Like a bad penny....

[Geektopian]

This guy keeps turning back up!



I can't decide if Chancellor Stahl is the Beloved Leader for Life of Volksrepublik Surren or the Caelian Demokratische Republik. In either case, I really don't think he means well, in spite of his "peaceful and democratic" rhetoric.


EDIT: Fixed a rather blatant misspelling on the poster.

[Evelien]

Ahem... Voksrepublik?

His uniform looks great btw.

[Iwa_Hoshi]

whats stopping him from being leader of both?

[Geektopian]

Ahem... Voksrepublik?

His uniform looks great btw.

GAH!!!! Thanks for the catch Evelien! Fortunately, I can patch over the misspelling and add the missing "L". Also, the graphic artist responsible for this will soon have a new career in the salt mining industry!
His uniform is made up of pieces from DiD while his boots (jackboots, what else?) are from Dragon. There wasn't much offending "political insignia" to remove; just one iron eagle on his hat which popped right off leaving a couple traces of gold paint I still need to scrape off.

Iwa, I'm thinking it would be either Caelia or Surren to keep things simple for me. Also, while both nations are fictional and their locations are pretty vague, Caelia seems to be somewhere in the Americas while Surren is more Central or Eastern European. I guess a real-world comparison would be like trying to govern both Croatia and Venezuela.

[Geektopian]

My problem now is that I'm not sure what to do with this guy. I have a cast of potential supporting characters and some vague ideas for a possible episodic photo story. I have a pretty good idea of the historical background underpinning the story and I know that I want it to be satirical but, aside from that, there's no narrative "glue" binding these elements together. The story itself seems to have no raison d'être and as a consequence, neither do the characters.

[JanetT]

I like him. As for which fictional nation he's the Beloved Leader for -- do you want him to be the leader of the same country your heroes/protagonists are from or the Other Country? Is the main action/conflict of the story supposed to be directed externally (politically speaking, a foreign enemy or economic/military rival), or internally (domestic politics, turmoil, intrigue, or civil unrest/dissent?) I know your characters are military types -- but are they working for this guy, or are they the opposition?

He looks spiffy. Graphics are great! (and I can tell you as a graphic artist who's done big poster-sized stuff, it's VERY EASY to misspell a word when you're focused on the placement of letters within the design of the whole - you really do cease to perceive the WORD, you're just seeing shapes, so it's incredibly easy to leave one out!)

[Geektopian]

I like him. As for which fictional nation he's the Beloved Leader for -- do you want him to be the leader of the same country your heroes/protagonists are from or the Other Country? Is the main action/conflict of the story supposed to be directed externally (politically speaking, a foreign enemy or economic/military rival), or internally (domestic politics, turmoil, intrigue, or civil unrest/dissent?) I know your characters are military types -- but are they working for this guy, or are they the opposition?

He looks spiffy. Graphics are great! (and I can tell you as a graphic artist who's done big poster-sized stuff, it's VERY EASY to misspell a word when you're focused on the placement of letters within the design of the whole - you really do cease to perceive the WORD, you're just seeing shapes, so it's incredibly easy to leave one out!)

In either the case of Surren or Caelia, they are "other" countries. My protagonists consider this guy their primary enemy.

The back story involving Surren has more overt sci-fi and fantasy elements, a lot of homages to, or parodies of, media properties and historical events/ personalities and is generally meant to be more goofy, anachronistic and snarky. The back story involving Caelia is grounded much closer to the real world. That second story was originally created as the background for a fictional "Imagi-Nation" scenario that could be used in a miniature war game or RPG. I realized that it would also work well as the fictional world for my dolls and action figures.

My concern is that the Surren story could run off the rails due to weirdness and the Caelia story could bog down in stale or dire narrative.

[Geektopian]

I vote Surren. He definitely gives me a little hint of a 'goofy' vibe!

Thanks! I'm leaning towards Surren myself. I think the goofy vibe might be coming from me though!

One of my biggest hurdles right now is putting together Surren's Sturm Legions (or whatever I end up calling the goon army).

This is a very rough idea of what the Sturm Legion (or whatever) would look like.


The green face mask is out since, as fellow board member Tigerbaby pointed out, he looks like a Ninja Turtle. Now, I just need to head swap about 6 to 8 of these guys and repaint their faces. No problem!

As an aside, I'm starting to rework or reassess the look of some of these characters. I can't help but think that Alrich's uniform needs more "bling" to help give him that true authoritarian presence. Both he and his second in command seem almost subtle and understated. I'll have to find a photo of her or maybe take a new one.