A brief synopsis of your character's life, experiences and training before the RP begins. This is where you outline your vision for the character including any notable changes or differences from the regularly accepted canon. This should be a short summary that provides insight into where the character is in terms of their overall progress and development. You could also include any notable differences from the standard canon you've added to your character.

Why do you want to play this character, what is the driving motivation behind both this desire and the character themselves. What do you hope to accomplish and where do you want the character's story/stories to go? For a driving character, there should be enough of an outline present to interest other players along with specifications towards how many players you're looking to involve or available roles. For supporting characters, this should indicate either a plot you've arranged to be part of or the type of plot you're looking to be involved in. Roaming characters have the privilege of doing either or simply stating a roadmap for the character to exemplify how you'd ideally like them to move between plots.

Otto was born in New York to Torbert and Mary Octavius. His early life was fraught with stress due to the abusive household he lived in. His father, a construction worker, was a short tempered man and regulary verbally and emotionally abused his mother - something which greatly affected Otto in his younger life, turning him from a happy and curious child into a shy and withdrawn kid.

He struggled to fit in at school, often being too frightened to socialize and fearful to show any of his natural intellectual prowess. Torbert Octavius believed intelligence was pointless if it did not lead to 'real work' and made no effort to hide his disappointment in a son who preferred books and science kits to sports or manual labor. He often told Otto that real men worked with their hands, building things with sweat rather than 'wasting time thinking.' The message was constant and clear: whatever Otto was becoming was not the kind of man his father respected.

If not for his mother, things might have turned out very differently. Mary Octavius was gentle where her husband was harsh, and she quietly encouraged Otto's curiosity whenever she could. When Torbert mocked Otto's experiments or tore apart the makeshift machines he assembled in the basement, Mary would help him rebuild them. When his teachers sent letters home praising his intelligence, she was the one who celebrated them. In a house filled with tension and fear, she became the one place where Otto could feel safe being himself.

Still, the damage of his upbringing left its mark. Otto grew up withdrawn, uncomfortable around other children, and hesitant to speak in class even when he knew the answers. His intelligence isolated him further. Teachers quickly realized he was several grades ahead intellectually, but socially he lagged far behind his peers. For a long time, he drifted through school with few friends and little confidence.

That changed the day he met Peter Parker.

Peter was one of the only kids who seemed to understand what it was like to feel like an outsider. While he was chatty, funny and charismatic - he was also relentlessly curious about the world around him, and shared Otto's love of science. Where others saw Otto as strange or intimidatingly smart, Peter saw someone fascinating. Their friendship began over a shared interest in science and comic books and quickly grew into something far deeper.

For Otto, Peter was the first person his age who genuinely valued his intellect rather than resenting it - and the first person that could match his smarts. They spent countless afternoons together working on science projects, building crude experiments, and talking about the future. While other kids played sports or chased popularity, Peter and Otto talked about changing the world through discovery. Their friendship helped Otto come out of his shell, and slowly the shy boy began to find confidence in who he was.

As they grew older, their circle expanded. Mary Jane Watson entered their lives next, a vibrant and fearless personality who balanced out Peter and Otto’s quieter natures. She had an uncanny ability to draw people out of their shells, and even Otto, who initially found her overwhelming, came to appreciate her honesty and warmth.

Not long after, they befriended Harry Osborn. Harry's life could not have seemed more different from Otto's. The son of Norman Osborn, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in New York, Harry grew up surrounded by privilege. Yet in many ways he understood Otto better than most people realized. His father's impossible expectations created pressures of their own, and Harry often felt like he could never quite live up to the Osborn name.

Despite their different backgrounds, the four of them formed a close-knit group and through high school and into college they remained inseparable.

Otto's academic talents only became more apparent as the years passed. By the time he reached university, he was already recognized as one of the most promising young minds in his field. He pursued studies in mechanical engineering and bioengineering, fascinated by the intersection between technology and biology. His ultimate goal was ambitious even by his own standards: to create advanced prosthetics capable of restoring mobility and independence to people who had lost limbs.

His ideas were revolutionary, but they were also expensive.

Unlike many of his peers, Otto did not have access to endless funding or prestigious laboratories. While Harry could rely on the resources of Oscorp and Peter managed through scholarships and part-time work, Otto often found himself scraping together whatever equipment he could afford. Much of his research took place in cramped labs or improvised workspaces, built piece by piece with salvaged parts and borrowed tools.

Over time his work evolved into something far more ambitious than prosthetics alone. Inspired by the adaptability of cephalopods, particularly octopuses, Otto began experimenting with the idea of integrating biological traits with mechanical systems. Octopuses possessed remarkable abilities: camouflage, extreme flexibility, decentralized nervous systems capable of controlling multiple limbs simultaneously. To Otto, they represented a blueprint for the future of human-machine interaction.

If those traits could be replicated, or even partially integrated into the human nervous system, it could revolutionize prosthetics forever. His invention grew from this idea, the mechanical tentacles he'd hoped would change the world.

Designed as an advanced prosthetic harness, the arms were capable of delicate manipulation and immense strength. Otto built them himself over the course of months, painstakingly programming their movement systems and creating a neural interface that would allow them to respond directly to brain signals.

But even as impressive as they were, the arms were only half the equation. Otto believed that true synchronization required more than technology, it required biology merging with machine.

Against better judgment and without formal approval, he began experimenting with genetic integration using several octopus genomes. The theory was radical: by introducing certain cephalopod genetic traits into his own body, he could enhance his nervous system enough to properly control the mechanical arms while gaining some of the biological advantages those creatures possessed.

It was perhaps the most dangerous thing he'd ever done, but it worked. Just not the way he'd expected. The night of the experiment was chaotic. Equipment malfunctioned and the gene therapy interacted with his nervous system in unpredictable ways. The neural interface meant for the tentacles connected directly to his altered physiology, amplifying the effects of the mutation.

For days afterward he was violently ill, feverish, and delirious. He barely understood what was happening to him. His body burned as if fighting off an infection, his senses overloaded by strange new stimuli. Slowly, the symptoms subsided and he felt himself going back to normal.

And that was when the changes began.

His reflexes sharpened. His coordination improved dramatically. His mind seemed capable of processing multiple streams of information simultaneously. When he finally reconnected himself to the mechanical arms, they moved with a fluidity that bordered on instinct.

The experiment had changed him. Made him more than human. But Otto kept the truth largely to himself. He was no hero, not in the traditional sense anyway. People like him weren't beloved crime fighters.

Only a few months have passed since that night. In that short time, his life and the lives of his friend group have been shaken by tragedy.

Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, a man who had always treated Otto like family, was killed in a senseless act of violence. To Otto, Ben Parker had represented everything his own father never had been: patient, kind, and endlessly supportive. Losing him felt like losing the closest thing he had ever known to a real father.

The loss changed Peter and it changed Otto too. For the first time, Otto realized that intelligence and invention alone were not enough to change the world. Sometimes the world needed someone willing to step in and protect it.

With great power, comes great responsibility. And it's time for the Octopus to demonstrate how responsible he really can be.

I genuinely woke up one morning with this idea almost fully formed in my head - and despite my efforts to refocus myself I can't help but write this. I've been writing bits and pieces of this privately, and thought there was no better group to share this with and write alongside than my old friends in Worlds Collide. I've also been massively inspired by discovering the books of Philip K. Dick which has spurred my love for writing again and changed the way I approach fiction.

The main plot will focus around Otto stepping into the shoes of a hero and juggling his home life and secret identity alongside this. Your classic Spider-man story with a few inversions and twists. Namely, while I may use some classic villains I aim to create a new rogues gallery based on Marine life to mirror that of the Sinister Six.

I also want to explore Otto's friendship with the non-powered Peter Parker, and his story dealing with the grief following the death of Uncle Ben - only this time Peter doesn't have the Spider-Man costume to jump into and process this with. Otto will also deal with problems of his own, his parents are still very much alive and his abusive father is still a part of his life. I aim to juggle grounded topics like this alongside the more out there themes of my favourite Spidey stories.

I am extremely open to collaboration, and would love to work on anything and everything with anyone interested as soon as possible. I'm remiss that I didn't get a lot of chance to do this previously, and I think Otto would be an interesting addition to the group of heroes currently in the roleplay.

If you live in Gotham long enough you're bound to hear the tragedy of the Wayne family. Thomas and Martha Wayne, the richest couple in Gotham and known philanthropists gunned down in the now renamed Crime Alley in front of the young Bruce Wayne after a late night showing of 'The Gray Ghost'.

What followed was a series of distant relatives Bruce had never even heard of popping up out of the woodworks to petition the courts for guardianship. Unfortunately for them one of the stipulations within his parents will was that their money should remain in Gotham and in a trust for Bruce until he was of age to claim it. None of them could handle the young angry boy long enough to see their investment pay off, and after being dragged to and fro between Gotham and god knows where in the world every year or so, his extended family finally got the memo and stopped bothering him.

Without fail, he would always have his trusty butler, Alfred to return to. The man became more than a family friend to him, he was a surrogate father. The only person he could trust completely and rely on in times of need.

As he grew, Bruce couldn't help but see the inequality all around him. Crime and poverty run amock in Gotham and there was seemingly no cure. When Bruce was granted his inheritance he began funneling as much of it as possible back into Gotham and philanthropy. Unfortunately this only served to line the pockets of corrupt government officials or worse yet mob associated criminals using charity to launder money. And for his effort he was rewarded by being lambasted in the press for having a 'savior complex'.

All of this soured his attitude towards his city. He wanted nothing more than to be as far away as possible from it. Frustrated and restless, Bruce turned his back on Gotham for the first time in his life. If he couldn't fix the city with money, then he would have to change himself instead.

What began as a short trip became a long disappearance. He cut his hair, vanished from society pages, and lived out of a single battered duffel bag. He sought out the edges of the world - places where people pushed themselves for no reason other than to feel alive.

He threw himself from planes over Sahara, he climbed cliff faces in Patagonia with no ropes, he swam under frozen lakes in Siberia - holding his breath until his vision blurred. He chased adrenaline like other men chase wealth or love, trying to burn out whatever part of him still felt hollow.

But there was something else too - a pattern. In every city, every hidden corner of the world, he found people who thrived in the cracks. Smugglers, mercenaries, escape artists, stunt pilots, free divers, thieves. He studied them the way some people study art, learning how they moved, how they survived. He paid for lessons when he could, stole them when he had to. He picked up languages, lockpicking, sleight of hand, disguise, escape artistry, parkour.

It was reckless. It was obsessive. And it still wasn't enough. Eventually, in the mountains north of Tibet, he crossed paths with men who seemed to know who he was before he said a word. The League of Shadows didn't ask him why he was there. They simply gave him a choice: leave now, or climb the stone steps to their monastery and never be the same again. Bruce began the climb.

Within the League, under the tutelage of Ra's al Ghul himself, he thrived. He became their sharpest blade, mastering every lesson they set before him: stealth, subterfuge, misdirection, close combat, fear. Where others sought glory, Bruce sought perfection, and for a time Ra's treated him like an heir apparent. Fully intending for Bruce to succeed him as the Grandmaster of the League when the time came.

But when the time came to swear himself to their cause, to lead purges of the corrupt, to burn cities so the world could be rebuilt in their image - Bruce hesitated. He had seen enough death to know that Gotham didn't need purging. It needed saving, and saving for Bruce was not at the end of a gun barrel.

Ra's called it weakness, Bruce called it hope. Their argument quickly became a battle after Ra's knew he could not convince Bruce otherwise. They fought atop the monastery in the biting cold wind, the League quickly outnumbering and outmatching him as they rushed to aid their grandmaster. He escaped with his life, faking his death after leaping into the white void of the mountain snow below.

He returned to Gotham a changed man. A decade of training and experience had molded his anger into something much more controlled, much sharper. He was no longer the furious boy lashing out at shadows, he was a weapon, ready to be unleashed on the corruption within Gotham.

By day, he played the part expected of Bruce Wayne, the aloof heir, the charming recluse whose sudden return from years abroad drew whispers at galas and boardrooms. By night, he stalked the underbelly of Gotham, carving through the tangled web of mob families, crooked cops, and corrupt officials who had kept the city chained in fear for decades.

For a year and a half he has waged this silent war, striking from the dark and vanishing just as quickly. The mob whispers of a monster that moves like smoke, that breaks their bones and leaves them dangling from floodlights. Police dismiss him as an urban legend, a fever dream of frightened criminals. The Gotham Gazette pays a high price for any pictures of The Bat that they can plaster on their front page. Public discourse is divided, but a growing percentage are beginning to feel hope when they hear about the Batman, hope that they can leave their house at night without getting mugged.

So far, it has worked. Crime families are scattering, territory lines are blurring, and the underworld is beginning to fear the dark again.

But Bruce knows this is only the beginning. Gotham is changing. The shadows are starting to feel crowded. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he can't shake the feeling that something far worse is coming - drawn, perhaps, by the very fear he has sown.

My goal with this interpretation of Batman is a bit different from the common portrayal of him. I am using heavy influence from the Tim Burton movies, and will be using a more stoic, awkward, and accomodating Bruce Wayne. I want to combine all of the good parts of my favourite batman stories into one, and give a fresh spin on a lot of his villains and classic storylines.

Ultimately I want to deliver a new take on the 'Batman: Year One' stories. This Batman has only been operating for just over a year and a half and hasn't encountered any of his main classic villains yet. I'll be starting with the Penguin and mob crime, and gradually work my way up to bigger threats like Scarecrow and of course, The Joker.

I think this portrayal of Bruce will enable him to involve others more in his stories and get involved in theirs. He's someone who can identify strengths in others and call on them for help when he's in a tough situation. He's also someone who understands the worlds problems extend past Gotham, and would want to help with other cities' crises. One idea I was mulling over was to get someone playing Daredevil involved in a storyline with Scarecrow, I'd love to see the fear gas have no affect on the man without fear.

I also want to specify that I am malleable to the history of Batman in regards to the batfamily. If anyone wants to play a version of Batgirl, Nightwing, etc unrelated to Batman I am more than happy to work with this, I am also happy to alter any previous stories with this Batman to work with any previous Robins.

Orphaned whenever his parents died in a car accident, Peter Parker was formally adopted by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben at the age of six. A young prodigy with a keen interest in science, Peter's education was highly encouraged by the two, even as they struggled to make ends meet out of a tiny apartment in Queens. Due to their hard work, Peter never went without, whether it was getting food on the table, a roof over his head, the latest microscope and test tubes, or even the occasional video game. And with his neighbor Gwendolyne Stacy as a constant companion, Peter Parker's early life was as close to idyllic as one could get.

Until high school. Qualified to enroll at Midtown High due to consistently good grades, Peter discovered that his fellow alumni lived under parents of a very different tax bracket. Despite doing what he could to fit in, the nebbish Peter suffered from social anxiety in addition to his aptitude for science and chemistry. In essence, he was the perfect target for bullying by the likes of Eugene 'Flash' Thompson and his oafish sidekick, Guy Gardner. Even Gwen, a cop's daughter, couldn't hope to save him from constant harassment. Nor could the other school pariah, Harry Osborn, who most of the students blamed for the economic difficulties caused by the company of Harry's father, Oscorp Industries. Peter earned Harry's friendship just by being one of the few who didn't harbor any resentment.

In fact, it was due to this connection that Peter got a rare opportunity after entering his Junior Year - a potential internship at Horizon Laboratories, the startup that had been founded by Peter's scientific idols, Otto Octavius and Curt Connors. Peter was so ecstatic to be working with two of the greats that he devoted himself entirely to the menial work allotted to him over maintaining his grades, much to the chagrin of Ben and May. But Peter was determined to make something of himself, primarily to make them proud in the first place. Though he had to admit that he hoped the work would lead to something more lucrative - despite their attempts to hide it, Peter had noticed the many overdue bills and rent notices.

If it didn't, photography was his backup plan. Knowing that a local tabloid called The Daily Bugle awarded cash prizes to anyone who could bring in shots of something their editor considered worthy of the front page, Peter wondered if any of the experiments that Dr. Octavius or Dr. Connors were developing would make for a photogenic story. His curiosity was piqued even further when the two began to get secretive about a new acquisition. Kept under lock and key, available only to someone with a clearance card, the apparent specimen was dubbed "OZ_001" on all of the forms related to it. With Ben and May's debt mounting, Peter became desperate enough to try something drastic. Sneaking out after hours, he took a train down to the lab in the middle of the night and stole Dr. Connors' keycard from the lab coat he always left at his desk. Armed with his camera, he was ready to snap as many photos of OZ_001 as possible if it meant enough money for them to make rent.

What he found in the containment room was underwhelming. Seemingly, nothing existed inside a small glass cube except a blotch of dark liquid. But whenever Peter snapped a photo of it anyway, the liquid reacted, coming to life and forming a series of aggressive tendrils that frightened Peter enough to immediately knock over another container, shattering it without paying much attention to what was inside. As he made his way out of the lab, feeling equally guilty and frustrated that he had barely anything to show for his efforts other than a close encounter with some black sludge from a monster movie, he felt something prick the back of his hand. Waving away something crawling on him, he saw what looked like a multi-colored spider dart onto the pavement below before disappearing.

The nausea hit him immediately. He began to have violent chills, his vision blurred, and the world spun around him. It was on pure instinct that he managed to make his way down to the subway, finding himself aboard a car back to Queens. All that mattered in Peter's mind was getting home before Ben and May could discover he was gone, a fate even worse than this mystery illness. By the time he reached his destination, he was in a daze. So much so that whenever he stepped off the platform and reached street levels, he didn't notice himself wandering into traffic. By the time the car was barreling toward him, Peter barely had time to react - so he just closed his eyes and leaped. Whenever he opened them, he was suspended several feet off the ground, clinging to a brick wall on the other side of the street.

There was no way this was real, the bewildered teenager thought. He had to be hallucinating. And yet as he attempted to get himself down, he ended up crawling upwards. Sticking to the wall as if he were a human insect. Overwhelmed with the possibilities, Peter returned home and slept the rest of the night away like he'd never slept before - to the point that by the time he woke up, the weekend had passed. Explaining to Ben and May that he'd come down with something, Peter made up an excuse about doing more work for Dr. Octavius to go out into the city and test his newfound abilities. He seemed much stronger, alot faster, and incredibly agile. He moved with precision, to the point that he could scale the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge without much concentration. And whenever Peter found himself getting too close to the edge, a buzzing in the base of his skull sharply alerted him to the danger.

Superpowers. Peter could hardly believe it, and yet had no idea what to do with it. On his train ride home that evening, he overheard an ad play before a fellow passenger's YouTube video. It was for a local wrestling promotion in the city. Win $3,000 for lasting three minutes in the ring with Crusher Hogan, the "Bonesaw". Peter's mind raced with possibilities, notably how he couldn't possibly enter such a competition without getting recognized. So he stopped off at a novelty shop in the Bronx and purchased a cheap overhead mask, added a blue hoodie over his red blazer, and drew a large spider on the front in permanent marker. He figured that if he had the proportionate abilities of the arachnid that bit him, he might aswell capitalize on it.

When he got to the arena the next day, there was one problem. The name that he'd chosen sucked. The fight promoter openly winced whenever Peter suggested 'The Human Spider' as his moniker, so there was a slight alteration that made all the difference. Announced as "The Sensational, The Spectacular... The Amazing Spider-Man!", Peter's masked alter-ego entered the ring to audible groans and boos for his small stature. But "Spider-Man" quickly put them and his opponent in their place, performing incredible acrobatics and a flurry of dodges that made the audience as astonished as Crusher was enraged. By the time that the three minutes were nearly up, Spider-Man decided to stop playing around, laying Crusher out with ease and getting declared the winner by TKO.

Of course, it was never going to be that simple. Despite an effective victory, Peter was handed a hundred-dollar bill and told to come back when he got a better costume. Angrily demanding the rest of his payment, the promoter seemed indifferent to the young man's threat and told him that security would be along if he didn't leave. Despite knowing that he could take anyone that was thrown at him, Peter decided to be the better man - though not entirely. Whenever he reached the elevator, a commotion had stirred up from the promoter's office. Someone ran out with a large bag stuffed with cash and a gun. The promoter and a security guard yelled out to stop the thief, but Peter simply stood aside and allowed him to escape. When asked why, Peter simply shrugged, mimicking the indifference he'd received.

Dr. Octavius and Dr. Connors, meanwhile, had reviewed the security footage of Peter attempting to get a shot of OZ_001, not to mention the fumbling of the cage belonging to the genetically enhanced spider. While Octavius wanted to bring in the police, Connors talked him down enough to simply fire Peter for the incident. Dissuaded by this, in addition to getting stiffed at the arena, Peter had decided he'd had enough abuse when Flash and Gardner began their usual routine. Knocking Gardner out with a single punch that sent the elder student flying, Flash attempted to charge "Puny Parker" only to receive a broken arm for his troubles. Horrified at what he'd done, Peter ran off and soon found himself dodging repeated calls and texts from Ben and May, clearly worried but rightfully angry. Deciding to lay low at Harry's place, Peter was surprised to learn that Osborn was throwing a party while his father was away on business. Settling in, he partook in his first alcoholic beverage, even flirting with a drunken Mary Jane Watson, the witchy goth girl who had threatened to cut Flash if he ever touched her.

It didn't take long for Ben Parker to show up at the front door. Forcibly dragging Peter out and embarrassing him infront of many of Midtown's most popular kids, Ben spent most of the ride home bitterly chiding Peter for his behavior, the fight, and the downward slip in his grades. He didn't know what was happening to his nephew and he didn't care: he was becoming a man, Ben argued, and men had responsibilities. Peter finally snapped, blaming Ben and May for keeping him sheltered all his life, forcing him to have to try harder to make friends. Despite clearly being rattled, Ben didn't want to hear it. The important thing at Peter's age was wielding the power to shape who he was becoming, and "with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

But Peter was too overwhelmed to listen. Storming out of the car before they could reach the apartment, the teenager utilized his powers to disappear before Ben could hope to follow. Making his way to Gwen's, he explained everything to her - barring a few key details - and broke down, expressing immense regret for the way he'd spoken to his uncle. Seeing that he was truly upset, Gwen managed to calm him down enough to see sense and realize that he owed it to Ben and May to tell them how he felt. What she didn't know is that he ultimately decided, then and there, to reveal everything to them. The sneaking out, the break-in, the spider, the powers. Everything. Leaving Gwen's apartment with renewed purpose, he entered the lobby of the building - only to find police officers stationed outside his door.

They were consoling a hysterical May. By the time Peter approached and demanded to know what had happened, her face said it all. Something terrible had happened to Ben. Captain Stacy, Gwen's father, approached from behind and confirmed the news: a carjacker had overtaken Ben in the city. They struggled, his uncle had been shot, and he didn't make it. Unable to properly take in the news without succumbing to a primordial lust for revenge, Peter calmly asked if they knew where the carjacker was. Captain Stacy revealed that he had officers chasing the stolen vehicle through Midtown. Without a second's hesitation, Peter ran out into the night and produced his wrestling costume. He made a vow that Spider-Man would be the one to put an end to that chase - if not the life of the man who'd stolen Ben from him.

Locating the chase with ease, Spider-Man landed on the hood of the car and smashed the engine in half. The vehicle went careening off the street and into the side of an abandoned tenement. The carjacker stumbled inside, a gun at the ready, unsure of what he saw take his new ride apart. But he found out fast, as Spider-Man leaped down from the ceiling and overtook him, rendering the murderer unarmed and beating him to a near pulp. Before Peter could deliver the killing blow, however, a police light revealed the carjacker's face. To his horror, it was the same man whom he had refused to stop from robbing the wrestling promoter. Uncle Ben would have been alive if Peter had acted responsibly, and the blame lay solely with him. Leaving the heavily injured criminal for the police, Peter escaped from the scene and allowed Ben's final words to him to echo through his mind: With great power, there must also come great responsibility.

And so it began. Using his keen scientific intellect to develop a pair of wrist-mounted spinnerettes and crudely developing a red and blue costume that obscured his features, Peter Parker devoted his life to righting the wrong of his greatest mistake. He'd use his powers to help others before himself, to make a difference in society like his aunt and uncle had always wanted - even anonymously. As far as he was concerned, Peter Parker was only half of his existence now. Because the other half would be taking to the skies above New York, delivering justice.

Or as he'd put it, in his first declaration...

"Lookout. Here comes The Spider-Man."

Spider-Man’s one of the coolest characters in comics, with one of the richest histories and supporting cast of characters. He’s a no-brainer for a game like this, and I don’t really intend to reinvent the wheel. He’s already got everything there, so why try and tinker heavily with the formula? My goal is to just try and build him up as organically as possible. When the game starts, he’ll have been fighting crime for six months and have yet to face off against any superhuman adversaries. Infact, he’ll have yet to really make a splash in any way, apart from locals recognizing him as ‘that spider-guy’. From there, he’ll gain the experience needed and interact with, I hope, plenty of other would-be heroes to really inspire him to up his game.

The only villains I’d want to build into my concept explicitly are Green Goblin, Lizard, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Vulture, Chameleon, and eventually, Venom. Everyone else would be free game for anyone to use, provided you’d do me the courtesy of lending me a few of yours to trade. I know Spidey’s not exactly known for working on teams (Avengers notwithstanding), but I'm very open to collaboration. We can even discuss some of the other spider-related people, with the caveat that Peter's just beginning.

The Sentinel of Liberty!

Captain America's tale has spanned for almost a hundred years. Steve Rogers, rejected by the US Army during World War II as a sickly, weedy lad, was accepted upon recommendation by Dr Abraham Erskine for Project Rebirth. The singular successful administeration of the Super Soldier Serum of the doctor's own design, and became the recipient of a unique prototype shield, comprised of an alloy which included a rare element of which limited knowledge existed at the time.

'Captain America fought alongside his partner James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes and the Invaders - a group formed to take down the worst of the Axis forces, comprised of the synthetic human android 'Jim Hammond' who would burst into flames when exposed to oxygen, his young orphaned human ward Toro the Flaming Boy with his circus background, and Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner of little known Atlantis who joined the allies after Nazi divers were found encroaching on soverign Atlantean territory.

They cut a path through to Germany, seeking to bring an end to the Reich and Hitler's rule. Hitler spun off an 'unconventional armourment' division of the Nazi war machine, under 'Hydra' their efforts had many faces. With Joseph Goebbels in charge of the forward facing propaganda machine and 'Public Enlightenment', numerous Generals in charge of conventional warfare and stretching and spreading the Allied forces, it was Johann Schmidt who was left in charge of finding a final solution that would bring a swift and decisive victory to Hitler and the Reich.

As the Allied forces battered against the Nazis, Hydra became more desperate, seeking solutions less from technological and innovate leaps in science and more into strange new places in the occult. Delving into dark, forbidden and oft forgotten lore of old gods and new.

The final month must have seen some kind of impressive breakthrough, as strange and fantastic new technology and weaponry flooded the final German lines as the forces had all but converged on Berlin. Schmidt fled to Eagle's Nest - Hitler's holiday home high up in the Bavarian Mountains thirty kilometres south of Salzburg.

Conventional troops remained and maintained their action, striking against Berlin in what would be Hitler's last days, whilst Captain America and the Invaders - more adept at dealing with his unconventional tactics and resources - followed the wily Schmidt, who by this time had become known as Codename: Red Skull in communications.

Eagle's Nest proved treacherous. The Kehlsteinhaus was highly defensible, perched upon a sub-peak of the perilously armed Hoher Göll, Hitler's 'holiday home' was commissioned by the Nazi Party and furnished for official and social functions. But the Allies had it surrounded as they scaled, so the only formal diplomatic meeting Schmidt could possibly hope to engage in was one with Steve Rogers fist.

Surely.

The winds and snow proved difficult for Hammond and Toro to overcome. It even managed to slow Namor, previously thought to be a tank of immense power, as his path were met by scores of armourments fit for purpose in targeting the haughty Prince.

Rogers even saw Bucky Barnes fall by the wayside, disappearing down the snow covered slopes away, echoing calls fading into the abyss.

Captain America became more determined to see that the losses earned on this day would not be in vain.

Finally breaching the premises, Captain America found the trimmings and decor to be overly furnished. Even for Nazi top brass. This was waiting for someone or something. It was laid out for a state visit.

It reeked of an ambush.

And of course Schmidt met the drama of the situation. His voice echoing through the hall. The spiel, the strength of blah-bla-blah. Schmidt liked to talk. Rogers had lost too much to talk.

The two men pulled sidearms. Rogers struck first and true. But he could have sworn he heard laughter along with the final rustle, emanating from the Red Skull.

And then the sound.

BOOM!

Well before the sight. It was all encompassing. From everywhere all at once. He was in the middle of it.

And then he found himself in a space between places. Looking up at the darkest of all visages.

Darkseid is.

A suitable name, for one who would come to represent the sum of all fears.

This being controlled all in his domain under a totalitarian rule that could only have been the true aspiration of Schmidt and those he'd been fighting all these years.

Rogers was whisked away to the Pits. To 'The Orphanage', which was either a torture chamber, a 'rehabilition center' or a breeding ground for all the darkness of one's soul.

Here he was to undertake a pattern of being broken and reassembled and broken again, physically, mentally and spiritually until he would no longer be able to see the joins or cracks evident of the fact he was once a different being, before he could finally be put to use as an ever-obedient tool for the use of 'Granny Goodness' and Lord Darkseid. Here in this place where the passage of time had no meaning and hours and centuries had no meaning. For in a place without time, how could hope exist? A second Rebirth to have him born anew as a being with no self beyond the whim of Darkseid.

Or at least that was the plan.

Having been given an elixir which would prolong his life to match the interminable term of his duration, a man who had been cursed to never know complete death, was gifted his own life back once more.

By a man called Scott Free.

A daring and miraculous escape, utilitising all of the tools at his disposal - motherbox, his aero-discs and the wonderful Multi-cube soon gave new meaning to the Sentinel of Liberty who once again had found his freedom, even from the darkest pits of despair.

'Mister Miracle' as he announced himself, had heard tell of a captive from one of Darkseid's interests, a strange world now on the scope of the Master of Darkness, He of the Omega Sanction. Moving against Darkseid cost him a valuable asset, Big Barda - one of Granny Goodness' own Female Furies - who had been providing intelligence on the movements of the forces of Apokolips. She had to be removed from her place for her own safety. Not that she seemed to mind, she seemed somewhat taken with the idea of instead fighting by Scott Free's side, rather than working and worrying about him from her post.

Captain America was boom tubed back into our world. A new world, of lattes and laptops. Of sushi and streaming.

A world of prolonged peace. And compromise in the interest of maintaining such a prolonged peace.

I'm bringing a global Captain America to the game. One who operates on the global sphere, wouldn't think that needs to be said, but a lot of the times in these games Captain America gets stranded on home shores defending the nation, when I think he's best suited away from home where his movements are less prone to politicisation by domestic elements. On foreign shores, he's trusted by the people to be acting in American interests, and in the case of this RP those interests will mostly be in protecting liberty and freedom from tyranny and justice at length. Hopefully by actually stating my intent, I can live up to it and keep him working on that level mostly.

This is a Captain America who saw the rising spectre of fascism both abroad, and attemtping to take hold with fifth columnists at home. He's seen how darkness can look to take grip.

He's also witnessed Apokolips. Where such darkness and tyranny is absolute, in true totalitarianism.

He's well versed in the fragility of liberty, freedom and the intrinsic value therein. Not just in seeing how it can slide away, but how hard it can be to penetrate the darkness once it's truly able to take hold.

The son of a prostitute and her pimp, a low-ranked thug in the Gunn Mafia that had for years held Bludhaven in its grip, the cards were all stacked against Jason when he was born in the late 1970s. Growing up in the heroine and crack-fueled 1980s, spent his childhood in the streets. He missed more school than he attended and if anyone in Social Services even noticed, they couldn't have been bothered to care. Doing drugs, selling drugs, stealing cars, or the tires off cars, he got dragged into all of it by the time he was barely more than ten.

Not that he was a bad kid, or intended to be one. His lot in life wasn't presented to him as a choice. When he finally had a choice to make, it came at a cost.

The year was 1989. The Black Cullens had been run out of Gotham by the Falcones, igniting a gang war in Bludhaven as the Cullens sought to battle the Gunns. Preferring white collar crime with a hands off approach, the Cullens funded and armed a motorcycle gang, the Street Demonz, to be their enforcers and serve as their proxies. The Street Demonz did a drive by on St. Bernadine's Cathedral and Catholic School just as mass was letting out with the goal of killing Faye Gunn. Caught in the shooting, Jason pulled a small child out of the way and wound up taking the bullet instead.

He should have known that no good deed goes unpunished.

He wound up in Hell. Disoriented, confused, and traumatized, the first thought that came to him was to try and find his mom. Except she wasn't there. Wanting answers to what had happened to her in the shooting, Jason was confronted by Mephisto, one of the Lords of Hell. Knowing the potential inside the boy, Mephisto made Jason an offer he couldn't refuse. His soul in exchange for the chance to save his mother.

The devil's in the details, they say. When the fine print caught up with Jason, he had just burst out of the grave to find himself in the year 1999 -- 10 years after his murder. He found his mother in the midst of an overdose. She died in his arms as Jason was confronted by a clown that was laughing at him. That was just the start of Jason's struggles. Battling Violator, battling himself, battling a real bitch named Angela that had a literal axe to grind when it came to Hellspawns.

Those battles came at a cost. Finding mentorship in a mysterious homeless man known only as "Cog", Jason learned to feed on the darkness and sins of others, becoming Bludhaven's reluctant and unlikely protector in the process. He had a low profile through the 2000s, with his most notable achievement being the takedown of Douglas Carmody following a series of child abductions and murders that rattled New Jersey. His profile raised, Jason came to the attention of the government, where a woman named Agatha Harkness showed up to ask for Jason's help with a zombie problem in Louisiana.

The exact agency Harkness was working for was never quite clear to Jason, only that the task involved investigating threats that were more paranormal in nature. Solomon Grundy, Morgan le Fey and her son Mordred, Faust, and Klarion the Witch-Boy joined the expanding ranks of really bad shit that Jason found himself dealing with. Not all of them bad. He wound up with a few unlikely friends, including Frankenstein's monster and a fellow murder-victim-turned-ghost-hero named Deadman.

Who knows, maybe there's a support group for their kind.

Today, Jason continues to serve as Bludhaven's guardian angel, however fallen. Disappearing for days or weeks at a time depending on how much he needs to recover from the fights he chooses or that choose him, usually into a grave that he dug for himself at the site of a horrific lynching -- a Coffin of Solitude if you would. He'd probably just sleep for years if anyone would let him. Unfortunately, if its not bad enough the government has his number, the restless dead don't give him much peace.

Addressing first that this is a second sheet, I'm finding myself with a lot of downtime between Arthur posts and want to do something to fill it, while also being able to tell a very different story than I can with Arthur. Instead of modern Camelot epic, this is Detective Comics if written by McFarlane or Gaiman with more of a supernatural horror bent to the mysteries. The stories are smaller, blending two basic ideas -- Jason's personal story and the broader S.H.I.E.L.D. investigations story.

Jason's personal story will be Bludhaven-centric, driven by the conflict with Ma Gunn, Tony Twist, the Black Cullens, and the Street Demonz and include characters such as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Jinx (filling in for Wendy the Good Witch). Billy Kincaid, Overtkill, and Violator (substituting for the Joker) round out the personal rogue's gallery. If Half permits, I'm sure Jason will pop up in Gotham at some point.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. investigations story is for location hopping and allowing for connection with other characters, with a Brave and the Bold type of storytelling that will feature Jason alongside Agatha Harkness, Frankenstein, or Deadman. Note that Jason is not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., but a consultant and isn't even certain what agency that he's consulting for. Mordred, Douglas Carmody (Bogeyman), and Angela are the planned antagonists for these stories.

Twenty years ago, Detective Larry Lance was killed in the line of duty. His murder, unsolved, would end up haunting his young daughter’s decisions for the rest of her life.

Orphaned and alone, Dinah was subject to the cruelty and negligence of Gotham’s broken foster system. She bounced from home to home with little guidance and an appetite for destruction. There was an anger that followed her and it wasn’t until she found a way to channel that anger when life started to make sense. Two aging fighters gave her hope for a new tomorrow at a derelict gym in The Narrows and eventually things started to click.

Dinah took these skills with her away from Gotham for a time and developed a sense for people. When she came back, people she knew from the streets back when she was a teenager needed help and she quickly provided it. Gotham had gotten worse. There was something prowling in the dark, the crime families were getting nervous and sloppy, and in the wake of that something’s crusade, people found themselves getting even more desperate.

While the Caped Crusader prowls the shadows, a Bird of Prey looks over the streets. Solving problems the only way she knows how: with her fists.

The goal here is to utilize smaller Gotham City characters to help tell street level stories independent or in collaboration with the Batman player. Given my personal struggles lately, I thought the best thing was to leave me in a spot that is malleable so I am able to participate in a game.

Dinah used to run with the street gangs (most likely the Street Demonz or some other insert) in The Narrows and has a lot of connections. These kinds of stories allow me to flesh out corners that maybe are too insignificant normally, and gives Dinah interesting opportunities to get in trouble with things outside of the Falcone/Maroni sides of things. Groups like the Golden Dragons, Jade Tigers, the Five Fingers are given room to develop. The Batman player, obviously, dictates the organized crime situation of Gotham so they might want to give me some notes that give me some guidance.

Characters I intend for Black Canary to play off include her mentor Ted Grant, Emily Briggs, Lady Shiva, and others.

There is also the case of her father's death, but I have no idea what I am doing with that plot hook at this time.