[OOC] Essence of the World II: Tears do Fall

[Glitchy]

So, if I explicitly state that they are using internal essences. The confusion over this should be over? The reason I had not written it the first time was because I did not think someone could say that their own brain was not part of their body....I'll work on the explanation again for Slade.

[Glitchy]

Graham Mason

Name: Graham Mason
Alias: Judgement
Age: 42
Race: Human
Appearance:
Graham Mason is 5’ 8’’ tall and 165 lbs. He appears as a brawny brown-haired, deep blue-eyed, broad-shouldered, granite chinned man with a copstash mustache. He wears a fedora, trench coat, dress shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. It is often said his clothes bear resemblance to the detectives of the 1940s. In his crime fighting persona, Judgement, Graham wears a gas mask, peaked cap, black leather gloves, and a long-sleeved black police uniform.

Social Status: Private Investigator. Crime Fighter. Hero of Justice.
Relationship: The Laughing Man (Vigilante/Partner). Holly Mason (Wife). Sophia Mason (Daughter). Alexander Mason(Son – Deceased).

General Activity:
Graham works as private investigator, examining crime scenes and determining the probably causes of homicide victims in the city. He is an independent contractor for the local police and works closely with their supernatural department when their forensics teams have difficulty obtaining samples to analyze for court. He uses a combination of intuition, interrogation, and experience to piece together the scene; then investigates the evidence he has collected, forms a few hypotheses of the causes, and then writes a report for the police to file away for future reference.

At night, Graham patrols the streets as an masked vigilante known as “Judgement”. His nocturnal activities consist of beating up criminals in a dark alleyways and threatening them to change their ways. His activities are known by most of the Casino Owners in Kenan, but so far have been small time busts of drug dealers and gang members loitering around the streets. Graham’s avoidance of the major transaction areas in the city, as well as high officials, has kept him under the radar for the most part, though he is on the city’s wanted list.

Abilities:
[Power] Esper
An esper is a rare human that manipulates their internal essences using their mind instead of spells, writings, and incantations and mixes it with the essences in their surroundings. This differs from the traditional use of magic in that the core of an espers ability to manipulate their internal essences resides completely in their brain. The most shocking example of this difference is that an esper even when decapitated would be still be able to manipulate their internal essences for the few seconds that their brain remains functional.

William Penfield, a prominent scientist in the study of human anatomy and magic, has explained it as the physical manifestation of the man’s desire to change his surroundings. Scientifically, it is the process of influencing the Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Mechanics to bring about changes into the real world by using one’s bioelectrical activity to affect events happening at the nanoscopic scale. This is an explanation on how "magic" can exist in the real world in terms of applied physics. All this means is someone uses their own internal essence with essences in their surroundings to create magic.

However, unlike most humans, their powers will not work if the user does not believe they will work. That is they might project a fireball hot enough to melt lead, but if they don't believe they can burn a leaf. Their powers won't do any damage to leaves or trees despite being able to melt everything around it. A prominent example of this was in an experiment where an esper was asked to burn a bottle of water. A bottle of oil was placed in front of the esper. Though the esper produced a fire that melted straight through several sheets of steel. The bottle of oil itself remained unharmed because he believed it contained water and knew that water could not burn. Once told of the contents of the bottle, the bottle was incinerated instantly.

It has also been noted that the weaknesses derived from using essences in this manner are similar to blood magic. Extended use of abilities past its user’s limits in increasing severity are nausea, fatigue, memory loss, loss of motor skills, multiple organ failure, and eventually death. However, these symptoms are not by blood loss, but by damage to the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and medulla oblongata by prolonged use of their internal essences.

In terms of mortality, espers are far more likely to kill themselves using their powers compared to blood mages as their drawbacks are not as visibly noticeable. It is speculated no more than 50 individuals manipulate essences in this unique manner.

[Power] Second Chance “The Deathless Domain”
The ability to restore a damaged object to by using an electromagnetic force to pull the missing pieces of an object back together. The user’s essence is used as a tracer, imprinting the specific chemical make-up of the targeted object, and then inducing an alternating current that attracts the missing pieces back together. This ability does not only extend to inanimate objects, but also to humans and animals since all matter is made up of electromagnetic bonds on the atomic scale.

However, this power has limitations in both scale, complexity, and distance in that the missing pieces have to within twenty yards of the original object, that damage restored is restricted to that of objects that can fit in a five by five foot cube, and that in the case of complex structures, such as the anatomy of a human body, this power can only restore two vital organs before requiring a rest period of several hours with an exception of the brain which if damaged would be instant death.

[Skill] Close Quarter Combat
Graham is an expert at striking and grappling techniques. His competency is incredibly high due to the accumulated experiences from fighting criminals. He is at a proficiency where his body reacts automatically to feints, punches, and kicks. His preferred fighting style is boxing though he has experimented with several combat techniques to round out his defenses. He is an instinctual and aggressive fighter by nature. Often jumping into the middle of a fight, fists swinging at the nearest person in a group, knocking down his opponents in a chaotic and expedient fashion. His weapon expertise consists of handguns, rifles, and truncheons.

Equipment:
Glock 22
Side-handled Truncheon
AR-15 Tactical Carbine
M40 Field Protective Mask
Concussion Grenades
Hand Cuffs
Kevlar Vest
Kit Belt

Personality: Will Show IC

Biography
Before the destruction of the Hell’s Gate, Graham was as a police officer in a rural city in Germany. He was an unremarkable man who found happiness in his marriage to his wife and his two children. When Hell’s Gate was destroyed, Graham fled the city for a safe refuge, losing his son to a demon as he tried to escape the ensuing chaos. His wife never forgave him for his son’s death and left him with their remaining daughter.

The anguish of losing his family and the death of his son, whom always saw him as a hero, threw him into a brooding depression. In despair, Graham shot himself in the chest. As he lay on the street dying, Graham wished he had a second chance to do everything over again. To be the man his son had always believed him to be. Graham’s wish triggered a radical change in his body. Blood flowed back into his veins and his wounds closed up as if by magic.

Since then, Graham has traveled to Kenan to save misfortunate civilians from the pain of losing a loved one. He currently works as private investigator during the day and fights crimes at night as a masked vigilante “Judgement”. It is not known that Graham possesses any supernatural abilities since Graham has not used his ability since it first appeared. Graham’s identity as Judgement also remains a mystery to the higher officials of Kenan.

Brysen Gray

Name: Brysen Gray
Alias: The Laughing Man
Age: 25
Race: Human

Appearance:
Brysen Gray is 5’ 5’’ tall and weighs 148lbs. He appears as an athletic black-haired, brown-eyed, baby-faced man with a regular taper haircut. He wears a black slim fit wool cashmere suit, black tie, white dress shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He is the epitome of the young working class businessman. In his crime fighting person, The Laughing Man, Brysen wears an oilskin pure white raincoat, white latex pants, white rain boots, white latex gloves, and a blank white mask. Four large buttons tuck in his raincoat at the midsection with wolf fur outlining the base of the hood.

Social Status: Administrative Assistant. Crime Fighter. Hero of Justice.
Relations: Rachel Gray (Sister), Judgement(Vigilante/Partner)

General Activity:
Brysen works as an administrative assistant, filing police reports, directing phone calls, answering administrative questions, and contacting important figures for the central police station. He has been employed for nearly four years and works under the current police chief of district 13 in downtown Kenan. He often spends the day filing paperwork and processing the tasks force’s financial expenses. It is a very routine schedule that begins at 6:00am and ends at 5:00pm with breaks at 11:30am for lunch.

At night, Brysen patrols the streets as an masked vigilante known as “The Laughing Man”. His nocturnal activities consist of information trading, money transactions, and protection schemes. He offers protection for criminals wanting to get out of the business and uses information he has gathered to blackmail their employees into submission. It is a known fact that he has incriminating evidence on several high ranking officials, but his existence has been for the most part a benign deterrent in the internal politics of the city against power hungry individuals.

Abilities:
[Power] Esper
An esper is a rare human that manipulates their internal essences using their mind instead of spells, writings, and incantations and mixes it with the essences in their surroundings. This differs from the traditional use of magic in that the core of an espers ability to manipulate their internal essences resides completely in their brain. The most shocking example of this difference is that an esper even when decapitated would be still be able to manipulate their internal essences for the few seconds that their brain remains functional.

William Penfield, a prominent scientist in the study of human anatomy and magic, has explained it as the physical manifestation of the man’s desire to change his surroundings. Scientifically, it is the process of influencing the Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Mechanics to bring about changes into the real world by using one’s bioelectrical activity to affect events happening at the nanoscopic scale. This is an explanation on how "magic" can exist in the real world in terms of applied physics. All this means is someone uses their own internal essence with essences in their surroundings to create magic.

However, unlike most humans, their powers will not work if the user does not believe they will work. That is they might project a fireball hot enough to melt lead, but if they don't believe they can burn a leaf. Their powers won't do any damage to leaves or trees despite being able to melt everything around it. A prominent example of this was in an experiment where an esper was asked to burn a bottle of water. A bottle of oil was placed in front of the esper. Though the esper produced a fire that melted straight through several sheets of steel. The bottle of oil itself remained unharmed because he believed it contained water and knew that water could not burn. Once told of the contents of the bottle, the bottle was incinerated instantly.

It has also been noted that the weaknesses derived from using essences in this manner are similar to blood magic. Extended use of abilities past its user’s limits in increasing severity are nausea, fatigue, memory loss, loss of motor skills, multiple organ failure, and eventually death. However, these symptoms are not by blood loss, but by damage to the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and medulla oblongata by prolonged use of their internal essences.

In terms of mortality, espers are far more likely to kill themselves using their powers compared to blood mages as their drawbacks are not as visibly noticeable. It is speculated no more than 50 individuals manipulate essences in this unique manner.

[Power] Godless Creation “The Transient Illusion”
The ability to materialize electricity into solid objects by arranging positive and negatively charged particles into a physical structure. It goes beyond the common conventions of physics in that the user’s essence is used as the focus point of the object, acting like a glue that allows charged particles to bind together. Objects created from this ability are stable and won’t shock the user since all charged particles cancel out.

However, these objects will have the affinity of “light” and “electricity” and “magnetism” and break easily when confronted with powerful versions of those forces. This same affinity also allows the reverse to be true. In that these objects also cancel or distort abilities that use light, electricity, and magnetism. As a light based essence, this ability also allows the user to manipulate the visual appearance of any object they create, making them look identical to the real objects they may imitate.

Besides the elemental weakness shown in the paragraph above, this ability is also limited in the scale, magnitude, and duration because his status as a human limits the amount of essence he can properly control. He can only create objects the volumetric size of a 5 by 5 foot cube, the strength of steel, and with a duration of one hour before the item dissipates into the air.

[Skill] Close Quarter Combat
Brysen is proficient in hand-to-hand combat and submission techniques. His competency is high due to his accumulated experience from the protection services he offers to criminals. While he does not have the level of skill to dodge punches on whim, Brysen has an unusually good depth perception and lateral movement. It is often remarked that trying to hit him is like trying to hit a piece of paper dangling in the air. Swing too wide or too slow and he can avoid you entirely for the next 80 punches.

His preferred fighting style is an unknown open palm martial art of eastern descent. His partner, Judgement, has surmised it is a hybrid of Ba Gua Zhang(Grappling), Silat(Breaking Joints), Duan Quan(Quick Low Close Range Movement), and Hung Ga(Medium Range Combat). Brysen is a cautious and analytical fighter by nature. He tests his opponents, find’s their weaknesses, and disposes of them using minimal energy. His weapon expertise consists of handguns, swords, knives, daggers, and staffs.

Equipment:
Glock 22
Kevlar Vest
Swordstick
Fairbarin-Sykes fighting knife

Personality: Will Show IC

Biography
Before the destruction of the Hell’s Gate, Brysen was an orphan at a catholic orphanage in downtown New York. He was a bright and loving sociable young boy who liked playing soccer and basketball. When Hell’s Gate was destroyed, Brysen fled New York with his sister, two of his friends, and his caretaker, a catholic priest. Several weeks later, the group finds themselves in a barren wasteland in Philadelphia.

Despondent, the priest asks the children to pray for salvation, thinking they would all soon be dead. He refuses to let the children leave as night falls and kills Brysen’s friends in a fit of rage as they attempt to leave. Terrified, Brysen continues to pray until his sister collapses from hypothermia. Desperate, he too attempts to leave to find her shelter and is left beaten to a near death state. Remarking that god would soon save him, the priest then leaves Brysen and his sister, and disappears into the night.

Cold, shocked, and dying. Brysen’s final wishes were to have the strength to save his sister. That if god was not willing to give him miracles, that at the very end that he could somehow make miracles of his own. Light coalesces in his small hands, forming a bright tiny sword. It glows with warm light. Brysen coughs blood, but somehow strength finds itself in his legs and he crawls to his sister. The sword becomes a blanket and the two sleep under its warmth for the rest of the night.

In the morning, his sister has disappeared. Footprints leading off to the distance. Brysen tries to follow the tracks, but never finds her. He arrives in Kenan 5 years later. Still looking for any clue that she is still alive. He currently works as an administrative assistant for the district 13 police force and fights crime at night as the masked vigilante “The Laughing Man”. It is not known that Brysen possesses any supernatural abilities since Brysen has never used his ability in front of people. His identity as “The Laughing Man” also remains a mystery to the higher officials of Kenan.

[Mikael]

Very good, Glitchy. :P

---

I see Wind has posted! ^^

[Wind Wild]

Indeed she has. ^^ Any creative criticism is welcome~!

[Nevis]

O-kay, I was without internet for a few days. I'm back now, and will get on my GA today or tomorrow.

[Mikael]

Welcome back, Nevis.

[Wind Wild]

C'mon people, Easter is over, time to get back to work. I thought you were all excited to start. :)

[Fallenreaper]

I can post again, bring Emmet to the Rabid Dog, but I didn't want to seem to be a speed poster. Also, Glitchy, you and I might need to talk about Darius's and your character's connect to make sure it doesn't conflict since I didn't know he was a crime fight outside the law. I don't want him biting Darius in the tail too soon, personally rather avoid it completely if possible.

[Mikael]

Syn and I will have a collab post up soon for Solus and Ralice's debut into Season 2. It'll take place in Kenan.

In any case, I've just been busy IRL, but I'll get my character sheets done hopefully soon.

[Vinsanity]

I can post again, just wanted to give everyone else time to get their introductions in, I am excited to see everyone's...but also anxious to continue.

[Nevis]

I'm not quite sure on the direction I want to go with on Nen's GA yet. Is it alright if I leave them vague and undefined for a while as I get a better grasp of the setting by interacting IC for a while?

[Mikael]

Nevis: Yes. In the past, Wind Wild has allowed us to do that, so I can't think why it should be disallowed in Season 2. Just make sure you still adhere to basic guidelines for Guardian Angels.

[Rtron]

Wind Wild said
C'mon people, Easter is over, time to get back to work. I thought you were all excited to start. :)

All of my characters are involved in Collabs...So..soooon.

[Mikael]

Rtron said
All of my characters are involved in Collabs...So..soooon.

Hah! HAHAHAHA. Well now... Aren't you quite the dandy diffy duffy doffer!

=.= But don't worry... don't worry at all!



When I get me stoofs done, Imma challenge you to...



Using something like this character who is totally not a crude euphemism for a mechanical HodgeBearSawTroll!



You'll ask why. It's impossible to not ask. So let me grant you a kindness and tell you why!! HERE IT COMES.



>:3

SOON

[februari]

I'm certainly game for collabs and if someone wants to work Marie into their intro, even better. Otherwise, I'll probably wait until a few others have gotten their intros up to continue her story.

[Glitchy]

Well. I would have posted already, but...yeah...lol.

[Fallenreaper]

februari said
I'm certainly game for collabs and if someone wants to work Marie into their intro, even better. Otherwise, I'll probably wait until a few others have gotten their intros up to continue her story.

I would suggest trying to seek out a place you know a few PCs are meeting, like the Rabid Dog possibly is where Emmet, Zi, and likely at least one of Glitchy's PCs is meeting. Once you have Maria meet the PCs, it would make it easier to pick them out in a crowd...or in some cases when crap hits the fan. XD As well as get involved with their stories and drag them into yours. ;)

Currently I've made a pirate pad link that I can pm to you and anyone else interested in to making connections with Emmet. This might web out to other ones and what not, who knows?

Glitchy said
Well. I would have posted already, but...yeah...lol.

Currently working on double checking what I know is going to happen with Emmet, when it happens.

Also, Mika, I'm in the pad pirate pad link if you want to talk.

[Nevis]

Icthys, shall we collab a bit as we're the only ones in Loom (unless that's changed)? Otherwise, I'm kind of left to make my way to a different city to interact with any one.

[Fallenreaper]

Currently in the plot pad Link I hope I sent to everyone as well as Rtron left his contribution in there for connections as well. :p

[Mikael]

I know things are really slow going right now, and on my part of those reasons, I apologize for delaying my posting in the IC here. I did, though, have one major issue that happened to me just a couple days ago (I think). Basically, I lost all my progress on my character sheets, my plot notes, and such... as well as a lot of other unrelated data. I guess that's what I get for putting all my eggs in one basket (in this case, a USB drive that refused to be read and was erased in my attempts to recover files). I'm by no means giving up... but I am fairly dispirited. Regardless, I'll struggle through, and will be starting things from scratch and what I can remember.

A cookie to anyone who gets the reference (and meaning) of my new avatar picture.