[CHAR] DC Universe: Genesis - Justice For All

[Retired]

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

Z A T A N N A

---

^{_{Z A T A N N A Z A T A R A ♦ S T U D E N T ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y / M I S C E L L A N E O U S ♦ U N A F F I L I A T E D}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"Hey, pay attention to me! I'm fascinating."}

Born with incredible, innate magical power, Zatanna was taught from an early age how to control her abilities for her own safety as well as those around her. Her father, Giovanni Zatara, a renowned demonologist and highly skilled magician. decided to retire from the occult and raise his daughter as normally as possible. Although she understood the existence of magic was real, as evident by her own abilities, Zatara never once shared any details of the larger mystical world with her. Although, Zatanna tried more than once to access his private study as a young girl in the hopes of learning about witches and dragons and fairies.

She said goodbye to her father after graduating high school, moving to New York City to continue her education there. Although they did not see each other often anymore, Giovanni would always make sure to call his daughter and spend time with her through video chats every week. They kept up this routine for several years until last week when, at the scheduled time, Giovanni didn't call. Zatanna tried not to think much of it at first, knowing her father had been traveling recently. But later that night she dreamed of her father being dragged into the abyss by inky black tendrils of shadow. When she awoke, screaming in fright, she felt within her chest a dully warm pulsing sensation that faded within moments.

Confused and scared, Zatanna spent hours trying to reach her father to no avail. Eventually, she booked a flight back to her hometown later that day. When she arrived at her childhood home, she found it largely empty. In fact, aside from minor housekeeping, the place barely looked lived in. Deciding she desperately needed answers, Zatanna used her abilities to break into her father's study, accessing the room for the very first time. Inside, she found copious notes and photographs strung up on the wall. Pages of printed off documents and thick books on occult topics littered his desk. Among them was a handwritten letter by her father and addressed to her.

It explained that, after Zatanna had left for university, Giovanni had resumed his previous life's work. For three years now he had been traveling the world to investigate various reports of demon sightings, cults abusing the black magics, and using his considerable knowledge and skill to put a stop to any supernatural threats he came across. His role, he told her in the letter, was as a defender of the common people who had no knowledge of the greater dangers lurking behind every shadow. For decades he had been working to maintain the careful balance between the natural and supernatural worlds, only stopping when it came time to raise her.

Recently, he had received warning of a dangerous group of individuals, the Circle of the Cold Flame, who intended to call upon an ancient evil and bring rise to it here on the mortal plane. Fearing that things could go wrongly, but knowing he had no choice but to act, Giovanni had decided to leave behind several precautionary measures. Including bestowing upon his daughter the source of his power: The Books of Magick.

Now, Zatanna, having been kept away from the occult her entire life, must dive deep into a world she knows little of in order to find and save her father.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

I'll do some magic shit. Probably some non-magic shit.

And I gave her pants.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

To be updated as the IC progresses.

Books of Magick

Originally owned by Leonardo da Vinci, the Books of Magick, despite its name, is a singular tome filled with incantations, mystic rituals, occult knowledge, and dark secrets. Each generation, the tome is handed down to a new mage who continues to add more knowledge and spells to the seemingly infinite pages within. Giovanni Zatara possessed no innate magical abilities and used the tome's secrets to become a powerful mage in his own right, specializing in Logomancy. Before his disappearance he soul bound the Books of Magick to his daughter, effectively passing it onto her.

Giovanni Zatara

Occultist and magician, former owner of the Books of Magic. Spent seventeen years prior to his daughter's birth traveling the globe to investigate supernatural events and hunt down dark creatures/entities. Currently missing.

Eldon Peck

A Los Angeles based mage mentioned in Giovanni's notes as a possible lead into the Circle of the Cold Flame. Currently Zatanna's only clue as to where she might find information regarding her father.

Circle of the Cold Flame

Zatanna has little information regarding this apparently cult other than her father's explanation that they are attempting to bring an ancient evil back to the mortal plane.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

WIP

[Natty]

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

H A W K G I R L

---

^{_{S H A Y E R A H O L ♦ P O L I C E O F F I C E R ♦ A T - L A R G E ♦ T H A N A G A R}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"For years I've felt torn between my feelings and my duty."}

Born into a world of war and violence, the winged people of Thanagar strike fear across the universe, making use of their Nth metal weaponry and advanced technology.

A veteran of the Rann-Thanagar war, the atrocities of which shaped her youth, Shayera finds herself an agent of the Thanagar Police Force. Operating and training under the guidance of her betrothal, Commander Hro Talak, Shayera battles all those that oppose the power of the Thanagar Empire. Yet, day by day Shayera finds herself doubting the cause she has spent her whole life dedicated to. She finds herself haunted by constant nightmares, mainly consisting of the assaults on Rann, yet intermittent with segments of forgotten memories of a time she does not remember on a distant world.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

As highlighted through my portrayal of Magik in Absolute Comics, I really enjoy stories involving a character's journey of self-discovery and actualization. Hawkgirl, particularly the version shown within Bruce Timm's Justice League and Justice League Unlimited television series, is a character who I feel embodies these themes extremely well during the "Starcrossed" story arc; This featured Shayera having to choose between her home planet and Earth. The conflict here of individualism, collectivism, and fighting for the common good are ideas I want to explore further.

The first few arcs of my story will take place amongst the stars, as Shayera Hol works as a Thanagarian Police Officer, before eventually heading to Earth.

My concept takes huge inspiration from the previously mentioned story arc from the Justice League series, as well as Captain Marvel from the Marvel Cinematic universe.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

Supporting Cast:
♦ Hro Talak: Commander of the 31st Thanagar Legion during the Rann-Thanagar War, Hro Talak is regaled as a war hero. After the war, he joined the Thanagar Police Force, working alongside Shayera. The two became betrothed to one another shortly after the war.

♦ The Thanagar Ruling Council: Both feared and respected by the people of Thanagar, the Ruling Council are the Oligarchy which rules the Thanagar Empire. Many will live their entire lives without ever setting eyes on the council, with the invitation of a meeting with the group often being considered a death sentence.

♦ Byth Rok: A criminal on the run.

♦ Shadow-Thief: TBD

♦ Adam Strange: An old enemy of Shayera from the Rann-Thanagar war.

♦ Routlette: TBD

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

Hider

^{_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________}

^{Thanagar, Sea of Scythia}
The roar of the craft’s engine thundered as it rocketed above the waves. While crudely put together, the speeder moved swiftly, the lower fin slicing through the top of the water, kicking up waves of crystalline water in its wake and giving the craft a vivid tail of blue that extended after it like a flag. There was almost a beauty to it, however, that prospect was taken away by the sight of the crew.

Chitinous exoskeletons sloped upwards across their bodies to their heads, where numerous pairs of insectoid eyes flickered madly, as they scuttered around the ship. All of them, bar the pilot, stood circling the centre of the vessel, where a series of small cargo containers fell piled atop one another. They brandished weapons as they protected their bounty, aiming them across the sea in paranoia. They had a right to be scared. The stolen pile of unrefined nth metal would be enough to buy them an entire moon if they wanted. Which meant that the Thanagarians would not be letting them escape the planet without a fight.

“You see anything out there?” The leader of the Dragonfly Raiders asked nervously, his voice intercut by a series of ravenous clicking from their pincerlike mouth.

One of the crew stepped towards the edge of the deck, raising a set of binoculars to their eyes. They scanned the skyline slowly, taking in the orange hues of the sunset and nothing more.

“I don’t see nothing.” They clicked in response, before taking another glance.

That was when a flash of gold flashed across his vision.

He yelped in response, tearing the binoculars away from his eyes. He whipped out his blaster, wildly aiming it around him.

“There’s a Hawk!”

Before the rest of the gang could react, the speeder lurched downwards as a great force collided against its nose. They turned in unison, their eyes widening as they gazed upon the angelic being now stood before them.

An imposing birdlike mask sat atop her head, her eyes white slits either side of the beak. Red hair fell perfectly from under it, falling effortlessly atop her armoured shoulders. Powerful wings of grey feathers erupted from her back, fanning out either side of her triumphantly. A large metallic mace sat firmly in her grasp, pulsating with energy, engulfing the ship around her in a light purple glow.

Her eye furrowed as she looked between the group.

“I am Lieutenant Shayera Hol, and by order of Thanagar, you are all under arrest.” Her voice was barely loud enough to be heard over the engine, yet it struck the Raiders in front of her deeply. She watched as they shuffled nervously for a few seconds, eyeing each other as if deciding what to do. This did not last long however, as with one last glance towards their fortune, they laid fire.

Beams of red energy rocketed towards Shayera as she darted forward, shielding herself behind her weapon. Strafing to the left, she swung, the bandit she struck going flying overboard as soon as the nth metal hit his body. Moving her body down, she brought her mace back around, slamming it upwards into a second, sending both him and his weapon flying into the sea. Still, she continued. One moment she was at the firing end of one of the insectoid’s blasters, the next her mace was breaking one of his mouth pincers will a swing of her fist.

As she surged forward through the group, the leader slinked backwards. He heaved one of the containers with him, cowardly seeking to make off with a chunk of his prize at least. He peered quickly over the edge of the vessel, his mind calculating how he would make his escape. Yet as the final member of his crew fell before him under the power of the Thanagarian warrior, he knew he had lost.

Dropping the crate, he raised his blaster pistol towards her, firing wildly.

She dodged, taking to the skies momentarily with a flap of her wings, before launching herself atop him. Her kick sent him hurtling backwards, his body smashing into the pilot’s control panel. The machine surged with sparks as he hit it, causing another lurch in the ship as it tilted downwards, hitting the waves of the ocean below.

“You… fuckin’ Hawk” He managed, his right arm gripping the side of his body tightly as he arched forward in pain. Moving quickly, he reached out with his spare hand to the left, towards where his blaster lay upon the deck. Before he could reach it, however, Shayera’s boot slammed down onto it, the bones in his hand shattering.

As he wailed in agony, she smirked, before kicking the weapon away.

“All you had to do was surrender,” Shayera explained coolly, wiping a smear of bright green blood off her mace as she did so.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

A list linking to your IC posts as they're created. This can be used for a reference guide to your character or to summarize completed arcs and stories.

[WXer]

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

A N I M A L M A N

---

^{_{BUDDY BAKER ♦ STUNTMAN/LEAD GUITARIST ♦ SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA ♦ THE RED}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"As seen on TV!.. What do you mean you don't own a TV?"}

The Pacific Northwest is home to many a dreamer and Buddy Baker is proud to call the city of San Diego his home. Engaged to his high school sweetheart and getting to follow his dreams of silver screen stardom as a stuntman during the weekdays and the lead frontman for a cover band during the weekends, it seemed that everything was going Buddy’s way. However, this level of comfort fermented a social life filled with heavy action. If he wasn’t partying during his free time, he was certainly trying to start one in his studio apartment. While the binge drinking that came with his lifestyle was certainly putting a strain on his body, it would be nothing compared to the infection he would get from a friend’s yacht party. What started as a mild fever he had dismissed as the common flu ended with Buddy in an ICU ward in a deep coma.

Fever dreams wracked his mind, ranging from aliens dissecting him while he was awake to an argument with a script writer who claimed himself to be god. One particular dream was quite vivid, with a goat-like humanoid dressed like a judge speaking to the addled Buddy in tongues while standing on a podium made of exposed flesh. The only line he could understand was a plight: “Help us preserve our world.” Without much to lose and wanting the dream to be over, Buddy haphazardly said yes. At that very instant, he awoke in his hospital bed with a severe headache and an even worse itemized bill waiting for him. Over the next few days, both of those things would change his life but only the former would bring about power. You see, Buddy Baker now had the ability to detect animal life, understand their emotions with extremely debilitating empathy, and even temporarily copy their attributes and abilities. It was a nightmare for someone who just wanted to be cool and party.

Speaking of nightmares, those odd dreams of goatmen continue even to this day. They have been more lucid than before yet it always starts with a lecture he can’t understand and ends with the same plight asking Buddy to preserve the world. Again, not cool at all.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

So I actually haven’t been on RPG for quite some time but a good friend of mine had told me about this and the setting really just sparked some inspiration in me. I specifically love playing as Animal Man because he feels like a perfect surrogate for an everyman that finds himself in a fantastical situation. Though he has powers, Buddy always felt like a street-level hero and rarely got involved with world-ending threats. He seeks purpose and validation while also unable to truly comprehend the severity of what he’s gotten into. Not just in his new role as a superhero but also as a family man. I try to take inspiration from various sources, with Lemire’s and Morrison’s runs being the main ones. My immediate goal will be for Buddy to understand what the hell his dreams mean while long term goals are going to be shaped by player interactions.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

The Red – A nebulous and otherworldly dimension that is apparently sentient. It is the source of Buddy’s powers. It is controlled by the Parliament of Limbs, a group of humanoid animals in powdered wigs and ceremonial robes.

Ellen Frazier– Buddy’s highschool sweetheart and fiancée. Works as a storyboard artist.

Socks – a cat given form by The Red. Can telepathically communicate.

Silenos - a member of The Parliament of Limbs assigned to oversee Buddy's growth. Takes the form of a humanoid goat.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

Blood, guts, gore and goats. It was the same every night. From the moment he closed his eyes to the second he smashes his alarm’s snooze button, Buddy Baker was stuck in a literal red wasteland that conveniently smelt nothing like how it looked. There was only one other thing with him in this dream who primarily spoke in a language he didn’t understand. Like any person standing before a member of the judiciary system of an unfamiliar land, this both scared and infuriated him.

“C’mon, I know you can speak English! Hell, I can even understand a bit of Spanish if you prefer that!” Buddy had exclaimed his frustrations. The being merely stared at him for a moment before continuing its demonic diatribe from a fleshy podium. Defeated by bureaucracy, Buddy simply sat down and started drawing on the mushy ground with his finger as if he was a kindergartner ignoring his teacher. First, came the shapes but then came the rudimentarily drawn animals from those shapes. A bunch of circles for the body, triangles for ears, and lines for the whiskers and limbs. Much to his surprise, an actual cat manifested in front of him as the flesh of the ground took form.

“Hello, Buddy Baker. I am your creation given life. Your inner psyche has given me the name Socks.” It spoke but not with its mouth. Rather, the thoughts instantly came to Buddy’s mind.

“… You know, this isn’t really that weird compared to everything else that has happened recently.” Before Buddy could continue to process what had just happened, the goatman had spoken the magic words and he awoke in a world not made of rotting meat but sure did smell like one. However, his apartment had one major change. The black cat from his dreams had suddenly appeared in front of him with a pet bowl in its mouth.

“Hey! Give me back my bowl!” Buddy would exclaim, beginning his day with a chase around his bachelor’s pad.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

#1.01: Meat and Greet
#1.02: The Crimson Room
#1.03: Skullduggery

[Master Bruce]

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

T H E B A T M A N

---

^{_{Bruce Wayne .♦ .Philanthropist .♦ .Gotham City, New Jersey, USA .♦ .Wayne Industries}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

...

^{"It's about identity. If you can choose that, choose who you are in the world... you can choose to call yourself sane."}

Nine months ago, billionaire Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City to claim his inheritance and take an active role in his father's company, Wayne Industries. Or at least, that's what the public was intended to believe. In reality, Wayne had spent the last fifteen years of his life testing the limits of his mind, body, and soul in order to prepare for a self-imposed war against crime in an effort to avenge his murdered parents and bring order to his corrupt home. While spending considerable time learning all that he could of Gotham's inner-workings, wining and dining amongst the elite class to discover the depths of their apathy towards those affected by the criminal fraternity, Wayne also took to the streets in disguise to see just how the disenfranchised and the desperate could be corrupted. Thinking he had it all figured out, Wayne donned the garb of a masked vigilante and set out to reclaim the night.

He was wrong. He had learned nothing, as he found himself beaten beyond recognition by the ruthless Red Hood Gang whilst attempting to interfere with a turf war between them and the The Falcone Crime Family. Desperate to know where he'd gone wrong, he found himself barely clinging to life in his father's study, looking toward the bust of William Shakespeare and hallucinating it to be the late Thomas Wayne. He'd developed the skills, the knowledge, and the will to carry on - but until he had the method, there was nothing he could do to turn the tide.

Resolving to let it end then and there, Wayne's answer came in the form of a leathery-winged creature of the night that had struck fear into his heart as a boy. It's wings expanding, it lowered itself over the bust until it had covered the top half of the face - creating a terrifying visual that imprinted itself onto Bruce's psyche. Criminals, as he had learned, were ultimately a superstitious and cowardly lot. If he was to wage war, he'd have to utilize methods that they couldn't predict. Become something that they could never fathom, even in their nightmares.

He'd have to become a Bat.

---

"What in the name of Bill Finger is this?", you may be asking yourself. Well, oddly curious reader, this is me throwing up my hands in defeat. While the idea of what I was trying to do with my first concept for this game's Batman sounds great in theory, actually practicing it turned out to be a highly tedious process where I just wasn't having any fun with what I was writing. It took me until the third post to really realize it, and I had already had doubts before that. In order to really commit to a version of Batman so reliant on redefining the Bruce Wayne half of his identity, you tend to be forced to do alot of character building in addition to world building. And in order to get to one of the villains, not to mention get Bruce into the suit, I would have to compromise and cheat my way to getting there in a way I just didn't feel was worth it.

So I'm starting over. First post is going to deal with Bruce's first night donning the cape and cowl, with all of the gadgets, the money, the training, and everything that makes him traditionally Batman. Where it goes from there is anyone's guess, but doing it in this way will at least give me the freedom to build the world that he inhabits without having to learn just who he is all over again. I'm also taking more of a hand's off approach with the supporting cast, as I see no reason to reserve characters for my story until I've gotten to them - with the exception of The Joker and, of course, Robin, since you can't really drop them in there from the get-go.

This is actually more in line with how I originally saw the RPG, anyway. I don't have any explanation for why I chose to do such a dramatic departure for my first sheet other than "my kneejerk reaction is to figure out how I can 'ultimize' a character", which was never actually what I thought of when developing DCU: Genesis. My mindset was to take the character as they were traditionally presented, at their start, and build up the changes to the world from there.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

The why should be obvious at this point, and I've already outlined the motivation. What I want to do is build the myth of Batman using bits and pieces from every source I can reference until it's all thoroughly blended into a fine soup. I'm not out to reinvent the wheel so much as honor the parts of it that's made it work for 81 years, which will hopefully make integration into a multiplayer game far more accessible for team-ups and interactions that my previous concept just didn't allow, to my detriment.

As far as the character himself goes, he's largely the Batman we know. The only differences I'm going with off the top are that Bruce Wayne is more of a media oddity who spends way more time attending galas and nightclubs then he does running a company, which is a responsibility that he's designated to Lucius Fox. He's also a member of the board of directors for Arkham Asylum, which will play a more prominent role in this run than I've done before, but his role in the goings-on over there aren't common knowledge. Basically, Bruce Wayne is the Elon Musk of this universe, in that he's always in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Which of course is by design, as it helps him commit to the vigilante crusade he's got going on.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

Supporting characters:

Alfred Pennyworth

Butler, bodyguard, and father figure to Bruce since before his parents' untimely demise. Alfred is actually a key part in getting Batman out onto the streets, as he feels personally responsible for what happened to the Waynes but is unable to take retribution for himself. When he isn't posing as the stuffy English caretaker to Stately Wayne Manor, he's usually down in the massive Batcave below, manning the comms channel and aiding in the detective work.

Captain James Gordon

Tough-as-nails cop from Chicago who's trying his best to reform the GCPD. While he's been railroaded at every turn by the combined efforts of Chief Clancy O'Hara and Commissioner Loeb, Gordon's quietly assembling a team of cops that still think they're above taking a bribe, including Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen, Anna Ramirez, Paul Valley and Kate Kane to become apart of his inner-circle.

Lucius Fox

Relegated to R&D's archives department for the last twenty-five years, Fox was hand-plucked from obscurity by Bruce Wayne to become the new CEO of Wayne Industries after proving that the reigning head of the company, Elliot Caldwell, was using the company as a front to deal under the table to the criminal underworld. Fox's innate knowledge of every scrap of military prototypes that have been collecting dust in Wayne Industries' basement floors have helped form the basis for Batman's arsenal, with Bruce and Alfred making the nessescary modifications themselves.

Harvey Dent

A particularly passionate ADA for the corrupt Janice Porter, Harvey and Bruce Wayne were friends in their youth - but the moment Bruce left for his overseas studies, Harvey's priorities changed and his past got alot murkier. Despite Wayne's attempts to rebuild their comradery, Dent rebuffs him and blames Bruce for allowing his resources to go to waste while Gotham's citizens suffered the consequences under regimes like the Falcone Crime Family, the Maroni Syndicate, and Rupert Thorne's considerable empire.

Julie Madison

Dent and Porter's paralegal, and the only member of the D.A.'s office willing to speak with Bruce, Julie's become an invaluable asset into Bruce's education on the complex system of corruption that infests Gotham's streets. While she doesn't suspect why he wants to know all of this, Julie is keen enough to realize the false front that Wayne puts up in the public eye is hiding something far nobler.

Ace

The family dog. Not really what most would consider "friendly".

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

Salvatore "The Boss" Maroni screamed at the top of his lungs as he was thrust into the open air amidst shattered glass. The masked lunatic that had thrown the gangster aswell as himself out of the top floor of the penthouse grabbed onto Maroni hard and produced that same grappling device that had sent them hurtling into an over 50 foot drop towards the pavement. Firing it again, this time managing to snag a stone gargoyle overlooking the adjacent building, The Batman pressed hard into Maroni's back so that they swung into an arch, heading directly for the building just across the street.

All that Salvatore could see was oncoming glass before a very large and leathery piece of fabric shielded him from the impact. He couldn't see them hit the window, but he could feel it, aswell as the hard landing that both men made. By the time the fabric unfurled itself off of his face, Maroni realized that he was on his back, staring directly at his shadowy assailant, who stood above him. Salvatore growled.

"ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR FUCKING MIND?! WE COULD'A BEEN KILLED JUST THEN, YOU---"

The Batman's boot slammed down onto Maroni's chest, causing him to involuntarily keel and roll over in immense pain.

"Quiet."

With his prey momentarily incapacitated, Batman searched the room ahead of them. A set of office cubicles greeted him in the darkness, evident of a local business. The employees had long since gone home, leaving no one but a janitor who had already ran for the emergency exit. But The Dark Knight sneered as the heat signature-detection feature of the lenses in his cowl picked up the image of an additional few men heading up the staircase, guns drawn. Evidently, Captain Bolton had managed to round up some of his remaining men to pursue them.

Looking down at Maroni, Batman forcibly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up.

"We're not done."

Maroni wheezed in pain. "What the hell are you talkin' about?!"

Punching the mobster hard across the face with an executed right hook, Batman caught Maroni's body as it fell limp, immediately rendered unconscious. Letting him fall gently, Batman produced a pair of military-grade handcuffs from the back of his belt and dragged Maroni over to a support beam. Propping him up and placing his hands behind his back, the vigilante secured his captive in place, put something into the front of his jacket pocket, and looked towards the door to the spacious room they were in as the heat signatures immediately approached.

Retreating to the darkness on the opposite end of the room, Batman watched in cold silence as the door was slammed open from the outside with a kick. Several of Flass' dirty cops burst into the room, each holding weapons that were far above standard issue for the GCPD. Laser sights, automatic ammunition. The vigilante narrowed his eyes as they searched for any sign of him in vain. Someone had been outfitting Flass' men with the latest in high-tech ordinance. The other precincts didn't have the luxury of such treatment, and it wasn't hard to guess why. Salvatore Maroni had a good majority of the GCPD under his payroll, directly. It was how the mobster had kept himself one step ahead of his rival, The Roman.

"Look! Over there! There's Maroni!", one of them yelled, signaling two of the men to his opposite. "Get him out of here before that freak comes back! We'll stay here and keep watch!"

As the two men approached, The Batman produced a detonator hidden within his gauntlet. Waiting precious seconds as the cops inched closer to Maroni's unconscious form, the vigilante waited for them to discover the handcuffs.

"Uh, Lieutenant? He's bound to this thing. We're gonna need to..."

Hitting the detonator hard, Batman leaped forward with a roll as an explosion of smoke immediately hit the two cops from within Maroni's jacket. Seizing control of the situation as the smoke coated the entire room, The Dark Knight hit the side of his cowl and switched his cowl's surveillance mode so that the lenses could isolate the smoke and make the room clear to him alone. Immediately slamming his knee into the chest of one of the cops with a rising strike, The Batman spun mid-air and sent four projectiles directly into the hands of two of the other armed officers. He'd taken to calling them "bat-blades", though one of his associates had given them perhaps a more fitting moniker: batarangs. Landing behind the officer he'd struck, Batman downed that one with a hard elbow and immediately followed that up with a brutal headbutt, knocking him into one of the cubicles. Shooting his right leg out, Batman spun for a hard sweep, sending a second one to the ground fast enough for the officer to hit the back of his head. Opting for a palm strike against an oncoming enemy's jaw, the vigilante simultaneously reigned a flying high kick down onto a fourth officer's face, knocking both to the ground. As he regained his footing, he looked down to his chest and noticed the red targeting lasers start to cross his path.

"THERE... *COUGH* THERE HE IS! SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE ROOM! OPEN FIRE!"

Dammit.

Bullets sprayed the walls behind him as The Batman somersaulted forward, counting himself lucky as a bullet barely grazed the armor plating covering his right shoulder. Leaping into the air, he kicked off of the wall to the south of the room and produced his grapple gun yet again, firing a line directly into the northern wall. Directing a spin kick into an officer as he attempted to reload his weapon, Batman pulled at the line hard, catching the two leading figures of the group by the chest and waist as the steel cable slammed them into the adjacent wall. As another officer rose from the ground, still partially unconscious, the vigilante grabbed a stapler from one of the nearby cubicles and launched it directly into the man's head, sending him back to the ground. One remained. And he was firing off into the distance, having already lost the trajectory of his target. A batarang flew from the smoke and forced the weapon from his hands, embedding it into the window with a spiderweb crack. The officer's eyes widened as he looked at his unreachable weapon, failing to notice the figure that approached him.

"Tell Commissioner Loeb. Tell your fellow men. Tell everyone..."



"I'm coming for them, too."

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

01.02 - Call Of The Kobra, Part 1

[Hillan]

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD

T H E
G R I F T E R

---

^{_{COLE ADAM CASH ♦ CON-MAN ♦ ON THE RUN ♦ TEAM SEVEN}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"A bullet is forever."}

You remember that New 52 run called 'The Grifter - Most Wanted"? No? Me neither.

This takes the bare bones of that concept and runs with it. Adapts it to my writing and I'll strive to tell some sort of military-on-the-run story with sci-fi elements and the ability to bring the entire world into chaos via alien invasion. Writing an action thriller that's about uncertainty and a guy who thinks he's playing everyone else for a fool. A cat and mouse game where nobody's sure who's the cat and who's the mouse.

Basically, a lot of shooting, spycraft and what it really means to be a psionic.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

To be frank, I've been wanting to play Grifter for as long as I've known about the character, and never had a story or even the faintest idea of what to do with him. After rewatching Mission Impossible, Shooter (both the movie and the TV-show) and reading his New 52 run, I realize he's the perfect vehicle for me to tell my military based stories I'd normally try to push onto an OC or some Frankenstein version of some other street hero like Red Hood or Punisher.

Due to his psionic connection, he allows for the weird and whacky to undercut the grimdark, bullets and explosions.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

Max Cash:
Younger Brother, Government Agent and massive pain in Cole's ass. Max played hard with the rules while Cole played loose. A decorated war hero and veteran, Max is one of the most esteemed soldiers America's produced in the past half century.

Rick Flag:
Cole's commanding officer before he joined Team Seven. Flag taught Cole everything he knows about being a soldier.

TEAM SEVEN:
His brothers in arms once upon a time. They've fallen out of touch with each other, but if there was one thing the military teaches you, it's how to rely on your new family.

Jeanette Tarkov:
(ex) Girlfriend and Partner in crime.

Franklin Clay:
A Burnt spy he met along the way.

Daemonites:
Freaky psychic aliens who are infiltrating mankind.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

"When you realize that kind of person you are, you know your path in life, right?" He began, taking out the cigarette from his mouth, putting the glass of whiskey against his lips instead, drinking deeply. "For some, it's when they catch that 50 yard throw and wins the homecoming game with a touchdown. For others, it's when they have to save someone who's drowning. When they first pick up a guitar, or when they drive their dads 69 Mustang for the first time." His words were dry, hanging in the air of the empty bar, only him and the barkeep who wasn't really paying any attention to him as he was closing up. Wiping the counter and hanging chairs upside down on it afterwards.

"For me. I thought it happened when I held a gun for the first time. Colt 1911, 40 caliber. We were hunting, and I had tracked down the deer. It got out of the way of the bullet from my rifle, but I chased him down when I heard it scream. By dumb luck, it had stepped on a beer trap that was laid out there in the forest. I was 13 when me and my dad found it, and he handed me his pistol and told me to put it out of it's misery." He took another whiff of his cigarette, filling his lungs with the black smoke, exhaling, playing with the liquid at the bottom of his glass.

"If I'm being honest. I was scared as hell. Firing the rifle was exciting. But a handgun? Looking into the scared deer's eyes as a pressed the metal barrel against it's skull, and how my hand shook till my dad put his hand on my shoulder and told me the advice I'd live my life by."

"I knew that that was my calling. The way of the gun. A hunter. A warrior." He scoffed. "Yet, these days, it seems like I'm the prey." His eyes peered into the TV in the corner of the room, reflecting the light from the news, showing how a man with long blonde hair, just like his, wearing the exact same black T-shirt he had on, fought and killed two Police Officers four blocks away, an hour ago.

The bartender caught a glimpse of the Newsshow, finally paying attention to what the patron was saying. His eyes grew wide with concern.
"Get out of here before I call the cops." He promised, his hand reaching behind the bar, grabbing the handle of the wooden bat. Cole could see his eyes were full of deceit, as his hand rested on his hip.

He Knows! I need assistance! the bartenders true voice hissed in the other man's head. The smoker pulled his gun out, the same kind of gun he had talked about from when he was a kid. The .40 cal 1911. Leaping from his seat, Cole dodged under the swing of the bat, the bat colliding with the counter behind him, shattering the wooden counter, showing off the bartenders incredible strength. Cole hit him with the butt of his gun, stunning the bartender, Cole could now see the blue energy oozing off of the man. He aimed his pistol at the disoriented man and quoted the words his father had told him back in the forest that day.

"A bullet is forever."

BANG

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

Issue 1:
1.00 - Seventeeen

[thatguy]

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L


________________________________________


Bartholomew Henry Allen ♦ Forensic Analyst♦ Central City ♦ CCPD

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
________________________________________

“Always Move Forward”

When Barry grew up in a loving household and when he was a young boy, at the tender and imagination filled age of ten, he witnessed a sight that no mere human would find remotely possible. At first came the lightning INSIDE their suburban home that awoke Barry in the middle of the night and forced him downstairs to see his mother begging for her life to a man in a blue parka with a huge gun. Parka Man noticed Barry and then looked at his watch and nodded in the lightning storm, then a woman in a gold jumpsuit appeared through the dining room wall and approached his mother, placing her hand on her temples and Barry heard the worst sound he would ever hear in that scream and cry of pain, but that wasn’t the weirdest thing.

Seconds passed before a giant black gorilla smashed through their front door, he and Barry exchanged a look before Henry, Barry’s father came down in the commotion and the ape stared at him and his father pulled out his personal service weapon from the war and walked down the steps towards his pained wife. At this same time, a man in a blue and yellow jester costume waltzed in and Barry for a second hoped beyond hope that he was dreaming as Jester Guy set down a small Jack In The Box and plopped down in one of the dining room chairs, exchanging a look with Parka Man. Then it was as if Barry couldn’t move any muscles in his body save for his eyes and neither could anybody else as an old man wearing a turtle neck and sporting a walking cane slowly and then Barry saw what was in the yellow and red lightning. Two men were fighting, one dressed in a black and red jumpsuit, the other was in yellow, red and black and it looked like the red guy was losing horribly.

That was fifteen years ago, and nobody believed Barry for years that all that had happened, they just know that for some unknown reason Henry had broken their front door in a fit of rage and shot his begging wife in the head execution style. Now he was facing life in prison without parole, while Barry had grown up running from foster home to foster home until he was eighteen and out on his own. Barry always thought that he didn’t want anybody else to go through what he did that night, so he went to school for forensic sciences and got a job as an analyst to try and understand the science of that night and how to prevent those attackers from striking again, but they had hired him under the condition that he see a therapist.

One night while working late in the lab and watching a live report of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator unveiling, Barry went to open up the skylight to get some air. As if he was a magnet for the weird and unexplained a lightning storm started to brew in the city and at the exact second that the particle accelerator blew up and released a wave of energy particles through the city, an errant bolt of lightning struck him down. To those that found him, they thought that he was comatose and brought him to the hospital. In truth his mind and body had accelerated to a previously thought speed that was considered a crackpot theory in theoretical physics by a reclusive scientist named Darwin Elias, the same Director of the Star Labs facility when the particle accelerator blew up. The speed at which his mind and body had travelled propelled him into a world composed of the kinetic energy of everything that is, was, and will come to be. It was a time between time, as Barry travelled through it, he heard the voice of his mother telling him to keep moving forward, no matter the cost, and that in due to time all will be explained. All of this happened in less than an xentojiffy (the hypothetical time it takes for light to travel the area of a fermi), and when Barry awoke a months later in the hospital he found that his mind and body had been changed… in a Flash. his city on the other hand had turned into something else entirely.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:
________________________________________
I would like to play this character because in another to I’m playing a speedster and I was doing a lot of research in the areas of kinetic energy and different speeds and found it to be very interesting, and so I would greatly enjoy writing a Flash story in as realistic way as possible. The desire came to me one day and it was an itch that I couldn’t scratch or get rid of, so I thought why not roleplay it. The driving motivation for Barry Allen currently is find the individuals (Who will be dubbed later as The Legion Of Zoom) who killed his mother and bring them to justice so that his father could go free.

As time passes and he meets more metahumans both criminal and heroic, the more he wants to be a hero himself. I hope to accomplish a challenge for myself as I’ve never written a Flash story and want to see how far I can run with it, so to speak. I would like to take Barry from his very beginning and have him approach situations both heroic and civilian as a young man with a lot to learn and a lot on his plate both mentally and activity wise and see how far he bends before I inevitably break him (I love stories where the bad guy wins).

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
________________________________________
The Speed Force In my depiction of the story is the kinetic energy of everything in existence and everything that will be and was in existence of the Multiverse combined to an unimaginable level, and gained sentience, but speedsters who enter it see the Force’s sentient form differently depending on who is in it. So if Barry’s in it, he sees his mother for example, but this will be explained further in the story.

Supporting Characters:
Captain Frye: Chief of Police in the CCPD, he has a distaste for metahumans in his city, whether they be heroic or villainous
Cecile Horton: Henry Allen’s court appointed lawyer

Charles: a bartender in Central City who unwillingly listens to some of Barry’s problems whenever Barry needs a drink, he is a man of few words

Daphne Dean: one Barry’s ex-foster sisters who grew up to be a famous movie star, she was one of only a few people who tried to get to know Barry, and the two still keep in touch

Darwin Elias: a theoretical physicist who was shunned by his community long before he turned on the particle accelerator and created a city of metahumans

David Singh: Barry’s boss in the forensics lab at CCPD, he’s sympathetic towards Barry and the things he’s gone through, but inwardly thinks he’s crazy until metahumans start popping up

Detective Burns: a crime scene detective in Central City who often gets Barry as a evidence collector

Detective Morrow: Detective Burns partner and boyfriend

Henry Allen: Barry’s loving father who puts on a brave face for his son, but internally he hates himself for being weak enough to be mind controlled into shooting his wife. He is serving a life sentence for her death

Rebecca Janus: Barry’s therapist who helps him cope with daily life

More To Come As The Story Progresses

S A M P L E P O S T:
________________________________________
“My name is Barry Allen, and all my life I’ve searched for the impossible, never knowing that I would become the impossible”

10:25am On A Tuesday

Barry was sitting in the stiff brown sofa seat in Rebecca Janus’ office, unfortunately he had been running late for the appointment that the CCPD set up for him, and he was trying to find something to say other than what was really going on with him, because nobody in their right mind would believe it unless they saw it.

“I’m sorry I was late, I kind of slept through my alarm.” He finally said, his eyes darting to the ticking clock on the wall, watching the seconds slowly go by before looking back at Rebecca, who was actually quite a looker in her purple skirt suit and mocha colored skin.
“That’s okay, Barry, did you sleep well?” she asked, with a business tone of voice, and Barry closed his eyes for what felt like a second and when he opened them time had slowed down to grounded halt and Rebecca was frozen and in mid motion of putting her pen to her notepad.

10:25:05 And A Decasecond (one tenth of a second)

“Oh just the usual dream of watching my mom get murdered over and over again by a giant gorilla, a clown, an eskimo, an elderly man, a woman made of gold, and the man in the yellow suit.”

10:25:06am

As time resumed itself, Barry opened his mouth to speak of an excuse but his work cell phone rang and he had to answer it, he was already in deep with his boss Detective Singh, whom Barry felt like he had it in for him. “Excuse me for just a second,”
Barry told Rebecca politely before answering the phone.
“Hello, Mr. Singh, what’s up?”

On the other end Barry thought that he had heard a sigh come out of his boss’s mouth, “Barry, where are you? There’s been a homicide on Fox street, I need you here, like yesterday. Didn’t you get my messages?”

Barry’s eyes widened and he looked through his phone, indeed finding several text messages from Singh about the murder, each one getting angrier than the last. Though he noticed something else too, his cell phone screen had a light purple hue, something he would have to take to the phone store to get checked out later, if he ever had the time. He looked at Rebecca with a look that said ‘at this point, what else is new?’ and then returned his attention to his boss.

“I’m really sorry, sir I was running late to my therapy session I had scheduled, I didn’t see the texts,” Barry said honestly, but before he could speak again, Singh cut him off.

“Barry, do you know I’ve been waiting an hour in front of a dead body with Detectives Burns and Morrow? I don’t care if you have to cut your session short, get here now!”

Then the call ended and Barry felt a pang of anger rise up in him, and an imperceptible spark of yellow electricity flowed through his eyes. Rebecca noticed the anger in him, and set down her pen on her desk, taking a moment to try and help Barry through the situation, “Do you want to talk about that?” she asked him, but he got up quickly and pocketed his cell phone.

“No thanks, but I really have to go, work called, I’m late. Oh God, I’m always late. With everything on, how could I be late?” Barry started to hyperventilate, and just like that time slowed down once more, but this time it was unintentional.

10:27:25:001

Yellow electricity started to swirl around Barry as his emotional flare up confused his body for the need for a fight or flight response, “Oh great!” Barry exclaimed, “why can’t anything go right today?!” and as time began to accelerate back to normal, an errant bolt of electrical energy struck the clock on the wall, making it stop ticking forward.

10:27:26

“I’m sorry, you can bill my insurance, right?” Barry asked as he grabbed his jacket to meet the chilly morning air, but he didn’t wait for a response as he started to dart out of the office and when there was nobody who could possibly watch him, he disappeared in a cloud of yellow electrical energy.

10:27:51:0001

As Barry ran down the hall at an incredible and superhuman pace, a man in a yellow and black body suit emerged from within the hallway wall. His face was obscured through vibrational energy, but it was easy to tell that this extremely fast man was smiling mischievously.
“I’ll see you soon, Barry Allen…”

This section reserved for IC posts to keep track of them

[rocketrobie2]

THE (UNFORTUNATELY) UNFORGETTABLE

Plastic Man

---

^{_{Patrick “Eel” O’Brian ♦ Flex Armstrong Quality Inspector ♦ Mammoth, Montana}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{”I've got nothin“}

Pat’s life has been a hard but manageable one. With a nasty but ever present family life and an almost non-existent social life, Eel’s life took a morally dubious turn early on in life which consisted largely of being a juvenile delinquent and barely turning his life around a little later in life. The main claim to fame that the town of Mammoth had was it’s Stretch Armstrong factory, one that had been the cornerstone of the local economy since the 90s. Naturally Eel found himself employed there after trying to turn a straighter edge.

He found no amount of satisfaction with his new career but it was a lot less stressful for the would-be criminal. As time went on Pat’s dissatisfaction grew up to the point that he’d heard rumours floating around from some of his old buddies that they were planning a robbery of the plant and skipping town. With the intoxicating allure of his old life calling, Pat offered to help out which brings us to the beginning of our story…

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

Honestly the main reason I’m applying with Plastic is because a certain someone said it’d be a good fit for me. I’ve been a HUGELY passive fan of Plastic Man ever since I first discovered him watch Brave and the Bold when I was little and subsequently read up on him in my DC encyclopedia. I’ve had quite a few characters that I’ve wanted to write for a while but just haven’t because I felt I couldn’t do them justice. Now I’m coming to realize that sounds stupid and I should just go for it and give it a shot.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

Wolfgang “Woozy” Winks - Eel’s best (and only) friend. The two have known each other for most of their lives. Hates his nickname but puts up with Pat calling him it since they’ve known each other so long.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

Plastic Man Issue No.0: The Good, the Bad and, the Plastic Part 1

The day was droning on for one Patrick O’Brain and he stretched and prodded yet another toy before absentmindedly checking off some boxes and packing it away for final approval. Pat looked at the clock (which would have read not close enough to quitting time no matter it’s hands position) before turning to his only real pal he still had. Wolfgang “Woozy” Winks hadn’t been particularly close with Pat when they and other kids used to cause trouble around town but out of that group they were the only two that decided crime didn’t pay enough. Repeating the same process that Pat had just finished, Woozy caught Pat’s gaze and turned to him.

“Whatcha looking at?” Woozy asked, checking some boxes without really looking.

“You ever miss puttering around town with the guys? I mean don’t get me wrong I love sitting around eight hours a day yanking the same rubber arms and heads day in day out but the thrill of ye olden times ju-“

“The heads don’t stretch, you haven’t been trying ta’ stretch the heads have you?”

“What? No! I’m just using it as an example Woozy, but that’s not the point.” Pat retorted turning away from Woozy as he tried to find something new to stare at for his wistful speech. When he wasn’t satisfied with the brown bricks as his muse, Pat just turned back to Woozy.

"I'm thinking about doing something stupid-"

“As opposed to normally?”

“Seriously Wooz, I can’t take the monotony anymore! I’m a MAN! I need to be free!” Pat exclaimed as he stood up on his chair and put one of his legs on the work table.

“I’ve been chained for too long! Shackled to ideals put forth by pencil-pushing-penny-chasers from years long gone! Well no more! From this moment forward Patrick O’Brain is salve to the wage no more!” the passionate man furiously shook his fist to the heavens to accentuate his point “From this moment forward Patrick O’Brian will be tearing this town a new o-“

BEEEEEEEEEEEP went the end of day buzzer and with that Patrick quickly got down from his impromptu pedestal and picked up his jacket, heading for the main computer to clock out. Meanwhile, still sat at the large worktable stared a bewildered Woozy… and about another dozen quality inspectors.

Once outside, greeted by the cool summer night, Patrick took out his barely functional phone and called his old buddy Tacs. As the dial-tone went on and on Pat began to come down from his adrenaline high. Was he really going to go back on everything he built here? The new life he carved out while trying his best to distance himself from the old one?

“Tacs, yo’ve got yourself a hombre on the inside. When’s this whole shebang going down?”

P O S T C A T A L O G:

---

ISSUE NO.1 coming soon!