A Game of Gods Season 3: Terminus

Swapping out Eru right now since he's not really interacted with too much people and I realized he's a bit one-noted. Also to save trouble and to do so while I still can.

• Name: Lucifer (Lucy)
• Age: Unknown, probably as long as Christianity's been in vogue.
• Appearance: Slick Old Nick.◊ The guise of a lower life form.◊
• Universe: Monster Strike
• Personality: Cool, calm, and aloof would describe this woman at first sight- for she has seen the countless souls fall into her domain in the underworld. What was once a devoted lightbearer is now a cold rebel with mixed feelings towards her creator and prior comrades, currently being greatly at odds with Him and the archangels in question. Though capable of kindness, she is rather sparing with her affections though she does have a soft side for those who stand by their conviction as well as cats. Prideful and lofty, she only pays respect to those that she deems capable of earning such trust- though those that catch her interest are treated quite well should they appeal to her sensibilities. In battle, she's a bit of a Blood Knight once she finds suitable opponents.
• Backstory: Not much is known about Lucifer in particular other than the fact she is a native of the unnamed Monster world where most Monsters come from, a realm which in and of itself is a fantastical mirror of human mythologies, achievements, and historical figures where similar beings bear powers, appearances, and abilities that mankind are familiar with. Once a high ranking angel serving God, she fell from grace after growing disillusioned by various events and eventually claimed a part of the Underworld as her own domain. When not acting as a ruler of Hell, she pretty much hangs around in the human world to enjoy the vice of good food and music and occasionally part-times in a band with Satan and Ibaraki-Doji dubbed the Wicked Pistols.
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment: As Lucifer is a Monster, she has a host of amazing abilities that regular humans would find rather daunting, with the regular baseline physical abilities being good enough to survive being smashed through brick walls and smash holes in stone and metal constructs with her bare limbs as well as react to things regular people can't. She can also fly and hover when she sprouts her wings. She can assume a full human form where nothing out there such as pointy ears, broken halo horns, or black wings are out along with the ability to craft whatever clothes she wants though to actually fight at full strength she needs to discard the facade.
  • Due to her being a fallen angel, her element is Dark aligned and thus she takes twice as damage from anything particularly Light elemental in nature such as magic or techniques... though the inverse is also true and she can deal greater than normal damage back to such entities. That said, normal sunlight doesn't do squat to her to weaken her in the least.
  • Lucifer's more supernatural abilities involve being able to construct a thick ring of powerful magic around herself that grinds whatever comes into range (though it's set at a stationary distance about her body so people won't be affected if they run close enough or stop outside the ring), the ability to rapid fire Dark aligned lasers for ranged combat, engulf her limbs with reinforcement magic to deliver potent strikes that can crater concrete and ragdoll physics adult men with ease, and construct a personal damage soaking barrier around herself that can tank a few bursts of regular gunfire or a single antimaterial round before breaking (it also can't be reconstructed after breaking until out of combat).
  • She also has access to a form of limited telekinesis that allows her to uproot heavy objects such as mailboxes to use as shields or fling smaller/lighter ones such as chairs to be impromptu projectiles at the speed of a bullet (they have to be nonliving as well as things she's personally touched with her own hand).
  • Due to her nature as a Monster with a Null ability, she has a particularly weird attribute of being able to null anything that's a "Damage Wall", which means she doesn't take any damage from hazardous obstacles as long as they're also on walls such as electric fences or spiked walls.
  • She has access to a powerful Limit Break called a Strike Shot which can only be unleashed at great stamina, with her particular one being dubbed Slick Old Nick. Upon accessing it, she sings a beautifully wicked song that fills her allies with a dark aura to buff their attacking power whether physical or magical for one action. She can also choose to not do this and instead briefly summon her own Fallen Angel followers from the Underworld to fight in her stead, humanoid figures of solid darkness in the vague form of angels and armed with various melee weapons- either five regular man sized ones with the physical ability of peak human athletes or a single ten feet tall version with greater overall stats, particularly in strength and endurance.
  • Lucifer has on hand a smartphone with the Monster Strike app installed along with a Dark Strike Ring. It's pretty useless in her hands aside from being a regular smartphone but she can choose to give it over to someone she trusts (a rather tall order in and of itself) in order have a Striker aid in her fighting abilities. People with both phone and ring can aim Lucifer via the app and then fling her at high speeds in a straight direction as well as letting her create an aura that has pinball like properties that lets her bounce across sturdy surfaces without being privy to impact damage from such high speed movements (though any other type of damage still applies). The downside of the partnership is that people who don't know how to use this partnership to its full advantage will just have her fly off in random directions and crash into stuff comically.
  • She is a really amazing bassist and an ethereal vocalist. It's the kind of talent that those who make deals with the devil would strive for. It's the sort of talent that a member of the Wicked Pistols (which also has cousin Satan) is known for and her previous band Angelic Diva was her and the four archangels together which should give you an example of how high her standards are. Her current number one fan is Hades.
• Why They're Climbing The Tower: She has a bit of a beef against godly ruler types for obvious reasons and thus motivated enough to continue climbing to give the guy a piece of her mind.

edited 10th May '17 10:30:28 PM by Makaioh

@Vox: Veronica Madaraki is accepted!

@Chabal: What inner power? If he usually powers these abilities off of external powers, what "innate power" does he have to fuel them when cut off from the Warp? Also, I still need acceptable max ranges before I accept him.

@Makaioh: Lucifer is looking good, though I am afraid that she too is removed from her home universe, so I can't allow her link to the Netherworld for her Fallen Angel summon unless you have a workaround.

I can rewrite it so her fallen angels are constructs crafted from her wings' feathers since she's also had the ability to transform crows into dragons that didn't make it into the signups. They'd also probably be dumber than her true summons too due to being semi-controlled automatons instead of actual fallen angels as well.

Okay, how's this: 2.5m (Thunderclap's diameter, though it doesn't need to be centered on him), 30 (Storm Caller's radius), 60 (Wolves and bolt pistol range), 90 (Hurricane range), 120 (Tempest radius, Living Lightning and extent of Jaws).

According to one of the spell descriptions, it's not (just) Fenris' spirits they ask help from, they also ask the spirits of the world the Rune Priest is on. If that's still no good, how about the fact that the Warp can link universes together, so he can still access it from wherever the Tower sends him?

@Makaioh: That sounds alright. Lucifer is accepted.

@Chabal: The ranges sound good, though Living Lightning will also have to require line of sight and Jaws will need a long charge-up and cooldown period for maximum range. As for his power source, I'm sure you can understand that I will not under any circumstance accept even the faintest implication that the Warp is present in any world outside of WH40K. Now, him being able to request the aid of local spirits sounds good. However, this will be entirely dependent on what the Challenge GM decides on the matter. For example, in worlds rich with magic and faith such as the World of Two Swords, there would normally be spirits that could enable his abilities, but in worlds explicitly void of such phenomenons such as the Command & Conquer Challenge, there would not. So you will have to clear this with the Challenge GM of every world, in the same way that I have to do the same when I want to have Reimu commune with local deities. Is that acceptable?

Well, I doubt we'll find a better way within the current geological era, so yes.

Regarding Nightwing: can Njal cast spells (within max range) on targets he doesn't have LOS on (i.e. he's at the bottom of a cliff or behind a ridge, they're in cover or cloaked), but Nightwing does? Also I didn't specify that Nightwing can detect invisible units, can he still do that or does it have to go?

I am terribly sorry for the slow response; it's been a busy couple of days. Using Nightwing for aim assist is fine for all spells except Living Lightning. As for the psyber raven detecting invisible units, I'm afraid it depends on what senses it's using instead.

It's fine, I'm considering waiting for the next round of signups anyway due to his having a bunch of questions for the NP Cs.

Nightwing: It probably has the same gear servo-skulls have to detect invisible units (be they cloaked via magic, skill, or tech).

Also regarding the lowered powers, would he be able to shoot lightning from his staff (as opposed to Living Lightning, which comes from the sky) in exchange for it being less long-ranged?

edited 17th May '17 10:12:46 AM by Chabal2

I am a bit hesitant giving it a blanket ability to see through magic invisibility, since there are so many types of magic. So tech stealth and familiar magic only.

And I'm afraid I'm gonna have to say no to that. There is too much of a leap from summoning lightning from the sky to producing it himself.

Oh, and also, since this Challenge involves less travelling than the others, I'm considering leaving Sign-Ups open until we reach the max number of characters.

edited 18th May '17 11:40:37 AM by Lemurian

Not that big, one of the mentioned signs of a candidate for Rune Priesthood is finding lightning spurting from one's fists (or being struck by lightning and surviving). But okay.

Do they get dumped in the middle of the challenge or end up in the tower?

Is this open? I would like to sign up as Aegon I Targaryen, without any dragons.

@Chabal: Alright, then Njal is accepted. He'll appear in the Tower, but since it's been a while since I wrote up the introduction post for the new arrivals, it's up to you if you want him to have appeared together with the other newcomers or if he's only arrived right now.

@Vampireandthen: Sign-Ups are indeed open. However, I should inform you that a certain degree of established characterization is required for playing them. I don't follow Game Of Thrones myself, but I have been informed that Aegon in the series is a historical figure who doesn't actually appear outside of casual references to three centuries before the events of the series? If that is indeed the case, I am afraid I can not accept them.

Signup updated, the limitations should all be there now.

I'll keep him in the tower for now, when other people show up.

I refer to a World of Ice and Fire, which contains most of the information about him. He's motives for conquering Westeros are a mystery, but he was a very interesting figure, no doubt.

I could always play as someone else though.

Well, like I said, I don't know at all, so it's up to you. XD Just please keep what I said in mind.

WIP

• Name: Rorschach/Walter Kovacs.
• Age: In his 40's, at least.
• Appearance:
• Universe: Watchmen.
• Personality:
• Backstory:
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment: (Any racial traits beyond normal human should go here too.)
• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: (All the Climbers have been chosen by the Ruler to climb the Tower, with the potential to reach the top. What does your character bring to the team? Your acceptance to the game won’t be based on this question.)

Iiiit's... another Warden-Commander! Now that I've finished all the DLC, I hope I'll be able to deliver a better one than Theron.

• Name: Neriel Surana, Warden-Commander, Commander of the Grey in Ferelden.
• Age: 20-something? It's hard to tell with elves.
• Appearance: I wish they'd had given me better shoes. And practical clothes for once.◊
• Media: Dragon Age: Origins (post Witch Hunt).
• Personality: Neriel is a bit of a sarcastic ass. It comes with being constantly insulted — if not for being knife-ears, then for being a mage and a public menace. Oh, and for being a traitor, mustn't forget that. She's not particularly fond of rules-breaking either, so the amount of rules she had to break and people she had to manipulate in order to complete her many exploits made her even more jaded.
  She could be considered a good person if you judge her by her actions — you could think that she suffers from Chronic Hero Syndrome — but truth of the matter is that she takes her duty very seriously and has a creative interpretation of it; as a person she's not very nice, unless you're Leliana, her dog, or someone she really respects.
• Backstory: Once a Mage of Kinloch Hold, the Fereldan Circle of Magi, Neriel was conscripted into the Grey Wardens' ranks when she was implicated in helping a Blood Mage's escape attempt. Having no other choice, she went on to Ostagar, witnessed the disaster there, and went to on to save Fereldan from the Blight. The ingrates still cursed her in the street afterwards... Before long she was sent to command Vigil's Keep in the Arling of Amaranthine and investigate the Darkspawn appearances there. After cleaning the region — again — and defeating the Darkspawn — again — she finally stepped down as Commander of the Grey. After tying a few loose ends — specifically, investigating a Thaig with a dark secret and finding Morrigan again — she was sighted with her love, Leliana, in Denerim for one last time before vanishing entirely.
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment:
  • Elves are longer-lived than humans and are known for their willpower and affinity for the Arcane.
  • Neriel is a Mage specialised as a Spirit Healer, calling upon the energy of life to mend wounds and heal ailments.
  • Neriel is one of the most learned Mages currently in Ferelden, though most of her magic is combat-oriented.

• Equipment: Neriel's attire is is geared toward boosting her survivability while boosting her spellcasting; everything she wears, from her toque to her shoes, is enchanted for that purpose. She also wields Spellfury, a staff of great power; aside from launching spheres of magical force, it greatly enhances the owner's attributes, strengthens their spellcasting and provides a small amount of mana during battle. She carries a moderate amount of Healing Poultices (which despite their name are actually healing potions) and Lyrium potions (which are used to restore mana instantly). She also some gold, a few precious gems, the Warden's Companion — a longsword that is the badge of her office — and the Sorrows of Arlathan — an enchanted bow she cannot use.

• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: She's an old hand in this world-saving business. She also has a wish she'll go to great lengths to fulfil.

edited 1st Jul '17 5:06:09 PM by desdendelle

Neriel looks good for the most part, just a couple questions about some of the spells. Can you give a max area of effect for Inferno, Force Field, Crushing Prison, Sleep and Death Cloud? Also, I'm a bit wary to accept Petrify in the state it's in. Could you rework it slightly, such as making it a stone coating that the enemy has to break out of instead of outright turning them to stone? Finally, in the past I've asked that "revival"-type spells need a long uninterrupted casting time, so that they can't be used mid-battle. Is that condition acceptable?

Force Field and Crushing Prison are single-target. Inferno, Earthquake, Death Cloud and Sleep are all 10m spheres and their casting range is 25m. The nerf to Petrify is A-OK. Nerfing Revival to be a non-battle spell kinda neuters its point, so if it's not acceptable I'd like to switch it for a different spell:

• Heal: Exactly What It Says on the Tin; single-target.

edited 7th Jun '17 1:49:05 PM by desdendelle

I'm gonna regret this.

• Name: Saul Goodman, real name James McGill. Also goes by Slippin' Jimmy.
• Age: 49
• Appearance: Trustworthy.
• Universe: Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
• Personality:
  • A smooth operator and slick-talker, Saul exists in the grey waters between total slimeball and charismatic rogue, a distinction generally dependent on who's doing the looking and which suit he chose that morning. A former conman and good judge of character, Saul is adept and slipping into character and staying there long enough to get the job done, and when needed can be relied upon to deliver a convincing defence or rousing pep-talk.
  • Loyal by nature despite his best efforts, Saul takes matters of client confidentiality very seriously and puts a lot of stock in the confidence of his friends and loved ones - it's a relatively small group, but they tend to be very close. Related to this, events in his backstory and the nature of his profession have given him mild trust issues.
  • Begrudgingly identifies as a coward. He isn't, at least when there's a realistic chance of him affecting the outcome.
  • Morally speaking, Saul is essentially a good man limited by his image of himself as a cynical and pragmatic conman-turned-lawyer, adept at letting money soothe his conscience. While this does open up a lot of avenues for behaviour he can more or less justify to himself - lying, stealing, intimidating, perjuring, tampering with evidence, greasing palms, and in general making a mockery of the legal system - it means that when his limits hit they hit damn hard. Out-and-out murder seems to be something he'll only consider abetting as a last resort, he was genuinely revolted when he found out he'd been used in a plot to hospitalise a small child, and in general his habit of overestimating his pragmatism has left him with a great deal of hidden guilt. As a pattern, overall his methods heavily favour carrot over stick even when dealing with people he can tell himself deserve the latter, with more serious action arising out of necessity. Basically, he's not as good at lying to himself as he thinks.
  • Like more or less everyone else in Breaking Bad (and most people in reality), prone to anxiety attacks under pressure. In a similar vein, often tries to shoulder bad news on his lonesome, with predictable results.
  • Likes loud suits and awful ties.
• Backstory: Eight fucking seasons. I'm not going into detail.
  • A small-time huckster throughout most of his teens, James McGill was set on the path to becoming a lawyer after his older brother (the product of a vastly more successful legal career) helped him avoid prosecution for Chicago Sunroof gone terribly wrong. In return, Jimmy agreed to go straight and begin working in the mailroom at his brother's law firm, passing the bar exam during this time.
  • After a long string of incidents, during which he opened his own offices, was banned from practising law for a year, committed various acts of perjury, and discovered his brother had never considered him anything other than a lazy parasite, Jimmy began practising law under the name Saul Goodman, marketing himself as cheap legal aid and maintaining a loose network of hired muscle and problem-solvers, more bent than ever.
  • In 2008, Saul happened to be in the right place at the right time to become entangled in methamphetamine kingpin Walter White's rise to power, becoming his primary legal consultant and partner in crime for the duration of his empire. When things fell apart in 2010 under scrutiny from the DEA, Saul utilised the services of one of his associates to abandon his old life and go into hiding from the police under a new identity - for the purposes of the RP, he'll be taken from the car ride out of New Mexico.
• Skills:
  • Profound knowledge of the American legal system, primarily relating to legal loopholes and the correct way of getting out of jams.
  • Excellent orator and actor, good judge of character, and adept in diversion and sleight of hand.
  • Dab hand with an x-acto knife and a photocopier.
  • Could probably win a fight with a small child.
• Why The Fuck Does The Ruler Think This Is In Any Way A Good Idea?: In Dungeons and Dragon terms, this party need another bard. In in-universe terms, he's a very rewarding guy to put the screws to in terms of tests of character.

edited 15th Jun '17 3:20:14 PM by OG-Sama

*pokes Lem*

What if I signed up as Randall Flagg?

Oh wow, terribly sorry about the delay, everyone. Got swamped by work and forgot to check back in here.

@desdenelle: With those ranges and nerfs, Neriel is accepted. She'll be added to the character list, and feel free to have her appear in The Tower.

@OG-Sama: Saul is accepted too.

edited 2nd Jul '17 2:26:12 PM by Lemurian

Randal Flagg is the Big Bad of The Stand.
EDIT: Nerfs added to sheet, intro post will happen sometime tomorrow. Is there still a Skype chat for the game, or is it Discord now?

edited 1st Jul '17 5:07:01 PM by desdendelle

So I've decided on a second character, should signups still be open right at this particular moment.

• Name: The Judge (Pablo)
• Age: Unknown, but is probably an adult.
• Appearance: "You may call me the Judge, and it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance."◊
• Universe: OFF
• Personality:
  • In a few ways, the Judge is very much like the Cheshire Cat he resembles. He's mostly concerned with his own amusement and tends to take little interest in things otherwise, although he is almost never malicious without good reason. While he's willing to be helpful, a lot of the time his help comes in the form of riddles or vaguely-defined answers. As a cat he also indulges in a lot of cat like behaviors, such as enjoying being fed or being pet (he's quite proud of his soft fur).
  • He doesn't refer to himself as the Judge for nothing. If he feels there is a wrong he must correct, he will go to the ends of the world to correct it. He will bring justice to those he feels deserve it, be it right or wrong.
  • He also has quite the eloquent manner of speech, and likes weaving long and/or complex words into his sentences.
• Backstory:
  • Most of the Judge's history is a mystery. He is the Guardian of Zone 0, one of the five Zones of his rather bizarre world. He also had a brother named Valerie.
  • At some point, a being calling himself the Batter, alongside his mysterious controller, appeared in Zone 0. He claimed to have a sacred mission: to "purify" the world. At first the Judge found this to be a noble mission, and did his part to help him in his quest.
  • In Zone 2, he and the Batter met his brother Valerie, who seemed to have a bit of brain damage and had started calling himself "Japhet." As they made their way through the zone, it turned out that Valerie was long dead and was taken over by Japhet, the Guardian of Zone 2.
  • Heartbroken, the Judge stayed at the top of Zone 2, forlornly calling out to his dear brother. In his funk, he did not notice the true depths of the Batter's actions: That the Guardians he took it upon himself to slay fueled their zones. With them destroyed, the zones and all who lived in them fell into nothingness.
  • By the time the Judge snapped out of his funk and realized this, the Batter had "purified" most of the world. In an attempt to fix his mistake, he chased after and eventually challenged the Batter right as he was about to flip the switch to destroy the world. The Judge managed to successfully appeal to the controller's better nature, and they put an end to the Batter's scheme once and for all.
  • Alas, the attempt was ultimately futile. The Batter had been denied victory, but the world that remained was empty and lifeless. The Judge was left to wander this empty world alone....
  • ...Up until the Ruler decided to choose him for a tower-climbing challenge. Provided he plays his part, the Judge has the chance to truly earn a happy ending for himself and the rest of his world. And even if he doesn't, the worlds the Climbers visit are all better than the destroyed husk he left behind. It's a win-win for him.
• Powers/Abilities/Equipment:
  • The Judge is a cat, with all the speed, agility, and senses that implies.
  • The Judge has a set of special skills known as Competences. These are ranged attacks that are roughly equivalent to magical spells, though being hit by them feels more like a physical attack. When the Judge uses them, a crosshair appears on the target. The Judge can make the crosshair follow the target, but once he starts focusing for the attack the crosshair can no longer move (enabling the target to get out of the way before then).
    • Aneurysms: These are the Judge's normal attacks. In order from weakest to strongest, they are Conniving Aneurysm, Malicious Aneurysm, Critical Aneurysm, and Aneurysm Rupture. They roughly double in strength as they move up in power level, although the amount of focus and effort the Judge needs to use them also roughly doubles. Aneurysm Rupture is his absolute strongest attack and is roughly equivalent to being hit by a semi truck, but requires a tremendous amount of focus and energy on his behalf, and the attack can only hit roughly six feet/two meters in front of him. In comparison Conniving Aneurysm is only equivalent to a baseball bat, but the Judge can use it more often without having to worry so much about focusing or energy, and it has an effective range of roughly 48 feet/14 meters.
    • Scelerosis: These attacks are only slightly stronger than Conniving Aneurysm and only have a range slightly longer than that of Aneurysm Rupture. However, they make up for it with their secondary effects. If the Judge only lands them once, they're only slightly aggravating, but they become crippling should the Judge land them four-five times. Even at full strength the effects only last a short amount of time; full strength effects tend to wear off quicker than weaker effects (it takes roughly thirty seconds for a full-strength effect to wear off).
      • Unknown Scelerosis: Makes the target take more damage from incoming attacks, on top of making their ability to cast spells or similar attacks more difficult.
      • Untypical Scelerosis: Makes the target have more difficulty moving, on top of hindering their eyesight.
      • Purulent Scelerosis: Makes it difficult for the target to think straight, as well as inflicting a sort of poison that constantly damages the target over time.
      • Immediate Scelerosis: Like Unknown Scelerosis, this attack hinders the target's movement. It differs in that at full strength it keeps the target from moving entirely. It also reduces the target's available energy for casting spells or similar attacks.
    • It should be noted that the attacks are only vaguely defined in-game; much of the above is theory applied for the sake of making them viable for an RP format.
• Why have they been picked to climb the Tower?: The Judge is quite the intelligent being, and perhaps his skills can be of use to his fellow climbers. Or perhaps he was picked due to his circumstances and see how far he'll go to change them. Or perhaps the Climbers just needed another team pet.

edited 17th Jul '17 1:57:29 PM by Yomegami