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.
"What's this exactl-woah... Big mountain. Shelby, what's goin on? Where we at?"
She grinned at him, waving a mitten clad hand. It was lovely seeing the awe on his face.
"Currently we are about twenty one hundred feet up." She started, turning to cast an arm out at the view. "This is Mount Rainier! One of the many in Washington." She beamed, "It's also an active volcano!"
She shrugged her pack on, and lifted his out to him. His may have been a little bigger than hers... but he was bigger than her, so it seemed fair. She half turned, glancing back over her shoulder at the mountain.
"Have you ever been star gazing? This particular place is probably one of the best places to pick a spot and see, well, everything!" She pointed a hand toward the sky. "No light pollution what. So. Ever.~"
A new year, and a new school. But this time it was because she was a high school student now. She'd been in the school for exactly half a year without incident, too. Most people just left her alone, save for a few guys she sat with at lunch and would meet in the library after classes. Her reputation as being the 'weird' one had followed her well as she'd grown, and she wore it like a safety vest quite willingly.
All good things must come to an end at some point, though.
At lunch on one normal afternoon, she happened to spy something out of the ordinary. Bright flashes of color, an excited murmur through the crowd. She glanced over her shoulder to see what the fuss was about and stopped in her tracks.
The most beautiful girl she had ever seen in her whole life was walking past.
Skin with just barely a hint of grey, a rainbow of colorful feathers that started at her hairline and plumed backwards in varying lengths. She had the most piercing yellow eyes Shelby had ever seen.
The teen was blown over by the image. Left completely at a loss for what to do with herself except stare. Gawk, really.
Of course the girl noticed, and with a huff her feathers floofed and she spun away to vanish back into the crowd.
It wasn't the last time Shelby would encounter her.
The next time also happened to be during a lunch break, but was in a much less crowded location. She had been roaming the halls of her school with a book in her hands, casually reading as she waited for the period to end.
From around the next corner down came Bird-girl (as she yet didn't have a name), flocked by two other girls. Shelby stumbled to a sudden stop and could not help but stare once more.
This time, the visible mutant decided to not take kindly to it. "What are you looking at?" She sneered, pausing a few steps away, "Huh? Spit it out!"
Shelby could not, would not, because she was too busy trying to memorize in detail the way the girl's feathers all stood aloft when she was angry. It was very amusing.
Well, until bird-girl marched on up, hooked a clawed hand in her shirt, and slammed her into the lockers next to them.
Her book dropped and slid, she struggled to push her glasses back up on her nose and found a very ticked off mutant breathing in her face. "You think i'm some kind of spectacle, freak?!"
"I think you are very beautiful." She replied, as her heart hammered away in her chest.
Bird girls eyes widened and she dropped the hold she had on Shelby, stepping back as if she'd been burned. "W-what?" She was flustered. Confused.
Shelby took a moment to fix her shirt, bent to pick up her book, and repeated herself. "You're beautiful." A small smile, one she hoped was friendly, pricked at her lips. "I'm an artist... I couldn't help but stare because a part of me really wants to paint you."
Bird girl flushed slightly, turning a confused look back at the other girls, before it landed on Shelby again. "Ah... well, thanks. I guess."
It was amusing watching all of the steam that had previously fueling her anger dissipate in one little woosh. Shelby extended a hand toward her, smile still fixed in place. "I'm Shelby."
The girl glanced at the offered hand once, still uncertain, before reaching out and clasping it with her on claws. "Olivia."
It was that same year that her Grandmother passed away. A long stint in the hospital, a lot of uncertainties, and one terrified teenager forced to witness it all.
Her mother had gotten the call in early September. Her mother was in the hospital, her brother had taken her in late the night before when the elderly woman had complained for sudden stomach pains. Doctors swiftly found that a part of the lower intestine had blown out on the inside, allowing fluid from inside the gut to leak out. They called it septic. Shelby wasn't sure what that meant.
The doctor in charge of her told them that she would be fine. They had placed a drain in her to get the infection out, but they would be keeping a close eye on her for the next few days due to her age and health. The next night her condition worsened. She had lashed out at a nurse, rambling about how the hospital staff were all trying to kill her. The doctor called it a paranoid delusion brought on by her fever. They put her under with some pretty powerful drugs and were forced to incubate her when her breathing slowed to a crawl.
For the next three weeks it dragged on. Her mother and her would visit daily, spending hours by her bedside. At some point her kidneys started to fail, so they put her on dialysis. Things looked promising for a bit. She was starting to come out of the medically induced coma. She was staring to respond to voices. She could grip your hand and move her foot.
Shelby even got smile and a wink out of her. After so long without hope, it was the best sign she could have asked for.
A few days later they got a call. They needed to get down to the hospital as quickly as they could.
When they arrived some of the family was already gathered in the room. Shelby took a spot beside her grandmother, reaching out to grip her hand. It was cold.
"Unfortunately the dialysis isn't working. Her liver is starting to shut down as well." The doctor explained, keeping a very carefully neutral face as some of the family broke down into tears. "Her heart rate has been jumping quite a bit too, and we already have her at the maximum levels of her blood pressure medication."
The teen focused on her grandmother. Once a woman of fire and spirit, with a heart so big she made Gandhi look like a charlatan. Now she was a shell of her former self. Laying prone, un-moving in the bed.. eyes half lidded and lifeless. She gripped her hand again, desperate for a response.
Nothing.
"All we are able to do now is let nature run it's course. We've already started her on comfort care... We expect she will pass within the next few hours."
At some point the doctor left. Some time after family members departed, until it was just her mom and herself un-moving on either side of the bed. A steady beeping came from the heart monitor across the room, which would suddenly jump and set alarm bells off before fading back to normal.
With tears in her eyes, she reached out a shaking hand to push her grandmothers bangs back. Her skin was cold; clammy. She could remember when the woman had done that to her as a child, singing lullabies with a voice that seen many years. Shelby's bottom lip trembled, and she cleared her throat.
"Lullaby, and good night, in the skies stars are bright... May the moon's silvery beams bring you sweet dreams."
The heart monitor alarm started blaring again. The small line on the machine signifying blood pressure gradually started to drop.
"Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight. I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms." Her mothers voice took over for her's, small and warbling, but there.
"Sleepyhead, close your eyes, for I'm right beside you. Guardian angels are near, so sleep without fear. Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedight. Lilies over head, lay thee down in thy bed...."
Together they tried to croon the heart break away. Until the lines on the machine all bottomed and silence overtook the room. Then, and only then, did she break down and weep.
Three years had passed and she'd moved again. Her mother had broken up with her father, again, and after the messiest divorce yet by far, she found herself smack in the middle of a new city, in a new house and a new school. Her mother had sworn up and down that this time was the last time she'd ever speak to her dad again. Her dad swore up and down that he'd never even look at her mother again. It had been tense, ugly... and funny.
She knew it was only a matter of time before they hooked up again. As much as they argued against it the two of them loved each other dearly. Shelby liked to think of them as two soulmates struggling as hard as they could not to come together.
The plus side of the move, even though it had transferred her away from yet another friend in regards to schooling, was that this time they hadn't physically moved all that far away. Her new home was only a hop away from his, and she could easily guilt her mother into driving her over to hang out.
It also helped that the Arcade Derrick and her frequented was now literally within walking distance. She'd gotten into the habit of heading over there after school nearly everyday, to waste away her allowance playing a host of entertaining games. The owner of the place knew her on sight, and often gave her a few free tokens for 'being so gosh darned cute' as he had put it. Then he'd ruffle her hair and shoo her off.
Derrick and her claimed the place as their own. A nice little shelter from the realities of the world for kids who very much didn't want to have to grow up and face them. Their relationship deepened in the process, to the point that she openly referred to him as her best friend.
It was a good time... which in later years she would reflect back on and miss terribly.
She was 11 today. At midnight her dad had slunk into her room in the pitch black, an air horn in one hand and a birthday hat in the other. He'd given an 11 year old a heart attack that night, and set up a centuries worth of mistrust on the night before her birthday. She started locking her door.
That day, after mid-morning celebrations, she had gone to school fully intending on pretending that everything was normal. Nope, no birthdays here. Instead, when she walked in she found that someone had decorated her desk, and a very crudely made cupcake was sitting smack in the middle of it. Briefly she wondered if she could blame it on her parents, but realized that had they been involved the whole classroom would have looked like a circus instead of just her desk.
Silently she sat, doing her best to ignore curious looks, while fighting back a furious flush.
It wasn't until lunch that the culprit came forward and exposed himself. Derrick. Of course.
"So, didja like my surprise?" He grinned, still missing teeth. She fought back another blush and poked sullenly at her fruit cup. "...Don't like celebrating birthdays." She finally muttered, huffed, and added, "...Thanks."
He blinked at her as he unwrapped the peel from an ice cream sandwich. "Huh? Why's that?"
She speared him with a look, debating what to say. "I want all of my friends to be here, but they can't."
"Why's that?"
The look turned into a squint. "Because one is in Vancouver, one is in Spokane, one lives in Bellevue, and the other moved away to Texas." He made a little face, nodding, and took a huge bit of his treat.
"Well," He started after a pause, wiping his mouth on the back of his arm, "Guess you're lucky you got me, then. Right?"
There was that grin again, little white teeth (minus a few) all perfectly in line as it stretched from one ear to the other. Her fork stilled, a peach speared on the tip, and she stared at him. After a few moments, she timidly smiled back. "Sure."
The rest of the day went without a hitch, and when she got home and her mother got all of the birthday supplies out, she briefly wondered if she could ask to have Derrick invited over.
The second time she ran into him was just as spectacular as the first. She'd been kicked out of the classroom so that their current substitute could clean up after a science activity that had gone wrong. Why did it go wrong? Derrick.
So now she was stuck shuffling around in one corner of the yard, next to a field. She chose to spend her time digging for bugs. If there was one thing she was a fan of, it was nature. This particular school didn't have a whole lot in that regard, but she had managed to find some. An ant hill, mainly.
She watched the little black specks roam around, marveling at how the closer they came to the hive, the more organized their lines were. After a while of watching she grew bored, and had wandered a little ways away to find something else to occupy her attention.
One poor spider later, she was back at the anthill, watching in morbid fascination as a hoard of ants neatly clipped the spider into manageable pieces.
A kickball suddenly flew into her field of vision, violently dashing the little anthill into dust. Dirt and bugs scattered everywhere. She gasped, reeling back from it. "Hey! Hey can you kick that back?"
Standing, the nine year old dusted herself off and glanced at the ball gently rolling back and forth by her feet. Sure, she could. She reached down and picked it up, then leveled a blank stare at the kid making the request.
But she wasn't going to.
It took a moment for him to realize that she wasn't going to toss it back. By that time his buddies had cued in to what was happening as well. Childlike frustration flooded his features, and yet he didn't take a single step toward her. "Give it back!"
She turned her nose up at him, ginger ponytail bouncing behind her, and started to walk back toward the building. "Hey weirdo! I'm talking to you! Give me my ball back!" His friends had joined him. One tight little circle of aggression. "Billy, forget it. We'll just go get another ball."
Billy seemed to agree, but not before she passed him. He had to get one last parting word in before it was over, "Freak!"
She was three paces away when she heard it, and five when she heard something that sounded suspiciously like meat hitting meat, and then Billy started to wail. Six paces in and she turned, and what should she see? There was Derrick, standing over Billy with his fists clenched, one buddy trying to drag him away. Billy's nose was bleeding. A teacher was on scene a moment later, like lightning, gathering Billy up and dragging Derrick with them back toward the building.
As they passed Derrick winked at her.
She dropped the ball, a light flush dusting her cheeks, and watched them as they vanished into the building.
A week had passed relatively quickly. Shelby spent her time in school minding her own business. Any free time she had she spent it with her nose in a book, off in some corner of a room where people wouldn't bother her.
Mid-day, just as recess was called, a shadow fell over her desk. She glanced up through her bangs at the intruder, surprised to see a short, chubby faced boy looming over her. "Watcha readin?" He inquired, leaning down to try and peer at the cover of her book. She pulled it into her body, covering it with her arms.
"Go away." There was an attempt at a glare. It didn't work. The boy remained. "What's your name?"
Her eyes landed on the large, hand drawn name sitting in the one corner of her desk. All the desks had them. Why would he even ask? "Go away."
"Why don't you ever come outside and play?" She could see as he talked that he was missing some teeth. Whether that was due to him losing then naturally, or through some incident she didn't know. It gave him a very strange lisp, though.
She stared him down mutely, not budging on the matter. He tried again a few moments later. "Do you wanna come play with me? My names Derrick."
She knew his name. He was the class clown, and generally ended up in the most trouble out of all of them. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, he shuffled back on his feet. "Well, uh... nice meeting you." Then he beat a hasty retreat back outside. She let the breath she had been holding go, finally releasing her book from the death grip she had been holding it in against her chest. No doubt he was going to rush out there and tell all of his friends how weird she was. No doubt it would only cast and even more alien light on her.
It was the first day of a new school year, and for one nine year old it was also her first day at a new school, in a new area. She strayed behind by the doors of her class, lingering as other kids rushed past and onto the playground. She didn't know any of the faces. None of the names. Wringing her hands in the lace of her first-day dress, she silently nursed her own anguish as she watched the other kids play.
She missed her own friends.
This was the third time she had moved in two years. Her parents, who had always had a rocky relationship from the start, had been arguing a lot more recently due to financial troubles. Her father was a dreamer. Someone who wanted big things for himself and his family, but wasn't always so good at coming through with them. Her mother was a pessimist and a workhorse. She spent more time at her job than she did with the family. They had been married, divorced, and remarried several times in her short life and each time they split she was forced to move. Sometimes her father would win the resulting custody battle, sometimes he couldn't afford it and her mother would win. Sometimes there wasn't a battle at all and they tried to play it off like some kind of extended vacation a the other parents house.
Shelby was miserable. She wanted them to quit arguing. She wanted them to act like any of the other kids parents. Either break it off entirely, or learn to get along.
Casting one last forlorn glance out at the schoolyard, she turned and headed back inside. Shelby liked books more than people, anyway. Books you could take with you.
Peck had gone around the long way, and by the time he popped out on the other side, it looked as if his whole team had been taken down. But some shlub in a suit, no less. He had been momentarily shocked, but managed to recover swiftly. He needed a plan... and he needed to make that #%$& pay!
Lifting his sidearm, he unloaded a few rounds at the guy to cover his own movement. He was running for the front doors, trying to stick to as much of the plan as he could without the rest of the team. Turns out luck was on his side, too. The moment he stepped out into the hallway the Meta that had previously been contained within a bubble burst through a wall and entered the scene. Bits of drywall and wood exploded out into the hallway, and a fine dust spilled out in a plume.
Peck took that as his sign to skedaddle on out of there and booked it for the front glass doors. On the other side, he spotted a curious sight. A woman, pink haired and looked completely out of place amidst the chaos, kneeling with her head in her hands. She must had ducked when she'd heard the bot exploding through the wall.
Latching onto a fleeing thought, Peck shifted himself into an exact duplicate of the girl. When he bust through the outside doors, they made eye contact briefly before he reached out and grabbed her by the collar. In the distance, one could hear sirens and the metallic thunking of metal on pavement. The Calvary was closing in.
--
There was gunfire, screaming, and a sudden explosion. Shelby didn't know what the hell was going on inside the building, and she wasn't really sure she wanted to. She'd ducked down to cover herself at the loudest noise, and when she looked back up someone was exiting the building.
... She was. Shelby was exiting the building.
"Wha-" The word hadn't even gotten fully out of her mouth before she was accosted and she started dragging herself down the steps and toward a parked car. "Get in the car!" Her own voice screamed at her. She could feel a headache starting up somewhere behind her eyes.
"What?! No! Hell no!" She didn't have a clue what was happening, but she knew she was sure as hell not going to get in a car with... herself. She started struggling then, tearing at the fist that was clenched around her collar. The other her simply picked her up with a strength she knew she didn't own.
If peck could get her in the car, it would only take a second to hot-wire it and he'd make his escape. If he couldn't before the bot and the guy came barreling out of the courthouse, well, then he had himself a nice shiny hostage, anyway.
She'd told him to meet her in the Danger Room when he was ready. She hadn't told him why, only giving him a slight smile and peck on the cheek to run with. She'd given herself an hour to get everything ready, although she probably hadn't needed that much time. She checked the thermos' again to make sure they were still warm.
Since the last time they had been in that room together, when she'd taken him to he favorite arcade, she'd had plenty of ideas bouncing around in her head. And when she wasn't working, focusing on those ideas helped to keep her mind off of other things. Darker things. The artist stuffed the bottles back into one of the backpacks and buckled it closed. She'd grabbed blankets, a pillow or two from another room in the school, a few snacks and hot chocolate. Which, if he didn't get there soon, was going to turn into a chocolate ice cube.
The setting she was currently standing in was another from her own past, mostly because she was rather un-creative with things when it didn't have to do with art. But, she also felt that it might be something he could appreciate. She wanted to take him out star gazing, and in her not-bias-at-all opinion, Mt. Rainier from her home state was one of the best places to do exactly that. She'd never been, personally. Mostly because of a crippling fear of bears, so it would be a new, exciting experience for her, too!
Glancing behind her at the view behind her, she felt a swell of excitement in her chest. Maybe a little pride, too. Her state was certainly beautiful. The sky was just starting to turn various shades of pink, purple, and blue. Her hair very nearly matched. There were a few scattered clouds, just as she'd requested, but mostly open, endless atmosphere. They wouldn't far away from the mountain, and were rather high up on the summit, but an extensive network of mapped out hiking trails had made it easy for her to pick this spot in particular.
She breathed in and sighed contently. The only problem she had was that she hadn't been able to alter the temperature. It was freezing out!
She smiled at the wall in front of her, "Yep, Sounds like a plan. I'll get the original packaged up and I can have it in the mail by tomorrow."
She jotted down a few notes about the address he provided and a place to send the pdf when she had it ready. "Thank you for your business, Rick." She nodded, hmmed, and then hung up when he had. Overall, not a bad business deal! Weird, but not bad!
She set the note pad down, her phone alone with it and let her head hang between her knees for a bit. "...Two... thousand... dollars." Then she was up and tackling Saph in the blink of an eye. "Two grand!" She may have cried on him, a little bit. Then she scrambled for her laptop and got started getting the work order ready.
"Hahah!" She threw her hands in the air triumphantly, did a little dance in a circle, and then rounded back to him. "I wiiiiin~" The dance didn't stop. Nope, she was going to milk this for all it was worth.
"That means you have to take me on an adventure of some sort!" What and where she'd leave up to him. He was fun enough that she didn't really have any worries that he'd choose anything lame. Buuut... there was still the matter of what his wager had been.
With a little twirl she stopped in front of him, beaming up with cheeks rosy from her little dance, blue eyes twinkling as they caught the lights from above.
"Even though I won, will you still be my boyfriend?" She tucked her hands into her pockets, rocking on her heels a little.
She pulled the phone away slightly from her ear, casting an intense look at it, before drawing it back. He was still talking.
"I certainly can do that, sir.. but I will also have to forward you a document to sign first. Basic rights usage terms for the pdf." She jotted down his name on her paper, glancing over her shoulder momentarily before turning back. One of her old art teachers had warned her about people like him. "I don't have a method for pushing through payments on my end, but I can give you my paybuddy account information. It's a lot easier that way, anyway."
She wasn't sure of what to make of the last few comments. She was blowing up right now? Was that good? That was good, probably. "We have a deal. I will send you the PDF file as soon as the payment reaches my account." She paused again, tapping her pen on the paper.
She smacked her head against the counter for the umpteenth time. Tied. They were tied. Without dipping back into similar style games, which would be unfair, they had come to a wall blocking the road. She groaned at him in response right at first, before lifting her head and looking at him.
"I haaate tiiies." Her bottom lib may have wiggled a little, she paid it no attention. "Okay, so we've played pretty much everything..." She fished the chocolate coin back out of her pocket. It was long past melted at this point. She laid it carefully on the counter and continued. "Unless we wanna have a wrasslin' contest, which i'd sorely lose, I-"
A thought struck her and she slapped the counter excitedly. "Oh! Oh oh!" Shelby swiveled on her stool on one full circle before she stopped herself and beamed at him. "I've got it: Rock, paper, Scissors!"
It was the tie breaker staple, after all! She held a hand out and fisted the other in the center of it, waiting expectantly. Really, she couldn't be bummed about this either way considering all of the fun she'd had. She really hoped that he'd had some fun too.
By now, she was getting used to her phone constantly ringing, She'd even changed her ring tone so that if someone unknown was calling she'd know without looking. This was one of those instances.
"Hello?"
"Names Rick. You ever heard of Amicoba real estate outa Jersey, yes, it's that Rick. Not beating around the bush, I want five prints of the piece the, uh, "Jesters Lament" for some demo homes. The wife wants it. Says it's a real example of anquish nior or some sh- stuff. Pardon my speech."
What? What? She struggled to piece together what he had just said to her, and then struggled to reply. FIVE PRINTS!?
"Five prints? I suppose I could do that." She set her tooth brush down and glanced out of the bathroom she shared with Saph, please to find him still arguing with the cockroach in the background. Wandering out she headed for her bag and procured a pen and paper. "Does she had a specific timeline for when she needs them done? The original took me about nine hours to complete from start to finish. I could have another four done in, uh..." What else did she have on her plate currently? One other commission, which she had a few days to complete, and a date in the morning with Saph.
