(OOC) The Marvel Adventures: Ghosts of the Past

[The Jeffinator]

At the beginning of World War II, a US soldier managed to steal a formula from the Nazis -- it was a super soldier serum prototype. The Nazis made a new serum, and eventually created Red Skull and a group of metahumans to aid him. To combat this threat, Army Captain Steve Rogers volunteered to take the serum, becoming Captain America. He gained his own group of metahuman followers, and the two factions joined the war. In 1945, both Captain America and Red Skull were inside a plane fighting when it exploded. They were both declared Missing In Action, since their bodies were never found.

After the war, the government created the Metahuman Initiative, an organization to help the survivors of Captain America's team live normal lives until they were needed again. Both America and Germany agreed to produce no more metahumans, however, a young scientist named Justin Hammer was able to steal a copy of the formula.

Hammer has done many experiments over the years, but he has thus far been unable to produce a stable metahuman. In 1993, Hammer merged his company with Osborn Industries, and together with Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, Bruce Banner, Richard and Mary Parker (who were secretly agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and Edward Brock, he experienced success with his experiments. Together, they created several stable metahumans, code-named Sandman, Electro, and Hydroman.

Richard and Mary were participating in the experiments because they had not been authorized to break their cover yet by Colonel Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- A few years back, S.H.I.E.L.D. had merged with the Metahuman Initiative, making them responsible for any rogue metahumans.

After nearly 65 years, the world would finally see a variety of new metahumans -- there was a huge explosion at Osborn Labs, resulting in the deaths of the very elderly Justin Hammer, Richard and May Parker, and Edward Brock. Otto Octavius was permanently bonded with his metal arms and fell into a deep coma. Norman Osborn was injured but recovered. Bruce Banner, however, grew to a nine foot tall green muscle man and stormed through a wall. With all the commotion he made, Sandman, Electro, and Hyrdroman escaped and scattered in separate directions.

After being shot many times, the Hulk -- the name given to Bruce's monster form -- retreated to the sewers. As he sloshed and made his way deeper, the water splashed up and touched his wounds, thus lacing the water with his blood and the super soldier serum. Eventually, he made it out into the harbor and swam away from New York City with astounding speed, due to his heavy arm movements.

When the water with his blood hit the filters during recycling, the chlorine mutated the serum into a colorless, odorless, tasteless substance, and it was spread throughout most of the city's water supply. As people continued to drink this water, they began to experience certain changes -- they were becoming metahumans. Certain people would not gain powers unless an alternate DNA source was introduced to their blood, while others gained powers all on their own. Some gained abilities in a few hours, others in a few days, weeks, months, or even years.

By the time Peter Parker got his powers, it had been six months since the explosion that killed his parents. When helping a neighbor lady clean out her basement, Peter was bitten by a spider. The spider venom caused the dormant serum in his system to activate. Over the next week, his powers gradually came to him, giving him the abilities of a spider.

So, this is my idea. There are no Mutants or X-Men, but you can use an X-Men char as an infected metahuman instead if you want. Any Marvel char will do, save for the ones I'll be playing as: Spidey, Nick Fury, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Hulk, Sandman, Electro, Hydroman, and Iron Man a bit later on. The baddies will come and go -- my only consistent chars will be Spidey and Iron Man, and occasionally, Nick Fury.

I would love to have someone play a potential girlfriend for Peter -- maybe one of the girl chars from X-Men, or maybe use Mary Jane, Gwen, or Betty as a metahuman? I'll post bios tomorrow.

 

[kittenofdeath]

could i play venom? maybe both the Symbiote and the host, or maybe just the Symbiote for other players to be infected by?

 

[The Jeffinator]

Hmm... Would you be willing to play as Eddie Brock Jr. and the Symbiote? In the movies and original story, it was an alien suit, but in Ultimate Spider-Man, the suit was created by Eddie Brock Sr. and Richard and Mary Parker. Pick whatever origin you want or make a new one, but can Eddie and Peter be friends at first?

 

[atlusreign]

I'm interested though I should warn you that I've never played in an online RPG before. I'll take the Rider, Johny Blaze.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Oh, we have ourselves an RP Virgin. Well, I hope you are a good writer. Writers on here that don't use proper grammer, spelling, and formatting tend to get a lot of grief from us veterans, lol. I only came to Lit three years ago, but I've been writing in online RPs for nearly seven years. Your skills definitely get better over time, and your attention to detail increases too, sometimes for the worse, though -- I actually had to take a few steps back. I tend to over-detail my games, and people get bored and loose interest before finishing the intro post.

Basically, you should write your posts like you would a novel. Use proper distinction between narration and dialogue, proofread and edit accordingly (I have to do this often), and whatever you do, don't godmod -- this means modifiying the laws of physics ingame to benefit your character. Doing anything too unrealistic for your character based on his bio is considered godmodding.

EDIT: Dunno why that face is there. Was an accident, lol.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Hmm... Would you be willing to play as Eddie Brock Jr. and the Symbiote? In the movies and original story, it was an alien suit, but in Ultimate Spider-Man, the suit was created by Eddie Brock Sr. and Richard and Mary Parker. Pick whatever origin you want or make a new one, but can Eddie and Peter be friends at first?

alien symbiote, the other version always seemed a little stupid to me, it trys to rationalize the sctions of a totaly alien entity, which is a tricky thing indeed.

and ill play eddie, but id still like to infect some innocent bystanders first, the Symbiote gains abilitys from adaptations based on the genetic makeup of its hosts so for everyone he does sample, he gains some form of whatever exceptional abilitys they have.

though in a place where there are tons of new metahumans emerging, the symbiote would be atracted to the ones that are the most powerful... so it begs the question as to why it would go to brock, a seemingly normal person in comparison to everbody else

 

[atlusreign]

though in a place where there are tons of new metahumans emerging, the symbiote would be atracted to the ones that are the most powerful... so it begs the question as to why it would go to brock, a seemingly normal person in comparison to everbody else

Powers are nice but a symbiote needs a compatible partner. Eddie Brock is screwed up enough to suit the symbiote's desires. At least that would be my take on it.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Powers are nice but a symbiote needs a compatible partner. Eddie Brock is screwed up enough to suit the symbiote's desires. At least that would be my take on it.

yeah, i figured it would have to come down to some kind of compadibility issue, though i was thinking more of a biological compatibility that allowed a long term bonding without suffering long term damage to the physical capibilitys of the subjuect

 

[atlusreign]

Ghost Rider

My idea to fit Ghost Rider into this setting may or may not work depending on how many people we get. The way I figure it Mephisto activated Johny's powers in exchange for the life of (insert NPC here). Tragically the NPC dies some other way but Johny is still stuck working for Mephisto. Johny would act as a repo man for souls owed to Mephisto. In addition Johny would be charged with reaping vengence upon anyone Mephisto says, in any way Mephisto sees fit. So basically Johny will be an unwilling but cooperative bad guy. This rule is enforced through the flames. When Johny gets a soul or reaps vengence the flames burn brighter, making Johny stronger. Over time the flames begin to die. When the flame extinguishes, the Rider is no more. And Johny Blaze gets a one way ticket to hell. What do you think?

 

[atlusreign]

yeah, i figured it would have to come down to some kind of compadibility issue, though i was thinking more of a biological compatibility that allowed a long term bonding without suffering long term damage to the physical capibilitys of the subjuect

Cool. Looking forward to seeing that play out. BTW, your dancing chibi is hypnotic.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Your Rider idea sounds cool, but I think we should leave out heaven and hell and biblical entities and all. Maybe Mephisto is a 400 year old sorcerer who absorbs life essences to stay young and powerful, and he strikes a deal with Johnny Blaze -- If Mephisto cures a loved one of Johnny on the brink of death, he'll become the Ghost Rider and help Mephisto collect essences to stay young and live forever. Just an idea.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Well, if you did the "made by science" angle for the Venom suit, you could go with something like this:

Eddie knows about Peter's abilities, and they are doing experiments together at night in Dr. Conner's lab at Empire State University (they could be in their senior year at high school and go to the college in the evenings for an internship). They are looking at the spider-mutated blood under a microscope. Anyway, one night Eddie is there by himself, and in another part of the lab, there was a protoplasmic dip that could regenerate lost limbs and regrow tissue, a project Conners was working on to give him his arm back and help others in the future.

So, Eddie goes to the bathroom, and when he comes back, he see a thief stealing equipment to sell or whatever. He chases the crook around the lab, grabbing the sample of Peter's blood to keep it safe. During the scuffle, the crook manages to grab a chair leg or something and nearly beats Eddie to death. Well, Eddie gets knocked into the table that has the dip, the black slime pouring over him. The vial of Peter's blood got smashed while Eddie was getting beaten, so the dip could fuse with the spider-mutated blood and spread out over Eddie's body, attempting to heal all his wounds as it was created for such purposes. But maybe the spider DNA somehow alters its properties, and then the dip reacts to the traces of dormant super soldier serum from drinking the city's water, and with all three of these factors swarming and fusing in his blood, he becames a psychopathic monster who calls himself Venom. The spider DNA would give him some of the same abilities as Spider-Man, instead of having the suit attach to Spidey to get the abilities.

Maybe as Venom, he could turn his entire body into liquid, and then cover another person, temporarily possessing them and taking a little bit of their DNA when he leaves? Maybe he's weak at first from the transformation, so he seeks to find a few hosts to get himself to full power and steal a few abilities in the process? Just an idea.

 

[atlusreign]

Your Rider idea sounds cool, but I think we should leave out heaven and hell and biblical entities and all.

Why? If Mephisto is just a dude trying to stay young it kinda cheapens him. And if he is nothing, how can his servant be more? Without the hell angle ghost rider is just the human torch on a bike.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Okay, I just did some reading on the Ghost Rider comic. Mephisto is not Satan, and his realm is not Hell, but he calls it Hell and poses as the biblical figure Satan. Here is his official bio from marvel.com:

Universe
Marvel Universe

Real Name
Mephisto

Aliases
Satan; Mephistopheles, Lord of Evil, Prince of Devils, Prince of Lies, Lord of the Lower Depths, Satan, Beelzebub, the Devil, Maya, Lucifer, Nick Scratch, the Friend, Legion, numerous others; impersonated Don Blake, many others

Identity
Existence unknown to the general public; often mistaken for the Biblical Satan

Occupation
Lord of a realm of Hell

Citizenship
Hell

Place of Birth
Unknown

Known Relatives
Blackheart (son), Mephista (daughter); presumptive relationship to other Hell-lords; quasi-paternal relationship to Mikal Drakonmegas (Hellfire) and Daimon (Hellstorm) and Satana Hellstrom; formerly engaged to unidentified demoness

Group Affiliation
Hell-lords, Lords of the Splinter Realms; formerly manipulator of the Six-Fingered Hand

Education
Extensively self-taught

Height
unrevealed

Weight
unrevealed

Eyes
unrevealed

Hair
unrevealed

Powers
An immensely powerful supernatural entity, Mephisto wields mystical energy for effects such as force blasts, matter manipulation, astral projection, interdimensional portals, illusion-casting and shape-shifting (his true form is unknown). Mephisto can capture the souls of recently deceased humans, though this usually applies only to beings who bargain away their souls to him. Mephisto can mystically trap living beings in his realm, but he cannot feed off these beings and rarely chooses to do this. A portion of his power seems to be tied to his realm and the number of souls trapped within it, meaning that prolonged absences from Hades weaken him. Mephisto does not need to eat, sleep or breathe, and is immune to aging and conventional disease.

First Appearance
Silver Surfer #3 (1968)

A Class Two Demon or Hell-lord, Mephisto rules a fiery nether realm that he refers to as Hell or Hades, though it is neither the Biblical Hell nor Pluto's Olympian Hades. In the distant past, Mephisto became engaged to the lover of one of his former soldiers, then manipulated that demon into slaying his lover; the demon became Darklove, cursed to always perform the opposite of love. Mephisto's realm includes the Arena of Tainted Souls where tainted souls are locked in perpetual combat. Mephisto delights in impersonating the Biblical Satan. Empowered by the souls of the damned, he often strikes deceptive bargains with the living. Mephisto takes particular interest in the souls of extremely powerful or exceptionally pure beings.
Long ago, Mephisto entered a rivalry with the demonic Zarathos and struck a bargain with the young prince who eventually became Centurious, the Soulless Man. Together, they brought down Zarathos, and Mephisto began a long process of tormenting Zarathos by bonding him with mortals. Knowing Zarathos was connected to the ancient Spirits of Vengeance, Mephisto became obsessed with controlling the Medallion of Power, a mystic talisman housing the essences of the Spirits. This led Mephisto to the Kale family, who bore shards of the Medallion within their souls. In the 18th century, Mephisto bargained with the overzealous madman Pastor Kale, hoping to gain the soul of the Pastor's son, Noble. This eventually led to the creation of the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider.

Throughout history, Mephisto has exploited the spiritually adrift. In Europe, he granted a group of mystics (the future Mys-Tech) immortality in exchange for a yearly quota of souls. He also corrupted sea captain Joost van Straaten, who became the infamous Flying Dutchman. Benedicto de vica Severtes once dealt with Mephisto to gain the love of Beatriz, and prevented Mephisto from claiming his soul by encasing himself in mystical armor, becoming the Brass Bishop, but after centuries of evading Mephisto, his soul was finally claimed when the hero Puck cracked his armor. Prior to World War II, Mephisto duped a group of German scientists into believing in the Vril, a perfect race that had allegedly ruled Earth before the age of man and had relocated to an extradimensional realm. These scientists developed a portal to the Vril, though their project was shut down at war's end. Surviving project member Thule secretly continued this work in the Rocky Mountain base Schamballah, assisted by a growing band of neo-Nazis.


In recent years, Mephisto has been increasingly fascinated by Earth's super-beings, and has particularly coveted the Silver Surfer's pure spirit. Mephisto tried to tempt the newly Earth-bound Surfer with power and physical pleasure, even offering up the Surfer's beloved Shalla-Bal, but the Surfer resisted. Undeterred by this failure, Mephisto has repeatedly threatened the Surfer, Thor, Daredevil and many other heroes. He sent the ghostly Flying Dutchman back to Earth to attack the Surfer, but the Dutchman renounced Mephisto. When Noble Kale's descendant Naomi Kale sought to undo the Kale family curse, she offered Mephisto her soul in exchange for his promise that the curse would not plague her firstborn son. She hoped this might break the curse forever, but Mephisto taunted her with assurances that even if her son John could not become "the" Ghost Rider, he could certainly become "a" Ghost Rider. Years later, when John Blaze turned to the occult in a futile attempt to save the life of his adopted father, Mephisto appeared to him in the guise of Satan. Claiming Blaze's soul, Mephisto bonded the human with the captured Zarathos as a new Ghost Rider.
Mephisto's power over the soul of Doctor Doom's mother led him into several conflicts with the Latverian monarch, battling each other annually on Halloween. Allied with fellow Hell-lords Satannish, Thog and Satan, Mephisto manipulated the demonic Six-Fingered Hand into helping him create Hell on Earth, but the non-team known as the Defenders thwarted their efforts. After Thor freed mortal souls from his Hell, Mephisto attempted to slay Thor's then-human form, Dr. Donald Blake, employing the deceased Darkoth against him, but Darkoth had no love for Mephisto, and had Thor destroy him. Mephisto has menaced the Fantastic Four on several occasions, including one involving the demonologist Elspeth Cromwell who mistakenly invoked him, allowing him to capture Reed and Susan Richards and their son Franklin.

Mephisto had gained tremendous power by the evil of the extraterrestrial Dire Wraiths who were invading Earth at the time, but lost this power when the spaceknight Rom banished the Dire Wraiths, and Mephisto was temporarily destroyed by Franklin. Mephisto later re-formed, missing five fragments of his essence. He tricked the villain Master Pandemonium into gathering these fragments, which Pandemonium believed to be pieces of his own lost soul, and Mephisto was eventually restored to full strength. This resulted in the destruction of the Scarlet Witch's twin sons, whom she had mystically created by unwittingly trapping and transforming two of Mephisto's power fragments. A rivalry developed with the Asgardian death goddess Hela, who stole several souls that Mephisto considered his. Scheming to force Thor to oppose Hela, Mephisto temporarily stole the souls of several heroes, including the Invisible Woman, Jean Grey and Rogue, before finally claiming the one he'd sought all along: the Thunder God's. After a series of confrontations with the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, the X-Men and the Avengers, Mephisto freed Thor's soul, but his plot succeeded. Having seen the horrors in store should the realm of death ever expand to engulf the living, Thor vowed to stand against Hela's advances forevermore.


With at least one rival neutralized, Mephisto sought other means of increasing his power. When the godlike Beyonder came to Earth seeking understanding of humanity, Mephisto attempted to sway him by offering his own warped view of mortals, sending Zarathos to test Spider-Man's morality. When Mephisto tricked the herald of Galactus, Nova, into becoming more bloodthirsty in her duties, the Silver Surfer and Galactus both opposed the demon. Galactus and Mephisto engaged in a cosmos-shaking battle that left the Hell-Lord badly beaten. More failed attempts to gain the Medallion of Power followed, as well a brief period in which Mephisto served as an advisor to Thanos, who then held the Infinity Gauntlet. Mephisto lied to Thanos about his origins, linking them to the Infinity Gems, in the hopes of gaining the villain's trust. Thule's Eye of Force eventually achieved its goal, opening a portal to the "Vril," only for them to be revealed as Mephisto's demon elite. Mephisto devoured Thule as payment, but his intended invasion of Earth was thwarted by Cloak and Dagger, Spider-Man, and Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch).
Mephisto once stole the soul of Odin while he was in his Odinsleep, and Loki possessed Odin's form, but Odin ultimately reclaimed his body and Mephisto took Loki's soul, his true goal all along. After months in Hell, Loki's spirit eventually escaped. Mephisto empowered suicidal Chris Daniels into the superhuman Suicide, cursing him so that only the Ghost Rider (Ketch) could slay him, hoping that Suicide could force Ketch into committing murder. The demon later attempted to seduce the Silver Surfer by mimicking the form of Nova (Frankie Raye), and Mephisto ruthlessly murdered Avengers member Mockingbird after the Avengers interfered in Mephisto's clash with rival demon Satannish over the souls of the Lethal Legion. Mephisto later helped the hero Hellcat destroy Satannish.

Appreciating the strength mortals drew from family and friendships, Mephisto mystically created two children for himself: a son named Blackheart, whom he deemed worthy of being his heir, and a daughter named Mephista. Mephista would wage war upon Doctor Strange, but Blackheart targeted first Daredevil and later the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider. Mephisto sought to teach his son the ways of ruling Hell, but Blackheart's ambition began to rival his own and they turned on each other. Blackheart temporarily overthrew his father and claimed the throne of Hell, but he eventually lost it to Noble Kale, who was in turn cast out by a renewed Mephisto. After reclaiming his throne, Mephisto once more began focusing on acquiring more souls for his realm. His efforts to claim the Black Panther (T'Challa) were thwarted when he was nearly overwhelmed by all of the Black Panther spirits throughout history. The Haazareth demons who granted Doctor Doom magical power against the Fantastic Four are within Mephisto's domain, and tormented Doom for their master when he offended their patronage.

Mephisto took advantage of Spider-Man's desperation to save his Aunt May's life, after she was shot by one of the Kingpin's snipers. In exchange for her restored health, Spider-Man had to sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane Watson, as the demon would revel in the elimination of a sacred and holy bond of love, and Spider-Man's innate suffering (despite losing memory of the event). The couple agreed, and Mephisto altered time such that the Parkers never exchanged wedding vows. As part of the deal, Mephisto removed the knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity from the world. Through this event, Harry Osborn was somehow restored to life.

NOTE - In the alternate future timeline of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Mephisto has a loyal daughter named Malevolence.

 

[atlusreign]

Okay, I just did some reading on the Ghost Rider comic. Mephisto is not Satan, and his realm is not Hell, but he calls it Hell and poses as the biblical figure Satan. Here is his official bio from marvel.com:

I'm aware of Mephisto's quasi-Satan status. Hell realm is as close to hell as Marvel usually strays. Hell realm or hell, what's the difference? Are you ok with "hell like realm" then? Is the problem that you want everyone with powers to have come from the water leak you mentioned, thus disqualifying Mephisto in that he is too old? Is there a problem with biblical references on Literotica forums? I'm kind of new around here so if it's against the rules let me know. Where is the problem coming from? Do you dislike the character Mephisto in and of himself? If this is the case then there are plenty of substitutes which could be used.

 

[The Jeffinator]

No, none of those things. It just seems that humans with superpowers become insufficient when there are gods and demons a hundred times more powerful out there. Comics sometimes tend to get farfetched when they bring in gods and demons and heaven and hell and the afterlife and all. It makes the small things heroes like Spider-Man do seem so insufficient. I mean, Spidey worries about villains like Gobby and Doc Ock, but there is an entire realm of demons out there that could make Spidey and all his villains vanish from existence with a snap of their fingers. I dunno, I'm just not a fan of powers that extreme. But if you wanna use Mephisto and Ghost Rider, go ahead. I'm cool with it.

 

[kittenofdeath]

No, none of those things. It just seems that humans with superpowers become insufficient when there are gods and demons a hundred times more powerful out there. Comics sometimes tend to get farfetched when they bring in gods and demons and heaven and hell and the afterlife and all. It makes the small things heroes like Spider-Man do seem so insufficient. I mean, Spidey worries about villains like Gobby and Doc Ock, but there is an entire realm of demons out there that could make Spidey and all his villains vanish from existence with a snap of their fingers. I dunno, I'm just not a fan of powers that extreme. But if you wanna use Mephisto and Ghost Rider, go ahead. I'm cool with it.

i agree, religiony stuff makes all other things seem like a drop in the pond that cant even make a ripple, really trivializes the rest of us

 

[The Jeffinator]

Yeah. I think it would make the story cooler and not so extreme if Ghost Rider got his powers from a dark sorcerer instead of a demon of Hell. I mean, look at Voldemort -- he was badass, and he wasn't a demon. He was a normal human wizard who turned evil. Maybe Mephisto is, as said, a dark sorcerer, but his soul was trapped in a crystal which Johnny Blaze found? Maybe through the crystal, Mephisto gives him some of his power to collect life essences to set him free? Then, later on down the road, Mephisto could be an actual villain, but because he's not a god-like demon, his defeat is conceivable. Atlus, whatcha think?

Oh, and Kitten, what do you think about Venom?

 

[kittenofdeath]

well ive been thinking about it, and althugh i would still like to keep the basis of the symbiote alien in nature, i have an idea as to how he got it, ill write it up now (its verry similar to the one you proposed, just a few altered details)

 

[The Jeffinator]

Okay, cool. I'm looking forward to reading your version.

 

[atlusreign]

Okay. I see what you guys mean. From that perspective though I'm not sure Ghost Rider works. Any origin I come up with for him is going to wind up dominating the plot at some point or another so perhaps I just need a different character. I thought about Cloak of Cloak and Dagger but it wouldn't make for good RPing. Let me demonstrate:

Iron Man shoots a blast at Cloak.
Cloak phases out.

Cloak is about to be ran down by a car.
Cloak phases out.

A building falls on Cloak.
Cloak phases through building.

Sucks don't it? The Hulk is taken as is Iron Man sooo... I don't know. Anybody got some recommendations?

 

[The Jeffinator]

Punisher? Fantastic Four? Daredevil? You could play Harry Oborn as a metahuman. You can also take any char from X-Men and say they got their powers from the serum in the water. Just go to Marvel.Com and go through the bios -- they have ones for every character ever.

Another idea you could use for Ghost Rider is to say Johnny Blaze somehow got cursed from an object which gave him his powers.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Also, it would be possible to attack Cloak if he was caught off guard. Plus, since he would have to become solid to make an attack, he'd be vunerable.

 

[The Jeffinator]

So, we got me, Altus, and Kitten. So, we got three guys, and need some girls. Come on girls, come play with us!

 

[The Jeffinator]

Atlus, Kitten, can you refer this thread to some of your female friends?