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.
It was hard to care about someone else arriving on the scene after the kick to the gut. Cold Steel was talking to someone as he drug Sam up by her hand only to be slammed back down by a ferociously frosty fist.
The hit put stars in Sam’s eyes and she tried to use her other arm to protect herself but Cold Steel locked down both arms. He was berating Sam. Sam couldn’t answer as another hit came. Sam knew her beating would be on the news and as the beating progressed she began to question if it was worth it.
The brutality of it, the pain.
Before long, a rib was broken. An arm was broken.
Sam felt compelled to shriek in agony, but the broken rib only made that agony as her voice was shrill and loud only to fade to a pained whimper. Punctuated by another arm breaking. Sam’s eyes almost bugging out of her face as she coughed up blood with her next muted scream.
Then, the pain stopped coming anew. Sam tried to focus, to look at her assailant. Shards. Cold Steel was covered in shards. He was fighting them and yelling.
Through the pain, Sam managed the faintest of smiles.
Ice. Everywhere. Any way Sam tried to go, there was cold and ice. Spires of ice erupting and funneling Sam. Ice clone chasing and shouting. Sam knew she was stuck, that there was no escaping. However, Cold Steel was making a spectacle. Maybe, just maybe Sam could get the unhinged mutant to give the X-Men another black eye. Show the world that people like him cannot be trusted with powers..
Students were there, their attention drawn to the spectacle as they ran back toward the mansion. Most importantly, the news crew that had arrived had caught sight of the event and as Sam got the mass of vehicles in sight.
If she was going down, she would make it look bad on the 5 o’clock news. Sam screamed and tripped. Then she scrambled to her feet and after a glance to see a local news team working to get a camera up, she turned to face Cold Steel.
There was ice on the window but it didn’t stop Sam. She burst through the ice and glass and sailed through the air for a moment before she went headfirst into the branches of a tree. It robbed her of her momentum and she had to climb and fall down out of the tree. The last fall to the ground, almost having her land on her ass.
Sam turned to look back and there was Cold Steel, maybe one of the clones? Yeah, probably a clone, standing there. The tree had been enough of a delay to allow the clone to hit the ground first. Sam could feel the air temperature was dropping.
Press. Sam needed to get in better sight of the press. Every delivery service Sam could think of had been called at once. Knowing it was a media spectacle, a tip was made to local news. Sam just needed to get in front of a camera before Cold Steel decided to be the mutant Sam knew he was.
Stumbling the first step, Sam started running. Not strictly away from the building or away from Cold Steel, but toward the mass of cars and delivery people at the front of the mansion.
”Way to prove me right, X-men.” Sam called as she ran.
The power restored, Iris grew horns and a tail. It was almost like a sign. Sam had done evil and made the child into a personified devil. It was a case of losing the battle but winning the war. Sam knew more about locking powers now. The original designs may have been lost but they could be redone, reworked, and perfected. Perhaps integrated with metation magic to expand from just a key in a single individual to something larger. It would take further testing.
One day though. One day Sam would be able to help all of them.
Maya took Iris and made for the door. Sam followed a few steps behind. When Maya stopped, Sam’s stomach dropped. The horns and tail on Maya were like a second sign. That Maya was another devil. One who couldn’t keep her word.
Cold Steel was given a green light,
Sam’s eyes went wide and she turned from Maya to Cold Steel, ”I knew mutants couldn’t be trusted.” Sam hissed before bee lining to dive through the window. She could recover from injuries from the fall. Getting out of custody would be harder.
Sam raised an eyebrow at Cold Steel. Clearly the man was more of a meat head than a thinker but that statement had really taken the cake.
”I knew what it would do so I was comfortable testing. I came out of an abundance of caution. I did my due diligence, but biology is messy. Really you should be thanking me for having crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s. Spell has had no side effects.” Sam said it without any real emotion. There was no sense trying to beat sense into a wall.
Calling mutations a disease had struck a nerve with Cold Steel as the man launched into a long diatribe showing a failure to understand Sam’s position. ”You want brownie points for being good in spite of some asshole being mean to you? Fine. Good job, get yourself a cookie…What does one call an abnormal state that affects the structure or function of an organism? A disease. Not all diseases are like alcoholism where the afflicted are viewed with a moral failing. Mutations are like cystic fibrosis, Down’s, hemophilia, Huntington’s, or Klinefelters. Something went wrong with your genetics and you do the best you can.” Sam gestured to herself, ”I would never exploit you or Iris. I only seek to cure disease. People like me would never kidnap and weaponize. People like me would never make a team of barely more than children to fly off and get PTSD fighting other diseased barely more than children.”
Mirror returned with Iris. The kid was cautious of Sam, who she viewed as some strange woman. Sam clasped her hands in front of her, maintaining a non-threatening look. No sense spooking the kid. Iris was moved over by Sam who knelt down closer to eye level with the child. Mirror made a threat and Sam nodded, running her fingers along the shaft of the key.
”Don’t worry, Iris. This won’t hurt at all.” Sam said as she slowly brought the key closer to Iris. When it made contact it magically continued for another inch before it stopped where Sam then turned the key 90 degrees then back.
At that moment there was a small flash of light as Iris’ power was restored.
Sam drew back the key and stood up. She held the key by the notches and held it out toward Mirror. ”This key will only ever work on her. Melt it down if you want it destroyed.” Sam took a step toward the door, ”Now if you will excuse me. Five minutes aren’t getting any longer.”
The deal struck, there was the obligatory “are you sure”s followed by the planning. It made sense, Sam knew they wouldn’t trust her. He had acted in bad faith and they were people cursed by a corrupting power. Nothing in that situation bred cooperation. Sam didn’t hold it against them.
Ice retreated from the door for Mirror to leave and retrieve Iris. Sam took advantage of Mirror retrieving the child to push herself up into a sideways sitting position. One arm propping her up as her legs were stacked beside her. A more comfortable position than just laying on the floor, but not one that Sam could easily spring to action from.
”Yes, yes. Big bad talk from the powerful mutant.” Sam said with a click of the tongue. ”First you endanger all those people at the park then you threaten people who have agreed to cooperate. Power really does corrupt and to the core.”
Cold Steel then asked a good question. A question that Sam was happy to hear asked, and happy to answer. ”Iris was the first person I’ve used the spell on. While the magical theory is sound—the culmination of thousands of hours of work—it was still the first application and more importantly the first application on a child. Someone who is still growing and changing. While mutations are a clear and present danger to society and the human who wields it, the cure cannot be worse than the disease. I had to ensure that no other effects were taking hold. I’m not a monster, had the spell been harming the child I would have removed it immediately and left.” Sam raised a finger to forestall any protest to what she had said, ”If what I did had harmed the child you would round up every adapted. It is the same effect.”
Sam had clearly struck a nerve. Mirror had made the leap from discussing mutations and mystics to LGBT issues. ”Please. Don’t compare me to homophobes. They hate the sin and the sinner.” Sam did not want to deny anyone of intrinsic human experience. Sam was saving them from an aberration that led them astray. Harmed them and their relations with others.
It was like a classic game of bad cop - pissed off but willing to be reasonable cop. Cold Steel was uninterested in helping the child it seemed. The man-child simply wanted to be scary and confirm every negative opinion Sam had about mutations. Ice creeped ever closer toward Sam from the walls it encased. However, he was reasonable enough to let Mirror make the decision.
”It isn’t so simple.” Sam said to Cold Steel. ”Normally enchantments need to be recharged, that power coming from an outside source. When you tie it back into the person itself with a small trickle of power being all that is necessary to sustain a simple block on a gene. One histone, made unmovable. The trickle of power all humans possess for casual magic is enough to sustain it. Indefinitely.” It was a lie. With enough truth baked in to have even a fellow somation mystic considering it plausible.
Maya finally saw reason. She relented and would give Sam five minutes. That wasn’t a lot but Sam could make it work. While they may have been corrupted by mutations, the X-men were still known as honorable enough people. Sam decided to trust as it was her best bet at getting out of the situation.
”Five minutes is plenty. It is a deal.” Sam agreed. ”Now. Let me up, give me the key—the one I didn’t use on myself—and bring in the child. You both can stay to observe. I will let you spin whatever narrative you want. I don’t want to spook the child.” Sam only wanted to help the child and scaring her needlessly was not something she was interested in doing.
Cold Steel was laying it on thick. Referencing the attack from that paramilitary rodeo clown and his men. Sam knew that enough of his material was taken that it might be possible for another mystic to reverse engineer his work. Maybe. The possibility of that was infuriating.
Sam closed her eyes and calmed the combination of fury and worry she had. Why couldn’t they just see that her work was something that could save so many. Her only interest was in helping people. She could feel the heat from the key cut off as ice formed around it.
Maya tried to throw Sam’s words back at her but Sam was having none of that. She knew she had the moral high ground.
”I have control. That’s how I know the spell is at its limit.” Sam knew the limits of his spells from careful study and precise construction. ”And it is no danger to anyone, save myself, if it goes wild. Unlike Cold Steel here.”
Maya again pressed for Sam to reverse the spell on Iris. She was goading Sam, taunting her with how she was nothing special and others had tried but were more effective.
”Look. I could undo the spell, and maybe the Veil could. I have never seen another mystic work power like I do. So while it might could be done it might be dangerous to the child to experiment.” Sam took a breath moving her head to indicate she wasn’t finished and was changing direction with her speech, ”I do not want any harm to come to the child. I do not want to get rid of mutants. I have nothing against mutants. It is your mutations that are the issue and I have proven I can, with cooperating, cure the afflicted… Yes, you don’t see it that way. Fine. All I ask is for a head start before you call the police and I will ‘fix’ Iris. If I am as sloppy as you say you will have no issue recapturing me and putting me behind bars.”
Sam felt this was a fair deal. They got what they wanted, the child re-broken. Sam got what she wanted, a chance to slip away. He doubted they would go for it, or they would lie. It was her best shot though. It was a good deal, one Sam felt if they failed to take it, it proved they cared not for the child but their about their grandstanding.
The literal last thing Sam was about to do was become herself in the middle of the mansion while trespassing and clearly having sought out the child they are accused of assaulting. So when Sam’s attempt to be someone who wasn’t Becca failed, she sighed.
”I am amused you assume you even know the real me. You misconstrued my motivations, you fail to see the danger you put everyone around you in as you casually use power you clearly barely control… “ Sam shook her head and once again used the key. Wincing as a shot of pain went through her.
Veins of red again radiated out across Sam’s body, a burning sensation flowing through them. Sam’s features warped as the veins traveled. A bried moment of Sam’s normal body rippled across to be replaced by a brunette woman an inch taller. The eyes were mismatched and there was a streak of white hair that fell on one side of the center part in the hair.
Sam dropped the key, panting. The key was red hot and a small keyhole burn was left where Sam had used it. The key was being drained too fast and pushed too hard. Wild magic was flowing through the spell. ”The spell is breaking down. This is the best you will get.”
Cold Steel checked on the child before shutting the door and talking about Sam like she wasn[‘t laying there on the floor. Meanwhile Maya patted Sam down and produced what Sam had on herself. The knives were tossed away, the keys were held up and Maya demanded that Sam take off her wife’s face.
The last thing Sam wanted to do was put on her real face. If this completely worked out of Sam’s favor, she wanted to have something to use for the slightest bit of reasonable doubt.
”Fine.” Sam said and carefully took one of the keys in hand. She brought it close to her skin and then was able to slide it in as if there was a keyhole there. She twisted the key and then heer body started to change. She turned her face to the ground then twisted the key again.
The place where the key was flashed, in a way that seemed to indicate it was doing the magical equivalent of not properly having the clutch disengaging when changing gears. It did not like that Sam was not allowing it to fully return them to their normal self according to the genetic blueprint on it. Veins of red light radiated out through Sam’s body, causing a burning pain as they traveled. The changes to Sam’s body followed along with the veins, rippling from Becca to Sam’s normal body for a mere instant before settling on the final form.
The form Sam took matched two criteria. First, it was not Sam’s normal form and in no way looked like it. Second, it matched the clothing Sam was wearing so there wasn’t a problem of it falling off or biting into Sam’s body.
”There. Are you happy now.” Sam said through heavy breathing. She palmed the key and looked up to Maya with a new face. She had chosen a shorter form of a massively popular blonde singer.
Maya did not like Sam’s suggestion. That was fine. Negotiation took a little time and both parties had to give a little.
Unless the air temperature suddenly drops.
Shit.
Cold Steel, the mutant Sam had wanted to avoid running into, had made an appearance. It seemed he thought Sam was Becca but that would last only until Maya immediately told him that Sam was not Becca once the door was shut.
”I did not attack Iris. She is perfectly healthy and uninjured, and I came to make sure she has remained unharmed.” Sam said, to her it was truth. Just leaving out the part about wanting to reset the spell as she had seen it weakening. Now that Cold Steel was there, Sam would need to be a little more careful with what she said. Sam was certain the brute wouldn’t kill her, as they would need her to unlock the spell.
Arrested, going to trial. Bad reputation with the Veil.
”No.” Sam said firmly. ”I don’t like that deal. I help you and I go to jail? If I’m getting arrested Iris stays as she is.” Sam did her best to appear disinterested in Maya. It was difficult as the woman was planted on top of Sam. She just lay her head on the ground and closed her eyes for a moment.
”Oh! I know.” Sam opened her eyes and looked back at Maya. ”I get to walk out of here. Uninjured, of my own power, and not with a police escort and I mail you the instructions to undo the spell. Everybody wins.” Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
”And I agree. She is not broken. Thanks. To. Me.” Sam did her best to match the growl from Maya, which was a little difficult when taking a full breath was a challenge.
It was then that Sam realized he may have pushed his luck a little too far. Maya had picked up the knife that Sam had been holding and held it where Sam could see it. Sam bit off a retort and looked at the blade.
”That… Is good leverage.” Sam kept her eye on the blade and tried to think through her options. She needed to either get away fast. Before anyone else showed up to help Maya. That, or she needed to negotiate. Sam felt she still had a good position as she was the only one who knew how to undo the spell on the child. ”So what happens to me after I break the ch- the spell?”
Sam tried to push herself back up to get away, but Maya was too fast. The moment Sam tried to rise, Maya was on top of her, kneeling on her back and twisting her arms forcing her to drop her knife and pistol.
Maya leaned her weight onto Sam as she monologued. Talking like Sam was some run of the mill religious nut or pointy headed ghost impersonator. Sam groaned into the floor. Half from the pain and discomfort of the restraint, half from Maya completely mischaracterizing Sam.
”Yes. She is perfect…Now.” Sam said, turning her face so she wasn’t face down in the floor. ”People feared Iris. Ran from her to avoid what her power was doing. She was the center of a contagion.” Sam tried to blow hair from her face a few times, ”One would think their parent would want to ensure they grew up loved not feared. One of their parents should take care of her and I can’t be around all the time like this to do it for you. And what happens if I break her again? What happens to me? I think I hold the leverage here. So let’s be adults about this.”
Sam thought she was going to make it. She had a lead on Maya. Sam forgot to account for the long red hair she had.
”I cured yo-” Sam’s retort was cut off as her head snapped back from a sudden pull on her hair. Her lower body still carried a little forward momentum and so she wound up leaning back toward Maya, trying to back up her legs to straighten up when they were suddenly kicked out from beneath her.
As she fell, Sam spun and lashed the knife toward Maya’s arm holding her hair. Then she landed chest first on the ground. As much as people joke about women having built-in airbags… They were not fun to land on. ”Ooof”
