Giant!Miguel Character/AU notes
Howdy.
I return to the Spiderverse G/t tag with my other Big(tm) Miguel/AU.
I've workshopped this guy and the world he comes from quite a bit. I plan on writing a multi-part reader x fanfic about him at some point down the line, so he's gotten a lot of fleshing out and Lore(tm).
This will be closer to an actual character profile with some lore and storyline beats mixed in compared to my previous Sizeshifter!Miguel post.
Hope y'all enjoy. :>
Name: Miguel
Pronouns: He/Him or It/Its
Species: Giant
Age: 810 (roughly 30-35 in human years)
Height: 150 feet/45 meters (head and shoulders taller than most other giants)
Occupation: Alchemist and tapestry weaver. Previously an armorer, weaponsmith, and warlord.
Associated magical sphere: Spiders
Appearance: Miguel is a looming figure with tan skin, which is covered from head to toe in scars. These scars range in size, shape, and depth, suggesting combat with a variety of beings over the course of his lifetime. He has a very buff body type, with broad shoulders and pronounced musculature.
He has sharp cheekbones and a square jaw, and piercing red eyes that glow with an eerie, dim light in the dark. Several more pinpricks of glowing red are arranged under each of his eyes, appearing to be additional eyes/light-sensing organs. These lack pupils and eyelids. His jaws are lined with sharp teeth, with elongated incisors. His toes and fingers have long, tapering claws, which have a straight edge and cannot be sheathed. He has medium length black hair, which is slightly curled and has interwoven hints of grey.
He wears a black shawl, consisting of numerous layers of sheer black fabric. This is woven over his body in several layers, creating a skintight bodysuit that covers his body at its innermost layer. The outer layers are woven into a black cloak that obscures most of his body and face from view.
This outfit is magical, and freely responds to Miguel's will. It wraps and unwraps, weaving and unweaving from his body, transforming into any garment he may need. It also acts as an extension of his personage: any damage done to it felt by him. It can be unfurled into a large web that can entangle and snare foes, or weave around him tightly, forming a cocoon for protection, and anywhere in between.
Most days, Miguel wears this outfit in the form mourner's cloak, with a bodysuit wrapped around him underneath. He rarely lifts the hood of his cloak to show his face, with only his glowing eyes visible within. The fabric has a faint iridescent sheen.
Backstory:
Miguel is a giant, one of many magical creatures that call his world home. Giant society is somewhat separated from the rest of the world: most of their villages and cities are built atop banks of clouds, high above the world below.
Due to their lofty home and intimdiating size, giants tend not to mingle with other species, but there have been times where giant society has meddled with the lives of those below, for better or for worse.
Miguel was once a famed weaponsmith and warlord, waging battle under the sigil and banner of the Spider. He took part in a massive conflict that spanned centuries and multiple kingdoms, involving numerous species and innumerable casualties.
While the war initially broke out between small local factions for land and resources after a devastating natural disaster, it quickly devolved. It turned into a clash of kingdoms, political causes, and warring economies. As kings, feudal lords, rebels and outside warlords joined the fray, things got ever more tangled, complicated, and bloody. As these groups forged alliances and lost their comrades one by one, they began to lose track of what it was the war had been started for and what they were fighting for other than vengeance. The carnage spanned across entire generations for some of the species involved, with humans bearing the brunt of casualties.
Things came to a head when the toll of war hit too close to home: Miguel's daughter was captured by a rival kingdom. The human ruler of said kingdom called for her execution in retaliation for Miguel's direct destruction of a town on the outskirts of their territory.
Miguel arrived just in time to see the life fade from his daughter's eyes.
Overcome with the pain of his daughter's death and wracked with guilt for having lost himself so deeply in the bloodlust of war, Miguel lost the will to fight. He retired from the warfront and became a shut-in.
He spends most of his days alone, now.
Residing in his secluded home on the outskirts of a floating city, he neighbors several other giants who once fought under his command. He doesn't socialize with them often, instead spending his time pursuing what little remains of joy in his life.
He weaves tapestries and clothing, creating elaborate pieces in an attempt to express his emotions, and making pieces in tribute to his daughter. Occasionally he'll take up commission work, creating decorative armor pieces or aid in repairing older pieces of his. He dislikes when people brings weapons into his home of any kind.
Many long centuries have passed since the war ended, and while to humans and other beings in the world below it is merely a legend, relegated to a footnote in history...
To Miguel it is still a crushing weight upon his life that is slowly suffocating him alive.
And so he weaves his tapestries, much as a spider would weave its web, and seeks penance and peace amongst the ruins of his life.
Personality:
Miguel is stern, well-spoken, and regal...but make no mistake, he is NOT as level-headed as he seems.
Neither his smooth voice nor flowery language can hide his animalistic tendencies, deeply held trauma, and barely-contained temper. He is quick to anger, jumpy at even the smallest of sounds, and filled with a deeply jaded rage towards the world, himself, and, most intensely, humans.
He has a deep contempt and hatred for humans, viewing them as lowly, vile creatures whose intelligence and craftiness is only ever used for personal gain and trickery. He once freely allied with and fought alongside humans, but now views them as monsters, despite the obvious hypocrisy and misdirected rage of this sentiment. Should he ever find a human in his home there's no telling what he'd do...
That being said, he doesn't extend such violence and disdain to everyone.
He has maintained relationships with many of his former comrades, as well as friends and relatives...although his increasingly reclusive behavior worries them. He's fiercely loyal to those close to him, betraying a softer side he prefers to keep hidden, concerned for their safety and worried he may lose another person he holds close. He rarely admits to or shows this vulnerability: he doesn't want to appear weak, nor have others take advantage of that weakness. He can't take any more pain than what is already upon his shoulders. Not again.
As such, he remains focused on his work and the solitude of his home, rarely letting anyone in, both physically and emotionally.
Powers/Abilities:
-Sphere of the Spider:
Giants are inherently magical beings. Their massive forms exist thanks to the powerful magic that flows in their veins, and they're more susceptible to magical attacks and spells than most other species. Deeply intuned with the flow of magical energy that moves through all things, giants take on a sphere/focus of interest to better hone and utilize their magical aptitude.
Some choose a particular profession, such as farming, smithing, book-binding and so on and apply their inherent magical skill to these pursuits. Other times, a sphere of magic will chose a giant to take it on.
Miguel was approached by the spirit of spiders herself, who granted him great power in exchange for spreading her sigil far and wide. He accepted...
But her blessing was a double-edged sword.
While she greatly sharpened his senses, gave him immense strength and agility, and honed his already exceptional skills in alchemy and weaving to a fine edge, he suffered many side-effects. While the growth of his extra eyes, his fangs, his claws, and the sharp increase in his senses were tolerable, other changes were not so easy to adapt to.
Extremely sensitive to light and vibration, Miguel is uncomfortable in direct sunlight and dislikes loud noise and music. He has also developed a visceral dislike for birds, and motifs for them are associated with death in his artistic works.
He is most active at night, something that clashes with the sunshine-loving norm of giant society, and his animalistic nature does startle even his fellow giants at times. Miguel is, however, overall grateful for his connection to this particular sphere of magic. He feels it suits him.
-Weaving/Alchemy:
While Miguel does not produce his own silk, his arachnid powers do lend well to the art of weaving and alchemy.
Miguel can weave with traditional materials, such as cloth, string, and rope, but he is also able to magically weave with other materials. He can change the alchemical properties of any material he touches, allowing him to spool it out into thread that he then weave into the item he's working on.
For example, Miguel's weaponsmithing process is different than any other in the world. He starts with the materials he intends to use for a piece, then thinly spools them out into thread, tempering the metal with alchemy. He then weaves these metallic threads into intricate patterns as he slowly but surely assembles a weapon of immense durability and sharpness, one strand at a time.
His weapons are renowned for their sturdiness and unique aesthetics, with a very distinct organic, woven style that makes them easy to spot. His textiles are also in high demand, as they are easily enchanted and are resistant to fraying or tearing. His tapestries are said to glisten with threads made from traditionally unheard-of materials, with strands made of alchemically-altered diamond, platinum, stone, wood, and more.
His pieces are highly sought after, but his clientele know that he's not easy to hunt down and get a commission slot. He is a grumpy, morose recluse, and that doesn't seem like it'll be changing any time soon.
Additional notes/info:
-Miguel is pansexual, panromantic, and polyamorous (though he's not been active in the dating scene for quite some time). He currently has no partners.
-Miguel's home is a looming, brutalist structure formed from stone. Inside there are several support pillars and rafter-like beams that he freely leaps between and crawls along. Any visitor better be ready to climb to reach most of the rooms inside.
-His home has a garden at its center, with a ceiling of enchanted glass that captures and casts down sunlight in glimmering colors. It is filled with plants from both the surface world and giant lands, with tangles of fruit trees and grape vines growing in the gaps between the shadows of massive trees native to giant lands. The entire garden is encircled and criss-crossed by an artificial spring, which is filled with rainwater from the bank of clouds Miguel's home is built on. He often harvests fruit from his garden for his meals.
-Housed in at the center of this garden, resting in its own custom-made pond, is the last remnant Miguel has of his daughter: a goose, crudely carved from gold. This enchanted object was sculpted and brought to life by his daughter through alchemy. Although an amateur work by the standards of most alchemists, it was deeply precious to her. This goose can eat any metal, and will take what it is fed and alchemize it into eggs made of solid gold. This goose is very precious to Miguel, and he pampers it as a pet, spoiling it rotten with hand-carved foliage made of different, high-value metals, and dotes on it daily.
-Whether he admits it or not, he has a soft spot for children, and is often a babysitter for his extended family and group of friends. He's particularly fond of the child of his former battle comrades Peter and MJ, and treats their daughter, Mayday, as if she was his own. He'd kill the very gods for her.
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