Psyker Landshark

Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Next Gen

Valerie Durand

Valerie blinked once, and then all she saw was black. The only thing that stood out in the void was the possessed Slifer girl, brandishing her Duel Disk and cards.

"Fine, let's get it started." She huffed in response, Ceruli hovering anxiously by her side.

"Take this seriously, Valerie." The Duel Spirit hissed, a bead of sweat dripping down his head. "Should you lose, even I cannot fathom what consequences will befall you at the whim of these spirits."

"I hear you, I hear you. Can't exactly control what I draw though, can I?" Valerie responded as Haruko started with the first turn.

___

"Well, damn." Valerie sighed ruefully, a slight grin still on her face from the thrill of the duel as the last of her life points ran dry. She'd made a bad read on Haruko's deck from her first move, and paid the price accordingly. Whereas Valerie had thought that Haruko's Scapeghost was in aid of going for link summons, instead the Slifer had decided to just go for zombie beatdown by drawing multiple Solidarities. For someone like her that didn't run too much backrow removal, it'd been a bad matchup. Her own draw luck past the first turn hadn't helped much either.

"No! Valerie! I told you to not take this lightly!" Ceruli screeched in despair, eyes wide and desperate as the darkness surrounded Valerie.

"Sorry, Ceruli." Valerie gave him a weak smirk as everything seemed to start to fade. "I screwed up pretty badly. Just...if this kills me, it's been real fun. Hell, I owe you pretty much everything. This isn't your fault..." Was the last thing she managed to utter before the void surrounded her.

"Damn you little wretches to the underworld!" The spirit bellowed as the darkness started to take him too. "By the Lord Grapha, I will do everything in my power to ensure you suffer once I break free of these confines!" The last of his yells were swallowed up by the same darkness as he joined Valerie in defeat.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

@Rune_Alchemist @VitaVitaAR @Raineh Daze

And there it was. Despite the last moment setbacks from Felix's well-meaning superior officer, not to mention the presence of Paladin Tyaethe watching over proceedings, his imbecile of a brother had finally taken the bait.

"A duel, brother?" Renar tilted his head in thought, as if seriously considering the matter. "I accept, of course. Just like old times on the training grounds, eh?" The bastard chortled, one hand moving down to rest on the hilt of his sword. "Considering we're both bearing arms already, it seems rather pointless to send for tourney blades. Live steel to first blood, then? Fear not, Felix. I wouldn't dare aim for a killing stroke, of course. Only a colossal fool would slay his own kin in view of so many esteemed onlookers." Instill doubt in his mind. Remind Felix that he'd have to hold back, lest he commit fratricide in public. Renar didn't need the crutch of mind games with Felix, course. Not if his trueborn brother had continued at his usual pace of improvement. But it didn't hurt to hedge his bets. "Outside, then? Lead on. Any among you in the audience are welcome to join us, of course." He started to saunter off with Felix leading the way.

"Oh, one last thing." Renar said as they passed Adeforth and Tyaethe, with him turning to give both a formal salute. "Sir Adeforth. My brother is...well, let's be generous. Embellishing the truth. I spoke no slander against your esteemed order. In fact, I spoke no slander against Felix. Only pointed out a few holes in his, shall we say, creative fiction. Hopefully, this will create no tensions between our orders, yes? Anything of the sort was never my intent as all. Merely a sibling feud. We fight not as Iron Rose or Crown Knights, but as brothers." With that out of the way, Renar started to walk off again, but not before speaking to Tyaethe.

"Care to observe, or are we beneath your notice, Paladin Tyaethe?"

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Dragan Meszaros

Beastmen? The villagers were simply going to wait them out? Dragan supposed it made sense if the villagers were as defenseless as they seemed. But to simply cower in the face of annihilation and pray it passed them by was distasteful to him. But he wouldn't get these people killed just because he deemed it best. The world had passed him by for what seemed like centuries. He would have to learn much more of it before he could come to a final decision. The armored vampire reached to place his helmet back on and heft his hammer up, offering the villagers a brief nod.

"Ordinarily, I would protest. I am not one to sit and wait for the enemy to approach first. But this is your village. If your ways have kept you all alive this long, I would be remiss to suggest otherwise and risk your lives without due cause. In any case, lead on, then. Should they attack, I will aid in your defense. I trust I'll receive no argument in that regard, yes?"

Dragan glanced back towards his companions for a moment, taking special notice of the gorebat upon Giselle's head. He paused. It was acting rather strangely, wasn't it?

"Is there an issue?" He asked Giselle, curious.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

@Rune_Alchemist

Sun and Moon, his half-brother was an idiot. Renar had known this before, but a godsdamned child could point out the logical inconsistency behind Felix's half-baked excuse. Still, he wasn't going to take the bait. Not quite like this, anyway. He needed Felix to be the one to instigate actual hostilties first.

"Felix..." Renar put on an expression of slight dismay. It didn't quite match the predatory glint in his eyes, but anyone unfamiliar with him ought to be fooled enough, at least. "You do realize that you've just leaked information on royal affairs, yes? Vague as it is, you boasting of it now does ruin the entire point of asking Father to keep quiet of the matter." As he'd said: idiot. Bringing a royal into your lie? What, did Felix think he was just going to shrink away and drop the matter just because of that?

"Really, this is poor form to speak of otherwise classified matters in front of this esteemed audience. And with one of your royal charges in attendance, no less. Why, I daresay the best way you could save face is to just tell us all you were fibbing to boost your own prestige. At this point, I'd believe it just to take pity on your...unfortunate lapse, here." Renar chortled, taking another small sip of wine from his glass. The oaf needed to get angrier. Renar couldn't be the aggressor for this to work. Well, he was sure he could spin it somehow if he did end up forcing the issue. But Felix offering direct challenge first would just be simpler and cleaner overall.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Dragan Meszaros

He knew the signs of poverty, both from his time as a paladin and as a prospective lord, making his way in the world. These villagers were in dire straits. Frankly, it was a small miracle that mankind had even survived however many decades or centuries it had been since the sun's light faded away. Even as Akyasha's gorebats returned to report in, Dragan frowned as he set his helmet down atop the haft of his buried hammer, his armored form stepping into the torchlight and into view of the villagers.

The villagers would have to know of his presence sooner or later. Best to rip the bandage off before they could be accused of hiding the truth.

"Peace, please." The Death Knight held his unarmed hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "We mean no harm and have no intention to stay. We are travelers, passing through. I realize that my...appearance may suggest otherwise, but I swear that I have no intention to prey on the weak and the desperate."

Of Steel and Hope

Aron Krol

Weeks of travel from the outer colonies were finally interrupted by the time they reached Mars. Unfortunately, the pilot cadets weren't even allowed planetside for a quick moment, as the Martian candidates piled onto the ship in short order and they took off once more after resupplying. Worse, there wasn't even much opportunity to socialize for the last few days of the trip, as a good portion of the pilots from Mars were too busy being sick in zero-G for the first time. Not that it wasn't mildly entertaining watching landsiders lose their lunch for several days, but Aron had been hoping to at least interact with someone different for once. There weren't too many outer colony candidates on the transport ship in the first place, and they'd all mostly kept to themselves, Aron himself included. After all, he would have had plenty of time at Doppler to get to know people, and there was still remedial coursework he had to finish up before the arrived, just so he wouldn't embarass himself in the classroom.

Some conversations with off-duty soldiers aboard the ship at least let Aron know what was in store for him during the orientation and onboarding process: yet more military rigamarole. He endured the debriefing and collection of personal effects, but the showers were a welcome surprise. Good bathing facilities were ever a rarity in an outer colonist's life, and even military showers were among the best he ever had, aside from the time he'd spent in the Chenkov facility.

While the speech at least conveyed what they needed to know well enough, the wait had been utterly insane. An hour? Just for that? They could have just handed out data files and saved everyone the damn trouble. Apparently, military efficiency really was an oxymoron. At least the idea of the lance wasn't too foreign to him. Asteroid miners had to endure the same company for months on end before returning to station, and at least here, quarters were separated. So with a sigh, Aron dutifully followed along to the room he was assigned, several teenagers all just...sitting there. No one seemed willing to talk yet, so he supposed he may as well break the damn ice.

"Aron Krol, representing Chenkov Solutions." He said curtly, raising a hand in greeting. At least one of the people in the room with him was definitely an outer colonist, he'd recognized him from the weeks of space travel. The rest were...probably Martians? He didn't know. But if the white-haired girl wasn't some rich moon girl, he'd eat his boot. You didn't see that kind of demeanor out among the proles. Wonderful. Time to start being looked down upon, probably. But he may as well get the rest of his background out. It'd come out eventually, regardless. "Former zero-G miner in the outer colonies. Any of you think they'll actually put us in our mechs today, or just keep jerking us around?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Renar Hagen

The downside to Fleuri actually playing along and helping him was how well the man was doing so: Renar actually owed him a significant debt at this point for how effective Fleuri was at it. He hadn't been anticipating that Fleuri's word actually had the gathered nobility believing he played such a significant role.

"Our victory that day was thanks to knights like Sir Renar here cutting the bandits down like weeds." And there was his cue. Taking a sip of wine to fortify himself, Renar offered the gathered crowd a winning smile, inclining his head briefly towards Fleuri.

"Sir Fleuri is too kind. Of course, those men were actually a significant threat one wouldn't usually expect of bandits. Veterans from the war, still with good weapons and armor one wouldn't see on a brigand. Dangerous men, all. I must have held the line against several before reinforcements finally came to relieve me. In fact-" Renar started to continue on, before someone else decided to cut in.

"Ah yes, I suppose congratulations are in order. The Iron Roses certainly did do well cleaning up that whole mess. Sir Renar was taking them out like weeds, eh? Quite the feat, though I must say it rather pales in comparison to singlehandly slaying a troll. It was quite a difficult fight, but nothing I couldn't handle."

The goddesses help him, if Renar hadn't known Felix was going to try something like this, he'd be furious. A troll? Singlehandedly? A naked lie. If Felix had managed to do so with what barely passable sword skills he had, the gossip chain would have long been telling the tale. To say nothing of the fact that the idiot wouldn't have had the opportunity to do so, what with the Crown Knights being stationed in the capital and all. Idiot.

"Felix!" Renar raised his cup towards the blonde Crown Knight, his smile not quite reaching his eyes now. "My half-brother, in case any of you are wondering. And evidently, the spinner of quite a yarn." He chortled, reaching over with his free hand to wrap it around his brother's shoulder and bring him in. "A troll? Do tell, brother. And here I thought the Crown Knights were stationed in the capital at all times, to defend our royals? When exactly did this occur, pray tell?"

A slightly smarmy grin crossed Renar's face. Overly friendly to the uninitiated, but to Felix? He'd know the bastard was mocking him. "One would think our esteemed lord father," May he rot in the darkness when it took him. "Would know of this and have told the rest of our family accordingly. He did so when I slew that orc warchief, as you recall. The one that earned myself admission into the Iron Rose?" Widen the smile just a bit. Aggravate him further. Just as planned. Then a thought crossed his mind. Right.

Renar shifted his gaze over towards Fleuri for a moment, inclining his head away from the crowd. Hopefully the man took the hint. His role in this was over, and he was free to leave if he so chose. Or to stay and watch the show. Either was fine by him, but Renar would have no accusations of keeping Fleuri longer than was polite, and thus expanding what he owned to the man.

Of Steel and Hope

Pilot: Aron Krol

Aron Krol • 19 • Rank C

Appearance:
Stands at about 6’3”. Muscular, broad shoulders, wide frame. Appears with some stubble at times, but typically shaves it off before it grows in too much. While he is unfamiliar with formal settings and schooling, he does understand the importance of at least not looking like he doesn't belong, and therefore strives to have his clothing neat and tidy.

Personality:
Stubborn as a mule and possessed of grit to match. Aron is relentless, focused, and determined, seeking to excel so as to create a better life for himself and his family back home. He understands that unlike his better-born peers, he has no other prospects to return to should he wash out. As a result, Aron is willing to do damn near anything it takes to get ahead, no matter how much it may go against his own comfort and morality. He has a mother and two younger siblings to support financially, and Chenkov Solutions is only going to keep putting them up so long as he’s putting out results.

On a personal level, Aron is casual but cautious. He’ll treat any stranger with wary decency until they do something to skew his opinion of them one way or the other. However, it’s easy to get on his bad side and he’s quick to hold a grudge. Aron may not act on these impulses immediately, given that his position at the academy is tenuous at best, but he remembers.

Surprisingly enough, Cadet Krol is a quick and avid learner despite his lack of quality formal education. Having taken some remedial classes before his entrance into the academy, the gaps in his schooling compared to his peers are still present, but closing at a decent pace. It’s evident that despite his lack of knowledge, he isn’t stupid or slow. Just underprivileged.

History:
Born in the outer colony of Ceres Station to two miners, life was difficult for Aron from the outset. He found himself as the older sibling and sole caretaker to a younger brother and sister from an early age, as the family wouldn’t be able to support three children without both parents mining out in the asteroid belts.

Things only grew harder for Aron as he grew up, with his father dying in a mining accident by the time he was fifteen, far from any available help. With one less source of income in the family now, Aron was forced to abandon life aboard the station taking care of his siblings to join a mining ship himself. Over the next three years, Aron embarked on the grueling life of an asteroid miner, working in dangerous conditions for little pay. Everything he made, he sent back to his family.

More than that, Aron found himself with something of a side hustle to supplement his income. Entertainment was scarce both on the stations and on the mining ships, and one of the only sources of such for bored and rowdy miners was a series of below-decks fight pits. Desperately needing the money, Aron started taking part and found that he had a knack for violence. The payouts and bets he put on himself went a long way to making sure his family had enough to eat, especially after his mother was forced to retire from mining due to an injury.

It was in one of the fight pits back on Ceres Station that Aron found himself being scouted by a Chenkov Solutions recruiter. After being declared the winner for the night, he was approached by the recruiter, who promptly offered him a better life if he could pull his weight as a test pilot. Aron didn’t even have to think about the offer. He just haggled the man up to include the rest of his family, and went off with him.

Chenkov Solutions was quick and efficient. Aron met with the head of the test program, listed his demands, and signed more forms than he cared to ever see in his life. Within a day, his mother and siblings were shipped off to company housing in the company's Mars compound, with the kids enrolled in school. As for Aron, he found himself...thrust into intensive remedial schooling. Despite the project head and the recruiter's promises that the Knight was designed more for a street fighter than an actual pilot, Aron still needed at least a basic formal education so as to not embarass the company by being an uneducated Outer Colony rube, and the Academy's next opening was still months off. Fortunately for everyone involved, Aron relished the chance to finally take part in the education he'd never had the opportunity to have, and surprised everyone involved as well by thriving in his studies.

Months later, with the Academy's start date finally in sight, Aron was at last shipped off to Doppler, eager to have the chance to prove himself and truly earn the better life he wanted.

Capability:

• Hand-to-hand combat
• Zero-gravity operations
• Tactical acumen

PROJECT: Maverick

PROJECT: Maverick • System-Type • 9m

Appearance:
A medium-sized Knight with weight closer to a class below it. Primarily a short-range close-combat model, PROJECT: Maverick seeks to overwhelm the enemy with speed, agility, and integrated close-range weapons as the tip of the spear on the battlefield. The Knight's's foot thrusters allow it to glide along the ground, increasing land speed to high degrees. Built-in booster units enable short-range flight along with high-speed dashes to further close the gap from deployment to enemy. The frame carries supplemental micro-missile racks mounted on the shoulders for limited mid-range interdiction, although reloads are limited so as to minimize weight. As all of the unit's primary weaponry is integrated, it is free to carry mission-critical equipment without issue.

Manufacturer: Chenkov Solutions

Chenkov Solutions is a vertically-integrated corporate group aimed at producing more experimental Knight frames than the bigger names in the business. The bulk of its product line up to this point has focused largely on light-frame Knights intended for scouting and recon, with a focus on speed and agility. Its vertically-integrated supply chain allows CKS to produce at low costs thanks to the numerous mining interests it owns in the Outer Colonies.

Design:
Maverick is Chenkov Solutions’ first attempt at a top-of-the-line close-in combat Knight. Building off of the company’s previous experience with light scout units, PROJECT: Maverick aims to provide some of the fastest land speeds available to the UFAF, combined with agile handling and aggressive close armor penetration capabilities for heavy duty combat.

Unfortunately, the project’s specifications for agility were unable to be met without conversion into a System-Type, but this has resulted in a greater focus on melee combat, aiming to take advantage of a human pilot’s experience and reflexes. As such, the ideal pilot for this unit was one more experienced with real-life hand-to-hand rather than a more technically skilled operator. A pilot training on Shell-Types for all their life will be less able to handle this Knight than some pit fighter brought in off the street.

Armaments:

While PROJECT: Maverick is capable of using most UFAF weaponry, it was designed with specific weapons systems in mind.

Integrated:

High-Frequency Claws

Claw blades mounted on top of the mobile suit’s hands. The blades are reinforced by a powerful alternating, resonating at extremely high vibration frequencies in order to weaken the molecular bonds of anything they strike, increasing their anti-armor capabilities. The claws can be balled up to augment the hands for blunt fist strikes with no loss of vibration frequency, able to smash and puncture equally as well as they can cut. This configuration allows Maverick to hold other armament in its hands while still being able to attack in melee with no change in weaponry.

SPAMRAAM Multi-Lock Micro Missile Racks

Fire-and-forget micro missiles mounted into Maverick’s shoulder units, intended to overwhelm CIWS systems through sheer weight of fire. Designed for medium-range all-terrain interdiction, the SPAMRAAMs have sophisticated targeting systems and moderate payloads, intending on dealing damage through numerous impacts than heavy explosive force. Reloads are limited in order to cut down on unit weight, despite the already light weight of micro-missiles.

Wire Spears

Reinforced alloy spike tips connected to ferromagnetic carbon nanotube wire, propelled by microjet motors. Essentially, grappling hook launchers capable of reeling the frame in when electric current is run through the connecting cable. Maverick has four of these spear launchers mounted onto the frame: one on each side of the hips and one on each upper arm. The spear tips are armor-piercing and can be used for offensive applications, but their main purpose is for all-terrain movement and combat repositioning.

Auxiliary:

Beam Magnum

General-purpose high-output hand cannon. Better than average range and penetration for a laser pistol, owing to its higher power consumption.

CIWS

A pair of standard 20mm vulcan cannons mounted to the sides of the head. Mostly used for anti-missile point defense.

Specification:

CKS Full Synchro Neural Link

The basis behind Maverick’s classification as a System-Type, the Full Synchro link connects the pilot to not only the Knight’s nervous system, but also to the entire unit’s targeting and weapons systems. All integrated targeting and weapons systems on the Knight can be activated with a thought, allowing for instant deployment of other systems, as well as target locks.

CKS Hyper Dash Emergency Acceleration System

A pair of back-mounted thrust boosters for emergency combat maneuvers. The unit’s speed is massively increased for brief bursts of rapid repositioning. Thanks to Maverick’s light weight, it can booster dash multiple times in succession until its emergency limiter kicks in. When combined with the Knight’s foot thrusters, brief short-range flight can be achieved during a long burn of the boosters.

Rosenkov Hard Light Projector

Knight-sized photon emitter. When activated, fuses light particles into a dissipative barrier for a protective shield. More suited to briefly parrying and deflecting blows and projectiles than sustained defense, as the process is energy-intensive. While the shielding is more fragile than other barrier projector types, its advantage lies in light weight and speed of deployment. Two emitters are mounted onto the Maverick, one on each wrist.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Dragan Meszaros

Somehow, the state of the world didn't surprise the Death Knight as he strode across the earth with his companions. Without the sun, very little grew. Vegetation could not sustain prey animals, which meant that predators and humans alike suffered. Which led to the quality of blood suffering. An illiterate farmer could have connected these dots. And yet Dragan had once heard some among his peers desire the world in the exact state of eternal night it was in now. Frankly, he hoped those fools had burned when they suffered their final deaths.

Still, it was good to see that humanity survived in some form despite these setbacks. And enough to have organized settlements, at that. Once their mission was complete, there would be much work to do to shepherd what remained of Man to thrive in this new world. Hopefully, his companions would be able to see the need for such, if only to ensure a steady supply of quality blood for the...less charitably inclined vampires.

As Giselle began to approach the settlement, Dragan voluntarily hung back, staying relatively out of sight as he allowed his peer to do the talking. Despite the fact that he was also an adept speaker, the Death Knight's current appearance wasn't quite suited to reassure frightened villagers that they meant no harm. Best to have a softer face represent the group for the moment. Dragan planted the head of his warhammer into the ground before removing his helmet, if only to have a less terrifying visage.

Pokemon: Ascendancy

Fiona MacConnell

MENTIONS: Sawyer @Vertigo, Nordrin @Yankee, Isaiah @PrankFox

"Alakazam, Protect!" The hooded man cried out as attacks surged towards his two Pokemon. "Steelix, tank it and then Earthquake!"

"Are ya fucking insane?!" Fiona shot her eyes wide open in horror at the order. Earthquake in the middle of a crowded city? Even with modern construction being rated to take the attack, it was still going to shatter windows and ruin vehicles at the most inopportune of moments. "We're in th' middle of Wyndon, eejit! Yer gonna kill someone!"

"Sure hope it's you!" The man shot back as his Alakazam's Protect barrier rendered it safe but immobile for the moment, even as his Steelix took a Brick Break and an Aqua Tail, followed up by a Body Press from Fiona's Corviknight. Meanwhile, her Mega Salamence howled in fury as his Outrage was repelled by the Protect, sending Felon back into the air. However, the pain of the attacks given to the admin's Steelix seemed to render it blindingly furious, and it disregarded the orders it was given to charge forward, a black aura surging around it as it rammed into Raptor. The Corviknight squawked as she took yet another brutal attack, seemingly on her last legs as she touched down in a Roost.

"Shadow Rush? You little shit, I didn't order-" The Steelix's trainer started angrily before pausing, as if realizing something. "Oh, fuck. Reverse Mode." He glanced around the streets, seeing the last of his grunts managing to get away from the immediate area. "Right, bought enough time, screw this." He murmured quietly before raising his voice once more, recalling his Steelix as he moved closer to his snarling Alakazam.

"Some Gym Leaders you dipshits are! See my hands?" He held his arms out mockingly. "That's right, no briefcase! Should've gone after one of my boys instead! Too late now, though! See ya, suckers!" A flick of his wrist, and a cylindrical object slid out of the man's jacket and into his hand. He pulled the pin on the smoke grenade and hurled it to the ground, surrounding himself and his Pokemon in thick smoke. Through the haze, the admin's voice could be heard one final time. "Bird bitch, I'll be back for MY GOD DAMN PROPERTY soon enough. Alakazam, Teleport!"

"Seriously, I don't know who tae shite ya are, ye fuckin' bampot!" Fiona yelled back as Felon swooped down and began flapping his wings to clear the smoke, revealing empty space where the man and his Alazakam used to be. The Flying leader scowled at the sight, pulling her goggles back up off her eyes. "Dinnae what I was expectin', really." Fiona looked back at her fellow Gym Leaders, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets as she sighed, surveying the damage all around.

"Thanks fer th' backup. An' no, I got nary a damn clue what he was on about wit' me in particular. Last thing I ever stole from someone was..." She trailed off for a moment, murmuring to herself as some sort of clues seemed to piece together in her head. "Since he was usin'...oh. Ohhhhhh." Fiona looked back up, now even more resigned. "Alright, I think I got an inkling of an idea of what's going on here, but only on my end. Why those wankstains decided tae raid this place, I still couldn't tell ya. But otherwise, aw, fuck, this's probably gonna take a meeting wit' everyone an' the Chairman. Really didn't need actual bloody work today."

"Fer th' record, though, I totally did rob his arse, an' he had it comin'." Fiona rallied, grinning proudly even as the owner of the lab emerged from it, a blank expression on her face and a cigarette in her hand as she strode over towards the group.

"Well." Professor Hawthorne blew out a puff of cigarette smoke, looking more tired than anything else. "That could've gone worse. Good job not destroying the entire block, at least. The lot of you, go get your Pokemon to a Center. I'll go call the Chairman's office and report this in. Considering I was robbed, I'll have to be sitting in on this meeting of yours. Oh, and for the record? Even though you all lost my bloody research, you made the correct decision prioritizing that psychopath. Now run along."