I've finally decided to introduce two of my original characters in the "Predator" and "Alien vs Predator" setting. I'll still be working out the details of their story, which takes place in the not-too-distant future (working title: "Blood Brothers").
R'ka'tj, hunter/elite yautja, over 400 years old.
Experienced warrior specializing in projectile weapons: smart discs, shurikens, and netguns (his plasmacster is mounted on his shoulder pad, as he rarely uses it; he also prefers to use smart discs in close combat rather than wrist blades, although they are also part of his equipment). He once visited Earth and returned with trophies, as he had from other dangerous planets. R'ka'tj became particularly famous for hunting flying creatures, and he decorates his armor with their bones and claws. Also he assisted engineers in destroying xenomorph hordes and participated in the hunt for dangerous bad blood. His skills are recognized as outstanding, and the elders of his clan believe the time is ripe for him to join their ranks and begin training the young, passing on his experience and clan traditions. However, as he prepared to accept this honor, R'ka'tj discovered that his clan's history contained lost or hidden pages that directly related to his ancestor, who was similar to him in many ways, including being a disc master. Now he returns to Earth, not to hunt, but to conduct his own investigation and restore the continuity of history, not yet knowing where this will lead him.
Jeremy Abnar, astrophysicist specializing in gravitational anomalies and extragalactic signals, 46 years old. A former consultant for NASA and ESA, he now officially works for Weyland-Yutani, but is actually an embedded agent of the VAJRA (Vigilance, Anomaly & Judicious Response Agency) organization, created by Chase Dumond (Alexa Woods, who changed her name after the Antarctic incident; the organisation emblem resembles a stylized vajra, but initiates know it is a combistick given to her by a yautja elder). This international secret organization studies the history of human-Yautja contact, their impact on civilization, identifying their presence, and minimizing the threat. Its members include both those who discovered traces of extraterrestrial presence (this was Jeremy Abnar's case, after which he was recruited, and later, thanks to his prudence, he received a high level of security clearance), and those who, like Alexa Woods, learned how dangerous Weyland-Yutani's ambitions could be. Working for Weyland-Yutani, Jeremy Abnar joined the team created to investigate the disappearance of one of their space expeditions. He wasn't seeking a numinous experience, but his work brought him into contact with "a deity returning to Earth."
This is a story of temporary cooperation and developing understanding between members of two species more alike than they care to admit (two civilizations where progress goes hand in hand with barbarism). It's also a story of a brutal war against an ancient enemy, in which pride, freedom, and even existence itself are at stake (a clash with the once-defeated Amengi who have mastered human technologies).
Here are all the very first sketches, I will still draw these guys in all their glory. I think it's also possible that chemistry will develop between them (as a friend of mine said, there is something sexual about interacting with an extraterrestrial life form).
