Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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Prince

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Themes: Metafiction, Science Fantasy, Magic Realism, Alternate Universe

Quick Check!

For those of you whom prefer a concise interest check with the bare elements, this is dedicated to you. The 'CosmoNET' as it has been dubbed is an interstellar network of life-bearing planets that are connected by the streams of either positive or negative energy that run through the entire cosmos, which is structured similar to an atom. The entire cosmos can be most easily understood in its three parts: the core worlds, the inner worlds and the outer worlds. The closer a world or planet is to the mostly-neutral core, the more energy there is within that tier and thus higher tendencies for organic beings to adapt to using it and become proficient with it. As of now, a cruel and immensely powerful 'Council of Nine' govern the core worlds and thus control most of its energy. As they are immensely powerful in their respective worlds and are always attempting to expand, they keep each other in check and fight off rebellions from the inner worlds as much as they do each other. The council in recorded history has only ever acted in unison twice; once being so long ago even they have forgotten the reasoning and the second being to destroy a rebellion that threatened their footholds of power.

This is where Earth comes into play. As there are nearly infinite outer worlds with such fine networks that even the most skillful Ley Master (those whom read the ley lines) cannot trace them all and an equal amount of more thinly-spread energy found within the outer worlds, most rebels believe the key to dissolving the council is in harnessing the outer worlds. The physical distance and sheer immensity of this task is difficult to describe or comprehend, but the current method of doing so is as such: find a planet with high-potential lifeforms, search out those with high sparks of energy and attempt to connect them to the CosmoNET. If successful, they manifest wherever desired by their Ley Master to take on a whole new role as an avatar with abilities that reflect their real-world selves - all without ever leaving their home planet. To boil it even more down...


CosmoNET is a free form RPG-style roleplay where you upload yourself to a whole new, psuedo-magical, slightly fantastical world to defeat a tyrannical leadership.
Head Moderator: Prince
CosmoNET Chat: Click Here
Roleplay Status: Interest Check/Development
Rules: TBA

Theme Song


What if you were awoken from a surreal dream with an offer that seemed both crazy and amazing?

What if you were given the opportunity of a lifetime, except you had a thousand reasons to doubt it?

What if you awoke in a cold sweat just a moment before your alarm blared, left without any assurance until the next night?

If it was all caused by an azure-armored knight interrupting your sweet dream or saving you from your horrific nightmares...

...would you go with him?




That is exactly the question CosmoNET asks. The setting of this roleplay is present-day Earth, but creates a metafiction around it that the user is aware of. A whole new world to interact in. A world full of double-sided characters that are themselves on Earth, and a whole new person 'on the NET' all while being roleplayed by one of us. The entire concept, honestly, is not only to create this observational dynamic, but also give each roleplayer a chance to even play as (if they want) themselves as a character, to-the-T, in every aspect of life so that they can express themselves when they turn into their alter-alter-ego. This is an idea of I've been toying with for a while, and I would love for it to explode. I am looking for casual-advanced players with at least three paragraphs per post, but I will neither be strict or meticulous with posting. I want this roleplay to be just as much as a psychological thought experiment as an action thriller, and I'm sure it will be the latter.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by HazmatMedic
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Colour me interested.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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Good! Still looking for more takers before this goes much further. I have it in general, too, but IC's are really just fishing for players.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Chromane
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I would also be interested - sounds like a great idea!
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Terminal
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Interested.

The link to your chatroom is broken, incidentally.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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Alright, for those of you whom expressed interest, I want some ground info like...

...what would your characters be, ideally? The goal here was to literally roleplay as you in terms of your outerworld, but you do not have to abide by that. Shoot me some ideas.

Additionally, I have dozens and dozens of very loose ideas for how the outerworld powers will work, but mostly understand this: all of your abilities will run on negative 'ley' which is basically mana and it's negative to reflect that the outer shell of most atoms is negative (there's the science fantasy aspect). This basically leaves every single player with the room to create fantastic, intricate abilities whether its an umbrella of them, a mechanic, a generic ability or something off the wall. So, throw me out what your outernet persona and abilities might be, and they are truly meant to be expressions of your character.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by HazmatMedic
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Well, if we were role-playing as ourselves, my character would be sardonic, bitter, apathetic and distant. Therefore, telekinesis sounds like my kind of thing, to represent pushing things away from me.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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Bump.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Clove
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Interested.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Sinistare
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Definitely interested

For those who know about the Meyer-Briggs personality test, I'm actually an ISTJ (introverted sensing thinking judging) personality test. For those who don't know this test, it's a series of questions that judge your personality based on the answers to hypothetical, but realistic situations that people encounter in their normal daily lives.

To sum up, as an ISTJ I'm somewhat quiet and reserved around others, and I prefer to use rational thinking and logic to analyze the world and make decisions, and prefer to structure things and have a somewhat scheduled/predictable life with few surprises that I can control.

For a power, I think the ability to manipulate some form of matter or force with best fit my personality, as it's an ability that allows my character to control things as I would wish too. I'm not sure what type of matter yet, but I think doing something like manipulation of an "element" or something like that would best fit my character.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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I've actually used that specific test before. I test very close between the lines of INTP and INTJ, which equates to (introverted, intuitive, thinking, perception/judgemental). I've also found that I can alter my test-taking mentality to be an ENTP. The test itself is designed so that many questions are 'which answer suits you best', so altering perception and judgement or introverted and extroverted isn't terribly far-fetched, especially considering the intuitive and thinking traits remain constant.

INTP said Architects are rare - maybe one percent of the population - and show the greatest precision in thought and speech of all the types. They tend to see distinctions and inconsistencies instantaneously, and can detect contradictions no matter when or where they were made. It is difficult for an Architect to listen to nonsense, even in a casual conversation, without pointing out the speaker's error. And in any serious discussion or debate Architects are devastating, their skill in framing arguments giving them an enormous advantage. Architects regard all discussions as a search for understanding, and believe their function is to eliminate inconsistencies, which can make communication with them an uncomfortable experience for many.

Architects often seem difficult to know. They are inclined to be shy except with close friends, and their reserve is difficult to penetrate. Able to concentrate better than any other type, they prefer to work quietly at their computers or drafting tables, and often alone. Architects also become obsessed with analysis, and this can seem to shut others out. Once caught up in a thought process, Architects close off and persevere until they comprehend the issue in all its complexity. Architects prize intelligence, and with their grand desire to grasp the structure of the universe, they can seem arrogant and may show impatience with others who have less ability, or who are less driven.


INTJ said All Rationals are good at planning operations, but Masterminds are head and shoulders above all the rest in contingency planning. Complex operations involve many steps or stages, one following another in a necessary progression, and Masterminds are naturally able to grasp how each one leads to the next, and to prepare alternatives for difficulties that are likely to arise any step of the way. Trying to anticipate every contingency, Masterminds never set off on their current project without a Plan A firmly in mind, but they are always prepared to switch to Plan B or C or D if need be.

asterminds tend to be much more definite and self-confident than other Rationals, having usually developed a very strong will. Decisions come easily to them; in fact, they can hardly rest until they have things settled and decided. But before they decide anything, they must do the research. Masterminds are highly theoretical, but they insist on looking at all available data before they embrace an idea, and they are suspicious of any statement that is based on shoddy research, or that is not checked against reality.


ENTP said Inventors often have a lively circle of friends and are interested in their ideas and activities. They are usually easy-going, seldom critical or carping. Inventors can be engaging conversationalists, able to express their own complicated ideas and to follow the ideas of others. When arguing issues, however, they may deliberately employ debate skills to the serious disadvantage of their opponents.

Inventors are usually non-conformists in the workplace, and can succeed in many areas as long as the job does not involve too much humdrum routine. They make good leaders on pilot projects that test their ingenuity. And they are skilled at engineering human relationships and human systems, quickly grasping the politics of institutions and always wanting to understand the people within the system rather than tell them what to do. No matter what their occupation, however, Inventors display an extraordinary talent for rising to the demands of even the most impossible situations. "It can't be done" is a challenge to an Inventor and elicits a reaction of "I can do it."


It's pretty easy to see the correlations. At work, finish tasks quickly and with relative ease. I'm assistant manager of the People Department and most specifically am in charge of interviews, training and the training of new management and new crew trainers. I, however, rarely run the actual crew and in most instances that I do run the crew, it is either in the stead of another manager for their break or out of frustration due to their inability to lead. I was given my position, most specifically, due to the Department Manager finding my very direct nature useful, my actual abilities in my field (which at the time, was customer service and sales) and my proficiency in training new crew. My specific position was made 'for me' and didn't exist until our department managers decided I needed to be above regular management so that I could justifiably regulate them. This makes me the sixth in chain of command.

As you can see, facts like that take from elements of all of those. Introverted most of the time, but extroverted when necessary. Capable of making judgement calls, but most of the time preferential to designing a system that can 'run itself' with minimal input. If I were to just use INTP alone, it wouldn't cover as large of a spectrum. Anyway, I just find it interesting you brought such testing up.
Two of you have thus far thought of yourselves as using some type of external force. One for the act of 'pushing others away' and the other in a sense of 'control'.

Honestly, I feel that making choices based on such criteria is a little shallow and I would like to see more... creativity. As a matter of fact, I find such powers boring and cliche; I'm not even going to pull a punch there. I found such choices slightly disappointing. I understand that when reflecting upon yourself, you don't quite look at fantastical applications for a roleplay or maybe don't immediately see the literary applications, but I would love to see a lot more thought and depth put into these powers.

For example, I play both WoW and League of Legends. In League, you have five abilities: your innate passive, then four others. There is a LARGE diversity of characters that work on a theme or mechanic and have varying abilities due to such, yet still stem from the same root. They work on a definitive concept. World of Warcraft allows you to spec into trees and make multiple alignment choices that define your role by defining your character more and more. These are the types of things and considerations I am looking for in designing a powerset. This is in fact CosmoNET, which is meant to be somewhat of a metaphorical comparison to MMORPG's; think like a game designer as much as you are as a roleplayer.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Sinistare
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If you wanted it to work with multiple abilities you should've been a little more clear on that lol. Had I known you wanted something similar to league or wow I would've put some more effort and thought into the style of powers I would use instead of "A power that suits your personality" XD.

Anyways, if you want something like that, then I actually have something in mind. As I said before, the main trait of my character is most likely going to be "control" with his/her set of powers and everything. As I stated before, it wasn't to clear what you were specifically looking for before so I went with something basic but malleable so I could change it to something grandiose and interesting later.

Now that I know you want it to work more like a game, then I can definitely do something more interesting. Since my character's theme will be control, then allow me to introduce "Neural Thread Manipulation." So, the basic ability of my character would be that he/she (haven't decided the gender yet) would be able to produce a special needle with a thread attached made of Ley that would be able to dig into the neural network of a single target, allowing complete control of the person with the needle and thread connected to them. Of course, if the thread or needle are broken before or during contact with the target, the control will be stopped immediately. If the user must also be constantly holding the thread, and if let go, the control will once again end. He/She can only start with this ability on other humanoids, but as the ability grows, he/she can begin to produce more threads, take control of other species and races, and even produce spools of thread that attach themselves to a target, meaning that not only does she not have to hold the thread, but they're harder to destroy since there isn't a visible thread the user is holding, but instead only the spool attached to the spine of an enemy.

Of course I have other things in mind, like being able to manipulate senses only instead of taking complete control, or special indoctrination tactics that issue hypnotic commands whenever a special code or signal is given, etc. I figured it keeps in line with the theme of control and is definitely a lot more unique that just matter manipulation.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Krauxis
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This interests me quite a bit. I'll be giving some more thought to what sort of things I would want for my character before just splurging on the keyboard for the sake of it, but the gears are turning, so I don't foresee it taking too long before I've come up with something a little more solid.

Though just to say something instead of nothing, since we seem to be working around 'themes' I'm wandering the metaphorical path of 'dissociation.' (This would manifest through powers like shielding, transience, things like that.) Like I said, it's nothing solid yet. And if the vague description makes you think that it might be too simple or uncreative, the only guarantee I can give is that I usually tip a little too far on the scale of "That's a strange power" for most concepts.

Edit: I wouldn't mind seeing something along the lines of an example or a more solid idea of what you're looking for in terms of character creation, so I know what roads to follow or avoid. How many distinct abilities would you like to see? What is the general average power level of our characters supposed to be? Things like that.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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Alright, I'll admit that I am being slightly vague here. In all honestly, I want to highlight some points before I go on (I won't be making a character immediately as this is still in concept phase)

1.a I want the 'powerset' to be free form so that each roleplayer may play a unique set of abilities that they personally enjoy. No one has to follow a similar trend, nor do they have to create an umbrella theme. If someone just wants to manipulate the element of fire, they can.

1.b Everyone will have a standard set of abilities they can train. Strength, speed, energy project, etc.; even entire fighting styles might be fabricated, by me, or inserted into the roleplay to continuously sculpt characters in unique ways. With that said, choosing a power might be more about making a more linear path for it; for example, if someone choose to control fire, as they grew more powerful and trained, they might understand that they do not control 'fire' as much as they control combustion and become even more adept when using the concepts of combustion, space-confinement, etc. with combination with their abilities. Do keep in mind this will have science fantasy elements, so draw from both science and your imagination.

2. When I compared this to a game, I didn't mean you had to have completely set-in-stone abilities. In fact, I somewhat dislike that concept. However, it is an option and you can easily have an umbrella ability that sprouts several smaller branch abilities that are unique to themselves.

3. You are more than welcome to making your character initially ignorant to what their abilities are. In fact, I would much prefer that your characters didn't fully understand their abilities quickly. Just because a character starts off with manipulating fire doesn't mean that is his true ability. You might go a very, very long time into the RP without the true nature of your ability being known. Maybe never. Zenpachi from Bleach never knew his Bankai, and he was still fucking awesome.

4. I stress that you should plan to start slow and start relatively weak, so when considering your abilities and their reflections of your(self) character, imagine abilities that are each small expressions of such but also part of a bigger idea. You are more than the sum of your parts, but each part is still important.


With those main points made, I found a character from a Naruto RP I was once in that should identify the concept of ability core and branches that I mean.



Admittedly, that is a slightly extreme example and it follows the setup used for ninjutsu by Naruto, but it should definitely highlight what I mean by following a theme. Additionally, these characters will be HIGHLY prone to development if this roleplay goes as I imagine, so don't begin believing the image you have is how it will turn out. I don't like it when people have a static idea and just force it. Interact. Grow. Develop. Bounce back and forth with the roleplay and your fellow roleplayers. Change your character and adjust to the interaction. You might go in a completely different direction than you begin in and ultimately add huge layers of depth. This will have fantasy elements lined within it and you will be venturing from world to world, so just because people use "Ley" doesn't mean that they won't be using mana or fel energy or the mysteries of the arcane or shamanistic mysticism. You might find a whole new branch and learn from it. Maybe become a Wizard for a while, or a Warlock, a Priest, a Spellblade or Dashing Rogue with a magical lute. I'm obviously stretching this out, and that's to make the point. You are making people like you and me, regular humans from the regular world. They will be going into new, fantastical places and your initial plan might not at all be applicable.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Krauxis
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Alright, that clears up a surprising amount of things from me. Like Stand powers in JoJo, abilities are more like "My stand attacks through reflections." which leads to attacking through mirrors, shattered glass, droplets of water, and even people's eyes; and less like "This attack does this amount of damage." I think I got it now. I've got a new idea that I'll be rolling with.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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I tend to provide ample amounts of detailed information to those whom ask. If you have more questions, just shoot. I can get this RP going if I have 3-5 solid RP'ers other than myself, and I'm aiming for 2-3 posts per week minimum. Once I have enough interest shown by people with relatively high activity, I will make an OOC and IC.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Terminal
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I am currently bouncing between a number of different ideas I would like to use (since I harbor no intention whatsoever to write for myself), and assuming I don't settle on one thing or another in the next few hours I'm going to wait a bit until there's one or two more character sheets up, see if I can work with a bit of resonance.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Automaton
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I'm interested, I already have an idea. But one question, does the ability or abilities in question have to be external, or can they be internal? Like Empathy or clairvoyance?.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Prince
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I would highly suggest against abilities like empathy and clairvoyance as your 'main' or 'core' abilities. I won't tell you no, but I will tell you that they won't be as useful or effective. Clairvoyance would also need limited quite significantly and both (or either) abilities would function far better as a branch of something different.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by ASmallTheropod
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I'm interested. Have an idea for a power based around 'stubbornness'. Stubbornness writ large. Someone so bullheaded that such things as being shot or crushed or stabbed or being set on fire is met only with "For me, it is not so". Or a much more confrontational "And WHAT!?!?!" depending on the circumstances. Depending on how broad these powers are supposed to be, you could also flirt with ideas of Solipsism, where my refusal to accept and acknowledge that that thing just happened means that it... didn't.

Picture an amnion of fizzing, electric energy surrounding a person that ley energy just boils off when it hits. Solid objects fraying and dissolving upon contact. Someone flinging a car and the car just stopping and dropping like it hit a concrete wall. Once the user had gotten used to his powers, anyway. At first it would be more like punches stopping dead and being able to force a locked door to open by pushing hard enough.

If we're going for "game designy" type powers, some sort of mechanic where it is linked to how frustrated the user is right at the moment. The longer the battle goes on and the more the opponent continues to fight, the stronger the effect gets. You'd get a character who was weakest at the start of the fight. You'd have to be sure you could take him down with your opening attacks, because if you didn't he would only get stronger and harder to kill from then on. As a weakness, it might even be completely deactivated in a situation where the user was not being openly confronted by someone (eg: not combat)

Other, more esoteric applications, the kind that wouldn't occur to someone whose power is that they are so bullheaded reality warps to fit - the kind of application it would take roleplay to get, in other words - would be "counterspell" type effects, or the ability to neutralise or dispel long-lasting powers. More subtle and nuanced applications of the Almighty Getting My Own Way Field.

As a bonus, would probably be a good complement to the more controller-type powers other people seem to be interested in playing.
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