STATUS:
Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I've just... been struggling to get the energy to write something up. I'm trying some new meds through so hopefully that will change soon.
9 yrs ago
Current
Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I've just... been struggling to get the energy to write something up. I'm trying some new meds through so hopefully that will change soon.
The sound of rain on the glass of the covered windows was a familiar, comforting one. If she kept the curtains firmly closed, she could even pretend that it actually was rain that was touching the glass.
Shortly after her Patron had granted her this apartment Coco occasionally had looked out the windows, trying to come to some understanding of the alien landscape that existed outside of the glass. Sometimes she still did when she felt an artistic urge seize her before she tried to capture a view that so few humans might have ever had the chance to see. But not when it rained. Never when it rained. That was the time when she closed the curtains and focused her attention elsewhere. Because that noise wasn't rain and what it was proved unsettling to witness.
So she enjoyed the comfort of her easy chair, a bowl with two packets of chicken flavored noodles steaming next to her as she continued to read through the collective works of Lovecraft while Rupert napped on his own comfy chair. Part of her choice of reading material was due to a desire to read some of the classics that had formed the corner stone of human literature; She had made it about halfway through the Count of Monte Cristo before the writing style had caused her to put it down and never pick it up again, but while Lovecraft's own writings were clearly old fashioned, she found it helped capture the themes the writer was striving for.
It was also educational. Oh a lot of it was simply the paranoia of a rather close minded man in an era where his certainties were being eroded and overturned at every corner and it was doubtful any of the 'gods' or alien races he had written about actually existed, but despite its flaws it did give one a fairly solid idea of what to expect when encountering the servants of a Horror.
Still, it was nice to have a little down time to herself. Greed would normally have been keeping her busy, but right now he wanted her laying low for a while. The political situation in Penrose was delicate with the balance the power currently in flex... and he wanted to make sure he knew just how to deploy her to make sure that the change was to their favor.
With Raethel stepping down for a period of mourning and a Regency Speaker taking over, one might have expected chaos and panic to grip Firstbarrows or the now properly established Greenland Dockyard... but the truth was it didn't. Those in the know of Rattus politics didn't really see this change as anything major since there wasn't anything vital to be voted for in the foreseeable future. Those not in the know generally only care about the board strokes of what was going on anyway so the Regency likely would go unnoticed as they went about their lives.
For the first time since he had awoken all those years ago before his two gods, Raethel was free of the duty of leading his people. The loss of his mate was a heavy burden to bare still but... for the first time he could actually spend some time at home, being a proper father to his children. That wasn't to say that he didn't try to spend times with his offspring when he could, but in the balancing act of family and leading their people he had to admit that things tended to slant towards the latter at times.
As hurt as he was through, Raethel knew he wasn't the only one that was hurting from the recent loss. The pups of his second litter had only just recently grown thick enough fur that their skin would be covered and protected from the light of the sky and were so... lost. Confused by the fact that their mother wasn't around anymore. They weren't sad, but that was only because they didn't truly understand what had happened... but they felt the absence of their mother all the same.
Their first litter was older and did understand the situation. While Raethel might have spent the first half of the sky cycle quietly mourning by himself, the rest of his time seemed to be attempting to weigh giving his children the space they needed to process and grieve in their own way and spending time with them on a one to one basis. Occasionally a small group of them could be gathered together but it was still too early for all of them to gather together at once.
There was no real ritual or plan. They just stayed in their barrow, occasionally talking, occasionally eating something simple. Every now and then a friendly, sympathetic soul would stop by and offer some food so that they didn't have to burden themselves with preparing anything themselves. Occasionally they fell asleep. Despite everything through, the youngest still needed to be looked after and entertained... and truth be told Raethel was perfectly happy to take on that duty. While his own body had started to be worn down by the many cycles of the sky that had passed, seeing the joy and youth of the pups filled him with an energy that he hadn't felt since before his fur started to lose its color and go gray.
Personally he loved sitting down and telling the little ones stories in order to help them drift off to sleep the most. He generally tried to do so regularly even before this self imposed rest, since while he might not have been able to spend a lot of time with his children he wanted to at be present to help them sleep, but if there was one silver lining to all this it was the fact that he got to do so consistently without the threat of some bickering over trade calling him away.
After a few cycles through, Raethel decided that it might be for the best to have a change of scenery; To leave their barrow for a time in order to see some of the other areas of Firstbarrows... maybe even take a trip over to Greenland so that they could see it for themselves for the first time.
Granted he would have to check if the latest issue with the Water Steeds (formally Water Monsters) in Greenland had been resolved yet; Transporting them there had been a logistical challenge in the first place due to the fact that they didn't like the deep, salty one bit and trying to escort them via the land route was such a supply issue that it was honestly quicker and easier to figure out how to develop a wooden boat that could not only safely carry one of the big, heavy bastards, but also the food, water and mud required in order to keep them happy and healthy... on top of the standard supplies and crew.
It had been done. It had taken many cycles of the sky but it had been done. Unfortunately that hurdle was quickly followed by the fact that the plant life in Greenland didn't seem to agree with the Water Steeds. Thankfully they weren't poisonous to them or anything (apart from the plants that were poisonous) but the new diet seemed to cause more discomfort then anything else. That problem had been solved by planting some of the plants the creatures ate along the water sources where near the Greenland Docks and with some slight influence of the Followers of the Wind of Life the plants started to thrive.
Last he had heard, the issue now was the Water Steeds and most of the local wildlife didn't seem to get along. Considering what the Water Steeds were like before the ritual that made them friendly and passive to the Rattus, this wasn't completely surprising. It also answered a question about why they had started attacking Rattus in the first place but seemed to leave other species alone. The Water Steed was by their nature a highly territorial creature and proved highly aggressive to anything that entered what it deemed to belong to it... and to put it bluntly the wildlife around the River Rattus had learned long before the Rattus had shown up that they didn't want to try fighting a Water Steed.
Unfortunately, the wildlife of Greenland didn't know this lesson yet. The Followers of the Wind of Life had convened on the matter and decided to largely let nature take its course here; As they put it, a new natural order was being sorted out between the Water Steeds and the local animals and it was not their place to interfere with that... through they would heal up the wounded on both sides as possible. Not only would this ensure that the Water Steeds would be fine, the Green Wind hoped that the act of healing wounded local animals would improve relations between them and the Rattus in general... at the very least, they felt that having survivors of fights with the Water Steeds would help the local animals figure out that it wasn't a fight that was worth having a bit faster then letting the Water Steeds kill everything.
Post the death of his wife, Raethel takes some time to spend with his family. After a few days of being a good dad, he decides to organize a trip around Firstbarrows and possibly to Greenland which has developed into a proper Dockyard in the years since the settlement there was founded.
We also get to see a glimpse of the issues with transporting and introducing Hippos across the ocean into an environment where there were no Hippos formerly. Problems with the transportation itself (solved with some clever engineering to the ship designs), trying to feed the Hippos with local plants (solved by introducing plants the Hippos can eat to the region) and now nature trying to work out where Hippos are in the food chain of this new region.
The Followers of the Wind of Life (the Green Wind) felt that this was perfectly natural and largely decide that the Rattus should stay out of it beyond going in and healing injured Hippos... as well as any wounded survivors of the fights with the Hippos. This was to A) Hopefully make local animals more friendly to the Rattus and B) Hoping that having survivors of Hippo encounter among the local animal population will make the local animals figure out that Hippos are dangerous and shouldn't be fought lightly a bit faster.
Start: 1
+1 for being apart of a post for longer then a line. +1 for being main character. +1 Med length post
Divine Quest: Claim the Land of Deserts and Hidden Rivers for the Rattus (In progress) Divine Quest: Discover a new land across the sea (Plus discover the ability to sail on the ocean) (In progress) Divine Quest: Create safe passage through the Great Dragon Range so Rattus can explore the other side.
Coco appears younger then she is, despite the fact that she is in the body of a fifteen year old. People have mistaken her for eleven or twelve and it kind of bugs her.
Transforming, Coco looks more mature... but in truth this is something of a deception built into the outfit itself. She's as underdeveloped as she is normally, the dress just gives the impression of a more... robust woman.
Specialization: Water Coco has a deep connection with water and is a rather powerful water mage because of it.
Weapon: Coco's weapon manifests as a Barrett M82 that is proportional to her body. It does match the purple of her dress through. It doesn't have a name because people who name their guns are weird.
Power: Third Eye A true mage, Coco has a deeper understanding of magic and thus can see and 'read' it.
Perks: Enhanced Transformation Inline with the phase that triggers it 'Time is Money'.
Disguise Artifact Not everything Greed requests of his agents is, strictly speaking, legal. Being able to wear a different face while doing them is a boon.
Familiar Coco has a Tibetan Mastiff puppy named Rupert. Rupert is in fact a familiar that was granted by Greed as part of the contract; The form is literally because Tibetan Mastiffs are some of the most expensive dogs one can buy. Rupert can transform into a 'beast' mode, basically just going from a 'puppy' to a full grown Tibetan Mastiff.
Inter-dimensional Home Part of the arrangement with Greed is that Coco don't need to pay for rent as they're given a pretty good apartment that they can access just about any time... and can even invite friends over. Pets are even allowed! Just... don't ask what's happening outside the window, you won't get any context.
Money On top of everything else, working for Greed gives a direct monthly paycheck. $3000 (factoring inflation) a month when you don't have to pay for rent or bills for services like electricity or water can build up quickly over time. It's nice being the rich friend.
Incognito (Crimson Coin) In exchange for her dedication and good service, The Spirit of Greed rewarded Coco with a Crimson Coin. After much consideration, Coco decided to use it in order to better serve the Spirit of Greed's agenda by becoming... easy to forget. Difficult to notice in the first place.
Patron: Spirit of Greed
Patron Benefits: Mental Link The Spirit of Greed likes to keep in touch with their agents and a direct link to their mind is so much easier then trying to call.
Payment It would be a very strange thing if the Spirit of Greed couldn't pay their magical agents in magical coinage. While Greed is well known for being tight on their wallet, the enforces of his will are well paid for their services.
Supplier While it is true that the agents of Greed might not be the greatest of fighters, if they aren't taken out quickly they will simply outlast the opposition due to the abundance of resources coming in.
Hidden Death Greed is eternal.
Mystical Might When Coco requested some additional training in how to make use of her water magics, Greed was willing to assist despite not really having that strong a connection with water in and of itself.
Patron Drawbacks: Rival Force Socialism has long been a thorn in Capitalism's side... fighting for worker rights and getting in the way of profit.
Big Brother "You signed away your privacy when you were hired."
Alien Mind The best way to describe how Greed thinks and views the world from a human point of view is if a multinational corporation had entered a human vessel that allowed it to speak as an entity in and of itself. It doesn't view people as individuals as much as they are parts of a greater machine. The Magical Girls/Monster Girls on the payroll are merely important pieces of the machine that help ensure the rest of it runs as it should.
Vendetta The Servants of the Beacon are just as frustrating to deal with as the Spirit of Socialism. Trying to enforce their misguided morals and generally getting in the way of profit.
Fighting Style: Coco is, despite appearances, a subtle fighter. She favors a single kill shot without the target ever knowing what hit them before they hit the ground, be it via bullet or usage of her water magics. If caught up in a longer engagement, she will generally prefer fighting from a distance and avoiding being caught up in melee combat.
She is not afraid to cut her loses and bail on a fight if it means she'll live to fight another day... and most likely take another crack at the target when they're not expecting it.
Stats (Untransformed): These start at 3. CYOA options indicate if they apply out of costume as well. STR: 3 AGI: 3 VIT: 3 MAG: 4 LCK: 3
Stats (Transformed): These start at 4. STR: 5 AGI: 12 VIT: 8 MAG: 12 LCK: 4
Personality: Coco was once a rather timid, fearful woman. Her concerns about what tomorrow might bring haunted her thoughts and plagued her dreams because there was always that worry about where tomorrows rent or the next meal would come from. When the worst happened as she got so badly sick that she lost her job, her depression threatened to consume her completely as she drowned in dread.
Meeting Greed changed Coco for the better in that Greed has not only given her a free start, but removed many of the fears that plagued her former life. Her loyalty to the Spirit of Greed is borderline zealous, despite the fact that occasionally she will be asked to do something that her old self would have been horrified at the idea of.
History: Coco was struggling to support herself when a bout of illness resulted in her losing her job and suddenly being buried by medical debt. As she was drowning in depression, she was visited by what would turn out to be the Spirit of Greed who offered her a contract deal. In exchange for becoming his employee, all of her debts would disappear and she would get a fresh start at life.
Greed provided all this and more... through Coco hadn't expected the 'new life' to be so literal. Still, as a magical girl her patron has taken great care of her and she intends to prove that she was worth the investment.
Incantation: "Time is money and you're a waste of both.
Additional Info:
Magical Coins:
Type: Lesser Force
Name: The Spirit of Greed (Also goes by the Spirit of Capitalism and many more names)
Personality: On the surface, the Spirit of Greed is a rather pleasant, friendly fellow. A true master of the first impression, those that encounter them often walk away feeling like they've made a friend for life... if they're really lucky, something will happen that will cause Greed to lose interest in them before the jaws of the trap snap shut. Greed's interest in humans extends only as far as their value to him, be it in furthering his goals, fleecing them for all they are worth, or occasionally as a valued employee/agent and thus the closest to true 'friendship' Greed can get.
What matters to Greed at the end of the day is the bottom line. All he cares about are positive results with the methodology and means being almost completely irrelevant. Almost being the keyword. While one of their agents can be completely successful, if it becomes clear that a more profitable outcome could have been achieved then Greed will almost certainly be inclined towards asking why that path wasn't taken. They won't punish the agent in question directly if the answer isn't good enough as long as it was a positive outcome, but the incident will be remembered as a sign that maybe that agent didn't have the drive and ambition to be a favored agent.
Failure is an interesting concept for Greed. While they understand perfectly well that it is possible to make all the right moves and still come up short, Greed sees failure as an opportunity. Namely, it gives Greed the opportunity to declare one of their agents in various degrees of debt, depending on just how big their screw up was and how much time and resources were poured into it and now lost. The first level of debt is simply the agent having to 'pay off' the debt in mana coins, which effectively means they continue to work as normal but don't get paid until the debt is cleared.
There are deeper levels of debt that can come about. It is not recommended one falls that far through, because Greed is ruthless and will get what they are owed one way or another. If a debtor dies before their debts are paid, Greed will track down the next of kin who 'inherited' the debt that is now their problem to pay off.
History: The Spirit of Greed has been around for just about as long as humanity, if not longer; Greed as a tactic is largely beneficial to the individual animal in the natural world after all. However, the Spirit has long had a soft spot for Humanity because of just how far they are willing to go in pursuit of what they want. Greed's influence throughout human history cannot be denied after all. Often working alongside the Spirit of Tyranny as the two of them often found their goals aligned, the two of them have a long standing alliance and are fairly friendly with each other... but due to their natures there remains that degree of self interest.
Recently, Greed's goals seem to have grown in their ambitions. With many of the old deities having faded away or becoming irrelevant over time, Greed has spent the last few centuries plotting and setting the stage in order to ascend to true deity status.
Resources: Greed rarely has 'normal' magical girls on their payroll... at least not for long. He does however have a rather large collection of Dark Magical Girls and Monster Girls who are more then willing to do their master's bidding in exchange for reward and payment... and Greed pays them well for their good service as he does any enforcer of his will. There are few resources both magical and mundane that are beyond the reach of those dedicated to enforcing the will of Greed upon the world.
Additional Info:
While Greed has a direct link to the minds of his agents, he will generally manifest in the world anyway as a freelance accountant operating a small business in which he is the owner and only employee. Occasionally he'll call in his agents for a face to face chat... and privately takes pleasure in watching his agents try to hype up their own achievements while throwing blame for mishaps and failures on their team mates.
Name: Roxanna (Formally Argol.) Better known as Hex Girl.
Age (Magical Girl): 14
Age (Before Magical Girl): 30
Gender: Female
Gender (Before Magical Girl): Male
Appearance:
While relatively average as far as height goes for a young teenage girl, Roxanna's hair is somewhat wild and unkempt; This isn't out of a desire not to look nice as it is that her hair outright eats brushes and refuses to be tamed by mortal means.
Transformed, Roxanna honestly looks like a slightly older version of herself with longer hair. Her dress comes across as homemade gothic, but despite its somewhat patchwork seeming nature it still looks pretty nice and can take bullets better then most high end military gear.
Specialization: Roxanna is a Psychic by nature... Respectably powerful but clearly somewhat new to the magical girl scene and thus offering room to grow in time.
Weapon: Despite looking like she would be a witch or mage, Roxanna's body in the only actual physical weapon she makes use of consistently. That being said, she's not afraid of using make shift weapons from the environment to her advantage.
Power: Duplication Speaks for itself really. Roxanna can create physical clones of herself that are just as strong as she is. While they are destroyed once they suffer actual damage, they can easily shrug off blows that would maim or kill a normal human.
Perks: Enhanced Sustenance The fight against evil is time consuming. The least that can be done is make it so you don't need as much sleep or food to function at your max.
Enhanced Outfit Roxanna was created in response to an emergency and having a champion magical girl who was primed for combat was a requirement. While their dress looks simple and homemade, the amount of punishment it can take and protect the wearer from is insane.
Big Damn Hero Roxanna protects the people and places that matter to her.
Absolute Direction Knowing where your friends or items are is amazing.
Enhanced Transformation No one has time for a 15 second transformation or some speech about how good always triumphs over evil. That monster trying to eat people needs its face punched in as quickly as possible.
Martial Training (Emergency) Argol new Karate before the transformation... and because of that Roxanna's own skills and abilities have been greatly improved.
Sorcery (Emergency) Argol... was a bit of a weeb. His interest in anime and manga lead to him taking an interest in Ofuda writing and seals... and that knowledge has been passed down to Roxanna. The difference through is that unlike Argol, Roxanna's writings actually work.
Patron: The Spirit of Socialism
Patron Benefits:
Payment The Spirit of Socialism understands that their champions do difficult work and thus pays them a fair wage for their labors.
Hidden Death You cannot kill an idea.
Supplier Those who make a reasonable case to the Spirit of Socialism that mundane resources are required for something will, with a bit of patience, receive them.
Mental Link Considering that the Spirit doesn't have a physical body, being able to directly talk to its champions and agents is a must.
Focused As an ideal, physic ability comes naturally to the Spirit... and thus it can freely help to empower those abilities in their followers.
Patron Drawbacks:
Rival Force The Spirit of Greed and its champions have long stood in opposition. The names might change, but the long war continues.
Big Brother The Spirit of Socialism means well... but it can be somewhat overbearing at times. Like a concerned mother.
Formless Currently, the Spirit of Socialism doesn't have a physical form.
Vendetta While the Spirit of Greed is by its nature an opposite and thus conflict between them was only natural, the Spirit of Tyranny's involvement isn't and instead started due to a conflict of ideals. The Spirit of Socialism actually hates Tyranny more then Greed due to Tyranny twisting it's ideals into horrific, authoritarian governments.
Fighting Style: Roxanna is something of a 'Jack of All Trades' kind of magical girl and it shows in her combat style. While she isn't the strongest, the fastest or the most magically gifted, she is able to adapt to any given combat situation as required.
However, when she physically fights her karate training does show itself in some of her movements... and if she's against one big foe or several minor ones being able to 'team up' to fight them helps a lot.
Personality: Argol was fairly easy to get along with... if a bit of a deviant. High heels, beautiful dresses (even more if they were a Lolita like attire) and concepts like ageless, doll like women were all things that tickled them the right way. Truth be told, becoming Roxanna is in many ways a dream come true for him as it's a fresh start at being something that they greatly adored.
Of course, there are hiccups when it comes to suddenly being in the body of a 14 year old girl when you were formally a 30 year old man... but unlike some in their position Roxanna is making the best of it and is actually enjoying their situation as much as they can. She is a bit disappointed that her magical girl dress isn't as elaborate as she would prefer it can't be helped.
History: Argol's 'recruitment' came about more out of desperation then because it was believed that a 30 year old man was the best candidate. One of the local Puchuu's team of magical girls had failed in their duty to stop a monster that had taken over a factory floor and was mentally enslaving its human work force in order to keep producing no matter what, abandoning all concepts of their well being and forcing them to keep working until they dropped... and which point they were eaten and replaced by new mind slaves. While the Puchuu in question never mentioned what happened to its former team, it quickly located the most suitable person it could and created a new one.
The process was hijacked through, as the Spirit of Socialism took over and claimed Argol/the newly transformed Roxanna for their own. The monster in question was an agent of one of its old enemies and it saw a chance to remove it from the board of the long war. With the Spirits support, Roxanna was able to overcome the monster and free its enslaved workforce... through she is still unsure if the magical girl team she was created to fill in for survived. The Puchuu in question disappeared after the monster was defeated at any rate.
Incantation: "I will fight the endless night to feed the demons to the flame.
Additional Info: Argol left behind a Grandmother who was... not a great person. Honestly being free of her as Roxana is just a major plus to the whole deal, but there is a small voice in the back of her mind that wonders what happened to her... even if she doesn't want to go and find out.
Magical Coins: 0
Type: Lesser Force
Name: The Spirit of Socialism
Personality: The Spirit of Socialism is a kind and caring entity that believes that everyone, regardless of race, gender or any other factor that might be used to describe or put someone into a box deserve the right to have the resources they need and the safety to thrive. While they can be a little overbearing at times, their intention is pure in that they not only want what is best for you and your community, but are hoping to inspire their champions to become paragons that help make the world a better place in their own right.
While generally a rather accepting and welcoming entity, acts of greed and abuse enrage it like nothing else for it views these as the corruption signs of its great foes in the form of the Spirits of Greed and Tyranny. While it can understand one of its agents not acting against such things in the moment if there is a good reason not to, it will not tolerate them performing such an act themselves... or leaving the actions of another unanswered if there is no reasonable cause to restrain themself.
The Spirit of Socialism speaks in a human voice that is perfectly understandable to those who hear it, but if it is male or female or something else entirely is a mystery. If asked, it'll just chuckle and say 'I am what I am'.
History: The Spirit of Socialism has existed alongside humanity for a very long time. It has also gone by other names, with its current title a more recent development, but it has always strived to ensure equality, justice and resources for all no matter what it was called at the time. It honestly doesn't remember how old it is in years because measuring time was a human practice and they kept changing the systems, but its earliest recollections suggest it has been around in one form or another since primitive humanity.
Unfortunately, those were also the early days of what the Spirit refers to as 'the long war' against its rival spirits, Greed and Tyranny. While the two are not always aligned with each others interests and have at times sought to undermine each other, for the most part it has been a two against one battle for the soul of human civilizations for eons... but despite their advantages Socialism has managed to get a few victories every now and then... and despite the fact that occasionally they've been killed by their foes, they always return.
Resources: The Spirit of Socialism doesn't employ that many magical girls... or boys as the case may be at any given time. Normally the monsters they strive to combat aren't the kind to rampage through the streets openly in a manner that physically striking them down is legally possible... but the people need to be protected from harm and occasionally one of those monsters is an agent of one of their foes.
Despite not being a physical entity (well, at least not at the moment), the Spirit is highly resourceful and well connected due largely to the fact that it is a representation of the ideal of taking care of your fellow man. Not only is it good at paying its agents, but it can also pull strings to get them more mundane resources as required. That being said, its agents does need to provide a reasonable argument about why they need the resources they are asking for, due to the Spirit's dislike of greed.
Additional Info:
Name: Coco
Age (Magical Girl): 15
Age (Before Magical Girl): 23
Gender: Female
Gender (Before Magical Girl): Female
Appearance:
Coco appears younger then she is, despite the fact that she is in the body of a fifteen year old. People have mistaken her for eleven or twelve and it kind of bugs her.
Transforming, Coco looks more mature... but in truth this is something of a deception built into the outfit itself. She's as underdeveloped as she is normally, the dress just gives the impression of a more... robust woman.
Specialization: Water Coco has a deep connection with water and is a rather powerful water mage because of it.
Weapon: Coco's weapon manifests as a Barrett M82 that is proportional to her body. It does match the purple of her dress through. It doesn't have a name because people who name their guns are weird.
Power: Third Eye A true mage, Coco has a deeper understanding of magic and thus can see and 'read' it.
Perks: Enhanced Transformation Inline with the phase that triggers it 'Time is Money'.
Disguise Artifact Not everything Greed requests of his agents is, strictly speaking, legal. Being able to wear a different face while doing them is a boon.
Familiar Coco has a Tibetan Mastiff puppy named Rupert. Rupert is in fact a familiar that was granted by Greed as part of the contract; The form is literally because Tibetan Mastiffs are some of the most expensive dogs one can buy. Rupert can transform into a 'beast' mode, basically just going from a 'puppy' to a full grown Tibetan Mastiff.
Inter-dimensional Home Part of the arrangement with Greed is that Coco don't need to pay for rent as they're given a pretty good apartment that they can access just about any time... and can even invite friends over. Pets are even allowed! Just... don't ask what's happening outside the window, you won't get any context.
Money On top of everything else, working for Greed gives a direct monthly paycheck. $3000 (factoring inflation) a month when you don't have to pay for rent or bills for services like electricity or water can build up quickly over time. It's nice being the rich friend.
Incognito (Crimson Coin) In exchange for her dedication and good service, The Spirit of Greed rewarded Coco with a Crimson Coin. After much consideration, Coco decided to use it in order to better serve the Spirit of Greed's agenda by becoming... easy to forget. Difficult to notice in the first place.
Patron: Spirit of Greed
Patron Benefits: Mental Link The Spirit of Greed likes to keep in touch with their agents and a direct link to their mind is so much easier then trying to call.
Payment It would be a very strange thing if the Spirit of Greed couldn't pay their magical agents in magical coinage. While Greed is well known for being tight on their wallet, the enforces of his will are well paid for their services.
Supplier While it is true that the agents of Greed might not be the greatest of fighters, if they aren't taken out quickly they will simply outlast the opposition due to the abundance of resources coming in.
Hidden Death Greed is eternal.
Mystical Might When Coco requested some additional training in how to make use of her water magics, Greed was willing to assist despite not really having that strong a connection with water in and of itself.
Patron Drawbacks: Rival Force Socialism has long been a thorn in Capitalism's side... fighting for worker rights and getting in the way of profit.
Big Brother "You signed away your privacy when you were hired."
Alien Mind The best way to describe how Greed thinks and views the world from a human point of view is if a multinational corporation had entered a human vessel that allowed it to speak as an entity in and of itself. It doesn't view people as individuals as much as they are parts of a greater machine. The Magical Girls/Monster Girls on the payroll are merely important pieces of the machine that help ensure the rest of it runs as it should.
Vendetta The Servants of the Beacon are just as frustrating to deal with as the Spirit of Socialism. Trying to enforce their misguided morals and generally getting in the way of profit.
Fighting Style: Coco is, despite appearances, a subtle fighter. She favors a single kill shot without the target ever knowing what hit them before they hit the ground, be it via bullet or usage of her water magics. If caught up in a longer engagement, she will generally prefer fighting from a distance and avoiding being caught up in melee combat.
She is not afraid to cut her loses and bail on a fight if it means she'll live to fight another day... and most likely take another crack at the target when they're not expecting it.
Stats (Untransformed): These start at 3. CYOA options indicate if they apply out of costume as well. STR: 3 AGI: 3 VIT: 3 MAG: 4 LCK: 3
Stats (Transformed): These start at 4. STR: 5 AGI: 14 VIT: 10 MAG: 12 LCK: 6
Personality: Coco was once a rather timid, fearful woman. Her concerns about what tomorrow might bring haunted her thoughts and plagued her dreams because there was always that worry about where tomorrows rent or the next meal would come from. When the worst happened as she got so badly sick that she lost her job, her depression threatened to consume her completely as she drowned in dread.
Meeting Greed changed Coco for the better in that Greed has not only given her a free start, but removed many of the fears that plagued her former life. Her loyalty to the Spirit of Greed is borderline zealous, despite the fact that occasionally she will be asked to do something that her old self would have been horrified at the idea of.
History: Coco was struggling to support herself when a bout of illness resulted in her losing her job and suddenly being buried by medical debt. As she was drowning in depression, she was visited by what would turn out to be the Spirit of Greed who offered her a contract deal. In exchange for becoming his employee, all of her debts would disappear and she would get a fresh start at life.
Greed provided all this and more... through Coco hadn't expected the 'new life' to be so literal. Still, as a magical girl her patron has taken great care of her and she intends to prove that she was worth the investment.
Incantation: "Time is money and you're a waste of both.
Additional Info:
Magical Coins:
Type: Lesser Force
Name: The Spirit of Greed (Also goes by the Spirit of Capitalism and many more names)
Personality: On the surface, the Spirit of Greed is a rather pleasant, friendly fellow. A true master of the first impression, those that encounter them often walk away feeling like they've made a friend for life... if they're really lucky, something will happen that will cause Greed to lose interest in them before the jaws of the trap snap shut. Greed's interest in humans extends only as far as their value to him, be it in furthering his goals, fleecing them for all they are worth, or occasionally as a valued employee/agent and thus the closest to true 'friendship' Greed can get.
What matters to Greed at the end of the day is the bottom line. All he cares about are positive results with the methodology and means being almost completely irrelevant. Almost being the keyword. While one of their agents can be completely successful, if it becomes clear that a more profitable outcome could have been achieved then Greed will almost certainly be inclined towards asking why that path wasn't taken. They won't punish the agent in question directly if the answer isn't good enough as long as it was a positive outcome, but the incident will be remembered as a sign that maybe that agent didn't have the drive and ambition to be a favored agent.
Failure is an interesting concept for Greed. While they understand perfectly well that it is possible to make all the right moves and still come up short, Greed sees failure as an opportunity. Namely, it gives Greed the opportunity to declare one of their agents in various degrees of debt, depending on just how big their screw up was and how much time and resources were poured into it and now lost. The first level of debt is simply the agent having to 'pay off' the debt in mana coins, which effectively means they continue to work as normal but don't get paid until the debt is cleared.
There are deeper levels of debt that can come about. It is not recommended one falls that far through, because Greed is ruthless and will get what they are owed one way or another. If a debtor dies before their debts are paid, Greed will track down the next of kin who 'inherited' the debt that is now their problem to pay off.
History: The Spirit of Greed has been around for just about as long as humanity, if not longer; Greed as a tactic is largely beneficial to the individual animal in the natural world after all. However, the Spirit has long had a soft spot for Humanity because of just how far they are willing to go in pursuit of what they want. Greed's influence throughout human history cannot be denied after all. Often working alongside the Spirit of Tyranny as the two of them often found their goals aligned, the two of them have a long standing alliance and are fairly friendly with each other... but due to their natures there remains that degree of self interest.
Recently, Greed's goals seem to have grown in their ambitions. With many of the old deities having faded away or becoming irrelevant over time, Greed has spent the last few centuries plotting and setting the stage in order to ascend to true deity status.
Resources: Greed rarely has 'normal' magical girls on their payroll... at least not for long. He does however have a rather large collection of Dark Magical Girls and Monster Girls who are more then willing to do their master's bidding in exchange for reward and payment... and Greed pays them well for their good service as he does any enforcer of his will. There are few resources both magical and mundane that are beyond the reach of those dedicated to enforcing the will of Greed upon the world.
Additional Info:
While Greed has a direct link to the minds of his agents, he will generally manifest in the world anyway as a freelance accountant operating a small business in which he is the owner and only employee. Occasionally he'll call in his agents for a face to face chat... and privately takes pleasure in watching his agents try to hype up their own achievements while throwing blame for mishaps and failures on their team mates.
EDIT: Actually, hang on. I'm just looking over some other accepted sheets. Roxanna here was brought in via Emergency. My understanding of that is that I got to pick her two combat perks and I could swap any other perks to their combat counterpart for free as desired. Have I misunderstood that? Because it seems at least one accepted character got two additional perks via the Emergency pick.
Name: Roxanna (Formally Argol.) Better known as Hex Girl.
Age (Magical Girl): 14
Age (Before Magical Girl): 30
Gender: Female
Gender (Before Magical Girl): Male
Appearance:
While relatively average as far as height goes for a young teenage girl, Roxanna's hair is somewhat wild and unkempt; This isn't out of a desire not to look nice as it is that her hair outright eats brushes and refuses to be tamed by mortal means.
Transformed, Roxanna honestly looks like a slightly older version of herself with longer hair. Her dress comes across as homemade gothic, but despite its somewhat patchwork seeming nature it still looks pretty nice and can take bullets better then most high end military gear.
Specialization: Roxanna is a Psychic by nature... Respectably powerful but clearly somewhat new to the magical girl scene and thus offering room to grow in time.
Weapon: Despite looking like she would be a witch or mage, Roxanna's body in the only actual physical weapon she makes use of consistently. That being said, she's not afraid of using make shift weapons from the environment to her advantage.
Power: Duplication Speaks for itself really. Roxanna can create physical clones of herself that are just as strong as she is. While they are destroyed once they suffer actual damage, they can easily shrug off blows that would maim or kill a normal human.
Perks: Enhanced Sustenance The fight against evil is time consuming. The least that can be done is make it so you don't need as much sleep or food to function at your max.
Enhanced Outfit Roxanna was created in response to an emergency and having a champion magical girl who was primed for combat was a requirement. While their dress looks simple and homemade, the amount of punishment it can take and protect the wearer from is insane.
Big Damn Hero Roxanna protects the people and places that matter to her.
Absolute Direction Knowing where your friends or items are is amazing.
Enhanced Transformation No one has time for a 15 second transformation or some speech about how good always triumphs over evil. That monster trying to eat people needs its face punched in as quickly as possible.
Martial Training (Emergency) Argol new Karate before the transformation... and because of that Roxanna's own skills and abilities have been greatly improved.
Sorcery (Emergency) Argol... was a bit of a weeb. His interest in anime and manga lead to him taking an interest in Ofuda writing and seals... and that knowledge has been passed down to Roxanna. The difference through is that unlike Argol, Roxanna's writings actually work.
Patron: The Spirit of Socialism
Patron Benefits:
Payment The Spirit of Socialism understands that their champions do difficult work and thus pays them a fair wage for their labors.
Hidden Death You cannot kill an idea.
Supplier Those who make a reasonable case to the Spirit of Socialism that mundane resources are required for something will, with a bit of patience, receive them.
Mental Link Considering that the Spirit doesn't have a physical body, being able to directly talk to its champions and agents is a must.
Focused As an ideal, physic ability comes naturally to the Spirit... and thus it can freely help to empower those abilities in their followers.
Patron Drawbacks:
Rival Force The Spirit of Greed and its champions have long stood in opposition. The names might change, but the long war continues.
Big Brother The Spirit of Socialism means well... but it can be somewhat overbearing at times. Like a concerned mother.
Formless Currently, the Spirit of Socialism doesn't have a physical form.
Vendetta While the Spirit of Greed is by its nature an opposite and thus conflict between them was only natural, the Spirit of Tyranny's involvement isn't and instead started due to a conflict of ideals. The Spirit of Socialism actually hates Tyranny more then Greed due to Tyranny twisting it's ideals into horrific, authoritarian governments.
Fighting Style: Roxanna is something of a 'Jack of All Trades' kind of magical girl and it shows in her combat style. While she isn't the strongest, the fastest or the most magically gifted, she is able to adapt to any given combat situation as required.
However, when she physically fights her karate training does show itself in some of her movements... and if she's against one big foe or several minor ones being able to 'team up' to fight them helps a lot.
Personality: Argol was fairly easy to get along with... if a bit of a deviant. High heels, beautiful dresses (even more if they were a Lolita like attire) and concepts like ageless, doll like women were all things that tickled them the right way. Truth be told, becoming Roxanna is in many ways a dream come true for him as it's a fresh start at being something that they greatly adored.
Of course, there are hiccups when it comes to suddenly being in the body of a 14 year old girl when you were formally a 30 year old man... but unlike some in their position Roxanna is making the best of it and is actually enjoying their situation as much as they can. She is a bit disappointed that her magical girl dress isn't as elaborate as she would prefer it can't be helped.
History: Argol's 'recruitment' came about more out of desperation then because it was believed that a 30 year old man was the best candidate. One of the local Puchuu's team of magical girls had failed in their duty to stop a monster that had taken over a factory floor and was mentally enslaving its human work force in order to keep producing no matter what, abandoning all concepts of their well being and forcing them to keep working until they dropped... and which point they were eaten and replaced by new mind slaves. While the Puchuu in question never mentioned what happened to its former team, it quickly located the most suitable person it could and created a new one.
The process was hijacked through, as the Spirit of Socialism took over and claimed Argol/the newly transformed Roxanna for their own. The monster in question was an agent of one of its old enemies and it saw a chance to remove it from the board of the long war. With the Spirits support, Roxanna was able to overcome the monster and free its enslaved workforce... through she is still unsure if the magical girl team she was created to fill in for survived. The Puchuu in question disappeared after the monster was defeated at any rate.
Incantation: "I will fight the endless night to feed the demons to the flame.
Additional Info: Argol left behind a Grandmother who was... not a great person. Honestly being free of her as Roxana is just a major plus to the whole deal, but there is a small voice in the back of her mind that wonders what happened to her... even if she doesn't want to go and find out.
Magical Coins: 0
Type: Lesser Force
Name: The Spirit of Socialism
Personality: The Spirit of Socialism is a kind and caring entity that believes that everyone, regardless of race, gender or any other factor that might be used to describe or put someone into a box deserve the right to have the resources they need and the safety to thrive. While they can be a little overbearing at times, their intention is pure in that they not only want what is best for you and your community, but are hoping to inspire their champions to become paragons that help make the world a better place in their own right.
While generally a rather accepting and welcoming entity, acts of greed and abuse enrage it like nothing else for it views these as the corruption signs of its great foes in the form of the Spirits of Greed and Tyranny. While it can understand one of its agents not acting against such things in the moment if there is a good reason not to, it will not tolerate them performing such an act themselves... or leaving the actions of another unanswered if there is no reasonable cause to restrain themself.
The Spirit of Socialism speaks in a human voice that is perfectly understandable to those who hear it, but if it is male or female or something else entirely is a mystery. If asked, it'll just chuckle and say 'I am what I am'.
History: The Spirit of Socialism has existed alongside humanity for a very long time. It has also gone by other names, with its current title a more recent development, but it has always strived to ensure equality, justice and resources for all no matter what it was called at the time. It honestly doesn't remember how old it is in years because measuring time was a human practice and they kept changing the systems, but its earliest recollections suggest it has been around in one form or another since primitive humanity.
Unfortunately, those were also the early days of what the Spirit refers to as 'the long war' against its rival spirits, Greed and Tyranny. While the two are not always aligned with each others interests and have at times sought to undermine each other, for the most part it has been a two against one battle for the soul of human civilizations for eons... but despite their advantages Socialism has managed to get a few victories every now and then... and despite the fact that occasionally they've been killed by their foes, they always return.
Resources: The Spirit of Socialism doesn't employ that many magical girls... or boys as the case may be at any given time. Normally the monsters they strive to combat aren't the kind to rampage through the streets openly in a manner that physically striking them down is legally possible... but the people need to be protected from harm and occasionally one of those monsters is an agent of one of their foes.
Despite not being a physical entity (well, at least not at the moment), the Spirit is highly resourceful and well connected due largely to the fact that it is a representation of the ideal of taking care of your fellow man. Not only is it good at paying its agents, but it can also pull strings to get them more mundane resources as required. That being said, its agents does need to provide a reasonable argument about why they need the resources they are asking for, due to the Spirit's dislike of greed.
The trials of sailing the boats along the coastline had evolved in time. Namely, after the original flaws in design had been investigated and either corrected or doomed that craft's design, the refined water craft would take to the coastline again, this time for longer and longer periods. After a point it stopped being about finding faults and issues with the designs and became more about weighing the pros and cons that each design could offer.
After months of trails the design selected was effectively just a bigger and wider version of the river craft, but rather then risk open waters a different journey of discovery was suggested.
Those craft that had traveled along the coast northwards made several notes on a large landmass in the distance that was connected to their own via a sand covered passage. Since they didn't exactly know what was on this new land at this moment in time, the possibility of danger was present... even more so since almost all Pretender sightings suggested that they traveled along that passage in order to reach Rattus held lands.
So rather then sail directly to this new land in order to test the craft out on open salt water, the idea instead was to sail along the sand passage to investigate this new land... and then sail back via open water so that in the event that the ship was damaged, the crew wouldn't have to be concerned with walking all the way home in possible Pretender held lands.
Surprising to many, Raethel insisted on being apart of this expedition. Officially he said it was so that they could give the regent speaker a chance to get used to the job, but privately it was because Leucopus was going and he wished to spend some actual time with her that wasn't going to be interrupted by his duties as Speaker. Plus it would be nice to actually leave his homeland to see a new land for himself.
The journey along the coast took a couple of days and for the purposes of this record were largely uneventful. It was mostly just Rattus either working the oars, fishing or resting (or in the case of Raethel and Leucopus, snuggling up together). The new land in question slowly became visible on the horizon and it was easy to see how it differed from their native homeland; It was green... and the green seemed to reach up into the sky a fair ways. The mystery of the coloration was quickly answered as they drew near this once distant shore; The land itself seemed to be covered in trees. Massive trees. Plant life as well littered the shade of these giants.
While the river provided life to plants and greenery, it was generally localized within an area around the river itself; You could literally have one paw on ground able to support plant life and one on dry, barren sand at the same time. There didn't seem to be that disparity here. It was just green and brown.
Going through their supplies and deeming that it would be more then enough to cover the trip and the test back home they decided not to disembark... but Leucopus found Raethel staring at the trees on more then one occasion... and before they underwent the true test she decided to ask her lover what was on his mind. "...I was just thinking... remembering actually. One of the early river craft designs was made out of wood. It was a pretty good design too, but since trees are a rare resource back home it was beaten out by craft made out of reeds. We didn't even have an ocean craft made out of wood because there weren't enough trees and the followers of the wind of life deemed the matter not worthy of accelerating growth. But a settlement here... well, not only could we build craft out of wood here, but we could ship it back home and we'll never have wood issues again."
Of course, it was just an idea at the time... but once the test run across open water proved successful Raethel decided to revisit the minds behind the original wooden craft and had words. Words turned into action as something of a call was put out for settlers of this new, green land. It took a bit of time, but soon reed craft were sailing out to drop off bands of Rattus on a suitable looking shore so that they might dig in and set up a new settlement.
There were obstructions of course. This new land that the Rattus began calling Greenland had challenges of its own that the desert simply didn't, but once the Greenland settlement was properly established both above and below ground it quickly grew into one of the most important trading hubs within the Rattus nation; It's ability to produce and supply wood, new samples of plant life and even animals that the homeland lacked made in highly important... but the settlement wasn't content with merely being apart of an important trade hub.
On the shoreline, new buildings were being produced above ground for a grand purpose. While reed craft had proven their worth and would continue to see use by the Rattus in both river and ocean activities, the cold hard truth was that for longer journeys, reed wasn't going to endure the rough conditions for an extended period of time; Sure it's possible that such a craft might make it on a one way trip, but the Rattus wanted to have a reasonable chance of making it safely back home. For that to be a reality, the Rattus were going to have to discover the secrets of woods. And what better place to learn those secrets but their first true dockyard?
Having discovered that there was land across from where the river mouth is via the testing of their ocean craft designs, the Rattus decide that one of the final tests on open water, rather then going out to this land and then coming back, was instead to sail along the coastline to this land and then cross open water back home.
Raethel himself goes on this trip because he needed a bit of a brake from being Speaker for a while and he wanted to spend some time with his lover Leucopus who would also be on the trip.
Having arrived at this new land (which the Rattus would end up calling Greenland because of just how green and full of life the place is when compared to their original homes, through currently on the map it is listed as the Araucarian Forest) Raethel makes a plan to set up a new settlement here because the amount of wood that this forest has to offer is too great a boon to pass up.
The Rattus sail back home without incident and Raethel seeks out some Rattus that came up with the idea of trying to make boats out of wood instead of reeds originally, even if the idea was scraped due to the lack of wood that their homeland provided... and alongside a number of other settlers they go to develop the Greenland settlement to serve as both a major supplier of wood and other resources new to the Rattus, but also serve as a center for wooden ship production.
Start: 8
+1 for being apart of a post for longer then a line. +1 for being main character. +1 Med length post
-10 The establishment of the Greenland Settlement offering a flux of bountiful resources to the Rattus homeland, as well as the establishment of wooden boats/ships and a dockyard to start making them.
Divine Quest: Claim the Land of Deserts and Hidden Rivers for the Rattus (In progress) Divine Quest: Discover a new land across the sea (Plus discover the ability to sail on the ocean) (In progress) Divine Quest: Create safe passage through the Great Dragon Range so Rattus can explore the other side.
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Not a Sayan
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Veilsight
