[OOC] The Spirits Within: Oakridge Chronicles

[icmasticc]

Yes! Immediate ass-kicking! I chose correctly.

[Anima]

Oh ho ho! Diplomacy! What about some good ole' cult turning power? Forever the Fanatics! Purge the Mordrem! Purge the infected! Onward to glory!

[DJAtomika]

@Prisk
I think you'll be happy to know that I'm making sir Eric Wormwood a secondary character.

For now, I can regale you with my main's name: Rogart Hendrickson.

And since we're choosing missions, I task Eric to hit the Reactor, and Rogart for the frontline battles in the Hammer.

[Mirandae]

@DJAtomika

Awesome! I'll add them once the sheets are up.

[smarty0114]

@DJAtomika Welcome to team Reactor!!

[Ozerath]

@Prisk Ooh, important question: while OOC we are choosing our character's missions, IC, do they have the same choice, or would they be assigned to a particular task?

I ask because I'm leaning towards Reactor, but if Thael had a choice he'd go Hammer, so I'm wondering if he might just end up assigned to Reactor and have to deal with it.

[Mirandae]

@Ozerath

It's the choice you think your character would go with! You can change it at any time before the IC, and in your first post. It's only when you have started an event that it might be difficult to switch, but it's not impossible. You are by no means 'locked' into an event.

[DJAtomika]

@Prisk

_{Rogart Hendrickson
◆ 23 ◆ June 23rd ◆ 6' 9" ◆ Guardian}

_{◆ A P P E A R A N C E}

Rogart's huge stature was a sight during his days as a student in the Academy. With shoulders broader than most men were wide, and arms built like tanks, Rogart easily dominated the strength department. He has a head of light brown hair, always maintained at a short buzzcut of near military standard. He also has a full beard, into which is braided a single line of beads. Each oblong, beige bead has the name of a parent engraved on it, and at the end is a smaller, round, sky blue bead with Eric's name on it. His garb often consists of a tank top underneath a plain hoodie or jacket, blue jeans and combat boots. When out in combat, this attire changes to a long sleeved shirt underneath padded combat armour, which then lies underneath a woolen jacket with a fur-lined high collar. Cargo pants, black fingerless gloves and combat boots complete the look.

_{◆ I D E O L O G Y}

Rogart is simple. Rogart is nice. Rogart does nice things and doesn't expect anything in return. Rogart understands that people will most often view him as stupid because of his massive stature. Rogart therefore continues to act the part for the greatest lies are the ones told every day without fail.

Rogart knows the world is a shitty place, and he also knows that without brave men and women like the Guardians and the military keeping the Modrem at bay. Rogart understands this, and cares for his friends the same way he treats family, with compassion, respect, unrivalled loyalty, honesty and understanding.

Rogart, in gatherings, is often the silent type, preferring to grace social events or gatherings with friends with his huge, memorable size, moreso than words, of which he has little. But his words are often the products of a life spent thinking, and as a result what he says is usually good. Usually.

Rogart understands that there is a higher power...somewhere in the sky. Somewhere, where the dead watch from above, where there is no war, only peace and serenity. He longs to see this place, but for now is contained to the physical. Through communing with his spirits, Rogart seeks to understand what lies beyond the physical veil, contrasting much with his stature.

_{◆ B A C K G R O U N D}

Rogart was born in Cetra, like most of the Oakridge alumni. But his upbringing was more unique than most.

Born in a particularly seedy part of Cetra's capital, Rogart learned from a young age that where he lived, size was everything. The bigger and stronger you were, the more people respected you. It didn't help that his parents were both poor, and dear ol' dad perished young. His parents were descendants of mountaineering race of people from Anatolia, who had been driven out by aggressive Mordrem expansion. Their people, gathered into a big group, decided to brave the Dark Zone's rabid expanse and make for the safer zone of Cetra's uninfected areas. Most never made it. Rogart's parents, among others, were only part of the small group of survivors that made it out alive.

The refugees soon integrated themselves within Cetran society; those infected by Stigma were swiftly quarantined and treated, while the healthy were housed within the poorer areas while they looked for work. Such was life for Rogart and many others of his kind. He grew up amidst the general filth, and didn't learn how to read until he was six. Small in stature when he was young, Rogart suffered amongst the bullies in the public school he went to, and grew a quiet exterior as a result.

When puberty and adulthood hit him, he tripled in size, gaining more height and bulk than he cared to admit. His mother, by then an elderly lady, decided to do the best thing she could think of: enrolling him into Oakridge. The academy would clothe, feed and take care of him, so her own life would be easier. Rogart understood her mother's decision to send him away, and went with a heavy heart, for he knew that once he left, she would wither away until nothing remained.

It wasn't a year into his time at Oakridge that he received a letter. His mother, the last of his family, had passed away of a broken heart.

He wept for many nights after that, and slowly grew distraught with each passing day. Many of his peers noticed the change in the budding young man, and it wasn't long before he was pulled aside and given counselling.

It was in this dark, sullen period of his life, that he met the youngster called Eric Wormwood.

Unlike Rogart, Eric still had family. But he too knew the pain of loss: his home village at the outskirts of the capital had suffered a catastrophic attack by Mordrem, and he'd lost a close childhood friend. This had happened when he was very young, and he'd stayed within Cetra's capital ever since. Mourning, for him, had long overstayed its welcome, and he'd dedicated every ounce of his being to excel for his lost friend.

Through him, Rogart began to understand and cope with his loss the same way his newfound friend did: he sucked it up and carried on, not disappointing the spirits of his parents and doing everything for their honour.

Soon, Rogart became one of the top physical candidates within the Academy; what he lacked in speed and agility, he made up for in raw, brute strength, owed partially to his bulk, and the other part to the training he underwent every day. Eric tested his reflexes and honed them to a fine point, and where he lacked speed, he made up for in bulk. By the time of his graduation, he was easily the biggest student of his entire cohort. He and Eric were inseparable, except when they joined into the WARG and were placed into separate teams.

Now, Rogart is a budding young soldier, looking for his first taste of combat, albeit a little apprehensively, and is keen to make new friends and forge lasting relationships.

_{◆ W A R F A R E}

Rogart uses a big ol' warhammer, powered by magitek to have two separate and distinct modes. The first is, of course, a warhammer, big, bulky and heavy, able to be held in two hands for strong smash attacks but slow to use. The second is activated when Rogart twists the lower handgrip of the hammer. It extends and the grip releases from the outer housing, pulling forth a shorter, lighter mace, as the hammer head and upper grip flatten and transform into a light, firm shield.

<sub>◇ Geb [Earth] [+Shell] [+Protect] [+Lancet] [+Empower]
- Rogart himself is a mountain of human flesh, and so is his main spirit. The Mountain manifests as rocks that grow and cover his entire form, slowing his movement while bulking up his defense along with growing his metaphysical form. Used in conjunction with his shield, it turns Rogart into an almost literal mountain, able to soak up extreme amounts of damage while protecting his allies. This also drains his stamina while he has it active, and as such he uses it sparingly.</sub>

<sub>◇ Thor [Lightning] [-Imperil]
- Thor is Rogart's main passive offense spirit. Simply being nothing more than a lightning spirit, it inhabits his warhammer and sparks to life whenever he calls upon it. When an enemy is struck with Thor active, the enemy suffers a severe electric shock, and takes more damage from magic attacks as a result. Like the Mountain, Thor can be turned on or off at Rogart's command. However, unlike the Mountain, Thor can be left on without drain to his stamina.</sub>

<sub>◇ Sting [Holy] [-Terror] [-Pain] [-Imperil] [-Poison]
- Much like the name suggests, Sting is a small holy spirit, akin to a bee or a hornet in size. However, its effects are not to be laughed at. When Sting is summoned and attacks an enemy, they are injected with a toxin that not only causes excrutiating pain with the slightest movement, it debilitates the enemy and causes them to take increased damage from all sources. Rogart often uses this spirit in conjunction with his teammates to supplement their more combat oriented spirits and/or abilities.</sub>

<sub>◇ Castiel [Holy] [+Frenzy] [+Leech] [+Gleam] [+Imperil] [+Pain]
- Castiel is a force of judgement contained within Rogart, and when he calls for aid in desparate times, he provides. Castiel empowers Rogart's basic attacks with a fury unlike any other, each strike acting like a miniature explosion of sheer kinetic force. Be it from his hammer, mace, shield or even his fists and feet, Rogart's every attack is powered up beyond measure. But in return for this increased strength and power to overwhelm his enemies, he takes increased damage from pretty much all sources. Abandoning all pretense of defense to attack head on does result in that, after all.</sub>

_{◆ A S P E K T S}

_{◇ Sentinel
◇ Vicar
◇ Medic
◇ Lucky}

- Secondary Characters -

Eric Wormwood

_{Eric Wormwood
◆ 22 ◆ January 3rd ◆ 6' ◆ Guardian}

_{◆ A P P E A R A N C E}

Along with his six foot lanky but lean body, Eric sports a head of curly light brown hair, about neck length, combed all the way to his left side, giving that sort of Skrillex hairstyle but without the douchebag. He wears a pair of slate grey spectacles, half-rimmed with circular lenses. His main dress is always very formal; a waistcoat, crisp cuffed shirt and tie, slacks and dress shoes indoors, accentuated with a matching suit jacket when outdoors. He also sports a silver watch on his right wrist, and a small silver band on his left index finger. More often than not he wears full fingered black leather gloves on his hands as well.

_{◆ I D E O L O G Y}

Cool, calm and collected (mostly), Eric is a classic example of an intellectual. Often cooped in his room reading or in a library, he is the sort of young man that values intelligence very highly, especially amongst his peers. Not to say that he doesn't value socialising, of course, just that Eric happens to enjoy the company of smart (or educated, at the very least) people.

However, this does not diminish the fact that Eric is also quite the friendly young man. When not studying, researching a topic of fancy or simply reading a story book, Eric is with his friends, chatting the day away, having a meal or just simply being in their company. Being a very simple young man, he is content to hang around his friends when they're in a group and listen to them talk and offer opinions every now and then, rather than actively participate in a conversation or debate. He's chill like that.

He is also quite level headed, preferring to believe in the whole "Higher Power" thing, rather than fervently worship some god or what have you. Eric finds the whole religion thing to be far too...complicated for his liking, and instead merely believes that there's a higher power watching over everything, nothing more.

_{◆ B A C K G R O U N D}

Eric was born in Willowholm, a small township a distance away from the Dark Zone's current northeastern border to Cetra. The people there lived in relative peace, having an active militia that defended against any stray Mordrem that happened across them. Life, for the most part, was peaceful, and Eric's parents were a pair of scholars intent on studying the Mordrem and Stigma.

One day, when he was eight, a militia force returned to the town in pieces. They were followed shortly by a seething mass of Mordrem that overwhelmed what little defences Willowholm had. During all the chaos, Eric was separated from his parents. Crying and lost, he sought instead a childhood friend, a boy with whom he had played and grown close with over the years.

When the WARG team, led by a pair of Guardians, later arrived and cleared out the Mordrem, they found Eric in the town's school. In his little arms was cradled the still form of his friend. Dead. His parents later found him, and together they moved away into Cetra's capital, to escape the madness that laid in their former home.

Once they settled firmly into their new home, Eric's parents wasted no time presenting their findings to the city council, along with various military representatives. Their work was applauded, not to the standard of other military researchers, but the couple had dug up some new findings that added to their already vast research pool. They were offered a place in the Oakridge Academy as teachers, a placing they quickly and readily accepted. As for the boy, he was summarily enrolled into Oakridge as a student and taken in once he reached the right age.

School life was dark. Through his whole life, he hadn't accepted the loss of his buddy from his childhood. It made him very quiet, unresponsive at times, and anti-social. His mother was quick to send him for psychological counselling, which was where he met the mountain of a man, Rogart Hendrickson.

The two became fast friends over their similar experiences, and quickly became one of the iconic sights of their cohort. After all, how often did you see a small, lanky teenager conversing happily with a hulk? Where Eric lacked in strength and force, Rogart was happy to help him train. Tying weights to his arms and legs as he underwent his sword and endurance training, while lifting light weights to supplement his body mass turned Eric from a beanpole to a lean athlete.

When the two graduated from the Academy and joined the WARG, they were sadly separated due to their placement in different teams. But they still keep in contact, their friendship hard to break.

_{◆ W A R F A R E}

Eric's weapon is twofold, considered one of the more unique weapons of Oakridge. Its main form is that of a rapier, ornate and well-crafted in appearance, with a long, thin blade that is sharp the whole length of the blade. Eric uses this sword in conjunction with his learned style of fencing and hand-to-hand combat, very typical in form and function. It's second form, however, is not so typical. When Eric pushes a button on the hilt of the sword, its blade detaches, gains serrations along the blade's edges and separates into several parts connected by a chain. This bladed whip is his weapon's alternate form, and he wields it with a precision unmatched by most of his peers.

<sub>◇ Gladio [Lightning] [Water] [+Leech] [+Empower] [-Pain] [-Imperil]
- Gladio is Eric's main offensive Spirit, augmenting his sword strikes and combat style to make him as fluid as water and as quick as lightning. When Gladio is active Eric's clothes gain archaic runes that glow a pale blue, as do his eyes. His strikes become faster and his blade gains extra sharpness, dealing extra physical damage and piercing armour. Gladio commonly manifests itself as a roiling torrent of water, though small, that flows and coils itself around his body and weapon, and represents his strength and will of heart, and fluidity of form and spirit.</sub>

_{◇ Ramuh [Lightning] [+Lancet] [+Protect] [+Shell]
-Ramuh is Eric's armour spirit, granting him extra protections along with counterattack capability. When Ramuh is active, holographic plate armour appears on his body, hovering over his body but not impeding his movement. This armour glows a visible yellow, and crackles with electricity. Whenever something strikes it, Ramuh strikes back with a quick flash of lightning. The old fogey rarely shows his face, being grumpy and anti-social, but when he does, it's in the form of an old, bearded man carrying a gnarled wooden staff. Ramuh represents Eric's fierce loyalty and devotion to protecting not only himself but his friends too.}

<sub>◇ Ruinga [Fire] [Lightning] [Holy] [-Poison]
- Ruinga is Eric's main weapon enchantment. It imbues three elements together into his blade that, when combined, create explosive pearls of light and fire when he swings or stabs out with his sword. These pearls are roughly the size of an orange, and explode into brilliant spheres of light and fire upon contact with its target, dealing magical damage with the explosion along with setting the target alight, dealing damage over time. Ruinga's form is very simple, manifesting as three orbs that circle around his body; one of light, one of air, and one of fire, that occasionally meet and explode into a little shower of fireworks before forming again. Each of the orbs are also semi-sentient, as they play with each other when Eric isn't doing anything. The trio of tiny spirits represent his inner playfulness and childlike curiosity and thirst for knowledge.</sub>

<sub>◇ Anima [Dark] [-Curse] [-Terror] [-Pain] [-Imperil]
- Eric's last spirit is his main crowd control spirit. Anima manifests itself as crimson spectral chains that wrap around his arms and torso, and attach to his weapon. When Anima is active, the next attack Eric deals will make his target or targets extremely vulnerable to incoming damage along with immobilisation and dealing damage over time. Eric commonly uses Anima when he attacks with the blade whip form of his rapier, to strike multiple enemies at once to maximise the effectiveness of his debuffs. Anima is a remnant of Eric's depression, his misery, sadness and grief from losing one of his closest friends.</sub>

_{◆ A S P E K T S}

_{◇ Lancer
◇ Adept
◇ Fanatic
◇ Lucky}

[Rockette]

6' 9"

@DJAtomika

Hoh.. Damn.

[DJAtomika]

@Rockette I did say he was a mountain.

Wait.

Oh.

Ohhhhhh.

[Rockette]

That's a literal mountain of beef cake.

[Ozerath]

Idea: Put magnets or something in Thael's spear so he can retrieve it. Or a grappling device of some kind. Or can I give him enough air spirits to pull the thing back to him? Poor kid's best attack involves throwing away his weapon.

[Mirandae]

To those of you building secondary characters in the character tab: let me know when you want me to take a look at them! I think it’s only @ZB1996 at this point. But for future reference.

@Vox added a trivia section to Jack. It’s a nifty thing for characters that already know each other and such. Feel free to add one for yourself, but it’s not a requirement.

@Ozerath
Put a grappling device in there, or some kind of chain. Then it's a trick weapon!

@DJAtomika
The Gentle Giant is one of my favorite tropes! Everything looks good, but I think you meant for Imperil on ’Thor’ to apply to the enemy, so put minus (-) there instead.

The guy in the picture, he is the one that played The Mountain in Game of Thrones, is it not? Is he actually 6’9” or is that what you came up with?

Also, let me know what the name of the capital of Cetra is and where you want it to be.

As for Eric...

I’ll add Willowholm the next time I edit the map.
Eric’s weapon is similar to the Threaded Cane in Bloodborne! I love it.
On the spirits, could you change the elemental damage types into the default character sheet color?
On Ruinga; there currently is no ’electricity’ element. Did you mean Lightning?
On Gladio, are you sure that those negative conditons should apply to Eric?

Other than that, everything looks a-ok!

[DJAtomika]

@Prisk I just checked his Wikipedia page and yes, he is exactly six foot nine.

Also I've made all the edits you said. I didn't know what the + and - next to the names meant so I just guessed. XD

Hmm. The capital of Cetra shall be called Atrias. I actually had an idea regarding Cetra's capital so I'll pm it to you in a bit.

[Mirandae]

@DJAtomika
Cool. Add to character tab.

[Ozerath]

Put in a grappling function for Thael's spear.

Next I'm going to work on a Trivia section. I also want to establish to relationships with the rest of the cast, so hit me up if you want your char to be friends with Goldie.

I'm also going to rework his background a bit; the way things are, his goals are conflicting with mine. I want to send him on Eidolon or Reactor, he wants to go with Hammer. Plus, I'm relying on a character that isn't mine, which is not the best idea.

[ZB1996]

@Prisk

My secondary character is done. I hope it's sufficient. I'm going to have Ezra go for on Doral Recruits mission, while Jaina will go to the Nexus Reactor mission.

[FantasyChic]

I think I'll make a secondary character. I'm going to be busy with work for the next week though so I will try to have it complete by Sunday at the latest.

[smarty0114]

@ZB1996 Team Reactor and Team Doral!

[ZB1996]

@smarty0114
Go team.