Hello, all! This is the new and improved signup thread for Heart of Desire: Wonders at Nahuiollin Temple! Please note that this is an OC RPG, so unless you base a character on one, preexisting fictional characters are not an option.

This RP has been going on for a while beforehand, but now there's going to be some changes to the environment of the story, and new possibilities with character creation. The past pages will be kept on as prologue and optional backstory reading.

Many centuries ago, or so the legends tell, the great incan god of creation bestowed upon mankind a mighty, all-powerful gift, to liberate the worthy from any want or misery. The people granted the bearing of the gift decided that its power was too great, that the world was not yet ready for it, and so they shut the treasure away. There it lay, in an ancient temple, within a misty, labyrinthine rainforest that defied any map.

But every so often, be it decades or centuries apart, the temple opens. A thin spotlight reaches to the sky, visible from around the world, but only in the proper light. When this happens, some men go in searching, provided they could travel so far. They make their way through the treacherous south american jungle, past the mysterious and powerful guardians, through the trials contained in the temple, and finally to reach the resting place of a shining crystal, called the Heart of Desire.

Upon touching the crystal, the seeker is forced to relive their lives in rapid succession, until they know what it is they've always wanted, the thing they've wished for above all else. Then the crystal grants it to them. They are endowed with a powerful magic, that will enable them to accomplish their greatest goal, and so much more besides. These people have lived in secret across the world, fearful of the consequence if their true power was known. They have been known as gods, witches, aliens, and supermen. But the latest batch refers to themselves as Lightlives.

Now the year is 2005. The temple is once again open, the white line shines in the distance, welcoming a new generation to gain great power and get everything they've ever wanted. But is there a price to pay for all this? What is the secret behind the magic of the Heart? And how long can one keep such power a secret from the planet?

This RP is inspired by the Green Lantern stories, but instead of being controlled by an emotion, their powers are based around a motivation. More specifically, the motivation that has been at the back of their minds for as long as anyone can remember. These come into four different categories:

• LOVE This category is made up of people that want to help someone, or are dedicated to helping a loved one, or just want to do good and make the world a better place. They're mostly the heroic lot, superheroes and sailor moons and stuff, though there are some well intentioned extremists.
• REVENGE They were mocked, abused, and made to feel inferior. Now they're veritable engines of destruction, hare trigger tempers all, and most often seen as evil. Think Red Lanterns meet evil army. Some of them have a soft spot, mind.
• NEW PURPOSE These people wanted to belong in the world, to break free from what people want from them, or to be badass or beautiful enough to be the centre of attention. This desire may or may not have been good for the world, but they're mostly approachable.
• ENTERTAINMENT Individuals who wanted to do whatever the heck they felt like, and damn the consequences. This group is one of the most feared, perhaps even more than the vengeance ones. They are completely unpredictable, and you never know if you'll find a laidback jester or a sadistic lunatic.

NOTE: Getting these powers is non compulsory. You can simply have a completely normal character who's an ally of the others.

Now then, a lot of people seem to want to know what they can hypothetically do with the magic. So, for future reference, here is what the powers are capable of. This is merely to set the highs and lows of magical capacity, and the characters don't require all of the abilities listed.

• Each individual has their own set of powers linked to their greatest want, but other people can teach them how to use other abilities. Someone whose powers are geared for construction work will not automatically know how to fly like a rocket from here to Compton Dando.
• The powers of the crystal are linked to two things, energy and life itself. As such, they can propel themselves through the air via kinetic energy or blast people with heat beams. Through some strange happenstance, this control over energy can somehow enable transmitting thoughts like with telepathy, and also teleportation, though if the teleporter wants to go anywhere, they must concentrate on that destination.
• With the limited power of life, certain users could heal living things or cause them to grow. But only if they consciously want that to happen, like if they really really want to get a six pack or cure their friend's leukaemia. If they don't concentrate or are fine with being sickly, it won't get better.
• Now the more green lanterny things come into play. Each powered individual is subconciously capable of teleportation. If they want to create an object from thin air, and a kinetic energy punch won't suffice, then they must concentrate fully on the object in mind, and the magic shall appearify it, atom by atom, in a manner of milliseconds. If an object has been created in this manner, they can only last as long as concentration allows.
• With a combination of growing life powers and teleporting atoms, it's entirely possible to transform someone or something. It's even possible to alter their brain and by extension thoughts. But the alterer must of course concentrate on what they want to transform and into what. If the process is interrupted, the process should bounce back to normal, unless one is very unlucky. Transformation isn't for everyone to learn mind, especially not with the amount of focus it requires. Transforming into an exact individual needs even more concentration.

Extra rules:

• As said before, no fandom characters.
• Only one character per person, for the time being.
• No autohitting, no godmodding, no meta knowledge.

Them's the brakes, and now, the form. Bold text highlights the parts that apply to characters with powers from the Heart. You can have a Muggle Ally Character if you prefer.

• Name: (Self explanatory)
• Age:
• Gender:
• Desire: (This is the thing they've wanted for most of their lives, and no matter what else they claimed to want, this was always at the back of their minds, shaping their behaviour. Must fit into one of the four factions.)
• Appearance: (Hair colour, physique and suchlike)
• Alternate Form: (Those with powers can shift between civilian form and the appearence of their superpowered self. This can range from a costume change to a full on transformation into anything less than an elder god)
• Mortal Talents: (Not super powers. What talents or special skills your character has on their own, but keep it reasonable)
• Powers: (The powers they got from the crystal. The main one has to be somehow related to the original desire they had. Depending on how long they've been a Lightlife, they could have learned some other powers from a friend or a mentor)
• Personality: (Tied with whatever backstory and mental imbalances they may have. How they act, what they like or hate, and what kind of person they are inside and out)
• Backstory: (What was their life like? How were they raised? This doesn't have to be massive, but we should logically see how they developed their main motivation and desire)

Main thread
Discussion thread

Current players:

LOVE

• John Jackson, played by Justa Username

REVENGE

• Terry Rickert, played by Psyga 315
• Lars Stryker, played by Nman
• Ken Andreas, played by Test Your Might

NEW PURPOSE

• Lorna Hayes, played by Aralyn
• Ryu Hayashi, played by Clawthewolf

ENTERTAINMENT

• The Wizard of the Paintbrush, played by deathpigeon

Muggles

• Alan Jackson, played by Infinite Paragon
• Xue Shulin, played by Motree

edited 28th Apr '12 7:13:37 AM by LizardOfAus

Welp. Better get this off my chest; i'm sorry for the manner in which I left and the abruptness of it. It was due to both an emotional overload and no small amount of immaturity stemming from that, and the result of all that was plain... wrong.

That being said, i'm still interested in this. Any qualms about me rejoining?

No qualms whatsoever. No grudges have been held. Anyone's welcome back anytime.

Right then. So could I theoretically bring back Alan, or should I make another character? (My only real concern about bringing back Alan is all the stuff he probably would've reacted to on the way to the temple that I wasn't there for. Could Retcon him as not having ever gone, though... alternatively, he carved his own way to the temple and actually touched the crystal... decisions, decisions...)

You could make a new one, though it might be a shame to lose the badass ranger. Maybe if a new player feels like writing how their character got powers, you could write him in as being there to witness it.

Nothing wrong with sticking to the basics, I suppose. To note he is a returning character, there are specific segments addressing the events of the prologue. (Lurkers be lurkin', you know.)

• Name: Alan Jackson
• Age: 36
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: Alan's tall, to start, his body relatively thin and well muscled with barely noticeable signs he's starting to let it go a bit. His lower lip is noticeably cracked right down the middle, although it looks healed over and doesn't actually bother him. This barely, if at all, hidden under his beard
  Think Hawke's from Dragon Age 2 but also going over the lip. (I forget if Hawke's does.)
  which, just like his blonde hair, is just getting past the point where it needs to be trimmed down, the hair moreso, which is somewhat like a mullet but only about an inch and a half less than shoulder length with a bit more in the front. His appearance is most commonly varying forms of flannel shirts and plaid overshirts (About 3 different sets), with boots and blue jeans being a constant, a belt buckle on his better days. The only single item he's always wearing or has on him is a black cowboy hat. He also has two prominent scars on his face, one on his nose starting from the bridge and running downward to the middle of his left cheek, and another on the left side of his face running over his jawline from the lower cheek and a small ways down his neck. At his hip, a revolver is plainly visible, and he always carries a guitar case on his back.
• Personality: While generally a somewhat kind soul, Alan has a dominant part of him that doesn't really care about the small things. He'll say what needs to be said and he won't care if it offends you. Alternatively, he'll throw away part of the notion of personal space if his reasoning demands it. Despite this, he knows when he's crossing the line and that that's the time to start giving a damn. Words of wisdom are slightly common should that be what he needs to say, or more vulgar words if he's drunk, although he has the ability to control himself even then. Above all, Alan has a great knack for grounding himself to reality and not getting his hopes up, and a good dose of cynicality to boot. He's largely trustworthy, though, and in some times a nice guy to be around, but not always.
• Abilities: Good with guns
  Typically small arms like a pistol or revolver; should he come into possession of a bigger weapon, he becomes a great deal less skilled, although he can put the bullet where it needs to go for the most part; just don't expect expert skill.
  , guitars, alcohol
  Roughly any kind, for the most part; years of travel made him not anywhere near picky.
  , and to an expent people. He can run, jump, and climb, but he's not fancy about it. He knows his way around some vehicles, but not motorcycles, and for the record the skill he has with vehicles amounts to usual skill and not much else. He cannot, however, do much else with any visible skill, although with time he can get whatever needs to be done done.
• Backstory: Alan was born in Texas, as you may or may not infer by his clothing choice, and generally enjoyed the atmosphere there. He decided, however, there was only one thing he would love more than Texas and his musical interests; seeing the world, a lone wolf like he'd commonly heard about in stories. It was never an easy life to live, and Alan's honestly only seen the world like he has through sheer amounts of luck and hard work, but he's cherished and partially regretted the memories he had in where he went. After about 16 or so long years on the road, Alan doesn't quite deliberately plan to stop, although he's thought about at least taking it slower and enjoying it a bit more.
• Prologue Backstory: Alan did journey towards the temple with others, but at some point either before or during the trip, he became too drunk to actually remember specific details. After losing 90% of his cash supply on that trip, he's begun spreading word around town
  Read:The setting
  that he'll do whatever mundane work needs to be done; this hasn't actually gotten around as far as he'd hoped, and he's currently holed up in an abandoned garage on the hilly outskirts of town with a six pack and a view that's either bleak or gorgeous, depending on which direction you look. Why doesn't just play his guitar for money, you might ask? Loose change is more common than dollar bills.
• Main Motivation: None. I'm going with a non-powered character, although for the sake of adventure he'll probably be accompanying somebody to the temple and inside.
• Prologue Motivation: Despite not remembering specifics, Alan's thought upon exactly what he'd do with the power. His line of thinking has led him to firmly believe without concrete evidence it was better off not being powered up; besides, for all he knows, he could become resistant to alcohol because of it.
• Equipment: I'm not going to deck Alan out even though he won't get powers, but if it's okay with Lizard, he'll have this at start:
  • A revolver, probably a .44 Magnum Revolver.
    • About 10 or so bullets for said Magnum, just enough for when he needs it.
  • A guitar case. Inside, we find...
    • A guitar, obviously. It's acoustic, but the body is smaller
      In one specific way, but i have no clue how to describe that.
      , so he fits a couple more things inside.
    • His clothes.
    • A scrapbook full of photographs, taken all around the globe. This specifically is something Alan holds close to his heart.

edited 16th Apr '12 5:12:03 PM by InfiniteParagon

Registering possible interest; is this open still?

It just opened today, so definitely.

If I decide to join in, I'll post a profile tomorrow. Thanks~

Welcome

I'm quite interested in joining, but I do have a few questions. For the character's powers, it already looks like characters have Won The Superpower Lottery with those five bulleted items you said they are capable of, so what is this "main" power you mention? But you also mention that characters don't "automatically know" powers, so does that mean that those listed powers are guidelines and I just make up one that fits with the listed powers? Also, you mentioned that all the already-written stuff doesn't have to be read, but I took a gander at your old signup, and are all of those characters still in this RP? Well, to be more specific, if I join, who should I read up on?

But basically, I want to have a character who is a Lumberjack Nineties Antihero (or at least an Antihero) with REVENGE as his motivation and An Axe To Grind.

edited 16th Apr '12 11:10:04 PM by nman

Paragon: Accepted. I'll start writing the new list of character at some point today.

The 'Main Power' is the one that they gained right from the start. This is directly linked to their goal in life up to when they touched the crystal. It could be gaining telepathy because you wanted to understand other people, or getting Flying Brick powers because they wanted to be like a superhero, or getting to turn back and forth between a woman because...well, you get the idea with that.

I should point out that the characters merely have the capacity to use such powers, just as small, thin person could have the capacity to be taught how to do yoga, bodybuild or become morbidly obese. So yes, the powers are guidelines, and you need not go for all of them, but just stick within those parameters, and remember that the ones related to their own power will come easiest.

All the character whose players are still in the game are there, so not that many. Seriously though, they'll be reapplying just so I can make sure I know who's still in, and what their powers are.

The prologue was about how the first group arrived at the temple, and none of them had powers at that point. I had always intended to move on from that point, with new player coming in having gone through it all offscreen. I've tried to make background information clear to new joiners without them having to read the new prologue, but if you need more detail, then there are those 30 previous pages.

Hope that clears everything up. I look forward to reading your signup!

I'll be reposting Xue's profile a bit later; if no one posts after me here, I'll just edit this post.

Here's my re-sign-up- same character. I've made a few edits to fit into this new sign up form, but essentially the exact same character.

And here we go!

• Name: Lorna Miriam Hayes.
• Age: 13 in the prologue, now 14.
  I know a year hasn't passed in game, but 13 seems a bit young for what I have in mind for her, so could I have her birthday somewhere in there? Maybe even as my OP :)
• Gender: Female.
• Desire: To paraphrase: "I have to make them understand, and if I have to reach into the depths of their fucking minds and force it into them I'll do it!". She wanted to regain her sight, something she associated with the reverence and respect her parents gave her when she was young, something I sort of gave her. That goal she will easily and plainly admit. She'd also like to give others...perspective, help people understand. You know, make them feel how she feels, how poeple like her feel (inferior, helpless, blind) so they'd stop making fun of her all the time. Essentially, she wants acceptance, respect, admiration- simple enough, but it grows till it's twisted beyond recognition.
• Appearance: Small and thin, light-blonde hair pulled into a wispy plait (two on special occasions), big light-brown eyes that don't focus because she’s visually impaired, long thin fingers, almost obsessively smoothly cut back fingernails. Not especially attractive, but quite distinctive.
• Alternate Form: Similar appearance and height, but pale all over, as if all the colour has been washed from her skin like she's made of marble, though there's a sort of glow of gold about her, usually holding her ivory flute with a red ribbon tied to the end. A white hood covers her face, hair out of her usual braids and bare feet, and under the shadow gold eyes like a hawk's, even if she can't see through them. Doesn't matter. They can see her.
• Mortal Talents: She can play the flute pretty well, though partially because she had gotten most of the skill down before she was blinded. Being visually impaired, her other senses are slightly more magnified than the average human. And she's insightful; finding purpose in actions and reactions, patterns in random sequences, seeing things from all perspectives- she would almost be able to read your mind if she studies you for long enough (say three years), but little details take up all her concentration, little details she finds important but really are not, such as how others could be thinking badly of her. Just don't expect anything out of her physically.
• Powers: To 'make people understand her, and be able to reach into their minds if she must'. Persuasion Powers through music and possibly through speech, altering thought processes and emotions, though obviously not very strongly at first- mostly depends on her ability to accurately predict someone's mind and be able to suggest to it. People can probably easily overturn these suggestions near the beginning, there will come a point in the RP where she can turn people again their own will, see into people's minds and eyes, mindrape them...probably closer to the end of the RP Obviously these skills cost her, depending on how much she has to change. At full power, controlling, say, crowds for at most a day will knock her out for at least a whole week.
• Personality: Cloud Cuckoolander. After she became blind she slowly descended into her own immature, childlike world, and she’s just not there half of the time, and has this weird vacant smiling expression on her face when she's not. She’s not insane; she just enjoys listening to the voices in her brain a little too much. Oh, she can be perfectly friendly and generous, and she is, if a little airheaded and strange, but if you press her enough, she becomes irritable and unpredictably moody, almost savage. Very deeply buried underneath that happy demeanour is a twisted logic and warped version of the world, a brooding hate and envy for almost random people, a constant paranoia that everyone is making fun of her behind her back, and an honestly whingy spoilt brat. Her determination is stone cold; if the situation comes where she or someone she loves is threatened, she will do whatever it takes, even if it means her death, or someone else's.
• Backstory: Lorna was born into an upper class family with a much older brother. She was encouraged to be an intellectual, well groomed and talented first class snob, so she took lessons and honed her skill at the flute. She began to lose her vision till she was practically blind by the time she was eight. Her parents, wanting to spare her from being 'bullied' by her would-be schoolmates (-cough-ashamed-cough-), had her then home-schooled with private tutors. She grew up in a sheltered home and cut off to general society except for her brother, who she grew close too. She developed a keen insight into the human psyche (for a kid), something her tutors became delighted with.
• Here's some more: At the age of ten her mother died of heart disease and her father swiftly remarried, and while the step-mother and her children didn't treat her badly, she became more withdrawn and twisted and cynical in her view of the world at her loss and her father's swift recovery, deteriorating even more when her brother left for university. She never truly accepted her step-mother and step-sisters as family. Maybe she was envious. She'd like to think not. Then again, she'd like to think sleeping with a butcher knife under her pillow is not weird.
• Here's What Happened In The Prologue: At the age of 13 she started sensing a Warmth, a Light from the corners of her Darkness, and convinced her brother to take her to Peru to the Heart, due recieving free tickets and a strange letter soon after the Light appeared. After arriving, she spent a few days attempting to convince her brother to take her into the jungle, and finally they hired a tour guide and headed in whatever direction she felt the Light was shining from. Eventually the tour guide had enough of this and told them he was taking them back. Lorna quietly agreed, but in the dead of the night stole some food and water, packed her pack and left, slowly making her way to the Temple. After a week, she arrived at the place and touched the crystal, and overwhelmed by the flashbacks and pain of her blindness and of how she lost her bright future and the high opinion of her parents (and subsequent mental issues), she asked for the ability to make people Understand, and be able to reach into their minds and force it onto them if she must. Regretting this wish, she has a hissy fit before she discovers at the height of her powers (now, when she has been recently saturated) she can see through the eyes of other animals who Understand her. So she journeys back with all of the Jungle animals guiding and helping her until she is found by the search party her brother commissioned (as opposed to running after her to find her, because he's pretty Genre Savvy). She falls into quite a deep sleep due to the sheer amount of energy the magic cost her.
• Possible Arc Words: "I just want them to be proud of me..."

You know, her brother might actually become a receptacle for her, a weapon that can fight for her, and a set of eyes. Near the very end of the RP, of course, when she can actually harness her power with the sheer focus needed to brainwash someone

edited 17th Apr '12 6:34:47 AM by Aralyn

Alright, here we are. Mostly copy+pasted, but amends made to her backstory are done in red to differentiate them. I'm also adding on a section similar to how IP did.

• Name: Xue Shulin*
  Please note that "Xue" is her surname. Much like Japanese names, the surname in Chinese names comes first. In addition, pretty much any Chinese name is a Meaningful Name, as sort of a culture thing. Siblings will also often have similar given names, usually only varying in one character. Her name would be written as 雪淑林, with the characters meaning snow, gentle, and forest respectively.
  Prefers being addressed as "Xue" or "Ms. Xue". Is called "X-tra Small" by her teammate Woolsgroove, though calling her this may result in physical injury.
• Age: 32, though looks younger due to small size and good health.
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: Xue Shulin is a Chinese woman that stands at about 4'8" in height with a small frame and weighing about 84 lbs. Despite her tiny size, she is quite well-muscled, particularly in her upper torso and arms thanks to a near-lifetime of practicing Jujutsu. She has very long jet-black hair that, when let down, going past her buttocks to a little past the top of her thigh, however she chooses to keep it in a rather ornate, braided updo secured with a rose-shaped clip. *
  To be specific as to how she achieves it and possibly shed light as to how it actually looks, she first puts her hair into a mid-height ponytail, braids it and secures the braid. She then wraps the braid around the base a bit to about the radius and height of half of a baseball, and then weaves the remainder of the braid through into two loops that hang below this. She then uses the large clip, which goes down through the center of the bun and has a separate mechanism that secures the clip at the base of the bun, to secure the whole thing. It almost looks as if the rose is blooming out of the main bun, and that she has a chopstick with a tassel at the end sticking horizontally through the base..
  To her, this is practical because it not only looks nice and ornate, but she can get away with not washing it for several days because nobody will notice. She looks quite younger than she actually is, with a very youthful complexion and near-nonexistent chest. Her face is very rounded, with medium-sized chocolate brown eyes and prominent eyelids, a small nose and very full lips. She has a tiny scar extending outward from the left corner of her mouth, and a multitude more on her body, which is oft clothed in a muted orange, slitted cheongsam/qipao over a pair of tan leggings and ornate-looking flats of traditional Chinese design and specifically modified for ease of movement, comfort, and practicality when fighting or traveling. The qipao carries the rose motif, with rose and lotus embroidery on the left breast and near the bottom hem. The flats match the color of the qipao, and have a similar design. She has a tattoo of a green dragon winding around roses and lotus flowers on her left shoulder and upper arm. She wears a pair of dark brown batting gloves, which match a pouched belt hanging at her hips with a holster for her stun gun and pouches for small amounts of supplies.
• Mortal Talents: Shulin is a master at Jujitsu, a Japanese martial arts style passed down through her family through generations*
  Though her family is Chinese, it is believed that at one point an ancestor eloped with an escaped samurai that had been taken prisoner. It is thought that they began the practice of teaching their children the art from a young age began here.
  . Thanks to the years of practice with this highly-specialized art, she is quite quick with fast reflexes and keen observational skills, and thanks to the fact the style revolves around using an opponent's own strengths against them, can even take down opponents that are much larger than she is. Quite obviously, her athleticism means she can be quite good at navigating tough terrain requiring a lot of jumping or climbing. In addition, she has also extensively studied massage and acupuncture which, in addition to her Jujutsu studies, have left her very knowledgeable of the locations of key pressure points, nerves, and blood vessels in the body. This is vital for her fighting style and profession, as she always aims to incapacitate an individual or render them unconscious as opposed to causing serious injury or death. She's also pretty handy with a stun gun, and by that extension it's likely she could use other small handguns, though not lethally.
• Personality: While she generally doesn't socialize extensively or stay in one place too long, most people would describe Shulin as a very calm, patient, and stern individual. In this assessment, they would be absolutely correct. Shulin is very much of the mindset that levelness of mind and experience in skill can top brute strength in any fight, and she is quick to prove this belief to any targets or would-be attackers. She is very no-nonsense and to the point, especially when it comes to her job, and can sometimes even come off as cold or distant to people, but there's certainly more than that beneath the surface. In truth, she has difficulty socializing with people, and has little experience dealing with them on any sort of personal level or outside of business. As a result, it leaves her feeling and behaving extremely awkwardly in non-business, non-combat situations, which she loathes as she feels it negatively influences her emotional/mental "balance" and overall reflects poorly on her competence. While she works as a bounty hunter, she feels there is no greater evil in the world than killing another human being, and feels that denying aid to a fellow human in true need is a sign of hidden evils in the soul, which indicates a kind nature despite her sternness. She also holds very tightly to tradition, as evidenced by her dress and discipline, and will take great offense if one addresses her as "Shulin"*
  Typically, in China, one would address one formally by their surname, and casually by their full name, as addressing one by only their given name is typically reserved for a relationship of greater intimacy such as family or lovers. Thus, "Ms. Xue" or "Xue Shulin" would be acceptable, but simply "Shulin" would not.
  . Despite her awkwardness, she has a very close relationship with those on her team, despite the fact that they may not always get along. She secretly regards them as a second family and will go to hell and back for their sake. She also admires hummingbirds, and has a great liking for children.
• Backstory: Xue Shulin was born to a very proud and tradition-rich Chinese family in an undisclosed location in northeast China. The middle child of five siblings, she began learning the family's traditional combat Jujutsu at around age 5, as was tradition for their family for the past few centuries. For years, she leaned the art along with her elder brothers, Ganglin*
  刚林, "Strong Forest"
  and Huanlin*
  欢林, "Joyous Forest"
  , younger brother Huilin*
  慧林, "Wise Forest"
  , and younger sister Meilin*
  美林, "Beautiful Forest"
  . As her skills and knowledge blossomed, at age 25 she decided it was about time to put all of what she had learned over the years to some use and took up an occupation as a travelling bounty hunter, aiding law enforcement in apprehending runaway or escaped criminals, and unlike many other in her profession her unique skills always resulted in her bringing the mark back alive. In addition to this very lucrative profession, she would also find herself doing some small-scale, unpaid work for beleaguered individuals in her travels, for example dealing with a gang leader harassing a small business owner or other, much smaller tasks. At some point in her travels, she met a group of travelling bounty hunters, led by a young man(?) named Charles Marienbard and his second-in-command Maiiq Du'Galle. After a certain incident where they were forced to work together, they became permanent teammates from then on out. While the travelling lifestyle often took its toll and she oft missed her family, she found that she enjoyed all of the sights and opportunities each new locale presented and feels it only strengthens her through experience. It gave her a sense of purpose, and also oneness with the world she lives in. As such, she continues this life, chasing down criminals and travelling the world while further perfecting her skills, with no regrets and with high expectations for the future.
• Main Motivation: None, simply another Badass Normal amongst the powered persons. Though one could say she pursues knowledge, she is very comfortable with her life now and feels that real power comes through hard work and wit. However, she also seeks worthy opponents to test her skills against, and feels superpowered individuals may be the perfect test.
• Equipment: While she primarily fights purely with her Jujutsu, she does carry with her a satchel and pouches with other items to aid her on jobs or her travels.
  • Stun gun/taser and numerous cartridges for it. She rarely utilizes it, only using it when a target or opponent is armed with a firearm. She is well aware that a bullet is faster than she is, and will not take unnecessary risks with her life. Seeing as it's non-lethal, it's perfect for her no-kill policy.
  • Set of acupuncture needles. She still practices it, and uses it for therapeutic reasons as well.
  • Case of medical syringes of a barbiturate-based drug. These are used after she's knocked out a target through either shaking the brain, oxygen deprivation, cutting off circulation or whatever else to ensure they stay unconscious long enough for them to be picked up and properly arrested.
  • Phone and portable radio communication device for when she's on a job with the team.
• Prologue Backstory: Her team had camp set up near the mountains, and she had decided to go exercise by scaling it and navigating through the mountain terrain. At some point, she sighted the group that was going to get powers and, wary, followed and observed them from afar. While she has only informed her team of her findings, they have all agreed not to reveal any of this information*
  Namely, people with powers
  outside their little circle. However, it did spark a bit of a secret desire within her: she always stresses her belief that skill, experience and discipline will always trump raw power or natural ability. These powered individuals may prove a perfect test for her belief.

For her opening, I'm possibly thinking of starting her out on a mission with her team, or just wrapping it up. In all honesty, her team won't be playing much role at all aside from being there in the morning since they stay together.

edited 17th Apr '12 6:24:15 AM by Motree

Okay, now to post my updated profile.

• Name: John Jackson
• Age: 12
• Gender: Male
• Desire: Thinks he wants a NEW PURPOSE*
  he wants to change into something not so...average
  but in reality, he wants LOVE!*
  he enjoys helping people...that may be one thing might have inspired his will to change (the other being wanting to be something that would make friends easier)
• Appearance: John isn’t a kid who would stick out, being all round average. Average height for his age, a healthy weight, brown hair, blue eyes*
  before touching the Heart of Desire, they were brown
  , skin that is neither tan nor pale… he’s looks are average to the point of ridiculousness. Touching the Heart of Desire had changed his fashion sense, giving him a preference to short-sleeved clothing and will go bare foot when he can get away with it. Otherwise he’d most likely be wearing sandals. This is also technically an alternate form, his puppy form being his true one after touching the Heart of Desire, this is just an imitiation of what John used to look like (with the exception of the eyes of course).
• Alternate Form: Being quite the shapeshifter, he has more than one alternate form. These are his “main” alternate forms*
  yes, John seems to have a preference towards shapshifting into canines
  .
  • As seen in the prologue, John can turn into a puppy that’s cute on a supernatural level. Some of the features that stand out with this form are his bushy tail, his floppy labrador-like ears and the fur on his head is long enough to be a “hairstyle”, with the bangs reaching his head. John’s eyes are blue and his fur is the same brown as his human hair colour although he’s white around the belly and the tip of his tail and the longer hair on his head, ears and all the fur below his legs are a darker brown. He usually wears a blue open vest with pockets at the front. John can alter this form a little, being able to choose between walking on four paws or standing on two legs with furry hands. This is now John's true form.
  • John is also able to transform in a Big, Badass Wolf, giving an appearance that is either majestic, terrifying or both. He’d be about the size of a horse, has claws more like a big cat’s than a wolf’s and processes blue eyes. The colouring of his fur is somewhat similar as it was as a puppy, however, the white fur has been replaced with brown fur only slightly lighter than his human hair colour. The head "hair" is longer and expanded growing on the back of his neck, becoming creating a mane. Fortunately, the mane has the magic ability to never get in front of the wolf's face. John’s voice is also becomes a deep baritone. His vest turns into a armlet that resides above his right front leg. This form is just John aging himself up as a puppy, his true form will end up looking like this one day. Like his puppy form, John can go bipedal, looking like a tall, well-built werewolf.
  • John can transform into an older human form, however, his appearance is going to be kept in in this spoiler. John seemed to have gone through ugly...er...ordinary duckling syndrome, becoming tall, handsome and well built. John keeps his brown hair and blue eyes and has gotten Little Bit Beastly, having the ears and tail of a brown wolf and his canine teeth become a little longer. The vest turns into a blue collar around his neck ((feel free to have your characters feel awkward about not only the collar but his appearance because, you know, he's 12)). Shares the same deep voice of his wolf form. And John won't grow up to look like this, because he ain't human anymore.
• Mortal Talents: There is one field that John isn’t average at and that is knowledgable about mythology, history and animals. He also has a strange tack for stealth because people tend not to notice him.
• Powers: John’s want to change makes him specialize in alteration, although right now John mainly alters his own body (he might be able to alter non-living things more but other living things, no chance). John has difficulty imitating others appearance, so his shapeshifting is usually focused around animals or monsters and his forms tend to have blue eyes and brown fur/scales/feathers/whatever. Also, he has abilities outside shapeshifting.
  • Hyperspace Shapeshifting Vest: It's not really a vest, that's just its usual shape when John is a puppy. It can transform into any item and can act as a Bag of Holding with items being able to put into and out of it when it has pockets. However it has two limitations, first it can only turn into one item. This flaw becomes realisable when you have a car with no petrol or a gun with no bullets. Second, this item doesn't like going too far away from John, if it does, it will return to John as a vest (or something else depending on form). This second limitation is due to the fact that it’s part of John’s soul materialized
  • Item Size Shifting: John can change items so that they can be usable when he's too small or big to do so or get small enough to fit in his hyperspace vest's pocket (or whatever has a hole for carry, could be a bag or something).
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: John is fond of animals*
    even if a snake tried to eat him in the jungle and gave him quite the wound
    and can communicate with them through language. However, the simpler minds of animals means that the words that come out will be simpler as well and some creatures may have minds too alien to communicate with.
• Personality: John is a Nice Guy, willing to help people if asked (and feels good doing so) and a good brother to his little sister Linda. However, the boy isn’t without his flaws, he seems to have a hard time making friends and has a low self-esteem, ignoring his own talents and envious of those who can stand out because of their skills.
• Backstory:
  • Born in another town John comes from a middle class family, with two Good Parents and an adopted*
    don’t point this out though, John won’t appreciate it!
    Hispanic 6-year olds sister called Linda.
  • Entering Elementary School, he had a hard time making friends but before long he had people to hang around with. Not knowing what to talk about, he tended to be the listener of the group. He didn’t have many relationships to people, but it was good enough for him.
  • When he was finished with elementary school, his family moved to the town the RP is set in and he was isolated from the few friends he previously made. At middle school, as much as John tried, he couldn’t find anyone to connect to and spent his days there in isolation. He blamed himself for it, wanting to change himself, be something people would want to be around but he didn’t know how to do so…and then the pillar of light appeared and changed his life forever.

edited 18th Apr '12 12:51:43 AM by JustaUsername

John is actually related to Alan in some way, unbeknownst to both of them.

...

Now... let's break away!

• Name: Terry Rickert
• Age: 22
• Gender: Male
• Desire: REVENGE!
• Appearance: He has a slim build, and is about six feet tall. Terry has short brown hair and brown eyes that look reddish in the light. He wears a red jacket, a yellow shirt, and blue jeans.
• Alternate Form: His altered form turns him into a sort of bug alien, with the legs of a grasshopper, the arms of a praying mantis, and the head of a sort of arrow-headed alien. All this while red fire covers his body. The only eyes he has are tiny blue dots all around his arrow-head. (Also, I might need to name this form... especially if it becomes some sort of split personality later on)
• Mortal Talents: He's good at driving a motorcycle, more importantly, he's good at motorcycle racing. He is also strong and a good fighter, which can be attributed to his daily training at the gym. Then there's his knowledge of the justice system.
• Powers: His long and sharp blades have the ability to ignite things into a huge ball of fire if they come into contact. This, combined with Super-Speed, comes from his desire to give "justice" swiftly and painfully. This trade-off is that it will go berserk and won't stop until it sees justice is served (i.e. until whoever he targets dies), or receives a Cooldown Hug.
• Personality: If you have ever seen him before the age of thirteen, he would be a kind and sweet kid. After? Well... He'd contain shades of that. However he's prone to getting angry, especially when discussing about injustice or the car accident his sister got into. He has a soft spot for kids like John, and tries to act like a Cool Big Bro to them at every chance he gets. Has a strong sense of justice, and with his power, he could dish it out, yet doesn't wish to stoop down to a level where he would wish to kill every person he perceives as evil, just the ones that can't be redeemed. And he's known to hold a grudge. When he becomes his monster form, he becomes a berserking monster. (See powers)
• Backstory: Terry was born into a family with two loving parents and a younger sister. At the age of 13, his sister was picked on by bullies. No one stood up for her despite the signs of her being bullied becoming more and more obvious. One day, while escorting his sister home, they came across the bullies again. Despite his best efforts to try and avoid a conflict with them, they began to attack his sister. She ran off trying to not get more injured, but ran into an oncoming car. The resulting impact killed her, and the driver was put on trial for her death. Despite evidence putting the bullies in clear blame for her death, both the jury had declared the driver guilty of the death and was given a life sentence. After the trial, Terry encountered the bullies again, who rub the fact they got away in his face. His grudge towards the bullies and grief towards his deceased sister resulted in clouding his mind with nothing but anger and a desire for justice. He decided to work towards being a cop and when he was old enough to drive, participated in motorcycle races to take out his frustration on. Eventually, when he became 22 and was picking out his college courses, his father came to him and asked him to go on a hike with him and Terry's mother to try and get over his sister's death. He complied, but said he will make no promises.
• Prologue Backstory: During the trip, he was feeling a little bummed out, with his parents trying to make him accept the death. It was to the point where they decided to go on a hike. This very same hike would result in them venturing forth in a strange jungle. This jungle led them to meet some other people, including a kid by the name of John who got lost. Terry, feeling some emotion for once, supported the kid and tried to help him out. Soon, they reached temple where he was tested by a fiery office lady and her two mooks. He defeated them with some effort and got the Red Stone. He soon was tested of what he desired and he turned into a revenge-obsessed monster, who was reverted back to Terry as soon as John treated him as Terry. Soon, Terry took these new powers and headed out into the city.

edited 17th Apr '12 8:57:35 AM by Psyga315

Terry 'Crick'-ert

Although it's a praying mantis, not a cricket, but...

edited 17th Apr '12 9:17:28 AM by Aralyn

I'd like to caution old players about overuse of 'Prolouge Backstories'. I know there's probably not many other old characters going to be signing here, but still.

Character section added.

edited 17th Apr '12 9:24:57 AM by LizardOfAus

I was just using it to recap what had happened in the prologue, but eh

I simply added it since I sort of dropped off the face of the earth.

I did it because other people were doing it.

I did it before it was cool.

I'm a trend-setter.

It made sense to try to explain stuff since I dropped, and rejoined with Alan.

You hipster.

Yeah, that basically sums up my reasoning as well.