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 mansion has a cerebra, the other factions do not. It isn't often used since we don't have many psychics around (the last time was Cassiel during the Registration Plot), but it has at least been discovered (Poking the mansion's secrets to see if they wiggle)
The crowd went wild after the final song, cheering and yelling for Fausto's solo. Then, before the band left the stage, Fausto gave one last message to the children that had come to hear him. He said that mutants were superior, but showed it in the wrong way: rather than killing humans, it was better to use mutant gifts to help people. From her vantage point in the tree, Katrina could see the crowd reaction to that. Some kids were still just cheering and happy to see the young rock star. Some disagreed with his last comment, others agreed. Some of the teachers who had been whispering about the controversial lyrics looked confused by the opposite message that Fausto seemed to be giving now. Katrina didn't wait to see what they did about it, though.
As soon as she saw that the band was finished playing for the night, she slipped around the throngs that were heading out the mansion gate, past the teachers whispering to each other, and toward the backstage area where the instrument cases and other traveling equipment for the band was stored. Soince the stage was really only a platform, there wasn't a curtain or anything separating the backstage from the rest of the lawn. It was just like the front of the stage, except there was a little staircase leading up to the top of the platform on this side. And it was being used. Already workers were packing everything up and putting it back into the van they had brought it in, stowing instruments and speakers into a vehicle that Katrina assumed belonged either to Cielle or to her father's hotel. Cielle herself was still waving goodbye to fans, while Takumi lazily scribbled a few autographs.
Katrina waited near the bottom of the stairs, but not too near because she was trying very hard not to get in the way. She couldn't wait to say hello to her friend that had been gone for such a very long time.
Katrina admired Sam's X-men uniform. His code name was stitched on it. Cold Steel. She didn't think of him as that, though. She thought of him as Sam. She wondered at what point people usually chose code names, and if they were a mandatory part of being on the X-men team. They didn't really worry too much about secret identities, as far as she knew, because they didn't even have masks as part of their uniforms most of the time. Come to think of it, she also would be curious to find out at what point they got their own locker and their own uniform. A question always led to another question.
As she climbed the stairway into the side of the jet she asked, “Where do the X-men get their uniforms from?”
The inside of the jet was exactly as she remembered it, somehow, though she had never been inside before. She checked the armrest of one of the chairs, expecting there to be claw marks there, but there were none. That made it a little less creepy. She wasn't a psychic, so knowing things she wasn't supposed to know was kind of weirding her out. Being wrong about the claw marks actually made her feel a little better. In the cockpit, the buttons and dials still looked foreign and incomprehensible. That made her feel better, too. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she'd suddenly realized she knew how to fly the plane or something.
“It's cool. Someday I'd like to ride in it.” For real this time. “This plane just seems ready to go on an adventure at any time.”
Sam possessed not super-hearing, but super-memory. Well, not really. He showed off his actual mutation by creating an ice stair that let him climb up to the top of the wall with them. The good memory was something that came in different measures in each person, whether they were mutants or not. Perhaps his super-memory explanation would quell Martin's discomfort that Sam had been spying on them or reading their minds or something.
Katrina could see that three people sitting on a wall might make things a little more difficult. Not the sitting part, so much as the conversing. It was just a little bit harder to look at the person who was talking when someone would be sitting in the middle blocking the view. As it turned out, the monkey in the middle was Sam. Sam's ice staircase brought him up right between them. Katrina twisted around so her legs were dangling off the edge as she faced the mansion. If she leaned forward, she could still see Martin around Sam when he was talking. There, she thought, That'll probably work. It was a little awkward, but they'd survive. Hardly any introductions were ever managed without at least a small dose of awkwardness. It was almost unnatural not to have at least a little. They'd get over that part soon enough, most likely.
She looked down at the ice staircase, missing Martin's flourishing hand gestures. Already the surface was wet, once Sam stopped controlling the ice, the sun quickly converted the ice back into water once again. She felt a small pang of jealousy as she watched the ice begin to melt. Sam was so confident in himself and in his powers and using his ability was just a part of everyday life for him. He could even have fun with it. He never seemed to worry that others might be spying on him, trying to find out his weaknesses or figure out what he could do. Perhaps he was just confident that he could handle anything, good or bad, that came from people knowing what he could do. His abilities were a part of him that he seemed proud of, and he didn't mind sharing that information with anyone even those he had just met. Was confidence and pride something you got once you were older, or was it something you had to have from the very beginning?
>>>“So what kind of people would you be watching?”
With a wave of his hand, Sam let the ice staircase shatter and fall, expediting the melting process.
>>>“Oh we are watching all kinds of people. Ordinary people mostly. As they are interesting, right Katrina?”
“Oh, yeah. There were all kinds of interesting, normal people outside the wall today,” she gave raised eyebrow look at Martin, returning his conspiratorial look, “and inside there's a basketball game.” A tilt of her chin toward the court across the lawn pointed out which basketball game she meant, though there was only one happening at the moment. As she spoke, the new British boy executed a perfect layup to score two points. Very nice.
“So, Sam is one of our official tour guide type people. He knows pretty much all there is to know about the mansion.” He even had access to the restricted areas. Holograms of him even guarded some of the restricted areas. “If you have any questions or anything, he'd be the person to ask.” She glanced around the greeter at the newcomer again. Did he remember that he hadn't answered her “what brings you here” question yet? Maybe so, maybe not. If he was going to be moving in, there was a whole questionnaire to fill out. Mostly just personal information and mutation description, including the all important question about whether the person's mutation was a danger to themselves or others, and the corresponding question about what, if anything was known, could be done to neutralize that harm. It would only take him ten minutes to fill out the form, and he could have his own bedroom in no time, if that was why he was here.
Calley's eye was twitching... with excitement? She didn't blame him. From the sound of it, this was some sort of spy machine that put pictures of people from all over right into your head. It was both creepy and weird that the mansion could do that. Who was it they were spying on?
>>>"Would the Mansion really spy on people? Without them knowing?"
Katrina shrugged, with a bounce of excitement, “It wouldn't be very good spying if people knew they were being spied on.”
She wanted to try it, too. Bounce. The spy machine taunted her. Ghost was keeping the helmet up and away, though, and there had been a wince and a head rub from Calley, albeit a minimal one. Bounce, bounce.
“If the mansion has something like this hidden in the basement, do you think they have other secrets, too?” She bet they did. You know how they could figure it out? By using the spy machine.
“Can I try it next?” Her question was punctuated with one final bounce of excitement and a hopeful look up at Ghost. Please?
He kind of did. For some reason, Katrina's mind wanted to associate him with Abyss and Isabel, though she knew she hadn't met him when she had visited the Sanctuary. She'd never seen anyone as tall as he was, she was certain of that, but his face was one she recognized from somewhere. Probably if she had seen him before, he hadn't been getting into such trouble or it would have been more memorable.
>>>"We should do the right thing, Miss Katrina. Let's be polite and introduce ourselves."
Katrina gave the older girl a slightly confused look. Was this really an introductions sort of situation, or was that one of the kinds of phrases superheros in movies said then followed up with “fist, meet face” or something like it. The young illusionist suspected the former, because Ghost didn't seem like the kind of person who would be saying cheesy superhero lines. Or introducing her fist to anyone's face for that matter.
>>>"Sir, I am not sure what your intentions are, but the animal belongs inside the enclosure. If you will, please release and return the animal to its home."
Ghost was doing a good job of keeping calm, and the even (albeit loud) tone of her voice helped Katrina keep calm, too, even though the majority of the people around had already panicked themselves off to some other area. Calm was good. If she was calm, maybe the giant would be calm, too. Then they could hopefully work out a solution without getting into a fight or anything like that. Learn, little grasshopper.
In its own personal cage, the tiger was calming down as well. It was used to being confined, so this didn't seem like a big deal. There wasn't a lot of room for him, but there was enough room to circle a few times and lay down to wait, which he did. In his experience, he had been in these small cages several times before. The zoo keepers always let him back into the big cage again after a short time.
>>>“I don’t know why you're here lil’Shiela but I recommend you leave, no reason for a young one such as yourself from getting hurt.”
Katrina frowned around Ghost at the big man. He was a little weird, but it didn't seem like he was about to attack or anything, at least not yet. He contradicted himself, too. First he said that she shouldn't be here because it wasn't safe, but he was the one making it unsafe. Then he went and admitted that he thought the tiger would be more happy outside of his cage with more prey. Did he really want it to hunt people? At this point the big guy seemed more crazy than actually harmful.
“Sir,” Katrina took Ghost's example and called him by the title since they hadn't really done introductions after all, “I think you should reconsider. See, its true that tigers are happier when they are living in their own natural habitats, New York City isn't exactly a very good habitat for a tiger. If he got loose he'd have a really hard time finding any food since there aren't many animals except people and if he starts attacking people, he's more likely to get hunted down and killed than anything else.” She swallowed, checking to see if he was even listening to the rant of a young girl. He was waving his fingers at the tiger through the invisible wall.
>>>“here kitty kitty kitty”
“At least when he lives in the zoo he has people to bring him food and make sure he stays healthy and everything,” Katrina shrugged. It was a boring life, maybe, but not a bad one for the tigers. They had tires and other toys to play with, shade to sleep in, and even other tigers for company. It wasn't altogether different from living at the mansion and never getting to leave, actually. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't terrible.
Making IM's Birthday Party Katrina and Fausto meet for the first time and an intense battle begins, involving eggs and flour. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
There's Something in the Air Ghost and Zephyr appear out of thin air, Katrina flies, and everyone eats pretzels. Just like any other normal day at the mansion, but more awesome because there are double the air manipulators.
Reforming the X-men Another day, another X-men meeting. This time, Katrina tries to go without the invisibility cloak. They did invite people who were interested in the X-men after all.
Knocking on Heaven's Door Fausto and Katrina go to the funeral of the man who killed Fausto's parents and whom Fausto killed.
Learning to Knit Katrina meets Ruby and Shin, Bruce attempts to eat Ruby's robot. Bad dog.
Floral Print and Stripes Calley accidentally kills someone, and Katrina accidentally eats belladonna berries. Garrett accidentally puts the new girl, Dryad, into a coma- or was that on purpose?
Across the Icy Grounds Raina's birthday bash ends up with the X-men and the Order bashing each other. Katrina tries her best to rescue Bruce from the chaos, and ends up as the only one keeping Geo and Sam from killing each other. Also, Cold Steel breaks her arm. *angry fist shake in his direction*
Dreaming of a White Christmas Snow angels, kittens, a shirtless ice manipulator, and friends visiting... what more could you want for Christmas?
Art, Music, and Kat Fausto shows up during art class and whisks Katrina off to meet the members of his band, sing karaoke, and eat cake.
Supermarket Hijinx Katrina and Jacen run into each other at the grocery store, quite literally. Katrina's mother, Claire, and Jacen seem to hit it off and at least exchange phone numbers.
Kat nap! Studying is interrupted by lizard boys under the bed, then by more studying, then inadvertent snuggling, and finally by a talking tiger. Will Katrina be prepared for her Geography test?
Lonely Birds (solo) Nope, failed the geography test.
Everyone Loves a Party On Valentine's Day Katrina visits a ball. She start out with Calley, but ends up with Koga, and somewhere in the middle there is an unexpected declaration of love.
Stray Kat I Katrina has an argument with her mother about going to a youth conference in Columbia. Both end up with hurt feelings, and Katrina visits Abyss to talk things out- or rather runs away and ends up at the Sanctuary talking to Abyss. It all amounts to the same thing: gigantic root beer floats.
Stray Kat II Katrina chats with Garrett and other Sanctuary residents. Ghost, Koga, and Sam come to rescue her. (Thread died, but we assume that much awkwardness was involved and Kat eventually got home again.)
Puppy Love Katrina receives her first ever phone call on her new cell phone and her first ever dog!
Welcome Show Fausto returns to the mansion after his trip to South America and has a controversial concert on the mansion lawn. Katrina listens and tries to make sense of the lyrics to his new songs.
The mansion adventure An Orphanage Adventure Katrina meets Hymn and gives her a tour of the most interesting parts of the mansion, like the hanger where the X-men's plane is stored. It's a good to have friends who can bypass the plethora of security measures, eh CS?
With all due respect Martin watches the mansion, Katrina watches Martin, introductions ensue.
Zig Zag Zoo(m) The X-kids exchange a couple community service hours for free zoo passes. Katrina ends up hanging out with Ghost when something quite unexpected unfolds outside the tiger pen.
Good luck Luna, my thoughts are with you- and my prayers, too, if you want 'em. I'm glad you got out of what sounds like a really bad situation and that you at least have a roof over your head.
Also, I'll be up at our cabin for a week, this Sunday through next Sunday without internet.
Katrina laughed along with Fausto as he sang his song. He had no more luck than she did with weird random songs. This one was all about a Romeo who had a crush, but Fausto's lyrics made a song that was only mediocre in Katrina's opinion into one that was at least humorous. When it ended, she applauded just as she would have at the end of one of the band's regular songs at a concert: she was an enthusiastic fan girl. To her, it seemed like everyone was a better singer than she was.
She also clapped for Takumi and Cielle's performances. They either had better luck with songs than the two younger children, or they selected ones they knew would sound great with their voices and their styles. Both of them had beautiful voices and it was easy to see that they were both very musically talented.
Amidst the final notes of the beautiful drummer's solo, hotel attendants arrived with two carts full of treats. Katrina couldn't believe that all that food was meant for only four people.
“Wow.” She hadn't realized until that very moment how hungry she was. Her stomach growled outloud at the delicious smells that wafted from the cart. Some of those treats had to have been freshly baked and must be still warm or they wouldn't still smell so much.
“Th-thank you Cielle, you are much too generous,” she managed to stutter out. Then, wanting to be helpful she added, “I'll go get plates and forks.” It was the least she could to do contribute something to the amazing meal that the older girl was providing for them. Katrina scampered enthusiastically to the kitchen area and took four plates out of the clear glass cupboard. She found silverware in the fourth drawer she guessed. Within a few minutes she was back and found that Cielle and Takumi had already set the food out on the low table and taken their seats, one on each side of the square, leaving the others two sides for Fausto and herself. Katrina grinned as she set the plates and forks down in front of the four places.
“Ta da! Now, where should we start,” she asked, eying a tall white cake with red drizzled over the sides.
It was almost as if they had reached the final dungeon only to find that the final boss wasn't in it. Had they forgotten to complete a step along the way? Was there one more step they were supposed to complete before it appeared? Nope, they just needed their cat to change back into his human self and bravely go forth to start poking at this newly discovered mansion secret. When he requested help with the poking, the little aviator was more than willing to help, especially once things started making noises and the room lit up like an inside out disco ball. That was cool.
At least, it was cool until Calley stiffened and Ghost panic-mashed buttons until everything went quiet and dark again. Then Calley collapsed on the console. He wasn't unconscious though, because he said “ow”. Being conscious was always a good sign.
“What happened? What did it do? ... And are you okay?” While Ghost sounded a little skeptical, Katrina sounded more curious than concerned. They had poked and Calley seemed okay, she wanted to know what happened!
Caution: this thread is intended for a mature audience only. Starting with reply #7, this thread portrays the kidnapping and torture of a 13 year old child.
The majority of it was written long before MRO's violence rating of T was discussedimplemented or enforced, and the events herein are an important part of these character's histories, therefore, the mods are not asking that it be rewritten. -----------------------
“Have any new cats come in lately?”
“Cats?” Lisa peered over her immaculately polished desk at the young blonde with her stack of hand drawn missing cat posters. She had seen this girl once before and remembered that she was a friend of Abyss'.
Katrina nodded, “Any kinds of cats. Strays, pets, talking cats?” She raised her eyebrows questioningly to see if any of that was ringing a bell.
The secretary merely pursed her reddened lips, raising one eyebrow of her own.
“Okay. Well, could you please hang up one of these posters where people will see it?” She handed one of her posters over for inspection. Lisa took the paper with a well manicured hand and examined the drawings. There were two cats on it: a ginger colored one with blue eyes and a white one with black spots here and there both under a title that said “Missing”.
“I'll see what I can do,” came the curt response from the secretary and she dropped the paper into her inbox, letting it float gently down the last few inches. It was accompanied by a sickly sweet smile.
Katrina was unsure how to respond, “Thank you.” It almost sounded like a question. “Umm, bye then.” She waved as she walked back out the golden doors once again.
Five minutes later Katrina was on her way to Central Park and Lisa used a piece of scotch tape to attach the little poster to the front of her desk, where it hung exactly straight and exactly in the center.
-- Earlier
The two week marker had come and gone and still there was no sign of Calley. No one even seemed to be worried anymore, except for Katrina. Well, and Slate hadn't been able to find him either. It almost seemed as though everyone had written him off as one of those students who had just wandered away. Why was it that the mansion barely noticed when people disappeared? Did new people fill up the ranks so quickly that the old ones were forgotten so easily?
It was time to take matters into her own hands. She would just have to go out and look for him and when she found him, she'd drag him back home by the scruff of whatever neck he was currently wearing.
Calley had left her only one clue, a note on her bed that said he'd be “catting around town”. A fine excuse for a few days break, but not one for such a long period of time. Wherever he had wandered off to for over two weeks she was sure he had paws, claws, fur and a liking for milk.
Armed with her homemade posters, her cell phone, all the allowance she had saved up, a roll of masking tape, and enough invisibility to get out past the gate without anyone seeing her she set off on a cat-hunt. She stopped at Ghost's door on the way out to see if she wanted to go, but no one was home. Probably she was at the bookstore trying to change the world one little shop at a time. Which left Katrina to go alone. There wasn't anyone else who seemed worried enough to go looking for a stray.
Now all she had to figure out was where Calley was likely to go. He might go to the zoo, but not for such a long period of time. She'd seen their tigers, he would get bored after about five minutes of hanging out with them. Being in a cage wasn't really his style anyway. The Sanctuary would provide him with a free roof if he needed it and he was friends with Abyss just like she was, so he might go there. It was worth an inquiry at the desk at least. After that, though, she wasn't sure where he would want to go.
Maybe the answer wasn't where Calley would go, but where a cat would go. Cats liked to roam around, it seemed. They were just as likely to be sleeping in a tree at the park as they were to be stalking mice in an alley way somewhere, which meant that he could literally be anywhere in the city.
“First a stop at the Sanctuary, then we'll go to the park,” she told the cab driver. After that she wasn't sure. Hopefully she would have found him by then.
-- Later
Hopefully the park would be luckier than the Sanctuary had been. Katrina exited the cab and paid her fare then wandered down one of the pathways into the park. Every tree she went under, she peered up into the branches to see if any cat eyes peered back down at her.
After what must have been the hundredth tree, she sighed. So far all she had found was a couple of angry squirrels, a frightened rabbit, and a guy sleeping on a bench. There were no signs that Calley had ever been here, let alone recently.