Zortel

We all know there's a lack of household items and furniture for bases, and I know some of us are rather inventive, so I thought here we could present our ideas for use in others bases.

To start us off, I give what every looks-concious superhero needs in their bedroom, the Vanity Mirror:

Vanity Mirror

Construction is simply a wooden counter or chest of draws, with long wooden wall cabinets above on either side. Locking the cabinet together is two smaller wall cabinets, and in the space created a picture from Wall Details can easily substitute for a mirror. Add coloured bottles, some pots with accessories in and a few magazines, and a chair to sit on and voila, not only will your hero do great things, but they'll look great doing it!

Jess K vs the Spa!

Round 1: Pedi/Manicure vs Jess K. The person doing them blunts several files on Jess' nails before giving up. They grow to the length Jess wants, so don't need to be cut, hence the hardness of them.

Round 2: Face packs vs Jess
Staff: For the last time please, stop eating the cucumber slices!

Round 3: Sauna vs Jess
Jess K: I think my sauna does not work, I am not sweating...

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And gotten isn't a word.


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I'd consider gotten in direct speech a word. Plus, from Wikitionary: gotten

(US) Past participle of to get.

Umm... not wanting to be the damp on the fireworks, but I think your story could do with a little more, and some background research. I know you've said it's to be continued, but from what you've written the only reason I'd want to read is to find out the following:

1: Why Atta and Frostfire are going to Firebase Zulu. Together. It seems to be that from the story written they're working together. From what the leader of the pack of trolls says to the main characters, this adds confirmation to it. Trolls hate Outcasts. Outcasts hate Trolls. Hence the pitched battles in the Hollows. If your characters expressed some surprise at this unprecedented team up, then it may be a little bit easier to go along with.

2: From what I've seen, Crey and the Council have problems getting into the firebase. Without outside help, suspension of disbelief doesn't stretch long enough to cover the fact that two street gangs can get in.

Some writing points to touch upon too, but I'm not as good with my English to touch upon those points. With some more information and substance to the story, along with some more background inclusion it might be an interesting read with some potential.

All criticism to be taken constructively, if swallowed drink water and do not force self to throw up, seek medical attention immediently.

Also, look in the comics. Statesman suspended Manticore off the team because he's addicted to friendly fire... no, that's one of his other faults, because he killed Protean or Doppleganger, whatever his arch enemy was. Prisoners are teleported to the Zig when defeated (though by undeclared in the game world means), I doubt the people at the Zig would like having to sew up peoples insides before incarcerating them.

That and like Ravenswing said, a 'hero' who goes to extreme measures isn't going to be liked widly, and if they ain't liked, people will start writing to the FBSA. "Why do you let such a dangerous individual out on the streets!" you can just hear the old man typing furiously to send off letters to papers, magazines and goverment officals.

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THe main concept I had going would be a group of heroes no-one liked but who had to be let do their job because they'd managed to get their heroes license.

[/ QUOTE ] It depends on why no one likes them. If they use excessive force, they can kiss their licenses goodbye. I kind of see FBSA issued Hero Licenses as Bounty Hunter licenses in the US, they have to stick to rules.

Still waiting for my expo ones, though the money has come out of my paypal account and bank.

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The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked
climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the
Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting
sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of
earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense
from overhead, half way through its daily revolution.

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50-75% adjectives... *shudder*

I normally use it before an AV/Monster fight, or a rather hard looking boss fight. Before ED when it was 6 slotted with RecReds I didn't need stamina.

3 Recharges and that's all it needs.

Same... *Thinks of a possible character*

I'll find you...
*Mysterious spooky music*

Nah, closer to the time I'll know what I'm going to go as. The blue hair spray may or may not resurface, probably not.

The Resistance is only for Cold, so you probably don't want to slot for it.

Grats Max! *Kitten hugs*

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Althought the 'Railroad Plot' phase was very hard for me

[/ QUOTE ] The Railroad Plot phase was where some of us, myself included, ran plots which went in a straight line, without IC actions altering it. Happened for me as I was making plots like stories, not like... plots. But it's gone now, and all of us, including myself, learned the lesson.

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Great story, but I'm going to pick holes in your composition just to be a meanie. Try scanning the story and looking at the first word in each paragraph, especially near the start. Most of them are 'Hannah'.

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Want the lie reason or the truth reason?

Lie Reason: Hannah's thinking about Hannah, so Hannah comes up a lot at the start of paragraphs.

Truth reason: It took me two hours to put one word down, and an hour or so after that to write the story, I wanted to get it posted quickly so I didn't A: Go into a cycle of editing to which the story would never return or B: Have the story delayed and put things out of whack.

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Um, that would be Tessa-1's niece, since the Tessa everyone knows is Tessa-2, from the same universe as Haywire, where Alan Drek (Drake) created the Freakshow. This Hannah is technically totally unrelated to this Tessa.

[/ QUOTE ] Well, Haywire was Tessa-2's niece, so technically Hannah is Tessa-2's niece as well, but yes, you're right that Hannah is Tessa-1's niece.

Now you can see why I banned myself from ever touching the Alternate Dimension version of characters ever again. And banned myself from a lot of other things.

*Sits in a corner and pokes fluff while crying*

Ah. What you were reading was the AU setting I was writing and posted a bit of... and never finished. In the current setting, Hannah is Tessa's niece and was adopted by Zorielle last March.

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Brought tears to my eyes, so well written.


[/ QUOTE ] Thanks, and I was crying while writing it. x-x

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I want to write a female character who's strong, independant, but never loses her femininity, or her humanity

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Ah, now this I can help you with, for it was my first character at GG, and still a big part of my RP life. (Just check out the Creative forum!)

Zortel, Zorielle Marianna Rolando. 30 years old, mother, partner, buisness woman, heroine. She's strong, she fought in the Rikti War against incredible odds and survived. She's smart, she's a renowned scientist and buisnesswoman. She deals with, and in return is usually dealt with as an equal.

Interesting point there, several professionals tell me that the way you present yourself affects peoples opinions, the way you act and generally seem. So if your character was confident, sure of her own strength and generally a good person, people would be more inclined to treat her as such. Sure, there may be a few jerks who oggle or wolfwhistle at her as she goes down the street, but those above qualities would help her shrug it off.

Does this affect Zorielle's femininity? Perhaps. It's hard to tell with Zorielle, seeing as she's the 'man' of the relationship, though classifications for relationships don't work that well. But that aside, she is still a women, no matter her buisness dealings, mundane and heroic. She'll enjoy curling up on the sofa with her partner to watch films, taking long drives around the countryside, looking after her family and socialising. All the normal things people do. (Well... she has and watches the entire set of police academy films, so maybe not completely normal...)

As my English teacher was so keen to drill into me during the past two months studying Macbeth, false faces and apperences, layers in your characters psyche, all help. Intermingle the layers, have some layers thinner in places than others. It can all help build a well rounded, believable and enjoyable to write character.

Hope that made sense. I'm not one for coherently writing streams of thought.

Edit: Wordy bought up some good examples of the above big paragraph about layers and apperances in and out of public, that's the kind of thing I was trying to get at.

*Jabs Reb full of adreniline.*

Ooo, I have a chance to quote a song!
So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same
Sorry, can't get that damn thing out of my head now I've found out what it was.

I think one count can be attributed to the more varied places to RP now. Bases and Pocket D being two (Well, one and one catagory) in particular. With Pocket D, it's normally hard to know who's there and who isn't unless they are on your global friends list and you expand the menu.

Secondly, in the past month or two a large influx of new players have entered. New players are a good thing, but it can be daunting for an older player to come and have to start socialising with a whole group of people they don't know. Of course, before there was the problem of some people feeling daunted as a new player trying to socialise with established players, so it swings both ways too.

Evolution is a factor. Things have changed a lot since I first started. We went through the Supergroup phase, the teenager phase, the angst phase, the non angst phase, the balence phase, the plot phase, the railroad plot phase, the second plot phase, the angst phase some more, the teen phase some more, the fluff phase, the lesbian catgirl phase, the robot phrase... I think we're currently in the Migration of Birds and balence of plot, angst and fluff phase. I know I'm guilty of some of those phrases. Angst, teen, railroad plot, plot and fluff in particular.

I'll agree with CoH not being enough to keep me on its own. Without you RP'ers and friends I'd have dumped the game and gone back to Ragnarok Online. Or worse, FFXI.


I think that dying might be an incorrect term. Changing, oh yeah, just more rapid than usually. It might settle down again and give this old dinosaur some time to evolve, it might not. I'm keeping an eye out for meteors though.

I have found it somewhat difficult to introduce old characters to new ones, and after so many alts and limited power sets, making new ones to introduce.

I'll play it by ear myself though.

Suggestion for that comic page, make the pages links and not all load up at once on one page. Not all of us have super fast modems.

Umm... A: Did you have to make a new topic for this?
B: Are you aware there's a PM function you can use to contact people on the boards?
C: This post isn't much to do with roleplaying.

1929 stone.

((Well, this is it. Nine months of plot achiving fruition. Enjoy the story!))

While not exactly interesting, it helped. Surfing through the vending machine's CPU and learning just how hot it made the coffee and for how long helped take her mind off what was happening rooms away. Hannah was nervous. Nervous being an understatement. She'd been a single child for all of her old life, and for all of her new life. Sure, there was Jess. And Anna. And Harris... but they didn't count really. It was still her at home when they left, still her who got tucked in at night by one of her mothers. And woken up by them. She was the baby. The only child.

Not anymore. Laying back on the surprisingly comfortable waiting room sofas, cobalt blue hair fanning across the cushion, Hannah gnawed on her thumb anxiously. She'd be a sister soon. An eldest sister. -The- eldest sister. Sure, she was excited. She did enjoy helping to look after her 'brother' Harris' baby boy. But at the end of the day, Harris would take baby Alan back home to his mother, and Hannah would still be the kid at home. Even if she detested being called that.

Now though, there were going to be others at home. Little children. Babies who, unable to do much for themselves, would require lots of attention. Even if it did seem petty for a 16 year old, she was jealous. And scared too. The two twins would be -theirs-, not adopted. Even if she was the niece of Tessa biologically. She was a niece. Not a daughter.

Hannah rolled to her side, her mind still reaching out into the electrical devices around her. It wasn't working. No matter how much she used her gift, it wasn't forcing the thoughts from her head. Every system and technique has to fail sometime though, right? Glancing at the clock didn't help. Her mother had been in labour for several hours now. Worry began to slip into her thoughts over jealousy and separation anxiety. What if something had gone wrong? Would someone come to tell her?

Hannah laid back down again, trying again to force unwanted and upsetting thoughts from her mind. She had an unusual family. It's not every girl whose parents are billionaires. Or superheroes. Or war heroes, in her mother Zorielle's case. Or a dimensional variant of someone who died in the war three years ago, in Tessa's case. Or lesbians, for that matter, even in this day and age.

Hannah sighed. The word 'dimensional' seemed to factor into her family quite a lot. Anna was her from another dimension. Harris was a male her from another dimension. While she was pleased to see she made an attractive, handsome man, the fact that there were male versions of her out there sometimes creeped her out.

Hannah sighed again, concentrating on the florescent tube light above her, tracing the electrical currents running through with her eyes. Maybe 'weird' was a better word to describe her and her family. Hannah herself was a mutant, with the ability to manipulate electricity. She'd died once too. Only once more and she'd be equal with Buffy. The thought, the reference between her life and fiction, bought a smile to her lips. 'Truth is stranger than...' after all.

Her 'gift' was what caused her death. And more than likely what bought her back. And caused Jessica to be born. She amended her earlier thoughts. 'Weird dimensional technological events' defined her family. Considering her new siblings were a product of technology, patented by herself as well. Perks of neopotism, Hannah guessed. And having the ability to work directly with computers helped out.

Hannah sprung up, her body a tightly coiled spring as the door opened. Would it be a doctor? Zorielle? A nurse?

Hannah held out her arms as Anna ran up to her and enfolded her in a hug. They might be identical on a genetic level, but the two girls differed greatly. Hair colour was one, Anna kept her hair her natural red. Taste of clothes was another. Hannah tended more towards raver, while Anna swung more towards ex-army surplus. Harris was behind her too, he'd grown that goatee of his out a bit as well. The three held each other for a few long moments before sitting down.

"Any word, H?" Anna asked, sitting on the sofa with her heavy combat boots on the table. Hannah sighed, that trait of Anna's always annoyed her. "Nah, she's been in there about two hours now, maybe two and a half." Hannah replied, shaking her head. She was hoping talking would take her mind off things, but the thoughts still whirled around in the background.

"Shame I wasn't here for Cat when she gave birth." Harris said, putting his arm around Hannah. "Anyway, either of you want a coffee? Hot chocolate?" he asked. Anna smiled. "Hot chocolate would be great." she said, before Hannah shook her head. "Ran out." she said simply, keeping her eyes off the clock. The steady, rhythmic ticking would drive her insane and make her burst into the room her parents were in if she didn't block it out.

"You try for one earlier?" Anna asked. It was small talk, Hannah could tell. Normally those two would be talking about much more interesting things, and not in such a tense manner. She was pretty tense herself though. Who was she kidding, pretty? It felt like she'd snap in a gentle wind! Hannah remembered what she had been asked and shook her head. She'd actually discovered the vending machine has sachets instead of a drum of hot chocolate powder inside, and once all the sachets were used up the light would come on. Amazing what a girl like Hannah could find out when she was bored.

Time passed. As it does, except perhaps when a certain family friend was involved. Hannah shook her head, trying to get the sleep from her mind and the odd musings to move.. One in the morning. She'd check her e-mails. Write in her blog. She'd even play Minesweeper if she could. Not that she dared. She was good with her powers, but the thought of stress accidently causing an EMP burst in a hospital reinforced the decision to live with her boredom. And tension. And all those other feelings swirling about her head. Harris was sleeping. Well, napping. Not that she blamed him, he worked long hours to earn money to support his fiancee and their son. And Hannah was proud of him for it, it takes a certain strength of character to be determined to pay your own way through life and not mooch off relatives. Hannah had found that urge and strength in her shortly after being adopted, getting a job at her mother's company.

Anna was snoring away, head on Harris' shoulder. Hannah could forgive Anna for the snoring. She had that problem herself, which her mother easily fixed one night with some adhesive strips placed on the bridge of her nose. It was the fact that she -was- sleeping. Harris had an excuse, Anna played computer games in pro tournaments and spent the rest in comic and gaming shops, or with her boyfriend. The door opened again, and Hannah sprung up to her feet. Gymnastics had given her body that supple spring. It was the doctor. Or nurse... whatever he was, he was beckoning her over.

Hannah left the two sleeping, almost dashing over to the man beckoning her. "You can go in now." he said with a smile. Hannah moved on autopilot. It was probably petty of her not to wake up the two on the sofa, but after all, she wanted to be the first to see -her- siblings. Her little brother and sister. A smile formed on her lips, the negative thoughts from earlier being dispelled as it grew. She could -see- them. Her mothers and her new siblings. Sure, it was merely the electrical impulses of their nervous systems she could see, but it was still something. She stopped outside the door, 'T.Rolando' written on the white name board in washable marker. Slowly, she turned the handle and slipped into the room...

It was dimly lit, the bedside lamp on. The bed seemed rather big, the rails at the sides pushed down. Hannah's eyes traced up the hospital-standard, blue covers and white bedsheet. Tessa looked tired, no surprise there. Strands of her dark red hair stuck to her forehead, and she had an exhausted, but fufilled smile on her face as she looked at her daughter. Zorielle sat on the bed next to her, one leg off and touching the floor. The same smile, minus the exhaustion and plus proudness. A fathers proudness would have been a good way to describe it, if Zorielle was a man. One arm was around her partners, her wifes, shoulders as she looked at Hannah, the girl she had known since she was little, who almost a year ago was adopted by her, before she looked down at the two blanket wrapped bundles in her wifes arms.

Hannah stepped close and sat on the other side of the bed, tentatively reaching out her hands. Tessa nodded, as Zorielle passed one of the small bundles over. "This is Michael, Han..." Tessa said wearily. Hannah held the baby close to her, looking down at the small face of her brother. He was asleep, which was nice. It gave her moms some peace and quiet after all. A small lock of dark brown hair, tinted with a slight red, poked out of the blankets. Hannah shifted her hold on him, keeping him steady in one arm as she was ready to be given the other to hold.

Zorielle passed the other baby other, the two looking similar at this age, but Hannah, like her mothers, would easily be able to tell the difference. "This is Kelly..." Zorielle said quietly. Hannah smiled down as her baby sister opened her eyes for a brief moment, lost in the depth of her sisters dark black pupils before Kelly drifted back to sleep. Hannah looked up at her parents, then back down at her siblings again with a smile. Placing the two back in their mothers arms, she sat up and grinned ."So, when do you want me to babysit?"

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Also...you don't RP relationships? Awww.

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When did I say that? So far, I have running RP IC relationships with six other players.

Look, you mentioned about players being hit on and their reactions, without distinguishing whether this is RP, or some random character coming up to you and going "lol ur sexy olol asl?"

So, to make it clear. Are you looking for in character perspectives, or out of character (player) perspectives?

Also, what is this female character you are writing about like? If we have a personality profile of them, then we can give experiences from similar characters of our own that would be more appropriate.