Like any city, Hoshiko had its share of urban legends. Myths and rumors, shared in hushed tones or with sarcastic laughter. Few people put any stock in them, not wanting to look stupid when they were proved wrong. But there is one rumor that holds just enough hope to tempt a few desperates to at least give it a shot: it's said that if a girl tosses a coin in Negai Fountain at midnight and makes a purehearted wish, a miracle will occur. While their wishes did not suddenly come true, the handful of girls who did so found themselves with the ability to change into a new magical form, equipped with the abilities needed to fight Hexes, evil spirits composed of a human's ill will towards another. For decades, these small groups of girls defended Hoshiko, keeping the rumor of the fountain just that: a rumor.
But in this computer age, urban legends can rarely go undisturbed. A skeptical high school girl decided to test the myth. Taking a single yen coin and a video camera with her to Negai fountain at midnight, she proved- to her own shock- that the legend was real. Of course, the obvious thing to do was to go on the web. At first, people cried fake at the video of her transformation; but as more and more girls decided to give it a go, posting their own videos, it became clear that the magic was very real.
Hoshiko found itself with a sudden boom of magical protectors; every night, the courtyard at Negai Fountain was crawling with middle and high school age girls, taking turns tossing in their coins and wishing some frivolous goodwill on a loved one. A midnight trip to the fountain became a popular Friday night activity for teen girls, and for anyone who wanted to witness the magical transformations for themselves. Anyone who was anyone was getting magic powers. By the time the government stepped in, approximately 80% of girls ages 12 to 17 in Hoshiko were magical girls, along with a number of tourists who had come to visit the fountain. City officials prohibited the tossing of coins in the fountain and closed it off completely from 11 pm to 1 am (though they still allowed visitors otherwise; it had become a popular tourist attraction). But the damage was already done; Hoshiko now had more magical girls than there were Hexes for them to fight.
Flowing with newfound power and nothing to use it on, these new mahou shoujo began picking fights with each other. For the most part, they kept it contained within the distortion bubbles they used to fight Hexes, preventing any damage to the regular world; but some were more reckless, careless, or desparate to show off to normal humans who couldn't enter these bubbles, and fought on the streets. The government condemned these fights, but had no way to enforce a prohibition; police weren't equipped to fight against magic. So, in order to create a more acceptable outlet and hopefully avoid more damage to public property, the Mahou Shoujo League was formed. It started out as mere unembellished matchups between girls, often with tournament style progression, but as people realized the viewership value of extravagant magic fights, it quickly evolved into something more similar to American wrestling leagues. Girls constructed personas for their magical girl forms, making up backstories and plot arcs to feed the drama.
Soon the idea of teams was introduced, and a subdivision was created for girls to fight each other in teams of five. This proved to be the biggest hit yet, with the most popular teams becoming as renowned and idolized as popstar groups. With these flashy bigshot magical girl teams weaving dramatic stories to back their battles and signing endorsement deals to advertise for companies, the one-on-one matches of the league faded to the level of high school sports. The only way to have a chance at fame as a magical girl was to put together a good team and battle your way through the ranks, and that was exactly what Akiko planned to do.
So the story of this RP is basically focused on these magical girls fighting in the MSL to try to become famous. It'll start with my character, Akiko, trying to put together a team of five, but presuming there're more than four applicants, they can form additional teams. The plot will focus both on the girls trying to win fights and create an interesting 'story' for their fighting personas, and trying to maintain their normal lives with school and relationships.
Would anyone be interested in this RP? If I get at least 4, I'll post a character sheet and hold signups.
UPDATE: There's enough interest, so I'll go ahead and post the CS. But first, to describe how magical girls work.
Magical girls are created out of a wish for another's happiness (note: these wishes are not in any way granted by becoming a magical girl, nor do they affect the girl's powers), while Hexes, the monsters they fight, are created when a human curses another to misfortune. Hexes are essentially evil spirit creatures, residing primarily within distortion bubbles, but upon entering the real world they can be seen by humans. Now, however, Hexes are usually eliminated almost upon creation by the surplus of magical girls.
Distortion bubbles are pocket dimensions that only magical girls can see and access, similar to a witch's labyrinth in Madoka Magica, but less detailed and surreal. The ability to conjure these bubbles is one that all magical girls have, along with several other shared generic powers. All magical girls are able to:
- create and access distortion bubbles
- sustain much more magical damage than a normal human can, and recover from it quickly
- shoot generic, weak energy beams and bursts
- create generic, weak energy barriers and shields
- jump extremely high and "glide" through the air, remaining suspended long enough to attack
All of these can be accomplished with no effort or magical exertion; freebie powers, if you will. In addition to these, every magical girl also has her own set of unique powers (though with so many girls, there is often overlap). These powers tend to follow a single theme (fire, ice, technology, illusions, etc.) and consist of attacks, defensive moves, and support abilities. These powers take effort and energy to use, but are much more powerful and flashy than generic powers. Girls usually start out with two to four individual "moves", and with experience learn upgraded versions of these moves along with ones that do a larger variety of things. In the MSL, it's customary to name and call out one's unique abilities when using them, especially powerful moves used as a finisher.
CHARACTER SHEET
Name:
Age: (magical girls can be 12 to 17, but you must be 14 to compete in the MSL. younger non-competitor characters are okay)
Gender: *
Appearance: (picture or
short description)
Personality:
Bio: (doesn't have to be long; I imagine many will just have had uninteresting average lives before the fountain thing started)
Magical Girl Name: (what they go by in the MSL)
Main Costume Color: (teams usually try to avoid overlapping or clashing colors for aesthetic appeal)
Magical Appearance: (picture or simple description of their outfit)
Stage Persona: (the personality and backstory of the "character" a girl portrays in the MSL)
Power Theme: (best if it can be described in one or two words)
Weapon: (wands/staves are most common, but there are more traditional weapons and firearms, along with those who have no weapons)
Abilities: (2-4 basic moves with names and descriptions; you can add more later. if she's not new to fighting, she can know more powerful ones)
Do you want her to join Akiko's new team, another new team, or be on an already established team?: (teams will be fully solidified and named once all characters are accepted)
*If you want to play a normal boy as a spectator/fan/friend of a magical girl/manager of a new team/etc. just leave off the parts of the CS specific to magical girls. This also counts for nonmagical female characters.
ACCEPTED CHARACTERS
-
Akiko Yamaguchi (female/16/magical girl)
-
Katsuo Kasane (male/19/team manager)
-
Shizuke Ibuki (female/15/magical girl)
-
Izumi Kurosawa (female/17/magical girl)
Tentatively Accepted (CS's unfinished)
-
Inoue Yumiko (female/16/magical girl)
I think that's about all for now. I'll post Akiko's CS as soon as I finish drawing her, but know that her theme color is yellow/gold and she has light-based powers so that there's no overlap within her own team at least. Try to submit your CS's by the end of the week at the latest so we can start!
