Letter Bee

BeeNCQuest Lore Thread.

Revised NCQuest Map

BeeNCQuest Lore Thread.

The Corporations and Haven

North America

Denver-Vegas Incorporated:

• Denver-Vegas is the legal heir to the United States of America, with its CEO, George Allen, still holding the title of ‘President’. The ruler of most of the Continental United States and Mexico, as well as the overlord of South America’s Independents, Denver-Vegas still keeps several of the features of a Nation-State, such as Elections, a ‘Senate’ (which is staffed only by Corporate officials, although they do change the actual seat-holders from time to time), and a ‘Supreme Court’ (also staffed only by Corporates). However, beneath the spectacle, the real power remains in the plutocrats and oligarchs, who use a combination of bread, circuses, and bullets to maintain control of their people.
• In the Arcologies built by Denver-Vegas all over the land, bright lights, racing tracks, and lotteries both excite and disorient the common ‘citizen’, as the Corporations regularly hold large and spectacular ‘public entertainment programs’ where food and drink are distributed for free as the audience watch volunteers and criminals participating in the yearly ‘Reality Games’, an event in which said criminals and volunteers are hunted down by NCs in a closed-off area of wilderness, where a network of surveillance cameras and drones track every movement by the ‘contestants’. This is sent back to the Arcologies, where even the peons are allowed to sit in comfort as they and their children cheer at the violence.
• Outside the Arcologies, Denver-Vegas cements control by giving a surprising amount of power to the smaller towns and hamlets in the new rural America. These smaller towns and hamlets are allowed ‘the right to bear arms’, as long as they have nothing that can bring down an NC, and are also allowed to set their own laws. This, of course, is in exchange of selling their products to Denver-Vegas only and having to watch the ‘Reality Games’ on D-V provided televisions; the latter part is something that was accepted with enthusiasm.
• And finally, Denver-Vegas’ CEO is one of the few people left in the world who technically controls two companies, not just one. In a decision made during the surrender of the last Independents on the former Continental United States, George Allen, in his capacity as a private individual, founded a smaller, more private corp on what was once the Independent Alliance of New California. This corp, Paradise Garden Company, was ostensibly meant to research agricultural tech but is rumored to be researching the ‘restoration of biodiversity to Earth’, aka making new forms of mutated life to replace the species Humanity drove extinct...
• Denver-Vegas relies on two things: Durability and Firepower. Note however that due to a decree by the President-CEO during one of his days of madness, the Corporation is forbidden from using Energy Weapons, or at least, visible ones. Thus, most forms of offense rely on the use of railguns, missiles, and high explosives, delivered via numerous, durable, vehicles and NCs. However, they do not neglect the need for speed, and a small but notable percentage of D-V NCs are ‘Hunter-Killers’, fast humanoid machines who launch volley after volley of heat-seeking micro-missiles at a target, before closing in with sharp, building-sized blades.

Fairbanks LTD:

• Fairbanks rules over the most northern third of the Americas, with a few holdings in Greenland. Believing that the only ‘wrong’ field of inquiry is Nuclear Research (and only because it resulted in the apocalypse), Fairbanks is structured around supporting a ruling class of technocrats and scientists, descendants of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and similar institutions. This ruling class is supposed to research terraformation, infrastructure, health, and other positive-sounding things, but being sandwiched between Denver-Vegas and Paragon has made sure that much of their budget is spent on ‘super weapons’, including manufactured diseases, chemical agents, and other unethical and inhumane means of warfare.
• However, all the wonder-weapons in the world would not compensate for lack of resources and manpower, and that is where true pragmatism rules in Fairbanks. Instead of subjugating Independents outright (and thus drawing the suspicion of Denver-Vegas), it instead gives their people a deal; give them resources and volunteers and get medicine and agriculture in return, or have their crops and livestock attacked with biological weapons. Needless to say, it proves an effective bargain...
• Their NC’s are few and far between, making standardization a difficult prospect at best. But there is a focus on the weird parts of 'super-science', such as biological bodies (built around a metallic NC Core) that regenerate wounds in mere minutes or even NCs made up of hard light (again, except for the metal core). The latter are immensely expensive and are kept only as a weapon of last resort.

Europe and the Middle East

Paragon Industrial & Nuclear:

• The Aristocratic Corp, Paragon Industrial and Nuclear is ‘Neo-Feudal’ in its outlook and values, materialistic, capitalist, and possessed of a strong belief that if ‘innate superiority’ is nonsense, then ‘artificial superiority’ must not be. And so Paragon uses biological enhancements to make its ‘Middle Management’ better than others, forming a ruling class of aristocrats who are smarter and stronger and better-looking than the ‘baselines’ who make up most of the population, as well as the ‘gene-serfs’, which, despite their name, are just baseline humans.
• This ‘class system’ also manifests itself in the allotment of NC Cores and Bodies. Baseline Pilots are allowed to pilot Cores that require a low level of connection between Mecha and Human, for those are seen as ‘useful but expendable’. These ‘Serf-Pilots’ take second-fiddle to the vat-grown ‘Angel-Knights’, who pilot the faster, better mechs. Occupying a position in-between the two are the ‘Agents’, baselines with a high ‘Sync Ratio’ and thus able to connect to very good NCs, but whose ‘low-born’ status prevents them from associating with the ‘Angel-Knights’. These ‘Agents’ are assigned to black-ops jobs all across the globe, in order to act as ‘assassins with mechs’.
• Life for an average Paragon citizen is mostly good, but an aristocrat can theoretically do anything to them, even torture and murder, and get away with only a minor fine paid directly to the CEO’s office for the destruction of her property.
• Their NC’s are sleek and barely resemble actual human beings. Their legs and arms are little more than moving counterbalances, and feather-like heatsinks dominate the standard Paragon NC’s back. This gives them both a strange, alien look alongside a mythical or religious one. This helps the symbolism of being able to fire ‘lightning bolts’ of plasma.

Al-Amir Group of Companies:

• Urbane, Elegant, and Sophisticated, Al-Amir prides itself on having at last bridged tradition and modernity. Having cast aside past centuries’ reputation of terror and bloodshed, Al-Amir, under its ‘Sultana-CEO’, Raiza Agha Khan, is now as a place for sanctuary, where all those with useful skills are welcome. Governed from the city of Shiraz in Iran, Al-Amir extends its reach from Afghanistan to Thrace, having rebuilt the Middle East in its own image.
• However, there is a price to pay for peace and prosperity, and Al-Amir makes it known when it exacts the ‘genius tax’, a requirement for each major city and community, regardless of religion or ethnicity, to hand over to the Ruling Corp’s officials all children who show exceptional physical or mental talent. These children are then made ‘property of the corporation’, and educated as warriors or civil servants, before being ‘redistributed’ back to the corporate territories to serve as defenders or administrators.
• In other, less savory, but still ‘normal’ ways does Al-Amir remind people that the world is not beautiful, as despite being a Corporation, it bases its economy on exports and high tariffs — the latter which it can afford because it has the Suez Canal — as well as ‘self-sufficiency’. The outcome of this is that foreign goods enter Al-Amir territory less, and local goods are more expensive, thus, despite peace and relative freedom, the standard of living for the average citizen is poorer than in other places, giving them an incentive to give their children away to the Corporation, which gives those who are willing to part with their flesh and blood a hefty pension and other privileges in response.
• The life of a child made the property of Al-Amir Group of Companies is materially luxurious, with better treatment than 'ordinary folk'. Though abuse and exploitation exist, children are permitted visits to their family and encouraged to pay for improvements to their home communities like water purifiers, grain mills, hospitals and houses of worship (reflecting the tradition of Mamlukes and Janissaries paying for Churches in their home communities despite converting to Islam - Such a conversion is not required for current Al-Amir 'property').
• Al-Amir is a Ruling Corp that relies on defense in depth, not just lines of static defense. Behind the borders lie networks of fortresses, behind the fortress networks are heavily-entrenched cities, and behind the cities lie a hostile countryside where every mountain, forest, or stream hides landmines or punji sticks or even just rows of IEDs. All the while, Al-Amir’s main armies shadow the enemy forces, waiting for a decisive battle against worn-out and decimated foes.
• As for their NCs, Al-Amir specializes in reliable Mecha that can be refitted to run in the desert, the mountains, and even the steppe and undersea. In short, they are the all-terrain specialists who can fight anywhere without engine or electronics failures. As for armor and armament, Al-Amir focuses on light but strong armor that can blend into the desert sands, as well as digital camouflage, assault rifles, obsolete Volkov rocket designs, and grenades.

Africa

Tshwane Mining Inc:

• Led by Katlego Kgosi, the transhuman CEO of the South African Corporation, Tshwane, also called the ‘Blacks and Whites’, rules directly over the southern half of Africa, and is allied with the Independents of the northern half except Egypt, which is ruled by Al-Amir. Actually and actively benevolent, thanks to years of ‘therapy’ on the open surface, Katlego rules over Tshwane with a fair hand, investing in his workers in the belief that keeping them healthy improves productivity.
• However, not all is well. Not all approve of the alliance that Katlego forged with the African Independents, which allows them to do whatever they want as long as they accept Tshwane’s ‘diplomatic protection’. Basically, the African Independents count as part of Tshwane in legal terms, meaning that the other Ruling Corps cannot invade them willy-nilly. But in exchange for this, the obligations by the African Independents to Tshwane are very low, just permission for Tshwane to buy supplies and recruit volunteers in their territory.
• And of course, there is factional warfare within Tshwane’s main structure itself, with two dominant factions jockeying for power. The first one is the 'Human Investment Faction', which believes that happiness is the goal and that profit must be used to serve Human wellness, physical and mental. The other is the 'Hybrid Vigor Faction', which was formed as a hostile reaction to the idea that one race should rule over everything. Instead, the Hybrid Vigor Faction advocates that the best way to prevent apartheid or post-apartheid racial divides is to elevate Mixed-Race people to positions of power. Katlego Kgosi sees this movement as dangerous, but as he himself is Mixed-Race, he allows it to exist.
• Tshwane Mining Inc’s most fearsome weapons are ‘Diamond-Boron Munitions’, with the (artificial) diamonds providing penetrative power, and the Boron providing the incendiary and explosive force. These weapons are provided to the NCs of Tshwane en masse, allowing each Tshwane NC armor-piercing capability. For melee range, Tshwane NCs also keep chainsaw blades with teeth made up of the finest artificial diamonds that the company can provide.

Asia

Bahadur Raj Corporate Pact:

• India has had a long and storied history, and the Bahadur Raj Corporation of Sovereign India reflects it. Actually a conglomerate made up of three ‘lesser’ companies; the manufacturing giant Tata, the energy company Bharat Power (formerly Bharat Petroleum), and the Corporate Bank of India (formerly the State Bank of India), the Pan-Indian Corporate Pact is bound together by a complicated series of guarantees and agreements that make sure that every part of the larger whole makes a contribution while remaining autonomous. Or at least, it’s supposed to work that way.
• In practice, whenever the CEOs of the Pact — three brains-in-jars that count as one member of the Cabal for counting purposes — aren’t giving things their direct attention, corruption and cronyism are rife, with the ranks of Middle Management hoarding luxuries from all over the world while exploiting the workers. These workers are plentiful thanks to the rapidly growing population of the Subcontinent, and although the Tata section of the Pact still remembers to treat them well, the other sub-companies are far less caring. Nevertheless, if one ended up with the right Middle Manager or in Tata, there is a real chance at a better life.
• The Pan-Indian Corporate Pact can field NCs just like any corporation, but the underlying theme of their military is not centered around said NCs, but rather on their NC Carriers, vast flying/hovering fortresses that can carry wings of Mecha and Aerial Drones.
• Not to say that Pan-Indian Mecha don't have a unique theme; almost all of them have antigravity engines that allow them to fly, and those that don't have other ways of being launched from the air and surviving the drop. Thus, most NC weapons are either light railguns and coilguns or energy weapons and blades, with heavy weapons being confined to 'deep strike' Mecha or support naval ships.

Red Star Shelter Solutions:

• "As the People's Republic of China showed, there is no contradiction between Capitalism and the State, Free Enterprise and The Party. Collective unity is the best environment for worldwide security, and security is the backbone of business." This was a statement from Red-Star's Board of People's Directors when asked about the contradictions within their ideology and its fusion of Communism and Capitalism.
• Red Star controls the majority of Mainland Asia, Japan, and until Haven became a trusted provider of mercenaries to other Corporations, held a claim over Australia. They are a proud collective where the people at the bottom rung are supposedly happy with their lot in life, kept in line through brainwashing or peer pressure - Their ideal is that the individual should not exist and that all are part of one larger organism. Thus, below the executive 'nobility' and military officers, they are effectively a communist ‘state’, ironic for a Corporation.
• They are highly interested in Neural Nets’ very nature, and if any strides are being made in the Neural portion of NC’s, they are the most likely source. Their pilots have a superb connection with their NC’s, which have the highest number of melee weapons in any Ruling Companies’ NC forces. Their Neural Combatants resemble ancient warriors or demons the most, for the fear factor. And because of their focus on capturing enemy pilots, they also carry stun rods, EMP weaponry, or even electrified nets that can paralyze an entire Mech.

Volkov Nuclear Security Systems:

• Volkov Security. The very strongest of the Ruling Companies, nothing goes on without them interfering in some form, either openly or secretly. They make certain that everything in their territory is used, as they have control of the world in their sights at all times. The Board of Directors is constantly infighting, seeking to please their mysterious C.E.O. who has been controlling them from outside any Burrow or installation, away from prying eyes. Nobody knows where exactly he is, but he makes sure his direct inferiors know who’s in charge, in charge of rebuilding civilization and setting it in the path of progress.
• Life in Volkov is harsh, but those who prove themselves to be of value are not discarded for as long as they show their value. Harsh punishments and cruelty are rife, same for inhumane experiments that break all rules of scientific ethics. Happiness is ignored and put to the side in favor of 'progress', which is defined as an increase in strength and technological power and sophistication, and the ability to overcome obstacles through optimization and brute force, with lateral thinking and approaching the problem from another point of view being seen as weakness, along with cooperation outside one's small group of compatriots and the larger corporation.
• Their NC’s and other military material are all highly specialized machines, making an overview moot. However they’re constructed, they have one ultimate goal in mind and are built to be as best suited for that purpose as possible. Note that Volkov Mecha have every technology that all the other MegaCorps have, whether Fairbanks' biological and hard-light bodies, Paragon's energy weapons, or Red-Star's Melee weapons and EMPs. The only designs it hasn't acquired or duplicated yet are Haven's, and that's because Haven hasn't developed a standardized style of NC Combat yet.

Australasia

Haven/Free Australia:

• Haven City is a Burrow underneath Sydney, Australia where much-lost knowledge and technology remains, ruled over by the Federal Assembly of Haven, which in turn is elected by lesser councils that are in turn voted into power through direct democracy. The 'Three Idealists' who had taken control from the UN Commission of Refugees; Afrin, Kobane, and Qamishlo, managed to set up a system based on the legendary 'Old Rojava', which from their view was a bastion of gender equality, equal rights for all ethnic groups, and coexistence between religions that had been ruined only by outside intervention. And their system not only continued to work for centuries, but also caused a flowering of art, thought, and discovery that emulated the best aspects of the Old World.
• After an intelligence campaign meant to gain information about the surface, Haven built up a network of secret allies among the various techno-barbarian tribes, independent settlements, and warlord states of the Australian Continent, slowly unifying the territory around a shared dream, a dream of cooperation and compassion. Red-Star, the 'owner' of Australia during that era, would have retaliated, but Haven offered their services and that of their NCs as mercenaries to Red-Star's competitors, granting them protection from an immediate attack.
• Now, organizing themselves into a series of Federal Cantons and Communes, Haven has become a land of rebuilt cities sporting mud-brick meeting houses and cafes, along with bathhouses, hospitals, and urban farms. Energy is provided by power plants that use human and animal waste, as well as the natural power of the sun and wind, while the defense is provided for by the people themselves, who are both armed and disciplined in the use of arms.
• There are also special 'all-female' units of Mecha Pilots and conventional troops, the Havenite Women's Protection Forces, whose job it is to act as a memory of 'Rojava's Glorious Days'. For in Haven, Old Rojava, the stronghold of democratic confederalism and limited capitalism born in the Syrian Civil War, was an exemplar of Humanity's best attributes.
• Haven Mecha are made up of designs stolen from various MegaCorps, as well as ‘Original Generation’ designs crafted for their Aces, which are specialized for each Ace’s personal psychology and skills. Basically, anything you want.
• Note, however, that despite all this, Haven is torn between two desires; the need for the egalitarianism of worker-owned businesses, small but prosperous peasants and communes, and the necessity of defending this revolution and spreading it abroad (as a buffer against invaders). To do the latter, Haven's Federal Government uses the structure of Limited Capitalism to build the economies of scale necessary to build the small but professional force which the paramilitaries of Australia can rally around. But due to this, Haven has developed what it abhors most; a small concentration of elites with increasing wealth and economic privilege.This 0.1% poses a problem in the future...

Minor Organizations and Groups

• New Rojava (Kurdish State in West Syria)
• Fortress Switzerland
• The Underground State of Israel

BeeNCQuest Lore Thread.

|INFORMATION|

Information about Mechs/NCs

• Neural Combatants are large (twelve to sixteen feet on average), heavily armed and armored war machines that use the principles of main battle tanks, combat aircraft, and infantry all together to create a highly advanced and effective ‘super-machine’. NC’s are controlled primarily by the thoughts of the user, more specifically a ‘Neural Net’ serves as the main computer and operator of the machine, which is controlled by an individual using a ‘Neural Plug’ usually implanted in the base of the neck.
• Although very complex machines when put together, they can be pulled apart and modified surprisingly easily. Large changes to an NC do however cause ‘phantom pain’ to the pilot when plugged back in, due to the neural plug ‘expecting’ a different physical makeup, interpreting the changes as battle damage before getting used to it.
• NC’s are commonly made out of six parts; The propulsion unit, more simply known as the legs, which contain the primary non-flight method of movement and commonly fuel tanks, and in some cases lighter weapons. The arms carry the heaviest non-specialist armaments in most cases, alongside targeting equipment. The head of an NC contains the obvious, such as (simple) radar and the most powerful sensory equipment, alongside mapping software. The upper chest holds the neural net itself, covering the cockpit, and the primary micro-fusion generator.
• The fusion generator itself directly powers the thruster array (or anti-gravity drives) situated around the chest of your standard NC, yet other vernier setups are common, such as ‘wing’ arrays. Legs also hold additional thrusters, anti-gravity drives, or even additional power setups often enough as well, if it’s deemed necessary by the NC’s pilot or architect.
• Additional, more powerful radars or sensory equipment mounted external from the main body parts are also fairly abundant. In total, NC’s can carry up to eight weapon systems or optional equipment packages, although ‘filling out every slot’ is amusingly expensive and needless to most NC pilots. The most common points to mount are each hand, the shoulders, two miniature weapons in the head, two on the hips, and two on the back.
• In the end, though, the effectiveness of an NC depends on the synchronization score of the neural net with the pilot. Both ends of the spectrum offer advantages and disadvantages, with the lowest, 50% synchronization, giving higher pain tolerance and minimal mental strain to changing your NC’s physical makeup. The other end, 90 - 100%, enhances the ability to sense with the NC’s sensors and move it just as, if not more, fluidly than your own body. The downside of having a high synchro score, include strange sensations and being able to feel pain far more vividly, while those at the low end have to fight to move their NC’s limbs and not being able to ‘feel’ as clearly.

BeeNCQuest Lore Thread.

|HISTORY|

Ends and Beginnings

It is the year 2677, half a millennium after a nuclear war ended the Modern Age and its dreams of a rational and humane future bound by mutual respect and cooperation, at least for a while.

There were two groups of Survivors: First was the Independents, a motley band of unimportant cities, rural towns, and even entire countries that were too unimportant or neutral to be directly targeted by nuclear weapons during the war. The people who lived in them lived a hardscrabble life, filled with hardship and loss but also true freedom and the potential to rebuild what had been lost.

Second were the Burrows, large underground cities filled with advanced technology, where the old elite of the world had retreated, ready to take back the surface once the radiation had died down. Controlled first by the remnants of the Great Powers of the pre-war era, then by the ‘Nuclear Security Firms’ that had built and operated the bunkers, the Burrows became company towns in all but name. This was made worse by the fact that the CEOs of the Nuclear Security Firms were losing the belief that a happy and content populace were more productive or even a worthy objective to attain.

The War was taken as proof that the only values which matter mattered were strength, talent, and power, and that ‘Protecting the Weak’ was a luxury at best, an obstacle to true virtue at most. That the future belonged in the hands of an elite that was automatically better than the common masses of Humanity and that said elite should not be questioned or opposed for any reason. The plutocracy was rich because they were better - If the poor wanted a voice, they should stop being poor.

And so when the Burrows opened to allow the newly-minted Ruling Corporations through, their meeting with the Independents inevitably led to conflict...

The Reemergence, The First NC War, and The Shattering

During the months of conflict proceeding the launch of nuclear weapons, a new technology, the ‘Neural Net’, had made war machines based on the human form somehow practical, as this mysterious innovation allowed the pilots of said humanoid mechs to call forth feats of impossible prowess, a prowess that cannot just be attributed to perfect communication between man and machine. The name of this type of weapon, the first Mecha, was the Neural Combatant, or NC, and it soon became a name to be feared.

While it was true that even the Burrows and Ruling Corporations cannot duplicate the technology of the NCs’ cores, they can, however, make better bodies for said cores, meaning that whenever the Corps' acquired a stash of them, they can outpower any jury-rigged Mech used by an Independent. But to acquire Cores or stashes of Cores, the Corporations had to play nice at first, offering security, medicine, and a better life before revealing their true face. And so many Independents willingly, but foolishly, bent the knee to the Ruling Corporations.

But a few, such as Fortress Switzerland and the Underground State of Israel, who had Burrow-like redoubts and the facilities to upgrade their own NCs’ bodies, resisted. These were joined by the Independent Alliance of California, the Guangzhou Clique, and the New Japanese Republic, as well as New Nigeria and the Second Ethiopian Empire, which had enough resources to take the fight back to the Corporations. And so the First NC War started.

Said war lasted for twenty years, but in the end, the Ruling Corporations cemented their domination of most of the World, with Fortress Switzerland and the Underground State of Israel forced into hiding while the larger Independents were disarmed and dismantled - Those among their people who were willing to collaborate and accept the new order were given privileges and allowed to join the Corporate Elite, while those who refused were punished with the most abject forms of slavery.

In time, however, attitudes slightly softened as the Corporate Elite realized that they cannot rebuild the world with broken tools. Because of this, there was some genuine interest in improving lives and working conditions, but only to make sure that the Elite had capable servants to help them with their grand project of 'progress and development'. But underneath this veneer of conciliation and concessions was the old corruption and brutality, only better-hidden.

Then one day, one Corporation decided to go still further, and actually Invest in the Human Race...

Rebirth of Sanity

It all started with Katlego Kgosi, the CEO of Tshwane Mining Inc in South Africa. The first one to return his headquarters to the Earth's surface, Katlego saw the broken and shattered landscape around him, a broken and shattered landscape that he wanted to restore to its pristine state for reasons which started out selfish. These efforts to restore the past led him to come into direct contact with the lower masses he had taken for granted back in the Burrows, and it led him to realize once more that his workers were other Humans, possessed of their hopes and dreams.

And he began to think... Were not healthy and happy workers an end in and of themselves? Did they only have to improve lives when there was a direct increase in productivity as a result? Katlego wrestled with these moral questions for a while and decided to do something heretical for a CEO - Follow his heart. And so the philosophy of 'Human Investment' was born, in which Humanity and its happiness were seen as the main objective, and money spent improving the lives of other people was an investment towards its fulfillment.

And so Humanity found respite in the first Ruling Corporation to recover its sanity...

Hope Returns

Before The War, the UN Commission for Refugees built its own ‘true’ Burrow in Australia, as an experiment in resettling the increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers across the globe. This Burrow, Haven, was originally meant to be a glorified ‘detention camp’, where the undesired people of the globe were to be kept out of sight and out of mind as they worked for the ‘True Citizens’ above-ground.

But Australia was struck by Nuclear Missiles, and Haven was spared that fate. Even then, things weren’t easy: Resources were short, ethnic tensions were high, and the UN Commission for Refugees’ leadership was more corrupt than ever. For a brief moment, it looked like everything would fall apart.

Then, a miracle happened; the discovery of a large stash of NC Cores, and three NC bodies, by three idealistic teenagers. These three took on the names of Afrin, Kobane, and Qamishlo; the three Democratic Confederalist cities that had brought light to North Syria, and fought the corrupt UN Commission of Refugees to institute a new and fairer system that diminished suffering.

Haven would reemerge later into the world, and find out that while it had enough NC Cores and NCs to keep itself independent from the Ruling Corps, it did not have enough to attack in turn and spread its philosophy to the surface. So after much debate and deliberation, it offered a deal to the Corporations - They would contribute mercenaries to their wars in exchange for the freedom of Australia and New Zealand. Of course, there was a bias towards Corporations that embraced 'Human Investment' as a philosophy, but that was easily negotiable.

Now, the world shifts - Will this shift lead to greater despair, or to hope?

3 Person Roleplay; Sci-Fi Survival!

-Deleted-

Digimon: Counting Stars

@Mike the Bloodwolf, I'll approve it once you are finished.

Digimon: Counting Stars

@Mike the Bloodwolf, Post the profile here first, then on the Characters Tab only after it is approved?

Royal Rumble!

I have decided not to submit this character idea, but will be preserving it for posterity.

Snow Sound

Name:

Snow Sound

Age:

14

Grade:

High School Freshman Year at another school entirely; child prodigy. Independent.

Biography:

Snow did not come from a divine bloodline, or a family of overachievers, nor did he have a special heritage. He may have been born a genius, but that was spontenously, a genetic accident that did not owe itself to a glorious past. And he was content with that, content with watching those with 'special' traits enter into various conflicts over points of personal and philosophical matters. Then, he was visited in his dreams by the Goddess of Truth and the God of Heroic Guile. They told him - or rather, the Goddess of Truth did - that the superpowered people of this day and age were resorting to brute force more often, and forgetting how to think. There were exceptions, but the art of Heroic Guile was being forgotten and he had to stop it.

Why did the Goddess of Truth want Snow to do something that required a lot of lying? Well, it's because she likes seeing Guile Heroes in action; it's a personal taste. Either way, Snow had to restore the art of intelligent heroism to the world, or superpowered youth society would collapse into brute-forcing each other. Snow refused; he contended that brute force and combat had a vital role in the functioning of superpowered society, and that while intelligence counted as well, someone had to do the grunt work. He further pressed his argument by saying that one can be both intelligent and strong at the same time, and that being a Guile Hero did not mean losing all ability to fight. So in response, the Goddess of Truth and the God of Heroic Guile gave him the power to fight and think at the same time, charging him to make the superpowered fighters of Rhea 'think harder' and be 'more intelligent'.

Powers:

Core Power - Primordial Truth: Snow can always tell whether someone is lying or not; this works on omissions, metaphorical truths, or turns of phrase. This is because his power is keyed to another person's desire to deceive, meaning that one has to think they are telling the truth in order to get one over on him. Not merely that, but this ability allows him to see through all illusions and mental effects meant to decieve; this is not a perfect defense, as brute-forcing him with a mental compulsion still works if Snow's willpower cannot deflect it.

First Power - Mana Burn: Snow can launch bolts of silvery-white light from his hands that do not physically harm the enemy (unless they're made of Magic); the bolts instead consume their Mana reserves. This slowly weakens the enemy's ability to use their magical powers and blessings, until they are either unable to use magic entirely or collapse from exhaustion caused by lack of magical energy.

Second Power: Speed of Thought - Snow can turn his body into a ghostly form much like Vittiorio's, only it works by turning himself into information, not astral matter. As he directly transforms his body into the essence of knowledge, this is less and more vulnerable than Vittorio's Astral Projection. Less, because it can stay incorporeal and invisible indefinitely, as well as fly, and more, because it cannot shift into a semi-corporeal form; Snow has to turn back into a full human in order to interact with anything that isn't ghostly.

And nor can Snow cast spells while incorporeal, or phase inside people and turn corporeal while still in them. Anti-Magic, Mana-Absorbing Sticky Foam, and attacks that can harm intangible beings can also harm Snow's ethereal body, and any damage caused by them manifests as burns when Snow transfers back into a human. And of course, too much damage can kill Snow permanently.

Third Power - Fusion Dance: A third power that requires the second one in order to function, Snow can 'fuse' with another person to become one being, gaining access to the memories and knowledge held by said other person. The latter, in turn, gains access to upgraded versions of Mana Burn and Speed of Thought; the former now inflicts physical as well as magical damage and the latter now allows one to be semi-incorporeal like Vittorio can be in order to attack; note that this also makes one vulnerable to being attacked, also like Vittorio's. The main drawback is that Snow can only fuse with people who give him permission to combine with them; on the plus side, this permission gets around Anti-Magic or Un-alterable forms and powers that prevent fusion.

Relationships:

No existing relationships yet.

Royal Rumble!

William Ascot

Things went downhill fast. While he had been formulating a counter-argument to Vera's tirade, the Half-Demon's minion hopped up in front of him and told him to keep away. To this, Ascot's own answer was: "I am sorry, but I don't think you should be here either, by the same token. I am sure that you have some hidden power that can prove my undoing, but I am willing to risk it because I need to get back to safety along with Andras." He then jumped back a little, and drew his sword. "So please, we've been pretty lenient, but leave off. And don't think I haven't noticed Andras' attempted kidnapping out of the corner of my eye!"

Activating his single copy of Michael's Body Art (Strength), Ascot lashed out at Darla, a super-strong palm aimed at her stomach to knock her unconcious in one single blow; this would have worked if she was not a sapient puppet. But alas, she was, which would prevent him from turning to help Andras.

@Crowvette@KillamriX88

Alexander Ascot

In the apartment, Alexander would pull $4000 out of his wallet and give them to Aram, saying, "Hand these over to King; this is the downpayment. There will be a further $6000 upon the completion of the job. But remember, make sure that my brother is unharmed; one hair on his head harmed and I will crack down hard on anything you do that violates even the most obscure of laws. Do you guys get what I am saying?"

He then heard the sound of a body crashing into a pile of squishy garbage, and continue: "I am going to go check up on who fell into that dumpster over there." The officer then left, walking outside the apartment to try and find Samoth, who might be fishing himself out of the trash right about now. Sighing, Alexander would then offer a hand to Samoth, before saying, "I think you need to get cleaned up. Also, I found out from Alto's driver that the kids you were rescuing were...bad kids, as far as St. Laurel's can have bad kids"

"If so, it is plausible that they are engaged in a conspiracy against your school itself, or are being used as pawns to get at your school. So I have something else for you to do." A smile.

"If St. Laurel's own worse students are plotting against it, I want to know. I think you'd want to know either. And if they are, and it is exposed, I want their protection from actual justice taken away and they shipped off to Juvie. I'm sure that plotting against the school would lose them the Faculty's desire to cover things up, right?" Alexander's eyes glinted with reflected light as he finished with:

"Just a thought."

@RoflsMazoy@Dezuel@Bartimaeus@Scarifar@Gentlemanvaultboy

Digimon: Counting Stars

I would like to throw my hat into the ring and take the power of friendship. Also do the Digimon have to be Cannon or can we use Orginal Digimon. Forgive me if I missed it in OCC just got back from a hard ass day at work so just want to relax.

@Mike the Bloodwolf

Friendship is open now, and Canon and Original are both permitted. It's just that with Original, you can't use Pokemon images.