Path of the MIST

[Infin1teZer0]

IC Thread

Keywords: Anime/Manga, Supernatural, Monster-Hunters, Dark, Modern, Fantasy

"But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
-Benjamin Franklin

"For Man to be able to gain something, something of equal value must be sacrificed in return. This is the first law of Equivalent Exchange."
-Fullmetal Alchemist

Basic Story Premise: You want something. It is that one thing your soul yearns for the most. You have got to have it. It must happen. No matter what, no matter how it happens, it has got to. The ends justify all means at this point, and you'd literally do anything for your wish to become a reality. Luckily for you, you've met someone that might be of service to you. Meet Astaroth, a sharp-looking young man that is willing to lend you a hand. "With our powers combined, even the most impossible of miracles are within your grasp!" he tells you, smiling warmly. He looks nice enough. Maybe this is just the help you need? He continues, "Listen, maybe we can reach an agreement? I, Astaroth, can grant you almost any wish imaginable. The laws of this universe mean nothing to me. The one thing you yearn for the most can be yours with two words: 'I accept.' However, I am not one to just hand out favors, honestly, so I'm going to require you to return something to me in exchange. Actually, I have just the thing to start off with. There's a group of people like you whom I work for. We're called the MIST organization, and we're always in need of new blood. What say you? You scratch my back, I scratch yours."

Desperate for the thing you desire, you eventually agree to the terms of the contract (even if you didn't read the fine-print too closely) and sign your name. Suddenly, Astaroth pulls something out of your chest and plops it into his mouth. Overcome with a strange weariness, you pass out. When you wake up, you're in a different place. Astaroth did in fact hold up his end of the bargain; your wish came true completely. However, it's your turn to repay the debt you now owe...

Welcome to MIST. We are an organization that deal with the Mysterious, Intradimensional, Supernatural, and Terminate any of those that cause a threat to mankind. Congratulations, you are now a part-time monster-slayer. Alongside the wish you requested, Astaroth has also granted you certain powers to aid you in this endeavor. You may look the same on the outside, but you feel totally different. You feel strangely in-shape compared to the last time you checked. Your mind and senses are sharper; you're more aware of your surroundings How else could a mere human stand up against a swarm of ghosts or whatnot without some firepower to back them up? You can be called to serve at any moment, even at the most inconvenient of times, and must follow through promptly. Disobeying the terms of your contract means certain death. There are no vacation days, so don't even ask.

These rules are subject to change, of course.

• Standard RPG rules apply
• A complete CS is a happy CS. Please refrain from posting Works in Progress, since they just irritate me.
• Have an idea? Announce it to the OOC or throw me a PM. I'll make sure to at least reply to it.
• I have the right to refuse anything for any reason I can justify.
• Writing standards are 1-2 paragraphs per post and above. I'm not going to go counting every word, but at least get close to the minimum consistently. I usually don't look into this unless it's blatantly obvious.
• A character's abilities should balance equally with their flaws. No one likes a Sue.
• Be nice and respectful to me, and I'll be nice and respectful to you. Promise.
• Romances of all shapes and sizes are allowed as long as they make sense. Also, keep the steamy stuff in PMs if you're going there.
• Have fun, above all else.
  

Round 4

Active Characters:
Alex Coal (Caelum)
Astaroth (Infin1teZer0)
Claire Cross (Zessoku)
Kai Hartwig (Gravislayer)
Danny Harper (stoneString)
Issac Cross (Azathoth)
Mark Lancer (Ryushura)
Andreas Morti (Zombehs)

Round Deadline: Tuesday, March 12th

In order to encourage activity, I've implemented a simple round system to posting. There will be a deadline, usually three or so days ahead of when the round officially starts. Everyone must post at least once before the day after the deadline. Failure to do so results in a strike. Three strikes, and you're out. It's quite simple in practice.

MIST is an organization that deals with anything relating to the supernatural. They're almost like a police force for magic, keeping the peace and keeping harmful entities at bay, but not quite as high-profile. Keeping the natural and supernatural worlds distinctly separate is an ideal goal for MIST agents until safe coexistence is conceivable.

MIST agents are quite odd cases. For one, they are no longer classified as humans, despite being able to pass for humans appearance wise. They can be more easily classified as liches, or highly intelligent, magic-wielding zombies. They have sold their souls to the contractor Astaroth, who then uses them to grant any wish the contractee requests, destroying them in the process and creating the MIST agent in their wake. MIST agents possess natural athletic talent dwarfing Olympic Gold Medalists by comparison, and also gain the ability to use magic. Their magic usually sticks to one specific element or theme, and some even shy away from magic, preferring to use anti-supernatural weapons instead.

An agent's body no longer requires food, water, or oxygen like a regular human. Instead, MIST agents sustain themselves off of the magical residue monsters produce when they die. This is the fuel source for all their supernatural abilities. The more monsters they kill, the more energy they absorb and the more powerful they become. This also works in reverse. Failure to perform one's duties as a MIST agent will deprive their bodies of the magical fuel they need, and will gradually starve them to death. Unfortunately, this has let to some hostile competition between agents when food becomes scarce. This is one of the ways to kill a MIST agent.

The other way to kill a MIST agent is to destroy their Soul Anchor. A Soul Anchor is an object that literally attaches the MIST agent's conscience to reality. This can take the form of any everyday object, usually something close to the agent before the contract. It also functions as the rechargeable battery that stores the agent's magic reserves. It must be kept within 150 feet of the owner, or they will suffer something resembling death. Their heart will stop, their brain will cease functioning, and all other organs will fail. However, revival is possible as long as the Anchor is intact and returned to the original agent. All other forms of bodily damage is usually obsolete, as a MIST agent can simply heal themselves with simple magic. However, when an agent is fighting off starvation, they sometimes can't afford that energy expense. They still experience the sensation of pain, and newer agents can go into shock because of it.

Affectionately named after the portal to Wonderland, Rabbit Holes are pocket dimensions that various monsters use for reproduction and incubation. A common tactic is to lure humans inside, kill them, and replace them in society, allowing them to wreak havoc. Humans cannot detect Rabbit Holes most of the time, but MIST agents are trained to find them and know the signs like the back of their hands.

Gremlin: Quite a weak variation of monster. They stand about two feet tall, and usually take the shape of a blob-like entity. They're really good for nothing, but bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.

Name:

Age: There's no real age boundaries, but justify being insanely young/old if you choose to go down that route.

Gender:

Theme Song: For the lolz, mostly, but try to strike some resemblance.

Appearance: I actually prefer anime pictures over other things. It's just how I'm wired. Also make sure to include height and weight.

Soul Anchor: Basically, your character's lifeline as explained above in the Databases

Fighting Style: Weapons, magic powers, and other related stuff like tactics go here

Wish: What did you wish for so strongly you gave up your soul and current life for it? Plug this into your backstory somehow.

Personality: Self explanatory. Give me about a paragraph here.

Backstory: I'm evaluating your writing skill with this, so make something impressive.

Fun Facts: Anything I failed to mention above goes here-

That's all I got for now, I'm going to update this some more once I get some sleep.

[Caelum]

Name: Alex Coal

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Theme Song:

Spoiler

Appearance:

Spoiler

6'2 and 180 pounds

Soul Anchor: His silver, waterproof watch. It is solar powered, and automatically adjusts to new time zones. It also has a LED light screen and a stopwatch function, as well as the date. It was a gift from his grandfather.

Fighting Style: He likes guns. Really, that's all there is to him. He cant carry anything to heavy, and he doesn't exactly have any super powers, besides his reflexes of course. He likes a good handgun over any other kind of weapon. He also doesnt spook easily, if that's a plus.

Wish: He wished for his Terminal Heart Cancer to go away.

Personality: I assume the song was explanatory enough. He realizes he is pretty pathetic, and makes no facts to hide it. In fact, he uses that as his power point; He looks at how shitty his life is, and smiles at it. He just lost the will to care about that kind of crap. In person, hes friendly, likes meeting new people and keeps a good attitude toward most things in life, even his history. No point in groveling.

Backstory:

Born and raised in a low quality family, life was never easy for Alex. He didn't enjoy the fancies of high finances, and his parents were never really home, always out working, so he spent a lot of time hanging out with the kids in the neighborhood. They were all jerks. And he was easy to influence, so he ended up doing a lot of bad stuff for his friends, and constantly took the blame. He did decently in school, and even had a couple girlfriends through his highschool years. Once he popped out of the school life he got a job opportunity from one of his closest friends to join the force. He took it, and although he had a shady background and a lot of small offences on his hands, he eventually found himself in the reigns of the police force.

The next 4 years of life were pretty boring. He got a decent apartment, a dog, and a life of his own as a cop. He was at the bottom of the force, but it didn't matter much to him. He still got his paycheck at the end of the week. One thing he did have above the others, which he never really got the chance to use- Was his reflexes. This guy was the top on that chart. He could spot the little things in life, and was as fast as lightning when it came to his training exercises. He wasn't a bad shot, neither. Despite these facts, he eventually found himself fired. Turns out, they finally dug into his past and found that part of his life with the illegal drug selling.

After that, life only went downhill from there. Lost his job, his apartment, and to top off the shit on his pancakes, his dog died. And he got cancer. It seemed life really wanted him to die. But despite this shit luck, and the fact that he was now dying of terminal heart cancer, he kept a good look on things. It could be worse. And low and behold, life finally threw him a bone. A strange man, a chance at life again, and a new job. Who would pass up something like that? Certainly not this man. So he took it without a look back.

And here he is.

Fun Facts: He likes reading and studying. Go figure. He has never been without his watch for more then a day or so, and loves it more then anything else- He pawned his TV before he would ever pawn his watch. He also loves dress suits.

[KrimpetyCatcher]

Looking good! I don't think I'm going out tomorrow night, so I should be able to get up a CS by this time tomorrow.

[Undesirable]

* - Explained in the backstory.

Name: Kimye 'Kim' Yen.

Age: 18-21, not specified. *

Gender: Female

[Yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4V3lGEyG4[/yt]

Close-Up


Clothes


- Except made out of things like grass, leaves, flowers, etc.
- 5' 3", 105 pounds.

A small white music box with a white teddy bear inside. An identical replica of the bear she received at birth.

Music Box (backwards melody makes enemies slower/ more vulnerable) , bow and arrow. (Not sure if you can have magic AND a weapon.)



Very bad at close contact fighting though, will obtain a lot of damage from close combat. Easily gets tired too if moving around a lot too, so prefers to chose monsters that don't move around / are slower at moving around.

" I don't want to be invisible anymore. "

Kimye is probably the most shy person you will ever meet. She lives in silence and hardly speaks. She used to be a happy girl, with the perfect life but that all changed.* Maybe one day she'll return to the way she was, but she'll have to learn how to be more confident. She prefers her own company, since that was the way she had to live for most of her life.
Even though at first Kim might be shy, quiet, and withdrawn once you get to know her she's a good friend. She never breaks promises, but the downside to her strange personality is that she trusts people too quickly. This means people are able to take advantage of her.

" I'm Kimye Yen. From the age of 16 I've been invisible. Quite literally. I was born to an upper class family. My mother was friends with two witches. Both of them were good. That's on the outside. On my first birthday the witches were invited to the party. The first witch didn't give me anything too great, but I got this music box. I loved it from first sight, it was beautiful. It might not have been a big, expensive present, but there was something about it that I can't explain. The melody is so peaceful, and the replica white bear I used to own is almost hypnotising. The second witch, my mothers closest friend, turned out to be something else. When she saw me she cast a spell on me that would make sure on my 16th birthday I became invisible. Upon understanding what had happened, my parents were broken hearted, but there was nothing they could do to change the spell. The witch disappeared the same day, and to this day, nobody knows where she is.

My 16th birthday approached so quickly. I had forgotten the spell that was cast 15 years ago, so when I woke up in the morning and no one payed any attention to me I was quite shocked. When I saw my parents they were talking about something to a man dressed in black. My mother was wearing black too, and up close I realised she was crying. She said something about her daughter dying. I didn't know what she meant. Did she have another daughter I didn't know about? And then it hit me. She was talking about me. That day I understood that if I stayed I would just face a long life of sadness and abandonment.

The only place I found myself at home was in the forest I found while wandering about hopelessly. I noticed that the animals in the forest acted like they saw me. I made friends, but they weren't much, they couldn't talk to me like humans could. It was hard living like this. No one there for me, it was like learning to walk all over again. But I managed. I learnt how to hunt with a bow and arrow. It was the only way I could survive. The only memory of my old home was the music box I kept with me forever.
I'm not entirely sure how long I've lived in the forest. Whether it's been 2 years or 5 years, I'm ready for change. I have a feeling that soon, my suffering and loneliness will end. "

- Scared of the Dark.
- Knows the forest plants, and animals, the ones you can eat, the ones that are poisonous, or release poisonous gas/ are irritable to skin etc.
- Can communicate well with common animals.

Sorry that the pictures are so big, and its all weird & out of proportion, but I wrote it all on my phone and the bb codes don't show up here, and it's all too complicated & long to write out by hand. Anyway, I hope this is alright, I put in dome negative things about her too, so yeah (:

-

[Caelum]

This is going to be lots of fun, I can already tell.

[Infin1teZer0]

Those CSs look good, you two. I'll make sure to add them to a roster once I make it. Here's my CS now so I can get it out of the way:

Name: Astaroth

Age: He looks like he's in his mid-twenties, but is actually over 2,500 years old, almost predating recorded history.

Gender: Male

Theme Song:

Appearance:

Spoiler

6'0 and 150lbs

Soul Anchor: He is not a MIST agent in terms of anatomy, but rather something of demonic origin. Therefore, his soul is housed inside his body, and not in an Anchor.

Fighting Style: Astaroth's main weapon is the scythe pictured above. It can expand and contract as the wielder wills it to, allowing it to be a highly adaptable weapon. Astaroth also uses his scythe to conduct magic through. His most powerful asset by far is the ability to devour a human soul and convert it into raw magical energy. The power generated is so massive it allows Astaroth to fire off a spell that can rip a gaping hole in the fabric of reality. The result? Astaroth can slightly alter the flow of time, space, and change the entire universe in a small way. This is how he grants wishes and creates MIST agents.

Wish: N/A

Personality: Astaroth can be seen as quite an oddball. From his eccentric outfits and mannerisms, he seems to radiate weird. Most of the time, he comes off as a sarcastic, dry, and isn't afraid to lay down some snark if need be. Having lived for so long, he feels like he's seen it all at this point, and the daily grind has become dull and boring in a lot of ways. The only thing that continues to entertain him is the MIST agents he contracts. Everyone is different, and therefor reacts to situations in a unique and interesting way. He rarely gets attached to an agent on an emotional level though; due to their line of work, the average MIST agent usually gets eaten by monsters, killed by other MIST agents over hunting grounds and food, or starve to death within the first year of service.

Backstory: Astaroth's origins date so far back it is difficult to tell from fact or fiction. His story seems to begin within the fertile lands of the Babylon Empire back around 600 BC. He may have assisted in the construction of the city's famous Hanging Gardens or the Tower of Babel. After the empire fell to its enemies (supernatural or not is up to debate), Astaroth went completely off the radar for an extended period of time. Afterwards, he showed a pattern of brief appearances whenever a key moment in history was taking place. He was seen in times like Feudal Japan, the Italian Renaissance, the French Revolution, the Mayflower and the founding of the American Colonies, and was even close friends with George Washington during the American Revolution. Theory has it that the MIST organization is older than the history books as well, since no one truly knows when he gained the ability to warp reality. Strangely, he's never officially taken credit for the feats he's performed over the centuries, leaving him out of the historical spotlight.

In modern times, Astaroth had somewhat moved away from politics and influencing entire countries. Instead, he's turned his attention to MIST, and the strange spike in supernatural activity since the year 2000. Astaroth said himself it is the biggest influx of magical power since the fall of Babylon. He's treating it like a big deal, and he's been contracting considerably more agents because of it in an attempt to brace for it.

Fun Facts: Astaroth cannot pick sides in MIST vs MIST fights, as stated in the contract.
He also cannot directly lie to an agent. He can, however, withhold information and utilize Verbal Judo however he pleases

[Caelum]

Quite a depressing song for such an 'oddball'.

[Infin1teZer0]

Depressing? It always sounded more mysterious to me. :/

[Dharc]

Name: Gabriel Mayveil

Age: 26

Gender: Male

Theme Song: I Don't Care if You're Contagious by Pierce the Veil

Appearance: 5'11", 165 lbs.


Soul Anchor: A pen with a signature etched into it. The signature is from his deceased wife, a writer who died if hypothermia and drowning. No one knows which occured first. **

Fighting Style: He summons skeletons to fight for him, and he favors a large boned skeleton. This skeleton is rumored to be his wife. *

Wish: He wished for his wife to be with him again, for eternity.

Personality: Wisened compared to his portrayed age, he is calm and collective, often writing notes in a small notepad or observing things with a certain curiousity you'd only find in researchers and scientists.

Backstory: Having memory loss was a problem for Gabriel as a child and as a young adult. In high school, he had often forgotten that he was attending school, and one specific time, he had even forgotten his name. He had been sent to psychiatrists and had been diagnosed with memory loss. So he began to write things down to remind himself of who he was and what he was supposed to do, ranging from menial tasks to speaking with a peer about homework. This led to a more stable but sometimes incorrect system, doing tasks in the wrong order and such.

As life went by, he had gone to a university not to far from home... In fact, he forgot where he lived one time, but that's another story. In his junior year of college, he met his wife, Vivian, who was a year his senior and almost an English major, already beginning to write up books and novels. They had both recieved a BA in their respective career choices, him, human biology and postnecro studies (the studies of the already dead), while she was a writer with two novels already published. All was going well, until...

It was an early November morning. They were ice skating in a pond located a city block away from their frosty Minnesota home. Both had not known that the ice was thin at the left side. She fell in and couldn't get out. He didn't know what to do. He yelled for help, and yelled, and yelled, and yelled, but none came, not until after she stopped breathing. A few months later, a man named Astaroth came to his door and asked a simple question: "What is it you wish for?"

He knew he wouldn't have to miss her anymore.

Fun Facts: Although he forgets very often, some things stick to him like glue.

[Infin1teZer0]

That looks alright to me. Welcome aboard. I think I'm going to let a few more people try to join before putting up the IC. I was thinking about two or three more.