Ruby

Why I Roleplay Female Characters (As a Cisgender Man)

I don't feel weird when I play Madden, or a Batman game. If I thought twice about emotionally investing in a male character, I'd miss a lot of good fiction.

I'm not sure I care who's playing what female or male. I THINK someone I've RPed with for years is male, they've played a female, but it's never come up over years and I honestly don't care. It's IC. This is my level of care: after literal years, I still don't care if it's a guy or girl.

Whatever, man.

Romance, even, I don't know that I care. It's IC, and I'm not really looking for attachment outside of that, so why would it matter?

I wonder if you can't just chalk the look you got up to toxic male masculinity and move on. I'm sure there are people here who'd probably lean closer to your friend's response, but probably not worth the potential conflict for them to comment. There will always be those people.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

Name: Thomas “Tommy” Shepherd
Alias: Speed
Age: 18
Place of Birth: Springfield New Jersey

Powers: Tommy is a speedster. This means that he can run at speeds that a normal human would never achieve. His top speed is unknown, but he is fast enough to break the soundbarrier and run over water. His body is made in a way that allows him to endure frictions that would flail anyone else alive and bones that are made not to shatter in a collision at high speed. That doesn't mean he is invulnerable; a bullet at any speed could kill him.

Besides running fast, Tommy also functions incredibly fast. He can do things at speed nobody else can and has a brain to match them. His brain is made to function at incredible speeds that allow him to catch all the details during a run. This also means he can read a book in mere seconds and remember everything he has read.

A major setback to his powers is that all this has left Tommy with a skewed perception of time. What might be minutes for somebody is hours for him and it is both incredibly frustrating and lonely for him.

History: The Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch once had twin children. Billy and Tommy Maximoff. This was an extraordinary occurrence, considering Vision is a synthetic being and Scarlet Witch is a chaos magician. The family lived happily during a time known as the House of M. Unfortunately for the couple, the children were undone when Scarlet Witch muttered No More Mutants. However, the souls of the children would be reborn as new people.

Tommy was born to Frank and Mary Shepherd in New Jersey. His parents divorced when he was barely four years old. Tommy lived mostly with his father after his mother rejected him, believing him not to be her son due to the fact that he barely resembled his parents with his striking white hair and green eyes. Tommy spent most of his childhood getting into trouble; he could barely sit still for longer than five minutes and was often bullied for this and his unnatural hair color. Frank got a girlfriend who was anti-mutant and felt Tommy was one and they often fought. Frank often took her side and disapproved of all Tommy's accomplishments or lack thereof.

He often got into trouble, and was in and out of juvenile hall for various things. His powers manifested when he was thirteen year old. He was in school when it happened and lost control over his powers instantly, blowing up the math class. Tommy was sent to a superjuvenile hall because of his record as troublemaker and the fact that he was a mutant.

Superjuvie was not a good time for Tommy. There was a lack of adherence to basic human rights. Tommy's parents never came for him, even though they were informed, leaving Tommy bitter and angry with parental figures. Scientists took an interest in a speedster with an ability to blow things up and Tommy was poked and prodded like an animal as they tried to turn him into a weapon.

Eventually, he was able to escape Superjuvie, and found refuge on Krakoa.

Story Arcs: TBD

@Crimson Flame

Approved.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

M A G I K

Illyana Rasputin ⭙ 26 Years Old ⭙ Russian/American/Krakoan ⭙ Great Captain of Krakoa ⭙ New Mutants

⭙ _{H I S T O R Y} ⭙

Illyana Rasputin’s story is a strange one for new young mutants to hear for the first time. From doe eyed sibling of an X-Men to the tormented and desperate child kidnapped to a hell dimension by a demonic sorcerer. From victim to survivor to member of the New Mutants, finding a new family. From veteran of the New Mutants to X-Men facing off against the Avengers, to a host of the Phoenix Force.

Raised on a collective farm in Siberia as a bright-eyed Russian girl with a loving family. She knew what her brother was, at least on some level. Living without him was harder, what with the big empty spot in the family’s life, but they got by. Getting kidnapped by an X-Men villain at age seven was anything but pleasant, but it did mean she could stay at New York with the X-Men for a while afterwards.

Illyana winds up kidnapped by a predatory demonic sorcerer named Belasco in the usual collateral that seems to go with being close with the X-Men. Yet this wasn’t some usual random death from a blow meant for your X-Men loved one; this kidnapping was very, very personal. In Illyana, Belasco had found the perfect resource to reclaim the favor of his dark “Old Gods.” He called her pure and perfect and unspoiled.

Illyana survived because of friendship, and teachings of those precious few allies she had during her time in Limbo as Belasco’s consort. She met others trapped in the hellscape of Limbo, alternate reality versions of Storm and Shadowdcat. While they were unable to defeat Belasco together, over their years together Storm would reveal Belasco’s obsession: Illyana had a greater natural affinity for magical energies than most other people.

Steal Illyana young, and he could turn her into an asset and tool. Shadowcat would see that Illyana was physically prepared, training her over time in every form of combat she knew, and some she had learned in the death pits of Limbo itself. After some time the trio decided to try their luck again with an assault on Belasco. The sorcerer saw it coming, and the result was brutal: Storm was apparently killed, and Shadowcut was twisted into a semi-feral pet of the demonic sorcerer. Belasco’s possession finally took full force of her life. What came next, what it turned Illyana into, is hard for the young woman to talk about sometimes.

There was the obvious abuse of a creature like Belasco. Abuse from demons who saw the young human girl as some sort of rival; beat her, torture her, and use their demonic power to regenerate her back to new so they could do it all over again. They broke her body, Belasco broke her mind. He would teach her so much, his attention intense, but coming and going, never consistent.

She hated him and loved him and wanted to please him and knew she should kill him. That bled into her feelings about herself. Illyana felt consumed by guilt and shame. The only hope, the only glimmer of light at all, came in the activation of her mutant power. With the ability to teleport, Illyana was able to sneak away, to sneak back, all without Belasco’s knowing. Outside of his sight she used the time to teach herself Storm’s form of natural magic energies, instead of the mostly dark or chaos magic energies Belasco typically stressed.

While unable to replicate Storm’s magic, Illyana unlocked her own version of magical manifestation when she first called upon the Soulsword. Magik used the weapon and her various magical and martial training to kill Shadowcat, freeing her soul from Belasco’s corruption, and bring Belasco to defeat and begging for her to end him, to unleash the power of what would be his Darkchilde. Though half-demonic in appearance herself at this point, Illyana decided the wiser course was to let him leave, to kick him from Limbo, and return to her life.

Belasco’s power over her was no more. She wouldn’t concern herself with killing him and was unafraid of the next time they would meet—knowing full well they would meet again. Illyana returned to the X-Men, her best guess was age 15, she’d been lost in the hell of Limbo so long. Yet the time differences between Limbo and other dimensions means while Illyana had aged years, it had barely been a few minutes at the X-Mansion.

The X-Men had trouble accepting her tale. Her parents turned their back on her, mocked her. She was determined to continue, reaching out to the normal universe version of Ororo and Kitty. Both would help guide her, Xavier suggested she join the New Mutants. In the New Mutants, Illyana found friends and family. Over time she would prove her skill and worth, she would gain a new friendship with Cyclops. Anything that had to do with tactics or strategy was fair game any time they got to talking.

She would spend time with the X-Men, she would spend brief time fighting Avengers and hosting the Phoenix Force. Magik would prove herself against the best, and she would do it time and time again, that she was a top-tier heavy among the mutant population, and beyond. She followed the other New Mutants to Krakoa, where things seemed to be different. Now the New Mutants were the young adults training the new generation, instead of the new generation of mutants.

⭙ _{P O W E R S / A B I L I T I E S} ⭙

_{P O W E R S}

Teleportation - Magik can teleport herself and others via circles of light dubbed stepping discs; though this is apparently an innate mutant power, her demonic corruption has seemingly inextricably tied the discs to limbo, so that they also appear there randomly without Magik summoning them, and so that the discs always travel via limbo. Possibly because limbo’s nexus status makes it close to all places and times, Magik can teleport across interstellar distances or transtemporally, and home in on specific people without knowing their exact location.

_{A B I L I T I E S}

Sorcery - Magik is the Sorceress Supreme of her Limbo dimension. The extent of her powers there are all-powerful and the demons of Limbo did not dare challenge her. Magik had access to Belasco's store of mystical knowledge. Magik's sorcery was a unique mix of black magic, that she learned from Belasco, and white magic, taught by an alternative-reality Ororo Munroe. She was considered as a possible Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, and as an adult has trained with Doctor Strange. Due to her magical prowess Magik also possesses exceptional psionic shields able to thwart Earth’s most powerful telepaths.

Armed/Unarmed Combat - Illyana is a skilled swordswoman and created the Soulsword from her own lifeforce when she was trapped in the immortal demonic sorcerer Belasco's limbo dimension. It begins as a simple sword but evolves with use, both in appearance and power. The Soulsword can disrupt most spells or slay magical beings, but which can pass through normal people without harming them. When using the Soulsword, or using her magic, Illyana’s body becomes covered in a mysterious mystic armor known as Eldritch armor. The longer and more intense the combat, the more of her body will be covered in the armor. A lifetime fighting demons in Limbo, along with extensive combat training from various sources, has made Illyana one of mutantkind's foremost combatants.

_{A R C S}

Oh Great Captain, my Captain - Former X-Men. Great Captain of Krakoa. As the New Mutants lose one of their own, it's clear dynamics are changing, and Magik finds herself at the center of it. Outside their door of ALPHA house in the Akademos Habitat, but just barely, the other problems begin to hit them as the enormous question of who teaches the mutant young on Krakoa, and what is the purpose of their education begin to present themselves.

Swords? I heard something about swords? - Illyana finds herself sucked into the drama of magic and swords in Otherworld. Well, a different kind of magic and swords than she's used to dealing with. To no one's surprise, Illyana finds herself right at home kicking and stabbing things.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

World's okayest telepath

Name. Tessa
Alias. Sage
Age. 34
Place of Birth. Former Yugoslavia

Powers.

Machine Brain: Sage’s mind is not a literal computer, but is closer may be closer to one than any other organic brain on earth. It has granted her extremely fast processing speed, excellent multitasking and photographic memory. She has used this to develop a great deal of physical and mental skills, especially those related to espionage.

Telepathy: Sage is a skilled telepath. Her greatest ability is her extremely strong psychic defense, manifesting as a powerful firewall that can reflect psychic attacks back at less adept opponents.

Genetic Sight: Sage can get some insight into people’s genetics and potential by close contact. In the past, she has even been able to “jumpstart” dormant mutations in other mutants, though in most cases nothing happens.

History.
Tessa’s history with X-men started when she was just eighteen and met Professor Xavier in the mountains of Afghanistan. She was the first to find him after his legs had been crushed by a boulder, and he noticed her mental talents. He began to train her when the X-men were only a vague idea in his mind; and he found a place she could use her talents: espionage. Tessa became Xavier’s mole inside the Hellfire Club, rising to be a trusted advisor to their leader, Sebastian Shaw. She worked with Shaw and Emma Frost to outwit the telepathic billionaire Elias Bogan in a high stakes game of chance, forming a lasting grudge. Years later, Bogan would exact his revenge by kidnapping and torturing her, until she was rescued by Storm.

From then on, Tessa joined up with Storm and adopted the name Sage, becoming part of the team Storm assembled to search for a set of prophetic diaries left behind by the precognitive mutant Destiny. Her time with Storm’s steam saw encounters with foes such as the international terrorist Viper, the mutant hunting cyborg known as The Fury, and another showdown with Elias Bogan.

After M-Day, Sage moved to England and joined Excalibur. This diversion turned into a dimension hopping excursion with the Exiles, leading to a lot of experiences Sage is still processing. At various points she peered into the blackbox of a Celestial, visited a world where humans were wiped out by robots, had an interdimensional guardian dump a heap of cosmic knowledge into her head, and helped the team battle no less than ten evil alternate reality version of Xavier.

After all of the multiversal travel, Sage returned to Earth and laid low for a while, working in the background until recent events. With the establishment of Krakoa, Sage has become a key part of the island’s operations. She helps to manage the island’s gateway network, and is one of the members of X-Force, Krakoa’s department in charge of clandestine operations.

Story Arcs.

Cobwebs in the Attic
Tessa's mind has taken a lot of unresolved damage. She's done her best to patch over it, but incidents like the time The Fury hijacked her mind and turned her against her teammates or the massive information dump from Roma have created corners that even her machine brain doesn't dare examine. What is buried can never stay that way, and if it resurfaces at the wrong time it could potentially turn a key piece of Krakoa's security into an internal threat

@Fiber

Approved.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

Looks fun, I'll give this a go. Gonna go with an original character, at least for now.

Many Tails

Name: Aya Tanaka
Alias: Kitsune
Age: 19
Place of Birth: Kyoto, Japan
Appearance: Aya is a green eyed, blonde haired girl of Japanese descent, though arguably her most prominent features are her fox ears on the top of her head and the seven tails protruding from her rear. People tend to notice those first.
Powers: Aya has a range of powers that appear magical and supernatural in nature, her powers seem to be mainly tied to her physical, mutant characteristics, her tails. Every time she's grown a new tail she's either gained a new power or her current powers have become stronger.

Fox-fire: Aya can summon blue orbs of fire that float around her, she can launch them at will in any direction, the orbs burn with an supernatural heat and explode on impact.

Animalistic Physiology: Aya's five senses are superior to a normal humans. In addition, her speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and strength are greater as well, though most others with enhanced strength/agility probably have her beat.

Two forms: Aya can shapeshift into the form of a fox with seven tails, she can use this to slip into smaller spaces and that's about it. She also cannot speak as a fox, though someone with telepathy could still communicate with her.

Illusions: Aya can conjure illusions that can fool the fives senses, typically using them to disguise herself or otherwise slip away unnoticed, or to pull an epic prank. Simple illusions are as easy as breathing, but the more complex ones require much more focus and concentration on her part.

Conjuring: Aya can create and/or manipulate inanimate objects. Such as creating a stick out of thin air or transforming a normal piece of paper into money. Any object she transforms will eventually revert however, and objects she creates will eventually 'poof' out of existence. The largest object she has been able to create/manipulate is roughly the size of a small car.

History: Aya was born to a rich, Japanese couple in Kyoto, Japan. Her mutant traits were immediately apparent, but due to her fox-like features making her look similar to the mythical kitsune her human parents saw this as a blessing of Inari rather than something to be scorned.

Her father was a business man that worked in America, and so Aya ended up being raised in New York for a good portion of her childhood, and became fluent in both Japanese and English as a result. Despite being a mutant her parents protected her from any discrimination and hate from humans, sheltering her heavily and schooling her mainly through private tutors. Seemed money could solve just about anything.

Being sheltered has it's downsides of course, a lack of friends to hang out with for one. Due to this Aya ended up spending a significant amount of her time online and using social media, prides herself on knowing the latest memes and being 'based'. She even ended up becoming a streamer and vlogger, and now at nineteen she's been set loose into the world oh no.

Personality: Aya is somewhat of a hedonistic, tending to go for whatever she thinks is enjoyable at the time. She enjoys teasing and messing with people and likes to confuse people in order to get her way. She does this all in good fun of course, while she was most certainly spoiled she isn't particularly bratty. She is fairly social and surprisingly easy to make friends with, if they can put up with her antics.

Weaknesses: While quite internet savvy, Aya is fairly naïve about the real world due to how sheltered and protected she was, and does not fully grasp that some people will hate her due to her being a mutant. Her antics and pranks can get her into serious trouble if she takes them too far. She has zero combat experience, better at running away than actually getting into a fight.

Story Arcs: Vlogging in Krakao - Aya plans to travel to Krakao to do a vlog, no way that could go wrong.

@Abillioncats

Approved.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

Molly Hayes

Name: Molly Hayes
Alias: Bruiser
Age: 17
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, CA

Powers: Molly can activate a state where her eyes glow bright pink and she thus gains incredible super strength. Though not on the level of being such as The Hulk, she hasn't yet had the misfortune of ever being in a situation where she wasn't strong enough to lift/break what she needed to. This state also grants her some level of invulnerability to the degree where bullets bounce off her.

The drawback of this state is that it is a finite well to draw from. If she overexerts herself through prolonged or strenuous usage of her power, she will physically exhaust herself, possibly to the point of being unable to move, or even to loss of consciousness.

History: Molly's parents were founding members of the LA-based Supervillain group The Pride. Along with other children of Pride members, Molly was part of The Runaways, and after stopping their parents, had many adventures over the years, breaking up and reforming multiple times as members grew up and were busy with other events. One year ago, they seemingly split up for good, and Molly decided to focus on high school, wishing to enter college.

She hid her powers, and her past. The worse and worse public opinion on Mutants became, the more and more isolated Molly felt, that the bigger part of her identity being a Mutant became. She still kept in touch with The Runaways, and sometimes even met up with a few of them, but they were content with the paths they had taken, and encouraged her to focus on school. After a particularly nasty yelling match with Chase, she distanced herself from them. None of them were mutants. They didn't understand what she was going through right now.

She of course had known about Krakoa previously, but it was only now that she seriously entertained thoughts of going. She made her mind up and slipped away from her foster family without a word, taking only the possessions that fit in a rucksack, and fled with the goal of finding a place to belong with her own kind.

Story Arcs: Molly is looking for a place to belong, where she can start a new chapter of her life and possibly make some new friends.

@Silver Carrot

Approved!

Feel free to also play Lydia if you want the option of both.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

After more thought, I'm going to make Lydia Creel. I can already think of a few reasons she'd want to and/or could end up on the island. I think with this cast and setting, she would be a more interesting character to play

She might not have the X-gene (Her power is more Alien/Magical in nature) but it is linked to Loki (He created the potion that gave her father his powers), and it would also draw comparisons to Rogue's power

@Silver Carrot

The issue is there, outside certain circumstances, non-mutants aren't allowed on the island. So you could still play them, they just won't be on mutants-centric events/stories.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

I'm very interested, but debating whether to use an older Molly Hayes (from Runaways), or a legacy OC I've grown attached to, Lydia Creel (daughter of Absorbing Man and Titania)

Molly has Super Strength but on the lower end of it so maybe Comics Jessica Jones level.

Lydia can copy powers (basically, the properties of people, so anything that's nature but not nurture, wholly external, or truly unique. So she can't copy being The Chosen One or Worthy of Mjolnir or anything) The copied powers are heavily nerfed but she can stack them

@Silver Carrot

No issue with either of those. My only advice is: make a mutant (if not going with Molly), too, just in case the game gets Krakoa-centric early.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

Name. William “Billy” Kaplan
Alias. Wiccan
Age. 18
Place of Birth. New York

Powers. Wiccan’s powers are extensive, unpredictable, powerful, possibly mutant, and most definitely magical. Typically, his abilities manifest as electrokinetic energy from his hands, which Wiccan can manipulate in numerous ways—both offensively and defensively. Wiccan can also teleport himself and his teammates over long distances, fly, create objects from thin air, levitate objects, project force, energy, ice, heat, and fire, and create force fields and other solid energy objects

History. The Avengers Vision and Scarlet Witch once had twin children. Billy and Tommy Maximoff. This was an extraordinary occurrence, considering Vision is a synthetic being and Scarlet Witch is a chaos magician. The family lived happily during a time known as the House of M. Unfortunately for the couple, the children were undone when Scarlet Witch muttered No More Mutants. However, the souls of the children would be reborn as new people.

Billy was born the eldest of 3 sons, to parents Jeff and Rebecca Kaplan. When he was young, Billy realized he was gay, and so took a lot of abuse from classmates. After getting into a fight with some bullies, Billy has an encounter with the Scarlet Witch. She heals him, and tells him to stand up for himself.

That’s exactly what he did the next time he had a run in with that same bully. Unluckily for him, the electrokinetic aspect of Billy’s powers manifested, and the bully was nearly killed.

After that incident, Billy began to practice his magic powers, and wished to find Wanda again, to whom he felt a special connection. He believes she may have activated something in him when she healed his injuries that day. Unfortunately, the Scarlet Witch had vanished.

Story Arcs.

Children’s Crusade: Billy finds Wanda… Stuff happens…

@Crimson Flame

So he is a mutant, and he's still looking for Wanda? Given what she's been up to, fair to say she'd be hard to find, but let me know what you might have in mind.

Marvel Comics: Dawn of X

The Doctor is in

Name. Stephen Strange, MD, PhD

Alias. Dr. Strange
Age. 55
Place of Birth. Philadelphia, USA

Powers.
Dr. Strange has a vast and versatile array of spells and mystical abilities, augmented by his arsenal of magical artifacts. They range from the stereotypical options such as flight, energy blasts, shields, teleportation, and astral projection, to more esoteric charms and curses. All magic must be powered by something, and some of Strange’s most potent spells draw from entities that can demand a heavy toll on the user if abused. Strange is also still a human, with all of the weaknesses that entails, and invoking magic frequently requires him to be able to make certain gestures or utter certain phrases. Aside from his magical skill, Stephen also has great medical knowledge and a mind for thinking of creative strategies on the fly, and is an expert martial artist.

History.

Stephen Strange drove himself to become the world’s greatest neurosurgeon due to guilt from his sister’s death. A car accident damaged his nerves and forced him to abandon his surgical career, he searched for a cure and after many failures he came to Kamar Taj, where he studied under The Ancient One. He quickly became a Master of the Mystical Arts and claimed the title of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, defending the planet from magical threats. Over the years he’s met other sorcerers, fought invasions from other realms, joined superhero teams, had over a dozen people/otherworldly entities add him to their “mortal enemies” list, been involved in a complicated romance with a sorceress from the Dark Dimension named Clea that still isn’t resolved because neither is sure how to properly handle divorce procedures for a magical soul bond, gained new powers, lost new powers, made some questionable fashion choices and helped save the world a couple of times.

The most recent disruption to Strange’s life came unexpectedly. The Sorcerer Supreme’s role had been quiet lately, Baron Mordo was dead (for the time being), Dormammu was losing a Dark Dimension civil war badly enough that he had no time to mess with Earth, the Fear Lords had some kind of falling out and were fighting amongst themselves, and Shuma-Gorath was doing whatever he does when he’s not actively trying to devour everything. All was well, until the Vishanti called him for a great mystical war, the War of the Seven Spheres. He tried to resist but was pulled in anyway, into a dimension where time did not flow as it did in mortal realms. The war lasted millennia, scarring Strange’s psyche from the extreme length and constant fighting, but when he returned to Earth only four months had passed, and his body was none the worse for the wear. In his absence, Wong had assumed the role of Sorcerer Supreme and done an admirable job of defending the realm. Now Strange is adrift, searching for what to do and dealing with the lingering effects of the epic conflict, trying to find a role for himself in a rapidly changing world.

Story Arcs.

Nunc Dimittis
During the war Strange saw a vision about who the next Sorcerer Supreme would be. He hasn’t fully decoded it or unraveled the other meanings hidden within, but he knows that it could have grave implications for the future. He’ll try to find this next holder of the title, but what will be left for him after this, and what else will he uncover on his quest?

Dormammu I’ve Come to Bargain (for real this time)
Strange attempts to negotiate a lasting peace treaty between Earth and the Dark Dimension. That’s going to be a challenge, and one that he would prefer not to take up alone. He’s going to have to sit down with some of his bitterest and most duplicitous foes, and also his ex-wife. People say it’s impossible, but Strange is no stranger to doing the impossible.

@Fiber

Approved!!