Master Bruce

Master Bruce's Multiverse Of Madness

Round Two

T H E D E V I L O F H E L L ' S K I T C H E N
T H E D E V I L O F H E L L ' S K I T C H E N

^{"For we walk by faith, not by sight." - 2nd Corinthians, 5:7}

C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y _________________________________________________________ Matthew M. Murdock _________________________________________________________ 34 | Single _________________________________________________________ Nelson, Murdock & Page: Attorneys At Law | American N O T A B L E A B I L I T I E S & T O O L S N O T A B L E A B I L I T I E S & T O O L S _________________________________________________________ [+] - A B I L I T I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ ...A WORLD ON FIRE Though blind, Matt's sense of hearing, smell, taste, and touch are all enhanced to superhuman levels. With focus, he can hear a bird's wings flapping from across the city, smell the leftovers that a deli threw out from the night before, taste the sodium from a bead of sweat, and feel the heat coming off of a furnace thousands of miles below him. As a result, he's able to strike his opponents more effectively, pinpointing pressure points and weak spots based solely on entering the same room. - T O O L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ HELL'S INSTRUMENTS Made up of pieces of industrial piping and walking canes that he's abandoned over the years, Matt has meticulously customized his billy clubs since the start of his career until morphing into their current mechanically savvy variations: spring-loaded with a grappling hook in the tip, with steel cable wires running through them and a simple clip system to render it all into a single piece, creating a bo-staff. Practice has made Matt an accidental expert in wielding them, able to bounce the clubs off of surfaces with precision to disarm and otherwise incapacitate. - N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S _________________________________________________________ [+] - S K I L L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ STREET FIGHTING MAN Trained by Richard Dragon and Stick, Matt is proficient in at least ten different fighting styles, ranging from his late father's trade of boxing to Kali, Muay Thai, Judo, and Jeet Kune Do. Through Elektra's influence, he's also picked up some skills in Wushu, Silat, and Taekwondo. Due to his powers, he's able to deliver blows more effectively than most, aswell as take an incredible amount of damage, as learned from Dragon's meditative techniques. - T A L E N T (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ DEVIL MAY CARE Due to his extrasensory control, Murdock can translate his movements in correspondence to his environment. It's made him naturally more acrobatic, able to pinpoint areas of balance and the trajectory of the air. -

T H E S T O R Y S O F A R... T H E S T O R Y S O F A R... ________________________________________________________________________________________ Blinded in an accident as a child, Matthew Michael Murdock developed superhuman senses that allowed him to function better than any sighted person. But when his father was murdered by a low-level gangster for refusing to throw a boxing match, Murdock's gifts were tempered by rage and a need to fight injustice - in large part because while his abilities confirmed the method of his father's killing, the police had ruled it a suicide. Approached in St. Augustine's by Richard "The Dragon" Drakunovski, young Matt was sent off to his isolated compound and given a crash course in Eastern philosophy. But when The Dragon's teachings didn't help to tame the fire within, Drakunovski sought the services of a professional rival: an embittered blind warrior named Stick. Through the instruction of both mentors, Matt became an incredibly skilled fighter in addition to becoming a master of his senses - irrevocably changed, but still yearning to bring justice to a corrupt system. Rejecting Stick's proposal to take up arms in some ancient holy war, Matt returned to New York and began attending Columbia University to become a lawyer. Mentored by a brilliant-but-eccentric Manhattan attorney named Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, who was looking to leave his lucrative position at a professional firm and establish one of his own, Matt met and befriended fellow law student Karen Page, destined to become partners at Nelson's future startup. Born to privilege as the daughter of a Greek diplomatic envoy, Elektra Nerissa Natchios was rigorously trained in combat from the age of four. From the world-renowned martial artist Sandra "Shiva" Woosan to the ninja warlord Kirigi, Elektra learned from the greatest masters to utilize both her body and its movements as a deadly weapon. Incredibly skilled in most fields, including mastery of the major musical instruments, every known form of ballet, and the study of world history, Elektra's final series of tests came about when accompanying her father to New York: attending college in a public setting. Sent to Columbia University to pursue a degree in business to eventually take her father's place, Elektra met and became immediately intrigued by the blind Matt Murdock, who was searching for his own identity. Deciding to make Murdock her pet project, Elektra relished the opportunity to challenge each of Matt's Catholic schoolboy values, delighting in getting him into trouble with increasingly daring off-campus adventures. Her ultimate goal was to push him to embrace the man that he wanted to be instead of whoever Nelson and Page were trying to mold him into. Then came a dramatic turn in both their lives. Targeted for political assassination, Elektra witnessed the shooting of her father during a campaign rally. In a rage, she caught up with the murderer and viciously stabbed him to death with a set of training sais, fleeing the scene before she could be implicated. Turning to Matt in her time of overwhelming crisis, she then learned about how and why Matt's own father was murdered. Twisted by grief, Elektra sought the identity of "The Fixer" and readily tracked the alias down to a retired fight promoter named Roscoe Sweeney. Tying him up and torturing him, Elektra then brought Matt to Sweeney’s doorstep to exact similar revenge. But Matt refused, using the rule of law and the tenets of the Bible to justify his unwillingness to kill. Despite their growing affection for eachother, Elektra disappeared. Matt sought solace in the church, but was disillusioned after his senses betrayed the fact that St. Augustine's Sister Margaret was, in reality, his birth mother. It seemed that, like the criminal justice system, God had failed Matt aswell. Unable to forgive her for abandoning him, Matt left the church and promptly abandoned his faith entirely. He was unable to reconcile the clash between the teachings of the Bible and the betrayal of the only family he had left. And so a fateful decision came: to get justice on his own terms, Matt would have to use the skills given to him by his mentors and the abilities that allowed him to "see" where others couldn't. So upon graduation, Matt began operating in a different field. Donning a featureless bandana and dark clothing, he became a masked vigilante. Steadily taking on the dealers and murderers that littered the crime-ridden streets of the Kitchen, Matt moonlighted during the day as Karen's legal partner for Nelson, Murdock, and Page. Whenever the courts failed to convict the guilty, Matt would suit up to set things right. Meanwhile, Elektra was approached by Stick after keeping tabs on his former student. Deciding that Murdock was beyond reproach, he offered her an intriguing proposition: embrace her newfound bloodlust by becoming an assassin-for-hire, killing off members of the Yakuza in Japan. With his mentorship guiding her towards rightfully deserving targets, Stick promised that she would slowly avenge her father's death by proxy. Initially agreeing to the terms, Elektra operated in secret for three years - while Matt was fighting street crime half a world away, she would become a wrathful scourge of the underworld. But an instruction from Stick to kill a seemingly mystical force inhabiting a young child, sacrificing the child in the process, broke all pretense of Elektra's desire for vengeance. Bitterly severing ties with the old man, who revealed that her targets were agents of an ancient organization called The Hand, Elektra left Japan five years after fleeing America to rejoin Matt - who she quickly learned was in the midst of his own mission. It hadn't taken Elektra long to deduce that the mysterious "masked man in black" was her former love. What she didn't understand was why Matt insisted on carrying on as an attorney instead of devoting himself entirely to the fight - but this was his life, and he didn't want her to be any part of it. However, it became clear to him that Elektra truly sought redemption - and with Matt's crusade against the criminals of New York yielding depressingly few results even after multiple years of fighting, he admitted to himself that they probably needed eachother. And so whenever Matt wasn't defending the innocent in court, they would train, developing a shorthand for whenever they would set out to cripple the criminal element, night after night. He was called The Devil of Hell's Kitchen. She was called The Black Sky. And together, they were gonna take the Kitchen back. P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Daredevil is one of my favorite characters. And for once, I felt like I had a take on him that wasn't the typical setup - so when I wrote an opening post and it started clicking immediately, I thought "to hell with it". Not only is he not wearing a devil-themed costume even after five years of vigilante shenanigans, but this is a version of Matt that's lost his faith and is choosing to put himself more in the gray of what the system allows versus what justice should be. In addition to having Elektra there playing a literal Devil's advocate to his choices, it will enable him to more honestly explore why he isn't going out there with the addition of executioner to his judge and jury mentality. I'm also playing around alot with his interpersonal dynamics, since that stuff rarely ever changes. Foggy is his boss and mentor, wielding some weight in holding him accountable as an attorney. Karen Page isn't really the love interest with a past; she acts as the person who represents everything positive about what Matt believes in as a true-blue idealist and an accomplished attorney in her own right. His mother's also more of a factor, trying to work her way back into Matt's life now that he's completely shut her out. Of course, Kingpin plays a huge part. He's the wormtongue to the ear of Hell's Kitchen's directionless lowlifes, making things more orderly so that crime is controllable. The bigger change that comes with this is that I intend to use every villain, save for one exception, in a more grounded manner. So characters like Typhoid Mary, Gladiator, Purple Man, Muse, and the rest aren't going to start adopting a costume and a gimmick to rise to meet Matt, acting instead as part of a larger puzzle that makes up the Kitchen's underworld. And of course, there are a couple of other major players beyond Marvel that will play a factor.

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"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.'" - Matthew 23:16

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

T H E D E V I L O F H E L L ' S K I T C H E N

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^{_{M a t t h e w M u r d o c k ♦ D e f e n s e A t t o r n e y / V i g i l a n t e ♦ H e l l ' s K i t c h e n , N e w Y o r k C i t y , N Y ♦}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

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^{"You believe people can change? I don't think we can. Well, maybe we get a little... nicer. A little angrier. But we can't change our fundamental nature."}

Devil's In The Details

Some time ago, a boy from the boroughs of Clinton was blinded in a freak accident involving radioactive chemicals. His father, a prize-fighter who took dives in order to scrape by, promised his son that he'd make a better life for them in light of the accident. What Jack Murdock didn't know is that while young Matty's sight was completely lost, his other senses were heightened to superhuman degrees and gave him a considerably different view of the world. While it became an assault on his daily life at first, he quickly began to learn to cope. It inspired his father, a relapsed Catholic, to start studying again and become a better man. So when his next bout for the Heavyweight Championship came his way, Jack refused the offer to go down in the third. Instead, he K.O'd his opponent - a Russian newcomer named Anatoly Kynazev - within minutes. Matt doesn't remember much about what happened after that fight. Only that he woke up at three in the morning to the sound of arguing and a gunshot, not far from his and his father's apartment. Jack Murdock was found in an alley, beaten to a pulp with an exit wound splattering the wall.

No investigation was ever properly put forth. The police deemed Jack's death a suicide. Matt knew better, having heard other voices and their displeasure that his father would go against the betting racket of a man they called Rosoe Sweeney. But no one would even think to believe a blind kid who hadn't been at the scene. No one would go onto second guess something that Matt indisputably knew was cold-blooded murder. And so eventually, the boy was forced to keep silent, taken in at his local church and looked after by the kindly priests and nuns. Until a man eventually came around, claiming that he believed Matt's story about hearing things that weren't there. A blind old man who called himself Stick.

Stick was a bastard, hard-edged and quick to insult. But he knew potential when he heard it. Matt had the soul of a warrior, even at a young age. So the years went by, as Matt devoted his time between finishing his schooling through the Church, honoring one of his father's last wishes by beginning his studies into criminal law, and training with Stick to overcome his disability to learn how to fight. His heightened senses made him a natural, mastering everything from his dad's trade of boxing to jujitsu, and even parkour and gymnastics, which he took a specific interest in as a bid to better hone his superhuman hearing. At seventeen, Stick thought he was ready to hear the reason that he'd chosen Matt as a pupil. About the war that was brewing between two rival factions. Ancient warriors, practicers of dark magic. Ninja assassins and a clandestine group of fighters looking to prevent their conquest of the world.

It was too much for Matt to buy into. After weeks of fights between him and his grandmaster, Matt cut his ties with Stick and decided that he'd devote himself fully to his studies. Stick honored his wishes, but kept in the shadows, knowing that the offer might seem more appealing when he earned some experience in the real world - with some coaxing, of course. But with his devotion to God keeping his moral compass in check, Matt was determined to engage the system that had ignored his dad's murder and get the case re-opened by becoming a lawyer.

Columbia University came calling, and with that, the first real love of his life - a fellow alumni named Karen Page. The two were of equal minds about the justice system's flaws, and had the same aspirations about opening a practice that made a difference. They just needed someone to mentor them in the way that law in Hell's Kitchen could be properly implemented. Down-on-his luck attorney Franklin "Foggy" Nelson fit the bill perfectly, seeing a couple of promising young talent that could revitalize his struggling practice. Nelson was instrumental in Matt and Karen's simultaneous honors within their class, and they were both primed to graduation within the top of their class.

Unfortunately, Matt's life took an unexpected turn. When Roscoe Sweeney began making the rounds again, looking to buy his way back into racketeering, Murdock was overcome with a desire to finally extract the vengeance that had been denied to him for so many years. While he'd worked so hard to work his way up the ranks within the justice system to put Sweeney away, a burning need to hand out justice with his own two hands was beginning to consume him. It was a mentality that conflicted with the Bible's teachings, but he had to put that aside and seize the opportunity to avenge his father. So, he slipped on a pair of black sweats, wrapped his hands in Muay-Tai ropes, and put a hastily-constructed mask over his face.

By the time he'd made quick work of Sweeney's men, Matt was shocked to sense another prescence enter the fight. A female, judging by her heartbeat and perfume, who had no problem shedding blood to get through the group. While Matt and the mysterious woman squared off for the chance to kill The Fixer, they both realized that the man was already hiding in his top floor apartment, keeled over in the midst of cardiac arrest. While the woman was all too quick to leave the crook to his fate, Matt listened for any sign that he could save Sweeney, having a last-minute change of heart when he realized that he wanted his father's murderer to stand trial. But it was too late. Solemnly, Matt left the building without a word, feeling a hollowness in the pit of his soul. If he couldn't have his revenge, what was the point of it all?

A few weeks later, and the woman - who Matt could identify through her unique body chemistry - arrived at his apartment, unannounced and immediately curious. It hadn't taken much effort at all to identify the masked man that she'd fought in a bid to kill The Fixer, but what struck her was the fact that he was really a blind man that possessed gifts that lent themselves to far greater things than this seemingly mundane existence. Introducing herself as Elektra Natchios, she offered Matt a chance to continue his training where Stick had left off. It turned out that she had also run afoul of the old man, and found his war just as insane. But rather than use his teachings to better herself, Elektra had been hellbent on a quest to avenge the assassination of her own father, a Greek dipolmat on tour in America, which had taken place when she was a child. She freely admitted to operating as an assassin-for-hire, but had grown bored of the life and was looking for an escape. Matt, on the other hand, was at a crossroads.

So the two made a deal. If Elektra could teach him the skills that he needed to complete his training, Matt would show her a better use of her talents - avenging those whom the justice system had similarly failed. If he couldn't bring his father's killer to justice, he'd devote his life to bringing every criminal that had fallen through the system's cracks to justice. So by the time that his graduation with a degree in criminal law was acquired, Matt was already spending his nights fashioning an upgraded black suit to compliment Elektra's own fashioned attire. It left his budding relationship with Karen in a strained place, with the two of them agreeing to be partners rather than lovers, but it was the path that Matt finally felt like he could make tangible a difference with.

And so, with the practice of Nelson, Murdock, and Page established as a cheaper alternative for the less fortunate to be defended in court, Matt Murdock began to make waves himself as the washed-up Nelson's top asset in the courtroom. He seemed to have a superhuman sense of when a plaintiff was lying or not, and could exploit that to get innocent clients cleared of their charges. But when they were representing someone that Matt knew was guilty for certain? He took matters into his own hands. While the law seemed to favor his clients' rights, justice still needed an agent to carry out a sentence. His relationship to God would never allow him to kill, but everything else was fair game. Deciding that he'd take an eye-for-an-eye approach to doling out justice, Matt - along with his partner, Elektra - would don the mask and take to the streets as an unforgiving force of God's wrath. This cruelty, combined with the psychological games that Matt would employ out in the field to get a confession from the guilty, would earn him a feared moniker - The Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

Five years into his career as an attorney by day and vigilante by night, Matt is starting to have doubts about the level of brutality that he inflicts on a nightly basis. His senses allow him to control every encounter so that he doesn't go so far as to strike a fatal blow, but his restlessness along with Elektra's influence has begun to blur the line over where he stands. He seeks weekly penance in the form of confession from a nun that watched over him, Sister Maggie, but he's started to challenge God's wisdom in the face of his own inner-turmoil. He wants to be something better than he is, but he can't figure out what that would be.

Making matters worse is that while he and Elektra have been able to keep the small-timers and the wannabe members of the Maggia out of Hell's Kitchen, there's been a new presence beginning to loom large over the fledgling criminal underworld that's been operating in the district - a distant voice in the ear of every petty crook that instructs them on how to claim their piece of the Kitchen, and the considerable wealth to back up all of these endeavors, so long as they pledge loyalty. This figure calls himself The Kingpin, and while he isn't a major player when compared to the likes of Hammerhead, Caesar Cicero, or The Owl, he's been cutting enough deals to potentially, with time gain control of not just a single operation.. but all the Kitchen's illegal output.

Matt Murdock has a choice to make, and soon. Uphold the law by trying to fix the system from within, embracing a side of himself that yearns for true justice... or let the Devil out for real, letting it consume his soul at the cost of saving Hell's Kitchen from complete damnation?

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

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Only behind Batman, Spidey, and Supes, Daredevil ranks high among my favorite characters. He's someone you can do so many things with, as alot of the prolific runs have taught, but there's something very appealing about his relationship with morality and how he often falls very short. Law and order are nice concepts, but justice is a whole other ballpark, and that's what is going to define Matt's journey towards truly becoming Daredevil - which he distinctly hasn't become, because I want to take the ideas of Born Again and his other low points of Matt's from the comics and use it to enact a tipping point.

He's not a particularly good guy right now, as he maims and tortures criminals without a second thought. The question is, if he puts on the red suit, does he become Daredevil in the traditional sense? Or does he decide that Daredevil is what needs to be feared by all, and really use it as his advantage in an act of letting go of all of the things that he perceives is holding him back?

The reason that Elektra and Kingpin are so focal to this Matt aren't because they're simply enemies to overcome, but they're shadows - echoes of what Matt's inner thoughts are telling him to do. A sort of literalization of the Angel and Devil on the shoulder idea, with Elektra indulging his promise to God not to allow more blood to spill onto the streets while Fisk takes on the role of what Matt would become if he looked at his vigilante crusade as a mission to keep the streets clean, no matter the consequences.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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Supporting Cast:

Elektra Natchios - Matt's partner on the streets, having traded in the life of an assassin for fellow vigilante. While they're devoted to one another and even engage in the occasional one-night stand, Matt refuses to let their relationship move beyond that because of Elektra's willingness to let herself be known by the criminals they fight. As a result, he doesn't include her in his daily life, fearing that she might destroy the only normalcy he has life.

Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson - Matt's boss and mentor. No longer the bumbling sidekick, Foggy is instead an adept, seasoned attorney that runs the practice of Nelson, Murdock, and Page. While certainly still eccentric, wearing bowties and regularly blasting swing music after a hard day's work, Foggy is more authoritative in his approach to holding Matt accountable.

Karen Page - Matt's law partner. As a defense attorney on her own merits with five years under her belt, Karen has remained the heart and soul of what Matt and Foggy do by regularly reminding them what merits the law still has, and taking both men to task when they seem to forget. Karen and Matt harbor feelings for one another, but Matt's distant behavior regarding his off-duty hours - coupled with the times she's found a mysterious Greek woman enjoying his company at his loft - keeps her at bay.

Wilson Fisk - A renowned land developer and leader of business, Fisk is beloved by the public for his unwavering critique of corrupt officials and law enforcement, even garnering him a few supporters for a Senate run. What few are privy to is the fact that Fisk is a mover and shaker behind the scenes aswell, supplying resources and guidance to those in the criminal underworld that need it. This has earned him the codename 'Kingpin', and a spot among NYC's worst mobsters that think he's worth far more to them as an asset than an enemy. Recently, Wilson has taken particular interest in Hell's Kitchen as a testing ground for something that could result in an empire.

Sister Maggie - Matt's biological mother, unbeknownst to him, and his religious counsel.

Lawrence Cranston -

Ben Urich -

Mary Walker -

Leeland Owlsey -

Vincent Patillo -

Melvin Potter -

Jonathan Powers -

Detective Larks -

Detective Taurens -

Officer Day -

Turk Barrett -

Stick -

S A M P L E P O S T:

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A sample post that can be used in the IC if you so desire upon acceptance. This post should provide an example of your vision for the desired character. This sample post should meet all standards outline in the rules and additionally include dialogue, mannerisms and other actions representative of your intended portrayal.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed arcs and stories.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

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^{_{V I C T O R V O N D O O M | S U E S T O R M | J O H N N Y S T O R M | C L I F F S T E E L E
A D V E N T U R E R S ♦ B A X T E R B U I L D I N G , N E W Y O R K ♦ F U T U R E F O U N D A T I O N}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

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^{"Knowledge is power. In all the universe there is no greater truth."}

The Baxter Building is home to the Future Foundation, an organization founded by Doctors Franklin Richards and Niles Caulder with the mandate to improve the world through knowledge. The Foundation boasts a varied staff from dozens of scientific, creative, and general academic fields. It also houses an extensive student roster of what the organization hopes will be a bright, new generation.

Six years ago, the Future Foundation's star students, Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom, designed a device capable of interdimensional travel. They, along with fellow students and siblings Sue and Johnny Storm, and accompanied by the head of security and noted adventurer Cliff Steele, intended to use the machine to open a doorway and explore the strange new world. A malfunction and catastrophic failure put an end to the test, though, as the five were dangerously shunted into the other dimension. Clifford was severely injured in the arrival, his body mangled by a dramatic fall, and a deadly race against the clock ensued as Victor tried to repair the device before their suits' emergency oxygen ran out.

Reed and Victor each accused the other of messing up the calculations and causing the malfunction, and the heated argument led to Reed walking away to clear his head. With little time left, and Victor rushing to fix the machine, the Storm siblings went off to find and return Reed to the group. All they found, though, was Reed's shattered helmet and a cosmic storm that swept over the pair. The siblings managed to barely escape from the storm and return to Victor just in time for the four of them to transport back to their home dimension, leaving the fate of Reed unknown.

Weeks of quarantine followed as the staff at the Baxter Building forced the trio of Victor, Sue, and Johnny to undergo extensive testing to ensure no hazardous material had made it back with them. Cliff, meanwhile, was put on life support as his body slowly failed. During quarantine, the Storm duo began to display extraordinary power, which only prompted further testing at the urging of their father.

Victor, released from quarantine before the others as he displayed no similar symptoms, and having reflected during his weeks of isolation, had taken personal responsibility for the dimensional mishap that had cost them both Reed and Cliff. Deciding that he couldn't allow his mistake to take the lives of two good men, Victor, with the aid of Dr. Caulder, began to work on a project to save Cliff's life. Though his body was failing, Cliff's brain was in-tact and healthy, and after weeks of careful designing Victor finally had the solution: nanobots. While he couldn't save Cliff's organic body, he could ensure the man would live by replacing it with a mechanical one.

More weeks passed. Cliff remained in a coma, his body slowly being dissolved and rebuilt by the nanobots. Victor spent the days at Cliff's bedside or going over the schematics for the dimensional portal and how to guarantee safety and success in the future. The Storms were finally freed from quarantine after the two months of testing proved they posed no inherent danger to themselves nor others. Sue, a gifted biologist, immediately took a fascination with how the cosmic storm had altered her and Johnny's genetic makeup, and set about feverishly studying her new biology. Johnny had also developed a fascination with the changes he had undergone, though for him it was pure excitement over his new capabilities - and his desire to show them off. The three tried to find a new routine of normal, with each failing in their respective ways.

Then, Hell broke loose. Or, more accurately, Subterranea. A disgruntled, former staff member of the Future Foundation, Harvey Elder, enacted an assault on the Baxter Building using an army of giant subterranean creatures he called Moloids. The attack nearly succeeded if not for the intervention of Sue and Johnny Storm, each wielding their respective new powers, the quick-thinking strategy of Victor, and the then-awakened Cliff Steele - now in his new robotic form. The foursome and their fantastical talents drove back the creatures and defeated Elder's plans.

With this success, Victor realized the potential the group could achieve given their newfound situation. Taking after the costumed adventurer's of old, Victor bestowed upon the fledgling team the title of:

Doom Patrol.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

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Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four are overrated. Doctor Doom and the Doom Patrol, though? Perfection. I really don't think I need to say any more about why I'm motivated to write this.

This is a group that has been around for years and has multiple adventures under their belt. They've been to Atlantis, visited Attilan, explored the Negative Zone, entered the Microverse, delved into Subterranea, and emersed themselves in Avalon. They've tangled with the likes of Blastaar and Annihilus while in the N-Zone. They've survived political upheavals and prevented the assassination of an Inhuman King. They've helped to fight off an alien invasion force that threatened New York City. And they've even dealt with the return of Reed Richards, maddened by his time in the Negative Zone, and prevented his homicidal revenge plots on several occasions. As such, they're a cohesive unit that has settled into their respective roles.

Like the Fantastic Four of the mainstream universe, this Doom Patrol is a dysfunctional family. And I'll be exploring their interpersonal dynamics just as much as I do their wacky adventures. And their zany escapades are a perfect vehicle for me to interact with the rest of the roster - which is my primary goal for this roleplay.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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The Future Foundation is home to many brilliant minds. From founders Franklin Richards and Niles Caulder to senior staff members Will Magnus, Steve Dayton, Bentley Wittman, and Phillip Masters. Their student roster includes the likes of Mal Duncan, Karen Beecher, Julie and Alex Power, Rita Farr, and Alicia Masters.

I'm not going to go through the entire list of enemies and allies faced and encountered, instead I'll save that to be revealed in the IC. You can infer from the places the Doom Patrol have explored who they might have met (also keeping it vague so that it doesn't affect potential Inhuman, Atlantis, etc. players). But I will describe the team's archnemesis:

Reed Richards was lost to the world for four months. That's how long it took for the survivors of the Negative Zone incident to exit quarantine, and for Victor to design a new, stable device for them to use to return to that dimension and attempt to rescue Richards or find his remains. However, time doesn't pass in the Negative Zone as it does on Earth, and for Reed Richards nearly three hundred years had passed. Thankfully, the same cosmic storm that had changed Sue and Johnny Storm bestowed upon Reed a genetic alteration as well. Not only was his body now capable of stretching, expanding, and contracting dramatically, but all of his internal organs, veins, and the like had been replaced by a singular bacteria sac. As such, he no longer needed to eat, drink, or breathe. Nor did he age as a human ought to. These changes saved Richards' life and allowed him to survive in the harsh landscape and acidic atmosphere of the Negative Zone for centuries. This gave him a lot of time to think. And stew. And cast blame.

When the newly established Doom Patrol returned to the N-Zone they were able to successfully find and rescue their old friend. They soon found out, though, that the man they had left behind was not the same as the one they now brought back to Earth. Reed Richards wrought psychological Hell upon them as he, while quarantined and under near-constant supervision, managed to sow discord among the Doom Patrol as well as access the Future Foundation's security system and use it to attempt several deadly 'accidents' for which he framed Victor. It took days to discover Reed's actions, and by then it was too late as he managed to escape his quarantine pod and set off a series of chain-reactions within the building that destroyed a significant portion of the laboratories, decimating crucial projects, and killing three staff members.

Reed would return several more times in various attempts at revenge through masterfully-crafted plots. As of late, the former friend turned arch-nemesis, now known as the Maker, takes refuge in the European nation of Latveria where he has formed a partnership with the country's ruler, Kristoff Vernard.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

The world was a kaleidoscope.

That was the first thought Susan Storm had as she looked out the viewports. Brilliant colors swirled and briefly formed into fractals before flashing by. Euclidean space seemed to give way to the abstract the deeper she and her fellow passengers hurtled into the unknown.

The sleek vessel she now stood upon, with its chrome interior and deceptively minimalist accommodations, shielded the blonde-haired scientist from the terrors outside. That same beautiful incandescence of colors, she knew, would tear her body into a billion separate atoms in less than a thousandth of a second. After all, the Microverse was not to be trifled with.

"It's terrifying." She spoke towards the transparent cockpit but her words were meant for another.

A man, tall with a handsome face, stepped up beside her and placed an arm around her shoulder. "It's wonderful, Sue," he corrected in his slight European accent.

Sue Storm smiled softly. She knew after all this time better than to try and convince Victor Von Doom otherwise. As much as he was a man of science, capable of clinically detached observation, he was also an artist. And to Victor, there was no better expression of art than that of discovery and innovation.

To borrow the words of another famed voyager, "to boldly go where no man has gone before!" That was Victor's drive in life. His passion.

She tilted her face towards his and raised on her tiptoes. Susan planted a gentle, lingering kiss against Victor's lips.

Though it was not his only passion.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

WIP

@Retired

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C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

THE LIGHTNING KNIGHT

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^{_{SIR WALLACE AUF WEST ♦ MULTIVERSAL REFUGEE / KNIGHT ♦ CENTRAL CITY ♦ KNIGHTS OF THE LIGHTNING CROSS}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"Even in the greatest darkness, a spark of light can still be found."
"For King And Speedforce."}

Sir Wallace of the Lightning Cross is my continuation, and technically, the sequel to where I wanted to take Eobard Thawne's Flash Story in Absolute. He's from earth 1349, one that's been devoured by The Great Darkness. Wallace is a warrior equipped with the speedforce, a soldier who lost his war. He will have to learn and adapt to the world around him, not to mention the fact that he has a younger doppelganger and a whole slew of people who wear the faces of his slain comrades. This story is about a man who left his doomed world behind, failed his duty and has to cope with the fact that he just wasn't good enough to be the hero his universe needed.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

"Shadowlands" is something I throw out a lot. And it's the brainchild I thought of while I was doing my last Flash run. A world where the Great Darkness, the source of the Shade's power, is devouring a world, and how the entire universe is affected. How the shadows is the anti-thesis to the speedforce, Shadowlands was Thawne's big heroic moment, his first real stepping up into herohood, one I'm continuing with Wallace, albeit in a different way than I originally intended. Through the lense of Wallace living in Earth 1, I will tell the story of Thawne's heroism, his own failures and most of what happened in that doomed world.

And what may befall this one, too.

Wallace's motivations aren't defined, to him. He doesn't know what he can, or should do. He was saved, either from death or from eternal rest. He used to have very clear motivations for what he did, and now he doesn't. And he does not know how to cope with that. In it, he'll find new relationships, primarily in the Flash family, but maybe outside of that, too. He'll have to learn about the sides of the speedforce his king never wanted him to learn, and he'll have to find his place in a brand new universe that is both foreign and scary.

In short, Wallace is the Future Trunk of the Flash family.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

Knights Of The Lightning Cross, The Riders Of Lightning, Deceased:
King Savitar
Lord Bartholomew Allen Sr.
Sir Bartholomew Allen Jr.
Sir Jaysus Garrickum
Wizard Maximilian Mercurius
Lady Jessiah Quick
Honorary Knight Edward Thawne of Earth AC.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

[+]

T H E S H A D O W L A N D S

The quaint little town was silent as the night as the stranger arrived in the village. On horseback, his horse was big and strong, but old. It's once black mane had now turned gray from aging. He tied the horse to the post outside of the cottage that had a sign on the outside that said "Gazette Inn." Once, the Gazette had been a reputable establishment. One of the finest in the entire kingdom. The poets and writers would all gather there, to that mild degree that the news pamphlets were named after the inn. But, that was a long time ago. Before the war.

Before all of the destruction. He mused on the times past and a solemn sign escaped his lips.

The man wore a grey cloak that almost looked black. It was draped over his shoulders, covering almost all of his clothing, but the clanking of his steps betrayed that he was clad in armor. He walked into the inn, pushing the wooden door open with his left hand, the light bouncing off the dirty plate armor that adorned his chest. It was quiet. As it always was. A handful or so patrons, one barkeep who was sitting next to the bar, drinking a lukewarm ale. The man walked in and scanned the room. His eyes were weary. Tired. He hadn't slept in a long time. He knew well that even when he did, he wouldn't get much sleep anyway. There just wasn't enough time.

Time. Such an abstract concept that truly should have so little meaning. Times past, and times to come were all that occupied his mind, when he let it wander. Refocusing at the task at hand, he sized the barkeep up and the pudgy man, dressed in a butcher's apron that was a little dirty with spots of spilled beer got up out of his seat.

"Uh, oh, greetings Sir Knight. What can I do you for?" The barkeep asked the knight, whom sighed. Full-armor certainly didn't make stealth an option. He saw some ruffians in the back make a face upon the mention of the knight.

"An ale would do me just fine." He knight said, flipping a shimmering bronze coin onto the bar. The keep took it and grabbed the tankard, dunking it in the keg. Slamming the wet-glass onto the counter, the beer frothing. The knight took a swig and made a grimace. The ale was truly terrible. Tasted like shit. That's beer without any oats, he supposed. Harvest had gone to shit for the past five years.

"I've got a couple questions." The knight asked the barman who's eyes grew wider.
"Aye."
"I'm looking for a man. One James Jesse. A Rogue, cheat and scoundrel. He cheated me in a game of cards a few weeks back."
"Purple hair?" He barman asked, and the knight nodded.
"Aye. He was here a few days ago. Headed East, I think."
"East? There's nothing East." The knight told with an extra stern tone.
"Did I say East? I meant North. S-Sorry, times are tough, my mind is not what it used to be." The Barman corrected, sweat beading on his forehead. He wiped it off with his right hand, his sleeve rolling up as he did.

The knight noticed the black mark on the barman's hand and his grip on the beer loosened as he took a step back. "Right. I guess I better pursue Mr. Jesse, then." The knight said, making his way to the door, only to find two of the ruffians blocking the door. One of them was a head taller than the knight, the other about the same size.

"You shouldn't have poked your head where it don't belong. Knight. This isn't where you belong. You belong back behind those precious city walls." The thug mentioned, producing the long knife from his pocket. Twirling it in his hand. The knight scoffed.
The thug lunged at him, knife first, the knight took a step backwards, Upper-cutting the thug's elbow, breaking it immediately. His companion swung a knuckleduster at the knight, hitting him in the cheek, making him stumble backwards, where two more of the brigands had gotten up of their seat, one of them kicked the knight in his chester, the other swong his wooden club at him.

The club was dodged by an inch, stepping backwards the big guy guarding the door grabbed him by the hood, yanking him backwards. Pulling down the hood, revealing his ginger hair. From behind the barman, the trap-door to the attic opened a little. A crack. A crossbow peaked out and a bolt was let fly towards the knight's back. As the knife came at him from one direction, the bolt from another, and four very angry men attacking him. He found serenity. Quiet and peace.

God, he was tired of fighting. He was so tired of men being this stupid. Not seeing the big picture. How they'd try to kill him just for the chance to steal his armor and make a few gold. Not realizing the bigger picture. That the war wasn't over yet. It was only starting. That back east, the enemy was amassing their army and soon, it would all come crashing down. He fist-pounded the mark on his left shoulder as he was yanked backwards. And the room lit up. He caught the bolt and threw it back, hitting the purple-haired assassin in the chest, sending him falling down stairs to the attic. He dodged under the knive, drawing his own sword from his back, the blade being fitted in a reverse-sheath under his cloak. It was his short sword, his two-handed one resting on his horse.

In three strikes he had disemboweled the men, at a blinding speed where lightning filled the room and blood painted the walls. Their heads rolled, one guy got his arm cut off and then his leg. The other was cut in half and the last one simply got impaled. Painless, mercifull deaths.

Sometime ago, the Knight would've been sickened at this display of violence. But he wasn't the same kid as when he was knighted. He wasn't the squire who had spared brigands for the sake of redemption anymore. He was a soldier in a war that threatened everything. And defeat was never an option.

He cleaned his blade on his cloak and holstered it in it's sheath. Walking towards the panicked barkeep, whom was crawling backwards behind the barkdesk, only to be met with the body of the supposed bounty the knight was hunting, James Jesse - The Trickster laid there, the bolt lodged directly in his heart.

"W-Who the hell are you?!" The barman cried out as the knight extended his hand to him to pick him off the bloodstained floor.

"My name is Sir Wallace of the West. A Knight of the Riders Of Lightning, in service of the king. And I have to talk to you about the shadow who gave you that mark on your hand."

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed arcs and stories.

@Hillan

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

Yes.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

^{_{E V E C O F F I N ♦ W I T C H ♦ C O F F I N H I L L ♦ B L A C K M A G I C}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{”Some debts can never be repaid.”}

The Coffins, founders and original settlers of Coffin Hill, are an old family with their roots in Salem and their hands dipped in blood and muck. They have a history of power, wealth, and terrible secrets. Eve Coffin is the last living branch of her ancestral tree - and she is determined to let it end with her.

In 2009, at fifteen years old, Eve and her closest friends delved deep into the woods of Coffin Hill; they went in search of the fabled witch, seeking to strike a bargain. What Eve had failed to understand was that she was the Witch of Coffin Hill; in those woods lived only the creature that lived in servitude to the Coffin family, the source of their power and status. All they had accomplished with their ritual was untethering it from her bloodline.
Four girls had walked into that dark forest that day. Only Eve walked out, and she had been forever marked by what had transpired within the cradle of those trees.
She fled from Coffin Hill that night. Neither the town nor her parents would miss her.

Ten years later, she returns, discovering that the creature in the woods had hungered in her time away; that hunger and rot had spread to the town beyond the treeline. People had been going missing, nearly always reported near or travelling in the direction of the woods by those who’d seen them last. Only Eve knew the true culprit responsible for the horror that now befell the town more frequently than ever before. A decade to the day, she went back into those woods, ready to do battle.

She emerged three days later, not saying a word; Eve collected her things and left Coffin Hill forever, taking the curse of her family with her.

It’s been a year since she emerged again from those woods. Eve drifts now, haunted wherever she goes, too scared to stop moving in case she brings ruin and misery to stay with her. She is The Coffin Witch, the last one there will ever be, and she spends everyday repenting for the sins of her forebearers, carrying the burden of her family name with her.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

Eve's motivations are fairly straight-forward, even if the work involved isn't: use the witchcraft of her family to undo the damage her family has done, and protect the innocent from the malevolent beings of the occult world, and then eventually die alone with no children or legacy and let her family's sins die with her. She drifts from town to town, city to city, and does what she can to fight back against the ever-encroaching darkness as she travels.

My own goals are to use a new character that we haven't seen before in these games to write supernatural/occult mystery and drama stories. I read Coffin Hill a couple years ago, a friend's copy rather than one I picked up myself, and I liked the character of Eve and the horror-occult leanings of the story. As she travels she'll also be very open to crossover stories and community events, something I usually avoid in the endless iterations we churn through, and something that I feel might re-light the spark. If I want to write solo stories, I could just work away on googledocs; if I'm writing as part of a greater collaborative, then I should get involved. So let's get involved.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

<Snipped quote>

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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TBC.

@Roman

MFW a new @Roman app appears in the thread.



Approved

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

W I C C A N / C H A N G E L I N G

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@Natty

And by message I mean app.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

Look! Up in the sky!
It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's...

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

S U P E R M A N

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^{_{CLARK JOSEPH KENT (KAL-EL) ♦ INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST ♦ METROPOLIS, DELAWARE, U.S.A. ♦ THE DAILY PLANET STAFF, THE JUSTICE LEAGUE}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

.
^{"I've fought for the same things, even when they don't seem fashionable. It's a neverending battle, but we can't quit."}

Five years ago, an experimental craft said to be able to sustain an atmospheric breach with leisure was launched by LexCorp CEO and famed astrobiologist, Lex Luthor, during a worldwide press conference. When the shuttle began to break down and malfunction, however, the crew aboard the S.S. Lena seemed fated for certain doom. While the gallery of reporters watched the scene play out in horror, including The Daily Planet's own Lois Lane, a rookie journalist that was assigned to shadow her stepped out of view and pulled apart his shirt to reveal a uniform beneath - with a symbol, alien in origin, that unmistakably looked like the letter S. Within minutes, cameras broadcast the shuttle's miraculous rescue for all the world to see as the being who had caught it - with his bare hands, no less, while suspending his own personal gravity to fly through the air - gently landed and placed the craft a mere mile from the launch site, fully intact and with all crew unharmed. That was the day that the world was introduced to a man that would later announce himself as a friend to humanity, a champion of the people that would fight for those who could not fight for themselves. His name was Kal-El of Krypton, but the public latched onto another name that The Daily Planet had coined - Superman.

In the time since The Man Of Steel's first dramatic appearance, Superman and his mild-mannered alter-ego Clark Kent have only looked to further that initial mission of peace. Whether that means saving a village full of people from a raging fire half the world away, writing an exposé on the troubled conditions of the less fortunate for The Daily Planet's online edition, or simply standing between the citizens of Metropolis and a ravaged byproduct of science and mutation gone horribly awry - making such enemies as The Ultra-Humanite, The Atomic Skull, The Silver Banshee, and the alien-tech equipped terrorist outfit known as Intergang - Superman has become a beacon of hope for some and a figurehead of justice where traditional systems have failed. But others, such as Lex Luthor and SHIELD's Nick Fury, regularly treat Superman's presence as a potential threat rather than a potential ally.

While Clark started off confident that he could eventually win his skeptics over, it's become clear that for as long as Superman remains active, others will fear him and even attempt to best him, putting the city of Metropolis and even the world itself in considerable danger. That's why it took little convincing on his part to begin working with others, coordinating a response team in the event of a worldwide catastrophe - one that soon arose in the form of Starro, The Conqueror. Calling themselves The Justice League, Superman has taken on the task of acting as the defacto public face of a group that otherwise shields their true identities and hidden homelands.

Whether facing ongoing threats to humanity and intervening to lend a hand in public crises, or simply trying to rebuff the often skeptical Lex Luthor's latest claim about his true intent, Superman continues to defend Earth's citizens in the name of truth and justice.
.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

This seems pretty self-explanatory. Superman is one of the key foundations of the superhero myth, if not the foundation of it, and I've always loved the character. The reason I'm taking him on in this game is because I think the set-up provides a unique opportunity to see Superman on the frontlines of something he's rarely had to ever face in the comics: heroes with opposing ideologies. While DC and Marvel's heroes are at their very core fighting for the same things, they're very different groups of people. Superman represents the best of his type of hero, but he's a far cry from characters like Spider-Man and The Avengers, and I think that presents an interesting moral conflict.

I hope to set up parts of his mythology that seem obvious, such as his more prominent enemies beyond Luthor and his extended super-family, but through the context of a truly shared universe, where costumed heroes are alot more of a commonality. I also want to establish real, tangible dynamics with characters like Nick Fury, Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and others he wouldn't ordinarily get much time with.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

As of right now, Superman's allies consist of Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Ron Troupe, Steve Lombard, Cat Grant, and the rest of the staff at The Daily Planet, which is simultaneously one of the last dinosaurs of newsprint and one of the most popular online publications to exist, serving as a testament to old-school journalism and facts in the face of it's rivals' clickbait and misinformation. Whenever he needs a hand with something scientific, he consults Dr. Leo Quintum of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Jonathan and Martha Kent are still alive and well, living on the family farm in Smallville... along with a recently acquired addition. A blonde teenage girl, found by Superman a year earlier. After discovering her while trapped in a crashed escape pod, and wearing his kryptonian symbol, Clark took it upon himself to see that she remained protected until he could know where she came from. She is unable to speak any known Earth language, but Clark has entrusted his adoptive parents to teach the girl the basics of life on Earth, as they did with him.

And of course, he trusts the members of The Justice League. They're all aware of his dual identity as Clark Kent, a secret that he willingly gave up when the decision was made to make the group a permanent fixture. Though the two members of the League that he considers his closest friends are Batman and Wonder Woman, having teamed up with them both multiple times before the Justice League's formation.

As far as his enemies go, Lex Luthor still remains his most vocal critic - though in the five years that they've fought eachother verbally, it's never resulted in a true altercation. And even if he's been suspected of utilizing illegal means to further his empire, Luthor utilizes the law and his public image to his advantage, making him virtually untouchable. Beyond Lex, Superman has battled only a few members of his rogue's gallery, with more to come as the game progresses.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

And as Mild-Mannered Journalist, Clark Kent...

"Brake. Brake. Brake. Brake!"

Jimmy braces himself for certain doom from the back seat of Lois' car as we enter onto the freeway. Normally, I might try and stifle a laugh at his worry, but I happen to agree with the sentiment whenever I volunteer to sit in this particular passenger's seat. To say that my colleague is... well, an erratic driver is to say that The Atomic Skull's head is on fire. It's just one of those things that you don't have to really say so much as experience. And Jim and I are both having to experience a level of swerving and speeding that threatens to get us pulled over before we even get a chance to make it to the conference. Lois merely sneers at him in the rear-view mirror, shrugging off his panicked wailing as her foot hesitantly pumps the brake. A few of the cars honk behind us at this sudden change in trajectory, and Lois narrowly avoids another collision, but I think Jimmy is more than a little relieved when he sees the speedometer actually fall to the legal limit.

"Fine, Olsen, you can stop shouting in my ear. Couple of girls..."

I adjust my glasses, smiling at Jim as he loosens his death-like grip of the seatbelt and giving him a shrug. While I'm sure that he was just being overly protective about his equipment - which, to be fair, did cost him the equivalent of a fortune on his salary - there was enough worry in his voice to suggest otherwise. Me being me, of course, I was never actually worried about us. Even a severe accident wouldn't have even left me with so much as a scratch, and I'd have thrown myself in the way of any potential impact that would have threatened to harm Lois or Jim. I was just concerned for the other pedestrians on the road.

"Really, Lois. It's not like it's a matter of life and death that we get there early."

Lois scoffs at this assumption. To her, every potential story is a matter of the gravest importance. Nevermind the danger, of course, which is why she's as renowned as she is. It's also led to more than a few close calls, which I'm astonished has never seemed to give her pause.

"It's worse than that, Kansas. It's a matter of my career. You heard Perry in the newsroom, this story is guaranteed to give The Planet's physical edition a boost in quarterly sales. Not to mention inch me ever closer to that Pulitzer, which is totally not the more important part."

I raise an eyebrow at that.

"But you don't even like Luthor."

"Well, yeah. I'm as much a fan of him as I am of venerial disease, but that didn't stop me from covering that outbreak in Suicide Slums a few months ago."

Heh. Point taken, I guess.

"Besides, Mr. Kent, Lex Luthor's public appearances are getting rarer and rarer these days. The fact that he's even holding a press conference at S.T.A.R. Labs and is pointedly not out to smear the big guy, this time, makes it a huge get."

"See? Jimmy gets it."

I try not to have much of a reaction to the 'big guy' part of that statement, but I can't help but wonder if that's truly the case. Neither I nor Lois believe, entirely, that this won't devolve into yet another attempt to appeal to the public that I'm public enemy number one, the doom of all that exists for simply existing with a level of power that he believes to have remained unchecked, among the many grievances that he's made about me over the years. LexCorp's marketing campaigns have even bled into his obvious bias, with his scientific breakthroughs and technological advancement projects offering to make any man a Man Of Tomorrow. An endeavor that I wholeheartedly wish him well in, as I have to admit that Luthor's still a genius when it comes right down to it.

That doesn't mean I trust him to do the right thing with any of that, of course. But I'm trying to be optimistic. Luthor and I have been at odds since the beginning, with his assertions that I'm some kind of ticking clock waiting to go off feeding a media frenzy about my true intentions. Whenever I make those intentions clear, it only seems to double his efforts to prove to the world that I'm some sort of fraud. It's a waste of his talent, not to mention a tactic to try and absolve himself of any sort of wrongdoing with those experiments of his. But Lois, Perry, and the rest of the bullpen at The Daily Planet have been digging into him since before I even got the job. It's clear to anyone that he's complicit in something unsavory, probably even more than a few things. But no one, not even his so-called and self-appointed 'arch nemesis' has been able to get their hands on definitive proof.

"I guess I just don't see the big deal. We could easily get a pull-quote from Luthor over the phone about whatever he's announcing. He's never exactly been shy about freely giving out his opinions on... well, much of anything."

Lois side-eyes me as if I just committed some incredible act of blaspheme.

"That's a defeatist attitude, Smallville. It'll sink your career faster than the Hindenburg. Barring the fact that Lex generally likes to make a spectacle out of any public display of his raging ego, any rando from some rag like The Times, The Gazette, or The Bugle could always dial him up for a pull-quote. It takes a real journalist to get any of his statements on the record while being able to look his pompous gaze in the eye. To show him that he may think that he's on some big freaking pedestal, but he's not above the law and he's definitely not above the press."

"That, and he called Superman a 'parasitic alien feeding off of the gullible minds of the public'."

"That, t---"

Lois stops herself, glaring even angrier into the rear-view mirror.

"And just what are you implying?! That I'm only out to... to get some sort of retaliation on Luthor because he insulted my... I mean, our meal ticket to any major disaster headlines?! That I'm doing this out of some... some sort of protective fit over some childish crush?! Is that what you're implying, Olsen?!"

Jimmy sinks lower into his seat than I would have thought possible. I also elect to remain silent. I may be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and all the rest that's been said many times over, but I wouldn't dare try and correct or insinuate anything that might set Lois Lane's infamous temper off. Any man that would is asking for a death sentence. Or at the very least, a verbal assault.

^{"N... No, ma'am."}

"Yeah, I didn't think you were."

Mercifully, just as the tension reaches it's fever pitch, I spot the unmistakable silhouette of S.T.A.R. Labs' massive facility encroaching on us. Within the next exit, we should only be a few blocks away from the entrance to the parking garage. Hopefully it's not packed, or the volume of Lois' tirade might go up a few notches. Which is tolerable when you're human, but considerably less so when you have advanced hearing that allows you to hone in on sounds that are half a world away. Not that I'm able to speak up about that.

"Look, all I'm saying is, maybe temper your expectations. Luthor could simply be there to announce one of his company's latest gadgets. An advancement in surveillance tech, or something. Maybe don't expect to get something tangible to work with if you're going after Luthor for whatever he said about... you know who."

Lois smirks, pulling onto the ramp fast enough to give Jimmy another anxiety attack.

"You do journalism your way, Kansas, and I'll do it mine. And we'll see who Perry gives the byline to this time. Loser buys dinner for the three of us. Deal?"

I sigh to myself. "Do I have a choice?"

"Nope!"

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed arcs and stories.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

G R E E N L A N T E R N

---

@Inkarnate

Bit of a controversial take, but no one really stepped in to claim Hal... so I'll allow it.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

T H E P U N I S H E R

@Simple Unicycle

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

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@Byrd Man

What an excellent way to announce that with the opening of the IC, we're waiving the 24-hour contesting period on all future applications! The Punisher and Howard The Duck are hereby ACCEPTED!

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

"If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet." - John F. Kennedy ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ A SINGULAR UNIVERSE ROLEPLAY ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

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^{◼ G M (s): Master Bruce ♦ HenryJonesJr ♦ Hillan ◼ G E N R E S: Superhero, Fandom ◼ T Y P E: Sandbox with linear and Collaborative Arcs}

T H E S T O R Y S O F A R:

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By most respects, the Age of Heroes began during one of Earth's darkest periods. In the days of World War II when the Allies were most desperate, a beacon of hope was born. Steve Rogers became Captain America, and helped to turn the tide. Along with the Howling Commandos and the superpowered agents known as The Invaders, Rogers helped to cripple the Nazi deep science division HYDRA, and turn the tide of the war, even if he was lost in the process.

Following the war, costumed adventurers inspired by Rogers popped up in the homeland, and banded together to form the Justice Society of America. They fought corruption, crime, and saboteurs during the cold war, and were generally supported by the public at large. Though, good things were not meant to last. The good will began to fade as super powered individuals began to increase in the 60's and 70's, and along with them the rise in metahuman collateral damage. In response to "Mutant", as the humans saw the metahumans, bigotry, the JSA disbanded and costumed heroes went into the shadows.

Things were quiet, with anti-mutant bigotry festering in the background, for decades. In order to track the movement and growth in the metahuman population, the United Nations formed SHIELD. Using the brightest minds in science and industry, the organization prepared for the day that metahumans would once again act out in the open.

That day came when a man with an "S" on his chest flew and caught a prototype LexCorp space shuttle out of the sky with his bare hands, saving countless innocent lives in the process. While the appearance of the so-called Superman was largely seen as a celebratory moment, some, including Lex Luthor, saw nothing but a potential threat. In response to the appearance of Superman, costumed heroes once again began to appear across the world ready to fight for good, and the public responded with approval.

But for every action, there was an equal and opposite one. As awe inspiring as the arrival of Superman was, the same could not be said for the appearance of a creature known only as The Hulk. The green goliath rampaged through a small town in New Mexico until he was driven off by a re-emergent Captain America and SHIELD. The raw destructive power of the creature struck fears into the hearts of humanity, and made world governments question whether metahumans should be tolerated.

So things went, with heroes and the villains they fought appearing and clashing across the globe.

Then, the creature known as Starro rose from the sea and began to enslave the people of Earth. Before its job could be completed, however, a team of heroes that called themselves the Justice League rose to oppose it. The League stopped the creature and became beloved for it, though the joining of such powerful entities drew the eyes of power-bases throughout the universe. It also drew the eyes of SHIELD, who started to put together a team of their own.

The first challenge to that new power came when the Chitauri, a hive-mind conquering race, appeared in Earth's orbit. When the Justice League moved to intercept the invaders in space, the Chitauri opened a portal above New York and launched their forces behind the superuman team. In response, SHIELD's team, dubbed The Avengers, deployed into the city and ended up ending the Chitauri threat. The two teams stood on an awkward stance of existing in their own spaces, though clearly on course for a clash at some point.

Now the world stood, seemingly protected by the world's mightiest and greatest heroes. But forces beyond comprehension have moved into position, and the World of Heroes will be tested as it has never been tested before...

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

So after deliberating on who would get the coveted cape and cowl, with solid arguments being made in favor of both players, me and my co-GMs have weighed in with a final vote for the game's Batman. With a solid concept in place that meshes well with the game's setting we're hoping to build just slightly edging out the fact that both apps were worthy of the Caped Crusader, Gotham's Dark Knight in this game will be @DocTachyon.