Hey Titans!
While taking a look at the Paths update and reading up on the Titan’s South Hero Path, I couldn’t help but envision a character not unlike teenage heroes like Robin, Superboy, or Spider-Man who are just learning the ropes and their capabilities and if he is powered, the limits of his abilities.
Regarding location and flavor, I see him operating around Hightpoint, hailing from Diamond Beach specifically. As a character of Latino/Hispanic descent, I also wanted him to potentially incorporate his heritage into his costumed identity, and or his powers.
I’m open to any concepts or ideas you guys have regarding what his powers could be or what drove him to be a hero~
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Well you're not really giving us much to work with here... can you start by giving us more of an idea of what powers he has? Maybe a type? Is he an apex human, or a mad scientist or a mage? Did he get his powers from a science experiment gone wrong? Is he a mutant?
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
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His powers can be anything, really. Though for a lot of street level heroes you'd want to be relatively low powered. Spiderman has super strength but it's not on the same level as someone like Thor or Hulk.
As for his heritage, if you're not of that heritage yourself I'd be careful, you don't want to end up being like Super friends El Dorado.
[img]https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/superfriends/images/7/74/El_Dorado.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090707030537[/img]
For reading material for a similar kind of hero look up and read the pre new 52 Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle stuff.
Depending on where the character grew up (I'd assume in the city as being a street level hero in a city you're not from is odd) that would definitely factor into how such a character interacts with or views their heritage. And picking a specific Latin American heritage might be a good start as I believe they aren't just all one thing.
From what I've seen in media (which probably tend to stick to stereotypes) your character would probably have a lot of respect for his parents/grandparents/family and would probably do their best not to worry them (if they're still alive). Jamie Reyes flat out told his family the truth first chance he got, that way he didn't need to sneak about and our to them.
But yeah, do some reading and research about the various cultures then some more ideas might come to you naturally.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
I apologize for the lack of general information, I was feeling out the concept as I typed, but the jist would be that he would be either powered via a magical artifact or by being a mutant (or metahuman?)
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Yeah, I will NOT be going to Super Friends El Dorado route~
The reason I mentioned his heritage and why it’s important to his character, is I feel as a teen, you are acknowledging your roots and where you come from and able to process and think about your customs and family life while also trying to form your own identity, which I think makes for a lot of room to RP and write with comic/game character wise.
I see him as a person of Mexican descent, with his parents being immigrants. They, along with his abuela, are doing everything they can to raise him right in what some consider a rougher and dangerous part of the city and give him more than what they have.
Character tidbit aside, regarding a potential concept I read up on the Aztec Mythology of the Nagual, or a shaman who could channel the ability of a jaguar and shapeshift, and I feel like that could potentially make for a cool street level cat themed superhero, though I drew a blank on powers and origin of said powers.
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He has an amulet of the Shadow Jaguar it grants him some enhanced strength, speed, and cat-like reflexes, not to mention claws. When activated it encases him in shadowy armor in the form of the Jaguar. Though this gift is not without risk: staying too long wrapped in shadows causes him to become more and more feral.
The amulet is bonded to him, no one else can activate it or bond with it till it's current holder dies.
Edit: so kind of like a teenage, magic, Black Panther.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
Hmmm, seems a little reminiscent of White Tiger from Marvel as well and Vixen from DC. I could potentially work with this-any ideas on how he could come by the amulet, or where it comes from?
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Maybe he ran into the previous holder who was dying? Like Hal Jordan did with Abin Sur.
Go the Blue Beetle route and have it land near him after some kind of explosion.
Maybe it came to him in a dream and when he awoke it was there. Mysterious.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
Of course, there's always the Family Legacy trope.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Those are all certainly possible-I wonder if he should have or attempt to maintain a secret id save for his family or attempt that ‘I keep it secret to protect them’ trope.
Perhaps it’s a part of a set of amulets or a family heirloom?
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Keeping a secret from the family only hurts them.
Case 1, they don't know: a villain discovers the hero's identity they then go after the hero's family. The family has no idea this is coming the hero can't warn them without possibly letting slip his identity.
Case 2, they know: same as before but the hero can warn their family and their family understands the danger they are in.
What good reason is there to keep this from family? Are they going to sell you out to a villain? Not likely.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
And if it's a Family Legacy thing, then you've got a built-in support crew. Your sister can go out and buy you some groceries, while you're too busy foiling capers to deal with it. If she knows about the Super thing, then she can pick up a tube of medicated costume lube, or extra bandages, without going WTF!?!?
Better still, Aunt May might remember when Grandpa Joe had this same (insert problem) and how he dealt with it.
Be Well!
Fireheart
That also has some story potential stuff to work with. Regarding the amulet and powers in general, should there be limits or rules regarding its magic, or any extra bells and whistles you guys can think of?
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Yeah, I think it would be best if his family knew, especially with him operating in Highpoint and the constant juggling and secret keeping can only go on so long.
As far as his approach to being a hero I feel that he relies on his family for stability and to ground him with tradition and love in a city where life can change in an instant and seeing a superhero or villain tear up your morning commute is probably commonplace.
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My personal feeling is that the 'limits' should be inherent in the Character. They can do what they can do because that's how they imagine it works. As time goes forward and they learn more, try more, try different things, then they might develop a different picture of their limits.
Any other limits of power would be up to the author/god who invented the magical McGuffin in the first place.
For the purposes of the Game, the structure of those limits will be in the AT/Powerset and in the game engine itself. They're inherent in the 'world' that the character is living in.
I have a couple of characters whose 'story' abilities simply can't be fully expressed in any game-i-verse I've ever played in. So I have to fit the character to the world they're stuck in and not my much more flexible imagination.
Be Well!
Fireheart
So a mix of a practical/narrative approach to a character's limits? I like that.
Speaking of archetype and powers, I think he would be an Enforcer and specifically, a Striker. He leaps from above and ambushes thugs and villains and moves back out of range, like a Jaguar in the jungle.
As far as actual power set, I don’t really know, claws and reflexes from CoX comes to mind.
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Some reference to [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezcatlipoca]Tezcatlipoca[/url] might be warranted, because the jaguar was his symbol. In fact, the sacred [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_warrior]Jaguar Warriors[/url] were elite Aztec special forces.
One particularly entertaining line is:
"To become a jaguar warrior, a member of the Aztec army had to capture twelve enemies during two consecutive battles. This was said to honor their gods in a way far greater than killing enemy soldiers in the battlefield. For a warrior to kill an enemy was considered clumsy."
So it could be the jaguar skin he wears or the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macuahuitl]macuahuitl[/url] he uses.
But that is all Aztec.
There were also Mayan and Olmec cultures. We don't know much about the Mayans other than Jaguars figured prominently. But the Olmecs had [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werejaguar]werejaguar shamans[/url] which are pretty cool.
[hr]I like to take your ideas and supersize them. This isn't criticism, it is flattery. I come with nothing but good will and a spirit of team-building. If you take what I write any other way, that is probably just because I wasn't very clear.
Perhaps the amulet he wears is a gift of sorts from Tezcatlipoca or a remnant of the Ancient Jaguar Warriors, hence his Jaguar related abilities? I personally see him using a mix of claws, speed, super reflexes and agility to defeat his foes nonlethally, though he has to potential to use weapons maybe if he needs to?
As far as the origin of the amulet, I’m open to ideas?
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Maybe in this character's canon the Aztec jaguar warriors were all actually holders of these amulets granting them awesome jaguar powers.
His family is from a long line of these warriors, most amulets being lost in time.
Then one of his badguys could be an older Jaguar warrior, who uses his power for evil, but wants to train the boy, take him under his wing as a successor.
Ooh! Maybe the evil jaguar warrior has multiple amulets that he took from the other warriors he's killed!
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
I like the idea about the line of Jaguar warriors and the amulets being connected-I also see one of his villains being a urban developer/City planner and community organizer who secretly operates as a crime boss, gathering power from sacrifices to Quetzalcoatl.
At the same time though, I wouldn’t want him to seem too similar to say, Black Panther, given his current relevancy.
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Well black panther uses both magic and mad science while your character would use only magic. I would be more worried about being to much like vixen but even then she has more than just jaguar powers as she can call on all the powers of all the animals not just one.
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
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Just don't call him Black Jaguar and you'll probably be fine.
:P
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
As far as backstory, I don’t think I want to give him something tragic or dark or mired with angst and conflict-I feel like his story would be just starting as the game begins, at least as a hero in South Titan.
Naming wise I think Nagual works, as it directly references his Jaguar powers and isn’t (insert color) and (insert animal name) like say Blue Beetle or Black Panther
Civilian ID, maybe something like Diego Garcia or Diego Garcia Perez (Mother’s and Father’s last name is a Mexican naming convention)
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Awesome name, though I had to look it up.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
Agree. Great name.
[hr]I like to take your ideas and supersize them. This isn't criticism, it is flattery. I come with nothing but good will and a spirit of team-building. If you take what I write any other way, that is probably just because I wasn't very clear.
Maybe he was inspired to be a hero because another hero saved his life?
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
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Thanks~ Last but not least, I had a stray thought about giving him an ‘extra’ power so to speak, like how Spider Man has his ‘Spidey Sense’ to give you an idea.
I was thinking something like, given that Jaguars are stealthy hunters, and the name of the totem is the Shadow Jaguar (Tezcatlipoca is the god of the night sky) that he has a sort of camouflage ability, not actual invisibility but close in the sense it allows him to move stealthily at times.
Any thoughts or ideas?
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Stealth is a good idea. Then you can be like Spiderman (Miles Morales, who coincidentally is half Latino).
If you want it to be a limited power (which spider sense is not especially when coupled with his enhanced reflexes and speed) then you could have the stealth only work at night.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
I personally don't like the Aztecs and would rather base a character on the Mayans. Human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism just don't sit well.
For powers, I'd be choosing Dark/Dark, or Claws/Dark, for the shadow-warrior angle. Feel free to ignore all of this, if you've already made your choices.
Be Well!
Fireheart
That's why you make them an offshoot of regular Aztecs and not deal with their troubled past.
Or just deal with the fact that bad things happened in their culture's past.
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
I think I’ll go ahead and keep the stealth, coincidentally making him the striker/scout in combat rather than a brawler or something else.
Regarding the deeds of the Aztecs, I was thinking along the same lines of Project_Hero and going to have him accept where his powers come from but have him decide how he carries that legacy moving forward~
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I can completely respect that. Say, "My Ancestors' culture demanded certain things of them, but I am not limited by that culture."
Be Well!
Fireheart
Which again can make for an awesome bad guy who's sticking to the old ways!
"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to."
One of the new Ghost Riders was latino, Robbie Reyes. While you obviously can't have the same powers I imagine his backstory can give you some inspiration for a latino teen superhero.
Robbie's sole motivation is to get his little mentally handicapped brother out of a very gang ridden part of Los Angeles and take care of him. From what I have seen it's not really depicted as an angsty motivation barring the fact he is a Ghost Rider which inherently is an very edgy power. Another motivation I saw with another superhero setting was an teen hero working for a superhero team to provide the money for his father's cancer treatment. He wasn't angsty at all personality wise. If anything he usually tried to keep his teammates and civilians spirits up with jokes and clownish antics.
yeah, hopefully you can find someone who's willing to play you nemesis
not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM
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A solid motivation is the key to a good and ultimately likeable and in the case of comic heroes-readable characters. I see Diego as a person who wants to improve the lives of the people in Highpoint who don’t live in idyllic cottages of Turrell Hills or in a lavish family brownstone in Old Bradford-he fights for the immigrants barely making ends meet in Savoy and the kids growing up on Ironport’s docks.
He wants to leave the city a safer place for his little sister and the people who can’t tear through concrete with claws and survive a encounter with a supe unscathed.
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A solid motivation is the key to a good and ultimately likeable and in the case of comic heroes-readable characters. I see Diego as a person who wants to improve the lives of the people in Highpoint who don’t live in idyllic cottages of Turrell Hills or in a lavish family brownstone in Old Bradford-he fights for the immigrants barely making ends meet in Savoy and the kids growing up on Ironport’s docks.
He wants to leave the city a safer place for his little sister and the people who can’t tear through concrete with claws and survive a encounter with a supe unscathed.
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Thirty-seven posts and not a single PUMAMAN reference?
[img]http://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Puma-Man-Uomo-Puma-Walter-Alton-a.jpg[/img]
How about a Simon Bolivar look? "the Liberator"
[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/33xefxc.jpg[/IMG]
[img]https://s15.postimg.cc/z9bk1znkb/Black_Falcon_Sig_in_Progess.jpg[/img]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z-4CD_QbdY
I would personally use something like this as inspiration for an stealthy feline based character myself. I think this scene (and the other scenes with these guys in that episode) just emphasize how scary a character like this could be to whomever they are targeting, especially at street level.
I like the efficiency of their movements and the idea that they use skill and stealth over strength and overpowering their enemies, something I feel Nagual would do naturally seeing as he embodies the Jaguar.
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Hey all!
I was wondering if you guys wanted to maybe help developing potential enemies or villains for Nagual to encounter as a street level hero?
I kinda like the idea of maybe a themed gang in Highpointe, maybe a cadre of thugs with stolen magical artifacts maybe, and lastly a big bad who actually also serves as a avatar for the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl, and performs sacrifices and blood magic as fuel for their abilities, and maybe has a civilian guise as a community organizer to operate as a front?
Thoughts and name ideas? Themed along with the heritage of some of the neighborhoods in Highpoint would be cool I think as well, like a blood letting serial killer called the Chupacabra in Diamond Beach, etc?
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