Horsing Around: The Escapades of the Beast Tamer Bandit Daniel Obrove; Or, Taking the Reins; Or, Negative Reinforcement; Or, Obrove the Stampede
Life isn’t easy in the dustbowl outside of Kudzu City. While the metropolis itself remains couched in relative safety under the care of its legion of metahumans, aliens, and wealthy philanthropists with too much spare time (“superheroes” would be the blanket term), the people of the badlands are left mostly to fend for themselves. Wasteland hazards include monsters, raging sandstorms, scarcity of resources, illness, heatstroke, lies, deception, slavery, madness, falls from steep cliffs, and
bandits.
Daniel Obrove is in the latter-most category, conducting raids against the few struggling frontier towns that have managed to gain a foothold in the Kudzu badlands. Daniel manipulates the monsters and giant beasts that roam the wastes using a modified high voltage prod, a rifle loaded with concussive ammunition, and a unique coercive sonic device to guide the creatures toward a settlement, putting the lives of its citizens at risk unless they comply with his demands. Normally the sandworms, rampaging desert boars, and swarming desert drakes would see fit to leave the smaller holdouts of civilization alone, preferring instead to attack the borders of the larger Kudzu City. Whenever Daniel Obrove gallops near though, it’s a guarantee that something big is on its way to trample a small town underfoot.
How did this villainous wrangler come to be? What drove Daniel Obrove to begin terrorizing the already-struggling people of the wastes? The answer lies in the bandit’s craving for wild living. Daniel Obrove is a member of a race of equine-human hybrids known as the Hast (widely similar in appearance to centaurs) hailing from the distant planet of Gorse. Daniel found that his peaceful homeworld was never to his liking. While his fellow horsefolk were content to spend their days engaging in poetry and philosophy, Daniel always felt
restless at the thought of spending the rest of his life among such pervasive
calm. Fifty years ago, he boarded a spacecraft off of Gorse and travelled to Planet Kudzu, which he heard had plenty of excitement for an ornery horseperson to engage in.
Daniel found a job working at the Kudzu City Memorial Monster Menagerie, which housed captured creatures from the surrounding badlands. Since he didn’t possess any superpowers or robotic suits, Daniel thought that working at the Kudzoo would let him get up close and personal with the chaotic lifeforms he had sought out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The creatures at the Menagerie were heavily sedated and kept in small metal cages, unable to move in the open for fear that they would get free and destroy the city. Watching the creatures each day, Daniel began to feel as though he were trapped in a cage himself.
Eventually, it became too much for Daniel to bear. Using stolen menagerie equipment, Daniel stirred the beasts of the zoo into a frenzy. Then, at the peak of their rage, he opened the enclosures, leaping atop a wide-backed behemoth to ride the stampede into the badlands.
Daniel Obrove realized that living “civilly” never suited him. Fifty years ago, he stopped pretending to be something he’s not and began wandering the badlands, driving the great beasts where he needed them. Daniel Obrove found solace by becoming a true harbinger of mayhem.
Lead a Horse to Water; Or, Beasts of Burden; Or, Pas de Cheval; Or, Additional Information
As stated above, Daniel Obrove is a half-horse beastperson called a Hast, formerly from the peaceful planet of Gorse. He has brown eyes and brown hair, which matches the color of the coarse brown hair covering his equine lower half. His skin, formerly pale, is now tanned darker from the harsh sun bearing down on the wastes. He usually dresses his human half with a collared shirt and poncho, while his lower half is loaded with packs of supplies and ammunition.
Daniel doesn’t necessarily “control” the monsters of the badlands, but instead goads them in the direction he desires. He accomplishes this using the shocklance and firearm stolen from the Kudzu City Menagerie. When he can afford to get close, Daniel prods a monster (or herd of monsters) toward their intended destination with high-intensity electric jolts from the shocklance. In cases where a creature is too dangerous to approach, or is out of reach of the lance, the non-lethal ammunition fired from his rifle allows Daniel to get the monster’s attention and lead it toward a settlement. In either case, Daniel’s body allows him to move fast enough to outpace the oncoming threat as they charge together toward their destination.
The ammunition Daniel uses is non-lethal against
giant monsters, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t kill a
person. However, the special concussive bullets are scarce out on the wastes, so Daniel also carries twin pistols that use traditional ammunition, just in case.
Daniel Obrove can calm an enraged monster using the reed flute he brought with him from Gorse, one of the few mementos he keeps from his homeworld. Additionally, Daniel’s half-beast form allows him to easily approach packs of monsters, so long as he isn’t brandishing a weapon. There are many human-monster hybrids roaming the badlands, and although Daniel isn’t native to their world, the creatures seem to recognize him as one of their own.
Daniel is agile enough that he is able to jump onto the backs of certain monsters and ride them as they charge across the badlands. This isn’t a trick he’ll attempt often however. While the outlaw has impeccable balance, it’s still tough to grip the back of a bucking beast using only one’s
hooves.
Daniel Obrove’s race is longer-lived than human beings. When he arrived in Kudzu City, he was a horseperson of around 30 years old, and his human torso and horse half appeared at the height of both health and maturity. Fifty years later, and Daniel’s appearance hasn’t changed. The Hast are not as long-lived as some other supernatural races, such as the Lathyran
Nagmia-Lamga, but their average life expectancy is about 200 years. The outlaw has spent a quarter of his life in the badlands, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Hast possess two stomachs, one in their upper human torsos and another in their horse halves. A unique aspect of Daniel Obrove’s race is that they are capable of regulating their digestive ability, making the environment of their stomachs harsh enough to melt bone, or gentle enough that whatever’s ingested is preserved. If Daniel were to, say, swallow a person whole, he could quite feasibly act as a safe method of transit across the scorched wastes. Unfortunately, this is not recommended, as Daniel Obrove is a known criminal. Please have caution around him, and don’t insist on ever becoming his meal. That would be a monumentally stupid thing to do.
The Kudzu badlands contain a variety of different monsters. Many of these are simply larger versions of “traditional” animals, such as boars, foxes, vultures, and spiders. Some of the more unique denizens of the badlands are the gargantuan sandworms, sphinxes, land octopuses, land sharks, steppe drakes, and others besides. Some of the monsters are wholly unique, while others seem to be capable of reproducing.
The
source of Kudzu’s giant pest problem is unconfirmed, but rumors point to the monsters’ origin being somewhere west of Kudzu City, toward the Kudzu supercontinent’s great inland sea. Formal expeditions to the far west have thus far not been organized.
Planet Kudzu’s topography consists mostly of arid dustbowls, plateaus, and the occasional patch of sandy dunes. Parched environments are prevalent throughout the world, as its surface is dominated by one large landmass sporting a single landlocked sea west from Kudzu City, on the opposite side of the planet. Satellite scans show that the land surrounding the sea is far more lush and fertile than the rest of the planet, but it is separated by a ring of tall cliffs inhabited by monsters, preventing closer observation.
The superheroes defending Kudzu City don’t intervene in the badlands for a number of reasons. Since the city’s founding, a complex bureaucracy has arisen that dictates which team of heroes handles which crisis that is facing the city. So far, none of the heroic teams have lobbied for the right to fight in the badlands, nor would the overseeing super-councils
allow the request to go through, for fear of something
worse coming out of the wastes in retaliation. The badlands monsters can somehow single out heroes when they leave the confines of Kudzu City, resulting in the protectors becoming overwhelmed. While the city suffers frequent attacks, they are never in high enough concentrations that a single team of heroes can’t handle. The governing bodies of Kudzu City fear that this would change if they were to take direct action, and therefore avoid doing so. Daniel Obrove and other ruffians are mostly free to do as they please, though
that is not to say that the badlands are totally unprotected.
Planet Kudzu receives its name from Kudzu City, which is turn receives
its name from the Kudzu Mining Corporation, dating back to the city’s origins as a mining colony 150 years ago. Ancient star charts list the planet’s original name as
Pueraria, but this changed after the company acquired the right to name the planet.
The Kudzu Mining Corporation also purchased the right to fully develop Planet Kudzu, but...we’ve seen how well
that endeavor has gone.
The Hither and Thither Expanded; Or, Drawing Back the Curtain!
Daniel Obrove is the alternate universe analogue of the monster trainer Danny Obrove. He is not his former life, his blood relative, or a close acquaintance. He's the Obrove if Obrove were an equine outlaw that’s weaponized giant monsters, while
Danny is Obrove in the form of a young monster tamer and explorer hoping to someday become an expert on his world’s deities.
More Obroves can be found on their alt list,
here.
There are more "Danalogues" to come, eventually, so we kindly ask that you...
STAY TUNED!