@Leg: Thanks for the giant smiley thing….
@cliff: Thank you as well
@Mav: Thanks for the praise, but there are ‘machiners far more daring and creative than myself. The best way you can “step up your game” is to take an idea that really speaks to you and do the best with it that you know how.
“New” character time: I made this character last year for a Public Domain Heroes contest, when I was in a “streamline and kick more ass” kind of mood. There was this really poorly costumed, poorly named hero called Boy King who dressed like his name should have been Drag Queen fought Nazi supervillains alongside his golem, who had the obvious name of Giant. I took this pair of lemons and painted them gold by combining and gender-swapping them into one character, the Golem Queen. Her original design was closer to Boy King, and so had a clumsy, magical girl anime kind of vibe that didn’t garner much attention.
The “New Universe” version of her exists in the same continuity as the other characters in this thread, and has been stripped of all her cumbersome regalia in favor of this design:
Name: Golem Queen
Alias: Dr. Regina Grant
Team Affiliations: Clockwork (reserve member)
Race: Human
Birthplace: London, England
Powers/Abilities: Stone skin, Magically enhanced strength, Can summon Golems from any rocky surface, Extensive historical knowledge, Scholar of biblical lore
Bio: Regina Grant was an archaeologist hired by Eldritch Thule, a German historian, to locate the Longinus Spear (a legendary Biblical artifact known to some as the Spear of Destiny). When Thule supplied her with an archaeological team of his choosing and insisted on accompanying Regina on her expedition, she grew suspicious, as things rarely turn out to be as true as they are good. But this was potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so she reluctantly agreed to his terms and they flew to Jerusalem, where the team began excavating for the Spear.
Regina was lucky enough to find the Spear of Destiny first, but Thule was close at hand, grabbing the Spear at the same instant as Regina, and the two were locked in a tug of war which she was somehow able to win. She could feel a strange power surging into her body from the artifact in her hands, and brandished the Spear at Thule and anyone else who tried to advance on her.
Thule revealed himself to be Heinrich Himmler, the presumably deceased former head of Adolf Hitler’s S.S. squad, and current leader of the ancient occultist Thule Society, of which his team of archaeologists were all members.
He ordered his men to kill Regina Grant and take the Spear by force, and as they drew their guns, Regina closed her eyes and wished she could survive this terrible situation. The Spear of Destiny glowed and the sounds of gunfire were followed almost immediately by gasps of bewilderment as lead ricocheted off of stone.
With a prayer, Regina Grant had become the Golem Queen, a royal figure with skin as resilient as stone and the strength of ten men.
Himmler and his Thule Society fled in fear but they would return time and again until either she or they were no longer living.
As Regina became more skilled with the Spear of Destiny (which she discovered could be stored or retrieved from a pocket dimension by uttering the name of Longinus, the saint to whom the spear originally belonged). The Spear also gave her the ability to summon Golems from any rocky surface nearby and control them with her mind.
The Golem Queen currently lives in seclusion somewhere in the Swiss Alps, developing her powers which she mostly uses to rescue people from avalanches without thus far alerting them to her presence.
However, repeated sightings of the Golem Queen’s stone “subjects” have caused word to spread of mythical rock creatures roaming the countryside, so it is only a matter of time before the Thule Society rears its ugly head once more. In the meantime, the Queen’s activities have attracted the eye of another, less philanthropic exile than herself: William Ernst, who was in the final stages of perfecting his Power Suit, has chosen to target her for his latest test run. Perhaps he will share his findings with the Society?
