arly
he/him
LOVE-BULLET
!
all's fair in love and war...
cupid's handbook
...
Compiled here is my attempt at a concise explanation for any information that may come up in RP. Feel free to simply reference this as needed without worrying about reading it all at once. Should any new information come up, I'll edit this post to include it!
Below this post will be overviews/summaries of whatever assignments our characters are undertaking at the moment, so be sure to give that a read as well. The MISSION 001 overview will be updated with more information once the cast of characters has been finalized, but i wanted to leave a bit of an idea of our starting point from the get-go o/
In general, if there are any questions at all, my dms are open!
SETTING: Cupids are born wherever the loveless die, and are generally constrained to assignments near their place of death. Teams EROS and PSYCHE are at war over territory in Tokyo, Japan. This means all our characters met their death while in Tokyo, but this doesn’t dictate where they’re from in life—they may have been lifelong city residents, visiting family, passing through on an international layover, etc. Either way, they’re stuck here now!
CUPIDS: Cupids are born of humans who die without experiencing romantic love. While they have supernatural power, they aren’t as powerful as angels, so they aren’t allowed to leave the human realm unless they ascend. Ascension is rarely a goal of Cupids, with most of them aiming for reincarnation.
The appearance of a Cupid will always reflect their appearance at time of death: They don’t age, and major aspects of their appearance can’t be changed. (Should a Cupid try to change their appearance drastically, the body will eventually “default” back to the state it was in at death. Cupids are free to dress how they choose.)
The one major change in appearance is, naturally, the addition of wings. Learning to fly takes time for Cupids, but it certainly helps the job to have a bird’s eye view.
Cupids aren’t technically alive, so they don’t need to eat, sleep, or bathe. However, many Cupids still participate in activities of the living out of choice, especially those who have only recently started the job. They don’t need to worry about injuries or death, but they can still experience bodily pain.
Additionally, being a Cupid makes connection with the previous life somewhat tenuous. Almost all Cupids forget their last names, and many forget their living names entirely, taking on other monikers or choosing a name that suits them. While they should retain memories of their life and death, the longer they spend between worlds, the harder it will be to recall what they once were.
MISSIONS: Cupids don’t gain karma for causing any old person to fall in love. They take on specific assignments, and causing love for someone other than their assigned target is only considered collateral damage.
When taking on an assignment the Cupid will gain access to all information on their target, including their past loves and relationships, to get a better sense of the best person to pair them with. The more compatible the target is with the person they fall for, the longer the relationship will last, and the greater the amount of karma the Cupid will receive. Should a truly incompatible target be chosen, the bullet will have no effect at all. Preserving ammo is essential to accruing karma, so forming a proper strategy is an important part of the job to avoid waste.
Every mission in a general area is available to every Cupid there, which makes the work first-come, first served!
KARMA: Karma is accrued whenever a Cupid succeeds in finding a match for their assigned target. Theoretically, this act is simple: All a Cupid has to do is shoot their target to make them fall in love with whoever they’re looking at, and they’ve earned their karma.
The main goal of accruing karma is, of course, reaching ascension or reincarnation. A Cupid who wants to reincarnate as a human will work for 3-5 years on average before they’ve earned enough karma to do so, but depending on planning and luck, some can drastically decrease (or increase!) that timespan. Ascension, on the other hand, takes decades-worth of karma.
GLAMOURS & WEAPONS: Karma isn’t only meant to be saved. To get stronger weapons and more ammo, a Cupid has to spend some of their accrued karma.
There are a whole array of firearms that a Cupid may be able to use, and after some time in the job, most Cupids find a unique style of combat that suits them, and choose different weapons to do so. Whether it’s an arrow, a bullet, or a grenade, the effect of a Cupid’s attack on a human is the same, so it’s usually a matter of personal preference and convenience.
Cupids can also spend karma on glamours to make information-gathering easier. These glamours allow them to temporarily be seen by other humans and interact with their targets to find a suitable match. Further glamours can be used to charm a human into following directions or answering questions. The moment the glamour fades, living humans will lose all memory of their interactions with the Cupid. Cupids who aren’t too concerned about preserving karma will sometimes use glamours just to experience small parts of their old everyday lives.
COMBAT BETWEEN CUPIDS: Any Cupid can take on an assignment once it’s been posted, so it isn’t uncommon for conflict to break out when more than one person is interested in the same target. For a Cupid, being shot by one of their own has a drastically different effect than it does for a human. Since Cupids can’t fall in love in the traditional manner, being shot leads them to be overcome by an instant and overwhelming sense of envy for the living. This state is completely incapacitating for a Cupid until it wears off, and could leave their attacker free to finish the assignment in their place. Even though combat between Cupids can’t lead to death or permanent injury, it’s something to take seriously—all Cupids fear the feeling that accompanies a gunshot.
LOVE BETWEEN CUPIDS: Love, for Cupids, is a generally taboo subject, but this doesn’t prevent it from blossoming. Some simply refuse to believe that romantic love is possible for a Cupid for the simple reason that they can't be shot the way the living are; For this reason, it's typical for Cupids to balk at the idea in general. Cupids are able to develop romantic feelings, but only temporarily.
The major issue is that being a Cupid is meant to be a temporary state, and the love experienced between Cupids is neither that of the angels or that of humans: It can only exist in the form they take now, and all feelings toward and memories of their loved ones will vanish upon reincarnation or ascension, even if those involved find each other again. In rare cases, Cupids who have developed particularly strong bonds will purposefully put off reincarnation or ascension in order to stay together. For the most part, though, love between Cupids only ends in tragedy. (Defenders of Cupidic love will naturally argue that all love between the living ends just the same, eventually.)
MESSENGERS OF LOVE: All pigeons and doves are considered messengers for the Goddess of Love, and Cupids will receive their missions directly from these birds. They can’t speak to each other, but most Cupids consider pigeons to be coworkers of sort, and it’s expected that they’re treated with respect.
Below this post will be overviews/summaries of whatever assignments our characters are undertaking at the moment, so be sure to give that a read as well. The MISSION 001 overview will be updated with more information once the cast of characters has been finalized, but i wanted to leave a bit of an idea of our starting point from the get-go o/
In general, if there are any questions at all, my dms are open!
SETTING: Cupids are born wherever the loveless die, and are generally constrained to assignments near their place of death. Teams EROS and PSYCHE are at war over territory in Tokyo, Japan. This means all our characters met their death while in Tokyo, but this doesn’t dictate where they’re from in life—they may have been lifelong city residents, visiting family, passing through on an international layover, etc. Either way, they’re stuck here now!
CUPIDS: Cupids are born of humans who die without experiencing romantic love. While they have supernatural power, they aren’t as powerful as angels, so they aren’t allowed to leave the human realm unless they ascend. Ascension is rarely a goal of Cupids, with most of them aiming for reincarnation.
The appearance of a Cupid will always reflect their appearance at time of death: They don’t age, and major aspects of their appearance can’t be changed. (Should a Cupid try to change their appearance drastically, the body will eventually “default” back to the state it was in at death. Cupids are free to dress how they choose.)
The one major change in appearance is, naturally, the addition of wings. Learning to fly takes time for Cupids, but it certainly helps the job to have a bird’s eye view.
Cupids aren’t technically alive, so they don’t need to eat, sleep, or bathe. However, many Cupids still participate in activities of the living out of choice, especially those who have only recently started the job. They don’t need to worry about injuries or death, but they can still experience bodily pain.
Additionally, being a Cupid makes connection with the previous life somewhat tenuous. Almost all Cupids forget their last names, and many forget their living names entirely, taking on other monikers or choosing a name that suits them. While they should retain memories of their life and death, the longer they spend between worlds, the harder it will be to recall what they once were.
MISSIONS: Cupids don’t gain karma for causing any old person to fall in love. They take on specific assignments, and causing love for someone other than their assigned target is only considered collateral damage.
When taking on an assignment the Cupid will gain access to all information on their target, including their past loves and relationships, to get a better sense of the best person to pair them with. The more compatible the target is with the person they fall for, the longer the relationship will last, and the greater the amount of karma the Cupid will receive. Should a truly incompatible target be chosen, the bullet will have no effect at all. Preserving ammo is essential to accruing karma, so forming a proper strategy is an important part of the job to avoid waste.
Every mission in a general area is available to every Cupid there, which makes the work first-come, first served!
KARMA: Karma is accrued whenever a Cupid succeeds in finding a match for their assigned target. Theoretically, this act is simple: All a Cupid has to do is shoot their target to make them fall in love with whoever they’re looking at, and they’ve earned their karma.
The main goal of accruing karma is, of course, reaching ascension or reincarnation. A Cupid who wants to reincarnate as a human will work for 3-5 years on average before they’ve earned enough karma to do so, but depending on planning and luck, some can drastically decrease (or increase!) that timespan. Ascension, on the other hand, takes decades-worth of karma.
GLAMOURS & WEAPONS: Karma isn’t only meant to be saved. To get stronger weapons and more ammo, a Cupid has to spend some of their accrued karma.
There are a whole array of firearms that a Cupid may be able to use, and after some time in the job, most Cupids find a unique style of combat that suits them, and choose different weapons to do so. Whether it’s an arrow, a bullet, or a grenade, the effect of a Cupid’s attack on a human is the same, so it’s usually a matter of personal preference and convenience.
Cupids can also spend karma on glamours to make information-gathering easier. These glamours allow them to temporarily be seen by other humans and interact with their targets to find a suitable match. Further glamours can be used to charm a human into following directions or answering questions. The moment the glamour fades, living humans will lose all memory of their interactions with the Cupid. Cupids who aren’t too concerned about preserving karma will sometimes use glamours just to experience small parts of their old everyday lives.
COMBAT BETWEEN CUPIDS: Any Cupid can take on an assignment once it’s been posted, so it isn’t uncommon for conflict to break out when more than one person is interested in the same target. For a Cupid, being shot by one of their own has a drastically different effect than it does for a human. Since Cupids can’t fall in love in the traditional manner, being shot leads them to be overcome by an instant and overwhelming sense of envy for the living. This state is completely incapacitating for a Cupid until it wears off, and could leave their attacker free to finish the assignment in their place. Even though combat between Cupids can’t lead to death or permanent injury, it’s something to take seriously—all Cupids fear the feeling that accompanies a gunshot.
LOVE BETWEEN CUPIDS: Love, for Cupids, is a generally taboo subject, but this doesn’t prevent it from blossoming. Some simply refuse to believe that romantic love is possible for a Cupid for the simple reason that they can't be shot the way the living are; For this reason, it's typical for Cupids to balk at the idea in general. Cupids are able to develop romantic feelings, but only temporarily.
The major issue is that being a Cupid is meant to be a temporary state, and the love experienced between Cupids is neither that of the angels or that of humans: It can only exist in the form they take now, and all feelings toward and memories of their loved ones will vanish upon reincarnation or ascension, even if those involved find each other again. In rare cases, Cupids who have developed particularly strong bonds will purposefully put off reincarnation or ascension in order to stay together. For the most part, though, love between Cupids only ends in tragedy. (Defenders of Cupidic love will naturally argue that all love between the living ends just the same, eventually.)
MESSENGERS OF LOVE: All pigeons and doves are considered messengers for the Goddess of Love, and Cupids will receive their missions directly from these birds. They can’t speak to each other, but most Cupids consider pigeons to be coworkers of sort, and it’s expected that they’re treated with respect.
♡coded by uxie♡
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