I was also thinking that the best candidate for the female is probably the Orderrealm character.

The scarred face/Calendar Girl thing is a creative idea, but I do think it's too similar to a couple other characters. Mileena in particular comes to mind...( I've always characterized her reason for wearing a mask and dressing skimpy being because she's ashamed of her "flawed" face and wants to draw attention away from it) Kabal as well, as you mentioned, but Mileena's on this roster already, so...

Anyway, I'm inclined to think that a fitting visual metaphor for someone living in strict order and hating it might be some kind of bondage gear, like elements of a gimp suit or the Superman villain Lashina's face mask thing...but I don't want to go outright sexual with it or step on the toes of...well, there's a whole lot of characters who have bondage elements in their character designs like Kira and almost everyone from the Netherealm.
It would perhaps be easier if Seido had a consistent visual theme, but the three characters we have from there all look pretty different. Hotaru is a cross between a samurai and the exoskeleton of a bug, Dairou looks like some kind of chinese monk, and Darrius is a hodgepodge of "cool black guys" from American movies, while the realm itself's only outstanding visual trait is Marvel-Movie-Asgard-esque floating cities with giant pyramids in the middle. None of that really forms a cohesive whole.

Funny I never noticed any "bondage" reference on Kira? She just looks like a pony-tail redhead mix of Sonya and Kano.

So if there's a consistent differential theme among Seido inhabitants, then should she be depicted entirely differently? It's like Hotaru, Dairou, and Darrius were created out of combinations of archetypes in a Mab Libs game.

Kira's Deception outfits just give me a bit of a leather-fetish vibe, with the vests and the pants that vaguely look like either chaps or garters depending on which costume. You could argue she's more generic biker chick than dominatrix, but the latter is more interesting.

It's an aesthetic I intend to push even harder when I redesign her because I think it fits her whole weirdly contradictory "Wants to create anarchy but practices strict discipline" character. Her version of the Black Dragon runs a lot more like the Reds. I'll probably even give her a whip to fight with since it's not like keeping Sonya and Kano's moves is a good idea.

As for the Seidans and their "theme"...I have noted before my intentions to revamp Darrius and Dairou closer to their original concept art when I get to Deception. Dairou will look more like a ronin samurai, which should allow him to blend in better with Hotaru, while Darrius will be secretly a member of the Red Dragons, which would justify him dressing like he comes from a different realm where they have Matrix costumes with sunglasses and all.

I guess if I were to assign a cultural aesthetic to Seido, I'd lean towards "A futuristic Egypt with bits of Japan."

Yea a whip would definitely fit Kira maybe one of her variations of that whip can be that one with the blades attached that can rip off chunks of flesh upon impact just like what one of the soldiers used on Jesus in Passion of the Christ (not that I LIKE the movie) to ump the lethalness of Kira's personality.

As for Seido, even when I saw those pyramids it was funny for me how they never reminded me of Egypt. I guess I thought Memphis at the time? Anyway I like your futuristic Egyptian theme in Seido and I think I have an idea for the description of the female Seidan's appearance. She can be armored and her mask can be Horus-esque with a pharaoh headcloth surrounding it, confirming her "divine" personality on righting the wrongs of Seido society (by leading a terrorist attack which I'll discuss later in detail). Plus once she's in kombat mode, she can unleash four angelic wings behind her back and attack kombatnats from above by using a staff-like weapon. It's kind of like a boss battle where the boss flying shoots a beam down towards you, but you evade and you have to continue that for 10 seconds because this light beam can follow you, destroying anything behind and around you as you attempt to flee. I know some fans have been wanting to see an angelic MK character (so far we have only chiropteran wings) and I think this is a great opportunity not because of Judeo-Christian mythology, but because it fits with the Egyptian goddess Isis who is mostly depicted with wings for arms over her husband Osiris or some dead noble's corpse on some tomb wall. So this character can be the "mother goddess" archetype who is creating something new from the ashes by destroying the old and corrupted order of Seido.

As for the White Mage, he can probably have some sort of death-like aura around him like an Anubis mask, but with ibex horns. I've also been thinking about what would unite them in power when they attack and I thought: why not winged animal mounts? No MK character has ever rode on a monster outside of kombat and in story mode so this makes it refreshing plus it gives them a badass and terrifying feel when they attack Seido from the air like they're the fucking Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. A griffin would fit the Seidan leader because of her "divine" personality and her Horus/Ra theme while a winged manticore can fit the White Mage's dark and ferocious theme while evil Bo' Rai Cho can get the familiar Outworld pterosaur/dragon creature that flies over you in the Downtown City or Rooftop area in MK9.

So I think the opening scene for MK Reawakening should go like this: Seido is in a state of state-sponsored mourning for one of their fallen Hotaru (who died in Armageddon) and his body is brought into this central temple with a high open hole showing the sun (reminiscent of the god of Order hovering over them) where every resident of Seido has to attend or be imprisoned and executed on the spot (works with the Order theme). So all of the temple doors are locked and guarded by Seidan Guards making escape impossible. This is at the time where the three ride on their winged monsters in the horizon and signal the attack by loading up some sort of Seidan heavy cannon technology with a huge shell and fire at the giant pyramid, causing it to collapse (something like 9/11). In that same temple holds a relic that may some sort of connection with the Chaos God so the entire triad blasts the opening with their cannon ammo and make a huge opening into the temple, hovering over the civilians. And at that scene, the traid dismount their beasts and unleashes their powers and individual weaponry on the CIVILIANS, massacring everyone including the priests and government officials. Now old guys like Quan Chi/Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn just want to conquer, enslave, and rule but these bastards straight out KILL all potential servants and burn their entire city to the ground like the Mongols did to Baghdad or Rome to Carthage. Then they steal the relic and proceed to let the Seidan Guards open the gates, see the carnage and disoriented, get easily cut down by the "Vicious Triad" by either getting burnt by the sun beam, decapitated, and impaled by their own weapons controlled by the White Mage's sorcery. After that, the triad proceeds to the portal room and opens passage to their own troops (mostly Baphomet-like, Tiamat-like, and Chaosrealm ground troops to pillage the city and burn it to a dead realm (this doesn't violate Mortal Kombat because they're not attempting to merge the realm they just flat out wipe the city as a sign of divine wrath). After that the triad leaves for Chaosrealm to plot their next "terrorist attack" whose location is unknown.

Could Nemesis work for the main Seidan villain?

I dunno, names that sound like a title or codename have to fit the character, like on a ninja. An ordinary chick who's not trying to hide her identity should probably have a "real" name.

As far as the villains being mounted...It's not a bad idea but it's kind of...flashy. I saw these three playing it a little more low-key than straight-up bombing public places and flying around with an army, causing havoc going "look at us, we're the evil villains".

What I'd sort of like to do with the overall plot is maybe actually have them host a tournament. Like, it could be under the guise of "we're neutral mediators, here to help settle this dispute for the throne of Outworld fairly and honorably via ritual combat" but really they're doing it 'cause they need blood sacrifices to awaken their god.

I may have some mount-riding in MK4 though. The game is basically about Shinnok enacting a Biblical apocalypse, Hell opening up and the dead rising to claim the worlds of the living and all that...so I've been thinking some Four Horsemen imagery would be a neat touch. Quan Chi, Reiko, and Noob do kinda fit the themes of pestilence, war, and death (at least, if you take that staff that spits locusts from Quan's MKDA concept art into account.) Though I never could think of a match for famine... Mileena or Reptile 'cause they're always hungry? Scorpion could set crops on fire, and would look the coolest on a horse with that whole Ghost Rider thing he's got going on...

I dunno, I don't have to think about it until a few years from now.

Scorpion riding a flaming horse? Fans' awesome meters are bound to go up when they read that :B

I just noticed something about the MK storyline. It originally was supposed to be influenced by "Enter the Dragon" (you know secluded island, mysterious martial arts tournament, evil Chinese master etc.) and it suddenly delved into a geopolitical version of Game of Thrones (without the family drama and Red Wedding) with armies, shifting political leaderships etc. And now you're thinking about the tournament archetype in the first post-Armageddon story? Honestly it sounds great. Instead of that crappy rebooted MK1 tournament in MK9 after Armageddon in official canon, the tournament in MK Reawakening (don't mind me if I use the title until official updates occur) could bring back memories of the first MK game, but this tournament will mark a NEW ERA in Mortal Kombat, showing that there's no Shang Tsung, Kahn and all those other original villains presiding over it plus there's a mix of old and new characters in the batch that can create new allegiances and tear up old ones. However there's two things that I want to question:

1) You said the triad under guise wants blood sacrifices to free their Chaos God, but earlier stated only a water being (Sub-Zero's unnamed Hydro granddaughter) was the key to unlocking his prison. So why couldn't they just kidnap her in the first place and unlock the Chaos God right away? Also, if they were going to do blood sacrifices, how many would be required? Does seven equal a water sacrifice? Is there a specific number that needs to be reached and the water sacrifice is the final straw that breaks the lock?

2) If some good guys are going to the tournament, there's have to be SOME good reason for them to be hear like unsettled business, personal glory, fighting for someone who's under threat of getting killed etc.

Since Scorpion is done with his Quan Chi kill spree, will he even have anything to do or will there just be some cameos? I feel that since Sub-Zero and his clan are one of the principal plot lines in MK: Reawakening, I kinda feel that the ice man should take the spotlight and have Scorpion not almost appear at all. Sub-Zero could be trying to save one of his students under prison or fighting for his right to settle legally in Outworld by fighting in the tournament. And Scorpion? I'm sure he has better things to do like hunt down Noob Saibot or Quan Chi's remaining forces than attend another tournament.

Also I noticed that tournament in Outworld scenario was familiar. It was done after MK9 in this deviantart user MarcusSmiter's original comic. The only difference is that Reiko runs the tournament along with Tanya underneath as they prep for Shinnok's invasion of Outworld. So far it's incomplete. http://marcussmiter.deviantart.com/gallery/41182608/Mortal-Kombat

I don't want to spoil too much, so let's just say the blood and the girl are two separate ingredients in an elaborate magical ritual.



Indeed...though not every character is necessarily in the tournament, some go off on their own sidequests. The approach will be somewhere halfway between the MK2 method, where people are wandering around doing plot stuff between fights, and the MKDA method, where Li Mei is in a tournament but she's the only character in the plot affected by it while everyone else is doing something completely different.



I was thinking Scorpion's new job, since there's no more Kamidogus for the Champion of the Elder Gods to hunt, would be to sort of guard the gates of Hell and make sure the dead stop coming back all the time since that's one of the big Armageddon-causing problems that the Elder Gods would want a solution to. So he'll be involved in a subplot with the other Hell characters like Drahmin.



You're right, that is similar.

I suppose lots of people have had similar ideas about what the politics of Outworld would turn into with Kahn gone since the end of MK9. I've been thinking about it for years though 'cause it was always my opinion that none of the End Bosses should survive Armageddon, their stories really came to an end in the games they were bosses of and they just hung around too long...and them being gone would leave power vacuums in both Outworld and Netherealm. I just went with a tournament 'cause these ideas are all a collection of stuff I've been toying with since MKA and there had been threads back then complaining that there hadn't been a game about a tournament in a long time.

Presuming that Scorpion probably won a rematch against Drahmin and Moloch in either Deception or Armageddon in your written version (if it were to occur) then I don't see how Scorpion will have no problem facing against Drahmin and Hsu Hao.

Also is there a possibility of a scene where Ermac (Jerrod in control now) will sort of encounter Mileena and somehow telepathically read her mind about her hatred toward his daughter Kitana? I could picture him afterward, revealing his true identity and offering to help reconcile Mileena with Kitana (who doesn't know Mileena is alive) and offer her a place in Edenia, but Mileena's blind hatred and strong attachment to Shao Kahn can impede any reason to agree with Ermac.

Obviously, Drahmin's due for an upgrade,

As far as Ermac...I wouldn't call Jerrod "in control". I'd call him one voice among many. Perhaps in his MK9 ending, he would be unable to agree with himself on anything without Kahn's control and need a strong voice to force the others to get along, but in the old, his freedom wasn't achieved suddenly and violently by his master's death, it was achieved through meditation with Kenshi. His voices learned to be at peace and get along.

The strength of the character is that he's an amalgamation of like a thousand dudes, they should behave by reaching a consensus, not by one soul being in charge of the other 999 and telling them what to do.

Also, I think Kitana hates Mileena just as much and is just as unlikely to make peace with her as vice versa. I mean, look at her MK Gold ending. She doesn't even think Mileena deserves to be treated like a person, she's just a "thing" created to steal and violate her identity.

So what's your plans with Skarlet? Some hopeless whelp trying to resurrect her master Shao Kahn by participating in the tournament or will there be a twist to her story?

There'll be several twists since I first have to either retcon her into or explain why she's absent from MK3, 4, DA, Deception, and Armageddon.

Let's just say she'll be spending a good portion of those games mind controlled and hanging out with Kia and Jataaka.

Now that Shao Kahn is dead, Reiko can willingly take over Kahn's residence and start wearing his horned helmet that he dreamed of in the MK4 ending. This brings up a few questions on how he's going to rule Outworld and whether he's going to use that rule to invade other realms. Also I don't see Reiko as the deluded evil guy like Kahn (thinks he's for ruling Outworld after his family dies and assassinates Onaga) or Onaga (wants to reunite the Kamidogu to become the One Being as part of the latter's universal plan). Before Armageddon, Reiko seemed to be just a willingly and reserved lackey who gave his services as general to the best man available. Now that there's no one above him, he's in a pretty funny place. Maybe he's fighting over Outworld because this realm had less competent rulers in the past and chaos ensued immediately after their departures? Since he's a smart and strong general, he believes he is the only person to keep this from happening and maintain order so in someway I think his motives are pretty noble. I wouldn't consider a totally EVIL guy or a boss that wants to invade realms (he doesn't fit this image in my opinion), but he does have two dimensions behind his character that I think could be explored in future installments.

Also if Sareena does manage to come across the Kriss sword after Ashrah's demise, will she find a way to control it or will it get the better of her?

Well that'd be a spoiler, now wouldn't it?

For the water chick I suggest the name of Cascade.

For the White Lotus chick, I suggest the name of Xi Mei. Her outfit would possibly resemble a mix of traditional Shoalin Monk, and Kung Lao's MK3 outfit.

In a post Armaggedon MK story that I worked on once, (which wasn't as fleshed out as what yours is shaping up to be) I also went with the story of Dark Raiden going all bad guy and being the main villain.

After the Armaggedon story was done, many of the existing cast were wiped out, so Earth was lacking defenders. Fujin was forced to recruit new ones who had the potential to be Earthrealm warriors in the future, but weren't quite ready.

I think that's still a line of thought you could look to as well perhaps.

And can I also suggest, that not all new characters should be grand and special. I imagine there are probably plenty of "ordinary joes" who study and train in martial arts as well, just living their day to day lives. Not a member of some secret society, or grand culture etc etc. Just plain old Mr Brown, getting on with it. I see no reason why an ordinary person couldn't have enough skill in their chosen martial art to end up on the list of potential future Earthrealm warriors that Fujin (or whoever else) could end up recruiting.

Not to mention it could infuse a fresh does of humanity to the story as well.

Just food for thought :)

Seriously, call the water chick Cascade. It sounds cool.

You it would be like an "Agents of SHIELD" version of Mortal Kombat? :B

I don't understand what you mean

The thing is...a guy who HASN'T trained with the secret dudes who know what Chi is and learned to make fireballs, what would he have for special moves?

Stryker only works as a playable character cuz he carries gadgets, like Batman. Kung fu guys usually aren't loaded with grenades.

"Cascade"'s not bad though, I'll put that one on the shortlist.

"Agents of SHIELD" is an ABC show spin-offed from the "Avengers" movie where a group of ordinary human beings work with the head of SHIELD Coulson (who already deals with superhero stuff) to protect Earth from future invasions or uncover artifacts that might fall into the wrong hands. I'm assuming those humans in your fiction would be something like that?

Also I was thinking of the following names for the Seidan character besides the bland Nemesis shmuck:

Garuda
Anzu
Shitenshi (death angel in Japanese)
Kontona (a corruption of the Japanese word for chaos)
Chakira (pronounced sh)
Apophis
Eris

Hundun/Hun-Tun (a primordial chaos in Chinese mythology) could be a good name for the God of Chaos

Also what if the new White Lotus chick was NOT a typical Li Mei lookalike? Some real-life resemblances when I envision for this character come into my mind like Samantha Jo (played Kitana in the online series), Michelle Lee (played Mileena in online series), Selina Lo, and Kristina Baskett (a graduated University of Utah gymnast and professional stunt artist). Hope these help.


Baskett Stunt Reel

I thought this little video could be a helpful hint to that character's personality. I personally liked it lol

Action Short

Well...there's already so many white and Asian people in MK...maybe the White Lotus girl should be something there's little to no representation of yet, like Middle Eastern or Indian? (Dhalsim-Indian, not Nightwolf-Indian)

I dunno, I find it really hard to decide on any specific traits I'd like her to have because I'm kinda thinking her character, since she's just a pure, simple "kung fu student" archetype, should revolve around a unifying theme or be based on a famous person like everybody in MK1 was.

What if she was Indonesian? No real reason as to why, but it might have to do with me watching The Raid.

Female shaolin? You might want to rethink that as that's like a politheistic muslim. There are two or three more reknown martial art hubs in China and Mongolia that are on par with the Shaolin, like Wu Tang, Tien Shan Pai...

That's not saying that the WLS only accepts members from the shaolin...