It's been a while since I was around here, and thought I'd ease myself back in with a RP based around my favourite series of games that I havent't played in a while - The Battle Network series. This is an RP where all are welcome, veterans or newbies, so long as you understand and have a general knowledge of the BN series, it's characters and the way chips and the like work. As it is, because I think the stories got a little overcomplicated following BN3, there will be a slight twist to the proceedings, story-wise.
One other thing;
All of the Net-Navis from the series are availible, as are custom Navis, or adaptations of any of the old Robot Masters, save Geminiman and Centaurman, whom will be adapted for the purposes of the plot.
In the case of Lan and Megaman, they have been missing for nearly ten years. Should a player wish to bring them back into the action, please bear this in mind.
And now, the story;
'In This World, The Bad Guys Can WIN,'
Charles Dance, Last Action Hero
Roughly ten years have passed since the organisation known as Gospel set their plan in motion to rule the world by gathering several SuperPrograms and combining them with a massive number of programming bugs to create copies of the world's first AutoNavi, Bass. Whilst Lan Hikari and Megaman.EXE destroyed the initial copy of Bass.EXE, thousands more swarmed through the net, creating havok and chaos wherever they appeared. Whatsmore, Gospel repowered the defeated initial copy, overloading it and warping it in a grotesque SuperVirus, dubbing it Gospel, after their organisation.
Whilst Lan and Megaman.EXE struggled valiantly against the Virus, it supposedly destroyed the two of them, but no one is sure. Regardless, Lan Hikari and Megaman.EXE have not been seen since that day.
The Bass.EXE copies brought down the net in days, their efforts furthered by the Gospel virus. The stock markets were destroyed, household items self-destructed, planes and trains crashed, their electronic systems malfunctioning severely. They destroyed the net piece by piece, destroying industries and lives.
When it came to the end, a last stand saw a handful of Net Navi's, led by Protoman, finally destroy the Gospel Virus, and slowly but surely, the Bass.EXE copies were destroyed, with an uncertain but necessary helping hand bestowed by the actual Bass.EXE, though he disappeared shortly afterward.
It took ten long years to regain everything lose in Gospel's lashing out at the world. NetNavis have exchanged hands, new PET owners appear everyday.
But every silver lining has a cloud. Recently, a new net group calling themselves 'The Zodiac' has appeared. Their habits and methods are unpredictable, as they strike only once a month, and reports do not match, though each victim claims their attacker calls themself 'one of the Zodiac'. The mystery deepens, as messages, sending threatening notices, have been appearing in blogs and message boards worldwide.
In the years since Gospel, however, a new web-monitoring group - The Watchers, have been established. They accept new members on a regular basis, effectively taking the place of the old NetBattlers, though the Watchers are monitored by independant government agencies, as are most actions on the Net, these days.
What do the Zodiac want? What's their plan in this? Join us, and find out!
The Profile Form;
(This may seem fairly lengthy, but it shouldn't take you too long to fill in)
Operator Profile
Name: Your Character's Name
Age: Your Character's Age
Affiliation: Who does your character roll with? Is he/she a Watcher, do they work for the Zodiac, or do they go it alone?
Height:
Weight:
General Appearance: Just a few brief sentences, detailing a few notable things about your character, their fashion quirks and the like.
Personality: Same as above, just detailing their personality quirks.
Brief History: A few sentences to give a sense of background to your character. If they're young, they most likely won't remember Gospel, ten years ago. If they're older, what were they doing before Gospel? What have they done since?
Net Navi Profile
Name: Male Navi's usually have 'Man.EXE' tacked on the end, so, for instance, WhaleMan.EXE. (Seriously, though, if someone has WhaleMan.EXE, I'm psychic)
Appearance: Same as for the Operator, a few lines about the Navi. In the instance of an already existing Navi, you may use an image should you have access to one.
Personality: See above. What makes your Navi tick?
Favourite Chips:Three different chips your Navi loves to use. Any chips from BN 1-3 are okay, though common sense dictates nothing incredibly strong as we begin.
Regular Attacks: You are allowed three of these. Usually, they follow the theme of the robot's design. For instance, WhaleMan.EXE might have a Water Tower attack, a 'whale-song' attack, and one more. List the effects and damage of the attack.
Special Attacks: Same as above, only stronger. Only two of these, please.
And that is it, for right now. I will be back tomorrow, with an opening post, and a profile for Starman.EXE, and his operator, Alison.
Operator Profile
Name: Alison Blaire
Age: 21
Affiliation: Watchers
Height: 5'5''
Weight: 128 lbs
General Appearance: An attractive, pop-punkish blonde, Ali might initially seem like an unusual type to hold morals and the net and all that in high value. With a pretty, oval face, she has several piercings, one in her left eyebrow, two liprings extremely close together in her bottom lip, and an earring in either ear, both featuring a star design. Favours a dark eyeshadow and liner, bringing out the icey blue of her eyes, and wears dull, smokey-red lipstick. Her blonde hair is cut short, though long bangs hang over her left eye. She'd love to the Tank-Girl-style 'bald with bangs' look, but wouldn't dare, her father would go nuts.
With a small form, Ali favours a shirt and tie approach to dressing, appearing a little business-like on occasion. Wristbands and heavy watches also feature prominently, and despite her tomboyish style of dress, she can be coerced into wearing more girly stuff.
Personality: Despite her appearance, suggesting a somewhat anti-establisment attitude, Ali is immensely devoted to the work she does, protecting the Net and making sure everyone who uses it is safe. She is immensely defensive of her organisation, especially around those who suggest it doesn't work too well, and is extremely critical and sniping of those who dare work against it. Can be extremely lazy at times, and it's more than a struggle for Starman to get her to wake up in the mornings. Enjoys Starman's company as much as her father's, and she is extremely devoted to both of them despite the bickering she shares with the former, and the constant worrying of the latter. She's occasionally clumsy, but makes up for it with her intelligence and skill in most affairs, especially NetBattling.
Brief History: It could be destiny that Alison works prominently in the new 'Watchers' organisation, overseeing the safety and security of the Web - Her mother was a premier NetBattler, before she was killed in one of the numerous incidents that occured upon Gospel releasing their SuperVirus into the world. Raised by her father, Alison inherited Starman.EXE from her mother, and quickly, a bond was formed between the two, with Alison finding him a link to her mother, and Starman finding her so similar to her mother.
As the Net slowly recovered from Gospel, Alison learned of the new 'Watchers' group through Starman and her father, the latter of whom did not want to see her go the same way as her mother, but realised that Ali would not listen to him, on this occasion. As such, over the course of three years, Ali has become one of the top Watchers in her domain. However, Starman, having some skills in fortune telling, predicts something dark on the horizon.
Net Navi Profile
Name: Starman.EXE
Appearance: A slightly androgynous NetNavi, perhaps a play on David Bowie in the Man Who Fell to Earth, Starman's face is akin to one of the 'Grey' aliens - pale white with large, black, oval eyes. His 'hair' is wild and spiked, with a scarf of sorts coming off and extending into a star design. The androgyny continues, as there is nothing to genuinely hint that Starman is fashioned after a man. Wearing a white and blue jumpsuit, and yellow boots to match his hair, Starman certainly lives up to his name, and appears not of this world. There's always a wide, playful smile on his face.
Personality:A funny, sarcastic little Navi, Starman shares a cynical sense of humour and a touch of biting wit with his operator. Often found playfully bickering with her, nothing negative he says about her, even to others, should be taken seriously. He is immensely defensive of her when in danger, and despite his pint-sized form, is incredibly aggressive in his assaults.
He fancies himself as a bit of a romeo around female Navis, though this often earns him a slap in the face, much to the bemusement of her operator. A little intuitive, he is capable of figuring most things out by himself. Has some skills in fortune telling and predictions, something he immensely enjoys, and successfully predicted the money crash during Gospel's attack, allowing thousands to save their money.
Favourite Chips: Satelit2, Meteor 12, and ElecSword
Regular Attacks:
Star-Bolt: Shoots a star-tipped arrow at a foe.
Star-Bomb: Launches a bomb at opponents - mildly stunned if it hits them directly . Should it not hit directly, leaves miniature stars in it's wake. Should the opponent touch these, they are mildly stunned, though the damage is less then being hit directly.
Star-Beam: Released a blast of energy from his palms. Is capable of doing one 90-degree turn to hit a foe, if they dodge it, however, it disappears.
Special Attacks:
Star-Strike: A meteor-style attack, that brings numerous stars down upon the opponent in random arrangements.
Star-Prediction: Seemingly nothing happens at first, but within 30 seconds, panels of the Net begin to fall from beneath the opponent's feet, only to avoided should they move fast.
And so we begin...
"I can't beleive you didn't wake me up this morning! I'm so damned late," complained Alison Blaire to her PET and the Navi within, whom scoffed, saying "What am I, an alarm clock? And while we're on the subject, I did try an' wake you up - You threw me at yer freakin' bookcase!"
"Yes, because you were singing a crummy song in my ear," Ali replied, avoiding his comeback despite the fact he was quite right - She had been woken up by Starman, but she'd wanted to sleep longer. Now, she sat on the train to work - Because, despite being a Watcher with 'public priviledges', meaning she wasn't saddled with a deskjob, she still had to get to the HQ each and every morning to clock in. She wished they had some way of doing it remotely, and was amazed they hadn't developed some sort of service, yet.
'Bing Bong Bing' sounded the announcement, 'Kernel Square, next stop, Kernel Square'. Ali yawned, and got to her feet, as the train slowed. Once it stopped, she bolted from the train, vaulting over the turnstyles to the chagrin of the conductor, who recognised her. Hurrying into work, she jacked in Starman to the appropriate port to signal her clocking in.
'GOOD MORNING, ALISON. YOU ARE TWENTY MINUTES LATE. AS SUCH, TWO HUNDRED ZENNY HAS BEEN DEDUCTED FROM TODAY'S PAY. ALSO, THERE IS AN EMERGENCY SITUATION IN DENTOWN THAT COMMAND WOULD LIKE YOU TO ATTEND TO IMMEDIATELY,' sounded the loud, female voice. Ali grimaced, and immediately jacked out Starman. "Bummer, huh?" Starman asked, "Tell me about it, we were just there," Ali replied tersely, hurrying back to the train station.
--Twenty Minutes More--
Ali stepped out of Dentown Station, and gasped, a rarity for her. Cars were chockablock, the lights not working - constantly on green. However, this was not the source of Ali's gasp. "This is what I got sent out for? A traffic light issue?" she asked, an incredulous look on her face, "They couldn't of just sent out an engineer or two?"
She approached the nearest set of lights, only to notice there was already someone jacked in there. She didn't recognise the operator, so it was either a Watcher she'd never met before, or they were a civilian. Or, they were the ones behind the lights screwing up.
"Hey," she called out, "Who are you?"
((Okay, so that kicks things off.))
OOC: It's been a while since I played a Battle Network game, and at that I only ever played the first three games so my memory's a bit hazy.
I'm definitely interested in joining but I have to ask whether damage values are really neccessary or not? The guild isn't for rps like D&D where HP and damage values are neccessary and determine the fate's of some characters. Your rp writing so far suggests that it's hardly the most important focus of the rp, but I wonder whether or not they're really neccessary at all.
Thanks for any answers.
OOC: Thanks for the questions. As the background paragraph above details, this picks up ten years on from an alternate 'final' story battle of Battle Network 2, and as I only completed 1 and 2 fully, I'd say we're in the same position, memory-wise.
As for Damage Values and HP, you do raise a good point. Obviously, if a situation suggests mortal peril to a character, we can just write it out, so I do agree that HP and damage values are perhaps a little unnecessary.
I'll edit them out, and, ah, hope that you join. Thanks for posing those questions, it'll almost definitely make applying and playing easier.
