The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
It was about two o clock on Sunday afternoon and Hunter was standing outside the Central Park zoo. Despite the late night he had had with Shana he’d been up early and phoned Katrina asking her if she’d like to come to the zoo. Ellie had made sure he had no sessions book for today and so intended to spending it relaxing and enjoying the little things in life.
He’d asked Katrina to make sure she got a cab here. She wasn’t to worry about the fare, he’d cover that when she got here. During her last visit one of the things she’d suggested they could do was go to the zoo. Hunter had never actually been to a zoo. By the time people had started making proper zoos he’d had enough other things on his mind to mean he didn’t have the time or the inclination to visit a zoo.
He wasn’t really sure what you were meant to do at a zoo. From what he could tell you just walked around looking at animals in little enclosed habitats. It wasn’t like they were going to perform for you. The circus on the other hand, now that was something much more entertaining. He’d definitely have to take Katrina to a circus at some point. Hunter had actually performed in a few circuses over the centuries. Perhaps he could teach Katrina a few little tricks.
Katrina stepped out of the back seat of her cab and scanned the crowd of people milling around outside the front gates of the zoo. Before she even had a chance to really look at all the people, one familiar face emerged from the sea of faces.
“Hunter!” Katrina hugged him around his middle, trapping his arms by his side for a brief moment before letting go. She thought a trip to the zoo was an excellent idea. It was just the kind of thing Hunter needed to experience, now that he wasn't trying to take over the world any more.
A nice, quiet, enjoyable day was perfect for relieving any of the stress left over from the previous week. For example, Katrina hadn't ever finished her math homework that was due Friday and now she could forget all about it for a few hours. Also, she could ignore the fact that her mother had not been particularly pleased with her not doing said homework. Really, the mansion teachers shouldn't be allowed to eat dinner in the mansion kitchen. Daily parent-teacher conferences were rather more than necessary in her humble fourteen-year-old opinion.
Katrina grabbed Hunter's hand and pulled it as she bounced into a place in line at the entrance gate. Going to the zoo really made her feel like a little kid again, and since she was at least four centuries younger than Hunter, she figured he wouldn't mind if she acted a little childish.
“Thank you for paying for the cab,” she added once they were secure in their line places. His generosity was greatly appreciated and she didn't ever want to take advantage of it.
“So, how was Spiritual Balance this week? Did you get any interesting customers or anything?”
Hunter smiled as he saw Katrina get out of a cab. He’d only managed to take a few steps towards her before she had run up to him and hugged him. She’d managed to trap his hands so he couldn’t really hug her back, so he just smiled and said, “I’m glad to see you to Katrina.” Once she let go he barely had time to pay the cabbie before she grabbed his hand and bounded for the line at the gate. It had been so long since Hunter had been around children just being children that he couldn’t help but smile at her boundless enthusiasm.
“That’s quite alright,” he told her when she thanked him for paying for the cab, “this is my treat.” Without working towards any long term malicious goals he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his money than making a little girl happy. While he wasn’t as wealthy as he had been, he wasn’t living as extravagant a lifestyle. The current account he was using would suffice for quite some time and he still had a few others hidden away. Living as he was money was unlikely to be an issue for a very long time, even with regular trips for Katrina.
“It’s been a good first week,” he told her as the line slowly moved forward, “I obviously can’t tell you about some of the private sessions but all in all everyone is progressing nicely. The evening classes aren’t too big and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.” Truthfully he was very pleased with how it was going. He’d been a little unsure how well Spiritual Balance would work out but there was enough interest to show him he was right to open it. Plus he was seeing the difference he was making for people like Meld and Shana.
“So what about you?” he asked, “Did you get that math homework done on time?” He’d not forgotten that she’d skipped homework to come and visit him. Much as he loved seeing her he wasn’t going to let it ruin her schoolwork. He knew that it would be important that she got a good education as she wanted to try and make a real difference in the world.
Katrina looked away. Yes. The math homework. Apparently he had remembered it better than she had. Ah look, they were at the front of the line.
“I'll get it done,” she mumbled and handed her ticket to the taker. She also got a panda stamp on the back of her hand in case she wanted to leave and come back later. So yeah... the zoo!
“I talked to Shin, he's one of the mansion greeters. He said it would be fine if you visited, by the way.” Change of subject. Hand pulled toward sugar glider exhibit.
Hunter could only manage a brief frown at Katrina before they were inside and she was pulling him off towards the first exhibit. He didn’t miss her attempt to change topic but couldn’t help but smile either. “So they’ll let me in will they?” he asked rhetorically, “That’s good, because as you know a vampire can’t cross the threshold of a dwelling without permission.”
“So what’s the attraction of a zoo?” Hunter asked, “I’ve never been to one before. What are you supposed to do?” Not only where they genuine questions but he knew that Katrina would enjoy answering them for him.
Threshold? That was like a porch, right? Katrina tilted her head to the side. “They can't?” That was an odd weakness to have. “That must get pretty inconvenient. Is it like a force field or something?” Unless he was pulling her leg. Katrina narrowed her eyes at him. “You're teasing me, aren't you.” It wasn't a question.
They reached the sugar glider exhibit and found a spot where they could see. There were perhaps twenty gliders in the habitat, chasing each other up and down the tree trunks. Katrina thought about his question. She'd never really considered before why people went to the zoo. She just went.
“I suppose that different people have different reasons. The main attraction would be that you can see animals from all over the world all in one spot. For those of us that can't easily travel all around the whole world, it can be very educational. They even have signs and plaques that give information about the animals, but I think most people just like to watch them.”
One of the gliders had reached the very top of his tree stump and had no where else to run from his brother that was charging up behind him. Much to the delight of his audience, child and adult alike, he leaped into the air. The webbing between his arms and legs stretched out like the wings of a kite and he glided to temporary safety a few feet away on the ground. Up on the stump his brother chattered angrily.
Katrina grinned. “Sometimes you get to see things you never would have noticed in everyday, normal life. Where these little guys are from, they're probably as common as squirrels, but here we can all appreciate how cool they are. And maybe even imagine what it would be like to be one for a little while.”
The little illusionist imagined for him, sharing just with Hunter a vision of racing along, their noses barely inches off the ground. Zigging, zagging, and zooming straight up a tree. They could feel gravity pulling back at them, but it was of no consequence. At the top, they pushed off, spread their arms, and almost flew. Air rushed beneath their skin and kept them aloft until the settled gently back in their own shoes once again.
“It's also a good place to talk,” she added as if nothing at all had happened.
Hunter couldn’t keep a straight face as Katrina pondered over his little joke. He cracked a broad smile that got an unappreciative glare from the girl. As they reached the first enclosure he watched the little animals scurry up and down and listened as Katrina explained the reason why people would come to the zoo.
Being as widely travelled as he was he hadn’t thought about it from the view of not getting another chance to see these animals. For instance Hunter had seen sugar gliders before. He’d only been to Australia once, sort of by accident, but while he was there he’d seen them scurrying around in the trees at night. As one of them leapt from his perch and displayed his ability to glide Hunter couldn’t help but smile as the crowed watched on with glee.
Rather than fight Katrina’s little illusion he went with it, feeling it more as he darted up a branch alongside Katrina. Upon reaching the top the both leapt and glided gently back to their spot by the sugar glider exhibit.
“I understand now,” he said as they moved on to the next exhibit, “Not everyone’s travelled the world like I have. Seeing these animals is only possible for some people here in a zoo. That and tracking some of these creatures down in their natural habitat is no easy task. I only saw a handful of sugar gliders when I was in Australia.”
“Which countries haven't you been to? I'll bet we can find something that even you haven't seen. ” Like penguins, maybe.
The exhibit immediately next to the gliders was the Siberian tigers. She was pretty sure he had seen one of those before. It was hard to miss when one of them is wandering the halls of your medical laboratory. Especially if he was one of your spies.
Katrina didn't need to stay and watch the tigers for long, but she did peek into the exhibit just in case someone she knew was taking a nap in the shade. There wasn't. She would have recognized him if there was.
“Well I’ve not been to either pole,” Hunter said as he thought about where in the world he hadn’t been, “and there are parts of South America and the Middle East that I’ve not seen. While I’ve been to Africa a few times it’s been on business, not for a safari. So I’ve seen some of the wildlife of the Serengeti and the jungles of the Congo but there’s still a lot more out there than even I’ve seen.”
Siberian tigers are something he had seen, both real and imitated. Katrina only paused by the tigers briefly before moving on to the next exhibit. It almost looked like she was looking for something in the enclosure. Perhaps she’d been a few times before and was looking for a certain tiger. Whatever she was looking for it didn’t look like she found it.
Katrina made a mental checklist of animals that she thought Hunter might not have seen before. It pleased her for some reason that she had seen some of them that he hadn't ever seen before, as if it were some kind of accomplishment that she, in her fourteen years, had seen something before he had.
“Let's go this way,” Katrina led the way, holding Hunter's hand, into one of the buildings. It was air conditioned inside, and compared to the warm day outside, it felt almost like the real arctic. It was a large circular building, with glass windows all the way around. Each of the windows showed a different animal in a habitat as close as possible to their own. Some of the habitats were completely enclosed, while others gave the animals a larger space outside the building with a part of the enclosure overlooked by the building's window.
The enclosures nearest the door were ermines, sleek coated and pure white. Next came the arctic foxes, playing coy and hiding behind the rocks in the far corners of their pen. Katrina, though, wanted to show off the king of this exhibit first of all. She led the vampire all the way to a thick glass window, the bottom of which was filled with turquoise blue water. Over the top of the pools surface, the rest of the exhibit was also visible; it was mostly white plastic mountains.
They had just gotten to the window when the inhabitant of the enclosure ambled up to the edge of his pool and slid into the water right in front of them. He pressed his back paw, which was larger by far than a manhole cover, against the window to kick off and went gliding through the water to the far side. From there he climbed out and ambled back to his starting place to repeat the whole procedure again. It was exercise time, and he was swimming laps.
“That's a polar bear,” Katrina pointed out, probably unnecessarily since there were plaques that also indicated what species he was. She put her hand against the window for comparison the next time the bear came by. He always kicked off in the exact same spot, as was evidenced by the multiple hand prints on the inside of the glass and the slight wear and scratches on the opposite side. “Isn't he huge?”
The bear passed by again. Forget about comparing paw to hand, his paw was nearly as big as the top half of her body.
Hunter was happy to let Katrina lead him by the hand towards whatever animal she picked for them to see next. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw she was taking him towards the arctic exhibits. While in Russia he’d been to some of the more northern parts he’d not seem many arctic animals. Stepping into the building was pleasantly refreshing as the temperature was significantly cooler in here for the sake of the animals.
Be took a passing glance at the ermines as Katrina pulled him deeper into the building. He’d seen stoats in their brown summer coats but never in their fine white winter fur. The closest he’s seen was clothes made of their fur. Next they passed arctic foxes hiding at the back of the enclosure. Again he’d only seen clothes made of them rather than the real things. It was nice that there were still things in this world that he hadn’t seen.
Finally they reached what Katrina had been pulling him towards and it was a sight worth seeing. Hunter had seen and even fought with grizzly bears but the polar bear was something else. At a rough guess this one would be somewhere in the region of nine feet tall and weigh in at over one thousand pounds.
“Now I’ve never seen one of these before,” he told Katrina, “Even when out in the Siberian wilderness. The guides had brought big rifles and told us to be very careful and watch for polar bears. I wasn’t worried, figuring I could fight a polar bear if I had to. Now I’ve seen one I’m glad we didn’t find any on our trip.”
Katrina grinned up at him, with a twinkle in her eye. She felt like she'd earned a point in the who-saw-it-first contest. The polar bear continued his laps through his pool and more and more children gathered round to watch and compare their hand sizes. It meant it was time for them to be moving on to something else.
The stopped briefly to watch the macaroni penguins slide one after another into their own little swimming pool. Apparently this zoo combined the antarctic with the arctic, probably to save on air conditioning. They were cute, but nearly as impressive as the polar bear
“Fighting a polar bear with your bare hands sounds like something out of a fairytale,” she pointed out. Or a vampire romance novel, she thought as they slipped back out through the doors into the warm sunshine. She checked, but his skin didn't seem at all sparkly. “Are all the vampire stories true? Is it contagious like in the books? Do you ever sleep in a coffin? Can you fly?”
Katrina knew where they were going to go next, and led the way to an exhibit that would take them all the way to the heart of the amazon rain forest even without a machete.
The age old vampire fact or fiction question. There were so many stories about vampires and in each they were often different with varying powers and weaknesses. The only common themes were that they drank blood, were creatures of the night and their bite could turn you into one of them. Several of the incorrect rumours Hunter had started themselves. Others had come about on their own. Almost all he had put to use at one point or another.
“There’s a lot of fiction mixed up with a little fact,” he told Katrina as they headed into a simulated Amazon, “Some have a grain of truth but many are just pure fantasy. The aversion to garlic for example. Garlic’s pungent smell has never been something I enjoyed, especially with enhanced senses. It’s from that with the myth that vampires could be repelled by garlic came from. The holy symbols came from the misguided belief that I was a daemon sent by the devil himself and the power of the Lord would save them.” Many people had died because of that misconception.
“I don’t know where the idea that a vampire’s bite would turn you into one came from. Where I to guess,” he mused, “I would say that it was someone who wanted power and dreamed up the idea of becoming like me. While I don’t know where me sleeping in a coffin came from I suspect Carlos Orsini might have had something to do with it. He was a man I met in Italy in the seventeenth century. Carlos knew what I was and for some reason thought it would be funny to suggest I was dead or undead or something like that. I wouldn’t have put it past him to have made that up. He always denied it of course.”
Hunter gave a reminiscent smile. He missed the group he ran with back then. Carlos, the witty Italian conman. Vali, who was an ox of a man who Hunter originally hired to be his bodyguard once he was the count of Transylvania. Jacques, the handsome son of a French nobleman who would be considered a great wingman these days. And finally Maurice, an old friend of Jacques’s who always seemed to be coming up with one crazy scheme or another to get them all into trouble. They all knew what he was and weren’t bothered by it. In fact it always seemed like Jacques wanted to be like him and Maurice and Carlos wanted to use his powers to help them out. Only Vali seemed more concerned with Hunter than his powers. That was probably why he’d always liked Vali the most.
“Flying is something I faked once. You know of Leonardo di Vinci, the famous inventor. Well Carlos managed to get a copy of one of his designs for a flying machine. It was based on the structure of a bat’s wings. Well it wouldn’t work for a normal person they couldn’t flap the wings hard enough to make enough force for flight and would only be able to glide short distances. I on the other hand could make enough force for flight. It was tiring and impractical for long distances but I could do it. Maurice, another friend of mine at the time, found someone who could make the wings and harness. We used it once in a jewellery heist that Maurice had plan,” Hunter told Katrina with a sly smile as he recounted the story, “I actually flew from a nearby building onto the roof. The sight of me flying towards them caused the guards to panic and flee. We got away with the jewels and made a handy some of money.”
“The most important thing to know though is this. I do not sparkle in daylight,” he told her with a serious look on his face. Damn you Stephenie Meyer, “The nocturnal aspect of vampires comes from the fact that I am suited to the darkness, not because I burst into flames in sunlight or because it makes my shiny.”
Katrina listened wide-eyed and wide-eared to Hunter's tale of cunning theft. She felt a little bad that she was admiring him for stealing, but she had to admit, it was a clever plan. She had always been jealous of those that could fly. Some mutants were lucky enough to do it naturally, like Carrick the griffin boy, while others, like her, had to fly in airplanes or Da Vinci flying machines, like Hunter.
“Wow,” she breathed. “That's really...” cool “...impressive.”
You know what else was impressive? Fruit bats. Also known as flying foxes, they were the largest mammals in the world that could actually fly, not just glide. Twenty or thirty of them hung from the branches of the tree at the center of their sunny enclosure. At this time of day they were sleepily dozing upside down in the sun. Their bodies were at least 18 inches long. Their wings, when they unfurled themselves to find a more comfortable position, were nearly five feet across.
One of them turned his fox-like face to stare at Hunter, as if it was accusing him of something. Katrina suspected that it might have been suspicious that Hunter was more of a psychic than he pretended to be. She most assuredly had not mentioned out loud that she thought he should be sparkling. Nor had anything on her face indicated that she might be thinking it. Nothing at all.
Next time they walked outside, though... she might have to try it. Maybe she could even catch it on camera.
Hunter couldn’t help but smile at Katrina as she tried to remain cool and composed. Such maturity for one so young. He might have to try and rebuild the flying machine but modify it so he could use it without his powers. After all they didn’t have carbon fibre back that.
The fruit bats intrigued him. Asides from one species that drank blood, or lapped it more accurately, he couldn’t understand the link people made between them and vampires. Some of the more modern tails had differentiated them more but people used to think he could turn into one. He’d only done that once. Shape shifting is very confusing and he had no idea how he’d turned into a bat or how to turn back. Only after he’d burned up all the blood in his system did he change back. He didn’t even know the woman was a mutant when he’d bit her. They didn’t even have a word for mutants back then.
While Hunter could no longer read minds he could read body language. Katrina was planning something mischievous, or at least thinking about it. He didn’t know what it was or if she would go through with it so rather than do anything about it he just moved on to the next exhibit.