solokolos Member
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- solokolos 10 yrs ago
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Ayyyy lmao.
Email is Solokolos@protonmail.com
Discord is available on request.
Email is Solokolos@protonmail.com
Discord is available on request.
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General Setting
Current year: 1956
Location: United States
Location: United States
Around the 1930s, advancements in many formal sciences hit a wall of sorts. This was coupled with many governments encouraging further study into biological sciences. Quickly Einsteins of these fields appeared, people who studied and vastly improved our understanding of living things. Chimeras, cloning, Frankenstein-esque monsters; all became reality before too long. The rewards reaped were immense, with blindness curable via injection, and brand new more durable replacement arms being grown every day.
The characters in this RP are a product of these advancements in one way or another. A contest has begun with eighteen participants, seven of which are not who they seem. Each participant is being sponsored by the organization of their origin. The objective of each organization is to acquire financial and political power via a test trial. As the final part of this test trial your goal is simply to out survive the seven false participants. Traps are everywhere, hidden underfoot, or found all too easily. Poisonous gas beckons you into oblivion after a single misstep, and although killing your fellow participants isn't recommended, there's a chance any of them could be the enemy.
Average Life of a Subject
The subjects who have been placed into this contest have had a very dreary life so far. A past that is not under their control, with body and brain often manipulated for a goal they didn't understand. The researchers and scientists working on this individuals are often an inhumane sort, not even using anesthesia. Though some of the subjects are modified humans, some are purely vat grown creatures, that are only human in appearance. Those with more humane scientists may be stronger psychologically but often have less extreme modifications. For the stronger willed, it is more how they respond to the horrors than what they actually experienced, that determines the subjects psychology.
Subjects often try to escape, though their efforts are usually in vain, simply resulting in punishment and further deterrents. If a subject don't escape on their first attempt, then it will probably also be their last attempt. Standard practice is to have subjects require a chemical only available inside their home city. Other measures vary from city to city. This requirement was removed for all 'participants' inside the tournament, letting the subjects eat and drink whatever they find.
The Six Organizations
The six organizations participating in the contest have offered up three participants each. The areas of their studies led to reduced human rights for the various test subjects, so long as they had certain markers or chevrons placed into their DNA. It was argued that, when the testing is done right the test subjects would not experience pain in any human way. Since this was hard to verify, the legislation ended up allowing these human right violations without due process. The organizations are referred to as their home cites and are as follows: Vallade, Orthon, Mithlonde, Tiriande, Lariande, and Erialond.
Vallade: A beacon in a bleak city, with marshlands surrounding it for miles. Trains come and go daily, with a unique horn for each train being heard at least eight times a day. It is a medium sized city, with 34 square miles within city limits.Vallade's facility is overly large, with its foundation often reinforced as various parts of it sink into the landscape. The Vallade facility is the main draw of its town, though various niche markets do exist. Creatures with espionage in mind are a common interest among the scientists who research in this facility.
Orthon: Orthon, the city, was originally a hub station between Vallade and Lariande, with many miles of desert between the two. It sprung around a well, and was found to be a great place to test high endurance subjects as well as strange plant chimeras (A chimera is a mix between two species, often violating the normal rules of fertilization.). Though this isn't their sole export in terms of experiments, the stereotype remains. Orthon is about twenty square miles.
Mithlonde: A city that was built as a result of a large number of mines in the same general area. The mines were linked together for convenience and the exceptionally rich deposits that were threaded through the earth caused more and more infrastructure to be built there, until eventually it became a city. The subject of research in the hastily made buildings are focused around exceptional strength and working with harsh environments, such as those with low oxygen, mixed gasses, and jagged terrain, helping further their mining exploits. Of course other research areas exist, as anything not yet tested could turn out to be real pay-dirt. Though the city is technically bigger than Eiralond, quite substantially so, many areas become unused and abandoned as veins are mined out and the 'city' moves along. There are a few central locations that provide most necessitates, but to find most things you must weave through the extensive tunnels with a knowledge that can only be gained through experience, either your own or that of hired guides.
Tiriande: Tiriande is a city that rests in a fertile valley, a large river running down from the mountains through it. This allowed the area to produce massive amounts of crops as well as be a beautiful tourist attraction due to the variety of genetically modified plants. Every shade imaginable, and some that weren't, grew on various petals and leaves in the strangest shapes and sizes. Those who experiment in the Tiriande usually focus on flashy and surprisingly lethal enhancements. A flower that has bladed petals, a fruit that releases a flesh melting gas when bit into, and courtesans with poisoned kisses are all samples of the terrors that come out of this city.
Lariande: A city far removed, Lariande is known for its chimera experiments. The specialty chimeras of Lariande have always been attempts at human flight. When the various facilities are working together well, Larande is used as in a similar way to Mithlonde, being able to test subjects who need to operate in low oxygen conditions. Lariande was taken by the government in the 1890's from native tribes, which is still considered a dick move. Erialond and Lariande are considered sister cities, despite the distance between the two, and Lariande's tiny 8 square mile size.
Erialond: When an engineer asks the question "What are the limits of where human civilization can settle?" A reasonable answer is Erialond. A city built on the water, wasting plenty of taxpayer money in the process. Though it is very self sufficient, it still gets supplies from the various cities through either having boats deliver them or by docking at said cities. It is very large, spanning around 40 square miles, and it's local research facility was one of its main funding sources. Erialonde is referred to as Lariande's twin for their similarities when it comes to chimera research, with these two facilities producing more advancements in this knowledge base than all other facilities combined. Naturally Erialond is focused on mutations that can apply to the water, though this is a rule with plenty of exceptions.
Zach had to slow himself every so often to not pass Judah, trying to stay orderly in their steady progression through the building and then the alley. An old TV awaited them, showing a young woman sitting in a chair. It was Troll, a well known member of the villain community, as well as the Community. As if to make even more puns then the villain normally did, she reference their name and presented a hostage. They would sit and listen, apparently, or the hostage would die. Something about it didn't sit right, in more ways than the obvious 'this is a trap' reason. She could read insecurities, a type of cold reading, but better at catching the details that might fall through the cracks, Did she know then how badly he wanted to stop the game before she could even play it? He wanted so badly to kill the hostage, and to play the game in reverse. Remove the time limits, the threat, the anxiety from the conversation, and see her advantage whittled down to nothing.
The twins made their decision before he could, sitting down. Seeming strained, Zach sat down as well, throwing his hoodie over his head to hide himself in the shadows it provided. He knew that would be a sign, and he was tempted to make it an even more obvious sign by making a rude gesture. He didn't though, he played nice as he expected his compatriots wanted him to. As he settled down, he reflected a bit, realizing how bad it would be to actually kill this innocent hostage for no other reason than the fact she'd be introduced to the fray. He justified it quietly, reminding himself that he never would have actually done it, but instead the thought was a reflection of their current situation. The justification didn't sit quite right, but he would manage regardless.
Zach moved at Judah's motion, grabbing his mask off a nearby table. It was a simple design, barely covering his cheeks, dipping down a bit before coming up to cover his nose. It was a navy color, with a white stripe down the center. A small elastic band secured it to the back of his head, and he tucked that band beneath his hair. He moved out into the hallway with Judah, listening to Limbo as she spoke. At their leader's motion he moved to Judah's right, and listening to the twin's speak. One thing Zach's allies found out very quickly was that he was rarely worried about traps. Foolhardy, but with a pretty good cause. He hadn't felt pain physical pain in months. One could adapt to avoid risks, and in Zach's case he had adapted to no longer consider the risks; for better or for worse.
The last few weeks felt like living in a bubble. On the literal side, people didn't get too close. When he fought people it felt like he was seeing himself from the third person, his defense completely disconnected from any rational thoughts. Zach's power protected, protected more, and didn't stop until everyone who could hurt him had exhausted every tool they had. Every magazine empty, and often many bones broken. That didn't include the ones who ran outright, but the disconnect went further. On the metaphorical side, his power was great at isolation, not caring about anyone but Zach's safety. A bubble had the connotation of being soft though, and his was anything but.
A figure called out to the people it floated above, and Zach was raised from his glum stupor with shock. A ghost, more corpse than ethereal was hovering above the various members of Lethal Force, and Zach realized soon that it was Limbo. At processing the words he froze, looking to his fellow members for direction. If he was alone he would've followed, but now he wasn't so sure. He and the other leaders had lives under their control, it was hardly a small thing to ask them to risk said lives. So he looked to Judah, the natural leader of the group with eyes that begged for direction.
Ira Riese:
PHQ - Class is in Session - or it was
PHQ - Class is in Session - or it was
@BCTheEntity@Lugubrious@ProPro@yoshua171@Old Amsterdam
Calculus came a bit too naturally to Ira, through it was often in a confusing way. Her power helped a whole hell of a lot, giving her the formulas, the functions, and even sometimes answers. The problem was that it didn't come anywhere near textbook Calculus. Her passenger would tell her that if she switched the problem to base 64 this formula would work, but the why was constantly eluding her. Somehow the curves and wavelengths featured prominently in Calculus were an extension of her power, but it confused more then helped. These odd circumstances taught her to rely more on Decoy's teachings than what her power provided, though her power sometimes persisted in spite of her.
The last two weeks had been strange in the sense of a lack of anything high energy. Honestly, she felt like she was one of the few who enjoyed the new normal, boring lull. The young tinker had gotten more time to better explore her and her teammate's powers, though it was mostly Evelyn she had been talking to. Though Ira was often worried about reciprocaty in emotions. she definitely felt like they had become friends. Ira found her strange in certain ways, but the young Asian girl often agreed with the saying variety was the spice of life.
Exploring a new friendship wasn't the only type of exploration she had done; Ira had explored her power a bit more, applying it to trying to directly improve another parahuman's. She had interviewed Evelyn, half as a way to better get to know her and half to understand her very interesting power. The focus had been on the powers range, and the more Ira focused on it the stranger her own power's reaction. There had been countless ways to increase Evelyn's range, plenty more then what she had gone for. The idea behind her invention was a type of duality, the method focused on creating a link between two locations. The first part had to be within Evelyn's range, and the second on a destination. It had been quite difficult to make only the receiver draw energy, but it was a must for keeping the invention from being a burden on anyone but herself.
Honestly, in its inception she realized there could be a pretty obvious metaphorical implication in the type of direct linking and protection the device offered. She hoped, for her pride's sake, they would be ignored.
Decoy finished the lesson, noting that her teammates would arrive soon. Ira nodded, appreciating the time he took out of his day to teach her. How easily and how quickly they lapsed from Japanese to English, to even a hybrid of the two sometimes, greatly helped the young Tinker. The communication barrier that often impeded her learning was completely absent here. Ira stood up, stretching a bit, before moving to one side of the room. Out of the way, and hopefully not drawing too much attention, as she preferred.
The first to arrive was Lillian, the newest addition to the team. A young energetic girl that Ira found herself fond of, though they didn't talk enough for that to be obvious. She smiled at the girl, uttering a small greeting before refocusing on the nothing she had been focused on before. Alessa was next who greeted and was greeted in kind before Evelyn arrived. Ira tried to meet her eyes momentarily, before refocusing on what was turning out to be a very interesting ceiling.
Originally, the plan had been to go in alone, but her teammates quickly volunteered to join her. As one after another volunteered, Ira looked more than a little confused. This was going to be hard to keep civilized, more a lynching then a interrogation in all but the literal sense. At the mention of her nullification device Ira nodded, smiling a bit. At Decoy’s compliment Ira reddened slightly, and stopped meeting her leader’s eyes. She had grabbed the suitcase sized device without thinking when they were being led through the halls and had left it outside of the observation room. Decoy and Protean led the Wards out of the room and towards the Para’s prison, and Ira picked the black box off the ground. She popped it open slightly as they walked, and adjusted a dial within before closing it again.
Protean pressed his hand against the hand scanner, and Ira adjusted her ear piece, turning it on momentarily to speak to her teammates in a hushed tone. "Intimidation will come later, but for now lets go for diplomacy,” She said, and secured her mask fully before leading the way into the small room. Ira-No, Epsilon. Epsilon stride forward confidently, keeping her eyes on Lovecraft with a gaze that spoke of cautious confidence. She pressed the start button, and the field radiated outward. Her small adjustment to the dial had made it not spread quite as far. Her first demonstration had been at it’s maximum distance, but now it barely reached the corners of the room they were in.
”Two heroes almost died at the hand of your fellow thugs, who abandoned you the moment you became any semblance of a liability. I think we’d all appreciate it if you cooperated,” She said, her voice steady. Epsilon didn’t even mention the device, though she hoped the fear associated with losing access to his power would be helpful in convincing him.
After explaining what they had found out, a bright light shone out of their body as they switched places. Suddenly, the young woman they had met first present, but this time with substantially less clothes. A flush spread across Zach’s face, and he lowered his eyes momentarily before he realized she didn’t care.
Judah asked if Gaia could put on more layers, and Zach went finished his pizza happily. Gaia then made a cryptic statement relating to Dunn getting shot, which seemed pretty morbid. Zach nodded, before speaking up. ”Are we going to head out tonight then?” He seemed unsure, but would definitely be down for a good frontal assault on a villain’s hideout.
The girl (not woman, definitely girl) reacted poorly to what James said, and he could understand that. Before the waitress could leave, he gestured at her and whispered his order in her ear. He slipped a bill out of his pocket, and placed it in her hand. James thought for a second looking at little red, and then said another thing to the waitress before sitting down next to Lance. He didn't want to crowd the girl by trapping her. Lance had said she wasn't a mark and that was enough. Still, it was impressive that the girl managed to get in here.
"Call me paranoid, but I ask Lance that about anyone he talks to. The man hangs out with strange folk." He said, winking at the girl. His smile was warm and genuine, as he shifted to looking out at the dance floor. The waitress returned with two tall orange glasses, setting one in front of James and one in front of the young girl. "Whip cream vodka and sunny D" James said, more to the young girl then Lance. It was all he ever got after all. "I'm James by the way. Nice to meet you Little Red. If you sneak in here again I'll be supremely impressed."
Zach came in quickly, smiling warmly at the reception. He accepted Dunn's hospitality, and grabbed himself a slice of the pineapple pizza. Half of the twins started explaining why he had called them up, and the scouting he had done. He mentioned a name, Patriarch, and it sounded very familiar. Patriarch, Patriarch, Patriarch, why did he think he knew that name? Zach shook his head, and went to get another slice of pizza, having already scarfed down the first. It would be easy to infer he hadn't been eating well, and that wasn't too far off base. After getting the next slice he came back and shrugged, frowning.
"That name sounds really familiar but I just can't place it. I'm guessing he's a leading reason this city is rotting?" He asked, resorting to his pompous language at being slightly agitated at the thought.
Protean lead the group calmly, with an expression that was hard to read. Eventually Ira fell to the back of the group, looking a bit crestfallen, a disappointing addition to her relatively antisocial nature. They arrived at a room used to interrogate various unsavory figures in the midst of an argument between the director and Decoy. After a bit the director explained what the current state of affairs was, giving just enough details to make Ira feel informed. Protean interjected at a part to add relevant information that some of the Wards may not have known offhand.
As the director finished, a young person entered the far side of the room, with quite a bit of ambiguity surrounding their gender among other parts of their identity. They flirted, and it almost seemed defensive to Ira, the kind of thing you'd do to hide real fear. At least, that was Ira's best guess.
The director noted that they were working under the assumption they were a shifter. Shifters, right, they could change their physical from. Everything from turning into animals, to replicating someone else's appearance. The directer also seemed offended by the use of the name Lovecraft, which seemed a bit strange to Ira. Then again, she had no idea who or what Lovecraft was. A small conversation about assets unknown commenced between Protean and the Director, speaking of someone who had been hiding in a bomb shelter.
The young tinker hung on every word spoken, characteristically absorbed in anything relating to the Protecterate or more specifically powers. Then the director mentioned a lie detecting software, and Ira almost lost control. She wanted so badly to ask how it worked, what it used as a baseline, how quickly it could be calibrated, and every other relevant question under the sun. Ira seemed to be visibly strained, wanting very badly to speak up. When Protean suggested they individually interrogate the villain, Ira's hand shot up, and her mouth opened to speak. "I'll go first! I mean I'll try if that's fine with you," She said, bouncing up and down in place with excitement. Her derangement was getting the best of her.
The city absorbed Jaunt, his brisk pace mixed with precise teleports, bringing him to his home quickly. The last jump, from the denser city, to his suburban home was a very long one. He collapsed to his knees, partially in shock from how painful it was. Standing back up was a slow, arduous movement, especially with all the body armor he was wearing. Jaunt was standing in a room that used to be a spare bedroom. He took off his gas mask first, unstringing it and placing it on the bed carefully. Next was his helmet, which he put next to the gas mask. Every piece of armor was put on and taken off in a specific way. When put on in the correct order, it provided maximum protection to a large variety of attacks.
Soon the entire costume lay on the bed, along with his phone and his various weaponry. The look in that woman's eyes flashed through his head again, the cold calculating nature of them. He almost died. Christ, and he thought he was losing his humanity, but nothing like that. A breath James didn't know he was holding escaped his lips, and he moved to open the closet. A rifle safe rested on the right hand corner of the closet, and Jaunt entered the 6 digit combination quickly. He swung open the empty safe, and slowly stored his costume within. He picked up his- no, Jaunt's cellphone. He sent a message to Lance, his only contact in Patriach's group, that was short and sweet. It explained his phone was compromised in a couple words. The implied meaning was that they would have to meet up and exchange new numbers within the next three days.
Now the phone was useless. He threw it onto the bed behind him, and looked back at his closet. James closed the safe, and picked a white t-shirt off of the hanger, slipping it on over his head, along with a pair of black pants. He had about thirty of that exact same outfit spread across his closet. Buying clothes was such a headache that James didn't do it anymore. One type of shirt, and one type of pants fit him just fine. He slipped his wallet off his dresser and into his back pocket, and grabbed the compromised phone off the bed.
The door to the guest bedroom opened with a loud squeak as the tall black man stepped out into the hallway. His heart ached a bit, just being in this place. A remnant of a different time and a different man. He had been less jaded. He walked to the living room, picking his keys off of the dining room table as he passed. Everywhere he looked, memories of his wife littered this house. It now lay undisturbed, the only thing having changed was the movement of all his things to the guest bedroom. James couldn't even sleep in his own damn room. Everything still smelled like her.
James unlocked and opened the front door, locking it again before closing it behind him. He opened the garage with his keys, moving past his wife's Subaru straight to his motorcycle. Christina had chided him so often for buying. There was an empty spot where he used to park his police cruiser, though it was clearly absent. He picked his motorcycle helmet off the workbench next to it, and strapped it on out of habit. The one condition for him buying it was to always wear a helmet, and so he did.
Within minutes he was at the nightclub that Lance and he almost always met up at. He would have to come here at least once for the next two days to try to catch Lance, unless the man wasn't busy today. He slipped the helmet off his head, and took the compromised phone out of his pocket. As long as it didn't have a battery it couldn't be tracked. He slipped the back cover of the blackberry off, and put its battery in his pocket before tossing it in the trashcan.
James moved past the bouncer with a nod, happy that he was on such good terms with the staff of the nightclub that he could skip the long line. As he entered the club, he eyed the VIP area above the right side of the club. As he looked for Lance above, his eye caught movement below his eye line. There Lance was, talking to a very young girl with red hair and a green hoodie.
Anyone who got in James way was swiftly pushed aside as he approached the two, eying the girl's grey purse. It was bulging, though that wasn't too strange. Still for Lance to confront her. . . Was she a cape? James spoke up as he reached the table at the same time as a waitress who was refilling Lance's drink. "Little young for you Lance? Found a mark? He asked, putting emphasis on their keyword for Parahumans when texting. James had to assume that Lance had already been here. Hell he probably hadn't even seen the text yet.
The text dinged on Zach's phone just as he finished his day job. He pretty quickly figured out that the Twins had sent the text, and headed to the address. He arrived a bit late because he walked the entire way, choosing not to use public transportation out of paranoia. The streets around the apartment weren't very busy so he acted as naturally as possible as he approached the door.
He knocked quickly on the apartment door, his face visible through the peephole as he made sure no one was watching him. As he waited, a pizza guy walked up behind him, and gave him a friendly smile. He motioned to the soda, and explained how he had forgotten to grab it when delivering the pizza. Zach's mouth watered at the thought of pizza, and he knocked again, a bit faster this time.
Ira Riese:
PRT HQ
PRT HQ
Epsilon waited tensely, ready to fight back the second the Minotaur wanted to begin the pugilistic engagement. That didn't come though, and Protean instead declared they failed. Although it took a while to end, Epsilon was suddenly very worried that the reason they failed was because she didn't know what a Minotaur was. To be fair, she remembered very little of her schooling, mainly because of how poorly she did. The public school she went to wasn't prepared to handle the sudden surge of Japanese students immigrating to America, and at the time she hadn't even started learning English.
To her surprise her team didn't really seem disappointment in her, but it could've been that they were being nice. As she rejoined her compatriots, and Protean finished talking about the reward for finding out what they did wrong, Decoy's voice came on over the radio. He declared there was a serious situation in progress. She eyed her teammates carefully, looking for Alessa to guide them through this one. At times she felt a bit too much like a follower. She reflected on the fact that her schooling would begin again soon, but this time her teacher would be Decoy. She was ecstatic at the thought, hardly able to remember the last time she was taught by someone also fluent in Japanese. Any language confusion could immediately be cleared up, if their lessons were even in English.
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