Kingfisher

Shadows Among Us

Managed to fix my laptop with some technological wizardry *touch wood*, and get the revisions done for my Duela CS.

Lemmie know whatcha think.

Duela: Take 2

| Identity |

Duela

| Origin & Backstory |

The history of the young woman who refers to herself simply as “Duela” is a mystery. She has claimed everything from being jilted at her junior prom, to having witnessed the murder of her parents-at the hands of one of her mother’s close friends-, to having simply always been an outcast-never accepted by society-, as her motivation for what she does. In truth not a single one of her sob stories are true; Duela steals real grief and real tragedies, and crafts her own tapestry of trauma and sorrow, in an attempt to try and fill the lucid void in her own head.

Where others wanted simply to be accepted by society, Duela wished to be adored. Where others simply wanted friends to support and nurture them, Duela wished for a horde of followers, to slave away at her beck and call. Where others simply wanted to be loved, Duela wanted to hear thousands upon thousands of voices crying out in admiration of her, willing to lay down their lives for their dark mistress.

Better to be a somebody in hell, than a nobody in heaven.

In truth, “Duela” was Chelsea Cohen, the daughter of a successful criminal lawyer, and student at Gotham High.

The leader of one of the high school’s most formidable cliques, Chelsea was a megalomaniac, suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, who used her persuasive talents to manipulate those around her, and to make sure that she remained the queen bee of her particular friend group.

A clandestine sociopath, Chelsea cared little about who she hurt, or how badly she hurt them, as long as she remained on top. Despite her family’s wealth, and her status as one of the most popular girls at her high school, Chelsea hungered for more, never fully content with life. Falling in with one of the sketchier crowds at Gotham High, Chelsea got a job as a pusher in the street-level drug trade, indirectly working for the Valestras crime family.

One of Chelsea’s most frequent customers was Barton Mathis,Gotham high’s eccentric janitor. Unbenounced to Chelsea, Barton was not actually taking any of the drugs, but was simply using the sales as an opportunity to talk to her, having developed an obsessive fascination with her.

Barton was a master serial-killer and cannibal, who had once studied under his father, Schazlar Mathis. Schazlar would often take his son out “hunting” with him, and before long Barton could kill, eat, and dispose of a human body as expertly as his father could. After his father was gunned down by the cops, Barton had adopted Schazlar’s mantle, leading double life as a serial-killer.

Barton was also a skilled surgeon, and ran an underground clinic-where he would operate on wounded criminals-in his spare time, working under the alias “Dollmaker”, and it was rumoured that he could do anything with human skin.

Whilst Chelsea was working as a drug dealer, she became hooked on the products she was pushing, and steadily begun to take more and more of the narcotics that she was supposed to be selling.

When word of this reached back to the Valestras, a squad of thugs were dispatched to “discipline” her.

Following Chelsea on her way home from school, the brutes ambushed her, and beat her excessively, stabbing and lacerating her, carving a Glasgow Smile in the sides of her mouth, and slashing at her face.

However, Barton had made a habit of stalking Chelsea on her way home, and leapt out of his hiding place, using the darkness as cover, before dispatching with the thugs-just as his father had taught him, and rescuing the young girl.

She had lost an almost fatal amount of blood, and so Barton took her back to his clinic, using his expertise to try and salvage what he could.

When Chelsea awoke she was in immense pain, but still very much alive.

Barton nervously showed Chelsea a mirror, but the reflection she saw was so broken and deformed, so far from the gorgeous image she’d grown used to seeing when she looked in the mirror, that it completely broke her mind, shattering her sanity, and leaving her an impressionable husk.

Barton spent the next few weeks caring for Chelsea and nurturing her, feeding her human flesh that he smuggled back from the trips he took, and keeping her medicated. The sheer amount of the young girl’s blood that was found at the scene of her disappearance led to the belief that Chelsea Cohen was dead, and that her body had been dumped in a river somewhere.

During her time in Barton’s care, Chelsea developed a taste for human flesh, and so-once she was able to function again-the young lad tutored her in the same way that his father had, teacher her how to kill, and how to cover her tracks.

Carrying out her first kill with surgical precision, the warm rush of blood against the young girl’s skin awoke something with in her subconscious, further twisting and warping her mentally.

Unable to regain her old memories, Chelsea took to calling herself Duela, welcoming her transformation into a monster.

Barton fell madly in love with Duela, whereas she was simply fond of him, pleasuring him in return for his usefulness, as she had done to so many others in her previous life.

However, it was not long before Duela grew tired of Barton, the killer having exhausted his worth. Stowing away in the middle of the night, Duela left Dollmaker’s clinic, and slipped off into the city.

Now living out of an abandoned apartment in Downtown Gotham, Duela prays on those unfortunate enough to stray within her territory, putting Barton’s lessons to good use.

| Powers & Abilities |

Duela is a skilled killer, and adept at covering her tracks. She uses stealth to her advantage, and occasionally utilises the old manipulation tactics of her former life.

| How is this character different? |

In the cannon Duela is the self-mutilating prophet of the Joker’s return. My interpretation is cannibalistic serial-killer, who answers to no one but herself.

| What is your goal with this character? |

To try and create a sort of reverse-detective arch, that primarily follows a killer trying to evade detection, as well as trying to interact with other players in a way that will hopefully create enjoyable role-play.

| Sample Post |

Ralph Hardy sat glumly at the table, listening to his friends drone on about their boring lives.

“I’m taking her out onto the water, for her maiden voyage.” Albert exclaimed loudly, his obnoxious tone making Ralph’s head hurt. “You simply –MUST- come with! I think it will be a rather –SPLENDID- afternoon.”

“It sounds utterly spectacular!” Chirped Vanesa, her voice shrill and sharp.

“That it does.” Agreed Toby, gently nodding as he took a lingering sip from his wine glass.

Albert had booked them all a table at the Achilles Diner-a ritzy restaurant on the Gotham City waterfront-, and had managed to drag Ralph away from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon, to get him to accompany them, but Ralph would have quite frankly preferred to stay at home.

The prospect of a free meal was always an enticing one, but the restaurant was hot and stuffy, and they had insisted that he come dressed up for the occasion.

The diner itself was a fairly small establishment, comprised of a few white cloth covered tables, ornate vases and oil paintings, low hanging ceiling lights, and an expensive looking carpet.

The room was cramped and confined, and Ralph could think of a million other places that he’d rather have eaten dinner.

The restaurant was full tonight-which only contributed to the stuffiness of it all, and they had to constantly fight over the various murmurs of the other customers, in order to be heard.

They must have ordered dinner a good fifteen minutes ago, but it had yet to arrive, which gave Albert ample opportunity to go on and on about his bloody boat.

“I swear I’ve never seen anything like her! Fastest I’ve –EVER- sailed on!”

Having heard quite enough for one evening, Ralph foraged his cell phone out of his trouser pocket, fiddling with the interface, underneath the table. He navigated to his ringtone folder, before hitting “play”, the phone then simulating the noise it made when he was receiving a call.

The ringing cut off Albert halfway through his dreary recollection, drowning out his tedious words.

“Sorry,” Ralph faked a sincere apology as he got up out of his chair “But I really do need to take this.” He lied, gesturing to his blackberry.

“Well, hurry back soon, old sport. The starters are bound to arrive, any minute now.”

Ralph nodded, before promptly scurrying out of the restaurant, trying to put as much distance between him and that god-awful diner as was humanly possible.

He stepped out into the streets, a blast of refreshing cool air hitting him. It was silent out here, calm and uplifting, and he didn’t have to battle with any witless idiots, in order to simply hear himself think.

The night sky was a deep purple, glistening with a smattering of bright white stars, and Ralph took a moment to admire the majestic beauty of it.

Nearby, the cool liquids of the waterfront lapped gently against the side of the road, moving in a harmonious motion, sliding forwards and retreating in a blissful accord.

He slowly made his way down the cobbled street, a peaceful wind drifting calmly past in smooth tranquillity, singing lightly in his ear.

When surrounded by others, be it in a pompous restaurant or a booming nightclub, Ralph felt anxious and on edge, but in serene isolation, sharing a cherished moment with nothing but his own thoughts, he felt truly alive. Unfortunately, such moments were fleeting recently, so he treasured them that much more, and found them that much more precious.

He strolled gently down the street, passing glitzy restaurants after glitzy restaurant, until he reached a small and secluded spot that gave him an exquisite view of the Gotham City waterfront, a tide of rippling water stretching out as far as the eye could see, dominating his view.

He leaned forwards on the steely railing that ran between the road and the water, letting out a relaxed sigh, as he simply gazed out at the natural beauty that rolled out before him.

So encapsulated was he, that he never heard the soft pitter-patter of lithe feet on the cobble stone before him, nor had time to register the razor’s edge severing his spinal cord.

Duela leered over her kill, his muscular body sprawled out before her, a thread-like trail of blood leaking out through the cracks in the immaculate stone floor.

Her mismatched eyes darted across his form, as she smacked her serpentine tongue against the corners of her full-lips.

“Nothing personal, Hun.” She whispered to no one in particular, a sly smirk spreading across the corners of her warped form.

“But at the end of the day…a girls gotta eat.”

Shadows Among Us

Lord Wraith said
Kingfisher, Gowi and I talked at lengths about your Duela sheet and ultimately we've decided that we're not willing to accept it as is. We found the back story to be illogical as most organized crime certainly wouldn't recruit a snitch, and they especially would not promote a snitch to the position of a lieutenant. Snitches are known for doing one thing, and as such they're extremely untrustworthy. Additionally the later part of the back story feels very contrived, especially given the circumstances of Duela's 'rise to power'. How did killing an assassin suddenly allow her to take charge of the street gangs? A further question I might also pose is that, despite blind luck how did a girl who was likely malnourished and suffering from the symptoms of withdrawal manage to evade and stalk a professional killer? A rather minor point, we were both rather baffled with the girl's self mutilation, while I understand cutting herself at one point you talk about her entire body having had a blade stuck under it. Not only would this potentially be incredibly harmful if not down right fatal as they're some places on the body that you just can't get away with that but the blood loss and other side effects would be horrendous. Since Duela is also a Gotham criminal, and one I assume you intend to have interact with its heroes perhaps including even the Batman, Gowi and I thought it was a little odd there was no mention of Batman within the sheet. Especially since Batman basically changed Gotham, along with that the CS does very little to align to the timeline all the while mentioning Duela remained a teenager yet not giving us any real indication of how much time had passed. I understand villains have more appeal when their back stories have that vague aura to them but based on what she's accomplished and the outlook provided through the CS it strikes me as odd that neither Batman or the events that have taken place in Gotham haven't affected Duela.To conclude we're not flat out rejecting the character but asking that you make some revisions with the above in mind. If I might make a suggestion in terms of her self mutilation, look into George Foyet from Criminal Minds. His self mutilation took a purpose in that he covered his body in scar tissue which slightly increased his durability. I like the idea of really making Duela an urban gritty villain, but we feel the current backstory doesn't portray that in a way that doesn't seem forced and unnatural.

I wasnt aware that criminals were renowned for being honorable and trustworthy, but if the GM's want me to change that element of the CS then I shall. I tried to take a few more creative liberties this time around, and stray further away from the source material, but I can always go back to my orgional formulae. I'll put my hand up and admit that Duela killing the assassin was stupid, I'm not sure what was going through my head at the time I wrote that. I didn't literally mean that she'd cut every inch of her body, more along the lines that she'd self-harmed extensively, apologies if that wasn't clear. If the whole "criminal ring-leader" type deal isnt working for you guys, then I might simply re-write her to be more of a spree-killer than a crime boss, seeing as in the comics it's the Joker's face that makes her cronies follow her, which is obviously lacking in this incarnation.

Right now my laptop is completly fried, so I might not be able to get a revised CS up prompto, but I'll try my very best.

Shadows Among Us

Kal-El said
I'm not being negative. I'm just letting you know that if you pick Aquaman, be prepared for character war.

I think that was probably more in reference to

Roman said
@thatguy, you should stop coming up with concepts and start coming up with sheets. Premises don't get approved.

and

Lord Wraith said
We're not here to tell you what character to play as. Pick one, submit a sheet and remember you're expected to pick a hero before submitting a villain sheet.

Shadows Among Us

Sloth said
Something something Dick joke.

I've missed this.

Duela Application

| Identity |

Duela
| Origin & Backstory |

The history of the young woman who refers to herself simply as “Duela” is a mystery. She has claimed everything from being jilted at her junior prom, to having witnessed the murder of her parents-at the hands of one of her mother’s close friends-, to having simply always been an outcast-never accepted by society-, as her motivation for what she does. In truth not a single one of her sob stories are true; Duela steals real grief and real tragedies, and crafts her own tapestry of trauma and sorrow, yet she has never known the painful experiences that she claims so zealously to have endured.

Where others wanted simply to be accepted by society, Duela wished to be adored. Where others simply wanted friends to support and nurture them, Duela wished for a horde of followers, to slave away at her beck and call. Where others simply wanted to be loved, Duela wanted to hear thousands upon thousands of voices crying out in admiration of her, willing to lay down their lives for their dark mistress.

Better to be a somebody in hell, than a nobody in heaven.

Since adolescence, Duela had always had issues with her body image, being prone to self-harm and bulimic episodes.

When she first surfaced in the criminal underworld-operating under the name “Chelsea Brunskil”-, Duela was working as a drug smuggler for the Gotham City branch of the Hong Kong based Triad. Mainly working with heroine, Duela would use a vast network of caves that ran beneath Gotham-known colloquially as “The Nethers”-to move her wares back and forth throughout the city, without drawing attention to herself.

Having grater ambitions for herself than a life as a drug mule, Duela begun to work up her reputation as someone whom the Triad could trust, doing odd jobs as an enforcer on the side, to the point where they began to commend her with larger and larger shipments, before selling off all of her goods to the Falcone crime family, in return for protection, and a job as a well-paid Soldato.

Whilst working under the Falcone’s-now using the false identity “Jasmine Alwell”-Duela’s depression worsened, and the scale by which she cut and burned herself escalated. It was around this time that she also begun to develop drug addictions, namely those which should could not afford to realistically maintain on her pay grade.

Duela learned of a group of high-ranking members within the Falcone Empire, who were planning to usurp the Roman, in that she was contacted by a Caporegime, who was looking to recruit her as muscle for the uprising.

Burning with ambition and lacking in money, Duela sold out the ring leaders, in return for the Roman’s favour.

Having been handsomely rewarded for her snitching, Duela was made a lieutenant within the organisation, and was pumped up a pay grade.

Still plagued by narcissism and visions of grandeur, Duela tipped off the Gotham Cosa Nostra as to a series of Falcone gun shipments that were entering the city, once again switching sides to another of the cities great crime syndicates.

This pattern would continue for a while; Duela would work her way up the ranks of an organisation, before growing bored and switching sides, flittering from false identity to false identity. As time went by, Duela spiralled further and further into her afflictions, sticking a blade under every inch of skin, and constantly shoving a spoon down her throat.

Soon she had made an enemy of almost every kingpin in Gotham, and was forced to flee back into the Nethers, seeking refuge from the various bounties that had been placed on her head.

Frightened and alone, Duela’s knowledge of the underground cave networks was the only thing that kept her alive, the hitmen going to such extreme lengths as to chase her through the twisting tunnels, in order to cry and cash in on her bounty.

For many months Duela quietly stalked the sewage passages and old underpasses that criss-crossed Gotham City, stealing what little she needed to survive, without drawing too much attention to herself.

Now lacking the funds to support her addiction, Duela spent what seemed like an eternity of sheer agony cooped up in the darkness, suffering from severe withdrawal, but ultimately managed to conquer her dark compulsions.

After a year of cowering in the shadows, Duela decided to stand up and fight.

Luring in those who would seek to claim her bounty, the young girl used the tunnels to her advantage, stealthily picking off the hitmen, one by one.

Triumphing over her enemies, Duela drew the attention of a highly skilled Japanese assassin known as Awai Otoko: “The Pale man”.

Obsessed with contracts who presented a real challenge, Awai declared that he would kill the highly sought after teenager, venturing down into the Nether’s. Awai tracked her through the darkness, and for a long time they played a lengthy game of cat and mouse, stalking each other.

Awai Otoko managed to shoot Duela in the leg, leaving her to limp away into the shadows. Dropping his assault rifle, Awai perused Duela with only his ornate dagger, wishing to savour the hunt, which ultimately proved to be his undoing.

Ambushing the assassin, she plunged a screwdriver into his neck, killing him in one fluid movement. Taking Awai’s dagger as a trophy, Duela emerged from hiding, completely unrecognisable due to her severe scaring.

Making a power grab in the city’s underworld, Duela-now actually using the name “Duela”-managed to seize control of several of Gotham’s street-level gangs, bringing them together to form one über-gang.

Now commanding her own cabal, the teenager has managed to sink her teeth into several of the larger crime syndicates, fashioning herself a respectable faction.

The up and coming star in the New Jersey underworld, Duela is a force to be reckoned with, despite her youthful exterior.

| Powers & Abilities |

Duela possesses no powers, meta-human or otherwise, however she is apt at manipulating both people and situations to better suit her, using a large variety of different physiological methods. While not intelligent perhaps in the traditional sense, her years working for s different kingpins have given her considerable street smarts. She is rather guile, and while she might not have any martial arts training she has learnt how to defend herself over the years.

| How is this character different? |

In the current cannon, Duela finds the face of the allegedly deceased Clown Prince of crime, and wears it as her mantle, becoming “the Joker’s Daughter”. My Duela is a sort of “what if”, wherein she never receives the face-mask, and never projects her hopes and goals onto it. Instead of adopting an idol, Duela motivates HERSELF to go and seize the day, and is her own villain, as opposed to being the Joker’s prophet.

| What is your goal with this character? |

To try and create some grounded criminal role-play, and to present a villain for those players who do not have super powers, which should hopefully generate an engaged and active community.

| Sample Post |

“You’re a screw-up” “You’ll never amount to anything” “Why don’t you just kill yourself? One less delinquent in the world”

His entire life, Riley Sullivan had been pushed around and trodden on by his betters; mocked by his teachers, thrown out by his mother, and forgotten by society.

And now he’d had enough.

So on Friday night, Riley was not out hitting the clubs, he was not at home smoking pot, and he was not lying face down in a gutter, completely shitfaced.

Instead, Riley was out getting work.

He fell into the crowd, surrounded on all sides by hefty brutes and weasel-faced thugs, squeezing in between a man with a myriad of tattoos criss-crossing his exposed left arm, and a stout bloke with a shaven head and a broken nose.

The warehouse was dark and dingy, with windows of cracked glass, a celling of rusted metal plates, and crooked concrete pillars, with ivy creeping up their sides at awkward angles.

Pale moonlight seeped in through a chasm in the celling, billowing down a silvery column at the back of the room, where a large wooden box had been erected, allowing the figure who stood upon it to lord over the sprawling mob.

Riley had heard stories about her, the woman with the scarred face, but none of them had come close to encapsulating her waif-like form, strewn with gashes and gouges, her mismatched eyes, wicked and twitching, flickering back and forth from person to person, and most importantly her lacerated face, a mass of cuts, slashes, and burns, all culminating in a truly warped body.

Despite her deformed appearance, there was a certain feral splendour to her, not in the traditional sense, but in a way that defied all of society’s norms, laughing at the preconceived notions of beauty, and spitting in the face of the establishment.

She was dressed in a purple tank top and a scarlet miniskirt, with torn leggings, long gloves, and a grimy jacket that billowed behind her in the gentle wind.

She gripped a long wooden pole, wound in barbed wire, with a rusted sickle fastened to the end of it, held in place by a motley assortment of metal scarps.

“Ah, fresh meat!” She exclaimed, a sly smirk rippling across her cracked lips, exhaling loudly as she took in the scene before her, eyeing up the mass of wannabe criminals.

“I know why you’re all here,” She begun, the box upon which she stood giving her a clear view of the entire crowd. “To make some cash.”

A murmur went through the group, but otherwise the mob remained silent.

“And you’ll have your cash!” She bellowed, running her serpentine tongue through the deep gashes in the sides of her mouth.

“-BUT- in return for this,” she begun, her slick grin vanishing in an instant “I expect your undivided cooperation, and your unquestioned loyalty.”

“And if you fail to uphold your end of our agreement…”

In one fluid movement her sickle shot forwards, caving in the head of the nearest thug, slicing through skin and bone with a deafening crunch, a river of fat crimson tears leaking from the new gash in his forehead.

“Well, let’s just says there’s always someone willing to take your place.”

Ultimate DC: Shadows Among Us

Lord Wraith said
Okay so I've talked to Gowi, and you'll need to create a new CS whether you reprise your role as Duela or choose a new character since this RP is taking place in a new year. Sláinte!

Many thanks, hermano. I shall begin work on that.

---EDIT---

General question; whereabouts do we post our CS's, to be reviewed?

Ultimate DC: Shadows Among Us

Kingfisher said
I apologies for mysteriously dropping out last time; I was in the thicket of Exam's. Now that my GCSE's are over, is there any chance that I could reprise the role of Duela, or would you rather I submitted her as a CS?

I didn't know if this had been pushed back and overlooked by all the other posting. Sorry if it has already been seen.

Game of Thrones - A Song of Ice and Fire

This might just be me grasping at straws, but would it make sense to set the RP in the middle of a conflict, with the players being on opposing sides? It just seems like (from my experience) we always try to build up to this big events, and then loose interest/steam before they actually happen. Actually having a game-within-The Blackfyre Rebellion, or some-such war might be fairly interesting. That said I'm no GM, and am still fairly new to this, so maybe I'm missing something here.

Just one man's humble opinion, anyways.

-EDIT- just realized that I've literally just described option 2. So I vote option 2.

Ultimate DC: Shadows Among Us

I apologies for mysteriously dropping out last time; I was in the thicket of Exam's. Now that my GCSE's are over, is there any chance that I could reprise the role of Duela, or would you rather I submitted her as a CS?

Vampire: The Masquerade. Dance of the Damned

Ellri said
So, any thoughts on how to set one up? We'll gladly help build up things, but we lack the VtM experience to gm one. We know a decent bit of lore, but feel we need to be a player for a while in one before we can take on gm.

I'm in the same kind of boat, here. Most of my knowledge stems from Bloodlines, the clan books, and white wolf wiki.

Game of Thrones - A Song of Ice and Fire

Falcon said
That post was very long in coming, but I wanted to make a splash. Sorry for the delay, but I hope you all enjoy reading it.

Splendid post, BTW. It read like something out of one of the actual ASOIAF books, to me anyways.

Squrmy said
I liked it! Very Bolton-esque. Gruesome, like Zach said.

Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it :)

Ruby said
Still active and playing? Let me know either here or in PMs or in the chat or on Skype, please!Thank you. <3

Still very much here.