Commando Akabane (Observed Universe)

Hi. Apologies again, for the vary late update. I hope you enjoy it anyway - I know I like this guy.


Special Commando Akabane is very difficult to amuse, and is something of a gamebreaker. He developed a simple, fairly powerful ability called One-Shot, which he made his signature move. It allows him to fire any single, once, and hit his target, so long as it is physically possible. He can use it up to four times in rapid succession, after which he must pause, but unlike the majority of active abilities he can recharge it in the same action as reloading.
He has decided to exploit this with a custom four chambered revolver, and uses the freed room to load rounds traditionally reserved for Anti-Tank rifles. It is still quite large, but can at least fit in a handgun holster. He uses the Timed Shield system, like most of his country in his time, and chose his ability at least partially to take advantage of it.

His attitude is of someone who has seen many interesting things, Observed or not, and mostly just shot them in vital areas. He is a midgame boss, and is actually dangerous enough to qualify on his own, but has backup from his teammates Vanka and Kurlin, who are each only slightly weaker, making one of the most difficult fights in the game, to the point that it may be possible to lose and keep playing with a significantly altered storyline. Either way, both he and his team survive the experience.
He shows up again quite a bit later, as Akabane Reload. In this form, he is slightly less deliberately plain, doesn’t conceal his armor quite as much, and still carries his signature handgun. His major difference is in choice of ammunition; he now carries high explosive rounds as well as his standard armor piercing. The second appearance may or may not be as a bonus boss, but is almost certain to have some actual effect on the story beyond allowing access to the armory.

Character Bio: Riot (Awesome Normal Universe)

Hi. Sorry this is so late, this took a long time to edit. And is still a rather rushed job. It was actually two documents, now spliced together, that I'd found in my Google Docs.
I hope you like it anyway.


The Person:

Emily Pembrook technically does have a conscience, it’s just a rare, first edition version that only seems to work in certain circumstances. Said circumstances don’t seem to include any time she is bankrupt, highly upset, in obvious danger, or hungry.

It also seems particularly fuzzy on the subject of avoiding potentially lethal fights, especially when she appears to have the advantage - after killing her first four people, she briefly panicked, but seems to have been primarily concerned with police investigation. Following this, she assumed the persona of Riot quite rapidly and with very few reservations.

As Riot, her modus operandi was to find two armed opposing groups, often both criminal in nature, wait for or cause a confrontation, and proceed to raid both sides’ less guarded bases. As a strategy it worked remarkably well, leaving her alive and unmaimed after at least seven attempts.


The Story:

Riot was a fairly good case study for why young women shouldn’t attempt to pay their way through college by becoming mercenaries. While there are worse ideas for handling the situation, there don’t appear to be many.

She began her career shortly after her third year of college, a reasonable engineer and an excellent mechanic, but sorely lacking skill in accounting, and as a result, she was unable to continue paying her tuition. In response, she attempted to pay off her student loans with the extra credit hours from building a working suit of power armor. This backfired spectacularly, as she had forgotten to take licensing costs into account, and landed her quite deep in debt.

With her available resources amounting to a few textbooks, a dorm room she’d soon be evicted from, an old desktop computer, and a partially licensed suit of power armor, she made the eminently reasonable decision to become a private security contractor, taking her powersuit and auditioning for a short term, high paying job that she believed to be, at worst, running security for bootleggers.

It turned out to much, much more impressive. A new drug lord was moving in, and she had been hired as an enforcer. By the time she figured this out, the warehouse she was guarding was in the middle of a raid by one of the local gangs, and she ended up shooting several of them in self defense.
She then panicked and ran, hid out for several days, and eventually calmed down and hid the armor before returning to school. Any thoughts of turning to the police were quashed when she saw the news story about the incident, and found that whoever killed four minors with an RPG launcher was being painted in about the blackest light the media had available.

Fortunately, no one who’d actually seen her face was still alive, and even the details of her armor were fuzzy at best. She then faced the realization that she’d never gotten more than the down payment, her boss was dead, and she was still in debt.

She tried to alter the armor, changing the details she could, and adding new ones. With her limited budget, this didn’t amount to much.
She then decided that the logical path to financing herself was to moonlight as a supervillian, but quickly realized that with her available resources robbing a bank was impractical. Not to be discouraged, she decided to rob one of the local gangs, instead.
This succeeded remarkably well, as she had been able to strike their hideout while most of them were out on a raid. She proceeded to engineer further conflict before robberies, including with the police, which on one, memorable, occasion, led to her stealing a police van sent to collect her.

As an actual career, however, raiding gang hideouts and stealing police hardware paid remarkably badly, all things considered. While this might possibly have been solved with the addition of a competent fencing operation, she had neither the knowledge of how to contact one nor, in all likelihood, the ability to use one if she did, as she’d made enemies of all the local organizations capable of facilitating such.
Just as likely, however, she actually got a fairly reasonable deal for her misbegotten goods, and simply ran afoul of the fact that crime does not pay quite as much as heist movies might have you believe.

In any case, she didn’t make enough to retire in the year she spent at it, and barely made enough to keep herself in college, although she was able to afford a proper workshop. Despite the initial press fury, she never bought actual rocket propelled grenades during her early career, sticking to the much less regulated rubber ammunition and the occasional flashbang. She eventually started making the highly lethal cryonic grenades that became part of her signature, but this was close to the end of her supervillain career.


The Armor:

The Riot armor is large, dark green, and bulky, especially the legs. The front of the helmet has three layers, the innermost one a bubble of bulletproof glass with an autopolarizing coating, followed by two retractable faceplates; the inner is split, retracting to the sides, the outer retracts over the head, and was added later.

The outermost faceplate enfolds two cameras, the feed from which can be projected over the mirrored glass inner layer, creating a somewhat flattened hologram. Said cameras include at least infrared and low light compensation functions, and appear to allow ultraviolet target painting, as well.

The primary engine is located on the lower back, just underneath the ammunition canisters, and what remarkably little noise it does make is suppressed by its casing. The most memorable feature of the armor, however, is the fact that the arms are both grenade launchers, with spiraling ammunition feeder tracks making up the majority of the arms.This naturally makes the suit’s dexterity rather limited, but she has designed the whole setup with sufficient durability that the barrels can be used as reasonable clubs, in line with the initial intention for the suit to be used in actual riot suppression, or at least act as a plausible model of such.

Glass Soldiers (Binding Universe)

Hi. The author is sorry this has barely been edited, it's actually very late as the author is doing this. When this posts, he will likely be unable to access a computer, so he's set it to post automatically.



Sometimes referred to as the Pilgrim’s War, the Holy Settlement Crusade was an attack by the Grand Sanctum, a semireligious state that decided it would be easier to conquer the Fourth Timeline, still recovering from the Dead Messengers, than it would be to actually find and terraform a suitable planet on which to build their empire. Their relative experience with magic allowed them to compensate for much smaller numbers of actual mages, and one of the most important factors in this were the Glass Soldiers.

Glass Soldiers are hard counters to almost all of the widespread Fourth weaponry, being almost completely immune to lasers or electricity, highly resistant to fire, only slightly more vulnerable to cold, impossible to properly target with Bloodforged weaponry, and prone to shattering into fast homing projectiles when actually hit, although they are remarkably durable. They were also impossible to truly kill without destroying both cores, located in the head and chest cavity respectively, which would each repair the other if damaged. Severing the connection between the two (via decapitation) would force them into a dormant state until they reconnected.
Unfortunately, even death will not immediately depower the glass, and will cause the main body to shatter explosively, often killing the one who actually destroyed their cores, considering the ranges generally necessary to do so.

Comet Shards are one of the few things that can consistently destroy them with relative safety, but only individually, in larger groups the splinters often reach sufficient density to penetrate the heat cloak. The other consistently effective weapon is Thunderbrand, which can shatter large groups of Glass Soldiers with single castings, while destroying both cores simultaneously. The large Fuel cost and the chance of collateral damage or friendly fire limit its usage significantly, however, although perhaps not as much as they should.

Lastly, their biggest advantage is likely that they can be mass produced fairly cheaply over a span of hours, including cores, ultimately requiring a bit of sand or glass, found in abundance on beaches or in deserts, a bit of copper, and a bit of iron, both found naturally in dirt, or, if more speed is necessary, the appropriate types of ore. After production, they could be deployed almost instantly by teleportation, and recalled in the same way. Led by mages for fire support and field command, they were very effective, to the point that most of the reason the Sanctum actually lost can be pinned directly in assistance from the Fifth.
With access to an Omnicrafter Ring, Glass Soldiers can be given simple upgrades in the form of eye gems, granting minor supplementary abilities based on the elements the gems are formed from. While the gems were relatively difficult to get ahold of, they could drastically improve effectiveness, such as Steel Gems to make them more durable, or water gems to make them flexible and good at swimming. The gems are interchangeable, allowing excellent versatility, and as a whole Gem Eyed take the role of elite soldiers, albeit expendable ones.

Alterman Core Cast

Hi. Sorry this is late. And incomplete. I'll get to the civilians when I finish making them.
Anyway, this is my attempt at making a Super Sentai type series. I think it takes place a few years after someone comes back from Pendulum, and shows the government her powers.

Alterman Vell: The hero, his Alterman armor is light grey. Upper middle in strength, speed, durability, and endurance, his special power is to massively increase his armor’s friction at will, which allows him to tear off other Altermen’s armor, which is normally too slippery to hold. As such, he has the vast majority of the nonlethal Alterman takedowns on record.

Probably found his Alterman helmet in a public area.

Alterman Jann: The Crimson Alterman. Has the highest Alterman or civilian killcount in the series, although the latter is mostly accidental. Rough physical parity with Vell, his unique power is his Compression Claws, which draw in as much matter as possible, usually in the form of compressing air until it glows.
Spends the majority of his time transformed, and has sped up his recharge time massively to facilitate this, through as yet unknown means.

Alterman Sev: The first Alterman to ally with Vell, her armor is orange and black. Very high strength and speed, but has the lowest endurance on record. Due to her very short activation timer, she took quite some time to discover her unique ability, which turned out to be an immobile, invulnerable state, that also requires significantly less energy than normal operation.

She figured out how to change her armor's standby settings, including form, and so her activation sequence is to don her glove and make a fist.

Dhovii (Binding Universe)

Hi. Sorry if the author has been even less punctual than usual, the he has been distracted by Sufficient Velocity.
It turns out that GMing is fun, but difficult.

The Dhova Class Experimental Ultra Heavy Multitheater Combat Robot is one of the most advanced mecha yet created in the Fourth Timeline. Using Kardashen legs modified to integrate Kallen-style rockets, an enormous, segmented body, and the newly developed Sunbreath plasma cannon.
It takes the form of a robotic eastern style dragon, with gunmetal grey segments, each with a pair of legs attached, and a spherical head, primarily occupied by a plasma projector, which takes up the entire front of its otherwise featureless face.
It can fly at speeds comparable to those a tank can drive, and its ground speed is only slightly lower. It can also climb on solid surfaces, including those that could not naturally support its weight, due to the same gravity manipulation that allows it to fly. Primarily, though, it doesn’t use this ability much, simply being much lighter than it appears, as it is displacing most of its mass into a pocket timeline, where it also stores its ammunition.
It can be piloted or autonomous, and the autopilot is smart enough that p pilot must be quite well trained to grant notable improvement. Long range teleportation is possible with either, although the addition of a powerful Mage as a source can cut the charge time from fifteen seconds to five. Short range teleportation is also possible, but shifting the vast majority of the structure into its pocket timeline is almost always more practical.
Lastly, a linkup of eight Dhovii in a circular formation, forming a much thicker wormesque form, has recently been developed. Among other things, it is much faster in straight lines, flies by ion jet rather than the now linked foot rockets, and can act as a teleportation gate.

Prismatic Universe Intro

There are three base elements that make up the universe; Light, Darkness, and Material, although some claim vacuum as the fourth, as it is necessary to all function.

Darkness is the most well studied element. It suffuses the vast majority of the world, granting substance and size to all common materials. Its aspects are believed to be shielding and healing, granting form and stature.

Light is the second most studied, although much less popular, as while it facilitates almost all movement, direct exposure causes extensive decay very rapidly, neutralizing the Darkness that suffuses it.

Material is the last and least studied element. It is fractal in nature, and infusing it with Darkness will cause it to swell indefinitely, although it does have a minimum size that it cannot be reduced beyond simply by removing the Darkness. Its shape can determine the propagation of Light through it, forming the basis for reactions and movement. In its pure form, it is called a Prism, and is capable of manipulating Light without taking damage in the process. This may occur naturally in some people, although the phenomenon is not widely observed, and has not been studied.

An interesting phenomena has been observed, in that when dense concentrations of Light or Darkness are gathered, they can be used to affect significantly more than a larger but less pure mix. This has led to much speculation, and the currently dominant theory is that what can be manipulated of Light or Darkness is merely a marker for an external force,  that proceeds to act on its opposite on a rapid but periodic basis, and appears in larger concentrations when its markers are closer. This has also done very little to dissuade the religion that anthropomorphizes them, and is seen as evidence for the universe being two gods locked in combat.

Perhaps most notable, however, is the fact that People can manipulate Light and Darkness, separating them out and concentrating them. This allows manipulation of the environment, by spreading Darkness to reshape matter, and the strategic destruction of obstacles, by projecting concentrated light at them.

The first, known as Darkshaping, is widely studied, well viewed by society, and a somewhat popular vocation, as it allows one great advantages in construction or movement, and can even be used to heal, if employed carefully.

Lightweilding, on the other hand, is badly received in general, as it is extremely difficult to practice with any modicum of safety, only really good for destroying things, and remarkably difficult to stop externally. This has mostly restricted it to dangerous idiots, extensively trained military units, and a rare few reasonably sane, cautious individuals trying to study it, which has led to much less knowledge about its workings or advanced uses than its counterpart.

Narrative Roleplaying Mechanics Early Alpha Outline

Inertia: The defining aspect of all conflicts, something’s Inertia is counted against that of its target in order to determine outcomes. This applies on both metaphoric and literal scales.
In both cases, an entity’s Inertia is its Acceleration times its Presence, and while something without much Presence may gain Acceleration rapidly, it requires much more Acceleration to achieve the same effect. Inversely, something or someone with great Presence requires enormous effort to have their Acceleration changed by an external source.
Inertia is preserved between conflicts unless it is directly resolved, and
On a personal scale, someone who charges into a conflict against unsuspecting opponents may win despite a disadvantage in skill, equipment, or numbers.
On a larger scale, if an organization has one decisive victory, they have a significant advantage in the following conflicts, with one side often being able to turn a small, hard won triumph into the beginning of a major offensive.

Presence: Also known as Personality. Presence determines what a character or object is capable of, within their accepted roles. It also determines how much of the Narrative they are allowed to affect, and in what ways. Presence accrues naturally with Development.
Presence is not restricted to single characters or items. Organizations, types of equipment, and even settings all have Presence and can gain more - this is why an anonymous man shooting the leader of the local country can be used to start a plot, but if it causes a major paradigm shift in a well established setting, at least one of the parties involved must have a compelling reason for it to happen.

Development: The standard way to gain Presence, Development happens as something changes, shows more of itself, achieves goals, and reacts to events. Archetypes allow shortcuts for this, providing Presence in exchange for roles that must be adhered to, although sufficient Development can let a character grow out of them. Archetypes also create a liability, as one of the only ways to lose Presence is to act contrary established character without good reason, and the wrong Archetypes may force a character into choices that are counterproductive to their goals.

Foreshadowing: Essentially, Development for an action, increasing the action’s Presence. Foreshadowing is when earlier events hint at a conclusion, giving bonuses to a later action. Bonuses are based on subtlety, correlation, and number of events used, but Foreshadowing may also cause an action difficulty, such as when a plan is revealed before its execution.
Depending on the form, a single event may be used as Foreshadowing repeatedly or only once; for example a bomb is mentioned as missing as opposed to a line of poetry one character quotes obsessively, although this is obviously somewhat flexible.
If not fulfilled, Foreshadowing becomes Loose Threads and counted against Inertia if not properly converted to Plot Hooks first.

Archetypes: Characters, objects, organizations, and settings that fit certain archetypes get a Presence bonus dependant on , such as Big Guys being able to survive more damage and hit harder, or Lovable Losers being able to survive risky situations mostly on luck, although not necessarily unharmed. Characters who act against their archetypes get a Presence penalty, unless they Develop out of it naturally, although some archetype breaking actions are themselves archetypes.
The assembled Character Archetypes are far too numerous to list here, and have their own section.

Backstory: Technically a subset of Archetype, it allows the use of prior Development for extra Presence, albeit in a reduced form until properly explained.

Person Type: First Person Characters are the most directly powerful, often being practically invincible when reasonably clever, but are the most vulnerable to blindsiding or missing important details, making them particularly susceptible to Retroactive Actions.
Second Person Characters are quite rare, mainly due to the difficulty involved, but are easy to develop very quickly, making them popular for introducing a character or establishing a significant change in their abilities. Otherwise, they carry most of the same advantages and disadvantages as First Person Characters.
Third Person Characters are the second most common, and allow the best sensory and foreshadowing abilities, at some cost to ease of Development. Very popular for large groups, as first person can be difficult to keep track of with more than two viewpoints in one area.

Retroactive Action: A way to avoid Foreshadowing penalties, instantly gain Inertia, or simply provide Consistency bonuses, Retroactive Action is the term for declaring events that have happened but not been described. It cannot contradict established facts, although it may contradict a character’s beliefs, so long as the sequence of events stays plausible. Should not be confused with Time Manipulation or Memory Manipulation, whose effects and presence vary by setting, although overlap is frequent.

Retroactive Trap Setting: So long as a character has plausibly had the time and appropriate resources to do so, they may declare that they set a trap somewhere they have been. This is only possible if they have not used those resources since then, the trap has not been noticed by the target, and the resources presence has not been noted, although mentioning their lack allows a Foreshadowing bonus. Significant bonuses for First Person characters, but frequent use degrades success rate until a cooldown period has passed. Despite this, it combos pretty well, as individual traps are not counted as uses of this ability, just periods where they’re set up since the last set was revealed.
Primarily used by Analytical Geniuses, as one of the hallmarks of the class, although it often synergises well with High Speed Improvisers. Subset of Retroactive Action.

Retroactive Communication: A character may reference communications that happened offscreen, often to request support or alter the environment (such as warning civilians to evacuate an area) or to provide Development, so long as there was a plausible period where the character could have done so. Subset of Retroactive Action, favored by Leaders or almost any kind of Pragmatist, but not uncommon elsewhere.

Retroactive Planning: A character may retroactively announce a set of action to be part of a plan, so long as they had a plausible opportunity to make it, that allows them to collect a significant Foreshadowing bonus as long as the plan is followed. As with normal Foreshadowing, however, announcing a plan too early acts as Foreshadowing of heavy opposition, if not outright failure, and explaining a trap before an opponent is fully subdued may allow them to break free.

Retroactive Skill Development: If a character has room in his backstory or recent past, they may spend unused Development to retroactively gain a skill or other ability, appropriate to the character and circumstances. While skipping the potential Development opportunities to retain Inertia carries no inherent penalty, poor Foreshadowing will lead it to be counted against Development cost, severely penalizing the acquisition of skills that should already have been used.