Character Guide

I figure lengthy descriptions of the main characters would be annoying in the actual script, so here's the Character Guide that describes the physical and mental attributes of the most important characters.  It's divided into the good, the bad, and the supporting cast.

The Good Guys

• Dr. Emma Earl:  The most important thing (which I can’t stress enough) is that she’s not an Amazon warrior and she’s not a Playboy centerfold either.  In other words, she should look pretty much like a normal person you’d see on the street and not really think twice about.  Unless you really dig nerdy women.  And basically yes Emma is a total nerd.  At the start of the story she’s only 19 years old and probably best described as gangly.  I’d figure about six feet tall but only about 120 pounds maybe.  Not quite fashion model unhealthy thin but she could use a couple of meals.  Slightly below average size breasts then, not DDs or anything like that.  Feet that are on the large side, arms and fingers long, and nose a little too long.  She has orange-red hair that’s usually on the long side because she doesn’t remember to cut it.  Blue eyes that at the start of the story are hidden behind gold wire-framed glasses—we lose the glasses later.  Skin is pale even for a redhead because she spends too much time in the library instead of in the sun.  Clothes are never fashionable and often a little worn-looking because she doesn’t have the time, interest, or money for fashion.  Especially when the story begins, she’s painfully shy, prone to blushing with embarrassment and not really looking at anyone in the eye—except with her best friend Becky, who’s the only person she’s comfortable around since they’ve grown up together.  (That’s probably too much information.)
• The Scarlet Knight:  I need to bone up on medieval plate armor to get an exact look for this.  It’s basically the kind of plate armor you’d see in a museum, King Arthur movie, or Renaissance Fair.  Except that it’s a scarlet red—hence the character’s name.  The only parts that aren’t red are the boots, gloves, cape, and helmet plume.  The gloves are like normal leather gloves, but there’s probably a bit of armor from the forearms that overlaps to protect her hands.  The boots are more like combat boots, not cowboy boots, only they’re yellow; and again there might be a little overlap from the calves so that really only the feet of the boots are visible.  The plume should not be ostentatious or very long, just something to give the helmet a little character.  The visor closes all the way so that we don’t see any of Emma’s face when she wears it.  The armor should look heavy although thanks to magic it isn’t.  Before Emma puts it on it should look bulkier and more masculine, then after she starts wearing it the armor should have a more streamlined, feminine appearance.  The Scarlet Knight’s weapon is the Sword of Justice that she wears in a scarlet scabbard on the left hip since she’s right-handed.  The sword is gold like the cape, gloves, etc.  It’s a thinner, slightly curved blade like a Japanese samurai sword; there aren’t any markings or anything on it.
• Becky Beech:  The most important characteristic about Becky is her weight.  It fluctuates a bit in the sequels depending on how things are going for her.  (When she’s happy she gets down to about 180 and when she’s depressed it balloons to 300.)  At the start of the story she’s at about 220 and since she’s about 5-5 or so, that means she’s pretty obese.  She’s exactly one year older than Emma, so when we begin she’s 20 years old.  She has dark brown hair she keeps about shoulder length and brown eyes.  No glasses or anything like that.  For obvious reasons her clothes aren’t trendy and usually seem a little tight.  Becky is in many ways Emma’s polar opposite in that she’s assertive, sassy, and often sarcastic.  She doesn’t have trouble looking anyone in the eye and doesn’t get embarrassed.  She sees herself as a sort of big sister/surrogate mother to Emma, often playing mother hen to try and protect her friend.
• Dr. Dan Dreyfus:  Pretty much he’s the male, more confident version of Emma.  He’s not a muscular hunk and no one’s going to name him Sexiest Man Alive anytime soon.  He’s not ugly either, just a more or less normal guy.  When we start he’s about 27 years old, so a bit older than Emma.  He’s an inch or so taller than Emma, so about 6-1 and more on the fit side.  He’s just got back from a trip to Egypt so when we start he’s got a healthy tan.  Sort of unruly medium brown curly hair and brown eyes that are hidden behind bulky, unfashionable glasses.  He’s got money but he doesn’t dress like it, wearing suits that are a little rumpled and worn.  He’s a super-nice, polite, sensitive guy, whom many might call a wimp.  He’s usually pretty confident, except when he’s around Emma.  Then he gets tongue-tied and embarrassed. 
• Marlin:  Marlin looks like a stereotypical wizard:  robe, pointy hat, long beard.  He’s a little on the hefty side—he’s modeled after the wizards in the Discworld books.  The only difference is that he’s a ghost.  As such he’s transparent, so probably a bluish color.  And he has no legs because he floats along, sort of like Casper the ghost.  Marlin’s been dead for nearly 4000 years and as such he’s gotten very cynical and detached from human emotions.  He’s basically an overly critical loud mouth who’s seen hundreds of Scarlet Knights come and go in his time, though eventually Emma earns a grudging respect from him by demonstrating her heroism.
• Agnes Chiostro:  Basically she looks just like any old woman you might see at Denny’s having the early bird special.  She’s short—just a little over five feet—with short gray hair and light blue eyes.  She dresses like the typical old lady with a sweater and glasses on a chain around her neck.  She runs a dress shop so she usually has a measuring tape, pins, and so forth on her.  The only difference between her and someone’s grandma is that she’s a witch and while she probably looks about 65 she’s actually 512.  But even though she’s a witch she still acts grandmotherly to Emma and Becky, with this annoying habit of constantly referring to them as “dear.”
• Sylvia Joubert:  Sylvia is Agnes’s “little” sister.  Basically imagine what Rambo’s mom would look like and that’s her.  She’s taller than Agnes (closer to Emma’s height) and well-muscled.  She usually wears camouflage pants and a black tank top.  Her gray hair is kept shorter than Agnes’, her eyes are emerald green, and instead of glasses or pins she keeps a hunting knife on her hip.  She’s only about 503 years old and to her annoyance Agnes treats her like a baby sister.  Sylvia is as you’d expect a gruff, no-nonsense character, second only to Marlin in terms of pessimism.  
• Percival Graves:  Percival was the previous Scarlet Knight and the only one in history to retire instead of die in the line of duty.  He retired due to a serious leg wound thanks to the previous incarnation of the evil Black Dragoon, so he walks around with the help of a cane.  Other than that, he’s still built like a linebacker, though with a little bit of a belly now in his golden years.  When we begin he’s about 75 years old with white hair that’s thinning on top and blue eyes.  He comes from a working-class British background, so he’s usually a little abrasive and gruff.  He’s known Emma since she was a toddler, and has a sort of grandfatherly affection for her.  Because of his retirement, he and Marlin did not part on good terms and so they bicker whenever they come into contact with each other.
• Sgt. Lottie Donovan:  She’s essentially the one good cop on the Rampart City PD.  When it comes to catching bad guys, she’s even more driven than Emma.  She’s about average height, so a few inches shorter than Emma, and definitely keeps herself fit.  Just average sized breasts too, which are usually hidden by a white T-shirt and black leather jacket.  At the start she’s about 37 years old, long enough to know the ins and outs of the city.  She has dark brown hair worn a little above the shoulder and blue eyes.  One important characteristic is that she smokes like a chimney, so that basically if she doesn’t have a cigarette in her mouth or hand then she’s probably reaching for one.  Her working relationship with the rest of the police force is strained because of her honest, workaholic nature.  Her relationship with the Scarlet Knight is equally strained because she hates needing the help of a goddamned vigilante. 

The Bad Guys

• Ian MacGregor:  He’s the director of the museum’s geology department and Emma’s boss.  When we start out he’s about 43 years old, a neat and dapper Scotsman.  He’s about the same height as Emma and keeps himself in reasonably good shape, maybe just the first signs of middle age moving in.  His clothes have sort of the same rumpled look as Dan Dreyfus’.  He has brown eyes and black hair that at the start he keeps neatly trimmed, but after he becomes the Black Dragoon, the hair on his head and face starts to get unruly to give him a more sinister appearance.  As well, there would be dark circles and bags under his eyes from not getting enough sleep. 
• The Black Dragoon:  Like the Scarlet Knight’s armor, the Black Dragoon’s is a sort of plate mail.  It’s entirely black as the name suggests.  The only non-black part of him is the red eyes visible through the helmet.  While the Scarlet Knight should look more lean and sleek, the Dragoon is bulky and massive.  Instead of a plume, his helmet has spikes, and there are spikes on the shoulders and maybe the elbows and knees to give him a pretty demonic appearance.  He doesn’t use a sword; instead the Dragoon’s weapons are the claws on his fingers and spikes on the toes of his boots.  Usually these claws are just a couple inches long, but he can extend them to up to five or six feet and then break them off to use like a spear.  The claws are also able to launch from his fingers separately or in groups like darts.  So basically he’s a big, black metal monster conjured out of someone’s nightmare.
• Lydia “Don” Vendetta:  “Don” Vendetta is a recurring villain throughout the series, but she hardly ever figures directly into the action.  She was the trophy wife of the previous Don Vendetta who ran the city’s mob syndicate, but then took over after her husband died suspiciously in an “accident.”  When we begin she’s about 45 or so, but thanks to plastic surgery looks more like her mid-30s.  She’s about average height with above average-sized breasts thanks to that plastic surgery.  She has dyed blonde hair about shoulder length and cold blue eyes.  Although she married the don she runs her operations out of a lesbian strip club and most of her top people are women, so make of that what you will.  In order to survive, Lydia Vendetta has had to be cunning and calculating, turning everything to her advantage.  In social situations she might appear polite and even charming, but outside that she’s cruel and ruthless.

Supporting Players

• The Sewer Rat (aka Jim Rizzard):  The Sewer Rat sounds like a villain, but he’s not; in the sequels he and Emma actually develop more than a working relationship.  As the name suggests, though, he’s a guy who looks like a big rat—only without the tail.  He’s short, probably just a bit over five feet, and looks shorter because he stoops when he walks from living in the sewers.  He has beady red-brown eyes, buck teeth, a pointed nose, and wild brown hair that lends him a rat-like appearance.  He also wears a coat made from the fur of his departed rat friends.  Though he seems menacing, he has a sensitive soul.  His main hobby down in the sewers is to take garbage he finds and make little sculptures of it.  His voice is raspy from disuse and he never speaks in complete sentences owing to too much time spent in the company of rats instead of people.  What he fears more than anything are cleaning products like air freshener, the scent of which drives him crazy.  Wherever he goes, there’s always a swarm of rats around him and he’s learned to communicate with them and become the leader of most of the rat tribes around the city.  Over time he develops a soft spot for the Scarlet Knight, going so far as to make garbage sculptures of her.
• Gladys Cabot:  Gladys is Emma’s senile aunt.  She’s a former hippie type who developed Alzheimer’s in her early ‘60s.  Basically if you age Emma about 50 years that’s what Gladys would look like so that she’s tall, thin, blue eyes that have turned rheumy, and hair that’s turned more silver than orange-red.  When the story begins, Gladys is on the downside of Alzheimer’s with few lucid moments.  Whenever Emma visits, Gladys sees her niece as a child ranging from fourteen all the way down to two.  Other than that she’s a nice, happy-seeming woman.
• Officer Lois Early:  She’s the best friend of Sergeant Donovan and one of the few other honest cops on the force.  She has a relatively minor role in the story, in that a whacked-out Emma confuses Officer Early for her mother.  There is a lot of similarity as Officer Early has the same curly, dark red hair and blue eyes and a few freckles around the bridge of her nose.  Like Emma’s mother she’s slightly below average height, though Officer Early is in better shape than Emma’s mom.  We only see her in standard beat cop uniform.  Officer Early is roughly the same age as Sergeant Donovan.  She’s developed a tough mindset but tries to be fair.