V.2 Character Design: Athena Lithegood, Intergalactic Gunslinger

Character Design, Worldbuilding, & Dialog

• DESIGN GOALS

My intent was to create a low-scope sci-fi world and a non-conventional redemption character. Athena identifies as a bigender lesbian, but in the world I have created, her identification is known, accepted, and essentially a non-issue. First and foremost, she is a sharpshooter who has endured a traumatic experience.

• SAMPLE

Mentor (minor); Ally

Character Overview:

ATHENA LITHEGOOD is a seasoned Ganymedian gunslinger (NPC) who had performed in Sappho’s Intergalactic Wild West Exhibition and served as a bodyguard for various diplomats for over 10 years. Once the most sought-after markswoman in the galaxy, Lithegood now lives in exile and disgrace after making a fateful mistake. However, if given a chance to redeem herself, Lithegood will teach the hero how to shoot as well as fight alongside the hero.

Personality Traits:

BOLD; INDEPENDENT; AUTHENTIC; ENIGMATIC

GAME

Genre: ARPG/FPS

Mechanics/Actions:

- Teaches the player how to aim and use different types of guns (initial mentor state)

- Can join the player’s party and fight alongside the player

- If the player gets along with Athena, the player earns bonuses to Athena’s stats/abilities

- Can step in for player in difficult fights or conversations

- Buffs provide protection from extreme cold for party (limited elemental magic)

- Buffs provide focus (improved accuracy) and dexterity (faster reload) for self, player, and other party members

- Expertise in duels (increased speed, dexterity, and accuracy against single opponent)

- Unique tracking skill: detect enemies within certain distance (radius increases as level up)

Tools/Weapons:

- Can use any gun in the game, although more accurate with short range weapons (pistols)

- Cowboy hats and bandanas provide stat bonuses to tracking, charisma, speed, dexterity, focus

PHYSICAL FORM

Species: Ganymedian (humanoid); born on Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons and the largest moon in the Solar System

Age: 26

Gender Identity: Bigender

Sexual Identity: Lesbian

Physical Description:

- forest green skin

- high cheekbones

- full purple lips

- piercing, almond-shaped grey eyes

- long, thick, fine white hair with a lot of split ends (clearly hasn’t gotten a haircut in a very long time)

- ties hair back in either a ponytail or one giant, messy braid

- 5’8

- broad shoulders, narrow hips

- muscular legs from years of performing physical and gunslinger stunts in Sappho’s Intergalactic Old West Exhibition

Physicalities:

- struts with inherent confidence; she knows that she is still the best gunslinger in the galaxy, even if she is living in exile

- inherent tolerance to cold temperatures, as Ganymede is covered in ice

- very vulnerable in hot temperatures

Clothing/Adornments:

- small purple tattoo on her left shoulder blade of her deceased wife’s name, Rhaeda

- hats and bandanas that the player can find throughout the game provide different bonuses (see Tools & Weapons section above)

Original Environment:

In order to perform in the exhibition, Athena regularly traveled from planet to planet, never calling one place home. Although she has a good relationship with her family, they still live on Ganymede, so Athena is not able to see them often. The most important person in Athena’s life was her wife, Rhaeda, who was a galactic dignitary and the keeper of all history in the universe from another one of Jupiter’s moons, Metis.

Situational Environment:

Because of Athena’s terrible mistake, she lives in exile in a small, one-horse town on Ganymede. Most of the locals have no idea who she is beyond being the town drunk. The player stumbles upon her in the course of investigating the missing recordings of history.

Job/Work: Athena used to work as a sharpshooter for Sappho’s Intergalactic Wild West Exhibition, performing seemingly impossible feats for fascinated attendees. She earned her place in the exhibition by dueling and beating nearly every gunslinger across the galaxy. Given her reputation, she was also routinely hired to act as a bodyguard for celebrities, wealthy aristocrats, and political leaders.

Backstory:

Although Athena is very talented, she became arrogant after achieving success and celebrity at such a young age. In the course of acting as her wife Rhaeda’s bodyguard, Athena was careless in her duties and did not notice an assassin until it was too late. Not only did the assassin kill Rhaeda, but the assassin also stole the recordings of all history in the universe. In order to cope with the loss and disgrace, Athena drinks alcohol heavily, but deep down, she also wants her revenge.

Emotional Arc:

At first, Athena is defeated and resigned to her fate as a lonely has-been. After teaching the player how to shoot, she regains her confidence and works with the player to find the assassin and claim the justice she deserves.

DIALOG

Speech Patterns, Accents, Dialect:

- Southern accent and Old West slang

- French speech patterns, such as an upwards inflection on the last syllable of a sentence

• RELATED CHAT MAPPER CONVERSATION TREE IMAGES

  • Please view the attached PDF for a sample conversation tree I created for this game and character. The three characters involved in the dialog are:

    • Athena Lithegood (mentor; ally; described above)

    • Marvin Attleboro (ally; comic relief) – A former clown with the same circus with which Athena once performed, Marvin is short, rotund, and has a stutter.

    • Ynez (the player) – Ynez grew up on Earth, groomed to become the next Chancellor of the Intergalactic Alliance. The last Chancellor has been assassinated, and Ynez is on a quest to discover why. All she knows is that the assassin also stole the documentation of all history. The Chancellor has carried these documents ever since the Keeper of the records was herself killed 5 years ago. She has long white hair, is 5'4, and is determined to find out the truth.

Copyright Alexandra Lucas 2015