[OOC] Empyreus Academy

[Birdboy]

Welcome! My name is birdboy and while I am fairly new here, I like to imagine I am a veteran roleplayer. I usually take more of a Gamemaster stance in my roleplays, often stepping away from my own characters to play other NPCs or to be the environment around you so that I may create storylines and arcs within our roleplay. I was hoping to shake the rust off my skills by starting a good, old fashion academy roleplay. They're a dime a dozen, but you never can resist them, can you?

Below is the plot that this roleplay revolves around. It's a lot so there is a shorter version below it.

the story

In 2077 a UFO crashed into Union city, NY and shrouded the town in a strange, silver mist. The destruction was catastrophic, with measurements predicted the object to be upwards of 600 tons. Seeing the destruction and shockwaves that rumbled the very ground from the impact, the united states declared this a national emergency and poured resources and manpower onto the issue quickly and effectively. the results of hard work were that the damage was minimized and casualties were drastically cut down. The town itself was heavily irradiated and quarantined for scientific study.

Months passed since everyone had been evacuated before the first 'oddities' began to pop up around the world. People who survived or came into contact with the mist would sometimes mutate or gain powers of various proportions and sources. The only variable that was the same was their connection to the Union city mist. The number of people affected this way where far and few between, but super-powered mercenary groups and gangs slowly began to crop up around the world. Soon, powers came to be seen with fear and resentment. Many countries went as far as to ban all known 'oddities' as they were called.

Enter Doctor Franz Muller. A self-made millionaire banking off of his advances in DNA Study and alteration and automated surgery. As if from nowhere, he reveals a large institution with an impressive campus located far up in the Alps. He reveals it by sending personally written letters to 175 different families with one or more 'oddities' living in their home. He offers them to either join his staff if eligible or enroll anyone of 12-19 years of age into what he describes as "A school that will put Socrates to shame".

He calls the school 'Empyreus Academy', and agrees to pay for all expenses that the children may need covered (Plane tickets, eating/drinking, medical needs, etc.). Franz seems to be genuine and true in his desires to just help these children, but his actions seem all too fishy. Is he up to something? Only those select few who join may ever know.

TL;DR

Big UFO crashed into a city and destroyed it. survivors got powers but became societies rejects. Then a rich guy suddenly has a school for some to attend.

DA RULES
1. What I say goes, I am the dude that started this after all.
2. None of the 'metagaming, powerplaying, etc' stuff. Let's have fun
3. make a narrative! I have problems with this a lot. It's fine to have a shorter reply or to not know what to do, but please remember that we are trying to progress and make a story. Be ready to lose sometimes, feel free to have different kinds of relationships: be they romantic, platonic or even as rivals.
4. You can have up to 2 characters, use them wisely
5. Yada yada, you get it. I'm sure you've all seen thousands of these.

Character Template

Name:
Age:
Appearance: (Description or picture)
Motives: (What things does your character want to accomplish/their morals and values_
Personality: (Give me at least a paragraph)
Backstory: (Same here)
Powers/abilities: (try not to make anything too crazy and try to only have 1 or 2.)
Skills: (Not all of them, but maybe something special they can do)

[Spike]

I'm going to join this

[Raptra]

Shall decide on a character soon.

[medalliah]

Tagging to remind myself!

[medalliah]

Rebecca

Name: Rebecca Hornsworth
Age: 17
Appearance:

Image here

Motives: Rebecca wants to help people
Personality: Rebecca is a caring individual who likes to help anyone in trouble. However, she has a fiery temper when pushed too far. She speaks in a soft voice, focused more on comforting words and caring actions than anything else. Her selfless nature has had her taken advantage of in the past, but she can't change who she is.

Backstory: Rebecca was born the youngest of 3 girls. Her middle class parents allowed for a modest upbringing, but Rebecca excelled in her studies and she took her education seriously. It often meant she was bullied, but thankfully her older sisters looked out for her.

It was while studying as a junior nurse that she got caught up in the mutational issue. She was one of the first on the scene, completely by accident, as she was passing by and saw the carnage. She rushed in trying to help as many people as possible, covering her mouth as much as she could. She noticed as she worked that suddenly helping the people was becoming easier and easier. She was so focused on helping the victims that she didn't even notice that she had mutated.

In the following months, she did her best to try and hide her new mutations, only using them in desperate situations, often without any thanks. The invite to the school was a surprise, but if it means she could help others without being hated on, she would go for it.

Powers/abilities:
Rebecca can affect the cells of others via touch. She usually only would use this to heal, but in theory could harm others.
Skills:
When not using her powers, Rebecca was a junior nurse while studying in college to become a doctor.

[Birdboy]

@medalliah First character and I love it. Short, sweet, to the point. Accepted

[Birdboy]

waiting on the rest of you.

[Raptra]

Apologies for the wait, will have one up mostly likely right after the weekend.

[Birdboy]

@Raptrano pressure

[vertigo17]

Interested in this! Are you still accepting?

[Spike]

Ray

Name: Ray Gunn
Age: 18
Appearance: Pictured with younger sister. Has since replaced his missing eye with a cybernetic replica.
Motives: Construct more powerful gadgets, use them to conquer the world.
Personality: The Mists made Ray an excellent engineer, but he's not any wiser. He's rash and impulsive and maybe a little bit hotheaded. He's an adrenaline junkie and loves to take risks. To him, this superhero academy gig is just a ticket to a life of excitement and danger. He's maybe a little more amoral than you'd expect a hero to be: He's not evil, but he's willing to use force if he thinks it will make things easier.
Backstory: Ray was a rebellious young man growing up in Union City, and frequently got into fights. His mom died shortly after his sister was born, when he was 3, and so he didn't have a lot of supervision. He was always causing trouble and generally a bad kid, even up until the crash.

Living in Union City, Ray was at ground Zero. His apartment complex was partially demolished by the impact. Ray was the only one in his family to be injured, losing an eye.

After the incident, Ray and his family got some of that sweet, sweet relief money. And Ray kept having dreams of machines and complex math. Finally, he went to the library and started to research. He was never a good student, but suddenly, everything came to him as naturally as breathing. He spent several months camped out, learning as much as he could. Eventually, with the aid of a 3D printer and one of DNA Study's automated doctor machine, he successfully crafted himself a new eye. Of course, this made the news, and it wasn't long before he got his acceptance letter.
Powers/abilities: After the crash, Ray's mind expanded. He has a near-perfect memory and a fantastic reading comprehension and knowledge retention rate. It does not make him "smarter", per se, so much as he's just better at learning about science and engineering. Given the correct equipment, this gives him the ability to create technology beyond that which humans are normally capable of.

Tech

Evil Eye: After losing his right eye, Ray constructed himself a new one. It looks exactly like his previous one, but is in fact a sophisticated piece of technology. It allows him to "scan" others effected by the Mist upon eye contact, telling him the nature of their powers. It also has infrared vision, giving him perfect sight in the dark. Finally, it is connected to his Zapper, and serves as an advanced targetting system.
Zapper: A ray gun Ray invented. It can be seat to fire either a heat-based laser, an ice beam that coats anything hit in about an inch of ice, or an electrical zap that stuns foes. The laser and ice beam can be reflected off of mirrors, but the electric one can't. On the barrel is a small camera that hooks up to his Evil Eye, letting him see out of it and acting as a powerful scope. Combined with the fact that the beams don't produce any recoil, the Zapper is a very accurate and versatile weapon.

Skills: Before the crash, Ray was a delinquent, frequently getting into fights. Though he lacks formal training, Ray has strong mastery of the fundamentals: He can take a hit, and knows how to throw a hell of a punch. With proper training he will make an amazing martial artist.

[Raptra]

Picked this kid up from one that died way too soon XD

Angel

Name: Ángel Montero Cruz (Angel)

Age: 16

Appearance:

Image

"Emo boy" by neko-rulz licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Motives: To be able to control his newfound abilities, and to find meaning in him obtaining his powers and in what has happened so far as a result of him having them.

Personality: By default, Angel is generally not easy to read and is often composed and level-headed. That being said, he is also a rather intense person. He can be sly and is quite observant, but will not necessarily point out what he sees. Although inexpressive, he is generous towards those he calls friends. His words can be unpredictable, from brutal honesty towards another to an unexpected revelation about himself. He projects an inexplicable vibe of innocence, and a slight defeatist attitude might show at times, due to his lack of confidence in his combat skills or in the use of his powers.

Backstory: Angel was on a leisure trip in Union City with a couple of friends when the UFO struck. Fortunately, all three survived and the teens were promptly returned to their homes back in South America. However, the same could not be said about the time at which his abilities had first manifested. Angel came from a troubled home, and although it had never been blatant, he had always had his suspicions from his parents' demeanors and the injuries he would occasionally spot on his mother.

Everything changed one night some time after the incident at Union City, when his father returned home drunk. He entered the living room to check on the commotion he had heard from upstairs, only to stop in horror at his mother's unconscious form on the floor. Angel then turned and attempted to flee from his father, but was soon cornered and roughly grabbed by the latter. After a moment of lashing out and struggling against the older man's grip, all he could remember was a flash of electricity, before a burnt body lay on the floor before him.

When he, and his mother, who had made a full recovery after the incident, had made sense of what had happened, the letter from Empyreus Academy arrived, and in spite of still being somewhat traumatized by the event that revealed his own powers to him, both he and his remaining parent agreed that this was an opportunity that he should seize.

Powers/abilities: Electrokinesis - Angel is virtually an electrical source. He can draw and manipulate electricity from other sources, and amplify them with his own energy. He is also immune to electric shocks and other harmful effects of electricity.

Skills: Considering his usual demeanor, one would probably not guess that he does well in theater. His acting skills have aided him several times in real-life situations. He also has an interest in Media Art, including photography, videography, and animation.

[Birdboy]

@vertigo17 sure are but not for long. Hurry on up!

[Birdboy]

@Raptra Love him, and brownie points for actually giving a source for your reference picture. Approved as per usual.

[vertigo17]

Dane McKenzie

Name: Dane McKenzie
Age: 15
Appearance:

My Hider

Motives: For as long as he could remember, Dane had always dreamed to be a superhero. Growing up, reality had to notch his dream down and he instead aspired to be a police officer, saving lives and fighting crime. But now that he has superpowers? Damn straight he's gonna save the world!... Or at the very least as many people as he can.

Personality: He's happy-go-lucky, energetic, and talkative with a touch of easy distractibility. He's friendly towards everyone and loves making (not very good) jokes. He has a strong sense of justice with both the confidence and stupidity to always act on it. Although he has a bad habit of rushing into things and not getting the best results, he never feels down after a setback and is always optimistic.

Backstory:
Dane was the oldest child of a brood of four, which lead him to develop the 'overprotective older brother' trait. He loved his little siblings to a fault, doted on them constantly, and always tried to protect them from adversary - ranging from simple accidents to school bullies. Even during playtime as a child, his baby siblings would play as people in need of saving, his mother as the supervillain, and him, of course, as the superhero! It was what shaped his childhood and helped mold who he was today: a teen with a little too much of a hero complex.

Their apartment was within Union City, so receiving the brunt of the attack was inevitable. Their building was damaged and some of his family members injured, but amidst the chaos Dane was able to help them and other tenants safely evacuate. It was an eye-opener for him. He always talked big about saving other people, but just saving the people close to him was already such a difficult thing to do. After relocating to a different town, his power manifested while at his new school. After going through the excited spiel of 'hell yes, I'm an oddity' at his newfound ability, he began experimenting with his power and even crafted a crude training plan, ready to start honing his ability. A few days after though, before he could really even say he was getting a grasp of it, the letter came and his parents encouraged him to take the opportunity.

Powers/abilities: Water Manipulation
Dane can control bodies of water. From his experimenting, he knows he can freely move and shape it, and even change the temperature to freezing cold or boiling hot... The problem being, the largest amount of 'body' of water he can control at a given moment amounts to merely half a glass. But it'll get bigger! Maybe. He hopes.

Skills: Dane is athletic and sporty. At school he was above average in most sports he played in, but his real commitment was in track and field, where he had set some pretty good times. He also took several junior self-defense classes back when he had decided on being a cop.

[Aphelion]

Noelani Mahi'ai

Age: 18
Appearance:
Noelani is rather tall, standing at 6'1''. She is lean and well muscled from her vigorous training. Before her encounter with the Mists, her skin was a beautiful tan and her eyes were hazel. Now, her skin is an ashen grey and her eyes glow golden.

Hider

"Fletchling Paladin" by Mioree

Motives: Noelani seeks to progress herself further, whether it be via physical fitness, education, or tackling her powers. Her greatest desire is to figure out the mystery of the Mists and put a stop to them, and she is relentless.

Personality: Noelani is a bit of a brute, with an attitude to match. She prefers to do things her way, and rarely listens to peers - but will always listen to those she considers in an authoritative position over her. She will test everyone around her, constantly pushing them further and further with her commentary, to see if they snap or bend under her onslaught; whether it's joking around, compliments, or an argument. She isn't mean, per say, but she isn't somebody everyone considers exactly nice, either. She does have a strict protective streak over those she considers defenseless, and holds a strict personal honor code. Anyone who is seen as abusing their powers to hurt others in any way is an enemy in her eyes.

Backstory: Noelani is one of six children, and neither the oldest nor the youngest. She simply existed in the middle, but nonetheless was expected to be good at something by her over-achieving parents. Noelani exceeded in martial arts from a young age, to the pleasure of her mother, and at the chagrin of her father, who wanted Noelani to be more feminine. In order to seek a balance, Noelani also took cooking courses to please her more traditional father, and was on her way to becoming a professional chef before the incident occurred in Union City.

She was learning under the tutelage of a prominent chef when the UFO struck, and the shock waves from the impact caused the restaurant they were in to collapse. Noelani barely escaped with her life, knowing full well that she left her mentor behind to die, and ran as far as she could, unsure if they were being bombed or what was happening.

It wasn't until later that Noelani discovered what had really happened, and she went to live with her parents in California to recover from the shock. For once, they let her be without pushing her. Even when her powers manifested themselves, terrifying her younger siblings and mystifying her older ones, her parents still allowed her to live with them. Even so, it was a relief when the letter came, inviting Noelani to attend the mysterious school, and not wanting to be a burden to her family any longer, Noelani went.

Powers/abilities: Light Absorption & Manipulation. She is able to suck the light out of the vicinity and use it to fuel herself. The applications of this can be as simple as creating utter darkness in an area (no larger than a 12ft x 12ft bedroom), and she can empower herself as a result of the light, gaining enhanced physical abilities (nothing superhuman, but above the norm for a regular human) and limited flight (sort of like hovering or gliding, but not true flight). This ability is more powerful during the day, and weaker at night.

Skills: She was trained in MMA, practicing various forms of martial arts, but more than that... Noelani loves to cook. Nothing makes her happier than a well made and well presented meal, and she often volunteers in the cafeteria to serve up dishes with her own personal flair.

[Raptra]

@Raptra Love him, and brownie points for actually giving a source for your reference picture. Approved as per usual.

@Birdboy

I believe that you're the first one to ever mention it :D

[Birdboy]

@Aphelion hey, I think you're gonna be the last one to be accepted, alright?

[Aphelion]

@Birdboy Oh cool, are we starting soon then?

[Raptra]

@Birdboy A couple of questions - Is there a dormmate system for this one? Also, will there be a chance for further power development?