Appearance (Real Life):

Height: 5'7"
Weight: 142 lbs
Hair Color: Brown (dyed greyish-white)
Eye Color: Blue (yellow contacts)
Name: Sam Jensen
Age: 17

History: Sam was an ordinary child that had an ordinary childhood, with two parents, a middle-class family, and a few siblings. However, he was always a bit of a slacker, not seeing any point in exerting more effort than he needed to do the bare minimum, preferring to spend his time playing video games instead. Hence, when he turned thirteen and received the Deep Ground Program, he planned to do only so much as to acquire just enough kills and maintain a slightly positive win/loss ratio to have a moderate future, just as his parents had. But when Sam actually entered the program for the first time, he realized something. The Deep Ground Program was just a video game. And it was fun as hell.

The feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment he got from defeating other players was like a drug to Sam, and he wanted more. As the years passed, Sam found himself getting better and better at the game, and having fun the whole way through. He cut through other, lesser players like they were nothing, laughing gleefully as they stumbled into his traps and fell to his ambushes. As his skill grew, he devised more and more ways to take down enemy players, enjoying the rush of victory he got. Then one day, when Sam was fifteen, he found himself at level 9, with a 91% win/loss ratio and a massive number of kills. He'd done it. He was a made man. There was no real reason for him to keep playing. But he still did. Because he loved playing the game.

With his future secure, Sam resolved to experience everything the Deep Ground Program had to offer, and so he joined a guild: the Cobalt Bruisers. While the Blue King was initially leery at the thought of accepting a level 9 with no loyalty with him into the guild, Sam's win record and his general slacker attitude in school convinced the Blue King that Gleeful Jackal wasn't a threat to his position. And for six months, he wasn't. Sam served the part of a loyal guild member, taking part in and winning several battles for his guild. But then he wanted to experience more. What would it be like, being a King, commanding other players? And so Gleeful Jackal cut the Blue King down with his Grim Reaper skill, taking his former leader completely by surprise with a sneak attack and becoming the new Blue King.

Under Gleeful Jackal's rule, the Cobalt Bruisers adopted a policy similar to their King's personal philosophy, intent on getting as much enjoyment out of Deep Ground Online was possible. They fought to have a good future, but they had fun doing it. Unlike some people who took the Deep Ground Program so seriously, they realized that it was a sandbox for them to play in. A giant, murder-filled sandbox. The Bruisers started to gain a large influx of new recruits thanks to their friendly attitude towards the game and towards newbies, and their ranks swelled until they were on par with some of the stronger guilds.

Unfortunately, this philosophy angered the White King of the time, who was offended that the Blue King and his Bruisers took such a flippant attitude towards something that could decide the rest of their life. And so the Ivory Masks declared war on the Cobalt Bruisers. The soldiers of both guilds were evenly matched, but the war was actually decided by their Kings. Gleeful Jackal got a massive kick out of seeing the White King so riled up, and so he decided to piss him off even further. By ganking him once a day with his Grim Reaper skill. The Blue King got inside the White's head, mocking him repeatedly during battles and spamming cheesy bullshit like blind traps and smoke bombs until the White King was so pissed off that he left himself unaware and open during his rage. Sam even took the time to acquire the White King's phone number in real life and have his guild spam insults towards him with text messages and prank calls. Eventually, the White King began to lag behind his fellows in power due to his repeated defeats, leaving him to be overthrown by a player known as White Terror. Out of gratitude towards the Blue King's role in her victory, she called a truce between the Ivory Masks and the Cobalt Bruisers, and to this day, both guilds have a general policy of non-aggression towards each other.

Personality: Sam is a cheerful, fun-loving slacker that hates having to do any real work. Thanks in part to the tactics he used against the previous White King, he began to find pissing people off to be absolutely fucking hilarious. Thus, even though he is a King with the responsibility of leading a guild, he can be a juvenile asshole on his worst days. However, his insults have no real malice to them and he has no real ill-will towards anyone in particular. He is more of a sarcastic prankster or class clown than anything else, just trying to derive amusement and fun from everything he does.

Appearance (Avatar):

Avatar Class: Assassin - Shinobi
Avatar Title: Gleeful Jackal - Blue King
Avatar Level (Initial): 9
Avatar Guild: Cobalt Bruisers
Avatar Abilities:

Perks:
(4) Vicious Strikes Melee damage increased by 20%
(5) Grim Stride: Support skill that doubles your movement and attack speed. Lasts 10 seconds, with a two-minute cooldown.
(6) Assassin Stride: Enables you to move about all nimble-like. Like a parkour master...or...y'know...an assassin.
(7) Engineer: Enables the Assassin to create remote-detonated explosives, smoke bombs, and grappling hooks. These items can be used by any class, but only Assassins can craft them.
(8) Swift Slayer: Ground movement speed increased by 50%.
(9) Grim Reaper: Melee skill that instantly kills an enemy. Cannot be used on a target that is already in combat, Dissolutions, or on somebody who sees you. 1-day cooldown.

Skills:

Deadly Venom: Passive skill. User inflicts a stack of deadly venom each time they strike a target. Venom deals damage over time and slows an enemy. The effects of the venom increase as more stacks are applied.

Muffling Blade: Hurls a single knife that silences on impact for two seconds, preventing any skills from being cast during that period and interrupting any skills currently being used. Also dispels all buffs on the target. Has a two-minute cooldown.

Knife Nut: Passive skill. Increases all damage done by knives by 40%.

Shadowrun: Instantly disappears and reappears anywhere in a ten foot radius. Has a five-second cooldown.

Bullet Time: Increases the user's reflexes and speed by 100% for ten seconds. Has a three-minute cooldown.

Ticking Death: The user targets an enemy, and all damage done to that enemy from all sources is increased by 20% for twenty seconds. At the end of the twenty seconds, the mark explodes, dealing damage to the enemy.

Taser Knife: Hurls a stun knife at the target that delivers an electric shock on impact, stunning the victim for two seconds. One-minute cooldown.

Whispering Phantom: Summons a phantom that possesses all of the user's physical statistics and passive abilities. The user can only give basic commands such as attack, bodyguard, and retreat to the phantom, and all combat maneuvers are handled by the AI. Lasts for three minutes. Has a thirty minute cooldown.

Ougi: Rending Dance: The Blue King's trump card. He becomes able to manipulate the shape of his knife blades, able to make them take any shape, length, or width he wants as long as the mass of the knife stays the same, and his attack damage, attack speed, and movement speed increase by 300% for one minute. These effects also apply to the Blue King's Whispering Shadow skill. He also gains access to a finishing slash that fires a long-ranged shockwave with an execute effect, dealing more damage the more health the target is missing. Twelve hour cooldown.

Other:
Theme song:


Sam's favorite color is orange.

Appearance (Real Life):

Height: 5'9
Weight: 129 lbs
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Name: Meilin Shen
Age: 15

History: Growing up, Meilin was a studious, aloof girl that preferred the company of books to other people. This was not out of any nervousness or awkwardness around her peers, but simply because books were more interesting to her. Learning about ideas, philosophies, and theories was always more fascinating to Meilin than interacting with those her age. When she turned thirteen and received the Deep Ground Program, Meilin found that she didn't care much for the idea that her future was to be determined by what was essentially a murder simulator instead of by actual knowledge.

At Purple Crown, Meilin found someone who shared her opinions: Haruka Fujiyama. Originally lab partners and study buddies, the two became fast friends when they realized they had the same feelings about the Deep Ground Program, and when White Terror took over the Ivory Masks, Distant Sage was the first to swear loyalty to her new King. Since then, she has served the White King loyally, trusting that she knew what she was doing.

Personality: Stoic and calm, Meilin is a quiet but confident young woman. However, this confidence tends to turn into stubbornness, as she tends to stick by her statements and actions, no matter what. Meilin is a particularly loyal person, willing to do whatever it takes to aid those that she has befriended. However, she can be a tad catty at times, making biting insults under the cover of a small smile. She pursues knowledge voraciously, always seeking to learn new things, and can be found reading most of the time.

Appearance (Avatar):

Avatar Class: Wizard - Warlock
Avatar Title: Distant Sage
Avatar Level (Initial): 5
Avatar Guild: Ivory Masks
Avatar Abilities:

Perks:
(4) Magic Blast: A skill which fires a magical projectile that deals resistance-ignoring damage.
(5) Blood Pact: Demon and undead minions now have double their usual HP, but your HP is decreased by 25%

Skills:
Hellfire: Shoots demonic flames that do a mix of fire and black magic damage. Leaves behind a burning damage-over-time effect. Can be cast as a fireball or as a wide cone.

Blackguard: Summons a demonic knight to serve as her protector. Immune to all fire and black magic damage.

Cursed Well: Conjures a well of dark energy in a wide radius, doing damage over time and slowing those who stand in it.

Life Drain: Fires a magical tether that attaches itself to an enemy on impact and begins doing damage and slowing them, giving the stolen HP back to the caster.

Vengeance: Marks an enemy with a magic crest. For ten seconds, that enemy receives 25% of all damage done to the caster.

Other: Meilin's favorite color is green.
Theme song:

Appearance (Real Life):

Height: 5’11”
Weight: 159 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Hazel
Name: Garth Wright
Age: 17
History: His father is what Garth called a philosopher; always posing questions. He was always posing questions, even to the young Garth who could barely speak, yet alone comprehend the meaning of life, or if there truly was some greater being watching over everyone. It was a nature that Garth himself acquired to some degree, questioning human behavior, and why it was a seemingly necessary part of human nature. Contrary to his thinking, it was found that he excelled at the fight for his future, the Deep Ground Program.

He started the first two years of the game observing, in and out of Deep Ground. He died enough times to wreck his k.d. ratio (part of trying to speak to your enemies without killing them), and progressed a measly one level as part of his observations. But, he did learn something; many people viewed Deep Ground Online as a competition, while others viewed it as a game. While those who took it seriously often times did succeed, they were also some of the people with as bad a ratio as his. Those who had fun, they were the ones who were generally above average. So, perhaps mirroring his own philosophy, he didn't take DGO as a conflict, but at a means to have fun. And it worked for him.

He propelled himself into the upper echelons of the Program almost instantly (well, a year and a half), threw himself in with a guild and began to acquire the kill count of one of the Seven Kings, yet still only had an average ratio. Perhaps this should have been his first sign of things to come.

The guild he had joined was that of the Silent Marauders. A sprawling complex, and with a large share of the student body, it wasn't unheard of for the average guildie to not have met their Assassin King in person. Garth met his a total of three times. The first, they came to a dispute simply over their vastly different personalities. The second, he and some guild-mates were off to a scheduled battle against the Cobalt Bruisers. They never made it. The third and final time was in a duel, which had been one of Garth's most difficult fights, but prevailed none the less. Of course, that now meant he was King himself, and reforms had been in order.

The Kingdom had been organized in the most backwards fashion, in a way. Rather, there had been no organization at all. Everybody was out for the game themselves, the only common detail among them being the banner they flew and their one and only commander. That was stopped. A meritocracy was put into place, where the most worthy were put further up and closer to the king, and offered some of the best equipment and missions that were available. Of course, with this great advantage came the responsibility of guiding those less experienced. This came to the formation of "families", per se, where everyone cared for those in direct relation to each other. Next came the policies, and the only radical one that had faced any opposition was "isolationism". The members of the guild could attack whom they pleased outside of the Mauraders, but no contact of any sort was allowed outside of this; a precaution of loyalties. Overall, the changes led to a "safety net" of sorts for all of its members. Scheming was often rooted at the source, and a mindset of "the Marauders are a Marauder's only friends" was followed. Low level players had a place to get a foothold in the Game, with any of their fellow Marauders to call on, and they were free to leave if they felt that they no longer belonged with no penalty. It was an organization Garth was proud of.

As for his school and family life, they were both rather average. He saw no point of the classes taught at the Purple Crown when everything was decided by a game, and any attempt by his teachers to reason with him were met with esoteric questions which, more often than not, held nothing to do with his academics. His family had always kept a "hands-off" approach to parenting, so whatever it was that Garth was doing, they were fine with it. They speak to him at least once a month, and are sure to send him an allowance, seeing as how they both did so well themselves in the Deep Ground.

Personality: Stoic and protective to a fault. He has no problem working with others, but still can be stand offish to those who happen to oppose him. The type who values companionship, but isn’t one to express it in words, and instead actions. Typically, order is a top priority for him as it order promotes stability in his life.
Appearance (Avatar):

Avatar Class: Gunner (Armsman)
Avatar Title: Bowed Woods | Orange King
Avatar Level (Initial): 9
Avatar Guild: Silent Marauders
Avatar Abilities:
Null - A shot which, when hits, nullifies either a person’s perk, or ability for the next twenty-four hours. To compensate for it’s staggering potential for abuse, it has a massive three day cooldown.
Void - Another shot which, after having reached its target, releases a eight grapples which latch onto opponents and pulls them to the epicenter. A modest five minute cooldown.
Dog Whistle - An ability which summons a willing ally to come to his aid. May be used every six hours.

Perks:
4: Marksman
5: Combat Armor
6: Eagle Eye
7: Elite Soldier
8: Banner of Courage
9: Fatal Fire
Other:

Appearance (Real Life):

Height:
Weight:
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Name: Allen Docson
Age: 14
History: Allen's father wasn't exactly there for him or his mother. The fact that he doesn't remember a single memory with him rather emphasizes that point.

A single mother with a mediocre kill-death ration meant life was difficult for the two. A single bedroom apartment, just enough food that neither of them were feeling hungry, and clothes that had only been slightly worn beforehand; that was his life, and it was a life that he accepted due to how hard he could see his mother working. Of course, he did have an extended family, so it wasn't as if he wasn't dotted on from time to time, but those were rare treats.

His time at Purple Crown Academy had started out a tad rough. No real friends there, no true desire to make acquaintances... It seemed that he was deemed to live a life of solitude there, and to some point, he was. His saving grace had been the very same system that had put his mother in poverty, Deep Ground. His abilities there were mediocre, and as a Healer he didn't have many avenues of fighting to begin with. Being a Healer, however, had him invited to numerous groups for one-off fights, with all association after the ordeal being practically cut-off at his request, so he was never completely alone. Allen was soloing at his own perdition, but the healer preferred it that way.

His performance in school is excellent, due to the the social isolation he puts himself through. He is fluent in a second language, despite being only fourteen year old, and is a curve setter in nearly every single class (except history, for some reason). He has yet to join a club yet alone a guild at this point in his life, and he planned to keep out of both. The Black King's most recent message has recently sparked his curiosity on this matter, however.

Personality: Allen is, in one word, quiet; a boy who isn't likely to approach strangers on his own initiative. He doesn't stick out much, and doesn't quite mind that fact, but he's friendly to those he does meet, and has a good heart in him, as well as a good head on his shoulders. He's inquisitive to a fault, and will often jump into a fray if he feels a reason to (but only if he feels he is capable of making a change).
Appearance (Avatar):

Avatar Class: Healer
Avatar Title: Curved Solitaire
Avatar Level (Initial): 2
Avatar Guild: Black Strykers
Avatar Abilities:
Guardian Angel - A passive which activates any time the user would be attacked, spawning a personal protector to take the initial blow and fight in the user's stead. It will disappear after all hostilities have ended, resetting itself with no cooldown. If slain, it will be a full twelve hours before another Angel will be spawned. The detriment of this ability is that any damage the user themselves would inflict is nullified. Depending on the spec chosen at level three, this ability has three flavors.
-(Priest)-The angel appears as a stereotypical seraphim of Heaven. It loses it's own ability to do combat, immune to fifty percent of all damage inflicted to it, and gains the healing ability of the user, doubling health regeneration output.
-(Witch Doctor)- The angel appears as a levitating corpse, the sort of voodoo often mistakenly associated with the Loa. The ability can be activated at will now, as well as still being a reactionary ability, but loses 20% of its stats to compensate for its now predatory nature. In addition, it gains any offensive abilities the caster has at half power.
-(Surgeon)- The angel is now a twisted monstrosity of human flesh and machine. It retains its standard form's functions, and it now benefits fully from the Surgeon's cybernetic enhancements.
Martyr - A channeled ability which takes half the percentage of the user's health lost and adds it to the Guardian Angel's Attack and Defense stats. If the channel is broken, it will be another three minutes before it can be activated again.

Other: I like Grendel.