I wanted to show a diffrent sub-sect of races. The human race has diffrent races within it and i thought it should be the same with outers. With vampires, there are so many diffrent kinds in mythology which i wanted to explore. The idea with Vetalas is that he doesn't have wings at all, he flies using the power of levetation. The conept for him is based of the Anne Rice novels, with his name being taken from a diffrent kind of Vampire in mythology (indian mythology as it would have it) which has the power of hypnotism too. Nitara is shown to have an eastern look, but has many of the conecpts people have with western vampires.

As for the diplomay, yes, the whole idea of diffrent houses in the vampire realm is something that is to be explored in his and Nitaras stories. His family has more influence then the others and because his father and Nitara managed to establish themselves quickly, that perticular house is seen as the leaders of the realm. But thats for individual stories, though i am glad you brought that up for clarification

Well, you were right, I hadn’t read all the bios before posting, and since I was going a little fast there’s still a few I don’t quite have an opinion on yet. I was happy with most of the old characters you decided to bring back (except for Shang Tsung and Quan Chi being dead, what gives with that?), and I also found that Dairou, Havik, and Rekio were among the better characters that should be brought back. I also like what you’re doing with Li Mei, Kira, and Reiko in a violent love triangle. I actually wannted see Li Mei go all the way over to the dark side myself. You seemed to be struggling about what to do with Scorpion and Sub-Zero; everything is suspiciously vague (even compared to the other bios). I had my own theories on how to keep those characters fresh and interesting, but I don’t know if you’re interested in what would essentially be a sales pitch...

Anyway, new characters!

Kasou: Very creepy. Sort of reminiscent of the Red Dragon movie’s slideshow with the concept of beatifying people.

Abraxis: ME LIKE ABRAXIS! I think he also helps to say a lot about Reiko as well; his loyal enforcer is one of his friends as opposed to some kind of hulking monster like Shao Kahn would have. It helps send the message that Reiko is someone that values trust over power where as Shao Kahn was hiring unreliable minions that hate each other like Sheeva and Motorro. Abraxis strong but sophisticated nature makes Reiko appear more intelligent by association, and breaks away from the "I will conquer everything in sight! MWA HA HA!" cliche. A well designed character.

Elena: everyone loves a gish. It’s nice to see the perspective of someone who was born after the merger with outworld, and didn’t really know anything about her true home.

Drake: is a problem for me. For starters, what’s with the arm claw? Is it like an arm with scales on it, or is it like an actual claw in place of his hand like a pirate’s hook? Some people have already mentioned the similarities with Kobra, but there is also a strange familiarity with Kano’s most recent development. Did not Kano also get captured and genetically experimented on, but escaped not quite sure what will happen to him? I don’t know what you’re planning to do with Kano, but it would be very odd to kill him off only to bring in some new guy that does the exact same thing...

Androna: Well, I guess now we know where robot babies come from. Seriously though, I do like this character concept. It makes Sektor very creepy because he apparently can still come back even when he gets blown to hell. It actually explains a lot really. Will Cyrax reform at some point as well?

Anacon: I don’t like the concept of Zetarans maturing in a matter of months. How did this species possibly get wiped out to the very brink of extinction with such a fast reproduction rate? One would think Zetarans would swarm the universe at that rate. Furthermore, doesn’t that conflict with the length of time Khameleon has been alive since she was born a free Zetaran before Shao Kahn wiped them out thousands of years ago? I mean, how can they be so long lived, yet mature so quickly?

On another note, why did you make so many references to Reptile as the new king when the Zetaran’s were established as a matriarchal society? Shouldn’t Khameleon be the one making all the important decisions? How did the new realm even get separated anyway; did they find the Zetaran orb? I think it would be much more interesting to say that Reptile and Zetara have a secret nest in an unknown location where they tend to eggs to revive the species, and Reptile was sent away from the nest because Khameleon is in “momma bear” mode right now. Reptile decides to spend his downtown looking for a way to free his realm. New Zetara seems like an event that is so huge for reptile that it should not just be given for free in between games. I guess I’m just not ready to see the new Zetarans so soon. Even if they did repopulate that fast, it’s hard for me to imagine his parents encouraging their first son to go off to a mortal kombat tournament.

Vetalus: Okay, so each house in the vampire realm is actually a different species of vampire. This would be much preferable to Vetalus being “special.” All though there is still an odd problem for me; why isn’t Nitara queen of the damned? I would have to think she holds more political clout than others. Is she of the same house as Vetalus, but not the house leader even though her actions are credited with ensuring her family’s rise to power? If they’re from the same house, then you still have the problem of why one has wings and the other doesn’t. Or, on the other hand, is she from a house that was so weak, perhaps she was even the last one of an extinct house, and that she really couldn’t have political power even though she is a hero? Also, how large is each particular house? It’s hard to imagine that there are very many of them after being displaced for so long, and I actually actual like it better that way. I think of vampires like wolves; they’re an apex predator, so you really shouldn’t expect to see very many of them because even just a small number represents a huge problem. I would even recommend limiting the size of the house to about 10 or 12 (the same as a pack of wolves); Nitara is then one of two alphas in the ruling house.

When I brought up the shapechanger bit earlier, I was referring to a book called “The Historian” (although I’m also a fan of buffy and everything joss whedon). I think that book really painted vampires in a really interesting way because it takes place over different generations of historians who find evidence about Dracula only to find that some mysterious force is trying to prevent them from finding the truth (sort of like Da Vinci Code meets Dracula). Anyway, at one point, the hero is in Bulgaria talking to a local woman, and asks what he needs to know about vampires, and she’s says “always remember that they are shape shifters.” You talk about drawing from different cultures for different houses of vampires, but I think you’ll find that most of the cultural lore does consistently include some ability to change shapes.

I have to agree with that old lady and say if it’s not changing shapes, then you’re really not dealing with a vampire because it is so central to what they are and why they’ve been so popular across the world. Vampires are the monster that can deceive you, and are you sure that’s just an owl perched in that tree?

P.S. am I the only person that hates the idea of true breeding vampires? Hopefully when Vetalus says father, he’s just referring to the vampire that sired him.

Thanks for the feedback

Kasou:- Thats an interesting comparison and quite accurate now i think of it.

Abraxis:- What more can i say, im glad you like.

Elena:- Same as Abraxis

Drake:- I think ill use this opportunity to furher describe him... Yes, he does have a similar background to Kobra in that he is a street fighter. Unlike Kobra, i also showed a reason why he was driven to it. Kobra also liked killing people, which was why he was arrested. Drake just loves beating people.

Kano was indeed captured by the Red Dragon and experimented on, as where countless other random people used in their experiments. Kano escaped before they could complete his experimentation, while Drake had been through it and had a diffrent development. Kano also has the eye thing for a gunshot wound (or something). Drake has a clawed arm as a mutation due to the Red Dragons experiments. He hides this with a gauntlet, shown in his design. Other then both being a test subject for the Red Dragon, Kano and Drake share no similarities with eachother.

All we know of their experiments is that they made monsters out of men and Kano got away before they was finished and in his endeing, he became a literal Black Dragon. Drakes story goes from someone unknown to the Mk world who also managed to escape with, albiet only some, of his humanity.

Androna:- Androna is an... interesting character with the story we have planned for her. And i agree with you with Sektor, it shows he is resourcefull, creepy and twisted bastard, lol. As for Cyrax, well, wait and see

Anacon:- Simple, Shao Kahn killed off all except Reptile. Khameleon escaped with her life. I had an interesting idea about Chameleon which i though i would now share with you all. ' Chameleon is a Saurian who joined Shao Kahn after being exiled from his homeworld for trying to usurp its ruler. Angry at his exile, he turned to Shao Kahn and informed him that his race planned to try and overthrow him (big lie), he came to join the "mighty" Shao Kahn in exchange for this information. Kahn accepted and thanks to Chameleon, the Saurians were doomed. Reptile was young and wouldnt have known this. Khameleon being older and not under Kahns influence soon found out the truth' this gives a reason as to why Chameleon was a general for Kahn during the MKT storyline.

Anyway, back to Anacon. Nothing is known about their race and it is well documented that some lizards have a small maturing stage. I wanted to explore i diffrent direction with the Saurian race, with Reptile and Khameleon not really fitting the bill. As for the matriach society, that is why Khameleon is the one making descisions, shes of at the Inter-Realm Council all the time and very rarely home. Reptile is the one who stays at home to raise the kids. (lol)

Vetalas:- Nitara isnt queen simply because she is not royalty. Each house of vampires, which doesnt nessicerally mean diffrent races, just diffrent ideals of what the vampire race as a whole should do. Each house has a representative to put forward their views to their elected leader, who then makes descisions. Nitara seems more of a free spirit, so i wouldnt imagin her being a 'polatitian'. And as stated in her bio, she is a friend of Vrykolas, so she relays things from him to the Inter-Realm Council, and vice versa.

She is credited for freeing their realm, but a hero doesnt always take rule of a kingdom.

And as for shape-shifters, we'll, we already have someone in the works for that perticuler power

Btw, you missed out a few other new characters. Mercurus, Anbar, Takako, Serrath and Pandora.

Hey everyone. First of all, we apologize for taking so long with this next character. She was definitely tough to sort out, and we still have some more to sort out with a few other characters.

Anyway, without further a due, here is the next character:




Kaylie

Origin: Earthrealm

Alignment: Neutral

Status: Noble Woman

Fighting Styles: Lost Monkey, Yuan Yang Quan

Lost Monkey: Lost Monkey is one of the 5 sub-styles of Tai Sheng Men, which is founded by Kao Tse. This particular sub-style greatly emphasizes deceptive tactics, showing a seemingly innocent demeanor to give the opponent a false sense of security. The practitioner constantly changes his/her light footwork to add to the deception of the opponent. This is a style of fluidity, agility, unpredictability, and deception. We picked Lost Monkey for Kaylie as we wanted to give her a style that was agile and unpredictable.


Yuan Yang Quan: Yuan Yang Quan (Mandarin Duck Fist) is a traditional Northern Chinese martial art known for its use of many kicking techniques. A relatively rare style, it's a graceful and elegant style of Kung Fu that uses long, fluid moves. Using a high, mobile stance, this style is said to resemble other styles of Kung Fu such as Tong Bei Quan, Pi Gua Zhang, Shaolin Chuan, Cha Chuan, and Tan Tui. Rao Bu Quan (Circle Step Fist) is the basic and primary routine used in Yuan Yang Quan, containing the key elements of this style. Mandarin Duck Boxing uses winding patterns like ducks flying and employs many leg techniques such as wrap kick, scissor kick, and sweep kick. We chose this style for Kaylie, because we wanted to also give her a graceful, elegant style, and Northern Kung Fu styles are said to represent high-class people.

Special Moves

Deceptive Decoy: Quickly extending her hands, Kaylie creates an illusionary decoy in front of her, which lasts for a few moments. Whatever Kaylie does, the decoy imitates. If the opponent hits the duplicate with a physical attack, he/she will be confused, giving Kaylie a quick chance to get a free hit.

Illusion Teleport: Like Kenshi's Mind Warp, Kaylie teleports to appear in front of the opponent. However, it is really an illusion of her appearing in front of the opponent. The real Kaylie appears a bit of a distance behind the opponent as the illusion disappears.

Volatile Spirit: She teleports and uses her astral powers to attack the opponent, hitting high, high again, and then mid. The astral form fades and she reappears where she did the move.

Projection Kick: She turns invisible and sends out her astral form. The astral form disappears when the next physical attack hits it, and her real self appears, doing a dive kick to the opponent.

Orbiting Star: While turning back, Kaylie swings her arm horizontally to throw a star-shaped projectile from her hand. She quickly recovers, and after a 7 second delay, the projectile hits the opponent from behind and he/she falls down forward. Orbiting Star hits mid, and Kaylie has to turn around after throwing it. Although she quickly recovers, there is a narrow frame window that makes her vulnerable to an attack or a throw.

Throws

Innocent Deception: She grabs the opponent, yanks a bit, lets go, and quickly steps back. The opponent goes to punch her, and she ducks down, as if in fear, covering her head. The opponent stops, and she does an uppercut, knocking him/her away.

Rise and Fall: She grabs the opponent and does two front flip kicks like Li Mei's, only at much closer range. Then, she does a full backflip kick, kind of like Johnny Cage's, only with a much wider arc (think Guile from Street Fighter). The backflip kick hits 3 times, with a large knock back on the last hit.

Overall Gameplay Style: Kaylie's gameplay style relies on gracefulness, deception, and unpredictability. She is a very fluid and agile character that is designed for intermediate players because of her lack of physical power. While Lost Monkey is her more unpredictable and close-ranged style, Yuan Yang Quan is her more graceful and long-ranged style. Good timing and strategy are key elements to using her effectively.

Mastery Level: 3

Fatalities

Cruel Intentions: In a similar fashion to her Illusion Teleport, Kaylie seems to disappear, giving the opponent a false sense of security. She then appears behind the opponent and holds onto him/her. Kaylie takes out a Tanto and stabs the opponent in the neck. She leaves the Tanto in the opponent's neck and continues to hold him/her while he/she bleeds to death. Kaylie simply giggles at the opponent's excruciating death.

Astral Assassination: Kaylie does her Volatile Spirit move while her astral form moves 180 degrees. After a few attacks, she disappears. Whole once again, she reappears behind the confused opponent and does a jumping stab in the back with her Tanto. Kaylie keeps pushing the Tanto in, forcing the opponent to his/her knees. She pulls out the Tanto and does a curtsy.

Costumes

Primary Costume: Kaylie's has green eyes and strawberry-blonde hair in a curly hairstyle. She wears a green off-shoulder, long-sleeved top and a dark brown pair of lace bottom shorts with the Atlus Umbra insignia on it. In addition, she wears a diamond necklace and a turquoise-colored pair of slip-on shoes.

Alternate Costume: Her alternate costume has more of an elegant look. Her hair is in an updo hairstyle like the picture on the left in the following link: http://www.hairstyle.com/datastore/0/updo01.jpg She wears a white Sunflower Splash peasant top with frills. Also, she wears a pair of black flared pants with the Atlus Umbra insignia on it. Lastly, she wears a dark brown pair of pumps, a gold necklace, and a pair of gold bracelets.

Extra Costumes: none

Get Up Animation: Kaylie disappears and reappears in her astral form, which hovers a bit. Her body reappears, standing up, and her astral form goes into the body.

Victory Pose: Kaylie jumps in the air, waving her arms while doing a cute giggle. She lands, gaining her composure, and then grins sheepishly.

Kombat Zone: Tournament Balcony

Description: In the tournament taking place in Edenia, there are several balconies around the arena. Those who are not participating can view the matches happening below.

Stage Traps: none

Stage Fatality: none


Bio

When growing up, I was given the duty to uphold my family's tradition of serving the Altus Umbra, an organization that has helped provide for our family for many generations. Coming from a very influential family has its many benefits, allowing us to live a life of luxury. Because of this, I feel that I deserve to have the very best of what life has to offer. With their aid, I felt a sense of debt to them, and I swore my allegiance to continue the good ties we have. I've learned much from them, including a bit of martial arts training from Xiu Lan, a sorceress who has been with them for many years. A big part of my duty involves getting others, who were felt to be potentially worthy, to join our cause. I have been successful so far, but for my recent mission, they teamed me up with Vetalas, Prince of Vaeternus.

Although he displays obedience to our masters in person, he half-asses his assignments, using his charm to sway people while I have to do the rest of his work. What real use is he if he can't do the job completely? Nevertheless, we were successful in convincing Queen Sindel of Edenia to join us. We informed her of the location she can contact our superiors and headed back to our base. On our way, Vetalas infomed me that we were being tracked. Although Vetalas didn't seem to care, I used illusions to keep her off our trail in hopes that she won't continue to be a problem. We returned to bring the good news, and we were given our next assignments. I'm ordered to head to a Mortal Kombat tournament taking place in Edenia. While Vetalas and mistress Xiu Lan participate, I have to keep an eye out for all of the other participants to see who is worthy of joining us. With more powerful fighters on our side, our numbers will continue to grow, and everything will fall into place as they should.

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Sub-Zero_7th: Kaylie is a character that I came up with, and she was developed from a small and early concept that was accepted into the story. She was originally called Reina, a name that Paragon came up with, but DNOMYTE wasn't too fond of it. It was only until recently that it was decided to come up with a finalized name, so I tried to come up with something that would fit her character in some way. We eventually went with Kaylie, which is Irish for "slender", which goes with her figure and sounds cute (at least in my opinion anyway ). Look-wise, she's modeled after Sarah Jones, a young American actress who was in TV shows such as Big Love and The Wedding Bells. I felt she really captures the look of the character with her height and body type as well as a nice combination of cuteness and elegance.

She took a long time to finish, because there were so many things that we needed to sort out with her, from her costumes to her special moves. For a while, we couldn't think of any good abilities for her without being too redundant within MK, so we eventually tried researching different abilities from comic book characters. Eventually, Paragon came up with the idea of giving her two special powers: illusions and astral projection. Like Androna, Kaylie's dual abilities are meant to give a unique flavor to her and add to the appeal. In terms of her story, she comes from a high-class family that's associated with a group of people that want to change things in the world. It was really difficult to complete her, and it obviously took us a while. Overall, she's rather different for an MK character, but I hope that she becomes well-received.


Paragon: Kaylie ended up being one of the most, if not the, difficult character to come up with anything, and we basically left her to the last minute because of that. Like Vetalas and Drake to me, Kaylie was mainly Sub-Zero_7th's work, and I pretty much left him to do what he felt was right for the character, which in the end, wasn’t much. In the end, I had to give a helping hand, since all he had was story direction and what she looked like. I came up with the powers of illusion and astral projection for her and also helped SZ7 to finally get his idea down for her bio, which I helped flesh out. The most difficult thing was persuading SZ7 to drop the whole ‘elegant dress’ kind of costume he wanted, since the ideas he had did not suit that of a kombatant in Mortal Kombat, and we eventually got something a little more warrior-ish. Although she is trained to fight, her personality traits would have her use someone she knows, like Xiu Lan or Vetalas to fight for her. Not much else to say really, as I had little else to do with her.

I would like to give my opinion, but I just dont see enough info on kaylie. I do like the fact that she is somewhat of a sourceres.
Im just not for or against her.

She's not a sorceress, but Xiu Lan is. So basically, you feel relatively indifferent towards Kaylie due to the lack of information on her?

Kaylie. . . In an odd sense, she has a role like Hugo's assistant in Street Fighter III. Always looking for new members.

The spirit aspect seems kinda cool. Maybe it could look like the afterimages seen when using Sareena's Skull Buster.

I'm not real familiar with the Street Fighter storyline. I'm glad you like the astral projection stuff. What other thoughts do you have about her?

Btw, this is the actress that we based Kaylie's look after: Sarah Jones

I do admit asrtal projection is the cool thing about her. But yeah I am pretty indifferent about her. I guess I need to find out more about this Xiu chick.
I also like the fact she's blonde.

I also feel that there's too little info on her.

She does seem cool, and I can see that she's got potential. My main concern is the vague info on her Altus Umbra organization. What's "the cause" she mentions that they have?

I think she's alright. My favorite thing about her are her illusion powers so far. That's something new in MK, for sure.

I guess I'm just not won over due to her goals. They're just not comparable to the interesting goals you guys came up with for other characters, like Kira for instance.

Yeah (The Bitch) is right. LOL. If I knew what her organization does, and her trainers bio, Id understand her better.

Xiu Lan's bio will be up next. That's the only thing with her that we need to finish. Everything else is pretty much done. I felt that having another blonde female would mix things up, especially since Sonya had been the only blonde female in MK.



One big issue with Kaylie is just what we were going to reveal and how we were going to reveal it. I definitely don't want to give away much on the Altus Umbra until we start to get to some of the endings, such as hers. I guess it's because her goals are vague that you aren't that fond of her. Hopefully when we reveal more that you'll change your opinion.

Like I said to you before, you may not like this one too much, but you may like the other (Xiu Lan) more. Xiu Lan's bio might reveal a bit more about the Altus Umbra, but it might not. It depends on how we're going to sort it out.

Anyway, be sure to stay tuned. We might get Xiu Lan out by Tuesday or something.

Well alright then. I look forward Xiu's bio. Hell Ive liked this so much I think Im gonna make up my own story.

I am not too fond with Kaylie, I like the fact how she is rich, just like a future character of mine.

I agree with Queen Sindel, that the reason I am not for her is her purpose for entering the tournament, and I feel her storyline lacks interest. It is a decent storyline, but it doesn't match the other ones like Vetalas, Kaosu, Kira, Abraxis, Reiko and others.

I don't hate her, or like her. I think she is just there.
Hopefully Xiu's bio will unfold other events.

I understand what you're saying. It does seem sort of redundant since Vetalas and Xiu Lan are taking part in the tournament and trying to recruit members into the Atlus Umbra while Kaylie is trying to get her way in to just watch. The problem is trying to fit her into the story and not give too much away about certain aspects of her overall story.

I was afraid that she'd be a "hit or miss" character. Hopefully as her story unfolds that she'll be more interesting and appealing.

Kaylie: I have to agree with everyone else when I say that I'm neutral as far as her storyline goes, I neither love it nor hate it

On a lighter note however, I simply love her moves and her costume

She's a character that needs lots of development, but I think she can totally be one of those "eye candy" characters like Li Mei has been. (which certainly is a trademark of Mortal Kombat)

I'm glad you like her costumes and moves at least. She's definitely an "eye candy" character. Did you see the picture of the actress I based her look off of? If so, she's a cute one, ain't she?

I wasn't aware of the fact that you posted a picture of her.

I looked her up though, and I see what you mean: She's hawt!

Xiu Lan

Origin: Earthrealm

Alignment: Evil

Status: Sorceress

Fighting Styles: Fu Baguazhang, Zi Ran Men

Fu Baguazhang: Baguazhang (Eight Trigram Palm) is an internal martial art from Northern China whose origins are attributed to Dong Hai Chuan. Influenced by Taoist philosophy and martial arts teachings from Taoist and Buddhist masters, this style is known for its circular, spiraling techniques and prefers redirecting an opponent's attack as opposed to meeting it directly with force. Xiu Lan uses Fu style Baguazhang, which was founded by Fu Chen Sung (also spelled Fu Zhen Song), who learend Baguazhang from Jia Feng-Ming, one of Dong Hai Chuan's disciples. This particular substyle is characterized by its spinning, cyclonic movements, characteristics that are usually associated with Baguazhang. A great deal of importance is placed on waist turning to generate power in the techniques as well as to move, change direction, guard, and evade. We chose this style for Xiu Lan, because it's very fluid, graceful, sophisticated, and unpredictable.


Zi Ran Men: Zi Ran Men (Nature Boxing) is a Northern Chinese martial art deeply rooted in Taoist philosophy, particularly the philosophy of "One and Zero" (i.e. positive/negative). It's a more internal style of Kung Fu that contains Chi Kung and meditation. At first, Zi Ran Men training seems very fixed and rigid, but after progression, it becomes more fluid and natural. Similar to both Shaolin and Wudang types of Kung Fu, it combines the strengths of internal and external elements and uses both hard and soft techniques. Naturalness and spontaneity are key factors in Zi Ran Men, constantly changing and adapting during combat. We chose Zi Ran Men for Xiu Lan to give her another internal style that has graceful and fluid movements.

Special Moves

Powerstar: Xiu Lan spins around and fires a pink blast of energy at the opponent. The Powerstar is a fast, linear, and high-hitting projectile that is inspired from MKA's KAK.

Twirling Fabric: Xiu Lan twirls forward, and the hooked strips of fabric twirl cut the opponent three times, hitting high, mid, then high again. This special move tracks, comes out fairly quickly, and makes the opponent stumble on the last hit. It can be stopped by ducking or by using a projectile.

Butterfly Kicks: Xiu Lan twists her waist a bit before propelling her whole body towards the opponent, doing a pair of horizontal aerial kicks. This move is based off of a Wushu move of the same name, which looks like this. The Butterfly Kicks cover ground rather quickly and they track and hit high, knocking the opponent on the last hit if most or all of the kicks connect.

Dark Summoning: She uses her dark magic to summon a creature whose hands come from the ground and grab the opponent's legs dragging him/her down to the floor. This move hits low, but it can't be crouch blocked. It can be avoided either through jumping away from it or sidestepping.

Magic Wave: With her rear arm glowing, she moves it back before propelling it forward (much like throwing motion a bowling ball) and releases a stream of magical energy. The stream then arcs into a wave that pops the opponent into the air, hitting mid. This move has enough of a telegraphic startup and can either be stand blocked or sidestepped. At very close range, if she does Magic Wave and the opponent stand blocks it, he/she will stumble back a bit, taking very minimal damage.

Throws

Hook n' Trip: Xiu Lan grabs the opponent, steps to the side, and hooks her lead leg to the opponent's leg while using her lead arm to hook around the opponent's neck. She sort of encircles the opponent a bit while taking him/her down. This is all done in a fairly quick motion, and she flips back a bit after taking the opponent down.

Spiral Countdown: Xiu Lan grabs the opponent, punches him/her in the gut, and spins round with the back of her ankle. She clips the opponent's leg, making him/her lose balance, continues the spin, and does a spin kick to the side of their head.

Overall Gameplay Style: Xiu Lan's gameplay style is rather sophisticated and advanced. Fluidity and gracefulness are her greatest strengths though she is not for beginners. For effective usage, her fighting style techniques and special moves require a good deal of mastery as well as a know-how of combining them together.

Mastery Level: 4

Fatalities

Skin Deep: Xiu Lan constantly twirls towards the opponent, and the hooks from the strips of fabric from her clothing keep cutting through him/her. After she stops, Xiu Lan goes into a cool pose while the opponent, who has been torn up very badly, begins to lose balance then falls down with blood still flowing from them.

Malicious Intent: Xiu Lan summons multiple creatures, with several pairs of hands coming from the ground. The first pair of hands holds onto the opponent's legs, but unlike the Dark Summoning special, the creature's fingers pierce through the legs. With the opponent unable to escape, the other pairs of hands reach up to pierce through and tear him/her apart. Xiu Lan just watches the opponent's slow and excruciating death with a heartlessly uncaring look on her face.

Costumes

Primary Costume: Xiu Lan's primary costume is based off of MKDA's concept art of the martial arts sorceress. It consists of a black, long-sleeved top with a yellow web-like design all over it. At her waist is a yellow sash that has two long strips of fabric extending from them. At the ends of those strips are four little hooks that she uses to lash at the opponent. Also, she wears a black skirt and black, flat-heeled boots that go up to below her knees with little yellow designs on the boots. Lastly, her black hair is in a bun that's tied with a flower-like hair clip.

Alternate Costume: Her alternate costume is comprised of a modified GeGe blouse, a pair of straight leg pants, a pair of classic deck shoes, and jade bracelets. The blouse is mainly a light blue color with some white at the sash and trims. Like in her primary costume, the long strips of fabric with hooks at the other end are connected to her sash. The pants are black, and the inside color is lavender while the shoes are light blue.

Extra Costumes: none

Get Up Animation: Xiu Lan twirls up and around, gains her composure, and then she goes into her fighting stance.

Victory Pose: She does Kitana's MKA victory pose to show her usage of Baguazhang.

Kombat Zone: Tournament Arena

Description: Located in Edenia, the arena is in the center of the tournament stadium. In somewhat of a similar design to the Dead Pool, the arena is a small building with a big ring in the middle, two entrances and several balconies where participants can choose to watch the other matches take place.

Stage Traps: none

Stage Fatality: none


Bio

Power. All my life, I have strived to obtain great power. From as far back as I remember, I had always practiced the dark arts, which is where Atlus Umbra came into my life. They taught me how to control the gift I had in controlling black magic in exchange for my services, and I have not failed them, nor have they failed me. Not only was I taught how to use magic, but I was instructed in many martial arts forms by many masters in order to be physically strong. Strength and power have always been my allies. Two years ago, I went by order of my superiors to watch over the events of Armageddon. I watched as countless warriors fought over a great power, one that I would have wanted for myself. However, I was informed of the downsides to this power and knew better not to pursue it. Two powerful warriors took their fight away from the pyramid. Interested, I followed and watched a yellow-clad ninja kill a sorcerer named Quan Chi, an enemy of my superiors.

I examined Quan Chi’s charred remains and discovered an amulet, the one that belongs to the Shinnok, ruler of the Netherrealm. My superiors will be pleased with this item, but its use eludes me. I shall continue to study it until I can inform them of its use. There's no need to tell them of it until that time. I am now one of the most powerful members of Atlus Umbra, but I know this cannot last. It's not that I fear someone will surpass me but that I will age and lose my power. This concerns me greatly, but I shall have to put my concerns on hold. I have been instructed to take part in a tournament with Vetalas, a peer of mine, while Kaylie, a former pupil of mine, watches on. We are to fight and find those worth initiating into our happy family.

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Sub-Zero_7th: Xiu Lan is another character that I came up with. She is based off of the martial arts sorceress concept from MKDA's Krypt, and I thought it would be cool to have a character like that in our story. Her name is Mandarin for "graceful orchid", and her character has an overall Chinese theme to it. Like Kaylie, Xiu Lan took a long while to finish as there where a lot of things that took time to come up with and complete. Basically, she's a sorceress that wants to maintain her power and is worried about losing it as she gets older. Her gameplay is more magic-oriented, but she's also a skilled martial artist due to her background. She's one of the more advanced characters and uses some of the Neijia (internal family) styles of Chinese martial arts. Although a difficult character to sort out, I'm glad we got her done, and I hope she'll be liked.


Paragon: Xiu Lan was a character design I found interesting and found some comparisons with Rose from Street Fighter Alpha. She was one of the more difficult characters to come up with a decent storyline, but thanks to some tinkering, we managed to get something interesting for her story, which I'm looking forward to getting to. What I found most difficult was seperating her 'black magic' from other magic.users, such as Elena and Pandora. In the end, I believe we managed to come up with something to seperate the three's powers from each other and give Xiu Lan her own uniqness in her powers and abilities.

Well, interesting. . . I haven't seen many rehabilitated concepts, and this one seems better amongst them.

Xiu Lan seems a lot like Mavado could have been (and maybe was.). The ribbons seem like interesting ideas for weapons. How come they weren't implemented as such?

I'm glad you like her. She isn't exactly using ribbons. They are long strips of fabric sewn in her sash. The ends of the strips have hooks, which she uses them to lash at the opponent. I felt they were better off as being in special moves, because I don't think they'd work too well as a weapon style.

To SZ7 and Paragon, I liked everything about Kaylie, from her costume to her special moves and get up animation. I was just not too amazed with her storyline as I was with some of the others.

As for Xiu "Lan" I believe, I love her whole sorceress thing. She is not one of my favorites, but I have a feeling that I am gonna love her, just like Pandora. I love her moves, I believe they're pretty decent and her storyline is not too shabby. :smiles: . I hope that I will be completely won over when their future endings and story unravels.

Great job guys! keep it up.

This is just a stylistic note, but I think it might be better to describe the character costume at the beginning as opposed to near the end of the description.

Xiu Lan is an interesting character, and the hooks sound particularly nasty. One thing that I think would help the character would be to pin down the source of her powers more clearly.

For example, Shang Tsung devours the souls of defeated warriors to maintain his youth and recharge during a fight. Quan Chi has an impressive inventory of magic items including an amulet and runes on his skin that enhance his innate abilities. These details serve an important element in explaining why these characters are so powerful. Likewise, Xiu Lan could benefit from a particular power source that makes her as powerful as she is whether it is "pearl of doom" or "book of death."

She has an obsession with her youth which is similar to Shang Tsung's own desire for immortality, so whatever implement she employs should relate to her personal goals or her special moves. A magic device could be as simple as a pact she made with abandon which may have manifested itself in one way or another.

There are just certain reasons why Kaylie's story was like that. Originally, it was sort of intended to make her story even more ambiguous than it already is. Like I said, once her story progresses, I hope you and the other readers will understand and appreciate her character.

I'm glad you like Xiu Lan. I had a feeling that her reception could be much better than Kaylie's, especially with the whole sorceress thing.



That's a good idea, Brettski. We'll start doing that a bit later. It does sound like something that would make for a better presentation.

Regarding Xiu Lan, I'm glad you like her. She has always had an interest in the arcane and learned magic from masters within the Atlus Umbra. She just wants to keep her power and things like that. We may likely explore some other things with her, but I'm not sure yet.

I hope we get more reception on these two (Kaylie & Xiu Lan) before we get to the next character. We still have a bit more to work on in terms of the characters. Be sure to stay tuned!

Good description on her background, but I don't see her doing much in her bio.

She finds the amulet and now is gonna try to learn about its use.

There's not really anything going on there.

Also, isn't her goal at the end of her bio the same as Kaylie's?

I do like her personality, though. Her obssession with power and youth sounds cool. Also, like everyone else here, I like her weapons. And, we've been needing a sorceress in MK for quite some time.