Anti-Gnosis Weapon
I might drop out for lack of time, but darn it, I'm gonna try. The setting is too fascinating not to.
Major spoilers for the first Ni no Kuni inbound. If anybody objects to her being Mayor, I will be perfectly fine with letting someone else take that.
- Name: Queen Cassiopeia ("Pea") of Nazcaa, The White Witch
- Appearance: Human female, green hair and green eyes, apparent age is early twenties. On one hand, the box art
◊ is kind of lame and off-model. On the other hand, getting a full body shot of her in-game is almost impossible and some of her clothing is annoyingly difficult to describe. Note that her hair is not actually "poofy" as it appears in the box art; rather, it is simply a lot of hair pulled into a single, long ponytail.
- Personality: Growing up, Cassiopeia was a sweet, noble, determined, and wise (if rather sheltered) young woman, and both in spite of and because of everything she has gone through since, those positive traits have endured the test of time. Firmly believing it a wizard's duty to help others, and wanting to atone to the multiverse at large for her prior crimes, she will almost always put the well-being of others above her own, though her past experiences lead her to be quite deliberative before taking action, rather than blindly trying to fit a square-shaped solution into a circle-shaped problem. Although largely recovered from a literal ages-old psychic break that had left her an omnicidal megalomaniac, she still seems to have a few harmless screws loose - or perhaps that eccentricity is simply a result of seeing the world from a different perspective following so many centuries of life. After thousands of years of despair and self-imposed isolation, Cassiopeia is still (even after years of living on Balder) in the process of re-learning how to engage in casual, non-intimate conversation, but she dearly wishes to meet new people, and is terrified of being alone for any substantial length of time.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Wizardry: Cassiopeia's brand of spells require concentrating and drawing visible runes in the air with a focus - for average wizards, that would mean a wand, but she is proficient enough after centuries of practice to use her own hand rather than an instrument. Each spell has one specific rune associated with it. Ability in Alchemy is supposedly also the mark of a great wizard, but Cassiopeia never really bothered with it originally, and she lacks a requisite alchemical cauldron. That said, she has endeavored since being transported to the struggle against Balder to learn about other worlds' versions of alchemy, including basic transmutation and the brewing of potions with various magical effects. The ritual of Manna, if she were ever again inclined to cast the spell that ruined her life, required certain reagents that will forever remain unavailable to her while in the present universe.
- Interruption of her concentration will cause the magic of a yet uncast spell to fizzle out. In addition, being immersed in running water (e.g. rainfall, shower, river) negates her ability to cast magic for the duration. Extreme emotion, especially despair, enhances the raw power of a wizard's natural magical abilities, but also greatly lessens their control over their own power, which begins reacting more to subconscious rather than conscious impulses.
- Click here for spell list!
- Familiar: Cassiopeia's familiar, a species known as a "Sweetpea Sprite" (image◊). As a one-foot tall dryad-like creature, it is exceptionally weak to fire. If injured, it can be withdrawn back into Cassiopeia's soul, where it will slowly recover. Although physically quite weak and lacking in stamina, it is able to cast four spells: Restorer Aura (average-strength area-wide heal), Second Wind (average-strength single-target heal), Sharpen (makes the target's physical attacks hit slightly harder), and Water Cannon (a water cannon lasting about three seconds). A familiar's spells require it to concentrate, but do not require the use of runes.
- Items:
- Bottomless Bag: Ye Olde More-Vast-Within-Than-It-Doth-Appear Bag. Currently contains a Creature Cage, a Heart Locket, a quill, an inkwell, a stack of unused parchment, and a plethora of mundane flower seeds.
- Creature Cage: A magical golden birdcage used to house a familiar. Or a bird.
- Galaxy Cape: The only enchanted piece of Pea's attire. The inner lining is normally dark blue, but displays a scrolling view of the stars (looking much the same as the night sky) when magic is being channeled through it, which includes when Pea is preparing to cast a spell. Although she used to wear it all the time during the battle against the evil god, she nowadays reserves donning it for formal occassions.
- Heart Locket: A heart-shaped locket used to store portions of the eight "virtues" (Ambition, Belief, Confidence, Courage, Enthusiasm, Kindness, Love, and Restraint) obtained through Take Heart, so that they may be distributed via Give Heart. It glows faintly in the presence of anyone with an abundant excess of one of the "virtues", a person from whom a wizard may Take Heart without causing harm. The locket may only store one portion of each "virtue" at once. It is currently empty.
- The Wizard's Companion: A book of spells and worldly knowledge, originally authored as a guide on wizardry by Pea's mentor, Horace. Includes chapters on magic, alchemy, wizardly equipment, food and drink, creatures, and a series of children's parables based on Pea's original world. All except the last automatically update as Pea learns new things, making the book a truly invaluable resource. One day, she hopes to attain the know-how to create copies for students the world over.
- Wizardry: Cassiopeia's brand of spells require concentrating and drawing visible runes in the air with a focus - for average wizards, that would mean a wand, but she is proficient enough after centuries of practice to use her own hand rather than an instrument. Each spell has one specific rune associated with it. Ability in Alchemy is supposedly also the mark of a great wizard, but Cassiopeia never really bothered with it originally, and she lacks a requisite alchemical cauldron. That said, she has endeavored since being transported to the struggle against Balder to learn about other worlds' versions of alchemy, including basic transmutation and the brewing of potions with various magical effects. The ritual of Manna, if she were ever again inclined to cast the spell that ruined her life, required certain reagents that will forever remain unavailable to her while in the present universe.
- Personal Timeline: In ages long past that had almost been forgotten entirely by the people of her universe, Cassiopeia was born the sole heir of the Kingdom of Nazcaa's legendary Wizard-King, he revered and beloved by the peoples of the world for quelling in a single day a global war that had raged for centuries without end. Although her mother had died in childbirth, Cassiopeia's father loved her deeply, and nicknamed her "Pea". Just a handful of years after she was born, however, her father perished as well. Seizing complete control of the realm in the resulting power vacuum, the Wizard-King's former council of advisors installed Pea on the throne as a figurehead puppet Queen, and subsequently ran the country into the ground from the shadows for the sake of their own greed and lust for ever-greater power. Discovering in her late teens that Nazcaa was most definitely not the realm of peace and prosperity she had always believed it to be, Pea wrested back some degree of state power from the council, and threw herself deeper into the study of wizardry in order to find more ways to help her people, whose technology and way of life depended upon magic.
After many months, she discovered a forbidden ritual spell called "Manna", and without the guidance of her mysteriously-vanished teacher in magic, she was too eager to help and yet too unwise to understand its true effects. She invoked the ritual soon after, but instead of purifying her people of malice and suffering as she had believed it would, the crystalline, ash-like snow of Manna turned everyone it touched except herself into mindless monstrosities, kickstarting a region-wide zombie apocalypse that resulted in the deaths of everyone in the entire kingdom save for Pea and the residents of her castle. Cassiopeia, who had been cursed with immortality by the ritual due to violating the laws of nature, was eventually driven to insanity after encountering and banishing to another world a younger version of herself that she had subconsciously split off through magic. The original Cassiopeia rechristened herself "The White Witch", appointing herself "Arbiter of the World's Fate" and attempting to use a proxy Evil Overlord, followed by Manna, to wipe out civilization. She was ultimately defeated by a young wizard named Oliver, who showed her the error of her ways, recombined her with her "second self", and ignited the will to live within her again.
Some time later, she was pulled through the a dimensional vortex and wound up on a quest to save the multiverse from an "evil god". While she didn't particularly mind, Cassiopeia did chafe a little at needing to serve with certain more nefarious members of the original heroes; she bore little complaint about going to great lengths to save the multiverse, however. After all, helping those in need is the duty of a wizard, and if all of reality was in need, then there was really no question of what she ought to do. While the other heroes fought, some valiantly and some less so, to fell Balder, the former Queen used her magics to protect and fortify her teammates, only rarely attacking the god herself. She sometimes wonders if it is this lack of aggressive action that can be credited with her survival when so many of her fellow heroes perished.
In the aftermath of Etmes' abandonment, she was instrumental in conjuring some of the food that those remaining would use to survive the ensuing months underground, and in early crop development, as she was easily able to speed up the growth cycle of the plants that were undergoing domestication. Throughout the ensuing years, she has been a steady advocate for development of a political system, so it is little surprise that she was selected as and accepted the position of Mayor. That said, she has a tendency to make relatively rare public appearances at large gatherings, mainly governing from behind a desk and communicating her will through the relevant other branches. This allows her a considerable amount of freedom to meet and greet with curious newcomers in a relatively personal setting, which she loves the most out of all the parts of her job. Moreover, she often makes use of her magic to split off a clone and goof off while her other self does all the day's official work, a tactic made even easier by the likes of shapeshiting magic and teleportation. - Relationships: Akane, Guzma, Laeta, and Pre Vizsla, to be added.
- Asriel Dremurr: Although she was one of the first to figure out that he was stealing SOULs as Flowey the Flower, Pea also saw Asriel's transformation into wholesome cook and orphanage master as a total vindication of her belief that he could manage to redeem himself for his past crimes. Although they are not necessarily close friends at this point, they do get along quite well as distant acquaintances. His reminders on how to brew tea were a wonderful learning experience for Pea, to say the least, and she now often uses her own magic to create an almost exact replica for her own use. Feeling a particular kinship for him in spite of never sharing the details of her own past with the goat-man, she has been contemplating the possibility of putting city funds toward the orphanage, so that he doesn't have to rely on other sources of funding quite so much.
- Envy: Rather than hatred, what Pea feels for Envy is overwhelming pity. He was such an anger-filled individual, but was obviously (to Pea, at least) never at peace with his own existence. As a fellow immortal, she held out hope until the last minute that he could redeem himself, and spent most of the battle against him trying to convince him to give up, in spite of the fact that he had killed two of her good friends. Still, in the end, she aided in sealing him away, and has absolutely no intention of letting him go free ever again. She doesn't think about him very much these days, however, except when the early days happen to come up in conversation.
- Franklin Murdock: As the person looking after young Franklin when his parents' work schedules required it, which was often, Pea got to know the young metahuman very well, and has long since become a sort of surrogate mother to him. Keenly aware of his hypersensitivity, she knows how to use her magic to avoid triggering his more troublesome automatic reactions, and is always willing to lend him a listening ear. It's through this close relationship that she knows of his wish to see his parents back together, though she herself feels somewhat responsible for driving Matt and Toph apart and for Matt being so overburdened by his work. In the later stages of Franklin's early years, once he had learned to control his senses somewhat and could sleep without need of a deprivation tank, she would often lull him to sleep with a certain story of a boy wizard and that boy's struggle to save his mother by traveling to a whole new world. Using her magic to impersonate the voices perfectly, she also removed her presence from his awareness as much as possible so that he could be totally immersed in the experience.
- Jengbish: In spite of the vast gulf between their life philosophies, Pea still considers the Bloodfather-General to be a friend, of sorts. He is one of the very few individuals whom she has shared the whole truth of her past with, partly in an effort to convince him of the error of his ways. They clashed in word and action many times during the initial struggle against Balder, but by now, all their avenues of argument have long since been exhausted. Still, she respects and feels distinct camaraderie with him as a fellow immortal, knowing that once the transient things of the world have faded into dust, both he and she will still be there. A part of her holds out hope that she can one day, in the fullness of the ages, persuade him to change his worldview... but that day is not yet here, clearly.
- Jo'on and Shion Yorigami: Pea likes the poverty sisters on a personal level, and greatly appreciates their efforts in promoting adoption of the currency and in budgetary matters, but isn't quite sure what to think of their being goddesses. The gods of her own world were distant and non-interventionist, so the transactional nature of religion from their home universe has been rather new and alien to her. Also, it's kind of weird how they encourage their employees to worship them.
- Laura/X-23: Pea would sometimes look after Laura during the war against Balder when Wolverine was still around, and then continued to check in on her on some rare occasions early on in the history of Asriel's orphanage. The dark-haired girl was a difficult nut to crack, but over time Pea learned to simply give the former assassin her space and let her do her own thing, especially since the kid was a little irked at being treated like a child in the first place. Now, years later, their relationship can be said to be that of distant friends and acquaintances, probably the least intimate relationship Pea has formed amongst all the children she has spent time babysitting.
- Loki Laufeyson: Pea wishes he would be more sociable, but understands why he's not, even without knowing the details of his reasons. Though she doesn't have any intent to interfere in his life, she does do her best to check on him from time to time in various guises, usually never revealing her true form to him (but let's face it: the god of trickery can probably tell).
- Matt Murdock: Pea is deeply grateful to Matt for his threefold assets of level-headedness, fair judgement, and incredible work ethic, and the fact that he's likable on a personal level doesn't hurt. The Mayor also greatly appreciates that he covers for her sometimes when she feels the need to slip away and have her Second Self handle a day's work. She does, however, strongly disapprove of his early treatment of Franklin, and is immensely glad that the pair's relationship has taken a turn for the better. On the other hand, she has always felt like an awkward bystander in the rocky relationship between Matt and Toph, having seen the way their mutual stubbornness and inflexibility drove them apart in a slow-motion trainwreck, but also having been privy to some of the happier times of their marriage.
- Satsuki Kiryuin: Pea is very happy to have an ally as dependable and charismatic as Satsuki at her side. Far from cowing at the other woman's authoritative presence, the Mayor attempts to temper her "subordinate"'s tendency for direct action with the necessary due process and rule of law that are essential to the kind of society she is trying to build. That said, although she tries to maintain as tight a grip as possible on strategic priorities for policymaking's sake, and sometimes has a thing or two to add with regard to tactics, she generally leaves military matters up to Satsuki's discretion once they fall within Fusilier jurisdiction. The two also get along very well outside of work (insofar as the Commander is ever not at work), and in addition to allowing Pea to babysit for her daughter in the youth's earlier years, Satsuki sometimes enjoys a nice cup of tea with the Mayor, a commodity and reminder of home that has become rather elusive.
- Mr. Scratch: Sometimes, when she turns out the lights and is about to drift off to sleep, Pea wonders about Alan Wake. Whatever happened to him, anyway? He wasn't the strongest of her companions, but he was fairly reliable when you needed him to be. She never was sure why he hid the story behind why he could do weird things with birds, but it wasn't really her place to criticize anybody else for keeping secrets, so she kept mum. Speaking of your mum, she probably wouldn't like you to associate with the crowd that hangs around that newfangled nightclub. Word of suspicious dealings and freewheeling parties have reached Pea's ear by now, of course, and though she is generally the live-and-let-live type with regard to the way people love one another and the substances they put in their bodies, she still thinks it might be a good idea to keep an eye on them. They're far on the back-burner for the time being, however. ITCH has so far proven to be more of an asset to progress than a liability via their exploration, after all, and there are many more pressing matters to attend to.
- Toph Beifong: Although they didn't initially get along during the original struggle against Balder, at least in part because of Toph's impression of the Cassiopeia's queenly demeanor, Pea and Toph have since become good friends; although she had first derisively christened Pea "little princess", these days she uses it as more of a tongue-in-cheek nickname than anything else. They enjoy a close and productive working relationship on the matter of interplanetary trade, and Toph does the Mayor a favor by trying to keep her reports as interesting as possible. As the one who originally hired Toph as "Intergalactic Representative", she feels some measure of responsibility for Toph and Matt's breakup, in spite of knowing that Toph had already made up her mind to leave after Matt accepted Head Judgeship.
- Yui Kiryuin: Having extensively babysat for the young Kiryuin all throughout her younger years, Pea is quite familiar with the intense yet kindhearted girl, including her likes and dislikes. She also became accustomed to seeing a rare, more maternal side of the girl's adopted mother. With Satsuki often coming home late, and Yui having a preference for hearing a story while being put to bed, Pea often resorted to one that was epic in length, which she could never finish in one night's telling. It was the tale of a young wizard and his companions as they struggled against a nefarious dark djinn and his unseen mistress, a witch who lived in a castle floating in the clouds...
edited 4th Apr '18 1:53:35 PM by darksidevoid
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
Mancunian Candidate
Bloodfather-General Jengbish, the Eighty-Eight Long Knives, and the Warrior Lodge
- Name, Title, Et Al: Bloodfather-General Jengbish
- Age: Four hundred and eighty five.
- Wave: First: Current general for the Fusiliers of the Eastern Outskirts.
- History before the fall of Balder, for those unfamiliar with 40K: A space-Mongol shaman and feudal supersoldier fallen to the services of the native war god, Khorne, and become a punch-wizard of fine calibre. Present for the speech of one Azariah Kyras during the Aurelian Crusade, about which only Chabal and Joergen will give the mildest of shits.
- Appearance: Seven feet tall and change, olive-skinned, and clad in thick, baroque plates of crimson and burnished bronze. His left arm is bionic, severed centuries ago just above the elbow. Built like the proverbial brick shithouse. Button nosed, thick necked, beady-eyed, broad-chinned, and with a crisscrossing pattern of ritual scars raised on his face. Wears his hair in a topknot, shaving everything else, and a Fu Manchu moustache adorned with brass beads. Big pauldrons. Adorns his armour with queer symbols of religion and his most precious and notable trophies - skulls, bones, and animal skins, a select few even human.
- Personality: At first glance a hearty, boisterous man who lives for simple joys, but those who know him well understand this is underpinned by an esoteric sense of honour and fuelled by a fierce irreverence. In battle he possesses a fierce and focused fury, at times almost joyful, but outside hones his calligraphy in great poems about the deeds of his allies, or spends hours lost honouring his foes in the preparation of trophies. He fights with neither quarter nor remorse, but would never violate the loose-knit code of arbitrary rules and self-imposed challenges he calls his honour. He could watch a man break down under the horrors of war with nothing but disgust in his heart, but lives to fight alongside for his companions. Though he makes no effort to hide it, only his closest and finest companions look past this web of contradiction and understand the spiritual baggage which informs it all.
- Jengbish is a follower of Khorne, the god of blood, slaughter, honour, and martial pride. The events precipitating his fall have no bearing on the history of the City Upon Balder, but there came a point in time at which he saw the universe for the mindless chaos it was, and in this void of purpose found himself freed, without ever having understood himself to be a slave. He believes, truly and honestly, that mighty Khorne is the true deity of humanity, the most honest reflection of the species. Without good, without evil, there exist only the strong, the dead, and those they allow to survive. Battle is prayer. Adversity is sublimity. Glory is all that remains. This peace is what all true warriors strive for.
- Like most Space Marines, supernaturally stubborn. Jemgbish believes in the primacy of strength, and the most significant strength of all is the ability to stare the world down and wait for it to blink.
- Also like most Space Marines, it's worth mentioning there's something of a gulf in understanding between Jengbish and your average city inhabitant. Experience informs perception, and for a five-hundred year old immortal thirty-five years is there merest swipe of pendulum. On some level, however unconscious, Jengbish does not truly believe this to be a permanent state of affairs. To him it's just another campaign, and sooner or later he'll pass on to the next.
- TLDR: Boisterous Bruiser 101, But What if Philosophy.
- Powers, Abilities, and Equipment:
- B O L T E R B O Y: A scratched and burnished bolt rifle, a .75mm burst-fiting rocket propelled grenade launcher, of an archaic toploader pattern. Ran dry decades ago, without even the slightest glimmer of the manufacturing capacity required to make more ammunition, and now serves as a badge of office hanging from his hip.
- BIG BOYS IN BIG ARMOUR: Best do this as a whole section. Space Marines are notoriously busted. I will make no attempt to disguise this, which is why I jumped into the RP with several animes and superheroes to hide behind.
- Weapon Skill 3+, Strength 4: Space Marines are pretty strong, infuriatingly vaguely strong, but as a general baseline Stronger Than You. Their powered armour allows them to reach new heights of Stronger Than You, ascending to the lofty pinnnacle of Able to Beat Up Your Dad. For the RP, we can afford to still keep this vague, but as a general baseline he could put his fist through you with a decent wind up (helped a hell of a lot by wearing gauntlets) but wouldn't exactly be throwing cars around. More important is his endurance, allowing him to fight for days at a time without sleep or enjoy a leisurely jog for about 36 hours before needing to take a breather.
- Toughness 4, Armour Save 3+: When it comes to the durability of Space Marines, the source material is only marginally less infuriatingly vague. Space Marines come packed with an extra heart, an extra lung, a big stupid bulletproof (ish, kinda) ribcage, and a ballsack physically implanted into their neck. To simplify this for LP terms and avoid having to list every single organ he has, he stops bleeding very quickly but has no other in-battle regeneration, can eat just about anything (thanks to mildly acidic saliva, steroid kidneys, etc) but needs a hell of a lot of food to fuel his big beefy metabolism, has bones reinforced with ceramics and a ribcage composed of interlocking plates, can hold his breath for about half an hour and breath in both low-oxygen atmospheres or (to a degree) ones outright poisonous, and on top of all this may or may not be actually immortal but sure does live for a long-ass time. His armour functions the way you'd expect a big stupid suit of space armour to work, which is to say it protects him from small calibre rounds, most melee weapons, and shrapnel. Fifty calibre and above and railgun shenanigans can still pierce it, especially in the limbs where the armour is thinner, while higher-yield projected energy weapons such as plasma weapons and exotic disintegrators/particle beams/heat rays can basically ignore it. He's also far too stubborn and honourbound to wear a helmet, which is something of a tactical weakness. Other than this, it recycles his pee into drinking water and stops him from dying from extremes of climate.
- Movement 6 Inches:' He's fast. Not to anime standards, but certainly faster than a normal human being without the benefit of bio-augmentation and big stupid space armour. The generally accepted top speed a Space Marine can reach during a short sprint is about sixty miles an hour, while they're able to keep up about twenty as a comfortable jog - in terms of running, they're definitely built for distance more than short bursts, so don't expect any flash steps.
- LIBERATE TUTE ME EX INFERIS: He's also a psyker. In 40k, this allows you to tap into energies of the alternate dimension where everyone keeps their souls and makes you an extremely low-grade reality warper, but, luckily, that wacky religion of his is here to act as the great nerf. Under the great Khornate vow of No Funny Stuff and the convenient excuse of being a few dimensions over from that alternate dimension, there's basically only two ways he can use this good stuff.
- Channelling: By focusing his will upon the weapon held within his hands, or even the bones of his fists themselves, Jengbish can imbue them with the ruinous energies of the Immaterium, and by extension his very soul. These objects become almost indestructible for as long as he can concentrate his energies into them, wreathed in spectral flame, and strike with force amplified by a supernatural strength of will.
- Mysticism: Vision quests, spiritual journeys, all that kinda jazz. Pointedly not anything to do with divining the future, because there's no point in fighting a battle you already know you'll win. Divining yourself, however, is all game.
- Important Note: this isn't so much self-imposed as it is an inviolable pact. Khorne looks upon cowards and weaklings dependent on summoning daemons or getting all jiggy with the mind-fuckery as the lowest form of scum, and punishes them accordingly. For a psyker dumb enough to do this in his name, that generally translates your having your soul boiled out of you from the inside. Additionally, while theoretically he could channel into any old bit of metal or rock, this technique works best on items of personal and totemic significance. As such, outside of emergencies, expect him to only use it with any frequency on:
- Jengbish's Fists: Both of them. Jengbish practices a degraded and aggressive martial art based upon the close combat training of his former chapter, focusing on sudden and overwhelming strikes with the fist, the elbow, and the knee. Already capable of shattering bone, when amplified by the energies of his soul, his armoured fists can split rock and punch through steel.
- Jengbish's Knife: A simple curving dagger, forged from silver and decorated on the pommel with the yellowed skull of his very first kill, a pit viper, this dagger has been with him since his boyhood days far, far away. When channelled into correctly, it can split armour and bone like a knife through butter. The size of a short sword to a normal man.
- Jengbish's Bow: A compound bow almost the size of a grown man, constructed over the course of years from the horns and sinews of worthy kills. Already lent a fearsome power by sheer size and draw weight, its silver-headed arrows break violently on impact, releasing their psychic energy in a blast of spectral witchfire.
- Being Almost Five Hundred Years Old: Jengbish has been fighting since the time he was old enough to draw a bow, and is the veteran of countless battles, innumerable campaigns of untold wars. As such, as you'd imagine, he's damn well picked up a thing or two. In battle he moves with a ruthless economy of motion, and can safely assumed (unless someone signs up as the Hulk) to be one of the finest close quarters combatants in the city at large.
- TLDR: Lightning Bruiser without the lightning, but still not exactly slow. Decent all-rounder.
- Personal Timeline (the extremely short version):
- In the long months it took the glory of Balder's death began to fade from his mind, dedicated to a hod vastly his greater, Jengbish was one of the last of the Original Warriors to lend his support in building the city. His cults of personality suggest he meditated beneath the stars for eight days and eight nights, or perhaps waged an eight-month war against the hostile wildlife which infested the city's future site, or else screamed his frustration to the heavens and sent the craven Etmes into hiding. In truth, requiring little in the way of shelter, he buried those few of his favoured comrades who had perished in the battle and still possesses remains, and set himself to aimlessly wandering, lashing out idly at the wildlife and finding himself bored beyond all belief. A warrior without a fight, it was only with the arrival of the first portal storms some eight months later, and the battle that followed, that he developed interest in the project of his fellows.
- As the military began to form, Jengbish gravitated towards command in much the same way a stone falls to earth. Similarly, as the inner city developed and politics passed from inevitability to reality, he began to distance himself from the prospect of life behind a desk, abdicating high command to a lieutenant to take a lesser post on the Eastern outskirts and live amongst warriors. Outside of times of crisis, the role of general involves delegating paperwork to subordinates, planning and approving future campaigns and conducting semi-regular inspections to maintain readiness and morale, alongside a handful of private vocations.
- Relationships: People confirmed for here.
- Jengbish and Satsuki enjoy an impersonal but amicable relationship defined by the begrudging respect of utility. Wasted as she is, Satsuki's overwhelming force of will is still a thing he finds commendable, and it is under her the ever-bloating tumour of civilian militia is kept strong and order. As mad a dog as he is, Jengbish has yet to slip the leash - by the time the city has to consider putting him down, Satsuki will have been dead for years, and that means he's still an asset. Still. Whenever he has reason to seek audience with his commander, Jengbish makes a point to gift her grand poems of all the battles she's missed. Satsuki, for her part, refuses to dignify this with notice.
- Initially, Jengbish and Toph got along quite well. Jengbish found a child with the heart of a warrior and the strength to shatter mountains, and Toph found an adult who was, for all intents and purposes a male version of the adult she wanted to grow in to. As she matured emotionally and morally, becoming all too familiar with the horrors of war, this relationship began to sour and the two drifted quietly and wistfully apart.
- In AM 25, shortly after the diagnosis of her son, Jengbish made Toph an offer. For the sake of old times and what little kinship remained between them, he would take her to the oldest hall of of his Warrior Lodge, perform for her a shamanistic ceremony, and with her petition a solution from higher powers. When the two left the hall three days later, the air inside still hazy with incense, Toph turned from him and left without a word. They haven't spoken since.
- Otherwise beneath his notice, Matt Murdock gained his attention for two reasons - he was a symptom of Toph's decline, and he understood far more than he appeared to. One of his few points of interest in the festering politics of the inner district, Matt is to Jengbish equal parts intellectual sparring partner and object of morbid fascination.
- Jengbish and Cassiopeia have a cordial but slightly tense relationship, the result of everything which could be said having been said decades ago. Their differences remain unsettled, but it's now long past there being any point in debating them - as such, they manoeuvre deftly around one another whenever forced to inhabit the same space, and in their natural environments enjoy as much physical and political distance as possible. Still, there's certain scent of familiarity to the routine. To an immortal, especially those who've shared the kind of experiences these two have, the difference between an old friend and old rival quickly becomes immaterial.
- Envy thinks he's just swell and that a nice long dirt nap was what he really needed to recharge his batteries.
- Dolcis: A female Haast's Eagle, crowning jewel of the Warrior Lodge's aerie, and Jengbish' personal hunting bird. A giant of a bird with a wingspan of 3 metres and talons nine centimetres long, Dolcis has proven to have as much utility in battle as she does in hunting, and by instinct attacks the largest prey available.
The Very Long Version: May Contain Lore
The Long Knives
The Eighty-Eight Brave Companions of the Long Knives are, despite their name, an elite unit of Fusiliers whose number vary between two hundred and fifty and three hundred at any one time. Each soldier was hand-picked by Jengbish himself, and for good reason - these are the men and women which make up his personal unit of cavalry and mounted archers. When the General of the West takes the field and leads the charge, these are the men who ride steadfast at his back, atop an esoteric assortment of motorcycles, custom cybernetic battle-chasis, alien mounts of all shapes and sizes, and even a precious few Terran horses. Armed with blade, bow, firearm and explosive, they are said by their supporters to strike like thunder and retreat like the wind.
Despite this, the unit only assembles at full strength during times of crisis or utmost gravity. The rest of the time, they serve as the city's scattered scouts and outriders, and in the long decades since their inception have busied themselves on long surveillance missions beyond the confines of the wall, seeking fresh avenues of expansion, alternate sources of food and water, or simply to map the terrain and cement the city's dominance of its strange world. Jengbish is known to join them as often as his schedule allows, arguing that in times of peace he has no greater duties save delegating requisition orders and ensuring the troops are fit for inspection - in the earliest days of the unit's history, it was he that led the great charges to conquer the wilds immediately surrounding the city, and from his handbooks and crude sketches many creatures derived their names.
Critics have accused Jengbish of feudalism, dismissed the Long Knives as nothing more than glory-seekers, or used their racial makeup in the accusations of human supremecism which are routine in inner-district politics, but their prowess in battle and strategic utility is undeniable. Such complaints are rarely lent weight by the public ear - after all, the citizenry owe these soldiers their lives more times over than most can count, and Jengbish has never been shy about letting himself be seen, touched, and heard the smallfolk.
The Warrior Lodge
The Warrior's Lodgings of the Brave Companions of the Long Knives is a modest complex of timber buildings located in the northwestern outskirts, a scant hour's ride from the Great North West Gate. Though by no means expansive enough to accommodate every Long Knife at once, this complex nonetheless forms their unofficial barracks and feasting halls, and has grown with its cohort from a single modest hall to a complex of eight long buildings arranged like the spokes of a wheel, a small tourney ground at their centre, and an impressive array of stables trailing to the side. In the centre is a wooden tower housing an aerie, where the hunting birds of the Long Knives go to roost.
These buildings are humble and unadorned, not even with the Long Knives' official sigil, save for a bronze plaque above the original hall's tall oak doors. Turned almost entirely green by verdigris, it reads;
Sanguis Enim Sanguinem Deus
Each and every new member of the Long Knives is hurriedly inducted into the Warrior Lodge, and thereafter keeps his or her identification by virtue of an inscribed coin, though in the bawdier rumours this is invariably a ritual scar or sometimes even a human tooth. Indeed, the happenings behind those closed doors are the subject of much speculation, as much entirely unfounded as is outright fabricated, but the following at least is known; it is here the Long Knives swap and record their war stories, feast, spar, hone strategies, prepare their trophies (to which three of the eight halls are known to be dedicated), tend to their horses and birds of prey, and conduct the other practices by which camaraderie is strengthened and glory constructed. Commentators most often draw comparison to a gentleman's club, sometimes a Masonic retreat, but few have found the practice worthy of suspicion.
Those who retire from the Long Knives have little of note of say on the matter, the thrill of exclusivity having perhaps faded in its absence, while those still serving protect the complex's secrets with steely gaze and feigned ignorance. The staffers and servants of the Lodge, drawn from the surrounding farms and slums, say only that the customs of their masters are their own.
Notable Conquests of the Long Knives: The Short List
- The Pseudosentia Counteroffensives, and subsequent Second, Third, and Fourth Wave Crusades: (AM 0, 10, 20, 30)
- Pseudosentia, known amongst the rank and file as Howlers or Bendies, are the undetailed flesh-shadows which rise from Balder's fertile grasslands following each portal storm, in the precise ratio of one for every eleven new sentients. Once fully formed, these mockeries of life act in crude imitation of their progenitors, milling aimlessly towards the city walls. Dissection and further study has proven impossible, as upon death the creatures quickly collapse into mounds of fertile soil, invariably used to augment the crucial post-storm harvest.
- Though capable only of the feeblest attempts at battle, when gathered in sufficient numbers Pseudosentia exude what Jengbish termed a field of Gellar Divinitus, called by the archives of the city the Status Quo Phemonenon and by the grunts the Howling. This field returns the ambient reality surrounding the Pseudosentia to its original form, prior to the death of Balder - grassland becomes mottled skin, barricades and other artificial structures melt away into nothingness, and any sentient caught too long is reduced to their component atoms and scattered to the wind.
- The counteroffensive of AM 0 is included merely for formality, predating the formation of the Long Knives by almost 7 years. This was a concerted effort by the Founders, the Exhalted Murderers themselves, who in response to the vanishing of a fledgling district slew the entire idling crowd of slightly more than three hundred psuedosentia in less than two hours. Only a vanishing sliver of the city hold this event in living memory, making it a focal point in the scriptures of ego-cultist and death-adventists.
- By the time of the second emergence in AM 10, the signs were well recognised. The position of Theologian-Exterminator had been raised for some time, and though inevitably left vacant in light of the Howlers' long absence and the inconclusive nature of its investigations, a significant body of hypothetical approach vectors and retrospective early warning signs had been compiled. Regardless, with the inner wall now built and the Fusiliers now established, the city was ready. Upon the arrival of the first stragglers, the Long Knives were dispatched on a preventative outrider campaign which was, in all but name, a crusade of extermination. Through the use of hit-and-run tactics, volley fire with arrow, bullet, and explosive, and a long series of preparatory fortifications left behind their initial advance, the Long Knives were able to deprive the second wave of pseudosentia of a significant portion of their cohesion and potency. When the remaining bulk of the force arrived at the outskirts of the city, weeks behind projected schedule, they were cut down en-mass as the the jaws of the Fusiliers' trap closed. All in all, the Second Wave Crusade was concluded with the loss of a mere 257 fusiliers, one hundred civilians, and a narrow corridor of mild structural damage between the outskirts and the wall.
- The Third Wave Crusade, by comparison, was an almost unmitigated disaster. The Third Wave is theorised to have been split by a mountain or other natural obstacle early in it's migration - though the smaller eastern gathering was culled in the field without incident, this allowed the larger western crowds to reach the wall unimpeded, resulting in a major breach and the temporary abandonment of eight farms and two full districts while the incursion was culled. Jengbish and his Long Knives avoided total embarrassment only by virtue of their return charge, which trapped the surviving Howlers between the sustained fire of the Fusilier's first responders and a harrowing cycle of brutal charge and swift retreat. While a swift evacuation kept civilian losses to a minimum, a mere two hundred and sixty eight, the infrastructures of the two Lost Districts took over a decade to recover, and the western fusiliers were under-strength for over half of this time.
- The Fourth Wave Crusade of AM 30, built upon the mistakes of the previous effort and bolstered by the city's geometric advances in infrastructure, took the form of wholesale slaughter - the number of new citizens deposited fell well below estimates historical or projected, and thus the Pseudosentia emerging shortly thereafter were outnumbered more than ten to one. While the obligatory interference work of the Long Knives was underway, it was decided the rest of the Fusiliers would erect temporary barricades and engage them in the field two kilometres away from the city. As a direct result, this campaign ended with minimal Fusilier casualty and without a single civilian nor structure of the city proper coming to harm.
- The Chimeric Purge: (AM 7)
- Some seven years after the death of Balder, the population of sentients had grown sufficient the allow the traitorous Chimera Ant Queen to take to the roost proper, a food source now secured for her offspring. While the losses to the city at first were negligible, to some even tolerable, the Chimera Ant colony's geometric growth and subordination to their natural life cycles soon led to the kidnap and attempted slaughter of more than seven hundred civilians and farmers. The response of the Exalted Murderers was as immediate as it was damning.
- Itching for the first fight in years, Jengbish stepped forward to lead the extermination. An army of four and half hundred soldiers and conscripts engaged the Chimera Ants on the great plains which separated their colony-mound from the city, by far the highest proportion of militarisation seen by the city before or since, led by Jengbish and those few Founders still interested in martial affairs. Knights taken from the long march to their holy lands fought beside GIs pulled from the heat and madness of jungle wars, but by far the largest component of the force was a full platoon of Royal Scots Fusiliers, said by popular history to have been the first through the breach as the chimeric mutants retreated into their hive. As these histories decree, the entire city military would thereafter be renamed in their honour.
- The battle within the labyrinthine tunnels of the hive was bloody and hard-fought, by some accounts lasting days, but ended in decisive victory. The Chimera Ant Queen was dead, her pregnant abdomen torn violently asunder by the very final bolter-round in Jengbish's reserves, said to have been fired only in recognition of their shared battle against Balder. Around her lay the three corpses of the newly-hatched Royal Guard, crushed and impaled by shards of rock, organs transmuted to ash or fragile carbon, and the flesh sloughed from their naked skulls by warpfire.
- Toph Beifong collapsed the hive after their withdrawal and the evacuation of the civilians who had yet to be consumed, turning the battleground into a tomb. Eighty-eight members of the initial charge had survived the battle in its totality, crusaders, barbarians, and loyal soldiers all, and it was with glinting eye and impish smile that Jengbish declared their brotherhood forged in the fires of battle and reformed these warriors into his chosen few.
- The Decapod Migrations, I though VII. (AM 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 35)
- Decapods, known to the Fusiliers as Shunts and the commercial hunters as Land Crab, are ten-legged pseudocrustaceans which when fully grown can reach the size and general power of a steamroller. Considered a biological curiosity for their lack of a brain-analogue of any kind, the first reaction of a Shunt to any terrestrial obstacle is to attempt, lethargically, to eat it. Should this fail, it will push against the obstacle until other options present themselves, at which point it will fail to recognise them. Prized for its sturdy shell, nutritious eggs, and general inability to defend itself, the Shunt is an important cultural and economic commodity of the eastern fringe.
- By AM 11, however, the city had unknowingly expanded into the path of the nearest herd's quadrennial migration from desert to birthing pond, resulting in the loss of the harvests of three full farms and minor structural damage to the leading edge of the outer wall. To his chagrin, Jengbish and his riders were dispatched to dissuade the wandering crabs, a task they approached by way of wholesale slaughter. Around the eighteenth charge and sixtieth fallen crab, a primitive threat response was triggered, and the Shunts shyly retreated.
- Though Jengbish remains in a foul mood every migratory season, the Crab Hunt has become something of a secret tradition of the Long Knives, a quadrenniel celebration of mindless slaughter and weeks of subsequent feasting.
Notable Personnel of the Eighty-Eight Brave Companions of the Long Knives
- Brother-Captain Ajay Ghale: Jengbish's second-in-command and close friend, a veteran with twenty five years in the company. Ajay is a former king and true hero, a man who follows his heart and long ago stopped allowing himself excuses. Armed with a kukri and a bitter smile, Ajay is known for his brutal efficiency in close quarters, considerable talent for improvisation, and a natural affinity for animals and firearms - in short, and as often mentioned by his superior, the perfect representation of the Long Knives' ideals.
- Ajay's steed of choice is Sabal, a bull elephant acquired during the third wave.
- Sister-Corporal Magda Licht: By far the youngest member of the company, aged nineteen. The victim of a grand purge conducted on her own world, Magda was brought to Balder directly from an extermination facility in the fourth wave of AM 30. According to the private records of the company, Jengbish found her in the naked wilds with her thumb buried up the joint in the eye of a man who'd been dragged with her, stabbing him between the legs with his own dagger, and crying out a string of curses in a language he didn't understand. The man had been dead half an hour.
- Finding this hard to ignore, Jengbish had the girl take the man's front teeth as a trophy, burned the body away to nothingness, and laid her across his saddle to be taken back to the Warrior Lodge. After an hour or two of tense debate, it was agreed she would stay. Magda learned the customs and language of Balder while training, and trained while her body was nursed back from the brink of death.
- Though her tutelage in the art of close combat is still ongoing, a combination of cold zeal and a natural aptitude for horror earned her a promotion within three years of her initiation rites, commanding a squad in the Knives' rear flanks. External accusations of nepotism have yet to find real purchase - internally, all that's really said is she has something to prove.
- Brother-Sergeant Salt-Upon-Wounds: Salt-Upon-Wounds◊ is something of a Long Knives institution, despite middling intelligence and a lack of seniority. In his home universe the war-chief of a fearsome tribe of raider-nomads, Salt-Upon-Wounds was dealt a terrible defeat in battle - worse still, his life was spared, so he could bear the full weight of his humiliation and its consequence for his people. He arrived in Balder a broken man, consumed by the fear of loss and unworthy death. The way Wounds tells it, Jengbish saw something in him worth salvaging. He held a mirror to his spirit, that he could see the weakness coiling in his stomach, and then showed him how to burn it away and fill his belly with fire.
- While he adapted quickly to Balder's loose collection of lingua francas, Wounds has little time for wordplay and never bothered to hammer out the finer details in his grammar.
- Salt-Upon-Wounds worships the war god Khaysoor, who unites the worthy through overwhelming force. In battle he bears a pneumatic power-fist and Thompson-pattern stubber, which he calls his storm drum, and gained his first notoriety for his berserker rampage in the field of the Fourth Pseudosentia Crusade.
edited 16th Jun '18 9:51:22 AM by OG-Sama
That One Gal
Ok, so I admittedly had no interest in the concept until now. It's a bit late, so I'll probably post the actual application tomorrow, but for now...
I call dibs on the General of the Eastern Quadrant.
One Brunch Man
I think there may have been something of a miscommunication here, because I know from talking with Strat that Mal wanted to be situated on the section facing the mountains, which due to a slight clerical error was labeled as the Western Section in the previous thread. But looking at the map shows that said section is to the East, so unless Mal has since changed his mind I think his sign-up up there is meant to already calls dibs on the Eastern Section, which is why I did a write-up on the previous thread putting Erik in charge of the sexy Western side where all the cool kids hang out. 
edited 26th Mar '18 10:09:36 PM by Uncandescent
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
Calamity is a housewife
Expect something from me soon; I just discovered this today and I’m intrigued.
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
- Name: Asriel Dreemurr
- Appearance: [1]Standing at 7'2, 7'5 counting his curved horns, Asriel is a white furred anthropomorphic goat with the sclerae of his eyes black, and two inch long fangs. He wears a long, purple robe with white sleeves and the Delta Rune on the front. He is also barefoot (barepawed?) and wears a heart shaped locket. In the locket is a picture of a younger Asriel and his best friend and adopted sibling, Chara.
- Personality: Compassionate, noble and kind, Asriel has gown a lot sense his time as Flowey and his Kill or be Killed mentality. Asriel believes that everyone deserves mercy and second chances. While some see this as naivete, and are right to a certain extent, he also understands that sometimes violence is the only way to stop tragedy, but still only uses it as an absolute last resort.
- He also feel a deep sense of remorse of his acts as Flowey, mostly the lives he ended and the SOU Ls he stole, of witch he still owns seven of them. While none of the SOU Ls still hold consciousness, their subconsciousness is still active to a degree and can affect Asriel's actions from time to time, they are:
- Preston Garvey - represented by green, Kindness, helping innocents no matter the cost. This SOUL has the most influence when when someone is in need.
- Iris Thompson (SCP-105) - represented by light blue, Patience, understanding that sometimes the best course of action is inaction and that payoff for what you do won't always come immediately. This one is it's strongest when Asriel has to deal with long-term problems.
- Jack Morrison (Soldier 76) - represented by yellow, Justice, standing up for your personal beliefs and stopping evil even when no one else will. At it's strongest when Asriel see injustice of some kind.
- Weiss Schnee - represented by dark blue, Integrity, taking everything with the seriousness and grace needed in order to achieve success. Strongest when dealing with a frustrating issue in some form.
- Mumen Rider - represented by orange, Bravery, going into danger even when against impossible odds. Comes up whenever Asriel is in danger.
- Mario - represented by red, Determination, the firmness of purpose and need to see something through to the end, no matter how long or repetitive it can be. The most active SOUL of the bunch, it's the most used when dealing with anything.
- Wolverine - represented by purple, Perseverance, steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. True to it's original owner, this SOUL is its most powerful when Asriel is in pain, or if dealing with Laura.
- He also feel a deep sense of remorse of his acts as Flowey, mostly the lives he ended and the SOU Ls he stole, of witch he still owns seven of them. While none of the SOU Ls still hold consciousness, their subconsciousness is still active to a degree and can affect Asriel's actions from time to time, they are:
- Powers and Abilities: Boss Monster Biology: As humans are mostly made of water, monsters are mostly made of magic. The magic a Monster has is actually an extension of themselves, and use it to express themselves. As such, Asriel has a large pool of magic to draw from. When a monster dies, their body turns to dust. Boss monsters in particular have an advantage over humans and other monsters; they do not age unless they have a biological child.
- Superhuman Strength: about twice as strong as a normal man.
- Superhuman Durability: is more resistant to damage then humans, but when fighting with someone with strong determination, the easier he gets hurt.
- Levitation: Asriel can fly on his own power. He can fly about as fast as he can run.
- Fire Magic: shoots multiple multicolored fireballs out of his hands. He can even control them mid-flight, but only for about two seconds after leaving his hands.
- Star Blazing: Large, star-shaped projectiles rain down from the sky in rapid succession, each one detonating into expanding rings of smaller projectiles followed by one final, larger star that detonates directly above with a much denser ring. This attack covers up to 30 feet and the small stars can spin clockwise and counterclockwise.
- Shocker Breaker: Asriel strikes the ground with colorful bolts of lightning from the sky. The area to be attacked is highlighted by a loud crackle in the sky.
- Chaos Saber: Asriel summons two sharp blades in both hands that, when he swipes, can shoot out slow-moving residual sparks that pick up velocity fast. He is proficient in their use thinks to some training from Laura.
- Chaos Buster: Asriel summons large blaster and fires a rainbow colored charged beam.
- Monster Food Creation: Part of his Monster biology, whenever Asriel makes food, he leaves behind some of his magic in said food and eating it immediately disappears and will restore injuries and gives it's nutrients to your entire body and never rots. However, it can't bring back lost limbs, cure sickness or diseases and not everything made gives back the same amount of health. It all depends on how well it's made, how delicious it is, and how much nutrients it has.
- Personal Timeline: Long ago, two races ruled over Earth, Humans and Monsters. The Monsters were peaceful, but the Humans feared their power to take SOU Ls, and started a war with them. The Humans with their determination easily won and trapped the Monsters under Mt Ebott by a magic barrier that can only be broken by 7 human souls or exited by a human and a monster soul fusion.
- It was after the war Prince Asriel was born to King Asgore and Queen Toriel Dreemurr. As a kid, Asriel was a docile, unadventurous, sensitive, and loving child. Even as a prince he did not have many friends. But that would change one day as a Human fell Underground, a young child named Chara. Injured by their fall, Asriel came to their aid and bought them home.
- From that day on, Chara was adopted as a second child to the family. They and Asriel were not just siblings, but best friends. They trusted each other more then anyone else. But while Chara loved their new family, they never forgot the reason why they went up a mountain legend says no one ever returned from. They hated humanity, for what it did to them and monster kind. They convened Asriel to continuously poison them with buttercups with their death, Asriel took their SOUL and body then crossed the barrier to find six more SOU Ls to break it.
- But Asriel did not want to kill anyone, even when being attacked and the urging of Chara SOUL, he left not hurting his attackers, and went home. He died there and his dust was spread across the garden.
- Some time later, the royal scientist, Alphys, injected determination into one of the garden's golden flowers, the first one to bloom after Asriel's death. While the initial experiments on the flower proved unsuccessful, the combination of Asriel's essence from the garden bed and the will to live gave the flower sentience. Though granted Asriel's memories, he soon found that neither his mother nor father could elicit any emotional response from him. He did not have a SOUL and thus could not feel love, joy, or compassion. The closest he can feel to it is the feeling of being 'entertained'.
- Sometime after finding this out, Asriel, now going by Flowey the Flower, learns that as the most determined person Underground, he has the power to SAVE and LOAD, essentially controlling time. At first he uses it to help others, but after getting bored of it starts uses it's power for more sadistic means. Always restarting so that no one remembers what he has done (other then sans, but that's irrelevant here).
- Sometime later the 8th human fell and Flowey was the first one to meet them. He attacked them, but was stopped by Toriel. Afterwords, Flowey kept an eye on them and their journey in the world below, only directly confronting them twice in their travels. The first time to mock their pacifism and to tell them his philosophy of Kill or be Killed. The next time was after the human's fight with the king, were Flowey kills his own father and stole the six Human SOU Ls that had been collected so far. They fought and because of the human's call for help and Flowey's abuse of the SOU Ls they rebelled. But despite all the pain he caused, he was spared. Flowey returned the favor by telling them a way to free the Monsters. They followed his instructions which led to Flowey not only taking the six human SOU Ls, but all the SOU Ls of the Underground. With the power of a god, he gave himself his old form for the final battle. But through HOPE, love, and determination, Asriel stops his attacks. He reveals to the human, who's name is Frisk, that the reason he 'played' with them was that they reminded him of his long dead friend Chara. Now with the game over, he uses everyone's SOU Ls to shatter the barrier, and lets everyone go.
- He meet with Frisk one last time, still as Asriel keeping some fading power, and tells them to stay safe, beware of the “Floweys” of the world above, and to take care of his mom and dad.
- And with that, Asriel was alone. Underground, no monsters, lost the power to SAVE and LOAD, even turned back into the soulless Flowey again. He did not know what to do with himself. But then Etmes came, and told him of an evil god named Balder that wanted to destroy everything and needed his help to be stopped. Flowey almost immediately accepted, secretly thinking when everything was said and done, he can take Balder's SOUL.
- When he was first introduced to the others he held a happy, kind and upbeat personality, but as time went on the more his true colors were shown. The good guys distrusted and hated the flower and his SOUL stealing ways, and the bad guys found new respect for the plant. The good guys tried their best to keep Flowey from stealing SOU Ls, but either they did not keep a good enough eye on him, or the bad guys helped him out, over the course of his journey Flowey had gotten his vines on six Human SOU Ls.
- Then the fight with Balder finally happened. In the chaos of his first attack Flowey took the last SOUL he needed from one of the first casualties, a no-nonsense man named Logan who disliked the plant since day one, who died protecting a young girl that came with him, named X-23. With the 7th SOUL needed he became Asriel, the “God of Hyperdeath” and mercilessly started his counterattack. While most of the group hid behind the artifacts and weapons that was collected during their travels, Asriel was on the front line, taking and giving damage as much as his godly form would allow. But there was a problem that became more apparent as the fight went on. Even with the power of seven Human SOU Ls, Balder's determination to destroy the Multiverse was greater still. Desperate, he even tired to take more SOU Ls from the fallen, but couldn’t as no monster can have more then seven Human SOU Ls. Near the end of the fight a battered and beaten Asriel thought that he was going to die for sure, and passed out.
- When he came to, the fight was over. The attacks Asriel gave Balder, among other things, lead to the team removing Balder's heart. Being out of commission for so long meant any chance to take Balder's SOUL was long gone, if he ever even had one to begin with. He also finds out that X-23 kept him safe when he was unconscious. When asked why, she said that she knows he has Wolverine's SOUL, but remembers him saying that he was definitely going to hell when he dies, so him having it is a better outcome then just leaving it alone. Also that he'd probably want his SOUL to be used to kill a god.
- Time passed, and it became apparent they were not going home. X-23 went to try to live out on her own, but Asriel followed. Seeing him still weak from his fight and the loss of him meant losing Logan as well, she stays with the group, knowing he won't let her be.
- Then Balder’s body begins to shift and change, making the original warriors find shelter underground. Just when Asriel wonders if he is going to have to live underground again, everything settles down. When seeing the surface he was shocked to see how different everything is now, but how some of the new flora looks just like the Golden Flower he used to be. In fact, they were. Some of the seeds he left behind on Balder as Flowey flourished and grew in this alien environment, called Faire, by the others.
- Recalling some of his dad's tea making, Asriel showed the others how to brew tea, giving some morale back and boosting his reputation in the group. After an injured warrior has his wounds miraculously healed after drinking Asriel's tea, he remembered then that the food he makes has magical properties. Since then and for awhile he was the chief of the original warriors.
- Asriel's strength came back slowly, but it never reached back anywhere near godhood. He suspects that the fight with Balder crippled him, magically speaking, and the he will never be the “God of Hyperdeath” ever again.
- Asriel's and X-23 bond grow to the point where she told him her 'real' name, Laura. Part of this is due to her belief that her progenitor is still active in him. While she hunted for food, he cooked it for the others and themselves.
- After more people came to Balder, Asriel came to notice how some of the children with them had no guardian to look after them. After consulting the others, they agreed to let Asriel to take them in, so long X-23 looked after him and does nothing suspicious.
- As time went on most of the people trusted him enough to be left with his own devices. Laura soon afterwords left to join the Fusiliers, looking after the Eastern Quadrant, and even with him running an orphanage, Asriel still makes rations for the Fusiliers and city guard, using the funds given to him for doing so to keep running the orphanage the City Center, making him feel overworked at times.
- The children of the orphanage love their guardian, and he feels the same way, even if he feel annoyed by the younger ones pulling at his ears sometimes. His reputation among the townsfolk are generally positive with everyone, except with the original warriors who still remember him as an evil weed.
- Relationships: Laura Kinney: Asriel's relationship with the living weapon is the best of the original warriors, partly because of him having Logan's SOUL. She trusts him with it and can relate with her past to some extant. They don't hang out as often as they used to but he is happy whenever Laura can visit.
- Queen Cassiopeia: Despite being the one who outed Flowey's SOUL stealing, she is one of the few original warriors Asriel is still on good terms with. They don't see each other often today, but Asriel owes a lot to the mayor for letting him keep his orphanage despite his past.
- Toph Beifong: As part of the original warriors and someone who remembers what Asriel was like as Flowey, she dislikes him and is one the reasons Flowey got so few SOU Ls. Nowadays the two keep their distance from each other. Whenever they do cross paths, she makes sure he remembers what Asriel did, but usually keeps her tongue around the kids he looks over. He does little to retort to what she says, believing that her hatred of him is mostly justified.
- Pre Vizsla: One of the people who liked Asriel more as Flowey, even if he disliked his SOUL stealing ways. They don't interact much this days, but Asriel doesn't like how he is putting himself and others in danger by staying outside the city, but understands and respects that it's their choice to do so. He does still owe a favor teaching him how to make tea.
- Guzma: As the leader of the group back when Asriel was still Flowey, a feeling of awkwardness comes up whenever the two are around, not unlike when you see an old friend from your crazy college days. The ones who knows you did dumb and immoral things, and even if the're not going to rub it in, you can't help but feel awkward knowing what he knows. Guzma had one of the most heated hatreds for Flowey once his true nature came to light. Nowadays, the two get along better, but do try part ways as fast as they can.
- Akane: One of the people who knew Flowey was evil from the start, she had to be held back once his SOUL stealing came to light. Funny enough, the two get along better now as Akane is so bad at remembering people, she can't remember that the flower and goat are the same guy, and Asriel is in no rush to remind her. He does think she is a bit off, seeing as back when he was Flowey, she once wondered aloud how he would taste.
- Laeta: Asriel is, at most, acquainted with the little fire starter, as aside from knowing some of the orphans he looks after, she has no reason to be around someone so different from her.
- Mr. Scratch: 'Alan Wake' was the person in the group most like Flowey and the two got along better then most of the other original warriors. Even helping the flower from being caught from stealing SOU Ls when everyone told him to stop. They had no SOU Ls of their own, and understood the other more then anyone else can.
- These days it's a different story. 'Alan' is one of the few people Asriel is fine threatening, as he knows what his is like and will fight him if it means keeping others safe. And as much as he doesn't act like it, Mr. Scratch takes his threats seriously, as he is one of the few people who knows his real name, and as such can hurt him in more ways then one. But with that said, he also has the boss monster's pity, as he has been in his metaphorical shoes before. He may not know his exact origin, but he knows Scratch is just a piece of something that was whole and can never feel true joy in his life. He is just like he was, and for that he has his scorn, and pity.
- General Jengbish: Despite being an original warrior like him, Asriel mostly see the large man as his friend's boss. But even if Jengbish likes Asriel more as "The God of Hyperdeath" then as a pacifist, he is more then happy that the general doesn't hold his past as Flowey against him.
- Link: One of the most recent arrivals of his orphanage and one of the more troubled, he relates a lot with with him. He holds no ill will for attacking him on his first day as most children are confused first coming to Balder and prevented him from getting in trouble with the guard. On the night Link opened up to him, he told him he had a similar past, how he was the prince of his kind and they were trapped underground. His sibling had a plan to free them all, but because he couldn't through with it and didn't stop them, his best friend died and he was all alone without his title and everyone lost hope. But he told him how someone else with the determination he never had came along and helped finish what he started. He said that even in the darkest of times, hopes and dreams will never die, and as long as they live, so will his world. He still lets him keep his weapons and the Master Cycle Zero, but only if he is responsible and not let the other kids use them.
- Nier and Yonah: Having the two live with him for a little while, he wishes he can do more for Yonah's condition, but medicine can't cure her and monster food only heals wounds, not illness. When Nier purchased a small apartment for the two he wished them good luck and told them if there is anything else that he can do for them, do not hesitate to tell him.
- Jo’on Yorigami & Shion Yorigam: Asriel has a mostly neutral opinion on the sisters, as the changes they have made on the government affect the orphanage very little. But he is annoyed how the orphans lose their allowance whenever Shion comes their way.
- General Idias: Being part of the original warriors, Asriel's relationship with Idias and Ibykos was off to a bad start due to him still being Flowey at the time. After Flowey's true colors came out, he made it a hobby to mock the others, the psychic twins included. Among the mockery involved telling Idias how similar she is to him, and to Ibykos how pointless his beliefs are. After he became Asriel again, he tried to make amends with Idias, but she didn't respond to them. These days the two have little reason to see one another, but Idias seems to keep Flowey a secret like the others.
- Johnny Cage: As Flowey, he saw Cage as the clown of the team. As Asriel, he has come to appreciate the lighthearted nature of the movie star. Cage doesn't seem to hold the monster's past against him, and Asriel even takes the orphans to his show on occasion.
Thinks for liking my ideas for worldbuilding btw. (but be honest, you like Mercury Man Traps mostly for the name, don't you?
)
edited 15th May '18 10:15:08 AM by goldenshark
Sup
- Names: Jo’on Yorigami and Shion Yorigami
- Appearances: The worst, most disastrous younger twin sister◊ and the worst, most disastrous older twin sister◊ respectively.
- Personalities: A pair of sibling goddesses.
- Jo’on, the gaudy one, is the younger and more aggressive of the two. Confident, brash, and impulsive. She has a strong desire for riches but is simultaneously incapable of holding onto wealth for any length of time. So money quickly changes hands around her. When applying herself to her work as Chancellor she can adopt a more serious, focused demeanour, though she still prefers to pawn off the more tedious paperwork to her subordinates within the Chancellery. Despite everything though, her personal charm, wit, and casual manner make her quite likeable to most people.
- Shion, the poor one, is the older sibling. In general, she’s her sister’s opposite. Passive, glum, and overall apathetic to what’s transpiring. By virtue of her nature she can’t hold onto money either, though unlike her sister this is because she can’t ever get any. While she holds no official position within the organization, she tends to assist Jo’on in her work and the two work as a unit most of the time. Sometimes she sweeps the Chancellery’s hallways.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Jo’on: A pestilence goddess, though not in the traditional sense, Jo’on’s trademark ability is to bring financial ruin to those around her. Their assets dwindle, and their luck as well. This is achieved most directly through possessing the poor sap being targeted, though a weaker version of this effect is applied to people around her in general unless she wishes otherwise.
- Besides possession, Jo’on is also a very physically powerful character, despite her short stature. This is sadly a very vague level of strength, because once again Touhou. But at the very least she can comfortably pick up people thrice her size and literally shake them down for their valuables, as well as beat them down with her fists. She’s also quite tough, as she’s a god with a greater resistance to physical damage as a result.
- Fire powers: Jo’on has demonstrated a proficiency with pyromancy as well in her appearances, being able to conjure pillars of flame, shoot fireballs, and other similar stunts. These flames are all, appropriately enough, golden in hue.
- Shion: A poverty goddess, Shion can, similarly to her sister, bring the people around her and possessed by her poverty. In her case, she reduces their luck and makes them poor as a result. The lost wealth and good luck she drains from others is converted into debt and bad luck and stored inside her, until such time as she’s forced to release it all, becoming a super poverty god for a short time. When this occurs she gains a blue fiery aura. Unlike Jo’on the misfortune she stores and releases affect herself as well.
- Unlike Jo’on, Shion is not a physical fighter, and in combat resorts to using her stored misfortune as projectiles and swamping her opponent in it. She can manifest a vortex that pulls her opponent in and bombard them with projectiles, but in general she prefers to serve as backup for her sister in a fight. She’s also tougher than her sister.
- Flight: Both sisters can fly.
- Power from Faith: Being deities, both sisters will be strengthened by worship. Likewise, while sufficient damage will put down their current physical bodies, as long as shrines and altars to the sisters still remain intact the two will recover and reform after some time.
- Personal Timeline:
- The Third Wave saw both Jo’on and Shion arrive in the city. As their divine concepts weren’t as applicable to a barter system, they both pushed for the shift to capitalism when the matter came up. It was in this context that Jo’on inadvertently provided the impetus to start the Chancellery, with herself as its head. This wasn’t quite her initial plan, but after some reflection she decided to commit to the role, and has served as Chancellor until now. Her sister, Shion went along with it, since the position has provided them lodgings and specifically for her regular meals.
- In general, Jo'on has supported the overall push to move the city to a more regulated and currency-based economy, though she thinks the council's a bit impatient about it at times. She's quite sensitive about her institution's position in the city, and very proud of it. Shion's more pessimistic about the whole affair.
- One thing the two have in common is a wish to preserve and expand the Chancellery's autonomy and influence.
- As of currently, the Chancellery's main headquarters lie in the City Center, a large, ornate building with much statuary. It is known as the Shrine of Prosperity, and the Chancellor's suite comprises the top floor of the building, her office being one story below. In addition to serving as an office complex, the Shrine also features altars to the two sisters placed strategically around the building, and employees are encouraged to pray at these once a day, if possible.
- Relationships:
- Cassiopeia: The Mayor, the Head of State and Head of Government. The boss. The sisters are fairly ambivalent about her. They can easily relate to that side of her that would rather take a day off rather than work, and in general find her quite agreeable in person. On the other hand, they dislike having to answer to her.
- Jengbish: "Who's Jengbish? He sounds poor, does he pay his taxes?""Think he's a fusilier.""Then why are we being asked about him?"
- Matt Murdock: He's easy to get along with, though his principled push for a constitution isn't entirely to Jo'on's liking. Then again, it's clear that Matt is rather in over his head when it comes to writing a coherent legal codex, so the Chancellor is willing to cooperate in return for being able to have a hand in the proposed laws and their writing.
- Satsuki: Military force is necessary, the sisters appreciate the fact. Honestly they feel like the coercive power the government has at hand is insufficient, and would rather expand that before engaging in any dramatic economic reform, ideally with a division of fusiliers seconded to the Chancellery. On a more personal level they're rather cautious when dealing with the Commander.
edited 31st Mar '18 10:04:34 PM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
sword of promised halp
Name
- Matt Murdock
Appearance
- He's not Daredevil.◊ When he's not being silly at Christmas parties, he dresses in a sharp all-red suit, eschewing his glasses and carrying his cane openly.◊
Personality
- Pleasant, breezy and witty, Matt Murdock fulfills his duties as the Head Judge of Balder with surprising suaveness. His voice, hoarsened slightly by the years, has the texture of gray sand, and he rules on cases with the unhesitating confidence of a man half his age. However, underneath his smooth exterior is a man scarred and nocked with the blows of many battles, who pursues objectives and enemies alike with grim, dogged determination.
Powers, Abilities and Equipment
Hypersenses
- Matt Murdock is blind. However, the radioactive fluid that took his sight also unlocked his mutant potential - he can therefore hear, smell, taste, and touch better than almost anyone on Balder, save his own son. His hearing is sharp enough to distinguish a single laugh in a city of noise, and his memory for voices is near-perfect. By listening to a person's heartbeat, he can determine the verity of their statements - this is thrown off by pacemakers and the like, but otherwise infallibly accurate, at least for humans. The same accuracy is not guaranteed with more esoteric races.
- Matt's sense of smell is hundreds of times better than a dog's, picking up trace details to an unprecedented level. After ten seconds of chewing or so, he can name every chemical in a mouthful of food. His fingertips are sensitive enough to let him read typed print by running his fingers over the page; however, banknotes and photographs are too smooth for him to make out. Naturally, he is also incapable of using anything with a non-accessible display, like a smartphone or hologram.
- Despite the great boons they grant him, Matt's hypersenses are also his greatest weakness, as he has to screen out an incredible amount of sensory input just to function. Unexpected loud noises akin to the passing of a subway train will disorientate him, as will particularly bad smells or chemical tastes. He is a lot better at blocking out pain than other sensations, but he also feels a lot more pain than your ordinary person. Should his senses overload completely for some reason, incapacitation will almost definitely follow.
Radar Sense
- Matt's second sight. As well as enhancing four of his senses, the radioactive waste unlocked a sixth one that very few manage to get - what Matt terms his radar sense. In effect, he 'feels' everything around him in three dimensions, similar to running his fingers over everything at once. The resolution of this sense is not enough for him to determine facial features or specific textures, but it does give him an uncanny picture of the relative positions and shapes of everything around him. Better than sight, in fact. It is this that allows him to do what he does - he can deal with a ring of attackers, work out the best way to scale a nearby building and map his surroundings all at once. However, disabling it (through psychic attacks or inducing mental instability) leaves him truly blind.
Master Pugilist, Olympic-Level Gymnast and Acrobat
- Trained by Stick, leader of the ninja clan known as the Chaste, Matt is a master of the hidden arts, making him a fearsome force in combat. He has a comprehensive knowledge of pressure points, can blend seamlessly into any crowd, and possesses mastery of multiple weapons, such as the katana, sai, and bow. However, he does not fight like a ninja. Instead, he uses a unique fusion of numerous styles, with emphasis on boxing and jujitsu. Despite his advancing years, he uses his skills in gymnastics, acrobatics and ninjutsu to move about the cityscape with fluid ease when needed. His strength is such that he can kick a car door clean off its hinges from a prone position, and heft a 450-pound weight like a 50-pound one. He has been seen deflecting handgun rounds with a billy club, but this was more a feat of prediction than reaction - the shooter was mere feet away. Incidentally, he is a crack shot himself.
Billy Club
- Matt's signature weapon in a previous life, now serving permanent duty as his blind man's cane. Designed by him, the cane contains thirty feet of aircraft control cable attached to a grapnel, which he can fire at a moment's notice. It splits into two halves, one a fighting baton, the other a curved hook. Each can be straightened out or bent as necessary. The club also telescopes out to form a bo staff. A perfectly balanced weapon, Matt can throw his club with astounding accuracy, rebounding it off multiple surfaces to hit his target. He can also sling it hard enough to penetrate concrete. He is an expert fighter with the club in all its forms, making use of its versatility in a staggering number of ways.
Personal Timeline
- Matt Murdock arrived in Balder as part of the Third Wave in 20 AD, as a young twenty-seven-year-old with a lot of history behind him. Being not unfamiliar with the concept of multiversal travel, his first instinct was to wait for the Fourth Wave and escape then, or better yet, to find a way to escape early himself. When the early escape proved impossible, however, he settled down, aiding the fledgling City in her attempts to establish a working judiciary and fighting crime on the side.
- It was then, however, in 22 AD, that Matt made the most fortunate and disastrous mistake of his life: he fell in love with one Toph Beifong, a hard-nosed police officer from the founding group with the ability to crush granite like so much shortbread. The two engaged in a passionate romance, conceived a child, and at last sealed the deal in matrimony. Before he knew it, Matt had gone native.
- Matt and Toph's marriage was as tumultous as an earthquake and about a thousand times as long. The pair were unwilling to give way to each other due to their formidable personalities, and their busy schedules conspired to drive them further and further apart. To crown it all, their son, Franklin Yishan Murdock, was anything but formidable, and possessed with powers so debilitatingly strong that they might as well be outright disabilities. Both parents insisted on training the meek and nervous child in their own very overbearing ways, Toph with an iron foot and Matt with a velvet stick - which naturally fell flatter than a pancake in a steel press. When Matt accepted his appointment as Head Judge of Balder, confining Franklin to the care of his mother, it was too much for Toph to bear. She left in 29 AD to liase with the multiverse, without even bothering to file any papers; Balder, as it was, had no official process for divorce. Franklin was six.
- As the first Head Judge of Balder, Matt's ongoing crusade is the establishment of a ratified and universally accepted code of laws. He has been working towards this goal for the past six years, expending a large chunk of his considerably limited time and energy in lobbying, campaigning, and drafting the proposed Constitution. However, his legal background is almost entirely in criminal and not constitutional law, leaving him woefully unprepared to judge despite his great grit, and to make matters even worse, he finds himself opposed at every step of the way by non-human, fantastical, and extra-terrestrial interest groups, who fundamentally disagree with the drafting of an anthrocentric legal code. While he has very little time as things are, he is not above stopping a crime or two on the way to the Courthouse.
Relationships
- Matt's relationship with his estranged wife, Toph Beifong, is extremely complicated, as both have far more baggage than they are willing to admit. They categorically refuse to meet each other most of the time, although at this point Matt does so more out of dogged courtesy than Toph, who hangs on by dint of sheer mulishness. On the rare occasions when they do meet, usually when exchanging Franklin for a multiversal trip or two, Matt tries his best to turn on as much charm as possible. This never really works, because they can both tell when the other is lying, and so stock responses immediately self-destruct. Still, the fact that they actually do see each other (so to speak) is worthy of some note.
- Matt has an amicable working relationship with Commander Kiryuuin Satsuki, whom he views as an ally in the fight for law and order. Satsuki visits regularly at the Murdock home, and the pair consult almost every week on matters of municipal importance.
- Matt views Bloodfather-General Jengbish with some suspicion, naturally wary of the Space Marine's sanguine personality. Still, he considers the General of too much importance to ignore, and much of their time together is spent in discussing the finer points of political philosophy.
- Matt approaches Mayor Cassopeia in two different capacities - the first as a leader, and the second as a friend. While he understands the inherent limitations of her political power, the legalistic side of him recognises the importance of having a legitimate source of authority, and the more adventurous side of him sees a young lady in need of considerable help. With that in mind, he takes great pains to defer to her authority, offering a listening ear when needed and covering for her real self as necessary.
- Matt loves his son Franklin more than anyone else in the world, both due to their shared weaknesses and their constant companionship. Having had much time to think over his relationship with his son, Matt has eschewed the hard parenting of Franklin's early years, preferring to touch-read or listen to music together rather than spar with him. He is as mellow at home as he is intense in the courtroom - while the easy charm he displays in public situations is left at the front door, he becomes more honest and tender when Franklin is around, as if trying to make up for lost time by baring his soul.
Name
- Franklin Yishan Murdock
Appearance
- An almond-skinned boy with bright red hair, whose irises are gray with a core of brilliant blue. His features clearly identify him as mixed-race, Caucasian-Chinese, and from his mannerisms one can tell from a great distance that he is completely blind. He never looks, his gaze is vacant through his red shades, and he tends to walk carefully and slowly. However, despite his timid gait and tendency to clutch himself for dear life, he never actually bumps into anything. It's almost as if his feet and ears do the seeing for him. He wears gloves even on hot days, and almost always hides inside a red hoodie with the initials 'DD' on them. Upon closer inspection, one can see plugs in his ears and steel studs in the soles of every single one of his shoes.
Personality
- Quiet to a fault, Franklin tends to shy away from social situations, as if the concept of talk physically hurts him. He prefers the company of adults to his own peers, and speaks with a cautious erudition uncommon to a twelve-year-old. When conflict rises or situations become too overwhelming, he withdraws immediately, afraid of the consequences. Despite this, he has a deep-rooted sense of justice that is almost impossible to tear up, even if the leaves do shrivel very often.
Powers, Abilities and Equipment
Hypersenses, Radar and Seismic Sense
- Frankie's father, Matt Murdock, can hear a heartbeat from the tenth floor, read printed books by touch alone, and taste the individual chemicals in a mouthful of food. His metahuman radar sense allows him to create a rough contour of the space around him, accurate enough for him to determine the outlines of cutlery and furniture. Frankie's mother, Toph Beifong, can feel the vibrations in earth and metal with her seismic sense, allowing her to absorb the gait of a charging man and disrupt his balance in less than a second. Both are human lie detectors. Frankie has inherited both of these powers, but this is more of a curse than a blessing - for the first few years of his life, his hypersenses acted as a source of constant pain, so that he was forced to spend extended periods of time in a sensory deprivation tank. He has been taught to filter these senses to some extent, despite them being even more acute than his father's; however, his seismic sense continues to stack on top of his radar sense, so that vibrations, jolts or skitters in the floor cause him acute discomfort. Sudden noises, smells, or touches can send him into a state of frenzy. Most of the time, however, he uses the steel studs in his shoes to sense the ground and his radar sense to ping the air, giving him complete spatial awareness on a plane unfathomable to sighted humans.
Earthbending
- Toph Beifong is considered the greatest earthbender in history by those who know, a child prodigy who invented metalbending at the tender age of twelve. It is therefore strange and mildly alarming to consider that although her son is barely competent in the forms, he is almost her equal in raw talent, and even greater in untapped power: just as Frankie's senses are more acute than his father's, so is his earthbending potential deeper than his mother's. And it is precisely his lack of control that makes him so dangerous. When trapped in a state of sensory overload, Frankie can cause immense damage to and with all stone, earth, and metal in his immediate vicinity, destroying entire houses in his unseeing terror. Other than that, he refuses to use bending at all for fear of the racket it makes, and can barely throw a stone.
Pugilistic Training
- Both Matt and Toph are master martial artists, and because martial arts were essential for Frankie to even begin to bring his powers under control, he was trained by both of them from a young age. He possesses a surprisingly thorough knowledge of jiu-jutsu, boxing, archery, kendo, escrima, and a bending style that, when stripped of its chi-fuelled element, bears an odd resemblance to the Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis Style. Despite this, he has neither the will nor the stomach to fight anything, and is naturally paper-thin when it comes to pain.
Personal Timeline
- Frankie Murdock was born to two blind crimefighters in 23 AD - the supersensitive costumed lawyer known as Matt Murdock, and the snarky, lackadaisical police officer known as Toph Beifong. His father named him after an old friend and partner, while his mother, flaunting her inability to read, gave him the second name Yishan, or 'moves mountains'. Many years later, she made it clear that it was very much a joke. Unlike his parents, who were both hard as nails and formidable martial artists, Frankie was a quiet, timid and retiring child, who liked music more than talk and silence best of all. His father could barely teach him to master his supersenses, his mother almost failed to teach him earthbending, and neither of them were so much as able to get the boy to fight. Matt is philosophical about the matter, preferring to touch-read books with his son in a special soundproof room, but Toph is more or less livid 24/7.
Relationships
- Frankie views his absent mother, Toph Beifong, with an uncommon compassion - recognizing that his mother has not yet developed the courage to treat him like her son, he acts mature around her on their rare trips out, never mentioning his father. Because of this, Toph has opened up to him more than she would have otherwise, although at times there is still an embarrassed distance between the two. It is Frankie's greatest wish, however, to have both his parents reunite.
- Frankie adores his father, Matt Murdock, idolising him as the only being on Balder who could possibly understand his plight. The two share a remarkable bond due to their hypersenses, and converse with enviable ease. Despite all this, however, Frankie is increasingly aware that his father did not have an easy life at all, and it is his father's reticence on this exact matter that he finds disturbing. Added to this is Matt's harsh training in Frankie's early years, which Frankie finds himself unable to forget, and Matt's increasing travails in his role as Head Judge, which Matt refuses to bring home.
- Frankie trusts Commander Kiryuuin Satsuki, enough to tease her at times about her eyebrows. This should be more than an adequate display of how much he trusts Commander Kiryuuin Satsuki.
edited 29th Mar '18 5:37:58 AM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Don't think I'll have time to signup my newbie character today, but I'll at least take a crack at my main:
Main Character
Name: Mr. Scratch (a.k.a. Alan Wake)
Appearance: "I'm not afraid to be the center of attention
◊...though I do my best work in the dark."
◊
A suave, charming man; six feet three inches tall, light athletic build, with a downright photogenic smile,
Mr. Scratch is a man who enjoys the finer things in life—and wants you to know it. He is always dressed to the nines, complete with a gold pocket watch in his vest. Paired with his slicked-back hair and carefully trimmed scruff, Scratch looks like the first class model of "men who mothers warn their daughters about."
Personality: An egocentric sociopath, Mr. Scratch views the god-planet Balder in a similar way he viewed his homeworld: there's lots of fun to be had if you're smart, powerful, and willing to cut down every obstacle in your way! Do what you want, take what (and who) you want, cover your tracks, then rinse and repeat!
Despite his creative mind and clear intelligence, Mr. Scratch likes to view himself as a simple man, with a strong work ethic. He doesn't like to be the boss of a growing underground empire, but nobody else wanted to pick up the torch...well, no one that lived through the week.
Far as getting away with murder goes, Scratch feels like the goody-goodies (especially the ones at the top) are cramping his style. They're implementing rules and regulations on this new Wild West, and after thirty-five years of rolling his eyes when no one was looking, Scratch is starting to lose his patience with these do-gooders. Fortunately, he's come up with idea on how to thin the herd, so to speak.
Powers and Abilities: I'm expecting nerfs somewhere, but thought I'd offer what I consider in the ball park, even if I have to change this thing later.
Mr. Scratch isn't a human being, or even a fantastic offshoot of one, i.e. wizard, demon, or Saiyan. He is the cultural abstraction of a famous horror writer named Alan Wake, made real through the power of Darkness within a special place on his homeworld. To that end, Mr. Scratch doesn't need to do things that most humans/humanoids need to, like eat or drink or sleep. He enjoys things like sex and alcohol, but the acts are purely for pleasure.
As a being composed of, surrounded by, and capable of expelling Darkness, Mr. Scratch is capable of small supernatural feats such as flight (think of Death Eaters apparating if it helps you visualize) and the ability to "poltergeist" inanimate objects (nothing bigger than an SUV) to throw at an opponent. Scratch can also summon a flock of ravens to attack his enemies. While these birds can't do much but scratch and peck individually, their numbers and dive-bomb attack patterns can make them a great distraction for Scratch to escape.
Far as physical durability goes, Mr. Scratch can take almost every blow someone can give him with little wear, with some very easy-to-access exceptions. Before we get to that, I want to point out that just because he can take a hit from a speeding truck doesn't mean he can stop a speeding truck. Physically, he's still just a man (and not even one with notable combat experience, outside of murdering people), and he'll flop around and soar through the air like a ragdoll. In other words, if I don't get a "PUNY GOD!" moment somewhere in this RP, I'mma gonna be real mad! >:(
So once the big secret that he's a creature of darkness is out, even a child could figure out how to hurt him. Get a bright light source (good flashlights, flares, flashbangs, fire magic, even a brightly lit room counts!), and he'll cry in agony. While he boasts of being more "resilient" than the people he Takes, that doesn't make him immune to the Achilles heel of Alan Wake enemies. Just like monsters in the closet or under the bed, Mr. Scratch and his minions can't hurt you when there's a light on them—literally or figuratively!
Now Mr. Scratch isn't blind to this weakness, which is why he rarely gets directly involved in a fight. Apart from taking a punch, he can't hold a candle to even the combat-savvy normies like the ones in the Fusiliers. Scratch is a Summoner type of fighter, so he's most effective away from the action, and possibly giving orders to those he commands.
With that in mind, let's go the biggest, and most likely nerfable part of Mr Scratch's character: The Taken.
The Taken are remnants of people possessed by the Dark Presence expelled by Mr. Scratch. They can come in several shapes and sizes, and even degrees of possession, but the majority of the Taken are people who can't be saved. They're husks, and the only ways to deal with them is to either kill them, or run.
Now the fundamental restrictions I will put on the Taken are the following:
- All P Cs, GMNP Cs, and directly-related NP Cs are unconditionally immune to Mr. Scratch. This includes all of the original warriors, their friends/spouses, and to a considerable extent their coworkers. IC this can be viewed as one of the conditions that Etmes gave Mr. Scratch, in exchange for the ability to create Taken in the first place.
- Until he tries it, Mr. Scratch does not know who can and who cannot become Taken. Etmes will warn him of this restriction when they strike their deal, and it will be a great IC deterrent to keep Scratch from using this power willy-nilly. The last thing he needs is to get pummeled into the ground by someone he couldn't control!
![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]")
- All Taken must be created while the victim is still alive. This appears to be canonical in the Alan Wake games already, but I just want to point out that Mr. Scratch can't cop out of this struggle with a simple grave-robbing. To keep things fairly simple, he'd probably prowl the Naked Wilds and grab the heavily-wounded/left for dead, anyway. No need to cover your tracks there.
- All Taken are drones for Mr. Scratch, and as drones cannot think or strategize outside of simple predatory instincts. This is also canonical to the games, and since odds and ends of their old identity appear (usually tidbits related to their jobs) they can even be a little funny! There is only one clear exception to this rule, but almost every type of Taken are limited to melee weapons specifically because their brain functions are so limited.
- Mr. Scratch has a set cap on how many Taken he can control at one time; not just how many in one fight, how many exist at that point in time. We can go one step further and say he can only create a limited number of specialized Taken (we'll get to those in a minute) from that original number. Just to make this concrete, let's say Mr. Scratch is set at 25 Taken max, no exceptions; from that number he can make 10 specialized Taken, also no exceptions.
So with those rules set, let's get to some of the different types:
Non-Specialized Taken
- Touched by Darkness: Some forms of Taken aren't meant to be used for combat. At times, all Mr. Scratch might want is a mouthpiece to lure people into a trap, or a hostage to keep the more Lawful Good opponents at a safe distance. These Taken aren't beyond saving, and while the experience is undoubtedly traumatic, those who have been touched by the Darkness can go back to their normal lives. The immediate cure for their condition is being exposed to bright light, which will rip them away from Mr. Scratch's control.
- Flankers and Assault: Depending on their size and stature, the Taken might be assigned special roles in an attack. Bigger, bulkier husks make great shock troopers that can charge the target head-on, while smaller and faster bodies are better used to flank the enemy. They are all weakened and stunned by light, and a subsequent attack to the Flankers will easily destroy them; the assault Taken are able to take a few more hits. While attacking the Taken without dispelling the Darkness first will eventually destroy them, it's much harder and more of a gamble.
Specialized Taken:
- Tele-Flankers: These guys move at superhuman speeds, making their bodies appear to be just a blur. That said, opponents with superhuman speeds/reflexes can match them without much trouble, especially since these Taken can't use their mad-dashes indefinitely. Like the name suggests, these Taken specialize in using their speed to get past the opponent's defenses to land lots of small, shallow hits with a melee weapon. They can be stunned and made vulnerable by light, but take more hits than their non-specialized counterparts.
- Birdmen: The first of Mr. Scratch's personal twists on the Taken. These vampire-looking creatures are capable of changing their shape from a human to a flock of ravens. They can attack in either form, but are considerably weaker and more vulnerable as birds.
- Grenadiers: Another Scratch original, this is the only model of Taken with enough intelligence to use projectiles. The "grenades" they throw at their enemies don't explode in the traditional sense of light, heat, and shrapnel, but in a plume of toxic, concentrated Darkness. Obviously designed to be a long-ranged fighter, Grenadier Taken don't easily adjust to close-quarter combat.
- Splitters: One of the most grotesque of Scratch's take on Taken, the Splitter is so sensitive to the presence of light that it literally tears itself apart to escape the source. These halves to the former whole act independently of each other, and can even coordinate enough to flank the enemy. Furthermore, these halves can each split a second time, turning from one enemy into four. With each split their strength and stamina cuts proportionally, and given that these are one of the Taken forms with no protective Dark shell, it's possible to destroy them when there's just one opponent to deal with.
- Giants: The pinnacle of Scratch's twisted creativity, these Taken have been remolded into Goliath-like monstrosities capable of swinging around industrial lumber mill saws as melee weapons. These things are the Taken equivalent of a tank: huge, sturdy, and intimidating as all hell. Given all the energy Scratch would need to invest in just creating one of these things, I'm fine with limiting their numbers to just one, with a helluva replenishment period. If a Giant falls, he's not getting a new one anytime soon.
So that's it for what Mr. Scratch can do. It's a lot, but in one way or another they've all got the same pretty accessible weakness, which should help making them a whole lot more manageable. I'm happy to compromise on whatever Strat thinks needs tweaking.
Personal Timeline: Warning: Fairly big spoilers for the Alan Wake series. It's a cult classic thriller game that's been out for almost 8 years, but y'know. Just a head's up in case you care. 
Etnes approached Mr. Scratch while he was preparing to face off against his "Good Twin" in the Dark Place. Unlike many heroes who answered the god's call to arms, Mr. Scratch had to be persuaded to pack his things and head off towards certain doom. The deal they struck allowed Mr. Scratch to create Taken beyond the confines of the Dark Place, with their effectiveness crippled to be more beneficial to the cause.
During the band's travels, Scratch stuck to his alias—or rather, the name he believed suited him better than the mopey hack of a writer trapped in Cauldron Lake. Out of those first few warriors, the only companions he shared his true name with were the Homunculus Envy, the sadistic plant Flowey, and the Spartanesque Pre Viszla, though even with them he didn't share his relationship to the Taken—if he couldn't seize any of the warriors anyway, what would be the point? He presented himself as a playboy writer who had answered Entes' call more to "play the bard" than to rush in sword in hand. That said, it wasn't like no one noticed how he could summon ink black birds from the air, or how far he stayed away from the campfires; he insisted it was just to keep watch.
The original warriors probably viewed "the writer, Alan Wake" as an odd-man out among many, many odd-men out. Those familiar with the trope might've seriously considered him a bard, given his eloquence and charisma, though his taste in stories was a little...graphic. Those who weren't, probably didn't notice Alan at all. He was fine with that, of course. There was too much to lose if he blew his cover in the presence of so many "truth and justice!" lemmings, so he bided his time and bit his tongue until Balder's heart finally ceased to beat.
When the realization dawned on the warriors that no one would bring them home, they might have heard a noise coming from the fungal brushes of wilderness far from their fires. The sounds of pure, incessant, mirthful laughter.
As one of Envy's few confidantes, Mr. Scratch saw the lit fuse before it reached the powder keg, and was one of the first to apprehend the Homunculus when two of the most respected figures fell dead. In an uncharacteristic act of heroism, Scratch used his incredibly durable body as a shield against Envy's rage-blinded strikes, before helping the other warriors clamp the changeling in place. He was among those who advocated keeping Envy alive, though when asked why he gave only vague, pragmatic reasons about setting a crueler example for mutiny than a swift death. No doubt Guzma disagreed.
As the little settlement developed into a village, then a town, and then a multi-walled city, fewer and fewer people saw Alan Wake—at least, those who knew him as one of the god-killers. He'd spent the first decade or so exploring the planet on his own; a decision most believed to be Mr. Wake's death wish. When he returned with samples of undiscovered resources and stories of hidden treasures, he gathered a modest following among the more ambitious scavengers, and Fusiliers who had grown unsatisfied with their earnings as guards to the growing city. From these little bands, Mr. Scratch founded the Interplanetary Transportation and Cultivation House, named such because he enjoyed the private joke.
With more waves of settlers arriving, ITCH grew to a more respectable 325 members spread across planet Balder and on several outposts throughout the solar system. Aside from the official perks like a generous cut in bounty and the easy chances of promotion, members of ITCH seemed to have remarkably good luck when it came to settlements and expeditions. It wasn't that they carried larger hauls—they just never seemed to be attacked by the local predators or angered natives. There were rumors of shadowy figures with axes and clubs watching them from a distance, but if anything those silhouettes brought good news than bad; when they showed up, explorers were bound to find only dead predators and removed obstacles blocking their path. These shadows gained an almost Guardian Angel reputation, protecting anyone who bore the torch symbol
◊ of the house.
With ITCH raking in new resources and a new currency developing to trade for it, Mr. Scratch turned his attention to establishing a base of operations for himself, away from his happy band of gold-miners. Seeing the city's center as little more than "a slightly cleaner shithole than when I last saw it," Scratch began partnering with some entrepreneurs to create Balder's first nightclub. Named "Cauldron" after the place he called his "home town," the building has an iconic royal purple hue with many disjointed angles a la Strata Center
◊; "cuz rectangles are overrated." Once completed, Mr. Scratch appointed himself as its first manager, and holds a variety of events there to help let everyone forget about their problems for a few hours. While there's an exclusive VIP area on the fourth and fifth floors, most of Cauldron is open to the paying public—who pay in one way or another.
The nightclub's sixth floor is Mr. Scratch's penthouse, where he deals with both the more questionable findings of his scavengers and managing the traffic of certain hallucinogens created through the use of a hormone gland in the god-planet's nervous system. Aside from his regular unseen outings into the Naked Wilds to Take a predator's would-be dinner, or killing his competition in the underground (and not always literally), Mr. Scratch keeps himself busy with as many vices as he can find, and, once in a blue moon, a few quiet hours at his typewriter.
Today, Mr. Scratch sets his sights on one of the latest discoveries within the god-planet's corpse; a place that—if the intel he's received is accurate—sounds so familiar, it might as well a second home...
Relationships: So I'm going to try something stupid, and give a little bit of an idea of what Scratch thinks/would think of the other characters:
Mayor Cassiopeia: "Never cared for the chick. Too bubbly for my tastes, and way too desperate to be liked. Still, she keeps to herself, so I don't mind following her lead.
"...think I can convince her to make my birthday a national holiday?"
Bloodfather-General Jengbish: "Y'know, there's something about a big, moustachio'd, heavily-armored geezer that just puts a smile on my face. Maybe looking at him calls out to my geekier side, maybe I'm just picturing how fucking awesome it'd be to watch him fight one of my Giants, I dunno. The guy also likes to write, so he gets brownie points for that.
"...and that's pretty much where the list of 'pros' ends. The guy likes to be on the front lines, which means he likes to butt into other people's business—inevitably, mine. Those Knights Templar or whatever pretentious shit he calls them aren't going to be doing me any favors if they start moving, either.
"I know I can't do it, but damn...the guy'd make one helluva fun Taken."
Asriel Dreemurr: "Awww, Flowey: what the hell happened to you, man? You used to be one of the fun ones! Now you're off playing house in the slums and trying to pretend that we don't know you sucked the souls out of seven of us! I mean, Jesus Christ if you're gonna try to start a new life for yourself, you shouldn't do it for a chick. Especially not one as stuck-up as that bitch.
"You deserve better, Flowey! Go find yourself a nice tulip and fertilize!"
The Yorigami Twins: "I...want to like them. I really do. They've got the whole sexy yin-and-yang shtick down; they mess with people's heads and wallets; they've got enough of an appetite to pay for a second Cauldron location; and they're in charge of civilizing this shithole in the only way I care about!
"I really, really, really wanna like them...but there's few things that piss me off faster than those flames the spunky one like to throw around. If I'm gonna get along with them, that shit needs to come to a stop. Fast."
Judge Matthew Murdock: "If there's one thing worse than a politician, it's a lawyer. I've never met this asshole face to face, but I know a lot of guys who have; they usually come back to me with broken noses and missing teeth.
"Now I'm not a fan of normal lawyers, but a superhero wannabe calling the shots on what's right and what's wrong is like, twenty levels past my bullshit tolerance! One way or another, this jackass needs to be put in his place."
Pre Vizsla: "I like to think of Viz as a Space Cowboy—the guy makes up his own rules, follows them, and takes folks under his wing only if they're not going to give him any lip. He's like a less pretentious Jengbish. We got along pretty well back in the old days, even if I wasn't interested in reading his church pamphlets.
"And just look how Vizzy's grown! General of his very own army grounded on nothing but kicking ass and taking names! Not, too, shabby, my friend.
"...come to think of it, I might have a job for these Death Watch guys..."
Guzma: "Hoooooo boy. Where to start. This is...this like trying to find the loose thread in a stupidly colorful ball of yarn—emphasis on the 'stupid' part.
"Guess I should start with how I can't believe some idiots were willing to follow this guy back then. He might not look it now, but back when we got here he looked like a fucking moron—like he was some caricature of an American gangster wannabe. Then there was the ridiculous boasting; pretty sure Pinocchio had a better poker face than Guzma.
"His background's a joke, too. I'd give him credit if he even made an effort to commit to his comedic role—playing the clown's a hard road to take, it takes guts. But his whole 'redemptive attitude' makes me sick. I mean, first Flowey and now this prick—what is it about women that makes guys stop thinking with their dicks? Not that that'd make me like the guy any more, or less. Just something I found weird, y'know?
"...Wanna know what part of this guy pisses me off the most? It's his pets. Far as I can tell they can't hurt me or mine, but it's the fact he acts like they're so dangerous, so intimidating, that just makes me wanna tear my hair out. I don't care if they're bigger than me, those things are bugs. Bugs. Aren't. Scary. The only reason people freak out about them is because of a phobia, a bug doesn't actually scare people.
"You know what's scary? The dark—the unknown. Now that's the sorta shit Steven King made millions off of! If Guzma thinks his kid-friendly bullshit's gonna get anyone—sorry, anyone who isn't a fuckin' lemming—to respect him, then those love-taps Envy gave him haven't taught him a GODDAMN THING!
"...(chuckles)...y'know, I've never told anyone this, but...I could've stopped Envy sooner than I did. I could've intervened. Saved ol' Gus a few appendages, most of his leg. I just wanted to prove a point. I wanted him to learn that he's nothing. (chuckles) Not even a parasite, like his little bugs. I couldn't care less about where the bastard is right now, but in whatever hole he's dug for himself...I hope he's learned his lesson."
Akane Owari: "Who?...Oh yeah. 'The Competition.' To be honest, I don't really think of her. Like, at all. Sounds pretty irresponsible from a business perspective, I know, but there's never really been anything off this rock that interests me. The only reason I've got outposts and shit on other planet's because I need ITCH to stay relevant if we're going to get more recruits. Far as I care, she can keep whatever shiny trash she finds out there.
"...but if she steps in on my turf...that's when we're gonna need to handle business."
Satsuki Kiryuin: "Y'know, I just came up with another 'pro' for the Big Knight Templar—at least Jengbrish isn't obvious about clawing his way into power. Kiry could learn a few things from that armored Santa Claus, not that she's humble enough to listen to him.
"From my seat, it looks like 'General Kiryuin' is trying to play Julius Caesar...does she know how that story ends for him? Try reading a book sometime!"
Noel Vermillion and Sin Kiske: "...well now you're just making names up.
"...They're real people here? Yeah. Never heard of them."
Laura Kinney (X-23): "Y'know, when I first met the kid I had high hopes. Her babysitter was a bit too goody-goody for someone with such an ugly mug, but damn that little girl could be fucking brutal when she wanted to be! I mean, she's a total bitch to pretty much everyone, but...hot damn!
"...Then she had to get all soft and sentimental on us. On Flowey, of all people! Oh boo hoo, my mentor's dead. Guess I'll just haunt the little bastard who ate his soul with a side of fries.
"She's the reason why Flowey sucks, now. Whether she's off on the outskirts or in some monster's belly, I'll still hate her for that."
Okuyasu Nijimura (The Hand): "Another Fusilier grunt. Another nobody."
Sister Xola: "I've never understood the religious type, not even back on Earth. You're putting your hopes and dreams into an imaginary figure—that's not the part I don't get, I made a profit off people's love for the imagination—but you're also trying to get everyone else to put their hopes and dreams into the same imaginary figure. To me, that just sounds like the most annoying fan club imaginable!
"Now this world's models of religion are even crazier than the ones back home! Take it from a guy who helped kill this thing we're standing on: there's nothing special about it. It's not going to hear you, let alone help you, and if by some stupid zealot's "miracle" it starts breathing again, I'm pretty much obligated to kill it again.
"So yeah. This Sister Xola just sounds like another holier-than-thou parasite begging for scraps in the name of something I watched die almost forty years ago. A waste of my time."
Nier and Yonah: "'A Fusilier grunt struggling to make a living in a hostile world, while also caring for his invalid little sister...'
"Who writes this shit? It's so melodramatic I'm starting to think it's the premise for a Lifetime original movie. Nooooooo thank you."
Link: "...Okay, I'm gonna need some help here, who's this guy?
"...he's only been here for five days? And you want me to tell you what I think about him?
"...are you a fucking idiot?!? How can I know anything about someone who's been here for less than a week?!? Either start naming actual somebodies, or get the fuck outta here!"
N'Jadaka, Son of N'Jobu: "See? Was that so hard?
"General N'Jadaka. Now this is the kind of guy I'd like to see in charge of the military. Fun-loving, approachable, with just a shade of danger behind those eyes that say 'cross me and you'll find a spear through your throat.' He's also the only Fusilier General to come by the Cauldron. Not exactly a frequent customer, but I make it a point to ensure he's well taken care of.
"You never know when you'll need a man in high places..."
Miki Kuroda: "I don't pay attention to gym teachers; never was much of an athlete growing up.
"I do, however, pay attention to gym teachers who turn into giant spider demons. That's some straight up Stephen King horror shit, and I love it. Damn, I hope she's pulled that 'run from a predator' card on the slackers in her class!"
Anasi Kuroda: "Another great Stephen King concept made real—one that almost excuses the fact she hangs around that fucker Guzma. Wish I could've been there to see the old man's face when that kid ate one of his non-threatening pets! Ha!
"Apart from that, though...I'm kinda just disappointed in her potential. She's hanging out with the wrong people, learning the wrong lessons. Heard she's a bit of an artist, too; that only makes things worse. It's not like Guzma's got any creativity.
"You can do better, kid—the sooner you learn that, the better."
Yusuke Kitagawa: "Speaking of artists...god damn!
"I've seen a few wannabe painters on this planet *cough cough* Loki *cough cough* but there really hasn't been anything that captures the imagination. Well, there wasn't, up until a few years ago...
"The first time I saw this guy's work was on a wall about a mile left of the city center's west gate. It was this goddamn sublime figure, like a uhh...samurai, I guess, but the art style was this gorgeous fusion of traditional Japanese and postmodern aesthetics—anatomically incorrect, kinda mushy-looking, but with more colors in a work of art than I'd ever seen on this uncultured corpse of a planet. It took my fucking breath away.
"Ever since then I've been spending a shitton of money on tracking this guy down. It's been a lot harder than it should've been—guess the guy isn't a huge fan of praise, but playing hard to get's only made me want him more—but I'm nearing the end of my search.
"Not a moment too soon, either; the time's fast approaching when I'm going to need a man like him in my camp..."
Carlos Ramirez: "I don't like wizards. I don't like magic in general, but wizards are just...all over the fucking place, y'know? Some are just pretentious magicians, but some can make hurricanes with a sneeze. What're the limits of what a wizard can do? All you can really do is ask the author, so fat chance I'm ever gonna get a clear answer on that. I'm not a fan of sharing the 'ambiguously powerful' thing.
"To make things worse, he's chummy with people. A lot of people. Worked in ITCH, the university, hangs out with our sweet mayor Mama Cass from time to time. Even Marty writes him a fat check when he needs some muscle! No, magical Indigo Montoya has a finger in too many pies for comfort. He's up to something, and the sooner I find out what, the sooner I can end this dance we're in."
Loki Laufeyson: "'The God of Mischief' himself; more like 'The God of Whining' if you ask me. The motherfucker was moping pretty much from the start. Makes you wonder if the angel bitch even gave him a chance to back out of this Call to Adventure in the first place. Not that I feel sorry for him—it's hard to pity a figure straight out of a dead mythology. Especially when they try to push the whole 'I'll outlive all of you, so why should we be friends?' shtick.
"I once humored him a little and offered to buy a few of his paintings. He turned me down, and honestly I couldn't be happier that he did—those ugly, uncreative splats of paint on a canvas don't deserve to be displayed in hotel lobbies, let alone in the Cauldron."
Toph Beifong: "What a little firecracker, emphasis on the 'little' part. When this whole god-killing adventure started, she was the first to turn on me. Took her less than ten minutes, too. I made a joke about her size, and she answered me with four little words:
"'You have no heartbeat.'
"Hooooooo boy, did the others appreciate that red flag! Straight off the boat and I'm already pegged as a wolf in sheep's clothing! There were some blessings in that announcement, but it caused me a helluva lot of problems later on.
"...still, I kinda like the little twerp. She's tough, calls it as she sees it; that's something worthy of my respect. Long as she doesn't butt in on my business, I'm fine with letting her live in peace."
Envy: "Jesus. That trainwreck.
"Envy is one of those guys who'd be the MVP of your team, if he'd only learn to share the fucking ball. He wants to be the boss without knowing the first thing about being the boss. Wants to have things his way without looking even a few minutes in the future—Exhibit A's how he went nuts and killed Bruce and Finn just because he got some bad news.
"Envy's the sort of subject biology teachers use when talking about natural selection: an example of what happens to creatures who can't adapt to their environment. Yeah, you want everyone to die because humans are inherently pieces of shit. I get it. Everyone gets it. But the fact you can't keep your fucking feelings to yourself is why you're gonna wind up on the chopping block EONS before anyone else.
"Least he would've ended up on the chopping block, if I hadn't intervened. Only thing I can hope for's that thirty-five years in time out has taught him how to be a team player..."
Fun Facts!
- Mr. Scratch's name can't actually be pronounced by human language—the word "Scratch" is a substitute for a multi-syllable word that only sounds like the static from a radio.
- Mr. Scratch has one book published on Balder: Fear of the Wild. It's a survival thriller about a man named Alex Casey who struggles to survive on a hostile and unforgiving planet. It was released with good reception, but also with plenty of complaints about the content being unforgivably graphic.
- Without any shadow of a doubt, Mr. Scratch is the greatest dancer in this or any universe.
Supporting Characters
The following are NP Cs that work for/with Scratch as part of his growing empire. They're listed in order of introduction.
Name: Lucius Strascus
Appearance: A Turian
with a dark brown metallic "scaly" carapace with the bright red markings of Strascus applied on his face. Lucius was a former soldier in the Turian military, before he was based on the Citadel as a member of C-Sec's Special Response Force. While his soldier uniform did not travel with him to Balder, he has scrapped together a crude model of Turian gear from picae shells; the armor has also been marked with his colony's bright red design.
Personality and Brief History: Back on the Citadel, Lucius was a remarkably approachable member of C-Sec. He had an off-quilter sense of humor, but held a slightly less pretentious duty-bound attitude about himself and his work. Though never disrespectful to his CO, Lucius' easy-going personality was often viewed as a relief to non-Turians, since "uptight dino-birds with sticks up their butts" is the stereotype for the species.
Though he still has that odd sense of humor, Balder has taught Lucius how to be a proper stick-up-the-butt Turian by depriving him of one of his greatest pleasures in life: food. As a dextro-protein species, Turians have a difficult enough time finding digestible food across the Milky Way...finding something on Balder was nearly impossible. The fear of starvation spurred Lucius to test all sorts of materials on the planet's surface, and even some in the underground caverns.
It was inside these caverns where Lucius found the brittle light blue nerve endings that would become his staple diet—and later, the resource to create one of Balder's most powerful hallucinogens.
Powers and Abilities: Lucius was transported to Balder while off-duty, and therefore arrived in the capitol with little more than his casual clothes and his omni-tool. However, that orange holographic machine is arguably one of the most sophisticated tools on Balder, capable of doing everything from scanning and synthesizing materials, to playing video games. In combat, Lucius can extend a short sword from the end of this tool to create an "omni-blade," which can slice and penetrate through flesh and rough hides. Unfortunately, Balder's technology is too low-tech to be compatible with the omni-tool; no hacking or viral videos for poor Lucius. 
Role: Officially, Lucius Strascus is head of security at the Cauldron night club. His tall and surprisingly sturdy body makes him an excellent enforcer of order within the establishment, but his ingrained training as a soldier and C-Sec officer means that most of his interventions end with a patron leaving Cauldron with at least one broken bone. So far his violent incidences haven't merited much investigation: the high or drunken idiots had it coming.
Apart from his work at Cauldron, which pays handsomely for his non-nutritional needs (like a respectable house outside the city and custom-made clothing), Lucius has created a small mine northwest of Balder City, where the Turian both collects the nerve endings that are his food, and keeps in great shape!
Unofficially, Lucius Strascus is the lieutenant of Mr. Scratch's drug cartel. The Turian's omni-tool is one of the most efficient ways to synthesize the nerve endings into a powerful hallucinogen—the drug has yet to gain enough traction to merit a street name, but Mr. Scratch is fond of calling it "Balderdash," both for the pun on the planet's name, and the limited vocabulary many users have while under its influence.
"Fun" Fact: Lucius once tried the drug himself once, only to find that its effects were closer to snorting powder sugar than snorting cocaine. Yet another pleasure his biology has denied him.
...
Name: Martin Hatch
Appearance: "You know what I find to be the most terrifying notion on this planet? The idea of God."
A tall, stoic, and unsettlingly polite man, Martin Hatch is rarely seen without his signature blue suit and red tie. He appears to be in his fifties, making him the elder of the two owners of the Interplanetary Transportation and Cultivation House.
Personality and Brief History: Martin Hatch presents himself as the "business face" of ITCH, politely brushing off how his colleague Alan Wake has a tendency to go...off-script, when things don't quite go as planned. How he came to own half of one of Balder's largest private expedition firms is a mystery, but when asked Martin points to his seventeen years experience as the CEO for Monarch Solutions, a major corporation back on his Earth. Arguably more than Mr. Wake, Mr. Hatch is the man responsible for ensuring ITCH's logistics and paying the employees.
Martin Hatch was unwillingly transported to Balder sometime in 18 AM, but Hatch refers to the moment he left his world forever by his world's calendar: October 9th, 2016, at 02:56:34 AM—give or take a second or two for the travel time. He refuses to disclose why the date brings a subtle grimace to his face because it was just over an hour before Paul Serene would cause the Fracture in time. The best laid plans...
Regardless of how he got to the position, Hatch and Wake have equally split the ownership of ITCH; however, with the income of Cauldron and his other less-than-legal businesses, Wake is notably wealthier than his counterpart. Like most things, this fact does not seem to bother Hatch.
Powers and Abilities: 99% of the time, all Hatch has at his disposal is a brilliant mind and a deliciously smooth voice. For those of you who plan to play Quantum Break anytime soon, this is where you should stop reading and skip to the "Role" section.
For that 1% of the time, Martin Hatch will somehow have gotten himself into a violent situation. What's abnormal about him isn't some sort of secret combat prowess—at least not anything that's accessible on Balder, where time flows at a stable pace—but the fact that Martin Hatch has achieved a form of practical immortality. I say "practical" because while he can technically be killed, he doesn't stay dead for long; to kill him permanently would involve killing him an absurd of times, one for every possible timeline where he hasn't died yet.
The reason why Hatch has a million 1 Ups is a little complicated, but can be (badly) summed up by calling him the embodiment of all his potentialities. Hatch is a being called a Shifter, named such by their existence being more fluid than anything else because they exist outside of time. Insert "Shrodinger's Cat" dilemma here.
Although I don't expect anything like this to ever happen because it's very OP in an roleplay setting, it should be noted that Hatch's abilities as a Shifter make him immune to powers or magic that manipulate the fabric of time, since he naturally generates his own "time" due to his condition. It's also in a dead state (moments where time stops, like with Dio's Stand powers far as I understand them) where Hatch suddenly becomes the most dangerous person in the room, since he regains access to his abilities pre-Chronon Syndrome. Long story short, he becomes a super-scary badass who doesn't like other things moving when everything's supposed to be frozen. I don't think this will happen, and don't even think it should, but I'll offer some specific powers if time-manipulation somehow isn't off the table.
Role: As a fellow businessman and entrepreneur, Martin Hatch fills the administrative role of ITCH's "CEO," though he shares the company with its founder, Alan Wake. While Wake wants to expand the house's presence on the god-planet, Hatch is more inclined to push resources into ITCH's off-world expeditions, claiming that neither of them want to lose the race with Beifong's group.
When word of a disturbingly dark place was discovered inside Balder, Wake and Hatch made a compromise: Wake would fully back any of Hatch's off-world expansion plans, if Hatch could confirm this newfound area matched a specific description, and potentially buy it from the Fusiliers.
Which is what has led Martin Hatch to schedule a meeting with the Fusiliers...
Fun Fact: Martin Hatch and Alan Wake are actually from the same universe. Hatch has read the first of Wake's Alex Casey novels; he thinks it's all "bestseller" trash.
Edited by TheodoreHastings on Aug 28th 2018 at 9:52:24 AM
A Squid
- Name: Pre Vizsla
- Appearance: Like you said, only the strongest shall rule.
- Personality: As the Mand'alor of the Secret Mandalorians, he is a proud, patriotic man (to a degree; he does not appreciate True or New Mandalorians very much). He despises weakness and peacefulness, and attempts to teach others the ways of the Mando'ad. Despite this, he is pragmatic and may take actions some see as cowardly, such as a tactical retreat. And though he may have what some call a war-like philosophy, he mainly focuses on the hunting of wild beasts nowadays as opposed to fighting the 'peacemongers'. He revels in the act of combat, and he expects his men to do so also. He has affiliations with the City - personal connections to the first warriors, for one - but chooses to live outside it. He has a particular hatred for pacifists.
- Powers and Abilities:
- While he has no superhuman capabilities, he is a trained warrior and a Mandalorian, and as such he is strong and in shape. Besides that, he carries the Darksaber, a black lightsaber, and two WESTAR blasters. He also has a wrist vambrace which comes armed with a flamethrower and energy shield to block blasters with. He wears a jetpack that can suspend him for up to one and a half minutes at a time.
- Erron Black is a long-lived Texan with a penchant for firearms. He's such a good shot he could ricochet a bullet off a coin. He used to have sand grenades and caltrops, but he used them all up a long time ago. Erron Black has only been able to use his guns again recently due to recent ammo production in the City. He also wields a blade made from the bones of a Tarkatan and a laser musket rifle, used for sniping targets, that he salvaged off of Preston Garvey. He can also take a surprising amount of damage, a side effect of being immortal.
- Warframe Loki, on the other hand, can turn invisible and also produce a fake copy of himself, boosting his efficiency at stealth operations, though he is fairly trash at head on confrontations. Warframe Loki wields dual kamas and a bow. He used to have a pistol, but that type of ammo went dry a long time ago. He is also extremely agile, capable of running along walls and sprinting faster than the average human. Besides that, he's fragile, having a low amount of natural shielding and a small health pool. He can't be patched up by conventional means; however, he does regenerate over time.
- While he has no superhuman capabilities, he is a trained warrior and a Mandalorian, and as such he is strong and in shape. Besides that, he carries the Darksaber, a black lightsaber, and two WESTAR blasters. He also has a wrist vambrace which comes armed with a flamethrower and energy shield to block blasters with. He wears a jetpack that can suspend him for up to one and a half minutes at a time.
- Personal Timeline:
- 0 AM - Pre Vizsla makes a deal with the benevolent being - Pre Vizsla will rule Mandalore when he returns. The battle with Balder is hard, especially since Pre Vizsla has no superhuman capabilities, but, through pure luck and some skill, he survives. Afterwards, Pre Vizsla makes his way to the veins down below. After the body has settled, he aids the construction of the City by guarding against the beasts of the Wilds. He recruits his friend Erron Black to join the Death Watch as a field marshal.
- 5 AM - Pre Vizsla has attracted a small following, only a mere three dozen at first. He helps combat the pack of lethal apex predators when they are attracted to the city, and in doing so he attracts many more followers.
- 7 AM - Pre Vizsla, with the creation of the Fusiliers, loses about two dozen of his eight dozen followers when they join the Fusiliers. However, Vizsla sees this as an opportunity. Before they go, he asks them to mention Death Watch to their fellow Fusiliers, and the planting of these seeds yield long-term results.
- 10 AM - With the portal storm comes the Warframe Loki, who quickly joins up with the Death Watch and proves his worth with his ambush and stealth skills. With the period of pesce, however, some Death Watch members abandon their warrior past to pursue lives in art or to have children. Pre Vizsla makes his selection process much more selective, lowering member rates but improving general morale and effectiveness of its members. At the same time he implements the traditional Neo-Crusader ranks, dying their armor blue for regular members, red for rally masters, and gold for marshals, with Vizsla himself sticking to his black and blue beskar'gam.
- 17 AM - Pre Vizsla helps with the construction of the second wall, but his forces are spread thin due to low membership (roughly 168 members at the time) but the performance of his faux-Mandalorians along with the surge of hero worship help recruit members of the Fusiliers and similar-minded civilians. By the end of the three year period it takes to create the wall, membership has surged to 230. By this time Loki has been promoted to marshal.
- 20 AM - With the portal storm comes new recruits, and membership rises to 273. At this point the Death Watch rally masters have been teaching survival skills to their members, who still live in the City at the time. There is a rally master for roughly every 25 members, and only two marshals - Loki and Erron Black. By the end of the year, a large portion of Death Watch lives in the Naked Wilds, including Pre Vizsla and his marshals. They set up tents and survive off of the beasts and plants of the Wilds, drinking the god's blood through filters. Death Watch camps always have at least two members, more depending on size of the camp, guarding the camp at night.
- 22 AM - By this year the Death Watch is almost entirely based in the Naked Wilds, maintaining communication by meeting up once every two months at a designated meeting location in the Wilds. New recruits are allowed to live in the City but are also taught survival skills so that they may eventually join the rest of Death Watch in the Wilds.
- 25 AM - At the creation of the Military positions, Pre Vizsla briefly considers heading back to the city to apply for the position of General of the Western Quadrant, but passes it up to focus on his Death Watch. By this point membership has reached roughly 300, with camps generally consisting of 24 Death Watch members and one rally master.
- 30 AM - With the new portal storm comes new recruits. Membership rises again, this time to roughly 320. Members wield what Pre Vizsla considers savage weapons, bone swords and rifles. Pre Vizsla begins leading hunts for the more dangerous beasts of the Wilds, as do rally masters across Balder. The hunts help Death Watch members prove their worth since they have no humans to combat (yet), and they provide food while increasing morale.
- 35 AM - Death Watch has fallen to nearly 300 members, and Pre Vizsla, now in his early 60s, still leads it, as do his marshals Erron Black and Loki. Death Watch members are commonly poor, not really acknowledging the use of a currency, but are excellent warriors, known for their prowess with a rifle and their skill with a blade. Pre Vizsla's only request to the City has been for ammo for his people. He has also recently begun interested in the research of portals, hoping he could one day use one to get home to Mandalore, which surely has decayed without his presence.
- Relationships:
- His two marshals are Erron Black and the Warframe Loki (NPC's). Erron trains his men in firearm combat, while Loki heads the stealthier bits of Death Watch.
- Pre Vizsla holds respect for the honorable Mayor of the City, Cassiopeia, but is vaguely wary of her. He sees her magical powers as a connection to the Force, and most Force-users are either Jedi, who Vizsla hates with a passion, or Sith, one of which gave Vizsla his scar. However, he is also aware of the Nightsister witches of Dathomir, so he considers her a witch of formidable strength. However, considering he's made it clear that he believes in the conquering of the planet Teolia (though it should be said he's not for slaves, just forced integration of alien populations), the respect may not be two way.
- Pre Vizsla also greatly respects the Bloodfather-General Jengbish, mostly for his sense of honor and great skill and joy in combat. He considers his psyker powers an extension of the Force, which is one reason Vizsla is also slightly cautious of him; he has bad experiences with Force-users. He is aware of Jengbish's worship of Khorne, but does not know much about Khorne, and thus considers Khorne a facet of Kad Ha'rangir, the destroyer god of Mandalore. Vizsla has long attempted to recruit from Jengbish's Brave Companions of the Long Knives, but they have proved too loyal to Jengbish to join Death Watch. Pre Vizsla used to ride by his side before the fall of Balder, but afterwards split to manage his Death Watch.
- Pre Vizsla respected Asriel Dreemurr more when he was Flowey, especially for his kill or be killed philosophy, but even then he was wary of the flower. Killing he was fine with, but he believed warriors, even enemy ones, deserved a chance to have their soul go to the manda, or collective oversoul. To have one's soul taken is seen by Vizsla as a fate worse than death. Still, there was a respect for his power. Nowadays there's still a degree of respect for what he once was but besides that, not much. He doesn't take much of a liking to Asriel's merciful attitude, nor to his pacifistic ways. Vizsla's merciless and more violent ways are probably not to Asriel's liking, anyhow. Makes good tea, though.
- Pre Vizsla finds Jo’on Yorigami pleasant enough, and Shion a bit depressing. Besides that, he doesn't know the two very well, especially considering they only arrived in the Third Wave. By then, Pre Vizsla was already living in the Wilds, certainly not dealing with the capitalistic nature of the inner City. He's aware of their existence though, primarily because he knows many of the people in power and tries to make himself known to the ones he doesn't. Still, he's not interested in money, at least until it becomes more widespread and accepted.
- Pre Vizsla does not know Matt Murdock well. In fact, considering that by the end of 20 AM Vizsla was living in the Wilds, he barely even knows his name. News reaches him, though, and he's aware of a Murdock in relation to Toph Beifong, who Vizsla knows a bit better. Vizsla's aware that this Murdock Man is some sort of lawmaker, a profession Vizsla technically has no problems with. So yeah, not bad, but not good either.
- Mr. Scratch? Ahh, Mr. Scratch. They agree on many things, especially the whole 'take what you want, when you want' philosophy. Vizsla respects him even though his combat skills leave something to be desired, mostly because he makes up for it in leadership and pure durability, though Pre Vizsla feels leaders should be able to enforce their position. Still, the fact that he could create his Taken is fairly impressive. The most impressive thing Vizsla has seen him done was help Vizsla take down the legendary beast Ten Thousand Teeth Gnashing at the Abyss, which might've been quite embarrassing for Scratch, but was seen by Vizsla as perhaps one of the more brave things he'd seen in his life. Ever since then, they've been good enough friends, even if Vizsla ribs him about the fight occasionally.
edited 12th Apr '18 12:24:33 PM by Kepler-7
Calamity is a housewife
I may end up playing as a family of three, so I must ask, are there any fraternization laws regarding the Fusiliers?
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
The Flamebringer
I glanced at the interest thread but now that this has a signup and I look closer it looks pretty interesting. So consider me interested.
All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.
Mancunian Candidate
@Lat: The general vibe I've gotten here is a feudal society crawling slowly and painfully towards modernity, which is a really pretentious way of saying probably not. Jengbish at least wouldn't care as long as it was outside his super secret fan club and wasn't massively detrimental to military function.
Transcender of Gender
Whew, okay. I mostly just skimmed through the other sign-ups while typing since I've read shorter books, so hopefully I haven't posted anything contradictory. I'll come back later and tweak it if I have.
Meet The Parents
- Name: Guzma
- Appearance: Your (not so bad) boi◊. His dark eyes, prematurely white hair, and hulking figure (standing a good 6 feet even with his perma-slouch) used to let him pass for much older than he was.
- Now that he's pushing sixty, Guzma's ditched his old get-up for something more practical and less ostentatious. He's identifiable now not by gaudy accessories, but by deep scarring, a couple missing fingers, and a rudimentary metal leg brace that keeps him from keeling over. Thanks Envy.
- Age: 24 (at beginning), 59 (present).
- Present Occupation: Domesticator.
- Personality: Social Darwinism is the name of the game, as an abusive childhood and chronic third-place syndrome taught Guzma that being the strongest was the only thing that mattered in life. Burying his self-confidence issues under countless layers of aggression, bravado, and violence, it took an interdimensional roadtrip and the earnest bravery of an eleven-year-old to make him realise that, hey, maybe it's not so bad helping other people. While he's still arrogant and prone to wild outbursts- particularly now that he's physically impaired and resisting the city's changes- he's been trying to do better by others.
- Powers and Abilities: On his lonesome, Guzma is just an average human- perhaps stronger and tougher than your regular joe, but likely to crumple against any sort of superhuman power. Especially now that he's old and hurt. To counter this, he's backed up by his squad of Pokémon, five creatures with supernatural abilities.
- (note: I'm not yet certain how or if the Pokémon will be involved with present-day fighting in the RP, and also I'm still trying to judge their abilities in relation to non-Pokémon entities, so for now I haven't gone too deeply into the specifics of their power. I'd be happy to work out something more detailed if it's required)
- Golisopod◊: Guzma's main partner-in-crime. Standing at 6'7", Golisopod is powerful, bulky, and deceptively fast with his claws (not so much with his general movement). His exoskeleton resists physical force, and also protects him from water- and ice- based dangers. Just don't let him near electricity. His special ability, Emergency Exit, gives him a huge speed boost when he retreats from battle. Nowadays, he acts as Guzma's assistant for when the latter is too debilitated by his injuries to carry out everyday tasks.
- Vikavolt◊: A 4'11" flying beetle, Vikavolt is notable for his ability to generate powerful blasts of electricity. While slow, and not particularly durable, his elemental power is something to watch out for. Like Golisopod he's defended against physical force, with an additional resistance to electricity. Not a fan of fire, though. While his electricity could be useful, he's not enough on his own to provide a consistent amount for the outskirts. Thus, he's mainly reserved for high priority or emergency services. Was bred with native Balder fauna to create the Grubbs.
- Pinsir◊: Like a stag beetle, but twelve times bigger and also with giant pincers. Pinsir is very strong, about as fast and durable as a fully grown man, and has a strange fighting style that almost seems to emulate wrestling. Also resists physical force, also very scared of spooky fire. Was bred with native Balder fauna to create the Thorsnaps.
- Scizor◊: A big bug that is also metal I guess. Its steel-like skin grants Scizor resistance to pretty much anything you throw at it- except fire, which it is very weak to. Its strength about matches Pinsir, so the duo were often paired together during the adventure when the team needed some heavy hitters. Was bred with native Balder fauna to create the Pincae.
- Masquerain◊: Something of an odd one, Masquerain wasn't particularly strong or tough while he was alive. He did, however, have the ability to produce a powder that paralyses on contact; combined with his ability to conjure winds to carry said powder, Masquerain was something of a secret weapon when it came to battles (or interpersonal conflicts). Was bred with native Balder fauna to create the Maseyes. Made for a tasty snack when a spider girl found her way into Guzma's household. RIP.
- Personal Timeline: First Wave, Original Warrior
- Guzma's tale really begins with his formation of Team Skull. Having escaped his abusive household, and been denied the enviable position of Trial Captain, Guzma turned his back on the world and formed a group of similarly disillusioned hooligans. His aim: to tear down the society that had 'wronged' them, and prove once and for all that he was the biggest and baddest.
- Then some stuff happened. He fell in line behind the only adult that treated him with respect, who took him along on her extradimensional journey to fight a beast that threatened the safety of their home world. Their attack failed, and it was left in the hands of
the player charactersome kid to save the world. They say that Guzma's heart grew three times that day, as the kid's fortitude convinced him to disband Team Skull and train himself to become a better, stronger individual. - Then more stuff happened. A different extradimensional being appeared with a request to help save the multiverse. Figuring this was a good chance to try out this whole 'being a good person' deal, Guzma went along, which is how he came to be one of the Original Warriors. Leading the group/part of the group, a position acquired by bullshitting how powerful he was and how much experience he actually had with the multiverse (Yes, he travelled to another dimension to fight a beast of world-threatening power. No, he didn't get his ass kicked and had to have a kid help out, shut the hell up, who told you that), Guzma was with the rest when they finally reached the climax of their journey. Miraculously, both he and all five of his Pokémon were able to survive the onslaught against Balder, thanks largely in part to his way more powerful team members that took the front line. The dust cleared, the battlefield quietened, and then...
- 00AM: Still recovering from the battle, Guzma was caught off-guard by an attempt on his life by the homunculus Envy. He survived the encounter, though not intact, and reached a consensus with the others to bury Envy underground until they could figure out what the hell to do with him. He spent the next few months recovering, and it wasn't until they made contact with the Naked Wilds that he was able to (sort of) get back on his feet and help with domesticating the Haina.
- 00-07AM: Stepping down from his leadership role, Guzma focused his efforts on using his Pokémon to protect the citizens from the Naked Wilds. While this kept him occupied for a good few years, he would find himself having to step down further when his injuries caught up to him and the Fusiliers were formed as an official, more organised protection against the dangers of the Wilds.
- 07-25AM: No longer suited for a combat role, yet refusing to rest, Guzma and his Mons spent the next few decades overseeing the construction and maintenance of the ever-expanding city. It was during this time, around 14AM, that a fateful encounter with one Akane Owari, meant as a means to de-stress, instead ended with them as parents. With neither of them qualified to oversee the development of a newborn, young Laeta spent most of her childhood in the more competent hands of caretakers and babysitters, her parents instead throwing themselves into their work to avoid freaking out about their new responsibility.
- 25-35AM: Angered by the increasing divide between the gentrified centre and the floundering outskirts, Guzma moved himself and Laeta out from the former to the far east of the Northern Quadrant. Now old, impaired, and living in less than ideal circumstances, Guzma's attention has turned to actually raising his damn kid and improving the quality of life of the outskirts. To do so, he's spearheaded and is currently managing a cross-breeding project between his Pokémon and the Naked Wilds fauna, producing creatures that could provide food and labour for his fellow citizens. The centre have approached him with the possibility of expanding his domestication effort and providing his results to the centre as well, but have thus far met nothing but resistance.
Production hit a snag in 25AM, early into the project, when one of Guzma's Pokémon were eaten by a little half-devil that he'd invited into his home. Extremely livid, yet still unwilling to turn a young girl over to the authority that he deplored, Guzma struck a deal with the girl's father, ensuring that his own daughter would be able to survive her frequent outings to the Naked Wilds.
- Relationships:
- Akane Owari: Strangely, their shared offspring has done little to change the casual friendship between Guzma and Akane. He values the companionship of someone who can empathise with his troubled past (perhaps even unconsciously seeing Akane as a successor to his previous second-in-command, Plumeria) and doesn't want it to be ruined by a single big mistake. Akane likes to drop in and hang out for a while whenever she's on-planet, but for the most part they rarely see each other. Both of them are fine with this; neither of them ever believed that their relationship was anything deeper than friends with benefits.
- Laeta Owari: Where Akane is simple, Laeta is nothing but complex. On one hand, his daughter. On the other, one he never intended to have. On the third, a living reminder that he wasn't who he was and that he is capable of growth and change. On the fourth, an annoying brat who never does what she's damn well told. Wanting to do right by her, while also constantly terrified that he'll end up like his father, Guzma is either leaving her to her own devices or trying to micro-manage her life and get her involved with his grudge against the centre. Overall, a big work in progress.
- Envy: Since the beginning, Guzma had a contentious relationship with his fellow original warrior, Envy. The homunculus rankled at the idea of being led around by a human- a sentiment that finally reached its apex when, while everyone was still reeling from their inability to return home, Envy murdered two of the human team members and aimed to make Guzma his third. His attempt was unsuccessful, in the sense that Guzma was Very Fucked Up but also Still Very Alive Thank You Very Much. The incident prompted Guzma and the group to bury Envy underground before he could cause any more harm.
- Flowey/Asriel Dreemur: Guzma doesn't talk about what Asriel was like before they slayed Balder. Betrayed and pissed as all hell that Flowey was stealing SOULs under his nose, a lot of persuasion had to happen to convince Guzma not to feed the little freak to his Golisopod. As much as he understands the desire to be a better person, he's never been able to fully trust the new, improved Asriel. This mostly manifests in him keeping his distance as much as possible, curling his lip when the goat is mentioned.
- X-23/Laura Kinney: Guzma's relationship with Laura back in the day was a working one, and more defined by Logan; the two men butted heads, but Guzma respected what he and his protege brought to the table. While Guzma and Laura have never had a personal conversation, there's an unspoken understanding between them- picked up by nuances in speech and action- that they've both come from a hard life, and aren't the most scrupulous individuals as a result of it.
- N'Jadaka: While most of their conversations have centred around their respective daughters, Guzma has nevertheless come to realise that he and N'Jadaka are similar in ways that he wouldn't have initially suspected- both in their past desires for vengeance, and their current ones for redemption. While he empathises with N'Jadaka's goal to turn a new leaf, he's somewhat envious that N'Jadaka has managed to do so at far less cost than himself.
- Miki Kuroda: Guzma is courteous, if distant, on the rare occasions that he converses with Miki. Mostly as an apology for how he acted when they first met, and his continued stubbornness in regards to her daughter. That said, he doesn't have time for people who give her shit about her devil ancestry.
- Anansi Kuroda: While he's never going to forgive her for eating his pet-slash-best-friend, Guzma reluctantly took Anansi under his wing when she struggled with the power that used to belong to his Masquerain. He's even more reluctantly allowed her to do odd jobs for him; while baffled by her idolisation, he at least understands the desire to make up for past mistakes. He's even, even more reluctant to admit (as in, you'll have to pry it from his cold, dead body) that her Masquerain abilities and her tattoos give him a fond nostalgia for his days back in Alola.
- Potential others are TBD.
- Name: Akane Owari
- Appearance: "Nice to meetcha."◊
- Coming up on her mid-fifties, Akane is not quite the beauty that she once was, though she still boasts an impressively healthy body for a middle-aged woman. She dresses more conservatively nowadays, though still not with as much armour as she really should. Protection is for the weak.
- Age: 18 (at beginning), 53 (present).
- Present Occupation: Explorer.
- Personality: Akane is carefree, easygoing, scatterbrained, and a glutton, all for reasons that are far more depressing than one would initially guess. She loves to eat because she's spent most of her life starving; she's forgetful with names because she's learned not to get attached to those who might be dead the next day; she's carefree because hesitation and worry are a sign of weakness, and she can't be weak if she wants to survive. She takes most of this in her stride, as she's too ditzy to fully realise how messed up her life is. While normally hot-headed and lazy, her determination to get back home has given her reason to put in some actual work these past few decades.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Peak Human Physicality: Akane has a talent for physical activity that, while not technically superhuman, is so absurdly above her human peers that one may be fooled into thinking it is. As a teenager she had no formal training in gymnastics, fighting, or parkour, and yet effortlessly excelled at all three (even landing herself the prestigious title of Ultimate Gymnast). While age has caught up to her, and had an effect on her raw ability, she's made up the difference with actual training. She can't quite tear right up the side of a building anymore, but now she knows how to take the slower, steadier way.
- Go With Your Gut: Akane makes up for her lack of intelligence with an unusually keen intuition. She can't explain the process behind what she feels and why she feels it; she just has a really good sense for when something's up. She follows her instincts, and they rarely prove her wrong.
- The Nose Knows: Akane has a very sensitive sense of smell. Again, not to superhuman levels, but if she's in a regular crowd then she'll be the first to pick up a scent.
- Personal Timeline: First Wave, Original Warrior
- With seven siblings to feed, Akane was all set and prepared to accept her invitation to the Hope's Peak Academy- a highly acclaimed private school that would develop her talent and guarantee her lasting success in life. This plan was waylaid somewhat when an angelic being asked her to come help with killing a god. She said yes, naturally, because everyone wants to kill a god at least once in their life (also because she was promised riches beyond her wildest dreams, which for once caused her to ignore her gut instinct of 'this is a very terrible idea').
- 00AM-07AM: Trusting Etmes was, in fact, revealed to be a very terrible idea. Once Balder was dead, and his body was settled, Akane immediately went about trying to find a way back to her homeworld. The portals proved to be too risky, as those who entered them seemed unable to return with any information. Thus, Akane (and any like-minded individuals) began exploring the Naked Wilds for potential information, risking life and limb to find any possible way back home.
- 07AM-20AM: The Fusiliers were formed, and the rudimentary exploration group was merged into their ranks. Akane continued her obsessive search for a way home, refusing to connect too deeply with the city and citizens that she knew she would only leave. While she helped protect the city as a Fusilier, it was only due to a sense of morality and her desire to continue searching the Wilds unabated.
However, her reluctance to form any significant bonds didn't stop her from entertaining casual relationships. One such encounter led to her becoming pregnant, which put less of a dent in her 'no attachments' rule than one might think. Once the baby was born, it was passed off to a caretaker and Akane returned to her work (after all, she had never had a steady mother in her own life; the baby would be better off with someone who actually knew what they were doing). - ~20AM-35AM: The first spaceships are created. Utilising her status as one of the original warriors, her long-standing acquaintance with Toph Beifong, and her two decades of service as a Fusilier, Akane forgoes a new position in the Fusiliers and instead lands a job on one of the government crafts. While officially her duties include mapping the surrounding galaxy, and forming peaceful relations with any neighbouring societies, she's much more enthused about gathering intel on any technologies that will allow her to go back to her home- her real home.
- Relationships:
- Guzma: Guzman's her pal from way back at the beginning of this whole mess. They meet up to chat, eat, and bang sometimes, though they cut down on that last one once they ended up with a kid. She's closer to him than she is to most, but that's not saying much.
- Laeta Owari: Layton's her daughter, though it's weird to think of her that way cause Akane already has a real family waiting for her at home. She doesn't try to avoid Laeta or anything, but their bond is shallow and lacks a lot of motherly affection on Akane's part. They act more like friends than they do relatives.
- Toph Beifong: Tough's the lady in charge at work, and another person that Akane has known since the start. A bit of a hardass sometimes, but also hella strong, and Akane can respect that. They get along about as well as an employer and her rowdy employee can.
- Flowey: Gut instinct told Akane that the flower was evil from the second they met. Not smart enough to conceptualise her feeling, and easily distracted, Akane was never able to act... not until the flower revealed its true colours, and she nearly stomped it into the ground where it lay root. She was convinced to spare him, but wasn't happy being in the same group as a remorseless murderer.
- Asriel Dreemur: Raul's a cool guy! Having seven siblings of her own, Akane appreciates the goat man taking charge of Balder's waylaid children. Guzman and the others keep telling her that he's 'the same' as the evil flower that killed people, but that's ridiculous. He's clearly way too nice and naive to be like that awful little thing.
- X-23/Laura Kinney: Akane and Lauren used to team up back in the day, along with the short man that used to take care of the latter. They never bonded, Lauren acting too distant for that, but Akane enjoyed hanging out with them regardless.
- N'Jadaka: Having once misremembered him as 'Ninja', Akane hasn't quite managed to get the mental image of him as a stealthy badass out of her head. She hasn't been around him long enough to realise that she's entirely right.
- Miki Kuroda: Akane's daughter's friend's mom is apparently a spider sometimes, which is pretty neat.
- Anansi Kuroda: Akane has made a concentrated effort to remember who Anan is, being that she's one of the few people in Balder who really understands the never-ending, intense allure of food. One of her favourite activities when she sets back down is to take the girl (and her own daughter, of course) along to the nearest foodplace, so they can all stuff their faces and chatter about her latest expedition.
- Potential others are TBD.
And Now, The Actual Central Player Character
- Name: Laeta Owari
- Appearance: waddup.◊
- Questionable fashion wasn't the only thing that Laeta inherited from her dear father; at 6'1", she stands pretty tall for a young woman. She's also pretty buff to go along with it, a result of a very rare, mutual insistence from her parents that she learn how to defend herself.
- Age: 21
- Present Occupation: Private Guard for the Naked Wilds Survivalists.
- Personality: Taking the best and worst from her parents, Laeta wears her jagged heart on her sleeve. Dishonesty and subtlety don't exist in her household, so if Laeta thinks something, then everyone is damn well going to hear about it. She can be prickly, and quick to anger, but she covets steady bonds and thus is a steadfast friend once you can get through the initial barriers. Stuck in a constantly evolving city with parents that are both distant and over-bearing, Laeta's greatest wish is for some room to stop and breathe- which is why the primal beliefs of the Naked Wilds Survivalists have, as of late, been appealing to her.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Swole: Laeta exercises regularly, and engages in whatever passes as weight training in this brave new world. As such, she is in peak physical condition for a woman her age.
- Not-Quite-Master Assassin: Baldur can be dangerous, and the Masquerian Incident allowed Guzma an opportunity to get Laeta the training she needed to survive in this crazy new world. As such, N'Jadaka has been passing some of his JSOC training onto the young woman. While nowhere near as proficient as her teacher, Laeta has extensive training in martial arts (focusing on self-defense and aggression), marksmanship, and bladed weaponry. She's also got some infiltration tips hidden up her sleeve (nothing fancy, but they'll get her into any Baldur house that has basic security). Sabotage is still something she's ever-so-subtly trying to pry out of him.
- Can Shoot Gud: Not satisfied with close combat alone, and not rich enough to own a gun with a steady supply of ammo, Laeta was also given separate proficiency lessons with a recurve bow. She was also taught how to repair it, and how to make arrows (either at home with good materials, or in the field with whatever's on hand).
- Personal Timeline: Second Wave, Native
- 14AM-25AM: Baby Laeta welcomes the world. Then, for the next eleven years, she's passed from babysitter to babysitter as her mother leaves for the stars and her dad struggles to adapt to suddenly having a child. It wasn't until she was about seven that she realised that this really wasn't a typical family set-up.
- 25AM-35AM: Now relocated to the Northern Quadrant, Laeta enters a brand new phase of her life where her dad is suddenly interested in her well-being. A nasty incident with her dad's pet lands her with a new friend and lessons on how to fight with her body and with a bow. Guzma teaches her how to live in the outskirts, after a relatively comfortable life in the centre- encourages her to discard her nostalgia for the city centre and regard it with a critical eye. Upset with the relocation and confused by Guzma's sudden attention, Laeta distances herself from him and becomes more unsure than ever about her place in the city.
Enter the Survivalists. In a minor act of rebellion, knowing her father thought of them as a 'bunch of kooks', Laeta stopped and listened at one of their public congregations. Unexpectedly, she found herself intrigued by their sermon; of their worship of the Naked Wilds, their unwavering belief in the superiority of primitive living. While she's not about to go around spreading the good word herself, she's nevertheless been tempted enough to sign on as their private guard for when they make excursions out to the Wilds.
- Relationships:
- Guzma: Laeta's feelings for her father are no less complex than her father's feelings for her. She's now old enough to understand that Guzma's faults are owed largely to his own troubled upbringing, but isn't willing to forgive him just based on that. While on the surface they appear to have a friendly, if abrasive, relationship, there's lately been a tension between them that's becoming increasingly harder to ignore.
- Akane Owari: Laeta feels like she should have some resentment towards her mother for abandoning her, but honestly she sees Akane so rarely that she can't muster any feelings that deep. Instead they share something that's closer to an acquaintance than it is a mother/daughter relationship.
- Asriel Dreemur: Laeta is curious as to why her father acts so awkwardly around the orphanage owner, but so far her attempts to pry information out of him have turned up little. As such, she regards Asriel with slight wariness; it can't have been anything bad, since he's been left in charge of the orphaned kids that she pals around with, but the only other secret Guzma keeps is about the thing that gave him his debilitating injuries. He's not the type to cover up anything minor...
- X-23/Laura Kinney: Acquaintances at best, Laura once saved Laeta when the latter messed up during her hunt for a Decapod. Some advice was shared, and the two haven't really met since. She thinks the claws are wicked, though.
- N'Jadaka: Initially annoyed by his irreverence, seeing him as just another adult not willing to take a child seriously, Laeta slowly started to warm up to N'Jadaka once she grew older and his combat lessons started to have an effect. While she's still known to throw tantrums and proclaim this to be the last ever time she'll listen to stupid N'Jadaka and his stupid lessons, she inevitably returns with a reluctant apology and a desire to learn. When not letting her temper get the best of her, she enjoys shooting the breeze with him, regardless of how many times he tells her to stay focused.
- Miki Kuroda: Laeta is a little off-put by how Miki acts more like a mother to her than Akane does. She doesn't like Miki's protectiveness, believing it to be patronising, and also reminding her too much of how her father can be overbearing- and yet, a small part of her yearns for the type of maternal worry that's been absent all her life. Also it's just generally a little awkward to be hanging around a teacher, especially when you kinda skimped on school. All that said, Miki can turn into a giant spider, which is the coolest thing and screw anyone who thinks otherwise.
- Anansi Kuroda: You'd think that watching someone eat your dad's pet would turn you off from befriending them. Somehow, the opposite happened, and Laeta and Anansi have been thick as thieves ever since Masquerain slipped down the Devilgirl's throat. Fascinated with Anansi's power, bemused by her idea that Laeta's parents are anything worth obsessing over (especially given Anansi's own parents are so wicked awesome), fiercely protective of her childhood friend, yet aware of how much stronger Anansi is than her, and how much stronger they could be together, Laeta- for better or worse- is energised by their friendship.
- Potential others are TBD.
edited 4th Apr '18 1:14:50 PM by whizzerd
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
One Brunch Man
no bug steed, I am disappoint
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
Transcender of Gender
She's not going to take the bugs from her old, disabled father.
Unless he tries to ground her, at which point all is fair in love and war
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
Mancunian Candidate
PSA just in case anyone didn't want to read 15000 words of bad 40K fanfiction: Ninety percent of it doesn't matter, but unfortunately the section under Pseudosentia Crusades is kinda relevant for the whole setting, regardless of location or relationship with the big red idiot up there. Just so when the one we're due for the RP happens a buncha people aren't all like "yo what the fuck are these guys".
edited 28th Mar '18 4:10:45 PM by OG-Sama
Updated my signup to finish the personal timeline. Even included a little relationship/opinion bit for every character but the kids.
Sorry, Scratch doesn't care about kids. XP
edited 28th Mar '18 4:21:10 PM by TheodoreHastings
huzzaaaaaaaah
Alright. Let's get to it. First, my sheets.
- Name: Loki Laufeyson
- Appearance: the Hobo God of Mischief.
- Personality: Loki will never tell the truth to you. He will laugh with you, he will give you his honest opinion, he will even drive you to the airport, but he will never tell the truth to you. Even if you are his lover, expect some sort of late-game reveal about how it was actually a mannequin you were kissing. That’s just how he works. He has learned to never again let anyone get near him, because in the end, they’ll either die or he’ll be taken into another insane multiverse adventure. Please leave him alone. He’s not going to tell you the truth.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Asgardian Physiology: Loki can take several more punches than your usual human. He can also fall from taller heights than a human, hold his breath for a few more minutes than a human, heal up after a massive injury faster than a human. The thing is, he’s just not interested in getting into any situation that requires that.
- Sorcerer: Loki is an adept user of the magical arts, capable of creating minor elemental magic. But where he really excels in is his illusions, which more often than not involve making your dreams/nightmares seem more real than they really are. The thing about Loki’s magic though, is that apart from a few actual blasts capable of hurting people, his creations often disappear when touched by another person’s hands. He’s also a really good shapeshifter, and he’s never been a horse, shut up.
- Personal Timeline: One of the original Warriors, Loki arrived at the beginning of the group’s adventure, at which point he uttered one of his favorite lines: 'oh gods, not again'. Throughout most of their journey, Loki would only talk about how tired he was of doing these multiversal ventures, and how they would eventually go the way of his previous adventuring party. When Etmes betrayed them, Loki was the first one to resign to his fate, building a little hut for himself and proceeding to ignore almost everyone. He continued following this procedure, busying himself with painting, entertaining the occasional child that stumbles upon his home, partaking in some romantic encounters every once in a while and only occasionally coming out to help his fellow Warriors. He still lives in a small house in the inner city.
- Relationships: Loki makes a point to not have a long-standing relationship with anyone, often cycling through romantic flames every six months or so and not even remembering the things he did with the other original warriors. He might be coming around to that. One interesting detail is that he calls every woman ‘Seiga’, no matter their actual name, and he’s never told anyone why. He’s also never explained who the people in his paintings are.
- Name: Toph Beifong
- Appearance: A portrait of a better time.◊
- Personality: Brutally honest, perpetually headstrong, loyal, empathetic and lackadaisical. One might think that Toph hasn’t really ‘grown up’ in the past thirty-five years, seeing as she still maintains the same traditions of nicknaming everyone, disrespecting authority at every moment or just generally berating people and showing a complete disregard for the expected niceties and subtleties of normal human interaction (to the point where she still tells it like it is and also never hangs around after an one-night stand, because why would she?). But there is a surprising new level of wisdom and kindness behind her eyes, and a tendency towards moments of introspection and consideration (but only when others aren’t around to see her do it). Though her years as the Blind Bandit are far behind her, Toph is not afraid to be a little immature or irresponsible. But the weight of the years ahead is slowly bearing down on her back, and it seems as if change is coming sooner, rather than later.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Earthbending: Despite the fact that it is decidedly not earth, Toph’s legendary earthbending somehow works in the planet of Balder, and she’s not questioning it at all. Through movements that echo martial arts, Toph can bend the earth to her liking, using it for attack, defense, or just about anything she might want to do at that particular moment. However, her skills are legendary for two reasons: one, it is how Toph sees. Having been born blind, she not only learned earthbending from animals, but also developed the ability to see through the vibrations travelling around the earth (which is why she hates anyone who can fly). This ability also works as a lie detector, and it helps her bend other elements by searching for the earth within them, which is how she created the second reason for her well-known mastery of the elemental art: metalbending, an offshoot of earthbending capable of manipulating almost every metal she can touch (the only exception are those far too pure for her to bend).
- Martial Arts: Even though her weapon is the earth, Toph has also trained her body to perform excellently even when her earthbending has been restricted (which happens far too often, now that she regularly goes to space). So don’t think that just because there’s no earth around that she can’t kick your ass. In fact, she’s got a rather mean kick (blame all the decades of kicking giant rocks into the sky).
- Personal Timeline:
- Toph was only twelve when she was offered the chance to save the multiverse, an opportunity she only accepted when Etmes assured her that her friends would be able to handle things (after some long-winded talk about how ‘a copy of you will still be here’, she just rolled her eyes and jumped in). Getting to hone her skills whilst travelling across the multiverse was a dream for Toph, and she made a couple of friends along the way to boot. Even though they ended up losing a few members, and even though the final battle was the literal definition of hell, Toph knew that it was all worth it. Then, when Balder was defeated and nobody showed up to take them back, she… acted like it was nothing. But that was the key word: acted. It took her two years to get over the fact that she’d never see her friends again, especially because most of those two years was spent trying to find a way home. After mourning her loss (which involved telling everyone she was going to ‘explore’ something and disappearing for three days), Toph returned with a newfound sense of purpose: she would dedicate her life to this new village in the hopes of making a safe place for all vagrants of the multiverse.
- Through her first two decades, Toph grew up and grew to love the city she had helped found. She would not only assist citizens during the day by helping build their homes and get rid of any natural obstacles, but she’d also prowl the streets by night, making sure whoever tried to take advantage of her people paid the price. For a while, she was an unofficial ‘police officer’, a constant presence in the city, always offering to help those who didn’t want to ask the Fusiliers for assistance. When the second wall was built, Toph even made sure to keep her house in the outskirts of the city, and would always patrol the city or help those who needed to go outside the walls for whatever reason.
- In 22AM, Toph heard stories about a man who was doing similar work to her, despite his blindness. This similarity piqued her interest, but even she didn’t expect to actually end up meeting the man whilst on one of her unofficial night patrols, an activity which he also enjoyed partaking in. From then on, their encounters grew more frequent, as they exchanged war stories, dealt with situations far beyond their understanding… and ate together. Once the Fusiliers became the official peacekeeping force in the city, Toph and Matt continued their nightly encounters, though they no longer needed to play pretend and use crimefighting as an excuse. Soon enough, they began a torrid romance, and Matt whooshed Toph into a state of mind she had never experienced before. By the end of the year, she proposed to him.
- Living with Matt brought on situations that Toph had never encountered when they would only spend nights at each other’s home. Soon, time that would have once been spent careening in the moonlight was now spent taking care of responsibilities and other issues Toph had designed other people to care for her. She thought things would get better with the birth of her child, Yishan, but even what was supposed to be a joyful period was drowned by Matt clashing with her on every subject, especially how to raise her own damned child. The possibilities regarding Yishan’s earthbending grew more distant, her nights with Matt became shorter and shorter… her heart grew colder. Once he told her that he had accepted an official position within the new government, thereby leaving her to be what she had derisively called a ‘housewife’, Toph decided that it was all over. She had made a mistake with Matt, and she wouldn’t pay the price for it anymore.
- Almost immediately, Toph accepted a position as the Overseer for the shipping routes between Balder and other planets, graciously thanking the opportunity to get as far away from Matt as possible. Even though she couldn’t bear to (metaphorically) look the man in the eye anymore, Toph made sure to always try and see Yishan as much as possible. She still doesn’t know how she feels about him. She’s not even comfortable calling him her son. As she spends her nights on the cold metal floor, feeling the machinery underneath her, Toph can’t help but hate how dumb she was to think those first few romantic years would last forever… and how foolish a part of her is for wanting them to come back.
- Relationships:
- Toph once loved Matt Murdock, in a way she couldn’t really explain to anyone. Now she thinks that the reason why she couldn’t put it into words was because it was all in her head. She tries her best to smile at him whenever Yishan is around, but just feeling his heartbeat reminds her of so many memories, that it’s no wonder she can’t spend more than a few minutes near him. Like most of the things in her life, Toph associates Matt with an intense need to think about something completely different.
- Yishan is a creature Toph doesn’t really understand yet. On one hand, she remembers feeling his tiny heartbeat as he laid down against her chest. On the other, she remembers the way her heart sank once she realized how much her son didn’t want to earthbend. She loves him, she swears, but… sometimes, she wishes Yishan would just learn to see things her way.
- Toph thought once that Jengbish was a kindred spirit, what with the way both of them enjoyed to take life head-on and tell everyone else to go away in case they didn’t like it. But as she grew older, Toph began seeing even more parts of herself in Jengbish… and other parts which she didn’t want to associate with. Still, at one time, she saw Jengbish as the key towards true happiness, as she was never more carefree then when she was palling around with him. That all ended the first time she actually accepted his advice on an issue exclusive to her later years, seeking some form of spiritual guidance (something her younger self would laugh at). She will never tell you about what happened inside the Lodge.
- In a way, Toph likes Satsuki the most because being around her reminds her of a time when calling someone “Clackfeet” (because of her awful heels) or “Commander Eyebrows” (even if she’s never actually seen her eyebrows) was the only thing Toph needed to make her feel good about herself.
- To be added: relationships with Asriel, Jo'on/Shion, Mr. Scratch, Laura, Guzma, Akane, Laeta and Cassiopeia.
- Name: Envy
- Appearance: Ready to kick.◊
- Personality: Have you ever heard someone say ‘this person is a ____ fuck’? Well, Envy is that. Not that person (he’s not a human), but rather that phrase incarnate, because you can fit whatever adjective you want in there. Sadistic? Yes. Ethically lacking? Yes. Violent? Yes. Bizarrely focused on harming humans and delighting in their reactions? Yes. Clearly hiding some sort of complex and overcompensating by being the most vicious creature you could ever attempt to engage in a conversation? Duh.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Homunculus: We weren’t kidding when we said Envy wasn’t a person. An artificial human, Envy doesn’t have organs, or a heart (though he has a lot of blood), but instead his core is a Philosopher’s Stone, which is what happens when alchemists try to put a bunch of human souls inside of a shiny little container. How many human souls are in Envy right now? Well, we’ve never really counted. But it’s enough to give him a ‘super form’ in the shape of a gigantic dog-like monster made up entirely out of the bodies of the people that live within his stone (which is why his actual weight is disproportionate to his usual lithe human-like form). Luckily, he’s not powerful enough to access that form, having spent thirty years or so restrained to his Philosopher’s Stone, but he still has access to a very important ability that Homunculi have: regeneration. If you cut off Envy’s head, it’ll grow back. If you stab him several times, he’ll heal up. It’s all thanks to the souls that power his regeneration. But here’s the trick: if you just keep stabbing and cutting off his head, eventually he’ll run out of souls and turn into a tiny awful insect, his real form. And since he’s not interested in doing that (or go back to being just a Stone), Envy is trying to stay out of danger. For now.
- Shapeshifting: What would be the use of all of Envy’s cool secondary abilities if he didn’t have one good thing he’s very good at? That thing is… shapeshifting. That’s right, Envy can make himself look like just about anyone or anything in the world, be they human, animal, or who knows. He can mimic their voices, their mannerisms (if he’s seen the person before, duh), and that’s not all. Envy can use turn parts of his body into weapons, which he often employs by turning his limbs, be they arms or legs, into deadly blades ready-made for his favorite hobby- killing humans.
- Personal Timeline: Envy was never receptive to the idea of working in a group. From the instant he was forcibly recruited by Etmes, he made it clear to everyone who would listen that the only reason they weren’t all lifeless bodies for him to gleefully step on, is because the god promised him a way home and a nice gift to boot. Despite all that, Envy made sure to be as vindictive and as asshole-ish as possible during the original group’s adventures, often employing Etmes as his shield anytime anyone tried to actually kick his ass. Things came to a head when Etmes disappeared, leaving Envy- and a bunch of people he hated- to rot in some forgotten planet. At first, the homunculus was surprisingly controlled, trying to focus the group’s efforts on finding a way home, displaying in public some emotions that weren’t just unbridled hatred. But then, once he realized that there was no way home, Envy went berserk, killing two members of the original group ([[Comic Book/Batman Bruce Wayne and Finn) and readying himself to end as many lives as he could. Unfortunately (for him), the combined efforts of the original group managed to subdue and burn his entire body, until all that remained was the Stone itself. Before he could regenerate, the Stone was attached to some of the god’s nerve tissue, its bacteria constantly eating at Envy, keeping him from regenerating. He’s still there, to this day, waiting.
- Relationships: Envy just hates everyone, but he has a special hatred for the surviving members of the original group who locked him up. Until they’re all dead by his hand, most people are, to him, not worthy enough to be acknowledged. The homunculus has never been this consumed with revenge before, and without the guiding hand of its creator, for the first time in his eternal life, he wants to see it through.
Yay.
And now, onto my sheet comments.
@darksidevoid:
- Mayor Cassiopeia is accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
@OG-Sama:
- Added Pseudosentia and the Decapods to the Fauna list.
- Added all events to a short timeline in the discussion thread.
- General Jengbish is accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
- Northern quadrant is still available.
@goldenshark:
- Added characters mentioned to the list.
- I would like you to rework the description of the Shocker Breaker, as a flashing ! feels like just taking something that was there because of the mechanics of the game.
- I would like you to specify the area Star Blazing encompasses during an attack.
- Please remove or nerf Chaos Buster. Too much power spread over a big area.
- Personal request: you can make lists with sub-items, and those can help make parts of your sheet (such as the personal timeline one), much easier to read.
- Do not claim that it was Asriel's attack specifically that lead to Balder's defeat, but more that it was one of many factors that did so.
- Seeing as you didn't write a sheet for Laura, I'm assuming you want me to control her?
- Mercury Man Traps is a good name.
- With all those changes, Asriel Dremurr is accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
@joergenjetsam:
- Possession is okay, just as long as it's not applied to P Cs and important NP Cs (at least not without asking first).
- Chancellor Jo'on (and her sister) are accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
@troydenite:
- Matt and Frankie are accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
- Mr. Scratch is accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
@Kepler-7:
- There are three problems we need to solve: one, you need to tell me more about Loki and Black if you're going to bring them on as NP Cs. Two, I feel as if 1000 members might be too big a number for a paramilitary group, as in the City would have had to officially respond to them by now, since they'd have the same number of people as a village. And third, there simply is no technology to manufacture any blasters/jetpacks- in other words, Pre Viszla's equipment would be the only piece of advanced tech the Death Watch would have access to. How do you propose we solve these problems?
@whizzerd:
- Akane, Guzman and Layton are accepted.
- Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.
Yay.
edited 3rd Apr '18 5:32:52 AM by Stratofarius
A dogged fellow, aren't we?
Name: Satsuki Kiryuin
Appearance: As she looked before being pulled into the City
◊. Now, she's in her late thirties, has let her hair grow out slightly, and usually wears a slightly more ornate version of a Fusilier General's uniform. Still has those powerful eyebrows
◊.
Personality: Supremely self-confidant, unshakably determined, and naturally charismatic. Highly intelligent, patient and calculating, she is not afraid to do what she feels is necessary to achieve her larger objectives. Underneath this, she still has a kind heart, and rewards loyalty with respect, faith and influence. Her experiences in her own world pushed her away from the iron-fisted, Social Darwinist rule she was known for as the student president of Honouji Academy, and towards a desire to make a better, more peaceful and equal world. Almost 20 years in Balder, however, have forced her to fall back on some of her more ruthless, pragmatic tendencies.
Powers and Abilities:
- Physical prowess - Constant physical training and extraordinary discipline has given Satsuki almost superhuman strength, speed and agility.
- Master swordswoman - Her weapon of choice is the katana, and she is skilled enough to easily demolish larger, stronger opponents with a few blows of her sheathed sword.
Personal Timeline:
- Taken out of her world shortly after graduating from Honouji Academy, she found herself in the city of Balder during the second immigration wave. After taking stock of the situation, and coming to terms with the fact that she would surely never be able to return home, she came to a resolution - she would fix this festering mess of a city.
- Through sheer force of personality, she gathered together the few people trying to bring law and order to early Balder and forged them together into an organised force of sheriffs and lawmen. Shortly after, she rolled the various ad-hoc militias defending the outskirts of the city into her command as well, and the organisation that would go on to become Fusiliers were born.
- The following decade saw her consolidating her power, stamping out several attempts by would-be warlords to carve themselves a chunk of Balder. Several of these warlords went on to become her first Generals. She pushed for a codified set of laws and a judicial system, and began policing and enforcing the will of the city's blooming bureaucracy. However, she never overtly moved to overtake the office of the mayor, even as people whispered that she probably had just as much support, if not more, among the populace. She has made it quite clear that the Fusiliers are hers, and that the city will not run for long without her.
- In the years following the chaos of the Third Wave, she stumbled across a child while personally leading a mission into a particularly poor region of the city outskirts - an orphaned girl, not much older than three years. She took personal responsibility for the waif - a temporary arrangement, at first. However, she soon felt a sense of kinship with the intense young girl, and within the year had officially adopted her as her daughter.
- Satsuki divided her time over the next decade between raising her child and running the Fusiliers, delegating some of her previous responsibilities to her most trusted lieutenants - a transition she knew she would need to begin eventually anyway. She still maintains a firm grip on the reigns of the organisation, however, even as her role shifts from field commander to politician and strategist.
Relationships:
- Matt Murdock - One of Satsuki's earliest allies in the effort to organise the city's law enforcement and judiciary. Getting along well with the daredevil, she appreciates him for his ability to see through her steely presentation - she says it keeps her on her toes.
- Jengbish - Satsuki views him as an asset, a tool, seeing a warped reflection of her younger self's ideology in him. She knows that, one day, he will become more dangerous than he is useful, but until then she is willing to wield him like the weapon he is, while quietly working behind the scenes to prepare for the day she needs to get rid of him.
- Toph: Satsuki and Toph get along like oil and water, their personalities too fundamentally different for them to ever truly get along. She does respect her, however, even as she maneuvers her to her own advantage.
- Jo'on and Shion: Satsuki is wary of their growing influence, but appreciates the necessity of the Chancellery. That doesn't mean she's not going to take steps to ensure that influence doesn't spread to the Fusiliers.
I'll add more relationships, and flesh out the ones I have here, once we work them out!
Coming soon, Kiryuin Jr.
edited 28th Mar '18 6:47:09 PM by LittleMako
Calamity is a housewife
- Name: Noel Vermillion
- Appearance: Her blue eyes have yet to leave. Noel looks awfully young for a veteran soldier and working mother, and that's likely because of her nature as an artificial humanoid weapon preventing her from physically aging past twenty. She once had green eyes, but since being tempered with the power of the Azure they've been rendered permanently blue.
- Personality: When she first arrived in Balder as Prime Field Device Mu-12, she spoke only of fulfilling her duty of 'destroying the Master Unit', as she'd still been under Yuuki Terumi's brainwashing. She assessed situations like a computer and spoke in a deep monotone, while occasionally ranting about her nihilistic worldview. Once her suppressed personality as Noel was released with the clearing of her brainwashing, Noel was deeply depressed by her circumstances, and to this day still retains a slight monotone to her voice. Still, she now manages to show more of her true self, a shy, painfully nice young woman who has been trying to move on from her past life in her home world and make a new one in Balder. Despite the efforts of those around her, her conditioning by Terumi still left its mark, and if you pose a danger to her new family or otherwise push her buttons, her nihilism and violent temperament may just return.
- Powers and Abilities:
- Acrobatic: She can flip, leap, somersault, and otherwise confuse enemies with her mobility.
- Eye of the Azure: Having been accepted by the Azure, Noel has the power to affect causality... in her world that is. Here, it has no effect.
- Lux Sanctus: Murakumo: As a biological superweapon, Noel possesses the potential to transform into a more powerful Murakumo form. However, outside of being brainwashed by Terumi, she hasn't the slightest clue how to access it. Perhaps activating requires a state of distress or trauma. The form grants her these abilities...
- Turrets: Floating sentries that fire lasers. She can have a maximum of four out at a time and can be used to ricochet lasers off of each other to confuse opponents.
- Blades: Granted a set of floating blades controlled telekinetically.
- Flight: A controlled flight. She can hover, jet through the sky, or float slightly above the ground.
- Slight Healing Factor: She will be able to heal faster from wounds, but cannot regrow limbs or body parts.
- Personal Timeline:
- 30 AM: Noel arrives in the Balder city center as the brainwashed, murderous Mu-12, and in a misguided attempt to return to her mission, she ends up slaughtering quite a few citizens. In the crowded city center, this proved to be quite a massacre. She is stopped by the Fusiliers (having a compromised building dropped on her by Laura Kinney) and detained, then put to trial. However, with her machine like words indicating that she didn't have a will of her own (or merely believed she didn't), she was put to treatment instead of jail. After a year of being tampered with by the greatest minds the multiverse had to offer, one of which was Balder's own Mayor, Queen Cassiopeia, she was cleared of her brainwashing and released.
- 31 AM (a month after release): Noel finds adjusting to life in the city center difficult. With her violent entrance still fresh in the public mind, at best she recieves many distrustful stares, and at worst she is actively attacked. She finds it impossible to find work or a home, and resorts to stealing food and water, and sleeping on the street for a month. Eventually she runs into Sin Kiske, a fellow who had been on ground zero of her massacre and helped stop her initial rampage, now a Fusilier. She pours out her troubles and he listens, and he gives her a helping hand by getting a word in for her at the Fusiliers. Enlistment is rough on her mental state at first, but she manages through it and is posted in the Western Quadrant. Noel and Sin meet up whenever they could to make small talk, and during what off-days were afforded them, would spend them together.
- 33 AM: Noel and Sin tie the knot and get married. Only a month later, Noel is pregnant with a Gear child (courtesy of Sin's bloodline), and after only a month of a very rough, sped-up pregnancy, she gives birth to Vigil Kiske. With the birth of her child, Noel retires from the Fusiliers to raise Vigil in the Western Quadrant of the outskirts, firstly because she had grown close to the place and the people from her work, and secondly because her reputation in the city center hadn't improved all that much.
- 34 AM: As a Gear, Vigil ends up growing at a rapid pace. By the time he's a year old, he already resembles a six-year-old, and Noel enrolls him in the Western Quadrant's school, while also getting a job there as a teacher to stay close to him. His growth cycle ends up outpacing his curriculum, however, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't get Vigil to be jumped a few grades despite his rapidly advancing mental faculties.
- 35 AM: With the outskirts populace now aware of Vigil's strange growth cycle, and with rumors regarding Noel's violent streak spreading from the city center to the outskirts, the family begins receiving varying levels of mistrust. Even so, Noel tries her best to make a good life for her son.
- Relationships:
- Sin Kiske: Noel's relationship with her husband was initially a dependent one. As the first person to listen to her pour her heart out and respond by helping and encouraging her, she was quite attached to him and looked forward to their days spent together. Over time, her defending the city as a Fusilier helped soften that and awaken her independence somewhat, but she still looks up to Sin as a paragon of kindness, that being the reason she married him. In present day, Sin is still a Fusilier and is often away from the family, but when he does pay a visit, they attempt to make the most of it.
- Vigil Kiske: Noel deeply treasures her son, and sees it as her responsibility to make the best out of life for him. The feeling is mutual, and in spite of the prejudices they face, they rely on each other for their happiness.
- Matt Murdock: As the Head Judge of Balder's policies directly affected the ruling at her trial, Noel currently has a respect for Murdock and the law of Balder as having given someone like her a second chance, where previously her existential crisis prevented her from feeling anything about them.
- Satsuki Kiryuin: In her time as a Fusilier along the lower echelons of the rank and file, Noel barely interacted with her esteemed commander aside from a few instances during evaluations and military exercises. Even still, Noel's meek personality meant she was deeply intimidated by Satsuki, even after acknowledging her as someone with the good of the people at heart.
- Miki Kuroda: Despite word of Noel's less than pleasant entrance into Balder now extending to the outskirts, Noel and Miki managed to hit it off as friends. Noel often seeks the Devilman's advice as a relatively new citizen to life in Balder, considering Miki's greater experience living here.
- Laura Kinney: The first time the two met was during her rampage, as Laura was one of the first Fusiliers to show up and attempt to detain her. Since then, Noel has shown an appreciation towards the mutant for helping to stop her.
- Queen Cassiopeia: Like with Laura and Matt, Noel owes some gratitude to the Mayor of Balder for contributing to cleaning out her brainwashing.
- Name: Sin Kiske
- Appearance: He certainly looked the part of a bright star in his youth, but Sin's look has changed slightly in his time in Balder. Aside from the sharper expression fashioned by five more years of experience, he's decided to grow his hair out to shoulder length.
- Personality: Sin has always been known to brim with cheerfulness and optimism, and that certainly hasn't changed. He hates overthinking things and is pretty stubborn. One might write him off as book-dumb, but he absorbs information surprisingly quick, and the added years have made for a less ignorant Sin. You can always count on him to provide a positive outlook, but that doesn't mean he's free of pain, for as much as he loves his new family, he sorely misses the one he left back home, and tends to eat and drink whenever he's feeling down.
- Powers and Abilities:
- As a Gear: Sin is the grandson of one of the first Gears, biological weapons capable of utilizing powerful magic. His Gear heritage means that he's superhumanly strong and durable, able to lift a couple of tons and take a speeding car like a champ.
- Healing Factor: His Gear cells grant him the natural ability to heal from wounds faster than a human. He cannot regenerate, however, so lost body parts and organs are lost forever without a transplant of some kind.
- Polearm Weapons: Sin is adept in the use of polearms, and is quite attached to his War Flag, a rolled up flag that functions as a staff.
- Lightning Magic: Sin specializes in the use of lightning magic, and can use it to form projectiles, create currents and bolts of lightning, and electrify his melee strikes or weapons.
- Personal Timeline:
- 30 AM: Sin arrives in Balder sometime after he participates in the battle against the Universal Will. Even with the situation explained to him, he expressed a desire to talk to the bigwigs in the city center and seek a way home. However, he wouldn't find the time to as he'd run into Noel Vermillion who, without possession of her most crucial moral faculties, went on a murder-spree through the city center. Sin jumped into action and attempted to restrain her, but was overpowered by her abilities. Thankfully, he was saved when authorities arrived and managed to quell the threat. He's taken in as a witness, and speaks at Noel's trial, coming to her defense by speaking of how she seemed not to have a will of her own at the time.
- 30 AM (some time after the trial): Sin joins the Fusiliers and is posted in the Eastern Quadrant where men seemed to be needed the most. He spent his days on the job, as well as asking around for information on the planet and its history. Over time, he gains a reputation among the Fusiliers as a highly capable fighter and survivalist, especially after fighting in the fourth wave of the Pseudosentia Crusades, but he also comes to the conclusion that returning home would be tremendously difficult to nigh impossible. Struck by despair and missing his family greatly, he spent his off-days spending all his money on extravagant feasts.
- 31 AM: It is around this time that Sin runs into Noel again, catching her stealing during one of his off-days in the city center. Seeing that life had gotten hard for her, he listened to her talk about her issues and decided to lend her a hand, starting by getting a good word in for her at the Fusiliers. Soon enough, she is enlisted and despite them working at opposite posts, they started spending all of their off-days with each other, Sin wanting to keep up with how she was doing and provide his support, while Noel was just glad to receive that support.
- 33 AM: After the two married and had their kid, Sin continued his work as a Fusilier to help protect the city in which his new family lived. However, this meant spending many days away from them. Whenever he came home in the Western Quadrant, he always tried to make the most of it, knowing all too well how it was to feel abandoned by a parent.
- 35 AM: To this day, Sin stayed a front-lining Fusilier, doing his part in providing defense from outside threats. Lately, he's been teaching his son Vigil how to utilize polearms and lightning magic (at his request). At this point, he's already figured out what his son is planning to do, and he himself is planning to support him all the way.
- Relationships:
- Noel Vermillion: Sin has been there to support Noel since the trial, and seems to have made her well-being his purpose. While it's obvious how dependent Noel is on him, he is dependent on her as well, as a vestige of the concept of family he can hold onto in this world.
- Vigil Kiske: Sin's thoughts on Vigil is much the same as his thoughts on Noel; Vigil is considered inseparable family and one of the things preventing him from constantly eating himself into depressive food comas. Sin looks upon Vigil nowadays and makes a vague connection between his son and his grandfather, and chuckles at the prospect of the role of caretaker having been switched.
- N'Jadaka: While he could personally do without the sub-General metaphorically thumbing his nose at the Fusiliers, Sin acknowledges N'Jadaka's motivation as similar to his own, and trusts him to help keep the Western Quadrant (and their families) safe.
- Satsuki Kiryuin: Sin recognizes a genuine desire for peace and justice in the commander of the Fusiliers, and does his duty without complaint out of respect for her motives.
- Yui Kiryuin: Sin admires Yui's own admiration of her adoptive mother, seeing in her himself from a time long past. He's helped her out on her volunteer shifts, and has even taught her a few survival and combat skills.
- Jengbish: Sin is a little put off by Jengbish's philosophy, but acknowledges that he gets his job as General of the Eastern Quadrant done. He finds no issue with following his orders, so far.
- Laura Kinney: While Sin does show off on occasion, he follows Laura's orders to a T, and appreciates her leadership and professionalism. His tendency to be over-eager may rub her the wrong way on occasion, but they both know they can count on each other. He's noticed lately that Jengbish takes Laura along to see esteemed commander Kiryuin quite often, and when he asked her what that was about, she explained her status as one of the original warriors and one Jengbish seems to personally trust, an explanation Sin finds acceptable.
- Name: Vigil Kiske
- Appearance: Despite being two years of age, Vigil has grown to reach the physical, mental and emotional maturity of a fifteen-year-old. He looks similar to his father, being a well-built young man who has a height advantage over even actual fifteen-year-olds. His hair is a golden blond, spikes naturally and tends to grow really fast. Noel cuts his hair at least once a week, keeping the spiky locks from reaching past his shoulders. He has inherited his mother's natural green eye color.
- Personality: Vigil is defined almost entirely by his relationship with his family, as other children and even adults avoided him due to how fast he grew, as well as his mother's reputation. He appears to be a typical moody teenager, reacting coarsely to people's treatment of him. In a neutral situation (a.k.a. with outwardly friendly people), he's kind of a doormat, resulting in him being somewhat gullible and easy to fool. When his family is concerned, he'll go the extra mile just because. He has a great admiration of strong warriors, seeing it as his dream to reach their level and make it into the Fusiliers.
- Powers and Abilities:
- As a Gear: Being the progeny of Justice's bloodline has blessed Vigil with the superhuman strength and durability. He'd probably be able to survive being hit by a speeding car, even if it would still put him out of commission for a bit.
- Healing Factor: His Gear cells grant him the natural ability to heal from wounds faster than a human. He cannot regenerate, however, so lost body parts and organs are lost forever without a transplant of some kind.
- Polearm Weapons: Behind his mother's back, he's been nagging at his father to teach him how to use a polearm in a fight. With the training he's received and the practice he's put in, he's still a novice at it.
- Lightning Magic: He instinctively learned how to utilize magic, and it is as powerful as his Gear heritage affords it. He inherited his father's propensity to lightning magic. With the amount of practice he's had with it, he can create a current, shoot short-ranged lightning bolts, and even electrify his punches, kicks and weapons.
- Personal Timeline:
- 33 AM: Vigil is born in the first few months of 33 AM and spent the next year living in the Western Quadrant with Noel. His father, Sin Kiske, was rarely at home due to his duties as a Fusilier posted in the Eastern Quadrant, but when they did find time together, they made the most of it. Vigil looked up to Sin's ability as a warrior, and in their days together; begged to be trained in martial arts and magic use. Sin did the best he could, his own fighting style being highly improvised with no discipline used as reference.
- 34 AM: Vigil enrolls in school, but his rapid growth rate outpaces his curriculum. He ends up being feared by the other children and some teachers, especially when he had a history of being spotted practicing his fighting skills or his magic. In these years, he tended to claim that he didn't care what people thought of him, resulting in him developing his somewhat harsh social persona.
- 35 AM: Vigil is now the physical, mental and emotional equivalent of a fifteen-year-old, but is still studying with eight-year-olds. He currently plans to drop out of school and convince his mother to rejoin the Fusiliers, and to join the Fusiliers himself as a new recruit. Now he just has to work up the nerve to ask.
- Relationships:
- Noel Vermillion: Vigil is highly protective of his mother and is known to respond to people's gossiping about her with a death glare and some harsh wit. Mother and son love each other very much, to the point that with the father not being around that much and with few friends to speak of, they'd both consider the other their best friend as well. On a more lighthearted note, upon realizing that his mom was a terrible cook, Vigil took it upon himself to learn how to cook and took over meal duties in his home, even managing to teach Noel a few things.
- Sin Kiske: Vigil always looks forward to his father coming home to visit and looks up to his reputation and ability as one of the Fusiliers. He always makes sure to spend whatever time they have together begging to be trained.
- Satsuki Kiryuin: He's never met her, but from the brief stories told to him by his parents, he has this image in his head of her as the ultimate badass.
- Miki Kuroda: As one of the few members of the faculty who doesn't look at him like one would a timebomb, Miki has earned Vigil's respect, and he even considers her an honorary aunt of sorts based on her and Noel's relationship.
- N'Jadaka: Vigil also thinks N'Jadaka is kind of a badass from the limited time he's seen him in action. He's bugged N'Jadaka for a spar before, requests which were met negatively.
edited 4th Apr '18 6:55:12 AM by LatverianBadger
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
A dogged fellow, aren't we?
Name: Yui Kiryuin
Appearance: Shorter than average for her 16 years, slender and athletic, with pale skin and blonde hair worn ear-length at the front, neck-length at the back. While she is mostly humanoid, she has a few starkly obvious anatomical mutations - Her eyes are the same shade of purple as the sun, and she has a black bony plate growing across her forehead and down her nose, which curves up into a pair of short asymmetrical horns. She wears a outfit that includes a sturdy hooded jacket and a messenger bag slung over one shoulder.
Personality: Quietly intense, friendly and polite, precocious and mature beyond her years. As driven and determined - and stubborn - as her adoptive mother, she has a fiery temper that she makes great effort to contain and control. At heart, she is a kind and compassionate kid who has a tendency to watch over the younger children she knows.
Powers and Abilities:
- Skilled swordswoman - Satsuki began passing down her skills in swordsmanship to the young Yui at an early age, and by now she is very good - not as good as Satsuki, but still far more competent than most in the city.
- Sunset blade - A treasured gift from Satsuki, obtained at great expense. The metal of this katana's blade has a golden finish that fades from almost black at its blunt edge to steely white at its cutting surface. The blade appears to be functionally indestructible (as far as Yui is willing to test it, at least) and extremely sharp, but is otherwise unremarkable.
- Regenerative physiology - Yui's body swiftly regenerates from physical injuries. Serious cuts heal within ~10 seconds, broken bones within 20, lost limbs up to a minute. The process is not pleasant, and leaves her debilitatingly hungry if she's forced to heal too much without rest.
- In addition, the regenerated flesh is decidedly inhuman - translucent membranes, pale cartilaginous plates and black horny outgrowths covering limbs with too many joints or freakish proportions. The affected areas slowly return to their usual human appearance over the course of the next few hours, although Yui can speed this process up somewhat with intense concentration.
- Particularly bad injuries may never fully return to normal, however - for instance, she still has a bony black plate over her right kneecap, from when she almost lost her leg to a Thornsnap when she was 12.
- She is also slightly more resilient to heat, cold and some diseases compared to a normal human.
Personal timeline:
- Born sometime around AD 20, Yui doesn't remember much about her early years. She knows from her own research years later that her parents had both arrived in the third wave. They tried their best, but they had few skills with which to survive, and most likely didn't properly decontaminate their drinking water, exposing Yui to Balder's essence in utero. Her mother died in childbirth and her father abandoned her soon afterwards.
- Her first real memories are of Satsuki Kiryuin, a firm and unyielding presence in a chaotic and frightening world. As she grew up, she applied herself to her schooling with fierce determination, and begged her adoptive mother to teach her how to fight as soon as she could lift a sword.
- Now that she is approaching her majority, she has already started to work volunteer shifts with the Fusiliers, and fully intends to follow in her mother's footsteps.
Relationships:
- Satsuki - Yui idolises her adoptive mother and seeks to emulate her in all things
- Freddie - Yui hangs out with Freddie quite a lot, considering their parents work closely together. She feels protective of him, and has punched out a few asshole kids for agravating his sensory problems in the past. Plus, his dad is pretty cool.
Again, more relationships to come soon.
edited 28th Mar '18 8:33:38 PM by LittleMako
Eternal Princess
No joke characters huh? I guess that throws out Dandy and some of the others. The existence of white magic kinda trumps traditional medicine, so Takemi is out, though that was probably inevitable. The existence of a literary bard probably makes a musical one kinda redundant. Still interested though, especially since I am kinda of a fan of a number of the others who showed interest. Are characters who can keep to the whole grand adventure thing but still have otherwise comedic personalities ok?
Just to throw around a few rough ideas, maybe Yusuke from Persona 5 as something of an aged ronin/vagrant artist type. While he helped build the town, he refuses to participate in politics. True to his phantom thief roots, he's something part of the counter culture, painting graffiti works of art where he may and carrying out acts of vigilantism based around his own sense of justice. Probably keeping to his rogue roots in order to keep the budding government honest, and cause that life style lends more time to focus on his craft. In a class divide, he probably sides with those in the outskirts. He may make a nice contrast to Satsuki, her hyper focus to the point of tunnel vision to his artistic head in clouds and almost Cloudcuckoolander tendencies. Maybe participated in those exploratory parties into the wild in order to gather flora to be used to make paint.
As for 2nd generation, probably another adopted kid that ended up becoming a straight samurai type to contrast the gentle men thief of Yusuke. Fiercely loyal to the state to the point of almost knight Templar status. While they still personally care for their adopted father, their lineage being a point shame and something they feel they must compensate for. They could of course be an underling to one of the general like characters, perhaps Satsuki again as they create a fan club around katanas. May completely rip off The Edge from Furi's fighting style. Maybe their teacher. They could have two daddys.
Another idea could be Seimei from Otogi Myth of Demons. Depending on how we want to play it, the famous omnyoji could either be a valued part of the government fulfilling a roll of a mystic advisory type position much like she did in life, or an old kook desperately trying to cling to gods and traditions that are no longer applicable in the new world. Something of a traditionalist either way, she would be fairly conservative and believe everyone should know their position in society and act accordingly. Onmyodo is a kinda fun magic system to play around with since its a sort of quasi mystic science, so may be fun B Sing jargon and the like. Possible relationships could be the Yorigami sisters for both having mythic Japanese origins, and perhaps Cassiopeia for both being wizard archtypes and possible working together in a formal position.
For 2nd generation for her, the child would be a her own. A designer baby whose father was chosen solely for their ability to ensure a powerful offspring to be in service to the state. There is no love here, and Seimei treats the child closer to a shikigami. We could probably have fun coming up with a father, but with a general direction of some sort of youkai like offspring. For personality, probably laid back or even a friendly to contrast with the cold and aloof Seimei. But while Seimei takes calculated action in an attempt to better the state, the offspring probably cares little for anyone but themselves, seeing everyone else as nothing more then their jailers and helping solely because they are forced to.
I suppose I could also just go real simple with things. Like take a design I like for one parent and a personality I like for the other and just create a character from that. Like take Cassidy from Fallout and Red Napalm from Let it die and get a jury rigging heavy gunner with a mouth and a penchant for drinking.
How do you kill that which has no life?
Roleplay thread.
Discussion thread.
It was an angelic being in a hood that first approached each one of them. It called itself Etmes. And it came with a warning: the god Balder, evil given form, had set its malignant eye upon every single reality contained within our fragile multiverse. Soon enough, he would consume all of reality to satisfy its meager appetite. "I, Etmes, request your help, warrior. Please, grant me your strength and your courage so that together we could save our worlds." Some accepted this request. Some had to be bribed into accepting. But a group was soon formed. And they were all ready to defeat the evil god Balder, all under Etmes' careful guidance.
Months of travelling across the multiverse, collecting artifacts that would assist them in the battle to come. Worlds of peril, of adventure, of fun, of romance. Some of them didn't survive the trip. Some found powerful new friends, allies, loves they had been searching for their whole life. As their strength grew, as the god Etmes prepared them for battle, these Warriors accepted the fact that whilst the multiverse would never know of their good deed, it didn't matter. They had each other.
An odyssey told over five days. Blood, sweat and gore. Losses all around. How could it not be? Balder was a gigantic being, capable of shifting its form so as to satisfy whatever inane desire it had. Some were killed by its might. Some were driven to madness, lost forever in the recesses of Balder's powerful mind. But the Warriors kept moving forward, until, in the thirteenth hour of the fifth day, they removed Balder's heart. The god had died. Evil had been destroyed. The heroes had won.
They waited, in the desolate wasteland that was the body of their victim. They waited, as Etmes disappeared forever. They waited, as the body around them shifted and changed, spurred on by the last forces driving through a lifeless corpse. They waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Some of them died. Some of them killed each other. Some of them were driven to madness. They waited, and they waited, and they waited, and they waited, but nothing happened. There would be no salvation. There would be no way out. There would be no home.
But they built one, anyway. What started its life as a collection of meager little huts became a village, spurred on by the arrival of hundreds of forlon creatures from the multiverse, all of them seeking a new home. And now the Warriors wait no longer. From the ashes of their greatest defeat, new life sprung forth. A new world, with its own problems, with its own obstacles, but also with its own delights, its own wonders. The village became a city. The city of Balder welcomes you.
Welcome to The City at the Center of the Multiverse, a post-crossover RP. To make a long story short, there was once a big, multi-fandom crossover RP. The characters drafted up to defeat that evil god were shortchanged and left to rot in the planet-corpse that they had just created. That was thirty five years ago. This is about the city they built, its people and the tenuous lives that they hold.
Edited by Stratofarius on Aug 25th 2018 at 12:17:18 PM