[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/xA1Gmym.png[/img][/center]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ifVwAOx.png[/img][/center][hr][center][color=silver]"𝔸 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕟𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖."[/color][/center][hr]
[center][url=https://seerstuff.deviantart.com/art/Dream-Catching-697933903][img]https://i.imgur.com/s28Ao2f.png[/img][/url][/center]
[center][url=http://seerstuff.deviantart.com/][color silver][sub]Art by SeerStuff on DeviantArt[/sub][/color][/url][/center]

The world is filled with the supernatural--the typical supernatural. Dragons, fairies, imps, mermaids, phoenixes, etc. and some weirder combinations of the creatures coexist peacefully with humans, even in scenarios where they truly shouldn't. And still even stranger creatures exist in the unexplored regions of the world, flitting just out of prying explorers' sights. All are peaceful. All have been peaceful for as long as anyone could remember. All have been peaceful even as humans expanded and modernized, slaughtering many of the creatures for territory, for raw materials, for clothing.

With the advancement of more modern technology, the news stations and radio announcers were able to crowdsource repeated sightings of a vaguely humanoid, pure-white creature mixed with vestiges of animals--elegant deer antlers on its head, claws for feet and hands, a narrow, whip-like tail lined with spikes. But the main body remained unnaturally human-shaped: a torso that was too thin and gangly to support any internal organs, a waist that was little better, and legs like stilts. Its head had no features, mimicking a human cranium only in general shape while its interpretation of hair was a thin, white membrane flowing backwards from the crown of its head, parting around the roots of the antlers and splitting into three filmy sections. It, too, was never hostile. But it also took no damage from conventional weaponry.

Every sighting heralded a new creature into the world: a chimera straight out of Greek mythology, a leviathan from the Old Testament, scores of tiny sprites sourced back to European folklore, and sometimes creatures straight out of Lovecraftian horror stories. It was almost like the white creature was testing the waters of human thought--taking the fantastical ideas and turning them into reality, but without any of the potential backlash. Almost like the being just wanted to mimic the thoughts of humans in its own way.

Every creature it created allowed itself to be reined in by humans if they came into contact. Any that people feared too much quietly sat by while guns and artillery tore it to pieces.

Without any way of stopping the creator itself, and with no threat of harm from any of the magical monsters it created, the world slowly relaxed and settled into an era of wary curiosity about these wondrous fantasies made reality. Reporters eventually coined a name for the white creature that actually stuck with the public (other attempts had only mixed levels of success): Dreamcatcher.

Around the turn of the 21st century, Dreamcatcher's patterns of appearing, creating a creature, and disappearing began to deviate. It started wandering into human cities where it had always favored outskirts and abandoned locales, if not the wilderness or unexplored territories overall. Every foray into civilization marked a human with powers. It was subtle at first--small powers like levitation and minor telekinesis--but as Dreamcatcher began tapping into the modern imagination in earnest, the powers became wilder: precognition, gravity manipulation, lasers, elemental generation, a magical weaponsmith, a shapeshifter, a healer whose powers could cure even recent death, and even a weaker mimicry of Dreamcatcher's own ability to create monsters.

But for all that it escalated, the number of people Dreamcatcher actually bestowed powers to was severely limited. By 2006, only 10 were known to exist throughout the world. Reddit speculated the number was likely higher accounting for areas where civilization didn't flourish enough for effective communication. The 10 were taken into custody wherever their respective governments caught wind of their existence, and they all went willingly. Eventually, word spread that the common threads between Dreamcatcher's choices were adolescent human beings of the cleanest moral caliber. At the very least, that was the news the governments spread. And so the 10 precursors were set to work under government supervision, carefully monitoring them for any signs of violence. When years passed with nary a smudge on any of their records, the world took to calling them superheroes in recognition of all the good they had done.

Everyone began hoping to be Dreamcatcher's next choice. People started simply acting better, and non-profit organizations saw a rising peak in interest. Certain parties opposed to celebration of something as unknowable and uncertain as Dreamcatcher formed small groups of opposition, rebelling against the norm. Society, for the most part, ignored them. The world was becoming a better place, even if no one could fathom Dreamcatcher's objective.

[center][url=https://era-7s.deviantart.com/art/MAGIC-LIGHTS-696881530][img]https://i.imgur.com/gBpXTKV.png[/img][/url][/center]
[center][url=http://era-7.deviantart.com/][color silver][sub]Art by ERA-7 on DeviantArt[/sub][/color][/url][/center]

On January 5th, 2010, everything went to hell.

Those who were nearby saw Dreamcatcher appear in a city--just flickered into existence in the middle of the street in a quiet cul-de-sac at eight in the morning. People around the area flocked to it, only for the creature to shoot straight up into the sky, the trail of light it left behind almost blinding the people around it before coalescing into a thin thread of immovable white light leading up to where Dreamcatcher had flown. A pulse reverberated throughout the world that day, felt by all creatures and humans alike as a white light began spreading from a point high in the sky. There was little sound or fanfare that marked Dreamcatcher's actions. When the hubbub had finally died down, a thin, white veil had been draped across the planet. It followed no laws of light--sometimes a space telescope could catch it, other times it simply wasn't visible. But it was there, evidenced by the thread that the government finally traced to a massive, white, cocoon-like shell high in the stratosphere. The rest of the thread continued onward past the atmosphere, ending at some point where the barrier began.

Dreamcatcher had fallen asleep. That was the rationale. And something was coming that it needed to shield the planet from. This would have been a sacrifice worthy of song, were it not for the sudden, violent rampage of every creature Dreamcatcher had ever created. Leviathans rose from the sea to decimate coastal states and settlements, chimeras tore through inland settlements before being gunned down, the more absurd amalgamations of monsters rose from the unexplored frontiers and laid waste to anything and everything in their paths, some of them as tall as mountains and just as unstoppable.

Monsters true to their nature at last.

In the midst of this, the individuals granted powers by Dreamcatcher were detained, set to be executed before they, too, went the way of their less-human compatriots. It was the current President of the United States who saw fit to use them against Dreamcatcher's monsters instead.

In the middle of discussions for controlling the formerly regarded "superheroes," breaking news of magically gifted individuals began cropping up all around the world, with varying levels of approval and dissent from all factions.

For years afterwards, the world fell into complete chaos between stemming the tides of Dreamcatcher's monsters and rounding up the sudden surge of magical individuals. Too many lives were lost to a cause no one had any understanding of, and too many resources were spent trying to apprehend particularly powerful individuals who simply didn't want to rot in a reinforced cell for the rest of their lives just for the crime of being Dreamcatcher's chosen (assuming a cell could even hold them in the first place).

As small countries were wiped off the map by swarms of fairies wielding disproportionately destructive magic and entire cities were devoured by ghouls, manticores, and anything inbetween, humankind faltered. They couldn't sustain this. When half of China was obliterated by a swarm of dragons that took several nuclear bombs to stymie, the governments of the world crumbled and looked to other sources for help.

[center][url=https://seerstuff.deviantart.com/art/Wish-Eating-699481945][img]https://i.imgur.com/bSKQpMl.png[/img][/url][/center]
[center][url=http://seerstuff.deviantart.com/][color silver][sub]Art by SeerStuff on DeviantArt[/sub][/color][/url][/center]

A new solution was proposed to the ongoing crisis as magically gifted individuals (dubbed the [i]lusus naturae[/i] by the scientific community) began finding each other and banding together, forming anything from organized militia and vigilantes to terrifying cults.

The magic users all held one struggle in common, disparate philosophies aside: the world wanted nothing to do with anything involving Dreamcatcher. It was only by a fortunate twist of fate (fortunate for the "subnaturals," at least--as regular people began calling them) that the militaries of too many countries were too weakened by the constant battle of attrition to deny the usefulness of magic in the now endless war against some of Dreamcatcher's worst monsters. Thus began rigorous background checks and psychological evaluations of the adolescents the government could get a hold of, with the more promising ones assigned to institutions that would ensure proper education and preventative measures while allowing the government to keep a close eye on them. These institutions also doubled as headquarters from which to deploy children against any monstrosities that normal military forces couldn't keep at bay--and those were plenty. Under any normal circumstances, sending teenagers to fight borderline hellspawn would have violated human rights on a terrifyingly fundamental level, but with the horrors of the past few years weighing heavy on everyone's minds, most of the world turned a blind eye to this. Most of the world, actually, hoped the monsters on both sides would kill each other off.

Initial concerns about separating institutions based on age group were quickly debased when all the adults who had gained powers died inexplicably within a month after the event. The deaths were gruesome, to say the least. Some of the "bodies" left behind could hardly be called anything more than bloody smears on the floor. Analysis revealed that any individuals over the rough ages of 21-23 died to some unknown side effect of the powers while the ones on the border suffered severe dementia or simply fell comatose. And yet the Precursors, the original 10 personally chosen by Dreamcatcher, were now well over the danger limits. Someone eventually proposed the theory that powers gained young incorporated more easily into an individual and powers gained after adulthood might suffer a similar effect to rejection of foreign bodies. It wasn't a perfect explanation--nothing was a perfect explanation where the enigma of Dreamcatcher was concerned--but it was the best people could think of when physical examinations and autopsies of more salvageable bodies provided absolutely nothing to go on.

So the world tentatively tolerated the magical children, simply for the purpose of keeping them on society's side. There were enough to pose a danger to civilizations all around the world, but not enough to win in a battle of numbers. Not yet, at least. And for all their powers, they were still human: they tired from overuse of their abilites just like an athlete would overexercising, and a bullet to the head for most of them could kill them just as easily as anyone else. It wasn't quite so easy with the monsters, and there were far too many monsters outside to worry yet about the monsters on the inside.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ifVwAOx.png[/img][/center][hr][center][color=silver]"𝕌𝕤𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕦𝕡. 𝔹𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕒𝕟."[/color][/center][hr]
[center][url=http://aoxenuk.deviantart.com/art/Dreamcatcher-and-Wisheater-689346302][img]https://i.imgur.com/ILpdxEs.png[/img][/url][/center]
[center][sub][center][url=http://aoxenuk.deviantart.com/][color silver][sub]Art by aoxenuk on DeviantArt[/sub][/color][/url][/center][/sub][/center]

Here's where our story begins in the year 2020, 10 years after Dreamcatcher abandoned the world to seemingly erect and maintain a barrier around the planet--the event now dubbed "The Slumber."

After waking up with your powers, you realized--unlike a lot of other [s]dead[/s] idiots--that obedience (feigned or not) meant the antsy, trigger-happy government wouldn't execute you, so now you're at the United States Army Research Institute for [i]lusus naturae[/i] on the East Coast (USARILN East), boasting a high school-to-college-level education regime to keep everyone feeling "normal" and "stable," whatever those words mean nowadays. The Institute is located in the brand-spanking-new town of Crimen Culpae 1 they set up [i]just for your kind[/i] and all the weird people who find subnaturals more amusing than terrifying. That means you'll be somewhat welcome in this town--but not for the reasons you'd like. 

Crimen Culpae 1 (CC1 as the locals like to refer to it) is tucked away in a corner of the East Coast near much of the farmland and former wildlife refuges and game lands of North Carolina, far from any easy access to major cities.

[center](35.725413, -76.955924)
[img]http://i.imgur.com/SBCe2kq.png[/img][/center]

It's the first of a series of CC towns the government has set up around the nation to control and utilize--as best they can--the emerging subnaturals. They don't really run the mascots and school colors thing, but the students still do, if just to defy institutional apathy on the matter.

The school's colors are, depressingly, black, white, and grey. No one really thought bright, exuberant colors worked for the situation, plus USARILN East is known to be near several major points of aggression for Dreamcatcher's creatures. (And USARILN West already took the bright colors thing, so it would be embarrassing to imp it now.)

However you went about "presenting" yourself to the mercy of the government is your tale to tell. Maybe they had to drag you in by force. Maybe they simply found you somewhere surrounded by dead people because you couldn't control your abilities (and you somehow looked pitiful enough that they didn't murder you on the spot). Maybe you brought yourself to the nearest police station and let things go from there.

But all the same, Dreamcatcher (or something else) gave you your powers, and you were just intelligent enough to know that the world is in no state to tolerate your presence if you didn't comply with their every demand.

What almost no one outside of your fellow mages (the world calls your kind "subnaturals" as an insult; your peers know better, usually) know is that everyone chosen by Dreamcatcher saw a dream. They saw a dream of their magic taken to its utmost limits--power beyond imagination serving the purpose of something that lined up with what every individual personally saw as "good." And right after that dream, everyone saw the nightmare--a perverted version of your power tearing down your enemies and making the world yours in whatever way you wanted, whether it was simple domination or some heightened form of solitude. Your world your way. But without a doubt yours.

When the visions faded, you saw two paths in a hazy mental landscape of sounds and light. On the one path, the you from the dream walked towards something you thought might be a bright future. On the other path, the you from the nightmare (or maybe [i]that[/i] was the dream to you?) walked towards something that seemed to whisper "This will be even better."

You chose one. You followed one. And the moment you rejected the other, you felt a visceral emotion from the side you didn't favor--perhaps your brain translated that into [i]hatred.[/i]

Those of you who followed the first vision bear a white streak that stretches from below your right eye and across your right temple, stopping as it reaches above the ear, the ends of the streak jagged and faded, as if someone took a brush with too little paint on it to your face.

Those who followed the second vision sport a thick, black X (someone once joked that it looked like the Xbox logo's "X" and the visual stuck) on the front of your throats, near the base. 

With a bonus. In listening to the temptation, the second vision brought with it a deadlier version of your powers with the same cost for all: the worst day of your life, the most annoying things in the world to you, your most terrifying secrets, your deepest shame, your biggest regret--any and all of those play in your mind without cease, the sounds louder and the emotions more pronounced on each replay. Only [i]doing something[/i] can distract you even partially and only doing something destructive to people or objects can sate what the more unfortunate mages have taken to calling their "Stigmas." Sate temporarily, that is. It always comes back.

The more cognizant mages of the various institutions have long ago spread this information amongst each other via a private forum where only mages attending an institution were allowed an invitation--it helped that one of the forum administrators could detect lies. It's an unspoken rule among the mages now that no one mentions what everyone secretly calls "The Awakening" to the "regulars." There was something too intimate about it to share with people who were looking for excuses to kill them.

The forum, known by the innocuous name "Death and Taxes," has also proliferated the underground names "Arbiters" for the mages who woke up on the "right" side of the bed, and "Aberrations" for those who didn't. Frequent, heated discussions debate the existence of a "second Dreamcatcher" due to the duality of the Awakening, with common parlance referring to this potential second Dreamcatcher as the "Wisheater." Even mages whose powers allow for something as abstract as "seeing magic" have no conception of Wisheater aside from the insidious hint of that second vision. The current magical community remains split on the debate with slightly more believing that Wisheater is a desperate fabrication to soothe the sting of Dreamcatcher's betrayal. This tends to lead to flame wars on whether Dreamcatcher had any morality to begin with or if all the current strife in the world is just another of Dreamcatcher's whims.

Individual opinions aside, the forum has a stickied thread titled "Unwritten Rules Written Out For Once (We'll Find You If You Break Them)." After a lengthy introduction, the gist of the post lists the core tenets of magical subculture in the Institutions--the only places that even officially allow a magical subculture, really:

[list][*]Do not speak of the Awakening to the regulars. For the new mages, this refers to the two visions you saw when you got your powers. Further discussion can be found in the "Awakening" thread stickied below this.
[*]Do not mention the nature of this forum to any of the regulars. We can wipe it before anyone investigates [i]and[/i] we'll find you.
[*]Do not call yourselves "mages" around the regulars. You are "subnaturals" to them.
[*]Do not mention the divide between Arbiters and Aberrations to the regulars. For the new mages, check the thread "Arbiters and Aberrations" stickied below the "Awakening" thread.
[*]Do not attack your fellow mages unless you absolutely have to.
[*]Do not provoke the regulars.
[*]Do not attack the regulars even if provoked.
[*]Do not be baited by an Aberration. They're naturally never in the best of moods. Don't deal with them if you can't handle that.
[*]Do not respond to an Aberration's suicide notice. They almost always fail. We can find them if they actually manage to get close to succeeding.
[/list]


It remains to be seen if those unspoken rules and the animosity of the world will stop you from doing what you want.

But within the subculture of the Institute, there are more things to fear than just the guns of the military guards keeping an eye on you.


[hider=Stickied Topic: "Awakening"]

June 13, 2016  //  5:12 AM
Last edited: December 25, 2019  //  4:30 AM

>[OP][Admin] Semordnilap:

[indent]So we all know those things we saw when we got our powers. No one needs to bring up details--actually, just don't. We don't want to know. We just need to emphasize that the events we saw in our personal visions are extremely intimate and should not be revealed to anyone unless we trust them with our lives and our firstborn children. Got it? That goes double for regulars--that's "regular humans" for the new mages reading this.

So that's out of the way and I'll compile what we do know about the visions.

First, they always come in pairs. Except for the Precursors, because Dreamcatcher picked them face-to-face.

Don't ask me why and don't speculate on that unless you've spoken to a Precursor because I'd like to shake your hand if you did. And don't lie. We all know Monster Frisbee can detect lies, so for all the new folks, don't try to be cool here.

So they come in pairs and it's like a good cop, bad cop routine, except only you can tell who's the good cop and who's the bad cop. Then you pick one and if you picked correctly, you get a white thingy on your face (Precursors don't have this, so all the more reason to think they don't have the visions). That makes you an Arbiter, plus white is almost always the good guy color right? Anyway, you pick the right cop and you get powers.

You pick the wrong cop and you get even better powers and that Xbox logo on your neck, except they come with these things we're calling Stigmas because from what I hear, they fucking suck. You get this broken record player of the shittiest moments in your life just playing on repeat when you sleep, when you try to relax, when you do anything but blow shit up and hurt people. It. Sucks. So we call those guys the Aberrations. Because it sucks to be them and it sure as hell isn't normal to be them. Yeah, I know, it's not normal to be us, either, but at least we're not constantly reliving our worst nightmares every waking moment while resisting destructive homicidal tendencies, k?

And that's all we've got on the Awakening, folks. That's what we're calling it since it's easy to remember and it sticks. Just don't go mentioning it anywhere regulars can hear. They don't really know why we've got the white face paint or the black X's, they just think it's like "X = violent" and "white swab = not violent" so let them keep that up, okay? It's not like it's completely wrong and you really don't want them poking around inside our heads any more than they already did before we got here. I think a few of the headcases mentioned something about the Awakening here and there, but no one took them and their crazy-asses seriously, except for small-time folks here and there, but those guys have almost no traction. Plus, Dreamcatcher's monsters keep everyone busy enough that no one cares about some stupid dreams. For now.[/indent]
[/hider]

[hider=Stickied Topic: "Arbiters and Aberrations"]

June 15, 2016  //  7:32 PM
Last edited: January 11, 2020  //  1:53 PM

>[OP][Admin] Monster Frisbee:

[indent]Hey guys, it's your #1 Frisbee here. I keep seeing a lot of questions about the two different subtypes of mages around the forums, so I figured I'd lay out what we know for y'alls. Or at least what we've been able to figure out is consistent enough to consider fact. 

The first thing you gotta know is that there are two types of mages (a-duh)-- the Arbiters and the Aberrations. 

Firstly, the Arbiters... 

We have white streaks starting from below our right eyes to where the top of our ears start. Looks kind of like a little glob of paint landed on our face and someone tried to wipe it off with a paintbrush. And it doesn't. come. off.

Our powers tend to be more stable and develop more slowly than Aberration powers. Some would say they're weaker, but we call those folks plebs.... Okay, that's only half true. Aberrations DO tend to have 'stronger' powers-- if you consider more destructive powers to be stronger. But I'll get back to that later.

Because our powers as Arbiters tend to be more similar to the Precursors (in that we don't have any bad urges... well... no more than the average joe), there has been a lot of speculation that we're meant to follow some sort of directive from Dreamcatcher. It'd be nice know what said directive is, though. World peace? Saving mankind from all the psycho creatures? Love, Trust, and Pixie Dust? Obviously it must have something to do with the barrier he set up, but that's a debate for another thread. (link here)

Basically, we're the best. The good guys. The chumiest of chums. (just kidding) And the best of the best of us are called Ardors. They're awesome (mostly). Rumors say some of them might be even stronger than Precursors, but we still haven't gotten one onto this forum to ask.

Then you've got the Aberrations....

They have thick black Xs on the front base of their throats-- and they totally look like Xbox logos. Which would be hilarious if it didn't suck to be them so much. As you all know, before our journey of being mages began, we got these two super weird visions-- one for good and one for bad. That's how most people tend to describe it, though which one seems which is entirely dependent on the person. I prefer to look at it as right and wrong-- since if you chose incorrectly, you get stuck with a "Stigma". 

The "wrong" vision brought with it a deadlier version of their powers, but at a cost. The worst day of your life, the most annoying things in the world to you, every terrifying secret, every deepest shame or biggest regret-- that stuff plays in your head like the catchiest song you've ever hated and the volume of it just keeps getting louder and louder until you eventually can't function. Only [i]doing something[/i] can distract you even partially and only doing something destructive to people or objects can temporarily "turn the volume down"-- exactly how much the volume is turned down and for how long is dependent on how much destruction was wrought. These loud, intrusive memories/peeves have been called a few different things, but they are most commonly referred to as "Stigmas".

Like I said before, Arberrations have powers that are a heckuva lot more violent, powerful, and volatile than ours (the Arbiters). Their powers advance much more quickly than ours, as well-- even more so if they use their powers to sate their Stigmas more often than needed. (Where's our cookie for using our powers, Mr. D?) The strongest of Aberrations aren't currently under government control and are considered high priority targets (FPCON Delta) whenever they're spotted. (At least we don't have to become public enemy number one to unlock our full potential, right?)

Everyone calls these amoral psychopaths Animi. An Animus, due to all the desctruction they cause, don't SEEM to be distracted by their Stigmas the way Aberrations are. There's been talk of whether, once you level enough buildings and kill enough people, your Stigma just goes away and your powers get even stronger, but it's not like Animi tend to post on this forum very much. If they ever did, us admins would have to wipe it right away. Last thing we need is to be assocated with any of that rabble (Plus they give me the creeps. I'm sure I'm not alone on this). Most of us older kids remember a few years back when it took THREE FUCKING PRECURSORS just to take down Garrote (Trung Nguyen, for those who don't keep up with the media nicknames) in Southeast Asia-- and one of them almost [b]died[/b]. Then that stupid Garrote's Gallows group and their dumbass name started recruiting the Aberrations around Vietnam and Laos and now they think they're hot shit.

But I'm totally getting sidetracked here. The important thing to remember with Aberrations is that they're always on edge. Even the ones that seem calm are still completely on edge--I mean, who wouldn't be when you go through what they go through, right?

And because Semo mentioned it in the Unwritten Rules post, I'll explain a bit here, though we're not really sure if this is consistently the case because once in a while an Aberration does succeed in killing themselves. They usually can't because every time they try their Stigma goes bonkers and it causes anything from blacking out to seizures so it's really, really rare for them to succeed. But it's not like all of them know what they're getting into when they pick the "wrong" vision. Sometimes it's too much for them to handle, and they can't even escape from it the easy way. We had a few scares on the forum before where everyone panicked over suicide notices from Aberrations, but since everyone here attends an Institution, it's not hard for Semo to notify the guards if one of their precious living magical weapons is about to off themselves, so if it happens again, try not to panic too much, guys.

One last thing to note: if an Aberration is having a really bad day because they haven't "sated" their Stigma in too long, you can usually tell because they'll be punching walls or screaming or crying in the fetal position on the floor. Or all three and more. Don't bother them. Just let a guard know if you're feeling like a dick that day (and if they haven't noticed already for some reason) or find a mage with some kind of Prozac power if you're a decent human being and you happen to know a mage like that. For all that they're kind of fucked up, the Aberrations are still one of us.

Long story short, it really fucking sucks to be an Aberration and I know we all dislike their attitudes, but let's do our best to give them some breaks when we can.[/indent][/hider]

[hider=Stickied Topic: "Factions to Watch Out For"]

July 2, 2016  //  3:43 AM
Last edited: February 24, 2020  //  7:21 PM

>[OP][Admin] Rad Cow Disease:

[indent]We'll go in no particular order because you should always steer clear of all these guys.

[list][*][u][b]Thòng Lọng Garrote, or 'Garrote's Gallows'[/b][/u] in Southeast Asia. These guys are small time thugs just riding off the coattails of Garrote's fame in almost killing a Precursor. Not even worth worrying about, yet. All they've got under their belts are weaker Aberrations that even the other small-time gangs didn't want.[/list]

[list][*][u][b]The Senators.[/b][/u] Huuge faction in North America. Basically a vigilante Aberration group, if you can believe that the violence they spread is any sort of 'good.' They're a faction with a focus on self-destruction. They try to keep the violence to themselves with their continent-spanning fight club deal. The Senators have also been known to start wars with other factions and stand-alone Aberrations, though their targets leave their form of 'crime-fighting' as something left to be desired. They're a bunch of racist pricks, is what I'm saying.[/list]

[list][*][u][b]Amigos do Pai, or 'Friends of the Father.'[/b][/u] The largest South American faction (led by an Ardor, of all things) and far more covert than the Senators. They've got a stranglehold that spans from Rio's favelas to even some minor Texan communities. That's the rumor anyway. Extremely organised.[/list]

[list][*][u][b]Fenrir's Heralds.[/b][/u] A subsidiary of Australia's Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. The story is that the boss' cousin woke up one day with the X on his throat, blew up the east wing of the stronghold, and rode away before anyone could shoot him down. They never stay in one place long.[/list]

[list][*][b][u]Cat's Cradle.[/u][/b] BAD NEWS. These guys are way bad news. Don't ever fucking go near any area they've been spotted in--and if you get assigned to handle any case involving them, break an arm or something to get out of the mission, because you're not coming back from that. 10 fucking Animi in one group and they're all batshit insane. No one knows how they even function together, but they're globe-trotting psychos thanks to Backdoor and his teleportation. Then you have Whisper and his ability to blow your eardrums out from a few blocks away and trying to fight them is like running into a meat grinder naked. Don't mess with them.[/list]

This post will be updated as frequently as possible, but it's only a quick overview. If you want more deets, head into the Factions Discussion Threads.

Rad Cow, signing out.
[/indent][/hider]

[hider=Stickied Topic: "USARILN East High : A Survival Guide"]

December 6, 2014  //  11:28 PM
Last edited: February 23, 2015  //  7:08 PM

>[OP] CundtBake:

[indent]Don't feel like studying, so I decided to do something I've been meaning to get around to for a while now. I am going to write up a survival guide for this piss poor excuse for a school the governent has stuck us all in. >:/

So every Institute is run by a fancypants Director who has the Precursors on call in case anything goes wrong. So if you've ever really wanted to meet one, go on a killling rampage and they'll show up to autograph your guts with whatever it is they choose to kill you with. But only if you manage to be more than the Directors can handle... and you'd be surprised.

USARILN East is run by Director Xiùyīng Zhang (her English name, Lina Zhang or "biggest bitch on campus" work, too). Of all the Directors, she's the most strict and merciless. She doesn't have a very high tolerance for "mishaps" (or even potential "mishaps") and has been known to execute more "uncontrollable" students from time to time. The more high-priority cases are left in her "tender" care-- she has a rap for pitting new students up against threats that are way out of their league.

There are also several "staff" mages on campus with more utility-based powers for keeping things running smoothly-- stuff like detecting traps, poisoned food, reading mental states, etc. I heard Monster Frisbee was almost forced to be one, but he somehow wormed his way out of it. You can't really talk to them-- they aren't allowed to, but I hear they get to stay in really nice, cushy apartments. You don't see them very often, but any time they are out and about, they're always surrounded by at least three guards at any one given time. In exchange for being good boys and girls, they never get sent out on missions, though. So it's kind of a fair trade, if you don't mind living under a rock. 

For our convenience, the school is located in close proximity to high concentrations of Dreamcatcher's monsters. To help us all die a little less quickly, Hephaestus, as the media calls him, has been providing the institute with a steady supply of magical armaments to distribute to students who have been "vetted" to be useful and stable enough to not turn against the Institute. Very few students actually get these armaments, but they're rumored to allow a pretty ridiculous amount of control and amplification of your abilities. I wouldn't know. They wouldn't give me one. :/ The precognitive Precursor (Foresight) is rumored to have been instructing Hephaestus on which students to design weapons for, so if the Director ever grants you a weapon, it will probably be by Foresight's design-- so it will probably be made specifically to work with your abilites. 

USARILN East proudly holds the record for most casualties on campus as of this year. Director Zhang's iron fist basically opened the flood gates. Meaning a lot of other Institutes feel fine sending her the more unruly Aberrations that they don't want to deal with. Thanks to that, the population of Aberrations to Arbiters is roughly a 60/40 split. Being an Aberration myself, I'd be fine with that if it didn't make bitch-Zhang feel so inclined to send us Aberrations out with little to no concern for our well-being. A lot of us don't come back.

There have been rumors that the Director picks out certain Aberrations and sends them after more questionable targets--other "subnaturals" who are trying to lay low-- some of them secretly and hiding them from government eyes with regulars who are supporting them. Even mages who are just trying to stay out of what is effectively a fancier prison are potential targets. But these are just rumors, I hope. I'd hate to think any one of us could be sent to hunt down our own kind. 

Just like regular high schools, they run a semester system and we're academically divided according to our age and, in some cases, our intellect. I know a few people who've been held back, but I can't really blame them for feeling unmotivated. The school offers college level courses for once you finish your senior year, or if you're a real smarty pants and get advanced placement. Unlike some high schools, though, we don't have uniforms here (because too many of us die too often too brutally to justify always buying new uniforms) and no one really cares if we use phones and laptops in classes. We are monitored all the damn time, though, so it's not like it's total internet freedom here. Luckily, Semo pulled some strings and most of the IT staff just think "Death and Taxes" is some lit new forum for teens and young adults where we talk about nasty teenager kinks and shit. Except we're here because they don't give us much of a break anywhere else. Our letters are read before they're given to us, and they don't even bother hiding that they opened it; our packages are inspected and left open when we pick them up from the registrar's building; our phone calls and communications outside of this forum are all recorded somewhere-- I sometimes wonder why they didn't just flat out make this place a prison.

But I guess after my moods pass, I can appreciate that there are a bunch of recreational facilities and study lounges, as well as dorm buildings. Aberrations and Arbiters get different dorms based on behavior. Most Aberrations tend not to be great roommates (I have a hard enough time trying not to break my own shit sometimes), so we get shitty little single dorm rooms all to ourselves. Arbiters, in all their glory, basically get mini-apartments, but a little shittier in that the living room area is also the bedroom area and you have to share with one or two other Arbiters per mini-apartment. Every apartment does have its own kitchen/dining area though-- so that's kinda nice... if you cook... which I don't, unless you count cup noodles. Oh, and each apartment has its own bathroom. Can't forget that, especially since us Aberrations only get communal kitchens and bathrooms. Just because I'm way better at procrastinating than anything else, I even drew a picture of what the fancy Arbiter dorms look like (the school officially refers to them as "suites").

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/VmtfSIi.png[/img][/center]

There are some Aberrations that get cleared to live in the Arbiter dorms, but not many. You've really gotta prove you have your stigma under wraps for that. Likewise, there are some idiot Arbiters that cause enough trouble to get their own room with the Aberrations as well. The Aberration dorms are all connected to each other and to the main registrar's office through several long and fancy hallways for easy access. The Arbiter dorms are a separate building entirely, just across the street from the Aberration dorms. Best part? No gender segregation. No anything segregation, actually. They frankly don't care if we see each other naked and stuff as long as we're always ready to go whenever one of Dreamcatcher's creatures need killing. 

We've got a big library, computer lounges, cafes, food stands, and the like all on campus. Further out in the town, you get to buy groceries or clothes while subjecting yourself to the regular locals, who're constantly trying to talk to you and ask rude and intrusive questions about your life in school. Oh yeah-- money. This is kinda one of the cool things about living here, I guess. Everyone gets a meal card for three square meals a day at the dining hall, which is like a buffet sort of deal (the food isn't totally horrible, though I wouldn't recommend eating there on lasagna night). In addition to that, everyone gets a monthly stipend of $500, which is deposited into a governent-managed account. Unfortunately you can't cash out more than $100 of it at any one time (so you can't just take the money and run). And don't try to be sneaky by slowly saving up-- if you withdraw too much money too often or they just see a pattern of money withdrawals without any expenditures, you'll be put under investigation and that's never fun.

No one really likes talking about this next part, but for all the Aberrations around here, we've also got "Ground Zero," which is our name for the huge field a little ways off campus where Aberrations can go to sate their Stigmas. There's a staff mage who maintains the illusion of a ghost town there complete with people to hurt. I say illusion, but it's supposedly some kind of "reality that never existed" deal. Dunno, wasn't really listening to the explanation on how it works, but basically that mage can only make that kind of setting and can fix it up all the time, so you're hurting "real people" and destroying "real things." And that's enough on that depressing topic.

All students wear a magical transmitter around their ankles--the design and mass-production supplied by Hephaestus--so the school always knows your location. Students have definitely tried, but the overall consensus so far has been that the Director's direct command is the only thing that can mess with it... short of sawing your leg off, I guess. Nobody is allowed to leave the outskirts of town unless you're being sent on a mission. Failure to comply is usually met with a harsh magical taze from the transmitter. Continued failure to comply means a sniper bullet to the head/military intervention/other students sent after you. Failing all that, a Precursor comes in and deals with you. So there's another way to get an autograph on your insides. Once you try to leave on your own, they don't want you back. It's as simple as that. Sounds pretty great, right? :/ 
[/indent][/hider]

[hider=Stickied Topic: "Precursors"]

December 7, 2014  //  10:30 PM
Last edited: February 1, 2020  //  9:12 AM

>[OP][Admin] Semordnilap:

[indent]So we don't have much on the Precursors because the government got a handle on them pretty quickly and suppressed a lot of their information. We've got basic names and general bios about their normal, everyday lives before they were picked out by Dreamcatcher, but nothing more meaningful than that so I'll cover their powers in the order that they were hand-picked by Dreamcatcher and I'll give you what the public already generally knows with some of my impressions mixed in. Keep in mind this is all hearsay from the news outlets and Reddit because the people up top sure as hell aren't going to publish this information for us.

[indent][indent][color=f7976a][b]Sparrow (Julia Brenner  //  27):[/b][/color] So Sparrow's got a pretty tricky set of powers. She can levitate, yeah, that's what she started out with. Then she improved that to straight up Superman-style flight. She can also grant that flight to nearby people. And whenever she's using her powers, she glows golden, because we needed that cliche, right? Reporters have seen her moving the entire Precursor team before. Now the weird thing about Sparrow's levitation-turned-flight is that while she's flying, she's immune to most incoming damage. Even rain and dust wicks off her with ease. Only person who's been able to hurt her in flight has been Garrote, and, sure, she nearly died in that fight, but it took Garrote everything he had, which is how Newton managed to catch him in a gravity field and crush him.

[color=f7976a][b]Kadabra (Vincent Nguyen  //  30):[/b][/color] A lot more straightforward. Kadabra can move things with his mind, but can't move people, weirdly enough. This wouldn't be so bad if his most famous attack wasn't throwing a mountain at Garrote. Let it be known that it was a [i]distraction[/i] so Newton could kill the guy. Report had a backup plan involving three more potential mountains cleared for lifting and throwing. So the guy can move a lot of big shit at once really far. Just because his ability is simple doesn't mean it's not fucking nuts. Unlike Newton (who's kind of Kadabra's rival on the internet), Kadabra is a lot more creative with the what and the how of the things he throws, and it's that open-minded creativitiy in usage that, personally, makes me a member of Team Kadabra and not Team Newton, k?

[color=f7976a][b]Foresight (Stella Nedelcu  //  29):[/b][/color] Just as her name says, she's pretty good at planning ahead because she can see the future--in a way. She reads tarot cards the way literally no one else can but she needs someone else to ask her a question. She can't ask herself and she can't ask anyone to ask for her. Kind of sad, in a way. Every time she reads, she uses at least five decks, with more complicated variations requiring up to ten decks. And she can't answer in detail--or maybe she won't? No one's sure. It's always vague answers or "yes" and "no" answers. No one's ever gotten her to explain exactly how she interprets all the crazy shapes and patterns her cards move themselves in whenever she activates her powers, but she's never been wrong about something she reads. The only scary situation is when she reads multiple equally likely futures. Then people start scrambling to look for a fulcrum. That's what led to the sortie against Garrote, when a question involving him led to multiple futures from Foresight's reading.

[color=f7976a][b]Newton (Timmy Garcia  //  31):[/b][/color] Makes almost small-village-sized gravity fields at peak power. Otherwise he generally covers a block with one attack. His is another one of those "simple but deadly" powers, and being the one-trick pony he is, he's had a lot of time to get really good with that power. Where Kadabra worked on moving bigger things more creatively, Newton worked on making his fields larger and stronger. He used to just apply a weak downward force in a small area around him. Now he can lob a gravity ball towards an area and have it expand into a field of preset size that flattens everything down to a nice, smooth landscape. No one's really wanted to get close enough to check exactly how much gravitational force one of his fields can output these days. Not with all the monsters that he's been pitching them at. Guess it serves as some kind of testament to Dreamcatcher's creations that a lot of them don't die when hit by that field. At least Garrote died. Any Animus who can survive one of Newton's "full power" fields probably isn't human anymore.
 
[color=f7976a][b]Prism (Hsiao Tsu Lin or Annie Hsiao  //  25):[/b][/color] Shoots lasers. Shoots a lot of lasers at once. She can basically drown an entire city in lasers if she wanted to expend all her energy at once. And these lasers can slice through buildings like wet paper. Oh, yeah, her lasers can curve and home in on you, even if some of them don't really move as fast as lasers should, but are we really complaining about that when a laser is tailing you? No. Not at all. I mean, we call them lasers, but they might just be magical beams at this point because what the fuck, right? Another deadly simple type and the go-to girl for any Institutional issues. She does have regular lasers. And you're not dodging her. Apparently one of her other perks is small-radius teleportation and crazy accurate aim. And even if you can make her miss, she'll just [i]curve the damn laser at you.[/i]
 
[color=f7976a][b]Merlin (Luke Iverson  //  23):[/b][/color] The youngest of the Precursors (he was 7 when Dreamcatcher chose him!), Luke has probably the highest potential of them all. His schtick and why the media's named him Merlin is elemental generation. Yeah, you read that right. He can just generate and control a bunch of any "element" defined by those mythical tales and whatnot--probably one of the more ridiculous things Dreamcatcher decided to pull from human imagination, really. Water, earth, fire, wind, and metal seem to be his limit, but he didn't always have metal, so Reddit's all over the guesswork on what he'll claim next; people are joking about light and darkness, but I don't want to really think about something [i]that[/i] overpowered. They didn't send him to fight Garrote because they didn't want to lose him--which was fair. Garrote's not exactly something you "practice" on if you're building up combat experience and Prism was busy guarding Foresight at the time.
 
[color=f7976a][b]Hephaestus (Sem Maarschalkerweerd  //  33):[/b][/color] This guy doesn't move from some deep, underground bunker they've got him in and, honestly, with that kind of name, he's probably better off down there where I hear they cater to his every need and demand because he makes magical arms for mages that are absolutely insane. The government isn't allowing him to make arms for any of the other Precursors for now because they aren't desperate enough, yet, thanks to all of us little magelings running around dying and doing all their work for them. Basically, they're afraid that--with the way they've been treating mages as a whole--if Hephaestus makes something crazy for every Precursor, there'd be no reason for the Precursors to obey them anymore because they could probably just go around obliterating the world and any opposition. We've got a few pieces of Heph's gear here at USARILN East, but you can bet your ass they keep that shit under the tightest lock and key you can imagine, and then some. Rumor is Foresight's got a thing for him since she's always visiting him, but who even knows with those guys.

[b][color=f7976a]Morph (Emily Sharpe  //  31):[/color][/b] As one of the few shapeshifters (I guess Dreamcatcher, strangely enough, doesn't conceptualize "shapeshifting" well for something that's only good at some weird form of mimicry) in existence, Morph can look like anything. Not anyone. Anything. That pencil on your desk? Could be Morph. That crumpled piece of paper in your trash can that you swear you didn't throw in there? Could be Morph. When the government first got ahold of her and analyzed her powers as best they could, Reddit was all jokes and giggles because compared to powerhouses like Kadabra, Newton, Prism, and Merlin, Morph was kind of a letdown for someone who came later in the cycle. That is, until Morph, well, morphed into a second Statue of Liberty for shits and countergiggles at them. She can only morph into something she's seen before, and when shifted she has no choice but to remain still. Given the variety of things she's seen in this world, though, she's got a lot of options. I think she's got a size limit since she's never done anything bigger than that Statue of Liberty stunt, but that's just my guess. That's still pretty big, let's be real. With that kind of power, the US government would obviously be using her to spy on Russia or something because why the hell wouldn't you?

[color=f7976a][b]Benediction (Renard Malveaux  //  25):[/b][/color] Hoo, boy. Here is Jesus on a stick, and I'm only partially kidding. Benediction can bring people back from the dead if they haven't been dead for over two days. Two fucking days. He's always been able to do that, so everyone's guessing that's kind of a hard limit and not something he can improve on, but who even knows with Dreamcatcher. And that's just the most notable power. He can heal--really damn well. Like he shoots a white light at you and you're back to normal in a few seconds even if you're a bloody pulp on the ground (though I guess that falls more under the "bringing back the dead bit" but he still heals all those injuries up). I'm not exaggerating. He's done that for a few unfortunate folks important enough for the government to sanction resurrections for (yeah, he doesn't just get to go around raising the dead whenever he likes--because it exhausts him and the government generally wants him in tip-top shape for any unexpected battles). And if you thought that wasn't crazy enough, he can also place borderline invincible barriers around five targets at once. They tested this with a combo of Prism and Newton dropping damage on a shielded mannequin like there was no tomorrow and the thing didn't even take a scratch, though they did find out that Benediction gets [i]a little tired[/i] sustaining the barrier under all that damage. Personal opinion? Benediction is the deadliest of the Precursors. Let's all be fucking glad he can't heal or ressurect himself or I think we'd be screwed. In the fight with Garrote, they obviously kept him close enough to jet plane there within two days in case any of the Precursors died. Guy's basically a walking save point.

[color=f7976a][b]Menagerie (Simeon Kovac  //  24):[/b][/color] I know next to nothing about this guy other than the usual jokes about him being Dreamcatcher's son. Real talk, it'd be a cool plot twist, but we all know Dreamcatcher doesn't human. Yeah, I verbed that noun. Anyway, Menagerie is a mystery. He can make monsters similar to Dreamcatcher, but they're smaller, weaker, and they always die within a week. Not viable, not self-sustaining, and sure as hell not as efficient as what Dreamcatcher's created. Look at what's left of China. Those dragons are intelligent as hell and they're just waiting for another swarm to build up. Everyone knows it. If it wasn't for Prism keeping them at bay all the time and thinning their numbers, I think there wouldn't be a China left to preserve. I'm rambling here because Menagerie's been out of the picture for a while. Maybe he's cooped up with Hephaestus or something, because we haven't heard jack from him in about five years, though the government assures the public that all the Precursors are hard at work keeping them safe. So he's around, supposedly. Doing what under the government's commands, I shudder to even guess.[/indent][/indent]
[/indent][/hider]

[hider=Stickied Topic: "Cat's Cradle"]

March 17, 2018  //  6:56 PM
Last edited: January 13, 2020  //  9:50 PM

Multi-author post  //
    
>[OP][Admin] Semordnilap:
>[OP][Admin] Rad Cow Disease:
>[OP][Admin] Monster Frisbee:

[indent]Oy vey. Cat's Cradle. 10 Animi--yeah, that's full-on Animi, guys, not Aberrations--in one group with a "random access" teleporter to help them constantly slip away from the Precursors. Because Foresight takes time to read her cards and Backdoor's location selection is random until the very last instant, it's always too late by the time Foresight finds out where they've gone based on the game of 20 Questions people have to play with Foresight's power. You can see how they can just keep ahead of her by simply moving constantly. And the Precursors can't keep expending Foresight's energy on trying to uselessly read where they'll go.

If you can believe it, this slip of a guy named Nico Lehmann supposedly leads the group. We've got news bulletins and reports on them every time they crop up, but I still can't believe this 163cm, scrawny-ass kid leads this group of borderline/outright psychos. I guess crazies come in all shapes and sizes. The government's done digging on all of Cat's Cradle, of course, but with how they're behaving, they don't care if everyone's seen their baby photos and read their brief biographies. And [i]this time[/i] we've got official reports on them to reference for information, because the bad guys get that privilege, right?

Cat's Cradle wasn't even a group and was originally just Nico Lehmann, Donovan Horska, and Whisper. Yeah, the guy's actual name is Whisper. I think Nico named him? He was an unknown--probably one of the nameless refugees from some no-name village that never got itself properly recorded on any map--fleeing to the U.S. in the wake of Dreamcatcher's monsters ravaging Europe. Not really sure how he ran into Nico and Donovan. Details there are nonexistent, but the two of them took him in, so to speak, because Nico was actually some really rich kid living on the West Coast and Donovan was his best bud. Housing records state that Whisper was formally adopted into the Lehmann family while Donovan attended the same school nearby, so they formed a kind of snazzy friendship unit that was the talk of the town. But here's the funny bit--or maybe it's not so funny in retrospect--Whisper was a mute. Emphasis on [i]was[/i]. Nico gave him a name and he settled into that [i]and[/i] the Lehmann family before going on to excel at academics and athletics with Donovan as some kind of friendly rival in school.

Wish it had stayed that way. Everyone does, probably.

Some giant, shadowy, Dreamcatcher-esque thing that might have been some primordial creature Dreamcatcher created way back in the fucking Jurassic period attacked the West Coast. It took all the Precursors, a bunch of volunteer mages, and most of the military to finally take it down. Luckily, it didn't move much from the spot where it emerged from the ground, but the fallout from its massive black waves destroyed a lot of places and people, Nico's entire family included. It was by some stroke of luck that he, Donovan, and Whisper had been visiting a relative in another city far from the site of attack when it happened, but the event broke the kid beyond repair. At least, that's how the media's been framing it this entire time. And all those stupid Cat's Cradle sympathizers all over the net think [i]they'll[/i] be the lucky guy or gal who'll bring the crazy villains back to their senses. Fucking idiots.

Information is scarce after that, because the three of them vanished from the radar for a while, even though the Lehmann relatives committed a large-scale search effort to looking for them.

Cue 2015, four years after that, when the three of them suddenly appear in Chicago with seven other "apparent" Aberrations in tow. USARILN East, still building itself up at the time, sortied too slowly and too recklessly. No one knew they were Animi until it was too damn late and half of the city had been laid to waste. Then they just up and left, teleporting away through one of Backdoor's portals. They've been doing shit like that ever since, sometimes ravaging random, uninhabited areas and sometimes decimating large portions of major cities. And no one knows why. Plenty of speculation ranging from simple whack jobs with tragic backstories to some grand plan that no one had figured out, yet. But none of them are telling us a thing, that's for sure.

So with the backstory out of the way here we are now, your best bros Rad Cow and Semo collabing and coming to y'all with the latest deets on the most notorious and deadliest Animi to ever scurry the Earth! (Scurry? That might not be the best word choice. If you Cool Cats are reading this, please don't murder me haha)[/indent]

[indent][indent]
[b][color=f7976a]Refrain (Nico Lehmann  //  24):[/color][/b] Refrain, as the media likes to call him, is the kingpin, you could say. His ability takes two simple forms: he can buff someone's magic or he can debuff someone's magic. He can't buff himself and magic aside he looks like a strong wind could blow him over. Strategy sounds pretty simple, right? Take out this guy and maybe the rest of Cat's Cradle won't be so fucking broken? Yeah, easier said than done. He's not an idiot. He always keeps at least one member of the Cradle with him everywhere he goes, and it's usually Manic or Whisper. 

So now let's get talking on how intense that buff and debuff is. No one's really strictly measured it, but when he buffed Whisper once and the guy just shouted a quick "Hah!" Chicago lost about four blocks' worth of buildings and unfortunate people. And that was just Whisper [i]fucking around.[/i] I've never had--and I hope I never have--the privilege of seeing any of their "serious" bouts up close, because they mostly steer clear of the Precursors and do their serious work in the most random places. Like in Siberia once where they blasted up enough ice, snow, dirt, and smog to fog the air in that entire area for a week. 

Reports say Nico can buff all of Cat's Cradle at once, though the effect seems more diluted than just buffing one or two people. And it seems like he can't debuff and buff at the same time, since the occasional skirmishes with the Precursors have revealed that he does need to turn on and off his ability between forms. He's got an easy tell, though--red rings on his left hand and red rings on the right hands of anyone he's affecting. Easy tell, but unblockable. Sparrow backed out of one of the fights real fast when the debuff rings popped up on her. And she found out she couldn't fucking fly anymore. Almost all her powers blocked off. 

When he debuffed multiple Precursors in another quick fight, they could still use weak versions of their magic, but nowhere near enough to harm. And that would have been deadly if Whisper had capitalized on that. But the Cradle always leaves every time they get the upper hand. My guess? They're totally after something and it's got nothing to do with the Precursors who keep getting in their way.

[b][color=f7976a]Manic (Donovan Horska  //  24):[/color][/b] Nico's right-hand man. The funny thing is that apparently, this dude used to beat up on poor Nico back on the elementary school playground. Guess psychopathy kicks in early. We know about this cos the Lehmann matriarch had written a rather irate Facebook status about her son being mistreated when they were about ten. Good thing digital records don't get erased by primordial natural disasters, huh. 

Anyways, the kid had moved from Australia when he was ten and somehow managed to become bros with the kid he bullied and his former tormentee's adopted brother after that. Manic's schtick is that he is a master manipulator of emotions. He senses every living thing within a 110m radius and can have them shitting their pants with a single yawn. There was this one time where he wiped out an entire squadron of USARILN soldiers by having them shoot themselves in the head. The guy's ability lets him instill a crazy intense primal emotion in his targets, which basically lets him order them to do whatever he wants. 

Whenever he uses his power, this blinding blue light shines from the center of his chest. So if you ever see a ginger with an Iron Man arclight smirking at you, pray that the worst he'll do to you is make you tapdance or something. Actually, that ginger part of the last statement might not even apply. Since his power isn't a combat-based one he usually stays out of the front lines, chilling by the side in a quick disguise. He never keeps the same hairstyle or hair colour for more than a month. Yep. He's a fashionista [i]and[/i] a sadistic, murderous psychopath.

[b][color=f7976a]Whisper (Whisper Lehmann  //  22):[/color][/b] Tall, dark, and handsome, Whisper would be an Abercrombie & Fitch model (you know, those mostly naked ones on their shopping bags) if he wasn't a psycho Animus whose power revolves around screaming you to death. It sounds funny when I put it that way, but don't ever underestimate Whisper, because sound [i]travels[/i], boys and girls, and magical sound [i]really fucking travels.[/i] Whisper has a terrifying 300m range (it took a lot of dead soldiers and civilians for them to finally calculate that) with a targeted sound wave and a slightly less terrifying 100m range when he's just letting off a point-blank sound explosion around him. 

His power is always on all the time, so normally he can't talk, even though his magic apparently fixed whatever was making him mute before. Ironic. But I guess it adds to that silent and aloof Adonis image he has--don't even get me started on the fangirls that think they can "change him." His name is disturbingly apropos since even a whisper from him can send you and your chair flying a few meters away. His tell is obviously sound. If you ever see him and his mouth starts moving...well, you're probably not going to get out of range in time, so make your peace with yourself or whichever god you worship.

He once drove off Merlin and Kadabra just by casually strolling through a small town while singing some opera. I shouldn't even note that his singing was good considering the context of the situation, but I will just for details' sake. The sound waves were apparently enough to deflect most things Kadabra and Merlin threw at him and he just focused down anything that made it through the, apparently, [i]walls of sound[/i], which meant by the time he was done having his little singing stroll, there wasn't a town left. And then Backdoor met up with him as he stopped singing and teleported the two of them away before Merlin and Kadabra could close in on them. 

I guess I should mention that Whisper's obvious tick--as several military squadrons have found out the hard way--involves his brotherly affection for Refrain. Basically, don't threaten Refrain if Whisper's around. He doesn't take it well and not even Refrain's direct order is going to stop Whisper from shouting you dead. When he says "Go to hell," he means it in more ways than one.

[b][color=f7976a]Queen Bee (Rhian Gallagher //  25):[/color][/b] Frisbee's got this one, guys. Bee is hot. 'Nuff said. She's a fairly tall drink of water, if you ask me. She typically wears edgy punk type clothes and dark lipstick and eyeliner. She has a tattoo of some peonies on her left shoulder. And a symbol that glows a goldish color just below her collar bone's center, whenever her powers are active. 

Bee has total control over insects, arachnids, and the like-- even some insect-like monsters leftover from Dreamcatcher (to some degree). This is still under speculation, but due to data gathering on the largerst swarm she's ever amassed on the fly (no pun intended), it would seem she can summon any bugs within a 4 mile radius. She can also grossly increase the size of her insects-- also to some degree. 15-20 car-size creepy crawlies at a time, five the size of your house, or one that's straight out of a Godzilla movie. These numbers aren't exact, but sightings have been consistent enough to suggest that the number of bugs she can grow is dependent on the size. 

If giant swarms or just plain giant bugs (some of which are definitely poisonous) didn't seem like it was enough, Bee can also fly via a pair of large, translucent wings. As with her bugs, she is able to "summon" her wings at will, along with a pair of long, antennae. When is this state, she is extremely fast and agile-- like trying to swat a fly that's sending hordes of bees straight for your eyeballs at the same time.

Her past, unfortunately, isn't that interesting. We know she's from Scotland, but that's about it. Sources tell she used to be a regular run-of-the-mill high school student before her powers hit. They say she used to run with the more popular crowd, if that means anything. 

One thing's for sure though-- she can bug me any day. I'd love to taste some of [i]her[/i] honey, know what'm sayin?
 
[b][color=f7976a]Backdoor (Jonathan Mah  //  20):[/color][/b] Backdoor is one of the extremely rare long-distance teleporters in the world. No clue why the long-range version of the magic is that rare, it just is. The Precursors wanted him under their control for the longest time, so imagine everyone's surprise when he showed up with Refrain, Manic, and Whisper in Chicago. 

His ability gives them an easy exit from every confrontation, but it's gimped in that he can't choose the destination. He can set a few waypoints down (and only he knows where he set them), but the actual teleportation magic will randomly select from there. For a gimp, it's pretty damn good at keeping Foresight from tracking them. There's only so many places someone can ask "Will they appear here?" before she exhausts her magic saying "No" or "I don't know" over and over again. There's likely a limit distance for Backdoor's teleports as Cat's Cradle has never been spotted too far from a previous teleport. A few cities' distance away seems to be the farthest they can go in one jump, though it's not known how far they can move if Refrain boosts Backdoor. 

Little information on Backdoor before he joined Cat's Cradle. Average kid, average family, average home. Nothing spectacular. No weird quirks or psychiatric evaluations. How he got bad enough to become an Animus is anyone's guess with that kind of history. His tell is pretty obvious: he opens a gaping portal with ragged edges. Looks like someone shredded the fabric of reality. And beyond that is a black void. Because there's no location set until they exit the portal. So it's a little frightening to even look at, let alone jump into. Says something about how hardened they are that none of them even blink at throwing themselves into some abyssal reality maw.
 
[b][color=f7976a]Scaffold (Cecilia Lanner  //  30):[/color][/b] The main mobility of the group aside from Backdoor's escape-style plays, Scaffold doesn't actually fly like a conventional mage's thoughts on flight would veer towards. She makes, appropriately, magical scaffolding in the air that needs to be connected to each other as they're created, forming a constantly moving, floating construct comparable to the magic carpet from [i]Aladdin[/i], but instead of just sitting on a carpet and moving, Scaffold has to constantly create new carpets in front of the one they're leaving behind as they move forward. 

She used to take ages to put things together, but not only has she gotten a hell of a lot faster and better, just like everyone else in Cat's Cradle, she also makes use of Refrain's boosts when they need to get away in a hurry. For her, the boosts amplify the speed with which she can create and "set" the next panel of scaffolding for movement. If she wasn't constantly deconstructing previous panels and creating new ones so fast you'd blink and miss it, you'd think she and anyone she's helping is running on air. Besides Refrain, she's probably the other most vulnerable member of Cat's Cradle since her power has no offensive/defensive capabilities. Her scaffolds are easily shattered by most strong magical attacks and can't really function as shields or even distractions, but she can definitely give the group some pretty crazy angles on the battlefield since she can generate and sustain her magical panels from about 150 meters away. That means Whisper gets easy shots on everyone if people aren't aware.

Scaffold used to be a hairdresser, making a decent bit from the rich customers in her area. Then one of Dreamcatcher's giant griffins smashed everything to pieces and spat out so much volatile acid that her little section of the city was declared uninhabitable. She also lost half her face from a light splash of the acid and now sports hideous scarring on the bottom half of her face despite multiple rounds of plastic surgery. After blowing all her savings trying to fix her face, Scaffold wasn't heard from again until she appeared with Cat's Cradle in Chicago.
 
[b][color=f7976a]Firestarter (Vanessa Hamilton  //  21):[/color][/b] Man, it's times like these when you wish that people had vanilla powers like flamethrowing eyeballs or something. But nope, this girl's powers are so much more undetectable and unavoidable than mere fire emission. 

Firestarter can heat up an area covering several average city blocks up to 1000 degrees celsius. She's practically a mobile sun. The worst part is that you probably won't even see it coming. Maybe you'll see some shimmering air like you do in the desert but your body will probably have reached its melting point before you realise what's happening. You want to know why Matterhorn has dropped off of most maps? It's because Firestarter melted it down into a neat, flat little plateau in September 2015. Her power only takes about three minutes to transfer all that heat too. Imagine, you're trekking along with your little mountain goat one day, and then in that brief three-minute span a fucking mountain disappears and all the native flora is decimated. 

Her tell is the condensed orange glow around her hands when her powers are activated, though when she can microwave you from hundreds of metres away, it's not a very helpful indicator. At the very least, while she's superheating an area, she has to stand still, and her effect kind of blooms out strictly in front of her in a bit of rough cone, so she's vulnerable to flank and rear attacks while she's "casting." She also needs time to cool down after every round or she starts to slowly succumb to her own heat. Her background was pretty simple. An orphaned black kid in a half-flooded Brooklyn, left to live off food coupons to feed her siblings after her parents got beaten to death by looters. She single-handedly collapsed the abandoned ten-storey building where the looters were hiding out, with all of them inside when it happened of course. Then she ran off, but not before entrusting her siblings to her aunt. It would be reasonable to assume that none of the family she left behind survived the followup attack a week later.

[b][color=f7976a]Perfume (Erica Baxter  //  28):[/color][/b] I really wish the media would choose more threatening labels for these psychopaths, cos former teen actress Erica Baxter's power is about a gazillion times worse than SpongeBob and Patrick's journey through the perfume department. Think of your local exterminator with that gas thingy he has to kill ants. Now think of that being on a human scale. 

Perfume exhales this giant, ungodly-looking golden smog that can be remote controlled by the lady herself. The initial cloud only spans about 10m, but then she spreads the particles around up to 100m around her. Spreading it takes time and she does have to stand still to thin out the cloud to more practical sizes, but she's gotten faster at it. Only takes her a few minutes now where it used to cost the group a solid 20 minutes back in their more manageable days. The cloud smells damn good (like lavender apparently) outside of the real effect's range (about 50 or so meters outside of the 100m setup) and attracts people to it until they realize it's Perfume. Then it's too late. Its effects depend on how long you've been exposed to it. 

A few seconds means a janked up nervous system for around three hours. Half a minute means you're completely paralysed for two to three days. Being exposed to it for full minute is the scariest part. Quick-acting leprosy-like symptoms over the space of a week. You're trapped in your own body, writhing in pain the entire time because your limbs are blackening and falling off one by one. No one has survived this for more than eight days. This is the kind of shit that makes entire states issue air filtration systems and gas masks to their citizens, if they're lucky enough to receive notice of CC's presence in the area long enough before. 

I probably shouldn't even have to tell you much about her background. Chances are you've seen at least one of her old movies. If you haven't, you can check out the extensive Filmography and Awards and Nominations sections on her Wikipedia page. You don't become the second youngest actress to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame without accomplishing some major shit. It wouldn't be hard to imagine at which point she lost it, with the whole drug scandal, car accident, incarceration for shoplifting, etc. She had only been outside of the public eye for about a year before she showed up in Chicago with the CC.

[b][color=f7976a]Cancer (Seiji Renge  //  19):[/color][/b] Wish granted, Rad. Next on the list is Cancer. So this guy's nickname stuck a bit too hard from first impressions when his power has nothing to do with cancer or carcinogens. He wears his "magic pet" like a weird, black blob around his neck and shoulders, and it's supposed to be imitating a feather boa or something. Someone at an editorial office late at night probably thought the joke would be hilarious (the social media backlash actually got the guy fired), but didn't bet on the name [i]sticking[/i] thanks to the internet and the whole "what is dead may never die" mindset of trolls online. Cancer has a pet that devours everything it touches besides him and his allies, because he can fine tune that control. 

This pet seems to have a movement range of 200m since it's been spotted that far from Cancer before returning to its master. The thing is intelligent. It is its own entity and it is as deadly as any of Dreamcatcher's creations. Hell, it might even be one of Dreamcatcher's creations and the guy's real power is to command certain Dreamcatcher creatures. Who knows? But he's only ever used the one and the internet has taken to calling it Tumor. Yes. Look, I don't come up with these names. So just bear with me. 

Anyway, dealing with Tumor is a no-contact-ever type of strategy because no one knows if the "eat everything" ability can work past, say, Sparrow's flight invincibility. But given that Garrote managed it, no one's taking any risks. Tumor is about 30m long completely unfurled and moves fucking fast. It can float several meters off the ground and can bend and twist its creepy, boneless body any way it wants in order to touch you. Don't forget it has that face that reminds most people of the Jack the Killer creepypasta face. Why the fuck does it even have a face when its entire body is basically a touch-and-be-destroyed magical mouth? This has to be some of Dreamcatcher's worst fuckery. 

Cancer apparently came from some Yakuza family in Japan, and reports indicate they were trying to keep him there. Reports also indicate the people and the surrounding buildings didn't survive the fight that followed with Cancer's nigh-invincible pet. Unlike his pet, however, Cancer is completely vulnerable, which is tempting until some idiot charges at him and Tumor moves back at nutter speed to blindside them. Then suddenly half their body's gone and Cancer's bitching about how blood stains permanently and how it was really hard to find a jacket that fit his gangly frame.

[b][color=f7976a]Hashtag (Garrett Hart  //  27):[/color][/b] The weirdest healer to ever exist. Hashtag has to stick his fingers into the injuries to heal them. He can't just touch them. He can't just lightly insert the tips of his fingers into the painful wound. He has to stick the entire length of his fingers into the wound. Wait, you might be asking, what if the wound isn't deep enough to stick his hands in? He licks them. Depending on the depth of the wound, he might have to lick it several times. 

Wounds that are deep enough for him to stick his hands straight into heal immediately once he removes his hands. But it's kind of fucking excruciating before that, I imagine. Let it never be said his healing is ineffectual--it's actually pretty instantaneous. Skin doesn't even knit together. It's just back together in a snap. No process, just result. If it wasn't for how invasive and kind of kinky his healing magic is, he might have found a different place with a different group that wasn't Cat's Cradle. 

As it is, now that he's been with them, he's stuck with them. Not that the guy minds. I don't think any guy minds getting to lick decent-to-pretty girls if they're heterosexual, and let's be real, Perfume is hot. Given the nature of their healer, most of Cat's Cradle do their damndest to not take any damage. Occasional banter recorded by nearby military units reveal it's something of a mark of shame in the group if you've had to be licked by Hashtag recently.

Not much is known about Hashtag before he joined Cat's Cradle. He was an accountant at a small firm who lost his job when the firm went belly-up as a result of losing too many business contacts in a slew of attacks from swarms of pixies. After that, investigations only revealed that he spent all his money drowning himself in alcohol before being evicted from his apartment. Where he wandered after that is anyone's guess, but he dropped off the radar until Chicago happened.[/indent][/indent]

[hr]

There's still a ton of questions surrounding the why and when of Cat's Cradle's first appearance and what the hell they're even doing in general, but we've compiled the most trustworthy bits on information here--though that's not saying much given some of the uncertainties and lack of details for some. Information is power, somewhat, so at the very least you'll know who to avoid and who you can probably get away from in terms of any potential fights.

Because of Backdoor and sometimes Scaffold, the rare Institution team here and there get nasty run-ins with Cat's Cradle, but they don't usually attack unless provoked. Just...when they do attack, it's an all-or-nothing deal, so if they're content to ignore you, live and let live unless you're [i]damn fucking sure[/i] you can win. These guys may not be openly hostile in a random encounter, but they have no qualms killing you if you get in their way.

We've recompiled all that information we just mentioned into quick and dirty profiles on them over in the related discussion thread [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4011561][link here][/url] for those who can't be bothered to keep reading through all the extra observations on this post. Frisbee did the same for the Precursors in the same thread.
[/hider]

[hider=USARILN East Maps][center]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/dl6m2LF.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/txxe0MF.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/kQ8SBlW.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/dUHyRpd.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/y3mYhUN.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/zhXpzDu.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/0YVl8t7.jpg[/img]
[/center][/hider]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ifVwAOx.png[/img][/center][hr][center][color=silver]"𝕄𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕦𝕟𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕨𝕖 𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕥."[/color][/center][hr]

[hider=Character Sheet Code]
[code]Basic CS template. Feel free to spruce it up as you like. This simply details the information you must have on your sheet. Anything else is up to you. Make sure you change the color to whatever you'll be using in-game.

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℕ 𝕒 𝕞 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Johnny Smithy[/indent]
[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕘 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]Between 13-19.[/indent]
[color=f7976a][h3]  ℍ 𝕖 𝕚 𝕘 𝕙 𝕥 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]xxx[/indent]
[color=f7976a][h3]  𝕎 𝕖 𝕚 𝕘 𝕙 𝕥 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]xxx[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕡 𝕡 𝕖 𝕒 𝕣 𝕒 𝕟 𝕔 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]Image and/or description. Illustrations/anime/manga preferred.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℙ 𝕖 𝕣 𝕤 𝕠 𝕟 𝕒 𝕝 𝕚 𝕥 𝕪 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Be detailed here. Think quirks, small habits, triggers, pet peeves, and the like. How has your character's magic influenced their personality? (Last point applies more strongly for Aberrations.)[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℍ 𝕚 𝕤 𝕥 𝕠 𝕣 𝕪 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Barring important events/plot-related events (PM me if you want to try a more involved history), [u][b]keep it brief.[/b][/u] Focus more on how your character found themselves at USARILN East. Everything else can be revealed artfully IC. As a note, everyone will be starting out new to the school unless a GM or co-GM clears a different history.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝕄 𝕒 𝕘 𝕚 𝕔 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent][color=red][b]PM me or a co-GM with what you want to do, first.[/b][/color] Be as creative as you want. This is the game where I'll ask you to throw me your special snowflake ideas and I or one of the co-GMs will take the proposed concept, apply limiters/tweaks to balance it out in the context of the universe, then give it back to you in both Arbiter and Aberration form for you to choose. Don't worry, you'll get more powerful. Disgustingly powerful. You'll need to, after all. But at the onset, you're all still working out the kinks in your abilities and making sure no one's losing an arm trying to cast a spell. We have mages for that arm thing, but it would still suck.[/indent]

[indent]Please also note that we reserve the right to reject any powers we deem too similar to ones already posessed by other accepted characters. Feel free to ask anyway, as abilities with similarities aren't neccessarily bad. Redundancy saves lives sometimes.

As a rule, Aberrations will generally have deadlier powers, though not necessarily "better" in all cases. There is a cost if you play an Aberration and I fully expect you to deal with the cost properly--no "shaking it off" or "ignoring it with willpower."

Make up a name for your ability for consistency's sake, please. Include it at the beginning of the magic description. Finally, if, in the discussion of powers, I/the co-GMs forgot to provide a visual/audio telegraph for your ability, feel free to make one up. One [i]must[/i] be included, however.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔻 𝕣 𝕖 𝕒 𝕞 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Do not fill this out until we've discussed your abilities. What your character saw in the first vision. This generally aligns with what your character perceives as "the 'best' version of themselves doing the 'best' things possible with their powers."[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℕ 𝕚 𝕘 𝕙 𝕥 𝕞 𝕒 𝕣 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Do not fill this out until we've discussed your abilities. What your character saw in the second vision. This generally aligns with what your character perceives as "the easiest version of themselves accomplishing their most selfish desires in the most efficient way possible with their powers."[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕨 𝕒 𝕜 𝕖 𝕟 𝕚 𝕟 𝕘 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Arbiter or Aberration?[/indent]

[indent][color=f7976a]  𝕊 𝕥 𝕚 𝕘 𝕞 𝕒 :          [/color][/indent] 
[indent][indent]Do not include this section if you're an Arbiter. Feel free to fill this out if you're an Aberration.[/indent][/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕣 𝕞 𝕒 𝕞 𝕖 𝕟 𝕥 𝕤 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]xxx[/indent]
[indent]You have none, yet. You will get some as the story progresses. Keep track of them here. Some of them might be really important or something, I don't know.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝕋 𝕙 𝕖 𝕞 𝕖  𝕊 𝕠 𝕟 𝕘 𝕤 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]Try to keep them more atmospheric, but feel free to have multiple.[/indent]
[indent]Your music link here.[/indent][/code][/hider]
[hider=Character Sheet Template (what it'll look like when posted)]
Basic CS template. Feel free to spruce it up as you like. This simply details the information you must have on your sheet. Anything else is up to you. Make sure you change the color to whatever you'll be using in-game.

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℕ 𝕒 𝕞 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Johnny Smithy[/indent]
[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕘 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Between 13-19.[/indent]
[color=f7976a][h3]  ℍ 𝕖 𝕚 𝕘 𝕙 𝕥 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]xxx[/indent]
[color=f7976a][h3]  𝕎 𝕖 𝕚 𝕘 𝕙 𝕥 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]xxx[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕡 𝕡 𝕖 𝕒 𝕣 𝕒 𝕟 𝕔 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Image and/or description. Illustrations/anime/manga preferred.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℙ 𝕖 𝕣 𝕤 𝕠 𝕟 𝕒 𝕝 𝕚 𝕥 𝕪 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]Be detailed here. Think quirks, small habits, triggers, pet peeves, and the like. How has your character's magic influenced their personality? (Last point applies more strongly for Aberrations.)[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℍ 𝕚 𝕤 𝕥 𝕠 𝕣 𝕪 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Barring important events/plot-related events (PM me if you want to try a more involved history), [u][b]keep it brief.[/b][/u] Focus more on how your character found themselves at USARILN East. Everything else can be revealed artfully IC. As a note, everyone will be starting out new to the school unless a GM or co-GM clears a different history.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝕄 𝕒 𝕘 𝕚 𝕔 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent][color=red][b]PM me or a co-GM with what you want to do, first.[/b][/color] Be as creative as you want. This is the game where I'll ask you to throw me your special snowflake ideas and I or one of the co-GMs will take the proposed concept, apply limiters/tweaks to balance it out in the context of the universe, then give it back to you in both Arbiter and Aberration form for you to choose. Don't worry, you'll get more powerful. Disgustingly powerful. You'll need to, after all. But at the onset, you're all still working out the kinks in your abilities and making sure no one's losing an arm trying to cast a spell. We have mages for that arm thing, but it would still suck.[/indent]

[indent]Please also note that we reserve the right to reject any powers we deem too similar to ones already posessed by other accepted characters. Feel free to ask anyway, as abilities with similarities aren't neccessarily bad. Redundancy saves lives sometimes.

As a rule, Aberrations will generally have deadlier powers, though not necessarily "better" in all cases. There is a cost if you play an Aberration and I fully expect you to deal with the cost properly--no "shaking it off" or "ignoring it with willpower."

Make up a name for your ability for consistency's sake, please. Include it at the beginning of the magic description. Finally, if, in the discussion of powers, I/the co-GMs forgot to provide a visual/audio telegraph for your ability, feel free to make one up. One [i]must[/i] be included, however.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔻 𝕣 𝕖 𝕒 𝕞 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Do not fill this out until we've discussed your abilities. What your character saw in the first vision. This generally aligns with what your character perceives as "the 'best' version of themselves doing the 'best' things possible with their powers."[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  ℕ 𝕚 𝕘 𝕙 𝕥 𝕞 𝕒 𝕣 𝕖 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Do not fill this out until we've discussed your abilities. What your character saw in the second vision. This generally aligns with what your character perceives as "the easiest version of themselves accomplishing their most selfish desires in the most efficient way possible with their powers."[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕨 𝕒 𝕜 𝕖 𝕟 𝕚 𝕟 𝕘 :          [/h3][/color] 
[indent]Arbiter or Aberration?[/indent]

[indent][color=f7976a]  𝕊 𝕥 𝕚 𝕘 𝕞 𝕒 :          [/color][/indent] 
[indent][indent]Do not include this section if you're an Arbiter. Feel free to fill this out if you're an Aberration.[/indent][/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝔸 𝕣 𝕞 𝕒 𝕞 𝕖 𝕟 𝕥 𝕤 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]xxx[/indent]
[indent]You have none, yet. You will get some as the story progresses. Keep track of them here. Some of them might be really important or something, I don't know.[/indent]

[color=f7976a][h3]  𝕋 𝕙 𝕖 𝕞 𝕖  𝕊 𝕠 𝕟 𝕘 𝕤 :          [/h3][/color]
[indent]Try to keep them more atmospheric, but feel free to have multiple.[/indent]
[indent]Your music link here.[/indent][/hider]
[hider=General Rules: Please Read Them]

Blah blah blah, general formalities. I think you guys will be fine.


[list][*]Rules may be added as new situations arise. Players will be notified for all additions/revisions.[/list]


[list][*]Co-GMs are [@banjoanjo] and [@RedDusk]. Appreciate them. A previous co-GM Baklava arranged all the pretty things in the character tab and banjoanjo handled all the background work in terms of management and organization. 

RedDusk, our fourth GM, is really good at hounding people to do things.

(With thanks to player [@PapiTan] for making beautiful banners for the RP!)[/list]


[list][*]Do not metagame. Do not godmod. Do not autohit/autokill (unless the GM or a co-GM clears it).[/list]


[list][*]If the GM or a co-GM declares something does/doesn't work, it does/doesn't work. That's it. No argument. (Exceptions on a case-by-case basis for more extenuating circumstances, but don't bet on being an exception.)[/list]


[list][*]This game will be fairly detailed. It would behoove you to read posts in detail. Skim at your own risk.[/list]


[list][*]Color your character's spoken dialogue, preferably with a different color from everyone else. NPCs will be color=f7976a.[/list]


[list][*]Do not tag people in posts unless you're directly interacting with them in some form. When tagging, either tag everyone relevant at the beginning or at the end. For very long posts interacting with multiple people in various places, separate the sections with dividers as best you can and tag at the beginning or end of each section.[/list]


[list][*]Be aware of the meta, but don't abuse it. Move your characters as true to them as possible based on what your character and their respective personality can do at that particular point in their development.[/list]


[list][*]Romance is allowed. But make sure everyone involved is on board with it. Kissing, hugging, holding hands = all fine and dandy. Getting friskier? Sure. Just keep it from going straight on ERP because the GMs would really like to not be in danger with the mods. Anything that strays into full-on porn is fade-to-black before it happens or it goes to PMs. Anything under the age of consent goes no further, period.[/list]

[list][*]This game will be gory. People will die--usually brutally. Dismemberment will happen. I say "PG-13" only in regards to erotic scenes to comply with global Guild rules on the topic. Combat falls well into the "R" rating. This doesn't mean it's gratuitous violence all the time here, though, so don't fly off the handle on the other end of the spectrum. Everything in moderation.[/list]


[list][*]One character per player for now.[/list]


[list][*]At least one post every week. One post every two weeks for special cases. Anything past that is a kick and the likely death/dismemberment/[terrible event here] of your character--whatever furthers the plot and drama more. PM the GM or one of the co-GMs for [i]really[/i] special circumstances.[/list]

[list][list][*]The "one post per week" minimum requirement is not imposed under certain circumstances such as combat events/NPC-relevant events/anything else the GMs decide to inflict a different schedule on. Refer to event-specific pacing for further details. Generally, pacing during events will be faster than normal.[/list][/list]

[list][*][u]COMMUNICATION IS KEY.[/u] Any and all powers directly controlling/altering other players should be communicated properly and politely OOC and both/all involved players should understand what's expected of them. The GMs will be heavily policing these types of interactions to make sure everyone's on the same page, but it would be easiest for all if there was OOC agreement/discussion on it beforehand.[/list]


[list][*]Be aware that all PMs sent to the GM or co-GMs will likely be circulated between all three of them for discussion purposes and to keep everyone on the same page.[/list]


[list][*]Co-GMs have the ability to accept and reject character sheets for any reason.[/list]


[list][*]Co-GMs have the ability to kick players for appropriate reasons including, but not limited to, willful disruption of the RP either IC or OOC, insulting other players, insulting the GM/co-GMs, holding up the RP for an inordinate amount of time, and any other factors that would be counterproductive enough to warrant a kick. (If the GM or a co-GM asks you to leave, please simply leave. None of them want to resort to reporting you.)[/list]


[list][*]Co-GMs have the ability to assign limiters and gimps to your abilities after clearing it with the GM.[/list]


[list][*]Co-GMs have the ability to offer Arbiter and Aberration versions of your magic after clearing the ideas with the GM.[/list]


[list][*]Don't be surprised if you PM the GM and one of the co-GMs responds to your query/concern and vice-versa. They talk to each other and if one isn't available to answer your question in depth at the moment, they'll direct it to someone who can.[/list]

[list][*]IC upgrades happen solely at the GMs' discretion following criteria only they know. This is to prevent any temptation to subtly meta into upgrades. As far as the players are concerned, just consider it a mostly random process. In essence: your IC play determines [b]IF[/b] you get upgrades at all and the GMs decide [b]WHEN.[/b] Don't ever [i]genuinely[/i] badger the GMs about upgrades or the upgrade criteria.[/list]

[list][*]As detailed questions come up about powers, remember to update your "Magic" section since the GM is not clairvoyant enough to see all possible futures. While your scrublord barters with Dreamcatcher for a better version of Foresight's ability, keep your magic section spiffy. Any small details that come up (that weren't specifically covered in the initial discussion) can and should be added to your CS both for your own sake and for the sake of other players.

Upgrades to powers very much need to be added to the CS.

Check with the GMs for anything else that might be important. Don't check with the GMs for cosmetic CS edits.[/list]

[list][*]Players can join the Discord for another method of communication. The public invite link is currently revoked following some disturbing news about random groups invading Discord servers and spamming illegal images (cheese pizza). If you somehow lose access to the server and need a private re-invite, PM one of the GMs on the site or DM them from Discord.[/list]



[/hider]
[hider=PvP Rules: Please Read Them]
Player-versus-player is a very specific subset of what I consider "heavy interaction," which means the rule concerning collabs apply. But with some small adjustments.

[list][*]All power vs. power interaction questions come to the GMs. Discussions and room for potentially heated arguments apply here, but if a GM makes a final call, it's final. Move on.[/list]

[list][*]For most other things, the GMs expect the players to handle it neatly among themselves. Did someone's attack connect? The fighters decide. Did someone take serious injuries? The fighters decide. How many bones did a dragon bodyslam break on the opponent? The fighters decide (within reason). [u]The caveat is that all headbutting parties need to agree comfortably with the moves made.[/u]

Matters of feasibility come to the GMs if both players are unsure or if the detail concerning something is unclear. Refer to the first PvP rule in this case.[/list]

[list][*]For extended PvP battles, depending on the duration of the fight, the location(s) of the fight, and the time when the fight occurs IC, the GMs may require the players to break the collab into multiple sections/posts with each section/post covering individual locations across individual hours, days (!), weeks (?!), months (?!?!?!), etc. (pls).[/list]

[list][*]Players with extenuating circumstances that prevent them from properly collaborating should first try to ask the other party/parties to write their moves in for them. Failing that, they may hand temporary control of the character over to any willing player to manage the fight in the meantime. They can also request full puppeting from the GMs. 

Keep in mind that these scenarios will force the puppeteer to check the CS heavily and will likely rely solely on that if the character's owner is away (which is why keeping an updated CS is crucial).[/list]

[list][*]Know when your character is finished. Pushing the limits of the character's endurance in battle is perfectly normal, but be careful not to overstep the 'pushing' line into powerplaying territory. Simple solution: just check with your fellow player(s). A quick "What do you think of this?" saves everyone a lot of trouble.[/list]

[list][*]Further rules may be added as new situations arise, but stick to the guideline of 'consider both your fun and others' fun' for best results in most situations.[/list]
[/hider]
[hider=Posting Expectations: Please Read Them]
[list][*]First of all, I will never impose a posting limit. I want interactions and events to flow as naturally as possible for play-by-post roleplaying and setting post orders/limits ruins that somewhat, as far as I'm concerned. That said, do not post a million back-and-forth conversational one-liners. Yes, conversations tend to proceed as one-liners, but for the sake of everyone's sanity IC, make a collab post for that kind of heavy interaction.[/list]
[list][*]Quality over quantity in terms of posting, but since quality often goes hand-in-hand with quantity, feel free to write as much or as little as you think necessary (barring the aforementioned one-liner rapid-fire posts). I want everyone in this RP to post as true to their natural instincts as possible--so don't feel like you need to cut your posts down or drum up more length because someone else posted in their own manner. Just do/say everything that needs to be done/said in accordance with your character's personality, and whatever else you want to do in the moment that makes sense.[/list]
[list][*]Swear as much or as little as your character's personality dictates. Try not to compose an entire post filled with "fuck," but don't feel the need to censor yourself.[/list]
[list][*]I'd like everyone to have fun. If you're ever not having fun, please let me know what's wrong. This universe is very flexible. As the GM, I have a million different ways of catering to preferences (within the global rules of RPGuild), so if you're stuck, bored, lost, frustrated, etc., [i]let me know.[/i] 99% of the time, I can fix it. The 1% will be that moment when you realize you just hate the RP's overall concept, which is something I can't do a thing about.[/list]
[/hider]
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