GRIMDARK Suburban Senshi

GRIMDARK Suburban Senshi

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat! On the day the Avengers were born-

Oh. Wait a moment. That's not how this was started. Let's take a quick trip back... to March 11, 2009! It seemed to be a day like any other. Haak was being his usual sardonic self. Yaijinden was his typical flippant persona. And Shinji? Shinji was yet again 'raging' against 20th Century Fox's way of them handling Marvel Comics film adaptations.

After a off-hand mention that Fox was considering doing a GRIMDARK reboot of the Fantastic Four, Shinji had an idea. An idea so brilliant that Yaijinden couldn't resist following up on it and did most of the heavy work. But it was Shinji's idea. And Shinji wanted that to be noted again. Because he's egotistical.

Shinji wanted some GRIMDARK Haak. And Yaijinden. And Everyone else.

Yaijinden complied. Then, on that momentous day, the GRIMDARK Suburban Senshi were born!

What's GRIMDARK?

Now, you ask, what's GRIMDARK? To steal a helpful explanation: Grimdark is an adjective derived from the tagline for Warhammer 40k, which states that "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." It is generally used to describe a setting which it would really, REALLY suck to actually live in, exemplified by Warhammer 40k itself; the kind of place where heroes fight for what's right against a hostile and often-malevolent universe, but their victories are always temporary, usually come at a tremendous personal cost, and are still ultimately inconsequential in the long run. It can also be used to describe artwork that has a grimdark feel, even if the setting itself would not normally be considered grim and dark.

Thus GRIMDARK was born. And from that came GRIMDARK Suburban Senshi!

GRIMDARK People

GRIMDARK Adam Kanal: This occasional inhabitant of Ten'ou House wears many hats: member of the SPD, Torchwood, and a few other covert organizations on the side. His loyalties are many, varied, and twisted; it takes all of the energy he can manage to stay above the line and in good faith with the many directives-- for if he fails one, he will fail them all. How long can this triple-agent maintain this facade, and when he is offered one chance at happiness, will he abandon his ideals to take it anyway?

GRIMDARK Aescapulus: A mind the size of a moon, the planetoid-sized medical freighter Aescapulus has offered its services to Raihosha, serving as the Mage Lord's eyes and ears in a thousand distant star systems. What Raihosha does not admit to himself is that he needs Aes's aid more than Aes needs his. What does this self-aware starship truly gain from this partnership? And when it decides it is done with the relationship, what kind of horrors will it visit upon the universe?

GRIMDARK Allison Blitz: Pop star by day, magical soldier of the sun by night, Allison shares a fragmented soul with her brother-- and together, they fight the darkness in whatever form it takes, until now. She has unknowingly invited a dangerous, soul-devouring spirit into her home, and impossibly it has sworn to serve as her bodyguard; she loves him dearly, but what will she do if he loses control of his urges? And can she retain a hold of her own jealous nature, when he tries to save a comrade as he was once saved himself?

GRIMDARK Amaya Ikari: Amaya defied fate and escaped the destruction of the cosmos of her birth, but the world she emerged into is a dark and twisted mirror of the one she once knew. Her mother has become a demon, her father is an uncaring philanderer, and the people she trusted in for safety and protection are either too caught in their own lives to help her, or just as bad as the things that Amaya now seeks to escape. She lives on the fringes, trying to find some way to survive the day to day and just as desperately trying to find a reason to stay alive when everything she loves has deserted her.

GRIMDARK Anthony Suthers: See also Anthony Suthers, because you can't make a shit sandwich any worse by pissing on it.

GRIMDARK Bixia Yuanjin: Even a story has a soul -- a reality that the Seven Cryptical Books of Xan resent deeply and desperately. She stands in defiance of the Powers That Be, trying to fulfill the will of her author by empowering mortals to fight her battles alongside her, but she has realized that every life she drafts to that purpose is ultimately destroyed by it. With this burden on her heart, it is only a matter of time before her heart cracks beneath the strain... and until she gives into the darkness she has battled, and becomes one of the monsters she hunts.

GRIMDARK CardShopOnna: Escaping from her family in the United States, Rose Boiselle has retreated into the sticky world of Gamer Nerds of Japan. The owner and operator of a comic store, Rose sells YGO cards with one hand and twisted pornographic doujinshi with the other, anything so long as they allow her to live in the fantasy lands offered her by her roleplaying games.

GRIMDARK Celeste: A mortal splinter of the once-saint Kannon Bosatsu, Celeste remembers only this mortal life and knows only the purpose of service to a higher power. She has found a new master in the wicked wise man Yaijinden, and submits herself to his every whim will with wild abandon and knowing delight.

GRIMDARK Cora: The victim of cruel fate, Cora's earliest memories are of a time forgotten by human recollection. She exists in The Hotel as a relic, her innocence of the world fracturing a bit at a time with every close encounter, every accident. It is only a matter of time before despair becomes her every waking moment, and the dark things of the world hunger for frightened souls like hers...

GRIMDARK Cressida X-A: Having watched her mother sell her soul one yen at a time in ultimately-futile attempts to bring peace to the world, Cressida rebelled against the ideology of the Sailor Senshi and turned her considerable talents towards more sensualist pursuits. Many mistake her for a hedonist, but her hunger is tempered by an amused detachment from both her virtues and weaknesses, and the handful of people she does care for have her utter devotion.

GRIMDARK David O`Cain: This soldier surrendered his life, his honor, his pride, and ultimately his soul in the name of the Moon Kingdom... and when the war came, all of his sacrifices came to nothing. Abandoned as a relic of the old war, David has only just now begun to try reclaiming his personhood through a normal life... that is, of course, if the remnants of the army that abandoned him doesn't decide to capture and enslave him in the service of their Dead Empire.

GRIMDARK Doggie Krueger: This tough-as-nails commander of the local S.P.D. division holds himself high as the ethical leader of his team, walking the fine line between the needs of his superiors and the demands of his position... at least, that's what everyone thinks he does. The actuality is that Doggie has succumbed to the temptations of his station, allowing alien traffickers to approach and exist on Earth, keeping investigations low and occasionally bagging the fools who do not want to play by his rules. It's a dirty game, but Doggie's played dirtier.

GRIMDARK Dr. Xadium: A member of an alien race dedicated to preserving the even, uninterrupted flow of time, Dr. Xadium has rejected his people for the fleeting love of a mortal-- and has suffered, unprepared, all of the slings and arrows of mortal life as a result. His life has been crushed, his essence has been cleaved in twain, his access to their power has been stripped-- and though he and his mate both love each other dearly, sometimes, at night, he wonders if he made the right choice...

This is an accurate depiction of GRIMDARK Dyne. Even his weakness to fruit pies.

GRIMDARK Dyne: Dyne's mind snapped when his long-time girlfriend was ruthlessly murdered in an attack by the Death Busters, many years ago. For years, he has found himself drawn to women who resemble his lost love, only to evaluate them as inferior copies of a dead woman and kidnap them into a life of sexual bondage and servitude. His pride in watching these girls crack beneath the strain, becoming mere shells of their former selves, is nothing compared to the pleasure he gets from parading his broken girls before appreciative audiences.

GRIMDARK Eiry: Though Eiry knew her family was different, and that her relationship with her twin sister was somehow changed by their own uniqueness, she tried very hard to live her life as a normal human might until she met a dashing alien stranger who swept her off her feet. Though she and he have formed a spiritual bond, she has found herself crushed between the perils of adapting to his adoptive metahuman children and pretending, desperately, that the dangers her lover encounters in his life will not someday spill over into her own...and that the Hunters that plague her extended family will not come for her as well.

GRIMDARK Eitak Razal: Installed by popular assent after she slew the previous reigning monarch in a witch-duel, Eitak presents a jaded, indifferent face to the world that masks the hatred and paranoia she must yet keep in abeyance. Her enemies lurk behind every smiling bureaucrat's face, and her mind still reels with the magic used to make a puppet out of her years back. It is only a matter of time before she cracks-- and what then of the world she swore to protect?

GRIMDARK Etna: Killer, marauder, maniac, the only beautiful part of the self-styled Beauty Queen Etna is the way she manages to arc arterial spray at the end of a spear thrust. As a demon-asura, the only pleasures she can feel are the cold thrill of victory and the heat of adrenaline-charged bloodsport; while she searches for a way back to her home, and to real opponents worth competing against, she nonetheless hunts ways to sate her boredom amidst the hapless souls of Earth 1337-G.

GRIMDARK Faye: One is not raised by twisted sorcerers without consequence, and Faye Kizen is proof of this. At a glance, she is a toddler still in diapers who has trouble with the fine motor control of drinking out of anything but a sippy cup; it's only in subtler moments that one can see the genuine delight in Faye's eyes when she witnesses suffering, or the romance of things unnatural, and other sights that would sicken a more humane, compassionate soul. What songs of the Old Gods will she sing when she knows the words?

GRIMDARK Flowerfall: A dryadic spirit of the forest, Flowerfall fights desperately in a realm we might call ridiculous, or hailing from a fairy-tale, for her very survival. Bound to the life of her tree, she is robbed of her voice whenever she strays too far from it-- which makes finding the help she needs to prevail in her task that much more difficult.

GRIMDARK Furu Ikari 616: Borne from stolen genes and trained as a weapon by a negative universe, Ikari Furu failed at the one mission he was tasked with by his sinister masters: the destruction of his father, Shinji Ikari. Though his battle with his father awakened Furu's heart to the ideals of truth, justice, and the beauty of love, he finds himself now fighting a running battle against the multitude of multiversal factions that once sponsored him-- and are hungry to recoup the benefits they sought and begin their sinister project anew.

GRIMDARK Furu L. Amoros: Formerly from the world of depraved, murderous souls known as Hueco Mundo, Furu L. Amoros and his companion were tasked to perform reconnaisance on our world at the behest of their master-- but found that in our world, there lived an echo of the woman who mentored and educated him, sparing him from the predations of other malignant spiritual entities. He has sworn his unlife to the defense of this girl, and to protecting his comrade-in-arms from the depths of her own former depredations-- but how long can he keep her from knowing the truth about himself? And how long will it be before his own nature overtakes him and he gives in to his monstrous appetites?

GRIMDARK Future Furu 2.0: Though this Furu Ikari possesses the temperament, curiosity, and inclination typical of all mad scientists, these qualities are tempered by a strange, ineffable code of ethics and the desire to protect others from the terrible creations of his peers. There are few minds in the multiverse that are capable of matching his-- but will he be clever enough to protect himself, and others, against those who intent to dominate all of Creation?

GRIMDARK Gemini Sunrise: Lost to time and space for generations, this gunslinger had resigned herself to a life of emptiness until she met the man who had saved her as a girl. They cling to one another with wanton abandon, each using the other as a bulwark against the horrors of the world. Pitted against the forces that hunt her lover, though, Gemini has nothing but spit and gristle to fight with... and while she's been lucky so far, she's only mortal.

GRIMDARK Go-Go Yubari: Known throughout the Japanese criminal underworld by her alias "Go-Go," this murderous adrenaline junkie is one of the foremost assassins of the underground world, and is satisfied by nothing less than the brutality of bloodsport. She has only been further unhinged by her brief experience as a khadi under the sorceror Yaijinden, and has even taken to informing the authorities of her gang's movements, relishing the chaos and knowing that she is the last person they would suspect of sowing this havoc.

GRIMDARK Haak: Son of the distant future, the man known as Haak once served a great galaxy-wide Empire before he was recruited to serve a deeper, stranger order. The Flame Knights taught him the secret heresies of his time-- the power of psychic fire, and telekinetic strength-- and sent him back to our time to monitor and defend the ancient Earth from those who would ravage it before the Imperium dawns. His purpose is clear, his duty simple-- but the orders to avoid intervention have long since fallen to the side, as he has taken a wife and sired children against the will of the Imperium. He prays that they never look too closely, for when if they should learn, they will kill them both... and him, for being corrupted by the sickness of an adorable fuzzy bunny and the mutant taint.

GRIMDARK Ikari Momo: Child of an interdimensional traveller and one of the world's renowned keepers of magic, Momo is not the leader of her generation-- though she might as well be the brains behind it. She sees the misguided antics of her extended family for what it is, and is perhaps the only member of the Neo-Magirangers who has her heart set on finding their lost parents. Is she the guiding light her team needs to achieve victory, or is she the only one who can sink them for sure?

GRIMDARK Indigo: Out of contempt for her peers and hatred for her own weakness, Sailor Io of the Jupiter Satellite Senshi gave her immortal heart to the wicked wise man Yaijinden -- and in doing so, has become the sort of monster her previous incarnations hunted. When she calls upon the Sailor power that is her birthright, she becomes a beast in body and mind, a Senshi whose flesh and form flows like the lava she commands. For now, she has managed to retain her self-determination, but every time she transforms, it becomes harder to remember why her old life has any meaning at all...

GRIMDARK Intern: The best and brightest of the Celestial Intervention Agency, the Intern serves as the faithful if oft-flustered adjutant of the Actuary. Her innocence hides a knife-edge's desperation that she is loathe to let anyone else see; she has survived her unlikely life only through her willingness to make deals with demons, aliens, and things that remember well their bargains. It will only be a matter of time before one of her creditors comes calling, and in exchange for their boons, demand services she will be reluctant to pay... but will pay, in the name of continued survival.

GRIMDARK Inu-Kitsune: A spirit hailing from the underside of a distant world, the spoiled princess Inu-Kitsune has thrashed, kicked, bitten, and punted her way to a position away from her "manipulative and overbearing" (but honestly perfectly normal noble) parents to Ten'ou House. Seeking some refuge from her own immaturity, Inu-Kitsune married a career soldier and has had many children in a futile attempt to fill the hole in her life whose existence she would sooner die than admit.

GRIMDARK Jinan D.: Jinan is a stark reminder to her family that some legacies never die. The eldest of ? and Elda Aster's children, she has inherited the oracular sight of her uncle against the odds and is more than happy to squander it in personal pleasures. Though she has the strongest gift of her siblings, she also has the least ambition, quite happy to be in the right place at the right time to win some payout and nothing more. There's no trace of her father's heroic ambitions or her mother's sense of ethics, though their disappointment has always amused her far more than it has bothered her.

GRIMDARK Joanna: The third of the Smithson/Kaze triplets, Joanna is driven by envy for her more powerful, more influential siblings. The fact that they suffer for their work is inconsequential; Matsuo has his psychic power, Matsumi has her Sailor Senshi powers, and Joanna has nothing but her own humanity. Though she has developed a monstrous personal power to make herself their equal, it is not enough -- it will never be enough -- until they acknowledge her as their better, or failing that, die beneath her hands.

GRIMDARK Magistra: The power that the Magistra has inherited through her mother and father has not helped her. As a Sage, she feels the bending and splintering of Time like the twisting and snapping of her own bones; as a Time Lord, she can see just what awaits the cosmos if her friends fail. She hides her knowledge of what is to transpire between a smile and a whispered "Spoilers!", but the Magistra knows what is to come. As much as she considers herself a steward of time, Riyanna wonders if it wouldn't just be easier to pull down the house of cards herself and spare them the agony of their defeat...

GRIMDARK Matsumi Kaze: Body and soul twisted by an uncaring kharmic wheel of destiny, Matsumi does her best to serve as her destiny has demanded, even to the point of echoing her ancestor's footsteps as foretold by prophecy. She must deny the terrible calls of her heart, her very soul, and every one of her interests, for failure to act in the path laid before her by the Powers That Be may well result in a fate worse than death.

GRIMDARK Matsuo Shin: Matsuo believes his interest in the far-flung specks of forgotten cultures beyond Earth originates of his own person. He does not suspect the hands of ancient gods in his teaching, nor their ultimate plans for him: to be the avatar-shell of the Six, the mad and hungry divinities of a dead planet. And the more he learns of these places and exercises his psychic powers, the better prepared he is to play host to their alien desires.

GRIMDARK Mango-chan: Outcast from her people and stripped of the memories she has of time among them, General Mango Kattan of the Certask Empire is a forgotten echo buried beneath the impulsive, perky cheer of her emergent personality. If there was ever any hope for her to have a normal life, it was dashed upon the rocks when she agreed on a whim to serve Yaijinden as one of his khadi slaves. Bound to a life of impulsiveness, uninterested in thinking about anything save what she wants that moment, and possessed of a frightful level of her own power, she makes a perfect pawn for her heart's keeper...

GRIMDARK Mew: While she would be content to live apart from the dangers of Ten'ou House, Mew Jestee has found herself dragged into those perils by her family regardless. Though she tries to live a normal life, she frets constantly for her sister and daughter who are constantly in the middle of universal trauma-- and in her attempts to save them from themselves, she has earned her own painful scars, most notably the fiery brand of the Heart of Mars upon her very soul. Mew fights to preserve her family, hoping that she can keep them safe-- knowing, praying she is wrong, that one day she will fail.

GRIMDARK Miara Mitsuki: The child of the two most powerful Immortals of her race has found herself caught between the insularity of the Lupa people and the world changing more rapidly than they know. Miara argues extensively for the greater integration of the Lupa with an increasingly-tolerant Humanity, but the old racial memory of her people refuses to comply, even seeing her union with one of the Ultras as an act of outright heresy. Her proficiency with the Astral and her naturally-honed fighting talents have kept her safe from their reactionary knives thus far, but her every word treads on increasingly-thinner ice...

GRIMDARK Miss Kitty White: A rare flower of innocence, Kitty White was raised in solitude and knows nothing of the terrors that lurk in the shadows of every corner. She has many protectors, and all of them work around the clock to ensure that her easy smile, her hopeful optimism, her reassuring empathy, and her good cheer remain unblemished by sinister forces that would take them from her just because they could.

GRIMDARK Mongoosetiger: Genetically engineered on a bet and alark, Mongoosetiger's earnest innocence managed to ingratiate him to his breeder on the remote station Aesclepius. Treated somewhere between a son and a pet, Mongoosetiger studies and learns much like the other children on the ship-- but a terrible secret lies in his genes. His breeder had not intended to keep him around, and was less than thorough in pruning undesired genetic quirks-- such as the tiger's solitary and predatory tendencies-- and though he seems a benign, lovable creature for now, it is only a matter of time before he matures into the killing creature lurking within his genomic template.

GRIMDARK Morrigan: A demonic spirit hailing from one of the many sub-planes of Hell, Morrigan epitomizes the worst of her people-- greedy, lazy, and above all, hungry for power. Yoked by arcane contract to the mercenary known as Solarchos, she blithely serves whatever whims he may have, knowing that one day he will ask something too richly and she will have his soul to add to her collection... if she can ever stop sucking every dick in sight to remember what she's here to do, anyway.

GRIMDARK Nivek Razal: Caretaker and Sage. Brother and magic-wielder. Nivek walks a dozen lines between duty and his heart, and his relationship with his sister is the source of his greatest troubles. How long before his help isn't sufficient to keep her sane? What if he fails her in a moment of weakness? The oaths he swore as a Time Sage ensure he must put her down-- and she has always been the more powerful of the two of them.

GRIMDARK Ozu Houka: Youngest of the Magirangers, Houka leads a double life as J-POP idoru and scourge of the darkness. Her shapeshifting abilities, combined with her magic, have combined with her blind innocence to render her a feared enemy of the magical world, striking down any who would dare stand against the monolithic ideals of the Magiranger with impunity. But behind this madness is a secret ache-- her heart, once dedicated to love, has known pain at the deepest level. Will she ever find the light again, or will her madness drive her to her death-- or worse?

GRIMDARK Paisley: An initiate of the thaumatechnolocial masters of the Karnian Sisterhood, Paisley is one of the most talented junior acolytes that her superiors have seen in centuries -- and one of the most valuable catspaws her elders have in the field. She knows she is being manipulated, knows the tasks she is occasionally burdened with serve agendas not her own, but every success is rewarded with another scrap of secret lore she cannot help but snap up. Paisley contents herself with the long leash she is provided between her allotted duties, knowing that her ascendancy is only a matter of time, and then she will be the one issuing orders.

GRIMDARK Potamos: This demonic water spirit lurks amongst the inhabitants of Ten'ou House. Though her twisted soul was subdued with the power of love, she constantly must do battle against the evil in her heart lest it consume her and everything she has learned to love.

GRIMDARK Raihosha: A wizard-sage hailing from another plane of existence, Raihosha's duty as a Magelord is to mend the fabric of the multiverse whenever it frays. It is a lonely job, and one that has cost him much-- and while he may live for thousands of years to come, he will have time only at the expense of seeing everyone, and everything, die eons before he himself finally earns his rest.

GRIMDARK Reiko: Eldest of the Neo-Magiranger, Reiko's peculiar origins are reflected in the inhumanity of her eyes. The first and only master of Time Magic in Magiranger history, Reiko sees things differently from her companions in the new generation-- literally. The past, present, and future are the same to her, which has given her great authority in her work to ensure the purity of the new generation... and the chance to manipulate things further at the whims of the Heavenly Saints. She is their willing pawn, knowing nothing but the purity of purpose and the joy of enacting her master's will, and if the Neo-Magiranger prove to be liabilities then she will be the one to kill them herself.

GRIMDARK Rhia: Cold and heartless, the way that a thousand years of endless war makes a person, Rhia is a contender in the Great Game-- and the Hotel is her current stop while she lays plans to contain her newest prey. Mortal life and concerns are inconsequential to her; the only thing that matters is the harvest of power from every Immortal kill, and coming that closer to victory.

GRIMDARK Ryan: Some people are mean because the universe has given them nothing but shit. Ryan is one of those people who's mean because he was born that way. One part mercenary, one part self-styled superhero, he flits from interesting thing to interesting thing with all the ethical interest of a fruit fly; his attentions are destructive and self-serving, his ambitions limited to feeling justified about his own choices, and to have lived a life wherein he takes no shit from anyone.

GRIMDARK Sailor Planet Lesbian Amazon Catgirl: The product of an attempt to mass-produce artificial Sailor Senshi, Cardea was stolen from the facility that produced her and somehow managed to live a life sheltered from the actuality of her heritage. When she was somehow drafted to serve as the Sailor Senshi of Furu Ikari, the girl's powers were inevitably awakened to her complete surprise, and the other products of the project-- failed, incomplete Sailor Senshi-- sensed this awakening as well. Though she has dedicated herself to ensuring that her "Planet" stays safe and well, she must also protect herself from the forces that would seek to draft her back into their service... and pour through her genes to recreate the army of the future.

GRIMDARK Sailor Sol: Candy Rei had taken great pains to forget the life she had lived before, but Fate would not allow her to do so for long. Compelled to take the power of Sailor Sol after using it for evil in a prior incarnation, Candy handles her new found power with restraint, hoping that she will not be called on to wield the apocalyptic fires of a star on a planet that she cares for very deeply-- and hopes that if she is ever called, she will withstand the corruptive calls that seduced her into murder the first time around.

GRIMDARK Sailor Terra: A refugee from time and space alien to our own, this former servant of Prince Endymion has been planted in our universe as a spy and predictor for her own history. She has had a glimpse into her own future, and spends her time gathering data here so that she may one day avoid the terror in her own life that is yet to come.

• note: this is the previous Sailor Terra (Tux' terra), not the current one (Maret)

GRIMDARK SaiyaJedi: Formerly a proud member of an warrior race, his once-legendary fury honed and tempered by the ideals of a dead monastic order, SaiyaJedi's unfathomable skill at martial combat has done him nothing in a world that does not tolerate war. Unable to cope with the changes foisted upon him, this noble warrior has been reduced to scavenging from dumpsters and begging at restaurants to survive-- hoping and praying that some day, some time, the skils he spent years honing will one day be put to use again.

GRIMDARK Saki Suminaka: Everything this woman touches shatters in her hands. Her incompetence at even menial tasks is legendary. And yet, you will never see her without a cheery smile... though whether this smile is born of indifference and blind naivete or a purposeful, willful self denial of her entropic nature, we may never know.

GRIMDARK Sakura Xadium Aino: Born into violence, Sakura Xadium Aino has known little else in her life. Though she has accumulated a veritable host of honors and accords-- Time Lord of Gallifrey, Division Captain of Soul Society, adept of the Iron Soul technique-- but all of these honors ring hollow in her long life. She has never truly been able to shake the burden of surviving her parents, and allpower she has gained from all the lessons of all the teachers of the universe have not given her the strength to unwrite the death of her parents. She has dedicated herself to the protection of the innocent-- and with every battle, every war, she gives up a little shred of the hope she once had for peace. It is only a matter of time before she starts parceling out more substantial pieces of herself...

GRIMDARK Sarah Christensson: Sarah had thought herself done with life and its trappings. Life said differently. Now trapped in a clone body less than a quarter her original age, Sarah must dance to the alien sensations of her flesh once again, trying desperately to put a bright face on while she searches out the cause of her 'resurrection.'

GRIMDARK Shinji Ikari: Here, there, everywhere—Shinji has seen it all, been it all, done it all. This jaded adventurer flies by instinct, affiliated with a dozen institutions and loyal to none. From star system to star system, galaxy to galaxy, Shinji wines, dines, and seduces men and women across the universe, but it is all with a predator's eyes and a hungry appetite-- for what he seeks, and can never have, is the love of a father who cast him aside and a mother who became a world-devouring monster.

GRIMDARK Simon Kerrick: Terror and jealousy have kept Simon Kerrick in a prison of his own making, but in the wake of his passing into undeath as a Lich, Simon's ambitions have met with unprecedented success: not only does he rule as a benevolent almost-god over a people of refugees, but he has earned a place for his country amidst great powers. His desires scale higher with every success, and while he believes himself in control of the risks he takes, it is only a matter of time before he oversteps himself -- or before an heretofore-unknown bigger fish oversteps him.

• Edit: Almost exactly as described above, a bigger fish overstepped Simon during mid-June 2016. She killed him, during a fight to the death, amid a narrative so grimdark it simply must be recorded here.

GRIMDARK Souldier: A dimension-hopping burly brawler, Souldier loves three things: drinking, fighting, and f[BLEEP]king, not necessarily in that order. He traveled to Ten'ou House on rumor and hearsay, seeking the latest new thing to beat around--but rather than skip out, he has found the place uncannily appealing, and against his usual nature has settled down for a while. Though the scope of his powers would make him a dangerous individual if he truly wanted to cause trouble, he seems content to amuse himself with petty brawls and violence...for now, at least.

GRIMDARK starcat: Once an assassin serving the enigmatic ILLUMINATI, Jalissa Ikari's life of murderous violence was set aside when her masters decided she would be more of use to them as a pawn to plant in Ten'ou House. She has performed admirably in that function, serving as the ultimate example of human ingenuity and statesmanship, even quietly seizing control of the prostitution rings throughout Tokyo and putting them in the service of her masters. But one day, Jalissa knows that her life here may end at the whim of her masters-- and if they call, she will be compelled to serve them in whatever gruesome fashion they require. She would mourn that loss for the rest of her life-- but she will plunder, steal, and murder for them, for without their guidance she is nothing.

GRIMDARK Suu: People have worked hard to keep Yotsuba Suu in the dark about her true nature, but all that work has come to naught. She knows she is special. She knows she was given life for a reason. She knows she is part of a deeper pattern, some arcane design-- and she is determined to find out who she really is, and why she was born. But the secrets she desires are carefully guarded, and with good reason. Perhaps she will find the answers she seeks, and be able to return to her life... but knowledge is a fire that burns, and if Suu wishes to learn the truth, she must hope that she does not catch alight herself.

GRIMDARK Taki Kensei: The people of the Land of Light have drawn a curtain against the galaxy, trading their connection to the galaxy for safety. Taki Kensei is one of a handful Ultrabeings who has cast aside that safety and entered self-exile, desperately providing what aid he can to the lesser races against forces that would overwhelm and subsume them into the coruscating insanity underwriting the universe. It is a lost cause, and Taki knows this, but the gesture of defiance against the darkness is more precious to him than a billion years of peaceful stagnation.

GRIMDARK Thrash: A Time Lord's life is one of either ceaseless academic infighting or life-threatening, soul-harrowing adventures, and Thrash has chosen the latter with gleeful abandon. He continues to choose the latter, and his misadventures invariably sweep up others in his ever-busy wake. He has borne witness to genocides, eschatons, and sights that would turn saner stomachs with all the emotional investment of a tourist on vacation, intervening only when it suits his whims to do so; his 'companions' are haunted by their experiences with him, leaving outsiders to wonder if he's simply toying with lesser beings as a whim and a delight.

GRIMDARK Whistler: An alien from beyond our reckoning, Whistler's fate was sealed when he accidentally entangled his psychic quantum with Vietnam veteran Brad London. Psychically bound to Wolfwood for better or worse, Whistler became psychotic over the course of decades and attempted to have his partner killed, painfully, in an attempt to regain his freedom. The alien's failure sealed his own fate, and he may well be as dead as anything ever is in Suburban Senshi.

GRIMDARK Wolftouched: Fostered as a human, Rachel thought herself to be an average teenager until her life was torn apart by people who could sense the inhumanity of her soul. Now that she has returned to her true people, and the true depths of her power have been revealed, will she retain her humanity in the face of the demands of immortality? Or will she be corrupted by her power, as so many have been before her?

GRIMDARK Yaijinden: This monster was once a man, until a dark god seized his heart, and with it, his soul. Taking the name Yaijinden, he has scoured the stars in search for a way to reclaim his humanity-- but when he has finally found the power he needs to take on those unspeakable entities, will he willingly let go of it? Or will he simply take their place, and join the mad dance of the Outer Gods?

GRIMDARK YingGirl: A tortured biological/spiritual weapon, Yinggirl's sentience is a terrible quirk of fate, giving her the ability to reason as mortals do without giving her the capacity to live as one. The last relic of a long-dead empire, she finds herself compelled to obey her programming and stay apart from the mortals that surround her... just as her newfound will compels her to become involved. If she could die, she would have killed herself long ago.

GRIMDARK Yumiko Takanashi: In pursuit of the love that will make her life meaningful, Yumiko Takanashi has devoted herself to a series of poor decisions. Those she adopts as lovers and family only repeat the patterns of cruelty she grew up with, but even that cruelty is a familiar blessing. She has lent her defensive power as Sailor Blackstar to the worst of villains for the most token affections. Were she ever to become aware of the horrors she has committed in the name of love, it would be enough to break her will entirely.

GRIMDARK Yura: Suspended between the living world and the dead for countless years, Yura acted as a mediator between the two until she was caught by a force she couldn't pacify and given a torturous initiation into the ranks of the hungry dead, known as Hollows. She has emerged from the experience stronger, but fundamentally changed, cursed with incredible power and the base urges to satiate her newfound hunger for souls at any cost, at any opportunity. For now she has found some semblance of balance, devouring the souls of the evil and the wicked, but she knows that it is only a matter of time before there is a dry spell... and her fellows among the Arrancar have also taken note of her strength, and will have her at any cost-- as an ally, or as lunch.

GRIMDARK Things

GRIMDARK Galaxy Cauldron: As the birthplace of all souls, the realm known as Galaxy Cauldron is the source of and point of return of every spirit, starseed, Sailor Crystal and is basically responsible for the fundamental processes of life. It has had a hundred stewards in its time, and it will have a thousand more before the galaxy goes cold and dim-- and the Galaxy Cauldron has always required stewards, for it is perhaps the single richest font of power in all of Creation. But where did it come from? And where shall it go? And if it has not always been here, what unfathomable hands brought it into being?...

GRIMDARK Special Police Dekaranger: Competing with the hundreds of other police forces in the galaxy, Special Police Dekaranger is one of the best, and worst candidates for the job. Contracting out to planets looking for protection from alien criminals, the S.P.D. keeps a tight lid on violent alien activity while subtly taking a cut from the lesser criminal activities that are swept under the rug. Everybody profits... except the poor citizens who are being duped, of course. But when you can't field your own protective force, a contract with the S.P.D. will at least keep your people alive a little bit longer.

GRIMDARK Torchwood: Established at the order of a centuries-old British Queen, Torchwood is England's answer to other countries' covert operations groups intended to deal with the paranormal. Their modern descendents are the best of their generation-- underfunded, underequipped, and asked to deal with far more than they know how to handle. it is no surprise that Torchwood is riddled with internal strife and stress as it is: the hours are long, the job is thankless, and death lies behind every corner. Vice runs thick among Torchwood members-- sexual deviance, drug use, and rumors of darker things abound. Only time will tell if they can continue to overcome their fractitious, degenerate natures in order to keep the country safe from itself.

GRIMDARK UNIT: Formed ostensibly to fight off the threat of alien invasion, the United Nations Task Force's once-noble goals have long been subsumed by the very forces they thought to control. UNIT has become a hotbed of alien intrigues, wracked with corruption and infiltration by alien forces who are using the organization as a catspaw against one another. Though they have successfully maintained the facade that UNIT is an independent force for humanity thus far, there is no telling when one of the alien puppetmasters will finally oust theier enemies and truly take control.

More will be coming soon. Or Shinji GRIMDARK's Yai's life up. Since Yai has continued to do so, his life is GRIMDARK free... for now!