The PORPS Trial RP #1-The Folly of Paradise

[Girkon]

The Story-The people of the planet Sephiriam lived life most content. Living with stories of ancient creatures that once roamed the country side. Some even said that they were able to harness the power of nature and beyond. Most brushed it off as myth and superstition. Until an archeological dig told otherwise. Of the items discovered was a device made of metal, but at the same time glowed with an unnatural aura.

This turned out to become the dawn of a new technological age for the people. When this power source was applied to their normal machines. They worked with amazing speed and accuracy. Production had increased for farmers and their crops tenfold. Everyone soon wanted to have the same power for their own. So the sages of the people all gathered to discuss how to multiply this power source. For weeks they would stay shut in that hall, with nobody going in or out. Until the eve of the summer solstice that they emerged. Solution in hand. It is unclear how they had done it, for it was a closely kept secret. Though after awhile nobody cared why. For the results were more than any could have hoped for.

Years had gone by with the the planets people prospering at a rapid pace. Cities expanded and the economy had boomed to unknown peaks. Soon a testament to their technology-Dubbed MageTech by the sages-was a great city built into the tallest mountain on Sephiriam. It would become a city for trade, a lab for MageTech research, a library for study, and a university for the most eager minds to pursue knowledge of the use of MageTech. The world was at peace....or at least it's what the present is. The future is about to present a danger far beyond the minds of mortals.
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Welcome all who look at this. For all RP enthusiasts who wish to join you need only send me a PM. This game is meant to test you on your adaptability and your imagination. Upon sending me word of your eagerness to join I will send you a role you will play(pun intended) You will be required to make a character from this. Then you just let your mind flow. I am hoping this will be fun as it will mean great things for the society. Once your role is given you can post the start of your story. Good luck and have fun.

EDIT:Here's an update of the situation. The players have made their appearences and with a BANG I might add. Shan got herself into a mess o trouble with an unknown pursuer on her heels. Though for the time being the group is taking refuge in Vaos' (Azzy) place. Argos (Zzyzxx) and Zeke (Tobi) are standing by at a battlefield awaiting their new orders. Others coming into the picture quickly as events are about to come into place. For now the group is safe and will be heading their own way. The morning will change that though. Expect the PLOT to begin SOON so keep yourselves ready.

[Azurel]

Vaos Iksen, lead implimentation engineer at the magetech labs in Sephiriam's capital city, sat leaning forward with his elbows upon his desk. His two palms held his head up via his forehead, and his brown hair flowed through open fingers in front. Vaos eyed his latest project through frameless glasses; it was a white helmet made of the only material that could hold their own power source, kamite. Though everything influenced by the single source of power worked at a level beyond efficiency, it had been proven that magetech gadgets that worked off of their own power source were more easily controlled than were referred to as "free-source" gadgets or machines.

Vaos believed that one day the source of energy for all free-source objects would fade and the world would crash because of their dependancy on them; this is why he spent his free time creating helpful tools out of kamite. Kamite was an abundant resource on Sephiriam, but it is widely regarded as an invaluable material. It is no stronger than steel; however, kamite's capacity for storing and utilizing magical energy makes it quite useful in magetech labs.

It hit Vaos suddenly, and he scrambled for his tools which lay between him and the helmet. His palms had left two large spots of red on his forehead, and his hair now fell just short of his eyebrows to cover up the spots. Vaos turned the helmet so that the front of it faced him. It had no visor, coincidentally what Vaos was about to fix. He looked over to the edge of his desk. Along it were spools of colored metal ribbon; these were what made kamite objects work. Each ribbon was infused with a single elemental energy, thanks to the sages who also worked in the lab. The colors were just to seperate which ribbon had which element in it. He cut a length of black ribbon and a length of white. Hours had passed before he was done; the new strips were added to the underside of the front lip of the helmet, where any visor would go. The ribbons were indented into the Kamite, a process that has only recently been mastered by Vaos.

He removed his glasses and put on the helmet. The helmet fit snug upon his head, a custom-made piece specifically for himself. Two half-spheres covered his ears and extended beyond with a tendril that met the other along his chin. Visor, he thought to himself. The black strip of metal ribbon began to glow slightly, as much as black could glow, before a veil of shadow magic covered his face. It connected to each point of the Kamite ring that wrapped around the front of his face, making it round and quite visor like in appearance. The way that the metal ribbons worked was that a spell was engraved into them with a codeword attached to the spell. The codeword acted as a catalyst for the spells. Only advanced magetech engineers were able to craft kamite objects and gadgets as well as have the knowlege of spells to impliment it themselves.

It was pitch black on his end of the visor, part of the spell he had just put on it kept light from entering any cracks or openings along the jawline or ears. Vision. The shadow in front of him seemingly opened up and spread out, leaving only a slight black aura on the edge of his mask. On the outside, the mask remained pitch black. The vision command was something that allowed him to see out like a one way mirror without the reflection because of the strip of light magic he had put in with the shadow. Vaos looked down at his hand, steady from his craft. He placed his hand to the visor and he could feel the energy along his fingertips before they slipped right through the mask. He rubbed his fingers along his cheek through the visor.

"Hmm, I'm going to have to fix that. Maybe a soidify air spell added to the visor command, that should do nicely," he said to himself.

Visor. The shadow visor withdrew into its natural, uncontrolled state. Vaos took off the helmet and began to work on it again. More hours pass until he is satisfied with his helmet. He stood up with his finished helmet in his hand and stretched his arms upward. His knees and buttocks acjed from the hours of work he had put into this helmet, but he was used to that kind of pain. After his stretch, he sluggishly walked over to his white locker. He preferred his things to be white, it reminded him of the kamite that he worked with. The locker was filled with gadgets, capsules, balls, and things that resembled the beginnings of a suit; all of them were made of kamite and had magical ribbons imbued into their white skin. Most of the things in that locker were finished, but he would need further research on spells before he could finish them all.

Vaos' mind started to race with ideas as he looked at his work in his locker. It was always good for inspiration, but terrible for trying to get some sleep. He closed the locker and stepped to the side, revealing a doorway and a lightswitch on the lab's side. Like any dedicated engineer, his lab was behind his bedroom. He shut off the light to the lab, his room light was already off, and he stumbled into the bed. He'd actually have to go to work tomorrow, he was told he had an assignment and there would be a meeting tomorrow for all the advanced workers.

[Tobias]

Omega, this is dispatch...do you copy...over
Yes sir. We have visual confirmation approximately 7.4 Kilometers off the northern hill. Permission to advance Omega into Code: Delta...over
Use what ya got, Omega...over and out.

"Omega...Lets move out. Code Delta: Units Apex and Vertigo, take seige maneuvers. Units Alfonz and Star move for the left flank using the bats. Unit Psych, take the Mad-dog and bring Zeke and myself over to the top of the hill. Zeke, you'll be executing the Delta maneuver along with myself and Unit Quake at the drop point. Lets suit up and set out."

Zeke nodded, and loaded the glowing steel into his rifle. He had the switch on off...he didn't need to overheat in the middle of the fray. The rest of Omega moved to their commanded positions. Zeke hopped into the passenger side seat of the "Mad-dog"...a rather uncomfortable four-wheeled ride that took 4 units a short distance up a small dune hill. Zeke could see his comrads hiking into their respective positions, Apex and Vertigo...two units who had served a long time with Major Bowery. Each unit had a name for a reason...they were distinguished into the group.

Zeke had been transfered into Omega only a short time ago, after demonstrating a unique skill with the MageTech armor and weaponry. He had the rifle strattled under his arms, and the small cartridge attatched onto the side of the rifle. He began to feel a cold feeling in his stomach. He was nervous. This was his third maneuver, and while he was no longer green, he was still a bit nervous. Omega was one of the more distinguished assault groups on Sephiriam.

The Vehicle barreled forward, explosions from the seige artillery was well under way. In the far distance, a nearby building lit ablaze, emerging from it another knight, locking the cartridge into place and beginning cover-maneuvers. The rocky-ride skidded to a halt, and the other three had begun their own assault.

The objective of Delta Maneuver was for two units to flank from the left side, causing supressing sniper fire, while on the right, two more units used artillery to deal with heavier units. The other four drove into the fray, using short-burst tactics to begin assault inside, causing a third attack on the opposition, adding the third side to the Delta Maneuver.

Zeke flipped the cartridge in, and began to discharge his own blasts, the small strike-force moving in and taking on the opposition with dexterity. All that was left in a short period of time were piles of debree, and a victorious eight who had called dispatch for reinforcements, and a way back home.

(OOC: some background on my character, in case you guys wanted to know...)

Name: Zeke Foll-runner
Age: 23
Type of Character: MageTech Knight
Equipped Weaponry: Standard Issue MageTech Rifle, MageTech Blade, and MageTech Armor.

[Ultrawolf]

"You haven't slept well in weeks John. I know it's been hard for you since..."
"Since Helen Died?"
"John...I'm going home for the night. This constant overworking is going to take it's toll on you. You're in your mid-twenties. Don't tell me you're going to waste your youth in this lab."
"Goodnight Frank."
"John..."

He shuts the laboratory door behind him,
And I am alone again.

My hands seem to move on autopilot as my mind slowly drifts back...back to Her.
Helen.

Helen and I were researchers for Twilight Industries in the MageTech Pharmaceutical Department. We'd been working on reverse engineering a formula by our rivals at MagiCorp. Fortunate to be able to work with a prototype of the MagiCorp design. We never questioned how they were able to obtain the prototype.

We were told to break down the formula, reverse engineer the components, and develop our own version. We were too excited with having a chance to "One-Up MagiCorp" and get our version of their miracle Panacea out to market first.

Helen and I worked feverishly for weeks.
Breaking down the formula, analyzing, studying, experimenting, recording results, and so on.
We slept very little those few weeks. I didn't mind.
I was with her... With Helen.

Helen. My Angel, My Muse... Every time...every time I lost hope.
When I wanted to give up. When I had lost all hope. She would smile at me.
Pick me up when I had fallen. Carry me until I could find the strength to begin again.
Helen. My Love.

We did it. We cracked the formula. Reverse engineered it. Identified all of the components...except for one. The Chemical that was our undoing. We didn't know Helen. We didn't know.. We were working for Madmen.
This was no Panacea. Far from it. What we uncovered Helen, What we uncovered served no medicinal purpose.

John Graves clenchs his fists in anger.

You Bastards. You knew.
You knew and you herded us like sheep.
You made us your pawns. You used us.

Graves closes his eyes.

Helen.
You remember that day don't you? We were proud to deliver the Chemical we had generated. We stepped into an empty board room. That's when the lights when out. Blow to the back of the head.

I woke up in a coffin, Helen. I kicked, I screamed.
I hoped someone would hear me. Someone did.
He'd Been waiting for me. He opened the lid and lifted me out.
He said his name was Nathan West. He told me what had happened Helen.
He grabbed my arm and rolled the sleeve back. I saw it. Puncture wound. Like the mark left by a syringe.

He said we'd been used as test subjects for the Toxin, Helen. We made a mistake Helen. It was never a medecine. Intended to be sold on a Black Market to the highest bidder. They named it The Black Dragon Virus. The substance we couldn't identify, Helen, it was part of what makes MageTech work. Part of The Secret.

Nathan said no more. He drove me to RavenWood Cemetary. He showed me the grave, Helen.
Where they buried you my love.

Tears stream from his eyes just as they did on that night.

We helped them fine tune the virus. Helped them make it more efficient.
They put the gun to our heads and let us pull the trigger. Why am I still alive Helen? I deserve to die.

He offered me a chance to work for him. To use my knowledge of the Virus to discover a cure.
There must be a cure Helen. I was spared from Death's embrace. There must be a cure...

Helen...your smile...Helen...it was magical.

He drifts into dreamland.

[Therin]

The cacophony of the night club, loud, thrashy music overlayed by young people screaming to make themselves heard, washed over him like a cold shower, only aggrivated by the gyrating lightstrips that hung from the ceiling. His head was pounding as he made his way through the crowd, but not from the noise. He hadn't even looked at something cold and alcoholic all day.

He knew the bartender, though not by name, a tall, whiplike punk with hair like a sunset and more metal in him than a workarm fresh from the factory. Kids these days. He waved to grab the kid's attention, nodded and gave a gesture of redundancy to save the bartender's vocal cords. The usual. Then he stopped, caught the kid's attention again, and held up two fingers. Make it a double. Sunset-head raised an eyebrow and nodded, a gesture almost indistinguishable from the bobbing of his head to the beat, and turned his back to the bar. Joe took a seat while he waited.

The short glass clocked down on the counter, quickly followed by another. Joe looked up to see the kid mouthing words at him. Smart move.

You feelin' alright tonight?

Joe nodded slowly and downed the first glass. "Tired." He downed the second. "Long day."

The bartender bobbed his head, it might have been a nod, and turned to take another order. Joe rested his elbow on the counter and leaned his head on his hand, scrubbing his other hand through his short, unruly blond hair. Turning, he scanned the undulating crowd on the dance floor, sweaty bodies packed far too close for comfort. The lightsticks made his eyes hurt. He turned back to the bar and waited for the bartender to come by again.

He snagged the kid's sleave, pulled the silver-encrusted ear close. "Gimme a bottle."

Sunset-head's eyebrows shot up his forehead, and he turned to regard his customer. You really are tired.

Joe nodded and made a chivvying motion.

His apartment was upstairs. It was noisy, and you couldn't get to sleep until it was time to go back to work, but he didn't sleep much as a rule, and for the noise...well...

Upstairs, he grabbed a glass from the cupboard and popped the cork without looking at the bottle. The metal-head knew his tastes, and at this point, it didn't matter much anyway. He waited for a lull in the base, and for the floor to stop shaking, before he poured. His hands were shaky enough without. He downed the glass while he walked across the room to the table, put the glass down, sat down and filled it again.

"This one's for you, Ivan." He raised the glass in salute to the picture on the wall, the only decoration in the apartment. Two boys, side by side. One had a fishing rod. That had been before the MageTech revolution. He downed the glass, water under the bridge, and poured himself a third.

Last time he had done this...No one had yet noticed his eye had changed color. He couldn't remember exactly what he had done, or why. The time before that, he still didn't know what the results had been. He held up his hand, shaky when he had entered the apartment. Steady as a rock now. He stood up, grabbed glass and bottle in one hand, and pushed through the rear door to the room beyond.

His bed was in the corner of a room strewn with everything from multicolored elstrip fragments to planks of now-extinct infinity oak. A solid block of kamite, as big as a chair, sat in one corner. The bed hadn't been slept in for an indeterminate amount of time. Joe picked his way on wobbly legs to the desk, and sat down. He held his hand up again. Still steady. He set the glass on the desk by his elbow, filled it from the bottle, and got to work. He wondered what might happen this time.

[Shino]

OOC:
I like this idea guys. I will be paying attention to how this goes. We are definatly trying to promote more roleplaying on the site. This is kind of detached from PO, but I think that's ok. I understand that roleplaying the same character repeatedly can get less interesting over time and the change of pace is good.

If this does well, I'll create a seperate section for these types of RPs

[Shandriz]

((Hope you don't mind me spicing things up a bit, Girkon. ^^ I figured, it's time to find a way to bring everyone together!))

Evening. That interminable stretch of time somewhere between afternoon work and nighttime slumber. She sat in the candlelight halls just as always. One could always tell when a person was new to town and the library. They would come inside, and spot her sitting in her corner day after day, at all hours.

Eventually their curiousity would get the best of them, and the stranger would go to the librarian,
"What is she looking for?"

The librarian would laugh, just as she always did, knowing that this person had not been in town long, and inform them that the best way to find out would be to ask her.

So this wary stranger would make the trek over to her table, covered in dusty tomes and candlewax stained pages with scrawling indecipherable handwriting. She doesn't look up as they come near, so absorbed is she in her reading, a few notes here and there scrawled on a half-filled page.

The newcomer coughs, to get her attention, and she looks up, her appearance likened often to that of a horse startled. Her eyes narrow, for she too knows that this person must be a newcomer not because she does not recognize him (for there are a good many people whom she does not recognize, given her propensity for staying in the library at almost all hours), but because he is approaching her.

"My pardons, lady, but might I ask what it is you are looking for?"

She blinks at him owlishly through the light, her bright green eyes assuring that her appearance is no indication of her true age, and her true age no indication of her wisdom,
"I search for that which is lost," she replies, looking back to her pages and giving no sign she wishes to discuss the matter any further. In fact, any attempts to continue the conversation are met with silence, and eventually all questioners leave aware that they will never know the true reason that strange woman cloisters herself in the library day after day.

This evening, however, there were no visitors. The librarian had already closed the building down. She had given up attempting to get the woman to leave it long ago-- somehow she could exit and enter the library as she pleased despite the locks.

Long shadows cast their way into darkness, and soon the moon shone brightly overhead. The dusty tome closes gently, the tattered and fragile pages like a whisper and surprisingly unharmed by this motion. The legs of her wooden chair creak with age as she lifts herself from it, stretching an blinking into the candlelight.

Something, this night, takes hold of her, and the woman's long skirt sweeps against the floor towards the huge doors. From within her voluminous sleeves she produces a key, sliding it gently into the door. It creaks open with barely a sound, and soon she is running.

Darkness. Light. A light. Someone is following her. She had seen the light even as the doors themselves opened. Before, possibly, through the windows of the library. Someone...someone does not want her to finish deciphering the ancient scrolls.

The skirt drops, falling to the ground to reveal a pair of pants. She was always prepared-- one never knew when ones secrets would become their undoing. The shirt stayed, though. Those sleeves protect her secret. Her eyes dart from side to side. Only one follower, and she knows where he is. Good.

There, a building up ahead. A night club? Perfect. She pushes the door open. Most do not recognize her now, without the heavy skirt, the books before her, and those who might are too drunk, too high, too excited, to pay attention to one more person entering.

She loses herself in the crowd, making her way towards the excruciatingly bright haired bartender. He is on the far side of the bar at this point. The crowd is starting to thin, but it's heaviest here. She can hide here.

But no, she was too late. She recognizes the presence as it enters the room. She cannot see him, but she can feel him. In desperation, she turns to the crowd before her, picking out the largest, scariest looking man there. Stopping before him, she looks him in the eyes, and punches.

Caught unawares, it takes a moment for the man to recover enough to retaliate. By that time, she's already gone. A flash of movement, and she's dodging through the crowd even as the fight breaks loose. Adding to the music is the sound of yelling and crashing as a man not much bigger than herself is thrown into the bar.

She spots an opportunity, though. The door is out of the question-- he'll be looking for her to go out that way. No, there are stairs...stairs that would hopefully lead to the roof. She could easily jump down from the roof, though she would have to be careful how she arranged that...it could be quite high.

Quickly, she charges up them. She can hear footsteps behind her. Her follower has spotted her. thunk she slams into a door. Damn, she hadn't been paying enough attention. She recovers easily, though, banging on the door,
"Please! Open the door! Hurry!" there must be a window in the room that she could jump out of. Something. Anything to get away.

[Therin]

Bang bang bang!

With a jolt, he sat up, looked around. This was unusual. He looked down at the instrument in his hand. What was that? What had he been doing? A flat piece of kamite lay on the desk, barely thicker than a piece of paper, covered with a tangle of miniscule elstrips. He traced the path of a red one. Fascinating. With the right verbal or mental command, this would...do nothing at all. But it would activate the white strip beneath it, and the two beneath that, which would...he leaned forward over the desk, tracing the path that a command might take. Fascinating. But...it seemed incomplete. He reached for the bottle of alcohol. It wasn't there. He looked around. Other side, he thought to himself, chuckling and reaching with his other hand. He poured himself a glass, downed it, turned back to the-

Thud!

desk. Something wasn't right here. He got up...or tried to. Mr. Legs hadn't quite come into alignment with Mr. Brain yet. He leaned his chair back on two legs, stretching his head to glimpse through the doorway. Front door was still closed, which meant it was more than probably still locked. He didn't mess about with commercial locks. The chair toppled backwards, and he felt his head slam against the floor. Didn't really feel it, though; the fairy in the bottle was a good one.

Some time later, having successfully rearranged his limbs and made contact with the distant legs, he stood, leaning heavily on the frame of the doorway to the bedroom. The room spun. He closed his left eye, without knowing precisely why he did so. The spinning stopped. He looked at the front door again. Something...behind it. Urgent.

A muffled pounding sound made its way through the door to his ears.

He leaned forward and careened through the room in a run that was more like a fall indefinitely postponed, and slammed into the wall beside the door. He looked down. Somehow, the bottle had made its way into his hand without his knowledge. He quaffed the last of it. The door beckoned again. He stood up straight, somehow, and yanked it open, peering one-eyed into the darkness. Joe reversed his grip on the bottle.

[Shandriz]

With a whirl of motion, he finds himself seated on the floor, the bottle in his hand no weapon against her swift and precise movements. Before he knows it, she has made the rounds of his room, and found it lacking,
"No windows?!" she manages to growl out before planting herself firmly before the door.

Always prepared, but never enough, it seems. She has no weapon but her hands.

...Ah, but these are weapon enough. Uncovering them at last, she reveals them-- quite a disturbing sight to many. Embedded in the palms of her hands are a globe each, with thin lines like tattoos running from it along her arms.

There's a great rumbling, and suddenly the floor is shaking below them.

[Therin]

"Wha-!"

Something large and heavy bowled him over and vanished. He tried to get up, but his legs were on vacation again. Scrubbing his hand over his face and through his hair, he waited for the room to stop moving. It failed to do so. He closed his left eye. Still moving. He managed to roll over, and pushed himself to his knees, which promptly jumped out from under him, leaving him on his side facing the wall. Why was the room shaking? He rolled over again, looked at the figure who stood facing the doorway. Dark hair. Wierd clothes. The room was still shaking. He pondered this.

Earthquake!

"Giddown!" His speech was barely understandable. He grabbed her arm, tried to pull her from her feet, to urge her underneath something, was she crazy, just standing there when the roof might come right down on her head!? But fingers weren't working anymore, and apparently wanted nothing to do with her arm. He heard something crash, hoped it wasn't the picture. Fingers of his other hand were closed around something. He looked. The bottle. Keep hold of the important parts, eh? he chuckled to himself. Then he realized the bottle was empty. Dammit! Feebly, he tossed it toward the door, watched it bounce and roll across the floor and down the stairs...

There were...wires coming out of his right leg, trailing across the floor toward the bedroom. Why were there wires in his leg?