The year is SR 1020. The Little War (for this was no Great War) has come and gone and left the land of Kallarai not scarred, but pockmarked. Neither the Confederacy of Azharach nor any of the Locust Territories were particularly harmed, no great incursion deep into enemy territory. No, instead, the Little War consisted of a very extended campaign of skirmishes on both sides. This has left both sides very unhappy and antsy, and the engines of war left in neutral instead of turned off completely. The movers and shakers, the puppet masters and power brokers, are holding their breath and waiting for the moment when full-tilt haymakers are thrown, not little testing jabs.
Enter you. Sitting on a train, going from somewhere, to somewhere. You're doing something to occupy yourself, whether that be reading a book, working on a personal project, when someone sits down across the aisle from you and quickly places a light tan-colored envelope in front of you. You open it up and find dossiers on yourself, several other people, and the outlining of an objective which most would think impossible.
YOU ARE: (choose 1)
[ ] ARTIST OF HEARTS
A Pandemonian Devil. With red skin and horns, you bear Flame in your soul and schemes in your head. Constant, quiet, driving schemes. Through a combination of your old life's personality seeping through and the expression of Flame that called to you and came easy to you, your particular scheming ways were that of people. Charming them, enraging them, dazzling them in shows of light and sound. All equally valid methods for making a name for yourself and moving up in society.
Devils come in a range of hues and textures. Some like metal, some like ash. You, REBECCA SANTOS / MEMORIAL INCANTER, tend toward a dark amber color with a brassy metallic patch around your left eye like a birthmark / a dazzling sky blue with small silvery or steel freckles dotting across your cheeks and nose, clustering around your right eye like a daytime constellation. Never without at least one suitcase of dazzling clothes, you're able and willing to put on a show whenever you feel one could be needed, and bend almost anyone to your will with a wink, a word, and a kiss.
[ ] CHARMER OF GEARS
An Ophidian. Shaped like a snake, you aren't able to move or interact with objects on the same scale as most other sapients. What you are able to do, however, is pull a lot of small levers and push a lot of small buttons, thanks to the many small legs you have. The Ophidian species has put this ability to good use, constructing bipedal frames that enable interaction and socialization with the different humanoid species populating Kallarai.
You, PHIDA SOUN, have learned how to work all the tiny gears and belts, the minuscule motors that drive everything, even more than the usual Ophidian which has lended itself to a fine career as maker and caretaker of all things mechanical and intricate. Your own personal exoskeleton is a work of art, filigree and curlicues etched into the shoulders and knees, brass and perfectly patinated copper shell on top of an aluminum alloy frame. Full of hidden tools and parts, you're a walking machine shop. Outside of your shell, you're a cream color with brown "saddles" going down your back, you have four eyes, and you have a "mane" of feathers around your head along with a trail of feathers down your back.
[ ] SNAPPER OF BONES
A Human. From Nashax, you were chosen (drafted?) to fight in the Little War for the Vesakh. There, you showed aptitude for Mikanikal augmentation, receiving plugs for exoskeletons to lock into. Once getting them, you proved a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, whether carrying 4 allies to safety at once or wielding weapons designed to be emplaced or mounted. After the Little War, you were given a light exo-frame as part of your discharge package.
Standing at about 5'7, you, NITHYA BALAJI, bear the darker brown skin usually possessed by those from the southern country. The thing that marks your particular lineage, as opposed to Yasaal or Chelqath, is that your left eye is bright pink, like the coral living in the oceans of your homeland. Bound in muscle from war, training, and carrying a lot of weight, you fix your problems one bullet at a time. Or, at least, you make new, different problems.
[ ] HAUNTER OF TOWERS
A Gloom. The vast majority of people alive on the planet will never see you, only knowing that Glooms exist only through rumor and urban legend. None will ever hear anything from you, for you have been infused with the magic of silence so much that you are unable to speak. This is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, as your prey find that their speaking is just as communicative as not speaking at all, and that all noise generated fades around you, as does color.
6 feet and 4 inches tall and rail thin, you, AMABIE, stalk through hallways and alleys like they're walks in the park. With smooth skin where eyes would be for other species, horns, and skin resembling leather, you make for a frightening presence when seen. Along with the magical silence you exude with a thought, you are also able to bring your soul to bear, a long, stiff knife that serves to break open cases and cut away tripwires as much as it can pierce hearts and cut throats.
THE OTHERS ARE: (choose 4)
[ ] Shimmyin' Cheong Shi: A fearless and reckless Pandorino Mimic from Freedom Town, Shimmyin' Shi prides herself on her ability to make any vehicle in this world do what she wants it to, as long as it has an engine. Fragile as a robin's egg and utterly distasteful of any weapon you can't bolt to a roof, she can still handle anything from skittertruck to airship.(Wheelman)
[ ] Douma Kre: A Karkadann who parlayed a career as a busker and street illusionist into a crime spree that fed their ego something fierce. Leaving on an airship, they took their act on the road, a foreign clown who delights the eye and empties the pocket with dexterity unheard of outside salacious novels and ancient folktales. (Distraction/Pickpocket)
[ ] Sister Nae: A Crane Sister from Iash Qoma whose in with the Union means she knows anyone who's ever done something dangerous or dubiously legal for pay within a thousand miles, at least at one remove. She also knows a thing or two about infiltrating fortresses, vaults and redoubts. (Safecracker/Fixer)
[ ] Catchfire: A nonsignatory Vesakh who feels no loyalty to the Territories or their rulers and no common feeling between species. Forceful and charismatic, Catchfire's savvy is to cause random things to go wrong around their target. Also good with a sword. (Muscle/Con-man)
[ ] Kanin the Hand: A sneak thief of Nashaxi extraction who burgled a Shrine of Hands blind when he fled the country. Pouches full of starmetal gadgetry, he has a solution to a wide variety of problems in his pockets, as well as a quiet certitude in his own abilities. Quiet and polite, unless you're a priest. (Burglar/Gadgeteer)
[ ] Lucina Luce: Not even a spread in every dirty magazine east of the Clouded Sea could fuel Lucina Luce's hunger for attention and trinkets. She's scammed everyone from captains of industry or of mercenaries to fellow celebrities out of money, fancy gadgets, and more, and finally scammed someone who was able to press-gang her. (Con-man/Distraction)
[ ] Sula bint Namas: An artisan of the lock and key. Sula sells her skills with the magic of barriers, safeguards and doorways to the highest bidder, using her power over locks, wards, circles, workings, and summonings to earn her way out of the hole her grandmother's gambling addiction put her whole extended family into. (Hacker/Safecracker)
[ ] Thalia Puñetazo: A Republic Devil who suborns her instinct for intrigue into being a bewilderingly diverse and underhanded fighter. Derided as a meathead, she's no fool--she's simply chosen to focus all her energies on using her reactions, perceptions and muscle to turn present enemies into past memories. (Muscle)
[ ] Imelda Sanchez Mendoza-Doblada: Some call her the second coming of Izabel Lengua de Oro, founder of the Republic. Some call her a preening fireworks merchant with more legs than sense. Both of them owe her quite a lot of money at the card table. (Fixer/Hacker, Republic only)
[ ] Lupe Calvat: A native Acragan who inevitably reminds everyone who meets him of some sort of weasel despite the name, Lupe was a brilliant thief who, when caught by the then-current Secretary of Finance, was hired to ply his trade for the state rather than be executed. (Pickpocket/Safecracker, Republic only)
[ ] CIT04668669, Dria Morsini: Having spent her durance learning how to maintain Soul Machina despite never being Kindled, Citizen Morsini has parlayed her considerable knowledge of the machines that make Dis work into a steady rise through the ranks as a talented engineer, driver and pilot. (Gadgeteer/Wheelman, Dominion only)
[ ] The Agent Unobtrusive: Hard to see. Hard to remember. Hard to stop. This forgettably grey, forgettably medium-horned, forgettably slim agent of the Ministry of Crisis can infiltrate a complex, charm a lock and slit a throat, but not make a friend or crack a smile. (Muscle/Burglar, Dominion only)
YOUR OBJECTIVE IS:
[ ] A ROYAL KIDNAPPING
Deep within the Republican capital of Pandemonia, there is allegedly a Queen Bee that enables the Republic to continue producing Rojabejas, bee people who are born naturally bearing the same magical Flame that converts normal mortals into Devils. Find her, extract her, bring her to
this location.
This choice means that the Artist of Hearts player character option will be Memorial Incanter and give access to the Dominion only team member options.
[ ] CONFISCATING CONFIDENTIALITY
During the Revolution that formed the Brimstone Republic, much secret research was lost. Rumor has it that somewhere in Dis, locked away in the deepest dungeon, there sits that same research, notes and procedures on Rojabeja production, information that the Republic lacks and the Dominion cannot use. Crack open the impossible vault.
This choice means that the Artist of Hearts player character option will be Rebecca Santos and give access to the Republic only team member options.
A/N: Hello and welcome! This is my first quest, but not my first time running a story/roleplay. This is set in
@Wicked Sanguine 's world, the same one as
Never Full,
Always Somethin', and
Court of Last Resort. It's got dieselpunky cybernetics, magic that literally runs on vibes, and people who char their soul to give it a nice, devilish Maillard. This particular story is to be a heist movie, and thus all the player options have certain titles attached. Most of them are obvious, but some may need to be specified. Fixer means they can get something from someone, they know a guy who has a cousin. Burglar is your classic acrobat, they flip through lasers and scale walls. Con-man means they move people around with charm and charisma. Anything else can be specified if needed. Otherwise, make your plans, give it a snappy title, and post it below!
