History of Xebulon Burke

[Xebulon]

Steampunk is the name of the genre. It was originally derived from Cyberpunk. Basically, Cyberpunk dealt with high-tech sci-fi settings at the level of the average punks, gangers, flatfoots, etc. Cybernetics meets Punk, literally speaking. The world of Shadowrun is a perfect example (though most Cyberpunk settings don't include magic). Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell would also work as examples. Steampunk is more or less the same thing but with Analog (clockwork) as opposed to Digital (circut boards) and set in the relatively near past as opposed to the near future. The movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is an example of a Steampunk setting.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

Ah, thank you, Xebulon, Cyberpunk and now Steampunk finally makes sense to me now.
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Silentium est aurum

[LabrnMystic]

Well, with that clarification, I'd enjoy a good steampunk work.
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The suspense is killing me. I hope it will last.

[Ashton Gray]

As would I.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Regrettably it will be a while longer. I left my flash-drive at work by accident and now it has disappeared. So... I have to write them all over again. Sorry folks, I'll have them up asap.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Xebulon]

Okay, finally finished re-writing Korian Zelazny's backstory. Please read this first though.

***Warning***

The following tale is neither fun nor happy. It contains elements of tragedy, suffering, betrayal and murder most foul. If you do not wish to read about these things, then please do not read the following post.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Xebulon]

***A brief history of Korian Zelazny***

Name - Korian Zelazny
Gender - Male
Species - Jackal
Height - 6ft give or take an inch
Eyes - Blue
Fur - Light brown with a black back
Personality - Witty, charming, charismatic, cunning, devious, opportunistic, deceitful, treacherous when angered

Korian Zelazny was born in a small town in the American mid-west. His mother, Rebecca, was an unmarried prostitute from Dodge City in Kansas who wanted to give her son a better life with a fresh start. Times were tough though and eventually she had to fall back upon her old trade in order to support herself and young Korian. This only served to increase the scorn and derision of the townsfolk. When one of her more frequent "Jons" was arrested as a rustler, the local magistrate used the oppertunity to charge her as an accessory in the crime. They were hanged one week later and Korian shipped off to a foster home back in Dodge.

It was here that Korian developed a love of things mechanical. He also discovered that he had a knack with machines. He did not understand why, but the order and precision made sense. This was not to be a time of joy though. Frequent fights with the other children earned him an unpleasent reputation which, coupled with that of his mother, made life nearly intolerable. He ran away after a few years, turning to petty crime to survive. One day he managed to steal a pistol from a drunken cowboy and putting his recently discovered technilogical aptitude to good use he quickly learned how to build one himself. After stealing the necessary parts, he built himself a pair of revolvers which served him well for many years.

With his new guns (which he called Kneecapper and Widowmaker, he would frequently "talk" to his guns to intimidate various oponents and/or victims) he headed back West to take up the life of a highwayman. His skills and some degree of sucess caught the attention of a group of outlaws who quickly press-ganged him into joining their ranks. His keen mind and charming smile led Korian to overthrow the gang's boss and install himself as the new leader. Under his guidence they grew from mere bandits to professional soldiers. Their equiment improved, their numbers swelled and their infamy grew to the point where they would ride into a town and make it theirs with little to no effort. It wasn't long before they became a target for both the Industrial Union and the Confederation of the Arcane Arts. They would be forced to fight several battles and would emerge victorious as often as not.

The military pursuit of Korian and his outlaws ended abruptly with the outbreak of war. Even with the ever increasing political tension it came as a surprise to the IU when the city of Annapolis was razed by an attack from the CAA. The Union had pleanty of wepons but was hard pressed for troops and so a declaration was made. If any criminal would swear their allegiance to the IU and join its military, they would recieve a full pardon for all crimes commited. Korian saw the benefits of this and he and his gang were among the first to join. Korian's technical skills saw him placed in the 3rd Mechanized Battallion, operating one of the IU's new Steampowered Mobile Mechanized Combat Armors, or Tin Men as the soldiers called them. Once again Korian advanced quickly through the ranks, becoming a 2nd Lieutenant in only a few years.

Korian's military career ended with the Battle of Philadelphia. During the battle, his forces were cut off from the main lines and surrounded by both magical artillery (actual magi) and infantry wielding enchanted weaponry. Outnumbered at least 5 to 1, Korian's troops fought a desperate and losing fight. With only a handful of men left they charged the enemy lines and died as they did. Korian's mechanical armor was struck repeatedly by the strongest magics the magi could conjure and the result was catastrophic. The Waldorf Principle (also called the Techno-Arcane Negation Effect, the process by which the equal presence of technology and magic cancel each other out leaving a null zone) took effect but, Korian's armor being a more advanced officer's model, the reaction was violent. His armor exploded, taking out many of the CAA's troops in the process. How he survived is a mystery that noone has been able to explain.

He awoke in an army hospital after the battle, somehow alive but now missing his left eye after a piece of shrapnel tore a large and ugly scar down his face. Due to the magical nature of the explosion, he was rendered useless with advanced technology. The knowledge remained but machines no longer functioned quite right in his presense. He was to be discharged from the military following a debriefing by his commander. That night changed his life forever. The battle's debriefing covered many things. Korian's tactical descisions were called into question and it was determined that not only had his actions cost the lives of his men but that they had been in contradiction to his orders. It was desiced that he would be court-martialed and dishonorably dischared. As he was being escorted out he heard about the seizure of a large sum of gold which the CAA had intentended to use to buy military aid from France. Confined to his quarters, Korian made up his mind. That night he slipped out and, making his way to the commander's rooms, proceeded to aquire the location of the gold. Forcibly, and fataly.

After finding the storage area and killing the guards (his former outlaws as it would turn out), he loaded as much of the gold as he could onto a packhorse and fled into the night. The general confusion and chaos of the war would allow him to buy passage to Europe where, with more than $200,000 dollars in gold, he settled down in western Germany.

***

I'm sorry of it's rather disjointed and whatnot. As I remember what I had originally written, I'll add it in. Hopefully I can recall it all.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

The post before the story makes it sound much worse than it is, methinks. I liked it a lot and I can't easily imagne many people here not liking it, or at very least, not appreciating it.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Thank you Mr. Gray. Hopefully time will return the parts of the story I cannot yet remember.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

Here's hoping.
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Silentium est aurum

[JohnnyPsycho]

A very interesting alternative history you've got there. It reminds me of a roleplaying game I played a couple years back with a similar setting, including both magic and steampunk elements in it, often referred to as a "Weird West" setting. In fact, have you ever played the game Deadlands before? It's more of a combination of western and horror genres, though like I said it has some science-fiction/steampunk elements as well.

Anyway, I like what I've read so far, and it's definitely different than what we've seen so far from other fan-made characters.
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Johnny's Fanfics (including Sureshot! A Bon Bon Tale)

Johnny's backstory
Johnny, Mark II (Project Aten character)

[Xebulon]

Thanks Johnny. I've heard of "Weird West" and "Deadlands" but never played them myself. Please remember though that the characters in my story were not created for placement in Bon Bon. They belong to a different world of the multiverse. I adapted Xebulon here because A) of the three main characters he was the easiest to adjust, and B) because it was easier than trying to come up with yet another new character to add to the hundreds floating around in my head.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

If that's the case, which one of the three is your favorite, if I may ask?
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Hmm, tough call. Well, Ozymandias (a bat by the way) is the first of the three to have been created and since I still use him, I'd have to say that I'm still rather fond of the character. He's not the first fursona I ever created (close though, possibly my second) and this newest incarnation of him is a radical diversion from his usual self, but eh. I use the name Korian frequently in my writings, usually for a villianous character. So far, no two have been the same but I like this newest one more than most of the others. And as for Xebulon, well, the name is cool but he is definately one of my most recent creations. I like him, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to use him in future stories. Overall..... I'm still not sure.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

Hm, I just had a thought that might help you keep track of all your creations. Why don't you just keep a book of them, write them all down as they come to you, like me and my Book of Creations? It's much easier to do nowadays with computers than it was with paper books, like when I first started my Book of Creations.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Write them... down? As in, with pen and.. what's it called? Oh yes, paper! As in with pen and paper? Those two can be combined to create words? How can this be possible?! What dark and mysterious sorcery can possibly bend the laws of reality to enable someone to.... Oh yeah, I had to do that all the time in high school.

Seriously though, that's one thing I really do need to work on. I've never enjoyed the physical act of writing and coupled with a whimsical and erratic muse, I'm not usually near a computer when I get my better ideas. It would be different if I could draw, but alas, I failed Stick Figures 101.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

Well, it was just a thought I thought I might share. Just out of curiousity, what kind of bat is Ozymandias, assuming he has a defined species. I only ask because I have a white vampire bat in my Book and yours just piqued my curiousity.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Well, his fur color was and still is white. But now that I've done a little research on bats, he'll most likely be some species of Megachiroptera or Megabat. As to a specific species, I haven't narrowed it down that far yet, but I'm leaning towards something in the genus of Pteropus (flying fox as they are called). The difference between them and the suborder Microchiroptera, or Microbat, is that the Megabats do not have echolocation, they are herbivores and they have the claw on the second toe of their forelimb (wing). The reason for my choice was mainly due to Oz's (or Ozy if you prefer) habit of folding his wings over his shoulders (being not only anthropomorphic but also entirely fictional, he has both arms and wings) and wearing them like a cloak, using the claws as a clasp. Comments such as "May I take your cloak, Sir?" are often met with dry remarks or heavy sarcasm.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

That's something our two bats have in common, aside from the white color. Oh, and a slight clarification, when I said vampire bat, I did'nt mean the species, I meant he was created as a vampire. Around 600 hundred years old and going by the name of Vincent Alucard, my third furry creation. I felt I should add that since you were kind enough to provide your bat's name. Maybe Vincent, Ozymandias and Scarlett Blut should meet, three bats, at least two of them vampires, are bound to get along.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

It's certainly a possibility, though Oz is a vegetarian in this form. Also, the version of him from the story is very somber in both dress and manerisms. Of the three main characters, his story will have the least humor to it. It's quite a contradiction to his original self, which was more of a goth. Not your typical whiney, mopey angsty goth, but a bouncy happy goth. He was usually comic relief for Eryq (pronounced Eric) Skylore, my first and still most commonly used fursona.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

Well, they may not have many eating or social habits in common, but I'd still like to see how they all would get along. After all, there's more to a person, or furson in this case, than just eating and social habits. Maybe someday in Scarlett's story. A day I'll certainly look forward to, even if it never comes about. I'll have to leave that to the future and Ms.Santato.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Dangdangdangdangdangdangdangitydangdangdannitydangitydang!

I forgot one of the more important details about Korian! Updated the history, but to summarize, he's missing his left eye from the explosion and the scar is both large and unsightly.

Blegh, now to remember what else I've forgotten.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

A fairly important detail to have forgotten and remebered, Xebulon, I cannot help but wonder what else you'll remember in the future.
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Silentium est aurum

[LabrnMystic]

[Ashton Gray]

That certainly provokes an intresting and humorous mental image.
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Great. Now my story's turning into a zombie movie.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

What's wrong with that, Xebulon, you did'nt like the Resident Evil movies or something?
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Silentium est aurum

[Xebulon]

Eh, they were ok at best. I much prefer George Romero's Dead series. Particularly the first two, "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead". I believe that one was released as "Zombi" in Italy and followed up with "Zombi 2" by Lucio Fulci.
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I like old jokes. With them I know when to laugh.

[Ashton Gray]

Can our Resident Italian citizens shed any light on this?
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Silentium est aurum

[Martin]

Nope, sorry... I'm not much into zombie movies. Have you tried the IMDB?