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.
Water met fire and erupted into steam that began scalding Rex.
"Argh!" he grimaced in pain as he immediately ended the spell. As the last flames licked out, no longer supported by magic, Rex shield his face and staggered out of the steam. Normally when he used that power, he wasn't unduly bothered by the heat, but he had no defense against other sources of heat.
The fireman checked his hands and saw welts and blisters already forming, as well as ugly red marks where the steam had blasted him. "Blessed Maria," he whispered. He could heal the injuries but he hesitated. There was already a stagger in his step and he was already feeling hotter than normal. He'd pushed a lot of strange energy through his body over the last five minutes and he knew what happened at the end of that path. He could wait, before he did himself serious harm. He'd survive mild burns and blisters.
As the steam dissipated, he saw the mudman was being cleverly disposed of. Rex was sent on his way. "Got it," he said, before setting off at a jog toward where he'd heard her teleport too. Once again Rex spoke Scripture and a sword of light burst from his hands, this time in the size and shape of a greatsword. He didn't want to spend energy on a shield, not just yet.
Rex was momentarily torn. He thought he knew where the sorceress has gone, but at the same time, he didn't know if it was wise to rush ahead. It seemed he'd certainly kept her on the defensive, what with the sword of the Spirit cutting her witchcrafts to shreds and ending her unholy control over marble monstrosities, but he couldn't help but think he hadn't seen anything near the limits of her abilities.
The more and more Rex rubbed shoulders with other magic users, the more glaringly odd Hercules became. What you saw with the man was pretty much all there was to him. Other mystics, like even Rex himself? Endless surprises.
Rapidly increasing susurrations of shifting sands and a weak cry grabbed Rex's attention and all debate vanished. He turned and saw Hunter getting swallowed up by the sandstone man. He just nodded, saving his breath to call upon fire as he ran forward.
"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night!"
Energy coursed through Rex and burst out of him into an instant swirling fire whirl. Blazing flames spiraled around him tightly and hotly, reaching about a foot past his arm's reach and shedding billowing waves of intense heat. Rex stopped a few yards from where he thought the sandman and Hunter were and shut his eyes. He couldn't see much through the pillar of flames around him anyways. He channeled more power into the spell and the flames burned brighter and brighter.
Within seconds, all the nearby sprinklers exploded.
Sand blasted against the backs of Rex's workboots and jeans and suddenly hunter was there. Rex jumped to the side and turned to process this and he saw a pool of sand shifting and merging toward him, only disrupted by the other man's stomping. A quick glance showed him and empty burning bush, free of any stone man. Ah. It wasn't just sandstone he could become.
Rex knew sand turned to glass when heated, but he also knew sand doused fires. There was a lot of sand.
"Keep him busy!" Rex said as he spoke more scripture and the sun shield manifested again, this time as a standard round shield upon his arm. This armed with sword and shield of light and magic, Rex charged toward the summoner. If he could get his hands on her, he knew he could stop her, at least for the next hour or so. Surely that'd be sufficient time to handle the sandstone shifter.
The woman yelled something harshly and a new jackal lunged at Rex. He slashed it with his sword and nudged the lifeless statue to the side with his burning shield. Rex watch the woman frown and begin backpedaling. She puled the rope with a large blue jewel at the end of it out again and started swinging it in a circle in front of her, blue light tracing the perimeter. Then she spoke again and the light vanished.
The floor of the lobby between Rex and the woman suddenly began stretching. Each step he took made her go farther and farther away, if if space was visibly warping between them, making the generally short distance a long haul.
"I HATE magic!" Rex yelled in frustration before stabbing his sword in to the floor.
Distance winked back to normal. Suddenly Rex was only yards away, meaning he could see very clearly when she looked over his shoulder, said something in a commanding yet almost mourning tone to the sandstone man, and then crushed a glass vial in her hand. She vanished in a flash of blue light and a soft cracking sound, echoed moments later in what seemed like another display room down one of the mundanely long halls leading from the lobby.
"Father, help us!" Rex said as he charged through now-empty space.
The dome of fire vanished suddenly and as the scarabs perched on it began to fall, Rex began whipping a sword composed of light through them. With each swipe, scarabs went inert as the magic that animated them was shredded by arcane forces. It wasn't a perfect solution, as many of them still had time to land on Rex, but he wasn't worried about injuries, not yet.
Still, cuts and bites covered many parts of his exposed skin and his clothes had some holes where the bugs had tried burrowing through it to reach him, but he was eventually left surrounded by bug carcasses.
Hunter's words cut through the screams. "Got it," Rex yelled back. "Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled."
A cloud of light coalesced in front of Rex before forming seven hovering balls of fire. With his free hand, Rex began making rapid flicking motions and one by one the fireballs zoomed toward the scarab lady. Rex wasn't willing to use a burning bush on her, but kinetically-packed bouts of flame that he could heal later? He had far fewer compunctions.
In all of the action, Rex didn't see the stream of sand reaching his feet.
With the stone man out of the game, Rex turned his sights toward the sudden pack of jackals that were attacking the agent. He didn't question where they came from or where the scarabs had gone, but he noticed they clearly weren't flesh and blood. The scraping of stone on stone as their marble claws scrabbled on the floor was proof of that, and all Rex needed to proceed with a clear conscience.
"There appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush," Rex said and more power flowed through him and out into the world, where it exploded into another bush, swiftly sprouting up and arresting the third jackal's approach. It howled liked a rock grinder as it scrabbled as the burning construct, but the branches quickly locked it down.
Until it also broke apart into a small swarm of scarabs than climbed and flew out of the bush, now aimed at Rex.
"Dios mio!" Rex cried out, his eyes widening slightly. Then he kept calling out, "Porque sol y escudo es Jehová Dios!"
White hot sunfire blazed into being in dome around Rex, centered upon his upraised left forearm as a shield of solid light and fire cut him off from the rest of the room, including the bugs. Although the light didn't blind him as it would anyone looking at him, not did it burn him, the heat was instantly uncomfortable. Marble impacts soon began striking the shield as the swarm attempted to get at him.
"Rocks. Changing from one thing to another. They must be under control," he said, swiftly running through the logic. "Let's change that." He began speaking quickly and rapidly inside his dome.
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."
