Arthur C. Clark
ANGELS FALL FIRST
IC
BGM
A thunderous applause echoes from behind, waking you from your impromptu nap. You were so bored by the graduation proceedings that you just couldn’t help but doze off. You missed what caused the ruckus, but you assumed it must be something very important, at least.
A very tired looking man takes the stage, with messy black hair and bags under his eyes, visible even from your seat fifty feet away. As he somewhat slowly shambles to the podium before him, you begin to wonder what sort of audience regards a man as unkempt and homely as this with such an ovation. He didn’t look all that impressive to you. Perhaps it was just a formality.
The tired man takes his place at the podium and looks up, he begins to open his mouth. It’s at this point that you realize that you recognize him. You’ve seen him somewhere before, but you don’t quite remember his name. Something weird. Edgy, even… F-F…. Phantom? You hear a whisper behind you that betrays his name.
“Is that really Phenom? He looks so… run down.”
Ah. That was right. Phenom Ortus. The Lord of the Military Branch of this ever-elusive, secretive organization. Still a weird name.
The man is about to say something but stops and cranes his hand, pointing at the source of the voice behind you.
“I heard that,” he quips weakly, lacking conviction. This prompts a small chuckle from the audience before he waves them down.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of Heaven, and welcome to tonight’s induction ceremony!”
He sighs briefly, as if that one sentence alone exhausted him of all of his energy. He hangs his head for just a moment before perking back up with a sharp inhale, as if his coffee had just hit him. You notice a glint of life shining in his dark eyes now, revealing that they are in fact a very shocking blue, though he seems to be staring vacantly ahead of him.
“It has been a long and arduous thirteen years since the resolution of the Morkt Crisis. Weird name, I know. Don’t ask me, I didn’t name him,” this draws a few scattered chuckles, but he continues, “When I took up the mantle of Lord seven years ago, I made a vow to all of you. A vow to make sure we would have the best, the brightest, and the bravest that we could find working around the clock to return Earth to prosperity.”
He turns his gaze up to the larger crowd behind you, “And ever since that day, my staff and I have done everything in our power to make sure the surface had the support and resources that it needs, all while maintaining our secrecy from the world. My predecessor was far too keen on maintaining our Laissez-Faire policy of intervention in the world below, and we’ve all seen how that turned out. But tonight, we are not here to disparage relics of the past.”
A few more scattered chuckles punctuate his statement as he continues, his voice now echoing throughout the auditorium.
“Tonight, we are here to celebrate the induction of this years ‘Best, Brightest, and Bravest.’ Tonight, we have gathered to welcome the warriors before me, young and old alike, into the esteemed ranks of the Guardian Angels. These fine men and women have gone through some of the most gruelling training that we as an organization can offer, in an effort to crush coal into diamonds. And looking at them today, I feel I can comfortably say that we have succeeded.”
You find that you’re unsure of how to feel about being praised by this supposed “Lord,” ragged as he is. Although, Lord is a title only held by those in charge of the organization as a whole, so there must be some merit to it regardless of his appearance.
“Please,” he shouts out, a bit removed from the microphone, “join me in welcoming into the fold… our new Guardian Angels!”
The crowd behind you erupts into applause, all for you and your compatriots at your sides. This is the start of your new life, as a Guardian Angel of Heaven.
Story High Concept
In the distant future, a secret society seeks to clean the Earth of the leftover dregs of a bygone era in a world where superpowers are growing increasingly common. However, there are more sinister forces at work in the background than even they know of.
Introduction
Okay so I think I've got this in a place where I'm happy with the amount of content present.
Hello. Before we get any further into this OOC OP, allow me to introduce myself, as I'm certain most of you reading this have never met me before.
My name is Kilel. I used to roleplay here, a little bit, several years ago when I was still in High School. That was about 10 years ago.
I was recently dragged (willingly) back onto this forum by Monfrox, who I'm sure most of you know. He, and Rupudska, are both friends (or at least acquaintances in Rup's case) of mine from outside of NationStates.
I come to you today with something of a Superhero RP. I suppose you could call it that. Think of it like X-men or something. That's the general idea.
The world that I am going to introduce you to today is at least 12 years old, and the mindchild of a friend of mine, who will be participating in this RP with us. It was originally created for another RP back then.
However, much was left to one's imagination in regards to details about this world and its history. As such, I have taken the liberty of making some redactions, revisions, and a historical timeline of sorts in her place. Mostly to facilitate all of the plans I have for this RP.
I am not a very good worldbuilder, but I hope you can enjoy what I've worked so hard on regardless, and that we can build this world together.
(I’m referencing another RP’s ruleset here so work with me.)
As a foreword, this Roleplay is based strongly based on an old roleplay that some friends and I participated in more than a decade ago. Two of those friends will be joining us. In addition, I admit that I enjoy roleplaying far more than I do worldbuilding. As such, I apologize in advance if any aspects of the world appear wonky, strange, or just downright weird.
1. I reserve the right of final say over anything going on within the RP. This goes for worldbuilding, character applications, and any other issue within the scope of this RP.
2. While I have no Co-OP, my good friends "Slaughveria" and "Rainetrifles" are functional as a potential source of historical information, should it be needed. Do keep in mind, though, that the original continuity for this universe is more than a decade old. As such, expect our memory to be foggy.
3. Invited writers will not be required to provide an RP Sample. And I have a good number of invited writers. IC may not begin in earnest until they have all made at least one character. Maybe. Maybe...
4. In keeping with the rules of the forum, I expect this to stay relatively PG-13. Some gore is expected, given the nature of this world. Excessive indulgence in gore is deprecated.
5. I think that we can all agree that writing terrible people is fun. Your characters may be as terrible a person as necessary for their position, depending on what storylines you wish to pursue or produce. However, I will not accept this Shitheel-ness bleeding into OOC. Refrain from any hateful behavior.
6. It is preferred that one keeps a relatively consistent posting schedule. If one expects to be gone for an extended period of time, I would prefer to be notified. Otherwise I will directly contact you to make sure you are still interested in participating.
7. Please help yourself to any healthy conversation with your fellow players. As much as I would love to see my mindchild story played out to perfection, I expect that camaraderie between the players will result in branching, entertaining side-plots. I have enjoyed playing around with a lot of ideas with this universe and I would be thrilled to see all of you doing the same.
8. In tandem with Rules 2 and 7, I encourage you to offer feedback and ideas for worldbuilding. I want this universe to be as enjoyable for you as it has been for me. To that end, I would point out that I am not good at geopolitical worldbuilding. This world is representative of a recovering CrapSack World, and I have generally done nothing with the world’s new governments and cultures. Most of this story happens beyond the world’s geopolitical stage.
9. Please make a point of writing a reasonable amount per each post.
10. I absolutely love cheese and dumb tropes. I don’t expect this story to be a masterfully crafted narrative experience, though I have tried to come up with some entertaining twists despite that. However, first and foremost, I want this to be fun for everyone involved. As such, please: If you have some seriously cheesey/chuuni/cliche shit, don’t be scared to be a total nerd.
*I am by no means an expert military tactician or strategist.
*I am by no means an expert martial artist.
*I am by no means an expert marksman.
*Rule of Cool is a central guiding law of this roleplay. Fun trumps Function. But things must be kept within reasonable bounds, of course.
*I am immensely stupid.
*I am not good at worldbuilding, and maybe I'm not the best storyteller. There may be some plot holes or "Why???" issues. I am trying my best here. I really am. Please work with me.
*Some Legacy characters have had reworks from their original stories, not that you’d know since you weren’t there. Despite this, their names have remained. In light of this you may run into some strange or chuuni-esque names.
*Phenom’s name literally being the word for "a person who is outstandingly talented or admired, especially an up-and-comer” is entirely coincidental. I did not know “phenom” was a word 12 years ago. It was part of a friend’s gamertag and I thought it sounded cool. Which it fucking does and you can’t convince me otherwise and I’m not changing it. It’s also pronounced “Fee-nom” as his name. His last name is inspired by Ace Combat Zero, let me rock.
*This is a multi-act story, as in there will be multiple OOC/IC threads. While I will not divulge most of how I want the 2nd and 3rd act to go, I will say this about the first act: I want this to primarily function on a formula similar to a "Villain of the Week" Shonen with the plot developing in the background. This will serve as a stage-setter and also ample opportunity for your characters to establish relationships with each other.
*I am receptive to criticism but like.. you know... keep it friendly, yeah? If there's anything in particular you think I should add to this OOC, PLEASE let me know. I want to make this story as fun as possible.
Before we get into character creation, please read these two rules
Rules on Ranking:
Military Ranking here works similarly to US Army ranking. However, Warrant Officers have been folded into the Commissioned Officer tier. Real life W1-W5 is this Organization’s O1-O5, and real life O1-O11 is this Organizations O6-O16. In this universe, Angels and Archangels are ranked E1-E9, whereas Guardian Angels and GASPO are ranked anywhere between O1-O11. Most new Guardian Angels will likely be ranked between O1 and O3. If you would like to make a character beyond that rank range, they will likely not be a new Guardian Angel. Please discuss this with me if this is the case. Don’t worry, I won’t bite...
Rules on Abilities:
Abilities are typically something that is mutated, more or less, about a person. That means that in most cases, barring certain forms of psychic power, they are augmentations unto the human body of some sort. You may be able to envelop yourself in flames, but you cannot cast fireballs much more than just beyond your arms length. You cannot control weather like Storm. You cannot shoot lasers out of your eyes like Cyclops. You can, however, turn a metal box into a gigantic taser if you touch it. Essentially, an anomaly should only have one ability, but if there are some that are consequence of the ability or required to support it, they are permissible within reason. If you have any questions about abilities that I have not addressed in my poorly worded summary, PLEASE make your inquiry known.
One additional rule: Expies are fine, but no previously existing characters. Darth Vader aint showin' his face in my house.