Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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CaptainManbeard

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I've been away from the RP Guild for a while, decided to come back with this new idea that's been bumping around inside my head. Though, to avoid some of the issues with my past RPs from repeating themselves, I want to say right out of the gate that my tolerance for poor writing, plotholes, and ignorance of established lore has diminished considerably in recent years. Because of that, I am only looking for co-writers who take their craft seriously, who proofread their posts to ensure there are no plotholes, and who respect what has already been established in previous posts. If you're not sure about something, feel free to PM me to double-check before you post, and if I do notice something that falls through the cracks and I ask you to make edits, please don't take it personally.

With that out of the way, on to my idea: I've recently been playing Grounded a lot, which is kind of like Honey, I Shrunk The Kids as a survival game. And I was thinking how cool it would be if there was a secret world of tiny faeries that they discovered, and the idea took on a life of it's own. It has also spawned ideas for a future novel series after I'm done writing the ones I'm currently working on, but for now, I figured it might be fun to explore it as an RP.

So, at the beginning, our characters are normal teenagers living in Los Angeles. They've recently graduated high school and are sitting in a Starbucks discussing the prospect of Summer jobs to save up for college in the Fall. An old man overhears this and offers to hire them to help him get his house ready to sell, such as cleaning up the yard, hauling stuff to the junkyard, scrubbing the floors and walls, etc. But what they don't realize is that the man is actually a scientist who has been researching various hidden magical aspects of the world, and has invented a Morph Chamber to shrink humans down to the size of faeries. He tricks the teenagers into entering the Chamber, activates the machine, and shrinks them down. The process makes them severely dizzy and they black out, waking up later to find themselves inside a plastic cup with a rope ladder leading out and their memories a little fuzzy. There is also a shrunken tablet that has a video from the scientist explaining everything, as well as some helpful information, such as maps, survival tips, locations of supply caches throughout his backyard, etc. There are also various traps, puzzles, obstacles, and dangerous bugs and creatures throughout the yard.

The scientist further explains that the Morph Chamber is powered by a Crystal Battery that absorbs the souls of faeries, and he confessing to capturing and killing an entire village of them to charge it up. He says that the morphing process should have also granted the teens magical faerie powers, and wants them to unlock their abilities by exploring the backyard and overcoming all the dangers and obstacles. His hope is that the use of their magic will draw the attention of other faeries, allowing the scientist to capture them and create more Crystal Batteries. His ultimate, final goal is to have a global army of tiny faerie hunters so he can mass produce his Crystal Battery Technology. He also wants to keep some alive to create breeding centers so they don't go extinct.

Of course, our characters are appalled by the entire situation, but at the end of the video, the scientist warns that if they don't comply, they will never get back to their families. He has left them with no food or water, and so the only way to survive is to climb the rope ladder out of the cup and seek out the thirteen supply caches throughout the backyard. There are beacons at each cache, which they must activate, after which details on the next steps will be sent to the tablet. Though they must use the tablet sparingly, as the battery will eventually run out. For purposes of monitoring this aspect of the RP, we'll say it's at 100% when we start, and then each use it drops by 2%. So, we get fifty uses before the tablet dies, after which we'll be on our own if we don't find another way to charge it or other means of receiving information from the scientist.

The first arc of the RP deals with our adventures in the scientist's backyard, until we encounter faeries coming to investigate the strange energies they've been sensing from our emerging powers. Eventually, we have to make a decision: lure them into the scientist's trap so that we can return to our old lives; or tell them the truth and help them destroy the Crystal Battery so the trapped souls can be freed. However, that will leave us stranded in our tiny forms.

Assuming we do the latter, the faeries we helped invite us to stay in their hidden village while the Elders discuss other methods to return us to our normal size. From here the RP can really open up, as we go on a number of magical adventures all over the world in search of a way back to our old lives. We visit a few different tiny magical communities, but it seems even when expert sorcerers cast polymorph spells that are similar to the effects of the Morph Chamber, we remain tiny. Some speculate that our bodies were tainted by the dark nature of how the Crystal Battery was powered, and thus we are inadvertently repelling the transformative magicks.

However and whenever we finally regain our true form, it could leave us with the permanent ability to polymorph at will, and our adventures continue. If you're interested, please post some character ideas below, as well as what type of faerie powers you'd like to have. I'm going to play twin brothers in the group of teens; one is kind, brave, and heroic, and the other is a bit on the darker side and will eventually become an antagonist to them. The greatest schism occurs during the end of the first arc, when one twin sides with the faeries and the other sides with the scientist. If some of you want to play bad guys as well, then they could join the darker twin. He warns the scientist that the other group is planning to destroy the Battery, and so the scientist reprograms the mind control implants in all the yard critters to make them obey the dark twin.

So, towards the end of the first arc, we might see the good teens backed by an army of faeries and the evil teens backed by an army of mind-controlled bugs and creatures. Assuming this comes to pass and the Battery is destroyed, the evil teens will likely be thrown into faerie prison, but it won't be long before there is an opportunity to escape. Perhaps we can have a sub-plot where the escaped evil teens try to free the scientist, who was taken to jail for conducting illegal experiments after the explosion that destroyed the Crystal Battery drew the attention of the police.

I'm interested to see what people think XD.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Dragonfly 9
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Interested!
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Crimson Flame
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Ok, I’ll bite.

I love Faeries. I even have my own Fairy RP running. Where you actually play as a Fairy!

Though, to avoid some of the issues with my past RPs from repeating themselves


They better not. I’m a little tired of getting hyped for something only for it to die before it gets going…
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Dragonfly 9
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Me too...
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by LuckyBlackCat
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You had me at faeries.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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Interested!


Welcome!

Ok, I’ll bite.

I love Faeries. I even have my own Fairy RP running. Where you actually play as a Fairy!
-
They better not. I’m a little tired of getting hyped for something only for it to die before it gets going…


Yeah, for sure! That's why I wanted to be clear from the beginning, and will boot any co-writer who creates problems. Hopefully things run smoothly this time, though XD. And thank you for always coming back to my RPs, I was gonna PM you with a link to this one but you beat me to it XD.

You had me at faeries.


Nice! XD

So what types of characters does everyone want to play? I was thinking we could establish a long list of Faerie archetypes, and base the powers off that. Like, here are my ideas for the twins:

Tree Faerie (good twin): Grow and manipulate plants, absorb solar energy, project and manipulate green life energy, etc.
Storm Faerie (evil twin): Lightning, wind, rain, etc.

Some other ideas for you guys:

Wild Faerie: Enhanced senses, regenerative healing, strength and stamina, etc.
Psychic Faerie: Telekinesis, telepathy, illusions, etc.
Frost Faerie: Snow, ice, cold, etc.
Stone Faerie: Rocks, sand, dirt, etc.
Mist Faerie: Enhanced movement leaving behind a misty trail, form the mist into arms or tentacles, etc.

Feel free to share your own ideas XD.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Crimson Flame
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I have a few ideas. xD

I’m leaning towards a Water faerie at the moment.
Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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A Water Faerie sounds awesome XD. I may split my idea for the Storm Faerie into Wind, Water, and Electric so that there are more options. You can take Water, I'll use Electric for the evil twin, and then that leaves Wind available for someone. I may also bring in two extra characters to round out the team if we end up with only a few co-writers, but we'll see.

Oh, and if anyone is interested, here is the trailer for the game that inspired me to create this RP:




Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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I am probably gonna create a third character, though I haven't decided the appearance for him yet. I have, however, decided on the faceclaims for the twins:

Sully and Cammy Zucco




Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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@CaptainManbeard can you tell me a little about the faeries in this?

I ask because I too love fae folk stories, but there's certain traits that I like to see.

For instance:
Failure to follow or understand the same logic as humans.
Inability to knowingly lie(and sometimes a lack of understanding that other beings can do so).
Taking things very literally.
A great concern with manners, though they follow a set of etiquette rules quite foreign to humans.

And my favorite is a combination of all of the above: a love of making deals, but with terms that don't seem to make sense. (Can I have your name? Sure it's Gisk. Not anymore it's not!)

I'm definitely interested regardless, but I'd like to know what to expect on that front.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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@CaptainManbeard can you tell me a little about the faeries in this?

I ask because I too love fae folk stories, but there's certain traits that I like to see.

For instance:
Failure to follow or understand the same logic as humans.
Inability to knowingly lie(and sometimes a lack of understanding that other beings can do so).
Taking things very literally.
A great concern with manners, though they follow a set of etiquette rules quite foreign to humans.

And my favorite is a combination of all of the above: a love of making deals, but with terms that don't seem to make sense. (Can I have your name? Sure it's Gisk. Not anymore it's not!)

I'm definitely interested regardless, but I'd like to know what to expect on that front.


To be honest, I'm not a fan of saying all the people of any culture are all the same or have certain aspects they all follow. Even with magical creatures like faeries, I enjoy inserting as much diversity as with humans. I would say these faeries are quite familiar with human society and human logic as they've spent centuries observing their destructive habits. The Elders of the various faerie villages are a bit like elf or vulcan leaders in that they are incredibly intelligent and wise but terribly distrustful and skeptical of humans.

As for faerie society as a whole, it would probably differ depending on whether a village was based in a human city or out in the wilderness, kind of like the difference between Ferngully and Arietty:


Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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I am reconsidering how the RP starts. Instead of there only being people from one group of friends, I'm thinking maybe the scientist has been kidnapping teenagers from all over Los Angeles, and there might even be other groups of shrunken people at different locations. As for the group that the RP will focus on, instead of it being just a few friends at a Starbucks, it could be dozens of people who were at a secret graduation after-party that was held in a large abandoned industrial plaza. The scientist owns the property, but presents himself as merely Mr. Dude. He lures the crowd into what he claims is a prototype holodeck like in Star Trek that he's been working on, but it's actually his Morph Chamber. The crowd is shrunk down and they lose consciousness almost immediately.

When they awaken, they are in the backyard at his house, the entire crowd trapped in a plastic bug container, and have been changed into outfits similar to Squid Game. After his video chat speech that was previously discussed, one side of the container drops down to form a ramp out into the yard. When some of the people are hesitant to leave the safety of the container, the scientist laughs and is like, "I thought you might be reluctant to venture out into the dangers of the yard, so you need a little more... incentive. Say hello to my little friends!" He flips a switch, and another wall within the container opens, revealing a second chamber holding several aggressive mutated Mantises. This causes everyone to scream and flee the container, but a bunch of people are either ripped to shreds by the creatures or scatter into the yard and get killed by other things.

My idea for changing it to this is twofold: One, so that we have some "expendable" characters for the sake of the story; and two, so there is a backdoor into the RP if other people show interest after we've started. For instance, let's say after a bunch of people are killed or scattered, our main characters form a solid group of ten people. Let's say we're already many posts into the RP and someone else wants to join. Well, that new character can be someone who fled into the yard at the beginning and got lost and is just now finding our group again. There could be several other characters scattered about who can join up with our group later on. I think this is a wise idea as it leaves the option open for new co-writers throughout the entire first arc, but what does everyone else think?

Also, if you're curious for size comparison, here is a video from on of my favorite YouTubers preparing for a fight against the Mantis in Grounded:

Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Dragonfly 9
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Alright, sounds cool! I dig that!
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Gisk
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I don't think I'm interested after all, but thanks for your time.
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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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Alright, sounds cool! I dig that!


Sweet!

I don't think I'm interested after all, but thanks for your time.


No prob! But if you change your mind later and want to join after the RP starts, feel free to send me a PM to discuss ideas. I'm going to include the option towards the end of the first arc for people to create extra characters that are actual faeries, so that may be a preferred path for you if you choose to join later on. Since you have specific traits you prefer to see in them, you could say your character is in like a faerie version of a foreign exchange program, and then you'd have complete creative freedom to determine how his native village developed and runs. Perhaps he is from a village out in the wilderness, and he is a bit taken aback at first to see city faeries so familiar with human society, and even more bewildered when they respond to the strange energies and discover tiny humans.

As for how the faeries look physically, I'm going to give everyone complete creative freedom. In this RP, they are magical creatures who don't necessarily always have a uniform fixed appearance. In the same way humans will change hair colors and styles, the faeries will often take on extra traits such as tails, cat ears, fangs, wing styles, wildly colorful skin, eyes, and hair, etc. Sometimes, they just want to look the same as tiny humans. As for how they do this, we'll say most faeries have some innate transformative capabilities, and so their appearance can alter based on emotion or will. They need stronger magicks to change size or a major form shift though, as their innate abilities don't extend beyond their normal height and humanoid shape.

Once we have at least five co-writers on board (including myself), I'll start the IC. Since there will be that backdoor option for people to continually join throughout the first arc, I don't feel a need to wait until we have a larger group to start. So, we have me, Crimson Flame, and Dragonfly on board for sure, with LuckyBlackCat interested. If she confirms she's still a go and then Gisk decides to stay or we get a fifth co-writer, I'll get the IC going.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Crimson Flame
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So LuckyBlackCat and Dragonfly are already familiar with my character.

Conner’s coming back!


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Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by Dragonfly 9
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Hmm...

This idea is very experimental, but I was thinking, and here's what I have so far:

A teen with schizophrenia who gets shrunken down with the others, as you brought up already. However, due to some magic hoo ha which probably has to do with a whole lot of dead souls of faeries powering the machine, the teen's schizophrenia, over the RP, will become more and more sentient, eventually becoming my extra character and getting a body of their own(?). Another idea is that the teen unlocking their powers makes this slowly happen.

If you're worried about how I would handle this concept, I have schizophrenia myself, and will probably base the teen's schizophrenia and their experience with it on my own. If you still refuse it, however, I'm perfectly fine with that! This is just an idea in my head that won't go away, that's all. :')

Oh, and also, I can give you some information about schizophrenia if you're unfamiliar with/know little about the mental illness! :D
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Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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Hmm...

This idea is very experimental, but I was thinking, and here's what I have so far:

A teen with schizophrenia who gets shrunken down with the others, as you brought up already. However, due to some magic hoo ha which probably has to do with a whole lot of dead souls of faeries powering the machine, the teen's schizophrenia, over the RP, will become more and more sentient, eventually becoming my extra character and getting a body of their own(?). Another idea is that the teen unlocking their powers makes this slowly happen.

If you're worried about how I would handle this concept, I have schizophrenia myself, and will probably base the teen's schizophrenia and their experience with it on my own. If you still refuse it, however, I'm perfectly fine with that! This is just an idea in my head that won't go away, that's all. :')

Oh, and also, I can give you some information about schizophrenia if you're unfamiliar with/know little about the mental illness! :D


That sounds awesome! I have a few friends with schizophrenia and have done a lot of research on it in the past, and I have no doubts that you will handle the concept well in the RP XD. One idea is to say your character begins to develop self-matter transmutation after they are shrunken, meaning they can like shift their hands and arms into tools or weapons or long tentacles, kind of like the T-1000 from the Terminator. Perhaps they can also absorb small amounts of matter from their environment to transmute into objects that can then be used by everyone, and through this process, the teen begins subconsciously condensing matter into a gland within their brain where the schizophrenia begins to gain sentience. Ultimately, once it gains a mind of its own, the teen could expel the gland in the form of a dragon egg or cocoon something and then nurture it until the new body emerges. This type of idea would also work well with a character with DID and have multiple eggs or cocoons form.
Hidden 2 yrs ago Post by CaptainManbeard
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Other ideas: The teen could create hard light constructs like Green Lantern and use this to create a body, or illusion powers to manifest thoughts and dreams externally, or the ability to gather and condense magical energies to create clones, and the schizophrenia could eventually take over one of the clones. Just some ideas XD.
Hidden 2 yrs ago 2 yrs ago Post by Dragonfly 9
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Sounds pretty cool! :D

I'll probably do that, then.

Honestly, though, I'm pretty interested in how the dynamic between the teen and their schizophrenia would play out. I'm assuming that the teens are at least 18, yes? So, if the teen is male, then that means that the teen has had to deal with schizophrenia for three years.

How would their relationship play out, when the teen has resented their schizophrenia for years at this point and now has to deal with them somehow becoming sentient? There's also the point that the schizophrenia could cease becoming, well, schizophrenia at some point in the sentience process, and basically end up as a small child that the teen would have to become a guardian/friend/big brother to. How would the teen handle that, and slight tangent, but how would the schizophrenia deal with slowly losing control over the teen's mind?

Overall, I'm excited to answer all these questions, and also hear your thoughts, of course.
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