Soul Works - OOC

[Xaltwind]

IC Thread.

Background and setting:
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In a near future, sometime during 20XX, the planet known as Earth fell victim to - seemingly overnight - a bizarre and unexplainable phenomenon. Without warning, without reason and without any noticeable cause, much, if not most, of the world simply... Vanished. Cities, cars, flora, fauna and even people, all gone, as if turned into smoke or dust that scattered to the four winds. However, not all was lost and disappeared, for there remained but one thing - one sole bastion that could prove that life and culture, as well as civilization, had once existed on this now barren world. It was a city, or rather, the remains of one. Though it had at some point been a large, metropolitan and modern place with all the luxuries and comforts of thriving society, it was now but little more than a skeletal, lingering boneyard of yesterday. No lights shined, no bustling streets were crowded, not even cars could be found parked along every sidewalk. The buildings looked like they had been worn and torn at by weather for several decades and not a single trace of glass windows could be found anywhere. Perhaps the worst part was the fact that everything, from furniture to food to water to common applioances were also just... Gone.

However, despite this city being more of a ghost town than anything else, it still had something that the rest of our planet did not - namely life. To be more specific, humans. young humans, just into their puberty or on the verge of adulthood at the end of their teens. There were however no outright children, nor any legitimate adults or senior citizens... Just youths. The youngsters named their home the Ruins, in homage to what the place looked and felt like. Life was, however, hard and unforgiving - with days pelted by the merciless sun in the yellow, no longer blue, skies and nights without heat, radiators or even blankets, it was a tough and mean existence. Not to mention the lack of food or other supplies which had previously been so abundant. Those who tried to leave the Ruins soon found themselves in dismay, as a thick, smog-like fog enveloped the rest of the world, and only plains of yellowed grass, cracked and dried dirt or grainy gravel could be found outside the city limits. And if one ventured too far, you would get lost in this thick mist and be unable to even find your way back to the lightless, roadless and numarked löcation of the Ruin... Which meant certain death.

Before long, the confusion, despair and mental anguish began taking its toll, and just as the remnants of humanity were on the verge of upheaval and insanity, another strange thing happened. The colors of the world shifted, turning into an inverted black and white state. From the center of the Ruin rose a fountain, which spwewed forth a small stall-like shop. This little market-merchant looked like a makeshift blacksmith's shop, with an anvil, bellows, smelter and trough. And there, behind a counter, sat an oddly small creature who looked most certainly non-human, holding in its small hand a hammer as big as itself. The being didn't bother answering questions or explain what had happend to the world, instead it provided a brief walkthrough on what needed to be done in order for these youngsters to survive.

It explained that soon, trans-dimensional doors would open and spread across the Ruins, doorways that lead to labyrinth-like mazes of another dimension. In these twisting, winding dungeons, one could find things that were needed, such as food, water and even the power to restore things like water pipelines or electricity! But... They were not safe. The inhabitants of these sub-dimensional planes were greedy and hostile towards outsiders, and would defend their realm against any intruder, be they hostile or not. For this, the blacksmith offered a soloution, and as he did so, a number of walls as high as skyscrapers rose from the ground beside his shop. Rows upon rows of various items could be found on these walls, from pitchforks to greatswords to switchblades to chainsaws, from handguns to shotguns to things that looked as if they were the turret of a military tank. The goblin-creature urged each youth to take one of these weapons for their own and use them in the coming trips to the other dimensions...

... He also briefly explained that, with focus and concentration, one could channel your own soul and emotions into these weapons and unleash powerful, supernatural attacks that wouldn't be possible otherwise. However, other than this, the smith was unwilling and disinterested to explain or elaborate more. And as soon as each of the humans had grabbed their item of choice, the fountain sucked the blacksmith and his workshop back down into it, submerged itself into the ground once more and the colors of the world returned. Not long after this, large doors and doorways began to spring forth from the Ruins. Gateways and portals that lead to alien and confusing worlds completely unlike our own. A few things quickly became apparrent and obvious with these doors though. Only four people could enter the same portal, and once they had done so, the doorway closed and sealed itself shut behind them - making it impossible for others to follow or help them. Those on the inside could only leave by finding something called a Return Point, and unless they did, they would most certainly die or spend the rest of their lives in the twisting para-dimensional rift they had just entered.

Now these youngsters band together, forming groups and teams to brave the labyrinths and their dangers together. Searching for anything and everything they can, be it tools, food, furniture or even other humans, they now work together using the Ruins as their base and home, to which they bring back their findings, loot and information. With everything in short supply, everyone has to pitch in and help out, for there can be no slacking off or unwillingness to cooperate, because that could spell doom for everyone...

Will these young teenage boys and girls be able to conquer the mazes and return Earth to what it had once been? Or will the trials prove too much for them and, Gods forbid, lay claim to the last bits and scraps of existence of our world? Only time will tell... For now, just surviving each day is struggle enough.

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Overview and mechanics:
________________________________________

Welcome to Soul Works, a post-apopacylpse, contemporary fantasy world.

In this game, you will be taking on the role of either a boy or a girl, between the ages of 14 through 19. You'll find yourself in a ruined city, known simply as the Ruins. In what country it's located is largely unimportant, as all landmarks, national borders and significant traits of every geographic location on Earth has simply vanished. In the city, as of the story's start, there are a total of 64 youths making up the population and remnants of humanity. As you - hopefully - read earlier, you have all each been given your own weapon. What this weapon is is entirely up to you, it could be a arm-mounted cannon, a sword bigger than a billboard or something as small and mundane as a swiss army-knife.

What all weapons have in common, however, is their ability to channel their wielder's soul and emotions, allowing them to perform supernatural attacks that, as best as modern physics can prove, are completely impossible and unnatural. Still, with these powers, you could do something like fire a pillar of searing flame, or unleash a shockwave of kinetic energies, or summon phantasmal ghasts to haunt and terrorize your opponents. The only restrictions there seems to be is that your emotion must correspond to the effect you desire, for example, a person who channels rage could not possibly hope to perform a special move that would let them heal themselves or an ally, while likewise, a person who channels greed or jealousy could not bestow blessings or beneficial boons on someone else.

However, the weapons aren't just used for this. On their own, even without the special abilities they provide, they are all lethal and powerful tools that, in the right hands, could cut a swathe through enemies even without these magical powers. Do not be fooled however, for not every labyrinth that you enter will require you to use your tools of destruction. Sometimes you will need to look for something or someone by simply searching, other times you will need to solve puzzles or solve things with diplomacy, other times still you'll have to hide from baddies that are so big and so mean that they'd shrug off your attacks like they were mosquito-bites. The worlds beyond the doors are many and varied, and not everything can be solved with violence.

The game features a character-system that allows players to grow and become stronger as time goes on, with the implemention of stats. There are three stats in total, Power (POW), Agility (AGI) and Spirit (SPI). Each attribute effects a different part of your character and allows them to become better, stronger or more effective at doing certain things. As you complete missions and trips into the other dimensions, you'll gain more stat-points to spend and 'level up' In addition, you also gain start with an Emotion that you will focus on, which can be anything between love, hate, sorrow or any other human feeling. These emotions fuel your so-called 'Soul Attacks', the special moves that you can perform with your weapon. Atthe start of the story, you may only have one Emotion and two Soul Attacks, but as you grow, become more skilled and get stronger, you will unlock the possibility for additional emotions and Soul Attacks.

Here is a brief explanation of the attributes:
POW - Power affects your physical strength, endurance, stamina and resilience. It determines how strong and tough you are, how much physical punishment you can take and how hard you hit. This is the stat of choice for people who like to land heavy-hitting physical attacks with melee-type weapons.
AGI - Agility determines your speed, your reflexes, your perceptive abilities, your awareness and your hand-to-eye coordination. High agility lets you run faster, perform acrobatics and dodge enemy attacks, while also landing more precise and lethal blows yourself. The stat of choice for people who prefer quick, precision-attacks and/or long range combat. Or for people who like to be all about summersaults, cartwheeling and high mobility.
SPI - Spirit is a measure of your soul. It determines how easily you can navigate the mazes without getting lost, how resistant you are to enemy supernatural attacks, how powerful your own Soul Attacks are, and your mental endurance. People who want to have powerful Soul Attacks, or be able to resist the harmful 'spells' or powers of hostile monsters will want to focus on this stat - as well as those who want to more efficiently traverse the other dimensions.

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Rules and beaurocracy:

As per usual when it comes to me, this is a "High-End Casual" roleplay. This means you'll have to post at the very least one full paragraph, but preferbly two, each time you post. You should also have a competent and coherent grasp of the english language, I'm not asking you to be able to write flawlessly and without any errors, but you must be able to make yourself understood clearly. Other than though? Just the usual things:

• Respect the GM and his decisions, calls and judgement.
• No God-Moding, Auto-hitting, Controlling other's characters, Ever-evasion or shenanigans.
• While you're free to use your imagination to create your Soul Attacks, obviously overpowered things won't be allowed.
• Tampering/Cheating with your stats and stat-totals will get you kicked out.
• Be civil, both in the IC, OOC and PMs with others. No destructive criticism, unnecessary flaming or groundless hating.
• Have fun, stay active and enjoy the good company! ... Otherwise, gtfo!
• Be mindful, as I reserve the right to add, edit or remove these rules as I see fit, whenver I see fit.

Character sheet template and basic info:

Notes:
- All characters start with a total stat-count of 0/0/0.
- All characters start with a total of 6 stat-points to allocate.
- Your character must have at least 1 in every stat.
- The more powerful a Soul Attack is, the more likely it is to have a Cool Down (CD) timer attached to it.

[b]Name:[/b] Your name.
[B]Age:[/B] 14 - 19
[B]Gender:[/B] Male or Female.
[B]Ethnicity:[/B] Caucasian, afro-american, asian, east european... You know, your heritage.
[B]Nationality:[/B] Which country you're from.

[b]Appearance:[/b]
If you use an image, place it in a hider here.
Please spcify, [U][B]in text[/B][/U], your character's height, weight, eye color, hair color, skin tone and body-build, as well as their [I]usual[/I] clothes. (You may of course change outfits when you find new clothes in-game)

[B]Personality:[/B] A brief description of your character's personality, behavior and disposition.

[b]Background:[/b] A little bit about what your charcter did and how they lived before the world vanished and turned into what it is now.

[b]Emotion(s):[/b]
[list][*][/list]

[b]Weapon:[/b]

[b]Soul Attacks:[/b]
[list][*][I]:[/I][*][I]:[/I][/list]

[b]Stats:[/b][TABLE="class: grid, width: 100, align: left"]
[TR]
[TD][I]POW[/I][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][I]SPI[/I][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][I]AGI[/I][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][I]Total[/I][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

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Approved & Active characters:
Vivian Locke - Kestrel
Martin Ramirez - Nekomancer
Bree Takqueen - Player2
Joseph Cross - Azathoth
Ailis O'Flannaith - Komamisa
Sebastian Kuras - ScarletMangekyo
Josephine Lam - ERode
Sophia Eisenhauer - Ale
Astrid Farahilde - Asuras

Inactive characters:
- N/A
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Questions and FAQ:

If you have any questions or want to ask something, just reply to this thread. I will add your querry to a list here for all to see.
________________________________________
Credits and Special Thanks:

- ERode
- Kestrel and The Library.
- Player2
- Lion Games
- The Internet
___________________________________
Available Doors:

Description: A green, regular-sized door. No special marks or noticeable traits at all. It's located over in a street-crossing near the center of the city.
Team: Josephine Lam, Sophia Eisenhauer, Astrid Farahilde

Description: A yellow, regular-sized door. No special marks or noticeable traits at all. It's located underneath an overpass.
Team: Ailis O'Flannaith, Joseph Cross, Sebastian Kuras

Description: A red, regular-sized door. No marks or noticeable traits at all. It's located next to the old police station.
Team: Vivian Locke, Bree Takqueen, Martin Ramirez

Sealed Doors:
- None.

[Nekomancer]

Submitting a sheet for GM review

Name: Martin Ramirez
Age: 14
Gender: Male
Nationality: Hispanic

Appearance:

Martin is, without mincing words, effeminate. He has very slim, girlish facial features. He's a bit short for his age, standing 5'1". He is a thin person, with very little muscle and fat on his frame. He weighs 108 lbs. He has brown hair and brown eyes, and a deep hereditary tan. His current clothes, the only clothes that he has since the world's upheaval, are a red Adidas basketball top, long beige cargo shorts, and a pair of black sneakers. Before the event wiped out most of his wardrobe along with almost all other signs of civilization, Martin enjoyed [cross-dressing.]

Personality: Martin is a very easy going person. He's more likely to forgive and forget than to hold a long grudge, and is generally in favor of taking a step back from a bad situation to reanalyze and see if it's really as bad as you might think. He's positive, playful and maybe a bit flirty. Though he's well behaved enough that it's generally not a problem, he has absolutely no sense of shame.

Background: Martin is an only child. He lived with his mother and father, both of whom worked full time. In his younger childhood he was often cared for by a nanny, who he was quite fond of and who was one of his few friends. As he reached adolescence his parents decided that he didn't need a nanny any more, and he never saw her again. The months directly following this were lonely and unpleasant, but he eventually recovered and began making friends his own age.

Weapon: A retiarius' net

Emotion(s):

• Tranquility

Soul Attacks:
Halcyon Influence: An ability that makes the target's desire to fight to dwindle, either causing them to stop attacking or weakening their attacks depending on how hostile they are and their resistance.

• Intensity and number of targets is based on SPI.
• Total SPI can be divided across multiple targets, lowering the intensity accordingly (3 SPI could be divided 3, 2/1, or 1/1/1; to hit one, two, or three targets respectively)
• Resistance is 0.5x target's SPI, +0.5 for each grade of hostility past neutral (Neutral 0, Unfriendly +.5, Hostile +1, Enraged +1.5, Mindless +2). Total is rounded down and checked against the user's SPI score.
• Success is graded. If HalInf's Intensity equals the targets resistance, their attacks are dampened. If HalInf's intensity equals at least 1.5x their resistance, they cease all hostile activities until provoked.

Serene Stillness: An ability that slows things within an area to a stand-still, temporarily pausing whatever was within the area of effect. CD-2

• Duration and Area trade off by dividing total SPI: Area is a sphere 1 meter in diameter per point invested, duration is 1 second per point invested. (3 Total = either 1m sphere for 2s, or 2m sphere for 1s)
• Serene Stillness only effects physical material within the area of effect at the time it's used.
• Energy, beams, and other immaterial things are not paused
• Material that enters the area after the effect manifests are not paused
• Resistance save is 0.75 target's SPI against user's SPI score. Save negates the effect completely for the individual that passes its save.

Stats:

POW	1
SPI	3
AGI	2
Total	6

[ERode]

Hm...Volkov #2 or not...

And I might join this, I guess. Dunno how things will roll if this goes super slow (as is with all your RPs), and don't know even more if the actual game turns out to be crap, but hey, yeah. Might join this.

And it's that no lifer from Summer Wars (I think)!

[Xaltwind]

@ERode: The speed of the various mazes will depend entirely on the group and members, and how frequently they post.
Not that you yourself am a speedy person.

@Neko: A very short, but efficient, sheet. Looks good, I just got a few questions:

1. How many targets can Halcyon Influence at the same time, how long is the duration of the effect and is it a single-target ability or an AoE power?
2. Is Serene Stillness capable of stopping everything that enters its area of effect? Including projectiles, beams, gases, elemental forces and/or other creatures (living or deceased)?

Add these little tidbits of information and put a (2 CD) on Serene Stillness, and young Ramirez will be most accepted~

[Kestrel]

Name: Vivian Locke
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Nationality: British
Ethnicity: English/Danish
Appearance:

Height: 1.68m
Weight: 56kg
Eye colour: Red-brown
Hair colour: Purple (natural white-blonde)
Skin tone: Fair
Body-build: Athletic
Body-type: Hourglass
Outfit:

• Tinted goggles,
• Light-grey midriff shirt,
• Black bomber jacket with brown collier,
• Brown leather belt with round silver-coloured buckle,
• Black demi jeans,
• Brown leather ankle-height strapped boots.

Personality: Brash, go-getter attitude with a fair bit of anger mixed in; Vivian's attitude has not improved over the course of the apocalypse. She's foul-mouthed and can be reckless, but is extremely driven to clear the mazes. As such, Vivian values efficiency, professionalism and intellect in her allies, but has limited patience and can be single-minded in her expectations. Vivian herself brings determination to the table. She may give pep-talks like renegade-Shepard, but her perceived bravery can be an inspiration to all. On a more personal front, Vivian is rather reserved in what she lets out about herself. She doesn't sympathise with emotions such as fear and anxiety very well, but is goal- and solution orientated.

Background: Born into a family with three older brothers, Vivian rejected the dolls her mother would desperately try to have her play with. Instead she ran around pretending sticks were guns with the boys (sometimes targeting the dolls, to further their mother's dismay.) All children were brash and wild, taking more after their father's side of the family. As such, they developed interests for loud music and cars. All four were grease monkeys in the making and commonly hung around in the garage and helped their father with his favourite past-time; fixing up old cars and motorcycles. All went well for Vivian Locke, until then suddenly; puberty.

In high school, Vivian met with the concepts 'female peers' and 'hormones.' Puberty made forging and maintaining friendships with boys her age problematic. Her own romantic interests had a way of making certain situations awkward as well. Vivian tried to make friends with girls her age instead, but because of Vivian's brash nature, her first attempts did not work out well. Although perhaps the popular clique wasn't as nice and fun as they made it look. As if rejection was not enough, the girls began to bully her the way only teenage girls can. Vivian responded to this with a great deal of anger. Slinging insults and threats at the top of her throat got Vivian into more trouble than the girls who passed notes around class questioning her gender. When a girl 'accidentally' spilled coke on her pants 'to see if the rumours were true' two days later, it quickly escalated in a fight. The bully got away with an Oscar-winning performance about how much of a klutz she was, but Vivian had a much harder time excusing her fist ending up in the other girl's face.

And so; anger management therapy. Vivian was signed up for sessions with the school therapist, which started the day she got back from her suspension. Considering circumstances, it did little more for Vivian than reinforcing her hate and anger. However, fortunately, she received help from an unexpected source; the arch-nemesis from her youth; her mother.

Vivian's mother wanted to address the core of the problem. Not Vivian's anger, but her insecurity. She knew why the bullying got to her daughter and got the dolls and kitchen sets down from the attic and took her Vivian shopping. A change in wardrobe made Vivian look at herself in a new light. She wouldn't wear skirts for more than two months, but looking at herself in the mirror and the clerk telling her she was jealous of her legs boosted Vivian's confidence to higher levels and it showed. Vivian's made new friends, her grades improved and even her anger management therapy started to benefit her. One year fast-forward, she had her very first boyfriend and her previous bullies no longer bothered her. Despite it's rough start, Vivian would have a normal high-school life.

After graduation, Vivian decided to make the step to engineering. A choice even her mother supported. Vivian believed she was able to live her passion (getting a driver's license and one of her father's motorcycles also helped) and she was happier than ever. Except then suddenly; apocalypse.

Weapon: Arm harness. In addition to protection for Vivian's entire right arm, it can also be used as a short-ranged striking weapon.

Emotion(s):

• Disgust

Soul Attacks: (colour-coded by emotion)

• Vector Domination:
  With great force; pulls or pushes anything with mass in any direction. Vector Domination works solely in one direction at a time and it's force is determined by SPI. Resistance (RES) against the attack is determined the target's POW and/or weight. Every 25kg counts as 1 extra RES. Each point in POW also counts at 1 RES. A target of 80kg with 6 POW has 9 RES. There are a few exceptions to this rule when vertical force is applied. Weight is not counted downward attacks, but doubled for lifting attacks. POW's RES score depends on whether the target can/does exercise their strength to resist or not.
  When SPI=RES the target is brought to a standstill. When SPI>RES, the target can struggle, but not fight. When SPI>RES*2, Vector Domination flings the target effortlessly. On the other hand, when SPI<RES, the target can actually gain ground by struggling. When SPI*2<RES, Vector Domination becomes useless.
• Photon Sphere:
  A stationary, spherical forcefield that either attracts or repels everything with mass within a given distance in all directions. At first, it has an effective range of 10 meters, but the strength depends on the vincinity of the target. Within 1 meter distance, it is at full power. Every additional meter distance it loses 10 percent of it's power. So at 8 meter distance it only has SPI*0.2 effective power. However, when Vivian's SPI reaches 15+ the effective range will be 20 meters and the power loss will be per 2 meters, 25+ SPI will account for an effective range of 30 meter and the power loss will be per 3 meters, etc.
  Photon Sphere has a so-called eye of the storm and doesn't crush or tear apart anything caught inside of it. Resistance to Photon Sphere is calculated similarly to Vector Domination, but multiplied by 1.2. This soul attack has a 2 post cooldown.

Stats:

POW	1
SPI	4
AGI	1
Total	6

[Xaltwind]

Vivian Locke is accepted and added to the character-roster. :o

[Nekomancer]

1. How many targets can Halcyon Influence at the same time, how long is the duration of the effect and is it a single-target ability or an AoE power?
2. Is Serene Stillness capable of stopping everything that enters its area of effect? Including projectiles, beams, gases, elemental forces and/or other creatures (living or deceased)?

Add these little tidbits of information and put a (2 CD) on Serene Stillness, and young Ramirez will be most accepted~

We seem to be doing the math thing with Special attacks, so I'll try my hand at making it balanced within the system:


1. Halcyon Influence: An ability that makes the target's desire to fight to dwindle, either causing them to stop attacking or weakening their attacks depending on how hostile they are and their resistance.

• Intensity and number of targets is based on SPI.
• Total SPI can be divided across multiple targets, lowering the intensity accordingly (3 SPI could be divided 3, 2/1, or 1/1/1; to hit one, two, or three targets respectively)
• Resistance is 0.5x target's SPI, +0.5 for each grade of hostility past neutral (Neutral 0, Unfriendly +.5, Hostile +1, Enraged +1.5, Mindless +2). Total is rounded down and checked against the user's SPI score.
• Success is graded. If HalInf's Intensity equals the targets resistance, their attacks are dampened. If HalInf's intensity equals at least 1.5x their resistance, they cease all hostile activities until provoked.

The meta on this would be it's likely to debuff the opponent's attack, but only in cases of extreme success will it outright stop their offensive.


2. Serene Stillness: An ability that slows things within an area to a stand-still, temporarily pausing whatever was within the area of effect. CD-2

• Duration and Area trade off by dividing total SPI: Area is a sphere 1 meter in diameter per point invested, duration is 1 second per point invested. (3 Total = either 1m sphere for 2s, or 2m sphere for 1s)
• Serene Stillness only effects physical material within the area of effect at the time it's used.
• Energy, beams, and other immaterial things are not paused
• Material that enters the area after the effect manifests are not paused
• Resistance save is 0.75 target's SPI against user's SPI score. Save negates the effect completely for the individual that passes its save.

Lemme know if you think either of them needs tweaking.

[Xaltwind]

Both sounds fine and dandy to me. ^^
Welcome aboard, Mr. Ramirez~

[ScarletMangekyo]

This looks...amazing.

Will get a CS up after sleep

[Xaltwind]

We look forward to seeing what you come up with! 8D