MDSVeritas

So, if I missed anyone, just say so and I'll edit in some changes. Also, for the sake of me being able to keep track of the groups a little more efficiently, I'd like everyone to post the group they are in at the beginning of each post they make. You can make up team names, just write the names of those you are with, or do it however you wish, but in any case, showing the group you're in will make it much easier for me to go through the posts to write updates. Thanks!

((As a quick note: the map won't be updates on weekends as I don't have access to Photoshop then, but I'll make sure it's up to date for each weekday update.)) Nathan Group Nathan could feel himself approaching the source of the energy he had felt. "... What do I have waiting for me?" Before Nathan was... A huge spire, a single cylindrical tower that seemed to be emanating pure energy. A huge door stood at its base, one door open, leading to a blank white room with nothing but an elevator that led upwards. Standing guard in front of the tower, however, were two bulky dolls, each holding in their hand pure white spears. They stood at both sides of the entrance door and as Nathan came into view, they both lowered their spear points at him and advanced cautiously... Nathan had a fight on his hands. Reverie and Liath Group Continuing southeast, the two of them eventually encountered... A huge gray metallic pod. It stood out very distinctly in the purely white City. A huge hatch from the pod had been opened and two gigantic four legged beasts emerged from it. They were seemingly made of shadows, as various darkened shades danced across their bodies of gray. The only other color on them were the two pure red spheres that seemed to be where their eye would have been. On their backs were small gray machines that seemed to be some sort of projectile cannon. Q chimed in to explain the nature of these creatures. "These are the Marauders. Sent from those who wish The City to be their own. The Marauders will seek to destroy this place and especially all things living with in; that is to say their target is you. The StarFall locations are simply the places where they make their entrance into this world to begin their bloody work. I expect you know what to do." As if in response, the two creatures turned towards their new opponents and snarled with their silvery fangs. One sprinted at Reverie, and the other suddenly fired an incredibly fast projectile from the device on its back towards Liath. The projectile moved fast and was the size of a small cannonball. The first StarFall fight had begun... Laciann, Alysa, Aro Group As the group approached the area from which the strange energy seemed to be emanating they found... a strange sight. In this block of The City, buildings seemed to phasing in and out of reality, appearing and then evaporating. The streets seemed to contort and shift in front of their eyes... something was very wrong with this section of The City. At the epicenter of this strange phenomenon was a rift... a sort of... portal from which the energy and fluctuations seemed to be emanating... Now the choice for the group was "should they enter or not?" Jason, Kristy, Sora Group As the trio progressed northeast towards the impact point of the StarFall comet, they came upon a huge gray pod, with four hulking gray humanoid figures with glowing red eyes emerging from a newly-opened hatch in it. In their hands they each held blades. "These are the Marauders..." Q's voice spoke to the party. "The invaders of the City, sent by the people who wish to see you all killed and see this place under their control. Tread carefully..." The four figured suddenly shot their glances towards the approaching party and one barked out word that seemed to be spoken with an inhuman voice. "Identify yourselves." The four gray figured raised their swords and approached slowly... Maxwell, Le Chef, Yuki, Natasha Group The group of four headed southeast, through various white streets and blank buildings until they came upon a smoldering gray pod that had only just crashed into the street before them. At first there was no movement, but then the pod began to shift and move... and suddenly it rose into the air as legs extended underneath it, and then arms extended to both sides. A large red eye opened in the center of the pod, which was now revealed to be some sort of sentient robotic being. It stood 40 feet tall and lumbered towards the party, never taking its one-eyed gaze of of them. Then they heard Q. "This is a marauder. The StarFall comets are attempts by these being to invade The City, kill of you, and claim this place for their own. I expect you understand what must be done..." Right as she finished speaking the huge robotic Marauder used one of its gargantuan lengthy arms and swiped at all four that stood before it, demolishing the building they stood under as well... Their first StarFall fight had begun. Asher Group As Asher advanced through the blank streets in northern Crest he spotted a gray pod smoldering to his left (to the west). It seemed to be one of the comets that had fallen. It appeared that there were creatures beginning to emerge from it as well. Further north, however, seemed to be the division between Crest and an unknown district to the north. So now Asher was faced with a choice; continue north into a new district or inspect the fallen comet at the StarFall landing spot?

Crap, I just realized that I have to go on a trip today so after my classes I won't actually have any time to come back and make a large update (College is the best busiest!). I'll be back around tomorrow morning, but until then, everyone has a one-time-only extension on their posting limit for up to 8 posts (so, if you're at the limit now you can post three more times). Sorry about the inconvenience guys, I'll see you all soon!

Alright, everyone's now good to explore, I'll be back in a bit when I'm finished some work to make a larger update post for those exploring now.

And so Wlynn and the pod shot underground, with the hole covering over immediately after. With that the walls on all sides of the Haven group dropped back into the ground and they were finally free to roam like the other groups now. In the room underground Jay, Ailder, Tristan, and Itachi were joined by another. A final bod slammed into the room, bursting open to reveal Wlynn... Finally all the groups were free to roam where they would...

((That was my bad, I just edited it in, but both your posts opened up on impact.))

Check the RP, I've actually put in two posts that introduce your character and then team you up with some characters.

So, some quick notes now that the world has opened up. Whenever you have your character suggesting a direction, make sure to put in parentheses what direction it is on the map. North corresponds to going up in the map, South is going down, East is going right, and West is going left. You are also free to split into sub-groups or stay together as you life... but the challenges will remain the same difficulty regardless. Also, when coming across an event, be sure to end your post with an ellipses (the "...") so I can swoop in and explain just what it is that you're seeing. Have fun!

The pod in Crest shot down into the ground, Tristan in it, and the street closed immediately over the gap... The walls suddenly opened on the four sides around the group. The pod in Solace, with Ailder now firmly rooted in it, also descended, and the gap closed there as well. But just as like in Crest, the walls came down, just as Q said they would. "You are now free to explore the City." Q's voice began in the minds of the two groups. "Go where you wish. Find events, discover new districts, meet new allies, unfurl newfound plots, and rebuild the City as what it was meant to be, all these options are now open you. Stay together, split up, rush headlong or walk cautious; these are now your choices to make." Everyone in the groups could feel a sense of pure energy emanating from various directions... perhaps following such trails would lead them to certain events. (Check the map in the opening post) In Haven the pod still lingered... waiting for the final decision... In the pure white room that Jay found himself in the screens suddenly disappeared, and three holes in the ceiling opened. From them descended Ailder, Tristan, and Itachi. All three landed with a thud, with the pods that Ailder and Tristan came in bursting open after landing and as they did two parts of the wall opened to the left and right of Jay, one had a blue shining behind it, and one had a red light shining behind it. The lights were so bright it was difficult to see what actually lay in the next areas. "You all have become a new unlikely group of companions." Q said in the calm, measured voice she always spoke with. "Whether through sacrifice, betrayal, or bad luck you have found yourself here, and one more even has yet to arrive. For now, though, you face your first choice, and it is not a difficult task. Simply choose a destination; the red door or the blue door?"

City Map has been updated in the opening post of the RP with some of the location icons for some events. Don't worry, Scrapmaster. There will be more opportunities.

Well I respect the decisiveness! Everyone else needs to get on his level! I need to kill send characters to a mysterious place.

lmao, has ANY group decided on a sacrifice yet? So far I see a lot of people getting in the pod and being thrown out .

Don't worry, they won't. I don't plan to ruin anyone's RP that early. But this is a taste of some of the choices that may yet to come. If you want to get into the mechanical side of things, this is actually mostly for the purpose of re-balancing the team sizes after a few people joined after the RP started.

Just so it's clear: the StarFalls, Trials, and Unknown Events will only be revealed once you enter a district. Unexplored districts won't have any information about those on the map in the opening post. Once the choice is made for each group I'll update the map with all the currently available StarFalls, Trials, and Unknowns in current districts. Accepted! Be sure the creatures you summon aren't too powerful, but otherwise it looks good. I'll make a post adding you in in just a bit, hold tight. Also, what color do you want to be represented by in the world map? Also, I need to know your color preference for the map as well! That's mostly on me. The initial fight with the dolls sort of funneled players into making very specific posts, but now things are going to open up quite a bit.

With Liath's attack and the peppering of blows the other had given it, the Behemoth collapsed in the streets of Haven. The battle had been won. The two beast-dolls were easily decimated after the entirety of the Solace group had teamed up to contest them. Now there was only the matter of Le Chef to deal with... The two remaining slender dolls fell to the ground, tattered, sparking, and motionless in Crest. The group had now a moment of respite. But this rest did not last long for any of the three parties. Suddenly, comets could be seen appearing in the pure white sky and flying into the City's streets, out of view due to the buildings, but nonetheless all around. "You have woken it up." Q's voice appeared once more in their minds. "The City is now ready to contest you, and you are ready to respond. Now I may tell you all the final truth about your powers; they are not merely for beating monsters and facing challenges, they are also for reconstructing the very nature of the reality around you. With these powers, you can bring life to the City itself." As if in silent agreement with her words, the buildings around each group began to fade from their natural white into various colors; silvers and deep reds and slick blues. The colors were still very light, but they were there! "You have done this. By acting in the face of danger and building your future for yourself you are deconstructing and reconstructing the foundation of this City itself. And this is only the beginning. Each district of this city has what is known as a Trial. The Trials are where the energy of each district coalesces and by going there and facing the dangers that are crafted by that energy you can transform the entirety of each district to one of color and life. Each trial will also carry information that will illuminate more of what the truth of your being here is. This is the task before you..." The comets continued to rain down all around each group and Q moved on to the next point. "What you see around you is the attempted invasion of this hallowed place by forces that do not belong. These will also be great threats worthy of striking out against. These invasion forces come in the form of these comets, and thus their presence shall be known as the StarFalls. Each Trial and each StarFall shall be different, requiring different strengths and skills of each of you, and each comes with a unique reward should you best it. Both Trials and StarFalls will give you information, but while Trials shall renew a district's life, StarFalls shall show you new potential for your powers." Suddenly, around each group four huge walls raised up, sealing them all into small areas... "Finally are these events, referred to as The Unknown. The City has many secrets that not even I understand and these are one of them. Of all three events, they are most strange and most dangerous. They are manifestations of the City itself acting against you. I can feel its will, and here it wishes each of you to make a choice. You are about to be given freedom. Freedom to explore the City however you wish, with whoever you desire, and to build the adventure you want, but before this can happen, you must prove that you understand the gravity of the choices that lie ahead..." In the center of the walled-off cube that each party now found themselves in a pod rose up from the ground. It was just large enough to fit a single person into... "Before you explore and change the City for good, you must pick one member of your group to sacrifice. What this sacrifice means I cannot say, perhaps exile, perhaps death, perhaps rebirth. But the result is not the matter at hand; the choice is." Then there was an eerie silence as the weight of the choice ahead could be felt. "So choose, my friends, and let this adventure begin."

I would say it's sentient, yeah

The behemoth in Haven screeched an inhuman screech as it was struck with the attacks of Reverie, Wlynn, Kristy, and the bullets of Sora and Jason. It was nearly finished, but in a final blood rage it turned its eyes to Sora, who has unleashed an incredible attack on it, and it leaped into the air, then diving directly for her, it's gargantuan hands turning into fists and i slammed down on the ground where Sora stood... The beasts of Solace were nearly finished. After the attacks from Natasha, Ailder, Maxwell, Yuki, Jordan, and, of course the sweet and brutal recipe of Le Chef only two of the five remained. The two peered at each other with their eyeless faced, and then both turned directly towards Le Chef, and jumped at him, clawing viciously with their pure white nails in a mix of screeching and what sounds like screaming. In Crest one of the slender creatures fell to the ground dead after the party's prolonged attacks. The other two skittered about around the party, then converging on Asher and Aro, with one creature attacking each. The snaked their way to the two in moments and grabbed firm hold of them, bashing at them with their head and clawing with their hands. The rest of the party would have to act fast. As all of this happened Jay Caliburn heard her voice ((check the opening post for the details on what Q said)) and woke to darkness. "Welcome." the female voice began. "Welcome, other... You are the one who's ability is not your own. As I have explained, you have arrived here in the City, and you are not along." Three screens appeared in the pitch black, showing the three different groups of humans fighting the dolls at this moment. "You have been chosen by the City to begin your stay here separated, but soon you will have new comrades. Look carefully as they fight. These powers could be yours. Any one of them." The room he was in brightened to show a pure white cube that he now found himself in. The screens seemed to be mere projections, but from where he could not tell. "You shall meet them soon, but for the moment, as you are the only guest that The City is not trying to destroy, I wish to ask you something..." Q let the silence linger in the air of pure white room. "Do you know why you are here?"

Update post is up, you're all cleared to finish these faceless guys off! Then the real fun begins... Accepted. but definitely watch out to not make that ability too overpowered. Perhaps only being able to hold onto one other power at a time or having diminished power from the people he's replicating. Having everyone else's power at full strength wouldn't be fair so just keep aware of that. I'm about to make an update post int he RP thread so I will add you in then.

That's mostly for the reasoning that I haven't put an update post yet and most people have hit their post limit. I'm currently in the middle of quite a bit of work, but in a little bit I should have some time to check through all the posts and make sure I'm caught up and then post an update. Tomorrow should be more hectic as I'll have more time to oversee the RP throughout the day.

(This doesn't count as an update post, which will be coming tomorrow just to be sure everyone can catch up, I'm just introducing a new player) As the people at crest fought off the three strange human creatures attacking them, on the other corner of the building lay a young man only just awakening from his slumber. He heard the voice of Q explain what she had already said to the others, and with that his eyes opened up, and he was greeted with the City. Pure white everywhere. Just on the other side of the pure white building he was leaned up against he could hear fighting... It was time for Nathan to join the fray.

How's everyone feeling about the pacing so far? I've held back from doing another update post because we're moving pretty fast as is and I don't want to update so often that we have a ridiculous pace some people may not be able ot keep up with, but I also want to make sure the pace is flowing fairly well. Does everyone feel like 5 posts per person between updates is pretty fair? lol, I'll go with no police car for the moment for the purpose of balancing concerns, but who knows, maybe you'll get a surprise a little ways into the RP. This is a good start, but it'll need some more detail and some refinement before I can accept it. Firstly, you'll need a name as that way other players can refer to your character if they have actions involving him. Secondly, as Silver pointed out earlier, the ability to steal souls and use their abilities is quite a bit overpowered for an RP where player-vs-player fights are quite possible. You'd need to explain how the process would work, what limits it has, and how it can be countered, but honestly I think that as a core concept it may simply be too powerful to use. Remember that you want a character who has enough limits and imperfections in their powers as to make fights and encounters interesting and fun. You're getting there though! Ooh, interesting power and character choice, I like it! You're accepted. You're officially now part of the Crest team! I'll put you in immediately. What color would you like to be represented on the map? Overall I'm already super psyched at the teamwork and creativity going on so far, keep up the good work everyone! This is only just the tip of the iceberg.

Yeah, I'll lend temporary control, but just be sure to not kill anything too quickly or make your person too powerful. Fairly soon on I'll be controlling more and more of the NPCs and they will be more of a challenge.

It depends on who your fighting. For non-major NPCs, though, assume that you have some control as you want it. I'll come in every now and then and put in an extra move or two from them, but otherwise have fun with it.

Then they could be begin to hear it; marching. A distinct rumble in the ground growing more pronounced every moment. "The City is a blank slate that you must reinvigorate to know the truth." Q's voice spoke again Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Sounding closer every step. "And with that, there are inhabitants of this place besides yourselves. Blank slates like the City itself, but driven to destroy all threats to it." In Haven district Reverie, Wlynn, Liath, Jason, Sora and Kristy all could now see a hulking behemoth turning the nearest corner and coming into view. It had arms and legs like a normal person, but it was gigantic and purely white. Where its face should have been were just smoothed over features like a mannequin. It stood twenty feet tall and walked along on two legs, step by step towards the group. In Crest the group of Laciann, Alysa, Asher, Aro and Tristan could all suddenly hear a tapping above them, where three strange humanoid figures were climbing down the building they stood under. They were, all three of them, slender and tall, with lengthy arms that ended in clawed hands. Where their faces would be were strange featureless white facades, as if like an unpainted doll. They skittered down the building towards the group at a terrifying speed. Finally, in the district of Solace, where Ailder, Natasa, Maxwell, Yuki, Jordan, and Le Chef we the sounds of footsteps melted away into the sounds of charging animals, and out of one of the street corners emerged five beast like creatures, all purely white and sprinting on four legs. They did not look especially like any one animal, and they had no facial features to speak of, only expressionless and featureless whiteness where their faces might be. As they saw the group their sprint intensified... "These..." Q's voice returned once more to their minds. "... are the dolls. The blank remnants of this empty place. The defenders of the nothingness. Your enemies." None of the creatures spoke, but their actions and movements gave off a distinctly hostile, hateful vibe. "They were since the beginning, and I cannot remove them on my own. You must be the ones to hold them off. Now that you have discovered your new abilities, you can truly have the power to do so." In Haven the hulking behemoth jumped towards the group and smashed its fists down towards Liath and Kristy. In Crest the three strange humanoids leaped from the building towards the group, their glaw-hands aiming for the kill. One struck at Asher, one at Aro, one at Alysa. In Solace the five beasts split and attacked Ailder, Natasa, Maxwell, Yuki and Le Chef. "Defeat this first test, and I shall explain to you how to change the City and you will have the freedom to explore. But first... you must survive."

Quick combat overview now that you all have your powers: It's my general rule for my RPs that for combat encounters, you explain your attack and then end the post just as your character is about to make contact with their attack. Only your opponent can decide whether or not they are hit. This also means that you will have to let your character be hit and be vulnerable sometimes as that's how this RP is going to end up being interesting. Think of combat not as you versus another person, but you and another person telling a cooperative story of a fight between two characters.