The Lifted Lorax
07-19-2012, 04:27 AM
The time is 1884, the place is London. You are part of an elite group with…abilities. Abilities kept secret from the rest of the world, lest you and your fellows wind up in some sort of zoo or, Heaven forbid, some sort of laboratory. The members are of all ages, genders, race, and social class, one thing binding you all together. This group is guided by one Dr. Parvonian. The good doctor has no abilities of his own, but he helps you develop yours as he has a theory or two on how they work and why it was you who got them instead of someone else. After all, you should have died in that accident…
You, all of you, receive an invitation in the post one day. It’s engraved and very nice-looking. Renowned watchmaker and tinkerer Cairo Wolfinger has invited you to a symposium on a machine of his own design which he believes might fascinate those with like interests. Dr. Parvonian encourages attendance. After all, who knows what Mr. Wolfinger has found…
We'll begin, as all stories must, at the beginning. Lola, the newest member of the group and newest to her abilities, has just been introduced to the group. She was contacted by Dr. Parvonian a short while after her accident and has now sufficiently recovered enough to be let in on this secret world. We'll go ahead and start off by introducing our characters to each other (whether they've met before or not), show off what we can do.
-You may have ONE AND ONLY ONE ability.
-This ability must be a consequence of some accident or incident, you may not be born with it (more on that further down).
-You must give a short, succinct background on this accident which must have something to do with your power. No getting zapped by electricity and being able to read minds; getting zapped by electricity would result in abilities having to do with electricity, falling accidents will result in flying/levitation abilities, etc. But there MUST be a reason for your ability.
-This ability MUST have limitations, and please post said limitations. Electrokinetics, for example, may not conjure lightning from absolutely nowhere, etc. Your ability may be enhanced by technology, but make it steampunk technology; ie levitation may be enhanced by wings (http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs45/f/2009/061/0/e/Steampunk_Wings_by_rocknro8907.jpg), etc. I’d almost prefer this. Be creative with it!
Contrariwise, characters may also have varying degrees of control and skill over their ability. If your accident was six months ago and we continue with the electricity theme for sake of example, don’t expect to be able to conjure lightning storms out of a static spark. If your accident was, say, ten years ago with the same ability your character will have had more time to master it and will be given leeway. Also expect to learn, develop, and grow throughout the roleplay.
-You CANNOT have been “just born” with your ability. It must be acquired. This will make half-breeds (vampires, werewolves, etc.) and non-human entities (angels, demons, ghosts, etc.) nearly impossible. If you have an idea, please run it by me first but I would like to avoid non-humans if at all possible. On the subject of abilities…
-No “invincible” characters. This serves a double purpose of preventing God-moding and also leveling the playing field when pitting powers against other characters. Things like “invincibility” and “weather control” aren’t acceptable powers. If you insist on not being hurt, give your character an ability to turn his/her skin to steel or create a protection bubble; if weather control is your thing, pick one element, etc. Use both creativity and common sense on this one.
-Any abilities which result in physical alteration (shapeshifting, invisibility, etc.) will not affect your clothing. If you can turn invisible, you will be a disembodied suit of clothes until you disrobe. This also provides for amusing public nudity opportunities. ;P
-You will be dressed appropriately for the time. Men, no shaggy hair; women, no traipsing about in pants and waistcoats. Post your clothing if you’d like; it’s not a requirement but all characters will be assumed to be appropriately dressed. Any posts indicating the contrary will be addressed in the OOC.
-I’ve already got a bad guy. Morally grey characters are acceptable, but I’m not accepting evil ones at this point; sorry.
-Have fun with it! Be creative! Try to work in as much steampunk as possible…because steampunk rocks. If you would like to join, but don’t know what steampunk is, just go ahead and ask and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction! ^.^
Name:
Age:
Appearance: (optional)
Socioeconomic status:
Occupation:
Ability (including ability limitation):
Ability augmentation (if any):
Backstory:
Other:
Name: Lola Cartwright
Age: 22
Apperance: 2127
Socioeconomic status: Upper-middle class
Occupation: Bored socialite
Ability: Hydrokinesis, limited to liquid water (ie puddles, lakes, rivers, tubs, rain, etc as opposed to ice, snow, water vapor, steam, etc) up to 100 gallons at a time, so she wouldn’t be able to say reroute rivers or attack someone with the force of an entire lake but could hit someone with enough force to at least knock them out. Remember: the adult human can drown in two tablespoons of water.
Ability Augmentation: TBD
Backstory: Go to the country, they said. It’ll be good for you, they said. Well, all Lola could find in the country were bugs and animal droppings and boring, simple-minded people. That had been her first impression, anyway. Her husband’s family had a house in the country and he’d spent summers there as a child. To get her acclimated to the greenery and…well…nature, they planned a picnic for their second day there. It was lovely; a secret spot Harry had had as a child that he showed her. A clearing in the forest by a slow-moving river was where they laid their blanket and had their lunch. Seeing as it was only the two of them and being ever the play-mate, Harry had begun teasing his wife, showing off as he shed his shoes and hopping across low-hanging branches that drooped over the water. She laughed and jokingly chided that he’d hurt himself, though quietly confident that he knew what he was doing, but still he persisted in making playful faces at her and jumping from branch to branch.
Well, not even as a child had Lola been one for sitting idly while the boys had all the fun so she took her shoes off, gathered her skirts, and joined him. Laughing as she hopped on the branches after him, she got a bit too reckless and her foot slipped on a branch a few away from Harry’s as it gave way with a sickening crack. With a shriek she fell into the water, slow-moving on the surface but with a vicious undercurrent. It had looked shallow enough, but in the middle where she had fallen the river was deep, and poor Lola had never learned how to swim. Weighed down by her heavy, voluminous clothes and carried quickly downstream, her husband couldn’t reach her in time. She’d drowned to death by the time he’d recovered her body.
Well, it should have been to death. Desperately trying to keep his wife alive, Harry had applied the resuscitation methods he knew. Modern paramedics would have known she’d been legally dead for fifteen minutes, impossible to recover from without brain damage if at all. After another four minutes of resuscitation, coughing and spluttering and spitting up a good amount of water Lola was revived. A doctor’s examination later that night and everything appeared to be normal. That’s when things began happening…strange things that neither of them understood. After a particularly nasty incident wherein the pipes burst after a row with Harry, Lola had finally caught on and knew enough not to tell anyone, not even her husband. It was once she began experimenting on her own with a basin of water while Harry was out that Doctor Parvonian had called on her at home.
Other: Lola is a lesbian; Harry is there as a cover for the benefit of her own reputation and he knows this, but their marriage is amicable enough. Lola's complete description including physical appearance, sexuality, etc., can be found here (http://www.roleplayparadise.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=80). You can add such a bio if you want, but it's not neccessary for this RP if you'd rather not. ;P
Name: Mercy Smith
Age: 19
Appearance: This brave woman has wide sapphire eyes. Her silky, straight, very long hair is the color of dark chocolate, and is worn in a handsome style. She has a busty build. Her skin is chocolate-brown. She has a wide forehead and nearly-nonexistent eyebrows. Her wardrobe is attractive, and is completely blue and black.
Socioeconomic status: Working Class
Occupation: Locksmith
Ability (including ability limitation): Ghost Arm (Psychokenetic arm; range approx. 3'; approx. 7 pounds of lifting strength). She can use her ghost arm to reach inside locked doors or windows to manipulate locks or items on the other side, and has an unfair advantage at Christmas guessing what's inside boxes.
Ability augmentation (if any): Strong Arm - a mechanical clockwork arm that straps onto her shoulder that amplifies her ghost arm's strength, allowing her to lift a large man of 15 stone off his feet. She cannot turn her metal arm ghosty - the only way it can go through a wall is if it's flimsy enough for her to punch through it.
Backstory: Mercy was an orphan in Yorkshire, working in a cotton mill in Harrogate. She toiled there for many years, six days a week, 16 hours a day, tending to the machines and watching out for the child workers. Towards the end of a shift, Billy Turner, a foreman, was walking the floor with Theodore Green, the mill owner's son. Mercy tried to warn a sleeping boy but he couldn't hear her over the noise of the machinery. Seeing Billy raise his strap to strike the sleeping child, Mercy left her post to stop him, but he turned on her. Afraid he was going to strike her, she threw up her arms and stepped back - and was tripped by Mr. Green, falling to the floor. The boss' son laughed. She looked up and saw that Billy's face had gone "all queer" - she'd thrust her arm into the open space of the giant drive wheel that ran all the machinery. A rotating spoke crushed her right arm before she could react.
A doctor was nearby and tended to her, amputating the crush and mangled arm at the shoulder. She woke up in hospital to find Mr. Green Senior sitting by her bedside. He told her it was a shame, as she was one of his best workers. But he had no work for a one-armed girl. He pressed a five pound note into her left hand - more money that she had ever seen in her life - and left.
She paid her debts, such as they were, and rode the train to London, hoping to find something better than the mill. She tried to find honest work, but none of the houses wanted a clumsy, one-arm girl on staff. And the bars had little use for one-armed girls to serve drinks. She eventually got hired by a desperate cart vender to help sell his apples. A gang of street kids one day rushed the cart, taking armfuls of apples and running away with them. Mercy yelled after them, one of the boys turned and threw an apple at her. Without thinking about it, she reached up and caught the apple - with her right hand. It was impossible - but there it was, hovering in the air. She could feel the arm, the apple in her grasp....
That was when one of her customers, Dr. Parvonian, appeared out of the crowd, drawing her away quickly into a Hamson Cab before anyone had realized what she'd done . When she explained she needed to work, he provided a letter of recommendation that helped her get a job at a nearby locksmith, McBeals. With her ghost arm, she can work a lock from the inside. Later, when she got her Strong Arm, it was handy to have someone who could lift 15 stone one-handedly.
Name: Alexander Redwood
Age: 21
Appearance: 6ft tall, 145lbs, muscular and toned from hard work with a farmer's tan. He owns a one nice suit but other than that he keeps to sturdy cotton shirts and overall blue jeans. (I would just like to say I did look up when jeans where first made and sold, and they were available to the public in 1873) His hair is Blonde slightly longer than average, enough to always combed back. When working, he has a cloth on his head to keep it from his face. His eyes are a strong German blue.
Socioeconomic status: Middle Class
Occupation: Blacksmith
Ability (including ability limitation): His skin has the ability to pick turn his hands into various metals by touch. The amount of metal determines how much of him turns into metal. His limitation is that he can only draw from atleast 50% purity of the metal.
Ability augmentation (if any): None
Backstory: Alexander was born into a family of blacksmiths and farmers, and was taught both trades since he was able to walk. Around the age of eighteen, he was working on his first major project; a matching kitchen set of eight cast-iron skillets. But when he was working with the metal, he noticed some of it glowing an odd green. He ignored it and continued to work, the green metal melting down winthe iron. While prepping the molten metal to be shaped, it poured all over his arms, leaving three-fourth degree burns all over his arms. He woke many days later in his bed, reddened bandages on his hands and arms. The doctor told him that it was a miracle, that his arms were healing and he had survived. Months later, when the skin grew back and the bandages were removed, he went back to working with the metal and found his skin absorbing it. Since then, he's worn black gloves and moved into the city, trying to avoid work dealing with metal. Currently, he works in a small shop.
Other: N/a
Name: Naomi Raphaelis
Age: 26
Appearance: Naomi is a petite young woman, standing at about 5'5", with curly red hair that falls just below her shoulders and stormy blue eyes. Her skin is fair in tone, and her wardrobe is modest with lots of light blues and yellows.
Socioeconomic status: Upper class
Occupation: Businessman's wife
Ability: Levitation - Naomi can hover about four feet from the ground, as well as halt her fall upon coming within four feet of the ground. She can only hover for a few minutes at a time (10 minutes at absolute maximum).
Ability augmentation: TBD
Backstory: Born the third and last child of a business owner and his wife, Naomi's family wasn't rich, but they were very well off. She kept herself busy running errands for her father, and it was through this line of work that she met her current husband, George. After the two married, Naomi moved in with George and they had a happy life together.
Several years after that, Naomi had her fall.
She was on the fourth floor of an apartment complex; George was in the other room, striking up a deal with a client. She was staring out the window, admiring the view, and didn't realize until it was too late that the window had not been properly installed. She pushed on it, and it gave way and tumbled to the ground, taking Naomi with it.
She hit the ground flat on her back, right on top of the now shattered window. It should have killed her, but by some miracle, she survived and recovered with few to no repercussions - unless, of course, you count her new ability to defy gravity. The first time she did it was by complete accident, and luckily for her she was alone. She kept playing with it, though, and after a while she figured out to control her ability. So far, she's been able to keep it a secret from George.
Other: N/A
Name: Adrian Donald
Age: 23
Appearance: (optional)
Socioeconomic status: Poor
Occupation: Circus Acrobat
Ability (including ability limitation): Wall Crawl. Adrian is able to climb along flat surfaced walls with his hands. He is able to cling to surfaces, but unless he can find a way to hold on, whatever is on his hands is not strong enough to hold him up alone. He is unable to crawl along the ceiling as his is only able to crawl using his hands, and with his feet hanging unable to help support him, his body weight would pull him down.
Ability augmentation (if any): Normal pairs of gloves. His is an ability he can not shut off, so to avoid embarassing, or unwanted situations, he wears gloves to avoid such things.
Backstory: Adrian grew up in the circus. Circus life wasn't grand, wasn't spectacular, but you knew where you stood, and you knew who was family. Everyone. Everyone looked out for eachother, taught, laughed, fought, played, and so on. Adrian's parents were both performers of the circus, his Father was a trapeze artist, and his mother was one of the acrobats.
He had learned the basics from her, and he had fun and enjoyed them, however, after a time, they got too repetitive and not nearly as fun. That's when he looked to his Dad. The way he moved as he flew, how his body twisted and turned, and that's when Adrian began upping his game (I'll edit this in properly later, too tired.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY9g7koP8yQ) . It took some time, but the next thing he knew, he was doing his own performances in the ring.
In time, Adrian became more daring, and overconfident in himself. His father warned him to slow down, his mother pleaded for him to take a break, but he wouldn't hear any of it. The next thing he knew, he was on a platform higher than the tent. The ringleader had a flap installed into the tent just for it. People would sit in the stands and watch through the hole. The routine was simple, a series of in place front flips and back flips. He'd do a front flip, then a back flip to show the people a demonstration, and then he would begin combinations of the two without fail.
Word of this spread, and his name would be known before they packed up and moved on to the next. It was after the last show in London, and people began hastling Adrian to do the 'skyflips' as they became known as. Arrogantly, he climbed up to the roof of church nearby. A crowed rounded it to watch him. He started the routine flawlessly. By the second set of flips, a shingle fell loose from the roof and he slipped, luckily grabbing hold of a remaining shingle, but from the wait of him, that one slipped as well plunging Adrian towards the ground. It was by no means a short drop. His arms flailed until he found a a grip, and he pulled himself in. By the time he noticed that he wasn't actually holding onto anything, he fell, feet first, crouching to absorb the impact, but it was still too much and he fell backwards hitting his head rendering him unconcious.
When he came too, he was laying in his families trailer watching his father sigh a relief and his mothers head laying on Adrian's stomach holding his hand asleep, tears staining her face. A third figure was in the room. A doctor by the looks, introduced himself as Parvonian. He had luckily been among the crowed and tended to Adrian immediately.
Other:
Name: Stephen McShane
Age: 41
Socioeconomic status: Upper Class
Occupation: Exotic game hunter
Appearance: In the original post (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32652&page=3) because the image uploader hates Charvi.
Ability (including ability limitation): Sound manipulation (Can cause supersonic sounds by amplifying sounds that already made. Although he himself is not immune to these sounds)
Ability augmentation: Collar Microphone (http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/21/66/61396621/photos/shuttlewerks/Picture-1155.jpg) (the microphone is quite tiny and settles on his throat.)
Backstory:
The job was going to be the epitome of Stephen's rather morally grey career. He was in Africa with a crew hired to apprehend some more rare creatures and capture them and transport them to a zoo for a new exhibit that was to begin in the spring.
The most amusing thing was the job went smoothly without a hitch, the animals were loaded and ready for transport. The small band of hunters had survived with minor injuries and they were all boarding a ship setting sail for London. One of the curators for the new exhibit just had to show Stephen the secret to the whole exhibit. They were going to record the animal's sounds and then sell them on records as a method of soothing those with sleeping troubles. McShane quickly saw the scam but humored the curator by agreeing to see the process. The ship hadn't even left the dock when the microphones were turned on. That is when some freak magnetic, supersonic feedback was caught in the microphones and was amplified exponentially. The result was the sound waves tearing the whole ship apart, piercing and destroying flesh and metal alike, even the poor animals were shown no mercy by the ungodly sound. When the sound finally destroyed the microphones there were only a handful of people left. McShane being one, after all such a famous hunter wasn't going to be done in by a sound wave.
Little did he realize the effect the accident had on him. His first experience of controlling sound was unplanned and terribly surprising not to mention damaging. It was a simple gunshot on a hunt back in his estate in Ireland. The amplification caused severe and permanent damage to his left ear. It wasn't long after that the good doctor appeared to the famous hunter and offered him a deal he couldn't refuse.
Sound waves must first be generated and then can be amplified and used, the stronger he amplifies a sound the harder it is on his ear (He has already become deaf in his left).
Sidenotes: Although some still recognize him Stephen's fame has dwindled since becoming an associate with the doctor. Stephen was the first and has the longest standing relationship, if you would even call it that, with the doctor.
Name: Natomi Sato
Age: 11
Appearance:
Spoiler:
Socioeconomic status: Upper class
Occupation: None, she's to young.
Ability (including ability limitation): Telekinesis. She has to be in the same room as what she is moving.
Ability augmentation (if any): (Can't think of one appropriate to her ability)
Backstory: Natomi was born in Japan to the powerful Yakuza boss known simply as Mr Sato. After some trouble in Tokyo her family moved to London. When she was 6 someone tried to attack her father's carriage, thinking he was in it, but it was Natomi, heading to school. The carriage tipped over and she was crushed beneath it. She was saved a few hours later when another carriage went past and saw the crash sight. A couple of years later she was attacked again, this time she was the target. The person tried to knock her out with a bat but instead he got hit in the back of the head by roof beam falling after Natomi screamed for help. Since then she's been discovering her powers.
Other: She has sort of hit puberty in the fact that she will get crushes on people, girls to be exact. She doesn't understand what these feelings are though.
Name: Allen Faulkner
Age: 25
Appearance: Allen is a thin man, and pale. He stands at 5'11" and his head is topped with short brown hair. His eye-sockets are always covered with a blindfold, and the burnt parts of his hands always wrapped in bandages or covered with a custom pair of gloves (http://i.imgur.com/1GhCo.png) which improve their structure. The rest of his outfit remains relatively plain, favoring black or white because it is harder to mismatch them.
Socioeconomic status: Lower middle class.
Occupation: Former courier, Innkeeper/Fortune Teller
Ability (including ability limitation): Aura sight. Allen is able to see the auras and outlines of people and objects, though this ability is limited in range to around ten meters (in open space), is sometimes inaccurate (color coding can be off), and difficult to focus on (areas full of objects, people, overlapping outlines, etc.).
Ability augmentation (if any): None as of yet.
Backstory: Four years prior to the current date Allen still held his job as a courier of all objects. If it needed to get somewhere and you wanted it hand-delivered there was a chance Allen would have handled it. However, on this particular occasion he had the displeasure of delivering a rather poorly made and unstable incendiary device, which promptly exploded in his hands down a back alley. His arms and chest took most of the damage, but fragments destroyed both his eyes, and even though the blast was powerful enough to knock him against the stone wall it was luckily small enough to survive as well. Allen woke, weeks later he learned, back in his brother's inn in London, blind and with damaged hands. He thought sometimes that he could still see things, but he knew that couldn't be possible because he had felt himself the holes where his eyes used to be.
A year and a half passed, Allen had learned to deal with his blindness and had also learned that he was more presentable when wearing bandages and gloves over his burnt hands, which would never heal properly. His brother had decided to move on to a different line of work, leaving Allen as the innkeeper with assistance from the staff. He still believed he could see things sometimes, told people about it, guessed that it was some sort of attempt at visualization. One of his customers happened to be an odd fellow, a doctor Parvonian, who thought that maybe he really could see what he called auras, or imprints of things and people. Allen thought that perhaps the good doctor had been a bit taken by his drink, but over time and with some practice Allen could see for longer periods, and further, until it became constant if he wanted it to. Of course he now had to learn to filter out what he didn't want to see, what made the images confusing, seeing through walls was useful, but not always wanted if he instead wanted to see the clock hanging on it. Allen even realized that he could see different colors around people that corresponded to their feelings, but the colors were sometimes muddled, much like feelings are. To pass the time and entertain himself Allen took up fortune telling, a crock, but a fun thing to do for someone who could actually read emotions fairly accurately.
Other: Allen's favorite entertainment other than talking is the tarot, for which he has his own deck.
Name: Michael Victor
Age: 28
Socioeconomic status: Working class
Occupation: Construction worker.
Ability: Electricity, but he doesn't fully understand the science behind it. It follows the principals of electricity in that electrons rush to areas that lack their negative charge. Michael can draw them from objects or areas of air and let them rush back in the form of an arc of electricity. He doesn't understand these principals, however, he just knows it by feel. If he was asked to describe his ability he would say he was pulling the energy away from something like an elastic cord and letting it go. He is most powerful at close range with these arcs. When the target is farther away, he is far less accurate, and the bolt may not even reach as far. He also can not measure precise voltages and currents; he only knows them by feel.
Ability augmentation: He can't deliver precise voltages or currents, but he has gained a feel for how much energy releases when he discharges. He can short out or power up electrical devices such as lights and radios.
Backstory: Michael gained his ability when he was at work one day, building the foundations of a tower. His job at the time was to sand the paint off a large ceramic pipe, which he did in one sitting. However, when he removed his gloves and reached for the pipe, it sent a powerful zap of electricity at his hand, electrocuting him. Rather than killing him, the net charge altered his brain and the way it handled neural-electric energy.
The first time he used the ability was a week later. Ever since the incident he could feel what he described as a strange wind that nobody else could feel, but was actually the presence of the electrons in the air. After a week of familiarising himself with the strange feeling, he developed an limited ability to grip it. He tried 'pulling' it, drawing it in, and when he could not retain a grip it slipped out of his grasp. The next thing he saw was a bolt of lightning flaring out of his right hand at a nearby street lamp. At first he was terrified. Electrical sciences did exist at the time, so there was at least someone he hoped could consult about this. The first three doctors he told thought he was just a drunk, just an uneducated carpenter who saw some lightning. It was after them that he was approached by Doctor Parvonian. He convinced Michael that he knew how he could learn to control his ability, and was more or less correct. He summarised what had already been discovered about electricity at the time, as well as a little that hadn't, like how the brain used electrical signals to communicate with the body. Michael learned about electrons and how people conducted them with batteries and metals, and the principals of voltage, current and resistance.
With time he was able to display a greater degree of control over electrons, gaining abilities like striking objects with arcs of electricity that didn't have to originate from his body, and moving a continuous stream of electricity.
Other: He keeps a pair of rubber gloves on his person should he need to insulate his hands.
Now I’ll be up front about this: this is a way of brainstorming for the novel I want to write because I can feel it right there, but it's just not coming through and I'd like to see the different places y'all go with this, because you could have some ideas I never even thought of. I emphasize that I WILL ask permission to use any unique ideas and/or characters and I WILL give credit where credit is due. I'll even start posting the story in the appropriate place when I finally get around to writing it. But mostly, I just want to make this a really fun, long-lasting roleplay. ^_^
You, all of you, receive an invitation in the post one day. It’s engraved and very nice-looking. Renowned watchmaker and tinkerer Cairo Wolfinger has invited you to a symposium on a machine of his own design which he believes might fascinate those with like interests. Dr. Parvonian encourages attendance. After all, who knows what Mr. Wolfinger has found…
We'll begin, as all stories must, at the beginning. Lola, the newest member of the group and newest to her abilities, has just been introduced to the group. She was contacted by Dr. Parvonian a short while after her accident and has now sufficiently recovered enough to be let in on this secret world. We'll go ahead and start off by introducing our characters to each other (whether they've met before or not), show off what we can do.
-You may have ONE AND ONLY ONE ability.
-This ability must be a consequence of some accident or incident, you may not be born with it (more on that further down).
-You must give a short, succinct background on this accident which must have something to do with your power. No getting zapped by electricity and being able to read minds; getting zapped by electricity would result in abilities having to do with electricity, falling accidents will result in flying/levitation abilities, etc. But there MUST be a reason for your ability.
-This ability MUST have limitations, and please post said limitations. Electrokinetics, for example, may not conjure lightning from absolutely nowhere, etc. Your ability may be enhanced by technology, but make it steampunk technology; ie levitation may be enhanced by wings (http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs45/f/2009/061/0/e/Steampunk_Wings_by_rocknro8907.jpg), etc. I’d almost prefer this. Be creative with it!
Contrariwise, characters may also have varying degrees of control and skill over their ability. If your accident was six months ago and we continue with the electricity theme for sake of example, don’t expect to be able to conjure lightning storms out of a static spark. If your accident was, say, ten years ago with the same ability your character will have had more time to master it and will be given leeway. Also expect to learn, develop, and grow throughout the roleplay.
-You CANNOT have been “just born” with your ability. It must be acquired. This will make half-breeds (vampires, werewolves, etc.) and non-human entities (angels, demons, ghosts, etc.) nearly impossible. If you have an idea, please run it by me first but I would like to avoid non-humans if at all possible. On the subject of abilities…
-No “invincible” characters. This serves a double purpose of preventing God-moding and also leveling the playing field when pitting powers against other characters. Things like “invincibility” and “weather control” aren’t acceptable powers. If you insist on not being hurt, give your character an ability to turn his/her skin to steel or create a protection bubble; if weather control is your thing, pick one element, etc. Use both creativity and common sense on this one.
-Any abilities which result in physical alteration (shapeshifting, invisibility, etc.) will not affect your clothing. If you can turn invisible, you will be a disembodied suit of clothes until you disrobe. This also provides for amusing public nudity opportunities. ;P
-You will be dressed appropriately for the time. Men, no shaggy hair; women, no traipsing about in pants and waistcoats. Post your clothing if you’d like; it’s not a requirement but all characters will be assumed to be appropriately dressed. Any posts indicating the contrary will be addressed in the OOC.
-I’ve already got a bad guy. Morally grey characters are acceptable, but I’m not accepting evil ones at this point; sorry.
-Have fun with it! Be creative! Try to work in as much steampunk as possible…because steampunk rocks. If you would like to join, but don’t know what steampunk is, just go ahead and ask and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction! ^.^
Name:
Age:
Appearance: (optional)
Socioeconomic status:
Occupation:
Ability (including ability limitation):
Ability augmentation (if any):
Backstory:
Other:
Name: Lola Cartwright
Age: 22
Apperance: 2127
Socioeconomic status: Upper-middle class
Occupation: Bored socialite
Ability: Hydrokinesis, limited to liquid water (ie puddles, lakes, rivers, tubs, rain, etc as opposed to ice, snow, water vapor, steam, etc) up to 100 gallons at a time, so she wouldn’t be able to say reroute rivers or attack someone with the force of an entire lake but could hit someone with enough force to at least knock them out. Remember: the adult human can drown in two tablespoons of water.
Ability Augmentation: TBD
Backstory: Go to the country, they said. It’ll be good for you, they said. Well, all Lola could find in the country were bugs and animal droppings and boring, simple-minded people. That had been her first impression, anyway. Her husband’s family had a house in the country and he’d spent summers there as a child. To get her acclimated to the greenery and…well…nature, they planned a picnic for their second day there. It was lovely; a secret spot Harry had had as a child that he showed her. A clearing in the forest by a slow-moving river was where they laid their blanket and had their lunch. Seeing as it was only the two of them and being ever the play-mate, Harry had begun teasing his wife, showing off as he shed his shoes and hopping across low-hanging branches that drooped over the water. She laughed and jokingly chided that he’d hurt himself, though quietly confident that he knew what he was doing, but still he persisted in making playful faces at her and jumping from branch to branch.
Well, not even as a child had Lola been one for sitting idly while the boys had all the fun so she took her shoes off, gathered her skirts, and joined him. Laughing as she hopped on the branches after him, she got a bit too reckless and her foot slipped on a branch a few away from Harry’s as it gave way with a sickening crack. With a shriek she fell into the water, slow-moving on the surface but with a vicious undercurrent. It had looked shallow enough, but in the middle where she had fallen the river was deep, and poor Lola had never learned how to swim. Weighed down by her heavy, voluminous clothes and carried quickly downstream, her husband couldn’t reach her in time. She’d drowned to death by the time he’d recovered her body.
Well, it should have been to death. Desperately trying to keep his wife alive, Harry had applied the resuscitation methods he knew. Modern paramedics would have known she’d been legally dead for fifteen minutes, impossible to recover from without brain damage if at all. After another four minutes of resuscitation, coughing and spluttering and spitting up a good amount of water Lola was revived. A doctor’s examination later that night and everything appeared to be normal. That’s when things began happening…strange things that neither of them understood. After a particularly nasty incident wherein the pipes burst after a row with Harry, Lola had finally caught on and knew enough not to tell anyone, not even her husband. It was once she began experimenting on her own with a basin of water while Harry was out that Doctor Parvonian had called on her at home.
Other: Lola is a lesbian; Harry is there as a cover for the benefit of her own reputation and he knows this, but their marriage is amicable enough. Lola's complete description including physical appearance, sexuality, etc., can be found here (http://www.roleplayparadise.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=80). You can add such a bio if you want, but it's not neccessary for this RP if you'd rather not. ;P
Name: Mercy Smith
Age: 19
Appearance: This brave woman has wide sapphire eyes. Her silky, straight, very long hair is the color of dark chocolate, and is worn in a handsome style. She has a busty build. Her skin is chocolate-brown. She has a wide forehead and nearly-nonexistent eyebrows. Her wardrobe is attractive, and is completely blue and black.
Socioeconomic status: Working Class
Occupation: Locksmith
Ability (including ability limitation): Ghost Arm (Psychokenetic arm; range approx. 3'; approx. 7 pounds of lifting strength). She can use her ghost arm to reach inside locked doors or windows to manipulate locks or items on the other side, and has an unfair advantage at Christmas guessing what's inside boxes.
Ability augmentation (if any): Strong Arm - a mechanical clockwork arm that straps onto her shoulder that amplifies her ghost arm's strength, allowing her to lift a large man of 15 stone off his feet. She cannot turn her metal arm ghosty - the only way it can go through a wall is if it's flimsy enough for her to punch through it.
Backstory: Mercy was an orphan in Yorkshire, working in a cotton mill in Harrogate. She toiled there for many years, six days a week, 16 hours a day, tending to the machines and watching out for the child workers. Towards the end of a shift, Billy Turner, a foreman, was walking the floor with Theodore Green, the mill owner's son. Mercy tried to warn a sleeping boy but he couldn't hear her over the noise of the machinery. Seeing Billy raise his strap to strike the sleeping child, Mercy left her post to stop him, but he turned on her. Afraid he was going to strike her, she threw up her arms and stepped back - and was tripped by Mr. Green, falling to the floor. The boss' son laughed. She looked up and saw that Billy's face had gone "all queer" - she'd thrust her arm into the open space of the giant drive wheel that ran all the machinery. A rotating spoke crushed her right arm before she could react.
A doctor was nearby and tended to her, amputating the crush and mangled arm at the shoulder. She woke up in hospital to find Mr. Green Senior sitting by her bedside. He told her it was a shame, as she was one of his best workers. But he had no work for a one-armed girl. He pressed a five pound note into her left hand - more money that she had ever seen in her life - and left.
She paid her debts, such as they were, and rode the train to London, hoping to find something better than the mill. She tried to find honest work, but none of the houses wanted a clumsy, one-arm girl on staff. And the bars had little use for one-armed girls to serve drinks. She eventually got hired by a desperate cart vender to help sell his apples. A gang of street kids one day rushed the cart, taking armfuls of apples and running away with them. Mercy yelled after them, one of the boys turned and threw an apple at her. Without thinking about it, she reached up and caught the apple - with her right hand. It was impossible - but there it was, hovering in the air. She could feel the arm, the apple in her grasp....
That was when one of her customers, Dr. Parvonian, appeared out of the crowd, drawing her away quickly into a Hamson Cab before anyone had realized what she'd done . When she explained she needed to work, he provided a letter of recommendation that helped her get a job at a nearby locksmith, McBeals. With her ghost arm, she can work a lock from the inside. Later, when she got her Strong Arm, it was handy to have someone who could lift 15 stone one-handedly.
Name: Alexander Redwood
Age: 21
Appearance: 6ft tall, 145lbs, muscular and toned from hard work with a farmer's tan. He owns a one nice suit but other than that he keeps to sturdy cotton shirts and overall blue jeans. (I would just like to say I did look up when jeans where first made and sold, and they were available to the public in 1873) His hair is Blonde slightly longer than average, enough to always combed back. When working, he has a cloth on his head to keep it from his face. His eyes are a strong German blue.
Socioeconomic status: Middle Class
Occupation: Blacksmith
Ability (including ability limitation): His skin has the ability to pick turn his hands into various metals by touch. The amount of metal determines how much of him turns into metal. His limitation is that he can only draw from atleast 50% purity of the metal.
Ability augmentation (if any): None
Backstory: Alexander was born into a family of blacksmiths and farmers, and was taught both trades since he was able to walk. Around the age of eighteen, he was working on his first major project; a matching kitchen set of eight cast-iron skillets. But when he was working with the metal, he noticed some of it glowing an odd green. He ignored it and continued to work, the green metal melting down winthe iron. While prepping the molten metal to be shaped, it poured all over his arms, leaving three-fourth degree burns all over his arms. He woke many days later in his bed, reddened bandages on his hands and arms. The doctor told him that it was a miracle, that his arms were healing and he had survived. Months later, when the skin grew back and the bandages were removed, he went back to working with the metal and found his skin absorbing it. Since then, he's worn black gloves and moved into the city, trying to avoid work dealing with metal. Currently, he works in a small shop.
Other: N/a
Name: Naomi Raphaelis
Age: 26
Appearance: Naomi is a petite young woman, standing at about 5'5", with curly red hair that falls just below her shoulders and stormy blue eyes. Her skin is fair in tone, and her wardrobe is modest with lots of light blues and yellows.
Socioeconomic status: Upper class
Occupation: Businessman's wife
Ability: Levitation - Naomi can hover about four feet from the ground, as well as halt her fall upon coming within four feet of the ground. She can only hover for a few minutes at a time (10 minutes at absolute maximum).
Ability augmentation: TBD
Backstory: Born the third and last child of a business owner and his wife, Naomi's family wasn't rich, but they were very well off. She kept herself busy running errands for her father, and it was through this line of work that she met her current husband, George. After the two married, Naomi moved in with George and they had a happy life together.
Several years after that, Naomi had her fall.
She was on the fourth floor of an apartment complex; George was in the other room, striking up a deal with a client. She was staring out the window, admiring the view, and didn't realize until it was too late that the window had not been properly installed. She pushed on it, and it gave way and tumbled to the ground, taking Naomi with it.
She hit the ground flat on her back, right on top of the now shattered window. It should have killed her, but by some miracle, she survived and recovered with few to no repercussions - unless, of course, you count her new ability to defy gravity. The first time she did it was by complete accident, and luckily for her she was alone. She kept playing with it, though, and after a while she figured out to control her ability. So far, she's been able to keep it a secret from George.
Other: N/A
Name: Adrian Donald
Age: 23
Appearance: (optional)
Socioeconomic status: Poor
Occupation: Circus Acrobat
Ability (including ability limitation): Wall Crawl. Adrian is able to climb along flat surfaced walls with his hands. He is able to cling to surfaces, but unless he can find a way to hold on, whatever is on his hands is not strong enough to hold him up alone. He is unable to crawl along the ceiling as his is only able to crawl using his hands, and with his feet hanging unable to help support him, his body weight would pull him down.
Ability augmentation (if any): Normal pairs of gloves. His is an ability he can not shut off, so to avoid embarassing, or unwanted situations, he wears gloves to avoid such things.
Backstory: Adrian grew up in the circus. Circus life wasn't grand, wasn't spectacular, but you knew where you stood, and you knew who was family. Everyone. Everyone looked out for eachother, taught, laughed, fought, played, and so on. Adrian's parents were both performers of the circus, his Father was a trapeze artist, and his mother was one of the acrobats.
He had learned the basics from her, and he had fun and enjoyed them, however, after a time, they got too repetitive and not nearly as fun. That's when he looked to his Dad. The way he moved as he flew, how his body twisted and turned, and that's when Adrian began upping his game (I'll edit this in properly later, too tired.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY9g7koP8yQ) . It took some time, but the next thing he knew, he was doing his own performances in the ring.
In time, Adrian became more daring, and overconfident in himself. His father warned him to slow down, his mother pleaded for him to take a break, but he wouldn't hear any of it. The next thing he knew, he was on a platform higher than the tent. The ringleader had a flap installed into the tent just for it. People would sit in the stands and watch through the hole. The routine was simple, a series of in place front flips and back flips. He'd do a front flip, then a back flip to show the people a demonstration, and then he would begin combinations of the two without fail.
Word of this spread, and his name would be known before they packed up and moved on to the next. It was after the last show in London, and people began hastling Adrian to do the 'skyflips' as they became known as. Arrogantly, he climbed up to the roof of church nearby. A crowed rounded it to watch him. He started the routine flawlessly. By the second set of flips, a shingle fell loose from the roof and he slipped, luckily grabbing hold of a remaining shingle, but from the wait of him, that one slipped as well plunging Adrian towards the ground. It was by no means a short drop. His arms flailed until he found a a grip, and he pulled himself in. By the time he noticed that he wasn't actually holding onto anything, he fell, feet first, crouching to absorb the impact, but it was still too much and he fell backwards hitting his head rendering him unconcious.
When he came too, he was laying in his families trailer watching his father sigh a relief and his mothers head laying on Adrian's stomach holding his hand asleep, tears staining her face. A third figure was in the room. A doctor by the looks, introduced himself as Parvonian. He had luckily been among the crowed and tended to Adrian immediately.
Other:
Name: Stephen McShane
Age: 41
Socioeconomic status: Upper Class
Occupation: Exotic game hunter
Appearance: In the original post (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32652&page=3) because the image uploader hates Charvi.
Ability (including ability limitation): Sound manipulation (Can cause supersonic sounds by amplifying sounds that already made. Although he himself is not immune to these sounds)
Ability augmentation: Collar Microphone (http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/21/66/61396621/photos/shuttlewerks/Picture-1155.jpg) (the microphone is quite tiny and settles on his throat.)
Backstory:
The job was going to be the epitome of Stephen's rather morally grey career. He was in Africa with a crew hired to apprehend some more rare creatures and capture them and transport them to a zoo for a new exhibit that was to begin in the spring.
The most amusing thing was the job went smoothly without a hitch, the animals were loaded and ready for transport. The small band of hunters had survived with minor injuries and they were all boarding a ship setting sail for London. One of the curators for the new exhibit just had to show Stephen the secret to the whole exhibit. They were going to record the animal's sounds and then sell them on records as a method of soothing those with sleeping troubles. McShane quickly saw the scam but humored the curator by agreeing to see the process. The ship hadn't even left the dock when the microphones were turned on. That is when some freak magnetic, supersonic feedback was caught in the microphones and was amplified exponentially. The result was the sound waves tearing the whole ship apart, piercing and destroying flesh and metal alike, even the poor animals were shown no mercy by the ungodly sound. When the sound finally destroyed the microphones there were only a handful of people left. McShane being one, after all such a famous hunter wasn't going to be done in by a sound wave.
Little did he realize the effect the accident had on him. His first experience of controlling sound was unplanned and terribly surprising not to mention damaging. It was a simple gunshot on a hunt back in his estate in Ireland. The amplification caused severe and permanent damage to his left ear. It wasn't long after that the good doctor appeared to the famous hunter and offered him a deal he couldn't refuse.
Sound waves must first be generated and then can be amplified and used, the stronger he amplifies a sound the harder it is on his ear (He has already become deaf in his left).
Sidenotes: Although some still recognize him Stephen's fame has dwindled since becoming an associate with the doctor. Stephen was the first and has the longest standing relationship, if you would even call it that, with the doctor.
Name: Natomi Sato
Age: 11
Appearance:
Spoiler:
Socioeconomic status: Upper class
Occupation: None, she's to young.
Ability (including ability limitation): Telekinesis. She has to be in the same room as what she is moving.
Ability augmentation (if any): (Can't think of one appropriate to her ability)
Backstory: Natomi was born in Japan to the powerful Yakuza boss known simply as Mr Sato. After some trouble in Tokyo her family moved to London. When she was 6 someone tried to attack her father's carriage, thinking he was in it, but it was Natomi, heading to school. The carriage tipped over and she was crushed beneath it. She was saved a few hours later when another carriage went past and saw the crash sight. A couple of years later she was attacked again, this time she was the target. The person tried to knock her out with a bat but instead he got hit in the back of the head by roof beam falling after Natomi screamed for help. Since then she's been discovering her powers.
Other: She has sort of hit puberty in the fact that she will get crushes on people, girls to be exact. She doesn't understand what these feelings are though.
Name: Allen Faulkner
Age: 25
Appearance: Allen is a thin man, and pale. He stands at 5'11" and his head is topped with short brown hair. His eye-sockets are always covered with a blindfold, and the burnt parts of his hands always wrapped in bandages or covered with a custom pair of gloves (http://i.imgur.com/1GhCo.png) which improve their structure. The rest of his outfit remains relatively plain, favoring black or white because it is harder to mismatch them.
Socioeconomic status: Lower middle class.
Occupation: Former courier, Innkeeper/Fortune Teller
Ability (including ability limitation): Aura sight. Allen is able to see the auras and outlines of people and objects, though this ability is limited in range to around ten meters (in open space), is sometimes inaccurate (color coding can be off), and difficult to focus on (areas full of objects, people, overlapping outlines, etc.).
Ability augmentation (if any): None as of yet.
Backstory: Four years prior to the current date Allen still held his job as a courier of all objects. If it needed to get somewhere and you wanted it hand-delivered there was a chance Allen would have handled it. However, on this particular occasion he had the displeasure of delivering a rather poorly made and unstable incendiary device, which promptly exploded in his hands down a back alley. His arms and chest took most of the damage, but fragments destroyed both his eyes, and even though the blast was powerful enough to knock him against the stone wall it was luckily small enough to survive as well. Allen woke, weeks later he learned, back in his brother's inn in London, blind and with damaged hands. He thought sometimes that he could still see things, but he knew that couldn't be possible because he had felt himself the holes where his eyes used to be.
A year and a half passed, Allen had learned to deal with his blindness and had also learned that he was more presentable when wearing bandages and gloves over his burnt hands, which would never heal properly. His brother had decided to move on to a different line of work, leaving Allen as the innkeeper with assistance from the staff. He still believed he could see things sometimes, told people about it, guessed that it was some sort of attempt at visualization. One of his customers happened to be an odd fellow, a doctor Parvonian, who thought that maybe he really could see what he called auras, or imprints of things and people. Allen thought that perhaps the good doctor had been a bit taken by his drink, but over time and with some practice Allen could see for longer periods, and further, until it became constant if he wanted it to. Of course he now had to learn to filter out what he didn't want to see, what made the images confusing, seeing through walls was useful, but not always wanted if he instead wanted to see the clock hanging on it. Allen even realized that he could see different colors around people that corresponded to their feelings, but the colors were sometimes muddled, much like feelings are. To pass the time and entertain himself Allen took up fortune telling, a crock, but a fun thing to do for someone who could actually read emotions fairly accurately.
Other: Allen's favorite entertainment other than talking is the tarot, for which he has his own deck.
Name: Michael Victor
Age: 28
Socioeconomic status: Working class
Occupation: Construction worker.
Ability: Electricity, but he doesn't fully understand the science behind it. It follows the principals of electricity in that electrons rush to areas that lack their negative charge. Michael can draw them from objects or areas of air and let them rush back in the form of an arc of electricity. He doesn't understand these principals, however, he just knows it by feel. If he was asked to describe his ability he would say he was pulling the energy away from something like an elastic cord and letting it go. He is most powerful at close range with these arcs. When the target is farther away, he is far less accurate, and the bolt may not even reach as far. He also can not measure precise voltages and currents; he only knows them by feel.
Ability augmentation: He can't deliver precise voltages or currents, but he has gained a feel for how much energy releases when he discharges. He can short out or power up electrical devices such as lights and radios.
Backstory: Michael gained his ability when he was at work one day, building the foundations of a tower. His job at the time was to sand the paint off a large ceramic pipe, which he did in one sitting. However, when he removed his gloves and reached for the pipe, it sent a powerful zap of electricity at his hand, electrocuting him. Rather than killing him, the net charge altered his brain and the way it handled neural-electric energy.
The first time he used the ability was a week later. Ever since the incident he could feel what he described as a strange wind that nobody else could feel, but was actually the presence of the electrons in the air. After a week of familiarising himself with the strange feeling, he developed an limited ability to grip it. He tried 'pulling' it, drawing it in, and when he could not retain a grip it slipped out of his grasp. The next thing he saw was a bolt of lightning flaring out of his right hand at a nearby street lamp. At first he was terrified. Electrical sciences did exist at the time, so there was at least someone he hoped could consult about this. The first three doctors he told thought he was just a drunk, just an uneducated carpenter who saw some lightning. It was after them that he was approached by Doctor Parvonian. He convinced Michael that he knew how he could learn to control his ability, and was more or less correct. He summarised what had already been discovered about electricity at the time, as well as a little that hadn't, like how the brain used electrical signals to communicate with the body. Michael learned about electrons and how people conducted them with batteries and metals, and the principals of voltage, current and resistance.
With time he was able to display a greater degree of control over electrons, gaining abilities like striking objects with arcs of electricity that didn't have to originate from his body, and moving a continuous stream of electricity.
Other: He keeps a pair of rubber gloves on his person should he need to insulate his hands.
Now I’ll be up front about this: this is a way of brainstorming for the novel I want to write because I can feel it right there, but it's just not coming through and I'd like to see the different places y'all go with this, because you could have some ideas I never even thought of. I emphasize that I WILL ask permission to use any unique ideas and/or characters and I WILL give credit where credit is due. I'll even start posting the story in the appropriate place when I finally get around to writing it. But mostly, I just want to make this a really fun, long-lasting roleplay. ^_^