Morpheus & Unnamed

[TonyRedgraveDMC]

I'd like to get any feedback and input if possible on a couple of characters I've been working on. Well, here goes.

Morpheus is a male half-human half-demon hybrid but a unique breed; in whatever story I finally cook up for his debut, I want to introduce a unique subtype of demon-- daemons; demons that exist within the hellish corners of human minds/souls that aren't 100% evil, as they represent the negative aspects and vices of each human being. I want to play around with demonic/devilish metaphors, so the concept of "facing your demons" came up. Still, left unchecked, daemons are capable of corrupting humans in a number of ways, such as simply making them bad or evil, leading them to depraved activities (cannibalism, demon worship, powerful paranoia, voices, scitzophrenia, etc) corrupting them into demonic forms (a la Arachne) or simply claiming their souls for Hell.

However, every human also possesses a personal daemon known as a Persona (and yes, here I go with a Persona reference, considering the minor connection with the DMC and Shin Megami Tensei series) that may have shared qualities of the minor daemons in a person's psyche, but has a touch of the person's Ego to go along with the representative Id (or perhaps Superego mixed in) who constantly does battle with the minor daemons behind the scenes. I have yet to figure out how I want Morpheus to be considered a half-demon/daemon, but among the options I've considered thus far, there is A. Be the literal spawn of a human and a Persona B. The union of a human and Persona into one being. So far, unsure about WHOSE Persona causes Morpheus to come into being.

His default devil arm (as Dante's Rebellion or Vergil's Yamato) is Chamaeleon, a demonic whip with yet undecided special properties, and Evoker, a Ruger Mk. III (another Persona reference) and I'm strongly considering his Devil Trigger to be less refined than even Nero's at the start, beginning as the supernatural ability to take on the forms of other humans as disguises (like X-Men's Mystique) progressing to a Nero-like demonic aura, and eventually to DMC3 Dante/Vergil's style Devil Trigger forms, and presumably DMC & DMC4 Dante DTs after that.

More later on the other character, a 100% human who uses (a) oni mask(s) gifted to him by (an) Oni, to utilise demonic power and unlock an Eastern style Devil Trigger, and as a reference to Onimusha (another game series Devil May Cry has kinship with) wield devil arm gauntlets by default.

 

[absolitude]

you might wanna change the name morpheus to something else, i won't say it's common but it's just too well known.. and i don't think it's very fitting name for and if he's the lead character..

the eastern style devil trigger sounds very exciting btw..

and everything else is fine and interesting especially the persona part and the relation to morpheus

 

[TonyRedgraveDMC]

I have my doubts about it being "well-known", Dante & Vergil (particularly Dante) is very well known, and applies to the source material loosely. Morpheus is the god of dreams, so I think it's only fitting he's a psychological variant of a half-demon. As for lead character, I see any stories written with him in mind would be more of a collection of stories of a small number of humans or demi-humans who fight off demons or the legions of Hell/The Underworld in different ways and different places.

How so about the persona part? I feel like it wouldn't be proper form to concoct a quasi-demon character who was conceived between a human and a demon like Frosts or Assaults/Blades, Sparda was in a humanoid and sentient/sapient class of his own. I'm inclined to believe that if each member of mankind's whole harbored inner demons, there would be humanoid boss variants as well.

By Eastern style, I was mostly meaning a DMC stylized Oni-inspired form.

 

[absolitude]

i dunno, it's just from my pov as a fan of stories and ideas, dante and vergil are both well-known and actually common at the same time that you would find those with those names in real life --not really sure about vergil--

in short, altho well-known dante is also a relatable name while having still having this fantasical-cool-and not too stand out feel to it but we'd still feel he's something..

as for morpheus, it's kind of sounded big --included physically big character, important and all those unapproachable stuffs.. anyway, maybe the matrix kind of affected my judgement..

it's interesting because you have demons and at the same time having humans also have personal demons --and are ego driven too, having entities within ourselves that are affected by our personalities is always an interesting one, in a sense you'd get too see variety of manifestations to it..

and that part with morpheus is a unique breed and related to a persona makes it complicated and even more interesting..

to an extent, forget about proper or not proper when involving a fiction, but it does need a good one behind it.. i'd say just go along with the story, the detailed origin will pop eventually..

 

[V's patron]

@TonyRedgraveDMC

Both characters are interesting ideas but your persona concept might be too on the nose. Your call tho.

The oni aspects are interesting because i thought basing Nero off a japanese style demon would have been a more interesting route.

 

[TonyRedgraveDMC]

@TonyRedgraveDMC

Both characters are interesting ideas but your persona concept might be too on the nose. Your call tho.

The oni aspects are interesting because i thought basing Nero off a japanese style demon would have been a more interesting route.

What do you mean by "on the nose"? The name Morpheus sticks, and the notion of the name-meaning does, however not sure I want Morpheus actually pulling a Heroic-Freddy Krueger as literal as that. I'm sure DMC's universe has the concept of demonic possession, or demons influencing your mind, but I don't think it's ever really been explored.

What's wrong about the concept? The terms? Daemon and/or Persona? When I think of inner demons, I'm not 100% thinking of Blood-goyles, Damned Pawns, Plasmas, Marionettes, Frosts, Chimera Seeds, etc inside a personal psychological pseudo-Hell having some kind of party. I suppose the term daemon doesn't need to really be separate of demon, though it would make sense to label the ego-devil inside that keeps your demons at a bearable power level. Not to mention the concept of a self-reflected demon is pretty much a Persona in said series. If Persona seriously just doesn't sound right for that definition of a demon, then I would still prefer to recycle it and call Morpheus' gun that.

 

[V's patron]

What do you mean by "on the nose"? The name Morpheus sticks, and the notion of the name-meaning does, however not sure I want Morpheus actually pulling a Heroic-Freddy Krueger as literal as that. I'm sure DMC's universe has the concept of demonic possession, or demons influencing your mind, but I don't think it's ever really been explored.

What's wrong about the concept? The terms? Daemon and/or Persona? When I think of inner demons, I'm not 100% thinking of Blood-goyles, Damned Pawns, Plasmas, Marionettes, Frosts, Chimera Seeds, etc inside a personal psychological pseudo-Hell having some kind of party. I suppose the term daemon doesn't need to really be separate of demon, though it would make sense to label the ego-devil inside that keeps your demons at a bearable power level. Not to mention the concept of a self-reflected demon is pretty much a Persona in said series. If Persona seriously just doesn't sound right for that definition of a demon, then I would still prefer to recycle it and call Morpheus' gun that.

I just meant that your Persona concept might be thought as being a ripoff. People have votten more likely to tear things down and start calling things lame, ripofff etc since DmC so i just thought that would happen.

No offense man. Do your personae work more like a stand from JoJo ? Being controllable by thought, limited in distance from the host, damage transferable?

I think the idea of Morpheus being a fusion between a persona and its wielder was a cool idea.

At one point someone tried to define demon and devil as different terms because of how Dante used both words in DMC1 so i think your fine.

 

[TonyRedgraveDMC]

I just meant that your Persona concept might be thought as being a ripoff. People have votten more likely to tear things down and start calling things lame, ripofff etc since DmC so i just thought that would happen.

No offense man. Do your personae work more like a stand from JoJo ? Being controllable by thought, limited in distance from the host, damage transferable?

I think the idea of Morpheus being a fusion between a persona and its wielder was a cool idea.

At one point someone tried to define demon and devil as different terms because of how Dante used both words in DMC1 so i think your fine.

Well my intentions were that Personae were typically unseen demonic forces of relative 'good', fending off 'evil' daemons and thus defending your own mental and moral well-being...

But what if instead of being the cause of sin and other deviations by default, they simply latch onto these aspects and bond/synch with them using them as shelter or sustenance or an auxilliary source of evil power and enhancing them? (Alternatively, these aspects merely manifest as demons/daemons within a mindscape replica of Hell?) Morpheus could literally be the biproduct of a demon/daemon bonding with what would effectively be his Ego rather than things like Anger, Pride, Fear, Envy, Sorrow, etc thus making him half-demon by technicality? (Or alternatively, his Ego manifests as a daemon, thus he would be Human with a demonic component acting as his identity)

Which begs the question how the process might normally occur with Id or Superego daemons.

If none of those apply well, then perhaps Morpheus' mother was a human and his father was an incubus or his father was a human and his mother was a succubus. Considering their brand of wickedness occurs while the victim is asleep. (Heck, could even technically occur in this context INSIDE the victims' dreamscape a la Freddy Krueger, but a pregnancy could still occur in reality) I suppose it would be interesting for a half-demon character to actually be raised by the demon parent....

What do you think?

 

[V's patron]

Well my intentions were that Personae were typically unseen demonic forces of relative 'good', fending off 'evil' daemons and thus defending your own mental and moral well-being...

But what if instead of being the cause of sin and other deviations by default, they simply latch onto these aspects and bond/synch with them using them as shelter or sustenance or an auxilliary source of evil power and enhancing them? (Alternatively, these aspects merely manifest as demons/daemons within a mindscape replica of Hell?) Morpheus could literally be the biproduct of a demon/daemon bonding with what would effectively be his Ego rather than things like Anger, Pride, Fear, Envy, Sorrow, etc thus making him half-demon by technicality? (Or alternatively, his Ego manifests as a daemon, thus he would be Human with a demonic component acting as his identity)

Which begs the question how the process might normally occur with Id or Superego daemons.

If none of those apply well, then perhaps Morpheus' mother was a human and his father was an incubus or his father was a human and his mother was a succubus. Considering their brand of wickedness occurs while the victim is asleep. (Heck, could even technically occur in this context INSIDE the victims' dreamscape a la Freddy Krueger, but a pregnancy could still occur in reality) I suppose it would be interesting for a half-demon character to actually be raised by the demon parent....

What do you think?

A bit in depth for a hack and slash and it does sound like a grown up version of KH but that wouldnt be a bad thing.

Wouldn't a daemon just be the person's other self? Wouldnt that mean morpheus is a product of self-love?

Your last idea sounds good.

 

[TonyRedgraveDMC]

A bit in depth for a hack and slash and it does sound like a grown up version of KH but that wouldnt be a bad thing.

Wouldn't a daemon just be the person's other self? Wouldnt that mean morpheus is a product of self-love?

Your last idea sounds good.

Well I do want to explore unconventional concepts for the series. In these cases so far, more psychological and spiritual demonic forces, and eastern demons (youkai essentially)

Which one is my last idea you're referring to? I definitely want Morpheus' MO to be fighting other people's demons the way one "fights one's demons" and have a demonic heritage affiliated with a psychological breed of demons.

I know it's a would-be fanfiction and not a game, but I've even tossed out a few examples of potential names for specific breeds of such demons (like how icy demons in DMC are called Frosts)

Psyche
Animus
Anima
Will
Ego
Id
Gestalt
Identity

And maybe a separate set of Sin ____ demons.

 

[V's patron]

Well I do want to explore unconventional concepts for the series. In these cases so far, more psychological and spiritual demonic forces, and eastern demons (youkai essentially)

Which one is my last idea you're referring to? I definitely want Morpheus' MO to be fighting other people's demons the way one "fights one's demons" and have a demonic heritage affiliated with a psychological breed of demons.

I know it's a would-be fanfiction and not a game, but I've even tossed out a few examples of potential names for specific breeds of such demons (like how icy demons in DMC are called Frosts)

Psyche
Animus
Anima
Will
Ego
Id
Gestalt
Identity

And maybe a separate set of Sin ____ demons.

How Morpheus might be half human half succubus