Does time-travel count as a Supernatural thing? It’s more the domain of science fiction, isn’t it? But it surely is inaccurate enough that it doesn’t count as “hard” sci-fi. Anyway, I wanted to introduce a bunch of time travel characters, so I’m including them in Supernatural Sundays whether you want me to or not.

I mentioned somewhere on this site about a year ago that Kip and I were working on a project. I am still not doling out too much information, but here are some of the characters involved:

Professor D’Eon

This American professor was stuck in a bit of a rut in the 1980s. He found that he didn’t enjoy teaching very much, he didn’t enjoy life very much actually, but what he did enjoy was movies about time travel. With that in mind, he built himself a Time Car and began travelling all over the timestream looking for adventures comparable to those he sees in film. He has no concern for the stability of history or anything like that, he just wants to have adventures.

Knight of the Clock

When a European knight in the dark ages found a sword that could cut portals into other timmes, he took it as a sign from God that his quest was a noble one. But what was his quest? Well, since God is on his side, he figures that whatever quest he sets his mind to is righteous. With that kind of freedom, the knight can now travel to any era he likes and do whatever he wants to the godless heathens he finds there, especially when it comes to taking their stuff.

Jakkhax99

In the sprawling metropolis of Neo-Manila in cyberpunk future times, this cyborg crook managed to steal an experimental Time Belt from a global hypercorporation. Now he’s able to extend his crime spree to all sorts of time periods less advanced than his world. He can steal whatever he wants and who is gonna stop him?

Hung-Shi Tu

Coming from roughly the modern era, this Chinese astronaut (or taikonaut, if you prefer) was piloting a space shuttle that discovered a time-warp anomaly that could bring her to any point in history. Rather than turn this knowledge in to her employers, she has decided she could use unlimited freedom the anomaly provides for her own purposes.

A.G. Bromley

This Victorian Era gentleman has access to a time-travelling hot air balloon. Occasionally the other men in his club will make some sort of wager and he will embark on a journey through history and the future to win. And, if he’s feeling nice, he might even use his innate greatness as a civilized Englishmen to help the poor, pitiful natives of all the other time periods he visits.

Uchoyo of Rhapta

In the ancient city of Rhapta, one merchant was the greediest of them all. He travelled the extents of the explored world, and beyond, but his lust for more wealth was unsatisfied. But luckily, for him but nobody else, the merchant acquired a strange crystal orb that allowed him to jump through time. As soon as he realized his reach now extended through infinity, his greed expanded in an attempt to fill that gap.

Fariba the Mad

In the dark ages, there was a Persian princess who had a reputation for being both extremely vain and extremely eccentric. Her reputation was, if anything, an understatement. In an effort to appease the princess, she was given a supposedly magical mirror that was actually a time-travel device that allowed her to switch places with other time travellers in history. And with no particular goal in mind beyond her own amusement, she set about using that ability to mess with everyone.

You may have noticed that all of these characters are pretty much time-travelling jerks. That is not accidental. We’ll be back with still more time-travelling jerks next week, and they’ll get even stranger.

Time again for me to flesh out the Efmon family. These are the people from a fantasy world who mutate themselves to serve their demon bosses.

Grunnich Efmon

Grunnich is the family’s hunter. Her mutation allows her to run, on all fours, at speeds about as fast as a car and she can track scents from miles away. Her claws and her bite allow her to do a lot of damage to her prey. Since the war, Grunnich has been helpful during invasions of new worlds. When the Efmons show up in a new place and start conquering, often the first instinct of the locals is to flee and seek help. Grunnich makes sure those runners don’t get anywhere.

Essan Efmon

As should be obvious from his great big head, Essan is a smart guy. His mutation allows him to think more quickly and abstractly than a normal mortal, which has become especially useful since the family had to flee their home dimension and start dealing with the mathematics of higher space. This works out nicely for Essan, who is something of a coward and has no desire to be anywhere near physical conflicts. A downside for Essan, however, is that his intellect has riddled him with doubts about the cult-like nature of his family’s worship of the demon Thalamaya. But Essan keeps those thoughts to himself. He is a coward, after all.

After the Frankensteingularity, humanity was almost done for. The worst case scenario was being cut into pieces and turned into new frankensteins, the best case is wandering the world eking out a measly existence through constant toil. Here’s some of the people who do that:

Elsa Holst

Elsa was near the epicenter of the frankenstein apocalypse, so she had to fight her way out of the city to stay alive. At first she tried to find help, but it was soon apparent that the frankensteins had put an end to the police, the army, and any other organized bodies. To survive, Elsa needed to fend for herself until she came across other survivors and decided there might be a chance to rebuild society after all.

Joe Turner

Before the world got apocalypsed, Joe was a junior high science teacher. He loved science and is kind of upset that the apocalypse was caused by mad science run amok. In a way, Joe’s new quest is to redeem science. He keeps methodical notes about what is happening and is hoping to find a scientific way to turn things around.

Koji Turner

Joe’s husband Koji is not a science teacher. Before the apocalypse, he was just some guy who worked an office job. In a lot of ways, Koji’s life has actually gotten better. Now unshackled from his job he gets to wander around with his loved ones. I mean, sure, he has to struggle to survive and avoid marauding frankensteins, but it beats toiling in a cubicle.

Shelley

As a child, the year since the Frankensteingularity makes up a very large portion of Shelley’s life. She’s adjusted to the new status quo pretty quickly. She now considers herself the group’s “big guns” and most “streetwise” member. She’s not, though. She’s a kid. But still, having not lost as much history, she’s got the most hope for making a future where humanity makes a comeback.

Okay, so Elsa, Joe, and Koji are named for the portrayers of the Bride of Frankenstein, Blacula, and the Kaiju Frankenstein respectively. Shelley is probably also named for someone involved in the history of Frankenstein stories.

It occurred to me too late that a group of people trying to survive in the world of the Frankenstein Apocalypse ought to be armed with torches and pitchforks. Oh well.

Morbid

Morton Bidwell has a unique ability. He can transfer traits from any corpse he touches into another body. For example, if the corpse had knowledge of the location of a hidden treasure, Morton could touch the body, then touch another person and that person would know the location. He could transfer kung-fu, or he could transfer fingerprints, or if the body was superhuman, he could transfer super powers. With that last bit in mind, he has become Morbid, a supervillain who swoops in like a vulture when superheroes and villains die so that he can get their corpses.

The catch is, though, that Morton can’t transfer the traits into himself. He has to put them into someone else to get any use out of them. With that in mind, he has assembled an army of henchmen called the Nosferatroops. Mostly a group of criminals for hire, Morton tempts them in with promises of riches, but the first trait he transfers into them is blind loyalty taken from the corpse of his first Nosferatroop, who died to save his life. The result is a cadre of loyal superhuman soldiers.

I thought up the name Nosferatroop sometime in the early 2000s and then created a supervillain to lead them. There’s at least some inspiration here from a Captain America villain called Dead Ringer.

Tavya

Tavya claims to be the exiled ruler of some mystical realm in another dimension. Her only goal in life is to get back home and she doesn’t care who she has to hurt to accomplish that goal. With the Wand of Wazoon she has access to all sorts of magical powers (which mostly amount to shooting energy blasts from her hands), but that isn’t enough to get her home. Unfortunately, most of her plans for returning home involve mystical rituals of human sacrifice or stealing vast quantities of precious metals or other crimes that Justice-Man has to stop. Honestly, he’s probably be willing to help her to find some less-evil way of returning to her home, but she refuses to accept his help.

Tavya is meant to evoke the kind of magicians that showed up in old Dr. Strange comics. Lots of alliteration and weird visuals would follow her around. Unlike all my other Justice-Man characters this month, she’s a fresh creation, rather than something from my notes. I just felt that there should be some new blood in here.

So that’s it for another month of Justice-Man characters. Next week, something else, I don’t know…

Durgan the Spy

In the Cosmic King’s mystic realm, there are no enemy powers. There are no other nations, there are no rivals. There is only the King, his demonic servants, and the abducted human populace. Who then, does Durgan spy on? Everyone. He roams, in secret, all over the realm watching to make sure that everyone is doing what they should be. He lacks the strength or claws that some of the other demons have, but he can disguise himself, camouflaging to blend in to the background. He moves silently, but quickly. He could be right next to you and you’d never know. He’d be reporting your doings back to the King, sealing your fate, and you’d have no idea. While Krig the Harmer is the demon that the humans most fear, Durgan is the one they should most fear, but they don’t even know he’s there. When Justice-Man comes, he is pursued by Durgan almost non-stop. Only J-Man’s knowledge of techniques centuries more advanced helps him escape.

Grib the Guard

The demon Grib spends most of his time standing directly in front of the entrance to the Cosmic King’s castle. Unless he is specifically needed somewhere else, his presence at that gate is made visible enough to prove a point. You are not going to get past Grib. Like Snegg the Builder, Grib spends a lot of time simply standing. But unlike Snegg, Grib does not simply shut down his mind. Grib is constantly thinking, constantly aware of his surroundings. He is always trying to think of ways that someone might be trying to get past him. In a way, this makes him the most cunning of all the Cosmic King’s demons, though he does not get the chance to use these smarts very often. When Justice-Man begins his raids on the King’s castle, Grib finds himself with a sense of purpose he never had before. He longs for a chance to capture the hero raiding the castle, such an accomplishment would prove that he has lived up to the very purpose he for was created for.

Charity Dane

Eventually Justice-Man wins, of course. He overthrows the Cosmic King and frees the enslaved human population. All these people, kidnapped from Earth so long ago, are returned to the modern world and, though they’re free, it is confusing and frightening for them. Charity Dane, though, reacts pretty well. After helping Justice-Man’s rebellion against the tyrannical King, she got a taste for helping the oppressed. Brought back to Earth, she joined the super-agency BEST, the same group that helped Justice-Man adjust after his life as an assassin. With BEST, Charity was able to put her abilities to use opposing all the tyrants the world had to offer.

And her abilities are more than just her natural cunning and skill. All that time spent in the Cosmic King’s mystical realm being kept alive had an effect on the slaves. Back in the real world, they are now more than human. They don’t seem to age any more, and they can take more damage without dying than normal humans. Those are skills that will serve Charity well, but could also be problematic if any of the others decide they don’t want to play by the rules.