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 Pharoah Dynasty
An ancient sorceress is on a quest to bring her long-lost warrior-king to the modern era in a bid for global domination. Can the heroes of the modern world stop her before all is lost?
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.
Posted by Ion on Feb 24, 2020 11:43:25 GMT -6
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Nov 23, 2024 18:01:17 GMT -6
Fuegogrande
William’s use of his power had finally reached the point where Evelyn was no longer able to categorize, chart, and explain it. He took the glass word and set it on the table Evelyn was at. ”I… do not really understand it either. I am just filling in gaps of what I know of electricity with what I am feeling when I use the power.”
Evelyn said that she liked not knowing how it works, that it was like magic. William thought about that for a moment. For someone like her who has a power that tries to explain everything, leaving nothing left to wonder about or feel in awe of… Life must be just a little more drab. ”It is … Mutant magic. It should not work, but it does. It is unexplainable and wonderous.” William arced electricity in a constant current between his hands. The immediate area bathed in the semi purple light of his electricity.
To William, Evelyn seemed just as impressed if not more so than he was. He had to imagine her echoes were carrying on trying to explain or decipher how he had done it. William wasn’t sure how he had done it, but he did have an idea.
Evelyn made suggestions. A flower like a rose, or maybe a word. He went back over to the sand, ”I think… That… Well, okay. Voltage is electrical potential, right? Maybe because my voltage is so astronomical I am able manipulate the path the electricity takes. How I control it… I just thought about the path it should take and it did.”
William released his power into the sand again. This time when he fished out the glass it was an almost calligraphy-esque writing of the word ‘Voltage’/ The loop on the bottom of the ‘g’ and the crossing of the ‘t’ coming from the end of the ‘e’ being large, fanciful, and sweeping. ”I guess cursive is still useful for something.”
”This feels like what it felt like when I made the fulgurites the first time. I am going to try it again.” The amperage he was at felt like his bucket had grown a fire engine hose out the side and could unleash it at will.
William moved over to the sand and readied himself. His power erupted in generation, electricity arcing from him to everything nearby. He focused on an image in his mind. ”Get ready… I am going to try again. Three. Two. One.” William closed his eyes and in a flash of lightning and thunder his power flowed out of his hand into the sand and followed the design he held in his mind. William could somehow tell how long the current needed to last to complete the design. It was a fraction of a second longer than his previous attempts.
After he opened his eyes again, William sifted through the sand and pulled out a fulgurite in the shape of a lion’s head. ”This is… Amazing. I can… I cannot believe I can do this.” He set the fulgurite down on the table. ”What should I make next?” William asked Evelyn, overly excited by his own ability to create.
Emily was helping to make a bad situation for William, tolerable. There were things that needed to be done, but she was letting them be pushed off until later. While William was never one for procrastination, this was a time that he felt delaying was beneficial. It would hopefully be the last time he would have to answer all the same questions again. It would also be under better circumstances. And he did not have to do it right away.
”That… Sounds great.”
How long was William at the station? He had not checked a clock at any point. ”I am not sure. It was several hours at least. It was maybe… Just shy of noon when they took me in?” William said, questioning it as he said it. He had woken up in the garage in the morning and the sun was high when he was taken to the police station. It was sunset when he had been brought to the mansion. ”So… All day.”
At the mention of sandwiches, William’s stomach growled. Loudly. William gave a small, embarrassed smile. ”Sandwiches sound great.” Hopefully they had what he needed for his favorite. Pastrami with mustard on rye. Normally he had to settle for a some plebeian sandwich on white bread. In the current situation though, he was a beggar so he could not in all fairness be a chooser.
Using the new information William was providing, Evelyn went to work in earnest. First she had formulated a theory on his power and then as new numbers were provided she created a testable model.
”Well… Let us test it!” William moved the ammeter to where Evelyn could easily see it without William having to hold it up to show her. He clicked the dial on it over to where it would be able to show up to twenty amps. ”I will keep the wattage down on it. I think I can do that. Keep from running as much power through it as I did the other machine I fried.” As the amperage went up, William tried to keep the voltage low. That resulted in his corona reappearing as the breakdown ended. The corona slowly faded to where it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye in the lit room.
William continued to run current. The ammeter continued to move up at a predictable rate. ”It looks like your math checks out… Less than a minute to twenty amps.” The numbers continued to climb.
Evelyn was onboard with the library idea. Once William had a better handle on his new life he would take the pair of them to whatever library seemed the best for them to go to. His New York City experience was still largely limited to a joyride in his electric car, a police station, and the mansion. His local knowledge was certainly lacking.
It came as no surprise that Evelyn knew exactly how long it had been since he last used his power. She even had a theory as to what had happened. ”I feel like… I can still generate electricity like before.” He held up a hand and looked at the arcs across his fingers as the electrical breakdown caused by his body’s poor insulation of his power. ”It is like… Like there is something constricting what I can let out.”
William stopped generating power when his power had not worked as he expected. The voltage while dropping was still incredibly high. The arcs from his body casting odd shadows around the room as he walked to grab an ammeter. ”Remember how my amperage kept going up? Maybe it starts low and goes up?” It was a shot in the dark, but he grabbed the leads and tried to run power through the machine. He showed the display to Evelyn. It was low again, under .2 amps but was climbing. At the rate it was moving it only needed another 35 seconds to reach .2.
”Yeah. Stocks would be great. Dividend stocks are supposed to compound nicely over time. It’s what Warren Buffet does… Did… Is Warren Buffett still alive? He was already fairly old last I remember.” William knew he needed to learn a lot about personal finance and building and maintaining wealth. He knew that his other self had used dividends, theta strategies, and weirdly coincidental lucky trades to make use of his free cash. Long term, patience, and then sudden seemingly arbitrary sells or shorts.
The question of whether it was cheating or not to use a mutation to get rich was an easy one for William. ”Why would it be? Everyone should be encouraged to use their gifts to make money. Like me selling fulgurites or other art made from my power.” William shrugged, ”And if it is cheating… Well, the rules need to change.”
”Worst case… We go to a library in the city. I can drive us. You can Google to your heart’s content.” He could use the chance to explore the nearby area. Large cities were not unusual to William. He grew up in the Metroplex. What was unusual was just how dense the city was. It felt like entire streets back home were compressed into entire buildings. Then those buildings had stores inside them.
Evelyn had found a thick glass jar. She had found it in a storage room. Was there nothing the mansion did not have? ”Yeah. That should work.” William grabbed the first bag, then realizing he had no way to open it, searched around the room for a knife. He found one in the closet where the sand was.
Knife in hand he sliced open a bag of sand. Then he dumped the sand into the jar. He wanted it good and full before he started.
The jar filled he put his hand over it and focused. ”Okay. I’m thinking… the outline of a hand. Starting simple.”
William’s power flared to life. His personal equivalent of zero to sixty as his power flared back to life and electricity began arcing from him to anything nearby. He focused on the image and released his power into the sand. As much as he could output at once… And a small arc passed to the sand. It was long but had the sound and appearance of electricity arcing across the leads on a taser not a mini lightning strike.
”What?” William tried again. Another small current. ”I… I can’t. This is all I can release. Why?” He looked at his hand as if it had the answers.
The same information they collected at the police station. That was easy enough… So long as he was not asked the same series of questions multiple times by multiple people for hours and hours. William nodded along. It made sense. It was a little tedious to give the information all over again, but he would survive one last recitation. A mixture of irritation and relief. ”That’s not too bad.”
Emily went through and answered all of William’s questions. Specialists for powers, counseling, food, allowances, and no uniform. He especially liked not having a uniform. While he generally dressed well, he did not like being compelled. The all included nature of the mansion was certainly setting William at ease with being there. It was clear why Emily worked for the counselor. Her reassuring way of interacting with William was able to silence that voice in the back of his mind that seemed to want to just stir up worry and fear regarding his new situation.
William might freak out later, but Emily was siphoning gas out of that bomb.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll cross those bridges when we come to them.”
With a nod, William said, ”Okay. Thank you.”
“Come on, I’ll show you the kitchens.”
With that statement William realized something. He had not eaten since he woke up in that parking garage and his hunger, finally noticed, decided it would not be forgotten again. His stomach rumbled. ”Oh, please!... I guess I’m pretty hungry.” He did feel hungrier than he’d ever been. Maybe shooting electricity out of his hand had taken a lot out of him?
William certainly was glad he was sixteen and not a child. As a teenager he could make much better use of what his past life had amassed than Evelyn. Though, if he was a child he would not know any better. Evelyn just happened to have the echoes to help her know what she was missing.
”Well you have more time to make use of the eighth wonder of the world. Compounding interest.”William shrugged. Being younger, Evelyn could leverage what she had to earn more with it over the long term. ”It is something the older me made use of. I only loosely understand it.” He admitted.
Evelyn was not supposed to get on the internet? William frowned at that. The kid was clearly very grown up. If that was due to her power than she should be treated like the way she acts even more. ”Maybe I can find a way to help you get more internet access.”
”I know where a better container is. Was there more sand where you found that from?”
”Excellent. There was plenty more sand. I will grab it.” William all but ran out of the room to retrieve a few bags of sand. It took a few trips. William was not some weakling but he was only just stronger than your average nerd at best.
In an art class a couple years prior the teacher had everyone draw pictures but they had to make use of one unbroken line to accomplish them. William was not particularly good at it, but the experience might translate. The ability to work in three dimensions only adding to it.
William dropped a fourth bad of sand into the room and asked, ”Okay… Where… Am I… Pouring… The sand?” He realized maybe he should do some kind of exercise.
THe real gift is time. To William it certainly was. He placed value in time because it was finite and everything cost it. Everything he did cost something else because the time was gone. What he hadn’t thought about that Evelyn brought up was being set back to being young. She could make choices again. That didn’t excite William. While he would have to live his life over again he did not have the virtue of knowing anything from his previous time as an adult. It did not give him the opportunity to not go to college or law school.
It gave William the fruits of his old life’s labor. In his past life the toil of work had earned William much but it had enriched him. William could now enjoy some of the fruits of his old labors that his old self likely could not because he was too busy earning more.
”I had not thought about how this… Situation… Gave me more time.” William waved his hands around in a vague fashion, ”I still have to do the work and spend the time to get what I want out of life but I can enjoy it a little more than my past me… I already have the fancy car and some other things. I can spend more time enjoying once I get where I want. It’s like I already invested in myself” He had assets but strangely money was not as apparent. Perhaps he hid it in places for some reason.
Evelyn suggested William could sell the fulgurites to make money, ”I’ve heard of people doing that. Using Ebay to sell their stuff. I’ve neer looked into e-commerce before.” Everlyn took the fulgurite with the appearance of utmost care.
"How did you get this one to change shape?"
”I just imagined how the electricity would flow through the sand. I found I could control it some while moving it on the table earlier. I tried just having it flow in a simple spiral pattern to test it.” He traced his finger through the air in the spiral pattern he had envisioned. ”Maybe… Maybe this is a good way to test what I can do with my control? Try to control the flow and use the fulgurites to see what I actually did.”
They might need more sand. And maybe a bigger container. William had ideas.
The mansion was literally there for cases like him. William just couldn’t wrap his head around how the mansion was around, look so amazing, and could take in kids like himself at no cost. Either they had one hell of a bake sale every year or there must be some private wealth hanging around somewhere. That intrigued William, but it was best not to dig too deep while he was still not officially a student.
And the paperwork was just for the mansion’s benefit. That seemed odd to William, but hey, they likely had some special allowance from whatever governmental entities they interacted with. ”Oh. Okay. Well, what do you need from me to do the paperwork?”
So William would get a room, end up in classes, and he guessed maybe provided some level of food. Maybe best to ask his questions, ”I get a room, I go to school here, get training for… Whatever I can do,” William looked at his hand which did nothing special. He shook it. Nothing. ”What about food and other necessities? Is there a uniform?...” William paused trying to think of any other questions that he had. ”If it turns out that I am this other William Faraday I guess I need somewhere to park a car… And I think that’s all the questions… Sorry.” He had word vomited and that normally wasn’t a good look.
Evelyn was right, everyone has the potential to succeed in studying. Yet, that wasn’t exactly what WIlliam had meant. ”Oh, for sure. It is just an opportunity cost thing.” William thought of the best way to explain why he found her power so incredible. ”Anyone can learn something if they study long enough. The question is what do they lose by studying long enough to learn that thing? With your power I could spend less time memorizing things which means more time to memorize other things or to spend more time with friends or at job… Or… Well, doing anything else really. For someone with my aspirations it buys time. The most precious commodity. “
That being said…
”And I certainly will take you up on the offer to be a study partner!”
William’s offer to make things for Evelyn was a surprise. That was a surprise to William. They cost him nothing to make, why wouldn’t he make them for Evelyn. ”Certainly. You are helping me, it is the least I can do to repay you.” He said accepted a pair of welder goggles from Evelyn.
Returning to the sand, William pushed sand into the cavity he had made by pulling out the first fulgurite.
“W… what if I break it?”
That was an easy question to answer. ”I make another one… Cover your ears.” William made sure to warn Evelyn before he tried to make another fulgurite. Once he saw she was ready, he held his hand over the sand and unleashed a flash of power.
That time, William envisioned the electricity spiraling down like a spring into the sand. When he dug it out of the sand he found the fulgurite had formed the way he envisioned the electricity flowing. ”I… can make fulgurite sculptures!” William held up the spiralling fulgurite. It was only eight inches top to bottom but likely a yard if it was measured end to end following the curve.
”Here.” He handed it to Evelyn. ”For services rendered.” He said with a smile.
Emily answered his question. From her description, William decided that the mansion might just be a great place. Training, classes, and free. It only required that he stay out of trouble which was easy enough. With the exception of that same day, William was not known for much in the way of trouble. That had more to do with not being caught, but if you aren’t caught did you really break the rule? That said, most of the trouble he caused was good natured with the odd bout of teenage rebellion and mischief.
“I don’t mean to imply that you will cause trouble, almost everyone here is cool. Even the staff and the teachers.”
William gave her a smile in return. He had not taken offense. As one who had caused some trouble he could not justifiably take offense at someone suggesting he might cause trouble. ”No offense taken. I did get brought here by the police… after they caught me joyriding in a car that might even have been mine.” Honesty was a good way to help make friends when somewhere new.
When they reached the doors, Emily held it open for William. He stepped inside and was blown away by the interior. It was no less impressive than he expected based on the exterior. He was incredibly grateful to the sergeant for taking him to the mansion.
”... I… Wow… So... I can live here… Free?” What was the catch, there had to be a catch. Did they want him to join some MLM or team while he was there? He had no other options and Emily had given no indication that she was anything but on the up and up. ”Where do I sign up!... Uh… Except, I’m only sixteen. I can not legally sign anything.”
The art that William’s power created was incredibly beautiful. It was like lightning caught in the wood. Evelyn was impressed, she even wished her powers did things like it. It certainly was cool, but making art was not the only thing that interested William about his power. Up until that point he had done everything while touching it or at least being close. William wanted to see how far away he could reach out and hit things with his electricity. How good of a tool was it to protect himself?
”I wish my power did cool things like facilitate that.” William indicated the charts and notes she had put together with computer like efficiency ”Studying consumes so much time, but it is necessary. Good grades means great college. Great college grades means Harvard.”
After the mini crack of lightning Evelyn checked to see if WIlliam was okay. Her concern being with the volume of the thunder his power created. The thunder hadn’t bothered him as if ears had initiated their loud sound response in anticipation of the thunder from his power. It was a shame his retinas did not do something similar.
”I am okay.” William said as he started sifting through the sand. ”It was not loud to me. We should have found you some though… Sorry.” William grabbed hold of a fulgurite and drew it out of the sand. It was a hollow tube of glass that had branches coming off of it. It was as long as the container had been tall. ”That’s a good idea.” Holding the fulgurite in his hands like a newborn child, William watched Evelyn run off to turn on the exhaust.
William looked around at the nearby tables before deciding on a nearby one. He walked over and lay the fulgurite down, gently. Seeing the numbers of what his power could do was one thing. Seeing sand made glass was what truly gave William an understanding of what his power could do. It was awe inspiring and frightening at the same time. WHile he could make wonders… He could certainly take lives. Plural.
It would not even be traceable back to him. If it was during a thunderstorm.
Shaking the thought away, William asked, ”Do you want me to make some for you?” SHe was helping him. The least he could do was make these things for her as well.
Look into getting something stronger to measure with?
”Maybe some more specialized equipment like… Stuff used to test plasma cutters?” If the power or wattage William could put out was already so high he could do damage to this machine than his limit must be incredibly destructive.
Evelyn was like a little machine. Notes and graphs were produced like she was some kind of printer at work. She also told him not to worry about what he had broken, to just blame her. William was not used to just blaming others for things he clearly did. If that is what Evelyn wanted though, WIlliam could oblige. Especially when her parents could foot the bill easily.
William poked at a few of the other testing devices they had pulled out. He messed with a few of them just watching the numbers go up and down. Compared to what he had just done it all felt like child's play. It was just something to occupy time while Evelyn worked on her documentation.
"Are there any materials you want to try running a current through? It probably won't give much scientific data, but it could be fun. We can melt more stuff!"
William thought about that for a moment. ”Oh! I have a great idea. It isn’t melting but it is really cool looking.”
"Hey, does this mean you can make glass? That would be so cool! I mean, lightning can do it when it hits sand, maybe if you do it right you can make some. Or, you know, things might blow up. Maybe I should read more first."
That stopped William. It was another super cool idea. ”Okay. That sounds epic. I’ll be right back!” He said before running off to grab more science supplies.
A few pieces of wood, some water, salt, and a bunch of sand in a large container. William made room on the counter and set them on it. ”I’ve seen this done before. You run high voltage through wood and you get fractals! Conveniently I do high voltage!”[/color] As he said it he mixed salt into the water before applying it across the board. He then put his hands at either end and pushed current through it. The wood burned in brilliant flashes. When he removed his hands he had left lightning shaped burns all across the wood.
”Now. The sand!” William pushed the wood aside and slid over the container of sand. His glee and excitement getting the better of him. He held a hand over the sand and let loose his power.
There was a flash from his hand as if a mini strike of lightning had flashed out of it. Two billion watts of electrical power flashed from William’s hand through the sand. The light left an afterimage in William’s vision and gave a crack of thunder. Not as deafening as a true bolt of lightning but still uncomfortably loud in such a close proximity.
