[606] Looking for Inspiration with a Character
My 1:1 critique.
Hi! I'm working on a character in my science fiction called the Voidseer. He's an original idea but there are two characters, Slenderman and the Thin Man (Little Nightmares), that I'm struggling to stay away from in terms of physical design, behavior, and purpose. I was wondering if you could throw some creative ideas my way; maybe I'd find some clear ways to distinguish the Voidseer while still keeping the core elements of the impression I want to leave on my audience. Here are my main questions (though all ideas are appreciated), and I'll put some info below if you want to understand the character better.
Questions I could use help with:
- What happens to the people caught by the Voidseer? (try to keep gore/visually disgusting things to a low. Like growing extra body parts is fine; but I don't want liquids and entrails everywhere.)
- What can I add/change/take away to keep the physical appearance's impression and make it unique in comparison to similar characters?
- Any ideas for creepy, eerily beautiful, or awe-inspiring mechanics? Strange behaviors, visual or auditory phenomena, mode of transportation, etc. Be as creative as you want!
- A shred of his personality remains, locked away. When he's not spreading the Silken Song's ideals, what does he do?
- What if he doesn't stalk and take people? What eldritch purpose do you have in mind?
Here's a musical theme I'm working on if that helps you think. :) (Voidseer Theme Excerpt)
Physical description:
Humanoid. Elongated length, namely torso, arms, and legs. Wears a dark gray suit, pants, and dress shoes. Has an extra joint on each finger and toe. Pale-purple skin, a bald head, and sunken cheeks. Has no face, just a smooth, purple, crystalline surface that fades into skin at the edges. It's translucent and dotted with glittery specks that resemble stars. Staring straight into this "face" gives the impression of a black abyss behind the crystal, no internal structures (brain, throat, etc.) as one would expect.
Behavior:
His mind is too foggy to speak even if he had a mouth, but something resembling self-awareness and conscious thought yearns unquenched to reach the surface. Most common behavior is standing still, "staring" at people of interest. He now lives in the Silken Song's home dimensional space, a stone flatland with sparse obsidian pillars. Thus his presence can't be easily hidden, yet people have never seen him approach from the horizon. He seems to appear within tens of yards of people, behind them or in their peripherals. I haven't decided his method of locomotion. Standard teleportation is cool yet contrived, and running fast ruins the atmosphere. I want it to generate increasing anxiety as he gets slowly closer, like the Thin Man when he walks and teleports, but I want it to be unique.
Purpose:
Once an inter-dimensional explorer with a knack for poetry, the Voidseer has been saved from death by a powerful intelligence called the Silken Song, a force which believes its ideals should be propagated across the galaxy. Concepts like the color purple, empty expanses, elongation, many-segmented structures, serenity, willing submission, and unity (almost like a hive mind, but not quite). It is a force of will that can dominate others but often chooses not to. That's where the Voidseer is different; he is cursed by a third party to demand submission. He is permeated by the Silken Song's ideals and its desire to propagate them, but whereas the Silken Song will remain idle if people choose not to adopt them, the Voidseer stalks them until they are caught and taken back to that eerie stone flatland.
Posted Sep 16, 2022, 10:24 PM UTC · edited