Humanity stands on the brink, one false step from ruin. Looking on with idle interest, forces...
The Great Upheaval: A Realistic Superhero Quest
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- Ongoing
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Opening Post and Introductions
- Location
- Canada
Humanity stands on the brink, one false step from ruin. Looking on with idle interest, forces beyond our comprehension watch our every move.
You reach out and grasp a power you have never known. A power you have only dreamed of. You take what is given, but at what cost? To what end?
The pieces have been chosen. The board is set. Heedless of your doubts, the game begins in earnest.
The great upheaval approaches.
What to Expect
Hello, and welcome to my first game on this forum. The Great Upheaval is a standard quest, meaning that players will take control of a singular character whose decisions they can effect as a collective. The quest will be almost entirely narrative-based, written and run by QM fiat - rolling will occur only for special circumstances. I intend for this quest to function mainly as a personal writing exercise, so I am placing an emphasis on storytelling, character development, and incorporating the decisions of players in ways which fit the characters and established world. The overall tone I am going for is one of grounded realism - not grim-dark, but not overly lighthearted either. My target audience is people who enjoy rational fiction and, like me, spend far too much time thinking about the effects superpowers could have on modern society, institutions of authority, and notions of morality.
On the Setting
Beginning in the present day, The Great Upheaval is set in a world which closely resembles our own - one where superpowers are firmly the stuff of fiction. As the story progresses, this "ordinary" world will undergo drastic change, eventually becoming a different beast entirely. Players should be prepared for some relative normalcy in the quest's early stages, to be followed by craziness later on.
On Voting
The voting system is majority wins, meaning that the final decision is the one which receives the most votes. Players will vote on a set list of options when prompted, often with a write-in option available. Discussion and justification of votes is always encouraged. Outstanding write-in votes which receive the most support are more likely to be successful, so rest assured: rational and clever thinking is rewarded.
Stay tuned for character creation!
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Character Sheet & Relevant Information
- Location
- Canada
Character Sheet
Alexander "Alex" Bravilic
Dramatis Personae
Miscellaneous
Alexander "Alex" Bravilic
The Sage. You desire to accumulate and absorb vast quantities of information and knowledge in order to better understand your surroundings. You are intelligent, strategic, meticulous, and a fast learner. Your greatest fear is ignorance. Your greatest weakness is a tendency to think too much and never act.
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Polish-American
Height: 5'10
Family: Extended family only (aunt and uncle)
Background: Middle class
Date of Birth: July 11, 2001 (17 years old)
Place of Birth: Chicago, USA
Current Location: Chicago -- Southwest Side
Ethnicity: Polish-American
Height: 5'10
Family: Extended family only (aunt and uncle)
Background: Middle class
Date of Birth: July 11, 2001 (17 years old)
Place of Birth: Chicago, USA
Current Location: Chicago -- Southwest Side
Under construction
Stay tuned
Dramatis Personae
Under construction
Under construction
Under construction
Miscellaneous
Under construction
Under construction
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Character Creation I
- Location
- Canada
It's time for the first round of character creation! Keep in mind that this round covers only mundane aspects of the protagonist, such as their identity, appearance, personality and background - in other words, choosing specific powers will come at a later date. If you design a character with a particular power in mind, you'd better prepare for disappointment.
Name:
[] Write-in (first and last name)
Gender:
[] Male
[] Female
Age:
[] 16
[] 17
[] 18
[] 19
[] 20
[] 21
Appearance:
[] Write-in (short description of their build, ethnicity, hair color/length, eye color, general facial structure, distinguishing features, etc.)
Background:
[] Wealthy
[] Upper middle class
[] Middle class
[] Lower middle class
[] Working class
[] Poor
Family:
[] Large family, many siblings
[] Average-size family, few siblings
[] Small family, only child
[] Only extended family
[] No family (foster care)
Location:
[] New York City
[] Los Angeles
[] Chicago
[] Write-in (American city with a population exceeding one million)
Archetype:
[] The Innocent. You desire happiness and prosperity for yourself and others, but never at the expense of your own moral code. You are kind, romantic, optimistic, and uncompromising. Your greatest fear is having to betray your values. Your greatest weakness is your overly trusting nature.
[] The Everyman. You wish to connect with others, to belong. You are realistic, empathetic, virtuous, and honest. Your greatest fear is being left out or left behind by those around you. Your greatest weakness is your tendency to lose yourself in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships.
[] The Warrior. You seek to prove your worth through courageous acts and believe that anything can be accomplished with enough strength and willpower. You are charismatic, competent, and courageous. Your greatest fear is personal weakness and vulnerability. Your greatest weakness is your arrogance.
[] The Saint. You wish to protect and care for others, to help them in any way you can. You are compassionate, generous, gentle, and nurturing. Your greatest fear is succumbing to your own selfish desires. Your greatest weakness is neglecting your own needs.
[] The Explorer. You seek freedom and self-sufficiency in order to discover yourself and live a more fulfilling life. You are independent, ambitious, resourceful, and unconventional. Your greatest fear is being trapped in a gray and empty existence just like everyone else. Your greatest weakness is your inability to fully trust or depend on others.
[] The Rebel. You desire liberation from a broken system, a goal which you pursue with reckless abandon. You are an abrasive, spirited, and free-thinking delinquent with authority issues. Your greatest fear is being powerless or helpless. Your greatest weakness is either your impulsiveness or susceptibility to criminal influence.
[] The Trickster. You wish to live in the moment, enjoy life to the fullest, and lighten up the dreary world around you. You are clever, mischievous, sociable, and sarcastic. Your greatest fear is boredom, a feeling you attempt to stave off with jokes and humor. Your greatest weakness is your need for attention.
[] The Sage. You desire to accumulate and absorb vast quantities of information and knowledge in order to better understand your surroundings. You are intelligent, strategic, meticulous, and a fast learner. Your greatest fear is ignorance. Your greatest weakness is a tendency to think too much and never act.
[] The Ruler. You seek control as a means to better create a prosperous and successful family, community, or private enterprise. You are decisive, authoritative, disciplined, and gifted at attracting followers. Your greatest fear is chaos and disorder. Your greatest weakness is a tendency to become authoritarian in the face of dissent.
Voting closes tomorrow evening. Please vote in plan format.
Name:
[] Write-in (first and last name)
Gender:
[] Male
[] Female
Age:
[] 16
[] 17
[] 18
[] 19
[] 20
[] 21
Appearance:
[] Write-in (short description of their build, ethnicity, hair color/length, eye color, general facial structure, distinguishing features, etc.)
Background:
[] Wealthy
[] Upper middle class
[] Middle class
[] Lower middle class
[] Working class
[] Poor
Family:
[] Large family, many siblings
[] Average-size family, few siblings
[] Small family, only child
[] Only extended family
[] No family (foster care)
Location:
[] New York City
[] Los Angeles
[] Chicago
[] Write-in (American city with a population exceeding one million)
Archetype:
[] The Innocent. You desire happiness and prosperity for yourself and others, but never at the expense of your own moral code. You are kind, romantic, optimistic, and uncompromising. Your greatest fear is having to betray your values. Your greatest weakness is your overly trusting nature.
[] The Everyman. You wish to connect with others, to belong. You are realistic, empathetic, virtuous, and honest. Your greatest fear is being left out or left behind by those around you. Your greatest weakness is your tendency to lose yourself in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships.
[] The Warrior. You seek to prove your worth through courageous acts and believe that anything can be accomplished with enough strength and willpower. You are charismatic, competent, and courageous. Your greatest fear is personal weakness and vulnerability. Your greatest weakness is your arrogance.
[] The Saint. You wish to protect and care for others, to help them in any way you can. You are compassionate, generous, gentle, and nurturing. Your greatest fear is succumbing to your own selfish desires. Your greatest weakness is neglecting your own needs.
[] The Explorer. You seek freedom and self-sufficiency in order to discover yourself and live a more fulfilling life. You are independent, ambitious, resourceful, and unconventional. Your greatest fear is being trapped in a gray and empty existence just like everyone else. Your greatest weakness is your inability to fully trust or depend on others.
[] The Rebel. You desire liberation from a broken system, a goal which you pursue with reckless abandon. You are an abrasive, spirited, and free-thinking delinquent with authority issues. Your greatest fear is being powerless or helpless. Your greatest weakness is either your impulsiveness or susceptibility to criminal influence.
[] The Trickster. You wish to live in the moment, enjoy life to the fullest, and lighten up the dreary world around you. You are clever, mischievous, sociable, and sarcastic. Your greatest fear is boredom, a feeling you attempt to stave off with jokes and humor. Your greatest weakness is your need for attention.
[] The Sage. You desire to accumulate and absorb vast quantities of information and knowledge in order to better understand your surroundings. You are intelligent, strategic, meticulous, and a fast learner. Your greatest fear is ignorance. Your greatest weakness is a tendency to think too much and never act.
[] The Ruler. You seek control as a means to better create a prosperous and successful family, community, or private enterprise. You are decisive, authoritative, disciplined, and gifted at attracting followers. Your greatest fear is chaos and disorder. Your greatest weakness is a tendency to become authoritarian in the face of dissent.
Voting closes tomorrow evening. Please vote in plan format.
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Character Creation II
- Location
- Canada
0.
You open your eyes to a harsh, unpleasant light. After a moment of adjustment, you look around to find yourself in a vast and empty void - a white plane of nonexistence stretching infinitely in every direction.
What is this? Where am I? I was ...
Impossibly, you can't recall what you'd just been doing. It's all … hazy. Your entire life feels like a half-remembered dream.
Greetings, little one.
A dark and featureless humanoid shape appears before you. Standing at nearly twice your height, its shadowy form flickers like a guttering flame.
W-Who's there?
I am known by many names, most of which would mean nothing to you. I suppose you could consider me … a kind of god. Or perhaps a demon.
The shadow's voice is not one you hear - its words seem to bypass your senses entirely by carving themselves directly into your brain. Every instinct in your body screams at you to run, to flee from this place and this presence ... but there is nowhere to go.
Am I dead? Is this … is this the afterlife?
All of you ask that. A pity. I had expected more from someone like you.
Like me?
You are interesting. To be frank, individual humans don't tend to stand out, and most of those who do have already been chosen. There is something about you, though. I cannot place it.
The shadow circles you, slowly. Malevolently.
There are eyes on you, little one. And not just my own. Destiny watches you closely.
None of this makes any sense. You get the distinct impression that you're being toyed with.
What do you want from me?
An inhuman smile splits the shadow's featureless face.
I thought you would never ask.
The void is plunged into total darkness, as if someone, somewhere had flipped a light-switch. You raise a hand to your face but cannot see it.
We are in the great game now, little one. You are one of my pieces. Perhaps you will even be the Decider.
Game? Pieces? The Decider? You hate to admit it, but ...
… I don't understand.
Your understanding is not necessary. It will come in time, or perhaps not at all. It matters not. Now, you must choose.
Choose what?
From among my gifts.
Close to half a dozen colored spheres suddenly populate the void, each glowing with welcome light. They bob gently in the darkness, like buoys in a black sea.
These gifts … what are they?
They are power. Power that your race has scarcely begun to know. You may take whichever you want, but only one.
The glow of the spheres is warm and inviting. You find yourself inexplicably drawn to them, like a moth to candlelight. You have to stop yourself from reaching out unconsciously.
I … I don't ...
I have neither the time nor the inclination to indulge any dawdling. Choose, human. The game awaits.
Drawing a shaky breath, you focus your full attention on the spheres, seeking to understand each as best you can before making your decision.
You ultimately reach for ...
Your chosen sphere abruptly dissolves at your touch. You watch, transfixed, as it becomes a bright, swirling mist before disappearing entirely. The others vanish as well - as does their light. Soon you are blind and alone in the darkness once more.
An interesting choice, little one. I think you shall prove most entertaining.
With a sickening lurch, you realize that you are falling. Faster and faster, you hurtle through dark, empty space. This place seems without end - perhaps you will fall forever?
You open your mouth to scream, but you can't hear it over the rushing sound in your ears.
Before you wake, the shadow offers a parting farewell.
Do not disappoint me.
Time to vote on your power! Yes, the choices are deliberately vague. Just like Alex, there will be no handy guide available to you. It'll be up to you to discover the exact nature and extent of your abilities through old-fashioned experimentation.
Voting will close either tomorrow evening or the next morning.
You open your eyes to a harsh, unpleasant light. After a moment of adjustment, you look around to find yourself in a vast and empty void - a white plane of nonexistence stretching infinitely in every direction.
What is this? Where am I? I was ...
Impossibly, you can't recall what you'd just been doing. It's all … hazy. Your entire life feels like a half-remembered dream.
Greetings, little one.
A dark and featureless humanoid shape appears before you. Standing at nearly twice your height, its shadowy form flickers like a guttering flame.
W-Who's there?
I am known by many names, most of which would mean nothing to you. I suppose you could consider me … a kind of god. Or perhaps a demon.
The shadow's voice is not one you hear - its words seem to bypass your senses entirely by carving themselves directly into your brain. Every instinct in your body screams at you to run, to flee from this place and this presence ... but there is nowhere to go.
Am I dead? Is this … is this the afterlife?
All of you ask that. A pity. I had expected more from someone like you.
Like me?
You are interesting. To be frank, individual humans don't tend to stand out, and most of those who do have already been chosen. There is something about you, though. I cannot place it.
The shadow circles you, slowly. Malevolently.
There are eyes on you, little one. And not just my own. Destiny watches you closely.
None of this makes any sense. You get the distinct impression that you're being toyed with.
What do you want from me?
An inhuman smile splits the shadow's featureless face.
I thought you would never ask.
The void is plunged into total darkness, as if someone, somewhere had flipped a light-switch. You raise a hand to your face but cannot see it.
We are in the great game now, little one. You are one of my pieces. Perhaps you will even be the Decider.
Game? Pieces? The Decider? You hate to admit it, but ...
… I don't understand.
Your understanding is not necessary. It will come in time, or perhaps not at all. It matters not. Now, you must choose.
Choose what?
From among my gifts.
Close to half a dozen colored spheres suddenly populate the void, each glowing with welcome light. They bob gently in the darkness, like buoys in a black sea.
These gifts … what are they?
They are power. Power that your race has scarcely begun to know. You may take whichever you want, but only one.
The glow of the spheres is warm and inviting. You find yourself inexplicably drawn to them, like a moth to candlelight. You have to stop yourself from reaching out unconsciously.
I … I don't ...
I have neither the time nor the inclination to indulge any dawdling. Choose, human. The game awaits.
Drawing a shaky breath, you focus your full attention on the spheres, seeking to understand each as best you can before making your decision.
You ultimately reach for ...
[] The red sphere. It pulsates with a strange energy and radiates distorted waves of light. You observe that accidental contact with its neighbors causes the sphere's surface to ripple and glow.
[] The clear sphere. It is colorless, emitting only a pale, almost ghostly light. You observe that it will sometimes latch onto other spheres, draining them of all their color and activity whilst becoming colorful itself. The effect is only temporary, though - it ceases upon release, after which the clear sphere wanders in search of other prey.
[] The multi-colored sphere. It is constantly changing colors. Its composition is in permanent flux - you watch as it shifts from hard granite to smooth, reflective silver, before changing again just as quickly.
[] The white sphere. It appears ordinary at first, but when wandering close to the other spheres it extends a collection of tiny nodes to probe their surfaces. The sphere produces a blindingly bright light whenever contact is made.
[] The blue sphere. Moderately bright and of average size, it occasionally vanishes and reappears in different locations. These locations tend to be only short distances apart, but infrequently they will be father from each other.
[] The green sphere. It appears as if it is continually transitioning between a solid state and a looser, even gaseous form. When in the latter state, it seems to pass through the other spheres rather than collide with them.
[] The black sphere. Trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of destruction and restoration, it disintegrates into a cloud of dust before reconstituting itself to begin the process anew.
[] The purple sphere. It is fairly dim and thus difficult to make out as it drifts lazily about the room. You don't notice it immediately, but the sphere will routinely disappear into thin, nearly imperceptible portals which open in its path. The sphere always emerges from another portal, but only after varying amounts of time have passed.
[] The clear sphere. It is colorless, emitting only a pale, almost ghostly light. You observe that it will sometimes latch onto other spheres, draining them of all their color and activity whilst becoming colorful itself. The effect is only temporary, though - it ceases upon release, after which the clear sphere wanders in search of other prey.
[] The multi-colored sphere. It is constantly changing colors. Its composition is in permanent flux - you watch as it shifts from hard granite to smooth, reflective silver, before changing again just as quickly.
[] The white sphere. It appears ordinary at first, but when wandering close to the other spheres it extends a collection of tiny nodes to probe their surfaces. The sphere produces a blindingly bright light whenever contact is made.
[] The blue sphere. Moderately bright and of average size, it occasionally vanishes and reappears in different locations. These locations tend to be only short distances apart, but infrequently they will be father from each other.
[] The green sphere. It appears as if it is continually transitioning between a solid state and a looser, even gaseous form. When in the latter state, it seems to pass through the other spheres rather than collide with them.
[] The black sphere. Trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of destruction and restoration, it disintegrates into a cloud of dust before reconstituting itself to begin the process anew.
[] The purple sphere. It is fairly dim and thus difficult to make out as it drifts lazily about the room. You don't notice it immediately, but the sphere will routinely disappear into thin, nearly imperceptible portals which open in its path. The sphere always emerges from another portal, but only after varying amounts of time have passed.
Your chosen sphere abruptly dissolves at your touch. You watch, transfixed, as it becomes a bright, swirling mist before disappearing entirely. The others vanish as well - as does their light. Soon you are blind and alone in the darkness once more.
An interesting choice, little one. I think you shall prove most entertaining.
With a sickening lurch, you realize that you are falling. Faster and faster, you hurtle through dark, empty space. This place seems without end - perhaps you will fall forever?
You open your mouth to scream, but you can't hear it over the rushing sound in your ears.
Before you wake, the shadow offers a parting farewell.
Do not disappoint me.
Time to vote on your power! Yes, the choices are deliberately vague. Just like Alex, there will be no handy guide available to you. It'll be up to you to discover the exact nature and extent of your abilities through old-fashioned experimentation.
Voting will close either tomorrow evening or the next morning.
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