How would you RP a Qularr toon?

vorshoth

I've been toying with Qularr for a long time. I love insectoid aliens. But roleplaying as them has always seemed a bit weird to me. So I've been trying to get a sense of how a Qularr Gunmaster (a fictional rank I have invented so I can play with munitions and the organic gun unlock)who has essentially lost all trace of their kind would play out around other heroes.
Not a villain, but instead simply an enemy combatant lost from their own kind until I find them in the main game areas.
I could go traitor, but that doesn't seem quite right. Maybe a loose cannon on the Qularr invasion force seeking out Dr Destroyer, who has wronged them somehow?

I've made a costume, but I can't think of how to play the character's personality. It's hard when they don't have proper names beyond their rank, to give them any character.
So, how does everyone else play their Qularr toons?

bulgarex

Well, a motivation for your character outside of his military unit would be an important start. If you don't want him to be a traitor, he could simply have been separated from his unit after the last invasion of Mil City. Perhaps he's been living in the sewers or abandoned buildings while trying to find others of his people. OTOH since he's of a special caste, perhaps he's an elite trooper on a specific mission. Maybe he's scouting out the city's defenses in advance of a new Qularr attack; in which case, he might be pretending to be a hero to more readily mingle among Earth's defenders. Or he could have been sent to investigate and eliminate a group or individual who proved particularly effective against the Qularr last time. If his target is a villain or villainous agency, that would give him even more opportunity to appear to be a hero.

According to their background in Champions Beyond, all Qularr are to some extent xenophobic, and avoid interacting with other races. So your character is likely to spend a lot of time by himself in human territories, and not readily make friendships with humans. However, Qularr are also used to working collectively, particularly the military, so eventual loneliness may prompt him to make some kind of human connection. Depending on how long your character has been on Earth, he might even begin to develop sympathy for humanity, which could lead to divided loyalties between humans and his own people.

Qularr are bred for particular functions, with abilities and attitudes hardwired into them on the genetic level. Your character is likely to be very rigid in his thinking, and highly resistant to learning new things outside of his specialty, or taking on tasks normally performed by Qularr of other castes, particularly "menial" tasks.

BTW vorshoth, how familiar are you with other insectile races in the Champions Universe? There are several options besides the Qularr. For example, in my PnP games I've enjoyed playing a Se'ecra accidentally stranded on Earth. The common Se'ecra attitudes easily lend themselves to heroic behavior, and their technology is advanced enough to let them compete with many superheroes, even if a given Se'ecra isn't superpowered himself.

Oh, and FWIW I think "Gunmaster" makes a fine super codename by itself.

tigerofcachtice

Hi Vorshoth, I totally hear you. Let me just share an idea I myself had for a Qularr toon.

This Qularr has no love for his kind, but he is not a traitor...he is a biological pariah.

Through no fault of his own, he was born with a genetic anomaly: individualism.

Maybe he lacked the special antennae for the psychic hive mind or his brain didn't process things right.

Regardless, his ability to think for himself was so vile to his kind they imprisoned him as a freak.

Jailed in the prison ship, he was freed when it was shot down, his cage bobbing its way to shore.

He was nearly killed by heroes until Dr. Silverback intervened by asking them rhetorically:

"Why is this particular specimen wearing shackles?"

Or course, Dr. Silverback knew, as he himself was also a pariah from his Manimal kindred.

What impressed this Qularr was not that Dr. Silverback saved him, but how he did so.

Dr. Silverback did not say, "I'm an honourary Champion, so I'm commanding you to spare him."

Instead, he asked a question...and let people formulate their own answers! A concept alien to Qularr.

So this Qularr emulated Dr. Silverback, becoming a hero, but the difference was, he chose to.

---

In RP, I imagine this Qularr trying to ape human behavior...and getting it hilariously wrong.

In appearance, he wears human clothes as his own personal fashion statement, and it is hideous.

In speech, he's like 7 of 9 from Star Trek or Legion from Mass Effect, struggling with "I" or "me".

In Caprice, he actually likes the music. The Qularr language sounds like dubstep, so he thinks it's singing.

---

So this Qularr is not a villain nor a traitor. He's a victim and an outcast.

As for a name for this Qularr, my idea had been "Retch" from "Born of Man and Woman":

"This day when it had light mother called me retch. You retch she said."

(If you never read that short story, pls check it out, it's only 2 pages long and very perfect.)

I imagine Dr. Silverback read this to him and this Qularr thought it was exactly his life.

So just an idea I freely share with you, please feel free to use it or just to brainstorm.

bulgarex

Very clever, TOC. :cool:

(But I think you might mean "wretch." "Retch" is rather different.)

EDIT: I stand corrected below. Thank you, jonsils. :redface:

jonsills

bulgarex wrote: »

Very clever, TOC. :cool:

(But I think you might mean "wretch." "Retch" is rather different.)

It was spelled that way in the story, however. I second the recommendation of reading it. Nicely unsettling.

Edit: Oh, hey, a link!

wrathsoul1

vorshoth wrote: »

I've been toying with Qularr for a long time. I love insectoid aliens. But roleplaying as them has always seemed a bit weird to me. So I've been trying to get a sense of how a Qularr Gunmaster (a fictional rank I have invented so I can play with munitions and the organic gun unlock)who has essentially lost all trace of their kind would play out around other heroes.
Not a villain, but instead simply an enemy combatant lost from their own kind until I find them in the main game areas.
I could go traitor, but that doesn't seem quite right. Maybe a loose cannon on the Qularr invasion force seeking out Dr Destroyer, who has wronged them somehow?

I've made a costume, but I can't think of how to play the character's personality. It's hard when they don't have proper names beyond their rank, to give them any character.
So, how does everyone else play their Qularr toons?

I don't play one, but if I happen to do it, I'd say a merc who works with humans due to them waving the bigger paycheck.

chuckwolf

How interesting you brought this up. This is one of my favorite characters to play.

The concept of my Qularr was that he was hatched a mutant, born with 6 wings (most flying drones have 2), and of course natural powers, because of this he was outcast from the Qularr on Earth.

When the attack on Millennium City happened, his unique physiology (for a Qularr that is) made him resistant to the effect of the beacons, so he decided to help the humans against his own people that had rejected him.

Because he's just a hatchling he's extremely small by Qularr standards. After the invasion he decided to keep helping the humans in other ways.

shadowzero66

For some minor inspiration, there's "Ludwig" in the game. He's a stranded Qularr who ends up running the Black Aces gang and being part of Hi-Pan's Westside alliance not because he wants to rule the place, but because they further his means to leave Earth (and presumably return home).

As bulgarex said, "Gunmaster" can work for the actual name...

"They call me 'Gunmaster'... because I'm a Gunmaster."

Note how "they" remains unspecified and the sorta-cheesy reflexiveness fits with both the superhero naming thing and the Qularr naming scheme.