I can tell you right now fellas that this isn't enough info. As interesting as this project sounds to me, it starting off vaguely. Usually intros provide details of at least the boss and main conflict of the game. This mainly states that things after Armageddon have continued... period.

Thank god it's not a long post, but there's really not much to criticize about so far.

I await the next post.

Remember this is Mortal Kombat and Not Tekken or Soul Caliber.


So more individuality of MK and less stealing/cloneage of other fighting games.

Yeah, I know what you mean. We'll definitely let the story unfold and all that. You'll probably learn of the boss later on. We still have to sort some things out with him.



Yes, I'm aware that this is Mortal Kombat and not Tekken or Soul Calibur. We're not trying to be a clone of other fighting games. I've only posted the intro, so don't make such assumptions.

Haha, I'm going to be in trouble. Believe it or not, in my concept for the next Mortal Kombat arc, I have a character called Mercurus. Like exactly that. I also discovered that someone created a character called "Ming Dao" on these boards, which is similar to a character of mine called "Ming Bao." I feel guilty, even though I know I didn't steal them.

There isn't enough information to judge negatively, and there is really nothing wrong with it. You seem to have a lot of new characters, and some returning ones with potential. More power to you.

Damn, that's fucked up. Hopefully your Mercurus is not much like mine, because Mercurus happens to be one of the characters that I came up with myself. We may need to sort this out a bit through the PM system to make sure things will be alright for both of us.

I've replied to your message. If worse comes to worse, I'll change my name. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with another. It was just the first one that popped into my head when looking for inspiration. I thought of the mythological gods, and the planets, just anything I could name it after, and I thought of "Mercury" and it quickly turned into "Mercurus."

Here are the first two characters:

Dairou

Origin: Orderrealm

Alignment: Neutral

Status: Mercernary Assassin

Fighting Styles: Wing Chun, Hung Gar

Wing Chun: Wing Chun is a Southern Chinese martial art known for its hand-trapping techniques. It's a linear, close-ranged style that prefers softer techniques over harder ones and uses the principles of simplicity, directness, an economy of motion. This style believes in using the least amount of force needed in a fighting situation and uses a lot of trapping and fast striking techniques. Although the origins are often attributed to Ng Mui, a Shaolin nun, it is more likely that Wing Chun's origins are traced back to anit-Manchurian rebels.

Hung Gar: Hung Gar is a Southern Chinese martial art attributed to Hung Hei Gung and is the style that is often associated with the Chinese folk hero, Wong Fei Hung. This style was used by anti-Manchurian rebels during the Qing dynasty. Dairou uses the Tiger Crane style of Hung Gar, which combines the strength and ferocity of the tiger with the agility and gracefulness of the crane.

Special Moves

Tombstone Drop: Tombstone Drop is a pop-up special move that hits low and is unblockable. This move, when timed right, will avoid high and mid attacks.

Iron Palm: Iron Palm is a counter move hits high. Should the opponent use a physical attack against Dairou, he'll hit him/her with an open palm strike that knocks the opponent back. On counter hit, the opponent will get knocked down. This special requires proper timing to execute though when used in a non-counter way, it can do a bit of damage and push the opponent back a little bit.

Iron Shirt: Iron Shirt is a move that halves the damage of any high or mid physical type attack done to Dairou. This is a proper timing-based special.

Iron Leg: Iron Leg is a fast, linear projectile that hits high. He kicks a fiery-looking, triangular-shaped energy projectile.

Stealthy Shadows: Stealthy Shadows is his teleport move in which he switches positions with the opponent.

Throws

Arm Snapper: Arm Snapper is his throw from MKD and MKA where he grabs the opponent's arm, snaps it, then throws him far away.

Iron Head: Dairou grabs the opponent and hits the opponent's face with his head.

Overall Gameplay Style

Dairou will be a character that'll fight more in the closer-ranged. In Wing Chun, he'll be quite fast and fluid, using a lot of striking and trapping techniques. In Hung Gar, he'll be more powerful and a bit more aggressive than in Wing Chun. Mainly due to his special moves, as well as the trapping movements of Wing Chun, he'll be a bit more of an advanced fighter.

Mastery Level: 4

Fatalities

Painful Pull: This is his primary fatality from MKD in which he goes behind his opponent, grabs the opponent's arms, puts his foot on their lower back and knocks the opponent to the ground, pushing his foot while pulling the opponent's arms. He rips their arms off while breaking their waist. He then throws the arms at the opponent's dying body while he does his bow.

Head Snap: Dairou knocks the opponent down a bit, getting him/her on their knees. He steps behind the opponent and puts his arms around the neck, and the opponent tries to struggle a bit. But to no avail, Dairou snaps their neck and he walks away.

Primary Costume: Dairou's primary costume is inspired from the costume that Donnie Yen wore as Wong Kei Ying in the movie Iron Monkey. Basically, these clothes will be a bit looser, with a long-sleeved brown shirt and white pants. His footwear will be like those Kung Fu shoes in MKA's kreate-a-fighter.

Alternate Costume: Dairou's alternate costume will be a more armored look, one that shows something he wore during his time as a Seidan Guard. His costume will be largely inspired from the costume in this picture, but the color schemes will mainly be black and gold to give him that familiarity with the Seidan Guards' armor. However, Dairou's armor takes on a more Chinese influence.

Extra Costumes: n/a

Get Up Animation: His get up animation is the one from MKD and MKA except that when he gets up, he pulls his arms to his chest, with his fists closing, then quickly does a double punch followed by him going back to his fighting stance. The idea is to thrown in a Wing Chun-like influence.

Victory Pose: His victory pose is the Shaolin victory pose from the MK games. I just think it would look cool for him and would go with his styles, which are associated with Shaolin.

Kombat Zone: Outworld Wastelands

Description: The Outworld Wastelands stage will take place in an area near the sea of blood, like in MKSM.

Stage Traps: n/a

Stage Fatality: The opponent is knocked into a sea of blood where the skeletal creatures drag the opponent down with them.

Bio

I was successful in getting the document Darrius needed, and with it, he begun taking over Seido. I was to kill Hotaru in order to stop him from assisting the other Seidan Guards in their fight. I found Hotaru scouting two men from Earthrealm, I attacked him while he was not looking. He was surprised, but fought back. I eventually defeated him, but before I could kill him, he told me something, something that was of interest to me. He informed me it was Darrius who sent the man to kill my family. He knew it, the government knew it, but they couldn’t do anything about it because there was no proof, and without proof, they can not arrest him. I had been nothing but his pawn since the day I killed the man who took everything from me. I allowed Hotaru to leave, and it is thanks to me that he was informed of what was happening. He got there in time to help the other Guards push back the rebel forces, but yet because of their laws, I am still a felon in my own realm.

Naturally, Darrius was furious at my apparent failure. He then learned that Hotaru would be going to Edenia to defeat a fire elemental which can grant god-like power. He ordered me, due to my failure in my last mission, to aid him in killing Hotaru in that battle and defeating Blaze. When the battle came however, I bided my time and waited for my chance to kill Darrius. The opportunity came when an explosion on top of the pyramid distracted everyone. I got my revenge on him, and since that day, I have been working as a mercenary throughout the realms. My most recent contract was from an Earthrealm woman in service of the Emperor of Outworld. She has been ordered to lure a woman to her capture by the Emperor's general. I am to get to the woman first and kill her.
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Sub-Zero_7th: Dairou is a character we wanted to bring back. Sure, he didn't have much to his story and his story itself wasn't that significant. However, I think he's kind of interesting, and I want to explore him a bit and to have him develop. Despite his more Japanese name, he has a lot of Chinese influences, from his costume to his fighting styles and even to his special moves. Story-wise, he's once again on an assassination attempt, so overall, it's pretty straight-forward. His Iron Palm is kind of a rip-off of Feng Wei's, but I like the move and felt that it'd be good for Dairou to have.

Paragon: Dairou is a character whose story needed to go forward, he was an interesting character but had no build up and little story to build on, hence why we have included him in this, to give him more time to develop as a character. His costumes are derived from ideas that myself and SZ7 had about his appearance. As for his fighting styles, they compliment each other quite well. We stuck with Wing Chun as it suited him and gave him Hung Gar to compliment Wing Chun.

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Elena

Origin: Edenia

Alignment: Good

Status: Edenian Warrior

Fighting Styles: Fanziquan, Gungnir

Fanziquan: Fanziquan (Tumbling Fist) is a Northern Chinese martial art that is known for its speciality in tumbling and acrobatic techniques. This style is more linear and close-ranged, utilizing rapid fast strikes and Chin Na techniques. It was once known as Bashanfan (8 flash fist) and had been an influence in the creation of Ying Jow Pai (Eagle Claw). Elena learned Fanziquan from her friend and commander, Jade.

Gungnir: The Gungnir is a weapon created and used by Argus, the former Protector God of Edenia. It's a spear that was given to passed down to a family of healers and was passed down through the family until it was eventually passed on to her. Her fighting style takes on a more European spearfighting influence.

Special Moves

Gunge Lance: Gunge Lance is a projectile move in which she throws an energy spear like a javelin. This move travels at long-range and hits mid. There is a charge to this move, and the more she charges, the faster and stronger the move will be.

White Restoration: White Restoration is a healing move, and it also has a charge to it. The longer she charges, the more she'll be healed, but she'll also be more vulnerable.

Hexation: Hexation is a status effect move that temporarily cripples the opponent's speed and power.

Technical Punishment: Technical Punishment is a counter special. When the opponent does a physical attack, she does a command throw.

Envocation: Envocation is a close-ranged energy attack in which she puts her hands forward and creates a small, whirlwind-like sphere of energy. If the opponent is hit by it, he/she is lifted into the air

Throws

Over The Hill: Elena grabs the opponent's arm, does two punches to the gut, followed by an arm drag takedown.

Double Header: She turns her back to the opponent and raises her leg backwards, kicking them in the groin. As they begin to double over, she grabs them by the back of the neck, putting their jaw on her shoulder, and she then jumps forward. She lands on her back, they land on their face, and she would then roll to her side and get up as the opponent is still recovering.

Overall Gameplay Style

Her gameplay style is a bit more magic-oriented, so her special moves will likely be used a lot. In Fanziquan, she will be quite fast and linear, being better to use at closer ranges. In Gungnir, she'll be more powerful and have better range but will still be relatively linear. Overall, she's a relatively easy to master character.

Mastery Level: 2

Fatalities

Heaven's Fall: She throws the Gungnir into the air, and it goes into the clouds. The clouds then part, the sun shines down, and the Gungnir then drops from the Heavens onto the opponent, impaling him/her through the top of the head and going through the floor, kind of like a shish kabob.

Fated Circle: She does a hand gesture, and a glyph appears under the opponent. The glyph glows, making it bolder until it is just a circle of light under the opponent. The light shoots up into the sky, and you hear the opponent scream, but cannot see them due to the light, in which even Elena is blocking her eyes. When the light stops and fades, the opponent is gone

Primary Costume: Elena's primary costume is based off of a concept drawing design that Paragon did. She basically has auburn hair and a top with a black outline and purple and blue on the inside. Her pants are of the same color and have a silver-colored V on the sides of them, while her shoes are black and purple.

Alternate Costume: Her alternate costume is black-clad Amazonian look with armored bra and knee-high boots. Her hair will be black in this look.

Extra Costumes: She wears black wiccan robes with a red trim and a hood that with red patterns that she wears down. Her hair will be burgundy.

Get Up Animation: Elena takes her Gungnir, plants it to the ground, then gets up and spins upwards. She lands on the ground and takes her Gungnir, going into her fighting stance.

Victory Pose: Elena spins the Gungnir then does a stab and then pulls the Gungnir back to her to hold it by her side.

Kombat Zone: Edenian Gardens

Description: The Edenian Gardens is a garden known for its great beauty. Elena often comes here to have some moments of peace to herself.

Stage Traps: none

Stage Fatality: none

Bio

My name is Elena, and I am a soldier as well as a witch. I have practiced magic since I was young. The ability to use magic has always run in our family, my mother and her mother before her were healers in this great realm, before it was taken by Shao Kahn. I was born after he gained control of Edenia and lived in hiding for many years until Edenia was freed. It was then that I saw Edenia for the first time, it was more beautiful then I had ever expected it to be. I then decided that if there is another invasion of this realm, I would become a soldier to learn how to fight and to defend Edenia. No female in our family has ever been in the armed forces before, but my family and friends back me up. As a gift, I was given a family heirloom, a spear passed down to each generation. I completed the exercises with ease and was quite skilled at combat. I was born for this, something that Jade, my commander, tells me anyway.

Jade seemed a little uneasy recently. She told me that something is not right with Queen Sindel, that maybe she misses Kitana too much, now that she is away all the time. But, I do not believe that is the case, because on a few occasions, I have seen a man enter her throne room when no one was around. The other day, I saw him and a female go into the throne room for an audience with the queen. The next day, she had vanished without a trace! Jade said she would go and inform Kitana about this while I am to locate the Queen. I followed the two people who saw the queen to a building standing over the crater where Armageddon occurred. I will go there and under any means necessary, I will find Sindel!
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Sub-Zero_7th: Elena is one of our new characters. If I'm not mistaken, she was one of the earliest new character concepts. I liked the design of the character, and I was happy to put her in. One thing we wanted to do with Elena is to make her unique and different from the other Edenian females, especially by not having her with a ninja-type costume or swimsuit-type outfit or whatever. I chose her unarmed style, Fanziquan for its rapid fast strikes, linearity, and things like that. Her weapon style was chosen by Paragon himself, and he derived it from Norse mythology. We wanted to make her a nice blend of warrior and witch. Overall, Paragon did most of the work on this character. We hope you like what we did with her.

Paragon: My idea for Elena came from a character design I had drawn a while back, one I based of one of my friends. When I was looking for new characters to add in, the concept was one of the first ones I found and put forward, and it went from there. I based her personality and some of her story aspects of my friend. She's a fighter, a witch, and intelligent. When it came to her story, it was a case of what we can involve her with while keeping true to her character. Her first fighting style is a style which is quite befitting of the character's style of play. Her weapon, which was drawn in the character's design, will be different from most polearm weapons due to the spearhead. Elena is one of the newer characters that I had a lot of involvement in and am looking forward to your thoughts on her.

Impressive!

I like the depth of info you guys provide for the characters. It's more than just stories. It's the whole package. Very nice.

Okay....

Dairou - I can see what you guys mean about him having story potential. Though I do not like him, I admit that that's true. I haven't looked at Darrius', Hotaru's, or Dairou's Deception bios in ages and I've forgetton what they're individually about, so reading this current bio for Dairou is confusing for that matter, especially because it does not refresh my memory of their past the way real bios usually somewhat do. Overall, it seems to be going somewhere so I'll try to catch up.

One question though.... Why does it say Hotaru is gonna go kill Blaze? I thought this was suppose to take place afterArmageddon?

Elena - I really like her. I love witches and I love warrior women, and hell... she's both! Sweet. Her primary costume sounds interesting. Her alt I imagine is some skanky thing what with the bra and high boots combo. Not the most innovative concept if that's the case. Either way, I want to know more about her. Her behavior reminds me a lot of Jade with that whole carrying out missions and getting information thing going on. A compelling question has already risen thanks to her, also... "Where is Sindel?" Can't wait to learn the answer as well as learn more about Elena herself.

The vague introduction is behind us, guys. The show has begun.

Thanks. I appreciate more of your feedback.

Yeah, Dairou is definitely one of the more underrated characters, but I think his potential is better than someone like Darrius', namely because as a mercenary assassin, Dairou can go different places and be hired by different people. He's one character whose story path is difficult to come up with a good development for, and we're still trying to work on him. We do want to develop as a character and to hopefully show some more insight into him.

To give you a backstory summary on Dairou, he was once a Seidan Guardsman who, like Hotaru, believed in the ways of Order. However, Dairou's family eventually got murdered by and assassin. Enraged, Dairou found the assassin and killed him, and because of this, Dairou was stripped of his status as Seidan Guardsman, and was imprisoned, only to later be freed by Darrius, leader of the Seidan Resistance.

When escaping from prison, Dairou was a changed man as he no longer believed in the ways of Order, but at the same time, he didn't give into Chaos. Instead, he became a mercenary assassin, trying to make a living for himself as best as he can. Darrius hired Dairou to retrieve the Declaration of Order as well as to assassinate Hotaru.

We don't know what happened after MKD and before MKA with Dairou's story, so we are taking it in the direction that he didn't kill Hotaru since Hotaru revealed to him that Darrius hired the assassin who killed his family.

Overall, Dairou is a rather apathetic and probably pessimistic person, very much the middle man in the Order/Chaos conflict since he doesn't side with either one despite having been hired by Darrius in the past. However, Dairou does seem to still retain some sense of honor.

The thing about Dairou's bio, and this will also apply to other returning characters, is that part of their bio will explain events during Armageddon and/or a bit before Armageddon. So with Dairou, you have some backstory to him prior to his MKA story, which btw is one of the stories that takes place before the main story, which you'll know when you see some more bios. So in Dairou's bio, that part you're referring to mentions something that happened a bit before the events of MKA's intro.

I'm very glad that you like Elena as I like her myself, and I was hoping that characters like her would especially get positive feedback. Her alternate costume is not really meant to be skanky, just simply a bit more revealing. Skakiness isn't part of her character, but she does have that sex appeal. Her alt costume look has her with a bra and skirt, with knee-high boots. In all of her costumes, her hair is down and straight. We'll definitely reveal more about Elena, Sindel, and other characters.

I wish we had more feedback here, but that's the way things have been at MKO these days. *sighs* Anyway, I'll be back later with more bios, but we have much to work on, so it'll take days or so.

Sorry about the double posting, but since no one else replied after I did, I had no other choice.

Anyway, after several days, we've finally finished the next two characters. Enjoy.








Takako

Origin: Orderrealm

Alignment: Good

Status: Seidan Guard

Fighting Styles: Yagyu Shingan Ryu, Hakkyokuken

Yagyu Shingan Ryu: Yagyu Shingan Ryu is a traditional Japanese martial art. Because she wears a lot of armor, her Yagyu Shingan Ryu style is more influenced from the Sendai line, which specializes in Heihojutsu (methods of military strategies). The Sendai line of Yagyu Shingan Ryu is characterized for its hard, thrashing strikes and pressure point attacks in its Jujutsu. This style also contains a lot of weaponry and armored routines.

Hakkyokuken: Hakkyokuken is the Japanese name for a traditional Chinese martial art better known as Bajiquan (Eight Extremities Fist). Bajiquan comes from Northern China and is one of China's most famous fighitng styles, known for its great effectiveness in combat. This style takes on a more aggressive approach, using more closer-ranged and linear techniques, and is somewhat similar to Xingyiquan. Like Xingyiquan, Bajiquan is an internal martial art that is direct. It uses a lot of elbow strikes, but it does use various limbs for attacking and defending.

Special Moves

Wave Cutter: Takako takes out her Wakizashi and spins around, shooting a wave of energy from the blade as a high-hitting projectile.

Sneak Shot: Takako goes down on one knee, and fires an arrow at the opponent from the shortbow on her right wristband. It hits mid and makes the opponent stumble a bit.

Shell Armor: Takako concentrates her power, strengthening the power of her armor to temporarily increase her defense.

Manriki Drag: Takako grabs both ends of her Manriki and throws it over to go around to back of the opponent's neck. She crosses her arms and then drags the opponent to the ground, moving him/her a bit closer to her. This move hits high and tracks.

Manriki Sweep: Takako throws her Manriki, getting a hold of the opponent's legs. She pulls it, tripping the opponent. This move hits low and tracks.

Throws

Yagyu Sutemi Nage: This throw is much like Jade's throw from MKD, except that Takako pushes the opponent forward a bit, and when she gets to the ground and throws the opponent, she rolls to the side before getting up.

Slamming Palm Throw: Takako grabs the opponent, steps foward and slams the opponent with her palm while sinking down.

Overall Gameplay Style

Overall, Takako will be a more simple, direct fighter, fighting better in closer ranges. In Yagyu Shingan Ryu, she uses more grappling and throwing techniques while in Hakkyokuken, she uses a lot of elbow strikes and is her more direct and powerful style. The degree of sophistication of her styles and the relative easiness of her specials make her more of an intermediate player.

Mastery Level: 3

Fatalities

Manriki Death Choke: Takako gets close to the opponent and takes out her Manriki, wrapping it around the opponent's neck. She grabs both sides of the Manriki and pulls them outwards, choking the opponent to death and making him/her bleed out of their mouth. After a bit, the opponent's neck is fully crushed and she leaves the opponent, walking away.

Setting Sun: She kicks the enemy in the back of the legs, making them fall to their knees. She follows the momentum of the kick through into a spin, taking out her wakizashi during it. When she comes full circle, she chops off the opponents head, and then she spins down onto one knee, facing the camera. Her pose at the end of this would have her arm with the sword in being held out to the side, her other hand on her bent knee.

Primary Costume: Her primary costume is similar to Hotaru's alternate costume, with differences such as her helmet not covering her face. She has a more Japanese skin complexion, with her hair and eyes being an almond brown color.

Alternate Costume: Her alternate costume is less armored, with her hairstyle like the one Anna Williams has in her customized Japanese hairstyle. She wears white socks and zori (Japanese sandles similar to flip-flops) for her feet.

Extra Costumes: none

Get Up Animation: Takako goes into Fudoza no Kamae, shakes her head, and then puts her rear leg back to flow into her fighting stance

Victory Pose: Takako does the Japanese style bow then goes into Seiza no Kamae.

Kombat Zone: Seidan Barracks

Description: The Seidan Barracks arena is the training ground for the guards of Seido. It's located in the centre of the training ground, with soldiers, barracks, and the building where the head of the army resides. Hotaru and Dairou once trained in these barracks when they first began as soldiers. Because of the fame Hotaru gained, this has become the most well-reknowned training area, with hopefulls looking to achieve the same sucess.

Stage Traps: none

Stage Fatality: none

Bio

I am Takako, a Seidan Guard trained to keep the peace within the realm of Seido. For a long time, I was like all the other soldiers of this realm, upholding the law no matter what. But not too long ago, something happened which changed everything. There was an attack in part of the city where my parents lived and they were badly maimed. I know Anbar, the new Resistance leader was involved, but because of the laws of this realm, I am forbidden to do anything since no one knows who was involved in the attack. But I know who it was. Anbar would have personally led the attack as she has always been a hands-on kind of person. Ever since that day, I began to question the laws of this realm to myself. They seem a little... extreme

A year has passed since that day. The more I look into things, the more I see is wrong with my realm. The laws in this realm are too strict, but at the same time, those who openly fight against these laws are no better, causing pain and suffering to those who just want to get on with their lives. There needs to be balance if there is ever going to be peace. A balanced world where there would be more peace and a few criminals is better then a world of extremes where anyone at anytime can be a victim of either side. I do hope someday our civilization will come to the realization I have, but for now, I still uphold my duty, if only to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
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Sub-Zero_7th: Takako, as you can tell from the bio, is a female Seidan Guard. I didn't want touse the term "Guardsman" for them so that we won't have the gender-specific problems. She has a very Japanese influence except for her second style, which is the Japanese name for Bajiquan, a Northern Chinese martial art. Her name is a feminine Japanese name meaning "filial child" or "noble child", which goes along with her noble personality. We wanted to make her different from characters like Hotaru, who are very bound to the ways of Order. She has different ideals, looking for a balance between Order and Chaos. We do hope to expand on her and give her something more to further stand her out as a character.

Paragon: Takako was a concept idea SZ7 brought forward. Believing we needed to flesh out the Law vs Chaos side to the story, it sounded like a good idea. But, for a long time, we were unsure what to do with her until I thought that she should be different from Hotaru by realizing that neither Law or Chaos brings about the greater good, that balance is needed. From there, we worked on her and managed to fit her into the story.

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Anbar

Origin: Orderrealm

Alignment: Neutral

Status: Seidan Resistance Leader

Fighting Styles: Pangamut, Goju Ryu

Pangamut: Pangamut is a Filipino martial art that is comprised of Panantukan (hand techniques), Pananjakman (kicking and sweeping techniques), Dumog (wrestling/grappling techniques), Kaukit (foot trapping techniques), and Kino Mutai (biting and gouging techniques). Pangamut is said by some to also just be a term for some unarmed Filipino martial art and not necessarily a particular style.

Goju Ryu: Goju Ryu is an Okinawan style of Karate attributed to Chojun Miyagi. This style comes from Naha and is highly influenced from Fujian White Crane Kung Fu. Goju Ryu is the hard-soft tradition, using both hard and soft techniques as well as linear and circular techniques. In terms of techniques, Goju Ryu is very combat-oriented and fights more in the close-mid range, using a wide array of moves from striking and kicking techinques to throws, joint-locks, takedowns, and some groundfighting techniques. Anbar learned this style from Darrius.

Special Moves

Foam Spray: Anbar shoots a spray of foam at the opponent that temporarily slows him/her down.

Smart Bomb: Anbar throws a bomb to the ground. It explodes only when the opponent has landed on it, launching them into the air.

Search and Destroy: Anbar takes her laser rifle and moves it horizontally while firing. It hits high and has good range, acting as an anti-sidestepping move.

Leg Cyclone: Anbar sinks down and spins around with her leg extended, much like Darrius' Twisty Kick except hitting low. When Anbar spins around, she moves forward then back.

Chest Cruncher: Chest Cruncher is a move that Anbar learned from Darrius. She does a sliding sidestep and does a charging attack, which hits mid and knocks the opponent down.

Throws

Overturn: Anbar grabs the opponent, fires her laser upward to slash the opponent's body, knocking him/her back.

Face Planter: Anbar grabs the opponent, knees them in the gut, and pushes their face.

Overall Gameplay Style

Anbar is a rather easy to master character. Both styles are simple and well-rounded. She is more of a close ranged fighter when it comes to her styles, but her specials give her some help in terms of range.

Mastery Level: 1

Fatalities

Gallet Shot: Anbar throws a mine towards the opponent. Just as it is in front of the opponent and in mid-air, she fires a laser at it, causing it to explode in the opponent's face.

Cross Cutter: Anbar uses her laser gun to cut the opponent across the waistline and then cut upwards between the legs. She walks up to the opponent and does a leg sweep, knocking the four parts down.

Primary Costume: Her primary costume is her Seidan Resistance costume, but there are differences from the others'. Instead of having orange in her color scheme, she has an amber color. Her belt is somewhat similar in design to Darrius' but is more of a utility belt, containing various gadgets. Her upper body outfit has similarities to Darrius' costume, but Anbar's has more of that short-sleeved shirt look and she doesn't have the same chest part in front. She wears wrist holsters on her arms for her Foam Spray special, and unlike the other Resistance members, she doesn't wear shades. She also wears a laser rifle on her back. Her hair color is black and is in a hairstyle that looks like that Temari from Naruto has, which looks like this. Her eyes are hazel and she has a light-medium brown skin complexion. The lower half of her costume is very similar to Darrius' except with no loincloth and with the leg pads and footwear having an amber color scheme, and the pants are black.

Alternate Costume: Anbar's alternate costume is more of a civilian look, showing more of that lower class look due to her backstory. She has a kind of Egyptian theme, with her hairstyle looking like this. Anbar wears a blouse like this except that she wears a brown-colored one with a bronze color for the designs. She wears long, dark blue pants with amber stripes down the sides. Her footwear consists of shoes that look like these. She still has her wrist holsters, laser rifle and her utility belt like in her primary costume.

Extra Costumes: none

Get Up Animation: Anbar sits up and punches her hand, all pissed off. She then gets up into her fighting stance.

Victory Pose: Badaz

Kombat Zone: Seidan Battleground

Description: The Seidan Battleground is a warzone in the middle of the Seidan capital. The Resistance started an uprising in the town centre, and the guards have been called in. Even now, the fighting continues on as civilians flee for their lives as fires rage, explosions are frequent and two sides clash.

Stage Traps: There are landmines in certain spots. When a character steps on one, he/she is launched into the air from the explosion.

Stage Fatality: The loser is knocked into a flaming building.

Bio

I'm Anbar, the new leader of the Seidan Resistance. I grew up in a low class family, always being made to live by the ways governed by this realm. I was to eventually have an arranged marriage to a Seidan Guard, one I never met in person. Frustrated with my lack of freedom, I ran away and found myself drawn to the Resistance, led by Darrius, who became something of a father figure. He and the other Resistance members trained me to be strong, and together, we had made attacks. But while Darrius wanted to establish a new order in Seido, I felt that complete and total anarchy is the only way to true liberation, not having to be bound by rules and laws. After word got to us of Darrius' death, the others were afraid that we would lose our war with the Seidan government. I, on the other hand, took my chance to step up and become its new leader, but it took some convincing.

When I got control of leadership of the Seidan Resistance, I made a change to our goal, convincing the others that bring anarchy to Seido will bring us freedom, but not everyone agreed. Those who agreed with my views aided me in eliminating those who didn't. I made contact with Havik, one of our most important allies to the Resistance He took an interest in me, pleased with my desire to bring anarchy to Seido instead of a new order. He came with Kaosu, another, more grotesque creature from Chaosrealm, but no matter. Kaosu is said to be one of Chaosrealm's finest, and we need all the help we can get to take those government fools down. While Havik and I lead an attack on the government facilities, Kaosu will lead an attack on the families of the government officials and Seidan Guards. Soon, glorious chaos and anarchy will reign in Seido and we shall have our freedom!
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Sub-Zero_7th: Anbar was kind of another character concept I thought of, and like with Takako, we didn't want to simply make her a derivative of another character. Anbar was also tricky to do because of this, trying not to make her a "female Darrius" while trying not to make Takako a "female Hotaru". As you can see Anbar, save for the Chest Cruncher, is very different from Darrius, even in ideals. She uses gadgets and things like that, so she won't really have any special powers. When coming up with a name for her, I think it was DNOMYTE or Paragon who thought up of the name Amber, but I wanted to go with a Middle Eastern twist to it by calling her Anbar, which is an Arabic name that means "amber". Look-wise, she has that Middle Eastern influence as well as North African, though yes, some of the North African countries like Egypt are considered Middle Eastern as well. I think with Anbar, we can get away with a little bit of deriviation due to her being with the Resistance and being trained by Darrius. Her bio is one of the only ones I did, and her costumes were a BITCH to sort out.

Paragon: Anbar is a character we all agreed on putting in the game to flesh out the whole Law vs Chaos side of things. Because we had a new Law character, we decided on a new chaos character. Seeing as we had a male as the leader before, we decided on a female. At first, we had nothing for her, until I threw out a random name, Amber. We changed that to its Arabic translation and took it from there. She was one of the last characters to be fully fleshed out into a character, because we didn't know what kind of story to give to her. Because of the whole law and chaos was different from the good vs evil, it was hard to try and fit them into the overall story, but after a long time of trying, we finally found a spot for her.
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With them done, we will have to spend some more time working on the next two characters. Feedback in the form of constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated. I hope to keep this thread up and running.

dont listen to them man that storyline is toally awesome and also man
tavern is an awesome warrior taking on three guys at once man he's
very brave and just include more warriors please its like the old mks
that i don't like too much but other than that its 100% good man
nice job creating ya own players nice job

Man...Awesome. We need more depth on the order/chaos, but the first person on this wave seems too much like another Dairou.
PS: What's with the empty post, JR?

Thanks. Are you referring to Takako as being too much like Dairou? If so, well, they are different, because Dairou is rather apathetic about the Order/Chaos situation while Takako really wants to make a difference. She's not going to take the same path as him and be an assassin or just leave the Seidan Guards. We have something else in mind for her, don't worry.

The next two characters will be quite different, that's for sure. Stay tuned! Btw, Jaded-Raven really wanted to respond, but for some strange reason, his message won't show. He tried editing it many times, but still no luck.

Sweet.

I like Takako more, but Anbar is alright.

On Takako...

I wouldn't like a costume like Hotaru's alt (helmet-less) for a girl, but I suppose it would make her character.

I really like her bio. The whole order/chaos thing is interesting as it is, but now she's introducing an arc with wanting niether side but a balance instead. Her initiative is very interesting and she sounds very dynamic, as well. Cool.

On Anbar....

Not so excited about her bio since I believe it was the black dragon clan who already wanted to establish an anarchy in MKD. She sounds alright, still.

I have to say... her first fatality is awesome! I'd love to see one like that in a real MK game. That would just be so badass, especially coming from a female.

Well, good job once again. So far I have not been disappointed. And thank god both of these women wear pants. ...phew...

If you ask me, everything that took place in Armageddon should be retconned, possibly even Deception and Deadly Alliance. The MK franchise has never been in more dire need of a reboot.

I'm surprised you like Takako a fair bit. I was afraid that these two would not be too well-received as they might come off to some as derivatives of Hotaru and Darrius.

I did what I could with her bio. I wanted to make her different from Darrius in that she wanted anarchy instead of a new order. The alignment was a bit tricky to do.

Yeah, both of these women are going to be covered up, especially Takako. I wanted to add more details to her costumes to explain more, especially with differences in her Seidan Guard costume. For the helmet, I wanted to put that in, as I though it'd be cool, but I wanted the one that would show the person's face, so I went with that. I'm just not sure how different it's supposed to be from the other Seidan Guard costumes, but whatever.

Anyway, we hope to get the next two up in a few days or so. Be sure to stay tuned.



I don't really agree with that, especially in regards to MKD and MKDA's stories. You make it sound as if the stories in those games aren't as good as the ones in the older MKs, but I feel that Vogel does a better job with the storytelling and characters. It's just that continuity is a problem.

Well, now that i have finally rememebed my password, i can now contribute to this :)

Yes, I believe the continuity is full of holes and it is annoying. The MK team has had a hard time sticking to their guns about anything. Maybe I was on a bit of a tirade because I was pissed about how they've been handling the franchise over the past generation mainly in overall production quality and quality control. Yes, if they got their shit together and picked one story and stuck with it that would be great.

Yes, while it may be a problem, on the flip side, the storytelling is much better, and I liked directions such as Liu Kang's death, threat of the Deadly Alliance, things like that.

About the quality of the MK games, I think the main problems stems from them usually favoring quantity over quality, which is bad. I'm glad that they are trying to wrap things up with MKA and are making the next-gen MKs darker, grittier, and more serious.

Anyway, this thread isn't about this though. I'd like to know your thoughts on this project, such as what you like, dislike, etc. Are there any suggestions or questions you have about the project so far?

It seems you guys are focusing a lot on character development and stories, which isn't really my bread and butter. Overall, I'm more concerned with the nuts and bolts gameplay mechanics along with the overall presentation. As far as this project goes I suppose it's your own individual ideas and I can't exactly say I would be in harmony with it. I certainly do have my own ideas of what a great MK game should be and most of those ideas revolve around taking MK back to what made it so great in the first place. Shaolin Monks was so successful because it took everything we knew and loved about MK and presented it in a new light. It was very fathful to the older games, specifically MK2 and didn't try to reinvent anything without absolute respect to the source material.

I could tell you all of my ideas for a new game but I'm not sure how that would fit into this discussion. Our ideas for a new MK might clash and I'm really not sure what kind of direction you're going here. I see a lot of adherance to the DA,D, A model of using a set number of styles and throws per character. I would be more in favor of a more organic fighting system that allows for more creativity and freeform expression.


As far as gameplay goes, I would look into games such as the Bushido Blade series, the Tekken and Soul Calibur series and the THQ/AKI wrestling games for the N64 such as WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and WWF No Mercy.


One main idea I've always had is to have a kind of action adventure/fighting hybrid. A seamless blend of the fighting mode and the conquest mode. An engine that is so suited for both tasks that both areas of the game become one. More specifically one that favors a more 3D camera over the side by side presentation that has so long been used by fighting games. I'm thinking of a blend between the MKSM versus mode and the aforementioned wrestling games. This would allow for more versatility in the form of environmental interaction, multiplayer support for more than two players as well as provide the option of using the same engine for the conquest mode as well as certain arena challenges involving the player fending off multiple attackers.


As far as basic game structure I want something far more free form than your typical fighting game. For instance, I would include the optional "load-out" screen for every fight. After selecting your character, you would have the option of selecting your character's gear for that fight. This would include weapons, clothing and armor. These items could be purchased or unlocked in various ways throughout the game. Some items would likely be limited to specific characters. This would, of course, affect how the match is played, giving each player access to whatever weapons he or she selected (they would of course be limited to whatever they can carry on their person, however some arenas would have native weapons that could be selected when you select the arena). For example, I could load out my character with a katana, smoke bombs and shuriken and all of those weapons could be selected and used by myself during the fight.


Your clothing selection would also come into play as some clothing might provide defensive or offensive bonuses. For example, a set of spiked metal bracers would not only provide forearm protection and help block against weapon attacks but would provide an offensive bonus to forearm strikes. Loose, baggy clothing might come as a disadvantage as it might provide a handhold for those wishing to fling you into a nearby deathtrap.

I have many more ideas that I might possibly present at a future time. In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate any feedback on those that I've already revealed to you. I look forward to your criticism and input.

Right now, we are focusing on storyline and characters, and we will be getting to other aspects of our project much later. This won't be just about stories. Since you don't care about storylines and character development in MK, it's probably going to be pointless for you to head back to this thread out some more anytime soon.

We too care about MK's gameplay mechanics and fighting system, but we will get to that in due time, along with other things. At this point, we want to introduce the characters and take the story in a new direction.

You do have some interesting ideas, and I would suggest making your own thread about gameplay ideas, or better yet posting them in a thread of the same subject.

About Shaolin Monks, I suppose it was kind of successful, but the main thing that it had going for it was the gameplay system, which I liked and had fun with. Other than that, things were rather lackluster, and they were very unfaithful to the older MK games in terms of story and characters, butchering it so badly that it's unforgivable. Again, I know you don't care about MK's story or the character development, but I do, and flaws like those are big flaws to me.

Regarding our fighting system, yes, we are using 2 styles, but that doesn't mean that it's going to be a rehash of the MKDA-MKA system or something too similar to it. When we get all of our fighting system ideas jot down and sorted out, you will understand what we have in mind.

We're currently in the middle of sorting out the next two characters. They would have been done by now, but, my job has been taking up my free time as of late. Hope to get them sorted soon.

To stop a double post and so SZ7 can post the next two characters (since he really wants to) i decided to add something in which we forgot with the first 4 bios. Reasons for the styles given to the characters.

Dairou - We chose Wing Chun for Dairou, because of its simplicity and directness. It is believed by some that Wing Chun was used by or connected to assassins, and the use of some strikes to vital areas may be used as a support for that idea.. As for Hung Gar, we wanted to complement his Wing Chun style with another Southern form of Kung Fu. They both draw influence from the Crane, but while Wing Chun draws influence from the Snake, Hung Gar draws influence from the Tiger. I know there is 5 Animals Hung Gar, but we are referring to Tiger/Crane Hung Gar for Dairou. Also, he has that whole Chinese martial artist look to him, despite his more Japanese name. Hung Gar is the trademark style of Wong Fei Hong, a famous Chinese hero.

Elena - Fanziquan for Elena was to show her learning from Jade. But also, it was as a means of giving her a more linear, close-ranged style that used very fast strikes, joint-locks, acrobatics, tumbles, etc. As for the Gungnir, well, we included that because it was in the concept art i drew up when i first thought of her design.

Takako - We gave Yagyu Shingan Ryu to Takako, because she is a Samurai-type character, and that's how we see the Seidan Guards as being similar to. She has a very Japanese theme to her overall. There are two lines of this tradition, and she uses more of the Sendai line, because she wears armor and it contains a lot of armor routines. For Hakkyokuken, it was basically an idea to give her a more aggressive, linear style, one that is especially military-useable. It's not really a Japanese style, but a Chinese style better known as Bajiquan, like it's been said before. Overall, in terms of hand-to-hand combat, she's meant to be a more close-ranged fighter.

Anbar - Pangamut was a relatively easy choice for Anbar. We wanted to give her something that contained something simpler and had dirty techniques, like biting and gouging. This style happens to contain such. It's somewhat of that street-based style, especially with the Panantukan (boxing) elements. For Goju Ryu, we thought of it as a means of giving some connection to Darrius. Also, Goju Ryu and the Okinawan styles of Karate really have much more of that combat-oriented focus. Like with Takako, Anbar is more of a closer-ranged fighter

After many days, we have finally finished the next two new characters. I hope you enjoy them.





Kaosu

Origin: Chaosrealm

Alignment: Neutral

Status: Chaosrealm Warrior

Fighting Styles: Boziquan, Dire Flail

Boziquan: Boziquan (fist of lame man) is a rare Chinese martial art founded by a Chan Buddhist priest named Jinyun. This bizarre style imitates the characteristics of someone who is crippled, and there's only one known routine, which contains over 80 movements. We gave it to Kaosu, because he's a very bizarre and deformed character.

Dire Flail: The Dire Flail is a flail with two spiked balls attatched to a 5-foot staff, one on each end. A weapon such as this is fearsome to look upon but also hard to wield. A normal flail is capable of hurting the wielder, let alone one with two heads on opposite sides. We gave this weapon to him to symbolize its brutality and chaotic feel.

Special Moves

Stretch Punch: Kaosu's arm stretches, hitting the opponent with his fist and making him/her stumble. It's a move that has a half-screen distance and hits high.

Stretching Double Kick: Kaosu bends his back down and places his hands on the ground. He lifts his legs up and they stretch, kicking the opponent and knocking him/her down. This move hits mid, has a slower startup than the Stretch Punch and also hits half-screen distance.

Elastic Evasion: Kaosu puts his arms back in a diagonal direction and stretches them so they land on the ground. The rest of his body stretches back to it. It works similar to Mavado's Escape Rope but in an up/back diagonal direction.

Ensnare: Ensnare is a grab special in which Kaosu wraps himself around the opponent and squeezes him/her.

Arm Flailing: With his loose arm, he flails it at the opponent, hitting him/her 3 times. This is a mid-hitting attack that looks somewhat similar to Drahmin's Propeller Clock, but without the pop-up effect.

Throws

Stretch-butt: Kaosu grabs the opponent, wraps his legs around the waist of the opponent and his arms around their head. He stretches his neck far back, then lets it come forward, resulting in a huge headbutt to the opponent.

Internal Buster: Kaosu grabs the opponent, does a leg hook sweep with his rear leg, and the opponent falls to the ground. When the opponent is on the ground, Kaosu grabs the opponent's leg and stomps his/her face with one foot. He quickly lets go of the leg and does a double stomp on their guts then jumps off.

Overall Gameplay Style

Overall, Kaosu is a more advanced fighter due to his complex moves and styles. He's a tricky character who requires a good deal of skill and strategy to properly use.

Mastery Level: 4

Fatalities

Fatal Squeeze: Kaosu wraps himself around the opponent and squeezes him/her to death, hearing sounds of the opponent gasping and their ribs being crushed.

Mutilation: Kaosu knocks the opponent down and continuously rains down a serious of blows to the opponent's face such as haymakers, scratches, and bites.

Primary Costume: In his primary costume, Kaosu has a more casual look. He's shirtless and wears a gauntlet one of his arms. He also wears a loose, asymmetrical, navy blue pants that have one long side and one short side. Kaosu doesn't have any footwear in this costume.

Alternate Costume: His alternate costume captures more of that Chaosrealm warrior look. Kaosu wears a Viking style helmet like this, except with horns, one shorter than the other. For the armor, he wears banded leather armor that looks like it had been ripped apart and put back together. Also, he wears ripped leather pants, with one side shorter than the other. In addition, he wears leather armguards and armored boots.

Extra Costumes: none

Get Up Animation: Kaosu sits up, plants his hands down, and then his arms stretch, lifting him up. His legs go down into standing position, and after his arms stretch back in, he goes into his stance.

Victory Pose: Kaosu munches on his own arm.

Kombat Zone: Chaosrealm Graveyard

Description: The Chaosrealm Graveyard is the area where denizens of Chaosrealm bury their dead. Full of uneven ground and asymmetrical tombstones, strange things can occur here.

Stage Traps: The tombstones can be broken. In certain spots, the character's feet can sometimes get caught by skeletal hands popping up from the ground.

Stage Fatality: The loser is knocked into an empty grave and the winner pushes a large tombstone down to crush him/her.

Bio

Kaosu's my name, and I'm from Chaosrealm, where our people thrive on chaos, unlike those ugly fools from Orderrealm, who are bound by their stupid laws and rules. In our realm, I am one of the finest warriors, fighting for the cause of Chaos for centuries, especially against the wicked Seidan Guards who have attempted to oppress us, time and time again. Havik had returned from Edenia, more beautiful than before. He wanted to gather allies to continue spreading glorious chaos throughout the realms, and I eagerly agreed to help him. I've been to some other realms before, doing what I do best. Those from the other realms may see it as "mutilation", but they simply don't have good taste in what's beautiful and what isn't.

Havik tells me that he was contacted by Anbar, the new leader of the Seidan Resistance, about a plan that would bring the downfall of the Seidan government and establish total anarchy in Seido! There were times in the past in which I would assist the Resistance, but unfortunately those attempts were foiled, though we did get a kick out of causing chaos. Seido was my favorite place to have fun with, especially with how uptight its people are and how enjoyable it is to beautify them and their world. Anbar assures that with her leadership of the Resistance, our goals will be successful. The plan involves Anbar, Havik, and a bunch of Resistance members taking down the disgustingly neat and symmetrical facilities. I, along with some others, go after the families of the leaders. When I get my hands on them, they'll look better than ever! Seido will be free from its oppression, and its people will soon realize the truth of Chaos!

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Sub-Zero_7th: Kaosu is a very bizarre character as you can see. He is one of the characters that DNOYMTE came up with. It was one of his earliest character concepts and it was originally a grotesque fighter from the Netherrealm with stretchy skin. But sometime later, we decided to make him a warrior from Chaosrealm. We tried to sort out his name and make it sound something chaos-related, and I was thinking of coming up with something related to entropy, even re-arranging the letters. However, we decided to scrap that and find something else. I eventually came across the word "kaosu", which is pronounced "kah-ohss'", which is basically kind of a Japanese twist on the word chaos.

So we went with that, and I eventually came up with his first style, Boziquan, which I think really fits him well and will be his trademark style. His second style went through some changes, and we eventually decided on giving him the Dire Flail. For a very long time, we didn't know what to do with this character in terms of his story until about maybe a month ago, I came up with a very strange idea to have him be this guy who likes to go around mutilating others, more so those from other realms and not really Chaosrealm. This guy has a twisted sense of what's beautiful and what's not, and overall, he's just rather funky, lol. Like with Anbar, his costumes were a nightmare to sort out, especially for a rather grotesque and somewhat asymmetrical character like him.

Paragon: Kaosu was a character design added to our project sometime ago. However, for a very long time, he remained without a story and was nearly forgotten about until recently. We added him into the Law vs Chaos storyline as it seemed to fit his character design. Kaosu was one of the characters that took the longest to think of things for. Costumes, moves and his place in the story had all been done recently, but, now its hard to imagine it without him.

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Mercurus

Origin: Earthrealm

Alignment: Unknown

Status: Wanderer

Fighting Styles: Drunken Monkey, Wooden Monkey

Drunken Monkey: Drunken Monkey is one of the 5 sub-styles of Tai Sheng Men, a martial art founded by Kao Tse. This is the most difficult to master of the 5 sub-styles and is characterized by its fluid, agile, and acrobatic movements, using a lot of flips, rolls, and tumbles as well as strikes to the throat, eyes, and groin. Other characteristics of the Drunken Monkey are its deceptive footwork and seemingly light-hearted, playful demeanor. The idea behind this choice was to show Mercurus' light-hearted, comical, and theatrical side.

Wooden Monkey: Wooden Monkey is another one of the 5 sub-styles of Tai Sheng Men. This sub-style is simpler and more direct and can be considered as an opposite to Drunken Monkey in some aspects. While the Drunken Monkey is more on the playful, light-hearted side, Wooden Monkey represents fierceness and ferocity in its attacks and defenses. The attitude of this style is quite serious and the practitioner uses grappling and pouncing techniques, often bringing the opponent to the ground. The idea behind this choice was to show Mercurus' dark, violent, and sadistic side.

Special Moves

Stun Dart: Stun Dart is a high, linear projectile that comes out pretty quickly. Mercurus throws a dart at the opponent, which temporarily stuns them, giving him a free hit.

Drunken Flip Kicks: This move is similar to Bo' Rai Cho's Flip Flop, except that Mercurus flips forward and does a backflip kick. Both hits are mid and the second hit pops the opponent into the air.

Rageful Eyes: Mercurus' eyes glow with dark energy, which he fires into a powerful beam that hits the opponent knocks the opponent down. It has a charge to it and hits high.

Vicious Pounce: Mercurus pounces and pushes the enemy away, hitting mid and acting as a guard breaking move. If the opponent isn't blocking, it does minimal damage.

Maniacal Laugh: Mercurus does a laugh, and the next move that he does has a counter hit effect. This is much like the supercharge move in the Tekken games.

Throws

Flipping Head Kicks: Mercurus grabs the opponent, flips upward like in Noob Saibot's throw, and when rotating to the other side, he does two kicks to the back of the opponent's head.

Simian Takedown: Mercurus grabs the opponent, takes him/her down to the ground, and he does three quick hits before he rolls off.

Overall Gameplay Style

Mercurus' gameplay style is very advanced due to his sophisticated styles and special moves. His Drunken Monkey style will be more difficult to master and will a lot of patience and hard work. On the flipside, Wooden Monkey style will be much easier to use due to its more simple, direct nature. All of his special moves besides Maniacal Laugh have style-switching properties. When using either Stun Dart or Drunken Flip Kicks, he'll switch to Drunken Monkey if he's in Wooden Monkey and vice versa for when he uses either Rageful Eyes or Vicious Pounce.

Mastery Level: 5

Fatalities

Gradual Overdose: He throws 5 poisoned darts at the opponent, gradually killing them. The first dart makes the opponent groggy. The second dart puts them in a woozy state. The third dart puts them in a near comatose state. The fourth dart makes the opponent begin the bleed out of the mouth. Finally, the last dart causes death.

Sadistic Assault: Mercurus grows angry, his eyes having bloody cracks in them. He quickly pounces on the opponent and does little rips and tears through the opponent's body, violently poking the torn areas. He finishes the opponent off by slowly choking the opponent to death while he does a soft cackle.

Primary Costume: Mercurus' primary costume is a Chinese opera outfit. He wears the Chinese opera mask of Xiahou Dun, symbolizing astuteness. Also, he wears a Ging Jong, with a more plain design. The main part of the shirt itself will be white while the designs on the outlines will be blue as well as his pants. For his footwear, he wears black, flat-soled shoes worn by war generals, kind of like these.

Alternate Costume: His alternate costume also has him in a Chinese opera outfit, but one that depicts his darker side. He wears the Chinese opera mask of Zheng Lun, which symbolizes more of his impulse and violent side. For his main clothing, he wears a Yoon Nang, with the main color scheme being green, with some red on the sides. There will be a round pattern on his chest with the symbol of a Tai Chi Tu, known by many as the "Yin/Yang symbol". His pants will be black, and his footwear consists of black-colored Go Hur, which are opera shoes worn by male characters and look like this.

Extra Costumes: His extra costume is an unmasked look, having short black hair, black eyes, and medium-brown skin. He wears his Kung Fu training outfit, which consists of a short, white shirt, black pants, white socks, and dark Kung Fu shoes.

Get Up Animation: Mercurus gets into a crouching monkey pose, scratches head real quickly, and gets into his fighting stance.

Victory Pose: He does a forward roll, then a backward flip, flowing into a monkey-ish pose. He stands up and does the Chinese martial arts style salute.

Kombat Zone: Chinese Opera Theater

Description: Mercurus goes to a Chinese Opera Theater for entertainment and to give some ease to his mind. He is especially fond of the Mo plays, which are martial arts-related.

Stage Traps: There are various props that can be used as throwing weapons, kind of like in MK4/MKG.

Stage Fatality: none

Bio

My name's Mercurus. I don't really remember too much of my very early childhood. All I remember was spending my years growing up in China, fending for myself as best as I can. I didn't need anyone as all I could really depend on was myself, going from place to place, picking up as many skills as I can. Eventually, I found myself drawn to opera theaters throughout the country. I was especially interested in the plays and the skills of theatricality. I got jobs there, working behind the scenes, and I took an interest in masks. One type of play that was most interesting to me were the Mo plays, which featured martial arts. There were also some martial arts demonstrations from some Shaolin students. I asked to join them, hoping I could learn martial arts, and I was allowed to as long as I was willing to work hard and learn self-discipline.

For years, I was trained in Shaolin martial arts, strengthening myself and trying to do something better in life. During my training at the academy, I began to have recurring nightmares, horrible dreams that started to affect me in more ways then I thought possible. During a training session, I got flashes of these nightmares. When I regained my composure, a few students were laying on the floor in pain. The next day, I was asked to leave the academy. I don't understand. Just what the hell is happening to me? Am I meant to be alone my whole life or is there something else going on? I put my questions aside for the mean time to figure out what I want to do with my life. I left in the middle of the night, not wanting to show my face to the others. On my way out, I spotted a mysterious person on his way to the temple. I confronted him and he tried to attack me. Something in me kicked in again, and I found himself on the ground, badly beaten. I noticed he had something with him, an invitation to some tournament in a realm called Edenia. This tournament supposedly grants the winner their greatest desire. Maybe if I can find my way to Edenia and win this tournament, I can rid myself of this problem.

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Sub-Zero_7th: Ok...Where do I begin with this guy? He is one of the characters that I came up with, and a lot of his ideas come from me. For a while, I had thought up of a concept of a character conflicted with different personalities. When becoming part of this project and bringing it up, we sorted him out. Mercurus is actually based off of me, believe it or not. He does take some inspirations from certain characters, such as the Joker, Two-Face, and Jack Sparrow, but mainly, he's pretty much me with an overexaggerated version of my personality made into an MK character with awesome Kung Fu skills.

The idea behind his name should be pretty obvious as it is derived from the term "mercurial", meaning changeable, volatile, lively, etc., referring to his persona. It was a bit tough to come up with his name at first, and then a bit later, I tried looking into names that could symbolize his personality, so I eventually looked into the word "mercurial", and DNOYMTE suggested "Mercuras", but I then asked him "How about 'Mercurus'"?. So we went with that, and the name stuck ever since. His story was something that we continuously refined, and we eventually came to this.

Basically, he's a character that has a lot of internal struggles and he can go in different directions, becoming a hero, villain, anti-hero, anti-villain, or something else entirely. I hope that he won't come off as too over the top and that I can further develop him as a character. There's a lot to say about him, and it's hard to fully capture his personality in terms of his bios or at least this bio, so you may just have to wait to get some elaboration.

Paragon: Mercurus was Sub-Zero_7th's first character he introduced and spent a lot of time creating his story. He was a welcome part to the plot and fit in nicely with the story. His personality is like no other in any game in recent memory. My role with him was to keep some sense and realism to him. Sub-Zero_7th had a lot of ideas for him, but I had to keep telling him to keep the insanity to a believable level. Sorry bud!