Discussion thread.

RP thread.

After my previous failure at running an RP, I'm going to give it another shot, and hopefully not have the same problems as last time.

There is a prophecy, written by people long past on, that has been locked away for centuries, written on two stone tablets that were kept far away from each other. Nobody knows exactly what it says, as they vanished long ago and all attempts to recover them have been unsuccessful. Still, times were good and people slowly forgot that the prophecy ever existed.

Then, one day, everything changed when the legendary Gate of Lords opened.

Out of nowhere, vile monsters began to appear. Where they came from, nobody could be sure, and there were hundreds of them. Humanity was woefully unprepared, and was driven to the brink of destruction. Cities burned, bodies littered the streets, and worst of all, people began vanishing for no reason, even when they were in locked rooms. It was a time of terror, an age where nobody dared step outside without armor and weapons. Even the greatest of wizards fled at the sight of the monsters that walked the earth.

It seemed all hope was lost, but then, in the nick of time, glorious heroes with powers of shadow rose and chased the fiends to the farthest reaches of the world. Though the source of them could never be found, the flow of them into the mortal world slowed down before eventually coming to a halt, and the creatures were not seen again for a very long time, though they frequently sent up minions to cause trouble for humanity.

Hundreds of years later, darkness is spreading back into the world, and it is up to you, the current bearer of one of the Orbs of Caging, to drive it back.

Information:

Orbs of Caging:

Each character has an Orb of Caging, which is your source of power. How it works is that each person with one takes a mental journey at the age of twelve, and when they find it, can channel their inner element (such as lightning, fire, wind, water, metal, void, etc.) into one of these orbs. Once this is done, they possess the ability to transform into a form that can use powers based off of the element and has an appearance and clothing that is also based off of the element.

Your powers will be general manipulation, with one real rule: The more advanced something is, the longer it takes to charge up and generally do. As such, while one might theoretically be able to create lightning powerful enough to tear through the entire world, the human lifespan makes this impossible.

One thing to note is that the more specialised your powers are, the stronger they are as well. If you have powers over wood, you'll generally be able to use your powers faster then if you had powers over nature.

General Magic:

Your general magic, if you have any, works rather differently from your abilities from your Orb of Caging. Unlike the powers you have from your Orb of Caging, you can use them at all times and, while the time it takes still depends somewhat on how strong the spell is, what you can do is largely limited by how much practice you have with magic. Also, people with pure positive or negative elements will be especially good at positive or negative magic.

Specialities:

You have access to two specialities. These can be things like sword fighting, agility stealth, unarmed combat, anything of that sort. Basically, you're unusually good at this, and even more so if both of your specialities are the same. Note that you must spend a speciality to have access to general magic.

You do not have to go into much detail. Remember that just because something isn't one of your specialities doesn't mean you can't do it, or that you're bad at it. All it means is that you're at most somewhat above average.

Final notes:

This RP has a continuous plot with potential for player-started sideplots, and is very serious, though it's okay to have the occasional funny moments. I will be accepting the occasional evil character, but I will require that there be a lot more heroes than player villains.

Finally, I'm setting this in pretty close to modern day, and it's going to start in an academy designed for people with Orbs of Caging, so consider those things if you create a character.

Sorry if this seems a bit complicated. Simple premises were never my strong suit.

• Name:
• Gender:
• Age: Must be 13+. Preferably no older then 20, but an occasional breach if this rule is acceptable.
• Appearance: Includes normal clothing.
• Element: Things like fire, wind, lightning, water, void, energy, etc.
• Transformed Appearance: Pretty much anything that's about human size, isn't downright overpowered and has two arms and legs. Includes transformed clothing.
• Specialities:
• Personality:
• Bio: Optional. Feel free to leave blank and fill it out later.
• Items: Any rare or potentially plot-important items, such as antique coins or inherited necklaces. You can also leave this blank and mention the thing in-RP if you want.

edited 8th Jun '12 8:36:56 PM by Speedchesser

This character comes partly from what I immediately thought of when seeing "element".

• Name: Carwyn
• Gender: Male
• Age: 14
• Appearance: Tall thin build. Incredibly pale skin. Grey eyes, although the left is non-functional and intersected by a scar, and jet black hair, cut short except for a long fringe covering left eye. Large X-shaped scar starting on right cheek, with one of the lines of the scar extending all the way up his face and just past his left eye. Clothing-wise, wears fairly generic black and dark grey clothing and a long black trench coat. Has two matching grey and black gauntlets, lightweight with large retractable claws emerging from on top of his arm.
• Element: Heart.
  • Powers allow him to inspire love or lust towards himself or towards others, soothe living creatures into a peaceful euphoric state and manipulate how he appears to a small extent (such as innocent, handsome, pitiful, etc).
• Transformed Appearance: Appears roughly similar to his normal form except for small differences that make him appear older and slightly bishonen, as well as a glowing pink aura. Claw gauntlets become more aesthetically pleasing and complex in design.
• Specialities: Agility and combat with the claws.
• Personality: Fairly quiet and closed, and grim. Has a tendency to stay around others, but to stay at the edge of groups, both literally and figuratively.
• Bio: His father was unknown and his mother died in childbirth, leaving Carwyn an orphan, brought up in an orphanage most of his life but otherwise a fairly normal child until one event. He witnessed a murder while walking along at night and was kidnapped by the killer to stop him informing anyone. The killer tortured him, the origin of his large scars, but he eventually escaped. He ran from the city and started travelling, gradually acquiring his possessions and getting along by doing small work for others where he could, and begging where he couldn't.
• Items: The odd claw-gauntlets, the creations of an eccentric weapons enthusiast, made specifically for Carwyn. The gauntlets are worn tightly on his arms and three long metal claws retract from each one, resting on top of his lower arm when not in use.

Hmm... A bit more specific a power than I expected, but so long as it's not downright OP, accepted.

Here's one of the students at the academy.

• Name: Samantha Green
• Gender: Female
• Age: 16
• Appearance: Black curly hair, green eyes, usually wears jackets and pants, her overall clothing consisting primarily of greens, browns, and golds.
• Element: Lightning
• Transformed Appearance: Black skin, waist-length dark green hair with golden streaks, her arms somewhat resemble talons. Aside from that she wears a great green cloak, white-trimmed black robes, and a dagger by her side that only manifests when she's transformed.
• Specialties: Agility, unarmed combat.
• Personalty: Friendly and sociable, though not loudmouthed or hotheaded. She likes to be in the crowd, and is very friendly, though not the bravest when combat comes up. Her transformation makes her somewhat cold and calculated, though this can sometimes make her do overconfident and/or amoral things.
• Bio: Raised in Kansas, her family was attacked by demons and most of them were killed, though she and her little sister survived and, seeing as how she was the most worthy to use her father's orb, she inherited it while her sister took her mother's. They were taken in by relatives, and in the hopes of teaching her how to use the Orb of Caging, they sent Samantha off to the academy, her sister having not gone on her spirit journey yet.
• Items: A tiny knife made of ivory, a locket from her mother, and the smashed remains of her brother's orb.

Oh, and just to make sure nobody gets the wrong impression, the adventure will not stay at the academy for too long. It merely starts there.

EDIT: List wasn't working. Should be fixed.

edited 31st May '12 4:26:48 PM by Speedchesser

Interest sparked. I'll leave this here and finish it later:

• Name: Inez Atmas
• Gender: Female
• Age: 16
• Appearance: Inez wears slightly loose jeans and a yellow shirt whose sleeves reach halfway down her forearm. Inez is about 5'6" and lightweight, with dirty blonde hair in a nice ponytail.
• Element: Wind
• Transformed Appearance: Inez is surrounded by a powerful wind, blowing away everything near her. Her hair becomes very unkempt and her clothes flap around a lot in this form. Her hazel eyes adopt a green color in this form and her skin becomes silvery gray.
• Specialities: Inez is particularly skilled in parkour/freerunning and martial arts both armed and unarmed.
• Personality: Inez is a very carefree, loving individual. She enjoys good friends and pets, and has a deep respect for nature. But she also has a very serious and angry side whenever provokes, that is usually seen when she is using her Orb of Caging. Like the wind, Inez is very energetic and unpredictable. She is pacifistic, but does love a good fight when she gets into one. She also holds a slight hesitance towards being an Orb-bearer, because she sees it as a burden and as a responsibility too big for her.
• Bio: Inez was born to a regular, loving family with several siblings. When her gifts and power was discovered, Inez was sent away to the academy to defend against the forces that will pour from the Gate of Lords.
• Items: Inez carries an old metal staff from her family's ancient history. On both ends of the staff, spear blades can appear. For apparently no reason except for intimidation, Inez's father told her, the blades can split into two to make a double-edged bident of sorts.

edited 1st Jun '12 12:30:46 PM by Insano

I'd like to know everything before accepting/declining. Please let me know when/if you're finished.

For now, it looks fine.

EDIT: Okay, after thinking about this some, I'm going to go ahead and accept her.

edited 31st May '12 10:35:33 PM by Speedchesser

Posting interest. Thinking of doing an ice chick. Will have a bio up soon.

EDIT:

• Name: Billie Hawthorn
• Gender: Female
• Age: 18
• Appearance: Short red hair, dark blue eyes, and is of average height. Typically wears non-conspicuous, boring clothing, with a black beanie to hide her brightly coloured hair and always with a jacket containing plenty of pockets. Has a pair of reading glasses.
• Element: Ice.
• Transformed Appearance: Her eyes and hair both turn bright blue, and her skin pales until it's snowy white. Her fingernails sharpen and she gets around on all fours, her 'claws' giving her a better grip on non-horizontal surfaces. She also sprouts a long blue tail, which she can use to harm opponents or simply to keep her balance.
• Specialities: Pickpocketing and first-aid.
• Personality: Sneaky, jovial and only telling the truth about half of the time. She has a near compulsory thieving habit and is always up to a challenge when she faces one, except when it's early in the morning. When transformed she becomes an outright Blood Knight.
• Bio: Keeps it to herself. All that's known is that she used to be homeless, and that she's been involved in two separate murder cases, though how she's connected to them is unknown.
• Items: A black ring with an embedded green sapphire that she took a liking to. She also has a sentimental attachment to her beanie.

edited 1st Jun '12 9:03:03 AM by whizzerd

Accepted.

• Name: Maelt "Rock" Taroe
• Gender: Male
• Age: 19
• Appearance: Very nondescript. Brown eyes and hair, about 5'5", stocky. For some reason, small grey streaks run through his hair. Despite the fact that he always caries a long dagger, he would not stand out in a crowd.
• Element: Gravity
• Transformed Appearance: This. If you see him, you're screwed.
• Specialities: Surviving from harsh wounds. So far, he has survived wounds that would normally kill most people through training.
• Personality: Smiles a lot, and is very friendly. Very agreeable, though he does have a well-hidden berserk button.
• Bio: Selected to participate in an intense training program due to his abilities, and because his transformed state is so dangerous to others and himself.
• Items: A gilded(made of precious metals) dagger and necklace, both with similar intricate designs.

edit: if the rpg actually starts or if I need to make changes, could you pm me? i don't check this corner of the forum hardly enough...

edited 4th Jun '12 10:48:51 PM by Rockonman

A bit more specific an element than I expected, but I guess he's acceptable considering that the rules of Orbs of Caging would essentially work to slow down the powers of his otherwise overly powerful element to the point of being reasonable.

Finished my bio.

Okay. Looks good.

Question: can the characters 'store charges' for later power uses sorta like a battery?

Yes, but there are limitations. As stated before, the more powerful the effect, the longer the charge-up time or slower it works, so if one begins charging up an ability early, so long as they concentrate enough, they can create a much faster and more powerful effect than if they began charging it on a whim. Beyond a certain point, concentration becomes ridiculously hard and maybe even impossible, so if you don't use the power within enough time, you have to start charging up all over again, and when you fall asleep or become exhausted enough that you simply can't concentrate, the charge goes to waste.

Alrighty, I do have a concept. I'll make a character tomorrow. A young woman, with the wind element, spell caster and inventor.

• Name: Adam Spratt
• Gender: Male
• Age: 18
• Appearance: Adam is best and immediately described as "stocky". He's definately not fat, just "stocky". He has a reddish goatee, and his hair shows hints of the red in his goatee. He is often seen wearing some thick coveralls while he works on his creations, but outside of that he tends to wear green slacks and geek chic shirts.
• Element: Metal
• Transformed Appearance: Adam's skin takes on a pewter appearance and texture, his goatee disappears, and he actually loses a couple inches of height. Silver robes flow over him, and a metal black circlet encloses his brow. Copper boots appear on his feet that shift as tho serpents, but otherwise hold no snakelike visage. His twin axes grow slightly larger and more sinister, with many different metals inlaid in a very intricate pattern that is matched by the other.
• Specialities: Fabrication (Imagine the building side of mythbusters), dual hand axes.
• Personality: Adam is pretyy high energy but just misses that annoying perky quality some people have. He's a fairly generous guy when it comes to favors and money, but will not loan his vespa. He does have a tendancy to....embelish some. Not greatly, just often. He just does not get smartphones.
• Bio: If it comes up in play, I'll fill it in at the time. One thing to note, his element came first and spurred his interest for fabrication.
• Items: His vespa! Its a classic. He also has a tidy tool kit.

edited 2nd Jun '12 8:15:35 AM by Exileman

Accepted.

Ooh, this looks interesting.

• Name: Greg Nabbitz
• Gender: Male
• Age: 15
• Appearance: When you look at Greg, you might compare him to someone you know. His appearance is best described as normal. He has brown eyes and medium-length hair of the same color. His normal clothes are a white shirt and black pants.
• Element: Light
  • Note that this means both light and darkness - considering you get darkness by decreasing light.
• Transformed Appearance: When Greg transforms, his entire body becomes translucent. However, you cannot see his internal organs in this state. His clothes morph into a white toga (also translucent) and a medal with a sun symbol embossed on it appears around his neck. His hair also gets longer.
• Specialities: Greg is a very logical thinker and is pretty good with a knife (a necessity for him due to where he was born).
• Personality: He tends to think of himself as higher than those around him and thus does not have many friends. However, he is kind to people who he does not deem as 'ignorant'
• Bio: Being born in a very bad and ruthless town, Greg is dissatisfied with the world around him. He wishes that people would try to be good and caring, and that ignorance would go away. He went to the academy of his own accord to get away from the people back at home.
• Items: A photo of Greg's only true best friend, who died. It has some numbers on the back of it that he cannot make sense of. Also, he carries a 2-inch long flip-out pocket knife (he prefers not to use it, though, due to the fact he's squeamish at the thought of delibrately hurting someone else, unless it's self-defense.)

Accepted.

Interest sparked. Sadly my exam season isn't quite over yet. I have questions:

Are there any particular combat tropes in play? Like Calling Your Attacks or some other things? Where does this roleplay stand at the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism?

Anyways, here's my character:

• Name: Vann Espionza
• Gender: Male
• Age: 16
• Appearance: Not too tall, skinny. Vann has eyes with dark blue irises and black hair styled casually. He wears a long-sleeved, dark-colored shirt overlaid with an grey jacket left unzipped. Paired with black long pants and blue-white sneakers.
• Element: Water*
  Can manipulate the density of water in addition to general manipulation.
• Transformed Appearance: His irises become bright blue and his skin emits a very subtle glow of bluish-white. In this state he always wears the hood of his jacket, concealing his face, which in this state becomes semi-transparent and looks horrible (with all those veins visible).
• Specialities: He can handle a sword and have a comprehensive magical knowledge/ability about his own element. Also able to cook and do laundry.
• Bio: Vann is raised on a strict family, before an accident happened and he is exiled from his family at the age of ten. He relies on himself for the past years before stumbling into the academy. Generally has a withdrawn personality and slightly despises his powers, but if he befriends anyone, expect him to talk a lot with them. He has a rather short temper, but if it runs out he defaults to Tranquil Fury, and developed Jerkass tendencies.
• Items: A photo of his family. Despite being exiled, he still loves his family, his father is his favourite figure. Usually carries a pouch of water strapped on his belt's sides, concealed by his jacket.

edited 9th Jun '12 12:19:43 PM by LimitRemoval

Accepted.

Hmm... As for the combat tropes, I can't think of any. As for your second question, I was thinking slightly cynical, but I can't really say until it's begun.

• Name: Megan Wilder
• Gender: Female
• Age: 18
• Appearance: Black cut almost evenly as it reaches her shoulders, bright blue colored eyes, friendly and confident in demeanor most of the time. Somewhat taller than average, with a nice figure and long legs. A pretty active lifestyle has left her with a pretty fit body. Prefers to dress pretty light, so most of her outfits do show a bit more skin than it is usual. When needing to dress a bit more appropiately she tends to wear a cloak or robe over her usual attire. Definitely does not look like the typical frail spellcaster.
• Element: Wind
• Transformed Appearance: As far as physical changes go, reen colored runes appear as faint tattoos all over Megan's skin, with some designs even appearing on her face, a pair of horns appear wrapping around the sides of her head, her hair grows to reach halfway down her back and a pair of wings made of green sections of light appear on her back. No matter what she was wearing prior to her transformation, it will shift into light garments which provide the greatest freedom of motion possible.
• Specialities: General Magic, Inventing.
• Personality: Cheerful, light hearted, very sociable, a bit of a tease and very curious. Seems like she can't take anything seriously, though in truth underneath her cheerful demeanor there is a pretty brilliant mind. Can be pretty serious when the situation demands it, though these moments tend to be short lived.
• Bio: Raised by her single mother due to some problematic circumstances, while Megan was a brilliant child she was a problematic one during most of her early life. It would not be until a few years after doing her mental journey and enrolling on the magic academy that she would get past her (now embarrassing) dark attitude and then got to enjoy the joys of life. Now she lets her creativity and curiosity go wild as she digs deeper into the arcane mysteries and builds her own interesting artifacts.
• Items: A silver ring and she does own quite a lot of magical artifacts and such which she has built or acquired through the years.

Accepted.

NOOO!!! FOR THE SAKE OF SPECIATION, I MUST CHANGE MY BIO!!!

...may I, Speedchesser? I was planning to change it to Fire anyway.

Huh... how long has she been Wind? When I read her she was Fire XD My second character idea was a Fire one, but since I saw already a Fire character in I went for Wind.