We got a question about the name of our most recent hunter Kink, the Evileenas. Is this a real word? Is this a reference to something?
Like a lot of #iHunt, Evileena is a weird series of homages and references that vaguely correlate to something in the real world, but put our fictional twist on it.
Most of all, though, they’re an homage to Tura Satana.
For those of you who don’t know her, Tura Satana was a Japanese-American actress, cabaret performer, martial artist, and all around badass.
She’s been in a lot of amazing stuff like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, but our personal favorite is The Astro Zombies where she plays Satana. Back in those days if you were sufficiently awesome, you could just play a character named after your own stage name.
You want to talk about representation? She was a woman of color in the 1960s who was leading movies and commanding the camera. She was trained in aikido, and nobody was gonna tell her she couldn’t kick ass.
She was never rich, but always awesome. Also her name is fucking tight. What a better symbol for #iHunt?
So she’s the main inspiration for the Evileenas.
In the world of #iHunt, a lot of what became modern hunter culture comes from a series of BBS boards in the 1980s. If you’re familiar with internet fora, you’ll know that even the most focused, topical boards are going to get some organic cross-pollination. Imagine, if you will, boards of people obsessed with uncovering and documenting the truth about the supernatural.
They were horror fans. Huge horror fans. Different cliques would identify by horror movies and icons. On these BBS groups, there was often discussion about movies that may or may not have ever existed. One such movie was a supposed schlock horror film starring an actor named Evileena. Evileena may or may not have existed. Nobody’s ever found a copy of her movie. People have found posters for the movie, but who knows if they were hoaxes or prerelease promos for a movie canceled in production? Board members debated furiously for years about the existence or nonexistence of this movie, and of this actress Evileena.
Over time, as these boards fell apart with the advent of the modern internet, remaining members all started to call themselves or be called Evileenas. All the other groups sort of fell by the wayside, but the Evileenas stuck around.
Now, Evileena refers to any hunter that fights first and foremost with knowledge. It’s an oblique reference to the weird trivia the classic Evileenas would hang on to.
Evileenas are at their best in a research montage, or feeding bits of knowledge into a Knight’s headset during the big fight.
Some of them pick up a few mystical tricks to turn the tides of a battle, using wards and amulets to practical ends.
Some of them master alchemy to push their compatriots’ bodies to peak efficiency. They know shit. And in #iHunt, knowing shit is a real fucking good weapon.
We have two more main Kinks to cover, we call them The 66 and the Phooeys. We’ll try to get those out to you soon. In the mean time, check out our press kit? If you have a favorite podcast, Twitch stream, actual play blog, or whatever, and you’d like them to cover #iHunt, help us get in touch with them! We’re getting ready for a big push to get this game in front of as many eyes as we can, and we need your help.