Livetars: size, colors and fonts

Livetars (live avatars) are animated shells comprised of VIRUS-based constructor units. They are projected by OMCOM, MINIMCOM, Junior and by OMCOM's clone.

They don't have any clothing. They are more like robots. Their shell is their outer covering. OMCOM is always pure white. This was done, in the beginning, because that's the way the Vuduri do things. Later, it served as a nice contrast to MASAL so I just stuck with it. His eyes and mouth openings are slits and he always talks in a metallic voice. I used Courier New 11 pt font for his voice. It seemed computer-like.

I got some of complaints about "fontitis" on Rome's Revolution so when OMCOM's library clone comes along, he also wore white but he speaks with a normal, human sounding voice. This equates to same Times New Roman 12 pt font as normal humans. The fact that he has not much of a personality is neither here nor there.

MINIMCOM always comes in jet black but with a cape. His mouth and eye holes are slits also although he can wink and smile when he wants to. I chose black to contrast him to OMCOM, obviously. The cape was designed to give you a sense of his showmanship which he's had almost since the beginning. He did use it once to scoop up a burning pan in The Ark Lords but that scene was strictly inserted to prepare you for his dramatic "death" scene. I always use Courier New 10 pt Bold font for his voice and italicize it when he is transmitting inside Rei and Rome's heads. I did that because when he was just an autopilot, he was small and it was supposed to be imbued with a tinny quality. Later, when MIMIMCOM became a starship and his livetar was a big, hulking, six foot six presence, I thought it'd be funny to keep the little voice. If you saw the movie Up and remember the alpha dog with his screwed up translater, you know what I mean.

Junior's livetar is the most interesting. Because he was a newborn, I made his livetar small, just a little taller than Aason and gray to fit somewhere between OMCOM and MINIMCOM. His voice and mouth holes are round and his face is more expressive, as is his voice. He, too, uses a normal Times New Roman 12 pt font. As he grows older (which you will see in Rome's Evolution) his livetar is taller and my plan is for him to reach a full two meters eventually, just like his dad. However, I think I will keep him gray just because.