Lewascan2

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [Complete Redo]

Not sure if I'll actually join, but made a submission thingy to spice up the galaxy a little.

Planet Mortigurn/Ur-Kavurna System

Planet Name: Mortigurn

World Type: Continental World. Mostly grasslands, mountains and jungles, with some minor deserts and frigid poles.

Classification: Class R (a rogue planet, not as habitable as a terrestrial planet)

Moon: One Class-K planetary body named Arnor.

The Civilized Populace: Mostly humans with members of other races sprinkled amongst the populace. The planet is practically the wild west in some senses. Just about anyone can be found out there, seeking risky fortunes.

Population: 537 million.

Tourism: Due to the hostile "fauna", the planet is a "tourist attraction" in the same sense that Africa or the deep sea often is, best appreciated from a distance. Some daring poachers and dare-devils will brave riling up the hornet's nest that is the planet's "wildlife" for pleasure or profit, but rarely does any outsider with a decent head on their shoulders choose to lay down roots. There is an implicit risk to one's life in visiting, so touring the planet for anything other than necessary business is generally considered madness. That being said, there are a great many fantastical and often impossible-seeming sights to be found if one is willing to take the risk in this supernaturally-charged environment.

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System Name: Ur-Kavurna.
Star Class: A-Type main sequence star (bright blue).
Planetary Bodies: One planet, eight gas giants, five asteroid belts. There is evidence that, at one time, there used to be other potentially habitable planets in the solar system, but if so, they have long since perished to some unknown cataclysm.
Location: Located on the "outer rim" of the Ascendency of Man's remaining territory, this area of space is often referred to as "badlands", rife with pirates and potential run ins with incursions from enemy nations.

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Landmasses: Roughly almond-shaped, a supercontinent the size of all the planet Earth's land combined stretches vertically far enough to reach both planetary poles. Various islands are scattered around it and throughout the ocean. From a distance and at the right angle, the planet almost appears to be a giant, slitted eyeball, predatorially assessing all those that dare approach.

Waters: One singular major ocean surrounding the supercontinent on all sides, divided into two generally classified "western" and "eastern" seas. There are seven great lakes dotting the continent and ninety-three rivers crisscrossing its vast expanse.

Notorious Monsters/Creatures: Mortigurn is infamous, a planet of wonders and horrors in equal measure. Buried deep within the planet is a wild nexus of Dimensional and Change magic, existing for a simple and terrible reason: Mortigurn is alive... and angry. The nexus is its magical core, leylines its veins, the crust its skin and the ores within its flesh and bone. Every native creature upon it is its blood cells... and its white blood cells are quite formidable indeed. Mortigurn has long loathed any outside entity, those pesky sentient specks of dust that come from the stars to drill into its bones and suck out its marrow. As such, Mortigurn responds in kind. That is to say, with no kindness to be found. Using its magic, Mortigurn, from the moment it understood the purpose of invaders, has sought to exterminate them, summoning forth monsters and abominations through its core from throughout the multiverse. At the same time, it uses Change and Mind magic to alter even its own inhabitants and set all of them upon the surface dwellers with a righteous, hateful fury, killing and destroying until it is stopped by sufficient force. While Mortigurn could wipe the invaders out with unending hoards, it considers itself to be "fair and magnanimous" to a point. It doesn't send its monsters after those that flee the planet, and those that stay it meets only with equivalent force and retaliation to what they have "stolen" from the planet. For example, if one were to kill a mouse with a grenade, the equivalent response would be a monster that makes the human look like the mouse in the resulting scenario. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

Altruism is returned to a degree as well. Certain areas of the planet, therefore, are safer, assuming they are manned by the environmentally conscious. However, there is no known limit to how far the planet will go if necessary. Mortigurn is spiteful, and in the case of the Ascendency of Man at one time dominating its surface with overwhelming force, the planet chose to actively destroy all but one of its continents and overturn the surface world order. Bases made upon its moon were assaulted with space-faring abominations, and devastation was unleashed in a cataclysm that many dare not even breathe word of. And as quickly as that devastation came, it retreated, the planet once more returning to a manner of languid and comparatively half-hearted retaliation. Ever since, none have dared to truly test the planet's patience, and a far more restrained and environmentally conscious form of progress has been used. In the end, one thing was explicitly certain: if it could not protect its resources, Mortigurn was not above denying them to everyone to make a point.

Level of Development: The technology level of the planet is generally the same, capable of basic spacefaring travel and rudimentary FTL. Although, various settlements and factions jealously hoard their advancements for the sake of not raising the overall "threat level" as quickly. Aside from those that choose to brave the wilds using more "barbaric" means, there is no functionally distinct difference in technological "eras" between the notable locales, aside from some specializing in certain tech or magic more than others. In particular, inhabitants tend to specialize in biotech and environmental advancements. Efficiency is key, making more with less. Solar power and clean energy derivatives are the only legal source of energy production, and those that use less "clean" fueling are generally not treated very welcomely. The military complex is arguably the greatest focus of Mortigurnians, constantly advancing to fend of the planet's attacks and otherwise make harvesting resources actually viable rather than suicide. The military is also advanced for the purposes of fending off other nosey nations and in large-part pirates. Piracy, according to the reckless risk of such actions provoking the planet unduly, is punishable by execution, sometimes by firing squad, often on the spot and without hesitation. Local Mortigurnians typically have a deep and abiding disdain towards pirates, offering no mercy or empathy for their circumstances or the reasoning behind their actions.

Economy: As a part of the Ascendency of Man, the primary currency is Galactic credits. They are primarily exporters of rare ores, fauna and flora. Owing to the energies released by its core warping the planet inside and out, Mortigurn is rich in incredibly rare materials, including high quantities of electrum and (it is rumored) naturally occurring Perfected Electrum deposits. Various ores, fauna and flora that have no business existing within the same solar system all somehow find themselves coexisting on this planet to the degree that one might never know what they could truly discover.

Type of Society: Nature vs Progress. Ebb and flow. Give and take. Always, there is a balance, a price to be paid. On Mortigurn, life is tenuous, always lived on the razor's edge. With such hostile wildlife, those that inhabit this planet strive by necessity not to tip the scales, the take only what they need and nothing more, even as the Ascendency of Man demands more from them, provoking the planet into retaliation. For the sake of survival, the planet is ruled by a cold, calculating and militaristic meritocracy, promoting environmental advancement and preservation while finding ways to safely strip the planet of its resources. At the top are those of an environmentally conscious bent and those that exert great prowess in the "Enlightened Invention" arts. Keeping in mind that the planet does not tolerate "greatness" amongst the "invaders" for long, the greatest ambition of most everyone who lives there is to rise far enough to leave the planet and go on to far greater things on other worlds, where progress will not be stifled by the very land beneath their feet.

Socially, Mortigurn is rather anorexic. In large part, this can be put down to the "survival of the fittest" mindset required to thrive among the sharks of society and -more practically- against the abominations sent to exterminate you. The range of "childhood" is considered much smaller than elsewhere, even if legal "adulthood" complies with Ascendency standards. Left to their own devices, however, Mortigurnians educate and mature their children far more swiftly on average than other systems. Every hand is needed to survive, to advance, to thrive, and weakness and sloth are crushed and burned away without hesitation. Regardless of their struggle, due to the danger of their work, Mortigurnians live in a very wealthy society. They trade often and primarily using Galactic Credits to receive amenities and other materials that would be risky to produce on-world. Nearly all their exports go solely to the Ascendency of Man, and the prices are borderline extortionate. Prices aside, Mortigurnians take pride in their work and turn out only the finest quality products... and the most honed personnel.

A notable outlier societal feature is the existence of the Principles of Arboreism, a religion that sprang up in the wake of The Cataclysm, centered around the worship of the planet of Mortigurn and the preservation of the natural world and order. Arboreists primarily practice Traditionalist magics, eschewing the Enlightened Invention ways that dominate the majority of the planet's populace. Aroboreists are often skilled in Change magic and are able healers. They also commune with the planet using Mind magic to discern its will and present temperament and act as prophets and (some would say) heralds of destruction. They warn individuals and communities that their actions are displeasing the planet particularly and often propose solutions. Though treated with mixed fear and respect, Arboreists are rarely discriminated against, at least not openly, considered by many to be extensions of Mortigurn's will. An attack against them may be seen as an attack against the planet.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

@KaiserElectric
My approval remains standing.
3/3 To the character tab with thee!

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Location: Hdur, Kindeance. --> 5 miles outside Fanghorn

---

The Inn's Farewell (hidered to not break present event flow)

At the nosey redhead(?)'s attempts to appear clever, Veronica snorted, chest briefly heaving in a fairly restrained expression of dismissive mirth. "It's really a wonder what nonsense parents will fill their children's heads with to keep them in line." Sometimes, in hindsight, Veronica found she could be a little too free with her inherited surname. For all that he'd been such a major feature in her life for such a... comparatively mercifully short time to the rest of it, it somehow managed to often slip her mind that the man had history, and in this case, it seemed she had the misfortune to come across two individuals with personal familiarity with it. Still, she didn't feel like rewarding a stranger's prodding at this stage. Less was more. "Coincidences sure are funny things," she only replied blithely, leaving it at that.

To be fair, she wasn't exactly going out of her way to conceal her nature. If she really wanted to, maintaining her protective magic without closing the windows would have sufficed to continue muddying the waters. In fact, she determined it was only inevitable that her state of undeath would become apparent without a good deal of luck. Even so, it wasn't in her best interests to recklessly broadcast it, especially with strangers of debatable trustworthiness. Therefore, the wise thing to do would naturally be to confirm and deny nothing. For her own part, she simply tucked away the casual admission -or claim, rather- that the nosey, weird-smelling Kaito was a lot older than he looked. She wasn't yet sure exactly what that said about his nature, but it would be interesting to follow up on when convenient perhaps.

As it turned out, this appeared to be the right play. The shadowy, bundled man, Solomon... He seemed far more familiar than she'd like with her Sire. In spite of his claims that the meeting had been "less than hospitable", it had also been cordial, and Veronica wasn't sure what all that must have said about the man. For all she knew, "cordial" might mean Solomon was allies with her Sire, had a contract or some other inconvenient pact that would see her in some very hot water if she... Well, perhaps it was best not to be too free about mentioning her Sire's demise until she could feel out his apparent acquaintance better.

And so, as she was want to, Veronica lapsed into quiet observance, allowing herself to drift away from the conversation in order to observe and catalogue. The great thing about other people, honestly, was that they loved to talk, to needle and prod, gloat and reminisce, and carelessly present more than their fair share if only you were to pay attention and resist doing the same. And in doing so here and now, Veronica learned... quite a bit.

"Kaito" -if that truly was the obvious trickster's name- was an illusionist, older than he looked, and quite possibly not showing his true face in a very literal manner. The last thought was not so much implied by either conversationist, but more a paranoid possibility Veronica felt ought to be logged. He was born with "natural talent", which on its own wouldn't have been any clue as to his nature. After all, she too was born with a "gift". However, his claims that he had studied with no-one, that it had come naturally, and that it was a familial trait? That implied a genetic predisposition to the magic, which had some implications. Nothing she could say for sure, but more an intuition on the tip of her tongue. Also, apparently, he was a glib hand at bluffing... or so it appeared. For a moment, Veronica had almost been convinced that Kaito was already aware of her nature, but he claimed he thought the existence of her Sire a mere children's parable. "Claimed" being the operative word. Honestly, the more she heard him speak, the less she trusted a single word out of his mouth to be delivered without a double-meaning or alternative aim. She would have to be more careful with him going forward.

Solomon, meanwhile, was the now obvious source of the medicinal smell, undercut by something... other. Given the new context of his cordial association with her Sire, Veronica now had a few more possibilities to tack onto her list. He was apparently both a mundane medic and a possible magical healer. Although, the latter was less directly stated... and he was apparently inferior to the actual bear at said healing. Would wonders never cease? Aside from that, the man was a clear mystical scholar... a very ambitious one too. Wanting to bring back the dead? Veronica politely held her tongue on that matter. "One step at a time" was damn right.

Besides, Veronica didn't know a whole lot about matters involving death and the afterlife, but she did know that every tale that spoke of such things tended to emphasize the toll to be paid, often without even resulting in true success. Hell, she was a "living" example. Vampirism itself was an example. For all that one gained, they lost much of what made life worth living. They became a predator of their own kind, something innately, irrevocably other, no matter how much she'd like to pretend otherwise. She knew that her turning, at least for a moment, had killed her. She had seen... Well, maybe not seen so much as experienced something incomprehensible, something that had burned into her memory and yet remained utterly indecipherable regardless, searing a fear of death into her that she had taken... a decently long time to overcome. Regardless, vampirism was, in a sense, at least one true method of resurrection...

But Veronica was quite sure it would not suffice for Solomon's purposes. Given his association with her Sire, she had good reason to suspect that he thankfully didn't consider such methods viable on a large or practical scale. Ironically(?), that just made him seem... almost even more arrogant or naive than she'd initially thought upon hearing his ambition. He didn't just want to resurrect people. He wanted to be able to do it without paying a price. Foolishness. But far be it from her to stop him from figuring that out on his own.

---

A measure of Veronica's attention to her internal musings was drawn away by the intrusion of the inn's owner, who was... Gosh damn it. Yet another outsider now in on the mission... and again at the fault of the damn elf. As the "baker" and Jazdia drifted away to a different room, Veronica turned her near inhumanly keen hearing far more towards them than the conversation of her tablemates.

The back and forth between the owner and Jaina confirmed the vampire's suspicions, much to the quiet clenching of her jaw. So, the elf -and most likely those injured among the team- had been responsible for the bombings in the Capital. She resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands upon hearing more. The Black Serpent Guild had been riled and its leadership annihilated by Jaina and her band or hooligans, and worse, the mysterious additional stray they'd brought back was a formerly enslaved mage with a potential bone to pick. Not that Veronica had any issue with rescuing slaves on principle, but still...

Her eyes narrowed ever so minutely at the talk of some form of magical devices, at least one of which appeared to be anti-mage, lips pursing in consideration of the knowledge that Jazdia had once been part of some now defunct organization... which again sounded like it should have rung a bell. The vampire's expression remained neutral, but her mien turned cold at the mention of innocent casualties... ones that might have been the direct result of one of the team's actions. Jazdia refused to name names, but there weren't a whole lot of options to choose from anyway. That left Kaito, the Samurai, the infamous rogue Rosenving, the AWOL Henri... or even Jazdia herself, either by accident or necessity.

The conversation soon wrapped up after that. And though nothing further incriminating seemed to have been said, the damage was done. Crimson eyes carefully followed the elf's retreat up to the second floor, soon pursued by Captain Matilda. Almond-shaped pupils narrowed to furious slits. So, now she was to tolerate willful murderers of the innocent and those that would cover for them as her comrades?

Closing her eyes, the vampire leaned back in her chair and reached for her magic, casting out her Sight, as the world opened up to her in a watery haze that began to clear with her sharpening focus. As usual, there was a manner of out of body sensation that accompanied being able to look down at her own self, before she turned her sensor away and sent it up the stairs after Matilda and Jazdia, sounds also beginning to bloom into her perception to go with the sight. Warbly and almost like they were coming from underwater, but clearer the longer she focused. Listening in to the orc and elf, Veronica quirked her ears in curiosity, before her brow furrowed in frustration.

Honestly, Matilda was far too trusting for her own good sometimes. But that was fine. Veronica had enough caution -some would say paranoia- for both of them. As the conversation reached its conclusion, the pale girl quickly released her sensor and excused herself from her table wordlessly, setting about finding herself a good seat by the fire to perform equipment maintenance. It wasn't like there was a whole lot else for her to do for the next twelve or so hours.

---

Night fell, and all too soon after (if not soon enough for Veronica's liking) so also came departure into the night. There was a chill in the night air, but for the pale girl, it was an almost comfortable clinical feeling. The atmosphere and environment, somewhat to her chagrin, were exactly suited to her nature, and she couldn't help feeling comfortably at home under the stars. There was the offer of a horse, but she declined it. She was faster on foot anyway at the pace they were going. As if she couldn't outrun a cart. Bah. Besides, the animal in question didn't seem all that enthused with the proposition of her mounting it to begin with. It was hardly too much of a surprise. Beasts could have the strangest intuition sometimes.

So it was that that she found herself riding in the front seat of the cart, casting her night vision about at the lands illuminated by the moon in varying flavors of shadow. She'd have preferred to park herself in the back of the cart, but it turned out to be very much filled with bear. Reinhold lead the way slowly but steadily towards what was apparently turning out to be Fanghorn, and Veronica had to fight the urge to be up front with the comparatively vulnerable guide. Her instincts as an assassin steered her otherwise, however; tarrying in the potential line of initial fire was not where she would be most valued. Her time and energy was best spent elsewhere. Between her vision and magic, she kept a whether eye out for trouble in the immediate vicinity for the next few hours.

Four hours in, around 3 AM was when things got a little more... interesting. Initially, Veronica hadn't had any intention of making any more deep scries until the place of the Prince's imprisonment was well in sight. However, Matilda insisted, and so she complied. Only... the results were not as she had been expecting. The fact that she had broken through at all came as a surprise. Even more shockingly -or rather inconveniently, her vison seemed to have been... redirected to Pesti, the village further away?

Well, redirection was certainly one possibility.

As the group slowed their pace and began dismounting to consult the map once more, Veronica's lips pursed tightly in consideration, unrolling the map under the light of Jazdia's enchanted arrows. Questions were rolling in, and she did her best to answer.

"How much is the enemy on each site?" she began, eyeing Veronic. "In Pesti especially."

"I honestly couldn't say," the vampire responded with a frown. "I only maintained my scry long enough to backtrack out of the prince's residence. There were guards in the threatening plurality. That's not in question. But I was more concerned with getting the most out of the apparent crack in the defense I entered. No telling if I'll be able to do it again." She jabbed a finger down at the mountainous region of the map. "My greater concern was guiding my probe through the building and finding a window as fast as possible to get a look at the mountains and determine the locale's orientation, just to be certain that I wasn't being redirected." She shook her head. "Which is to say, I can be fairly confident that, regardless of where he might have been before, the Prince is now in Pesti. Fanghorn is probably a trap at best."

"Veronica, what are the chances of our enemies noticing the scrying?" Matilda wasn't well-versed in matter of magic, but she had better general knowledge than most. Skilled far-seers were great boon, but nowhere near impossible to predict and counteract. "And as the elf said, try check the amount of potential hostile on both sites. Surprise may no longer be on the table now, if we are to divide our force we need to split it accordingly."

Veronica's head swiveled to the Guard Captain, and she shrugged. "Given that the King is unlikely to have ceased his own attempts to scry the Prince, the surely constant barrage must be muddying the waters if the barrier is, in fact, capable of back-tracing scrying. Oh, I've little doubt they know people are attempting to scry them, but I don't really see any reason why the enemy would notice anything specific is off on that end. They would be expecting to be scried, after all, so it -perhaps ironically- wouldn't stand out for us to be doing so." Cupping her chin with one hand, she snorted. "I doubt such a firm ward would also contain a capacity to trace scrying back. If it could, it would be much less defensively powerful."

Her brows furrowed at the suggestion to split the group's forces. Kaito's own interjection regarding the suspect integrity of the present situation also got her nod. "If I may," the vampire posited, "it seems like the last time this group split in two, one half was nearly wiped out by a trap from our foes, and they'll be likely even more prepared this time. I don't think we should split our forces unless absolutely necessary." Nodding to Matilda, she continued. "With distances like these allowing us to quickly reach either village within about an hour or two from the other, it would behoove us to commit to wiping out each potential enemy one at a time with our full strength and then quickly engaging the other thereafter."

Sitting down, Veronica laid the map across her lap, adopting a bit of a thinking pose. "Way I see it, there's a few scenarios: the prince is in Pesti after being moved by his captors who were warned of us coming. The prince is still in Fanghorn, but my scrying is being redirected to Pesti. The prince is actually in Pesti, and the enemy doesn't know that we know. In the first case, Pesti is a trap, but one baited with what we want. In the second, Pesti is still a trap and also a red herring. In the last, Both places are a trap, but Fanghorn is likely the more dangerous one. Point is..."

Veronica shook her head, trying to pull herself free of the deluge of internal concerns and contemplations that threatened to overwhelm her. "My intuition is that we should act according to how Kaito here suggested the enemy may be planning and so counter them, fully committing to whichever front we pick, crushing it and then moving on to the other. If we find the prince in one place? Lucky us. If we don't?" the pale girl shrugged. "Just means that we now won't have the other locale's inhabitants potentially hunting us down while we're vulnerable escorting the prince back home." Working her jaw, Veronica considered the matter further. "I don't have numbers on troops quite yet for either location, but I can see about changing that."

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

She honestly had done her best to stay uninvolved. Really, she had. She had wanted to leave the defense to the Philippines and their sellswords and volunteers alone, and to be fair, they had been doing a respectable job thus-far. They had managed to inconvenience two of her old colleagues in a significant manner, baited out and defeated Huo Ren in pitched battle quite notably. Under nearly any other circumstance, that would have been the end of it, a glorious underdog victory of the home team. But now...

Blood soaked into the boiling earth. Ash filled the blackening sky. Nightfall was encroaching upon the Lingayen Gulf and the retreating Chinese fleet, but even with Second Lieutenant Noel's power to drive the enemy berserk, it would be useless when the only enemy that presently mattered was alone. To say nothing of the fact that the Snake was quite sure the terrakinetic didn't really consider anyone an ally. She was as liable to go on an even bigger rampage than not.

Aligned with the space between the city of Lingayen proper and the beach, pitch-black anti-air emplacements boiled from a tar-like lake of ooze, cyberpunk “veins” glowing with an internal emerald light and unerringly tracking the incoming artillery of the Chinese fighting retreat. With an ongoing cacophony of thunder, the sky was filled with shrieking molten steel, all of which deftly managed to evade striking the allied Lotus Squadron, even if sometimes by frightening inches. Fireballs erupted across the darkening sky, as missiles and artillery shells alike were stricken midair. Their speed meant nothing to the functional processing power of the world's greatest super-computers working in concert, guiding the prediction algorithm of the defense. Though the gun emplacements themselves were not fast enough to follow the shots alone, with sufficient calculation and magnified sights, the path of those shots was already determined the moment they left the Chinese ships.

Under the conditions of pure logic and physics, the assumption that the fired ammunition would not deviate from their determined paths, it was about the closest thing to precognition that she could manage. All of it through sheer processing power.

Lei Qingshe sighed, leaving the defense automated, a lingering instruction to regain her attention should it falter the last of her concern on that front. She turned her attention to the real problem, a tidal wave of earth, the massive golem leading it and the volcano far beyond them that the first two would be "stalling" for. To be honest, Qingshe quite doubted the volcano was even necessary at this point, but let it never be said that -for all her eccentricities- Tian Fei was not thorough when it came to destroying her enemies and looking good doing it. If she wasn't such a piece of shit, Qingshe might even have been able to genuinely appreciate the showmanship.

However, the enemy had just irrevocably raised the stakes, in both a symbolic and possibly literal threat of extinction. Qingshe wasn't entirely certain how serious Tian Fei was about carrying through with the implied threat, but she had no intention of taking chances. The Chinese, by all rights, should want to capture the Philippines and its resources intact, both in terms of infrastructure and potential labor forces. That was the rational course of action. That's what she should easily be able to expect. It's what she would have expected... before the Downward Descent got involved. Tian Fei wasn't just beholden to the Chinese. This confidence of hers... This overwhelming might. If Qingshe didn't miss her guess, then right now, Tian Fei was either already beholden to an infernal contract... or looking to prove herself worthy of obtaining one.

The genocide of one pesky little enemy nation would be a small price to pay for a second Noble Arm... right?

With her macro-micro terrakinesis, Qingshe had exactly zero doubts that Tian Fei could manufacture effects that would spread even beyond her typical range. If she wanted, the terrakinetic had no functional restriction against creating fault-lines whole cloth and fracturing the island nation into pieces. There was no reason that Tian Fei couldn't, at any time, decide to annihilate what would likely be the majority of this entire island and plunge it into the sea. The only reason she likely wasn't? The woman was an incorrigible sadist. She wanted to take her time, to leisurely pick apart her opposition, to drive true despair into their hearts, to crush their spirits long before she crushed their bodies. Oh, Qingshe knew perfectly well, the only reason the defense had a leg to stand on was that Tian Fei still wasn't taking them seriously. Even with Qingshe there, a fellow A-Rank, the terrakinetic was unerringly confident. Did she have some sort of trump card up her sleeve, something prepared specially for the Snake? Impossible to say.

But that was enough wool-gathering. The time for observing was over.

Now was for action.

"Priority message:," Qingshe broadcasted through the allied Philippine channels, once in English, then again in Filipino. Her Chinese accent was as lilting as ever, but her tone had gained a serious edge over her normally playful voice. Simultaneously, her voice was echoed by the many serpent heads bobbing above her ooze, just in case anyone lacked a functioning communication device. "For those yet unaware, the enemy has deployed a terrakinetic structure in function not dissimilar to a volcano. I do repeat, this is not a drill. Environmental hazards are imminent. Evacuation of non-Arms Masters and wounded is highly recommended."

As she spoke, simple, glossy-smooth archways began to rise from the crackling ooze near anywhere she could find survivors. Although, they were less arches and more blank, tombstone-like structures, tall enough to slightly exceed the height of most adult humans. A layer of ooze glided up either side of the arches. "Stride through the ooze of the provided arches to be furnished with appropriate environmental protection. While it won't save you from a dip in lava outright without the aid of a Noble Arm, at the least, you shouldn't be crushed by suffocation of ash or smothered by the heat alone." As a proof of concept, she "nudged" a few lucky guinea pigs through one side of the arches, and they came stumbling out the other garbed in a suit not unlike what a volcanologist might wear. The normal aluminum-y silver of the suits, however, was replaced with the perhaps by now expected black and green aesthetic of Qingshe's structures, and more notably, all the recipients' gear and weapons were left outside the suit, presumably because they'd be impossible to safely access otherwise.

While that was ongoing, Qingshe's slitted eyes narrowed upon the ruined western lands. Thousands of small but sensitive heat sensors already sprouted from her expanded shadow, earnestly casting their gazes across the lands bathed in unbearable heat for some sign -any hint- of the terrakinetic's true location. It made little sense. Under these conditions, how was the terrakinetic not endangering herself out in that mess? Qingshe knew Tian Fei had no special defense against heat, so how wasn't she burning herself alive? She obviously had a pocket of cold somewhere, but just how was she hiding it? It had to be closer than expected by now. Qingshe was confident. Tian Fei's range was terrifying, but not dauntless. For Tian Fei to attack in the manner she presently was, using a remotely controlled golem vanguard, that would mean she would surely have to be getting physically closer too. The only question was: was Tian Fei muddying the waters? Qingshe might be able to triangulate her, but she didn't yet know the boundaries of Tian Fei's effect, not from her present position. Could she remedy that?

Broadcasting again, Qingshe stated, "I need sharp eyes in the sky and some determination of how far the enemy's direct power extends. With the right angle, the inward flow of the lands should suffice for an approximation." Inhaling slowly and then huffing, she added, "Moreover, as an immediate concern, for all those that can still manage to fight even now, your priority until the terrakinetic is located should be venting that volcano! She is building up pressure, and we need to release it yesterday and in a manner she'd not prefer." Firming her tone, she reluctantly spoke more demandingly, with the air of a commander. "I don't care how you do it, but blow some holes in it! Get that lava flowing out the sides and not the top. And avoid venting it in the direction of the city, or Tian Fei will surely take advantage!"

"As for the golem and the wave..." A smirk quirked up her lips, exposing elongated incisors.

There were shrieks of displaced air, as several flickers trailing flames rocketed from her ooze, pealing through the sky and scattering, the projectiles splitting into dozens upon dozens of smaller projectiles... all of which promptly impacted the earthen wave and the golem with a sound like the world ending. A series of practically simultaneous detonations turned the near horizon into a curtain of billowing flame and sundered earth, the earthen wave reeling back from the missile barrage and the golem staggering back to an upright position, gushing great gouts of black smoke and oozing burning molten earth all over its surroundings. A shockwave of displaced air slammed into the surroundings, rippling out for over a kilometer in every direction.

"Well, feel free to contribute if you like, but I do believe I can hold the line for a while yet~."

@Letter Bee@SkyHresvelg@Sniblet@Senhara@Conscripts@Gerlando@Nimbus@Aisede@Chiro@MagusDream@Creative Chaos@The Man Emperor@Landaus Five-One@The World

The Wards: A Grimdark Teenage Superhero Story (Rebooted!)

There's a discord server?

Anyways, I'll see what I can do to expand the backstory and trigger event. I was a bit confused on that part.

Do trigger events have to physically violent in nature to force enough stress on the mind or body to activate the powers?

As for the powers, I guess I can change it

@Ever Faithful

Yee, there's a discord. Although, I guess someone will need to poke a GM about inviting you at some point.

Nice! Can't wait to see how the expansion turns out.

Trigger events can be physically violent, but not always, just commonly. Pure mental distress works just as well for certain power types.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Location: Hdur, Kindeance.

---

Veronica had lapsed into silence after her conclusive acceptance of the Guard Captain's statements. Matilda's final word on the matter was all she needed to hear really. She wasn't sure if the elf's words to her were meant to be provocative, but she had no intention of humoring them presently. The matter of when the team left was the mandate of Matilda alone, not the vampire, and certainly not this elven upstart. So, she ignored the elf's attitude. It wasn't like her opinion really mattered anyway.

It was adorable that the elf thought she was somehow leading "people" in this operation. Although, it became sufficiently clear thereafter that Matilda did not seem to have as tight a hold on the reins of this operation as she should. Veronica could understand negotiation for the sake of the team's health and effectiveness, but the elf seemed more insubordinate than not. Then again, this operation being as "off the books" as it was, how much of a formal structure could she really expect. There was the King's orders, Matilda as a contact and, in theory, nothing more than that. A command structure might as well have been a suggestion.

Regardless, it seemed as though a plan had been finalized. They would depart shortly before midnight. Veronica nodded, despite wanting to shake her head. Even though such conditions couldn't have possibly been more favorable for herself, she was less confident in the capacity of her far more "living" members of the team. She certainly hoped they all at least planned on having a power nap before departure, or things might get ugly if they ran into trouble.

"Reinhold, Ingmar, and Bertolf. Witness to the kidnapping, if they're telling the truth. Reinhold even doggedly tracked them down to their lair, for... personal reasons."

Apparently, the hunters were active assets? So, this must have been Matilda's so-called "contact". Hopefully, that meant that this "Reinhold" would be the final nail in the coffin in terms of locating the Prince. Between the narrowed likely locations and his guidance, success seemed closer than ever. Veronica incrementally ratched up the sleeping hunter's survival on her protection list. If it came down to a fight before they could reach their goal, there was now clearly a priority for protection.

"This is lady Veronica. She's a covert operator that frequently works with the crown, and myself personally. I value her skills highly, especially in this kind of investigation."

Starting a bit from her thoughts at the introduction, Veronica only nodded, as she finally rolled up her marked map and slid it back into its case, screwing on the top. Not particularly one to revel in status and praise, she restrained a bloodless little flush at Matilda's words. "You flatter me, Dame Matilda, but I would be able to do little without the gracious confidence of the Crown. All I do is to repay our King's kindness." The corner of her closed mouth quirked upward.

As the room became intermittedly more crowded, Veronica quietly slid her stowed map back into her pack, observing the exchange between the now named Solomon and the boyish man with the annoying musky scent. The latter named himself Kaito, and Veronica's brow briefly pinched at a good portion of his introduction. So, it would seem the elf did already have her own web she was weaving within the team, in spite of the King's orders for secrecy. Yes, Veronica was starting to get a good idea of who was responsible for the bombings in the Capitol, and she wasn't a fan by any stretch of the imagination.

She restrained another frown at yet another new person who wasn't included in the team's original structure. Not only did they have some sort of "rescue" stashed upstairs, there was also this Kaito. Just what sort of careless web of security was this team weaving?! They were catching classrooms in this thing!

"I’m pretty sure that you’re madame Mathilda but from you two I haven’t catched your names yet.”

Though it didn't show in her expression, it almost felt a herculean effort to restrain any expression of her displeasure, as Veronica plastered on a measured -if pleasant- smile towards the newcomer and followed up on Solomon's initiative. "Veronica Blackwater," she responded simply. "I specialize in clandestine operations such as these. Information gathering is my forte." As was bloody slaughter, but that would become apparent in its own time. If anything, it might have gone without saying, considering the present company.

The sound of wooden steps protesting loudly briefly turned her attention to the… bear padding down the stairs. For a moment, in spite of having heard of his existence, she couldn’t help but discreetly stare a little out of the corner of her eye. The man-bear it seemed, however, was on a mission, passing through without a single word. As he opened the door of the inn, Veronica briefly dipped into the watery sensation of her magic, just in case the sun’s rays got lucky, before releasing it with the door’s closure once more plunging the area back into candlelight.

The Wards: A Grimdark Teenage Superhero Story (Rebooted!)

@Ever Faithful
Not a GM, but I'll chime in (hopefully helpfully).
To preface. The GMs have been a little busy, but I've got the go-ahead to offer some advice. Most of the RP activity is in the discord server presently, so I've been privy to viewing the musings and concerns regarding your character. The TLDR, I suppose, to preface, is that Szarlota doesn't so much need an outright rework as she does a fair bit of expansion in several areas.

Personality

To lead off, while there was some head-scratching over Szarlotta's personality, it was nothing that couldn't be shrugged off. Honestly, the only problems that were voiced with her personality that I could see are rooted in her backstory. Namely, that there's basically zero explanation for what made her the kind of person she is. Personally, I think your character is fairly simple in concept when one thinks about it. In short, she's a pathological hypocrite, which is definitely an interesting and fairly unique route to take.

But my opinion aside, there's really no hint as to how and why she became like that. In short, her personality section would normally feel fairly sufficient, but with her backstory as it is, she lacks much depth. A little more fleshing out of the personality section certainly wouldn't go awry. Like, for example, maybe you could include something about how she treats the "hero" business or what sort of persona she wears while in costume compared to her civilian one (assuming there's any notable difference).

Backstory

Probably the part of the sheet that competes for most concern alongside the power, largely because the problems with the backstory effect the rest of the sheet by proxy, specifically the personality, Trigger and, subsequently, Powers themselves.

While there's not really a maximum backstory length, there is an expectation of a decently sized one of several paragraphs at minimum, which I will most certainly grant you, you do have. However, what you have chosen to expend the wordcount on within those paragraphs has been generally considered by the GMs as unimportant fluff that doesn't really impact the character in a manner that explains who she is and how she became how she is. There is far too much focus on Szarlota's distant family history, none of the information conveyed within actually being used to personally impact Szarlota's worldview. We learn almost nothing about her home and civilian life. We see nothing about her troubles and triumphs. We don't get any hints as to what path she has personally walked in life and who/what she's encountered to twist her into the contradictory person she is presently.

We get some hints about her personal life in her skill section, how she's a musician and was trained in gun handling (by who and for what purpose?), and that she's very good at moving around quietly (what reasons would she have needed to become skilled in such a thing?). But in practice, all we really know about her civilian life is that she has sisters, was raised her grandparents, has absent parents and that grandparents have a lot of old antiques. There's nothing about her school or social life, which are notable absences given how she turned out. Because honestly, how does someone like Szarlota result from being raised by seemingly kindly grandparents?

Trigger Event

This is tied into the backstory, but it's significant enough that I felt it deserved its own section. If you have read the OOC OP or otherwise have a good grasp of the Worm setting, then you will know that the way people obtain powers is through crisis and mental distress, which is what largely contributes to the grimdark of the setting. Because the only people with the power to change the world are those who have undergone a mental crisis and a decent amount of misfortune, which isn't exactly conductive to making them the most likely to be altruistic sorts. Hence, villains tend to outnumber heroes 3-1.

Preface aside, Szarlota doesn't seem to have a Trigger event, which is a necessity. There's no real hint at what point in her life she has experienced real troubles, particularly mental crisis. Her personality suggests a fairly mentally unhealthy environment, but there's no clues as to what the contributing factors are. This once more comes back to her anorexic backstory when it comes to her personal life. We've no real hint as to her drives, dreams and hopes for the future. We've no displays of overt misfortune or other build-up that slowly pushed her down until she reached the end of her rope, not even in the sense of an abrupt series of unfortunate events that rapidly stressed and potentially cracked or broke her worldview.

The only thing I can see here that might (and oh, how I stress the word) qualify as a Trigger would be when she put on the mask, but most definitely not on its own. That moment feels like it should be the culmination of something, except that we don't see any hints as to what the build-up was. While the act of putting on the mask, itself, is a pretty weak-sauce Trigger and not fitting to Worm, given the right level of context, it could absolutely work... It just wouldn't work for her current powerset. There's basically no relation to the act and the resulting powers at all. And again, this assumes that the moment she put on the mask was when she got powers.

So, in short, you need a Trigger event worth writing home about. Trigger events are a big deal, so at the least, a reader should be able to easily identify where one occurred even if the "crisis point/culmination" event itself were to be redacted entirely. The backstory needs the addition of some level of build-up to what briefly broke Szarlota.

You don't have to put the Trigger Event on the sheet publicly, but it should be obvious where it would be located if it were conveyed. At your discretion, it can be kept between you and the GM(s) starting out if and until it might recieve a focus in-character. Whatever Trigger you grant her should also have at least some basic, comprehensible reasoning behind why the "crisis" in question merited the formation of the particular powers that it did.

If you're having any trouble thinking of something more intensive or need some inspiration guidelines, here's a link to the Worm wiki and the power categories. Each one has a list of the common themes of related Trigger events. You don't have to use them as an absolute rule, but they make good guidelines. I'll be sure to link all the classification archetypes that currently relate to her present powers as well.
https://worm.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Classifications
https://worm.fandom.com/wiki/Brute
https://worm.fandom.com/wiki/Mover
https://worm.fandom.com/wiki/Stranger
https://worm.fandom.com/wiki/Master

Powers

Her powers are one of the things that concerned the GM the most, but not exactly for the reasons you perhaps might think. To quote Mintz: "it's an ability that removes all stakes in battle for this individual, while also making them completely useless for said battles. Not a great angle to have...." Won't lie, the GM doesn't like this powerset in general. Not sure if it's a gut feeling on their part or only the aforementioned aspects, but I would definitely consider some possible alternative powersets if this one does end up getting a definitive "no" in the end. Other than that, one of the reasons the GM dislikes this power is that there's no elaboration on the conditions under which such a power would manifest. Namely, as mentioned above, the Trigger Event or at least the buildup to one.

That basically summarizes it. There's not enough detail on her power, and in some places it's outright detrimentally vague. It means she feels pretty much unthreatened in any given situation while ensuring she's also mostly useless on an actual practical level. She's basically just a normie that respawns, and her power implies she gets yeeted far away from the battlefield and anywhere that would let her rejoin the conflict and be a practical asset.
As a dissection of her power's vagueness, I'll pose several questions about it:

Szarlota can fake her own death to avoid detection and escape.

Interesting wording using "can". Does that mean her power needs conscious effort to activate? Or is it passive?

Whether it's being killed by bullets or crushed to death, she will simply reappear in a completely different area,

This somewhat implies it's a passive, automatic defense. Also, should probably be noted how fast the "respawn" occurs, whether or not there's any sort of range limit, cooldown or other form of "cap" to what it can do or recover from. Does it recover her entirely to pristine condition, or does it undo only the killing blow(s) and leave her in a stable, mostly functional condition?

undeterred and unsuspected, while leaving behind a corpse that would inevitably disappear without a trace.

"Unsuspected" is slightly presumptuous wording, given that unless there's an actual mental affect backing this, the decoy corpse is only going to fool someone once, maybe twice if they're particularly dense. On the note of the corpse, it'd be worth noting how "real" said corpse is and how long the decoy actually sticks around. Heck, it would be worth noting if it disappears suddenly or slowly fades/crumbles away.

Szarlota can even reawaken in the last bed she slept in after she got killed as if she was respawning from a last save location in a video game. All items not stored in her clothes or in her hands will not reappear upon recovery and must be physically regained.

And here lies the crux of why her power is considered functionally useless when it comes to being an asset to the team. If she's always taken back to the last place she slept, then that will basically kick her out of any conflict in a manner she can't really come back from in a decent time period. Again, there's the wording of "can", however. Does she have to respawn in the last place she slept? What about if someone destroyed the last place she slept? Or will anywhere within a certain distance do? Does she have any level of control over where she'll appear? Could she reappear closer to a fight? Her backstory somewhat implies that she can. If so, that's a whole other can of worms.

Power fine details aside but related, while her power does have some Stranger leanings, that would definitely not be its primary rating based on its function. The "Stranger" aspect would be graded on the secondary, almost incidental capacity to fake her death. The main feature would be some manner of Brute/Mover power due to the survivability aspect and the ability to get out of dodge.

So, she'd be a Brute/Mover/Stranger with a tiny smidge of Master for the Dead Ringer corpses.

If I had to put a numerical rating on her? It's difficult, since the Brute and Mover are almost integrally intertwined.
Her Brute rating is both extremely high due to functional immortality while also being functionally super low in terms of being an actual practical threat on its own in an immediate sense of "combat assets". Her Mover power is the real gem, but its limits are undefined, as is the degree of control over it that she may or might not have.

Basic Power Rating Analysis According to the Present State of the Ability

Brute 3/Mover 5/Stranger 2/Master 1

Brute: While the power is functionally useless in aiding in winning immediate combat, it can let the user outlast pretty much anyone, given time and persistence. No normal person can keep fighting forever against an infinitely respawning foe, so eventually, the power would win by attrition. Still counterable as easily as having a second person to watch your back, to sleep in shifts, if nothing else. Between this and the way the Mover power seems to function, this looks like a far less practical Alabaster. Rating may be subject to increase, depending on how much control over the location of the "respawn" Szarlota has.

Mover: Variable effectiveness? Limits and her capacity to control her destination are unclear, but at the least, depending on the range, it makes containment functionally impossible due to teleportation by death. Suicide while captive can free the user from just about anywhere in theory. Can, of course, be countered by just not fighting them with lethal force and otherwise preventing them from being able to commit suicide.

Stranger: Unless the "unsuspected" description is remarkably literal and not just a play on words, this power will work all of once, maybe twice, before only the truly dense don't catch on to the truth and start ignoring the decoys. Therefore, very low rating. Anyone with an IQ above room temperature can handle it.

Master: Creates temporary corpses that do nothing but look pretty. Supernatural but functionally useless without some shenanigans.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

@Senhara
As I've already gone through this sheet with you before, I've simply been waiting for you to drop it in the OOC properly.
Approval given. 2/3.

The Wards: A Grimdark Teenage Superhero Story (Rebooted!)

Jen Mackens: WATTSON

---

---

"Ah, so it's going to be one of those days, huh?"

---

---

Name: Jennifer Isabelle Mackens

Alias: Wattson

Nicknames: Jen (considers her full name a mouthful)

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Personality:

Punch-clock Hero

“The Quiet One” in a nutshell. A wallflower that prefers to coast through social situations with only the occasional utterance, merely observing and cataloging the important bits of ongoing conversations. It’s not so much that she’s incapable as she is merely antisocial. While she doesn’t like using it, she is capable of social intrigue. Her thoughtful, cautious nature often tempers her words, carefully tailoring them to achieve her desired results. If she doesn’t care to put on a show, however, she comes across as far more sardonic, noncommittal and snippy. At times, this standoffish visage fades, especially when her curiosity and hunger for knowledge are piqued. She is also prone to being more brutally honest with those she considers friends or -at least- friendly acquaintances. Although raised by a law enforcer, Jen has never fully conformed to such lines of thinking. Though she does define several sharp lines in the sand, her judgment is extremely vigilante-esce, believing that the best way to handle threats is to eliminate them such that “there is not even the possibility of them being a threat again”. Her primary restraint is minding whether she could feasibly get away with doing so without consequences.

While Jen has a sense of morality, it is largely tempered by selfishness. Somewhat disturbingly practical, Jen has no interest in heroics, not in a serious sense. She sees it as a dead-end job, even in the literal sense. If she had her way, she would live a quiet, undisturbed civilian life, using her powers solely for her own gain and to protect her personal interests when the likes of reckless Cape activities decide to rudely intrude. In a sense, Jen treats being a hero like a "punch-clock" job. She's there to get her hours in, do her duty, get her pay and clock out, nothing more and nothing less. Her pride and sense of completionism at least compel her to make an effort to give the most rationally sufficient "service" possible according to her job's standards, but otherwise, she is not really the type to go above and beyond the call of duty unless she has no other option.

That being said, she does make some effort to conceal her "conventionally negative" aspects. She has no interest in antagonizing others for no reason and making unnecessary enemies, and by her reckoning, it's much easier to go with the flow where possible. She will follow orders to the letter -even if not the spirit- and generally makes an effort not to come across as a rebellious teenager. She has no intention of making heroics a lasting career and has every intent of quitting as soon as she's in an advantageous position for it, but there's no good reason to let others know that's the case and broadcast her true feelings. It's much easier to catch flies with honey, after all, and she's certain that pretending to be a good little child soldier will serve to smooth over the path of her near future much more nicely than the alternative.

At some point, one might wonder, is this level of selfishness normal? Perhaps it's a power-induced psychosis, an emotional separation to go with the physical separation. Regardless, Jen seems quite capable of acting in a manner outwardly divorced from her drives when needed. On the job, in costume, she plays something of an aloof detective crossed with surprisingly charismatic speaker. She gives hope to the hearts of the masses through encouraging words and actions, saves lives with a pat on the shoulder and two-fingered salute... and at the same time strives to drive fear into the hearts of villains. For her, it is not enough to defeat them physically, but mentally as well, to destroy them so that they will not choose villainy again. She takes especially harsh action on villains that take hostages, and she has little patience for playing to the tune of her opponents. If a villain makes ransom demands, she'll defy them out of spite.

Appearance:
Civilian:
A 5'8", 140 lb. charcoal-black-haired, brown-eyed, athletic, caucasian young woman with a lean, conditioned build. Prefers blue jeans and wide variety of dark cotton shirts or hoodies. Typically prefers solid colors and stuff without brand names plastered all over it. She lives in Redline, Maine, which is -to say the least- cold, so she also favors warm jackets, preferably with hoods for when the chill is especially biting. She dresses practical and for comfort. Style is a secondary thought at best, but she has a basic sense of color coordination and so at least doesn't come across as a visual disaster.

In a word, Jen can be described as “average”, the sort of face you can almost lose in a crowd. Her appearance seems to strike no particularly notable extremes at any given moment. While she is certainly athletic and built like a martial artist -if an obviously shapely female one, it’s almost impossible to tell beneath her baggy favored hoodies and jeans. She doesn’t bother to wash her face, but her skin is naturally clear for the most part due to healthy living. Her shoulder-length hair is hardly anything to write home about, seemingly combed to the bare minimum required to be presentable and only washed enough to not appear oily. The most notable thing about her would be her relative lack of smell one way or the other, apparently a result of unscented soaps. In outward demeanor, she is fairly mild; she doesn’t hunch, nor does she walk with her head held high, merely coasting by on the middle ground.

Cape

A cyberpunk-themed and (mostly cosmetically) armored bodysuit with glowing accents (that have no functional purpose but to look really damn cool), surprisingly breathable while also being warm and flexible enough to allow a full-range of unhindered movement. Courtesy of Fashionista, it is deceptively durable and generally bulletproof to small arms fire, along with stopping non-Cape-based physical assaults. Granted, the protection against firearms isn't perfect, and getting peppered by them would still leave her winded and likely bruised, despite it warding off penetration and keeping her insides inside. The overall purpose of her costume is to make her able to fake being a Tinker, and it has multiple easily accessed buttons underneath a bit of casing on the forearms. Most of them don't actually do anything, though one of them on each arm is a panic button if pressed in a special sequence. Other functional ones activate headlights of adjustable brightness along the jawline of the suit's helmet. The sides of the helmet have concealed buttons for comms, and the helmet has a "silenced" mode that seals it off aside from some oxygen vents to allow her speech to be carried solely to her comms and not any potential listeners. The helmet can also be switched to "fully sealed" mode for hazardous environments, preserving the inside from outside gasses or liquids. All the technological portions of this costume are completely mundane in nature at Jen's request and can be technically maintained without a Tinker; though Tinker assistance certainly helps with part production.

Beyond that, a pouch at the small of her back has space to contain pepper spray, zip-tie restraints, a small flashlight, a taser, an extendable baton, some first aid utilities and her Wards phone.

Jen currently has a couple requests for upgrades that were unable to be made with Redline's current resources. Said upgrades are in the works and would replace the presently mostly cosmetic armor: a layer of shock-absorbing gel to blunt kinetic energy further, allowing her to whether the physical blows of even some Capes. And actually functional armor that, despite being so slim, is deceptively durable, provides protection equivalent to much thicker armor, and doesn't compromise any of her current costume's flexibility.

Costume

Biography:
Raised in a good life, there is no doubt that Jen Mackens was spoiled. She knew it and, more importantly, took advantage of it. To be sure, her life was a mostly average one, middle class at best, but she never really experienced hardship. Or, at least, nothing she would refer to as hardship. Born to the joining of a police officer and a private investigator, Jen grew up exposed to two sides of law enforcement... and wanted nothing to do with them. Oh sure, learning her father's tricks and tips was neat, but they just made it easier to solve daily annoyances. Sure, practicing martial arts for self-defense was only practical and kept her in shape, but it was only a fun hobby. One she was fairly passionate about, sure, but not anything she wanted to dedicate her life to.

Though caring, her mother could be overbearing, her standards high and disappointment in Jen's lack of ambition palpable, but Jen simply chose avoidance in response. School seemed pointless to her. Exposed to her father's often cynical words and worldview, she knew what was actually useful in the real world, that being very little of what she was tested on. Never the sort to enjoy wasting her time, her grades plummeted to just enough to get by rather than excelling, despite her objective intelligence. Scrabbling to decide what to do with her life and trying to look ahead, Jen hit a mental roadblock trying to decide where to invest her energy and where not to, trying to discern a life path that she'd never tire of. Despite pressure from her mother and the encouragement of her father as senior year dawned, Jen found herself completely unmotivated and discouraged. She came to the conclusion to settle for what she might already be good at, martial arts and potentially following her father's footsteps... to her mother’s chagrin.

Tensions were rising until, suddenly, they were cut down for a tension of an entirely different kind. Her mother had disappeared on the job. That was apparent after she didn't come home for a whole week. By the third day, Jen's father was already engaging in his own investigation, and by the fifth, Jen had managed to wring shocking answers from him. As it turned out, her mother was a Cape, a hero outside her normal work, and Jen was far from enthused. Already, she had developed a certain level of disdain for "costumed crusaders", seeing them as net drains on society, whether heroic or villainous. It wasn't necessarily that she cared about society itself, however, as she merely did how much Cape activities might impact her simple life.

Apparently, her mother had been investigating some sort of smuggling ring when she disappeared. While that hadn't actually been conveyed to her father, he had managed to figure it out on his own. One part of Jen wanted to help with her father's investigation. A part of her that loved both parents, regardless of any tensions, wanted to do her part to make sure everyone was okay. A crueler, spiteful part of her that hated being deceived briefly considered that this was as much as her mother deserved for her hypocrisy, for engaging in such a profession and expecting anything but an unfortunate end.

But it was the practical part of her that eventually convinced Jen to disregard emotional drives and approach the situation with realistic cynicism, and as such, she decided to leave well enough alone, to leave it to the professional that was her father and get on with her life. If the situation was really serious, surely the Guardians could be called in. Jen was just a schoolgirl, a normal person in a world of titans. There was no rational place for her in getting involved with something that was too dangerous for a Cape like her mother. So, she would get on with her life, hope for the best and be ready for the worst. It wasn't her business.

As someone surely sensible once said, "she missed the part where it was her problem".

And so proceeded a series of very unfortunate events

Heart stoked with a truly deep and abiding hatred she'd never experienced before, Jen would use her then hospitalized father's teachings and her new powers to go on a one-woman crusade against the criminal organization, ruthlessly brutalizing them and their operations, not for justice but personal vengeance. The capes, in particular, were disappeared, never to be heard from again. While the nature of her power ensured that actual proof of her involvement was pretty much impossible to acquire, reasonable detective work in regard to the incident would see Jen eventually meeting Director Fukuda. Jen, of course, played coy without relent, admitting to nothing, but in being effectively "outed" by the government, she wasn't in a good position to refuse their recruitment "offer". And while she couldn't technically be threatened with actionable legalities, she knew the PRT could ensure her life was a lot more difficult... and potentially find something they could actually hold over her if she put them in a position to dig further.

With her father made aware of the danger their family was potentially in, even with the destruction and overall dismantling of the organization responsible by Jen and the PRT follow-up, that would be the final nail in the coffin to Jen's enrollment in the Wards.

Powers/Skills:

• Athleticism: She is a highly athletic and agile individual with abundant stamina for extended movement/running/fighting.
• High Pain Tolerance/Willpower: She's learned to handle pain and aching muscles while taking fairly brutal martial arts, and gaining powers has only been a wake-up call to push herself to the edge time and again just in case. As long as she isn't entirely incapacitated, it's likely that she'll try to keep fighting.
• Martial Arts: Muay Thai: Even before becoming a cape, she took martial arts and reached a level where she could actually put what she knew into practice beyond spars. Her style is a brutal boxing one using knees and elbows as much as fists and feet, but she's been known to "ad lib" things or forgo form entirely to be more unpredictable. This gives her a certain awareness of where it's safe to strike the human body to incapacitate foes relatively harmlessly... or where she needs to aim to do the most damage.
• Swimming: Can swim pretty well, good enough to handle towing someone with her.
• Out of Phase (Breaker 9/Stranger 7/Striker 5/Trump 2/Mover 2/Brute 1): Jen's power is selective tangibility that moves her into what she perceives as a parallel "world", completely identical to the real one but empty of life. Her power is always active to some degree, leaving her ever so slightly "out of phase" with the world, despite her appearing completely normal to mundane means and senses. As a result of being "dimensionally divergent", she is immune to effects that would alter the level of "Shard energy" flowing through her to alter, neutralize or supplement her present powerset, whether positive or negative, and her mind is always fully out of phase, leaving her immune to abilities that would directly manipulate her mind or control of her body. Thinker powers tend to be unreliable when targeting her.
  
  Beyond her passive state, she can actively push her dimensional divergence further, resulting in varying physical tangibility until she chooses to adjust the degree or undo it. By default, she phases away from everything that she doesn't consider "her" or that she isn’t wearing or carrying, resulting in her becoming completely undetectable and intangible due to not actually physically remaining in her "world", shedding most outside power effects currently lingering upon her. In her phased state, she doesn't need oxygen, food or water, and she has an altered sense of gravity, allowing her to move like she's in space. While phased, she experiences the world as if through a watery filter, the normal world perfectly perceptible to her even if it would otherwise not be, and despite being able to still perceive the world, she is not vulnerable to indirect harm, like blinding lights or deafening sounds, all such things muted by the watery "filter".
  
  Controlling the degree of her tangibility, Jen can choose what aspects of herself remain in interaction with the world and can alter them on the fly. For example, she can allow herself to be heard even without allowing herself to be detected by other senses. She can allow herself to be seen and yet remain intangible. She can attack and physically interact with the world while otherwise remaining undetectable. However, this selective tangibility is "all or nothing" in a sense. While Jen can choose which aspects of herself interact with the world, those aspects she allows are fully vulnerable in return. If she wants to be seen, that means allowing light to hit her, which means being vulnerable to flashbangs. If she wants to strike someone or otherwise physically move something, her entire body will in turn be vulnerable to kinetic harm in general, even if she is otherwise undetectable. While she can choose what she is affected by, those choices apply to her whole body, not just individual parts of it. As such, on an offense level, she cannot, for example, partially phase through the surface of a target, living or not, and strike the interior alone, disregarding the exterior/armor/skin/etc.
  
  There is a small caveat to this "all or nothing" selectiveness in that, by default, her power doesn't phase her through the surface she is grounded on unless she chooses to, and she is capable of walking -or climbing- on normally harmful surfaces while phased without being threatened by them, despite the pseudo-physical contact.
  
  Jen cannot bring other living beings with her into her phased state, and even nonliving targets have limits. If it individually has a greater weight than her own body, she can't bring it; though she can still bring multiple items that altogether surpass that range, so long as they each individually fall below it. That being said, what Jen's power considers to be "wearing or carrying" in terms of her possession is rather lenient. So long as Jen can physically take hold of a target, whether or not it is being worn or carried by someone else, she can then phase away with what she has grabbed, stealing it from the original owner. In this way, she is able to easily disarm opponents or otherwise render them unarmored, presuming her target is within her weight limit. Jen's phased state/realm doesn't allow her to use it like a makeshift "storage", it should be noted, as anything that leaves her personal space/possession while she is phased immediately becomes unphased again.
• Threat Sense (Thinker 2): Any time Jen would be endangered in her immediate future (that is, the next 1-2 seconds), she is immediately aware that she will be in the form of a buzzing sensation. She has no prescient awareness of exactly what the danger will be, only that she, personally, in her present state, will be endangered by it. On its own, this power is fairly useless, but for Jen, it allows her enough time to fully enter her Breaker state to avoid threats. At the same time, it can act as an early warning that removing the protection of her Breaker state in a particular area will be a danger to her. This power does account for degree of threat, however, and the buzzing sensation will intensify based on how trivial or life-threatening the impending threat is.

Other: My favorite power sets involve time stopping or manipulation. Though speedsters are pretty sweet as well.

Theme(s)

[youtube]WIP[/youtube]

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War [Moved to New Thread]

@Landaus Five-One
Backstory oddities aside, they don't actually seem to be a problem on a technical lore level.
Therefore, with power review out of the way, Ayahime is cleared for takeoff. 3/3 approvals. Get her in the character tab!