DELETED087367

Coven: Shattered

Don't worry so much about pushing my character along. I believe I'll withdraw from this. Best of luck with the rest of the RP, all, and I hope to play with you again some time in the future.

City of Gold OOC

Maxx said
@ comment 1: Not gonna fly here. Sorry Cruiser. I'm not having your character be able to paralyze people without any way to counter. @ Comment 3 and 5: That doesn't satisfy me. Just saying he's scary and a psychopath doesn't give you an excuse for not giving him a personality weakness. @ Comment 3: Two words; genetic testing. Everyone in the US government knows Zac is a meta because the moment he got incarcerated they stuck his ass with a needle and took a blood test. Now that doesn't mean that the gov't knows his power, per-say, but he couldn't pass off as just a very lethal human. @ Comment 5: If he's so inhuman, then why is he human? I mean, I think every person, no matter how twisted, has some humanity to them. Zac does not. I realize that I kinda sound dickish in these replies, and I'm sorry if I do. I don't want you to think that I don't like your or that I'm just an asshole. I don't have a problem with Alphonse, so long as you change that power so he can't paralyze people, but I don't feel comfortable having a psychopath supercriminal running around the city with a power that cannot be countered in traditional means. I mean, there's some strong characters in this rp; Skeleton is immune to physical damage, Matt can do literally anything, and Whisper is a ton more powerful than you all think (because I didn't reveal the exact parameters of her abilities) but all of these powers have very clear-cut weaknesses that can be used in a fight. Zac's power is undetectable, by the way you've stated it, and there's no way to counter it without knowing what he's doing, so unless someone is a telepath, they're boned.EDIT: Yes, but if you slow down someone else's perception of time so that they cannot react fast enough, Cruiser, then they become basically useless. Zac and Alphonse can simply freeze other people in time and then do whatever they want. Bullet time is when you slow your own perception of time, like in the Matrix; Neo isn't super fast, but he sees everything as if he is. That's what I thought you meant by your power.

1) Fair, though I'd like to keep the mental acceleration for a particular offensive technique. Senses do strange things when your mind moves far faster than your body.

2) His insanity is a major personality weakness. This would lead him to behave irrationally, which essentially his long identity-erasing campaign was an example of. I forgot to mention his overwhelming paranoia, but that and his sociopathy keep him from forming bonds or trusting anyone. I'd count that as a pretty large weakness.

3) Alrighty. We'll say then that the unknown nature of his power kept others in fear of him.

4) I'll PM you about this.

5) Zac's power is easily detectable if anyone is actually subjected to it. Time doesn't just "jump forward" normally. The issue arises that if the victim doesn't live to tell the tale, it was seemingly just a mundane murder.

6) Yes, that's it. They can just induce bullet-time in other people, literally the same effect, as an offensive technique. They would be used to such a distortion of time, while the other person would not. They would still be moving at a normal speed, just very disoriented as they perceive themselves and everything around them moving very slowly.

City of Gold OOC

Jazzy said
Alright Cruiser, unfortunately I have to deny your characters.'Bullet time' is when you alter your perception of time. If you're altering other's sense of time and speed, you are making them think everything's in , while in reality you're just walking out of the way. That is not bullet time, that is Auto-Dodge: The power, and unfortunately that cant fly. I wont even touch on the other subjects, I'll let Allen, Maxx, and HWWB handle that.

I genuinely have no idea what you mean by this. By slowing their perception of time, that's exactly what I'm doing. Bullet time for my characters would be no different from anyone else's. In that particular instance, time is moving normally for both characters, only the "targeted" character has their reaction time exaggerated. This would be the effect of accelerating their mental perception of time.

City of Gold OOC

Whup, double postings.

City of Gold OOC

Maxx said
@Cruiser: Interesting sheets. It was a neat idea to make identical twins with identical powers. However, I'm not sure I quite understand your characters' powers. I mean, the way you described it to me before was like bullet time, where the character slows down his perception of time, not someone else's, which isn't OP because just because you can slow down time doesn't mean you can still dodge things. If he changes other people's perceptions of time, then I can't allow either of them because that's basically auto-dodge. The time erasure is okay with me so long as the target can still react during the time period (like they forget it afterwards, but if the character strikes at them with a sword, they can still parry).

1) They can put other people into, as you say, "bullet time," against their will, which is highly disorienting to someone that isn't used to it. Or they can speed up their perception of time, leaving them to move in seemingly slow-motion. Or they can speed or slow their mind but not their body, giving them a sort of semi-paralysis due to the disassociation. Hopefully that makes sense.

2) Targets still behave normally during "time erasure," as you said, but lose any memories of what occurred within it. Meaning if they saw a weapon and the thought of "I have to dodge" occurred within "time erasure," upon time resuming they would forget the need to dodge.

He Who Walks Behind said
Cruiser, I'm just gonna be brutally honest and express some concerns I have about your characters1) Your character's powers have no weaknesses. Limitations are not weaknesses. For instance, "I cannot run for twenty hours straight". That is a limitation. "Every time I run, I develop hemophilia". That is a weakness. Your characters have limits to their powers, but given that they don't have flaws that are more vulnerable than a vanilla human it's hard to describe them as weakness. It seems like they can use their (rather strong) powers with zero consequences.2) Where did Zac learn to become an expert in assassinations and knife fighting, neither of which are things you can really learn quickly or easily? I also have trouble believing, regardless of powers, that he managed to run a prison from the inside. Doesn't matter how good you are, you can't keep your guard up all the time, and gangs in prison generally tend to have some proficiency with killing other guys in prison. Beyond that, once they noticed this dude was involved with several gangs being straight up wiped out, and that he tattooed their signs on his body with each one, he'd probably get hauled in for something else/put in solitary.3) I am generally leery of any sociopath character. I am not accusing you of doing so, but generally speaking, they tend to be an out for the RP'er to avoid developing character and to dodge personality weaknesses. I could roll with cold and harsh but sociopath, coupled with his unexplained proficiency at several different kinds of killing and his no-weaknesses power makes me leery. If I had to take down your character, how could I? Does he have any weak points? You yourself said 4) Not to be a dick, I really don't get his backstory. His uncle raised them to be good kids and then turned and rapes their mother? And then he stabs his uncle and burns his mother to death? I don't understand why he did this. Sociopaths don't do violent things for no reason. They don't feel remorse over them, but that's not the same as doing violent things for no reason. They're still aware of the consequences of their actions, they don't get off on killing like serial killers do. He seems more psychopathic than sociopathic...and if he'd do something with such brutal consequences as that without a second thought, I'm worried about what he's going to do in this RP. Will he murder one of my characters for no reason the first chance he gets? 5) Not to be a dick, again, but there is literally no way he could accomplish wiping himself from all known records like that. I also don't understand why he would do this. Again, sociopaths don't feel remorse but that doesn't mean they do super illegal stuff without a motive. Why does he go to all that effort, risk further incarceration (which, given that metahumans have existed for a considerable amount of time in this RP, I have trouble believing he could escape as effortlessly as he did, as guards would likely be aware of them and able to contain them) and death by doing all this. Killing people tends to piss MORE people off, and burning down a federal prison would probably piss the government off. No matter how good he is, the government has infinitely more manpower, resources, etc, and once they linked this long series of murders, arson, etc, to him, they'd have Marshals, anti-meta squads, cops, etc, hunting his ass at every turn. Disappearing would not be possible. And if he killed everyone that knew his name, why did he let that dude with connections to the Skulls live? Surely he doesn't care about one random guy that's a gang member at the time, given that he's wiped out all the other gang members in prison...?Sorry if this comes off as rude or overly critical, I'm just somewhat concerned about this sort of character being in the RP.

1) Don't worry about offending me; I'd much rather clear up any issues or misunderstandings.

2) I have a hard time writing in arbitrary weaknesses to characters. Some come naturally, like water to a fire-based character, but characters with more abstract abilities such as these are difficult to write in weaknesses for. Do remember that they have standard metahuman weaknesses, including mounting fatigue as they use their powers, and a chance to kill themselves from over-use.

3) Zac ran with a gang before his turn in the joint, and was generally up to nasty business beforehand. Zac is an exceptionally scary person. Not only in his looks and personality, but his powers are terrifying in a psychological sense, which he knows how to exploit to his own advantage. People just end up dead when they cross him, and no one can really explain why. He's never seen killing anyone, and yet they know he's responsible for it. His powers are also very subtle, and so it would be very difficult to pin him as a metahuman. Given that he was in a "normal human" prison, the assumption would be that he is a normal, yet somehow ungodly lethal, human.

4) Zac's power takes more thought to counter than most others. It's a matter of strategy, rather than blasting a particular color of laser beam at him. The amount of thought countering him requires was more than the terrified guards and inmates of his institution could afford.

5) I'll put this bluntly. Zac is dangerous, violent, and criminally insane. The major themes with Al and Zac as characters are "Perception" and "Identity." Zac's perception of events could be completely warped and different from actual occurrences. Likewise with Al, who is also sort of deranged in his own way. The difference between a "sociopath" and a "psychopath" is kind of non-existent as they're both outdated terms for really the same thing, and neither are still used in modern medicine. Either way, Zac has strange thoughts and strange plans, often imperceptible to normal, well-adjusted folks like ourselves. I know this sounds like a cop-out, but I'm trying to represent an individual with a completely warped, inhuman mindset.

6) He's done the best he can. Considering both his birth and incarceration (really the only two events that would put him on the books) were done under shady circumstances in which several parties partook in a cover-up, deleting himself from the system was easier for him than for most people. Again, I refer to his imperceivable motives. Once more, his abilities are extremely subtle, and well-suited to not leaving behind evidence. Being able to remove oneself from causality helps with that. Staging deaths and arson as accidents are not very difficult for Zac. Not to mention that he is also highly skilled in manipulation, and likely convinced a number of other people to do his dirty work for him. Given his rapidly disappearing identity, this made him all the more difficult to track. Regarding the one particular Skull... well... sure he's alive right now, but...

Skyrim: Dragonsbane

I'm good until we start.

Character Crossover Crisis City

Lost Cause said
Just as a note, an absence of GM objection is not the same thing as consent.

Worry not, we reached an agreement privately.

City of Gold OOC

Characters = posted

Character Crossover Crisis City

The dragon's retaliatory attack nearly knocked Sorin clear off of his feet. He planted his sword in the ground, clutching it tightly to keep himself in a secure position. The surge of dark energy from the dragon seared against Sorin's armor and flesh; his "condition" gave him some resistance to it, but it was painful and aggravating none the less. Still, he kept his amber eyes peeled for the outcome of his planned attack against the monstrosity. He could see the Binding Blade clearly planted in the dragon's tail, running with the beast's blood, and yet it was not activating. He scowled in frustration. Perhaps this was a side effect of such a hasty summon? Certainly possible, but Sorin doubted it. Perhaps it just needed a little "kick" to get going? Artifacts weren't Sorin's forte, so he couldn't be sure, but he could at least give it a shot.

Bringing forth whatever Black mana he could wring from the miasma-clogged space surrounding him, Sorin directed his hate and determination at the blade, as well as the offering of mana. Perhaps an invocation could also be in order? Shouting at the top of his lungs, Sorin let loose a throaty roar of, "Be released, Withengar!"

Elbrus reacted immediately. The red blood running over the blade turned black, and the dagger fell from the dragon's hide like a splinter. Before it hit the ground, however, a dark vortex took up the space under where it should have fallen and swallowed the blade. The vortex rippled, then expanded, and the ancient evil sealed within the Binding Blade was finally unleashed. A horrifying monstrosity of flesh and bone emerged from the vortex, climbing up into the world on wicked claws, reeking of diabolical fury. Once fully emerged, the demon screamed; an ear-shattering cry that resonated with the painful deaths of thousands of damned souls. It was vengeance, Unbound. It was the Slayer of Saint Traft. It was the bane of life and light. It was Withengar, and it was now under Sorin's command.

Sorin's mind reeled from the sudden strain of having to control the demon. Its sheer size dwarfed the vampire, giving him difficulty in maintaining a mana link with it. Green mana was best for this sort of thing; Black mana struggled to support such huge monstrosities. Even so, there was no danger of it running amok, as long as he devoted his full attention to controlling it. Hopefully such a massive challenger would keep the dragon well distracted and divert its attacks away from the defenseless Sorin.

He commanded the demon to assault the dragon, and it did so unflinchingly. Its titanic wings heaved and lifted its burdensome body into the air with a great gust of wind. The sun was blotted out under its giant, twisted form, but not for long, as the demon then descended on the dragon like an airborne predator. Shrieking and howling, Withengar dove into the golden behemoth, claws and fangs outstretched, prepared for a cataclysmic clash of twisted light against perfect darkness.

City of Gold Character Storage Vault

Basic Information

Name: Alphonse Nazo

Nickname/Alias/Etc: Little Devil

Gender: Male

Age: 29

Height: 6 feet, though due to poor posture he seems much shorter

Weight: 200 lbs

Faction: Skull Aspirant

Appearance

Hair Color: Crimson

Eye Color: Baby Blue

Ethnicity: Italian-American/French-Canadian

Physical Appearance: Al gives the appearance of a man ten years younger than he is, as his features and expression are both soft and childlike. An aura of innocence surrounds him, what with his wide-eyed gaze and dusting of youthful freckles over his nose. He's a fairly large and well-built man, but his size is easily overlooked by his habit of slouching and his withdrawn body posture, giving him the appearance of someone rather small and vulnerable. His long, deep-red hair is usually pulled back in a ponytail, with a lock hanging over his face, and he insists on keeping himself as well-groomed, clean and fresh-smelling as he can possibly afford.

Attire: Al's wardrobe mostly consists of thick sweaters, slacks and oxford shoes, giving him an oddly "preppy" appearance, though more say that he looks like his mother dressed him. His outfit is sometimes accentuated by suspenders, jackets or earrings.

Personality

Outward & Innate Personality: Al appears to most to be an immature, emotionally underdeveloped person. He acts quite childishly, with frequent mood swings between naive excitement, shallow sadness, or petty anger. He's exceptionally gullible and easy to influence, as he often bends to the whims of others when presented with confrontation. Even so, he is a generally cheerful and positive person, easy to be around and get along with. Despite his apparent childishness, he is not perturbed by criminal activities, though that is not to say he enjoys them. If ordered to kill a man, he would comply without complaint, but would be eager to get the experience over with. Al is surprisingly intelligent and quick-witted, though his naivety and emotional issues often block his better judgment. He also has an odd habit of putting emphasis on strange words when speaking.

Hobbies/Interests: Al has a great interest in motor scooters, vintage fashion, perfume and Italian cuisine.

Skills/Talents: Al is a surprisingly competent hand-to-hand fighter, trained in judo and boxing, and is surprisingly strong. Well-practiced in criminality, he is versed in the skills of the mafioso, trained in the "Old Country," and he speaks Italian fluently. He's also a very good cook, and has a curiously sensitive sense of smell.

Prized Possession: Al has a cell phone that is never out of arm's reach for him, given that it's his primary means of contacting his brother.

Quote(s): "Hello! Yes, this is Al! What!? That's crazy, gimme the scoop, Zac!"

History/Bio: Al and his brother Zac were identical twins born in a women's prison in Louisiana. Their mother was a convicted prostitute and drug-dealer, and their father was one of the prison guards. After a long and troublesome gestation, the boys were born in the prison infirmary and were promptly sent away to live with their mother's brother in Baton Rouge. Their uncle was a priest, who raised them to the best of his ability, though the two proved to be a troublesome pair, often getting into trouble together, though Zac seemed to be the instigator most of the time. Their mother eventually was released on probation, and came to live with her sons. Having reformed from criminality, they lived a fairly happy life until a sudden and unexplained house fire claimed the lives of their uncle and mother.

Al and Zac moved to New Orleans, where Al finished school as Zac supported them with less-than-legal activities. While Al was able to complete his education without much issue, he often got involved with Zac's dealings, and had to cover for him or support him in his endeavors fairly often. Before long, Zac began running with a genuine gang, and Al was attempting to be accepted into culinary school. The otherwise inseparable boys then parted ways, as Zac's gang was brought down by a vigilante metahuman and he was incarcerated, and Al was accepted into a prestigious Italian culinary school. Bidding his brother farewell, he set off to Naples to live his dream as a chef.

However, old habits die hard, and due to running with the wrong crowd and a few shady dealings, Al ended up becoming involved in the Mafia. He worked as a low-level Soldato for some years while still attending culinary school. At this time, his metahuman ability awoke, giving him an edge over his fellow criminals. As he was about to rise in the ranks of the the mob, he was given a summons by his brother, back in New Orleans, who had apparently escaped from prison. Returning was tricky for Al, who was now neck-deep in the ties of the Mafia, but Zac quickly silenced those that would trouble his brother for returning home.

Al returned to the Big Easy to find his brother a very changed man, the most notable difference being that he also possessed a metahuman ability, and a terrifyingly powerful one at that. Zac had strange ambitions and plans, which apparently required Al's participation. Never one to be able to say no to his brother, Al was quickly swept up in this latest scheme, still mostly unaware of his role in it. He is currently en route to the city of Mendal to meet a contact in the "Skulls" gang, with whom his brother arranged an initiation meeting and appraisal.

Family: His only living family is his twin brother, Zaccaria Nazo.

Relationships

Relationships: [Zaccaria Nazo] | [Big Bro!] | [BIG BRO!!] | [My big brother is so cool!! Sure, he scares the living crap out of me, but he's never done me wrong. I only got as far as I ever did thanks to him, and I owe him my life.]

Abilities

Power Class: Spacial
Power: Al can alter the temporal perception of himself, or those in his general vicinity, either speeding it up or slowing it down. He can also differentiate affecting the perception of one's body, one's mind, or both. He also has a rather advanced sense of precognition. He can only see ten seconds into the future, but in that span of time he can also see the various outcomes any action that he could take would result in, giving him various, overlapping futures that he can essentially pick and choose from.

Weaknesses/Limitations/Drawbacks: Al can only "slow" or "speed up" time, only able to apply one effect at a time, rather than juggle multiple effects. His precognition also does not function while he is altering the perceived flow of time.

Other: Al and Zac provide an interesting case to the subject of Nature vs. Nurture, as despite sharing a genome, they have shockingly different personalities.

Theme

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Basic Information

Name: Zaccaria Nazo

Nickname/Alias/Etc: Crimson

Gender: Male

Age: 29

Height: 6 feet

Weight: 200 lbs

Faction: Neutral

Appearance

Hair Color: Crimson

Eye Color: Navy Blue

Ethnicity: Italian-American/French-Canadian

Physical Appearance: Zac is a large, intimidating man. His features are strong, and he possesses a sharp, disarming gaze. His expression, usually stoic, can only truly be described as "grim." Zac's height and well-defined muscles only serve to add to his frightening presence. An aura of a true killer surrounds this man; he gives off no impressions of being merciful, ambivalent, or even really human. Prison tattoos cover his arms and upper body, mostly depicting the destroyed iconography of gangs that he dismantled while incarcerated. His long hair generally hangs about his head in a loose curtain, and Zac's appearance strikes an odd balance between "meticulously groomed" and "fashionably unkempt."

Attire: Zac has a preference for fine suits and jewelry (red naturally being his color of choice), though he also has a curious fixation with mesh shirts and leather trousers. He frequently wears makeup, usually consisting of black lipstick, mascara and black nail polish.

Personality

Outward & Innate Personality: Zac is a true sociopath. He barely sees human beings as living things, much less as people. To him, "people," are either tools to be used toward his own ends or obstacles to be overcome. He has a chillingly cold and calculating intelligence, unclouded by emotions such as empathy and pity. Outwardly blunt and harsh, few people actually come to meet him, as he has a strange obsession with obscuring his own identity.

Hobbies/Interests: Other than his interests in criminal enterprises and keeping his identity a secret, he has unsurprisingly disturbing interests in instruments of torture, the history of genocide, and the application of psychological warfare.

Skills/Talents: Zac is a superb criminal, specializing in the arts of assassination. An excellent shot with a pistol, a skilled knife-fighter, and is able to use his surprising strength to his advantage when killing a man with his bare hands. He is also an exceptional tactician, with a mind for numbers, strategy and manipulation.

Prized Possession: None, such frivolities are for lesser men.

Quote(s): "I'll make one thing perfectly clear: if you cross me, you're already dead."

History/Bio: Zac and his brother Al were identical twins born in a women's prison in Louisiana. Their mother was a convicted prostitute and drug-dealer, and their father was one of the prison guards. After a long and troublesome gestation, the boys were born in the prison infirmary and were promptly sent away to live with their mother's brother in Baton Rouge. Their uncle was a priest, who raised them to the best of his ability, though the two proved to be a troublesome pair, often getting into trouble together, though Zac seemed to be the instigator most of the time. Their mother eventually was released on probation, and came to live with her sons. Having reformed from criminality, they lived a fairly happy life until Zac discovered his uncle raping their bound mother in their basement. The young boy retrieved a knife from the kitchen, stabbed him to death, and then set the house ablaze, killing their mother that was trapped inside.

Al and Zac moved to New Orleans, where Al finished school as Zac supported them with less-than-legal activities. While Al was able to complete his education without much issue, he often got involved with Zac's dealings, and had to cover for him or support him in his endeavors fairly often. Before long, Zac began running with a cult-like criminal group known as "Passion," which focused on elevating "true humans" above all others. The otherwise inseparable boys then parted ways, as Passion was brought down by a vigilante metahuman and he was incarcerated, the higher-ups of the group pinning their more grisly crimes on the young man. Zac was sentenced to live out a jail sentence thrice as long as he had been alive up to that point, and Al was whisked away to learn how to cook in Italy.

Only two years into his incarceration, Zac's metahuman abilities awakened, and his role within the prison shifted overnight. He became feared throughout the institution for his seemingly uncounterable power, even guards paying him tribute. The next few years were spent planning, as Zac plotted his re-emergence into society, and what he could accomplish with his newfound power. He escaped practically on a whim, and then set about enacting his plans. His first step was to erase himself from "the system," at large, killing almost everyone that had ever known his name, destroying any possible records, hunting down and killing his father, and even burning down the prison in which he and Al were born. His next step was to extract grisly vengeance on the surviving members of Passion, even those that had taken the fall for their superiors' crimes. The next step of his plan required his brother.

Al was summoned back to Louisiana, Zac ensuring to assassinate any mafiosos that sought to retain him by force, and was given his role in Zac's strange, ongoing plot. Zac called up a contact he made in prison,a member of the "Skulls" gang in Mendel, setting up a meeting for his brother to be accepted into the notorious metahuman gang.

Family: His only living family is his twin brother, Alphonse Nazo.

Relationships

Relationships: [Zaccaria Nazo] | [Useful] | [Little Brother] | [He has his uses. Honestly, he's the gravest threat to my identity, but I can't get rid of him. To do so would be... costly.]

Abilities

Power Class: Spacial
Power: Zac can alter the temporal perception of himself, or those in his general vicinity, either speeding it up or slowing it down. He can also differentiate affecting the perception of one's body, one's mind, or both. He also has a rather advanced sense of precognition. He can only see ten seconds into the future, but in that span of time he can also see the various outcomes any action that he could take would result in, giving him various, overlapping futures that he can essentially pick and choose from. Zac's most dangerous ability, however, is to "erase time." For a period of up to ten seconds, Zac can remove himself from causality and induce a localized state wherein only he can perceive events and act within them. Anyone caught in his ability behaves as they normally would during that time, but upon time "resuming," they lack all memories of what transpired during the events of the "time erasure." To anyone caught in Zac's ability, time seems to have "skipped forward," leaving a gap in their perception of time.

Weaknesses/Limitations/Drawbacks: Al can only "slow" or "speed up" time, only able to apply one effect at a time, rather than juggle multiple effects. His precognition also does not function while he is altering the perceived flow of time, including during his "time erasure."

Other: Al and Zac provide an interesting case to the subject of Nature vs. Nurture, as despite sharing a genome, they have shockingly different personalities.

Theme