Raptorman

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

There has been death and destruction. A lot of both.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

"An unliving, undying, unstoppable monster, that's how you start getting sacrifices in your name."
-Unknown

"Blessed be the sacred fires, blessed be the chaos, blessed be the source, blessed be the one who dwells within."
-Unknown

"And they passed through the smoke and flames and unto him."
-Unknown

Open Me

Lost Haven, a great city, a city that had withstood invasion from the forces of a place you could call Hell, a city that had witnessed the arrival of Mercy who shaped reality with a whim, a city that had been wracked by strife and discord as various criminal families and organizations battled for control of the streets, and a city that now stood faced with meta-human terrorists possessed of a mad plan to turn everyone into meta-humans, was about to be reminded once again of a particular presence. The people had been hopeful that the Iron Knight and Archangel together had defeated the monster in the dark, that perhaps the nightmare of Nightmare had been ended once and for all, they had been hopeful enough to buy that the prison van torn to shreds a few days later, with body horror art left behind was just the work of a run of the mill meta human criminal, and life had gone on.

But where the people mostly hoped that things were getting better, they were about to be sorely disappointed...

The LHU stadium was packed full of people, cheering fans, coverage personnel, and the players themselves, all having a grand time. Sure it was only a college football game, but to the people involved it was the big thing. Paul Wiems lived for this. He was in his element in the announcers box. Here the only thing people needed to know about him was that he had a great voice, no one needed to know how large he was, how awkward he was when actually having to deal with people face to face. And it gave him the best seats in the house, truly a winning deal.

It was nearly time for him to make the announcements regarding half time entertainment and he was mentally reviewing what he was to say when he became aware of a presence in the box behind him. He began to turn only to stop as something hard and metal settled against the back of his neck and a distorted voice sounding as if it was coming through faint speakers sounded softly.

"You will read the statement about to be put in front of you. You will read it flawlessly. If you do, you will live. If you do not then you die. Follow any additional instructions." The odd voice cut off then, and that strange pressure on the back of his neck moved. It wasn't a gun like he had thought at first, no this was something different, something with legs. It skittered around to his front revealing itself to his eyes for a moment as it deposited several sheets of paper on the table before him. It was some sort of metallic spider thing that had what looked to be some sort of cannon apparatus growing out of its front end, the end that it was keeping pointed at him.

He didn't really know what to do in the situation but like many with a gun pointed at them Paul was quick to at least attempt to follow the instructions. He picked up the sheets of paper and switched the microphone back on. Then he began to read...

"We interrupt this game to bring you an urgent public service announcement. There has been a Nightmare siting." The words gained the attention of pretty much everybody in the stadium within seconds as play came to a halt down below and a stunned silence took the place of the earlier clamor. "He is ..." there was a long almost suspenseful pause "here." Perhaps the voice broke slightly, but it was largely drowned out as the silence gave way to panicked yelling.

And of course the darkness came. Part of the crowd vanished in seconds as the darkness seemed to manifest from nothing and there were screams of pain and agony from those caught up inside of it. In the jam packed stadium seats there was little room to maneuver and the first panicked stampede of people did not get very far before the other shoe dropped. A torrent of white fire, fire that burned far brighter and hotter than any fire should have rushed out in a stream, a stream that covered all of the exits and burned along the top of the stadium, forming a ring of balefire, almost like a cage.

The first wave of people who tried to dash through the flames vanished instantly, utterly eradicated by the supernatural fire, and there was no second. The darkness that blanketed a portion of the lower rows close to the field moved swiftly, the amorphous cloud descending to the field, leaving behind what had to be over 50 corpses in the seats within the space where it had seemingly formed. And from within the darkness came the sound of laughter, that terrible inhuman sound that had echoed from television sets across the city as the killing spree escalated.

"Tonight Nightmare is joined by Soulfire," As the announcement continued a portion of the swirling white flames flared up and a gout of flame shot into the air, solidifying into the shape of the masked woman who had been seen at several of Nightmare's more recent appearances. Her black and gold streamers fluttered in the air, taking on that illusion of wings as she drifted to the ground on the field beside the dark cloud. A hand swept out in a wave that would have seemed jaunty, had it not shot a burst of white fire into the stands, obliterating more of the trapped people in a heartbeat.

"the Architect," that name was unfamiliar, not that the terrified people really had the awareness to recognize it. And as that name was spoken another woman appeared, riding atop what seemed to be a giant metal golem, who simply wore concealing dark clothing. The golem casually strode through the crowd, squishing some people underfoot as it and it's rider made their was down to the field.

"and a special welcome to this evening's special guest. The Cannibal King!" This time the entrance was more dramatic. In the middle of the field a spire ruptured the earth and stretched upwards. It was a cold white, the color of freshly polished bones and as it emerged it began to change, forming into a shape that the stuff of nightmares. A figure, twice the size of a normal man, seemingly clad in a suit of plate armor made from bones stood there. From his helm rose two great horns, curving upwards in a wicked fashion.

The man pointed to one of the clusters of players who had formerly been the gods upon the field and made a gesture. The players exploded, their bones ripping free from their flesh and then reassembling themselves into crude skeletal figures. These skeletal creations then began to move into the crowd, grabbing people and dragging them down onto the field.

A new sound came next, perhaps the one most expected. The terrible booming voice of Nightmare himself sounded from within the dark cloud. "PEOPLE OF LOST HAVEN. AS YOU DIE TONIGHT ASK YOURSELVES. WHERE WERE YOUR PROTECTORS? WHERE WERE YOUR HEROES?" And then the darkness swarmed forward, back into the stands and the screams of pain joined those of terror. There was no escape, no where to run, no where to hide, and there was no help coming. Some even despaired, not moving as the darkness came for them and Nightmare's laughter echoed loudly amidst the screams and sounds of tearing flesh.

But it was not only Nightmare for the Cannibal King's skeletons were not idle, dragging struggling people down into the field where something equally gruesome was taking place. More of Soulfire's white flames had carved out a pit and then she filled it with regular fire. While the Cannibal King stretched forth a hand and grew a narrow shaft of bone that he stretched across the pit like a bridge, a bridge that the people were made to walk across. Many fell into the flames to die screaming, but many also came to the giant armored figure on the other end. The giant figure whose helm was no open, and who tore open the throats of all who came to him, having their blood pour out onto the white bones of his armor and the skeletal face that lay beneath.

The Architect was the only one who seemed less involved, her golem stomping on a few people who came to close but otherwise simply seemed to be observing.

It would have seemed to take hours, but in truth the butchering of well over a thousand people took place in less than 30 minutes, and as the dead replaced the living the killers gathered the bodies in the field, those that had pieces left to gather. And when the last had died and all were gathered the darkness of Nightmare exploded outwards, blanketing nearly the entire stadium before fading away and leaving no trace of the four killers. Well, aside from their calling cards.

A gruesome construct dominated the center of the field, a tree of bones, shaped from the dead in vast numbers, and upon the trees branches were the mangled and mutilated remnants of other victims, arms and legs impaled upon spike-like protrusions, heads mounted on others, and other things better left unmentioned. Surrounding the great tree of corpses was the newest message, much larger than usual and stretching across most of the field in a manner that said it was meant to be seen from above.

HELLO LOST HAVEN
7 OF 20
WHERE ARE YOUR HEROES?
WHERE ARE YOUR GUARDIANS?
WHERE ARE YOUR METAL MEN?
WE CHALLENGE THEM.
RECRUITING
NIGHTMARE
SOULFIRE
CANNIBAL KING
ARCHITECT

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

Lets just say there's a welcoming party.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

@nitemare shape@Eddie Brock I would not be so sure it will continue to escape things though. There might be some unfortunate loss of life in the very near future .....

Empires of Sand

Still here.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

Fallen. I believe that there have always been metahumans to some degree but that they were much less common in the past then they are now. For example there were a decent number who came out of the woodwork in World War 2 but then there were less again. At least that was my understanding based on being the guy responsible for the WW2 metahuman stuff for the most part.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

Character you have created: Aurelia Nirealh

Alias: NA

Speech Color: Orange

Character Alignment: Villain

Identity: It's Complicated

Character Personality: Fanatical willpower, utter willingness to make any and all sacrifices to achieve the necessary goal, great devotion to the cause, these are all elements that are critical to understanding her personality. Due to experience and a vast amount of training for this mission she is extremely quick to react. Her survival of them is evidence of an ability to set aside emotions like fear or the drive for self preservation to do what must be done. At the same time, she is not an unfeeling machine. Casualties are avoided when possible, the beings of this world are considered to be people, albeit primitives, and as such efforts are taken to when possible avoid harming them. She does have a personality beyond that of the dedicated soldier, bent on accomplishing the task that has been set before her, but at this point it has been of little value in the endeavor, and she is capable of suppressing her personal desires for the good of mission.

Uniform/costume: Like all Praetorians Aurelia has a series of shards of unknown material that are at times attached to her, and at times floating in a halo of sorts around her body. Hers as befits one of her station has many components, and they are quite developed. When they are anchored to her body a pair of them anchor against the sides of her head, stretching up nearly a foot in height above her head even when attached. Two shorter ones anchor against the upper sides and top, reaching slightly higher than the longer ones below due to the higher start. Finally one at the peak of her head that extends higher than the rest. In addition to the shards that attach to her head she also has a pair that attach to the outside of her upper arms and rise up to be level with her head.

Also like all Praetorians Aurelia has sheath of sorts around her body. Rather than skin there is a hard layer of a highly resilient and durable material that has a bright white coloration, almost like fine china in most cases. This layer is form fitting and covers the entirety of her body. In its natural state her mouth, eyes, ears, and nose to some extent, have openings to allow for sight, scent, hearing, and eating, and her features are clearly visible beneath it as if it was another, if thicker layer of skin. In less natural states the covering can extend to completely block all openings and form a protective seal. The sheath can be shed at will and regrown in a short period of time, how long it takes depending on the individual.

Beneath this layer is what would be most comparable to a human layer of skin. Her skin is a pale silvery blue in color and should she be wounded a dark fluid would flow from her wounds. Her skin at this level is more fragile than a humans and is extremely porous, as well as being extremely sensitive to stimuli of all kinds.

For the actual physical structure of the Praetorians, they look oddly similar to humanity, their bodies are proportionally extremely similar and they possess analogous anatomy. As such Aurelia looks quite similar to a human, albeit one is either wearing a suit of porcelain, or who has silver blue skin, slightly glowing orange eyes, and silver hair. Her features are rather delicate and refined as well, something that is visible even when covered by the sheath.

In terms of actual clothing Aurelia will typically wear a raiment of gold and crimson that is amorphous in nature, reshaping itself as necessary and able to define itself into a number of different patterns as needed.

Origin Info: Aurelia is an agent of the Empire, an elite operative specially chosen from the most potent members of her kind for mission of utmost importance. One of the few members of her kind capable of surviving a transit across the boundaries of reality through an unsecured gateway she has been dispatched to this world to create a gateway device and allow the true linking of the worlds….

Hero Type: Technically Aurelia's powers like all of her kind are technology based. However due to the extremely advanced nature of them, the ways in which they work are not obvious and to this time period on earth they will most likely seem magical rather than technological.

Power Level (Select one below):
D. Cosmic

Powers (Be Specific):

Like all Praetorians Aurelia possesses racial abilities.

She has the ability to grow and shed her protective sheath at will and has the ability to do so within a few seconds time, extremely quickly by the standards of her people, most of whom can take up to an hour to fully generate the sheath. Aurelia also possesses the ability to interface with Praetorian technology, an ability granted by her array of shards that she like all Praetorians possesses. Further she has the ability to commune with other biological and synthetic lifeforms and to use this for a number of purposes.

Communion for the Praetorians is a part of life and normal existence. With as little as a touch of their skin to that of another lifeform they can initiate a link. These links are often used to share information, divine intentions, reveal feelings, share experiences, ect. But communion can also be much more than that. They are capable of merging, of melding with what they touch and assimilating or altering it. Often this is used for the rare medical condition that requires outside intervention, or to assess the damage to something. But it can also be used to harvest biomass from another source and directly incorporate it into the body, or other less pleasant things. On the whole the biomass harvesting is incredibly rare and used only as a last resort for survival in most cases, and typically communion is a way of reinforcing closeness or bonding.

Aurelia's unique power is her ability to interface directly with the matter around her. This ability allows her to with concentration and focus shape the world around her. Air can solidify to form walls, metal can warp and reshape, the building blocks of the universe answer to her. At least within a relatively short range and to a certain degree. Aurelia can only retain control of and alter things within approximately 100 yards of her, though something once altered or created by her will behave naturally until it has run its course or been destroyed. With her particular ability as one of the most talented shapers among the Praetorians she is uniquely suited to create the necessary components for the gateway device assuming she can amass the raw materials required. Aurelia also cannot break the laws of physics. Though considering her vastly superior understanding of physics, some of what she does may seem supernatural or magical to others.

Attributes (Select one at each category):

Strength Level: Naturally she could pick up a car and throw it assuming she was sheathed, with technology augmenting her or some form of device quite a lot more. (Notably she is substantially stronger than the average Praetorian)

Speed/Reaction Timing Level: Reaction time is fast enough to allow her to process and react to the strikes of even metahumans such as Icon. How much of this is training and how much is inherent is at this point uncertain.

Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: Aurelia can courtesy of her training and the nature of her people function at maximum efficiency for a period of 6 or 7 hours. Notably as using her technology does not drain her noticeably, should she not be forced to use her ability to interface she could function at maximum efficiency for even longer.

Agility: 5X

Intelligence: Genius, while her intelligence is moderate by the standards of her people, by the standards of this world she would be considered a genius

Fighting Skill: Mastered

Resources: Minimal (Currently, this is subject to change)

Weaknesses: Like all Praetorians Aurelia's core body is fragile and can be damaged more easily than a humans, further her power's limited range can often come into play as well. Aside from that she has no obvious weaknesses.

Supporting Characters:
Redacted

Do you know how to post pictures on RPG boards?: Yes

Sample Post:

The dockside security station was filled with the scents of smoke and sweat. Technically they weren't supposed to be smoking inside, but with it still being cold, no one made an issue of it. The group of three men in rather shabby uniforms were huddled around a table in the middle of the room, not really watching the screens, instead their attention seemed to be much more focused on the game taking place in on the table.

“Alright, show the hands.” One of them said at last and dropped his own. A pair of jacks was revealed as he did so.

The man across from him however dropped his as well. “Hah.” And his dropping revealed a hand with three aces. “I win.” And he began to reach for the money.

Before he could do so though the last man put his down showing something amusing, 4 twos.
“Now that's some bull-” The second man began before he was cut off as the office began to shake and a sudden wind whipped cold air through the half open windows.

It was about to be dismissed as some strange thing, like so much of what happened in Lost Haven but before the attention could turn back to the game there was an intense cracking sound as what looked almost like a tendril of blue lightning erupted in thin air outside. All three men were drawn to the window, looking out at the sudden lightshow.

The effects did not stop, instead growing more frequent and intense as pulses of the blue energy erupted from thin air to strike the ground and in some cases began to swirl around themselves in the air. Eventually they seemed to form what was almost a pool of sparkling and crackling energy in the air. Then something, it was difficult to see what, slipped through portal, crackling energy and sparks clinging to it as it landed on the ground outside.

The swirling nexus of energy then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the men looking at each other.

“Was that a metahuman?” One of them asked the others

“I don't know.”

“We should call the police.” The first offered again and actually moved around the office, over to the phone.

Then the third man spoke. “Whatever it is, its moving and it doesn't look good.”

In a perhaps surprising display of decency the two men who were not on the phone left the security station and approached the site of the of the lightshow. One of them carried a flashlight and he turned it on. The light stretched out, illuminating the scorched earth where the bolt of energy had struck, and something else as well.

It was difficult for the men to be sure what they were looking at, it was horribly burned, with what seemed to be a bluish black fluid dripping from the worst of the burns. But as they approached it looked more and more humanoid. And then it raised its head and spoke, “…… …..” <Help me.> That the head didn't look quite right, with additional growths and such didn't matter so much in the face of what was clearly a voice, a quite human sounding one even if one they didn't understand

And as the men drew near and reached out the thing moved suddenly in a way that belied how damaged it looked to be. A hand closed around the arm of each of the two men and there was an instant of warmth as the touch seemed to burn their skin and meld with it. And then there was only oblivion for them.

It would be a moment later that the man who had stayed inside to call the police emerged, both to inform his fellows that the call was finished and to investigate for himself, and he was to find an unexpected sight. His two fellows slumped upon the ground withered looking, though there were still plumes of visible vapor rising from their mouths in the cold, and standing above them what looked to be some sort of woman.

She was badly burned and much of her was hidden in the darkness but he could see she wasn't normal. The long white things attached to her head and arms were a give away, as was the faintly luminous orange eyes that illuminated a bit of her face. At the sight the man, in the wake of what he had seen opened his mouth as if to scream, only to find that something was blocking him, muffling his attempts to speak, something that also had wrapped around him, making it impossible to move aside from his head.

And the woman began to walk towards him, speaking as she did so. “…… … ...” <Do not struggle and you will live> It was clear that she expected some form of response but the man had no idea what and shook his head. She seemed puzzled by this and paused, speaking again, in words that still were not recognizable but sounded markedly different from the first. “------ ----- ----” <Do you speak -----?> And again the man shook his head.

In the end it made no difference as with a frown the woman reached out with a pale bluish silver hand and as their skin touched there was the feeling of heat and then oblivion.

------

Amid the scorch marks that the energy left behind a figure stood. Now coated almost entirely in a gleaming white layer of what looked almost like porcelain, though with her head still exposed, and with a layer of what was presumably clothing that bore an odd mix of qualities, seemingly armored and dress like at once.

The growths that had been noticeable to the men before were not visible now, rather a series of spines seemed to float in the air around her, forming an odd corona of sorts that stretched loosely from one shoulder, up over her head and down to the other. There was an expression that looked an awful lot like confusion on her face as the white layer finished spreading and covered her face, forming into a perfect copy over the silver skin that lay below.

But whatever it was that had led to the look of confusion clearly was not about to slow her down as she stepped upwards, seemingly into thin air and then rose, accelerating through the air away from the sight of her appearance.

----------

And when the police arrived they would find the men in the checkpoint, moved as close to the heater as possible and with a piece of paper on which was written fine and precise text, that sadly they could not read, though an oddly familiar set of numbers.

– --- –- – –- – - –- –- <I have left instructions for their medical care.>
I – - –-
II–- – – -- - –--
III –----- –-
IV - - –- - –-- - -

- – –-- - – - – - – –- - - <If they die, their sacrifices will be honored in the Empire>

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

Guys, I think we need to pause this discussion. You have gone a very long way down the road without nightmare's input at this point and some of us aren't huge fans of the forced lore compilation and standardization.

Superheroics 101

I will work on a sheet as well

How to be a Superhero 101 (supervillainy 101 Univese; See Details!)

I am interested