IVIasterJay

A World of Progresssive Magic: An Arcane 2100s

So we're just skipping the coffee shop meeting? One person's already attacking at E3, and with the meeting at the shop all the others wouldn't be attacking until the next day. Bit of a bummer to get there and find everyone already dead.

Edit: Never mind. I guess it just happened already or something. So much for that perfect opportunity for character interaction. Four hitmen walk into a bar... and absolutely nothing interesting goes down.

Shūkyō Kaikaku (Naruto AU)

Here's what I have written for the Land of Earth and Wind. Hope it works.

The Land of Earth and Wind

The Land of Earth and Wind

History
The Land of Wind was the first nation hit by the rampaging beasts, and suffered most at the Bijuus’ hands. Most of the major cities and villages were destroyed, and with them nearly all of the food-producing land in the nation. More people in the Land of Wind died of starvation than at the hand of the Bijuu. The leadership of the Land of Wind turned to the Land of Earth and became a territory of the Land of Earth in return for protection and food. Takai Ryukoku, the Tsuchikage of the time, was very much a wartime leader, controlling his people with an iron fist. His paranoia and irrational fears of being attacked, the same instincts that allowed him to fight back against the destruction caused by the Bijuu, resulted in unreasonable demands of the nations that became his territories. He declared the Bijuu shrines dead places, forbidding anyone to go near them. His words were law, his laws absolute, and the punishments for breaking them harsh. Under Takai the Land of Earth and Wind became dominated by fear. The new Tsuchikage is the exact opposite. Ezo has pushed the nation to bankruptcy as he spends everything he can on making life better for his people.

Geographical Description

Arguably the least diverse geographically of the four nations, the Land of Earth and Wind features habitats of varying degrees of inhospitable. To the south you have the endless desert that made up what used to be the Land of Wind, and to the north you have the towering rocky peaks that mark the old border of the Land of Earth. The lands between the two feature small, but dense, forests, barren plains, and rocky canyons. The portion of Amegakure that became a part of the Land of Earth and Wind now serves as a large reservoir to irrigate the northeastern portion of the Land of Wind to alleviate the food shortages there. As a result, that portion of what was the Land of Wind if mostly wheat and grain farms as far as the eye can see. The area inside the ring of mountains that form the border of the old Land of Earth is still quite mountainous, but not nearly as much as the border. Small rivers flow throughout the region, with most originating from melting snow and ice off of the taller peaks. Entire mountains have been altered into great steps of flat land to allow many types of farming at different elevations. In the land between the southwest of what was the Land of Earth and the northwest of what was the Land of Wind sits the cold remains of what once was the largest volcano in the world. It no longer produces heat or lava, but a long river of hardened obsidian running for miles eastward forms an impassible barrier blocking passage through the region. Nothing lives on or around the natural roadway, and crossing it is suicide as the surface becomes superheated during the day and freezing cold during the night, more so than even the Land of Wind’s desert.

Political Structure

The Land of Earth and Wind has stubbornly stuck to that it’s always done throughout the years. The Tsuchikage is the absolute ruler of the land and controls all governmental powers. Each new kage has the ability to establish any type of management system they wish to make the daunting task of running a large nation easier. The appointment of the next Tsuchikage is likewise completely up to the present kage, who can choose anyone to fill the position and can step down in favor of that person whenever they choose. The current Tsuchikage has appointed five generals, each powerful ninja in their own right, to manage important zones inside the Land of Earth and Wind. These zones are: The Amegakure Reservoir, the Wind farmland, the Land of Wind border, the Land of Earth border, and the inner Land of Wind.

Religion

The Land of Earth and Wind has two major religions, each coming from the two major nations that make up the Land of Earth and Wind. Very few speak of their religious views openly, but that isn’t to say that it isn’t religious. The people of the Land of Earth believe in personalized gods, with each person following the doctrines of a singular power that they have created. While nothing is set in stone, it is normally taboo to directly ask another person what their god is of, and conversely, telling another person your god is seen as a major show of trust. Traditionally it was common for people to go to shrines to pray to your god, but many favor more individualized rituals that are more personalized to their god. There are many that choose not to have a god or to follow another’s god instead of their own. Both practices are frowned upon but not condemned.

The Land of Wind has no religion besides ones brought in from other lands. The only remanant of the sand people’s ancient religion lies in their creation myth. Yochi, the earth god, and Pocha, the water god, were involved in an ancient battle against the god of fire, Okibi. Okibi wanted to burn the world and destroy all life, but Yochi and Pocha wanted to preserve the world as it was. Pocha and Okibi hated each other deeply, and their attacks were meant to kill. In the final confrontation, both launched their most destructive attacks at the other. Seeing Pocha unwilling to avoid the fiery strike for fear of it destroying the world, Yochi took the blow for her. Pocha’s own attack destroyed Okibi, scattering his fiery energy throughout the heavens. Yochi died in Pocha’s arms, but his incredible weight caused Pocha to be pinned beneath his body when he collapsed. Yochi’s body became the vast desert of the Land of Wind, with the god of water still trapped deep beneath. It was once customary for those of the sand to thank the god of water for her struggle to return to the world, making like in the desert possible, and to thank the god of earth for his great sacrifice, enabling life to exist on the planet.

Economy

The Land of Earth and Wind exports pretty much nothing. Everything produced goes to benefit the nation, and there is no surplus food to trade with other nations. The Land of Wind still has no economy to speak of, still relying on the Land of Earth for much of their food and goods. The agricultural productivity of the region has steadily increased over the years though, and Ezo expects the Land of Wind to be able to produce enough food to support its citizens within five years. The Land of Stone trades in fine art, magnificent pottery, gem crafts, and luxury silk and cotton fabrics. The previous Tsuchikage had taken much of the profits from them to fund his whims, but under Ezo the artisans of the Land of Stone keep nearly all of what they make. This has led to what was the Land of Stone being the most stable region of the Land of Earth and Wind economically. The previous Tsuchikage crippled the Land of Earth economically, setting it back decades as he took the majority of the nation’s revenue and put it towards weapon development. Whatever weapons he did end up producing have never seen the light of day, and many believe he simply used the money for himself. The nation as a whole has very little power economically, and despite the Tsuchikage’s changes, much of the nation’s power lies in its military strength.

A World of Progresssive Magic: An Arcane 2100s

Eise was on his bike, a sleek machine of silver and smooth lines, waiting in traffic when a black cat manifested itself on his arm. He sighed at his dead pet. “Kuro, you can’t sit there. I need to use my arm to st-” The black cat cut him off with a meow. “All right, I get it,” he relented. Kuro was in business mode, not in the mood for anything but immediate compliance.

Eise had just pulled into a darkened alley and taken his helmet off when the cat spirit shifted into the shape of a dark ball of energy floating at eye level. The cat’s usual dark aura returned to its animal shape, the orb sitting where its stomach would be. The cat’s mouth opened, and a very human voice came out.

“Hello, My name is Enrico Hernandez. I am the head security officer for the Mafia of New York City, and, should you choose to accept my offer, your current employer. I’m offering you fifteen million dollars each, to find Akira Kariya, Elizabeth Cortes, Anya Tarnova, and Ken Saddler, and interrogate them. Why, you ask? Because one of them has a MMO that can kill those inside the game if they die. We don’t know which has it, but all four will be at the E3 gaming convention here. When you have tracked them down, you will split up, and interrogate each of them. Use torture if you must, but find the one with the game, and then kill them. Afterwards I want you all to meet in at the Statue of Liberty where I will be waiting with your rest of your payments. You will receive a third in a specialized bank account upon accepting the mission.
If you accept this mission, and fail, you will not be payed, or hired by the mafia ever again.
If you accept this mission, please press the blue patch on this orb, and then proceed to Carmelo’s Coffee shop by midnight tonight. Have a good evening.”

Eise reached out to press the blue section of the orb, his soft fingers shifting into black claws as they entered the cat’s aura that surrounded the orb. Kuro wasn’t asking Eise if he wanted to take the job, the mere fact that it was bringing it to the man’s attention said that it had already decided. The orb vanished, and Kuro recomposed itself into its usual lean physique before fading away. Where the spirit went when it wasn’t with him Eise didn’t know, and to be honest he didn’t really care.

The silver cycle weaved through traffic back the way it had come. He had plenty of time, but knowing that he was going to be meeting a member of the mafia to discuss a murder didn’t put Eise in the mood to ride through the countryside. In fact, it put him quite out of that mood.

Later that night…
A dark shape sat atop the roof of the building across from Carmelo’s Coffee shop. Sensing nothing, the thing leapt from atop the building, arcing across the roadway to land silently on the top of Carmelo’s. Black Cat let itself in, passing through roof and ceiling and floor and ceiling again, falling through the building’s inners until it found itself looking down at the main shop. Flipping in mid-air, it grabbed onto the ceiling it had just fallen through and pulled itself back through it.

Black Cat crouched in the space between the panels and the real ceiling, hearing the quiet commotion from below rising in the air, watching through a newly-cut hole in the weak panel. In the dark hiding space, Black Cat waited for the others to arrive. Paranoia was a reasonable trait for the spirit-hybrid to have given that its employer would just as likely see it dead any other day of the week. Who knows, if the job wasn't good enough, it might just kill the mafia man if he showed up.

Dungeon Keepers

Why is everyone going for volcano bases in the first place? Those things are known to explode on occasion you know.

A World of Progresssive Magic: An Arcane 2100s

I can post, but I notice in Krodin's post he addressed Eise by name. The mafia knowing who he was would be bad. A simple change to saying it was to Black Cat would be enough, as Kuro would relay the massage to Eise.

@Letter Bee, collab like most of the others or just post?

Hunter X Hunter: Into The Dark Continent

Mars

Name: Mars Mondelez

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Gender: Disputed Male

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Age: 26

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Appearance:

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Hunter Type: Treasure Hunter

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Nen Type: Conjurer

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Nen abilities: Heaven's Lost Marbles: Mars power is to conjure a gumball machine on a pole, which he wields as a weapon. It is plain metal for the most part, but the glass gumball part has a black jack-o-lantern face on it. To activate his ability, Mars must ask his opponent if they have a quarter after he’s summoned the gumball machine. If they do, and offer give one to Mars, they become immune to his ability for 24 hours. (The being hit by them resulting in a coin effect, not the marbles. Those still hurt like hell.) The If they say no, refuse to answer, or simply don’t have one on them, they become a target for Mars' ability, as its condition has been fulfilled. After that, whenever Mars is struck by the one he asked, a coin appears in his hand. The coin can either be silver or gold, which one it is being random, but more powerful attacks or attacks with more killing intent behind them have a higher chance of spawning a gold coin. Feeding a silver coin to the machine results in either a clear or light gray marble coming out. The clear marbles are stars and emit light when exposed to nen or hit by another marble. The gray marbles are satellites and can be affixed to a set point in relative space by adding nen to them. Feeding a gold coin to the machine can result in any one of nine different colored marbles: dark gray, yellow, green, reddish-brown, red, yellow with a black band, light blue, dark blue, or purple. Each marble is based on a planet and has a different effect when struck by another marble. Dark gray is Mercury, and it explodes violently when struck. Yellow is Venus, and it releases a plume of sleeping gas when struck (seems too strong, I'll think about something else). Green is Earth, which releases a pulse of healing when struck. The reddish-brown marble is Mars, and it releases a plume of red dust that blinds and chokes when it’s struck. Red is Jupiter, which becomes surrounded by a field of red lightning. The yellow marble with the black band around its middle is Saturn, and it releases a cutting shockwave when hit. The light blue marble is Uranus, which becomes highly magnetic when struck. The dark blue one is Neptune, which releases a flood of water in all directions. Purple, if you haven’t noticed the pattern by now, is Pluto, and when struck the area around the marble flash-freezes. There are two other marbles that are only dispensed when their unique coin is inserted into the machine. Putting in a white coin, which only appears when Mars is blinded by rage, results in a matching white marble. The white marble is the Sun, and its effect creates a miniature sun around itself that produces extreme heat and burns everything around it. A black coin appears when Mars is swallowed by crushing grief, and putting it into the machine results in a black marble. This marble represents a black hole, and when struck everything within five feet of the marble (the initial range of all of the planetary marbles) disappears in an instant. The black marble has a second effect when struck: it pulls everything nearby towards it. Because the initial destroying effect happens so fast, only things within its range before it is struck are destroyed, and the pull happens in the instant following the destruction effect. Because the effect activates upon being struck, it scales with the enemy’s power level, becoming incredibly powerful against strong opponents that are able to land many blows on Mars’ body, and being completely useless against weak opponents who he would rather just beat over the head with the conjured gumball machine. All of the marbles are weightless and simply float in space, easily moved when touched or struck with another marble. A marble’s effect activates the instant it is struck by another marble, meaning it happens and then the marble moves as a result of being hit. In the case of Jupiter and Uranus, their effects continue for a few seconds after being struck, making them the only marbles that can be active and moving. In the case of the Sun and the black hole, the Sun is moved by satellite marbles and activated by star marbles, and the black hole is moved by star marbles and activated by satellite marbles. These two marbles stop moving the instant they are activated, and the marble used to activate them is destroyed. Marbles can be dismissed at any time, but they can only be used again if dispensed randomly from the gumball machine. Only one of each of the planetary marbles can exist at a time, but there is no limit to the number of star or satellite marbles in play (besides the user’s nen). The actual effects of the marbles are a combination of conjuration and transmutation, with some enhancement for a few of them.

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Personality: The most happy-go-lucky psychopath you’ve ever met. Mars’ response to anything and everything is a fiendish grin, and telling his innocent fiendish grin from his murderous fiendish grin is near-impossible. He loves sweets, and always has something sugary on him at any given time. His favorite candy is gum balls, which he eats like, well, candy. He loves gumballs so much that his nen ability takes the appearance of a gumball dispenser. Don’t get between Mars and his sweets: he will kill you. Did I mention he’s a little crazy? He never takes anything seriously and finds amusement in the strangest things. Even in life-or-death situations or when he’s getting his ass handed to him.

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History: The psychopathic son of aristocrats, disowned and thrown out for his disturbing and cruel tendencies. His parents later took him back after finding that he had not only survived, but now controlled much of the city’s minor criminals and had built up a fortune for himself through them. Muggings, thefts, extortion, blackmail, murders, torture, more than a few assassinations, if it went down, he had a part in orchestrating it. As soon as he was reinstated to inherit his parent’s wealth upon their passing, they both died quite suddenly. Truly a tragedy.

Mars learned of nen after he sent some unimportant thugs out after some guy’s head. He saw the man disarm his three attackers without touching them at all, and then the man knocked out each one with barely a lift of his finger. So what did Mars do then? He walked right up to the man and asked him how he had beaten up his men. Mars isn’t one to beat around the bush, and he’s never been afraid of those stronger than himself. Casually slipping in the fact that you sent thugs to kill someone tends not to go over well, and in this case the man threw Mars through a wall and over a couple of buildings, again with barely a lift of his finger.

Mars began showing signs of nen as soon as he woke, using his strange new powers to force his way out of the hospital he was being kept in. Sensing something fun and new in the world, Mars disbanded his rabble of miscreants, making more than a few that questioned the decision simply vanish in the night, and began searching out more people with the strange power.

His search eventually led him to learning all about hunters, and he easily passed the Hunter Exam on his first attempt due to already having rudimentary nen abilities. Mars has been all around the world since then, going from place to place on a whim as he searches the world for “things he likes”. This usually amounts to sweets or treasures. Mars’ definition of treasure is quite broad, literally being anything he finds interesting, entertaining, or pretty. He once abducted a princess because she had beautiful hair, and another time he stole a horse because he thought he would look magnificent riding one. He still has an ugly brown pot in his home apartment that he took from some ancient ruins a few years back because he can’t figure out if it was used as a toilet or to store food in. The second he learns which, he will immediately stop caring about the thing and probably break it, but until then it fits into his whimsical definition of being a treasure. More ancient ruins have been destroyed, and recent ruins created, by Mars in his pursuit of treasure than most Treasure Hunters see in their lifetime. Despite being a Treasure Hunter, Mars rarely accomplishes anything without an unnecessary amount of bloodshed.

TL;DR

Questionably-well-dressed sweet-toothed psychopath wielding candy-dispensing bludgeon-stick who enjoys playing with small balls and making things go boom wants you to get into his van.

Hunter X Hunter: Into The Dark Continent

Still working on a fun and creative nen ability for my character. It's so hard to think of something original! I started with a chess-themed ability that reacted to the enemy's movements as if they were a chess piece moving across the board, but now I'm thinking about one based on marbles and the different planets, with each special planet marble having a different effect when struck. Or maybe that would work better with pool balls... I really need to stop thinking right now. Whatever it ends up being, it'll probably have something to do with a game.

Persona: Through the Looking Glass

There are two character named Eve. That could be confusing.

Dungeon Keepers

But with practice you became better. That's what matters. You wouldn't have improved if you hadn't began writing... like that.

Dungeon Keepers

Elny’air was jerked forward as the spear was pulled effortlessly from her. The giant had the strength to match its size, that was for sure. But it was still nothing compared to her master. She charged, pushing off black water that seemed to become solid beneath her feet. From her outstretched hand came snaking threads of black water, wrapping around the retreating spear and pulling her to it. Using its momentum, she flew at the giant, landing on its metal breastplate, her hand changed into the shape of its spear, though of a scale to fit her instead of the giant. The end of the spear had found its mark, embedded in the chest of the thrashing runner. The creature stilled.

Enly’air ripped the spear out of the creature, its tail numbly uncoiling from the poisoned creature’s neck as it began its slow descent to the bottom of the watery tunnel. She spun, the tip of the spear shifting from one end to the other as she turned. This time she aimed for the giant’s brain, if such a thing moved the creature. A current of black water was pulled behind the black spear’s miniature point, it cutting the water in anticipation if flesh and bone.

Enly’air, stop.

She froze mid-swing.