Character Guide to Showdown (Buffy/Dino-Riders Crossover)

By: James Carmody

Pennames: Krulos, Thrawn, Cotto, Vantiri, Mollari.

Moral: Even with the best intentions Hatred based on anything (especially something arbitrary) is a very great threat to everything just!

Disclaimer: Buffy is the intellectual property of Joss Whedon, not me, he gets the money for the series- and all: stories, books, films, et cetera… not me! I will accept NO MONEY for this or any credit with the exception of the characters I come up with! Dino-Riders is the property of TYCO- the characters of the series are that company's property- including Krulos! The Felinoids are mine however, I only claim the storyline for the stories I write, I will not accept money of any kind for this or any story in another's line! Please accept this statement as a refusal to steal money or ideas (things I will NEVER DO)!

Characters:

Stephen: A Brachen demon, (the same species as Allen Francis Doyle in AtS- Angel the Series) except a full Brachen- not half-human! As the name suggests, he is, in fact, a Christian (of Catholic persuasion)… likes to take walks in the wilderness (he finds it relaxing, and rejuvenating). His small community lived in a 'shanty-town' on the outskirts of Los Angeles California (some sixty miles away in fact), until nearly the entire community was seized and taken to a site known as "Initiative Internment Camp Hextus" (very similar to Sobabor in function, minus the labor site- a group of facilities specifically for the extermination of 'undesirables' (in this case, demons of the Buffy verse)). He alone escaped the roundup, because he was hiking and hid when he heard the shouting and guns firing- he trailed the Initiative troops for about 40 miles until he saw where they were taking his people! His people didn't bother anyone- and he himself mostly stuck to the shadows, in order not to freak his fellow believers out he mostly meets with a visiting priest in the town at odd hours… the faith is actually pretty strong in his little community. Hiked to LA to get help- the troops didn't even know they had missed one!

Angel: (or Liam, in his human name): I know I did not come up with this character (Mr. Whedon seems to have- and it's a great job he did too), but in this story he's back to the Angel Investigations Business, (as it's CEO) and, due to his service in the US military during WW2, he has a strong hatred of the 'bigoted-speciesism' (determining weather someone lives or dies on the basis of their species) that he sees in the NSA through the Initiative of his research- it reeks too much of the Nazi racial theories to him! He looks like he's no older than his early forties, but he's at least a veteran of WW2 and possibly WW1 as well. Grew up in Ireland in the 1740s (and because of his views on the British- presumably brought up Catholic).

William Pratt (AKA Spike): Another character I did not come up with, was turned into a vampire in the 1880s in London, by now he has pretty well turned himself around. He will refer to events in WW1, (in my story he served as an Allied Infantry Assault Trooper in that conflict- it was 'a practical decision'- controlled violence in wartime, he could excuse it… and still exercise his need for a good fight!- A 'spot of violence' he calls it). A bit of a hero in this story- he serves as an infantry scout after the fall of the nations. If asked about his change, he'll attribute it to his love of a certain Buffy Anne Summers.

And now for some of the Villains:

Krulos: (not mine- he belongs to TYCO) Tyrannical Rulon Emperor, he is behind the oppressions, the exterminations (and extermination camps), and disappearances of various groups and individuals. This utter megalomaniac hates telepaths with the most virulent passion you can imagine! His own soldiers are beginning to think that he's losing sight of the overall goals of his nation (deviating from conquest to genocide)! Has an interest in biology (in fact, it's this science that he utterly and totally corrupts into a bio-weapon to kill every single being with the genetics for telepathy on earth!). Arguably the most hateful intellectual in the entire crossovers (and Dino-Riders non-crossovers) series'! The reason for his hatred of telepaths stems back (in his mental timeline- it hasn't happened yet, won't for several million years at least… time travel) to his invasion of Valoria- the inhabitants there were telepathic, and so immune to the 'behavior-modification-circuitry' of the Rulon Alliance (technically an empire)- known as a 'Brain-Box'… so he had them wiped-out! Then he went on a genocidal rampage throughout the entire ancestry lines of the Valorians! How he got to be 'National-Security Tsar' was that he arranged it through treaty, in a nutshell- he gave the US government and other nations access to the Brain Box technology in exchange for that particular commission- and fear of the 'Hostile-Sub-Terrestrials' (or HSTs) (and a lack of ability to control them) lead to him getting that job. My personal take on Krulos is that (in this story) he represents hatred in totality.

Hammerhead: (not mine- Tyco's) A career soldier, Hammerhead is the exceedingly violent commanding officer of the Rulon Elite Shocktroopers (known as 'shark men' or (possibly derivatively) as 'sharkurrs'). These are the strongest and fastest of the Rulon soldiers- literally bred for combat! (They live and breath to fight!) Hates Rasp for 'office-politics' reasons (Rasp is always trying to undermine his position), and Youngstar, (for some reasons he won't talk about- some kind of 'unexplained history') more than anyone else in his life.

Mako: (not mine- belongs to Tyco) Artillery specialist- prefers armored artillery… has a fondness for inflicting extremely heavy casualties! One of the 'Shark Men' himself.

Cephalopod Divisions: Rulon political intelligence (equivalent to the civilian operations of the KGB in the cold war- and before the 'Stalin Purges'), headed by Toothis (incidentally I misspelled the name of 'Squid' when I was coming up with the character- I knew that Teuthis is Greek for Squid, I just thought it's spelled Toothis.).

Viper Divisions: If the Cephalopod Divisions are the Rulon Political Intelligence (the equivalent of the KGB) then the Viper Divisions are the GRU (or military intelligence) of the Rulon Alliance! These are headed by Rasp- one of Krulos' most capable diplomats and special forces commanders!

Rasp: (Tyco's, not mine) Essentially a very political 'treacherous snake' of a character, he is more ego than brains- though a capable strategist in his own right!

Unaligned or 'good at the end' characters:

William 'Bill' McCartney: Mr. McCartney works for the NSA, he is the fellow who spotted the unlawful and immoral 'prisoner transfer' into Alien custody that lead to the murder of some four young women (Rowena's Slayer Squad)… unfortunately for him, when he filed it away as he should, The President, a certain Philmore O'Sullivan, was tricked into revealing exactly who had detected this deed- and told the villain himself! This lead to Bill McCartney's disappearance at 1:00am a few nights later! Goes by Bill.

Sarah McCartney: Bill's wife (and possibly widow), doesn't even know if her husband's alive or not after his disappearance. Contacts several police departments- a number of investigations are launched, all of them end in the disappearances of the officers (apparently someone VERY POWERFUL does NOT want anyone to get too close to this issue)… due to the drastic reductions of officers in departments investigating these disappearances (largely abductions at 1:00am) it's determined that if continuing investigations; do so IN SECRET! Goes to Angel Investigations after EIGHT police departments loose all investigating officers!

General Oriana Finn: Initiative commanding general- takes orders directly from the Villain Krulos (unknowingly- he doesn't know that his superior is a villain for the early part). Asian fellow in ancestry. Begins to get upset with the orders he's given to turn the Initiative's facilities into Gas-Chambers for the HSTs… really he's Krulos' minion in a lot of ways! Killed at the beginning of the invasion.

President Philmore O'Sullivan: As the name suggests, he's Celtic in origin, Polically astute… but thoroughly duped by Krulos time and again- tall guy (at least 6ft), reddish-blonde hair (does not indicate any stupidity- contrary to rumor). Gentleman. Ends up killed in the secret bunker with the entire administration when the bunker is compromised by an attacking squad (which locks them in- pure regicide)… only at the very end does he ever realize he was completely tricked!

Upstanding Characters:

Willow Rosenberg: (Belongs to Joss Whedon) In this story, she's deeply pro-life (due to her baby being the 'seed of wonder'), although still attracted to girls- she's predominantly motivated by a need to protect her child from the bio-weapon unleashed upon the planet. Will risk her life to rescue others! Her child serves a job as a 'transportation secretary for mystical energy' and so is in real danger from this weapon.

Rowena: (from Watchers: the virtual series- so not mine… indirectly belongs to Joss Whedon) Rowena is murdered by Krulos because, as a Slayer, she's slightly telepathic. Dies well (attempts to make-up for her offenses at the moment of death)- I remember sort-of skimming the Watchers series, and running across her religious beliefs (I don't remember where in the series… but I'll keep on looking), it attributed them to Catholicism. Had a 'falling out' with her younger sister over her disordered behavior (dating girls).

Mary: Rowena's younger sister (Watchers series again)… they had a falling out. Grieves for never getting to make-piece with Rowena- actually admires her.

Facilities and Types of persons:

Internment Camp Hextus: A death-camp! Administrated by Rulons and run by humans- for the express purpose of the mass killing of demons and other hostile-sub-terrestrials! They don't bother with using rail ties when stacking the bodies to be burned in the pits (too inefficient). There are also posts which non-humans are tied to and gutted alive for anatomy studies- most of this is done while the victims are conscious! The Rulon Guards stand in a sort-of screen, while the human Guards move about doing most of the killing or torturing (the Rulons find this fun to watch). There are also fireproof posts that the prisoners are 'torched' (or set on fire) alive!

Rulons: (Tyco's invention) Possibly advanced humans themselves, they border on the psychopathic- they enjoy war, cruelty, a number of other horrible stuff! They're culture is so permeated with hatred it's not even funny!- they are willing to commit a form of 'genetic suiside' to kill off their enemies! (because it seems that they and the Valorians have the same ancestor species.)

Slayers: (largely Mr. Whedon's property- I think) Themselves partially telepathic- though artificially and nonconsensually, these people were endowed partially via mysticism- and are therefore weaker than if they had it naturally (often these people didn't ask for this). Due to their situation, the bio-weapon has a very strong effect on these people. The telepathy comes often as a dream (prophetic dreams) and as a form of ESP.- (Because it's described as an ability that some have and others don't I surmise that it's genetic in the story, so the bio-weapon would dissolve all the DNA in someone even remotely tainted with mysticism- then shatter the cell membranes… thereby liquefying the person)

Science of the story:

Human Puddles: The bi-product of a person melting in this story is a greasy or oily puddle that won't evaporate- the reason for this is that the puddle is NOT A NATURAL PUDDLE! IT'S the PRODUCT OF A MURDER! It's like the story of the people who killed someone and for the rest of their lives they couldn't wash the blood off their hands!

Electric Shard: Typical hand-to-hand weapon of a Rulon Shark Man, this is a sort of sword with a heavy tip (two prongs, both with straight mettle lines in between and mettle webbing connecting them with the handle), it has the same charge ability of a Rulon Electric Whip (10,000 volts per strike). Capable of smashing through tempered steel with the lower prong hitting first, it is also useful for gutting and decapitating.

Bio-Weapon: This viral agent is not natural- it's manufactured! It looks like a nebula that is brownish-tan on most of the outside and a deep sapphire blue interior… it's properties are that it: self-replicates, breaks-down DNA, shatters cell membranes, and just liquefies the person and all their property on them, it also preys on the DNA of those who can access mysticism in the story. It's purpose is to cull all telepaths from humanity so that the entire remaining population can be brain-boxed!