idk if anyone is interested in hearing about my digimon AU boys but
but if anything this serves to sort of hammer down some details about them since I'm going through the process of drawing all their main designs.
I originally came up with them when I was playing through the Cyber Sleuth games many years ago, and kind of connecting in my head different ideas from different medias approaches to Digimon and the Digital World.
The general premise is that in the Digital World, there is an entire subcommunity of Digimon that are - for all intents and purposes - professional fighters. They compete in different ranks of the Digital Colosseum, but unlike other tournaments, this is entirely organized by Digimon, for Digimon, with no humans involved. No human trains a competitor, there are no tamers, no Digidestined, it is part of the greater society of Digimon that just exist on their own without human intervention.
The focus is on four specific members of a faction (Taiji-gun/ 太極軍) that is managed and run by Dido, a Lilithmon. Most of the fighters in the faction are essentially rescues as opposed to scouted - some were abandoned, rescued from black market sellers, or other generally abusive situations. Eventually the plot branches out from the initial "tournament arc" to involve excursion into the human world as well as a looming threat that is corrupting Digimon's code.
The main stable
Cygnus
(Zurumon - Pagumon -PicoDevimon - Devimon - LucentVamdemon* )
*OC Alternate Form of Vamdemon from being converted to a "benign virus" during evolution.
Cygnus was hatched as a DigiEgg by a Tamer who was disappointed to have a Virus. He was tolerated as a baby, but upon evolving to Pagumon, his Tamer actively disliked him. His mischief, while generally less malicious than wild Pagumon, caused enough issues that shortly after evolving to PicoDevimon he was abandoned by his Tamer and their link severed. Dido found him while the athletes she managed were out on a wilderness training trip and she took him in before he could become cold-hearted and dangerous. He has trust issues and struggles to work with new team-mates and has a rather aggressive rivalry with Clione. He initially evolved to Devimon while in a "Friendly Fire" match against Clione, netting him the win but injuring Clione badly. His resulting guilt softened his attitude towards his teammate and their rivalry became much friendlier. He's missing a horn that was snapped off by a Devidramon. He and Clione are rarely apart from each other.
Clione
(Poyomon - Tokomon - Patamon - Angemon - HolyAngemon)
Unlike Cygnus, Clione has never had a Tamer - he was being sold in the black market Digimon trade to Tamers who wanted Digimon for illicit uses such as illegal hacking, "bait" monsters for Digimon training, or code disassembly. He was weak and shy early on and went unsold for so long he was marked for deletion, avoiding it narrowly when he was finally rescued. It took him quite awhile to break out of his shell, and not until the addition of a wild child PicoDevimon to the faction did he start developing a competitive drive. Clione has never felt as negative towards Cygnus as Cygnus did towards him early on, beyond annoyance at the other Digimon's aggressive need to compete with him. Even after being injured by Cygnus accidentally in a junior tournament, he still regards him with affection and finally evolves to Angemon when intervening to protect him from an attacking Devidramon. Unlike his peers, he doesn't stay in his Perfect or higher forms because it tires him out due to, as an Angemon, having a dramatically stronger natural power than most Digimon.
Regulus
(Punimon - Tsunomon - Elecmon - Leomon - BlackLeomon* - BanchoLeomon)
*Regulus briefly is forced into an evolution to MadLeomon by corrupted data, going berserk for a time until he's neutralized into a variant of his original form.
Regulus, along with team-mate Bootes, was originally a bait monster for training up Digimon for the Digimon equivalent of dogfighting. Tamers and Hackers participating would often buy black market Digimon to use as living punching bags for their competing Digimon. Regulus was rescued when he was an Elecmon and due to his experiences has always been very stoic and humorless. He's the odd man out in the group of four due to his inability to build relationships, and it's not until he realizes how strongly Bootes feels about him that he starts to open up. His secret weakness is back scratches, which will get him to purr - something that he finds very embarrassing.
Bootes
(Pitchmon - Pukamon - Betamon - Ogremon - Etemon - MetalEtemon)
Bootes was a bait monster in the same fighting ring as Regulus and was rescued along with him. Habitually terrified as a baby, he began to develop a loud, obnoxious personality once he was rescued. He deeply admires and respects Regulus, who he views as both the perfect athlete and perfect opponent and wishes to be like him. When he makes a sudden change from aquatic Digimon to an Ogremon, Dido surmises it's due to his desire to be like and fight Regulus, and unintentionally embodies the natural rivalry that Ogremons and Leomons have towards each other. Even as an Ogremon (and later Etemon), Bootes loves water and swimming. Despite being a Virus type, he's incredibly friendly and loves his teammates, though none as much as he loves Regulus.
Perhaps once I'm done with the design documents of these guys I'll post more about other Digimon in their orbit.
