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.
Mariusz presented his bear to the employee to be stuffed and watched at it slowly poofed out with stuffing. First the little black feet and arms, then the head and body, gradually took shape until they were stuffed completely. Then the employee pointed in the direction of a bin of little hearts. What a novel concept! Mariusz went over to the bin and selected a heart then went back and placed it into the stuffing. Now the question was, what to wish for? I wish for a solid beginning to my new journey, he thought to himself. That seemed a perfectly reasonable, and even attainable, wish.
Having made his wish the back of the animal was sewn up and it was handed back to him. Now the little black bear looked a lot more like a proper stuffed animal. Mariusz turned and showed it to Tses. "See? Does he not look pleased to be getting a new home," the feathered man asked, holding out the bear for her inspection. "So," he asked as they stepped out of the way and let the next people in line go forward for their turn, "Now what do we do?" Tses was American and this was an American store therefore it stood to reason, logically, that she would know what the next step in the bear building process was.
“Actually, it wouldn’t be a problem, but they have a failsafe installed. If someone tries to open the lock without a key, it has a secondary locking mechanism that will seal the door tight. I could stop it from doing that too, but it also ties into the alarm system in the mansion, so we probably should keep things on the legitimate side of things and wait for them to let you in. I don’t want them mad at me for not following the rules.”
"That makes sense to me," Mariusz replied, moving to the other side of the room from where Sophia was so as not to bother her as much with the way he smelled. "We may as well be diplomatic about it as we are both rather new here." The last thing Mariusz wanted, or needed, was to be causing any sort of problems in the Mansion given the various irons he had in the fire for pursuing a means of earning his keep while he was living here. Given his means he was rather loathe to accept charity without doing something to make his own way while he was there.
"So, Mari… What do you think of this place?"
"A most excellent haven for mutants, especially those with physical differences like myself or Regan. If you have not met Regan yet you are in for a treat," the Czech man said, leaning against the wall and ruffling the feathers on his wings a bit. He was not much closer to Jacob than he was to Sophia. He extended the talons on his right hand and produced a small tool in his left for cleaning them. "As for the school, I could not say. I was not educated here and, at the moment anyway, I am not on the faculty. Still, the grounds are lovely and we also have a very talented mechanic for those who need a mechanical means of conveyance," he continued, with a nod in the direction of Jacob. "Also, the library really is top notch."
“Hand to Hand combat is more than just fighting and being able to defend yourself. It sharpens your mind, being able to react to the chess game of combat, and you use muscles you never realized existed, strengthening your core in a way no exercise can.”
Mariusz latched onto the mention of the game of chess as they walked down the hallway in the direction of the admittance office, trailing just slightly behind Regan. Chess was a game he was intimately familiar with, it was almost a prerequisite in the diplomacy game or if you were family to someone in the diplomacy game. "I do not know that I have ever heard combat referred to in chess terms before. I am, of course, familiar with chess. Almost a requirement for someone that is family of a diplomat," Mariusz said, not noticing that Jacob's footsteps had locked into the same rhythm as Regan's as his certainly did not.
“The rooms come furnished so if you decide to stay all you have to do is move in your personal items and clothing.”[/i]
"Yes, I am sure I am not the only resident here that found that to be most helpful," Mariusz remarked in response to what Regan had said, diplomatically omitting that furnishing his room in the Mansion really would not have been any kind of serious obstacle. While the Czech man had plenty of money, and access to gobs more if he needed it, he was not about to simply start throwing that fact around. If nothing else it was rude. "It would have been quite difficult to carry a bedroom set here from Pennsylvania on the wing."
Mariusz noted the way that the blonde woman offered her hand to him to shake in an almost delicate and dainty way and noticed that she seemed to not wish to touch his hand too much. He assumed this was due, in part, to more to his having obviously just come from exercise rather than any aversion she might have towards someone with a physical mutation. Taking her gesture in stride he accepted only her fingers to the first two knuckles in his own hand and bowed slightly while raising the hand to his lips. If she wanted to be formal, that was certainly something the winged man was schooled in. "The pleasure is mine, Miss Stratford, and you may call me Mari if you prefer," he said, kissing the top of her hand before lowering it from his lips and releasing it, "though I fear I must once again offer an apology for my deplorable state of appearance. I pray you will not allow it to color your opinion of me in an overly negative light."
"It is rather easy to remember which door is mine," Mariusz said in reply to Jacob's question, turning his attention from Sophia to the other man. "The last door of the center hallway at the very end on the right belongs to me," he said, gesturing rather vaguely in the direction that he meant. "I did not know you could do locks and everything else. I assumed it was only complicated things such as cars, planes, and computers," he concluded.
"It seemed like a lovely day for a flight I suppose I could ask you the same thing, now couldn't`I?"
"A fair enough response," Mariusz admitted in answer to what Juka had said. "I am out getting in a workout and also learning the lay of the land of the city as New York City is my new home. It is always wise to know one's way around one's new home." The winged man trailed off for a moment and made a wide sweeping gesture that seemed to encompass the whole of the city. "I am newly arrived to both New York and America, I arrived on the wing. If you take my meaning that is."
"Besides all that the feathers are actually rather wonderfully insulating in the winter. While others may require a coat and gloves to be comfortable in this weather I am quite as happy with, or without, such accoutrements even if it is rather lazily snowing," the Czech man continued, snatching a snowflake from the air and allowing it to melt on his finger before continuing. "I also could not help but notice that you seem to be rather lacking in terms of winter clothing as well. Am I to assume that your bubble has some sort of regulatory ability regarding temperatures?"
Mariusz moved slowly down the hall in the direction to the Administrative Offices which also served double duty for admitting those who were new to the Mansion, among other things. At the moment he was clad only in a pair of royal blue basketball shorts with his bow slung over a shoulder and a quiver of arrows at his hip. He was careful to stand to the side to allow the stampeding children to pass by unimpeded in their progress. If one of them were to run into him it could possibly result in broken bones, or even something worse. He was rather embarrassed by having to make yet another trip to the offices in his first week of living in this new place, but it seemed that in his haste to get out earlier that afternoon to get in some archery practice and a workout that he had, accidentally, locked the keys to his room's door in the room. A silly mistake to be sure, but nonetheless one that required a trip to the office to retrieve the spare key as he had not yet encountered anyone who could simply walk through walls or unlock anything which was not already so.
Reaching the door to the office Mariusz turned the handle and walked inside. He was mildly surprised to see Jacob and a woman already in the office, with no one manning the desk, when he entered but he recovered after a beat. "Good afternoon Jacob," he said, greeting the taller man with a slight nod of his head. "I seem to have locked myself out of my room and am in need of retrieving the spare key to clean up after a workout," he said by way of explanation for what he was doing in the office in a state of semi-undress.
"As for you, I do not believe we have been introduced," the Czech man said in a slight English accent, turning his focus to Sophia. "I am Mariusz Kasparek," he said, offering a slight bow in her direction before offering his hand for the woman to shake, if she was so inclined. "I apologize for my rather objectionable state of dress for a first meeting, but as you just heard I seem to have locked myself out of my room."
Mariusz glanced down at the animal that Tses had chosen and noted that it was a white tiger. A feline was certainly an interesting, and mildly amusing, choice. "Trying to send me a message, are we," he asked as the line inched forward a little bit more leaving only a couple of children in front of them at the stuffing machine. "Cats eat birds... are you trying to send a subliminal passive-aggressive message," he asked with a slight smile, still holding his unstuffed bear in his hands and being careful to make sure he did not accidentally extend the retractable talons on his hands and cause damage to the unstuffed creature.
As he had been talking the two children in front of them had gotten their little animals stuffed leaving Mariusz and Tses at the head of the line. "Good thing I will have my bear here to protect me from your ravenous passive-aggressive tiger. So, what is the next step in this process," he asked, arching an eyebrow at Tses and then turning his attention to the employee that was manning the stuffing machine. "What do we do from here? I have never been in a 'Build-a-Bear' before."
“Actually, that just means you have to do more counter-moves and such… redirecting the opponents momentum, rather than simply trying to stop it. Also, punching might be a bad idea… I have nearly broken my hand by punching someone, I couldn’t imagine having hollow bones and doing it.”[/i]
"I will have to take your word for it for now. I am afraid I do not know the first thing about hand-to-hand combat but given the rather... pronounced, in some cases, prejudices against mutants it would seem a wise skill to acquire now that I am to be living in America. At least for the immediate future," Mariusz answered as they walked up the steps following Regan. Of course, she knew right where they were off to. In some ways she probably knew where they were headed better than the Czech mutant did since she had been living in the Mansion for a longer period of time.
“Just follow me, it’s a bit of a walk but we’ll be there before you know it, right Mariusz?”[/i]
"It is a bit of a walk, this is true," the feathered man allowed with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "However, it will give you an excellent chance to see a portion of the residential areas of the Mansion. As an adult, I am assured, that you will have a private room the same as myself and, I assume, Regan as well." The feathered man gestured down the hallway that led in the direction of the admittance office. "Regan, if you would be so kind as to continue as our trailblazer?"
Mariusz watched the kids scurry around as he held onto his bear that still needed to be stuffed. This was basically the first time in his life that he had the opportunity to do something like this and he was enjoying himself immensely. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Tses and noticed that she did not have any stuffed animal to get stuffed. That was, rather, the whole point of coming to Build-a-Bear apparently.
"What's the matter," he asked, eying her empty hands as the line inched a few feet closer to where the animal he had would be stuffed. "Are you not going to 'build-a-bear'? I was under the impression that the entire point of this store was the construction of stuffed animals. I bet you would have a lot of fun with it if you tried it. Besides that, there is no right or wrong way to 'build-a-bear' as nearly as I can tell. Therefore, it is impossible to 'build-a-bear' in an incorrect manner. I think you should go and pick out an animal to be stuffed! I will hold our place in line."
"What is a PETA," Mariusz asked, looking into the bin of bears that were in need of stuffing and pawing through them while ignoring Tses' comment about the morbidity of the exercise. There was nothing troubling in here at all. "I am, of course, familiar with a pita. But, somehow, I imagine it unlikely that you were referring to a common kind of bread in the Balkans and Middle East," he continued, still rifling through the bins of unstuffed bears before finally finding one that was all black that would do quite nicely.
"I think this one will do quite well," he said, showing Tses the black bear skin that looked an awful lot like a deflated balloon since there was no stuffing in it. "Now then, what is the next step in this build-a-bear process," he asked, his golden eyes looking around the shop. "I suppose we take it to get stuffed, ano," he asked, turning and heading in the direction of the giant tube of stuffing.
“In truth, there is more grappling in Army-style combatives than anything, and the fact that you will be able to hold someone’s limb with your feet is something that could give you an edge.”
"I had not considered the the ability to grab things with my feet to be a terribly useful combat skill, though I admit I had most assuredly assumed that the possession of talons would be quite useful," Mariusz said in answer to Jacob's assessment. "Something else to consider in any sort of combat training is that I have an almost entirely hollow skeletal structure. It aids in achieving flight but it also means that I need to be careful with some activities, such as learning hand-to-hand combat skills."
“Whenever you are ready gentlemen.”
"I believe that we are ready, ano," Mariusz asked, looking first at Jacob and then at Regan. "Lead the way then, if you do not mind Regan. We will address what may be seen on a tour of the property and then continue on our way."
"Wow," Mariusz said quietly, spinning in a small circle just inside the store and taking everything in. He was not altogether sure that there was any place like this in the Czech Republic, even in Prague. Besides that, if such a place did exist he had certainly never been allowed to go there as a child. In truth he had spent most of his childhood at the family estate near Harrachov and had never even really gone into Harrachov all that often. He had sort of spaced out for a moment and came back to what Tses was saying just in time to hear her say something that gave the impression she did not much like children.
"What is wrong with children," the feathered mutant asked, still looking around the place in a bit of wonder. "I never got to come to any place like this when I was a kid," he continued, slowly wandering deeper into the store. "How does this 'Build-a-Bear' work exactly," he asked, turning his golden-eyed gaze on Tses. He had to know how this worked. He was going to build a bear, come hell or high water.
"I suppose that will simply have to do then," Mariusz replied, somewhat mollified by the admittance that she might let him take her up in the air the next time they met. The feathers on his wings settled down a little bit and he furled them in a little bit tighter. The Czech man was much too polite to try and drag Tses into St. Patrick's Cathedral since she did not seem to have much interest in entering the church. That was a bit sad to the devout man, but he knew that trying to force the faith onto someone was a sure way to drive them further from it. People would either come around, or not, of their own volition but forcing the subject was not the answer.
Standing a few steps up on the stairway that led to the Cathedral's front doors Mariusz scanned the shops and things around the church. With his superior vision he could see shops and things further in the distance than most people. a few blocks away, on the opposite side of the street he saw a sign for a shop with a most curious name indeed. Certainly, it was a shop that bore investigating. Stepping down off the stairs he rejoined Tses and started heading in the direction of the shop.
"I see somewhere else that I need to visit," he said. In truth, it was not really a lie. He may not have set out today to visit this particular place, but he now knew he had to go into the shop to satisfy his curiosity about it based on the name. Quickly, and for him very quietly, he led Tses in the direction of the shop, crossing the street several times at the properly indicated time as that was what the crosswalks were there for.
After a few more minutes of walking he was standing with Tses before the doors to a business called 'Build-a-Bear'. It was definitely a most curious name for a retailer. How exactly was one to build a bear in the first place? Bears came in a set number of varieties: Panda, Grizzly, Sun, Black, Brown, and Polar. There might have been a few other types of bear in their too, Mariusz was a bit fuzzy when it came to zoology.
"How exactly is one to build a bear," he asked Tses, peering through the large glass windows of the storefront before pulling open the door to the shop and ushering her inside. "This is a question that I must answer for I have now grown curious."
"Yes, I rather imagine the wings might require a bit or adaption in some ways, as might some of the kicking and punching techniques given that I have talons on each foot and hand," he said, nodding his head and giving a slight indication of his other physical mutations. He, again, chose to omit the fact that he was wanting to learn the skills as a way of furthering his journey towards joining the team of X-Men. He had already seen a bit of the training and equipment that went into being one of the X-Men, but he still had not seen anything of a plane of the type that Jacob seemed to be describing.
"As I recall you are almost as new to the Mansion as I am, Regan," the Czech man said, nodding to Regan. "I think that the best course of action would be to head first to the Admitting Office. Even if Jacob is going to choose not to remain here at the Institute the people in the Office will be able to tell us what we can and cannot show to him. As new as we both are it would seem to me to be the wisest course of action to check first so as to avoid accidentally breaking any rules during our tour of the Mansion and grounds."
"My my, aren't you the most lovely of birds. An absolute pleasure and a surprise. I am Juka and your feathers look soft as silk."
"The pleasure is mine," Mariusz replied, hovering in the air next to the bubble with the... well, the honestly rather eclectically dressed youth inside. Juka came complete with bright orange and spiked hair, but to each their own. Judgement was reserved for the Lord. "I am afraid I am not quite a bird, though I am close. I would offer you a hand to shake, in proper fashion, but I imagine you need to maintain the integrity of your... bubble to remain afloat so it really would be in rather poor taste to pop it." Mariusz narrowed his eyes and examined the bubble a bit more closely with his keen vision. "And I am not as soft as silk, though I do try."
The Czech man beat his wings almost lazy as he hovered in the air by the bubble. He had no idea who Juka was beyond the boy being a mutant like him. "What brings you out today," he asked, wings beating slowly as he continued to examine the bubble and its occupant. It really was rather fascinating how the bubble managed to stay off the ground. Still, he supposed it made since as bubbles floated. Again, to each their own.
