Supporting Characters
"You could be nicer to me, you know. I’m getting a bit tired of it."
Lilian
Lilian grew up in a generation of punk rock and protests. She is a northern territories woman through and through. She despises the south and city folk with what she sees as very good reason. The south has always neglected the north, and yet relied on them to bring the power that turns on their TVs and powers their kettles.
She is still hurt from the fact that her boyfriend (and Father to her son, Will) walked out on her when Will was just a toddler. They had just moved into a house and were planning to build a future together. Lilian was left with no money and no job, having been the stay-at-home mother while her boyfriend brought home the money. A very traditional family set-up perhaps, built on social convention and expectation… frozen by the disappearance of a Father and Boyfriend. Since then, she has been reliant upon government benefits and retail jobs to raise her son as a single mother. She has also been reliant upon neighbours and local friends to help her too, reinforcing her perception that the people of the north should always stick together.
Her feelings about her son moving out to start a life in Centrum City are complex. On the one hand, she is happy that Will has found relative success, perhaps seeing it as a success on her part too. But on the other hand, it’s a movement over to the side of an enemy of sorts. Perhaps this is something she wished for herself. He is her only son, and his desire to move out could be interpreted as hurtful. It means that her home nest will now be totally empty... What will she do with her life now?
Lilian has an interest in crochet. She picked this up from her mother and her skills in this are quite strong. She made a Crochet dinosaur for Will that remains her most proud creation so far. She has often thought about turning her skill into a business. But the lure of the television and enjoying her favourite gameshows always seems to suck up her time.
"To be honest, I never really trusted them... Turning up for that mine collapse just in time always screamed suspicious to me."
Toby
Toby is Will’s best friend in the whole world. Toby and Will met each other in an online forum for an online RPG that they played together. They started chatting and eventually it was revealed that Toby was gay. Toby had been out for a while but was never one to lead a conversation with a proclamation of his sexuality. Toby was worried that Will would be frightened away. However, Toby was the first person that Will came out to as a gay person himself. They bonded more, and even flirted with the idea of dating. They decided not to pursue this as their geographical distance from one another at the time played on their minds.
Toby grew up on the south coast. His childhood would have been fine were it not for a singular moment of trauma. At school, he came out as gay to his friends. They turned on him. The school bullies found out and cut off the end of his tail in a brutal moment of social “punishment”. This scarred him deeply and forced him to get lost in online gaming for a long time. This is how he met Will. Of course, the bullies were expelled from school, and prosecuted and sentenced as child criminals at the time, but it was too late… Toby dropped out of school and was home tutored by his Mother and Father. His love of Mathematics persisted though. He completed online course after online course and earned an online/remote bachelor’s degree in Coding and Mathematics. He now works as a programmer for a holiday booking website.
Will was there for him, and Toby is eternally grateful for that. Will encouraged Toby to go out to a local club to meet people, which is where he met his boyfriend Amadeo. They hit it off very fast indeed. Their choice to become boyfriends was quick, and Toby often thinks that it all happened in such a flash. “Right place, right time, I guess.” When Will announced that he had found a job in Centrum City, Will jumped at offering his best friend his spare room while he found his feet in the city. He looks forward to having Will move in with him.
"I saw something else too, can you come see? I want your opinion on whether we can fit a wooden horse in the hallway."
Amadeo
Amadeo is Toby’s loving boyfriend. He remembers the moment when he met Toby in that bar a few short years back. He felt a connection right away. Toby was the only guy in the bar that night not to go straight for his muscle and compliment him on his looks. Toby was more curious about his choice of t-shirt… Which featured a cool design for an RPG series that Toby happened to play. Toby wanted to know where that t-shirt was from. He wanted one. It turned out that Amadeo designed the shirt himself. Graphic Design is Amadeo’s job it seems.
Amadeo works from home and runs his own small business. He may be big, strong and burly, and play on the incorrect assumption that a bodybuilder like him has few braincells. But he is a smart cookie for sure. He’s also mentally well balanced and confident. Just what Toby loves in a guy. Toby moved in with Amadeo fairly quickly after they started dating and their connection flourished. Their friends (apart from Will) criticised them for rushing with it. But both would say that it “felt right” and that they were going with their gut. It seems that it paid off. They couldn’t be happier.
Amadeo loves Toby so much that he was willing to move his office area to the living room of their apartment while Will gets himself settled in the city and finds a place of his own. Amadeo doesn’t mind a little disruption to himself if it will help someone else. Especially if it’s Toby’s best friend in the whole wide world.
Amadeo’s dream is to be a stand-up comic. Recently he has started collecting jokes in a notebook and has dabbled in joke telling at open mic nights to test out some material. It was hard at first, but he knows he has a knack for it. Maybe one day he’ll jump ship from being a Graphic Designer to a “Laugh Designer”, he'd say. Toby supports this, as long as they are happy and have a roof over their heads.
"Someone doing their job the way it should be done... doesn’t sell newspapers."
Prime Minister Ellen Whiteley
Prime Minister Ellen Whiteley is a career politician. She started out her career representing the constituency of Southwick, a southern borough of Centrum City and economic powerhouse. She is a graduate of History and is the daughter of a fairly powerful international Media magnate; Leonard Whiteley of Whiteley International. Ellen was married for 14 years until the alleged murder attempt in her office by Diamond, one of The Gemstone Heroes. Her throat was cut by a letter opener during the fight and is now unable to speak. She now speaks through her Deputy Prime Minister Jacob Peters. In meetings, she uses a keyboard and screen to speak. She divorced from her husband after this event, citing a breakdown in communication and erosion of trust.
Her politics have always been fairly hard-line. Many of her supporters say that this is what has led her to power. Many supporters believe that she picks up the legacy of former prime minister Minerva Tyler. Minerva Tyler was also a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Southwick. This constituency is a consistent power maker.
Ellen sees herself as a centrist. She believes in a free market, but with regulation. She believes in choice and freedom, but in restrictions on things that could do people harm. However, her critics say that her politics have been edging toward more right-wing territory since the murder attempt. Bills presented to parliament have been increasingly restrictive on personal liberties, and often times been voted down. One bill that passed outlawed vigilantism. This not only covered superheroes (especially those with powers), but also those who feel any desire for heroism or saving lives; “This is the job of the police and appropriately trained authority”, she says. “If you see a crime, report it. Do not step in. Do not become a vigilante. It is now against the law.” Her competence is increasingly called into question. A criticism that is met by her supporters as being motivated predominantly by misogynism.
"I find it stunning that anyone would think any government on the planet is even capable of keeping a secret of that magnitude."
Nox (John Nox)
Nox (John Nox) is the head of The UTGA Secret Service.
Biography Redacted under Order of National Security (ONS)
"It is through the act of standing up that we prove to others, and ourselves, that we can."
Jacob
Jacob Peters has been in politics for a long time. He is the Deputy Prime Minister and has since taken on the role of spokesperson for Ellen Whiteley after her attempted murder. It has often been, in recent years, Jacob’s face on television speaking on Ellen’s behalf from prepared scripts and press-releases. It gives the government a cold and relatively heartless face as a result. Jacob is also the UTGA’s representative to The United Nations. He has spoken publicly about many prevailing world issues, but in recent years has been criticised for lack of action or following through on his promises to improve the way that the UTGA conducts itself for the betterment of the planet.
Following the attempt on The Prime Minister’s life, for which he was present in the room at the time of the attack, he also separated from his long-time married partner. He has publicly admitted to being in therapy and did not speak for a long time following the attack. Jacob has always kept his personal life very private, which sometimes brings scrutiny from newspapers and magazines.
Jacob is a member of parliament and representative for the constituency of Yawton in central Anglacia, a middle-class area in a stable centrist stronghold. He has been elected three times consecutively and is proud of this fact. However, critics would say that his constituency would never vote in the other direction for either more right-leaning or left-leaning parties given that the area he represents is so traditionally unwavering in its beliefs. However, given the way that Prime Minister Ellen Whiteley has changed in the years after the attack, and seeing her increasingly right-leaning political beliefs come to light, it is possible that Jacob stands to lose the next election to a more left-leaning political party. Jacob says he is not worried, but that the results of the next election may well be interesting to watch indeed. Some say this development is slowly fracturing their close political relationship.
"There is an inevitability to all of this. There is something coming."
The Wise Vulture
The owner of The Shop of Exotic Antiquities; a shop in Sunton Lock Market in the greater area of Centrum City. She is mysterious and knows more than perhaps she should. Her mentor energy is strong.
When you walk into her shop, you might feel as if you are looking for a key for something...
Not necessarily something physical...
But a nudge...
Perhaps there is a door you wish to open...
A chest of gold you wish to access...
An achievement you wish to unlock...
A feeling you wish to feel again...
Just one more time...
The Wise Vulture can sense this need from you.
She will help you find the key you are looking for.
"Just show up to work, pull your weight, and you’ll get through it."
Courtney
Courtney is the Editor of Popular Culture & Celebrity for Noted!Magazine. She reports directly to Hugo, The Managing Editor. She has worked at Noted!Magazine for almost a decade ever since she graduated from a degree in Journalism. She was hired as an intern at the magazine shortly after Hugo. She finds it annoying that Hugo rose through the ranks to Managing Editor before her. It has taken her a while to come to terms with that. It was her desire to do the same thing. She swears she will wait things out. He’ll leave one day, surely. She values her position too much to leave it, finding a lot of satisfaction in her job covering the celebrity and gossip side of political figures and popular public figures. She believes that these public figures should be held accountable for their actions. They represent the people, even if you’re just a singer, you should promote good values.
Courtney can handle Hugo’s management style well. She recognises his attitude from her own father. “His delicate ego just needs stroking and he’ll go back into his cave”, she would say in a hushed tone at work parties. Quoting something her own mother would say about her father fairly frequently after his latest outburst at dinner. Courtney has since developed a lack of patience for people with short fuses. She will cut you off if you express any ounce of drama. She doesn’t want it in her life. This is ironic given her job of editing celebrity gossip. Perhaps this is something she simply doesn’t want to bring home with her.
Courtney is comfortable in her identity. She is single, but her job takes up so much of her life that finding a partner is rarely on her to-do list. Sometimes this makes her feel a little sad, and she often wonders whether her work/life balance is correct. But every time she comes into the office, she feels as if she is at home. The problem perhaps is whether a workplace should feel like home. But perhaps that’s one way to success, right?
"I’m going to go scare the boys in the canteen into giving me a free cappuccino again"
Hugo
Hugo is an A*****e. And he knows it. He’s proud of it, in fact. He'll quite happily scare the s**t out of you to get what he wants. As long as he believes it's right. He'll say exactly what's on his mind if he thinks it needs to be said.
Hugo is Managing Editor of Noted!Magazine [sic]. It’s his life, and nothing gets in the way of where he wants to take his glorious baby. He didn’t found the magazine, but he worked his way up from an intern position at a young age. He has transformed the magazine from the celebrity gossip rag it was before to the news analysis and economic commentary powerhouse that it is today. Celebrity Gossip is still a big part of the magazine, but since Hugo’s premiership, the magazine has won numerous journalism awards for high quality and integrity.
His management style is risqué. His critics say that he just about skirts the right side of the line of causing offence and distress in the workplace. His critics, and ex-employees, say that it will just be a matter of time before he puts a foot wrong and gets sued for misconduct. Hugo puts their attitudes down to not being able to hack the tough environment of modern journalism and work ethic.
Hugo is educated in Journalism. He is a graduate of the most prestigious university in the country and is not afraid to bring up this fact at parties; “I attended the same University as The Prime Minister, you know! I could be where she is if I wanted to be.” This usually makes people roll their eyes. But given that he is Managing Editor of one of the most well-known news magazines on the planet, it’s difficult to dispute. If you sit him down for longer and interrogate his thoughts on politics and power, he will tell you that he has done more good by running a news magazine than he could ever do by being a politician. He knows, deep down, this is his calling.