[OOC] Ʌ D V E N T

[Antarctic Termite]

A D V E N T

Caprice of the New Divinity

Overture

Life flourishes in the twenty-first century as it long has, and has always hoped to continue. The megalopolis of Avernale is a fine monument to to the relentless evolution of humanity. Its burgeoning sprawl of humans and their constructed shells has long since consumed its outliers, and proud radiance spills into the world from its illustrious core, a triumph of wealth and knowledge. Over ten million people live within its borders, half-mile-high towers of aspiration on the shore of the estuary reminding them every day why they continue to strive and struggle to live as a human.

The development of the mortal race until this moment has been explosive, but predictable. The natural laws tick blindly onwards, empowering many and destroying others. The world turns on the rule of the collective, the total sum of billions of decisions made by a deeply interconnected species.

On the second of November, 2021, the dispersion of power between humans underwent an abrupt and unnatural change.

A sparse selection of individuals were torn from their mortal coil in a mundane accident. A bus careened into a petrol station, and their flesh was destroyed in fire. But their conscious minds were preserved in new forms, at once detached from their foster world and more tightly bound to it than any human had ever been. Their bodies had become fluid enough to sculpt with a whim, and so also the world around them grew malleable and soft, deeper under the control of their thoughts than their own flesh and blood of former days. So much control did the once-mortals hold over the world they perceived that only the echoes of vanished and fearful years still reserved for them a title, a name- God.

Thus was the new pantheon created, and so were the heavens born, each awaiting the presence of their assigned deity to be crafted into maturity. But the minds of the gods had neither grown nor decayed under their ascension. Each still thought like a human, and retained human desire and feeling. They retained pain, and exhaustion, and wilful pleasure. They refused to sulk alone in their divine realms, but sought out the vibrant humanity of Avernale, and remembered the wishes and ideals that they were now free to act upon. Greatest of all they retained a human lust for community- For peers, for rivalry, for love and hatred among one another. The gods pulled each other together like strings twisting and tying one another, looping and tugging in knots of harmony and tangles of violence, undoing their bonds to one another only to come together again, all for the sheer sake of connection.

And as the gods quarrelled and romanced over the lights of Avernale, so did their creations grow familiar and strange, and the world entered a new age of magic.

Premise

Divine Power
The driving concept of this roleplay is the dynamics that develop between characters as they're given divine power. However, this power is not infinite. It is limited by several factors, of which the most notable are proximity and time. Given direct proximity and no consideration for time, gods can function at their optimal capacity, and can do the following: Transport themselves and objects through air at speeds up to 150 km/h; Travel (and bring other objects) through solid barriers; Create matter from nothing; Arrange matter in any chemical and physical form they wish, including machines and buildings; Create and edit living organisms to their specifications; Change their own body into any shape they choose; Construct portals to their own and other heavens; Cause physical changes that have no observable explanation, i.e. occur by magic.

Divine Realms
Each deity has their own extradimensional domain. Within their realm, their powers (other than observation) are amplified- Large objects like buildings and mountains can be produced in minutes, and they can change things that are ordinarily beyond their control, such as projecting a sun into the sky, changing the source and strength of the ambient gravity, altering the composition of the atmosphere, and so on. However, divine realms are strictly limited by available space, with an unoccupied realm occupying a cube with a width and length of about 300m. This space can be arranged into any shape its deity wishes (sphere, cylinder etc.) but will only expand based on the number of human souls inside it. An empty spherical realm will have about half the radius of one with a thousand residents. Any deity can freely enter any realm, though transporting themselves through the interdimensional space takes longer if it is not their own, and exiting is always instant, and will always return them to the Avernale city center.
The composition of a divine realm will affect the powers of its corresponding deity, and is the only available means for the gods to specialise their power. It takes a reduced amount of time for a god to move or produce something similar to what occupies their divine realm. A realm that contains an abundance of dragons will make it easier for a god to create or turn mortals into dragons. A heavily volcanic realm will reduce the amount of time it takes its deity to produce lava flows or volcanic materials like obsidian. A realm with Gothic cathedrals will facilitate reproducing the same architecture in Avernale.

Time
The larger the scope of what a god is trying to create, the longer it will take to do so. This is effective for all divine powers, but more notable for some. Changing their own bodies can usually take place in a matter of seconds, depending on the size of their new form- Even a fairly large body takes only a minute or two to complete. Creating or editing other forms of life takes longer, depending on size and the complexity of the change, whether physical or magical. A very large body, such as a 200 tonne whale, will take several hours to create from scratch, while a body the size of a human may only take twenty minutes, and tiny bodies such as spiders can be produced in seconds.
The time it takes to produce a magical change is identical to the time taken to produce a physical change with the same effects. Granting a large animal the bones and muscles required to support its own weight takes the same amount of time as it does to give it the ability to support itself by magic, and granting a human the ability to breathe fire takes as long as it does to grow fire lungs and appropriate fireproofing within their body. Inanimate matter is easier to create than living organisms, but still limited by time. Creating a 20-storey, 100-metre tall building, with an internal cavity and rooms but no furnishings, takes at least an hour, if not more. Causing objects or themselves to move is a fairly rapid process, but gods still need to accelerate for a few seconds to reach their top speed, especially when changing direction.

Proximity
The power a god can exercise is limited by how close they are to where the effects of their actions are manifesting. When close enough for their body to physically touch what they are interacting with, their powers work at their maximum speed. This does not decline linearly as distance increases. The first three metres or so will cause very little change to the speed of effect. At ten metres, the speed at which their powers function has declined to 75% of maximum, at fifteen, it drops to 50% of maximum, and at twenty, it sits at about a tenth of its usual speed. Power cannot be exercised beyond 25 metres.
This also limits a god's powers of observation. Gods are aware of the movement, magical and chemical nature, and physical arrangement of everything within a three-meter radius. This awareness dims and declines at the same rate that their powers do, so at fifteen metres, their perception is dulled and distorted to about half its usual effectiveness, and beyond 25 metres they must rely on their body's sensory organs to perceive the world around them.

Souls
A soul is a construct of a human brain that can only be separated by magic or death. Upon separation, it exists as a small, amorphous fluid bubble, visible only to those with the ability to detect it by magic. In this form it can be easily destroyed, and indeed dissipates of its own accord within hours unless preserved magically. When implanted into a new bearer, organic or otherwise, a soul will take on the functions of the brain that created it without requiring the same material infrastructure, though it may facilitate cohesive function. Gods are unable to create self-aware, highly intelligent life without using human souls- A body created with a complex brain but no soul will fail to use its brain, go comatose, and eventually die. Bodies with more limited intelligence will function as normal, however. The free will of a soul-bearing or lesser organism cannot be directly altered by divine intervention. Soul-bearing constructs can be immunised from having their soul severed by means other than death for very little effort. Notably, a soul-bearing construct is difficult to alter by divine power unless it consents to being changed.

Portals
Portals can be built between Avernale and a divine realm to allow transport of matter. Similarly to personal transport, this takes longer if the portal is to another god's realm, but is still disproportionately difficult compared to producing ordinary matter. A square metre of portal takes half an hour to produce for one's own realm, and twice that for another realm. Portals take on any appearance their god designates for them, but can be destroyed like ordinary matter. Soul-bearing constructs can be given the power to vault between planes at will in the same amount of time it would take to produce a portal large enough to allow passage for them, but souls can be transported between realms without requiring any infrastructure.

Pain
The gods of Avernale are immortal. Even if their bodies are destroyed, their consciousness remains capable of producing a new body at the exact location where the old one was decommissioned, though they can take no other action until they have a new body. However, their bodies can feel pain as a remnant of their human psyche. As with humans, pain is quite distracting, but unlike humans, deities can repair their body at immense speed. The more intense the damage, the more strongly a deity will tend towards reconstructing themselves as their former human body.

Exhaustion
Gods can delay sleep for considerably longer than mortals, but still retain human minds with a human need to reset themselves upon being overworked. The longer a deity avoids sleep, the more their reaction time, memory, and capacity for logical thought suffers, just like a human. Gods do not need to sleep for as long as humans do, though the amount of sleep they require still increases along with their tiredness, and can wake up at a predetermined time or signal. Conversely, gods can sleep for as long as they want with no adverse effects.

Sense of Attraction
Upon ascension, there are two inherent changes to a deity's psyche- The sense of attraction, and the sense of doom. The sense of attraction is the more noticeable of the two. Each deity has a lingering desire to interact personally and emotionally with other gods. This sense only subsides during and after communicating with other deities, and during sleep. Like thirst, it slowly recurs after an interaction until it must be satisfied again. Communicating information is insufficient to fulfil the desire- Some kind of emotional connection must be refreshed, established, or changed. This can be love, rage, jealousy, lust, frustration, disgust, mockery, or a more mild attitude. Satisfying the sense of attraction is identical whether the attitude held towards another god is requited or completely one-sided.

Sense of Doom
There are no physical barriers preventing a deity from producing something with immense destructive capacity, such as a bomb. However, all gods, upon ascension, are burdened with a permanent extra-sensory awareness of any points in space that have the potential to either produce a large amount of entropy over a large area in a short amount of time, or sever a large amount of souls from their bodies by spreading between hosts. Any such points in space are marked by a homing instinct that the gods experience as a sense of foreboding and anxiety with a specific direction and approximate distance. The strength of the instinct increases proportionately with the destructiveness of whatever resides at the location. There is no delay between the growth of the threat and the intensity of the sense- As soon as the point in space begins to become a danger, other gods will sense it. The sense of doom has a one-way function between dimensions. Emanating from within Avernale, the sense of doom affects all deities in all planes. The divine realms mask any points within their borders, but the sense does transmit through portals or soul-bearers that are given the ability to vault planes.

Setting

Avernale is an enormous city occupying the south coast of the sizeable island of Makarya, itself resting on fairly cold lattitude northwest of Hawaii and due south of the Bering Sea. The city is capital of Aver, its namesake country, which occupies the entirety of Makarya. The east coast consists mostly of a chain of mountains running from north to south, dubbed the Spine of Gehenna, its mountains the Gehennans. Meltwater and glacial lakes irrigate the highly fertile and still fairly rural northwestern plateau. The southwest is occupied by Aver's handful of cities, most of which, notably coastal Abime and landlocked Mictlan, are industrial tributaries that supply, and survive on the wealth that flows through, Avernale.

Makarya was for hundreds of years a sparsely but diversely populated combination of cultures, hosting old colonies of Japanese, Korean, Russian, Inuit, and Polynesian descent. Only a little more recently it has become a haven for European and American migrants, including a small population dislocated across the New World from Africa by the 18th century slave trade. Though agriculture, fishing and trade have always been lucrative for Aver, the population of its cities increased exponentially over the 1900s, with immigration both from inland villages and overseas driven by the profit of its bountiful offshore oil reserves. The majority of inhabitants in Avernale are bilingual, with English now its most common tongue, followed by Japanese, Russian, and a vast array of others.

Going into modernity, the culture of Avernale is a historically tolerant one. The original beliefs of the Makaryan islanders at large were a blend of folk religions incorporating elements of Polynesian and east Asian lore and Arctic animism, with little in the way of a consolidated pantheon, but a myriad of individual creation myths and local gods, almost always associated with animals or landmarks. Buddhism spread through the region and gained a foothold long before the reach of Christianity, which survives mostly in the descendants of European voyagers, but regularly sees both conversion and abandonment. Recently, a large mosque has been established west of the city center, not without intolerant opposition. Still, most Avernalese have inherited the old culture of enjoying the variety of spirituality and choosing the form that suits them most, an attitude that to this day encourages unique fledgling sects and cults, though agnosticism is slowly gaining the numerical upper hand.

The city itself is built mostly on the west side of a south-flowing estuary fed by waterways running from the Gehennans, largest of them the river Lethe, which also runs through Mictlan, facilitating heavy shipping traffic upriver in addition to ships arriving from either side of the Pacific. The estuary is large, but the titanic Life Bridge, a mile-long suspension bridge and national symbol, spans it with enough clearance to allow passage for large vessels from Mictlan without needing to be raised periodically.

The physical remnants of Avernale's heritage are mostly restricted to the the east side of the Lethe, where the settlements that preceded the city once stood. Though space is limited due to close proximity with the foothills of the Gehennans, this area still contains a Buddhist monastery and a vast number of old shrines, as well as the oldest surviving European structure on Makarya, a hilltop fortress overlooking the Pacific. The inhabitants of the region were resettled elsewhere in the city after the area suffered heavy bombing in the second world war, distributing their local spiritualistic culture across Avernale, and most of the old structures have been demolished. In their place on the east bank lies the city's vast seaport, the gleaming, halo-shaped Avernale Global Terminal, and a sprawl of supporting warehouses and factories, though the majority of the city's splendour and industry drains into the west side.

Wealth is most extravagantly concentrated on the west bank and shoreline, the city growing less impressive the further one travels inland. Of its abundant skyscrapers, eight buildings at its heart rise above three hundred metres tall, including the Yomi Petroleum Tower reaching 400, Pacific Central Telecom peaking at 650, and the Avernale Financial Spire, currently the second tallest construction on the planet, piercing the horizon like a javelin at nine hundred metres. Additionally, numerous museums, theatres, halls, universities, churches, communication and observation towers bud from the city like vast and fantastic flowers, each in its own colours and shapes. The majority of the structures in central Avernale are rigorously designed to stand their ground against earthquakes, floods, wind, and, in the light of the tragedy in 2001, acts of human violence.

Further from the center, Avernale's buildings become smaller and less fabulous. Westwards to Abime, the city slowly loses itself to the airy beachside suburbs of the lucky middle class, lushly decorated with parks and monuments. Towards Mictlan in the north dwells the majority of the city's industry, and the millions who ply it. Here, land is scarce, so accommodation usually comes in the form of apartment blocks, some more glamorous than most. To supplement the available space, the vast majority of these structures have at least one basement level, which may be used for storage, accommodation, as a plaza, or for any other form of infrastructure- So common are these chambers that many are connected to their neighbours by tunnels. Hundreds of factories jostle for space along both sides of the Lethe and its canals, competing for access to vast amounts of water. As distance from employment grows longer and harsher, the buildings give way to meagre government-issued housing, a new and ravenously growing layer of slums, and finally, wilderness.

Character

Due to the character's abilities to change their bodies continuously and quite rapidly throughout the roleplay, there will be two sheets per character- One for who they are before ascension, to be written as an application, and one to contain details about their current form and that of their divine realm, which will need to be edited lightly but repeatedly as it changes in character. Post your application in the OOC thread. When approved, repost it the characters thread, along with your realm and form notes in a separate hider.

Application:
[hider=Name or Nickname]
[b]Name:[/b] Include pronouns.

[b]Age:[/b] No upper or lower limits, but playing a child younger than 12 may be difficult to pull off believably.

[b]Personality:[/b] The usual. If you're playing a self-insert, make it believable and interesting.

[b]Interests:[/b] Usually lumped into personality or history, but the emphasis in this roleplay is on the behaviour of the character, which will be driven by what they like and dislike. Ideas to include: Their fantasies, clubs or sports, literary pursuits, their use of the internet, their employment, and so on.

[b]History:[/b] The reason this section is here is to provide some context to their personality and interests, so keep it relevant. The younger your character, the shorter this will tend to be.

[b]Appearance:[/b] Text description first, optional link to an image second. Include what they're wearing on the day they die, when a bus careens into a fuel station and explodes, though this may change fairly quickly.

[b]Notes:[/b] Anything else?
[/hider]

Deity Notes:
[hider=Name or nickname (Deity Notes)]

[b]Realm:[/b] All divine realms originate as a barren plain of compact grey dust, lit by no sun and blown by no wind. Once you start to mould this wasteland to your liking, include any effects it may have on their powers.

[b]Form:[/b] Initially, the human form they had upon death.

[b]Other:[/b] Anything else that changes after their ascension.

[/hider]

Answers

What are this roleplay's policies towards interacting with inactive players?
In my personal experience, writing up actions for someone else's character is actually preferable to a week-long delay. If the delay is under three days, wait. If the inactive roleplayer is still around but not posting, ask them about planning how to keep the momentum going sooner rather than later. I'll intervene if I need to by making characters abruptly fall asleep because they've been awake longer than they can afford to be- That's the main function of sleep in the mechanics. Don't hesitate to mess with their plans while they're gone, but don't exploit their inactivity either- Just play your character the way you designed them to react.

I'm a new player and I'm still confused about the deity notes sheet.
Leave it blank until you've been accepted and your character begins to alter their form and realm in-game. Your form and divine realm are not part of your application, they're designed to develop and adapt to the course of the roleplay.

When does the action start in-character?
Upon the death of the characters. Some may die slowly, while others might not even notice that they're dead until they see the wreckage. Either way, your first post should start either with their final moments as a human or their first moments as a god. This only applies to applicants at the start of the roleplay, though, so if you're hopping in after we've started, feel free to post and we'll go over your options.

Should I be interacting in a specific way to satisfy the sense of attraction?
Not really! I tried to make it as general as possible. Pretty much any conversation is sufficient to satisfy your deity for a while. The reason it's there is, like pretty much everything else, to emphasize character interaction.

When will I know when something I'm doing is triggering the other deity's sense of doom, and how strongly?
I'll include something about it in an IC post. Alternatively, you can ask me privately beforehand.

Should I ping the players I'm interacting with at the end of my posts?
Yes. Don't forget.

Hey, why do you even have a character? You're the GM.
Basically because this is first and foremost a character-driven story, and the characters themselves are the highest authority in the setting. So I figure that the best way for me to occasionally nudge events in an interesting or plot-related direction (yes, there are future plot details) is by having a character that does it inadvertently as they do their own thing.

These gods don't seem to be all-powerful.
They're not intended to be. The purpose of the roleplay is to see how characters and character relationships develop while adapting to their new nature, and see what they choose to create with the limited resources they have.

Can gods die?
Yes, but there are a few conditions they need to meet. They need to have a desire to die, be capable of destroying their current body, and either be able to do so quickly or painlessly enough to bypass any survival instinct that may cause them to defend or repair themselves, or be determined enough not to feel such an instinct.

Can I destroy another god's body?
The deities are given equal and identical powers upon ascension, and are still pretty evenly matched even with a well-constructed divine realm. You may try, but your chances of success are low unless the other god is outnumbered at least three to one. Also remember that unless slain voluntarily, you will need to continuously destroy their body as they try to regenerate it.

Won't players get bored of a sandbox roleplay quickly?
See above- The roleplay is primarily an experiment in character relationships. However, there are hidden elements to the story that will emerge over time and eventually call for the characters to react in increasingly significant ways. Namely, the Godeater.

What or who is the Godeater?
That's not for me to tell.

I have other questions.
Ask me here, or try to see if they've been answered on the Interest Check.

[The ghost in black]

This seems like it would be fun could i put up a character later?

[BytheSpleen]

Kaya Uwais

Name: Kaya Uwais

Age: 16

Personality: Kaya, by her history in the Old Days, lived an incredibly simple life with her mother in a small village in Malaysia, one of many amalgams of tribal lifestyle kick-started into modernism. While she did tend to look at things more optimistically in the past, her rather...traumatic ascension has left her a fearful young lady, and so everything and everyone that isn't within her sphere of influence is treated with some degree of prejudice. Because of her upbringing, she cannot conceptualize very technically advanced things, but creatures, trees, tools...the basics, essentially, of what a village child could learn.

Interests: Her last memories, prior to the Ascension, were those of giggles and laughter. There are days to celebrate cousins' marriages, days to celebrate the arrival of rain, days upon days to worship something that Kaya was now : God. Still, to be living only at the very outskirts of civilization has created a sense of work, and so, her focus is on life itself - the existence of souls in a dramatic play is what excites her the most, between the losses and the victories of life and death, good and evil, self-worth and self-actualization. Festivities take a close second.

History: Kaya, despite having a name incredibly different from those of her sisters, cousins, nieces, and friends, had lived quite a happy life. Her father was some Caucasian, US sailor who struck lucky on an outpost, and probably got himself a real family back home, but regardless of that, Kaya managed to live her life in relative peace. The only real threats within the village were sickness and famine, both of which were easily solved thanks to humanity's invasive innovations. What came down to the crux of her life was how she began to just...watch people. Their lives seemed so complete with a father to pass on the knowledge, with uncles and grandfathers to speak of, with doubly more cousins to party and have fun with. So it was on a trip to see her father, finally, that she came flying through planes and sitting through taxis and buses, all ready to meet her father. She was so excited, even when her mother was only by then a jar of ashes from a bad case of smallpox. She was wearing her best white blouse and a long, flowery skirt...she'd be complete, she told herself...

Appearance: Kaya stands at 5'4, a just about the average height for most in her village, and has the same high-cheekbones, sharp chin, almond eyes that just about every other Asian would have. Only, because of her father's legacy, she has some pretty light-brown irises and occasional auburn streaks in her hair, and fair skin that would make many other village girls glance a second time before popping up the question : "Who's your dad?"

Notes: Beyond a motor, technology is a struggle for her to understand, not unless she had some careful observation...

Perdana (of Undeath)

Realm: At first glance, her realm may appear to be just another rainforest, but everywhere one goes, there are linen wraps just waiting to be filled with the old ready to pass on, with children who didn't quite make it by an outside force of hand, with criminals living in hope to redeem themselves. Here, everyone is wrapped with same cloth from head to toe, and here their bodies are preserved for their future re-incarnations to look upon with pride or pity. Eventually, all of these bodies will come to be reclaimed by the jungle, further growing the place, further sprouting life from death.

Form: Wait...so you want a 5'4 mixed girl wearing a white blouse and a flowery dress, or...?

Other: Got no idea how you want this done, so I'll be asking questions...

[Antarctic Termite]

This seems like it would be fun could i put up a character later?

@The ghost in black

Sure. We just started, after all.

@BytheSpleen Interesting take. Put it in the character thread with great pride.

About the deity notes sheet: It looks like I deleted some of the description that might've given a bit of context in the editing process, but it's not part of your application. Everyone's divine realm starts off as a flat, grey, dimly lit plain. They discover and edit it as the roleplay progresses- So you don't need to touch the deity notes sheet at first, but you'll keep coming back to it later.

tl;dr: the overture doesn't explain shit

[Antarctic Termite]

For everyone who posted an application in the interest check and hasn't heard from me yet- I read through all of them and decided to give you all a bit more time to think them through before I accept them. Remember why the interests section is here, and that I'm not asking for much in the history or appearance departments, so you can make up for the lack by putting thought into their personality.
I'm asking for you to think about their interests because that's how you're going to know what well of inspiration they draw from, what they're going to try, and to make. The colour of their magic, to use an old analogy. If you need an extra push of ideas, try to think about exactly what books/video games/animes they most enjoy and working out what their creations are going to draw from that. Feel free to read each other's feedback in this post too, since there are a lot of similarities between what's missing from your sheets.

@Bai Suzhen The concept for Kylie is still good, so I'm looking forward to when you feel you've finished her sheet. Just remember that all the interests you mentioned (video games, comics, movies, anime) are really diverse genres, so just saying that she's into them doesn't say anything about how they inspire her. What types of games does she play? What does she look for in a good film? Why does she cosplay the characters she does? When roleplaying, what kind of fantasy is she trying to project herself into? The idea of a cosplayer dancing through different forms of anonymity and taking inspiration from the characters she dresses as is actually really solid one, so feel free to flesh that one out further than a single sentence. Show off your writing skills a bit.

@ActRaiserTheReturned So far John's personality doesn't appear to be any deeper than the fact that he's religious, so I'm completely lost on who he actually is. He also has the same problem as Kylie: Other than that he likes illusionists, he has a lot of talents and I have no idea why he has any of them. What kind of fiction does he read? What kind of non fiction does he read? How did he end up in two different performance arts in addition to becoming a capable writer? Is he some kind of renaissance man? Most critically, because it reflects most on his character: What does he write? Give him a bit more individuality.

@Vocab Nearly there! Payne just has a bit of the same issue Kylie and John has. What motivated him to try to code? Does he have budding ideas for his own video game (that he can now create in real life)? You mentioned he's into DnD specifically as opposed to other tabletops, so is he into Tolkien's version of fantasy?

@ZB1996 I haven't laid this out too clearly in the OOC (yet), but because you showed interest during the idea pitch, you'll probably know that the roleplay starts when these characters die. If you have a plan for how their personality develops after that (including to something like a name change), that's for you to demonstrate as you write. Right now his entire personality before the roleplay is just 'obedient and quiet'- Not even a sentence. His interests aren't much better- Same deal as the other characters I mentioned here, in that there's no specificity at all.

@Ryuzaki Similar deal to everyone: Touch up Darren's interests and personality and it'll be good. Why does he gravitate towards gothic fantasy? Did he like Twilight, seeing as that's what brought so much attention to his favourite archetypes, or does he prefer the classics? What colour is his MtG deck, and for the benefit of the rest of us, what does that imply? Are there other aspects to his personality? Alternatively, if his entire personality is being an asshole (Which isn't a bad idea by any means), how does it manifest?

[The ghost in black]

"Aleksa" [+]

Name:
Aleksandri "Aleksa" Roybane

Age:
16

Personality:
She is a child, plain and simple. Aleksa loves soft things and candy, but this doesn't mean she is all play. Aleksa has a deadly serious side to herself when something of interest happenes or she needs to be more "mature". She has a strong feeling of trust for other people

Interests:
Aleksa loves collecting plushies and is an avid collector/reader of manga and comics alike. If you had looked at her room when she was normal you would have seen a mass of plushies and blankets filling space up as well as a gaming console or two. She also has a bit of an obsesion with anime style fights.

She loves to dress in light a dress and skirts or in cosplay which she orders special from shops around the area though she doesn't wear these as often is it would seem.

History:
Aleksa was born to a mildly rich russian family though she was the opposite of what her parents wanted her to be like. Most of her family was clean-cut and proper, while she was bubbly and "fluffy" though kinda violent, which was not what Aleksandi's parents had in mind for her. Eventually they had given up on trying to change her and instead started enabling her to be herself, by means of supplying her with some money to fill her desire for her personal interest. She doesn't even like to use the family car to get places, opting to rather take public transportation.

Appearance:
Aleksandri is a young girl with dark blue eyes and light olive skin. Her shoulder length hair is light pink with red tips and bounces slightly while she walks. She is about 5'2" and pretty thin, at the time of the accident she was wearing a white flowing, lightly frilled sundress with red accents. She was also carrying around a copy of "Ansatsu Kyoushitsu" (really good Manga by the way) on her way home from the local manga store as well as a fuzzy blue novelty backpack full of snacks and whatnots.

Notes:
Later.... I shall add more later

"Aleksa" (Deity Notes) [+]

Realm:
Her Realm is a completely inside out orb that surrounds both a small sun and moon which orbit eachother, the realm has a huge red and blue lake that sparkles with silver orbs of light. surounding the lake is a forest full of evergreen trees topped with what looks like dripping blue paint that falls yet seems to never touch the ground. The mile of ground that surrounds the lake and separates it from the forest is a large stretch of smooth ice that is so slippery that it you have to slide across it, though you won't slow down unless you something akin to ice skates. While the sun and moon orbit each other that means that htere is always an eclips occuring where the moon is facing.

Form:
A skinny, 5'2", pink and red haired girl with a frilly sun dress and dark blue eyes.

Other:
TBA

Is this good?

[Bai Suzhen]

Thanks for the feedback. Some good points to build upon. I was pretty tired when I wrote the first version, so it was at least half about getting it down in case I forgot stuff when I woke up.

We've got a fair few geek submissions too. I wonder how meta I should get in her motivations... deep down, every nerd wants to be a god...

Kylie Field

Name: Ms. Kylie Field. She/Her

Age: 26

Personality: Shy and nervous in person, but cocky and teasing when behind a mask (Literal or metaphorical) or some other persona. She doesn't have to be the centre of attention, but doesn't want to fade into the background like she tends to do when being herself.

Interests: Your clasic Geekette - Fond of comics, video games, anime, movies, even the occasional forum-based RPG. Discussing something she's passionate about is a good way to get her to come out of her shell. She likes stories about heroes - people who struggle against but ultimately overcome hardships and obstacles. When playing a role, she tries to give her characters features beyond punchyness, and when running games tries to encourage the players to do things other than fight. She's also fond of cosplay, and picks from wider variety of archetypes, heroes, villains or interesting supporting cast. She tries to stay away from anything too fanservicey, and wouldn't admit in public to liking certain works.

History: If there's a word to describe Kylie's life before the incident, it would probably be mundane. She grew up in a house which never struggled with money, but still bought second-hand cars and didn't have too many exotic holidays. There was no real conflict in her family beyond the usual teenage angst, and sibling rivalry with her younger brother.
She did ok at school and college - not top of her class, but respectable grades eventually getting qualifications in literature and art. Kylie hoped (And still does) to get a job writing comics, or video games, or some other way to express her passions and create a world. So far, this hasn't happened, and she works at a call centre handling insurance.
Kylie lives alone in a small apartment, stuffed with books, DVDs, games consoles, collectible merchandise and usually the scattered parts of at least three cosplay projects.

Appearance: If you walked past Kylie in the street, you probably wouldn't look twice. A dark-skinned, dark-haired woman of average height. She dresses plainly - typically jeans or a medium skirt, plus a t-shirt, blouse or any other inoffensive outfit. She's not unattractive, but tends to slouch and act withdrawn. The most startling thing about her may be a bright colour in her hair, though this won't always be present.

Sometimes though, on days like today, you'll see a confident woman in an outlandish costume, and facial expression to match. Today, she's Natalia Nebula, ready to use her plasma blasts in defending the galaxy from ne'er-do-wells. Or, more precisely, to throw off some quips, pose for photographs and get some comics signed by celebrities at the Avernale comic convention.



Notes:
Yes, she knows the real Natalia is white. No, she didn't feel like dressing as Vixxxen instead just because they're both black. Yes, Vixxxen's species is highly resistent to cold. Yes, she's sure that's why her costume is mostly a bikini... (I've made these characters up, but I'm sure you can thing of equivalents from our world...)

[Keyguyperson]

I think I'll go with a Navy pilot. A depressed Navy pilot. There we go, now to figure out who he actually is.

[Temporary]

This better @Antarctic Termite?

Josh Payne

Name: Josh "Nightmare" Payne

Age: 18

Personality: Very rash, with little to no regard of those around him, even though he pays high attention to those very people. Pretty quiet, but speaks from the heart when talking. No open regard for anything love related, and openly admits to never having a love life. Has a very poor memory, and often forgets crucial information. That or he doesn't hear it because he isn't paying attention.

Interests: A pretty typical, yet diverse geek/nerd. Played video games on a regular basis, a pretty big anime fan, DnD player and partial role player. His love for DnD came about during his primary. One of his friends, named Joe, would always play with his family, and would regale with his tales of adventure and of woe. On the birthday of that very friend, Josh, another friend named Joe and the DM, Joe, all played a version of the DnD starter box. From then on, he always loved playing the game and has run many campaigns, as well as gotten very interested in the fantasy genre.

Also, from a young age, he was an avid, and rather good writer, his favourites being dark fantasy and roleplay. From that age he wanted to become an author, but like most children's dreams they faded, but have somewhat been emerging once again (That's why I'm on this RP site xD)

He had been trying to code for God knows how long, and has since been unsuccessful. He wanted to make something to help those like him. He wanted to make something to help players of DnD create epic encounters, help writers figure out the best vocab to use (Shhhh) and he wanted to make people happy.

History: Josh was a British student in his last year of Sixth Form taking an educational trip to Avernale to study his choice of career; writing. There was everything in this city, from music to art, from technology to science - it was all in Avernale. That pulled him here, to learn the secrets of famous authors and to perfect his style of writing. That all came to an abrupt end however, on one fateful day.

On his way to a university renowned for their students in the field of writing, he boarded a bus. This bus would, supposedly take him to his destination, but that wasn't what fate had in store. Instead, the bus lost it path and sailed forwards into a gas station, killing everyone aboard and ending his dream for good. Or at least that was what he thought...

Appearance: About 6'2, with pretty clear white hair and vibrant blue eyes; easy to spot anywhere. He normally wore casual clothes - Jeans, hoodies, jackets and normal trainers, with glasses to help with his short-sightedness.

Notes: NO!

God notes

Realm: After discovering the realm, it's shape began to take form quickly. A pocket universe to suit every race, all in a single, 300m sphere. It was essentially a tiny ecosystem, complete with forests, cities, towns, soaring mountains, deserts and oceans, with great halls of stone under the Earth and a host of creatures that lived and breathed on their own, with even a scaled down version of humans to live in these places. But then their God was Josh, and things unspeakable would happen. Disaster wiped out cities, and creatures would torture and kill others. Murder, violence, poverty, hunger, death, destruction and greed would reign sometimes, and others would be peaceful; the perfect roleplay setting for a DM.

Note: as of becoming a God, the realm is still barren like others. The above is just my current visual of what it will become.

Form:

Other: His mind slowly begins to unravel everything he could never accomplish. His almost permanent writers block was lifted, and his mind flooded with endless ideas.

[Ryuzaki]

I have a more beefed up version of my CS.

Darren

Name: Darren Ryder. He\Him

Age: 18

Personality: Darren wont take other people’s BS. He does what he wants, how he wants. He often blames others when things go wrong and seeks revenge. When he is put into a new environment his usual cockiness dissipates back into his old shy self. Once he adjusts to his surroundings he goes back to how he was before. Sometimes, if there is somebody he knows or likes, he can be nicer and more willing to listen to them.

Interests: Education, solitude, Magic the Gathering, Roleplay, mythological creatures (Specifically Vampires and Werewolves)

History: Darren was introduced to the concepts of Roleplay and MtG at a young age. His first deck was a Black/White deck and he still uses it today (NOTE: Black/White is based on stealing life from the opponent and gaining that life back. It also heavily abuses tokens). He loved them because they gave him a way to get away from the things he hated like people telling him what to do. Darren developed his love for Vampires when he got his first Planeswalker, Sorin Markov, who was a vampire. When he got into his first fight in 5th grade and lost half of his front tooth, he decided to focus on his education as opposed to popularity. After he made this choice, people started to call him names like nerd or geek, so he started to spend more time alone to cope with the verbal abuse. Toward the end of High School, Darren got sick of all the shit and sent it straight back at the people who tormented him.

Appearance: Darren has black hair and green eyes. He is missing half of one of his teeth, Which is broken at an angle, and constantly has his nails bit down as far as he can. He was wearing a suit, too formal for the bus, but perfect for his college interview.


Notes: Nope :P

Darren (Deity Notes)

Realm: Darren’s Realm is still grey dust.

Form: Darren still appears the way he did as a human.

Other:

[ZB1996]

Here's a more fleshed out version of my character.

Hider

Birth name: Jonathan Sylvester Adams
Divine Name: Monad

Personality: As a human, Jonathan was quiet and obedient. He did not go against anything he could not tackle, as he was afraid. He believed that everything had a certain place in the world. At first a romantic sense of belonging, this ideal soon developed into a sense of conformity. Jonathan himself was personal unsatisfied with his place in the world, but unless he could do anything about it, he was stuck where he was. According to his own thoughts, the highest person is one who has the power to turn against all established norms, but at the time such a thought was irrelevant to him, as he didn't have what it took to move up. He could not challenge the higher authorities, therefore he was where he belonged. However, this did not mean he had to enjoy it. Throughout the days he had been miserable. He had this feeling that he was not exactly where he belonged. He was cowardly, which was why he was quiet and unassuming. He found loyalty to be important, as well as love. He wanted to find love, and held to this faint romantic hope that there was someone special for him out there. In short, he was someone who was loyal and obedient, who never seemed to question his betters, yet very bitter about his lowly position in life, and held deeply unrealistic and romantic views about how the passions of the world worked.

Interests: While not exactly a voracious reader, he read as a hobby. He had a favorite genre, fantasy, as he found the concept of heroes intriguing. It was a started when he was introduced to fantasy as a child when he first read the hobbit, and it spun from there, as he discovered more books.His favorite authors were J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock, who were to some extent diametrically opposed. However, they were far from the only thing he read. He read a mix of modern and classics, as well as more philosophical works. Aside from reading, he would also watch movies. They were rarely anything else other than dramas or romances, and usually foreign. He thought action don't make good movies, and that horror movies are seldom of good quality. He also played pool often with his friends. He was also a fan of poetry, and mainly as a writer of one. Usually, he would write in in-rhyming iambic pentameter. He doesn't use the Internet too often, but would use them to watch movies.

History: He lived in a middle-class family. He had an older brother, Josh, who could excel. After being beaten by his brother one too many times, he gave up on trying to surpass him. He only did mediocre in school. His older brother was better than him in essentially everything, which made Jonathan bitter. He was able to get into a local community college, but Jonathan couldn't handle the work and dropped out. After dropping out of college, Jonathan was forced to take an office job, which he hates. He saw no hope of ever getting into a higher position in life. Overall, he lived a normal, mundane life.

Appearance: He has short black hair, and slightly tanned skin, and blue eyes. He is skinny and is only 5'2 in height.

[Minimum]

Max Olderson

Name: Max Olderson

Age: 19

Personality: Growing up moving around the world he has never really settled down or got used to everything. Follows rules as he chooses fit. He is a chaotic neutral kind of person. easydamus.com/chaoticneutral.html

Interests: Doing whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it.

History: Growing up with parents who didn't really want him around he was taken from country to country as there work saw fit. He has walked through warzones, spent months with different parents and much more. Its led him to not really care about much.

Appearance: Max is 6 ft 3 tall and has a sharp chin, hazel eyes and brown hair.

Kilgaris

Kilgaris
Realm:

Form:

Other: Don't know whats meant to be here.

[The ghost in black]

@Antarctic Termite
I put Aleksa's deity notes in her cs hider, is that ok?

[darkwolf687]

A work in progress, feedback appreciated. I may still have to drop

Ross

Name: Dr. Ross Bell

Gender: Male

Age: 59

Personality: Strict and demanding, Ross has made an impact on the students of Southpoint High School for nearly 3 decades. He desires order and excellence above all else and as such his style of teaching has been lambasted by many a student who has failed to meet his high expectations and strict deadlines. Bell has always been a man who accepts only the very best from student and coworker alike and has proven that he is willing to discipline and dismiss staff as much as he is pupils. He is seldom seen to smile and more seldom seen to laugh. He considers to be strict but fair and generally attempts to stick to a code of ethics.
Outside of his work, Ross was always somewhat of a loner as he often found other people particularly irritating, and became even more so after the untimely loss of both his wife and unborn child from complications during child birth.
Ross is naturally very curious and dedicated to logic and reason; He lives by the principle of believing what the evidence points to being the most likely. Thus, in life he was an atheist and a skeptic who doesn't believe in the paranormal at all and it was a remarkable shock to him when he ascended. Indeed, this attitude means that one should certainly not misconstrue his strict demeanour as being closed minded or stuck in the past; Ross has in fact published several papers supporting and advocating innovation within the education system.

Interests: Ross is understandably interested in education; Indeed, he had instead presented with the opportunity to pursue a higher paying career at several points in his life and has instead elected to remain at his post. He reads many books and watches a number of documentaries.
He has a keen interest in writing and has penned three novels. All three were science fiction novels. The first is a rather obscure novel that was titled "The Long Night of Solace" and centred around the crew of a warship which is heavily damaged and set adrift while transporting refugees away from a war-torn world. The second was written as a tie in to a video game series (And consequently was the best selling of his works) called "The World Eater", which was written almost entirely from the perspective of a villain. In preparation he effectively binged on the series established media and even brought a games console and all the series entries to get the story pinned down. It payed off to be sure, as the novel was well received and praised for its faithfulness to the extensive established canon. Given that it did well, he was contracted to write another book for the series, which came in the form of "The War in the Heavens." It was a hated novel, primarily because Ross was tasked with killing off a popular character which angered a very large chunk of the fanbase.
Ross was in the midst of writing a fourth novel, another science fiction novel under the title of "Terra Nullius", at the time of the accident.
Additionally, he has authored a school textbook that has gone through several volumes and have been used at several schools within the city.
Outside of that, Ross enjoys watching films and tv shows with a strong preference for drama and science fiction (and a burning hatred of romance and soap operas) and enjoys playing chess over the internet.

History: Ross was the second child in a middle class family. He and his older sister, Amanda, shared a close relationship initially, however after she hit 15 the pair grew apart. She fell in with a bad crowd and ultimately ended up addicted to methamphetamine. After their parents refused to continue giving her money as she kept spending it on illegal substances, Amanda moved in with her boyfriend and Ross lost contact with her entirely.
Ross was quickly slapped by the stigma of his sister by the establishment and became incensed to prove that he was a better person.
At age 17, Ross' sister died of a drug overdose. Ross was filled with abject hatred of illegal drugs after that point, and his sisters fall and death became a major reason for his strict attitude towards pupils in later life.
Ross has earned two doctorates in his life, a major achievement for anyone; His first was a doctorate in Psychology which he earned by 26, and the other was a doctorate in English Literature which he got when he was 32. He got his first teaching job at Southpoint High School when he was 28 and quickly developed a reputation among the students as being overly strict.
He was promoted to the head of the three department at age 36 and was made deputy head two years later. He published his first novel on his 40th Birthday, fulfilling a life long ambition of his and sparking a relatively successful literary career.
At age 46, he was made the headmaster of Southpoint following the early retirement (read; dismissal) of his predecessor. He quickly set to work attempting to address the rapidly falling standards at the school and in the space of four years the schools exam results climbed up again.
A little over a year ago, following the release of his third book, Ross was offered a position as the lead writer on a successful TV Show "Empire". Although the pay was double what he was making he turned down the offer and remained as Headmaster.
Four days ago, his car was damaged after a learner driver crashed into it while trying to park. While it was being repaired, Ross took to using the public transport system; This choice would prove to be fatal as he was killed in the crash.

Appearance: Ross is a relatively stereotypical headmaster in terms of appearance; His hair is short, neatly combed and has turned grey with age, thinning at the back. He has icy blue eyes and his brows are drawn in such a way as to give his face a permanent frown. He once stood at 6'2 but has gradually began to shrink as he aged. At the time of his death, he stood at just under 6'.

Notes: Not really

Ross Bell(Deity Notes)

Realm: Barren waste at the moment

Form: A 6' man with thinning grey hair and icy blue eyes. He wears a grey suit which is neatly buttoned up with a black tie tucked neatly into it. On his right wrist is a silver watch and wears a small golden wedding ring on his ring finger.

Other: Anything else that changes after their ascension.

[Zugzwang]

I think I'm dropping out of this. GLHF

[Antarctic Termite]

Just a note for a few people, since somehow we're still missing it: The deity notes sheet is not part of your application. The roleplay hasn't started yet, so there's no need to touch it. The divine realm is meant to develop, and be exploited situationally, as the roleplay goes on, so there's no point in editing it right now.

@Minimum Nope. Try reading through the big block of advice that I posted to see where you went wrong, or check the characters that have been accepted. I'm sure you can figure it out.

@Vocab@Bai Suzhen@ZB1996 Thanks for editing, welcome in.

@darkwolf687 Ross seems really solid. Let's get some authoritarianism in this party.

@The ghost in black Aleksa's fine so long as you can make her distinctive from the other really young characters we have. Feel free to enter her in the character thread.

OK I GOTTA FINALLY REWRITE MY OWN CHARACTER NOW OR SOMETHING BYE

[Antarctic Termite]

@Zugzwang Ah shit son, you'll be missed.

May your character be an inspiration to us all.

[Slendy]

Lui

Name:
Luis German, he/him

Age:
20

Personality:
Luis looks like a soft and nice person just by his appearance. He's friendly and calm under the respectable circumstances. Although he's not the bravest he's more like the need to be protected type. Before the accident occurred he was already a bit jumpy and frightened by his surroundings. Now after that fateful day Luis' took a serious sucker punch. He became more paranoid and his paranoia will often lead him to making rash decision. These decisions aren't gonna be the smartest and best but the decisions will be what he believes will benefit him and rid his paranoia.

Interests:
Luis was in college working towards becoming a Graphical designer. Creating and bringing things to life drove him through his countless tough days. He wasn't interested in many things beside the graphic designing. He watched sports now and then. He also tried to be more social but failed horribly at every attempt he was handed. In result he became more focused on constructing the perfect environment for himself to coexist. Maybe even playing 'God' to his graphical city designs and seeing how things would be it he was in 'charge'.

History:
Luis is an only child of a middle to somewhat high class family. As you can probably infer he was a serious victim of bullying growing up. His parents didn't really pay much attention since he never brung it to their attention. Besides stomaching daily pain Luis was pretty successful in school earning a scholarship here and there and soon moving out when he was about 18ish. He was quickly recruited to a company and started working none stop barely getting free time which he didn't even use. His life was smooth sailing until that fateful day came that resulted to the end of his life.

Appearance:
Luis is 5'8" having blondish almost white hair. His blue eyes almost as shiny as the ocean sea on a cool cloudy day. Before his death he was wearing a white suit with a tie that nearly matched his eyes perfectly. He work white chucks to compliment his attire.

Notes:
None for now but there may be some soon...

Deity Notes:

Lord Deer (Deity Notes)

Name:
Lord Everest Deer is his referred name when spoken off. He's been also called Lord Lui, Lucid Deer, and Lieder.

Realm:
An empty unexplored abyss!

Form:

Hider

In his new devine form, Luis has kept his normal height but went through a few alterations in his other physical characteristics. His hair being a bit shorter and his eyes becoming blood shot red. The most two know changes are the somewhat visible halo and possible deer antlers present on his head. His clothes has also became more athletical in his new form. A jacket and a plain black t shirt replacing his suit. Jogging pants to finalize the getup.

Other:
When receiving his devine form he mistakingly took the life of someone with simply wishing there death ever since then he wore a mask to cover his mouth to 'feel as if that restricted his abilities to cause death with spoken words' which it didn't but it provided assurances for him.

[Slendy]

@Antarctic Termite


.....v.v can I just keep it cause my fingers are unconscious...

[lady horatio]

@Antarctic Termite Awesome, thank you! I decided to revive a character I made for another role-play that was very short-lived. I hope you like her!

Alex

Name: Alexandra “Alex” Denali. She/her.

Age: 22

Personality: Alex is very physical, but not very violent. She likes tactile things: the press of a kiss, the taste of coffee, the feel of silk on her skin. Given the choice, she would go everywhere barefoot. When it comes to classes or performances, she’s good at rolling with the punches, but when it comes to dealing with people, she’s on the sensitive side—she’s not shy by any means, but her feelings are more easily hurt than she’d like to admit, and it’s hard for her to let go of something once it’s said or done, though she tries to hide it. She doesn’t look for conflict, but she’s independent enough to have come out of a family of doctors with a liberal arts degree.

Interests: Dance (enough to major in it), running, martial arts—anything that allows her to feel present and grounded in her body. She appreciates beauty and artistry and likes to surround herself with rich, vivid colors. She also enjoys poetry—people like Neruda and Rilke for depth, and more modern poets like Billy Collins for sheer cleverness. She became active in volunteer work for a while in college; it started as a requirement and became a hobby.

History: Alex is fairly lucky. Her home life wasn’t bad, and she doesn’t have a bad relationship with her parents, despite their occasional distress at what they consider to be a long line of questionable decisions. Her family has always lived well, having settled comfortably into the American Dream—right down to Daddy being a doctor and Ammi a successful child psychologist. She and her younger brother, Ravi, are close, though they see each other less since Alex moved into her own apartment. Alex just graduated this year and has spent the last few months attending auditions.

Appearance: Alex was born willowy, but a dancer’s dedication has made her five-foot-six frame a little more solid. She’s a third-generation American from a melting-pot of a family, but her Indo-African roots show in her loose brown curls and skin that looks half a shade too dark for the freckles smattered across her nose. She has a cluster of flowers tattooed on her right shoulder, a product both of her love of pretty things and her curiosity about the sting of a tattooist’s needle (it was a thrill, but not one she’s likely to repeat).

She likes flowy garments—loose tunics; lacy dresses; skirts that swish—but compromises when necessary. A few layered tank tops, a cluster of necklaces, and a myriad collection of jackets and cardigans make up the more practical parts of her wardrobe. She was dressed casually on the day she died in a black cotton dress scattered with sunflowers.

Notes: Alex is friendly and easy to get along with, so she’s always had lots of acquaintances, but she only has one best friend: Jericho, a quiet, reserved boy that she keeps in constant touch with—if Alex and Jericho are not together, they’re probably texting, except when Jericho’s introverted nature gets the better of him and he has to go into hermit mode for a while. Alex’s parents despair of her ever settling down with a nice boy to start a family; when she’s feeling particularly pressured, she tells them airily that Jericho is her one and only.