Jorlem:
1) At first he would want to only show up Zeke, but later as his mind starts to go, that'll devolve into Zeke Must Die... 'Sides, figure that the God in question would want Raven's avatar out of the way - he's got that grand design worthy of Hades in that he wants to overthrow the other Gods. Consuming the corrupted souls of the galaxy at large is his route of gaining the power to do so.
2)A few, but I haven't really settled on many of them yet. Definitely his maternal grandmother, though. I want her to be the Avatar to Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean.
3)Power would be automatic detection of corrupted soul, plus the ability to rip one's soul from their body leaving the person in a permanent comatose state. The soul goes to his god, but he gets a small percentage as well. Wonder if he should be able to create zombies this way? You know, just as cannon fodder. Other more mundane attributes is that he gets really good at one-on-one combat and he's an outstanding organizer/tactician.
4)His corruption will be pretty quick. After he challenges Zeke the first time after making his contract, Zeke is concerned but notes that he still seems the same. But future confrontations will leave Zeke deeply troubled as his cousin quickly looses his sanity.
Necratoid:
I'm wondering if we share the same concept of Grim-Dark here. To me, something like the fanfic Shinji and Warhammer 40K is the definition of Grim-Dark. Sure, it's got moments of AWESOME aplenty... but it also turns everyone to paranoia as they all try to keep watch for the alien space bats disguised as your friends and family that Kaoru Nagisa sicks on them. Bonus Grim-Dark points for having Asuka absolutely torn between Shinji and Kaoru.
You won't see anything even remotely like that going on in my fic. Just to be sure, though, let's take a look at TVtropes's article, Tastes Like Dirt:
I Thought It Meant
And no, UEC is not going to be made of wangst. There will be no moments of impotent whining on his part. If asked about his hatred of his cousin he will explain it, calmly and with carefully selected words. The closest he'll come to whining will be the psychotic episodes he has in which someone dies horribly. Might be confused for the Ultimate Evil Overlord who kills subordinates at the smallest sign of bad news... but no. It only happens when someone rudely and unfavorably compares him to Zeke and in doing so pushes him over the edge. (At the beginning he'll have a fuse of reasonable length... but it will get shorter as time goes on.)
At any rate, I do like the setup that you've proposed. Having Zeke tutor under this cousin - an older and seemingly wiser person who is open to Zeke's outside-the-box thinking - is an excellent way of involving him. And having him start out by 'advising' baddies of the Sailor Moon side of things sounds like as good a start as any.
However, I still like the idea of him being picked up by AMALGAM later on. It's not really a matter of UEC v. Zeke here, as much as it is a matter of following his higher objectives set forth by his god. You see, the guy in charge wants to have sole dominion over everything. He's already amassed a significant amount of power from the souls he's consumed - enough that someone the like of Raven cannot take him alone. By the time we're halfway through, he's silently gathered more power - enough that Tsunami would be hard-pressed to face him.
It's kinda like Clash of the Titans in which Zeus and the other gods are failing in power because people don't really worship them anymore... but Hades is gaining power because he relies on captive souls instead of willful worship.
So, it's not really the UEC's idea. He just wants to show up Zeke. The price is that he's become the pawn of a powerful being who wants only more power until he's the only business in town.
And Chaos from Sailor Moon? Yeah, that's gonna be fun because UEC's god and Chaos are gonna wind up colliding like two fright trains on the main line... and all anyone else will be able to do is get the hell outta the way. It will be a defining turning point in the story because everyone will now know where they stand as UEC's god stands there with a smug look and says, "Any other takers?"
1) At first he would want to only show up Zeke, but later as his mind starts to go, that'll devolve into Zeke Must Die... 'Sides, figure that the God in question would want Raven's avatar out of the way - he's got that grand design worthy of Hades in that he wants to overthrow the other Gods. Consuming the corrupted souls of the galaxy at large is his route of gaining the power to do so.
2)A few, but I haven't really settled on many of them yet. Definitely his maternal grandmother, though. I want her to be the Avatar to Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean.
3)Power would be automatic detection of corrupted soul, plus the ability to rip one's soul from their body leaving the person in a permanent comatose state. The soul goes to his god, but he gets a small percentage as well. Wonder if he should be able to create zombies this way? You know, just as cannon fodder. Other more mundane attributes is that he gets really good at one-on-one combat and he's an outstanding organizer/tactician.
4)His corruption will be pretty quick. After he challenges Zeke the first time after making his contract, Zeke is concerned but notes that he still seems the same. But future confrontations will leave Zeke deeply troubled as his cousin quickly looses his sanity.
Necratoid:
I'm wondering if we share the same concept of Grim-Dark here. To me, something like the fanfic Shinji and Warhammer 40K is the definition of Grim-Dark. Sure, it's got moments of AWESOME aplenty... but it also turns everyone to paranoia as they all try to keep watch for the alien space bats disguised as your friends and family that Kaoru Nagisa sicks on them. Bonus Grim-Dark points for having Asuka absolutely torn between Shinji and Kaoru.
You won't see anything even remotely like that going on in my fic. Just to be sure, though, let's take a look at TVtropes's article, Tastes Like Dirt:
I Thought It Meant
Quote:Tastes Like Dirt from TVtropes.orgmmmmmmmmmmmmnope. Don't think so. About as bad as it gets will be Zeke having a moral conflict in that he has to fight his cousin - someone he knows is essentially a good person and is confused over why the hell he's gone to the darkside.
No, this is not about eating dirt. It's the opposite of Tastes Like Diabetes. If something tastes like diabetes, then it's so sweet it's sickening. If it Tastes Like Dirt, then it's so dark and edgy it seems over-the-top or silly. While you may be thinking, "Hey! This is just taken to eleven!", well, you're wrong.
is relative; i.e., in comparison to an earlier work in the franchise,
this work is a lot edgier. This is an absolute trope: all examples are [url=http://allthetropes.org/wiki/Grimdark]Grim Dark from beginning to end. May be [url=http://allthetropes.org/wiki/Rated_"M"_for_Money]Rated M For Money.
May involve Real Is Brown, A Space Marine Is You, Wangst, Crapsack World and Narm.
In fact, this is nothing more than a specific type of Narm. If the
heavy taste of dirt provokes a negative response in the viewers, then
it's Darkness Induced Audience Apathy.
Contrast Tastes Like Diabetes, Sugar Bowl, Lighter And Softer.
Not to be confused with Tastes Like Feet.
READ: Just because something may seem dark does not mean it Tastes Like Dirt. It must be Egregious. It must meet three of the following criteria:
- More than 25% of the tropes must be dark
- It must not be adapted from a comparatively lighter work, that's just .
- [url=http://allthetropes.org/wiki/Black_and_Grey_Morality]Black And Grey Morality, or Evil Versus Evil.
- Heavy emphasis on the dark bits.
- Word Of God emphasizes the dark bits as well.
And no, UEC is not going to be made of wangst. There will be no moments of impotent whining on his part. If asked about his hatred of his cousin he will explain it, calmly and with carefully selected words. The closest he'll come to whining will be the psychotic episodes he has in which someone dies horribly. Might be confused for the Ultimate Evil Overlord who kills subordinates at the smallest sign of bad news... but no. It only happens when someone rudely and unfavorably compares him to Zeke and in doing so pushes him over the edge. (At the beginning he'll have a fuse of reasonable length... but it will get shorter as time goes on.)
At any rate, I do like the setup that you've proposed. Having Zeke tutor under this cousin - an older and seemingly wiser person who is open to Zeke's outside-the-box thinking - is an excellent way of involving him. And having him start out by 'advising' baddies of the Sailor Moon side of things sounds like as good a start as any.
However, I still like the idea of him being picked up by AMALGAM later on. It's not really a matter of UEC v. Zeke here, as much as it is a matter of following his higher objectives set forth by his god. You see, the guy in charge wants to have sole dominion over everything. He's already amassed a significant amount of power from the souls he's consumed - enough that someone the like of Raven cannot take him alone. By the time we're halfway through, he's silently gathered more power - enough that Tsunami would be hard-pressed to face him.
It's kinda like Clash of the Titans in which Zeus and the other gods are failing in power because people don't really worship them anymore... but Hades is gaining power because he relies on captive souls instead of willful worship.
So, it's not really the UEC's idea. He just wants to show up Zeke. The price is that he's become the pawn of a powerful being who wants only more power until he's the only business in town.
And Chaos from Sailor Moon? Yeah, that's gonna be fun because UEC's god and Chaos are gonna wind up colliding like two fright trains on the main line... and all anyone else will be able to do is get the hell outta the way. It will be a defining turning point in the story because everyone will now know where they stand as UEC's god stands there with a smug look and says, "Any other takers?"