Re: Kingdom Hearts: To the Bitter End

[draxx]

My team pet is Meta-Knight, my favorite nintendo character.

Industrious, you're in a position indeed. No experience with Kingdom Hearts so you're lost how the Heartless work, and none of your characters have any ability with magic or travelling world to world?

Iain M. Banks, your wisdom is appreciatted:
Imagine you are a tribe on a largish, fertile island; you'd tamed the land, invented the wheel or writing or whatever, the neighbours were cooperative or enslaved but at any rate peaceful and you were busy raising temples to yourself with all the excess productive capacity you had, you were in a position of near-absolute power and control which your hallowed ancestors could hardly have dreamed of and the whole situation was just running along nicely like a canoe on wet grass... when suddenly this bristling lump of iron appears sail-less and trailing steam in the bay and these guys carrying long funny-looking sticks come ashore and announce you've just been discovered, you're all subjects of the Emperor now, he's keen on presents called tax and these bright-eyed holy men would like a word with your priests.

[Cracklord]

It's hardly as bad as that. Though yes, that is exactly the sort of problem they are dealing with. Basically, The Heartless are a swarm that absorbs people into the darkness, and the Heartless are made from the energy of the people, kind of as extensions of the shadow. Once there is enough of them, the world vanishes, and becomes part of the shadow.
Fortunately, the process is reversible. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen much.
Anyway, the Heartless get into a world through a keybole, and a keyblade seals it. Think of them as champions of ballence, trying to keep any one side from triumphing. The bodies of the people become Nobodies, which are more powerful and dangerous. Particularly powerful Nobodies retain memories and identities, though given they are without soul they tend to be... unbalanced.
The origonal purpose of the organization was to descover the final room in the darkness and attain ultimate power, but it became 'become human again' after a while. There is a lot more information, but I'll explain that as it becomes relevant. Any wquestions so far?

Meta-Knight is approved.

[industrious]

That's a very very good explanation for my predicament. And of Kingdom Hearts. I should note I sort of know the basics due to darkblade's game. Sort of. Vaguely.

[Cracklord]

Well, imagine every world in video games and Disney movies is part of the same shared universe, though not necessarily with unifying laws or the like. They can be accessed by advanced enough technology or magic, but for the most part remain separate and independent. However, the struggle on every one of these worlds mirrors a metaphysical struggle that takes place across the entire universe between darkness and light. Now, the two cannot actually exist without each other, and optimally exist within balance. But this is rarely the case, as it is the nature of the two of them to try to destroy the other.
The darkness manifests the Heartless to do this. Now, the Heartless can be called by particularly dark or twisted souls, and can even be commanded if your soul is so dark they are incapable of noticing your humanity. The more powerful you are, the more you can command, however this does have… negative effects on your psyche to say the least. If they get you, they drag you into the darkness and your body and heart (soul) split, your heart becoming one of the living shadows, and your body and soul becoming a nobody (you have to be fairly spectacular for this, however). If you are particularly strong-willed, you may keep sentience, or even resist altogether (in the case of summons, though this is just even more complicated, so lets not go there).
If you are a saint, you heartless will be all the stronger, because the brighter the light the blacker the shadow. Heartless can also form spontaneously when the keyhole is open, meaning that the war against them is by its very nature never-ending.
Then there are the unversed, who are basically the opposite of life. So rather then being exclusively negative emotions, they are made up of the opposite of both light and dark.
So that’s the basics. The darkness has a sentience, and as you try to use it, it uses you. Ultimately, think of them as a magic hivemind made up of shadows.
Anyway, ultimately they want to end all life, free-will and individuality, leaving nothing but dead worlds and darkness.
It's like philosophy, the more information you have, the less you understand.

[draxx]

So are you going to do some cannon-welding?

[Cracklord]

Good question.
There are a lot of reasons to do so (makes it a lot less complicated, makes for some very interesting interactions and situations, and creates me a lot of new material to work with), and just as many not to (reduces the purity of the origonal and detracts from the established canon, means I have to do a lot more work, and can be plain annoying).
I might do, it might be funny to have (for example) tarzan raised by the Kong family rather then ordinary gorrila's (particularly as they're more advanced then the humans in that world), or Alladin with the sands of time from Prince of Persia (which I might do regardless of whether I go with it or not), The land of Dragons from Mulan combined with Dynasty warriors, or whatever. I'll leave that for the moment, and come back to you.
Though if you have opinions about whether I should or not, give it.

[Noxious]

I definitly want to get in on this Cracklord. So sign me up. Now I just need to come up with a character.

By the way this is AnimeKid

[AnimeKid]

All right now I have an account and I can post better.

[Cracklord]

Hey Animekid. Good to see you.

Thje pleasure's mine, and your expertise in these sort of games will be most useful. Welcome.

Since we seem to be forming individual groups I suggest you base your team around a Five Man Band or
Power Trio. Also, we need as many keyblade characters as possible, given the setting. I wouldn't recomend Riku, however, given Zexion's personality in Kingdom Hearts.

[AnimeKid]

Alright here's what I got.

my five man band

The Hero
Ventus



Age:15
Appearance: Ventus bears an uncanny resemblance to Roxas, bearing identical facial features. Further highlighting this resemblance is Ventus's outfit, which is strikingly similar to Roxas's own Twilight Town clothes. He wears a jacket that resembles a fusion of Roxas's jacket (white on the right side) and Sora's jacket in Kingdom Hearts II (black on the left side), also reminiscent of the Yin and Yang symbol. The collar of the jacket is red and pleated, again, similar to the collar on Roxas's own jacket. Underneath this, he wears what appears to be a grey vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. He wears a third layer under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also has a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection that appears to be under his vest, and another piece of armor on his left shoulder. Master Eraqus wears a similar piece of armor, though more blue-green, and more obvious. Ventus's pants are also similar to the pants Roxas wore, though Ven's balloon outward slightly before closing up about halfway down his legs, similar to caprice pants. These pants are colored in shades of grey, black, and white. He also wears an ornate, dull green and grey piece of armor on his upper-left arm, along with a black and white checkered wristband that is, once again, strikingly similar to Roxas's, but with white edges as opposed to Roxas's black-edged wristband. Like Aqua, he wears two criss-crossing straps on his chest, on which he wears a silver Keyblade Master emblem. His boots are rather odd when compared to Aqua's and Terra's, as they resemble an armored version of normal street shoes in shades of dull green and grey.
personality: Ventus is the youngest of the three Keyblade warriors. Personality-wise, he has many similarities with Sora; he's sweet, cheerful, curious, and gets excited at anything new or interesting, but he feels disappointed whenever Aqua and Terra refuse to allow him to join them on their missions because they do not want to put him in "harm's way." When he gives them their passes to Disney Town, he grudgingly mentions that Scrooge McDuck told him to "take two grown-ups," but he doesn't seem to dislike his status as the youngest of the three. He also makes new friends easily in different worlds and really cares about his best friends Terra and Aqua, viewing Terra as an older brother. Ventus is very much unable to cope with Terra turning and subsiding to the darkness in his heart. Some of his traits and personality might have passed on to Sora when his heart joined him. Along with his kind personality, he also shows a lot of bravery, especially evident when he battles Vanitas for the final time, where he promises to fight for his friends no matter what, knowing the fact that he would lose his heart as a result. However his heart has now fully healed and he is ready to help the universe again. His current band of friends are quite the team especially considering how he often butts heads with Ike whenever said person comments on Ven's inexperience. Xianghua often breaks up these outbusrts and can wail on the boys until they get back in line, she is like a sister to Ven.
Knuckles however is one of his best friends and vice versa.
Bio: Ventus now is roaming the universe in search of ways to help others and make it a better place to live, his heart of pure light drawing allies and lighting his way.
Powers/Abilities: He is a keyblade master like Terra and has many of the same abilites. He is a very fast and agile fighter his style relying on fast rapid fire hits rather than power, which he has at least a respectable amount of. He is skilled with wind and light magic/techniques such as Wind Raid, Faith, Tornado, Ars Arcanum, and Salvation.
Equipment: a shoulder plate that like Terra's turns him into his lightblue and gold armor plated form.
Motivation: Stop the heartless and help as many people as he can making the universe safe.

The Chick: Xianghua




Age:20
Personality:Xianghua has a kind and sweet personality and will not stop at anything to see justice served. She hates it when her friends get hurt and will fight to the death to protect them. She also knows that it is okay to be silly as long as you know when you need to be serious. Her catchphrase is "Just Kidding!". She cares deeply for all of her teammates, especially Ventus. If you hurt him in any way then watch out because thats when her maternal instincts come out it full force.
Bio: Xianghua is from the Ming dynasty and is an adept user of the Jian, a double-edged straight sword. She was a member of the Imperial Guard. She is searching for the evil sword Soul edge and trying to destroy it's fragments so that its evil will not taint her world or any other world ever again.
Powers/Abilities: She is a very good martial artist and is extremely skilled with her Jian.
Equipment:She has the powerful holy sword Soul Caliber.
motivation: Destroy the sword of evils fragments which might of fled her world.

The Lancer: Ike



Age:21
Personality: Ike is kind and protective of his friends and family. He is very brave and he is willing to help others as they need it often not accepting reward unless he is hired as a mercenary in which he wil ask for an honest price. Ven is like an annoying younger brother to him and Knuckles to him is the aloof twin sibling, at least until angered.
Bio: Ike was the leader of the Greil mercenaries after the murder of his father who he avenged. He had the title of Lord reluctanly bestowed upon him. He is great with strategy. Which means he often clashes with Ven's "I'm making this up as I go," attitude.
Powers/Abilities: Ike is increadibly strong, so much that he wields broadswords, swords that should be used with two hand, with one hand. He is also a master swordsman.
Equipment: The legendary blade Ragnell and very stong armor.
Motivation:Unknown at the moment

The Big Guy: Knuckles



Age:16
Appearance: He's a red echidna. What else is there to say?
Personality: Knuckles is a very aloof person and has a very cool personality. At least until you piss him off. Then you should run as far as you can so that you don't end up with powder for bones and you pancreas as your brain. He can also be very gullible as proven by the fact that he is fooled quite often by robotnik by utilizing his anger.
Bio: He was born on Angel Island where he has dutifully guarded the master emerald. He does occasionally get out and have fun though. Unfortunately one day while he was sleeping Angel Island heartless came and attacked him. When this happend the Master Emerald was shattered and the shards scattered of in the darkness, most likely to different worlds. Knuckles is now tracking the shards with the help of Ven who "Just had to help him".
Powers/Ablities: He is super strong to the point where he punches though metal with relative ease. He is a skilled treasure hunter. Not to mention he can dig underground.
Motivation:To find the pieces of the Master Emerald and bring them back to Mobious before the forces of darkness can use them. Also the punch the hell out of whoever thought that stealing the Master Emerald was a good idea.

The Smart guy: Fayt




Age:19
Personality: He is a kind and caring person with a strong sense of justice. He is polite, sometimes suave, and he cares deeply for his friends. He gets along well with everyone on the ship and has the traits of a keyblade wielder.
Bio:Fayt's world is very technologically advanced, to the point where they have ships that can travel at gravitic warp speed reaching the far ends of the universe within hours. They also have many weapons making them one of the first world that the heartless took out due to the threat that they posed. Thankfully some of them managed to escape along with some of thier technology. Fayt was the first person Ven picked up after rescuing him from he escape pod which was depleted of energy and would have run out of oxygen after about another half a day, what with the nine days he had been in thier already. Thus Fayt pledged to help Ventus and repay his debt. Fayt's world also had a magic art called symbology in which they engraved microscopic symbols into thier skin to give allow them to use powerful magics. Fayt is special because he had one of these symbols, the destuction symbol, engraved into his very genetic code. This gives Fayt the power of destruction which manefiests itself as pure light. This power also allows him to use more powerful symbology.
Powers/Abilites: Fayt is a Mageknight, a master swordsman who is able to draw on powerful magic. This technically makes him the strongest out of all the group except for the fact that he worrys for his friends constantly always trying to take blows for them or protect them. This means he gets sideshoted a lot in battles. He has a great array of techniqes and symbology spells. one of the is called Etheral Blast in which he combines symbological energy with his destruction power in one large beam that has multiple rapid fire explosions when it finishes. His destruction power can also take the form of a beam or through his training a dragon for a very powerful and draining attack. He is just a little slower than Ventus and about a strong as Ike, mabye a little less.
Equipment:His longsword(Divine Avenger), His Scanner(A trusty device that has information on multiple subjects in the universe, has a scan mode to look for lifeforms; traces; and objects, and with a little tinkering from Fayt a detection system for heartless.), and a gravitic warp engine that he installed on their gummi ship. Also an item called the Ring of Destruction, which can only be used on inanimate objects. Usually used to disentigrate debris that blocks passeges or pesky locked doors.
Motivation: Help Ven save the universe and find his childhood friend Sophia who escaped right before him

[b]

[Cracklord]

Fine so far, Animekid. In counterpoint to Draxx's dour band of old cynics, you seem to have the bright-eyed idealistic younger generation covered. Awesome.
I can already see a lot of material made possible by this difference.
I'll start you off in Traverse town to begin with.

And Draxx, you can start in the same place, alright? Don't worry, I'll split you up soon, the two groups together might be a tad overwhelming.

Anyway, I want to start this soonish (over the next few days), so hurry up with those character sheets.

[Dark Cloud]

The Leader

Name: Cloud Strife
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Appearance: Cloud is of short height with a slim build, a narrow waste and wide shoulders. His blond hair is spiked, and he has blue eyes, which glow due to the Mako flowing through his body.
His clothing consists of a high collar black shirt with no sleeves, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his left leg and arm. He also wears a single pauldron, and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge representing Fenrir.
Bio: Due to the combined effect of Mako poisoning and the influence of Jenova's cells in his body, Cloud unknowingly held a fake persona created by the Jenova cells mixing his memories of Zack's personality with the somewhat cocky and selfish attitude he believes a SOLDIER 1st Class would have. As such, despite knowing his memories to be false he is aware that he does not actually have a meaningful past.
He fought Sephiroth for a long time, over his world, at first driven by mercenary concerns, but later out of genuine concern and morality. He finally stopped him, or so he thought, but Sephiroth was a ghost who would always follow him.
He is a close friend of Tifa, but he's afraid to get too close, and has thrown himself into his vengeance in a way of escaping attachment.
Personality: Cloud as the person he actually is, is a much more somber and dark character, tormented by guilt over his past failings and mistakes. Despite the feelings he may have, Cloud remains steadfastly loyal and true to those he cares about and is always driven to protect them, even going as far as to hide his pain and emotions so he could not worry them.
However, he has a sense of humor, and while he has a rather notably stoic, melancholy and moody demeanor, his personality is not as dark as it could be. He is extremely single-minded.
Powers/Abilities: He learns slowly, but steadily. He is capable of impressive magic (thunder is his preference) and swordsmanship, wielding his oversized weapon as though it's the easiest thing in the world. However, he is slightly slower then peak capability, which means he can be overwhelmed potentially by very fast fighters.
Equipment: The Buster sword, his enormous, iconic blade.
Motivation: Kill Sephiroth and finally free himself from his darkness. Keep his friends safe at all costs. At least that's all he will admit to himself.

The Chick

Name: Princess Zelda
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Appearance: As a Hyalian, she has delicate, soft features, slanted eyes and pointed ears. Her hair is long and chestnut brown, sometimes braided, and she is slim and girlish, with only the slightest hint of muscle. She is short, and somewhat annoyed about it as people are more likely to overlook her as a consequence of it. She wears a little jewelry, and favors intricate dresses, emphasizing her feminity. She wears a close fitting golden crown, and ornamental golden pauldrons, but they are far too delicate to offer any protection.
Bio: She is the reigning head of state in Hyrule, though she retains the title of princess.
Personality: Zelda is depicted as a kind and benevolent ruler with wisdom beyond her years and a deep love towards the people she watches over. She is a caring, graceful and self-sacrificing person. Most of all, she is wise beyond her years, as the triforce gives her the wisdom of the universe.
Powers/Abilities: Princess Zelda portrays various types of both magical and physical abilities, ranging from capably wielding a bow, to telepathy; she has prophetic visions in her dreams and can use considerable powers as a sage, though her magic is mostly non-offensive in nature.
She can competently handle a blade, although her skill is only a little above average, making her an amateur by the standards of the other characters.
Her greatest power is her wisdom, which is considerable even without the triforce.
Furthermore, she can become Shiek, in which case she gains considerable abilities in stealth and knife fighting.
Equipment: Light arrows, her masterwork sword.
Motivation: Save Hyrule from the forces of darkness, and find a way to rescue it's people. She met Cloud looking for help.

The Smart Guy

Name: Mew-Two
Age: 3
Gender: Genderless, but has male tertiary characteristics.
Appearance: Mewtwo is a creature with a humanoid posture, but has a few feline features. Mewtwo's body is grayish-purple with a purple underside and a long, purple tail. Mewtwo has three circular digits on each appendage. It has purple eyes (some times blue when attacking) and two short ears.
One of Mewtwo's most notable features is the tube extending from the back of its skull to its spine. It is most likely a secondary spinal cord, or a system of nerves, allowing for an increased amount of blood and sensory transmission to the brain, heightening its psychic powers.
Biography: A successful cloning of Mew, the pokemon's common ancestor.
Personality: Due to its early visions of the human race, Mewtwo is known to be very aggressive and thinks of nothing but battling and defeating its foes. It is intelligent, but cold, and despite it's considerable mental facilities has little empathy or care of those it deems lesser to itself.
Powers/Abilities: Mewtwo is highly skilled with Psychic powers. It can levitate through use of telekinesis, speak telepathically, and take control of another living being's mind. It has a powerful signature move, Psystrike, and it is also known for its powerful Shadow Ball and Aura Sphere. Mewtwo is also capable of wielding various types of attacks (but to a lesser extent than Mew). To exert its powerful psychic abilities, it will stay motionless for long periods of time in intense concentration to raise its capabilities to the maximum power.
Equipment: A suit or armor that amplifies his psychic abilities and offers him protection.
Motivation: It is currently working on cloning the pokemon master race.

[Cracklord]

Damnit, I was going to keep Cloud an NPC for character without a way to travel between worlds. Now I'm stuck with Leon Squall, and his stupid gun with an oversized bayonet.

Ah well, that's fine, welcome to the club. They all make the cut, though you might want a few more characters.

Also, Knuckles is fine. Feel free to use Auron or Fayt if you're out of ideas.

[industrious]

My two characters still need to join up with someone.

[Cracklord]

Hence, Leon.
I'll see you get a gummi ship or an artifact that lets you navigate the corridor as soon as I can, don't worry.

[AnimeKid]

Keyblade wielder Fayt or regular Fayt?

[Cracklord]

This is a separate continuity, so regular.

[AnimeKid]

Gotcha

[Cracklord]

Anyway, I want to start soonish, so hurry up with those character sheets. We'll keep this thread running for queries, suggestions or whatever.

[AnimeKid]

I'm ready to go anytime Cracklord, i just hope that Indy, Sean, and DarkCloud are ready

[Cracklord]

They can pick it up as we go. If we wait to long, the games tend to fall apart. Better to start while the interest is high, and everyones still interested and enthusiastic.


Edit: Anyway, here is a link to the game. You can post once you have character sheets up and are approved. No taking additional characters unless you run it by me on this thread here first.

[industrious]

You know? At heart, I'd like to think Jack's a good person. I mean, his whole story arc, as I see it, is a rejection of both his fathers in favor of a different path. He gets the good ending. He gets the Little Sisters as his adopted children.

Put a man through hell, and give him heaven (or at least the chance at it) as his reward. That's my RP philosophy.

[Cracklord]

Alright, I'm good with that. I'll introduce him soonish, as soon as I'm done reading up on where that would leave him.

And my philosophy? If I'm going to fail, then I intend to fail spectacularly.

[industrious]

The Good Ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu70sn7GWkc

[Cracklord]

OK, how's that?

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