Monster Mash

I was invited a while back to participate in an online role-play game. It would have been a free-form with a setting inspired by schlocky old monster movies. These plans evaporated (as often happens in role-playing) but I did develop a few characters that I potentially could have played. May as well describe the fictional critters here.

Thuban Of Alpha Draconis

Thuban is one of the reptilian aliens that secretly rule the world. This specimen has lived for a thousand years, often hibernating, shedding skins periodically and, with them, human-seeming guises of whatever sex. Currently, Thuban can appear as a mild-mannered office clerk named Ian. Ironically, he was very much that within Draconian society, till he became impatient with the slow progress of the group project he was directing. The task was to give the gift of telepathy to humans, a boon that had helped the aliens themselves advance, but it was something very few humans could develop. The next best thing, then, was mobile Internet. Ian fast-tracked its introduction before safety evaluation was complete, and within a decade it had caused a marked regression in the functioning of both human groups and individuals. In consequnce, Thuban was exiled by the Schematic Hegemony, and now lives full-time among the Terran primates. Refusing to repent his mistake, Ian now lurks online, contributing exposés to the Reptilian conspiracy theory, with a focus on the minutiae of Draconian internal politics. Humans conspiracy theorists find it insufficiently sensationalist, so his missives have little impact. The Schematic Hegemony consider Thuban a minor problem, even though he is mind-controlling a few humans to commit petty crimes for him.

The Lumpy Peril

The colloquially dubbed Lumpy Peril is a large, abstract, modern sculpture located in a public plaza, made of cement and purposely rusted iron. At night it animates and stalks the lanes and alleys off the plaza. It is relatively docile but also very clumsy. Its movements cause damage to property and scare petty criminals. However, security cameras malfunction in its presence and nobody has yet proved the existance of this shambling oddity. Nor do those who know the truth about the Lumpy Peril understand how it functions. Thuban speculates that its animation is the product of some nanites that escaped from a Draconian project facility. Reneer however assumes a rival occultist has turned the work of supposed art into a golem of some sort. Both characters think they could make use of Lumpy.

Reneer The Relatively Revived

Reneer was an alchemist and aspiring necromancer who, in 1500s Amsterdam, felt sure he had discovered the combination of ingredients and incantations that would preserve his life indefinitely. Something went amiss, however, and it took decades for Reneer to discover that he never died but still aged. He was an undead corpse with a malevolent cunning and a host of dire potions at his disposal. He worked on embalming himself to preserve bodily function in his new state. He periodically replaced body parts with substitutes he fashioned for himself. Nothing however could prevent his mind from degrading beyond its natural term and the result was a profound insanity. Reneer now believes that he is the narrator of the story through which he walks, with gnarled cane and wheezing breath, a habit he never abandoned despite no longer needing oxygen. His favourite activity is watching late-night horror movies in the cinema a block from the plaza, enshroud in the illusion of a living gentleman of indeterminate age and fine couture. Beyond that, he is attracted to any kind of calamity or mishap, and will hang about describing the situation like some skeletal reporter.

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I can see these three characters all crossing paths in some scenario and it could be a lot of kooky or creepy fun.