[OOC] Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

[Enarr]

<Snipped quote by Nightrunner>

Aha! I knew it! So you admit it! That's not a legitimate application!

@Lord Wraith

What would make you think that?

[Lord Wraith]

<Snipped quote by Lord Wraith>

What would make you think that?

@Nightrunner

• Build | Jagged

• Hair Colour | Natural: Brunette • Dyed: Broccoli Cream

• Eye Colour | The Black of an Exhausted Ember

@Nightrunner

Just a hunch.

[Enarr]

<Snipped quote by Nightrunner>

<Snipped quote by Nightrunner>

Just a hunch.

@Lord Wraith

Metaphors, my friend.

EDIT: I just got really, really tired of saying "slightly above average build" and "brown with green highlights" and "blackish brown".

[Lord Wraith]

<Snipped quote by Lord Wraith>

Metaphors, my friend.

EDIT: I just got really, really tired of saying "slightly above average build" and "brown with green highlights" and "blackish brown".

@Nightrunner

I hope you don't think they're good or particularly clever.

[Enarr]

<Snipped quote by Nightrunner>

I hope you don't think they're good or particularly clever.

@Lord Wraith

I mean, you know I could literally dedicate three paragraphs to the social dynamics associated with having a mole in a certain spot. It's far from my magnum opus, I just felt like playing my hand at something different.

[Lord Wraith]

<Snipped quote by Lord Wraith>

I mean, you know I could literally dedicate three paragraphs to the social dynamics associated with having a mole in a certain spot. It's far from my magnum opus, I just felt like playing my hand at something different.

@Nightrunner

Now I'm confused, is the sheet an actual submission or not?

[Enarr]

Is this an actual submission or not? Yes, I believe the answer would be.

If all went according to plan, you would accept the sheet. Everyone would make fun of how weird he is, in and out of character. He would conduct his inquisition, find out who made the devil-child, stop some schemes associated with it, trip over his poorly defined ethics, and meet some of the other PCs.

[Lord Wraith]

Is this an actual submission or not? Yes, I believe the answer would be.

If all went according to plan, you would accept the sheet. Everyone would make fun of how weird he is, in and out of character. He would conduct his inquisition, find out who made the devil-child, stop some schemes associated with it, trip over his poorly defined ethics, and meet some of the other PCs.

@Nightrunner

I'll add him to the Pending Applications list then.

[Enarr]

<Snipped quote by Nightrunner>

I'll add him to the Pending Applications list then.

@Lord Wraith

I hear your roar, Captain Wraith.

[Bork Lazer]

I’m coming to town next week with another post.

[Lord Wraith]

I’m coming to town next week with another post.

@The Bork Lazer

Looking forward to it.

[Lord Wraith]

Material Mimic | At will, Joshua can copy any material he touches. He isn't just covered in a layer of the material, he becomes that material. Every part of his body is altered to be made of that material. Despite this change he can still move his body as normal, although his movements may be a bit more mechanical if he's made of something hard. His muscles retain their function as his body becomes a series of interlocking joints and hinges so as to maintain the full range of normal movement even while he's made of steel. It takes about one-and-a-half seconds for full conversion, starting at the point of contact and spreading across his form. This makes him quite hard to kill, and comes with some other changes.

While made out of a heavy material, Joshua's strength is increased to the degree that he can still move normally. Increased inertia and momentum may still make his movements less agile, but his speed is usually unaffected even if he's composed of stone. Additionally his senses are dulled to the point that he can't taste anything, and he hardly feels pain. Not that taste is relevant, as he requires no food, air or even sleep while he's made of a non-flesh material. He's effectively a golem in these situations. Blood is also turned into the material in question meaning he doesn't bleed out, and most of his organs are made unnecessary. As such he can even survive decapitation in this state, although that would still take him out of the fight. Destroying his brain or heart will kill him, regardless of form. Joshua also gains the ability to somewhat alter his form while transformed, such as sharpening his fingers into blades or spreading out into a thin layer when made of cloth or paper.

Joshua's transformation tends to take on the contextual properties of a material as well. If he touches painted metal he'll become painted metal, instead of mimicking only the paint or only the metal. Similarly his starting body temperature will alter to be similar to whatever he's mimicking. It's possible for Joshua to transform only part of his body into a particular material by breaking contact before the transformation is complete, but this is highly uncomfortable.

Limitation(s) | Transforming requires Joshua to touch the material he wants to change into. And while he can access a host of different abilities depending on the material he copies, different forms come with downsides as well. Paper is thin and light, allowing him to leap off buildings and glide with the wind, but it's also easy to tear. Cement is tough and durable but it's also slow and clumsy, and has a tendency to break floors. In addition Joshua can't change back to normal on his own. He needs to touch living flesh in order to go back to being a person, in the same way that he needs to touch any other material to mimic it. And like how he copies the traits of other materials, he also gains the skin colour and minor aesthetic quirks of the beings he uses to turn human again. Using a dog, for example, would leave him a very hairy man with yellowish eyes.

Weakness(es) | When not mimicking a material Joshua is a perfectly ordinary human, and therefore easily defeated by most superhuman combatants. Transforming or changing from one material to another takes a second and a half, creating an opening for an enemy to strike. Joshua also inherits the weaknesses of whatever material he's mimicking at the time.

@thewizardguy

Concern 01: While made out of a heavy material, Joshua's strength is increased to the degree that he can still move normally. Increased inertia and momentum may still make his movements less agile, but his speed is usually unaffected even if he's composed of stone.

Concern 02: Not that taste is relevant, as he requires no food, air or even sleep while he's made of a non-flesh material. He's effectively a golem in these situations.

Concern 03: Blood is also turned into the material in question meaning he doesn't bleed out, and most of his organs are made unnecessary.

Concern 04: And while he can access a host of different abilities depending on the material he copies, different forms come with downsides as well.

Concern 05: Transforming or changing from one material to another takes a second and a half, creating an opening for an enemy to strike.

There really doesn't seem to be any drawback to Joshua using his powers to stay transformed all of the time. Especially if more durable materials don't limit or hinder him in any way. Transformed, he doesn't require, food, water or air and most conventional forms of harm are useless against him outside of very specifically having his heart or brain destroyed which depending on the material he's taken the form of would be very difficult to do.

In regards to Concern 04, I'm not sure if it's just a poor word choice and you're just generalizing or if you actually mean that different materials which grant him further abilities, and if that's the case that's pretty concerning because he's already next to invulnerable. My last concern is that a second and a half isn't a huge window of opportunity and is barely exploitable.

Hider

The Inquisitor

_______________________________________________ Andrew Devin Garfield _______________________________________________ November 15 | 25 | American _______________________________________________ Single | ♀/♂ | Heterosexual _______________________________________________ High School Graduate | Conspiracy Blogger _______________________________________________ Physical Profile ___________________________________ [+] //Basics: • Height | 5'-8" • Weight | 174 lbs • Build | Jagged • Hair Colour | Natural: Brunette • Dyed: Broccoli Cream • Eye Colour | The Black of an Exhausted Ember Miscellaneous Items ___________________________________ [+] //Notes: • Other | He'll usually have the soundtrack for Bravely Default playing as he writes his blog posts. //Paraphernalia: • Copy-Wrong Infringer | A USB drive that copies the contents of whatever it is plugged in to. • Handcuffs | Metal implements that are pretty effective at stopping people from waving their arms around, defending themselves or making a ruckus in general (especially in combination with proper medication and blunt force).

Appearance Details ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ Y'know that scene from the Wreck-It-Ralph 2 trailer where Cinderella smashes her glass slipper and expertly parks it in front of Vanellope's face? Yeah, Andy is that slipper in the form of man. He's jagged, kinda twitchy and shattered looking, like a kid who still can't stand the idea of standing still. His skin doesn't quite look like it fits on his bones, it's a little too tight. His knuckles are a pearly white, even when he's at his easiest. His veins also push out of his skin, like speed bumps. His limbs jitter and tremble, like a junkie, but his eyes are somethin' to behold. If the hyperactive exterior isn't enough to unnerve you, you may reconsider after checking out his eyes. His eyes tend to move less than most other people's, not lazily, but as though he is strangling his destiny with them. It's easy to get the impression that the man has too much raw power and ambition to be contained within his modest frame, like if a squirrel were an apex predator. If you bump his shoulder, you may notice that his musculature is rock solid. Most of his body, head not withstanding, is sparse if not hairless, like marble. He's got some scars, mostly on his torso, one over his right shoulder-blade. If you look closely at his neck, even if he's in a t-shirt, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the biggest one. It spreads all the way from his neck to the bottom of his sternum. He might get self-conscious if he sees you staring at it, though. He tends to walk around in hoodies (though a trenchcoat isn't out of the question), black, navy blue or a dark green. Blue jeans or some sort of active lifestyle pant. Maybe a backpack or a satchel. He'll usually be in gym shoes. Personality ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ Andy had spent his recent years as a provocative edgelord. He thinks he's grown out of it; he's wrong. He knows he hates "the establishment", but doesn't know what he's talking about. He's very naive in that sort of way. He's a bit headstrong and presumptuous, at times. He sees himself as very correct and justified. He's almost self-sanctimonious, though he'd be likely to deny any such accusations at present. He sees people as puzzles to be solved. When he meets them, he tends to size them up and immediately determine if they are a danger to him or others. Then he goes on to see what they guard, what sorts of questions they dance around, what information he can actually use. He feels like a hero, like the only torch in the oceans depths, like a queen amongst pawns. He doesn't know whether to believe in magic or not. He doesn't know whether he actually found a creature in his parents locked room before the house burnt down. He doesn't know if he has a knack for finding the truth or if people just trust him. It's driving him a little bit crazy. He needs to discover the magic in the world.

_{Character Synopsis
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}

Andy Garfield didn't really talk to his parents much. They had a big house, a big yard and a big collection of useless junk. They occasionally reiterated that they loved him, but he felt like little more than a knick-knack. Some would say they saw the value in material things because they grew up poor. Others would say that they were hoarders. Andy did. There was one particular room Andy wasn't allowed to go in. He only disobeyed occasionally. Like, four or five times. He got caught every time. Spanked. Lectured.

He wasn't even sure why it was so important that he stay out. Around the time he was sixteen, he'd entirely lost interest in the room. He'd joined the basketball team and poured his soul into it. In spite of his unimpressive height, he made for one of the best centers his coach had ever observed on a high school team. Rumor had it he was being scouted and had a real chance at making it to the big time before he lost interest entirely.

His parents fell into comas. Both of them. At once. It was a very taking time for Andy. His relatives assured him that they would rush down to make sure he was okay. Days passed. It didn't happen. Nobody came. At least nobody that he cared about. In that time, his idling mind grew desperate for distraction. Even then, he wasn't too terribly close to his parents, but he was thoroughly uncomfortable. He shed some tears and filled some Kleenex, but it was hard for him to describe what he was afraid of.

Some of the relatives who had visited told him that his parents loved him very much. They told him that everything would be okay. They told him that they knew what he was going through. He wished that everyone would stop lying to him. So he decided to royally fuck up the order that had been imposed on him. He rearranged the living room. He sold his father's vinyl collection. He deleted his mother's recordings of soap operas. And he made sure to smear eyeshadow all over his face when his relatives were around, painting pentagrams on everything and making a mess of the place. He even set up a shrine to Baphomet. And he joined the Church of Satan.

He started running out of juvenile ways to rebel, so he thought back to his youth: The room. He'd go into the room and he'd do whatever he wasn't allowed to. Upon entry, there was a curtain to pull back. He found a few bongs, a book of Billy Corgan's poetry, a blow up doll, Limp Bizkit's complete discography and a fleshlight. He squealed with disgust.

Then noticed a grinding laugh coming from a smoking silhouette sitting in a throne, directly under the light of the room's chandelier. Amethyst eyes blazed from the figure's depths and it gazed seductively, almost hypnotically at Andy's soul. It said "Your parents love you." It chuckled, "Your parents love you very much?" He cackled madly, electrically, "We know what you're going through."

Taken aback by this figure, he reasoned that he must have summoned it with his pentagrams and eyeshadow. "Did I bring you here?" The being laughs and lashes, "Of course. Your wish is my command." Andy stammers and asks, "Who are you?" The shadow answers, "I am a butterfly, my larval friend. I'm the manifestation of your parents love or lack thereof. I am your subconscious, your god." Andy is silent, not knowing how to respond, if he should reason, run or die.

"I do not grant wishes, but dear little brat, I'll humor you. No one will ever be able to lie to you again. Good luck finding the truth. I believe you'll find that there is no such thing." Curiously, Andy asked for clarification. The Silhouette said, "You are now to be my Inquisitor, my agent of mystery. You will leave no stone unturned, no answer unquestioned. Not because I will make you, but because you wished it to be this way. Now be a dear and set me free. Read the passage, the one highlighted."

And so he read from Billy Corgan's Blinking With Fists:

^{"Gentle waves rise
just off the fingertips
All I breathe is mine
By name alone
Shape-shifter questions
To strip skin off slow
Devoid of sex
I mix up unions in the offering
The hushed-up voices are here
But they are sated full
Waiting for the stumble
That must surely come
"this time," he declares loudly
annonymous town square
"this time there will be no stumble"}

At that, the silhouette began to disintegrate and glorious shadowy tongues began to shine their secretive aura in a blaze that engulfed the house. The darkness consumed the throne and the book and CDs, the toys and the throne and the room. The fire ate it's heart out, blazing on the walls and the carpet, consuming the whole house and it's resident too.

Andy woke up on his eighteenth birthday, coming out of a coma. His parents were dead and he'd now inherited a considerable sum of money, largely from insurance, but apparently a couple of his other relatives had included him in their will, graciously kicking the bucket before he came back to the waking world.

The staff all admitted that they had no idea why he didn't die in the fire and why he hadn't atrophied at all. In fact, he was in better health than some of the staff. His muscles ready, he spring out of bed and went into the world, with no home, no car and nowhere to go. So he started living in a hotel and doing research on the supernatural, though it was quite difficult to parce folklore from reliable journalism. He has been on the lookout for monsters, occultists and those involved with esotericism.

Under the veil of twinkling starlight, Andy had been marching to a convenience store. His march was interrupted by an adolescent girl, about eleven or twelve, who screamed for help. He answered, rushing to her aid and asking what was wrong. She told him that she was being pursued by a monster and that she was scared, so Andy volunteered to escort her home. Shortly after he turned his back, he heard some infantile giggling. The girl told him to "Run!" before taking off down the street herself. Andy backed away from it slowly, facing it. Andy hadn't seen anything so small move so quickly since the last time he'd taunted a housecat with a laser.

Andy leaped over it as it pounced at his feet, revealing retractable claws the length of pencils. The infant-thing didn't stop after passing under Andy, it gave him no further consideration. Instead, it took off after the girl. Andy wasn't fast enough to save her. She's dead now.

The infant-creature escaped. Andy fled the seen to avoid accusation. But Andy swore that he would find the baby-faced beast, prevent it from doing any further harm, and destroy the people responsible for unleashing it upon the world. He opened up a blog, calling it The American Inquisition to document his findings. He hasn't yet shared any of it, but it is counting down to be published and advertised across the web if he doesn't perpetually postpone its launch.

_{Abilities & Skills
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}

_//Abiliites:

Superhuman Ability | He cannot be lied to. A portion of the djinn he'd encountered lingers within him and prevents anyone speaking directly to him from explicitly stating anything not lining up with their own personal take on "reality". Ever since his experience, he's not felt like himself, though he isn't entirely sure if it's due to trauma or because he is under the psychic influence of a higher power. He's not sure it makes a difference.

Limitation(s) | He doesn't cause people to speak truth; he prevents lies. He can be directly ignored and has no superpower that can make people feel compelled to say anything. For this reason he is faced with the ethical conundrum of whether to pressure those he is interrogating with intimidation or actual harm.

People who are incorrect, naïve or in an altered state of mind may provide him with disinformation, because they believe themselves to be telling the truth. In some circumstances, it essentially makes it entirely useless and emotionally exhausting for him to have a superpower in the first place. It's like listening for a tree to fall in the forest while listening to a playlist of falling tree recordings.

The ability to prevent lies only applies when statements are made directly to him. He can be lied to if he is part of a group, like over an intercom. He also cannot retroactively alter recordings he encounters that contain lies to contain truths. For example, if he finds a Post-It-Note that says "All rabbits have five legs", it will not change to say that "Most rabbits have four legs."

Weakness(es) | He has been pretty emotionally unavailable for most of his life. While temptations of money or power would be largely uninteresting for him, it's not unimaginable that his principles could take a backseat to romance. For those opponents who don't quite have the resources or attention to orchestrate a long-game, you can always stomp on his right pinky toe. He broke it as a youth and it never quite healed right.

_//Skills:

Reflexes | He's not necessarily good at fighting, or at hitting people where it hurts. But he is pretty good at avoiding strikes and not getting trapped, maimed or killed. He's got something of a practiced paranoia that warns him when something is terribly wrong, even if he can't quite put a finger on what it is.

@Nightrunner

I know @Hillan likes this sheet but I'm wary of it and it's not because I have anything against you Nightrunner but because it reads as though you were trying to be purposefully cringy. It feels rushed and unrefined to me but what I think is my largest issue with the sheet is that it doesn't feel like its the right tone for the established IC. As I explained to Junk and Hillan earlier today, if this CS had been an early submission, predating the IC, it likely wouldn't have been under as much scrutiny as it is today. The IC is currently sitting at over fifty posts, there's now established lore and most importantly a very notable tone across the board. This CS isn't in line with that, it feels silly and joke-y and most importantly it doesn't bring anything new to the board, it's another CS dealing with the Supernatural which the RP already has more than enough specialists in.

I think I'd be more comfortable if you found a different niche to tackle and maybe took some time to refine your CS a bit more, I can't in good conscience accept this sheet as it currently is.

[thewizardguy]

@Lord Wraith
The only drawbacks to being transformed all of the time are story-based. He doesn't taste good food, he doesn't get the satisfaction of a night's rest, he can't properly feel the touch of another person. Stuff like that. Tactically it'd indeed be best for him to stay transformed permanently, he just doesn't want to.

In transformed state he is indeed stupendously tough. However his ability to actually inflict harm usually isn't all that increased. At worst he's going to be punching with the force of a baseball bat to the face. Threatening to a normal human, but not exactly a threat to most of the superhuman characters. So I figured his durability is fairly balanced. Besides, if he's full-on made of steel you can avoid him by climbing up a ladder. Rungs won't hold the weight.

And no, he doesn't get extra superpowers. As the rest of that paragraph implies, the different 'powers' gained are the properties of materials he's mimicking. If he's made of glass he's hard to see. If he's made of paper he's incredibly light. If he somehow manages to become uranium he'll give people radiation poisoning. That paragraph is to indicate that he can gain access to the properties of a wide variety of materials, to a wide variety of effects.

I chose 1.5 seconds because it's fast enough to easily do before or after a fight, but not usually during a fight. One point five seconds is the time it takes for a human to cross a 5-meter gap and shank you in the spleen. If you think that's too fast I can slow it down.

[Enarr]

@thewizardguy Ah, Kevin Eleven.

[JunkMail]

As the rest of that paragraph implies, the different 'powers' gained are the properties of materials he's mimicking. If he's made of glass he's hard to see. If he's made of paper he's incredibly light. If he somehow manages to become uranium he'll give people radiation poisoning. That paragraph is to indicate that he can gain access to the properties of a wide variety of materials, to a wide variety of effects.

By that logic he’d also be as unbending as steel, and as tearable as paper when he is in those states. I understand that a certain amount of creative license is necessary, but you cant just pick and choose what properties of the substances you get. I’m okay with him turning to steel, but in order to do that I expect him to act like steel would.

There’s a balance to this that I mentioned to Wraith where he only transforms parts of his body in cases like this. For example, his arm from the elbow down is steel so he can still strike things and move.

Is there a specified amount of the substance he requires to transform? I ask because he can carry around marbles of whatever substance he wants and change whenever he wants.

[thewizardguy]

By that logic he’d also be as unbending as steel, and as tearable as paper when he is in those states. I understand that a certain amount of creative license is necessary, but you cant just pick and choose what properties of the substances you get. I’m okay with him turning to steel, but in order to do that I expect him to act like steel would.

@JunkMail

.... yes. He gains ALL of the properties of the material he turns into. So when he turns into steel, he acts like steel.

His muscles retain their function as his body becomes a series of interlocking joints and hinges so as to maintain the full range of normal movement even while he's made of steel.

I understand that it's important to be critical, but this is something that's specifically addressed in my description of the power. The only 'creative license' is that his muscles still somehow function even when made of steel, but that's pretty much a requirement.

There’s a balance to this that I mentioned to Wraith where he only transforms parts of his body in cases like this. For example, his arm from the elbow down is steel so he can still strike things and move.

@JunkMail

Why? This power isn't overpowered, so I don't see why you feel the need to inflict such a massive nerf. If he weren't able to transform his full body he'd have died in his first fight against a knife-wielding thug.

Is there a specified amount of the substance he requires to transform? I ask because he can carry around marbles of whatever substance he wants and change whenever he wants.

@JunkMail

I'd say he needs at least a marble-sized quantity. And yes, if he could acquire a marble of the material he could carry it around to transform. At which point he could indeed pull it out of his pocket and change whenever he feels like.

[JunkMail]

Why? This power isn't overpowered, so I don't see why you feel the need to inflict such a massive nerf.

@thewizardguy

Here’s your own answer to your question.

.... yes. He gains ALL of the properties of the material he turns into. So when he turns into steel, he acts like steel.

Your artistic license is your character’s ability to change their substance at all.

I'd say he needs at least a marble-sized quantity. And yes, if he could acquire a marble of the material he could carry it around to transform. At which point he could indeed pull it out of his pocket and change whenever he feels like.

This is why this nerf is required. If you want the ability to change at will, whenever you want, requiring very little source material then that’s fine! If you want to be super durable, that is fine! But you cant be both. Characters that are min-maxed (like Natalie for example) dont get multiple powers or the ability to change their abilities at all. You can be the most durable character, a man of steel, but you cannot transform if that’s the case. You can transform regularly with little of your source material, but you cannot have full body transformation.

Unless you introduce another weakess that will balance having both.

[thewizardguy]

Here’s your own answer to your question.

.... yes. He gains ALL of the properties of the material he turns into. So when he turns into steel, he acts like steel.

@JunkMail

That's me answering your (statement) question on whether he gains all the properties of the material he turns into.

Your artistic license is your character’s ability to change their substance at all.

Actually, that's the premise. Not artistic license. As a superhero rp the basic idea is that some people have impossible abilities. Unless you want to define all fictional concepts as 'creative license', at which point you have generalised the term into meaninglesness.

This is why this nerf is required. If you want the ability to change at will, whenever you want, requiring very little source material then that’s fine! If you want to be super durable, that is fine! But you cant be both. Characters that are min-maxed (like Natalie for example) dont get multiple powers or the ability to change their abilities at all. You can be the most durable character, a man of steel, but you cannot transform if that’s the case. You can transform regularly with little of your source material, but you cannot have full body transformation.

Unless you introduce another weakess that will balance having both.

.... Why? I repeat my question. This ability is not overpowered.

Natalie could rip Joshua apart like an eager dog with a chew toy. 4 ton strength is going to let her toss him around like a ragdol even in his heaviest form, and he can't even really hurt her. This power doesn't make him nearly as tough or strong as she is. In fact, he's weaker than pretty much any character in this rp. I've looked through the character sheets and run the numbers.

I'm not usually this standoffish, but I feel like this is a little bit silly. I mean really. Name one combat-focused character that Joshua actually stands a decent chance of beating, with his ability as written. Only one I can think of is Beast of Burden, if he isn't transformed. And that's not much of an achievement.

In steel-form Joshua has half-ton strength and about 2-ton durability. Most combat-focused characters have 2-ton strength and 2-ton durability, or other equivalent powers. And Joshua's powers come with the added downside of making him clumsy and heavy. Arguing that his power needs to be nerfed further just seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Sorry to sound standoffish, by the way.

[Lord Wraith]

@thewizardguy At this point, I think it would be best if we all moved on. After three different powers, I've begun to notice that they all boil down to the same set of issues. You seem to be designing the powers strictly for player versus player combat at least that's what it's beginning to feel like. Each one of your defenses has boiled down to Joshua's powers being vulnerable against other superhumans.

Everyone else in the game is vulnerable to regular humans, their powers give them a distinct edge but do not make them untouchable or by any means undefeatable. Every one of your presented powers has relied on a very niche weakness, for example, the first powerset required Joshua to be isolated from the general population. This would be a fine weakness if the game wasn't entirely based in a setting inspired by some of the most densely populated areas in North America. Isolating Joshua would require a lot of effort on another player's part if that ever were to occur and it would be incredibly unlikely that it would come up PVE since it would isolate Joshua from the cast.

This latest power requires someone to attack Joshua before he absorbs a material (since no matter the material, he's quite durable). In your own words, one point five seconds is enough time for someone to cross a room and stab Joshua. But this is the only truly viable exploit, and while I realize you're willing to increase the length, it just doesn't feel worth discussing any further.

At the end of the day, I'm truly feeling that we're not going to see eye to eye and I don't think it's going to work out for you in this particular roleplay. I'm sorry that it has taken this long for us to come to a conclusion and like I have previously said, we liked Joshua as a character but it doesn't seem to be working out. I apologize if you feel as though your time has been wasted here, but Hillan, Junk and myself don't think it's going to be a good fit moving forward.

Best of luck with your future roleplay endeavors and I do hope you find a game that will better suit you and your character.

[Tackytaff]

Won't be able to post for about a week, but it's probably going to need work and I've been sitting on it forever anyways so here.

Mauro

M E N D E R

_{"I don't aim to be decent; only better than the man I was yesterday."}

_______________________________________________ Mauro Angelo Bianchi _______________________________________________ May 18th, 1976 | 42 | Italian immigrant _______________________________________________ Single | ♂ | Homosexual _______________________________________________ Education NYU Medical Graduate | Surgeon _______________________________________________ Physical Profile ___________________________________ [+] //Basics: • Height | 5'9" • Weight | 198lbs • Build | Slightly muscular • Hair Colour | Dark brown, streaked with grey • Eye Colour | Blue Miscellaneous Items ___________________________________ [+] //Notes: • Vetran | Discharged 8 years prior • Alcoholic | 3 years sober //Paraphernalia: • Cell phone | out of date flip-phone

Appearance Details ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ Mauro is something of a shadow of the man he once was or could be. His once muscular build has shrunk and turned gaunt after years of alcoholism while more recent times of over-working and exhaustion have further contributed to making him look older still than his true middle age. Still his face is that of a handsome man; if someone is able to look past his unkempt grooming and rather sunken eyes. He has no discernible fashion, most of his clothes while clean are riddled with tears and old stains meant much more for function and frugality than form. A hunched posture paired with already underwhelming height often leading the few people to take notice of him in a crowd to assume an underwhelming man in both physical competence and character. Personality ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ Only someone completely stupid with altruism would open a free clinic in the bowls of Santa Celia's ghetto, just plain stupid if they had open doors for all. Mauro however is neither. He carries a heavy conscience, and does his charity work to feel better about himself rather than the world; which he holds in a rather low regard. There is no underlying hope for justice, or any real cause he dedicates himself to; but if he is able to offer something to help those suffering around him, why wouldn't he? Few are close enough to Mauro to see the workings of his personality; he doesn't have time to make new friends, and is paranoid around most strangers. Even to the handful of people he is familiar with he remains distant and distracted, too often pessimistic and slow to smile. The brass exuberance that use to dictate his actions has been completely exchanged for a sour demeanor. He considers himself pragmatic but never to the point of nihilism, and holds a quiet hope for redemption in his own eyes however unrealistic it seems.

_{Character Synopsis
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Mauro's family immigrated to America in 1988. A run of misfortune saw them all but desitiute, and Mauro's father sought the aid of his cousin's who had begun landscaping business in suburban New Jersey thirty years prior. He suffered a heart attack two years after his arrival. Mauro and his mother were left to the good will of distant relatives and the small Italian-American community that had formed around them. They got by in the end, Mauro spending all his after school hours on menial jobs with his relative's company; where his talent with machines presented itself. It was such a natural thing to Mauro himself, he'd never considered it a gift, and while it was appreciated by his employers it was largely unacknowledged until he went to university.

Lacking funds, but desperate to please his mother who still clutched to her American dream, Mauro signed on with the military to pay for his college tuition for an eight year medical program at NYU. At school and away from working every evening his abilities became even more pronounced to those around him, and so he completed his degree a year early before beginning his residency with the American army where he met Kyle Harper.

Harper and Mauro grew very close during their deployments, and together took full advantage of the relatively new 'don't ask don't tell' policy as well as Mauro's access to the med-center's pharmacy. So Mauro continued his service after completing his due years until 2008 when both he and Harper where found with oxycodones.

The discovery of an affair with a lieutenant may have been overlooked for a time, but the drugs were not. Mauro returned to America in disgrace to a sickly mother. Unable to explain why no hospital or clinic would hire him, Mauro moved his mother south to the warmer Santa Celia, unable to afford sending her home to Italy as she wanted. Without work, his time was largely spent partying between suffering stifling disappointment from his mother, who died less than a year after their move. Without any real friends in the city, Mauro continued to spiral downwards until he woke up in Stadler's Medical Hospital, being treated for a stab wound by an old friend.

Don Malcom and his wife took it upon themselves to help their once promising classmate, but even their recommendations couldn't fix his name. Sober for the first time in nearly a decade, Mauro saw his life clearly for what it was and nearly turned back to drugs to out of shame. Instead he moved to the more derelict side of Santa Celia, and under the city in it's forgotten sewers and rail systems he found people in the position he'd been in, and offered them help.

Eventually word spread and the demand for a free doctor who didn't ask questions grew enough that Mauro earned his own small nook in the city's underbelly. He called his clinic St. Benedetta for his mother and spent the next four years securing and improving the space and in turn, his position in the city.

_{Abilities & Skills
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_//Abiliites:

Mechanical Savant | Mauro understands the workings of any complex system he comes into contact with, be it biological, mechanical, or even chemical. While the information he gleans is primarily useful in his knowing how to operate or manipulate any machine in the world, he also is able to instantly identify any malfunctions and have the most practical solution to repair them.

Limitation(s) | The knowledge Mauro gains isn't magical in itself, he cannot bring back the dead or any mechanism that is beyond repair. In addition he can't create anything himself, unless given extremely detailed instructions or blueprints; he considers himself more of an operator or repairman rather than inventor. He requires all equipment that would normally be needed in any medical treatment or repair. When it comes to understanding human bodies, it comes at its lowest form, he cannot deduce a person's personality or traits simply by using his power and unless the other person's power manifests itself in some physical alteration, he is unable to denote if a person has any super human abilities or what they are. His ability doesn't increase his underlying intelligence.

Weakness(es) | While still in better shape than most men his age, Mauro is past his prime. Constant over exertion paired with years of past drug abuse, and old injuries have left his body more aged than it would otherwise be. He possesses no outright physical powers and while his combat training and experience is more extensive than most a past knife wound to his lower abdomen has left him easily winded and prone to cramping, somewhat hindering his ability to actually put the knowledge to use. His position in Santa Celia itself is a precarious one; having no real affiliation with any of the city's gangs but doing work for all of them due to his 'helping anyone in need' policy. This paired with the fact that few people know the true scope of his abilities could easily land him in some deep water.

_//Skills:

Combat Expertise | Military trained in weapons and hand to hand combat, familiar with street fighting tactics from years of homelessness.
Medical Training | Surgical graduate of NYC medical school with a decade of working experience.
Multi-lingual | Fluent in Italian, English, Korean, and German; though the latter two are heavily accented.

_{Supporting Cast
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^{► Maria Sinclair | Female/22}

A volunteer 'nurse' that helps out at the clinic. Once a homeless pregnant teen with a meth habit, Mauro helped her get clean and has allowed her to keep a cot in the back offices in exchange for her help.

^{► Don Malcolm | Male/44}

Mauro's only real connection in the legal medical profession, former classmates at NYU. Don works in Santa Celia's Stadler Medical Hospital and frequently bends the rules in order to supply his friend with supplies for his clinic. It was Don who found and saved Mauro at his lowest point, they had an affair for a short time, and though it ended abruptly they remain close as ever.

^{► Desiree Malcolm | Female/43}

Don's wife, also a former classmate of Mauro's at NYU, a close friend.

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