ERode — Roleplayer Guild

Henry LunettaAuditor at the Ministry of Population Development
......................................Smart and sharp, Henry Lunetta is the pride and joy of the Lunetta family, a well-paid government employee with a knack for numbers and regulations. Having graduated top of his class from the McMasterson Academy of Business, he leveraged his connections to score Phoebe a near-guaranteed spot in Aspera Agency's Talent Development Program, and continued to help her navigate the complicated contracts and regulations that becoming a Talent entailed. Though he has been teased as being a bit overprotective, he shrugs off those comments. He was smart and sharp, but the expectations of being the first son meant that he had to be so for his father and mother and Henry never developed much in the form of hobbies and passions. It only makes sense that if his adorable little sister did have something she wanted to do...well, he had to make sure she had every opportunity at her disposal to pursue such passions, no?

That being said, he's not completely hopeless. After all, as of late, he's gotten himself "something of a girlfriend", though he remains mum on the details of his love life.

Boris OrwellCEO of Aspera Agency
......................................Boris Orwell hails from an older time. Like most, he does not speak of those times, but it nevertheless informs his actions. The children are the future, after all, and in an era where anyone with enough social media influence could transition into a career as a Talent, there are far too many incompetent Agencies out there all too eager to sign stars up at a moment's notice in order to quickly churn out merch, only to abandon those same Talents once fads burn out. Aspera Agency exists as a counterpoint to that, a place that will find diamonds in the rough and polish them until they shine brighter than the stars of summer. He is harsh and demanding, almost militaristic in how the Agency is run, but what of it?

Neo-Astraea needs Talents. Resilient, powerful Talents, capable of rousing the spirits of the populace, capable of withstanding all that may happen in the future. And Aspera Agency will be the one to uncover that Talent.

PandoraAspera Agency Villain
......................................One of the newer Talents of Aspera Agency, Pandora hasn't yet debuted yet, due to being tied to the Maidens of Might and Magic 'continuity' that Aspera Agency is still developing. With the majority of heroic Talents in that faction having only recently debuted and having still not fully found their footing yet, her manager has held off on her own debut as a result. It's something that's a bit disappointing for someone who had scored the third highest during the six month training program among her same-aged peers, but so far, she can understand it. After all, it's relatively easy to take on the persona of a Hero, but a Villain? Especially one that needs to be both tragic and yet irredeemable, nihilistic yet noble? A force of evil that is also a mirror of what the pursuit of greatness may lead down?

Pandora feels a great responsibility to make her own debut as great as possible. Currently, she's living off her savings and the small pre-debut stipend she receives from Aspera Agency and attends acting and drama sessions there seven days a week.

TheoristSocial Media Influencer
......................................Theorist is, at least based off her persona, a ghost haunting the airwaves, capable of permeating the entirety of the AstraNet. She's often displayed as a wide-eyed brunette whose body is split between multiple monitors or TV screens. Unlike most influencers, however, there are no official venues from where she releases her videos. At times, a video link is posted from a guest account on a blog. At times, a TV at a department store is hijacked and starts playing her video. At times, someone else would uncover an old, never-before-seen video of Theorist and share it. Of course, most of her theories are a perfect example of 'correlation does not imply causation', being absolutely nonsense if one thought about it for more than five minutes, but on the other hand...she certainly isn't doing this for clout, considering how she's not making any money at all out of it, and any following she garnered is a following that she has no interaction with at all.

Urban myths and rumors saturate questions of Theorist's identity. There are at least twenty different 'guaranteed' rituals that would allow one to contact her, but if any of them work, no one who's tried them would confirm that it did.

Remington BeaufordProfessional Squash Athlete
......................................Physically-gifted since he was a child, Remington was that kid who'd climb up to Amaris's window on the sixth floor to tell her about how the construction site in Residential District Tau had a whole in the fence they could climb through. A habitual troublemaker, he'd get into far too many places that he probably shouldn't have, and there were probably more timelines where he didn't make it to age 10 than he did. To Remington, Heroes and Villains were cool, but he'd rather do something rather than watch something, and though he could never make it anywhere on time, he could always find something to do. Maybe he'd be volunteering at a festival, or he'd be baking too many muffins because he wanted to make a pyramid out of them, or he'd be messing around at the local gym shooting videos of ill-advised methods of using the equipment.

Regardless, it remains a miracle that Remington's still alive, and even more of a miracle that he somehow ended up as the fourth best athlete in the NASA. Which is a bit annoying, because now his favorite thing to do is to pretend that he's Amaris's senior in terms of handling Fame.

Michelle RamosAGC Rising Marketing Division Manager
......................................Never seen without her cough drops and her earbuds, Michelle is perpetually under-the-weather and perpetually at work. Half her life's ills, in her mind, comes from how she's never sick enough to call in sick, but never healthy enough to feel 'normal', and so, she just steadily accumulates sick hours while trudging along her day as the recently-promoted Marketing Manager of AGC Rising. The added responsibility doesn't bother her all that much though. The Marketing Division is the only reason that AGC Rising has stood the test of time, and due to her previous internship at Blackriver, Michelle is long accustomed to balancing the unreasonable expectations of producers and talent managers and foreign agencies and upstart Heroes. At this point, she doesn't even register the difference between a headache caused by a migraine, a cold, or stress.

Her earbuds don't actually play any music, and her mask is more there so she can make exaggerated scowls or frowns when she's really annoyed. By any measure, Amaris's reluctance to show her face ranks among the lesser annoyances that Michelle needs to deal with.

OdHas-Been Talent of the NAPD
......................................It's tragic, really, how even in retirement, he's still stuck with the body that he has.

Od the Ashborn was a household name 25 years ago. What had begun as a mascot of the police force going viral for deducing the identity of a criminal spiraled out of control once the police chief of that time thought that it'd be a good way to get the citizens' attention on the heroic qualities of the police force once more. All while wearing the K-9 Mascot Outfit, Od was thrust through increasingly perilous situations, some false, some not, until finally, he was recognized as the Ashborn, an immortal werewolf investigator who could sniff out crime and disappear in a cloud of smoke. It was all fun and games, until one day, he could no longer take off his suit's headpiece. Then a couple more years passed, and the suit became him, changing gradually to align too with the suave, sardonic personality that he had...which only made him even more popular. And which made the transformation he underwent even more permanent. Needless to say, this had a significant impact on the rest of his life.

Twenty-five years later and long into his retirement, Od has made peace with his current self, having made such an impact on the psyche of the Neo-Astraea community that even though he was no longer a Hero, he was still a werewolf-shadow-daddy, and is currently in the process of fixing the things that he had left behind over his storied career as a Hero of the Police Department.

David S. RhodesCEO of Team RESPAWN
......................................Known for his incoherent, rambling speeches and his weird facial expressions, David Rhodes appears to be the type of person who failed upwards through life, propelling Team RESPAWN through troubled waters via his off-kilter brand of charisma. At times, he's a complete bumbling idiot, and at other times, he's somehow an insane chessmaster of a genius. Really, it comes to no surprise that such an odd CEO has attracted so many strange rumors...rumors that he would sometimes confirm and sometimes deny, but never with enough certainty or clarity that one could come to a proper conclusion. Really, his business strategy seems to be 'never let anyone know what you're thinking', which naturally causes his officers and assistants to reply with 'you're not thinking about anything at all'.

David considers philanthropy fairly important. A meaty 10% of Team RESPAWN's yearly profits go towards various charitable organizations across Neo-Astraea. It is perhaps the most sensible 'strategy' he has: people won't spend on toys if they aren't fed properly, after all.

Rohan CaineCTO of Team RESPAWN
......................................Rohan Caine is a conman, but any tech lead in an Agency has to be a bit of a conman, possessing enough knowledge of science that he can make something that seems technologically plausible enough that the populace would be able to believe that a new invention like this exists. He's also, despite his receding hairline and wrinkled face, only in his mid-30s. That's just how stressful it is to work with someone like David. But it's whatever. It's a job that pays well and is fairly awarding from a mental standpoint, even if these technological 'breakthroughs' are only capable of being used by an individual or two. And he doesn't mind working directly with the tech-based Heroes of the Agency either.

After all, he got his Doctorate in Design, not in Physics. Making fancy techno-magic armaments is quite literally the best job perk he could ask for. It's just a bit sad that his daughter isn't interested at all in Team RESPAWN's product and thinks her dad is a weirdo nerd.

JimmyHero and Fashion Icon
......................................Fresh-faced and decked in pastel colors, Jimmy is a Fashion Talent associated with Vautour Bleu, whose fame grows more from his sponsorships with high-end fashion brands and runway showings rather than actually getting involved in physical conflicts. Some, of course, had denounced him as perhaps the greatest sign that the Talent industry is rotting and losing sign of what they once were, but on the other hand? Jimmy the Casanova certainly shows up beside some rather mighty Heroines, and settles fairly well into the role of 'damsel-in-distress' or 'handsome eyecandy who shows up but that's it'. Truly, he's the person who shows up and immediately leaves, having done nothing. And Jimmy is entirely fine with it.

After all, the Casanova is an image of luxury and beauty, elegance and nobility. A gentleman in shining white, with hair like the blossoms in spring. Now that people's safety have been ensured to such a state that most Heroes have to make up their own 'crimes' to solve, it only makes sense to turn their attention away from violence and towards art.

Isabela RuizCarmine Corp Hero Division Head
......................................Isabela fucking hates her boss. When she originally received her new assignment, she had thought that she could finally distance herself from that honestly childish 'Counter-Corporation Division' and get into something proper like 'Technology Investment' or 'Environmental Management' instead. Something that would actually put her expertise to work. To be put as the Head of the nascent Hero Division though? She was going to kill that dumbass. There is absolutely nothing she likes, especially after overhearing conversations about how the Hero Division just needed a couple of pretty faces to soften up the Carmine Corp image, but at the same time, it wasn't like she could afford to half-ass this either. So, of course, she did everything properly, attended all those seminars during her off-hours, pulled all the connections she could to get tips on how to make everything a knock-out success...only for the Talent to have an unforeseen accident, and for their substitute to be one of Carmine Corp's cyborg-assassins.

Great. Wonderful. She was going to fucking lose it.

Thankfully, her Maine Coon's fluffy neck proved enough to convince Isabela to not immediately torpedo all her future prospects by quitting on the spot.

Wen ChouCarmine Corp Marketing Rep and Government Liaison
......................................Wen Chou clocks in, clocks out, and that's basically all there is to it. A recent business graduate who had done a couple of impressive internships prior to finishing her degree, Wen picked Carmine Corp out of the offers she received just because of the added benefit of working with Neo-Astraea's government ministries. Honestly, while it was somewhat exciting to come up with weapons tech demos and promotional videos, as well as living the double life that was to be expected of someone working in a militech company...she really just wanted to make connections with the Ministry of Self-Actualization, perhaps the most opaque government organization out there. Maybe it's for a future career move, maybe it's for marriage-hunting prospects. Whatever it is, Wen remains unperturbed by her work and strict about her work-life balance.

After all, a girl's gotta find time to get some squash in.

Blake BolvinCarmine Corp Cyborg Assassin
......................................Blake Bolvin was born to two ordinary office workers, went to public school, graduated in the upper bound of her college class, and promptly decided that she'd rather be a cyborg assassin than another cog in the desk jockey machine. Though less compatible than Carmine Corp's home-grown cyborgs, Blake had the distinct advantage of being both socially well-adjusted and absolutely deranged. Theft, espionage, abduction, assassination, she did it all with a fantastical sort of glee, as if discovering a whole new world! To her, the struggles and skirmishes of Neo-Astraea's militech industry was nothing more than a new setting, one grittier and more cynical than the glitz and glam of Agency storylines. It's honestly kinda fantastic. She's honestly kinda a lost cause.

Despite her clearly anti-social tendencies, Blake still has an amicable relationship with her parents, has a wide circle of friends whom she hangs out with on her days off, and likes to try out new restaurants and bars whenever they open up. Her closet is filled with taxidermined animals.

Lily Herstal72kaProduction Production Assistant
......................................Faye succeeded where Lily failed, the two of them having auditioned in 72ka Production together, but she didn't hold much of a grudge over it. She had simply gone along with it because Faye did, after all, and in the shadow of her friend's shining, positive persona, Lily herself felt like fungi, best suited for growing in dark, damp places. Indeed, they were childhood friends, but as Faye's own idol activities occupied more and more of her time, Lily stopped hanging out with her as often. She graduated from school normally, then took up an internship with 72ka Production, where she helped out with event management and logistics, printing out stage directions, handling phone lines, and coordinating different teams and departments.

There is the hope that she'd become a songwriter or something. Get a bit closer to the idol-magic part of the business. But for now, though Lily isn't entirely content, she's alright with sticking to the background at the office, sneaking glances at her crush while inducing hearing loss through her headphones.

Mario SchulerFaye's Producer
......................................Flamboyant, passionate, and dynamic, Mario sees the future of Neo-Astraea not in muscular men in spandex and femme fatales, but rather in things so cute, so adorable, so invigorating that one's hope for a better future, one devoid of conflict, is ignited. His business suits are always patterned and colored. His product and costume suggestions are always 'add more bows! add more frills!'. Rather than enticing the populace with promises of violence, why not make them look forward to the next performance, the next song, the next movie? Mario sees himself as a visionary, a trailblazer for the next stage of societal development in Neo-Astraea. Once good triumphs over evil, how indeed does one enjoy utopia within this golden city?

The secondborn of the Schuler family, Mario has cut off all ties with the current Administrator of the Ministry of Social Rehabilitation, but there is no doubt that 72ka Production has benefited from the weight of the family name.

Emma Gepard72kaProd-Affiliated Trainer
......................................A former stuntwoman for Summit Studio Co., Emma retired from her profession at an early age due to an accident that left her with a permanent limp. After a couple of unsuccessful stints in 'normal' work, she was brought on by an acquaintance to join 72ka Production. Though the boss was a bit much and working with bright-eyed, optimistic little girls was a bit off for someone who had been accustomed to grittier theatrical works, she feels like she could get used to it. The hours were better, anyways, and Faye had some real grit for someone who's never worked a real job a day of her life. Not, of course, that Emma would ever let her student know that. In terms of physical ability, she was still far behind other debuting Talents, and there was no way Emma was ever going to sign off on letting her go out into any 'real' situations.

After all, an idol was an idol, and a Hero was something else entirely. Mixing them up would only lead to a disaster.

Marcus KerkSummit Studio Co. Founder
......................................Marcus Kerk hails from an older time. Like most, he does not speak of those times, but it nevertheless informs his actions. And when he sees what has become of Heroes, he can't help but feel as if something has gone horribly wrong. Heroes should not be so reliant on those around them. They should not be made, designed to grab the attention of the populace and rise to infamy. They must be perfect from the start, natural paragons who simply need a bit of help to get to where they were! His voice booms when he recalls the glory days of old, back before the Ministries made Neo-Astraea into a fishbowl, back before the city itself was so certain, so unshakeable a thing. Though the meaning of 'Hero' and the influence that Summit Studio Co holds has both waned over time, Marcus remains confident: this current state of affairs cannot last forever, dependent as it is on smoke and mirrors, the sleight-of-hand that media organizations engage in.

Despite his complaints about the current ecosystem of Agency and Talents, Markus certainly still loves the entertainment industry as a whole, and often hosts impromptu film festivals for amateurs to show off their works in a venue more official than just the internet.

Luther KerkCOO of Summit Studio Co.
......................................He didn't earn his position through nepotism, but, of course, rumors are more interesting than the truth, so of course Luther finds himself working as hard as he can to prove that he isn't just there to keep the company afloat, that he wasn't just warming the spot for a more qualified individual. Harsh and exacting, with a habitual smirk, he cuts the image of a smarmy, power-tripping nerd quite well. Market analytics had gone a long way since his father's time, after all. Now, even Fame can be quantified, so it simply makes sense that if one wanted to remain an Agency, you'd have to follow what's current and modern, and then use that to predict the shape of future consumer demands. And unfortunately for the little stray his father picked up? Luther doesn't see a future for Caspian. He's not wholly heartless; if the youth wanted to downgrade from his position as a Talent to just being an actor, there were certainly movies who could use such a clear babyface. But in the cutthroat arena of Talents, where thousands fight over the time, money, and fervor of the people? There is no future for Caspian.

Though he disagrees with his father on a logical level, Luther has a kid himself, and can understand, at least, the idealistic appeal of an altruistic, simpler time. He just can't risk the company on such a gamble.

Gianna LagrondBoutique Owner and Artisan
......................................There is a bitter bite to Gianna's smiles, and a part of her has never forgotten nor forgiven what happened to her family. Hard to forget when she herself was a living reminder of that, after all. But for Caspian's sake, she has practiced her own expressions, enough so to mask whatever resentment she holds. Instead, such emotions make their way into the charms and accessories that she creates for her online boutique store. They are a mixture of cute and creepy, gothically adorable and undeniably grotesque. As a single individual, of course, Gianna isn't able to produce enough to replace the income of the family business, but she's getting there. The more popular she gets, the higher she can charge for her limited quantities. The more she's recognized as an artist, the more it'd cost to commission her. And if her designs grab the attention of a marketing or graphics design company? Then it'd be perfect.

She loves her brother, of course, but there was no way in hell she'd want to have to share a home with him for the rest of her life. As far as Gianna is concerned, neither of them can really live until one of them leaves.

Samandra MaguireBlackriver Agency PR Assistant
......................................The problem with the antiheroes of Blackriver Agency is that they all think they can throw away all their media training because they don't need to be 'perfect' in the same way that traditional Heroes are. And when someone says something they shouldn't have said? Samandra's the one that has to clean up the mess they leave behind. Her back perpetually aches from how much she carries the company (and her horrible sitting posture), and she honestly fears that her own mind is getting fried from all these dark, provocative catchphrases she has to plug into the speeches that she writes. And now? Stuck as she was with Ladyice, a bonafide celebrity who was trying to break it into the Talent industry? Samandra isn't sure where any of this is going, but she just knows that if it wasn't for her stock options, she would've left Blackriver yesterday.

Honestly, Samandra still regrets it to this day, the chain of events that lead to her being barred from become a prosecutor. It all began with a single slice of white bread and ended with two law firms shut down and her name blacklisted from the union.

Cloverleaf GarfieldSubcontracted Makeup Artist
......................................Cloverleaf Garfield is the daughter of Parfait Garfield, a prodigious investor whose wealth places her solidly in the top 5 wealthiest people in Neo-Astraea. And while the Ministries still restrain the actions of the wealthiest from having too much influence over society, it did mean that Cloverleaf's life is one of fulfilled desires and indolent pleasures. If she wanted it, she could have it. If she needed it, it was already there in her hands. Though her family life wasn't anything so warm and gentle, she had enough in her trust that she could live lavishly for longer than Neo-Astraea had been around for, so of course, Cloverleaf had to find things to pass the time with. And though the Ministries were watchful of any direct attempts at influence...well, if it was a matter of simply encouraging the worst impulses of an upstart Talent who already had a record of such self-destructive provocations...

Cloverlead is a charm for misfortune, a snake in the garden. She sits comfortably upon a throne far above the ken of all others, and simply enjoys the chaos on the board. Ah, but there's nothing to worry about. Her beautician skills are real.

Alecia HollandCode Monkey
......................................If Alex doesn't have a cigarette in her mouth, then she has a lolipop in her mouth. Simple as that. A woman with a stutter, Alex deals with her speech impediment by being completely non-verbal instead, communicating either through gestures or text. If she can just melt into the background and quietly take notes during a meeting, great. If she can work entirely from home with the camera off, even better. She naps twice a day, gets takeout from seven specific restaurants, and takes good care of her pet goldfish whom, as far as anyone in her personal life are aware, have no names. It's a bit of a mystery, really, how Ladyice came to employ this reclusive young woman, but one thing is clear: Alex is employed by Ladyice, not by Blackriver Agency.

Despite striking the image of a cool, silent professional in person, Alex employs liberal use of emotes and slang on the web, where most of her work is. She has fifteen different folders of reaction images for various situations, as well as three separate text files where she saves ASCII images for use when appropriate.

Henry Lunetta	Auditor at the Ministry of Population Development
......................................	Smart and sharp, Henry Lunetta is the pride and joy of the Lunetta family, a well-paid government employee with a knack for numbers and regulations. Having graduated top of his class from the McMasterson Academy of Business, he leveraged his connections to score Phoebe a near-guaranteed spot in Aspera Agency's Talent Development Program, and continued to help her navigate the complicated contracts and regulations that becoming a Talent entailed. Though he has been teased as being a bit overprotective, he shrugs off those comments. He was smart and sharp, but the expectations of being the first son meant that he had to be so for his father and mother and Henry never developed much in the form of hobbies and passions. It only makes sense that if his adorable little sister did have something she wanted to do...well, he had to make sure she had every opportunity at her disposal to pursue such passions, no? That being said, he's not completely hopeless. After all, as of late, he's gotten himself "something of a girlfriend", though he remains mum on the details of his love life.

Boris Orwell	CEO of Aspera Agency
......................................	Boris Orwell hails from an older time. Like most, he does not speak of those times, but it nevertheless informs his actions. The children are the future, after all, and in an era where anyone with enough social media influence could transition into a career as a Talent, there are far too many incompetent Agencies out there all too eager to sign stars up at a moment's notice in order to quickly churn out merch, only to abandon those same Talents once fads burn out. Aspera Agency exists as a counterpoint to that, a place that will find diamonds in the rough and polish them until they shine brighter than the stars of summer. He is harsh and demanding, almost militaristic in how the Agency is run, but what of it? Neo-Astraea needs Talents. Resilient, powerful Talents, capable of rousing the spirits of the populace, capable of withstanding all that may happen in the future. And Aspera Agency will be the one to uncover that Talent.

Pandora	Aspera Agency Villain
......................................	One of the newer Talents of Aspera Agency, Pandora hasn't yet debuted yet, due to being tied to the Maidens of Might and Magic 'continuity' that Aspera Agency is still developing. With the majority of heroic Talents in that faction having only recently debuted and having still not fully found their footing yet, her manager has held off on her own debut as a result. It's something that's a bit disappointing for someone who had scored the third highest during the six month training program among her same-aged peers, but so far, she can understand it. After all, it's relatively easy to take on the persona of a Hero, but a Villain? Especially one that needs to be both tragic and yet irredeemable, nihilistic yet noble? A force of evil that is also a mirror of what the pursuit of greatness may lead down? Pandora feels a great responsibility to make her own debut as great as possible. Currently, she's living off her savings and the small pre-debut stipend she receives from Aspera Agency and attends acting and drama sessions there seven days a week.

Theorist	Social Media Influencer
......................................	Theorist is, at least based off her persona, a ghost haunting the airwaves, capable of permeating the entirety of the AstraNet. She's often displayed as a wide-eyed brunette whose body is split between multiple monitors or TV screens. Unlike most influencers, however, there are no official venues from where she releases her videos. At times, a video link is posted from a guest account on a blog. At times, a TV at a department store is hijacked and starts playing her video. At times, someone else would uncover an old, never-before-seen video of Theorist and share it. Of course, most of her theories are a perfect example of 'correlation does not imply causation', being absolutely nonsense if one thought about it for more than five minutes, but on the other hand...she certainly isn't doing this for clout, considering how she's not making any money at all out of it, and any following she garnered is a following that she has no interaction with at all. Urban myths and rumors saturate questions of Theorist's identity. There are at least twenty different 'guaranteed' rituals that would allow one to contact her, but if any of them work, no one who's tried them would confirm that it did.

Remington Beauford	Professional Squash Athlete
......................................	Physically-gifted since he was a child, Remington was that kid who'd climb up to Amaris's window on the sixth floor to tell her about how the construction site in Residential District Tau had a whole in the fence they could climb through. A habitual troublemaker, he'd get into far too many places that he probably shouldn't have, and there were probably more timelines where he didn't make it to age 10 than he did. To Remington, Heroes and Villains were cool, but he'd rather do something rather than watch something, and though he could never make it anywhere on time, he could always find something to do. Maybe he'd be volunteering at a festival, or he'd be baking too many muffins because he wanted to make a pyramid out of them, or he'd be messing around at the local gym shooting videos of ill-advised methods of using the equipment. Regardless, it remains a miracle that Remington's still alive, and even more of a miracle that he somehow ended up as the fourth best athlete in the NASA. Which is a bit annoying, because now his favorite thing to do is to pretend that he's Amaris's senior in terms of handling Fame.

Michelle Ramos	AGC Rising Marketing Division Manager
......................................	Never seen without her cough drops and her earbuds, Michelle is perpetually under-the-weather and perpetually at work. Half her life's ills, in her mind, comes from how she's never sick enough to call in sick, but never healthy enough to feel 'normal', and so, she just steadily accumulates sick hours while trudging along her day as the recently-promoted Marketing Manager of AGC Rising. The added responsibility doesn't bother her all that much though. The Marketing Division is the only reason that AGC Rising has stood the test of time, and due to her previous internship at Blackriver, Michelle is long accustomed to balancing the unreasonable expectations of producers and talent managers and foreign agencies and upstart Heroes. At this point, she doesn't even register the difference between a headache caused by a migraine, a cold, or stress. Her earbuds don't actually play any music, and her mask is more there so she can make exaggerated scowls or frowns when she's really annoyed. By any measure, Amaris's reluctance to show her face ranks among the lesser annoyances that Michelle needs to deal with.

Od	Has-Been Talent of the NAPD
......................................	It's tragic, really, how even in retirement, he's still stuck with the body that he has. Od the Ashborn was a household name 25 years ago. What had begun as a mascot of the police force going viral for deducing the identity of a criminal spiraled out of control once the police chief of that time thought that it'd be a good way to get the citizens' attention on the heroic qualities of the police force once more. All while wearing the K-9 Mascot Outfit, Od was thrust through increasingly perilous situations, some false, some not, until finally, he was recognized as the Ashborn, an immortal werewolf investigator who could sniff out crime and disappear in a cloud of smoke. It was all fun and games, until one day, he could no longer take off his suit's headpiece. Then a couple more years passed, and the suit became him, changing gradually to align too with the suave, sardonic personality that he had...which only made him even more popular. And which made the transformation he underwent even more permanent. Needless to say, this had a significant impact on the rest of his life. Twenty-five years later and long into his retirement, Od has made peace with his current self, having made such an impact on the psyche of the Neo-Astraea community that even though he was no longer a Hero, he was still a werewolf-shadow-daddy, and is currently in the process of fixing the things that he had left behind over his storied career as a Hero of the Police Department.

David S. Rhodes	CEO of Team RESPAWN
......................................	Known for his incoherent, rambling speeches and his weird facial expressions, David Rhodes appears to be the type of person who failed upwards through life, propelling Team RESPAWN through troubled waters via his off-kilter brand of charisma. At times, he's a complete bumbling idiot, and at other times, he's somehow an insane chessmaster of a genius. Really, it comes to no surprise that such an odd CEO has attracted so many strange rumors...rumors that he would sometimes confirm and sometimes deny, but never with enough certainty or clarity that one could come to a proper conclusion. Really, his business strategy seems to be 'never let anyone know what you're thinking', which naturally causes his officers and assistants to reply with 'you're not thinking about anything at all'. David considers philanthropy fairly important. A meaty 10% of Team RESPAWN's yearly profits go towards various charitable organizations across Neo-Astraea. It is perhaps the most sensible 'strategy' he has: people won't spend on toys if they aren't fed properly, after all.

Rohan Caine	CTO of Team RESPAWN
......................................	Rohan Caine is a conman, but any tech lead in an Agency has to be a bit of a conman, possessing enough knowledge of science that he can make something that seems technologically plausible enough that the populace would be able to believe that a new invention like this exists. He's also, despite his receding hairline and wrinkled face, only in his mid-30s. That's just how stressful it is to work with someone like David. But it's whatever. It's a job that pays well and is fairly awarding from a mental standpoint, even if these technological 'breakthroughs' are only capable of being used by an individual or two. And he doesn't mind working directly with the tech-based Heroes of the Agency either. After all, he got his Doctorate in Design, not in Physics. Making fancy techno-magic armaments is quite literally the best job perk he could ask for. It's just a bit sad that his daughter isn't interested at all in Team RESPAWN's product and thinks her dad is a weirdo nerd.

Jimmy	Hero and Fashion Icon
......................................	Fresh-faced and decked in pastel colors, Jimmy is a Fashion Talent associated with Vautour Bleu, whose fame grows more from his sponsorships with high-end fashion brands and runway showings rather than actually getting involved in physical conflicts. Some, of course, had denounced him as perhaps the greatest sign that the Talent industry is rotting and losing sign of what they once were, but on the other hand? Jimmy the Casanova certainly shows up beside some rather mighty Heroines, and settles fairly well into the role of 'damsel-in-distress' or 'handsome eyecandy who shows up but that's it'. Truly, he's the person who shows up and immediately leaves, having done nothing. And Jimmy is entirely fine with it. After all, the Casanova is an image of luxury and beauty, elegance and nobility. A gentleman in shining white, with hair like the blossoms in spring. Now that people's safety have been ensured to such a state that most Heroes have to make up their own 'crimes' to solve, it only makes sense to turn their attention away from violence and towards art.

Isabela Ruiz	Carmine Corp Hero Division Head
......................................	Isabela fucking hates her boss. When she originally received her new assignment, she had thought that she could finally distance herself from that honestly childish 'Counter-Corporation Division' and get into something proper like 'Technology Investment' or 'Environmental Management' instead. Something that would actually put her expertise to work. To be put as the Head of the nascent Hero Division though? She was going to kill that dumbass. There is absolutely nothing she likes, especially after overhearing conversations about how the Hero Division just needed a couple of pretty faces to soften up the Carmine Corp image, but at the same time, it wasn't like she could afford to half-ass this either. So, of course, she did everything properly, attended all those seminars during her off-hours, pulled all the connections she could to get tips on how to make everything a knock-out success...only for the Talent to have an unforeseen accident, and for their substitute to be one of Carmine Corp's cyborg-assassins. Great. Wonderful. She was going to fucking lose it. Thankfully, her Maine Coon's fluffy neck proved enough to convince Isabela to not immediately torpedo all her future prospects by quitting on the spot.

Wen Chou	Carmine Corp Marketing Rep and Government Liaison
......................................	Wen Chou clocks in, clocks out, and that's basically all there is to it. A recent business graduate who had done a couple of impressive internships prior to finishing her degree, Wen picked Carmine Corp out of the offers she received just because of the added benefit of working with Neo-Astraea's government ministries. Honestly, while it was somewhat exciting to come up with weapons tech demos and promotional videos, as well as living the double life that was to be expected of someone working in a militech company...she really just wanted to make connections with the Ministry of Self-Actualization, perhaps the most opaque government organization out there. Maybe it's for a future career move, maybe it's for marriage-hunting prospects. Whatever it is, Wen remains unperturbed by her work and strict about her work-life balance. After all, a girl's gotta find time to get some squash in.

Blake Bolvin	Carmine Corp Cyborg Assassin
......................................	Blake Bolvin was born to two ordinary office workers, went to public school, graduated in the upper bound of her college class, and promptly decided that she'd rather be a cyborg assassin than another cog in the desk jockey machine. Though less compatible than Carmine Corp's home-grown cyborgs, Blake had the distinct advantage of being both socially well-adjusted and absolutely deranged. Theft, espionage, abduction, assassination, she did it all with a fantastical sort of glee, as if discovering a whole new world! To her, the struggles and skirmishes of Neo-Astraea's militech industry was nothing more than a new setting, one grittier and more cynical than the glitz and glam of Agency storylines. It's honestly kinda fantastic. She's honestly kinda a lost cause. Despite her clearly anti-social tendencies, Blake still has an amicable relationship with her parents, has a wide circle of friends whom she hangs out with on her days off, and likes to try out new restaurants and bars whenever they open up. Her closet is filled with taxidermined animals.

Lily Herstal	72kaProduction Production Assistant
......................................	Faye succeeded where Lily failed, the two of them having auditioned in 72ka Production together, but she didn't hold much of a grudge over it. She had simply gone along with it because Faye did, after all, and in the shadow of her friend's shining, positive persona, Lily herself felt like fungi, best suited for growing in dark, damp places. Indeed, they were childhood friends, but as Faye's own idol activities occupied more and more of her time, Lily stopped hanging out with her as often. She graduated from school normally, then took up an internship with 72ka Production, where she helped out with event management and logistics, printing out stage directions, handling phone lines, and coordinating different teams and departments. There is the hope that she'd become a songwriter or something. Get a bit closer to the idol-magic part of the business. But for now, though Lily isn't entirely content, she's alright with sticking to the background at the office, sneaking glances at her crush while inducing hearing loss through her headphones.

Mario Schuler	Faye's Producer
......................................	Flamboyant, passionate, and dynamic, Mario sees the future of Neo-Astraea not in muscular men in spandex and femme fatales, but rather in things so cute, so adorable, so invigorating that one's hope for a better future, one devoid of conflict, is ignited. His business suits are always patterned and colored. His product and costume suggestions are always 'add more bows! add more frills!'. Rather than enticing the populace with promises of violence, why not make them look forward to the next performance, the next song, the next movie? Mario sees himself as a visionary, a trailblazer for the next stage of societal development in Neo-Astraea. Once good triumphs over evil, how indeed does one enjoy utopia within this golden city? The secondborn of the Schuler family, Mario has cut off all ties with the current Administrator of the Ministry of Social Rehabilitation, but there is no doubt that 72ka Production has benefited from the weight of the family name.

Emma Gepard	72kaProd-Affiliated Trainer
......................................	A former stuntwoman for Summit Studio Co., Emma retired from her profession at an early age due to an accident that left her with a permanent limp. After a couple of unsuccessful stints in 'normal' work, she was brought on by an acquaintance to join 72ka Production. Though the boss was a bit much and working with bright-eyed, optimistic little girls was a bit off for someone who had been accustomed to grittier theatrical works, she feels like she could get used to it. The hours were better, anyways, and Faye had some real grit for someone who's never worked a real job a day of her life. Not, of course, that Emma would ever let her student know that. In terms of physical ability, she was still far behind other debuting Talents, and there was no way Emma was ever going to sign off on letting her go out into any 'real' situations. After all, an idol was an idol, and a Hero was something else entirely. Mixing them up would only lead to a disaster.

Marcus Kerk	Summit Studio Co. Founder
......................................	Marcus Kerk hails from an older time. Like most, he does not speak of those times, but it nevertheless informs his actions. And when he sees what has become of Heroes, he can't help but feel as if something has gone horribly wrong. Heroes should not be so reliant on those around them. They should not be made, designed to grab the attention of the populace and rise to infamy. They must be perfect from the start, natural paragons who simply need a bit of help to get to where they were! His voice booms when he recalls the glory days of old, back before the Ministries made Neo-Astraea into a fishbowl, back before the city itself was so certain, so unshakeable a thing. Though the meaning of 'Hero' and the influence that Summit Studio Co holds has both waned over time, Marcus remains confident: this current state of affairs cannot last forever, dependent as it is on smoke and mirrors, the sleight-of-hand that media organizations engage in. Despite his complaints about the current ecosystem of Agency and Talents, Markus certainly still loves the entertainment industry as a whole, and often hosts impromptu film festivals for amateurs to show off their works in a venue more official than just the internet.

Luther Kerk	COO of Summit Studio Co.
......................................	He didn't earn his position through nepotism, but, of course, rumors are more interesting than the truth, so of course Luther finds himself working as hard as he can to prove that he isn't just there to keep the company afloat, that he wasn't just warming the spot for a more qualified individual. Harsh and exacting, with a habitual smirk, he cuts the image of a smarmy, power-tripping nerd quite well. Market analytics had gone a long way since his father's time, after all. Now, even Fame can be quantified, so it simply makes sense that if one wanted to remain an Agency, you'd have to follow what's current and modern, and then use that to predict the shape of future consumer demands. And unfortunately for the little stray his father picked up? Luther doesn't see a future for Caspian. He's not wholly heartless; if the youth wanted to downgrade from his position as a Talent to just being an actor, there were certainly movies who could use such a clear babyface. But in the cutthroat arena of Talents, where thousands fight over the time, money, and fervor of the people? There is no future for Caspian. Though he disagrees with his father on a logical level, Luther has a kid himself, and can understand, at least, the idealistic appeal of an altruistic, simpler time. He just can't risk the company on such a gamble.

Gianna Lagrond	Boutique Owner and Artisan
......................................	There is a bitter bite to Gianna's smiles, and a part of her has never forgotten nor forgiven what happened to her family. Hard to forget when she herself was a living reminder of that, after all. But for Caspian's sake, she has practiced her own expressions, enough so to mask whatever resentment she holds. Instead, such emotions make their way into the charms and accessories that she creates for her online boutique store. They are a mixture of cute and creepy, gothically adorable and undeniably grotesque. As a single individual, of course, Gianna isn't able to produce enough to replace the income of the family business, but she's getting there. The more popular she gets, the higher she can charge for her limited quantities. The more she's recognized as an artist, the more it'd cost to commission her. And if her designs grab the attention of a marketing or graphics design company? Then it'd be perfect. She loves her brother, of course, but there was no way in hell she'd want to have to share a home with him for the rest of her life. As far as Gianna is concerned, neither of them can really live until one of them leaves.

Samandra Maguire	Blackriver Agency PR Assistant
......................................	The problem with the antiheroes of Blackriver Agency is that they all think they can throw away all their media training because they don't need to be 'perfect' in the same way that traditional Heroes are. And when someone says something they shouldn't have said? Samandra's the one that has to clean up the mess they leave behind. Her back perpetually aches from how much she carries the company (and her horrible sitting posture), and she honestly fears that her own mind is getting fried from all these dark, provocative catchphrases she has to plug into the speeches that she writes. And now? Stuck as she was with Ladyice, a bonafide celebrity who was trying to break it into the Talent industry? Samandra isn't sure where any of this is going, but she just knows that if it wasn't for her stock options, she would've left Blackriver yesterday. Honestly, Samandra still regrets it to this day, the chain of events that lead to her being barred from become a prosecutor. It all began with a single slice of white bread and ended with two law firms shut down and her name blacklisted from the union.

Cloverleaf Garfield	Subcontracted Makeup Artist
......................................	Cloverleaf Garfield is the daughter of Parfait Garfield, a prodigious investor whose wealth places her solidly in the top 5 wealthiest people in Neo-Astraea. And while the Ministries still restrain the actions of the wealthiest from having too much influence over society, it did mean that Cloverleaf's life is one of fulfilled desires and indolent pleasures. If she wanted it, she could have it. If she needed it, it was already there in her hands. Though her family life wasn't anything so warm and gentle, she had enough in her trust that she could live lavishly for longer than Neo-Astraea had been around for, so of course, Cloverleaf had to find things to pass the time with. And though the Ministries were watchful of any direct attempts at influence...well, if it was a matter of simply encouraging the worst impulses of an upstart Talent who already had a record of such self-destructive provocations... Cloverlead is a charm for misfortune, a snake in the garden. She sits comfortably upon a throne far above the ken of all others, and simply enjoys the chaos on the board. Ah, but there's nothing to worry about. Her beautician skills are real.

Alecia Holland	Code Monkey
......................................	If Alex doesn't have a cigarette in her mouth, then she has a lolipop in her mouth. Simple as that. A woman with a stutter, Alex deals with her speech impediment by being completely non-verbal instead, communicating either through gestures or text. If she can just melt into the background and quietly take notes during a meeting, great. If she can work entirely from home with the camera off, even better. She naps twice a day, gets takeout from seven specific restaurants, and takes good care of her pet goldfish whom, as far as anyone in her personal life are aware, have no names. It's a bit of a mystery, really, how Ladyice came to employ this reclusive young woman, but one thing is clear: Alex is employed by Ladyice, not by Blackriver Agency. Despite striking the image of a cool, silent professional in person, Alex employs liberal use of emotes and slang on the web, where most of her work is. She has fifteen different folders of reaction images for various situations, as well as three separate text files where she saves ASCII images for use when appropriate.

@Nanaya@AThousandCurses@Psyker Landshark

Back and forth the scales swung, always tilting in one direction or the other, but the tilt now...

The dragon's contagion leaked in through the holes that Otis had made in the carriage's window. Alto, their best chance to actually fell these Ethos-wielding bandits, was thwarted nonetheless, a grievous injury inflicted in a split-second exchange. Could Iraleth, Chunji, and Rio hold them off long enough?

Probably not.

Ok.

"Kann, get Davil out. Fianchetto, you leave as well. Michael, wake up and follow them. Or stay behind, if you're still confident." Otis holstered his firearm and retrieved his sewing equipment, slotting the unfinished embroidery into various pouches around his belt. Popping out of the door soon after, the Strigidae swung right on over to the seat once occupied by the driver-mannekins, brushing aside the wooden debris that littered the area. Throughout all this chaos, the horses remained untouched, unharmed, unbothered, no doubt under a similar sort of brain-altering spell that he had once applied upon his own Adapa. It made them entirely obedient and wholly fearless; it also meant that they were easy to control, even for someone whose encounters with horses could be counted with only his fingers. At least, that was what Otis decided would be the case.

The student seized the reins, having given the occupants of the carriage only a few seconds to vacate before he put his plan into action. With a wild cry, the horses entered into a trot before speeding up into a gallop, heading straight for the headless tower. Otis grit his teeth together, a free hand slapping his goggles down over his eyes as his mind burned with calculations. Calculations on inertia and momentum, on angles of approach and the construction of the skeletal tower, on how much maneuverability the carriage actually had. Too much of it was a gamble, too much of it reliant on quick calculations dependent on too much rounding. There was a wriggling thought in the back of his mind, about how much easier this entire thing would have been if they weren't forced to wear that essence-nullifying ring. If Alto, at least, hadn't been forced to wear that ring.

Oh well.

The horses frothed at the mouth from the physical exertion as they stampeded faster and faster towards the skeletal tower. Its warding blows had been weakened, and what could cause men to falter would be light work for a burdenbeast to withstand anyways; the vehicle powered on over perilous terrain, Otis almost flying off his seat with every bump and hole in the earth. And, at the last moment, Otis drew out his firearm once more, pulling both reins with one hand to the side while aiming the barrel at the carriage shaft.

The horses turned. The carriage followed.

A crack of the bullet sounded, accompanied by the splintering of wood as the structure could no longer bear the strain and snapped apart, sending the side of the carriage smashing right into the skeletal tower. If his calculations were correct, it would be enough force applied to the poorly-constructed 'undead' to send it falling down upon the bandits.

And Rio. And Iraleth. And Chunji. And Alto.

But Otis didn't have the time to think about them. He, after all, was far more airborne than he'd like to be, having been launched during the initial jackknifing of the blue carriage.

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