Alleyverse Character Discussion

[I ♥️ Rashek]

12 minutes ago, Ark1002 said:

Also, @I ♥️ Rashek the Precursors are the police force that we have chosen, so I'd mention @Darth Woodrack to see

The Precursors are a dead guild

[AonEne]

5 minutes ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

The Precursors are a dead guild

Darth is still active. 

[kenod]

3 hours ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

If the police don't even arrest people for murder, doesn't that make them completely useless?

Kill first is his fighting style, not his answer to everything. It's only relevant if he chooses to fight. It's totally reasonable for a policeman to defend himself with lethal force, considering his history and how dangerous Alleyverse criminals can be.

Given that his Investure is basically the perfect method for taking down investure users (and to a lesser degree normal people) in a way that makes sure you don't have to kill them that argument doesn't really work that well.

[I ♥️ Rashek]

A person is not defined by their Investiture.

[kenod]

12 minutes ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

A person is not defined by their Investiture.

No, but it does leave them with no excuse when they kill criminals instead of trying to arrest them while they easily could have arrested them, which, given that the city does have a functional government, will likely get them kicked of the force, especially since that type of behavior will likely get them to kill someone whose crime would never deserve something even close to the death penalty, or kill an innocent by mistake.

Edit:
Also, if you specifically kill almost all criminals you face some of the remaining ones will likely have the GBs assassinate you.

Edited October 25, 2019 by kenod

[I ♥️ Rashek]

You're thinking of the real world.

For the average person, Alleycity is a horrible place to live. There's DA, body-stealing ghosts, and hemalurgic monsters everywhere. Criminals kill citizens without second thoughts, then never pay for their crimes because "there's a different definition of murder". When guild wars happen, large parts of the city are destroyed, and people take advantage of the chaos. The Alleycity police must deal with all this and more, and every threat that they miss means more suffering for the average citizen. They do not come from a first-world country, where the rule of law is strong and the devastation of war is a distant memory.

Criminals are not defined by their Investiture, either. You can take a man's allomancy, but you can't take years of street-fighting experience. Unless you use your stored steel, you're as vulnerable as any other man, and without compounding, that steel can run out very quickly. Living in a city of horrors, dealing with crime day after day, you have to be efficient about it. You have to be very suspicious-if you handcuff and leech this man, what will you do if his friend shoots you from the shadows? You can't leech both at once.

Alleycity police are happy when criminals come quietly. They've seen too many deaths because a thug decided to fight, and they aren't eager to see that again.

Edited October 25, 2019 by I ♥️ Rashek

[kenod]

3 minutes ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

You're thinking of the real world.

For the average person, Alleycity is a horrible place to live. There's DA, body-stealing ghosts, and hemalurgic monsters everywhere. Criminals kill citizens without second thoughts, then never pay for their crimes because "there's a different definition of murder". When guild wars happen, large parts of the city are destroyed, and people take advantage of the chaos. The Alleycity police must deal with all this and more, and every threat that they miss means more suffering for the average citizen. They do not come from a first-world country, where the rule of law is strong and the devastation of war is a distant memory.

Criminals are not defined by their Investiture, either. You can take a man's allomancy, but you can't take years of street-fighting experience. Unless you use your stored steel, you're as vulnerable as any other man, and without compounding, that steel can run out very quickly. Living in a city of horrors, dealing with crime day after day, you have to be efficient about it. You have to be very suspicious-if you handcuff and leech this man, what will you do if his friend shoots me from the shadows? You can't leech both at once.

Alleycity police are happy when criminals come quietly. They've seen too many deaths because a thug decided to fight, and they aren't eager to see that again.

I'd suggest putting your definition on the alleyverse and their police force in the pm first, instead of deciding on it yourself, mostly since a lot of other depictions don't show it as nearly such a horrible place to live.

Also, one issue I find with your character is that their backstory and personality seem to describe him as someone who doesn't mind killing criminals. Honestly, to me your character sounds more like a vigilante than a normal cop. It would make more sense if you add something about him being conflicted about having to kill people, instead of making it sound like he doesn't really care about criminals he kills. The first sounds like an interesting personality, the second sounds like someone far enough off the deep-end that he's a danger to society.

Also, on a more meta note, I have a large problem with the fact that this seems like a character that portrays exactly the issue with police brutality that has been in the news on and off, but comes off (from his description) as making it sound like a good thing.

[+ZincAboutIt]

If you simply took this person out of the police force and put them on more of an individualistic path of "justice," it would do a great deal to smooth out some of the edges and issues with this character. Just suggesting. :]

[AonEne]

4 hours ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

There's DA, body-stealing ghosts, and hemalurgic monsters everywhere.

Alleycity police are happy when criminals come quietly. They've seen too many deaths because a thug decided to fight, and they aren't eager to see that again.

And here I thought I was the only one, ever...okay so probably not ever, but definitely the first PC; they're rare. Jokes aside, guilds are very careful to keep a handle on their Hemalurgic monsters, and only ever let them out to play when the city is at war.

If they're happy when criminals come quietly, then they need to give those criminals the chance, rather than just walking in and instantly shooting. Not really a logical decision.

I second Kenod's suggestion to put this in the PM for people to see, because it doesn't sound much like the Alleyverse I know either. There's definitely a lot of death, but there is a ton IRL as well, more than most of us like to acknowledge. From my worldview, most police would be doing everything they could to stop death, regardless of criminal status. There are prison arrangements for Invested people, I'm sure (though we haven't actually touched on that that I know of; it could be a cool thread to create, maybe I'll do that. There are very interesting plot opportunities).

[I ♥️ Rashek]

That is not an absolute description. That is the way Bruce sees it, and it's accurate by his experiences. If I wrote up how Allri sees the AV, it would be very different.

You will notice that Bruce didn't instantly shoot in the tavern thread. Again, fighting style is only relevant after a character decides to fight. Allri's fighting style is 'soothe people and run away', but you don't see her doing much of that.

I wonder how people get such a strong idea of what police are. It's probably not from firsthand experience-I know exactly how much I interact with police-so, probably political pushing. Not surprising, though Bruce is not supposed to represent a real-world policeman. His purpose actually isn't a character idea at all, so I'm not sure why I wrote this.

@kenod, your suggestion is a nice way of making Bruce into a deeper character.

[AonEne]

49 minutes ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

That is not an absolute description. That is the way Bruce sees it, and it's accurate by his experiences. If I wrote up how Allri sees the AV, it would be very different.

You will notice that Bruce didn't instantly shoot in the tavern thread. Again, fighting style is only relevant after a character decides to fight.

I wonder how people get such a strong idea of what police are. It's probably not from firsthand experience-I know exactly how much I interact with police-so, probably political pushing.

My idea of police comes from every piece of media I have ever consumed at the result of that, plus occasional research. Also the literal job definition of police being the people who keep the peace. Bruce's view is understandable, but I still don't think the police would hire him (unless the Precursors are different, we'll need Darth to answer that).

I was getting the impression that you meant he'd shoot before there even could be a fight, with the whole "ask questions never" thing and his attitude bout ridding the world of lawbreakers.

[+Sorana]

I think we've got two issues here. One is the police force and how to live in Alleycity, the other is the character.

While I agree, that decisions about the whole police force is something everybody should have a say in, I'm fine with your character being more of a "black sheep" regarding his attitude and fighting style. In that case, please make sure that you maybe mention now and then that he thinks of the other police officers as weak or inefficient (or whatever he thinks). Just make sure you portray him as an individual and not as someone representing a whole group of people. You could even throw him out of the police force at one point or suspend him to go for CD.

Additionally: please keep in mind that it is a vital part of the roleplayer, that they don't like to be told what to do. So far we have no real active police as PCs (most of the Precursors were NPC, and it was mostly used by Darth and few others). Don't expect people to react to your character, like they OOC would do.

Generally, I'm still convinced that Alleycity is no bad place to live. Yes we've got lots of DA under the players, but there are also really good characters and those that work in a more meta-plot like setting for the city and those living there. I know that this is easily lost, especially for newer players, but these efforts have been around for as long as the AV exists in its current state and it would be sad were they lost completely.

[I ♥️ Rashek]

a new Bruce bio

Spoiler

Name: Bruce Robertson

Physical Characteristics: Big man

Investiture: Twinborn (A-Chromium F-Steel)

Skills: Guns-skilled, combat awareness, spotting criminal oddities

Equipment: Aluminum-alloy shotgun, aluminum-alloy bullets, metalminds (steel bracers piercing his skin, steel replacement bone), aluminum police phone, police hat (it's lined with aluminum), body armor, police car. Can requisition an aluminum-alloy sniper rifle.

Weakness: Suspicious of non-police. Hates people who do not respect the authority of the police. Thinks of fighting before other solutions.

Family: Dead, killed by criminals

Home Planet: Alleyplanet

Backstory: As Bruce sees it, Alleycity is a horrible place to live. There's DA, body-stealing ghosts, and hemalurgic monsters everywhere. Criminals kill citizens without second thoughts, then never pay for their crimes because "there's a different definition of murder". When guild wars happen, large parts of the city are destroyed, and people take advantage of the chaos. As a policeman, Bruce must deal with all this and more, and every threat that he fails to deal with means more suffering for the average citizen. He does not come from a first-world country, where the rule of law is strong and the devastation of war is a distant memory.

His Investiture helps, but it doesn't do everything. Criminals are not defined by their Investiture, either. He could take a man's allomancy, but he couldn't take years of street-fighting experience. Unless Bruce used his stored steel, he was as vulnerable as any other man, and without compounding, that steel could run out very quickly. Living in a city of horrors, dealing with crime day after day, he had to be efficient about it. He had to be very suspicious-if he handcuffed and leeched a man, what would he do if another robber shot him from the shadows? He couldn't leech both at once.

Bruce knows how dangerous crime is. Both his parents were killed in a robbery gone wrong, and he has never forgotten it. But he also knows how easy it is to take the first steps into the underworld. After his parents died, Bruce lost his home and lived on the street. With his Investiture, it would be easy for him to join a gang, to steal food, to kill for profit. As time passed, those first steps looked more and more tempting. It scared him, so he made his way out of the slums and into an orphanage. When he was 18, he joined the police, both for revenge and to protect others from suffering as he had.

Police work wasn't what he thought it would be. Sure, it was dangerous, especially when criminals resisted, but he'd expected that. What he didn't expect was to see how human most criminals still were. Still, duty was duty, and Bruce remembered what crime could do. He earned a reputation of ruthlessness among the police for his willingness to kill, but as his body count grew, his willingness to kill decreased. He saw how killing criminals denied them chances at reform and shattered their innocent families. Still, if a dozen men were covering the exits and shooting at him, what else was he going to do? Each kill added to his guilt, but he had to keep going. He had a duty to the people, a cause greater than himself. Maybe he would find a better way in the future, but for now, this was how he served justice.

Guild: Government (Alleycity Police)

Psyche: Loner. Feels guilty about killing people.

Personality: Stern and arrogant to non-police. Friendly to police, knows most Alleycity policemen.

Appearance: Brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, big man. Wears a police uniform while on duty

Theme Song: something from Judge Dredd

Fighting Style: Shoot to kill or disable, depending on the situation. It's unfortunate that the criminals' families might never see their loved one again, but sometimes it must be done.

 

[+Ark1002]

On 10/25/2019 at 0:55 PM, I ♥️ Rashek said:

You're thinking of the real world.

For the average person, Alleycity is a horrible place to live. There's DA, body-stealing ghosts, and hemalurgic monsters everywhere. Criminals kill citizens without second thoughts, then never pay for their crimes because "there's a different definition of murder". When guild wars happen, large parts of the city are destroyed, and people take advantage of the chaos. The Alleycity police must deal with all this and more, and every threat that they miss means more suffering for the average citizen. They do not come from a first-world country, where the rule of law is strong and the devastation of war is a distant memory.

Criminals are not defined by their Investiture, either. You can take a man's allomancy, but you can't take years of street-fighting experience. Unless you use your stored steel, you're as vulnerable as any other man, and without compounding, that steel can run out very quickly. Living in a city of horrors, dealing with crime day after day, you have to be efficient about it. You have to be very suspicious-if you handcuff and leech this man, what will you do if his friend shoots you from the shadows? You can't leech both at once.

Alleycity police are happy when criminals come quietly. They've seen too many deaths because a thug decided to fight, and they aren't eager to see that again.

The Alleycity police are the Precursors. You can't change that with a wave of your hand.

[I ♥️ Rashek]

Ctrl-F police>precursors

[I ♥️ Rashek]

What is voidmaking?

Edited November 2, 2019 by I ♥️ Rashek
spelling

[+Invocation]

15 hours ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

What is voidmaking?

Shenanigans.

It's a magic system that is original to the AV, afaik. Voidus can tell you more. 

@Voidus 

[AonEne]

15 hours ago, I ♥️ Rashek said:

What is voidmaking?

Oh, you deleted the long question. Voidmaking is something very few people can do. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by AonEne

[Sunbringer]

So I was gone a long time, what is different about era 4? Will I have to mess around with Jacien to make him fair for the new ere?

[+Sorana]

8 hours ago, Sunbringer said:

So I was gone a long time, what is different about era 4? Will I have to mess around with Jacien to make him fair for the new ere?

If you used him in Era 3, you won't. Era 4 is more or less the same like Era 3 in that regard.

[+Invocation]

11 hours ago, Sunbringer said:

So I was gone a long time, what is different about era 4? Will I have to mess around with Jacien to make him fair for the new ere?

Oh hey, Sun! Yeah, like Sorana said, not much is different in scoring from E3 to E4. A lot of new characters and shuffled-up old ones, though. I don't remember if you were here for the revamp of the Radiant power-sorting or not, but that's a thing that happened.

[AonEne]

Hey folks, a couple of us were talking and thought that the Psyche category in the character sheet could essentially be included with the Personality, so I’d like to propose that they be combined. Psyche is a part of your personality. 

[+Invocation]

In some ways it is, in some ways it isn't. I think the system works just fine how it is.

[AonEne]

5 minutes ago, Invocation said:

In some ways it is, in some ways it isn't. I think the system works just fine how it is.

While psyche usually refers to one’s level of sanity or if they have any mental disorders, I think it would make the most sense for that to be in the Personality section, along with likes, dislikes, the way they react to people, and everything else. 

[+ZincAboutIt]

I agree, the extra category is confusing. I'm in favor of combining those two categories into one.