Azereiah

A 20th-ish Century Mage University.

Further notes: We will be blitzing through classes where possible. A simple paragraph or two posted by GMs, Co-GMs, or players who by some miracle convinced me to give them a staff character, will suffice, and actually roleplaying out every single class every single day will not be necessary unless players very much want to do it. This is to keep player relationships from advancing faster than the story itself does.

You don't have to create a CS that'll be ready on day one, though. I just want people to think about it. ;)

A 20th-ish Century Mage University.

Character Sheet. Feel free to format it how you please, but this is the minimum stuff.

Name:

Appearance: (Picture optional, text description required)

Age: (16 and up, or Monster equivalent in the event of shorter lifespans)

Species: Human, Monster (describe type - restricted to S through ML size), or Chimera (list generation and type)

Gender:

Occupation: (Students only at this time. List year, first years preferred. Will open up to Professional Mages at a later date, when the roleplay mandates it).

Personality: (only what others would notice immediately; I'd recommend filling out the Big Five test scores below, but you can remove those if you have a suitable description)

Openness to Experience: 0-100
Neuroticism: 0-100
Agreeableness: 0-100
Extroversion: 0-100
Conscientiousness: 0-100

Attributes:

Details and Instructions. Remove me when posting

Distribute 40 Points. Most characters' stats should range between 3 and 8. Minmaxing players had better be good at playing that character, because these numbers ain't just for show.

0=Dead or Unresponsive. Don't use this.
1=Severely Disabled
2=Disastrous
3=Exceptionally Poor
4=Poor
5=Average
6=Above Average
7=Gifted
8=Exceptional
9=Monstrous
10=Absurd

P/F/V/C impact what each attribute is most useful for. P = Physical, F = Foundation, V = Vision, C = Compromise.

Strength: P (Obvious)
Endurance: PFC (How long can one continue to work, fight, or use magic?)
Constitution: PF (Welcome to the Salty Spitoon! How tough are ya? - Physical durability)
Agility: P (Movement speed, acrobatics - gross motor skills)
Dexterity: P (Fine motor skills - weapons accuracy, finesse, writing neatness)
Intelligence: FVC (In this case, ability to learn new things quickly.)
Wisdom: FV (Resistance to faulty information and impulse control)
Charisma: C (Social skills, language skills, and animal skills! Contrary to popular belief, not boosted by alcohol.)

Strength:
Endurance:
Constitution:
Agility:
Dexterity:
Intelligence:
Wisdom:
Charisma:

Magic Type Preference: (Magic category - manipulation, energy conjuration, object conjuration, time alteration, illusion, etc. - come up with shit if necessary)
Innate Magic Talent: (specific magic usage that may or may not be linked to magical type preference, such as chucking fireballs, dispelling magic, seeing into an object's past, etc.)
Interests: (E.g. underwater basket weaving.)
Skills: (add a few things your character is good at; you can keep filling it out as the RP goes on)

Biography: (3+ paragraphs, 5 preferred. Put your heart into it!)

Here ya go. Y'all can think about your characters while stuff is getting in order. CS is a bit long/detailed, but that's mostly because we want there to be very little confusion when it comes to roleplaying characters, and we'd like to prevent a repeat of the last time we tried running this (a few players just disappeared from the site completely).

4-5 days before the main IC, OOC, and Character tab posts go up.

Attributes aren't going to be used for numbers and dice rolls or anything, but rather are there to help judge what a character can do, what their biography might be, how to roleplay them, etc. Attributes are not meaningless numbers, so keep them to what you think you would be able to handle. They will have a minor impact on class benefits.

Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages [Accepting Applicants!]

roleplayerguild.com/topics/168155-a-2…

Interest check is up. Gonna go ahead and declare this dead here. Flitter and I have been working on filling out most of the teacher roster and class list, so we should be able to jump head first into the action.

A 20th-ish Century Mage University.

Welcome to Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages!

---

The School

Welcome to Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages!, more commonly known as Mordhaben's, or to locals The Institute. We are a school dedicated to educating future generations of Mages in The Way for the sake of science and safety. Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages was founded in the year 27PW, long before the Unoctocan Empire's founding, and has a long and rich history of progress for the sake of humanity.

Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages is a welcoming place and accepts applications from students of all ages that have completed primary and secondary education, or have gotten a diploma equivalent certificatation (D.E.C.). Tuition is completely free to students as the Institute is funded through the Unoctocan Empire's Mage Corps. Graduates are given a license for open usage of advanced and dangerous Magic skills, and are automatically given the option of joining the Mage Corps upon graduation. Graduates are, however, not required to join the Military, and the majority of graduates go into freelance work or get employment requiring advanced Magic knowledge.

At Mordhaben's, we focus on nurturing the inborn talents in every student. As such, we recognize that not everybody's talents lie in the same areas. The Entrance Exam only requires that applicants pass a single test out of a multitude of different types of test, including written tests of knowledge, practical tests, athletic tests, and tests of strategy. If the honored applicant has a hobby or interest, we request that the applicant informs us so that we may work that hobby or interest into the entrance exam in some form and evaluate whether it has use.

We offer a multitude of courses in academics and military training, with a strong focus on Astronomy, Geology, Strategy, Aircraft Piloting and Maintenance, and Mechanized Cavalry Command and Maintenance. Combat training is mandatory for all students, and consists of Pistol, Rifle, Knife, and Unarmed training. More specialized subsets of martial arts training are also available, though not necessary and not always recommended - your rifle will carry you further than knowing how to use a chain whip will.

In addition to our classes, all students will go on weekly mandatory excursions for community service, typically for community safety and defense. Each student will choose a partner for each excursion, and will be overseen by either a teacher or a professional Mage during their outing.

---

Setting

A mysterious race of beings, seen as Devils by some and as Gods by others, has given humanity a second chance at survival after humanity bombed itself nearly to oblivion. Thousands of years afterwards, humans finally climbed up from the bronze age to something more resembling modern society. Technology is finally on par with pre-cataclysm World War 1, and national tensions are rising. One of the gifts given in addition to humanity's survival was the ability to manipulate the world around them - also thought of as Magic.

A form of martial arts known as The Way has been around ever since the first few generations of survivors sprung up, and has been shifting to fit technological developments ever since. These days, it's essentially military training combined with magical training.

Dedicated colleges for training in The Way have sprung up, and our characters play the roles of teachers, students, and professional Mages. Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages is one of the oldest and most prestigious of them all, but it certainly isn't the only one.

General History

The year is 7210 AD, or rather, 1210 Post-War. In the year 2322 AD, Earth made first contact with a superior alien civilization. They were nothing like we expected, and rather than utilizing what could be strictly considered technology, they used what humans could only think of as "magic". Their consciousnesses meshed with the foundations of the universe rather than existing under it as ours do. Humanity, in its greed, attempted to uncover how to gain the aliens' powers to alter reality, and in doing so fell into a civil war between those who wished to do so militarily, and those who wished to do so peacefully. Mars (which lacked a formal name), the Titan Colonial Mandate, and the Belt Stations' Confederation formed an alliance opposing the Democratic Republic of Terra's aggression, and in 2365, interstellar antiplanetary antimatter missiles were exchanged between both sides, wiping out all life on Earth, Mars, and Titan. Only some farming and mining stations in the Belt Stations' Confederation were left intact, with very, very few remaining educated people, and with all central libraries destroyed, almost all of humanity's knowledge was lost.

Without the support of farms on Mars, the Belters were faced with certain starvation, and made contact with the aliens (who refused to be named, or whose names were unpronounceable via sound - that knowledge has been since lost). The alien civilization was neither benevolent nor malevolent in reality, as their morality does not match our own. But modern humans curse them as demons for what they did, and modern humans curse their ancestors as savages for their own past actions.

The remains of humanity were given roughly what they wanted, in the form of bioengineering, terraforming, and replenishment of flora and fauna, giving them access to something vaguely similar to the aliens' innate abilities and making Earth habitable once more. And, to boot, the aliens guided a number of the surviving stations back to Earth's surface, where they still rest, oftentimes centers of civilizations. But what humanity gave up wasn't worth it. They had traded their sovereignty and their future for immediate survival.

In the past few thousand years, humans have had to build their civilization back up from the early bronze age, with very little real technology. They now know almost nothing of what they once did, save for that space exists and Earth isn't the center of it, that they will one day return to the Stars, and that a civilization of Gods and Devils once saved them from themselves at a great cost. Periodically, landing craft appear on Earth and take the entire population of a small town to who-knows-where without saying a word. And people are getting very, very unhappy about it.

The Modern Planet

Earth is a shattered, torn place these days. It's been just under five thousand years since the Solar Civil War tore the planet to shreds, and the Earth is still reeling from the aftereffects of the apocalyptic weapons exchanges. When the missiles struck the Earth, they embedded themselves hundreds of meters into the ground before detonating, effectively cracking the planet open like a clump of clay struck with a baseball bat. Enormous craters were formed as huge chunks of the planet were thrown into the sky, and the explosive shock triggered tectonic activity on levels not seen since the planet first formed and cooled.

Continents have shifted about, new mountain ranges have formed, and existing mountain ranges have been split in half to form deep ravines kilometers deep. Debris thrown into orbit from the explosions includes remainders of old human cities, stone, dirt, clay, and enormous volumes of water. In the past five thousand years, the Earth has gained a new Satellite - much smaller than Luna, but much more unusual. "The Glob", as the common folks call it, is a large hunk of loose mud and gravel saturated with water, and shifts in shape as it passes through the sky, freezing on the side furthest from the sun and shifting from an orb to an oblong egg any time it passes near Luna. Luna itself has had its orbital path thrown off by The Glob, and rather than moving in a proper ellipse, its orbital path shifts on a routine basis, though neither satellite seems to be in any danger of falling out of orbit any time soon.

The Earth also has a spiral of debris hundreds of thousands of kilometers long trailing along on a suborbital trajectory, steadily being pulled back down to the planet between the tropics with the heaviest concentration centered along the Equator. This debris spiral is responsible for ending the Great War that occurred over a thousand years ago, when it finally came back into contact with the planet and rendered the tropics almost uninhabitable. Smaller chunks of debris simply burn up in the atmosphere on descent, but the larger ones have resulted in ceaseless streaks of fire across the sky as the Earth turns, and the spiral trail's slow reentry has caused a thick layer of ash clouds to cover most of the region. These "Deadlands" are now the home of swarms of Monsters who have migrated to escape the steady expansion of human territories.

Tropical weather has grown rarer with the cooling of the oceans in the tropics, and arctic weather has increased in frequency in further north and south latitudes, leaving the remaining habitable regions of the planet with a temperate and pleasant Spring and Summer, but harsh Winters.

While some of the most common flora and fauna on the old Earth are still present, the scenery is much different due to the replenishing and terraforming efforts of the alien civilization that saved humanity's remnants from starvation. Large "mushroomlike" trees are more common than pine or oak ever were, several regions have oddly colored and razor sharp grasses, and in general the ecosystem is a completely different beast. It's still plenty fertile though.

Magic

Humans are pretty much what they always have been in shape, size, appearance, etc., but they have gained a few new tricks. Humans are now able to manipulate the fabric of reality as long as they have access to suitable forms of energy - heat, motion, electricity, radiation, fat stores, whatever. Humans are no more durable than they used to be though, which limits how much power a single person can take in and use, and the initial source of magic energy always has to be the caster's own body (typically resulting in a blood sugar drop). Mages have to "step up" their energy chain with other sources, or else they risk exhausting themselves.

Each person has an affinity for certain forms of reality manipulation, based on their personality and genetics. But attempts to classify such skills have almost all failed, as the potential abilities of each person are far too varied. Elemental manipulation, creating matter from energy, creating energy from matter, telepathy, retroactive manipulation, proactive manipulation, body enhancement, and precognition are just a few of the skills that people can master. No one person has ever successfully mastered more than a few different talents at once, and even within those talents, there are strongly preferred skills, such as pyrokinesis, telekinesis, beast summoning, cosmic disaster creation, and the like, which each person will find they have an affinity for.

A new martial art has appeared that capitalizes on manipulation skills. It's known by many different names - The Way, Star Fist, Gift of Angels, etc., for some very rough translations. But the central concepts are all the same. Intense concentration on the world around oneself, intense concentration on the world one wishes to see, and even more intense concentration on the split between the two concepts have all become an artform. Foundation, the world itself, allows one to protect oneself against other manipulations. Vision, the ideal reality, gives insight into what was, is, will be, and what is possible. Compromise is the ability to split the difference between Foundation and Vision, and as some have put it, is the art form of arguing with the universe and winning.

The more steadfast one person's Foundation is, the less effective others' abilities will be against them and their environment. The more powerful one's Compromise is, the greater the degree to which they can change the environment. Foundation is almost incapable of completely preventing Compromise from having an effect, but remaining committed to reality as it currently is certainly makes it harder for others to change it. Vision is needed in both, to see what is wanted, to see what has happened, to see what still is, and to see what will happen. Foundation cannot protect without knowing the arguments of Compromise, which Vision will give, just as Compromise cannot be achieved without using Vision to know what changes to make.

Vision and Compromise can be used to draw energy from alternate sources and magnify the degree of the effect a Mage can create. While the initial power source must be in direct contact with the Mage in some way, the Mage can 'steal' energy from natural occurrences with enough knowledge and experience.

Monsters and Chimeras

Only some of the life that existed on Earth was able to be resurrected after the great cataclysm - some trees, the most widespread animals, bacteria, viruses, etc. Most life on the planet was created by the alien saviors using their own plants and animals as a base. The most dangerous of these are simply referred to as Monsters, and all Monsters are able to use magic either on par with or vastly exceeding the average human. Some Monsters have created their own small, tribal civilizations far away from humans, but there have been some small scale clashes between sentient Monsters and humans from time to time.

Whether out of incompetence or as a cruel joke, humans and Monsters are capable of breeding with one another, which lead to the birth of bizarre hybrids - usually referred to as Chimeras. Chimeras are hated by all of Monsterkind, and humans have a distaste for them because of their strange appearances, so Chimeras typically either live in segregated areas of human cities, or in neighboring tribes of their own.

Notes on Chimeras and Chimera Generations

Chimeras are categorized by generations interbred with humans, and by familial Monster genetics. Chimeras may interbreed with other Chimeras, which results in odd mishmashes of Monsterlike features layered on top of the human features they've gained. Monster aspects are universally recessive traits.

First Generation Chimeras are the most Monsterlike by a long shot, and have typically only gained an Earthlike and humanlike skeletal structure, removing half of their ribs and reforming their limbs and joints to more closely resemble Humans. They typically retain their Monster sizes and most Monster internal and external organs, and tend to have trouble communicating with humans vocally. They are invariably just as intelligent as humans are though, regardless of Monster species in the mix. First Generation Chimeras are the most hated by Monsters, and more aggressive Monsters that might ignore humans will often attack them on sight. A First Generation Cephalopod Chimera would walk on two primary legs and have a human internal structure, but would also have slimy and slick hides and (depending on species) extremely thick natural shells, resembling walking nautiluses or squids.

Second Generation Chimeras become more human medically speaking, taking on human internal organs and further reshaping their bodies to resemble humans. Sizes are brought down or up towards human, though not always fully. Some Monster appendages and attributes are lost, and their hides become more mammalian. Second Generation is roughly where Chimeras are guaranteed to have humanlike vocalization abilities, though their voices tend to be very unusual and grating. Second Generation Chimeras onwards have a progressively greater chance of losing their second set of eyes in favor of a humanlike face. A Second Generation Molluscoid Chimera would have a much smaller shell and loses most of its limbs, with the remaining limbs becoming more mammalian and its facial structure moving from completely molluscoid towards humanoid.

Third Generation Chimeras generally have their entire bodies covered in mammalian, humanlike hides, though exterior things like feathers, fur, and spines tend to remain. They have fully humanlike vocalization. Typically, the Monster-esque secondary pair of eyes is gone by the Third Generation. This is roughly where average humans without odd fetishes stop being horrified by their appearances. Third Generation Cephalopod Chimeras may resemble Illithids as presented in Dungeons and Dragons.

Fourth Generation Chimeras are almost entirely humanlike in appearance and behavior, save for a small number of Monster features that may remain, such as claws, carapaces, animalistic ears, fur, feathers, etc. Occasionally duplicate appendages may be present depending on ancestral Monster species, such as a second pair of arms or legs, or the standard Monster secondary pair of eyes. Monsterlike organs that are still functional under the new humanlike form tend to remain - for instance, a Fourth Generation Insectoid Chimera would likely have compound eyes sitting within a human shaped face.

Fifth Generation Chimeras are almost entirely human, only retaining one or two minor Monster attributes, such as digitigrade legs, animalistic ears, tails, shells, wings, and the like. These include animal-like people often present in old Earth animated shows and graphic novels such as nekos and Faunus in RWBY.

Sixth Generation Chimeras only retain vestigial Monster aspects. The most extreme Sixth Generation monster aspect recorded to date has been a case in which a man's big toes were used as a foot support rather than his heels, which were narrow, unpadded, and rested atop his big toes while standing. More common aspects tend to be fewer or more fingers, slightly sharper teeth than average, the ability to wiggle one's tailbone, etc.

Seventh Generation onwards are effectively entirely human, though there is a minor possibility that children borne between two seventh generation Chimeras may resemble Sixth Generation Chimeras if remaining Monster genes are passed on from both parents.

Notes on Monsters

Monsters come in a multitude of different forms. While they are all capable of performing Magic, they tend to look wildly different from one another, save for a few things in common due to their origin as modified xenofauna.

Monsters generally have complete rib cages rather than half rib cages like Earth fauna do, meaning there is no such thing as a Monster with a soft underbelly. Monster hides are often thicker and more radiation resistant than Earth fauna hides are. Almost all Monster species have four eyes rather than two, with both predatorlike forward eyes and preylike side eyes. And Monster "fur" and "hair" is generally more akin to spines, and resembles either narrow, bladelike scales, or feather shafts. Monster "fur" and "feathers" are also more brittle than Earth fauna equivalents as well, owing to the higher concentration of silica and iron in Monster bodies. Monster pelvic and shoulder joints are always side-mounted rather than vertically mounted, giving their legs a much wider range of motion, and Monsters' pelvises and tailbones extend further to provide their legs more muscle mounting points and greater range of motion.

Monsters are categorized by resemblance to Earth fauna, by size, and by danger rating.

Sizes are S, MS, M, ML, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, and X.
Danger Ratings are F, D, E, C, B, A, S, and X.

General Geography and Politics

Mordhaben's Institute is in the remnants of what used to be Wyoming, roughly one hundred miles to the southeast of the tail end of the Rocky Gorge. Further to the west, the Sierra Nevada cliffs stand on either side of the Flynenhael Sea. Across the Flynenhael Sea is a large landmass that used to be the western coast of North America, stretching all the way from a narrow land bridge near what used to be Alaska all the way down to Baja California. To the East of Mordhaben's Institute, build near the ruins of Chicago, is the great city of Unoctoc Station, seat of the Unoctocan Empire. Further to the east of that lies the Northeastern Bay - a blasted crater hundreds of miles wide opening up much of the continent to the ocean.

In the Southeast, cutting across from what used to be eastern Texas all the way up to what used to be northern Virginia, is the nation of Airelosia, which is currently at a white peace with the Unoctocan Empire. The Unoctocan Empire covers most of the landmass, but borders with the Flynenhael Conglomerate to the west are fuzzy at best and heavily disputed.

The Unoctocan Empire is home to Mordhaben's Institute, and most closely resembles old Prussia culturally, though the government is required to be more egalitarian than its old Earth equivalent simply by merit of the existence of magic. While they do have a royal family, this royal family eternally has the sword of the military held above their heads, and parliament has the sword of its citizens held above their heads as well. Revolution is paradoxically staved off by encouraging revolution.

The Flynenhael Conglomerate to the West is less a nation and more a loose confederation of communities, and resemble old tribal societies more than anything, using a mixture of direct democracy and mutual trade, with a strong focus on magic for long distance communications. Each community is free to join and leave the Conglomerate as they please, though the Conglomerate has spent large amounts of resources in ensuring that its member communities are self-sufficient and extremely well protected with static defenses.

Airelosia to the Southeast is the most brutal by far, with a military meritocracy in place that actively encourages would-be rulers to assassinate their superiors, under the thinking that a strong enough leader for their nation's needs will be able to protect themself. Airelosia is a watery place, overrun with the descendents of bamboo and kudzu and continually bombarded with heavy rainy seasons throughout the year, giving it a unique culture all of its own. Airelosia is notable in that it exterminates all traces of non-domesticated Monsters wherever it can, including Chimeras.

---

Base Character Sheet: Feel free to add more detail.

Name:

Appearance: (Picture optional, text description required)

Age: (16 and up, or Monster equivalent in the event of shorter lifespans)

Species: Human, Monster (describe type - restricted to S through ML size), or Chimera (list generation and type)

Gender:

Occupation: (Students only at this time. List year, first years preferred. Will open up to Professional Mages at a later date, when the roleplay mandates it).

Personality: (only what others would notice immediately; I'd recommend filling out the Big Five test scores below, but you can remove those if you have a suitable description)

Openness to Experience: 0-100
Neuroticism: 0-100
Agreeableness: 0-100
Extroversion: 0-100
Conscientiousness: 0-100

Attributes:

Details and Instructions. Remove me when posting

Distribute 40 Points. Most characters' stats should range between 3 and 8. Minmaxing players had better be good at playing that character, because these numbers ain't just for show.

0=Dead or Unresponsive. Don't use this.
1=Severely Disabled
2=Disastrous
3=Exceptionally Poor
4=Poor
5=Average
6=Above Average
7=Gifted
8=Exceptional
9=Monstrous
10=Absurd

P/F/V/C impact what each attribute is most useful for. P = Physical, F = Foundation, V = Vision, C = Compromise.

Strength: P (Obvious)
Endurance: PFC (How long can one continue to work, fight, or use magic?)
Constitution: PF (Welcome to the Salty Spitoon! How tough are ya? - Physical durability)
Agility: P (Movement speed, acrobatics - gross motor skills)
Dexterity: P (Fine motor skills - weapons accuracy, finesse, writing neatness)
Intelligence: FVC (In this case, ability to learn new things quickly.)
Wisdom: FV (Resistance to faulty information and impulse control)
Charisma: C (Social skills, language skills, and animal skills! Contrary to popular belief, not boosted by alcohol.)

Strength:
Endurance:
Constitution:
Agility:
Dexterity:
Intelligence:
Wisdom:
Charisma:

Magic Type Preference: (Magic category - manipulation, energy conjuration, object conjuration, time alteration, illusion, etc. - come up with shit if necessary)
Innate Magic Talent: (specific magic usage that may or may not be linked to magical type preference, such as chucking fireballs, dispelling magic, seeing into an object's past, etc.)
Interests: (E.g. underwater basket weaving.)
Skills: (add a few things your character is good at; you can keep filling it out as the RP goes on)

Biography: (3+ paragraphs, 5 preferred. Put your heart into it!)

Think about your character, post here or PM it to me. IC and OOC post are going up in 4-5 days.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Whoops! Fix'd a minor detail on the post. Much better now.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

---

Survival-ish...?

---

Ashe, sitting in her corner of the Survival classroom, stared at the cupcake. It blankly stared back. A couple dips in the icing formed "eyes", with a gentle curve on the other side forming a smile. It was kinda creepy, and Ashe was pretty sure she was just imagining a face in it. So she did the only thing she could do and turned it around so it would stare at someone else instead. It didn't work, and now instead of a smiling cupcake staring at her, she had a smiling cupcake staring at her upside-down. Averting her gaze did nothing to solve the miniscule sense of unease of having a pair of eyes on her, and she was tempted to eat it just to make it stop. But that would be a potentially fatal mistake here in Survival Class.

Port threw Treezilla at me on my first day. There's no way in hell I'm trusting this teacher's cooking. I mean, it's survival class. I wouldn't put it past them to try to poison us.

The teacher, Estelle Nuit, looked like the innocent, cute, friendly, normal type: exactly the sort Ashe had trained herself to not trust. And cupcakes made her all the more suspicious. Getting robbed by someone like that tends to change a girl forever, after all, even if it was only a few lien that Ashe had probably accidentally dropped somewhere. Or perhaps it'd been eaten by a vending machine. It was hard to remember, but damn it, Ashe was determined to hold on to her prejudices. At least for now. Port being an absolute asshole hadn't done anything to help.

“We will be starting shortly, so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. The exercise itself will be explained once we begin, so don’t worry too much about that,” the teacher said.

Ashe thought about asking about the cupcakes. Who baked them? Are they safe? Can they get the taste of Grimm out of my mouth?

But something unexpected happened. A person was talking to her. "Pretty sure they're not poisoned. Super sweet though, if that's not your thing."

"I'll wait until we get our instructions from the teach-"

Wait. That voice sounded familiar. Her eyes shot towards him, revealing him to be huge and green. Fuck!

"-er...?", she finished. Nope! No. This isn't happening. I reject it completely. I do not know this person. At all. That skin color and build is just a really, really bad coinci... Oh gods, it's really him, isn't it? Just play it cool...

Ashe's Semblance almost immediately kicked in, preventing any outward signs of shock and fear, though perhaps a tiny fraction of a second too late. "Yeah, I think I'll wait for the teacher to tell us what we're doing. You are...?"

@Lucius Cypher

Heroes of Beacon - Contest of Champions

Alternate Universe Ashe

Name:
Ashe Blackwood

Age:
18

Gender:
Female

Race:
Faunus - Mountain Ibex

Nationality:
Mistrali / Menagerian

Weapons:
White Carapace
A suit of Hotoke Dou style Mistrali armor. The breastplate is smooth and well machined to match Ashe's physique. The armor itself isn't particularly special, though it is exceptionally protective and is surprisingly lightweight for its design. The metals used are the same as those used in weapons by professional Huntsmen, granting it a far greater toughness than most similarly designed armor. Ashe can't help but wonder why these materials aren't used in Atlesian robots and mechs more often, with the exception of the new Paladin model.

While the breastplate is a single pair of smooth plates that fully house the upper torso and ribcage, most of the rest is similar to traditional Mistrali armor, with the exception that rather than bamboo and leather, it is made using rods of lightweight weapons grade alloys coated in kevlar, with a coating of lacquer to give it a similar texture to traditional armor. The shoulderpads and thigh skirts are of similar size and engulf the arms and legs in a protective coat that only modestly impedes movement, and heavy greaves and vambraces of smooth metal almost seem to merge into her gauntlets and boots, which are of a more "western" style, as the traditional Mistrali designs are woefully underprotected.

Of particular note is the helmet, which is similar to a traditional Mistrali kabuto, save for a highly detailed goat mask covering the face, and armor designed to cover and protect Ashe's horns. The horn armor is made up of triangular segmented plates, padded with soft pipe insulation, with a kevlar fixture sock hidden behind the Haven Academy crest resting upon the forehead, and is designed so that Ashe may add more plates as she ages and her horns grow. The tip segments of the horn armor are effectively speartips with a socket placed over the tips of her horns and wicked triangular cast tips.

The White Carapace is, as its name implies, almost all white, save for a golden trim.

Iridescence
Once again, a traditional Mistrali design. Or, rather, two traditional Mistrali designs, as Iridescence is at its core a long ōdachi with a variable-length grip, which extends upwards to shift the weapon into something more resembling a traditional nagamaki, giving it a dual use as both a field sword and a polearm. The blade is slightly straighter than traditional weapons due to modern blade forging techniques. Cold-hammered by forging machinery and sharpened via belt sander, the blade is higher quality if more generic than traditional weapons forged out of low-grade ores with a soft core and hardened edge. It is also somewhat more forgiving in that parrying a blow with the flat or reverse edge of the blade is less likely to shatter the sword.

The overall length is six feet, with a two-part grip, the top of which can be slid and locked in and out of place at either quarter-length or half-length points. Its sheath is designed with the intent of Iridescence being sheathed as an ōdachi rather than as a nagamaki.

Of note, though, there are small holes drilled into the sides and rear of the blade, facing towards the tip at 20 to 45 degree angles, with a singular inner tube running the length of the blade. Holes are smaller near the hilt and larger near the tip, ranging from 1mm to 3mm in diameter, and the holes end roughly 10cm from the top of the grip when functioning as a nagamaki. Embedded in the tridentlike crossguard (chosen for its blade-locking potential over the smaller, rounder traditional tsuba) is a small cylinder of dust cartridges and a thumb-operated trigger. It's a rugged and durable design that relies on mechanical means of igniting Dust rather than utilizing Aura like other, "fancier" weapons might use, and when depressed, the selected cartridge spews ignited Dust throughout the blade, forcefully ejecting it through the series of twelve drilled holes near the end of the blade. Pressurized cartridges of non-Dust substances can also be used, such as teargas and smoke generating chemicals, so long as they have the same "priming cap" design. Ashe uses this primarily for dangerous obscuring clouds in combat, disrupting the opponent's view of her as she advances to melee range.

Some types of Dust can, due to their more "fluid" operation, be used as a ranged option - in particular, cyan and orange Dust cartridges can be used for simple laserlike energy bursts and liquid flamethrower roles, though the arrangement of holes in the blade's end gives them less of a directed feel and more of an area of effect.

Specialty:
Tank, Assassin

Semblance:
The Unnoticed
Ashe's personality is somewhat different from the normal Beacon timeline, and as such, her Semblance is different as well, though still in roughly the same illusionist category. Her preference to remain unnoticed and avoid social contact when possible has manifested itself through her Semblance, and she is capable of simply disappearing - or at least, seeming to disappear. Essentially, Ashe drops off of a person's radar if she hasn't already done something to catch their attention, and twists their perception such that it's much more difficult to know that she's there, and if she is present, where she is. This isn't a surefire way of avoiding social contact or harm, though, as anyone sufficiently aware of her presence may cut through her Semblance with proper focus.

In combat, she uses this skill in tandem with Iridescence's obscuring cloud function to approach without giving her opponents a clear concept of where behind the cloud she actually is. Most respond by not attacking, lest they hit bystanders behind her instead.

The Unnoticed is essentially the same as A Change of Face is in the Beacon timeline, though it is strongly underdeveloped and the method by which Ashe avoids notice is more self-centered and inwardly focused. It has less utility and is no more than an extension of her nature as an intentional wallflower.

Personality:
Ashe is a strong introvert with a preference for avoiding unnecessary social contact. She prefers being either alone or working with others towards a common objective - be it weapon development, political interests, or other. While she has gone to parties in the past, she dislikes them and tends to stay near the exit without taking part, aside from of course sampling whatever food might be around. When asked personal questions, she deflects them with biting sarcasm and insults, and she tends to have difficulty making friends because of this. This isn't a problem to her though, as she would rather have comrades and coworkers than friends, because the latter simply drains her energy and forces her to think about herself in ways she'd rather not.

A deep depression manifests as outwards anger - towards others, towards her country, and towards the world in general. This is probably why her political beliefs are so far off from her core personality, as she still has a strong distaste for strong authority, but latches on to the strongest anti-authority figures in her life: in this case, the White Fang. Thinking about it just agitates her, and she ducks out of political discussions that might lead her towards questioning her choices.

An obsession with her body type being too small, weak, and feminine drives her to the gym regularly, and she's grown exceptionally muscular for her size and shape, though this doesn't completely alleviate her distaste for her physical form.

Alternate History:
One simple choice changed Ashe's entire life on a deep level, turning her from the relatively friendly person we all know to someone decidedly less-so. She chose to stay with her family rather than run away when she was 13 years old. Forever a problem child, this decision wore on her family, her community, and herself heavily, as her continual conflicts with her parents over issues of politics and personal responsibility grew louder and more angry with each passing week. Her neighborhood in Kuo Kuana came to know her as "that anarchist girl" and thought of her as an annoyance more than anything, and shouting matches between her and her father became the norm. The old man was at the end of his rope after a few short months and offered her a simple choice: Stay, or go to Sanctum where she could find her own way in life and be what she always seemed to want to be. Papa Blackwood wasn't a cruel man - he was desperately trying to figure out how to help her through her teen years and didn't really know what to do. Ashe's Mother was much the same way, though she was more passive and even grew to avoid speaking to Ashe about personal responsibilities at all. Ashe knew they were trying their hardest, and in the interest of keeping her family from falling apart, she decided to go to Sanctum.

Life at Sanctum was more structured than life in Kuo Kuana with her family by a wide margin. Her responsibilities there were right up her alley and completely inside her comfort zone. Unfortunately, she came into contact with more extreme political views while there. A good view of the lives of the underclasses of Mistral and comparison between them, her people in Menagerie, and the upper classes developed her already anti-authority views to an extreme, and she found herself at a White Fang rally when she was 14 years old. It only took a year after that for her to find herself listening to Sienna Khan's every word as gospel, and her local chapter of the White Fang, while initially uneasy about having a child in their ranks, eventually accepted that they needed more Huntresses, even if they were still in training. The gap between Ashe's political activist life and her school life only worsened her nonsocial tendencies, with fear of her involvement being discovered taking over every conversation she took part in. After accidentally blurting out extremist views in class discussions, she simply stopped speaking except for when necessary to convey information or succeed in an objective.

Simultaneously, her combat training classes in Sanctum gave her a different view on combat than she would have developed on the lower tiers of Mistral's streets. Repeated failures in hand to hand combat with training equipment against other students taught her a harsh lesson: in a closed arena, she had to eliminate her weaknesses rather than focus on her strengths. With the help of the school's instructors, she slowly whittled away at her tendency to retreat, and pushed herself to relentlessly attack where she would have otherwise stayed on defense. After roughly two years, she was given an assignment to design her equipment, which would determine what kind of Huntress she would eventually be. Eliminating her fear of the enemy had given her a newfound respect for up-close combat - though not too close - and she knew she wanted to be well protected and well armed. Legends of ancient Mistrali Huntsmen, accompanied by seeing the school's top student Pyrrha Nikos design her own armor and blade, pushed Ashe to follow suit. In the end she chose an old style of Mistrali armor and blade, which suited her more aggressive personality almost perfectly.

All the while, she continued going to White Fang events, and found herself almost disturbingly enjoying them more and more as they grew more and more violent. Her hatred of police forces grew with each assaulted or arrested protester until when she was 17 and moved to Haven Academy, she no longer saw them as being people. And so she put down her signs and designed a second set of equipment - similar to her usual gear at Sanctum and Haven, but more western-style, brutal, and ramshackle, with a Grimm mask in the place of her goat mask and many sets of decorative horns to distract from her own horns. With a borrowed naginata, courtesy of the White Fang, she began going to rallies to more aggressively protect protesters, while using her own Semblance to escape arrest. And her political activism has started creeping up and disrupting her school life.

Team LASR - Leon, Ashe, Satin, and Rojo, is crumbling faster than most. Leon and Rojo are traditionally-minded Humans from wealthier families, while Satin and Ashe are working class Faunus with more extremist tendencies. Armed with a quarterstaff, Satin is a Mandrill Faunus almost indistinguishable from humans apart from his having the most incredible ass this side of Remnant, and he has a glorious white mane to match Professor Lionheart's own. Leon Ito is younger than the others and is a child prodigy armed with a javelin and a kama, hailing from a family of mining oligarchs. Rojo is similarly well-off to Leon, with her family owning a chain of upper class restaurants, though she is the seventh daughter with the rest of her siblings focusing on the family business. Satin regularly gets into harsh arguments with Leon and Rojo, while Ashe quietly supports him from the sidelines. Ashe doesn't want a repeat of her familial issues, but Professor Lionheart's shortsightedness in team formation has forced it to happen again. Satin is opposed to the White Fang on principles of violence, but he has discovered Ashe's involvement with them and is slowly rethinking his views and becoming steadily more politically aggressive. Leon and Rojo, meanwhile, take the position that Faunus are already as well-off as humans are, and need no further concessions. They strongly believe that Menagerie is more than enough to offset centuries of oppression and deny Remnant's corporations' ongoing abuses of Faunus as being any more than "accidents", stating that the Faunus should be grateful that the Schnee Dust Company, the Ito Mining Group, and other such companies are permitting Faunus to work for them rather than switching to using robotic laborers like the Atlas military has.

Naturally, this means that Team LASR fights itself more than it fights Grimm or other teams, leading them to have somewhat of a combat edge over others through constant "practice" (though whether it can be called 'practice' is up for debate, given that more often than not they're trying to genuinely harm eachother). Teamwork is noticeably lacking.

Color:
Slate - 708090

Emblem:

Ashe's Emblem is, in this timeline, simply the Haven Academy crest with a goat's face in the center, all in bronze.

Appearance:

5’5” (not including horns), 130lbs. She’s an athletic girl of average height with dark skin and almost completely average proportions. Shallow and wide cheekbones give her a round and short face, with a narrow nose and large, sharp, green eyes. Her honey brown hair is in a long ponytail, and almost matches her skin tone. Notably, there’s a pair of long, slightly curved and ribbed horns sprouting from the top of her head, which she seems to take even better care of than the rest of her appearance and are regularly waxed and buffed to a dull shine.

Her fashion preferences are geared more towards the traditional and towards uniformity, and as such she typically wears Mistrali robes on holidays and the male Haven Academy uniform otherwise.

The Vanguard Steps In

“You are ordered to disperse!”

The calls were shouted over and over again over a megaphone by police forces riding cheap riot wagons, and despite the protesters’ resistance, the crowd was being pushed back in yet another display of aggression against the Faunus Rights movement. Out of the corner of Ashe’s eye, an officer clad in plastic composite armor was struck in the visor by something wrapped in a sock and fell off of his vehicle, prompting his coworkers to move forwards with their shields raised and form a protective line around him as he got back up. Another projectile flew, this time bursting into flames.

“Justice for Korrin!”, “Go back to your pen, pigs!”, “Fuck you!”, and the like came from the crowd, and many of the protesters, clad in casual clothes and carrying signs made of wooden dowels and cardstock, shifted their expressions from cheerful indignation to fear. Sure, their protest permit wasn’t accepted by the city council, but they didn’t think it would turn out this way. But they knew what would happen next, just as Ashe did. Ashe glanced one last time out of the black van’s window, then closed the blinds and strapped into her riot armor. This one would be fun.

TLDR;

Ashe didn't run away and join a squatter commune in Mistral. She is dramatically different as a result. Ended up going to Sanctum, joining the White Fang, then graduating and moving to Haven.

Mordhaben's Institute for Aspiring Mages [Accepting Applicants!]

Alright. Too many folks disappeared, so I'm killing this off. Gonna start anew with some fixed policies on my GMing too. New interest check is going up some time tomorrow.

If all goes well, the new RP should be up within a week to ten days.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Lucius Cypher Yeah, I don't see why not.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

I'm gonna have to drop out here. Next time the team's at a pirate port, you can assume Ren took its weapons and bodies and left without saying a word, though it would've left the computerized tower in the ship (too much packing time).