Villain Creation Think Thread: The Blood Red King

[steriaca]

The Blood Red King. A evil blob of blood with a human skull and crown. The great undead king from Faerie, he is a rival of the Shadow Queen, and like her can never truly be destroyed (as Faerie will recreate him, or pass the mantle of Blood Red King to another similar undead being).

 

Considering what he is, these powers are likely. 

Desolification (turn his body from semi-solid blood to liquid blood and back).

Extra Limbs.

Streching.

Variable Power Pool (Necromantric Magic).

 

What other powers could he have? Remember, he should be as powerful as The Shadow Queen's dragon form. And probably can have the ability to cross dimensions (othoe it shouldn't be so easy...)

 

Yes, the idea was originally the Crimson King, but if this gets published one day, why get sued by the lawyers of the members of King Crimson?

[steriaca]

One thing I was thinking is the complete mental control over anyone who were to be forcefully injested with the semi-liquid body which makes up the Blood Red King. (A no range NND Mind Control).

 

And woe to those who are made to bleed in front of the Blood Red King. For anyone who bleeds in front of him can be drained to death, then maybe raised as undead to be forced into his service. (Line of Sight range Drain BODY. And then use Summon Undead with the empty husk as a "focus".)

[steriaca]

The Blood Red King vs Takofanes The Undying Lord.

 

On Faerie the advantage is on the Blood Red King, since the form he can send out to the Champions Earth is basically an avatar form. But don't think the Blood Red King is weak. He has to have enough Mental Defense to minimize a 20d6 Mind Control. Prehaps even 20d6 + 6d6 (with the Dragon Crown). Desolification can help, as probably also Mental Damage Reduction. Of course, Takofanes will probably just rip control of whatever he summons from the Blood Red King, so all the BRK does is enlarge Takofanes' undead army by lots.

 

BRK is about as vulnerable to Holy Magic as Takofanes is. Othoe the BRK is probably also vulnerable to "Elemental Light" attacks also (as he is the Faerie Embodiment Of Unlife And Darkness And Evil And Disease). Since "Elemental Light" doesn't harm Takofanes, he can always use such spells to damage the Blood Red King. 

 

Scary thoughts: both could team up, with each one planning on betraying the other at an appropriate time. 

 

Or an entire city can get caught between two undead armies, with your heroes trapped between them. Add the Shadow Queen not resisting foiling the plans of a hatred rival (she might side with Takofanes because who cares if he takes control of Earth as long as her little piece of Faerie is safe), and you got an epic adventure on your hands.

[Lord Liaden]

I'm afraid a Powers list and a (pretty gross) physical description aren't enough to really grab me. I want to know who the Blood Red King is. Where did he come from? Why is his body like that? What does he want, what are his priorities? What's his style that sets him apart from all the other monstrous masters of the undead, like our resident Archlich?

 

My proposal: the Blood Red King is the god of vampires. Over the millennia, the beliefs of many cultures in blood-sucking spirits, demons, and reanimated corpses, coalesced into an incarnation of the lust for blood. It's by his will and power that the curse of vampirism persists in the world. His creations and servants aren't just gothic vampires, but exsanguinating monsters from legends around the world, from the Romanian strigoi, to the West African sasanbosam, to the Chinese chiang-shih.

The Blood Red King feeds to live, and lives to feed. Each time a vampire takes the blood of a victim, a fraction of its vitality is passed on to the King. The god of vampires embodies the malevolence, the cruelty and sadism, that human imagination has imbued his creations with; but he doesn't wish to devour the whole world, as that would cut off his sustenance. He seeks to maintain an equilibrium with the ecology of his prey, the human race.

 

Most vampires have no knowledge of the Blood Red King, but some who do have formed cults that worship him. They will at times capture humans for ritual sacrifice to their god, rather than feeding on them immediately. The King sometimes commands his worshipers to perform specific tasks in the world for him. He's particularly covetous of magical artifacts with strong associations to blood, such as Aztec sacrificial altars, or the staff of Moses which turned the Nile River to blood. Vampires who worship the King can enter communion with him when he chooses, allowing him to possess them as his avatars so that he may walk disguised among living humans, and take his pleasure from them personally. While channeling the spirit of the Blood Red King, a vampire's power is greatly increased.

 

It's possible to kill the Blood Red King with enough of the right kind of force, but while vampires continue to exist he will eventually be reborn. However, if a way could be found to end his existence permanently, that might end the curse of vampirism for all time.

[death tribble]

The Blood Red King is also in the Gestalt book. And when Worldmaker was around he had  him as well as a major villain.

From what I recall, in Gestalt, the Blood Red King was the spirit of murder. He could cause people to suffer wounds and then get them to bleed continually. He is a major villain and very deadly. If i can dig out the book I'll go through the stats.

Storn did the picture in the book and also of the Bone White Queen.

[steriaca]

2 hours ago, death tribble said:

The Blood Red King is also in the Gestalt book. And when Worldmaker was around he had  him as well as a major villain.

From what I recall, in Gestalt, the Blood Red King was the spirit of murder. He could cause people to suffer wounds and then get them to bleed continually. He is a major villain and very deadly. If i can dig out the book I'll go through the stats.

Storn did the picture in the book and also of the Bone White Queen.

I think I need another name then.

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I'm afraid a Powers list and a (pretty gross) physical description aren't enough to really grab me. I want to know who the Blood Red King is. Where did he come from? Why is his body like that? What does he want, what are his priorities? What's his style that sets him apart from all the other monstrous masters of the undead, like our resident Archlich?

In Faerie he always existed. The current story going around was he was a human king who was afraid of dying and orchestrated the slaughter of his entire kingdom to provide blood for him for a ritual to extend his life by making him undead and his kingdom undead also.

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

My proposal: the Blood Red King is the god of vampires. Over the millennia, the beliefs of many cultures in blood-sucking spirits, demons, and reanimated corpses, coalesced into an incarnation of the lust for blood. It's by his will and power that the curse of vampirism persists in the world. His creations and servants aren't just gothic vampires, but exsanguinating monsters from legends around the world, from the Romanian strigoi, to the West African sasanbosam, to the Chinese chiang-shih.

The Blood Red King feeds to live, and lives to feed. Each time a vampire takes the blood of a victim, a fraction of its vitality is passed on to the King. The god of vampires embodies the malevolence, the cruelty and sadism, that human imagination has imbued his creations with; but he doesn't wish to devour the whole world, as that would cut off his sustenance. He seeks to maintain an equilibrium with the ecology of his prey, the human race.

I love this explanation. He does want to extend his empire, BUT he is NOT the guy who wants to eliminate all life in the world. If there is no life, he has no unlife. He is evil and cruel, but doesn't want his food to end.

 

What is obvious is that there no way to escape his rule. A human in his kingdom in Faerie is fated to serve him both in life and in unlife. Humans are encouraged to have children, to ensure his food supply and supply of lesser undead to serve him.

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Most vampires have no knowledge of the Blood Red King, but some who do have formed cults that worship him. They will at times capture humans for ritual sacrifice to their god, rather than feeding on them immediately. The King sometimes commands his worshipers to perform specific tasks in the world for him. He's particularly covetous of magical artifacts with strong associations to blood, such as Aztec sacrificial altars, or the staff of Moses which turned the Nile River to blood. Vampires who worship the King can enter communion with him when he chooses, allowing him to possess them as his avatars so that he may walk disguised among living humans, and take his pleasure from them personally. While channeling the spirit of the Blood Red King, a vampire's power is greatly increased.

 

It's possible to kill the Blood Red King with enough of the right kind of force, but while vampires continue to exist he will eventually be reborn. However, if a way could be found to end his existence permanently, that might end the curse of vampirism for all time.

Great explanation for his immortality. Thank you.

[steriaca]

Alternative names to avoid confusion with the Gesault villain. 

 

The King In Scarlet. Gives a Cthulu vibe (Hasar, the King in Yellow).

 

The Blood King.

 

The Crimson Emperor (might be too similar to the Jojo stand...)

 

The Hemoemperor (Henogoblan + Emperor)

 

I'm open to suggestions. 

[steriaca]

Goles:

 

I spread his influence throughout Faerie, taking control to expand his meager lands to span a larger part of Faerie. 

 

To expand his choice of food, and to persevere his food supply (which is blood of sentient beings). Abductions from Earth is an honest opinion for him.

 

To expand the amount of people who acknowledge him as an enviable part of life and unlife. That all serve him both in life and beyond with no choice in the matter. 

 

While he is evil (selfish), he is approachable to grant boons to others for his benefit.

 

He is not exactly the everyone must be dead thing (that is Takofanes' job after all). He is the crush all hope thing ("You serve me forever, body mind and soul, both in life and after. You are allowed to think for yourself only so you can realize this." Add a gurgling effect to get the full effect of his voice.)

[Duke Bushido]

Perhaps it is trite,  but I kind of like Hemogoblin.

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

Or a variation of that, Hemogorgon. Exploit a little of the popularity of both D&D and Stranger Things.

[steriaca]

42 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Or a variation of that, Hemogorgon. Exploit a little of the popularity of both D&D and Stranger Things.

The Hemogorgon sounds like an academic name for what he is. Something wizards, sages, and other learned beings would use. What would the public use?

 

Probably something simple, like The Blood Beast.

[wcw43921]

7 hours ago, steriaca said:

I think I need another name then.

 

Sanguine is synonymous with bloody, according to my Thesaurus.  Perhaps you could call him The Sanguine King.

 

As for powers, I could see him having Clinging--he can flow in any direction, over any surface, including liquid.

 

Another Mind Control aspect for his powers could be that his blood acts like the negatively charged slime from Ghostbusters II--anyone sprayed with his blood becomes Berserk and attacks the nearest individual, first verbally, then physically.

 

Hope that helps.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, I'm sure the monster himself would like to use a grand, impressive sounding name. The public? Probably something derogatory, like "the Unholy Flea."

 

Okay, how about "the Bloodletter?" Traditionally, that's a "physician" who bleeds a person in the belief that will cure illness.

[Duke Bushido]

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Or a variation of that, Hemogorgon. Exploit a little of the popularity of both D&D and Stranger Things.

 

 

Help out a guy who doesnt watch TV: are you saying rhat Hemogoblin is taken?  I ask because that is a type of undead in one of my fantasy world's- similar to but nowhwere near as powerful as what is being suggested here.

 

 

[Cygnia]

Blood-bending maybe?

[steriaca]

2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

Help out a guy who doesnt watch TV: are you saying rhat Hemogoblin is taken?  I ask because that is a type of undead in one of my fantasy world's- similar to but nowhwere near as powerful as what is being suggested here.

 

 

Nope. The monster in season one of Stranger Things (streaming over on Netflix) is called the Demigorgan, after the Dungeons and Dragons demon of the same name. In season two, they call another monster the Mind Flayer. In season three Venna (which is an evil god in D&D and made his hand and eye artifact).

 

Hey, that's what you get when you let D&D nerds name your monsters.

[steriaca]

The Hemogorgon is what scholars in Faerie call the exact type of monster he is. His enimies call him The Blood Beast. His subjects call him the King of Scarlet.

 

His lands are called the Scarlet Lands. Like most of Faerie, getting there is not as simple as "follow the north star" (more like "follow the north star east for two forests, then take a right turn at Alberqurkie.").  In the Scarlet Lands, it is always overcast and the sun never peeks through the clouds. It seems to be always in a state of Autumn. There are no graveyard to be seen. Everyone who dies MUST be bought to the castle (the Scarlet Castle) or suffer the conqusesses.

 

As one gets closer to the castle, the guards can be seen, full of attention but obviously undead. They never rest and always alert for trouble, occasionally scanning the skys for Dragons. There is no joy around. People work in the fields without smiling. They know the score...they work for the King of Scarlet till death and beyond. Any escape from him is always temporary. Even elves and dwarves look glum, as they can become undead also.

 

Any body of water has a red tinge to it. Every inch of the Scarlet Lands had a violent war upon it. Each tree in the forest barred a body hung from it's branches at one time or another. 

 

Somewhere in the Scarlet Lands is one partial wall standing in a ruins. Written upon that wall, some say, is the true name of The King of Scarlet. Some say if you speak the name in his presence he MUST grant one boon to the speaker of the word, and can not directly hurt the speaker. But that word changes over time. One day it works, another it doesn't. 

[Duke Bushido]

It seems like you are building a mastermind type, or possibly even a world conqueror-class villain, so this might not interest you, but a couple of abilities from my Hemogoblins (my players have been calling them that for so long that I tend to forget they were reimagined lyches and wights):

 

Transfer BODY, Ranged (range limited to 6 meters):  tendrils of blood (like the character being discussed, they are animated masses of blood, save that they have the entire skeleton and whatever flesh hasn't rotted away since their deaths; the rest of the "body" is filled in with partially-coagulated blood; the more flesh they lose, the more blood they need to replace it.)

 

Anyway-  tendrils of blood explode from the Hemogoblin and spear the target in dozens of places, at which point they forcibly draw blood from the target. 

 

Blood Spear:  1d6 RKA, Armor Piercing, indirect:  Hemogoblins of a certain power level can summon blood from living victims, which rips it's way out of the body in semi-solidified jets, and flies directly  to the Hemogoblin, where it joins the other blood keeping the creature intact.  A high-powered Hemogoblin has this ability at 2d6, and a very powerful one has it as an area of effect, allowing him to rupture rhe bodies of several opponents at once.

 

Meat Puppet:  this is a combination of abilities; various hemogoblins may have one or more of the individual abilities, but it is a rare one that can pull off the whole shebang:

 

Extra limbs (semi-gelatinous blood tendrils)  no manipulation at all: only for maintaining contact with Meat Puppet.

Stretching (extra limbs only).  The distance stretched limits the number of limbs available.  For example: 1 limb at 60", or two at 30, or four at 15, etc.)  I won't use rhe "L" word, but these two powers are one power, as one doesn't exist without the other)

 

The contact is made with an HKA applied via the blood tendrils (extra limbs and stretching)  _if_ the HKA does BODY, then the Hemogoblin will initiate both a Transfer CON and a Mind Control based on CON:  it infects the living blood and takes control of it, using it however it wishes (within range of its Stretching, of course) to forcibly control the body. A truly clever creature may use the puppet to attack and weaken its fellow party members, but most of the blood-hungry and brutish examples will simply use this ability to make the puppet surrender itself to the ravenous Hemogoblin and any fellows that might be with him.

 

 

Now to explain to LL the reasoning behind the "gross" SFX.   

 

There is a school of magic in this world called Blood Magic: the wielder derives power by modifying the magic inherent in the life force- in particular, the magic in his own lifeblood.  He will learn how to alter the effect of the life force upon him, and by extension, rhe nature od the lifeblood within him, allowing him to grant himself (and eventually others) various physical boons.  Always, this is because of his manipulation of his own life blood.

 

This is a very dangerous magic.  Considered barbaric by all but barbarians, this magic has a number of side effects and risks, and the more powerful the user, the greater the side effect.  As he increases in power, he will eventually top out on the magic available in his own life blood.  The only way to increase his power is to draw up on external sources of lifeblood as well as his own.

 

This becomes... Problematic for the blood mage.  As he mixes life blood with the unique lifeblood of various different people, drawing its magic out for himself, the magics mingle and change, affecting the magic and the user.  Enough different life forces- or rather, samples of them, intermingling,  and they begin to develop a rudimentary life of their own, and that is where the problem begins.

 

  If the mage continues to use- or worse, attempt to increase his power, this second life forming within his blood will get stronger.  Run afoul of the side-effects too often, and it happens faster and stronger.

 

Each time the lifeblood mingles with an outside source, the caster also loses a small amount of his own.  By the time most casters realize that lifeblood and the magics within it are unique to each person, and cannot be replaced by that of another, it is too late; by this point, they are usually convinced they can control it, and they are usually addicted to the use of the power. (One of the side effects is extreme euphoria, and addiction to it).

 

Eventually, the frankenstien's monster of life force living in the caster's blood becomes more powerful than that of the caster, and simply absorbs his life force into itself.  It is at this point that the body dies; the lifeblood that kept it alive is no longer present: it is filled with a monstrous mongrel whise lifeblood does not belong to this body, and the body begins to die.

 

Oops: that is how these things happen.  I was going to explain the SFX.  They are dead because above and rotting because they are dead.  Once they die, their personality lives on for a while- a very slow-acting Transform from Blood Mage to Hemogoblin begins.  The further along, the more rotten.

 

The blood is visible because the flesh is gone, and the rudimentary identity of the beast has a self-image of sorts.  Plus, the more blood they carry, the more powerful they are, and the longer they can live.

 

The blood is slowly_circulating bur partially-congealed because these things are pretty tough on heroic-level characters, and I quickly discovered that any sort of Desolidification (like a true liquid form)  allowed even a single pair of them wipe the floor with the party, because generally only magic specialists  could effect them at all (I have even added a vulnerability to fire for groups of low-powered Hemogoblins). 

 

The Con Drain and the Mind Control are both based on contact with semi-solidified blood tentacles to make them a bit easier for lesser-powered parties: both abilities can be stopped by a party member with a quick axe (and the goblin will take damage as, more than just  SFX, these are actual appendages.  )

 

Making all this happen- that is, balancing these terrors against a party of four to six adventurers-- requires thick and sticky not quite congealed liquid blood, or they lose their biggest vulnerability.

 

Their biggest strength is that, at lower power levels, they travel in packs.

 

 

 

 

 

[steriaca]

Why appear in the Champions Universe?

 

The King of Scarlet (as I have decided that is his name now) can be used as a rival to The Shadow Queen and Takofanes. It is up to the players to decide to team up with a lesser evil to stop a greater evil.

 

The King of Scarlet is always looking for new serfs to serve him. He encourages his serfs to get together and produce children, but sometimes the birth rate under preforms the death and undead rate. He usually rades "adjacent" kingdoms in Faerie (even if adjacent changes from time to time), but in the past thoes who know of him from Earth have always offered offerings of live human. Or dead ones to transform. His worship has fallen to a bare minimum, but he still knows the portals there.

 

The standard adventures involving The King of Scarlet is to come to the Scarlet Lands to save someone abducted to become a serf to him.

 

The King of Scarlet's army.

 

It mostly consists of revrents (intelligence zombie). Thoes who have aged enough for brain rot to happen become normal zombies. If they rot enough they become skeletons. And once the bones are destroyed they become ghost.

 

Vampires are sargents and generals of his armies as long as he can trust that they can control the hunger. Ghouls are not welcome in his realm. Hemogorgon are also welcome as long as they control their thirst.

 

Litches are not welcomed at all. He doesn't want the competition in the magic department. 

[death tribble]

This is how the Blood Red King looked when Storn drew him

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Storn/RoyalDuo72.jpg

 

[steriaca]

The Bone White Queen looks familiar...I think Tiger used her image for a villain of his.

[Lord Liaden]

5 hours ago, steriaca said:

Why appear in the Champions Universe?

 

 

I think I'll bow out of the discussion, because I'm not seeing enough distinctive about the character as you present him, compared to existing CU characters, to make me want to use him. But all interested parties, please continue.

[steriaca]

The idea is to create a pseudo Sauron type villain. But I'm not sure how to give him that feeling. Any ideas?

[Lord Liaden]

22 minutes ago, steriaca said:

The idea is to create a pseudo Sauron type villain. But I'm not sure how to give him that feeling. Any ideas?

 

See, that's the issue that I, personally, would have with the character if placed in the CU. That setting already has an explicit pseudo-Sauron character, who is also a master necromancer. There's some reinventing of the wheel there. That's why my suggestions were geared toward giving your King of Scarlet a more distinctive style and motivation. For what you say you want the character to be, he might work better in an original setting where he's the only occupant of his niche.

 

I would also like to understand why he should be a "rival" of the Shadow Queen or Takofanes. Okay, the King and the Queen both rule realms in Faerie. The King and the Archlich both rule undead. What brings them into conflict? What do they want from each other?

 

This is why I want to bow out. What I would do is getting in the way of helping you with what you want to do.