Complete Control Design Notes

Thursday:
Wyatt Butler is the close-quarters member of the Octet. He has a wide-variety of powers, and can be very versatile with his Supply. The big catch, is that he can only affect the points in space extending no more than about one foot from his body.

Wyatt's kind of a dork. Doesn't always know the right thing to say, and when he does, he says so rapidly and excitedly. He loves studying history and different cultures, and he has a tendency to rant on about how people in general should be encouraged to learn more of them.

Wyatt's character arc will be about his desire to become a superhero. He's one of the more accepting members of the main characters, regarding the presence of superpowers. He's pretty idealistic, but he's not the best problem solver. Complete Control will follow his growth into a more mature superhero, one who recognizes that there's more sacrifices to be made than just personal ones.

Friday:
Vivian (her name was originally Vicky) Zhao (not a coincidence, she is the descendent of the namesake for the Zhao Scale) is perhaps the most peculiar member of the Octet. When observed immediately, her powers seem pretty normal: a newly emerging Trommler 1 with a Zhao Number similar to her peers. The weird thing is that, at any moment, with no warning, instantaneously, her Supply shifts between types of energy. She could have telekinesis for a week, telepathy for a day, and then teleportation for a month.

Vivian is the sensible one of the group. When everyone else is going all sorts of crazy over holyshitsuperpowers, Vivian's the one who sits down, takes a deep breath, and sorts things out calmly. She likes things orderly, and prefers to be in control of a situation. She likes to lead, but isn't necessarily the best leader. She does a lot of volunteer work around town. And she loves cooking.

Vivian gets very interested in Encore itself, and wants to get involved in the Controller underground.

Saturday:
Yvonne Sauveterre is the Octet's electrokinetic and photokinetic. She can charge materials both electrically and magnetically, and shoot lightning from her hands. She can shoot out radiation in one or more directions simultaneously, and adjust the type of light from all across the spectrum.

Yvonne's the tough girl. She does well on her own, experienced in doing so. Not exactly a people person. She doesn't like being forced into situations; she wants to make her own choices. She wishes Encore and Oblatio would just back off from her. And she likes to play pool. Really likes pool.

As her character grows, she is compelled to create her own group, separate from Encore and Oblatio. This will be the basis for the Third Act. Ooooh, I really like that part.

Last Sunday:
Peter Brandt of the Octet has access to multiple forms of energy. The catch is that he can only supply it in short, powerful bursts. He doesn't make objects fly, he shoots them like bullets. He doesn't heat up a room, he makes the building spontaneously combust. He can also do telepathy. Don't ask him to do telepathy.

Peter is desperately looking for a purpose in life. He was very average in all of his courses in school, and has no grand ambitions. He views his superpowers as a chance to really make a difference in the world. He's very optimistic of other people, willing to ignore past mistakes, and is very insistent on people living to their fullest potential. He loves music, and listens to all kinds.

As I've touched on before, Peter gradually becomes a full-fledged villain. Unhappy with the way Encore runs things, he sets out to walk the earth, joining up with various organizations from all over the world. But it never works out for him. His ever-growing desperation pushes him to side with the Queen Alight.

Last Monday:
"Queen" is a boring name.
Let's call her the Arm Alight!

Last Tuesday:
Vivian has a younger brother, a younger sister, and an older brother.

Wednesday:
Wyatt and his sister are both adopted by a lesbian couple.

Thursday:
Olivia's family emigrated from Brazil for a job opportunity.

Friday:
Peter's mother is a nationally reknown chef. He has a baby brother.

Saturday:
Peter and Yvonne's parents are divorced.

Last Sunday:
So after the first ten episodes (see Page 11), I want to start mixing our protagonists together. Get them to interact so that the plot can get going with all of them together. I'll have them in groups of 2-3 (don't want each group to have the same number and make it too formulaic), with maybe one or two on their own at a time.

Last Monday:
I want Yvonne to meet Peter. They can bond over their Daniel-ass-kicking. They'll be among the Controllers that Daniel captures. They will eventually be joined by Vivian and Wyatt.

Last Tuesday:
Emily will meet everyone, but one at a time. Her power keeps her from staying in one place for too long, so she'll meet someone, but teleport away by the end of that episode.

Last Wednesday:
I'll group Isaac and Alex together. Alex (and his family) is keeping his powers a secret. Isaac, having super-intellgence, makes himself into a detective to figure stuff out himself. This should be a fun pair. Isaac hunts down Alex (non-personally, Alex just happens to be the first guy Isaac finds) until he finally catches him and discusses the situation. Then they team up to find Daniel and his cult.

Last Thursday:
And that leaves us with Olivia, Vivian and Wyatt. They're the "other" group, meeting every so often to find new ways to use their powers without setting themselves on fire. They each end up wanting to do something different: Wyatt wants to fight Daniel, Vivian wants to find Ji-hu and his employers, and Olivia just wants to keep doing this thing they're doing. It makes drama.

Last Friday:
Who would ever follow someone like Daniel?

He's not going out in public declaring himself lord of all (not yet at least. Oooo, I need to remember that one). He's gathering people in secret, inside abandoned warehouses, hiding from the authorities who might get suspicious of him. This is more Beatrice's idea (that tends to be the case between them). Some are homeless, some are from gangs, and others just don't have much else to live for. He's rounding up all sorts of people, and a lot of them ain't fighters.

Maybe Daniel and Beatrice will delegate someone to train the peons to fight. Maybe a few someones.

Saturday:
Daniel discovered his powers a few months before the Meteor Shower/Whatever-Accident-I-Come-Up-With-Next that kicks off the very first episode. This is important, because he started forming his cult right after the Accident. Because of this, our heroes think Daniel got his powers from the Accident, just like they (supposedly) did.

The reveal that he already had powers is the beginning of the realization that the Accident is a red herring, that it was not the source of our heroes' powers.

Sunday:
Groups will form over the course of the introductory episodes.
Episode 4 (Wyatt's) will see him finding Vivian.
Episode 5 (Isaac's) will see him finding Alex.
In Episode 8 (Yvonne's), she and Peter will join forces.
In Episode 9 (Olivia's), she will join up with Vivian and Wyatt.

Last Monday:
My idea for Gregorio was that he would have a stupidly massive Supply, dwarfing even Ueli and Mason by numerous orders of magnitude. But having so much power has left him apathetic to humanity, and he chooses to ignore the rest of the world most of the time and tend to himself. He's neutral in the war between Ueli and Mason, but he pops by then and again to screw with everyone's heads.

Last Tuesday:
The alchemy that has maintained the Farmer's body for so long increases with damage; the worse he is for wear, the more energy is used to heal himself. It's a sort of emergency source. Because of this, the Farmer prefers close combat. Even if someone hits him (which is rare), his automatic alchemy compensates. It's a little extra bit of power that can be used to fight.

Last Wednesday:
Vivian is the first character to be introduced, so her episode will be the most ordinary-life-heavy. She's going to film school, and wants to be a director. What happens throughout the episode is that she keeps getting shocked, and metal vibrates a little when around her. It gets stronger and stronger until one day all the metal in the room shoots right towards her like bullets. The episode ends with the metal all around her stopped, hovering in the air, inches from her body.

Last Thursday:
Ah shit, I screwed up with Gregorio's backstory. I totally had one for him, before I wrote the one above.

The real backstory is that Gregorio is a piece of the Storm. He's significantly powerful (not dwarfing Mason and Ueli, not at all), and this allows him to temporarily "escape", living his own life. The reason he never takes a real side in battles is that the Storm actually has a light tug on him at all times. The Storm's productivity actually depends on whether or not it has control over Gregorio.

So, basically, change Gregorio to: less power, piece of the Storm.

Last Friday:
Flora kinda comes out of nowhere halfway through season 5. She's alluded to as early as season 2, when it's speculated that the "Halogens" have someone pulling the strings behind the scnes, but she remains off-screen. When she finally appears, no one knows who she is. This makes tracking her next to impossible.

Eventually, it's revealed that shortly after getting her powers, Flora was so distressed from it all that she wiped her memory of herself, along with the memories of everyone who knew her. She's unknown to everyone, and unburdened by the trauma of her past.

Last Saturday:
In Vivian's episode, we introduced the idea of superpowers. So in Alex's episode, we will delve into the inconveniences they bring. This episode jumps ahead, with Alex having dealt with power incontinence for a while now. Stuff keeps shaking around him at random times, rather violently. He skips classes and evades his friends so that they won't find out. He accepts that he can't hide this forever, so he talks to his family straight about it. The second half is pretty dialogue heavy, until the end, when Alex's powers go on the fritz and the house starts getting torn apart. The episode ends with Alex stopping the telekinetic storm consciously, the first step in controlling his powers.

Last Sunday:
I want Hugh to be 18 or so for the end of season 5.
So, working backwards, he'll be 5 over the course of season 1.