Paradox Redux Interest, the Overcast Version

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Originally Posted by Overcast

Ifrit will in fact not tear you in half like a phone book.

But, Ifrit tearing things in half is like, a staple of the series man! It's not a Paradox adventure until Ifrit has brutally murdered a variety of monsters.

Also how far into the negatives can we go on our skills, cos I have an absurd idea in mind that will probably break the game if you don't stamp on it right now.

[Inbred Chocobo]

Character:
- Name: Andrew Goodman
- Age: 56
- Gender: Male
- Appearance: A standing 6'1' man, who's hair is all white, and wrinkles all abound. An obvious aged warrior who keeps his clothing respectable but old fashion. (Worn suits and the like). He carries an air of experience and coldness. Always walks with a cane even though its obvious he has no need for it.
- Personality: Cold and heartless. That would be what most would say about Andrew. A war veteran, Andrew has seen a lot of killing, and raised a stern household, and grew up strict and raised his children strict as well. He tends to be blunt, and not caring about anything that anyone has to say. His family would call him heartless at times, but how he shows love is through respect. A heavy drinker and a heavy smoker, its rare to see one of those two not in his hand.
- Backstory: Andrew grew up in a strict household, and never much was for games or fun. Joined the military when he was young, and fought in a war. Came back scarred with doctors telling him he would never walk again. Took him about 6 months to prove them wrong. He got himself a wife and had kids, and started a business known as Goodman's Funeral home. He was respectable, but constantly seeing death and people teared from such things, along with the war, left him with a very cold personality. His wife left him 10 years ago, and died of cancer 3 years ago. He has 3 kids. His eldest, his son, runs the funeral home now, as Andrew has retired. His two daughters are in town, now married and raising family of their own.

Nowadays, being retired, Andrew mostly lives in his home, a house large enough for two families and he has the place to himself. Its an old house, full of memories and little else. It was in this home when it first happened. The beast came. Tore up the entire garage, and stumbled upon some poor shmuck driving a car and threw him and his car into that garage, causing the whole mess to collapse. Police report stated the driver crashed the car into the garage, causing it to collapse. The next time, a house collapsed in his neighborhood, killing the entire family in it. This final time happened in the dead of night, and what people found were mangled bodies, crushed and smashed into unrecognizable heaps.

Human Stats
- Cool: 2: You see as much death and remorse, raise a family, and run a funeral home as Andrew, you would know why it takes a hell of a lot to unnerve him.
- Hard: 3: From unruly people at a funeral, to having to be a strong pillar of support for so long, and from past experiences, it makes Andrew seem cold sometimes, unloving and uncaring. He is an old soldier, and he can still kick ass if he needs to.
- Hot: -2: There is very little to the man. He is straightfoward, blunt, and tends to get on peoples nerves if they hang around him too long. All the drinking and smoking don't help either.
- Sharp: 1: You don't survive a war, and raise a business and a family without having some intelligence about it. Andrew is smart, and good at keeping his wits about him and ensuring nothing drastic is done.
- Synch: 0: He recognizes what he is becoming, but not how to deal with it.

Paradox Characteristics
- Name: Rajang
- Appearance: A mixture of a bull and an ape, his head seems always furious with a head of horns. A black mane of thick fur covers his neck, and protruding from it are shoulders as wide as a building. His forearms are shaped like an ape, muscle rippling from it like waves of an ocean, and each arm thicker than a tree. It turns into the shape of a bull as it goes back, with his back legs, while stout, end with hooves, and a tail of a bull hangs at the back.
- Distinctive Ability Forceful Rage: Rajang's anger gives him power. At first its just simple growth and girth buildup in muscle mass, and much for forceful blows. As he becomes angrier, his blows become much more powerful, his hits thundering against the ground shaking foes, his roar loud and strong enough to blow back those that would dare approach.
- Hunger: Bones


Paradox Stats
- Ferocity: 3 Rajang is a force of nature, hurricanes wish they had the raw strength and power that this beast had. Tossing cars, throwing buildings, ripping trees, this thing as strength far greater than just about anything out there.
- Terror: 3 You see the wrath of this thing charging you, you don't just stand there and laugh.
- Cunning: -2 Rajang's thoughtline is smash it until it dies, then continue to do so in case it died. He is very straightforward and blunt with his answers.
- Undaunted: 1 Rajang is more of a scary beast of raging damage and smashing and fires. Fear is a very rare thing for him to feel.
- Paradox: 0 Rajang's rage ability stems from emotional hate rather than any true self control.
- Synchronicity: 0 Rajang is aware of what he changes from, but unfamiliar with it.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Goddamnit IC.

[Inbred Chocobo]

Originally Posted by Hawk

Goddamnit IC.

Oh yeah, completely forgot about your Ifrit thingy. Alright, altered my beast for differences.

[batgirl]

Ok, I'll be working on my profile tonight either at work or tomorrow once I get off. Hopefully I'll have something within the next few days.

[PhoenixFlame]

Ovie roped me into this with his silver tounge, so I'll be working up something.

[batgirl]

Ok, hopefully I've done this correctly...

Human Characteristics
- Name: Amanda Levin
- Age: 29
- Gender: Female

- Appearance: 5'2" long strait brown hair with red highlights, deep brown eyes, slim build. Amanda usually is in her uniform: Navy blue tech pants with many pockets, EMS belt, steel toed boots, button down navy blue shirt with her company insignia and her shield pinned to her left breast pocket.

- Personality: On the job she is confident and cool, exuding an air of authority and calmness. She knows she's good at what she does and has nerves of steel. Off the job she's just a regular average adult who enjoys her job and favors her down time.

Since her transformation, she has become much more reserved and quiet, avoiding most people and leaving work right after she clocks out to go home alone. Her coworkers attribute it to her needing a vacation, but she's really just terrified of who might be in her line of sight when she transforms next.

- Backstory: An up and coming paramedic, Amanda has been lauded by her peers as the one you want on the job when shit goes down. She loves her job and is damn good at it too. Before her paradox manifested, she would spend her off hours hanging out at bars with friends, enjoying the outdoors and generally living life to its' fullest. Her first transformation changed all of that. During a nasty cardiac arrest, Amanda unwillingly transformed and caused the ambulance to crash and explode. She was dragged out of the wreckage barely alive, everyone else was assumed burned beyond recognition.

Human Statting
- Cool: 2 DP ~ After seeing all manor of atrocities and horrors after 10 years on the streets, Amanda has nerves of steel and remains calm under pressure
- Hard: -2 DP ~ Amanda doesn't do violence, she's in the business of healing, not hurting.
- Hot: 2 DP ~ Let's not play around, Amanda is good looking. Plus, the whole paramedic persona has people viewing her as heroic and someone they can trust with their lives, literally.
- Sharp: 2 DP ~ Amanda is bright. She's been through years of rigorous schooling and even more years of working on the streets. Common sense, knowledge and street smarts? She's got them.
- Synch: 0 DF ~ Amanda can feel her paradox trying to break through, and attempts to resist, but in the end all she can do is let the inevitable happen and hope the collateral damage isn't too bad.

Paradox Characteristics
- Name: Eldonna
- Appearance: Exactly the picture below. No height gained though, so while she emanates unnatural heat from her body and is covered in some pretty tough scaly armor, she's not all that intimidating due to her size.

- Hunger: Eldonna is a refined eater, she likes organs but isn't picky if they're human or animal.

Paradox Combat Characteristics
- Flight ~Those wings aren't just for show. Eldonna can fly about as fast as the common Boeing 747.
- Fire manipulation ~ Eldonna is capable of creating fireballs and lobbing them at enemies with precision. Mmmmm...bbq.
- Fists and Feet ~ As a last resort Eldonna does have hardened fists and feet. She's not a fancy fighter by any means, but she can stomp and punch.
- Resistances ~ Fire, Blunt Trauma, cold
- Weaknesses ~ Water

Paradox Statting
- Ferocity: 1 DF ~Not overtly aggressive, preferring to stay at a range and use her fire, but she must she can muster enough power to at least buy her time to get into a better position.
- Terror: 0 DF ~ She's pretty humanoid looking and she's not very large. At only 5'2", most humans are taller than her. Some people might even call her pretty in some twisted way.
- Cunning: 1 DF ~ Eldonna knows enough about her strengths and weaknesses to know what works for her, but an A+ strategist she isn't.
- Undaunted: 2 DF ~ Yeah, not much phases her. She's damn tough to hurt with her scaly armor plated body and she remains cool under pressure.
- Paradox: 1 DF ~ She has average control over her paradox abilities.
- Synchronicity: 0 DF ~ Amanda can feel her paradox trying to break through, and attempts to resist, but in the end all she can do is let the inevitable happen and hope the collateral damage isn't too bad.

[Red Mage Black]

Character:
- Name: Andre Laurentin
- Age: 34
- Gender: Male
- Appearance: Standing at a modest 5'11", with combed back light brown hair and dark green eyes. Fairly average in weight muscle size and nowhere near fighter material, at least that's the impression he gives from a good distance off. Usually found wearing more business-like attire, gray, brown or even maroon suits and dress slacks with always shined black shoes.
- Personality: Calm and charismatic, yet likes showing off his arrogance from time to time because he likes watching and gauging reactions in hopes it will tell him more about the other's personality. He is also devious, conspiring not only against his students, but other faculty in the school.
- Backstory:
Andre was born in the 1%, so to speak. His father the CEO of a major bank and his mother a young actress on her way to stardom, playing in smalltime movies in the hopes of making it big. He was never left wanting, except for his actual parents. So, he ended up developing a hard exterior, with only the hopes of one day inheriting his father's position at the bank.

Instead of going to public schools, he was sent to an academy for boys. From there, developing his social skills with the other high class boys. There, he was able forge connections with other well off families, political, business and even criminal. In the later years, he turned his interests to economy, business and strangely enough, acting. All the while, keeping in touch with his so called 'friends'. They had eventually formulated a plan as to what they'd do when they left this place.

Time would eventually split them apart, but not for long. Andre had gone off to University while the others had moved on to do their own things. There, he further his economic and business studies while refining his acting skills. He had finally put his knowledge so far to practice. First it started with rumors, next with conspiracy and finally he had worked subliminal messages into his everyday conversations. The last one had grown out of control to the point so many people became involved and Andre had nothing left to do but watch the results. Eventually, a few students had gone insane to the point of attempted murder. It was all so amusing to him. The way people reacted to the stupidest things and if you play it off right, can have real effects.

After finishing up his studies, Andre came back into the world more educated and ready to take on whatever business they had. With a nice fat trust fund at his fingertips, the first was to establish a place to live. In which he chose a nice high rise apartment. Nothing like a view of the city to clear one's mind after a long day. A place where he could sip bourbon and have a nice view of the political atmosphere from his own couch. After that was reestablish contacts and keep track of when his father eventually passed. Now he just needed some way to pass the time. Well, the drama teacher at the local high school had just left. That was a bingo. Not that he actually needed the cash, but things would get boring otherwise.

As expected, his qualifications were amazing and he may have been too qualified, but he had insisted on being paid for the minimum requirements. He would establish a foothold in the faculty 'hierarchy' soon enough. Then he would carefully plant the seeds of doubt and mistrust among the faculty as well as make things harder for the students.

When everything blossomed, it would be such beautiful carnage to behold. Something would end up happening though, that would change all he had done so far.

The first night, the Principal had ended up dead. Second, the Janitorial staff and thirdly, investigating Police. All of it was too fuzzy to understand, yet those leftover cravings. It was all too surreal. His plan wasn't botched yet, but things would have to be put on halt. Was it really him? He couldn't help but take credit in his mind. Only something as devious as him could have pulled those off. The more he thought about it, the more interesting it became. The deaths weren't as subtle as he would have done them, but he wasn't in control. That was it, that was that... thing... whatever it was. He wanted to give it points for its methods. Now he just needed a plan to get a hold of it.

Human Stats
- Cool: 2 : Andre keeps his emotions under control, wearing a constant poker face to prevent others from reading him or other's opinions from bothering him.
- Hard: -3: He abhors the use of intimidation or violence to get what he needs, instead relying upon his wits and charisma to make others give him what he wants.
- Hot: 3 : He is a manipulator by nature, taking advantage of his good looks and acting skills to reach his goals.
- Sharp: 2 : He has a good education under his belt, thanks to the University he went to. As well as the few connections he has.
- Synch: 0: Andre finds this turn of events interesting, but has yet discovered a way to take advantage of it. For now, it presents itself as a worthy opponent to his plans, considering it forced him to stall them.
- Profile: Andre is armed with a pistol(+1), he has basic training in its usage (+1), he has never personally killed a man(+0), he has everything to lose (+1) he is often accompanied by three well trained bodyguards, two with concealed weapons, one with a higher level weapon, all trained killers(+3) Profile 6.

Paradox Characteristics
- Name: Oberon
- Appearance: The body is slim and almost insect-like, with what looks like a leaf-green chitin plate over the chest that extends to the shoulders and a stick thin abdomen. Its legs start thick from the top, growing thinner towards the bottom and end in three sharp talons, three in the front and one in the back. The hands are segmented, once at the wrist, at the bottom of each finger and once before the claws. It's head is covered in tendrils of autumn colors that resemble hair, though they serve no obvious purpose. It's eyes have no sclera, instead they are a solid dark green with round pupils that reduce to catlike when exposed to light. It has no visible lips, but can hide it's viciously sharp teeth until it strikes it's target. It's face has the smallest bit of nose, with two tiny holes. It's back holds two sets of bug-like wings, which it uses to glide quickly and hover in place, hidden behind two plates which slide out when it begins to take flight.
- Distinctive Ability Mimicry (Vocal and Bodily) - Because of it's strange segmented body, it can lower it's chest down it's abdomen to appear shorter and it's claws to look more like it's prey. Along with that, it can change the sound of it's voice and make easy sounds like screaming and laughter. All of it is to slowly wear them down and finish them off without a fight.
- Hunger: Human Flesh


Paradox Stats
- Ferocity: -1 It detests direct combat and prefers to wear it's opponents down until it can finish them off without a struggle.
- Terror: 3 Not the strongest Paradox, it relies partially on it's horrible visage to drive it's prey into submission.
- Cunning: 3 It uses it's bestial cunning for subterfuge and confusion, to strike from the shadows and other places of safety without getting face to face.
- Undaunted: -3 The shapechanger is afraid of both itself and others. Preferring to stay out of light, avoid direct and prolonged confrontation and end it all quickly.
- Paradox: 3 It has good control over it's mimicry ability, as it's main means of offense and defense.
- Synchronicity: 0 Oberon is only dimly aware of what it is when it's not hunting, but doesn't appear to care right now.

[PhoenixFlame]

Thanks to Ovie's help, I finished except for Paradox abilities.

Name: Alicia "Alice" Marigold
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Appearance: Long raven hair with glacier-blue eyes, Alice wears a set of black rectangular-lensed glasses, and favors black T-shirts often weathered with her university emblem, damaged blue denim jean-shorts cut like the media would like young girls to wear, and white Nike tennis shoes.
Personality: Frigid and reserved, Alice is a needy, bitter young girl too proud to ask for help from anyone or admit she is sick. She's going through that period where the world seems adversarial and feels it owes her for injustices commited against her earlier in life. Now aware of her latent 'condition', she has begun to struggle with the idea of being a monster, and if it means she is less or more than human, and if it has always been why she felt cast out from society in general.

Backstory: Modern handsfree parenting and frequent movement during her developmental years has left Alice with little stability in life, causing her to drift from one city to another, no plan, friends, or future to seize on for some time. Diagnosed with depression and medicated for a problem she probably didn't really have, Alice burned out in life, her grades plummeted, she turned away from what friends she had. Her first transformation occured during an attempted suicide, Paradox normally doesn't manifest to assist or perserve the life of the host, but even Alice' convictions are not strong enough to swiftly end her own life with a kitchen knife. She lay for thirty minutes until the hunger overtook her fading conciousness and surged forth to consume the eyes of her would-be rescuers.

Human Statting-

Cool : 3 ~ Alice has a suprising deadness to stimuli to the point one might jokingly say her 'fear gland' has been removed. She remains calculating in stressful situations.
Hard : -2 ~ Physically weak, calm and detached, Alice has difficulty summoning any type of 'aggressive' or assertive emotion, though not for lack of trying. If she does threaten someone, it's not with force.
Hot : 1 ~ Mildly attractive, and while not a socialite, Alice knows how to lie, decieve, and manipulate. She does them shamelessly.
Sharp : 2 ~ Obstacles must be understood to be overcome. Alice isn't stupid, she just doesn't focus on tasks she sees as unnecessary or uninteresting. Otherwise, she's quite adept.
Profile: 6 ~ Alice is armed with blades(+1), she has not been professionally trained in their usage but she has used them against others often enough to have her own mad method (+1), she is an unrepentant murderer(+1), she has the look of a madwoman(+1), she has nothing to lose(+1), and she does not fear death(+1). (Thanks Overcast~)

Name: Tager
Appearance: A bipedal abomination of pink, muscled flesh with the visual consistancy of hamburger meat but considerably tougher, Tager is dotted by myriad small eyelids that protect the numerous visual organs that are its defining characteristic. Tager may open these eyes to percieve the world as a human might, but to do so is unnecessary, it may also elect (and frequently does) to maneuver by the ultrasound reflections of the ominous low-pitch humming sound the creature makes. Rather, the corneas of these eyes serve as lenses by which Tager manipulates local energy patterns by whatever sanity-destroying method it employs to perform such effects.

Opening these eyes in specific sets and patterns, sometimes in geometric patterns, other times seemingly randomly, allows for varying effects.

Hunger: Human eyes

Paradox Statting- An elditch horror with physical and supernatural fortitude, Tager is an unfeeling glacier.

Ferocity: 2 ~ Tager is not without physical effectiveness, a pair of chitinous blades sweeping forward from its forearms allow the muscular entity to crush human and vehicle alike.
Cunning: 1 ~ Large and dauntless, Tager patiently prefers a 'sit-and-wait' approach, analyzing an enemy before deciding how to defeat it, then striking suddenly.
Terror: -1 ~ Despite the ominous humming it emits and the elditch horror appearance of multiple eyes, Tager is slow and not particularly aggressive. Past the initial shock value, it isn't particularly horrifying until it kills you, and by then you're not in any position to be scared.
Undaunted: 3 ~ As far as paradox go, it is a physical tank, a mountain of meat that regenerates whole limbs, able stop attacks completely by projecting semitransparent energy barriers by a method that is poorly understood.
Paradox: 0 ~ Unfortunately, Alice doesn't know how it works either. Tager's abilities activate on almost entirely instinctual basis... for now.
Synch: 0 ~ Even someone as detached as Alice hasn't fully coped with what being a lovecraftian horror entails.

[Overcast]

Attention! Character concepts are coming in good, most monsters are finished but need more information on the humans from a few people. After we feel pretty good about ourselves I'm going to take a hard look at your monsters/people and hand out about two custom moves each to each of those concepts. Some of which will probably be negotiated with you folks, keep up the good work and hopefully soon we shall begin the great WURLD BILD.