Long have people dreamed of power, but who could ever have dreamed of this?

Welcome to the world of Epithet Erased. It's a modern world, united in a single evolving language, where about one in every five people has a special gift known as an Epithet, but it's far from the typical superpowered society. An Epithet is a single word tied to an individual's soul, like 'Coupon', 'Parapet', or 'Bellybutton', and that person can develop powers tied to both the popular and individual concept carried by that word. Thing is, Epithets are completely random. Who gets them, what they are, and so forth. And most are weak, requiring both prolonged training and lots of creativity to use well, comparable to that of a sport or art. Those with the dedication, imagination, and luck can, however, pull off incredible feats, but most of those who even discover theirs seldom get any more use out of them than party tricks.

As such, society on the whole really hasn't changed much. But things are a bit more colorful, a bit more interesting, and a bit more special. And sometimes, remarkable stories emerge from unlikely places.

That's where you'll come in. The details of the event aren't ironed out yet, since this RP will go nowhere if there's no interest, but something's going down in Sweet Jazz City, a cheery town situated on the west coast of the U S of A. Maybe it's at a grand hotel the night before a valuable award is going to be given out to a high-profile Epithet user. Maybe it's after a rockin' concert headlined by someone with dubious ties. Maybe it's just after the launching of a new cruise ship, with all sorts of colorful characters aboard. Or maybe it's field trip day to the zoo, where the first-ever animal with an epithet is housed. Whatever the event, you can bet there's going to be interested parties, goons from the 'criminal' organization Banzai Blasters, shady operators from the Mundie terrorist group Bliss Ocean, police, and innocent bystanders aplenty. What could go wrong?

Imaginative character designs, both appearance and personality wise, are encouraged. Basically anything goes, in a sort of anime-ish way. Colorful hair, uniquely-shaped irises, you name it. You'll be able to adopt any sort of role in the setting once it's established, with whatever motivation, which can put you in conflict with other player characters. You could be a mostly-harmless Banzai Blaster mook, out to steal and vandalize a little, and stuck in a bigger operation by accident. You could be a headhunter from Bliss Ocean trying to take down a prominent Epithet user, a bodyguard for that user, a police officer just trying to keep people safe, or hey, just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time doing your best to stay out of the crossfire.

[hider=More about Epithets]People are born with epithets in a completely random fashion, having nothing to do with inheritance or circumstance. Those with epithets are known as 'inscribed', and those without are 'mundies', short for 'mundane'. Due to their random nature, some people go their entire lives without realizing what theirs is. They can be any word that encapsulates a concept, from antiquated terms like 'balderdash' to the newest of slang like 'yeet'. Discovery of one's epithet -known as an epiphany- is a 6th sense sort of thing; like having a metal detector in ones brain, beeping more and more as one gets closer, one might find oneself clicking with a certain word, drawn to think about it and its synonyms. 

This does lead to false positives, and even is a person figures out how to use an epithet he or she might take a long time to figure out the word itself. For instance, it could be months or years of a dude generating horribly poisonous spit before he realizes his epithet is 'strychnine'. Epithet use can be accidental, or discovered during moments of great stress.

Once you find out you have an epithet, you can start developing it. The powerset itself relates to whatever concept the word carries for the user, and can vary wildly depending on your character's personality backstory. For someone with a free spirit or a love of planes the epithet Sky might confer flight. Someone terrified of stormy could potentially wield clouds and lightning. Someone who associates the sky with birds might be able to control and even summon them. With training and creativity, what someone's epithet means and what they can do with it can grow a lot, offering new techniques/spells. Even a weak epithet can be made strong with enough practice and imagination; it's all in how you use it. Consider some examples:

A shy girl with low self-esteem and little willpower with the epithet Dumb might have the power to silence. To start with she might just be able to nullify sound in a radius, but Dumb also means simple and low. She could 'dumb down' things like the damage done by attacks or the summons of other inscribed, making them weaker or dumbing them down to nothing. She could also temporarily drop the intelligence of unlucky targets.

A bombastic Banzai Blaster, wanting to come off as cool, might make a lot out of the otherwise-lame epithet Soup. He could hurl hot soup orbs as projectiles, but he could also jet himself around with bursts of soup steam, conjure delicious soup to heal himself and allies, and lay down thick fogs of soup vapor to move about in unseen.

An extremely well-trained savant with the epithet Drowsy can really flex what epithets can do. Of course he could make people sleepy, but he could also summon sheep, manifest others' nightmares, and even manifest his own dreams while asleep.

A few more notes: given their random nature, epithets can be both blessings and curses. All take training and creative application to excel with, but some are easier than others—you can see how 'Fiery' might be easier to cultivate than 'Grumble', for instance. All epithets take stamina to use, essentially operating on a mana pool. Some epithets actively harm those who possess them, like 'Fragile' giving someone the power to make things easier to break but also making herself break easier, thereby making her life constantly painful. Highly-developed epithets affect their holders' appearance irrevocably, though not to an extreme degree. Epithets are [i]not[/i] informed by the individual's history or personality whatsoever, but they will almost certainly inform the individual's story.[/hider]

[hider=More about Factions]
Banzai Blasters - an infamous criminal organization in Sweet Jazz that runs on a pyramid scheme. It has seven ranks, in descending order: Baron, Senpai, Valedictorian, Associate Justice, Vice Principal, Captain, and Blaster. Each has authority over the lower ranks, a portion of their dues, and higher ranks confer greater customization privileges for the organization's characteristic [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/epithet-erased/images/0/0a/Ben.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/140?cb=20191201215353]yellow uniform[/url], including capes, gloves, and whatnot. To become a Blaster one must pay 49.99 a month plus tax, but everyone gets some of the money paid in dues by people they recruit. Blasters, who make up the vast majority of the organization, are mostly harmless, committing small-time crimes, and are typically made up of the dissatisfied members of society, typically youngsters or outcasts, seeking to belong and also get back at the system. Those with brains and ability tend to move up in the organization, but infighting is encouraged for ranking up.

Bliss Ocean - a terrorist organization run by mundies, for mundies. They oppose epithets and their usage, holding that the world is better off without them. To that end they suppress and sabotage inscribed, usually the high-profile, even going as far as to eliminate ones that really stand out. They are not opposed to using inscribed to this end. The organization is highly mysterious and deals with its operators secretively.
[/hider]

For this RP, there would be some expectations concerning participation. I would ask that players not apply at all if they don't intend to stick with it for the long haul. If a player decides after joining that they can't or don't want to continue, I would appreciate notification rather than just disappearing. It's just common courtesy not to get people's hopes up or leave them hanging. There wouldn't be any posting requirement, but I plan to update at least once a week, and it will be using my Reaction Prompt system. If a character is put in a situation necessitating a response, especially in terms of combat, and you don't post one or get a continuation, the results will play out as if your character just didn't do anything, which can range from other characters just thinking yours is weird to getting a free hit from an attacker.

By the way, considering the random nature of epithets I'm considering the idea of randomly assigning a selection of possible epithets for each player to choose from. I figure most people wouldn't spring for it, but it would flex your writing/creation skill in terms of making and playing characters, and really lean into the core idea of using creativity to make the most of whatever hand life has dealt you.

Oh by the way, you can play a mundie too, if you like. They might not have special powers, and are often underestimated by inscribed, but people are still people. A sharp wit and a strong punch are stronger than many epithets on the market. And, if you're a cop, you'll have Eraser Cuffs to even the playing field.

All credit to Brendan Blaber and the amazing Epithet Erased team!

Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear any interest, feedback, what have you. The scenario event for the RP is open to suggestion from whoever's interested. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to this hopefully coming to fruition!

[hider=Sheet Template]
(If you like, you can begin concepting a character. Since the method of assigning epithets, either random selection or free choice, is not decided yet, you can decide if you want to leave the epithet section blank or put the one you'd pick if we go that way. Since one's epithet or lack thereof can determine one's course in life, the backstory section works that way, too. 

[b]Name:[/b] 

[b]Age:[/b]

[b]Appearance:[/b] (Image, description, or both. If you use an image, it always helps to add extra details a single snapshot doesn't encapsulate)

[b]Personality:[/b] (The dazzling array of traits, quirks, affinities, and so forth that make your character unique. Make someone compelling, someone that you'd like to play and will have fun doing so)

[b]Background:[/b] (Your character's history. Doesn't have to be exhaustive, but be sure to touch on formative events)

[b]Motivation:[/b] (Why your character is at the scenario event. This will be what drives your character forward through it)

[b]Assets:[/b] (Where your character shines, in terms of physical ability, skills, and personality traits)

[b]Flaws:[/b] (Where your character falls short, in terms of physical ability, skills, and personality traits. You must have at least as many as you have Assets)

[b]Epithet:[/b] (If applicable)
[list][*](A list of capabilities conferred by your character's epithet. The first will probably be its 'base use', the first and most fundamental application of the epithet stemming from your character's original conception of it, but other spells/techniques, including special tricks and even secret/ultimate moves, can follow. Feel free to name them! Not every character will be highly capable with his or her epithet, but those who are often expand to other meanings of the word.[/list][/hider]