Cowboy Bebop: Demiurge -- OOC Thread

[Jacobo_Curious]

"The Supreme Father God or Supreme God of Truth is remote from human affairs; he is unknowable and undetectable by human senses. She/he created a series of supernatural but finite beings called Aeons. One of these was Sophia, a virgin, who in turn gave birth to an defective, inferior Creator-God, also known as the Demiurge. (Demiurge means "public craftsman" in Greek.) This lower God created the earth and its life forms. This is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), a deity who was viewed as fundamentally evil, jealous, rigid, lacking in compassion and prone to genocide. The Demiurge "thinks that he is supreme. His pride and incompetence have resulted in the sorry state of the world as we know it, and in the blind and ignorant condition of most of mankind."

<<--->>

Welcome to the universe of Cowboy Bebop. This thread will have little in common with the original anime, having none of the characters, but exists in the same universe -- a gritty, film noir-style universe of intrigue and deceit, where humanity reaches blazing heights and falls to terrible depths. A universe where good and evil have blurred so much that some people reject society and their paths and turn to a life of bounty hunting...

The year is 2083, eleven years after the original anime. My character is a young woman in her early twenties calling herself Lena May, a trust fund brat with an attitude and a healthy dose of common sense who bought a used starship with her money and set out to escape her life.

But, despite being clever and pretty and having quite the attitude, she's no match for the rugged world of bounty hunting. Not yet. So maybe, just maybe, she'll have to accept some people into her little world, and try to make a name for herself in a world where a name means nothing, where time and space are always changing and yet always the same...

The planet, Mars. The name of the ship:

Pleroma.

<<--->>

"The famous Gnostic priest, Valentinus, was born in Egypt, traveled to Rome about 140 CE, and then moved to Cyprus. He was the founder of perhaps the largest and most influential school of Gnosticism which lasted until it was suppressed in the 4th century CE. He taught that groups of Aeons made up the "pleroma" (fullness) of the High God. One group, the Ogoad are called: Depth, Silence, Mind, Truth, Word, Life, Man and Church. Another group was the Decad (10) and Dodecad (12). The last of the Docecad was Wisdom, also called Sophia."

<<--->>

The universe has a heartbeat. It echoes with every human being. It fills us with fire and energy, air and thought, water and faith, earth and drive, hope and void. We are all filled with the quintessential energy that brings us onward to find meaning in a universe that seems to have lost all meaning.

We, as humanity, continue to fight for nothing, continue to struggle to understand what cannot be comprehended...

<<--->>

"The relation between the Powers and the Elements is represented in the well-known Elemental Square or Square of Opposition. (It is most common to place the Elements at the corners and the Powers between them, but it is better to place the Powers at the corners, since they are absolute, and the Elements between them, since they are mixtures of the Powers.) The Square shows that Earth is Dry and Cool, Water is Cool and Moist, Air is Moist and Warm, Fire is Warm and Dry.

The dominant Qualities of Fire and Water are Warmth and Coolness, which are the powers of separation and union. Therefore Empedocles taught that Love (Philotês) and Strife (Neikos) are the two primary forces in the cosmos, which bring about all transformation through their mixing and separation of the Roots (Elements). (Although Love and Strife are the conventional English translations, it would be more accurate to say Affinity, i.e. friendship, and Difference, i.e. disagreement.)

Strife creates Plurality by dividing the One, and Love creates Unity from the Many. A proper balance of both is necessary in an ordered cosmos."

<<--->>

Love and strife, together in harmony.




Welcome to Cowboy Bebop.



<<--->>

(Quotes thanks to:
www.religioustolerance.org/gnostic.htm
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/AGEDE/Intro.html)

 

[Khadgar]

woah.... thats alot of religion.... lol

sure. alrihgt, i'll be.... uh.... actually, maybe a little more info on our actual situation, are you looking for seasoned bounty hunters, or guys who will just wing it aw we go along?

 

[hybirdx]

Same thing I'm wondering.

 

[Star of Penumbra]

I'd just like to point out that the Japanese calendar is something like 500 years off compared to the Gregorian calendar, which is used by America and most of Europe. I don't exactly how much right offhand, I'd have to look it up, but it's several hundred years. So the year 2050 on the Japanese calendar would be something like 2567 on the Gregorian calendar.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

I'm hoping for low-experience or medium-experience, but no Spike Seigel level characters. Not yet. Though, hopefully, we'll have more than three battle-ready team members, so things will balance out even. ^_^

Is the time different? I wasn't aware of that. I think the Cowboy Bebop universe actually is supposed to be in 2072, or at least it is in the American version. That makes more sense anyway -- it's not THAT futuristic, all things considered. No alien intellegences or phaser beams that I know of... unless I'm wrong.

Does anyone know of any summaries of the Cowboy Bebop universe on the internet?

 

[Khadgar]

offhand no.... myself, i'd just watch the series, that would give all the first source material you'd need. specifics and such i can deal with.


alrihgt,this isn't my charechter, but say, 21, been on a bounty hunters ship for a while, but hes been mroe the boy in tag, nothing big, nothing inportant, if he catches a runt, good for him, but no one cares, mosty he just does ship chores and all that jazz, but say.... collition? sure. ships totalled, and the bounty hunters can't pay for it, so their all turned loose, and he's looking for employment, maybe jazzing his credentials to look like he's more than he is? YEAH! i like that.... the riliableguy people say "uh oh.... get me out of this!" and he says "um.... maybe i should have said this sooner.... but i've never done this before" kind of thing HAHA! i like it.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Sounds awesome. I like the idea. ^_^

Just get some specifics down, such as name and such, and your character should be great.

 

[Khadgar]

in due time.... thast requires creative thought.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Well, little bump. Are there any other people who are thinking of characters?

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

i'll go rent some episodes & get back to you

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Great. I'm still interested in doing this, if anyone else is.

 

[Khadgar]

i'm still in

 

[amon_darknight]

hmmm thinking about it, if i can join in Jacobo, sounds like a cool thread, ill think it over

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Hey Amon. Glad you're interested. Come up with a character whenever you're ready.

 

[hybirdx]

I guess I'm in...

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Good! ^_^ So come up with a character and get back to me when you do.

 

[hybirdx]

I'll try

 

[4U2Notice]

Hey guys, just read the thread pitch and I'm very pleased as I am a giant fan of Cowboy Bebop... in my opinion it is the best anime I've ever seen..(by the way, for those who have seen The Animatrix, "A Detective's Story was written and directed by the same guy...)
NEways....I have two characters I would elect myself into... I could be the experienced Jet-style character who stays on the technological sidelines, or you could give me some info on what your looking for in an antagonist (PM me on it) and I can see about that.... your choice.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

The experienced Jet-style character on the technological sidelines, if you would be willing to play such a character, would work out very well, actually. ^_^

I'll come up with a more specific description of Lena soon. In the meantime, if everyone else could come up with some more specific descriptions too, then we can get the ideas moving along.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

As 4U has mentioned antagonists, let me explain my ideas for how the thread itself will run:

I'm thinking of partitioning the runs into actual episodes. Anyone who wants to get a chance to introduce more of their character's backstory can decide to run as GM for a bounty. For example, I might do the first one just to get things started off, and then somebody else might have an idea for a bounty (maybe somehow related to their character, maybe not at all) and become the GM for that. That way, we can, I don't know, rotate the spotlight or something. It seems like a good idea in theory, anyway. However, that would be that whoever decided to be GM for that time would have to be around more often than usual, just to take care of things. It has a lot of potential to fall apart completely, maybe, but I think it's an interesting idea anyway. Besides, it also means that not every character has to be in each episode. Maybe some characters decide they just aren't interested in a mission that other characters are (and maybe because the player wants to take a break ).

So the anatagonists might be played by whoever's running the episode at that moment. Or, if people would rather, they can just give their ideas to me and I'd be happy to GM their situations for them. It might be more interesting if GM switched per episode, though. Cowboy Bebop has always seemed like that to me -- focusing on a different character each episode, and sometimes just bringing them all together.

Now, as for my character:

PSYCHIATRIC FILE 00023800918012
Name: "Lena May"
Real Name: Unknown
Age: 20 (?)
Birthplanet: Mars
Criminal Record: None. (?)
Description: Pale skin, dark hair, 5'7", 115-140 lbs.
Known Background: Owns the ship "Pleroma", with assets totalling over a million wulong. Immediate family is deceased -- thus real name is unknown. Valedictorian in prep school, and head of school "judiciary committee" twice in a row. No college education.

Observations by: Dr. Gerald Longarms
Ms. May came to us of her own will, asking to be hospitalized. Refusing to give much information about herself, yet having the necessary fees (in cash, in a matter of fact), we accepted her, unable to find any police record of anyone matching her description. We assumed that she had stolen the money, but apparently, the money had been legitimately acquired -- through the life insurance and retirement funds of her deceased parents. She was always surprisingly calm, yet insisted that she was insane. She had many stories to tell me about her family and her thoughts (see CONFIDENTAL PSYCHIATRIC FILE 00023800918012), but exibited no signs of insanity that I could find. Unable to have any real excuse to keep her in our facility, we forced her to leave after three months. I believe she purchased a ship known as the "Pleroma" and has become a bounty hunter, of all things. This file will be open to the police in case she does, in fact, lose control of herself. However, my professional opinion is that in the months that I knew that pretty young lady, she seemed very sane indeed. Troubled, perhaps. But aren't we all.

I can't imagine what she's thinking. A bounty hunter? She didn't seem like the type to me. I don't know if she can even shoot a gun. Whatever the case, hopefully she will put her talents to good use. I tried to convince her that she is a very intelligent, mature girl, but she didn't want to believe me. I am quite certain that for each secret she told me, there were hundreds more waiting to be told.

 

[4U2Notice]

Alright, let's see if this works fer ya:

Name (alias): Donovan Blaine (usually goes by "Don")
Age: mid-30's to early-40's... aside from that, unknown by most.
Description: about 6'2", brown hair combed to one side (and kept there by a bandana), about 150-190 lbs., muscular but not heavyset, compulsive smoker
Birthplanet: Unknown
Background: finished high school with average grades, joined the military, took on a technological sect of the space "air force" and moved up through the ranks until he was discharged for an accident with a platoon he was leading at the time. Turned to the merc business and takes piloting jobs from low-end bounty hunters, often found in bars. An obvious product of a gritty urban society.

I'll get into other stuff if you want, just want to know if this works so far. I can always edit it....

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Sounds good. However, he'd have to be desperate to join somebody inexperienced like Lena -- or maybe something about her spirit might appeal to him. ^_^

 

[4U2Notice]

I was thinking the ship could be extremely high tech... and/or a mass amount of funds payable perhaps....

It's not like I'd join you for nothing... Don's a merc, and a merc'll do anything for a lot of dough.

 

[hybirdx]

Okay, this is just an rough draft, I may change him later. I'm deciding if I'll join.

Name: Tyler Jones [Goes by Ty (Pronounced Tie)]
Age: unknown, considered in between 19-21
Height: Almost exactly 6"0. Auburn, semi short wild hair. About 150-170 lbs. Strong, but not very muscular looking.
Birthplace: Not known, possibly earth.

Background: Not very much is known about Ty, Only that he learned most of his fighting moves from "How to use martial arts" books or Manga. He used to hunt for bountys with his friend Charlie, but after an incident that thrown his buddy into an deep coma, Ty withdrawn himself from the world.

 

[Khadgar]

Gear tecnar

Name: Gear Tecnar
Age: 21
Details: 6'2, always wearing a plaid shirt, usually twice his size. unkempt hair, but a nicely kept beard. dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, about 190 lbs. of course, like all other people, a chain smoker.

Bio: he's got a resume you can be proud of, captured a half dozen criminals, and colected bounty on all of them, maintenance on a ship, navigation, looks rough, talks the talk, walks the walk. he's pretty damn suave.

too bad it's all a lie.

sure, he HAS captured a half dizen criuminals, but the bounty was so low, that no one else wanted to waste the time to get them, and so he was able to clumsy his way to the bank. yeah, of course he can paintain a ship and navigate, but thats mostly because be's the erand boy in the ship. he has to do all the low dirty work and such, it's a shame, but now he's got the skills in the ship HA!

he needs this resume though, because one of his hasty corrections to the ships navigation set it on a course, and then of off to make diner, no one was taking the help, so when a trawler crawled into their path, the little ship just nailed it hard. no damage to the trawler of course, but the ship was totaled. if the other crewmembers could kick him off their ship, they would, but they have no ship to kick him off of. with no money to repair the thing, such is the life of a bounty hunter, they were all turned loose, and thus, he is on his way to find employment....