The Good, The Bad and The Spandex: New Heroic Age Sign Ups

A new day has dawned.

Easton, Florida

The home of Superheroes across the United States. The crown jewel for any aspiring tyrant or ideologue Supervillain. The status quo in Easton seems as stable as it could be, but recent events have brought a hidden turmoil to the city. The superheroes repulsed an invasion of creatures called The Parasites from the borders of the city, but the tensions that led to the Parasites crossing over still simmer.

The response to the massive scandal of The Blazing Man's wife being rendered comatose by Doctor Vivos. Decried by some as an overkill response, the crackdown on various Supervillain societies has resulted in a slow burning unification of the supervillains under the auspices of someone referred to as Sir Nevermore. Some villains however reject this unilateral shift in their society - moves regarded as insipid treason by those within Sir Nevermore's orbit.

And three years ago, a young Hero was subject to a high profile trial - in which his supposed negligence of his powers' nature and recklessness led to his team, Teen Justice, all perishing in horrific fashion.

These events form the background for a new day in Easton, Florida.

Whether you play a hero or a villain, one thing is for certain: tomorrow has never looked more ambiguous. The lines between hero and villain blurring as simmering underlying issues edge to a boil in the hot Floridian sun.

So this is a Freeform Superhero RP - one that has gone dormant for, in my opinion, far too long. You can play any heroes or villains you want, with the understanding that you cannot godmode or autohit individuals. You cannot dictate what effect something will have on someone.

Your character's morality is their own business. Observe sensible restraint but by all means. If your character is a villain, you can go ahead and be villainous. But just expect that any extreme action will have a reaction.

There will be no allowance for Script Format, and you should spell check and make sure your post is legible.

Discord is required for this RP.

Storylines in Spandex: Considering the Freeform nature of the RP, how Storylines are handled will be thus - organize and commit to a storyline, letting me know the story beats you want to have happen on a basic level, though be prepared for things to go outside that basic outline. Do not commit to a storyline unless you're prepared to continuously write for it.

I will undertake a storyline at the start, and then again should there be no existing plans. Outside of storylines, feel free to have your characters meet up, talk, discuss and interact. Easton is a living place where a lot can happen.

Sign ups:

• Hero/Villain Name
• Identity: Real Name (if applicable), Status (Hero, Villain, Anti-Hero, Anti-Villain), Private/Public Identity
• Abilities: Powers, Weaknesses, Skills, equipment, etc.
• Appearance: Description or Image is fine
• Personality: How they act
• Background:

Edited by NickTheSwing on Apr 3rd 2024 at 9:04:47 AM

Eh, I'll throw my hat in the ring.

• Hero Name: Windwing
• Identity
  • Real Name: Tae-hyun Chong
  • Status: Hero
  • Private/Public Identity: Private
• Age: 15
• Abilities:
  • Air Manipulation: This, more than anything, defines Windwing. Tae-hyun has complete control over the air, which includes both your standard moving air around and attacking with it...and also encompasses things like controlling the air around objects to lift them (including himself, effectively gaining flight), using air pressure to lift heavy objects and land harder strikes, repelling projectiles by controlling air currents, reducing air resistance to enhance speed, and causing things to explode or implode by expanding the air pressure inside them or increasing external pressure to cause a cave-in. With the power of the Air Magi-Gem, Tae-hyun might be the most powerful aerokinetic in the world...
  • Weakness: What The [BLEEP] Are You Doing? ...but unfortunately, he is very new to this whole superhero thing. Prone to rushing in blindly, making poor tactical decisions, and accidentally firing himself into a wall with his powers, Tae-hyun is very much a greenhorn and is largely incapable of the more complex uses of his powers. Given how terrifying aerokinesis is, this isn't entirely a bad thing.
• Appearance:
  • Civilian clothes: Stands at 5'3. Doesn't usually wear goggles outside of superheroing but I'm too lazy to go back and remake the Picrew. Wears a variety of pins on his jacket, including a cat pin, bi and trans flags, the rainbow infinity symbol, and ones for various superheroes. Keeps his costume in his backpack for easy access.
  • Superhero costume: Primarily white, with large light blue lines across the arms, the sides, and the legs. Light blue fabric stretches from the wrist to the hip, like a wingsuit. The boots are white with blue at the top, and also...uh, cloth-y? Like those Halloween superhero costumes. I'm sure they exist, I just don't remember the name for them. There's also a light-blue half-cape that's clipped on (stylish and practical) and blue goggles to protect the eyes, completing the look.
• Personality: Tae-hyun is bubbly, cheerful, and endlessly energetic, throwing himself into superheroics with boundless enthusiasm. Sometimes, he comes off too strong and fails to read the room properly, which can lead to awkward situations, but he has a good heart and does his best to be nice to people. He's a bit scatterbrained, gets lost in his own head easily, and frequently devolves into squeeing fanboyism whenever around his childhood heroes, but he's truly, genuinely earnest about being a hero and helping people. He also possesses a strong artistic streak, especially when it comes to costumes (and has cosplayed his favorite characters on more than one occasion).
• Background:
  • For this to properly make sense (and provide context for later), let's go back a bit. Centuries ago were the Magi-Gems, a set of elemental crystals that provided complete control of an element to whoever had the crystal in question. The Magi-Gems were guarded by an ancient order called the Gem Guardians, whose job was to make sure the crystals never fell into the wrong hands. However, one Guardian, Voidsoul, came to covet the power of the crystals himself. So strong was his lust for power that he attacked the other Guardians to claim the Magi-Gems, causing him to be banished from their order. Years later, he returned with dark magic and battled the Guardians, and the ensuing fight forced them to scatter all across the world, each with a crystal in tow. The Air Magi-Gem's Guardian, Galespin, fled to the US and, years later, transferred its power to Benjamin Breeze, who became the superhero Windwing. When Benjamin died, he passed the power down to his former sidekick Johnny Rogers, the second Windwing; when Johnny retired, he passed both the power and the mantle down to his former sidekick, Paul Bennett.
  • Now for our hero: Tae-hyun was born in South Korea, but grew up in the US, his family having immigrated there shortly after he was born. They originally lived in a small town in Pennsylvania, but when he was twelve, moved to Easton after his mother got a job offer there. The change in scenery didn't bother Tae-hyun much; on the contrary, he was excited to live in a town of superheroes, having been a fan ever since he was young. Between collecting all the hero merchandise, he dreamed of one day becoming one himself, often sketching out what his costume would look like. For a long while, it seemed it would be nothing more than a dream.
  • But then, when he was 15, Tae-hyun was caught up in a battle between a few superheroes, including Windwing, and the supervillain Photon, who could manipulate light and lasers. During said battle, Photon hit Windwing with a laser point-blank, sending him crashing through two walls and landing near Tae-hyun. A panicked, pained Windwing promptly transferred the powers to him, as he was the closest, before Photon was subdued and the authorities arrived.
  • Even if Windwing hadn't handed over the powers, it wouldn't have mattered; he'd injured his spinal cord in the battle and was paralyzed from the waist down, unable to do hero work anymore. Paul Bennett had to retire, and officially passed the mantle down to Tae-hyun—Windwing IV. And Tae-hyun is very eager to fill those shoes, joining the ranks of Easton's finest as a true-blue superhero.
• Trivia:
  • Tae-hyun is on the autism spectrum.
  • His mother Hye-sun is an HR manager for a magazine publisher^note specifically an art magazine, and his father Chihun is an electrician.
  • He has two sisters, one older and one younger. His older sister Se-yeon is 19 and attending college in New York City, and his younger sister Jung-hwa is 11 and in middle school.
  • His costume is made of nylon, specifically ripstop nylon, which actual wingsuits are made of.
  • He owns a bicycle, and primarily uses it to get around the neighborhood his family lives in.
  • He's excellent at sewing and design, having made his own costume and being an avid member of Easton's cosplay community.
  • Has a Tumblr. And an Instagram. And a Pinterest. All of them use the same handle, SilverStarNinja, based on the name of his Minecraft account when he was nine (he thought ninjas were cool and still does).
  • This doc provides a brief history of the various Windwings. A lot of it is meant for another setting, but the basics still apply.

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Apr 10th 2024 at 7:40:00 AM

• Hero/Villain Name: Paragon
• Identity: Martin Snow
• Status: Hero
• Public Identity
• Abilities: Martin's power is derived from his innate desire to help others, as he performs acts of service his physical stats increase exponentially. The beginning of each day Martin's physical abilities are average for someone of his size and muscle density but with each completed act of kindness, charity, or simply hard work for others his physical abilities become superhuman. The rate of growth seems to be variable depending on what situations he finds himself in. From being able to lift a car from being able to put a hole through a building one side to the other with just his fist. His physical abilities all grow at the same rate his strength, dexterity, stamina, or endurance no single ability outweighs any other throughout the entire point of this boost. So unlike the danger faced by some who have super strength without the body to hold it or speed without the ability to deal with the inevitable friction he will never face these issues.
• Weaknesses: The inevitable weakness to disability is first a mental one: the drive to help fix and Save can render Martin paralyzed for choice in certain dangerous situations where being able to solve one issue will not inevitably fix all concurrent issues. The desire to save everyone is so ingrained in him that being faced with the situation where he is unable to can lead to certain breakdowns and communication with those around him.

Another pressing issue is the fact that his abilities have a ceiling, what he calls his 100%, When the sealing is reached he will only be able to stay active for around 3 minutes afterward entering into a coma where his abilities reset to the basis that he would wake up with each day. and of course the fact that he sleeps his abilities are simply those of a well-trained and well kept human.

• Skills: Given his desire to Aid others Martin has gained a wide breadth of skills including but not limited to: emergency first aid, local, state, and federal law memorization, training in a number of martial arts modified for superhumans, and lastly knowledge of de-escalation tactics.
• Equipment: Martin's superhero outfit is designed to withstand the movement and endurance strain of his body along with having a bulletproof lining and heat resistant materials. His cape is made of a lighter strain of the material used to make his suit and is suitable as a rescue blanket and flotation device as well.
• Appearance: image
• Personality: A man who wants to save everyone, a man who sees no other road than to save everyone. to him there are no enemies, simply people that need aid. Well he is willing to fight, he will always be the first to offer a hand first. He is not a perfect saint; he feels rage, gets jealous, and wishes things were different just the same as anyone else. but regardless of the situation he will swallow his own feelings in order to bring some greater good to this world
• Background: For some Heroes there's a great tragedy, a moment of realization, something that defines them from that moment onward. Martin never had this moment; he simply has always had a desire to help others. From his youth to his teens and even entering adulthood there was never a moment where Martin didn't desire to see someone else rise. Whatever time or effort was necessary was something he was willing to put in and when he came into his powers it was only obvious what he was going to do. Some heroes are made in the fires of battle or in the circumstances that surround them. well it may sound cliche Martin was simply born to be a hero. from the moment he recognized his own abilities there was simply no other Road for him no other Road he desired to walk. to ask that you do anything else would be as foolish as asking a fish to learn to breathe on land or a bird to learn to swim underwater for the rest of its life. Even surrounded by the current chaos of the climate between heroes and villains of the world being more chaotic than ever Martin is still certain in what he needs to do. “All I've ever had was my own sense of right and wrong and it will be my North Star no matter what chaos may come to me.”

• Villain Name: Aylin-El, Primordial of Yore
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Aylin
  • Status: Anti-Villain
• Private/Public Identity: Public
• Abilities: Aylin is physically immortal; unable to be killed or wounded by conventional weapons due to her flesh merely parting out of the way of such threats, though she can be affected by spiritual or energy-based attacks, and she can be knocked around or restrained with enough physical force. She has the ability to reshape her flesh and form, albeit to a limited extent out of fear that her appearance might be irreversibly ruined. The local weather may be influenced by her mood; by default drizzling and in severe cases thundering, and she has the ability to conjure metal from her form—either as sharp needles she can fling from her feathery wings or as bladed weapons she can manifest from her hands. Her ability to fly has been limited by the clipping of her wings, but she is still capable of it in short bursts, and her physical strength is at least that of ten men in one being; if not greater. When she is injured by extraordinary means, Aylin will slowly regenerate so long as she isn't harmed further, with heat and steam emanating from the sites of her injuries until they have fully closed.
• Appearance: An elven, beautiful angel with silvery hair and colossal birdlike wings of similar shine sprouting from her back; with feathers clipped at the tips and clumsy in their movement. Aylin is rarely clad in more than just a minidress, indicative of her mildly shameless nature as an innocent spirit creature new to physicality. Her halo is a solid object, thorned and decorated like a crown, with the Hebrew text "שליט העולם" engraved upon its metal. Stands at 5'3".
• Personality: Aylin is meek and somewhat neurotic in attitude, shying away from larger groups of people and tending to gravitate towards lonesome ones in her searches for company. She is fragile in ego and easily upset by cruel remarks, but aims to offer out her hand to those in need, so long as she can speak with them long enough to get to know them well. Aylin dislikes being manhandled or forced into scenarios that she does not want to get involved with, and tends to panic when things are outside of her control and unable to be predicted. Aylin appears to be obsessed with her outward appearance, and constantly checks her reflection for any flaws or asymmetries almost habitually, and she also seems to have an affinity for animals and small children more than she does with adults.
• Background: A fallen angel kicked out of Zion, Aylin is among the many who fell short of the heavenly standard, cast down to Earth as punishment and shackled so that she could no longer access the full extent of her god's power. With her wings clipped, and with no understanding of the world she has been thrown into, Aylin has become a wanderer, wallowing in misery most days while trying her best to comprehend human society, and in turn understand the moral standards which she failed to live up to. Though declared a heretic, Aylin lacks much drive to act against her former masters, and instead seeks company in the world of her imprisonment. Sympathising more with humans than her fellow spirits, Aylin by her nature could be brought into the fold of virtue—but given her background as a dissident, no matter how pathetic, she still technically counts as a villain for the time being.

Edited by Enirboreh on Apr 4th 2024 at 2:01:53 PM

Tentative interest-provided the little grey cells want to cooperate.

• Hero Name: Nike
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Nicole Forscythe
  • Status: Hero
  • Public Identity
• Abilities:
  • Tactile Telekinesis: Nicole can apply large amounts of force directly to her own body and anything she's touching. The simplest use of this is to enhance her own strength and durability to superhuman levels, amplifying her own blows while reducing the force of attacks used against her. She can also freely move herself through the air, essentially making her the quintessential Flying Brick. However, the nature of her powers give her a few extra tricks and edges: she can lift heavy objects without them collapsing under their own weight, she doesn't need to put her back into punches, can turn a glancing blow into a full-on hit, and she can launch things she's touching at high speed without needing to throw them.
  • Gear: Nicole's cape and bodysuit are made of a durable but lightweight material that resists tearing. Nothing particularly special, as far as super-suits go, but they offer more protection than normal clothing. The cape can also be used as a fire blanket. In her utility belt, she carries zip ties, a roll of gauze, and some metal ball bearings for use as projectiles.
• Appearance:
  • Civilian: A blonde-haired, green-eyed, and fair-skinned young woman. Usually keeps her hair tied back in a ponytail. Stands about 5'5", and decently muscular. Generally has a tendency towards preppy clothing, and has a collection of colorful earrings and bracelets.
  • Hero: A simple white bodysuit, complete with a cape. On the suit's chest is Nike's symbol, a golden wreath, while the cape sports the image of a pair of feathered wings, also golden. She wears sturdy white boots, and a golden belt with pouches to store her communicator and other items.
• Personality: Compassionate, kindhearted, with a strong sense of justice. Nicole truly idolizes the heroes that came before her, and desires to be a paragon of justice that lives up to their example. She understands, however, that no hero truly fights alone, and tries to strike up camraderie with her allies. Pathologically friendly, with a strong desire to help others, one suspects Nicole might have become a therapist were it not for her superpowers. Nicole naturally holds herself to a very high standard, and has to remind herself to sometimes relax.
• Background:
  • In a world of superhumans, aliens, and even deities, Nicole was born to an utterly normal human family. She grew up watching heroes on TV and though she had no powers of her own, like many children she would wear a towel for a cape and imagine herself flying through the air and saving people from burning buildings. Unlike other kids, however, she realized that hero groups employed people without powers, even if only in supporting roles. Thus, she decided that if she couldn't be a superhero, she'd strive to support the heroes as much as she could when she grew up.
  • At age nine, she was caught in a villain attack at a mall. Nicole naturally hid inside one of the stores with her parents, and there she stayed. Until she saw a man trapped under a chunk of fallen ceiling. Despite being small and powerless, she ran out to save him, and impossibly, she was able to lift the rubble off of him. She began to clear a path through the wreckage, bringing a number of people to safety. In the wake of the event, she decided that once she came of age, she had a responsibility to use her powers for good.
  • Her parents were incredibly opposed to this. Even as she grew into her powers, they worried deeply that she would get hurt or killed. Nicole acknowledged the possibility, but her sense of duty would not allow her to waste the gift she'd been given. Eventually she managed to get her parents to agree, and so she began to fight evil with a heart full of hope.
• Miscellaneous:
  • Nicole has taken some basic self defense classes. While she's no master, even without her powers she can put up a decent fight.
  • Theme Song

Accepted to each of you, welcome to the game.

• Identity: The Magpie/Maggie Smalls
  • Status: Urban Legend
• Abilities:
  • Powers:
    • Sequel Appearances: Magpie's physical form can be harmed, but it can be surprisingly tough and resilient, much like how a corpse may dry up and harden underground. She can muster the hysterical strength of the soon-to-die in short intervals and is alarmingly fast and stealthy in her current state. She can crumple herself up, much as the accident did, and contort to fit herself through spaces smaller than her own head, though her apparently boneless movement is not strictly limited to this situation. But her trump card, besides her revenant state, is that being defeated through physical harm rarely serves her urban legend. Thus, down and approach her, and she will almost certainly be able to get up and retaliate. Down and take your eyes off of her, and she can and will disappear and appear again when you least expect it. She has taken advantage of this by deliberately injuring herself to blink out of immediate sight or behind cover as soon as she is disregarded.
    • Tragedy of the Commons: Magpie is the appointed representative of the masses, and when not donning a particular face, can shapeshift into a person based on the average of a specific group of people. She can refine this, such as by picking all employees in uniform or people of a specific age range, and doing this allows her to pick up on their general sentiments and copy certain personality traits that they may have in common. Doing this to a very disparate group of people is somewhat difficult, and since powered individuals are not considered average, she can't copy any powers at all. She also gains items that those she is copying from would tend to carry—for example, taking the average of police officers can give her access to their uniform, guns, a badge, etc. This is most often done by reaching into her top hat and producing the items in question, so long as they can fit through the opening. She can't copy intimate personal knowledge, however, so both perceptiveness and passphrases can be used to catch her out.
    • Masque of the Red Death: By killing and taking faces, Magpie can gain the memories and skills of her victims, but this process also ends up transferring their "humanity" to her as well. While some may say that her victims had very little humanity given what they have done, it has added up and awoken Magpie to her conscience. These faces allow Magpie to more perfectly impersonate their owners, which she uses in her mysterious broadcasts, and she has a growing collection of knowledge of every kind of skullduggery and thievery. While wearing a face, she uses a weapon that would be favored by them, if they had become a killer. These weapons are, again, procured from her miraculous top hat, which supplies her with the tools of her trade so long as they can fit through the opening. These faces will eventually deteriorate and wear out completely, so her disguises are often limited in use. However, she does have one other transformation that is available to her at all times: a simple magpie—as in, the mundane bird.
    • Collect Call: Magpie can be summoned by recreating the iconic graffiti which she died near, and which has come to represent her urban legend. When there is significant social backlash aimed at a specific person or organization, she gains the power to act against them. But if the threshold has not been reached, she will be limited to just haunting the vicinity as a sort of prelude or warning. Often the level of accumulating fervor can be determined by looking at the number of lit votive candles under the graffiti, as ordinary people may be subconsciously drawn to honor her memory and fuel her legend. Additionally, viewing an uncensored image of her face can allow her to crawl through the screen of the device on which it is stored, often attacking the viewer. In fact, it is within this liminal electronic space that she can hijack and take over radio waves, though this is limited to after her hunts, when she has an overflow of power due to public belief in her. When not broadcasting the aftermath of her killings on a large scale, she can still appear as an apparition on devices that are looking up her information, which cannot be turned off until she leaves.
  • Weaknesses:
    • Earthly Tethers: Magpie cannot enter a building with two magpies drawn on it, because if one heralds the sorrow she brings, then two herald joy, which will surely come by warding her away. Additionally, she has to stop to pick up any dropped candy, as she was doing it a few moments before her death, and she cannot cross an unbroken line of sugar. The reflections of puddles on black asphalt and car mirrors can show her true face. Finally, speaking to her using her true name may give her a few moments of lucidity and doubt, long enough for somebody to get away safely.
• Appearance: Like this, with a feathered and beaked masquerade mask and a larger top hat. Often appears as a ghostly apparition with a hazy, graffiti-like aura emanating from her and causes nearby electronics to go on the fritz.
• Personality: Curious and childlike ever since her rebirth, she is not at all bloodthirsty like her urban legend describes her, even if acting it out grants her increased puissance and prolongs her time on earth. Though the pain of her death is not long behind her, she remains a fundamentally cheerful and kindhearted entity when not angered or deliberately summoned, with sticky fingers and a mischievous streak a mile long, befitting the holiday on which she departed. Halloween was, after all, her favorite day of the year. Though she is often troubled by her own method of operating, due to assimilating the bits of compassion that her victims did not often choose to exercise, she acknowledges that sometimes, it is a grim necessity, as she is enraged at the legal justice the powerful are able to evade.
• Background:
  • Halloween, 20XX. In a town very much like this one, young Maggie Smalls, who had just entered 5th grade, is killed in a tragic vehicular accident while trick-or-treating by a local factory owner, who was driving drunk. A photograph of her bloodied body under half-finished graffiti of a magpie in flight, ringed in police tape, makes it into the newspapers. Her limbs lie askew on the ground, sticking out of the tarp and showing her formal-looking costume's black and white coloring. Someone takes a picture of her remains before they can be moved and posts it online as shock content. Before her family can get it taken down, it goes viral: her face, scraped away on the asphalt.
  • A storm of seemingly disconnected coincidences result. A news reporter mispronounces Maggie's name as "Magpie," drawing attention to the bird graffiti, so it's repurposed as a symbol of remembrance. An older student creates art of Maggie fused with the bird, helped by the similar coloring of her costume to its feathers, but mistakenly gives her a top hat she did not originally wear. The design becomes popular as it is plastered on mugs, shirts, enamel pins, and magnets. Her murderer gets off with a light sentence, thanks to their wealth and connections, and people start using pictures of Maggie’s face in protests. The fervor reaches her class, where a peer of hers reinterprets her death as a prelude to a ghost story, which catches on. They insist she will return to punish her killer, first as a coping mechanism, and then more earnestly, in grief. All this, in the middle of an ongoing union strike, as animus fills the air, helps Magpie take a more corporeal form.
  • Someone must have copied the magpie graffiti onto the factory owner's home. Either way, it appeared overnight. The next morning, the factory owner is found dead, with his face cut away, the same way little Maggie's was. The anachronistic appearance of the factory owner in a pre-recorded show on television, to apologize (albeit insincerely) for the unfortunate incident, jars the minds of many. This initial killing was attributed to a vigilante, who was eventually found and arrested, but it stokes the imagination of Maggie’s classmates. They say she can be summoned by "her" art, and that she can take the faces of those she kills and force them to publicly repent for their sins. The mythos around Magpie grows. More evildoers in high places die, each with an anomalous appearance of her calling card graffiti and a strange television broadcast afterwards where they apologize for their wrongdoings.
  • The urban legend spreads and eventually, Magpie gains self-awareness by absorbing the raw humanity (very often, not much) and skills of her kills and putting them to better use. The killings slow to a trickle, and then stop. But the victims of her targets often receive large, unmarked deposits in their bank accounts soon after she strikes, and evidence is always unearthed without fail following the posthumous confessions she broadcasts. Disappointed by the growing lack of spectacle, people add to her story and invent rationales as to how and why she can be warded off to explain her sudden change of heart. By and by, she is called to Easton by the roiling of public opinion, and it is there we set the stage for her true debut. Magpie herself wants to continue to develop her sentience further, and eventually grow outside the limiting dictates of her urban legend to truly become the chill that runs down wealthy backs as they plot.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 14th 2024 at 3:42:11 AM

• Hero/Villain Name: Lilith
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Lily Thane
  • Status: Villain, kinda
  • Private Identity
• Abilities:
  • The Orochi Group: A megacorporate entity comprised of eight subdivisions that Lily Thane is the publicly-known leader of. While Orochi's subdivisions make a great many consumer and industrial items, the combined entity is mostly known for its frequent donations of funding and material towards hero groups.
  • Mother Of Monsters: Far removed from the old ways, Lilith makes her monsters in vats deep in hidden labs beneath Orochi HQ. The actual traits of these monsters vary wildly, from the myriad but weak filler foes to grand beasts of mayhem. Oddly, these creatures have a surprising amount of intelligence when it comes to drawing a fight away from potential collateral.
• Appearance:
  • As Lily Thane, white suits after labor day and gold in the trimmings. Hair red enough to feel fake, fanned out like a mane. The stature of a powerful woman in her 30s with a visage as at home smiling at press events as it is watching stoic in the laboratory.
  • As Lilith, a stone mask that weeps and a dark robe decorated with bone. A red mane, fluffed up and unreal, crowns her head. She is unbending, confident, as though she is as ancient and self-interested as she implies with her name.
• Personality:
  • As Lily Thane, she's like a fox: charming and cunning and quick. She'll quip at reporters and profess admiration towards heroes (she always claims that if she didn't have work to do she'd use some Manicore tech and blast villains too) and even when she makes hard cuts or other ruthless business moves she'll still try and soften the blow even if it bites at her own salary. Under her command, Orochi proclaims to be responsible and forward-thinking.
  • As Lilith, she is a picture of 90s villainy all sneers behind the mask and bold shouts claiming this time she'll be victorious or that those who just claimed victory will rue their opposition to her! Her underlings (those not aware of her true identity and aims at least) whisper amongst themselves that she kills henchmen by the dozen if they disappoint her or that she really is the biblical Lilith come to sic monstrous children on the god-chosen heroes of the city. Lilith herself, and the few in her inner circle, try and cultivate those rumors. It makes for a better villainous atmosphere.
• Background: Let's start in '49 sweetling. The Orochi Group rises out of Tokyo in the wake of World War Two. It's eight heads are swift to bite into their fields in the global market; computers, banking, military contracts, agriculture, news as it turns round-the-clock, power, hunger, your very genes. Denied the coveted title of Zaibatsu, the company moves its headquarters to America (well, on paper it moves its headquarters to a tax shelter, but the black monolith rising from Easton's skyline is what everyone considers Orochi HQ) and lays dormant as the eight heads grow rich and ubiquitous.
  • No one can really pinpoint when Lily Thane took the position of Chairperson and from there CEO: some point to the 90s as the changeover but that causes questions of whether she's had work done. Regardless, under her tenure the Orochi Group has only grown and with it has come a kind of noblese oblige: Lily Thane's Orochi is the second-largest corporate donor to superheroism causes worldwide, contributing financial and legal aid when times are rough and cutting-edge technology months before it becomes available to purchase. Some decry it as self-interest and product testing; Lily Thane notes that's true but it also helps superheroes; and what's good for the heroes is good for business.
  • And yet, there is the skeletons in the closet. The monsters that so often beset Orochi facilities are themselves products of their hidden labs. The ranting figure that calls herself Lilith, mother of monsters and first woman, takes great care to broadcast pre-recorded messages when Lily Thane is in the public eye. The contributor to heroes is herself one of the villains, fabricating monsters and claiming great evil; her ends, as they are, are simple: A good villain, a constant supply of monsters, they are all useful enrichment to make heroes even more powerful and popular than ever before.
  • And as Lily Thane says: What's good for the heroes is good for business.

Hero/Villain Name

Identity: The Fog

Real Name: Hayden J. Bennet

Status: Villain

Private Identity

Abilities: Hayden is somewhat of a one trick pony, and that trick isn't the most impressive. Hayden is able to conjure and propel a supernatural thick fog from his person. It spreads quickly, blanketing the area, but dissipates a few dozen meters from him. Any unlucky person or animal who is touched by the fog quickly becomes disorientated, their skin going grey and clammy, before they essentially black out, now acting as a zombie-like drone under Hayden's command.

These drones follow orders to the best of their ability, but retain little of their personalities, meaning they're mostly good as quick muscle rather than intelligent servants. Moreover, the effects wear off after an hour from first contact, leaving the subject confused and amnesiac from their time as a pseudo-puppet. The biggest catch of Hayden's power, however, is that it somehow doesn't affect people who have powers. So while The Fog can whip up a mob of civilian servants in a pinch, it'll do about as much to a hero as any regular fog would.

Appearance: In his civilian attire, Hayden is a gangly man in his late teens to early twenties, with dark messy hair, usually sporting a five o'clock shadow and typically wearing baggy clothes. As The Fog, Hayden wears non-descript dark or grey clothing as well as a gas-mask to hide his face, complete with a zip-up hoodie. Not the flashiest of costumes, by any means. If he had the means to go full spandex, he would.

Personality: Hayden suffers from a notable inferiority complex. He looks up to and idolizes the world of supervillains, seeing powerful figures who've gone down in history - and then he, by comparison, is a low-level crook with a power that wouldn't do much in a direct superhero fight. As a result, he has to try and think outside the box in a pinch, using his power the best he can. Hayden doesn't do what he does for some poetic reason or moral code. He's in this for money, fame, fortune, whatever ends up coming his way. And he's willing to trick, lie and backstab whoever he needs to get there. He's never killed anybody, but he'd also never committed a crime until he just started one day, This single minded focus and need to be on top makes Hayden, unbeknownst to Hayden himself, fairly manipulatable, and will likely be his undoing.

Background: Hayden J. Bennet comes from a good home, went to a good school, and had a very happy upbringing. In his civilian life, is a computer science student, keeps to himself, and occasionally enjoys long strolls at the beach. His powers manifesting was a freak accident that Hayden showed little interest in investigating: one evening while on a walk by himself, a fog rolled in around him. Hayden passed out, and upon awaking instinctively knew how to use his powers. His first instinct, obviously, was to give himself a villain name and start robbing as much as he could.

Him turning to a life of villainy was motivated by little other than the fact that he could. Maybe being a hero crossed his mind, once - but it's villains who make the big bucks. So, in his first act of his career, the Fog robbed a convenience store. And then another. And then a restaurant, followed by a bank. Now, the Fog will walk into an establishment, fill it with fog, and then have the employees help him fit everything they can into a getaway car. Hayden hopes to make it into the big leagues one day - whatever the big leagues may be.

Trivia: Hayden follows a lot of big-name heroes and villains in the news, and has probably gotten into arguments about who would win in a fight online. He has pet goldfish, a favourite coffee place, and his favourite song is "Hanging on the Telephone" by The Nerves. Outside of the weekend bank-thefts, he's honestly a fairly run of the mill guy.

Accepted and Accepted.

And Magpie is also accepted.

• Name: Brimsteel
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Fero'nas
  • Status: Villain
  • Public Identity
• Abilities:
  • Powers:
    • Inhuman Physiology- Being a demon in a robot body, Brimsteel is far stronger than any normal human, and far tougher. He also requires no rest or sustenance; nothing will delay him from his mission.
    • Hellfire Manipulation- Brimsteel can produce and control extremely hot fire, which he can shoot out of any part of his body, and make it return to him when he sets something aflame. He can control their temperature, allowing to both interact with objects with no issue and melt through them.
    • Machine Control- Thanks to his robot body, Brimsteel can interface with sufficiently advanced technology and control it simply by touching it, temporarily making it part of his vessel. The machines become as tough as him while under his control, and he can channel fire through them, but they return to normal as soon as Brimsteel stops touching them.
    • Vessel/Sensory Disconnect- As his robotic vessel isn't technically part of him, Brimsteel feels no pain when it suffers damage, no matter how severe.
  • Skills: With thousands of years of combat experience, and possibly more, Brimsteel is an excellent fighter, being able to use a variety of weapons. He is also a skilled tracker, being able to hunt down anyone or anything he knows about, no matter how far.
  • Equipment: Technically speaking, Brimsteel is actually the fire he's constantly engulfed in, and his entire robot body is merely a vessel his essence is bound to, and it can be altered provided he gets compatible parts from somewhere. Brimstone can also make his own weapons by superheating his arms to melt the metal into crude bladed weapons.
  • Weaknesses: While Brimsteel is impossible to kill by conventional means, once his bargains are all fulfilled, Fero'nas will instantly be sent back to Hell, and will not be able to return unless someone else explicitly summons him. While he can regenerate any damage his physical form takes, the process is slow; if his robot body is outright destroyed, it will take hours for Brimsteel to grow it back, and he can't move due to being bound to it. Brimsteel is also vulnerable to magic, with his true self being able to be hurt by spells, and some could even kill him.
• Appearance: Brimsteel's robot body is a tall humanoid, its metal armor blackened and melted by the constant flames it is engulfed in.◊
• Personality: Brimsteel is hard-working, obedient, honest... and vicious. Anyone who makes a deal with him will have his absolute loyalty, and he will stop at nothing to carry out whatever their bargain requires of him, and nothing can be done to talk him out of it by anyone else. However, his loyalty is only guaranteed by the deals made with him; while he'll take his business elsewhere once a bargain has been fulfilled, nothing will stop him from turning on anyone he's served before if someone else desires he do so, and if anyone tried to avoid fulfilling their end of the deal, Brimsteel will turn on them. Without any orders, Brimsteel is rather aimless, and will just wander around trying to find his primary target until someone else makes a deal with him. However, when under contract but not working, Brimsteel is surprisingly personable... if constantly looking for a task to do.
• Background: Fero'nas is a demon warrior, and throughout the ages was summoned by mortals through vessels to hunt down and kill specific targets of theirs. And Fero'nas did this without issue...

...until the modern day, when Fero'nas was summoned by the supervillain Warlawk, using a robot minion as a vessel, resulting in him becoming Brimsteel. Unfortunately, while Warlawk was able to summon Fero'nas, he was killed before he could provide the demon with the identity of the person he wanted killed. But while Brimsteel didn't have the information, being summoned meant he was still bound to the mortal realm until he carried out his end of the deal, meaning he was now stuck in this realm until he killed Warlawk's target.

Initially, Brimsteel attempted to fulfill his half of the bargain by killing everyone he came across until he happened to come upon his intended target, but his initial rampage was finally halted when another villain decided to try and recruit him. With there being no way to disobey Warlawk with him being dead, Brimsteel was able to halt his rampage and work for the villain, in return for some information on who Warlawk could want dead, which, as it turned out, was quite a lot of people, due to being quite fond of having people killed.

Now, Brimsteel alternates between wandering the world and acting as a hitman for anyone who can help him get closer to finding Warlawk's target for him. And currently, he's found his way to Easton, looking for a new a job, or the key to finally being free from the mortal realm.

Edited by RapidFirestormer on Apr 24th 2024 at 11:01:05 AM

Accepted!

• Hero/Villain Name: Tidebringer
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Kaygogo
  • Status: Hero by convenience
• Abilities:
  • Locathah Physiology: Kaygogo is a Locathah a humanoid fish race from the plane of water as such his physical capabilities are higher than any common folk being able to toss cars and punch through metal his speed on land is rather lacking but he is the fasted when submerged in water and his scales give him natural armor, he can also breathe underwater and swim to any place no matter the pressure and can reach the mariana trench in minutes.

  • Hydrokinesis: Exactly what it says, Kaygogo can create and control water with his precision and power at their strongest the closer he is even being able to interact with the water of living organisms, when he creates water it evaporates quickly after not being controlled for a while making unsuitable for consumption, on the other hand he can use it to create puddles that act as portals to summon anything that is underwater (assuming he knows the location) combined with the Tidecaller gene means he always can call a critter to help him or lost objects to use as improvised weapons.
  • Tidecaller gene: Kaygogo was born with the Tidecaller gene an extremely rare mutation in the chromosome 78 of his species giving him a powerfull mental barrier, knowledge of any spoken language and control of any aquatic species, dominating their will and mind and even empowering them with a truly immense reach it can also help locating them, he has tried to use this with more land dwelling creatures but at most he causes the strongest hiccups and a sense of uneasyness due their aquatic legacy being very old the limit seems to be crocodiles.
  • Weakneses: If Kaygogo isnt submerged in water that he hasnt created every 6 hours he suffocates as he isnt used to earth’s dry atmosphere, this can be accelerated with extreme heat. Kaygogo immune system is pitifully weak the common cold can incapacitate him easily
• Appearance: He has blue scales and fins in his forearms, forelegs, and the sides of his head, he has a large dorsal fin that goes from the top of his head to lower back, he has webbed fingers and toes, his teeth are all sharp like a shark, in terms of clothing he wears an old sailor suit found in a sunken ship, he is 5'9 tall and 18 in human years.
• Personality: Kaygogo is a curious individual eager to learn about humans and their culture for his own self preservation and he is a quick learner imitating what the most noble of heroes do and act to gain the favor of the people making him a people pleaser, he is good at maintaining the facade of a goody two shoes superhero but occasionally he slips up on his more violent tendencies when nobody's looking, he is a firm believer of the end justifying the means and he is paranoid around scientists and the like thinking that they will capture him and do horrible things to him after all he is a fish out of water in earth. Lately he has been developing some care for the people that he protects and is conflicted between finding a way to go back to the elemental plane of water or staying. Hates how polluted the sea is and took it upon himself to clean it.
• Background:
  • Kaygogo was born in the plane of water as a member of the Locathah tribe his mutation giving him the privilege of one day becoming the leader and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle, his life and future was bright but what nobody could expect is what would happen next.
  • In earth scientists of Easton got their hands on the Water Magi-Gem and where experimenting with it to get their secrets, in the end too much stress caused the gem to react strangely causing a rift between the water plane and earth and Kaygogo was dragged kicking and screaming to earth.
  • Immediately the alarms rung, chaos everywhere the stress and fear caused Kaygogo to react violently and caused the lab’s destruction and then escaped to the sea.
  • Depressed, scared and lonely in a new world, Kaygogo wandered through the seas and saw how humans where mistreating it he attempted to control them but their aquatic common ancestor remains in their genetic code where ancient, this made him more angry and disappointed at them. They came from the sea but they are killing it.
  • By principle he began cleaning the ocean trough waves sending bigger trash to the shores and small debris was eaten by empowered microorganisms, in one of these trips he noticed how a superhero captured some lowly villains, he got the love and admiration from the citizens and then Kaygogo had an idea.
  • If he got the love and admiration of the people they wouldn't rat him out AND they would be more receptive to taking care of the ocean, Kaygogo began to learn about human culture and mannerisms.
  • After enough time he made himself public by stopping a band of thieves robbing a bank and crafted a backstory of being an extremely old mutant of the lost city of atlantis people gobbled it up and accepted it. Their new hero “Tidecaller” is here to preserve justice!

Accepted

...heck it, I'm not feeling Aylin as much as I did when I first signed her up. Consider this a replacement:

• Hero Name: Inkwell
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Lucy Livingston
  • Status: Hero
  • Private/Public Identity: Public
• Abilities:
  • Melanokinesis: The psychic ability to manipulate ink. This is usually limited to ink that Lucy has generated herself, though she can assimilate other inks to gain control over them if she is in close enough proximity, by 'reaching out' with her powers to initiate a connection with it. Though unimpressive on paper, Lucy has trained extensively with her ink manipulation, to the point of being able to reshape ink under her control into fast-moving tendrils, or coat parts of her body with ink and harden it in order to increase her striking power. She is also capable of lifting heavy objects by harnessing them with her ink, and she receives tactile feedback from her ink as if it is an extension of her own body. Lucy makes up for her ink's relative lack of durability through swiftness and precision, and she is adept enough that she can even subconsciously catch bullets fired at her using her ink, due to it responding faster than she can think. Though her ink usually defaults to a purplish black, Lucy is able to change the pigmentation of her ink in order to alter its colouration.
  • Melanogenesis: The psychic ability to generate ink. This is a process that occurs entirely within Lucy's body, transforming her bodily fats and fluids into ink that she can then secrete from her pores, able to be immediately manipulated using her psychokinesis. However, generating ink also drains Lucy of her own weight, which can backfire if she generates too much at once and render her weak and emaciated. She can get around this, however, by generating ink in small amounts over the course of weeks or months, stockpiling it in the fabric of her clothes or storing it in jars or ink cartridges that she takes along with her in her backpack. Though she only ever uses this ability on herself, Lucy is also capable of generating ink using other people's bodies through touch, meaning that she could drain someone to a borderline skeletal state and generate vast amounts of ink using their mass. Thankfully, Lucy would never do this willingly, unless she is compromised somehow.
  • Tactile-Telepathy: By touching another person, Lucy can initiate a limited form of telepathy, where she can send or receive psychic messages or form a more permanent two-way link with enough reinforcement and time. This is an ability all ESPers share, though Lucy has learned how to use it offensively: by grasping someone's skull with her hands and placing her head near to theirs, she can blast them with an overwhelming amount of psychic energy to either discombobulate them or completely fry their brain depending on the intensity. Linking her mind with another person has its drawbacks, however, as it opens up her mind to vulnerability and potential invasion from the person she's trying to connect with. This is doubly so if she's trying to attack an enemy using the method detailed above, as there's a chance they could realise what she's doing and retaliate using their mind.
  • Mental Defenses: Because of her traumatic experiences, Lucy has developed an aversion to unwanted mental intrusions, and as such she possesses a strong psychic barrier against the likes of mind control or telepathic invasion. This barrier provides some passive resistance against others poking around inside her head, but its most potent effect occurs only when her mental walls have been breached—if her defenses are circumvented without her willingly letting them down, her brain will automatically lash out with a bolt of psychic energy towards the one responsible for the intrusion, which can give them a nasty shock as well as kick them out of her head. This is an unconscious retaliation, as it can be triggered even by an ally who attempts a mental connection against Lucy's will. Thankfully, she permits basic psychic communication, so this only occurs when her mind is delved into beyond her surface thoughts. This reaction can also be triggered while she's asleep.
• Appearance: 5'6"◊ A young woman of Japanese-American lineage, with cropped black hair and steely grey eyes. Favours a punkish streetwear style, though she sometimes experiments with her looks depending on her mood. Slim and athletic build, though toned with muscles beneath her outfit. When using her psychic powers, her eyes may glow with white light from the backs of her pupils. Wears several peace symbol badges on her outfit: one on her backpack, one on the lapel of her jacket, and one stitched into her left shoe, all of which reference her original superhero suit with its prominent peace symbol emblazoned on its chest.
• Personality: A somewhat impish and impulsive girl who insists on performing as many charitable actions for those around her as she possibly can, with an unyielding sense of determination when it comes to helping others, no matter how small of a gesture it may be. Having been shy in her youth, Lucy has grown more confident in herself over the years, though she is still wracked with insecurities and suffers from an emotional dysregulation disorder which affects her daily. Especially prone to black-and-white thinking as well as angry outbursts, Lucy is nonetheless aware of her condition and does her best to focus on doing good, even if she finds it difficult to manage her emotions and ability to reason in perilous situations. However, when in a good mood or calm enough to be herself, Lucy is one of the most kindhearted and generous heroes out there, capable of powering through even the worst situations and never giving up despite the odds, and wholeheartedly willing to look after anyone who needs a helping hand even if she has to go out of her way for it.
• Background:
  • Coming from a low-income family in Newport, Rhode Island, Lucy had a relatively troubled life growing up, with her father abruptly leaving when she was only 10 and leaving her, her two siblings, and her mother to fend for themselves. With the drama from this only exacerbated by the fact that Lucy and her siblings were all psychics by bloodline, things finally reached a breaking point when Lucy's powers manifested at the age of 15, developing an affinity for ink and motivating her to use her abilities for the benefit of others. Despite battling her own demons, Lucy turned to crime-fighting as a method of coping with her mental issues, taking out her frustrations on criminals who she thought deserved to be hurt. However, at her most vulnerable point, the cripplingly-shy Lucy finally found friendship in the form of a small club of fellow psychics at her school, who helped her train in using her powers and in turn provided her companionship that would end up crucial going forward.
  • Though struggling with dark impulses and low moments, Lucy took hold of the bonds she had made with her friends, and slowly began to heal from her traumas over time as she grew older and more experienced in fighting crime for the right reasons. Now a young adult, Lucy has become more confident in herself and is no longer as beholden to her emotions and low self-esteem as she used to be, and though she still suffers from occasional mood swings, she has developed into the kind of superhero that she has always wanted to be. Of course, family matters remain an issue, and she is still trying to figure out the true nature of her psychic bloodline. Regardless, Lucy is now one of Rhode Island's most well-known (and only) superheroes as her alter-ego Inkwell, and even if branching out into Easton could easily go wrong, she is too ambitious to be satisfied just taking care of home.
• Etc: Lucy's theme.

Edited by Enirboreh on Apr 18th 2024 at 10:16:37 AM

• Hero Name: The White Wolf

• Identity:
  • Real Name: Rosamund Dorothy Swanson
  • Status: Hero
  • Public Identity

• Abilities:
  • Lycanthropy:
    • As we all know, Our Werewolves Are Different. For the lycanthropes of this world, the wolf is an inner beast breaking free on multiple levels. It manifests from repressed emotion, embodying all the submerged feelings you'd rather not allow to surface and all the thoughts you've ever shivered at and brushed aside. It is your shadow literally howling its existence from the rooftops. What this means is that the wolf is always initially out-of-control and primally emotional, albeit far from mindless and only as dangerous as the feelings manifested through it - but it can be controlled once you come to terms with what it embodies. Lycanthropy is a test of character, and those who pass emerge mentally stronger than before as well as physically.
    • White Wolf has more than taken control of her wolf - she has subsumed it so thoroughly you will rarely, if ever, see her as a human any more. The natural strength and durability of a lupine creature significantly larger than a human dovetails with her extensive self-defense and martial arts training, making her a physical force to be reckoned with before you take her razor-sharp teeth and claws into account. Also useful, in and out of dangerous situations, are her highly honed canine senses, allowing her to pick up subtle environmental cues humans could not.
  • Hard Light Manipulation: On top of a werewolf's natural abilities, White Wolf has an additional innate power that she possessed long before she even contracted lycanthropy, but which she only started properly honing once she became convinced to embrace superheroism. Through mental focus, she can project a bluish light through the palms of her hands that quickly solidifies, forming supernatural Hard Light constructs. Very simple objects, small and geometric without finer detail, form quickly; more complex objects take an exponentially growing amount of focus and effort to craft, forcing White Wolf to take the practical factors of her available time and energy into consideration. The constructs can be actively recalled, but will dissipate naturally as well if White Wolf is no longer putting any focus into maintaining them. Her preferred construct takes the shape of a stylised combat scythe wielded for both offense and defense (the shaft is as solid as the blade, after all!); whenever possible she sets aside a brief moment before hero jobs, not just to pray for guidance, but to form the scythe as she does.
  • Martial Arts: It's been mentioned already, but it bears repeating. Werewolf or human, superheroine or not, semi-retired or not, a taekwondo master is a taekwondo master. She occasionally gives one-on-one lessons in her spare time, usually to aspiring costumed vigilantes.

• Appearance: Rosamund Swanson stands at 7'3'', a height that, immense as it is next to most humans, is not all that impressive by werewolf standards. Her fur is a pale grey, her eyes a steely greyish-blue, and her head of hair, which falls in long, straight sheets down her back, is palest of all, close to pure white. Though she's well into middle age, between her fur coat and the benefits of maintaining an active lifestyle for decades she's aged gracefully, to the point where she's used to surprised reactions when she says she's 45 years old.
  • The White Wolf superhero costume bears a distinct resemblance to Christian vestments, which is no coincidence given Rosamund's religious convictions. It is predominantly white, unsurpisingly enough, with two pale blue stripes, one vertical and one horizontal across the chest, that intersect to form a cross. Around the neck is a mantle which pulls up to form a hood, keeping Rosamund's long hair bound up on the job. On the subject of practical modifications, the outfit has separated legs rather than being a full robe, allowing full mobility and flexibility - vitally important when you're an up close and personal kind of hero. Under the robe, White Wolf wears light body armour designed to absorb blunt force impacts while, again, not meaningfully impacting her mobility.
  • Off the clock, Rosamund dresses in the simple, homely style you'd expect of a kindly middle-aged Midwestern Christian woman, though given her physiology her clothes need to be custom-ordered. Her civilian outfits are so ordinary they manage the impressive feat of making a seven-plus-foot humanoid wolf look completely unassuming, and she likes it that way.

• Personality: Were you to meet Rosamund Swanson in a casual setting, you wouldn't peg her as the kind to be interested in hand-to-hand brawls with supervillains. She's not even meek in a way that immediately brings to mind tropes about hidden inner strength; she's genial, polite, kindly, motherly, all in a way that's subtly understated enough that you can't even assume she's trying too hard to seem harmless. She's passionate about rights for non-humans and helping her fellow lycanthropes overcome their inner struggles, and similarly passionate about the love Jesus has for all things, having been a devout Lutheran her entire life, but nothing would suggest she has an aggressive side. The superhero community is well aware of this; the resident werewolf bruiser being their collective Minnesota Nice Christian wine mom has been the subject of countless lighthearted jokes.
  • But sure enough, beneath the silk is steel sharp enough to cut diamond. Adjusting to her lycanthropy and making peace with her "inner wolf" within the space of an hour was no fluke, but the clearest indicator in her life of Rosamund's truly astonishing force of will. Once she has committed to a cause or ideal, she will pursue it with unflinching fervour, be it an end to Fantastic Racism or the simple wellbeing of those she cares about. It is this drive and determination that pushed Rosamund, first into martial arts as a young girl, then later in life into the hard-knock world of superheroism. The same people who joke about White Wolf's decidedly unthreatening personality would be the first to tell you that she is capable of being absolutely fearsome once the training wheels come off, not just because of her powers but because she is impossible to intimidate, or to faze, or to misdirect from her goal. The White Wolf has spent decades building up a reputation as one of the most reliable and driven supers in the business.

• Background: Born and raised in the sleepy little town of Granger, Minnesota, Rosamund Swanson was a model middle American youth. She studied hard, she behaved well, she said her prayers every night. The closest she got to action was regularly heading down to Minneapolis to study in a taekwondo dojang, fascinated as she was by the mixture of spirituality, discipline and power present in martial arts, and there, too, she was a well-behaved model student. Those around her assumed she would compete in martial arts tournaments for a couple decades, pick up a few trophies, retire back to Granger and, given her strong faith, likely spend her later years as a lay preacher.
  • The wolf changed that. Given its mixture of biological and supernatural elements, both poorly understood, there's no consensus on how lycanthropy transmits and Rosamund couldn't tell you how she became a werewolf. There simply came a day in her late teens when all of her repressed rage and fear of failure came exploding out in a mass of fur and fangs... briefly. Through sheer spirituality-driven force of will, Rosamund completely bound her werewolf side to her human mind within less than an hour. Taming the inner wolf is normally an arduous process, achieved piece by piece over months or even several years, so this is a feat of astonishing self-control sufficient to floor other shapeshifters when they hear of it. Nonetheless, that moment when she was barely in control of herself, ruled by primal emotion, has stuck with her, as did the horrified reactions of those around her. From that point on, Rosamund vowed to do everything she could to help those experiencing what she had, whether by giving them the help needed to come to terms with and embrace the wolf or to protect them from those who considered werewolves an existential threat to be wiped out on sight. Both physically and mentally, the White Wolf was born that day.
  • Rosamund set about her new career path as quick as she could. She doubled down on the taekwondo lessons, but no longer as mere sport, taking newfound interest in the part where stylised displays gave way to practical combat techniques. She also took to practicing the additional ability she'd known about long before she grew fur, but had never invested time in, having never previously imagined herself living a life where metahuman abilities would be of much use. Once her black belt had a sufficient number of gold notches, the now-adult Rosamund donned the first version of the White Wolf costume - sewn together from pieces of actual priest's vestments - and became a patrolling superhero in the Twin Cities metro, quickly building up a reputation both for effectiveness and for her off-the-clock personality that jarred hard with stereotypes of both werewolves and heroes. Eventually, she "graduated" to the superhero Mecca of Easton, unabashedly treating the move as a promotional one. From the kind of platform Easton heroics would give her, she could spread her message to the world.
  • That was nearly two decades ago now. White Wolf's among the older still-active supers in Easton, but her edge has barely dulled. When asked, she's made her position clear - she intends to keep doing what she's doing until she's physically incapable of it. For the younger supers, many of whom she's mentored in some capacity, "Wolf Mom" is both an inspiration and practically an actual surrogate mother figure.

Accepted.

And Lucy is accepted too

• Identity: Collateral (formerly Atomix), Ryan Brady
• Abilities:
  • The Living H-Bomb: Ryan's foremost ability is manipulation of energy, generation of extreme amounts of power, and creation of dangerous forces. Fundamentally, Ryan basically is a live H-Bomb or powerful nuclear reactor. His powers generate a lot of energy, and it seems to be tied to his emotions - he is very well capable of some rather explosive shows. His energy is notably bright blue, but darkens when his emotions correspondingly darken.
  • Physical Reinforcement: His powers also reinforce his body, giving him tremendous physical strength, endurance and stamina. His speed can be increased, but that is mostly done with a conscious exerted energy around him.
  • Nuclear Synthesis: By exerting his power in a certain way, he is capable of generating elements owing to his familiarity with his powers. Due to his drugs of choice, and research therein, he's actually surprisingly intelligent in Chemistry.
  • Nuclear Aptitude: Due in part to his intrinsic link to his powers, he is immune to the effects of atomic and nuclear weapons, and in fact can actually absorb the fallout and destructive energies involved, potentially giving him some interesting options.
  • Weaknesses: His emotions by and large influence his powers, meaning it can be difficult to so much as get a spark out of him if he's particularly down, and anger can get rather...dangerous. He also has to exercise considerable restraint when fighting so he doesn't produce fallout himself.
• Appearance: Ryan almost resembles the '90s Anti-Hero to every point - long light brown hair in the style of the nineties, immense musculature, and a rather dark and gritty costume involving cybernetic-looking pieces, black and purple spandex that flatteringly covers his musculature, and exactly one pauldron. Ryan has a light tan to him, and light blue eyes that perhaps hint towards a lighter past. Ryan's whole look is a relatively recent invention - his muscles came from getting into bodybuilding after ending up suspended from heroics after an incident with his powers, and he went on a bevy of powerful steroids during this time, including Winstrol, Anadrol, Trenbolone and Proviron. His outfit is the invention of his sponsor, Mr. Noble, who created it to prevent another incident from happening - while also restraining his power output. As for the mullet, he just let his hair grow out and takes a somewhat surprising amount of care for it.
• Personality: He somewhat has the '90s Anti-Hero attitude down too, being grouchy, snarly and constantly seeming to be in a bad mood, though a lot of this is a Jerkass Façade, and he really doesn't trust himself around other people, and so acts like a broody jerk to keep another incident from hurting people if his outfit fails. In spite of his attitude, he does enjoy helping people, and will go a surprising amount out of his way to help. His temper is a product of his past use of certain substances, and he does recognize his temperament is a problem what with his powers. He does want to try to be a more conventional hero, but having a bad rap makes that difficult and he doesn't want to be around too many people. Occasionally there are glimpses of the more idealistic youth he was before things happened.
• Background: He started out as an idealistic young hero named Atomix, who attained his powers due to being exposed to his Mad Scientist father's experimental "Hazard Atom Armor", which ended up merged into his body when he fell into the test chamber. He became a part of a young hero group called New Justice, and made a good number of friends, being remarked to be an outgoing, loud and cheerful person, staying with them well into his eighteenth year. However, during a fight with a supervillain, he unleashed more power than he meant to and caused a massive explosion and subsequent mushroom cloud. He was so ashamed of this he accepted a suspension from superheroics for 10 months - and during that time, he got into bodybuilding, grew his hair out, and accepted the new name "Collateral", marking himself as a far darker hero. While discouraged and rather pessimistic, he does hope to try to get back into heroics. He is assisted in this by his sponsor, a young CEO named Mr. Noble, who both have Ryan his armor and advocates for him. According to Ryan, Noble just appeared one day offering his help...

• Hero/Villain Name: Coatlzotz (not really a superhero name, just his name for use in supernatural business)

• Identity:
  • Real Name: Aiden Vaughn (technically Doctor Aiden Vaughn, but he's not fussy over it)
  • Status: Hero, though dips into Anti-Hero
  • Public/Private Identity: Private

• Abilities:
  • Wealth of Knowledge: Aiden has a huge trove of information and trivia on all things supernatural, divine, demonic, occult, etc, as well as the connections to access information he doesn't know. Knowledge is power when brute force doesn't tend to work so well.

  • Magic Tricks and Tools: Aiden is able to use magic by rote through the proper incantations, rituals, motions, items etc. He tends to carry out some general use tools for skulking about in the shadows, such as his trusty lighter with a flame that can change colour depending on what it's pointed towards. Among his other tools are a photo that, with the correct activation word, can make the observer forget him, and a small rod that when struck in the ground, creates a small circle that transports him and anyone close to him to a previously marked location, which is often his sanctum. Other than that, his magic isn't too flashy. He can throw some fire at things, move things around, etc, but he's not going to be throwing down with full-on supers conventionally.

  • A Healthy Dose Of Paranoia Preparation: Aiden's key to dealing with any sort of issue is bringing the right tools for the job, and having contingencies and backups in place. He's got basic wards set up against magical detection, psychic intrusion etc. and tends to stake out and skulk about before actually committing to action.

  • Colt M 1991 A 1: Sometimes, the best magic is .45 ACP in your back pocket. Generally carried in a concealed holster with a spare magazine

  • Silver/Cold Iron Knife: A simple knife made of a silver/iron alloy, a good generic catch-all that tends to be effective against a variety of supernatural monsters and generic flesh alike. Also sometimes you just need to be able to cut things.

  • Weakness: Only Human: Behind all the smoke and mirrors, Aiden is just...a normal human. He has no powers of his own, a good gunshot could take him out if he's unprotected, and his stamina is nothing to write home about. Just plain flesh and blood.

• Appearance: Some nights are a bit more difficult than others.◊

• Personality: Aiden is rather dry and sarcastic, with more than a healthy dose of distrust towards people. It's not to be unexpected when your work is primarily in the shadows, dealing with sinister cults and beings that lurk within the dark, wearing the faces of others. Eldritch horrors, gruesome cultic rituals, he's seen it all, and deals a lot in dark humour to cope with it all. However, at his core, he's a person who ultimately wants to keep the world safe. Nobody forces him to stay up into the early hours of the morning, poring over ancient dusty times. There's no personal reward for keeping demonic incursions out of the mundane world. He's someone who's ready to make sacrifices to get the job done, always thinking of the greater scope of things, which often means doing some...unsavoury things, even though his intentions are good. He's a cautious, contemplative individual, always thinking before action, plotting out courses to take and their consequences.

• Background: Aiden's story begins with the Order of the Shattered Star, a dark cult residing within the underbelly of Easton. Born to one of the cult leaders, a young Aiden was groomed, raised within the cult as a "chosen one", destined to be the mortal vessel for their deity's being. He grew up being taught the traditions of the Order, a young master of ceremonies, ignorant to the greater evil of his family and "friends".
  • But as is often the case, good prevails over evil. Shortly before Aiden could be anointed and possessed, a group of heroic individuals breached the cult compound, bringing their workings to a halt before they could culminate. Aiden, so young at the time, was sent for rehabilitation and therapy. By the time he'd graduated high school, however, he could not deny that his mind still yearned for dealing with the occult. Which is precisely why he started to study it at a professional, academic level. History books, books of theological, demonic, occult, and mythological nature, he studied and graduated, going on to become a professor in the same things he'd sought to know with a tenure at his old campus.

  • It wasn't enough just to know, however. Deep inside his troubled heart, he knew that there were more like those who had raised him, more people who had been groomed as he had. More who hadn't been rescued, unlike him. And so he delved deeper into the shadows themselves, not content to merely study them from afar, but observe them from within and bring that plans of that that lurked within it to an end before they could truly begin. He took on the shadow name of 'Coatlzotz', the "Serpent Bat", to protect his name from those who would abuse it with power. And that's been his life so far. University professor by day, occult investigator in the evenings, but always intent on being a hero.

Accepted

secondary character ahoy

• Hero Name: Liberty-Girl
• Identity:
  • Real Name: Danica Ray Watson
  • Status: Hero
  • Private/Public Identity: Private
• Abilities:
  • Powers:
    • Solar Absorption: By absorbing sunlight, Danica's body can be hypercharged into an empowered state, granting her superhuman strength, speed, durability, and senses. Along with this, she can expel her absorbed solar energy from her body, allowing her to fire beams of plasma from her hands or eyes or fly at supersonic speeds using jet propulsion. Danica's powers are quickly charged while she is in direct sunlight, more slowly charged when the sun is obscured, and weakened drastically whenever night falls. At night, when her powers fade, Danica loses the ability to fly and expel solar energy from her body, but if the moon is out she can retain some superhuman strength and speed; even remaining bulletproof if it is a clear night. However, on bright days, Danica has accomplished feats such as stopping a train with her bare hands, facing several dangerous supervillains at once in head-on brawls, and outpacing a newly-launched rocket into space. When Danica's body has absorbed enough solar energy, she does not need food, drink, or sleep, and can even survive in a vacuum thanks to her enhanced durability and lack of need to breathe. However, using her powers excessively can weaken them, especially in difficult fights or dangerous rescues, so she often has to retreat between crises in order to charge herself up with sunlight again.
  • Weaknesses:
    • Solar Deprivation: While Danica at her maximum is a dangerously strong sun-powered opponent to face, she rarely ever is at her maximum due to her body constantly losing charge when deprived of sunlight. Even staying indoors for a prolonged period of time can weaken her powers considerably, and something as common as an overcast day can force her to work at half her usual efficiency. While she is not reliant on sunlight to survive, being suddenly sapped of her stored solar energy can weaken her from the shock, and so if faced with technology or powers capable of draining her of it, she would likely be incapacitated for a time. When Danica is completely deprived of solar energy, she reverts to a normal human state, making her just as vulnerable as anyone else.
  • Equipment:
    • Supersuit: Danica's supersuit is made of the typical skintight spandex-esque material, albeit more durable in order to accommodate her powers and the dangerous situations she often puts herself in. It is designed to be flexible and comfortable while remaining tight enough against her body to be aerodynamic during flight, resistant to piercing and tearing, as well as being bulletproof and incombustible. It has its limits when fighting foes stronger than Danica or after going a long time without repairs, but it lasts much longer than any suit made of ordinary material. Because of its incombustible nature, the suit's cape can be used as a fire blanket in a pinch, taking after heroes such as Nike in this regard. Another benefit to the suit is that it can absorb sunlight more easily than Danica's civilian clothes can, meaning she is unimpeded in charging her abilities while wearing it.
• Appearance: [1] An attractive blonde-haired woman with bright blue eyes, standing at a height of around 5'9." While in-costume, Danica adjusts her demeanour to resemble that of a classic patriotic superhero, wearing a bright grin and a twinkle in her eye that promises hope and justice. Outside of her suit, however, Danica is unrecognisably morose and unconcerned with glamorous stylings, with a scruffier dress sense and more modest style that contrasts heavily with her other identity's crop-top spandex getup. In either case, Danica is in an extremely fit state thanks to her focus on being at her best, demonstrating her dedication to not only looking the part of a superhero, but being at her physical peak as well.
• Personality: As Liberty-Girl, Danica comes across as an earnest and energetic hero, smiling often and generally acting like a naive teenager who seemingly wants to do her best to help others and act as a symbol for truth and justice. As Danica, however, those who meet her would likely come away with the impression that she is an intelligent but cynical woman, overly concerned with worldly matters and downtrodden by the widespread corruption in modern society. While both of these personas are exaggerated to an extent, Danica in fact sits somewhere in the middle: she is profoundly against patriotism and is an open supporter of human rights and progressive ideals, but rather than be caught up in the dredge of politics that she cannot affect, she genuinely believes that superheroes have a chance to change things for the better. With this in mind, she uses Liberty-Girl as a means of satirising both patriotism and ideologies of blind optimism, while also earnestly saving lives and trying her best to decide when it's best to parody and when it's best to put it aside. Though her ideals in this regard are perhaps a little too ambitious, Danica's heart is at least in the right place, though her preoccupation with counterculture can sometimes get in the way of her heroics.
• Background:
  • Growing up obsessed with superheroes practically since she could walk, Danica was at first consumed by unyielding optimism and hope for the world, reasoning that superheroes in all their varieties could eventually solve all of the world's problems. However, as she grew older, Danica instead noticed a disconnect between superhero culture and the world beyond it, with corrupt politicians and paragons of ideology often at odds with each other over the most fundamental of issues. Soured by this during her teenage years, Danica grew cynical and disdainful of superheroes for a time, instead finding comfort in the edgy antiheroes who fought against the system and 'did what they had to do,' until she eventually also grew tired of these subversive depictions and found herself circling back to the classic heroes she had grown up with. However, with her new worldview, attempts to diversify her tastes, Danica couldn't help but look at these classic heroes in a different way than she had done before.
  • With her solar powers manifesting while she was in college, Danica eagerly jumped at the call to become the kind of superhero she had read about as a child, and though she was indecisive about how she could mix her cynicism with the optimism of the heroes she wanted to model herself after, she eventually landed on a compromise: an exaggerated patriotic hero persona embodying the optimism of classic superheroes, which she would use both for satire and earnest heroics while also tackling contemporary issues. Though her reception has been rather mixed so far, mostly due to her satire being amateur and hard to read, Danica's persona as Liberty-Girl is at least working in terms of being an actual superhero, as her decent powerset and appeal is enough to get people talking about her.

Edited by Enirboreh on Apr 24th 2024 at 10:25:52 AM

Accepted