from every source I can reference until it's all thoroughly blended into a fine soup. I'm not out to reinvent the wheel so much as honor the parts of it that's made it work for 81 years, which will hopefully make integration into a multiplayer game far more accessible for team-ups and interactions that my previous concept just didn't allow, to my detriment.
As far as the character himself goes, he's largely the Batman we know. The only differences I'm going with off the top are that Bruce Wayne is more of a media oddity who spends way more time attending galas and nightclubs then he does running a company, which is a responsibility that he's designated to Lucius Fox. He's also a member of the board of directors for Arkham Asylum, which will play a more prominent role in this run than I've done before, but his role in the goings-on over there aren't common knowledge. Basically, Bruce Wayne is the Elon Musk of this universe, in that he's always in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Which of course is by design, as it helps him commit to the vigilante crusade he's got going on.
As far as the character himself goes, he's largely the Batman we know. The only differences I'm going with off the top are that Bruce Wayne is more of a media oddity who spends way more time attending galas and nightclubs then he does running a company, which is a responsibility that he's designated to Lucius Fox. He's also a member of the board of directors for Arkham Asylum, which will play a more prominent role in this run than I've done before, but his role in the goings-on over there aren't common knowledge. Basically, Bruce Wayne is the Elon Musk of this universe, in that he's always in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Which of course is by design, as it helps him commit to the vigilante crusade he's got going on.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Supporting characters:
S A M P L E P O S T:
Salvatore "The Boss" Maroni screamed at the top of his lungs as he was thrust into the open air amidst shattered glass. The masked lunatic that had thrown the gangster aswell as himself out of the top floor of the penthouse grabbed onto Maroni hard and produced that same grappling device that had sent them hurtling into an over 50 foot drop towards the pavement. Firing it again, this time managing to snag a stone gargoyle overlooking the adjacent building, The Batman pressed hard into Maroni's back so that they swung into an arch, heading directly for the building just across the street.
All that Salvatore could see was oncoming glass before a very large and leathery piece of fabric shielded him from the impact. He couldn't see them hit the window, but he could feel it, aswell as the hard landing that both men made. By the time the fabric unfurled itself off of his face, Maroni realized that he was on his back, staring directly at his shadowy assailant, who stood above him. Salvatore growled.
"ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR FUCKING MIND?! WE COULD'A BEEN KILLED JUST THEN, YOU---"
The Batman's boot slammed down onto Maroni's chest, causing him to involuntarily keel and roll over in immense pain.
"Quiet."
With his prey momentarily incapacitated, Batman searched the room ahead of them. A set of office cubicles greeted him in the darkness, evident of a local business. The employees had long since gone home, leaving no one but a janitor who had already ran for the emergency exit. But The Dark Knight sneered as the heat signature-detection feature of the lenses in his cowl picked up the image of an additional few men heading up the staircase, guns drawn. Evidently, Captain Bolton had managed to round up some of his remaining men to pursue them.
Looking down at Maroni, Batman forcibly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up.
"We're not done."
Maroni wheezed in pain. "What the hell are you talkin' about?!"
Punching the mobster hard across the face with an executed right hook, Batman caught Maroni's body as it fell limp, immediately rendered unconscious. Letting him fall gently, Batman produced a pair of military-grade handcuffs from the back of his belt and dragged Maroni over to a support beam. Propping him up and placing his hands behind his back, the vigilante secured his captive in place, put something into the front of his jacket pocket, and looked towards the door to the spacious room they were in as the heat signatures immediately approached.
Retreating to the darkness on the opposite end of the room, Batman watched in cold silence as the door was slammed open from the outside with a kick. Several of Flass' dirty cops burst into the room, each holding weapons that were far above standard issue for the GCPD. Laser sights, automatic ammunition. The vigilante narrowed his eyes as they searched for any sign of him in vain. Someone had been outfitting Flass' men with the latest in high-tech ordinance. The other precincts didn't have the luxury of such treatment, and it wasn't hard to guess why. Salvatore Maroni had a good majority of the GCPD under his payroll, directly. It was how the mobster had kept himself one step ahead of his rival, The Roman.
"Look! Over there! There's Maroni!", one of them yelled, signaling two of the men to his opposite. "Get him out of here before that freak comes back! We'll stay here and keep watch!"
As the two men approached, The Batman produced a detonator hidden within his gauntlet. Waiting precious seconds as the cops inched closer to Maroni's unconscious form, the vigilante waited for them to discover the handcuffs.
"Uh, Lieutenant? He's bound to this thing. We're gonna need to..."
Hitting the detonator hard, Batman leaped forward with a roll as an explosion of smoke immediately hit the two cops from within Maroni's jacket. Seizing control of the situation as the smoke coated the entire room, The Dark Knight hit the side of his cowl and switched his cowl's surveillance mode so that the lenses could isolate the smoke and make the room clear to him alone. Immediately slamming his knee into the chest of one of the cops with a rising strike, The Batman spun mid-air and sent four projectiles directly into the hands of two of the other armed officers. He'd taken to calling them "bat-blades", though one of his associates had given them perhaps a more fitting moniker: batarangs. Landing behind the officer he'd struck, Batman downed that one with a hard elbow and immediately followed that up with a brutal headbutt, knocking him into one of the cubicles. Shooting his right leg out, Batman spun for a hard sweep, sending a second one to the ground fast enough for the officer to hit the back of his head. Opting for a palm strike against an oncoming enemy's jaw, the vigilante simultaneously reigned a flying high kick down onto a fourth officer's face, knocking both to the ground. As he regained his footing, he looked down to his chest and noticed the red targeting lasers start to cross his path.
"THERE... *COUGH* THERE HE IS! SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE ROOM! OPEN FIRE!"
Dammit.
Bullets sprayed the walls behind him as The Batman somersaulted forward, counting himself lucky as a bullet barely grazed the armor plating covering his right shoulder. Leaping into the air, he kicked off of the wall to the south of the room and produced his grapple gun yet again, firing a line directly into the northern wall. Directing a spin kick into an officer as he attempted to reload his weapon, Batman pulled at the line hard, catching the two leading figures of the group by the chest and waist as the steel cable slammed them into the adjacent wall. As another officer rose from the ground, still partially unconscious, the vigilante grabbed a stapler from one of the nearby cubicles and launched it directly into the man's head, sending him back to the ground. One remained. And he was firing off into the distance, having already lost the trajectory of his target. A batarang flew from the smoke and forced the weapon from his hands, embedding it into the window with a spiderweb crack. The officer's eyes widened as he looked at his unreachable weapon, failing to notice the figure that approached him.
"Tell Commissioner Loeb. Tell your fellow men. Tell everyone..."
"I'm coming for them, too."
P O S T C A T A L O G:
