Young Justice: Outsiders (OOC)

Thank you for wanting to fight for the RP, Tighty . I will not be so quick to let it die either. This has happened too many times. By some miracle, we actually managed to get most of the old gang together, plus a few new faces. I want us to actually have an RP that we can all be excited about and look forward to reading each others' posts for a long time. I want us to have a long-lasting epic story that is still unfolding a year from now. I want us to make it so long we have to start a sequel thread because we've reached the 5,000 post soft cap.

I really hope you stay, Gypsy, so that you can be a part of that too . But even if you do decide to leave, I want to let everyone else know that I will keep this going no matter what as long as at least one other person is still playing.

As I got to reading Tight's reply, I got to thinking that dropping out was indeed the wrong decision. I should have looked for the compromise, if it existed. For example, when Jeff questioned Intransigent's Kryptonian levels of power, I had no problem toning it down. Not only did I agree with his playability reasoning, but it also didn't affect my vision of Intransigent specifically or how Nikoleta's magic worked in general. The telepathy question, however, is directly tied to the sisters' nature. To me, the sisters have a dualistic nature in a monistic universe. Telepaths are reading people whose software is working exclusively in this reality, whereas the sisters' "minds," as opposed to their brains, are operating in a different plane. Reading/affecting their minds wouldn't be just a greater degree of difficulty. It would be like trying to test a microchip in one of those old machines that test vacuum tubes.

But instead of throwing a Cartesian hissy fit, I should have said, "Let's just scrap the sisters and start fresh." So my first idea is a metahuman thief I've used elsewhere, mainly for her smartassery. She's called Dazzle, and has some metahuman abilities to begin with. Nothing major, just enough to let her get into buildings and dodge security. She and other metahuman street kids were run by a thief with a touch of literary flair who called himself Fagin. At age 13, she broke into a museum's storage area and opened a crate which the museum had recently received. Unknown to the archaeologists who had shipped the items, there was an item of unknown alien origin in the mix(isn't there always). Dazzle activated the item, which infused with her, and she found herself surroundied by a field of dimly lit self-replicating nanites slightly out of phase with our reality. The nanites are powered by the gradient between their phase and ours. Dazzle uses the dazzles (as she calls the nanites) for non-lethal purposes such as blinding, protective shields, shorting out electronics, etc. She can also heal others with the nanites, but this is limited to her medical knowledge, and since this consists of a single health class, and she is still working on her GED, this ability is somewhat limited. She is smart, though, just very limited opportunities.

The dazzles, being out of phase with reality, allow Dazzle to make short "sidesteps" of reality, thus being able to go through walls, etc.

The only known lethal application of the nanites is if someone tries to touch Dazzle. The nanites will instantly attack and adapt, and will only desist if the toucher is dead or stops touching Dazzle. Dazzle hates this effect, has no control over it, and warns everyone not to touch her. The nanites also hard wired into her a natural resistance/repulsion of REACH technology, but the origin or purpose of this is unknown.

As soon as she became Dazzle, Dazzle left Fagin and started life as a young but very high end thief. At age 19, she was caught by a member of the JLA and paroled to the Outsiders. She has a love for fashion magazines, shiny things, Disney Princess movies and really old movies.

Thoughts? And I have a nebulous idea for a second character, but let it cook for a moment.

For the record I was agreeing that Twinlish would probably be immune to psionics and was going the extra step and saying they'd probably be immune to magic for the same reasons. DC (by comparison to Marvel anyway) has extremely loose rules on magic and how precisely it handles. In theory Zatana is the most powerful being in the universe. No solid limitations on her powers have ever been said. Sure if you gag her (with your cock!) she's powerless but anything she can pronounce backwards happens. "NanrepuS si lamron nam!" and Yadmood si a ynnub!" have no reason why they wouldn't work. Still I'm a believer that magic is supposed to work based on rules, rules that normal people don't understand but they aren't impossible to understand and they do have limitations. If only two people no the planet speak a certain language it's not a language, it's a code.

I specifically used Starfire since that Tamarian Kiss BS is clearly more magic than science. It gives her the knowledge of the words but very little context for their use. I don't think she'd understand Snoop Dog anymore than anybody else does. And I don't think kissing Snoop would help much.

Personally I think the sisters were a really good build. Brilliant even. I can't help that I'm seeing the sisters from Frozen when I think of them but I think they may have currently overwritten all other sisters in fiction for me right now. A great power set, strong without being OP. I have various issues with them being that smart but that's more my hating that in comics in general. More so amongst villains than heroes. Poison Ivy comes to mind here. She could end world hunger and use the money to fund her conservation efforts. I bet if Riddler agreed to make video games Batman and Robin would be happy to swing by once a month to play test for him! So on and so forth.

Dazzle is an interesting character. No touchy. Note to self. Do not get knocked out, she cannot carry you back. Is it only flesh to flesh so she can rock the Rogue outfit with gloves and be harmless or does her clothing count as "her" insofar as the nanites think?

That sounds like an idea I had years back called Nanoplasm -- a metallic slime infused with nanobots. Though my version acted more like a symbiote from Marvel in practice, covering the person's body in a silver-black suit the same way Eddie Brock transforms into Venom. The nanobots also super-charged his immune system and regenerative healing speed, among other things.

In your version, it might be better to say that the nanites are fully physical in their default state, so she doesn't hurt someone by accident in her civilian identity. Maybe they sync with her subconscious when they bind to her, and they activate when she is in danger or fear of danger, or at least attempt to activate and she has to fight it back if the time is not right, like with Jaime Reyes in YJ.

You could say when they activate, they alter their own atoms and the atoms of their host to various vibration frequencies to achieve something similar to Flash's ability to phase through walls. Maybe the original goal of the technology was to phase a group of villains out of the Phantom Zone. That could have been part of the Reach's attack on Earth ten years ago -- maybe they were led by General Zod, who knew the only gateway left into the Phantom Zone was with Kal-El. They just had to get the door open and send in massive waves of the nanites, which would then give the villains the ability to phase out into the regular world, including some of Zod's most loyal followers. Ultimately, this backfired and Zod got sent into the PZ along with his followers and most of the Reach once the nanites were destroyed.

Maybe the ones Dazzle encountered were from a device that had failed to activate correctly and was subsequently shelved and forgotten by Reach spies. The second time, Dazzle successfully activates them. Just an idea .

Sean Renaud said:

Dazzle is an interesting character. No touchy. Note to self. Do not get knocked out, she cannot carry you back. Is it only flesh to flesh so she can rock the Rogue outfit with gloves and be harmless or does her clothing count as "her" insofar as the nanites think?

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Any kind of touch, even if it was Dazzle wearing a leather glove shaking hands with someone wearing an iron gauntlet. For reasons of their own, the dazzles consider that a no-no!

I figured I was just curious. Nanites tend to be a little like magic. Which as I've stated several times "They do what they want, because they want. Fuck you that's how."

I kinda like them as is by the way. They might need some mild dialing back mostly because I'm uncertain how she would function in society with the nanites. Rogue and other similar mutants (There are a few that have nasty effects like that) can usually be bypassed by not making direct contact. In her case going to a party could prove painful if not fatal for a lot of people. I don't think twice about tapping someone on the shoulder in a noise environment where I'd have to shout to be heard.

The Jeffinator said:

That sounds like an idea I had years back called Nanoplasm -- a metallic slime infused with nanobots. Though my version acted more like a symbiote from Marvel in practice, covering the person's body in a silver-black suit the same way Eddie Brock transforms into Venom. The nanobots also super-charged his immune system and regenerative healing speed, among other things.

In your version, it might be better to say that the nanites are fully physical in their default state, so she doesn't hurt someone by accident in her civilian identity. Maybe they sync with her subconscious when they bind to her, and they activate when she is in danger or fear of danger, or at least attempt to activate and she has to fight it back if the time is not right, like with Jaime Reyes in YJ.

You could say when they activate, they alter their own atoms and the atoms of their host to various vibration frequencies to achieve something similar to Flash's ability to phase through walls. Maybe the original goal of the technology was to phase a group of villains out of the Phantom Zone. That could have been part of the Reach's attack on Earth ten years ago -- maybe they were led by General Zod, who knew the only gateway left into the Phantom Zone was with Kal-El. They just had to get the door open and send in massive waves of the nanites, which would then give the villains the ability to phase out into the regular world, including some of Zod's most loyal followers. Ultimately, this backfired and Zod got sent into the PZ along with his followers and most of the Reach once the nanites were destroyed.

Maybe the ones Dazzle encountered were from a device that had failed to activate correctly and was subsequently shelved and forgotten by Reach spies. The second time, Dazzle successfully activates them. Just an idea .

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On the origin story, Jeff, I'm willing to go with anything you want. Maybe it comes out later in the storyline. Dazzle isn't anyone particularly special. She's just a metahuman in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. Someone else might know the full story, but Dazzle has never given it much thought. That's just who she is.

I prefer the out of phase nanites because it gives a pseudoscientific explanation for their power source. And as far as going through walls, I was thinking more along the lines of crumpling the piece of paper so point A and point B touch, but I'm good with anything.

I could see the nanite field going dark and making a thin molecular layer on Dazzle in civilian form, but it's part of how I envision the character that she simply cannot touch or be touched by someone else. She's not doing it on purpose. So if someone bumped into her in the crowd, they'd probably feel like a megawasp stung them, from the brief moment the nanites attacked them.

Sean Renaud said:

I figured I was just curious. Nanites tend to be a little like magic. Which as I've stated several times "They do what they want, because they want. Fuck you that's how."

I kinda like them as is by the way. They might need some mild dialing back mostly because I'm uncertain how she would function in society with the nanites. Rogue and other similar mutants (There are a few that have nasty effects like that) can usually be bypassed by not making direct contact. In her case going to a party could prove painful if not fatal for a lot of people. I don't think twice about tapping someone on the shoulder in a noise environment where I'd have to shout to be heard.

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Part of her response would be not to go to parties or crowded events. Simply venues here she could ensure that no one came in contact with her.

True. Works for me besides it'll be fun to see how she interacts.

Lets get this started. I'll try not ot get either my characters killed out of the gate by the hotty thou shall not touch.

Let's just hope Dazzle doesn't get touched at the JLA party or thrown into a bystander by a villain, lol. And I haven't started the IC thread yet because Tighty said she was busy this week, but I'll try and get it out tomorrow. I'm in bed now waiting for my sleeping pills to knock me out -- I have work tonight.

That folded paper analogy reminds me of a wormhole. Perhaps whoever invented the nanites was researching long-distance space travel. If she uses wormholes, can the team pass through it as well or just her?

My second replacement is an idea I lifted from the short story "Last Defender of Camelot." Our heroine is biologically 18, but chronologically much older than that. Lady Katherine (which could be shortened to Lady K) was born in the early 18th century to a minor French nobleman, and subsequently sent to the household of a fairly powerful baroness to be trained as a lady-in-waiting. The baroness in question, however, had some skills in the arts arcane and knew what was coming for France. She wanted a guardian and companion in the future. So not only was Katherine trained in weaving, playing the harpsichord and other pastimes of a proper, chaste young lady of the times, but was trained in knightly skills as well. In addition, the baroness weaved certain enchantments into young Katherine as well, making her an abler champion. When Katherine turned 18, the Baroness "froze" her and Katherine for some future better time.

At some point in the future, an archeologist (an ever convenient scapegoat) releases the pair and the Baroness announces her plan for dominating in this new world. Lady Katherine, her eyes belatedly opened to her liege lady's true nature, battles alongside local heroes to put the Baroness back in suspended animation.

I imagine Katherine with Steve Rogers level physical abilities and a Jackie Chan like ability to pick up any object and use it as a weapon. I picture her in armor like Will Thatcher wore in "Knight's Tale", as well as having the vorpal blade that killed the Jabberwocky---the one that went snicker-snack. Or a long sword will do too.

Katherine also possesses the Haven of Valor. The jewel manifests itself as a heart shaped ruby in various settings of jewelry, and cannot be truly taken from its current owner, except in death. It affords the owner some protection against malicious magical and mental attacks, but its true talent is projecting its owner's state of mind to her companions, so Katherine disciplines herself to be calm, cheerful and fearless. The jewel also can alleviate the suffering of those who are I'll or are under a curse, though it cannot cure or lift.

Katherine speaks decent English, but gets her idioms mixed up on occasions. She acts and dresses modestly, loves needlepoint and Baroque music, doesn't understand why Miley Cyrus hasn't been burned at the stake, and detests Egyptology and Tarot Cards, blaming them for her liege lady's corruption.

The Jeffinator said:

That folded paper analogy reminds me of a wormhole. Perhaps whoever invented the nanites was researching long-distance space travel. If she uses wormholes, can the team pass through it as well or just her?

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That's a good question! Since Dazzle has been on her own and just using it to steal stuff, it might mean that she can move more or go further than she's tried! Dazzle might have more aspects to her "dazzles" because she just hasn't ever wanted to do more than was needed.

I do love a hero with logical room to grow. She's probably got a lot of powers that she never really thought about.

GypsyGirl84 said:

As I got to reading Tight's reply, I got to thinking that dropping out was indeed the wrong decision.

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HUUUUGS GYPSY!!!

No escape now, I won't let go... EVER!!!

Tight_n_ready said:

HUUUUGS GYPSY!!!

No escape now, I won't let go... EVER!!!

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Good. Now, slowly undress each other...

Today I learned there was a comic hero names Boy Blue who indeed did wield the vorpal blade, otherwise known as the Jabberwock's Bane.

All I got to say to that is smack my ass and call me Brillig.

*Smacks her ass* Hello Brillo!

Honestly just about every famous sword is accounted for in Marvel and DC, sometimes multiple times since a lot of the separate characters were originally separate companies all together. I think there are like three Masamunes.

Sean Renaud said:

*Smacks her ass* Hello Brillo!

Honestly just about every famous sword is accounted for in Marvel and DC, sometimes multiple times since a lot of the separate characters were originally separate companies all together. I think there are like three Masamunes.

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Who knew? All I can say is, the weather didn't look Brillig, and Boy Blue didn't look beamish. But I guess hunting snarks wiill do that to you.

And, for the record, I really wasn't looking for a vorpal blade. Happy to leave it to Lewis Carroll!

Vorpal blades are awesome! The only reason none of my characters have ever wielded one is I tend towards Japanese blades when I'm looking for legendary ones. Also Wonderland is a fucked up place filled with people who are clearly on more drugs than they should be able to survive.

Wow, I missed a lot, today.

I'm glad we didn't lose you, Gypsy. Your new characters sound awesome. Now idk who I'd rather see you choose. I wouldn't ditch the twins over the telepathy thing if you wanted to keep them.

I'm also glad that we are willing to fight to keep the RP going.

To try and limit the other kinds of fighting I'm going to reiterate something I talked about on that last game:

When you have a concern about someone else's character, try and word in in terms of a story.

Like if you think a power is OP, voice your concern that it would be hard to integrate with the other characters power levels. (Or something like that)

Debating origins and technical aspects of powers is missing the point IMHO.

I can't speak for everybody. For me personally I was in no way expressing an issue with Gypsie's character. Simply curious about the mechanics.

Sean Renaud said:

I can't speak for everybody. For me personally I was in no way expressing an issue with Gypsie's character. Simply curious about the mechanics.

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Meh, I overreacted.

Also, vorpal blades exist outside of the Jabberwocky poem. There's a whole wide world out there for me!

Mechanics debates are what killed the last game, I just wanted to get that warning out there before it was needed.

Reading all of Gypsy's great concepts makes me want to make an original character. Lol