Fallenreaper

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

<Snipped quote by Fallenreaper>

In that case whatever Tyrael is working on Baulder is gonna accelerate a bit XD.

@cqbexpt

You realize you asked for a connection with Tyrael right? :p

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Okay, so please excuse typos. I'm working with lack of sleep and I've been editing this on my phone on and off for the last 21 days so I'm sure something has slipped me by. But I'm (hopefully) finally done.

Helena

UserName:
May

Character name:
Helena Axford

Age:
18

Mageblood type:
Lux

Favoured Magic Class:
Pryormancy

Previous Magic training:
She's done some reading, but no real training. So a somewhat read novice.

Race:
Human

Appearance:
On the lower end of average height, fair skinned, freckled and bispecteled. Bright green eyes set in a a face that might be a little too pretty for her own good, with a smile that can easily throw you off (though not always in the best of ways). Athleticly slim. Shoulder length wavey red hair often tied back when working, but left free otherwise. A slew of piercings, mostly in her ears, though she's got a ring through her right nostril as well as a few other body piercings. A fire colored tattoo of a phoenix around her right wrist, a heraldic lion on her right hip and lower back, and a outline of a peacock across her shoulder blades with just the head colored in so far.

Bio:
Third child of seven, of her father's at least, she was raised around a large extended family in Port Slaughter. Not all of this family was blood. Her father, along with assorted family members where caught up, unsurprisingly, in business of less than legal nature. Her life was comfortable enough, even if not spared all the darkness of the city around them.

She lived mostly with her mother, though it was not uncommon for her to spend time at either her oldest brother's home with his mother or with her father and his wife and her younger siblings, and on other occasions at the place her aunt shared with one of her uncle's. Despite what might have been awkward, the separate units were all very happy with the set up. Aside from her older sister's mother who kept the girl away from the rest of them for very petty reasons (her father refusing to marry her). The rest of them though seemed to have no problem with everyone else involved.

Though her father loved all his children, it wasn't too terribly difficult to tell that Helena was his favorite. There was some tension with her younger sister's the most, but Helena did all she could to defuse the tension with them. Which worked mostly well, though there's still occasion where things are awkward with the girls.

Despite the seven years between them, she was closet with her eldest brother, him being the elder of the two of them. It was easy to bound being the the ones who didn't have other siblings at home with their mother's. They bonded quickly as children, he treating her half like a brother and rough housing with her without problems and also being very much her big brother and being super over protective of her. Even as they grew older they were very close and Helena could often be found tagging along after him, no matter what trouble he was getting into.

Her mother took ill when she was about thirteen, and no matter what they did, the healers they saught out, could save her from her fate, only lessen her suffering. It was a malignant growth in her brain. It was too big, too advance when they found it to much about it that wouldn't also hurt her mother to do. They just treated what they could and eased her pain. When she was fifteen her mother finally passed, leaving her to become fully emersed in her father's less than legal business. Expanding her already questionable skill set. Most girls her age weren't well taught in the art of beating a man up well, but Helena was.

But the stress of everything didn't wear well on the normally hot tempered girl and something in her snapped. And she lit a man on fire who was trying a little too hard and not taking a no for an answer. It had happened so quickly, she wasn't for sure when it started. He was up in her face, being grabby and just generally too fresh. She said no, over and over, and he wouldn't take a hint. Helena tried backing away, but he followed closely, grabbing her wrist painfully and pulling her in hard against him. She grabbed his wrist with her right hand, and just thinking about how much she wanted to hurt him the way he'd done her was enough. She felt the heat in her hand, but it was a distant thing, no pain for her. But soon enough he was gasping and trying to pull out of her grasp. But she didn't let go, even as the smell of burning flesh came to her nose, the smoke curling out from under her hand as the small flames licked at his arm. He was screaming and the whole tavern was staring at them in utter, totally silent, shock by the time she passed out. Thankfully she was not alone at the time and once she'd passed out, she was taken home. When she came too she was disoriented and couldn't remember what had happened. He'd live, even if he would have an ugly scar as a reminder of what had happened for the rest of his life. When they told her, she was both horrified and rather excited about the prospect of lighting not human things on fire in the future.

Helena worked on and off for her father's boss when they had need of her. She helped het father and uncle with intimidation, which worked well as news of what had happened in the tavern spread. She never really asked what it was that her older brother did for the gang, she never really bothered to question too deeply what it was the gang did in general. They moved stuff, she knew, getting things for other people as they requested. She just helped make sure that no one really got hurt by threatening to hurt them if they tried.

But she was untrained and it was often dangerous for her. And others. And other property. She read what she could, mages not being totally uncommon in her family, but it had been a few years since any had studied, most of them left their powers rather ignored as long as it wasn't harmful to anyone. But without more directed training, her old man feared she burn herself out. So at eighteen he insisted rather forcefully that she seek out someone to teach her, even if that meant going away to the college. And so she did. Even if she had to have her boyfriend drag her there.

Good Attributes:
Passionate. Loyal. Determined. Hard working. She doesn't give up easily and will work until the job is done. You'd be hard pressed to get her away from a problem.

Artistically inclined. She loves paintings and reading. But on top of that she isn't too horrible of an artist herself, she's just never dedicated too much of her time on it sadly.

Athletic. She spent a lot of her childhood running around with the boys. And with boys much older than her. So she had to keep up with them. She's grown out of playing ball games with them, but she can outrun most of them now that she's bigger, despite being smaller than a lot of them.

Bad Attributes:
Hot tempered, stubborn, occasionally prone to brawling. Which is a terrible combination. She'll take on fights that she's not always so sure about winning simply because she's reached the point of boiling a little too fast. And she doesn't back down easily either. She's also a bit of a white Knight and will sometimes jump to the rescue of someone she sees as weaker or in need. It's frankly a miracle that she's not had more broken bones in her life.

While a questionable bad skill, she generally good a typical Rouge things. Lock picking, persuasion (mostly by flirting and using her physical charms), and being sneaky. They're good for her work, but not really the best things to know. She often uses for personal gain, getting things for free with no intention of returning the favor that she so heavily hinted at to whoever she was getting the thing from. Which has lead to more than one fight.

She also frequently finds herself getting drinks for free, more than she should drink. But that doesn't stop her from accepting them and drinking them. Which totally isn't a problem she swesrs. It isn't like she can't live without a drink. At least not there yet.

Secret Word:
Rebirth

@May

Got my approval. @Lucius Cypher & @Rtron, need one or both of your stamps of approval!

Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath

~|Day 2, 18:42-18:52GST|~
~|Navi, Prisoner Complex (Medical Bay) → (Aurek)|~

Navi listened to the conversation, recording each word easily, then stored it into his data banks. Likely when Xid was recovered, he would allow the Knight to view everything he missed when he was currently healing and come to his own conclusions. Through he was pretty sure Xid wasn’t going to be very happy about this. Trusting a Sith was like asking a nexu to watch a nerf and not eat it, something that was extremely unnatural and impossible to ever expect to succeed. Irritated, Navi merely huddled behind the tank where he made the least amount of noise during his effort to keep out of sight. If he was spotted now, his programming less flawed than Xid’s, the whole escape would go up in smoke.

“Well, I guess she’s not gonna stay for di-Oh what now!?” Nazca was already complaining, something he wasn’t surprised about, before the sounds of the lift doors clattered open and several troopers filed out. A Sith Lord then edged out from within, her hair dark and long, letting her dark force ooze in confidence and malice from her very pores.

“Come with me Jedi, we have business to attend to.” Her hand raised and the force flowed through it, bring the Jedi toward her, causing Nazca to curse out loud. The youngling’s body jerked instantly in her direction while the troopers filed past his hidden location. Their boots sounded heavy and loud until their figures vanished, heading into most likely one of the other rooms. Koren and Khan, as well as himself, could do nothing more than watch their allies be taken away. Their forms were hauled into the lift, Nazca’s words echoing on the way up, then disappeared to be seen again.

When Khan sighed in frustration and looked to Koren, Navi finally emerged into the open.

He knew, at some point, someone would have spotted him within the cells. It would be either in the vids live or logs, but with the passiveness of the Jedi, he was most likely to get caught sooner or later. It didn’t take a genius to note little shows of movement here and there, realizing something much smaller than a Jedi was within the cells. What it was would be unclear until they paused it at a key moment then zoomed in on the shoddy picture to make a vague shape obviously not a rodent one. However, before he could do something about that, he had to get the Jedi in gear and moving. This lacking action wasn’t going to help them to escape after all and a droid could only do so much without hands. With Xid mending, the last that was depending on him, the better.

Navi felt Khan note his whereabouts when spoke, his eyes shifted to see Xid’s peaceful figure still sleeping. "Is there anything we can do for them? Also, well..."

Koren turned to face Xid in the tank before he spoke, calmly in his usually wisdom. "For the Sith and Nazca? Right now? No. In time, yes. There's always hope. Never let go of it young-one for the moment you do, is the moment our enemies -whoever they may be, win. That's something we can't allow-" Shrugging, he continued. "-We're a stubborn sort, but for good reason."

When he walked to the tank, his hand rested on it to feel the perspiration over the glass’ surface. "Your well is well placed, but I'm afraid now isn't exactly the time for such thoughts. We should wait until Xid returns to the land of the conscious first, after all he knows the story better than I. He's very good at remembering all the little details.”

The man than turned to Kara. “I believe after our last sparring session you had to leave my world before I could be the honorable victor and offer you sustenance. While I'm sure the prison food is terrible, I'm going to cash in what I owe you-" He turned, as he swept his arm around the room indicating them both. "-In fact I felt it was time we all had a little something to eat."

When Koren finished and the Jedi headed toward Aurek Bunk, Navi moved toward the older Jedi. Navi’s pace was barely able to keep up with the casual walking Jedi Knight while he berated and disagree with his decision to wait until Xid was up and around, all spoken in droid. Namely when there was things they could do to ease their dependence on his master.

It was hard enough keeping him alive when the human thought so lowly of himself and Navi wasn’t eager to increase the challenge. Every so often, his figure shifted to nudge Koren’s leg like a irritated and needy puppy with each point. Each action was followed by another series of irritated clicks, whistles and buzzes. That included a few unsavory insults Nazca would’ve loved to hear since he was still upset at Koren for not immediately taking him to see Xid the first time. It wasn't hard to see that the droid shoved part of the blame for Xid's condition to Koren because of this, the rest solely his own fault for not sticking around but Navi wasn't about to admit that out loud.

If Khan, Kara and Koren worked together by creating a clustered group, their forms would easily hide Navi up until they entered the bunk. On arrival, Lea and Denso would easily catch the odd mechanical sounds Navi was making. Should their eyes lower, it wouldn’t be hard to spot Navi scurrying for cover underneath the bench nearest the entrance and what they were most likely using like a table. In his haste, Navi promptly bumped into Lea’s leg causing him to quietly buzz at his own clumsiness.

Mass Effect: Borealis

<Snipped quote>

By making me financially independent of a job.

@Hellis

Winning the lottery it is... damn it, why can't it be easy?

Mass Effect: Borealis

I think OOC plotting is the order of the day, because it doesn't draw the IC out unnecessarily and gives people a lot more leeway to ballpark ideas. If it wasn't suggested already, I would have gotten up on it.

@Dervish

I like OOC banter and it's fun with this group.

For the time being, we'll keep everyone on the same mission and see how it goes with the numbers of characters. There is a second Omega mission on deck that's optional, but for now, a short and straightforward operation should be a good litmus test to find out what works and what doesn't. Honestly, we're running twice the number of players I usually take in a game so this is more experimental for me than a stereotypical college experience. If everything goes smooth, great! If not, we'll try doing two separate missions in the same location/ a greatly expanded scope moving forward.

@Dervish

WE could divide the mission into key sections which will allow us to divide up the tasks and fall into groups really. Example:

Infiltration Group
Escape Group
Tech Support Group

Though anyone willing to make suggestions for others, feel free. The GMs could create smaller threats or spread out what they have, affecting these groups' ability to complete and lower the chaos a bit. I personally, from experience, know a big group in one mission can be a pain to keep track of without title tags at the post tops.

In regards to posting rates, I think 2-4 days is a fair length of time to wait, although we can be flexible. If someone says they're working on a post, let's give them a chance to get it out, although in that case having a time frame by that player would be appreciated.

@Dervish

The suggestion was merely a provided base, if you all want to put your thoughts, other ideas, or adapt it to better suit what you think will work then PLEASE do it. I think we can all agree comments and feed back helps because it gives everyone an idea of what is plausible and best for each of us so we can find a happy medium so don't be scared to speak up and state what is on your mind.

That said, Hellis and I are going to try and keep missions varied enough that we can split up, and the posting rates will be dictated by individual groups, so don't worry about characters that yours isn't involved with as much as those you're with.

@Dervish

Nice, if you need ideas I'm sure we all can toss some out.

@The Grey Warden: Actually got a vague and joke (though it might be fun never the less) loyalty mission for Marco- what about a mission about obtaining a rare fruit for a Dextro or Levo based meal? Something so sweet, juicy and delicious that is worth...dying for! *braces to be smacked around* It could start off serious as hell with a search for 'mystery name' and nearly gets those on the loyalty mission killed only to learn, when it's all over, the prize was nothing but a prime piece of food. XD

Well, let's do it the democratic way. What posting rate do you guys want to see? We'll hit the happy medium if we can.

@Dervish

As Hellis pointed out and you know Dervish, I'm flexible either way. Though I think, for the sake of the slower posters, I will lean toward 5-6 because it basically ensures a post a week about. Granted, those posts might happen all at once again like usual, but at least we get them in during a set time. I would say anything beyond that would draw out the rp's fun and risk interest dimming. While 3-4 days can be rather speedy for some people who work and have RL (WHAT IS THIS DAMN THING AND HOW DO WE KILL IT?).

Mass Effect: Borealis

I was going to say 5-6 days. As i work 5 days of the week and have other RP's as well. I kinda put them on "One rp post a day". That said, seeing how many of the others are a little more slow moving, this one get top priority.

@Hellis

Well, you're also a GM, and sadly my friend those posts tend to usually happen more often. :p *teases*

Mass Effect: Borealis

<Snipped quote by Sundered Echo>

"Let Tonka sit on 'im. Couple hundred pounds of krogan on someone makes for a pretty good restraint, and hey: if he tries anything, all Tonka has to do is lie down. Problem solved."

@DJAtomika

We want him alive, not Batarian jelly... Vellios might suggest a drug coma, though it would likely dip into his stash for sleep which he will need to replenish unless no one on the Ship likes to sleep at a decent hour...

Mass Effect: Borealis

It would be wise to look at who has posted and not, and take them into consideration. Especially when several charachters are in the same location and two people do back and forth. You easily shut another player out of the interaction if you do not offer them a proper window to get their character in. Just a little reminder for our eager players. It's a problem I've seen in other RP's.

@Hellis

It's like the game is starting to develop sapience without my guiding hand. :'D

Yes, please chill a bit on the posting pace, because as I and some of the others have pointed out, there's quite a few people who are getting buried under a mountain of IC posts scary fast, which was part of my fear of having such a big honking game. Enthusiasm is awesome, but always remember quality > quantity. Take a bit of extra time to work in your posts, there's no rush to get your stuff out the door. If you're doing conversations, set up collabs, like Hank suggested. If you have loyalty missions planned, flesh them out and work on the plot, or try your hand at Shadow Broker posts.

Like I said, love the enthusiasm, and you guys are great, just remember that not everyone has the free time others have and I really think it's important they don't feel like they're being left behind. Mucho gracias, merci, danke, tanks.

@Dervish

There is also the matter of timezones. I live in New Zealand, while I know a number of you are from America, meaning that in the first few hours of your peak time, I am asleep. I also cannot join in any quickly done collabs that happen during those hours, so as eager as you may be, do please remember that if I don't respond to a post directed at me quickly, I may actually be asleep...

I regularly wake up to multiple pages of new ooc stuff, which is fine, just so long as people remember why I'm not responding quickly, and don't assume that because I haven't responded right away, I'm not interested in any prospective collab offers or such.

@Sundered Echo

*points to her last reply* Thoughts on what I suggested would help and maybe something to build on?

<Snipped quote by Fallenreaper>

She's staying put in her cabin, unless the others decide to hire her. Then she'll communicate over comms if advice is needed on jobs and vendors, but the only way she will leave the ship is if it is on the verge of being destroyed.

@Thundercrash

Noted and rather good considering you're going to be away. XD

Mass Effect: Borealis

Hmm.

So what's the squad gonna be like for the mission? Who's going with who?

@DJAtomika

We got 2 missions, we can divide into teams on one or try to do both. With this crowd, and our skill sets varied enough as it is, it's very possible we can do several jobs other than currently established missions really in the future.

Perhaps we should settle this in the ooc so we can smoothen the posting in IC?

@DJAtomika

That would be a good idea. We did rather well with the shopping aspect and if there's any ideas that say someone's PC wouldn't come up, yet another could and is a good one, then it will get in the IC some how. Besides OoC might make easier for everyone to address everything from concerns and such.

Yeah, I have to agree that the breakneck pace that's been set is a little overwhelming. I suppose it's unavoidable with a group this big that's so eager, but I've noticed that I can't manage to get real quality posts out because it's about all I can do to keep up with everything and respond appropriately.

@Hank

This isn't anything compared to Blood Act to it's earlier years when I joined, before guildfall, there was literally a battle scene and while it was casual, players could crank out about 3-4 paragraphs within a hour at a time or sooner if motivated and had time. Try handling a massive battle scene of full chaos with medium posts of decent quality being pumped out in minutes. I was amazed and barely kept up so I'm not having too much of an issue, however I don't want to leave people behind or trade quality for speed. Which is why I'm trying not to turn into a speedy, posting rabbit. >_>

And we're also getting ahead of our GM, as we just saw when our plans were forcibly changed because we were messing with the plot. I'd like to advocate for a... well, not really a posting order, but a cooldown between posts.

@Hank

Indeed. I did mention I try to wait 2-3 days between my own posts (which if needed, I can increase to about 4-5 days and try better to keep more strictly to it) which I find work much than posting order and it makes sure there would be a post per every business week. This also enables me to post sooner should I be able and people are waiting for me while going back to my waiting period, giving everyone a chance to reply to my post without feeling pressed for time.

Of course, that creates the conundrum of stifling natural conversation. Another RP I'm a part of uses collaborations for short exchanges between 2-5 posters so that conversations that don't involve the whole crew don't clog up the thread. Hit up the people that control the characters you want to chat with and make a Titanpad or something similar and try to fit the whole thing into a single post.

Thoughts?

@Hank

5 posters for a conversation can get rather much and difficult to do, namely as it might force people to keep their replies short (something I might have an issue doing I admit, I need counseling for it JK...). It also isolate the scene really preventing others from becoming involved or their influences ignored, since the ship is so small. On a missions it's possible and no issue really. I might suggest if someone does that, instead of having the collab happen all in one go, separate and post in segments of say a couple replies each. This would allow players to include mentions of others who might say be eavesdropping or interacting in the background, allow them to be interrupted like in real life, and even add people more readily without forcing the outside to act 'casual' even when they wouldn't.

Perhaps we should have, like, a consensus to move a little slower for the sake of those that need to catch up?

@DJAtomika

The worry I have if we slow down too much, hard to determine without an established cool down, then we're in essence playing the waiting game. This can just as easily kill a rp interest and fun if the group is waiting on each other, the slower posters feeling like they are killing others' interest or holding everyone back (when they aren't at all because good posts are worth waiting for imo). I made a suggestion of waiting like 4-5 days between your own posts which should give the slower posters much more time to get their replies without feeling rush and make sure there's about a post every week from everyone at least preventing the RP from dying out due to he/her/it waiting on everyone to post once.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

@Fallenreaper Intense in what way? Assholish or awesome? Because I'm only ever one of the two.

@LeeRoy

Usually the prior is the one I recall the best, but I was trying to be nice. :P