Æther Pool

*pulls out strand of Æther*

For one of my stories (probably a one-off) I want there to be a politician of great power and influence, possibly the leader of the entire country, who like Tom Dobbs in "Man of the Year" nobody knows how to deal with, mostly because they spend the bulk of their time baking when they are not dealing with paperwork.

Example: while they are filling out some documents and making phone calls, they call in a member of the Secret Service, and tell them to start pulling out some recipes. Gives them a particular genre, anything that sounds good. Confused, the agent starts poring over cookbooks and online recipes and, not knowing when to stop, comes out with a stack about two inches thick. The agent gets very worried, as they are then immediately called into the office. The agent nervously sets the stack on the desk, but the president congratulates him on his hard work, and begins rifling through the recipes. They pull one, pretty much at random and ask the agent, 'does this sound like something you would eat?'. Taken aback, the agent stutters that he would, to which the president replies 'excellent', gets up and walks out holding the recipe, gesturing for the agent to follow.
The president makes whatever was on the sheet, all the while fielding calls on speakerphone. Gives some of the finished product to the agent to try. It is damn good.

If someone wants to hold a meeting with the president, it is usual very informal. The 'meeting' is held in the kitchen. The person sits on a stool while the president, jacket off and sleeves rolled up, bustles around the kitchen.

It is not an insult or a snub against anybody, the president simply thinks better while keeping their hands busy, much like some of us think better late at night, or in the shower.

*tosses Æther whisp onto a shelf*

Character who doesn’t really use bad grammar, but uses strange word flow. For instance, using ‘up the hill, I ran’ instead of ‘I ran up the hill’

Yoda

essentially

Yoda was very well done, but there still aren't that many characters we see like this, so it would be refreshing and possibly fun to see one

Unfortunately, of course, there is always the risk of running a character like this in an unGodly horrible fashion

Me being a further asshole:

Kid growing up is terrified of spiders, of all shapes and sizes
thing is, he can actually talk to, understand, and interact with them
and the tend to be pretty nice, too

'hey bro, i kept your phone safe for you!'
lol, i have no phone!
H-hey, wait!


Kind of like Liz Thompson from Soul Eater, only spiders specifically

Okay

I see so many instances where snakes and spiders are considered evil, and if they are anthropomorphic they are inevitably spies and villains

I want to see more stories where the snakes and the spiders are friendly, helpful to the protagonist, even and especially behind the scenes
I can even accept the Trickster aspect, so long as the Snake/spider trickster is going about their business in order to help the character advance

Have a character who is exCeptionally touchy-feely. No apparent concept of personal space. Given half a chance this character will start rubbing her hands all over the skin of anyone she meets.

The reason for this being:

She is a recognizant- by touching your skin, feeling scars, birthmarks, broken bones, etc, she can get glimpses of your past.
And she is addicted to the sensations of other people, to learning more about those around her

yes
I like this character


Also, little something I was listening to:

Earl Grey
(Title)(Name-Familial)

You know how people sometimes stick a pen/pencil behind their ear to keep it on-hand but out of the way? Imagine a wizard or something doing that, only she does it with a quill (obviously), so the hair on one side of her head is streaked black with ink and it kind of looks like she has a feeler when she looks at you and goes, yes what did you want
Add to that: she has a floating spellbook. Normally, this massive book hovers at a height of about 3 feet off the ground, but if she needs to get to high or unusual spots of the library, or when she just feels like being lazy, she sits on the book and it flies her wherever she wants to go

So, a couple of my friends (who shall go unnamed) were watching the Dictator recently, and I suddenly had an idea for a character in the Alpha setting.

Dictator like that, except actually competent and cognitive.
Instead of having a normal body double, he hires This Chick:

Shapeshifter with Indestructibility.

Not only does this ensure that his body double is identical to him down to the last hair, but it also gives people the impression that he is unkillable.
When He steps out of the car and a man on the street pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head
And he just wipes the flattened slug off his forhead
Imagine how terrifying that would be to the citizens.

Mind you, the dictator himself doesn't actually have any powers- SHE does
He is the mind behind the entire plan; she is the body that people see and keeps the plan alive.
She doesn't actually do much of anything aside from make public appearances, which suits her just fine. She gets paid, she gets put up, she gets protection and luxury that she probably wouldn't know anywhere else. All she has to do is wear the man's face, which she would probably do anyway, just for fun

Here's a thing:
For Alphas

Have a Vitae-kinetic with contract, who can demand time of life as payment for curing ailments.
Usually the cost is pretty reasonable: stomach problems? Toothache? That'll be one minute off your life. Common cold? that'll be a minute and a half.
More serious stuff costs a little more- makes sense

Thing is, he stores all that time up, and in times of need he can call upon that well of time to forcibly keep himself alive, which is usually long enough to stitch himself back together

Nb

Trying to get some character concepts out in medium, because they just re-occurred to me
*slams down notes*

Lucas- no last name, never gave him a last name. Lucas was my original Alphas character that I played when I first met Tim back in high school. At this point I really didn’t know any of the story at ALL, so I was just building a character that fit the situation. Probably one of my more honest characters, if less than interesting.
Note: this character was designed for the UnHonorable War
Lucas was a Brazilian man who got a work visa to work in the States, and was doing manual labor in a factory when powers came online. Specific powers were Super strength and Super Density, and he didn’t have control over either one. One phrase that keeps coming back to me about him is ‘biological tank-plating’, because that is essentially what he would have been made of when I finished with him.
Let’s see, backstory stuff: lost a leg below the knee working in the factories back in brazil; his prosthetic doesn’t slow him down. He is a trained grappler and has won a few competitions. He is 6’8” and weighed 260lbs. before his density powers started tipping the scales.
A really fun thing I thought about when I was originally working with him was the fact that, given his ridiculous strength, he could actually make diamonds out of chunks of coal if he had the time to sit there. So, of course, I would have made him make a baseball bat completely out of diamond.


Another character- we shall call her… Jan
Jan was also an Alphas character. She was intended for story purposes only- I never intended to actually play her in game. She was a test subject rescued from one of the Pits somewhere around the Post-UnHonorable War, either before or after. Jan was designed to be a soldier, and is very good at following orders, but isn’t all that great at thinking for herself.
In the aftermath of her rescue she was placed in a university and given a full schedule, and introduced to some people in the hopes that she would make friends.
One night, she was working out in the rec, and asked someone to turn up the speed on her treadmill every minute. She proceeded to turn on her music and close her eyes, and just start running. Person decided to be an ass and tripled the speed at which Jan was supposed to advance. They eventually cranked the treadmill up as high as it would go
Jan. Kept. Going.
People stared. Someone called the authorities. Finally, her handler arrived and dispersed everyone. She had run 4-minute miles for over half an hour before the government man finally stopped her and told her to run a cool-down and get some food. While she obediently did so, the g-man explained the situation to the gathered students, which included her roommate.
Later in the story, a few guys tried to assault her roommate and she happens to walk by. Training and conditioning kicked in and she kills all three of them in about two seconds.
Jan I know has high levels of Human Physical Perfection and Durability, as well as low levels of super strength and probably super speed, adaptable resistance, etc. She tends to be a softy and very adorkable. She is highly regimented and very good at following orders, but is not that great at lateral thinking. High loyalty to friends, whom she regards as ‘comrades’, and she is still adapting to life outside the Pits


Tropophobia- Alma (YES!! I FUCKING WENT THERE)
I am fairly certain I was on drugs of some kind when I came up with this, but it might have just been sleep deprivation. In any case, WARNING: if holes in the skin are your squicks, leave now, because that is what this post is about. That said, moving on.
I was looking around on tumblr, looking at all manner of stupid things, and I happened to remember a creepy/weird thing I had seen a long while back, and the wheels just started turning.
Fun Fact: I can now make my skin crawl on command. It’s funny.
Anyhoo, I created a character who is basically a tropophobe’s fucking Nightmare: she has clusters of holes all over her body. Not completely covered, but she has enough clusters that you can’t find a body part on her that doesn’t have some. I know her eyes have been left alone, as have her scalp, most of her face, her mouth, and her hands. Other than that, literally Everything is fair game. Shoulders, arms, feet, thighs, buttocks. Hell, even her vaginal canal has some clusters.
What makes this worse is that she is kind of supernaturally possessed. All of those holes are portals to elsewhere, and things tend to come out of there frequently. Insectile creatures, noisome and acidic liquids, all that fun jazz.
To top it all off, these things are at the very least semi-sentient, and are rather malicious. Alma cannot make them go away, or even cover them properly. If they don’t like the material covering them, they corrode it. If Alma tries to stuff them, they either eat the putty/filler/whatever, or they grow elsewhere. Alma even tried to kill herself once to get away from it all. You know what happened? The holes consumed the gun, and as punishment they covered her entire hand.
Other than that, they kind of, exist
What it means for Alma: social outcast. She cannot or is afraid to show her face to people, can’t stand to be near them. She is terrified of contact, as she cannot bear the sensation of her own skin rubbing against itself. Frustration- wanting things she cannot have, or is afraid to seek because of the holes. Due to there being holes in her flesh her strength is fractional of what it could be.
Most of all: extreme discomfort. There are holes on so many parts of her body that there is literally no way for her to find any degree of comfort. Touching the holes in any way tends to make her skin crawl, and something is always touching. Bathing is incredibly weird, as the sensation of having anything go inside the holes makes her feel as if her flesh itself is sloshing. Showers are terrifying. Sponge baths are about the easiest thing for her, but even they are exceptionally difficult. Clothing is also fun- clothing that is too tight or constricting tends to corrode, but loose clothing tends to rub on the holes and makes her constantly shudder. Shoes are especially tricky, because the soles of her feet also have teensy holes in them, and being in a confines space tends to make them secrete large amounts of liquid. Not even corrosive, just sloshing…stuff… that makes it really uncomfortable to walk in them. Alma gets over this by wearing rubber rain boots and cleaning them and her feet regularly.
So, basically, Alma’s main goal is to get through life in as little discomfort as she can manage.
Now, you might be asking, how does she make her living if she can’t go out around other people? Well, that’s kind of the point. Alma is the main character of a series of short stories, or maybe just one, which are basically noir detective shorts. She takes jobs to follow people, learn secrets, and generally discover things.
These days, Alma is disgusted by her condition, but is also kind of apathetic. Demonic wasps crawl out of her skin with some regularity, and she just tells it to go to the top of the shower to get away from her. Also, while the holes tend to make her life hell, they also get pretty protective of her, and will generally help her out in a fight (or for surveillance, if need be). Demonic wasps, flies, spiders, snakes, nightcrawlers, scorpions, centipedes, noxious oozes and slimes, and other such fearful unmentionables are all within the realm of her asking, or not asking as the case may be.

First was neck. Clusters started appearing on arms. Then breast. Then shoulder. Then shoulder. Then buttocks and down the leg. When they started appearing along her hairline she tried to take her own life; they took her hand. Then, they started appearing slowly around her left orbit, coming in very slowly, drawing it out so that she will remember that there is nothing she can do to stop it.
Clusters can be large or small, but the holes themselves are small and irregular, and the patterning

Phobic character from alma's story. I don't think i am going to use this character, because very limited/limiting, but too good of a concept to risk forgetting:

Character is not scared of flying- loves flying in fact
for sake of arguement, let us call this character Rowena
What Rowena is actually scared of is losing control of a flight

So what her her entity would manifest as is a mass of black strings that take control of her body and wrest control of her for the duration of the flight. While the entity is in control, it flies with recklessness, pushing whatever aircraft they are flying to the very limits of its capabilities, and perhaps beyond them. This would be incredibly dangerous if not for the fact that the entity is unearthly skilled, and can always get them back to ground safely; it just chooses not to most of the time. Even given that, any flight with Rowena will be terrifying for all involved, especially her.

okay, just wanted to throw that out there

Here's a thing:

original idea was that the character had mechanical prostheses, but not limbs. she had an implant on her scalp- long, tentacle-like metal dreadlocks, that can do all kinds of things

continuation was that she doesn't really have any other limbs- they were removed in some accident or surgery. She has anti-gravitic motors that allow her to float/fly, but her dreads are the only means she has of really interacting with the world

Final concept: she does have other limbs, or the capacity to 'unfold' them as it were; they are spindly things that pop out of mechanical sockets where most of us have our arms and legs. She just doesn't unfold them very often because she doesn't need or want to

I want to create a character who is like Lunk from the cyanide and happiness show
perpetually pissed off and takes LITERALLY no shit

this is going to need a follow-up, but while i am still thinking about it:

If I ever make a character who is a clairvoyant, he or she should more represent the downside of it, like hearing demonic voices coming from all directions and not being able to escape, or not being able to sleep at night because they are not ignorant to the things that live in the shadows and the walls.
Might possibly, or probably, draw some similarities to schizophrenia. like, a Lot. With the unfortunate truth being that they are real, not the senses triggering when there is nothing there.

Have a superheroine who, literally, only fights because people insist on being assholes. Otherwise, she would much prefer to simply...have sex.
that's right. High school-college age hero who only fights if she has to. She actually considers herself something of a pacifist who is forced into her position as a fighter because everyone else just wants to fight
This is the kind of character who could be confronted by an enemy who is threatening her with the usual pain, injury, humiliation, death
but the fucking second
that they mention fucking her at ANY point in the conversation
she just goes, 'oh, is that all you wanted? You didn't have to go through the rest of that cliche spiel- you could have just said so'

Just a one-off idea that popped up today


Let's seeeeeeee, other stuff:
Quim (prounounced Keem)- the Cauldron-Born. An alchemical experiment inexplicably given life in humanoid shape, this unusual being decided to adventure as a way to learn as much about the world as possible.
Kind of want to run her in a D&D campaign, but I'm not sure what to list her as...

oh yeah, i found this

Quick thought:

character who is in a coma; 'vegetative', but still very much alive and aware, just immobile.
Now imagine this character is also stuck in their heads with a powerful spirit of some kind, and is constantly fighting it for control, which is partially why they are not out of the coma yet

but then one day the doctor has convinced their parents to pull the plug on the life support, and is reaching over to do so
and they just let the spirit take over
and in a heartbeat their body is leaned over the side of the bed, hand wrapped around the doctor's throat.

I want to go somewhere else with this, but don't have time right now

1 $*contrivance manifestation- things you draw/paint come to life, or pre-existing art comes to life
4 dark matter manipulation
5 electrical transport
3 -postcognition
2 revert state
6 x-ray vision

A pair of twin who, due to medical reasons, have had to come in for blood draws and innoculations since they were kids

One of them, after a while becomes innured to this ritual, and she is quite calm, almost resigned to it at this point
The other is outright terrified of needles due to her childhood, and practically has to be dragged into every session, despite having her sister right next to her, rolling up her sleeve like it doesn't even matter

Character who literally can’t sleep (because not human, or some other reason), but likes to watch other people sleep, because the concept fascinates her, and she finds sleeping people funny

New name:
Alexandria Valentine

Might be related to another Valentine
who is somewhere in this blog
but I can't remember where...

new basic design for alphas character

Current boring-ass codename: ground

Well, because he is grounded

Major defensive character
can't remember all of them, but probably a version of indestructible and energy absorption
basically, he can't be damaged by physical or energy effects, because of the simply reason that the energy will simply pass around him like a stream around a stone or, more likely, will be transferred through him into the ground

main weakness is against grim reaping