11 - Chiune Sugihara - ScholarYou May Have Noticed By Now, But I Have A Special Place In My Heart For

11 - Chiune Sugihara - Scholar You may have noticed by now, but I have a special place in my heart for people in history who do what they think is right as opposed to what is expected of them. Well, Chiune Sugihara is pretty much the grand poobah founding member of that class, and I love him to pieces. A relatively minor bureaucrat in the Japanese Empire during World War II, Mr. Sugihara was assigned to be Vice-Counsul for his country in Lithuania. When Jews came to him seeking travel visas in order to get out of Lithuania and escape the Holocaust, Chiune blatantly disregarded orders and started handing out visas to as many people as he could. By the time the Empire pulled him out of Lithuania for his gross disobedience, Mr. Sugihara was spending upwards of 20 hours *per day* writing visas, and witnesses report he was *throwing visas out of the train windows as it pulled away.* Bad. Ass. In RPGs, the Scholar is a class that revolves around planning, tactics, and learning. It tends to focus rather strongly on rules and regulations, though the Scholar’s actual role in combat tends to swing between defense and support without any real consistency. Given that Mr. Sugihara was basically manipulating the rules to defend the defenseless, it seemed an appropriate fit.

I have to say, I'm kind of jealous of all the great monsters that are coming out of the 30 characters challenge this year. I kinda wish I'd picked a theme like that, but oh well. By way of compensation, here's one of my favorite monsters from the Final Fantasy series: the Malboro! So cute. :3

Characters #15-17 are coming along nicely, and should be done tomorrow. It's gonna be awesome. :D

12 - George Washington - Onion Knight One thing that always bugs me about history is the way people talk about it as immutable. With one tiny change in a person’s life, the whole of history could be altered, but people always talk about historical figures as though the things that happened to them were Destiny with a capital D. George Washington is a great example of this. His father died when he was 11 years old, and he inherited his father’s property. If the elder Washington had lived even one or two years longer, little George would have been sent back to England for education. Imagine how different history would have unfolded with a George Washington who was fully loyal to the English crown -- heck, imagine what history would’ve been like if George had been raised by his father rather than his uncle. Similarly, the Onion Knight is all about potential. Sometimes called a Squire or Freelancer, the Onion Knight is usually the first class you receive, and as such, it’s usually pretty crappy. However, if you put a lot of effort into it, the Onion Knight can eventually come out as one of the most powerful classes in the game. So if we’re being totally honest, everybody starts out as a Lv. 1 Onion Knight, able to use only the most basic of equips. It’s with a lot of effort, experience, and luck that we become useful. ^^b

Nikola Tesla - Wizard

Thomas Edison - Sorceror

A big part of history is context, and this is even more true when it comes to the great figures of history. Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were huge competitors, to the point where neither really makes sense without the other.

I chose the character classes for these two men based primarily on their approach to the scientific method. Tesla was educated, methodical, and based most of his work on established scientific principles; conversely, Edison's work tended to be based just on whatever he thought would work, with his huge number of failures being attributed, by Tesla, to Edison's lack of theoretical background. So even though Tesla was the more wildly emotional man -- he was obsessed with cleanliness, for example, and was neurotic about the number 3 -- it's actually Edison that fits the Sorceror title better.

When designing these two, I tried to reflect their personality more than their class in their costume. Wizards are generally seen as the more ostentatious group, but Tesla's personality would brook no clutter, so Tesla's outfit is streamlined and practical. Conversely, Edison's outfit is full of gimmicks and clutter, basically anything he thought would be helpful at the time. It's also designed to make him look bigger, which I thought was appropriate given Edison's penchant for self-promotion.

In RPGs, the Wizard and the Sorceror are both magically-based character classes that focus on elemental attacks. The functional differences between them are usually fairly minor, but the Wizard is generally seen as being the more methodical of the two. It's usually the Wizard that ends up cloistered in their tower, researching new spells, and having to be enticed out for adventure. Conversely, the Sorceror's power generally comes from instinct and emotion, leaning on magical talent rather than education.

14 - Orson Welles - Orator I have to admit, there was a fair amount of competition for the Orator class. The ability to speak well has been the cornerstone of a large number of famous careers, both political and for entertainers. Orson Welles, shown here in his later, huskier years, eventually clinched it for his sheer range. Mr. Welles is perhaps best known for his broadcast of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds which made half the country crap their pants, but he also lent his voice to such bizarre endeavors as The Jack Benny Show, Macbeth, and commercials for jelly. He was even the voice of a world-eating robot in Transformers: The Movie! Flexibility tends to be the hallmark of the Orator class. Capable of a wide variety of strategies and abilities, the Orator usually uses unusual voice-based skills with effects no other class has. For example, in Final Fantasy Tactics, the Orator is the only class that can convince an enemy to permanently join your side. The Orator is actually pretty rare, with most games running out of space long before they reach this humble chatterbox. It’s a bit of a shame, as I believe the Orator brings a bit of class to any game.

21 - Johnny Ramensky - Thief These days, it seems like the ideal of the Gentleman Thief is a dying breed. And so we present Johnny Ramensky, Thief-y counterpart to Our Lady of the Rogue Shotgun miss Belle Starr. Johnny here was a career criminal back in Scotland during the early 20th century, and quickly garnered the nickname “Gentle Johnny,” as he never used violence, targetted only businesses, and never resisted arrest. Mr. Ramensky was pretty dang skilled, combining his talent for gymnastics with a knowledge of safecracking that made him a master catburgler of the old school. Johnny further proved his mettle during World War II, when he became -- and this is 100% true -- a parachuting safe-cracking commando. He’d drop below enemy lines, break through Axis defenses, steal their secrets and high-tail it back home. His most amazing caper involved breaking open no fewer than 14 safes in one day, a feat that earned him some impressive commendation. As I mentioned in the Rogue entry, the Thief is the more item-obsessed of the two outlaw-style classes. Thieves specialize in jumping behind the foe’s guard and stealing them blind, sometimes causing damage or status effects at the same time. The line between Thief and Rogue is often a bit thin, just like the line between Robin Hood and common cutpurse, but given Johnny Ramensky’s disavowal of violence and warm regard towards the people who were trying to catch him, I felt Thief was a good fit.