Dedonus

RPGC #3 -- Voting AND Discussion

@Dedonus Aww. You're so sweet. Thank you for taking the effort to do this. And I would love to read what you had already written, if you wouldn't mind sharing it, anyway.

@RomanAria

Thanks. The text below is not complete. I will update as I get time to do so.

As I promised @RomanAria in the contest thread for RPGC #3, here is the summary of what I had intended to do with my entry (but never got time to complete). Once I get home, I will post what I had before I threw up the white flag. I'm going to be a little light on the summary at the beginning because I actually have text written for that part.

Peri Asterōn: Mikra Kymata

The world can be divided into four regions: the land, the sky, the seas, and the underworld. While the land, personified by the primordial goddess Gaia, was not ruled by one single god or goddess, the remaining three regions were given out to the three sons of Kronos by lot. Hades, both the oldest and the youngest brother, received the underworld as his lot. While men fear him, it is only out of the fear of death itself rather than a fear of Hades’ own schemes. Unless you were one of those philosophers or their pupils, who does not fear death itself? Zeus, the King of Gods and Men, received the sky as his lot, fitting for the Thunderer and the one who enjoys the company of his golden eagle. Finally, Poseidon, the middle son, received the seas by lot.

In Poseidon’s realm, one would find a variety of lesser deities and nymphs inhabiting the seas and rivers of the world. Even non immortal creatures populate these seas, filling these regions just as the birds and insects fill the skies and animals and mortals the land. However, one lesser known group of immortals are called the Kymatai, as the Hellenes refer to them, or the Undines, as they are named in the Latin tongue. I will continue to use the former name, as the Hellenes were the first to use this term and those who use Latin, including the Romans, assimilated the term for their own usage.

The origin of these names is full of errors and misunderstandings. Originally, Kymata, which is the term that is now used to refer to an individual of these immortals, comes from the Hellenic word “wave” (kyma). At some point, people began to use the plural form, Kymata, to refer to the individuals (as they do now), in spite of the fact that “waves” (kymata) is not grammatically feminine, let alone the fact that they were using a plural noun to refer to a singular being. Therefore, as people used Kymata as the singular, the Hellenes regularized its forms, causing the plural form to become Kymatai. The Hellenes have debated for a long time over who was the culprit of this error. Only one conclusion has been made and it is that the Ionians were not responsible because they would not have mistaken an “alpha” with an “eta”.

The Latin-speakers are not free from guilt, either. Seeing the error that their eastern neighbors had made, when the stories of the Kymatai reached the Italian shores, the Latins were fervent on restoring the form to its proper declension, as it was originally a 3rd declension noun that was assimilated into the 1st. However, in doing so, the Latins committed the same error but only in reverse. Their name for these nymphs, the Undines, come from their version of “wave” (unda), which is a 1st declension noun in Latin. In trying to restore Kymatai to its proper declension, the Latins forced unda into the 3rd declension, too, resulting in Undines.

Unlike their Nereid sisters, the Kymatai do not have the appearance of mortals. Instead, they seem like a hybrid creature, just as Centaurs are half-man, half-horse, or the Sirens, who are half-woman, half-bird. While the lower portion of these nymphs might seem like those of fish, a more accurate comparison would be to dolphins, as they have no scales covering their bodies. Therefore, as a result of their physiology, the Kymatai are not able to freely move on land as the other nymphs can.

Long ago, after the sons of Herakles regained their rightful thrones in the land of Pelops, but prior to Xerxes leading the hordes of the Orient against the heroes of Hellas, there was a Kymata who had six daughters. Each daughter was born one year after another, until the six daughter was born. Each daughter was born with a particular skill. For example, one would have found a welcome place in the band of Artemis, if her finned body did not inhibit her ability to travel on land. Another had beauty that could have challenged that of Aphrodite, if anyone would even dare to make such a claim. The sixth and youngest daughter had the natural talent of weaving. Different poets and authors have given this girl various names over the years. The most reoccurring name is Ephydris, which is an apt name due to her talents. Others provide the name Melissa, while the Athenians give her the name Melitta, as the Athens would write accessory as ‘accettory’

On their sixteenth birthday, each young Kymatai were allowed to approach the surface and explore the human realm. After each girl went to the surface and returned, she told her remaining sisters all about her experiences. The first daughter swam down the river Nile, catching sight of the pyramids that were built by the Egyptian pharaohs of old. One particular sight that this daughter mentioned was of the Sphinx that guarded the pyramids of Kleops, Khephren, and Mycerinus. Unlike the Sphinx that terrorized Thebes until Oidepos answered her riddle, this Sphinx was a guardian of the burial monuments of these three pharaohs. It is unknown whether or not these two creatures were related, but Herodotus also mentioned in his Histories two other variants of the Sphinx, one with a ram head and one with a falcon’s.

The following year, the second daughter was allowed to ascend to the surface. The second sister found a sandy bank to bask upon, looking out over the dark blue waves of the sea. From a distance, this young daughter could discern a ship sailing past her. Wanting to show of her elegant voice to the mortals, the second sister began singing a beautiful melody for the sailors. However, once the sailors heard the song of the young Kymata, they turned their ship around without any delay, believing her to be a siren. When the second daughter told this story to her sisters, they all broke out into laughter. How stupid must these mortals be to confuse the Kymatai with Sirens? Sirens are half-bird, half-woman monsters that use their alluring vocal cords to guide sailors to their deaths.

Year after year, when each of her sisters returned from their treks to the surface world, Ephydris eagerly listened to her sister’s report, dreaming of what she will see when she is permitted to ascend to the surface and explore this strange, new world. Would she see things as marvelous as her sisters? Would she be able to find the shores of Troy where the armies of the Atreidai landed so that they could punish Alexander for kidnapping the Spartan king’s wife? Or would she see the pillars of Herakles, the farthest point of that Hellenes hero. These questions filled the young Kymata’s head every time one of her sisters told her tale of the land above the waves.

However, her day finally came and the young Ephydris set out from her sheltered home amongst the Kymatai. As she swam through the clear waters of the sea, Ephydris saw schools of fish billowing back and forth as it tried to remained protected from predators with safety in numbers. She saw marine turtles lazily glide through the shining waters, almost as if they had nowhere important to go. She could even barely discern the dark blue tops of some sharks beneath her as they swim past the young Kymata.

However, way down in the depths of the sea, Ephydris could make out the appearance of a large, marine animal. Larger than anything that she has ever seen, the young Kymata only relieved to see the creature slowly swimming in the opposite direction. This giant fish had what seemed to be armor plating covering its face. Through these plates, the mouth of this monster formed into what looked like a beak, a feature more suitable for a bird rather than a fish.

Instead of dwelling on the thought of this monster, Ephydris rose to the surface. A few miles away from a nearby island, called Aigina by the Hellenes, sat a Trireme. The ship itself was interesting to Ephydris, as the eyes painted on it almost made it seem like a living creature.

My main intent was to try to use the constellation "bonus" category as the foundation of my entry. I intended my entry to one piece of a fiction piece of work that would explain either how the constellations came to be or why they are called by their respective names. The constellation was going to be Ketus (the sea monster that Perseus slayed). Besides the Perseus myth reference, I was also going to be heavily inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid (with the plot seeming similar to the beginning of this fairy tale, but deviating later on). This would have been the base of entry. Also, the setting is at the end of the "Homeric" or "Mythic" age of Greece.

The beginning of my piece (besides some etiological digression at the beginning that I had fun writing ) follows a similar plot as Andersen's LM: 6 daughters who, when each one comes of age, are allowed to come to the surface to explore the surface world. Some things the daughters see include the Pyramids of Giza, along with a digression about the difference between the Greek and Egyptian sphinx, and there is a scene where mortal sailors confuse one of the "mermaids" (I call them Kymatai - see the explanation when I post what I had as of last night) with a siren and th e"mermaids" laugh about it because the humans must be very stupid to mix up "mermaids" (half-fish) with sirens (half-bird).

The final daughter has a similar experience as her counterpart in Andersen's LM: encountering a ship (a Trireme in my case) and becomes infatuated with a young man aboard the ship. Then a sudden storm comes and wrecks the ship, tossing its occupants into the see. The youngest daughter saves her "crush" from suffering a watery grave and drags him ashore. After watching over the unconscious man overnight, in the morning, she hides back in the sea when th eman regains his consciousness. I planned on mixing the original scene from the Andersen fairy tale (a princess from another kingdom finding her) with Odysseus' encounter with Nausicaa in the Odyssey. The final daughter throws a rock at the girl who finds the "prince", but no one sees the "mermaid" do it.

I was also planning on incorporating the whole "soul" plot/motif that was present in Andersen's fairy tale. However, since the "mermaids" were 'related' to the Nereids (i.e. Sea Nymphs), they would be immortal biologically speaking instead of turning into sea foam after 300 years. The youngest daughter would therefore be faced with a dilimma simiilar to that of Achilles: live a long life and have no fame or live a short life (or experience death of loved ones, as mortals are, as the name hints at, do not live forever) but be remembered forever. The youngest daughter uses the exemplum of Thetis (mother of Achilles) to motivate herself.

Next, the youngest daughter sets out to weave a tapestry that depicts the story of Perseus (and possibly the story of Peleus and Thetis if time permitted), as the first is relevant to the constellation aspect, while the latter is relevant because of the marriage between a mortal and immortal. She does this so that she can "beat out" the mortal girl who found the young "prince" on the beach (in Andersen's fairy tale, the prince does in fact is married to the girl who finds him on the beach). After working on it for two years (perfectionist!), she finally undertook the journey for a second time.

I will update this as soon as I can.

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

Looks like I have some reading to do when I get home! Also, Mary Jane has finally made an appearance (barely, but it still counts).

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

Peter Parker

At the Daily Bugle, Peter sat at his desk, working on the coding that was used to program and run the Daily Bugle Communication website. Peter originally got involved with the Bugle when the publisher, J. Jonah Jameson, put out a reward for anyone who could get a clear picture of the wall-crawler for his mudslinging campaign against Spider-Man. At first, it seemed like a pretty simple task. How hard could it be to take pictures of oneself without making it obvious that Spider-Man was the person taking the pictures?

Unfortunately, Peter discovered that it was actually more difficult than he first imagined. Sometimes, the battles would go in unforeseen ways, moving away from his camera ‘trap’. Heck, sometimes, Peter would not even have enough time to deploy his camera, let alone pick the best spot for it to take pictures. Therefore, Peter only took these “selfies” while he was Spider-Man only when he could guarantee good results. Furthermore, after thinking about it, Peter concluded that by being the only photographer who could get a snapshot of Spider-Man would look very suspicious and could even lead to Spider-Man’s enemies confronting his civilian identity (or his family and friends) over the whereabouts of Spider-Man. Who would want that?

While waiting for his last summer shift at the Bugle to eclipse, Peter updated the framework of the DBC’s website, ensuring that there were no vulnerabilities in its code. He even sent the website through a stress test of some viruses that were programmed by Peter himself just to see how well the website could stand up to real cyber-attacks. Once his code pasted with flying colors, all Peter had left to do was sort through emails that ‘suggested’ feedback to what people thought was positive and negative about the website.

Suddenly, Peter’s spider-sense went off. However, it was only a false-positive, as his ‘sixth’ sense was only alerting him that his cell-phone was about ready to ring. When he glanced down at his phone while double tasking, Peter saw that his friend, Angelica, had just texted him. “Are you still at work?” She asked him in electronic form.

While working at the Daily Bugle could get boring some days, on the other hand, being an employee gave Peter one large advantage: he could hear rumors about local crime and check it out as Spider-Man. For instance, just that day, Peter heard one of the lead reports, Ben Urich, mention that the Rose was going to be making a play for some maggia turf that was under the influence of a maggia leader named Silvermane.

“I’ll be done in about an hour. Are you and Bobby up for a little team up tonight? Getting the ‘gang’ back together?” Peter sent as his reply.

“Don’t you have that ‘blind’ date that your aunt has been trying to throw at you for the past few years?” Peter had totally forgotten about the ‘blind’ date that his aunt and one of her friends had orchestrated. Peter had been dodging this inevitable event for years. His Aunt May would have forced this onto him years ago if Peter had not started dating Gwen back in his freshman year in high school. How desperate must this Watson girl be that her own aunt (i.e. Aunt May’s friend) had to set her up on a blind date? Peter would rather fight the green bruiser that had been recently dubbed the ‘Hulk’ rather than live up to this date.

“What about tomorrow?” Peter asked.

“It’s a weekend, so it’s probably doable.” Angelica replied. After a few seconds, before Peter could type anything back, Angelica sent a second text to him. “Just keep me updated. If you ever need some rescuing, just holler my way :)”.

“How often do I ever need rescuing?” Peter replied as he waited for the last hour to melt away.

---

“Peter Benjamin Parker! Come down and get washed up for dinner! The Watsons will be here any second now!” Peter knew that his aunt meant business whenever she called him by using his middle name. Peter set aside his Nintendo DS and jumped off his bed, intending to head toward the restroom to wash his hands before dinner. Once that was done, Peter walked down the stairs to the first floor of his house. While Peter could have rushed down the stairs without make much noise due to his superhuman abilities, he decided to walk “normally”, as he was not too excited about this ‘date’. Not only was he going to be on a blind date, but both of their aunts would be there too!

Once Peter heard the doorbell ring, he found a seat on the couch in front of the living room television and made himself comfortable there. His aunt had left on the Daily Bugle news running. While his aunt was heading over to answer the door, Peter was praying for some sort of superhuman incident to happen and appear on the news. Just any reason for him to have to slip away from this nightmare. He would even take on two super-humans that were fighting the Hulk along with Hulk instead of being on this blind date.

“Anna, I’m so glad you could make it! Where’s Mary Jane?”

“I’m so glad we could finally organize this. She’s locking up the car and carrying in a pie that we backed together. She’s definitely my favorite niece. Such a doll. But don’t tell anyone else that!”

“Oh, Peter, could you get the door when Mary Jane comes in?” Peter just agreed to do it. While to everyone else his Aunt May might seem like the gentlest women one has ever seen, if she gets made enough, even Peter with his super-human strength sometimes has to run for the hills! Of course that’s an exaggeration, but it gets the point across. Once the doorbell rang again, Peter picked himself off the couch and headed towards the door, dreading each step he took. Once he opened the door, he saw MJ for the very first time.

“Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot!”

RPGC #3 -- Voting AND Discussion

I'm going to try to finish my summary of what I intended to submit, as I promised @RomanAria in the previous thread. What have I learned so far by writing this summary? I should just write the summary first, then try to write the entry. If I eventually run out of time, I just submit what I have plus the summary starting from what I did not get to yet. >.<

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

Not yet, only skip read through some of it - shame that the person doing the Iron Fist hasn't posted again as I would've been tempted to go for Rand - although I am also tempted to make a nicer version of Vargas....

RogerD

I consider the player who last applied for Iron Fist as AWOL, so I will accept new character sheets for Iron Fist. Glad someone likes what we're doing here.

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

@Sep I wouldn't mind it if others would give their opinions on what characters should be apart of our universe's Avengers. You are right that I would like to have Wasp, Hank Pym, and Iron Man be NPC's, since we don't have anyone playing those characters. I would also suggest going down the "Iron Man is my bodyguard" route with Tony, as this would be easier to retcon than the other way around (i.e. "I am Iron Man). However, I would like to hear what others think. I'm a benevolent dictator. I take into account the opinions of my subjects. (I am just kidding about being a dictator and you all being my subjects. Just saying this just in case someone did not get it).

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

@Natty Iceman looks good. A few typos and some tense shifting (from past to present), but otherwise looks good. I am planning on having Mystique's Brotherhood be a villain group that opposes Ms. Marvel sometime "soon" (since they have "history" in the comics). While I'll allow Pyro to be on Magneto's Brotherhood, I would like to retain Mystique's roster as much as possible (Blob, Avalanche, etc). Also, you could put down as the reason why Angelica (Firestar) convinced Bobby to "come out" that he is a mutant is because her father reacted positively towards hers.

Also, I am toying with the idea of making Hawkeye a GM NPC (the stories I want to tell with him need to wait a little) and make an application for Cyclops.

RPGC #3 -- THE COSMOS

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wave the white flag on this one. Work tomorrow combined with a lack of motivation to finish my piece over the 4th of July weekend has caused me to hit a brick wall. I'll post a plot summary of what I wanted to do tomorrow (or whenever the voting thread is put up and I am back from work).

Sorry, @RomanAria. :(

Now, its time to...

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

@Natty I'll read this tomorrow.

All-Star Marvel: Audax Mundus Novus - Season 1 (Completed)

May I ask which Nick Fury we're going with btw? Are we going Ultimate/MCU/Samuel L Jackson route or simply classic Fury?

@Natty

I originally imagined him as classic Fury since Ultimate Nick Fury (who was modeled after Samuel L. Jackson) has been pretty popular recently (MCU, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, current Marvel animation, heck, they even tried to introduce him into Earth-616). If anyone has a problem with that, suck it up...oh, I mean, we can discuss it.