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SJBroadside — Contract Riders - Geister Riders
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Published: 2021-11-16 14:53:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 17727; Favourites: 60; Downloads: 3
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Description
The secret society of Golgom claims a legacy reaching back ten thousand years, descending from the Grongi tribes of the Jōmon era. They believe that might makes right, that the world belongs to those with the strength to take it; they claim that the Great Gegeru, the unending struggle for dominion, dates back to when the hundred-year reign of the first Grongi king — Ba-Gezu-Bi, the Shadow Moon — was ended by the blade of the usurper Bu-Sodagi-Jo, the Black Sun.
The leaders of Golgom proclaim that it is their destiny to reclaim the world beyond the Aegis dome , and that the Book of Golgom prophecises the reincarnation of Ba-Gezu-Bi and Bu-Sodagi-Jo. They say that the Gegeru they preside over will reveal who is worthy to inherit the mantles of the Black Sun and Shadow Moon; and that when these two "Century Kings" clash, the victor will lead the strongest members of humanity into the Shin Anthropocene, re-conquering the planet through fire and steel.
The truth is that these so-called "ancient traditions" have little evidence supporting them. The Book of Golgom is a haphazard assemblage of many unrelated texts, with mundane records placed next to mythologised history; the cult's reading was motivated by a desire to create a "true meaning" for their faith to "inherit", taking metaphor and analogy as literal truth and making wild assumptions to smooth over inconsistencies. But in Elysium, ideas truly have power, and the truth can be a matter of public opinion. As the words of Golgom take root in the zeitgeist, they edge ever closer to manifesting into the world ... and if they do, then the Gegeru will demand a victor.
As part of the Great Gegeru, many of Golgom's adherents — those with sufficient zeal and ambition — have been outfitted with "Geister Drivers", designed to imbue them with the power of the monsters that menace Elysium. Ancient Grongi art depicted noted cultural figures with the heads of animals, and so the "Geister Riders" have been provided with Gene Vials using the DNA of the animals found in this art — spiders, snakes, felines, shelled arthropods, and more. The bat of Shadow Moon and the scarab beetle of Black Sun are absent from their ranks, supposedly to ensure no participant would take an "unearned advantage".
Among Golgom's most notable members are:
- Marianne Chaumet — Geister Rider Fleur. The "high priestess" of Golgom, Marianne has transcended her form as Contract Rider Fleur in favour of a primal, inhuman elegance. She claims to be "above" the Gegeru, simply wishing to serve whichever Century King emerges victorious... but anyone who knows Marianne knows that non-interference is not in her nature.
While Fleur's original form was based on a peace lily, Geister Rider Fleur is instead adorned with a whole bouquet of poisonous flowers; at the core of her belt is an oleander flower, surrounded by a bleeding mass of quantum foam that forms a five-pointed star around it.
Cast off! Geister in Fleur! - Onca — Geister Rider Onca. Onca is one of many orphaned children raised by Golgom, under the supervision of Marianne Chaumet, to be an adherent of its teachings and a candidate for the new Black Sun or Shadow Moon. It was perhaps inevitable that she would grow up to be an unpleasant, obnoxious fascist, with a cruel sense of humor and an utterly warped moral compass, dismissive of anyone she considers "weak". Perhaps her only noble traits are genuine respect for people she sees as "strong", and a willingness to accept the results of contests she loses.
Onca's Geister Rider form uses the DNA of various big cats, such as jaguars and tigers, making her fast and strong with enhanced senses. She can also use quantum foam to manifest a pair of clawed gauntlets for use in combat.
Geister in Onca! - Xiphos — Geister Rider Xiphos. Another of the children raised by the cult, Xiphos is an enthusiastic evangelical of the Book of Golgom, loudly extolling its virtues at every opportunity... but, in truth, he's a hypocrite who can never take a loss, always insisting that his failures don't count and coming back long after he should have been dealt with for good. It's rather impressive that in this respect he manages to make Onca look good by comparison.
Geister Rider Xiphos transforms with the DNA of a horseshoe crab, granting him a heavily armored form capable of shruging off almost any blow. As his name suggests, he can also wield a sword formed from quantum foam, though he generally eschews this in favor of grappling and body slams.
Geister in Xiphos! - Rodney Smithers — Cactaichi. Not in fact a Geister Rider — nor any form of Rider at all — Cactaichi is a "pure" parahuman, capable of transforming without any form of external apparatus. Through a series of horrific experiments, Golgom was able to grant a number of volunteers the ability to transform themselves into cactus geisters, with Cactaichi appointing himself as their leader — something that's very annoying, because he's an obnoxious weeb who's absolutely intolerable to be around. This, in turn, makes it infuriating that he's actually an incredibly skilled fighter with his katana, having badly wounded Contract Rider Dolmen in their first confrontation; following this, Cactaichi seems to have fixated on Dolmen as his "fated rival", though Dolmen is unaware of this and probably wouldn't care if he did know.
Many other Geister Riders exist. Some of these are child soldiers raised to take part in the Gegeru like Onca and Xiphos were, while others are later additions to Golgom's ranks — opportunists or true believers who fell in with them during their attempt to take control of Elysium.
So, these guys are some of the major antagonists of the second half of Contract Riders. I wanted them to look a bit more organic and naturalistic than other Riders did, and there's a pattern of asymmetry that I think is fun. The Geister Drivers were designed to be utilitarian and boring-looking at the request of the game master, RedlineSSB , who compared them to the Gaia Drivers used by the Sonozakis in Kamen Rider W; the twisted, irregular aspects are quantum distortion surrounding them.
Fleur is designed to look like an evolution of her previous form; her eyes are intended to look like her eye lenses shattered and revealed more monstrous eyes underneath. Her colors were inspired by Devil Gigatron from Transformers: Car Robots/Robots in Disguise; the flowers used in her design are a peace lily, hydrangea, foxglove, pokeweed, spider lily, nightshades, and (of course) oleander. Her half-black, half silver belt represents her role as the high priestess presiding over the conflict between Black Sun and Shadow Moon, while her position as the flower-themed organizer of the Gegeru might bring to mind the Rose Grongi from Kuuga. Unlike her previous form, who was just wearing heels to look taller, Geister Rider Fleur has unnaturally-extended arms and legs.
Onca was originally concieved as primarily tiger-themed, but was reworked to feature more jaguar aspects based on her name. Design inspirations included Grand Mutant Baraom from Kamen Rider Black, the leopard and tiger Grongi from Kuuga, and Kamen Rider Beast from Wizard. Our game master insisted that I mention the fact that she canonically owns an ahegao sweater, which I'm doing down here because I hate it and I hate having to mention it. She's canonically 4chan-brained and it sucks.
Xiphos was inspired by the character Water Hazard from Ben 10: Omniverse, along with Grand Mutant Darom from Black and (of all things) Fourze Magnet States.
Cactaichi was deliberately designed to look out of place amongst the Geister Riders, with a relatively more "kaijin-like" design; the GM's offhand description when he first appeared was "SIC Cacturne". That red flower on his chin corresponds to a shitty goatee in his human form.
As with her base form, Fleur was designed by SonataWaves , who plays Luxe. The others were designed by me, with Speed_Freak01 giving some significant help with Cactaichi's design.
Templates are, of course, by Taiko554 .
