• If your recruitment thread involves completely going off site with your partner(s) then it belongs in the Off-Site Ad Area.
  • This area of the site is governed by the official Recruitment rules. Whether you are looking for players or looking for a roleplay, we recommend you read them and familiarize your self with them. Read the Recruitment Rules Here.

Fantasy | αΩ | Alpha & Omega | Ωα |

OverconfidentMagi

Laugh Like You've Won Always
Roleplay Availability
Roleplay Type(s)
Setting:


The story is set in the near future, only a handful of years to allow for some extra creative freedom and all that, no flying cars or the like.  The summary of things isn't too complicated. A strange being shows up in Shanghai, couple hours later there is no more Shanghai, being disappears. Rinse and repeat in random locations all over the world. That's Omega. Alpha started appearing shortly after, appearing in the wake of Omega's destruction. Omega killed countless people wherever he appeared, but it was possible to still survive unharmed with enough preparation or dumb luck. Alpha's appearance is what killed almost all of those survivors. And the ones that were somehow still alive after both Omega and Alpha were done weren't quite the same. 


Powers:


The powers in this RP aren't exactly superpowers. For one, they aren't something the character can control, and they don't have any off switch. They are always-on passive abilities that don't care what their owner thinks or does. Let's use fire as our example. Pretty basic power in most contexts. So the character is given fire as their power by Alpha, and their entire body combusts into a pillar of flame, and they die right then and there screaming as their own power consumes them. The general rule here is that characters are not immune to their own power. So how might a fire power work? Well, given the no self-immunity rule, elemental powers are tough. In any extreme form, they will end up killing their owner. So for fire what if the ability took the form of lighting whatever touched the character? It would be incredibly inconvenient, yes, but it would come close to being able to pull of the same kinds of tricks as the standard pyromancer. Or for something less obtrusive, what about simply not being burned by fire? Less flashy with the tradeoff of being much less obtrusive handling the downsides. The key point here is that big powers generally have big prices, to the point that most of the survivors with these powers consider them a curse, or the price they paid for living through Omega and Alpha's appearance. There's some more to the system, but I'll expand on that all in the comments below or in the actual RP. If you have a power in mind just let me know and I can held you adapt it, or I can pull something from my vault of abilities that I think might fit.


Roles:


Now to explain where the players will be and what they'll be doing. Everyone will be playing a survivor with powers that was either in New York or Philadelphia when Omega appeared there. They were recovered from the rubble and transported to a large underground facility somewhere in Pennsylvania, where they are contained and studied by an organization called Pandora. The survivors of the New York incident have been in the facility for quite a while already, a year now, but the Philadelphia survivors will be coming in fresh following Omega's appearance there at the start of the RP. The beginning will allow for interaction and dealing with these new and uncontrollable powers, and will last some time. Small spoilers, but that won't last forever. Omega will eventually show up nearby, destroy the facility, and the survivors will either stay with Pandora or escape. Your characters will be the ones who choose to escape because the staying with Pandora option doesn't lead to much excitement. Act accordingly so that that decision doesn't seem too forced when it happens.


The characters will then be on their own and very suddenly have to fend for themselves against all sorts of threats. Omega and Alpha are causing order to break down all across the world, and there are very few people out there that have a favorable view towards these special survivors.


So yeah, this will be a small-medium group RP. I'd split the group into two smaller groups based on when players are on if the group seemed too large. Writing expectations would be detailed paragraphs minimum, maximum limit unset unless Someone really forces me to make one, and I'd expect a post every 2 days minimum. There will be action, but most of the mass-destruction typical of other superpower RPs will be done by Omega and not the players, as that kind of power would probably kill the one outputting it. What happens later in the RP is TBD though, so who knows. Most of the situations will focus more on surviving or getting away than on actually overpowering the enemy.


This is a pretty barebones summary of what I have in mind, and I probably left out a lot, so feel free to ask any questions you have down below and I'll use that to expand on what I have in mind and clarify everything.


If this sounds like something you might be interested in joining let me know.


The RP has been made, but you're still free to chat here.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I suppose I'll just go on to describe some of the different groups that exist in this setting.


First is Pandora. The survivors cannot live alongside normal people. That's the conclusion most of the world's governments have come to. Their powers are to much of a potential threat to those around them and too little is known about how their powers work and what effects they may have on normal people. And at the same time most countries and organizations are simply too busy dealing with cleaning up after each of Omega's appearances. So Pandora was formed. Wherever Omega appears, Pandora sends their recovery teams to that location, and as soon as Omega and Alpha are both confirmed gone their teams rush in to find any survivors. It's an incredibly dangerous job. If they go in too soon they risk exposing themselves to Alpha and being altered, but even after there is still the risk of coming across dangerous unstable abilities that haven't yet killed their owner. Those are danger level 5 abilities. There's also the danger level 4's though, which are powers that don't kill their owner but still pose too large a threat to allow exist. While not their main purpose, the recovery team does deal with executing any individual they come across deemed to possess a level 4 ability. Those are unfortunate and less common cases though, and as their name implies the main job of the recovery team is to find survivors and take them out of the destroyed city.


They are brought to a large, mostly-underground facility where they are given food and shelter. There Pandora monitors them while studying the changes caused by exposure to Subject Alpha and the unique abilities each survivor displays. There are many comforts and amenities provided to the survivors, but still it would not be entirely wrong to view Pandora's complex as something close to a concentration camp. The survivors are not allowed to leave and to the outside world they are dead. But back to lighter things. Survivor's abilities are given a danger level based on the amount of threat they pose to those around them. Generally level 1's pose no threat at all and live as comfortably as they could within the complex. They can move about the most freely, interact with Pandora members and other survivors frequently, and even share private space with other survivors. They simply cannot leave and must still allow themselves to be monitored and tested regularly. Level 2's are potentially dangerous to others or visibly affect their surroundings. Depending on the exact nature of their powers they may have the same freedoms a level 1 might, or they may have certain limitations put on them. They are still generally free to do what they want. Level 3 is were Pandora begins to seem more like a prison than simply a place to live. 3's pose a clear danger to themselves and/or others. They aren't allowed contact with other survivors and often only get to interact with Pandora agents in highly controlled situations. The place where 3's are kept isolated is usually simply called "the Box", where each survivor is locked away from the world either for their own good or to protect everyone else from their ability. A level 3 whose power harms them can easily change into a level 5 if their power begins to kill them and become unstable. That's a rundown of Pandora. A little light, a little dark, but mostly just trying to understand.


The government, at least the American one, has is hands full dealing with the mess Omega causes each time he appears. The sudden destruction of a major city is not something that is easily recovered from, and since Omega's appearance it has become a constant threat and reality. It's all the government can do to keep society from completely breaking down. The army initially fought back against Omega, but their methods were ineffective and only caused further destruction. Now the majority of those forces are simply used to keep the peace with the rest cooperating with Pandora to keep the survivors and their abilities contained.


Another group worth mentioning is the Church of the Angel, a popular religious movement that names Omega as a demon/devil/Satan/anti-Christ whose mission is to destroy the world, and Alpha as an Angel sent by God to offer humanity a chance of salvation. Specifics vary wildly from place to place and person to person, but is is a very widespread idea. That there are survivors possessing strange power granted to them by the Angel is common knowledge at this point - it isn't something easy to keep secret for long - and only supports the church's beliefs. In some places where anomalies exist (survivors who have either avoided containment or who simply cannot be moved due to the nature of their ability) they have even become idols or sacred sites that followers of the church worship and pray to.


There's also the Doves, a group of strong survivors who have avoided capture by Pandora and other groups that wishes to exist peacefully away from where they might harm normal people, creating a safe haven for themselves and other survivors where they can live free from being hunted or discriminated against.


That is a bit longer than I expected, but oh well. It's better than just bumping the thread and adding nothing at all to it.
 
Well, the first ability that came to mind was Invisibility, because of a certain movie I have just recently watched. I'm guessing it would either be a Level 1 or 2 depending on whether or not you would allow for it to affect things my character comes in contact with. Either way, I'm pretty comfortable with it.
 
Well, the first ability that came to mind was Invisibility, because of a certain movie I have just recently watched. I'm guessing it would either be a Level 1 or 2 depending on whether or not you would allow for it to affect things my character comes in contact with. Either way, I'm pretty comfortable with it.

Cool, that was actually one of the abilities I'd planned on giving one of the NPCs if no one chose it. Now the question is, how do you want the invisibility to work? There's light-based, where light simply passes through the person for total invisibility from sight and cameras, but clothes would not be affected, or there's mental-based, where the person blocks others from perceiving them, and would not affect machines, but it wouldn't matter if the person was wearing clothes (actually as it's perception-based, the more plain the clothes the less visible they would be). The former would have a danger level of 1 as it only affects themselves, while the later would be a danger level of 2 as its actually affecting the minds of those around them, though one of the less worrisome kind. It's also worth pointing out that mental-based invisibility would only work at short to mid-range distances, whereas light-based would work perfectly over any distance, and mental-based would not effect reflections, unlike light-based which would make that person unable to even see their own reflection in a mirror.
 
I'm interested, however I have additional questions if I may

Ask away.


Okay, I've been putting some things together while waiting for interest to trickle in. Here's the first draft of the character skeleton if anyone wants to start preparing their character ahead of time.


Name: 


Age: 


Generally those who survived were young, children and teens, with younger and older subjects being rare.


Gender: 


Do not make this complicated.


Appearance:


I'd very much prefer written descriptions of your characters, but if you must use an image I'd prefer anime over photograph.


Personality: 


Short and sweet, it should come out in your posts so not much need to write an essay.


Background:


I just want a short 1-paragraph summary of who they are and what their life was like before Omega's first appearance (the Shanghai Devastation), and the time since and leading up to Omega suddenly appearing in either New York or Philadelphia, depending on which incident they were involved in. 


Faction: 


Everyone will begin as a ward of Pandora, but as the RP moves alone characters may become Rogue, ally themselves with one of the various groups at work in the world, or set up their own groups. Pandora is the pseudo-government organization that is studying the survivors of Alpha's appearances and the abilities those individuals possess. Other notable groups that exists include the Doves, a group of strong survivors who wish to use their powers to create a safe haven for themselves and other survivors who aren't able to exist alongside normal people, and the Church of the Angel, a religious group centered around the belief that Omega is a demon/Satan/the anti-Christ (it varies), and that Alpha is an Angel sent by God to offer salvation to the chosen. 


Incident Location:


The city they were in when Omega and then Alpha appeared, where they witnessed absolute destruction and gained their power. For your characters this will by either New York or Philadelphia.


Subject _______


A name for the character based on their ability will go there.


Everything below I will be going through and filling out, but feel free to enter whatever you think should be there.


Power: 


The most succinct was to describe what the ability is.


Description:


A short entry on what the ability is.


Type: 


Powers are grouped by their effects. Examples of types include: sensory, mental, physical, energy /matter / force manipulation, etc.


Phase:


I will inform you if/when this number needs to change.


Danger Level: 


A value representing the threat a power poses, either to its owner, those surrounding them, or the world. Players will typically range from 1 (non-dangerous, only affects self) to 2 (possibly dangerous, visibly affects surroundings). At level 3 their power poses a danger to self and/or others, and they would not typically be allowed to interact with the other survivors within Pandora. Beyond that are ranks 4 (too dangerous to let live), which are typically killed by the recovery agents on sight, and 5 (power is so volatile that it kills the owner). Its believed that most of the powers granted by Alpha are level 5, and that's why so many people die when it appears. 


Status:


The current official status of the subject, either being currently kept under Pandora's care, missing, deceased, etc.


Here are some examples of characters in the RP, with personality and bios altered or removed because I'd prefer to show NPCs through the RP. The first and third are reserved NPCs, but if someone really wants to take an electricity-based power I am willing to remove or alter Subject Spark. These are just to give basic ideas of what a character might be like.

Name: 


Abigail Reines


Age: 


14


Gender: 


Female


Appearance: 


A thin, lanky girl with light-blonde hair cut short in the front but much longer in the back, typically tied into one long braid down her back. She has very pale white skin marked by freckles across her face. She's been blind since birth. Her attire is typically a large baggy sweatshirt or hoodie with mismatching short shorts and heavy boots.


Faction:


Pandora


Incident Location:


London


Subject Medusa


Power: 


Alpha Sight


Description: 


The subject is able to visibly perceive the unique energies given off by Subjects Alpha and Omega, as well as those same energies coming from individuals exposed to Subject Alpha who all exhibit some form of emergent abilities of their own. The ability is invaluable in locating and identifying those exposed to Subject Alpha, especially those whose ability is not immediately apparent or is simply invisible.


Type: 


Sensory (Self)


Phase:





Danger Level: 


1


Status:


Active - Pandora Special Case Recovery Agent


Name: 


Joshua Devon


Age: 


11


Gender: 


Male


Appearance: 


A boy with slightly tanned skin, hazel eyes, and brown hair that's always sticking up due to static. His fingertips and lips are covered in small burns. He wears plain white shorts and a white shirt. He typically does not wear any shoes, only thin socks if necessary.


Personality: 


Joshua is high-energy, pun intended, and often seen with a playful smile across his face. He enjoys being the center of attention and being around as many people as he can. He intentionally touches others frequently to discharge built up electricity, which often comes as a surprise to them. He may simply do it to keep from building up more dangerous charges, or he may simply enjoy shocking others to get a reaction out of them. When he thinks he's genuinely hurt someone he immediately drops his joking demeanor and apologizes sincerely. 


Background:


Joshua's family had just recently moved into New York before Omega first appeared. They didn't decide to move back out of the city quick enough, only a year later Omega appeared in New York and brought destruction there as well. They were out shopping when Omega appeared, and Joshua was one of the lucky, or unlucky, few who survived. The recovery team pulled him from the wreckage of the shop with some difficulty - the first one who tried to move him suffered electrical burns and refused to try again after that - and brought him to Pandora, where he's lived for the past year. Of all of the subjects at this facility, the subject seems to be among those most easily adapting to his new life.


Faction:


Pandora


Incident Location:


New York


Subject Spark


Power: 


Electrical Field


Description: 


The subject's body generates an abnormally high amount of electrical energy and the releases the built up energy in the form of static into whatever, or whoever, he comes into contact with. Not releasing the built up electrical energy frequently can cause it to reach more dangerous levels, causing harm to the subject or another when the energy is finally allowed to escape. In tests the built up charge was enough to kill insects and even a small lizard. It is expected that if electrical discharge did not occur the subject's own built up energy would reach fatal levels inside his own body and kill him.


Type: 


Energy


Phase:





Danger Level: 


2


Status:


Ward of Pandora Pennsylvania Location


Name: 


Arthur Richardson


Age: 


6


Gender: 


Male


Appearance: 


A young boy with sandy blond hair and green eyes.


Personality: 


Little Arthur was kind and fun-loving, a typical young boy. He occasionally became annoyed with the frequent test he was put through and was incredibly difficult to control when he did not wish to cooperate. When remembering his parents and home he would become distressed, and would have to be calmed down before anything else could be done.


Background:


Arthur was a completely unremarkable child until the San Francisco incident brought him into the spotlight. His extreme growth following that day made him a secret too large to keep. Suddenly the world knew without any doubt that the rumors going around about individuals appearing with unnatural abilities after Omega appeared where they were were true. He was used as a poster child by Pandora and the government for why these survivors needed to be saved from the ruble left in Omega's wake and studied. They needed to be given help, and saved from their own abilities. As Arthur continued to grow the entire world asked the same question: Would he stop growing? If not, what would have to be done? The world followed him closely until it was announced that he had died as a complication of his excessive growth. After Little Arthur was gone, the world turned its eyes to other survivors, either ones that Pandora allowed them to see or ones that couldn't be hidden.


Faction:


Pandora


Incident Location:


San Francisco


Subject Little Arthur


Power: 


Infinite Growth


Description: 


Subject began growing at an abnormally fast rate immediately after exposure to Subject Alpha. Growth affected all physical aspects equally, more closely resembling a constant upscaling in size than natural growth of the body. The increase appeared to be linear rather than exponential, so there was time to study the subject before his size became problematic. Subject's size continued to increase until it posed a threat to not only himself but everything around him, and should the growth continue unstopped he would eventually pose a threat of a much larger scope.


Type: 


Physical


Phase:


2


Danger Level: 


4


Status:


Deceased
 
Last edited by a moderator:
so... a decaying animated mute. they were actually killed during one of the attacks. something to the effect of the curse of immortality, but really all that gets to live on is the consciousness, while the body decays. put simply a sentient zombie, minus the whole flesh eaty thing. i think the idea would be cool however at the same time i fear that it could be viewed as OP 
 
so... a decaying animated mute. they were actually killed during one of the attacks. something to the effect of the curse of immortality, but really all that gets to live on is the consciousness, while the body decays. put simply a sentient zombie, minus the whole flesh eaty thing. i think the idea would be cool however at the same time i fear that it could be viewed as OP 



*Pulls out notebook full of abilities I'd prepared ahead of time*


Ah yes, there it is: Undying


"The subject is unable to die, despite all visible and physical signs supporting that their body should no longer be able to support life. This is much differentiated from resurrection-based powers in that the subject never ceases to be alive, and their physical body is not restored in any way. The power should not be confused with regeneration either, as the subject's body, again, does not recover from the initial injury that would have caused their death, and healing-based powers similarly do not recognize the subject as living and therefore do not restore his appearance. It's believed that the most similar ability would be that of Elysium, but verifying that theory is not currently an option."


That's what I'd written down for a non-dying character, they're dead but keep moving around. In this case their body didn't decay, but every minor injury would add up over time and never heal, wearing down their body continuously. Is that along the lines of what you were thinking? There would be downsides to this kind of undeath though. If the brain went, they would no longer be able to think and would be dead, and parts of the body would still need to be in working order to move about. For example a severed muscle in the arm would make it unusable until it was repaired, which since they can't heal would probably involve some kind of gross corpse-y sewing kit. Not exactly glamorous, but it is something you can choose. Oh, and this example would be danger level 3 simply because of the danger others would pose to the subject.


I wouldn't worry about picking an OP power for this, the "stronger" an ability the more difficult it tends to be on its owner. This kind of immortality would be among the most self-destructive for a subject to have. If you played this I'd ask that you keep in mind what sort of mental state a perpetually dead person might find themselves in. The psychological aspect would be more important than the actual zombie factor.
 
*Pulls out notebook full of abilities I'd prepared ahead of time*


Ah yes, there it is: Undying


"The subject is unable to die, despite all visible and physical signs supporting that their body should no longer be able to support life. This is much differentiated from resurrection-based powers in that the subject never ceases to be alive, and their physical body is not restored in any way. The power should not be confused with regeneration either, as the subject's body, again, does not recover from the initial injury that would have caused their death, and healing-based powers similarly do not recognize the subject as living and therefore do not restore his appearance. It's believed that the most similar ability would be that of Elysium, but verifying that theory is not currently an option."


That's what I'd written down for a non-dying character, they're dead but keep moving around. In this case their body didn't decay, but every minor injury would add up over time and never heal, wearing down their body continuously. Is that along the lines of what you were thinking? There would be downsides to this kind of undeath though. If the brain went, they would no longer be able to think and would be dead, and parts of the body would still need to be in working order to move about. For example a severed muscle in the arm would make it unusable until it was repaired, which since they can't heal would probably involve some kind of gross corpse-y sewing kit. Not exactly glamorous, but it is something you can choose. Oh, and this example would be danger level 3 simply because of the danger others would pose to the subject.


I wouldn't worry about picking an OP power for this, the "stronger" an ability the more difficult it tends to be on its owner. This kind of immortality would be among the most self-destructive for a subject to have. If you played this I'd ask that you keep in mind what sort of mental state a perpetually dead person might find themselves in. The psychological aspect would be more important than the actual zombie factor.

 i'm down to clown. so how crazy do you want me to be?
 
I have a vague idea about my character. But, I was wondering what powers you would not allow?? Like, I was thinking of my character shapeshifting into one animal species, or several? I can think of another power if this is not allowed, though.


@OverconfidentMagi
 
Seeing as you have already "prepared" different abilities Do you have something in mind for Telekinesis? That's the power I was thinking of using. 

"kinesis" powers in general won't be something you'll see in this setting. The powers the survovors possess are not anything that have any control over. They're more like always-on passive abilities that they have to deal with more than use. For telekinesis your best bet would be taking a single aspect you want and making that your ability. Such as your character being weightless, or having a constant barrier around their body, or nullifying gravity around them, or reversing it either around them or only for them. Just ideas off the top of my head, do you have any ideas to toss back my way based on that?

 i'm down to clown. so how crazy do you want me to be?

If your character showed signs of being driven insane by their own power while under Pandora's care they may be classified as a level 4 and disposed of, so keep that in mind. It's likely they would confine the character in a safe location to prevent that kind of situation in the first place though.

I have a vague idea about my character. But, I was wondering what powers you would not allow?? Like, I was thinking of my character shapeshifting into one animal species, or several? I can think of another power if this is not allowed, though.

Shapeshifting is tricky, as for it to be passive and not controlled there would need to be a set stimulus to cause the changes, but that isn't something Alpha would typically do unless the stimulus was something incredibly simple. For example heat turning skin into scales and then back with cold might be doable. But much more likely would be for a survivor to have been altered and just left half-done. Alpha's changes are not precise or always clean, so a survivor might be left with webbed hands and gills and just left in the rubble to slowly suffocate, or have their eyes changed to that of a bird and that's it. The powers Alpha tosses out are very commonly 'half-done". Ironically if you wanted a full shapeshifting power it would be better to go the opposite way and make it as non-specific as possible, for example the subject changes into any animal they touch would fit the criteria (and would mirror a similar power of changing into any person they touch). It's uncontrollable, always-on, and has a simple trigger to activate. A mental-based power of possessing the body of any animal touched would also work to a similar effect. Anything in all that that might match what you could work with, or throw some ideas my way. I intend on working with people to make the power they want fit.
 
Hmm, I like the one where they nullify gravity. I was thinking, seeing as the power is passive and always on, that my character would have no control over the area of negation and the duration of it. Also, it would be interesting if they weren't affected by it. Let me know what you think :)  
 
Hmm, I like the one where they nullify gravity. I was thinking, seeing as the power is passive and always on, that my character would have no control over the area of negation and the duration of it. Also, it would be interesting if they weren't affected by it. Let me know what you think :)  

It wouldn't work randomly, it would be a constant. So either a gradual decrease in gravity as one gets closer to the character or a more solid range where gravity is negated as soon as one enters the area. And it would work fine inclusive or exclusive or its owner.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top