Faction Pitch (Updated from Round 1):
The year is 2025 and the worlds’ governments are focused on eradicating the escalating terrorist threat in the Middle East secretly supported by the demonic Den Malignity. This effort has left Master Sergeant Acker Kinney, a Special Ops Medic, scarred and short an arm, forever changed.
When Acker is attacked by a demonic minion while recovering from his wounds in a military hospital, he is saved by Knights from the Society of the Enlightened. Soon he will be one of them; men and women blessed by God with countless lifetimes of knowledge and rediscovered powers.
The Society and the Den Malignity, enemies in an eternal struggle, must react when other factions, long thought banished or destroyed, rise to reclaim what was theirs. The Society and its knights must determine in this changed landscape who their allies and enemies are as factions vie for a stake in the world’s destiny.
The schemes of gods, the desires of demons, the powers of nature, myth, and the supernatural – all set forth to control a world the Society has sworn to protect. This is Faction.
Original Rough Cover:
Updated Rough Cover:
Round 2 Info:
Round 2 is up! Above is the logo, of course... Below are some of the characters who will appear in the comic. Acker, Abigail, and Gabriel, who are Knights from the Society of the Enlightened; Emlin, ahuman minion of the Den Malignity, and The Blood Lord, who is actually a faction himself (lots of people under him).
Acker
Abigail
Gabriel
Emlin
The Blood Lord
Response to judges' comments and other questions:
I figure as we move forward I’ll try to assemble a lot of the comments and my responses (if applicable) to Faction from the DimeStoreProductions.com site… I won’t put a bunch of postings stating “I love it”, etc, just logical questions and answers or anything I find interesting. Yesterday was the first day of public voting, and I appreciate everyone who took the time to log on and cast your vote.
We (KT, the artist, and I) did get three “Yes” votes from the Idol judges, but there were some valid criticisms of what we put forward. As far as the writing goes, one of the main “oops” points for me was a missing word in Acker’s bio. I have since fixed it and posted an updated one in the forum (the Acker bio on my blog here is already corrected, so I won’t go into that).
By the way, since I’m not the artist, I won’t attempt to respond to, justify, explain, or whatever any comments related to the artwork unless I feel passionately about the subject. There were some artistic interpretations of the characters that I respect and most of the comments in regards to KT’s work were related to minor issues on rotations, proportions between “shots”, etc… I’m still working to train my eyes to see those kinds of things.
Judges comments:TOMM:I LIKE THE LOGO,working the figure into things was a nice touch,being an atheist, i'm not bothered by the figure's pose, or the placement of the "t" beneath it. loldecent figures, though it looks like the colorist did more work on each of the second sets of poses,the first set of each is a bit more plain, almost animation style, (g.i. joe flavor)the bio's give us a little more info,the story seems to be coming along from the first round,it is keeping my interest.you may want to study a few samples from comic inkers out there,vary a few line weights, add a touch of shadow here or there,you would be surprised at how much depth it can add to your stuff.overalli think things are looking good with "FACTION"YES
Roger (summarized taking out things I addressed with my later update and a lot of the art comments):LOGO:While the silhouetted character representing the letter 'T' is a little bit perplexing, I'm not putting a lot of thought into that as I really like the look and feel of this graphic. This reads well in both large AND small formats, as we can see by their size comparisons. If you can read this effectively as a business-card sized image, then you have a good logo. Design-wise I'm satisfied by what I see. This creator might receive commentaries suggesting blocking, background, border, or other support details to add to this but I think it's fine as is.CHARACTER BIOS AND VISUALS:I like the use of the old typewriter-style font. It's not overly creative as we've seen this before but it works here; legible text, easy to read. The presentation of the bios here is given added strength in design appeal with the faded depiction of the characters' images that are being introduced behind the text, cementing both text and visuals as one.
Abigail Latton: I like her characteristics as related here to us. Some sort've divine-like powers seem to give her real promise and purpose, as well as importance, within the proposal.
Gabriel Hartmann: He can...ummm..."topple buildings"? A bit of a 'Samson', is he? Overall this bio reads well. Characteristics are interesting enough. I'm okay with this.
Emlin Gundula: Obviously a "secondary" character, I have no issue or questions about any aspect of this. She simply sounds nasty and interesting.
The Blood Lord: No name? Come on! He needs a cool name! Something foreboding, sinister...sheer evil! At 458 lbs, he must have some seriously heavy muscle under all those clothes. I'm generally okay with this bio. The description lends some fascinating suspense to read more about this character within the story.
FINAL THOUGHTS:I know my observations and opinions stated above will seem quite wordy to some, but in THIS round, it's critical for us to accept what we consider the best of the best, submissions that are real decision-makers or breakers within our screening. There is a lot at stake and a lot of details that are expected in this round, proof that some of our Round 1 contestants need to show us-- beyond just the sheer potential that they may have been graded in ascension to this level. For me, if a creator and his/her team goes through all this work in bringing us these proposals in any given round, then I just think it's equally my duty to provide as much criticism as possible with a comprehensive breakdown as I've shown above that these teams can or should consider as they further develop these properties. I've touched on some observations and opinions, and I'm sure others will have more to add. This project, despite my findings in terms of any short-comings, definitely has way more positivity going for it than negativity. I like the presentation, the art, the bios, on an above-average grade. But please, to the members of this team-- stick to the rules!!Do I have confidence in this project?YES!
Sam:Terrific presentation, one of the best-looking Round 2 entries I've ever seen, and a cool logo.Nice character pics: no real problems here, though Emlin looks best with the more obviously feminine form of her first shot and the others would benefit from being brought into line with that.Ian's quote from me on this was, "I'm looking for specifics on the relationships that will exist in this world in Round 2," and there's not enough of that here.Acker and Abigail's 'relationships in past lives were a bit more... complicated.' More clarification on this is sentence needed--and as Acker's the chosen emissary in the conflict with 'various factions,' there's also not enough evidence of what those factions are. And does Emlin work for the Blood Lord or is she part of a separate faction? We're not told.Btw, with the Blood Lord having the ability to kill people with just a stare if he chooses, you're setting his power level very high and you'll have to be skillful in how you play that one. Though the dead rising up and becoming his zombie army as he passes them is a cool one. As well as the aforementioned weaknesses in this Round's material, I'm still not entirely sold--or enthralled--by the story you're presenting here--but it's good enough for me to give it a YES.
My comments back:
To all of the judges, thank you for both the positive words and the detailed criticism of what didn’t work in our entry. As usual, we’re always trying to improve upon this process since both KT and I are relatively new to the medium.As for the bio’s, it seems that Acker’s received the most attention for both lacking a couple of details and some grammar issues. I goofed on the grammar and forgot to copy and paste my “final” draft onto the image. No excuses, though, because if this were a “published” book, getting printed with the errors would be unacceptable. Thus, I feel like a dope.
I’m attaching an updated bio sheet for Acker, adding a few minor details based on judges’ feedback to help look at the bio by itself, not in relation to the pitch or other characters. I’m still leaving out details of Acker’s and Abigail’s history together, but to clarify (too much to stick in a short bio), they have been “together” for many of their past lives together. The age difference between the two makes things a little hard for Acker, which will become evident in the story when it hits print (evolves out of the zero issue).
Oh, to clarify on Emlin and the Blood Lord, they’re two different classifications. Emlin is a minion in the Den Malignity. The Blood Lord is, well, the Blood Lord, head of his own faction, in charge of several types of supernatural creatures including vampires, lycanthropes, and zombies. What the Blood Lord looks like is intended to make you wonder what other factions he’s tied to. Is he or was he Den Malignity, who does he know, what is his real name, etc.
As for who the other factions are out there… you’ll just have to wait and see, it’s what the story is all about, tracking them down, determining who falls on what side of the “line”, and dealing with the results. To give you a little hint, there are the Society, the Den, The Blood Lord (big and bad enough not to need to “name” his faction), and five others AND more could join in the fray at any time. Intrigue, action, and drama ~ my favorite kinds of books. Did I mention action? Ha ha…
To all ~ believe me, Faction is not a story to be missed. Between the various files on my computer and hand written notebooks, I’ve got enough story ideas, twists, turns, and face pounding action to make you cross eyed. Hopefully the original rough cover, updated rough cover, and these round 2 bios and images will give you a bit of an idea of where we’re heading.
Comment from Andrew Nixon – “contributor”
Now that I've voted... I really think that this project has improved by leaps and bounds since its first cover rough. With the Round 2 stuff, I really liked the action poses, the most. The character designs are pretty good, but the good guys all look a little generic. Tomm was right in his GI Joe comment; Gabriel is wearing BABY BLUE PANTS??? In the published book, it will be gray, anyway, but that is an odd color choice... Also, I was surprised that Acker is 43. I suppose that he COULD look 43, but I think he should appear a bit bulkier. And I'm not thrilled about his love interest being 19 (even if said 19 year old dresses like a 43 year old woman...). I guess I don't mind the age difference so much as I do the blunt hitting us over the head with how intertwined their fates are. I think I'd really like to see (in the long run) some actual character/ relationship buildup between them before they just decide in issue one that they "love" each other... Remember: No romantic tension = boring! Otherwise, I like the look of the bionic arm, and the Blood Lord reminds me of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer villain (in a good way). And I assume, as LastBard's later post indicated, that there are still many unseen characters for this series... I guess Roger would really have his work cut out for him if there were 20 characters introduced, this round...Good Luck!
My Response:
contributor wrote ...I guess I don't mind the age difference so much as I do the blunt hitting us over the head with how intertwined their fates are. I think I'd really like to see (in the long run) some actual character/ relationship buildup between them before they just decide in issue one that they "love" each other... Remember: No romantic tension = boring!
Andrew, there's definitely going to be some build up... There's something to the fact that Acker is 43 and Abigail is 19... why the large age gap? He will not suddenly say "Oh, Abigail, I've missed you" or anything corny like that. I'm planning to let that relationship breathe for a while before a decision is made one way or the other (together or get out of my face).
contributor wrote ...I guess Roger would really have his work cut out for him if there were 20 characters introduced, this round...
I was originally wanting to do a representation from EVERY Faction, but it would have had KT busy for months! ha ha... More will be revealed, though.Thanks for the good comments and questions! Oh, by the way, if there are no objections from Ian or the judges, I'd be happy to reveal a little more info on some of the factions and characters. Plenty of mystery left even if I share some details. All in the name of sharing my passion for this project.
Sepulcher commented:Yes.I like what I see this entry becoming, seems to me that perhaps the different relationships between factions and characters is so vast the writer got a little startled - not knowing what details to bring out in this round. Still, very good effort and very promising, I hope you guys make it through so I can see what you'll become.Lastly, a question: Who is that supposed to be on the "T" in faction? A generic society member or something specific? Guess I'll need to read the comic to find out.
My response:
Sepulcher wrote ...Lastly, a question: Who is that supposed to be on the "T" in faction? A generic society member or something specific? Guess I'll need to read the comic to find out.
Actually, the image in the center of the logo is the "money" portion of the rough cover we submitted after Round 1 begain... I'll post it below so you can see. As to why Acker (the guy in the center) is in that position and what it all means, you need to read A) the zero issue and the first few pages of issue 1.It definitely is not supposed to be Acker on the cross or anything.
ArchetypeOne AKA Wade:Yes.And first-time voter, too!
My Comment – Not posted, but I’m just happy to be Wade’s first vote!Cary AKA Writer of Fallen Justic, Dynagirl, and owner/operator/all around good guy at RedHandedStudios.comoh my lord Wade voted! that's just...historic! you guys don't know how rare that is! to be his first vote...wow.lol and i have to admit tho i've seen all this in various forms and tweaks, it still looks fresh and exciting. Faction gets a big YES from me! looks like they have the media machine in high gear!
More questions:
Another little bit of Faction Facts care of the DimeStoreProductions.com forums...
From Sepulcher:Hey Bard, thanks for the clarification on the "T". So now since you've proven you're willing to talk to the little folk, I have a second question: The Den-Malignity and the BloodLord are different factions? I know you'll save the differences between them and allegiances and such until the comics, but it's starting to look like 1 good team (society) against lots of bad teams. Was that your purpose? Maybe it is just me but I would think things would be more complicated (in a good way) if both good and bad had to sometimes interact and work together for a common cause. IMO.
And my response:Sepulcher, thanks for the question!When the lines are drawn as to what faction is on which side of the battle, it’s going to come down to interests, not good or evil. If one side represents chaos and destruction while the other side represents status quo, where would you fall? An evil faction with roots deeply embedded in society would NOT want changes while a good faction which has determined that the world is corrupt, “dirty”, etc, may decide that chaos and destruction is the best course of action.
Bottom line is that I could say “Oh, one of the factions is the Keebler Elves” and you may think, “oh, they’re good, they’ll side with the Society”. Why is that? What purpose would some little elves living in trees have supporting a society that might come and cut down their trees for paper to print comic books? These are the dynamics that are going to be covered in the “political” side of the battle between the factions. Notice how Acker is referred to as an emissary? Every faction is going to have some sort of representation in the ongoing series at different times. Each will represent their faction’s interests, but may have their own personal agenda as well (as in, just because they’re an emissary doesn’t mean they won’t kill you for kicks). On a sad note, since I’m not nice enough to spill the beans on everything, you will not be introduced to a single emissary outside of Acker until Issue 1 of the ongoing series. I’ve already written the issue and the introduction of said emissary has serious implications to the plot.
To comment on your sort of question about the relationship between the Den-Malignity and the Blood Lord. The Blood Lord is not a vampire, lycanthrope, or zombie, but what is he and who is he tied to? I’ll tell you this, he has ties to two factions, one being the Den-Malignity. Why he is not part of that faction, though, is the question…. The Den are a loose group of demons (as “grouped’ as you can consider demons) and their minions. The Blood Lord is not one of those demons and also is not one of their minions. Do I raise more questions than answers? Yep, that’s the point. Ha ha.Here are the factions that have been revealed so far…
1. The Society of the Enlightened – The Knights aren’t the only branch of the Society, just a small part of the overall entity.
2. The Den-Malignity – The powerful demons and minions, such as Emlin and Adam (referred to in Emlin’s bio), are not the only creatures that make up the Den.
3. The Blood Lord – The Blood Lord himself, vampires, werewolves, and zombies all fall under his control as well as other supernatural oddities.
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ?? ?
8. ???
9. More??? Maybe…
So… thanks for the question and keep asking them if you have more. I’ll answer what I can.Also, please keep in mind that I’m trying to compile these kinds of questions and responses on my blog daily (end of the day or early the next morning). That way everything is all in one place for people to read through.
Another snippet:
As promised, I'm attaching the first of many little snippets into the world of Faction. Some of the questions I've answered in the forums are intended to flush things out, but I'm also planning to continue sticking in little clues as to who the factions are, who's a part of them, etc, while still keeping people scratching their heads.
Today's entry is one Lora Styrene from another faction...
If you're keeping track, this means the below are the factions you know about so far...
1. The Society of the Enlightened
2. The Den-Malignity
3. The Blood Lord
4. The Mind
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. More???? Maybe...
More info:
Another question of sorts from the dimestoreproductions.com forums... another answer...
Sepulcher wrote...A new faction, the mind... I guess at some point we'll understand what all these factions want out of life? I suppose I'm assuming, but the Society, the Den-Malignity, and the Bloodlord all seem to be straight forward, but I'm not quite sure what a faction like the mind would stand for. Interesting stuff... keep it coming Bard.
My ResponseAnother question, another answer... of sorts...
So, a faction is a group of people who may gather for different reasons, at different capacities, and have different agendas. Now what brings people together and how do you define that group? A political affiliation is only as strong as you want it to be. You have a box you check on one end and you're running for office and/or trying to make policy on the other. Another group could just be a gathering around a table once a month to say, what's going on with so and so... We will call these groups factions because they are assembled enough in some way to be considered a power strong enough to change things for better or worse. How they go about doing it is what the story is all about. One may pick up a gun (or axe) while another might persuade others to act a certain way (yes, I know... vague).
If you look at the Society, there's actually a lot of organization which will be shown in the limited series (4 issues). The Den, however, are a loose organized group of powerful demons. If they did manage to organize, their ongoing battle with the Society would already be over. How do they communicate, who's in control, what branches are there (if any), etc...
The story of the factions in my series stretches back thousands of years. You don't join into the story until Acker does, so there are a lot of things that will be a mystery from the far and even recent past. What happened so long ago to all but the Society and the Den? Who is coming back, why are they coming back, are they all from the past or are some new... All questions that deserve and will eventually get explanations.
As we get closer to the release of the zero issue in whatever form (anthology, solo issue, etc), I'm planning to fill everyone in one some things such as what changed in the world between 2009 and 2025. Also, I'm going to give away a little bit of some of the other factions or the players in those factions.
More info....
Another day, another update... Here's another member of the Society, Zephan Zoben. I may need to come back and make this a little prettier, but here you go!
NAME: Zephan Zoben
FACTION: Society of the Enlightened
CODE NAME: Cephas - Rock
AGE: 26
HEIGHT: 5' 9"
WEIGHT: 150 lbs.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: N/A
BIOGRAPHY: The Protector for the Society of the Enlightened, Zephan is a 26-year-old Israeli, born and raised. Zephan watched all of this friends die when a bomb tore apart his dorm while in college and has never gotten past that day. At the end of the day, Zephan just wants to help people, mostly those who can’t protect themselves. As a Knight, he is one of the groups main spell-weavers, having spent lifetimes practicing the mystical arts in various forms, though in this life he mainly focuses those spells on protecting his friends, innocent bystanders, and lastly himself. He typically doesn’t carry weapons, primarily relying on spells, but he does carry a backpack on him for easy access to any number of “trinkets”.
There you go! When I have a chance, I'll probably put this with an image like I did with Lora from the Mind faction.Until next time...
And... more info!
Update from the lastest assembled numbers a la Ian... 125 votes for Faction! Still in the number 1 slot, but the pace others are keeping may challenge the lead, so keep on voting everyone! Thanks!
Now for a snippet based off of a question from the Faction Forums at DimeStore.
So, this one I had to think about a little bit before responding, mainly to keep from giving away too much and trying to keep my rep as a “cryptic old sage”. Ha ha…
First off, I want to respond to your comment about fighting in the shadows versus open warfare. Unlike a lot of stories that have been done over the years involving genre blending, this is happening from the early stages of the re-discovery of several factions. We can assume that the 2009 in the characters’ past is what we are living right now. In 2025, events have occurred which shaped how society developed, but it’s still the “real” world. When the factions start popping up, they are not obvious, they don’t pop up on the news and say, “hi, I’m the Blood Lord and I approve this message.” The struggle between the Society and the Den started and remains in the shadows. As more join in the fray, they can only stay in those shadows so long…
Factions vary in size, organization, power, and ambition. Where the powerful demons in the Den-Malignity together are extremely powerful, they lack the organization to truly dominate the playing field. The Society has a lot of numbers between Knights, normal people, and “other”, but they aren’t trying to take over the world, nor do they have the individual power to, say, kill all of the Den-Malignity effectively. Of course, getting at the demons is a little more challenging than fighting their minions. The Blood Lord individually has a lot of power and has a lot of numbers between the vampires, lycanthropes, and zombies following him, but would they follow him blindly into combat should he decide to make a run for control, probably not. Each has their own weaknesses, too (his minions, not the Blood Lord himself), which make them ineffective in long term campaigns. The Mind is something a little bit different. They “could” do some significant damage, but again would they want to. As for the rest, you just have to wait and see… There is a reason emissaries come into play; what point would there be for them without some intrigue in the mix?
I will tell you this, however. Once the story gets running and all players ARE on the field, they come out about equal between numbers, powers, and weaknesses, etc… Now the scary part… one of the factions is merely comprised of two creatures. What kind of power scale would we be talking about there?
Oh, in regards to the Blood Lord having millions following him through central Europe, that would assume knowing the exact details of what leads to the dead rising and what keeps them animated. He DOES have significant numbers, but not millions, no.
EARLY BIO OF ACKER:
So, I was thinking this morning it might be fun to show some of what inspired the story of Faction. Several months ago, while I was working on a novel an idea popped in my head. I won't mention my working title for the time becasue it will conjure images that don't completely apply to Faction, but when the idea came, I had to write it down right away. This was an early bio of one Acker Kinney, covering his early adulthood. Enjoy!
Acker Kinney – I once thought that life was so complex; the things I did in life were never easy. I enlisted in the Marines the day of my 18th birthday… It was a present from me to me. I could have gone onto college and tried to become an officer, but with what was going on in the Middle East, I just couldn’t wait to go and do something with myself. The recruiter promised me I could be whatever I wanted to be in the Marines, so I said I wanted to be infantry. Boot camp wasn’t a breeze, but I did better in there than a lot of the grunts to my left and right.
Shortly after boot camp, we trained in the “deserts” of Camp Pendleton. We had classes on tactics, hand-to-hand combat, rifles, pistols, and pretty much anything we could get our hands on. We learned to identify ballistics by the sounds they made from over the hill or miles away. I’m betting I lost some of my hearing during that time, but of course it could have been when the boys and I headed out all over Southern California when we were given our limited time off. Some of the guys partied hard, tattooed anything not visible outside of their greens, and damn the torpedoes. People like me? Well, I won’t say I didn’t party, but it wasn’t quite as hard. I didn’t drink much, though I can remember, errr partially remember a few crazy nights. I don’t smoke, and God help anyone who tried to do anything else if they got caught.
In those days, we all knew that we could end up shipped to a small base in Kansas or in the middle of the action in Iraq, Afghanistan, or someplace we haven’t even heard of to defend out freedom. In all of our training, some of the officers noticed I excelled in first aid. Suddenly I found that fewer and fewer of my classes were with the guys I had spent the past weeks and months training with. While my friends were crawling through trenches and shooting tracer bullets into the night, I was practicing field dressing, crawling through smoke filled sand-traps to find an “injured” soldier. They had me diving into pools to “rescue” drowning soldiers in full gear, running miles carrying the normal field gear plus basic medical equipment, and praying every day that things would get easier.
A couple of years and ranks later, I found myself in Ft. Bragg. In a 22 week program, the Marine Corps taught me to be a Special Operations Medic. I didn’t realize while I was there but later learned that I was, at 21, the youngest person to ever get through the training. You don’t get in the media for breaking Special Ops records in the military, but the service was proud, so I was proud.
More questions and answers:
I received a much appreciated question about Faction yesterday I had to take some time to think about... Below are parts of the posting intermingled with my answers... Enjoy! If you have any questions about Faction, please hop over to DimeStoreProductions.com and post them in the Faction Round 2 Forum so I can address them there (they'll end up here afterwards).
darlinikki wrote ...Definitely interested in knowing the history and complexit - especially between Acker and Abigail.
My response...As I think I posted about before, there’s a lot of drama surrounding those two. It’s not going to be a cut and dry reunion between these two regardless of their history.
darlinikki wrote ...Good vs evil is the theme - but there is only one character that you make reference to God. Interested to see how religion or spirituality come into play here. Awakening/rebirth/ transformation of the characters will be a point of interest for me as a reader.
My response...In the pitch, buried in the “Retired Idol 2009 Threads”, I make mention of the fact that all of the Knights are “Blessed by God with countless lifetimes of knowledge and rediscovered powers.” As far as how the whole Awakening/rebirth/ transformation thing works, you’ll need to read on because a lot of it won’t be revealed until the book comes out. It’s not simple reincarnation, I’ll tell you that.
Each of the Knights has a certain “aptitude” that crosses from life to life, which ties to their names such as Asa, Abimael, Gabriel, Cephas, etc… In this life, Acker is a Special Forces Medic. In the last he could have done acupuncture, for example, or holistic medicine.
darlinikki wrote ...Just one point on illustration - Abigail is very properly dressed, wears a crucifix, father is God, but she uses a gun or weapons? I wasn't clear on that.
My response...Abigail is actually tied to the Church. Her normal day to day attire is very conservative. When she goes into battle, perhaps things will be a little different, but given her primary means of offense and defense, it may not be necessary.
darlinikki wrote ...The 400+lbs weight on some of the characters is a little disturbing. They are candidates for heart attacks. The demon creature is 6'9" and would be twice the size of Shaq!!! I don't know if you want to reconsider the weight. I just thought it was odd.
…
I wonder if the Blood Lord guy has a flaw - like poor eyesight or something to "weaken" him...
My response...The Blood Lord isn’t human, I’ll tell you that much. Issues such as heart attacks would not apply to him. As far as a weakness goes, again, you’ll have to wait and see. No one is all powerful and as I explain in another one of my posts, there power level between different factions balance out in various ways. I’m not sure what page of the posts it’s on, but if you read through my blog (link in my signature), I’ve got a compiled list of my Faction “snippets” from the forum here. They go from here to there.
darlinikki wrote ...Emlin looks like a seductress - that should be her distinguishing feature - not necessarily a scar or some other discernable physical attribute. Her attitude or her mannerism would be.
My response...The way I interpret a distinguishing feature is something that stands out regardless of what they are wearing. It’s something that can’t easily be covered up physically. Tattoos, piercings, scars, horns, teeth, abnormal skin pigmentation, etc… mannerisms and way of dress could be dependent on situations. But you do make a good point!
Thanks for the questions and if anyone has others, please let me know! I’ll answer what I can… In fact, I think some of these questions brought about some fairly direct answers from me. Now that’s abnormal!
Also, thank you again to everyone who has been voting for Faction, I’m humbled by the turnout, honestly.
ORIGINS AND SCOPE:
Another good question from the DimeStore site and my response... A few people are really curious! :)
Sepulcher wrote ...Bard, anything you can tell us about where most of this story takes place? I mean, is it a globe trotting affair like a big budget movie where you'll hit Rome, New York, etc - or will things center mostly around the middle east, or Europe, or what not? Looking at the Society, Acker is American but all the names the Society has (Asa, etc) sound more like Greek or Latin to me... Just curious.
My response...To answer your question, the story is globe-trotting, yes. It starts in the Middle East (Acker go boom), moves to Germany, and then around depending on where the various factions might be hiding themselves. The first arc of the story (four issues) will cover primarily Europe, though. As for the names such as "Asa", "Abimael", etc. they're Hebrew, tying back to their names from biblical times.To give you an idea of their origins, take a look below.Acker - AmericanAbigail - FrenchGabriel - AfricanZephan - IsraeliEmlin - GermanLora - EnglishBlood Lord - Most recently? Elsewhere
ANOTHER BIO:
Another day, another little glimpse into the world of Faction... Today we're going to take a look at yet another Knight, this time Dayton! It's technically not Sunday yet here in California, but I'm counting this as my Sunday post since I'm still awake and it's after midnight SPI time.
NAME: Dayton Keoni
FACTION: Society of the Enlightened
CODE NAME: Dathan - Fountain
AGE: 19
HEIGHT: 5'4"
WEIGHT: 120 lbs
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Long, dark, semi-coarse brown hair and goatee.
BIOGRAPHY: The Thinker for the Society of the Enlightened, Dayton is a 29-year-old half-Polynesian, half-Japanese man from Hawaii. He always seems to be at peace, having thought of dozens of possibilities fo what could happen next and tends to be prepared for all of them. His father was a Buddhist monk who left Kyoto and the order to go to Hawaii, seeking peace from his own inner turmoil. There, Dayton’s father found both a wife and life. His son was born with the same turmoil, which was finally quenched when he was Awoken as a Knight. He is trained in Shaolin Kung-Fu and Wushu, better with a gun than a blade, better with his hands than both. His abilities as a Knight include countless lifetimes of knowledge, but also a variety of skills from medicine to Philosophy, and various physical feats, though not quite classified as magic, are incredibly impressive.
