Admiral ZEX (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
be_discreet) wrote2014-09-04 01:38 pm
be_discreet) wrote2014-09-04 01:38 pm
APPLICATION [ARIEL]
• Name: Admiral ZEX
• Journal: be_discreet
• Series: Star Control 2
• Canon point: Post-death
• History:
ZEX himself: http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/ZEX
VUX in general: http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/VUX
The VUX involvement in the Ur-Quan Slave War: http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Ur-Quan_Slave_War#VUX_situation
• Personality:
Admiral ZEX is a character just FULL of traits. He's friendly but condescending, proud of his accomplishments and bitter that it has not earned him clemency for his unusual tastes, eager to cast himself in the best light possible in every conversation-- regardless of if those lights match up-- and completely willing to manipulate and lie to get his way... and completely charming through it all, bursting at the seams with flattery and admiration for humanity.
His own introduction of himself:
He comes across mostly as benign and fairly chatty, willing to expand at length in his answers to any questions asked, and-- while perhaps a little TOO interested in flattering humans-- pretty much safe. He doesn't want to hurt you, or anyone else!
This is pretty much exactly the persona he wants to put forward! Not that it's not also true, but there's definitely more going on with him.
Underneath that superficial charm, ZEX is brilliant, more than a little bitter, and somewhat less than honest.
He doesn't often lie outright (though he does that too, on a couple occasions), but he intentionally leans the truth in his favor and ignores little things he doesn't care for, such as that most people wouldn't like to be kidnapped and collected against their will, or that he was really, really good at killing humans, back when the VUX were still at war with them-- no, he's all modesty (though he won't hesitate to bring up how important he is if he thinks it will sway opinion) and oh-that's-in-the-past. He blames his exile on the bigotry of his countrymen (who are, admittedly, pretty bigoted), without once hinting that he could in any way be slightly less than noble for wanting to bang non-sapient creatures and that they might be kind of right about him being a skeevy pervert. At times, he slides into outright manipulative:
This is pretty much complete bullshit, and at odds with his bitter complaints about how the rest of the VUX are "closed-minded fools" who consider his views poisonous and him incurably perverse. Sure, they gave him his own planet just to keep his socially unacceptable interests out of their tendrils, but they're so much WORSE than he is, those bigots, and he would rather distance himself from his own species than try to see things from their perspective.
As for his brilliance... well, that IS mostly an informed ability-- we're told and told about it, but it's not something the game really displays. However, he does seem completely confident in his abilities, willing to go out in his own fighter to try and kidnap the Captain, and aghast at the idea that he wasn't fully prepared to take aboard the biggest, scariest, most vicious animal in the known universe. In fact, I'd say he's... perhaps a little blinded by his success, to the point where he assumes he is and always will be the best at everything and cannot fail. Failure is likely to shake him up badly, because he's had no reason to question his success.
Throughout his dialogue, he also often gives off an air of patronization and objectification. It's a little hard to quote any one line to exemplify this, but it's definitely there-- in the way he refers back to the player character's physical attributes over and over again, the overblown flattery of the captain's intelligence (despite the captain being kind of a doofus) like he's talking to a pet or a child...
Oh, and also in the way he completely disregards any feelings the captain might have about being forcibly kidnapped and kept as a pet. That probably helps with the sense that he spends all his time thinking of the captain as somewhat less than a full person.
• Age: Unknown, but likely somewhere in his 60s or older.
(Reasoning: was already an admiral, which is the highest rank in most navies and presumably most space fleets, as of twenty-some years before the start of the game. If VUX promotions work at all like human promotions, it is very unlikely that even a genius like ZEX could reach admiral before his 40s, thus... 60s-something at the very, very least.)
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: He looks exactly like every other VUX from SC2, because there is only one sprite for the species!
VUX, in canon, are one-eyed green aliens with trunks, tentacle arms, and waving tendrils; this, and their vaguely humanoid-shaped torso, are literally the entirety of their visible image, and there is zero further reference for what they look like in the game, though the VUX make a couple comments in their dialogues that can be extrapolated to biology (for example, one captain asserts that human nodding looks like a corpse-like broken neck to VUX, implying that VUX have little range of movement in their necks). Still, everything from the waist downwards is pretty much headcanon, as are general things like 'scale' and 'literally 99% of their physiology".
Canon artwork:
Artistic extrapolation:
Full body sketch:
https://i.imgur.com/f5X3gYC.png
Expressions:
https://i.imgur.com/zJxf6A1.png
Male VUX sex organ headcanon stuff (nsfw):
http://i.imgur.com/C0bc2GQ.png
look i draw vux a lot it's kind of a problem:
http://imgur.com/a/JNuNh
Due to some great investigative gaming done some years ago, we have a resource for what the VUX homeworld is like, and where their cities are located (the cities being the silver-white dots on the map at the bottom of the shot):
The oceanic cities and costal cities, very low atmospheric pressure (compared to Earth), and aggressive weather, along with the general... tentacular nature of the VUX, suggest to me that they are an amphibious species that originally resided mostly in the ocean, and cities on land are mostly a concession to technology being more easily worked outside of the water. On the other hand, what little we see of their interior design (chairs at desks, basically) also suggests that they are of vaguely bipedal form-- so possibly originating from something that went from ocean to land, then back to ocean, somewhat like the evolution of earth whales? They just didn't get around to evolving back to torpedo-shape before they got to spaceflight.
Working from these assumptions, and because canon ain't tellin' me otherwise, I propose a mature VUX who looks like the above sketches and artwork: bipedal, with wide flipper-like feet and a strong webbed tail for propulsion, and dorsal gill slits for oxygen exchange † while submerged.
Extending from this, the tendrils surrounding the VUX face could easily be construed as sensory organs-- which, to be honest, they already look like-- for sensing current and temperature, and the trunk-and-tounge combo... well, if I was assuming a terrestrial creature, I'd say an insecivore diet would be likely, so I'll propose a crustacean- and mollusk-based diet (allowing for space crustaceans and mollusks) as a staple for VUX.
Also: gonna throw out VUX as being generally slightly larger than humans as a thing, and pin ZEX at about 6'9 to 7' tall, before tendrils. Not too big to exist in human spaces, but big enough to be noticeable.
†: This does assume they use oxygen as their primary respiratory gas, which is... well, possible, since there's oxygen present on the planet, though the atmosphere suggests a methane-based respiratory system is more likely. But I am willing and eager to handwave this vigorously because the complications of ZEX being unable to breathe the air would be... complicated. :V
• Abilities/Powers:
He is very smart and a tactical genius, and can be presumed to be reasonably good at capturing large, dangerous animals. That's about it! VUX have no particular psychic powers, are of the same plane of reality as humans, and are generally pretty mundane among the Starcon aliens.
• Personal Items:
The only things canonly known as his are: an entire planet, his fleet, a menagerie of vicious predators, some cryogenically frozen aliens, and some pictures of humans.
He will probably keep the last, and none of the rest; it will come with some clothes and jewelry, and any and all medals that he has been honored with.
• First Person Sample:
http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/24301.html?thread=14446061#cmt14446061
• Third Person Sample:
http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/23662.html?thread=14382958#cmt14382958
• Journal: be_discreet
• Series: Star Control 2
• Canon point: Post-death
• History:
ZEX himself: http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/ZEX
VUX in general: http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/VUX
The VUX involvement in the Ur-Quan Slave War: http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Ur-Quan_Slave_War#VUX_situation
• Personality:
Admiral ZEX is a character just FULL of traits. He's friendly but condescending, proud of his accomplishments and bitter that it has not earned him clemency for his unusual tastes, eager to cast himself in the best light possible in every conversation-- regardless of if those lights match up-- and completely willing to manipulate and lie to get his way... and completely charming through it all, bursting at the seams with flattery and admiration for humanity.
His own introduction of himself:
Ah... Human visitors! What a treat!
I am Admiral ZEX. Please do not be frightened. Unlike the rest of my species, I... enjoy humans.
You may know me by reputation, my leadership of VUX forces during the war with your Alliance.
I assure you that this behavior, a sad necessity of those times, belies a much kinder, gentler being.
Please be welcome! We can get to know one another... expand our interspecies relationship.
He comes across mostly as benign and fairly chatty, willing to expand at length in his answers to any questions asked, and-- while perhaps a little TOO interested in flattering humans-- pretty much safe. He doesn't want to hurt you, or anyone else!
This is pretty much exactly the persona he wants to put forward! Not that it's not also true, but there's definitely more going on with him.
Underneath that superficial charm, ZEX is brilliant, more than a little bitter, and somewhat less than honest.
He doesn't often lie outright (though he does that too, on a couple occasions), but he intentionally leans the truth in his favor and ignores little things he doesn't care for, such as that most people wouldn't like to be kidnapped and collected against their will, or that he was really, really good at killing humans, back when the VUX were still at war with them-- no, he's all modesty (though he won't hesitate to bring up how important he is if he thinks it will sway opinion) and oh-that's-in-the-past. He blames his exile on the bigotry of his countrymen (who are, admittedly, pretty bigoted), without once hinting that he could in any way be slightly less than noble for wanting to bang non-sapient creatures and that they might be kind of right about him being a skeevy pervert. At times, he slides into outright manipulative:
I thought we had built some trust between us, different though we may be
but no, I perceive now the same bigotry and misunderstanding which brought our two species to war!
This was our chance to cement a good relationship between Human and VUX.
With my influence, the High Council could easily have been swayed to view the Human cause in a more favorable light.
This is pretty much complete bullshit, and at odds with his bitter complaints about how the rest of the VUX are "closed-minded fools" who consider his views poisonous and him incurably perverse. Sure, they gave him his own planet just to keep his socially unacceptable interests out of their tendrils, but they're so much WORSE than he is, those bigots, and he would rather distance himself from his own species than try to see things from their perspective.
You see, Captain, we are not all that different, you and I.
We are different from the majority of VUX, and so we, in VUX eyes, are both monsters.
As for his brilliance... well, that IS mostly an informed ability-- we're told and told about it, but it's not something the game really displays. However, he does seem completely confident in his abilities, willing to go out in his own fighter to try and kidnap the Captain, and aghast at the idea that he wasn't fully prepared to take aboard the biggest, scariest, most vicious animal in the known universe. In fact, I'd say he's... perhaps a little blinded by his success, to the point where he assumes he is and always will be the best at everything and cannot fail. Failure is likely to shake him up badly, because he's had no reason to question his success.
Throughout his dialogue, he also often gives off an air of patronization and objectification. It's a little hard to quote any one line to exemplify this, but it's definitely there-- in the way he refers back to the player character's physical attributes over and over again, the overblown flattery of the captain's intelligence (despite the captain being kind of a doofus) like he's talking to a pet or a child...
Oh, and also in the way he completely disregards any feelings the captain might have about being forcibly kidnapped and kept as a pet. That probably helps with the sense that he spends all his time thinking of the captain as somewhat less than a full person.
• Age: Unknown, but likely somewhere in his 60s or older.
(Reasoning: was already an admiral, which is the highest rank in most navies and presumably most space fleets, as of twenty-some years before the start of the game. If VUX promotions work at all like human promotions, it is very unlikely that even a genius like ZEX could reach admiral before his 40s, thus... 60s-something at the very, very least.)
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: He looks exactly like every other VUX from SC2, because there is only one sprite for the species!
VUX, in canon, are one-eyed green aliens with trunks, tentacle arms, and waving tendrils; this, and their vaguely humanoid-shaped torso, are literally the entirety of their visible image, and there is zero further reference for what they look like in the game, though the VUX make a couple comments in their dialogues that can be extrapolated to biology (for example, one captain asserts that human nodding looks like a corpse-like broken neck to VUX, implying that VUX have little range of movement in their necks). Still, everything from the waist downwards is pretty much headcanon, as are general things like 'scale' and 'literally 99% of their physiology".
Canon artwork:
Artistic extrapolation:
Full body sketch:
https://i.imgur.com/f5X3gYC.png
Expressions:
https://i.imgur.com/zJxf6A1.png
Male VUX sex organ headcanon stuff (nsfw):
http://i.imgur.com/C0bc2GQ.png
look i draw vux a lot it's kind of a problem:
http://imgur.com/a/JNuNh
Due to some great investigative gaming done some years ago, we have a resource for what the VUX homeworld is like, and where their cities are located (the cities being the silver-white dots on the map at the bottom of the shot):
The oceanic cities and costal cities, very low atmospheric pressure (compared to Earth), and aggressive weather, along with the general... tentacular nature of the VUX, suggest to me that they are an amphibious species that originally resided mostly in the ocean, and cities on land are mostly a concession to technology being more easily worked outside of the water. On the other hand, what little we see of their interior design (chairs at desks, basically) also suggests that they are of vaguely bipedal form-- so possibly originating from something that went from ocean to land, then back to ocean, somewhat like the evolution of earth whales? They just didn't get around to evolving back to torpedo-shape before they got to spaceflight.
Working from these assumptions, and because canon ain't tellin' me otherwise, I propose a mature VUX who looks like the above sketches and artwork: bipedal, with wide flipper-like feet and a strong webbed tail for propulsion, and dorsal gill slits for oxygen exchange † while submerged.
Extending from this, the tendrils surrounding the VUX face could easily be construed as sensory organs-- which, to be honest, they already look like-- for sensing current and temperature, and the trunk-and-tounge combo... well, if I was assuming a terrestrial creature, I'd say an insecivore diet would be likely, so I'll propose a crustacean- and mollusk-based diet (allowing for space crustaceans and mollusks) as a staple for VUX.
Also: gonna throw out VUX as being generally slightly larger than humans as a thing, and pin ZEX at about 6'9 to 7' tall, before tendrils. Not too big to exist in human spaces, but big enough to be noticeable.
†: This does assume they use oxygen as their primary respiratory gas, which is... well, possible, since there's oxygen present on the planet, though the atmosphere suggests a methane-based respiratory system is more likely. But I am willing and eager to handwave this vigorously because the complications of ZEX being unable to breathe the air would be... complicated. :V
• Abilities/Powers:
He is very smart and a tactical genius, and can be presumed to be reasonably good at capturing large, dangerous animals. That's about it! VUX have no particular psychic powers, are of the same plane of reality as humans, and are generally pretty mundane among the Starcon aliens.
• Personal Items:
The only things canonly known as his are: an entire planet, his fleet, a menagerie of vicious predators, some cryogenically frozen aliens, and some pictures of humans.
He will probably keep the last, and none of the rest; it will come with some clothes and jewelry, and any and all medals that he has been honored with.
• First Person Sample:
http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/24301.html?thread=14446061#cmt14446061
• Third Person Sample:
http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/23662.html?thread=14382958#cmt14382958