BrokenPromise

SoH NPC List

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
	| N A M E: | Betty Barton | S T A T U S: | ALIVE | R A C E: | HUMAN | F A C T I O N: | GEMINI | N O T E S: | A Mysterious violin player that seems to be an Esper, yet has no recollection of acquiring a grimoire. The events of SoE were set in motion after Justin turned her into a vampire. With Justin vanquished, she has only recently been able to act of her own accord. While she does not work for GEMINI, they are the ones looking after her. | C O L O R C O D E: | ade81b
	| N A M E: | Binky | S T A T U S: | POSSIBLY MISSING | R A C E: | HUMAN | F A C T I O N: | GEMINI | N O T E S: | A specialist esper who frequently assists Veronica with her research. Often works as an operator when Veronica is unable to personally manage Gemini agents, or acts as a second operator for a second squad during larger missions. Seldom participates in operations directly and never without Veronica's orders. Doesn't seem to have Veronica's respect regardless. | C O L O R C O D E: | baddab
	| N A M E: | Faith | S T A T U S: | ALIVE | R A C E: | HUMAN | F A C T I O N: | GEMINI | N O T E S: | A woman that was extracted from the chest of the Holy Diver, a massive behemoth. She seems to have been a power source for the thing, which makes about as much sense to you as it does to Gemini. She’s a little out of it and is recovering as of now. | C O L O R C O D E: | bold
	| N A M E: | Dr. Fritzi “Vermilion Veronica” Moller | S T A T U S: | ALIVE | R A C E: | HUMAN | F A C T I O N: | GEMINI | N O T E S: | Heads all of Gemini’s operations in Pax Septimus, and is a deeply revered researcher. She’s been tasked with ensuring Pax becomes stable and relatively monster free. She also has full permission to use the agents to further her research. Don’t worry, she won’t experiment on you. That’s what Binky, her lab assistant, is for. | C O L O R C O D E: | bd71e8

SoH NPC List

NPCs listed in alphabetical order, by faction.

To keep things concise, I'm not going to include every named NPC that's appeared in the RP. Just the seemingly more important ones with a few Player character specific guys in there. The list will likely change as characters gain and lose relevance.

GEMINI Agents
Maverick Alternative
The Freelancers
The Hand
The Inquisition
The Depraved

SoE Patch Notes

PRE SOH UPDATE!

~ Supplemental Glamors (PR & BACKUP) are now their own thing and are upgraded/changed by events in the RP.

~ Various clarifications have been made to the DoCS to make it better reflect the RP.

~ It's official, Logic/Conditional/Multi-cast notes no longer need to be one of your selected notes to be used.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

"I’ve met all the cute girls in Penrose. Nothing else to see here."

”Clearly you haven’t met my patron.”

"E-Excuse me?"

— Chloe Irving, Warren James

Stats

Untransformed

• STR – 5 (Stone Specialization)
• AGI – 3
• VIT – 3
• MAG – 3
• LCK – 3

Transformed

• STR – 16 - 4 +1 (LCK), +1 (Over Developed), +2 (Silver Coin), +3 (Specialization), +3 (Fist), +2 (Melee)
• AGI - 9 – 4 +1 (LCK), +4 (4 Bronze Coins)
• VIT - 13 – 4 +1 (LCK), +2 (Silver Coin), +2 (Melee), +2 (Uniform + Enhanced Outfit), +1 (Soul Jar), +1 (Environmental Sealing)
• MAG - 12 – 4 +4 (Gold Coin), +2 (Silver Coin), +1 (Eternal Style)
• LCK – 4

Chloe Irving

03 03 03 03 03
10 10 06 17 04
23/12 | Babe/Baby | Spirit
Mystic orb, Gauntlets | Third Eye, Focused Assault | Horror(!)
Wings, Enhanced Outfit, Big Damn Hero, Blood Magic, Interdimensional Home, Enhanced Transformation
Dominator | Dark Weapon
Marked(?) ??????????????????????????????

6 Gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze

Chloe didn’t get a chance to tell Al anything. He started to monolog, got interrupted by a phone call, and then left Penrose in Chloe’s hands. It wasn’t an outcome she had expected, but she was happy with it. Chloe was a servant to no one, and that was doubly so now that her “boss” had left Penrose. A grin crept across her face.

"Perfect…“ Chloe stepped out of Al’s office and into the street. Warren had followed Chloe and he couldn’t help but let his sarcastic personality shine through,

”So, I’m dyin’ to know, what was it that made you use your Coin? I mean, a princess like you it had to be something worth it like eh, not having enough for your daily coffee or something serious am I right?”

With a casual shrug and a devious grin he reached into the breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a dull looking Black Coin, an old looking coin like it had been passed down from generation to generation and traded hands with multiple heirs before landing into Warren’s,

”See this here Coin? I’ve had this one coin for years and never had to cash in a favor. Guess that means I can handle situations a little better than you huh?”

Chloe furrowed her brow. She looked straight at the coin that Warren was holding out. Or maybe she was looking past the coin at the man holding it. "I wouldn’t be too sure about that.“ She folded her arms. "It just means you haven’t encountered anything quite as nasty as I have. Any ‘debt collector’ can knock on a wimps door. But there aren’t a lot of soft marks in Penrose.“ The corners of her lips curled into a smile. "But since you’re so curious, I used the coin as soon as I got it.“ Chloe stated this like it was an achievement rather than a sign of weakness. "The best part of being a magical girl is being powerful. Why wouldn’t I use the coin as soon as I could? It’s good to be strong. I thought the magical girls in New York were strong too, but if your broker was done in by some Penrose randoms it’s no wonder you never had to use yours.“

Her jabs did little to deter Warren’s mood or grin, he had seen girls like this before. Headstrong, power hungry, looking to make a splash in the world. They were a dime a dozen.

”Heh, please all marks are soft marks, ya just gotta know how hard and where to hit ‘em at. We do agree on one thing though, it is good to be powerful. Ya just gotta know how to maximize the power you got. Take me for example”, gesturing at himself, ”I know what I’m good at, I pummel faces and fight to win. I got earth powers, so I use everything in my power to win. Sand in the eye, pinnin’ feet to the ground you name it. It all comes down to winnin’ princess and I don’t need the coin to win.”

Chloe smirked. "I’ll be a bit more impressed when I see thosefists in action.“

As he put the coin back into his coat pocket he couldn’t help but clinch his fist at the thought of fighting. He had done a lot of that during his tenure in New York and had helped in building what was known as the Mint through his fists and now the thought of starting over excited him to see what other strong Mahou he could contend with. As he glanced back at Chloe he let out an audible chuckle,
”What could you possibly have to fight here in Penrose that was so much harder than New York?”

"This is by no means an exhaustive list. But thinking back on it Penrose has seen...“ She placed her hands on her hips, threw back her head, and inhaled. "A vampire girl that tried to destroy the very concept of love, an eldritch horror that nearly ended the world but instead became a maid, a monster queen/emperor combo, a group of extra deranged Beacon agents known as the Ascendancy, a trio of necromancers, a rave so ‘lit’ it caused a war between pure and corrupted girls-“ She cut herself off with a giggle. "I may have had something to do with that one. But if you want the strongest person in Penrose right now, that would be Penny. You could probably tell that she’s something of an issue the way Al spoke about her at the meeting. But there are plenty of others that approach her in strength. None of them have a personal army of monster girls to call on however.“ She stretched her arms over her head. "What’s New York like? I’ve stopped by, but I can’t say I stuck around long enough to fight anyone.“

The question had merit, he hadn’t put too much thought about New York since he reassignment but the memories and experiences came flooding back,

”Aw man, I had some good fights back home. There was a rival faction right, some goody two-shoes type like Sanctuary or whateva, and they thought they were gonna come in and ’bring down our corrupt organization’ or whatever. And I kid you not, all these girls had some sort of angel/divine backing cause they all show up with their perfect halos and wings shining up the joint. I punched one so hard her halo flew off and landed on another girl's wing!”

A hearty laugh escaped from him as tears could be seen forming behind his closed eyes.

”Man, but their main boss girl, she was a fun fight. Her thing was shields and spear, right? We struggled forever and she almost had me for a minute cuz for them light spears hurt. I finally got her though when I broke her footing with my magic and disrupted her concentration. Once I bet her, her and all her little goons took up Coins and became a specialist squad for us.”

The smile slowly faded as thoughts of a friend crossed his mind but was quickly dismissed as his casual smirk returned to his face,

”We did a lot of hush work, people didn’t know that we even existed. Hell most people thought we were the mafia IF they saw us, but those fights were personal ya know? It was either them or us just to survive in that area and I loved every minute of it.”

Chloe Nodded along as Warren spoke. It wasn’t until he finished that she raised one of her fingers. "Just for clarity, Sanctuary’s members aren't anything like the goody two-shoes at Beacon. They are thugs and cowards that hide under their queen’s skirt for protection. Secondly…“ She extended a second finger, and her lips curled into a grin. "I see why Al likes you. If your ‘tough girl’ attitude isn’t all bluster you’ll go far in Penrose.“ Chloe turned on her heel and sighed. "It’s just a shame he wastes so much time looking into his own agents. He’s driven a lot of them away with his need to keep them under his thumb. Even his most loyal agents aren’t above having the screws put to them just because he feels like it.“ She looked over her shoulder. "I hope when it comes down to it, you’ll pick me over him when the time comes.“ Chloe giggled before walking further down the street, only to stop. "Neither of us is date material for the other one, but I would like to get to know who else is pulling your strings. You know, your ‘side’ patron? If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.“ Chloe locked eyes with Warren.

There was a sudden shiver down his spine, it was as if something had rushed up and planted themselves just beyond his vision. The maddening whisper had risen to a quiet roar as their eyes locked. As he stood there captured in something between fear and madness, Warren never dropped the facade that covered his face. The sheen of red turned his gray eyes almost pink,

”Aw sweetheart, at least buy me dinner first. I ain't some floozy ya know! But sure why not? Never actually called out to D directly before so it's something new for me. We should probably go somewhere more discreet. D ain't exactly one for subtlety when they're called so it’ll be a scene for sure. You got somewhere quieter?”

”I was getting to that.“With a snap of her fingers, a door phased into existence beside Chloe. It wasn’t too remarkable aside from the eerie golden glow that seeped out of its seams. "Is an interdimensional home secure enough?“ The question was rhetorical. She flung open the door and stepped inside. ”Come on in.“

Chloe’s abode was no more special than any other interdimensional apartment. Aside from the window viewing an alien landscape, it was no different than a luxury apartment Warren might have seen in New York. Chloe said nothing as he entered, and just watched him expectedly.

Warren could feel the eldritch energy flow through the space, it was a chaotic mix of comfort and terror as he could tell that Draddeth felt right at home and was itching to be released,

”Yeh, this will do nicely. Alright let’s do this before D ends up tearing me apart to get out here.”

As he took a moment and closed his eyes he felt his mind begin to slip into a deep space within itself, as if it was being cut off from his physical form while he was still in it. It was not a feeling that he enjoyed, especially for what came next. Almost instantly an overwhelming shadow enveloped Warren's physical form and began to drastically change him; the almost brilliant silver hair slowly became darker and darker until it nearly became one with the surrounding shadows of the room which was matched by the rest of his form. His face, while stronger and more angular, became softer and more rounded as two sharp red horns sprouted from just above his brow line. His hand became smaller in size and almost a bone white as did his face. As a darker, more crimson colored halo formed around his horns the being known as Draddeth opened their eyes as all around the swirling mass of shadows many more bright red eyes with sickly yellow cat-like iris opened up and focused their attention on Chole. After taking a deep breath in their borrowed body Draddeth rushed forward and grabbed both of Chole’s hands as if they were old friends that hadn’t seen each other in years,

”OH, MY GOODNESS!!! HI!! Warren never lets me out, so to let me out and see someone as cool looking as you, EEEEHHHEEHHHH!! This is just the bestest, ooh your patron must be old, I can feel their energy all over you, this is sooo cool! Oh goodness where are my manners, I’m Draddeth, nice to meet you Chole!”

Chloe, for her part, simply blinked while this all played out in front of her. Her eyes drifted between Draddeth’s face and their hands. ”Ah, ah-ha!“ She struggled to maintain her composure. ”I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for Warren to transform into his patron.“ Chloe had to activate her third eye just to make sure this wasn’t the work of illusion magic. ”I wonder why Warren was keeping a cutie like you all locked up.“ A grin spread across her face as she drew her hands in. She looked over Draddeth’s left shoulder, then her right. ”This is so surreal. Where did he go? Can he still hear us?“

”Oh yeh, he can hear us, and to be clear, I only choose to appear this way cause it's something that Warren hates! TeeHee”

”Oh, it’s like that.“

Suddenly all of Draddeth’s eyes stopped and looked up and to the left, as if they were listening to something far off. As they turned back to Chole a cheerful yet disturbing grin creeped across their face, ”He didn’t know that until now, but I can appear in any way I want. So what’s my bestie Warren got planned for you? If he’s showing me off then there's gotta be something cool you're gonna show us?”

Chloe acquired a grin of her own, though it wasn’t quite as unsettling as Draddeth’s. ”Well, I was going to show him the other patron I work with. Though if I’m going to be honest, I don’t think they are nearly as fun as you are.“ She shrugged her shoulders. ”Part of that is due to the fact that they are dead. But a promise is a promise.“ A swirling purple portal opened on one of the apartment walls. ”And Warren?“ With Draddeth holding her hand, she guided her through the portal. ”Girls like this are absolutely my type. So let me know when you can surrender your body for a spell, eh?“

”Oh I can tell we’re gonna be the bestest of friends, we will definitely be spending a lot more time together Chloe!”

The playful teasing ended after they walked through the portal. They were taken to a far more dreary place. It was dark, with only the emerald glow of the sky providing any light. Their feet clicked against a bone bridge that stretched off into the distance. On either side were endless dunes made out of black sand, and countless piles of bones rested among them. Though a careful look would reveal that those piles were actually structures: Pyramids with carefully crafted shapes, adorned with all manner of bone made decorations. It was even possible to see souls freely flying through the air, only to be sucked into one of the pyramids. As they walked along the bridge, they could see that it led to a hole in the side of one such pyramid. ”You must know that nearly everything we have in our world is a god or horror in another. All religions follow this trend, but the same is true with board games.“ The bridge of bone led straight into a giant dome shaped room. Several strange, bony contraptions resided inside. What could only be described as necromancers were extracting souls from their surroundings to be molded into… something else. Before Draddeth and Chloe was an ivory table that some necromancers were piling bones on. Another one was approaching the table with a green clowning mass between their hands: A cluster of souls.

”You must know that nearly everything we have in our world is a god or horror in another. All religions follow this trend, but the same is true with board games. Are you familiar with Games Workshop?“

”I am aware of them, they have a “unique” vision of the future, I’m assuming that they have taken inspiration from your patron?”

Draddeth drifted through the liminal seeming space taking in the sights as casually as a sight seer in a new land. It had been no less than an eon since she had seen another eldritch entity, let alone step foot in their realm and was definitely a moment that they would take with them back. Their eyes peered at the insignificants as they went about their tasks, they often pondered and mused about these lower forms and would think of new ways to make better toys of them.

”I take it your patron happens to be one they pulled their inspiration from? Oh, you simply must show me now…I’m simply dying to see now!”

Chloe grinned, but she rubbed the back of her head. ”Well, I can’t really ‘show’ you them. As I mentioned, they are dead right now. But what’s death to something with dominion over the underworld? They do have a unique version of the future, but mine is inspired by a fantastical past. If you’re familiar with Warhammer Fantasy, you likely know who I’m referring to already. It’s Nagash: Supreme lord of the undead!“

The batch of souls were lowered onto the bones. They swirled like they were getting flushed down a toilet, but were sucked straight into the pile on the table. One by one, the bones glowed and floated into the air. They twisted and elongated, sharpened and stretched. The necromancers outstretched their arms and made gestures in the air. Before long, the pile of bones had been transformed into a siege engine of sorts. A trebuchet made of bone, but it had many legs and was capable of moving all on its own.

”Let’s call this one… Amber.“ Chloe grinned.

”A fine name.” One of the necromancers noted.

Chloe turned to look at Draddeth before pointing at the necromancers. ”Are you familiar with the Ossiarch Bonereapers? They’re all about fusing soul and bone together to make all manner of creations. But they’ve been a bit constrained by their own reality. But magical girls have extremely robust souls, and they make for some of the finest creations. Except…“ Chloe trailed off. Her smile vanished. ”...Nagash is still dead, and probably will be for a very long time. I could introduce you to Katakros, but he’s a bit boring. Lives for conquest and little else. Not to mention he’s usually fighting on the front lines in one of his spare bodies. But um, I hope this was worth the anticipation?“

At the sight of the necromancy being performed and all of the neat and interesting things happening around them Draddeth, an eldritch entity of incalculable age and horror, squealed in girlish delight as their eyes widened and shimmered like the multitude of stars in the night sky. They quickly darted around the creation that sat upon the table at various angles studying the intricacies of the creation, peering into the soul aspect and watching the souls fusing to the bone creation. They went over to one of the necromancers and picked them up as if they were little more than a rag doll speaking in their natural eldritch tongue which sounded like gibberish to the uninitiated before tossing them clear into whatever lay of existence before grabbing Chole’s hand and bouncing like a child that has just received the greatest gift in its lifetime,

OH MY GOODNESS, OH MY GOODNESS, OH MY GOODNESS!! CHOLE, THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!!!!! YOU AND YOUR PATRON ARE SIMPLY THE COOLEST AND BESTEST EVER!!! I have been doing this for eons but never have I considered fusing a soul to anything to create another object, and you say that you need souls to animate your patron again, ok WE are definitely going to get them back. Plus you said that the Mahou have sturdier souls than most, if we take these Penrose Mahou and feed them into your patron, enough of them should at least pick them back up. Whattaya say bestie!”

Draddeth dramatically stuck their hand out in accordance to make a deal with the other Mahou girl.

Chloe’s eyes were spinning just from watching the horror bound around like an ADD school child off their meds. ”Ah-“ she averted her gaze. ”The bonereapers work on a specific principle. They’re less about razing everything to the ground and are more about cultivating. Like farmers.“ With a chuckle, she looked into Draddeth’s eyes. ”I doubt even Penrose has enough magical girls to sustain Nagash. B-But I do have some fun ideas for us!“

The necromancer, or a mortisan bone shaper to be exact, picked itself up and dusted itself off. ”That was a good throw, but I’d rather have a warning next time.” They folded their arms behind their back. ”Anything to report?”

”Not presently. Penrose is bracing for an attack.“ Chloe nodded. ”Keep creating soldiers. We’ll need them.“ Once the mortisan bowed, Chloe power walked out of the necropolis with her strange friend. It wasn’t until Chloe walked back into a portal taking them back to her home that she exhaled. ”My relationship with the bonereapers is a little complicated. I need to be careful with what I say to them. Nagash isn’t a huge fan of independent thought.“

As they left the pocket dimension Draddeth turned and watched the portal close to soak in one last look of the Old Ones realm. As they turned back to Chole with a bounce and giddy hopping they grabbed her hand and bounced in place,

”Yeh, we typically like our thralls to be more subservient than that, with too much free thought it gives them the idea that they have a choice in their existence, which we both know isn’t true. I can’t wait for all the fun we have planned together. I've waited SOOOOOO long to be able to do anything but smelly Warren never lets me have any fun. I’m gonna have to force my way in more often, your too fun not to be around.”

”Ha!“ Chloe rubbed the back of her neck. ”Well, I think you’re very cute. We need to go on a proper date some time.“ With a sniff, she put her hands on her hips. ”I think Warren has some business to attend to, so I’ll let you go for now.“ Chloe didn’t even wait for a response before ushing Draddeth, who was now Warren, out the door. Once Chloe was alone, she collapsed onto her couch. ”I wonder if it’s too late to get out from under Nagash? What am I even talking about?“

It was an unusual situation she was in. Nagash, the Mint, even Draddeth had different plans for Penrose.

But what did Chloe want?

---

Aurora clapped her hands together. "Four teams? I wouldn’t expect you to know this Penny, but the eggs are-" She lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh! I shouldn’t be giving away this information so freely. Can everyone tell me their cellphone numbers so that I can text them a secret message? I’m sure Penny will just hack you and extract the information herself, but it’s the principle of the thing." The door to Chloe’s interdimensional home opened beside Aurora and Chloe stepped out. "Oh good heavens! I’m glad you’re back. Do you want me to catch you up?"

”Did anything important happen?“

"Important? Not necessarily, but there was a development where-"

”Excellent! Tell me later.“ As soon as Chloe pulled out the contract again, Aurora rushed to create a metal desk for her to place all of the documentation on. ”The boss gave to go ahead on everything. And yes, Penny, the details regarding sanctuary are not on the main contract, per your request.“ Chloe was pretty sure making the paperwork pointlessly complex was just some ‘dominance game’ the iron queen was playing with her. ”Now let’s hear those additional conditions so that we can see about adding them.“

Kurai Majokko

“Saved by the Rainbow!”

— Suki Oyama

@The World@Ponn@Emeth

As soon as Tsubomi hit "send," a pair of crimson eyes poked up from the windowsill. Her head was tipped back as to reveal as little of herself as possible while being able to look into the room. Once she was satisfied, her head sunk below the window. Then "normal" Suki crawled into the room with all the grace of a certain drowned spirit that comes out of TV screens.

“Wew! Thanks, Tsubomi!” Suki liked cute nicknames, but she made an effort to not use her allies magical girl nickname when she was untransformed. She recalled a time when she had used one magical girl's "Dark Wolf" moniker when they weren't transformed. It wasn't something she wanted a repeat of. Otherwise, it was hard to come up with a nickname for Tsubomi that didn't sound really try hard or disrespectful. “I was worried about being at the club room by myself too! But since you're here, we have nothing to worry about!” She held her chin. “Kinda weird that Boss Baby isn't here yet.” Rei was an exception. She would always be boss baby. That and she wasn't exactly shy about hanging out with the other magical girls while untransformed. If she didn't care about keeping her identity a secret, Suki wasn't going to either. “But uh, since it's just you and me here, I've been meaning to ask you something about your um. You know, your condition?” She rubbed her arm. “So if you can't feel emotions very well, then does that mean-”

That thought was interrupted when Nyx entered the room. It was unusual that she would be transformed, but given how things went last night, she wasn't surprised to see her like this. “Hello Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow!” She was probably just going to call her Nyx from now on. She didn't have a chance to respond before Kiyo swooped in with a nice complement. Maybe? “H-hey, Trendsetter! Glad you're okay! Or are you? You're awfully early.” She chuckled before addressing Nyx. “Yea, I think between 'the kids' and 'baby' there wasn't much left for leftovers. I did bring some for lunch. If someone wants to share we can, but there just wasn't a lot there.” She would have corrected Nyx's assumption about Tsubomi being a mascot, but figured she could do that herself.

Suki tapped her foot. Roche was probably looking for her, but it was weird that she and Rei were both absent. They must have lost track of time while making out in the girl's bathroom. Suki was only mildly annoyed that she wasn't part of it. Then again, Roche was probably there. Yea, she was fine with her present company. Though Suki wasn't sure what to do without anyone in power around. It would be weird to just take the reigns and start discussing important topics. Especially if Rei or Roche walked in just a few seconds later.

“Sooooooooo...” She turned back to Kiyo. “Trendsetter? What did you do yesterday? Those were some pretty cryptic texts.”

Super Secret Christmas Gift

Done list:

-New header text

-New Header Images

-Reworked Interest Check

-New title banner (For now, might go fancier.)

-Supplemental Glamor Rework

-Look over notes one, more, time.

-Finish up new NPC list

To do list:

We're good to go baby!

---

music

Doctrine of Combat Supremacy

_{A google DOC that contains information on how to create glamors, melodies, as well as how other aspects of the RP works. It's a handbook for everything Synphony on High related!}

Melody Cost Calculator

_{Because math can be hard sometimes.}

DoCS Patch Notes

_{A list of changes made to the DoCS from 4/11/2022 onward, part way through the original SoE RP.}

I like women, cars, motorcycles, and pizza. I ain’t really about complicated ideas. Don’t think anyone is. Complicated people can’t know themselves very well. Thinkin’ that’s more how someone describes themself when they want to impress their date.

What about you, Time Keeper?

~Billy Black

We’re baaaaaaaaack…

Symphony on High (SoH) Is a sequel to my last RP Symphony of Espers (SoE) and shouldn’t be confused with Symphony on High School (SoHS). It’s a supernatural RP that takes inspiration from ”darker” superhero and magical girl IPs such as Madoka Magica, Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Invincible, Watchman, Kingdom Come, and several others. It deals with themes involving enduring failure to reach success, living with your choices, keep moving forward, etc.

You will play as an esper: a powerful wielder of a magical artifact that does battle with even more powerful monsters, other espers, and criminals. An espers is not some crusty old mage. They have peak human physical prowess, with some going beyond that.

The faction war rages on as GEMINI and Maverick Alternative continue to fight for control of Pax Septimus. But what’s really shaken things up is the discovery of a secret collective known as “The Hand,” which seems to be responsible for the earlier vampire attacks. It seems beneficial to both factions to call a truce, but can such a thing really last with such divided ideals? And what if there’s more to this than The Hand?

Catch up/Refresher

Act 1:

The two primary factions move into Pax Septimus. Gemini agents take back a police station and the Mavericks gain access to the Bastion. The Bastion being the underground labyrinth the Iron Queen used to run Pax Septimus from. Also there’s a vampire thrall and a guy that has the upper half of his head replaced with a cathode ray tube. There’s some weird shit going on.

Also some random esper encounters a girl once and she gets kidnapped by monsters. It kind of blows up on Shimr where it gets sensationalized to the point where they make her out to be his girlfriend. Cameras cover the kidnapping and it was vampires. Specifically, a magnificent bastard called Justin Von Carnage.

There’s also a massive monster called the Holy Diver that might stop by Pax Septimus, but nobody cares about that right now. Totally won’t be relevant later.

Act 2:

They know where Justin is hanging out but GEMINI is all “we got this, Freelancers.” They want that big win so that they can look like the heroes. Meanwhile, Maverick Alternative hires a bunch of freelancers so that they can storm the place at the same time as the GEMINI people. The idea being that letting the freelancers tag along would make the Mavericks look better than GEMINI. It kind of worked, only not really because they encountered each other while they were looking for Justin and a fight broke out between them. Justin escaped, kidnapped another waifu on his way out, so yea. It was a huge loss for everyone.

But Justin’s statue of himself wrestling a bull was destroyed, so even he had a reason to be mad.

Also he may have indirectly revealed that he was working for some group. Vampires just can’t shut the hell up.

Act 3:

This act was mostly filler. Erm, mostly stuff that related to the characters rather than the plot. Only relevant bit was the esper that (allegedly) killed the Iron Queen showed up. She’s nuts, but she was able to give the espers some clues as to what the Holy Diver is doing. Not out of the kindness of her heart, but because two espers hugged in front of her and it was super adorable.

Act 4:

It’s an epic fight with aunty knight, mommy swat member with dragon horns, Persona 5’s joker, a retro skintight outfit sci-fi girl, and one clockwork boy VS Justin Von Carnage, the two mind controlled waifus he abducted, a lisping poltergeist, and a giant black monk that can call down the seven plagues of Egypt. I almost can’t believe it happened.

But it did happen. It was a hard battle and not everyone survived. Least of all Justin and the Diver, but we also lost the dragon breacher. But there were a few weird things that happened at the end of the fight, but we’ll be covering them at the start of the RP. So don’t worry too much about that now.

SoH takes place in a fictional version of our world. While it looks mundane to most people, there are supernatural forces and energies that hide just out of sight. Monsters, espers, and everything in between often try to operate away from prying eyes. When things do go public, government cover ups and the public’s own desire to rationalize such events prevent it from escaping into the mainstream.

Espers are not born with their powers. They are drawn to areas that have a heavy concentration of mana. It is in these places that they will locate a grimoire; a magical artifact that lets them use glamours. These glamours are what give them special powers. They can change their appearance, fortify their strength, grant them weapons, let them use spells, and possibly other supernatural powers. It still isn't clear if espers are a result of a bloodline, a DNA mutation, or simply the grimoires themselves calling out to their chosen warrior.

As soon as an Esper picks up their grimoire, their lives are changed forever. The young can imitate their favorite characters, the old can return to a prime they never had, and all can become heroes. But more than that, they become members of the supernatural world.

The espers are the star of the show, and come from many walks of life. The rich, poor, young and old are all capable of becoming espers. Espers have to adjust their lives accordingly to make time for their new responsibilities. Most switch their jobs to monster hunting, but they still have connections to the mundane world. They must keep up appearances with their friends and family, spouses and children.

But espers aren’t alone. While espers are chosen by fate to wield great power, the magi have constructed their own artifacts to wield a different type of magic. These fellows are the ones more reminiscent of crusty old wizards.

On the less magical side, there are operators and suppliers that work to aid espers in a number of different ways. Espers may be the soldiers in the war against monsters, but they are backed by others who help maintain their equipment, training, quality of life, reputation, and a number of other conveniences.

Pax Septimus is a city located in North America somewhere in the middle of the east coast. During frontier era America there were many wealthy families who had moved in from England and Canada and lived there while the frontier continued to push into the west. With the harbor nearby, it became a hub for trade and still is today. It was a nasty place for slaves to live before the revolution, and during the 20-40's, more blood was shed when a mafia moved into the city. Pax Septimus is cursed; a city founded on blood.

Of course modern Pax Septimus does its best to not look that way. Its population density ranges well into the millions. The center of Pax is a bustling metropolis with a handful of skyscrapers, while the surrounding city is made up of much smaller buildings. There’s even a historic district where the art deco architecture has been maintained. Quite a few tourists stop by just to see it.

Sadly, like any densely populated area, there’s a fair bit of crime. The cursed city has yet to sate its appetite for blood.

Magic is a largely unknown thing. Magi have only recently been able to study it thanks to advancements in technology. There’s still so much they don’t know about it. What they have is an idea about magic called “memory theory.”

Memory theory states that mana is made in the brain while a human is alive and is released upon their death. There was some speculation that mana might have been proof that human souls exist, but this was later disproved when the levels of mana in people with forms of memory impairment made less mana over the course of their lives.

The more mana that’s in the atmosphere, the more likely it is for supernatural events to happen. This means more monsters, but also more espers to fight them. During the dark ages, there was barely enough mana to sustain more than a handful of espers at a time. But now with the world’s record population, there are espers wherever there are people.

Another odd thing about mana is that it can’t be consumed by anything but monsters. While an espers grimoire uses mana to activate, that mana is drawn in and expelled without actually being consumed. This is a bit of a problem, as it means that killing off monsters before they can feed enough prompts more and stronger monsters to show up. Yet letting them feed also increases the chance that they will cause a catastrophe and generate even more mana. Quite the conundrum.

Monsters are not a product of our world. They come from another dimension called the elemental chaos. It’s not clear if the elemental chaos is a single world or many. No one who has entered the elemental chaos has lived to tell the tale, and those few who have witnessed monsters enter our world have seen a glimpse of it through the portals they use. Burning glaciers, electrostatic smoke, and floating lava are all anomalies that have been observed. The more religious scholars believe the elemental chaos to be hell, or even heaven in some instances. Some have been able to glimpse more tranquil scenery. Floating islands and other pleasant, yet surreal vistas also make up the elemental chaos. Like with memory theory, there is still much to be learned.

Monsters feed on the ever growing supply of mana in this world. But this can be the start of a vicious cycle. While all humans release mana when they die, they release far more when they are feeling negative emotions. Like any good farmer, hungry monsters will cultivate their crop for a good harvest. These eldritch creatures remain hidden and spread despair. The less patient ones might be content to start a mass shooting by driving someone mad, while the more careful and methodical ones will hold out for something bigger. They are bearers of plagues, wars, and cataclysmic events.Some monsters are harmless, but no monster can get by without eating mana.

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, from giant kaiju to small rodents. While some have a humanoid appearance, they are different enough to never be mistaken for one. While some use magic to take the appearance of humans, their true forms have oddly colored skin or are too big to be real. It’s not uncommon for them to have human level intelligence, but many monsters are little more than thralls or pets, willing to attack at their master’s command.

Perhaps the most disheartening thing about the monsters is their near immunity to physical harm. Not only that, but their attacks rip through the most advanced armors available. This is why espers are dispatched to deal with monsters, as they are one of the few things that are able to harm them and resist their attacks.

The danger a monster poses to the public is often indirect. A monster will seldom try to execute a group of people themselves. They will drive people mad, spread disease, but will rarely kill a human with their own hands.

A monster’s presence can also lead to gangs, cultists, and even the mafia showing up in an area. Crime rates tend to soar, as well as the presence of mania of the general populace. Sometimes it gets so bad that the local police force can’t handle it, and espers are asked to assist with the cleanup.

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to the monster conundrum. Kill them, and the growing mana supply invites more monsters. Spare them, and invite despair into the world.

Should the world’s mana levels get too high, it could attract something to this world that even the espers aren’t equipped to fight: an eldritch horror.

All player espers in SoH serve one of the three main factions. Depending on who your esper serves depends on their view of the monster problem as well as who their allies are.

G.E.M.I.N.I. stands for “Government Esper and Monster Intelligence and Neutralization Initiative,” and is North America’s government run esper unit. It’s their job to slay monsters wherever they hide, as well as learn what they can about supernatural phenomenon. The US believes that the eradication of all monsters is the only sensible option, and that advancements in technology will eventually allow them to manage the growing mana problem. As you can imagine, there are a few rare exceptions to their “kill all monsters” rule. Monsters that show an interest in cooperating with the government and prove more beneficial than harmful are closely monitored instead of exterminated. They don’t get along with Maverick Alternative, and will attack espers that are known to be from that faction on sight.

GEMINI Agents tend to wear darker colors. Usually formal outfits, but sometimes something closer to a military uniform. Their clothing is neat and tidy, as their kind are trained and disciplined. Usually.

The head of the initiative isn’t known, but Veronica is an up and coming researcher who’s been put in direct control of all GEMINI agents operating in Pax Septimus. Espers working under her can expect to frequently go out of their way to eliminate monsters and collect samples for her research. Occasionally she will dispatch her assistant “Binky” to do work too fine for a normal esper’s hands. Provided she hadn’t been kidnapped.

Maverick Alternative has been labeled by the government as a terrorist organization, but they choose to view themselves as pragmatic heroes of the new age. They do not have faith in the government’s ideas, viewing GEMINI agents as bullies at best and murderers at worst. The mavericks choose the alternative route and try to spare as many monsters as they can. Monsters that choose to behave have to agree to some ground rules before they move into Maverick Alternative’s base. This doesn't make them idle pacifists. Even if they offer monsters another way, a great deal of them still choose a life of menacing humans. But even if they can’t reason with every monster, getting monsters to eat mana helps resolve the mana crisis now. More humans may suffer, but better than summoning an eldritch horror.

Mavericks dress like punks, rock stars, gypsies, and other social outcasts. If you feel like an esper would describe their clothing choice as “non-conformist” they are likely a Maverick. Hair gel, hair dye, motorcycles, and showing skin are also clear marks of Mavericks.

Heading Maverick Alternative is Billy Black, a larger than life man who’s always wearing a gas mask. He’s also a monster. Some iew the espers he commands as misguided souls that have simply given into wicked magics, but the truth is that everyone who serves him does so willingly. Those who work for Billy can expect to go on “monster recruitment” missions and quell events that may or may not have been started by monsters. While monsters enjoy human suffering, some humans bring it upon those around them. Billy is also assisted by a few lieutenants: Esper fem fatales that can run operations on his behalf.

The Freelancers acknowledge the presence of the two other factions, but don’t participate in their feud. Their feelings about how to best deal with the mana problem are as varied as they are. Freelancers usually focus on keeping the mundane world in check, and only engage monsters if they are being a menace. They do not aim to anger either of the other two factions, as they might like to be hired by them at some point. Both GEMINI and Maverick Alternative put out bounties that any freelance esper with the “Shimr” app can take on.

There’s no wrong way to dress as a freelancer, though they do tend to avoid dressing up like other factions to avoid getting brutally murdered over a silly misunderstanding.

The freelancers have no leader, or rather their leader is the Shimr app. They ultimately decide who and what they’re going to do on their own. There are some ‘leaders’ in the freelance community, but they are more aspirations or rivals than anything else.

There isn’t enough information available to say much about this faction of monsters. They’re entrenched in Pax Septimus and have access to a lot of resources. They are believed to be responsible not only for the Holy Diver’s appearance in Pax, but the Iron Queen’s initial reign.

What espers do end up working for them are “Dark Web” espers: Freelance espers motivated by profit above all else. The despair their common man suffers at their hands matters not as long as they can wipe away the tears with their ill-gotten cash.

The only known member of the hand was Justin von Carnage, who was vanquished during the Holy Diver attack.

The Vatican has their own personal esper unit. While the strongest of their ranks protect the pope, they do occasionally send out “missionaries” to offer relief and spread the gospel. Their view on the monster issue is unique in that it bypasses any scientific attempt to look at the problem. Magic is simply the presence of miracles, and monsters are either angels or demons. The difference between the two is that angels have an “angelic” appearance and aren’t opposed to working with the Inquisition. Do be aware that some “angels” are more biblically accurate than others.

Espers of the cloth tend to look like priests, nuns, crusaders, and other such folks. Go figure.

The Inquisition considers itself a servant of god and the pope, but the one who really calls the shots is Raphiel the Righteous hearted. Anything that might pose a threat to his religion or the goodness of the world must be eradicated post haste.

The depraved are not a real faction. It is a title given to espers who are marked for death. They have done something so heinous that all the other factions want to kill them.

This usually works by making enemies of the government as well as the mavericks. Once they both put a bounty on your head, it’s only a matter of time before the freelancers are there to collect. Though upsetting the freelancers en mass can also have this effect. Once the freelancers are up in arms over whatever happened, GEMINI and Alternative will both be gunning for you to earn their favor.

Depraved do not live very long. The ones that do only survive because they have frightening powers or are very reclusive.

Every esper has a magical artifact called a grimoire. You can’t be an esper without one. Each one has 4 slots that can hold a glamor that can empart a special power.

All the details about what a grimoire can and can’t do can be found in the Doctrine of Combat Supremacy, but this offers a quick rundown of what each slot does.

This enables an esper to change their grimoire into a powerful weapon. Almost anything from a sword, to a bow, to a bazooka, even a chain whip. Regardless of what instrument is selected, each one has a situation it performs well in and not so well in. It is up to the esper to decide what type of instrument works best for them.

In addition to becoming sturdier than a normal human, an esper’s style can change their physical form. Some look just different enough to hide their true identities, while others experience far more radical transformations. All espers still have a human shape, but they can look pretty exotic. Some even age up or down!

Genre are what let espers cast spells called melodies. By stringing together magical notes, they can make highly customizable melodies for a variety of different situations.

Leitmotifs are something unique to each esper. They can take almost any shape. The sky’s the limit!

Are there other factions?

In Pax Septimus? Probably not. Other countries have their own esper agent programs, and there are other groups of monster sympathizers outside of Pax Septimus. But none of them really matter as they have no bearing on what's happening in Pax Septimus right now. The inquisition only gets a mention because Raphael the Righteous Hearted decided to come all the way from the Vatican to Pax, and he pretty much is his organization. If you'd like to play as an other country's agent or a sympathizer that isn't MA, a freelancer would be a good faction to pick. Though most government agents and sympathizers have the same ideas about the mana problem. So you could also pick GEMINI if your agent is working with the local American forces, or MA if your sympathizer is working with a larger group to complete their goal.

Are we going to eventually visit other cities, countries, dimensions, realities, timelines, etc?

I thought about it, and probably not. It is fun to think about how the rest of the world works, but we’re going to have our hands full dealing with The Hand in Pax Septimus. There isn’t going to be time to explore the world unless The Hand decides to go on the run. But I don’t think globe trotting is really why any of us are here.

Is the "Doctrine of Combat Supremacy" required reading? It looks sorta big...

Most of what's written in the DoCs are examples for glamors as well as extensive descriptions of notes that you may or may not make use of. I think that it would be a good idea to read the entire thing at least once, but the most important things to read shouldn't take you very long.

I have a note idea, will you implement it?

If you have an idea for a note that helps Espers do something that seems reasonable, I may implement it. Do keep in mind though that notes can be combined into melodies for some fierce combinations, so I'm not looking for compound notes that are just a combination of other notes. There are also some things I refuse to put in the hands of espers, such as the ability to stop time or revive dead people.

If I do take a note idea, do be patient. It needs to be written to the DoCs in such a way that it is easily understood and can't be abused too badly. I also have GM posts to make and am constantly working on bettering things.

When does my character get stronger? Can I change my glamors/notes after character creation?

As the RP goes on and I become more confident in its systems, the player characters will be allowed to upgrade or swap out their glamors. Changing glamors prior to advancement is something I won't normally allow. You may swap out notes, provided your character is not out on a mission, in combat, or about to be in combat, and never without the approval of a GM. Ideally though, this will only be done if you don't like how a note behaves in character. Espers shouldn't really have a reason to swap out their notes between fights.

PvP?

The goal of the RP is to have espers fight for their cause, which is usually going to pit them against dangerous monsters, cults, the mafia, magi, and other such dangers. However, fights with other espers are also possible, as are fights with player espers. It is not the focus of the RP, but one of the reasons why some of the more complex systems for the RP exist is to establish fair play in PvP situations. In short: It’s possible, not what I’m aiming for, but it can happen.

~ Metagaming, godmodding, and the like are prohibited.

~ Keep OOC drama as low as possible. If you have an issue, try to settle it in PMs. Should you need the GM, I frequently log into discord and check my PMs daily. You’ll have a response within twenty-four hours most of the time.

~ If it's been a week since your last IC post without any word from you, the GM may take control of your character. They may not be there for you to take back if/when you return. To prevent this, please notify me if you won't be able to post for an extended period of time, or lose interest in the RP. Common courtesy.

~ You get one character. You don’t get another unless that one leaves the RP.

~ SoH deals with dark themes, but does so tastefully. Posts are expected to follow Guild guidelines. That means no gratuitous violence, and fade to black where appropriate.

Kurai Majokko

Talk to almost any dark magical girl and they wax philosophical about the night. But as dingy as Hibusa town was, the night only lasted so long. During the day, darkness receded into its little recesses where the sun didn’t shine. Yet Suki found the early morning best for mischief. Noi one else was awake between four and six o’clock. The night owls were asleep by then and the early birds wouldn’t be up ‘till six.

Main street was empty at this hour. Hibusa wasn’t the sort of place where you encountered much security. Most of the smaller shops couldn’t afford things such as cameras, and the ones that could had no idea how to properly set them up. Even if they did, this town was Suki’s home. She knew which shops had cameras, which ones had alarms, and which ones had neither.

A small shutter shop was Suki’s target today. She didn’t know what was inside, only that it wouldn’t be hard to get her hands on whatever they had. There were plenty more nearby if this didn’t yield anything. The only catch was that the lock for this particular shop was of good quality. Her wave rake wasn’t able to open it, nor rapping on it with a small dead blow hammer. This would require actual lock picking to get open. She bit her tongue and slid her turning tool indies.

---

As far as Magical girls were concerned, it was hard to answer whether they firstly were the magic and then the girl, or the opposite. Perhaps it all depended on the individual, perhaps not. Most if not all of them eventually got caught up in the duty that befell them, it taking an increasingly big chunk of their lives. Inevitably, it seemed. While it may or may not be the case for some or most of the dark magical girls plaguing this city, some of them still had to keep up appearances during the day and during the night. It was certainly the case for Sayuri. Otherwise known as Kaeru, the ‘Frog Maiden’.

Before the night’s duty, Sayuri more often then not could be found wandering the city with a few friends, visiting whatever spots the young people of Hibusa town liked to visit or simply walking around the sparsely populated night streets. Sometimes it happened *after*, whereas Sayuri would wander alone while waiting for exhaustion to catch up to her. As she was making her way back to her family’s home on the mountain, she took a road not a lot of people took this early in the morning. Suddenly, she stopped.

Out from the corner of her eye, she spotted something… someone. Someone was definitely there, right in front of a door leading inside of a store, and by the looks of it they were trying to get in. Slowly, carefully, Sayuri walked up to them. Once close enough, she brought a fist to her mouth and pretended to cough;

“Ahem. Hey there. Are you…okay? Forgot your keys, did you?”

"Noimnotafloormatdon’tsteponme!” was what the flustered school girl said. She stood up, gripping a stiff wire in her hand. Suki’s eyes moved between the lock, Sayuri, and then the wire in her hand. "I know what this looks like.” She tugged on her skirt. "So I was at school, and they gave me some really hard homework. My parents aren’t really around that much, but Mr Chen is nice to me.” She looked side to side. "And he works here.” She tapped her chin. "A-and when I went home last night, I left all of my notes in his shop. So uh, I woke up early hoping to grab them before the morning rush. ” She looked at the wire again. "They make it look a lot easier in the videos.”

Sayuri remained there for a few moments, allowing the weight of Suki's lie to settle in. She had a serious look about her, briefly making it appear as though she was on the verge of or taking some drastic action. Clearly Suki thought so, if her deepening frown was anything to go by. However, a change quickly took place as a faint, mischievous smile began to grace Sayuri's lips. It wasn't directed at Suki; instead, it was more about the whole situation.

“I'm sorry," she managed to say between fits of laughter. "I'm a bit uh... tired. I worked late last night," she added with a chuckle. "So, it's like that, huh? Haven't we crossed paths before...? I'm sure I've seen you around somewhere."

"Come to think of it, you look a little familiar too.” Suki rubbed the back of her head.

Sayuri paused to ponder, tilting her head with a finger resting on her chin. Then, she had a eureka moment.

"I bet we both go to the same school!" Sayuri's eyes lit up as she came to this realization. With great enthusiasm, she clapped her hands together in triumph.

"There’s only one school around here.” Suki folded her arms. "But that’s probably it, we just- Eh- Ah-” She stammered as Sayuri gently took hold of Suki's hands.

"How did I never notice you before? I absolutely love your outfit!" She expressed her admiration while examining Suki's fishnets and frilly shorts, running a finger along the unique fabric. Suki may have been accustomed to people reacting with mockery or confusion to her goth look, but Sayuri's fascination was entirely sincere. A longer look at Sayuri, and Suki might notice; they were not so different. Sayuri's attire was just as striking, though it leaned toward vibrant colors instead of the dark and gloomy.

"...Heh.” Suki’s pale skin was starting to change to a warm shade of red. "Yea I uh, I don’t really dress like this when I go to school. Uniform codes and everything.” She pulled away from Sayuri and folded her hands over her chest. "But yea! Guess I’ll have to return home empty handed.” She chuckled.

Sayuri’s had been on the lookout and her watchful eye seemed to catch the exact moment Suki finally gained some colors. Glad that she actually managed to go through to the girl, she continued on with the same jovial attitude. “That sucks… but I have an idea.” Sayuri pulled on the strap of her bag to bring it forward and ruffle in it a bit.

Suki rubbed her arm. "You should probably go home and get some sleep. School’s going to start in a few hours.”

“Bah! It wouldn’t be the first night I barely sleep - or don’t at all. I bet it happens to you too, am I right?” She had no idea how close she was to the truth. “Since you lost your notes - let me help you with your homework! We still got a few hours.” Sayuri finally managed to get out her own notes, proudly grinning at her achievement.

"You’d do that for me?” Suki pressed the tips of her fingers together. "I-I mean I’ll probably remember everything when I get back home. Heh! Maybe I can even swing by and pick up everything before coming to school.”

“Nonsense!” Sayuri exclaimed at Suki’s show of hesitation. “It’s way more fun to do this together, isn’t it? Beside you look like good company. Come on!” she said as she’d pick Suki’s hand as if to lead her away. “We’ll knock those homeworks down, and the exam will be a piece of cake. Trust me!”

"Ah! Ngh! Hmm, b-but-”

---

The two girls ended up returning to the picnic area beside Suki’s group home. Sayuri had her own homework on her, so they would have to pick up Suki’s textbooks to get the ball rolling. They were from different classes, and had different assignments as a result. Suki’s backpack sat at one end of the table with all of her homework and textbooks spilling out of it.

"Um, so Mr Chan was helping me with my history homework.” She opened one of her textbooks. "Feudal Japan was never my strongest subject, heh. There was a lot going on at that time.”

If Sayuri knew Suki was lying, she did not let it show. Instead, she picked up her own homeworks to look over the relevant notes. “Lots is going down even today, trust me!” she couldn’t help herself adding.
“Now, let’s see…”

The two of them went at it until the sun came up. The school’s day was going to be tough - but unbeknownst to them, a sleepless night was hardly a novelty to the two new friends.

…

…

…

“I'm really good at hide and seek. Mostly the hiding part.”

— Suki Oyama

There were only two types of school kids: those that liked school and those that didn’t. And Suki hated it.

She understood its importance. Your parents weren’t exactly a roadmap to a perfect life, so someone has to show you the ropes. The issue was that the Japanese school system was based around making you their perfect little pawn. Students were required to help clean the classroom after lunch, conform to a strict dress style, and they had to be on time. Faculty also felt like they could dictate how you behaved out of school. No late nights, no romance with other students, the list went on. Suki dreamed of being in an American school where a janitor kept things clean. She’d have even been able to dress how she liked. Her attendance might have been better as a result. But there was no skipping class today. After all the “help” she got from that Sayuri girl, it wouldn’t make sense to be absent from school. Speaking of which…

“Huh…”

Suki was seated at her desk with her report card in hand. Did she really score above eighty today? It was hard to believe, but maybe some of the things Sayuri said had stuck in her brain. The temptation was to try and find her, but club activities were starting soon.
Suki wasn't too punctual, but today they were going to hunt for a pink haired super cutie. Unless Rei just randomly bumped into her during the day. Wouldn’t that be the most anticlimactic thing to happen? Wouldn’t that suck hard?

Not as hard as running into the rule keeper.

Alone.

Suki had enough awkward one-on-one with Roche during yesterday’s fiasco. She was well aware things hadn’t quite calmed down between them. She had gotten a dirty look from Roche earlier in the day, which confirmed there would be many more awkward encounters if Roche had her way. But while Roche might have been a dark magical girl, but she was also the track team captain. She had been molded by the school system into everything Suki didn’t want to be. The punctual timing, the approved outfits, it had all been hammered into Roche. No surprise that she was Rei’s rule keeper. She was an obedient pet that never tugged on its leash any harder than it had to. That was how Suki could keep track of her. Track practice wrapped up a few minutes ago, so she was probably strategically placing herself around the club or tailing Tsubomi. She’d just have to take the long way around.

She took advantage of the fact that no one was in her classroom. Suki flung open one of the windows and crawled outside. She closed the window behind herself to cover her trail. Then she crept along the outside of the school until she reached their club room. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to get spotted. Not by members of the school anyway. So long as she stayed beside the building and kept her head below the windows, she’d be impossible to spot. Some people driving past the school might have noticed a student slinking around outside of it, but none of them were going to stop on account of Suki. They probably had mistresses to visit or something.

The only real obstacle in Suki’s way was the club windows. They were all shut and latched, impossible to open from the outside. With a groan, Suki slipped into a nearby bush. A white hand reached out, and a ribbon of blood slipped past the window gasket and opened the latch from the inside. Suki looked up over the window sill just to make sure Roche hadn’t decided to go to the club room early. She ducked under the window frame, transformed back, and pulled out her phone. She then started to type a text message for Tsubomi.

Rainbow! ^-^ Wanna do me a solid and get to the club room ASAP? <^o^>

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

”Oh boy, trick-or-treaters!”

— Wisdom

@DarkwolfX37

Kain did not get an answer to his hail. But his presence had some effect on Wisdom’s sword. Images of his past flicked across its surface. He could see that monster that ended him, Makoto’s quest across worlds, a montage of the months that led them to where they stood now. Even without context, it was an impressive thing to behold. Someones entire time in and around Penrose summed up in a few seconds. It was humbling.

”You’re quite the adventurer, squirrel girl.” She rose to her feet. ”As are you, sir knight. Most detours through the underworld tend to last a lot longer than yours. My name is Wisdom. Given your punctual arrival, I can make an assumption as to why you’re here. Especially if the purple lady is here. You’re looking for the wolf girl, right?”

There was something off about this magical girl, even if they didn’t know what it was. She spoke normal enough, her outfit was on the plain side, and her jovial disposition didn’t feel forced. Perhaps it was her lack of unusual features that made her seem so unusual. Or maybe it was how uncanny everything else was. They were standing in the middle of what should have been a busy road, but it had been reduced to a giant crater with the three of them standing right beside it.

”Thought so.” Was Wisdom’s response to their answer, or lack of. ”It’s funny, really. Magical girls are among the most powerful creatures in the world, but only so few can ever truly seize their dreams.” She placed a hand on her chest. ”In my home world, I was a counselor at a magical girl school. I wanted to personally challenge the students. That was practically my reason for existing. And then one day, the school stopped existing. They never even got to see me transformed.” She placed her hands on her hips. ”You aren’t my students, but maybe fighting you would be a good consolation prize.”

In a flash of light, Wisdom turned into yet another pink-haired-kimono-wearing-samurai, but this one had bunny ears. Six duplicates(?) appeared at her back. She placed her hand on her sword, stepped forward…

And stopped.

”Oh!” she looked between her opponents. ”You agree to fighting, right?”

---

”That’s a shame about the lasers, but I’m also thankful.” When everyone but Aurora got the info ported to their phones, Binky turned to look at Chloe’s stand-in. ”Did you want to take a look?”

"It’s not really necessary. Our own intel should be more up-to-date anyway. At least the less trusting will have something to verify when Chloe gets back." Aurora grinned like a cat. "And you should know where Mint stands. We want to strike them before they attack again. If there’s something to be learned from the Punic Wars it’s that you need to totally cripple your enemy before they can do the same to you!"

”I’m going to feel pretty let down if Chloe doesn’t come back with the location of those eggs.”

Other things were said at the meeting, but it was more specifics about how each individual girl was going to pitch in. Penny circled the talk back to discussing defense and offense, which everyone had spoken on when it was initially pitched. Nothing was really moving forward. Binky found themselves wishing some really smart person could come around and move things along.

Nykannis wasn’t the smart person she wanted, but she was the smart person she got.

"Wow!" Aurora chuckled. "I guess we can all focus on the egg assault! There really is no need to drag things-" Aurora turned to look at Binky. "Uh, you okay?"

”Finn’s gone?” She placed her fingers on the side of her head. ”Maura? What’s going- Maura? Maura?!” Binky ran towards Connie. ”Let me out of here! Something’s happened!”

---

"Meetings are way more fun when you’re young. What’s that? You didn’t like them at all? Exactly!"

— Chloe Irving

Chloe Irving

03 03 03 03 03
10 10 06 17 04
23/12 | Babe/Baby | Spirit
Mystic orb, Gauntlets | Third Eye, Focused Assault | Horror(!)
Wings, Enhanced Outfit, Big Damn Hero, Blood Magic, Interdimensional Home, Enhanced Transformation
Dominator | Dark Weapon
Marked(?) ??????????????????????????????

6 Gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze

Chloe raised an eyebrow at the new ‘exchange student.’ She didn’t like being sassed on, but she could respect someone who was quick on their feet. "Sounds like we can enjoy our personal space then.“ But they weren’t really here to exchange banter. She nodded along with Al’s explanation of how she got the intel. In truth, she hadn’t really thought Penny would go undercover for the queen. Then again, it wouldn’t have really surprised her either. This Penny was nothing like the one she used to know. Relationship drama aside, she must have missed the information since it happened the same time she became a junior coin broker. But things weren’t quite finished.

"You’re fine with everything laid out so far then?“ She pointed at her phone. "Penny made it sound like there were going to be more demands. I need to know how much more you’re willing to let her have.“

How to find face claims?

@autumoon And if you're looking for someone already dressed for a period piece, just look for obscure movies. Everyone likes to make lists of their favorite B-grade movies, and they can be used as a catalog for face claims. Pick a genre, google "(your genre here) movies" and you're bound to get a few lists. Then you just need to pick a movie and boom, face claim with appropriate attire and a name.

You might also be interested in looking for models, but they tend to not give their names whenever they can. They are a very good source of unique appearances and can be found by looking at fashion websites. Celebrity fashion is also a thing, and they are almost always named. But you might find that they tend to follow most of the big name actors.

AI Art Generation: Beneficial or Problematic?

I think everyone has more or less decided their stance on AI art. It's hard to find someone who's not all for it, dead against it, or apathetic to the entire thing. Myself, I was dead against it, but decided to start using Stable Diffusion so that I could understand how AI art even worked. What I discovered was that AI art is a horribly named tool that has the potential to be great but might be getting misused.

For the uninitiated, AI art generators work by filling an image with a "seed," which is just colored noise/static. It then looks at your prompt and uses the images it was trained on to shape the seed into the image you want. It's really just an art sorting algorithm.

The biggest grey area with AI art seems to be that they've all been trained on scraped images. People for AI art believe that shouldn't matter, as most artists learn by copying things they see. I'd say what AI does is a little different as it has the potential to perfectly replicate these images. Most artists will copy from life, other artists, etc, but will eventually come up with their own style. AI isn't capable of doing something like that. Due to it being an algorithm, it's kind of stuck piecing together images from its library. We could talk about the limitations of AI all day long, but it's been getting better at an exponential rate. It can generate beautiful faces, and will eventually get hands sorted out too. But it will never be able to create something truly original. Whatever it makes will always be an amalgamation of the images it was trained on.

And that's the one hurdle that AI art will never be able to jump. It needs tons of reference images for something to draw it accurately. By its very nature, AI art cannot make anything truly original. You need thousands of references for the AI to draw on before it can replicate it.

I don't have a strong opinion on "AI art artists" getting paid. It takes work to make an AI image look good. The art might be created in seconds, but then you need to regenerate the bad looking parts, or port it over to your favorite paint program for a touch up. I laugh when people submit art they made to art station and are too lazy to remove the extra leg their character was generated with. The AI may be stealing artwork, but there are a lot of "starving artists" that have no respect for copyright laws and have made careers out of drawing IP they don't own. Art is one of those things that how much it's worth is very much up to the person who is buying it. especially in the case of commissions.

I can see why less known artists are scared of AI. Especially places like Pixiv where most of the artists have made a living out of drawing "character X" in the only ten poses that ever get on the front page. Places like this where originality is dead are ripe for an AI takeover. Perhaps AI is the great equalizer we need to push artists away from tried and true methods for success and to start taking more chances with their art. Or maybe we'll sink deeper into a sea of unoriginal works and styles as everything becomes a single bland amalgamation of everything. Just like what the you tube algorithm did to most of its creators.

Also AI written works are hilarious.