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 had taken several, several, crucial minutes after the screams began before the news that something was happening spread to the rest of the museum. Even then, most people ignored it at first. It was New York, after all.
Rex wasn't numb though, and he'd been waiting for something. Ever since that woman in red had slipped him that piece of paper that morning that simply gave a time and address, Rex had been preparing for...anything. The last time he'd seen her, she'd led him and about a dozen other mystics in altering a veil between realities to stop an interdimensional monster from destroying everything.
By the time the crowds heard sirens, Rex was already powering his way through the museum toward...whatever it was. A spell burned firmly in his mind and his feet itched until he pointed them in the right direction.
"Where can I be the most useful?" he'd asked his god.
In answer, his feet had had started moving him through the museum.
By the time the crowds were realizing they needed to get out, there were gunshots.
Rex burst into the lobby just moments after a dozen marble locusts burst into dust. A sense of warmth suffused him momentarily and Rex realized he where the spell had been guiding him. There were still a lot of people trying to desperately flee the room, even as...three?...combatants squared off. The woman looked simultaneously furious and in anguish. The rock-man's features were less expressive but they still revealed a murderous gleam.
The third...was the man Rex had pulled out of a burning building only a couple of weeks before. The government agent with...some kind of agency that investigated non-human attacks.
Rex didn't have to think twice. Running out of the crowd and closing until he was only a few dozen yards from the stone man, Rex threw out his hand and began quoting Scripture, "And he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed!”
A shrub composed of solid flames erupted from the marble floor at the stone man's feet and quickly grew into a tangle around him. Within seconds he was encased in a mass of fiery branches and burning leaves.
"...and if you turn your attention to this next piece, what we have hear is a unique example of ancient Egyptian art," the docent announced to her small crowd as she led them to the next piece in the traveling Egyptian exhibit. "We call this 'The Lovers' as it appears to be of two people locked in an unusually intimate embrace. What makes this statue interesting is that it is unusually realistic in every way, from the imperfections of the clothing the two are wearing all the way to a palpable look of sadness upon their faces. Ancient Egyptian art isn't know for being expressive and as a result, many scholars aren't even sure this is an accurate sculpture from the time, especially because it's made from simple sandstone."
After another minute of gushing about the piece, the docent started to move on and as she turned her sights to a small display of masks, a child in the group wandered over to the railing that kept the public away from The Lovers. She was too far away to touch them, but alas, she was just close enough that unbeknownst to her, her Adapted aura was able to wash over the statue.
Sandstone began turning to flesh, metal, leather, and woven materials and within seconds, a priceless example of ancient artwork had been destroyed, leaving behind a bloodied, weary man and woman.
"My love, where are we?" the woman asked in a dialect lost to time as air touched her for the first time in millennia.
"I do not know, Akh," the man replied as he too came to awareness in a strange new world. "But you must call upon Seshat. Find out where we are and what has happened - our lord Ka may still be in danger!"
"At once, Quarry," Akh said. She immediately pulled a jeweled roped off her sleeves and began twirling it around. "Protect me as I do so!"
"I could do no less," said Quarry as sandstone began replacing his flesh once more. Once again in his stone form, he turned to the rest of the people int he museum, many of whom were starting to video the strange-speaking former-statues, generally assuming it was some kind of performance art or marketing stunt.
That changed when the stone man stomped on a person's head and immediately reached for the next person.
Rex inclined his head. He didn't expect people to know about the Veil. It was still knew and honestly, they weren't actively recruiting or advertising. They were still so small and trying to figure things out. Even so, it was not unfair to immediately think of the Welldrinkers.
"The Veil was formed in the wake of the collapse of the Weldlrinker Cult," Rex informed the man. "Those of us who opposed the Welldrinkers founded it, but we are nothing like them." Rex was earnest about that. "All we're concerned about is protecting magic-users."
Indeed, there were many members of the Veil that Rex personally found to be abhorrent. Ex-Welldrinkers, criminals, corrupt businesspeople and politicians, people who used magic in ways that profaned his faith, and so much more. They were no X-Men - they did not share any significant goals beyond self-preservation and the preservation of magic and those who used it. If they tried to stand for anything more, their members would fracture. It was a tenuous alliance of unaligned people.
It was still better than nothing.
"See to it that you don't," Rex said as Sam promised to refrain from further experimentation on children. He immediately wished his sincerity spell was still running, but it was too late to gauge Sam's words. Instead, Rex reached into a pocket and extracted a plain white business card. On the front it said "The Veil" in Times New Roman and plain black ink. On the back was a phone number. "If you need help at any time, call us," he said as he offered the card to Sam.
"By the way, the things you're looking for aren't here. They've been turned over as evidence."
Rex nodded. He had what he needed to know. The flame had remained still throughout everything the man said. He believed what he said.
The flame vanished and Rex gave Sam his full attention. "I do not need backup," Rex said simply. "Nor do I think you are a threat, at least in the moment." He shook his head. "I agree with the intent, if not the method to achieve your goals. While this is a worthy pursuit to explore, particularly in a non-harmful fashion, I believe what you have done has accomplished far more harm than good."
"As you know, I am not a member of law enforcement," Rex continued in the same matter-of-fact voice. "And while I have worked with the X-Men, I am not among their number. I do not necessarily share their perspectives on all things, including the realm of magic and the arcane."
Rex held up a hand in a "stop" gesture. "That does not mean I agree with all ends of magic, or its applications. Research of any kind - and this is a new field of research for sure - must abide by ethical standards. I believe you crossed a line when performing an experiment on a child. Yet based on what you have stated, and from what I have been told, there was no genuine harm done to the child. From what I can tell, there has been no crime, nor do I see any sin in this."
Rex's frown deepened then, and faint firelight began gleaming in his eyes. "But know this. I do not approve of experimenting on children without their knowledge or the knowledge of their guardians. Beyond the abandonment of ethic standards, you have also put the entire community of magic users at risk. This story is not public knowledge, but it involves high profile mutants and places us in a very precarious situation which we cannot afford to be in. We are few in number - a single witch hunt could exterminate all of us. So I will be watching you, and if your actions threaten us as a whole, I will step in, and I will not be alone."
Rex mostly kept his attention on the candle as Sam spoke. It remained unnaturally still for the most part, a sign of unwavering belief in the the validity of what he was saying. At one point it flickered, when saying he'd cured the child, and Rex's eyes had narrowed a bit more, but since the flame hadn't gone wild, Rex could relax a single iota.
The spell wasn't perfect, but it was better than a gut instinct. It did much to slant Rex's judgement in a particular direction. Hunter had also said the child was physically unharmed and was living with her parents in the mutant mansion. This did not seem the same sort of menace that Dr. Cama had been. Those were truly abominable experiments. This? This was not a sin.
"That is fascinating," Rex said with a slight nod. "The goal, that is. Is this a permanent effect?" If it was, that would explain more than anything why Sam was being hunted down and his research confiscated. A "cure" for mutation? THe fallout from that was mind-boggling.
The flame was still burning in Rex's hand though. "What are your plans now?"
The atmosphere seemed to be getting tenser by the moment, but there still didn't seem to be a threat of violence. It just feel to Rex like the calm before a storm, when something is building, but nobody knows how it would turn out. Theses next few minutes would be trialsome.
He stared unresponsively as the man explained. Rex almost found him wincing. He absolutely understood the explosive possibilities of a spell gone awry. Several of his spells had resulted in undesired fires before he was able to contain them in something approximating control. That checked with what Hunter said. It also checked out that Sam had taken the kid's power away.
Something stirred in the back of Rex's mind. A sudden flashback to his first encounter with Sam. "You did that with the Berserker boys too, didn't you? Back when we first met," Rex said in realization. "You said their mutations were on the fritz."
Rex then decided something. He thought he knew enough of what was going on, but before he could choose a path to go down, he needed to know the truth. Rex cupped a gloved hand in front of him and recited a verse, "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”
A candle's flame bloomed just an inch or so above the glove's fabric, flickering slightly in the air currents of the room. It was a spell Rex had developed, not to determine the objective truth of what was said - no matter what he tried that was far beyond him - but to determine a person's sincerity. A still flame meant the person was sincere, that they believed what they said. A wildly dancing flame meant little or no sincerity. A regularly flickering flame meant not everything was sincere.
"I need to know something else, Sam," Rex said gravely, his eyes burning with intensity. "What did you do to the child? Did you hurt her? Or try to hurt her?"
There it was. A damnable confession, at least of being the target.
"Father, I need a word," Rex prayed in a quiet tone, reaching to that far off place with his mind. Instantly, the words "Ecclesiastes 10:11" came to him.
"Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better," Rex quoted grimly. It did not seem that Sam was going to bother with any attempt to deceive him, although Rex couldn't rule that out. Alas, it seemed to confirm that Sam did, indeed, use magic. Well, that simplified things. Rex could deal with magic.
"So you're the ex-cop they're looking for," Rex said, still not moving a muscle or even looking anything but stiff and frowning. "What'd you do? Besides set this place on fire."
The frown deepened further. Rex smelled a rat. He didn't like rats. It was bad enough he'd already had to deal with Hunter and his friends earlier, but Rex was able to confirm who Hunter was. At least nominally so. Rex already knew who Sam was, however. Rex had met the NYPD detective multiple times over the last couple of years. He liked him enough, they got along well enough. He was competent.
Maybe...too competent.
Rex didn't move from his spot, blocking the doorway to the hallway. "What's with the uniform, Sam?" he asked bluntly. That wasn't proper procedure whatsoever. If he'd had an official reason to be there, he would've announced his presence at the street. As it was, it was still the fire department's scene, not the NYPD's. While the feds might have a claim to it, the police did not. They certainly wouldn't do it by masquerading as a fireman.
It was Ramirez's uniform for sure. It had the right name and number on it. It clearly wasn't Ramirez, once Rex had gotten a better look. Wrong posture, wrong movement, wrong everything. In fact, it was..
"Sam? What in God's green Earth are you doing here?" Rex asked with a frown. "And wearing Ramirez's uniform."
Rex had just seen Ramirez earlier. They'd come in on the the same fire engine after all. Rex narrowed his eyes and the frown intensified.
Sam was NYPD, wasn't he? He was also standing in a relatively fresh crime scene near the mutant manor, in the guise of one of Rex's men and...looking for something. "Where. Is. Ramirez," Rex said. His voice wasn't overtly menacing, more promising. Promising all manner of things if he was not complied with.
Much of the aftermath of the fire involved surveying the damage and investigating the root cause. Questioning the witnesses had only been somewhat fruitful. Apparently there was an altercation involving knives and explosives, but also various mutant abilities. The story had only left a bad taste in Rex's mouth. Once again, mutants were the cause of so much pain and destruction. Even if it wasn't their fault, their powers sometimes reacted in uncontrollable ways and anybody would reasonably lash out with everything they had if they were being threatened.
Their target had apparently been a magic-user though. Regardless of the statistics around mutants and crime and property damage, Rex was more focused on the magi. He'd seen what mad scientists could and would do when given access to magic. He didn't think he'd ever forget the horrors that Dr. Cama had unleashed.
That Michael Hunter had checked out, and although Rex wasn't entirely certain what SUPER was, he was told it was related to non-human crimes and cases. Which was fitting. Because of that, under supervision, the agents were allowed to remove certain items and objects from the crime scene, after Rex's crew had been able to determine the official cause of the fire. Thermal conflagration due to unknown mutant abilities. It wasn't accurate, but they didn't have a box for "magic".
Now that most of the post-fire work was over, Rex was returning to the apartment to give it another examination, this time after his colleagues were out of the way. He had never mentioned his use of magic around them, nor had he used it noticeably in their presence, and he had no desire to do that now. However, magic was needed in this case, if the X-Men and the feds couldn't find this guy.
Rex wasn't exactly an oracle, not like some of the other members of the Veil, but he'd learned that he did have some small talent in the field of knowing and discovering things. Perhaps that small talent could be used to point the investigation in the right direction?
Rex entered the apartment and saw Ramirez poking around. "Hey Ramirez," Rex said. "We're about to clear out. Go ahead and join the rest of the boys downstairs, I'll--you're not Ramirez."
Ah, now those other details made more sense for a manhunt. Rex assumed there was more to the story, but that seems a better explanation for all of this urgency. Experimenting on unwilling subjects and abuse of authority were serious indeed, even without involving a child. Rex grunted his acknowledgement of the argument.
The additional information just made Rex further...bemused wasn't the right word. Disbelieving? Puzzled? The attack on the X-Mansion happened nine months ago. Rex was there at Ground Zero. This wasn't a new case then. How was a man, even an ex-cop, able to evade the feds and the vigilante mutant group for most of a year? They knew he was hanging around the mansion, even!
What kind of imbecilic incompetence was in charge of this case or these organizations? Rex decided that after this, he'd reach out to his contacts in the NYPD and X-Men (both named Sam, ironically enough) to get a better idea of what was going on.
His part in all of this was over though.
"Good luck then," Rex said. "Sounds like you're going to need it." Because nobody involved clearly had the skills and abilities to handle this case, even if the case was indeed blown out of proportion. "You also need to go to the hospital and get your lungs checked out. You were up there for quite awhile and breathed a lot it. We still don't know what was happening to your body when got there. Have someone take a look at you. And for the love of God, stop antagonizing the EMTs!"
Rex waved the hovering EMT over but he didn't leave just yet. If Hunter was going to be a problem, Rex was going to deal with him.
The eyebrow inched higher. "The kid isn't injured, just can't use powers," he restated. "She's now at the mansion. Mutant mansion? The one with the X-Men?" That actually made part of Rex's mouth twitch in something like amusement. "But she's still in danger from a lone ex-cop." What on Earth were these people getting paid for? Rex suspected politics in play.
"So what was the crime then?" he asked, genuine curiosity and skepticism blended together in his voice. He wasn't a lawyer or a cop himself, but so far it didn't sound like anything had happened to warrant, well, a warrant.
By then Adkins had come back. He caught Rex's eye and gave a nod and an all-clear sign. Rex tipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Well it looks like you check out," he said, uncrossing his arms and reaching into his pocket to give Hunter the rest of the stuff from the table.
Rex stood even straighter, if possible. "I'm Lieutenant Rex Vidales," he said crisply and with an accent that he rarely brought out in English except when choosing to emphasize something. He wasn't concerned about blowback on any of this and even if there was, he'd face it head on. The Lord only knew he'd faced down more thana potential governmental agency spat.
He considered the man's explanation and imperceptibly arched an eyebrow a millimeter. Someone could take away mutations? Now that was interesting indeed. No wonder the government (if that's who this person truly was with) wanted to track him down. That would surely have all manner of uses for law enforcement. The genocide part was alarming.
"The kid in danger? Hurt?" Rex asked, his eyes furrowing in a deeper frown. He continued to keep his arms crossed, but now he was glad he'd helped the guy pick up whatever had been on the table. Rex was no fan of mutants, for it was far too easy for them to do unparalleled harm and destruction to entire communities, but kids were still kids. Even if it was troublesome that they were getting powers so young. But to kill them?
Rex stared stone-faced at Hunter. "Right," he said with little inflection. He reached out to investigate the ID and badge. He had no idea what SUPER was supposed to be. "Adkins! Over here!" he shouted at a passing fireman. The young man jogged over.
"What's up, boss?" he said.
Rex nodded at Michael Hunter. "Run this guy's ID and badge number by dispatch, okay? I want to verify who he is," he said. Adkins quickly went off to do just that.
Rex crossed his arms and stared down at the shorter man. "That doesn't give you the right to threaten EMTs," Rex said. "There was a fire here and I'm the ranking officer. This is my domain. If you have an issue with something, or you want to do something, you can address it to me and I'll decide whether or not to grant your request."
The last thing Hunter said made Rex's eyes narrow and his posture stiffened even more, if possible. Magic? "What exactly happened to a kid?" Rex said slowly and in a lower voice.
Rex emerged from the building once again. "All clear," he announced. Now it was time for his team to go in and start surveying the damage and begin the process of finding out what happened.
The fire had been contained fairly well, almost textbook-like. Looking from the outside, Rex was estimating only half a dozen or so apartments around the initial one were affected by the flames. No loss of life reported and the only injuries reported were from those souped-up security guys.
Then an EMT approached Rex and began relaying his directive. "Speak of the Devil..." Rex muttered.
It was several minutes later, after delegating a few more tasks, that Rex made his way over to the man with the obsession over papers. Rex barely glanced at the photo-taking. "I hear you're giving the EMTs a tough time and ordering them around like you own the place. Who are you and what's your problem?" Rex barked.