Re: Why am I here again?

**NebulaGregarZX** Sat May 23, 2015 7:00 pm

And the mangled corpse needs to either be absolutely beyond any recognition - which probably means the clothes need to have been destroyed in the same fashion - or it needs to have been doctored to look like the victim. The bribery comes in when anyone sticks their nose in or finds out too much, but can't be silenced (with death) so easily without drawing more attention, I think, so he resorts to other methods.

That sound about right?

AKeybladeYouSay Sat May 23, 2015 7:11 pm

Exactly.
Also, I've just about got my bio for our villain written up. Mind taking a look and seeing if anything needs improved?

Description: Adam Berkeley, or as he’s known to the public, Adam Berkovich, is a large, powerful man, who is the CEO and founder of the incredibly influential company, BerkCo. Said company has control over countless subsidiaries, allowing them to have pull in areas of construction, retail, consumer goods, and many others. It seems like the whole city is controlled by BerkCo in some way. Mr. Berkeley is a vaguely anti-Semitic man when left to his own devices. He takes on the guise of a weaker, smaller, more timid Jewish man in the public eye in order to seem less threatening. He appears on television very often, be it just in commercials or in public statements about the affairs of the city and his company, but he always uses trickery in the form of perspective, loose-fitting clothing, and makeup to make him seem not only smaller and weaker, but also more sickly. He is a rather cunning man, and doesn’t care what he has to do to others to get what he wants. He believes that love is a silly concept, but has three female “servants” that he pays to have sex with him regularly. He lives in the lap of luxury, but he doesn’t allow anyone to spend his money unless he thinks that it’s absolutely necessary, or would benefit him in some way.

Specs: 6’4”, stocky build, hazel eyes, very dark brown hair, wears size 14 shoes, has a slim-looking face and a rather protruding nose

**NebulaGregarZX** Sat May 23, 2015 7:28 pm

Would you say he's the kind of guy who believes humans are just animals, with ultimately no free will of their own, ruled by their desires and instincts and forced into order by society and the law? Because I feel like that's what ought to be mentioned before his harem, which I guess should be a bit of a side note. It's no less slimy of him that it only takes a couple of words to mention that detail.

So, when he appears in, say, commercials, does he wear casual-looking clothing? For some reason, that strikes me as being hilariously chilling. The man who regularly stages fake deaths and kidnaps people to use as slaves, showing up in a commercial for all-new gas-heated grills, cooking burgers and throwing a cookout? ...No, wait, that's a terrible idea, my bad. It would give viewers a sense of scale to have him be around so many people, and around a household object that's probably a uniform size.

AKeybladeYouSay Sat May 23, 2015 7:41 pm

That does sound accurate. I wouldn't have thought to say something like that. Thanks.

As for commercials, he would be wearing casual clothing. However, he would have like, a grill specially constructed to be a lot bigger than normal. And he could position people in the foreground in front of him to make it look like they're about the same size as him, if not bigger than him.

**NebulaGregarZX** Sat May 23, 2015 7:49 pm

No problem; 's what I'm here for.

So, he manages to make even the sense of scale fit his needs. Perfect. And do you know what he's using his slaves for?

AKeybladeYouSay Sat May 23, 2015 7:57 pm

Most are for general labor, but he could be getting together the stronger and more healthy slaves into an army.

By god, I've created an entrepreneurial Hitler. I swear that was not intentional.

**NebulaGregarZX** Sat May 23, 2015 8:00 pm

Hah! So you have! I was expecting something mildly occult, to tie in with the fantasy stuff just a little, since I assume that's what he's using to make those mock-up murders: Necromancy of some sort.

AKeybladeYouSay Sat May 23, 2015 8:04 pm

Right, he's getting the dead out of their graves and bringing them "back to life" so to speak, then killing them again once they've started to look more lively, and setting up the murder scene to fool the loved ones of the people he's kidnapping. A portion of the "normal" slaves could also be used for this purpose as well, I supppose.

**NebulaGregarZX** Sat May 23, 2015 8:14 pm

Tricky stuff now: how far along were people when it came to autopsies in the fifties? People can be identified these days by so much as their teeth. If it's archaic enough, then he doesn't need to do anything special, just make sure they've got the right general look to fool people and mangle anything that would give away the difference. But depending on what they're working with at the time, you might need him to use more sophisticated methods of concealment.

So what's his ultimate goal? My first guess is world domination- no, no, that's not how his type says it. They call it "standing at the top".

AKeybladeYouSay Sat May 23, 2015 8:53 pm

Yeah, I'd say a slow, gradually spreading domination of the economy. As for crime investigation in the 1950s, I'm trying to do my research, and it looks like it was not particularly advanced at the time. I think that even fingerprinting at the time was an imprecise science. Most of the clues were probably pulled from witnesses.

**NebulaGregarZX** Sat May 23, 2015 10:10 pm

On the matter of autopsy, I'll take a look at the Wikipedia article for it. Gotta ask the right questions to get the right answers, and it's not always obvious. I'll just summarize what I find...

Autopsies are also referred to as post-mortem examination, necropsy, obduction, and autopsia cadaverum. They're performed by medical specialists called pathologists. Apparently, after 1955, fewer autopsies were performed (for medical purposes), causing a decline in health since doctors basically didn't re-examine the bodies of their dead patients, thus not learning from their mistakes as much. After an autopsy, the body is stitched back together. We've also discovered since that time that, well, a lot of autopsies were wrong about the cause of death.

...Yeah, not much on how it was back in 1950. I looked, and the earliest date I could find related to genetic testing was 2008, so it's a safe assumption that it won't be a problem for the story. As for toxicology, it seems like it's basically been the same for centuries. I mean, we've discovered new stuff since then, but they'll go about it the same way we would now, for the most part, and be about as effective.

Hope that helps, but I think you had a head start.

**Zeldaman2.0** Sun May 24, 2015 6:18 am

While you guys have the plot down, I think I have a decent enough idea for a character that would prove interesting to see someone else have him and puppet him around, but in any case, here goes.

Joseph Johnson, a man with high ambitions and a lively spirit, used to work for the local police agency until he decided that his lone wolf attitude suited him better for private investigations, and using his current connections, made himself a name for helping police track down crime. Some of his perps got away a bit too easily for his liking though, and he's since resorted to more vigilante and off-the-books requests to get where he's headed. A man who loves his doo-wop and his sharp suits, he's clean shaven and enjoys his job... though he's a little hasty on whipping out his trusty colt magnum.

AKeybladeYouSay Sun May 24, 2015 4:13 pm

Sounds like a pretty good start. He can always have development throughout the story.

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:23 pm

The thread has been sitting here unused for nearly a month now. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't my fault.

So... I'm sorry...

**NebulaGregarZX** Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:34 pm

Eh? I mean, you could've reminded us, but for the most part, we haven't been discussing characters. We can't have a story with only three characters, not when it's a mystery!

Hell, I kind of got involved with Final Mix, and that kind of obliterated any and all thought about anything else. So to sum up, I got distracted. How many people wanted in on this, by the way? Maybe some of 'em just wanted to see what kinds of characters were already around?

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:37 pm

It's just that I'm the one who wanted to do this, I'm the one who dragged others into it, and now I don't have the motivation to follow through... I haven't put any thought into it at all...
I feel fucking worthless.

**NebulaGregarZX** Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:43 pm

Motivation comes and goes. And I seem to recall you putting a fair bit of thought into this. What you should probably do, if you don't know what, is build the world a little. Figure out the rules to this necromancy thing, what kind of world (town) it is, general tone, how people speak, what kind of standards people had... what do you think would be cool and work with the story, I guess?

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:49 pm

But I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to do anything but lie in bed and hope I die quickly.

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 8:55 pm

I'm just a worthless fucking fatass waste of space and resources.

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:06 pm

I'm sorry for making shit so awkward. I realize that most people can't deal with my depressed bullshit.

**NebulaGregarZX** Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:34 pm

I'm more concerned that you're depressed than me having to deal with you talking about it, personally. Let's see... now, my experiences and yours likely don't line up, but when I feel excessively down and basically worthless, I just kind of stop forcing myself to do things, rest, maybe walk around a bit. Unless it's, say, a job or education, why do something when you're completely unmotivated?

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:40 pm

I don't know... I just feel like I shouldn't be wasting my time the way I am.

That said, most of what I said was in a fit of depression at its peak. I'm usually impulsive during times like that. If only I could be that way when I have actually good intentions...

**Haar_Dragon** Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:22 pm

You're beating yourself up too much. It's really not your fault the conversation died. I poke around here all the time (I bore easily sometimes) and when I saw this topic not getting messages, I didn't think "Oh, that guy doesn't care." I didn't post anything myself because I didn't really have anything to say, I figured nobody else had any thoughts either.

In any case, I really don't know much of anything about depression, but I do know about feeling like shit. And I know when I feel that way, I hate it when people won't leave me in peace or don't seem to understand that I feel bad. Usually what I do in that situation is just something to lift my spirits, even if I'm not really in the mood. Just something I'd enjoy under ordinary circumstances usually helps get me at least feeling average.

And as a side-note, I DID say I was in, right? If I didn't, I am now. I'm interested, I like the idea you've presented, and I don't blame you for taking a long time. Most ideas take a long time.

AKeybladeYouSay Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:34 pm

I'm considering scrapping the idea of shuffling characters. I think all it's gonna do is take up more time. We're alreadygoing to be writing a genre/setting that we're not as familiar with.

**NebulaGregarZX** Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:36 pm

Hm... let's still consider the idea of shuffling, just in case you decide we should go through with it in the end. But that does sound logical; throwing us into an unfamiliar genre is already tricky, and the added difficulty of using characters we didn't design could make it worse.

Speaking of, Haar, did you ever think up a character?

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