[OOC] Symphony on High

[Nakushita]

@BrokenPromise

The deed has been done, now if only she can win a EVO title to live up to her lofty expectations.

[Izurich]

Hey, what are those suspiciously bolded letters in the bio?

o r o s t h e g r e e d y

I knew it! She's just another Oros!

[The World]

Just another Oros?

[BrokenPromise]

The Grand Magistrate has been aware of the situation. Though perhaps worse, so has she.

[FamishedPants]

That Junko avatar is gonna throw me for a loop just about every time I see it.

I'll be throwing up a sheet within the next 3 years, keep an eye out.

[TaintedMushroom]

Oh boy, that felt like starting a car that's been sitting out back all winter. But I did it!

Bardo

NAME:

Bardo Landry

AGE:

23

SEX:

Male

APPEARANCE:

My Hider

GRIMIORE:

Bardo’s grimiore is a large leatherbound book with a cover so dark that light almost seems to be drawn towards it, like a blackhole.

INSTRUMENT:

Secret Seeker: Everyone and everything has a secret. Something deep below the surface that they seek to keep buried. The dark blade of this short 1 handed katana seems to almost whisper promises and lies in an effort to entice any such knowledge out of those who stare at it for a prolonged period. Light seems almost drawn in, the blade itself almost gives one the sense that it might sever the threads of reality. Its gleaming edge practically absorbs anything it passes through rather than cutting, gone as if devoured by the universe itself.

RANK: Gold
KEYWORD: Sword
DAMAGE TYPE: Chaos
DAMAGE: A
SPEED: B
SENTINEL: E
SPECIAL: Secrets Exposed: Secret Seeker obtains knowledge about anything it comes into contact with, the depth of that knowledge being limited by how clean of a hit was landed. Contact with weapons or armor will allow Bardo to know information about them as if he owned it himself. A clean blow upon an enemy will give him an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses as if they were his own. Blocking a strike will give him knowledge of how best to defend against it. Attacking, repelling, or stabbing a melody will tell him the notes that make it up.

STYLE:

In Esper form Bardo merely appears as himself mostly, donning a solid black suit and blindfold, though the blindfold doesn’t impair his ability to perceive his surroundings in any way.
RANK: Bronze
PHYSICAL: E
ARCANE: C
CHAOS: D
SPECIAL: The blindfold still allows him to perceive his surroundings and keeps him from becoming disoriented when moving through the air.

My Hider

GENRE:

Endless Library: Bardo’s abilities center on maneuverability and manifest in the form of floating matter and tattered parchment. The papers and bits of matter seen when Bardo’s genre manifests as a form of dark matter and tend to distort light and reality in their immediate area.

RANK: Silver
ELEMENT: Gravity
EFFECT NOTES: [Weightless [4], Suspend [4]], pull [2], Push [2], Blink [4], Shield [4], Reflect [4], Portal [4], powerful [0], Full Enhance [4], Restrain [4]

SPECIAL: Gives a singular rank increase to push and pull notes when cast.

LEITMOTIF:

Bardo’s blindfold serves to help keep him grounded no matter what angle he perceives the world from, ensuring he never feels a sense of vertigo or uneasiness regardless if he’s upside down or plummeting miles.
RANK: Bronze

PR:

Rank: Bronze
Disguise, Infrared Goggles, handcuffs
Special: At Bardo’s willing the handcuffs can imitate the effect of suspend on themselves and whoever is locked up in them.

BACKUP:

N/A

FACTION:

Freelancer

TRIVIA:

Bardo always had a thing for being a know-it-all. When he was younger Bardo always had to be right, and he made sure to tell everyone. He had a tendency to want others to know how much more he knew and just how wrong they were. Aging didn’t diminish these urges one bit as Bardo grew only more smug and self assured as he grew older. Bardo had a tendency to notice obscure details and memorize seemingly useless information at will, and he seemed even more drawn to things he shouldn’t know about.

Bardo was always a tad bit of a loner, his family only consisted of an uncle who’d raised him since he was too young to remember, and his parents were merely distant faceless memories that he chose not to worry himself with. Bardo instead chose to concern himself with the workings of the world, seeking an education as a physicist with dreams of seeing the universe for real one day. At least until he found the book.

Bardo was always someone who preferred to know the truth rather than speculate. When some of his classmates spoke of a haunted library on a rougher side of town Bardo couldn’t help but interject, much to their annoyance. On a dare, and a desire to prove them wrong, Bardo agreed to go there himself to disprove the haunting. What he found instead changed his life forever. There he found it, a dark tome, seeming to draw him in and whisper the promise of secrets and universal understanding if only he’d pick it up.

Well, Bardo was never one to shy away from forbidden knowledge.

[BrokenPromise]

@TaintedMushroom I was aware of parts of this app, but I have discussed it with Majoraa.

There are a few similarities between Endless Eclipse, Oros's black starry katana and Secret Seeker, Bardo’s black starry katana. They even have the ability to divine information, albeit in different ways. But overall I think Bardo and Oros the Mad have enough differences that changes aren't needed. They're both occult themed, but one is a scholar and the other is a cultist that draws on the power of eldrich abominations. I only bring it up because I mentioned this was a concern of mine.

Secret seeker feels pretty loaded without the random "skill" increase. I'm not sure how long they would last or how we'd determine what to increase either. We feel like just knowing what the opponent is capable of would give Bardo an advantage he could exploit anyway. This next bit is more of a warning than a critique, but chaos damage does little damage to espers and is less impressive than arcane attacks vs monsters. Though it has some niche uses/advantages against non-monster magi and is effectively an anti-material weapon. Just making sure that's what you want.

The buff to movement notes is quite strong. A single rank increase would be fine but doubling it is effectively going beyond what an "S" rank note can do. If you need more oomph out of your notes, the [weightless] note triples the push distance by making your target unable to really "stand" on the ground.

If that all sounds reasonable to you, make the changes and fling Bardo into the dark abyss of the character section.

[TaintedMushroom]

@BrokenPromiseYeah I'll change those details, I wasn't super attached to em. Once I actually start to write out the character and get into his headspace even more I'm confident his own unique flair will stand out! His goal is to be less of a frontline fighter and more of an information seeker/skirmisher/wild card type of guy.

[FamishedPants]

Noble Spark

_{❤️ Ponn for recolor}

N o b e l S p a r k

_{19 y/o | Male | 5'10 | 130 lbs | Freelancer}
⚡

SEX:

Male

APPEARANCE:

Justin stands at a height of 5'10 and is somewhat thin, with almost no muscles to be seen on him. He has a messy head of short blonde hair he rarely decides to style and brown eyes people rarely get to see since his gaze is hard to lock down. Justin's attire often consists of loose-fitting clothes that rep his favorite heroes, shows, or bands. He doesn't smile too much.

Justin

Noble Spark, his Esper form, seems to age him up a few years and gives him a more athletic build, while also growing him a few inches. His Style appears to be a leather jacket with various items adorning it such as resistors, a motor as a belt buckle, a stylized lightning bolt that runs along the length of his limbs, and some fur lining. He has to clarify he's not Maverick on occasion. And, of course, he has sunglasses.

Noble Spark

GRIMIORE:

A pair of gaudy fingerless gloves.

INSTRUMENT: Shock, Awe(some)

A pair of garish knuckledusters with spikes at the end. The spikes seem to crackle with electricity and shock foes they hit.
GRADE: Gold
KEYWORD: Hands, Hands
DAMAGE TYPE: Arcane
DAMAGE: B
SPEED: B
SENTINEL: D
SPECIAL: Crosstalk - Getting zapped by these knuckledusters doesn't just hurt! The shocks received seem to interfere with the ability to cast melodies temporarily. Starting the turn after receiving an attack, the next damaging melody cast by a foe is converted into the lightning element and has its damage rank reduced by 1.

STYLE: Resistor

A delinquent's getup but with, well, resistors adorning the belt, with a belt buckle that looks like a motor. Doesn't seem to do a whole lot of resistin' yet.

GRADE: Bronze
PHYSICAL: E
ARCANE: D
CHAOS: D
SPECIAL: Pretty lit - The stylized lightning bolt on his attire glows when he's under the effect of a beneficial note.

GENRE: Voltaic Knight

An aggressive genre focused on damage, mobility, and stickiness.

GRADE: Silver
ELEMENT: Lightning
NOTES: [Paralysis (4)] [Speedster (4)], Damage (2), Damage X (6), Pull (2), Blink (4), Transplace (8), shield (4), trail (0), Enhance (2), Bounce (0)
SPECIAL: Reroute - When receiving lightning damage, gain the effect of a Speedster note.

LEITMOTIF: The Noble Spark

A different kind of spark than your average hot-blooded hero, but no less intense.

GRADE: Bronze
SPECIAL: Heroic hue - Noble Spark's passion for justice causes the surrounding area to charge with electrical energy. Not enough to do any damage or anything, but it looks cool. His lightning is always blue in color.

PR: Grounded

Out of form means out of the fight entirely for Justin. Unless someone stops him, he'll flee every time.

GRADE: Silver
GEAR: Clip light (20c), Kevlar Coat (60c), Disguise (30c), Flashbang (40c)
SPECIAL: Strikes twice - After following some shady guide he read online, Justin's clip light has been tampered with so that it can emit a bright flash of light similar to a flashbang, albeit only effective against those right in front of him. The process blows the bulb out, rendering the light useless afterwards. Also, his PR equipment tends to have stickers of his favorite heroes somewhere on them.

BACKUP:

Hasn't made enough connections to receive one yet.

FACTION:

Freelancer

TRIVIA:

Biography

Justin Rufina's life has always been plagued by his lack of confidence. Incredibly introverted and shy by nature, he found talking to others to be difficult and could not do so without stumbling over his words and panicking. Misunderstandings ruined potential friendships, while his inability to stand up for himself made him a very easy target for bullies, which in turn made him even less confident in himself. After moving numerous times either due to wanting a fresh start in a school or because his parents' jobs demanded it, he's given up on trying to make friends entirely.

Justin's parents were always supportive of him. His father was a respectable cop who had a strong sense of justice, something he passed down to Justin even though the boy was unlikely to ever act upon it. His mother is a vet who dotes on and spoils him, so he filled the void of friendship with various games, movies, cartoons, anime, and toys. His obsession has always been with superheroes, particularly those brimming with confidence. His sole desire has for a long time now been to become a hero who was far stronger, better, and cooler than he ever could hope to be. Someone who could look villains, monsters, and even people in the eyes without an ounce of hesitation and fight even when things looked bleak.

It was less than a year ago that he had finally gotten his chance. He was attending a convention with his parents when suddenly everyone started panicking. He ended up getting separated from them and lost, hiding behind an abandoned stall he had bought something from only an hour prior as he finally caught sight of what was causing people to flee in terror -- some monsters, just like out of some comic or something! Of course, this had to be his moment! But even though he dreamed of a day where he could be a hero for many years, he could not just summon courage from thin air. He froze up and watched as his powerlessness cost a few people their lives.

Just as he began to despair at his cowardice, he felt felt a zap on his leg. Looking down, he noticed a pair of fingerless gloves had fallen from a shelf. There was something about them, besides how cool they looked, that compelled him to put them on.

The form he took was... perfect. Bigger, stronger, faster than him and it even had cool sunglasses. The surge of energy he felt completely washed away the fear that had been holding him back for so long. Without delay, he vaulted the stand and made a beeline to the monsters, something he'd never thought he could do. Now this was his moment!

Obviously, he came out on top. The monsters were dealt with and though he had been too late to save everyone, he did save a few lives. It was the first time he'd ever honestly felt great about himself. He figured now was his chance to leave a mark on the world and do what his heart had always wanted him to!

...but his new form didn't last forever. The moment his form reverted, so too did his personality. The terror of looking people in the eye, the terror of saying something wrong, the terror of sounding stupid. These and all of his fears only seem to temporarily vanish when he's transformed. But now that he had this ability, he had to use it for good. He knew that much, and so not too long after the incident, he found himself moonlighting as a hero.

Noble Spark is a (in his opinion) cool hero who fights for justice when others could not or would not. Moving out to Pax Septimus was surely the right decision for someone like Justin to make, right...?

Personality

Justin Rufina is characterized by his lack of confidence. Speaking to him can be a chore as he is almost physically incapable of keeping eye contact for more than a second at a time, constantly stammering out responses, and often speaks too quiet to hear. He is a pushover who won't argue with people when they belittle or insult him and always tries to remove himself from stressful situations the second they appear. Needless to say, if a fight broke out, he'd never once consider fighting himself and would flee. He is far from what his ideal of a hero should be, a fact that has always caused him to feel depressed. On top of that, he's very much childish and dense for his age, likely a result of not having friends. He adores stories about good prevailing over evil, is very much a fan of rule of cool, and likes rock music.

Noble Spark, his heroic persona, has absolutely none of his cowardice or self-esteem issues. So long as he is in Esper form, he takes things as they come, often with a cocky smile on his face and is not known to let anything get to him. He has a fondness for doing things or saying things that he thinks makes him look cool. He is very much still childish, but at least his heart always seems to be in the right place. He is pretty easy to approach in form, affable to other Espers even if they're rude to him so long as they aren't blatant criminals. Despite his obnoxious behavior, he will always do what he believes is right over anything else.

[Ponn]

Oh look, it's better Justin.

Far more deserving of the name than dead Justin.

[Izurich]

Reminder: His lightning is blue, not yellow, avoid this rookie mistake. 😒

[BrokenPromise]

@FamishedPants Has the name of a character already in the RP, gold instrument's primary gimmick is just there to trigger the silver genre, misleading picture, not to mention better alternatives exist...

But you know what? This is one of those cases where somehow, despite everything, it's so bad it just kind of wraps around and becomes good again! Hot blooded anime protagonist #230613648 gets a pass from Majoraa and I. Though you might want to workshop your PR a bit more. Your PR special can do something a little extra since it's silver. Then again, it's just the PR.

Gunna see about getting the first post up next weekend. There's still time to make a character if anyone else wishes to join, but it's high time this bird spread it's wings.

[FamishedPants]

I have added a PR special. Let me know what you think. :)

[BrokenPromise]

@FamishedPants Looks pretty bad. I'll accept it.

[BrokenPromise]

Alright, we got all the presently apped characters in the character tab now. Work on the first post has started, but I have a lot of writing to do. Gunna be lit.

@TaintedMushroom@Nakushita Something I noticed going over your character sheets is that neither of your characters have an alias. It's not essential, but most espers take advantage of the magical-girl-like identity protection that being an esper offers. Marrie Knight doesn't have one because she's inexperienced and the Bates twins pretty much live as espers. They pretend to be traveling musicians and their secret became impossible to keep with their popularity. Point being, someone who pries into secrets and a mobster might want to keep a lower profile than that and hide behind an alias. Not necessary, but figured I'd mention it.

Also Himiko doesn't have a last name. Normally I wouldn't care, but given her wealthy upbringing it might come up. So it would be cool if you could add that for me.

[TaintedMushroom]

Oh good point, I'll come up with somethin

[Nakushita]

@BrokenPromiseI may come up with something, if I find a image that I feel like it is similar enough but different enough to be a alias, but I had not seen anything that sort of fit that yet when I was initially making the CS, which is why I decide to go without it for the time being. But I'll keep on the lookout for something in the mean time.

As for a last name, I'll make sure to add one here relatively shortly.

[BrokenPromise]

I clarified on the discord, but I more mean a name. Like how Justin Rufina's alias is "Noble Spark" or how Finn is called "Timekeeper."

[Nyahahameha]

Hello! I was browsing the topics and came across this RP, and I really like the modern setting and the really well thought out power system on offer here. Is this still open for character submissions?

[Izurich]

Hello! I was browsing the topics and came across this RP, and I really like the modern setting and the really well thought out power system on offer here. Is this still open for character submissions?

@Nyahahameha

Yes! 🥳