FNF2, Round 1: Friar Tuck

The votes are in, and the seeds are seeded! Congratulations to the top 16 vote-getters in the Play-In Cage Match:

Kyle, Rancid, Haxxx, AJW, Alphaalpharomeo, and Danny Beaty fought the good fight, but unfortunately did not make the 16-team cutoff. However, they WILL participate each week in an all-against-all consolation bracket for that week's characters, so you'll still get to see their creations, and they'll still have a chance to win something each time out. Those who are eliminated each week will join the consolation pool as well. I'll post that round in a few hours.

For those who advance, each of the Final Four teams will receive a prize, while the first runner-up also gets a black and white character sketch, and the winner a color sketch.

And now, for the first time anywhere, your Friday Night Fights 2 Bracket!

Here's where you come in. You can vote once per day in each of the eight matches. That's right, once per day! So get all of your friends to come back to HeroMachine.com each day to stuff your ballot box. You can see a larger version of each entry simply by clicking on the thumbnail. Finally, you can read the stories after all the polls are listed.

Good luck everyone!

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And now, larger images of each character for those of you disinclined to click, along with the story for each.

Me, Myself, and I: The Friar and the Cardinal

The Friar and the Cardinal
 
Cardinal Tuck was fast becoming desperate. He had been immersed in the Catholic Church as a child and saw how its influence was diminishing. Amongst all of the Mars mining colonies, there was only one cathedral still functioning and hardly a word of the faith even made it to Saturn’s moons or Pluto. The church was dying everywhere. Even back on Earth it was shrinking annually.
 
It was time for some drastic measures; it was time for a miracle. When it came to pass that one of his few faithful flock came for confession the answers came to him. He was an assistant at a certain R&D science facility and knew something of Nottingham cities Sherriff’s crimes and of the alternate dimension’s existence. He admitted his shame about not going to the authorities but was fearful for his sister life as she was being held captive by William Brewer.
 
The Cardinal believed it was no coincidence that the secret came to him, on the eve of his despair, but rather a sign from god. What to do about the information though? As he pondered the Sherriff’s men caught up with him. They had discovered the leak in their security and were following up on the breech. They took Cardinal Tuck before the Sherriff and during their parley inspiration struck. The Cardinal needed a miracle to re-kindle the faith of the people, and not just a small miracle either. The Sherriff was starting to solicit more and more pressure about his recent activities and needed a smoke screen to provide cover. It wasn’t long before an accord was reached where both parties could get what they needed. The church would get miraculously be able to introduce a solution to the prime dimensions resource issues, galvanizing colonies. Likewise the Sherriff would gain the appearance of a legitimate front to carry on his business. Despite Cardinal Tuck’s misgivings, the deal was made.
 
The prime Sherriff eventually introduced Cardinal Tuck to a man from the mirror dimension named Friar Tuck.  It was suspected that the Friar had been secretly helping ‘The Merry Men’ so he was strongly invited to a meeting. The Sherriff was hoping that Cardinal Tuck would be able to gain this Friar’s trust and either get what intelligence they could from him or perhaps even turn him. Cardinal Tuck agreed to meet with the Friar and intended to do just what the Sherriff suggested. The Sherriff had Friar Tuck transported to the prime dimension where the men of the cloth could meet.
 
Upon meeting the Friar however the Cardinal’s guilt overcame him. Friar Tuck reminded the Cardinal of himself at a younger age. The Friar was full of hope and faith and the burdens of the world hadn’t weighed him down like they had the Cardinal. The cardinal did not wish to sign the Friar to the same fate he had become ensorcelled into. He also knew that failure to do so would merely end with the Friar being imprisoned, tortured and slain by the Sherriff. Saddened by his revelation he thought the best solution would be a quick end. In retrospect, it’s what he would have preferred for himself after all. The Cardinal held a feast in the Friar’s honour that evening and poisoned his mead fully expecting that to be the end of it. What the Cardinal did not count on was that the Friar had been driven to a bit of excess on occasion with all manner of drink. He was quite a glutton in fact. It just so happened that the poison the Cardinal used had far less effect on the Friar as his frequent excesses had helped him build up an immunity.
 
The Friar woke up, with a nasty migraine, in a pine box. Once escaping the box he realized he was in a small funeral home waiting to be cremated, of course his revival shocked the workers there. Mistakenly recognizing him as Cardinal Tuck raised from the dead, a few of the workers began to spread the word of the miracle.
 
Friar Tuck did his best to disappear in this alien world but stood out everywhere. Wracked with remorse the Cardinal was thrilled to find out that Friar Tuck had somehow survived. Of course he was running amok and causing all kind of disturbances and couldn’t be left to his own devises in this world that must seem so strange to him. Cardinal Tuck exerted his influence to try to diminish the stories of him rising from the dead and to hide Friar Tuck’s true fate. It was better that the Sherriff think the Friar was dead. It was some time before Friar Tuck finally found an ally in John Young. When Friar Tuck did find an ally in John Young, the rumours seemed to die down and the mess subside. Cardinal Tuck was worried that the Friar had actually found his true end but could no longer find trace of him.

Alex: Friar Tuck

Robin Hood and his Merry men are rebels against the corrupt goverment of their star system "Kingdom".Robin and his friends travel ot the space ship "Loxley" fighting the evil tyrant John who pronounced himself King of the star system.Their base is hidden in "Sherwood Forest" a meteorite field deep in the state of Nottingham ...

Friar Tuck - He is the ships cook and ammunitions expert.On his homeworld he was a General in the army but after King John takes over ,the planets armies are disbanded.After that he starts traveling through the system in search of his faith.He is a religious person but hasn't found which religion is best for him.

DiCicatriz: Shaman Tuk

Tuk belonged to the Brotherhood of Higher Consciousness, a peaceful religious group of monks who inhabited the outer edge of the Empire, living on the borders of the dimensional rift. He was the prodigy of his group, attaining vast psychic abilities through their training and ritual exposure to interdimenaional energies. His order having been wiped out by the Preceptor, who feared their abilities, Tuk seeks to avenge his brothers by joining with Robenne's group. He carries the psychic essences of his order housed in a sacred jar so that they may witness the downfall of the empire.

Jordanxord: Frytuch, aka "Friar Tuck"

Frytuch is an alien missionary, a member of the Order of Indrenik, a religious order in the alien world of Grevanor. He arrived on Earth in a mission to investigate and explore the human race and culture. When the tyrant Baron Mordach began his evil reign, Frytuch tried to talk with the Baron and help him to reason and think about his ways. The baron ordered his arrest and sent him to a space prison, where he was rescued by Robin Hood. After his rescue, he joined Robin and his crusade against the evil Baron. Robin began to call him “Friar Tuck”. Tuck is a great philosopher and scholar, and a devoted man of religion. Altough it may sound as a contradiction, Tuck is also a trained and skilled fighter, using a bo or fighting staff as his weapon of choice.

Myro: Sister Tuck

Josephine Tuck has dreamed since she was a child of joining the seminary, and working for The Galactic Church of Infinite Truth, hearing the calling of her faith.  However, now recently ordained into the church, she finds, while she still believes in her faith, she has lost confidence in the church itself,  for having propped up Princess Joan’s illegitimate rule.   She put in to be transferred to the Galactic Frontier, to serve as a military chaplain, but the vessel that was transporting her was waylaid by Robyn Hood and crew.  Although Tuck did nothing, beyond pleading with the pirates, in the way to resist them as they made off with the ship’s supplies (leaving just enough behind to get them back to the nearest Naval Base),  when Elaine O’Dale tried to take Sister Tuck’s cross, Tuck defended herself with a shock pole, rendering O’Dale unconscious.  After fending off Little Jane, Tuck found herself facing Robyn Hood herself in a shock pole duel, which Tuck won.   Robyn ordered her Lively Ladies to depart, leaving Tuck unmolested, and at the last moment, Sister Tuck chose to join Robyn’s crew.  She serves on the crew providing medical aid (having learned nursing in the seminary), and spiritual guidance to the crew, as well as a willingness to defend the ship’s crew with her shock pole when required, despite her vows of non-violence.

Gargoyle323

Tuck is a reluctant Holy Man from the planet Earth. A easy going man with a love for music and wine, he was one of the survivors after the Sheriff attacked his planet. He swore to bring justice on this evil man, no matter what it takes. He was severely injured and needed to have cybernetic parts to keep him alive and able to continue his pursuit of the Sheriff. He has joined forces with Earth's remaining fighting forces and their leader, Robin Hood. He is part of these M.E.R.-E men (Mechanically Enhanced Rebels-Earth class) and will do what must be done to protect the universe from The Lord Sheriff.

Hammerknight

Friar Tuck had started a monastery on one of Sherwood Forrest's smaller meteors. Tuck began to care for Robin and placed him and Little John into hiding. Upon Robin's recovery, he began to plan a way for him and the other farmers to regain their farms on Nottingham. The only trade route from Nottingham to New London was through Sherwood Forest. Robin organized attacks on the Sheriff Corp's transports, stealing their goods, and using them to feed the hungry families in Sherwood.

Rozenstal

No story provided.

Imp: Friar Wolfram Tuck

A priest of the United Church and a former member of its Viridian Order (an order of fighting monks), Tuck was discredited by the Church after certain embarrassing incidents involving vast quantities of alcohol, hiraga weed, and young women.  He was thrown out of the Viridians and became a wandering monk, eventually making his way to Nottingham Sector and joining Robin Hood in his fight against the Marshalls.

Frevoli: Tucker Fry

The gang's coming together, but what they don't have is a technology expert. Enter inventer and spiritualist Tucker Fry. Bound by an ancient order which even he knows little about (but still regards fairly important) Tucker is the self determined "comic relief" of the group.

Jean: T.U.C.K.

Originally Father Fontaine Tucker, a Catholic Priest who had protested the brain ships, the (literal) brain of the ship was once a man who strongly believed in peace and justice.  Now trapped inside a brainship he still holds to these beliefs and will act to protect not just the crew but any innocents who may be involved. As a human, TUCK (as he now prefers to be called) was a bit of a hedonist, who enjoyed cooking and still uses the food replicators on the ship to prepare fine meals for his human friends.  For convenience, he usually appears in a holographic form that strongly resembles his former self.

GeneH

No story provided.

Atomic Punk: Frre Tuk

Of all the Merry Men, Frre Tuk is the most enigmatic. Robin Hood "met" Tuk while attempting to hack into the Fontane Dale Financial Systems' network. Robin intended to use the bank as a backdoor to the Sheriff of Nottingham's tax records. FDF and Nottingham have a rather cozy relationship. Tuk was well aware of Nottingham's financial tricks. Still, he had a job to do.

Robin and Tuk fought a pitched battle in cyberspace. First, was a battle of wits, spamming floods, Spacebook flaming, and chat room insults. Robin grew impatient and launched an all out attack: denials of service, worms, even writing virus code on the fly. In all, their exchanges were fifty for fifty.

Suddenly, Tuk relented. Robin took advantage and "blew the horn": hacker jargon for a rapid code break. Tuk also blew the horn. Robin found himself on the defensive. Tuk had responded with his "packet dogs." Code of his own design, the packet dogs had infiltrated Robin's own network.

Just as Robin thought he would lose his entire system in a flash, Tuk broke the attack. He sent a message to Robin: "Well played, good sir. I am most impressed." Tuk then opened the Sheriff's system to Robin for a brief glimpse.

Robin and Tuk soon were chatting regularly in cyberspace. The two have never met, at least Robin does not believe that they ever have. No one knows whether Tuk is a real person. Some rumors say that Tuk is an artificial intelligence. Others, that he is a brain tape that made its way into cyberspace. Still others say Tuk might be a double agent working for Fontane Dale. To add to the riddle, Tuk now refers to himself as FrereTuk. He claims that Tuk stands for "Truth, Unity, and Knowledge."
Tuk is the merriest of the Merry Men. He is Robin's Chief Intelligence Officer, despite never being physically present. Though he can be flaky and sometimes mischievous, he has never broken Robin's trust. If he is human, he must imbibe quite frequently. Some of his chats tend to be rambling and incoherent.

TJ

Far from a true man of the cloth, Tuck is more of a street Preacher Spreading the word to the masses of
Prince Johns demise under the guise and yarn of the "gospils."

VonMalcolm: Deep Fryer Truck

The second largest member of The Robbing Hoods is Deep Fryer Truck:  a massive advanced animal (parahuman) with a love for Fried E.T.s and Alien Ale.  To gain entry into the Robbing Hoods he ripped Robbin’s legs off:  this led to Robbin’s cybernetic replacement legs.  Truck’s belly is the secret hiding place of  the amoeba-like Too Much. 

Cliff

No story provided.