Assallya

Saint's Row: A Return to Ass-Kicking

Carlos felt rather bad for the... older woman? Carlos had to admit, he wasn't sure how young or old his escapee partner was. Image as Designed, the plastic surgery chain, was capable of doing anything these days thanks to the Ultor corporation. One thing was certain, those eyes, they were hardened. They'd seen things. They were filled with experiences he couldn't imagine. He didn't want to add to that.

Yes, he was a coward.

He didn't want to tell her. He dreaded telling her about the old church the Saints once called home, nor did he want to let her know that her gang had disbanded after doing their job of ridding the streets of gangs only to be replaced by even more vicious gangs months later. He rather suspected that this hard ass woman would prefer a bullet in her gut to hearing what had happened while she had been in a coma.

Carlos offered the hardened gangster a ludicrously shy wave that did not befit his toned athletic physique and claims of being a hardened criminal. He trotted towards the parking lot and removed a long flat object and inserted it into the seam between driver's side window and door. What he did not have in terms of vicious blood thirstiness he definitely made up in finesse. With a few deft moves there was a distinctive click.

SW: Edge of the Empire: Ep. I - Escape from Mos Shuuta

I'm here! You might want to private message the participants though. They may have removed their subscriptions.

The Summoner's Labyrinth - Recycle your old characters in my new idea.

Whoah. Took some time but my sheet is now in Orchestra's electronic hands. Three pages of random highlights from the several years of tabletop play belonging to my character.

Come to think of it, I think I should have submitted my Rifts character. Who doesn't like a wizardly type with a plasma rifle?

The Summoner's Labyrinth - Recycle your old characters in my new idea.

The term is God-Moding, not God-Modding. God-Moding is a term derived from the original first person shooter video game in the year 1993. In the game, developers had a secret code that allowed them to perform various tricks like refilling ammunition, replenishing health and the like. One of these abilities was to be totally invincible, and have perpetual ammunition. This was called the "God Mode".

On a related note, the term "pwn" or "pwned" is rarely understood either. When someone is totally and utterly thrashed, in a video game, sports game or whatever they are said to have been pwned. This term is derived from the era of MUSHes MUDs and MOOs, the original MMORPG that were played entirely through text. Objects in these games could be linked to your character, like a warrior holding a sword. Anything created that belonged to a player, particularly props designed by the player him or herself, was "player owned" or in the short form, "p-Owned" and finally "pwned". Thus, to pwn someone to beat them so badly that you own their arses :)

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

I haven't decided if I want to be involved in a reboot but I figured I'd throw in something on the Relics. Use it, adapt it, just use a piece of it or nothing at all. I just figured it could be useful in spinning out some ideas.

In my own world one of the "origins" available to characters is access to "Relics". In this world they are referred to as "Legacies" mainly because the relics themselves become legendary. One who carried the venom gauntlet of Kore would no longer by Marek of Alboss. They would likely be forever know as the new wielder of the Venom Gauntlet whatever that gauntlet was called. Some are passed down through family lines even becoming part of a house's coat-of-arms, some of them have gone missing for generations only to pop up once more while some of them seem to always find their way into the hands of peasant heroes or malignant villains. There were even a subset of heraldic tradition that studied the Legacies, how and where they popped up, what they were capable of and who they were bound to.

Generally, in my world all things possessed an "Animus", or spirit that is separate from a soul. A rock's animus was quite simple. A dog, for example, would have an animus but not a soul. This is also how undead shells possessed the knowledge of a person even after the soul of the corpse had gone on to the afterlife. A Legacy was an object that possessed a particularly powerful animus that brought it to a new level of being beyond regular objects of their type.

One way in which a legacy could be created was by the power of raw belief. In the same manner as when you hand two identical objects to a person and expound upon how light in mass one was compared to the other he would come to believe it. Only in this case, because the person believed it, it would become a bit lighter. Get enough people to believe in it and the object could become greatly reduced in apparent weight. For example, the first such blades in ancient times were said to possess the spirit of your ancestor and became something sacred and doted upon. That sword, over the many years, would become more powerful based on the beliefs of the family. Such blades would become lighter, swifter, sharper and more resistant to damage over time and could very well grant the wielder with skills that belonged to the legend of the original ancestor.

Raw devotion and masterful expertise could work as well, as great expertise is often earned through sacrifice. A great smith with access to rare materials could use his devotion to craft a truly masterwork object. Further, wizards and priests could well artificially increase the power of an animus or imbue it with a shard of elemental energy culled from other planes or whatnot.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Fact: A .50 caliber sniper rifle does not cause a person to be thrown back. The mythbusters tested this in episode 38 with a pig suspended in the air, a mere poking of a finger was capable of dislodging it. They fired every manner of firearm at it and it did not fall or go flying. They then they put a bullet proof vest on the pig to maximize the kinetic absorption and achieved the same result. If that level of kinetic energy doesn't do it... I don't really see any arrow doing anything, no matter how powerful the bow nor how heavy the arrow.

As for the Texan curriculum, perhaps, in an obscure manner what you say can be deemed correct but that is decidedly not a good way to describe it. It's not a push, it's a transfer of kinetic energy. Think of a Newton's Cradle. The kinetic energy is transmitted along the balls via a conductive medium, like electricity through a wire. There's no "pushing". In this case, an arrow striking a near immovable object the kinetic energy is transmitted to immovable object but must be dispersed in some fashion. (Conservation of energy) Since it can't move the immovable object, deform the object, or otherwise do work the energy then gets transferred back to the arrow. One could call that a "push" but it's not very accurate. The wall isn't pushing you back with the same force... you're pushing against yourself; The wall is simply a conductive medium.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

WilsonTurner said
Yea, this is something that I hate about movies and books and roleplays and stuff. It doesn't matter how strong or invincible you are- you need MASS to combat FORCE. If you shoot an arrow or a crossbow bolt at stone, then the stone will not move because it pushes back with the exact same force. If the rock pushed back with more force, then it'd move forward. If it was pushed backwards, it didn't push back enough...

...If you are a giant brute wearing heavy armor, an arrow or crossbow will be like a push. If you are an average sized guy wearing chainmail or some other mediumly-heavy or light armor, it will stagger you or put you on your ass. If you are a very small person, you are going to be flat-backed. You will be in pain. That is, if it didn't kill you.

Errr... no complaints about the latter parts but this introduction is entirely incorrect. An arrow has very little mass (21 grams on average for a modern arrow) striking at only 20 m/s. That's an abysmally low kinetic energy. If weren't for the cutting force, a type of mechanical advantage, applied to the kinetic energy it would be simply an irritant. When two masses collide the kinetic energy imparted is directly inverse to their masses. When a car hits a human the car is mostly unmoved and the human goes flying. Thus, if shooting an arrow at an immovable object like a wall or a steel plate, the arrow's energy is impacting itself, causing it to bounce off. The wall is NOT pushing back. It's a wall. Walls do not push anything.

Even a gunshot, which has a similar mass but much higher velocity and thus greater kinetic energy does not cause a person to be thrown back. In real life, people shot dead simply drop straight down like someone letting go of a sack of potatoes. If a person goes flying backwards it's not because of the bullet, it's probably because they were leaning backwards when struck. Not even with the impressive .50 caliber sniper rifles cause knockback! Check out Mythbusters Episode 38. Myths Revisited for the proof.

Thus, our invulnerable Evoker is perfectly roleplayed according to physics... though in terms of narration I would agree that some mention should have been made, a dismissive glance, a smirk or whatnot but that's entirely stylistic and according to taste.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

*grins*

I do. Dang arrogant patronizing- Oh wait... that's me.

As an afterthought, concerns are okay but suggestions or ideas are better. I'm starting to think "organics" should be the limiting factor. Thus a fist is more dangerous to her than a sword? It would allow her to wear clothes, carry paper and use fire hardened wooden daggers, bows and the like. She could ignore metal armour while still being flummoxed by leather and make her a more able combatant.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Well, a bit of criticism there. Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy skepticism. My original concept involved "Gold". The idea that the only thing she could touch and be touched by was gold. This greatly suited the thief concept, Then I envisioned just how ridiculously invincible that would be. With a pair of gold daggers she'd be able to cut through any armour, ignore any attacks and be a proper nuisance until every noble out there who could afford it was coating their armour in gold plating. Once I envisioned her walking through an entire army of serfs unmolested I gave the idea up. Thus I considered the two more popular likely prospects, something people normally carried, wood and iron/steel. The iron aspect seemed better in theme. If we want to go back to gold though... I'm all for it :)

Another point I neglected to mention was that she can't lift a letter from a private room or even strike a person while intangible. She can only touch iron. How is it that much a stretch from not being able to lift up a letter to not being able to wear clothes. The other part I like is how the cloak she wears isn't quite natural. It flows through the body in addition to around the body which is kind of creepy. (Some of you will note and thus I should point out that I am aware that would likely mean she'd have to be super careful solidifying lest the cloak be solidified inside her and kill her. I decided on dramatic license If that's an issue we can lose the cloak, I mean, writing it makes me want to abandon it for the sake of logic.)

The strange part I think that comes later is the assumption that she walks around nude all the time. The first thing I put into the appearance section was commoner's clothing. She only has a problem with clothing while "working". Secondly, there seems to be an assumption that an assassin would engage in prolonged combat with armoured individuals. Armour meant everything in medieval combat. You would literally allow strikes against your own body, bracing for the impact, just as you would using a shield. If such a situation arose an assassin would be getting the hell out of dodge, in the case it'd involve dropping through the floor and swimming through the earth. Why take on the lord's man-at-arms when you can come back in a fortnight and try to take the man in his sleep?

The toe ring aspect? The main reason she wears it down low is because it's harder to snatch from her. The ring is one of her vulnerable spots, the only part of her able to be touched by the flesh of others. Indeed, as was pointed out, most of the other bangles, rings, armlets and whatnot are there to confuse the specific location of the device. As a sidenote, why does anyone think that toerings are a modern invention? Earrings in men were very common up until the "Gentleman" movement in the Victorian age. Any sort of gaudy ostentatious display of wealth was welcomed by lords in the medieval ages. I mean... a necklace of gold bars? Seriously? That could not have been comfortable.

Let's see. What else was brought up. Crossbows? I don't really care. The sort of crossbows that could pierce proper full plate weren't much of a concern for long. Heck, even full plate wasn't around very long since muskets came soon after. We're talking about "siege crossbows" here though. They involve a stirrup and crank and they were a right terror. Unfortunately they were incredibly difficult to conceal and, in addition, had to be fairly close up to penetrate full plate. Full plate was angular by nature, turning arrows away instead of stopping them. The main reason crossbows were illegal wasn't that they were able to penetrate armour it was that they were ambush weapons and a terror to the poor bastards in their chain mail escorting the taxes. Heck, most weapons were illegal if the local lord could justify it including any sort of sword and often bows. After all, one couldn't have the serfs hunting down the local game or there would be none left for the lord when he chose to... errr... hunt... If you can call the brush beating circus that followed an actual hunt. Not that any of that matters to Sevine. She can't use crossbows while using her ring. Too much wood.

Crap... gotta go to work. Ended up using my breakfast time writing this. I apologize if I missed anything. Oh crap. Nations. No real fealty. I do like the idea of being in a city under siege with skyrocketing prices but I was going to ask Guilty Spark were I would be most effective.

The Relics (No Plot/Fantasy/Character Driven/Worthy of Skepticism)

Name: Sevine (As a commoner Sevine has no surname)

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Relic Description: Sevine wears an iron ring. This iron ring makes her completely immaterial, allowing her to move ghostlike through any substance save those made of iron while activated. She can go through walls, drop through floors and even jump up and pulled herself through ceilings. She can carry iron, wear iron and pass through walls while wearing iron but cannot touch anything not made of iron. Unfortunately, this also means that she loses her clothes when she engages the ability. Instead she wears an iron collar from which hangs a cloak. The cloak flows around her and threw her, obscuring her figure. Why she doesn't fall through the earth or down through the floor or how she can climb stairs and walls is anyone's guess. Another oddity is that her ring is always substantial to others. Perhaps this is so that it can be taken by others should the person wearing it perish? Finally, the maximum time she can spend within an object, wall or whatever is how long she can hold her breath. Thus she can't walk through a mountain.

Skills: Sevine was a thief before she was an assassin. That was how she acquired the ring to begin with. As a result she's really sneaking, good at climbing up into second story windows, picking pockets and the like. She is quite adept at using knives, daggers, crossbows and other small implements but is hopeless with a polearm, sword or similar weapon.

Background: Sevine grew up a street urchin, having to choose between one of two options, thieving or whoring. Choosing the former she was often used as bait. In the beginning while she was still a child she would cry in an alley, luring affluent nobles with their high minded ideals into ambush. She would also get jobs as a maid to scout out building for later robberies.

Later, as she blossomed into near womanhood she had to change tactics. She would have to pretend to be a whore to lure her victims away. It wasn't quite as effective as a sobbing child but it got the job done. She also began doing second story work, her small supple form able to fit through windows others thought impossible. Finally, she robbed a travelling merchant of a generous stash, turned in all the truly valuable things to her "crew leader" and kept only the small, valueless iron ring for herself.

Discovering it's power immediately when she placed it on one of her toes Sevine was astonished. Since then she has become a master assassin for there is little anyone can do to stop her in reaching her target. While vulnerable to swords and arrows it's quite hard to hit someone that hides inside a stone wall.

Appearance: Sevine is a pale skinned young woman with ebony hair that shines almost blue with it light sucking intensity. She is a tiny thing, scarcely five feet tall, thin boned and at one point was quite scrawny and malnourished. She has begun to fill out a bit now that she has begun to work as an assassin and has coins to rub against one another but is still rather slender.

Sevine normally wears a simple peasant's gown, brown, drab and dirty but will often change her attire if she needs to fit into a different society. When she's working she wears only a collection of steel bracelets, armlets and the cloak hanging from an iron collar. The cloak mostly conceals the fact she is entirely nude. (I have a picture but you can see why I elect not to post it!) She tried wearing chainmail at one point in order to conceal herself but the metal of the mail would clink against one another and give away her position as she was sneaking about.

Motivation: Sevine is casting about for the answer to this question. For the longest time she simply struggled to get through each day. Now that she has some amount of wealth she looks at her drab clothing, disheveled hair and considers maybe becoming a merchant or something. Of course, then she'd have to learn to read. She's also considered finding a noble to marry. Soon she'd be able to supply her own dowry and having an assassin for a wife could prove valuable.

Theme Song: (Never asked for one of these before, thought it would set the mood while I read CSes. Totally optional.)