Zoe AKA Sugarsnap

This is the final member of The Professor's team and the original main character of The Vicious Planer.
This is Zoe Floridian AKA Sugarsnap.

Zoe Floridian was raised by her father, a decorated Imperial military officer.  However his time in the army taught him the value of thinking outside the box of the Imperial system and he passed that wisdom onto his daughter.
Zoe is a genius.  She learns and absorbs information at an incredible pace but she hardly ever sticks with a single subject long enough to become an expert.  The place where her genius shines brightest is with computers.  After her father died she used her programming skills to support herself and came to the attention of The Professor and The Minister.


When I first started The Vicious Planet I planned for Zoe to be the main character.  She does play a major role in the early storylines.  But she may not play as a great a role in later storys and other characters could step up to the forefront.  We will just have to see.

Sidewinder

Who is Sidewinder?

Most people do not know much about the next member of The Professor's team.
In fact The Professor and The Minister are the only ones that really know where she came from and what her story is.
Her proper name is Sabrina Silas but Sidewinder is the name she answers to.  She is a master of observation and logical reasoning.  There is no mystery she can not unravel and no puzzle she can not solve.  Perhaps the only mystery that she eludes her is the same one on everyones mind after they meet her.  Who is Sidewinder?

The Emperor

There is one character in The Vicious Planet who never actually makes a physical appearance but has a huge impact on the other characters.

Say hello to Emperor Pavel Durance.

Pavel Durance ascended to the throne of the United Empire at a young age.  He distinguished himself by being one of the least overtly oppresive Emperors in history.  He did not use weapons and fear to keep the world under his control.  He used information.  He created a news media machine that brought a level of stability the Empire had not seen in decades.  But he knew that was not enough.  He created the initiative that would expand the Empire to new worlds beyond the Solar System.

The only character in The Vicious Planet who ever actually met the Emperor in person is Dr. Charlotte Mothman AKA The Professor.

Male Characters

Most of the main characters of The Vicious Planet are female but it does have a few male cast members and I felt I should get them out of the way.

First we have Brian Chesterton AKA Handyman.

Brian is a computer genius and one of the only people in the world that can keep up with Zoe Floridian AKA Sugarsnap.  They met during a demonstration of their skills at a job fair that also brought them both to the attention of The Professor and The Minister.  Zoe became a part of the team and Brian came with her.  The Minister nicknamed him Handyman although sometimes the others refer to him as "Zoe's boyfriend" instead.
Brian is more than willing to deal with the various quirks of the team members in order to be with Zoe.  There is nothing he would not do for her.  The Vicious Planet will put their relationship through tests they never imagined.



And here is Drake Garret AKA Crispy.

Drake is an engineer.  When the Endeavour was forced to land on The Vicious Planet he had to explain that there was nothing physically wrong with the ship and he got very annoyed when they kept asking him to check again.  When her team is out in the field The Professor calls upon Drake to be an extra set of eyes and ears for her around the ship.
Drake has a special interest in Sabrina Silas AKA Sidewinder.  Most people just smile and nod and walk way after meeting Sidewinder.  Drake is interested in finding out what the story behind the girl called Sidewinder is.

Stereo

Here is another member of The Professor's team.  This is Stereo.

Victoria Belfast was a small child when she went deaf.  Her parents spared no expense getting her the best cybernetic implants to restore her hearing.  Victoria decided she did not want to be dependant on the technology so she also taught herself lip reading and sign language.  But she also wanted to understand the technology.  Victoria learned to take apart her own implants and began making her own modifications.  Over the years she constantly customized and upgraded.  She became an expert tech-head overflowing with knowledge of electronic hardware and mechanics.
She met Hayley Miller in college.  A few years later her classmate showed up calling herself The Minister.  Victoria joined the team and accepted the name Stereo.

Guardian of the Green

Today we have Walter Hunt, the Green Lord, Guardian of the Green Lands.

Walter Hunt was a car salesman from Miami.  One night he was in a car accident of all things but instead of meeting his death he woke up in the lush jungles of the Green Lands on The Vicious Planet.  He met a strange old man and afterwards he was Guardian of the Green Lands.
He found that there were other humans living in the Green Lands but they had never heard of a place called Earth.  He realized he had a chance on this new world to satisfy his true desires and he soon he found he had the power to do it.  He had the ability to transform himself into a powerful beast.

He took over the Green Lands and became the Green Lord.  Those who were most loyal were also given the power of transformation and became his Huntsmen.
The Green Lord rules the Green Lands from his keep.  Those who are not under his direct control choose not to oppose him out of fear of the Huntsmen.

May Weston AKA Flowers

This is the last major cast member on the military side of things.  This is May Weston.

May Weston is not a soldier.  She is a military computer analyst.  She is the one tasked with finding out what went wrong on the Endeavour and why they were forced to make an emergency landing on The Vicious Planet.
Not everyone cares for The Minister's nicknames but May Weston kind of likes the one she got.  She likes being Flowers.  She finds that she identifies more with The Professor's team than with her military co-workers.
People do not notice May or give her much thought.  Soon it will be time for May to step forward and show off her true talents.  Everyone will be surprised.

Guardian of the Orange

Behold Keether, Guardian of the Orange Lands.

In most of the lands of The Vicious Planet the guardian is a figure that is revered.  In some of the lands the guardian is a leader.  But not in the Orange Lands.  In the Orange Lands the guardian is a monster to be feared.  No one knows much about Keether.  As far as anyone can tell he is incapable of speech but he is not without intelligence.  He seems to wander the great forests of the Orange Lands aimlessly.
The people of the Orange Lands have a saying, "stay to the left".  This refers to Keether.  They dread the possibility of falling under the gaze of Keether's right eye.  But Keether is blind on his left side, which raises a question, what happened to his left eye?

Guardian of the Violet

I present to you Doctor Jacob Humphrey, Guardian of the Violet Lands.

Jacob Humphrey was a botanist.  Through circumstances even he does not understand he ended up on The Vicious Planet and went on to become Guardian of the Violet Lands.  The Violet Lands is a place ruled by the plantlife.  In a way it is a paradise for Jacob.  He has spent years studying and cataloging the many diverse and exotic flora of the Violet Lands.  The Violet Lands is considered one of the most beautiful places on The Vicious Planet but it is also one of the most dangerous.  The flowers can grow to be very large and the biggest ones have a tendecy to be carnivorous and agressive.

Hawaii

Here we have the second member of The Professor's team.  They call her Hawaii.

Claire Yale is from Hawaii.  She acts as the team doctor.  She has field medical training but her specialty is actually neuroscience.  She has an interest in understanding what makes people the way they are.  Is it brain chemistry? Experience? DNA? She has yet to find anything she would call an answer.
One day Claire was surfing at the beach and she was approached by The Minister and The Professor and they offered her a place on the team.  The Minister nicknamed her Hawaii. The Minister knows that this was not the most clever nickname she ever came up with but it seemed right at the time.

Military People

Here are two characters who are members of the imperial military.

First we have Nick Harrison AKA Lawman.

Nick acts as Captain Vancouver Smith's second in command.  Nick is an amibtious young man eager to move up the ranks of the Imperial military.  At first he is one of the biggest supporters of getting the Endevour to fly agian and return to the mission.  But as he spends more time on The Vicious Planet he may find new opporutnites to seek the power he craves.



Next we have Helen Havoc.

Helen is more or less the third in command and the one who gets assigned to keep an eye on Dr. Mothman's team in the field.  Like many people Helen Havoc has things in her past she would like to keep there.  But she will find that sometimes the past can come back to haunt you, even when you are on The Vicious Planet.
Helen does not have a nickname because The Minister could not come up with anything that sounded nearly as good as her actual name.

The Minister

I have finally finished the first character piece for one of the main characters.  Say hello to the Minister.

Hayley Miller is an imperial ordained minister.  However she does not feel any obligation to confine herself to any one single religion or philosophy.  She has studied many different systems of belief and schools of thought and she likes to preach and move back and forth between all of them.
She was the first member of the team recruited by Doctor Charlotte Mothman and acts as her right hand woman and the leader of the team in the field.  The first thing Hayley did when she met Dr. Mothman was nickname her The Professor.  The Professor returned the favor and nicknamed Hayley The Minister.  The Minister gave everyone their nicknames.

The Red Lands

It is about time people saw the Red Lands because this is where much of the story takes place because this is where the spaceship Endeavour landed.

When the Endeavour was forced to land on The Vicious Planet it came to rest in the northern part of the Red Lands.  The Red Lands is a dry barren place.  There was once civilization here but it was abandoned long ago.  The Red Lands Guardian Martini took up residence in the remains of one such place.  The only humans who live in the Red Lands are a group of so called "wizards" men who seek to unlock the secrets of the Vicious Planet by understanding the ancient technologoy that maintains it.  The true dominant life forms of the Red Lands are the Red Rock Hunters.  These blind predatory animals use sonar to navigate and hunt.  There are certainly worse places the Endeavour could have landed, but still the Red Lands are not known for being pleasant.

The Yellow Lands

A map of the Yellow Lands.

The Yellow Lands is mostly desert.  It is the home of the intelligent snake like people called the Zesta.  Uza's Mountain in the north stands partly in the White Lands.  Snow metls on its peaks and feeds Uza's River.  The first guardian of the Yellow Lands Ziro Gran was so old and so huge that his bones can be seen from orbit.

The Black Lands

Here is a basic map of the Black Lands.

There is not much to the Black Lands.  It is a place of jagged black rocks and mountains.  What creatures live there are small things that thrive in the toxic environment.  In the middle of the Black Lands is a great mountain and on top of it is Big Zudo's seat.  From there he looks down upon The Cage.  Eons ago something was imprisoned within the Black Lands, something so horrible it was decided that its name should be forgotten.  Big Zudo watches to make sure this unkillable horror never escapes.

Guardian of the Yellow

Today we have Zeal Gran, guardian of the Yellow Lands.

Zeal Gran is one of the oldest guardians, not as old as Mighty Vusta and Big Zudo, but still very old.  He is only the second guardian the Yellow Lands has ever had.  His ancestor Ziro Gran was the first gaurdian of the Yellow Lands.  Zeal Gran is one of the Zesta, the people of the Yellow Lands.  The longer a Zesta lives, the bigger it gets.  Most Zesta live no longer than humans and grow to be at most 20 to 30 feet long.  Zeal Gran has lived for hundreds of years and is over a hundred feet long.

The Move

Change of plans.  The Vicious Planet is not moving.  But it will also now exist on wordpress because there are better options for opening it up to other posters.  I think once I have a few more pieces done I will open up the Vicious Planet to other artists.

The Vicious Planet is moving

http://theviciousplanet.wordpress.com/

Guardian of the White

This time we have Guitara, Guardian of the White Lands.

Long ago a spaceship crashed in the White Lands.  The only survivor was a small alien child.  When that child grew up he managed to become one of The Vicious Planets guardians.
Guitara does not know where he really came from or what he is.  And he does not care.  There is only one thing Guitara has ever really cared about, power.  As the guardian of the White Lands he is in a unique position to learn the secrets of The Vicious Planet and harness them for himself.  However the arrival of the humans from Earth may force him to change his priorities?

The People In Charge

I present the first two human character pieces for The Vicious Planet.

First we have Doctor Charlotte Mothman AKA The Professor.

Charlotte Mothman was once the leader of the Watchtower organization.  The greatest weapons of the Empire was always information control and propaganda.  The Watchtower used these same tools against the Empire.  For years under Dr. Mothman's leadership the Watchtower engaged in a propaganda war with the Imperial news media machine.
Then one day a few of the more radical members of the Watchtower broke the organizations most important rule and took violent action against imperial officers.  In order to protect her people Dr. Mothman gaver herself up to the Empire.  She would spend the next fifteen years in an imperial prison.  Although its members were saved from prosecution the Watchtower itself was not able to survive without Charlotte around to lead it.
After fifteen years in prison Charlotte was summoned by Emperor Pavel Durance himself.  He made her an offer and she accepted.  She found herself working with imperial resources on a spaceship bound for a new world.  She intended to subvert the system from within and establish a better one.  But then they landed on...
THE VICIOUS PLANET.



Next we have Captain Vancouver Smith.

When he was old enough Vancouver Smith joined the Imperial Army ready to serve.  But he never fought on the front lines of any conflict.  Instead he was selected to be trained in a special skillset because of his loyalty to the Empire.  For years Vancouver Smith was one of the Empire's most efficient assassins.  But as he got older be became more and more disenchanted with the Empire he killed for without question.  Vancouver planned to retire from service but then he was asked to command one of the spaceships leaving to colonize a new planet.  Vancouver believed that his service to the Empire was finally about to pay off, he would be able to start a new life without bloodshed.
Shortly before leaving Earth Vancouver's superiors gave him a secret order.  He was told to keep an eye on his civillian counterpart Doctor Charlotte Mothman.  In the event that she should become a problem he should use his special skillset to deal with her.  Vancouver promised himself he would never carry out that order.  But that was before they were forced to land on...
THE VICIOUS PLANET.

Guardian of the Black

Say Hello to Big Zudo, guardian of the the Black Lands.

Big Zudo can always be found in his seat on top of a mountain near the center of the Black Lands.  He and Mighty Vusta are the only original guardians left.  He will kill any living thing that enters the Black Lands.  Some say it is because he went mad long ago.  Others say there are horrors beyond imagination hidden in the Black Lands and Big Zudo is granting mercy by ending the lives of those who violate the borders of his land before they can experience them.  What will the arrival of the humans from Earth mean for this mysterious giant creature?

Guardian of the Blue

I present to you the first character art peice for The Vicious Planet.

Mighty Vusta, mother of the the deep, guardian of the Blue Lands.

Mighty Vusta is one of the only original guardians left.  She is one of the oldest living things on The Vicious Planet.  She is known for being kind and compassionate but her first duty is to the Blue Lands and her planet.  What will be her reaction to the sudden arrival of so many humans from Earth to her world?

The Characters

Work on The Vicious Planet continues.  I thought I would give an update on what to expect.  I am going to be making a series of character movie poster style images of the various characters from the story of The Vicious Planet.  I can't yet be sure what order they will be released in but here is a list of the names of the people from the starship Endevour who make up the cast.

We begin with the people in charge.

The People In Charge
Dr. Charlotte Mothman AKA The Professor
Captain Vancouver Smith


Next we go to The Professor's team

The Team
Zoe Floridian AKA Sugarsnap
Halle Mills AKA The Minister
Sophie Silas AKA Sidewinder
Claire Hester AKA Hawaii
Victoria Belfast AKA Stereo


Then there are the other characters

The Other Characters
Brian Chesterton AKA Handyman
Colonel Helen Havoc
May Weston AKA Flowers
Drake Garret AKA Firecracker


Those are all the human characters from Earth of The Vicious Planet.  But there are other characters in this story.  There are the 13 Guardians of The Vicious Planet.

The Guardians
Mighty Vusta, guardian of the Blue Lands
Big Zudo, guardian of the Black Lands
Martini, guardian of the Red Lands
Guitara, guardian of the White Lands
Walter Hunt the Green Lord, guardian of the Green Lands
Onala the Bronze Queen, guardian of the Bronze Lands
Dr. Jacob Humphrey, guardian of the Violet Lands
Bisherman, guardian of the Gray Lands
Zeal Gran, guardian of the Yellow Lands
Kis Kal Rey, guardian of the Silver Lands
Sabrina 52, guardian of the Pink Lands
Keether the one eyed, guardian of the Orange Lands
Rastamar, guardian of the Gold Lands


These are the characters of The Vicious Planet.  You will be seeing them all soon.

The Story

In the future the Earth is ruled over by The United Empire.

For generations the Empire has brought prosperity to those who are loyal and ruin to those who are not.  But the power of the empire is not absolute.  As overpopulation and pollution choke the world the rule of the Empire is threatened.

Emperor Pavel Durance came up with a brilliant solution to the problems of his dominion when he took the throne at a young age.
The United Empire would expand beyond the Earth.

The process took decades.  Sattelites found suitable planets.  Automaton operated ships terraformed them to be habitable for humans.

Emperor Durance was growing old by the time the first ships were ready to leave the Earth with living passengers and settle on new worlds.


This is the story of one of those ships.  The starship Endevour.
The Endevour did not make it to the intended destination.  Instead it landed on...

THE VICIOUS PLANET.

What will happen to the crew and passengers of the Endevour on this strange world?
What secrets await them?
What will happen when some of the people decide they want to stay and build a new life on this planet free of the Empire while others believe they should do their duty to the Empire and get the ship flying again?
Will they even be able to survive the dangers ahead?

The Enigmatic Star System

Welcome to The Enigmatic Star System, home of The Vicious Planet.

More coming soon.

What is the Vicious Planet

The Vicious Planet is a writing/art project I am undertaking.

It will include my writings telling the story of The Vicious Planet.  I will also include artwork of the characters and lands of The Vicious Planet.

I am currently working on a diagram of The Enigmatic star system where the Vicious Planet is located.  It should be ready in a few days.

Every image of the Vicious Planet will be created using computer art programs and photos.  All of the characters will be built off pictures of people and things.

Coming Soon

The Vicious Planet is coming.