Question 20

[Jedal he/him]

6 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

This doesn't really fit with canon and how pervasive Epic corruption is. 

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Megan(an Epic who was far more powerful that Battery) manage to shake off the corruption over time? And the journey to Oregon would be on foot, requiring weeks of travel. This would allow plenty of time for Battery to be purified of the corruption.

[marsoupial they/them]

5 minutes ago, Jedal said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Megan(an Epic who was far more powerful that Battery) manage to shake off the corruption over time? And the journey to Oregon would be on foot, requiring weeks of travel. This would allow plenty of time for Battery to be purified of the corruption.

My character, Jude, who is a vanilla (a non-powered human), trekked from Raleigh to Portland over the course of years, in so doing losing his boyfriend and becoming a hermetic wanderer. He is anything but pure, and the prolonged isolation has not helped that.

I mean no offense, but your character seems rather two-dimensional. You can't go wrong with a little depth. 

I would suggest reading What Happened in Portland, to get a feel for how this whole Oregon thing works. 

Your ideas are not bad, they simply need some work and TLC. Keep it up.

Edited December 12, 2016 by bleeder

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

1 minute ago, Jedal said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Megan(an Epic who was far more powerful that Battery) manage to shake off the corruption over time? And the journey to Oregon would be on foot, requiring weeks of travel. This would allow plenty of time for Battery to be purified of the corruption.

Firefight and Calamity spoilers: 

Spoiler

In Firefight, it's revealed that Megan had extreme difficulty in not using her powers during Steelheart. The only way she resisted was because she had no other choice, and when she did the same during Firefight, she told David that it was driving her insane; and she's not a powerful Epic to begin with. Her power is useful, but not too terribly strong, by her own admission. 

If you're referring to the way she faced her fear at the end of Firefight, this is only a partial solution. Using her powers to excess invited the corruption back in, although she could resist using them for longer periods of time. Still, facing one's fear is supposed to be very difficult and rare. We're not allowing too many of these Epics, especially not as a first character who is already redeemed prior to their introduction. 

 

[Jedal he/him]

Just now, bleeder said:

My character, Jude, who is a vanilla (a non-powered human), trekked from Raleigh to Portland over the course of years, in so doing losing his boyfriend and becoming a hermetic wanderer. He is anything but pure, and the prolonged isolation has not helped that.

I mean no offense, but your character seems rather two-dimensional. You can't go wrong with a little depth. 

I would suggest reading What Happened in Portland, to get a feel for how this whole Oregon thing works. 

Your ideas are not bad, they merely need some work and TLC. Keep it up.

Well, any character would be two-dimensional after five minutes pondering! Thanks for the feedback though. Of course Ethan has failures and flaws. He is no perfectly good person, and is alright with crime as long as it is in the name of survival(meaning self-defense, stealing). Time has made him a hard man, and easily distrustful. One could argue that when not an Epic, he hates Epics, including himself. This carries over when he is corrupted(except for hating himself). He finds reasons to get rid of allies quickly, preferring human pawns. Ethan has a penchant for strawberries, as well. Battery and Ethan hate each other, and would do anything to keep from becoming each other. Batter sees himself as a hero, while Ethan a sinner. Each one thinks the other is evil.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

2 minutes ago, Jedal said:

Well, any character would be two-dimensional after five minutes pondering! Thanks for the feedback though. Of course Ethan has failures and flaws. He is no perfectly good person, and is alright with crime as long as it is in the name of survival(meaning self-defense, stealing). Time has made him a hard man, and easily distrustful. One could argue that when not an Epic, he hates Epics, including himself. This carries over when he is corrupted(except for hating himself). He finds reasons to get rid of allies quickly, preferring human pawns. Ethan has a penchant for strawberries, as well. Battery and Ethan hate each other, and would do anything to keep from becoming each other. Batter sees himself as a hero, while Ethan a sinner. Each one thinks the other is evil.

Please refer to my previous post for why this setup wouldn't work. 

[Jedal he/him]

6 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

Firefight and Calamity spoilers: 

  Hide contents

In Firefight, it's revealed that Megan had extreme difficulty in not using her powers during Steelheart. The only way she resisted was because she had no other choice, and when she did the same during Firefight, she told David that it was driving her insane; and she's not a powerful Epic to begin with. Her power is useful, but not too terribly strong, by her own admission. 

If you're referring to the way she faced her fear at the end of Firefight, this is only a partial solution. Using her powers to excess invited the corruption back in, although she could resist using them for longer periods of time. Still, facing one's fear is supposed to be very difficult and rare. We're not allowing too many of these Epics, especially not as a first character who is already redeemed prior to their introduction. 

 

Ah. Well then, serious revision is needed! Thank you for opening my eyes. I'm going to being compiling a google doc and post something more complete sometime tomorrow.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

5 minutes ago, Jedal said:

Ah. Well then, serious revision is needed! Thank you for opening my eyes. I'm going to being compiling a google doc and post something more complete sometime tomorrow.

Go ahead and just copy and paste what you post there in here.  

[Assassin in Burgundy he/him]

Ok this'll be the third time I post a character here and hopefully this time I'll actually do something with it. So I'd like to make an Epic who's able to make plants grow ridiculously fast and control them and stuff. Her name's Rowena Vallete, and is slightly insane after her house burned down when she was twelve, killing her parents. Now she has a personal vendetta against people who cause burning, but is fine with almost anyone else. Thoughts?

EDIT: Also her Epic name would be Cypress. 

Edited December 12, 2016 by Assassin in Burgundy
Added name

[Assassin in Burgundy he/him]

7 minutes ago, Cognizantastic said:

There's already an Epic who can do such things in the Dalles. His name is Florist and I did his last post, but it's not necessarily a permanent adoption if you'd like an Epic with that power set. The community is also far more amenable to adoption than it is new Epics, and this seems like a perfect opportunity.  

I would be open to retconning his name and gender as his creator did nearly nothing with him. What do you think?

Sure! What's going on in the Dalles exactly?

[Assassin in Burgundy he/him]

2 minutes ago, Cognizantastic said:

There was an invasion of murderous pandas under the control of a manipulator of organic matter, but they're currently off to retreat and replenish their ranks by forcing other humans to become panda bears. They might be back sometime soon, though.

More prominent is the current fight between Quicksilver, a metal controlling Epic, and the Dalles City Guard. My Florist post should clear it up a bit

A tad complicated, I know. I'd reccomend reading over the last few pages in the Dalles, then doing a keyword search for Florist. We're open to questions as well.  

 

I'm sorry, was "There was an invasion of murderous panda bears" intentional?? Also, was that the most recent post by Florist?

Edited December 12, 2016 by Assassin in Burgundy

[Assassin in Burgundy he/him]

2 minutes ago, Cognizantastic said:

Yes. I'm not joking. Look for the keyword "panda" in the thread and read through the relevant posts. I promise that it is immensely entertaining. 

Seriously dude, this RP is rad. Like, insane-flesh-manipulator-with-army-of-mutant-ursines rad.

 Ok then. So I read the last post and it seems pretty easy to turn him kinda more violent, which is kinda what I want. Is he aligned with the City Guard?

[Assassin in Burgundy he/him]

Just now, Cognizantastic said:

Yes, but it's more so an alliance of convenience than any true loyalty. As he's been established, all he really cares about are his plants. 

If you want to discuss him further, we can do so over PM. Go ahead and message me anything you want to ask or talk about.

Ok. Thanks. 

[ShadowLord_Lith he/him]

Yay! New thread! We will weave a masterful quilt in no time!

Edit: I think I've finished my human character for Portland. I even read the last four pages in the topic/thread thing, which took way longer than expected. Anyway, here she is!

Spoiler

Quiara de'créme: human vanilla, female.

Age: 16 1/2

Skills: Bartending, listening, comforting, cooking, writing, singing, reading, cleaning, math genius, running, can speak English, can understand(but can't speak) Spanish French and German, can pick almost any lock with a Bobbi pin, clever, good with guns, handy with a knife, etc...

Description: She has waist length black hair and Coppery skin with light-brown(almost beige) colored eyes; uses her hair to cover a small eyepatch that covers her right eye; usually wears jeans and a grey hoodie with a white T-shirt beneath it, along with grey-and-black tennis-shoes; wears a small, steel, charm bracelet from her mother.

Background: Quiara was born to a Mexican mother and French father in Santa-Fey New Mexico. The family moved to Salem Oregon shortly after her birth due to a job opportunity for her father. When calamity struck around her fifth birthday, the family moved to Portland where there was a small chance of safety. Shortly after she turned seven, Portland fell to the factions that currently own it, and she and her parents started preparing to leave again. Her parents were killed in a public display of power by two epics with illusion and emotion manipulatory abilities. Three days later the bartender, took her in, saving her from starvation. She's worked there ever since, though she'd taken a day off the day the bartender(most called him Johny) died. She took over shortly after.

May I have some critiques?

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by ShadowLord_Lith
Additions

[Edgedancer he/him]

@Jedal Not in anyway a problem with the character itself but I feel like I should point out if he wants to kill every other Epic, he should at least be subtle about it.

Edit: And then I noticed a second page making that point kinda moot.

8 hours ago, Mesa the Ookla said:

BTW have u read edgedanxer yet?

In case you mean the short story, I have not and I know of another couple people here that have not.

@ShadowLord_Lith This will likely not make a notification because of me overlooking the second page, so don't be suprised about that as well.
Anyway, tally, punny name, I do have a fondness for those. The age should be about right by the timeline, so that's good. Has an eyepatch
The only notable emotion manipulator I can think off hasen't been long enough in the city to fit into the backstory I think but that's more a detail anyway.
So yeah, seems good overall and sounds fun.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Edgedancer

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

The only epic who has banished hhe darkness to some degree is obliteration right?

Oh, and @Jedal. Interesting character, I absolutely loved Bishop in the marvel comics (he had energy absotption and redirecting powers too) although I reckon this would be a cooler name

ASSIMILATOR 

Edited December 12, 2016 by Mesa the Ookla

[Edgedancer he/him]

21 minutes ago, Mesa the Ookla said:

The only epic who has banished hhe darkness to some degree is obliteration right?

Oh, and @Jedal. Interesting character, I absolutely loved Bishop in the marvel comics (he had energy absotption and redirecting powers too) although I reckon this would be a cooler name

ASSIMILATOR 

Calamity

Spoiler

Well, Obliteration couldn't have claimed his powers from Calamity, seeing how he never interacted with him and Larcener apparently never percived anything similair to Megan before, which means that with the power he used any kind of partial redemption couldn't have keept him from being recorrupted after melting a city for example. So the conclusion that make sense in universe regarding him is that he was corrupted and just didn't notice because he was crazy anyway. Wheter or not he was partially redeemed or just completely in disconnect with what happened is kinda impossible to tell.

There's still Conflux though.

 

[marsoupial they/them]

7 hours ago, ShadowLord_Lith said:

Yay! New thread! We will weave a masterful quilt in no time!

Edit: I think I've finished my human character for Portland. I even read the last four pages in the topic/thread thing, which took way longer than expected. Anyway, here she is!

  Hide contents

Quiara de'créme: human vanilla, female.

Age: 16 1/2

Skills: Bartending, listening, comforting, cooking, writing, singing, reading, cleaning, math genius, running, can speak English, can understand(but can't speak) Spanish French and German, can pick almost any lock with a Bobbi pin, clever, good with guns, handy with a knife, etc...

Description: She has waist length black hair and Coppery skin with light-brown(almost beige) colored eyes; uses her hair to cover a small eyepatch that covers her right eye; usually wears jeans and a grey hoodie with a white T-shirt beneath it, along with grey-and-black tennis-shoes; wears a small, steel, charm bracelet from her mother.

Background: Quiara was born to a Mexican mother and French father in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The family moved to Salem, Oregon shortly after her birth due to a job opportunity for her father. When Calamity struck around her fifth birthday, the family moved to Portland where there was a small chance of safety. Shortly after she turned seven, Portland fell to the factions that currently own it, and she and her parents started preparing to leave again. Her parents were killed in a public display of power by two epics with illusion and emotion manipulatory abilities. Three days later the bartender, took her in, saving her from starvation. She's worked there ever since, though she'd taken a day off the day the bartender(most called him Johnny) died. She took over shortly after.

May I have some critiques?

 

That's quite clever. We need more good vanillas. 

I'm down. It's up to everyone else on this one.

[Comatose he/him]

15 hours ago, ShadowLord_Lith said:

Yay! New thread! We will weave a masterful quilt in no time!

Edit: I think I've finished my human character for Portland. I even read the last four pages in the topic/thread thing, which took way longer than expected. Anyway, here she is!

  Hide contents

Quiara de'créme: human vanilla, female.

Age: 16 1/2

Skills: Bartending, listening, comforting, cooking, writing, singing, reading, cleaning, math genius, running, can speak English, can understand(but can't speak) Spanish French and German, can pick almost any lock with a Bobbi pin, clever, good with guns, handy with a knife, etc...

Description: She has waist length black hair and Coppery skin with light-brown(almost beige) colored eyes; uses her hair to cover a small eyepatch that covers her right eye; usually wears jeans and a grey hoodie with a white T-shirt beneath it, along with grey-and-black tennis-shoes; wears a small, steel, charm bracelet from her mother.

Background: Quiara was born to a Mexican mother and French father in Santa-Fey New Mexico. The family moved to Salem Oregon shortly after her birth due to a job opportunity for her father. When calamity struck around her fifth birthday, the family moved to Portland where there was a small chance of safety. Shortly after she turned seven, Portland fell to the factions that currently own it, and she and her parents started preparing to leave again. Her parents were killed in a public display of power by two epics with illusion and emotion manipulatory abilities. Three days later the bartender, took her in, saving her from starvation. She's worked there ever since, though she'd taken a day off the day the bartender(most called him Johny) died. She took over shortly after.

May I have some critiques?

 

Looks fun to me!  Is the illusionist supposed to be Altermind?  It would be fun to work that into his history.  

[Jedal he/him]

Alright, I revamped my Epic, and I'm gonna divide the different parts into different sections.

Name: Battery

Real name: David

Powers:

Spoiler

Prime Ability: Feedback: Battery can absorb and redirect energy attacks from other Epics. However, the power of the attack will diminish greatly as soon as it has been absorbed (i.e. if a blast could obliterate a car, it would instead knock it over). Battery is acutely aware of the power of each strike he has absorbed, and can redirect the energy whenever he wishes. However, the longer he holds the energy in, the weaker it becomes.

Secondary Ability: Enhanced durability and strength: Battery can tank a couple of hits from an Epic with above average strength, and survive a fall from a five story building. However, he cannot survive a sustained fight with powerful Epics nor survive bullets and tank shells.

Secondary Ability: Regeneration: While not instantaneous, Battery regenerates every Sunday, with any wounds that were not caused by his weakness vanishing.

Personality:

Spoiler

With the onset of his powers, David began to see himself as God, and began to blame himself for his mother’s death. This inner guilt and hatred of himself manifests as callousness for lives, as he believes that if he did not save the life of the woman who was pure goodness, all lives must be trivial. While not actively seeking to murder, he has no qualms for it if his cause calls for it. Seeking to rule as the God he is, Battery has slaves create monuments to him, converting the area he occupies into a sort of cult, complete with a twisted clergy and rituals.

Pre-Calamity Backstory:

Spoiler

David was a regular man, albeit incredibly bitter at the world for taking his mother from him. Having contracted leukemia, the woman who had been like an angel was stolen away when David was merely a boy. Blaming God for not saving her, David entombed himself in studies of medicine, desiring to prevent anyone else from suffering God’s wrath. Becoming an extremely skilled oncologist, David saved hundreds of lives, but lost more patients than he would care to admit.

Reason for coming to Oregon:

Spoiler

 

Utilizing his new abilities, Battery conquered the city of Seattle, Washington, within a year. Although not nearly the strongest Epic, Battery was most definitely one of the smartest. Channeling the city’s power grid, he called down massive bolts of lightning and obliterated his challengers. However, everything changed when a powerful Epic known as Fission came. With the power to split atoms, Fission leveled a great deal of Seattle within days, challenging Battery to a battle. In a war that was waged for three hours, the two men battled across Seattle, with Battery absorbing the atomic energy and hurling it at Fission. In the end, it was luck that had led Battery to victory. Having fallen beneath a pile of rubble, Battery lay in hiding. Fission stepped over the ruins of the enemy he thought dead. As Fission raised a hand to destroy his foe once and for all, Battery burst from the stones, throwing forth his entire reserve of power, destroying Fission in a blaze of light. The battle may have been won, but Battery had lost his kingdom. Hearing tales of Oregon and the many Epics there, Battery desired to prove himself God of everything. And so, he set out to create an empire.

I don't know if I should put my weakness here, but if I should, I'll just add it in.

I would really appreciate some feedback from you @bleeder .

Edited December 12, 2016 by Jedal

[Edgedancer he/him]

@Jedal So two primary questions, for one, if he redirects energy attacks from Epics how did he use the energy grid and second,  what are the limits of that regeneration? (Severed limbs, actual death?)

I'm also not sure if Seatle ever came up in backstories anywhere. Anyone remember anything about that?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

15 minutes ago, Jedal said:

Alright, I revamped my Epic, and I'm gonna divide the different parts into different sections.

Name: Battery

Real name: David

Powers:

  Hide contents

 

Prime Ability: Feedback: Battery can absorb and redirect energy attacks from other Epics. However, the power of the attack will diminish greatly as soon as it has been absorbed (i.e. if a blast could obliterate a car, it would instead knock it over). Battery is acutely aware of the power of each strike he has absorbed, and can redirect the energy whenever he wishes. However, the longer he holds the energy in, the weaker it becomes.

Secondary Ability: Enhanced durability and strength: Battery can tank a couple of hits from an Epic with above average strength, and survive a fall from a five story building. However, he cannot survive a sustained fight with powerful Epics nor survive bullets and tank shells.

Secondary Ability: Regeneration: While not instantaneous, Battery regenerates every Sunday, with any wounds that were not caused by his weakness vanishing.

Personality:

  Hide contents

 

With the onset of his powers, David began to see himself as God, and began to blame himself for his mother’s death. This inner guilt and hatred of himself manifests as callousness for lives, as he believes that if he did not save the life of the woman who was pure goodness, all lives must be trivial. While not actively seeking to murder, he has no qualms for it if his cause calls for it. Seeking to rule as the God he is, Battery has slaves create monuments to him, converting the area he occupies into a sort of cult, complete with a twisted clergy and rituals.

Pre-Calamity Backstory:

  Hide contents

 

David was a dman, albeit incredibly bitter at the world for taking his mother from him. Having contracted leukemia, the woman who had been like an angel was stolen away when David was merely a boy. Blaming God for not saving her, David entombed himself in studies of medicine, desiring to prevent anyone else from suffering God’s wrath. Becoming an extremely skilled oncologist, David saved hundreds of lives, but lost more patients than he would care to admit.

Reason for coming to Oregon:

  Hide contents

 

 

Utilizing his new abilities, Battery conquered the city of Seattle, Washington, within a year. Although not nearly the strongest Epic, Battery was most definitely one of the smartest. Channeling the city’s power grid, he called down massive bolts of lightning and obliterated his challengers. However, everything changed when a powerful Epic known as Fission came. With the power to split atoms, Fission leveled a great deal of Seattle within days, challenging Battery to a battle. In a war that was waged for three hours, the two men battled across Seattle, with Battery absorbing the atomic energy and hurling it at Fission. In the end, it was luck that had led Battery to victory. Having fallen beneath a pile of rubble, Battery lay in hiding. Fission stepped over the ruins of the enemy he thought dead. As Fission raised a hand to destroy his foe once and for all, Battery burst from the stones, throwing forth his entire reserve of power, destroying Fission in a blaze of light. The battle may have been won, but Battery had lost his kingdom. Hearing tales of Oregon and the many Epics there, Battery desired to prove himself God of everything. And so, he set out to create an empire.

I don't know if I should put my weakness here, but if I should, I'll just add it in.

It's more of an all there in the manual scenario, but until very recently, Seattle was ruled by a vampire Epic called Soulflicker. This is actually pretty important to one of my Epic' backstories, so is there another city he could've conquered?

[Edgedancer he/him]

4 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

It's more of an all there in the manual scenario, but until very recently, Seattle was ruled by a vampire Epic called Soulflicker. This is actually pretty important to one of my Epic' backstories, so is there another city he could've conquered?

Right, that was the one. Can't belive I didn't think of it. (Side note, might be more realistic if it's a bit of a smaller city anyway)

[Jedal he/him]

8 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

It's more of an all there in the manual scenario, but until very recently, Seattle was ruled by a vampire Epic called Soulflicker. This is actually pretty important to one of my Epic' backstories, so is there another city he could've conquered?

The city isn't really important, just that he was in control of a large place which could have been considered a "kingdom" and that other Epics would have wanted. Also, @Edgedancer the redirection is not limited to Epics, which I should have made more clear. It was more of a general ability to redirect energy.

The limits would be basically restricted to his weakness. If he died, however, he would not reincarnate. Limbs could regenerate.

EDIT: It could also be a fictional city. Just some place with a local power grid and enough ground for Battery to feel fulfilled.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Jedal

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Depending on how long after Calamity he got his powers, finding a city with a functional power grid might be a tall order; and keeping it functional would be equally difficult. He'd need infrastructure to keep all that going, a police force to protect it, a populace to justify it, and loyal Epics to protect the city from rivals....and all of a sudden Steelheart and Newcago aren't unique anymore. 

[Edgedancer he/him]

41 minutes ago, Jedal said:

Also, @Edgedancer the redirection is not limited to Epics, which I should have made more clear. It was more of a general ability to redirect energy.

So how exactly would he draw from energy that's not just an Epic shooting at him? Could he stick his finger into a socket and control all of the energy at once? What about stuff like kinetic energy and heat?