The Abandoned Plot: Caduceus Tower

Harpy's recent idea of a witch she calls Palette led to some stirrings in the back of my head, memories I had long since abandoned surging back up and reminding me of a plot that I've thought about doing many times over the course of RP history but eventually abandoned for quite a few reasons. Although there are still three characters I may one day use from it, their story will be completely divorced from the original idea for this, what could have been my first major plot if ideas like the Deck and the Alruthines hadn't wormed their way in and given me enough time to second guess it all.

THE CONCEPT
Back in High School I think was when the ideas for what could have become Caduceus Tower were first born. I'm pretty sure I was inspired in part by the Soul Society from Bleach in that I wanted to make a big organization with interesting characters and stuff, and originally they all wore robes indicating their color. As I had no real writing outlet back then, this was just a simple mind exercise that I later decided would be a good idea for a video game, so I took out a little notecard and jotted down the ideas I had for it, many of which would later slip from memory as I built it in my head instead and changed a lot of stuff. Most of what I'll be sharing here was either from the notecard or the ideas I had later that I THOUGHT were on the notecard but now that I look at it they aren't!

The original idea, before adjusted for Kobbering, was that in this potential video game, you were basically some dude who had a sister with an illness that recently a cure was developed for. You'd be in a hospital room with her and a few other patients who are to receive this cure for this lethal and painful disease, but suddenly: BAD GUYS BREAK IN! Before you can realize what's happening, the cure has been stolen before any of it was administered, and then Palette would appear and tell you about Caduceus Tower.

PALETTE
a.k.a. the guy I remembered and therefore lead to suggestions I make this blogpost! Based heavily on Schwartz from G Gundam, he was pretty much a ninja (the minions who broke in were ones too essentially, as originally there were no minions but I felt just fighting bosses might get boring). Palette did not wear black, instead he was splotched with swirls of color, and he would tell the player about Caduceus Tower, where a group that had been stealing medication of all sorts had holed up. In RP the Caduceus Tower would have been endgame and we would only learn of it after foiling members as they tried to take the medicine or some other plot events to get them out and about.

Caduceus Tower's member all had color assignments if they were of important rank, with most being of equal footing until you reached Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, the highest ranks in ascending order. Palette would admit he was a defector when he found out about them denying this medication to people suffering from the disease. At one point I considered it to be a cancer cure but that got too common in newer fiction so I don't know what the disease could have been in RP if the idea ever took off.

Palette would teach the player how to fight in the tutorial and send them off to reclaim the medicine. Palette would also reappear along the way, in both the plot and the original game idea, to share information on the organization and its members and make sure that the objective was never out of sight.

Thing is... Palette had good intentions and all, and he isn't really a bad guy...

But the cure was not perfect. The disease would go away, but weeks later a new disease would emerge that would cause horrific mutations in those it was given to. This was before the anti-vax movement as far as I know, and I really don't buy into the Big Pharma conspiracies, but this was basically that, and one of the reasons I abandoned the plot idea. Near the end of the plot or game, probably during the siege on Caduceus Tower, we would see what the medicine had done to someone who had been affected by the vaccine.

CLEAR
A hulking monstrosity, Clear would be a large tumorous human with absurd strength, almost like a more grotesque version of the Alruthine plot's Skin Man. A mindless beast, this would be the fate of anyone who took the medicine, but since the people were already suffering and all, and you only had the word of the leader of the group (who we will meet in a minute and is untrustworthy in some ways), you would chose to either believe them or soldier on and reclaim the cure, giving it to the girl and others and then the story would cut off their in the video game, but in RP I wasn't sure what to do next. I'm sure the Kobbers wouldn't be quick to give it to the afflicted without some sort of confirmation of their own, even if they did beat up Clear and the forces of Caduceus Tower.

Palette would have been of the mind that the cure is worth trying and would be championing its use, not believing in Clear, and he would have been fought at the end instead of Clear and Platinum (the leader) if you chose to believe them instead of him. Rather than hiding like a ninja, he would have used the many colors to his advantage, trying to overwhelm the Kobbers' senses and then move in and strike while they were overwhelmed. Basically attack by seizure-inducing color patterns and the like. Platinum and Clear were tougher end-bosses and probably would be fought a bit either way, but Palette would have been more skilled.

But that's the basic plot skeleton. A group steals some medicine that is actually dangerous and we only find out near the end they had good intentions. But... why did this group devote themselves to this cause?

Well, you see, Caduceus Tower is full of people who were affected by similarly negative drugs, whose side-effects were worse than the ones that are rattled off quickly during a commercial. And that's where the second reason the plot idea was canned came in...

The Colored Captains or whatever I might've called them... well, some were blind, some schizophrenic, some handicapped... and so on. I certainly wouldn't have tried to make them sideshow attractions or anything. They would be intensely capable individuals who exhibited the downsides of the medication that made them join this group committed to making sure no one else ends up like them, but I was also worried like... what if, even by accident, the Kobbers basically used their handicaps or ailments against them? Like, one girl is an albino, so what if Utsuho used her sun powers to fry her or something else... unfortunate.

I would have done my best to make them good characters who handled their specific quality believably and gracefully, as I've tried to always make my organizations have fleshed out characters rather than BOSS FIGHT BOSS FIGHT BOSS FIGHT, but to avoid unfortunate implications or things like that, this was the nail in the coffin of it all.

However, I would like to share these colored captains with you, save a few. I will give you details that will be scrapped from the three who will become characters, although at the same time... remember how I said I misremembered a few of them? Well, certain members ended up combined in my head, so I'll share the details of the two colors at the same time and leave out what they ended up combining into so they may later appear in RP.

Let's get started!

With those guys I'm leaving out!

BLACK/GREY
So, not many of these guys got names except the ones who will become characters, so they will all be referred to as their colors here. Black and Grey were separate characters of course, but I basically forgot Grey existed and his more interesting traits were added to Black. Here are the pieces that aren't being salvaged from either of them.

Unsurprisingly, Grey was meant to be old, and he'd have milky-white eyes. Turns out he was meant to be color-blind rather than full blind. He wore sandals, had no hair save a greying mustache, and was pretty much meant to be deceptively old, but when it was time to fight him he'd pull outs a pair of scythes that could extend or detract as he pleased. He actually WASN'T old and the medication he took for his eyes seemed to age him. I'm not afraid to mention Black had a katana, even though that is currently the weapon I have in mind if they become a character. I hope I come up with something more creative than that though, so if not, hey, he'll keep it. Also, no points for guessing which color was originally Asian :V

In RP these two might have even attacked at the same time as they were both mysterious in some way. I apologize for not sharing more but I'd like to keep it under wraps. Characters from this plot aren't planned for 2016 or 2017, but they were actually on the table for 2015 on after the plot idea was wholly abandoned but I grew attached to three of these people. They'll probably all arrive together and be part of something called Caduceus similar in concept but without this plot baggage. You'll know 'em when you see 'em :P

BRONZE
Originally mistaken for Gold in my memory, Bronze is not like Gold in anyway. Bronze is pretty much Dozer from Timesplitters: Future Perfect taken up to 11.

 Unfortunately, the only pic of Dozer I can find on the internet doesn't really show that A: He's really fat, and B: His lower body is missing entirely and he floats around on a little hoverthing. Come to think of it... he's more like Krew from Jak and Daxter

If you haven't noticed the theme: Really fat guy who uses hovering thing to get around in. Bronze had Chronic Obesity through no fault of his own, his medicine curing his muscular illness and instead dumping intense weight gain on him. It did shore up his strength though, and even though he moved around in what was essentially a floating bronze throne, he could swing a giant axe like no one's business. Bronze's teeth would be going bad too, and he'd have brown eyes to match their coloration. His robe would barely cover his shoulders and although he had a lower body, it was pressed into his throne where it couldn't be seen and thus we only saw his big ol' belly. His throne would be near indestructible and he'd use it almost as a shield, and his body would be able to afford taking hits due to its expendable girth. He wouldn't be chomping food or anything stereotypically fat. He'd be bald though, as befitting his counterparts linked here.

Bronze is a smart man and despite looking like a slob, he'd be the first guy during the raid on Caduceus Tower and would seed the doubt of the goodness of our mission against them. I mean, characters like White coming up would do the same during normal battles, but any doubts based on the goodness of the foes we face would start to be confirmed as we met the upper echelons of the group.


WHITE
Originally one of the ones I liked a lot but later fell off in interest when I forgot she existed, this is the albino I mentioned earlier! ...yeah, I was not too sensitive in giving the colors to some people. White was a very small girl, she'd almost look like she was 12 but she was in fact a grown woman. Her lack of development into an adult was part of a failed program to help her with her albinism, and although she resented being different as a child, Caduceus helped her be comfortable with herself. However, she would be timid and shy when first met... until the battle got started.

She had her white hair in pretty much a bobcut, wore white robe that hung loose and hid her movements well, but in battle she'd be incredibly loud, screaming like a feral creature to try and surprise her opponents. She had weapons pretty similar to Axel from Kingdom Hearts, and it's no doubt that Organization XIII was another influence on my idea for this group.

White would have been the closest of the others to joining the three who are being rescued from this plot. I wouldn't even discount her from joining them if the trio get fleshed out enough or something, but she'd have a lot added to her to make her more interesting. Hopefully. She's the only one save Platinum who has a chance of joining the trio in RP I'd say, and probably the only one who could be a main character. Platinum would be supporting at best.

RED
Literally didn't remember Red at all. Apparently, dude got his corpus callosum cut, causing the typical after-effects of having split-brain (the eyes, arms, and ears of the two halves of the human body have trouble communicating. Not debilitating, but something certainly annoying for those who have it.) Thing is, that went as fine as it can be! It fixed whatever he had beforehand (presumably some form of epilepsy), but an experimental test was done to try and safely reconnect the hemispheres so they could communicate again without the epilepsy or anything... and that caused the split-brain to get even worse.

Red is still one dude with one personality, but the two halves of his body act completely different. Hence, Red carries two large greatswords, and since his hands are being run different by his split brain, he'd be very difficult to predict. He'd even roll a separate tractor for both his arms, meaning he might fail with his left but succeed with his right, and he could fight two people effectively at once as if he was only fighting one. Red would have been one of the crazier low-ranking members, and of course he had red hair and freckles. He basically had fangs as well, and a scarred chest he kept exposed. He wore a lot of leather too...

The worst part is he had heterochromia like a precious little OC, although I think it was meant more to represent his split brain rather than say I'M SPECIAL LOOK AT ME. In fact, he had an eyepatch that he would use to cover one eye if he wanted to focus solely on one style of combat rather than his directionless two-handed style. I feel his fighting style could still be interesting if put into RP somehow, but the edgy design and high schooler's understanding of split-brain would be best removed :P

BLUE
Most these characters are marked as M for male or F for Female on the notecard. Blue is a G. I guess Girl? She's described as feminine at least. Blue used crescent blade in battle but she had narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and was basically the prototypical Hector even though I forgot she ever existed. She could still do things when asleep and changed fighting styles completely while sleepwalking/sleepfighting, but since she couldn't see she would be wild and even prone to hurting allies.

She's skinny, but not small like White. She's a tall lanky lady with blue, slick hair because anime, she wore no shoes and wore a lot of eyeliner. She was pretty emo really, eye shadow and blue eyes...

And now I find the word "him" in his description making me think he's male? Actually... I think I remember him a bit now. Steam of consciousness blogging makes me remember his appearance, and it is pretty much what I just said but on a boy. He also had a collar that had injectors to wake him up. He was actually somewhat dependent on the injectors, as they were meant to help with his sleep troubles but he instead became completely reliant on them to wake up whenever he went to sleep. He can't really control them and they trigger whenever his sleep apnea begins to cause problems so he doesn't run out of breath. They'd probably activate if a fight was winding him while he slept as well.

GREEN/GOLD
While Gold is meant to be the leader a step below Platinum, Gold was mixed with Green at some point and the new character was born. Originally named Marshall for his potential use in RP as I thought Marshall Mathers (Eminem's real name) would have been a good name for him, he'll get a new one thanks to our bartender claiming the name first. I'm not too worried about Black/Grey and Orange (the other person I'll be adding to RP eventually) having their names stolen, but poor Green/Gold is a bit harder to name it seems!

Anyway, again, some vital info on these two will be left out, but I assure you they were much more similar than Black and Grey were, which made combining them mentally make a lot more sense. Green's weapon will be staying with him, but Gold had two spears for some reason. I will also say they both had insane anime hair. Green had spiky GREEN hair, and Gold had spiky BLOND hair. Neither hair was retained in the blending :V Their "affliction" was less serious or realistic than most these characters and probably won't raise any eyebrows when the combined version of them appears. Gold had a Glasgow Grin that I certainly won't be keeping

PURPLE
I'm pretty sure, originally, before this notecard was made or something, Purple was originally a pair of three people with dwarfism who fought by wearing purple ninja clothes and diving in and out of sight, basically attacking by making you think there was only one of him who was insanely fast rather than three who were tricking you. Things like injuries not showing as they jumped in and out of cover would clue the Kobbers in to the truth of the matter and they'd probably force the other two to rescue their brother as he's held down or something like that.

That's one version of Purple. One guy who I thought was a different color completely was a conjoined twin. Seems like Purple is about family no matter what, but they were pretty similar to Red in that it was like fighting two people at once... but it literally was this time. Don't remember their gripe with their medical treatment, but they were connected at the back and facing opposite directions, one wielding a  two-handed broadsword and the other two slim one-handed swords. Their stuff on the notecard is barely readable as it has faded and been mucked up over time. They seemed to be dressed less like the others do their physiology, and for some reason I made a note that one had green eyes and the other had... while, it might say blue or brown but it looks like "bust". Due to the fact the triplets replaced them mentally, they were never set for the Kobbers but could have been included as a new color if I found the notecard. I'd doubt I'd scrap them if I did do this plot, but the dwarf trio had become Purple so solidly in my mind that they'd probably get the spot over these two.

ORANGE
The one I could say the least about! Almost everything about her is being kept except originally she was Native American. PRETTY INTERESTING HUH. Because she didn't get blended with anyone I wager that's why she managed to keep most her pieces together with nothing really being shed.

SILVER
Hi Ho, Silver!  Apparently Ho ain't a bad word for her from what I wrote here. I think I forgot Silver even existed although I knew she must... maybe I thought White was Silver? Anyway, Silver has a Bladed Whip like Ivy and is skimpy like her too, with notes that she is "ample" and has her robe parted to show her cleavage. I guess I wanted a fan service character back then!  Blue eyes, dark red lipstick, she was designed sadly just to be sexy it seems. Long silver blonde hair...

Thing is, all this sexiness... IS A TRAP! She's a hemophiliac, and probably not a very polite representation of one, as she is not afraid to spill blood despite how dangerous it is for her. In fact, her hemophilia seems worse than a normal persons, but she doesn't seem want for blood as she intentionally lets her beautiful appearance be marred by her gushing wounds. Really gross and edgy stuff huh? So you'd go in saying OH MOMMA! and leave saying OH GOD! Unlike Bronze she didn't seem much more than a gimmick and wouldn't really do much to further the story of "what you're doing might be wrong". It would be up to stuff I can't share about Gold to really get you doubting and then Platinum would appear and unleash Clear on the Kobbers.

Speaking of Platinum...

PLATINUM
I like Platinum, not gonna lie. She had a dual sided lance and some things about her are evoked in Effie. Platinum has full body metal armor, but its platinum rather than Effie's pink and it covers even her face. She has long silver hair and we'd probably see her helmetless as she tried to explain the situation with the medication, but otherwise she'd be in full metal armor...

And unfortunately, she's the one I mentioned who has Schizophrenia. I mean, good on the group for putting her in charge and she is incredibly capable in combat, but her Schizophrenia was the biggest example of using someone's affliction against her. She'd probably think some of the more ridiculous Kobber stuff is her own delusions, she might swat at things that aren't there instead of attacking the heroes, and it's likely people would doubt the truth of her claims about the medicine because of her disorder. I like Platinum, she's a stoic and serious lady and can kick ass, but I don't think I could do her Schizophrenia in an accurate manner or a particularly sensitive one, and I certainly don't want her exploited because of it. Many of these other characters have far less serious problems and could be done or fought without it being TOO big of an issue, but this one... This is basically what killed the plot. I both liked Platinum too much to get rid of her, and didn't want to change her.

Effie will kind of carry on her spirit, but she'll have a softer side. When the trio appears in RP, we may see Platinum as a supporting character without any reference to Schizophrenia.

ENDING

That is pretty much it as far as I can remember! ...And you know what, I do like White. I think I'll try to tool her into a character, and even keep her an albino but try to do it more like Peter White on Venture Bros and try to avoid any situations. Would that be an okay idea? I mean, we probably wouldn't see her or the other three I mentioned until 2018 at best so... this is really putting the cart before the horse. But, if you really think you can make any of these characters work beside White, Platinum, and the mysterious three, I'm basically giving them away at this point. Maybe they might have a cool battle mechanic you can use in a different character? I like Red's and the triplet version of Purple's a lot!

If you want to meet White one day or have any other feedback, please leave a comment! Don't worry: the trio who I've kept hush-hush about are more like Bronze than Platinum in what made them different. I hope these weren't offensive as they weren't meant to be. They were all meant to be strong fighters and real people with personalities, the theme of people wronged by medicine just made some of these characters a bit worse off when viewed by an older mind. Teenage Jumpropeman meant well, but older Jumpropeman has been doubting this plot and its characters for ages because it might head into unfortunate territory.