The City at the Center of the Multiverse (Signup Thread)

Edited goat boy's bio like you said, and added some stuff were Laura taught him how to use swords.

• Name: Laura Kinney; X-23

• Appearance: [1]◊, but older, standing at around 5'7 and with a Fusiliers' uniform.

• Personality: Appearing distant and uncaring at times, Laura can be hard to get along a lot of the time, although she has mellowed out after some time to the point where she is more comfortable showing some of her emotions. But she is, at the end of the day, a hero and will risk everything to save others.
  • Because of her history of assassination, in a fight she is cunning and pragmatic, able to make strategies quickly and on the fly, able to outsmart her opponents and exploit whatever weaknesses they have.

• Powers and Abilities: Peak Physical Condition: Her strength, speed, and pain resistance are so good it's often mistaken as superhuman.
  • Adamantium Claws: Two in each and and one in each foot, these bone spires can pop out her skin at will and are covered in adamantium. Adamantium is a man made element inspired by adamantine, the “Metal of the Gods”. Adamantium in nearly indestructible and as such, the claws can cut through almost anything. It should be noted that the metal only covers her bone claws and nothing else.

  • Master Assassin: Laura is a professional killer and is a master of stealth, acting, and a skilled torturer. She has a lot of knowledge about the human anatomy and it's weak points. She also knows how to use swords and firearms, even if she doesn't typically have them on hand. In a straight up fight, Laura will never play with her opponents and will end the battle as fast as possible.

  • Super Senses: Mostly used to detect and scan her surroundings, she can smell targets for about a mile away, can hear a conversation through a wall, and even detect the motives and emotions of those around her.

  • Healing Factor: Her healing powers can not only restore injuries, but highly resistant to colds, poisons, infections, diseases, and other ailments. Her muscles do not tire out as they continuously repair themselves. It even slows her aging, making her look younger then she really is.

  • Multi-Lingual: Part of her training, she speaks English, French, Japanese and Arabic. After some time in the city she now understands Chinese, Spanish and some patois.

  • Trigger Scent: If exposed to a certain chemical, Laura go into a nearly unstoppable rage and will kill everything in her sight. Luckily the odds of her coming into contact with it on Balder are pretty much impossible.

• Personal Timeline: X-23 was created by the Weapon X offshoot known as the Facility, using a DNA sample of Wolverine. The idea was to make an exact copy of Logan, however, the DNA was damaged, particularly with the Y-chromosome. So Dr. Sarah Kinney came up with the plan to make a female clone instead.
  • Sarah was made to be the surrogate mother of the clone and after she was born, she was made to be a living weapon and was refused a childhood, or the decency of being treated like a human being by anyone other then Sarah and her sensei. One of the reasons for this was that the one of the heads of this project, Zander Rice, had his father killed by Wolverine and hated this living copy so much that he did everything in his power to not only to kill her, but make her life a living hell when it didn’t work. This includes, but not limited to; forcing her mutation at a young age (involving radiation poisoning), scent triggering her to kill her sensei, and leaving her to die on a mission.

  • While Zander became more twisted, Sarah gave her as much humanity as she was able to. After an incident where Zander used X-23 to kill his father figure and the former head of the Facility, Sarah knew it was time to get her out. She gave her one last 'mission', kill Zander.

  • She was able to do so as well as everyone who stood in her way. But as she left to go with Sarah, her trigger scent activated, as Zander panned use X-23 to kill her as well. When she came back to her senses, the women her gave her live was bleeding out. With her dying breath she gave her a real name, Laura, and said she loved her.

  • With the now 13 year old Laura alone in the world, she went to stay with some people she helped back when she was an assassin. After fighting off some Facility members that went after her, including her former handler with skin so thick it can't be cut, she left to find the person she was cloned from.

  • After stalking him for several days, she attack him trying to get him to kill her. But he did not even try fighting back, and she pulled back from the killing blow. He told her that she will be safe if she went to the X-Mansion.

  • Then Captain America came and captured her. He wanted to bring her to S.H.I.E.L.D., but after hearing her story and convincing from Matt Murdock, he let her go to start a new life.

  • After some adventures with her 'dad' and the X-Men, she and Wolverine were approached by an angelic being named Etmes. It told them of a god that needed to be killed and needed their help. Seeing it as just another day of being a hero, they accepted, but remained on guard in case the 'nice god' turns out to be as bad as it says Balder is.

  • They did not make any fast friends, especially with the bad guys, with Logan even threatening some of the evil ones right in their faces on more then one occasion. Laura was even one of the first ones to see through Flowey nice guy charade, but got some sympathy from her when he admits that, above all else, he just wants to feel emotions again and stop feeling dead inside.

  • Then the fight with Balder began, and for one X-Man, ended just as fast. When Laura was about to be engulfed by one of the evil god's attacks, Logan jumped in front of blow. Every living cell on and in his body was killed at the spot. Laura was so shocked at this she did not even try to stop Flowey from taking his SOUL. With her progenitor dead she attacked Balder with everything she had. Every second that wasn't used dodging or taking hits she could heal from was used stabbing or slashing any part of Balder that she could get her claws on, especially if it looked like a weak point.

  • Near the end, the one who took the SOUL of Wolverine, now calling himself the 'god of hyperdeath' fell. Knowing that losing him meant losing Logan too, she came to his defense. When he came to, the fight was over. Laura's one regret, other then the lost of Wolverine, was she didn’t see Balder's eyes as he died.

  • Then it became clear that the good god wasn't going hold his end of the deal and send them all home. Angry and with little ties to the rest of the team, she was going to leave. But a still weak Asriel threaten to go with her. Knowing he would not survive in this state, she stayed.

  • When everyone was forced underground, there was some talk about making Asriel release the SOU Ls he'd taken. But Laura stopped them saying that not only will they have to deal with Flowey again, but with the SOU Ls gone, no chance stood of getting them back again.

  • When the dust settled and everyone went back up once more, Laura proved most useful when dealing with the wildlife, mostly the ones that wanted to kill her.

  • Then more people came, some of them just kids. Asriel suggested letting the younger ones stay with him. Even with Asriel getting a better reputation among them, they were hesitant to let the SOUL stealer look after children. Ultimately, they let him do it, but only if Laura keeps a close eye on him, and to take him out if he tries anything suspicious.

  • The time spent together strengthened their bond, with Laura coming to the conclusion that Logan was part of his mind, and stared to see the boss monster in the same light she saw Logan.

  • Ten years past, more people came, and the original warriors trusted Asriel without an assassin's watchful eye. Looking for work, she joined the Fusiliers. Despite rarely using her assigned weapon, she was one of the better members, killing any fauna that posed any danger with quick efficiency and often intimidating would be troublemakers from doing anything stupid.

  • When she was given quadrant, she took the eastern, the most hazardous one as she knows the beast's weaknesses better then most do, as well as being the most alert to danger. Even the Gozeps find problems hiding from her.

• Relationships: Asriel Dreemurr: Her closest friend and keeper of Logan's SOUL, the two have a lot in common with their past regrets, like how they both killed a close family member and hurting a lot of people while feeling nothing at the time.
  • She still visits him from time to time, but can't help but feel a ping of jealousy when she sees him interacting with the kids, knowing they have a childhood she will never have. The kids themselves like her well enough, but do feel a little scared by her. To a point were Asriel uses her as a threat to the more misbehaving ones.

  • Queen Cassiopeia: As someone who looked after her back when Logan as still alive, she had some resentment for her treating her like a child, even though the assassin has shown she is arguably more of a combatant then her. But after 'Pea' gave her some space they got along better. She respects her position as mayor, even if she can be a bit soft at times.

  • Toph Beifong: Despite their polarizing personalities, the two get along well enough, even if at first found Toph's boasting a bit annoying at times, but after some time seeing war and all the horror it entailed, it stopped fast. Laura, in a rare moment of compassion at the time, even tried comforting the little girl. Today, Laura doesn't see her as much, but she respects what she did and is doing. She just wishes that the earthbender would give Asriel a chance like she did.

  • General Jengbish: As Laura's boss, she is mostly neutral to the big guy, but finds his boasting and glee for battle even worse then Toph's ever was. Laura fights and kills not because it's the best thing she can do, it's the only thing she can do. In a fight, she tries to end it fast, efficient, and not above dirtying herself up to win. Jengbish on the other hand is the opposite in almost every aspect. But there is some level of respect between the two and whenever he is out fighting not just for gory but to keep the city safe, she tags along with the troop. Like the Pseudosentia Crusades and even with The Chimeric Purge (yea that thing about only 88 survivors who all joined the Long Knives? That's mostly cult BS).
    • She also gets brought along whenever he has to go to the inner city to talk to Satsuki. Partially because he knows she'd want to see Asriel and partly because having an original warrior under his command makes an even bolder statement to top brass than just being one himself. She cares little for her rank and only want to be in a position where she can help the most people possible. As long as her general doesn't get in the way with that, there will be no problems.

  • Guzma: As the former leader of the original warriors, Guzma and Wolverine have butted heads before, but respected the other enough to let the other do what they want. Laura and the Pokémon trainer don't have much to talk about, but even if she won't talk about her bad background, there is a silent understanding that they came from a bad place and did bad things.

  • Akane: For having the best senses on the team, Akane, Logan, and Laura have been on missions together back when they were trying to kill Balder. Again, she won't go into detail about her past, but whenever Akane brings up her crappy childhood and life, Laura basically nods and say "I know what you mean".

  • Laeta: Laura mostly see Laeta as 'Guzma's kid who guards the Survivalists'. There was one instance where Laura saved Laeta from a Decapod and even gives some advice on what to do if that ever happens again.

  • Mr. Scratch: Something always felt off about Alan Wake, even back when he was helping them. Some animalistic part of her just hated the "man" not unlike how house pets hiss and bark at a demon. She keeps her composure around him, but knows that he is hiding something. The one time she asked about him to Asriel, he firmly tells her that if Alan ever becomes a problem, he will personally take care of it, and says nothing more on it.

  • Loki: As a villain from her world, Wolverine wasted no time to threaten the asgardian god, saying if he steps out of line, he will be CUT from the line. Nowadays, after Wolverine's death, Laura keeps her distance from the trickster but if any illusion magic comes her way, she knows where to go to first.

  • Envy: Envy hates everyone, but likely hates Wolverine more then most, as not only was he never felt threaten or intimidated by the Homunculus, but returned the threats and taunts back at him. But seeing how Logan is now dead, he can't get any revenge directly, but Laura was always by his side. With that and the fact Laura was one of the first ones to counterattack Envy after he went off the deep end, he will likely be looking for a reunion.

  • Noel Vermillion: The two first met was during Noel's murderous rampage, in which she stopped her by collapsing a building weakened by the attacks from the fight on the newcomer. Today, she understands that she was not in control of herself and is happy that she is making a new life for herself. Silently, she can't help but think how similar the two were.

  • Sin Kiske: One of Laura's few subordinate that don't slow her down, she is a bit annoyed by Sin's over-eagerness, but far more then makes up for it by following her orders and being an exceptionally good soldier and protector of the innocent. In short, someone she can trust.

  • Nier: She doesn't know much about her fellow Fusilier, outside having a sick sister and staying with Asriel for a little while, but she was the one who brought up that the Fusiliers where looking for new recruits. Something to note is that Laura can't tell Nier is not a human, even with her super senses as his replicant physiology is too identical to a normal man.

  • Matt Murdock: Laura may not have much interest in Matt's work, but she remembers how he helped her in the past and lets him know that if there is anything she can do to repay him, to tell her.

  • Xoladroskisce: Sometime after Xola was taken in by Ahn, Laura found her and mutant's superhuman senses immediately told her that she was a Chimera Ant from the same hive she helped destroyed. Even though the same senses told her that Xola's compassion was a lie, she knew from past experience how someone like that can be a contributing part of society. So she lets her know that while she won't tell anyone what she really is, if she tries following that path of her mother, she will end her right then and there.

  • Okuyasu Nijimura: While she can find him a bit much at times, Laura keeps him in line and finds him to be one of the few who can work well with her, along with Sin. She does respect him, but also finds his attitude annoying at times.

  • General Idias: Laura did get along fairly well with Idias and Ibykos back before Balder's defeat, partially due to a similar history. After Logan's and Ibykos' deaths, the two grew apart. Today, the two don't see each other much, partially for being in different quadrants.

  • Begonia & Zatz: Having worked alongside Begonia back when she was in the Fusiliers, Laura can tell you that she is a good, if somewhat reckless, soldier. However, she could tell she was longing for adventure, and knew it was only a matter of time before she left. She understands that there are some problems that Fusiliers can't get involved with, and is happy for her rule of not hurting innocent people as her new role as a mercenary, she just hopes that she knows who is innocent and who's not. She doesn't have much of an opinion on Zatz, but doesn't care about his physical appearance.

  • Johnny Cage: Even as part of the original Warriors, the two had little to talk about. Nowadays, even more so. She did went to see the play he made based on their adventures together, and never went back.

  • Topaz: A Fusilier under her command, she finds the Gem good at her job, but not fast enough to keep up with her style of fighting. As such, she usually keep her on guard duty, sometime for the eastern wall's exit from the city.

• Note: The reason why she has not taken up the title of Wolverine like in the comics is that she still thinks that Logan will come back someday.

edited 15th May '18 9:42:42 AM by goldenshark

I don't know that much about P5, but I do think that an outright doctor character would be an interesting addition to the setting, especially one as morally flexible open as Ms. Takemi. I don't even think you'd need to give up on the Yusuke idea, since if Joker's old enough for her, Yusuke'd probably fit the bill as well.

Adamantium vs. Vibranium, fite me 1v1

Also Neet, though white magic exists, it may not be terribly common, so there's still room for a Doc. I'm not sure I would consider Dandy a joke character, either, since he does know how to get serious when the situation calls for it.

Sign-up sheet complete!

@Little Mako:

• Both Satsuki and Yui are accepted.
• Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.

@Latverian Badger:

• I think there's a little bit of fudging around with the names Eastern/Western, so just fix that.
• Nonetheless, all three are accepted.
• Please update your relationships section as you converse with your fellow players.

@Immortal Neet:

• Characters who can keep to the whole grand adventure thing but still have otherwise comedic personalities are OK.

@Chabal:

• Wouldn't Avitus and Jengbish just hate each other? Wouldn't Avitus just hate Balder as a whole? Nevertheless, I'd rather not have another Warhammer 40k character. It already took me a lot of convincing to have one.

@goldenshark:

• Added her sheet to the main post.

I ran through it and didn't find any errors. To be clear, Noel and Sin are meant to be on opposite posts, unless meeting up on off-days would be somehow impossible in that case.

Yes, that was my mistake. Oops.

The only thing I found was a mention that Jengbish was General of the Western Quadrant instead of the Eastern.

Yes, but he dislikes everyone on principle, he even works alongside Chaos on one occasion. There's no reason to hate the planet he's stuck on.

I could make him posthumous, I guess.

edited 30th Mar '18 9:23:56 AM by Chabal2

Shoot, just caught that. Thanks.

• Name: Okuyasu Nijimura and The Hand
• Appearance: This, but aged a bit and in a Fusilier's outfit. The Hand, in all it's glory.
• Personality:
  • Okuyasu is violent and impulsive, acting not with his brain, but "with his heart", as he puts it. He is not afraid to show his emotions, which are more extreme than the normal person. He acts upon instinct and impulses more than thinking, and he doesn't take time to reflect like he rightly should.
  • Okuyasu, even though he has gotten better, is not the best at making decisions, citing a lack of intelligence as the main factor. He usually relies on someone in power to make decisions for him, unintentionally making him a great soldier in terms of following orders. However, he is capable of making decisions for himself if nobody else is there, and he has shown signs of genuine ingenuity from time to time.
  • Okuyasu is inherently curious, showing a deep interest in a new sight or concept. This usually has him trying to learn the bottom line of anything, making him actually somewhat rounded in intelligence, or at least the basics of most things.
  • Okuyasu is naturally foul-mouthed and violent, but if he is in a deep, flaming anger, especially one fueled by vengeance, he becomes cold and efficient, speaking calmer and with vocabulary not often heard by him. This tends to freak anyone around him out, and rightfully so.
  • Okuyasu is very in-your-face when it comes to fighting, not afraid to use The Hand for lethal purposes, although this can backfire on him due to the nature of The Hand's primary ability. Here, Okuyasu relies almost purely on instinct, only using his brain to keep him on track and remind him of his allies and enemies.
  • Okuyasu, on default, is friendly enough, and is somewhat goofy, making jokes at varying levels of appropriateness, even though he's learned to stay away from things people really care about.
• Powers and Abilities:
  • The Hand: The Hand is a Stand, the manifestation of Okuyasu's fighting spirit. The Hand is spiritually linked to Okuyasu, meaning if one takes damage or is healed, the other will also receive the effect. The Hand and Okuyasu can work in conjunction with one another as well, meaning that Okuyasu can move and function while The Hand does. The Hand has a few major abilities, only one of which he had before getting transported to Balder, with the other two being honed while there:
    • Erase: The Hand can "erase space" with its right hand. Once space is erased, it either "fills in" with the space around it if it's gas or liquid, or leaves a hole/nothing if it's solid, depending on the size. It drains stamina with every use, and it requires multiple swipes to erase large objects, so it can't just erase a whole person or something. The range is also severely limited, reduced to within arm's reach of The Hand itself. However, this has many advantages: He can erase locks on doors, he can use kinetic energy to pull an opponent to him or vice versa, and he can erase projectiles coming at him, among other things. The Hand is also slower than the average bear- I mean, Stand, so it is somewhat easy to dodge if you see it coming.
    • Store/Release: By pressing one of the bumps on the right hand, The Hand can go into a "storage mode" for one swipe of the hand. This puts an object in a sort of pocket dimension, storing it until it is needed again. After another press, it materializes in its right hand, allowing it to be used again.
    • Stasis: While not an official ability, The Hand seems to be able to change the trajectory of moving objects, and even cease their motion, being held with the same "energy" that is used for erasure and storage
• Personal Timeline:
  • 30 AD: When Rohan went off to do whatever the hell he was doing, Okuyasu got a call from a mysterious voice. It didn't sound like anyone he recognized, so he flat out ignored it. He kept hearing it nag at him throughout the day, and then the next day, and then the next, and Okuyasu managed to still ignore it, although it was getting harder to do. Then the voice decided it just kind of had enough, and that The Call Knows Where You Live. When Okuyasu started to sleep that night, a portal opened, swirling under Okuyasu's bed. It swallowed the bed and closed before Okuyasu was taken. He leaned against the wall in relief, only for there to be another portal on the wall, with Okuyasu falling back into it. He arrived in the Eastern Quadrant, and immediately was surrounded by beasts, that of which he did not recognize. He immediately thought Stand, and summoned The Hand, which swiped at one of the beasts, who promptly dodged and counterattacked. That's when he realized that the beasts of this world could interact with and see his Stand, which should have been impossible. He managed to land some decent hits on the beasts, but he was surrounded. He punched and swiped with The Hand, and even himself, but it came down to the wire. The circle shrunk down. A beast lunged at him only for him to be saved by Jengbish's squad on a hunt. One of the unnamed members had arrived a bit before and had seen The Hand in action, and after the rescue offered him a starting position, with Jengbish's permission of course. He accepted and has been a Fusilier for the Easter Quadrant ever since.
  • 35AD (Present): Okuyasu has trained The Hand to store and release small enough objects and projectiles it could possibly erase instead and has worked up to a mid-high level position in Jengbish's squad. He lives in a modest house near to the wall, and occasionally goes interior, whether it be for personal reasons or, rarely, serving as extra muscle to Jengbish and Laura.
• Relationships:
  • Jengbish: Okuyasu's superior, he holds the same respect for him as he did his older brother Keicho back in Morioh. He follows his orders to about 90% of the T, and is somewhat grateful to him for giving him something to do. He doesn't have a super personal relationship with him, though.
  • Laura: Another Long Knives Fusilier, there is a respect there, although he doesn't know if it's mutual. He tends to stay out of her way, being ever so slightly intimidated. If he goes to the city center with them, he will usually hang back with Jengbish when she goes to see Asriel, out of respect.
  • Sin: Another Long Knives Fusilier, there is a respect there, although he doesn't know if it's mutual. Their personalities tend to play off each other a bit, and they get along well enough.
  • Judge Murdock: Okuyasu rarely interacts with him, but it's usually a decent, if not bland and general, conversation, and there seems to be a mutual respect between the two of them. Okuyasu seems to be very curious about what Judge Murdock gets up to off the clock, especially since he sees common crooks seemingly dismantled nearby to the courts almost every time he goes...
  • Commander Kiryuin: Okuyasu hold her much in the same respect as Jengbish, but is much more isolated from her presence, which leaves him both slightly intimidated and incredibly curious to just who she is.
  • N'Jadaka: Being Jengbish's counterpart in the Western Quadrant, he holds respect for him as he does the other people in power. However, if it came down to it, he would follow Jengbish out of loyalty to the Long Knives.
  • Yusuke: After a Noodle Incident involving Stands, Personas, a bunch of posing, and a Lum Berry, they became somewhat fast friends. They tend to get along, or as much as Yusuke could get along with Ryuji/Okuyasu could get along with Rohan. They often will play the Straight Man to the other's eccentricities, making their relationship a sort of odd friendship at worst. It's weird. Okuyasu, being the man he is, often reminds Yusuke that he "doesn't know what he's missing" regarding the Long Knives, but at the end of the day, he respects Yusuke's decision.

edited 7th Apr '18 10:27:39 AM by DefRevenge24601

So I've been thinking of having one last character for this game, and seeing how my other two are first wave people with a dark past that they are trying to make up for, I decided to completely flip the table on this one. (btw, can I say X-23's healing lets her reattach cut off limbs? She's done it before, but I don't know if that's game braking or not.)

• Name: Mew

• Appearance: [1]◊ When “standing” it's at 1'04", and 8.8 lbs.

• Personality: Curious and playful to a fault, Mew loves finding new things and people to interact with. It is best to compare the Mythical Pokémon to a wide eyed and easily entertained child. By looking at his eyes, you can see a spark of intelligence and kindness behind them, a near perfect embodiment of innocence. He might not even not even know he is in a fight with someone until he gets hurt.
  • However, do not think this makes him easy prey. He did not to get be thought of as extinct or even a myth by experts in his own world by being easy to catch. Years in the wild and in urban areas have given him experience avoiding letting humans see his true form. Some believe that only those with a pure heart and a strong desire to see his kind will ever have the chance to see one. This is mostly true because one; if he shows himself to anyone, it will be with someone he can trust. He feels the same way about those with a pure heart the same way you do; someone more pleasant to be around then anyone else. Two; of course someone with a strong desire to see it is more likely to find him, they're trying harder. Mew might be a better hider then Waldo himself, but he isn’t perfect.

  • Lastly, because of his kind nature, he will help anyone he can. He isn't actively looking for people to help like a vigilante, and it may take a bit to realize the person he is looking at is in trouble, but he will jump in to help however he can. Preferably without showing his real face.

• Powers and Abilities: Pokémon Anatomy: Pokémon, even the weaker looking ones, are far more durable then your average human. If you want to kill one, you have to work at it. On a side note, Mew has the DNA of all Pokémon, and so, if he got his paws on a TM or HM, he can learn the move in it. But the odds of that are so low it's neglectable.
  • Psychic-typing: Part of the above mentioned anatomy is typing. Depending on what type the pocket monster is means how it will react to certain kinds of attacks. As a psychic-type, fighting and psychic based attacks will not harm him as much, but bug, ghost and dark based attacks will hurt him even more so. Lastly, as a psychic-type, any psychic-type attacks he has are more powerful being used by him then non psychic-types.

  • Synchronize: If Mew is burned, poisoned, or paralyzed by someone, it will pass the same problems onto his attacker. Mew still has the status problems, but this gives him a better fighting chance.

  • Invisibility: Mew can make himself turn invisible at will. If one has a sharp eye, they might see some distorted light in Mew's place.

  • Flight: Using his psychic powers, Mew can levitate because his feet and legs(?) are not made for walking. He can't fly as fast as an airplane, but faster then a normal human can run.

  • Pound: Mew can hit surprisingly hard with it's little paws. Will not work on ghosts.

  • Reflect Type: An odd move, this move changes the user's type to match the type or types of the target. If the target if ghostly, for instance, then Mew becomes a ghost type, with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with it. It wears out after five minutes.

  • Transform: One of Mew's more well known moves, he can shape-shift into a person or object in his field of vision and learn any moves they know. It should be noted that Mew uses this more for disguising and playing then actual combat, and in the rare instance Mew must fight, he will prefer to be in his own skin. He has a number of human disguises of people back from his homeworld, so that he doesn't need to deal with people who think they know him but don't. He can't be smaller then a mouse, or bigger then a Decapod.

  • Mega Punch: More accurate and stronger then Pound. No, I don't know how he can make a fist, he just can.

  • Metronome: By wagging his fingers, Mew can use almost anyone of the hundreds of moves a Pokémon can learn. The downside being it's completely at random. Mew knows the inherent danger in using this and will only use it as a last resort.

  • Psychic: No Pokémon is a Psychic-type without knowing this classic. Using his mind, Mew can pick up a person or thing. When he needs to attack someone with it, he slams them into a wall or the ground. Works well on fighting and poison types, not so well on steel and other psychics. This will not work on dark types one bit.

  • Barrier: One of his most used 'attacks', Mew summons a barrier to surround him to take any attacks thrown at him. The barrier is about as strong as a concrete wall, if a bit stronger. While the barrier is mostly see through, it has a tendency to become opaque when someone points a camera at it. So if you think that you can prove you’re not lying about seeing a flying pink cat thing, think again and yell in frustration. And if need be can ram into someone full force with the barrier on should the situation call for it.

  • Ancient Power: Described as a “prehistoric power” this attack sends large rocks flying at a target with a one in ten chance to rise Mew's attack, defense and speed. As a rock-type attack it's super effective on bug, fire, flying and ice, but weak to fighting and ground types.

  • Aura Sphere: With this move Mew launches a ball of aura at his opponent with frightening accuracy. Only the most skilled dodgers can get away from this attack with no damage done. Otherwise, you better have thick armor to hid behind. Or anything thick enough really. As a fighting-type attack, it's super effective on normal, ice, dark, rock and steel, but weak to poison, flying, bug and psychic targets, and not at all effective on ghosts.

  • Teleport: To help get out of a tight space in a literal flash, Mew can teleport up to 30 feet away.

• Personal Timeline: The Fourth Wave on Balder brought along many new residents to the city, but one definitely stood out. Or rather, the exact opposite.
  • Before coming to Balder, who knows what this Mew's life was like. Maybe he lived in the Tree of Beginning, once nearly killing himself to save the tree and the lives of humans who came after Pokémon he took from them. Maybe he was the one who's DNA was used to make a clone that he later had to dual with, and the fight only stopped when a ten year old boy was caught in their attacks. Maybe he was the only original generation Pokémon not caught by the hands of Red, or played with a talented young photographer on a rainbow cloud in the sky, or lived in Pallet Town for the lack of pollution, or South America, or Sky Pavilion, or Grass Cornet, or Mystery Jungle, or Faraway Island.

  • What ever the case, it does not matter. What does matter is that one day he was eating his favorite food, a Lum Berry, when he sees a portal leading to somewhere unknown. Curiosity in his eyes and heart he went right though the tear in space and time. Where he ended up was right in front of an older man living in the outskirts on the dead body of a god in another dimension.

  • Stunned at what just happened, he dropped his half eaten berry and made a quick getaway. When he had time to get his barrings, he realized that he was in another world, something he had ever dream of seeing.

  • Now, years later, every once in awhile someone will say they see something on the edge of their eye, but not seeing what it was. Sometime they will met an odd mute man or boy just looking around, acting like everything he is seeing he is seeing for the first time. Any time someone tries to go after him he always disappears. Their are rumors of a flying pink cat creature around, but most think that it's just hogwash.

• Relationships: Relationships with Mew are... hard to start. While he will play with pretty much anyone that isn’t pure evil, being true friends while being human is difficult, and this is just assuming you know Mew is real and know how and where to find him. He has met with other rare Pokémon like in the past and they all said how humans will use and abuse him if given the chance. Some of his favorite playmates on Balder are the children (whenever they don't make fun of his muteness) and the wildlife, like playing tag with the Pyprans, or wrestling with the Thorsnaps or Pincae (they are family), or even king of the mountain with a Decapod.
  • His favorite games are hide and seek with a pack of Gozeps half a mile north of the city. Good luck even finding the seeker. They even let him stay with them at night. Mew doesn’t actually live with them, he's more of a stray cat, never staying in one place for too long but likes to revisit places where there is food and fun.

• Lum tree: A small tree with red bark and lavender colored leaves, this helpful plant came to be on Balder a little after the The Fourth Wave. These trees can grow in just 48 and spawn two-three Lum Berries, a small green fruit that, when eaten, can heal almost all forms of ailments. Headaches, burns, tiredness, you name it. It can't heal outright injuries, however, and occasionally some of the corp of small fruit just disappears...

• Notes: Instead of being genderless like in the games, I have my Mew be a male. This is mostly for simplicity's sake (and legendaries can reproduce, as seen in the anime where you see a mother and child Lugia).
  • Mew knows more then four moves as that is just a game mechanic. Amnesia, Me First, Baton Pass and Nasty Plot are all removed as I can't think of a practical way to use them in this setting.

  • Unlike Guzma's Pokémon, Mew has not breed with any of the native Fauna, as from what I've seen from the Mew race, they have about as small a libido as a panda.

  • Mew can talk in human form, but just saying nothing but mew over and over will rise a lot more eyebrows then just not saying anything.

  • Yes, a lot of the “games” Mew is playing with the animals involve not being killed by them. He just doesn't realize it yet.

  • If I must have my hand forced to use Metronome, I will let Stratofarius decide with it will be. Or I can have a poll and have everyone vote on it. He'd probably end up exploding or using splash, but hey, at least everyone is involved.

(btw, whizzerd is on board with Guzma first seeing Mew and starting a Lum Berry crop)

edited 31st Mar '18 9:51:05 AM by goldenshark

@Kepler-7:

• With all of the necessary changes, accepted.

@Chabal:

• I would rather not have another 40k character, thank you.

@Def Revenge:

• It's a shame there's no spaghetti in Balder.
• In regards to the Hand: I'd like you to explain what sort of damage the Hand can make to its enemies. Basically, while I know the Hand, that was in the context of its original setting, where overpowered is the name of the game. I want you to tell me how could Okuyasu harm an enemy, and from then on we'll figure out whether or not to nerf that feature.
• Please finish the timeline because listening to a random call and walking into a portal is amazing.

@goldenshark:

• I don't think now is the time for a third character? You can set Mew aside for the future, but at least for now I'd rather you stuck with your first two characters, especially since I want to involve them all in different plotlines.

Fair enough. Mew is my idea for someone who can give a unique perspective on Balder, while not having anything or anyone to be tied down by. But would there be anything I'd have to change for Mew's signup? Also, is it fine if I say Mew likes to hang around with Loki and Loki treats him like an outside cat? I know it's firmly said that Loki is neutral to everyone, but in Mew's case that's more then anyone else has. And it's not like Loki is going around telling everyone that the city's equivalent to bigfoot likes to crash with him.

edited 31st Mar '18 4:23:17 PM by goldenshark

• Name: Xoladroskisce AKA Sister Xola
• Appearance: A pale-skinned woman, for what small amount of skin that can normally be seen. She can always been seen wearing a long flowing purple dress with white accents. She wears a white shawl draped over her shoulders, as well as a veil over her head that covers her 'hair' and her eye. She wears dark purple high-heeled shoes as well as black gloves to cover her hand. Around her waits Xola wears an orange sash, to mark herself as a Thanatologist. This is because where most of her joints are, there are creases in her skin-like exoskeleton. Her hair seems to just be average, shoulder-length black hair, but closer examination would reveal that it is actually a mass of antennae that is just imitating the appearance of it. Most striking of all is the single, large eye in the center of her face. It is always covered, but the iris is a bright orange and vertically elongated.
• Personality: Xola puts on an air of the kindhearted and passionate holy woman, someone of piety and compassion. While this is mostly true of her as a person, she actually falls short on the compassion aspect. Xola has extreme difficulty forming any sort of connection with someone. She will treat a person with the same familiarity regardless if they have just met or she has known them for years. To others, this would seem like she refuses to open up and let people in. To Xola, there will always be a degree of separation between herself and others due to never being able to form bonds with others on her own kind. She can recognize that other species such as humans have emotions, wants, and dreams but she can never empathize with them. As such she has no problem dropping the kind act and killing a person that proves to be a problem for her. She'd have no problem eating people if the collective society didn't harshly frown on it. The thing that forms the core of Xola's identity as a person is her faith. She is a strong believer of the Thanatology movement. She dedicates her life and much of her time to it and trying to spread her faith to others. This is because she views herself in a Shepard role, guiding less intelligent beings to serve the correct power.
• Powers and Abilities:
  • Strength and Durability: Due to her heritage as a Chimera Ant, Xola possesses greater physical capabilities than a human. She is strong enough to be able to lift an adult man with ease and thrown him across a room and able to withstand small amounts of gun fire.
  • Levitation: Xola has minor psionic capabilities, which manifest through telekinetic powers. The main use of which is to carry herself through the air. It is not a fast way to travel, not even able to out pace her foot speed if she were to run as fast as she could.
  • Ocular Powers: Xola possesses the genetics of a Beholder in her, granting her many abilities that stem from her eyes. While normally she just has the one large eye on her face, she can mutate and grow eye stalks from her body at will. These stalks are prehensile and look similar to an insect's antennae, only with an eyeball at the end.
    • Anti-Magic Gaze: This ability is tied to Xola's main eye exclusively. Anything magical in nature that is within her gaze is negated temporarily. It lasts for as long as she is looking at it, and is restored to functionality should she look away for any reason.
    • Laser Beam: The most basic beam to come from Xola's eyes, but the most functional. She can fire a thin red beam of light from the pupil of her eyes, which is capable of cutting through material with focused heat. This beam can not be maintained for long, usually lasting for only a few moments.
    • Paralysis Beam: A beam of energy that comes from Xola's eyes that is yellow in color. When this beam connects with a living organism, it causes their muscles to contract and lock up for a short duration of time.
    • Sleep Beam: A blue beam of magical energy. When it connects with an organic target, their mind is forcibly overcome with the need to sleep. This effect can be resisted with a strong enough will and focus.
    • Charm Beam: A beam of pink magical energy. Similar to the sleep beam, this effects the target's mind and can be resisted. This beam makes the target enamored with Xola, and more willing to help her however they imagine being able to do that.
    • Slowing Beam: A purple colored beam of magic. When this beam connects with the target, it slows the target's movements. The effect only lasts for a few seconds.
    • Telekinetic Beam: A white beam of energy that serves as an extension of Xola's psionic ability. When the beam connects with an object or person, she can remotely move them through the air. Like her levitation, the movement isn't fast and she can not move anything exceptionally heavy. Only a few hundred pounds at most.
• Personal Timeline:
  • 0AM: Along with the Original Warriors, a number of beasts and monsters found themselves pulled from their worlds to be put up against the Warriors. One such monster was a Chimera Ant Queen, a giant insect that ingests genetic material to pass on traits to her children. The Queen was a little more cunning than most other monsters though. She was fairly weak, and knew that she didn't stand a chance against most other monsters or the heroes. Instead, she followed in the wake of the Original Warriors, feasting on the beasts and fallen members they left behind.
  • 7AM: The Chimeric Purge takes place (see Jengbish's sheet) and the Chimera Ant colony is wiped out. In the chaos of the combat, a single egg is able to make it through without being noticed. Left to gestate and eventually hatch, Xoladroskisce emerged to a hive of dead chimera ants. She left the hive and discovered the still newly formed city of Balder. She observed the city from a distance for the next few years, learning about people from afar.
  • 10AM: When the second emergence occurred, inflating the population of the city with newly displaced people, Xola used this chance to slip in and joined the society she had been trying to learn about from a distance. Dressed in rags, Xola had difficulty finding a place in the city until a kind stranger by the name of Ahn took her in. It was from him that Xola learned the origins of the world and of what would become the most important thing to her, faith. She was taught the of the Thanatologist movement, and came to share their beliefs.
  • 20AM: The emergence had occurred once again, and despite the city being larger and much more stable there were still plenty of confused and lost people with no where to go. Xola approached Ahn about this issue, as he was the one that took her in when she was in a similar situation. While he turned her away, finding the idea of taking in so many strays at once to be impossible, he did give her the idea of building a house of refuge for those with no where to go. Xola took his idea and went to the inner city. She found a large building whos owner had recently died of 'mysterious circumstances' and petitioned for the land since it had no one else to go to. Upon receiving the rights to the building, Xola and a few other Thanatologists she got to agree to help her renovated the building. It became a place for those that were new to the city or had no where else to go to stay. The lodgings were fairly meager, but still preferable to the street or the Naked Wilds. It also served as a place in the inner city for Thanatologists, though for the comfort of the inhabitants they don't push their beliefs on to those that stay there.
• Relationships:
  • Jengbish: Xola is aware that Jengbish is the man responsible for the eradication of her hive. She has not figured out if she hates him or not, and does not feel that it really matters at this point.
  • Ahn: Ahn is the first person that Xola formed any kind of bond with, and to this day that number stays small. She dedicates herself to making sure that Ahn's message can reach as many people as possible, and has more or less filled the position of his right hand woman. She'd do anything for him and their collective, even things that Ahn might not approve of if he were made aware of them.

• Name: P'li
• Appearance: A very tall young woman with protuberant eyes and a Third Eye tattoo on her forehead.
• Personality: [pending]
• Powers and Abilities:
  • Firebending: P'li is a master firebender, able to generate and control fire (both her own and naturally-occuring flames) at will by manipulating the body's chi. Firebenders are immune to their own flames and can create heat without making visible flames. Firebending can be neutralized by extreme cold, solar eclipses or attacking certain pressure points to block the flow of chi.
  • Combustionbending: A rare offshoot of firebending which manifests as a destructive beam of heat from her forehead tattoo that can be curved while it moves and causes explosions on impact. Eclipses, blocking chi or the tattoo will prevent this ability.
  • Unarmed Combat: Even if her chi is blocked, firebending's movements remain an effective self-defense method. P'li's training has left her with impressive agility and reflexes (though combustionbending requires her to stay still), but she prefers to focus on mid-to long-range combat.
• Personal Timeline: [pending]
  • AM 10: Arrival on Balder as a preteen, previously held prisoner and used as a personal assassin by a warlord on her homeworld.
  • AM 20: Participated in the defense of the city against the Pseudosentia.
  • AM 30: Participated in the defense of the city against the Pseudosentia.
• Relationships: [pending]

edited 1st Apr '18 10:39:05 AM by Chabal2

@goldenshark:

• Sure. Once the time is appropriate, we can add Mew to the game.

@Oni-Lord:

• Xola is accepted.

Obligatory good music time.

• Name: Nier
• Age: 21
• Wave: Fourth. Currently a Fusilier assigned to southern Naked Wilds.
• History prior to Balder: A simple village kid, living in a world that's winding down. His sister, Yonah, has a mysterious disease known as the Black Scrawl, which causes shifting black markings akin to some kind of strange language to appear on her skin; also it means she's sick pretty much all the time and has to be bed-ridden. Nier has spent most of his life taking on odd jobs for anyone who will pay him, reliant upon the pity of his neighbors, despite their own poverty. While an outsider would consider many of the jobs he takes beneath a young man of his caliber, Nier accepts this without complaint so that he can provide food and medicine for his sister. The medicine he gives her does not cure her, but eases her suffering somewhat. For many years, Nier has held out hope that his village's two leaders, Devola and Popola, might find a cure for Yonah's illness. However, now that he and Yonah are separated from all they once knew, they are having to get by with an unfamiliar set of circumstances. Yonah is still confined to the small flat they were given in the city, if not to her bed, and Nier's Fusilier salary allows them to get by. Nier's first priority was to locate a suitable replacement for the medicine Yonah was taking, and while a cure continues to elude him, he has been able to keep his sister alive and in somewhat of a state of comfort.
• Appearance: A very pretty young man. Keeps his hair tied in a ponytail, despite what this picture may lead you to believe.
• Personality: Nier is a stoic and contemplative young man, with a quiet dignity even in the face of hardship or humiliation. His is unfailingly driven to better his sister's condition, and will do absolutely anything if he believes it will benefit Yonah in some way. This has brought him very real trouble in the past, and as a result, Nier is slower to trust than he once was. With his quiet nature comes a knack for listening, and others tend to find him easy to open up to. Rarely ever will you hear a complaint from Nier, especially about his lot in life. This gives many people the impression that he possesses a strong and positive outlook on life, despite the misfortune he and his sister are forced to endure.
• Powers, Abilities, and Equipment:
  • Good at fighting: While self-trained, Nier has been fighting for his and Yonah's life for a very long time. As a result, where once a clumsy boy stood, a savvy and powerful man now stands. Nier is an expert swordsman, preferring smaller swords for quick strikes, but he is also perfectly capable of using spears and enormous two-handed swords just as effectively.
  • Doesn't mess around: This isn't really a power, but it's worth noting because it's key to his character. Nier's style of fighting is especially suited for killing and hunting. He does not fight for the fun of it, and neither were his skills honed out of enjoyment. Nier has killed countless wild beasts and strange monsters in his time, and has even killed his share of people. As a result, he is exceptionally good at keeping his cool in combat, analyzing his opponent, and figuring out exactly how to end the fight as quickly and decisively as possible. Nier is used to using whatever he has at his disposal to stay alive for his sister, so expect plenty of cheap shots if he has the opportunity.
  • Replicant Physiology: Nier is faster, stronger, and more durable than a normal person by a fairly sizable margin. The reason for this would require an explanation of the entire backstory to the game, and Nier isn't even aware of any of that in this iteration. For the purposes of comparison, Nier can lift and swing swords which weigh more than he does, run or fight for long periods of time without tiring, easily dodge and weave between tightly-packed clusters of magic bullets, and survive being gored by a giant boar. He is also somewhat resistant to magic, and his wounds heal significantly more quickly than a regular human's would, although not quickly enough to be considered a healing factor.
  • Nameless Blade: Nier's sword. It's a long, thin curved sword with a simple guard. There's nothing inherently great about it. It's just the only sword Nier owns.
• Personal Timeline:
  • AM 30: Nier and Yonah arrived on Balder. Now homeless and truly penniless, Nier immediately sought out a place that his sister could rest her head. The two lived in Asriel's orphanage for a short while, and while seeking gainful employment, Nier caught wind of the Fusiliers looking for new recruits. The pay was meager, but it was no worse than he was used to back home, and it allowed him to pay for medicine to ease Yonah's suffering. The income his new job provided allowed him to purchase a small apartment for the two of them after just a few months of frugal saving, so Nier and Yonah were finally able to once again have a place to call home. Shortly thereafter, Nier took part in the fourth pseudoscentia crusade, earning some small recognition for his service due to his impressive combat prowess. To Nier, however, this felt no different than cutting down a person: Nothing to agonize over, but nothing to take pride in, either.
  • AM 30 - Present Day: Nier has spent most of his time hunting and scouting for the Fusiliers, all for the sake of providing medicine for Yonah. A year prior to their arrival on Balder, Nier was told in no uncertain terms that Yonah did not have long to live, but despite this grim news, she has somehow managed to last into the present day. Her condition has not improved, so she is still bedridden and frequently in great pain, but Nier continues to do what he can for her. He is fully aware that he cannot save her life, and bringing her some measure of comfort is his ultimate aim. Unfortunately, due to the prohibitive cost of medication potent enough to ease Yonah's pain, Nier spends long periods of time out on scouting and hunting missions for the Fusiliers, in order to squeeze as much extra into his meager salary as he can.
• Relationships:
  • Yonah is his eleven-year-old sister, almost permanently bedridden. She maintains as positive an attitude as she can, but she frequently wishes she weren't such a burden to her brother, despite his insistence that she is not. Nier and Yonah are both well aware that she is, and that her still being alive after enduring the black scrawl for six years is downright bizarre; a more optimistic man than Nier would call it a miracle, but miracles are rarely so terribly painful for so long.
  • Yui Kiryuin is a recruit looking to officially join the ranks of the Fusiliers. They've talked before, but don't know each other very well.
  • Jo'on and Shion Yorigami are known to Nier by reputation. The three of them are usually separated by their jobs and large parts of the city, but Nier has heard that they have big, vaguely-defined plans for the Fusiliers, which might help him to acquire even larger sums of money. He has also heard that Jo'on has big, vaguely-defined plans for lots of different things, so he hasn't been holding out hope as of yet.
  • Asriel Dremurr is someone Nier considers himself forever indebted to. When he and his sister were newcomers to Balder without any money to their name, he fed them and put a roof over their heads, allowing Nier to save up money for an apartment. Nier has never asked Asriel about his past, and neither has Asriel's penitent demeanor ever concerned him. To Nier, Asriel was the biggest factor in helping him get a foothold in the city.
  • Laura Kinney is a fellow Fusilier and acquaintance through Asriel. Nier doesn't know much about her personally, but he knows about her by reputation, and Asriel seems to like her, so Nier has a generally positive opinion of her.

@Doctor Thunder:

• Nier is accepted.

So now that I've got my original warrior True Evil character set up at a high point, time to sign up with a straight-off-the-boat True Good character at what's quite possibly the lowest point in his life!

Name: Link

Appearance: The Last Champion of Hyrule

A young man of 16 well actually more like 116 but let's not get technical here with light brown hair and deep blue eyes. Link is about five feet eight inches tall, but still has a little growing to do. He has a lean athletic build, and the pointed elf-like ears of a Hylian.

Unless he's at home or a guest somewhere, Link will almost always be carrying his treasured Hero's Shield, a Savage Lynel bow he'd been carrying when he fell through the portal to Balder, and the Sword that Seals the Darkness—the Master Sword.

Link wears a pair of shin-high traveling boots, light tan trousers, and a sky blue tunic that marks him as a Champion of Hyrule. He also wears a blue earring on his right ear, a few hammerspace pouches on his belt, and a rectangular device on his hip called a Sheikah Slate, a unique and ancient machine capable of performing a number of impressive feats (explained later).

Personality: Link is a soft-spoken young man, who believes it's better for a knight to be seen rather than heard. He takes the burdens of others on his shoulders, so much so that he has gotten into the strange habit of not expressing his thoughts or feelings to others. It takes either an unbearable amount of strain on his mind or a lot of coaxing to get Link to put words to what he's thinking.

That said, he does have some interests and hobbies that could help him bond with others. He loves animals, and has a special kinship with domesticated creatures. According to Zelda, Link is also "quite a glutton" who "can't resist a delicious meal." His sense of humor leans towards the slap-stick and outrageous rather than anything subtle or sophisticated. He also seems to work very well with kids, at times acting like an overgrown kid himself!

More than anything though, Link has an invincible sense of duty to his King, his Princess, and his country. The fact he's been chosen by the Master Sword seems almost secondary to his dedication to protect his kingdom. While it has taken him a few days to mourn and recover from the shock, Link is ready to protect the City of Balder like he once protected Hyrule.

Powers and Abilities: We can separate these by the magic spells Link will come to Balder with, and the items/weapons he has at his disposal.

Magic: These are abilities passed down to Link from his former comrades, the other four Champions of Hyrule.

• Mipha's Grace: The Zora Champion Mipha is a white mage prodigy, and one of Link's oldest friends. When Link falls in battle, Mipha's Grace will mend his wounds and bring him back to health for a second round. This ability can only be performed once per excursion/set of battles.

• Daruk's Protection: As the Goron Champion and unspoken leader of the group after Zelda, Daruk is by far the largest and strongest of the five Champions, adding a magic shield to his already durable rock body. When Link bears his shield or moves to protect himself, he summons a red dome around himself and anything within three feet of him. This dome not only keeps Link safe from harm, but can also reflect attacks back at the assailant, forcing a stagger or (in the case of long-range attacks) a dodge. Daruk's Protection can only be used three times per excursion/set of battles; after that, Link will no longer be able to summon the dome to protect himself.

• Urbosa's Fury: Something of a mother-figure for Princess Zelda, the Gerudo Champion Urbosa has the power to summon lightning down from the heavens to strike her enemies. When Link charges the Master Sword for a spin attack, he can also unleash Urbosa's fury to shock and possibly paralyze up to ten enemies within twenty feet of him. While it's very unlikely that the attack will eliminate enemies on the spot, it stun effect could help Link close the distance gap or give possible allies a chance to strike the defenseless foes. Urbosa's Fury can only be used five times per excursion/set of battles. It should also be noted that this ability can't work indoors or anywhere the sky cannot reach.

• Rivali's Gale: By far the most elegant and arrogant of the five, the Ruto Champion Rivali has appointed himself Link's rival for the honor of being Zelda's personal knight. His ability to create powerful gusts of wind has helped Link reach high places with ease. As the only ability that is not definitively combat-oriented, Rivali's Gale would make an excellent power for exploring the Naked Wilds or scouting for potential enemies, not to mention an innovative means to escape unwinnable fights. That said, Link can only use Rivali's Gale three times per excursion/set of battles.

Sheikah Slate:◊ This ancient device is capable of performing some impressive functions (called runes) otherwise thought impossible in the medieval-fantasy era of Hyrule. These runes include:

• Bombs (Round and Square): Link can create a explosive device about the size of a bowling ball. These bombs can be remotely detonated by the Sheikah Slate, but are otherwise harmless. The explosion covers about five feet in diameter, and since the bombs are essentially created out of thin air, there is no shrapnel or gunpowder to speak of. Round bombs can roll along the ground, whereas the cubed bombs tend to stay in place unless placed on a steep slope. Link can only produce one bomb of each type at a time, and since they both have separate detonation settings, he also can only blow up one bomb at a time. On top of that, these bombs have a three-second recharge phase between uses.

• Magnesis: The Sheikah Slate can create a strong magnetic pull on metal objects, allowing Link to move steel weapons, massive blocks of iron, and even twenty-foot long slabs of sheet metal with relative ease. Link uses Magnesis to pull metal objects over to him, or to drop them on unsuspecting enemies, or to create a makeshift bridge.
  • Note: While it's not impossible for Link to Magnesis a weapon away from an enemy before it's grabbed, the controls for the feature aren't intuitive and can be tough to maneuver smaller objects like a sword or shield. Given how he's vulnerable while using the Sheikah Slate, Link would probably risk his opponent wielding a metal weapon rather than try to take it away beforehand.

• Cryonis: This rune can freeze a body of water into six foot tall block of ice. The water doesn't need to be placid, or even that deep to work, so long as there's enough volume to make the ice. Apart from giving Link a solid footing in lakes or rivers, Cyronis can also be used to stop the flow of water in concentrated areas. Link can create up to three blocks of ice at a time; once he creates a fourth, the first block created turns back into water.

• Stasis: The Sheikah Slate has a very limited ability to stop time for certain objects. The effects of this rune last no longer than five seconds, but in that time the object's essentially immune from damage and susceptible to kinetic energy; in other words, if you hit the under-stasis object a lot, it'll launch in the direction it was hit from. This rune has a notably longer recharge phase than the other runes, at least five seconds per use. Only one object can be put under stasis at a time, and (despite the in-game upgrade) all living creatures are exempt from its effects.

• Camera: A camera that can store several hundred pictures, including some very special ones that Link treasures. The Sheikah Slate's camera can also be faced towards Link to create a "selfie" mode!

• Master Cycle Zero:◊ An ancient vehicle created by the same inventors of the Sheikah Slate, Master Cycle Zero is a motorcycle Link can summon with the slate to help him cover large distances quickly. The Master Cycle runs on fuel converted from raw materials like meat and plant matter, and its ability to handle especially rough terrain isn't great. The Sheikah Slate can also store the Master Cycle when Link no longer needs it.

Items:

• Master Sword:◊ The legendary sword that seals the darkness of Calamity Ganon, the Master Sword is a holy weapon capable of smiting evil creatures, on top of being a high-quality blade. Link can charge the Master Sword with energy to unleash a spin attack, giving him an extra three feet of range in the circular attack.

• Hero's Shield:◊ Link's trusty shield bearing the crest of the royal family. It's also a impressive piece of weaponry, capable of bearing countless blows, blasts from a Guardian's beams, and lots of abuse as a makeshift snowboard other forms of strain Link puts on it.

• Savage Lynel Bow:◊ This bow belonged to a powerful centaur-like creature in Hyrule called a Lynel. A Lynel's bow has the strange ability to duplicate any arrows shot from it—this particular bow can turn one arrow into five, all shot from the same horizontal plane.
  • Arrows: Since Link had prepared for his final confrontation with Calamity Ganon before falling into Balder City, he had collected a generous amount of arrows, including a healthy number of fire, ice,◊ shock, bomb,◊ and ancient arrows.◊ The exact number of each can be either left ambiguous, or Strat can decide how many he'd be willing to give Link.

• Glider:◊ A device given to Link from an old friend at the start of the game, the glider lets Link...well, glide. Covers a lot of distance by slowing down his descent. While Link can temporarily withdraw the glider and switch to his bow and arrows, for all intents and purposes he's totally vulnerable when using it. Unlike the Master Cycle Zero, there's absolutely no chance the glider can carry two people at once—the extra weight would cause both of them plummet to their deaths. ^_^;

• Wallet: Never to be forgotten in any Zelda game, Link has a lot of Rupees at his disposal...only now he's prolly got nothing to spend them on!

Personal Timeline: Fair warning, there's a hefty dose of BOTW spoilers in here. I've marked a point that'll keep spoilers to a minimum for those looking to play the game.

Link is the son of a knight duty-bound to the royal family of Hyrule. Even at a young age, Link showed the promise of fulfilling a vital role in protecting the kingdom from its eternal enemy: Calamity Ganon. According to legend, the Great Calamity could only be sealed away by a princess endowed with the power of the Goddess Hylia, and her loyal protector who wields the legendary Master Sword. With their combined strength, they continued this eternal stalemate with Ganon age after age, apparently since the dawn of time itself. As the Calamity's return looms over the horizon, Link approached the Sacred Grove—home to that legendary blade—and proved he was a Champion worthy to wield it.

At the same time, the King of Hyrule discovered another means to subdue Calamity Ganon without the use of the princess or her chosen hero: ancient machines developed by the Sheikah tribe over ten thousand years before. Apart from the armies of these "Guardians," as they came to be known, the excavations uncovered four massive machines capable of incredible power. Named the Divine Beasts, the King of Hyrule appointed four individuals from the other races of the kingdom to pilot these incredible weapons. Led by Princess Zelda herself, Link, the Zora Princess Mipha, the Goron Chief Daruk, the Gerudo Matriarch Urbosa, and the Unmatched Rito Archer Rivali became the Champions of Hyrule—a fellowship of warriors dedicated to defeating Calamity Ganon before it ever made a scratch on Hyrulean soil.

While stories of the Champions lifted the kingdom's collective spirits, Princess Zelda felt nothing but incessant dread. Though she was the royal princess of Hyrule, her power to defeat the Calamity remained dormant. No matter what she tried, or how much she prayed to the Goddess, she felt nothing. No surge of power, no call from an angelic voice, not a single sign that she was ready to face the destiny entrusted to her. Consumed with self-doubt, she could only freeze in terror when the miasma clouds of a boar appeared near Mount Lanayru.

Though the princess fell to her knees, helpless, the Champions didn't hesitate. They rushed to their Divine Beasts to combat Ganon without their royal support, but were faced with a terrible secret: in its age-long slumber, Ganon had discovered a way to corrupt the Guardians programmed to destroy it. The Calamity infected the Divine Beasts with powerful reincarnations of itself. It killed the four Champions, hijacked the Divine Beasts, and used them to wreak havoc on the kingdom they were supposed to protect.

With all hope nearly lost, Link and the dwindling Hylian and Sheikah forces prepared for their final stand at Hateno Fort. In protecting Princess Zelda from a Guardian's attack, Link was mortally wounded. It took her last protector's demise to finally awaken Zelda's hidden power, and as she ordered the dying Link to be placed in a hidden sanctuary called the Shrine of Resurrection, Zelda set off for Hyrule Castle to confront Calamity Ganon alone...

...when Link finally opened his eyes, a hundred years had passed. Calamity Ganon still infested the kingdom, but Zelda's powers kept the beast from consuming Hyrule whole. Trapped in a perpetual stalemate, it was up to Link to free the four Divine Beasts, recover the Master Sword, and join Zelda at Hyrule Castle to end the war once and for all.

After months of traveling the kingdom, collecting artifacts and vanquishing monsters plaguing the sprinkles of civilization still left in Hyrule, Link had accomplished most of his mission. The Divine Beasts were free, and the souls of his old comrades could finally find peace. The Master Sword was back with its rightful wielder, and even Zelda's Sheikah Slate had found its way into Link's possession. Leaving a trail of Guardian rubble behind him, Link walked, sword and shield in hand, into the Castle Sanctum, where Calamity Ganon resides.

Aaaaaaaaaaaalrigty, spoilers over.

His vision failed him with a blinding flash, but after a few painful blinks (and a few calm repetitions of "It's okay, son. You're safe...put the weapon down."), Link found himself in a different city—entire dimensions away from his final goal.

He lashed out. This had to be a trick; a desperate last spell from Ganon to make Link believe that he'd failed everyone a second time. He couldn't trust his senses. He kept his sword pointed at the tall goat-like monster pleading he listen to reason. The thing looked evil enough to serve the Calamity; one last Blight that stood between him and rescuing Zelda.

The scrap that ensued left Link unarmed in less than a minute, and it was only the sight of the Monster rushing to shield an overly-curious little girl that stopped Link from releasing the bomb arrow in his Lynel bow. This wasn't Hyrule. This creature wasn't his enemy. This wasn't his fight.

It took a few hours for Asriel to fully explain where he was. The former god spoke calmly and with as much sympathy one could hope for. Yet despite the patience and pity, Link only heard the same three sentences:

"You'll never defeat Ganon now."

"You'll never free Hyrule."

"You've failed—again."

For the next four days, Link stayed at Asriel's orphanage idly helping out around the house. When he wasn't cleaning the dishes or running errands closer to town, Link spent most of his time on the roof. Staring at nothing.

When Asriel finally coaxed the teenager into talking, there was no stopping the tears. Link tried to explain his situation as much as his sobbing throat could croak out, though even if "Mister Dreemurr" didn't follow every point, he might catch some familiar points: Link had taken everyone's hopes and dreams on his shoulders, and at the moment that should've marked his (and everyone's) greatest victory, fate pulled the rug right from under him. The world turned against him—apparently not for the first time—and now he was frozen stuck, unsure if there's even a point in continuing anymore.

Whatever hard-earned advice the Monster had to share seemed to calm the young man down, bit by bit. Link found expressing himself under normal circumstances difficult, so that talk on that little roof soon lulled into a shared moment of silence. Then, without a word, Link began to climb back down.

Today is a new day, and after a good night's sleep, Link is ready to start a new journey on this strange planet.

It all starts with a favor...

Relationships:

Asriel Dreemurr: Asriel was the first creature Link met on Balder, and in the short five days Link has lived with him and the orphans have meant more to Link than he can properly express. Asriel has given him a new sense of hope for his new situation. Somehow, someday, Link hopes to repay the Monster for his kindness.

edited 2nd Apr '18 8:42:17 PM by TheodoreHastings

@Theodore Hastings:

• Link is accepted.

All the Pokémon stuff added with Whizzerd's permission.

• Name: Erik Stevens/Killmonger/N’Jadaka, Son of N’Jobu

• Appearance: The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will be live.◊
• Personality:
  • N’Jadaka has spent his entire life forging his mind and body into a weapon, for one explicit purpose—taking hold of the Wakandan Royal Throne, and wreaking bloody vengeance on the world that has taken advantage of his oppressed black brethren for hundreds of years. Buried beneath his righteous vengeance is a seed of dark, self-centered fury, looking to burn the world the way it burned him and carve it a hundredfold for every mark he’s drilled into his skin. Outwardly, he’s friendly, casual, and irreverent, quick to make a joke and loathe to make most things seriously—but he’s almost always working an angle, using those around him as a justified means to an end, doing whatever it takes to bring his vision to light.
  • …or at least, that’s how he used to be. Following the events of his time in Wakanda and his subsequent time in the City of Balder, N’Jadaka has found something he can tentatively call happiness, with a loving partner and a daughter that he would do almost anything for. Energy that was once devoted toward tearing the world down is now put toward building it up, hoping to put truth to the ideals that were once spurred by hate, and are now driven by love... while also being friendly, casual, irreverent, and loathe to take people too seriously.

• Powers and Abilities:
  • Master Assassin: N’Jadaka’s time in the military earned him the nickname “Killmonger” for a very, very good reason. Graduating from Annapolis Naval Academy, joining the Navy SEALS to participate in military operations around the globe, and becoming part of a black ops JSOC unit that specialized in taking down governments, N’Jadaka has acquired skills including, but not limited to: gunplay, bladed weaponry, plastic explosives, regular explosives, infiltration, sabotage, espionage, poisoning, and advanced martial arts. In addition, N’Jadaka has carved a mark on his skin for each of his confirmed kills, and he has more than a few.^note Estimates put the number somewhere around 2,200, but no one knows for sure.
  • The Heart-Shaped Herb: N’Jadaka has drunk a concoction made from the mythical Heart-Shaped Herb, which greatly improves his strength, speed, and instincts^note whatever that means. N’Jadaka is strong enough to kick a car onto its side, if not necessarily lift it, and fast enough to nearly catch said car before it gets on the freeway.
  • Vibranium Half-Spear: Upon crossing over into Balder, N’Jadaka was clutching a spear snapped in half, with a Vibranium head that can cut through anything most things. Due to that property, it is difficult to store properly, and next to impossible to find it an adequate sheath for, leading N’Jadaka to believe that one of the safest places to keep it is directly in his hands. He frequently brings it with him on hunts, either to fight or finish off the local wildlife, even after he used it to inflict an injury that changed his life forever…

• Personal Timeline:
  • Pre-City: N’Jadaka had carried a grudge throughout his childhood and most of his adult life that warped and twisted his worldview, until he was prepared to take just as much from the world as it had taken from him. Committing himself to the grand goal of one day violently overthrowing the oppressors of the world by arming the oppressed beyond their wildest dreams, he began a crusade to turn himself into the ultimate killing machine, scooping up every bit of covert and black ops knowledge he could get his hands on and branding each one of his many, many kills into his flesh. However, at the very last minute, N’Jadaka was defeated, and as he watched his dreams and aspirations go up in smoke, he felt a deep-set and confusing cocktail of emotions descend over him as bright and overwhelming as the setting Wakanda sun. Achieving clarity for the first time in his life, he declined to see his mission through, and left it in the hands of his cousin.

  • 10 AM: Arriving in the City changed all that. Initially confused, reluctant, and wildly incredulous (“This is some Grade-A Avengers bullshit right here,”), he quickly settled back into old grooves, robbed for the moment of the greater purpose he had thrown his life toward and left with nothing but the skills and weaponry that that life had gifted him. Gathering men, weapons, and supplies, he made a life for himself hunting the beasts of the Naked Wilds and trading in their body parts, adorning the streets and alleyways of the adjacent neighborhoods with everything from pelts to warding heads on sticks. One year passed, then two, each day marked by watching the purple sun descend behind the horizon.

  • 13 AM: Everything changed one day while hunting a large spider-like creature in the Naked Wilds. After chucking his Vibranium spear into the creature’s side, it abruptly turned into a screaming, wailing member of the City itself, having disguised herself in order to safely gather supplies outside the city limits. Initially concerned less with her well-being and more with the consequences of killing another member of the City, N’Jadaka escorted her back to the City and ensured that she got proper medical attention, then began checking up on her to make sure she was recovering adequately. What began as an obligation quickly became something more as their banter inadvertently exposed themselves in ways they didn’t mean to, and N’Jadaka quickly realized that she was a victim on her home world of the very thing he’d railed against for so long. Minutes turned to hours as he brought her trinkets from the Wilds and showed off, sparking a flame he wasn’t sure would last even as he coached her rehabilitation until she began to pass him on their morning runs.

  • 14 AM: Before he knew it, N’Jadaka was in a relationship with someone almost half his age, and for perhaps the first time in his life he was something approaching happy. His operation in the Wilds continued to grow, and he renamed it the Umtyholi^note Xhosa, aka Wakandan, for Devil after his beautiful Devilman beau—so that people would learn that Devils weren’t strictly something to fear. He began to get more involved in the city’s infrastructure as he spent more time at home, ensuring that his community was somewhere that he and his would actually want to live. He used the knowledge he’d gained to teach residents in manning and maintaining the beginnings of the power grid, flexed his training in the military to enforce discipline among his men, and did what he could overall to promote culture and prevent their proverbial Garden of Eden from repeating the mistakes of the—and his—past.

  • 15 AM: Eventually the inevitable happened, and Miki ended up pregnant. Despite expecting this, N’Jadaka froze, a childhood with a father-sized hole in it flitting through his mind and leaving him unprepared for the impending mantle of fatherhood. Spending more time in the Naked Wilds, allegedly to build up a nest egg before the birth, left Miki to deal with the unpredictable ravages of a Devilman pregnancy that destroyed furniture without even as it created life within. The strain on their relationship grew, until an injury in the Wilds prompted N’Jadaka to have a vision of his father, N’Jobu. Not able to tell if the encounter was fact or fantasy, N’Jadaka realized it didn’t matter, and raced home to his wife as his child was born early. Keeping her steady through the procedure by being able to get close to the thrashing Devilman while the midwives couldn’t, he stayed with her all through the night, even suffering a long, deep gash underneath one eye like a permanent tear streak. While holding his screaming, healthy baby girl in his arms, he found that he couldn’t stop smiling, as his skin was marked for the last time.

  • 16-20 AM: N’Jadaka’s life became a series of trial and errors after that night, as both parents grappled with the unknown unknowns of caring for a Devilman child. N’Jadaka expanded his operations once more even as he personally became less affiliated with the day-to-day, helping to promote and expand the burgeoning power grid as those in the center finally granted their support. As a result, when an attack from the Naked Wilds threatened to undo his hard work, he took the slight exceptionally personally, spending the next three years putting his blood, sweat, and tears into creating a wall that could keep his family and community safe. He also made it a point to put the blood, sweat, and tears of the wildlife into the wall as well—finding that the viscera had a way of keeping inquisitive beasts away, he and his workforce took to mounting the heads, limbs, and other parts of slain beasts on the outside of the Western wall to keep nature in nature, a tradition that continues to this day.

  • 20-25AM: With something like creature comforts firmly established in the Western Quadrant, N’Jadaka took it easy for a few years, noting that the Heart-Shaped Herb seemed to be taking the edge off of his aging even as he bemusedly dealt with the various cults that began arising within his area. Reflecting on the importance of religion in his homeland, he encouraged Anansi to make her own decisions about who and what to worship, something that didn’t come to a head until 25 AM, when his daughter had a catastrophic encounter with one of the Original Warriors and, specifically, their superpowered pet. Having just begun his bid to become the General of the Western Quadrant, N’Jadaka approached Guzma as both a father and a warrior for a way to smooth things over, and somehow ended up being responsible for teaching the Warrior’s daughter, Laeta, the skills she would need to survive in this new world.

  • 25-35 AM: After officially becoming the General of the Western Quadrant, N’Jadaka began reluctantly condensing his own forces into the Fusilier’s ranks to avoid accusations of favoritism and the like. He watched with narrowed eyes as the rich moved to the affluent center, watching history repeating itself before his eyes and not liking one bit of it. After using his resources and influence to push for a factory in the city center that could make bullets on a consistent basis, he found he could no longer tell where his own operation ended and the City’s began, something that rankles him to no end.

• Relationships:
  • Anansi Kuroda: N’Jadaka loves his daughter more than almost anything else in the world, and feels that the bulk of his work in keeping the City secure has to do with keeping her, personally, safe. While he doesn’t always understand her on a personal level, he tries to make as much time for her as possible considering his responsibilities, and tries to push for what’s best for her well-being even if she thinks otherwise. Case in point, he is currently trying to get her to the Center’s University for the planet’s closest thing to higher education, only to meet pushback every step of the way.

  • Miki Kuroda: The other great love of his life, N’Jadaka sometimes feels that he owes Miki everything, and tries to make her understand that each and every day. Still very much in love after twenty plus years together, he’s immensely proud of the way she’s shaped the community of the Western Quadrant, and can barely imagine what his life would be like without her.

  • Guzma: N'Jadaka feels a deep well of wariness and thankfulness to the other man in equal measure, eternally grateful for what the man did all those years ago but vaguely aware that he did so out of a general dislike of the government that N'Jadaka has come to be a part of. Still, N'Jadaka is more than willing to give the man his space, and while they may never quite be friends, there is a respect born of shared experience that leads N'Jadaka to believe that their shared secret is in good hands.

  • Akane Owari: One day, if they ever actually meet and N'Jadaka can put a face to the super-cool space explorer his daughter sometimes talks about, he may very well show her that he is totally a ninja.

  • Laeta Owari: Once it became apparent what kind of person his daughter was (i.e. in one ear and out the other), N'Jadaka breathed a quiet sigh of relief that he would never have to pass along his skillset to another generation. He was therefore unimpressed when Laeta demanded to be schooled in those very same skills, and endeavored to make the training as intense as possible to squeeze her out of her ideals. But as she kept coming back, time and again, year after year, it became something of a game, and N'Jadaka found himself unable to deny the growing respect and paternal affection for the girl. N'Jadaka no longer begrudges her wanting to learn those skills in particular, and only demands that she keep the reasons for learning those skills at the front of her mind, so that she doesn't lose her way like he did.

  • Mayor Cassiopeia: N’Jadaka respects the lengths that Cassiopeia went through to get the initial settlement off the ground, but firmly believes that she holds her current position through sheer political inertia. Thinking that she’s naïve at best and delusional at worst, he mostly just rolls her eyes at her office-hopping antics and tries to sit patiently through whatever authority she elects to hold over him.

  • Satsuki Kiryuin: Initially deeply resentful of the idea of taking orders from someone a decade his junior, N’Jadaka made a point to thumb his nose in Satsuki’s direction every opportunity he could while still a member of the private sector. Now as a bona fide member of the City’s elite, he finds that himself and almost everyone he cares about depends on her cooperation, so he plays nice for the sake of her support. He doesn’t know or care if she likes him, all but goading her that the most adult thing she could do in their situation is have a functional working relationship.

  • Bloodfather Jengbish: While at times tempted to take both a literal and figurative piece out of the heavily-armored giants hide, N’Jadaka knows that without him the whole city would probably fall to the worst of the Naked Wilds, and that he personally would have his top and bottom halves violently rearranged. Still, he almost can’t help but try and get a reaction out of this sanctimonious crusader of some alien god with a silly name, and lets Kreamed Khorne know that every time they meet.

  • Matt Murdock: While N’Jadaka appreciates the spirit of what the Chief Justice is trying to do, on another level he sees a man blinded by the relative wealth around him to the true problems plaguing the outskirts. Also, literally blind. Nevertheless, he treats the man with a modicum more respect than most of the higher-ups in the inner city, appreciating his point of view even if they can’t quite see eye-to-glasses.

  • Jo’on and Shion Yorigami: N’Jadaka watches the sisters like a hawk, not necessarily for who they are as much as what they represent; he knows that if and when economic reforms casting his people into an all-too-familiar cycle starts up again, it’ll come from their direction, at least initially, and he has a tight grip on his spear for the day that it does.

  • Pre Vizla: Or as N’Jadaka prefers to refer to him as, My Problem. While the other Original Warriors and inner politicians can talk about the hypotheticals of Pre’s spartan barbarism and the growing ranks of his hyper-militarized men, N’Jadaka has to live it, every day, watching the horizon with a keen eye waiting for something to jetpack out of it. Finding the man’s near-bid for his own position as proof enough that conflict is inevitable, he only hopes that any death that the man claims he’s fighting for is as good as he thinks it is.

  • Loki Laufeyson: N’Jadaka hasn’t met Loki yet. But when he does, he might have a few words for him about one New York City…

  • Mr. Scratch: Nightclubs are cool.

  • Noel Vermillion: N’Jadaka knows a thing or two about time bombs, and does his best to allow Noel access to positions where she won’t be harassed by her fellow soldiers. Unfortunately, this usually results in more dangerous posts, but he knows from experience that she can handle it. He’s happy that she’s found a life for herself, and encourages her friendship with his partner, but he sometimes wonder how much of her sense of duty is merely a feeling of penance.

• Fun Facts!
  • The Golden Jaguar suit that N’Jadaka was transferred over with was rendered inert, either because of the damages it sustained or because of the rigors of interdimensional travel. He pawned off the golden necklace that formerly contained the suit in order to get the resources to start his operation, and it’s probably hanging in someone’s attic somewhere.
  • Rumors persist about the practices and initiation rituals involved with being indoctrinated into the Umtyholi, even though the title is currently mostly ceremonial for those men who remain under N’Jadaka’s command from his days in the private sector. Rumors particularly focus on claims that recruits wanting to fast-track were placed into the Naked Wilds with minimum supplies for a full day and night, claims which are laughed off without being necessarily denied.
  • Starting in 20 AM, but really gaining steam in 30 AM, N’Jadaka instituted a somewhat controversial “Bullet Tax” on new arrivals, wherein they would be pressured to give up weapons and particularly ammunition in exchange for food and housing. The varied degrees of the willingness of the arrivals to give up their things is somewhat up for debate, but N’Jadaka has managed to fill three mid-sized shacks with a variety of armaments that he protects as if they were made of liquid gold.

• Name: Miki “Miko” Kuroda

• Appearance: The◊ Real◊ Miki◊

• Personality: Having spent most of her life as a loving, caring, empathetic person that was just a little bit tired of living in her best friend’s shadow, becoming a Devilman made her brash, bold, and assertive, with the drive to achieve her goals of physical superiority and the strength to pull it off. But other than that, she’s essentially the same person, caring for her friends and doing her best to make the world a place where mob violence and rule never has to happen to anyone else.

• Powers and Abilities:
  • Being A Devilman: Miki is a Devilman, or a human possessed by a demon that managed to retain her human heart. Despite retaining many of her faculties and most of her personality, Miki is influenced in no small part by the heightened base desires of her new form, though they are fairly mild compared to others of her species. It gifts her with strength sufficient to rip a human head from its body, comfortably keep up with a slow-moving car, and turn into a large spider-like creature with six legs, two stubby arms, and a spider-like head that vaguely resembles her own face.◊ Miki can transform her body into anything between these two forms as well, such supplying her spider form with a human arm or deploying one of her spider form’s legs while otherwise mostly human. Her spider form sports razor-sharp legs that she can contribute to various offensive uses, and her whole carapace is resistant to both damage and pain enough to take multiple small-caliber rounds to non-vital areas and continue relatively unperturbed. Anything that takes a large enough chunk out of her hide, hits a vital organ, or just hits her enough in general will still be enough to put her down, though her healing factor will have her regenerating lesser injuries in hours and more serious injuries, including lost limbs, in up to half a day or more.

  • Running Track: Miki has devoted most of her life, spare time, and energy toward becoming a sprinter in track and field, and these skills have only developed further with her increased Devilman physique. While not a superpower per se, she runs quite frequently, and enjoys doing so with other people.

  • A Pistol: A pistol that Miki has no particular skill with, that came with her when she crossed over for the same reason as N’Jadaka’s spear. She keeps it in a desk drawer.

• Personal Timeline:
  • Miki’s world was once indistinguishable from our own, but eventually rampant fear, paranoia, and barbarism managed to squeeze her until she ended up in the City in 10 AM. Blinking and bewildered, she wondered briefly if she was in Hell, until a few days without mobs or burning buildings even after she was forced to reveal her Devilman form convinced her that wherever she was, it was better than the alternative. Pining after her friends even as she tried to put her world behind her, Miki began trying to find her niche in this new world, trying everything from construction to protection to a short-lived stint as a makeshift taxi cab. Eventually, she accidentally discovered that her Devilman form was particularly inoffensive to the local wildlife, and used it as active camouflage to move about their ranks and collect supplies without too much harassment a snarl couldn’t handle. For what amounted to a high school drop out with the body of a demon, Miki figured that she wasn’t doing too bad for herself, keeping an ear to the ground for any word about her home world while finding it especially bittersweet to no longer have to compete for the title of Miki.

  • Then, one day while foraging for supplies, Miki experienced pain the likes of which she’d never imagined as a hunter chucked a spear into her abdomen. Her world went white, then black, colored further by repeated commands ‘not to take the blade out, trust me’. She had never seen the man before, and grew to resent his attitude even as he saved her life, though she wasn't able to make it back to the City outskirts before passing out from the pain. When she awoke, she was receiving medical care, and it wasn’t long before her attacker visited her, token apologies in hand. Miki could read his insincerity like a book, and initially told him to get lost—eventually saying that she ‘should have been used to it, by now’. Something in the air changed between them as their thinly-veiled banter bounced back and forth, and Miki wondered whether or not she’d misjudged the man when he left a pair of amber sunglasses she’d lost by her bedside.

  • Miki spent her time recovering, eager to get back into shape if nothing else so that she could run in the mornings, while N’Jadaka surprised her with trinkets from the Wilds and showed off with skills she didn’t inquire too deeply about. She eventually found herself growing happy in ways she’d felt only twice before, and it wasn’t long before she made the first move—and the next, and the next.

  • Things came to a head when Miki finally became pregnant, something that she was fairly enthusiastic about—even as it became clear that N’Jadaka wasn’t. Their time together became shorter and less substantial as the months passed by, N’Jadaka whiling away in the Wilds to secure their future while Miki found herself with less control over her destructive Devilman impulses than ever before. She despaired at the man in front of her, wondering if he was showing his true colors at last even as the delivery date drew near, and one night when it became apparent she was going to have to give birth early, she resigned herself to doing so alone. But the last thing she saw before going through hours of painful childbirth was N’Jadaka in the doorway, who came close and held her tight even as her wild thrashing nicked and cut at his torso. Moments before delivery, and just after dawn, she left one final mark on her lover’s face, a vertical scar below his right eye that looked like nothing so much as a tear trail etched into his skin. Clutching his squealing baby girl even as blood dripped down his face, they named their daughter Anansi, and watched the sun rise for the first time as a family.

  • Miki’s life became revolved around keeping Anansi in line, finding a Devilman toddler leagues more difficult to deal with than a conventional child. With N’Jadaka off building the wall and precipitating the power grid most days, it was up to Miki to wrangle a life for her child in this brave new land. There at the beginnings of what would eventually become the Western Quadrant’s school, she encouraged Anansi to play with the other children even as the adults of the community attempted to pool their knowledge base into something that their children could learn from. Miki felt somewhat embarrassed by her relative lack of academic expertise, but contributed what she could, and personally founded the City of Balder’s first (only?) track and field team, where she endeavored to teach the children the importance of trusting one another and learning from those who came before you.

  • Then, when Anansi was ten years old, Miki took Anansi to the Northern Quadrant on a shopping trip and nearly had a heart attack when her child fell into the river. She eventually found Anansi downstream, and in the hands of one of the Original Warriors no less—but not before a tragic misunderstanding involving the man’s superpowered pet had come up, and Miki was forced to explain the particulars of what she and their daughter were. Walking away from the experience with an arrangement that benefitted both sides, Miki nevertheless kept a closer eye on her daughter from there on, even as a litany of strange changes began to come over the child due to the events of that day.

  • Now, Miki is officially the P.E. teacher at the Western Quadrant’s school, helping the more physically-capable members of the student body stretch their legs no matter how many they may have.

• Relationships:
  • N’Jadaka: Miki loves her partner dearly, always feeling like he has some new way to surprise her. While worried about his status as the Western General and the danger it puts him in, she realizes that he is doing this to keep the both of them safe, something that she can’t fault him for even while she tries to supplement his efforts by improving the community from within.

  • Anansi Kuroda: Miki wishes her daughter were a bit more like her father and less like her herself, but nevertheless loves her unconditionally. Their status as perhaps the only two Devilman in the City gives them an unshakable bond, and she has been and will be there for every step of her daughter’s tumultuous inhuman journey that Miki is only barely beginning to understand herself.

  • Noel Vermillion: Miki views Noel as a kindred spirit, as whether the human weapon knows it or not, she is only a few degrees off from many of the friends that she was forced to leave behind in her old world. Willing and able to treat Noel as more than just her worst mistakes, she works to coach and comfort the woman through the rigors of living in the city and dealing with the lingering prejudice of her actions.

  • Sin Kiske: Miki appreciates what Sin is trying to do, knowing that forgiveness and acceptance isn’t an easy road to take outside of her own highly specific life experience. While she admires Sin’s dedication to going where the fighting is the most dire, she wishes that he would transfer to the Western Quadrant, both to better take care of his family and to enter what she feels would be the safer hands of her partner’s command.

  • Vigil Kiske: Miki regards Vigil with a kind of sly affection, knowing that the boy is older than his age would suggest but also knowing that he’s nowhere near as mature as he pretends to be. She makes a point of treating him the same as her other students, no matter her fellow faculty’s feelings toward him, and encourages to make the most of his accelerated youth before it’s gone forever.

  • Guzma: Miki's interactions with the trainer are generally polite and clipped, having said everything there was to say about her daughter's situation ten years prior. Those things weren't always nice, and she feels embarrassed both by the way she acted and by being negligent enough to let it happen in the first place. She dropped Anansi off a fair few times for training when the young Devilman was still too young to take herself, and on every on of those trips she took unnecessarily circuitous trips to avoid having to cross the river directly.

  • Akane Owari: "Yeah, she's nice. She goes to space, right?"

  • Laeta Owari: Miki constantly worries about Laeta's health, both because she cares about her as Anansi's friend and because of her frequent trips into the Naked Wilds. With vivid memories of the trials and horrors that can lurk just outside the walls, Miki frequently tries to talk her out of the lifestyle, but failing that, makes sure that she's bringing enough supplies, and keeping warm, and eating enough, and have you been brushing your teeth...?

  • Almost Anyone Else: Haven’t met them yet ¯_(ツ)_/¯

• Fun Facts!
  • N’Jadaka and Miki’s physical attributes are fairly comparable, but don’t line up perfectly. N’Jadaka is a little bit faster, and Miki is a little bit stronger, something they frequently gently rib each other about.
  • Miki doesn’t exactly advertise, but has done nothing to disprove, the neighborhood notion that she’s the one to go to if you are a nonhuman in distress. Whether offering a kind ear or helping one get out of the Quadrant, Miki is always ready and willing to help those being sought out and persecuted because of their monstrous looks.

• Name: Anansi Kuroda
• Appearance: Anansi is a mid-height African-American woman with stringy black braids frequently kept inside of a cap, with the end result looking like a giant spider is perched on her head. She has a black widow tattooed on one cheek and a spiderweb tattooed on the other, and on each of her fingers before the first joint she has the letters of MASQUERADE inked on so that it forms the word when she makes two fists and holds them together. She frequently wears a second jacket wrapped around her first jacket to keep any extra arms she needs to make warm, and otherwise dresses in the hides of things she or her father has killed. She frequently has a spacey look in her eyes, looking off at something or someone in particular, either imagining how they would look as or with some fresh ink or just staring at something particularly mouth-watering.

• Personality: Much like an overgrown puppy, Anansi is eager, loyal, dependable, and not discerning enough about the things she puts in her mouth. An aspiring tattoo artist, she would like nothing more than the scribe all of the history of their new world into lush murals on willing participants—and hopes, one day, that those kinds of stories will get told about her and her friends.

• Powers and Abilities:
  • Being a Devilman: Just like her mother, Anansi is a demon with the heart of a human, though she was able to sidestep the possession aspect due to the circumstances of her birth. Anansi suffers from particularly poor impulse control as a result, whether it comes to boys, fighting, shiny things, or delicious-looking small animals^note Though she’s really working on that one.. She also has the ability to rend human flesh fairly easily, speed comparable to her mother’s when down on all fours, along with nearly all of Miki's healing capabilities and the ability to partially transform to any point along the Human-Devilman spectrum. These very well might have been the extent of her abilities, if it wasn’t for…

  • Being a Devilman That Also Ate Guzma’s Masquerain: Due to a tragic misunderstanding as a preteen, Anansi consumed Guzma’s Masquerain one day after pulling herself from the river near his house. This has affected her development tremendously, from everything to her appearance to, eventually, her abilities. Anansi’s Devilman form has a color scheme of primarily white chitin with black chitin for her joints and claws; her limbs are stolid yet spindly, terminating into three-fingered claws—two above, one below, so that they roughly intersect in the middle when closed into a fist. Minus some small cosmetic differences, the fore limbs and back limbs are nearly identical, and can rotate a full 360 degrees in their sockets at the point where they terminate with the main body, allowing Anansi to turn her back legs around and use them to stand upright to a height of eight feet tall. Her torso is large and broad, with six wing growths on its back that resemble nothing so much as the wings of the very creature she consumed.◊ The bulk of the flying duties are reserved for the smaller pair lower down the back, with the bigger pair being used primarily for mid-air reorientation, gliding, and as a focus point for many of Anansi’s attacks (but we’ll get to that in a moment). Anansi’s head has three eyes bunched up on either side of her face in a triangular formation, much like her mother, but unlike her mother her mandibles are far more spindly, with the top two hanging down while the bottom two push up in order to help push down any foodstuffs. Anansi can unhinge her jaw into a large square chute-like maw in order to consume particularly large prey, such as large butterfly-esque creatures. Masquerain’s presence is also felt through the manifestation of many of the moves he had during the time he was alive, such as:
  • Bug Buzz: By vibrating her wings incredibly quickly, Anansi is able to create an omnidirectional or focused sonic blast capable of breaking glass and incapacitating the unprepared.
  • Air Cutter: Anansi slices the air hard enough that it becomes a projectile, travelling a ways and capable of slicing through trees. While she used to need to use her wings as a medium for the attack much like Masquerain did, she has learned to generate the same effect with a swipe of her claws.
  • Ice Beam: Anansi is able to fire a beam from her mouth capable of freezing a foe solid, generating a block of ice around whatever it hits. As this was a technique learned through a TM rather than naturally, Anansi needed Guzma’s guidance to properly manage it growing up, and still can only use it a handful of times within a single fight.
  • Energy Ball: By gathering in the life force of the surrounding nature, Anansi is able to gather a ball of pale green concussive force between her wings and launch it a fair ways. As this was another move Masquerain learned from a TM in life, Anansi’s control over it was incomplete for a long time until Guzma taught her how to properly harness her energies. It takes significantly larger to charge up in an industrial setting, as there is less nature to contribute its energy.
  • Stun Spore Sweet Scent: Anansi would love to be able to use Masquerain’s signature move from the days of fighting against Balder. But whenever she tries, instead of a fine mist of yellow dust that incapacitates her foes, she generates a sweet-smelling aroma that more often than not leaves her mobbed by the local wildlife.

  • Can Tell When It’s Going To Rain: Anansi can also tell when it’s going to rain.

• Personal Timeline:
  • Anansi was born screaming in 15 AM to a world she didn’t understand. As she grew up, she continued to not understand it, bogged down by questions like Why can’t the other kids do the things I can? and Hey, are you going to eat that? Trapped behind a film separating her from the world that she couldn’t quite stick a claw through, Anansi nevertheless treasured the days she spent learning the ins and outs of her abilities with her mother and delighting in spending time with her father whenever he managed to make it home. The culinary focus of the Western Quadrant treated her well, supplying her with an endless wonderland of treats and delicacies that she indulged with aplomb. Like a frog in a slow boil pot, Anansi’s tastes gradually strayed from the well-cooked meats of the Quadrant’s inner city to the less-prepared cuts from the Quadrant’s outskirts, until the time she would gleefully snatch the removed parts of N’Jadaka’s catches with her mouth, and buy live chickens to consume whole. Anansi grew in leaps and bounds even as she failed to fully understand what made the other kids in her neighborhood tick, finding most if not all of them had hobbies more concrete than ‘consume everything in sight’. Anansi just accepted that as the way things were, even while stopping every once in a while to be appropriately gobsmacked by the intricate murals the residents painted on city buildings using the blood of dead monsters. Who are they, she would wonder, these heroes that were paraded through the streets of the City whenever they fell building the wall meant to encircle their homes. It doesn’t matter, I’ll never meet one, she thought to herself, never suspecting how those two threads would intersect.

  • One day, when she was ten years old, she was able to go along with her mother on a shopping trip to the Northern Quadrant. Anansi was ecstatic to take in the sights and sounds, and to see the giant river that split the Quadrant right in two. But while Miki was haggling for fish, Anansi got too close, lost he footing, and fell in—the current sweeping her away before her mother could so much as jump into action. Anansi didn’t know how far she went, only that by the time she pulled herself out, she was cold, wet, miserable, and starving. Luckily, she was taken in by a local, an old man and his daughter—and a ranch full of fantastical, bug-like creatures the likes of which Anansi had never seen before. She was brought inside, given a blanket, and supplied with a bowl of warm soup; but it was all roughage, nothing that her Devilman metabolism would accept and nothing close to satisfying the all-consuming craving she had at that very moment. As luck would have it, one of the bug creatures was in the room with her, fluttering innocently nearby as her eyes mindlessly dilated and her mouth slipped open…

  • By the time Guzma and Laeta reentered the room, the last remnants of Masquerain were disappearing down Anansi’s gullet. Initially unaware of the gravity of her transgression, Anansi was reduced to tears once the local Fusiliers tipped off her mother and the older Devilman arrived on the scene. Anansi was sure she was going to go to prison, or worse—but then miraculously, like the saint all the stories painted him as, Guzma made an arrangement with her parents and let her go without more than a firm talking-to and a fairly long grounding period. Anansi didn’t care; she had met a legend, and it left an indelible mark on her that she wouldn’t soon forget. On getting back to the city, she finally found she had something to talk about with the other kids, who didn’t believe her when she said she was close personal friends with the Guzma. She began to learn the basics of the towering murals that populated her neighborhood, but eventually her passions turned inward, looking to emulate the body modification that marked her father’s skin in a more artistic fashion. With inks and needles made out of monster blood and bone, Anansi began documenting the deeds and lives of the Original Warriors on the bodies of the others in her congregation, while falling into arguments about which deeds were the most impressive and of course who could beat who.

  • Masquerain’s presence was also felt in a far more physical fashion, however, as consuming the creature so early in Anansi’s development roped it into the ancient Devil tendency to absorb the traits of things they consumed. Before long, Anansi found herself overwhelmed by abilities she could barely control, and found herself on Guzma’s doorstep looking for guidance. With the trainer’s help, she was able to hone her new skills, and in return, took to doing odd jobs for him whenever she got the chance, hoping to repair the relationship that her younger self had seemingly irreparably damaged.

  • Nowadays, Anansi finds herself pressured by her father to go to the City center in order to pursue an education at the University there. But Anansi isn’t quite ready to give up her life in the Western Quadrant yet, scrawling the deeds of past heroes even as she someday longs to be the subject of those stories herself…

  • Relationships:
  • The Original Warriors in General: Anansi firmly believes that the sacrifice of the Original Warriors in order to defeat the ultimate evil and create the very ground she’s standing on, allowing her to exist at all, is just the coolest thing ever and should be celebrated at every turn. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of most of Balder’s first citizens, though she is frequently irritated by the seeming lack of accuracy in the reports, like the inconsistent number of warriors and some insistent cryptic mentions of someone named after a sin…

  • Miki Kuroda: Anansi loves her mother, sporting many fond memories of the pair doing things only those with their unique physiology would be able to do. She still relies on her mother as a confidante whenever she finds herself with Devilman-related issues she doesn’t know how to handle, but has started to move away from that as an adult, trying (and only partially succeeding) to show her maturity by handling her problems herself.

  • N’Jadaka: Anansi also loves her father very much, but has recently become very frustrated once N’Jadaka made his stance clear in regard to keeping her happy vs. keeping her safe. Pushing for her to move further into the City where she can live in relative safety and pursue her education, Anansi has found that she has no choice but to push back, too entranced by the allure of the unconquered wilds and the infinite treasures that lay within.

  • Vigil Kiske: Forced to spend some time together because of the closeness of their parents, Anansi regards the Gear like a very young relative at best and an annoying nuisance at worst. She makes a point to frequently tease him about his physical age rather than his apparent one, secretly annoyed that he got to grow up so fast when so many aspects of being mature still elude her. Anansi doesn’t hate the boy however, and will allow him to tag along if he wants with whatever she’s doing ‘as long as he promises not to drool on anything’.

  • Laeta Owari: Anansi views Laeta as more of a sister than a friend, the other girl having seen Anansi at what was probably her lowest point and accepting her anyway. Having known the girl for over ten years, Anansi would trust her with her life, something that comes up once or twice when the other girl’s imagination mixes with the possibilities of Anansi’s powers, something Anansi is usually only all-too willing to go along with.

  • Guzma: Anansi really really really wants to make up for her mistake all of those years ago, as it both still makes her feel guilty and absolutely kills her that the leader of the group she idolizes is still mad. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t like her that much; with enough chores, company, and maybe a tattoo or two, he’ll have to see that she means it!

  • Akane Owari: Anansi thinks that Akane is a cool person and a great explorer, and can’t wait to hear her latest stories whenever she comes around. Sure, she wishes she was a little bit of a better mother to Laeta, but holy crap what do you mean there were cat people?!

edited 4th Apr '18 9:22:36 PM by Uncandescent

@Uncandescent:

• N'Jadaka, Miki and Anansi are accepted.

I updated The Hand's abilities, as well as made the story less improbable. Well, slightly less.

@Def Revenge:

• With those changes, everything seems to be in order. There is a minor problem, though: if its 30AD, then Okuyasu couldn't have got a message from Etmes. He's just not around anymore.