Gauging interest for a shared universe.

Star_Kindler is manly man with manly attributes! Rar!

I loved the penny dreadful art, by the way.

Ohcool =D I still need to get you a writing sample. I mean, a non-comic writing sample. The longer comic might take...well, longer, obviously, but I'm happy to do it if you're willing to wait.

If you want just a writing sample (since we only need to see your writing once), I THINK that should be okay. Cygan has final authority, of course.

You need to submit a sample of whatever medium you're going to be working in. If you want to draw comics for Nephilim, you'll need to submit a twenty or so panel comic; if you want to write stories for Nephilim, you'll need to write a 1500 word sample story for it. 'kay?

This is because storytelling skills vary depending on the medium you're working in. Writing, I need to judge your descriptive skills, to judge whether or not you can adequately describe backgrounds and characters and such. In comics, all this is done via visual clues, so I'm looking more at dialogue, and how you set up your scenes.

sounds really cool and really fun. i would love to be a part of this! can we make changes to the universe that werent made before? i had an idea of giving bizarre ways of reproduction (as in ritualistic and universe assimilating) to some of the most ethereal species. but im just getting carried away

heres my try

Name: Noelle Tzvetan

Race: unseelie sidhe

Appearance: slender, brown skinned, hair white. He colors it black, but some of the white remains. Wears black, has lots of tattoos. Rather short. Eyes purplish blue, but that can change if you feel it too Mary Sue-ish. Uses lots of jewelry, mainly of hindu style. There is an evident gothic motif around this guy, hope you dont mind. He is probably has small human ancesty, and he often disguises himself as a human. For a sidhe, he is relatively young.

Story: he grew in a town where all races interacted, and as such he gets around with most of them. He lived there for all the centuries of sidhe infancy. Sort of an adapted sidhe. Orphan since birth (is family important for the sidhe?). When he was really young he witnessed the attack of Shinigami to a person living in town. Their black wings, their power, their scythes, have obssesed him from that moment. He still has a photograph of a Shinigami woman (do shinigami have gender? Do photos exist?) and he wants to find her more than everything else. The actual motivation (love, vengrance, etc) is still to be defined. He entered the Nephilim ninstitute solely to obserb the Shinigami that dwell in there, and he took Alchemy and Mad Science as courses. What he wants, above all else, is to beceome a Shinigami. Whether or not this is actually posible works either way.

Skills/Abilities: using technology and alchemy, he has a fake Shinigami scythe, modeled after the real deals but without their power. He also uses in combat an assortment of knives an chains, weaonized due to a moderate power of telekinesis. This power comes from alchemic tattoos, and is limited. Can the sidhe fly? If they can he has wings. If not he tries to have them. He seems powerful, and indeed he is good at combat; but whatever magical abilities are natural for the sidhe he has few of them, probably due to a mixed ancestry. This also means a somewhat shorter llifespan.

Personality. Chaotic Neutral trough and through. VERY unstable. No nonsense, Determinator, Unfunny, Axe-Crazy. Egotistical. Not sadistic or cruel per se, but he would probably care a lot more. Expect serious self-steem issues and a borderline insane obsession on the Shinigami. Also expect Enemy Within for all of his issues.

pd: can Latin America be included in all the world building? Same goes for mesoamerican mythologies.

This probably belongs in the chat thing, but I can't figure out how to join so i'll ask it here. Can I have some visual details on Nephilim, as a building? The general architectural style, or a specific reference photo would be great. Also, school uniforms, yes, no, maybe?

Dae Brayk, do you have an MSN address? Hotmail? Is there any way I can talk to you without just spilling everything over the forums? Yahoo address?

You could...PM me?

Shut up. *blushes*

uuuh, guys...?

opinions? feedback? was it really that bad?

got deaf'd -_-

It's not that bad. I'm writing up a reply to it in a different tab.

It's just kinda long, and is taking me a while.

Nice words, Cygan. Nice words.

When I go over your scene application, I'm going to be checking for two things first of all; grammar and spelling. On my first read through, that's what I check for. If I notice more than, oh, one in every hundred words, I throw that scene out straight away.

(Well, I give it a 'no' vote. But whatever, it still counts.)

So, when you write up your scene for an application, I think you had better look long and hard at your spelling and grammar, because I need to know that you can get at least the basics down on your own, before I'll even bother to edit it.

On to some pointers about the 'verse that I don't think will spoil anything major:

1. Sidhe cannot interbreed with other races; they are too genetically different. For example, Sidhe have two hearts, and bigger lungs than we do. There are only pure Sidhe.

2. Shinigami DO have wings, but they can't fly with them. They are leathery wings, with holes torn in them.

3. There are only 8 Shinigami in the world, and all of them attend Nephilim at the moment.

4. Shinigami are, literally, Death Gods. They collect the souls of anyone who is critically important to the roles of the universe. In the decades since the first Shinigami was born again, they have only harvested eleven souls.

5. Occasionaly, Shinigami do lead Reapers to the harvest if there is a lot of souls to be captured at once; like in a pitched battle, or if hundreds of people were killed in a plane crash.

6. Alchemy is the study of potions There is no 'alchemical tattoos'. Potions ony have an effect when exposed to oxygen. Potions cn be ingested into the bloodstream, where they will take effects. But not tattoos. (This is in an effort to stop people going nuts with 'alchemical tattoos' and overpowering their characters.)

7. All Sidhe are Mages. Full stop. There are Alchemist Sidhe; but they are also Mages, and combine their Alchemy with their Magic. Sidhe are completely attuned with the magic around them, and cannot stop absorbing the magic round them. If they don't learn to harness this power, it will eventually kill them.

8. Sidhe cannot fly, except in the sense that all Mages can fly; they can 'cut' the 'strings' of gravity, essentially pushing themselves into zero gravity. However, any mage who does this is pretty much dead, since without gravity to anchor them, they're gonna wonder why the Earth is looking so small... Oh yeah, that's right; the Earth moves.

9. Latin America does exist in this 'verse, but mesoamerica died off at the same time it did in our world; late 1600's. However, their mythology DID exist, and still exists today.

10. Shinigami do have genders. They were humans before they were changed into Shinigami. However, they don't have sexes; they are mentally male or female, but physically, each one is just a meat bag.

.

So. If after all that, you're still interested in writing for Nephilim, I want you to re-write your application. Take a lot of care with your grammar, spelling and paragraphing. If you get it good enough this go 'round, I'll let you onto the next step.

Attention, mortals! Dealan has become one of us, with all the awesomeness that implies! Congratulations!

edited 9th Nov '10 8:46:57 PM by Star_Kindler

In other words; Congratulations, Dealan has been accepted into the Authors, too!

. *Throws confetti*

. *Watches the pathetic handful of confetti flop to the ground*

. *Shrugs*

Better than nothng, I guess.

Whoah, this one fell WAY down in a week :/

Anyone else interested in writing for this, or shall I let this post fade into obscurity?

Also, to all the other people that have expressed interest- how are your scenes/other applications coming along?

Mollasses just lapped me in a footrace. -.-;

I haven't even started the comic submission yet.

Ooooh, bugga. 'coz you'll never guess what I just started work on this morning.

Figuring out the Mad Science division. Along with clearing up the other Races.

im a little interested. how good at writing may one be?

Well, you have to have at least a decent grasp of grammar and spelling, on the technical side. Good descriptive writing is a plus, as is being able to write effective awesome/heartwarming/sad scenes. Plotting is a huge plus, and one that'll trump having mediocre descriptive writing skills.

But really, what you need to be able to do is write an engaging story. The other authors will look over your story before you submit it, looking for continuity errors, correcting grammar and spellings. But if you can't write an engaging story, then there's no point in writing one for this, is there?

As said before; if you want in, first send in a character application. If I'm feeling bored, I may offer up some tips on how it differs from our Bibley thingie, just for lulz. If that gets accepted, then write up a scene involving that character. It doesn't have to be a canon scene; you can declare it discontinuity. But I need to get a look at how you write.

Or, if you work in a different medium, like comics, manga or animation, I'm accepting people who work in other mediums too. Like Dae Brayk.

Alright!! Gotta think about it then!! Though, is the geography the same as the current Earth we are presently on as of now? And is there a common antagonist(unless its already in one of your posts, i skimmed a little, sorry)?

edited 16th Nov '10 6:27:43 PM by cutewithoutthe

The land masses themselves are the same, but the borders of countries are often different. For example, China and Russia are a LOT smaller in this world; while Japan now holds a large swathe of both countries. Australia is pretty much no-man's land, except for Sydney, which is now called Jupiter. They've run the monsters out of most of NSW, but do't have the numbers to sette it.

As to common antagonists- we're currently discussing that. There are a few established common antagonists- like the Demons for the Sidhe, or the other Death Gods, like Hades, for the Shinigami- but we haven't got one overreaching common antagonist yet.

Can i have more information on what kind of powers are and arent allowed for ki warriors?

edited 16th Nov '10 7:12:59 PM by cutewithoutthe

Ki Warriors use their Ki to enhance their physical attributes. Nolan, the strongest Ki Warrior seen so far, was able to deadlift just under 1200 kilograms, run at speeds of 45 kilometres an hour, and could take a .22 calibre bullet to the chest and only have bruises as a result (although it was a BAD bruise.)

Most Ki Warriors, however, will reach nothing like that. Average Ki Warriors will generally find themselves just above Olympic competitor levels.

Ki Warriors can also launch their Ki as ranged attacks; either as a ball, or as a beam attack. These are very draining, however.

They can also go so far as to extend their Ki into their weapons, mmkig them much harder to break, and making sharp edges even sharper.

Ki Warriors are your best bet against Mages, as their Ki mucks around with any non-normal ambient magic currents. They're also effective against Mad Scientists. However, the opposite is also true; a Ki Warrior will effectively be pwned by a Mage or Scientist in turn.

Edit: You can go with Ki Warriors, Mad Scientists, Mages, Monster Hunters, or Demonoligists (that last one is reserved for Sidhe).

It's races you need to be concerned about, really.

edited 16th Nov '10 7:14:02 PM by CyganAngel

Name: John Smith

Appearance: 15 years old brown hair, grey eyes, not skinny, but not chubby. 5 feet eleven inches tall. Male. Average looking; so average looking that many females can't decide if he is attractive or not.

Race: Human

Skills/Abilities: Can a "hammerspace" power be allowed for a Ki-warrior? If it is, it would be where he can contain many items and such, though the size and his energy at the time may limit what he can hold. With training, the limit becomes higher and higher.

Personality: Depressed since joining the institute,since he was whisked away from his normal life and friends. Can be very funny and optimistic when hes in the mood, but he is usually sarcastic. He will soon grow accustomed to his new life and cherish his new lifestyle.

Backstory: From the East coast of the U.S. .Enrolled into the school once his family discovers his previously hidden abilities when he saves a small child from a car collision. Before he was enrolled, his parents decide to have him take an enrollment exam into another esteemed (normal) school closer to home just in case he is not accepted into the Institute,( which is where I believe i will write the 1500 word character inspection thingy for you). Would rather be a writer than anything like a ki Warrior or such.

edited 16th Nov '10 7:53:37 PM by cutewithoutthe

Hammerspace is available to them, but they can only store one weapon of up to a certain size (It's exactly 1 metre tall) there.

Also, I should have mentioned this earlier, but becoming a Ki Warrior requires specific training to unlock your Ki, thn to stop you killing yourself with it.

Not that that invalidates your character; you can just make him a Monster Hunter. They're the ones with the random, unpredictable characteristics, such as the ability to store whole arsenals of weapons in hammerspace. However, they're usually restricted to one or two powers; you will never find a Monster Hunter who is able to both summon oversized tigers from midair AND lift and throw boulders that weigh two tons.

So you can have your character able to store several weapons in Hammerspace, and have him be surprisingly physically active. He just would't be able to charge into his weapons or throw around Ki Blasts.