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Now, back between 1995 and 1996 I first had access to the Internet. At first, I indulged my Megaman fandom, speeding through every fanpage and fanfic archive I could. After that, I began looking into other stuff. Now I'm not quite sure how I got there, but I ended up chatting on Geocities' Area 51 entertainment chat room.
This is where it all began.
To get in, I needed a name. I thought over a lot of things, and settled on Strider Hiryu. I was a big fan of the original game, and around that time Marvel vs Capcom had come out, giving me an updated, much cooler Hiryu than before. Thus, as Strider Hiryu I was introduced to the realm of Fantasy.
Fantasy is considered by just about everyone (that I still know back from that time) as the Golden Age of Geocities' RP days. People from all walks of fiction and nonfiction crossed paths there. It was a pretty fun experience, in total.
As Strider Hiryu, I went about my business. Getting to know people, sparring, and the like. At one point, I'd become a Jedi Knight. Interesting, hm? A Jedi Strider.
But moving on again, I began to notice that I portrayed Strider in a certain way. After a bit, I tired of being this one-tone character. So, I adopted Reala as another character. Reala has, and always will be, my wild and bombastic joker character. Heck, the design is of a jester, anyhow. Though the NiGHTS comics kept saying 'mime.' That kind of pissed me off.
As Reala, I would fly around, terrorizing the sane people, and just having a grand ol' time. Strider's character began to fade, and I thought about what I was going to do concerning this. Recently, I'd bought Versus Books' "The Totally Unauthorized FFVII Complete Strategy Guide." That realization hit me, and I decided I'd make up a FFVII character!
But what to name him?
I always liked the name Brian, but I thought that was a bit bland, so I changed the 'i' to a 'y.' Bryan it was.
Last name?
Urgh, that gave me trouble. I literally paced for an hour, thinking about it. I flipped repeatedly through my guide, looking at the character names. I decided I wanted something crystalline.
Quartz? No.
Amaranthine? Some promise, but not with the name Bryan.
Amethyst? N-- wait a tick. Bryan... Amethyst.
By golly, it had a ring to it. Only later did I realize something, as my friend said this to me: "God damnit Matt you copycat, you used our birthstone."
Ah well, at least my name was semi-original. Unlike Ashe (from The Crow 2: City of Angels) Askari (from a few Magic:TG cards).
Snort.
Bryan began his existence as a simple elven adventurer. Brown hair, midback-length, in a ponytail, and emerald eyes. Green cloak, generic white tunic, black pants, leather boots. He did have two armlets (ripped from Beyond Oasis / Legend of Oasis).
This generic state really irritated me, and I wondered how I would make him more unique. To remedy this, I needed to come up with a backstory. So, Bryan originally was a phoenix, that had taken elven form. This also prompted a costume change.
This change gave him fiery red hair, streaked and highlighted with gold, to match his phoenix heritage. His new outfit was basically Vampire Hunter D's garb, only palette-swapped and tweaked. The cloak was scarlet, trimmed with fiery designs. The hat became more widely-brimmed and floppier, ala Fizban. The hat was also trimmed with the same design, and from the brim hung various little talismans, charms, bits of parchment with spells and whatnot.
Bryan's hands, forearms, midsection, lower legs, and feet were now wrapped with mummy-like bandaging. Not because he was injured, but because he retained a tatoo-like feathery pattern on his skin that covered those areas, along with his back. A leftover reminder of his past.
During this part of Bryan's character, I met Makoto Strife. Head of Midgar Psychological Services, Inc., the best FFVII comedy fanfic I'd ever read. I joined the staff, becoming head chef. Eventually during the storyline, it was found out that Bryan wasn't from that dimension, and was a level 280 Summoner. Yowza.
This stage of Bryan's character had lasted the longest, but MPS crumbled, and Bryan's development was in limbo. I didn't abandon him at all, of course not. I still used his character, all throughout the development of the first Anime Capsule, and Geos' merger with Yahoo. To this day, every original 'Capper hates Yahoo for that. Turning Geos into a Yahoo chat. Blech. But, the Anime Capsule II came, and we were saved. Then the Anime Cap III came along, and that's where we are now.
A couple months ago, Bryan's current character once again began to tire me, and I thought another change was in order. Up until now, he'd been a really magic-oriented type of person, and after being hooked on DBZ as I have been for a while, I decided to change Bryan into a fighter.
What a great idea! It presented a whole new area for Bryan to explore. But like any proper storyteller knows, I couldn't just change most every aspect of Bryan's character without explanation.
With that in mind, I went about the destruction of Bryan's soul/essence/whatever, leaving him a hollow, empty, shell. Almost suicidal, yet still seeing the good he could do, he embraced the darkness that once dominated him. That made Bryan a good guy, using bad powers. Kinda neat, eh? Like in a discussion with a friend I had once, regarding the different sides of the Force, and the whole Uber Jedi schtick. It basically came down to this: only a true master can reach over to the Dark Side to use those abilites without becoming Dark himself.
Makes sense, hm?
Bryan, now a cool silver-haired young'un, was quickly flaunted in front of my friends. Most of them either didn't care, or thought he was wicked-cool. Someone went as far as to draw a hentai picture of him, but that'll never see the light of day. Or be seen by moonlight in the night. Got it? Good.
How did Bryan come to be (one of?) the currently biggest loser(s) in the UCTF? Good question. One answer is that I probably don't really push myself to make my RPs that good, as well as I don't quite have the time. Seeing as I'm an actor now, I'll most likely just ask for Bryan to become some sort of staff member, or just let him 'die.'
Bryan.
Die.
*laughs*
Anyhoo, another answer to that question. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back, I was searching for pages, art, anything except friggin' game reviews of Pulseman, a Sega Genesis game developed by Game Freak (yes, the same people who did Pokemon). And in my search, I happened upon a fan page, housing the UCTF profile of Pulseman, Duo Maxwell, Danny Colman, and some other people. I immediately saved and printed the document, and went over it in my mind. It wasn't official, duh, but it would do for the time being. Might prove inspirational for a fanfiction or something.
But the UCTF sparked my interest. A giant online fighting tournament, with battles depending on the skill of one as a writer. Who could join? Anyone this side of eternity. It was like the Anime Capsule, crossed with the WWF. THAT varied.
After a month or two of dormancy in my mind, the UCTF suddenly popped into memory for some reason. So I went looking for the page again, and I found it, then bookmarked it. I considered signing a character up. Who, though? Bryan was the obvious choice, since he's my main character. But someone else might prove more... well... skilled.
Thinking about Bryan's current track record in the UCTF, I might just submit another character, probably Reala, and have Bryan taken off of the roster.
I'd like to win once. Just once. THEN we'd see about Bryan making it or not.
As much as it pisses me off seeing my character trampled and beaten by competition, it's somewhat of a lesson for me: Stick to your own fanfics, and leave board RPers to themselves.
Live and learn.
That all should bring us up to the present. With all of that covered, it is time we moved onto the actual character past of Bryan. Well-known Nobody to Unknown Bishounen, the Bryan Amethyst Story Aieee! Not finished yet! Check back later! |
