Individual Build Commentary: Truman Home For Dimensionally Displaced Girls
Additonal Personal Comments: If you’re an anime fan, you have a waifu. Or several. Unless you’re weird like me, I guess. Anyway, that’s kind of the point of the Truman Home. Anime waifus knockoffs, existing in the Phoenixverse. Hell, Rule 63 one of the guys; it doesn’t matter. The listed Truman Girls are a fraction of the total number in the Guild. At least, that was the original point anyway. Like I said, everything just got out of hand and the waifoolery got sidelined by Black Clover style badassery and “ooh, I can do alternate history riffs”. They’re tiered into groups of three, excepting Nate. First set of three (Samorn, Emiko, and Skye) is kinda vague, but the rest are pretty unified. PL 10 180PP, PL 10 150PP, PL 9 135PP, and PL 8 120PP to wrap. If their names are weird in any way, blame the baby name websites I nicked them from. And maybe me a little for putting them together.
Nathaniel Truman: Herein lies another tale. Mostly about how I played Half Life 2 and wanted my own Gordan Freeman. Incredibly badass science guy with a supersuit and cool weapons, yeehaw. Naturally, I made him a technopath so his gear could outperform its normal limits on demand. And because I can’t just make one solo hero, I made him Samorn’s (with her then using a name I’ve since forgotten) father figure. Nice set up, yeah? Well, I didn’t know what else to do with it. So they sat. Until I was updating the Seawings. If we want to be technical, I first thought of them when doing NPC Investigations’s big update along with Agent Zero and Immortia. But they wouldn’t have fit well there. Nate isn’t really a detective and Miss Soulblade certainly wasn’t. But I do want to bring them back, as they’ve been left adrift for too long. So, when I decided to make the Seawings an Adventurer Guild with a big ol bunch of heroes in it, Nate was a natural choice to den father the second group full of new characters. After all, he already had one adopted daughter, no reason there couldn’t be more. Characters I’d built before ended with Coyote, so Nate’s got no prior versions. But he is a technopath, check. Supersuit, check. Cool ass gun, check. If it looks familiar, it’s because I liked some of the effects in Immortia’s rifle and dragged them back. I think he’s a reasonably effective character, and hell on wheels against the usual PL 5 mook battalions his “benefactor” sets him against.
Samorn: Originally she was a white girl. I thought her divine parent would be a Germanic version of Thor, but I got older and found out Germanic Thor is just regular Thor. The Soulblade is actually me riffing on the Witchblade. It got an anime which is surprisingly good (if not particularly concerned with fidelity to the source material), and I got inspired to have one of my very own. And then, because teenage girls without parents still shouldn’t live alone, I moved her in with Nathaniel Truman. And what a pair they made. But as I said, I didn’t know what to do with them, really, so they sat for a while. Then I remembered them. Miss Soulblade changed divine parents, becoming Thai and gaining a new name. The Seawings are set in Southeast Asia and Oceania, so I figured a local deity was best. One wiki-walk later, Mani Mekkhala said hi, I’m your new mommy kid. Then I just…built her. Demigod stuff makes her physically superhuman, ageless, and able to sling lightning. Soulblade does all the really cool shit from the anime plus some extras because I had the points and why the hell not. If I’d known about the Slavic deity Perun a decade ago he’d be her dad and we wouldn’t be having this convo. Life’s weird like that.
Emiko Fujiwara: She exists because oh god do I hate Shinji Ikari. I don’t think there’s ever been a more worthless and useless sack of shit ever presented as an anime protagonist. Because, of course, I’m talking about original Neon Genesis Evangalion anime Shinji. I hear the newer movies feature a better version of him, but he’s just too tainted to me. Don’t wanna see ‘em. Though it must be said, my visceral reaction to Shinji is because I’d been in his shoes. A depressed, miserable teenager with a father who’s always working and a mother who’s presence had been reduced from full to part time by her own actions. But before God, if someone had offered me a chance to pilot a giant robot and fight to save the world I’d have been thrilled to my toes. Especially if two gorgeous girls were going to help, and never mind if one was basically a robot and the other was kind of a bitch on the outside. I mean, I’d still have fucked it up just as bad if not worse, but I wouldn’t have been such a goddamn wimp about it. Anyway, Emiko is the Shinji of my own NGE thing, because of course I thought I could do better. At least to me. I forgot her name (it was in my notes, but you know I lost ‘em all), so the other year I gave her another one. Actually originally recreated her as a Tenra Bansho Zero PC, but when I needed someone who’d been around for a while to kick off the Truman Girls that weren’t Samorn, Emiko was elected. She’s got excellent tech skills, her Totally Not An Eva Unit, and some godhood on the side she can’t really use very well in this world. I think her original name was Esther, maybe? I dunno.
Skye Walker: One of the very first things I ever built was inspired by Miracle of Sound’s song Dream of the Sky. Skye herself isn’t inspired by that song, but by that build. It was confused and messy, in my opinion, and with the help of Power Profiles I believed I could do better and I certainly did. Her backstory reads like she’s from some anime, and that’s intentional even though she’s entirely original. Her name’s just a fun lil reference to Star Wars, because I am a nerd. I actually had quite a bit of fun putting her Dream Array together, as it was a power set I’d never worked with before at the time. Telepaths are a dime a dozen in comics, but dream controllers are vanishingly rare. I don’t actually know what the other four’s powers would be based on. I’ve tried out a couple of esoteric idea builds, but they just don’t gel as well as hers did. Ah, well.
Oliana Kameāloha : The first, but not the last time I took one of my own random builds and made it into a full character. I did it while riffing on my friggin’ self. The build was a Powerhouse, but balanced on attack and defense and full of the skills and feats a Martial Artist would have instead of Super Strength, Leaping, and full Impervious Toughness. Slapped 30 more PP in to fill it out, tracked down an appropriate name (which took longer than you might think), and done. I’m kidding, I also had to figure out she was Alternate Cory’s kid. The Black Clover style badassery started here, whoops.
Raymi Humala Sumire: She started as a vague idea for a portal user. You know, like Marvel’s Blink. But getting the build to come together was an endeavor. First she had to be a gadgeteer, and then PP was an exceptionally harsh mistress this time. Cut me a break, love. But I got something workable, and an actual character emerged. The writing took a long ass time, too, because I was pulling it all from my own head instead of reworking something else. Like I said above, her world was where “ooh, I can do alternate history riffs” leaped up and slapped me in the face. So, you know. Obviously I had to flip the modern world’s origin on its head. So much research, good lord. For plausibility reasons, naturally.
Madeline Blackwood: I was raised non denominational Christian. So yeah I know about the Rapture and the time of suffering because Hell on earth for a bit before Jesus boots all their demonic asses back to Hell forever and rules a perfect kingdom. Or something like that, it’s been a decade plus since I was a regular churchgoer. And there was also this videogame I heard about back in the day but never played. Hellgate London. So on one hand there’s the whole post Rapture world, and on the other Hellgate London’s badasses battling the legions of Hell to protect their world. Because I had a build just sitting around that I’d made after seeing some fanart of Iron Man as Ghost Rider, and by God I wanted to use it here. Shove 30 more PP into said build, and Madeline was born. I picked New Zealand specifically because it’s like a two hour flight away from its closest neighbor Australia, and spectacularly further away from anywhere else. Invercargill is the furthest away city from the rest of NZ, and Bluff is hanging of the southern edge of NZ, far far away from anything not in NZ. So if I was plotting revolution against the world’s overwhelming overlords, they’re perfect places to hide. Del was both Black Clover style badassery and “ooh, I can do alternate history riffs” together, heh. Oh, and uh…try not to think too hard about the theological implications of children being born after the Rapture. <.<>.>
Almira Quincy: But fragments of the original waifoolery plan remained. Mirajane Strauss, from Fairy Tail. Well, with some rather dramatic alterations to her. Because I have absolutely no idea how Takeover Magic would work in M&M mechanics as demonstrated in that series. Instead I devised a kind of permanent Mimic/Battlesuit-Without-A-Device effect that she can acquire new versions off safely offscreen. I know nested arrays aren’t technically allowed, but I didn’t know how else to pull this one off, so fuck it. I’m the GM here, and I’m allowing it. I had been reading up on the American Civil War again around the time I was working on her. Part of the Gods and Generals historical fiction series. General Winfield Scott Hancock had a wife named Mira. Almira was her full name. I’m…honestly not sure anymore where I got Quincy from. Thought it was Almira Hancock’s maiden name, but no that was Russell. Eh, the good lord only knows.
Fiona McTavish: So…this is another build from the vast collection, just retuned to fit what I wanted out of it. It didn’t used to fly. Now, Fiona’s whole background is where I really got lost wiki-walking and creating an alternate timeline. It’s glaringly obvious, as it’s extra long and barely about her at all. A Danish friend of mine was getting really into the new edition of Scion at this time, and dragged me along for the ride. Thus, Brigid. I think history is fascinating. You change one thing, and a ripple effect warps all history afterward. On Fiona’s world, the Justice League/Avengers counterpart has a history that spans millennia. S’pretty rad, I think, to have a character who can point back a hundred generations and find a recognizable ancestor holding the line in the same organization. Anyway, the point of her build was to have a sword master without the physical sword. She can do a few other things (plasma control’s not a one note power set by any means), but that’s really it.
Yumiko Amano: Another build from the vast collection, reworked slightly but not very much. I actually used this one as a semi-villanous NPC once. And when I was doing the big update, I remembered her and made her (plus slightly altered backstory) Phoenixverse canon. The general idea is that she paints things into reality with her magic paints and brush foci. So she’s artist and chemist, as well as magician. And since she didn’t have a last name originally, I gave her the surname of an artist I respect, Yoshitaka Amano. If you don’t know, he was the artist behind the original character designs of Final Fantasy 1-6, as well as 9 among a pretty large body of work.
Palila Nui : I have a paperback collection of short stories. Chicks Kick Butt, I believe it’s called. Subtle title, ain’t it? I’m not going to pretend it’s high literature or anything, but it’s perfectly readable. One of the stories features a character who bears the title of Stormwarden. She’s got a whole book series about her and her adventures magical and romantic, apparently. It’s a perfectly fine story, and I enjoyed it. But what stuck with me was the Stormwarden title, because it’s cool as hell. It was tough to figure out where to put the vague concept, as I didn’t want to outshine the Exiles’ Stormy. Obviously, I ended up slotting it into the back half of the Truman Girls. Then I thought that I hadn’t brought in elements of the wider Phoenixverse in a while, so I ended up doing a twofer. She’s a half Fae/Elf like the Exiles’ Opera, and has active ties to Faerie like Sonya and Sofia Harmon of NPC Investigations. But unlike them, her ties are to a different Court and they’re relatively friendly. Also, you know. Magical weather controller. Neato. Her powers are nothing like the woman in the story; I just liked the name. Stretching the concept a little, maybe, as she’s a native to our world. But I think Faerie qualifies as an alternate dimension, don’t you? And voluntarily displaced is still displaced.
Octavia Fiammetta: This one’s a touch complicated. One of my favorite anime of the last few years has been Violet Evergarden. So I thought I’d bring in a version of Violet for the Truman Girls. Except that felt bad, wrong, and contrary to the story the anime was trying to tell. So I left Violet in peace. Meanwhile, I pulled another build out of the collection and cut it down. She needed a little something extra to get her over the top into being an actual character, though. So she got several bits of Violet. The build itself is not Violet at all. She used more or less mundane weaponry, not Hellfire and enchanted devices. But the backstory and personality is roughly 50% Violet. Violet Evergarden may have gotten her happy ending, but Octavia Fiammetta is still waiting.
Claire Gainsborough: There isn’t any point trying to hide it. I named her Gainsborough for heaven’s sake. She’s the daughter of Cloud and Aerith from an entirely Rule 63’d Final Fantasy VII. Like, straight up. That’s her character. The build was a little more complicated. She’s roughly based on a character I played for a little while, Chronia (Kendra Farron). Obviously, Kendra was a chronomancer. So I thought it be neat to basically repeat the build but in a different way. If that makes any sense at all. Of course, I had to cut 45 PP and raise the PL by 1, but eh. Wasn’t room for everything, but it worked out. And unlike the rest of the Truman Girls, she actually has a theme/inspiration song. Miracle of Sound’s When Forever Comes.
Neith: I just wanted to do a String Controller. It’s a fairly common archetype in battle anime, but you almost never see it in superhero comics. Strings can be deadly weapons for those who know what they’re doing. And then she got tangled up with Nero from Black Clover. As a result she got deeply inbedded within Seawings/Phoenixverse lore and played an initially quite outsized role for her PL. She’s got one of the oldest names in the world. I googled.
Elena Laskaris : Honestly, I blame Monster Musume. The first girl of that anime was a lamia, and I hadn’t seen one animated since shitty 90s Hercules/Xena CGI. MM is “how close can we get to the hentai line without crossing over or showing nudity”: the anime, but the world building is actually kind of clever when the author can keep his pants zipped up. Multiple species and subspecies, what they eat, how their physiologies and societies work, the adaptations and special equipment required for them to live in human society, etc. It’s very well thought out. And in the spirit of that (and not the pervy elements of the show) I made a lamia. Did some research to figure out what part of the world a “real” lamia would be from and look like. Meaning where the myths say they come from and not just randomly making her Greek, because I like to go the extra mile.
Phylia: Same as Elena, honestly. Monster Musume had a slime girl, too. But I didn’t want to use her more…generic abilities and went digging around the internet for something different. She’s not bad for a final entry. I’m usually bored as hell by the last one in a group and quality can suffer. In my opinion, anyway. Pairing a Snare Aura with Insub 1 can just completely disable anyone without any energy attacks if they’re not strong enough to tear their way free.