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.
The reaction from Zek drew a smile from Sam. Zek had both leapt away and produced a knife of his own and an orb of light. Sam had forced Zek to show how he reacted to aggression. Sam filed that away for later.
It was useful to know how people would respond if they took offense at having their curse lifted in the future.
”Most fun a girl can have without taking her pants off.” Sam said with a shrug. It was a hyperbolic statement delivered matter-of-factly regarding how amazing the spell was.
Sam quickly decided he might regret not changing their location before demonstrating the knife. Zek decided to go human-bowling. Where he was the ball and bystanders were the pins. He knew he would regret it when Zek began to disappear the pin-people.
”Good.” Sam said. With Zek’s attention, a rare commodity indeed, he could work the deal. ”I can give you this knife now. It’s good for a few more uses. I can then recharge it after you help me.”
Sam looked away. He cast his gaze around the crowd near them. It was the look of an officer watching the crowd. While it was both him continuing to work and ensuring no one was eavesdropping, it was more to look away from Zek’s cursed eyes.
”I shouldn’t need help laying low and I don’t need to leave the city. I… Have an ace up my sleeve. I just have to get away to use it.” Sam said. He suspected he would not like whatever these new resources Zek had were, but they could be necessary so he would suffer them.
What Sam certainly did not appreciate was Zek breathing on his ear as he brought up a quid pro quo. Sam pulled his head away and then stepped to the side before he spoke.
”I might have something that could interest you.” Sam reached inside his jacket and took hold of the grip on a knife. ”Here’s a demonstration.” Sam said as he slid back close to Zek and in one motion slid the knife down below his jacket and across Zek’s pant leg. There was a small flash of light as the knife made contact. Sam immediately stowed the knife in his jacket. ”I just reduced the friction on your pants. You can now slide on dry concrete like it's a slip and slide.” Sam gestured to the open area closer to the fountain with his head, ”Try it out.”
Sam had been successful, though Zek made him regret doing so. Using his power in a disgusting way. Sam soldiered on though. THis was for the greater good. He could suffer this in the short term.
”I kicked a hornets nest and if the hornets catch me it could calm everything down. The hornets being people high up with the X-men and Haven.” Sam said, giving a quick and vague overview. ”I predict they will sus out that I caused their problem and will be after me soon. Maybe a day or two before they are on me. All I need is an escape if I cannot talk them off my trail. The longer my project can run the more chaos I can sow with it” Sam substituted good with chaos for Zek's insensibilities.
The encounter immediately went off the rails before it had even found a direction. Sam was immediately pun-ished for starting the interaction.
How Zek moved, spoke, and otherwise acted was mildly grating to Sam. That might have been Zek’s point in how he acted, but that might be giving him too much credit. Odds were, Zek was just unashamedly being aggressively himself at all times.
What was further grating was an idea that had manifested itself in Sam’s mind. Zek could help Sam in his possible predicament. Zek helping wasn’t the issue, rather it was that Sam would be making use of Zek’s power. His mutant power.
Sam could offer some grace in tolerating Zek’s power when it proved useful though. Use it now to help so that he can reach a later time where he can help cure more people than just Zek of their power.
”I may have already started some fun. You might be interested in helping it turn up to eleven.” Sam said, hoping to pique Zek’s interest with a promise of chaos.
Sam moved around in the crowd for another couple minutes but didn’t come across the man he had set out after. Sam cut his losses and broke off the search to head back into the open around the fountain.
A common trope of life is you can never find something until you stop looking for it. Sam caught sight of the man. To not make scene, Sam slid up next to him, put his arm around his shoulders, and said, ”Howdy friend, wasn’t expecting you here-” Sam cut off as he recognized the man. Zek, the guy from the coffee shop. ”What fun are you stirring up today?” Sam put an odd emphasis on the word fun to indicate he knew that only Zek would enjoy whatever he was cooking up.
Sam snapped back to the present and scanned the crowds. There was someone in all black with a fedora walking up to people who then looked confused and hurried off. Sam cocked his head at the oddity before looking around. No one else behaving like that. Sam stood up and sighed.
”This better not be trouble.” He said quietly to himself.
The trenchcoat did look familiar though. Sam tucked his badge inside his shirt and sifted into the crowd. The chanting of “mutants are people too!” grated at his ears.
Where did the man go? Sam looked around. Someone had been waving a cheap sign in front of his face and by the time he had ducked around it he had lost sight of him.
It was the day after the attack on the mansion and the city was as normal as it could be considering the event. People were out, going about their lives. The largest difference was the increase in police and protestors.
This was how Sam found himself at the Bethesda fountain in central park. A small protest against mutants and mystics and all other non-normal people had formed. Of course there was the counter protest from pro-mutant factions.
Sam, tired from a late night of preparations, sat on the edge of the fountain turning a key in his fingers. It was an older looking iron key. As he mindlessly manipulated it in his hand his mind raced.
He had acted. He had locked away the powers of a child in order to save it from its curse of mutation. However, there was a strong chance the parents would approach him. A little digging had revealed the child belonged to some people from the mansion who had a fair amount of stroke.
This meant that when they came after him he would need to be prepared. Maybe he could talk his way out of it. He had been able to keep Svetlana off his case enough to work with her up to that point. This would be more difficult. He needed a backup.
The spots disappeared and the child reached out to Sam. Sam palmed the key away so her hand only touched his closed one.. ”Careful. Touching the key again could break its protection.”
Sam held out his other hand as he tucked the key away. ”How about we go find you some more people to play with now that you’re safe.”
The child spit out the key and stuck out her tongue. As Sam had a hold of the key he just moved it away from the child’s face. The child called Sam bad and he chuckled a little. He brought his hand to his chest and said, ”I’m sorry it tasted bad, but you did good. The key is good. It’s like medicine. It can taste real bad but it can help people.”
Sam smiled at the kid for a moment. ”It is ready to protect people now. It can lock out bad stuff. It can keep you safe, so you can keep having fun while all us silly adults stay afraid.” Sam said and brought the key closer to the child. ”It might feel tingly for a moment but it just goes in and turns like a key in a lock. Might even sparkle a little.”
He went for it. It was simple, it would slide in through her clothes and body like it was going into a lock and they a turn to lock, a turn back, and remove.
The trick was having ensorcelled bullets was ensuring that a casual observer couldn’t tell they were any different from a normal bullet. This meant the first step was removing the bullets from their cartridge.
Sam took a bullet puller off the wall and lay the first round inside it. He then began striking it into his workbench until the bullet was removed from the casing. He dumped the bullet into a small container, the powder into a hopper on a reloader, and the empty casing into another hopper.
Round after round, box after box, Sam removed bullets. Each one only took a few seconds, but he spent an hour pulling boxes worth of bullets. The ammunition coming courtesy of the NYPD. It was duty ammo.
It was then that Sam took a short break. Give his arm and shoulder some time to recover. The next step would be the time consuming part that would require precision from the tired muscles.
He turned on Spotify with his phone and the bluetooth surround system began playing a station of piano centric music. Billy Joel. Sara Bareilles, Vanessa Carlton, John Legend, Elton John, and others. Now that the banging was over, Sam could listen to it and relax as he worked.
One by one Sam grabbed the bullets and set them nose down in a holder. This way he could work all around the bearing surface below the cannelure and on the base, On each he slowly engraved designs which he duplicated from his logbook he had open on the bench. Each page of the book of graph paper had intricate diagrams drawn out detailing spells.
Sam painstakingly lay a single spell in bullet after bullet. As he worked he could feel a trickle of energy flowing through him into the bullet as he worked. At no point was it a large amount of energy but over the minutes that each bullet took it built until it was primed for its trigger.
The door opened and Sam stepped inside. He flipped a switch and the warm glow of incandescent lights flickered on. Sam lay his service pistol on the work bench along one wall before looking around. It wasn’t a small room, but it certainly wasn’t large. Such was life in New York City apartments. No rooms were truly large even if you were well-to-do enough to have several rooms.
The room had a workbench, a stool, several shelves with tubs to sort items on them, a bookshelf neatly organized for reference, and tools hanging on the wall above the workbench. A fluorescent light hung above the workbench and Sam pulled a cord and it flicked on.
”What a day.” Sam said to himself as he pulled a key out of his pocket. He could feel a whisper of power inside. His magic, tethering it to a child. One who was now saved from her mutation.
Sam opened a drawer in his bench and pulled out a small box. He lay the key inside it and then returned it. He would keep it safe. Were someone nefarious to get their hands on the key they could unlock the child’s curse.
That done, Sam pulled out a box of ammunition and slid the plastic that held all the rounds together out of the cardboard. He had a suspicion that he might need more ammunition in the future. Anti-mutation ammunition.
Sam couldn’t help but smile. The kid was having a good time. It bolstered Sam’s conviction as he knew he would be helping the child and in doing so improve his ability to further cure the world. The key going into the kid’s mouth was unexpected, but in retrospect should have been. That’s what little kids did. They put things in their mouths.
”Okay. Now let’s finish this key. Make it ready to help everyone.” Sam reached forward to grasp the end of the key sticking out of the kid’s mouth. As he did there was a brief spark of light as mystical energy was passed into the key. The kid likely had a flash of warmth and a taste of pennies in her mouth.
Sam pulled on the key to take it from the child’s mouth ”It’s ready. You did fantastic. Best helper!”
While still kneeling, Sam pulled a key out of his pocket. It was brass, a few inches in length, and had a decently sized round head. The key had intricate designs engraved all across it. The kid approached Sam, nodding. The kid was reaching out to poke Sam. Sam brought the key up between them, offering the head to the child.
”I’m going to use this key to keep everyone safe. It’s not ready though. Can you take it and hold it for me?” Sam wiggled the key a little. He knew that before everything was done he would be touched and cursed by the child’s power, but it would hopefully only be transitory as he would soon lock the child’s power. ”Take it and then just wave it around. Imagine you’re locking all the doors and keeping the bad stuff trapped.”
”Howdy there, small child.” Sam said warmly as he knelt down and waved a hand at the kid. ”Got free from your minders?”
Was this the kid? The one that had the curse of spreading powers. Sam considered himself lucky. Perhaps he could keep her around long enough to finish the key from the one he had prepared. This would either take a fair amount of genetic material or her presence.
”We should get you back to them, or you could help me keep this place safe. There’s a lot of bad stuff happening outside and I’m here to keep everyone safe and you could help.”
Sam left the room and made his way down to the lobby. He pulled out his badge that hung around his neck and let it lay over his shirt. A visible sign that NYPD was in the building maintaining order. He observed how people were standing, moving, interacting with each other. People often telegraphed their intent—something Sam was making a point to avoid.
Having been let loose to explore the publicly occupied areas of Haven was a blessing that Sam had worked for and he wasn’t about to use it. The question was who would be his target and how he could approach them unseen by others.
Periodically Sam gave an update over his communicator. Routine updates with a fair amount of time between. Something to create a regular pattern of activity with a wide buffer to act. All maintaining a professional air and indicating everything was calm and orderly given the situation.
It was the giggles in the hallway that caught Sam’s attention. Sam had seen a few children already but not the one giving spots. Could that be the one? He needed to verify before he acted.
Sam rounded a corner, heading toward the giggling and patter of small feet. His fingers lightly touched his keys in his pocket.
