deadmanbusiness | (no subject)

SO ACTUALLY. I have some questions about Theo's abilities!

Carla has died (in horrific ways) twice. The first time, she spent the next five years of her 'life' as a zombie/Reanimate. The zombies are created by the Reanimation virus, which is not wholly lacking in a magical component but can be manipulated and reproduced by science. She's also done city!Dead.

Can he tell those kinds of things about people, if they are currently living?

The other thing is that the zombies/Reanimates in her verse have a nigh on telepathic link with each other, so they do actually 'sense' each other. She has a residual of this (and a few other residuals: her sense of smell is a little stronger than a humans, if you really get her going she can go into a berserker rage like a Reaniamte and not feel pain at all.) So, do you think it would be reasonable to find him of note if she were within a certain range?

Sorry for the tl;dr, just wanted to try and be as informative as possible before asking 'HOW DOES RECONCILING DISPARATE OC VERSES WORK?!'

And mostly I'm asking because I want more CR, obviously.

Well. Let's see. In Theo's verse Magic is just a branch of science. So it is possible that she would ping as undead for him as he wouldn't see any difference between the two. Or at least echos of her previous undeadness. I've been wishy-washing his abilities to sense undead in the City because of different verses. IE. If the mun's want me to he can and if they don't he's puzzled as to the fact he couldn't. City dead confuse the hell out of him.

Theo's relationship with the undead are two fold.

One. He's a necromancer and a very powerful one -when he gets older he'll be an actual god - so there you go. So he can create and control undead with very little effort. (He can make zombie rats act like normal rats without even thinking about it) Normally and they tend to notice this rather easily. He can't really turn it off. So, she'd probably pick that up right away, like getting hit in the face right away.

Two: Because of his strong connection to death and the undead he reads as an undead to things that notice undead. You'd have to get up and talk to him and notice the pulse to see that he's undead.

tl:dr, Yes she'd notice him and yes he'd notice her. And it would be awkward.

CR is obviously a must.

[Charlie'd been bitten and, against all sense, she went right home to rest. She'd just stuffed her zombie!dad in the Stadium with other zombies and had found the whole mess draining in more ways than one.

Now, at some time in the afternoon the next day, Charlie'd left the house alone. She was feverish, pale and delusional enough to think Merlin was with her. The Ghouls were leaving her alone. She wasn't of interest to them. This made getting from her house to the hospital easier.

Sort of. At one point, she almost slipped off the curb, grabbing onto a bench to steady herself.]

Need...to sit for a minute. [A pause, listening to Merlin who isn't actually there.] No, I'll be fine. It's...just for a minute. Just a minute, okay?

[She settles on the bench, using her fire to clear and dry it off before sitting and curling herself in a ball. Her arms went around her legs and her face pressed into her knees.]

Just need a minute. I'm fine.

[One day they will meet not in the middle of a curse epidemic thing.

One day.

Theo's been doing his heroic roaming thing because, well, he can. When he spots Charlie he goes right over to her.]

Hey, Charlie?

[One day. Definitely. She will hunt him down and bring him food as thanks for taking care of her when shit gets bad.

For now, though. She looks up at him in confusion, turning her head to talk to...

Oh. Well, now she's even more confused.]

Did my husband go somewhere? He was right here.

[Except he wasn't. Charlie looks pale and is shaking like she's cold, but if Theo were to get close enough, she's burning. And then, Charlie's focusing enough on her surroundings to notice it's just her footprints on the snow.]

Merlin wasn't here, was he?

[Food is always good.

Theo does sit carefully near her. He knows that startling people who can throw fire is very dangerous for other people's health.]

No. He's not. You're burning up... even more than should be healthy.

I got bit. [Her hand goes over her left shoulder, wincing slightly as she runs fingers over the injury. It's bandaged, taken care of. Sort of. She's still suffering the effects of Ghoul-related germs and badness. Hence her radiating more than her usual amount of body-heat, even in the thin black t-shirt, jeans and inappropriate-for-this-weather converse sneakers. This is a rare moment of clarity for her, so she speaks again.]

Can you help me get to the hospital? That's where we...I was going.

Edited 2013-01-12 04:25 (UTC)

[At least she's not barefoot and in her PJs. Or whatever it is she wears at night. That's what he would have been really worried about!]

Yeah, of course.

Thank you. [She stands. Sort of. There's a wobble for a moment and she has to grab back onto the bench but once she's up, she's good.]

Hey, we need to break this habit of running into each other during curses.

Do you need an arm?

[He laughs a bit.]

We do. Or at least only during curses. I did see your wedding though. It was nice.

You did? [Charlie manages a slight smile, looking over at Theo.]

I can't do that back home, you know. Get married? It's not possible.

[If she keeps herself talking, maybe she'll stay awake and lucid? So she's rambling. Saying pretty much anything to keep herself focused.]

You can't? Why not?

[Seems like an odd thing.]

Simple. It's safer if people don't know who I am. Can't get that attached to someone if you can't tell them your name, can you?

Ah. Yes. That sort of thing.

Mr. Sammeth,

First I want to extend my apologies; with the influx of visitors this past weekend our meeting completely slipped my mind. At the moment I find myself without the ability to speak until the 10th of March, and outings in somewhat crowded places are proving to be a rather taxing endeavor.

With that in mind, I was hoping that we could move our conversation to electronic mail instead? I have any number of questions and it might be better to have a record of them so I don't find myself being repetitive.

Please let me know what would work best for you at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,
Charles Xavier

Mr. Xavier,

Your apologies are fine and unnecessary. I had a rather hectic weekend myself. A co-worker of mine showed up and his familiar with her kittens did as well. Trying to keep up with six curious and teleporting kittens is an exhausting experience. Also expensive.

I don't mind answering questions over email. You're right, it's probably a better way.

Theodred Sammeth

Mr. Sammeth, [ He's British, introductions in letters/emails are going nowhere. ]

My goodness. Teleporting kittens? I should think the regular sort would be trouble enough if allowed.

I suppose I should start with obtaining some clarification: everyone in your world possesses some degree of ability, correct? How are those abilities measured against the abilities of others? Is that something that is only determined through the educational system or is there another method?

If there are people who are born without an ability, what happens to them?

[He's game.]

Charles,

Yes, teleporting kittens. Which is just as bad as you think it is, and then some. And one of them can eat anything, doesn't get sick from eating anything and is dumb as a rock. Sweetest thing ever, but dumb as a rock. Thus a lot of property damage.

Everyone has some sort of ability and it's in-born. Though a good deal of the population is strong enough to just use things like charms, cell phones and self-cooling cans. I believe the way power strength is spread through out the population is similar to that of intelligence. This isn't so say that smarter people are going to be more powerful magically, but the percentages are similar. There are far fewer doctors who have the ability to do brain surgery than there are that can sew up stitches.

Usually children are required to be tested before they start school at the same time they get their vaccinations. The testing usually gives a hint of what sort of talents the child will have, and their strength will grow as they age. Around eighteen they'll be as strong as they'll ever be.

Sometimes we'll show abilities earlier, I started being able to raise the dead when I was three or four my parents had to dampen my abilities until I was old enough to learn how to control it. But that could be because I'm half god.

I've never heard of anyone born without an ability. Being able to manipulate the magical field is part of our DNA.

[IE. Magical abilities are treated like intelligence. Sometimes, like Theo you get prodigies, but it's something you grow into.]

Mr. Sammeth,

I will, perhaps, remain glad that I only had to deal with hosting a dinner party. I was fortunate enough not to even have to cook for it. [ Just shop, really. ]

All of this information is fascinating but (possibly unfortunately) has created more questions for me. I'll try to keep them short since I'm certain I'll be requesting a bit of clarification on all of them. Thus:

- What exactly is a god, in this context: as in how is such a thing decided now versus how it was decided to begin with when those like your deific parent or other relation were given the title? If it is not a recent title, that is.

- Since magic exists as a species-wide mutation where you are from, how did the term magic even come to be?

- What happens to those who aren't tested? Or parents who refuse to submit their children to testing?

- How does ability dampening work, exactly?

- Are there any ideas as to why the abilities plateau at eighteen, as opposed to the ending of puberty or it's onset or any other biological marker?

- Is it known how long people have been able to access and manipulate the magical field (the definition of which I actually wouldn't mind clarification on as well) on a genetic level? Is it considered a mutation and was it originally selective? Or did this happen in a generation?

Sincerely,
Charles

Lord High Master Xavier,

Next time the kittens come to town I'm crashing your place.

1. A god is hard to explain. My father, uncle and brother are over seven thousand years old. (I'm twenty-eight). Gods are not human. They are sustained by belief in them. When people stop believing they fade away. The only reason why my father and uncle out of their family has survived is because my father has a very strong belief in himself and my uncle fell in love with someone and refuses to leave him alone. A god has certain abilities pertaining to their sphere of influence. I can't exactly tell you how it works, you'll have to forgive me on that.

But my father is and does take care of the souls of our people when they die. There are a lot fewer of them now than there were at the height of our people's time, but we still have some followers.

2. It's... like any sort of energy source? Air is a world wide phenomenon and yet we have a word for it. As we get further advanced we learn more about how air is made but it's still air. So is blood. It's like an electromagnetic field that we project, I guess. Some of us have stronger fields than others.

3. Nothing. Their parents are very surprised. A lot of public schools in the States won't let you in if you haven't been tested, but there's no mandatory law saying you have to be.

4. Dunno. Not my field of expertise. The theory is sort of creating a reflection or a fence around the magical aura a person has so it can project but I don't know the technical details.

5. I meant the end of puberty. I used eighteen as a short hand. That was my fault.

6. As long as history has been recorded. According to the gods, at least. Considering how long some of them have been around, I think they would know. It's not considered a mutation any more than having eyes would be considered a mutation.

When I first came to the city I couldn't believe - still have trouble with it - that there are people who are born without magical abilities. It's like something out of a science fiction story.

Sincerly

Prince Theodred, Lord of the Mark.

[Okay, now he's just being silly.]

[ Charles blinked at the opening and closing of that email for a minute, Theo. ]

Your Majesty,

It would appear that I became a peer of the realm and promptly forgot! I shall hope you'll forgive me as I would hate to offend the Royal We and a god in the same breath. My manners are clearly in shambles in this bizarre land.

1. That is all very fascinating. Are you the first in your family for seven millennia, then? Are you expected to take an active role in your father's pantheon? If you were the last and had no believers, what would happen to you?

2. & 4. & 6. I suppose it is the etymology that has me stumped. Tracing the word 'magic' back leads one to ritual and priesthood - several of a number of positions that separated one from everyone else since the development of civilization and religion. Part of me wonders, then, what would cause a word like magic to become so all-encompassing of a concept but it may be boiled down to something as simple as I am not content with the common vernacular in this case, which is not your fault at all.

Having eyes was a mutation at one point in the biological history of life.

If there is ever an evolutionary biologist or geneticist who comes from your world to arrive here, I would be forever thankful for the chance to speak with them.

Did you notice this ability being limited, as a child?

5. That's perfectly fine and understandable, thank you.

For a moment I had entertained a notion that a world in which unique and occasionally fantastic abilities would lead to a very different social structure on a massive scale. However I doubt that between the mere two of us we could device a precise enough method of comparison between the histories of our two home worlds or realities.

Instead I will ask you what you think the largest problems in your society are?

Yours,
Charles

Lord High Exalted Xavier,

These things happens. Though I must admit my own address is from a historical fantasy called Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. My father named me after one of the minor characters in the book.

1. No. I'm not. My father and uncle (and possibly my brother, I don't know much about him) have had several children over the years and I have a younger cousin. Since we've all been half human we have to take a sort of 'test' on our eighteenth birthday that will either kill us or unlock our godly abilities. If we don't take it we die a mortal. I don't know how many siblings took the test or refused to take it but none have survived until myself. I am supposed to be the god of the undead, however we just learned recently that contrary to popular belief he's still alive.

As for what would happen to myself if I was the last? I don't honestly know. I believe I would probably fade away like so many other pantheons that have been lost since the rise of Judaism and then Christianity. Apparently having a god that isn't prone to smiting you is very popular. Or having a god that just says "be a good person" is all you need to do, no sacrifices are necessary and since they don't have a physical presence they won't take first pick of your labors, steal your children and do other things.

I imagine if they didn't show up the world would be much different.

[Yup. It was the rise of Judaism that pretty much devastated his family and everyone else. And the world IS much different if Judaism never caught on. Theo will encounter an alternate reality sometime later where this is true.]

2. The strongest magic users used to be priests and then over time it branched out as science and technology marched on.

If Anna ever shows up I'll direct you to her. She's a doctor.

3. I didn't really notice much of a difference because they got the dampeners on me quickly and I never realized what I could do before I couldn't do it any more.

4. What's your Germany like? There's a great chunk of it missing in our world.

5. Right now? Well there's been a lot going on, at least in the United States about vampire rights and how they feel like they should still be able to vote and things like that even if they are dead. Personally, I don't think it'll go anywhere. Of course then again, I'm not even a US citizen because I'm half god.

Also there's been a resurgence of the older gods regaining some of their abilities and powers. We're not exactly sure why this is, however Adrian theorizes that it might be because people are trying to find other religions to believe in and having a physical god is a lot easier to believe in than a thought in the sky. This is sort of worrisome because my father is perhaps not one of the best people to be allowed to return to full power.

It's something the team I belong to is looking into.

Theodred,

I rather like Tolkien, I admit.

1. I take it the unexpectedly living deity and your brother are one and the same?

2. So it advanced as a general understanding of and education about the natural world advanced as well? That's very interesting.

4. I should first point out that I have never actually been to Germany. What do you mean by 'missing', are we speaking of literal landmass here or something else?

Germany (and Berlin) have been divided into East Germany and West Germany. Politically and economically the country is rather fractured as a result of the Second World War. The year before I arrived here, a wall was erected in Berlin to stop refugees and immigrants from fleeing East Germany.

5. Do you have citizenship in any nation?

Who is Adrian?

What would returning your father to full power mean in a larger sense?

What is the goal of the team you belong to/what do they do?

-Charles

Edited 2013-02-25 21:48 (UTC)

Charles,

My father is a ridiculously huge fan. Ridiculously. If you couldn't tell from my name at least.

1. Yes. His name is Ashkari, though recently he's been going under the name Ashley Carrey and working as a movie star.

2. Pretty much, yes.

3. During the Dark Ages there was some issues with demons and dragons and it kind of ended up with a literal chunk getting blasted from existence. It's only recently starting to recover. The magical damage to the area was extreme. An almost literal pits of hell, I guess.

4. No, I'm afraid not.

Adrian is our ritual mage. He's one of those folks that are trying to figure out how the universe works, by taking it apart and possibly by making it explode. [He's a mad scientist/physicist.]

My father wants to take over the world and rule with an iron fist.

We're jokingly/seriously called the DMC, Department of Magical Crimes and we're lead by a guy named Rhys. He used to go around by the name Merlin. The DMC is a troubleshooting team. Often times there are problems that governments don't want to deal with or cross too many borders that they can't be handled "in house" without causing an international incident.

So, we take care of it.

Theodred

So.. re: undead things. Mason is undead. Or more like living undead (it's complicated). He's also a Grim Reaper. So how much power over him would Theo have? Would he see through his glamour and see the real Mason, as he looked when he was alive?

Details

Edited 2015-12-07 23:34 (UTC)

Living undead... hmm... I don't think Theo would have much control over someone like that - especially a Grim Reaper. There's nothing like that in his world and so he wouldn't know what "buttons" to push to put Mason under his control. However, I would say that he could definitely sense that Mason is undead but not pierce through the glamour. His necromancy doesn't work quite like that.

Yeah, not entirely sure what to describe Mason as. He's undead however he's in full control, eat food, have sex, can get high, needs warmth and nutrition but can't die. He recovers fast from fatal injuries. Not sure if he could recover from complete destruction tho. His only powers are to "save" souls which is used to spare them from the pain of dying. He can forcefully remove the soul of someone, only leaving a zombie husk behind. He can see dead people and seems to be able to sense other Grim Reapers. But he's not allowed to kill. He can but it has dire consequences. He can also see what I'd describe as evil spirits which causes death, gravelings.

I don't know if he could sense if something is off with Theo tho.

Thanks for your answers.

Edited 2015-12-08 00:07 (UTC)

That's definitely different than anything in Theo's world.

People - even those without magic - tend to sense something is off with Theo. Generally he gives the feeling like he's walking over their graves and goes from there.

I'm glad to be helpful!

It's so they will fit in with the living.

Well Mason died 37 years ago so it would be an very odd feeling.

It's really nice.

Makes sense! I vaguely recall the TV show but I never watched it.

Heh. Well, it's better than what the undead in Theo's world tend to feel - which is 'obey me'. I generally don't push that one on undead in RP because that's sort of godmoddy.

He's an OC so there's only one way to get canon information about him and that's from me. It seems rude to not do so. It's not like you can read his books or check out a wikia with his information on it.

NetFlix is great when you feel for a bit of nostalgia.

That would be godmoddy, yes. So it's nice to see you having respect for it.

Yeah, that's true. I'd play with another OC which webt right against what my canon said. That was annoying.

Edited 2015-12-08 00:38 (UTC)

Alas, I don't have netflix. Been wanting to get it, just can't afford it.

I had some bad godmoddy experiences in my past and so try to avoid it - not always successful but I try. Especially since I do have characters that are powerful like Theo.

That sounds annoying. Sadly - in some respects - I've always felt that canon characters take priority over OCs in what can and can't be done because they have officially written down stuff so to speak and so to break with that would be making them OOC. Certain things I won't negotiate - like Theo being able to tell if someone is undead or not - but others like how much he can tell about someone's undeadness and their ability to control them is negotiable.

Ah alright.

I guess games and people are more welcoming of canon characters cos they are as defined. On the other hand people have differing views about the characters which leads to conflict. I've played violent obscure characters and I get a lot of hate cos people doesn't know the canon and wants everyone to be do sweet and kind.

OC are freer to me cos people can't judge them as harshly. That's something I like.

But yeah you need to compromise. Even canon characters I've learned.

S'okay. There's always the library!

I know someone who plays a Loki who gets a lot of hate because they don't play him the woobie who automatically falls into a relationship with their character. XD I think people just don't like the idea of negative CR in general. /random Rp rambling thoughts.

I like OCs for that reason too! Though people tend to judge them harshly I've found because of potential Mary Sue stigma.

It really is necessary. Especially with characters like Superman or various magic systems. Or things like the Force - does it work outside of the Star Wars universe?

Those are the people whom doesn't understand the canon.

Yeah, it's always a risk. I've been judged too and not gotten much play.

I mostly play more slice of life characters. Or I treat this as a Nexus where things from all worlds works. But games can be a lot stricter.

They're more headcanon/fanon than canon - at least the people the Loki player had to deal with.

Obviously same here. But I really love my OCs and I hope that one day they'll be canons. And I suck at playing canons so that's what I do.

I treat places like SWS as Nexus areas too. It's the easiest thing to do. But yeah, games sometimes need to be stricter.

Well yeah. The other guys whom thought loki woukd be a woobie didn't understand canon. The player ehom refused did understand canon. Sorry. I'm esl.

I want to write something proper too. But I suck so I stick with established characters.

It's the best you can do.

Bah. That was wrong with them. As much as something can be considered wrong with this sort of stuff. And no worries about the ESL stuff. I'm EFL and I still mess up.

Best way to get better is to practice! And actually writing stuff like this and fan fiction is good practice! There are quite a few authors who got their start in fan fictions nowadays! Some of them are actually good.

My problem is lack of motivation.

I thought about something. Your character may sense the strong aura of light around my character. Abd my character may sense more about your character than he'd like. Jeremy is the sword and champion of the highest God in his world after all.

Hahaha... And I'm assuming that the undead aren't very popular with the Highest God of his world?

While death is a natural part of the world, the concept of undeath goes straight against it. So yes, undead people aren't too popular with him. Thankfully he respects the concept of free will unless it threatens the entire existance. Jeremy may not be as understanding to be fair. He's just human. So it's a potential for conflict.

Sounds like fun! =D I guess we'll see what happens. Imma going to say that Theo's been politely ignoring the owie feeling he's probably getting off of your guy.

So, what he'd get off of Theo is that he's a very powerful necromancer (he's the strongest one alive in his world) and while he feels undead is not actually undead. He's definitely got divine in him and his parentage is from a very old and powerful deity. We're talking like Chronos vs Dionysus. Theo isn't evil, but he operates on more of a blue and orange morality.

Works for me. Theo may feel a bit of divinity too.

Jeremy is human but his powers comes from the essence of creation. It's ancient and has existed since the dawn of time,

Hmmm. Jeremy would deffo be able to tell the undead connection. He's attuned to detect demons, undeads and other chaotic beings. But that woukd probably be the extent of his vision. He wouldn't be able to tell much more.

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