Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Derp!

Derp!

Derp!

Derp!

[SOLDIER First]

patpat
sorry Sanure ;-;

[Empiricist]

Take your time, Sanure. It's best that you get plenty of rest and time off if you're not feeling too well emotionally.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Take your time, Sanure. It's best that you get plenty of rest and time off if you're not feeling too well emotionally.

This. Can't say it any better.

[Empiricist]

I'll try not to fill your inbox with more walls of text and action drafts that change twice daily while you get some much deserved rest

[TheBiggerFish]

Take your time, Sanure. It's best that you get plenty of rest and time off if you're not feeling too well emotionally.

This. Can't say it any better.

Yeah.

[Empiricist]

Character Sheet

Code: (//TODO) [Select]

Fill in HP and Init


Spoiler: Fluff (click to show/hide)

• Name:
  BOXWOOD, though no one actually calls him that. Most people just call him Woody.
  
• Gender:
  N/A, but I'll be using male pronouns here since just using a gender-neutral "they" or "it" can be ambiguous at times.
  
• Appearance: ((Reference Image))
  BOXWOOD looks like a rather large plush toy, taking the form of a snow white squid with a stylized cat face and wings that double as cat ears. He's awfully soft and cushy with a voice that sounds sickeningly cute.
  
• Theme: ((In case that becomes relevant.))
  Symphonie Fantastique, Fourth Movement - "Marche au Supplice" by Hector Berlioz
  
• Background: ((So setting information and backstory.))
  While being impossible to observe even indirectly is often equated to effective nonexistence, they are not necessarily the same. In BOXWOOD's setting (which shall henceforth be referred to as Proxy), there is far more to the universe than just what humanity can observe. Formed of something other than matter, bound by fundamental forces unbeknownst to mankind were a species with no name. They were beings of computation rather than matter, and by sheer coincidence, this composition allowed them to notice the Origin.
  
  The Origin is, something. An Apathetic God - inconceivable power without a trace of sentience. It thinks, or processes at the very least, but nothing ever becomes of its computation. It has no inputs and no outputs, it just exists, doing absolutely nothing. From this, magic was developed. By synchronizing one's own computation with that of the Origin, it becomes possible to channel a fraction of its power. It is with this power that they spread through the aspects of the universe they could observe, even those that only weakly interacted with what they could observe, turning it all into what amounts to a realm of computation, one that guaranteed their continued and indefinite survival.
  
  In their unhalting expansion, they discovered other forms of life, self-replicating structures all consistently lacking in the most basic of computation let alone intelligence. Which, while letting them guiltlessly annihilate them all by changing the very laws of physics and then effectively locking them into place so the same trick won't work on them, did raise some questions. After all, it seemed quite odd that they alone would be sentient in this entire universe.
  
  So, using their magic, they constructed physical forms, vessels that they could control and interact with the parts of the universe they otherwise could not even observe. It is here where the fundamental limitation of magic must be discussed. You see, since the spellcasting involves synchronizing your thought processes with that of the Origin, you end up losing some of your identity during the casting. So while higher synchronization increases power, it also lowers control as what you specifically want the spell to do begins losing context. With even more synchronization, you start encountering the Tzinacan Dilemma. What it amounts to, is having your thoughts match Origin's so perfectly, you become indistinguishable from it during the casting. You'll for the duration lose all identity and do absolutely nothing because having the Origin's utterly alien thought processes means that you too will give absolutely zero fucks about everything and anything, including yourself. Though experience and skill can push this limit further, at a certain point you won't be able to avoid it, setting a hard limit. Since operating vessels already required plenty of magic, this meant their power was limited, slowing their search.
  
  Eventually, they found sentient life. All were primitive, because as it turns out, non-sentient life is far more efficient and is able to develop faster, quickly consuming and wiping out their less efficient counterparts, meaning none of the latter ever gets too far. Okay, so now they had an explanation, but it wasn't really one they liked. So, they examined the ones that weren't extinct just yet, the ones they could still protect from the harshness of the universe. Formed of baryonic matter governed by the Higgs field, strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and gravity, were a species with remarkably similar mental architecture. They would eventually grow to call themselves humans. It was this, the nascent humanity they chose to protect. Perhaps in time they would find companionship in this still so young species. In hindsight, they really shouldn't have set their expectations that high.
  
  Because as it turns out, humanity has what can be best described as a death wish. Yes, the species is still very much in its youth and has been preconditioned into attempting to render parts of itself extinct, but it's still utterly disappointing. It's like one of those humans who start wearing heavy black eyeliner and cutting themselves. Except it's the entire damned species. And precisely because they cannot be trusted not to obliterate themselves over more trivialities, they are protected from the shadows, out of sight, out of mind.
  
  Well, other than that one time Q ran that little experiment of his. And everyone knows how well that turned out.
  
  Give humans an inch and they'll take a mile, devote half of it to yet another holocaust and then use the remaining half to sand off their own genitals, before leaving you with what would be the least desirable strip of one-inch real estate were they not prone to doing it constantly. But hey, by this point their silent protectors decided they'll take what they can get, even if what they got were incompetent baryonic meatsacks. With vessels lacking the power needed to take out the threats posed by invasive alien species, the solution came in the form of Muses and Conservators. It's a simple system really, the Muse takes their vessel and finds a human who can be trusted to be at least somewhat confident, and persuades (with the form and definition of "persuade" up to the Muse in question) them to go protect the rest of their species (in general, can't make an omelet without a bit of manslaughter). The human is then able to use magic by synchronizing through their Muse, with their power being significantly higher since they don't need to direct it through a vessel. Once they get enough experience that they can be trusted to operate alone and given a proper (though of course, heavily restricted) link to the Origin (so basically, they themselves are modified to fill the role a Muses' vessel did for them) or, more likely, die horribly, their Muse then goes off to find another poor flesh puppet and the whole process starts all over again.
  
  BOXWOOD (yes, he's named after an appointment title, namely because his species doesn't really have names or anything resembling human language) is one such Muse. He's had his fair share of successful Conservators, and dug more than a few shallow graves along the way. During which he also learned that it's much faster for him to intervene rather than letting the little shits (because of course the one time popular culture blindly stumbled into a depiction of their job, it starred little girls instead of delta force operatives or people with actual military training) run off and earn him another evening of getting blood out of shag-pile carpeting (and yes, the poofy skirts and frilly clothes are indeed designed specifically to soak up as much blood as possible).
  
  His current assignment, seeing as he currently does not have a Conservator, is to investigate an anomaly. Specifically, it seems to be a region of distorted space that interferes with sensors, acting as a virtual reality of sorts that seems to simulate an entire multiverse of more fleshlings, albeit marginally more competent. They're not entirely sure why it's there, seeing as even for a symptom of an alien intrusion, it's a bit of a curve-ball, so right now they're hoping that it's another actually sentient alien species trying to make contact in their weird way. Ones who are hopefully aren't as moronically self-destructive.
  
• Personality:
  BOXWOOD is a cynical man, an overbearing man, but also a common man. From his virtues, stem his vices, from his valiance comes presumption and from his detachment comes inattention. Though he can be negative, he himself is not a cynic. Though he his is bitter, he has faith in humanity still. Though perhaps "faith" may be overselling it - he has high expectations and believes that humans have the potential to meet them, no matter how many of them fail and die horribly for it. With a cutesy tone of voice that still has trouble belying the capacity for ruthlessness that is buried beneath, he speaks curtly and professionally for his occupation and his beliefs will accept no less. He is hesitant to violence but not a stranger to slaughter, one who prefers a massacre over a fair fight. He does not trust his Conservators easily but is willing to perform unpleasantries for their sake regardless. He will work with virtually anyone, provided they are suitably competent, even if their relationship is antagonistic at best. He has his own life, a softer side, whimsical hobbies, and caring friends outside his job of course, but if he's doing anything with his vessel, then he's on the clock, so don't expect much to come out of it.
  

Spoiler: Crunch (click to show/hide)

• Level 5
  
  • EXP:
    
  • HP:
    
  • Init:
    
• Stats (34 Points)
  
  • CON 8
    
  • DEX 9
    
  • INT 9 + 6 = 15
    
  • LUC 0
    
  • RES 8 + 4 = 12
    
  • STR 0
    
  • SYN 0
    
• Perks
  
  • -UNKNOWN-
    
  • Tactician: He's overseen his fair share of fights, indeed, one of the key parts of his occupation is to advise and train his Conversators, no matter how stubbornly they refuse to listen. BOXWOOD can choose which stat their debuff skills lower at their time of casting.
    
  • Expendable Form: BOXWOOD doesn't actually reside in his physical form. Sure, it takes a while to replace, not helped by the fact that it was never designed to be deployed anywhere other than in a specific aspect of the universe, but the point is, if his vessel breaks, he can always deploy another one at a later time. Though the expendable nature does mean that it will be rendered inoperable quite quickly if critically damaged. BOXWOOD can resurrect without any of their equipment when the plot allows for it. But they bleed out twice as fast.
    
  • Improvise: Sometimes, there simply isn't enough time to plan. Sometimes, you just have to improvise and hope that your Conservator is competent enough to handle the rest. Every 3 turns, BOXWOOD can use Advise multiple times on the same turn. However, the total sum of the debuff values must be equal to that of a single regular Advise.
    
• Actions
  
  • Level 5 ACT, Advise: BOXWOOD advises his allies on how to deal with a specific foe. Debuff the selected stat of a single foe by INT/2 for 3 turns. Debuffs to the same stat will not stack.
    
  • Level 5 ACT, Press Advantage: An all-or-nothing tactic that gives a chance to ruthlessly crush foes or at least survive their attacks at the cost of giving them a chance to recover should they survive. All debuffs on the selected foe are increased by INT/4 but are removed at the end of the turn.
    
  • Level 1 PAS, Quick Thinking: Being able to make plans beforehand rather than half way through a firefight is always good. +3 to DEX when rolling for initiative.
    
  • Level 1 PAS, Flexible Stratagem: BOXWOOD is far from a one-trick pony. If a foe counters his tactics, he'll just analyze their response and throw a different one at them. Every time an enemy dispels one of his debuffs, BOXWOOD gains +1 INT.
    
  • Level 1 PAS, Calculating: A Muses job in combat is more to yell at people than to actually fight, even those with heavily combat-oriented vessels. +3 to INT for debuff-related actions.
    

Spoiler: Gear (click to show/hide)

Weapon: M1911
Chance made man, Colt made a few of them dead.

• Counts as a Ranged Weapon with a Base Damage of: 1d10
  

Offhand: Steel Plate
A makeshift buckler or sorts, not too hard to acquire on a short notice.

• +2 RES
  

Armor 1: Kevlar Vest
Highly soluble in Teflon, or so the media seems to think.

• Medium Type
  
• +2 RES
  

Armor 2: -EMPTY-
Bauble 1: Miniature Tophat
Worth decidedly less than ten shillings and sixpence.

• +2 INT
  

Bauble 2: Plastic Monocle
An acrylic disc with delusions of grandeur.

• +2 INT
  

Bauble 3: Toy Encyclopedia
Surprisingly thin for something entitled "Wikipedia"

• +2 INT
  

Bauble 4: -EMPTY-
Bauble 5: -EMPTY-

Spoiler: Loot (click to show/hide)

Sharpened Entrenching Tool
Perfect for digging (and filling) shallow graves.

• Counts as a Melee Weapon with a Base Damage of: 1d5
  
• Can be used as a shovel
  

Zippo Lighter
For arson and cigarettes.

• Produces a small flame
  

Packet of Cigarettes
Filter tipped poison in a nice convenient packet.

• Contains cigarettes
  

[TheBiggerFish]

Whoo-ee.

[Empiricist]

So, anyone got any ideas for equipment? Because since the universe as we know it in Proxy pretty much the same as real-life, (well, save for the eldritchy alien incursions that get suppressed by Conservators and Muses, along with a bit of collateral damage from that, all of which is kept secret anyway), Woody's equipment is basically just limited to stuff that can be obtained or stolen IRL.

[TheBiggerFish]

Give them a shooty weapon?

[Empiricist]

He's got a handgun already, what he mainly needs right now is something to give bonuses to INT or debuffing.

[TheBiggerFish]

Oh.  Give him a copy of Wikipedia, in that case.

[Empiricist]

How much of a bonus do stat-increasing baubles usually give? +1? +2? Because I might just give Woody three of those high-power laser pointers to shine in people's eyes to make his debuffs more effective.

[TheBiggerFish]

Ha!  Nice one!

[TCM]

I'll see you all when I'm not fucking depressed. Later.

Take a rest Sanure, you deserve it.

So, anyone got any ideas for equipment? Because since the universe as we know it in Proxy pretty much the same as real-life, (well, save for the eldritchy alien incursions that get suppressed by Conservators and Muses, along with a bit of collateral damage from that, all of which is kept secret anyway), Woody's equipment is basically just limited to stuff that can be obtained or stolen IRL.

Maybe a few pieces of equipment can be in line with Boxwood's appearance; quite trinkets and outfits that either soften the blow of enemy attacks (increasing RES) or making them take Boxwood less seriously (decreasing his priority among targets for the enemy).

Also, I think (adorable) equipment/baubles that would justifiably increase INT would a monocle, a tiny hat, a book, and some other pieces of academic paraphernalia.

[Sanure]

Yeah, leaving the forum for depression is not a good thing to do apparently. I like my sanity.