Emeth

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Nothingness is eternal

Our Dying Wish - Play Corrupt-A-Wish, Get Superpowers in this Demon-Slaying RPG

When you say that someone will choose your curse as a Jinn, does that mean that there are Jinn players? Or am I reading that wrong?

@KenjuGuy

It just means that another player will help you brainstorm ideas for a weakness for your character, not that they'll play a Jinn in the main thread.

The Corrupt-A-Wish game is played out as an in-character interaction between your character and your Jinn, with a second player taking the role of the Jinn. Other players can also chime in with their own ideas, and whichever one you like the most, your character will form a contract with that Jinn. I wasn't planning on having Jinn play major character roles after this, as they currently don't have much personality and can only make meaningful conversation if their Mediums are in deep meditation, but I can find a way to make it work if enough people want that.

Our Dying Wish - Play Corrupt-A-Wish, Get Superpowers in this Demon-Slaying RPG

"Long ago, the Demon Mother and her generals led an army of devils and monsters, conquering the earth and subjugating the human race."

But, you and your friends don't really know anything about that.

The year is 2371, and the vast majority of humans live and die at the mercy of their demon overlords. The only remaining exception—and humanity's last chance at freedom—were driven from their vast former civilization into small, underground cities. At least, you hope that, for humanity's sake, there exists more than this particular cell of human resistance fighters you're so intimately familiar with.

Here, in this veritable prison of a cavern called Agartha, where a fake blue sky is projected onto the ceiling to simulate the "day" part of the city's day and night cycle, uniquely gifted individuals called Mediums are raised to become the next generation of heroes... who will accomplish little more than thinning the horde, as they do every year. It's expected that this year will be a year like any other; young men and women who were considered children only a few months ago will be sent to the surface to die, and have nothing to show for it. One young hero and their ever-expanding circle of friends hope to finally break this cycle of death and hopelessness. By invoking spiritual beings called Jinn, Mediums are able to use their Resonant Power to manifest their desires as a kind of magic. Their sworn purpose is to bring humanity's most fervent wish to fruition: reclaiming their lost freedom and dominion of the earth.

But what those humans truly wished for, above all else, was...

Character Creation

There is more lore below, but before we continue, let's skip ahead to the real reason this exists, as it'll more quickly help you decide if you're going to be interested in this. Mediums invoke spirits called Jinn, who gift their human masters with power—but it comes with a price. To decide what kind of power your character gets, you'll first think about what kind of character you want to play. Then, you the player will make a wish—in-character. Then, another player, acting as your character's Jinn, will grant you the power to make that wish come true, but then tack on some kind of drawback or Achilles' heel to it.

Yep. To get inspiration for your character's combat abilities, you'll be playing corrupt-a-wish!

There are a couple caveats. You aren't locked into whatever the first person to respond after you deigns to give you right away. You have a few options if you need to call a Mulligan. You can (in-character) try to negotiate with your Jinn, or summon another (just ask another player to throw you a bone). Or, if you're already accustomed to giving your characters balanced strengths and weaknesses, you can scroll down and read up on the general expectations and the combat mechanics to get a grasp on what you'll need, post your character sheet complete with combat abilities, and see if I like what you came up with. You're encouraged to at least try to play the game before resorting to that, though.

General Rules and Expectations

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Disclaimer: This topic is a proof-of-concept OoC post for a work-in-progress RP, so keep that in mind as you read and/or develop any character ideas. It's probably absurdly long for an interest check and you're definitely expected to skim through the lore dump and combat mechanics in particular to find whatever you need to know or are interested in. Expect small things to change here and there, especially if I get a lot of "I'd be interested if" feedback, or the PvP mechanics end up getting broken (I'm not placing any bets that the first draft will hold up under the scrutiny of clever players).

1. Post length is whatever you need to make your character come alive. For some, this may only be a single spoken sentence and a short paragraph, or two. Others may write walls of text, and that's fine. Just don't respond to everything non-combat related with one-liners and zero depth or introspection, and you're good. If you're going to have a long-form, in-person conversation with another character, consider writing your posts together, just so your rapid-fire back-and-forth doesn't take over the thread.

2. Presentation is pretty casual. Feel free to open your posts with fancy fonts and a poetic tagline for your character, or don't. If you want to embed background music for those special character-defining moments, then go for it. If you'd rather post an image than painstakingly describe every aspect of something, it's fine. As long as we can understand what is going on in your post, typos are excusable, but do try to use proper grammar.

3. The setting is a fictionalized earth where demons undeniably exist, and as with any other fictional world where demons exist, there will be some religious themes. If you have any concerns about this, feel free to ask me. However, like other fictional works such as Edmund McMillen's The Binding of Isaac, religion is a medium through which the story is being told, and not the "message," if the story must have one. If you're going to be offended in spite of that (or because of it), steer clear.

4. The story's events will revolve around a "home base" named Agartha, where characters will stay until they deploy for missions. This structure will allow characters to return to base during periods of low user activity, and, either individually or as a group, re-deploy at any time—like a drop-in, drop-out co-op mode. This will also allow new players and characters to join the squad at almost any time. What this means for you is that periods of inactivity or discovering this RP after it's already underway will not be punished so severely that it becomes impossible to pick it up again, or at all. What it also means is that player-directed side quests can exist, and multiple small groups can tackle different missions at the same time, or PvP in training simulations until the story moves forward.

5. Combat mechanics and rules are there to keep things fair for other players during PvP if that's your wheelhouse. If it's not, don't be paralyzed by all the nuances. The mechanics are there to give you a general idea of how this world's physics will work when two attacks meet, when spells of different elements and tiers clash, and so on. The "rules" are there to be consulted if someone is doing something unfair. If you have questions, you can ask me. If your PvP partner is fine with whatever, then you can do whatever, as long as you're not destroying the world and everything inside. We're here to have fun.

6. Welcome to Unrealville, Fictionland, where complete immolation leaves a character fully clothed with only some minor burns to show for it, and losing an arm is only a flesh wound. Even though the setting is earth, we won't be adhering strictly to realism, despite the darker themes involved. Mediums especially are basically superheroes, so they should be able to shrug off things that would turn you and me into paste, like the term Cartoon Violence™ shrugs off the looming threat of parental supervision.

7. Character couples are great, but don't lewd in public. (That means no sex scenes in the thread, per RPGuild official rules. There are other places where your characters can escalate their "relations," if you must.) If your character must be nude for a scene, I humbly request that you keep your word choices classy and your descriptions PG-13. If you're not confident in your ability to do this, you can "fade to black" as they say.

8. Discord comes highly recommended for this RP, as there will be several fun integrations with it, most of which I don't want to spoil. Server link: discord.gg/ur9RW6XXcK

Character Wishes and Power Level

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1. Your character's wish doesn't have to be a noble one, like "I want to defeat the Demon Mother" or "I want to free humanity from the demons." Most characters will be young, have been living in a cave and (for the most part) treated like nobility their whole lives just for being Mediums. Some will be eager to escape responsibility rather than embrace it, desire to see the wonders of the surface world more than dealing with the demon menace, and other such things. Also, the more specific your character's wish is, the easier it will be for someone to come up with a curse. You should make your wish in-character and include some kind of information about why your character is making this particular wish above any other (so it can be used against them, naturally).

2. Your character can wish for anything, but that doesn't mean that your Jinn will give it to you. If it's something that is beyond their power to grant, they will give you a kind of power that should, theoretically, help your character achieve their wish. Even if it seems like a hopeless wish, they will offer you at least the impression of a step in that direction. They're crafty little buggers.

3. Complete invincibility, unrestricted revival from death, time travel, and other "god tier" abilities are banned. Other abilities include global time stop/extreme time distortion, or any other skill (such as an EX-Mode, Adrenaline Rush, whatever) that would achieve the same effect, as well as any kind of 360° omniscient sixth sense, or free-reign teleportation, or infinite shadow clones, or any other kind of nonsense that would make your character impossible to reliably track down or hit. What this all means functionally for the game mechanics is that your skills can't guarantee a dodge, or raise your chances of dodging past the maximum 10 star (83.3%) rate, nor can you break the normal flow of combat by raising or lowering a character's number of actions per turn.

4. Mind control, in all of its various forms and synonyms, is banned, even for use on or by NPCs. As a general rule, you should treat another person's character like you would treat your date. Don't grab them by the hand and pull them into a new scene without asking first, don't assume that they would act or react a certain way without giving them a chance; don't "god mod" as they say.

5. For the purposes of this particular story, being "unable to control" your power (or character, when they are using it) doesn't qualify as a sufficient curse. Having one angsty boi scorch the earth while everyone else watches from a safe distance is no fun for anyone involved.

6. Your character's "curse" should be thematically fitting and opposite to their "blessing," but in terms of your character's overall power level, they should still end up being very obviously super-human. Low-level monsters like goblins or slimes won't stand a chance against you even in a 10v1, and most regular humans are even weaker than they are. The goal isn't to ruin your character's power completely, as would usually be the case when playing corrupt-a-wish.

7. A human can invoke up to three Jinn. Once this is done, it cannot be undone, so unless you want to design an older character with a rich and storied history and well-established motivations, you should leave a couple slots open for your character to adapt as they grow and their desires change. If they really only have one central motivation that they must fulfill at any cost, you should choose their powers very carefully, since you won't be able to change them later. By the way, don't try to invoke a fourth Jinn. Doing so will drive your character insane (and by insane, I mean the lame gibbering vegetable kind, not the fun scorch-the-earth-while-laughing-mad kind).

/!\ Trade Offer /!\

For the price of invoking one Jinn, you receive:

• 2-8 Basic attack skills (can have special effects; think in terms of Pokémon moves)
• 1-7 Basic spells (can be used at Tier 3 or lower, so each spell may have 3 variants)
• One more magic spell (a Calamity, Summon, or Transformation)
• Your Basic skills and spells should total 10; the ratio of skills to magic is your preference
• Three other skills with passive effects that are always in play
• One more passive skill, with some kind of negative effect (this is your "curse")
• Five stars worth of buffs to any combination of stats (can exceed the normal limit)
• One unique ability (can be any kind of skill or spell) that no other character can acquire
• Some Jinn may gift their human hosts with an accompanying thematic weapon
• If you are acting as a Jinn, feel free to suggest your own "sample abilities"

If the premise interests you, be sure to let me know here or on the Discord server. Server link: Click Me. Once you're ready to make a wish, you can do so on the server, in this thread, or in the OoC tab of the RP, after enough people express interest in it here.

Character Sheet

You can fill out your character sheet either before or after making your wish. Doing it first will make it easier for other players to come up with a curse for you, but you may also want to design your character around their curse, so it's up to you. Fill in as many or as few of the optional sections as you like; they're there to give you inspiration. Just delete the sections you don't use, along with my helpfully unhelpful help text. You can also skip the "Combat Information" section for now.

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[h2]Personal Information[/h2]
[b]Name: [/b]It comes first, but if you're like me, this gets filled in last.
[b]Nickname: [/b](Optional) A casual way to address your character.
[b]Alias: [/b](Optional) If you're cool enough to have a codename or title, put that here.
[b]Gender: [/b]For the purposes of this character sheet, this "Gender" section should include everything but your character's sexual preference, which is listed further below.
[b]Age: [/b]
[b]Birthday: [/b](Optional)
[b]Blood Type: [/b](Optional)
[b]Species: [/b]Unless you're making a villain character, you'll be a Human. I may also allow a Nephilim or Beastkin into the party later on if you have a neat concept (and a reason why they don't eat humans).
[b]Job Class: [/b]Check the lore below for some example jobs. (I'm open to new job additions, too!)
[b]Hometown: [/b]This will most likely be Agartha, unless you want to make up a new place, describe it, and explain how you came to live in Agartha at some point in your back story. If you really want to be a hero and do all that, you might want to run the basic concept by me first, before you spend hours on it.
[b]Theme: [/b](Optional) Music that would play when your character is having a big moment, or just something for people to listen to while they read about them here.

[h2]Body Information[/h2]
[hider][img]Put your face claim image URL here. We expect lots of anime, but something closer to the "photorealistic" side of the spectrum will be accepted too.[/img][/hider]

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[b]Face: [/b](Optional) Use this to describe your character's face if you don't use a face claim.
[b]Body: [/b](Optional) Use this if you have a face claim that's not a full-body shot.
[b]Attire: [/b](Optional) Same as above, or if you just feel like pointing out the details.
[b]Ethnicity: [/b]Agartha is located in Switzerland, and houses a mixed population of the descendants of evacuees from all over Europe, so almost anything is believable as far as genealogy goes. Agartha more or less has an artificial skybox that runs on hand-waving magic, so you can ignore any real world effects of multiple generations of cave life that may exist, and give your character any skin color you want.
[b]Height: [/b]
[b]Weight: [/b](Optional)
[b]Eye Color: [/b](Optional) Use these if you have no face claim, or the image has wonky lighting.
[b]Hair Color: [/b](Optional) Use these if you have no face claim, or the image has wonky lighting.
[b]Senses: [/b](Optional) If your character has impaired vision or something else, put that here.
[b]Scent: [/b](Optional) This is here for the ladies (yes, I've seen profiles where this was used).
[b]Voice: [/b](Optional) If you read your character's voice lines a certain way, you can invite the rest of us to do the same.

[h2]Personality[/h2]
[b]Usual: [/b]
[b]In Battle: [/b]
[b]Speech: [/b]
[b]Habits: [/b]
[b]Making Friends: [/b]What Resonates with you?
[b]Sexuality: [/b](Optional)
[b]Likes: [/b]
[b]Dislikes: [/b]
[b]Hobbies: [/b]
[b]Issues: [/b](Optional)
[b]Alignment: [/b](Optional) If you want to start an argument about DnD alignments, put yours here.

[h2]History[/h2]
[b]Childhood: [/b]What your character's life was like up to now.
[b]Adulthood: [/b](Optional) If your character is significantly older than 18, here's another section.
[b]Family: [/b](Optional) If your character has family members to consider, you can list them here.
[b]Religion: [/b]This RP deals with some religious themes, so pretty much everyone is going to have [i]some[/i] kind of belief. The real question being asked here—that is not answered anywhere in the lore below—is whether or not (given your character's life experiences and all the supernatural stuff that's happened in general) they believe in the existence of the Creator or not, whether he still cares about humanity, whether or not he's still coming back to save them (why or why not), and so on.

[h2]Combat Information[/h2]
If you haven't made a wish yet, skip this section; your character sheet is done for now!
[h3]Armaments[/h3]
[b]Weapons: [/b]You should stick to having just one main weapon and maybe a sidearm. A Medium's weapons will be forged from the fossils of fallen angels (yes, really) so they can have magical properties like being able to be summoned into battle and later dismissed, able to duplicate themselves, transform, or whatever. The cooler stuff they can do should be described later below, in your Skills section.
[b]Armor: [/b]If your character wears armor, clothing or accessories with magical properties, type here.
[b]Other: [/b]Anything else your character carries with them, specifically for combat purposes. Some example items include the elixir—don't call it a potion—which restores your HP to max the first time you use one in a battle, restores it by half the second time, and so on. Other items include magic stones: crystallized magic power that is created when magical energy comes in contact with the sludge left behind by perishing monsters. You'll acquire these as you slay monsters, and you can share them with your friends to give them more options for elemental attacks. They also have monetary value.

[h3]Parameters[/h3]
These are your stats, which will range from zero to ten stars. Six stars in any given stat is considered the "human limit" for Mediums, and to boost it even higher, you'll need to rely on your invoked Jinn. Each one will give you five stars worth of buffs, to assign as you see fit. Your initial stats should not exceed 25 stars, 5 of which will be the boost from your starting Jinn, and should go on the right side of the + signs.

Here are 25 stars for you to cut and paste however you like.
Strength: ★★★☆☆☆+★☆☆☆
If your Strength is plus or minus one from your opponent, you can parry their attacks.
If it's higher than your opponent's Defense, you can break their guard with a normal attack.

Resonance: ★★★☆☆☆+★☆☆☆
Every two stars reduces the RP you consume by 1 (you still need the full RP cost available for casting).
Each pair of stars also increases the efficacy of any healing magic you cast by 1 star's worth.

Defense: ★★★★☆☆+★☆☆☆
Each star of Defense should represent two normal attacks or one Skill's worth of damage you can take.
Your Defense also determines how strong your guard is against physical attacks, including skills.

Resilience: ★★★☆☆☆+★☆☆☆
Resilience should represent how many magical attacks you can take. Divide it by 2 for Calamities.
Higher Resilience will effectively increase your HP pool, decreasing the efficacy of healing magic.

Reaction: ★★★★☆☆+★☆☆☆
Characters with higher Reaction can begin a battle with a free action (using spells, items, special moves).
After a parry or elemental spell clash, the character with higher Reaction should get the follow-up attack.

Perception: ★★★☆☆☆+☆☆☆☆
Each star of Perception should represent about an 8.3% rate of dodging Basic attacks, skills and magic.
You don't have to roll for dodges outside of PvP, but if you do, you gain +1 RP, even if you fail the check.

[b]Wish: [/b]"Where's your motivation?"
[b]Curse: [/b]Your wish's accompanying curse.
[b]Aura Color: [/b]When your character is overflowing with Resonant Power, what color is it?
[b]Fighting Style: [/b]What's your character's bread and butter?

[h3]Attack Skills[/h3]
Attack skills increase your attacking Strength by 2 stars, making them great for guard breaking.
They can also have additional special effects (think Pokémon), but don't make them too obnoxious.
All five of these skills should be Basic skills. You can also list as many Rush skills as you want to name.
If your weapon has some kind of special gimmick to it, here's the place for it to shine.
You must have a minimum of 2 skills, with a maximum of 8. Your Basic skills and spells should total 10.

[b]Skill 1: [/b]

[b]Skill 2: [/b]

[b]Skill 3: [/b]

[b]Skill 4: [/b]

[b]Skill 5: [/b]

[b]Rush Skills: [/b](Optional) If you want to give names to your 3-5 attack Rush strings, list them here.

[b]Finest Arts: [/b]You can mix up your Finest Arts combo any way you like. Just give it a name!

[h3]Resonant Power[/h3]
The type of Jinn you invoke should primarily determine what type of spells you receive.
You can have a mix of two or three elements if they all fit thematically with your character's Wish.
Each of your four Basic spells can be used at Tiers 1-3, so you don't need multiple slots for one type.
Don't worry about trying to have one of everything for element clashing. That's what friends are for.
You must have a minimum of 2 spells, with a maximum of 8, including your "Last Word."

[b]Spell 1: [/b]

[b]Spell 2: [/b]

[b]Spell 3: [/b]

[b]Spell 4: [/b]

[b]Last Word: [/b]This is your Calamity tier spell, or Summon, or Transformation (only pick one).

[h3]Personal Skills[/h3]
These skills are passive and always activate. Their effects should be kept simple and easy to apply.

[b]Passive Skill 1: [/b]

[b]Passive Skill 2: [/b]

[b]Passive Skill 3: [/b]

[b]Curse: [/b]A thematically appropriate stumbling block for your character on their journey.

[b]Unique Skill: [/b]Can be a Basic skill, spell, or passive skill. Paste it under the appropriate header.

Life in Agartha, and Associated Lore

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Humans

Ordinary humans are at the bottom of the divine food chain, and second only to small animals in abject vulnerability. They can use only normal physical attacks, a guard which can be broken by the most Basic attack skills, and Basic magic, which they can only cast using the magic stones that are produced by Mediums. The strongest of them are just barely capable of surviving a one-on-one duel with the lowest rank-and-file monsters, and so they must rely on large numbers or Mediums to survive.

Mediums

Gifted by the Pandora gene, Mediums are humanity's only real hope of defeating the Demon Mother and reclaiming their lost freedom and dominion of the earth. By invoking spiritual beings called Jinn, they are able to use their Resonant Power to manifest their desires as a kind of magic. Their sworn purpose is to bring humanity's most fervent wish to fruition, but no one but their Jinn really knows what they wish for in secret. Mediums live rich and full lives not unlike the nobility of old, and most have only known hardship during their combat training—before they are sent to the surface to die—while the common folk do little more than work. Both classes have mixed feelings about the other's roles, but the birth of a new Medium always brings joy to Agartha, as it means that more jobs will be created, and the city's population will once again be allowed to increase, to support the upbringing of the newest hero.

John Dee

The so-called "original Medium" who appeared some time after the existence of the Demon Mother was known to mankind. Very little is known about the founder of the Brionac Program; even the name "John Dee" was only ever a pseudonym. Nobody knows why he was so secretive, only a privileged few have ever read the results of his research on the Pandora Gene—and nobody knows why or where he suddenly disappeared to, just as humanity's hope for its future began to rise to new heights.

The Pandora Gene

All humans possess the Pandora gene, but nobody knows what causes the Pandora gene to activate. What is known is that, if it is not active shortly after birth, it is usually too late, and there is no known method to increase its activation rate. In times past, the people of Agartha tried to produce more Mediums by inflating the size of its population, but after some time it became clear that this would not be a viable solution to their plight, and the unofficial communal effort that had gone unacknowledged until then was quietly halted. Now, the population of Agartha is "carefully managed" by its government.

Jinn

The conduits of power for the Mediums, Jinn are spiritual beings born from human desires. If humans have worshipped something in great numbers, there is probably a Jinn that embodies that thing, be it an object, element, force of nature, or anything else that evokes human desires. Neither inherently good nor inherently evil, Jinn are easily influenced by the human heart. Even when a Jinn is invoked by two Mediums on opposing sides of a battle, it never revokes either its blessing or its curse, even if it will result in the death of a recipient of its contracts. A Jinn is seemingly only bound by these two forces: its contracts, and human desire. Nothing else is known about Jinn. Perhaps there isn't anything to know.

Resonant Power

In essence, Resonant Power is created when large numbers of humans believe in something. When a Medium is successful in defeating evil beings and freeing enslaved humans, they gather the faith of their allies and the people. This faith can then be harnessed by invoked Jinn to empower one's body beyond the human limit, or cast magic, creating the phenomenon known as Resonant Power.

Mavericks

Mediums who abandon their duty to fight for humanity's survival are called Mavericks. The loss of the people's faith results in an inability to accumulate Resonant Power. While they are still incredibly powerful compared to regular humans—retaining their ability to use Basic skills and magic—these oath breakers are fodder for Mediums, who are often capable of wiping the floor with a small group of them.

Agartha

A small, underground civilization with only about fourteen thousand members. Even so, Agartha is rich with resources, and both Mediums and non-Mediums alike enjoy the city's advanced technology and relative safety. A clear blue sky is projected onto the roof of the cave to simulate day time, while the soft blue glow of its flora naturally imitate a beautiful starscape (albeit with the help of a fake projected moon), and a powerful magic/tech barrier repels low-level monsters. Its denizens are ethnically diverse, but most speak only English after living in such a small world for over three centuries. Transportation in Agartha is achieved with inclined elevators and cable cars, as its topography is complex. Life in Agartha is perhaps best described as "perfectly boring." While the Mediums stave off their boredom with unending training and missions, the common folk lose themselves in their work and very limited time for hobbies.

In Agartha, everything revolves around the birth and upbringing of Mediums, as without them, their lives of independence from the demons would be unsustainable. Agartha's population is allowed to increase only when a new Medium arrives, and the vast majority of its resources go into the Brionac Program, which prepares young Mediums for a future mostly spent fighting evil beings. Despite working or training most of the time, the living conditions are downright luxurious compared to those of humans living under demonic rule. Though underground, the cavern is cool, with naturally circulated fresh air.

Food is a constant concern, and is usually purchased not with gold but with meal tickets, which are provided and managed by Agartha's government. Fruit and vegetables are farmed using vertical and indoor agricultural techniques and technology. Large populations of cattle are unsustainable, so most of the meat eaten by its general population is artificially grown in labs, with the exception of fish that can be caught in a river that falls through the cavern. Wild game is costly and almost exclusively reserved for Mediums and their families. Monsters unfortunately yield no meat when killed, as they will degenerate into a kind of sludge, only edible by other monsters, and only used by humans to create magic stones.

While Agartha's technology is advanced, it has regressed considerably in one aspect, and that is communications. Television no longer exists, and the news is spread with a city-wide intercom and old school papers. Landline phones also exist, but all forms of communication over the "air waves," such as cell phones, internet, and radio, have been eliminated, as demons can hijack them to cause mass panic and spy on people. More secure and advanced communication methods are used by Mediums, which run on magic, but have their own limitations. For one, they cease to function entirely during a Calamity.

Like many other governments in the past, Agartha's is divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. All members of the legislative congress are human, and are voted in exclusively by humans, while the other two branches are mixed. The executive branch and associated military forces are almost exclusively Mediums, with many humans occupying the lower government worker positions and supporting roles, with few exceptions: Executive Elpidio, for example, is not a Medium, though he occupies a very important position. In short, the Mediums' dependency on humans as a primary source of their power, and the humans' lack of ability to use said power, creates a society where humans must decide how the system will work, while Mediums run it accordingly. The result is surely far from perfect.

Rather than hosting celebrations on holidays regularly throughout the year, Agartha's times of excess are dictated by the death toll. If more Mediums are joining the force, and fewer are dying, a kind of festival colloquially called "Pandemonium" may occur, where many of the city's usual restrictions are temporarily rescinded. Everyone is given some extra time away from work or training, food will become purchasable with gold rather than meal tickets, couples will rendezvous—and all the usual celebratory fare. The noise tends to dissuade monsters from attacking, as the response is usually swift and merciless.

The Brionac Program

The Brionac Program, and Brionac Academy, are responsible for training Mediums from a young age to combat the demon menace. Mediums are sorted into three different classes, based first on their estimated potential for slaying evil beings, and later based on their estimated body count. First Class Mediums are a menace on the battlefield, while Third Class Mediums are better off in support jobs or staying off the battlefield entirely—at least in theory. Mediums with First Class potential will drop off to lower classes if they don't deploy when Agartha is attacked, or if their body count is low, as will be the case for Valkyries. Drifters are not publicly acknowledged, but are internally referred to as Class Zero.

The Daemon Program

A full-immersion virtual reality simulator that allows digital versions of evil beings to be fought in a safe environment, with user-controlled battlefield conditions. The program is new, and collecting the necessary data to produce these "Daemons" is difficult, so currently only common monsters and devils can be fought. Its creator, Executive Elpidio, hopes that the newest generation of Mediums can help him change that. He is also known to design his own opponents for aspiring Mediums to fight.

The Void

A pitch-black cavern where Mediums who are at least 16 years of age and have graduated from the "education-only" portion of the Brionac Program go to contact and invoke Jinn. Only those Mediums with the nerve to enter this foreboding place alone and emerge successful are inducted into the second portion of the Brionac Program, where it becomes possible to go on missions with one's life on the line. The Void is home only to Jinn, and contains nothing but the metallic remnants of fallen angels. Despite smelling faintly of death, it is completely devoid of any kind of life, including predators. However, due to the sensory deprivation required to contact Jinn, many reportedly experience terrifying hallucinations.

Fallen Angels

Existing only as fossils, fallen angels are spiritual beings that were forced to assume physical form before being cast out of the heavens. No flesh samples have survived, but a metallic substance was left over, which can be used to make magical weapons and magically infused technological devices. Even normal humans can technically use these weapons after a Medium has infused it with Resonant Power, but whether or not their frail bodies can physically handle the forces generated is another matter.

Medium Job Classes and Occupations

Pioneers are seasoned adventurers who are privileged to choose their own battles, and explore the surface world at their own pace, drawing maps and scouring for what's left of the earth's precious remaining resources. For Pioneers, danger is never more than a hair's breadth away, as demonic cities and forces are everywhere and not always visible without a bird's-eye view. Pioneers must be quick on the draw and on their feet if they want to survive. They stay away from large-scale warfare.

Vanguards are stalwart warriors who defend Agartha from higher-level monsters that won't be repelled by its barrier. They tend to stay within close proximity of Agartha, but aren't afraid to venture out beyond the boundaries of the barrier and confront the hordes of small fry accompanying the juicier targets. Defensive in build, with wide, sweeping attacks, Vanguards are well respected by the people.

Juggernauts are physical powerhouses that live to fight the strongest beings the Demon Mother has on offer. They shine brightest when fighting a single opponent, but are more than capable of taking on smaller groups of moderate-to-highly dangerous monsters, such as a pack of dire wolves. They vary in their preference between speed and defense, but all of them are a force to be reckoned with.

Valkyries are magical specialists with a knack for Resonance. The backbone of any task force, big or small, their supportive abilities are adored by the people, and are always the favorite of young and impressionable girls. However, not all Valkyries are of the emblematic "healing angels" variety. Some specialize in other types of magic, such as blessing's opposite, curse magic. Debilitating enemies in large numbers, they allow even normal humans to get in on the monster-slaying action from time to time.

Warlocks are another type of magical specialist with a talent for laying waste to large swaths of demon scum using your basic elemental magics such as fire and ice, lightning and water, wind and earth, light and dark, etc. You can't go wrong with the classics, and the Warlock has remained effective for as long as Mediums who love magic have honed their craft, which is also as long as Mediums have existed.

Sorcerers are strategic masterminds who specialize in dealing with magical foes. Essentially the "team leaders" of Warlocks and Valkyries, they are tacticians who directly counter the demon army's efforts to thwart the humans' advance with magic, while they themselves handle the "trickier" elements of magic, such as nature and artifice, sight and sound, time and space, and generally abstract spells.

Bastioners are experts in artifice magic who act as architects, either in the city of Agartha or on the surface, quickly building forward operating bases, or FOBs. They can assemble towers and bunkers in no time, even in the middle of a battle, if there's enough space and they're left alone. At higher tiers of magic, they can conjure up rows of cannons or other siege weapons, laying waste to the evil hordes. Both on the battlefield and off, their unique abilities inspire awe and jealousy in the hearts of DIY guys.

A secret job title given to a Medium with unique talents and the motivation to use them to defend Agartha, even at the behest of their life, is the Drifter. Drifters are given freedom to pursue their own targets and to execute their own missions because at any given point in time a Drifter can be called to action in Agartha. A Drifter preemptively hunts down and fells the deadliest of all evil beings—those with special attributes who are deemed too hazardous for ordinary Mediums, who prefer facing their foes head on—such as the infamous Medusa. The work of a Drifter is not seen by an audience, but felt by the world whenever these destructive monsters can no longer take human lives. (Credit: Co-GM dabombjk)

Religious Lore and Bestiary

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The Father, Creator of Earth and Humans

After the demons took over the surface world and the human population began to plummet, all religious texts were targeted for destruction, by both malevolent demons and despairing humans alike. All that remains is collected and kept secure by Agartha's small but organized body of government. All that is publicly known is that a divine Father, the Creator, created mankind and gave them dominion of the earth. He then appeared before them many times, attempting to bring law and order to humanity, but they rejected his various laws and disciplines each time, until finally he came one last time, bringing only one commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. Again, the humans rejected his message and killed him, and he never returned to the world he'd given to his children to rule. Agartha's citizens believe various things regarding whether or not the Father will someday return to save his children from the demons. Almost all humans who live under demonic rule believe that no savior is coming.

Demon Mother

Roughly 350 years ago, the Demon Mother appeared without warning, though her existence was not immediately known to humans. Some time after, evil beings quietly began to appear within the last of the earth's untouched wilderness. First came the devils, then monsters, and eventually demons and nephilim. Powerless to stop their rapidly climbing numbers, the world's governments tried to cover up their existence, and, in their desperate struggle for the last of the earth's resources, failed to unite against this supernatural threat, and were primarily conquered from within as they vied for the favor of the rapidly ascending demons. By the time the common people took notice of what was happening, all was already lost, and they could do nothing but curse their leaders and pray for a savior that never came.

Devils

Animal-like in appearance, these low-level spiritual beings are the Demon Mother's spawn. They feed on negative emotions—primarily fear, by visiting nightmares upon innocent people—until they gain the power to take on physical form and take advantage of the local ecosystem. The most common form of devil is the infamous "unnaturally large black dog" of urban legend. They rival the cleverest animals on planet earth in intelligence, and are purely malevolent toward humans, though they don't always kill them on sight. Devils are exclusively male, and can mate with animals, which produces monsters.

Monsters

Female animals that mate with devils give birth to monsters, which can take any kind of "genetic experiment gone wrong" form that you could imagine. This interbreeding of natural and spiritual being tends to also cause gigantism, though there are a few exceptions. Monsters do not retain the cleverness of their devil parent, and spend their days mindlessly eating anything that moves, including you. When killed, monsters quickly degenerate into an inedible sludge, so no meat can be harvested from them, but if the monster was killed with magic, the sludge will crystallize and become a magic stone, which can then be used to cast Basic magic of that same element one time, enabling even normal humans to use it.

Beastkin

Mediums that willingly choose to invoke devils instead of Jinn retain only their human level of intelligence, and gain nothing but animalistic features and desires, malevolence, and brute physical strength. The most common kind of Beastkin is the Werewolf, but the most deadly of all might be the Wendigo. Infamous for its cultural association with death, winter, and cannibalism, it retains its former self's magical ability. Concealing its form, but not its presence, it terrorizes its prey before devouring it.

Demons

When humans worship devils (by choice or otherwise) those devils may become demons. As the devil evolves into a demon, it gradually loses its animalistic features and gains human characteristics. In general, the more "human" a demon appears to be, the more dangerous it is. High-level demons can use Resonant Power, much like Mediums can, but do not require the aid of a Jinn to do so—therefore, their power does not come with a curse. Whether demons are openly malevolent or more neutral toward humans depends on the methods they used to achieve whatever level of deity they managed to extract from their human subjects. Those who rule through fear will be as violent as they were when they were mere devils, but those who were worshipped voluntarily or coerced without violent methods may turn out more level headed and cunning than their comrades. Regardless, none of them see humans as more than cattle to be exploited for their gain. Like their previous form, the devil, demons all begin their new lives as male, but gain the ability to assume a female form if they desire. Demons who become female in this way cannot give birth—the Demon Mother being the sole exception. Those who retain their male form or choose to revert to it can mate with human women, which may cause a Nephilim to be conceived. The odds of conception are low, however, and since almost all demons see almost all humans as utterly beneath them—in much the same way as humans view animals—such a "union" is extremely rare.

Nephilim

Half-human and half-demon, nephilim can be identified during childhood, if certain conditions are met. Under a full moon during the witching hour, they will appear as the "black-eyed children" of urban legend. However, this is not common knowledge (nor would it even be useful in Agartha), so they often mingle with humans unnoticed, until they become young adults, at which point they will start to express the same gigantism trait as monsters—as well as a taste for human flesh, naturally. Nephilim are often abandoned by their true mothers and picked up by well-meaning strangers, mostly unsuspecting women who can't ignore an infant's cries. Even in cases where this doesn't happen, however, nephilim who reach this age often abandon their caretakers and live in exile, in search of acceptance by demons.

Witches

The mothers of nephilim are called witches, due to the old superstitious belief that demons will not enter your home unless they are invited, or drawn there by some kind of wicked activity. Of course, this is not true, unfortunately for humans. Witches, as portrayed in popular culture, do not exist, but the art of witchcraft—potion making—absolutely does, and it's still as taboo as it ever was. Never make the unfortunate mistake of calling your healing elixir a "potion," or you'll get some looks from passersby.

Undead

The undead are humans that have been partially resurrected with time magic. Some are driven mad by the desire to return to the afterlife whence they came, while some have been driven mad by the torment of an existence devoid of any earthly pleasure, and seek only to satisfy those desires once again. Contrary to popular myth, they are not harmed by healing magic, but are simply immune to it. However, the realization that their corrupt body cannot be fully returned to life may drive them berserk.

Combat Abilities and PvP Mechanics

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Just the Basics

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The Speed Limit

When an RPG is broken, Speed is usually the cause, especially if it gives you more actions than your opponent. In this world, each character will normally be limited to 2 combat-related actions per turn, regardless of their level of "speediness." Your character's first action will either be a "Free Action" or a "Reaction," depending on if they are currently being attacked or not, and their second action will be either an "Action" or another "Reaction," if special circumstances call for it. The speedier characters will act first and can be expected to get more Free Actions, giving them options, rather than extra actions.

Damage "Calculation"

There are no real numbers being tracked; everything is done with percentages, based on the type of attack you were hit by and whether Defense or Resilience is checked against it. Normal attacks deal a "half-star" of damage, while skills normally deal a full star. If you have four stars of Defense and take a full-damage hit from a skill that deals normal damage, you'll be at 75% health, for example. Spells also deal a full star of damage, and Calamity spells deal two—this holds true even if the type of magic being cast is healing, so the higher your Resilience to magic is, the smaller the portion of health you'll receive. (This is to keep characters with a focus on physical attacks from benefiting too much from self-healing; characters with a higher investment in magic (Resonance) will naturally offset this.) If the result of a damage check is exactly zero, then you'll be left with 0.1% HP as a second chance. So, if you have exactly two stars of Resilience, you can still take a Calamity spell and survive from full health. At the end of each of my (Emeth's) posts, you will find a brief report on everyone's current HP and RP. A more detailed combat record can be found on the Discord server, in the ooc-combat-menu channel.

Resonant Power

Forget about painstakingly memorizing long incantations or tediously drawing magic circles—for Mediums, this is all accomplished automatically on the back end, by their Jinn. All a Medium needs to do to cast magic is to will it into existence using their Resonant Power. Resonant Power (RP) begins at zero at the start of every battle, increases every time your character performs most combat-related actions, and is consumed when using high-tier skills and spells. The more invested your character is in a battle (the more you participate), the faster you'll be able to use higher-tiered magic and skills. Joining a battle and immediately seizing the victory in one move won't be possible, since you'll be starting at zero RP. At the end of each of my (Emeth's) posts, you will find a brief report on everyone's current RP and HP. A more detailed combat record can be found on the Discord server, in the ooc-combat-menu channel.

Quickly Identifying Magic

• A small magic circle in front of the caster is a Tier 1 Basic Spell.
• A large magic circle on the ground is a Tier 2 Field Spell.
• A small magic circle beneath a target is a Tier 3 Resonant Magic.
• A large magic circle above the field of battle is a Tier 4 Calamity.
• A small magic circle above the caster is a Tier 5 Transformation.
• A large magic circle in front of the caster is a Tier 5 Summon.
• The color of the magic circle indicates what element it is, as noted below.

Elemental Dichotomies

Rather than the elemental rock-paper-scissors that you're probably used to, elements come in pairs that oppose each other. What this effectively means is that enemies that are associated with these elements and wield them as their primary means of attack will not be doing "super-effective" damage against each other. If two players cast opposing elemental magic at the same tier, and at the same time, they will clash and fizzle out, just as any two physical attacks of similar strength would clash during a parry. This also means that there is no "neutral" or "non elemental" damage type that can't be resisted.

The Elements (and their Magic Circles)

• Fire and Ice (Orange and Cyan)

• Lightning and Water (Yellow and Blue)

• Wind and Earth (Green and Brown)

• Light and Dark (White and Black)

• Nature and Artifice (Lime and Gray)
[Umbrella Elements: Wood and Metal]

• Sight and Sound (Pulsing White, Vibrating Black)
[Umbrella Elements: Truth and Illusion]

• Time and Space (Inverted Colors, Nebula Colors)
[Umbrella Elements: Sun and Moon]

• Blessing and Curse (Gold and Blood Red)
[Umbrella Elements: Life and Death]

• (Etc, I may add more on request?)

Elemental Resistances

Elemental resistances come in the form of passive skills. Any passive skill that gives resistance to one element will also give resistance to its opposing element. So, you will never encounter an opponent that is resistant to fire, but not to ice, for example. It's also important to note that, while these skills are passive in the sense that they are always active, they draw on Resonant Power to fuel their effects. Your character will be completely immune (no damage, no knockback, nothing) to any elemental spell they resist that has an RP cost equal or less than their current RP level. For example, if you resist fire and ice, you will always be immune to Tier 1 fire and ice spells, because Tier 1 magic costs nothing. However, to resist Tiers 2, 3, and 4, your character must currently have 4, 6, or 10 RP respectively. In other words, if you have enough RP to cast the spell you're trying to resist, then you can resist it, if you have the skill.

Resistance Skills

• Extremophile: Resist Fire and Ice.
• Weathered: Resist Lightning and Water.
• Immovable: Resist Wind and Earth.
• Transcendent: Resist Light and Dark.
• Incorporeal: Resist Nature and Artifice.
• Enlightened: Resist Sight and Sound.
• Unstoppable: Resist Time and Space.
• Ineffable: Resist Blessing and Curse.

The Complete Index of Combat Abilities

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Actions

Normal Attacks: Normal attacks will use your Strength stat to determine how much Strength is required for your opponent to parry, and how much Defense is required to hold a guard against them. Using a normal attack increases your RP by 1 and deals a half-star of your target's Defense in damage.

Basic Skills: Basic attack skills are a cut above regular attacks, and add +2 stars to Strength and do a full star of your opponent's Defense in damage. They can also have special effects in addition to that damage, making them potentially more useful than their Basic magic counterpart. Basic attack skills do not cost any RP to use, but using them does not increase your RP, either, so don't over-rely on them.

Basic Magic: Also called Tier 1 magic, it draws a small magic circle in front of the user, with effects that are typically aimed at a single target, based on line of sight. The caster is also a valid target for Tier 1 spells. This is the only tier of magic that boosts the caster's RP (by 1) when cast, instead of consuming it.

Crew Attacks: Crew attacks are coordinated combos between two or more characters using their normal attacks and Basic Skills or Magic. Successfully using one of these will raise each character's RP by an additional point. They cost nothing except creativity and practice, so gang up on those demon scum.

Magic Stones: When magic is used to defeat monsters, the energy will crystallize the sludge left behind by the dying monster, creating a magic stone of the same element as the spell that dealt the final blow. These are consumable items that can be used to cast Tier 1 spells that are normally unavailable to you otherwise. Using them won't raise RP, but they will give you more options to defend against magic.

Using Free Actions

Dual Attack: Using your free action for a second attack against the same target may force them to play defense, using up both of their allotted actions to parry or dodge. Be warned, however, that if your opponent can overpower your attack, or hold a guard against both attacks, this will not be useful for you.

Wind-Up Skills: Some skills may take additional actions to prepare, or even outright require a free action to use, in exchange for more damage, hitting multiple targets, or other extraordinary effects. If your character has one of these, this is the time to use one without worry of making yourself a target.

Safe Cast: If a spell you wish to cast would normally leave you open to attacks from other enemies not being targeted, or doesn't deal damage at all, you can use a free action to both stay safe during the cast and ensure that it will not be cancelled by magic of the opposing element, or a spell of a higher tier.

Rescue: Use a free action to rescue one of your allies who's either about to or currently taking damage. You can do this by attacking their opponents with anything that won't also damage your ally, and you'll gain +1 RP for your troubles. If you rescue an ally by parrying with a normal attack, that's +3!

Elixirs: An elixir will restore your HP to 100% the first time you use one in a battle, and the effect is cut in half for each additional elixir you use during the same battle. Using an elixir only takes up one of your actions in a turn, but the only way to use one safely without getting punished is with a free action.

Reactions

Parrying: Using a normal attack or skill with a Strength value roughly equal to that of an incoming physical attack (plus or minus one star) will parry the attack, cancelling it out with yours. A parry will give both you and your opponent +1 RP, which will stack with the +1 from using a normal attack, if you used a normal attack for the parry, making these a great option for building RP fast. If you parry an opponent with higher Reaction than you, however, you will not be able to attack again that turn, as their follow-up attack will beat yours. Your second move that turn will have to be another Reaction, which will give your opponent a Free Action next turn if they have no other challengers. So, you may consider other options.

Break Through: If the Strength of your attack is greater than your opponent's by 2 stars or more, you can simply capitalize on their poor decision making skills and break through the attack, dealing the appropriate amount of damage for the attack you used, then either follow up or attack another target.

Element Clashing: The magical equivalent of a parry requires you to cast a spell of the opposing element to the one you're facing, at the same tier or higher. Doing so gives you +1 RP, just like a parry.

Spell Break: The magical equivalent of breaking through requires you to cast magic a single tier higher than your opponent's magic. Field (Tier 2) Magic will break Basic (Tier 1) Spells, cancelling them, while Resonant (Tier 3) Magic will more or less "override" Field Magic, creating some small safe zones. A Calamity will trump all of these, but they take time to cast, so they aren't useful for defending yourself.

Guarding: If your Defense is equal to or greater than the Strength of the incoming attack, you can guard, taking no damage and robbing your opponent of their RP bonus for attacking, which might help you stall your opponent. If their Strength is higher than your Defense, your guard will be broken, and you will take half damage from the attack that broke your guard, lose the rest of your current turn, and be completely vulnerable to enemy attacks until your next turn. You can guard against as many separate attacks from different enemies as you need using only one Reaction; however, consecutive attacks from Dual attacks, Crew attacks, Rush Skills and Finest Arts will accumulate Strength against a single guard, eventually breaking it. If your opponent uses a Free Action to Dual Attack, you can choose to use your first action to guard, and if you can hold the guard against the cumulative Strength of both of your opponent's attacks, you can break out of their speed trap by using your second action to retaliate. Magic will always deal half damage against a guard at Tier 1, break it at Tier 2, and bypass it entirely at either Resonant or Calamity tier. To more effectively defend against magic, you must break the enemy's spells with your own using higher tiers, or their opposing elements.

Dodging: Each star of your character's Perception represents about an 8.3% chance, or 1 side of a D12, to dodge their opponent's attack, capping at 83.3% or 10 sides of the D12 at 10 stars. You will not be required to request dodge checks outside of PvP; however, requesting dodge checks will increase your RP, even if you fail them. You gain just 1 RP per Reaction used for dodging, regardless of how many times you dodge. Dodging multiple attacks works similarly as when guarding; you may dodge attacks from several enemies attacking from multiple directions using one Reaction, but not consecutive attacks from a pursuing opponent, or a coordinated Crew attack. In this situation, a second dodging Reaction will only get you so far. If 3 or more are consecutive attacks, you should guard—if yours can withstand an attack—or Flee.

Fleeing: If none of the above options seem promising, one final option to keep your character in the game is to flee. Fleeing is like a guaranteed dodge, but it must be used as your first action in a turn, you forfeit the rest of your turn for using it, and you lose 1 RP each time you rely on it to avoid an attack that could have been dodged instead. Some attacks or spells with rapid fire or a wide radius may require you to flee in order to avoid them, in which case this penalty will not be applied. Some spells or other factors may also prevent you from fleeing. In PvP, Fleeing can no longer be used after your RP reaches zero, to prevent infinite stalling.

Recovering: After taking damage, your character's first action on their next turn will be spent regaining their footing. Then, their second action that turn will be a guaranteed Action, rather than a Reaction—in other words, you will start the next round of combat, even if your opponent's Reaction is higher. Because of this, there are no infinite combos, even if your allies aren't around to rescue you.

Resonant Powers

Rush Skills: Rush skills are strings of consecutive attacks against a single target. A Rush Skill will drain all of your RP, and the amount of RP you currently have will determine how many attacks you get. Three, four, and five-attack combos require 4, 6, and 8 RP, respectively. These attacks will not raise your RP, so you'll end with 0. However, Rush Skills ignore the opponent's Reaction stat, allowing a character with a lower Reaction stat to parry and continue attacking without fear of retaliation.

Finest Arts: By spending a full bar of 10 RP, your character can use their Finest Arts, the physical equivalent of a Calamity. Finest Arts is an uninterrupted string of 5 Basic attack skills, and it won't be stopped even if you take a hit from a third party while using it. In fighting game terms, you have "super armor" during your Finest Arts string, and you can't be KO'd until it's over, leaving you with at least 0.1% HP.

Field Magic: Also called Tier 2 magic, this spell draws a large magic circle on the ground, affecting the entire area above it. In the moment that it's cast, Tier 2 magic breaks any Tier 1 magic being cast there, effectively cancelling Basic spells and erasing Tier 1 blessings and curses. This is only a momentary effect, however, and ongoing Field magic will not prevent further casting. Field magic costs 4 RP to cast.

Resonant Magic: Also called Tier 3 magic, Resonant magic will cost 6 RP. Smaller magic circles will appear underneath each member of any unified group, be they allies or enemies, and bypass any active Tier 2 magic effects. For example, casting Resonant Heal will heal all your allies, and also momentarily protect them from any damage they might take from incoming (or ongoing) Field magic. Characters that are in stealth mode will not be included in Resonant tier magic—from friends or foes alike.

Calamities: Also called Tier 4 magic, this tier draws a large magic circle above the field of battle, and targets anything. Unlike Tier 2's momentary cancelling effect on Tier 1 magic, Tier 4 both breaks all lesser magic in its radius and blocks anything below Tier 5 until the Calamity is over—including another Calamity. A Calamity isn't necessarily an attack—it could have almost any effect. A Calamity costs 10 RP, and takes up two of your character's allotted actions per turn, so cast them wisely, preferably when your allies have you covered, or you have your opponent on defense. Otherwise, you'll just become a target.

Transformations: A form of Tier 5 magic, Transformations draw a small magic circle above the caster's body, transforming their body and attire and removing curse spells as it passes through them. Transformations require 10 RP to use, but they do not "cost" any RP when cast. Instead, your RP will be reduced by 2 per action (4 total per turn), until it reaches zero, after which the Transformation will end. Actions that normally increase RP will instead prevent it from being lost, prolonging the Transformation. Transformations can give you 5 stars worth of stat boosts and a new passive skill, or two passive skills.

Summons: Another form of Tier 5 magic is the Summon. Summons are indicated by a large magic circle in front of the caster. Summons also require 10 RP to use, but do not "cost" any RP when cast. Instead, their "cost" is that your character cannot use their RP for anything else, or the Summon will be dismissed. The Summon can be a high-level monster under your character's command, or it can be your Jinn. A monster can attack in sync with your movements, as though you were its puppet master, and it can also tank attacks for you—though if it is killed, you can kiss your RP goodbye. If you summon your Jinn, it will have spells identical to yours, and can similarly tank spells—but not physical attacks. It will, however, be totally immune to spells of its own type and its opposing type. If you both cast the same Tier 1 spell, it'll create a Tier 2 spell that can be used for free, shutting down enemy mages. A Summon will be in sync with you, and can't help you attack more times per turn, or from different angles.

So yeah, TL;DR. How do I write my post?

If there are attacks headed your way, choose from the list of Reactions to deal with it effectively. If there aren't any, choose a Free Action instead. If you had a Free Action or your chosen Reaction was successful in dealing with incoming attacks, you'll get another Action after that. (If you were only partly successful, and there are more attacks coming, you may need a second Reaction.) If your chosen Action is an attack, you should describe it, but whether or not it will hit and what effect it will have is up to your opponent to write. Even if your opponent failed to defend against your attack from the last turn, which should guarantee that any follow-up attacks this turn will land, you should still write your post with the assumption that they may not be hit—because a third party may interfere. Even in a 1v1, though, let your opponent describe the damage. (Just because their HP hits zero doesn't necessarily mean they're dead, just unable to keep fighting.) After this, they will recover, and start the next round.

All of this information is probably a lot to take in at once, but that's because I more or less just gave you everything I'm "pretty sure" about with regards to how combat's going to work. Most of the number crunching and nuances of combat will be handled on the back end by the GMs, outside of PvP or side quests. It's usually going to be pretty simple on the player end, especially if you use the OoC Discord combat menu, which will present you with a much narrower range of immediately useful options to choose from, like any good RPG combat menu should. This will be useful for new players or anyone who is risk-averse.

Sample Battle Scenarios

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Here are some examples to help you get a grasp on how your choices will affect the flow of battle.

Your opponent is equal to you in strength, but slower. He attacks normally. One option is to use an attack (+1RP) which results in a parry (+1RP) and, since you are faster, follow up with another (+1RP), or begin a Crew attack with your friends (+2RP), giving you 3 or 4 RP total, depending on what you chose. However, that parry also gives your opponent +1RP, even though it's your turn. Attempting to dodge the attack gives you 1 less RP than parrying, but may also rob your opponent of higher-RP options next turn. Guarding would rob them even further, negating their RP bonus for attacking, if you really need to stall.

Suppose your opponent is faster than you, instead. This puts you on the back foot, since if you parry, you can't attack again right away, since the character with higher Reaction gets the follow-up. If you have no RP, your best option is to guard or dodge first, then retaliate. However, if you use a Rush skill, you can ignore your opponent's Reaction and get the parry with the first hit, then follow-up with as many attacks as your current RP dictates. This will cost all of your RP, so use this when you're in a bind.

If your opponent is stronger than you, parrying is not an option, even with a Rush Skill. The good news is that their Reaction doesn't matter anymore—the bad news is that you dodge, guard with higher Defense, or get wrecked. If none of these options look good for you, you're probably in a support class, and will be relying on your friends to bail you out anyway (and fleeing if they're shirking guard duty). But if you insist on fighting, you may have one more saving grace: if your opponent's only option to break your guard is to use a skill, and they do nothing but use skills while you dodge (and you keep passing the GM's dodge checks), you will gain RP while they gain nothing, so you won't be stuck dodging forever.

If your opponent uses a spell, your "parry-like" option is to use a spell of the opposing element to it (such as fire against ice) or break through their spell by using a higher tiered spell. If the opponent's spell is fire, clashing with ice will give you +1 RP, while relying on higher tiers will give you nothing but a look of smug satisfaction. With magic, it pays to strategize, since dodging Tier 2 or Tier 3 won't always be viable, and your best defense against a Calamity is to find the caster and stop them before the Calamity begins. Spell breaking and element clashing are your best options for defense—guarding a distant third.

If you're on the receiving end of a long string of Rush attacks or your opponent's Finest Arts, and you've got no squad who's going to try and rescue you from the beating you're about to take, you are at some point just going to have to take damage, and that's kind of the point. People who always dodge every attack make me mad, and they've probably made you mad too, and Finest Arts is your chance to let 'em have it. Your best option for defending against these is to look at your Strength, Defense and Perception. Parry the first attack if you can, then guard, or dodge if you feel lucky. Well, do ya, punk?

If you're on the receiving end of a Calamity, the good news is that it's "only" one hit—the bad news is that everyone is sharing the pain, and Resonant Heal won't help you this time. Actually, magic most likely won't help you at all this time, since Calamities effectively create an anti-magic field. There is only one possible exception: if you are lucky enough to be blessed with a Transformation, or better yet, a Summon with the opposing element to the Calamity, you may be able to create a very small safe zone by huddling up. Otherwise, this may be the time to use your elixir. Your only remaining comfort is that Calamities can be interrupted during casting, and are impossible to spam, even with max Resonance.

**CANCELLED** Flower Power! - A Plant-Inspired Superpowers RP [OPEN]

Felicia Vespa

Appearance

Name: Felicia Vespa
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Occupation: Landlady
Plant Essence: Robinia pseudoacacia - Black Locust

Superpower: "Natural Defenses"

Rose's Thorns: It's said that every rose has its thorns, and Felicia's thorns mean business. They can grow from shoots that extend out from inside her sleeves or up from the ground to create a hedge around her, then quickly retreat. They vary in size, from that of small daggers to a size small enough to pick locks.
Current Mastery: Can make a set of "grass knuckles," or snag an ankle with an underground shoot.

Toxic Love: Everything Felicia produces is toxic. Shoots, wood, bark, thorns, leaves, flowers, fruit and all. Even her bodily fluids are poisonous. The range of symptoms include anorexia, depression, incontinence, abdominal pain, weakness, paralysis, and cardiac arrhythmia. They are debilitating, but very rarely lethal.
Current Mastery: Can't control which symptoms manifest. Doesn't actually know this power exists, as its effects are still too weak. Exposure might give you butterflies, but won't send you to the hospital. Yet.

Mother's Resentment: Felicia is tough—unnaturally so. Certainly, her own poisonous fluids do not harm her, but her body will also toughen up in response to trauma. Punching her is as effective as punching a tree. Literally, her skin takes on the texture of bark and the hardness of wood. She punches above her weight as well. Her strength increases while in direct sunlight, but rapidly depreciates in the shade.
Current Mastery: The effects of her decade-old smoking habit have begun to reverse themselves. A natural night owl, Felicia hasn't yet made the connection between this and occasional exposure to sun.

Personality— You know her type. An ill-tempered woman who communicates primarily in short phrases of three-to-four letter words, the most polite of which sounds an awful lot like "your rent is due." But in the Smoky Mountains area of eastern Tennessee, Felicia is known as "that quiet biker girl who drives the old ladies to the grocery store." It's true—behind a layer of toxic levels of sass and "intolerance of other people's B.S." hides a dependable soul who only shows her soft side to those she deigns to be too pure, vulnerable, or naive to take advantage of her kindness. If she sees trouble, she'll put on her best Karen act and become an even bigger source of trouble, hiding her intentions behind a veil of narcissism. She puts her entrepreneurial skills to good use, capitalizing on opportunities only someone like her could.

History— Felicia comes from a rich family, which with the benefit of hindsight, she would describe as "a family of well-adjusted psychopaths, with a worthless Wall Street Baby at its head." The family matriarch, Felicia's mother Rosa, was particularly vicious towards her for not fitting in with the rest of the lawyers, doctors, and politicians—all of which were, at least at home, devoutly Catholic. As for Felicia, it's as the song on the radio goes: she'd lost faith in science, the holy Trinity, and the people on TV, including those aforementioned politicians. Over time, she developed a hair-trigger sensor for all manner of abuser language, gaslighting, and mind games, and is deeply skeptical of everyone and everything that evokes it.

So, when one day Felicia just up and vanished with the money she was supposedly going to use for college tuition, no one batted an eye, except perhaps to gather in some half-baked prayer that she wouldn't do anything to embarrass the family. Rather than going to a university, she packed her bags and just told her driver to take her as far away as possible, as fast as possible, avoiding any major cities along the way. After an entire day spent in a car, she woke up from her nap and asked where she was, which was Knoxville, TN. She decided that was good enough, and started looking for opportunities to grow some new roots in the area. After a few months, she found a mark: a gated community of retirees who were unwilling to leave, even though the place was floundering under incompetent management.

She bought it, hired new staff, and improved the living conditions of her new clientele, earning her a lot of respect in the small community in Sevierville, which she then moved to. It seemed her new life would run smoothly, until one day she suddenly started having horrible nightmares, wherein she'd find herself being buried alive in a pit of snakes, which would bite at her hands and not let go. When she woke up, she'd find unexplainable puncture wounds on her hands, with no sign of snakes anywhere. Not on or near her, her bed, bedroom, house, or even, as her gardener assured her, her property. Dare she resort to calling a priest? Hardly. She simply dealt with the disturbingly mysterious malady, until one day, it happened while she was awake. While reaching for her coffee, she felt a sharp pain, which at first she thought was simply due to her missing the handle on her mug and bumping it with her thumb, but after looking, she saw that her hand was nowhere near her mug. Instead, grasping the mug was a ring of vines covered in thorns, one of which was puncturing her thumb. After reeling her hand back, spilling coffee on it and burning it, the thorns retreated into her arm, like some kind of Spider-Man special effect. What.

But, Spider-Man... maybe she was on to something. Animal-based superpowers were a thing, apparently. Nobody else in her family had them, but she could simply be the first. Nothing strange about that, but as for what kind of animal it could be... unless it was snakes? Ugh. Why'd it have to be snakes? Regardless, she'd have to master this new power at least a little before she'd feel comfortable leaving the house again, so she did just that for as long as she could get away with lying to her employees and clients about her newly found passion for quilting—and she was going to be self-taught, mind you.

Finally, the day of the Miami researcher's fateful discovery came. Felicia missed the broadcast on American Morning—being a night owl—but she caught the articles and memes afterward, and she knew she'd have to go to the summit. Even if all she got was a bunch of lies from talking heads in suits, knowing what lies they'd cooked up this time would itself be useful, or so she'd convinced herself. It's not as though she had many opportunities to gather information about this. Still, there was no way she would be so forthcoming as to show off her powers for a mere Benny. She certainly wasn't in the market for an Avengers-style cast of characters to add to her contacts. This was strictly... reconnaissance. Right.

Miscellaneous— Bisexual. Her name means "Successful Wasp."

Plant Facts:

• The "Rose's Thorns" picture is actually the Honey Locust tree. The Black Locust's thorns come in much smaller pairs, at the base of the leaves.
• It's speculated that the Honey Locust's massive thorns evolved to deter prehistoric mammals. They aren't very useful as a defense against small animals. Thus, Felicia shows her soft side to small animals, and people who remind her of small animals.
• The Black Locust is actually toxic, with the exact effects described in Felicia's "Toxic Love" ability. In reality, horses are most vulnerable to its poison, as they tend to eat the shoots and chew its bark. Human cases of Black Locust poisoning are rare and unremarkable.
• The Black Locust can tolerate poor quality or disrupted soil, and even the pollution of big cities—but not the shade. Its wood is also among the most durable in the US. This was used as the inspiration for her "Mother's Resentment" ability, which increases her tolerance of poisons and general hardiness, while in direct sunlight.
• The Black Locust succeeds by colonizing poor soil early, growing with weed-like speed to shade out its competition. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its roots then allow other species that it gets along with to move in. This inspired her entrepreneurial sense, occupation as a landlord, and design as a front-line fighter.
• Pseudoacacia means "false acacia," so Felicia's personality is a little two-faced.
• The Black Locust is both native and very desirable in some areas of the US, but is considered invasive in others. Make of that what you will.

**CANCELLED** Flower Power! - A Plant-Inspired Superpowers RP [OPEN]

Tuesday, May 11

Felicia's face scrunched up in her sleep as her dreamscape transitioned to that familiar scene with the snakes nipping at her arms and hands. At least now she knew what this was really all about, and forced herself to remain calm as the wisps of cold air from a nearby A/C vent translated into the sensation of snakes slithering across her bare skin. She'd simply thrown her sheets off while tossing and turning in her sleep, that's all—and as long as she remained calm, the thorns would stay... uh, in her arms? Where they belonged?

The strangeness of the thought brought her to a state of semi-awareness. However, she couldn't move her body, and could still feel the slithering of snakes. They were all over her, now, not just crawling up and down her arms. She forced herself to keep her eyes closed and her breathing steady. Unlike her mother, who would have surely called an exorcist by now, Felicia was rational. This was sleep paralysis. The snakes weren't real. None of this was real... except the part where she was becoming some kind of circus freak. That part was real.

Eventually, the slithering sensation faded away, and Felicia opened her eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. It took her a moment, but she remembered why she was here. A friend of one of her clients, an elderly woman who lived alone, had sworn up and down that someone was trying to break into her home at night—the police, never finding any evidence to back her claims, now refused to take her seriously. Felicia, having a bit of a mother bear instinct for her senior clients, offered to let that friend stay in her own house, while she would stay in the friend's home for a few nights. Also Felicia, being a night owl, was currently trying to sleep during the day, and not having much success during the current heat wave. How can it be so hot up here in the mountains... she thought, annoyed as she slowly rose from the couch she'd turned 180 degrees to face the A/C unit in the window—which she suspected might be the cause of her would-be burglar's sudden interest in the house. Not so much "gathering" as "peeling" up the layer of sweat-soaked towels laid across the couch, she wrapped one around her waist and threw the rest in the washer, in a nearby hallway, before shambling over to the kitchen, walking off the stiffness resulting from her interrupted sleep. Now that she was having night terrors, it was pointless to try any more.

Time for some coffee, she decided, taking up her cell phone and swiping through her news feed.

Flower Power: Plant-Based Superpowers now a Reality, Claims Miami Biotech Researcher

Intrigued, Felicia forgot all about her coffee, though her free hand continued going through the motions of making it. A little skeptical despite her own experience with the thorns, which she for some reason still associated with snakes, she skimmed through the generic PR language and half-baked sensationalist keywords of the article and skipped straight to the reader comments—



Faustina 9 hours ago

Nobody:

American Liberals: "Meat is Murder 2: Electric Boogaloo"



—a decision which resulted in hot coffee entering Felicia's sinuses. After a brief coughing fit, she continued reading, but the rest of the comments were really just similar memes with the occasionally toxic comment that was hidden, but she still ended up clicking the un-hide button and reading anyway. For the most part, it seemed that people weren't taking this seriously, at least not publicly. As she continued researching, she managed to find a transcript of part of the segment. What is he, a coffee bean? she thought, bemused. If he drinks coffee, does that make him a cannibal? she imagined somebody posting in the comments, snickering in spite of herself.

But, really... it was the first interesting thing that had happened in the news in a while, that didn't make her want to go out and deck somebody. It would also, she realized, only take one text to give her an excuse to be in Florida during the time of the summit. One of her uncle's relatives had passed away recently, and he was going there to wrap up some loose ends that nobody else in the extended family could be bothered to deal with after realizing that their names weren't in the will. As she realized her desperation for any kind of information, she sighed, pushed aside the nagging guilt creeping in from taking two vacations nearly back-to-back, and sent the text.



I'm going camping in Florida as part of a business venture.
Pack some outdoor clothes and come pick me up.

10-4



Felicia laughed audibly as her uncle agreed to this selfish proposition with no context whatsoever. He knew her well.

Her laughter was interrupted suddenly with a cracking sound coming from the A/C unit. Looking up from her phone, she suddenly realized that night had fallen in the time it had taken her to do all that research and reach a decision. Discretely opening the video recording app for evidence, she walked over to the window and tore the curtains aside, giving the would-be burglar a Really? kind of look. But, seeing Felicia's scant clothing and nobody else in the house, the intruder only continued his work of attempting to remove the A/C with a crowbar. So, she grabbed the shotgun propped up in the corner next to the window and racked it with one arm, trying to keep her phone steady with the other. "Say cheese!" she said ominously, capturing the masked intruder's widened eyes on video before he scrambled away into the night. Turning the phone to face herself, Felicia gave the camera the same Really? look. Putting the shotgun down, she put on her sassiest voice.

"This is why you LIS-TEN to your elders, Mr. Sheriff!" she chastised, snapping her fingers at the camera before shutting the video off.

---

Friday, June 18, 10:45 PM

Felicia was awoken from her nap, not by snakes nor an alarm clock, but by the doorbell. Immediately, she knew who it was.

In the military, if you're not 15 minutes early, you're late, her uncle Jacques, 45 and a former Green Beret, would say.

The gruff military man, a Hulk Hogan-looking fellow clothed in a blue denim jacket and jeans stained with motor oil, was met first with the smell of bug spray, then the sight of his niece in combat boots, black denim hot pants, and a sleeveless black leather jacket and tank top. With a fist bump for a greeting, and a single suitcase wheeled over and stowed away in the back of the forest-green SUV, Felicia was riding shotgun without a single word exchanged between the two. Jacques turned the key in the ignition, and music began politely blaring at just below conversation-level.

"Need a beer?" Jacques asked rhetorically, handing Felicia a can. "Beer" was an energy drink, on this side of the family.

She took it gratefully, without looking at him. "I've got plant essence," she says simply, preempting his next question.

Jacques frowned, nodding slowly. Felicia didn't make things up for a laugh. "Well, what do you know about it?"

"Not much, but get a load of this," she said, making a fist with her free hand. Thorns emerged from the sides of her knuckles, like some gnarly-looking set of brass knuckle knives. Then, with a flick of the thumb on her other hand, she quickly punctured the can and shotgunned it. Jacques didn't even see the thorn that did it; it was there and gone in a flash. Just as her uncle is exhaling dramatically at the sight of this, Felicia crushes the empty can against the side of her face, causing it to take on the texture of bark, as though she were some kind of magical tree creature straight out of a CGI fantasy flick.

There was a reason Jacques jokingly called Felicia's energy drinks "beer." He'd been a sober man for nearly 20 years, and this was beyond anything he could dream up while intoxicated. Yet, Felicia either didn't notice that the side of her face now matched the camping gear, or she was so used to it by now that it was no longer of much concern. Oddly, the thing he decided to take issue with was her hand, reaching for another "beer."

"Well shit, Felicia, it's only seven hours to Florida from here, how many times you wanna stop?" he asked as he buckled his seat belt.

"We can be there in six hours, if you drive like me," his niece joked back.

"Not if you keep drinking like a fish, we ain't."

---

Saturday, June 19

The flat roads of Florida had given Felicia a nice, smooth ride to nap through, after giving up trying to stay awake—but the smooth paved roads eventually gave way to gravel. Rousing slowly, Felicia felt oddly refreshed, and the sun oddly pleasant. Grabbing another "beer," she took hold of the passenger side door handle, and promptly tore it out of its socket.

"Uhh..." Felicia sat there, dumbfounded, staring at the mess of broken plastic and metal in her hand.

"Well, that was gonna happen eventually in a 20-year old car. Hold on," Jacques said as he walked around the back of the SUV to her side to let her out. In her current getup, now complete with biker gloves and sunglasses, she looked about as approachable as a barbed-wire fence, especially standing next to Jacques, who had gone very out of his way to open her door for her. She snickered a little, thinking that she might look like a VIP with a bodyguard, if she'd come wearing a suit.

"What are you smirking about?" Jacques interrupted, as though reading her mind. "Let's go see what all the fuss is about."

---

After taking some time in the restroom to re-apply sunblock and other things, Felicia entered the conference room just in time to know that she hadn't missed anything of value. A lot of words like "unity" were used, and Felicia imagined the speech writers, no doubt sitting in the front row, smiling and congratulating themselves. Bunch of schlock. Keep using those Pavlovian words. Tells me whose opinion matters here, Felicia thought bitterly, walking to join the others of the Cabin 2 group.

She began aggressively brushing dandelion seeds out of her hair as she stood against a nearby wall, as though she were too important for the others. But... God, my legs are stiff as boards, but of course, the only empty seats are next to small children, she thought, considering that she might scare them and have to deal with the mom. She'd resigned herself to standing for now, as she listened to the other introductions. Well... life gave her lemons, alright, she thought, smirking just a little bit at Mara's "Lemon Essence." Suddenly, having her hands covered in puncture wounds didn't seem so bad by comparison. But next, to her horror, her uncle was about to introduce himself.

"You said it," Jacques interjected, acknowledging Dolly and her comment about PETA. "Name's Jacques, I'm from Oklahoma, former Green Beret. Miss Hot Topic over there, with axle grease in her hair—and daggers in her eyes—" he adds, as Felicia glares over the rim of her sunglasses at him, eyes rolled up into her brow in that Really? look. "—that's my niece."

"Felicia," she relents, still not sitting down. "From New York," she added, not exactly lying.

"Essence of tobacco," Jacques finishes, making the "embarrassing uncle" face and earning a few chuckles.

"I'm a landlord, here to learn about how best to serve clients with plant essence," she lied, trying to sound as boring and generic as the speech they'd all just sat through. Now that I think of it, that's actually a good question...

**CANCELLED** Flower Power! - A Plant-Inspired Superpowers RP [OPEN]

It worked, I'm there. I'm also very, very late, but anyway—

I said I'd recycle a character, but ended up very much not doing that. The only thing that got reused was the names of her powers.

Felicia Vespa

Appearance

Name: Felicia Vespa
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Occupation: Landlady
Plant Essence: Robinia pseudoacacia - Black Locust

Superpower: "Natural Defenses"

Rose's Thorns: It's said that every rose has its thorns, and Felicia's thorns mean business. They can grow from shoots that extend out from inside her sleeves or up from the ground to create a hedge around her, then quickly retreat. They vary in size, from that of small daggers to a size small enough to pick locks.
Current Mastery: Can make a set of "grass knuckles," or snag an ankle with an underground shoot.

Toxic Love: Everything Felicia produces is toxic. Shoots, wood, bark, thorns, leaves, flowers, fruit and all. Even her bodily fluids are poisonous. The range of symptoms include anorexia, depression, incontinence, abdominal pain, weakness, paralysis, and cardiac arrhythmia. They are debilitating, but very rarely lethal.
Current Mastery: Can't control which symptoms manifest. Doesn't actually know this power exists, as its effects are still too weak. Exposure might give you butterflies, but won't send you to the hospital. Yet.

Mother's Resentment: Felicia is tough—unnaturally so. Certainly, her own poisonous fluids do not harm her, but her body will also toughen up in response to trauma. Punching her is as effective as punching a tree. Literally, her skin takes on the texture of bark and the hardness of wood. She punches above her weight as well. Her strength increases while in direct sunlight, but rapidly depreciates in the shade.
Current Mastery: The effects of her decade-old smoking habit have begun to reverse themselves. A natural night owl, Felicia hasn't yet made the connection between this and occasional exposure to sun.

Personality— You know her type. An ill-tempered woman who communicates primarily in short phrases of three-to-four letter words, the most polite of which sounds an awful lot like "your rent is due." But in the Smoky Mountains area of eastern Tennessee, Felicia is known as "that quiet biker girl who drives the old ladies to the grocery store." It's true—behind a layer of toxic levels of sass and "intolerance of other people's B.S." hides a dependable soul who only shows her soft side to those she deigns to be too pure, vulnerable, or naive to take advantage of her kindness. If she sees trouble, she'll put on her best Karen act and become an even bigger source of trouble, hiding her intentions behind a veil of narcissism. She puts her entrepreneurial skills to good use, capitalizing on opportunities only someone like her could.

History— Felicia comes from a rich family, which with the benefit of hindsight, she would describe as "a family of well-adjusted psychopaths, with a worthless Wall Street Baby at its head." The family matriarch, Felicia's mother Rosa, was particularly vicious towards her for not fitting in with the rest of the lawyers, doctors, and politicians—all of which were, at least at home, devoutly Catholic. As for Felicia, it's as the song on the radio goes: she'd lost faith in science, the holy Trinity, and the people on TV, including those aforementioned politicians. Over time, she developed a hair-trigger sensor for all manner of abuser language, gaslighting, and mind games, and is deeply skeptical of everyone and everything that evokes it.

So, when one day Felicia just up and vanished with the money she was supposedly going to use for college tuition, no one batted an eye, except perhaps to gather in some half-baked prayer that she wouldn't do anything to embarrass the family. Rather than going to a university, she packed her bags and just told her driver to take her as far away as possible, as fast as possible, avoiding any major cities along the way. After an entire day spent in a car, she woke up from her nap and asked where she was, which was Knoxville, TN. She decided that was good enough, and started looking for opportunities to grow some new roots in the area. After a few months, she found a mark: a gated community of retirees who were unwilling to leave, even though the place was floundering under incompetent management.

She bought it, hired new staff, and improved the living conditions of her new clientele, earning her a lot of respect in the small community in Sevierville, which she then moved to. It seemed her new life would run smoothly, until one day she suddenly started having horrible nightmares, wherein she'd find herself being buried alive in a pit of snakes, which would bite at her hands and not let go. When she woke up, she'd find unexplainable puncture wounds on her hands, with no sign of snakes anywhere. Not on or near her, her bed, bedroom, house, or even, as her gardener assured her, her property. Dare she resort to calling a priest? Hardly. She simply dealt with the disturbingly mysterious malady, until one day, it happened while she was awake. While reaching for her coffee, she felt a sharp pain, which at first she thought was simply due to her missing the handle on her mug and bumping it with her thumb, but after looking, she saw that her hand was nowhere near her mug. Instead, grasping the mug was a ring of vines covered in thorns, one of which was puncturing her thumb. After reeling her hand back, spilling coffee on it and burning it, the thorns retreated into her arm, like some kind of Spider-Man special effect. What.

But, Spider-Man... maybe she was on to something. Animal-based superpowers were a thing, apparently. Nobody else in her family had them, but she could simply be the first. Nothing strange about that, but as for what kind of animal it could be... unless it was snakes? Ugh. Why'd it have to be snakes? Regardless, she'd have to master this new power at least a little before she'd feel comfortable leaving the house again, so she did just that for as long as she could get away with lying to her employees and clients about her newly found passion for quilting—and she was going to be self-taught, mind you.

Finally, the day of the Miami researcher's fateful discovery came. Felicia missed the broadcast on American Morning—being a night owl—but she caught the articles and memes afterward, and she knew she'd have to go to the summit. Even if all she got was a bunch of lies from talking heads in suits, knowing what lies they'd cooked up this time would itself be useful, or so she'd convinced herself. It's not as though she had many opportunities to gather information about this. Still, there was no way she would be so forthcoming as to show off her powers for a mere Benny. She certainly wasn't in the market for an Avengers-style cast of characters to add to her contacts. This was strictly... reconnaissance. Right.

Miscellaneous— Bisexual. Her name means "Successful Wasp."

Plant Facts:

• The "Rose's Thorns" picture is actually the Honey Locust tree. The Black Locust's thorns come in much smaller pairs, at the base of the leaves.
• It's speculated that the Honey Locust's massive thorns evolved to deter prehistoric mammals. They aren't very useful as a defense against small animals. Thus, Felicia shows her soft side to small animals, and people who remind her of small animals.
• The Black Locust is actually toxic, with the exact effects described in Felicia's "Toxic Love" ability. In reality, horses are most vulnerable to its poison, as they tend to eat the shoots and chew its bark. Human cases of Black Locust poisoning are rare and unremarkable.
• The Black Locust can tolerate poor quality or disrupted soil, and even the pollution of big cities—but not the shade. Its wood is also among the most durable in the US. This was used as the inspiration for her "Mother's Resentment" ability, which increases her tolerance of poisons and general hardiness, while in direct sunlight.
• The Black Locust succeeds by colonizing poor soil early, growing with weed-like speed to shade out its competition. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its roots then allow other species that it gets along with to move in. This inspired her entrepreneurial sense, occupation as a landlord, and design as a front-line fighter.
• Pseudoacacia means "false acacia," so Felicia's personality is a little two-faced.
• The Black Locust is both native and very desirable in some areas of the US, but is considered invasive in others. Make of that what you will.

Tell me if you like her!

**CANCELLED** Flower Power! - A Plant-Inspired Superpowers RP [OPEN]

The link really isn't working, though. Tried it on every browser I have available, says it's "invalid," either expired or I'm not allowed to join.

**CANCELLED** Flower Power! - A Plant-Inspired Superpowers RP [OPEN]

Discord is telling me that your server link expired. Are you still open to new additions?

I coincidentally ended up making a modern AU character with plant-based powers not too long ago, for an RP that never went anywhere. With a few tweaks to her history and abilities I could probably have a CS up like... tomorrow, If you're still accepting.

Fire Emblem: Sunken Flames

Get up, Ashley.

...Leave me.

Lord Clive is here to see you.

Clive..? ...I know nobody by that name. Send him away.

Hmph. As you wish.

...

How long do you intend to mourn? It's high time you put the past behind you.

What does the word 'past' mean to you?

I won't spend the rest of my life looking after a useless girl who does nothing but sleep. Even if she only eats once in a blue moon.

Then, leave me. Like mother, like father... like the Goddess.

You speak as though you've learned something no one else has, but you've only just now learned what everyone else knows already.

...What?

Life is cruel. People are cruel. You are the only one who has your own best interests at heart. The only person you can count on is yourself.

...What are you selling?

If you cannot put the past behind you, then put it beneath you. Grow, evolve, transform.

So much so that the you of today wouldn't recognize her own self on the street. As though you were reborn from the ashes.

I have... no talents.

You have one. Do not deny it. Even so—if you're not good at anything, find something no one else is willing to do, and do that.

Like standing up for justice?

Like standing up for justice. ...If it pleases you. Though, the image of knighthood hardly suits you.

No. I'll do it my way.

---

"Uncle..." Ashley mumbled as she lay on a wooden crate, which was being used as a makeshift operating table for Aleria. As Ashley drifted in and out of consciousness, she picked up a few key pieces of information. The first being that, at some point, she had lost consciousness. The second being that, at some point, Aleria had removed the arrow from her shoulder and closed up the wound. Thirdly, that her mouth was full of the taste of iron.

For someone who had drunken relations with a barbarian woman she'd just met, she's surprisingly reliable...

BANG.

Ashley's cycle of resting and waking was ended by the sound of an explosion. She jolted to an upright position, which made her feel as though her head had just flown right off her shoulders and into the stratosphere—a predictable result of the inevitable anemia she'd just received along with her injury. If she hadn't been expecting it, perhaps she'd have really thought she'd lost her head for a moment.

"What in the seven hells... was that..?"

Ashley couldn't quite understand what Aleria said in response, but it did register—eventually—that she'd been handed a vulnerary, and was most likely expected to finish it. She'd probably be tasting iron for the next day and a half, but that was a small price to pay to get back into the battle quickly.

"Disgusting. ...Give me another," Ashley demanded, as though she were a problem customer at a bar.

By the time Ashley decided that the room had in fact stopped spinning, and only the ocean's movement remained, the sounds of battle had dimmed significantly. That was either a sign that a miracle had happened and it was time to press their advantage—or, as was much more likely, that their loss was inevitable and it was time to accept their defeat. With this dichotomy in mind, she slowly rose to her feet and threw her cloak back on, a bad attitude plain on her face for all to see.

I won't wait here to be claimed like some spoils of war, she thought bitterly.

---

As Ashley slowly climbed the stairs that had nearly sent her through the very crust of the earth and straight into the underworld, she took stock of the situation above. There were no longer any archers, and while there were indeed weapons on the ground, Mikhail's spear and Tonka's axe were still firmly in their owners' hands. Even more unbelievably, there were no heads missing from Ashley's Allies.

Perhaps the Goddess hasn't abandoned me just yet, she thought, without the slightest flicker of emotion on her face.

"Oi, Mikhail. Are you not finished yet?" she demanded, as though this miraculous victory were somehow utterly pedestrian to her.

The dripping condescension did not go unnoticed among their enemies, who were utterly terrified now. None of them had caught a glimpse of the moment Ashley had been hit, and they had no idea that she had been flirting with the reaper only moments ago—thus far, their only impression of her was that she was all but entirely immune to magic, and had apparently been so confident in her crew's victory against such an overwhelming disadvantage of numbers that she didn't even feel the need to provide her support. No, their leader had only revealed herself in order to complain that their crushing victory had taken a few minutes.

Perhaps it was the slow, dramatic way she walked, letting her boots hit the deck loudly to announce her presence—as she did while walking on stage—that gave it away, but Mikhail could clearly tell that she was in no position to be oozing this level of confidence. She was bluffing. Indeed, at this very moment, Ashley was doing her best to keep a stable footing and posture, and the intimidation factor was almost accidental.

"We surrender!" "Please, spare us!" the pirates pleaded.

"Pirates, pleading to a woman for mercy... what irony," Ashley replied with no emotion whatsoever—not even a fake one.

"But we're not pirates! We're mercenaries, just like you!"

"You became pirates the moment you fired your first shot. And this knight—who is not a mercenary, for those keeping score—has no mercy to offer to pirates."

"What kind of knight degrades herself to witchhood?! Or what kind of vile Lord knights a witch?! Is that allowed in our country?!"

In a moment, Ashley reached past her sword, deeper into her cloak, and drew another sword. This one announced itself not with the typical sound of a sword being drawn, but rather a flash of violet light, with some fragments of it flying off the sword like sparks and dancing through the air like pieces of broken glass. In an instant, the man who had pleaded with her for mercy had lost both his head and his defensively raised hands. As his decapitated, de-limbed corpse crumpled to the ground in a heap and quickly formed a pool of blood at her feet, Ashley gave the man who insulted her and Clive a moment to contemplate his fate before taking his head as well. She then returned the devilish-looking sword to the unseen sheath from whence it came.

"Sorry, but I'm not taking any more questions today," she said calmly, slowly rising from her stance back to standing upright.

"...Kill them all," she ordered, completely checked out—trying to sound bored, rather than tired.

Ashley could feel wet spots forming beneath the bandages on her arms. Her cursed sword had reopened old wounds—literally. She'd made a bad move, and she knew it, but thankfully it wouldn't end up hurting her too much this time around.

|- Book Club -|

Taking this more seriously than expected, huh. I suppose you'd normally think that, she thought. Though she'd called it research, all Axelle had really done last night was fall down the YouTube rabbit hole like usual. She'd surprised herself a little with just how much she got into it, simply because her roomie seemed into it. but what else can we do? It's not like we can just ask a teacher. Also, if she was being honest, these "supernatural" events—something you'd think normal people would be thrilled to experience—were kind of annoying, if unforgettable.

Axelle resisted the urge to cover her face with embarrassment as she remembered one previous day's events.

Some vines had grown out from the drain and quickly taken over the shower, causing Axelle to swear loudly in French. Stormy might not have understood much of it, but the loud "NON!" had given her away. She'd immediately felt pretty embarrassed by her outburst as she wondered what her roomie must be thinking. Most of that day was spent worrying about what to do; should they call a plumber? Should they pour weed killer down the drain? Was that even safe? Thankfully, the vines had mysteriously disappeared by the time they got back to the dorm. The only proof that any of that day's weirdness actually happened was the mysterious bottle of weed killer still sitting underneath their sink, unused.

She snapped back to reality when she suddenly heard Stormy speak with a perfect French accent.

Axelle made a disapproving sound with the last of her coffee, slurping it loudly through a straw. "Sorry, my check engine light came on. Did you say something about being a bother?" she replied, in a voice which was soft but also slightly stern. "It's every girl's dream to live with a rock star, right? So, have more confidence." As Stormy looked up from her phone, the sweet smile Axelle gave her after she said that seemed to say something like "I don't want to hear you put yourself down anymore, okay?"

Seeming satisfied, Axelle opened the door for Stormy. "Non. After you, ma cher." She smiled playfully, with Stormy's question unanswered.

~✶~✶~❀

Normally, Axelle would sit alone in the front of the class, but at this school, her life was going to be a bit different. Moving quickly to the back corner, she took over a cluster of half a dozen desks, pushing them together to make one big table for the book club girls to sit at.

"Again, Alex?" a redheaded girl said as she made envious eyes at the box of cinnamon rolls.

"I'll stop baking when I'm dead," Axelle proclaimed with the voice of one who was proud of her craft. "Today I have something for everyone, though—check it out. Normally you'd have to wait until October to buy these, but I pulled some strings... Hmhm~♪" she collapsed her book bag dramatically, showing everyone the boxes of chocolate mint cookies.

"So that's your game, huh. Make everyone hungry, then sell girl guide cookies," the redhead accused with a smirk.

"Oh no, I've been found out~♥" Axelle replied playfully as the boxes quickly dispersed throughout the classroom.

As the other book club girls arrived, Axelle would wave them over to the cluster of desks she'd pushed together. "I made one for each of us, so please take one," she'd say to each of them, nudging the box of cinnamon rolls here and there.