Author's Last Thoughts
Alright, hey there readers, DB84 here! Wow, I actually finished a story! My first story finished! Words can't describe how happy I am! Anyway, this is a little segment I like to call Author's Last Thoughts, this is where I, the author, tell you what my thought process was in writing the story.
I'll talk about the characters, the plot, etc,
So, lets start with characters. As you probably noticed, all of the characters featured in this story were original characters, save for Thane and Wrex.
I put Thane and Wrex into by story because they are two of my favorite characters in the Mass Effect universe and also because they are both totally awesome. I also chose them because I didn't want to use Commander Shepard, admittedly I was tempted to but ultimately decided against it. Why? Because I wanted to make something different, a lot of Mass Effect related stories star Shepard because Shepard is a character you can mold into whatever you want him/her to be.
But I wanted to do something different from the norm, so I chose Wrex and Thane.
Thane was my first choice when it came to canon characters because he's a lot like the Predators themselves. He hunts down his target using a combination of stealth and skills and I like the idea of the Predators hunting down another predator.
I also liked Wrex because he's really got that Alpha mentality, he's a big boss and I felt like that would be something that would catch a Predator's eye. Also he was a natural to take over the role of leader because as cool as Thane is, he's more of a lone wolf, Wrex is a leader.
Now lets talk about the characters that I made.
When I initially started out, I already knew that I wanted at least one of every race in my story. From there, I started looking at Mass Effect 3's multiplayer classes and used those to get an idea of the load outs to give to the characters. I also took a look at all of the various military groups of the universe, C-sec, STG, Spectre, and mercenary groups.
In Mass Effect 2 I particularly liked the three mercenary groups, the Blue Suns, the Blood Pack, and the Eclipse. So that already gave me a template for three characters.
Anyway, eventually I ended up with the characters that I had.
I created Kath, the Batarian Blue Sun, to fill the role of the whiner and pretender. The guy who back in the world feels like a big man because he's got position and a bunch of guys he can order to kill. But when he's taken out of his environment and placed in the jungle, he's cowardly and whiney.
I created Tiro to represent the Turians and also to show the law enforcement part of the world. In the original movie, Predators, I was a little disappointed that there were no police officers. I also needed a sort of nice guy and a team player. You can see the nice guy in Tiro when he comforts Zekk and is the one to cover the group's rear as they retreat.
I created Tosh, because I wanted a different type of human character. I made Tosh Cerberus in order to mix up the character types and I made him Jamaican in order to mix up the ethnicity. He also brings the spiritual feel to the story with his shark tooth necklace and belief in spirits. I also liked the idea of having that shield, just something about it caught my attention.
Morroth was my Salarian and military man, I based him mostly off of the infiltrator class, which is why I gave his a stealth cloak. Also, I always wanted to see a Predator fight a fellow stealth cloak user. I figured it would be interesting to write how for once, the Predators were the ones being attacked by someone invisible. Of course, as it turned out, it didn't help Morroth too much. Haha, moving on.
Gornol was my Blood pack Krogan, why did I create him? Because, I wanted a flamethrower. Admit it, you're trapped in a jungle with vicious aliens trying to rip out your skull, a flamethrower would be a good weapon to have. I also wanted another Krogan on the team besides Wrex, because obviously he was going to die and I wanted to have a segment where the Predator fought with a Krogan in hand to hand.
A'lez, I created her because I wanted an Asari, but more importantly I wanted a Spectre. Then I remembered that Asari Spectre from the Shadow Broker DLC and I decided, why not? I also made her because I wanted a really powerful biotic user to fight the Predators, so an Asari was a very natural choice to make. Plus I've always wanted to call an Asari, Blue girl. It was fun to do, hehe.
The Operative, the mysterious human black operative, I created him to fill the silent warrior type character. I also decided early on that I would kill him in one of the first chapters, because I wanted to put a surprising death. It's common for the main badass to be the silent type, well, this time, that silent badass gets killed early.
Zekk, my Quarian. Early on, I knew from the very start that I needed one of those bumbling, clumsy, socially awkward types in my story, but at the same time make him reasonably dangerous and useful. So I made him the tech type, that was the obvious choice considering his race. But more over I kind of wanted to make him represent the regular people of the world. He doesn't like killing he doesn't like to fight, he doesn't even like what he does. On top of that, he has someone he wants to go back to, that made him sympathetic. So, he was born. At first I didn't know how much I would enjoy his character but he really grew on me in the end.
Lydia, my raunchy Eclipse human female. From the get go, I wanted one of those indecent, horny, loudmouth type persons, but I also didn't want it to be a boy and I wanted it to have one of those cool floppy Mohawk hairstyles. So, Lydia was born and to keep going against gender sterotype, I gave her the biggest gun of the group. I actually started enjoying writing her dialogue because it was so fun to do, everything she says has some sort of sexual innuendo or is totally weird. She was actually original set to die in some incredibly badass way, but I liked her so much that the most I could do was get her horribly injured.
Now we talk about the Predators, the villians.
I admit that only one of my Predators had any actual personality, the White Hunter, as such I'll only really be talking about him.
A good deal of inspiration for this Albino predator comes from watching the movie Dark Knight Rises. As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed the character of Bane. This big, intimidating man, who was not only incredibly skilled in fighting, but also very cunning and smart. I also really liked the way that he walked in the movie, that slow walk where he holds his coat like a badass. It really gives you that feeling that he can kill you whenever he wants, he just likes to give you some time to think about it.
That's what I wanted to do with the Albino, I wanted this massive predator who could take on the biggest baddest guys of the galaxy and toss them around just to show them that he could. I particularly show that in his fights when I describe his calm walking.
I probably pissed a couple people off when the fights he was in consisted mostly of him wailing on the others. But that was the point, I wanted to drive home that this guy was almost like the prefect predator.
As far as the other Predators go, I mainly put them there to humanize the Albino a bit. Because when they die, he has a few moments of grief that he takes to mourn their death. I wanted to give them a bit of a brotherly feel.
Now lets talk about the plot of the story.
Early on I knew that if I was going to write this story, I didn't want it to just be the Predators movie with Mass Effect style characters. I wanted it to be my own original story.
Granted I did borrow elements from the actual movie, like the kidnapping, the dogs, stuff like that.
But all the same, I wanted my story. That's part of the reason why in the first chapter, I give you all these little bits of the characters lives. That was actually one of the qualms I had about the Predators movie, you never got to see the characters in action on Earth, you didn't see how badass they were you just had to assume it.
I also started thinking about logical ways to go about when you're kidnapped and stranded on some planet with hostile aliens. That's why I went through all those different scenarios of the people digging in, or going after the Predators.
It also gave me a chance to build the personality of the Predators. Because in the original Predator movie, one of the things that made the Predator awesome is that for a good portion of the movie you never actually saw the Predator, you just sort of knew he was out there.
In addition it gave me a chance to really pick on the prey, do the thing where they feel like they've got a great plan then the Predators come and totally destroy it.
Speaking of the Predators, some people might wonder why I only gave them titles like "White Hunter" instead of giving them full blown names like so many other stories do.
Well the reason for that is that I didn't want to give them names because when you give these guys names it makes them feel a lot less intimidating. Even more, when you tell things from their perspective it makes them likeable, like in a buddy kind of way.
I want you to like how horribly scary they are, not for whatever personality they might have.
I also didn't want to do one of those stories where the Predators end up liking their prey, don't get me wrong there are plenty of stories of Predators befriending humans or what not that are good. But that isn't what we originally loved the Predator for, we loved it because it was this mass murder that could tear spec ops team to pieces with just knives and spears.
Now lets talk about my own little addition to the Predator arsenal. Biotics. When I gave the Predators biotics, I knew right from the start I couldn't go overboard with them. I knew I wouldn't have them doing things like biotic charge or biotic shockwave. Why?
Well if you look at the Predator's arsenal, you realize that it is surprisingly primitive. I mean sure, they're cool but what they have in the end, are knives and spears. They want to enjoy the hunting of their prey not the utter anhiliation, which is why the only gun they have is a small shoulder cannon.
As such, I played it safe with biotics and had them do small things with them. Picking up this or that, making a barrier, stuff like that.
Last thing I'd like to talk about is my ending.
I know what a lot of you were probably thinking when you read it, "well…that was anticlimactic" or "WTF!"
Yes, I realize that my ending is strange, but I did it on purpose. I spent a lot of time making the White Hunter this almost god figure, this guy who you simply couldn't beat no matter how hard you tried.
But I wanted to show that even with all his skill, the White Hunter was still flesh and blood. That's why I had Wrex take him down with one lucky shot.
I didn't want to do one of those moments where the protagonists find the will inside to overcome the odds and beat the bad guy. Why? Because that doesn't happen in real life, in real life, if you are out matched by the bad guy, chances are the only way you're going to win is if you're lucky. Otherwise the bad guy is going to break you into pieces.
That's what I really wanted to drive home, that luck was the only reason those guys ever got of the planet. They were lucky that the bullet managed to kill the albino and as it turns out they were lucky that the albino didn't wake up earlier.
That's just the way I wanted to play things, I'm sorry if you didn't like the way I did it but that's just the way I wanted to play it. If you don't like the story for its ending at least like the story for everything else that it offers.
Well, that's it for my last thoughts on the story.
Any questions you have for me? Just PM me and I'll answer you as soon as I can.
I don't know if I'll be creating another story any time soon, right now I want to focus on my other story since I haven't updated it in like, a month.
You can check out my profile where I constantly post my story ideas, I'll put up a poll and you can vote which one sounds best to you.
For now, this is DB84, signing off
Have a fantastic day
