[OOC] The 1st Magical Incursion [Reboot] [Accepting]

[Cerces22]

@HaleyTheRandom

We always need your attention!!

[Sugar and Spite]

@HaleyTheRandom

We always need your attention!!

@Cerces22

Oh shush xD

[Cerces22]

@HaleyTheRandom

If you knew me outside of this you would than know that's impossible!!

[Zetsuko]

well uh, here we go...

Luka

Luka Mostovoi

---

"The Devil tips his hat to me"

---

Name: Luka Artyom Mostovoi
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Alignment: Dark Shadow
Rank within Organisation: Member

Birthmark Shape:

Mark

Location of Birthmark: Nowhere. Luka lost his birthmark to his mother's magic when he was born. The one he sometimes places on his chest before fighting is his mother's
Magical Abilities: Blood Magic - A rare magic, Luka's very blood is used as his power. He con control his blood in the form of whip-like tendrils or harden small amounts into crystalline projectiles but perhaps it's best use is by getting enough of his blood within another person so that he may attempt control of their body.

Though he can use any blood his own holds special properties, by mixing it into large pools he may open a gateway between them to teleport either himself or others between them, however there is limitation on what exactly may pass through these gateways: only organic material may be brought through one of these portals. If he ingests other blood it can mix with his own to sustain him in place of normal food. This has created a great thirst in him, and he always desires more to drink, though he thankfully actually needs to "feed" rarely.

Luka's dominion over blood has extended to flesh in his practice, and through physical contact he can shape it as if it were clay. He can reshape appearances, heal scars, even reattach limbs. There is no wound but death that he cannot mend with this power but it is in his body, and his body only, that he has such intimate control as to enhance strength or harden skin like armor. While he can easily create beauty with his power he can just as easily mar it, creating hideous disfigurations and severe wounds. A horrid example of what he could do is Bloodlash, A particular trick where he uses his power over flesh and blood to flay a person with invisible lashes, rending and tearing their flesh from their body while keeping them both alive and conscious. This is all limited by the willingness, or subjugation, of the target.

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia
Currently Residing: NYC, New York
Personality: Soft-spoken and sultry, Luka has an almost ethereal presence about him. A gentle and graceful nature laced with sadism. His demeanor rarely cracks, and even then he'll only get faintly more sinister or perhaps display the pleasure he derives from the pain he can cause just a little too openly, and because of the nature of his work he's developed a bit of a disregard for personal space and can at times be a bit touchy-feely.

However, despite his cruelty he is truly a caring person. His motivation to stand behind Dark Shadow's cause comes from a desire to find the best for himself and his friends, and the belief that it can't be found with nonmagi.

History/Bio: Luka was the younger of two brothers, born to a magic mother and a mundane father. His mother taught him as early as she could on how to use his power, most of her teaching was initially on how to hide it, so that it may be kept a secret from his mother and brother. She had even erased his birthmark when he was born to keep the secret, the one he carries now is his mother's. They kept on like that, her tutoring him in secret, hiding their powers from the rest of their family. Their family was a poor one, and eventually fell on even harder times. His father would begin to get involved with gangs and criminal activity just to support them.

Like with most it would prove to be the undoing of their little world. Their father would just disappear one day, dead presumably, but his ties to the Mafia would still come to haunt them. The Mafia would come, seeking to "recruit" the boys to pay of their family's debts and their would have no choice but to give them up despite her power, Luka himself was barely a teenager at the time. It was at this time that his powers would finally become known. He at first revealed it to his brother, healing him when he was hurt, but they were caught one day. At first it they had no idea what to do with him, but as he desperately explained what he was capable of he was viewed more and more as an asset.

Things actually turned around for awhile, his abilities were valuable so the gangs kept him a secret and made sure he lived in relative comfort, but then came the test. His brother had messed up, an important job was botched bad and the Mafia wanted blood for it. They decided to have Luka deliver punishment as a test of loyalty "to make sure one of the two was worth anything" this was the first time he used his power to intentionally cause pain. He tore at his brother with his magic, he though he would be able to reverse the damage once the punishment was over but they just made him keep going, keeping lashing and tearing until his brother was just a pile of flesh and gore on the ground.

His reaction when it was over was not to cry, not to collapse and grieve, but to just start blankly and quiver. Perhaps most disturbing to him at the time was that causing that pain had giving him a rush, he'd enjoyed it. This awoken part of him would drive him through the rest of the time he spent in the Mafia's fold acting as a face-changer, healer, and torturer. He would discover the taste of blood during this time, between that new addiction and the growing grace of his body over a few years soon being sent to "The Vampire" would be as dreaded as it would be welcome.

But of course making a name for oneself does make it harder remain a secret. Dark Shadow found him eventually, and he was more than happy to join them.

[Sugar and Spite]

Right, got Als theme, both in lyrics and video form xD

@jakeb1993

Just now seeing this and realizing that Als theme is a Panic! Sing XD

I approve.

[Hedgehawk]

We have finished the meeting collabs. Thank you to everyone involved

[Cerces22]

@jakeb1993

Took forever!! Now back to your regularly scheduled killing

[Grape]

@jakeb1993 Ooooh. Could I possibly make an accomplice for Rebecca Touson? :DDDD

[Hedgehawk]

@Grape hmmmm. That might work. Drop me a PM, need to go over things

[Sugar and Spite]

So I've been thinking.... should Ty have a little sister, and should I bring her into the Rp….? Hmm

Scratch that.

[Cerces22]

@HaleyTheRandom

A little sister for the guild 😂😂 that would mess with him aha

[Hedgehawk]

Nah. We have other plans

*Evil laugh*

[FrankenDaughter]

I gotta admit, it's nice to see this reboot running at speed. Was always disappointed the momentum couldn't stick last time. Lot of good cookies involved.

[Hedgehawk]

@FrankenDaughter I am so proud of it. If you wanna jump back in again please feel free

[Sugar and Spite]

Yeah. Scratch the idea of Ty having a little sister.

Jay and I have many wonderful plot twists planned for you guys.

[FrankenDaughter]

CS is up. Updates pending. Let me know if I'm good to move forward. Also let me know if I should brush up my magic set--not sure how favorably they compare to the new cast, but I still like it as is.

[Sugar and Spite]

CS is up. Updates pending. Let me know if I'm good to move forward. Also let me know if I should brush up my magic set--not sure how favorably they compare to the new cast, but I still like it as is.

@FrankenDaughter

I personally like what I see. Though for future reference, please put Character Sheets (Especially WIP forms) in the OOC so we can approve them first.

You have the go-ahead from me to move forward.

[FrankenDaughter]

I personally like what I see. Though for future reference, please put Character Sheets (Especially WIP forms) in the OOC so we can approve them first.

You have the go-ahead from me to move forward.

@HaleyTheRandom

WHOOPS! You are totally right. Pardon my excitement. Have snipped my CS post for now and will put it back once approved.

Poet CS WIP

Working CS:

-update relationships

Alexandra Pauline Cooper
a.k.a.
"Poet"

Dark Shadow Member

"Everywhere I've tried to live always winds up being under somebody's thumb. I just want to feel like I can wake up someday soon and know that isn't true. Is that really what we were trying to work towards tonight? Because if not, screw you Simon, and screw your stupid One Saturday Morning bad guy team too." - Poet, to Simon, after carrying out her last mission for Dark Shadow the previous summer

Name: Paulie "Poet" Cooper
Gender F
Age: 28
Alignment - Dark Shadow - Doubting
To Paulie, The Guild is just another good idea with a hierarchy that doesn't have the best interests of its people in mind. Dark Shadow might exceed her means and sound like a terrorist cell plucked from a Hollywood blockbuster, but the most realistic outcome of its success is clear; instability wide enough for nicer people to make a real difference and be heard in the community--a true reform.
Rank within Organisation - Recruit
Poet... has established a reputation for getting things done. Her abilities are nothing so fancy as what people read about in storybooks, but guns can even the odds in magical combat just fine. Poet's skills lie more in never having to fight in the first place. If not for what have been obvious loyalty issues she'd probably be captaining her own cell. She's a valuable infiltrator. No one's certain she can be anything more yet.

Birthmark Shape: the silhouette of what looks from most angles like a pair of glasses, about four inches long and two inches high.
Location of Birthmark: Just above her left knee along the inside of her thigh.
Magical Abilities
-Tongues: Manifesting at a very young age was Paulie's ability to understand and speak/write any language she encounters. It is a gift many have mistaken for mere heightened lingual aptitude but it extends much farther. Poet can intuit ciphers at a glance, draw concrete conclusions about local graffiti, and even parse and replicate contrived dialects like twin if she hears a single syllable or sees only fragments of writing/iconography.
-Suggest Absence: Her true power manifested during her first years of puberty. Paulie can seem to be invisible to people. This ability can manifest in multiple ways, but only one way at any given time.

---Latent Blank: Anyone who can see Paulie doesn't see her in their direct vision. She can still be seen in reflections (but Blank doesn't fade unless they directly notice Paulie), and anyone looking through multi-lense (telescopics, flash cameras) or digital instruments (phone cameras etc). Once a person sees her this way, they are immune to the effects of Latent Blank for a long time. Paulie has no knowledge of when someone has overcome this ability, but she knows every way to circumvent it and can often guess when the jig is up or she's unlikely to really evade people this way.
---Controlled Blank: As long as Paulie concentrates, any surveillance equipment (digital cameras, motion sensors, laser detection, physical photography etc.) she can see or knows the field of view for. This requires enough concentration that Paulie can't use any other magic (Tongues won't function alongside Controlled Blank). Paulie always knows when this ability fails, including when it doesn't work at all. When there are too many devices to obstruct, say, ten cameras observing a vacant lot, the ability can't function when called on. Device limit is up to the GM and may vary depending on the size of the space Paulie is trying to Blank through, i.e. in a ten foot corridor, Paulie might be able to Blank two dozen separate pieces of equipment; in Tiananmen square, she might be able to Blank three cameras at best.
---Selective Blank: As long as Paulie concentrates, she can choose exactly one person to be unable to perceive her with any senses other than touch, nor by any external means. Selective Blank includes reflexively manipulating devices and even magics so that they can't find her. She can only use this on a person she can see, and once it is active she can concentrate on it indefinitely. Once she stops concentrating, she has to see the person again to Blank them again. The only trump for this ability is for whoever she's targeting to have a mommet of her hair, a small sample of her blood, or some other similar totem of her flesh to focus on. Paulie has no knowledge of when someone has overcome this ability. Most importantly, Paulie has no idea that this ability can be overcome.

Complications[/hider

Concentration can be broken by pain intense enough to cause shock, falling unconscious, or chemical inmbalances from drugs, alcohol, sugar rushes, etc. Paulie strictly avoids certain psychedelics as they interact very strongly with her suggestive abilities in ways she doesn't know how to control. She has killed people when Blanking goes wrong. She doesn't want to lose control.

Poet's experience with psychedelics indicates that there are clearly capabilities in her magic that exceed her mastery. More may come to the fore as she gains experience, but her isolation as well as her reluctance make it difficult for her to work outside of her magical comfort zone.

Non-Magical Abilities: Paulie has a fair amount of practice on firing ranges with pistols and a small amount with conventional shotguns. She also has a hobbyist's understanding of Tai-Chi (she has played recreational Push-Hands for fifteen years). She supplements any combat she engages in with Blanking, to deadly effect when she intends to kill.

Place of Birth: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Present Residence: A home van: currently just a few hours out of New York City.

Personality: Paulie is a happy soul with an acerbic exterior.

Apathetic toward society - "Life is sacred, nothing else. Screw your church, screw your money, screw your car, and screw your stupid freaking phone. Buy me a drink, I'll roll you a joint, and we'll have a good day."
Hopeful - "What are you apologizing for? You're not a jerk and you're not an infant. Don't sweat the small stuff. Be better. You usually are."
Generous - "I want to make a difference in people's lives. If you need food I'll take you out to eat. If you need a night to crash I have a van. That's my life."
Anarchic - "That crap doesn't work. Once enough people get an idea how to manipulate other people they'll always have more attention at their disposal. You miss things, other people see opportunity and just take advantage, and the schemers walk away with whatever means the most power at the time. Tax evasion, stock markets, ponsy schemes... they're all symptoms of a flawed system. Education is about giving other people the means to exercise enough attention to not be victims. Fuck that shit. The system is fixed. We need to break it. Education should be about giving people the means to reject it."
Vengeful - "When word got out how things went down and that he'd told her to 'Bite the pillow and take it like a champ?' Yeah. Atticus doesn't get to come to that gathering next year. If he shows up there he won't leave with both of his testicles I swear to god."

Relationships/Story Resources

History/Bio: Paulie was born into a large, non-magical family during late November of 1989. Her parents were liberal arts advocates in the community, her father a faculty member at what would eventually become the Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts magnet school and her mother a singer/guitarist who would go on three month tours around every other year, and Paulie grew up the youngest of six siblings, nine years apart. Her early childhood was privilaged and comfortable, but around six years of age her talent for language began to manifest. At first her parents accepted this as a fortunate aptitude, encouraging her studies and delighting in each stride she made. By age eleven she could speak French, Spanish, Mandarin, and had developed a particular love of Latin American Portuguese.

but Paulie's eldest sister was the first to notice how extraordinary her abilities were. Paulie had stayed up with Sasha one evening while Sasha was watching Run, Lola, Run, a german film, subtitles off, for her deutsch studies. At first Paulie just seemed fascinated by the visual spectacle, but when Paulie started asking Sasha pointed questions about the dialogue, Sasha became suspicious and deduced that Paulie was a polyglot. It was the only explanation--Paulie had never expressed an interest in learning German.

After Sasha exposed Paulie to the rest of her family, they were both delighted and concerned. Her parents used their influence to contact local linguists, but wound up drawing the exact wrong sort of attention. A local Guild agent responsible for maintaining their anonymity in the southeastern United States. He was a powerful mentalist, and his investigation into her abilities meant the end of her normal life. Alongside other Guild agents, Paulie was abducted, her history and the memories everyone had of her erased, and relocated in a remote area of West Virginia, where she was forced to remain while she was educated about Magic and The Guild.

Her caretaker was a radical anarchist but, paradoxically, a fervent believer in The Guild's methods and goals. In short, a mageocrat. She grew into adolescence with a benevolent but strict and often times physically and mentally abusive teacher. Ultimately, their relationship grew too toxic, as he began succumbing to a blooming opioid addiction and was unable to care for her as a growing teenager and himself as a person. This coincided with her mastery of Blanking. At the age of seventeen, she executed a careful plan of escape that took advantage of the guild's reluctance to share records with non-magical beurocracies and her caretaker's newfound incapability. She hasn't seen or heard from her caretaker since, and has never returned to West Virginia.

Paulie's adult life is a carefully controlled cycle of espionage and hermitage. 'Pauline Cooper' is a well known member of most circles in the Earthskills Gatherings community, and enjoys friendships with a cast of characters throughout the eastern United States from all walks of life. To the normal world she is a political activist, an environmentalist, a dirty, dumpster-diving hippie, and a self-made scholar of music and political history. To the magical society, 'Poet' is a rather mundane urban legend known throughout eastern North America. To the Guild, 'Alexandra Cooper' is a wanted defector whose activities seem dangerously visible to the more radical isolationists among them. What The Guild intends to do with or to her if she is found is largely up to the cell that finds her. Intentions vary widely.

Paulie's three years of dealings with Dark Shadow largely extend from her direct interactions with with one of her best friends and current sexual partners. Simon MacCaffrey is a prodigious telekinetic based in Queens whom Paulie met during a debauched bender at Lightning In A Bottle. Paulie is in love with Simon and has considered the possibility of settling down for the first time in her life. It would be a huge compromise for her to make given how much pride and comfort she takes in her freedom to travel and the ties she has all over the continent. Simon does genuinely care about her, but since the beginning of their relationship has been instructed to play her for her powers of Suggestion. He is secretly fanatically invested in Dark Shadow and will do his best to keep Paulie from getting in their way if she becomes troublesome. He would not hesitate to kill her, but he would have to be ordered to directly by a superior.

Paulie doesn't know that Dark Shadow is engaged in violent activities nor that they are intent on doing more than merely subverting and destabilizing The Guild. She carried out what she feels are several harmless infiltration missions in New York City. These were done during the summer months when she is most reluctant to travel. Last year Paulie struck a particularly harsh blow by inciting a drug raid that resulted in the arrests of two Guild members and their cell of non-magical sympathizers. The repercussions of the event lead to the first time she'd ever questioned Dark Shadow's goals. If she found out that all of the people she'd framed had been quietly executed behind closed doors, it would break her heart.

Currently, Paulie has three hours left on her return to New Yourk City. She is excited to see Simon again and needs to take her van to a mechanic for what she suspects will be an expensive job replacing her transmission. Simon has hinted that this visit could mean a lot for her advancement within Dark Shadow.

Relationships

Guilders

Dark Shadow

Name: Aloysius Leighton
Relationship - Warm - Unacquainted.
Characters opinion of them: Simon MacCaffrey is the most senior member of Dark Shadow that Paulie knows at present. He and the three or four others seem almost apologetic about the name of the organization. Simon claims to have met the leader of Dark Shadow and seems to think highly of him, a fact that colors Paulie's own opinion. Simon even thinks that Dark Shadow's leader and Paulie would seriously hit it off, and Simon's been right about such things before.

That being said, enough of the plot is starting from the same place as before that all I really need to do is update relationships for the new cast. Will get started tomorrow.

[Sugar and Spite]

<Snipped quote by HaleyTheRandom>
WHOOPS! You are totally right. Pardon my excitement. Have snipped my CS post for now and will put it back once approved.

Poet CS WIP

Working CS:

-update relationships

Alexandra Pauline Cooper
a.k.a.
"Poet"

Dark Shadow Member

"Everywhere I've tried to live always winds up being under somebody's thumb. I just want to feel like I can wake up someday soon and know that isn't true. Is that really what we were trying to work towards tonight? Because if not, screw you Simon, and screw your stupid One Saturday Morning bad guy team too." - Poet, to Simon, after carrying out her last mission for Dark Shadow the previous summer

Name: Paulie "Poet" Cooper
Gender F
Age: 28
Alignment - Dark Shadow - Doubting
To Paulie, The Guild is just another good idea with a hierarchy that doesn't have the best interests of its people in mind. Dark Shadow might exceed her means and sound like a terrorist cell plucked from a Hollywood blockbuster, but the most realistic outcome of its success is clear; instability wide enough for nicer people to make a real difference and be heard in the community--a true reform.
Rank within Organisation - Recruit
Poet... has established a reputation for getting things done. Her abilities are nothing so fancy as what people read about in storybooks, but guns can even the odds in magical combat just fine. Poet's skills lie more in never having to fight in the first place. If not for what have been obvious loyalty issues she'd probably be captaining her own cell. She's a valuable infiltrator. No one's certain she can be anything more yet.

Birthmark Shape: the silhouette of what looks from most angles like a pair of glasses, about four inches long and two inches high.
Location of Birthmark: Just above her left knee along the inside of her thigh.
Magical Abilities
-Tongues: Manifesting at a very young age was Paulie's ability to understand and speak/write any language she encounters. It is a gift many have mistaken for mere heightened lingual aptitude but it extends much farther. Poet can intuit ciphers at a glance, draw concrete conclusions about local graffiti, and even parse and replicate contrived dialects like twin if she hears a single syllable or sees only fragments of writing/iconography.
-Suggest Absence: Her true power manifested during her first years of puberty. Paulie can seem to be invisible to people. This ability can manifest in multiple ways, but only one way at any given time.

---Latent Blank: Anyone who can see Paulie doesn't see her in their direct vision. She can still be seen in reflections (but Blank doesn't fade unless they directly notice Paulie), and anyone looking through multi-lense (telescopics, flash cameras) or digital instruments (phone cameras etc). Once a person sees her this way, they are immune to the effects of Latent Blank for a long time. Paulie has no knowledge of when someone has overcome this ability, but she knows every way to circumvent it and can often guess when the jig is up or she's unlikely to really evade people this way.
---Controlled Blank: As long as Paulie concentrates, any surveillance equipment (digital cameras, motion sensors, laser detection, physical photography etc.) she can see or knows the field of view for. This requires enough concentration that Paulie can't use any other magic (Tongues won't function alongside Controlled Blank). Paulie always knows when this ability fails, including when it doesn't work at all. When there are too many devices to obstruct, say, ten cameras observing a vacant lot, the ability can't function when called on. Device limit is up to the GM and may vary depending on the size of the space Paulie is trying to Blank through, i.e. in a ten foot corridor, Paulie might be able to Blank two dozen separate pieces of equipment; in Tiananmen square, she might be able to Blank three cameras at best.
---Selective Blank: As long as Paulie concentrates, she can choose exactly one person to be unable to perceive her with any senses other than touch, nor by any external means. Selective Blank includes reflexively manipulating devices and even magics so that they can't find her. She can only use this on a person she can see, and once it is active she can concentrate on it indefinitely. Once she stops concentrating, she has to see the person again to Blank them again. The only trump for this ability is for whoever she's targeting to have a mommet of her hair, a small sample of her blood, or some other similar totem of her flesh to focus on. Paulie has no knowledge of when someone has overcome this ability. Most importantly, Paulie has no idea that this ability can be overcome.

Complications&#91;/hider

Concentration can be broken by pain intense enough to cause shock, falling unconscious, or chemical inmbalances from drugs, alcohol, sugar rushes, etc. Paulie strictly avoids certain psychedelics as they interact very strongly with her suggestive abilities in ways she doesn't know how to control. She has killed people when Blanking goes wrong. She doesn't want to lose control.

Poet's experience with psychedelics indicates that there are clearly capabilities in her magic that exceed her mastery. More may come to the fore as she gains experience, but her isolation as well as her reluctance make it difficult for her to work outside of her magical comfort zone.

Non-Magical Abilities: Paulie has a fair amount of practice on firing ranges with pistols and a small amount with conventional shotguns. She also has a hobbyist's understanding of Tai-Chi (she has played recreational Push-Hands for fifteen years). She supplements any combat she engages in with Blanking, to deadly effect when she intends to kill.

Place of Birth: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Present Residence: A home van: currently just a few hours out of New York City.

Personality: Paulie is a happy soul with an acerbic exterior.

Apathetic toward society - "Life is sacred, nothing else. Screw your church, screw your money, screw your car, and screw your stupid freaking phone. Buy me a drink, I'll roll you a joint, and we'll have a good day."
Hopeful - "What are you apologizing for? You're not a jerk and you're not an infant. Don't sweat the small stuff. Be better. You usually are."
Generous - "I want to make a difference in people's lives. If you need food I'll take you out to eat. If you need a night to crash I have a van. That's my life."
Anarchic - "That crap doesn't work. Once enough people get an idea how to manipulate other people they'll always have more attention at their disposal. You miss things, other people see opportunity and just take advantage, and the schemers walk away with whatever means the most power at the time. Tax evasion, stock markets, ponsy schemes... they're all symptoms of a flawed system. Education is about giving other people the means to exercise enough attention to not be victims. Fuck that shit. The system is fixed. We need to break it. Education should be about giving people the means to reject it."
Vengeful - "When word got out how things went down and that he'd told her to 'Bite the pillow and take it like a champ?' Yeah. Atticus doesn't get to come to that gathering next year. If he shows up there he won't leave with both of his testicles I swear to god."

Relationships/Story Resources

History/Bio: Paulie was born into a large, non-magical family during late November of 1989. Her parents were liberal arts advocates in the community, her father a faculty member at what would eventually become the Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts magnet school and her mother a singer/guitarist who would go on three month tours around every other year, and Paulie grew up the youngest of six siblings, nine years apart. Her early childhood was privilaged and comfortable, but around six years of age her talent for language began to manifest. At first her parents accepted this as a fortunate aptitude, encouraging her studies and delighting in each stride she made. By age eleven she could speak French, Spanish, Mandarin, and had developed a particular love of Latin American Portuguese.

but Paulie's eldest sister was the first to notice how extraordinary her abilities were. Paulie had stayed up with Sasha one evening while Sasha was watching Run, Lola, Run, a german film, subtitles off, for her deutsch studies. At first Paulie just seemed fascinated by the visual spectacle, but when Paulie started asking Sasha pointed questions about the dialogue, Sasha became suspicious and deduced that Paulie was a polyglot. It was the only explanation--Paulie had never expressed an interest in learning German.

After Sasha exposed Paulie to the rest of her family, they were both delighted and concerned. Her parents used their influence to contact local linguists, but wound up drawing the exact wrong sort of attention. A local Guild agent responsible for maintaining their anonymity in the southeastern United States. He was a powerful mentalist, and his investigation into her abilities meant the end of her normal life. Alongside other Guild agents, Paulie was abducted, her history and the memories everyone had of her erased, and relocated in a remote area of West Virginia, where she was forced to remain while she was educated about Magic and The Guild.

Her caretaker was a radical anarchist but, paradoxically, a fervent believer in The Guild's methods and goals. In short, a mageocrat. She grew into adolescence with a benevolent but strict and often times physically and mentally abusive teacher. Ultimately, their relationship grew too toxic, as he began succumbing to a blooming opioid addiction and was unable to care for her as a growing teenager and himself as a person. This coincided with her mastery of Blanking. At the age of seventeen, she executed a careful plan of escape that took advantage of the guild's reluctance to share records with non-magical beurocracies and her caretaker's newfound incapability. She hasn't seen or heard from her caretaker since, and has never returned to West Virginia.

Paulie's adult life is a carefully controlled cycle of espionage and hermitage. 'Pauline Cooper' is a well known member of most circles in the Earthskills Gatherings community, and enjoys friendships with a cast of characters throughout the eastern United States from all walks of life. To the normal world she is a political activist, an environmentalist, a dirty, dumpster-diving hippie, and a self-made scholar of music and political history. To the magical society, 'Poet' is a rather mundane urban legend known throughout eastern North America. To the Guild, 'Alexandra Cooper' is a wanted defector whose activities seem dangerously visible to the more radical isolationists among them. What The Guild intends to do with or to her if she is found is largely up to the cell that finds her. Intentions vary widely.

Paulie's three years of dealings with Dark Shadow largely extend from her direct interactions with with one of her best friends and current sexual partners. Simon MacCaffrey is a prodigious telekinetic based in Queens whom Paulie met during a debauched bender at Lightning In A Bottle. Paulie is in love with Simon and has considered the possibility of settling down for the first time in her life. It would be a huge compromise for her to make given how much pride and comfort she takes in her freedom to travel and the ties she has all over the continent. Simon does genuinely care about her, but since the beginning of their relationship has been instructed to play her for her powers of Suggestion. He is secretly fanatically invested in Dark Shadow and will do his best to keep Paulie from getting in their way if she becomes troublesome. He would not hesitate to kill her, but he would have to be ordered to directly by a superior.

Paulie doesn't know that Dark Shadow is engaged in violent activities nor that they are intent on doing more than merely subverting and destabilizing The Guild. She carried out what she feels are several harmless infiltration missions in New York City. These were done during the summer months when she is most reluctant to travel. Last year Paulie struck a particularly harsh blow by inciting a drug raid that resulted in the arrests of two Guild members and their cell of non-magical sympathizers. The repercussions of the event lead to the first time she'd ever questioned Dark Shadow's goals. If she found out that all of the people she'd framed had been quietly executed behind closed doors, it would break her heart.

Currently, Paulie has three hours left on her return to New Yourk City. She is excited to see Simon again and needs to take her van to a mechanic for what she suspects will be an expensive job replacing her transmission. Simon has hinted that this visit could mean a lot for her advancement within Dark Shadow.

Relationships

Guilders

Dark Shadow

Name: Aloysius Leighton
Relationship - Warm - Unacquainted.
Characters opinion of them: Simon MacCaffrey is the most senior member of Dark Shadow that Paulie knows at present. He and the three or four others seem almost apologetic about the name of the organization. Simon claims to have met the leader of Dark Shadow and seems to think highly of him, a fact that colors Paulie's own opinion. Simon even thinks that Dark Shadow's leader and Paulie would seriously hit it off, and Simon's been right about such things before.

That being said, enough of the plot is starting from the same place as before that all I really need to do is update relationships for the new cast. Will get started tomorrow.

@FrankenDaughter

No worries! I totally understand the excitement.

That's completely fair. I'm excited to see what you come up with. ^-^

[Hedgehawk]

@FrankenDaughter Go ahead and throw Poet over. I sorta forget to mention to Haley that original RPers from 1.0 can port their old character across.