Difference between revisions of "SLAY"

Revision as of 16:34, 13 December 2023

SLAY (stylized as $LAY) is a serialized story with chapters written each week, then read live on the SIGLERinPLACE livestream, then put into the podcast feed.

Episodes are intended to be 2,500 to 4,000 words (10 to 16 pages), with the narrated episodes corresponding being 20 to 30 minutes long.

Premise

If you want a person dead, you call a hit man. If you want a monster dead, you call Lincoln Franks. But you better be able to pay the price he asks, because Lincoln doesn't kill for free. SLAY is an hour-long fantasy/crime/drama series about a drugged out anti-hero monster slayer, a wild mashup of supernatural horror and gangland war.

Background

A new spin on monster hunting

Series after series, we've seen altruistic "slayers" fight for the good of humanity. Your Buffys, your Winchesters, your Burkhardts, your Constantines and even your Van Helsings, all dedicated to serving what is right and good and just. But what happens when one of these servants gets burned out? What happens the best slayer that ever walked this plane or the next can't shrug off the constant horror with a clever quip, and — in order to cope — hits the bottle, the pills, the bong and loses himself in endless sexual escapades? What happens when he’s tired of being poor, and wants to get paid for the soul-risking work he does?

We aim to bring the anti-hero to the supernatural genre. A DEXTER of monster-hunting, a Walter White of the paranormal, THE PROFESSIONAL set loose upon the world of witches and warlocks.

The Set-up

Lincoln Franks is a hitman/bodyguard/PI in an America that has a supernatural underbelly, where monsters and demons band together in Mafia-like organizations. Half sorcerer, half hitman, Lincoln can and will use any weapon available to get the job done.

Once upon a time he was a soldier for good, defending mankind against evils both ancient and new. He was the best of the best. That was before the evils he stalked banded together for revenge, before they killed his wife and took his 12-year-old son, SAM FRANKS, to a limbo-like plane called "The Shelf." That was before Lincoln signed a blood pact with the demon/crimelord Callista to protect his son there, because Lincoln cannot go to the The Shelf to protect him in person.

The series begins with Lincoln owned by Callista, who uses him as an assassin to enforce her will and to take out her enemies, helping expand her criminal empire. In the pilot episode, Lincoln is able to exploit a loophole in that agreement and become a free agent. That loophole also stipulates that if he amasses a great treasure trove of ancient artifacts, he can buy his son’s freedom.

Fighting alcoholism and substance abuse, Lincoln makes himself available to the highest bidder. For the right treasure, he'll be a bodyguard, a private investigator, even an assassin. Lincoln Franks will do the tasks that no one else can — or will — do.

Thirteen episodes of carnage

Lincoln isn't constrained by the moral anchors that beset most heroes. He only one rule, and it is simple: no innocents. If you've done business with monsters, if you lead a life of crime, if your living is built upon the suffering of others, you're fair game. The first season sees Lincoln hired to target some of the worst killers the world has ever seen.

The series will be noted for fast fights and hard-hitting action, monster-slaying violence worthy of THE WALKING DEAD. This isn't the wire-work combat of INTO THE BADLANDS or the high-kicking camp of BUFFY, this is BOURNE IDENTITY fast, JOHN WICK blink-and-you-miss-it, hit-the-rewind, oh-shit-did-that-just-happen realism.

Franks' testosterone-driven machismo borders on the suicidal. Like JUSTIFIED's Raylan Givens, Franks will often give his foes a chance to surrender, or face him in single combat. But, undead or not, if you draw steel he's going to put you down — forever.

A family drama...of sorts

For thirty-two generations, the Franks family has hunted monsters. They worked for The Bastion, an international secular order dedicated to protecting humanity against the evil. Strict vows of poverty and obedience have kept the Franks — and other evil-fighting families — completely dependent upon the Bastion.

Lincoln has turned his back on that life, much to the disappointment of his family. His brother LUKAS and sister SOPHIA are still monster-slaying pawns of the Bastion, although they don't have Lincoln's skills. They constantly try to "bring him back to the light," even though he frequently has to bail them out when they bite off more than they can chew.

Their father, JACOBY, was the most-famous monster hunter of the modern era until a run-in with the demon TORNARSUK left Jacoby broken, crippled and half-senile. Now Jacoby lives in an old folks’ home, a surly, shattered shell of his former self. There's enough of him left to be horribly disappointed in his son Lincoln, though — Lincoln, who is the only one paying for Jacoby's care since the Bastion has abandoned this deserving veteran, and Lukas and Sophia are too poor to provide any help.

The dysfunction of the Franks family serves as constant backdrop to the splattery violence of monster-hunting life.

Characters

Further information: List of SLAY characters

Main

• Lincoln Franks, a hitman/bodyguard/private investigator specializing in the supernatural
• Magda Magdalene, a former Rixator. Lincoln's best friend and roommate.
• Billy Middleton

Antagonists

• Callista, a high-level demon gangster, who is holding Lincoln's son hostage.
• Dante Oganov, a goblin drug dealer from Miami who wants to work his way into The City.

Recurring

Main article: List of SLAY characters#Other characters

Episodes

Pilot

Season 1

Main article: SLAY (Season 1)

Season 2

Main article: SLAY (Season 2)

Season 3

Main article: SLAY (Season 3)

Season 4

Main article: SLAY (Season 4)

Season 5

Main article: SLAY (Season 5)