<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Vv2z-QiAI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Vv2z-QiAI</a>

So that's what the monsters look li-  Is that GLaDOS!?!?  Holy **** rocket punch.

I'm okay with this.

You ever look out at the world and feel small and helpless, like there's nothing you can do to fix it?  Yeah, me neither.
-Captain Incredible

This city is wounded and bleeding.  It needs to be patched up before infection sets in.  It may be barbaric, but I recommend cauterization.
-Doc' Inferno

Some people need to be punched.  That's really all there is to it.
-Phantom Fedora

Remember the days before these...  Supers showed up?  When humanity solved it's own problems by the sweat of it's own labor?  It wasn't always pretty, but I like to think it made us honest, stronger.  Now, with our 'protectors' watching over us we are reduced to children, hatchlings, and I fear that we'll never leave the nest.
-Marvelo Vantz

Welcome to Fortune, a thriving coastal city, home to countless centers of industry and research, and an emerging hub for the power advantaged in a new age of superheroes.  Here, the last generation and the next interact, the caped heroes of yesteryear interacting with the up and comers of the modern era.  Technology, magic, mutants, and plain old fashioned hard work come together to put up a defense against the evils that beset the common man.

And there are evils.  Not everyone who hits the genetic jackpot or suffers a lab accident is inclined to work towards the greater good, and it's these dastardly fiends that you have to stop.

So grab your cape, cowl, and utility belt!  It's time to save the day!

---

So apparently I've gotten the itch to become a super villain once more.  To that end I am launching a Mutants and Masterminds campaign on IRC and welcoming applicants.

For those not in the know, Mutants and Masterminds is a D20 system built around superheroes of all kinds.  From the humble masked adventurer to the invulnerable flying brick, the entire range of powers and abilities are present and possible.

It's okay if you've never played the system before, because neither have we!  Drop into IRC and we'll muddle through it together.

Sessions will be run on Mondays starting at 1:00 PM EST.

To apply up you'll just need to fill out a character sheet, which we'll be more than happy to help you with on IRC.

---

Public Identity:
Secret Identity:

APPEARANCE
Gender:
Age:
Size: Medium
Height:
Weight:
Hair:
Eyes:


POWER LEVEL
Power Level: 11
Power Points: 176
Max Attack: 11
Max Defense: 11
Max Save DC: 11
Max Toughness: 11

ABILITIES
STR: 10 (+0)
DEX: 10 (+0)
CON: 10 (+0)
INT: 10 (+0)
WIS: 10 (+0)
CHA: 10 (+0)

COMBAT
Attack 0 (Melee 0, Ranged 0) [Unarmed +0 (Bruise)]
Defense 0 (0 flat-footed)
Initiative 0

SAVES
Toughness 0 (0 flat-footed)
Fortitude 0
Reflex 0
Will 0

SKILLS

Skill Name Key Ability Skill Modifier Ability Modifier Ranks Misc. Modifier
Acrobatics Dex* 0 = +0 +0 +0
Bluff Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Computers Int 0 = +0 +0 +0
Climb Str* 0 = +0 +0 +0
Concentration Con 0 = +0 +0 +0
Craft(______) Int 0 = +0 +0 +0
Diplomacy Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Disable Device Int 0 = +0 +0 +0
Disguise Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Drive Dex 0 = +0 +0 +0
Escape Artist Dex* 0 = +0 +0 +0
Gather Information Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Handle Animal Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Intimidate Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Investigate Int 0 = +0 +0 +0
Know (______) Int 0 = +0 +0 +0
Language ___ 0 = +0 +0 +0
Medicine Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Notice Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Perform (______) Cha 0 = +0 +0 +0
Pilot Dex 0 = +0 +0 +0
Profession (______) Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Ride Dex 0 = +0 +0 +0
Search Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Sense Motive Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Sleight of Hand Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Stealth Dex 0 = +0 +0 +0
Survival Wis 0 = +0 +0 +0
Swim Str** 0 = +0 +0 +0  

Powers/Devices

Name:  ____________  Rank:  ___  Action:  ______  Range:  ___  Duration:  ______
Extras/Flaws:



Feats



Equipment



Drawbacks/Complications



Origin:

And so it begins again.

Bios should be setup like so:

Name:  Take a guess.
Age:  Pick a number, any number.
Bio:  A paragraph or so describing your character's past and personality.

Powers  This natural abilities, technology, magic, skills, or anything else that sets your character apart.


Please read the RULES, play nice, and have a good time.

December 16th, 9 Days To Christmas

A troupe of carolers strolled merrily (of course) along the side walk, picking up speed fractionally as they passed Elf headquarters.  Only the best of veteran carolers attempted that imposing, if jolly, structure.  Someone on an upper floor might hear (or think they hear) a wrong note, and that could end quite badly for all involved.

Behind them they left a trail of crisp footprints in the fresh snow, a perfect inch deep.  In twenty minutes or so a squad would come around and scrape it back into the hulking mobile snow machine, which would lay down another perfect inch in it's place.  Nature could hardly be trusted in something so important.  At the moment such measures were only taken in December, but a proposal was being made to extend it to all winter months.  There was even talk of clouding the atmosphere to allow snow year round.

This was the picturesque scene that would have been seen through the main doors of Elf headquarters, had said door not just been thrown open to frame an imperious figure all in black.  To be fair, it was a very neat, shiny black.  Boots shone with a bright polish and the wind tugged on the edges of his waist length cape, the high collar held with a modest gold clasp.  The only acceptance of color was a small sprig of holly tucked into the band of his top hat.

As Yule strode in, but before the door could close, an announcement played in the street.

"Running out of wrapping paper?  Try the Jolly Paper Merchant on fifth street!  Afraid you might run out next year?  Give some to yourself this year and save the hassle!  Remember folks, improperly wrapped presents can lead to peeking, so save you children the temptation and double wrap!"

Yule allowed himself a smile as he marched towards his office.  It was, as always, going to be a nice Christmas.

I've gotta say, I was surprised by how good this movie was.  I walked in expecting the usual Tarantino blood fest, and what I got was a well told story full of tension where the action, while intense, was few and far between.

When making a movie in this setting it is easy to use a cliche Nazi for the villain, some heartless officer who treats Hitler like a god and Jews like the devil.  There are a couple of Nazis like this in the film, but they are henchmen and sycophants, playing second fiddle to Colonel Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter.  This man does not hate the Jews, in one memorable scene he even exposits that they do not deserve to be treated as they are.  He does, however, love his job of hunting and killing those who remain in hiding.  Partially, this is because it gives him a position of power and respect, but mostly it seems to be because he is, as he says, a natural detective.  He is thrilled by the hunt, and triumphant when he finally takes his prey, and carries it all off with such class and style that he'd be likable if he weren't killing innocents.

And the same goes for many of the characters.  Though none share Landa's style, the Basterds share his thrill of the hunt and joy of the catch from the other side.  While I found this thoroughly enjoyable, others may find issue with the fact that nearly every character is a brutal murderer, the only difference being in who they kill and why.  Landa kills because that is the natural conclusion to his hunt.  The Basterds kill because they are at war and, because they are all Jewish, as a cathartic revenge (though they do seem to enjoy the act itself beyond that).  There are several who kill for revenge or duty or self defense.

What's amazing is that, somehow, this killing does not take center stage.  Instead the focus is on the long, tense moments between the death.  The most prevalent feeling in the movie is one of dread, rising and falling during conversations.  Does he know?  What is he planning?  Will they realize their mistake?  These questions will occur again and again and, while these portions occasionally seem to be dragging, it is all done very well.

This is not to say that the movie is perfect, as I said it does drag at points (though, when I left the theater, I was surprised that two and a half hours had passed, so it clearly does not drag very badly), and some may find the gore objectionable.  Certainly, I got the feeling that there could have been more of the Basterds in the film.  Some of them are not even named by the time it ends, and what characterization they receive is done quickly, though in a very entertaining way (Hugo Stiglitz!).  There are also a lot of subtitles, more than half the movie being in a language other than english.  I didn't find this to be a problem, but others might.

To close, a swift word on the ending.  Do not read the spoiler if you do not want a major point spoiled, and believe me, it's best if you don't see it coming.

Really.

I knew walking in that I was not going to see something historically accurate, but still thought that their plan was doomed to fail from the beginning due to certain events being very firm in history.  I suppose that killing Hitler was the only way to make the end a surprise, and it succeeded magnificently.


tldr:  This is a great movie, go see it this instant.

Right, forgot to post this last night.

OOC goes here, folks.

Alright, this is the first Novus Cluster RP.  A wormhole has opened in Novus Cluster, and everyone's coming to check it out.

The other end of the wormhole is in the main galaxy.  If you want a pre-established race to join the NC, this is the way to do it!  But be warned, this is not a permanent wormhole.  At some point it will be closed and anyone on the NC side will stuck there, and vice versa.  All other travel between the two, even at FTL speeds, will take years in either direction.

Creatures involved:

[RG] Photos
[RG] Vykusi
[OG] Sombreron

[NC] Skirin
[NC] Nessyc
[NC] Rayancei
[NC] Slorv
[NC] Hexaslo
[NC] Robespierre
[NC] Klinch
[NC] Quasits
[NC] Sanli
[NC] Vacilions
[NC] Nor
[NC] Akazi
[NC] Casei

Skirin Mother

Skirin Male

The Skirin have a heavily differentiated anatomy between males and females, and as such will be described separately.

Females
Skirin females are a heavy minority, a single Mother to colonies which can number in the thousands.  They are several time larger than the males and, after a brief juvenile period, are nearly entirely immobile.  Even during this juvenile phase, they are entirely water bound, and will remain so from birth to death.

Mature Mothers are capable of holding thousands of embryos in biologically suspended animation, in which they take up almost no resources to maintain indefinitely and may be selectively grown as needed.  The Mother possesses full control over which of these embryos is brought to maturity and when, selecting for genes which have proven favorable or have proven useful in a certain area which has become pertinent.  When the colony, which the Mother grows to match what resources it judges to be available, has reached a size too large for one Mother to maintain, a new mother will be produced and take approximately one third of the population found another colony.

When gestating males, the Mother uses a "blank" egg which can take material from two separate males, while females are produced asexually through a process similar to cloning.  It has been speculated that due to this complete separation, the two are technically different species at this point.

While their brains are many times larger than the males, they are entirely non-sapient according to most reasonable tests, what little is not dedicated to long term memory operating according to a complex set of instincts which allow for decision making which appears sapient, but playing host to no actual reasoning abilities.  This is because the brain is dedicated to storing the memories and thought patterns of the males, which are recorded through regular conferences with the colony Mother by way of the exposed nerve clusters on the ends of it's tentacles.

Males
The Skirin males are significantly smaller than females, though this size may vary according to the genes the Mother has selected for.  While technically amphibious, most modern colonies produce males which can function on land for days at a time with comparatively small amounts of water.  Beyond these traits, the strength, intellect, and most other physical traits have a wide range of possible expressions outside of various fixed traits such as number of limbs and organ types and arrangement.

Male Skirin are birthed live and will spend between two and seven weeks with the Mother, depending on the amount of knowledge it must take in and the amount of growth it's traits require, with those required to take in the memories and thought patterns of highly intellectual Skirin taking the longest.  After this time they are mature enough to join the rest of the colony, though it may be up to a year before they are entirely adult and have completely integrated the thought patterns and memories passed along to them.

While every tentacle belonging to a Mother ends in a nerve cluster, males only have four such clusters which are held under the body when not in use due to being extremely vulnerable.  These nerve clusters are used to pass memories to and from the Mother, as well as for comunicating between themselves.

Due to the high density of information which can be passed along this way, many Skirin can network themselves together into a very powerful mind, some such clusters made up of over a hundred and equivalent to a powerful, if slow, supercomputer.  While the intellect presented by such a network is impressive, most individuals are slow and dimwitted as compared to other sapient species, raising the question of whether an individual is technically sapient, only capable of reasoning when working with a larger group.  The tendency of a Skirin, isolated from others for more than a few hours, to lose initiative and eventually fall into a despondent stupor certainly supports this view.  The smallest functioning group of Skirin varies according to expressed traits of the group, but tends to be over six, with most communicating with at least one other group member every few minutes.

It should be noted that due to limited storage in a Mother's brain, most memories are not actually stored, being similar enough to memories previously taken in for them to be considered the same.  Thought patterns share this limitation.  As such, it is believed that there are fewer than one hundred thousand mentally differentiated individuals in the species, though there are over one hundred billion Skirin currently alive.  This does, however, depend on the definition of an individual.  Some choose to select groups of Skirin as the baseline, the combination of various patterns allowing for more differentiated individuals.  Others take entire colonies as a single individual, making each one almost certainly unique.



The Skirin began as a species of simple group predators in the waters of the planet Proteus, using electricity storing organs in their tentacles and simple tactics to corner and kill prey in their native marine environment.  During this period, females were comparatively plentiful, making up nearly a fifth of the population.

An asteroid impact at this point destroyed two thirds of the species living on land and dropped water temperatures by several degrees worldwide, leading to a long term depletion of the Skirin food supply.  In response to the periods of near starvation punctuated by irregular intervals of plenty, Skirin females evolved the ability to hold their embryos in suspended animation.  This allowed them to gestate only during times of plenty, avoiding unnecessary burden during the more frequent periods of hardship.

Eventually the temperatures normalized, but the Skirin were only one among many who had been forced to adapt by the disaster.  The prey they hunted now were stronger, faster, and more cunning than it had been before the crisis, and the Skirin's own predators were more formidable in turn.  A simple form of communication arose through pulses of electricity, the females, acting as coordinators, undergoing an increase in intellect in turn.

Over time, as tactics became more important, the size of a pack of Skirin grew from the half dozen it had been to numbers in the hundreds.  The complexity and subtlety of the language increased over time, gradually decreasing the strength of their electrical shocks in exchange for more control and more sensitivity in the skin around receivers.  Eventually, nerve clusters moved to the skin's surface, safe guarded by the prehensile sub-tentacles curling around them, allowing for unparalleled  levels of communication through physical contact.

By this time, Mothers had become entirely sedentary, coordinating colonies that numbered in the thousands from afar, the intelligence of groups of males growing to compensate for the loss of their decision making skills in the field.  Eventually, their unique communication would allow for the transfer of more than mere messages and the Mothers would become non-sapient memory storage.

As their evolution progressed, they eventually became undisputed rulers of the oceans of Proteus, stumbling upon the concepts of animal farming and shelter building in the process.  However, the habitable  land near the ocean's rims were growing crowded, the ever replicating colonies moving against each other for living space.  After a time, Mothers of colonies which couldn't compete began guiding their evolution either to survive deeper areas, or eventually leave the water entirely.

After a long period of short raids to the surface, modern Skirin emerged onto land still recovering from the asteroid impact, ready to be molded to their liking.  Mothers were still limited to water, but plentiful rivers and swamp land, and the eventual invention of water tight containers, meant that they could move inland.  Given the inevitable nature of Skirin expansion, the same conflict arose on land, with the same solution.  Those who could not survive there moved elsewhere.

Some would use technology developed on land to retake the sea, destroying colonies which had not improved.  Others would once again seek territory never used before.  The hottest deserts, the coldest tundra, the highest mountains.  Eventually, they would look to the sky.

Presently, over twenty billion Skirin live permanently off world in structures ranging from orbiting habitats to lunar bases to hollowed out asteroids.  Over eighty billion live on planet, using high density hydroponic farming to feed the massive numbers.




While Skirin are instinctuallly distrustful of other colonies, some have in the course of history banded together to take together what they cannot alone.

The Proteus Alliance
The Proteus Alliance, despite the name, only controls ten percent of the home world.  They are an alliance that has lasted since the first land wars, and the name of the planet was actually taken from them rather than the other way around.

The largest alliance in the system, their power base stemming from their alliance with orbiting stations, who guarantee their air supremacy in exchange for continuous supply lifts via the word's only functioning space elevator.

The Founders
The Founder Alliance is a collection of colonies on and around the sister world to Proteus who seek to proteform the world and flourish in unclaimed space.

The Far Shot Alliance
Formed by a set of struggling colonies at the system's rim, the Far Shots seek to modify preexisting trans-cannon technology, which accelerates matter to faster than light speeds through spatial distortion to produce a high precision nearly undeflectable weapon, into a device which can send them to another system entirely.  Once again, the ever expanding species has run out of room and the Far Shots intend to be the first to take advantage of a new domain.