[OOC] Shifting Worlds

[Bright_Ops]

Name: Thule Alexander
Gender: Male
Age: 23

Alternative Form: Wendigo

Appearance:


Thule Alexander is a somewhat easy to miss human being. Neither bulky or noticeably thin and a somewhat average height makes him fairly easy to miss at first glance in a crowd. With dark blue eyes and black hair that he keeps very short, Thule comes across as a man that takes the bare minimum amount of care of himself to make himself presentable to the public at large.

While he might keep himself presentable, its somewhat clear that he keeps himself in top physical condition.

Shifter Appearance:


Thule Alexander is a huge creature with hideous horns and whose shrieks sound like cries of agony. His ribcage is exposed and his face seems to be covered in blood, with the skin torn apart, partially exposing his skull. Although at this first glance Thule apparently has a malnourished and almost skeletical body, in truth he has high agility and superhuman strength.

Abilities:

Good fist fighter.
Natural herbalist
Nature survivalist
Trap maker


Powers:
Hunter of Darkness- During the day, Thule is a fairly good hunter. At night or in dark places, his senses sharpen to the point that he is a lot more dangerous then he is during the day.

Supernatural strength and agility- In his human form, Thule is fairly healthy and fit due to a love of the outdoors and a desire to keep himself in top form. When he transforms into his shifted form, that strength and agility is enhanced; even more so than normal if he has a belly full of meat.

Howl of Dread- While more often used in his shifted form, Thule can use the Howl of Dread as a human. Quite simply, it is a very loud howl that enters the brains of those who hear it and flicks all the switches in control of the 'flee' respond.

Background:
Thule Alexander was born in the coastal city of Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia as the youngest (And only male) child of Russ and Lyra Alexander. While he was closer to his mother and sisters than he was with his father due to the fact that Russ often had to go overseas for months at a time due to his military career, whenever Russ came home the whole family would gather together to go on a camping trip somewhere. It was a very big event for the whole family and months of planning often went into picking where the new campsite was going to be.

During one of these trips disaster stuck. Officially, the camp came under attack by what was believed to be a werewolf shifter, Thule being the only one spared because he had been 'answering the call of nature' went the attack began and fled into the forest surrounding the camp site to be found by rescue crews a few days later. None of his family survived the attack. While a manhunt was launched to find the rouge shifter and several shifters with wolfish forms were brought in for question, no one was ever conflicted of the crime.

The truth of what happened is known only to Thule himself. While it was true that he got up to answer natures call, while he was away from the camp a teenaged Thule shifted for the first time in his life. He had no idea he was a shifter prior to this and the change completely caught him off guard... as well as the hunger that came with it. Completely overtaken by his new forms need to consume fresh meat, Thule returned to the camp and slaughtered his whole family. Once the hunger had been satisfied by the meat of his kin, Thule regained his senses enough to understand exactly what he had done. Shifting back into his human form, he fled into the woods and managed to clean himself up in a nearby river before he was found by the rescue workers days later.

With his aunt and uncle becoming his caretakers with the death of his parents, Thule was noticeably very reluctant to talk about what had happened and largely kept to himself, often times disappearing only to be found out of town or in the parks... places were there weren't lots of people and nature reigned. This behavior always worried his aunt since several people had disappeared over the years after Thule came to live with them, a clear sign that the world was going to hell and it simply wasn't safe to disappear like that anymore.

Thule needed to take several anti depressants and regularly see professional help for a number of years after the incident, the guilt and trauma of the event haunting him through his teenage years. There was a serious concern that he would commit suicide until a fateful encounter with one of the local priests, Father Arther. The Father took Thule under his care and offered him advice and guidance; The man knew how to talk to people and his words seemed to reach Thule unlike many before. One of the things that Father Arther had told Thule that stuck was that there was a higher power out there that had a divine plan for everything, even the seemingly random and horrible things that happened in life. As tragic as the deaths of his family was the fact that Thule survived was a sign that the greater power had a reason to spare him from the same fate as his family and that he still had a place in the grand scheme of things. While some might have disagreed with such words, they none the less seemed to grant Thule a degree of inner peace.

It was no surprise to anyone when Thule dedicated himself to be a survival nature guide, learning how to survive in a wide range of environments (Often times by visiting them himself) and showing others how to avoid becoming just another one of those people who vanished into the wilderness and was never heard from again. Even before the incident that claimed his family he loved going out into the wild and afterwards he would often flee to places were he could be close to nature whenever he was frightened or just felt the need to get away from everyone else.

Things were going fairly well for Thule Alexander... until he woke up one day to find himself in the greatest challenge of his life.

Personality:
Thule Alexander is a confident man when it comes to wilderness survival. Nine times out of ten he knows what to do in a given situation and the tenth he normally knows enough to wing it successfully. This is a man that will remain cool headed and in control while everyone else is freaking the hell out, a fact that will often promote him to take a leadership position of some kind. Even if he isn't a leader of a given group, his advice will often be worth listening too.

However under the friendly smile lies the hunger. It is always there and it has been ever since he shifted for the first time all those years ago. He will never speak of it, but combined with his steadfast belief that god has a place in the divine plan even for someone who occasionally does taboo things like himself, Thule has long ago stopped feeling guilt for his need to satisfy his inhuman hunger.

Other:
Theme song:

[kapuchu]

As it is, there are a few things that I sort of raise an eyebrow at.

First is his abilities. There seems to be quite a lot for someone who is only 23 years old. I know you haven't written the background yet, but I still feel like being a supernaturally good hunter, trapmaker, fistfighter, swordsman, herbalist & survivalist is going a bit overboard. Take a few things that he has had time to practice and stick with them. Survivalist, herbalist, fistfighter, perhaps? I'd say that knowing how to hunt things goes under Survivalist a bit, but make it a "normal" hunter. Perhaps even "basic knowledge of firearms", though I think that was what you were going for.

Secondly is his powers. He's a Wendigo, true, but the whole Blood Tracking thing seem to be a bit unlike the Wendigos (from what I just read up on). That, and it's a bit overpowered. His ability to track someone down increasing if he gets a taste of their blood (I.E - Catching their scent = making it easier to find them) is acceptable, but knowing exactly where they are is too much.

Then there's his supernatural strength and speed. I think that by "mindblowing supernatural" (and here I'm only going by assumptions) that you mean something akin to Shounen Anime Protagonist Speed and Strength. Him being faster and stronger than a normal human (twice, thrice as strong, perhaps a bit more?) is okay, but (and again, assumptions only) going to ridiculous degrees is something I'd like to avoid. On the topic of speed and strength, unless he has trained his Human Body to be at the top of human physique, then he will only be a normal human. He doesn't get any bonuses from his Shifting unless he is shifted.

AND THIS COUNTS FOR ALL OF YOU!
Something I forgot to mention, you can only perform minor magical feats when you aren't Shifted. For example, Lily wouldn't be able to make very powerful illusions when she's in her human form. If, however, she changes to her Hybrid or Fox form, she becomes much more powerful. Also, while changing to your full form will give you some advantages, you don't actually increase that much in power from Half to full (if you have a Hybrid & Pure form).

For Thule Alexander, his Howl of Dread that makes people go "I... don't wanna be here" would be somewhat realistic in his Human form, plus a bit heightened senses, perhaps.

[Syben]

kapuchu said
AND THIS COUNTS FOR ALL OF YOU!
Something I forgot to mention, you can only perform minor magical feats when you aren't Shifted. For example, Lily wouldn't be able to make very powerful illusions when she's in her human form. If, however, she changes to her Hybrid or Fox form, she becomes much more powerful. Also, while changing to your full form will give you some advantages, you don't actually increase that much in power from Half to full (if you have a Hybrid & Pure form). For Thule Alexander, his Howl of Dread that makes people go "I... don't wanna be here" would be somewhat realistic in his Human form.

Kapu, that is a very important thing to mention to us. Personally speaking, when I made my character, I was thinking magician type. Take your character for example.

kapuchu said Abilities:
Athletic and flexible, skilled at gymnastics, and a very fast and agile runner. Also views herself as quite the good singer with “the voice of an angel” if her old pupils were to be trusted. She's also quite proficient at hand-to-hand combat (Jiu-Jitsu)

And Reap's.

Reapthemusic said Abilities:
-Knowledge with blades, specifically katanas
-Decent hand to hand combat
-Evasive maneuverability
-Fluent in Japanese
-Competent to "key points" of German, Swedish, and Spanish from her fathers various travels. (i.e. where is the bathroom, hello, goodbye and other 'necessities')

That creates a huge imbalance when you have characters like mine.

I based him around increasing levels of magic use, I put it into his biography in his human form. I really don't think this new rule is a good one, in my honest opinion. Where he lacks in physical skills that everyone else has, he was supposed to make up for it through his use of magic. Sure he may be agile because he's a runner, but he's not exceptionally agile, or strong, (at least not in his human form). He doesn't have hand-to-hand combat, or knowledge of blades.

[kapuchu]

Not all humans are equal, Aeon. Some are stronger, faster, more agile, while others are smarter and quick thinkers. He still has some magic in his human form, but it is a fraction of what he has when Shifted. He isn't helpless at all, so while he can't move several ton of stone, he can still manipulate a sizeable portion.

He does have the increasing magical levels, I never said that they were without magic as humans. If they were, Lily wouldn't have been able fulfil her job as a spy. Take Liz, for example. She's pretty much exactly what I had in mind: She does have magic in her human form, but it becomes much more powerful when she Shifts. At any rate, Magic, like so many other things, becomes stronger as you train it/practice. If you want, you can have Gregory being a bit more powerful magically because of lots of practice. Same goes for Bright_Ops if you want Thule to have a bit more (eventually a bit better senses like I edited in at the end) than just a weakened version of the Howl. The part about his physical qualities as a human being only those he has trained himself to is set in stone, however.

Edit:
It's not because it's a new rule, as I have always thought of it like this, evident by Liz's ability to use magic in Human form (and still magic that makes her far more powerful than any mere human). I just forgot to mention it in the Intro Post.

[Syben]

It's a pretty important thing to forget. If you're going to limit the magic on a character I made magic based, then I would like specifications as to what he can, and cannot do to determine if I want to stay in this. When it comes to swords, magic, beasts, and monsters (fantasy) my passion is a magician. That is what set him apart from everybody else. When we discussed practical applications over PM, you said nothing about this limitation, and it was you who brought up the idea of him materializing a house using his power. So I'm a little confused here. My second (fantasy) love are Ranger types, bow and arrow, but I'm not sure, I was pretty set on the whole magician thing, and I even discussed it with you.

This is kind of a breaking point for the character I created, the idea of him, and had gained your approval on.

I understand not everyone is created equal, but when you're talking to the creator it's because of design, not chance. He was designed a specific way, for a specific purpose. Evan was meant to be more magically inclined than his peers, lacking physical qualities. His half-shift helps make up for that lack of physical quality, defensively making him stronger, while enhancing his magic. His full shift further builds on that, making up for his lack of physical attributes, and "unlocking" full control. By no means can he move a mountain, but stronger and easier to control are considered magical increases in my book.

I feel perhaps you should have read my character sheet a little closer, before approving it, if it did not fit into your vision. That's the entire point of making one. It technically is a 'new' rule, because it hasn't been brought up to any of us before, though the case is not-so in relation to yourself. You forgot to mention it in the intro post, and our pms, and while accepting my character.

[kapuchu]

I know I made a mistake. Don't think I'm not aware of that. As for specifications: Geokinetic Manipulation is available, at about a third of the power of his Focus Shift. Which essentially means that he becomes three times as powerful when Shifting. A bit more when going into Rage.

As I said, I know I fucked up, but I also hope that it doesn't break too much and that I'm able to fix it. I was certain that I had at least insinuated it in the OP, but upon re-reading I realised that I hadn't. I should have, I know. Apologies for that <.< It is edited in, so it's there. Eitherway, I always had it in the back of my mind, otherwise Liza wouldn't have been approved, nor would Gregory. It won't really change a lot, the only difference being that you actually know now.

[Syben]

You still didn't define any clear cut limitations on his powers. It's more than a mistake, you're altering the vision of the character I've created. If it was always in the back of your mind I don't understand how you approved Gregory, it's pretty clear cut what I was intending. This is a major aspect of the roleplay universe, and while I like the setting, I don't like the idea that I have to alter an accepted character to be weaker and now beneath his opposition. I had a good balance between his pros/cons. Where he was better at magic he lacked in skills and physique, even his agility isn't very high. What I made up for in his half and full shift, I also gave a negative too. The glowing core-hearts, the inability to fully shift. It was all a good idea I had spent a long time working on.

If you're going to take that away from me, then you're going to take away most of the interest I had in this.

[kapuchu]

Taking it to the PM so as to not clutter the OOC:

[Bright_Ops]

Okay, finished. Hope to see what you think.

[kapuchu]

I am a bit torn on the whole Hunger thing. Yes, you essentially become a Wendigo, but you aren't one entirely. It's the same reason why Lily doesn't have to consume the life essence of people to survive/keep her human form. You are the creature but not entirely to the point where you have every single characteristic of it. You're still human, or parts of you are, so you shouldn't have all the traits that come with it. (Gregory, for example, isn't a slow-moving guy that spends decades deciding whether or not to move his finger a few centimetres, like most Earth/Rock elementals are wont to do).

Then there's also the matter of him killing his own family. I mean... what the hell is that guy made of to be completely unfazed by slaughtering his own family? No matter what kind of person you are, you're bound to bear some mental scars from that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that this guy is there pretty much for "the sake of being evil" or "Antagonistic for the sake of being antagonistic". Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to insult you nor insinuate that what I wrote is fact, only that it's what I feel. He's a bit too much Wendigo compared to how much Human he should be.

I can't really name any specifics, but try to perhaps tone it down a little, and see where that leads you. I would also like to stress that this specifically is more of a suggestion, and not a base for rejection. The reason he's not accepted yet is what I wrote above.

[kapuchu]

kapuchu said
Taking it to the PM so as to not clutter the OOC:

Aeon and I cleared it up. Seems to have just been a misunderstanding & miscommunication :)

[Syben]

kapuchu said
Aeon and I cleared it up. Seems to have just been a misunderstanding & miscommunication :)

It was indeed. I may have taken his statement a little too literally :)

[EldritchOne]

Name: Akira Kagemusha
Gender: Male
Age: 24

Alternative Form: Gorgon

Appearance: Akira’s appearance has somewhat unusual features due to his biracial heritage –half Japanese, half white- , with distinctively Asiatic features intermingling with more distinctive western facial structure and physical build. He has thick glossy black hair, well kept in a short back and sides cut, occasionally spiking up into curls at odd places, and quite unusual sharp amber eyes flecked with sparks of green and quite pale white skin. He is a well built person with a well proportioned amount of muscle and is physically athletic, standing about 5,9 in height. His arms are covered in Yakuza tattoos of green knotted serpents, which end at the pectoral muscles and look almost alive and writhing across his skin when he moves. His face is covered in a near perpetual smirk of amusement due to a scar which runs along his right cheek, making him always look like he is up to something crafty. Despite the scar, Akira could be said to be quite good looking, indeed the scar may even add to the effect, giving an element of suggestive danger to him.

Shifter Appearance:

Appearance One: Akira’s first form is a relatively human form consisting of the basic physiology of a Homo Sapien, but with serpentine features such as scales, strange eyes, a nest of snakes for hair. What is more disturbing about his features whilst he is in his form is his glowing, swirling pupil-less eyes which have the ability to paralyse any foe taking on a direct stare with Akira, if the gaze is broken then the foe will be able to move again, but will experience intense headaches and physical pain afterwards. His weird half serpentine form makes him look extremely unearthly, furthered by the writhing nest of black serpents which replace his hair, each of their reptilian eyes glowing as ominously as their masters. In this form he stands at a height of six foot four and is considerably more muscled in this form than in his natural state. Each of his scales is tipped strangely in an amber like golden hue and provide relatively good protection, although not to the same level as his second form. His mouth, much like his hair, consists of fangs dripping with noxious poison which can either beor injected directly into the victim, inevitably leading to a considerable amount of time in complete agony. Despite this benefit, the poison is considerably weaker and more diluted in this form, and is largely curable by conventional means if seen to swiftly.

Shifter Appearance 2

Appearance Two: Shaking off most semblance of a human form, Akira’s second form is even more monsterous than the first. With the change his lower body has been reduced to a massive body of a serpent, one meter thick and 8 meters long, making him physically tower above his opponents. Physically he is much slower in this form in terms of maneuverability and speed than either of his other forms, but is capable picking up surprising speed in close quarters combat. The twisting coils of his lower body, mixed with his increased strength and heavy scaled armour make for a deadly constrictive power, and he is able to increase it to such an extent to crush bones and skulls under its ever tightening folds. In this form his eyes are visibly blazing with power, causing their victims to feel pain far beyond his first form upon meeting their gaze. His upper body -although remaining human- has become even more physically powerful and toned, and his features become both utterly horrific and terrible, whilst showing a great and unearthly grace. In this form he is disturbingly uncanny, barely looking human under a series of ever growing serpentine features, and almost all of his body covered in thick amber hued scales which seem to pulse with unnatural light.

Abilities: Despite his unnatural abilities and urban origins, Akira is a surprisingly good archer, something which he took up as a hobby in his spare time, he is also an accomplished street fighter and has some skill with both European and Asian sword techniques. He can also speak two languages, English and Japanese. However, much of his skill lies in his shifter form, and he is generally more of a capable opponent whilst like this. Due to his previous life before the change, he is effective at stealth and assassination and knows many ways of killing a man, both through weaponry, poison, as well as physical strength.

Powers:

Scale Mail When in his second shifter form Akira's scales take on a much denser quality, like overlapping platelets of armour which coats the entire body asides from select points such as the underbelly of the serpentine coils, under the arm and along the neck and head. With significant protection across the chest, upper arms and back. taking piercing weapons to the hide is not the most effective policy as they generally lack purchase and slide off. Bludgeoning weapons are much more effective and quite painful if they manage to break one of the scales. Piercing weapons however have purchase in the above less protected portions of the body, and can still be used effectively in such places to deliver injuries.

Paralytic Gaze/Gaze of the Gorgon: Akira has a penetrating gaze in his shifter form which can render his foes paralysed so long as he is able to maintain permanent eye contact with the victim. So long as they are under his gaze they will be unable to move and will experience varying levels of pain which can affect the victim long after the gaze has been broken, and may cause serious psychological trauma in his second form. Limitations to this however extend over distance the requirements of a foe making eye contact with him for longer than a flash glance. The pain also differs when in alternate form, with his first form being notably weaker when the gaze is averted, only causing throbbing headaches and the occasional nosebleed. The second form however would be comparable to placing one's hand in hot coals and even with his gaze averted it can take several minutes to stop feeling lancing pains all of the muscles of the body.

Rules of the gaze:
-Limited movement is capable of being done for a few seconds into the gaze, but the longer it goes on the more the body becomes rigid, with 5 seconds until complete immobility and increasingly sluggish movement before that.
-Aversion of gaze: so long as you look away immediately upon connecting with his gaze you will be able escape it, longer than that and you fall into the above situation. The gaze does not work on reflective items, nor does it work if you are moving at such a speed as to make perfect eye contact impossible. Whilst the opponent is in pain whilst looking into the eyes there is an allure to them that makes the body want to look deeper, if the opponent can overcome the allure and the pain he can avert the gaze with only residual pain from the gaze effecting him.
-Pain levels differ in terms of the form, the first form feels like buckets of ice has been thrown over you repeatedly, mixed with intensive heartburn and headaches. Upon aversion of the eyes the feeling dissipates, but the awful headache will continue for several minutes afterwards, disorientating the person.
-Level two is much more intensive pain, and the aversion of the gaze is much harder to achieve but still possible for particularly strong willed characters , in this state the pain is comparable to being showered with hot coals.
-The gaze requires intensive concentration, any distraction which might avert Akira from his gaze will let the character go. Once utilizing the gaze he is mostly unable to shift it without freeing the character, leaving him open to attack from multiple opponents.
-The eyes of the afflicted can still move about to a limited degree several seconds into the gaze, but much like a dancing cobra to the tune of a snake charmer, he will sway back and forth with them to keep them in his gaze.

Stygian poison: Akira’s venom is probably his most unpleasant feature, a deadly neurotoxin unmatched anywhere else on earth by its utterly vicious and deadly effects. Each fang of Akira is dripping in the substance, the bite of the Gorgon, is extremely deadly, leading to an intensive, near incurable, agonised existence before inevitable death. Once this is inflicted, the subject –depending on the dosage of the poison- may either linger for days or hours in a state of perpetual pain, with no easy form of relief available. Indeed the toxin is so dangerous that even after death it continues to affect the body, making the muscles turn rigid in their last twisted forms and physically calcifying the flesh into hideous statues. The poison can be exercised from the subject in three know ways ( and one unknown one), either through intensive regenerative/healing magic, extreme bloodletting which will leave the person anemic and weak, or through forcing the agonised victim to drink the blood of the Gorgon himself, which contains the antidote. Despite this cure, the path to health will take many days and residual effect will continue to afflict the person at random intervals for perhaps a week after the original bite. Akira frequently bottled the liquid whilst in his form and often used it to poison his opponents.

Background: Akira grew up as a street rat in the bustling labyrinths of Toyko and never knew or could not remember his parents, although he theorises he may have been an unwanted child, possibly due to his biracial nature. He is uncertain of his birthday, but he believes it must have been about the sixth year of Heisei, or 1995, somewhere around December or November. Whilst life was hard on the streets with frequently children falling victim to gang violence, trafficking, narcotics and prostitution, Akira seemed to thrive in the difficult situation with a swift with and a talent for manipulation and street wits, swiftly finding his feet after living as a thief and part time bōsōzoku for many years in the city, and then joining the Yakuza as a small time member.

For many years into his life he effectively functioned as an envoy and spy due to his speed and size, which proved to be both difficult and rewarding, both in payment and the skills required at not being caught. Eventually he entered the hierarchy of the Yakuza around 2014 and served as a minor enforcer, a Shatei –or younger brother- after the traditional sake ritual. For many years his illiteracy had proved to be an issue in his promotion, but by the time of his acceptance into the full organisation he had become quite erudite and scholarly and had devoured an extensive number of books on politics, subterfuge, religion, history and warfare. With access to such an extensive amount of information and bolstered by his own street wits, he continued to prove himself to the syndicate and began to rise through the ranks at an alarming rate. Eventually he became the syndicate’s top assassin due to his skills, and even rose to the position of second lieutenant, or Shateigashira in his syndicate, serving under the Oyabun directly. During this time he had his tattoo’s applied to his body using the painful and expensive irezumi technique, which was further effected years later by his sudden capabilities as a shifter, making the snakes look more alive than ever.

Ever since he had risen from the streets, Akira had been consumed by the ambition to gain a prominent position of power. Despite his already important position in the syndicate, he desired to replace the current head, or Oyabun of the organisation, beginning a series of power struggles with the first lieutenant over who would succeed the increasingly aging old man. This continued for years, and despite the tension the syndicate continued to flourish in its business, however the old Oyabun continued to favour his first lieutenant over the rising star of Akira, distrusting him as an outsider and not placing as much faith in him. This left Akira infuriated but impotent against the combined might of his two opponents, and he was left fearing that with the old leader’s death he might be assassinated by the more powerful lieutenant in order to consolidate his control.

It was only in the turn of 2018 where Akira gained his strange powers when the balance of power definitely changed in his favour. Akira, whilst being very surprised and alarmed to suddenly wake up in the coils of a titanic serpent and some looking like something out of Clash of the Titans, was quite pleased about the change when he realised it was him, and that he could shift back and forth between forms, eventually coming to love the freedom his unnatural shifter shape gave him. He kept his condition a secret from almost all of his clan asides from his inner circle and quickly began to extensively experiment with his powers, testing both the poison and his gaze on animals in order to figure out how far his powers went. Quickly he realised the opportunities open to him now that he could do things not many other people could, as well as the sudden shift in power that had been directed in his favour.

Hiring one or two corrupt shifters from the underground for an extortionate price, and combined with his own deadly powers and his loyal yakuza, he attacked his opponents in a coup and physically killed the first lieutenant and the old Oyabun himself using his poison and petrifying gaze. Their forms became the first of a series of pseudo-statues in a garden which surrounded his house, and were swiftly joined by all other internal opponents which rejected his rule. With his control established Akira’s syndicate spread further and grew in more and more power, crushing rival Yakuza clans and maintaining heavily influence in many of Japans most prosperous cities. As his power spread so did rumours of his shifter powers, and what had happened during his coup of the clan, which served marvellously in cowing his opponents who feared the same thing might happen to them. Others had to be dealt with through such violent means, and in macabre humour Akira began to use the petrified corpses of other clan leaders to represent classical art. By the time of his sudden transportation into an alien world by 2020, he had nearly completed a blackly humorous representation of the Last Supper of Christ, only missing a clan leader to represent St Peter in his collection. He once even sold a statue to an art gallery, supposedly representing his Japanese interpretation of Michelangelo’s “David”, leaving the gallery owners being none the wiser to its origins and wondering about the “fantastic realism” of the piece.

By the time of his sudden disappearance, Akira was enjoying an extreme level of power in his clan and had successfully risen to a level of prominence in the family itself. He had realised his dream, and he thought that nothing would be able to take that away from him… how wrong he was.

Personality: Despite being a criminal and being utterly ruthless towards both his political and criminal enemies, Akira is a surprisingly reasonable and amiable character, and very easy to get on with. He expresses the strange code of the Yakuza which supports the principles of ninkyo. Thus there is a duality to the character, on one side, the Machiavellian criminal, unforgiving, manipulative, wildly intelligent and vicious, and on the other a friendly figure with a strong sense of justice and a desire to assist the worst off of society. As stated above Akira is an extremely scholarly figure and holds knowledge on a wide range of subjects, and he is able to surprise a treasure throve of information if anyone bothered to ask him (or even if they didn’t). He is a strangely philosophical and poetic fellow, but also a bit of a tease with the ladies and finds it very amusing when they blush. He has a somewhat black sense of humour, as suggested by him repurposing his dead enemies as works of art. Akira values friendship and loyalty above all things and if you can make him your friend you can always count on him to back you up in times of trouble, regardless of how high the odds are stacked against you. Despite this however, he often attempts to play the long game, using various people as tools to further his goals, which can frequently alienate people from him and cause rifts in previously close friendships. Although Akira prefers negotiation and manipulation over outright conflict, he is a proven fighter in battle and can be a formidable opponent if he sees no alternative, or if the simplest alternative is most likely to remove the threat most quickly e.g. kill his opponent.

Other:
I don’t have anything right now, I’ll come back to it if I think of something.

[Syben]

Alright, time for another exciting of Aeonumbra's "Two Cents!"

Bright_Ops: Thule Alexander

I like it for the most part , well, what I read just now. I'm not sure what has been changed but again, I like it. I'm just wondering, did the setting have anything to do with your decision on him becoming a nature survivalist, because that nice two sentence paragraph at the bottom of your bio certainly clears up the questions I had one that (sarcasm.) It more feels like you thought "oh, forest setting, better make him a trapper and hunter," but you gave very little reasoning or background as to why this happened. This is what we call Metagaming. Giving your character an advantage through things you know in the OOC. Do not simply do something 'because' , have a reason.

The tracking is a reasonable skill, and perhaps hunting in wendigo form because it makes perfect since, being a wendigo and all. It's just lacking.. flesh. You gave us the bones, but it's the meat we care about. The Why, when, how. Because It certainly doesn't seem like he was going to be a nature survivalist living with his aunt. But you "had that covered" with a quick tidbit at the end saying something along the lines of "of course he would become this" when I certainly did not expect it. When I read it in the powers list I was really interested on how you were going to fit that in logically, given the setting of the roleplay. Now I just feel it's more of a cheat skill to give your character an advantage in the roleplay.

I would really like for you to explain this to me in a reasonable way.

Also, before you try to turn the tables on my own character. Understand that his entire story reflects why he can hunt and gather. It gets a little bland when everybody is suddenly a survivalist. I did have an advantage, I knew this roleplay was coming before it was posted, I was not however aware of the setting. Could I have edited it out? Yes. Did I? No. I figured since nobody else was taking that route, it would be interesting to play especially with the king of troubled character I had created. He is by no means a survivalist, he can hunt game, and gather some useful flora items. I just really don't feel your use of these skills (other than tracking) has been justified by your CS.

EldritchOne

First lets start on the "appearances". Before that, we have to understand what this roleplay is centered around. Mythological creatures. The Gorgon is by all rights a mythical creature. But this roleplay is about shifting, not appearances. The Statue-man is a cool idea I admit, but how does it fit into the scheme of things with being a gorgon? It's more along the lines of a elemental, with poison but we'll get to that later. So you go from this essential earthen elemental (like gregory mills) to a snake. This roleplay is about shifting, so those of us with multiple appearances base it on that. Kapu's character human > half-fox > full nine tailed spirit demon fox thing. My character, human > (half shift) elemental > "unlocked" (full power, full shift) elemental. You character is human > and/or statue - snake? It's unclear how the statue fits between the full shift and the human form, assuming that it is a half shift. But the correlation between them is unclear. Perhaps if he became like a snake-o-taur or something? Snake bottom, manly top, that would make a respectable half shift. It feels like he is both Atlas and Medusa.

"Physically he is much slower in this form than either of his other forms, but is capable of surprising speed in close combat and deadly agility"

So is he slow, or is he speedy? I mean he already has immense strength in his gorgon form, surprising speed and deadly agility (regardless on how you phrase it) kind of puts him over the top. A 3 foot thick, 26 foot long (I did the meters math) snake that can surprise you with a burst of deadly agility and speed and then crush you to death, while giving you extremely lethal doses of injected poison (which nobody in their current magical state can cure at the moment based on your description) doesn't sound a little OP? I know you're trying to stick to lore here (Reminds me of the gorgon on Clash/Wrath of the Titans)

The statue form I'm not going to talk about because I feel it has no place among you're character, especially lore wise.

The poison. Good god it's like you took something from steve irwin's nightmares (R.I.P you beautiful man). So first he can breath it at you, which is supposed to cause some unknown form of immobilization (it was not stated clearly how they are immobilized) But then he can inject it, and if considering he doesn't crush your bones, the poison is going to kill you anyways. The only know cure is his blood, which considering the attributes given in his appearances (flaky stone man, or stone-esque super strong and agile snake) seems pretty unlikely. Or intensive regenerative / healing whatever. (which no character can do as of the moment) Even if someone could find the cure, it would still wrack their body randomly for days, which means should a main character receive it, gathering the speed of most advanced roleplays, they would have to play a poisoned character for a month or more?

The Gaze. I actually have nothing to say about this, it fits, it makes sense. Coupled with the breath of death (poisonous cloud) it's very over powered. The world's hardest staring contest while you're soaking up crippling poison. Awesome.

Flesh of stone. What? So is his statue form a shift or a power? Does this flesh of stone apply to all of his forms? (except the stone man, because he's already stone?) I'd like a little more specification on this power so I know exactly what it is I'm looking at. Also he doesn't feel pain, and he can regenerate, assuming you get past his deadly-poison snake head and teeth.

Your power set is unbelievably ... powerful. I have no doubt Kapu will say something about it but I'm going to beat him to the punch.

There were two things I liked about it. The size, which wasn't even that big, 26 feet long, 3 feet thick. and the gaze, which makes sense and it was kept at a respectable power while the need to maintain eye contact.

Also, why is everybody suddenly a survivalist? Your bio gives no information on how his acquired these traits, other than he read some books. Again, like the gentleman above you, it feels as if this was just thrown in there because of the setting.

Perhaps the setting should have been kept hidden Kapu, everybody wants to be a survivalist now.

[EldritchOne]

The Stone part of the design was mostly a left over concept that I asked Kap about and he never really raised issue with it, it was more a make up for the fact that I can't do the original Gorgon stare and was also a nod to an older idea where I was going from the Myth of Galatea for his appearance, I guess I could do without it, could just replace it with something else.

"So is he slow, or is he speedy?"

Slow, but have you ever heard the comment about a particularly large fighter who is a sort of lumbering giant, but is described as "remarkably agile for his size"? To raise a point, Kap's character would run circles around him with ease and not even break a sweat, but if you get too close to him -say decided to run up to him and punch him in the face- he will pick up speed alarmingly.

In regards to the Shifter forms of appearance, I made a distinction between two variants of Medusa, mainly, his first form is the much more human in its shape, 'cept it has scales, glowy eyes and snakes for hair, asides from that its physically human. The second stage is more of a serpentine appearance comparable to the "Clash of the Titans" depiction in the sense that the upper body is human, but all below that is snake.

The poisons immobility effect is because, well, its a bloody neurotoxin, it attacks your nervous system:

"The most common effect of the neurotoxins used by organisms is rapid-setting paralysis, useful to snakes and other venomous predators as it keeps the prey from running away."

The gaseous cloud is a close range weapon also, it can't be projected except from a couple of feet in front of him, in which case you're sort of fucked anyway.

As for wilderness survival, he pretty much only knows theory, not actual practice. He'd struggle a fair bit regardless.

[Antediluvixen]

Name: Alice "The Metalhead" Blackwood
Gender: Female
Age: 19

Alternative Form: Wyvern

Appearance: Alice is a somewhat short, heavyset, muscular girl, 5' 4" and 190 pounds, to be exact. Her skin is somewhat pale, mainly due to spending most of her daylight hours indoors. Her muscles, while not grotesquely large, are very clearly defined on her arms. Her hair is jet black, and about midway down her back when left alone, though she ties it in a ponytail to keep it out of her steely gray eyes. It's impossible to tell what her legs look like, as they're covered 24-7 with a pair of heavy, black, military cargo pants completely covered in pockets and other things. Her face and steely blue eyes appear to be locked in a semi-scowl. Many people would frequently mistake her for a man, mainly when her figure was completely obscured by some equipment or another.

Shifter Appearance (Why is it so hard to find images I don't hate?!):

Half-way shifted:

(This is as close as I could get- but imagine black instead of brick coloring) Her already heavyset build receives a boost, as does her height. She easily tips the scale at 400 pounds, and her height would rival that of a relatively tall human- around six feet. Her hands, tough and calloused, increase greatly in strength, and proportionally in size, large claws sprouting from the fingers. Most of the back of her is covered in scale-like material, with a good portion of the front also covered, some parts left uncovered to allow for mobility and such. Her eyes take on a more fiery quality, with either a hint of crazy arsonist or giddy teenager present. Her teeth grow and sharpen, becoming far more carnivorous, wicked points for tearing flesh easily noticeable were she to open her mouth. Her hair takes on a similar fiery quality, not waving like an actual flame, but the normally black hair acquires flaming ends, almost like the main body has burnt out and the ends are still glowing embers.

All the way shifted:


Abilities:
-Intimate knowledge of production firearms, if it shoots bullets and is made in a factory, she knows how to shoot it
-Extensive training in military style close combat, i.e. Krav Maga- she's more than capable of killing with just her bare hands
-Prior to the shifter nonsense, she worked in a workshop. She can most likely jury-rig anything within reason, as long as she has the necessary items (as in, "Your knife is dull? I can fix that, sure.)

Powers:
-While half-shifted, she gains the ability to breath fire, as well as being particularly resistant to heat; nothing to withstand lava with, but a hot summer day wouldn't bother her whatsoever. The fire is relatively hot, but not enough to melt anything truly impressive, though this will likely change with time and such.
-While half-shifted her skin becomes much tougher, only increasing in hardness and density. It has a similar consistency to hardened leather while half shifted, going all the way to short of full on dragonscale on most of her body when fully shifted.
-While half-shifted, her already impressive physical strength is only augmented, becoming even more so when fully shifted.
-As a passive ability, she's inherited the reptilian trait of shedding her skin once in a while. Only, when she sheds her skin, superficial injuries (minor lacerations, etc...) will heal.
-While half and fully shifted, she gains the ability of flight. Nothing agile or delicate, but she does have staying power and strength.
-Half-shifted and fully shifted, she gains claws. Cutting through bulkheads won't ever happen, but woe betide any cow who finds itself a target.

Background:
Alice was born in New Hampshire, right up against the Canadian border.

Dropping out of school at a young age, claiming it was boring and that they never did anything interesting, she went to a nearby private school that prided itself on it’s technical teachings. The public school was thrilled to be rid of her- having brought up several issues with her parents. Incidents such as the time she’d “accidentally” forgot to return to classes after lunch, and released hazardous materials into the building with no knowledge of their nature… while there were no fatalities, her voice never recovered from her brief exposure and remains horribly raspy to this day. While she still resented the homework, the private school did a far better job of occupying her and curtailing her more destructive tendencies.

While she went on several business excursions to the south, and some to Canada, with her father, she would spend most of her time inside, surrounded by machinery and banging away at some machine, part, or tool that wasn’t working quite right. Her father, who owned a small but successful firearms business, couldn’t have been more thrilled, and he would spend many hours with her when time permitted, offering advice on this or that, all of which she took to heart.

When she turned sixteen, she began to work in her father’s business. It wasn’t anything a regular person might’ve given a sixteen year girl, either. She worked on the factory floor, hammering, chiseling, screwing and unscrewing, soldering, etc… Her father would repeatedly ask her if she was actually enjoying her work, to which she would respond, “It isn’t work if you actually enjoy it.”

Partly at the insistence of her father, and partly out of her own curiosity, Alice began to research several martial arts forms with the ultimate goal of training in at least one of them. Her focus tended to be on the ones that prioritized neutralizing the threat as soon as possible, or at least conferring some survivability to a mostly unarmed person- such as Krav Maga or Jiu Jitsu. While she lacked the dedication to a martial art necessary to travel great distances to study under a master of, well, anything, she did find a former IDF hand to hand instructor who'd immigrated to the US. Surprisingly, she didn't find him by searching the internet for the best martial arts instructors nearby, but rather he came into her father's store while she was around. He took a liking to her, and agreed to teach her what he knew as an exchange of favors, the favor in kind being a nice discount. When she wasn't working on something, eating or sleeping she would likely be training with him, or practicing on her own.

At seventeen, she was doing much the same thing, right up until she woke up one morning in the workshop, with a charred worktable gently smoldering in front of her. She’d gazed bewilderedly at it for a while, not realizing what had happened, then realizing that her hands had a distinctly scale-like quality that… really shouldn’t have been there- the claws didn't help either. She’d managed a shriek of surprise, surprising considering how her already husky voice had only deepened further from the change. She’d pulled her phone from a pocket -a small miracle in itself that it hadn’t been destroyed- and had promptly shrieked again. Luckily she hadn’t fully shifted, so the excessively large pants she wore hadn't ripped.

As she had watched the morning news, having managed to… somehow turn back, her father somehow in more of a state of shock than she herself, Alice had realized the government, among others, would be coming for her, and anybody else who this had happened to. Be it to train her as some instrument of death for the bureaucrats, or to vivisect her.

To her great surprise, the first to knock on the door hadn’t been a suit with sunglasses and advanced extraterrestrial weaponry, they did come eventually, but she’d been long gone by then. Hiding out in Canada, she burnt through what little physical currency she’d been able to bring, and soon began to work to make ends meet. She’d had to stay relatively low income, otherwise citizenship issues might have come up, but she would frequently go out into the Canadian wilderness and experiment with just what her shifting could do.

On April 25th, she awoke with grass against her skin, as opposed to a mattress. Her first thought had been that she’d fallen asleep in the wild, but apparently that was not the case.

Personality: While her demeanor might seem almost aggressive at first, or very defensive, Alice is nearly incapable of taking most anything seriously. Despite this, she is fiercely individualistic- having taken New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die" to heart. She'd gone as far as throwing one person who'd harassed her about serving society and the greater good across a table. She is just as fiercely stubborn, perfectly willing to stand for several hours straight in an argument and refusing to concede a point unless her personal opinion on it changes. Nonetheless, she is generally a relatively decent person to be around, and fiercely defensive of friends. Topics such as romance, or anything in that general area, confuse her utterly. She has never felt romantic or sexual attraction to anybody, though whether that’s a natural thing or a result of 90% of her waking hours being spent working with machines is up for debate.

Other: (This is a WIP)
I suppose this would be a theme song:

-The nickname Metalhead refers mainly to the excess of metal... anything she spent her time around, reinforced of course, by the fact that she has a thing for metal music.
-As she did, in fact, fall asleep in the woods, she had the heavy black jacket festooned with pockets that she would wear out of the house on her person, with just a simple undershirt beneath. In addition, she had a relatively heavy knife strapped to her pants, for cutting things that required more finesse than "this log needs to be in two pieces".

[EldritchOne]

made some adjustments, first form has a weaker and much more curable poison, the stoneform has been kicked and replaced with particularly thick scales for form two, and survivalism has been replaced with archery (partly because of a nod to Clash of the Titans, partly because the Yakuza can be pretty traditional sometimes). Not going to do anything with the poison in form two, partly because I think people need a reason not to act like a bloody idiot and charge the deadly snake person, and goodness knows the poison attribute will just be wave of as "magic cure" by next turn if it wasn't.

[Antediluvixen]

EldritchOne said
and goodness knows the poison attribute will just be wave of as "magic cure" by next turn if it wasn't.

*Gasp*

But magic cures everything!
How could you doubt the ultimate Deus ex Machina?!

[EldritchOne]

Monochromatic Rainbow said
*Gasp*But magic cures !How could you doubt the ultimate Deus ex Machina?!

I know, I must be punished for my heathenry.

God I fucking hate it when people do that, at least the poison would provide for a nice quest of sorts, but I honestly want to see some fucking effort put into counteracting it rather than the usual fare.

[Antediluvixen]

EldritchOne said
I know, I must be punished for my heathenry. God I fucking hate it when people do that, at least the poison would provide for a nice quest of sorts, but I honestly want to see some fucking effort put into counteracting it rather than the usual fare.

Indeed.

Deadly neurotoxin should be deadly and not some parlor trick that everyone but mooks survive. Get a bunch of tetrodotoxin in your system, you're gonna die barring a miracle.