King Cosmos

Yu-Gi-Oh Underground

@Tyler Night Where can we find the decks to download them? I'd like to try some of them out before deciding which one to use, if any.

Fate/illuminated histoire: A Narrative-Driven Holy Grail War RP

Master of Poison - Huang Lanfen

Name: Huang Lanfen
Age: 38
Gender: Female

Personality: Lanfen is a patient and methodical person, someone who understands the value of taking their time to ensure things are done properly, but this is due to a surplus of restraint rather than being her natural state. She is greedy, naturally avaricious and covetous;it is against her base nature to deny herself what she wants or to take things slow but these are the qualities that her family values. She was harshly taught to abide by them and she has enough self-control to do so.

Nonetheless Lanfen is one to set her sights high and always aim for the biggest reward possible; normally she is able to let an opportunity pass if pursuing it would put herself at risk, but with the grail at stake and with no-one from her family around to temper her worst aspects that might change.

Besides this, there is a cruel streak running through her that shows itself on occasion. While Lanfen does not actively seek to do harm to others, if doing so is the most efficient way to reach her goal then she will not hesitate; sometimes with a hint of eagerness. There is a mocking note to her personality that she is not always able to hide.

Skills: Lanfen has few skills that are not related to magecraft in some way. She can draw quite well, but not enough to be called an artist, she can cook, but no better than anyone with a passing interest in it. Her life has been dedicated to advancing her talents in magecraft, which has left her somewhat useless at anything else.

Abilities:
Magecraft – Although she has never attended the Clocktower, Lanfen is as versed in the basics of General Magecraft as any graduate of the Clocktower would be, having received a comprehensive education from her family. Aside from this she has a strong foundation in formal craft and cursing technique, both of which are geared towards working with her family’s specialty of Gu magecraft.

Gu magecraft utilises the practice of sealing several venomous creatures, such as spiders, scorpions, snakes and so on, in a container and waiting for them to devour each other; the poisons and grudges of those creatures are concentrated into the surviving creature and this creature is then used as a source of power or as a charm to perform various acts. The creature can either be used in its entirety or its poison can be extracted and used instead, depending on how much power is required.

As a type of magecraft that is very well suited to cultivating magical energy into containers, which can then be used by any Magus and not just the one who cultivated it, Gu magecraft has a good synergy with Formal Craft. The magical energy produced through Gu is also inherently negative, meaning it is well suited for use in cursing techniques; Gu practitioners often use their art either to accumulate wealth, usually at the expense of others, or as a means of enacting revenge and are well acquainted with curses as a result.

Greater Gu Creature – The Huang family does not possess a Magic Crest in the traditional sense; they instead pass their knowledge down through more traditional means and instead cultivate power in a different way from Western Mage families.

For the past 600 years the Huang family have invested significant time and resources into cultivating a single Gu creature, one whose poisons have fuelled their magecraft for generations. Its original identity is unknown, as Gu creatures are able to shapeshift, but it often takes on the guise of an unnaturally large snake possessing features of many different species; though whatever its appearance it never looks entirely the same when you next see it. The efficacy of Gu magecraft greatly depends upon how much magical energy has been cultivated and as the focus of the Huang families efforts this particular creature has consumed tens of thousands of poisons and grudges. This creature, rather than a crest, is the backbone of their magecraft.

It has accompanied Lanfen to Sako.

Mystic Codes –
Concealing Umbrella: A mystic code capable of concealing the magical energies of a person by creating a weak effect not dissimilar to a bounded field. The effect does not reach very far, covering the person holding it and perhaps a couple of others standing in close proximity. The effect is more easily bypassed than that of a bounded field, but it works well at preventing detection from those who are not actively looking to find someone.

Magic Opium Pipe: A pipe used in order to spread poisonous vapours over a wide area. When packed with a form of solidified Gu poison and lit the smoke produced by this pipe can be controlled and directed by the Magus holding the pipe.

A dozen minor Gu creatures: While the Huang family may possess an extraordinarily powerful Gu creature, every Gu practitioner should regularly cultivate a number of their own creatures for their own use so as not to be tied to one location and so as not to be dependent on others. Lanfen has in her possession twelve minor Gu creatures that she keeps with her at all times to act as fuel for her magecraft when her family’s creature is not readily available. They are strong enough as to be able to shapeshift into different animals and Lanfen likes to have them take the form of blood-red butterflies, but they are able to take on more subtle forms if need be.

Brief Backstory: The Huang family has existed in some form or another for over 1000 years, although anti-sorcery purges and changes to the political climate in China mean that they have undergone several transitions during that time. Hailing from Southern China they are a group of Gu practitioners who used their abilities to quickly acquire a vast amount of wealth and power, using curses and poisons to eliminate rivals or prominent individuals and claim their fortunes as their own. However, such growth attracted attention and during one of China’s many purges of Gu practitioners and witches they were discovered and nearly eradicated; their work was destroyed, their members nearly wiped out and their fortune lost. Some of the family managed to survive, by luck or by design, and were able to rebuild from the ground up.

This story repeated itself several times; a swift rise and an even more abrupt fall as Gu practitioners were hunted and eradicated by whoever was in power at the time and all eyes turned towards those families who had no good explanation for where or how they had obtained what they had. All progress lost and all fortune scattered as the Huang’s were left to pick up the pieces and start again. Hard lessons were learnt along the way and a subtler, more careful approach was adopted; a slower accumulation of wealth, less obvious grabs for power and a lot of care given to staying in the shadows and giving people no reason to notice them.

This is the Huang family as Lanfen was born into it; careful, methodical and subdued. They yearned for the wealth and power they once achieved at their height, though they were not lacking in either, but restrained themselves and focused on slowly and steadily cultivating both in a manner that would benefit future generations more than themselves. Always with an eye to the future, the Huang family grows and grows and grows without exposing themselves to the world at large. She understood the reasons for it and absorbed the lessons on caution alongside those about her family’s magecraft, but Lanfen was an ambitious woman who often chafed under the restrictive practices and regularly came into conflict with them.

Over time she proved herself to be both talented and driven, a dangerous combination in this case; while she was able to accumulate large sums of money and even deal with a few troublesome individuals that no one else had managed to with the poisons of her potent Gu creatures, there were always those within the family who felt she did so by taking too many risks. Her plans were too grand and the results too obvious, they said. While some heralded her as the one who would return them to their former glory, when they would no longer need to hide away, others saw Lanfen only a dangerous radical who would bring destruction down on them with her arrogance and ruin everything they had built up.

When the command seal appeared on her hand it was as if the Grail was giving her a chance to answer that question once and for all.

Even being as wary as they were, her family could not resist the allure of the Holy Grail War; not when one of their own was chosen. To enter the war by sending a representative they would be risking exposing themselves after hiding for so long, but what they stood to gain if they claimed the Grail was potentially greater than what they might lose. After all, it’s not like they hadn’t rebuilt themselves several times over in the past and Lanfen was more than willing to make the journey to Japan. The loss of a single Magus was hardly comparable to the purges of the past.

They even consented to allow her to take their treasured creature with her, confident that it would survive and return even should she not.

Fate/illuminated histoire: A Narrative-Driven Holy Grail War RP

I think I'll give this a shot.

Yu-Gi-Oh Underground

I'm still interested.

Would this be a Discord RP or would it be here?

Real time yugioh rp??

DN is up to date on cards but TDOANE is fully automated

@Tyler Night

Dueling Nexus is also fully automated; it's not like the old Dueling Network.

But whatever works. I just threw it out as an alternative in case it was better for mobile users.

Real time yugioh rp??

I have a great idea for this rp that you could get behind. There are lots of programs out there that let you duel ppl, maybe everybody could download a program and we all use the program for the rp.

YGOPro The Dawn of a New era is a great program.

@Tyler Night

I use Dueling Nexus, which can be played in a browser without having to download anything. Don't know if that works on mobile devices though.

I'm interested, but I'm not sure if I have time for another RP at the moment. I definitely support the idea of using some kind of program though, instead of real cards.

Balance might be an issue if the duels aren't scripted though.

Galarian Stories

There was an art to making an entrance and Henrietta, by extension, was an artist.

She strode down the central street that ran through the middle of Motostoke, from the archway that led into the city to the elevator which would take her the stadium, walking as if the crowd in front of her didn’t exist. With the way people cleared a path for her there might as well not have been, the throng of people parting like the Red Sea at her approach; some of that was no doubt down to the imposing Garchomp that walked behind her, but the rest was all Henrietta. She walked like she expected people to move and they did.

Image and notoriety. That’s what it was all about. People knew who she was, what she was, because she had worked hard to create an identity that people would recognise and a reputation that would garner respect. The clothes might change day to day but the beret? The shades? The hair? They were a brand, her brand, and she’d made sure that brand meant something to people.

Add in a splash of the right attitude and the rest took care of itself.

Henrietta stepped on to the elevator and hit the button for it to take her up, the whole platform rotating around a giant set of cogs and gears as it took her up to the next level. At the top she found herself face to face with a sea of fans, reporters and paparazzi. Camera’s flashed, microphones were pushed into her face and fans waved at her and tried to catch her attention. It seemed her approach hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Good.

There was something to be said for making an unstated appearance. She didn’t demand attention with a flashy entrance, she simply waited for people to notice her, which they would, realise who she was, which they would, and approach her themselves, which they had. The press assaulted her with a litany of questions, barely giving each other time to finish before the next began to speak, let along giving her time to answer.

”What are your hopes for this year’s League?”

”Do you think you stand a chance of winning the Champion’s Cup this year?”

”What do you have to say to the rumours that you and Joseph are romantically involved?”

Henrietta weathered the storm patiently, expression unchanging and eyes an enigma behind her shades as she waited for them all to finish before she spoke.

“I hope that things are more interesting than they were last year; there weren’t many challengers that made it as far as my gym. I always stand a chance of winning, only time will tell if I can beat Moira this year. And Joseph wishes those rumours were true; that’s all I’ll say about that.”

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

The stone turned out to be more brittle than expected, cracking on the first non-shielded hit, but that only helped to confirm that the Shield spell did indeed make the stone harder and more durable. The Shield spell was also more brittle than expected, lasting only a single hit before breaking; a temporary buff then, good for only one good hit at the lowest level. Interestingly, hitting the tree trunk with the shielded stone also yielded better results offensively than the non-shielded stone; though that could just be due to the fact that the stone didn’t break the first time.

Still, it was a solid proof of concept. He could buff items and non-organic materials and those materials benefitted from those buffs, either defensively or otherwise. The next step was to try and create elemental variants of the Shield spell, or to try and shape the Shield spell into something that provided different effects.

There was also the dagger, which had been a part of the loot they had taken from the Goblins and which had yet to be claimed by anyone else. Oberon flew over to where he had seen it last and was quickly able to pick it out from amidst the other items due to its obvious quality and man-made nature; man-made as opposed to Goblin-made in this case. It was made out of some kind of metal, iron most likely, and while it was a just a relatively simple dagger in his current form it seemed more like a short sword than anything else.

The Sprite picked it up, requiring two hands to do so, and examined it using his Material Analysis skill. Once he had read over the information provided he began to channel Mana into the weapon, the magic collecting within his palms before flowing into the hilt of the blade. Oberon then pushed the Mana further, focusing his attention on the blade itself and letting the Mana gather there.

He activated his Mana Sense and observed the magic as it hopefully turned from its usual colourless state into something else. Metal Mana would be a useful attribute to add to his list of skills, but he also wanted to see if it was possible to concentrate Mana into one particular part of an object and keep it there. In this case, pushing Mana into just the blade and nowhere else.

“So, er, hunting. We should get going sooner rather than later; before it gets dark.”

Action Report

Add "Iron Dagger" to inventory
Used "Material Analysis" on "Iron Dagger"
Pushed Mana into "Iron Dagger"
Used "Mana Sense" on "Iron Dagger"

@Zeroth@Gardevoiran@Rune_Alchemist@Old Amsterdam

Galarian Stories

Henrietta Durand - Ground-type Gym Leader

Give everything your all; that’s the only way to live. Let me see your determination!

NAME: Henrietta Durand

AGE: 24

GENDER: Female

BIRTHPLACE: Circhester

GYM TYPE: Ground

APPEARANCE: Henrietta is fairly tall for a woman at 5’ 10", while also being quite slim, which makes her look even taller. She has an athletic build due to her active lifestyle and her arms and legs, when they are visible, are noticeably toned with muscle. Her skin is naturally pale. She has short dark-brown hair and dark-brown eyes. Her hair falls in wavy locks on one side of her face, dyed with a gradient that starts as dark brown and transitions to caramel at the tips.

She learned fashion from her mother, who worked in a boutique, and as such pays a lot of attention to her appearance. Her clothes consist of a long, cocoa-coloured shirt with an upturned layered frill collar with a black single strapped waist cincher. She wears black trousers that have golden lining around the pocket and ribbons attached to the back of a golden zipper seam around her knees. She wears a pair of dark black, high-heeled leather calf-high boots with golden buckles. She also wears a number of accessories, including her black gloves with the index finger missing, a black beret with a cocoa brown trim and a pair of black, wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses.

PERSONALITY: Above all else Henrietta is someone who always seems to display a level of quiet confidence. There is self-assuredness to the way she moves and the way she conducts herself which is displayed in the straightness of her posture, the tilt of her chin and the little knowing smile she often wears; she has a certain poise to her that is hard to describe until you see it for yourself.

Henrietta is driven by an aggressive determination which pushes her to move forward no matter who or what is in her way, something which is apparent both in the way she battles and the way she interacts with others. She has a forceful personality and isn’t easily swayed by others; once she has set her mind to something there is little that can divert her unless she makes that decision herself and she has a bad habit of ignoring the concerns or needs of others.

She feels strongly about things and her emotions tend to be clearly on display, which can get her into trouble or rub people the wrong way. Her temper burns hot but is also short-lived, her mood can be changed drastically by small things but never for too long; she can come across as mercurial at times.

BIOGRAPHY: Although born and raised in the Galarian city of Circhester, her parents hail from Kalos originally and this has certainly had an influence on her upbringing. Her mother worked at the boutique in the city and her father was a trainer at the Pokémon Gym when she was young, though he had retired by the time she became a trainer herself. She inherited traits from both of her parents; her poise and bearing came from her mother, her love of Pokémon and battling came from her father and her confidence and determination came from them both equally.

Henrietta was always around Pokémon from a young age due to her father’s work and also because her mother also raised Pokémon of her own. She always wanted to become a trainer someday, a fact that she didn’t keep secret from anyone, and it was always a question of when, not if, she would begin her journey. Her parents were supportive of the idea, but they always expected her to keep her travels within the Galar region for a few years before becoming a gym trainer like her father or even a gym leader someday; when it became apparent that Henrietta wanted to travel the world, see every region from Galar to Kalos to Alola, they were less supportive.

After much arguing and persuasion a deal was eventually struck where Henrietta would be allowed to travel if and only if she could prove herself a capable trainer; one who would be able to manage travelling by herself where he parents wouldn’t be able to easily bail her out of difficulties. Her parents gave her an egg at the age of fourteen and tasked her with hatching, raising and training the Pokémon by herself. The egg soon hatched into a Mudbray and Henrietta began rearing and training the Pokémon to prove herself to her parents.

She and her Mudbray took to each other immediately and it wasn’t long before the two were inseparable. They began training together not long after and once Henrietta was satisfied that they were both strong enough she began battling as many of the local trainers as she could. Battling, it seemed, came naturally to her and although her parents tried to delay as much as possible they couldn’t deny that Henrietta had met their condition. Eventually her parents relented and gave her their support to begin her travels.

Since then Henrietta has visited many regions, battled many opponents and faced many challenges. Her team is drawn from the Pokémon she met across her journeys, from Sinnoh to Alola and some from much closer to home.

After several years of travel she eventually returned home to Galar. Upon doing she discovered that a position as Gym leader had recently opened up due to the previous leader’s retirement and on a whim she applied for the position. It was a chance to take on a new set of challenges, to face strong opponents and, most importantly, provided a path to the position of Champion.

How could she resist?

TEAM:

Main Team

Atlas (Mudsdale) – The first Pokémon Henrietta ever had. Atlas is a reliable companion who is loyal to the end as well as being a hardy and stubborn battler, but years of being doted on by his trainer means he is just a big teddy bear at heart. Atlas has occasional moments of possessiveness towards his trainer, especially around strangers.
Sheila (Gastrodon – West Sea) – Air-headed and forgetful. Sheila is the type to let the world pass her by as she sits and stares at the clouds.
Everest (Mamoswine) – Stubborn and hard-headed. Everest is a grumpy old man in a Pokémon’s body; his temper is easily provoked but luckily he is the type to sulk rather than throw a tantrum, though this does make him hard to work with at times.
Heracles (Rhyperior) – Arguably Henrietta’s most powerful Pokémon, Heracles loves to battle and love even more to showboat; he is right at home in the stadiums of the Galar region where he can show off to a crowd. Unfortunately he doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘restraint’ and Henrietta has to be careful which battles she uses him in. Has a one-sided rivalry with Grace.
Grace (Garchomp) – The other contender for Henrietta’s most powerful Pokémon, but far less concerned with the title than a certain Rhyperior. Grace is calm and poised and as such she tends to be the balancing aspect her team needs to function.
Sahara (Hippowdon) – Lazy and unsociable. Sahara would gladly sleep the whole day away if she could.

Mid-Range Team

Ferrous (Steelix) – The much put-upon leader of Henrietta’s second team. Ferrous spends most of the time trying to keep the peace between Henrietta’s other Pokémon.
Forrest (Torterra) – There are two things Forrest cares about; food and sleep.
Gregor (Gliscor) – Mischievous and energetic. Though he has been with Henrietta longer than most, he often falls into the role of younger sibling to the more serious and stern Pokémon around him.
Charles (Nidoking) – The king of his kingdom of one. He doesn’t like to follow anyone’s lead but his own and can be unruly at times, but is also easily provoked into wanting to prove him strength to others.

Low-End Team

Digby (Diggersby) – A joker who can see the humour in almost anything. Not the most responsible of Pokémon, as he is more likely to watch in amusement than put a stop to things.
Fio (Trapinch) – One of Henrietta’s youngest Pokémon. Fio likes to burrow into the ground no matter where she is, so a diligent eye must be kept on her to ensure she doesn’t ruin the floorboards.
Gobi (Sandyghast) – The newest addition to Henrietta’s team and one who is still finding her place.

RELATIONSHIPS: Henrietta sees her fellow Gym leaders as rivals first and friends second. She takes her position and Gym leader seriously and views the Pokémon league as a constant competition for the top spot.

"What do you think of your fellow Gym leaders?"

Elijah Grayson: “A good man, but I’ve never met anyone who could suck the fun out of battling like he could. Elijah needs to have more fun with his position. I admire his drive to teach and help people improve, but the best teachers were always the ones who spoke passionately about the subject.”

Hestia Quintell: “I love Hestia, I love her spirit, but even I think she can be a bit much at times. She’s perfectly suited to being a Gym leader and she’s always good for a battle but she needs to learn to take her losses a little better. Don’t be surprised if she becomes Champion one day, but at the moment I think I’ll beat her there.”

Thomas Tyrell: “He’s a good person, very down to earth, but he could stand to add a little more ‘flair’ to his life.”

Ezran Hawthorne: “He’s someone that has things figured out for himself, which I respect. He’s very demanding of himself and sometimes pushes those same expectations on others; I don’t mind it but I think he can be unfair to some of the challengers that come his way.”

William "Liam" Prescott Anwell: “Garish, flamboyant, over the top; but he owns it and that’s all that matters in the end.”

Fiona MacConnell: “She’s a free spirit, to say the least. I have a hard time reading her, sometimes I don’t know if she likes me or hates me, but she’s sharp and she’s strong. I don’t know how tied down she is to the whole Gym leader thing though.”

Moira Kingsley: “Beautiful, powerful, imposing, stylish; she has it all, yet she’s one of the quietest, meekest people I’ve ever met. She’s the final hurdle for all of us, I think, before the Champion herself. I don’t see her ever becoming Champion herself, unless someone forces her to.”

Joseph Johannes: “I hear his acting career is going well, but I don’t think he takes being a Gym leader as seriously as some of the others.”

Zeke Webber: “He’s driven, I like that. He doesn’t let a loss keep him down, which I like even more. Too bad he’s such an asshole.”

Isla Owens: “I’ll never stop challenging her; it keeps both of us on our toes. She’s new and has a long way to go but she’s strong and with that spirit she’ll get their quickly. She’ll be big.”

Nordrin Yasmar: “Ha, he’s a jerk; he’s full of ‘tough love’ and doesn’t hold back on anyone and he’s far too full of himself. I like him. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I beat him.”

Malik Harvey: “There’s more to that one than meets the eye. He should have a higher standing than he does; sometimes I think the league might fall apart if not for him. Don’t believe the rumours though, he can’t communicate with Pokémon telepathically… probably.”

Galarian Stories

Just curious, what's the period of time that this all takes place? One season?

@Lucky

Hard to say. Although the game does seem to have a day/night cycle outside of the wild area that progresses as you go through the game, and although there are a few points where you sleep in hotels and so on, if we took it seriously then the Gym Challenge would only last like a week, week and a half tops. Realistically it would be longer than that, I would think, to give people more time to beat every Gym; but then again, maybe the short time period is part of the challenge.

It definitely takes place over a set period though, with challengers requiring an invitation from someone from the league (including Gym leaders I would assume) to take part. They have an opening ceremony at the start and a Champions Cup at the end and only those who managed to get all eight badges in that time get to take part in the latter.