Nekoyama Adventurer's Guild - A Modern Fantasy RP (Interest Check/Signups)

[Tachi]

Due to its location, and the lack of any other towns or cities in the area with their own adventurers' guilds, the once small town of Nekoyama has transformed into a thriving city. Whether the beaches to the east are being assaulted by the monsters that make their home on and around the island of Akugashima, believed to be home to one of the world's largest natural Aetherium crystals, the farmers to the north needing protection for their crops or herds or someone is needed to investigate claims of ancient artefacts in the mountains or forests to the west, guild members from Nekoyama are likely to be called upon. The city itself is a fairly modern design with a large shopping centre, apartment complexes and, at the centre of the town, the guild hall.

The Nekoyama guild hall is a towering structure, on the top floors, a number of employees monitor social networking sites and phones, keeping an eye out for people in danger. Several floors are put aside to house people who have been temporarily displaced and need somewhere to stay. The ground floor serves as as a meeting area, featuring notice boards covered in posters advertising jobs that need doing, a bar and other facilities that the guild members can use to relax. Finally, the building's basement level contains a number of training facilities for most combat styles people could need them for.

Aside from the guild hall, the city's other main draw is its shopping mall. Within it are an assortment of stores selling everything from weapons and enchanted items to more mundane things such as video games, as well as a gaming arcade and cinema and a food court featuring cuisines from around the world.

Towards the outskirts of the city are a number of residential areas, with a mixture of traditional and modern house designs. At the top of a hill in the wealthiest of these districts sits the Wakahisa Manor, a huge western-style mansion owned by a famous mage family. Rumour has it that the mansion's staff is composed entirely of familiars kept by a woman whose age has remained unchanged for centuries. Of course, no one has been able to conclusively prove this and the current owner seems more than happy to let people wonder about who or what she is.

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Some information about how some things work in the setting:

Familiars:

•Most familiars start out as little more than mass-produced dolls.
•These dolls come in an assortment of forms and are sold in most major cities.
•Many of these are based on assorted mythological creatures, though more mundane animals such as cats, owls and ravens are common too.
•Familiars can be healed or revived from recent death by being fed some of their mage's mana.
•After their first infusion, a familiar develops a personality and is widely considered to be a sapient living being, with all the rights that entails.
•The more infusions a familiar undergoes, the less reliant they are on their mage's mana to function, to the point where some more powerful familiars are able to continue functioning after their mage's death.
•Most mages can only maintain up to 3 familiars. Though the exact number is dependant on the individual mage's capabilities, as well as how developed their familiar(s) are.

Magic:

•Everyone can use magic to some degree.
•A person's power depends on the individual, with some mages being naturally talented and others being effectively powerless.
•People have affinities for assorted elements and concepts.
•Learning and creating spells related to these affinities is easier than learning something unrelated while many find it impossible to learn spells based on something directly opposed to their affinity.
•A person's affinity also impacts their familiar's abilities. For example, someone whose affinity is ice will have a hard time trying to infuse their familiar with fire-based abilities.

Infusion:

•Infusion requires Aetherium crystals, which come in two varieties
•Artificial crystals: Mass-produced, available at high prices in major cities. Given as rewards by adventurers' guilds for helping with monster slaying or other such tasks.
•Natural crystals: Rarer and more powerful, these have a tendency to turn the flora and fauna around them into dangerous monsters over time, making getting them difficult. Some scholars believe that over the course of 100 or more years, even non-living items in the vicinity of these crystals could be transformed, though there's no conclusive proof to back this up.
•Infusion is a fairly simple process, based around a spell that almost everyone entering the adventuring profession (or any other career where it would be helpful) learns fairly early on.
•Though it's not difficult, it IS somewhat time consuming. A magical circle must be prepared, the crystal and the item/being being infused must be placed inside the circle and the process requires 5-10 minutes of focus, depending on the crystal's power.
•Infusion can result in a variety of possible effects, depending on what is being infused:
•Familiars: Due to their nature, infusions tend to have a wider variety of effects on familiars than other items:
•Enhances the abilities of a familiar, as well as the mage (though not as much as if the mage had directly infused the power into themselves)
•Can result in changes to the familiar's appearance. Most stop looking like dolls after the first couple of infusions and despite being mass-produced, it is highly unlikely to find two identical familiars. However, in some cases, due to conscious effort on the part of the familiar and/or mage, they retain their doll-like appearance.
•Familiars can develop new abilities, these are dependant on a number of factors: the type of familiar they are (a draconic familiar is more likely to develop fire breath than a fairy, for example), the quality of a crystal, what the familiar and/or mage want from the infusion (this is generally not as influential as other factors and has limits, for example: a mage can't simply really, really want their familiar to be able to warp the fabric of space and time and expect it to work out, it's more...determining whether the new ability will be offensive, defensive or support-based) and some other factors.
•While most familiars start out doll-sized, they can gain the ability to grow larger (though something growing to human size requires fewer, less powerful crystals than making a dragon become the size of a building)
•Generally, this is not a permanent change and requires some degree of focus and energy to maintain
•Items: Infusing an item with a crystal's power imbues it with special abilities. While items can be infused with multiple crystals' power, certain...irregularities can occur with too many. Depending on the quality of the item and crystals, there's a chance that it will gain sentience and/or change form. While some powerful mages have attempted to exploit this to staff their homes with items transformed into humanoid forms, such a thing is widely considered too risky to attempt, with most instances of this happening resulting in the items in question turning into dangerous monsters imbued with a multitude of magical powers.
•Humans: Finally, a person can infuse themselves with a crystal's power. As mentioned above, this can be used to boost their magical power, however it can also be used to enhance their physical abilities beyond human limits.
•Certain limitations or flaws can be added to an infusion to increase the power granted. For example, a normal infusion might allow a sword to cut through steel, but adding a big enough flaw or limitation (making it pass harmlessly through living beings or needing to draw blood every week or it'll lose its power) could enable it to cut through almost any non-living matter.

Setting notes:

•Generally similar to modern Earth.
•Due to the presence of magic, guns never advanced to the levels they're at today. Think flintlock pistols and such.
•Major cities are generally safe, though some rural towns and farms are occasionally attacked by monsters coming from areas with natural crystals.
•Some towns maintain their own "adventurers' guild" which serves as a hub for people looking for an assortment of jobs, ranging from searching for items lost in areas known to contain monsters to slaying dragons that are terrorising farmers to any number of other possible tasks.

---

So, yeah...anyone interested? Oh, and if there's anything I didn't mention or was unclear about, feel free to ask for a better explanation.

---

A few things to keep in mind:
•The RP's tone will be fairly light most of the time, though there will be serious moments.
•Start your character off at a reasonable power level. Not everyone needs to be perfectly even, but if everyone else needs to work together to take on a pack of mutated wolves and you can take on a dragon on your own, we have a problem.
•Try to avoid making your character's powers overlap with other players', while it's fine for multiple characters to have melee weapons or use offensive ranged magic, I'd prefer if there was some variety in the specifics.

---

Banned Powers:
I apologise if this causes problems with anyone's ideas, but I don't feel comfortable allowing any of the following powers into the RP. Keep in mind that some things may have slipped my mind, so I apologise if someone signs up with something not on this list and gets rejected:
•One hit kills, for the obvious reason of removing the threat of any combat encounter for the character. This refers to things like "I touch you and you die", not something as simple as having a weapon.
•By the same token, freezing, petrifying or otherwise turning people into inanimate objects, while not strictly a one hit kill tends to have the same general impact on combat.
•Mind control, possessing other people's characters, manipulating people's emotions or just anything that amounts to you getting to decide what someone else's character does or how they react to things, in part due to the potential to basically be another one-hit win ability and in part because it can get in the way of the affected player's enjoyment.
•De-powering other characters is unacceptable, given the importance of those abilities in any combat scenes.
•Reality warping, due to the fact that it kind of ruins any dramatic impact of any plot line people might try if someone can simply wave their hand and fix everything.
•Powers used to no sell attacks; this doesn't mean that you can't have a character with enhanced toughness, the power to go incorporeal, regenerate injuries or even resurrect themselves if they die, however they should not be completely untouchable and regeneration or resurrection will be expected to take time and/or have some other drawback.

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Character Sheet:

Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Personality:
Backstory:
Abilities/Equipment:

[Barioth]

I have some interest to give.

[VitaVitaAR]

Name: "Hmm... I think I'll wait until it's most surprising to tell you!"

Age: Physically about ten, quite a bit older then that otherwise.

Appearance: Rin recolored her eyes for me! And this is a better choice for the character even if it's still borrowing an appearance, eh-heh.

Personality: To many things, the vampiric being's(she seems content to let people assume she is a vampire, and will be referred to as such for now) reaction seems to be polite disinterest. She lacks any care for almost anything that exists, finding much of it worthy of very little attention. However, she will be polite unless pressed and annoyed, in which case her responses become sharper and less patient. That said, she often speaks in a very charming and polite manner, and is generally somewhat willing to talk provided that something she's actually enjoying isn't interrupted. While perhaps not very much, she does find people somewhat interesting most of the time.
The vampire will make for even more animated and pleasant conversation if she finds herself more interested then usual in a person. The more interesting she finds someone, the more pleasant and energetic she becomes. However, the charm, and in some cases teasing attitude, grows. In fact, the vampire often places some teasing in her interactions with others. One of the reasons the charm grows when she interacts with someone she finds more interesting is because she becomes interested in... tasting them. She does need to drink blood, after all, and while she wouldn't take enough to kill someone(that is simply unacceptable in her eyes... usually), she enjoys... getting a taste of those she takes a liking to. So her intent is quite simply to charm them into allowing it.
The vampire is also a highly intelligent and articulate girl. She enjoys reading and has a vast knowledge of a great many works. She is somewhat playful about her identity, asking people to figure it out themselves, though she will reveal it if she feels it is appropriate. Finally, she finds fighting only somewhat interesting... most of the time. If a battle really gets her attention, she becomes quite a bit more energetic. It would be easy to describe her as incredibly hammy if she gets going. She also becomes much more threatening, her smiles becoming much less friendly grins.

Backstory: The "vampire" was once a magical tome, one with some inherent magic but otherwise only a guide to the performance of spells. Its owner desired more then such a simple tool, and began to infuse it rapidly with the intent of casting spells directly from it. He was a brutal, cruel man, who wanted a tool to perform further cruel acts. He did not, however, suspect what would happen to it. As a result of infusing the book far too many times, it underwent a transformation... resulting in a pale, shuddering, confused girl where it once sat. While he was initially surprised, he quickly tried to turn things in his favor. He clothed and promised to feed her... and at first she believed him. Her personality, easily bored and surprisingly charming, quickly came through. Something happened, however, that the man did not expect. As he tried to use her as a tool for his cruelty, she grew more and more disgusted with him and his cruelty. On top of that, the vampire felt she simply wasn't being fed enough. So... she attacked and swiftly overwhelmed him, devouring every last drop of blood in his body. His guards attacked her as well. Not a single one of them survived. She freed the few remaining prisoners he had(and... satisfied what little remained of her hunger on a few of them, though she never got close to killing a single one as she did not want to). After that, she simply left. And for a long, long time she simply... wandered about. She flexed her charms, realized she had gained some kind of reputation, and cheerfully decided to be as mysterious as possible when it came to her name and true identity. However, she was quite friendly now, if easily bored. Finally, she came to Nekoyama. The vampire decided to settle down here... and somehow ended up with a small mansion and several maids in her service.

Abilities/Equipment: The vampire is highly mobile and very fast, as well as dangerously strong. Even a very strong grown man would be easily overpowered by her. The only ways to kill her are the destruction of her heart or the severing of her head. All other damage is regenerated completely. Sunlight, while an irritant, does not effect her "Any longer", in her terms. It does sting her eyes and she requests a parasol if she must travel in it. In addition, she is incapable of tanning and simply gets painful sunburn. However, natural running water(including magical sources) renders her powerless until she can dry off, and religious objects make her sneeze(longer exposure to them causes her to develop a cold).
The vampire can create illusions, disguising herself and others. These illusions are highly convincing, and it is difficult to pierce them. She can also disperse into a cloud of bats, reforming perfectly for rapid travel and dodging attacks. Injuring one or more of these bats will injure her, though she will regenerate upon reforming. She can manipulate the blood from her own body, or blood that's been spilled, to create spears and other weapons. However, if she uses blood from her own body it will drain her rapidly and make it highly necessary for her to drink very soon. Finally, the vampire can summon familiars out from beneath her skirt(which is one of the reasons she never wears pants). The appear in a dark mist that pours from it, taking the form of shadowy wolves and bats. While they are capable of seriously injuring a target, it takes only one strike or any kind to dissipate them entirely.

... Going to have a second character too when I decide on her. ^^;

[Parteebear]

Looks like a lot of fun, thinking about playing a telekinetic-focused mage. I like the familiar mechanics as well. Count me in.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Name: Palesean Ironsoul

Age: 37

Appearance:

Palesean in and out of armor

Palesean stands at about 65 inches (165 cm) and weighs in at 160 pounds (73 kg). His eyes are a calm hazel color, and his brown hair typically is close-cut to his head. He has a small scar on his left cheek from a minor training accident. When not armored, he typically wears collared, long-sleeved shirts and long pants, preferring earth tones. (tan, green, brown, etc)

Personality: Palesean is a kind, loving and protective man, which comes from his upbringing. He believes in judging people by their actions, and doesn't hesitate to judge people himself. He is quick to make friends, often lending a helping hand or sympathetic voice to those around him. At the same time, he is a bit of a jokester, though he knows when it's time to get serious and crack some skulls rather than spit out a one-liner. He's not prone to outbursts of anger, and he'll try to stop a fight before it happens, though he has no qualms about fighting. He just prefers not to get his sword and shield bloody.

History: Palesean's family name, "Ironsoul," has to do with their long line of Earth-affinity children. They are generally a strong, hearty family, getting good exercise and natural talents in some form of martial art. Some were more inclined to hunt monsters, some were more meant to fight other men. Some were born, molded and taught to protect. Palesean is the latter. After his uncle was killed by a rather fearsome beast, Palesean's father reached his Despair Event Horizon. Watching his own brother get eaten by a damned monster? Anybody would be fucked up after that. Luckily, he was able to keep himself from crossing into total psychotic shutdown through bull-headed determination to make the future better through his son, who was glad to take up the mantle.

So Palesean and his father trained day in and day out with all sorts of fighting techniques. First he started with his fists, then practice swords came in. Palesean was never very skilled in magic, nor was his father. He showed a bit of promise with offensive combat magic, but he spent most of his time training with weapons. The sword was where he shone like a star, but his truest calling was with shields. He could fight off a pair of men with a shield alone if need be. All it took was keeping yourself alive. That was Palesean's policy: winning did not mean defeating your opponent. It just meant living to the next day. Thus, he was able to abandon any notion of pride or shame.

Upon reaching seventeen, Palesean enlisted in the adventurer's guild, being welcomed with open arms by his patriarchs and friends into the fold. He was fitted with the standard equipment, and did a good job for most of his life. He's spent more time as an adventurer than anything else. His life consisted of fighting protecting the people within, even from themselves. It was a good life, if not lonely. Palesean never married, but he nor his father never cared. He had other sons, and nephews aplenty. Palesean was happy and he was an adventurer. That was enough for them all. Their lives were calm and mostly peaceful. A few tough scrapes here and there, a comrade lost every few years to battle, but for the most part, it was smooth sailing. After a decade or so of work, Palesean pursued work in other nations. About three years ago, he came to Japan after learning the language (conversationally at least. He still has trouble reading past the level of a thirteen year-old.) Palesean became well-respected among the guild members despite the language and culture barrier, and spends his time on mainly in the barracks, guiding and training new recruits. However, his lack of recent experience means that he's admittedly rusty out on the field, and will take some time getting used to real fighting again.

Weapons: Bulwark
Soulreaper

Bulwark is a four and a half foot tall (137cm) shield that his about 18 inches (46cm) across. Palesean can fully protect himself behind this shield by crouching, allowing him to hide behind it against many attacks, though sometimes he'll need to activate Grand Aegis to extend his area of protection. The shield is infused with an Aetherium crystal that brings its hardness somewhere between titanium carbides and diamonds. (about a 9.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, whereas hardened steel is between 7.5 and 8.0.)

Soulreaper is a three-foot (91cm) bastard sword that Palesean can wield in his right hand, or using both hands if he is without Bulwark. Soulreaper is infused with an Aetherium crystal that revitalizes him with every life it takes. The effect isn't significant, but it stacks exponentially the closer each kill is, making the sword better at preserving killing frenzies than starting them.

Abilities: Palesean's affinity is Earth, and his abilities follow suit with that affinity. In addition, Palesean is infused with an Aetherium crystal that makes his bones about 30% denser that normal, making him difficult to cripple or incapacitate. However, the infusion does nothing to actually protect him from attacks.

Ability list

Grand Aegis : Palesean's shield projects a visible field of energy that effectively acts as though the shield is nearly five times its usual size, which is already great. This is most useful for protecting allies and shielding against arrows. Uses a fair amount of mana while the ability is active.

Stonewall : By planting his shield into the ground, the hunk of steel gains the immovable aspect of the Earth itself, preventing even the greatest forces from budging it. Uses a very slight amount of mana for the duration of the ability.

Radiant Defense : Palesean's shield projects a non-visible field of energy which attracts the attention of enemies. When used in tandem with other abilities, this ability can be used to draw heavy attacks away from other people. Mana consumption is slight, but constant.

Tower Assault : Palesean swings his shield as if it were a bat or mace, clearing a wide area in front of him and causing serious pain. For most people, even Palesean without magical assistance, the severe weight of the shield would likely tear their arm off if they attempted such an attack. Mana consumption is relatively minimal.

Iron Soul : By literally becoming one with his shield for a short time, Palesean is able to withstand attacks that could kill a normal man without breaking a sweat. However, he cannot move while using this ability. In addition, it drains a significant amount of mana, meaning that rapid use is more likely to kill him than the attacks he'd be using it to survive.

Gale slash : By using this ability, Palesean channels the powers of the wind to launch him at his enemy like a rock from a trebuchet. As for mana use, it varies depending upon his weight, so it is typically rather high due to his armor and equipment. If he uses it while unarmored and without Bulwark, the mana use is much lighter.

Earthen Heart : This ability is a simple one with no distinct use. Palesean exerts mana to call chunks of rock and stone to him that he can then freely manipulate. This ability drains more mana the longer it is used for and depending upon how much stone he controls. For this reason, he prefers to use it to launch quick attacks that imitate low-velocity, high-mass gunshots.

[Parteebear]

Name: Oiseau "Pronounced We-szu" Lecuyer

Age: 26

Appearance: Tall and slender, Oiseau stands at just over 6 feet. He has a runner's body and is fairly toned, though lacking much real muscle above the belt. His hair is messy, curly and light brown, with eyes only a shade darker. Oiseau holds himself in a very aloof and laid back manner, rarely ever standing straight up or in a manner displaying outward respect. Stubble has taken permanent residence on his face, though in a manner that is clearly stylized and not at all natural. Gracing his face along side this 5'o clock shadow is usually a cocky grin that says either, "I know something you don't know," "I totally just saved your ass," or something else, equally infuriating. His wardrobe consists mainly of breezy summer wear, rolled up sleeves, jeans and light scarves. He loves taking music with him wherever he goes and is often seen listening to it, so headphones are not a rare sight. He has a sleeve tattoo on his left arm of bunny rabbits, many bunny rabbits.

Quick Sketch up of Oiseau

Personality: Oiseau likes to play the careless, laid-back slacker, but in reality he tries really hard at everything he does. He is obsessed with aesthetics, going to great lengths to maintain "acceptable appearances" and is very self conscience if these standards can't be met. Raised on media, he believes everyone should have a theme to them, like they do on tv, which is why he projects his cocky, slacker persona. His secret try-hard nature extends beyond his wardrobe and appearances though, in his spare time Oiseau keeps a compulsive gym routine and practices his magics regularly. Unlike his outward projection, Oiseau is very uncertain of himself, extremely aware of his faults and very receptive to criticism. He is quick to trust people and let them get close, making him the first to get hurt in many cases, but also quick to recover as he is willing to accept the help that comes in tandem. Oiseau prides himself on creative uses of his magic, preferring to find new ways to apply what is in his arsenal rather than adding to it. Finally, he loves laughing and getting others to laugh with him, although his sense of humor is usually sarcastic or groan worthy, depending on the situation. He loves puns.

Backstory: Growing in middle class suburbia, Oiseau always looked out and saw Nekoyama, but never got the chance to approach it. He and many other neighborhood kids would play pretend that they were famous mages and adventurers, concurring evil monsters and saving the world, like on tv, but each and everyone of them looked at that towering city on the horizon thinking, "What if we weren't pretending?" As time went on, the kids from the neighborhood grew up, one by one fleeing to the city in search of greater things. Oiseau's turn came when he received acceptance to a well-regarded mage's school; a place where he could master magic and become powerful enough to join the Adventure's Guild. Ecstatic, Oiseau packed his bags quick as a cricket, kissed his parents goodbye and bolted out the door, only realizing the semester was still months away after he got about half a mile down the street.
Three months later, when school was finally in session, Oiseau began a balancing act of social dances, magic studies and exercise that left him wiped out and feeling accomplished at the end of each day. He was happy here. Towards the middle of his second year, amidst below average grades and unsuccessful marks on any offensive spell tests, an advisor told him he was almost certain to fail, questioning how such a mage ever got accepted. He was crushed, holing himself up in his dorm and conjuring spell after spell to keep the world away. (Much to the displeasure of his roommate, who's stuff was still in the dorm.) After talking to his parents and a few of his close friends, Oiseau decided to buckle down, working twice as hard to make up for the natural talent he apparently lacked. The whole ordeal helped him grow as a person and revealed his talent as a defensive spell caster, though at the cost of one roommate. With his new knowledge and conviction, Oiseau was able to graduate just above the class average, a feat he took great pride in.
Following his college years, began crafting a persona for the guild, seeing it as a chance at reinvention. He began to dress, act and carry himself aloofly, with a sarcastic and unfazed demeanor. Oiseau had become a master of shields, and this was his favorite one. Also, at one point he got a sleeve of bunnies.

Abilities/Equipment:
Magic: Oiseau specializes in two types of magic, a major and a minor as he calls them, harkening back to his college days. His major is defensive shield casting, able to create barriers and walls, as well as small amounts of more durable hard-light. He focuses on protection of himself and allies with his spells, but can creatively use them to counter or go on the offensive if the need arises. His shields are hard to break, but quickly lose durability the longer they're held, making timing a major factor. The barriers can be moved, but are not sharp, nor can they be placed anywhere out of sight, preventing any kind of "cut the artery/brainstem" trickery.
His minor is mobility magic, allowing Oiseau to increase his speed and agility, so he can quickly get around the battlefield and help those in need. He has plans to look into free running in order to make this more effective, but for now it is mostly just for running faster and jumping higher.

Equipment: On his person, Oiseau carries a few essentials, like a first-aid kit, cellphone and wallet. He is currently investing in a familiar, but still needs some more funds, leaving him very eager to find work and accept quests.

[VitaVitaAR]

Name: Kuriyama Rei
Age: 16
Appearance: "Stupidstupidstupid" "Oh. Ji-san thinks you're stupid. I think you're stupid too. Idiot."
Personality: Rei... to some, at first glance, appears to be a rather shy girl. This isn't entirely wrong, she's prone to being quiet and trying to avoid social situations. However... there's far more to her personality then that. Rei will speak politely at some times, but when annoyed she quickly descends into abuse and insults, throwing angry comments and biting sarcasm at the source of her irritation. However... this ends when she's nervous or confronted with too many people. Instead, she speaks through her sockpuppets in these situations. The right one, Ichi-san, speaks politely but will slide into veiled insults. The left one, Ji-san, is foul-mouthed and irritable at all times. Though it's really her speaking through both, speaking through one or the other depending on how she's feeling. Aside from shy, at least. The more people are around her, the more likely she is to talk through her sockpuppets. She's okay with small numbers, or when it's people she knows. And yet she's the more social one of the two.
Backstory: Rei, like her twin, was orphaned at a young age to a freak accident involving crystals. It fell to her grandparents to raise the two children. Recently, the two moved out--their own skill is enough to finance a studio apartment between the two of them, though one of Rei's ambitions is to earn enough money to buy a second bed so they can finally sleep separately.
Abilities/Equipment: Most of Rei's magical abilities are channeled through her familiars. While they don't speak very much, each is capable of speech and they are remarkably similar in personality to the voices Rei speaks through them when nervous. By charging them with magical power, Rei can fire lasers out of their mouths capable of doing heavy damage to most mundane objects and some magical ones. She can also fire orbs of magic... and they are quite capable of biting. They have sharp teeth, though it's only as powerful as Rei's grip when she's wearing them. The sockpuppets can also detach and fly by themselves working like autonomous sentries or scouts. In these circumstances, Rei can cast some offensive light-based spells, such as lasers, but it's more time consuming then casting with the aid of her familiars.

... Potentially one more character too, um, eh-heh.

[Raineh Daze]

Name: Kuriyama Rin

Age: 16 (Younger Sister)

Appearance: Small and grumpy!

Personality: The less social twin. Not that this is really doing it justice: Rin is absolutely terrified of talking to anyone except her big sister or familiars, and will remain stoically silent in all situations, hoping that nobody presses her into talking. Instead, her puppets get to do the talking... well, puppet; only one of them is really coherent enough to speak in her place. The other? Well, that reflects Rin's mind a lot better: she's imaginative and doesn't always pay attention to what's going on, and she seems to get easily distracted by anything she thinks is pretty.

Backstory: Rei, like her twin, was orphaned at a young age to a freak accident involving crystals. It fell to her grandparents to raise the two children. Recently, the two moved out--their own skill is enough to finance a studio apartment* between the two of them, though only having one bed is a little awkward.

Abilities/Equipment: Like her identical twin, Rin has sockpuppet familiars! Hers, indeed, channel her personality, and speak for her... though she hasn't named either of them, it's just a case of calling them 'Left' and 'Right'. The one on her left hand is the sensible one; the right reflects her personality more. When charged with magical power... they bite, hard enough to break steel. Or get VERY heavy. Or even temporarily act like two horse-sized dragons charging at you. When these things are impractical or overkill, Rin resorts to kicking the enemy. And punching them a bit.
The puppets don't help that much with that.

Rin is left-handed, Rei is right-handed. /random note

*British English here (or at least my uni's English. >_>;) where it also includes bathroom facilities.

[Tachi]

@MMM: Looks good. Although I'd like if there was an explanation for why he's in Japan. Also, while it's fine for him to wear armour like that while working, he'll probably need some normal clothes for the rest of the time.

@Parteebear: I'm not entirely sure I get why a mage's school would only let someone in because of their nationality. But other than that, it looks good.

@Others: Accepted.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

I shall work on those two details.

Tomorrow, for it is late and I suffer from sleepiness. Good night y'all.

[Bainshie]

Hey.

Got an idea for an interesting character. Would it be possible to play as a discarded familiar?

[Parteebear]

@Tachi Yeah, I wans't sure about that part myself, figured it would be a diversity thing. Might change it though.

Edit: Changed it, now the advisor was just kind of blunt with him, no school diversity motive.

[Dblade26]

Name: Hiro Yuusha

Age:17

Appearance:

Personality: Despite his name, appearance and reputation Hiro is really just a somewhat shy, lazy and bookish guy exasperated with the life of adventure he's been stuck with who wants to get the whole ordeal over as quickly as possible so he can enjoy a life of relaxing in peace without somebody challenging him for his 'title' or forcing him on some quest to defeat a monster or save a noble or the world or anything like that. While he may have wanted to be a hero as a small child, the realities of the situation weigh on him very literally now. So, while he's become very cynical about his life, he still occasionally admits that maybe he's doing some good while trying to find a way to get rid of his curse, even if 'doing some good' means putting himself in harm's way when he'd much rather just live quietly.

Backstory: As a child of around seven years old, Hiro accidentally stumbled onto a gigantic magical sword while playing in the mountain countryside near his hometown. Intrigued by its' glowing inscription that declared that whomever wielded the sword would become the greatest hero in the world, and dreaming of the life of luxury he could live as the World's Greatest Hero, Hiro grabbed the sword immediately to try and take it home with him, though it was so extremely heavy that he could barely get it to budge. Unfortunately, the sword's decree never said anything about giving the wielder any choice about becoming the World's Greatest Hero, and he found that even if he let go of it for a while and tried to walk away without it, the sword would re-appear in his hands or somehow stuck to his back. In fact it eventually became apparent that the gigantic sword was the legendary weapon Hero's Burden, and it was soon even more apparent to Hiro that he was stuck hauling it around until he either died or actually became the Greatest Hero in the World.

So, from that point on he began constantly training to become the greatest hero in the world, even though he was constantly weighed down by the extremely heavy sword. At the age of about ten, he felt like he could no longer grow any stronger or better as a potential hero while staying in his village, so he set out into the world to try and find strong people to train him and new challenges to face. Unfortunately, soon after he set off people began to notice the gigantic sword and its' inscription and despite his protests and the fact that he was still a child, assumed he must be a legendary hero to carry a sword like that.around so casually. This meant that generally any troubled towns or persons-in-need he came across would beg or force him to help them, and bandits, villains and hero-wannabes looking to enhance their reputation by taking down a big-time hero started coming after him.

At first he barely survived and escaped these incidents, but years of having to fight countless monsters and endless duels while rescuing a horde's worth of damsels and nobles in distress and being cursed at by a variety of villainous forces actually helped him build up a ridiculous amount of skill at heroics even though he was mostly doing all of it just to get rid of the sword and constant annoyance of people wanting him to put his life on the line when he'd much rather try and relax. Having decided the life of a wandering hero is extremely unpleasant-what with being constantly on the road hunting, foraging and cooking for your own meals with little in the way of company or friends and only the occasional town inn or castle to look forward to at the end of the day before moving on all over again-Hiro Yuusha decided he would try and become a regular at Nekoyama's Adventuring Guild, at least so he could have a place to stay while still attempting all the necessary heroics that his quest to get rid of his Hero's Burden requires.

Abilities/Equipment:
Arguably, Hiro's most notable characteristics are his enhanced physical abilities. Lugging the Hero's Burden around for ten straight years already guaranteed him near superhuman strength, not to mention how difficult it was to become strong enough to actually fight effectively with such a large and heavy weapon. Hiro's physical abilities have been further enhanced by multiple infusions over the years and he can now effectively wield Hero's Burden in just one hand as skillfully as if it were a regular-sized sword. It isn't just Hiro's strength that goes far beyond human limits, though. His speed and agility have been greatly enhanced as well and he can sprint with the best of atheletes or free-run across rooftops casually even with the Hero's Burden weighing him down. This is even more impressive than it might seem, as if he drops the massive sword he can become exponentially faster and more agile than an ordinary human, though the Hero's Burden returns to slow him down again should he move too far away from it. His endurance and durability are better than seems humanly possible as well, partly due to all of the infusions and partly just due to a life of surviving things he shouldn't have survived.

Hiro's swordsmanship is about what could be expected from living roughly a decade with a sword as nearly an extension of his own body and spending most of that decade using it for fighting various people and things almost non-stop. He also has quite a bit of talent at empty-handed combat and general brawling for times when swinging a huge sword around might be impractical.

Hiro has just one spell, Instant Inventory. It allows him to move any inanimate object currently touching him into and out of a pocket dimension at will. While this mainly allows him to store items without having to carry them on his person, he cannot use it to get rid of the Hero's Burden as the sword's magic considers 'a separate dimension' far enough a way to teleport back to him shortly after he puts it there. In addition to storage He can also use it to change his clothing in the blink of an eye as well as for a myriad of other purposes applicable to the ability to suddenly vanish and recall objects as long as one is in contact with them when they shift dimensions. Instant Inventory's pocket dimension currently contains:
-A collapsible, size adjustable pole (maximum length eleven feet)
- A 20 foot long length of rope tested to be strong enough to hold Hiro and his sword
-A framed tent and stakes for pitching it.
-A small raft
-One set of insulated winter clothing complete with scarf, hat, gloves, earmuffs and thermal underwear
-A bathing suit, sunglasses and a surfboard
-One towel (very important)
-An umbrella
-One small wand designed to set things on fire brightly and quickly. More of a lighter for campfires or improvised torch than a weapon
-cooking equipment (knives, cutting board, pots, pans, a means to suspend the same over a campfire if necessary and magical heat and flame resistant oven mitts)
-A collection of books, mostly novels and fiction

Lastly, Hiro Yuusha's sword, The Hero's Burden, is a very unusual sword. Mainly in that it's very large in both length and width, making average swords seem like butter knives. It can cut through any non-magical material with ease, though it has more difficulty cutting through magical or magically infused materials despite its' incredible sharpness. It is so sharp in fact that Hiro can't afford to drop it carelessly, since if it's not angled right the blade will sink straight into the ground all the way to the hilt. It is also pretty much indestructible. Many times Hiro has tried to purposefully get it destroyed during battles with a variety of forces or just tried to break it on his own without so much as scratching the sword.

Aside from that it has two major drawbacks. The first and most notable is that whoever wields the sword can't get rid of it until they either die or become the World's Greatest Hero. They can put it down for a while and move a short distance away from it but if they try and leave it behind anywhere or if the sword gets too far away from them or otherwise separated, it will just teleport back to the wielder's hands after a few minutes, or show up and stuck to their back inexplicably without need for a sheathe, though thankfully it seems conveniently incapable of cutting its' wielder. The second drawback of the sword is just that it is extremely heavy, to a magical extent. Heavier than even its' massive size should make it. Combined with its' size most wielders would find it a completely unusable weapon. In fact if someone other than the current designated wielder attempts to pick it up or move it, they'll find it has become magically too heavy to even budge an inch.


Quote: "For the last time, I'm not a Hero or a Chosen One or a Savior or anything like that, I'm just a guy with really really bad luck!"

[TheBeggar]

Leaving quite a bit out on purpose, he's a bit of an unknown wild card. Expect surprises, expect failures, expect lack of care for everyone else.

Name:
Shitsubo - it means disappointment in japanese

Age:
??

Appearance:
Here

Personality: Reserved, hides himself away. Prefers his own company. His personality changes a bit when he becomes friends with someone, he's less reserved and shows respect. However, no-one has yet made friends with him. Not from his own design, he just looks so unhappy that no-one dares to approach him.

Backstory:
Not much is known, only that he appeared at the adventurers guild one day seeking work. He put his name down as Shitsubo, and when questioned only said 'my family were realists'. He said he'd take any job involving natural crystals and that leads up to the present day. No-one has discovered anything about him, he shows no animosity but neither lets people in. Any mission he goes on is alone, as no-one has yet wanted to partner with him.

Abilities/Equipment:
Shitsubo has a black, medium-sized sword. It is said that when you stare into it, it talks to you, however he's never been seen drawing it and takes no-one his missions. In practice, people see him using a wooden sword so they assume it is his main weapon.
This is far from the truth, Shitsubo uses the sword to hide his real strength, even if his strength in it is impressive. The sword itself is simply a catalyst to his most powerful ability, for its a living being disguised as a weapon.
Shitsubo's abilities are seemingly impossibly powerful, but absolutely useless at the same time.

Summoner Roulette: When he activates this ability, a random item from a select group is summoned. However, the ability only works if restrictions are set. It can only be activated once a day. Only one item can be present at any given time, the item present must be first used before it transports itself back. Only 5 items can be used for summoning, these items are:
Hat Trick - a hat: A fake magician's top hat, wearing it makes you invisible to the naked eye. Once taken off, dissapears. Alternatively, some outward force can also take it off incurring the same result.
Flash bomb - a bomb: Visually impairs opponents. Not a regular flash bomb, completely blinds anyone in the vicinity no matter what, except for the caster (even allies).
Illusionary Orb - an orb: Creates illusions. Anyone with knowledge or expertise with illusions can see through this magic. If a person questions the authenticity of the illusions, it breaks. If an illusion defies common sense, it breaks. If illusions involve a living being, alive or dead, it breaks.
Nature's Gift - a wand: Wields nature using a catalyst (water type requires water). However, as Shitsubo has formed no contract with mother nature, if he wields nature magic beyond his level he can't control it and it goes wild. A note to take is the fact that he can still perform levels beyond his control.
Necromancer's Staff of Kings - a staff: A necromancer staff imbued with the power of a necromancer god. However, the necromancer god put a limiter onto the staff so that it can only use 1% of its power. Can summon skeletons with swords or bows. Can summon hound dogs, however skeletons dissapear. It's final power is leach death, forcing the user's own life force into another to heal them.
I'll get pictures for them and any others later. I'll also probably expand the other characters I have in here.

Silent Art: Nullify's all the senses except vision. One who is unfamiliar with such a scenario becomes disorientated and takes a long time to cope. Only those with extreme skills and recover quickly, however ones with abnormally strong senses are particularly affected and cannot recover for a long time. The cost of this art is when it finishes, he loses those senses for a whole day.

Reaper: The summoned form of the black sword. ???

[Tachi]

@Bainshie: That's fine.

I'll have a closer look at profiles a bit later, sorry for the wait.

[Barioth]

Name: Takeo Musashi

Age: 19

Appearance:

Takeo

He lost his right eye in a duel with his sensei, he has replaced it with a familiar that is linked to his brain.

Personality: A true seeker of battle and blood. Takeo lives for conflict and finds the violent approach to most situations the most viable option. He seeks strong opponents to do battle with and loves a good fight more than anything else. He has a foolhardy, jovial attitude towards everything and doesn't fail to see the bright side in the darkest situations. Though he is bloodthirsty and battle hungry, he is well-disciplined and adheres to a strict code of honor, much like the Samurai's Bushido. He desires honorable battle and will never strike an opponent in the back or take advantage of weakness, lest he bring shame upon his dojo.

Backstory:
As a young boy, Takeo grew up in a strict environment. The dojo where he lived had intense long held traditions, and as the inheritor to the school, these teachings and traditions were drilled into Takeo's mind at a young age. Takeo began his training as soon as he could walk and his sensei didn't hold back even if his student was young. For Takeo, everyday was a challenge to survive and improve ones self. It wasn't until he was ten years old was he allowed any kind of freedom on dojo grounds.
When he was sixteen, he had learned the way of the sword well enough to challenge his sensei to a duel, one of the longstanding traditions of the dojo that signaled the pupil's mastery of the art. In a grueling battle with his sensei, he lost his right eye and the duel. As per tradition, Takeo was suspended from the dojo until his sensei felt that he was ready to try again. Currently, he is on a journey to improve himself and found himself in Nekoyama.

Abilities/Equipment:

Self-amplification magic- Using his magic, Takeo can boost his physical and mental abilities to levels higher than the average human. Examples of this would be faster reflexes, quicker movement, and stronger power.

Tsuki and Taiyo- Takeo's twin katana, both are infused with crystals that enhance their durability and make the air move around them exponentially faster, meaning Takeo can swing them at incredibly fast speeds without getting tired. They can change their weights but can only become lighter. Tsuki can turn invisible and Taiyo can irradiate incredibly bright light. They fit Takeo's extreme speed, high precision fighting style.

Dagger- A long dagger Takeo uses when he isn't willing to dual wield the twin blades. Dagger is a really sharp dagger and is good for stabby and cutty time.

Eye of the Cyclopes- A part of Takeo's magic. It takes a large amount of mana to manifest and passively siphons small amounts of mana during its use. It replaced his missing right eye and is linked to his brain. It gives extremely clear eyesight and the ability to see infrared and ultraviolet rays in the eye. This ability is extraneous on his magic so he keeps it under an eyepatch that keeps the eye's passive drain to a bare minimum. It is a radiant light blue color that seems to glow.

Tora- A recently infused for the first time tiger cub familiar. He wields the same body and mind enhancement magic as Takeo. Tora is fiercely loyal to his master and is ferocious despite his cute appearance and size.

Tora

[Parteebear]

@Barioth So if the katanas are named Tsuki and Taiyo, is the dagger named Dagger?

[Tachi]

@Parteebear: Accepted.

@Dblade: Accepted.

@TheBeggar: Honestly, interesting as it is, I don't see that summoning ability working in this setting. In addition, I'm not sure I like the idea of a character who, if I'm reading this correctly, won't interact with others, either through conversation or sharing missions with them. As he is, I can't accept this character. Sorry.

@Barloth: The replacement eye doesn't really work as a familiar. Sorry.

[Barioth]

Can I make the eye a part of his magic?

And yes his dagger is named Dagger.

[Tachi]

Sure.