Design a ME Team

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

If you want to include an Iranian, you might try a brick character named Rustam. He's _the_ great Iranian hero, a man so blessed with superhuman strength he asked God to reduce it because every time he took a step he drove his foot several hundred feet into the ground. The main hero of the Shah-Nama (Persian Book of Kings), you'll find murals depicting various events from his life on the wall of almost every coffeshop in Iran even today.

 

There's also the little problem that, if you want to keep close to the legend, he's a Zoroastrian. I don't know how much trouble that could make in an aggressively Shi'ite Iran.

 

Some great ideas on this thread BTW!

 

Very good call for Rustam being a national Iranian hero. I don't know that modern Iran would have that big a problem with him, though, unless the hero himself was aggessive in promoting a Zoroastrian belief system. The author of the Shah Nameh, Firdawsi, was himself a Muslim, and the epic poem often refers to "God" without making a Zoroastrian distinction. Certainly his poem is still revered as the Persian/Iranian national epic.

[Libra]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

Thank Thee, oh Nucleon, for the gift of thine favour in the matter of the nomenclature of yon prince. I do like the name mine self.

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

Can anyone tell me the Arabic for "the Piligrim"?

The Pilgrim: al-Muhajir pronounced: al-moo-ha-jer (moo like a cow, ha like in happy, and jer like the second syllable of dodger)

 

(spelled in arabic as: alif, lam, mim w/dhumma, soft h, alif, jim w/kasra, ra)

 

TB

[Libra]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

Thank you. I'll edit the post.

[Libra]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

Al Muhajir

 

He is a mysterious . . .Man. At least I belive him to be such, for he has the shape and the temprement of such. Yet I have seen pictures of him (Although no reliable ones) which would make him at least a hundred and possibly as much as two hundred years old. Yet he maintains the appearence of a man of roughly fifty years. A true mystery. And a powerful one.

 

John Pierce on Al Muhajir.

 

Al Muhajir(The Piligrim) is an enigma. He is of great age, although no reliable source exists to say exactly how old. He wanders the deserts and the piligrim routes of Arabia and the middle east. He rarely stops for more than a night in the same town, yet seems to know much about them. He appears to be an elderly, slightly stooped figure, wearing a simple, travel-stained white robe.He speaks in a mild voice, and is humble and plite in all his dealings with men and women. He is also one of the most powerful individuals on Earth. He has immense knowledge, control over the sands and the creatures of the desert, as well as the ability to manipulate minds and perceptions. He seemingly does not age, and has many friends along the routes of his travels.

[Inu]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

I like the idea of an Arab mystic. The old stories are full of evil sorcerers... but why can't there be a good one?

 

Specifically, something of an alchemist and astrologer. These two practices were very big in pre-Islamic Arab/Persian societies. I'd look at transformational powers, possibly control over elements, and predictions via stars and other methods.

 

If you really want to go into history, make him a Zoroastrian.

 

For a more traditional superhero, well, regional flavour often takes care of itself. I cringe at most Australian superheroes, because while American authors are capable of making American heroes who don't necessarily scream 'American', those from other cultures, for some reason, have to be VERY much from those cultures.

 

I mean, take Cyclops. Give him a different name, different background, different look, he could be from any country on earth with minimal change.

 

But for some reason, when it comes to Australian heroes, they all have to be 'The Jackaroo', or 'Captain Colonial', or 'Dreamtime Man'. Same with Middle-East, I guess.

 

The Captain Americas of comics are all well and good. But there's no reason that EVERY super-character from other countries MUST be innately tied to that country.

 

I think that's what you're getting at by the comment about corniness? It's something that's definitely annoyed me about most super-characters. The key is subtlety, people!

 

(This mini-rant brought to you by the sighting of yet another Crocodile Hunter ripoff character in webcomics.)

[Nucleon]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

If you want to include an Iranian, you might try a brick character named Rustam. He's _the_ great Iranian hero, a man so blessed with superhuman strength he asked God to reduce it because every time he took a step he drove his foot several hundred feet into the ground. The main hero of the Shah-Nama (Persian Book of Kings), you'll find murals depicting various events from his life on the wall of almost every coffeshop in Iran even today.

 

There's also the little problem that, if you want to keep close to the legend, he's a Zoroastrian. I don't know how much trouble that could make in an aggressively Shi'ite Iran.

 

Now that was some brick.

 

Did Rustam was a litteral contemporary of Gilgamesh, Hercules and Samson? Many cultures there seem to include an immensely strong man. Nucleon thanks you for this interesting lead.

 

Some great ideas on this thread BTW!

 

Oh yes, there really are indeed.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

Now that was some brick.

 

Did Rustam was a litteral contemporary of Gilgamesh, Hercules and Samson? Many cultures there seem to include an immensely strong man. Nucleon thanks you for this interesting lead.

 

I don't know who he was 'contemporary' with, though I remember reading that some of the oldest Rustam tales were being told in Bactria (old Afghanistan) and eastern Iran at probably 1000 BC or so.

 

He might have been contemporary with Indra, who probably started out as a mythologized real-world hero chieftain (indeed, they were probably the same person, unless Rustam was made up from whole cloth), which could push him back maybe another 1000 years or so.

[Nucleon]

Re: Design a ME Team

 

I cringe at most Australian superheroes, because while American authors are capable of making American heroes who don't necessarily scream 'American', those from other cultures, for some reason, have to be VERY much from those cultures.

 

I mean, take Cyclops. Give him a different name, different background, different look, he could be from any country on earth with minimal change.

 

But for some reason, when it comes to Australian heroes, they all have to be 'The Jackaroo', or 'Captain Colonial', or 'Dreamtime Man'. Same with Middle-East, I guess.

 

(...) It's something that's definitely annoyed me about most super-characters. The key is subtlety, people!

 

(This mini-rant brought to you by the sighting of yet another Crocodile Hunter ripoff character in webcomics.)

 

Aye, this is part of a certain Gold and Silver age heritage; the caricature of the ennemy (at first), then the caricature of the ally, about which the authors in these days knew little most often than not. The medium was not yet serious enough to make a in-depth study of the history, culture and ways on the archetype they were about to picture.

 

From the Bronze age on, it is more and more common to see deeper concepts of foreign supers.. We may soon even accept a super-comic whose action is centered around another culture... and that is good.

 

That being said, Nucleon can enjoy a bit of sillyness in the despiction of foreign individuals (it still got a certain naive charm), but He would not want to do it Himself, albeit He sure like a cultural or historic bent on a character's origin.

 

Nucleon guess it is a question of dosage.