J
Jinxer
Guest
Original poster
The Rift Opens
(scroll down to skip premise/first IC post)
(scroll down to skip premise/first IC post)
Times Square, New York. December 31st 2016, 23:55
"Are you ready for 2017!"
A full-throated roar that shook the ground beneath the thousands strong crowd's feet answered, no particular words discernible but the meaning was clear. On the stage a singer, sitting in for the main act to return just in time for the transition into the New Year, raised his hands in response, the sound of his hands clapping echoing around the square through his microphone and the huge speakers dotted all around.
Somewhere in that crowd you stand. You may have been with friends, with family, with a significant other or you may have gone by yourself to greet the New Year in spectacular fashion surrounded by thousands well and truly on their way to a strong hangover the next day. In the spirit of the occasion none of that was on anyone's minds - this was a party that happened only once a year and this was one of the best, most raucous places in the world to join that party. Whatever your reasons for being there, you certainly were not expecting the year to hold one last surprise.
As the band finished their final performance of the year, their tuner fading the sound of their instruments away, the instantly recognizable sound of a clock ticking resounded over the crowd who lapsed into a brief moment of quiet. Then the screens all around began to show the seconds to go and the people joined in, counting down in unison to the end of the year.
"Three! Two! One! Hap-" Thousands of voices were cut off as a pillar of light erupted from the centre of the square, piercing the Heavens above and illuminating the whole crowd in its soft blue light. Those within the pillar disappeared instantly with fearsome, gnarled creatures the height of a horse prowling out into the crowd. A few onlookers panicked and fled, others stood in shock. The majority, however, stared at the pillar; entranced so by the calm nature of it they could not help but be drawn to it like moths. There was no fear even as they entered the light in a daze and disappeared from the world that they knew, the light overriding all with a compulsion to get closer to it, to join with it.
You, standing in the crowd, watch as those all around you walk towards the light. They are oblivious of the monsters that are pouring out of the pillar, one for every two humans who enter the light, and the monsters ignore them. Instead they hone in on those like yourself who have maintained control, who are not entranced by the light. They crush down on them with immense force and feast upon the corpses. Lovers stumble past their other half, only seeing the light even as their partner is torn asunder beside them.
Then the monsters taking notice of you. You are not walking towards the light. You are not captivated by its alluring nature, although it presses on your thoughts and wills you to enter it. But you feel something else, some other strength burning within you. Something you have never felt before. Something that wants to be used, something that rages against the monsters and the Rift which spawns them; something that will save you.
"Are you ready for 2017!"
A full-throated roar that shook the ground beneath the thousands strong crowd's feet answered, no particular words discernible but the meaning was clear. On the stage a singer, sitting in for the main act to return just in time for the transition into the New Year, raised his hands in response, the sound of his hands clapping echoing around the square through his microphone and the huge speakers dotted all around.
Somewhere in that crowd you stand. You may have been with friends, with family, with a significant other or you may have gone by yourself to greet the New Year in spectacular fashion surrounded by thousands well and truly on their way to a strong hangover the next day. In the spirit of the occasion none of that was on anyone's minds - this was a party that happened only once a year and this was one of the best, most raucous places in the world to join that party. Whatever your reasons for being there, you certainly were not expecting the year to hold one last surprise.
As the band finished their final performance of the year, their tuner fading the sound of their instruments away, the instantly recognizable sound of a clock ticking resounded over the crowd who lapsed into a brief moment of quiet. Then the screens all around began to show the seconds to go and the people joined in, counting down in unison to the end of the year.
"Three! Two! One! Hap-" Thousands of voices were cut off as a pillar of light erupted from the centre of the square, piercing the Heavens above and illuminating the whole crowd in its soft blue light. Those within the pillar disappeared instantly with fearsome, gnarled creatures the height of a horse prowling out into the crowd. A few onlookers panicked and fled, others stood in shock. The majority, however, stared at the pillar; entranced so by the calm nature of it they could not help but be drawn to it like moths. There was no fear even as they entered the light in a daze and disappeared from the world that they knew, the light overriding all with a compulsion to get closer to it, to join with it.
You, standing in the crowd, watch as those all around you walk towards the light. They are oblivious of the monsters that are pouring out of the pillar, one for every two humans who enter the light, and the monsters ignore them. Instead they hone in on those like yourself who have maintained control, who are not entranced by the light. They crush down on them with immense force and feast upon the corpses. Lovers stumble past their other half, only seeing the light even as their partner is torn asunder beside them.
Then the monsters taking notice of you. You are not walking towards the light. You are not captivated by its alluring nature, although it presses on your thoughts and wills you to enter it. But you feel something else, some other strength burning within you. Something you have never felt before. Something that wants to be used, something that rages against the monsters and the Rift which spawns them; something that will save you.
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Whether you read the premise above or tl;dr, welcome to the more thorough explanation of this RP.
This RP is set in the current time but is not necessarily influenced by current events. We will be avoiding potentially contentious/political events like Trump's presidency and the furore over Mariah Carey's performance at the real Times Square New Year's Eve event. Otherwise the world is as we know it - a little bit going to hell in a handcart while still rolling on casually, for the most part.
Everyone will play someone from the crowd in Times Square when the Rift opens and awaken powers (more on those further down). They will be aged between 22 and 28 and come from whatever walk of life you choose, as long as it's believable. Very few will have any kind of combat or military experience, again for the sake of realism, so even though they have abilities no normal human would have they aren't exactly going to be magical ninjas slashing through hordes of enemies right away.
The majority of the abilities that everyone will have are largely generic and all characters have access to them although of course some abilities will naturally align better for some characters than others and players will have their favourites they use and those they neglect to.
Think of them as self-enchantments/enhancements for the most part such as increased strength, toughness, enhanced senses and faster reaction speeds. All tools that will help them fight the creatures coming out from the rift that they would have no hope of beating normally.
In addition to this, each character will have one power that is unique to them. This may be being able to put up an impenetrable barrier around themselves and others onto something more destructive like enhancing a specific type of weapon of their choice (whether it be modern or something more medieval).
Think of them as self-enchantments/enhancements for the most part such as increased strength, toughness, enhanced senses and faster reaction speeds. All tools that will help them fight the creatures coming out from the rift that they would have no hope of beating normally.
In addition to this, each character will have one power that is unique to them. This may be being able to put up an impenetrable barrier around themselves and others onto something more destructive like enhancing a specific type of weapon of their choice (whether it be modern or something more medieval).
How do the powers work, you ask? Well, you have ten uses, or charges, per battle. Each of the standard abilities use between one and three charges. Some always use three, some vary depending on the extent of their use in terms of duration or scale. The unique abilities all use five charges, straight up. Closing a Rift also uses one charge, under normal circumstances (spoilers).
These powers cannot be used when not near a Rift. Away from these pillars of light, your characters are normal people although some may not look on them that way anymore.
With regards to which powers use how many charges specifically I'm working out a list and trying to balance it as much as possible to make things simple. The idea of the charge system is to limit characters and force them to work together, it also gives players a framework within which to understand the powers their characters have.
These powers cannot be used when not near a Rift. Away from these pillars of light, your characters are normal people although some may not look on them that way anymore.
With regards to which powers use how many charges specifically I'm working out a list and trying to balance it as much as possible to make things simple. The idea of the charge system is to limit characters and force them to work together, it also gives players a framework within which to understand the powers their characters have.
The monsters are as in the image above (you may recognise it from Advent Children, it was the closest thing I could find to the image in my mind and works rather well for our uses.
They don't have any spectacular abilities themselves but can work together like a pack of wolves might in cornering their prey. They appear for every two humans who enter the Rift and will ignore those who are entranced by the light of the Rift. However, they will hone in on those who are able to resist the temptation of the Rift but cannot distinguish between those who have awakened abilities and those who have not.
They can be injured, immobilised but not killed by weaponry wielded by normal humans and will not die unless the final blow comes from an awakened using a specifically enhanced ranged weapon, their bare hands or a close quarters melee weapon.
If the Rift is threatened then they will move to protect it. If there are no humans in the immediate area they will range further away from the Rift to gather more from the surrounding area, rather than killing them, and throw them into the light so that more of their kind may come through the Rift.
They don't have any spectacular abilities themselves but can work together like a pack of wolves might in cornering their prey. They appear for every two humans who enter the Rift and will ignore those who are entranced by the light of the Rift. However, they will hone in on those who are able to resist the temptation of the Rift but cannot distinguish between those who have awakened abilities and those who have not.
They can be injured, immobilised but not killed by weaponry wielded by normal humans and will not die unless the final blow comes from an awakened using a specifically enhanced ranged weapon, their bare hands or a close quarters melee weapon.
If the Rift is threatened then they will move to protect it. If there are no humans in the immediate area they will range further away from the Rift to gather more from the surrounding area, rather than killing them, and throw them into the light so that more of their kind may come through the Rift.
Any questions then please ask and I appreciate any input or suggestions. There are some other ideas I have which I haven't put into this post simply because I either can't find my notes right now or I want to keep certain aspects as a surprise for now.
