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.
Lori wasn't worried about the NYPD because the NYPD knew their place. (That would be in her pocket or dead.) Anything outside of the states was beyond Lori's realm of expertise. Interpol was an unknown. Until she knew their workings, she couldn't count on them leaving Mr. Pruitt be. There was just so much she needed to know.
But he was right. It was in his best interest to keep his head down and his (and thereby Lori's) *** covered.
She liked that he gave her an echo of a 'you said jump, so i'm asking how high' with his questions. She was happy to answer the ones that she could and organize the information for the rest. But there was something missing from the Roland Pruitt picture. Something he seemed to want to address on some level, otherwise he wouldn't be bringing up structure.
Lori pulled a pen and jotted down what she needed to get to Roland.
"Roland, if the Order needs changing, help me change it. I said that I want you in. I didn't meant that I want you to robotically fulfill orders. I mean that I want you to help me take The Order above and beyond expectation. I think you know just how far is too far and how far is not enough. I don't have to, nor do I want to, baby sit you. You seem to do well enough on your own." They could use a few more like him, in fact, to babysit the others. But since there was just one of him, he was best suited to ply his art.
His thuggery was masterful. His murder? Precision. His reputation didn't paint that picture (though the research did help spurn her decision), it was the tasks she'd set for him so far. He made the business of being a criminal into an art form.
If he had specific business to discuss then this was the place and time.
The office was small with an all window wall that overlooked the fountain in front of the building. Silhouetted against that bright sky was Lori Faust, today a vision in dove gray. She didn't turn immediately when the door opened. She gave him a moment to acquaint himself and that gave her a moment to think things over one last time. She was a solo player by nature and now it was time to trust. It just wasn't an easy thing to do.
The furniture was contemporary classic. Dark wood and modern lines that somehow made the pieces appear solid but not heavy. The plants? The janitorial staff had a hand in those or else they wouldn't be there. A vase with fresh cut majestic red calla lilies sat in a silver vase set on a glass table.
"Assuming you won't be bringing interpol to our front door..." She turned and her makeup was dramatic. Charcoal lined eyes and a deep red lips. It explained the more muted color of her dress. Even with a dipping neckline and jewelry, her lips were easily the focus of the outfit. "I want you in on this."
It was clear that this was an office actually used. Papers, white boards, paperclips, textbooks, the place had much the same contents as her bedroom and not an electrical piece of equipment in sight. Not that there weren't any. Just that they were kept in ESD safety lined drawers among other places.
She slid a few papers aside with her knuckles and pulled out a packet from underneath cover letters and faxes. It was her winter's work and she was just now coming to the realization that she needed help in making it happen. She passed it across the table. "Currently Faust Pharmaceuticals is developing a cure for the mutant problem." That was sarcasm, by the way, but the press seemed to love the idea.
The cover letter read "Cooperative Activation of Dormant Genetic Expressions."
"That's cooperative in that it involves mutual assistance. The gene must be present on their part and research has yet to separate out the specific catecholamines that would work across the board, but I think they're close. Or maybe I'm just paying them to tell me they're close." Her hair went back over her shoulder. No pony tail, french curl or ESD wicks today. Just Lori. She might clean up nice, but deep at heart she was a nerd.
"The process is mediated by transcriptional mechanisms in the adrenal medulla and the locus coeruleus. In essence we're simulating the stress conditions that typically activate the X-gene." It was all in the report. If he cared to read it.
Her hand flittered around left then right to clear the air. She was doing this all wrong. "There's an inherent flaw in that activation requires an X-gene. We're working on that too, but I need something from you." And this was really the most important part. "Cooperation. Or rather, I want you to head a lot of the actualities of the program stemming of of this one. We're getting into territory that can't quite stay above board." And who better to head those activities than a man who had remained personally submerged in subterfuge for years?
Lori took a long time to blink and to formulate a thought of her own. An original enough thought that whatever the photographer was thinking now was gone on the wind. As well as the rest of his notions. Lori shook her head again. It just took a lot to orient herself. She turned to Riley and it took another long while to recall what she had said and the thought that had broken her sloppy copy job of the photographer's thought pattern.
"When I said that some of us don't photograph well, I meant it. My mutation affects electrical equipment at a very fundamental level. It causes artifacts to show on film rather than my person. Besides, every girl has a right to hate pictures of herself." Among other things. Lori ran a hand down the skin of her own arm, pushing hard enough to feel the wire underneath. Her tan had evened back out a bit (no thanks to Romania), but the wires were still there. And still stiff.
The scene continued without Lori and now she had no idea what was happening. Lori would have to go make contact with the photographer again to do that and it probably wasn't worth it at this point. The shoot had started to self-perpetuate and was in full swing now.
Lori just liked to be in the know.
"We could take one together, I'm sure." Lori was one mutant that did not miss her mutation being inactive for short periods of time.
It took a second to realize what was actually happening here. The mass of bodies in the room tripled in an amazingly short amount of time. These people were organized. And Abyss and Michael had been stabbed in the back. "You b*tch." ManLori didn't have enough time to get back out the door, but he did have enough time to aim for the throat.
Her manhand tightened around Noel's esophagus, but she was manpissed. She kept pushing until Noel was forced back and into a brick wall Abyss.
There was an unmistakeable sound of the safety being clicked off of several guns. Noel looked afraid. Good.
Not something she could instruct, no, but Riley seemed to be a perfect tool for the job.
A little poke. A little prod. She had a sharp tongue. A little hint of favoritism by Lori maybe and now it was Mutant pride on the line. Not just a paycheck or some silly notion of dignity. To the photographer, Lori didn't have to threaten. All she had to do was walk close and his monitors and gadgets were on the fritz.
"This is big... for both of us so I'll try to not mess it up. If you can't work with these kids, let me know and I'll find you more." There. The seed of power. It was his call now. His fault. His discriminations. Lori shook his hand, let her fingers linger long enough to register the electrical impulses that buzzed around in that photographic brain of his.
Riley gave a good suggestion about shooting for candids, which was sort of the point anyway, but Lori kept her distance. She wanted to see this happen right.
Wonderful. Time to try again. Lori regrouped at a safe distance from Riley. It was so very tempting to step into that field. Just to relax. Just to... move that kid to the left a little. If his head was turned... Lori shook her head. It was impossible to keep copied thoughts apart from her own. "Jay. Your chin is dropping. Turn it back toward the light like the good photographer instructed earlier."
The reflective umbrella's flashed and after a time the mutants under scrutiny were actually laughing together, flittering wings and flashing teeth and tails. Excellent. The photographer thought so too.
"Next grouping." "Next group."
This one had a few more normal looking mutants in it, though they all sported strange hair colors or extra piercing of some kind. All the punk rock and grunge metal looked strangely at home here. It wouldn't be long until they could use someone like Riley. Her thought or the photographers, it didn't matter. The photographer thought it, Lori made it happen. One of them thought it was uncanny.
He just... dropped. It was entirely unexpected. For a heart beat or two Meld and Lori just looked at his body as it lay awkwardly on the front porch. Then Lori sighed at almost the exact moment Meld sighed. It made her smile.
"I'll help."
Low blood sugar? Maybe? Surely he wasn't so squeamish that he was worried about seeing Lori again. Lori who had helped him commit his very first murder... maybe she shouldn't have tried to kill two birds with one stone in this meeting. One bird was looking a bit too dead.
Lori scooped up the overturned plant and put it on top of the boy. It made the scene a bit cartoonish, calla lilies atop of a limp and lifeless looking body. Meld lead since Lori had only been in this silly mansion once and there was no way to remember all of what she'd explored before. Eventually they would get to a couch or an infirmary or something.
"I've seen you in the news, Meld. Seems like you are continuing to do good work." If a bit gratuitously violent. She kept her eyes carefully on the boy's face and Meld's... hands? Did they always look like that? Lori hefted the feet end of the boy and the lilies wobbled on their perch.
She had just wanted to check up on them... not make a mess of things.
Lori knew this. She just liked to hear it echoed back first. "Anything you want to say to them to make it less painful to watch?" A pin up model? Really? Lori reassessed Riley's curves and her frank demeanor. She asked for a certain type of person. Obviously whoever contacted Riley hadn't exactly understood Lori's meaning.
Shouting wouldn't make them at ease. Threats probably wouldn't either. Lori watched the photographer struggle to connect for as long as her patience would allow. "Talk to them. Please." Lori went to speak with the photographer in the meantime. Sending an adapted to do her dirty work was threat enough.
"We are using some, but then again some of us muck up the shots." Lori grinned enough to show teeth. It was impossible to draw upon her inner strength around an adapted, but she was a pretty strong woman on her own. "I called for people who were special, but you're an unexpected bonus." Maybe she could take a good picture after all. Lori ushered Riley over to the makeup crew, most of whom were visibly mutants... except when Riley stepped close.
"Play nice." There was a smile on Lori's face, but enough command in her tone that no one complained to her face. Lori was a known Adapted coddler. She painted them as the boogeyman to her residents, but somehow always let them stick around. There was plenty of speculation as to why.
Lori went over to the photographer to help figure out the shots they wanted. As she passed the lights, they glowed brighter, the closer she was. Once she reached the director, the lights were back to normal. Stupid lights. She would just have to keep her distance while directing.
"Jay, Marsha, Jessica." First the visible mutants. The three she called forward gave Riley a big berth so they wouldn't have to regain control over wings or scales or tails. "Why don't you have a pleasant conversation on the couch." She motioned back to the photographer and his assistant. "Mind the photographer." That was what they were paying him for, after all.
"Riley. Stay with me for a bit." They would sprinkle in some regular looking mutants, but with Riley, she would only be able to be around the normal looking ones. Perhaps it was a mistake to let her stay.
A moment's hesitation was a moment too long. Lori cleared her throat. "I'm not paying you to stand around, get moving." Lori went to stand away from the camera even though Riley would theoretically be near. Just one precaution on top of another. "Are you a professional, Riley?" because most of the mutants here were not. If she had input that would help this process along it would be greatly valued. "It isn't every day that the people who are feared for being different get to instead be featured and prized for that differentness." Lori motioned to the scene in front of them. The models were stiff and unnatural. If the photographer was worth his money he'd get them to loosen up eventually, but he was working with a lot of amateurs.
Things were really in full swing now and Lori's leg was bouncing up and down in an attempt to try not to fry anything. They'd had to pull in models. Lori didn't want her face on everything, but it was more than that. She just didn't photograph well. Her magnetism made strange artifacts show up on cameras that obscured her form. Usually that was a good thing. Today? Not so much.
She was totally innocuous today in her white linen pants and pleated blue, silk blouse. Her tan may have faded over the winter and her brief imprisonment, but with the return of spring it would be back to acceptable levels in no time.
The lights annoyed her the most. Lori eyed them hungrily. They drew an unreasonable amount of current from the walls. So tempting.
The phone on the wall rang once right behind Lori. Blessed distraction. Lisa informed her that the last model had arrived. They were going to make the Sanctuary look good. Advertise to al of America in key magazines and at bus stops. Invite them all to the Sanctuary. Every last freak out there.
The girl in the foyer was not what Lori was expecting. Dark hair. Taller than Lori, but who wasn't? Curvy. She would probably work. They had some other ethnic models on hand to make their group diverse looking so this one she welcomed.
"Lori." She spoke her name as she offered her hand. And... a familiar and not unwelcome sensation washed over her as she got close enough to actually shake the woman's hand. Lori's eyes widened a little around the edges, but she didn't bother pointing it out. The woman probably already knew that she was special.
"Right this way. They're just about to get started." Adapted. Lori flicked though her options. What could she offer this woman to stay just a bit longer? What could she do to keep her near at hand? Lenna was nice, but there was nothing like a good, old fashioned complete nullification.
It was good that the girl claimed them as friends before they showed up because Lori was on high alert. There was a war waging out there. Only a fool would go around advertising his location to his enemies unless he was inviting death.
...or unless he was a stupid kid. Lori relaxed and smirked when it was little Sammy that popped around the corner. Little Sammy had friends with him. Two girls and a boy. It was a proper raiding party. Stupid to advertise, but if they were all mutants, as they should be, then it would have to do.
Sam and Lori really had to quit meeting in the midst of battle.
"Cells are empty." She'd emptied them all herself excepting the ones full of the dead. Lori cracked her knuckles one by one. It was always tricky to do with the wiring holding her bones so tight, but that was exactly why they needed it.
"Are you kids ready to get out of here?" Because as quiet as it was in here where the girl in the cell and Lori had killed the guards, there were plenty more stupid humans to corral outside.
If they were ready, there was one last solid metal door for lori to take off it's hinges: the door that lead back out into the ray.
Lori was already on the key situation. The tank's keys were always easy to identify since there was a whole ring of them needed to turn it on and arm all the battle stations. The candy van that Lenna had picked was labeled by parking spot and that was a bit trickier since the reds had moved most things to accommodate the movement of the tank. She found it eventually and tossed it toward Merc and Lenna. Someone would get it over there.
The tank Key, Lori tossed to Venus, who could then toss them to Isabel. The zune, she tossed too because Isabel could work it better than Lori could and it was safer in less electric hands.
After everything was passed out to the appropriate people, Lori closed the key case that was mounted on the wall and handed herself to Venus. She never minded a wandering hand when getting into place. Lori paused to salute to Lenna and her escort. They were counting on Lenna. If Lenna fell through on this, Lenna would be in trouble.
"Only turn it on enough to unlock the tread, if possible. We'll need to cut all power once we launch if we ever hope of turning this thing on again." Ah the glories of magnetic manipulations around electrical equipment. But it would be worth the precautions, in the end. Lori ran her hands around the interior of the tank, familiarizing herself with it's natural response to her natural magnetism. The more aligned it's particles, the easier this would be. Good old-fashioned ferrous material.
"Let's get ready to launch so when Lenna calls, we can go."
After a look at the girl's clothes, her demeanor... Lori thought it safe to bet she was a runaway. Or maybe an orphan with a power like that.
Miss Lori offered Kaitlyn her hand again, ready to usher her into the world of mutants inside. "Of course you can stay here. You can stay as along as you like. I'll find you a room real close to mine, even." Lori leaned around the back of the Hummer, something that had sounded better in theory than in practice - it took a couple of steps to be able to see Mars on the other side.
"Is anybody hungry over there?" The quiet girl was quiet. They would have to help her be more at home before she would readily speak. Candy didn't do it, maybe something the cooks could whip up would?
It was interesting to think of kids as little people. The same tactics would work on them, in fact, the more straight forward the attempt to bond, the better the response seemed. This is the garage. If you girls ever need a ride somewhere, there are lots of people who can drive here. I bet they'd even teach you, if you wanted." Human laws weren't held in the highest regard here at the Sanctuary.
Lori opened the door to the hall that held her room, Mars' room, and most of the other clones' rooms. Pluto's was now empty. Why not stash the child in there?
"This room is mine." Lori opened the door for Kaitlyn to see. There was a big bed with rumpled black silk sheets and no comforter. The room was messy, but in a book-ish way. Papers, white erase boards, books lay open, an empty cup with a straw, a towel... there wasn't an electrical device in sight.
"And this room," Lori opened Pluto's door. Anything left behind had long been boxed up and put away. Abyss could hardly fault her for keeping a child-pet in there. The reds were keen on women and children. Their hearts were too soft in that way. "This room is empty. Look how close it is to mine. Would you want to stay here, Kaitlyn?"
They'd have to work out where she came from and the legalities of keeping her, but Lisa could do it. She'd done worse.
Abyss' answer? "Said she's a mutant." ManLori advanced a step, ready to deck her just because she was suspicious trouble. He could feel it in his woman's intuition.
And then he got his own brain-expunging session.
ManLori blinked. And then blinked again, but harder. He had been doing something. His body was sort-of geared up for a fight, but... there was no fight to be seen. Just this lady, Noel, shaking Abyss' hand. Her manshoulders slumped and all the fighted drained out when the confusion set in. He scratched his noggin.
"What kind of mutant are you?" But she was already walking away. Hey!
He jogged to catch up and get his own hand shake. Couldn't let a pretty girl get away without testing her mancharm, now could (s)he? "I'm Michael. He's Abyss." It was a nice firm handshake, but they didn't stop walking so ManLori couldn't let it linger without awkwardness. All business, this one.
If ManLori had been more sure about his mutation, she would have manexplained it. As it was, he had very little to brag about. And he suddenly felt the need to brag. "I bet I could bench press you." Smooth, ManLori. Smooth.
What now? What NOW? He still wanted to hang out after pulling crap like that? If so, he'd better get his act together. Quick.
Lori's initial reaction to the woman approaching Abyss was negative. A sort of 'That's mine. Get off, b***.' That was her gut response. That was her woman response. Her man response was much less negative and much more positive. She wasn't too old. She was of good height, good bone structure, nice enough to offer to take them to her place... if she wasn't a rapist or a psycho it could actually work out.
And what woman would try to lure two dangerous, unsuspecting men into her web of lies?
Besides her womanself.
ManLori was suspicious. But the nice lady showed some wiggly eyes to Abyss. Wait. What did she just do? "What did you just do to him?" ManLori took a step forward ready to defend his brother in arms. It didn't matter if she was a woman and she was a manLori. She would punch miss 'hi i'm nice' into next week if she'd messed up her pal.
