C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A LT E E N A G E M U T A N T
N I N J A T U R T L E S
L E O N A R D O ♦ R A P H A E L
M I C H E L A N G E L O ♦ D O N A T E L L O
S H I N O B I ♦ N E W Y O R K ♦ H A M A T O C L A N
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C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
"We strike hard and fade into the night."
One deep, dark night in Japan, hundreds of years ago, a fearful warrior known as Oroku Saki was defeated. His dream of a shadow empire in Japan, controlled by his Foot Clan behind a puppet regime, was smashed by the emergence of the Tokugawa shogunate. But Saki, known as the Shuredda, was shrewd. He had plans should his plans fail. He disappeared from the world, while the Foot found a new place in the world, where it waited for the perfect time to reemerge.
On another night fifteen years ago in a rainy, busy New York City, a canister of chemicals labelled "TCRI" fell from a truck and shattered on the street. The oozing, glowing liquid inside washed down a sewer grate and into the sewers below. When it did, it came into contact with a rat and five baby turtles. The ooze coated them, and as it did, it began to rewrite their genetic code. It gave them human-like forms and intelligence. The rat, known as Splinter, being much older than the turtles, took on his role as their adoptive father. He named them from a book he found on famous painters. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Artemisia were his world. The rat had memories of his life before the mutation, even if they were faint. From these memories, he trained his children in the ways of ninjutsu, in preparation for a threat he did not recall.
Five years later, the small, weird family was above ground, in the city, scavenging for food. While they did so, a van full of men abducted Artemisia, and attempted to take the rest of the turtles as well. Splinter and the boys were able to fight them off, but not before they got away with Artie. While the family was heartbroken, they did eventually take in a mutated arctic fox named Alopex, who had no idea of her origin.
Eventually, more mutants in the city were located, led by alley cat Old Hob. This group, who called themselves the Mutanimal Liberation Army, was dedicated to protecting mutants from humans. Alopex, swayed by their cause and feeling like an outsider in the family, joined with the Mutanimals.
Now, the Turtles and New York were about to face their greatest threat. After the surface world was thrown into chaos by the Purifiers, the Turtles would emerge once more. They would have to fight like they never had before in order to survive...and save the world!
C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
I mean, I *always* want to play the TMNT. But basically we seem to (hopefully) have a stable game going, and I want to try it again. I've always wanted to tell the story in a One Universe game, have them interacting with Batman, Spider-Man, etc. I want to tell the definitive Turtles story, melding different parts of their different iterations.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Supporting Characters:
- Hamato Clan
- Splinter
- April O'Neil
- Casey Jones
- The Foot Clan
- Oroku Saki, The Shredder
- Tatsu
- Oroku Pimiko
- Oroku Karai
- The Purple Dragons
- Arnold "Attila" Jones
- Max Steranko
- Geanaldo Anton
- Mutanimal Liberation Army
- Old Hob
- Alopex
- Herman the Hermit Crab
- Pigeon Pete
- TCRI
- Doctor Jordan Perry
- Doctor Baxter Stockman
The sound of fists hitting a heavy bag echoed dully through the dojo, as the lone figure struck the training tool over and over again.
His hands were taped up from above the wrist all the way down to his knuckles, but the repeated punches still bruised and broke the green skin underneath the protection. He was in the training room too much. He knew it, Leo knew it, and Master Splinter definitely knew it. He wasn't even training. Not really, anyway. He was just in here taking out his frustrations.
He had too many frustrations.
He was mad that they barely ever left their home. He was angry that Master Splinter, after all these years, still would not tell them why they were training in the ninja arts. He was pissed off because Leo never asked the questions he needed to. He was frustrated that he wasn't allowed to do more to help the surface world above.
But most of all his was furious that his father ignored the fact that their sister had been missing for the better part of a decade.
It was all getting to be too much.
His brothers shared some of his concerns. They were all better at hiding it, in different ways. Mikey pretended to be dumb, aloof, and a clown to mask the fact that he's torn up about Artie to this day. Don threw himself into his tinkering and reading to mask the fact that he's uncomfortable with all the combat Splinter seemed to be preparing them for. Leo focused on a mission he doesn't know the goal of in order to pretend that he had a purpose. They were all broken in some way.
How could they not be. They were mutant turtles gifted human intelligence and amazing abilities by a random accident. They were bound to be messed up in the head.
"You are troubled, Raphael."
The soft, almost melodic, tone of Splinter's voice carried over the relative silence of the dojo. It was a sound none of the turtles had heard in days. Ever since the attack on the surface world and the hijacked TV broadcast, Splinter had been alone in his room meditating. Over what, they didn't know, but here he was.
Raphael turned to see the tall, slender, human-like rat standing in the door, leaning on the cane he always had with him. These days, his dark, chestnut-brown fur was tinged with more and more grey. He may not have been as fast as he once was, but he was still wise beyond his station.
He made his way to the center of the room, and sat cross-legged before motioning for Raphael to join him.
As the young turtle did so, he asked, "Master, it's been a while."
The rat sighed, and the fur around his mouth ruffled, "There was much to think on, my son. Too much. For too long I have kept our family here. For too long I have believed we were safe. That we could be happy cut off from the outside world whenever possible. I believed I was training you, but for what I was never sure. Until I remembered."
Splinter trailed off, staring into the dark corner of the dojo. Raphael, on the other hand, had a chill run through him. He had never heard Splinter talk as he was. It was almost as if he was scared. Even when they lost Artemisia, he kept his calm about him.
"Master?" Raph asked with a quiver in his voice.
His father looked down, his warm, brown eyes meeting his adopted son's. He smiled, "I'm sorry, my son. It is time for us to have an increased presence on the surface. We have hid for too long, and I fear it may have allowed our enemies a foothold we could have prevented. Now we must ensure they do not get more."
"Enemies, father?" Raphael asked, almost with an intense hunger. He had been training for so long. It was time to show what he could do.
"I will explain later when Leonardo returns," his father smiled calmly. "He is visiting your sister in her new home."
"Alopex," Raphael said, his eyes narrowing.
