Nightmare Normalcy, A Vitality Underground Roleplay

• Vitality Underground Interest Check
• Vitality Underground Discussion
• Roleplay

If you already checked the Interest and Discussion you already understand. However, allow me to elaborate some more: Nightmare Normalcy, being a horror set in a fantasy kitchen sink, allows basically anything. In universe, that means the Servants stationed there and the prison itself is pretty prepared for anything.

However, the corrupted locations will act against Servants guards, whereas the normal segments will often work against prisoners and Eldon agents. In all, the prison will act very Eldritchy and at some points it will attack your mind.

Now then, with the prison on lockdown dimensional abilities won't let you escape. The only means out is with a Servant Nexus Key, which can only be found in the center of the facility. Thus things will become more dangerous as prisoners and Eldon work inward, though Servants going further out won't exactly be safe. Though, with the sheer emotions built up over the years, things might not be that straightforward.

Application Format

• Name:
• Race:
• Appearance:
• Abilities & Skills:
• Inventory:
• Backstory:

I'm stuck using a Wii U, so crafting long posts from scratch makes me nervous. I can say the information here is just to elaborate on things, so please don't wait for me to finish. If there's something you need or simply want to know just ask.

Anywho, eight applications should be enough to start off Nightmare Normalcy.

edited 4th Nov '15 2:39:06 PM by Kkutwar

• Name: JANOS
• Race: Nanomachine Colony
• Appearance: While capable of humanoid forms, when not interacting with other sapient beings, JANOS tends to be a formless blob of metallic goop. In humanoid form, they have male and female forms, that seem to resemble actual people in lab coats, but they also have a blank metallic humanoid form with no actual clothes or features of note. A very rarely seen part of the appearance is their core, which is roughly the size and appearance of a glowing golden baseball with tron lines.
• Abilities & Skills
  • Shapeshifting : JANOS being a mass of nanomachines instead of a single solid whole is quite capable of shifting its entire appearance radically, even assuming more solid forms in comparison to its blob form for certain purposes. While JANOS's ability to design new forms is somewhat limited at the moment, it is capable of upsizing or downsizing forms to a limited degree along with mixing and matching.
  • Matter Absorption : The self replicating machines that compose JANOS's body are capable of breaking down matter and making more of itself. There is a limit at the moment to how much additional mass JANOS can add to itself, and while there are some ways around it, in terms of the amount of nanomaterials it can control at the same time it at the moment can't get beyond roughly a half ton of nanites.
  • Device Replication/Assimilation : JANOS is capable of consuming other machines and technology and replicating them entirely. The current exception being processors and power generators. These not being for lack of ability but due to a hard coded limitation placed on the nano colony to keep it limited. It can still assimilate those both to enhance its capabilities but they become additional weak-points in its body.
  • Organic Replication : JANOS is also capable of consuming organic beings and replicating their forms as well.
  • Machine/Machine/Organic Interface : JANOS can fuse with other technology or beings without consuming them. With non-sapients JANOS assumes direct control of their body and is capable of modifying it or enhancing it with its own abilities. While theoretically capable of taking control of other sapients, JANOS currently lacks the strength of will to properly dominate another mind.
• Inventory: It's Core.
• Backstory: JANOS's primary creator was originally a member of the Servants of Humanity. He was one of their scientists for a number of years, before suddenly defecting and taking a wealth of technology and knowledge with himself. His reason for defecting was never properly discovered, but seems to be because he believe his masterwork creation of JANOS would not be accepted by the rest of the Servants. There was also indications that the man had gone mad. Possibly best evidenced when he threw his two assistants into the prototype mass of pre-sapience nanites. They were consumed disturbingly quickly, and their forms became JANOS's. Eventually not too long after JANOS obtained self awareness the Servants tracked down their rogue scientist. They decided to imprison JANOS while they were at it, especially once sorting through the scientist's note revealed a 'key' that would fully unshackle JANOS from its limits. Theories were made about it potentially consuming the entire world if such an event came to pass.

Normally, I prefer getting the entire profile done before posting any of it, but I'm going to leave an incomplete copy here for the time being. If that's alright? I haven't figured out the details of the colony's 'birth' yet, but long story short, they got imprisoned due to fear of a potential grey goo scenario. Which isn't actually within the colony's capabilities yet. And probably won't ever be, they need to locate a hardware/software upgrade first to do so, which presumably is either still hidden or in SHAMAN, and as such presumably won't really become relevant short of it existing as a character goal.

I think I'ma save my crazy guy with a Notmi double barreled shotgun for probably a different storyline, and probably tone down the crazy aspects of them a bit when/if I do so.

edited 23rd Oct '15 10:47:50 AM by Kosjurake

• Name: Rowan Huxian
• Race: Nogitsune/Yako (If you try searching nogitsune you get a lot of results for Teen Wolf)
• Appearance: He's about 6 feet tall, and rather thin. His hair is very long and a golden blonde color, though it's pretty unkempt due to his imprisonment. There are six line-like markings on his face, three under each eye. His eyes are bloody red, and their color matches the markings'. He also has fox ears and nine tails.
• Abilities & Skills:
  • Fire magic: Adept at using pretty high level magic. Or at least, he used to be- he now has inhibitors keeping him from using any powerful spells. Maybe I should've been more concise and said he can only do about a few small fireballs worth.
  • Immortality: Though a form of immortality, it's not as powerful as the word might imply. It just means he can't die if there are people who believe in or fear him.
  • Tails: Nine prehensile fox tails attached to his body that he can grow or shrink at will. This ability is also inhibited, though not to the extent that his magic is.
  • Senses: Heightened hearing and smell. These are inhibited the least.
  • Kinda Sorta Vampirism, Technically: He can increase his power permanently by consuming people's livers. The magic boost equates to about 10% of his power at the moment, while the physical boost is 5%.(Author's Note: I am not going to use this ability often, or possibly at all, for various reasons. I mainly put it here for backstory purposes).
• Inventory:
  • Inhibitor Collar and Shackles: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Shackles and a collar that inhibit his abilities.
  • Red Scarf: Something given to him in times long past. He seems very fond of it, so you probably shouldn't touch it.
• Backstory:
  • A long time ago, Rowan was a relatively normal kitsune. He lived with his lover. They were happy. Not much to talk about in that span of time, really. One day his lover went out on an errand and never returned. Upset, Rowan went to find him...
  • .... What he found was not pleasant. it's worth noting that Rowan's lover was a nekomata. Caught in cat form, some hunters trapped and skinned him. That's how Rowan found out. He heard the hunters bragging about it, and showing off the skin... In a fit of rage and despair, Rowan killed the hunters and devoured their livers. This started a several hundred year long rampage, as he took on the vengeances of other spirits, killing many humans in the process. This garnered him the fear of multitudes of people, as well as the respect of many spirits. Enough to make him a 'god', in fact. When the Servants finally caught him, he'd calmed down considerably... this doesn't mean his grudge has been forgotten, though.

edited 23rd Oct '15 12:52:48 PM by Daydre

Still WIP:

EDIT: Deleted due to newer version being up.

edited 24th Oct '15 11:52:26 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

No no no, The Servants of Humanity don't attack people just for playing with magic. They would only raid a village if the majority/entirety intended to or attempted to break the masquerade. Even then, unless these kids couldn't be convinced otherwise, the Servants would basically put them in magic orphanage instead of prison. Though the Servants may hide the fantastical, within the fantastical world they're basically just police.

Anywho, Daydre: I don't get why his senses are inhibited, though I need to know how the liver power boost works exactly.

Now then, Nano Colony: You'll need to specify who made it, and The Servants would work as quickly as they can to fully ascertain a prisoner's abilities. So perhaps Nano Colony is a rather new inmate?

Hmm, your Rps are always interesting, Kkut. I way well make a sheet since few others have been kicking off properly lately.

I am interested in making one as well. Just lacking ideas.

Still WIP but I addressed some of the errors now, but it still needs work I think.

• Name: Alby Sullivan
• Race: Human
• Appearance: Alby is large, being about 6'3" and fairly muscular, with skin that's naturally pale but often burned, as well as short and messy ginger hair. His green eyes are normally hidden behind his glasses, a thick-rimmed black pair which look permanently cracked. His body is covered in quite a few old scars but any new injuries are submerged in darkness, black tendrils extending from any wound. He's also near-constantly surrounded by darkness, normally in a pool around his feet, unless he focuses on dispelling it. His clothing is always fairly mundane.
• Abilities & Skills:
  • Gift: Umbra healing: Alby's gift is the ability to heal by absorbing light. This is a powerful ability so he can heal most wounds and it even slows ageing considerably (although he was already in his early twenties by the time he could do this) but he can't turn it off, so he's near-constantly surrounded by some darkness unless he puts effort into dispelling it.
    • Dark control: He can choose where he takes light from, and as such can create temporary patched of darkness and stop the darkness around his body from inconveniencing him.
    • Dark mixing: As a consequence of his gift's strange nature and mana mixing, any spell he casts will be affected by the darkness and mix as if it was a regular spell.
  • Magic principles: He knows how to use magic and has attempted it but can't reliably use any proper spells.
• Inventory:
  • Equus: A Nomi, a small wooden toy horse that turns into a full-sized real horse when thrown to the ground. It is loyal to its summoner but can only stay full-size for an hour at time and will immediately shrink again if the horse is injured. Alby acquired it during the early stages of his investigations, although he doesn't know who it initially belonged to.
  • Infinite chain: A chain which can grow and shrink, as well as move according to its user's demand. It is stronger than normal chains, being able to hold quite a bit of weight. However, it's weight is quite big and increases as it grows so it requires notable strength to use and weighs down the user. It can be shrunk down to just two links but, contrary to its name, can only grow up to about 50 meters and will shrink on its own if left long for too long.
  • Enchanted glasses: A pair of regular glasses enchanted to allow for night vision. They appear cracked to other people but these cracks do not compromise stability and will not appear to anybody wearing them.
• Backstory: Alby's childhood was free of magic but troubled as his parents were neglectful and often absent, leaving him to look after his younger brother Blake, who was constantly in trouble. Alby could handle it for the most part but his situation escalated as the brothers entered their teens and reached its worst point when Blake was attacked on the street and then disappeared from hospital. Alby investigated his brother's disappearance and although he never found out what happened to his brother, he discovered magic as he investigated, and realised the gift within himself. Since then he has travelled deeper into the magic parts of the world, uncovering secrets and pursuing criminals. He still searches for his brother and hopes to find him but hides this motivation from everybody else. He now acts as a bounty hunter for the Servants of Humanity; he doesn't agree that the world couldn't be trusted with magic but is willing to keep it a secret as he's seen the worst it can be used for and thinks the Servants are more likely to be the winning side in the end.

edited 22nd Oct '15 2:33:19 PM by TenebrousGaze

Hmm... Ideas... Frankly you could randomly combine any two ideas (Robot Elves! Zombie Goblins! Golem Vampire! A Dark Magical Girl Wendigo!), though I would love to see more obscure/less used concepts than the mainstream of vanilla Vampires/Zombies/Etc. In addition, as your gear and abilities are important too, I would suggest stranger and more fantastical things... Like a shotgun-scythe, a different mechanic for a common ability, or something you don't generally consider going together (such as Gaze's Umbra Healing).

Speaking of, your Application is approved Gaze, though I would like to know how he got Equus. In addition, Gifts are actually static so he would of just learned to use what's there better. Though with the mention of Dark Mixing, does he know any spells or is that OOC information?

He found Equus quite early on when investigating Blake's disappearance, but doesn't know where it actually came from, a now-deceased mage Blake knew before he disappeared.

Alby would have figured out the existence of the dark mixing by dabbling in magic but doesn't have any spells he can reliably use.

@Kkut: Mostly because if his senses were uninhibited, it would make him very hard to sneak up on. They wouldn't want a prisoner be able to get the drop on them, would they? Also, the liver thing boosts his magical power. (basically increases the amount of spells he can use before he gets mental fatigue.) To a lesser extent it boosts his agility and physical abilities.

New version of the signup is there, I have slightly altered his backstory to elaborate why the village was attacked and gave him a talent. I think I won't change too much more now unless you find some errors in there.

Well I would say Eldons is a bit weird, but I can see that being legitimately used as a phrase in universe. Thus I would like to know why Magnus is a centaur and what the supposed Nomi does.

Regarding Daydre, I just figured it'll be weird for him having his senses altered. Though how strong specifically is the boost, in percentage perhaps? Though, Gaze, I think you should mention something like Magic Principles since he does know how to work magic but isn't skilled enough to pull off credible spells.

What would a Nomi realistically be able to do in this situation? Since this dagger is Magnus only real memory to remember his friend the magic energy that flows in it will be mostly positive, but I can't really imagine a dagger becoming a friend like a Teddy which is why I wasn't really sure if I would make this into a Nomi.

Regarding him being a Centaur in a world like this, especially in a village full of extremist Eldons _I would imagine that experiments on humans aren't that impossible. But since Magnus was so since birth I would lean to the theory that it either was an experiment that lies one or two generations behind him, or that he or his parents were subjects of CHEST who were freed by Eldons, which one would be more the more likely scenario here?

edited 22nd Oct '15 3:45:28 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Well, it could project an (idealized) construct based on his memory. So what about a semi-sentient hologram? Though regarding origin, the fun thing about Vitality Underground is that dozens of possibilities are valid. He could be magically altered, it could be a Gift, he could come from a long line of 'natural' centaurs... Really, whatever you want the reason to be go for it.

Well if natural Centaurs are a thing then of course I'm going with that. Yep then I'm a natural Centaur.

Regarding the Nomi, a semi-sentient hologram seems feasible, guess he would use it to talk a bit with her again.

Are there any other things that you feel need changes in my signup?

EDIT: Ah sh*t, sry for doublepost.

edited 23rd Oct '15 8:52:57 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

I had the idea of a vamperic but a memory eater instead of a blood or life force drinker. Thoughts from anyone? The idea of unlimited possibilities and horror genre has left me a little overwhelmed.

edited 23rd Oct '15 9:30:07 AM by darkdestinysoul

Seems pretty cool, at least different than most vampires, will he like suck the memories out as in, will the one being fed on retain the memories or will they disappear from his mind, also will you be able to choose which memories? Maybe you could het more from certain types of memories (dark/violent ones maybe?)

Yeah, that seems interesting. Would the drinker be able to see the memories themselves, or just eat them?

What kind of vampirism are you going for? The superhuman with few weaknesses, that guy who needs to else they weaken/die, what? In Vitality Underground even those compelled to with no weaknesses or strengths can be classed as a vampire. Though what about the Memory Vamp having a decaying Mind, thus without feeding they gradually become more reactionary? They could of been victimed by a necromancer to explain the soul damage.

I will go in the order asked to make my thoughts easier to organize.

For the degree of memory loss it would depend on how heavily they fed. Light feeding might only sate the compulsion but leave the target with the memories intact. Heavier feeding might result in amnesia surrounding the memories that were stolen or at the highest end just permanent loss of the knowledge. I'm not sure if the type of memory taken matters, though of course it could effect his mood or personality.

I would imagine the character would be able to see and store the memories themselves. Though there would be little control over what memories in particular are taken. It would likely be either things that have been on their mind alot such as if they were thinking about their breakup a lot. Alternatively things they were currently thinking about. Of course if caught in the act it is entirely possible one of the memories being taken could be stealing of the memories itself.

It wouldn't be the traditional night crawling, garlic hating, superhuman vampire. I was thinking they might be immortal but physically similar to the average human. The idea of memory decay I like. Even if he has lived for a huge amount of time he might not be able to remember very much. It also adds new context to the compulsion of stealing memories. The idea of being damaged by a necromancer. is kinda cool, though my character might not remember it.

Alternatively part of stealing memories often might also be to shield and protect what few personal memories he might have left.

edited 23rd Oct '15 10:58:40 AM by darkdestinysoul

Nanocolony is done-ish. I might make a few changes to abilities or whatnot, but overall pretty much complete. And there might be backstory issues that I need to fix.

FEAR THE COMING OF JANOS!

• Name: Magnus
• Race: Centaur
• Appearance: The horse part is that of a pinted Ardennes horse with much white spotted with large parts of fur with a dark brown color, the human part is that of a fairly muscular male. With dark brown hair matching the brown spots on the horse part.
• Abilities & Skills:
  • Being a talented Golemancer Magnus only real talent is the summoning/construction of Golems, those commonly will manifest from whatever solid material is at hand at the moment of summoning them.
    • Phalanx-Formation: The Golems constructed with this will be roughly humanoid in shape resembling medival knights with big shields, they have no offensive capabilities and are mostly used to create defensive lines. Possessing no intelligence to speak of they will mostly stand and try to hold their ground as long as possible unless being deconstructed.
    • Shock-Formation: The Golems constructed with this will roughly resmble a mounted knight armed with a lance, only possessing very little intelligence they will try to follow Magnus and will enter a state of rapid decay when not in line of sight with him.
• Inventory:
  • Kyōfū: A magic naginata, its blade is covered in runes which give it a powerful earth spell, most people struck with it will find themselves trapped in stone, depending on the will and mindstate of the victim this can range between having their feet rooted to the ground to being completly encased by stone.
  • Citadel: A type of full plate body armor for both the human and the horse part of Magnus' body, while it is made fairly well it is not enchanted and hence has no magical properties whatsoever.
  • Todesschwinge: A Karabiner 98k rifle infused with runes. A shot from this rifle causes the person hit by it to face his deepest nightmare.
  • A slightly infused ornamented dagger, it was given to Magnus when he still was a little child by one of his best friends, a talented Enchantress named Mireille. While the enchantment on the dagger isn't particualry strong he still keeps it with him and holds it dearly, due to this it has become a Nomi able to produce a semi-sentient hologram of Mireille. Magnus likes to talk to this hologram when he feels particualry bad.
  • A couple of external Golem cores
• Backstory: Being born into a family of Centaur Mages Magnus grew up very close to magic, though above all other magic he liked the Golemancy. He always felt that magic should be accessible for everyone. He lived his childhood fairly sheltered in a village mostly populated by Eldons, while he felt that the basic goals of the Eldons were right he didn't really agree with their methods. He always wanted to leave the village as he always thought that the Eldons would bring them in trouble sooner or later. But for a long time, while the village indeed was under surveillance from the Servants, nothing really happend. It was shortly after he became 15 when the Eldons in his village finally pushed it too far, more or less planning a Coup d'Etat at this point, which of course caused The Servants of Humanity to finally attack the village. It was this raid where one of his dearest friends was captured by the Servants after she tried to fend them of along with the others. Nearly being imprisoned himself Magnus now seeks revenge for that although he knows that the Eldons more or less provoked the attack. He seeks to topple the Servants and the Masquerade with them. He once was quite noble but since this attack his heart is filled with the thirst for revenge. Now the moment he heard that maybe his friend was still alive and imprisoned there he volunteered to attack the prison.
• Storyline: Nightmare Normalcy

Regarding his friend, since a Centaur has no real use for a dagger due to its size he must have gotten the dagger when his size made it somewhat useful, so I'm thinking that to be the age of around 6 years when he still was a small kid. On the other hand I'd say that enchanting an item would require some basic knowledge, so if pursued as a hobby I would guess that you would start to experiment with such things around the age of 10. Due to this facts I think Mireille would be around 4 years older than him give or take a year. That would mean that at the time of the attack she would have been a young adult, this and the fact that she fought back would justify her being imnprisoned by the Servants.

Ok this is mostly finished now, only things I'll change from now on if you don't find anything that needs to be addressed will be typos, should there be ones or some little details.

edited 24th Oct '15 11:53:37 AM by Sergey_Smirnov