This is something I wrote fairly recently on DeviantArt regarding the film "9", or at least the fan community of it. There's a whole universe of characters that have been made up by people, and so I decided to try and design a few of my own. Since my drawing skills aren't much, I opted to describe the characters and their backstory in text form.
Anyhoo, enough talk. Here is the link to it
on Deviantart, as well as the whole thing below.
BACKSTORY
For a detailed synopsis of the canonical events taking place prior to the events of the film "9", visit this page;
http://amcalmaron.deviantart.com/art/On-Th...nks-2-191936741 As the war between man and machine continued without any clear sign of victory, the Scientist; a man who had created the machine that had started the war, now experimented with a way of continuing life on earth indefinitely, if humanity was unable to survive the war. After many weeks of work, he was confident that his creation would be sufficient, and he sent over the HyperNet* a plan of his "stitchpunk" design, as well as notes instructing how to build the technology needed to animate them.
One person who received the HyperNet signal was an Engineer, who had once worked for the Chancellor, attempting to develop a way to fit vast amounts of information in tiny machines, before he had been transferred to the Fabrication Machine factory. Following the outbreak of war against the machines, he had retreated to a hidden location on the outskirts of the city, and was attempting to survive the war.
Upon receiving the signal, not understanding the Scientist's intention that the stitchpunks be a way to continue life, the Engineer attempted to modify his information storing device to fit the stitchpunk design, so that the creations could safeguard knowledge of the world for future generations. His first creation he dubbed "Storage-1", or "S1" for short**.
Although the Engineer had planned to create ten stitchpunks in total, he only managed to create six before an independent War Machine discovered his location and annihilated him. His creations fled into the rubble of the surrounding area, ultimately hiding in the trunk of a ruined car. After some time had passed, the stitchpunks emerged from their hiding place and headed towards the centre of the ruined city, with the intention of somehow rebuilding parts of the world.
Unknown to them, the War Machine remained active, and it followed them into the city, where it attacked them. As the stitchpunks attempted to flee through the ruined city, they discovered a reserve of rebel weaponry, and decided to try and use it in one last stand against the War Machine. The stand was successful, and the War Machine was destroyed, but at the cost of one of their numbers, and the injuring of many more.
In time, they returned to their original goal of attempting to restore life, and managed to find the remnants of a city park that was capable of plant growth. Setting up camp again in a car; one that had been abandoned in the war, they decided to remain there and cultivate the growing plants, until some other opportunity arose for them.
*The backstory for "9" was revealed over the internet through various Twitter and Facebook accounts, supposedly belonging to characters that perished before the events of the film. This may suggest that a form of the internet exists in the technologically superior world of "9"; alternatively, it could be creative licensing on the part of the website designers. I have chosen here to include a form of the internet dubbed the "HyperNet".
**The Engineer labelled each subsequent stitchpunk with a similar title; S2, S3, etc. However, the stitchpunks misread the "S" as a "5", resulting in the numbers below.
51 - To Test Us
Unlike the other stitchpunks made by the Engineer, 51 was not built with a specific purpose; he was designed simply to test the spirit transferral process. However, the Engineer taught him the methods of transferring life using the Talisman, and later equipped him with a miniature replica of the Talisman.
51 acted as the leader of the stitchpunks following the death of the Engineer, and led their escape into the surrounding hills, confident that at a later time they would emerge and rebuild the world using their combined skills.
During the attack by the War Machine, as he attempted to draw its attention away from the others, 51 was sliced in half by the sharp claws of the War Machine, but managed to survive. In the aftermath, 54 was unable to reattach the lower half, as he couldn't locate replacement parts, but it was taken with them, in the hopes that it could be repaired at some point in the future.
Initially being moved around on a roller-skate, 51 soon learnt to use his arms to move around with, although he prefers to be carried around by one of his fellow stitchpunks; most often 52 or 53.
51's strong motivation more or less faded after the loss of his legs. Although his personality hasn't changed much, he no longer has the drive to lead the others he once had.
52 - To Remember Us
In an attempt to preserve the great written works of man, the Engineer imbued 52's mechanical brain with various famous texts. When activated, despite otherwise appearing normal, 52's mind was so overwhelmed by the information stored within it that it resulted in him only being able to speak in quotations. Hence, while the other stitchpunks might respond to an enquiry into their well being with, "I'm fine, how are you", 52 would say something along the lines of;
"My clay with long oblivion is gone dry:
But, fill me with the old familiar Juice,
Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!"
The other stitchpunks have over time grown used to 52's unusual way of speaking, and are able to keep up a conversation with him, regardless of how fancy his speech is.
52's "skin" has been repeatedly patched over time, giving him a mismatched look. This is a lingering scar from the War Machine that attacked him and the others; when 52 attempted to hide 55, the claws of the machine tore at him, damaging the fabric that made up his body.
Without a replacement for the durable material that the Engineer had originally used, 54 was forced to substitute old rags that they recovered on their journeys. As a result, 52's skin now resembles a patchwork quilt, and every now and then he has to have a new patch attached to him.
53 - To Direct Us
53 was designed by the Engineer to have one purpose, to navigate, and to lead the stitchpunks to various safe places, should they become threatened. The entire contents of a vast world atlas, as well as several city maps, were built into 53's mind, with the result being that not only was he able to find his way through any part of the wilderness with ease, but he could also identify the routes to distant cities if given several clues, such as the bearing of the sun or the name of a local road. 53 managed to guide the stitchpunks to safety on several occasions, by revealing the location of an otherwise unknown route or entrance to a tunnel.
53 is distinguished by a large scar that runs along his face and to his left arm, which does not match his right arm. In the attack against the War Machine, 53 & 56 attempted to use one of the rebel weapons on the War Machine, but the weapon malfunctioned and revealed their location to the War Machine, which proceeded to crush them and the weapon under one of its feet.
53 barely survived the attack; his left arm and the side of his face were crushed by the War Machine. In a rush to save him from expiring, 54 repaired his arm and head using intact parts from 56, who had not survived. 53 eventually recovered, although his orienteering knowledge had been slightly weakened from the damage done to his head, which had also been repaired.
Unknown to 54, a small part of 56's essence had survived within the parts transferred to 56. As a result, 56 lives on through 53, and sometimes can even take control over 53's body, usually to advise the stitchpunks on some matter. Whenever he does, 53 blacks out, and afterwards has no memory of any of the events that transpired during 56's control of his body.
54 - To Assemble Us
The de-facto medic of the stitchpunks, 54 was built by the Engineer to have the knowledge to build things from scratch, so that not only could he build safe shelters for his fellow stitchpunks, but he could aid in repairing things.
In addition to this, if any form of humanity survived, 54 could act as a teacher and educate them on the techniques of safe building, so that they could rebuild the ruins of their cities.
Because of his construction knowledge, he also acts as the medic for the stitchpunks, a rank he gained following his repair of 53 in the aftermath of the War Machine attack, having largely escaped injury himself.
Whenever the stitchpunks require a new form of shelter, or some other technical device, 54 is the one sent to gather the parts and build it, as only he knows the right combination of parts that are needed to achieve the desired goal. He may act disgruntled at being continually required to fix something, but in reality he loves his work.
54 approaches things differently to the other stitchpunks, and has a "logical" way of thinking that seems cold and unfeeling to others; he had no hesitance at cannibalizing 56's body for spare parts when the stitchpunk perished. While the other stitchpunks were repulsed at the idea of doing such a thing to a fallen friend, to 54, this seemed a logical way to prolong their survival, as well as be the only way to save 53.
55 - To Replenish Us
In addition to being the only female of the group, 55 differs from the stitchpunks in one major way; in addition to being made with knowledge already built into her mind, she was built with a seed bank inside her body.
As part of an attempt to preserve life on Earth, the Engineer added a tiny seed bank to the design of 55 that would contain the few dormant plant seeds he was able to locate. He also attached a tiny barometer to her skin, so that she would be able to avoid weather conditions that could result in the seeds within abruptly sprouting, as well as use it to find the proper conditions for planting said seeds.
Although 55 appeared to have largely escaped injury from the War Machine when it attacked, it was later revealed that one of the claws of the War Machine had damaged part of the seed bank casing, and several of the seeds would be destroyed if they weren't planted. Finding suitable ground to plant the seeds in was made difficult with the loss of 56, who had been built to identify such areas.
56 lived on through 53, and he was able to guide them to an area of the city that had once been a park. The seeds were successfully planted there, and 56's fallen body buried with them.
56 - To Renew Us
The Engineer had initially planned to gift 56 with a device containing some form of genetic material, in the hopes that he could one day release it into an environment that would allow life to grow from it. However, since he was unable to locate any suitable material, he instead imbued 56's mind with biological knowledge, so that he would know where life would form, and what would be needed to nurture it.
56 was also designed to work with 55, and help identify healthy patches of land for planting the seeds in. When the War Machine attacked their group, 56 worked with 53 in an attempt to activate one of the rebel weapons. The weapon failed to work, and the War Machine turned its attention on the two stitchpunks, crushing both them and the weapon beneath its foot.
While 53 was ultimately rescued, 56's body was destroyed in the assault. In an attempt to save him, 54 used 51's Talisman to store his animating essence, which he later used to inadvertently bring to life the stitchpunk 57.
56 lives on through 53, who was repaired with parts taken from his ruined body. One side effect of this was that a small part of 56's essence survived in the parts taken, resulting in his spirit sharing the same body as 53, and occasionally assuming control of it to deliver a message to his fellow stitchpunks.
57 - To Continue Us
Not intended to be the last stitchpunk of his group, 57 was the last one mostly completed by the Engineer, who was killed by the War Machine before he could place the finishing touches on him and animate him.
57's body lay dormant for a while after this, until it was discovered by 54, who had journeyed to the ruins of the Engineer's workshop to look for repair parts for his fellow stitchpunks. Seeing that the body was near completion, instead of harvesting parts from it, 54 decided to finish it, and attempt to animate it using 56's essence; stored in 51's Talisman.
57 was born from this experiment, a fully functional stitchpunk, but, oddly, with no traits of 56, whose essence had been used to animate him. In addition to this, he lacked any special skills, as the Engineer died before being able to fully construct his customised brain.
Because of this, 57 is sort of treated as the "child" of the stitchpunk "family", and the others each take turns to educate him in their respective field of expertise. In turn, he continuously searches for something that he can become skilled in, so he can distinguish himself amongst the others, who he feels inadequate compared to. However, at times he demonstrates unique skill in research areas new to him, suggesting that the Engineer did indeed program a part of his brain before perishing.
ABANDONED FIC IDEA
Some of the ideas here came from an idea I had for a fan-fic that would resurrect the fallen characters of "9".
Basically, it would turn out that the stitchpunk ghosts didn't depart the world, but remained on it, inhabiting places of importance to them. Noticing this, 3 & 4 would figure out how the Talisman worked, and manage to bring 5 back to life in secret (5's ghost remained near them; hence he would be the easiest to bring back). However, since he is now blind (when first planning this, I thought the transfer process destroyed the eyes of the stitchpunks), 3 & 4 need to find a way to fix his eye. To do this, they head for the laboratory of the Scientist, in the hopes of discovering the plans for a new eye.
At the laboratory, they discover not only the plans for a new eye, but the half finished body of another stitchpunk, and the spirit of 2, who is happily going over the technical notes. Although 2 cannot speak to them, he manages to instruct them as to how they'd construct a new eye, by finding and gesturing at different items around the lab. They'd then leave, but with 4 looking back at the body of the unfinished stitchpunk.
Back at the library, they'd fix 5, who would regain his sight, and then see 2. 3 & 4 would then indicate that they need his help to fix 2, and although initially unsure of his skill, he'd help them.
At this point, I was unsure of where to take the story. I had the idea that 8 would be the next stitchpunk restored after 2, so that he could aid them in restoring 1 & 6. They would lure his ghost with a magnet and then restore him, and then he'd lower them into the crevasse on a rope so that they could get 6's body. Finally, they'd repair 1, after finding his ghost inhabiting the cathedral. I rethought the story later so that 9 found 3 & 4 fixing 5, and then 7 joined them when they headed to the Scientist's house.
Act II would have taken place after all the stitchpunks were alive again; 4 would be thinking about the unfinished stitchpunk in the Scientist's lab. In secret, 4 would take the Talisman, and return to the lab, and finish the stitchpunk, before bringing it to life with leftover energy stored in the Talisman. The stitchpunk would be given life, and appear friendly at first, but it would turn out that the energy from the Talisman was in fact that which had been used to power the Fabrication Machine, and that he was secretly plotting their demise.
At this point I ran out of ideas and toyed with chopping the story in half to simply resurrect the stitchpunks, and then I just gave up on the whole thing.
NEGATIVE CHARACTERS
One "9" fan-fic I saw on Fanfiction.net (located here:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5673817/1/Being_One_Of_Us) had the Fabrication Machine making stitchpunks of its own, presumably to combat the main characters, but it turned out that a few of them were in fact friendly.
When reading it, I wondered what would have happened if the Fabrication Machine had made stitchpunks that were the exact opposites of the main characters, and used them to destroy the main characters. It should take place after the events of the film (a final plan that got activated after the destruction of the Fabrication Machine), and have these stitchpunks impersonate the fallen stitchpunks so that they can lure them out and destroy them.
This could work with the stitchpunk fan characters listed above, as the Fabrication Machine could have intercepted the designs on the HyperNet, and as such made its own replicas.
1 - To Protect Us -/- To Expose Us
1 remains a leader of sorts, but instead of leading the others to safety, he would intentionally lead the stitchpunks into a trap and then abandon them.
2 - To Inspire Us -/- To Discourage Us
2 appears the same, but instead of praising the creations of others, he subtly discourages their actions.
3 - To Define Us -/- To Distort Us
4 - To Teach Us -/- To Confuse Us
3 & 4 would also archive information, but twist it to suit their plans, and thus trick the other stitchpunks into following false leads.
5 - To Guide Us -/- To Mislead Us
5 seems to be the same friendly stitchpunk, but he is only pretending to care about the others, and is actually leading them to their doom.
6 - To Lead Us -/- To Delude Us
6 secretly works with 3 & 4, providing false prophecies that their altered archives would support, thus tricking the characters into following them.
7 - To Defend Us -/- To Attack Us
7 would hide in the vast wastes, and attack the stitchpunks whenever they separated.
8 - To Guard Us -/- To Betray Us
8 pretends to act as a protector in the face of peril, but he would turn on them the second the anti-stitchpunks arrive.
9 - To Save Us -/- To Destroy Us
9 secretly runs the whole thing, and is working to completely destroy the stitchpunks.
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Any thoughts?
