Nuju Metru

Unless you want now to be a good time for me to announce your character's debilitating third-degree laser/flame/magnifying-glass-catching-sun burns that he accidentally self-inflicted every 0.1 second for a good few minutes... nah, I think you wanna hold off on that.

IC: Wiremu burst through the door of the Akiri's hut uninvited; but this didn't shock Nuparu. He'd long ago told his engineer that the formalities others owed - making an appointment, waiting for the guards to let them in, that sort of thing - didn't apply to old friends. Besides, Nuparu knew Wiremu, and knew that Wiremu had his best ideas as epiphanies; Nuparu didn't want to miss out on those, and so had encouraged his brilliant inventor to share them immediately. It had taken Wiremu a few visits to get used to the informality Nuparu had asked for, but by now, the little mechanic came in and out of Nuparu's hut with as much ease as if it'd been his own home. When Nuparu looked up, though, and saw the look on Wiremu's face, he knew at once that something was wrong. "What's happened, Wiremu?" he asked.

KoK, this is what you said in that PM thread: Notice how you used the word "small" twice in the proposal you sent... I approved a "small railgun." Maybe I'm not familiar enough with railguns (which is likely; I'm not a gun enthusiast, I don't play shooter games, I'm not familiar with Warhammer, whatever, sue me), but I imagined this "small railgun" having the strength of ma-aybe a low-powered firearm, tops. I imagined it as just a channel for Casanuva's preexisting magnetism powers, a glorified pressing together of two like magnets with enough induced opposing magnetism (and the "rails" of the sword to guide this "small bit of metal") to make the smaller magnet, the "small bit of metal," a feasible projectile. Shows how much I know about science (this is why I have Ghostie around). If I totally don't understand railguns, and the above description doesn't make sense, I'm sorry; but that was how I understood what I was approving. I'm also sorry that I didn't more clearly articulate what I was approving, KoK, because we seem to have been on different wavelengths about the weapon. But from your original description, I wouldn't have thought much - or thought much thought was needed - about this Rail Sword you asked for. You described it as "simple," as "pretty much a sword." Call me overly trusting, but I took your understatement of the Rail Sword at face value; based on your brief description of it, I assumed that this actually would be a "simple" and "pretty-much-[just]-a-sword" weapon. I guess I'll have to be less naive in future approvals. Ghostie's right in assuming that the description you sent me for approval doesn't align with the description of the weapon you've been using IC; that's what bugs me here. I feel like you've taken advantage of my original approval. It isn't in your rights as a player to exploit our/my misunderstandings of what'd been approved to your empowerment. A sonic-speed, ultra-strong railgun (that somehow also functions impeccably as a sword - I didn't even think about the physics of that part!) powered by a Toa's magnetism alone? That's a bit, er, a lot too much. I usually tell people who get custom powers or tech approved to "enjoy responsibly." You've enjoyed irresponsibly. Expect the railgun sword to be taken away soon.

Honestly, I've been bummed all day... This is, like, Grokk's biggest moment ever and his #1 fan is missing it. And I'm offended that Ty didn't send me this scandalous "last communication." Rob bb, when you see this, we need to have a talk.

Grokk is dead. He fell into a coma, resultant of the serious injuries Dorian dealt him, and died out of it shortly thereafter. The Ta-Koro Guard cremated his body. Sounds pretty dead to me.

IC: Even as others of his gang had exchanged words with various members of the arriving posse, Zaktan's focus had barely shifted from the prone Toa of Gravity who, even in spite of his grievous injury, still managed to retain consciousness and faculties of speech. Zaktan had found this incredible, and his red eyes had searched the Toa's body, eager to discover any clues to explain the Toa's phenomenal endurance. He found none; pity. The Toa, based on his queries, clearly didn't know what had happened to him when Zaktan had splashed him with Antidermis. A little enlightenment could do Zaktan no harm; besides, it would be impossible for the Toa to reverse the change regardless of whether he understood it. "I cleared your head with Antidermis," the Piraka hissed down to the Toa. "A precious, potent substance. It ate the murk that had obscured your thoughts. But it seems to have changed you in other ways, as well." "Wh...What ways?" the Toa wheezed, promptly thereafter hacking up a bit of unpleasant fluid. "I don't know," Zaktan said cooly, as much to himself as to the Toa. The Piraka's face righting itself with vigor after a particularly long melt. His simmering eyes gave the Toa another cursory once-over; Zaktan continued. "Another dose might exacerbate the changes enough that they'd become more visible. But you're so close to dying another way... why waste my time? Why waste Antidermis?" These questions had no satisfactory answers, so Zaktan turned on his heel and, flat-footed, strode back down the Abettor's tunnel to resume his brooding inside the Vault.

Uh-oh.

IC: Bummer, huh? With the finality of a popped bubble, the pully-tuggy sensation I’d become aware of moments(?) earlier yanked my free spirit up at last (and I’m gonna call it “up,” for your sake; there’s not really a word for the direction I got yanked in… insi-down? upsid-out? I felt like I was being sucked through the opening of a straw, swilled like a cup of tea, and dropped without an umbrella off a flying pig all at once; but I’m calling it “up,” ain’t I considerate). The pully-tuggy force yanked me up outa the land of fanciful wordplay, the la-la-land of letters unbounded by punctuation and syntactical logic, with inevitable authority. As I got tugged up, though, I didn’t actually feel bummed; I felt… down. There’s a difference; it took me a few to figure out what, hence my unclear narration before. Would apologize if I actually felt sorry about that. So yeah, I wasn’t depressed, see; I felt down. Hm, how can I put it? I felt something of a… return to weightiness. Weightiness, there we go. Like kicked dust settling, my airy-fairyness started to dissipate the further I got pulled insidown (I lied about the “up” thing; insidown is much more fun) into… well, wherever I am now. You don’t believe I’m really down to earth again? You’re wondering how I’m even still tellin’ a story— —To be frank (which is a rarity), I’m wondering that too. But we’ll get to that (and the hot-button question of the day: “Where in the world is Grokkie Sandiego?”) in a jiffy. See, I’ve decided to tackle the unknowns one at a time, it’s the only way I’m gonna hold on to… well, to what? As a matter of fact there’s nothing here to hold onto – again, shoot, “in a jiffy,” yeah. Look, there’s a lot to process, and it’s all hittin’ me at once; as I can’t possibly convey it to you with the same instantaneity (news flash: instantaneity is a word) I’m experiencing, take a page from not-me’s book and demonstrate some patience. Worry not, I’ll present you with: A) the characteristics of my location B) the characteristics of my state of being C) my essential play-by-play commentary on the above two in due time. Okay, that all said, I’m gonna finish the sentence I started way back up (in this case, not insidown; the directionality of text is one of my only remaining constants) there, in case you’d forgotten that it was a thing— —? Look, here’s ple-enny of proof that glorious Grokk is back in full: the colon you just passed (rather than a kidney stone, geddit… speaking of, do I still have kidneys?). Punctuation and capitalization – the normal fare – have made their triumphant comeback. Look! I’m using words again. And nah, I don’t mean w o r d s like last time. Speaking of, can we take a hot sec to acknowledge how freakin’ ridiculous that whole shebang (this time, not she-bang) was? Paragraph breaks in the middle of words! No indicative punctuation! No italics to show stressed syllables! Such a blatant disregard of my readers’ needs! Not that you’re unused to a blatant disregard of your needs (I mean, these insanely frequent parentheticals have to get aggravating as a reader, amirite?); after all, you’re still here – by the way, wow – even after something as beez-arre as my last entry. It’s funny, I know some of you appreciated that spacey thing like fine art. “Such a break from the normal form!” you slobbered, puckering your faces in a way you probably imagined was sophisticated while you sniffed each others’ butts. “So… edgy! So… postmodern!” Throw whatever words you like at it. Personally, I think y’all just go, “oh wow, so artsy” whenever you run face-first into something you don’t understand. But I won’t spoil the fun by letting you know that your interpretation of my “art” wasn’t my intention. Why yes, I really was going for something, ah, brutally postmodern, indubitably, quite, etc. (Between you n’ me, all artists are con artists; hence the term con artist.) But yeah, looking back at my last entry (my last, oh, help me out here, I dunno, entry sounds weird; my last installment? my last… chapter? My last post— OOC: hizzle to the yizzle this skakdi has just gone truly meta wait what is this space ooh i likey airy fairy again wheee— Get back where you’re supposed to be. who the hey what did i just d— Get back in there. Come on. Don’t play dumb. where You know exactly where I mean, Grokk. Stop being cheeky. do i even still have cheeks— Grokk. I’m serious. Get back to your normal place. but i thought i left my normal place— Yeah, you’re outside where you used to be, but there’s a limit to that. There are still places you’re not allowed to go. This is one of them. but its fun here i could do anything an i thing I don’t care. You’ve got to leave. Go back to where you were. why You just… can’t push this boundary. It’ll confuse people. It’s confusing me. what makes you the boss of me Don’t worry, it’s not just you... I’m sorta everyone’s boss. thats dumb youre dumb That’s how it is. Tough cookies. tough cookies bah who even are y— We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. ooh ooh hard wa— Fine, if you want to be smart. You asked for it. hey ow what the f— I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen again. IC: —?) I’m seriously like, what was I on when I wrote that thing? Death, Grokk. You were on death, silly. Yeah FYI, reader mine, spoiler alert: I’m dead. That’s something I figured out pretty immediately once I got here. By the way, maybe now’s a good time to discuss where – or what – “here” is… As promised, a jiffy after the fact. A, B, and C, coming right up. Actually, on second thought, gimme a bit more than a jiffy. I sorta have a headache all of a sudden. Ow. Weird.

ic i wake up i think but is this awake or bah hah huh where am i wherere all the capital letters and punctuation thing ies not impor tant who the is that where i huh aga in looks fami liar oh excu se me oh again strange youre still here wonder why and for that matter wonder where if youre read ing th is like a poem gotcha good did nt i im a poet dont i knoet that wasnt a word do nt care its like my fac ulties are g one and who is that looks like fami liar scarr ed bron ze nice teeth huh like a no odle red stuff in places wet noodle who he look s so huh where am i am i bah poet and i knoet im keep ing that one screw spel ling rite youre here still s t i ll really makes me quest ion this whole shebang she bang heh dor ian ri ght right some sense huh is that me down th ere but then huh aga in all the huhs what am am i and where nice tee th it s a sham e hes a no odle im no noodle but the n what hey look w o r d s dont work to say how wh o the no odle yodel they have him they toss him me am i if so how if this is part of me well nifty innit inn it in nit playing games and youre still wow such loy alty altee alt t heh i dont know what this is but its the dead noodle but if this is me who what was that they tossed noodle into a fier y fier cracka lackin huh, aga in suddenly ow not ow really uh well som ething pul ling on my wanna say neck but noodle crackle jafeel and i huh dont feel which we sho uld think about later any who pulling on me and its inex or able unable to resist in cas e ya did nt know w o r d s we never had this kind of fun befour er befive heh the pull tak es m e som ewhere away fro m the se loose w o r d s i can tell it s bringing me some where whe re the norm al wi ll b required again. Bummer, huh?

Advertisement: a character in want of a good home! -Cute, spunky Matoran with a thirst for adventure -Low preexisting mileage -Former friend of Matoran Joske (if that floats your boat) -Trusted adviser of Akiri Nuparu -Skilled Native Tech inventor on the Exo-Matoran engineering team -Destined for greatness! If interested, just shoot me a PM by Friday.

I wanna guest on this sometime.

The Gender Petition was created the way that it was for a few reasons: 1) It's important to maintain sex ratios on Kentoku from a story/realism point of view. The fact that both male and female Dasaka (Toa/Matoran of Psionics) officially exist can be taken as a staff canonization of individuals who are "off-sex" of their elements. Y'all can assume that the same concept and the same ratios, roughly, apply to other Toa/Matoran elements (i.e. there's probably a 40:1 ratio of male versus female Toa of Fire out there). However, because the culture on Mata Nui doesn't place nearly as much importance on a being's sex as the culture of Kentoku (and because I can never imagine saying "there are too many female Toa of Earth IC you guys, tone it down"), a process like the Dasaka Gender Petition for other elements is absolutely unnecessary. (In case you were wondering - because I found that I just did - why Dasakan society weighs its citizens' sexes so heavily, I think it's because unlike Mata Nui, Kentoku has basically always existed cut off from the variety and sexual balance afforded by the presence of elements with male-favoring sex ratios. The Kentoku Archipelago has, for as long as anyone can remember, been inhabited only by Psionic elementals; this incubator of isolation with their own kind has trained the Dasaka to become hyper-aware of the subtlest differences between themselves and their peers. This also explains the formation of the ancient caste system. Individuals of the subdominant sex - curiosities, rarities, and breeding necessities - are therefore understandably treated very differently than individuals of the dominant sex.) 2) I anticipated that most players would choose to play male characters if given the choice. This doesn't need a lot of explanation, because as the recent BZPRPG census of characters affirmed, that already happens. Our player base is very heavily male, so it makes sense that when creating characters, most people's unconscious default is to make a character of one's own sex, and consequently we end up with far more male characters than female characters. But is this imbalance a bad thing? I certainly think so, especially when (if we assume male characters are most of our default) players actively choose to make their characters female, and then consider that deviation from their comfort zones to be sufficient CD to differentiate that character; in other words, players consider a character's female sex to be her defining trait. Just as bad (and often concurrent to this) is when players, usually inadvertently, portray their female characters as stock types that perpetuate sexist stereotypes. These kinds of female characters, which I've seen too many of over the years, bring me to: 3) I want those of you who can only perceive yourselves playing male characters to grow a little empathy and realize that people work the same, regardless of their sex. I'm a feminist (if you couldn't tell), and so I believe that males and females act, feel, dream, hate, love the same way. The fact that such a conceit as equality between the sexes still necessitates use of an ideological tag (I mean, really, common sense) aside, the way that boils down to RPing is that that fascinating character concept you'd envisioned as male can exist just as easily as a female! Krayz pointed this out a few pages back pretty excellently by turning somebody's male character situation into a female's; I for one found the female protagonist version to be immediately more compelling, probably because I don't come across female characters like that in this game nearly often enough. If you feel like you don't understand females, and so feel like you can't or shouldn't play female Dasaka characters, I'd encourage you to try anyway. It's actually really simple: just play your female character with the same depth of desires and complexity as your male character. Proudly and powerfully inhabit the fictional female body of your character with your male human soul, and you'll actually be coming closer to understanding how the female brain works (spoiler: just like yours). As a male, I've found empathy with females - heck, just empathy with people - to be really useful in places beyond the RPG forum; it's a skill worth cultivating, and this is a fun way to do it.

In the fashion of the BftGM contest I'm submitting multiple entries: It means "BIONICLE Fan @Home"Fab Fedora FellowPhab Phedora PhellowBfa-bulousI <3 AaronI really <3 AaronPremier Slog AssistantOne of the cool kidsAlmost Bfamous

There are pieces in the foot. You can best see how I fit some dark blue cheeses into her toes in the picture where Soraya is measuring Nihi; look at the bottoms of Soraya's feet. Yeah, I tried something like that and Soraya ended up looking like an Onu-Matoran. Her neck is rather long, yeah, but I preferred this look (and found it better suited to her character) over the hunchbacked one. Glad you're happy with the adaptation, Nate! Yeah, a craftswoman's bag would've been practical, but also would've been much less visually dynamic that having Sor draped in her tools like I've done. I'm pretty sure dark blue Kakamas don't exist, and on short notice, this was the most fitting dark blue mask I had. If I go to Brickfair VA, Soraya will be coming with me! She'll be along to do something about Uhuraz's cape...it's in an awful state. I made the hands overlarge on purpose, because I like Matoran with big hands/feet, and because this size of finger opened up the thimble possibility! Thanks all for your thoughts, I appreciate the feedback.

Nobody can tell when Grokk is drunk because he never had any inhibitions to begin with.

IC: Of course... this was the Toa that Zaktan had defended himself against in Le-Wahi when he'd corrupted the first Entropy Beetles, the one who'd worn a Huna and slashed Zaktan's forehead. Any scar that might've formed on a different face had been polished away easily by the incessant deformation and reformation of the Piraka's visage, but the wound's accompanying headache had lingered much longer. As if aware of having been recalled, the ache resurfaced now as a little twinge above Zaktan's eyes. The Skakdi's brow furrowed too low, and then rose too high, as he tried in vain to wiggle the discomfort away. Makuta's ichor had changed the Toa's appearance from when last Zaktan had spared him a glance, and since a glance had been all he'd spared the first time they'd encountered one another, the Toa - altered even subtly - hadn't been immediately recognizable. Evidently, the Antidermis had found him fertile; he'd gone from trying to stop Zaktan to trying to join him, which strongly denoted a fundamental moral change. Whether the Antidermis had done more than corrupt this Toa of Gravity, Zaktan couldn't say; he left that possibility open, thinking that excessive endurance - nobody normal, after having been dealt a wound as severe as this Toa's, should've been able to speak so many words at one time, much less retain control over his elemental ability - might've be one of the transformation's side effects. "The 'Mangaia Pact,'" Zaktan sneered, as much scorning the Toa of Gravity as that presumptuous moniker that Echelon and his people had been spreading around the island, "has no use for a cripple." The Piraka started to turn away from the Toa, considering the matter settled.

<<< CLICK BZPRPG Bossman? Nah. Always just a BZPRPG fangirl.

Hey all! It's weird to post two creations so soon after one another in BBC, this coming right on the heels of my Uhuraz revamp (my BftGM contest entry). But hey, the Thanksgiving weekend - which entailed being reunited with the bulk of my MOCing pieces - turned out to be a productive one for me. This is a smaller MOC than Uhuraz, but it's a wholly new creation, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Voila Soraya. She's a BZPRPG character of GSR's, a feisty Dashi seamstress who, like her submarine bunkmate Nihi (a character who actually belongs to me), finds herself tangled up in an adventure she didn't necessarily sign up for. Soraya's known and adored by the BZPRPG player base for her proletariat charm, her unflappable honesty, and her gift for creating elaborate cocktail outfits for the nobles of her native island. In my process of making a feasible Matoran-sized MOC, I took liberties with GSR's visual description of Soraya. I actually hardly adhered to his description (sorry, Nate!), opting instead to distinguish Soraya as herself primarily with the tools of her distinctive trade. How many BIONICLE seamstresses do you know? Exactly! Building a BIONICLE seamstress was a unique sort of challenge that I eagerly tackled. Creating sewing tools sized right for a Matoran - Soraya carries scissors, a set of needles, a smock, a magnifying glass for small stitches, a tape measure, several spools of thread, and a thimble (I couldn't find anywhere to put a pincushion...) - was the icing on the cake of this challenge; harder and more substantial a test for me was conceiving a stable, flexible, and aesthetically decent Matoran design that could support Soraya's psionic elemental color scheme. As usual, the pictures here link to their larger versions on Flickr. If you'd like to look at the complete gallery, it can be found here. Smile for the people now! Thanks for looking! All comments and critiques are welcomed.

Not magic! Science! They actually aren't. I double-checked before I made the MOC... from this site's BftGM FAQ: While I didn't get my 2015 parts from NYCC, they're the same pieces that are specifically stated above to be allowed in this contest. I also think that "erasing" a trans-clear element for the sake of completing its intended effect is a fair (and fairly minimal) use of editing software.

Now, now, I consider it understandably exploiting an advantage... there's a gold mask at stake! Thanks Jason, glad you like it.

IC: "I don't remember you," Zaktan replied coolly in his million-voice. The Piraka examined the crushed Toa of Gravity lying before him. The angles of agony that twisted the Toa's prone body, stemming from the his shattered pelvic region, led Zaktan to assume that the echoing cries that'd drawn him up from the Vault proper had come from this cripple's mouth. The Toa (vaguely recognizable, maybe, but Zaktan couldn't place where he would've encountered this Toa before) struggled visibly and audibly - his breaths were haggard, punctuated by sharp gasps and poorly stifled yelps - to maintain consciousness and his faculties of speech in spite of his grievous wound. Zaktan learned the story of the wound by glancing at the Abettor; the Skakdi's gaze was drawn at once to the behemoth's fingered hand, which bore fresh smears that glistened darkly in its green luminance. A few other beings stood around and behind the Toa, but none of them registered as familiar to Zaktan like the Toa had. This company - or, at least, this Toa - had somehow incited the Abettor to attacking, and Zaktan wondered where he knew the Toa from. The Piraka was interested enough to proceed, for now, by asking questions rather than by helping the Abettor to finish what it'd started. "Who are you," Zaktan buzzed down at the Toa of Gravity. "And why are you here?"

IC: Luckily for Skorm and his companions, the Abettor seemed to have expended - or defaulted away from - whatever aggressive urges it'd had moments ago. The behemoth resumed its former position: a stance of readiness that wasn't overtly threatening. Not that this gave the Vault visitors much comfort; they'd seen how quickly and unexpectedly the Abettor had mobilized into violence, and were quite wary of such an attack coming again. Skorm's shrill, agonized cries rebounded up and down the round passage, hanging in the stale subterranean air with undesirable tenacity. The sound of these cries were joined in short time by soft slapping sounds: flat feet treading duck-like steps down the passage. From the murky darkness behind the Abettor's wall of glowing green letters, the Vault visitors watched a Skakdi of no impressive stature emerge. His shoulders were slightly stooped, and he was unarmed, but his suspiciously squinting red eyes, aglow with intelligence, hinted to Skorm and company that they'd summoned one more dangerous creature than they had asked for. Zaktan dared the intruders to speak first.

Entry #2: UHURAZ ~ Topic ~ Gallery ~ Uhuraz - armed with brute strength, Shadow elemental abilities, and wicked mind powers - is a dangerous villain indeed! He seeks relentlessly to become the strongest being on Okoto; he's on the hunt for the Mask of Ultimate Power, and won't let anything, or anyone, get in his way. But Uhuraz is also extremely vain... so if you can get him talking about himself, he might become distracted long enough for you to have a chance of escape! Primary Color: Dark Blue Element: Shadow Favorite environment: Dark places, and being on the hunt Masks: Mask of Shadow, and any he can get his hands on! Powers: Shadow Control, Mind Assault Primary weapon: Flail of Darkness Secondary weapon: Shade Blade Signature moves: The ol' Smash-n-Grab, Mental "Fire Daggers" Key traits: Arrogant, ruthless, and greedy

Hey, everyone! Yeah, you saw it coming: another bad guy, another entrant into the "Battle for the Golden Mask." Seeing these has to be getting old, by now. I'm hoping my cheeky title has separated this entry from the noise, and so drawn your attention (but I mean, you're reading this now so I guess it worked on somebody). I've already entered one old MOC into the contest, but that was just in case I didn't get around to fixin' up the MOC you're about to see. This "BftGM" contest entry version is the latest model of Uhuraz, a highly villainous character of mine that I've had around in MOC form (in various iterations) for a few years. I wanted to make a version of the character that I could legally enter into the contest (Uhuraz's "normal" cape isn't a LEGO element), one also that used some of my (still fairly rare) BIONICLE 2015/prototype elements. Changes from last time include an updated flail, more spikiness(!), the integration of a few CCBS shells, a new cape, and two new accessories (a floating nebulous of energy around a mask, in the 2015 vogue, rather than the bleeding head Uhuraz used to hold in his free hand; and a jagged blade at his hip). Uhuraz's old backstory fits him into not just the old BIONICLE universe, but the old BZPRPG; I figured the character needed a little bit of a backstory overhaul/simplification, at least for the purposes of the contest. So I wrote a little something in the pattern of the new BIONICLE bios: Images all link to the bigger versions on Flickr. You can find the gallery here. Thanks for viewing! Any comments/critiques you have are welcomed.