On the topic of using legacy characters, and with the understanding that I'm actually playing a big-ticket character with an extensive portfolio, rather than a c-lister I can pretty much do what I want with, I have plans to involve Barbara Gordon as Batgirl and Dick Grayson as Nightwing in upcoming posts.
They will be effectively cameos, one-and-done guest spots of each character that won't have a lasting impact on the status of either, but if anyone was thinking about a sheet for them, or had other ideas or plans for where they were in their respective careers, do let me know so we can hash something out.
I don't have anything in the works for any other member of the bat-family, so they're free-reign (but please do consult).
I considered Babs for a second, but that's down the road, considering I'm not approved for a first yet.
C Y C L O P S ⭙ S T O R M ⭙ N I G H T C R A W L E R ⭙ B E A S T R O G U E ⭙ W H I T E Q U E E N ⭙ M A G I K ⭙ S Y N C H
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T
"While you slept, the world changed."
Charles Xavier had a dream that humans and mutants could live in peace, together, to shape a brave new future. A time when prejudice will be defeated, a vision for what could be that even Charles would admit is far greater than himself. Charles champions every person's uniqueness, setting aside differences such as race, sexuality, or mutantcy. Because the world has never been one in which his dream has yet to become reality, Charles understood there were places and moments when mutants would have to fight and sacrifice for that dream. After graduating Oxford, after fighting in the Korean War and coming face to face with the nefarious Shadow King, Xavier resolved to lead the effort to protect humanity from those like him that failed to share his hopes for the future. To that end, Charles Xavier created the first team of the X-Men to champion every soul on the planet.
Xavier and his partner Erik Lensherr would create Cerebro, a machine designed to detect and monitor mutant brain waves, to help locate mutants of all kinds and affiliations. What began as a handful of teenagers in training would eventually become a large, diverse, roster of mutants forming various teams all with the ultimate goal of fighting for Xavier's vision. When the first time would find itself captured and cut off by the living island of Krakoa, Charles would ready a new generation of X-Men with the likes of Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus. The original five were returned, and the new X-Men mostly stuck around to continue on with the struggle. Whether fighting extremists from their own mutantkind, or extremists from humankind, the X-Men and their various teams would remain the vanguard for the vision of peaceful co-existence and shared progress.
In time, Xavier would expand the Xavier Institute for the Gifted along with each new generation and new team. His efforts, and the efforts of his disciples, would extend from education to business to political organization to legal activism. If there was a front on which to fight for his prophetic words towards the future of the world, there would be X-Men and their allies to wage that fight. The Xavier Institute would be destroyed, and rebuilt, many times. The various X-teams would call locations around the globe, and into space, home at one point or another.
Yet despite it all, the forces of fear and prejudice of humanity would time and time again be their greatest foe. Whether in the form of a firebrand politician quick to scapegoat the mutant population, or the robotic mutant hunters known as the Sentinels, or para-military anti-mutant organizations on nearly every continent on the globe. The X-Men would be there for old and new mutant alike, from the scared and unable to control their powers, to the veteran mutant grown world weary and isolated. When the world would need heroes of every cut and stripe in order to save the world, or even the universe, the X-Men and their allies would always answer the call.
Their losses, however, have begun to mount in recent years. Charles Xavier, himself, was thought dead for years as he took refuge on alien worlds to heal and recover from a lifetime of conflict and crusade. The very first of Xavier's students, Jean Grey, would give her life to save the universe from a Phoenix Force that she could not control in the moment. When the Xavier family mansion was once again destroyed this time by ancient mutant Apocalypse and his Horsemen, and with it attached Xavier Institute and modernized Jean Grey School for the Gifted led by none other than long time enemy turned part time ally Magneto. Though an Age of Apocalypse was averted, new homes were needed.
The official new training academy and school for young mutants is the new Institute for Gifted Youngsters, on the outskirts of Genosha's capital city, Hammer Bay. While Xavier's Mansion is mostly a husk of its former self, it's rumored the subterranean levels are one of the bases of operations for the current day iteration of the X-Men, along with several other sites; an island recently gifted to mutants by the Mayor of San Francisco off the coast of the city, an unnamed and secret outpost in the Australian Outback, and the remains of Asteroid-M in a high orbit of Earth. There is a facility on Genosha known only as the House of X, technically said to be another operating base for various X-teams, including the X-Men. There are even whispers of a base hidden within the unexplored and unconfirmed Savage Land that it sometimes used by the mutant team.
Recently Xavier has returned to Earth, refreshed, and healed so fully he is said to once again have the use of his legs, having joined the leading body of the mutant nation of Genosha at the side of his long time friend and rival, Magneto. Xavier has yet to hold an audience with any human officials, or make any public appearance on Genosha, and even the world's best spy agencies can only report he took a short trip to somewhere in the Pacific with Douglas Ramsey recently before a quick return to Genosha. On Genosha, itself, there is wild talk throughout the mutant population of nearly sixteen million, though details vary wildly and many accounts seem at odds with each other, there is one reoccurring theme to all of it:
Xavier lied.
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
"My family has spent our entire lives being hunted and hated. The world has told me that I was less when I knew I was more. Did you honestly think that we were going to sit around forever and just take it?"
Survival, and what happens when a long held dream is declared irrelevant by both sides. What new conflicts emerge? What new ventures are born? What dream comes on the heels of the one you have been so thoroughly awoken from? This is the story of where you go from there, and what new beginnings come from the end of the long held, often fought over, status quo. More than anything, exploring the areas of gray in a reality where the right answer isn't readily available anymore, leaving everyone involved with hard decisions to make.
While mutantkind may have to change, the X-Men will remain the X-Men: champions of love and compassion and tolerance, ready to fight for humans and mutants alike against foes that simple vigilantes and individual heroes could not hope to overcome alone. The fun of the tale comes in the telling, and the natural progression that comes with the story unfolding. That makes this team, and the greater narrative of the mutantkind they represent, so exciting to dig into one post at a time, one event at a time. We may know the note we want the mutant story to end off on, the destination we want to eventually reach in character, but the journey is likely have a surprise or two waiting for us.
And that's just way too exciting, given this group of characters.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S
Naturally, it starts with him. While still the leader, in spirit, Charles will be just as busy dealing with a future for all mutants as he will dealing with the X-Men and the various off-shooting teams. Will he be able to work with Magneto? Can some sort of foundation for the future be laid out? It's true he won't be a scene stealer or an every moment kind of presence, the shadow of Charles Xavier will always loom large over a story involving the X-Men and the mutants that comprise them.
Slim has experienced a lot over the last decade or so, and lost just as much as he's gained. He's been married twice, met several time displaced children, and has tried to be everything the X-Men, and mutants as a whole, have needed him to be. The man is tired, and in need of a change. In a move that came as a surprise to some in the mutant, and hero, populations Cyclops will not be the field leader of the X-Men this time around. Instead he focuses on just being a good solider and a good defender of the new mutant nation of Genosha, even if he's been at odds with Magneto about the way Genosha went about it's origin since he stepped foot on the island. He was most often spotted touring Genoshan island defenses, and was said to be one of the ones to welcome Xavier back to Earth upon the Professor's arrival.
Love and life outside the trials of the X-Men seemed to fit Ororo, until it didn't. When Apocalypse and his Horsemen attacked Westchester, New York, she wasn't present and instead back on her home continent of Africa. Maybe it was guilt that forced her back to the fray, maybe it was a duty to her people, or just that she missed old friends...whatever the reason no one who's ever served on a team with the mutant known as Storm was surprised to learn she would lead the new iteration of the X-Men instead of Cyclops. She has co-led X-Men teams in the past, even led her own sub-units of the team, and all with success and distinction. That she has returned and jumped back into the fray has given many mutants hope in the future of the team.
The White Queen of the Hellfire Club is, to some, an odd choice for the X-Men. Some believe she joined recently, when the team was re-organized in Genosha. In truth, Emma Frost has been with the team for longer than that, and was one of the few who kept the line during the attack by Apocalypse and his Horsemen on the Xavier Institute. In the wake of Jean Grey's death, Emma Frost has helped fill the avoid of resident telepath, though her secondary mutation was just as useful in the fight that brought the school down, as she acted heroically in the line of fire to give students time to evacuate. She then personally oversaw and funded the efforts to get every single student to the new school in Hammer Bay. Though she would prefer if you didn't overly romanticize her actions during the battle, she finds such hyperbole the practice of the feeble minded and ignorant.
Few have had a harder time fitting into Genosha than Rogue. First there was a very, very public confrontation with Mystique that made every media outlet on the island and instantly went viral on the mutant verified social media network, X-Verse. Then a rumored, and often gossiped about, private feud with Magneto himself. Both of these were small compared to the drama of the island's favorite on-again, off-again romance: Rogue and Gambit. The latest, and loudest, was the actual coming to blows between a group of former Xavier students and former Brotherhood members, with Rogue and Gambit having been reported as the start of the entire episode outside Hammer Bay. It's been very clear that Rogue and the X-Men took off from Genosha right after this incident. The Southern girl just can't seem to catch a break, sugah.
Dr. McCoy has been almost a ghost. Save for one of the cooler heads trying to prevail in the recent rumble between former Xavier students and former Brotherhood members, there has been little to no sighting of the blue furball. While not as prevalent as the still trending #WhereIsWolverine, #FreeTheBeast trended long enough for the meme-minded to begin trending the follow-up #DicksOutForBeast. Actual news media based on Genosha quickly confirmed Dr. McCoy was still alive following the Battle of Westchester, leading Beast to register for X-Verse himself, and immediately ask for the distasteful memes to be set aside, along with several posts quoting literature, including the first: "I exist as I am, that is enough. - Walt Whitman." Given the massive wave of Harambe inspired meme responses, Dr. McCoy has returned to relative silence. Rumors are he's been hard at work on something with the mutant Sage, at the direction of Xavier, instead of joining the X-Men on their latest exit from Genosha.
One of the heroes of the Battle of Westchester, the toll taken on the blue-skinned teleporter was heavy. Though he spent most of the time since the battle recovering, the little time he has been on his feet again was spent touring Genosha and meeting with countless residents of the mutant nation. Many seem to consider Nightcrawler to be the spiritual leader of mutantkind, though that sentiment is less among those mutants who favored Magneto's vision for mutantkind of Xavier's vision for mutantkind. According to Sage, Nightcrawler is the most selfie'd member of the X-Men, with a nearly endless stream of Genosha citizens posting selfies with Nightcrawler. The pace of his touring and spiritual activism seemed to slow once Xavier returned, and there is talk the Professor and Nightcrawler have had some sort of falling out. Nightcrawler was confirmed as one of the X-Men that recently left Genosha by Genoshan news media.
Evertt Thomas is more popular than he's comfortable with. Synch had a lot to do with the defense of students at the Battle of Westchester, and before that was already a known face in helping to establish a society on Genosha, to the point where none less than Magneto extended him the offer of becoming a government official: Synch turned it down. It wasn't really his style, and anyway, he was still getting used to having a life again. The circumstances of his new life remain mysterious, and he believes it has something to do with the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey, though that has more to do with dreams than objective fact. He was content to wander until he eventually found a place, until that place seemed to find him: Cyclops offered him a spot on the X-Men. Who turns down a spot on the X-Men? Maybe someone, but not Synch. Not this time. This time, he's determined to make the most of his new life that he can.
Where Magik has been, what Magik has been doing, has been hard for many to say. Many accounts have her as a breakout hero at the Battle of Westchester, though since then there has been little talk on the sword-wielder. Maybe in Limbo, she has been rumored to have visited various magicians around the world, but the most official news has been the most recent: Illyana Rasputin has joined the X-Men. There were rumors when she was seen alongside Cyclops at various Genoshan military installations along the island coast, but no less than Magik herself confirmed her status with the X-Men at a bar in Carrion Cove, before smashing more than a few mugs and being seen in a few pictures in the midst of a rowdy night with former New Mutants' teammates. Few X-Men experts seem to agree on whether Magik will prove boon or bust as a member of the X-Men, none other than Cyclops was recently quoted as very excited that the blonde hellspawn had agreed to take a roster spot on the active X-Men team.
S A M P L E P O S T
"...what is there to think about? Do you not want to?"
If he could have tripped over his own words, he probably would have. If anyone was practiced at slowing down and making sure the moment didn't get too fast, or too big, for them it was him; Scott Summers had spent more than his fair share of life in moments that easily could have gotten too big, or become too much. Even if he had been surprised, and surely, he had been surprised, it wasn't enough to leave him unsure, let alone flustered. Yet there was an excitement to it, and he only wished there also wasn't a unshakeable weight of guilt that hung over him at the same time. "It's not that, I do. Oh, I really do, it's just..."
The blonde woman staring him just seemed to know. Maybe it was the telepathy, he doubted it, maybe it was just that sixth sense about people and behavior that telepaths seemed to Scott to have, having spent so much of their time in the thoughts of others. Whatever it was, Emma Frost knew. And instead of anger, she just...smirked at him, amused.
"I'm sorry, is this amusing to you?"
The White Queen laughed, loudly, "Yes," she barely got out, nodding her head, "it really is." It didn't take the woman long to regain control and suppress to laughter back to that impossibly smug smirk, "What else is it supposed to be, Scott? There are two options: she's either dead, and you're incapable of moving on, which while some level of pathetic is at least...no, no it's just sad." Again, she stifled laughter in such a way it almost sounded like a giggle. "Or, best case, she's too busy somewhere playing multiversal godling, and you can't move on. Also pathetic."
She would have laughed again, had her back not pressed, hard, against the wall. Instead of laugh came a sudden, sharp, inhale and the barest sound of discomfort as Scott found himself pressing his body into her's...the smell of jasmine, his head swam, his heart racing, if it wasn't for that smell...a perfectly shaped brow perked at him from the woman's face, intrigue finally hitting her features.
Then, of course, the knock on the door came. He peeled off, and she straightened the leather bodice she wore under the white blazer he thought felt like silk, but what did he know about high fashion? It was probably cotton, or wool, or some wildly expensive thing. "Yeah?"
It was the bald, dark skinned Everett Thomas that poked his head in, before stepping all the way through and closing the door behind him. "Sorry to interrupt--"
"--oh," Emma Frost began, with renewed amusement, "you aren't."
Synch moved his gaze from Frost, to Summers, to Frost, to Summers. For some reason, in some way, the man didn't quite seem to buy that. "...cool. Yeah, uh, Storm told me to come tell you both to get a move on."
Scott sounded tense, still, "We'll be there in a moment. Thanks, Everett."
"Okay, 'cuz...she's pretty drunk."
Emma Frost sighed. "Which one?"
"The one who keeps calling me honey."
After a shared look, Scott felt a chuckle shake the weight off him in the moment, even if just slightly. Across the cement motor pool, from the hangar, he heard the southern drawl of the calling siren. His lips pursed, and his head nodded, as he came to terms with the situation. "Okay, Rogue is drunk. Storm?"
Synch's head teetered this way-and that, before straightening again as his mind mulled it over, "Well...Kurt's doing what he can."
"What about the other one?" Emma stepped in, arms suddenly crossed, "the demon one?"
"Oh," Synch's eyes widened just slightly from recognition of who Emma meant, before breaking into a relaxed smile, "yeah, Illyana? Yeah, you know, she's just smashing glasses and asking if I want to see her sword every other minute. Totally fine, totally normal."
"My God..." Emma Frost sighed louder as her high-heel booted feet sounded with heavy thuds as she marched out of the pre-fabricated office across from the flightline on the far edge of the Genoshan military base. "I'm gonna--"
"--yeah," Scott responded, too quickly.
Emma paused at the door, just long enough to linger a look his direction as he was staring at the ground, "You gonna--"
"--oh yeah," he said, raising his head to meet her look, "Right now. C'mon, Synch, let me show you how to handle a drunken super-powered Southern woman with a tough exterior and broken heart she refuses to accept."
"Really, Cyclops," Synch closed his eyes for a beat of his heart, doing everything in his power to make sure his face conveyed the genuine, deep-felt, sarcasm of his voice, "Really, really grateful for this invite to the X-Men. I can't begin to tell you. So much."
"You betcha, Everett."
Emma was back to smirked, standing just outside the door, letting Scott and Synch go ahead of her, in no small part so she could enjoy the pain on Scott's face. "I think I like this Everett Thomas, Scott."
So as I am writing up a post as the Hulk, I’ve been really craving to also write my second idea. And seeing as this RP allows for two character concepts, I’ve decided that I will also apply as Cyclops.
@Ruby Since you might do something X-related, perhaps we should talk to make sure we aren’t stepping on each other’s toes. Besides Cyclops obviously, I would also like to stake a claim on Jean Grey, Havok, and Emma Frost. If any of those characters were one’s you would want to play, please let me know so I can alter my story ideas.
EDIT: Forgot to mention what my character idea even was. Basically a version of the Phoenix Saga happened, in which Jean Grey seemingly died to get rid of the Phoenix Force. Heartbroken, Cyclops takes some time away from the X-Men, moving to San Francisco. It is there that he has to find purpose in life and help out other mutants.
Right now it looks like I'd be applying for a full X-Men team, so Xavier plus Cyclops and Emma, just of the characters you mentioned, not to mention the others on the team. But I'm waiting for GM response on a PM before I continue past plotting stories and which characters to use.
puddingpunter,
Ezekiel,
DFA,
odium,
Taka,
Halvtand,
Apollosarcher,
Vixere,
dusochvatas,
KaiserElectric
