ProPro

Chaos Theory

@Blu Ok, so I changed up the average strength to chucking the car door like a discuss "with significant effort." I also double checked some references and found that slate (the stone you suggested) has a hardness rating of 5.5 while steel is only one point harder at 6 to 6.5. So considering how close they are I altered it from tearing steel like paper to tearing through steel with serious effort. Do these slight alterations in word choice create an acceptable nerfing?

Chaos Theory

@Blu Good question I hadn't thought of. Since it's a spirit, things can get kind of wacky and vague. I had just been thinking actual winter, but if we need tothen it's not out of the question that we could finagle some artificial power up via making snow.

Chaos Theory

@Blu Ok, that all sounds fair. I've no intention of being "the strongest" in any case. In fact, I usually make characters underpowered to their setting. I like that challenge more, and it reflects in Gwyn I think. It can be hard to have a proper scaling reference when there aren't many examples for this setting to work off of though. In any case, so I can have some point of reference, what's the approximate date, and how long do you intend the story to run in game?

Chaos Theory

@ProPro Only issues I see are some of the special trait namely his strength and the icy chill the wendigo brings. For strength, it needs to be dialed down significantly. At peak, I would accept being able to crush and cut solid rock with relative ease and on average I would accept something along the lines of crushing thick bones and cutting through tough hide. Those would be acceptable limits. As for the chill, get rid of it as a fatal power completely. You can keep it as cold air that leaves a thin layer of frost but not enough to kill people.

@Blu

In regards to the chill, I have no idea what you're asking me to do, because that's already exactly what it is. I never said it was fatal, just that the cold doesn't become a problem for people unless they're being touched, but then they're probably already dead. As in, they've been torn to shreds by a hulking super strong monster. Never once did I state or imply the cold was lethal.

As far as your restriction on strength, I'm certainly happy to reduce it, but mathematically the examples you gave make no sense. You already approved an incubus that has 4x human strength to work with, right? I'm assuming that's 4x peak or at least very fit human, because 4x average is pointless and well attainable by most people. A highly fit human can bench press 600 lbs (again, nowhere near peak human record of over 1000 lbs.). Converting this act into force, we get slightly more than 2668 newtons of force. Now that's just a lifting act, not an actual punch, which would naturally be more as it comes at a much faster acceleration. The amount of force required to fracture the femur (the strongest bone in the human body) is about 4000 newtons, well attainable by a highly fit human. If we multiply that previous number of 600 by 4 then the lifting force becomes over 10,675 newtons (which again in an actual attack will be far greater as acceleration will be a significantly higher factor). Many animals are much stronger than this. Hell, my pet pig could crush a cow femur in his jaw. A car door is fastened by hinges and small bolts, it's not all solidly welded to the larger vehicle (or else it couldn't fulfill its purpose as a door).

I'm more than happy to alter the highest level of strength to your wishes (though just saying "rock" is really vague since that's anything from extremely brittle soft talc to the hardest materials on the planet like diamond and corundum), but the examples you've left for me make no sense.

Edit: And one last thing I just thought of. Depending on what time of year it is at start, and how long you intend the story to run, a lot of the wendigo' potential range won't mean anything.

Edit edit: Also how many times do you expect him to trigger the change? Because I figured it would be about 5% of the time, he'd make some screams, then devour some animals/hapless NPCs. Most of the time he'd be in normal human form.

Chaos Theory

Alright, got my character sheet done @Blu!

Gwyn Thatcher

Subject #: 64913755
Threat Level:⛥⛥⛥

Name: Gwyn Thatcher
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Date of Birth: August 4
Blood Type: AB+
Eye Color: Brown
Height/Weight: 5’9”/160lbs
Occupation: Student/Amatuer Photographer
Physical Description: Gwyn is a skinny white kid that almost looks malnourished. His brown hair is somewhat long and rather unkempt, dirty and messy at all times. While he dresses well, his mannerisms and physical behaviors don’t reflect the same level of formal appearance, with a poor slouch, awkward facial expressions, and general fidgeting. His cheekbones are very well defined, one could even argue attractive were they not connected to the rest of him. Everything about Gwyn’s appearance screams “loner.”

Personality: Gwyn Thatcher is not the young man he once was. His past experiences have led to heavy trauma, creating an incredibly awkward young adult. He speaks mostly in mumbles and keeps his words short unless absolutely necessary, and avoids contact with others. Group projects are the worst as he tries to contribute, but is inevitably pushed aside by stronger personalities who then later blame him for not pulling his own weight. However in situations of fight or flight, interestingly he almost always chooses to fight, despite not being built or trained for a skirmish. This is because of his PTSD, which can also cause him to freeze up in certain nervous situations, or drive him into a red rage.

While he used to be confident, outgoing, and have a love for nature and the outdoors, Gwyn now fears being alone for too long too far away from society. He’s replaced life experiences with facsimiles of experiences by way of his photography. Now he prefers to take snapshots of the nature he used to explore, and the people he would have easily conversed with. Most of the time he doesn’t ask them in advance. Most of the time he’s hiding. When it’s discovered, this comes off as extremely creepy.

Background: Born in the Great Lakes State of Michigan, Gwyn grew up with some heavy and harsh winters, but gorgeous scenery. He matured from a young age and was a very independent sort of kid, wanting to do everything himself and rush the process of growing up. His parents were proud that he developed so quickly, but also remained somewhat disappointed. They had wanted to feel the joy of raising their only child for a while longer, yet he wanted nothing to do that. By the time he was seven he was baiting his own fishing line and cleaning his catches. Once he was ten he shot and killed his first deer. His academics remained mostly average during this time, not for lack of trying. While in terms of personal development and survival skills he excelled, the only area in school he seemed to have any real aptitude for was making friends. Unfortunately it were these very same friends that would get him into the biggest trouble of his life.

During winter break when Gwyn was fifteen, some of his older friends and he decided to go on a surprise camping trip. Without telling anybody where they were going, and with only a goodbye note on the refridgerator door for his parents, they were off to the untamed wilderness! The group of friends crossed a lake to get to the island they had decided to have their awesome week, and things were going pretty great. After a few days though, a coldsnap hit the area and froze the lake. They couldn’t row back to shore, and the ice was too thin to walk across, so they were effectively stuck on the island. Another few days passed, and food was running low. They searched all around, but the island was too small to support enough of an ecosystem to sustain them. Days turned to weeks as the frigid air gave no sign of warming. Cold, hungry, desperate and delirious, that’s when it happened. That’s when the most important moment of Gwyn’s life struck. All he remembers is the horrific howling of some terrible beast on the wind, and blacking out from hunger. When he came to, all that remained of his friends were bones and the tatters of clothing. Warm blood had splattered all around their camp ground, melting the snow and coloring the ice. When he was finally found by a rescue team, he had been alone with the remains for nearly another week, and this horror took its toll on his mind.

What he does not remember is that in his desperation, Gwyn turned to cannibalism. He led one of his friends away from camp under the impression that they would look for a bird or hibernating squirrel to eat, then killed him. In accordance with the old Native American myths, those who turn to cannibalism in the presence of the wendigo spirit become possessed by the demon, and so he transformed. In his hunger induced rage he killed and devoured every single one of his friends until there was nothing left, and then… Nothing. He remembered none of this, perhaps a blessing, and was alone.

Gwyn required psychiatric help for many months afterward, and he still sees a professional therapist even now. In order to get away from the media presence, as well as to give Gwyn a new environment that wouldn’t remind him of the horrible ordeal he had suffered, the family decided together to move out of state and ultimately ended up in Innsmouth. Once they arrived, they found that their son was not the same young man he was before. He had trouble socializing anymore, he simply couldn’t relate to people and the trauma always seemed fresh on his mind. He refused to spend extensive time outdoors anymore and took up a new hobby instead: photography. The Thatchers, urged by Gwyn’s therapist, encouraged his new hobby and bought him the best camera they could afford after the move.

It’s been about a year and a half since Gwyn Thatcher first came to live in Innsmouth, and sad to say he hasn’t improved a significant deal. Occasionally he has relapses and falls into a gibbering wreck after experiencing a total memory blackout. His parents have yet to catch on that these episodes only happen after he has been exposed to human blood. About two months ago Gwyn had a, shall we call it, an altercation with Suzanne Moore. She was leading cheer practice and he was photographing it. Without consent. Hidden behind the bleachers. He was simply afraid of coming out to be part of the event, but when her boyfriend and her friends discovered him there, well let’s just say everyone was less than thrilled. They called him a creep, a pervert, a psycho, and threatened to break his camera. Gwyn was pushed too hard, literally, and bit back. He punched the jerk jock right in the face, cutting his lip a bit and drawing blood. Suddenly Gwyn gave pause, not knowing why. Suzie’s boyfriend didn’t exactly give let the opportunity slip by and so he wailed on Gwyn.

Gwyn took the blows, then let out an ear-splitting roar of a scream before running away. They let him go, figuring he got what he deserved and chasing after him wasn’t worth the effort. It was this same callous apathy that saved their lives, though local news reported the school’s mascot had gone missing that day… In any case, Suzie herself went missing not too long after that. While nobody really knows for sure who or why or how, a lot of people are pointing fingers at the weird kid, citing just how strange he is and remembering what had happened between them so recently.


Possessions: Nikon D3400 Camera with multiple accessories
2003 Volkswagon Jetta
Backpack
Swiss Army Knife
Compass

Mundane Skills: Skilled hiker/explorer/survivalist
Good sprinter
Amatuer photographer
Excels at being socially awkward and creepy
Special Traits: Spirit of the Wendigo: Gwyn is possessed by the essence of the mythological beast the wendigo, the spirit of cannibalism. When he is exposed to the smell or sight of human blood (other than his own) the beast takes hold and comes out, physically transforming his body and coming out to hunt. His form as the wendigo is a truly monstrous being, standing at around ten feet tall, discounting the antlers. It looks like a horrific emaciated cross of man and elk, with skin pulled taut across bone and muscle, and leaving bloodied entrails exposed for the world to see. This form is driven entirely by the need to devour flesh and meat, and comes with some powerful abilities, not the least of which being its sharp claws and large horns, but also animal like senses for tracking, stealth, and camouflage. He will remain in this state until he feeds, devouring the meat of another living creature, after which he returns to normal with absolutely no memories of the events that transpired. To him these transformations are total blackouts.
Spirit of Winter Night: The wendigo is a winter spirit, and known to hunt at night. As such, Gwyn’s monstrous form’s power is tied directly to the season and Day cycles, at its most powerful in the winter night and weakest on a summer day.
Strength of the Beast: The wendigo is an incredibly strong monster. On an average day it is capable of tearing a car door clean off the vehicle and, with some significant effort, chuck it like a discuss. At its weakest, it performs slightly above what a peak human athlete is capable of, but at its most powerful it rends steel with its claws, though not without some serious effort.
Winter Wind: Some stories depict the wendigo as moving as swiftly as the winter wind. These stories are true, though only when it is at its peak power. At its weakest it can outrun any mortal man, and on average is able to keep pace with most vehicles.
Human Intelligence: The beast is driven by hunger and hunts on instinct and primal urge, but mistake its intellect as equal a common animal to your own peril. The wendigo spirit represents cannibalism, and so it holds all the intelligence of a human being, including the ability to speak.
Bottomless Hunger: Everytime the wendigo takes hold of Gwyn, the beast’s hunger grows. However should it kill prey larger than its current hunger, it won't mind and shall consume until nothing remains. There is no limit to how much meat a wendigo can devour.
Icy Chill of Death: Wherever the wendigo goes, it carries with it a cold air. It leaves frost in its footsteps and chills everything around it, as though it were devouring the warmth of life just by existing. This usually isn't a problem for its prey unless it touches them. But then they're probably already dead.

Now if @Cryfest does make Suzie's boyfriend and has that approved, the last couple paragraphs of my backstory would need to be in line with that character and approved by them.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell Oh, was I supposed to end up anywhere I wanted? I didn't realize that, I thought there was a specific location/event you wanted him to hear that you'd guide me to.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell No progressing Anonymous across town? Sad face. Guess I shall have to wait longer.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

Nuuuuuu! We need to know about the super secretive shadow organization and its puppet figurehead! DX

Chaos Theory

Okay I got several sheets to mull over so it's gonna take me some time. It's about 3 weeks since the disappearance of Suzie, forgot to mention this in the OOC for some reason. @ihinka Welcome aboard. I hope you can figure out something for a character but even if you can't, thanks for your interest, and good luck. Finally, I removed the clause about character appearance that says it needs to be art and not real images. Turns out it's quite limiting when searching for realistic art.

@Blu

I'm hoping to have mine up before the end of the day.

Chaos Theory

@Cryfest Hey, since you're planning on making Suzie's jock boyfriend, are you cool with me including a portion of history that involves my character getting into a fight with yours due to a misunderstanding? Basically he's an introverted photographer and was caught taking pictures of her during cheer practice.