The Sanguine State

[SweetBloodVampyre]

Character Sheet Image Traits Personal

• Name: Anastasiya Markova
  
  Age: 27
  
  Sex: Female
  
  Race: Vampire
  
  Subfaction: Abolitionist
  
  Biography: Anastasiya is an immigrant from Moscow, Russia with two vampire parents. She was born on July 26th, 2023 within a state of luxury. Her father was a Russian-American business man, working as the managing director for the large corporate company known as the Blood Bank Corporation, entitled to continuing the line of dishing out and experimenting on the phenomenon of immortality. Her mother who was Russian, however, had a much more guarded job in a way, as a journalist with over 15 years of experience. Anastasiya's life was quite successful in terms of education. Her earliest education began when she was four years old, starting a year earlier than your average student in Russia. She was a wonderful listener, likable to everyone around her, and had a daring outlook on life. Anastasiya never failed a grade throughout those years, although when primary school came around, Anastasiya had quite a few minor and major drawbacks. One major drawback in her primary school years caused her to fall back a grade.
  
  At the age of 12 years old, October 7th, 2035, her father was gunned down by elite vampire enforcers in Moscow because he was suspected of tax fraud and refused to act as police told him. Anastasiya's mother could no longer afford to pay taxes on just one income for a luxurious lifestyle and thus, the Markov family's social class dropped down to middle class. Anastasiya's mother quickly sought out a small apartment for just the two of them, and over the next few years, everything became hectic for Anastasiya. Her grades fluctuated constantly; she developed PTSD and continuously had series of major depressive disorder for weeks at a time. This lead to failed attempts at suicide, as well as a time during secondary school in which Anastasiya almost died from starvation, but was quickly revived.
  
  During her teenage years, at 15 years, Anastasiya's mother received a job opportunity that pays higher wage and is more convenient because of location in retrospect of marketing and industry that would allow Anastasiya and her mother to live a much more comfortable lifestyle. The two moved as soon as possible, Anastasiya's mother with a working visa, and found a lovely house within the gated community of North End in Sanguine Capitol. Later on, Anastasiya's mother became a citizen of America and Anastasiya herself, worked hard in earning her bachelor's degree in business, acquiring her first job in employee relations, then later on, to where she stands now, a job as a human resources manager, as well finding herself living in the upper end of the Sanguine Capitol, her past pushed behind her, and everyday being filled with excitement and fulfillment of internal desires.
  
  Motivation: Anastasiya wishes to seek revenge against the elite vampire enforcers who killed her father. Anastasiya was more close to her father than mother in a sense that he was pretty much her role model in every sense of the way. She was influenced by him, understood his outlook on things, and looked up to him as a whole. When her father was killed, she immediately went into a state of turmoil, and thus, grew vengeful against government as a whole, specifically the elite vampire enforcers.
• 
• Standard Traits:
  
  Enhanced Senses
  
  Charm
  
  Leadership Ribbon I
  
  Light Munitions
  
  Art of Stealth
  
  Custom Traits:
  
  Pain Illusion, which is the ability to create a false feeling of pain on others.
• Signature: SweetBloodVampyre

 

[Drifter]

Name: Elisabeth "Els" Bower
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Race: Werehyena (Hyaenidaethrope?)
Subfaction: Restoration Movement
Appearance:

Human

Els stands at 5'7" and weighs 142 lbs, with a lanky frame.

Hyena

In hyena form, Elsa stands just shy of 7' and weighs around 260 lbs.

Biography: Els is the only child of the human scientists Frank and Madeline Bower, both of whom had acquired a comfortable stipend for working in the labs, producing chemical compounds of the lycanthrope virus and working on augmented forms of the "immortality potion" that caused such a stir decades ago. When the daughter of such hardworking, brilliant chemists ended up as a restless, unmotivated, aggravated young woman, they weren't entirely sure what they could do with her. Their relationship was far from strained by this rift between the generations, but it only fueled Els's frustration when she found that she didn't have the mindset to allow herself to focus on tasks that didn't interest her... and that her parents' line of work happened to bore her most of all.

She got into a lot of scraps all throughout childhood, going up against adversaries larger and tougher than she more often than she would ever find a fair fight, and the gashed lips and bruised bones never seemed to dissuade her. It became apparent that she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, enjoying picking both fights and pockets just for the thrill of the chase afterwards. While she never exhibited bookish smarts, she proved to be quite clever in crafting excuses and fanciful explanations as to how she kept ending up with baubles that had clearly never been brought into the Bower household. These bursts of mischief made her somewhat notorious in their small neighborhood, and the Bowers imagined she'd grow out of it as her teenage years began to add up and instill her with some sort of maturity. In fact, after spending most of her early teens with various bands of fire starters, thieves, and rabblerousers, it seemed that she was forever lost to that elusive straight and narrow, finding her way into the realm of underground boxing and fistfighting... a manner of sport heavily frowned upon in the Sanguine State for its disruptive nature and propensity of spilling the blood of its participants, a resource too precious to waste in games and such.

For years, she flitted in and out of that world, narrowly avoiding bust after bust and showing up to job interviews nearly-concussed, finding herself unable to fit into any sort of groove in anything resembling a productive lifestyle. Her poor financial standing, refusing to accept money from her concerned parents, began to affect her performance in the ring and soon she found herself adrift without any real motivation to devote herself to an honest pursuit of either life she was trying to lead. She returned home to crash for a little while as she nursed a badly fractured elbow, only to discover an unattended vial of a product her mother had been working on for months. The label was hardly legible, but Els knew enough about what the Bowers were lauded for in the chemistry community, and she tossed it in her good hand for a solid twenty minutes before she realized that she simply couldn't pass it up. Injecting the syringe into her arm long before her prescribed count of three, she passed out on the ground nearly immediately afterwards. Being roused by a strange growling noise after a few hours in a restless sleep, she leafed through the stack of papers near the now-empty vial and was informed that what she'd dosed herself with was a serum containing the potential to create werehyenas, a type of shapeshifter that had recently appeared and been contained by Vampire Enforcers for study.

Mildly pleased by this news, she spent several months experimenting with her new abilities, impressed by the surprising light-footedness of her giant hyena form and not at all deterred by the gradual shift in her moods and her growing reliance on grunts and growls and yelps to answer simple, otherwise pointless, questions. Her newfound edge has been discovered by most who run her old fighting haunts, however, so she's had to find other ways to curb that impulse of hers. Even though she's not had all that much time to acclimate to being a werehyena, Els has found that it's given her a new outlook on life, making her more inclined to get involved in stirring up the vampires who are sitting pretty in the Sanguine State. While she's still not the dedicated and enthusiastic rebel so much as the restless troublemaker, she sees the potential to really make something of herself if the state of the world around her doesn't start to liven up any time soon... and her jaws have been aching as of late to tear into something more substantial than steak purchased from a well-robbed wallet.

Motivation: Resourceful and strongly influenced by the old-world ideas of "making it on your own", Els believes that it should be every man for himself. Let capitalism reign. Kill or be killed, police states be damned.

Standard Traits:

• Enhanced Senses
• Omnidexterity
• Light Munitions
• CQC
• The Art of Stealth

Custom Traits:

• Bewilder- Calling it guile would be giving her too much credit. Els has always had odd mannerisms, and even while fighting, she has a knack for getting her opponents to briefly drop their guard because of something baffling she's done or said. As befitting the traditional character of a hyena, this often manifests itself in simple traps and pranks, if given the time to plan, or a well-placed, unusual feint and momentary "vanishing act" if she's in a pinch.

Signature: I, Foxxie, understand that my character's fate is in Brovo's hands and that she might very well die if I'm not playing carefully enough. She may also die for plot reasons, despite my best efforts. I am fine with this.

 

[Fubuki]

CS is up. Cant find an image I like though. ;_;

 

[The Ghost Note]

I might join this, as a werewolf.

Because fuck yeah, werewolves.

 

[Brovo]

@Limeypanda Your character has been approved and added.

@SweetBloodVampyre Your character has been approved and added. Keep in mind: Leadership Ribbon I means you can make your own follower. I can also randomly assign you one if you prefer. The choice is up to you.

@Foxxie Finish your CS!

@Fubuki Approved and added.

@Everyone: Two days until I reveal what the IC will be about. The RP will likely start Thursday or Friday this week, possible Saturday. I will give a hint now though: It'll involve a night club, a reinforced bank truck, some intel, and a poor vampire media lord that needs to be erased from existence. A quick intro mission that'll mix stealth, combat negotiation, and good ole' violence. Act fast.

 

[Tone Deaf]

Oh look at all these warriors. Such is the common way to fight a war with violence. My words can kill just as easily as any explosive. (Getting into character Im sorry I love you guys D:)

 

[Zombehs]

Don't suppose a Werewolf custom trait that allows a Werewolf to still act while transforming at the cost of a lengthier transformation time (over the course of a minute) would be possible?

 

[Tempest]

Don't suppose a Werewolf custom trait that allows a Werewolf to still act while transforming at the cost of a lengthier transformation time (over the course of a minute) would be possible?

Transformation time is already lengthy >_>

 

[Zombehs]

Transformation time is already lengthy >_>

A few seconds vs. a minute.

 

[Tempest]

A few seconds vs. a minute.

It takes more than a few seconds, as far as I was aware.

 

[Zombehs]

It takes more than a few seconds, as far as I was aware.

--It takes several seconds to transform and is a painful process. "Stealth transformation" isn't really an option unless you have a good chunk of space and a couple walls between you and your targets, and while transforming, a lycanthrope is extremely vulnerable.

Granted this is a weakness of Werewolves, so the trait might not fly since its pretty much exchanging one weakness for something less crippling, but meh.

 

[Jorick]

Don't suppose a Werewolf custom trait that allows a Werewolf to still act while transforming at the cost of a lengthier transformation time (over the course of a minute) would be possible?

I'm of course not the GM, but circumventing a race's fundamental weaknesses entirely right out of the gate would probably not be allowed. Lessening the weakness by having a custom trait to make it faster, or to greatly enhance your defenses but only while transforming, or making your character less loud when transforming, or something like that would likely be a better way to go about it. You could probably build up to making the transformation not a weakness, since we'll be able to improve our traits as the roleplay progresses, but I think starting off like that would be a bit too much.

 

[Zombehs]

I'm of course not the GM, but circumventing a race's fundamental weaknesses entirely right out of the gate would probably not be allowed. Lessening the weakness by having a custom trait to make it faster, or to greatly enhance your defenses but only while transforming, or making your character less loud when transforming, or something like that would likely be a better way to go about it. You could probably build up to making the transformation not a weakness, since we'll be able to improve our traits as the roleplay progresses, but I think starting off like that would be a bit too much.

Ai, basically this is one of the reasons I can see it being rejected.

In that case, I'd probably try something that dulls his nerves when transforming so he can ignore most pain and transform with some semblance of stealth (the changes as his body shifts and morphs would probably still be audible if someone was listening for it). He'd still being unable to move since his body structure is rearranging itself rather drastically though.

I can't really see a trait that drops the transformation time by any significant amount as flying, since it would basically remove the weakness as well if he was only disabled for a second or so. At that speed, he'd basically have to get ambushed to be unable to transform in time.

 

[Firemind]

Ai, basically this is one of the reasons I can see it being rejected.

In that case, I'd probably try something that dulls his nerves when transforming so he can ignore most pain and transform with some semblance of stealth (the changes as his body shifts and morphs would probably still be audible if someone was listening for it). He'd still being unable to move since his body structure is rearranging itself rather drastically though.

I can't really see a trait that drops the transformation time by any significant amount as flying, since it would basically remove the weakness as well if he was only disabled for a second or so. At that speed, he'd basically have to get ambushed to be unable to transform in time.

While there is no doubt that starting with such a trait is impossible, it isn't implausible late game. As the team gets stronger, more people will be equipping themselves to deal with the members of the cell. For example, Silver bullets might get dished out more frequently.

 

[Zombehs]

While there is no doubt that starting with such a trait is impossible, it isn't implausible late game. As the team gets stronger, more people will be equipping themselves to deal with the members of the cell. For example, Silver bullets might get dished out more frequently.

I could see, if this went far enough, a trait evolving enough that it basically removes that weakness from a Werewolf character.

 

[Brovo]

Don't suppose a Werewolf custom trait that allows a Werewolf to still act while transforming at the cost of a lengthier transformation time (over the course of a minute) would be possible?

Not at start, no. General idea being that a Lycanthrope needs to be very careful where they choose to transform, lest they get into a poor situation.

I'm of course not the GM, but circumventing a race's fundamental weaknesses entirely right out of the gate would probably not be allowed. Lessening the weakness by having a custom trait to make it faster, or to greatly enhance your defenses but only while transforming, or making your character less loud when transforming, or something like that would likely be a better way to go about it. You could probably build up to making the transformation not a weakness, since we'll be able to improve our traits as the roleplay progresses, but I think starting off like that would be a bit too much.

This is a logical response.

In that case, I'd probably try something that dulls his nerves when transforming so he can ignore most pain and transform with some semblance of stealth (the changes as his body shifts and morphs would probably still be audible if someone was listening for it). He'd still being unable to move since his body structure is rearranging itself rather drastically though.

Yep, this would work, easily.

I could see, if this went far enough, a trait evolving enough that it basically removes that weakness from a Werewolf character.

Correct. Upper tier lycanthropes don't have this problem and if you survive that long, you'll get there too, your own way.

 

[Zombehs]

Not my art and all that jazz.​

Name: Jonathan (John, Jones) Wen
Age: 26
Sex: Male

Race: Lycanthrope
Subfaction: Doesn't really know which would be preferable, but one's probably better than what they have right now.

Appearance: Normally, Johnathan doesn't really stand out amongst a crowd. About average height and weight at 5'10 (1.78m) and 190lb. (86kg), he's got a fairly solid build, though his attire makes it so that someone would probably have to bump into him to figure it out. His eyes are a dark blue. His skin, despite the time spent outdoors, doesn't tan easily, so he has a rather fair complexion.

As a Lycanthrope, he's significantly larger, shifting to be about 8' (2.43m) in height and more than doubling in weight to about 350lb. (158kg). That weight doesn't seem to manifest as too much additional bulk though, as his Lycan form is notably lean compared to others of his kind.

Biography: Born in Ottawa, Ontario in the mid 2020s, Jonathon was the middle child of a family of five. His sister was the eldest, and a younger brother arrived a few years later. They moved from the capital to Toronto when the company his father worked for began to expand, and it was in this older city where he spent most of his childhood. For one reason or another, despite its massive population, Toronto had suffered relatively little damage. Though it had experienced its own fair share of riots that turned bloody, as a whole, it was relatively well off.

Boys will be boys despite the change in the world, and he wasn't one to break the mold. Spending more time outside on play, than inside on study, he and his group of friends went on adventures through the neighborhood, regardless if it was a blazing summer or a stormy winter day.

As he grew up, Jonathan never really lost that energy, even if it was dulled. He would still race around the aging neighborhood, but he was less vocal and obnoxious about it. The fact that he spent more time on the move than at a desk pouring over books didn't really change though. Surprisingly, his grades didn't really suffer from that even as he moved up the education system. Course, that was because they were always mediocre to begin with and remained as such.

Given his grades and lack of interest towards academics it wasn't really surprising that Jonathan didn't pursue higher education. Unsure of what to do now as his friends headed off to university, college, or the start of a career hopefully, he went for an option that was basically offered to him.

Enlisting in the recovering police force, he was screened, processed, accepted, and sent off to train. Part of it had to do with the company his father worked with as it was really just a subsidiary of the state. They thought him an easy enough individual to control and influence, and for a few years he was. Jonathan did his job, followed orders, and got paid. It wasn't exactly glorious work given how the police had slowly shifted as he grew up, but Canada still remained one of the more moderate countries in terms of enforcing a police-state. That didn't exactly get rid of the nagging voice, but it did help to dull it.

Things had to go wrong one way or another though. When he was about 23 years old, after four years in the force, he and a few others were called to respond to rumors of Lycan activity. Why the Vampire Enforcers didn't take care of it as usual, he doesn't really know, but suffice to say the responders were unprepared and under-armed. What he and his colleagues found wasn't some rational Lycanthrope. It was some crazed beast that proceeded to literally tear him and his mates apart, leaving some dead and others dying.

When he woke up next, it would be on a lumpy mattress in a poorly lit room. Every move didn't exactly cause him pain, but it was close enough that he gave up on trying to sit up almost immediately. He laid there in silence for a few moments before someone decided to check up on him for one reason or another. The two that did couldn't have been much older than him, likely even younger, though they did a fairly good job of explaining what had happened. Apparently the Lycan that had torn him and his colleagues a new one had been part of their cell, and they'd been in pursuit. They had arrived too late though and only managed to retrieve him before escaping due to the Enforcer's closing in.

Initially bitter, he didn't manage to keep the attitude up after he recovered to the point of being able to walk around. Seeing the cell members interact with one another as a make-shift family made it hard for him to hate them for something that had tried to stop. And when he finally began to feel the other effects of the Lycan's attack, they helped him get through and adjust. Yet those two weeks were as well as he managed to get to know those cell members. Somehow the Enforcers must have been able to trace the insane Lycan back to this cell, and when they came knocking they also came guns blazing. Told to run by those that had helped him out, Jonathan did as told, aware he wasn't able to help out in any meaningful capacity.

Eventually, from cell to cell over the years by hearsay or rumor, Jonathan made his way from the north down to the south and then the west. Sometimes he left his mark with the cell he worked with, other times he didn't. In the end though, his goal was the Sanguine Capitol where the start of all this laid.

Motivation: Couldn't stand seeing what happened and hopes that a difference can be made.​

Standard Traits:

• Shredding Claws: As implied, these claws can shred through metal, and naturally, body armour. As a side benefit, they're great for cooking. Further upgrades involve player-designed offshoots.​
• Enhanced Senses: Thermal vision and increased acuteness of sound and smell. Leads to further, non-magic bodily improvements when upgraded. Notable, vampires hold the same genetic trait, leading to the occasional piece of speculation that the two diseases may hold some common genetic ancestor.​
• First-Aid Training: This character understands how to perform battlefield triage, stop bleeding wounds, and diagnose basic infections.​
• CQC: Trains the character in the basics of both hand to hand and melee weapons.​
• The Art of Stealth: This character understands the need for silence. This both increases the odds of remaining undetected and lowers the odds enemy NPC's will target this character.​

Custom Traits:

• Deadened Nerves: When undergoing transformation into his Werewolf form, Jonathon's nerves are dulled to the point where all he feels is a numb sensation over his entire body. It completely neutralizes the pain normally caused by such a drastic shift in one's body, and also prevents any minor external injuries from breaking the transformation process. While a lack of pain means Jonathon doesn't lash out or make any sounds during the change, the sound of a body reshaping itself is still audible to people who are listening carefully.​

Signature: What's up, Zombehs signing so Brovo may kill off Jonathan whenever.

 

[Kadaeux]

A much more interesting weakness would be if Werewolves could only transform while doing the macarena.

<.<
>.>
<.<

 

[Iben]

Salutations! I am Iben, a newcomer to this site, but not to RPing.

This RP appears to fit my genres of interest very well and as a fan of World of Darkness, I believe I have the correct qualifications. ;)

I've sketched out a character below that hopefully fits in somehow, I was aiming for something like "mad scientist turns blood based wizard" (an adaption of a Tremere vamp as it were):

Dr. Kazakov Signature

• 
  
  Name: Pavel Anatolyevich Kazakov, "Doc"
  
  Age: 55 (turned at 35)
  
  Sex: Male
  
  Race: Vampire
  
  Subfaction: Democratic Socialist
  
  Appearance: Pavel is a tall, pale, and gaunt fellow hidden beneath a heavy, grey greatcoat and countless layers of clothing. At a first glance, he appears to be little more than the thirty year old medical researcher he once was. He has sharp black eyes and favors a pair of dark round metal sunglasses in almost all situations. A clean shaven face, reveals high cheekbones and a straight aquiline nose that sits above a small mouth with thin lips. His black hair is notoriously unruly and is only subjugated by the wide variety of hats that he chooses to wear.
  
  Biography: The only son of a civil servant, Pavel Anatolyevich Kazakov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in early 1995. In large part due to the modest political connections of his father, Pavel enjoyed a comfortable if unremarkable and by his own accounts utterly boring upbringing.
  
  From an early age Pavel was a promising student and with the help of a well-placed uncle he was afforded the opportunity to attended the prestigious Lomonosov Moscow State University. After six years of hard work he graduated with a Doctorate of Medicine, having specialized in hematology. Electing to pursue a career in the research sector rather than the medical field Pavel continued his studies and eventually found his way across the pond to Baltimore, Maryland, where he received his PhD from the world-renowned John Hopkins University with the help of an anonymous donor. Unbeknownst to Kazakov, this financial support was generously provided to him by an umbrella corporation of the Blood Bank and the young scientist found himself heavily indebted to the vampiric overlords that now ran the world.
  
  Left with little other choice, he became an employee of the Blood Bank soon after and was dispatched to the Sanguine Capitol. It was in the depths of the secretive research and development department that Pavel was turned into a vampire. The promise of an eternity to perfect his research and an escape from the limitations of the human condition proved far too great of a temptation for the young man and Pavel quickly joined the ranks of the undead.
  
  Retreating from the world and the burning light of the sun Pavel continued his work undisturbed as the world continued to fall apart...or at least he would have, were it not for the political machinations of a jealous colleague and a series of unfortunate but promising experiments that left an entire wing of the hospital labs in ruins.
  
  Labeled a madman and thrown onto the streets, Pavel found a common cause with a small group of rebels and adopting the theories of Marx, he began to fight with humans and lycanthropes alike for a new, better future.
  
  Motivation: A discarded cog of the state machinery, Pavel is a bitter and brilliant vampire, driven to rebellion by his own stubborn pride and hatred towards his former masters born from years of forced servitude.
  
  Standard Traits:
  
  1. Draw Blood
  2. Bat Swarm
  3. Levitation
  4. Charm
  5. Enhanced Senses
  
  Custom Traits:
  
  • Hematological Researcher: trained as a hematologist and a researcher, Kazakov approaches his new state of undeath with the same focus and scientific mindset that guided him in life. Pavel has discovered that he has a natural aptitude for various magic involving blood and in short order he has acquired a number of useful abilities related to this particular field of study. At present, Kazakov is able to summon an arcane projectile, that may at his discretion steal the very lifeblood of any foes it strikes. Although all vampires have a taste for blood, Kazakov has also found that he can gather a wealth of information beyond the realm of the rational from a simple sample of blood.
• 
  Signature: I, Iben, submit to the rules of the GM and I understand that my character will require both wit and charm to survive.
  

 

[Zombehs]

Just wondering, but are people using age as physical appearance-wise or actual age?

If I read things correctly, the RP should be taking place sometime in the 2050's after all.