Saltwater Thief

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

Law, Order, & Equivalence

The Office of General Rheinmetall

There were few things Anthony Rheinmetall hated more than reading paperwork. It was all the more ironic, then, that his position as the Director of AMSIF was almost exclusively that, but even the Iron Saber himself had to admit that his days of direct action were likely behind him. He still had the fire of a military man in him and doubted he would ever lose it, but at age 55 his body couldn't quite keep up with his heart and soul anymore. No, he thought idly, much as he hated to concede it, the field work was better left to the younger folks. Like the dozen new recruits whose dossiers he was currently examining, or his two Brigadier Generals who sat on the other side of his desk reviewing them with him.

"Seems a promising lot to me," he said in his gruff, almost gravely voice, "What do the two of you think?"

Amelia Remington pursed her lips and furrowed her brow as she lifted one of them to take another look. "Hmm. Some of them I find a little... not concerning per say, but a bit wary," she said, "Some of their capacities seem to fall on the side of the bizarre."

"Well then you of all people should be sympathetic," replied James Sherman as he folded his hands and looked at his colleague, "After all, how many questioned the application of hydrodynamic alchemy in a live fire scenario while you were making your way up?"

Amelia had to admit he had a point. While her moniker of "The Rain Alchemist" was almost a household name these days, on her climb through the ranks she'd had to endure plenty of mocking smirks and backhanded comments about her experimental techniques and their perceived limited usefulness. "A fair criticism," she replied, "And you are correct. But we shall see in time."

"If you ask me," James continued, "The stranger ones interest me all the more. I'm actually excited to see how they apply their gifts in the field. And I'm looking forward to working with them besides."

"You just have a gift of going with the flow, don't you James?" Amelia said as she smiled, "I'm almost envious of it."

"Nonsense, I hate it when things go off the rails," he said, "Why do you think they call me 'The Conductor'?"

In truth, James Sherman was called that because of his uncanny ability to keep things running on a time schedule and his past working on the Amestris Railroad before he joined the military. A simple moniker, but he enjoyed playing it off as having some hidden and intimidating depth. He had no alchemical abilities, but he was sharp of mind, quick of wit, his investigative work was top-notch, and his skill with a knife was lethal.

"I believe you both are equally correct," Anthony said, "Their abilities offer great promise- if utilized correctly. Whether or not they have the mettle to do so is what we'll swiftly discover. Let us hope they'll give us a strong showing; with the tension rising on the Creta border and that peace treaty with Aerugo still drying its ink, we'll need all the support we can get."

A grim silence followed his words. Amestris's border clashes were still fresh in the minds of every member of the military, and with many of the nation's able bodies called away to her defense abroad there was great pressure on AMSIF to perform and keep things under control at home. Would these new recruits be up to the task? Only time would tell.

"Very well," the General said as he stood up, "I've a meeting to attend very shortly. May I trust the two of you to organize and assign some cases for the fresh meat, see how they'll stack up?"

"Yes sir!"

OOC Information
At present, the RP is in a Downtime Segment where players are free to post about their characters in their daily life away from the job. You've already been inducted into AMSIF properly, so feel free to detail time spent in the barracks if you wish. There's all manner of things there, including showers, a pool, a gym, firing ranges, and even a facility for practicing martial arts or boxing, plus anything else you'd like to write about so long as it's sensible. Feel free to converse with your fellow players or with NPCs (I will respond), we'll get moving once acceptance is finished!

Through the Doors of our hearts - Finished

Alexander

"Uh, the fountain? Sure, I guess," Wash replied as he glanced over toward the window. Checking the sun for the time of day like always, "I'm not expected for shift until well after nightfall."

"Shift? You have a job here?" Alexander asked, curiously. It was rather hard to imagine Wash picking up a basic old job.

"Man's gotta eat doesn't he?" Wash replied as he stood up and left some money on the table, "I work on a boat nearby."

"Ship," Alexander corrected as they moved to follow Kade and Hannah. That was always a sticking point, it was not a boat it was a ship, and any man who said the B-word was like to be dangled overboard for a time.

"Nah, this one's a boat Xander. Horrifyingly small, wouldn't last a second in any kind of fight. Thing can't even get airborne, that's the worst part. I'm still not used to the water splashing up at me."

"Well at least you're working something with sails and rigging!" Alexander replied, "That's gotta count for something." Spoken, he thought, just like a man who hadn't set foot on a deck in far too long.

"You'd think," Wash replied a little glumly, "But really all it does is pass the time. They take care of you around here, far as needs, but it's just the same old junk day in and day out. It gets boring in no time."

They walked for a bit, not that fountain was far, but as they did Wash seemed to fidget internally, as though he had something he was burning to ask. Before much time had passed however, he finally gave it a voice.

"Xander... did something happen on the ship?"

"Hmm?" Alexander said, "Not that I'm aware of, though that doesn't say much."

"Well," Wash fiddled, "Then why are you here?"

"Oh, that," Alexander's mood immediately went south, "That's a long story. Pretty much... I fell through the clouds, almost the same as you. But I didn't end up here, I went... back to where I came from. There's a place there, for people like me. People who were born one place, but came alive somewhere else. It's there to help us get used to not being where we belong."

"I see," Wash said, "But that's not here, so..."

"That would be because-" Alexander paused for a moment. Kade had nudged Hannah when she nearly asked about the castle, and he'd advised a lot of caution before they even came in. "I'm not sure I can tell you that, Wash. Never show the Dead Man's Dice to your neighbor, yeah?"

"If you say so," Wash shrugged.

A short silence passed between them, both boys out of their element and not fond of it one bit. Then a smile bridged Alexander's face as he had an idea.

"As I was flying to Elbith, twas on a market day," he began to lightly sing.

It took Wash a moment, but once he knew what was happening his face lit up. "I met the finest ram, sir, that ever was fed upon hay!" he sang, joining in.

"That's a lie, that's a lie, that's a lie, lie, lie!" the young men sang in unison.

"This ram and I got drunk, sir, we bought the bar a round!" Alexander continued.

"And when we sobered up sir, we were out among the clouds!" Wash followed up.

"That's a lie, that's a lie, that's a lie, lie, lie!"

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

We have 3 accepted and 2-3 more currently in process. I was going to wait until we had the full group to start the first round of cases, but there's not really a reason I can't open the thread in Downtime.

I'll look into doing that tomorrow or the day after. Thank you very much for your patience everyone!

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

@Briza Alright, you're good then, send her over!

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

Double post aside, please note for all CS's currently in progress that I have made a small adjustment to the RP's timing and that it now takes place 30 years after Father's defeat rather than 40. This is for the sake of streamlining the ages of some characters with canon relationships, and making sure (as an example) Alex Armstrong wasn't in his 60s when he became a father.

For reference, I have a section at the bottom of the 0th post that is a change log; any adjustments made to the RP's rules, system, or setting will be noted there and I encourage a regular checking of it. Thank you!

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

@Briza Alright, seems somewhat feasible. Was it your thought that she can do so at a distance or by touch? Also, in your mind, where does her circle go to perform the action?

I'm fine for whatever if it makes sense. My only reservations for roll systems come from many, many years ago when I did RP in a game where it was entirely roll based, so if you don't roll high enough you just flat out fail, and my trained, old veteran warrior literally couldn't land a single hit on a skeleton, because RNG said so.

@Shandria

Yeah, that's... almost exactly what I'd like to avoid. I'll be taking a cue or two from a friend whose RP I'm in, where I've had a couple of times she's given me a "Because it wouldn't make sense" boost- like when the roll says my character should've gotten bowled over by a gust of wind, but he'd spent most of his life crewing an airship so she gave him a boost and said "He stays up, but it's difficult" instead.

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

@Briza Hmm. So, to make sure I understand correctly, her Satumine Skill uses Alchemy to rearrange the neurochemicals in her target's brain, leading to disorientation and possible hallucination?

Important, Please Read

Since it's been raised as a point of concern by a couple people now, I'd like to offer some clarification and a little elaboration on the Dice Rolling. It's not my intention to stake every little thing on a d20, nor is it my thought to have such things as "If you roll badly your character might get maimed or die". What I will try my damndest to have happen is that most of your odds for success will come from the situation you're put into, how you handle it, and how well you think through and describe your actions; in that vein, my intent is for the dice roll to, rather than be a flat "Beat this number or you suck," give me a little help (and inject a small amount of chance) in determining how much of a success (or how near a miss) your actions end up being. As a quick example, even if I set a difficulty of 14, if you hit a 12 or a 13 and your post was solid, you very well might get it anyway; or I might give you a partial hit rather than a full success.

If I'm being honest, the bit in the 0th post mentioning them is quite bare-bones, but that's because there will be a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff with the dice rolls that I'd rather you all not get too tied up worrying about or trying to calculate. What I can say for certain is that I place a lot of value and weight on a well-written post showing me a cleverly devised strategy (or, in some cases, something just crazy enough to work), and while sometimes bad fortune will strike part of my goal with hammering out the system is to have a bit of happenstance that could go wrong, but make it so that the player is equipped with all the tools to ward and mitigate Lady Luck's cruel side- provided they use them.

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

@Shandria Well, the trick of it as I look is there's a bit of a gap between understanding the theories and the chemistry having the ability to influence them with the circle. However, if you want, the Booksmarts could be expanded to cover the manipulation as well.

Moving forward then, the way Analysis would work as it is now is the bonus would kick in when she needs to solve some form of puzzle or problem out while under pressure, since it seems to be more angled toward keeping cool in those circumstances. If that's fine with you, just add a small bit to the end of Booksmarts that notes she's able to do the transmutations (just for the sake of being thorough) and you should be good!

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

Hmm. Okay, that brings up something I probably should've included in the system design, so thank you for helping me in that regard. The idea was that while some things you can try to do without a Skill and still succeed, there are also some things you just can't do without the proper training. Alchemy happens to be one of those. So, if you'd like her to be an Alchemist, I'm going to have to ask that a Skill be spent on it.

You have my sincere apologies for neglecting to cover that.

I'll wait to talk about Analysis for now, since you might use it's Skill slot on Alchemy.

As for the book, the biggest thing is what it says about Human Transmutation. I'm fine with saying that she's copied some records of attempts at it by others from over the years, but given how taboo it is and how Father was basically the only one to achieve even a semblance of success at it (and how he took great pains to keep such things hidden) I don't think she'd be able to find anything that details the exact specs of a confirmed process.

Law, Order, & Equivalence: A Fullmetal Alchemist RP

@Shandria It's an interesting idea, I just have a couple questions.
-So, to make sure I understand, she has a book about alchemy and alchemy circle imprints, but she herself is not an alchemist?

-Is her Analysis skill intended to be a boost under duress that applies when she needs to figure something out while under fire, or had you designed it to be more general-purpose?

-Finally, I would like to know how her Book came to be. Did she write it herself, was it given to her, or did she find it somewhere?