Stars and Shadows

D

Disenchanted

Guest
Original poster
A Hero.

What actually makes someone a hero? Where do we draw the line between heroism and stupidity. Is someone who performs what could be considered heroic actions for fame… really a hero? What about those who put their lives in danger, not caring about their own well-being? What about the accidental heroes? The definition of a hero has more to it than it seems, though not many people see it that way. Are some heroes even really heroes at all if they only do what they do for personal gain? Are they truly good?

A Villain.

What makes a villain? How exactly is someone classified as evil? Is it when they unknowingly cause harm to others? Or when they do it purposely? Or perhaps that they take from others is what makes them evil? Could being a bystander of a crime and not helping be evil? Villains are like heroes, accidental or purposeful. There is more to them than what is first seen as well. Reasons they are the way they are, reasons why the commit the crime they do. Not all reasons are good, and it doesn't dismiss what they have done... but can someone evil truly not be redeemed? Are they truly evil at all?

This world is twisted.

Let no one tell you that the world is all happiness and rainbows, because it’s not. Bad things happen to good people every day. Good things happen for bad people just as often too. People are backed into corners and commit evil for the right reasons and likewise are given opportunity to commit evil for the wrong reasons. Regardless these people must be brought to justice, or at least the ones that get caught. There will always be the CEO who got away with stealing company money, the burglar who was never caught, the murderer who killed and killed and got away with it. Likewise there will always be people preforming heroic actions to get attention, to become famous, not because they want to save anyone. People are selfish and sometimes no one sees this. Perhaps though… there are those who are genuinely good people, though you can never tell for sure who is who in this world. Everyone wears a mask and the only way to protect yourself from those who would do you harm is not to trust anyone... but can that truly be called living?

------------------------

In the year 2015 a great war broke out, not between countries, but rather between societies formed by humans that were shunned from society for one reason or another and their local government. These shunned humans were often called by many names, Mutants, Supers, Abnormalities, the name never mattered, what mattered was the odd abilities and sometimes appearances they all possessed. Shunned by the world they created their own separate towns, underground and in uninhabited areas alike. The government launched an attack to eradicate these metahumans and caused war to break out between the mutants and those who would try to kill them. Battles were not kind to either side, and all suffered regardless of the side.

The war did far more damage than any other war, whole cities were sometimes eradicated during battle. Soon after the start other country governments attacked their own metahumans, fearing they would attack first after seeing what was happening in the United States. It was not until the year 2060 that the war was finally put the rest and that was only because each side turned against their leaders. For years there was to be nearly total anarchy reigning across the world, very few countries managed to keep a government in place for very long. Finally in the year 2090 society began reorganizing itself and a government was formed within a few years for most major countries in the world. The motto for the new world order was to return to what was and promote peace amongst all. The American government formed off of the outlines of past administrations, cities that were still in ruin began to be rebuilt in the same location, or nearby, and all former alliances were patched up again. Progress was slow, but things were beginning to look like they once were. Many metahumans helped in rebuilding some of the cities, earning the peoples love, but many were still looked down upon by those who didn’t have their abilities. Groups that sought to destroy or take away the powers metahumans had still existed, but were more of a minority since most didn't want the war to be repeated.

The year is currently 2158, nearly one hundred years since the war finally came to an end. Normal humans who had been alive during the war have all died during it, or from old age and very few metahumans with lengthened lifespans are still around. Most have forgotten the destruction that the war had caused, except for those few metahumans. Peace between humans and mutants are strained in many places across the world because of the power the metahumans still possess. In recent years some have been using their powers for evil, for personal gain, or just to cause trouble. On the other hand, there are those few that are revered, the Heroes that fight them and protect the populous. These few metahumans are revered and recruited into a United States government started program called D.A.W.N S.T.A.R (Known to its members officially as The Defense Against the Wicked and Nefarious by the Superhuman Task-force Assault Regiment, of course that isn’t as cool or official sounding as dawn star.) The program is full of normal humans who help gather information about any threats by super villains that may arise and the Metahuman Heroes that eradicate the threat when they can. The heroes that join are either teamed together or given a partner. Very rarely will a member of D.A.W.N S.T.A.R be solo in their mission to keep their assigned city safe. Of course that isn’t to say that there are also some heroes that have yet to be recruited but still try to be heroes. Vigilantes are mostly ignored by D.A.W.N S.T.A.R unless they get in the way.

Villains for the most part are scattered with very few having lasting alliances and partnerships, though it does happen every now and then. (Often with the villains betraying one another, ending the alliance as soon as the objective has been reached, or one being jailed during their alliance.) Recently popping up on the radar is a small group that goes by SALVATION. The leader of this group is unknown, as is the members, sometimes even to one another. It is said that the leader of the group gives orders to the others to follow in order to bring together some master plan, though no one has an inkling of an idea what that could possibly be save for the mastermind themselves. Invitations to the group go out to the rising super villains every few weeks. The invitations sent out stand for the month they are sent out and some join only to forget they have joined in the first place because they've yet to be contacted after accepting the invitation. Missions are given out very rarely to the members at the current time. Most villains have joined only to continue their daily crime regiment.

One of the largest cities in the United States is on the east coast near old New York City. No name was ever given to the city, and has since being built has simply been called “Our Great City”. Being a large and important city, it has its fair share of heroes and villains. D.A.W.N S.T.A.R has a headquarters hidden underneath the local mall. There are two two-pair partner teams that patrol the city and one six member team that goes by The Guardians that are apart of D.A.W.N S.T.A.R and many vigilant supers wanting to make their mark and perhaps be recruited into D.A.W.N S.T.A.R too. There are quite a few Villains in the city and there is a rumor of a SALVATION hide out located somewhere as well, though it goes unused for the time being. With so many supers in one place, what could possibly go wrong?

Rules://

⋮➟ Conduct :: I want there the be no negative conduct in the out of character thread. Characters obviously are going to conflict with one another, but I really rather not have the players duking it out too. If there are any arguments please let me know of them and I will try to handle the matter as quickly and efficiently as possible. Please be polite to your fellow role-players and we'll sure to have a good time!

⋮➟God-Modding :: just don’t do it. God-Modding is defined as: controlling someone’s character, autohitting during a fight. I will warn you once, but you will be kicked from the roleplay if it happens again. You are allowed to move another character if your's grabs their hand, but be aware that the other roleplay has the right to say that their character pulled away and such.
⋮➟ Spelling/Grammar :: Please keep spelling and grammar in mind. I'll be a bit more lax with grammar mistakes, but if you have a spell checker you shouldn't have many misspellings. If it becomes a problem I will contact you about it. Please try to read back over your posts and edit out any mistakes. We all make mistakes sometimes, so again unless it is a frequent problem then you'll be fine.

⋮➟ Length :: I'd like it if you'd be able to post at least three paragraphs with 6 or more sentences per post. No one liners, period.

⋮➟ Interactions ::Another rule for here is please don’t ignore others. Read over posts carefully and try to include seeing others even if you don’t interact directly with them. I’ve had it happen to me where someone blatantly ignores my character because they want to create a romance with theirs and the character near mine, it isn’t any fun. I want there to be more interaction than just romance fueled conversations. If I see this happening then please know that I have the right to pull your character from the roleplay. Not only is it annoying, but It’s extremely rude.

⋮➟ Commitment :: Commitment is something that I would like you to have when you join the roleplay. I would like it if you could post at least twice a week at the very least. After a week of not posting I will contact you about your absence. After another week your character will be put into storage/killed off for the moment. I understand it if something comes up and you are unable to get online for some reason. I would like it though if you could contact me sometime to tell me about it. If you are going on a hiatus, but still wish to be a part of the roleplay, please do let me know. If you can, please try to make sure that you don’t have anyone waiting for you to post.

//Character Profiles


{ ɴ ɪ ᴄ ᴋ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ᴇ s }

{ ʀ ᴏ ʟ ᴇ }

{ ɢ ᴇ ɴ ᴅ ᴇ ʀ }

{ ᴇ ᴛ ʜ ɴ ɪ ᴄ ɪ ᴛ ʏ & ʀ ᴀ ᴄ ᴇ}

{ s ᴇ x ᴜ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ}

{ ʙ ɪ ʀ ᴛ ʜ ᴅ ᴀ ʏ ᴀ ɴ ᴅ ᴀ ɢ ᴇ}

{ ᴀ ᴘ ᴘ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ᴀ ɴ ᴄ ᴇ }

{ t ᴀ ʟ ᴇ ɴ ᴛ s / ᴘ ᴏ ᴡ ᴇ ʀ s}

  • 3 Talents if you are a civilian or normal or Powers if you are that your character is a superhero or villain delete talent if you have powers and vice versa.
{ ᴡ ᴇ ᴀ ᴋ ɴ ᴇ s s ᴇ s }

  • At least 3 Weaknesses. These are things that your character has trouble doing, things that might hurt them in particular, or things your character can't live without.
{ ᴘ ᴇ ʀ s ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ }
 
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This looks like a very cool idea. Maybe it's just the fact that I was reading it from my phone, though, but I could barely make out the description because of its color against the background, and most of the letters in the fields of the character sheet were boxes...

I did manage to read the plot hook, but it would probably be much easier for others to do so if you change the color. Again, could just be my phone being weird.

I'll be making some kind of anti-hero, I think. Probably an ex-villain who has been convinced to switch sides, but is still adjusting to the change.
 
I can see the actual text for the character sheet now that I'm on my laptop, though the plot description is even harder to see now... *laughs*
 



My apologies! I didn't realise that it was in such a hard to read colour. //headdesk
I haven't been online since I posted this up, so I didn't notice.
 
I'll get mine posted shortly. He's going to be an illusionist.
 
{ ɴ ɪ ᴄ ᴋ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ᴇ s }
Mist
(His real name is Dillan Hooper, but he never goes by that name. His legal name might as well be Mist. And so far as the courts are concerned, it is.)
{ ʀ ᴏ ʟ ᴇ }
Ex-Villain, now a Probationary Hero in DAWNSTAR as part of his parole
{ ɢ ᴇ ɴ ᴅ ᴇ ʀ }
Male
{ ᴇ ᴛ ʜ ɴ ɪ ᴄ ɪ ᴛ ʏ & ʀ ᴀ ᴄ ᴇ}
Caucasian
{ s ᴇ x ᴜ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ}
Bisexual, though he behaves more like an Asexual
{ ʙ ɪ ʀ ᴛ ʜ ᴅ ᴀ ʏ ᴀ ɴ ᴅ ᴀ ɢ ᴇ}
Mist is 20 years old. He was born on June 6th.
{ ᴀ ᴘ ᴘ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ᴀ ɴ ᴄ ᴇ }
Mist is very skinny and petite, almost feminine in appearance. He has shoulder-length black hair, which is very often messy. His left eye is a pretty shade of blue-gray, but his right eye is a bright crimson. (His right eye is a glass eye, but that is not common knowledge. It is something he keeps to himself.) He is pale-skinned and doesn't have much in the way of muscle definition.
For clothes, he tries to cover up as much skin as possible. He wears dark clothes, involving long pants and long-sleeved shirts. It's simple attire, to say the least. Topped off with tennis shoes. He also has a metal collar--described later--around his neck.
{ ᴘ ᴏ ᴡ ᴇ ʀ s }
- Basic Illusion -
Basic illusions can be as complex as he can imagine them, but that is all they are: illusions. Interacting with one will reveal that it is indeed a mere illusion. They cannot cause physical harm, nor can they affect the surrounding environment in any lasting way. These illusions are the most common ones that Mist creates, and they are practically effortless for him. They can last even if his focus is elsewhere.
- Real Illusion -
Real illusions are Mist's specialty, and why he was such a danger when he was still a villain. They are more difficult for him to create than basic illusions, but their effects can be devastating. Real illusions can be physically interacted with, and they can be used both offensively and defensively. Unlike a basic illusion, Mist has to actively focus to maintain a real illusion.
- Mind Control -
Mist has minor mind-controlling capabilities. It is difficult for him to manage this control, and commands must be made verbally. He has a far greater degree of control if he wounds someone with his knife before he attempts mind control, bordering on possession. The knife is a focus for this ability. Without it, the ability is too weak to make someone act in a way that is against their nature.
{ ᴡ ᴇ ᴀ ᴋ ɴ ᴇ s s ᴇ s }
- One Eye -
Mist's right eye is not real. As such, he has poor depth perception and cannot see anything on his right side without turning his head to look.
- Vision-Dependent Powers -
If Mist cannot see, he cannot make an illusion or control someone's mind. It is the foil to all of his abilities.
- Frail -
Mist's body is not very strong or healthy. He cannot take many hits before going down, just about dooming him to failure if he attempts something based on strength alone. He makes up for this somewhat by being quick, but there's only so much good that can do for him.
- Collared -
As part of his parole, Mist is required to wear an "obedience collar" to keep him in line. This collar is linked to a remote that another member of DAWNSTAR can carry around. If he begins to act in a villainous manner, pressing the button on the remote will cause the collar to deliver an electric shock to Mist. The collar also has an ability-supressing setting, which can be turned on in extreme cases to prevent Mist from using any of his powers.
{ ᴘ ᴇ ʀ s ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ }
Mist is a very private and quiet person. Before his time in prison, he was far more lively and outgoing than he is now. While he's not pleased to be working for so-called Heroes, he is pleased to be out of prison. He'd do anything to ensure he doesn't return to that place, but his world-view doesn't lend itself to the life of a Hero. On the plus side, he is far more likely to murder a violent criminal than an innocent person. He genuinely regrets the civilian deaths that got him in prison in the first place. He'd never wanted to be a murderer. He considers his pre-prison self to have been more of an opportunistic thief trying to survive on his own in a cruel world.
He has difficulty making friends, and he has a tendency to be rude when he does talk to people. He's often cynical, sarcastic, and pessimistic. His default response to being in a difficult or awkward situation is to try to act tough and intimidating. He hasn't yet realized that some people might genuinely want to help him adjust to his new life. He's more inclined to think that people are trying to use him than help him. Getting him to open up about his past is a daunting task, but there are plenty of demons there that he'll have to face if he wants to truly move beyond being a villain.
 
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Thank you. :)

Hopefully more people will join. I have one that I'm trying to recruit, so hopefully he'll sign up.
 
Greetings everyone! Just wanted to express my happiness to of found this thread. This looks exactly like what ive been looking for.

{ ɴ ɪ ᴄ ᴋ ɴ ᴀ ᴍ ᴇ s }
Atlas
{ ʀ ᴏ ʟ ᴇ }
Anti-hero (described in weaknesses)
{ ɢ ᴇ ɴ ᴅ ᴇ ʀ }
Male
{ ᴇ ᴛ ʜ ɴ ɪ ᴄ ɪ ᴛ ʏ & ʀ ᴀ ᴄ ᴇ}
Caucasian
{ s ᴇ x ᴜ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ}
Bisexual
{ ʙ ɪ ʀ ᴛ ʜ ᴅ ᴀ ʏ ᴀ ɴ ᴅ ᴀ ɢ ᴇ}
He is 26 born on December 27
{ ᴀ ᴘ ᴘ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ᴀ ɴ ᴄ ᴇ }
Normal- Standing at just over 7 foot Atlas would seem to be naturally gifted with his physique. He has a shiny bald head and a noticeable scar under his left eye. His skin has a slight tan depicting a Greek heritage. Always wears sunglasses, heavy dark jeans and a sleeveless shirt under a black studded leather jacket with a large red A on the back and zippers down the sides.​
Giant- When Atlas grows (See Powers "Growth") his body stretches to a titanic size and sprouts 4 extra arms. Reaching to 300 feet tall and weighing over 20 tons Atlas becomes practically unstoppable.​
{ ᴘ ᴏ ᴡ ᴇ ʀ s }
-Growth-
Atlas can control his size allowing him to change between 7 and 300 feet tall. His weight, strength, and endurance stay proportionate to his size​
-Extra limbs-
When grown Atlas can form extra arms from his sides​
-Healing factor-
Atlas possesses a slight healing factor which mends broken bones and in a matter of a day and cures ripped flesh in a matter of an hour​
{ ᴡ ᴇ ᴀ ᴋ ɴ ᴇ s s ᴇ s }
-Anger dependent-
Atlas Growth and Extra limbs can only be activated at different levels of Anger causing Atlas to, on occasion, lose control.
-Bad Reputation-
Due to Atlas uncontrollable rage and destructive force he is known to cause Collateral damage (Stepping on cars, throwing houses, exed.) during large fights. This has left many people thinking that he does more bad than good and has him on the dawnstar watch list.
-Overconfidence-
"Im the best there is and I can take on everyone!" This is a good example of Atlas mindset and it gets him into trouble on a regular basis. Rather if its starting a fight with some guys at a bar or trying to lift the island of Manhattan Atlas thinks he can do it all.
{ ᴘ ᴇ ʀ s ᴏ ɴ ᴀ ʟ ɪ ᴛ ʏ }
Atlas is the boastful and arrogant kind. Spending his time in dive bars and back allies of the Great city or getting into brawls at his favorite fighting spot (The ruins of New york) Atlas lives for excitement. He clashes with villains, and on occasion a member of Dawnstar that gets in is face, for this exact reason.
Hes tough but that doesn't mean hes evil. He might not be the poster child of a hero but hes got a good heart and he refuses to stand and watch as the strong prey on the weak.