Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues - Signup Thread

Alright, can't wait!

Alright, to make good of my promise...

• Name: Josephine Engel
  • Do you like your name: "Yeah, I guess. Everyone says it's pretty, so...

• Age: 18
  • What do you wanna be when you grow up: "To be honest... I'm not so sure. Torn up between attorney, cop and SF writer."

• Appearance: Looks like this◊ 5'5'', quite slim.
  • Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet?: What kind of... sigh Yes, I do, though I doubt he will know that I even exist... Don't tell anyone.'''

• Personality: Josephine is introverted and quiet. She tries not to cause harm to someone else, except if they're a bully. But, if she deems a person as nice and caring, then she will try to befriend them.... if she musters up her bravery, that is. Jo is mostly afraid that people might deem her as annoying, irritable or worse. In addition, she always suspects that people are up to no good (Engels are exceptions to this).
  • Because she was bullied, Josephine has a strong craving for justice. She can't stand seeing people suffering due to some assholes. Jo is not strictly against beating bullies up, though she is aware that it's not right. This thought is connected to her deep hatred against them that she keeps to herself, which in turn feeds her self-hatred.

  • Due to the traumas, she's constantly suffering from nightmares. Josephine hates herself more than anyone else due to the trauma she received, and considers herself as trash. Josephine... is a walking paradoxical inner conflict as a result of this. She desperately wants to be adored and loved, yet she doesn't think she deserves it. She knows fully that violence won't solve everything, yet she can't help herself but believe that using violence against bullies is sometimes justifiable. She thinks that she deserved the bullying she got, yet she holds contempt against those who did wrong to her. Right now, the inner turmoil is at its weakest, but it surfaces time to time.

  • When the girl panics, she goes in a state of mind that is incredibly similar to conspiracy theorist's. It can be considered as an extension of her suspicions and doubts. However, she is aware that these kinds of thoughts are ridiculous thanks to her adopted parents. In the past, she actually believed these paranoid thoughts.

  • Jo also loves science fiction (movies or books or games... it doesn't matter. As long they're good for her). Her favorite game is Dead Space, favorite movies Star Wars, while preferred book is Neuromancer. Being a fan of SF.... may have fueled suspicions about conspiracy.
    • It's Saturday Night and your parents are out of town. What do you do?: "Clean the house first, then play Space Empires V, binge watch Star Wars and finish 1984. Maybe go out for some fresh air, but otherwise I'm staying home"

• Backstory: Josephine was raised by her abusive and alcoholic aunt that did not give a damn about her. Along with that, she got bullied in school for supposedly being ugly. This led to her self-esteem being essentially pummeled, and the traumas caused her constant nightmares. In particular, Josephine suffered from a nasty case of cyber bullying, where children were out to ruin her reputation (one girl was especially eager to do it). This led to Josephine developing an unhealthy paranoia about everything.
  • After her aunt died, however, Josephine was adopted by kind-hearted people, who helped her recover from past wounds. They are trying to help their new daughter, aware of her problems, but scars like these don't go easily. Now, she is aware that most conspiracies she thinks of are ludicrous most of the time, and she has less mental battleground of two opposing beliefs.
    • What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them?: "Both my Mum and Daddy are doctors. I do live with them, of course."

• Powers:
  • Ice manipulation and Electricity manipulation: Typical elemental power over ice and electricity. Ice blasts, lightning bolts, ice slides and elemental weapons. Also, her ice can conduct electricity.

  • One of the more advanced techniques is to lower the temperature of the surrounding area, but that will make her faint.

  • Behemoth of Electro-Cryomancy: Josephine can transform into a walking armor of ice that constantly generates electricity around her. During this form, all of he abilities are boosted by a significant degree. However, if she uses it now, she will definitely die.

  • And she can charge her phone with this power.
    • What kind of music do you listen to?: "Metal and soundtrack. That is all I need."

Edited by kaalban on Mar 15th 2019 at 6:38:01 PM

Everything that lives is designed to end.

Hey there, thanks for posting.

So I got two notes about your character. One in regards to her personality and backstory, the other in regards to her powers.

The first one is that I think your character is a bit too dark. The tone we're going with this RP is one that allows for drama (and trust me, plenty of characters have sad elements in their backstories), but your character's backstory is tragedy piled on top of tragedy on top of tragedy. Now, I bring this up because, in narrative terms, saddling your character with that much tragedy will probably make this whole endeavor 200% more sadder than it has to be. My suggestion? Pick one of the many sad elements (she's been bullied, she hates herself, she's an orphan, she had an abusive aunt, her best friend killed himself) and go off from there. Try and make it so that the sad elements actually have a cause and an effect, instead of being more like a checklist of bad things that can happen to a character.

As for your powers, I think I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by ice and electricity manipulation. I mean, I get what those are just fine, but I don't get how we can go from that to 'can build just about anything, including clones with the intelligence of a simple robot' (I mean, the clones can be made of ice, but where does the intelligence come from? :P) So what I'd suggest in this case is either sticking with ice and shock but lowering what you can do, or taking those kinds of abilities and trying to find a different kind of powerset that could cause them.

If you'd like a tip, I often find cool, unusual superpowers by going on the Superpower Wiki and clicking on the random page.

All in all, I'd like to see you on the game, but it's just those two things keeping me from accepting you!

Alright. I was a bit worried about those two things. Will fix it soon.

Did it. I hope I fixed it.

Thanks!

edited 29th Nov '17 8:21:10 AM by kaalban

Everything that lives is designed to end.

Alright! Welcome to the gang!

I recommend you join us at our Discord. We've got a lot of useful info there that'll help you connect your character to the wonderful world of Oldport.

Hi, hello, I am interested! It's a shame that when I was 95% done with my character I looked at others to see how they formatted powers (which I presumed were to be done in list format) followed by the immediate bullet point after, only to see someone with painfully similar powers, so, uh, I suppose I should ask secretlyasuperhero for their seal of tolerance after you're satisfied (if we get that far)?

Name: Ivan Bjelnic (Image link because TVT's formatting kills the actual name; last letter is pronounced like a "ch")

• Do you like your name? It makes me look stronger than I am. Ups and downs.

Age: 17.

• What do you wanna be when you grow up? It's hard to choose. I admire psychiatrists, but I couldn't be one. Maybe a surgeon?

Appearance: Short, well-kept, straight, dark brown hair. Icy eyes. Rather thin and frail-looking, around 1.9 metres in height. Skin that looks like porcelain, except perhaps easier to break. Twig arms ending in the spider-like fingers belonging to the kinds of people who really like the piano. Usually wears a faded blue jacket over a plain white t-shirt, with jeans ending in worn black sneakers.

• Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet? I'd like to be edgy and say 'THE ONLY PERSON I TRUST IS MYSELF', but to be honest I just haven't found someone suitable yet.

Personality: Ivan hasn't exactly had the chance to express himself much, but it doesn't stop him from trying. From numerous attempts at getting into drawing to using an instrument in lieu of a voice, he's been compensating in expressiveness instead of allowing himself to accept life in the background. He gets very nervous when he doesn't have access to a way of writing, and although he often finds it difficult to get a word in during group conversations, he's practically crafted an art form out of active listening. The patient outlook needed to survive in his day-to-day life has served him well; he finds it easy to appreciate the big picture now.

• It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do? I'd practice the piano, play a board game, maybe read something. Nothing major.

Backstory: Ivan's parents, an ice skater and a violinist, grew up in Yugoslavia, but when the country began its rather violent collapse they sought a new life in the USA. Eventually settling in on Rhode Island, they had a child, who began as obnoxiously and normally as all children do.

Soon, however, it became apparent that the child was lagging behind more and more in attempts to talk, and although his comprehension improved, he continued his silence for years. Therapist after therapist could only explain that they couldn't do anything, and eventually Ivan's parents moved to teaching him writing, which he's used to communicate since. Eventually they moved to physical medicine, where they found out that Ivan had a genetic condition that caused issues with the neurons in a speech-producing area of the brain.

Both of Ivan's parents continue to work on their performances, and despite admittedly lower revenues than in Europe, they're managing to pay the bills for continued attempts to coax their son into speech and to put him through schooling, hopefully give him as close to a normal life as they can, but they're not exactly going on any holidays any time soon.

• What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them? My mother does ice skating, and my father plays the violin; you know, the solo one that you get in every symphonic. I do, yes.

Powers: The Show Must Go On - Using any entertainment medium (a game or a book, usually, but a movie or even music can work), Ivan can form a representation of a fitting event of any scale, such as a chess match to symbolise the movements of secret societies having a covert war (or the movements of school socialites having a covert war). As other people are not affected by this, Ivan can't involve them in the game or play the music of fate with them. Over time, the representation progresses to match the general situation of the event in question, and by making moves, playing different notes than what he was going to, etc., Ivan can change the course of destiny to favour the situation he's created. This often means people slipping up or going past their limits, a 'lucky situation', etc. Being a power that manipulates destiny, it's subject to its reliability, and to the fact that if anybody else can manipulate it, they can cheat (the worst crime of all, naturally).

• What kind of music do you listen to? I usually listen to whatever evokes an emotional response, and if it has a piano lead then I can try to learn it. Music's like talking, though; too much of it and you just get tired, you know?

Egads, that was a wordy power section, and if it needs clarification feel free to ask, because I cut out far more examples than I wanted to. As always, thank you for wading through my wall of text, and if I erred anyway, please tell me~

edited 29th Nov '17 12:18:18 PM by Mistfader

I'd like two more straightforward examples of your powers, if you please.

edited 29th Nov '17 1:50:24 PM by Stratofarius

Sure thing!

Example 1: Using chess to simulate a fight.

So if the fight were big, each piece could symbolise a single combatant, but let's say this is a 1v1 battle; the game would attempt to set itself up to be analogous to the central conflict, so the kings are the goals. Say the fight is between Jimmy and Ted, and because the former instigated it and is throwing the first punch, he's white, whereas Ted is black.

The board sets itself up, and it's a very fast game; many street fights take under 10 seconds, but even though this is a relatively slow one, the pieces are still shifting constantly. Ivan sits down and begins playing as white; for some reason or another, he wants Jimmy to win.

Every time he takes a piece, something happens to give Jimmy the advantage; Jimmy gets his second wind, Ted slips up, a steam pipe bursts and surprises both, giving Jimmy time to recover before Ted presses his advantage, etc. The opposite is true every time he loses a piece. If he gets a check off, that's a moment where Jimmy's about to achieve his goal; if Jimmy's trying to escape, then Ted seems incapacitated, and a door seems unlocked, and so on. Winning means Jimmy achieves his goal, losing means Ted achieves his.

Example 2: Using a book to steer a social encounter.

So Ivan's done with Jimmy for now, but Francis is his new focus; he's got some business to take care of, but first he has to talk his way out of the house, so he approaches his mother.

Ivan opens a blank book, and the pages fill with words, slowly but surely increasing in number every so often. This isn't as abstract as the chess game; this is an account of events from Francis' perspective, and judging by the nervous tone of his 'writing', it's not looking too good. It's tempting to just watch and see what happens, but Ivan needs Francis outside, so he recalls all the completely socially acceptable research he did on Francis's family; arguments between Francis's parents are common, they don't want Francis to worry about it; there's more, but that should be enough.

Destiny is nothing if not subtle; Ivan can't just say "I mention their arguments", because that would be mind control. He takes his pen, and adds the words "scrambling for an excuse, I remember my parents saying they'll continue their 'discussions' tonight." Now Francis has the idea firmly lodged in his head. Ivan could also open a second book to Francis's mother's scenario and subtly remind her instead, cutting out the middle man.

It's worth noting that the book approach had a much more detailed account of events, whereas the game approach didn't need research done in advance; using both at once is possible, but can get even more confusing.

I hope this wasn't too wordy, and that it addressed any concerns. If it didn't, I'd be more than happy to answer further questions, or work with you to eliminate any causes of concern in the power itself~

Accepted but with a limitation: any use of your power in P Cs must be accepted by the character's player.

Petition to rename the condition to the Destiny Clause :P

Is this for monitoring too, or only the manipulation?

Manipulation.

• Name: Lenore Martin
  • Do you like your name? "Sure. Pretty sure my parents just picked it because they liked how it sounded, but it's cool."
• Age: 16
  • What do you want to be when you grow up? "Freelance photographer. I want to sell my photos to major newspapers and give people an unfiltered look at how the world really looks."
• Appearance: Like this. She's going through a rebellious punk phase. She's short, skinny and pale, with messy black hair and big brown eyes. She wears entirely too much eyeliner, and she thinks it looks good, even though her parents have told her it doesn't; they're obviously just lame. She loves chokers and bangles, but otherwise just wears t-shirts, tank tops, jeans, and the like.
  • Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet? "Nah, I'm not looking for a steady thing right now."
• Personality: Lenore is a rebellious teenager with parents who were once both rebellious teenagers. She's been given quite a lot of freedom growing up, so long as she doesn't do anything to wind up pregnant or in jail. As a result, she sees her parents more as friends than authority figures, which is the chief source of conflict in her life right now, since they don't appreciate their rules being treated like suggestions. Around her friends, Lenore is relaxed and outgoing, and usually slow to anger. While she considers herself a "punk", both in attitude and subculture tastes, she doesn't really look down on others for liking what she doesn't. She might rib them a bit if she knows they're comfortable with it, but she doesn't mean any harm. The one thing that does make her upset is someone lording their authority over her or limiting her freedom.
  • It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do? "Invite my friends over for a party, see if anything's going on in town that night, stuff like that."
• Backstory: Lenore was born in Frederick, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C., and lived there until she was seven years old. Her parents moved to Oldport to cut down on living expenses, and because her dad was able to work from home, so where they lived was less of an issue. While she was sad to leave her old life behind, Lenore quickly adapted to life on the northeast coast. She'd been practicing gymnastics since she was five, and continued until she was twelve, when her growth spurt in puberty interfered with her gymnastics. Given the choice between getting to do cool flips on the bars or getting to eat like a normal kid, Lenore chose food, and her parents agreed that was probably the best choice. Lenore's teenage rebellion came late, but it came all the same. Tired of being a "girly-girl", fifteen year old Lenore fully embraced the punk subculture and began her internal resentment against the government, even though her knowledge of its supposed wrongdoings came almost entirely from the sort of music she liked. Her parents don't really mind this, however, and aside from occasionally needing to be reminded who's in charge, Lenore and her parents get along quite well. Seeing their daughter's growing interest in photography prompted them to buy her her own camera, and when that one was catastrophically dropped six months later, Lenore saved up and bought her own.
• What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them? "My dad's the regional manager of a big IT firm, so he's busy a lot of the time, even though he can usually work from home. The thing he hates the most about his job is that he's on call literally all the time, twenty four hours a day, but he seems to like it more or less. My mom's been working with Home Shopping Network since just after I was born, and my dad's job pays well enough to support us on its own, so I figure she must like it if she's still doing it. She's said she wants to go back to school for nursing, but she hasn't pulled the trigger on that yet."
• Powers:

  • Teleportation: Ability to teleport herself, the clothes she is wearing, and within limits a certain amount of additional mass which is in contact with her. Lenore's powers automatically displace liquids and gases when she arrives in the course of a teleportation. Her powers will not displace solids, however, putting her at risk for materializing inside solid matter, causing serious injury or death. As a consequence, she typically teleports only to places she has been to before or knows the layout of, or line-of-sight teleportation, even though her actual range is much further). Lenore's intuitive spatial awareness allows her to track his movements instinctively and with greater precision than the average person, helping her to pinpoint locations for a "blind" teleport. The longer the distance over which she teleports herself, the harder and more exhausting it is for her to make the teleportation "jump". Under optimal conditions, teleporting only herself and whatever she is wearing, she can displace herself a distance of about 2 miles in any direction. Making a vertical teleportation upwards is difficult and dangerous, and she can only do that at a distance of about one hundred feet. Lenore's momentum is retained throughout the process of teleportation: She arrives with whatever amount of inertia she left with. For example, if she were falling from a great height, he could not teleport himself towards the ground in order to save herself. She can subtract this inertia by teleporting short distances upwards, as though taking two steps back for every one forward, but this is a tiring method. When she transports a passenger over even moderate distances, they both feel weakened and ill, to the point of exhaustion. Teleportation over further distances could be fatal. In general, short range teleportations do not cause this strain unless done repeatedly and with a passenger, but anything greater than about fifty feet while carrying a passenger is likely to cause some strain. This teleportation can also be used offensively, either by forcibly "dragging" an opponent with her through her teleporations to exhaust them, or by grabbing a body part and teleporting away with it, effectively severing it.
  • Subconscious Spatial Awareness: Lenore has a very limited subconscious extrasensory ability that prevents her from teleporting herself so that her feet, for example, would materialize below the surface of the local ground. Because this ability is so limited, however, she will not teleport into any place that she cannot see or has not seen in the past. If Lenore were to teleport herself into an unfamiliar area, she would run the risk of materializing partially or entirely within a solid object. If too much of her body materialized within a solid object, she would probably be killed.
  • Limited Psionic Abilities: Lenore possesses very mild psychic powers, which manifest in a soft "aura" around her body. Using this aura, she is able to adhere any part of her body to solid surfaces, stand or walk on liquids, and shield herself somewhat from mental assaults. A particularly powerful psychic will still be able to overpower these defenses without serious issue, however.
  • Enhanced physical abilities: Lenore is stronger, quicker, and more agile than she appears. She isn't going to be winning any weight lifting awards, but she's able to lift up to about 200lbs, she can run a mile in under five minutes, and her previous experience in gymnastics has amplified her reflexes and balance to levels above what a normal person should be capable of.

  • '''What sort of music do you like?" "What do you think?"

edited 9th Jan '18 6:11:53 PM by DoctorThunder

Accepted.

• Name: Connor Graves
  • Do you like your name?: "Everyone feels the need to comment on my last name, but I know they're just jealous of how boss it is."
• Age: 16
  • What do you wanna be when you grow up?: "Baseball is working out pretty well for me. I think I'll go pro."
• Appearance: A healthily tanned young man with short, frizzy, dark-brown hair and light blue eyes. Standing at 5'6", his athletic endeavors have given him a fit, somewhat-toned build. Connor has only somewhat recently got the hang of the ancient adult ritual of shaving, so he usually has a little bit of stubble on his chin at all times. He does not pay attention to what he wears most of the time, and tends to just wear a T-shirt and jeans on most days.
  • Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet?: "So, like, is it just me or is the Cheerleaders' coach kinda hot?"
• Personality: Most people would describe Connor as excitable and simple. He loves going with the flow of the crowd and joining in with activities. Its easy to get him interested in something new and flashy. Hes not exactly a bright guy either, and sometimes needs to take a minute to understand things. Hes a pretty good kid though, and is pretty extroverted when meeting new people. He tends to be pretty laid back, with about the only thing he takes seriously is baseball.
  • It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do?: "I dunno, theres like a hundred things to do. I could stay in and play some games or go out and see what I can get up to in town."
• Backstory: Originally born and raised in the east coast of good old Georgia, Connor was an excitable child with energy to spare. He was quite the handfull for his parents. Desperate for something to distract him, they pointed him in the direction of sports. While he took to the active nature of sports, not all of them clicked with him. A couple of years before he would start high school, his family had to relocate to Oldport due to his father's company needing him up there. It was hard to leave his life and all of his friends behind. To find a place to fit in, he tried out for his school's baseball team and actually found he was pretty good at it. He had a great pitching arm, and is now currently the next in line to be the lead pitcher for Rogers High's team.
  • What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them?: "Yeah I live with my parents. My mom is a bank teller downtown and my dad is the branch manager for the local Honda dealership."
• Powers:
  • Imp Creation: By touching an object with an open palm, Connor is able to create a small, semi-sentient imp-like creature that is made of the same substance as whatever it is he touches. They have the same traits and durability as whatever they are made from. They break just like the substance that they are made from, which generally "kills" the imps. These imps are no more than a foot tall, with slightly exaggerated heads and claws for hands, The physical appearance of these imps can vary a little, but they all generally follow the same build. These imps do have minds and simple personalities of their own, but are loyal to Connor to an extent. They aren't really thrilled to do anything dangerous, but if Connor is pumped to do something then they get excited.
  • What kind of music do you listen to?: "You can't kill the metal, the metal will live on."

edited 14th Jan '18 2:16:26 PM by Oni-Lord

Accepted.

• Name: Irene Melissenos
  • Do you like your name? “I hadn’t considered it. Irene means peace, hence Hagia Irene, and I don’t mind the sound of it. So yeah, I guess it’s fine.”
• Age: 17
  • What do you wanna be when you grow up? “Not sure. Naturally I’ll move on to get a university education, but I hadn’t really decided. The subjects I most like don’t seem the most lucrative.”
• Appearance: Pretty, but no incredible beauty. Golden locks reach down to her shoulders, framing a hearth shaped face. She’s slim and, at 175 cm, about average height.
  • Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet? “I have had crushes in the past, but they never resulted in anything. Not interested in anyone right now.”
• Personality: To people she doesn’t know, Irene tries to be polite and respectful, though she’s afraid that they’ll immediately notice her discomfort. She’s much more animated and at ease with those she reckons friends. She doesn’t deal well with sudden change, instantly becoming irritable if something unexpected requires her time. She enjoys excelling academically and knowing more than others, and hates being shown wrong in something.
  • It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do?”I guess it depends on if my friends want to go out or something. If not, I’d head out for a decent meal, then retire for some leisure time with my PC.”
• Backstory: Irene has resided in Oldport since was 13 or thereabouts. The family is fairly wealthy and live in a large house in one of the town’s better areas. Personally, her life has been quite happy. There’s been an excess of moving, perhaps, but that’s about it. She’s lived in China, Czechia, Denmark and Germany prior to moving to Oldport, the frequent moving required by her mother’s job.
  • What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them? “Mother is often abroad on business. She lives with us but I don’t see her much. I can’t complain I suppose, she’s the reason we’re as well-off as we are. Dad’s a teacher.”
• Powers:
  • Fleshcrafting: Irene can alter and sculpt the flesh and bodies of herself and those she touches. These alterations can be purely cosmetic and minor, changing skin tone, hair colour, the shape of someones face. She can also alter muscle, fat, cartilage and bones, potentially growing new body parts on herself or her subject. The larger the changes the more tired she herself will be after she is finished.
• What kind of music do you listen to? “A lot of things, I don’t feel comfortable naming names.”

edited 16th Jan '18 1:30:06 AM by joergenjetsam

Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable

Accepted.

Name: Shu Lu
Do you like your name? "Everyone feels the need to comment on how 'unique' it is. I kinda wish it was something more normal."
Age: 15
What do you wanna be when you grow up? "I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid. I still kinda do."
Appearance: Asian skin tone. Long black hair with bangs that almost cover her eyes. Usually wears T-shirts and jeans.
Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet? "I think I should probably work on my social skills before I start dating."
Personality: Next to no social skills. Shu has a habit of listening to other people's conversations, but not joining in herself. She lacks confidence when it comes to talking to other people.
It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do? "Practice with my powers."
Backstory: Shu was homeschooled ever since she was 5, and didn't get out much. This led to her awkwardness with people. While arguing with her parents, she accidentally created her first illusion. Realizing what she had done, she ran out of the house in panic.
What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them? "My mom works at an office, and my dad is a chef at a restaurant."
Powers: Shu has the ability to create illusions. These illusions look incredibly real, but touching them will cause them to disappear.
What kind of music do you listen to? "I like Vocaloid, especially Masa and Kikuo."

Hi there! Thanks for showing some interest in the RP.

Unfortunately I can't accept your sheet in its current state because of three important things, but don't worry, they are three things you CAN fix! They are:

• Lack of formatting. When you write a post, you should see a 'show markup help' button underneath the part where you actually write the post (it's inbetween the footer and 'preview post'). Click it and you should find several formatting tips, including how you can make bold and italic words, along with the bullet points necessary to make your sheet more readable.
• Lack of, well, content! I'm afraid there's no meat in those bones when it comes to your sheet. For example, your backstory has three lines and you can't discern much about your character from them. And this expands to all the other areas, such as your powers (specify what kind of illusions she can create and what illusions those are- are these objects, people, or can she create entire 'illusion worlds'?) and your personality (you basically used two lines to say the same thing: Shu has no social skills. Well, what else can you tell me about her?), amongst others. What I'd suggest is that you rewrite everything... and then write some more. You have to paint the most detailed picture possible!
  • On that note, there is the problem that all the characters were empowered inside the local high school. We could always find a way to circumvent that without eliminating Shu's homeschooled backstory, but take it in consideration whilst rewriting your sheet.
• Lack of variety. This is more of a personal pet peeve of mine. Your character is very cliche, which is not to say that Shu's inherently bad, its more to say that there's nothing new or different about her. Not every character has to be a revolution, I know, but having someone whose only defining characteristic is 'no social skills' is, in my opinion, far too little! The same goes for your powers. She can do illusions, but... what else? A little trick I like to do with my characters is to add two negatives to every positive I write about them. "Clara is very easy-going and quick to make friends, but she has a fragile ego and will often treat her friends like possessions". One positive, two negatives, and from there I develop more and more of my character- how did she get like this? What are some ramifications of the way she behaves?
  • On the power side of things, a trick I like to do is that I pick a random power and add a price the character has to pay and a possibility the character can exploit. It's an exacerbated version of the positives and the negatives. Here's an example: Clara can manipulate time to a fine degree (that's the generic power). She can create time fields where she can speed up, slow down, send someone back/forwards in time or even access different timelines (that's the possibility I can exploit). However, by using this power, she is losing her mind to the time spectrum, living in different timelines, time periods, and eventually losing complete track of who she even was to begin with (that's the price the character pays). Always try to find prices/exploits/powers that complement your character. An interesting character who can levitate dices is more fascinating than a boring cardboard who can destroy worlds!

I hope to see you soon with a new, reworked sheet, okay?

Might be done here except for Strat's improvements and edits.

Name: Edward Eisen

Do you like your name? (For these questions, try doing an in-character answer. Hopefully it'll help you flesh out your creation.)

"I like my last name better than my first name. Edward sounds kinda plain but Eisen sounds really cool and badass, plus it means iron which is just, like, the best! I guess I prefer Ed over Edward, it's short and simple and Edward sounds kinda frilly and fancy sometimes but whatever is okay. Getting called Eisen sounds...I guess kinda cool but maybe a little too edgy? It is my name after all though so I guess that's fine too if people wanna do that."

Age: 14

What do you wanna be when you grow up?

"I think I wanna be a doctor. I'm good at biology and I like the idea of helping people, plus my parents keep telling me the pay is good and- trying to sound older: "it's a very respectable profession" but I don't have steady enough hands to be a surgeon, so I'd have to be some kinda consulting doctor or medical specialist. I know a lot of doctors by now because of my whole situation and they're mostly great people! It'd be nice to actually do that sorta thing and help other kids like doctors I know have helped me if I went into pediatrics or somethin' but...well part of me isn't sure I could do it anyway since as much as I like the idea there's a lot of bad memories for me in hospitals too."

Appearance: This but younger and a bit more cheery looking to start◊

Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet?

"No crushes and not something I'm really too worried about right now!"

Personality: Ed puts up a mostly sincere front of hyperactive cheer and constant energetic behavior. He's smarter than he lets on, generally, and sometimes dumbs himself down for his friends but doesn't really mind doing so for them. Still, he tries hard not to think about big meaningful questions that sometimes bother him at night.

Ed feels like he's gone through and is going through enough dealing with disability and average high schooler stuff that he doesn't really want to think too much about the future or himself in depth and prefers to just do his best and enjoy the now. He participates a bit in disability community activities but wouldn't really consider himself an advocate or an activist. There's a lot more to his personality than he's willing to admit, a lot of worry and anger and ambition and seriousness that he's generally buried inside himself in order to be able to say that he just feels happy and doesn't want much more out of life, but as far as he's concerned that's his truth.

It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do?

"I'm not in a hospital right? That doesn't happen very often anymore, which is great! So maybe I'll have some friends come hang out! Was this supposed to be some kinda trick question? I could go somewhere but then the house'd be empty. I guess I could just read books and stuff, or watch shows, but it'd feel kinda lonely and...well actually that's nice sometimes, being alone with just myself. I'll ask my friends what they're up to and NBD if they're busy.

Backstory: Edward Eisen is normal in many ways, but critically was also born with cerebral palsy. A good deal of his early childhood even up until recently has been spent treating his condition and he's undergone numerous corrective surgeries both minor and major, often out of the Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, but occasionally up at Boston Children's Hospital for certain specialists. He's had nerves altered for over-activity, had both of his feet re-structured, had tendons both shortened and loosened, gotten rods in his knees and plates in his hips and had one leg broken and reshaped in multiple places, along with numerous rounds of injections to loosen his tendons and muscles and sleeping with braces and an electrical muscle stimulating machine to try and redevelop his legs. A lot of this has become fairly routine to him now, and if any of it's been traumatizing he mostly tries not to think of it. While he's mainly confined to a wheelchair he can unsteadily walk very short distances without one with great effort, or less time and effort and further with a walker.

Ed hasn't had it all bad though. Apart from surgically related hospitalizations he's been able to attend mainstream schooling for all of his life and has had plenty of opportunities to grow up around able-bodied kids. He also attends some camps and paralympic sponsored or other accessible sporting events through a lot of southern New England and is particularly fond of archery and would probably take up wheelchair rugby if his parents would let him. He's a big fan of various sci-fi and fantasy book series that give him other things to think about and offer some escape while he's been hospitalized and is pretty attached to handheld video-games. He's watched some anime, but isn't really a huge fan of it outside of some casual viewing from other friends.

He does decently in school but never really tries to his full potential in any given subject except for Biology and Spanish classes, has a handful of close knit friends and generally does his best to get along with everyone without causing much trouble. In terms of another plus side, he gets to skip gym but hasn't solidified what kind of class he's going to have to take as a replacement.

What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them?

"My dad works for a bank doing something I know pays a lot, but I always kind of forget what exactly he does since I'm not really into all his numbers and junk. My mom's a teacher but thank God, she's not a teacher at any school I've ever gone to! We all live together, but I have friends from families that are divorced or with single parents."

Powers: Mental Embodiment Projection/Tulpa Creation: Ed can create humanlike beings that in some way reflect portions of his personality or thoughts or images about himself, splitting off parts of his psyche into distinct individuals that are also capable of mutually sharing senses and memories with Ed. The projections have physical presence, can fully interact with the world and depending on how much effort Ed puts in and how long they're manifested for over a period of time, can either start with or develop their own full personalities as individuals.

Though all the projections remain functionally human their physical bodies, mannerisms and thoughts can differ from Ed's own in many ways. However, at their core each projection is still born from a part of his thoughts and will always have that part as a core tenet of their being. someone born from Ed's heroic and protective side will have those traits at the forefront of their personality even as they may grow and change. Likewise a personification of a particular skill of his will always be preoccupied with that skill to an extent, and a memory will always have a particular fixation on that period of time and be unable to shake it.

the projections can't know things Ed legitimately doesn't know at least at first, though they can bring up things he may subconsciously suspect or recognize more clearly and can technically have access to skills and knowledge he's forgotten or hasn't realize he's learned (i.e. he might theoretically be able to split off a projection from himself with encyclopedic knowledge of a book series he's read even if he can't consciously recall every detail, or one that has all of his skill at archery distilled into it even if he hasn't practiced in a while, but couldn't create a projection that speaks fluent Russian unless he at least had a lot of exposure to the language.)

Ed can reabsorb any projection back into himself as long as he comes into physical contact with it. Splitting off parts of himself whether memories, skills and interests of parts of his personality never removes them from the main Edward, but reabsorbing them does immediately allow him to absorb that projection's memories if for any reason they've been withholding them from Ed. As a necessary secondary power or side effect of how Ed's power functions, he has far greater control over his own mind and mental state than most other humans and a strong resistance to most forms of mental interference.

What kind of music do you listen to?

"I have kinda weird eclectic tastes, thanks for asking! I like old classical music and like folk and indie music sometimes but also some older rock stuff like Queen or Black Sabbath and sometimes powermetal but not really other darker kinds of metal unless it's really melodic and a little bit of like...different kinds of whateverwave I guess."

edited 16th Jan '18 11:01:44 PM by Dblade26

Accepted.

edited 20th Jun '18 4:05:40 PM by Stratofarius

This post was thumped by the Shillelagh of Whackingness

A couple of our players have left us, so hey, if you've got an interest in dumb teenagers and their dumb superpowers, then this is your chance to sign-up and join in the fun!

they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob

• Name: David Livingston
  • Do you like your name? “It's... *sigh*. It's alright, I suppose, but I'd like it a lot more if people didn't keep calling me 'Dr. Livingstone'. It's getting really damn obnoxious at this point.”
• Age: 15
  • What do you wanna be when you grow up? “Theoretical physicist. Though I guess at this point it'd just be a regular physicist.”
• Appearance: 5'3. Rarely seems to smile, and if he does, it usually comes across rather distracted and forced. Tends to carry a coin with him, which he has a habit of flipping.◊
  • Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet? “Er... the latter. I mean... I kinda see some girls looking at me sometimes, but... I don't know. I guess I'm a little distracted right now.”
• Personality: While superficially fairly friendly and polite, David has an overall aloof demeanour and a highly intuitive mind, showing a heavy, borderline obsessive interest in the scientific divisions, more specifically in theoretical physics and possible alternative energy sources. However, his coldness can be quickly replaced by a spiteful temper when irritated or mocked, and tends to lash out verbally or even physically under stress or if he feels he is being mocked or otherwise even in the very slightest. After the empowering event, David has developed a complex; he fears for his life due to the highly powerful and somewhat unstable individuals now surrounding him, and so elects to become as powerful as possible in order to eradicate his terror, effectively playing an overcompensating game of catch-up. He justifies this somewhat arrogant and selfish mindset with what he believes to be a beneficial, selfless goal; to allow scientific divisions to study and research his abilities for a hefty cost, while in reality he truly desires to continue research by himself on his abilities with his own discretion. Despite his goals of delusional grandeur, David genuinely cares for his mother and sisters, gaining a protective instinct especially towards the kind-hearted Lucy as well as having a friendly (albeit teasing) rivalry with the elder Hannah.
  • It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do? “Probably read. Or study. Can't fall behind on grades. Either that or take a walk. Clear my head a little.”
• Backstory: David is the youngest child of Lucius and Jane Livingston, the former of which he doesn't know personally due to his sudden abandonment of Jane out of frustration of his worsening anger issues less than a week after David was born. David has two older sisters, the younger of which being the cripplingly self-conscious and shy 16 year old Lucy, and the elder being the overly happy and enthusiastic 19 year old Hannah. After Lucius left, David's mother had to move on despite her physical difficulties including that of chronic fatigue and low blood count, and the children quickly took it upon themselves to collectively take responsibility of the household's workings for when Jane was too ill to do so herself. David soon gained a rampant interest in theoretical physics and science, earning him a reputation as an intuitive darkhorse amongst his class despite his quickly developing aloofness and arrogant mindset, becoming much more segregated over time both at home and in school, especially so following a few incidents involving jealousy and bullying towards his intellect and underlying 'holier-than-thou' message in his body language. After the empowering incident and the chaos that ensued during it, David became traumatized, his whole understanding of how even basic concepts worked shattering upon his classmates' and eventually own manifestation of supernatural abilities following the event. Now secretly afraid of losing control, David has begun to kindle an urge to gain further power by meticulously studying his abilities and their applications, if only in an attempt to prove to everyone that he can still keep up against all odds.
  • What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them? “I live with my mom and my sisters. She's unemployed, she's sick you see, so my big sis gets the money in. As for my dad... well... I don't know much about him. But with how Mom and Hannah go when I ask, in a way, I kinda don't want to know either.”
• Powers: David has the ability to generate and manipulate zero-point energy (commonly called ZPE for short, named after its presence even at temperatures of absolute zero), which is the lowest possible energy of a quantum state. Also known as vacuum or ground state energy, its effects, potential applications, and even existence have been highly speculated, but David's abilities seem to fit into several separate propositions and theories regarding this strange quantum energy. By initiating physical contact with objects and presumably people (untested for obvious reasons), David can siphon all of their quantum energy out of their form in an instant, causing strange anomalous effects such as levitation, complete paralysis and lack of inertia, the inability to lose momentum when gained, plus the tendency for small solid masses to become semisolid or liquidize, allowing him to stretch and warp their form to a degree. As of now, his abilities are still being tested and are rather small-scale, but they have a lot of potential, and David even theorizes them to be a source of tremendous energy potential, perhaps enough to be a good alternative power and fuel source, although he seems to have already accepted this possibility as fact in his mind despite being unable to produce any effects similar to this concept just yet.
  • What kind of music do you listen to? “I like the classical styles. Folk songs too, and rock and roll as well I guess. Prefer old stuff, really. My playlist is a mess, I can tell ya.”

edited 21st Jun '18 4:49:53 PM by Enirboreh

bork

Oh boy. I hope I won't be too bad at this.

• Name: Harriet Rynhil
• Do you like your name? "I suppose so..."
• Age: 17
• What do you wanna be when you grow up? "...I don't know."
• Appearance: Mostly pale, 169cm (5'6'') tall, skinny to a concerning degree. Matte black hair that barely goes past her shoulder blades, bang covering one eye, several frayed ends. Facial features mostly angular-like and sharp, noticeably bony. Fairly pronounced eye bags, irises have slight green streaks. Her t-shirt, cotton trousers and sneakers look like they haven't touched soap in four years.
• Do you have a crush or are you not even thinking about these things yet? "...no."
• Personality: Excessively withdrawn. Has trouble trusting herself, let alone other people. She feels like she is an aberration that should be put down, yet cannot bring herself to resolve her problems. Additionally, she believes everyone around her shares this warped self-image towards her, and she pushes away any help from others assuming they do so only to stroke their own ego (I gave this girl a loaf of bread, she must be eternally grateful toward me). Against those who threaten her, she hardly retaliates even though she knows better, unless Power Incontinence occurs.
• It's Saturday night and your parents are out of town. What do you do? "Parents? Don't...please..."
• Backstory:
  • Harriet was always a bit of a shy one, but she got along well enough with her peers, performed decently, nothing too outstanding. As a child, her aspiration was to become a stage performer - the flashy outfits, dazzling action, bringing smiles to people, the works. It would be odd for a less outgoing kid who was not that physically inclined to achieve such a thing, and that was what made it so alluring. Her parents chalked it up to childish dreaming, however, and pushed her toward a more traditional career path.

  • As she grew older, her aspirations only intensified, and with that her parents' rebuttal. Despite her harsh words, she really does not want to disappoint them, but she could not ignore her inner desire to break away from the mold. A disagreement evolved into a tear, into a rift. Steadily getting worse through her teenage years, her former friends started to drift away from how brooding she had become. With few people to consult with, she started to wonder if she was wrong or right in going against her parents in the first place.

  • The rift continued to grow, and came to a head on the day of her 16th birthday. She had plans to stay out a little late that night, and the ensuing argument was the most heated one since. It also turned out to be their last. Harriet stormed out, refusing to let them get in the way of her intentions. She returned home the morning after, but nobody was around. She turned on the news and saw that there was an accident on a coastal road near her house, skid marks, broken barrier. A car drove into the sea. Debris left behind included the car plate - from her parents' car.

  • This event shut down the last of her self-image as a person who would be of worth to somebody. Being involved in the death of a person, directly or indirectly, was unforgivable. Unable to live in the same house which once held a family, she gathered what valuables she had, and came into the care of social services. She also became a regular at Dr. Pathik's office, who persuaded the school faculty to allow Harriet her own room in the school and ease her recovery. All she had from then to the empowerment was time, to search for answers, and seek absolution.

• What do your parents do for a living? Do you live with both of them? "Do not bring them up again. Please..."

• Powers: A Clingy Mcguffin, in the shape of a crude spear with green and black wrappings, named Severance. She has natural control over it, telekinetically and more.
  • Not only is she able to actively and wholly control Severance within 3 metres (10') of her, she can toss it at high speeds up to 30 metres away. Severance will always reappear back by her side.

  • After sufficient warmup, Harriet can project Severance through portals up to 5 metres away, though Severance cannot hit from multiple portals from one. Severance cannot portal if it is unable to move, and Harriet can project only 2 portals at once.

• Severance also has an effect that feeds on the mental state of things it pierces. This allows Harriet to perform debilitating tricks on her target, such as:
  • Perception clouding, pretty much dulling of the senses, or amplification if she so wishes.

  • Active hallucination, such as Severance appearing from several portals and causing wounds when only one is real.

  • Technique decay, degrading the memory of the target and making them less dangerous.

  • Memory alteration, self-explanatory.

• What kind of music do you listen to? "Synth-y stuff...nothing too loud."

I have another character in mind if this one doesn't make the cut.

edited 22nd Jun '18 10:14:55 AM by AtlasStratus

Timers to measure time, thermometers to measure thermomets, mometers to measure mom, and measuring containers to measure measurements.