Gx the Space Gremlin
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
 Like most of my favorites, Gx sprang out of an accident of costuming[1]. The term "space gremlin" popped into my head and stuck, and I narrowed the concept and look down to what he is today pretty quickly. While I don't play him often these days, I'm always happy when an opportunity to take Gx for a spin pops up. His innocence and enthusiasm is a great change of gears from the moral ambiguity of the Androgyne or the bombast of the Maradur. He'll also always be special to me for a few other reasons: not only was Gx my first 50, and the character whose fine-tuning taught me the most about this game's mechanics, but also it was through Gx that I met the Misfits.
-- AlwaysAPrice After sleep came the prod. Aklos of the n'Kei prided himself on the finesse with which he inflicted this cruel lesson upon his charges. A less patient master would apply it too soon; they would come to fear sleep, become weary and short-lived. Too gentle a master would wait too long; the vermin would sleep too well and become slothful and unresponsive. Aklos stood in the doorway of the kennel and surveyed his slumbering servants. He let the time count down in his mind, and when the instant came he slapped the side of the prod against his open palm. The tightly packed bunks erupted with screeching, chattering hull gremlins. In moments, the ship's entire complement of repair beasts were huddled in terror, crowding into the back of the kennel corridor, waiting fearfully to be commanded. Aklos beamed with satisfaction. He hadn't used the prod in over a year.
Last Updated: 10/10/2010
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
Contents |
Powers
Interface Claws
Two keen, circuitry-lined claws emerge from between the knuckles of each of Gx's three-fingered hands. They were designed to slice through the living flesh of the hull of n'Kei "starsquids", into the repair system control conduits of the vessels on which the gremlins serve, however Gx has since found the slicers are sturdy enough to serve as his primary weaponry.
Hyperanalytic Neural Subnet
During incubation, the developing gremlin nervous system is integrated with a self-manufacturing artificial neural reinforcement net, which serves to increase the conductivity of neural impulses so that more and diverse commands can be carried out by the body at one time, increasing the overall dexterity of the gremlins. Combined with a cybernetic sub-brain implanted after hatching, dedicated to analyzing sensory and interface input, the neural subnet allows the n'Kei to program a complex system of ship repair and self-preservation priorities to guide the behavior of the hull gremlins once they are released into space. It is those self-preservation subroutines that have made Gx's hero career possible. While they were originally intended to allow the evasion of incoming fire from attacking spacecraft, they are gradually evolving and adapting to increase his ability to evade close-range attacks.
Gravitic Attenuators
Installed in the forearms, around the blade housing, and in the lower legs are four networked devices called gravitic attenuators. These are used to allow hull gremlins to hurl themselves great distances over the hull of their ship by attenuating artificial graviton particles to "lock onto" a targeted mass, such as the ship itself. The attenuators both repel gremlins from their initial lock and attract them to a new position on the vessel. They were designed to work in space, where the only masses they would be able to register would be those of the n'Kei vessel and perhaps those of enemy ships to which the gremlins might be hurled to commit acts of sabotage. Within the Earth's gravity well, Gx was unable to make use of these devices for a long time. However, in return for the opportunity to study the technology, Hero Corps researchers have helped Gx recalibrate the devices, and now they are proving very useful, both for travel and during combat as he attenuates to opponents to keep himself in the fight -- he can even intensify the gravitic output to yank targeted foes off their feet.
Other Abilities
Adaptive Pigmentation
Hull gremlins are bred with the chameleonic ability to alter the color of their skin to blend in with their surroundings, in order to prevent enemies of the n'Kei from targeting the repair beasts in battle.
Computer Interfacing
By inserting a claw into a computer's access port, data cable, or even stabbing directly into a data storage device, Gx can access the raw data stored therein. In time, his H.N.S. computer can decipher the data into information his brain can process and learn from, though simple trial and error can give him a grasp of how to command any mechanical processes governed by computer control.
Spacehardiness
Hull gremlins are designed to work, as the name would suggest, on the exterior hull of space vessels. As such, they must be able to survive the vacuum and cold of outer space. Protective lenses are grafted over the eyes, and retractable membranes grow over the nose, mouth, and the openings of his ears. The n'Kei treat the gremlins with a bath of insulating chemicals; this layer has gradually eroded from Gx's scales since he has been on Earth. His implanted oxygen tanks are empty and he must breath through his nostrils now, but were they to be refilled and had he had been sprayed with insulant, he could survive for up to three hours in space.
Equipment
Red Bow Tie
Gx wears a red bow tie at all times, even when he removes his jacket to camouflage[3]. The only time he is seen without it around his neck is when he is on a mission against the Rikti or patrolling the RWZ, where he feels compelled to Rambo it up a notch and ties the bow tie around his head.
Support Tools
Gx wears a bandolier underneath his jacket to carry various support tools appropriate to whatever mission he has accepted, as well as whatever nifty gadgets he can convince the Vanguard Quartermaster to let him try out (or distract her with inane questions long enough to "borrow"). His favorite toy is his "spikies", electrified caltrops he hurls around the floor around himself to keep his enemies at a distance while his cybernetically enhanced reflexes allow him to dance around their treacherous points and keep up the fight. He also usually carries a stim launcher to help out his allies, a regenerative stimulator for himself, and as many "ninja stars" as he can stuff in his pockets.
Costumes
The only thing that fascinates Gx about heroes more than their fantastic abilities and their tireless pursuit of justice is the incredible costumes they wear. While he normally wears only his bow tie and a blue leather jacket with a gold "G" emblazoned on the chest, so he can quickly doff the jacket and blend into his surroundings, Gx is gradually developing quite an extensive wardrobe of more traditionally outlandish costumes, some for seasonal wear and others based on fictional super heroes or on real-life Heroes he admires.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Gx is a small creature, and unless he attenuates to the opponent he is fighting he may be sent flying by a moderately powerful blow. Also, since the portion of his H.N.S. he filters combat perception through was originally designed to guide his evasion of incoming attacks from starcraft, it is easier for him to evade long-range attacks than those made within melee range.
Fish
Recently, an unexpected hole in Gx's defense has come to light, discovered by fellow Misfit Tommy Typhoon. Apparently, Gx's H.N.S. does not interpret fish as a threat to his well-being and fails to initiate his self-preservation subroutines regardless of the speed of the fish in question. As a result, Tommy has succeeded in smacking Gx in the face with a fish on numerous occasions, much to the space gremlin's chagrin.
Personality
Gx brims with optimism and enthusiasm for "heroing". He is fueled by hope; specifically, the hope that once he has proven himself to the greatest heroes of Earth he will be able to convince them to help him free the rest of his kind from the n'Kei.
Gx quickly discovered the usefulness of his slicers in hand-to-hand combat, though he is very conscious of the lethal potential inherent to their use. While his alien appearance and the seemingly reckless abandon with which he hurls himself into combat do much to intimidate enemies, he is more than ready to use his claws when needed. He never slashes with the intent to maim or kill a living being, only to incapacitate them from further violence against him or his allies.
He feels great sympathy for anyone whose situation in any way reflects his own, but great hatred for anyone who reminds him of his former masters. His most despised enemies to date are the Trolls and the Council: slavers and genetic manipulators, they are the groups that most remind him of his creators. He also has a cold spot in his heart for Crey, and is sometimes glimpsed prowling the rooftops of Brickstown, striking at their agents with little or no provocation.
Gx was until recently very low on the media's radar, as he's usually too shy to take credit for his accomplishments. What little is known about him was probably regarded as nothing more than a joke or at best urban legend by the populace at large, until the events referred to by most who remember them as the Attack of the Space Gremlins made the Earth far more aware of his kind. Gx's reaction to the events has been mixed, his initial delight at hearing of more of his kind making it to Earth severely undermined by the ensuing chaos and panic accompanying the short-lived invasion. While sad that so many of his brethren were defeated by the heroes who discovered and loosed them upon the Earth, he doesn't feel any grudge towards those involved as he knows the gremlins had no choice but to obey the commands of their gremlin-masters.
Affiliations
League of Misfits
On an excursion into the Rikti War Zone in early 2008, Gx came across a group of heroes who were combating mis-guided Vanguard agents; having tangled with the renegades of the Sword recently himself he decided to sneak along after them to see how he could help out. Before long he was fighting in the thick of things alongside the talented, offbeat heroes of the League of Misfits. By the end of their adventures Gx, who for long had simply slept wherever he became tired on the rooftops of the city, was invited to rest his head at their "Misfit Mansion", an offer he eagerly accepted.
Vanguard
Gx has earned Vanguard's attention through his willingness to accept and almost flawlessly execute a wide variety of missions to help protect Earth from the Rikti invaders. He hews close to his moral code even in the course of facing the trials of war, however, and has never slain a single Rikti. Fortunately, Vanguard is willing to adjust its assignment of tasks to meet both the advantages and limitations of its operatives; when they need a specific Rikti leader captured alive for questioning, or need the data from a Rikti computer hijacked to reveal their plans, Gx the Space Gremlin is one of their most reliable resources.
Player Notes
Concept & Compromise
Gx was built on the way up to satisfy the concept, but as time went on I started taking powers that didn't quite fit, just to try them, only to find they were really vital to his performance. As a result, Gx has proven to be an excellent exercise in developing IC rationalizations for powers I originally planned to go without, not to mention a great excuse to whip up some comic book technobabble. The main example of this would be the "gravitic attenuators", an explanation for Super Jump, Focus, and Practiced Brawler[4]
In August of '08 I bit the bullet and respecced Gx into a "True-to-Concept" build. What this mainly meant was: no Practiced Brawler, no Super Jump, no Focus (or Shockwave for that matter but I've mostly avoided that power just out of not caring for it), no Dodge, and no defense slotting in Focused Fighting but soft-capped to Ranged & AoE. Gx is supposed to be little and easy to smack around, with his defense provided by a computer designed to help him avoid incoming fire from spaceships but not easily adapted to melee. At the time, I performed a surgical rewrite[5] and lost the attenuators.
Once dual builds arrived, I dumped that build for being really unpleasantly crap to play and rebuilt him back to the flippy, springy, badass little guy I loved to play through the 40s, with a few tweaks to keep him good and Gxy (most importantly, slapping the definitive Gx move back in there: Jump Kick). And yeah, he's fun again. I've thought about slapping the crappy concept build into the second slot, but for now I'm having more fun running around in Gx's Guile costume using Shockwave on everything and yelling "SONIC BOOM!"
The Claws
I was excited when weapon customization was introduced and originally set Gx up with the two-bladed Hero Claws variant as it was first introduced in the beta. While I originally come up with the explanation for the claws in part due to how they looked on a Huge body type in-game (like they slid out between the knuckles), I was thrilled to be able to swap it so the look fit with my cartoony envisioning of Gx having four-fingered hands. I was sorely disappointed at first when they decided to scale all the new weapons to the different body types, which meant Gx (using Huge) ended up having ridiculously huge claws coming out of an obvious box on the back of the hand. While the devs would decide to preserve the legacy weapons as a fixed-size option, I went ahead with the larger 2-bladers after all and got used to them pretty quickly. Coloring the box to match his skin makes it hardly noticable and I must admit the big-ass claws seem more appropriate to their stated purpose and make Gx look wild in combat.
Inspirations
From the outset I've always imagined Gx as the plucky comic relief sort, kind of a team mascot who may not be that capable but keeps spirits up with his enthusiasm, never so much regarding himself as a hero or accepting his own actual ability but thinking of himself more as someone who goes along to root for the real heroes and watch them in action. Specific inspirations include:
- Lexington of Gargoyles
- The Thermians of Galaxy Quest
- More generally, assorted well-meaning but useless sidekicks and mascots in the annals of Saturday morning animation.
Page Credits
Page laid out with a 1280 or larger resolution width in mind.
Name Banner by Zenvious
- ↑ A click of the Random button gave me the combination of Imp ears, Monstrous Reptilian feet, and the big goofy grin of Face 11.
- ↑ This is from an older screencap, so I had to crudely GIMP out his old claws, hope it's not too obvious.
- ↑ Unfortunately, the Bow Tie option (under Shoulders) is only available with sleeved jackets and robes, so it's not visible when he's in costumeless stealth mode (also known as NAKEE GREMLIN FURY!!! mode)
- ↑ It also covers the actual sight of Gx switching targets in combat, leaping up with Combat Jumping and tapping Follow to hone in on a target, often slingshotting past them only to whip right back into a stabbing frenzy.
- ↑ I really don't care for the term "retcon" as it is popularly used. The first time I ever encountered the term was in reading an interview with Donald Bellisario, the creator of Quantum Leap and Magnum P.I., among other shows. He explained it as shorthand for "retroactive continuity", and in his usage it refers not to changing a character's history, but rather to tying past events in to a new story thread to create the suggestion that it was always planned to work that way. That makes more sense to me considering the words the term comes from, so that's how I prefer to use it.
