Before we accept your CS's, could you fix these minor points.
@Eventua: -Could you elaborate/specify what Mansa can turn to gold? -We feel that you should remove his ability to use his powers on individuals who are only in his line of sight if he is using modern technology (e.g. computer screen, monitors, cameras, etc.).
Oooh, of course! I have made the requested changes as well as the stuff brought up on Discord, but have also added a possible bit of versatility whereby he may be able to reverse the effects of objects and materials he transforms, though he hasn't successfully done so yet.
"You grow up with expectations, you know? They define you. And when they don't match, go up in smoke? Well... heh, it's not like it'd matter if everything else did, too."
A straight-faced and often ruthless figure, Marcus has never been one to avoid a fight or to back down. Instead, he welcomes conflict and often got in trouble for picking fights over the smallest of slights. His dishonourable discharge seems to have solidified his attitude towards authority, but something prevents him from directly disobeying the orders he receives from command. While he has no personally defined moral code other than 'get the job done', he is not a sadist and has no interest in getting civilians or people he perceives as 'weaker' drawn into conflict needlessly. Ultimately, he seems to have little respect for anyone - least of all himself.
Powers: After the experiments performed on him as part of Project Ghost, Marcus's consciousness was transferred into a stable and isolated server network, where it was then overlaid with an in-progress military AI designed to control and coordinate swarms of nanomachines. With his mind 'backed up' in the UK, the instance of Marcus engaged in the current manhunt for Everett resides within one of the prototype 'swarm carriers', a highly advanced modular exoskeleton that houses roughly 90,000 'bugs' - although each is little over a centimetre long, he has full control of them and they can rapidly break down and reconstruct physical matter that he touches. Working in tandem, they can fuse together at the molecular level to form a highly durable bond, allowing him to withstand continuous gunfire and explosives with ease. --- This also grants him great agility and potential for stealth, as the swarm can operate autonomously from the exoskeleton for days at a time in 'recon' mode, slipping through ventilation or miniscule gaps and temporarily forming into a 'shadow form' - this lacks the greatly enhanced strength and durability of the full exoskeleton, but has proven useful for assassinations and data collection.
Attributes (Select one at each category):
Height: 5"1 (compressed) - 7"2 (at full) Weight: 400 pounds (compressed) - 300 pounds ('free', with the entire swarm released) Strength Level: 15 tons Speed/Reaction Timing Level: 24 MPH Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: 5 hours Agility: Normal human (compressed) - shapeless, though not able to travel through air or water-tight seals ('free') Intelligence: Average Fighting Skill: Mastered Resources: His inability to function in normal human society leaves him only with the resources granted by his powers or the needs of any given mission, but he can rapidly build what's needed at any given moment, assuming he has sufficient materials.
"Mmm, excuse me, the adults were talking? No manners at all."
An often frightening woman with little concern for the opinions of others, Sarah's powers have left her with little tolerance for the tiniest and most frustrating of failings in others, their subtlest faults and fears and tells being magnified to her a hundredfold. As one of those chosen by the golden spider, she thinks of herself as wholly unique, even in a world of heroes, and far above the concerns of others.
So far, she hasn't encountered anyone else with a gift from the golden spider, but would probably find the idea of it amusing.
Powers: For the most part, Sarah has just been given access to extensive training, but the golden spider gifted her with the 'Light of the Wind'. With this, her eyes and mind are altered to superhuman levels - able to see within the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums (or even deeper into the wavelengths of light with proper concentration), her photographic memory and superhuman reflexes and reaction times allow her to discern the truth and subtlety of every human motion, social situation, or cunning trick. Few traps can evade her sight, for her vision even stretches into the spectrums beyond our physical universe, given further practice. --- On top of this, she is a trained and accomplished marksman with all firearms, but has a fondness for rifles - minus the scope, of course. It's more dramatic and flattering that way.
Attributes (Select one at each category):
Height: 5"9 Weight: 170 pounds Strength Level: Normal human Speed/Reaction Timing Level: 35 MPH Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: Normal human Agility: 15X human level Intelligence: Above average Fighting Skill: Mastered Resources: Minimal, but an expert at using her environment to her advantage
Character Alignment: Wishes to be a Hero; Much more prone to Walking the Line.
Identity: He tries to keep his real identity hidden, but was forced to flee the UK when exposed by the Metropolitan Police as part of a larger manhunt involving a string of murders in London that perfectly framed him as the main suspect. The one or two people he had told about his powers have since been taken into custody and their situation is unknown - he has no allies left.
Character Personality: A quiet and uncertain young man, Everett was determined in his school years to keep a low profile, knuckle down and study. He had few friends due to his anxiety and lack of conviction regarding what he wanted out of life in the long-term, in a world ruled by luck - after all, it seemed like those with all of the power had either been born into it, were lucky enough to receive it from circumstance and mystery, or had taken it from others by force and cruelty.
He is generally bad at maintaining eye contact and gets nervous in high pressure environments, but when taking on the persona of 'Mansa', he has found it easier to get 'into character' and reveals an inner confidence that tends to throw those who know him well off guard. He has his suspicions that the persona of 'Mansa' somehow links him to the Golden Spider from his dreams, and that leaves him nervous about the possibility that his confidence and cunning are not really 'his' - this, along with the constant fear of being killed, caught or being forced to his powers to harm others leaves him nervous and pessimistic about the future and his role in the world.
Uniform/costume: N/A; Everett did briefly consider the idea of trying to create his own costume based on sketches he'd drawn as a kid, but quickly realized that his powers were better used from a distance or while blending into a crowd.
In his daily life Everett has no particular 'style', but especially since being on the run he mainly just wears practical, cheap clothing - jeans, bland T-shirts or button-up shirts and simple padded coats or hoodies. When he can get away with it though, he prefers to wear tight, smart brown trousers and elegant, long-sleeved shirts, usually with flower or abstract patterns. When possible, he also wears thick or woolly gloves to limit his powers from accidentally triggering if he gets nervous.
Origin Info/Details: Born to Ghanian parents shortly after they moved to London, Everett often felt uncertain of his place in the world growing up. His parents loved him and his older brother Thursday a great deal, but there was a constant sense of being torn between two very different worlds. He seems to have faded into the background, especially when his younger brother was born and he was hit extremely hard with middle child syndrome.
Never-the-less, there was one small certainty throughout everything - the world was unfair, deeply so, and his family seemed to suffer the brunt of it. In a world of heroes, London - and the wider UK in general - had famously low numbers of heroes relative to its population, and a growing lack of confidence in the work of ordinary police had gradually been eroding their public support; when a series of attacks by the villain Scattershot left dozens dead in the London Underground, the UK government began to implement much more... severe measures, for tackling crime. The new funding and paranoia, however, were a noxious mix that soon helped breed corruption and personal vendettas at the highest level.
In a society rife with propaganda and growing tyranny, Everett grew up increasingly pessimistic about the world, feeling he had to do something - perhaps through studying hard and getting a good education? Perhaps through politics? Perhaps through charity? - to make it better, but every system he turned to had inevitably failed the common people.
And then, when his family had hit rock bottom, he had a dream. A tiny golden spider, drifting in the darkness from a single golden strand.
"The world is wounded, yes?"
"Yes."
"Then take the Light of the Earth, and bind those wounds."
He awoke to something powerful, deep within his bones. On some deep, instinctive level, he knew what the spider had given him - and when his thoughts turned out to be based in truth, that he now held a power able to hold the balance of prosperity and ruin, life and death, with a snap of his fingers...
He knew that he had to do something. With such great power, there was now a great responsibility - to change the world forever.
Hero Type: Elemental/Mystic
Power Level: Usually an A, but Everett could potentially achieve B or even C level with sufficient preparation, support and set up.
Powers: Everett possesses something called the 'Light of the Earth', the ability to instantly turn any inorganic matter he wishes into gold with a snap of his fingers. This can theoretically work on objects of almost any size or complexity, though he's never tried anything larger than a full three piece suit or anything more complex than an iPhone. This is tremendously powerful, but abides by very specific limitations that he strictly cannot break, as follows: --- Line of Sight: Everett must be able to see the matter he is 'converting' clearly enough that he can perceive it as 'that thing' - this means his effective range is much greater so long as he wears his glasses, but it does not work through electronic devices. --- No Magic Mass for Me: The targets of Everett's power do not magically 'gain mass' - gold is a heavy metal with a high particle density to its atoms, so most materials and objects will essentially 'compress' as they are converted, the atoms quietly but suddenly 'melting together'. Thus, the vast majority of targets will quite literally shrink or even 'melt' as the individual chemical elements making up the target slowly shrink and push together into a single mass of gold. Perfect golden statues these are not. ----- Despite this change in atomic structure, there is no actual release of energy from such a change - as far as Everett or anyone else is aware, he doesn't have the power to create nuclear fission on a whim or to turn objects into miniature nuclear bombs. --- Snap of the Fingers: Everett must snap his fingers to trigger the ability - he's attempted to use his power without the finger snap, and consistently nothing happens. There's no specific pose or other action required mind you, but he usually likes to be dramatic about it when he can get away with it. And yes, this does mean he's basically powerless if his fingers or hands are broken. --- No Focus Necessary: Despite this, Everett doesn't need to actively 'concentrate' to use his power - so long as he's looking at something, he can snap his fingers to trigger it instantly. The problem is that without focusing on the 'target' in question, the effect will simply latch onto whatever 'target' he's dwelling on at the time - a lapse in judgement of this sort is the straw that broke the camel's back and led to him being tracked down by the UK authorities, forcing him on the run. ----- That said, concentration does also provide him greater control - with proper focus, he can 'delay' the effect, starting the process of turning something to gold on a sort of 'timer' where it slowly turns to gold from the outside in. The longest he was able to delay such a target was forty seconds before his concentration was broken by the arrival of police and the conversion immediately finished. --- Golden Retriever: Technically not a limitation but rather a passive secondary power that he gained simultaneously, he appears to be able to sense the presence of gold around him in a small area, about 20 feet at the furthest. This is described as a 'tingling' that rises up his limbs. The sensation is stronger towards gold that he himself has 'created', and the range extends as far as 50 feet at his last calculation.
As a secondary note, something Everett isn't yet certain of is if there is a way for him to reverse the transformation. A comment the golden spider made to him once ("One who changes the world can often change it back") has led him to believe that he could, but he's not yet been able to successfully do so.
Attributes (Select one at each category):
Height: 6"2. Weight: 81 kilos. Strength Level: Normal Human. Speed/Reaction Timing Level: Normal Human. Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: Normal Human. Agility: Normal Human. Intelligence: Slightly above average. Fighting Skill: Untrained. Resources: Minimal, but hypothetically could become Extreme given sufficient secrecy/protection and resources to work with.
Weaknesses: Primarily, his main weakness is that, without his power he's just a weedy, physically frail nerd caught between anxiety and a theoretical god-complex that worries those who know of him. Nothing about him is particularly noteworthy, and so if anything were to happen to his hands, or he was caught off guard?
Well, he wouldn't exactly last long.
Supporting Characters:IN PROGRESS
--- Thursday Williams: His older brother, a well-adjusted and law-abiding man who he used to confide in about everything. Thursday was ultimately the one who reported him after he accidentally killed a local business man. --- The Golden Spider: A mysterious entity that appeared in his dreams and seems to have given him his powers. It appears occasionally to offer cryptic advice, but he cannot seem to question its quiet confidence. He fears that the slight changes in his personality when he gets 'In-Character' as Mansa may actually be the influence or control of the Spider. --- Velu Anand: A successful business-man and old family friend with something of a rebellious streak from his younger days, he was disgusted at Jeremy's betrayal and has helped provide Everett safe and secret passage out of the UK. "Family first," he always says.
Face Claim: Lakeith Stanfield
Sample Post:
Deep beneath that vast steel cage, he could feel the lifeblood of the world, vast and alien and terrifying. His stomach struggled to rest, the world still spinning - it occurred to him that this was not technically the first time he'd been on a boat. Last time he'd journeyed across the world for a new home, he'd been a zygote, the barest trace of a nothing...
Would I be here if they'd stayed? Or would this... purpose, have only been stronger?
The troubles of Britain were his catalyst, after all. Would he still be the same person if they'd stayed? Would he still even be Everett? Or perhaps he would have been Saturday, just like his grandfather?
No fear, whispered the spider, his focus wandering, adrift in the twilight that surrounded every aspect of the voyage, No worries.
...
He was awoken from his hazy half dreams by a tap on his shoulder. The sound of the tense fingers surrounding and rippling the polyester of his coat was almost as noticeable to him as the firm but gentle grip.
"Everett, we are arriving soon. How are you?"
He smiled, a soft and distant smile as he turned to the last of those who could be called his allies, and the brown suitcase that he'd placed onto the ground. An old friend - the oldest.
"I'm... I'm okay. Just... tired. Thinking a lot. Thanks again for all of this though, Velu."
"Oh, no fear boy. You were always good, a good boy, and if Allu was here, I think he'd have been right alongside you. What's become of this country..."
The gentle crevices of Velu's face went taut as he spat on the ground, sneering at the spot just like he'd sneered at the TV the day Everett had come to him for help. Everett couldn't help but smile a little at that - to see the polite, well-mannered business man display his disgust so straight.
They stood in the soft darkness of the ship's hold for some time. Honestly, time had felt less and less meaningful a concept those last few days - what did it matter, when the chase was eternal?
Velu's brown eyes went wide, and he patted down the pockets of his well-tailored brown suit. Then, with a slight sigh of relief, he reached into the inner pocket and pulled out a small silver stop-watch. He held Everett's hand tightly, resting it in his palm.
"Take it, as a memento. The time is always changing, always ticking, but it never stops going. That watch has been with me for four generations, and well... you take it now, okay?"
Everett stepped back, his feet suddenly uneasy.
"But, you... you've already done so much, I don't, I-"
"Just take it, alright? I only ask that you don't turn it into gold. The memories of my family are more precious than that. It's never needed to be retuned, and if you break that record..."
He smiled again, though something in his eyes - the shimmer and echo of a tear? - told Everett he was serious.
"... then my ghost, my father's ghost, and my grandfather's ghost will haunt you from across the Atlantic. You'll never be able to escape!"
Everett nodded, wiping his brow with his right hand in as exaggerated way as he could muster, given the circumstances.
"The ghosts of Anand. Like... the saddest version of a Christmas Carol ever, with curry?"
"Hah, sad? Angry, more like! And you'd wish my wife's cooking was there!"
They laughed, and cried, and hugged - for the first time in a long, long while, Everett didn't feel so awkward about it.
...
An hour later, and Everett walked into the early evening darkness, the 'helper' Velu had hired to get him away from the dockyards. The big apple, the so-called greatest city on Earth, awaited him. He had two thousand dollars, the clothes on his back, a suitcase full of memories.
On the horizon behind him, there stood a flame of liberty, a bearer of justice. In this world of chaos and lies, where everything could change like a snap of the fingers...
It occurs to me I haven't been keeping up with this RP very well (read: at all) and I'm not sure if it's appropriate for me to drop out completely or awkwardly try to rejoin.
I'm really sorry about letting it go by this long.
"In this week's chapter of the hit new shonen manga 'Melodramatic Mushrooms: I Can't Believe The Cake Is Pondering Its' Place In The Universe', would-be protagonist Krita is on the brink of defeat. Will Whispering Day-San catch up to him and force him to ponder his place in the universe??"
Were Krita's strange cake-heart not pounding in his chest like so much a frightened rat, perhaps he would've paused to think more on the situation. The red-hot potato-battery's surprising potency stinging his hands and chest, and with hindsight - were he to be so lucky as to have some - would probably have realized quite so many flaws with his actions.
Bobblings were not known for the quantity of their guts, but something could at times be said for the quality of them.
Don't look back, Krita mustn't look back - get the battery to Golby.
All around him the world itself seemed to be collapsing, but with surprising speed he could tell he was making progress, the shouts of the stranger in the chaos ringing out louder and louder. There, up ahead, a figure clad in red - and up the hill, a familiar if distant image, straight from the HOBO, was making its way to the same spot.
With the hope in his heart, he allowed himself to waver, just for a second, and turned his head.
He hadn't made a mistake so severe in a long time.
There, looming behind him, was the rapid march of the monstrous insect from before, no doubt having spotted a quick and easy snack. Behind it and to the side was another giant, a feline figure, crying out after the 'big fella', with something resembling hunger on her face. And as she shouted her warnings, far above them the sight of the god-snake loomed terrible and angry with hunger...
Well, admittedly, most giants - of all stripes and relative giant-ness - looked perpetually hungry. It seemed to be a curse of sorts. This was not surprising, and in a way was comforting. He hadn't made this daring run with the idea that he had a high chance of survival...
But in the midst of turning his head, he saw the frightful sight. As the waddling thing awkwardly stumbled to safety, a third giant - followed by some sort of ominous rock, quite a bit more ominous than the ordinary, gravity-affected rocks that were currently crashing down around them all. This third giant, otherwise unassuming by giant standards, was slowly but steadily pursuing the waddling thing.
And it was catching up.
His eyes widened as his chest burned tighter, the smell of burning mushroom meat slowly wafting behind him.
"What should... what should Krita do?? Krita did this for Krita's community, but-"
...
Something smaller and more inconspicuous than a Bobbling, something faint, fell out from under his stump-foot, and his weight - light as it was - gave out. The potato battery 'flew' through the air with all the force of a small damp rag, hitting the ground with the gentlest of thumps and rolling away from him towards the giant in red.
He himself tumbled awkwardly to the side like some sort of loose desert weed, a chunk of hefty rubble plummeting down to land with a crash between himself and the battery.
As his consciousness bounced throughout his form, he desperately watched the steady, imminent demise of everything he'd built.
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