Herald

FORGOTTEN REALMS - Gambit of Scoundrels

Leon nodded, carefully stepping along the ground, testing the strength of the floorboards with each step. It was unlikely that any of Gunalar's minions would come running at the sound of a creaking floorboard in such a dilapidated building, but he still preferred to be careful. As he reached the first door, he stopped and stilled his breathing, closing his eyes to focus on the sounds around him. As expected Iliskra quickly faded from his senses, and while he could hear the occasional rat scratching away inside of the walls he could hear nothing larger for the moment.

Slowly, he reached out and touched the door handle, the lock broken long ago likely by looters or one of the thugs. Pushing it open carefully, he eyed the room only to see an empty bedroom, likely originally belonging to one of the children of the owners before the house fell into disrepair. The bed was in reasonable condition, but also looked used, probably one of the more comfortable places to catch a nap in between whatever it is that Gunalar and his minions did. A broken window let in a chill draft, stirring the dust in a way Leon might have found spooky as a child.

As tempting as it was to search for any secrets that might have been missed by Gunalar, the job came first and there were clearly no targets inside of this room. Leon carefully pulled the door closed, but with the broken lock it was not going to latch. The maskarran glanced down the hallway towards the main double doors, wondering if perhaps that would be the master bedroom. If Gunalar was into maintaining appearances, he would have claimed that room as his own to show ownership over the hideout, but Leon doubted he was the type to walk up four flights of stairs every time he wanted to take a nap.

A check of the second room revealed much the same as the first, though the bed was missing. Perhaps it had been dragged downstairs or broken up and sold for scrap. Aside from dust and rodents, the room held nothing of interest to the Maskarran. Looking back for Iliskra, Leon began to advance on the double doors, waiting for her to join him or for the sounds of trouble to reach his ears.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

What would the characters know about each other and their powers?

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Leon "Leo" MacAoidh

Leon "Leo" MacAoidh

Captain | 32 | Male | 6'4" | 220

Goal: A Nocturnia unified and able to show the rest of the world that Gyft-users and non-gyfted can coexist for the betterment of humans as a whole. He hopes by showing how 'good' Gyfted can be a benefit to society that eventually the wall might finally come down.

Secrets:
-He is not above breaking the law in order to bring criminals to justice. Whether that means torturing prisoners, paying off criminals, or kidnapping targets to put pressure on the Mafias. He believes he is fighting a war, and trains his officers to believe the same.
-He has a secret son(Victor) from a drunken one night stand with a woman(Elana) six years ago. Leon and Elana agreed it was best if no one knew the truth as Leon was rising through the muck of the Sheriff's department and cleaning house.

Fears:
-Falling from grace. When nearly every other district in the city has fallen to corruption or the guns and Gyfts of the Mafias, can he really afford to even pretend to be a good person?
-Turning into a monster. With such a drastic physical transformation, Leon has a deep concern that the beast he becomes is tied closer to his soul than any mere coincidence of nature. What happens if the beast becomes strong enough to overcome Leon's will?

History:
Leon MacAoidh is a native born citizen of Nocturnia. Growing up in a city that was always just on the side of falling apart between the damage caused by multiple crime families, ineffective policing forces, and finally the Gyft contributed to his outlook on life. Leon was raised on the idea that laws were created to be a fair and effective means of serving the people, but in a city where you are the only one following the rules, it never takes long before you find yourself making exceptions.

Leon signed up with the police academy almost immediately upon graduating high school, displaying a particular talent for making arrests and getting confessions from criminals that set foot on his protected routes. He made it a point to become a publicly known figure, attending high class social events and volunteering at community driven activities. What initially began as a trusted network of contacts that could feed him information about the drugs and violence taking place on his streets, expanded to where he suddenly began arresting and charging dirty cops with the crimes they were committing while holding their badges. These acts inspired great loyalty in the man, but eventually, he stepped on one toe too many.

Lured into an ambush by another cop he was investigating, the Galan family sent a half dozen of their problem solvers to make sure he couldn't keep disrupting their operations in Burberry. Though his squad car gave him cover from the fusillade of bullets that were meant for him, three other civilians were gunned down from stray bullets. Angered at the sight of innocent blood and blaming himself for getting caught in the ambush, part of Leon broke under fire that day and his Gyft manifested itself. Leon's transformation overwhelmed the gunmen and by the time his fellow officers showed up to support him, he was already stacking the corpses of the mafia men as some kind of message.

Over the next three years, every chance he had, every lead he garnered, he hunted down the Galan family personally. If they surrendered quickly, Leon would take them into custody, but the mafia family members always arrived at the station ready to confess to any crime Leon charged them with. Internal Affairs has opened a case on Leon twice, but has never been able to gather sufficient evidence to charge him with anything more than moderate excessive force. As the years rolled by, dirty cops were either transferred or arrested as Leon cleaned his own department. He isn't foolish enough to assume he has found them all, but there are enough cops in the department that either owe him huge debts, or are afraid of him enough to follow his orders.

__________

Alliance: Detective

District: Burberry

Burberry Enforcement Bureau - Leon's headquarters. A fortified sheriff station built adjacent to the checkpoint that has been expanded with additional facilities for holding Gyfted individuals and a training range where Gyfted officers can train their powers. A military style bunker building has also been set up on premises to hold seized goods that have failed to be smuggled past the checkpoint managed by the Bureau and the Military.

College of Gyfted Studies - A former science lab now dedicated to understanding the nature of the Gyft, how humans come to be Gyfted, and unraveling the mysteries of Nocturnia. A heavy deployment of Enforcement Operatives is on site, and the College offers lower class or unemployed citizens a place to earn a daily allotment of food and supplies by assisting the operations or volunteering for (ethical) experiments.

Officer's Memorial - A small, but well kept park with a memorial statue to Law Enforcement Officers that have fallen in the line of duty since the rise of the Wall. At the base of the statue is a slag heap of badges taken from officers that were condemned as being 'dirty'. Once a year, new names are added to the memorial and badges are tossed into the slag heap in a small ceremony.

Faction: Law Enforcement Operations

Dedicated to justice, citizenship, and service, the Law Enforcement Operations of Burberry are the broken remains of the previous Law Enforcement for Burberry reforged under the guidance and training of Leon. Though their ranks are open to all from within Nocturnia, a strict testing program is administered to each applicant to ensure that the most suitable are brought into the ranks. From the lower tiers, the faction does it best to maintain the peace and enforce the law within the walled city. Officers are expected to adhere to the law in all cases except those where the law inhibits the greater good, which is a very loose definition when it comes to carrying out the law.

The program does it's best to weed out candidates that are susceptible to abuse of power, but also encourages recruiting persons with moldable minds and attitudes, turning the upper ranks of the department into a near fanatical branch of law worshippers that is armed like a private military from weapons and armor seized from smugglers and raids. Leon's training program is near barbaric in terms of physical excess, aimed to seek out exceptional normal individuals and Gyfted persons. While a lack of physical ability will deter you from ground operations, Leon has also done his best to maintain a cyber division gathering some of the smartest minds in the districts to solve crimes and find ways(if any) to neutralize Gyft users.

The people within the districts openly view the officers as the protectors they are intended to be, but as with all overly authoritative organizations it is not hard to see how hard the Bureau keeps it's boots on the neck of the people they protect. It's hard to be a good cop when the city around you bleeds, so most settle for being effective cops instead of good ones.

__________

Gyft: Leonine Form

A transformation which grants Leo an increase in his physical abilities, increasing his muscle mass, hardening his skin, and causing his teeth and claws to elongate. Taking on the form allows him to claim a greater resilience to damage, but it's primary advantage is the increase to his speed and reflexes as well as taking on the enhanced senses of a feline, though that can be turned against him.

Limitations and Weaknesses:

Delayed Transformation: Due to Leon's fear of losing control, his transformation is slow, taking up to thirty seconds before any real benefits come in to play.
Overloaded Senses: Extremely bright lights and smells can disorient Leon in his transformed state, potentially to the point of forcing him to revert to avoid suffering damage.
Pride before the Fall: Leon's sense of Pride in himself and his officers is one of his greatest weaknesses. Embarassing him, taunting, or otherwise baiting him can more easily draw him out when he is in his transformed state.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

@Herald Excellent choice. Feel free to add them to the character tab when you have a moment!

I take it Grey Square is just a memorial, and not an office?

@Estylwen

Depends on how it affects gameplay, originally I was going to snag Oliver fields and one other, so I wrote up a little memorial place for it, then I saw Savant snagged Oliver, so I repicked, but I kinda liked the memorial so I folded it in. Burberry is a rich district right? So everything should be in there. Editing now.

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

@Herald Whoops, my apologies that you had to re-write a bit. ^^; Everything looks good here, except for the district. Would you be willing to change it to any other district besides Industrial? I didn't point it out specifically in the OOC, so it would have been easy to miss. ^^; Industrial districts can be attacked or expanded into later.

Besides that, Leon looks awesome and you'll be more than welcome to add them to the character tab after that small change.

@Estylwen

Switched to Burberry

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Huh, thought Industrial districts were off-limits for starting off?

@ERode

Whoops, did I miss this someplace? Been fighting off a cold the last few days so I keep having to reread info

Nocturnal Memoirs: An Urban-Fantasy Mafia Epic

Tentative Character, I had to do a big rewrite after the Commissioner came out as a character.

pouts at Estylwen

Feedback is welcome. Went with a Lion transformation since I didn't want to copy Wolf Among Us

Leon "Leo" MacAoidh

Leon "Leo" MacAoidh

Captain | 32 | Male | 6'4" | 220

Goal: A Nocturnia unified and able to show the rest of the world that Gyft-users and non-gyfted can coexist for the betterment of humans as a whole. He hopes by showing how 'good' Gyfted can be a benefit to society that eventually the wall might finally come down.

Secrets:
-He is not above breaking the law in order to bring criminals to justice. Whether that means torturing prisoners, paying off criminals, or kidnapping targets to put pressure on the Mafias. He believes he is fighting a war, and trains his officers to believe the same.
-He has a secret son(Victor) from a drunken one night stand with a woman(Elana) six years ago. Leon and Elana agreed it was best if no one knew the truth as Leon was rising through the muck of the Sheriff's department and cleaning house.

Fears:
-Falling from grace. When nearly every other district in the city has fallen to corruption or the guns and Gyfts of the Mafias, can he really afford to even pretend to be a good person?
-Turning into a monster. With such a drastic physical transformation, Leon has a deep concern that the beast he becomes is tied closer to his soul than any mere coincidence of nature. What happens if the beast becomes strong enough to overcome Leon's will?

History:
Leon MacAoidh is a native born citizen of Nocturnia. Growing up in a city that was always just on the side of falling apart between the damage caused by multiple crime families, ineffective policing forces, and finally the Gyft contributed to his outlook on life. Leon was raised on the idea that laws were created to be a fair and effective means of serving the people, but in a city where you are the only one following the rules, it never takes long before you find yourself making exceptions.

Leon signed up with the police academy almost immediately upon graduating high school, displaying a particular talent for making arrests and getting confessions from criminals that set foot on his protected routes. He made it a point to become a publicly known figure, attending high class social events and volunteering at community driven activities. What initially began as a trusted network of contacts that could feed him information about the drugs and violence taking place on his streets, expanded to where he suddenly began arresting and charging dirty cops with the crimes they were committing while holding their badges. These acts inspired great loyalty in the man, but eventually, he stepped on one toe too many.

Lured into an ambush by another cop he was investigating, the Galan family sent a half dozen of their problem solvers to make sure he couldn't keep disrupting their operations in Burberry. Though his squad car gave him cover from the fusillade of bullets that were meant for him, three other civilians were gunned down from stray bullets. Angered at the sight of innocent blood and blaming himself for getting caught in the ambush, part of Leon broke under fire that day and his Gyft manifested itself. Leon's transformation overwhelmed the gunmen and by the time his fellow officers showed up to support him, he was already stacking the corpses of the mafia men as some kind of message.

Over the next three years, every chance he had, every lead he garnered, he hunted down the Galan family personally. If they surrendered quickly, Leon would take them into custody, but the mafia family members always arrived at the station ready to confess to any crime Leon charged them with. Internal Affairs has opened a case on Leon twice, but has never been able to gather sufficient evidence to charge him with anything more than moderate excessive force. As the years rolled by, dirty cops were either transferred or arrested as Leon cleaned his own department. He isn't foolish enough to assume he has found them all, but there are enough cops in the department that either owe him huge debts, or are afraid of him enough to follow his orders.

__________

Alliance: Detective

District: Burberry

Burberry Enforcement Bureau - Leon's headquarters. A fortified sheriff station built adjacent to the checkpoint that has been expanded with additional facilities for holding Gyfted individuals and a training range where Gyfted officers can train their powers. A military style bunker building has also been set up on premises to hold seized goods that have failed to be smuggled past the checkpoint managed by the Bureau and the Military.

College of Gyfted Studies - A former science lab now dedicated to understanding the nature of the Gyft, how humans come to be Gyfted, and unraveling the mysteries of Nocturnia. A heavy deployment of Enforcement Operatives is on site, and the College offers lower class or unemployed citizens a place to earn a daily allotment of food and supplies by assisting the operations or volunteering for (ethical) experiments.

Officer's Memorial - A small, but well kept park with a memorial statue to Law Enforcement Officers that have fallen in the line of duty since the rise of the Wall. At the base of the statue is a slag heap of badges taken from officers that were condemned as being 'dirty'. Once a year, new names are added to the memorial and badges are tossed into the slag heap in a small ceremony.

Faction: Law Enforcement Operations

Dedicated to justice, citizenship, and service, the Law Enforcement Operations of Burberry are the broken remains of the previous Law Enforcement for Burberry reforged under the guidance and training of Leon. Though their ranks are open to all from within Nocturnia, a strict testing program is administered to each applicant to ensure that the most suitable are brought into the ranks. From the lower tiers, the faction does it best to maintain the peace and enforce the law within the walled city. Officers are expected to adhere to the law in all cases except those where the law inhibits the greater good, which is a very loose definition when it comes to carrying out the law.

The program does it's best to weed out candidates that are susceptible to abuse of power, but also encourages recruiting persons with moldable minds and attitudes, turning the upper ranks of the department into a near fanatical branch of law worshippers that is armed like a private military from weapons and armor seized from smugglers and raids. Leon's training program is near barbaric in terms of physical excess, aimed to seek out exceptional normal individuals and Gyfted persons. While a lack of physical ability will deter you from ground operations, Leon has also done his best to maintain a cyber division gathering some of the smartest minds in the districts to solve crimes and find ways(if any) to neutralize Gyft users.

The people within the districts openly view the officers as the protectors they are intended to be, but as with all overly authoritative organizations it is not hard to see how hard the Bureau keeps it's boots on the neck of the people they protect. It's hard to be a good cop when the city around you bleeds, so most settle for being effective cops instead of good ones.

__________

Gyft: Leonine Form

A transformation which grants Leo an increase in his physical abilities, increasing his muscle mass, hardening his skin, and causing his teeth and claws to elongate. Taking on the form allows him to claim a greater resilience to damage, but it's primary advantage is the increase to his speed and reflexes as well as taking on the enhanced senses of a feline, though that can be turned against him.

Limitations and Weaknesses:

Delayed Transformation: Due to Leon's fear of losing control, his transformation is slow, taking up to thirty seconds before any real benefits come in to play.
Overloaded Senses: Extremely bright lights and smells can disorient Leon in his transformed state, potentially to the point of forcing him to revert to avoid suffering damage.
Pride before the Fall: Leon's sense of Pride in himself and his officers is one of his greatest weaknesses. Embarassing him, taunting, or otherwise baiting him can more easily draw him out when he is in his transformed state.

FORGOTTEN REALMS - Gambit of Scoundrels

For a moment, Leon's pride stung and he felt a sharp retort building in the back of his head, threatening to make even more noise than Elthel had with her tirade. After all, the last time she had been here, she lost half her party and nearly got her... boss? lover? both? It didn't matter right now... Killed. Even if the man had been the one responsible for making the decision to meet Gunalar, they had already failed to inflict serious damage on his group before.

A Maskarran was trained to kill their emotions first though, so he suppressed it and admitted to himself that perhaps she had a point. He was not used to working with anyone other than other Maskarrans so the idea that one person in his group might have more information than the rest had slipped his mind. "If you're done?," he asked, idly wondering what the odds were that the remaining two to four possible targets, assuming they didn't have visitors of their own, were on their way to this very spot. "Thank you," it was his best offer at peace.

"Two more dead," he continued, turning to look through the corridors, "either lead on, or by all means, stay here since we're tied up on kills."

Part of him was curious at the anger. She had deliberately called him out as a Maskarran earlier, and the name was hardly unknown among thieves and assassins, so he had written it off as unimportant. Regardless, there was a job to do, and they were now over halfway to finishing it if Elthel's numbers had been right.

Umbra: The Abyssal Connection

Challenge Accepted.

Umbra: The Abyssal Connection

Val eyed the open space that was to be used for training. He wasn't surprised to see that it was so empty, he had seen enough Wild powers in use even over the last few days of his life to surmise that very little could survive if a Wild truly let loose. And the fact that he had cut a deal with what he hoped was one of the most physically intimidating types also reminded him daily of their destructive power. Although the feeling of red hot chains around his heart had eased as he had become used to Mercy's presence, anytime the Wild became inflamed he could feel the chains tighten and burn once again.

He had been expecting to train with Le Frey, the soldier's Wild clearly a good match against Mercy in terms of physical power and dexterity. He had also expected a dozen or so Ghost Corp riflemen with AE rounds to be trained on him at all times in case his Wild went.. well, wild. To be facing down a man that seemed to be just human was unexpected, and Val raised an eyebrow when the man's cloak hit the ground. What kind of game was he playing? Even without weapons, Mercy would crush a regular human like an empty canteen. Was this meant to measure Val's skill?

”Alright. Try to hit me, Guardian.”

Val pushed his curiosity to the side, though it was a sign of just how far he had been taken off guard by the situation that he hadn't yet attacked. Lawless were undisciplined fighters by nature, and to take on a military man, Val needed every advantage he could get, including surprise and first strike, which he had just lost in his hesitation.

The even ground. No obstacles. No weapons. Not even bad weather or the exhaustion of previous combat were present to tip the scales. All of it meant that their individual skill, creativity, and will were the only things that mattered in this match.

Val sighed a bit, his body seemingly relaxed as he took the extra moment to decide on a pattern of attack. Against someone untrained, it might have looked like a surrender or refusal to fight, but the subtle shift in weight to Val's lead foot gave away his attack.

Val dashed forward, a sloppy right punch aimed towards the General's nose that was expected to fail. If the man had half Val's fighting experience, it was the most obvious attack he could make and easily countered. The trick was to anticipate the counter when you knew your opening strike was going to fail. He pulled the strike short, instead using the momentum from the slight turn of his body and leaning into it to spin and lash out with his back leg aimed at the General's center mass. If he was lucky, he could drive the General back onto his own cloak, hopefully making his footing uncertain.