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RPG: The Anomaly


Alex Humva

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Scientists are still unsure about how the Anomaly happened. Those among us, gifted with powers far greater than any normal human, who initially posed a threat to society at large. Some said the abilities came from the genetic code; in truth it was far more than that. Regardless of how these abilities arose, however, it was clear that the world was not ready for such powerful individuals. It was in the year of 1986 that the first of these people, dubbed “mancers” on the streets, started to appear. Select children, upon reaching physical maturity around the ages of fourteen and sixteen, would tap into their unique powers. The first few victims of the Anomaly were passed off as extreme circumstances. When they continued, people began to catch on to what was happening.

The new millennium dawned with the world slowly coming to realize that the Anomaly was truly happening. Some governments attempted to cover up the fact, but it happened far too quickly and was far too widespread for that tactic to work. Soon the world was fully aware of what was going on, and no one reacted particularly well to it at first. The European Union was the first to properly react to the situation, forming the Institute for Scientific Research of EDNAs, or Earthly Domain Non-Newtonian Anomalies. It’s goal was to study the source of the Anomaly, to find out what caused it, what fueled it, and, potentially, how to take or add it from a person.

Yet the ISRE’s purely scientific goals were not appreciated by all. Across the world governments formed new ways of dealing with the threat these mancers presented; in America, mancers were faced with the threat of a newly formed organization, the Department of Special Anomalies. The organization was built with one specific goal in mind; to handle the policing and management of mancers. A Congressional hearing granted them authority over a vast number of state matters, and with it, began policing mancers across the nation in force.

The year is now 2017. The world has become a different place, and yet has changed so little. Mancers now live amongst the general population, with no easy way of detecting who is and who isn’t a mancer. Fear runs amongst the populace even in the modern day, while the DSA struggles to deal with a rise in mancer-related crime. The American government has entered a new election cycle, and the thirtieth anniversary of the start of the Anomaly has passed. The future is not bleak, but all the same, the country fears for it.

The Anomaly

Hosted by Alex Humva, co-hosted by Basilisk and Ymper Trymon

Rules and Punishments

1. Normo numero uno: follow the BZP rules.

2. Don’t be a terrible person out of character. It’s just depressing for everyone involved.

3. Godmodding is disapproved of. This refers to having excessive powers without earning them first. Earn your godhood.

4. Avoid autohitting unless it makes sense.

5. It's preferred for you to use IC (in character) and OOC (out of character) in labeling your posts.

6. Common sense above all else. Common sense.

Punishments are simplistic:

1. Something bad happens to your character.

2. Something really bad happens to your character.

3. You get a temporary ban from the game.

4. You get a permaban from the game.

The World After The Anomaly

The world of 2017 is a lot like our world today, even after thirty years of ‘mancers roaming around. One would imagine somewhat magical superpowers would of changed things a lot, but the standard day-to-day humdrum is still exactly the same. People still work in offices, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are still competing over the mobile market, and we still don’t have marketable jetpacks. The world’s economic recession has lightened up and the major superpowers are still in position, though the involvement of mancers has given some historical oddities. Ultimately, the world hasn’t changed enough in terms of history or technology to be alien to the viewer of 2013 (and maybe 2014, if we’re lucky!). Five years into the future and the only thing to note with technology is that the iPhone isn’t selling as well as it use to. Oh, and Star Wars came out. It was ok.

It should be mentioned that this isn’t exactly the standard superhero world. That being, there are little to no superheroes. Superheroing is a tough business, and the world doesn’t appreciate it. Common vigilantes are heavily frowned upon by society, and superpowered ones are no different. Being a superhero means you have the DSA on your *** and not being particularly well received by the general public. You tend to get pretty bad PR when stuff gets smashed during a fight with a mancer criminal, and bad PR is never good, especially when people don’t like you to begin with. Most mancers find that they have a better chance out in the world as an improved cog in the industrial machine. That isn’t to say, of course, that being a mancer is a dull life. Some people don’t care about the DSA, and, well, if you see a crook on the streets... a good deed, with minimal collateral damage, is never a bad thing.

Some things throughout the world have changed because of mancers, however. Because of their abilities, many things once impossible are now quite in the realm of belief. Void walkers, for instance, are often capable of travelling vast distances quickly. Because of this, getting around is as simple as finding one who’s up for hire. Corporations employ all number of mancers, from simple metal manipulators to empaths capable of telling when an employee is telling the truth or not. Of course, government regulation rests on many mancer jobs, but it has been scarce enough that it hasn’t made a dent in the mancer economy.

The Mancers

Byproducts of the Anomaly, the mancers are people born with innate powers. The precise nature of how these powers are fueled is still a matter for much scientific debate; it is known, however, that the energy being tapped into does strain the mancer channeling it. This strain causes both mental and physical exhaustion, and overuse can very well kill a mancer. It is important then for mancers to be wise when using their powers, as it is not simply something that can be ignored. Legislation has been passed through most of the western world regarding mancer worker rights for this reason, primarily due to mancers being overworked and having extremely negative health side-effects.

Thanks to the efforts of the ISRE, however, categories of powers that these mancers use have been formed. Outside of special cases (metaread: special GM permission), all mancers appear to fall under the following categories. Note that throughout all of these, specializations can appear and with specialization comes greater power. You could, for instance, have a hyperkinetic, but he could never compete against a speedster, who’s entire abilities are focused around boosting his own kinetic energy. Note, however, that the law of Required Secondary Powers often does not apply. A speedster, for instance, will not have enhanced reflexes or durability.

  • Energy: Capable of manipulating different forms of energy, these range from pyros to kinetics to magnetics and everything in-between.
  • Void: Appearing to manipulate non-existence itself, these mancers have a variety of powers to do with reality and/or space-time manipulation, ranging from teleportation to limited forms of reality-tearing, a process that is painful for all involved.
  • Mental/Mind: A varied category pertaining to the human mind; these include such things as telepaths, telekinetics, and empaths. Important to note is the fact that mentalists follow the inverse square law of mental powers; that being, about every two meters their effective range/energy output is cut by one fourth.
  • Elemental/Molecular: Mancers that control the elements themselves or the molecules that base elements form. These can range from extremely specialized mancers, who control individual elements, or extremely generalized mancers, who can control things such as all kinds of earth.
  • Biological: Capable of manipulating biological processes, these mancers often manifest themselves as healers, though more unique and specialized abilities are quite common.

Outside of these categories, mancers are seem to follow a set system of capability, rated between 1 and 7. While variations within each rating do exist, it is difficult to fully define them, and as such there is no decimal system in place. Mancers vary in skill and ability, though it seems entirely possible for them to advance through the ranks of capability.

1: The most common form of mancer, this ranking represents your run of the mill mancer. Capable of some basic but still impressive feats with their power, they start off with an average amount of prowess for their particular ability, usually given in some numerical value, but open to common sense as well.

2: Rank two mancers seem to exhibit nothing else but a logarithmic power increase of varying proportions.

3: Rank three mancers gain a logarithmic power increase, and exhibit the ability to shield themselves from their own ability. A fire manipulator, for instance, would gain the ability to protect him or herself from fire.

4: Rank four mancers exhibit a logarithmic power increase.

5: Rank five mancer exhibit a logarithmic power increase, as well as the newfound ability to be able to extend their powers past their visual range, presuming they know the location beforehand. This extends to approximately five kilometers, and increases in future rank ups. This does not apply to void walkers, who instead gain a far greater range to their teleportation range.

6: Rank six mancer exhibit a logarithmic power increase.

7: Rank seven mancer are perhaps the most rare of mancers, gaining a logarithmic power increase as well as the ability to sense to great precision when another mancer of their category comes within visual range. They are known to be extremely powerful and extremely rare, and are capable of great feats, depending of course on their specific ability. Such feats that have been witnessed include tidal shifting, containing volcanoes, or even redirecting a fraction of the Earth's kinetic energy while in combat.

Going meta for a moment here, the ranking system is effectively a rewards system. Be a cool person, do cool stuff in the RPG, and I hand your guy a rank up. Everyone starts at rank 1. Just generally be a good player and good things will happen.

Another noteworthy aspect of the mancers is their weakness to alpha and beta particle radiation. For unknown reasons, their powers interact poorly with such forms of radiation, resulting in a nullification effect and possibly cancer in twenty years. Because of this, when dealing with a particularly potent mancer, the DSA will pull out depleted uranium bullets. Nasty cleanup, but tough times call for tough decisions.

Factions

While not a comprehensive list of all world factions, these are the major and relevant factions pertaining to mancers in America, due to it being the primary setting of this RPG.

National Mancer Rights Organization: An organization dedicated to protecting the rights of mancers, they are a powerful political lobby group and have been successful thus far in keeping regulation on mancers lighter than some might expect.

Institute for Scientific Research of EDNA: A European scientific study group, they are devoted to further studying the Anomaly and the specifics of mancer powers. A valuable resource to anyone needing knowledge on mancers, their headquarters is easily reached by many void walkers.

Department of Special Anomalies: A federal police and investigation force, this American agency has the task of dealing with mancers on a national level. While in recent years individual states have formed their own versions of the DSI, due to Congressionally given power, they still are allowed to deal with state-side mancer troubles, and indeed, many welcome their presence, having the most experience with managing the mancers.

Citizens Against Dangerous Peoples: The largest anti-mancer lobbyist group, these are the guys you see on the side of the street protesting at a government building. Believing mancers to be a threat to society and the world, their views vary from simply more regulation to full on incarceration of all mancer, or even death.

National EDNA Research and Betterment Agency: The American equivalent of the ISRE, the NERBA hasn’t done too much in the field, due to only being founded fifteen years ago, but has the bonus of being helmed by the famous Dr. Wilson Gray, the man responsible for many of the early mancer experiments in the ISRE’s founding days.

Profile

This here is where you fill out your profile. Note, I will give you your specific power abilities per level after you send me your profile, so you know what sort of power you’re dealing with. All mancers start at level one; for older characters, this is explained by the sporadic nature of ascending power ranks. Please note, I will send you a ranking sheet for your powers. You are not guessing the power of your rank ups, I will tell you exactly how powerful your guy is at every rank. Profiles will require two approvals to be fully approved, meaning you must have two GMs approve of it. Please post them in the accompanying discussion topic for approval.

Name:

Appearance: (What does this charie look like?)

Age: (Do note that due to time syncing, the oldest a mancer can be is 47. Sorry.)

Power: (Omit if normal. Please, for the love if all good in the world, be specific. I can’t really give you hard data if you don’t give me a good idea of what your dude can do.)

Skills: (What sort of skills does this fellow have?)

Weaponry/Equipment: (Most people are packing something; for normals, this is nigh-required.)

Faction/Sympathies: (Not at all required, but you can be part of a particular faction if you wish.)

Personality: (A sentence or two on what your character is like, in general.)

Bio: (What’s your character’s history?)

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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IC:

 

San Francisco was a wonderful place.

 

Sure, it was probably the coldest city in the state, and a good chunk of the city was given over to the “tenderloin” district, which visitors and tourists were advised to avoid. And sure, tourism had gotten to the point where everything in the city had to attract the tourists.

 

But it was the City of the Weird, and Erik wouldn’t live anywhere else.

 

San Francisco’s legacy of the strange had probably begun with His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, who had declared himself emperor of the United States and ordered the dissolution of Congress. He’d been humored, to an extent, and the currency he issued was valued at many establishments across the bay.

 

Erik had one of his one-dollar notes, framed on a wall.

 

But the story of Emperor Norton, Erik thought, really gave you a feeling for San Francisco. A man can proclaim himself Emperor, and have his currency accepted at shops across the city. Actors from Star Trek can walk around in full costume and not even get a glance.

 

And a young scientist who might just be a little mad can find his spiritual home.

 

Of course Erik lived across the Bay Bridge in Berkeley, but to say Berkeley is separate from San-Francisco is a technicality.

 

Erik was, when our interest in his life begins, heading down Haight Street on the sidewalk, heading for an ice cream parlor he’d frequented in his teenage years. He still dropped in occasionally, though these days it was more rarely bringing in a girl and more often on his own. Today, though, he was meeting a girl.

 

And there she was, sitting on the outside parlor, a thin steel rod clutched in the fingers of her right hand, bending it in two for the amusement of the people there. For her right arm wasn’t there; instead, a skeletal, mechanical arm had replaced it. Mari was always a show off, after all.

 

The moment she saw Erik, though, she grinned, dropped the rod, and took a running jump over the wrought-iron fence around the parlor, grabbing Erik in a hug.

 

“Hey Mari.” Erik said, hugging her back.

 

“Great to see you again!” She replied. Erik smiled at his sister, gesturing into the ice cream shop.

 

“Let’s go in and catch up...what’s it been, four months?”

“Something like.” And in they went.

Edited by Xomeron
That being said, thag thag thaggity thag thagness.

-Rover

 

"A memo was sent to Astaria asking if it would at all be possible to make a flying goat."

"The Astarians responded that making a goat fly would be trivial; making it land safely would be another matter entirely."

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IC [President Portales, Washington DC]

 

Fundraisers were interesting, Portales decided. Oh, he had years upon years of experience with them as it was, attended hundreds in his time. Seemed like that was all he did, nowadays, come to think of it. The President had to put up a show, visit parties of all sorts, smile and drink wine with the rest of the socialites. It wasn't his life and yet here he was. Hard to think that who he use to be, some little half-Cuban boy on the Floridan coast running around with all the wrong people, ever became someone like this. He was the leader of the Western world now, respected by many and feared by the rest. In the first six months of his term the economy had made drastic improvements, though many argued that had been done by his predecessor, and now? Now he was here, celebrating his signature of the first major bill regarding the rights of mancers in twelve years.

 

He walked outside of the break tent, reemerging into the crisp dusk air. August would soon be upon them and nature conveyed that fact well, hot humid air practically sticking to him as he began walking around the growing party. Politicians, the rich, and the famous all mingled, small clusters desperately trying to find positions around the huge fans that had been set up. According to a text his aide sent, a few mancers were being delivered to provide a chill to the air, but until then the fans would have to do.

 

He passed the transportation field, watching as people continued to pop in from nowhere. Official Presidential void walkers were being employed for the more important of the lot, but other general taxi-services were being brought in as well. It amazed him how much the honor system was being used, but, then again, no void walker would be caught trying to sneak someone less honorable in. Above his head flew dozens of small quadcopter drones, all with cameras attached to them and capable of homing in on the unique radiation put off by void mancers. Besides serving as general purpose security bots they also would be able to instantly tag any suspicious individual.

 

It was a move that his administration was uncertain how to feel about, though Portales himself made it clear that while he respected the privacy of the people, this was a privately hosted event by himself. The police would never make use of these drones without warrants; for personal security however, he wasn't there to infringe upon anyone's rights. It was an interesting case, but no one seemed too bothered about it here. They were too busy being bothered by the weather for that, after all.

 

As he flowed from table to table, eventually amassing a small mountain of bite-sized cupcakes and deviled eggs on his plate, he found himself confronted by Senate Majority Leader Fredrick Stueck. The man was tall, imposing, and not at all the most pleasant of men, but then again, Portales didn't expect him to be. Portales and him were on opposite parties after all, and after the party reconstruction period there was plenty of hard feelings to go around.

 

"Mr. President," Stueck began with a smile. "Congratulations on successful passing of the bill. It would seem your sponsorship of it did not go without notice."

 

"It was fairly close there for a while. 62-40 is closer than I would of liked to of seen from the Senate but, well, we can't have everything in this world."

 

The Senator started to speak again, and Portales decided on something again; it was going be a long party.

 

OOCSo there's a Presidential party going on, and because Portales is a cool guy just about anyone can pop into it. Feel free to find interaction there and I'll see about getting something else happening as well as an alternative.

Edited by Darth Alex Humva

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"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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John Harken- Portales' party

 

IC: A Secret Service agent in the same area as the President of the United States. Normally that would mean that the agent was a part of his security detail. Not so in this case.

John Harken was currently of duty and was simply there to enjoy the the party that Portales was throwing. The man was one of his favorite office holders, if nothing else the man had proven to be honest, a rare enough thing among politicians that any who were deserved at least some respect.

 

John moved among the tables, picking up a bite to eat here or there, and chatting with some of the other guests. There wasn't much chance of the sun shining in his eyes and he saw no reason to cause the agents currently on duty any more headaches by being that shifty guy who walked around in shades, so his were in the pocket of his dress pants. Raising his glass of water to his lips he craned his neck and looked out over the crowd, wondering if there were any other mancers at the party besides him.

 

OOC: John open for interaction.

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

zsUPm2E.jpg?1

 

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IC: Erik and Mari

 

After spending a short hour catching up, Erik and Mari returned to Erik's apartment, where they changed. Erik swapped into a finely tailored suit, accented with a tie patterned with an image of a galaxy. Mari, meanwhile, put on a long, black, nearly floor length dress that left her arms bare, which, of course, showed off her cybernetic arm. Someone who hadn't known Mari her whole life might have rolled their eyes at the blatant attention seeking, but Erik had expected it.

 

A short ride in a taxi got the duo to the airport, where they headed to the Mancer's office. A short wait and paying the(extortionate in Erik's opinion) fee, and the duo took the gut-wrenching teleport, three thousand miles to the east and three hours back along the clock.

 

Erik, who preferred to watch this sort of party over participating, headed to grab himself a drink, for he'd long found that having a drink could help dissuade conversation if needed.

 

Mari, meanwhile, grabbed a drink to give herself something to do with her hands, then headed into a nearby throng of guests, most of whom were at least twice her age, to see what was being talked about.

That being said, thag thag thaggity thag thagness.

-Rover

 

"A memo was sent to Astaria asking if it would at all be possible to make a flying goat."

"The Astarians responded that making a goat fly would be trivial; making it land safely would be another matter entirely."

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IC: Jenny had been a little surprised to receive an information to the party. She knew the president worked closely with the ISRE, but she was just an archivist. It hadn't occurred to her that she might be important enough (or indeed rich enough, this was a fundraiser after all) to warrant tagging along. But invited she had been and it seemed...rude not to go. Even if she was spending most of her time standing in the corner with her eyes turned the the floor, hoping that all the wine she was drinking would eventually render her numb to the blinding effects of her own power

7AOYGDJ.jpg

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IC [President Portales, Washington DC]

 

Eventually the time had come for Portales to make his bigger appearance. As the party goers merged into the main area of the lawn, Portales took the stage, wiping a bit of sweat from his face. The cold mancers had arrived but they worked slowly; sometimes he wondered how people could consider them threats to all of society when they could barely even be portable air conditioners. Regardless, he had a speech to give, and this was not a time to start debating within his own mind. He gave a smile, and opened with the speech.

 

"I'd like to thank you all for arriving to this event. I know that many of you have taken times out of your very busy lives for this and that is something we can all value. I know many were skeptical of my idea that this would be an event open to the public but I think that the transparency between those in the government and the people is more vital than even my own personal safety. It is my honor to say that the Mancer Regulatory and Commissions Act has passed both houses of the Congress and that it has been signed into law this morning. For far too long there has been no unified code on what mancers can and can't do in society and in business; now, we possess a simple, streamlined, and unified law on the matter. This is a day for civil rights and for business owners alike, and I hope that many small businesses will find this unified code far easier to use and thus be able to improve with their mancer employees.

 

"I know the bill faced opposition, and I know many do not agree with everything within it. However, I feel that, having passed both houses of the Congress, it has had its suitable share of time with the representatives of the people. I do know that this was supported by the majority of the American people and I do know that this will help business owners, small and large, to continue contributing to society and increasing the ever growing American economy. Mancers are the way of the future, and being able to use them will allow us to remain competitive on the international scale.

 

"I know many in the crowd today are mancers themselves; I feel proud that since my time as a Congressman, starting in 1990, I have been able to see society's views on mancers change from fear to acceptance. Now that I am President I will strive to continue to improve the rights of mancers, that were so unfairly infringed upon in those early years by those who could not accept their very children for who they were.

 

"But now the year is 2017, and we have improved. This fundraiser is proof of that, so many coming together without fear of each other. Even now we have millions that will be distributed to NERBA, in their continued quest for understanding of the mancer phenomena. Our partners in Europe have been exceptionally useful in this regard..."

 

[Director Sharon Feyn, Arlington County]

 

The DSA Director sat, her eyes shifting back and forth from a number of television screens. The President was giving another one of his speeches, while she, as usual, was micromanaging the efforts for him not to get killed right then and there. It wouldn't be difficult, the right telekinetic in the right place could bring his time to a very quick end. Yet somehow he was still alive, and she was going to do her best to keep him that way. It didn't help that there were five competing security forces on the stage that all wanted control over the resources available. The DSA's specially calibrating drones were almost seized, but she managed to work something out with the Secret Service agents on the ground. It was all a terrible situation quite frankly, large open area, the masses were present and the President was standing completely exposed from all sides. This sort of carelessness was almost maddening.

 

She sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. The man was going to be the end of her.

voidstars.png


1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89


"In short, my English Lit friend, living in a mental world of absolute rights and wrongs, may be imagining that because all theories are wrong, the earth may be thought spherical now, but cubical next century, and a hollow icosahedron the next, and a doughnut shape the one after." -Isaac Asimov, responding to a letter he had received saying that scientific certainty was false, The Relativity of Wrong

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