DocTachyon

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

Have just caught up on the first page, and I want to congratulate everyone on their incredible work so far! It has been a real treat to read, in every corner of the game. I love seeing all the little details and the thought and care that each and every one of you apply to your characters, from Hound's brilliant use of Peter's tech savvy mind to the way MMG can lean on Hal's aviation experience. Great stuff all around, I'm excited to read the next page.

As well, I've worked on some post summaries for the first page in case anyone needs a refresher now or in the future. I imagine these might be added to the OP at some point, but here they are for convenience.

Ultimate One Universe Emergence Page One Summaries

Superman #1: In which Clark Kent extolls the virtues of his morning commute and gleans some details from passersby about the mysterious hacker known as the ‘Toyman’. After a heated all-hands meeting with Perry White, Clark joins fellow press Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in the field to investigate an explosion at a Luthorcorp facility.

Thor #1: In which a Mister Keith Kincaid struggles to service a communications array in the bitter Alaskan cold, seeming to lose his friend Wilford along the way, all while a mysterious voice croons from the radio. Meanwhile, Thor himself grapples with the cold and his exile, only to see his faithful hammer Mjolnir crash beside him -- and that he is no longer worthy to wield it.

The Punisher #1: In which Frank Castle has a polite little interrogation with one Nicky Francesco. Francesco spills the beans on a club called The Stardust Lounge where Frank can find one of his targets, a capo called Billy ‘The Beaut’ Russo. Francesco adds to Frank’s body count.

Fantastic Four #1: In which hotshot Johnny Storm gets (rightfully) chewed out by his sister Sue. We get filled in on the Fantastic family’s particular and peculiar circumstances and hear about Johnny’s fiery night on the town that ends with him stark nude.

The Flash #1: In which Barry gives Iris her brand new supersuit. Flirting is attempted by both, and understood by neither. Finally, Iris races off on her first adventure as The Flash!

The Question #-1: In which The Question tries to use his position in the Hub City Gazette as a cudgel of justice against the new Mayor Fermin, and gets dumped and thrown out of his job on his ass for his trouble. He manages to find a new gig to keep his head above water, but time for Vic Sage is running out. Every violent night as The Question brings him closer to his goal, and closer to his own funeral. A fateful encounter with the martial assassin Lady Shiva finally brings him to his watery grave, but the butterfly’s wings still beat.

Question Backlog, Issues 0 - 3

The Question #0: In which Vic remembers his first time watching a man die, and struggles in the darkness to grapple with the death of his own ego. Half dead and fished out from the deep by Lady Shiva and Tot Rodor, Vic is placed into the care of the legendary martial artist Richard Dragon. After a year of training, Vic reforms himself into a new man, one ready to ask all the right Questions.

The Question #1: In which Vic begins his journey to Hub City, and takes his first stop at the home of a kindly, queer old man. Charmed and heartened by stories of the man’s late husband, another Victor, Vic reflects on all the people he’s left behind, from Tot to his new boss, and most especially his ex-girlfriend Myra Fermin.

The Question #2: In which skinhead agitators try to get the better of the old man, only to have their faces rearranged by a faceless man. Q steals their truck and hightails it for Hub City.

The Question #3: In which Q listens to the greatest hits of the skinhead’s music collection and ruminates on the enormity of the task before him, saving Hub City’s soul. Steeling himself, he takes off for Tot’s to begin his campaign.

Mister Terrific #1: In which Michael Holt has his first night out with his upgraded equipment. Mister Terrific is now fully online with nanogel and T-spheres operating in unison to great effect, complete with flight and combat modes. But Michael still isn’t perfect, and catches a thrown handgun to the back of the head for his trouble. He limps home and gets a state of the art compression wrap for his wounds. The power of science is amazing!

The Lanterns #1: Do Green Lanterns dream of electric cheeks? Hal Jordan does, and he scarcely manages to survive a high flying fighter jet test run and a near collision with a UFO. He finds himself chosen as the next bearer of the Green Lantern ring, and the new fate-chosen best friend of an angry looking red guy.

The Flash #2: The Flash streaks onto the scene of a bank robbery and foils four gunmen as flawlessly as a new superhero can, a handful of whizzing bullets notwithstanding. But now, Flash finds herself in the dill-icious court of the one and aioli Condiment King!

Iron Man #1: In which Tony Stark bursts onto the scene of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in style as Iron Man. He denounces the mutant menace and announces a series of wargames to trial the latest and greatest prototypes of the War Machine project. It’s to be conducted by a sterling cast of test pilots, including Rhodey Rhodes, Carol Danvers, and the one and only Major Major Jordan.

Wolverine #1: In which a group of professional killers think they can get the drop on the Wolverine, their first mistake. Their second is that they want him alive, a courtesy Logan won’t extend to them. They’re dead well before Logan can learn that the next man gunning for his head is Colonel Flag, leader of Task Force X. But Logan does manage to figure out that the men were actually targeting the resident of a mysterious lighted cabin, just up the hill…

Hawksmoor #1: In which Jack Hawksmoor is in tune with the trills and timings of Tokyo, and comes upon gunmen engaging local police. The city yearns for their defeat, and as he tries to satisfy it, a katana wielding woman cuts one of the gunmen’s hands off. Named for her blade, the woman has the mark of a snake that brings back bad memories for Jack. Before he can ask her about it, a man named Sarge Steel comes bearing an offer.

Spider-Man #1: In which Peter Parker introduces us to the infinite array of spinning plates that is his life, from school to a mountain of extracurriculars and a pending internship with the brilliant Curt Conners. Mostly, Peter grapples with the bills that threaten to bring it all crumbling down, a total that’s just gotten a little higher thanks to a botched attempt at foiling a bodega robbery. It’s like old Bobby DeNiro says: always pay.

The Punisher #2: In which Frank Castle meets with his best friend David Lieberman and downloads details on Billy The Beaut from the NYPD database. Billy was a real cut up, and liked to prove it by carving puzzle pieces out of his victim’s faces. Frank leaves Liberman’s place to have a shootout in the Stardust Lounge. As good as Frank is with his handguns, Russo can more than keep up. Before long they’ve shot the weapons out of each other's hands and grappled across the floor of the bar. Frank gets the upper hand and destroys Russo’s prized face on one of the Lounge’s blackened windows.

The Lanterns #2: In which Hal introduces us to the target of his one sided hate boner, American Hero Major Major Jordan. Hal is released from SHIELD quarantine and his new pal Sinestro explains the intergalactic shitstorm that will erupt if space warlord Ronan The Executioner is allowed to get his hands on all seven Lantern Rings. Together, they set out for SHIELD HQ in the big apple.

Iron Man #2: In which Bolivar Trask takes AUSA’s stage to announce the Sentinel Program, a next generation solution to the mutant problem, and gives Tony inventor’s envy. On his way out of the venue, Tony picks up a smoking hot slavic reporter by the name of Ali Anovna.

Thor #2: In which the Thunderer mourns the loss of his Godhood. Voices and shadowed figures assail his mind from the frozen woods, and soon he’s attacked by a powerful beast with claws sharp enough to rend a god’s flesh. Before it can devour Thor, Keith Kincaid blasts it with his shotgun and finds, to his horror, the monster bears Wilford’s face. Before his old friend can claw Keith apart, Thor returns his favor and heaves the monster through the trunk of a mighty tree, and slays it with his bare hands.

The Question #4: In which Vic reunites with Tot, and his old friend gets Vic up to speed on Mayor Fermin’s activities in the Hub and sets him up with his old coat and pseudoderm for his mask, plus a new grappling gun. One of Vic’s old contacts gives him a lead on a heroin operation run by a gang known as the Gospel of Sinners, led by a mysterious Reverend. Knocking a few heads together and asking a few wise Questions gets Vic the name and address of one of the Rev’s top enforcers.

Wolverine #2: In which Logan approaches the cabin and steps inside to face its occupant, only to find it empty… Until a shadow leaps through a wall and he pounces at it. But the shadow wasn’t another killer, but an ordinary teenage girl. As ordinary as mutant like Logan can be, anyway. After a brief knife to knife-hand stand off, the pair have a heart to heart… and against his better judgment, Logan finds himself agreeing to take the girl, Kitty Pryde, cross country to New York City.

Also, I'm workin' on the character database I've heard some of you asking for. Let me know if I've gotten any of this stuff wrong, from the summaries to the character entries and I'd be happy to change it for you. Also, I'd love to hear from you if you want me to change the "clear for reuse" section on whether you'd like others to be able to reuse some of these characters in some capacity. And do note that so far the database is based on my progress in the IC, so I haven't filled in all characters mentioned in sheets and further along in the thread.

Thanks for a great page one, team. And, holy cannoli, we're already at page three! Here's to many more.

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

Gonna post my first within a few days ideally, and then Luke and Danny will be ready to cross over with whoever will have them.

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

S . T . A . K . E .

---

^{"Just when you think the world's getting boring again...something new happens."}

^{_{J A S P E R S I T W E L L ♦ S H I E L D I N T E R R O G A T O R ♦ N E W Y O R K}}

O R I G I N S:

---

The Sitwell's have generational history of service in the name of the United States of America; but you won't find them decorated in the annals of history, their names carved into memorial plaques, or even remembered at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In his day, Jasper's grandfather - Jason Sitwell - was instrumental in the suppression of the mutant pandemic, working under the banner of a clandestine branch of the U.S. Government known as the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law-Enforcement Division. In Jasper's time, the organization has evolved, and so has its name, the branch referred to now as the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.

Either way, the Sitwell's have always, and likely will always, work for SHIELD, and their family's legacy is a colorful story of dubious service in the name of the greater good of the nation.

But you'll never hear about that.

Just like you won't hear about what Jasper's going to start working on next.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

"Mornin' Sitwell."

Jasper lifted his sleep-heavy head and turned away from the droning buzz of the coffee machine to look at his colleague. The face was briefly familiar but he couldn't for the life of him place a name. How many people had he seen come through over the years? Between his father's and his own tenure, the numbers must have ranged in the thousands.

"Good morning, agent." He eventually replied, using a professional posture and brusque, authoritative tone to cover the fact that he had no idea who he was talking to. The coffee machine stopped buzzing and Jasper lifted the mug to his lips, taking a deep sniff of the steaming coffee before sipping gingerly. It burnt his tongue, but it tasted good, and held the promise of making him feel a bit more awake by the time he drained the cup.

"Much on your plate today?" The mystery agent asked as Jasper shuffled over and allowed him access to the coffee. Jasper sipped more from his mug, thinking on the stack of manila folders he'd walked away from yesterday, and was imminently about to walk into.

"The usual." He replied, to which the agent gave a solemn nod. ‘Sitwell’ was a familiar name to many in the organisation, and while Jasper’s official role was as one of their leading interrogation agents, in truth he was something of a general dog’s body; he had the breadth of knowledge to assist on nearly any assignment, and the network to navigate himself only to the ones he found interesting.

He’d been navigating himself less and less recently. SHIELD had become, for lack of a better word, boring.

“Well, have a good day.” Jasper said, after a lengthy pause between the two that had long become awkward. He retreated from the canteen back towards his office, wishing the front walls were made of something considerably more opaque than the partially-frosted glass that was currently in place. He’d already finished his coffee by the time he sat down, and wondered how many folders he’d peruse before boredom bid him to fetch a refill.

Not that many, as it would turn out.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed interactions and stories.

No promises.

@Roman

To apologize for taking so long to approve this, you're double approved!

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

That's because it is 100% a reskinned Overwatch in every single way.

@Retired

I wouldn't go that far. I'm kind of an Overwatch hater but I found the gameplay actually fun, and I felt they were really able to deliver on the core fantasy of each character really well. They've put in a whole bunch of abilities that are hugely interesting to me from a game design perspective (like Loki has a zone he can put down that causes all enemy damage to heal his team instead), and they're distributed them across some very tightly designed characters. But yeah, as Uni said, the story is unfortunately extremely lacking.

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

D E A D L Y H A N D S O F
K U N G - F U

---

^{"There is no limit to technique. There is always room for improvement.” - Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond}

^{_{D A N N Y R A N D ♦ L U K E C A G E ♦ H E R O E S F O R H I R E ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y}}

O R I G I N S:

---

Danny Rand and Carl Lucas met as children on the sweat soaked mats of Pop’s Dojo in Harlem, and have been fighting in some way or another ever since. At first it was always each other. Whether Misty or Willis or even an itinerant prodigy like Colleen were prepared for them, they unerringly paired up and went to it. They never failed to keep pace with one another; even as Danny sought outside lessons, Luke’s dedication to karate would redouble, and each would find the other an agonizingly close match.

As young adults, they had no choice but to wrestle with their memories. Lucas believed Danny was dead, in the same plane crash that took the life of his mother somewhere out in the Himalayan mountains. Danny knew all too well Lucas was alive, one of his few connections to the world outside of K’un Lun, his new home. His new path had been chosen, shaping him from a martial prodigy into the Immortal Iron Fist, Protector of K’un Lun, sworn enemy of the Hand and the Shadows. But all through his training he could not help but wonder -- Has my rival kept up? Lucas too, had a question. Would anything have changed if Danny was still here? It only takes a handful of bad choices to separate a man from his path, but Willis Stryker was always available to help Luke make those choices in just the wrong way. Stryker was from Pop’s, too, a dedicated boxer who had been thrown out once old man Pop discovered his gang connections. Lucas’s loyalty to the boy held fast, and it was that loyalty that landed him in Georgia’s beautiful, historic Seagate Prison.

Lucas’s fights for survival in prison and Danny’s trials with the upper echelons of K’un Lun’s Masters would come to define them. Behind the four walls of Seagate, Carl Lucas was selected as the first subject of an experimental super soldier serum. Lucas was able to narrowly escape the prison with his newfound, indestructible skin, and redefine himself on the outside as Luke Cage, the mysterious new owner of Pop’s Dojo. Danny was able to overcome the last of K’un Lun’s challenges with his defeat of Shou-Lao, and emerge as the latest heritor of the Iron Fist. Now, training completed, Danny returns to New York, to seek the aid of his old mentor…

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

You can learn a lot about a man in one five minute round of sparring. That was one of the things Pop had taught Danny, before the cavalcade of K’un Lun’s esoteric masters had tried to dress the same concept up in thousands of years of martial history: that in a fight, the eye is the most important thing.

He saw now that Luke was only testing his guard, throwing half committed moves and waiting for Danny to set the pace. He learned fast -- their first spar after Danny arrived ended with Luke in a guillotine hold, after he tried to rush at Danny and overwhelm him with size. Luke said Danny got lucky, and he was right. If Luke hadn’t gone for the takedown, Danny would have started with his seiken. A cheeky and practically useless strike from their days at Pop’s dojo. The punch was mostly ceremonial, to train the arm’s muscles and center the mind. He only liked to use it to set the tone of a spar, but against Luke, he’d have shattered his hand.

It was only right that they set to sparring immediately, not bothering to explain the intricacies of their individual situations. It was much simpler than that: Danny wasn’t dead anymore, and that meant he could step back into the ring with Luke. On Danny’s first day back, Pop’s was his first stop. He expected to find it a shell of itself, hollowed out and turned into one of a dozen brightly colored twenty four hour fitness lifestyle places that signaled the death knell of the local gym. Instead of a prim secretary and video screens on every wall, he was greeted by the Pop’s he remembered. Every wall plastered with the yellowing posters of bygone fight promotions, with the same scrap of note paper that held Pop’s exercise routine pinned to a decaying corkboard. It still smelled like Pop’s, the old sweat mixing with the new against the strained fabric of the mats. The only thing missing from the place was Pop himself -- instead he found Carl Lucas, already gloved up and hammering away at a heavy bag.

Lucas went by Luke, now, and Danny was pretty sure Luke had come to master at least two other combat systems in their time apart. The double he had thrown in their first round was wrestling, and the blocks he presented to Danny’s probing jabs was pure Jailhouse Rock. JHR wasn’t often taught, especially not by the Masters of K’un Lun, but Danny made it a point to be aware of as many unique martial arts as possible, and JHR’s fifty two blocks were some of the most singular in all Danny’s awareness. The two styles alone were a powerful combination, and the man had untold experience in classic karate on top. Though, Danny couldn’t judge just how far Luke had gotten in Pop’s kenpo. When Danny left, they had been preparing for their black belt exams, and there was no telling how high Luke could have risen from there. With dedication, he’d have had time to get to the Fifth or even Sixth degree… but you couldn’t tell by the way he moved.

Lucas used to be a stout, immovable block of a boy who could overcome anything Danny threw at him with a little heart and a mammoth dedication to karate above all else. It didn’t matter what Danny brought: from his judo sweeps to his aikido joint locks, Luke could always get around it and slam him with a huge, audacious karate classic. Pop would always smile and call him “a karateka’s karateka.” But he wasn't that kid anymore.

Now Luke was a street fighter, through and through. Danny could tell from the way he moved his head. Over ninety percent of street fights involve head punches exclusively, and your ability to protect your head was often the only thing separating you from a brutal death on the pavement. Luke’s head movement was immaculate, and each of his guards seemed sharper than the last, absolutely denying the possibility of a headshot. The other thing about street fighters is that they, as a rule, never take fights to the ground. It was too easy for a controlling position to become a weak one in the tangle of a grapple, and you could easily wind up with your head splattered across the concrete. It was there Luke almost tricked him, with his double at the start of their matches, it was antithetical to the style. But Luke had an edge that meant a concrete concussion wasn't so much of a worry for him.

Luke hadn't gone and spelled it out for Danny, but the man had to be indestructible or something close to it. As they grappled, even the softest parts of Luke’s body felt dense, even the skin over his pressure points seemed to reject Danny’s attempts to manipulate them with steel rigidity. Danny was still managing, by centimeters, to squeeze Luke into the positions he needed for his holds to function. If the ordinary person was clay, Luke was made of iron. It was something beyond what body conditioning and partial training could give you, totally unique from the secrets of the old masters.

But Luke wasn’t stupid. He had to know Danny was holding something back, too. He told Luke about K’un Lun already in the broad strokes, a hidden society in the deepest mountains of Asia playing host to some of the greatest masters of our time. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make the unvarnished truth emerge: about K’un Lun, about the purpose of the Iron Fist, and the identity and responsibility of its inheritor… and Luke acted in kind. Danny didn’t think it was something an ordinary martial artist would notice, but he saw the flickers in Luke’s eyes. It was something he’d trained himself to look for in every fighter, it was the thing he loved about every fighter, their ability to seize their moments in the way that is just unique to them. Their build, their speed, their power, and above all their absolute unique application of their lifetime of techniques, in that one crystalline and perfect moment. But now, as they faced each other, Danny saw Luke pick out his moments, and let them pass by.

The round timer buzzed.

“Damn, already? Never got a good hit in,” Luke complained.

“Don’t sweat it. I have a feeling we have a lot of good hits ahead of us.”

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

Issue One

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

Mario and Luigi

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

D E A D L Y H A N D S O F
K U N G - F U

---

^{"There is no limit to technique. There is always room for improvement.” - Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond}

^{_{D A N N Y R A N D ♦ L U K E C A G E ♦ H E R O E S F O R H I R E ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y}}

O R I G I N S:

---

Danny Rand and Carl Lucas met as children on the sweat soaked mats of Pop’s Dojo in Harlem, and have been fighting in some way or another ever since. At first it was always each other. Whether Misty or Willis or even an itinerant prodigy like Colleen were prepared for them, they unerringly paired up and went to it. They never failed to keep pace with one another; even as Danny sought outside lessons, Luke’s dedication to karate would redouble, and each would find the other an agonizingly close match.

As young adults, they had no choice but to wrestle with their memories. Lucas believed Danny was dead, in the same plane crash that took the life of his mother somewhere out in the Himalayan mountains. Danny knew all too well Lucas was alive, one of his few connections to the world outside of K’un Lun, his new home. His new path had been chosen, shaping him from a martial prodigy into the Immortal Iron Fist, Protector of K’un Lun, sworn enemy of the Hand and the Shadows. But all through his training he could not help but wonder -- Has my rival kept up? Lucas too, had a question. Would anything have changed if Danny was still here? It only takes a handful of bad choices to separate a man from his path, but Willis Stryker was always available to help Luke make those choices in just the wrong way. Stryker was from Pop’s, too, a dedicated boxer who had been thrown out once old man Pop discovered his gang connections. Lucas’s loyalty to the boy held fast, and it was that loyalty that landed him in Georgia’s beautiful, historic Seagate Prison.

Lucas’s fights for survival in prison and Danny’s trials with the upper echelons of K’un Lun’s Masters would come to define them. Behind the four walls of Seagate, Carl Lucas was selected as the first subject of an experimental super soldier serum. Lucas was able to narrowly escape the prison with his newfound, indestructible skin, and redefine himself on the outside as Luke Cage, the mysterious new owner of Pop’s Dojo. Danny was able to overcome the last of K’un Lun’s challenges with his defeat of Shou-Lao, and emerge as the latest heritor of the Iron Fist. Now, training completed, Danny returns to New York, to seek the aid of his old mentor…

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

You can learn a lot about a man in one five minute round of sparring. That was one of the things Pop had taught Danny, before the cavalcade of K’un Lun’s esoteric masters had tried to dress the same concept up in thousands of years of martial history: that in a fight, the eye is the most important thing.

He saw now that Luke was only testing his guard, throwing half committed moves and waiting for Danny to set the pace. He learned fast -- their first spar after Danny arrived ended with Luke in a guillotine hold, after he tried to rush at Danny and overwhelm him with size. Luke said Danny got lucky, and he was right. If Luke hadn’t gone for the takedown, Danny would have started with his seiken. A cheeky and practically useless strike from their days at Pop’s dojo. The punch was mostly ceremonial, to train the arm’s muscles and center the mind. He only liked to use it to set the tone of a spar, but against Luke, he’d have shattered his hand.

It was only right that they set to sparring immediately, not bothering to explain the intricacies of their individual situations. It was much simpler than that: Danny wasn’t dead anymore, and that meant he could step back into the ring with Luke. On Danny’s first day back, Pop’s was his first stop. He expected to find it a shell of itself, hollowed out and turned into one of a dozen brightly colored twenty four hour fitness lifestyle places that signaled the death knell of the local gym. Instead of a prim secretary and video screens on every wall, he was greeted by the Pop’s he remembered. Every wall plastered with the yellowing posters of bygone fight promotions, with the same scrap of note paper that held Pop’s exercise routine pinned to a decaying corkboard. It still smelled like Pop’s, the old sweat mixing with the new against the strained fabric of the mats. The only thing missing from the place was Pop himself -- instead he found Carl Lucas, already gloved up and hammering away at a heavy bag.

Lucas went by Luke, now, and Danny was pretty sure Luke had come to master at least two other combat systems in their time apart. The double he had thrown in their first round was wrestling, and the blocks he presented to Danny’s probing jabs was pure Jailhouse Rock. JHR wasn’t often taught, especially not by the Masters of K’un Lun, but Danny made it a point to be aware of as many unique martial arts as possible, and JHR’s fifty two blocks were some of the most singular in all Danny’s awareness. The two styles alone were a powerful combination, and the man had untold experience in classic karate on top. Though, Danny couldn’t judge just how far Luke had gotten in Pop’s kenpo. When Danny left, they had been preparing for their black belt exams, and there was no telling how high Luke could have risen from there. With dedication, he’d have had time to get to the Fifth or even Sixth degree… but you couldn’t tell by the way he moved.

Lucas used to be a stout, immovable block of a boy who could overcome anything Danny threw at him with a little heart and a mammoth dedication to karate above all else. It didn’t matter what Danny brought: from his judo sweeps to his aikido joint locks, Luke could always get around it and slam him with a huge, audacious karate classic. Pop would always smile and call him “a karateka’s karateka.” But he wasn't that kid anymore.

Now Luke was a street fighter, through and through. Danny could tell from the way he moved his head. Over ninety percent of street fights involve head punches exclusively, and your ability to protect your head was often the only thing separating you from a brutal death on the pavement. Luke’s head movement was immaculate, and each of his guards seemed sharper than the last, absolutely denying the possibility of a headshot. The other thing about street fighters is that they, as a rule, never take fights to the ground. It was too easy for a controlling position to become a weak one in the tangle of a grapple, and you could easily wind up with your head splattered across the concrete. It was there Luke almost tricked him, with his double at the start of their matches, it was antithetical to the style. But Luke had an edge that meant a concrete concussion wasn't so much of a worry for him.

Luke hadn't gone and spelled it out for Danny, but the man had to be indestructible or something close to it. As they grappled, even the softest parts of Luke’s body felt dense, even the skin over his pressure points seemed to reject Danny’s attempts to manipulate them with steel rigidity. Danny was still managing, by centimeters, to squeeze Luke into the positions he needed for his holds to function. If the ordinary person was clay, Luke was made of iron. It was something beyond what body conditioning and partial training could give you, totally unique from the secrets of the old masters.

But Luke wasn’t stupid. He had to know Danny was holding something back, too. He told Luke about K’un Lun already in the broad strokes, a hidden society in the deepest mountains of Asia playing host to some of the greatest masters of our time. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make the unvarnished truth emerge: about K’un Lun, about the purpose of the Iron Fist, and the identity and responsibility of its inheritor… and Luke acted in kind. Danny didn’t think it was something an ordinary martial artist would notice, but he saw the flickers in Luke’s eyes. It was something he’d trained himself to look for in every fighter, it was the thing he loved about every fighter, their ability to seize their moments in the way that is just unique to them. Their build, their speed, their power, and above all their absolute unique application of their lifetime of techniques, in that one crystalline and perfect moment. But now, as they faced each other, Danny saw Luke pick out his moments, and let them pass by.

The round timer buzzed.

“Damn, already? Never got a good hit in,” Luke complained.

“Don’t sweat it. I have a feeling we have a lot of good hits ahead of us.”

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed interactions and stories.

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

I was going to make a witty and humorous remark that you would all have laughed at but @DocTachyon told me it sounded mean

@Sep

He was going to tell you we don't accept straight applications. Your Clark's experience as a paranormal investigator was compelling, but we were really looking for experience at the Ram Ranch.

See it sounds better when I say it because I'm queer and you're only Scottish

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

For reasons unknown to even me, the magnanimous @Sep and @Master Bruce have picked yours truly as a Consulting GM, which I'm to understand means all of the power and none of the responsibility. Fun!

In my first act as your local feudal lord, I must announce the results of the Superman contest. Before you, you have two truly marvelous sheets, both from seasoned veterans. But there can only be one big blue.

One of the challenges of this particular setting is getting the tone just right, mixing in comic hyper-reality with the ordinary to achieve a distinctly year one effect. In this case, we determined @Master Bruce's just slightly edges it out. We'd like to extend our greatest thanks to both applicants! We're beyond excited to see you both in action, be it in cape or claws.

Doc's Chop Shop

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

D E A D L Y H A N D S O F
K U N G - F U

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^{"There is no limit to technique. There is always room for improvement.” - Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond}

^{_{D A N N Y R A N D ♦ L U K E C A G E ♦ H E R O E S F O R H I R E ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y}}

O R I G I N S:

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Danny Rand and Carl Lucas met as children on the sweat soaked mats of Pop’s Dojo in Harlem, and have been fighting in some way or another ever since. At first it was always each other. Whether Misty or Willis or even an itinerant prodigy like Colleen were prepared for them, they unerringly paired up and went to it. They never failed to keep pace with one another; even as Danny sought outside lessons, Luke’s dedication to karate would redouble, and each would find the other an agonizingly close match.

As young adults, they had no choice but to wrestle with their memories. Lucas believed Danny was dead, in the same plane crash that took the life of his mother somewhere out in the Himalayan mountains. Danny knew all too well Lucas was alive, one of his few connections to the world outside of K’un Lun, his new home. His new path had been chosen, shaping him from a martial prodigy into the Immortal Iron Fist, Protector of K’un Lun, sworn enemy of the Hand and the Shadows. But all through his training he could not help but wonder -- Has my rival kept up? Lucas too, had a question. Would anything have changed if Danny was still here? It only takes a handful of bad choices to separate a man from his path, but Willis Stryker was always available to help Luke make those choices in just the wrong way. Stryker was from Pop’s, too, a dedicated boxer who had been thrown out once old man Pop discovered his gang connections. Lucas’s loyalty to the boy held fast, and it was that loyalty that landed him in Georgia’s beautiful, historic Seagate Prison.

Lucas’s fights for survival in prison and Danny’s trials with the upper echelons of K’un Lun’s Masters would come to define them. Behind the four walls of Seagate, Carl Lucas was selected as the first subject of an experimental super soldier serum. Lucas was able to narrowly escape the prison with his newfound, indestructible skin, and redefine himself on the outside as Luke Cage, the mysterious new owner of Pop’s Dojo. Danny was able to overcome the last of K’un Lun’s challenges with his defeat of Shou-Lao, and emerge as the latest heritor of the Iron Fist. Now, training completed, Danny returns to New York, to seek the aid of his old mentor…

S A M P L E P O S T:

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You can learn a lot about a man in one five minute round of sparring. That was one of the things Pop had taught Danny, before the cavalcade of K’un Lun’s esoteric masters had tried to dress the same concept up in thousands of years of martial history: that in a fight, the eye is the most important thing.

He saw now that Luke was only testing his guard, throwing half committed moves and waiting for Danny to set the pace. He learned fast -- their first spar after Danny arrived ended with Luke in a guillotine hold, after he tried to rush at Danny and overwhelm him with size. Luke said Danny got lucky, and he was right. If Luke hadn’t gone for the takedown, Danny would have started with his seiken. A cheeky and practically useless strike from their days at Pop’s dojo. The punch was mostly ceremonial, to train the arm’s muscles and center the mind. He only liked to use it to set the tone of a spar, but against Luke, he’d have shattered his hand.

It was only right that they set to sparring immediately, not bothering to explain the intricacies of their individual situations. It was much simpler than that: Danny wasn’t dead anymore, and that meant he could step back into the ring with Luke. On Danny’s first day back, Pop’s was his first stop. He expected to find it a shell of itself, hollowed out and turned into one of a dozen brightly colored twenty four hour fitness lifestyle places that signaled the death knell of the local gym. Instead of a prim secretary and video screens on every wall, he was greeted by the Pop’s he remembered. Every wall plastered with the yellowing posters of bygone fight promotions, with the same scrap of note paper that held Pop’s exercise routine pinned to a decaying corkboard. It still smelled like Pop’s, the old sweat mixing with the new against the strained fabric of the mats. The only thing missing from the place was Pop himself -- instead he found Carl Lucas, already gloved up and hammering away at a heavy bag.

Lucas went by Luke, now, and Danny was pretty sure Luke had come to master at least two other combat systems in their time apart. The double he had thrown in their first round was wrestling, and the blocks he presented to Danny’s probing jabs was pure Jailhouse Rock. JHR wasn’t often taught, especially not by the Masters of K’un Lun, but Danny made it a point to be aware of as many unique martial arts as possible, and JHR’s fifty two blocks were some of the most singular in all Danny’s awareness. The two styles alone were a powerful combination, and the man had untold experience in classic karate on top. Though, Danny couldn’t judge just how far Luke had gotten in Pop’s kenpo. When Danny left, they had been preparing for their black belt exams, and there was no telling how high Luke could have risen from there. With dedication, he’d have had time to get to the Fifth or even Sixth degree… but you couldn’t tell by the way he moved.

Lucas used to be a stout, immovable block of a boy who could overcome anything Danny threw at him with a little heart and a mammoth dedication to karate above all else. It didn’t matter what Danny brought: from his judo sweeps to his aikido joint locks, Luke could always get around it and slam him with a huge, audacious karate classic. Pop would always smile and call him “a karateka’s karateka.” But he wasn't that kid anymore.

Now Luke was a street fighter, through and through. Danny could tell from the way he moved his head. Over ninety percent of street fights involve head punches exclusively, and your ability to protect your head was often the only thing separating you from a brutal death on the pavement. Luke’s head movement was immaculate, and each of his guards seemed sharper than the last, absolutely denying the possibility of a headshot. The other thing about street fighters is that they, as a rule, never take fights to the ground. It was too easy for a controlling position to become a weak one in the tangle of a grapple, and you could easily wind up with your head splattered across the concrete. It was there Luke almost tricked him, with his double at the start of their matches, it was antithetical to the style. But Luke had an edge that meant a concrete concussion wasn't so much of a worry for him.

Luke hadn't gone and spelled it out for Danny, but the man had to be indestructible or something close to it. As they grappled, even the softest parts of Luke’s body felt dense, even the skin over his pressure points seemed to reject Danny’s attempts to manipulate them with steel rigidity. Danny was still managing, by centimeters, to squeeze Luke into the positions he needed for his holds to function. If the ordinary person was clay, Luke was made of iron. It was something beyond what body conditioning and partial training could give you, totally unique from the secrets of the old masters.

But Luke wasn’t stupid. He had to know Danny was holding something back, too. He told Luke about K’un Lun already in the broad strokes, a hidden society in the deepest mountains of Asia playing host to some of the greatest masters of our time. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make the unvarnished truth emerge: about K’un Lun, about the purpose of the Iron Fist, and the identity and responsibility of its inheritor… and Luke acted in kind. Danny didn’t think it was something an ordinary martial artist would notice, but he saw the flickers in Luke’s eyes. It was something he’d trained himself to look for in every fighter, it was the thing he loved about every fighter, their ability to seize their moments in the way that is just unique to them. Their build, their speed, their power, and above all their absolute unique application of their lifetime of techniques, in that one crystalline and perfect moment. But now, as they faced each other, Danny saw Luke pick out his moments, and let them pass by.

The round timer buzzed.

“Damn, already? Never got a good hit in,” Luke complained.

“Don’t sweat it. I have a feeling we have a lot of good hits ahead of us.”

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed interactions and stories.

Back in the saddle again...

T H E H E A V E N - S E N T C O W B O Y

V I G I L A N T E

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^{"Witty Quote"}

^{_{G R E G S A U N D E R S ♦ W I N G E D V I C T O R Y ♦ W A N D E R E R S}}

O R I G I N S:

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In his career, Vigilante has torn apart heaven, hell, and earth... And now he's prepared to do it again, for one man.

S A M P L E P O S T:

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Give an example of how you would write your chosen character. Try to focus on simple actions and a sampling of dialogue.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed interactions and stories.

C H A R A C T E R D A T A B A S E

Post Summaries

Ultimate One Universe Emergence Page One Summaries

Superman #1: In which Clark Kent extolls the virtues of his morning commute and gleans some details from passersby about the mysterious hacker known as the ‘Toyman’. After a heated all-hands meeting with Perry White, Clark joins fellow press Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in the field to investigate an explosion at a Luthorcorp facility.

Thor #1: In which a Mister Keith Kincaid struggles to service a communications array in the bitter Alaskan cold, seeming to lose his friend Wilford along the way, all while a mysterious voice croons from the radio. Meanwhile, Thor himself grapples with the cold and his exile, only to see his faithful hammer Mjolnir crash beside him -- and that he is no longer worthy to wield it.

The Punisher #1: In which Frank Castle has a polite little interrogation with one Nicky Francesco. Francesco spills the beans on a club called The Stardust Lounge where Frank can find one of his targets, a capo called Billy ‘The Beaut’ Russo. Francesco adds to Frank’s body count.

Fantastic Four #1: In which hotshot Johnny Storm gets (rightfully) chewed out by his sister Sue. We get filled in on the Fantastic family’s particular and peculiar circumstances and hear about Johnny’s fiery night on the town that ends with him stark nude.

The Flash #1: In which Barry gives Iris her brand new supersuit. Flirting is attempted by both, and understood by neither. Finally, Iris races off on her first adventure as The Flash!

The Question #-1: In which The Question tries to use his position in the Hub City Gazette as a cudgel of justice against the new Mayor Fermin, and gets dumped and thrown out of his job on his ass for his trouble. He manages to find a new gig to keep his head above water, but time for Vic Sage is running out. Every violent night as The Question brings him closer to his goal, and closer to his own funeral. A fateful encounter with the martial assassin Lady Shiva finally brings him to his watery grave, but the butterfly’s wings still beat.

Question Backlog, Issues 0 - 3

The Question #0: In which Vic remembers his first time watching a man die, and struggles in the darkness to grapple with the death of his own ego. Half dead and fished out from the deep by Lady Shiva and Tot Rodor, Vic is placed into the care of the legendary martial artist Richard Dragon. After a year of training, Vic reforms himself into a new man, one ready to ask all the right Questions.

The Question #1: In which Vic begins his journey to Hub City, and takes his first stop at the home of a kindly, queer old man. Charmed and heartened by stories of the man’s late husband, another Victor, Vic reflects on all the people he’s left behind, from Tot to his new boss, and most especially his ex-girlfriend Myra Fermin.

The Question #2: In which skinhead agitators try to get the better of the old man, only to have their faces rearranged by a faceless man. Q steals their truck and hightails it for Hub City.

The Question #3: In which Q listens to the greatest hits of the skinhead’s music collection and ruminates on the enormity of the task before him, saving Hub City’s soul. Steeling himself, he takes off for Tot’s to begin his campaign.

Mister Terrific #1: In which Michael Holt has his first night out with his upgraded equipment. Mister Terrific is now fully online with nanogel and T-spheres operating in unison to great effect, complete with flight and combat modes. But Michael still isn’t perfect, and catches a thrown handgun to the back of the head for his trouble. He limps home and gets a state of the art compression wrap for his wounds. The power of science is amazing!

The Lanterns #1: Do Green Lanterns dream of electric cheeks? Hal Jordan does, and he scarcely manages to survive a high flying fighter jet test run and a near collision with a UFO. He finds himself chosen as the next bearer of the Green Lantern ring, and the new fate-chosen best friend of an angry looking red guy.

The Flash #2: The Flash streaks onto the scene of a bank robbery and foils four gunmen as flawlessly as a new superhero can, a handful of whizzing bullets notwithstanding. But now, Flash finds herself in the dill-icious court of the one and aioli Condiment King!

Iron Man #1: In which Tony Stark bursts onto the scene of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in style as Iron Man. He denounces the mutant menace and announces a series of wargames to trial the latest and greatest prototypes of the War Machine project. It’s to be conducted by a sterling cast of test pilots, including Rhodey Rhodes, Carol Danvers, and the one and only Major Major Jordan.

Wolverine #1: In which a group of professional killers think they can get the drop on the Wolverine, their first mistake. Their second is that they want him alive, a courtesy Logan won’t extend to them. They’re dead well before Logan can learn that the next man gunning for his head is Colonel Flag, leader of Task Force X. But Logan does manage to figure out that the men were actually targeting the resident of a mysterious lighted cabin, just up the hill…

Hawksmoor #1: In which Jack Hawksmoor is in tune with the trills and timings of Tokyo, and comes upon gunmen engaging local police. The city yearns for their defeat, and as he tries to satisfy it, a katana wielding woman cuts one of the gunmen’s hands off. Named for her blade, the woman has the mark of a snake that brings back bad memories for Jack. Before he can ask her about it, a man named Sarge Steel comes bearing an offer.

Spider-Man #1: In which Peter Parker introduces us to the infinite array of spinning plates that is his life, from school to a mountain of extracurriculars and a pending internship with the brilliant Curt Conners. Mostly, Peter grapples with the bills that threaten to bring it all crumbling down, a total that’s just gotten a little higher thanks to a botched attempt at foiling a bodega robbery. It’s like old Bobby DeNiro says: always pay.

The Punisher #2: In which Frank Castle meets with his best friend David Lieberman and downloads details on Billy The Beaut from the NYPD database. Billy was a real cut up, and liked to prove it by carving puzzle pieces out of his victim’s faces. Frank leaves Liberman’s place to have a shootout in the Stardust Lounge. As good as Frank is with his handguns, Russo can more than keep up. Before long they’ve shot the weapons out of each other's hands and grappled across the floor of the bar. Frank gets the upper hand and destroys Russo’s prized face on one of the Lounge’s blackened windows.

The Lanterns #2: In which Hal introduces us to the target of his one sided hate boner, American Hero Major Major Jordan. Hal is released from SHIELD quarantine and his new pal Sinestro explains the intergalactic shitstorm that will erupt if space warlord Ronan The Executioner is allowed to get his hands on all seven Lantern Rings. Together, they set out for SHIELD HQ in the big apple.

Iron Man #2: In which Bolivar Trask takes AUSA’s stage to announce the Sentinel Program, a next generation solution to the mutant problem, and gives Tony inventor’s envy. On his way out of the venue, Tony picks up a smoking hot slavic reporter by the name of Ali Anovna.

Thor #2: In which the Thunderer mourns the loss of his Godhood. Voices and shadowed figures assail his mind from the frozen woods, and soon he’s attacked by a powerful beast with claws sharp enough to rend a god’s flesh. Before it can devour Thor, Keith Kincaid blasts it with his shotgun and finds, to his horror, the monster bears Wilford’s face. Before his old friend can claw Keith apart, Thor returns his favor and heaves the monster through the trunk of a mighty tree, and slays it with his bare hands.

The Question #4: In which Vic reunites with Tot, and his old friend gets Vic up to speed on Mayor Fermin’s activities in the Hub and sets him up with his old coat and pseudoderm for his mask, plus a new grappling gun. One of Vic’s old contacts gives him a lead on a heroin operation run by a gang known as the Gospel of Sinners, led by a mysterious Reverend. Knocking a few heads together and asking a few wise Questions gets Vic the name and address of one of the Rev’s top enforcers.

Wolverine #2: In which Logan approaches the cabin and steps inside to face its occupant, only to find it empty… Until a shadow leaps through a wall and he pounces at it. But the shadow wasn’t another killer, but an ordinary teenage girl. As ordinary as mutant like Logan can be, anyway. After a brief knife to knife-hand stand off, the pair have a heart to heart… and against his better judgment, Logan finds himself agreeing to take the girl, Kitty Pryde, cross country to New York City.

"Danny talking"
"Luke talking"
"Special guest star talking"

Marvel & DC: Emergence (Canon RP)

Does anyone else have characters they'd like to state interest in? I see @Hillan and @Roman are interested but haven't given any hints yet. Plus @Half Pint told me they have some other ideas but didn't name names. Wanna share with the class?