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So I am a little confused about how this RP. works, and how the different character stories blend and what not

I'll do my best. For starters, we have two types of stories: Open and Selective.

Open stories, like the one we have open right now, are available for anyone who has an approved character and would care to join. The maker of the open story thread (usually will. be me, but others will be able to make their own as things solidify) acts as a sort of GM, controlling NPCs and setting up a scenario for others to join into. Your characters then just join the story and go with the flow. It's free-form fun for the whole family.

Selective stories are special threads, usually dedicated to character backstory or development. These stories are closed to everyone, and only the maker of the story gets to choose who joins and how. They can be free-form, or have a strict format, depending on the thread author.

Open and Selective stories, for the purposes of world building, are both parts of the Empowered universe. What happens in a Selective thread might effect future posts in an Open thread, and so on. Just like in real life: there are stories that you are a part of and those that are not, but both are valid and might effect each other.

Does that make a little more sense, or did I only just confuse everyone more?

This may be an issue in Wintreath's current RP forum format, since Wintermoot has to manually add each thread...

Aethelia:
Thank god for heroism. Moving on -
Is this just a natural power that arose? This universe's equivalent of the X-Gene activating (so she'd be a mutant), some kind of occult thing (a spell in the area? a spirit of some kind? the Goddess Aphrodite looking down and saying 'yo this shit won't fly, I condoned this in Archaic Greece but this is the 21st century'?), or maybe she's got an unknown alien origin (she'll go home and her parents will say 'hey...uh...there was a spaceship and we found you')? Lots of options, including the very dark 'her rapist had some kind of alien disease that gives people weird powers', meaning that her powers are the result of that suffering, and there is simultaneously a self-loathing for using them but also kind of a 'I survived and it made me stronger' kind of vibe depending on where you go with it. Shit that was kinda dark.
Anyway on to the powers. The Sonic Scream is easy - we can just say that you're emitting some quantity of force from the voice, scaling up the higher you scream (so very Banshee or Black Canary). An option for if you decide to simply shelve the Compelling Voice is that instead she simply has power incontinence, so like Black Bolt, she has to whisper, or simply speak as little as possible, in order to prevent immense destruction (but presumably with the corollary that when she speaks, buildings fall and eardrums shatter). Or you could just go the Black Canary route, and it's pretty much at-will. Considering that this is more of a sonic vibrations sort of gig, I don't think that the deaf, mindless, or insane would be immune to it, since it's not like wine glasses have ears, but they break whenever an opera singer sings anyway (yes it's a certain frequency etc. etc. come on let me have my oversimplifications considering I spend most of my time overcomplicating).
Charming Voice I'm pretty much cool with. You're a diplomancer. That's D&D-acceptable all the time.
And yeah, much like Ashton, I'm a little hung up on Compelling Voice. If this was a dice-using RPG, I'd just say 'aight it's a rolloff against their Willpower', but in a diceless format like this that's a little unreasonable. What I might suggest instead is that she takes a while to craft a compulsion, especially if she doesn't know the person, and the difficulty of making this compulsion varies based on how well-liked she is. If the person likes her already, its much easier - if they hate her, it's much harder (so she might compel a friend in a Civil War situation quite easily, but one of her Rogues Gallery would be pretty tough). It helps that an average person would likely see her and be like 'oh well hey good looking' and be well-disposed to her from the get-go, thus accounting for most mooks, but providing that needed flexibility that other people's actual characters would likely be able to resist and preventing the possibility of godmoding. Frankly, given the limitations you already set up on what compulsions seem reasonable (self harm is probably right out, but 'man today was exhausting you should take a nap' is probably gonna work on an overworked security guard), I'm personally not all too worried you'd abuse it, or feel cheated if a compulsion didn't work on another person's character. I'm also sort of using the mental shortcut of you essentially using Charm Person rather than Dominate Person.
lastly dang girl one of those replies was mine, you'd been at this a while

Taulover:
There isn't the option to just make a child board within the wider context of the RP Guild, a la the Spyfall/Werewolf child boards in the Amalyan Quarter? I'd sort of assumed that people could just freely make topics within those child boards that didn't need to be manually added.

Oh. Maybe that's more appropriate for DnD type RPs then... Forget that one, maybe I'll come back with something else.

Seems like everyone's excited about your character and is okay with the powers. If that's the case, Siren just got approved. Welcome aboard!

How come I was able to get away with a similar character back in the last super RP without getting this little chat? You must really like me

Either it completely and mistakenly passed my mind at the time, or you specifically are the reason for my new rules. I haven't decided which.

^ascension^

Aethelia:
Charming Voice I'm pretty much cool with. You're a diplomancer. That's D&D-acceptable all the time.
And yeah, much like Ashton, I'm a little hung up on Compelling Voice. If this was a dice-using RPG, I'd just say 'aight it's a rolloff against their Willpower', but in a diceless format like this that's a little unreasonable. What I might suggest instead is that she takes a while to craft a compulsion, especially if she doesn't know the person, and the difficulty of making this compulsion varies based on how well-liked she is. If the person likes her already, its much easier - if they hate her, it's much harder (so she might compel a friend in a Civil War situation quite easily, but one of her Rogues Gallery would be pretty tough). It helps that an average person would likely see her and be like 'oh well hey good looking' and be well-disposed to her from the get-go, thus accounting for most mooks, but providing that needed flexibility that other people's actual characters would likely be able to resist and preventing the possibility of godmoding. Frankly, given the limitations you already set up on what compulsions seem reasonable (self harm is probably right out, but 'man today was exhausting you should take a nap' is probably gonna work on an overworked security guard), I'm personally not all too worried you'd abuse it, or feel cheated if a compulsion didn't work on another person's character.

I suppose when it's out that way, the whole control thing is not that big of a deal. I'll still be keeping an eye out, but it should be good.

This may be an issue in Wintreath's current RP forum format, since Wintermoot has to manually add each thread...

FOR THE GREATER GOOD

Taulover:
There isn't the option to just make a child board within the wider context of the RP Guild, a la the Spyfall/Werewolf child boards in the Amalyan Quarter? I'd sort of assumed that people could just freely make topics within those child boards that didn't need to be manually added.

I'll wait for Wintermoot's input. Until we get an actual subforum though, when I'm assuming all our issues with treads, we'll probably be sticking to the current group story (which I won't respond to until I get one more reply btw).

IIRC the forum now does have the ability to have sub-subforums, but we decided to maintain the current format of having megathreads for everything in one subforum with dividers.

Child forums seem like a much more efficient method of organization, particularly since it won't need Wintermoot to put in additional effort to go into the code to do it for every new thread - he should just be able to create a new section and then any subsequent threads can go in there. It would be a change, but I'd think the benefits (such as being able to start from scratch when you're rebooting, like it seems is happening to a couple RPs, or have multiple ongoing stories without having to share a thread, as in this one) outweigh that adjustment period.

By the way, if you have an approved character feel free to jump in. This is supposed to have a Avengers/Suicide Squad feel, not a ménage à trois between three questionable superhumans.

So does the government know that Daniel is a serial arsonist or...?

So does the government know that Daniel is a serial arsonist or...?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I figure that if they did, they don't care in this case. Just work with the assumption that the govt. knows Daniel isn't a good character but doesn't know he's completely evil.

So does the government know that Daniel is a serial arsonist or...?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I figure that if they did, they don't care in this case. Just work with the assumption that the govt. knows Daniel isn't a good character but doesn't know he's completely evil.

KK

I was gonna say like, my dude is sort of a hired killer/bodyguard with a tendency to kill more than whomever he is being paid to kill, not sure how much notoriety he has. Maybe they govt. is just willing to look the other way for their own reasons, or maybe they just don't know how dangerous he is. And that's assuming that the news of his first mass slaughter in Iceland didn't get outside of the country. Granted he runs a cheerful little woodworking and blacksmithing side business that is much more public, but still.

Name: Emme Plane; Optical

Age and Gender: Female, 22

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Appearance: Black hair, cut to shoulder length and often tied up. Brown eyes that are often narrowed in thought, surprisingly narrow and “sharp” nose. Wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt or a dress, thus sticks to trousers and t-shirts, generally without patterns. Her trapeze outfit is coloured white and blue.

Personality: She tends to be very reflective in her reasoning, often jumping from one side’s perspective to another’s as she gains more information on a topic. She is motivated by either her curiosity or the desire for money, and the jobs she takes reflects this. She does like a good mystery.

On the job, Optical is a little fixated on her “mirror theme.” She also enjoys parkour, as being a trapeze artist nudged her towards running about and throwing herself off of things, plus her powers let her cheat and make extra platforms to jump off/land on.

Biography: Emme grew up with her aunt and extended family in her aunt’s circus. Her role was and is the trapeze artist, though the fact she could generate energy panes with her mind did mean things were a little safer than the crowd knew. Being born superhuman has its perks. Thus far, she hasn’t had anything awful happen to anyone she knows (other than her parents, but they passed away when she was very small, so they don’t really count), so she counts herself lucky.

Emme uses her status as being superhuman to be hired in various odd jobs. Protecting a (possibly stolen) van filled with (possibly stolen) goods, assisting a stake-out, fetching a ball from on top of a roof, she is fine with any request so long as it intrigues her or pays well. If someone were to hire her to guard a vault and it turns out the vault is filled with illegally gotten goods… a mirror doesn't judge, and she didn't steal it, so who cares? It pays. That said, she has a strict policy in keeping confidentiality. Furthermore, she has a tendency to end up on the “good guys’s” side. When she is hired more for “evil” activities, it is mostly to escort a truck or keep people out of a meeting -- barriers aren’t super conductive to evil schemes.

Powers: Optical’s powers are mainly centred around Energy Wall Generation. Basically, she can generate panes of energy that can be used as shields, platforms, and projectiles. These panes are mirror-like, and do not generate light of their own. However, Optical can adjust the opacity of a singular pane if she focuses. The panes cannot intersect or pass through one another, and are able to support her weight.

Each pane is about three centimetres (an inch) thick and have rounded sides, so they are incapable of being Absurdly Sharp Blades. Each energy pane can only move at speed when they move sideways, as air resistance greatly slows them down. So, projectiles only end up striking along the three centimetre edge like a discus. The thrown projectiles are generally about the size of a dinner plate, and Optical can only generate a total surface area of 50m².

The panes additionally can be shattered with sufficient force, as they are approximately as strong as bulletpoof glass. While the panes themselves are generated as regular rectangular shapes, Optical is able to distort them as if they were rubber. This allows her to use them as springboards and curved shields, as well as distorting the reflections in the mirrors.

Notes

July 13th, 2017: Removed the following.
-  As of now, I am uncertain what (or if there should be) a hard/general limit on the number and size of panes she can generate at once. I am not sure where the line between under and overpowered would be, and I'm bad.
-  I also am not sure what “sufficient force” would be, or what the weight limit should be.
-  I had three possible concepts on a “shape” rule for these panes. First possibility, they can only generate as flat rectangles. This prevents her using her powers to make simple structures. Second possibility, they are treated like paper. They can bend, giving the option of curved barriers and tubes. Third possibility, they are treated like rubber rectangles, allowing the shape to be distorted, and giving her the option of making spring boards and “barrier bubbles” to surround her (though, given that light/air can't pass through, that seems a bad idea). I'm not sure which to go with, though I'm leaning towards the second to first.
-  Basically, I would like some help quantifying these things and anything I've missed.
July 15th, 2017: Updated "Powers."

Also, do I need to go sign up at the Guild Halls, or do I just jump in? I haven't done anything like this before.

Elbbsas, your character sounds a little bit more like a true neutral or chaotic neutral than a lawful neutral. A lawful neutral follows the law because it exists, not because it is inherently good. A true neutral does a little bit if good, a little bit of bad, but not specifically for a reason. A chaotic neutral will only do something if it benefits them, so they will do good because it pays, or they will do bad because it pays, but they don't care about laws or the morals behind something (usually).

Elbbsas, your character sounds a little bit more like a true neutral or chaotic neutral than a lawful neutral. A lawful neutral follows the law because it exists, not because it is inherently good. A true neutral does a little bit if good, a little bit of bad, but not specifically for a reason. A chaotic neutral will only do something if it benefits them, so they will do good because it pays, or they will do bad because it pays, but they don't care about laws or the morals behind something (usually).

I had true neutral before, but put lawful since she's likely to follow a personal code when I'm actually writing her. Things like "Do not share information you have learned through a contract" and "Don't make a judgement until you have all the facts," and the like. Chaotic didn't seem right. In hindsight, I did not clearly illustrate that fact.

With her reasoning, I was thinking of her constantly going "On one hand, these facts are true, so this person could be doing XYZ, so I should not do K. On the other hand, these facts are true, so this person could instead be doing ABC, so I should therefore do K." The idea of changing a theory to suit the facts rather than the other way around is very much "her."

...I should still put it back to true neutral, thinking about it.

extremely appropriate last name

Name: Emme Plane; Optical

Age and Gender: Female, 22

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Appearance: Black hair, cut to shoulder length and often tied up. Brown eyes that are often narrowed in thought, surprisingly narrow and “sharp” nose. Wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt or a dress, thus sticks to trousers and t-shirts, generally without patterns. Her trapeze outfit is coloured white and blue.

Personality: She tends to be very reflective in her reasoning, often jumping from one side’s perspective to another’s as she gains more information on a topic. She is motivated by either her curiosity or the desire for money, and the jobs she takes reflects this. She does like a good mystery.

On the job, Optical is a little fixated on her “mirror theme.” She also enjoys parkour, as being a trapeze artist nudged her towards running about and throwing herself off of things, plus her powers let her cheat and make extra platforms to jump off/land on.

Biography: Emme grew up with her aunt and extended family in her aunt’s circus. Her role was and is the trapeze artist, though the fact she could generate energy panes with her mind did mean things were a little safer than the crowd knew. Being born superhuman has its perks. Thus far, she hasn’t had anything awful happen to anyone she knows (other than her parents, but they passed away when she was very small, so they don’t really count), so she counts herself lucky.

Emme uses her status as being superhuman to be hired in various odd jobs. Protecting a (possibly stolen) van filled with (possibly stolen) goods, assisting a stake-out, fetching a ball from on top of a roof, she is fine with any request so long as it intrigues her or pays well. If someone were to hire her to guard a vault and it turns out the vault is filled with illegally gotten goods… a mirror doesn't judge, and she didn't steal it, so who cares? It pays. That said, she has a strict policy in keeping confidentiality. Furthermore, she has a tendency to end up on the “good guys’s” side. When she is hired more for “evil” activities, it is mostly to escort a truck or keep people out of a meeting -- barriers aren’t super conductive to evil schemes.

Powers: Optical’s powers are mainly centred around Energy Wall Generation. Basically, she can generate panes of energy that can be used as shields, platforms, and projectiles. These panes are mirror-like, and do not generate light of their own. Each pane is about three centimetres (an inch) thick and have rounded sides, so they are incapable of being Absurdly Sharp Blades. Each energy pane can only move at speed when they move sideways, as air resistance greatly slows them down. So, projectiles only end up striking along the three centimetre edge like a discus. The thrown projectiles are generally about the size of a dinner plate. The panes additionally can be shattered with sufficient force. They cannot intersect or pass through one another, and are able to support her weight.


-  As of now, I am uncertain what (or if there should be) a hard/general limit on the number and size of panes she can generate at once. I am not sure where the line between under and overpowered would be, and I'm bad.
-  I also am not sure what “sufficient force” would be, or what the weight limit should be.
-  I had three possible concepts on a “shape” rule for these panes. First possibility, they can only generate as flat rectangles. This prevents her using her powers to make simple structures. Second possibility, they are treated like paper. They can bend, giving the option of curved barriers and tubes. Third possibility, they are treated like rubber rectangles, allowing the shape to be distorted, and giving her the option of making spring boards and “barrier bubbles” to surround her (though, given that light/air can't pass through, that seems a bad idea). I'm not sure which to go with, though I'm leaning towards the second to first.
-  Basically, I would like some help quantifying these things and anything I've missed.

Also, do I need to go sign up at the Guild Halls, or do I just jump in? I haven't done anything like this before.

I love your character! We can work out the kinks. Remember, alignments aren't a crutch, they're a walking stick. You don't need one to move, but it's yours and keeping it nearby can help with the tough things.

As for your powers, what do you mean by saying that the shields can be shattered by "sufficient force"? Are they bulletproof? Would a grenade break them?

I would say three should be your plane limit. Three is a nice number. As for size, let's say no larger than 10 meters each. You can make decent sized shields and barriers with those limits.

My favorite option would be the "rubber rectangles" one, but since all of them seem to be legal by RP rule, that's something you're going to have to decide on your own.

Once we get agreement on these questions, you're approved.

Also, I'm not starting the FBI meeting until we get a few more characters to join up. I don't want to leave anyone behind, especially our new Good alignments.