[OOC] WORM: Parahumans Manchvegas [CANCELLED]

[LostButterfly92]

Welcome to WORM: Parahumans Manchvegas, a superhero/villain roleplaying game inspired by the web serial series, WORM created by J.C. McCrae, AKA Wildbow. _{(Reading the series is not required.)}

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It's year 2010 on Earth Zed. The timeline of this Earth is the same as ours up to one, fateful day: May twentieth, 1982, the day that the golden man appeared. For a long time, he simply flew across the globe observing and radiating sadness.

Soon after his appearance, people with superpowers began to emerge. These powered humans, "parahumans" became the topic of discussion and the center of research. Some used their powers for selfish gain, while others stepped up to fight crime. As parahumans became a fact of life, the government began to implement laws and organizations to regulate them.

On December 13th, 1992, the first Enbringer appeared. Behemoth. A monstrous, gigantic, and near-indestructible beast. It was due to this attack that The Protectorate was founded by the government, to help protect its citizens from villains, Endbringers, and other threats.

Then one day in 1999 the golden man appeared with a white bodysuit and just started helping people. Rescuing people from accidents, natural disasters, and Enbringers. That same year the golden man was caught on camera. A woman asked his name and he spoke for the very first time: "Scion."

Our story will be taking place in Manchester, New Hampshire. The city is up and coming with the largest population in the state and growing. There is a vibrant nightlife, tons of educational campuses, and restaurants and shopping can be found around every corner. But with a big population comes a big problem: crime. The crime rate is soaring, parahuman villains are moving in to stake their claim, and more people are triggering. Much of the city is falling into shambles, falling into disrepair. Grafitti and gang tags litter almost every surface. Drug deals are made at every corner. Windows are boarded and every lock is locked at night, and even then, sometimes you just don't feel safe.

Civil unrest is growing as people begin to fear the newly appearing parahumans. A new Protectorate Headquarters has just established inside City Hall and they have been promoting the local heroes with events, but will that be enough to counter the parahuman hate? Will the heroes reclaim the city, or will it be taken over by the emerging villains?

Whether you like it or not, you are a part of the parahuman world.

PLAYSTYLE: Casual to Advanced writing. Sandbox/open world. Collaboration on our discord is allowed and encouraged. The play area is currently limited to Manchester and surrounding areas, but as we grow we may expand to other cities. At least one post per day is encouraged. Fights will be in quick succession, alternating turns, with other roleplayers (either bystanders or the other party) deciding the outcome of each action (attack, retreat, counter, etc.) No dice rolling required. Characters may be created as desired or inspired by dice-rolling or generators.

_{NOTES: The roleplay may not be suitable for young or sensitive readers. Like the series, our roleplay will be edgy, gitty, and have a darker tone that comes with realism. There will be swearing, racism, drugs, violence, and possibly gore. People will get hurt. People will die. And quite possibly, your character could die, too. Every action has consequences. While the roleplay could be fun for those who have not read or are still reading the books, be warned that the roleplay may contain spoilers. I do not claim rights to Worm or the fan art images in this post.}

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General Rules

1. Obey all roleplayerguild rules.
2. Submit an application prior to joining the roleplay either by PM or here in the OOC. I will be looking to make sure characters are not overpowered, underdeveloped, or overly similar. Do not post in the Character Section until approved.
3. This is a casual to advanced level roleplay. Please try to use proper spelling and grammar (excluding character speech). Include as much detail and insight as you can to add depth to your character and story.
4. Do not control other people's characters without their permission.
5. Avoid leaving the roleplay unannounced or for prolonged periods of time. If you must, please direct your character to a time/place where they will not impede plot progression or allow others to do so for you. Inactive characters may be killed or erased from the timeline if necessary.
6. People will say and do bad things during the course of this game, especially villains. With this in mind, please try not to take things personally when on the receiving end and be mindful as to not hurt the actual roleplayer when on the giving end. Real bullying and harassment will not be tolerated.
8. While mature content such as swearing, drugs, violence, gore, and romance is permitted, this is not intended to be 18+ only. IC posting should be PG-13. That being said, please do not come here expecting to hook up. Be aware that young eyes may be reading.
9. As always, have fun!

Discover the world of parahumans

Organizations

Protectorate: The Protectorate is a government-sponsored superhero organization that spans the United States of America and Canada. It works under the Parahuman Response Team or PRT. The Triumvirate (Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon) lead the Protectorate and respond to all S-Level threats. Each region has a local team. These teams operate out of the local Protectorate Headquarters (PHQ), maintaining regular patrols and responding to reports of villain activity.

Parahuman Response Team (PRT): A paramilitary organization that also encompasses police and/or emergency functions, they are trained to deal with parahumans and the fallout of their actions. The PRT administrates and reins in the Protectorate and is made up of non-powered individuals. They are also in charge of parahuman public relations.

Wards: The under-eighteen sub-division of the Protectorate. They earn a trust and minimum wage. Wards are to attend school during typical hours and maintain satisfactory grades and failure to do so will see their pay docked. Wards must be allowed to receive a full night's sleep with regularity.

The Birdcage: The Baumann Parahuman Containment Center, better known as the Birdcage, is a prison for parahumans that have committed crimes severe enough that they must be removed from society. It is not designed to allow prisoners to leave after they have been imprisoned within it. The facility is run by the AI Dragon.

The Fallen: The Fallen are a supervillain group notorious worldwide for their worship of the Endbringers. Their crimes range from petty larceny to hijacking radio to murder. Beliefs vary from group to group, but the common belief is that humanity deserves to wiped out or that the powerful and worthy will be spared. Homophobia, prejudice against case 53s, arranged marriages, incest, kidnapping, and brainwashing is common.

Empire 88: A gang of white supremacists based in Brockton Bay. Their influence is spreading into the rest of the Northeast.

The Elite: One of the largest villain organizations. They do not pursue traditional villainous enterprises, instead seizing an area on the economic or political level before undermining local opposition using sabotage, connections to organized crime and blitzkrieg-style strikes while remaining consistently off the public’s radar by subterfuge or careful manipulation of the media. They force villains and rogues into their group and often control a lot of Corporate 'hero' teams from behind the scenes.

The Slaughterhouse 9: a rotating group of 9 supervillains that terrorize North-America.

The Endbringers: Monstrous beings that take turns attacking locations around the globe to cause as much damage as they possibly can. Apparently unkillable, the Endbringers retreat to their respective domains to heal after they have sustained sufficient damage, only to attack again months later. Very little is known about them or their origins. They are non-human.

Cauldron: A secret organization committed to creating a parahuman army to combat an undisclosed threat. Their experiments make them highly morally questionable. They are funded through selling Cauldron Vials, which grant powers to those who survive.

Case 53s: Also known as Abominations, Demons or the Branded to the public, or Deviants and Subjects by their makers. Case C53s are amnesiac parahumans, usually with severe physical alterations, marked with a "C". They were so-called Case 53s because their origin was the 53rd anomalous case investigated by the PRT.

Powers

Powers come from a mysterious source and are very complex. They have rules, limits, and little intricacies about how they function, like clockwork machines. A lot of powers are difficult to control, some are impossible to control. Some powers are broken. It's all in the luck of the draw.

A large number of people have the potential to trigger even if they haven’t met the conditions necessary for a trigger event. Those who have the potential will possess a Coronoa Pollentia lobe in their brain, that will house a Shard and place restrictions not the power to protect the parahuman.

This phenomenon is known as the Manton Effect, first recognized and codified by William Manton. The common tendency among powers is to affect either living targets or inanimate objects, but not both. This seems to facilitate their use by humans; more specifically, powers tend to have "in-built" controls to avoid harming the parahuman using them. This effect severely reduces the potential lethality of most powers. Those few parahumans that can bypass the Manton Effect are feared, and for good reason.

Most people can gain powers through trigger events (traumatic experiences), but the rich and powerful can purchase Vials from the secret, manipulative organization, CAULDRON.

Shards

Shards, also known as passengers or agents, are fragments of incomprehensibly immense colony organismsthat serve as the source of parahuman powers. Shards resemble crystalline structures folding and unfolding like hypercubes. Each shard connected to a human is already an amalgamation of smaller shards, some of which are necessary for it to happen at all. Linking Shards together produces a more complex Shard with the abilities of all joined fragments. One Shard is capable of settling in a grouping of near-identical worlds, drawing energy from all of those worlds at once. While this provides immeasurable power it is still essentially finite.

When Shards take root in a person, they establish a connection. The Shard influences the personality of its host, and the host influences its shard. The effects that Shards have on their hosts are dependent on several factors, including but not limited to: age of the host, the host's personality, the host's trigger event, how much the host embraces the Shard's need for conflict, and the nature of the Shard itself.

Parahuman's shards and trigger events often lead to psychological damage and mental derangements, which is part of why there tend to be more villains than heroes. Shards are also programmed with the urge to cause conflict, to fulfill their purpose of discovering new uses, and this leads to parahumans being more violent than they were previously. Or, their shards can alter their mental processes or directly cause mental deterioration. For example, a person with dog empowerment may have their mind altered to think like a dog, losing the ability to understand human social cues. Or, a teleporter who leaves behind a part of their consciousness each time they teleport, becoming increasingly sociopathic.

Trigger Vision

Anyone experiencing a trigger event sees a vision of a vast multidimensional entity, but quickly forgets it. These visions are due to the neurological linkage between the shard and the host, the amnesia tied into preprogrammed measures. Any parahuman nearby experiences a similar vision and is briefly incapacitated.

Natural Trigger Events

The trigger event is usually a very traumatic experience. The way in which people gain powers might hint at why the villains outnumber the heroes two to one, why more women than men have powers, and why third world countries have the highest densities of people with powers. An individual needs to be pushed to the edge, their fight or flight responses pushed to their limits, before the powers start to emerge.

The circumstances leading up to the trigger event influence the power granted. Psychological stress often leads to mentally driven powers. The more physical violence that is involved, the higher the bias towards physically driven powers. The nature to the Shard itself also affects the power that is granted, but the circumstances of the trigger event are what shape the final power expression. People may develop more than one type of power classification.

Unfortunately, most people are not given an immediate solution to their problems, and some are killed outright as they trigger. Their abilities may help them cope with their issue, but sometimes their power may make their problems worse in the long-term.

Special Types of Natural Triggers:

Buds

when a shard has matured it begins splitting off, ready to find a (generally young) host similar to the original target and attach to them with the benefit of more experience. This generally takes time and/or stress on the part of the host. A Shard may bud before or at the same time as a trigger event.
Very rarely, the host will experience a second trigger very similar to their first trigger, causing the bud to consolidate in the current host instead. Although the entities consider the different "fragments" to be separate shards, and the buds require their hosts to remain in close proximity if they want to communicate. On a physical level the shard is simply devoting a part of its "CPU" to the new host. This is because the main portion of a shard is largely inactive, while only the smaller "active" portion deals with the host. When Shards bud or cross-bud there can be interaction between the parent Shards creating interesting effects.

CAULDRON Trigger

Cauldron capes gain their powers after drinking a Cauldron vial. They are much more likely to gain physical mutations than natural triggers. Their powers are primarily based on what vial they took, although their personality also influences it. Cauldron capes are much less likely to be villains and are generally more mentally stable. Given how a subject triggered, their powers can become less reliable when in a stressful situation.

Classifications Reference Chart

Power Classifications Reference Chart

Classification	Meaning	Trigger	Example Powers
Mover	Enhanced mobility.	Drive to escape, flee, run.	Flight, speed, teleportation, etc.
Shaker	Has an area of effect.	Environmental danger or ambient danger.	Auras, land distortion, time bubble distortion.
Brute	Enhanced strength or durability.	Experiences of physical damage or pain.	Enhanced strength, durability; armor, muscle, personal forcefields.
Blaster	Capable of ranged attack.	From hostile others, approaching or attacking from a distance.	Lasers, shots, beams, energy blasts.
Breaker	Altered state, often toggled, granting powers or altered interaction with reality.	Abstract stressors. Blended or ambiguous forms of stress.	Ability to become pure energy or elements, astral projections, phasing.
Master	Creates minions or has a means of compelling others to take certain actions.	Isolation, alienation, exile, or betrayal.	Animal control, puppeting, emotion manipulation, duplicating.
Tinker	Building alien or advanced technology.	Solutionless problems over long periods, culminating in a crisis moment.	Every tinker has a specialty. For example: weapons, vehicles, AI, time tech, gravity tech, sound tech.
Thinker	Advanced perception, knowledge, data-collection, or skills.	Emotional or mental strain, reaching a crisis point in a short time.	The ability to learn a skill simply by watching or reading. The ability to see through walls, or hear somebody speak anywhere in the world if they mention your name.
Striker	Touch based and melee effects.	Immediate, in-your-face threat, usually a singular object or individual.	A touch that renders people frozen in time or causes decay. The ability to add properties to weapons and items.
Changer	Shapeshifting and alteration of one’s physical form.	Identity/body image issues, or conflict of role vs. social expectations.	Transforming to look like another person, or shapeshifting into animals. Adapting your body to stresses. Growing extra body parts.
Trump	Powers that involve powers.	Parahumans are directly or indirectly involved in their trigger. (rare)	Add, remove, complicate, compound powers.
Stranger	Powers specializing in infiltration, distraction, subtlety.	Unwanted attention or social/collective pressure.	Invisibility, powers that prevent others from interacting with, recognizing, or remembering oneself.

Explore Manchvegas

Coming soon!

Learn more about the Parahuman Fandom

WORM focuses on Taylor Hebert, an introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower. She goes out in costume to find an escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life. Her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one herself, thrusting her into the midst of the local ‘cape’ scene’s politics, unwritten rules, and ambiguous morals. As she risks life and limb, Taylor faces the dilemma of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons.
The sequel, Ward follows Glory Girl, who we meet in Worm. The story starts shortly after the first book ends. The world as we knew it ended and every villain has been given a second chance. After two years out of commission, Glory Girl searches for herself and her place in the new world.
WORM official page - Read it free here.
Worm Wiki - find everything you need to know about Worm here.
Worm Timeline - The timeline for the series. We will not be following this strictly.

Links to learn more about the real Manchester, NH

Manchester Wiki
Offcial City of Manchester Site
Manchester News on FB
Feel free to share other resources!

Collage Fan Art Full Versions

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Oh I found it on the side. You might want to link everyone else to the thread.

[LostButterfly92]

This post has been a work in progress for a few hours.. And I will probably keep updating it as I think of stuff. But it's just about ready so I'll head over to the interest page and share it now. Thank you for the reminder. =)

[King Cosmos]

Here's a power generator which uses the resources of the Weaverdice tabletop game, which is based off of Worm and created in part by Wildbow. It should help generate powers with more of a Worm-flavour than most generators.

I'm thinking of making a Tinker.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

@LostButterfly92



Do you mean to have that symbol in place of the character image or is my computer fucked up?

[LostButterfly92]

@King Cosmos Great find! I have added it to our resources. =)
@The Ghost Note The photo appears fine for me. Does anybody else have issues with my images? Might need to try a different host.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

@LostButterfly92 your character pic works fine now but the ooc pic doesn't.

[King Cosmos]

Same. I can see the character image now but can't see the OOC.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Nakala L. Phillips

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HERO Code Name: Wrecking-Ball. Real Name: Nakala Lenora Phillips. Nicknames/Aliases: N/A. Gender: Female. Age: 25. Physical Description: Nakala, as much as she hates the concept, usually draws attention to herself the very minute she walks into a room for a variety of reasons. For starters, the fact that she's tall. She has inherited her height from her mother - along with a variety of other things. She stands tall even above the boys at six-three and even has a deeper than average voice. Along with the fact that she's a bit more muscular than average, she can be quite intimidating. The girl carries herself with weight and confidence and makes every action of her matter. What sucks for her is that she's nowhere near as feminine as she wishes she was. However the girl is curvy, and she still hits the gym and her time in the dance studio has done wonders for her. Usually, she has her hand on her hips or her waist as she walks. The girl is African-American and proud of it, she has extremely dark skin, thick lips, and afro-textured hair that she keeps in braids. Personality: Nakala is a very strong-willed and determined human being. She takes a lot after her mother and the way that she was raised, and she was raised to be a strong woman, full of spirit that takes nothing from nothing. However, one difference that she has from her mother is that she has far better social skills, and is not ridiculously prideful as she was.

Nakala herself is a very caring and loving human being who sometimes lets her pride cloud her judgment at times. Nakala herself only focuses on what's in front of her and hardly has time for distractions. She's less concerned with putting on fronts as she is with her immediate friend group and advancing herself. So rarely you'll see Nakala drawing unnecessary attention to herself or dressing flashy. However that isn't to say the girl is completely anti-social, she's perfectly fine talking to people. However, Nakala is extremely impatient and at times and that leads to her saying and doing things that alienate herself from friends or something rash.

Trigger Type: Natural Trigger

PRT Power Classification: Shaker 5, Mover 3

Power Perk(s): There are two facets to Nakala's parahuman ability that works astonishingly well together. Nakala can create a green, translucent barrier around herself that forms a twenty twenty-foot dome around herself. This dome is semi-transparent and constantly moving, adding more and more layers upon itself seemingly subconsciously as Nakala (or maybe her passenger) perceives the threat. The barrier is insanely durable and is capable of tanking hits from even high-level brutes, perhaps even an Endbringer, and the barrier moves with her. The other end of Nakala's power is simply put; flight. There is a twist with this ability, however, as once Nakala engages in flight she becomes sort of a rocket - she just keeps going faster, and faster, and faster, with no maneuverability. Mixing these two abilities turns Nakala into an ultra-fast wrecking ball that can demolish small buildings with ease.

Power Drawbacks: Now the dome doesn't prevent her from feeling the impact of stuff. She can crash into people and stuff, but she's going to feel it through her barrier and it can fuck her up. Nakala's flight ability only has two and a half settings: Stop, go, and kinda veer in that direction. Maneuverability is damn near impossible for her unless she stops and she'll keep going and going and going.... until she reaches something that stops her and she goes splat. Which is why Nakala is very careful about how she uses her ability.

History: Nakala Phillips was born in New York, New York to a single mother and life was simple... before the Behemoth attacked the city. It was an insane experience that she fortunately only vaguely remembers, but obviously, she survived but the scars on New York weren't easily healed. She had to live through decades of criminals and supervillains moving in on the city. So yeah, growing up was pretty crazy for Nakala, and she had to have her head on a swivel. Though she grew up in capable hands, around her best friend Phoebe Carmicheal and the two had a merry time growing up together.

However, when Nakala was a teenager she and her friend Phoebe were attacked by one of the local gangs that had moved into the city. Well, sort of, they were a group of teenaged punks that wanted to impress one of the Neo-Nazi gangs by beating on some black kids, and they saw that they had outnumbered them five to two. The two beat on the two girls until Nakala was the one that got away and then she saw that they were still beating on Phoebe. She didn't want to let Phoebe die here and that was when she charged in, turning into a barrage of fists and feet.

She triggered in the process, creating a barrier around herself and Phoebe that scared off the punks. However, the punks reported her to the PRT and claimed that she was a villain that attacked them. Given that the PRT is just a little bias against Parahumans (a black one at that) they believed them and ended up arresting Nakala... however, a cape that was sympathetic to her managed to sway the director into cutting her a deal. A deal that Nakala, at the time, didn't really like, but it was better than prison: become a Ward. She and her mother took the deal without a second thought and even though Nakala had her compunctions at the time, she was still entitled to all of the benefits. She took the name Pinball, which was suggested to her by her mother.

So she went to school during the day and during the night she patrolled the streets and helped out where she was needed - and got paid for it. It was a hectic lifestyle but Nakala pulled it off - not without some hiccups. The New York Wards' leadership was a bit... toxic, to say the least. The PRT Agent in charge of the New York Wards played favorites a lot and their leader Iron Bird was a self-centered, glory-hogging, bitch. Nakala and Iron Bird did not get along but Iron-Bird always held over the threat of ending Nakala's time in the Wards over her head.

Iron Bird constantly lied, cheated, and bullied Nakala and the girl had to take it with a smile. That was until the Leviathan attack on Seattle and the New York Wards were sent there. It was terrifying but the PRT Agents just told them they would not be fighting and would be helping civilians evacuate. While it was true, Nakala ended up fighting with the Endbringer a few times and the experience was horrifying. However, in the experience, Iron Bird, Nakala, and another Ward were separated from the others.

That was when they went for the Endbringer Shelter... in which Leviathan followed. The Endbringer attacked the Shelter and then it was up to the three to hold them off, and Leviathan killed both Iron Bird and the Ward from Chicago. Nakala claims that she did all that she could to save them, but in actuality, she cut and run and left Iron Bird to die... purely out of spite.

Seattle survived and Nakala was given awards for her "heroism", afterward, she went back to the New York Wards and became their leader. For at least a brief period because once she turned eighteen, she became a fulltime Protectorate member and she bounced around from place to place... until she ended up in Manchester, there was a Protectorate member for a few years now.

Skills: Dancing, Hand-to-Hand combat, drawing, yoga.

Gear: First-Aid Kid, Tear-Gas Bomb, Body-Armor, combat-knife.

Occupation: Protectorate

Relationships and Family: Michelle Phillips (Mother).

[CryptDemon]

Kali Aiden Inigo

ROGUE

Code Name: Scorch

Real Name: Kali Aiden Inigo

Nicknames/Aliases: Kal, Ali or Kai

Gender: Female

Age: 26

Physical Description: Kali isn't the most physically intimidating person, but it's clear she has done a significant amount of physical labour in her past, despite being a barista. Her body is rather toned and well muscled which enhances her somewhat tall figure, standing at a slightly above average stature of 5'9". Since her days as a firefighter, she let her dark brown hair grow out to her shoulders, the front cut into a fringe which falls over the right side of her face, concealing her dark green eyes, and the mass of scarring that travels down from her forehead to her neck and continues along the right side of her body, her rather light skin contrasting with the darker parts of her scars.
While her hair is long enough to cover most of the scarring around her face, it's a bit harder to conceal the scarring on her neck. Due to this she wears turtle necks or articles of clothing that conceal the burns easier. The areas of severe burning seem almost fresh, despite being a few years old now. The centre of her scars are a deep red, almost raw, which fade into a much softer colour with light scars that mar the edges.
The scarring that starts on her upper face travels down the entire right side of her body, travelling down her right arm to her wrist where it fades off. While the scar tissue takes up a prominent part of her body, it's mostly centered on her back where it breaks its rightward lean, encroaching on her left shoulder blade before moving further to reach her left hip. From her hips, the scarring wraps around her legs, the scarring on her left leg stopping at around her mid thigh, where on her right it reaches just beneath the knee. The overwhelming scar tissue on her body is also added to by thin lines, these far more precise than the abstract patterns of burns, the thin lines of silver the markings of surgical staff.
Beneath some portions of her scars, you can make out the faint ghosts of tattoos which originally lined her skin. A glimpse of a tree on one shoulder, a flower on her hip, some indiscernible shapes here and there. The only tattoo that survived the ordeal is the mark of her firehouse on her left bicep, standing proud as the last clear tattoo standing.

Personality: As the eldest sibling in her family, that is also reflected in her nature as a rather stern yet still caring person. She won't hesitate to scorn someone for harassing or abusing someone, and isn't past pushing aside her better judgement and leaping into danger head on. Her care for the safety only extends to that as others, as while she excels at checking and ensure that others are safe, she lacks in the same capabilities to look after herself. She could very well warn someone to stay home when sick, and then go for a mile long jog the next day while hacking up a lung, always more aware of others limits than she is of her own. In a manner she could be called self sacrificing to an almost alarming degree, with no apparent care for her own safety, always valuing the lives of others above her own.
While she may deem all life more valuable than her own, there may be those she wouldn't mind hurting along the way. Kali has a very strong moral compass, and if she sees something she doesn't like, she'll make that opinion known. If she saw a mugging actively happening or a robber trying to escape, she'd capture them... Only after smacking them around a bit.

Trigger Type: Natural Trigger

PRT Power Classification: Brute 2, Breaker 5, Changer 1

Power Perk(s): Kali's power is similar to flipping a switch, a near instantaneous reaction following after, similar to turning a light switch turning on and off. Once the switch is flipped, Kali's skin seems to blister and boil, smoke rising from her skin as it shifts in colour, taking on the appearance of molten stone which had solidified into an exoskeleton. Where her joints should be, instead of the smooth dark stone that makes up the rest of her body, molten rock can be seen moving between the plates which grants her a full range of mobility. Cracks and dents in the obsidian skeleton are filled with the same magma that makes up her joints, sometimes dripping from her form as she walks. In this form her body temperature sky rockets to blistering temperatures, causing most things she touches to combust or melt. Standing close to her, you can feel as well as see the waves of heat rolling from her figure, hair flickering up towards the heavens, turned into wreaths of flame with flow with her every move, her eyes pinpricks of red amongst blackened sclera. In this form she is nigh invulnerable to fire and most physical attacks, as the wall of heat surrounding her does a good enough job of warping and melting metal, or causing wooden weapons to catch alight.

Power Drawbacks: Activating her power causes an immense amount of pain as her blood boils within her skin, her already temperature sensitive scars sending spasms of pain through her body as she's forced to relive the pain of earning her power. Staying in this form can leave her unable or unwilling to move for hours to days later, her scars becoming far more sensitive to movement than usual. On occasion, if she remains in the form for extended periods of time, the scars on her body expand slightly, claiming an extra millimeter or two of skin. Due to the warmth stemming from her, it's hard to get close to people or buildings in fear of her accidentally setting them alight or burning them. The largest and most obvious weakness in this form is water. While a small amount may be superheated by the wall of flame around her and have no effect, a large amount of water will overwhelm the defense and force her back into her human form less she become a statue of smooth obsidian.

History: With two parents who worked full time and two younger siblings to look after, Kali was quick to adapt into an almost parental role of looking after her younger siblings while her parents were away. She'd walk the twins to school every day and prepare meals when she got home. It was very rare for all five members of the Inigo family to be in one place at the same time. Often times when her parents arrived home, the three siblings were already asleep. In fact, when the twins saw their parents during the day, they sometimes would forget who exactly they were looking at and what relevance they held to their lives. Kali loved her siblings a great deal, and due to living in New Hampshire, she often found herself watching stories of the supers running wild frequently on the news.

With her parents away, Kali viewed it her job to look after the two twins she cared so strongly for. The three almost became their own family, devoid of parental figures. As the twins grew up, their parents slowly started to reintroduce themselves, but at that stage it was too late. Kali was the parental figure, and refused to give it up when it came to her younger siblings. It often caused a level of tension between her and her parents, but she couldn't help it. She loved them to bits, but aside from providing shelter, what else had their parents ever done for them?

In her mind, Kali constantly fought her parents to look after her siblings. When her parents finally tried to integrate back into family life, it seemed like their eldest daughter would be the one to prove more troublesome to appease than the younger twins. Internally Kali fought the constant war to upstage her parents, deep down not wanting her siblings to stop relying on her. She knew it would break her.

That left the question. What could upstage two office workers? A member of an emergency service.

While her aspirations to be a firefighter were purely selfish at first, she slowly grew into the work, her emotions branching from the siblings she had been so attached to, to the new family she made within the firehouse. With the constant war waged on the streets by gangs and supers, they had their work cut out for them, and there wasn't a dull day for the team. Kali would still sneak in time with her siblings, but her heart was stollen by her work, and her twins were content with their parents once more.

They had a relatively normal family from that point forth, even if Kali's visits were sporadic at best. After so long, Kali had finally come to accept that her parents were back in her life, and that they were here to stay.

The family remained like that for a few long years, Kali having a few close calls here and there, yet she still pushed through. She was happy to be a firefighter... Until she fought for the lives of the parents she had alienated for so long. A call out to a burning building in the dockyard district turned out to be a warehouse fire, the workers still inside. Her parents were among those workers.

Despite all the training she had received through the years as she pushed through the rank of recruit, all that went out of the window the second she caught sight of a patient wearing the logo she recognised on her parents own uniforms. Anxiety and anguish were two prominent feelings that day, her heart shattering as she watched the flames travel up the building. Her crew worked tirelessly to clear the first floor and work their way up, but as always, Kali was ahead of the group. This time however, she proved to be too far ahead for anyone to catch her.

Spotting a familiar shoe attached to an even more familiar leg, she launched herself towards her mother, struggling to pull the woman free from a bookshelf she was trapped beneath. The second another member of her crew came into sight, she left her mother to search for her dad. She couldn't deal with loosing them again. Not so soon after she let them in.

Thick smoke clouded her vision as she broke from the wall, stumbling blindly through the building as she looked for any sight of movement... Then she heard it... There. Just there. A groan. A creak. Movement?

Head snapping up, the last thing she remembered before the world fell to black was the burning wooden beam falling from the ceiling to land on top of her.

Kali awoke days later with the team she had worked so closely with crowded around her bed, her siblings at her side. She could recall the excruciating pain of her skin blistering and burning at the contact of the flames as they slowly burned through her uniform. Could still smell the thick stench of burning skin, excruciating pain until it suddenly stopped. She recalled feeling lighter yet heavier all at once, caught there beneath that beam until she was found.

It was also that day she learned of the loss of her father, and that her mother was in a coma. No one was sure if she'd wake up after the severe smoke inhalation she experienced and what the doctors expected would be nerve damage from being crushed against the bookshelf where Kali had found her. The heart break she felt was comparable to the pain of her burns. It was a while before she had full mobility and the will to move, each flinch and shudder causing her anguish, yet still her heart burned more than that building ever could. More than her skin ever could. After the event she was screened, and the very result she had been dreading emerged. A super. A super that could cause as much damage as she had seen that day.

Once discharged, Ignius and Blaise came home with her to her apartment... Their apartment. The siblings were reunited as a unit, and yet it was a bitter sweet reunion. Kali could no longer do the job she had been so fond of, and the twins had lost the parents they were finally learning to love again. There was always a chance of course that their mother could wake, but it was a slim chance.

After a taste of what could be such an empowering job that could save lives, Kali slipped into a depression. She longed for that feeling again. Wanting to be useful, if not for anyones but her sake. The twins pushed her to use her supposed ability, but it hurt. Both in heart and body it hurt. It wasn't useful if it only hurt people.

Despite the burns that had held her back in self pity for so long, Kali always searched for that one job that only she could do. That job also came at the perfect time as her siblings moved out, putting as much space as they could between themselves and their moping sister who they believed was on a suicide mission. To be a super without using her powers.

She frequented the dock yards late at night, becoming a well known spectre that haunted the alleys looking for trouble. When she found it, she'd do the best she could, but with minimal combat training and such bad week spots that were so fundamental, it was near impossible to win a fight.

Kali needed it... She needed that damn power though she never wanted to use it. As such she resigned herself to using it on as minimal occasions as possible, only activating her magma form as a last resort and when she was close enough to the action. Thus was born Scorch. An elusive yet frequently appearing Rogue.

Skills: Survival, Medicicine, Navigation in the dark, Search and rescue and Making a killer espresso.

Gear:

• Small fire extinguisher
• Fire retardant clothing
• A spare set of clothing
• Burn dressings
• Medical kit

Occupation: Barista (Ex-Firefighter)

Relationships and Family:

• Mother: Olivia Jess Inigo (Alive - Comatose)
• Father: Draco Barak Inigo (Deceased)
• Brother: Ignius Cin Inigo (Alive)
• Sister: Blaise Koal Inigo (Alive)

[LostButterfly92]

@The Ghost Note Approved! Very nice reference picture. Did you draw it yourself?
@CryptDemon Approved! Beautiful post. Loving the coloration.

Both of you: Please feel free to start roleplaying. Sandbox style. Timeline is entirely unique and I am all for improv. We'll find a way to meet up!

I will be joining in shortly after I rework my character a bit. (Sorry for the delay.)

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Did you draw it yourself?

@LostButterfly92

I wish, but it's from a very talented artist named GDBee. I'll see about making another character or two idk - maybe a villain.

[Chiro]

So one hero and one rogue already.

Maybe I'll make a villain to complement.

[CryptDemon]

Sandbox style huh? Might as well have Kali make her killer espresso then.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Oh boy, the IC, I'll post soon.

[LostButterfly92]

@The Ghost Note Hey, that's no problem at all! While I love drawing, I'm not especially talented. I used a dollmaker program for mine when I got frustrated. Just was curious. =)

Everybody: Thank you for your patience as I got the roleplay started. I had a few interruptions and delays, but I have my first post IC at last! You can jump in whenever you're ready. It's modern-day October, minus the coronavirus of course. I started my character at dusk for patrol but feel free to time jump around as needed.

[King Cosmos]

Just to let you know, I'm still working on a character. It's just slow going at the moment.

Coming up with Tinker gear is difficult. Coming up with names is harder.

[LostButterfly92]

@King Cosmos Tinkers are awesome though! I considered a thinker or tinker, but they are so difficult to write. Can't wait to see your character in action. =D

[Mixtape Ghost N]

tomorrow you shall get a post

[Eviledd1984]

Hello i would be very much interested in joining this rp, i had a couple of ideas for a character 1. A former crusader who is blessed with long life but is still vulnerable to being killed or wounded; and is armed with a holy sword to combat demons, 2. A jewel thief who can break various bones in his body, 3. A tall rabbit that is a eldritch being from another dimension; and has the power to enter and twist other's dreams. What do you think would be the best character idea to use?