#reo-55

[reo-55]

Maybe something silly I could do is dig up all the old sketches I've done for this story and try and redraw them (this one is from 2020)

[caskin]

How about a bunch of bad guys :3c

[bethanyberg]

Several years ago I posted some sketches from this story, but I’ve still been working on it, and something about the 2020 nonsense made it a nice getaway to dive into and flesh out more. So I made some official art for all of the main characters!

REO-55 is an alternate earth story set in the year 2048, where animals evolved special hyper-dense spots of organic matter that can shapeshift into different limbs/spikes/horns/etc. Humans learned that these animals with black spots adapted to genetic engineering very easily, and a new explosion of combinations and mutations occurred. However, being engineered to breed and reproduce quickly and easily meant the ones that escaped confinement starting infesting every part of the planet they could reach. Now special organizations and teams exist to try and clean up this new global crisis.

[reo-55]

A progression of how I've sketched Nico over the years. Plus his official art because it's the only one I still like. (remind me to do more crow studies so I can draw him with his buddies more often)

[reo-55]

I have so many sketches from 2021 that was the best year for this story. I miss that rate of productivity.

[caskin]

Bristol pondering things

[reo-55]

REO-55 Synopsis and World Info

Curious about what on earth I'm talking and posting about here? Well here's some info about the premise of this world and story!

STORY SYNOPSIS On an alternate universe earth, animals evolved special spots of concentrated matter that can shapeshift at will. Scientists discovered that animals with these black-spots were very easy to genetically modify, and as a result new bizarre creatures of all kinds were created. Nicknamed "Rhymanids", many of these creatures escaped into the wild and caused rampant destruction, forcing many countries into dire situations. In the United States, the Rhymanid Engagement Operations, or REO was created to help combat this threat and exterminate all the invasive animals. The most effective way to battle Rhymanids? With other Rhymanids, controlled by human handlers with specialty gloves that use hand signals to send instructions.

In 2044 the eastern coast is mostly cleared, but the entire western half is still declared an "unsecured zone" and REO is struggling to make progress. When a new threat arrives and forces more pressure on the Western Division agents, REO makes the decision to bring in new help from the only place they can: the teenagers currently in the REO training program.

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WHAT IS A RHYMANID? Rhymanid — Rapid HYperdense Matter re-Alignment ---- Not my best term but it sounds nice so I'm sticking with it unless I really get smacked with a better alternate. Any animal which grows black spots. Not all of them do. Recently evolved species don’t seem to be compatible and fail to thrive, so no one has been able to figure out how to incorporate large apes and most monkeys. Fish and extremely simple organisms don’t seem to take well either, but sometimes dna from them can be pulled out and put into mammals. Human experimentation was once tried illegally (I’m still deciding who did this and when) but nothing succeeded and the dna simply refused to combine. A coalition of almost every country on Earth agreed to ban any kind of human/rhymanid experimentation on moral and ethical grounds. Black-spot — the casual name for the pockets of condensed matter that can change form. Single-spot — Smooth and skin like and can grow hair, these black-spots can usually only changes into one other possible shape. Omni-spot — Thick and prominent from the skin, leathery like material and very warm to the touch. Hair almost never grows on them. These black-spots can take multiple forms, often one can train the Rhymanid to remember which ones to use when which commands are given. Release — (pending term) I’m not in love with this term yet but I want something that means the shapes that their spots can change into. "Bulletproof" Rhymanid — A sliding scale. Harder and harder skin was pioneered as a way to resist weapons and other Rhymanids, but high caliber rounds and high explosives can still harm them. I'm working on some visual examples of how the black spots work!

[caskin]

Digging up old sketches of Neil and Rollo