Tarja's psychic presence is pretty large so I'm sure Kadia could sense her, whether she wanted to or not. ;)

Sensing auras, eh? I wonder if Kadia would be able to sense, Ei'lycia since she can hide herself physically and mentally. That ought to be interesting to explore later on.

Umm...she's half-passed out at the moment from having to rush in/toss land out of the way to get to the portal...
I'll write out her coming back tonight...
Hmm...mayhaps. Her aura-sensing is untrained, whereas her telekinetics are...

As far as I'm concerned, if someone is psychic, they can sense other people doing "psychic things" around them the same way... they can hear someone speaking around them. Some people have better "hearing" than others, but unless the character is specifically "deaf" there's no reason they wouldn't be able to sense others under normal circumstances, people specifically hiding their presence excluded obviously, though just like a silencer on a gun, there'll still be *something* there unless... they actually shut off their psyche.

Ctrl+F and replace psy for spirit in there as well.

Yeah, you two are good at giving Dante a hard time in trying to figure out who's where.

Kadia: Who? Little old me? *blinks faux-innocently*
*Rurik, being very faint in aura - he is a machine, after all - creeps up to steal from Dante while Kadia lights up her aura brilliantly*

I really don't think Rurik should have a psychic presence at all. I might not have mentioned it in the setting overview, but psychoactive AI's are like... nuclear-deterrence caliber off-limits. The Network is way too important to the survival of humanity to risk something like Shodan or Deus getting loose in there.

Also, speaking of Deus, was wondering if anyone here is familiar with Shadowrun and/or the Renraku Arcology Shutdown module in specific. Was thinking it'd adapt pretty damned well to Esch with a few serial numbers filed off. No point doing it if you've all seen it before, though. Even if I did put my own twist on it.

It's already been established that I have no idea what you're talking about. Not sure about the others though.

I always wanted to play Shadowrun! I love the novels!
-Warning - Irrational fandom approaching-
I have some of the old rp books, where there were stories of AI that actually become "gods" in their own right, and one died, one went missing, and the final is insane...
Then there is Tommy Talon and his group...
Gods...Shadowrun was what got me into Norse Mythology - Ragnarock!
]

I believe the insane one is Deus, iirc. I can't remember the other two. Was Megaera one of the others?

I'd have to go over the arcology setting again to see how much I'd need to change to make it fit in Esch (I mean, we have magic and cybertech and magic internet, so it shouldn't be too hard), but I take that as a yes, you'd be for this? :P

So uh. I might have gotten a bit bored (yes, I'll get the profile up tomorrow), and felt like practicing with my new pen, so this happened.



(For the record, o's and c's are pains to write.)

Very nice, Espy. :)

My sister made me write out all the place cards for her wedding, so I got to sit down with my sister-in-law's calligraphy pen set and an instruction book and try and make things look good. Certainly wasn't that fancy though.

That's the fountain pen, correct? Very good!

@Quiet -- Thanks!
@Law -- Yes; it's a lot crisper than the calligraphy pen I had been using before.

Also...uh...profile will happen sometime soon-ish, I hope. Was asleep until 4pm.

Ha! I've just been reading about the Tuatha da Danann most of the day!
Why don't I feel guilty about that?

So, whose turn is it? I feel like I should post, but if I do I'll have to contrive a way for one of my guys to wake up...

Could always have one of them sort of come around and then pass out again?

I think Lev is still floating in a pile of zombie goo, but otherwise it's anyone's turn.

I'll post tonight in an hour or so...

Filling out my character sheet...I remember Lev being significantly taller than Dante.

Dante


Age: 26
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 180lbs
Hair: Gray/dark silver, almost shoulder-length and swept over his right eye.
Eyes: Milky green (originally green)
Build: Lean (think swimmer)



Spiritual Presence: Poor
Psychic Presence: Average
Combat Ability: Average
Arcane Knowledge: Deficient
Mechanical Aptitude: Poor
Other: Has the ability to see aura, affected by the target's spiritual presence and ability; first aid; only semi-literate. Developing telekinetic ability.

Possessions:

-tank, leather pants, scarf (all black)
-bulletproof undershirt (only protects torso, obv)
-his mother's wedding band

-segmented whip-blade (3.5ft/100cm "collapsed", ~10ft extended)
-Ti-Ag alloy blade (1.5ft/45cm)
-psychic-disrupting glove (left arm)
-ethereal-sensitive pistol (from Mithaias)
-switchblade
-handgun (DE)

-Water of Eden (x2)
-Succor Capsule (x60)

Biography:

(Bulletpointed because I can't think right now)
-Homeschooled; was good at running off to do whatever so it's a wonder he ever got through what learning he actually did.
-Learned martial arts and firearms operation with his friends; couldn't be assed to join any sort of armed forces, mostly out of his disdain for authority and orders.
-House, along with almost the whole neighborhood, burned down when he was ten; he carried his brother out while his father ran back in to save his mother, who was ill. Neither of them made it out. Dante was blinded by a falling burning rafter while shielding his brother Gabriel.
-Lived off stolen food and money for the next few years because neither of them was literate enough to find a decent job, or had any sort of useful skills. (Dante also liked the thrill of it.)
-Promised Gabe that he'd eventually get rich/well-known enough to get the two of them out of their impoverished state and create a better life where they could live without being in constant fear.
-Gabe fell sick when he was 17; had never been particularly healthy (Dante was 21 a the time), and died shortly thereafter. Dante has blamed himself ever since for not having the money to buy proper medication and food.
-Took on bounty hunting as a means by which to earn a bit more money, but is horrendously bad at saving said money and would rather splurge it on food and brothels.
-Might have also caused other people to be on the search for him, because killing people in bouts of rage usually isn't a good, respectable thing.

Personality:

Mostly solitary by nature, Dante usually prefers to be left alone, but does occasionally enjoy the company of one or two others. He is also hotheaded and at times enjoys showing off, although he favors keeping a low profile.

He has a strong desire to be acknowledged by others, and is fully willing to forfeit his own life to save another, if only out of guilt for his brother's death, but he refuses to admit this and has shoved it far into the dark recesses of his mind. At the same time, he is determined to stay alive in order to make a better life for himself, a promise he had made to Gabe years back.

One of the things he regrets the most, besides his "failure" to save his brother, is his inability to enjoy sunsets.

Thank you, Espy, though for a second there I thought you meant he owned a *tank*. Like an Abrams. :P

Also, Lawtan, just thought I'd mention, that was an engaging post; more like that please. :)

Though, I should note, the asylum we've landed in doesn't look even remotely religious, no statues or torch sconces, just filthy concrete and flickering lights. Not a huge deal though, you don't need to edit, I wasn't evens sure if you meant she landed in another area and was making her way to the rest of the party or not.

She landed in an outside area - it is Hell, portals should be a bit chaotic.
Thanks, I'll try to keep it up :p-grin:

(I now know a few kinds of marble)

Dante the tank commander!

Dante the Oddball!

I can edit in the picture and bio stuff when I don't have two midterms to worry about.

I'm liking Rurik so far. :). But I'm of the belief that fleshed out animal buddies make for much more engaging reading and character support than "brown horse A."

Hmm...
How can I improve on him?

Oh I wasn't saying you needed to. I think he's fine so far for what we've seen. He's got something of a personality, and a like the pseudo android "speak" he seems to have going.

Oh, I was looking for improvement. Rurik is sort of half baked right now...

Anywho, I've been thinking (I should stop there before I hurt myself, but I won't XD
Shadowrun vs what I know of NeoEsch.
Shadowrun:

Has "magical" races due to magic getting into the genetics of newborns during the time of the Awakening, along with a slew of people becoming wizards, and Dragons awakening from the mountains in which they slept.

Is set in mid-21st century - we're 2/5 of the way there. (NeoEsch seems more "mid-future" than "near-future")

I do not know, but a lot more seemed to orient around the politics and technical skills of the parties in the books (computer hacking, corporate wars, presidential assassinations, healing members)

Also, I think the "magic/aura-verse" of NeoEsch is different. If you've read the Bartimaeus trilogy, it works much more on that method - there is another series of "worlds" from which you call magic/can sense people.

I am still new to NeoEsch, but those may be differences between the worlds. Shadowrun seems simultaneously more "hard sci-fi" - the Vampires/zombies are genetic mutations/cancers, if I recall, and more "modern"

*disclaimer: I usually don't know what I am talking about.

You're not wrong at all. (also you can just call it Esch, the Neo was cause we restarted. :P)

If I had to pin it down, we don't really have the "punk" of the cyberpunk genre going on here. It's closer to... whatever genre the terrestrial stories of Warhammer 40k are, really.

One of the main differences, I think, is the sort of infrastructure that's around in Shadowrun with all the super-corps competing against each other in digital espionage, and whatever, whereas here... everything (relevant) is under a unified iron-fisted dictatorial rule. (Again, similar to 40k...)

Even still, I think there's enough of a similarity in something like the Arcology Shutdown that we could do something at least similar in theme without upsetting any of the established setting elements.

No? :)

Hmm...
Well, in 40k and similar places, how that works is that a single hand had extreme difficulty grasping a lot of stuff, especially with barbarians (demons) at the gate *see Fall of Rome*
As such, an "underground" is established that would act that way...actually, Kadia came from that.
So, in an imperium, we have
A) Imperium vs. Common folk
B) Templar vs. Demons
C) Police vs. Underground

I think if you mixed B) with C) you'd be good...
Actually, I can reference another source that is similar to this - Hex Coda. Essentially, one large Corporation owns everything, but the Hex Coders try to make freeware and the like illegally and compete with these guys.
Hex Coda

Well, it's not quite like that for a couple reasons. The main one being that "the Imperium" doesn't actually cover a whole lot of ground here, maybe 6 or 7 major cities that are part of the alliance, at most, with various smaller outposts primarily for military purposes. So their power is more concentrated, but it doesn't reach very far, and in the wastes beyond, there's no real rule of law whatsoever.

Beyond that, though, at least here it Thyati'ra (which is admittedly the most extreme and puritanical of the strongholds of humanity by far), the presence of the Iron Scepter alone makes an active resistance nearly impossible to get going, not to mention that they have absolutely no tolerance for disobedience and will readily black-bag dissenters and mind-wipe them for experimental fodder. And there's the nuke satellite, too, which may be a bit *obvious* of a policing mechanism, but certainly effective as a threat. :P

But mostly because if the government *were* overthrown, human extinction would follow in short order. There's a precarious balance of power between the Antichrist, Abaddon, the human alliance, and the fallen angels in Hell -- right now, they're all in a stalemate, if one acts against the other, the other two will pounce, but if one crumbles from within, it'd be open season and you're looking at Armageddon 2.0

So, a resistance movement would have to be centered in slightly more wild regions... but then, the Saints' stronghold in France is a lot less totalitarian and just as safe, so dissidents would really be better off just relocating there.

Hmm...I'd say eventually the wilds would become the Scattered Territories - like the Colonies to Britain...but the SatNuke... (Kadia: Shit, Shit, Shit!)
Also, really wish I had gotten into this stuff when I was younger.

Law...why does your avi seem to be glitching out on me...is that just my computer screen?

Not glitching on me...<.<

There are two white one-pixel-tall streaks.

Umm...bow and arrow?

Ohh. Okay. I couldn't tell what they were. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense.

Well, the thing with that is once those nukes get fired, they lose the leverage, so it's a tricky balancing act.

Getting a vessel (or fleet of, rather) into orbit to restock it would be almost impossible with demons and whatever else prowling the skies. Not to mention, the Antichrist would be going into full def-con alert and send everything he has at it.

Long post is long.

Meh post is meh.