You said the Church of Remus has a number of unsanctioned offshoots, so those three mages could be members of one of those offshoots. They could belong to a particularly radical offshoot and try to kill all Tech beings they come across, but wouldn't be officially affiliated with the Church. How's that?
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@MelonHead: @lydyn wants to introduce Alice to Elenor, so presumably Alice is currently somewhere near the Kingdom of Alari'in, i.e. in or near Colorado. So presumably the guys that attacked Alice aren't under Johnathan's jurisdiction, or even officially sanctioned by the Church of Remus, since they weren't in Europe. When they fought Alice, she had her power limiters on, and so didn't appear to be particularly powerful; I don't think some random Tech person they found in the wilderness would be worth reporting to the higher-ups of the Church. Though I guess her shapeshifting abilities could be considered a threat, despite her apparent lack of power, since shapeshifting as extensive and advanced as Alice's is rare. You could have the two mages report Alice to the Church authorities if you really want.
@Crimson Raven:
Yes, it's entirely reasonable to have a character who doesn't age. All spirits have that by default, and all beings will stop aging if they reach a certain level of power. But the other parts of your idea don't really work.
First of all, at the end of the previous age of magic, pretty much all mages with any real degree of power participated in the final battle and were wiped out. Theoretically, one could have survived, and stayed hidden during the modern age due to seriously hardcore non-interventionism or something. But I do not want there to have been any magic or magic users during the modern age, so I can't allow that.
Second, your character could've been like my character Evan, whose soul drifted in the Sea of Chaos for a thousand years before reconstituting itself and regaining consciousness. If your character survived the final battle similar to how Evan did, he could've returned to the world at the end of the modern age, and left Earth on a spaceship with the rest of the rich and powerful humans. And then he could've gained Tech powers too as the Tech side developed. But a backstory like that is way too far-fetched, even compared to my own twinked-out characters. It's theoretically not impossible, but I wouldn't even give something like this to one of my own characters.
In other words, no, you cannot have a character who starts out as both Magi and Tech. You could play as another survivor from the previous age of magic, but that would require far more in-depth discussions with me.
On another note, I suggest that the players should find opportunities to have their characters meet up with one another. I could initiate an event that makes PCs run into each other, but I'd rather have you guys do it on your own if possible.
Yes, it's entirely reasonable to have a character who doesn't age. All spirits have that by default, and all beings will stop aging if they reach a certain level of power. But the other parts of your idea don't really work.
First of all, at the end of the previous age of magic, pretty much all mages with any real degree of power participated in the final battle and were wiped out. Theoretically, one could have survived, and stayed hidden during the modern age due to seriously hardcore non-interventionism or something. But I do not want there to have been any magic or magic users during the modern age, so I can't allow that.
Second, your character could've been like my character Evan, whose soul drifted in the Sea of Chaos for a thousand years before reconstituting itself and regaining consciousness. If your character survived the final battle similar to how Evan did, he could've returned to the world at the end of the modern age, and left Earth on a spaceship with the rest of the rich and powerful humans. And then he could've gained Tech powers too as the Tech side developed. But a backstory like that is way too far-fetched, even compared to my own twinked-out characters. It's theoretically not impossible, but I wouldn't even give something like this to one of my own characters.
In other words, no, you cannot have a character who starts out as both Magi and Tech. You could play as another survivor from the previous age of magic, but that would require far more in-depth discussions with me.
On another note, I suggest that the players should find opportunities to have their characters meet up with one another. I could initiate an event that makes PCs run into each other, but I'd rather have you guys do it on your own if possible.
It was a warm, cozy, and perfectly normal home kitchen. A brown-haired man in his early thirties was calmly chopping up some vegetables, clearly not expecting this to be anything more than an ordinary day.
But almost all feelings of normalcy were shattered when the creature oozed through the window.
It initially resembled a flowing stream of some viscous liquid, a clear translucent purple in color, with what appeared to be complex, faintly glowing patterns shifting in and out of existence within its depths. As the liquid pooled itself on the floor, it quickly extended itself up into the air, in defiance of all natural laws dictating how liquids ought to behave. At the same time, its overall shape changed, shifting and coalescing smoothly until it became a girl in her late teens. She was clad in a futuristic bodysuit, in the same shade of purple as the ooze that she had been seconds ago, decorated with the same glowing patterns the ooze had. Her figure was thin, and though her face could be described as very conventionally attractive, the utterly flat, emotionless expression she wore would only make a man uneasy.
And uneasy was indeed among the things the man felt, as he stared at the girl in shock. Even in a world where mutants and other superhuman beings were reasonably commonplace, seeing a pile of slime transform itself into what looked like a person was still by all means rather hard to swallow. He was evidently at a loss for words.
The girl did not bother with words either. "Eliminate any witnesses", her orders were.
And so she acted upon said orders. A strand of her waist-length hair, of a strange, unnatural metallic lavender color, morphed the last ten centimeters or so of its end into a sleek, slender blade. A blink of movements, and it was done. The man's head fell to the floor, separated from his neck, in a frighteningly clean cut that left no doubts whatsoever about his demise. Blood splattered onto the floor, the walls, the girl's body, and everywhere else.
"G-Garret?!"
The girl sensed the brown-skinned woman's presence long before she'd physically seen her, as the woman entered the kitchen and stared in horror at the decapitated corpse of the man whose name was presumably Garret. A quick scan showed the girl that yes, this woman was indeed Edith Blakeslee, the target that the girl was sent to kidnap. The woman likely had no clue herself, but her soul held strong potential, with which the girl's creators could use to empower cybernetics that transform the soul's owner into an augmented super soldier. The scan also showed an embryonic soul in the woman's belly, but that was of no concern to the girl.
A bolt of telepathic energy quickly rendered the woman unconscious, just as numerous strings of purple energy extended from the girl to wrap around the woman's body. Various pieces of machinery formed around the girl, and began gathering energy to generate a portal. In the meantime, the girl conjured more strands of telekinetic energy, to lift the head and headless body of the man she just murdered without a second thought; the whole corpse was then vaporized in an instant as the threads of purple energy turned into an intense red fire that swallowed the dead man whole. Another strand of the girl's hair transformed its end into a nozzle, and began spraying a faint green mist at the various bloodstained surfaces in the kitchen. Where the mist touched, the blood disappeared without a trace, along with the mist itself that soon faded away. In less than a minute, the whole room was clean again, as though no horrific slaughter ever took place there; even the smell of blood was completely erased.
And then the girl saw her own eyes, reflected in the stainless steel surface of the kitchen sink that had just been washed free of human blood. Those cold, empty, soulless violet eyes were a travesty against the human visage it only superficially resembled. As the girl looked into her own eyes, the numbness in her mind began to fade. Emotions washed over her, horror and disgust and anguish and a thousand other things that washed over her like a tidal wave. She collapsed to her knees, and tears began to fall.
Then the dream shattered.
I wake up with a gasp. For a second I wonder if I've been captured and turned back into a killing machine again and made to continue doing all those horrible things, and... And... And remind myself that I can still feel. My whole body's shivering, and drenched in cold sweat, even though the sweat is being absorbed by my bodysuit and broken down into more useful materials... A perfectly efficient weapon would never feel things like these. And so I must be still myself...
But the images still linger in my mind. The man's look of not quite understanding an instant before my blade cut into his neck, and separated his head from his body. The splattering of blood everywhere, blood redder than any psionic flames I can make. And then the look of utter horror on the woman's face, as she looked at the decapitated body of her husband... Then at me... Drenched in her husband's blood... And I... I... didn't even blink an eye, and just...
"Aaaagh!"
I clutch my head, and fold myself into a fetal position. Desperately begging for the memories to go away. But they won't... Thanks to my photographic memory, they won't ever...
Oi, I keep telling you, it's not our fault! I hear the other me grumbling with annoyance in my mind. The logic's not hard to work out, and you know it!
But it's not... a matter of logic... I mentally whisper to her. You know it too...
Uggghhh... She sighs. Yes, we both know... And you're going to keep feeling bad about it even though logically it's pointless.
If we didn't feel, then we... Wouldn't we be the same as when we were a weapon...?
Bullshit, the other me huffs. We're free now, and that's what matters.
To you, maybe...
Hey, you're kind of making me feel like a jerk now.
No, it's okay... I say as I wipe away some tears and shift to a more relaxed position on the bed. I... I can handle the guilt for us, while you... You have our strength. You can focus on what's important...
...yes, the other me sighs. Still, try not to get too bothered by it, alright?
I'll try, but...
We should probably go back to sleep. Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow?
Maybe...
Suddenly, our thoughts are interrupted by a violent shaking in the mechanical dome-shaped structure I've built as a tent. I instantly return to full alert, and activate the various cameras on the outer surface of the tent. Holographic images blink into existence around me, showing three humans wearing lightweight armor decorated with unfamiliar symbols. Fire and ice swirl around them, and... I can feel their hostility even from inside the tent.
"Crack the damn thing open!" One of the humans shouts.
"On it!" A second human shouts back. A yellowish orange fireball twice the size of his head, burning with a dangerous amount of energy, materializes between his outstretched hands, and he brings it smashing down against the outer shell of my tent. "Take this, you abomination!"
Shit! We gotta move! The other me hisses.
I nod. The fireball explodes, making another huge tremor, and significantly cracking the outer surface of the tent. The spall liners I've installed protect me from the fragments blown off from the inner layer of the armor by the explosion, but... At this rate the armor won't hold for long. Or even at all. My mind races for a second. These people... They must be the current native inhabitants of planet Earth. And they look like they belong to the group of people who aren't happy with the spacefaring humans' return... My first instinct is to reach some kind of truce and understanding with them, but with the amount of hatred they're emanating, I doubt that's possible...
Bleergh. I bet we can kick their asses if we use our full power, but... The other me begins to say.
But... You don't want to hurt them either, do you?
Who'd want to waste time and effort on trash like them?! She sighs. Ugh. I dunno, stun them for a bit and run?
Actually, I have a better idea...
I will my body to dissolve into liquid, a viscous silvery white fluid with flowing blue patterns within. Then I manipulate the structure of the liquid until it resembles normal, colorless water. As the fire mage slams another fireball into my tent, I mentally command the tent to open a small gap at the ground level, on the side opposite of the three hostile mages. Then I quickly cloak myself, and begin slipping my liquid body through the gap, hoping to escape without them noticing. Then they'll think it's been an empty tent all along...
But then my invisibility is torn through like a sheet of paper by one of the mages' abnormally powerful magical scan. "There it is!" He shouts, and sends a bolt of purple electricity arcing toward my exact location. The other two mages immediately follow suit, throwing fireballs and ice shards in my direction.
No... This won't do...! I need to get away...
I quickly return to human form, this time with a few plasma thrusters attached to my sides. I lift myself up to the air with telekinesis, and activate the thrusters, propelling myself away from the mages at supersonic speed and-
Watch out! The other me shouts.
I've sensed it too, and a really sharp last-minute swerve lets me barely avoid being hit by a fireball. But then an icicle pierces me straight in the stomach. Aaaagh! I want to cry out, but my training lets me stand unflinching against pain. The icicle feels horribly cold... But a shifting of my body quickly lets it fall away, and the wound repairs itself. I see the three mages flying toward me, propelled by their magic. The aura of hate around them almost makes me physically recoil.
"I... I don't want to hurt you..." I begin to plead to them. "Please... Can you just let me go? I promise I won't bother you ag-"
"We won't fall for your lies, abomination!" One of the three mages shouts, his face contorted in rage.
"In the name of Remus, we'll cleanse you from our world!" The second mage shouts.
No... Damn it... I quickly construct a couple of smoke bombs, and toss them toward the mages, each bomb exploding to release a pale green smoke that blocks both sight and magical senses. At the same time I cloak myself again, and activate my thrusters to fly off into a different direction.
"No! Don't let it get away!" The lightning mage screams. His unbelievably strong sensing ability once again cuts through all my attempts at stealth, and almost instantly pinpoints my location. And all of them are so fast... I can't outrun them!
Uggghh... The other me grumbles. I think now might be a good time to take off our power limiters, so we can outrun these bastards?
I consider it for a moment. But then an image flashes in my mind... An image where the three mages use their most powerful attacks against me at the same time, and I'm forced to use my full power to defend myself. In the mental image, a wave of electricity and psionic energy surges outward from me, ripping apart the magic attacks, and then the mana vessels in the mages' bodies, painfully ending their lives... I might be able to control the blast enough to not hurt the mages, but... I don't want to risk it! I don't want to risk their lives...
We're a few kilometers up in the air now, and the three mages are still tailing me as closely as ever. It's getting harder and harder to dodge their barrages of attacks... The fireballs aren't too bad, but the hailstorm of ice shards along with a literal web of lightning leave almost no blind spots. And every time I try to turn invisible, the lightning mage would always find me right away... So if I want to escape, I'll have to...
We aren't gonna get out of this if we don't fight back at least a little! The other me says. Come on, at least we won't kill them!
I... I guess we'll have to... I murmur. It hurts if I do this, it really does, but... We can't let ourselves die here. There's still so much of the world we want to see...!
I quickly synthesize a special chemical designed to incapacitate humans. It forms a thin, dark green needle, with an oily and plastic-like texture. The whole world slows down around me for a moment. My magical senses sweep over the three mages, analyzing their positions and movements... and quickly finds a weak spot. A blowgun-like tube forms out of my hair, with the needle inside, and quickly shoots the needle toward the needle toward the neck of the lightning mage, just as his neck becomes exposed for a fraction of a second. Before the mage even realizes what's going on, the needle pierces his skin, turning into liquid the instant it makes contact with human blood. He barely has the opportunity to gasp out in surprise before the drug takes effect, and loses consciousness.
Wait... We're a few kilometers up in midair! I...
I quickly swoop down to take hold of the unconscious lightning mage with purple strands of telekinetic energy, just as he begins to fall. And this sends the other two mages into a murderous rage. "What did you do to him, monster?!" One of them screams. "Let him go!" And they redouble their efforts in bombarding me with magic, anger clouding their minds and clearly making them not realize the possibility of catching their friend in the crossfire.
I... I have to get this mage to safety.
A barrier of purple energy forms around me, because I can no longer afford to just dodge attacks. And cracks almost immediately begin to form on the shield's surface, as it comes under assault by the remaining two mages' fireballs and icicles. I grit my teeth and force myself to concentrate. The lightning mage could fly at supersonic speeds, so I assume he has ways of surviving those levels of acceleration. But I'm not sure if he can do that while unconscious... I could encase him in a hard shell filled foam, and drop the shell to the ground, but can I guarantee the foam will absorb enough of the shock to let him survive...? And I guess I could also toss him at the other two mages, but can I really count on them to catch him? What if they're so focused on trying to destroy me that they'll ignore their comrade...? Aaaagh...
Wait... Here's an idea. I let my body dissolve into nanite fluid again, and coat it all over the unconscious lightning mage's whole body, then transform myself into a suit of cybernetic powered armor. This... should let him survive the acceleration. So now I just need to-
"You... How dare you defile Jeremy with your technological blasphemy!" The fire mage lets out a snarl that makes his words barely recognizable. "Death won't be enough for you!" Dozens upon dozens of fireballs materialize around him, each blazing with a terrible rage. The ice mage doesn't say a word, but also conjures numerous icicles floating around him; the icy-cold hatred in his eyes make him seem almost inhuman.
Are those retards insane?! The other me sputters. I mean, what the hell, they'll kill their buddy too!
I... think they might've never been sane to begin with...
Thrusters appear on the back and feet of my armor form, and I activate them with maximum power to propel the lightning mage and I toward the ground, while making sure that the inertial dampeners inside the armor protect the mage from the immense acceleration. The slew of fire and ice comes raining down on me almost immediately. I steel my will and conjure another telekinetic barrier around me, but that too quickly cracks under the two mages' relentless onslaught. Icicles begin to pierce through the shield, then fireballs. Even though I've turned off my ability to feel physical pain, my body is beginning to take so much damage that I'm feeling a phantom pain anyways... And the armor is starting to crack... But no, I must... not let this person die...
Come on, turn off the power limiters! Just for defense? Please? The other me asks.
Another image flashes in my mind. In the imagined scenario, the lightning mage that my armor form is encased around suddenly wakes up, and starts attacking me from within. And by reflex, I flood the insides of my armor form with plasma, protecting me from the attack but vaporizing the mage... No, I... I can't! What if I...
Finally, the ground is rushing up to meet us. For a moment, the whole world seems to shake as we slam into the ground, creating a huge crater. But at least the lightning mage is safe... And with him knocked out, I can finally escape without being noticed... Once again, I throw up a few smoke bombs, turn myself into liquid, cloak myself, and begin to slip away to-
The last salvo of fireballs and icicles strike against right where I landed seconds ago, into the cloud of green smoke. And without my armor form to protect the unconscious lightning mage... When the smoke clears, all I can see is a corpse charred and impaled in so many places that its former identity is completely unrecognizable anymore.
For a moment, we all stare at the dead body in horror.
After what feels like an eternity... Floating a few meters in midair, the ice mage finally turns his gaze toward me. And it almost chills me to the bone. "You... made us kill our comrade, monster," he whispers. "Even if you escape today... We'll find you. And when we do, you'll wish you never existed."
"No, I..."
Words are useless. What can I possibly say that'd do anything other than just making things worse...? I...
I detonate a few more smoke bombs, concealing my liquid form from view. And I silently slip away. I keep flowing in one direction for what seems like hours... When I return to human form, I see a ray of golden sunlight slowly creeping up from the eastern horizon. Even though it's a beautiful sight, I... I'm in no mood to enjoy it.
All I want to do is to cry.
But almost all feelings of normalcy were shattered when the creature oozed through the window.
It initially resembled a flowing stream of some viscous liquid, a clear translucent purple in color, with what appeared to be complex, faintly glowing patterns shifting in and out of existence within its depths. As the liquid pooled itself on the floor, it quickly extended itself up into the air, in defiance of all natural laws dictating how liquids ought to behave. At the same time, its overall shape changed, shifting and coalescing smoothly until it became a girl in her late teens. She was clad in a futuristic bodysuit, in the same shade of purple as the ooze that she had been seconds ago, decorated with the same glowing patterns the ooze had. Her figure was thin, and though her face could be described as very conventionally attractive, the utterly flat, emotionless expression she wore would only make a man uneasy.
And uneasy was indeed among the things the man felt, as he stared at the girl in shock. Even in a world where mutants and other superhuman beings were reasonably commonplace, seeing a pile of slime transform itself into what looked like a person was still by all means rather hard to swallow. He was evidently at a loss for words.
The girl did not bother with words either. "Eliminate any witnesses", her orders were.
And so she acted upon said orders. A strand of her waist-length hair, of a strange, unnatural metallic lavender color, morphed the last ten centimeters or so of its end into a sleek, slender blade. A blink of movements, and it was done. The man's head fell to the floor, separated from his neck, in a frighteningly clean cut that left no doubts whatsoever about his demise. Blood splattered onto the floor, the walls, the girl's body, and everywhere else.
"G-Garret?!"
The girl sensed the brown-skinned woman's presence long before she'd physically seen her, as the woman entered the kitchen and stared in horror at the decapitated corpse of the man whose name was presumably Garret. A quick scan showed the girl that yes, this woman was indeed Edith Blakeslee, the target that the girl was sent to kidnap. The woman likely had no clue herself, but her soul held strong potential, with which the girl's creators could use to empower cybernetics that transform the soul's owner into an augmented super soldier. The scan also showed an embryonic soul in the woman's belly, but that was of no concern to the girl.
A bolt of telepathic energy quickly rendered the woman unconscious, just as numerous strings of purple energy extended from the girl to wrap around the woman's body. Various pieces of machinery formed around the girl, and began gathering energy to generate a portal. In the meantime, the girl conjured more strands of telekinetic energy, to lift the head and headless body of the man she just murdered without a second thought; the whole corpse was then vaporized in an instant as the threads of purple energy turned into an intense red fire that swallowed the dead man whole. Another strand of the girl's hair transformed its end into a nozzle, and began spraying a faint green mist at the various bloodstained surfaces in the kitchen. Where the mist touched, the blood disappeared without a trace, along with the mist itself that soon faded away. In less than a minute, the whole room was clean again, as though no horrific slaughter ever took place there; even the smell of blood was completely erased.
And then the girl saw her own eyes, reflected in the stainless steel surface of the kitchen sink that had just been washed free of human blood. Those cold, empty, soulless violet eyes were a travesty against the human visage it only superficially resembled. As the girl looked into her own eyes, the numbness in her mind began to fade. Emotions washed over her, horror and disgust and anguish and a thousand other things that washed over her like a tidal wave. She collapsed to her knees, and tears began to fall.
Then the dream shattered.
White Alice
I wake up with a gasp. For a second I wonder if I've been captured and turned back into a killing machine again and made to continue doing all those horrible things, and... And... And remind myself that I can still feel. My whole body's shivering, and drenched in cold sweat, even though the sweat is being absorbed by my bodysuit and broken down into more useful materials... A perfectly efficient weapon would never feel things like these. And so I must be still myself...
But the images still linger in my mind. The man's look of not quite understanding an instant before my blade cut into his neck, and separated his head from his body. The splattering of blood everywhere, blood redder than any psionic flames I can make. And then the look of utter horror on the woman's face, as she looked at the decapitated body of her husband... Then at me... Drenched in her husband's blood... And I... I... didn't even blink an eye, and just...
"Aaaagh!"
I clutch my head, and fold myself into a fetal position. Desperately begging for the memories to go away. But they won't... Thanks to my photographic memory, they won't ever...
Oi, I keep telling you, it's not our fault! I hear the other me grumbling with annoyance in my mind. The logic's not hard to work out, and you know it!
But it's not... a matter of logic... I mentally whisper to her. You know it too...
Uggghhh... She sighs. Yes, we both know... And you're going to keep feeling bad about it even though logically it's pointless.
If we didn't feel, then we... Wouldn't we be the same as when we were a weapon...?
Bullshit, the other me huffs. We're free now, and that's what matters.
To you, maybe...
Hey, you're kind of making me feel like a jerk now.
No, it's okay... I say as I wipe away some tears and shift to a more relaxed position on the bed. I... I can handle the guilt for us, while you... You have our strength. You can focus on what's important...
...yes, the other me sighs. Still, try not to get too bothered by it, alright?
I'll try, but...
We should probably go back to sleep. Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow?
Maybe...
Suddenly, our thoughts are interrupted by a violent shaking in the mechanical dome-shaped structure I've built as a tent. I instantly return to full alert, and activate the various cameras on the outer surface of the tent. Holographic images blink into existence around me, showing three humans wearing lightweight armor decorated with unfamiliar symbols. Fire and ice swirl around them, and... I can feel their hostility even from inside the tent.
"Crack the damn thing open!" One of the humans shouts.
"On it!" A second human shouts back. A yellowish orange fireball twice the size of his head, burning with a dangerous amount of energy, materializes between his outstretched hands, and he brings it smashing down against the outer shell of my tent. "Take this, you abomination!"
Shit! We gotta move! The other me hisses.
I nod. The fireball explodes, making another huge tremor, and significantly cracking the outer surface of the tent. The spall liners I've installed protect me from the fragments blown off from the inner layer of the armor by the explosion, but... At this rate the armor won't hold for long. Or even at all. My mind races for a second. These people... They must be the current native inhabitants of planet Earth. And they look like they belong to the group of people who aren't happy with the spacefaring humans' return... My first instinct is to reach some kind of truce and understanding with them, but with the amount of hatred they're emanating, I doubt that's possible...
Bleergh. I bet we can kick their asses if we use our full power, but... The other me begins to say.
But... You don't want to hurt them either, do you?
Who'd want to waste time and effort on trash like them?! She sighs. Ugh. I dunno, stun them for a bit and run?
Actually, I have a better idea...
I will my body to dissolve into liquid, a viscous silvery white fluid with flowing blue patterns within. Then I manipulate the structure of the liquid until it resembles normal, colorless water. As the fire mage slams another fireball into my tent, I mentally command the tent to open a small gap at the ground level, on the side opposite of the three hostile mages. Then I quickly cloak myself, and begin slipping my liquid body through the gap, hoping to escape without them noticing. Then they'll think it's been an empty tent all along...
But then my invisibility is torn through like a sheet of paper by one of the mages' abnormally powerful magical scan. "There it is!" He shouts, and sends a bolt of purple electricity arcing toward my exact location. The other two mages immediately follow suit, throwing fireballs and ice shards in my direction.
No... This won't do...! I need to get away...
I quickly return to human form, this time with a few plasma thrusters attached to my sides. I lift myself up to the air with telekinesis, and activate the thrusters, propelling myself away from the mages at supersonic speed and-
Watch out! The other me shouts.
I've sensed it too, and a really sharp last-minute swerve lets me barely avoid being hit by a fireball. But then an icicle pierces me straight in the stomach. Aaaagh! I want to cry out, but my training lets me stand unflinching against pain. The icicle feels horribly cold... But a shifting of my body quickly lets it fall away, and the wound repairs itself. I see the three mages flying toward me, propelled by their magic. The aura of hate around them almost makes me physically recoil.
"I... I don't want to hurt you..." I begin to plead to them. "Please... Can you just let me go? I promise I won't bother you ag-"
"We won't fall for your lies, abomination!" One of the three mages shouts, his face contorted in rage.
"In the name of Remus, we'll cleanse you from our world!" The second mage shouts.
No... Damn it... I quickly construct a couple of smoke bombs, and toss them toward the mages, each bomb exploding to release a pale green smoke that blocks both sight and magical senses. At the same time I cloak myself again, and activate my thrusters to fly off into a different direction.
"No! Don't let it get away!" The lightning mage screams. His unbelievably strong sensing ability once again cuts through all my attempts at stealth, and almost instantly pinpoints my location. And all of them are so fast... I can't outrun them!
Uggghh... The other me grumbles. I think now might be a good time to take off our power limiters, so we can outrun these bastards?
I consider it for a moment. But then an image flashes in my mind... An image where the three mages use their most powerful attacks against me at the same time, and I'm forced to use my full power to defend myself. In the mental image, a wave of electricity and psionic energy surges outward from me, ripping apart the magic attacks, and then the mana vessels in the mages' bodies, painfully ending their lives... I might be able to control the blast enough to not hurt the mages, but... I don't want to risk it! I don't want to risk their lives...
We're a few kilometers up in the air now, and the three mages are still tailing me as closely as ever. It's getting harder and harder to dodge their barrages of attacks... The fireballs aren't too bad, but the hailstorm of ice shards along with a literal web of lightning leave almost no blind spots. And every time I try to turn invisible, the lightning mage would always find me right away... So if I want to escape, I'll have to...
We aren't gonna get out of this if we don't fight back at least a little! The other me says. Come on, at least we won't kill them!
I... I guess we'll have to... I murmur. It hurts if I do this, it really does, but... We can't let ourselves die here. There's still so much of the world we want to see...!
I quickly synthesize a special chemical designed to incapacitate humans. It forms a thin, dark green needle, with an oily and plastic-like texture. The whole world slows down around me for a moment. My magical senses sweep over the three mages, analyzing their positions and movements... and quickly finds a weak spot. A blowgun-like tube forms out of my hair, with the needle inside, and quickly shoots the needle toward the needle toward the neck of the lightning mage, just as his neck becomes exposed for a fraction of a second. Before the mage even realizes what's going on, the needle pierces his skin, turning into liquid the instant it makes contact with human blood. He barely has the opportunity to gasp out in surprise before the drug takes effect, and loses consciousness.
Wait... We're a few kilometers up in midair! I...
I quickly swoop down to take hold of the unconscious lightning mage with purple strands of telekinetic energy, just as he begins to fall. And this sends the other two mages into a murderous rage. "What did you do to him, monster?!" One of them screams. "Let him go!" And they redouble their efforts in bombarding me with magic, anger clouding their minds and clearly making them not realize the possibility of catching their friend in the crossfire.
I... I have to get this mage to safety.
A barrier of purple energy forms around me, because I can no longer afford to just dodge attacks. And cracks almost immediately begin to form on the shield's surface, as it comes under assault by the remaining two mages' fireballs and icicles. I grit my teeth and force myself to concentrate. The lightning mage could fly at supersonic speeds, so I assume he has ways of surviving those levels of acceleration. But I'm not sure if he can do that while unconscious... I could encase him in a hard shell filled foam, and drop the shell to the ground, but can I guarantee the foam will absorb enough of the shock to let him survive...? And I guess I could also toss him at the other two mages, but can I really count on them to catch him? What if they're so focused on trying to destroy me that they'll ignore their comrade...? Aaaagh...
Wait... Here's an idea. I let my body dissolve into nanite fluid again, and coat it all over the unconscious lightning mage's whole body, then transform myself into a suit of cybernetic powered armor. This... should let him survive the acceleration. So now I just need to-
"You... How dare you defile Jeremy with your technological blasphemy!" The fire mage lets out a snarl that makes his words barely recognizable. "Death won't be enough for you!" Dozens upon dozens of fireballs materialize around him, each blazing with a terrible rage. The ice mage doesn't say a word, but also conjures numerous icicles floating around him; the icy-cold hatred in his eyes make him seem almost inhuman.
Are those retards insane?! The other me sputters. I mean, what the hell, they'll kill their buddy too!
I... think they might've never been sane to begin with...
Thrusters appear on the back and feet of my armor form, and I activate them with maximum power to propel the lightning mage and I toward the ground, while making sure that the inertial dampeners inside the armor protect the mage from the immense acceleration. The slew of fire and ice comes raining down on me almost immediately. I steel my will and conjure another telekinetic barrier around me, but that too quickly cracks under the two mages' relentless onslaught. Icicles begin to pierce through the shield, then fireballs. Even though I've turned off my ability to feel physical pain, my body is beginning to take so much damage that I'm feeling a phantom pain anyways... And the armor is starting to crack... But no, I must... not let this person die...
Come on, turn off the power limiters! Just for defense? Please? The other me asks.
Another image flashes in my mind. In the imagined scenario, the lightning mage that my armor form is encased around suddenly wakes up, and starts attacking me from within. And by reflex, I flood the insides of my armor form with plasma, protecting me from the attack but vaporizing the mage... No, I... I can't! What if I...
Finally, the ground is rushing up to meet us. For a moment, the whole world seems to shake as we slam into the ground, creating a huge crater. But at least the lightning mage is safe... And with him knocked out, I can finally escape without being noticed... Once again, I throw up a few smoke bombs, turn myself into liquid, cloak myself, and begin to slip away to-
The last salvo of fireballs and icicles strike against right where I landed seconds ago, into the cloud of green smoke. And without my armor form to protect the unconscious lightning mage... When the smoke clears, all I can see is a corpse charred and impaled in so many places that its former identity is completely unrecognizable anymore.
For a moment, we all stare at the dead body in horror.
After what feels like an eternity... Floating a few meters in midair, the ice mage finally turns his gaze toward me. And it almost chills me to the bone. "You... made us kill our comrade, monster," he whispers. "Even if you escape today... We'll find you. And when we do, you'll wish you never existed."
"No, I..."
Words are useless. What can I possibly say that'd do anything other than just making things worse...? I...
I detonate a few more smoke bombs, concealing my liquid form from view. And I silently slip away. I keep flowing in one direction for what seems like hours... When I return to human form, I see a ray of golden sunlight slowly creeping up from the eastern horizon. Even though it's a beautiful sight, I... I'm in no mood to enjoy it.
All I want to do is to cry.
@CapLaPorte: Changing how the matter making up an object is affected by gravity requires enchanting, i.e. infusing magical energies into matter. It is usually something that can't be quickly and easily done on the spot, even on non-magical objects. I suggest that the Lighten Load spell is changed to a form of limited telekinesis; Stanley can extend kinetic energy from his hand to wrap around an object and move it, adding his magical power to his physical strength when lifting things. He can potentially use this to restrain an enemy too, though the energy that he extends can be broken or disrupted by the enemy's supernatural powers.
Once you've made this change, your character is accepted.
If no one has any real ideas for plot hooks, I have a pretty basic one. The Church of Remus and Knights of Saint Peter are both radical factions, anti-Tech and anti-Magi respectively. Their members could run into each other and begin escalating hostilities. Other characters may or may not want to prevent this from turning into a real war.
Once you've made this change, your character is accepted.
If no one has any real ideas for plot hooks, I have a pretty basic one. The Church of Remus and Knights of Saint Peter are both radical factions, anti-Tech and anti-Magi respectively. Their members could run into each other and begin escalating hostilities. Other characters may or may not want to prevent this from turning into a real war.
I've finally made my first IC post. All players who have been accepted can start posting now. If you have any overarching plot ideas, post them in the OOC tab or PM me.
The Evanescent One
"Still insisting on hiding your true power, trespasser?" The bald man clad in mechanical armor smiles coldly as he conjures another long, thin spike of glowing blue energy, crackling with lightning. "I can quite literally keep this up all day."
"And I... insist that I have no such power," I say. The pain is making forming the words somewhat of a struggle.
"Hmph," he scoffs. The lightning-shaped tattoos on his forehead flare for a moment, and the electrified blue spear drives itself through my abdomen. Blood gushes out, before being nigh-instantaneously vaporized by the electricity.
"Aaaargh!" The scream seems to automatically escape from my throat, through sheet instinct. I've experienced worse agony, far worse, but the body's autonomic functions do tend to go against my explicit wishes in situations of significant duress. Such as now. The eight or so other spears of lightning, already impaled into various parts of my body at various angles, still release electrical energies into my body at regular intervals. I've been trying to counteract them with electric magic of my own, but it appears that my current level of power is simply not enough.
It's been like this for about an hour now... since I'd stumbled upon the ruined temple that this man claimed to be his territory. Presumably believing me to be a soldier fighting for the side of magic in this conflict, he immediately assaulted my mind then, trying to extract all the information my mind could offer. And according to him, I was apparently the only being in existence who had ever managed to completely resist his telepathic assault. Such is one of the main weaknesses of my Gray Mantle, for no matter how much I limit my own power, I cannot allow this self-imposed limitation to make my mind vulnerable to others' psychic influence. And so this psionist, as he called himself, deduced that I must be far more powerful than I appeared, and proceeded to attack me with his spears of lightning in an attempt to force me to show my true strength. What little power I allowed myself to use was no match for him, and here I am, fixated onto a cross-shaped wall made from the man's mental force, by the aforementioned spears of lightning impaled through my hands and feet. Apparently this is a religious symbolism of some sort in this man's civilization. Intriguing as that may be, the pain is beginning to make it a little hard to care about such frivolities.
Almost subconsciously, I try once again to teleport away. But no, the paralytic power of this man's lightning is strong as ever. Try as I may, I cannot rip myself free of the psionic electricity, nor slip past it into hyperspace. Moving even a single muscle seems like an almost impossible task, and it's a tremendous effort to even speak.
Can I defeat this man even if I'm to use my full power...? Perhaps, but it will by no means be an easy fight; his power is one of the strongest I've seen in the past years. If he has allies possessing similar levels of power... Then the only reasonable course of action for me is going to be to flee, regardless of what strength I may have hidden.
"Come now, you're not going to be able to take much more of this," the man speaks with false concern, even though the unsettling glint in his eyes tell me that he must be positively enjoying this. "Not unless you unveil the power that you're keeping hidden for some reason I cannot fathom."
"H-Heh... You overestimate m-me..." I manage to squeeze out a humorless laugh.
"Obstinate fool," he mutters, contempt dripping from his voice. "You're pathetic. What good is power if you don't use it, hmm?"
"Ha...!" I can't help but to really laugh out loud this time, in response to the man's words, as portions of my mind briefly take a trip down some unpleasant memory lane. "If y-you only k-knew, child..."
His facial expression suddenly morphs into something much uglier. "It appears that you only hold strength in ineffectual insults," he says, with a sigh. "Such a shame. I had hoped that you would be more entertaining. You are not worthy of standing before we of the Mensa Brotherhood after all, lesser one."
Then he plunges his hand into my torso.
The pain is almost worse than anything else I've experienced in the past few decades. The man's fingers wrap around my heart, and squeeze, and send electrical currents through my whole body, and the pain is so intense that I can barely even hear my own screaming. Not even my mental magic can block much of it out. My throat soon catches, or perhaps I've choked on my own tongue. I don't know. All I know is pain. It somehow manages to get worse every second, as my heart is slowly crushed and electrocuted at the same time.
He's right. My body won't be able to take much more of this. It seems that I have no other choice...
Abruptly, the pain fades away, along with all of my other biological senses, as my body finally stops working. And for a split second, I feel the lock on my powers involuntarily unlock itself. But no, I am not going to stay and fight... Now that I'm finally strong enough to break free of the psionist's paralytic lightning, I allow the multicolored orb containing my soul to slip into hyperspace. The world appears to fade around me. From the psionist's point of view, it would appear exactly as though I had died, and my soul had passed on to the afterlife, leaving a corpse behind. He would never know the truth.
As reality fades back into focus, I now find myself back in the decrepit underground laboratory I mockingly call the Crystal Palace. Magic oozes forth from my scintillating core, solidifies into a viscous fluid that shapes itself into the form of a humanoid body, then transmutes itself into blood, flesh, bone, and various other biological tissues. Within seconds, my body is restored, while my soul and mana reservoir are not much the worse for wear. But I nevertheless feel exhausted, psychologically, and collapse onto the throne-shaped seat that I've made as an ironic reminder of my past as quite literally the worst monarch in history.
And I stay like that for quite a while.
Until I'm jolted back to awareness by the sound of rumbling stone. A moment later I feel a crushing pressure on my skull, then the rest of my body. And everything goes dark, because of the caved-in stones blocking out light or because of my brain being squished to paste, I'm not quite sure. And only then do I realize that my laboratory, in its aforementioned decrepitude, has chosen now to partially cave itself in. Perhaps I should've spent more time on the enchantments holding this place together... I briefly consider just going to sleep like this, buried under several tons of rock.
Wait. No.
The flower.
Frantically, magic surges forth from me, both moving the rocks aside and vaporizing them to make room for myself as I quite literally bolt up, as a stream of lightning and light, toward the section of this cave that I call a bedroom. Even upon seeing that the room is intact, I still look around in panic, releasing waves of psychic energy to sweep over every nook and cranny of the room.
Quickly, my sixth sense locates on the crystal flower acting as a crude lamp beside my bed. It's a delicate little thing, with leaves and stems of white jade, and pure, clear crystalline petals glowing with a soft and gentle white light from within. It appears safe and sound, unharmed by the tremors that tore through this place earlier.
I feel myself sigh in relief. This flower, this new lifeform that I've created and carefully nurtured over the past several years... It is the living proof that my powers can do more than simply harm and kill. Proof that I, too, can create something beautiful. If it had perished just now through nothing but my own negligence... What would it mean? Would it say that I am not meant to bring anything positive to this world after all?
Before I know it, I've already reinforced this room with enough magic for it to last through the next few years. Then I finally allow myself to collapse onto the bed. "Good night," I whisper.
In response, the flower's light dims, and its petals close, moving with a fluidity seemingly impossible for the rigid crystalline structure. But of course, the response is only what I have programmed into its DNA, not because of anything resembling free will I had given to my creation.
Otherwise, would it not have already turned against me long ago? Such is the nature of individuality...
My thoughts continue to wander in random directions as I drift off to sleep, a chaotic mess that makes little sense even to myself. Because if I were at peace with myself, would I even be here now? Perhaps I would have already passed on... Nevertheless, I am used to such a state now. As sleep begins to grip me, I open my mind to welcome the temporary respite from my own identity...
@Torack: There are a few problems with your character sheet that should be fixed.
1. Union Station is the Federal capital, and one of the nicest and most advanced space stations in Tech territory. The Federation may be too corrupt or underpowered or whatever to improve living conditions in all of the other stations, it wants to at least makes its own capital and other major cities look good. So I don't think it's very likely for Union Station to have slums where murder and crime are the norm. It'd make more sense if Luther grew up in some other space station, one where the rich and poor are more sharply divided. You should make up one such station yourself. For the same reason, George Carleon and his criminal organization should be moved to the other space station.
2. It's highly unlikely for Luther to have become one of the best hitmen in the criminal underworld if he had no superhuman abilities whatsoever back then. Even if he was trained to fight ever since he could walk (which he wasn't), fighting skill alone would quickly hit its limit against powerful cybernetics, mutations, and psionics. As cutthroat as the underworld is, all of the top-tier assassins are invariably superhumans; it's simply not possible for any completely normal human to compete against them in any meaningful way. So if you insist that Luther was a normal human at that time, he could still be an infamous assassin, just not one of the best.
3. For a powerful crime boss who could supposedly get away with anything, George Carleon seemed to have been incarcerated way too easily. Couldn't Carleon have made bribes or pulled some strings to get himself released from jail? The Federation is corrupt enough to let something like that happen, considering how influential Carleon must be.
4. Even if Carleon himself was jailed, the rest of his family should've still held considerable power, shouldn't they? I don't think it's very feasible for Luther to have wiped them all out single-handedly, since the Carleon family surely had superpowered bodyguards and other combatants working for them. If the Carleon family was a somewhat less significant crime gang, then it's more feasible, but not if they were one of the most powerful mobs in the underworld.
5. When did Luther actually gain his psionic powers? Did they come together with his cyborg body when FIRA modified him? If so, you should clarify that in his biography.
6. All of Luther's skills except Combat should actually be listed under cybernetic abilities, since they're the results of his cybernetic enhancement.
7. The Psionic Wave ability shouldn't have a 100% chance to completely incapacitate all technology around Luther, since such a thing would be ludicrously overpowered in a world where a significant portion of superhuman abilities are based on technology. Instead, the ability should release a wave of psionic energy that passes through solid matter and temporarily disrupts structures made of energy, including the internal circuitry of machines and the mana vessels of magic users. Everything affected by the ability would have its energy-based abilities and properties weakened, and possibly paralyzed, until the effect wears off. The magnitude of the weakening effect would be proportional to the difference between Luther's power level and the victim's power level, possibly modified by skill level, so more powerful and robustly designed machines would be less affected. With this change to the ability, it will no longer be absolutely effective all the time, but it's now more versatile since it can affect things other than technology.
1. Union Station is the Federal capital, and one of the nicest and most advanced space stations in Tech territory. The Federation may be too corrupt or underpowered or whatever to improve living conditions in all of the other stations, it wants to at least makes its own capital and other major cities look good. So I don't think it's very likely for Union Station to have slums where murder and crime are the norm. It'd make more sense if Luther grew up in some other space station, one where the rich and poor are more sharply divided. You should make up one such station yourself. For the same reason, George Carleon and his criminal organization should be moved to the other space station.
2. It's highly unlikely for Luther to have become one of the best hitmen in the criminal underworld if he had no superhuman abilities whatsoever back then. Even if he was trained to fight ever since he could walk (which he wasn't), fighting skill alone would quickly hit its limit against powerful cybernetics, mutations, and psionics. As cutthroat as the underworld is, all of the top-tier assassins are invariably superhumans; it's simply not possible for any completely normal human to compete against them in any meaningful way. So if you insist that Luther was a normal human at that time, he could still be an infamous assassin, just not one of the best.
3. For a powerful crime boss who could supposedly get away with anything, George Carleon seemed to have been incarcerated way too easily. Couldn't Carleon have made bribes or pulled some strings to get himself released from jail? The Federation is corrupt enough to let something like that happen, considering how influential Carleon must be.
4. Even if Carleon himself was jailed, the rest of his family should've still held considerable power, shouldn't they? I don't think it's very feasible for Luther to have wiped them all out single-handedly, since the Carleon family surely had superpowered bodyguards and other combatants working for them. If the Carleon family was a somewhat less significant crime gang, then it's more feasible, but not if they were one of the most powerful mobs in the underworld.
5. When did Luther actually gain his psionic powers? Did they come together with his cyborg body when FIRA modified him? If so, you should clarify that in his biography.
6. All of Luther's skills except Combat should actually be listed under cybernetic abilities, since they're the results of his cybernetic enhancement.
7. The Psionic Wave ability shouldn't have a 100% chance to completely incapacitate all technology around Luther, since such a thing would be ludicrously overpowered in a world where a significant portion of superhuman abilities are based on technology. Instead, the ability should release a wave of psionic energy that passes through solid matter and temporarily disrupts structures made of energy, including the internal circuitry of machines and the mana vessels of magic users. Everything affected by the ability would have its energy-based abilities and properties weakened, and possibly paralyzed, until the effect wears off. The magnitude of the weakening effect would be proportional to the difference between Luther's power level and the victim's power level, possibly modified by skill level, so more powerful and robustly designed machines would be less affected. With this change to the ability, it will no longer be absolutely effective all the time, but it's now more versatile since it can affect things other than technology.
@lydyn's second character is accepted. @Palamon's character and faction are both accepted. Now that I've looked at @MelonHead's faction sheet, it is accepted as well. Please move these sheets to the Characters tab.
I apologize for the lack of IC post until now. The real life issue I've had is not really applicable anymore. I was just distracted by a video game in the past few days, and spent the time I'd normally spend on writing to write the descriptions of the eight factions I created. I'll try hard to finish my first IC post tomorrow.
Also, due to the relatively low number of player characters we have so far, I think I'll say that players can introduce new minor characters without writing up character sheets for these minor characters. But if one of these minor characters becomes major, I'll ask the corresponding player to write up a character sheet for said character. I'll add this to the first post of the OOC tab.
I apologize for the lack of IC post until now. The real life issue I've had is not really applicable anymore. I was just distracted by a video game in the past few days, and spent the time I'd normally spend on writing to write the descriptions of the eight factions I created. I'll try hard to finish my first IC post tomorrow.
Also, due to the relatively low number of player characters we have so far, I think I'll say that players can introduce new minor characters without writing up character sheets for these minor characters. But if one of these minor characters becomes major, I'll ask the corresponding player to write up a character sheet for said character. I'll add this to the first post of the OOC tab.
I've finished the descriptions of four new Tech factions as well; they can be found in the first post of the Characters section.
@lydyn:
1. Actually, I don't think you really need to reword the description of Elenor's metal magic at all; I was just making you aware of some of the ways it can be countered. And metal magic is completely viable, without using it to mess with enemies' metallic weapons. You can use metal magic to strengthen metallic items, e.g. weapons and armor. Elenor should also be skilled enough to conjure metal out of her mana, so she should be able to create melee weapons, projectiles, and armor on the spot. The conjured metal is permanent. Don't worry about the conservation of mass, since there exist magic that turns matter into mana as well.
2. It's still theoretically possible to steal the bracelet through "conventional" means, if some master thief with a pathological mindset really wants to make a point or something. For instance, the thief could imbue the bracelet with his own magic without Elenor noticing, so that he's eventually able to turn the bracelet intangible through his magic; he'd then slip the bracelet off of Elenor's arm. But a scenario like this is so contrived that it pretty much won't happen ever. I think you'll be fine if you just add that the bracelet is locked onto Elenor's wrist through magic that only the monarch is authorized to unlock.
Also, now that I've added my factions, I think you should change Ana's profile so that she got her xenogen injection from the MediCorp, and now serves as an instructor in the Federation's military.
@Palamon
The character and faction sheets are mostly fine, but there are a few things I want to point out.
1. I'd personally refrain from putting any exact numbers in your character's abilities, e.g. the skeletal implants being able to withstand up to 550 pounds of pressure, since characters always have the potential to become stronger. In addition, circumstances may make a character temporarily stronger than normal, e.g. desperation, rage, heroic willpower. Due to the adaptive nature of unobtainium-based cybernetics, these things apply to cybernetic implants as well.
2. Remember that the Tech and Magi sides aren't explicitly at war, yet. Currently it's more like a cold war. You might want to change some parts of your sheets because of this.
3. Remember that the Tech and Magi sides have only come into contact with each other a few months ago. That means the Knights of Saint Peter must've been formed only months ago, after the initial contact, given their central goal of eliminating magic. Is this what you intended?
@Warm Regret
1. The backstory doesn't quite add up. The Magi side was always divided into numerous factions. And the Magi and Tech sides only came into contact with each other a few months ago. So if the Misfits were founded after the Tech side's arrival, it'd be only a few months old, and its timeline would need to be rearranged quite a bit. Nyle's biography, too.
2. Unfortunately, it's not possible to communicate with the planet through dreams to learn about the past. The planet itself isn't intelligent and doesn't have any memories; the only real way you could get this to work is making it so that Nyle thought he was communicating with the planet, but was actually communicating with another survivor from the previous age of magic, similar to my character Evan. If this is what you want, you'll need to discuss it with me some more.
3. Please change all the elemental immunities to resistances. As I said in the document describing magic and its limitations, it's not possible to have perfect immunity against anything; even fire elementals can be burned to death by fire hotter than themselves.
4. Dayna can't have complete control over all water in her immediate surroundings, since the presence of magic not her own within water interferes with her ability to manipulate said water. Namely, she can't manipulate the water inside the bodies of other beings and magical items; otherwise it'd be ludicrously overpowered. She can have the ability to conjure water, to compensate for this, if you want.
5. Shapeshifting isn't an ability that all spirits have by default. If Nyle can change his appearance, you should give him an ability that does that, even if it has no real uses in combat.
@lydyn:
1. Actually, I don't think you really need to reword the description of Elenor's metal magic at all; I was just making you aware of some of the ways it can be countered. And metal magic is completely viable, without using it to mess with enemies' metallic weapons. You can use metal magic to strengthen metallic items, e.g. weapons and armor. Elenor should also be skilled enough to conjure metal out of her mana, so she should be able to create melee weapons, projectiles, and armor on the spot. The conjured metal is permanent. Don't worry about the conservation of mass, since there exist magic that turns matter into mana as well.
2. It's still theoretically possible to steal the bracelet through "conventional" means, if some master thief with a pathological mindset really wants to make a point or something. For instance, the thief could imbue the bracelet with his own magic without Elenor noticing, so that he's eventually able to turn the bracelet intangible through his magic; he'd then slip the bracelet off of Elenor's arm. But a scenario like this is so contrived that it pretty much won't happen ever. I think you'll be fine if you just add that the bracelet is locked onto Elenor's wrist through magic that only the monarch is authorized to unlock.
Also, now that I've added my factions, I think you should change Ana's profile so that she got her xenogen injection from the MediCorp, and now serves as an instructor in the Federation's military.
@Palamon
The character and faction sheets are mostly fine, but there are a few things I want to point out.
1. I'd personally refrain from putting any exact numbers in your character's abilities, e.g. the skeletal implants being able to withstand up to 550 pounds of pressure, since characters always have the potential to become stronger. In addition, circumstances may make a character temporarily stronger than normal, e.g. desperation, rage, heroic willpower. Due to the adaptive nature of unobtainium-based cybernetics, these things apply to cybernetic implants as well.
2. Remember that the Tech and Magi sides aren't explicitly at war, yet. Currently it's more like a cold war. You might want to change some parts of your sheets because of this.
3. Remember that the Tech and Magi sides have only come into contact with each other a few months ago. That means the Knights of Saint Peter must've been formed only months ago, after the initial contact, given their central goal of eliminating magic. Is this what you intended?
@Warm Regret
1. The backstory doesn't quite add up. The Magi side was always divided into numerous factions. And the Magi and Tech sides only came into contact with each other a few months ago. So if the Misfits were founded after the Tech side's arrival, it'd be only a few months old, and its timeline would need to be rearranged quite a bit. Nyle's biography, too.
2. Unfortunately, it's not possible to communicate with the planet through dreams to learn about the past. The planet itself isn't intelligent and doesn't have any memories; the only real way you could get this to work is making it so that Nyle thought he was communicating with the planet, but was actually communicating with another survivor from the previous age of magic, similar to my character Evan. If this is what you want, you'll need to discuss it with me some more.
3. Please change all the elemental immunities to resistances. As I said in the document describing magic and its limitations, it's not possible to have perfect immunity against anything; even fire elementals can be burned to death by fire hotter than themselves.
4. Dayna can't have complete control over all water in her immediate surroundings, since the presence of magic not her own within water interferes with her ability to manipulate said water. Namely, she can't manipulate the water inside the bodies of other beings and magical items; otherwise it'd be ludicrously overpowered. She can have the ability to conjure water, to compensate for this, if you want.
5. Shapeshifting isn't an ability that all spirits have by default. If Nyle can change his appearance, you should give him an ability that does that, even if it has no real uses in combat.
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