NEVER ⌽ NORMAL

CloudyBlueDay

consistently inconsistent
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. One post per week
Online Availability
I check as often as I can.
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
  4. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. No Preferences
Genres
Fantasy, Realistic/Modern, Magic, Scifi, Romance
catalog
Era 1: Prehistoric (??? - 1950's)
Era 2: Awakening (1950's - 2017)
Era 3: Risen (2017 - 2036)
Era 4: Superhero (2036 - 2240)
Era 5: Wired (2240 - 2439)
Era 6: Apocalypse (2439 - ???)
The Never Normal Universe is divided into eras based on the knowledge of superpowers; as the world becomes more and more aware of its existence and groundbreaking events change the world for metas, eras change and are born. Within eras are arcs; the storylines made playable by me and other players. For every era I have multiple arcs planned and welcome separate story ideas. I’ve separated Never Normal into eras to display the change in the world; an arc in every era is an entirely new playing field.


rules
1. First and foremost, follow all of Iwaku's rules.
2. I am the GM, and my word is final.
3. Rissa is my co-gm, please treat her with the same respect you would treat me with.
4. I reserve the right to deny anyone from this roleplay at anytime.
5. This is a roleplay of detailed nature, I expect a minimum of three paragraphs per post, and well-thought, detailed characters. This is a collaborative effort and I hope everyone will partake in helping to create and further the story, so if you are not prepared to put such time and effort into this, this isn't the roleplay for you.
6. There will be no fighting or jabs or anything of the sort. We're all friends here and if there are problems I expect everyone to handle them maturely.
7. This is NOT a star roleplay. Fade to black if necessary.
8. My co-gm and I reserve the right to ask anyone for a writing sample. If we do, a notice will be PM'd to said members.

glossary
metahuman
SPME

arc
a person with abilities
Studies of the Physically and Mentally Enhanced - research labs.
a storyline within an era
currently in play
 
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PREHISTORIC
??? - 1950's

The Prehistoric era dates from the dawn of time to the late 1950's. The Prehistoric era are the years when myth trumped reality, when people spun lies about metas or metas spun lies on their own, to keep hidden, or to keep sane. Faeries, werewolves, witches. A metahuman with wings? An angel. A metahuman with fangs? A vampire. Folktales were only partially truth but they kept us hidden. This is the era when we learned how to exist and to pretend. From the beginning we existed, and we we were always hated for it. Who do you think built the pyramids? Who was prosecuted for witchery? We were. So we let them tell whatever lies they wanted, hell, we told them too. And it worked pretty well, up until the day the SPME was born. Hell, even before it.

The exact dates this era ended are left slightly vague as to give the players some room to expand and explore. Players have the potential to alter and evolve the timeline.


arc: flight
During the Stone Age, a group of metahumans with flight based abilities known as the Flock face growing threats as their environment changes and surrounding tribes compete for dominance. Though the world will never know it, the Flock contained some of the oldest metahumans and were the oldest band of metahumans.

arc: the wild west
The Wild West recounts days when we did away with rules, rebelling without cares in the freedom of the desert. Now imagine this raging time period with the aid of superpowers. Trouble ensues as gunslingers and lasso throwers cross the land on horseback.

arc: dracula
Set in 1879, the year the book Dracula was published by Bram Stoker, accounting a tale of quite true events following a metahuman who developed abilities to gain strength from human blood. This arc centers around the events that brought this brilliant work to light, and how it was passed off as fiction.

arc: pirates
Do you love swash buckling, eye patch wearing, gold stealin' and parrot petting people? Then superpowered pirates are for you! Set sail with your metahuman crew as you search for the Blue Beard's ghost ship, host of plenty of treasure, and fun to be had.

arc: the roaring twenties
In the spirit of a 1920's film noir, a chilling murder case inspires a private eye to conduct an investigation of his own. Unknown to the people he seeks and those tied to the case, he wields a power that could get him in deep trouble.

arc: superman
The first superhero comic debuted in 1938, accounting the tales of the famed hero, Superman. Superman was indeed a real person, a spectacular metahuman, though not quite the savior we saw in the pages.



[The Prehistoric Era is meant for players to explore their wildest timeline fantasies through the outlet of superhumans. For every historical mystery one can think of, why not play it out with a new twist? Explore periods like the wild west, the medieval ages, the world wars and the cavemen with superpowers.]


 
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AWAKENING
1950's - 2017

Superpowers are slowly beginning to be brought to light. No longer do people believe in their bedtime stories, so when something strange occurs, there are always those that question. While the world may not know about superpowers yet, the wrong people are picking up on hints. People smell opportunity, and they see it in dollar signs, in love, in power. People become scary when they know they can achieve, and especially when they can gain these hints by extracting them from other people.

After the death of Alexander Petrikov, we no longer live under the shroud of public doubt. People are beginning to know. We have awakened, and now we must hide. Stars are falling from the star at an alarming rate; powers are growing. Metahumans are slowly becoming more and more common. We are not a rarity any longer, but we are not welcomed, either. Now, we live in fear. In the underground.

But in a new light, good people rise along with the bad. Now we know we need to stick together to survive. Groups, alliances, friends come out of this era. The Protectors, a group key to the development of superpowered peoples as we know it is born, to combat the holds of the SPME. While we hide in the underground, we prepare to rise.

The exact dates this era began are left slightly vague as to give the players some room to expand and explore. Players have the potential to alter and evolve the timeline.

MAJOR EVENT: 2007 - Alexander Petrikov, the creator of the SPME, dies.

MAJOR EVENT: February 18th 2010 - A large meteor shower falls upon the United States. Many people gain powers. Darius Finch creates The Protectors, a group that will bring metahumans together in a way that has never been done before.

arc: alexander
It only takes one tortured soul to change the world. This arc follows the story of Alexander Petrikov, the man who revolutionized the world for metahumans and humans alike by founding the SPME.
We follow Petrikov in his rise to power and how the people around him lead him to his ultimate fate.

arc: sex, drugs and rock n’ roll / woodstock
The year is 1969, and everyone wants a slice of fame on the big stage with a microphone in hand. A Battle of the Bands competition with an mind-blowing prize gets heated when the participants realize their competition is between Metahumans.

arc: the wonder trio
On a fateful day in a small town in Philadelphia, Hopkins Middle School was the neighbor to the
crash site of a strange meteor. Through this, three children gained superheroes and decided to use them to fight a villain who rose alongside them. An epic tale of wanting to be apart of that adult world, the Wonder Trio face travesty and danger as they hurdle forward with their new abilities.

arc: the protectors
Darius Finch, the founder, seeks to build a team to change the world. Thus, The Protectors are born, an organized group of highly skilled metahumans trained to fight threats to their race.

organizations: The SPME - Standing for 'Studies of the Physically and Mentally Enhanced', a research lab that conducts experiments on Metahumans. Gaining a large amount of prominence in this era, the SPME becomes more forward with their research.
The Protectors - An organized group of vigilantes created to bring about the equality of metahumans.

 
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RISEN
2017 - 2036

After the events of Arc: Dawn, superpowers are brought into the light. As we rise, so do others. Though our place in the world is not yet defined, we can no longer be ignored. Vigilantes rise out of the ashes, for good and bad. Metahumans extort their own abilities, while some use them for the better. The public fears us at first, but they begin to learn; we are apart of their world now. We might have always been, but now we must be acknowledged. The question is, if we are going to be accepted or not.

MAJOR EVENT: 2017 - A meteor shower across the US brings countless people powers.

MAJOR EVENT: 2019 - The Protectors disband after a brutal event.

arc: dawn ☾
After a meteor shower that rocks the US, people begin to gain powers all over the country.
Unsettled by this sudden event, the SPME makes their move on this large opportunity, and through this story we see for the first time, how metahumans are revealed to the world.

arc: between
The year is 2019 and The Protectors continue their mission. A new villain by the name of Inter arises, his goal to wipe them entirely out. With the element of surprise and the help of a starting army and special abilities, the Protectors are swept off their feet by the face of this new threat. How will they overcome this villain who dances on the thin line of morality?

organizations: The SPME - Taking advantage of the momentus meteor shower, the SPME makes many new discoveries and bold choices.
The Protectors - Thriving underground, their numbers grow as well as their experience until an event that leaves the group fragmented.

 
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SUPERHERO
2036 - 2240

And accepted we were. One all types of superheroes became known, good and bad, the public realized they needed much just as much as they hated us. Superheroes were born, our valiant protectors in spandex and capes, alongside their villains, made of greed and hate. Our world became the scene of a comicbook, but we reveled in it. The most prosperous of our times to date, when finally humans and metahumans coexisted out in the open. We didn't have to fight our enemies in the shadows, and we didn't have to hide. Metahuman hospitals were born. Merchandise of your favorite superhero was sold across the world. Costume shops, made of special materials for resistance against every power. And Millennium City became Superhero Capital.

MAJOR EVENT: 2036 - The vigilante known as Ditch forms a group to take down serial killer Umbra. (Arc: Umbra)

MAJOR EVENT: 2220 - A mysterious figure known as The Fortune Teller is the first metahuman to succumb to their powers, losing their mind and beginning the descent of metahumans as a race.

arc: umbra
On the brink of a new era, the public still worries about the new figures that are rising to power. In this moment of weakness where the heroes are still doubted, a serial killer by the name of Umbra rises to power, making his next claim to fame by kidnapping the superheroes who dash about in spandex, beginning to earn our trust. From this, Ditch, a vigilante known for their daring cyber stunts, builds a team to take him down.

arc: the protectors: rebirth
Surfacing from the dead, a vigilante by the name of Sapphire begins to seek out new metahumans to reform her father's lost group, The Protectors, when their old enemy arises. As Inter taunts Sapphire, she realizes the need to finish him once and for all, with a new team to help her in this cause, before Inter can carry out his sinister plans.

arc: the fortune teller
The year is 2220. The world has been prosperous for a long time now. Superheroes roam the earth, conquering all evil and bringing justice and light to our hands. All over the city, strange reports of metahumans going insane begin to pop up. No one thinks much of it, until a villain whom they call The Fortune Teller surfaces. A strangely sporadic figure, The Fortune Teller seeks seemingly entirely random victims, and commits entirely random deeds. He hunts and he watches the people on his list, but no one knows what list he works off of. Making sudden appearances around Millennium City, residents become fearful of the terrifying insanity The Fortune Teller presents, until a group of metahumans realize why they have been targeted and band together to stop him.

organizations: The SPME - While still prominent in this era, the SPME struggles to keep themselves properly afloat with all the superheroes actively seeking the organization. They survive off of new metahumans or ones they create themselves, but the SPME remains a threat.
The Reborn Protectors - The reborn group thrives in the underground as they handle threats that come their way.
The Kastouts - Ditch's vigilante team comes together for threats upon Millennium City. Otherwise, the individual members remain excellent fighters of crime at keep it at bay.

 
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WIRED
2240 - 2439

Alas, all good things must come to an end. For two hundred years the Superhero Era was prosperous and good. But as we diminished earthly resources and more and more people gained powers, we began a slow descent. Our technology became more and more advanced, so much that you didn't have to be a metahuman to have abilities like one. Weapons like no other were born, along with other modifications to the mind and body to make humans just as good, even though now eighty percent of the population has superpowers. Thus, we usher in the era of cyberpunk, where a desolate world struggles to survive.

Powers slowly begin to get too powerful for their host. For millennia, superpower and superhuman coexisted. But now, powers get too strong for our eventually human bodies. People begin to lose their minds, and fall into madness.

arc: grid
When technology is easy to access, and especially easy to play around with, plenty of creations roam the streets with their creators behind the wheel. A group of hoodlums, perhaps even a group of geniuses, if you will, pilot robots around the empty streets of Takym and cause a little mayhem.

arc: catastrophe
When an underground rebel group plots a catastrophic bomb to take about a major corporation, intending to take from the rich and give to the poor, what side are you on?

arc: a new world
On the brink of an empty world, people dash to make last minute preparations for the coming end. They know most resources are gone and cities are crumbling into madness. In a last ditch effort for a decent life, a rich man by the name of Lyris Matrikt promotes his perfect sanctuary. It comes with a cost.

locations: The Sanctuary - Lyris Matrikt's little civilization in the middle of nowhere, protected by a gigantic dome. He claims this sanctuary will be the only civilization to last to the new world.
Takym - The capital of the world (yes, the world. Things have changed.) A bit of a mess, enjoyed only by those with a surplus of money while the rest struggle on the streets.
organizations: Big Bux Co. - Lyris Matrikt's company, thriving off of the sales of nonperishable food packets. Very popular, because things don't grow much anymore.
 
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APOCALYPSE
??? - ???

We've run the earth into the ground. A barren wasteland, riddled with monsters. Only a very rare few have kept their sanity. Powers have become so strong they've corrupted the minds of all others. We call them Walkers. Mindless zombies, without a brain or a heart or a soul, searching for any form of sustenance, even if it is still living when they begin to chow down.

Without a cure for these Walkers, we will no doubt become extinct. For now, all we can do is try to make a home in this empty world.
arc: skull bash
Few bands of humans have survived. To survive, you either join a travelling tribe or pray you can last on your own. Technology is limited, but not for the Skull Crushers. A biker gang, surviving off of looted gasoline with their treasured motorcycles, crusade along the wasteland, terrorizing it's inhabitants for money.

arc: lost knowledge
Most buildings and even cities are either burnt to the ground or worn away ruins. All except the rumored Lost Library. Every tribe knows the story, a tale mothers tell to get their little ones to sleep at night. Until you decide to seek it out.

arc: cure
There is not much longer for the sane to survive this earth. Time is running out. Walkers never stop growing in numbers and power and we lose resources with every day. When a wise being makes themselves known to the last existing, true metahumans, hope begins to surface when he explains there is a chance to discover a cure. A race against the ticking clock must be fought to save humanity.


 
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WORLD TWO
??? - ???

World Two is the world after Apocalypse. Do we rise from the ashes or are we born again in an entirely different way? World Two will not be explored until Arc: Cure is played, making this new part of the Never Normal Universe entirely up to the players.
 
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SUPERPOWERS
information re-purposed from arc: dawn's lore thread.

birth: powers are born one of three ways.

>>randomly: Perhaps after a meteor shower you ended up with abilities. Perhaps it was a normal day and your eyes started to glow as you looked at yourself in the bathroom mirror. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to how a person gets powers.

>>genetically: It's very likely if a parent has abilities the child will as well, especially abilities that take on after the parents. Metahumans can run through generations.

>>forcefully: It is unknown how the SPME are capable of this feat, but they seem to know who carries the "potential" for metahuman abilities. Perhaps someone with the genetic makeup who's powers never activated. Through extreme amounts of stress, the SPME can force a power out of someone, making their eyes glow permanently.

development/growth: Powers grow majorly through dedicated practice and constant use. The more you learn how to focus your energy and emotion towards the powers, the more control you gain and the stronger you become. During events that cause large amounts of stress and/or anger, your abilities may become unstable and hard for your to control. These events, however, are unrestrained and explosive, and while they could be devastating, could also release in a large jump in ability growth and the arrival of a new extension of your powers.

Metahumans walk a fine line of delicate control to explosive power. It is all about knowing your limits and building stamina, letting loose in crucial moments while holding back in others. It can take years, decades to entirely master an ability and every sub power or 'special move'. If you run away from your power, you are only making it easier for it to control you.

aftereffects: If a person truly 'gives into' their abilities, wholly believing they are the sole purpose of their life and thinking they are worth nothing else, a persons's hair color will begin to change, resembling the color of their glow. If someone has an extremely unruly power and they refuse to use it properly or train themselves, the power could easily get out of hand and have negative effects on both the bearer and those around them. Powers can eat someone from the inside out if the abilities are that volatile. If powers are 'forced' out of a person: brought out by intense experimentation and high levels of stress, that bearer's eyes will glow permanently.

glow: Glow is an extremely important part of the heart and soul of someone's abilities. When powers are in use, eyes glow a certain color. This color may match the person's abilities, or personality, or even a color representing their desires. A glow manifests hand in hand with an ability. A glow can taint a person's hair color or even become their permanent eye color.

categorization: For ooc purposes, powers are divided into categories based on the overarching themes of most abilities. A person's abilities can be made up of one or two.

Fate - Powers that might just have a different little kick to them fall under Fate. Ones that deal with explaining the explainable or doing the unthinkable.
Coincidence - Entirely unruly powers, often born from experimentation. Abilities that thrive off of nothing except for chaos.
Strength - Strength based abilities. Invulnerability, super strength, durability.
Wisdom - Intelligence based abilities. Technopathy, super minds, perfect memory, amplified muscle memory.
Mystic - Abilities that deal with things that are not so easy to classify. Perhaps if someone had an enchanting kiss, or could pull things from a hat. These have scientific explanations when you involve abilities, but they fall under the magic umbrella.
Health - Powers that involve healing oneself, others, or perhaps the environment.
Love - Powers that trifle in the delicate balance of emotion.
Earth - Earth based powers.
Fire - Fire based powers.
Water - Water based powers.
Air - Air based powers.

are duplicates of powers possible?
yes. yes they are.​
 
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