FujiwaraPhoenix

Visions of Elysium—A Non-Isekai VRMMO RP (Yes, you read that right) (Interest Check)

Green tea, take it or leave it.

Visions of Elysium—A Non-Isekai VRMMO RP (Yes, you read that right) (Interest Check)

Wow, that was.
Fast.

I guess I'm in a good place to put an OoC up in a bit. Maybe an hour or so; less?

Visions of Elysium—A Non-Isekai VRMMO RP (Yes, you read that right) (Interest Check)

Prologue

It has been a month since the release of Visions of Elysium, a VRMMO developed by Eastwind Software that took the world by storm. Developed and published after years of rigorous testing, the game itself seemed to transcend all boundaries of what was considered 'possible' at the time. Proposing individualized AI that seemed to be more lifelike than not and a world that was not constrained by standard role definitions, the game itself was hyped up to be something that could just as easily fail if it could not deliver on its promises.

By all accounts, it did more than succeed; it became a worldwide phenomenon.

Even now, players seek to explore every facet of the world and pursue their own goals, as even the dedicated have barely begun to scratch the surface of what exists within the world and what might be in its future. To that end, though, it remains to be seen what Eastwind has in store for its players.

---

So, yes, as the title of the RP says, this is a non-isekai VRMMO RP. Also not a death game VRMMO.
Because honestly? There's enough of those as-is.

In any case an explanation of the game itself is as follows:

Visions of Elysium

Visions of Elysium is a game that, at its core, emphasizes two core tenets—the idea of a 'living world' and the ability for players to express themselves as they wish. The game itself is semi-instanced, which allows players to play on an actual server, on their own, or on an instance of the world with their friends and companions. Character data is, of course, transferable, though that which is created still has to be run through some filters and verification before it is allowed outside of a personal (non-server) instance.

The world's inhabitants all run as if they were actual people (or monsters or what have you), and the actions of players can, does, and will have an impact on how they live their lives. Obviously, there are things in place to prevent active griefing on live servers, but no system is perfect, and on occasion workarounds have to be made to compensate by the developers. Similarly, what players do to the world, instanced or otherwise, persists regardless of incidents; there are no second takes, no simple 'undo button,' or anything of the sort. As a result of these systems, though, quests are in almost all cases procedurally generated based on the world state, which generally means that no two experiences of the game will be completely identical.

With regards to the players themselves, though, there are two things to note.
The first, of course, is that progression is primarily skill-based; standard leveling by means of EXP grinding is replaced by proficiency with skills, regardless of the type, which places more emphasis upon the player to exceed a standard than simply stat-checking enemies to death. Of course, there is an 'automatic' and 'manual' mode for all skills that exist in the game, and the game itself can be played solely on auto (read: system aid), but 'manual' allows for a higher degree of creativity and control that would, in essence, separate the 'good' players from the 'great' ones.
The second is that there are no classes, and thus no limitations as to what people can learn. The only hard limit with regards to what a player can learn directly correlates to the type they spend and how quickly they end up picking up a skill. A jack-of-all-trades would be possible, of course, but the extent to which that becomes viable to keep up is up for debate. Similarly, there is no concrete list of skills; things are limited only by how far players want to take themselves (though, obviously, the in-world physical limitations of their characters still apply).

As progression is skill- and gear-based, though, players also do not have hard limits placed upon them in terms of what weapons or armor they can create; the only limiting factor is the skill of the crafter. In theory, this makes far more things viable in-world than outside of it, but given the current constraints of the world (namely, crafting materials), the depths to which this can be taken have not yet been fully explored.

There are, of course, microtransactions. Roughly 80-85% of these are wholly cosmetic in nature, and thus do not impact the game; one cannot 'pay to win' in this scenario. The only non-cosmetic items available within the shop are bulk materials (cloth, silk, iron, etc.), instant resurrection charms (which have an internal timer), and the starter kit. All of the items from within the shop can be traded within the game, though, so there is nothing preventing those items, cosmetic or otherwise, gaining their own value in the player economy.

---

Ideally, all characters within the RP are somewhere within the early-midgame range, such that they are beginning to or have already begun to specialize (to some degree).

There's a "design document" mockup for the game here that outlines a lot of the game itself (but it's a bit long), so feel free to look at it and ask if there are any questions/concerns that that doesn't answer.

In any case: a form for those who may want to get started early.

Form

[list][*][u]IGN[/u]: Self-explanatory.
[*][u]Age[/u]: No one too young (ideally); 15 is the cut-off for tweaking any realism settings.
[*][u]Race[/u]: Can be pretty much whatever, so long as it's not too outlandish/absurd/crazy.
[*][u]Racial Passive[/u]: As with race, nothing too outlandish/absurd/crazy.
[*][u]Appearance[/u]: Image or text, either or works. Please give a height as well.
[*][u]Personality[/u]: Standard. You can be as succinct or as long-winded as you wish.
[*][u]History[/u]: Optional.
[*][u]Skills[/u]: Ideally, a list. If something is vague or has a fancy name, a description would be appreciated.
[*][u]Equipment[/u]: Can be vague, can list. Keeping track is an on-and-off thing.
[*][u]Other[/u]: Anything not addressed elsewhere in the form.[/list]

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

With a haughty laugh, the Beast-to-be simply watched in amusement as Benienma tore through her attacks as though they were no more than leaves in the wind. She was aware—perhaps by instinct—that the Saber in front of her was a conceptual entity practically born to strike down being like her.

But that mattered not so long as the Servant remained so occupied upon her that she lost sight of the true reward.

With that in mind, though, there was only so much that she could do, especially with the mana that she had siphoned for the sake of completing her transformation becoming occupied with its own issues. It was defending itself autonomously, it seemed, which meant that obtaining some resources to sustain the barrage and draw the Saber's attention further from the other her was of the utmost priority.

Benienma herself was obviously out of the question, and absorbing Kishinami was something she could not bear to do so soon. That, in other words, left only one target—the insect that had remained alive by clinging onto the coattails of others.

"Come closer, then," she taunted, slowly drawing back from Benienma as she continued to fire a barrage of missiles and hands. "I am certain that my neck is far more enticing than my hand... Should you prove able to even reach it..."

As he watched the other Kiara draw away, though, Jason fumbled the box that Hakuno had thrown to him. There was only so much that he could do now, especially with what was being described as an 'Evil of Humanity' as their opponent.

Even using the word 'their' implied that he had some part in the combat, though; he was still an extra body to be kept alive, if anything...

As he continued to quietly hold onto the box, though, the radio in Hakuno's hand crackled to life in response to her own cry for aid. There was still static, given the barrier that was blocking them off from HQ, but a few scant words had made it through.

"————confirmed. —————currently———————aerial bombardment.———————cover——————break—."

The message becoming no more than a garbled mess was coupled with two incidents that seemed to happen almost concurrently with one another.
First—and most obvious—was the sudden rain of projectiles of all sorts onto the barrier above the park itself, which seemed to have barely any effect, if at all.
Second, though, was the hand that had been sliced off by Benienma now latching onto Jason's leg. In the time he had spent focusing on everything else that had been happening, it had remained out of focus. The searing pain from its grip as it slowly dug its nails into his flesh made him react in turn, his face contorting in pain as he fell down to take a look at the source.

"Are you serious?!" he asked, tugging in vain as he attempted to pry it off. "This... I... Am I really going to get killed be something like this?"

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas

---

The swing of the knight's sword had just as easily taken the hands off of the figure as a knife through butter, though it did not seem as if the attack registered 'mentally' for the victim. There was no sense of pain of suffering—no, not a trace of any emotion in the first place; it simply stared down at the stumps of where its 'hands' had once been before its body seemed to reform them, almost as if nothing had happened in the first place.

Despite that, though, it seemed to 'understand' that the same technique it had just tested would not work on an opponent agile enough to simply dart out of its range and strike at it while it shifted to accommodate.

The solution it came to, in short, was simply to strike a wider area.

With a pulse of mana that seemed to shake the air around it, the horned figure began to grow in size—slowly at first, but soon reaching the size of the trees around itself—before swinging an arm towards the knight that had struck out at it.

The other two were fleeing, it seemed, which placed them lower on its priority list than the one attacking it, after all.

@Raineh Daze

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

The sudden escape of the captive Saber had caught Kiara off guard as she reached for her counterpart, and her body had promptly paid the price for her hubris. The instant that the hand she had been using to reach out towards her battered counterpart was sliced off, she moved backwards, blood dripping from the stump where it was once attached.

Even so, the loss of a single limb did not seem to faze this Kiara much—as much as the 'her' that she was pursuing was rendered almost wholly immobile from her assault, the casual nature by which she looked at her wound, coupled with the faintest of smiles, made Jason wonder (however briefly) if she was anywhere within the realm of being called a 'human' any more.

"An Evil of Humanity... Yes, that does have a nice ring to it," Kiara responded, holding the stump of her arm upright. Slowly, steadily, a stream of tendrils began to emerge from her bloody flesh, and upon closer inspection, the hands at the end of each began to link together with one another. The bleeding had promptly stopped with that, of course, but soon more handlike tendrils began to break through, reforming her body until it was as if the hand that had been sliced off was never injured in the first place.

"But no, sadly, I have not yet obtained such wonderful pleasure; calling me something like that would be rather premature," she continued, glancing up at the sky, tinted by the barrier as it was, before turning back towards Benienma. "But no matter. I wish you would have stayed in your little birdcage, but I suppose that this cannot be helped."

With one arm raised to the sky, the deluge of mana that had been gathering elsewhere in the park had begun to transfer a portion of its energy to her, and soon, a pair of horns had sprouted from her head as if in response to it.

"Aaah... It has been a while since these were last present," she sighed, turning towards the group before staring back at her counterpart. "But this is no time to indulge in my own pleasure, sad as that may be. No matter; all is within the palm of my hand."

With a simple gesture from her left hand, a wave of limbs seemed to tear their way out of the earth, clawing over one another as they moved towards the group; at the same time, though, another ring of hands seemed to emerge from beneath the earth around the four, clawing at anything and everything that drew near.

"Soon, all shall know salvation..."

---

With a path forward being formed through the barrier, those who pushed forward to seek the final destination of the mana would soon find themselves in a rather lightly forested plot of land. Normally, this section of the park was meant to simulate nature in a more serene state, as opposed to the tended grassland that students and residents alike made use of for whatever reasons they needed. Now, however, a far more foreboding pressure seemed to fill the air, and the apparent locus of it all—an orb apparently stained by what it was composed of—seemed to float in the center of it all.

As the Servants approached, though, the orb seemed to expand in size, growing to double what it had been mere seconds ago, before collapsing in upon itself. In its place, however, something that could only be described as a hole in the space itself seemed to begin to grow. From that, though, a pair of arms, each unnaturally pale, began to clutch onto the edges of the tear.

The silhouette of a slim horned woman, blindingly and unnaturally white, emerged from within, and the mana that had thus been compressed to this point seemed to be at her epicenter now that the hole she had crawled out of had closed. There was a brief moment as it turned its featureless head towards those who had been present for its 'birth' before it began to hold arms out in front of it.

As the figure slowly moved its hands together, the rapid warping of space in the area—offset, it seemed, by the barest of amounts behind those present—soon became indicative of what it was attempting to do. Though it had missed its mark, be it by luck or by its own inability to control its own abilities yet, a perfectly demarcated section of land had been compressed into nothing but a cube, perfectly uniform in its dimensions as it sat in the middle of the earth.

Despite its failure, though, the figure seemed altogether unfazed and seemed to begin another attempt to catch those present in its grasp.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

Despite the words of Kiara (their Kiara, of course), Jason still found himself hesitating to agree with their decision to protect him. As far as things went, the situation was terrible; if anything, the ones that were protecting him should've been the ones to be guarded instead! Hakuno's presence was the one sustaining the sole Servant within the confines of the boundary, and given the other Kiara's own monologues, if theirs fell, then things would likely escalate beyond repair.

So why was it, then, that they placed so much weight into letting a useless person who ran as a distraction for their enemy and let a close friend die in such a horrible manner stay alive?

"I..." he faltered, hesitating as he watched Hakuno throw the box that she had managed to procure from her Servant at the enemy, unable to come up with words to respond in kind to those words of encouragement forced through gritted teeth.

The box itself was, of course, completely unexpected by the other Kiara, but not enough so as to completely stop her forward assault, and with a casual swatting motion, she had struck the object out of the air. What was inside, however—a bunch of sparrows, dressed up like various youkai—flooded out as soon as her hand met it. The birds began to peck at her from all sides, causing Kiara to momentarily pause her attacks towards her counterpart in order to deal with them. With her concentration momentarily struck, though, there was more than enough time for the other party to begin mounting a counterattack.

It didn't take long after for her to finally swat them out of the air, though, and with her counterpart already reeling from her last string of attacks, all she needed to do was reach out and grab her, if even but for a moment——!

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

The other Kiara—the one currently on the offensive—sighed with a bit of disappointment at the one beside Hakuno and Jason immediately moving in response to defend the group. The way that her attacks were being warded off were by no means unfamiliar to her—obviously so, given her own ability to use such things—but they were only delaying the inevitable. With the smaller Saber locked away for just long enough for her to press the attack, and no other possible ways for anyone to easily interfere...

Ah, it was almost too perfect a scenario for her!

"Surrender? Please, my dearest Hakuno," she began, licking her lips as she continued to batter away at her counterpart's defenses as she walked closer to the girl. "Once I have finished up here, there will be nothing that would be able to stop me—not here, nor anywhere else. Ah, of course, I shall make sure that you will see things my way soon enough. It shall not be so much as but a moment of pleasure, but..."

With a calm smile, almost as if she was looking at nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum, Kiara continued moving forward, her arm extended towards them as she glanced towards the only "eyesore" left—the young man who had, until now, been unable to utter a single word.

"Ah, but that little insect really does need to go. I wonder how I should take you apart, hm? Maybe... Ah, yes, you seemed rather close with that girl; maybe you would like to follow in her footsteps, hm?"

At that provocation, Jason couldn't help but bite his lower lip, angry at his own inability to retort, before taking a deep breath and turning towards the two that were with him.

"...She's right, you know. Maybe if you weren't here protecting me, you'd be able to do a bit more. That... If I get injured or something, just leave me for dead or something. One less thing to worry about means that much more effort you can put towards beating her. A useless person like me won't be able to provide much, anyways."

@RolePlayerRoxas@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Despite her own insistence otherwise, Nanako still decided that she had to place her own assertions forward in front of her Servant. As much as seeing her act like a little puppy that felt like it was proud of what it did amused Meltryllis, though, the fact that she had completely ignored her own statement... Really, it annoyed her to no end!

"Yes, yes, I'm perfectly fine, and you did a great job," she remarked sarcastically, staring at the bolt that had still yet to be dislodged from her Master's shoulder. "Should we go get you some ice cream? A pat on the head? Or, maybe, and just listen here for a moment—we stop you from dying in the middle of the street, okay? Honestly, this is why I hate dealing with humans; so self-righteous about the smallest of things..."

Her concern at this point, though laced with thorns, was still comparatively evident. She wasn't so blind so as to ignore what Nanako had done for her, but she worked as an anchor for her existence even so. Having her die would be one of the worst things that could happen, and here she was, caring more about her familiar than the blood streaming down her arm.

Caster — Leonardo da Vinci

At HECATE's delivery of the (admittedly rather worrisome) news, Da Vinci furrowed her brows before glancing at the others present with her. As far as things went, they were by no means in any situation to intervene in the current situation; doubly so, given their distance from the actual region in question. As far as things went, concern was just as important as keeping a level head at times like these.

"Hmm... It is likely that the two incidents may be related to one another," she began, nodding towards her Master before crossing her arms, "but it's not like we can add anything to the effort as of right now. The Einzbern over here has the right idea; we should do what we can, with the knowledge that we can obtain."

With a brief nod towards the two, the Caster turned back towards the AI construct and smiled.

"That being said, if there's anything we can do to help, I'd be happy to do what I can—provided my Master decides that to be doable. We could do with some information on the Servants that fit our criteria in exchange, of course; two birds with one stone, no?"

Of course, if the others wanted to take another course of action, she would by no means oppose it... But if it meant the ability to look into the problem from a different angle and examine the situation from one of the most secure locales in Fusang, then the Caster would gladly take the chance to do so.

@DocRock@Raineh Daze

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

Once the group had regrouped with Benienma, breaking through the (somewhat haphazard) blockades set up by those that the other Kiara was controlling was not any particularly large hurdle to overcome. It was as the Caster that had moved to handle the earlier blockade had said; this region of the hospital was notably less populated. Whether that was because of the efforts of other Servants and their Masters here or otherwise remained to be seen, but leaving proved to be no more a challenge than handling the stray few patients that had occasionally lurched at them out of rooms like zombies from a horror game.

Once the group had finally made their way out of the building proper, though, the trail that the other Kiara was distinct enough for both the Saber and the nun to be able to trace its path. Given the lack of other options to take, though, prompt action was all but a given, and the group (Jason included) quickly moved to give chase.

---

The destination that the other Kiara had led them to, it seemed, were the Fusang Gardens. A large public park dedicated for public use, the otherwise lush greenery that lined the area was now devoid of the usual guests. Be it because of the earlier message that Hakuno had received or... Other reasons, there was no reason to fear anyone else getting caught up in what was to come.

Up on a hill near the center of the area, though, sat the 'other' Kiara, an inviting grin on her face as she watched the group approach. Before the Saber could make any attempts to push through and attack, though, a magic sigil seemed to appear at her feet, and a barrier seemed to form around her, isolating her from the others. Soon after, a larger barrier seemed to be erected around the entirety of the park, enclosing those present with their target.

"Ah... I thought it would take you a little longer to arrive," the other Kiara said, licking her lips as she slowly approached the three humans who had given chase after her. "I had a multitude of traps set for that little sparrow, but... Well, it seems that this shall do for now."

After spending a long time—uncomfortably so, in fact—staring at Hakuno, that Kiara turned towards her other self and smiled.

"Ah, but dear Kishinami can wait for now. For now, I need you to complete myself; so, please, won't you become one with me?"

With that, Kiara extended her left hand in front of herself, which itself was soon followed with a bunch of hands clawing out from underneath the grass and dirt as they aimed to drag Kiara to herself.

@RolePlayerRoxas@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Without missing a single beat, Meltryllis somersaulted into the air before launching a wave of energy back at the shadow that stood between her and her peace. The two clashed, and in the instant that they had, the Alter Ego had launched herself straight at her opponent's head.

This time, there would be no interruptions.
No second chances.
No delays.

Her own desire to crush this thing underfoot—all of its existence, worth no more than the life of a single ant upon the sidewalk—was placed into this one strike, and in an instant, her leg had pierced through its head. As it began to topple to the ground, Meltryllis began to stomp—repeatedly—into its head, making sure to inject it with her poison with each strike.

"Un! Deux! Trois!"

With that, Meltryllis, a fiendish grin on her face, licked her lips as she flipped backwards off of the shadow and landed gracefully upon the ruined pavement nearby. The desire to continue trampling upon the corpse of the deceased remained, of course, but after taking a deep breath, the Alter Ego regained some of her composure and walked back over towards Nanako.

"Now... What did I tell you about getting involved?!" she asked, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance at her Master (who, at this point, was still bleeding out on the floor). "You're here to make sure that I'm able to do my job, not throw your life away! Honestly, this is why I can't stand humans... Come on, now; get up. You're bleeding all over the floor, and I can't do anything to fix you up. We need to get you somewhere so you won't die and take me with you, okay?"

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

The Cove

Despite the eerie silence of the area, Nanoha's scans would reveal lingering traces of energy—inherently similar in nature to what was resonating from within what equipment they had procured from their targets—that seemed to be resonating outwards. Tracing its point of origin would lead to the ruined manor atop the cliffside, but a lack of any clear readings any further than the limits of the caverns that they were in would make it difficult to trace the exact location from where they were.

Regardless of the source of the earthquakes, though, the caves that had suffered more structural damage from the assault inn the first place had already begun to fall apart; the agitation only served to hasten their collapse, and the bound enemy that had been left behind in pursuit of the second target, limp as it was, was easily brought out.

The caves as a whole seemed to remain stable enough to be explored at a later time, even after the two had escaped, but they would undoubtedly have changed by the time they had returned.

From there, of course, it was a simple enough matter to return to the door that they had entered through—doubly so when considering how they were able to evade the wary eyes of those present in the town.

The city that they had returned to was just as lifeless as ever even so, but moving back to the door that Youmu had entered through proved no more difficult than the ability of either of the two to follow directions on a map.

@KoL@VitaVitaAR

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

For all the people there were hiding away in the safety of their homes, there was an awful lot of venom being spat out through them. Time and time again, both Zeke and Pandoria were met rough dismissals and, more often than not, complete ignorance. As much as the two hated to admit it, there didn't seem to be anyone here who was willing to even give them the time of day, much less any directions in looking for a lost girl.

"Ah, seriously, this sucks... You'd think that there'd be at least one person here who isn't either absolutely crazy or a complete jerk," the Driver complained, crossing his arms as he followed Hibiki and Magilou en route. The two didn't stop trying to ask for help in the process, of course, but trying was better than doing nothing at all.

"Mmm... Well, yes? Though I'm kind of worried that if we end up using one of these homes as a base, that little girl might end up injured... Or worse," Pandoria remarked towards Magilou, rapping her hands on a window before a response that wasn't anywhere near as rude came in return. Just as she was about to leave, as if used to rejection, though, the Blade immediately backpedaled and waved Zeke and the others over to listen in.

"Ah, yes, um... Sorry to bother you, but, um... We're looking for a little girl, about... Yea high?" she began, describing the girl from the video as best she could, ignoring the fact that there didn't seem to be anyone peering through the window in the first place.

The Cove

Just as the bell had been retrieved, an earthquake began to shake the entire region that both Nanoha and Youmu were present in. It was by no means light, and the presence of energy—malicious in nature—began to pulse throughout the area. The shaking itself seemed to resonate with the waters, their own presence amplified beneath the waves, but all at once began to die down.

Whatever had caused that disturbance was far greater in power than anything else here, but as of now it seemed to show no intent to make itself known yet.

Both the horn and the bell continued to pulse with energy as they had been, but the waters became still and dark, with nary a trace of life remaining in the area.

Returning now, it seemed, would be the wisest course of action.

@VitaVitaAR@KoL