Shattered

Uh... Which means..?

Okay, Ethan's debut post is up.

Evan sat huddled in the corner, tapping frenetically at the keyboard of his notebook computer. He had had it since before the first appearance of Calamity, and had never had the will to get rid of it in exchange for a mobile. He had a special fondness for it. It had belonged to his mother. Brushing that distracting thought from his mind, Evan stopped briefly from his work and took a gulp from the mug of lukewarm coffee sitting beside him. He set the drink down, firmly pushed his glasses back into position, then resumed his frenzied pace, fingers flying across the keys. He had to finish the daily finance projections. Then there was the message from the informal civilian commerce coalition, the schedule for the rebuilding project, then the discussion of funding from the school board... He glanced out the window. It was dark outside. He'd stayed in past his work hours. Again. That's fine, he thought. I set those hours. He changed tabs, editing his schedule. There. That extra thirty minutes should allow me to finish about twelve more tasks per day. He finished his report, then sent it off. It's a good thing we have Arsenal, Evan thought to himself as he began his next assignment. Without him, The Dalles would have fallen into financial ruin long ago. Not that they were exactly skipping merrily along. Arsenal helped, but the way they were going through money... Evan would deal with it. He had to. Even if it was blasted hard to keep the city economy functioning smoothly. There were very few entities that facilitated the circulation of capital anymore. He allowed those outside thoughts to fade into the background, focusing solely on trying to come up with ways to explain to the street businesses that they wouldn't be getting their usual tax reduction this quarter. The city's budget was simply too tight recently, what with Quicksilver and the like causing ludicrous amounts of property damage. The room was filled with the noise of rapid clicks, often punctuated by brief periods of manic backspacing. Evan continued his hypnotizing rhythm for another twenty minutes. His progress was slow, but the letter was taking shape word by word. Despite additional drinks from his coffee, though, he began to droop over his computer. His eyelids began to grow heavy. A few minutes later and he was fighting to stay alert and functional. His eyes would close, but when he actually began to fall asleep, he would snap awake again, uncomfortably jerking his head back into position. He rubbed his eyes, trying to will the tiredness away. He was in the middle of revising his opening when he lost the battle. In light of recent events and unfortunate but necessary expenses, The Dalles city government will be unable toiewuywo8wowtv8weio78htoywie78rhoiity The impact of his face on the keyboard lurched him painfully back into wakefulness. Evan rubbed his nose tenderly, then stared at his notebook screen with uncharacteristic hatred. He immediately felt guilty, however, and patted the case affectionately, smiling, regarding the computer with bleary eyes. He erased the string of face-mashed words on the document, then downed the rest of his coffee and began to type again.

Alright. Name: Ethan Loyd Occupation: Manager (title may be changed on account of anonymous employee complaints; at last count: 233 filed) Age: 30 Height: 6'2" Hair: Brown Eyes: Green Personality: Talkative, but a workaholic. Demonstrates obsessive-compulsive tendencies. I'm thinking about just doing his opening post in the Dalles right now, to introduce his character. He won't need anyone to interact with, and I think a late-at-night scene would work well.

He's essentially Dockson...

His feelings about the ambiguity of his job description could be a character point. "All I'm asking for is a proper job title! 'Manager' doesn't cut it! Honestly! I have to manage city finances, regulate the civilian economy, organize public projects, and deal with the school board! And don't even get me started on city records..."

Okay, so he's... an accountant? City planner?

Yeah, that sounds good, though would 'administrative' duties entail primarily bureaucratic stuff or primarily judicial stuff? Or both?

So, if we're talking about including more vanillas in the Dalles... Does Autumn count as the main manager of all of the Epics in the City Guard? If not, then I was considering adding someone to fit that position. A former lawyer or something, for charisma and witty banter purposes.

Are you a Windrunner? Because I'm falling for you.

Are from Arelon or Teod? Because I've got my Aon you.

I have yet to figure out just who in Damnation Nighthound is and why everyone hates him.

Hey, are you an Awakened sword? Because you take my Breath away.

I believe that The Human Puddle is intended to be a prime individual, lurking off in a lair somewhere, forming an army of duplicates. The Puddle Brigade, if you will.

Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

The response to the Springfield pitch did give me an idea. What about a thread that is set in a small town in Oregon, and it has a sort of old western movie-type feel. It wouldn't really be a major thread, and there would be very few Epics, but I think it would be a cool concept. All of the Epics would be classified as lesser Epics (powers on par with Curveball), and there would typically just be one in the town at a time, controlling the vanillas. Then, periodically, other Epics would come in and challenge the current one for control of the town. Does that sound at all interesting?

Hah! Warbreaker is the best, you say? I'd take the most powerful and universal magics in the Cosmere over the slow and highly limiting excuse for a magic system on Nalthis! You get one book, and possibly a second one in the future. Mistborn gets twelve. I'd take a crew of highly skilled, clever, diverse, and complex characters over three people with narcolepsy-inducing single-mindedness. I prefer my antagonists to be one of the most powerful humans in the entirety of the Cosmere and a Shard of Adonalsium itself, not a group of coastal people who do almost nothing themselves. I prefer the stakes to be the entire planet, not the fate of a few kingdoms. I'd always take a complex and interesting social division over the social structure of a normal city. Oh, with twenty thousand people you can create a weapon more powerful than a Shardblade? With twenty thousand Allomancers, the person holding that weapon would instantly be doomed. Take that, planet of no Cosmere-awareness or interesting Shards.

Though aged meat runs a close second.

Psh. Those are obviously lifespren.

*broPush*

So, is anyone more aware of Frequency's intentions than I am? Because I just had my only character willingly join forces with a superpowered whistler that claims to be allied with an Epic that has about a 99.9999999999999999999999999% chance of being dead. And I have no idea what he's planning to do.

One of my favorite things about this RP is that you can tell that everyone's writing has been influenced by Brandon Sanderson to some degree.

I swear, it's like the Reckoners trilogy is just Brandon Sanderson sending a personal message to Marvel and DC: "This is how you do superpower stories, you slontzes."