Galiant

Whispers have been carried through the planet of Kudzu since the dawn of civilization in its system. Rumors, tales, legends, word has always had a way of getting around orally, even after Kudzu's population reached the incredible levels of technology it has. Even now, 'oraliture', as some have taken to calling it -- a portmanteau of 'oral' and 'literature' -- now and then, hasn't been replaced, and it likely never will. It's impressive, how effective word of mouth can be. Perhaps one remembers data much more vividly, if they have a voice or a face to associate to it; nobody knows for sure. In this unique, brave, and chaotic world that is Kudzu, it is one of the only constants. For the last fifty years, there have been whispers travelling through Kudzu's arid landscape of a rusted red and shimmering gold enforcer, with only one name attributed to his being: "The Law".

Another thing that sets Kudzu apart from the rest, is the peculiar landscape that one would be met by, should they travel to the planet. A chaotic system -- largely its biggest claim to relative fame across its little pocket of the universe -- with a lack of law and order prevalent among its inhabitants...except for those that live in its capital city, rather redundantly named Kudzu City, a former small mining colony, now the biggest, most secure bastion of civilization in the entirety of the world. These years, the city is protected largely by its own inhabitants; rich philantropists with far too much time on their hands that don mechanical suits of death, warriors that use their enhanced natural capacities to protect those that are not as physically -- or mentally, there's a heap of psychokinetic fellas wandering around, surely -- gifted as they themselves are. These people are referred to as 'heroes', the defenders of Kudzu City, working day and night to keep its inhabitants safe from the monstrosities that wish to do them harm.

The rest of the planet, however, is not so lucky. Beyond the limits of the enormous metropolis, bustling with life, that is Kudzu City, lies the rest of the planet. A barren, arid wasteland, dry and merciless, with a small frontier town or two here and there serving as the only indication that the badlands of Kudzu are, indeed, inhabited. Those that inhabit them mostly wish that they did not -- the superpowerful defenders of Kudzu City, with their supernatural, technological or physical might, are largely absent beyond its limits. Of course, there have been attempts to venture beyond the limits of Kudzu City by some of the defending superheroes in an attempt to bring law and order to the chaotic arid hellscape that lies beyond their perimeter, but most of them are only met with failure, and, in most cases, death. Of course, some of them do manage to thrive and set up small towns, with some of them even prospering and growing larger, but even these are in constant danger of assault by the monsters that the badlands throw at them. To this day, nobody knows where the abominations come from, what their purpose is, let alone a way to stop them from coming. All the inhabitants of the badlands could do was pray they could find an outpost that wouldn't be assaulted by bandits -- superpowered or otherwise -- or monsters. There is no security, there is no law; only entropy, suffering, deception and sadness, with more and more of its inhabitants dying every year.

The Hunter Initiative was meant to fix that.

It was a simple idea at first. Sixty years ago, things were much different; “Kudzu City” was, by then, a smaller city, not quite a metropolis, with nowhere near the amount of superpowered defenders it has today. The Initiative was a small dream, in the mind of a group of friends that were interested in the sciences. They followed the logic of 'if we can't be heroes ourselves, then we'll just build them!' which, admittedly, is a solid enough idea for a group of children. They would make robots, stronger, faster, smarter than even the mightiest of Kudzu's organic defenders, with immense, incredible superpowers that would allow them to overcome any obstacle in their road to bringing order to the lawless wilderness that they had heard so many horror stories about. It was a simple reaction to all of the fear they felt on their day to day life -- some of them had seen firsthand the effects of a monster raid on the city, and what happened when its defenders failed -- in the capital, hearing tall tales of strong men dying under the harsh, unforgiving sun. Something to give them hope, something to keep them happy; everything would be fine, because, eventually, they would make big, super powerful robots that would save and protect everyone. Saviors, built by their own hands, that would take the rest of Kudzu by storm and finally save all those poor people that had been cursed by sheer bad luck to live out their days outside of the city!

And then, it grew, alongside them. The children became teenagers, who became adults, who became scientists, who, after years upon years of effort and studying, eventually became some of the brightest minds of the planet of Kudzu. Most of them pursued a career in the sciences, and, in turn, most of them studied computer programming and robotics. Those that did not headed down other paths that are no less or more valid than the study of the sciences; economics being one of the most prevalent. Indeed, this group of childhood friends had grown to become some of the richest, or brightest, inhabitants of Kudzu City. And, finally, the concept that had brought them all together, the Hunter Initiative, seemed to actually be feasible. It all became abundantly clear, all of the pieces fell neatly into place; the Hunter Initiative would be their contribution to the planet, their lives' work. This group of people, eventually named 'The Second Rainbow', at first only a small team, began to grow and grow. Some of Kudzu's greatest minds, coming together in one place, receiving unlimited funding and all of the resources they needed to bring peace and security to the rest of their beloved planet.

And, after fifteen long years, their efforts bore fruit. Hunters One through Eight were born. Galiant himself is Hunter Eight -- the youngest, and the strongest. He was built with lightweight, yet highly durable and tough titanium alloys and synthetic flesh that allowed him good durability, but the main focus of his design is his agility and speed. This grants him amazing capabilities to begin with, but he can go even further; Hunter Eight 'Galiant' has the ability to accelerate time in his immediate proximity, resulting in the illusion that he is moving at truly unholy speeds, but the acceleration is limited; he can only accelerate time by a factor of four times faster than it normally would be. However, his acute reasoning, accomplished tactical mind and combat skill have amplified the time acceleration system's usefulness beyond any expectations; most of the time, he doesn't even need to use this force multiplier. He is also equipped with a matter synthesis system, which he mostly uses to create more of his trademark weapon -- golden, razor-bladed boomerangs -- from thin air. There is a limit to this, though; anything bigger than a boomerang will start taxing his systems noticeably. Alongside his boomerangs, Galiant always has his trusty, powerful six-shooter holstered to his hip, and if all else were to fail or prove too weak to take down a threat, he has the capability of turning both of his arms into plasma-shooting arm cannons that take in things such as dust particles through the barrel, infuse them with plasma, then shoot them out in a raging fireball of varying power, depending on the amount of plasma that Galiant chooses to use. Much like most of the other Hunters, Galiant has multiple ways to charge his internal fusion generator; a small, two-hour 'power nap' is usually enough to restore his systems to full capacity, he's capable of ingesting and breaking down food, and, to top it all off, he can take in energy from Kudzu's sun. In layman's terms, Galiant is damn strong.

Hunters One through Eight were sent out into the wild, fifty years ago. And what Galiant saw changed him forever. The suffering was almost palpable. The sheer aura of despair was so pronounced and suffocating that even he, an artificial being, could feel it. And, in accordance with his prime directive and his own acute sense of justice, Hunter Eight “Galiant” and his brothers set off to do what they had been created for; to protect. And now, five decades later -- long after the demise of their Creators, or ‘parents', as some of the Hunters affectionately refer to their makers, Galiant among them -- their efforts have made a considerable impact on the situation out in the wilderness. The badlands of Kudzu are, by a landslide, much safer than they were before the Hunter Initiative bore fruit; most of the Hunters have set up large, thriving fortresses and outposts that serve as sanctuaries, that they have affectionately nicknamed ‘towns', that they watch over personally, making excursions into the wild to find travelers and bring them to their towns. Galiant, however, is not among those Hunters. He still maintains his own town -- more of a fortress, really; a giant tower at the center, filled to the brim with automatic defenses such as railguns strong enough to punch holes in even the greatest beasts of Kudzu, and a gigantic plasma cannon that could accurately be summed up as a ‘ridiculously powerful plasma-firing rifling shotgun’, with a town around it, protected by its looming, silent defender -- on the side, but, for the most part, he allows its inhabitants to govern and police themselves, only stepping in if strictly necessary. He visits now and then, of course!

Galiant, a full five decades later, is a completely different man from who he had been when he had set out to save the badlands and bring them security and freedom. Nowadays, Galiant is a confident, responsible wandering enforcer, charming and a bit of a joker, yet deathly serious when the time calls for it; he is just as capable of telling a lame joke and grinning cockily as he is of taking a bandit's life with a scowl on his handsome face. He much prefers to be relaxed, but he cannot deny the fact that he adores a good fight now and then, especially if there's a crowd watching; he's got a bit of an ego on him. Complimenting him is the fastest way to becoming his favorite. These days, Galiant wanders the wastes of Kudzu, going from frontier town to frontier town, raining Hell down on the bandits, monsters and super villains that roam the wastes and attempt to prey upon the weak, doing what he set out to do; to bring Justice to the wild, wild wastes of Kudzu, one boomerang-slinging battle at a time.

"The Law" is also, fortunately for him, rather attractive; he stands at just over seven feet tall, which, coupled with his lean, yet strong and muscular build, serve to make him rather intimidating. His artificial skin is a fair, healthy-looking tan, and his eyes are a warm emerald green. His hair is a dark brown and -- much to his chagrin -- wild and, so far, unable to be tamed; it's messy, with a single, large flock of hair sticking out of the top of his hair, refusing every attempt to go down already. So, Galiant resorts to the next best thing; he covers it, along with the rest of his hair, with his trademark brown leather hat, resembling a Stetson, with a large, shimmering 'V'-shaped golden badge over the front, resembling his golden boomerangs. He's got quite the strange fashion sense on him as well (one can already tell just by looking at the hat, really); a black, flexible "diamond-web" armor serves as the basis of his outfit, hidden by the rest of it in a manner similar to a bullet vest, looking not unlike a form-fitting bodysuit, black everywhere but his arms and legs, where it is a rusty red. Rusted crimson steel boots cover his feet, reaching to his lower knee, sleek like the rest of his design, golden ‘rings' of armor around his ankles. Most of the time, his armor is hidden by his trenchcoat, and black uniform pants that cover his lower half.

Quite the looker.

((Part of GloomAndDoomAlts!))