Secret Lair of an Insectoid "Soldier" - Mind Map & Influence Map (2)

For my influence image research I decided upon disregarding the concept of my Insectoid Soldier being of the future, modern times or the apocalypse for the simple fact that apocalyptic scenarios, modern warfare and futuristic warfare have been depicted time and time again and to follow these for my more developed character profile and lair design would simply be too generic. In terms of older examples of warfare such as World War One and Two, they have been once again used in gaming and filmmaking time and time again.

For the reasons of being non-generic I have decided upon taking my Insectoid Soldier and its secret lair back to ancient times. While ancient civilizations have also been used in gaming and movies, they have been much less over-used than more modern examples - the respective militaries themselves have been focused on even less so, for these reasons I have focused on three ancient civilizations - the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians and the Aztecs in the Influence Map, I have completely avoided the Roman empire due to how well it's become known thanks to different forms of media. The Ancient Greeks have also become well known by the public due to forms of media, one example being the popular movie 300 (2006) which focuses on the Spartans of Ancient Greece thus narrowing my choice down to the Aztec or Ancient Egyptian in terms of culture as well as lair and basic character design.

Secret Lair of an Insectoid Soldier - Basic Character Profiles

Very brief basic Insectoid Soldier possible character profiles:

1. Renegade insectoid soldier mutated by virus. This would be a so-called "bad guy" as it suites the renegade aspect more and allows for much more interesting lair design. A renegade soldier would be more likely to have a secret lair than a normal soldier who would instead be placed within army barracks.
2. Civil war raging between territories of the insect population, invisible to humanity due to size and/or based underground - Insectoid soldier fighting for its people - whether the character is 'good' or 'bad' is entirely dependent on the side you support, they are simply doing what they have been ordered to do.
3. Young insectoid "soldier" taking part in a play-fight type mock-war.
4. Human-insect hybrid, hidden in the depths of the earth, rejected by humanity – fighting for freedom from humanity’s oppression.

After coming up with these ideas I'm considering merging 1 and 4 as they both have interesting aspects relating to the character's back story. So a back-story of a soldier turned renegade by the rejection of humanity when infected by a strange virus, possibly forced underground and only coming up from his lair to fight for freedom against those who are what they once was, human. This base back-story still leaves a huge amount of possibilities for lair design, however feedback would be much appreciated.

"Insectoid" Influence Map

Secret Lair of an Insectoid Soldier - "Insectoid" Quick Influence Map (1)

Before I can produce basic 'possible character profiles' of my Insectoid Soldier and design its environment I've broken down the word "insectoid" and performed image research on things relating to it. Next I will research more into the "soldier" aspect.I have provided a very simplified idea list related to my influence map for this "insectoid" trait:

"Insectoid"

What it does it mean?
If something is insectoid it is described as a creature/object with a body/traits similar to insects/arachnids.

Breaking it down a bit more

The definition of "Insect" is a small arthropod animal with six legs and possibly wings.

Existing insects.

Existing insectoid designs.

Examples of insect habitats and things found within them.

Insect body parts.

Compound eyes, possible texture or window design idea.

Exoskeleton.

Insect fossils.

Insectoid furniture.

Space and Environment Project 2: Secret Lair of an Insectoid Soldier

Today I pulled out of the mysterious blue boxes the words "Insectoid" and "Soldier". I'm very pleased with this combination as there are a lot of possibilities which come to mind pre-research of where I could go with the lair and basic character design as well as its profile. For example concerning the soldier aspect, soldier possibilities range from soldiers of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) or before, to World War I and II, modern soldiers or even futuristic soldiers. In my research and design process I will avoid thinking generically as much as possible and the insectoid aspect will of course be of much importance to my lair and character designs. The sheer amount of different insect habitats will also play an interesting and vital role in lair design...

Fig. 1: One of nature's many examples of a dangerous insect, named by humans as army ants.

Image Bibliography

Fig. 1: Durrel, Redmund (2012) One of nature's many examples of a dangerous insect, named by humans as army ants.
[Photograph; Army ants respond to predatory chimpanzees by streaming to the surface to defend their colony through painful bites.]
At: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/sep/17/improbable-research-chimpanzees-army-ants (Accessed 29.10.11)