Sheretz, The Swarm of Bugs, and A Supportive Front Liner

[lgbrokhoff]

I definitely was also thinking how great that contrast would be, and I think that it'd be cool if they got along well but still presented those opposing ideas of the sword and the shield to eachother, honestly would just be a yin and yang dynamic duo.

I do think that Paradox museums are like pop up shows, so I assume information is just spread throughout the underworld and high class society about the time and location and then anyone who wants to come will meet an agent and buy a ticket, so maybe Sheretz tries to gain this information and steal the artifacts back DURING the showing, which could also have a cool interaction like, "I enjoyed crashing your pop-up the other month" or someone who was AT one mentioning to her, "I was admiring that piece when you took it, you could have just waited a bit longer."

I do think she would have some kinship with Victor over that which would be cool, and of course she'd them have to offer buying him a drink after the ritual, to add to the roster of characters asking him to go do something since he has no plans lmao.

I also think that Sheretz might tell Silver she's mostly made out of beetles, worms, gnats, and centipedes, and Silver starting the conversation with like, "First time I need to tell someone to keep THEIR fleas to themselves." and then her reaction to the listing would be great.

I think Sheretz experiences alot of normal human esque function, so when her swarm eats, she eats human food and experiences human taste, and same with drink, but she wouldn't have the same reaction, and for sleep she probably wouldn't, because bugs lack the same brain complexity as most things that sleep and don't have the REM state, even though they do have sleep-esque behaviors that are bound to circadian rhythms such as sleep rebound. Overall I think Rem would probably be confused, because maybe while her swarn rests her soul dreams, and maybe it's just performing subconcious waking thought without the mixing of memories that creates dreams.

Also that would be really funny to hear from drifter.

 

[twinkies]

looks awesome!

 

[lgbrokhoff]

looks awesome!

Thank you so much!

 

[lgbrokhoff]

Yes, it might be worth giving her a different leveling method

I dod that by the way, I just wanted to reply directly to you so you could see it, but further up in the thread I posted tweaks to her abilities the other day

 

[volkgang]

I definitely was also thinking how great that contrast would be, and I think that it'd be cool if they got along well but still presented those opposing ideas of the sword and the shield to eachother, honestly would just be a yin and yang dynamic duo.

I do think that Paradox museums are like pop up shows, so I assume information is just spread throughout the underworld and high class society about the time and location and then anyone who wants to come will meet an agent and buy a ticket, so maybe Sheretz tries to gain this information and steal the artifacts back DURING the showing, which could also have a cool interaction like, "I enjoyed crashing your pop-up the other month" or someone who was AT one mentioning to her, "I was admiring that piece when you took it, you could have just waited a bit longer."

I do think she would have some kinship with Victor over that which would be cool, and of course she'd them have to offer buying him a drink after the ritual, to add to the roster of characters asking him to go do something since he has no plans lmao.

I also think that Sheretz might tell Silver she's mostly made out of beetles, worms, gnats, and centipedes, and Silver starting the conversation with like, "First time I need to tell someone to keep THEIR fleas to themselves." and then her reaction to the listing would be great.

I think Sheretz experiences alot of normal human esque function, so when her swarm eats, she eats human food and experiences human taste, and same with drink, but she wouldn't have the same reaction, and for sleep she probably wouldn't, because bugs lack the same brain complexity as most things that sleep and don't have the REM state, even though they do have sleep-esque behaviors that are bound to circadian rhythms such as sleep rebound. Overall I think Rem would probably be confused, because maybe while her swarn rests her soul dreams, and maybe it's just performing subconcious waking thought without the mixing of memories that creates dreams.

Also that would be really funny to hear from drifter.

If she has tried multiple times, I can see Paradox making a comment like
"So how far do you think you'll get before we'll stop you next time?"
"I'm hoping at least an extra two meters."
"You're sure an optimist."
"Well I have to be if I want to properly 'bug' the great Paradox."
"And unfunny as well."

With how she functions, so you're saying if she went to a restaurant, all she had to do is open her mouth and a swarm flies out of it. It gnaws and quickly consumes the meal and she gets the taste. Viktor watches with a mouth slightly agape. He thought he was disgusting.

Other than Paradox, who would be the characters she would have a dislike for? Which ones would she actually hate?

 

[lgbrokhoff]

If she has tried multiple times, I can see Paradox making a comment like
"So how far do you think you'll get before we'll stop you next time?"
"I'm hoping at least an extra two meters."
"You're sure an optimist."
"Well I have to be if I want to properly 'bug' the great Paradox."
"And unfunny as well."

With how she functions, so you're saying if she went to a restaurant, all she had to do is open her mouth and a swarm flies out of it. It gnaws and quickly consumes the meal and she gets the taste. Viktor watches with a mouth slightly agape. He thought he was disgusting.

Other than Paradox, who would be the characters she would have a dislike for? Which ones would she actually hate?

First of all, I love that interaction so much that's great lmao

Second of all, yeah that's exactly what would happen I think

And as for who she would actually HATE, I gotta boot up the game and scroll through the roster real quick, but checking it I can list

- She would most likely dislike Calico for her ego

- She would find Drifter disgusting

- She would hate Lady Geist for her snobbery, and also for killing homeless people of course

- She would hate Seven, obviously for incessantly telling her that she needs to abuse her new form

- She would find Vyper pathetic

- She would dislike Yamato because she's say that she could tell everything she's saying about them is insulting

 

[volkgang]

"You think you'd give up against an organisation that harnesses time."
"Well, time never ceases, and so neither will I."
"You think time and time again you'd learn from your failed attempts."
"Time allows me to learn from them."
"I think its time to stop saying the word time."

Another question: When the Doorman uses his ult, he usually targets the fears of the person. What would he say to her?

 

[lgbrokhoff]

That's such a good question but I can actually barely come up with an answer, I think it's likely that it would be something along the lines of her losing her humanity entirely, even if she did wish to restore her body, that nothing could stop her from eventually losing her soul to the damage it's already taken

 

[volkgang]

That's such a good question but I can actually barely come up with an answer, I think it's likely that it would be something along the lines of her losing her humanity entirely, even if she did wish to restore her body, that nothing could stop her from eventually losing her soul to the damage it's already taken

"Oh Sheretz, or should I even call you that since your actual name was lost to the swarm. You are just a bundle of bugs who think they are an actual person, a faint mimicry of a woman who got herself killed. Even if you succeed today, you are have already lost long ago."

"Bugs aren't tolerated in the Baroness, as we keep our standards to the highest degree. But today, we make an exception for such a delightful archaeologist. Stay here for the night, and feel human again."

 

[lgbrokhoff]

"Oh Sheretz, or should I even call you that since your actual name was lost to the swarm. You are just a bundle of bugs who think they are an actual person, a faint mimicry of a woman who got herself killed. Even if you succeed today, you are have already lost long ago."

"Bugs aren't tolerated in the Baroness, as we keep our standards to the highest degree. But today, we make an exception for such a delightful archaeologist. Stay here for the night, and feel human again."

The second one sounds so peak

 

[lgbrokhoff]

With Venator, that's a damn good reference. I really like Venator and we need more religious ones. It doesn't have to tie to this character, I think it would be really funny if Venator was more okay and supportive of Sheretz before she reveals she's a Protestant, not Catholic. That causes him to go >_>.

I like the idea that she doesn't even know it can work but does so anyway. I do think she would know that they are different Paradox agents though. What you can explore thematically is that both are oddly similar. Think about it, she's a 'hive mind' of bugs working together to a greater goal. Paradox is a group of individuals who all don the mask and call themselves the same name, Paradox. Isn't that similar?

I can see her in the end, if she can't destroy them with the Wish, she wishes for knowledge on their organisation instead to slowly go after them individually. Or she decides screw it, I'm going to pull a heist on these thieves and steal all the artefacts back.

With characters!
I can see Seven encourage her to master her form and become something 'more' than human. Similar to Dynamo and he respects her for not throwing her new form away via the Patrons.

I can see her show curiosity over Apollo's blade and culture, wanting to eventually do a proper museum where Earth can see Ixian history.

With Mo and Krill, I can see her disapprove of them as they are smugglers.

I actually didn't realize about what you said in the end of the second paragraph until earlier, and I forgot to mention it until now, but yeah that is a funny coincidence, I really didn't intend that but that actually does make sense as a link of their lore, it's also kinda funny because I had the idea for the textile transmission ability before finishing her lore, and at the time I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be conceptualized as her dispersing her swarm and regathering it at the placed set of wrappings, or if it would be her using tech she had left from her paradox days to rewind her position in time, thus also healing her, which is also the remnant of the healing it does, until obviously I leaned towards the former with her final design. I do think that's a valuable comparison though, considering that not only are the "hive mind" ideas similar, but Paradox has a voice line mentioning that she would give her identity up all over again (she probably has redone it a few times, no?) just to join Paradox, similar to Sheretz being semi-regretless about her OWN loss of identity, to gain the abilities she has.

 

[lgbrokhoff]

View attachment 88236
Here is the finalized post for my hero concept, Sheretz, with a commission to finally show off her character design!

(Amazing art by Mia L. on Fiverr! https://www.fiverr.com/s/Ayajem4)

Her Playstyle:

Sheretz is designed to be a frontline support character, with emphasis on transporting teammates and herself in and out of team fights, and dealing large bursts of spirit damage or healing with her abilities. When not using her abilities, her melee benefits and powerful hand-cannon type gun would allow her to secure kills. Her stacking mechanic would reward both playing riskily on the front lines taking major damage to level up her abilities, as well as utilizing her support abilities to keep the damage that sustains her own offensive capabilities from destroying her. As an aside, I considered making the amount of damage required for a stack of Peel Away scale with boon level to keep the rate of stacks gained in a fight rather consistent throughout the length of a match.

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Ability Utlization:

Ability One:
Starting with Bugs and Bandages. This ability obviously requires you to be within close range of your opponents, and while it may be complicated to read at first, you'll notice that this ability has two enhancements gained from Peel Away, in opposing directions. This means that while having less stacks will allow you to deal more burst damage, it will also speed up the cooldown of this ability, and in contrast, having more stacks will allow you to heal yourself and allies within the radius more, and this radius will also increase with more stacks, once again encouraging usage of support abilities, and providing an interesting ultimatum where the player must decide between aiming for more stacks during a fight, and being able to provide more healing at less frequent intervals, or dishing out more damage, at more common intervals. This may also mean that the spirit scaling of this ability may need some tweaking.
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Ability Two:
Secondly, her textile transmission ability. This ability would mainly be used for engaging in fights, or simply expediting rotation around the map, as disengaging when in a non-optimal position for not taking damage would obviously get you stunned for a long time. This could, however, find interesting use as an escape tool if combined with Unstoppable. This also again provides an interesting choice for the player, as keeping stacks while preparing to engage a fight provides a much more likely chance of being able to severely stun and damage your opponents upon entry, but also opens up the possibility of being caught off your guard and killed very quickly.
View attachment 88239

Ability Three:
Thirdly, Peel Away. This ability is obviously the core of her kit that forces choices of how to utilize her skills in the moment upon the player. The active form of this ability obviously is a major player in that, providing the player with the option to keep or reduce their stacks depending on what they think best in the moment. It also allows for manual regeneration, however since stacks are acquired before their subsequent damage increase is calculated, the regeneration to damage taken ration of rewrapping 20 stacks will be exponentially less than that of rewrapping only one. This may pair well even with Blood Tribute, if one wishes to gain stacks on their own time in preparation of a fight. The silence and disarm effects caused by this ability also make it something that should be used with good timing in battle, so as to avoid being unable to secure a kill, or being caught unable to heal when in need. Whether rewrapping should actively slow, or speed up the player is debatable, and while I did grant an increase in speed and stamina regeneration in the ability description, I could see a case to be made for the exact opposite effect to be applied.
View attachment 88240

Ultimate Ability:
Fourthly and finally, her ultimate, Swarm. This ability has several main usages and possible ways to take advantage of it's mechanics. It's most blaringly obvious usage is to drag an enemy into her range for attack, this could prove useful for isolating a target from a teamfight, or even securing/forcefully engaging an opponent in a 1v1 scenario, in both of these scenarios it would benefit from being used in tandem with Slowing Hex. The other obvious use cases are to simply send out several swarms during a team fight to draw enemy fire, wreak havoc among them, heal allies, or pull allies from the fight back to safety. Less obviously, it can be combined with speedy transport options such as Majestic Leap, a Doorman's portals, or simply her own Textile Transmission, to move several enemies, or more likely, allies at once, as the swarm will follow Sheretz' location. The ultimate may require an additional effect to be granted to it that decreases the stamina regeneration of enemies within it in order to make it more viable, but I believe for now that it would be a well balanced ability.
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Her Personality:
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View attachment 88243
Sheretz loved her job at OSIC, and was infatuated with artifacts of all kinds, making her the skilled curator that she was.

She has always loved bugs, which is one of the main reasons she was able to come to terms with her transformation, and she is capable of naming the scientific name of every single bug that can be found within her swarm, the number of which she herself states to be several hundred.

She says that despite the immense pain she went through in her death, the hours that it lasted, and the humanity she lost, she prefers to look towards the future than dwell on the past. She purports to be as human as she needs, though she does harbor some despair about both the loss of her form.

She hopes to be one day able to return to the OSIC with greater control over her swarm, and even the ability to utilize it as an asset in her work. She is often ashamed and saddened by having been forced to leave the OSIC, and this hope of return is what drives her, making it also the driving factor behind her philosopher of focusing on the future and ignoring the past and what she's lost, even if the latter half isn't fully healthy.

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Also just realized that Peel Away is somewhat similar to Shiv's rage effect, which is funny because Shiv is one of the only character's who I haven't read the abilities of, completely unintentional.

 

[lgbrokhoff]

I also just realized that it'd probably be best for her gun to be incapable of headshots, and additionally, the guns name could be "Gnats of The Dust" which was my original idea for it's name, but I have yet to post it in thos thread. It could also be something in relation to a bombardier beetle, or a shotgun slug and a slug, considering it's immense power, although slugs are not actually insects, but then again neither are worms, however I would say that both slugs and worms fall into the category of "Creepy Crawlies" described by the word Sheretz.

 

[lgbrokhoff]

I'm gonna update her abilities again tommorow, because I just thought of some features of her kit that need to be shuffled around a bit.