clanjos

Ishinomori Academy, a School for Magical Girls and Toku Heroes

Okay, so, I'm going to spell this out.

That first part is not Japanese. It is how someone in Japan, if you pressed a gun to their head and asked them to say "Rune Light Dancer" in English, would say "Rune Light Dancer." It is the words "Runelight Dancer." Not a Japanese equivalent.

Gotham City: Shadow of the Bat

Lord Death Man
The Secret Lair

It's funny how different crime is across the world. How the demographics and geographical quirks of a nation can influence how you build your empire. For example, Japan's unique magnetic field makes it the Eastern hemisphere's safest landing zone for extraterrestrial craft. That's how you get immigrants. The magic flowing through the land can turn something as simple as a broken umbrella into a monster. That's how you get yokai. The low birth rate, arranged marriages, and background radiation leads to a relatively homogenous population. That's how you get one of the world's highest occurence of dormant metagenes. And the culture of strictness, of conformity, of xenophobia? That's how you get criminals. And a nation of the ostracized, from alien refugees to human criminals, searching for acceptance? That's how you found them a family. That's how you made Yakuza.

That's what Lord Death Man did, anyway. It's how he'd worked his way up. But now, here in Gotham, he had to start small. Well, small compared to a nation-spanning criminal empire delegated to four subordinates. For now, they needed to get their numbers up. To make sure they had an advantage over Gotham's rabble. Lord Death Man walked alongside an elderly Japanese man with pale skin and wild grey hair. The two chatted back in forth in Japanese as they slid between the banks of computers surrounding operating tables.

<<"Talk to me, Doctor Reaper. How are your boys settling in?">>

<<"Better than expected, my lord. The Super Science Network has resumed our efforts to created altered humans. We've almost completed the transformation for the one you requested, but we're a ways off from any other specimens. We've made a bit of progress on the supers' gear, but... well, the technology's old, and hard to find, even on the black market.">>

<<"Don't you worry about the tech. We'll get on that when the time comes. Just focus on getting Little Mori back on his feet.">>

Little Mori was currently on life support. The dimwit apparently thought the moniker of "The Immortal Lord Death Man" was just hype and jumped on a grenade when one of Death Man's traitorous underlings tried to off him. Well, with his lungs and arms gone, there was little option other than cybernetic replacements. Sighing, Death Man moved on, heading down a corridor to the east.

This was easily the spookiest part of the facility. Broken paper doors, cracked pottery, earthen floors, and the sounds of grinding stone and ghastly moans. Of course, you put up with a good deal of unpleasant architecture when you housed yokai. That didn't mean it was a pleasant place though. Bizarre creatures, ranging from a tiny man made of broken dishes to a gang of lizards in samurai armor, walked along the corridor, saluting as he passed. A towering red-skinned man with unkempt hair and a tiger-stripe suit bowed as Death Man approached a common room, several cardboard boxes piled up by the walls.

<<"Alright, Hibiki, how're your boys settling in?">>

The giant cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head.

<<"Honestly, boss, the trouble's getting everyone to stop drinking long enough to unpack.">>

Death Man sighed, pinching the bridge of his skull-mask's nasal track. Day one and already the monsters were falling into their old habits.

<<"Just... I know you're talking about the oni, but they need to sober up and get ready too. We're going to need to scout out the local underworld to see what's what. Break a few legs, crack a few skulls, check the leylines, that sort of thing. You think your boys can handle it?">>

Gotham City: Shadow of the Bat

Name: Shousei Kougami
Age: 108
Alias: Lord Death Man
Appearance: "EEEEYYY."

Skills/Abilities: A master contortionist and criminal mastermind, king of Japan's criminal underground. Through his mastery of the yoga arts, Lord Death Man has ceased to age and transcended death itself. He returns from death shortly after the fact, fully healed and raring to go. He has an eidetic memory. He doesn't sleep, and his brain cells never die.

Weaknesses: He's pretty noticeable, and has a very different idea of how a criminal enterprise should run from most Gothamites. While he revives fully healed, he must heal damage he survives normally. However, obsessing about vengeance for a decade has left him a bit... unhinged.

History: Ever since the 1940's, one name has been synonymous with Japanese crime: the immortal supervillain, Death Man. Generations of superheroes have risen to face him, and withered in the face of father time. This is because Death Man can afford to play the long game. No one is sure where this skull-faced marauder comes from, who he really is, or what allows him a level of mastery the most dedicated of yoga mystics can only dream of.

The answers are surprisingly simple. Shousei Kougami was born in 1908 to a fisherman and a prostitute, and was left at an orphanage. At the age of nine, he was sent to live with Buddhist monks. These monks were the keepers of one of eight scrolls, each holding a portion of the true knowledge the first yoga mystics discovered. Contemplation of these secrets, detachment from the world, allowed the monks to recover from nearly injury. For eight years, he was raised in the strict environment of the monastery, watching as they performed amazing feats, forever told that he would receive the mystical power when he was spiritually ready. Well, that just made him mad, so he broke into the main building one night and stole the sacred scrolls containing the teachings of the monastery's founder. Thus, at the age of 13, Shousei committed his first theft and joined the yakuza. He worked loyally, serving as a lookout and decoy for years and slowly working his way up to an actual member of the family. Things began looking up for him during a heist in 1941, when he stole one of the remaining scrolls from a museum. This allowed a breakthrough in his practice of the scrolls, and began noticing his body was more flexible than ever. Over the coming days, more and more secrets revealed themselves- all the secret yoga powers of the mystics, his to command. It wasn't long before he challenged the heads of the families, using his newfound immortality to kill them off one by one.

It wasn't long before the police began talking. Calling him "Death Man," describing him as a twisted version of the American Mystery Men. Death Man took his new mantle, becoming the head of organized crime in a large section of Japan, using his yoga powers to maintain his position and gather followers- thugs, spiritualists, ninja, genius investors, the indigenous monsters of Japan. Lord Death Man's syndicate was unstoppable... but never moved beyond organized crime. After all, while he had a powerful criminal empire, there was no sense risking it by getting greedy. No, he had a clear goal in mind: to maintain his power in Japan's criminal underworld and use that power to track down the remaining six scrolls, as well as any mystical artifacts or discarded superhero gear he can get his hands on. His search for the remaining scrolls didn't really pan out, but he's spent 75 years on the effort so he's not stopping now.

Over the years, his criminal empire has brought him into conflict with the Bat Family a few times. However, his final confrontation with Batman involved the caped crusader shoving him in a safe and launching him into orbit. He spent over a decade in absolute darkness, dying and reviving in the cold, harsh vacuum of space. Lord Death Man believes that this was entirely unmerited torture. He wasn't a metahuman, he had no special powers other than his immortality- why was normal prison not enough? Ten years later, he came down after the safe imprisoning him crashed into a telecommunications satellite over Japan, sending him hurtling to Earth. Ten years, he spent formulating his plot for revenge. He returned to the underworld, killing those who tried to take his place, and declaring his intent to have revenge upon the Batman... only to discover that Batman was gone. He gathered the remnants of his splintered empire, leaving his lieutenants to handle things. If Lord Death Man can't kill Batman, he'll settle for bleeding Gotham dry.

Gotham City: Shadow of the Bat

@Ruby
Forgot to slap a mention in there.

One Piece Interestest and Discussion Thread! Brainstorming Time!

Archmage wants to use some vaguely defined "toon force" thing, take a shot.

Gotham City: Shadow of the Bat

Name: Shousei Kougami
Age: 108
Alias: Lord Death Man
Appearance: "EEEEYYY."

Skills/Abilities: A master contortionist and criminal mastermind, king of Japan's criminal underground. Through his mastery of the yoga arts, Lord Death Man has ceased to age and transcended death itself. He returns from death shortly after the fact, fully healed and raring to go. He has an eidetic memory. He doesn't sleep, and his brain cells never die.

Weaknesses: He's pretty noticeable, and has a very different idea of how a criminal enterprise should run from most Gothamites. While he revives fully healed, he must heal damage he survives normally. However, obsessing about vengeance for a decade has left him a bit... unhinged.

History: Ever since the 1940's, one name has been synonymous with Japanese crime: the immortal supervillain, Death Man. Generations of superheroes have risen to face him, and withered in the face of father time. This is because Death Man can afford to play the long game. No one is sure where this skull-faced marauder comes from, who he really is, or what allows him a level of mastery the most dedicated of yoga mystics can only dream of.

The answers are surprisingly simple. Shousei Kougami was born in 1908 to a fisherman and a prostitute, and was left at an orphanage. At the age of nine, he was sent to live with Buddhist monks. These monks were the keepers of one of eight scrolls, each holding a portion of the true knowledge the first yoga mystics discovered. Contemplation of these secrets, detachment from the world, allowed the monks to recover from nearly injury. For eight years, he was raised in the strict environment of the monastery, watching as they performed amazing feats, forever told that he would receive the mystical power when he was spiritually ready. Well, that just made him mad, so he broke into the main building one night and stole the sacred scrolls containing the teachings of the monastery's founder. Thus, at the age of 13, Shousei committed his first theft and joined the yakuza. He worked loyally, serving as a lookout and decoy for years and slowly working his way up to an actual member of the family. Things began looking up for him during a heist in 1941, when he stole one of the remaining scrolls from a museum. This allowed a breakthrough in his practice of the scrolls, and began noticing his body was more flexible than ever. Over the coming days, more and more secrets revealed themselves- all the secret yoga powers of the mystics, his to command. It wasn't long before he challenged the heads of the families, using his newfound immortality to kill them off one by one.

It wasn't long before the police began talking. Calling him "Death Man," describing him as a twisted version of the American Mystery Men. Death Man took his new mantle, becoming the head of organized crime in a large section of Japan, using his yoga powers to maintain his position and gather followers- thugs, spiritualists, ninja, genius investors, the indigenous monsters of Japan. Lord Death Man's syndicate was unstoppable... but never moved beyond organized crime. After all, while he had a powerful criminal empire, there was no sense risking it by getting greedy. No, he had a clear goal in mind: to maintain his power in Japan's criminal underworld and use that power to track down the remaining six scrolls, as well as any mystical artifacts or discarded superhero gear he can get his hands on. His search for the remaining scrolls didn't really pan out, but he's spent 75 years on the effort so he's not stopping now.

Over the years, his criminal empire has brought him into conflict with the Bat Family a few times. However, his final confrontation with Batman involved the caped crusader shoving him in a safe and launching him into orbit. He spent over a decade in absolute darkness, dying and reviving in the cold, harsh vacuum of space. Lord Death Man believes that this was entirely unmerited torture. He wasn't a metahuman, he had no special powers other than his immortality- why was normal prison not enough? Ten years later, he came down after the safe imprisoning him crashed into a telecommunications satellite over Japan, sending him hurtling to Earth. Ten years, he spent formulating his plot for revenge. He returned to the underworld, killing those who tried to take his place, and declaring his intent to have revenge upon the Batman... only to discover that Batman was gone. He gathered the remnants of his splintered empire, leaving his lieutenants to handle things. If Lord Death Man can't kill Batman, he'll settle for bleeding Gotham dry.

D&D campaign (narrative combat)

I say this as someone who has played Dungeons and Dragons since he was 10.

If you want freeform combat, run a freeform game. Combat is part and parcel of the D&D rules.

Assuuione (A Multiverse RP)- Open for Business!

I've had some personal stuff to work through that's kept me from getting anything of substance done. I'll try to have something up by then, but I've got term papers and homework to do in the meantime.

Luck & Logic RP?

Eh, why not.

Assuuione (A Multiverse RP)- Open for Business!

Kagatsuchi: A Rushed Post On Easter Weekend

"Now, I'm not too fond of the idea of smackin' humans, but then again..."

Kinji raised his guitar, holding it like a rifle and pulling the trigger. He fired off a few shots at the puppeteer before trying to close the distance.

"Puppets never did sit right with me."