Thursday 9 May 2013

Leaving Londinium (Part Three)

We continue with our introduction of the main cast in Sunset Empire...


Dr. John Hooke, Golemnaut. This big bruiser was once a scientist working for Queen Victoria's secret space program, the Icarus project. His experiments with galvanism on the Golem of Prague -- stolen from its keepers -- led to his body being electrocuted and his mind transferring into the mighty clay creature. After a tussle with some alien plant monsters who were attempting to stop the Icarus project, Hooke managed to shanghai the intended pilot and journey to space himself in a fabricated golem body developed by the program.

*whew* Complicated.

Hooke has been in orbit for months, conducting experiments. With the Corps under siege, he's due to make a fiery return to the scene and join his friends in battle. The only problem is, there is no perfected re-entry protocol for the Icarus capsule. Landing it in the ocean might result in Jack sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic -- if he even survives the crash landing.

And then there is the intended Icarus pilot, who has joined up with the vampires and given them all the secret information he learned as part of the project. All in exchange for a new body to replace his war-ravaged frame -- and he's got his sights set on the Golem of Prague, sitting idle in the Tower...

Mudlark, Goblin thief / schemer / shit disturber. The most unlikely hero of the bunch is a Faerie named Mudlark. All he ever wanted was freedom, but the Faerie Queen assigned him as her emissary to the Royal Magisterial Corps. This was presented as a great honour, of course, even though it amounts to ongoing imprisonment for Mudlark.

Mudlark has a way of stirring up trouble everywhere he goes. Last season, he was recruited by a member of the faerie underworld named Black Peter to do a little job, in exchange for wiping some of his own debts clean. Black Peter convinced him to dig up the severed head of a mythological giant buried in the courtyard of the Tower. What could possibly go wrong? It turned out that the head provided some kind of mystical protection for the Tower, so now Mudlark blames himself for the dire events that have placed London -- and the Faerie Queen herself -- in danger.


Matthias Von Hess, Werewolf Knight. The newest member of the Corps is Matthias, a knight in an order of German werewolves operating out of the Black Forest. Matthias was seconded to the Corps at the beginning of Season Two (a replacement for John's other character, Jack the golem). His arc in season two mostly concentrated on his cousin Reinholt, another werewolf operating in London as an envoy from the knights... but not so virtuous. Reinholt had been operating as a lycanthropic serial killer, after being corrupted by the Unseelie Faeries. He did his best to frame Matthias as responsible for his own ill deeds, but ultimately fell to his cousin's claws in battle.

In Season Three, Matthias has convinced the werewolf knights that they must intervene in the vampire invasion of London, luring another powerful group of supernaturals into the widening fray.

Tomorrow, I'll start discussing my process approaching Season Three and share a bit of what's been happening so far.

No comments:

Post a Comment