TROLLSLUM 4: IT KEEPS HAPPENING

[Bandages]

The most sinister troll I have is a psychic grub a la Brain from "Pinky and the Brain"

Here's a hint, though: Just because something looks creepy or you say "THIS IS CREEPY" doesn't actually make it creepy. There's a very specific art to being unnerving. There's also a range of responses to unsettling images/characters. Some people, myself included, have a really high tolerance for creep. Some people can't sleep the same night they learn about Slenderman.

Some general advice, though: The closer something is to human without actually being human, the scarier it is. I'm pretty sure there's some term for this, I think it's "uncanny valley", but that's dumb. Basically we're scared of things that are familiar but different. That's why serial killers are so scary. They look like humans, but inside their heads there is absolutely no traces of empathy or any other emotion that defines us as human beings. This is also why corpses are scary. They are humans, but they aren't alive and they remind us of death, or squick us out.

Basically, in order for a troll to be good and creepy you can't just give it bleeding eyes or make it say scary things or laugh a lot. A good creepy troll has to be seemingly normal. They have to feel familiar and harmless, but have something about them that is unnatural.

I'd like to bring up Gamzee now for a second. You might say "hey but he's fucking nuts and HE'S scary!" Yes, that's true, but that's because he wasn't always that way. He was always a pretty benign and normal troll. He had a lusus, he chatted with his friends, he had his various interests and he could club an imp if need be. What makes him FUCKING TERRIFYING now is that he no longer seems like a troll, but he still is. He lost all traces of his empathy, his personality, everything that made him the adorable goof that he was. Another thing that makes him scary is that he has a goal. I've noticed a lot of KILLDEATHDESTROY trolls here are just angry and murderous because they are or because they have some really stupid quirk to them like they vomit hornets or their brains were fucked into a pile of sludge by a horrorterror at birth. Gamzee is following his religion. He came to the revelation that he wanted to kill because of that, it wasn't because he was ALWAYS sinister, it was because he snapped like a twig during a crisis of faith.

Now everyone has something that freaks them out, no one is immune to fear. The thing is, in order to be scary to others, you have to be able to know what scares you. Take a look at these pictures, they are all things I have collected that are different types of creepy. (I love creepy, I absolutely love it) There is a chance none of these will faze you at, and there's a chance it will make you feel really uncomfortable so I'm warning you now: the third picture is incredibly gorey and completely NSFW. Do NOT open it if you are uncomfortable at the sight of gore.
1
2

show spoiler

hide spoiler

I'm serious, I don't want to get infracted for this. I am trying to make a point about creepy art, because it relates really well to this thread, so again I am giving you AMPLE WARNING that this may be extremely disturbing: 3

Now, if any of those images squicked you, or made you uneasy, try to pinpoint exactly what it was that did it. If you can understand precisely what is that made you feel unpleasant, then you can start to explore using that in your own work. What scares you might not scare anyone, but if you make something working from your own fears, you will make it scarier subconsciously. It's because you're designing it in the specific way that gets inside your head and makes you cringe. When you try to make something that scares someone else, you are just kind of blindly throwing "scary" aspects together and most of the time, it will just fall flat.

Okay, well...

This ended up being way more ramble-y than I had anticipated. I hope someone got something out of this, because I would love to see some real, bonafide, gen-u-ine creepy trolls around this thread.

Oh and remember! The more BACKGROUND STORY you write about the troll, the creepier it is! By putting thought into the character, you can take something that would be just another "meh that's kind of creepy looking" troll and make it really unsettling! I think ThunderReign does a really great job of this, as their trolls are always really well flushed out to give them that extra squick factor.

WELP. I think I've said a whole lot, and I'm not sure if any of it will make sense.

Happy slumming, fellow troll creators!

[Nox]

...
Your lack of fight or flight response _is_really_ruining_this_for_me_)

[Julia]

I don't like creepy trolls

[amnesiaDinosaur]

Creepy trolls are cool, because I can tell the difference between FAKEY FAKE FAKE and reality. That said, I am also a heartless bastard who feeds off of misery.

[Nox]

Creepy trolls are cool, because I can tell the difference between FAKEY FAKE FAKE and reality. That said, I am also a heartless bastard who feeds off of misery.

Hey, me too! Let's be heartless bastard buddies!

[Psychasthenia]

I love creepy things in general, but as Bandages said in that huge post up thar..
You have to have it done RIGHT.
not only that, but you have to not expect whatever it is for it to be scary, whatever 'It' may be.
And there's something about troll society that makes murder pretty much normal. you need to do better than just hurp durp kills everyone.

[scribaciousMnemonist]

Be the freakishly tall asshole.



Oh c'mon, you're not that tall.

And you're not much of an asshole either. A little ruffled up but not bad. Kinda just staring past me. You know that's rude, right? Hey, are you even LISTENING to me??

Okay, so you SPACE OUT sometimes. But that's not necessarily your fault, you know. It's not everyone who's EXTRACOGNITIVE, and sometimes your mind goes a-wanderin', visiting it's THIRD EYE on the unsuspecting people--

Ahem. We should get back on track, huh. Your name is VAESKO PROECTII. You are somewhere in your ninth sweep now. Your current employment is in the textile industries- in fact, you are something of FABRICS MANUFACTURER, culling the great scratchy masses of GROOL off of your HORNED GROOLBEASTS. You also rear and SHEPARD your flock. Because of your MURKY BROWN BLOOD, however, you were only allotted a tiny pasture. You maximize your grazing area by living in an UNDERGROUND GROTTO accessible via OUTHOUSE ELEVATOR. You're very proud of the ingenuity behind this. Nobody expects an elevator in the outhouse.

Your LUSUS, who stays underground, is a GIANT HORNED GROOLBEAST (there are way too many objectifiers in that animal name.) He was once leader of your flock, and kept them safe. But he had gotten old and exhausted; you finally RETIRED HIM and took his place a sweep ago. It took the grool of seven beasts just to stuff his corpse, not to mention you had to skin him yourself. Obviously you are not about to become a taxidermist on the side.

While your occupation takes long hours out of the day, most of those hours are spent sitting in the outhouse, watching the horned groolbeasts eat grass. You've bought yourself a GRUBTOP to pass the time, and usually sit on TROLLIAN, talking to whomever lends you an ear. Often times, it's a pair of people bickering, and looking for someone to settle their disputes. This makes you something of an ever-present auspistice.

All of your groolbeasts are also linked to your computer through GROOLLIAN, which they communicate between each other with utilizing a TRACKING AND COMMUNICATIONS ID TAG fired into their ear. Ever since the SEMI-FORTUNATE TAGGING INCIDENT, you've also been able to speak on the network. You're pretty much an auspistice there, too. You've developed a fondness for piercings since then, making it one of the few things you actually head into town for.



Your trollhandle is longestShepard and you don't talk much. Except when it's needed.

+++++

I have no idea what his land or title would be in sGRUB. He's got hookkind, which he uses with his Shepard's Loop or Piercing Arch. His modus would be... Uh. Probably just a Tree Modus or something simple.

[maya]

show spoiler

hide spoiler

The most sinister troll I have is a psychic grub a la Brain from "Pinky and the Brain"

Here's a hint, though: Just because something looks creepy or you say "THIS IS CREEPY" doesn't actually make it creepy. There's a very specific art to being unnerving. There's also a range of responses to unsettling images/characters. Some people, myself included, have a really high tolerance for creep. Some people can't sleep the same night they learn about Slenderman.

Some general advice, though: The closer something is to human without actually being human, the scarier it is. I'm pretty sure there's some term for this, I think it's "uncanny valley", but that's dumb. Basically we're scared of things that are familiar but different. That's why serial killers are so scary. They look like humans, but inside their heads there is absolutely no traces of empathy or any other emotion that defines us as human beings. This is also why corpses are scary. They are humans, but they aren't alive and they remind us of death, or squick us out.

Basically, in order for a troll to be good and creepy you can't just give it bleeding eyes or make it say scary things or laugh a lot. A good creepy troll has to be seemingly normal. They have to feel familiar and harmless, but have something about them that is unnatural.

I'd like to bring up Gamzee now for a second. You might say "hey but he's fucking nuts and HE'S scary!" Yes, that's true, but that's because he wasn't always that way. He was always a pretty benign and normal troll. He had a lusus, he chatted with his friends, he had his various interests and he could club an imp if need be. What makes him FUCKING TERRIFYING now is that he no longer seems like a troll, but he still is. He lost all traces of his empathy, his personality, everything that made him the adorable goof that he was. Another thing that makes him scary is that he has a goal. I've noticed a lot of KILLDEATHDESTROY trolls here are just angry and murderous because they are or because they have some really stupid quirk to them like they vomit hornets or their brains were fucked into a pile of sludge by a horrorterror at birth. Gamzee is following his religion. He came to the revelation that he wanted to kill because of that, it wasn't because he was ALWAYS sinister, it was because he snapped like a twig during a crisis of faith.

Now everyone has something that freaks them out, no one is immune to fear. The thing is, in order to be scary to others, you have to be able to know what scares you. Take a look at these pictures, they are all things I have collected that are different types of creepy. (I love creepy, I absolutely love it) There is a chance none of these will faze you at, and there's a chance it will make you feel really uncomfortable so I'm warning you now: the third picture is incredibly gorey and completely NSFW. Do NOT open it if you are uncomfortable at the sight of gore.
1
2

show spoiler

hide spoiler

I'm serious, I don't want to get infracted for this. I am trying to make a point about creepy art, because it relates really well to this thread, so again I am giving you AMPLE WARNING that this may be extremely disturbing: 3

Now, if any of those images squicked you, or made you uneasy, try to pinpoint exactly what it was that did it. If you can understand precisely what is that made you feel unpleasant, then you can start to explore using that in your own work. What scares you might not scare anyone, but if you make something working from your own fears, you will make it scarier subconsciously. It's because you're designing it in the specific way that gets inside your head and makes you cringe. When you try to make something that scares someone else, you are just kind of blindly throwing "scary" aspects together and most of the time, it will just fall flat.

Okay, well...

This ended up being way more ramble-y than I had anticipated. I hope someone got something out of this, because I would love to see some real, bonafide, gen-u-ine creepy trolls around this thread.

Oh and remember! The more BACKGROUND STORY you write about the troll, the creepier it is! By putting thought into the character, you can take something that would be just another "meh that's kind of creepy looking" troll and make it really unsettling! I think ThunderReign does a really great job of this, as their trolls are always really well flushed out to give them that extra squick factor.

WELP. I think I've said a whole lot, and I'm not sure if any of it will make sense.

Happy slumming, fellow troll creators!

spoilering for space, but PLEASE. READ THIS. EVERYBODY. bandages, you've made some AWESOME points, and thank you for bringing 'em to light!! you obviously put a lot of effort into typing all that up, and i can't name a person who coulda said it better(aside from AH perhaps, in the style of SB&HJ).

... though, on the topic, i don't rightly think any of mine are particularly cr-

oh wait, i should probably get around to finishing rießal one of these days. i wouldn't rightly call him 'creepy', but the fact that he's just about the slimiest snake since adam&eve were around should count for something, right? personality can make even the most unassuming-looking troll unsettling, there's another thing to keep in mind!

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Be the freakishly tall asshole.



Oh c'mon, you're not that tall.

And you're not much of an asshole either. A little ruffled up but not bad. Kinda just staring past me. You know that's rude, right? Hey, are you even LISTENING to me??

Okay, so you SPACE OUT sometimes. But that's not necessarily your fault, you know. It's not everyone who's EXTRACOGNITIVE, and sometimes your mind goes a-wanderin', visiting it's THIRD EYE on the unsuspecting people--

Ahem. We should get back on track, huh. Your name is VAESKO PROECTII. You are somewhere in your ninth sweep now. Your current employment is in the textile industries- in fact, you are something of FABRICS MANUFACTURER, culling the great scratchy masses of GROOL off of your HORNED GROOLBEASTS. You also rear and SHEPARD your flock. Because of your MURKY BROWN BLOOD, however, you were only allotted a tiny pasture. You maximize your grazing area by living in an UNDERGROUND GROTTO accessible via OUTHOUSE ELEVATOR. You're very proud of the ingenuity behind this. Nobody expects an elevator in the outhouse.

Your LUSUS, who stays underground, is a GIANT HORNED GROOLBEAST (there are way too many objectifiers in that animal name.) He was once leader of your flock, and kept them safe. But he had gotten old and exhausted; you finally RETIRED HIM and took his place a sweep ago. It took the grool of seven beasts just to stuff his corpse, not to mention you had to skin him yourself. Obviously you are not about to become a taxidermist on the side.

While your occupation takes long hours out of the day, most of those hours are spent sitting in the outhouse, watching the horned groolbeasts eat grass. You've bought yourself a GRUBTOP to pass the time, and usually sit on TROLLIAN, talking to whomever lends you an ear. Often times, it's a pair of people bickering, and looking for someone to settle their disputes. This makes you something of an ever-present auspistice.

All of your groolbeasts are also linked to your computer through GROOLLIAN, which they communicate between each other with utilizing a TRACKING AND COMMUNICATIONS ID TAG fired into their ear. Ever since the SEMI-FORTUNATE TAGGING INCIDENT, you've also been able to speak on the network. You're pretty much an auspistice there, too. You've developed a fondness for piercings since then, making it one of the few things you actually head into town for.



Your trollhandle is longestShepard and you don't talk much. Except when it's needed.

+++++

I have no idea what his land or title would be in sGRUB. He's got hookkind, which he uses with his Shepard's Loop or Piercing Arch. His modus would be... Uh. Probably just a Tree Modus or something simple.

edited to announce that HOLY WOW I LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS CHARACTER. seriously!! his sprites look great, and he seems pretty interesting. 8D awesome job, dude!!

[Rio]

I like the alterniabound sprite.

[Crazy-8]

I wanna make a fat troll

[Nox]

I know, looking back Shivia is rather two-dimentional. I'm trying to fix that by creating a sub-plot where she is actualy holding onto her renaming sanity precariously the entire session. I'm trying to create a sympathetic monster with the potential to change later either into an anti-hero...or a Bec Noir level villain.

[scribaciousMnemonist]

I used Alterniabound Nepata as a base to make LS. Anyways, time to make some animating hair flips and talking.

[amnesiaDinosaur]

For some reason I have a fascination with asshole-douchebag trolls. I think it's because they resemble that part of real-life me.

[maya]

I know, looking back Shivia is rather two-dimentional. I'm trying to fix that by creating a sub-plot where she is actualy holding onto her renaming sanity precariously the entire session. I'm trying to create a sympathetic monster with the potential to change later either into an anti-hero...or a Bec Noir level villain.

hey, man, the fact that you're thinking about it says a lot for your potential! (: keep on keepin' on, brother. what i'd suggest to give characters some depth is to really sit down and think about their intentions. why do they do what they do? say what they say? for a character like shivia, really think about why she kills, how she feels about it. i'd even suggest doing a little creative writing! her response to a fresh corpse, how she interacts with someone she doesn't plan to immediately kill. really give thought to the ... well, thoughts behind her actions!

i mentioned this the other day in IRC and figure now's as good a time as any to repeat it: a truly deep character should essentially write him/herself. let shivia's words and actions be entirely her own, really get into her head, and you'll be well on your way!

[BewareOfNerd]

Be the flowery-smelling troll.

Your name is Azepam Vyvyan.

You take great pride in your personal appearance, which makes most other trolls think you are a little weird. You have distinctively lavish and antiquated taste in fashion, which is reflected in the decor of your hive. You have a sunny, flamboyant and rather theatrical personality, and devote yourself to beauty, love, and the pursuit of pleasure.

You possess a rare psychic power: any troll within twenty feet of you becomes calm and relaxed. Anxious and hyperactive trolls slow down, violent trolls talk out their problems, and insane trolls are able to function normally. As one might expect, everyone in town wants you to moirail or auspistice for them, and you kind of hate it. Since your powers dull feelings of passion and hatred as well, you have never had a real matesprit or kismesis, and you dream of one day finding someone who can resist your influence.

You are a devoted fan of troll Oscar Wilde, and quote him ad nauseam, which annoys the shit out of all of your friends. Due to other trolls' tendency to open up and talk about their feelings in your presence, you dabble a bit in Alternian psychotherapy. You also paint occasionally, but you are not very good at it.

Your trolltag is wildeanTranquilizer and ❀ You surround your speech with flowers ❀

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Color: 8e2323
Quirk: ❀ Self-explanatory ❀
Lusus: Peacock
Strife specibus: Aerosolkind
Symbol: Alchemical symbol for calming salt

[aimlessAggressor]

rofl this guy

this fucking guy

[scribaciousMnemonist]

So who wants to start YET ANOTHER SGRUB session? I feel like playing my aloof farmhand in universe-making.

[aimlessAggressor]

o_______o

SURE.

[Nox]

Azepam Vyvyan...wow, that's just amazing. Gotta give you points for originality. Plus you have a refined gentlmen in the low blood bracket, which is awesome.

...

Oh, I just had a thought. My troll Shivia, her ONE mental power is an always-on mental shield. It's suppose to prevent anyone from reading or tampering with her mind. If she met Azepam he would not effect her.

Good News: You finnaly have a shot at a matesprit or kismesis
Bad News: She's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs! Watch yourself man...

[Rio]

I am so up for that.

[BewareOfNerd]

WT: *shudder* I don't think I like the sound of this Shivia girl.
WT: Ah, well. "Each man kills the thing he loves."
WT: Troll Oscar Wilde said that.

[Nox]

Quick Fact: Did you know that Red Dead Virgo was the initial inspiration for Nia?



Yea, who knew? Also, can anyone make an Alterniabound Sprite for her? I suck at those.

[aimlessAggressor]

I could try my hand at it tomorrow, I am so exhausted
(Hopefully someone will beat me to it)

[dragonLights]

*fanfare!*



That was fun.

[aimlessAggressor]

Holy crap that is really good.