Walpurgisnacht [OoC/PG-16/Started/Conditional Acceptance]

[radio414]

IC

So much to do, and so little time...

Rules

Spoiler

1. All NCM rules apply. This is an Advanced RP, so that includes the Advanced Clause
2. This is a PG-16 RP largely due to themes -- it is a story about the end of the world, after all -- but we’ll be going over some safety checks in the Discord closer to the start of the RP.
3. One character per person.
4. A post every two weeks is my expected low end. If you’ve gone a week without posting while you had the ability to, you’ll get a ping in discord and maybe a PM -- after two weeks, we’ll need to have a talk about your continued presence in the RP. I’m not kidding about this. I will find a way to write you out if need be.
5. I’m sure there are other rules but they can probably be covered under GM fiat. The GM is me.
6. Have fun! That’s super important. I really hope you do.

The Story So Far

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The Halloween truce is the second-most important truce in all of Scarlet City lore, falling just behind the S-Class truce in terms of universal knowledge and acceptance. Its idea is simple: Every truce, every defined rule of engagement between the heroes and the villains was made with the intent to limit innocent involvement, and Halloween, with its children running around in costume begging for candy, its teenagers enacting mischief, and its grown-ups refusing to let that label define them, would absolutely be rife with cases of mistaken identity and conflicts that could only go poorly. So while both sides have agreed to keep operations to a minimum, a robust party culture has taken its place. Heroes and villains allow themselves to intermix, with each other and everyone else, at various spots throughout the city.

Most prominent of all these parties is the Annual Hallowmas Bash concert held in the stadium located just outside uptown’s Old North district. The lineup this year is incredible, with “Æ” and “Songbird and the Chorus” opening for the perennial hosts “What Happened To The Interrobang?!” The singing is perfunctory, however. What matters more is the dancing. The movement. With so many people in one place, on a turf made fresh for this event, the focus is less on one’s individual dance moves and more on the collective current rippling through everything. Powers only amplify that. Someone in the pit -- maybe he was planted there, though it’s equally likely this is just “his thing” -- has a power involving a contagious sort of bioluminescence, so the pulses are even more visible with his provided neon glow. Someone is throwing lit jack-o-lanterns into the air, but before they can hit someone or even arc back down, they burst into colorful (and, more importantly, harmless) bits of candy. Those in the stands (and capes with flying powers, of course), have the best glimpse of it all, and even they succumb to the crowd’s ebbs and flows, just on a three-dimensional scale.

The party is reaching its peak -- What Happened To The Interrobang?! is introducing their final song, the traditional rendition of “The Rise of The Great Pumpkin” -- when the lights go out. Before anyone can panic too much, a spotlight shines down on the far end of the crowd, illuminating a single person: the hero Cassandra.

“Hero” is perhaps a strong word. When they were active, they were more of a crystal ball for hire, if you could provide them with the resources they asked of you -- frequently money, yes, but also other, more curious things -- they would provide you with the answers you sought. “Renegade” is what the G3 hero organization tends to call capes like Cassandra. The gangs of the city follow suit, mostly out of convenience. Both have solicited Cassandra in the past.

Perhaps that is why the crowd moves as it does. That, and the fact that they had disappeared years prior. The rumors had said that they had died. Both reasons would explain the shocked state, people pressing against each other to avoid even intruding on Cassandra’s spotlight. Cassandra, for their part, pays them no notice. They only move forward, toward the stage. The spotlight moves with them, always keeping Cassandra in the center of the light.

They’re at the pit now, a portion of the crowd too tight to actually part for Cassandra. But the hero moves as smoothly as though they had. They might have brushed past a few shoulders, but nobody feels a thing. The security guards at the foot of the stage do nothing to stop Cassandra either, as they climb onto the stage.

The frontman of What Happened To The Interrobang?!, Carl Velvet, is still, the microphone is just dangling from his grip. Cassandra still gestures for it, waiting for Carl’s permission before continuing. Carl obliges.

Cassandra only utters seven words: “In six months, the world will end,” before collapsing, dead.

Setting

Spoiler

This section is a little tricky for me to write because I said “exactly like Columbus, Ohio except in the ways that it’s different” and now I have to try and explain what I meant by that.

The biggest difference between the Columbus Ohio of real life and the Scarlet City of Walpurgisnacht -- the one I want to make sure people understand before people act like it’s a sudden twist in the middle of the RP -- is Scarlet City is the only city in the world of Walpurgisnacht because the world of Walpurgisnacht is contained to this single city.

What do I mean by this? Well, say you wanted to leave Scarlet City. You might get to some outlying areas that technically don’t count as Columbus proper, but eventually, you’ll run up against The Shimmer, a glowing barrier separating Scarlet City from the rest of the world. It is possible to cross -- in fact, exile from Scarlet City is used as a punishment for its more dangerous criminal capes, those that would otherwise be impossible to manage -- but every scientific exploration into this frontier seems to fail for some reason or another. The general public doesn’t seem to care. It’s simply a fact of the world, something that’s been there for as long as Scarlet City has, and probably even longer than that.

People make do. Crops are farmed in large multi-level farms specifically designed for agriculture, for example, and the city, unlike Columbus, is actually rather walkable without the need for cars to travel along the interstates; the random parking lots that infuriatingly take up much of downtown can be replaced by literally anything else. 

The oher large difference is the presence of capes, obviously. There are two factions I would like to introduce to you here, as they’ll be the two your character can be a part of at the start of the RP (the rest will hopefully be introduced during play). The first is The G3 Hero Organization, which is about as standard as one might expect from a hero organization. There are capes of all sorts here, meant for combat to disaster response to even a set of responders specializing in mental health crises. As the PR firm likes to say, “Anybody can be a hero.”

Unpowered people work here as well, generally in support roles though some tinkers have come up with equipment ensure an unpowered sidekick’s utility should fighting break out. The director’s chair is also mandated to be an elected unpowered individual; the current holder of the seat is Director Victor Sekelsky.

The second is a gang known as the Moray Clan. It’s the smallest of the three “major” gangs of Scarlet City, but certainly the most in the public eye. The best way to describe their ethos is “We can do it better.” The leaders, a group of triplets collectively operating under the cape name The Fates, claim to have created a plan to a better world, they just need to work a little outside the law to get there. Or a lot outside the law, as their rap sheet might suggest.

FAQ

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Spoiler

“This is another long German word RP name.”
That’s not a question.

“Why did you name your RP after another random German word?”
In fairness, not all my RP ideas involve stupidly long German words. This and the dream heist one were, sure, but the other ones were Russian and Pennsylvania Dutch. Maybe we’ll get to those someday.

As for why I do it, it’s because I’m a pretentious fuck.

“How do you pronounce ‘Walpurgisnacht?’”
“vahl-poor-gis-nahkht”. I’m taking that directly from dictionary.com so if you don’t like it (or this german speaker that agrees with them), take it up somewhere else. Come up with other cute nicknames for this RP on your own time. I might even use some of them.

“You’ve mentioned you’re okay with a high power level, what does that mean? Do we have to have ‘high-powered characters’ to be able to compete?”
I’m okay with things people consider powerful because I can’t think of a reason for them not to be. It’s not like I can’t also have powerful antagonists and balance them in other ways. I answered this more succinctly a little ways further into the thread, too: I’d rather have a powerful but interesting character over a boring but “balanced” one. Really, I’d just rather interesting period, end of sentence.

If you try to cheese me on this I’ll either just deny the app or find a way to throw DEUS at you.

“Who's DEUS?“
You don't want to know.

Application

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Application

Name: (What would you like to be called? You can include your superhero name in parentheses here too)
Age: (There is no age limit to having powers in this world, though there are a number of hoops to jump through if you’re a minor working for G3. Moray Clan members tend to skew rather younger -- The Fates are known to be just out of high school -- but that’s not a hard-and-fast rule)
Gender: (or just give the character’s pronouns)
Faction: (As funny as it would be to give you a full list of every single possible group, I’m limiting you here to the G3 Hero organization or the Moray Clan villain gang)
Appearance: (A picture along with some height, weight and alterations to the image works, as does a paragraph of text. Or both! You could do both. There’s also the matter of costume, so include something for that as well)
Biography: (How did your character gain their superpowers? Was it a lab accident or were they born with them? Maybe it was those 10km runs they did every day without breaks? Or is it something else entirely? The other thing I’m initially curious about is how did they end up with your chosen faction? If they’re a hero, have there been any major victories they might be known for? If they’re a villain, what crimes have they committed?)
Personality: (Traditionally, powers and personality are somewhat correlated, right? But that doesn’t have to be the case. How is it with your character? If they have a secret identity, are there any notable differences between them in costume and out of it?)
Power: (What is it exactly you do here?)
Miscellaneous: (Is there anything else you would like us to know?)

Application (without all the stuff in parentheses)

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Faction:
Appearance:
Biography:
Personality:
Power:
Miscellaneous:

Accepted Apps

Spoiler

• Override the Tech Hero
• Aeon the Immortal Hero
• Sibyl the Demon Villain
• Belladonna the Plant Villain

changelog:
(AM 11/18/2022): Discord invite link added
(PM 11/18/2022): Full OOC is now live!
(AM 11/30/2022): The RP has now started! IC link added, accepted characters tab updated, discord invite link removed
(PM 01/13/2023): Updated cast list upon Yui's departure
(AM 04/13/2023): Forgot to update the cast list again, oops
(AM 09/10/2023): Formally adding Belladonna to the list of players, also I changed a name in the setting spoiler because I am *very good* at keeping track of established moments

Edited September 10, 2023 by radio414

[LordCowCow]

it's not like i want to join your rp b-baka

[(X)]

so when you say high power level, how high were you thinking..?

To be clear, this is an expression of interest.

Edited November 16, 2022 by (o ×)

[vivi_]

ohio is real

[radio414]

15 minutes ago, (o ×) said:

so when you say high power level, how high were you thinking..?

Let me put it like this: I don't want "this is too powerful" to be the thought that nixes a potential power, I'd rather it be "this is too boring." Obviously the thresholds can change based on a number of factors, but that's the general idea.

[Skaia]

I am here and I am interested 

[Thar]

I'll drop my interest, why not

[radio414]

Thanks for everyone's interest so far. I've added a discord invite link to the main post and a proper OOC thread is well on its way now live!.

Edited November 19, 2022 by radio414

[vivi_]

Burnout Gifted Kid

Spoiler

"To be frank, if I had known hero life was like this, it would have saved me a lot of mistakes when I was younger."

Name: Ember (birth name unknown)
Age: 32 going on 24
Gender: Female
Faction: G3 Hero Organization

Appearance:

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made using Picrew

Height: 5'8"

Biography:

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Ennui. A word that plagues Ember's youth. Blessed from birth with an incredible power that only got stronger with age, great familial wealth, and what would surely be one of the most brilliant non-Thinker minds in Scarlet City if she would just put it to full use, it seemed from the onset that Ember more or less had it all. However, there was one thing she lacked. A goal. A challenge. Just a general sense of any direction for her life, really. She coasted through childhood in effortless complacency, drifted through high school in much the same manner - realizing around this time that she could not only unleash powerful bursts of air, but ignite those bursts as well - and before she knew it, adulthood hit.

Ember was the youngest of four, so no expectations to take over the family estate were placed on her. This meant that she was free to do whatever suited her fancy. So, she did what any high school graduate with incredible power and nothing better to do with it would do: Cause trouble. Ember disappeared from her family home one night, joining up with a small-time gang led by a villain with the ability to permanently alter someone's appearance with prolonged skin contact. Wearing a new face and adopting a new name, Ember had cut herself off completely from the cushy ennui-filled life of nothing she lived back home. It wasn't until it was too late to turn back that she realized, for the first time in her life, Ember had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

The gang Ember was affiliated with mostly worked as extra hands for hire, earning their keep by either doing things larger gangs couldn't be bothered with or running decoy/interference for whoever was willing to pay. It was soon apparent that setting buildings on fire was an exceptional distraction, on top of her powers being useful for the inevitable fights against heroes and villains alike, and Ember soon became the MVP of the team, so to speak. Over the course of an entire decade, hundreds of contracts, and several changes in management, Ember was eventually the only member of her gang left from when she first signed up. Everyone else either quit, got arrested, or was killed by other villains. Eventually it was just her and a handful of green newbies who she'd given full executive powers to because she simply didn't want to be bothered with management. That proved to be the gang's undoing.

The final job Ember's gang took was from one of Scarlet City's big-name gangs, none other than the gang Gibbons, who had sent several denied requests for Ember's gang to merge with them prior to this. As it turns out, however, the whole thing was bait to lure their star arsonist out; the rest of the gang would have just been a nice bonus if an official merge was carried out. Ember was captured, and given what sounded like a request but was clearly a demand. "Ditch your old gang, and join us instead."

To this day, Ember remains firm on one point about that whole incident. Her capture was in clear violation of the agreement Gibbons had made, and she wasn't about to take that sitting down. Through a combination of clever power usage and dumb luck, she eventually escaped, though it was more difficult than she'll openly admit. She sent a resignation letter to the rest of her gang afterward, urging them to disband or join a bigger gang for fear that Gibbons would target a bunch of dumb kids who had nothing to do with her anymore. Ember herself, meanwhile, elected to turn over a new leaf before she could be tracked down again, and signed on with a faction she viewed as more powerful than any singular gang. The G3 Hero Organization. It was all uphill from there.

After a cautious parole period to confirm she could actually perform a hero's duties appropriately, Ember was approved for membership, giving her an extra layer of protection from Gibbons. She was able to live a normal life for the first time since leaving her family, but she's expressed no desire to return to that specific life, content to earn a modest life that is entirely her own. Most importantly though, her hero career at long last filled that hole in Ember's mind. Anyone with fire powers could set a few buildings on fire. Anyone could fight others with some grit and determination. But saving people? Holding yourself up to a higher standard for the sake of your job? Knowing when to restrain yourself and when it's okay to let loose in full? It was the challenge Ember had craved this whole time.

Ember has been an official hero with G3 for four years. Rather than fighting villains though, Ember's career is mostly focused on rescue missions, consultation, and when necessary, witness protection. She rarely attends major events, and only heard about Cassandra's prediction because a friend who was attending the Annual Hallowmas Bash called her immediately afterward.

Personality:

Spoiler

Ember tackles day to day life with a competence matched only by her general desire to not work hard. Ask her, and she won't hesitate to talk about how if given the option, she'd rather take the path of least resistance, work smarter not harder, and just take it easy. Although she says this, perhaps even believing it herself, nothing could be further from the truth. Ember is a perfectionist, and holds herself up to incredibly high standards, even for a hero. If eating dinner at her house, she'll say the meal she cooked was no big deal or just something she casually whipped up, but rest assured she's cooked that exact dish at least fifty times, painstakingly adjusting her recipe until there was nothing for her to nitpick about it. She is very much her own harshest critic, and actively works to try being someone that she finds impossible to criticize in any way.

Although she says she wants to take it easy, Ember is by far at her best when she's working under pressure. The challenges of deadlines, additional circumstances, and other difficulties spur her on to give not only her full effort to a task, but her full attention as well, amplifying her efforts as a result. Having an obstacle to overcome gives her a goal to achieve, which drags her from the dull boredom that usually occupies her. Despite a decade spent as a villainous mercenary, Ember still carries herself with the air of someone raised in an upper-class environment. This isn't to say she's a snob, but there's a certain quality to her mannerisms; she clearly cares about her image, chooses her words and actions carefully as a result, and holds professionalism and propriety with the utmost importance. 

Power:

Spoiler

In addition to being incredibly fire-resistant, Ember's body is able to function somewhat like a combustion engine. After inhaling gaseous matter, she's able to expel it from other points of her body, with the additional ability to ignite the gas on the way out. This can be used to perform feats such as bursts of movement, blasts of high-pressure air or fire, igniting parts of her body, and even creating small-scale explosions or smokescreens if she's inhaled some sort of smoke. Additionally, her body contains a specialized "third lung" designed to store large quantities of air until such time as she needs to expel the contents from her body.

Misc.

Spoiler

• It's not explicitly written in her contract with G3, but there is an unspoken agreement between Ember and the organization that she is not to be deployed for any jobs that involve the presence of Gibbons unless absolutely necessary.
• The villain in charge of Ember's gang when she first joined was arrested a couple of years into her career, but has since gotten out early on good behavior and changed their ways. Her close contact with them is a significant part of the reason Ember excels in witness protection among G3's ranks, since with some time to work their magic, money for the trouble, and her ward's consent, they'll simply turn the witness into an entirely new person. Naturally, Ember keeps this relationship top-secret, refusing to even tell the higher-ups at G3 anything about them.
• Even with G3, Ember is extremely particular about contracts and paperwork. If there's any mission that's planned in advance that involves her, she will insist on writing and signing a contract for the job, even if its only purpose is to confirm the job happened. In the case of spontaneous hero activity that requires her more immediate attention, she'll write a detailed report of her contributions afterwards, and have the higher-ups sign it to confirm she participated in this job, as a sort of "reverse contract".
• In another timeline, where she was born without powers, Ember would have most likely been a lawyer.

 

 

[Thar]

Inquisitor Marry Poppins

Spoiler

"Who says you can't be a lone wolf without a pack?"

-------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Vivian "Vi" Umbrasol
Alias: Vi
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Faction: Moray Clan
Appearance:

Spoiler

Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 130 lbs

Vi's fashion consists of mainly black revealing designer clothing, including cut t-shirts of her favorite bands consisting of death metal, gangster rap, and risque underground electronic artists.

Biography:

Spoiler

Vivian was born and raised in a family of gang leaders. By the time she was taking her first steps, her dad was running the VVolf Pack, a relatively small gang active in the city that works as a sector of the Moria Clan. It was suspected that Vivian was born different, considering her potential exposure to top of the line hospital technology due to her dad's significant wealth and contacts. However, none of this would be noticeable, and her childhood was rarely graced by attention given to her by her parents and moreso by members of their gang.

As she got older, her responsibilities as a gang leader began to take effect when her dad started giving her leadership duties. Despite certain gang members taking a special liking to her for both personal and/or obvious reasons, this life proved to take a toll on her, but the reputation she was left to believe as vital to the family was a mindset she'd carry with her for a while and she kept her feelings bottled up. The more of this stress she felt, the more she could feel something emanating from her. She'd occasionally snap with outbursts that would shatter roads and buildings, many of which her own followers were caught in.

After discovering this ability of hers, she took to honing it and focused on controlling it and harnessing it to utilize it to its fullest potential. Vivian's parents took notice of this, but in fear of her growing power, further distanced themselves from her, and even threatened to make her life miserable if her own isolated movement were to impede on their business. With all the stress and adrenaline flowing through her on a regular basis, Vivian would comply to their conditions to keep getting support from her father, but openly scoffed at with petty rebellious acts such as provocative, dark fashion and reckless acts of vandalism for fun. This separatist movement later came to officially be known as the Lone VVolves at an unofficial gathering of gang members who've supported her since she was a child and continue to follow her.

Personality:

Spoiler

On the outside, Vivian puts on an obnoxiously casual demeanor. A lot of her followers believe she has a resting scowl that just seems to be natural, which is true. Vivian is constantly annoyed and frustrated about everything, conditioning her to always give zero fucks to compensate for it. Despite this, she has the habit of showing some form of maturity and uprightness when she has to, as she was taught by her parents, but she would usually fall back into her natural state. The only time you'll usually see her being happy or calm is in the midst of destruction or conflict, where she takes enjoyment in things not going well for others.

Power:

Spoiler

Aura of Frustration

Vi emanates an aura of force around her and anything she has a grip on at a limited radius and can manipulate it at will. The potency of this aura is scaled with her anger and stress levels, which could either increase it's radius, acceleration, or defense depending on its use. The force's manipulation capacity mainly consists of the following:

Telekenesis: Vi can use her aura to move herself as well as whatever object she is holding around freely, to a certain capacity. More effort is required the higher the weight of whatever she's moving, but it can be lessened with a higher surface area. This type of manipulation is most significantly used while her umbrella is open, allowing her to float around like Marry Poppins. This is her preferred method of transportation during travel and maneuverability during combat.

Hardening: In addition to moving things with her aura, Vi can also contract or expand its molecular structure. In this case, Vi can condense these molecules to create barriers around her or whatever objects she's holding. For example: When her umbrella is closed, she can harden the aura around it to use as a melee weapon. When open, she can use it as a shield.

Release: When Vi uses her hardening ability, it creates pressure that can be built up and later let go for a burst effect, adding damage to strikes with her hardened melee weapon attacks. This can also be used with her shield to deflect attacks or even reflect projectiles back at opponents. 

Acceleration: While Vi's telekinesis can be used to move herself as well as anything she's holding, it can also be used to boost the speed of her movement and weapon strikes.

Miscellaneous:

Spoiler

• Character Theme | Battle Theme
• Text color: #cc99ff
• "Vi" is Latin for "force", which represents her aura.
• It is said that her aura is literally her own manifested frustration, but that remains inconclusive, as her ability to manage it would contradict the fact that it gets stronger as she gets angrier, thereby making it more likely that her power is merely a mysterious force that manifests from her bad temper.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Thar

[Chaos Sonic]

Computer Blue

Spoiler

"This is some weak-sauce firewall protection. I could've cracked it in my sleep...which is what I did."

Personal Information
Name: Victor "Vic" McCoy
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Faction: G3 Hero [Former Black Hat Hacker/Cracker]
Appearance:

Spoiler

Height: 5'7"

Depicted above is the casual, civilian outfit of Victor, though the glasses are generally used to read rather than on his face on a constant basis. The glasses are tinted with something to block blue light from the computer screens which prevent him from dealing with digital eye strain. The watch on his wrist that he wears contains the nanomachines that allow him to create the NOVA armor.

Personality:

Spoiler

At first glance, one would think that Victor, being quite the intellectual, would be the type of guy that would think he's higher than his peers and feel superior than them in every way. This is surprisingly not the case, quite the opposite actually...at least it is now. In the past during his time as a hacker, he simply wanted to hurt and slander others in his pursuit of gaining any type of monetary profit. Now? Now Victor simply wishes to use his intellect to benefit humanity as a whole, to make sure the innovations of the future allow for humanity (heroes and civilians alike) to thrive and survive as a whole. This is his genuine wish, one that was bestowed and instilled in him after a chance meeting. He's genuinely a thoughtful and helpful young man, always willing to help them out with anything they may have an issue comprehending or if they just need a hand.

Victor has what many would describe as a sort of inferiority complex mixed with his general dislike of how he used to be. He has often attempted to compare himself to other brilliant minds and even other heroes, only to realize that he isn't anywhere on their level. This thinking usually flares up every once in a while, especially whenever Victor is alone with his own thoughts for too long...perhaps that's one reason he created and developed P.I.X.E.L....who knows. Aside from this, he has been told he's got a bad habit of insomnia in which he'll be working on his projects for too long and end up being fueled by his own passions...and plenty of caffeine...and not being able to rest properly. He can end up showing some signs of aggressive behavior, but this is generally fueled only by small doses of stress and anxiety that tend to flare up in quite intense situations.

Out of all this, however, he does enjoy as his side hobby and hustle (when he isn't superheroing) of being that computer wizard and helping others with their various computer issues due to his Technopath power, as long as no one seems to put two and two together and realize how he's doing things...it's called a secret identity for a reason.

Biography:

Spoiler

"I'm simply trying to make up for past sins....the second chance I was given, I have to make it right."

Victor McCoy was born to a relatively simple family. Simple life, simple jobs, simple income, just simple everything. It was the worst for Victor, especially considering how smart he was...he would ace his classes, be top of the class, straight As...the works. But alas, he was simply bored in life...of everything. It always seemed like an uphill battle for him to keep the desire and drive to do anything in school, or to even enjoy it. Of course, it stemmed from his parents back at home. They put him on a pedestal and thought he could do no wrong, the little prodigy in their household. Which meant when he did have a grade slip to at least a B, they were livid, berating him and telling him he was worthless. It was a blessing and a curse...but more often than not, it was simply a curse.

He graduated his high school at about age fifteen, accelerating his learning and blowing past his peers without much thought. And when it was time for him to even go to college, an MIT-esque school here in Scarlet City to be precise, he took the opportunity to get away from his overbearing and otherwise annoying parents to live on campus. That's when he met some like minded individuals on the campus and it was then he learned of the joys in the art of hacking...to be a Black Hat Hacker. In a world of true supervillains and superheroes, Victor simply went the route of least resistance: cyber crime. With his intellect and his soon to be discovered powers of being a technopath, he was able to get away with so much. Corporations, businesses, even his own parent's savings...he was able to bypass firewalls and rewrite their security with ease to cripple them and take whatever he wanted from them. And what was more, he was never caught...thanks to his abilities as a technopath, he was able to pin the blame on others without anyone ever knowing. All the news and media knew was that the cyber criminal simply known as N!G#+0w1 was on a rampage...and that's all Victor could've asked for.

There was, however, one fateful day...a few weeks after he turned twenty. He returned to his apartment only to find that someone was currently sitting on his couch. At first, Victor demanded to know how he got in when his security system would've kicked him out immediately, only for the intruder to simply say: "It was child's play to decrypt. It was running on simple coding...it was a matter of figuring out the time frame that the system would change it's settings and parameters. An ingenious trick, might I add...and it would be almost impossible to figure out unless you had one helluva intellect or...some means to communicate with the tech on hand". At the moment, Victor was staring down a member of the G3 Hero Organization, an intelligent Cape who's power he knew not...but at this moment, it was obvious to him about one thing: he held the cards in his hand, this man had every piece of dirt on him and how he toppled businesses, corporations and all for his own benefit. The jig was up and there wasn't anyway he was going to be able to stop a Cape...no way in hell. However, the hero simply gave an ultimatum: you work for us at the G3 Organization and become a hero, use your intelligence and power to help others...and I'll overlook everything. Or...you can continue down this dark path, N!G#+0w1, and I'll expose you for everything...and then, the villains you actually helped create will be knocking on your door. Without realizing it, Victor had helped in creating a few villains due to his actions...and now, he was being held responsible for it. This meant it was his duty to put a stop to them if at all possible. Only one option remained: he obliged and took part in becoming a G3 Hero...provided he was able to have a secret identity in order to keep living...to which the hero agreed.

Fast forward to the present day: the escapades of N!G#+0w1 have subsided and Victor now resides in a different location in Scarlet City, this time with his own home and workshop, which he houses a computer fixing company he owns...his small way of helping and fix his mistakes. At the same time, below his normal workshop is his ACTUAL workshop, in which he fixes and creates the things he uses in his day to day escapades as G3's latest in the hero arsenal: Override. His mission is to make things right...to correct his past mistakes by forging forward ahead to help create a better place for Scarlet City...to make it better. And in all honesty...starting with attempting to figure out how to stop the end of the world in six months sounds like a good place to start.

Combat Information
Alias: Override
Classification: Tinker/Breaker
Costume:

Spoiler

Shown above is Victor's suit of armor, which he has generously dubbed the "NOVA Mk 17" (NOVA standing for "NeurOVisceral Armor"). Presently, the model 17 armor is actually made of small nanomachines that Victor has crafted and stored within a small compact watch he wears, making it a neurokintetic suit of armor.

The armor's features include currently:

• Repulsors (Located at the palms, back and legs of the armor)
• Pulse bolts
• Extremely durable outer shell
• Deflector shields

Power:

Spoiler

Technopath

What is essentially commonly known as technology manipulation, Victor has the uncanny ability to control, create, and manipulate technology, technological constructs, computers, robots, hardware and other devices that can be termed as "technology". This type of power allows Victor to have physical interaction with machines, or even a psychic ability that allows mental interface with computer data. He can control the flow of intricate machinery and can allow them to assemble or disengage their programming at will, as well as operate most technology just by touching or looking.

This assisted him greatly in his time as a Black Hat Hacker/Cracker, though now he's been able to utilize it to help others rather than for his own benefit and gain.

Arsenal:

Spoiler

Armory

• NOVA Mk 17
• ???

AI/Robotics

• P.I.X.E.L. - An A.I. assistant that Victor developed for him in order to assist with the mundane, every day tasks. It stands for "Pretty Impressive eXceptional Emulation Lifeform". Despite being an artificial intelligence, P.I.X.E.L. is Victor's closest friend and the banter the have between the two of them is always one that displays this. Nevertheless, P.I.X.E.L.'s number one priority and directive is to make sure his creator is taken care of and protected at all times, to help him in all his endeavors. P.I.X.E.L.'s voice modulation seems to be based off an older gentleman, with a slight Scottish cadence to it.
• S.H.A.D.E. - A small robot that happened to have been one of Victor's first pet projects. It stands for "Skill Handcrafted Android Designed for Exploration". Designed for stealth missions, Victor took a normal mech model and combined this with mechanical parts (as well as a small electronic blowtorches). Along with this, the small robot is capable and utilizes a combat mode in which it has two indigo flames in the form of butterfly wings erupting from it's back. This small machine allows for Victor's personal AI assistant to enter it and assist when needed.

Miscellaneous Information
Victor's Theme | Hacking Theme | Battle Theme (Alternative)

• Victor's text color hex is: #660066
• Victor's name is taken from two separate characters in the Marvel universe who are quite intelligent: Victor - Victor Von Doom/Dr. Doom, McCoy - Henry McCoy/Beast
• "Override" was actually the 2nd alias he thought of for himself. The first was actually "Cipher".
• The NOVA Armor is a bit of a mixture of both the Model 37/Bleeding Edge and the Model 51/Model Prime Iron Man armors.
• This marks the second iteration of Victor McCoy that has appeared in RP. His debut RP was under Saikazo's watchful gaze in "A School of Villains" or better known as "Villain's School". Continuing on from that initial thought, this version of Victor actually is more aligned with the side of good than his prior counterpart, namely due to the fact that I wanted to show a side of him I thought could be possible if the RP prior continued on.
• In creation with this iteration of Victor, I leaned on the idea of making him slightly akin to Marvel's Anthony "Tony" Stark/Iron Man, but still remained true to his original origins of him being an intellectual technopath. The idea to incorporate Iron Man into the mix seemed like a step in the right direction for a new version.
• The Iron Man idea is a bit of an homage to my late father, who's favorite hero(es) happened to be both Iron Man and War Machine.

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Chaos Sonic

[LordCowCow]

The Moment

Spoiler

Basic Info

Spoiler

Name: Thessa "Aeon" Phthia
Age: 299 and 6 months (Physically stopped at 29)
Gender: She/Her
Faction: G3 Hero Organization

Appearance

Spoiler

Art by _himehajime

Height: About 5 feet tall

Biography

Spoiler

A long time ago Thessa was a hyperactive and curious young girl. She didn't stand out particularly except that she was often questioning things. She was always longing for something that she couldn't quite put a finger on. Many of the people who knew her at the time would remark that it was as though she was always looking somewhere far into the future. Which bothered her parents greatly as they wished she could just focus on the present sometimes.

Besides being reasonably fit and intelligent, with a great memory, Thessa didn't have any exceptional abilities. And then that suddenly changed. She says that her powers came to her in a dream but it's uncertain, even to her, how they really came to be. All that is known for sure is that one day in early adulthood Thessa became extraordinary.

She immediately joined a hero organization and quickly proved herself capable and powerful. With feats of strength and skill that rivaled many of the heroes and villains of the time. However she only stayed in the organization for a short while before she decided she wanted to switch it up. Through the years Thessa has been part of hero organizations, been labelled a renegade hero, and even sometimes tried out criminal activity (though not for long as she found it to be too much of a hassle). These days she's settled in at the G3 Hero Organization but its unknown how long she'll stick around.

Personality

Spoiler

Thessa believes she's the most important person in the world. How could she not be? It isn't as though she finds everyone else unimportant but she's just a step above the rest. On top of that each other person is just as important as the next, regardless of status, and she's not all too impressed by titles and prosperity. In fact there's not much that really impresses her, though there are plenty of things that get her excited or curious.

In general she's a rather lax woman. In that she has incredible patience most of the time. However when she decides on a goal or a desire she will become relentless and even reckless in achieving it. Be it a simple fight or a larger goal she'll go to extremes to see it done.

Her biggest motivation is change. She wants to see things change, grow, or even decay, as long as its different from how it started. She doesn't go far out of her way most of the time to enact the change herself but she loves observing the changes. Her ultimate goal is to see the world reach its conclusion. Though she prefers it not come too fast.

She's actually rather frightened of the idea of dying before the world does. As though the concept of the world going on without her is too alien and unsettling to consider.

She knows something in her isn't quite...right. She keeps pursuing change sometimes on a manic level. At times it's as though the state of the world is a constant source of stress that she can't seem to shake off. A feeling that it's never quite different enough. Despite her nearly 300 years of life and despite the many changes she's experienced and gone through there is one thing that still hasn't changed.

Thessa is still longing for something. Something she can't quite put into words. And the longer she can't find it the more she hungers for it.

Power

Spoiler

As far as the public knows Thessa's abilities are simple yet powerful. She's immortal, can increase her physical abilities to incredible levels, and has regeneration that lets her recover from serious injuries. In reality there's a bit more to that. Thessa has a lifespan of 100,000 years. However whenever she uses her powers she takes time off that lifespan. The more lifespan she uses up the stronger her abilities get. It's not fully measured how far this can go but in theory if she were to use up all of her lifespan at once she could cause mass destruction just with her body alone.

Not that she'd ever go that far, of course.

Miscellaneous

Spoiler

Theme 1

-Can play multiple instruments and has been in a couple bands.

-Knows several languages.

-Was married a few times, never longer than a couple months, years ago.

-Tries not to eat the same meal twice. If she finds something she really likes she'll usually wait a long time, up to years, to try it again.

 

 

[Skaia]

Demoniac

Spoiler

 

Name: Sibyl Ashton 
Age: 22
Gender: Female 
Faction: Moray Clan 
Appearance:

Spoiler

 

Artist: Siyon
Height: 5'9" 
She does not have wings but she does have horns.

 

Biography:

Spoiler

 

Sibyl has always been a rowdy child. Her upbringing was rather normal with parents who weren't capes but didn't mind the horns that their daughter sported. Unfortunately, though they didn't mind, this was not the true for everyone. Being called a "devil child" by some of the other kids at school, at first Sibyl did as she was told and just grinned and bore it. But then, one day, she decided to fight back. Violently. Having injured the other kids the young girl was reprimanded for her violence but Sibyl never really felt like she did anything wrong and being told off wasn't exactly a punishment she cared about. So, when the situation presented itself again Sibyl repeated her misdemeanor. Then when she was told to apologize once more, she denied doing so and left school. And thinking that home life would be a drag after what she did, she decided to not return home either. And so now a teenager on the mean streets of Ohio, the girl decided to indulge herself. If there was something that looked interesting she looked into it. If there was something that annoyed her she fought it. And if there was something she wanted she took it. 

This kind of hedonistic life style started to very much gel with the girl and while she was able to keep it up for a few days, a new independent criminal wasn't long to go without notice. Her first encounter with a hero was one that ended in the two brawling with each other, ending in a resounding victory for the hero and jail time for the young villain in the making. The time behind bars was not something she enjoyed but that was all the same overshadowed by a strange new feeling in her. A sense of euphoria that came from fighting such a passionate individual seemed to deeply resonate within her. And so when her misdemeanors were cleared and she was sent back home she didn't stay there for very long. Instead, she went right back to her life of crime in an attempt to find the pleasure and euphoria she had during those few days of freedom. 

This time, however, she was scouted out by the Moray Clan before she could be apprehended yet again. While Sibyl had no interest in the actual structure of organized crime, she let some degree of logic dictate her actions here, figuring it would help her further her own lifestyle as opposed to going to jail immediately again. Her very loose cannon and authority hating personality has lead to her being on rocky terms with the gang several times, yet their usefulness to each other is undeniable and so the relationship has continued on for years and seems like it will continue to. For now at least. 

 

Personality:

Spoiler

 

Impulsive, unstable and someone who is very much a live in the now kind of person. Sibyl believes that every moment of life that you live is precious and that you should make use of all of it. As such, she acts on her many whims and has a tendency to ignore rules that would impose themselves against this lifestyle of hers. Sibyl is the kind to give her all in anything she is doing, so long as she was remotely interested in it to begin with, though has a tendency to lose interest in such things equally as fast. When it comes to others she is also generally supportive in helping them with any of their passions and, in most cases, has a tendency to be swept up in another's enthusiasm and excitement. Conversely, she has an immense distaste for people who half ass things and just go through the motions of life, nor can she fathom them. Similarly she dislikes people who would attempt to force or flex their authority onto others, which leads to some difficulties, and has genuinely no interest in ordering people around or telling them what to do. 

Sibyl wears her heart on her sleeve as well as goes through emotions very quickly and very intensely. While normally she can be a sociable and cool woman, when she gets excited she starts to get very into something. When she gets angry this can quickly escalate into feelings of pure hatred. And when she is bored or disinterested in something that antipathy is clearly shown on her face. And in every case she can become incredibly violent. These intense mood swings hardly last for a long time and she herself never seems to pay any mind to how she acted and rarely does she hold a lasting grudge. Not one to dwell on past failures nor think of future consequences, with only the barest sense of self preservation Sibyl truly lives in and for the moment.  

 

Power:

Spoiler

 

Shadow Chimera 

By default Sibyl's power is very simple. A cloak of what can only be described as solid shadows encase Sibyl's arm. These shadows are entirely corporeal and as such can act as sort of makeshift armor for her arms. In addition, she can extend them 15 feet out from her acting as her hands in every way, and exert the same amount of strength that she normally can. These arms can be extended in any direction and can turn while being extended, and she seems to have very precise control with her arms. 

These are all true while Sibyl is in a neutral emotional state. As her emotions become more intense so too does her power, with the density, scale and power of the shadows beginning to rise. In addition, the shadows begin to cover more and more of her body and she is able to sprout less human shapes out of other parts of her body. This includes things such as a tail, clawed feet, wings, and even things like tentacles or spider legs. A real living chimeric monster of a girl. While everything about the power and scale of the ability goes up her actual precise control over it stops, instead being relegated to moving in a singular direction without the ability to adjust its course. 

 

Miscellaneous:

• Outside of Shadow Chimera is still a competent street fighter and tends to carry around some form of bludgeoning weapon. 
• Has no compunction with being visible or walking out in public and would even interact with whatever fans she might have. 
• Is a Graffiti Artist and has some skills with sketching as well. 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Skaia

[(X)]

[His cigarette is burning but he never seems to ash]

"I've got too good of a setup going to let that dead oracle be right."

[Name:] Emmerich Adler
[Age:] 34
[Gender:] ♂
[Faction:] Moray Clan
[Appearance]

Emmerich Adler is about six feet tall, and appears to be around 150 pounds. His face is poorly shaven, and his haircut is choppy, full of split ends and reaching his waist at its longest points.

When he is doing work for the Moray Clan, Adler wears a dark, semi-armored outfit featuring a face-scarf, goggles, and hood to keep his face hidden.

[Biography]

Adler lived a pretty simple life. He grew up in the dregs of the industrial sector of Scarlet City, poor but not hungry, graduated from school without excelling. He worked multiple part-time simple jobs that required no form of expertise, and lived in a basement studio apartment underneath a suspicious locale that he never bothered to learn the business of, but was filled with footsteps and whispers at consistently inconsistent hours each day. His existence was by all means a miserable one, lacking completely in purpose and excitement, but more importantly to him it was an easy one. Despite everything, he could find comfort in that. As long as he was protected from the elements and had a beer ready in the fridge when he stepped into his place, he was doing alright.

One Halloween, a year before the death of Cassandra, Adler had found himself a temp gig at the Halloween bash, passing out tri-folded maps of the event to crying children and half-drunk adults. While he had never taken much interest in the capes before, he found himself captivated by the power they commanded, both hero and villain. He paid attention to the festivities, saw the brand deals the big shots were getting, the lavish costumes that implied even more lavish amenities at a hypothetical home base. Adler realized that even though he was making it working only twenty hours a week, capes could live a life of comfort and freedom just by existing.

Perhaps it was the enormous concentration of capes that triggered a hidden genetic marker within him. Maybe a cosmic ray was reflected off of the shimmer and drew a perfect line through the crowd to strike him and imbue him with untold power. It may have been a sick joke, or a choice made on a whim by some kind of narrative god beyond Adler's comprehension. At the end of the day, the mechanics by which it occurred were irrelevant. That Halloween was the first time Adler wished he were a cape, and by a surreal twist of luck, it came true. In that instant, he knew something had changed within him. He could feel the power within him, and knew in an instant that his life would be smooth sailing from then on. He walked out of the festival, no longer caring about whatever paltry paycheck he had shown up for, eager to discover what exactly he was capable of.

It didn't take much experimentation for Adler to gain a functional understanding of his Command Editor and how to use it. Fitting for himself, it was an ability that was effortless and precisely as effective as it needed to be. While his initial idea had been to be a hero, performing minimal feats to inflate his fame and make him rich, he realized very quickly that G3's system was difficult to get into, and would be a hassle that his CE couldn't help him through. This led him to an alternate get rich quick scheme: petty theft. As someone able to reach across a room to take whatever he liked, it was easy enough to swipe wallets.

While his first few weeks of crime did him well, allowing him to quickly upscale his life of comfort to staying in a lush loft with a view of the nicer parts of the city, it didn't go without notice. Heroes and LEOs were on the lookout for the phantom pickpocket, and it was inevitable that they would have closed in on him. While Adler was confident that his CE would make him unbeatable in combat, it wasn't something he was looking to test. Fortunately for him, someone else found him first. A set of triplets, girls barely touching adulthood as he would guess, cornered him in an alley as suspicious figures are wont to do. They informed him of the approaching risk of being determined to be an S-Class risk, and assured him that despite the strength he held, he couldn't take on all of G3.

Adler took on the deal to use his Command Editor to take care of whatever The Fates asked, and in return they would directly subsidize his life of comfort. They gained a powerful asset, and he gained the opportunity to lurk within the shadows where he could live comfortably. Fitting for his ability to reshape the world to their wishes, they gave him the code name "Demiurge".

[Personality]

Adler considers difficulty anathema, and is as selfish as he is slothful. While he is clever, he isn’t particularly well-learned, since he neglects many opportunities to learn through lack of interest. He is difficult to provoke, and while he has more pride than a person of his station ought to, he rarely acts upon it, out of sheer laziness. He would rather be looked down upon by strangers than climb to the top. This mindset is what kept him out of G3, but in a sense is what makes him such a valuable asset to The Fates, as they know he would have no interest in going against them as long as his simple needs are fulfilled. In a sense, Adler is a slave to his own desire for comfort, as it makes him easily manipulated - a predictable person is easy to control. While he believes him to be taking advantage of the Moray Clan, he doesn’t fully understand just how short his leash may be.

Due to his reclusive lifestyle, Adler has weak social skills, and struggles to navigate difficult social situations. This has led to him quitting several jobs over the last decade, though he doesn’t necessarily expect his gig with The Fates to go the same way, considering just how beneficial it is to him. When he does manage to interact with others, he is overly sarcastic, and oftentimes even abrasive, since preserving these relationships isn’t something he prioritizes.

Unsurprisingly, Adler falls to multiple vices, being both a moderate smoker and moderate drinker, erring toward heavy in each if he is having a particularly bad or good day, respectively.

[Power]

「C.E.」COMMAND EDITOR

At its core, Command Editor is the ability of fine spatial distance manipulation. Adler has control over how close or far away things are from him, stretching or compressing the space between to fit his whims. Despite how it may seem, this is not a matter of telekinesis. Adler can reach forward, touch a wall that to outside observers would be seen as dozens of feet away from him, without either himself or the wall actually changing positions. If he chooses, he can have himself or the object be shunted to the position matching the edited distance, and when he does so a noise resembling a split second of a high voltage current can be heard, resulting from the shock of objects being displaced (naturally, smaller objects give off less sound, to the point of being nearly unnoticeable for things that could fit in a hand).

When Command Editor is used to increase spatial distance, those being edited to be "further" observe Adler giving off a red glow, and when it decreases distance the glow is blue, as a result of his power stretching or compressing the waves of visible light that travel between.

[Misc]

Adler's surname (Adler) is chosen to mean 'Eagle' in reference to the power being adapted from a JJBA-style stand I had come up with years ago called 「COMFORT EAGLE」. Command Editor was named to retain these initials, and the spoiler title for the app is a quote from the eponymous song by Cake.

 

[radio414]

This RP is now live! There's a link to the IC at the top of the OP but also one here for convenience's sake

I've adjusted the accepting status to "Conditional" and removed the Discord invite. If someone wants to join at this stage, I would encourage you to send me a PM so we can talk about how best to incorporate your potential character into the story. That would also be when you'd be invited to the discord server.

[GwenSynth]

Project, "Unbreakable"

Spoiler

"Diamonds are a waste of resources."

Name: Carolina Sanchez (she/they)

Alias: "Pressure"

Age: 36

Gender: Non-binary

Faction: Moray Clan

Appearance:

Spoiler

 

Carolina is  taller than average at six feet and two inches. She was last seen wearing a skin-tight magical suit and jacket that is believed to be crafted from their own flesh. The blue coloring is a result of oxidization and pressure from her own abilities. The light golden trimming and bright star-like centerpiece were crafted and added for fashion and ego purposes only.

 

Biography:

Spoiler

 

Sanchez was born to a poor family who was more often than not one paycheck away from being homeless. Thankfully for Carolina's parents, her abilities were discovered before she even turned seven years old.

On their seventh birthday, Carolina's parents revealed they had a great, big surprise prepared and Carolina's eyes widened with anticipation. Carolina didn't get many gifts, so the fact that her parents went out of the way to prepare a surprise only heightened their excitement. Carolina was instructed to put on a blind fold and instructed to take her father's hand. What Carolina didn't know is that her parents had made arrangements with a shady, off-the-books government corp that sought out powered children in exchange for massive amounts of money. With a pay-day this lucrative, Carolina's parents wouldn't dare say no. They had only agreed to birth Carolina with the hopes that their child would develop abilities from birth, increasing the child's value. Once they learned of Carolina's powers, their eyes filled with greed and hope. Carolina was their way out of poverty, and they knew it.

Carolina unwillingly followed her "father" until she was told to take a big step upward, and she climbed into the back of a van. When the doors sealed behind them, Carolina instinctively took of their blindfold. With their parents nowhere in sight, and only two masked and armed guards accompanying her, she began to worry. Before Carolina could ask questions, they were sedated and taken to an undisclosed facility where they would be subjected to years of poking, prodding, testing, and torture.

This hardened Carolina's heart. So much so, that while studying Carolina at age eighteen, it was found that the pressure in her chest alone was so great that her heart was surrounded by several millimeters of diamond. Strangely, this did not interfere with her bodily functions or health, but did make it increasingly difficult to monitor her heart rate. Over the years, Carolina began to withstand the torture and testing so easily that it was believed they were impervious to pain. While this was not true, Carolina's pain tolerance was so high now that they were more interested in advanced forms of torture, egging on her captors.

"Come on, don't you have any neurotoxins you can throw at me!?" Carolina would taunt.

At Carolina's request, they were exposed to all manner of fatal attacks. Bullets bounced off of her like rubber. From 9mm to .50cal, they didn't even tickle Carolina. Rockets, grenades, and mortar shells only left soot in their hair. Flamethrowers ruined her only clothes, and colder temperatures made their nipples erect, but that was the extent of those extremes. Yet, Carolina's captors were certain they could push their victim further.

When the first neurotoxin was introduced and injected into Carolina's veins, they felt incredibly ill. They thought they were prepared, but it was unlike any pain they had endured before. She could feel her body slowly shutting down and she knew if she didn't fight harder, she would die. She had to separate her body from the toxin by any means necessary. She released as much pressure from her body as possible, but could still feel the poison ripping her apart. A desperate, dying thought occurred to Carolina as their energy began to expire. "If I can make myself as loose as I can make myself dense, then maybe--"

And that was Carolina's focus. Instead of making themselves more dense, they focused on going in the opposite direction. What happened was stunning even to their captors. Carolina had gone so far that their very prison cell began to freeze as their body seemingly melted apart. At first, it was thought that Carolina had simply been eaten alive from the inside out by the toxin. It was later understood that Carolina had loosened their genetic composition so much, that they had entered a gaseous state. Their mind and consciousness somehow retained integrity, despite being entirely made of gas. It took Carolina some time to stop panicking, until they realized they were in a gaseous state and panic resumed.

Over the next six years, Carolina used everything her captors threw at her to develop her abilities. Eventually, they would be able to change states between solid and gas as quickly as sixty seconds. Carolina became so strong in fact that their prison needed to be revamped to house them properly. The pressure Carolina was able to build in their body could now be exerted outward in a small radius of twenty feet. With this exerted pressure came an incredible amount of heat, causing entire floors to melt around them. In their gaseous state, Carolina released a small radius of cold that reached temperatures of -196 Celcius (-320 F). This is what earned them the title of "Pressure".

It was only four slow, dull years later that Carolina found themselves free of their captors. Not by choice, but by force. Her name and abilities had been scouted by some unsavory characters who dubbed themselves, "Moray Clan".

Though they didn't know anything about "Moray Clan", Carolina was inclined to join them. The first things they did differently was to allow Carolina their freedom. No cuffs, no special cages to keep their powers inhibited, nor threat of death. For this, Carolina came along voluntarily. After all, no one else had come to her rescue.

Since then, Carolina has faithfully served "Moray Clan" behind the scenes, only appearing at their behest.

 

Personality:

Spoiler

Unsurprisinly, Carolina is a vindictive person at their core. They blame their parents, they blame their captors, they blame society, and they blame heroes too. Why did she deserve to be treated like a lab rat? Why was she forced to endure punishment for decades without relent? Why did no one come looking for her? Why did rescue never come? It has made Carolina bitter and angry. Despite this, Carolina has learned to be come very cool and calculated. Resourceful and witty, Carolina is an adversary whose name is rarely spoken, but that carries incredible weight. This makes Carolina prideful and cautious, as their reputation means a great deal to them.

They've learned the hard way that displays of bravado without the talent to reinforce it, just makes you a brave fool. As a result, Carolina is tactful in the coldest of ways. Relentless, unforgiving, and steadfast in their beliefs, Carolina remains a force to be recognized.

Power:

Spoiler

 

Carolina has dubbed their power, "Pressure Drive". "Pressure Drive" reacts in different ways, depending on Carolina's state of being.

"Pressure Drive: Solid State" - In Carolina's... well, solid state, they are able to form pressure within themselves and around themselves. If this pressure is spread evenly throughout Carolina's body at once, without outward projection, they can retain a density and hardness of diamonds. When projected outward, Carolina loses some density in her body, exchanging it for combat effectiveness. With great focus, Carolina can control her pressure into a fine point. By placing all of her pressure into a fist, she can release the pressure with one blow. The most powerful punch she has ever recorded, measured in 30,000 tons of TNT (a little more than early grade nuclear weapons). They are currently attempting to focus their pressure into a single finger, which could amplify their power by hundreds of times. However, these attacks are very costly, and require Carolina to sacrifice most all of their defenses, leaving them vulnerable during the attack. Furthermore, these types of attacks are exhausting, and require incredible amounts of energy. Carolina cannot use these attacks frequently. Carolina has created individual names for the uses of her abilities as follows:
 

• "Solid State: Glimmering Shield" - Carolina focuses pressure around her body only, making her skin, flesh, and internal organs as hard as diamond.
• "Solid State: Atmosphere" - Carolina releases some pressure in her body and pushes it outward in a radius around her. It releases an initial heat wave of nearly 1400 Celcius (a little more than 2500 F) in a twenty foot circle around her (this dissipates quickly). Effectively, it creates a gravity field around her that causes most things and people to buckle and break. This lowers her personal defenses.
• "Solid State: Greatest Impact" - Carolina sacrifices all of their defenses and focuses their pressure only into a fist. This amplifies the pressure a great deal, and anything on the receiving end of this punch would do best to flee.
• "Solid State: Starbright" - This is an ability that is not complete and cannot yet be used. Carolina is practicing her pressure conversion and hopes to eventually confine it into a single finger, amplifying it hundreds of times over. So far, each time she's tried, this has caused her unfathomable amounts of pain and agony. They are of the belief that "Starbright" could very well kill them if they ever become strong enough to use it.

The second part of "Pressure Drive" is much simpler. It is a purely defensive state that Carolina reserves for retreat. "Pressure Drive: Gaseous State" releases all of the pressure that Carolina can muster, and breaks them down into a gas-like form. They retain their consciousness and willpower, lose all offensive power, and effectively become intangible (not invulnerable).

Changing between Solid and Gas requires a minimum of sixty seconds.

 

Misc:

• Carolina loves spicy foods!
• Carolina's favorite color is blue.
• The magical suit that surrounds Carolina is made from her skin. They fashioned loose skin into diamond and sewed it into a pattern that she adores.
• The diamond around her neck was crafted from her parents bones after she tracked them down and murdered them.

 

Project, "Restoration"

Spoiler

"They say beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. I say, you need to look a lot deeper than that."

Name: Sasha Palmer

Alias: Belladona

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Faction: Moray Clan

Appearance:

Spoiler

Sasha is approximately five feet and seven inches tall, about average for a woman her age. The satchel over her eye has many purposes, but she uses it to keep a hideous scar hidden more often than not. Her most frequent attire is a single, long flowing amethyst colored dress and simple black, open toed sandals.

Biography:

Spoiler

Since she was a girl, Sasha has maintained a green thumb. Her propensity for gardening was perfect, as she found out at a young age. Sasha's ability were discovered to be plant related, and fit her very well. Raised by a middle-class family, Sasha was fortunate to have her gifts nurtured by her parents. With access to a rooftop garden, she quickly learned to accentuate her natural love of plant-life with her ability. In her teen years, she focused on creating food for family, friends, neighbors, and even opened her own summer stalls with which she gave away flowers and plants for free, asking only donations in return.

As her power developed, Sasha was approached by people all across Scarlett City with requests for bouquets, decorative house plants, and even assistance with agricultural development. Sasha had an intense desire to share her gift with others, and when she was approached with requests, she often jumped at the chance to help someone. Her most prized project was the beautification of her high school as a sophomore. Even her classmates would make requests of Sasha, though not always with the best intentions. Though Sasha had a green thumb, she was still young and naive. Relishing in her popularity, she sometimes fulfilled requests without thinking. Some such incidents that got her into trouble included self-growing marijuana plants for classmates. But this would not be the last time this kind of request would return to bite her.

In her senior year of high school at age seventeen, Sasha met with someone she believed to be a college recruiter. Though there were only two in the city, Sasha was sure this recruiter had her best interest at heart. Their credentials certainly appeared to be real, and Sasha wasn't going to pass up what could be an opportunity for her to further education and use her ability to its greatest potential. To secure her invitation to this particular college, Sasha was asked to fulfill a simple request: grow a ten-field acre of poppies and maintain their integrity over the course of the coming winter. In exchange, she would be paid for the harvest and be given a full-ride scholarship.

For Sasha, this was not much of a challenge. Though it seemed too easy, Sasha's rose-tinted glasses kept her eyes forward on the prize. She was given a destination to plant the poppies and even a car that would take her too and from the growth facility at her request. Sasha gladly obliged and oversaw the project for approximately five months. In the end, the poppies she grew were beautiful and more potent than any poppy that had been grown in over twenty years.

Unfortunately for Sasha, this was the beginning of her downfall. She was paid handsomely for her work and was handed supporting documentation for her efforts, with her college of choice having its name branded at the very top. Once she was escorted home and told the good news to her parents, they were all overjoyed to hear.

Seventy-two hours later, there was a banging at her door that startled their family. Police were front and center with a warrant for her arrest for the illegal production of poppies and their use in making illegal drugs. She was immediately arrested and sent to jail, completely perplexed. She sat in a cell for three days without making bail, because the money she received was confiscated and her parents could not fund the entirety of her bail. When her trial was arranged, she was set to be in prison for fifteen years. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and there was nothing she or her parents could do about it.

Sasha served her first two years in jail with regular visitation from her parents. Their names had been sullied because of her arrest, her beautification project at her high school had been completely revamped by a different company with her name removed from the work, and her family's debt soon began to skyrocket.

To make matter worse, Sasha was not a great fighter, and she was picked on and bullied constantly in prison. One such bullying incident occurred when Sasha's cellmate got into a scrap with her, demanding Sasha hand over her food. When Sasha refused, her hair was grabbed, her face smashed into her plate, and the right side of her face and her right eye were sliced badly with a rusty razor. Sasha could only whimper away and pull her pillow to her face until she was treated for her injuries. She was nineteen and full of resentment. When she later looked at the hideous scars on her face, she recoiled in disgust. To make matters worse, she had gone partially blind in her wounded eye. She tore apart her pillowcase and tied the ripped fabric around her wounded face.

Over the next three years, Sasha learned the ropes of the prison and learned to fight. Sasha traded out her filthy pillowcase for a leather strap with she cut out an eye-hole of for her face. She vowed to make anyone who crossed her, "as ugly as I am". Her parents visitations slowly came to a stop, and Sasha stopped looking forward to seeing them. "They couldn't stand to see my face, I guess," she would shrug. The only thing that Sasha still had was her ability. She left a single healthy rose in the window of her cell, and it was the only thing left in the world that she still cared about. She turned her spare time to studying in the library, all while secretly practicing the production of extremely toxic and deadly flora. Word of her imprisonment eventually reached the Moray Clan who understood just how much potential Sasha had, and how useful she could be to their cause. They quickly broke her out of prison and gave her a place to stay and to belong. What's more, they provided her with work and helped her to master her abilities down to a microbial level. The icing on the cake was a replacement for the leather strap over her head.

The sisters gifted Sasha with piece of tech that fully restored her eyesight and wasn't terribly unfashionable. It wasn't the most beautiful thing, but she tolerated it.

Now, Sasha's only remaining loyalty was to the Moray Clan. Being in their ranks for five years, Sasha had developed a new outlook on the world. She believes she understands the ugliness of Scarlett City and she detests it. False idols, harmful ideologies, broken promises, and lies compounded with more lies. The Moray Clan, however, hadn't lied to her. They hadn't presented themselves to be someone or something that they weren't. Not only had they rescued her, but they weren't... ugly. The Moray Clan was beautiful, and she would do anything to see it prosper.

The only thing she was missing was a name for her ability. She couldn't just call it "green thumb". That name wasn't beautiful. It had mean to something. It had to have purpose. At last, she settled on a name for her power.

"I think I'll call it, 'Aconitum'," she thought aloud to herself over a glass of tea. "Yes. Just like the plant".

Personality:

Spoiler

Sasha still maintains some small semblance of her former self. Now and again, she'll find herself swimming in hope. During the course of her imprisonment, her hope was twisted into something much more sinister. Furthered by the resentment she harbored for her parents, the "recruiter" who tricked her, her lack of justice, her time spent in prison, and her mauled face, Sasha could only focus on making those around her beautiful again. She was obsessed with scrubbing out the 'ugliness' of Scarlett City, by any means necessary.

She was still passionate about helping those less fortunate than she. She still sought to feed those who could not feed themselves. But she saw the ugliness that caused their suffering. Scarlett City was swollen with pus-filled parasites that disgusted her. Her drive to scrub out anything she deemed ugly made her dangerous.

Little things still sometimes glimmer in her eyes. The innocence of children. The adrenaline of love. The excitement of discovering something new. There was still beauty in the city that needed to be uplifted. But the only way to appreciate it, in Sasha's mind, was to erase everything else.

Power:

Spoiler

"Aconitum" (uh-kaa-nuh-tm)

Aconitum has different effects and takes different forms.

Queen of Poison (Passive) - Sasha is immune to poisons of all kinds.

Infestation (Passive) - Sasha releases spores into the air. Any biological thing these spores come into contact with will become infected with a powerful virus that will slowly become more dangerous over time.

• Seedling (Passive) - the first of three stages in the virus' development. It causes fatigue, dehydration, headaches, and dizziness. The virus requires two minutes to reach this stage.
• Flowering (Passive) - the second of three stages in the virus' development. The victim will notice changes in their biology, such as waxy skin, sudden abnormal growths and lesions on their flesh, and a constant craving for sugar. Furthermore, a rise in body temperature and increased blood pressure follow immediately. The virus requires five minutes to reach this stage.
• Bloom (Passive) - the third and final stage in the virus' development. The victim's body begins to undergo involuntary transformation, as their biological code is re-written. Their body struggles to function as a human being with the needs of a plant and the illness of stage four cancer patient. The virus clogs their arteries with sugar and salt and causes a string of heart palpitations. Finally, at death, their flesh wilts like a plant and they become one with the earth again.

Angel Dust (Passive) - instead of spores, in a much smaller area, Sasha releases pheromones around her. They are not poisonous and will not cause harm. Instead, the victim enters a state of confusion and has an increased desire to be vulnerable with Sasha. They are more likely to tell the truth, more likely to admit to past traumas and fears, and are usually more easily persuaded. The pheromones are most potent after five minutes, and wear off after five and a half minutes.

Aconitum: Flurry - Sasha spreads her hands and arms forward with her fingers apart, and releases five poison darts from a hole in either hand. Each of the ten darts is infected with poison.

Aconitum: Living Thornbush - Sasha lobs a number of seeds around her. These seeds rapidly grow into tall thornbushes with prickly barbs. They are sentient, are eight feet tall, and have limbs like most humans. Their favorite tactic is to surround a target and smother them to death while simultaneously gore them with the many barbs on their leaves.

Aconitum: Venus Flytrap - Sasha reaches deep into the roots of the earth to birth a gigantic Venus Flytrap beneath her target's feet. It is large enough to swallow most commercial businesses, and contains a potent acid that will easily melt organic material and metal. She cannot use more than one at a time. This ability is very taxing and cannot be used frequently.

Aconitum: Stranglehold - Sasha extends roots from her pores and anchors herself in place. Then, she recklessly calls forth a whirlwind of vines that are covered in sticky sap. They're as thick as tree trunks and have a wide reach. Once a vine has wrapped its way around a target, Sasha will begin to reel them in.

Misc:

• Sasha dislikes guns.
• Sasha doesn't care for coffee.
• Sasha is allergic to cats.
• Sasha's favorite books are fiction and romance.
• Sasha's favorite plant is the Lily of the Valley.
• Sasha's favorite snack is chocolate covered strawberries.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by GwenSynth