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.
She decided right then and there that around noon, when the sun was highest, was the time of day she hated the most. Hated it. Hated. It
She had been perched outside on a bench, her mobile easel set up in front of her, dabbing away at her canvas for nearly four hours now. It had been nice at first, over cast... not to sunny. Just the right kind of breeze.
... But then that had all changed and the friggen' molten star in the sky was doing it's best to nuke her into a fried, pink cream puff. Shelby grumbled incoherently to herself, squinting at the canvas.
Normally she painted darker things. Plants, flowers, bones and skulls. She had always had a unique fascination with the human (and mutant) structure. What lay underneath the skin. But lately she hadn't been able to pursue those normal styles. Every time she tried... every time...
She shook herself, pressing a hand to her stomach as it growled loudly. "Oh, shut up."
She hadn't been able to keep food down for the last few days. She'd tried, really. A few crackers here or there managed to stick, but every time she tried to eat something more normal she automatically flashed back to that night and her stomach simply tossed all the food right back out. She knew it was bad, and that she probably should have talked with someone, anyone about it by now.... she just couldn't bring herself too. She was too private a person, and had great reservations about opening herself up like that unless she absolutely had to.
She'd just give it a few more days... see if she went back to normal on her own terms. Until then she'd do her best to keep herself together.
With that thought in mind, she turned back to her paining. This particular piece was a lot more vibrant than her usual stuff. Lots of green and yellow, a virtual rainbow of color. She was working solely off of the image of the person she had saved in her head.
"...Where... am I?" Confused, she turned around in a full circle again. She hadn't been able to track down anyone she was comfortable asking directions from... and while she was stuck within the walls of the school, she certainly didn't want to be stuck in her room the whole time.
Hence why Shelby was standing in the middle of a hallway, her fold-up easel tucked under one arm and a bag slung over the other shoulder, attempting to make sense of where exactly she'd ended up lost. She knew there was a garden around the school somewhere, and had intended to go find herself a private corner close to the school where she could paint and get some fresh air at the same time. With how sunny it had looked outside, she was starting to regret the frumpy black sweat shirt she had on, and the dark sweat pants... but alas, she was also in dire need of being pointed in the direction of the laundry wing.
She glanced down at her wrist watch. She'd been wandering for a good ten minutes now.
The pink haired girl sighed heavily, turning around to look the way she had come. Was it a left, a right, and a left again? Had she gone up stairs at some point? Down even? She couldn't recall.
Shifting her bag to help alleviate some of the ache in her shoulder, she turned back around and continued on her way. Maybe if she just kept going she would loop back around, or run into someone she cold ask for directions.
She glanced behind her once again, squinting back into the hall with suspicion settled in her expression. She was still reeling from the possibility that she was being followed, by a cockroach of all things... though she hadn't physically seen a manifestation of one with her own eyes. It was still creepy though... like he was always watching her, and could just Poof! appear at any given moment.
Her bag smacked into a clear vase filled with garden flowers as she passed, sending the glass shooting off the side table it live on and onto the floor. The resounding echo of shattering glass, and muffled cursing filled the hallway around her. She stopped, gingerly attempting to start picking up the broken shards while avoiding the spilled water and crumpled flowers.
3:30 a. Well past the witching hour. Into the devils hour, really. Why was she up? She could't sleep. Hadn't been able too for a while, actually. But the fruits of her labor had been ripe enough to harvest, and she wasn't willing to let them start to rot. She had to share!
Hence why, at such an ungodly hour of the morning, she hesitantly knocked on Saphirus' door. She wasn't sure if he would answer. Or if he was even home, for that matter. She had to try, though.
"Saph?" She knocked a little harder a second time, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and re-balancing all of the paperwork in her arms.
Truthfully was a little scared that he wouldn't believe her. Or that he'd give her one of those 'Oh, dear..' looks and usher her back off to her room. She felt nervous tremors race up her spine, and willed them away. She had to do this... she had to try, and if he reacted badly then she would just find someone else to listen to her.
It didn't occur to her that she looked like a dorm room zombie after an all night Essay bender. The circles under her eyes were much more pronounced than she last remembered, she was still in a rumpled t-shirt and fleece shorts from three days ago. Sure, she had showered... once... but it looked like she had rolled though her dirty laundry hamper on the way out of her room. Her hair had been shoved into the messiest bun she'd worn in public by far, with spikes of pink jolting off in random directions around her head.
She was a mess, and she was more or less blissfully unaware of it.
The day had shifted into night, and she was struggling more than normal to stay awake. No really sleep for that long was sure to do it to ya. She had been stationed at her desk, her chin propped up in one hand, eyes struggling to stay open... when she head a little sound.
A notification popped up in the corner of her laptop. An email regarding a reply to her question posted on the forum. Now, at that point she had gotten quite a few and not many of them were helpful. Some of them were downright wrong, or completely off in left field. But... as she opened her thread and started to read, she discovered a cryptic message that had her curiosity peaked.
"Message me" Was all it said. No ranting, no sarcasm. Shelby eyed the screen for a moment, adjusting herself in her chair, and moved her mouth slowly to the PM button.
"You asked me to message you, about the Roach in New York. Why? Do you know anything?"
She hit submit, chewed on her bottom lip and stared at the screen.
An hour later she got a message back.
"He uses cockroaches to spy for him." Was all it said. She blinked, an anxious, excited feeling swelling in her chest.
"How? What else does he do?" She paused mid sentence, watching the text line blink, "Who are you?"
Hours passed and she received no reply. She clicked on the profile for the Anon who had posted the message. It had been deleted. The profile was gone. Shelby could have cried, honestly... what felt like the first solid person she had come across, someone who seemed to know about the cockroach himself rather than just glimpses of him or stories from years ago, had slipped through her fingers. Maybe she had scared them off.
Heaving a sigh, she glanced at the clock next to her. It was past a responsible hour. Past a sane hour considering what the last few days had involved. Still, she drafted up a note about the cockroaches, added it to her pile and stared the whole mess down.
She felt like she had a lot of good information now. More than she had before, at least. Her opponent was insane, or at least seemed to be based on the stories she had come across. He didn't have a pattern. He did did what he wanted, when he wanted. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better, or worse.
She needed to get this information to someone. In the right hands she was sure it could help... maybe it could help a lot, and soon there would be one less psycho on the street. With a mirthless smirk on her lips, she set about gathering all of the evidence she could fit in her arms, and made for the closest person she knew could help...
The next dozen or so hours passed by in a blur. To outside eyes she had most definitely lost her mind at some point, probably day one. She had amassed quite a map of possible sightings and leads on her wall and had added little notations of each instance to help her keep track of what she was doing. At some point the night prior she had also printed out a picture of herself and Jen, from a year ago, and pinned it to the wall to the left of her little 'project'. When she started to feel tried, or like the stress was going to overwhelm her, all she had to do was look at that woman's face (which was still not a pleasant memory in any light) and she had managed to gather up what remained of her strength to continue on.
Still, it had nearly been three full days since she had started... She hadn't slept save for a few moments where she nodded off, then promptly woke herself back up screaming. She hadn't eaten, because that meant leaving her room, and if she left her room that meant talking to people. People who would surely worry about her, and try to get her to drop the whole thing.
She showered, once, and it had been freezing cold. She had needed the wake up desperately.
But... all of that aside, on the third day she also got an answer to one of the questions that had been plaguing her since the whole thing had started, and a new lead. The lead, which was from a slightly larger article than normal, came from the previous owner of a Comicbook store that also happened to sell donuts. Said owner of the time of the incident had recounted the whole terrifying ordeal. The glee and strangeness. He recounted that he hadn't been alone, but had been working with one of the better known mass murderers at the time in order to extort money from the store. The man had gotten a broken arm, a damaged store, and the Roach he talked about had assaulted one of his customers. It helped that someone had apparently called the cops, so there were multiple witnesses and references to a police report in the article.
It was a strange story, that was for sure... but it was also a very important piece to her puzzle.
Times passed painfully slowly. She could feel exhaustion settling into her body, into her muscles and bones... but she didn't dare to try and sleep. The horrors that had occurred only a day prior were still fresh in her mind. She she paused even for a moment, it was enough that the horror would set in anew.
So with dark, puffy bags starting to form under her eyes, she marched steadily onward. She got a few possible tips from her post on the online forum... nothing really worth further investigating.. but, she had a map gradually being frankenstein-ed into existence on her wall and thus added a few sticky notes about possible sighting locations anyway. The wall in question had gone from having one printed area map pinned to it, to having a dozen. Most of them were congregated around the same area in New York. It seemed like, if her info was at all correct, the giant bug man was rather busy most of his time in the darker corners of the state. Places with generally higher crime rates. Poverty stricken and troubled.
Then again, there were a few more grandiose sightings of him in the more popular parts of New York. He was a spectacle to behold, for sure, when you hadn't seen his horrible side.
Her crowning victory for the day, though, came in the form of another little article she found... plucked from yet another small, obscure newspaper. The article basically described a few instances of strange things happening on the same street within the span of a month or two... only a few things really stood out in the article, but the main one she latched into had to do with another Roach like description... and this one had him dragging giant, black bags that were leaking red liquid. Apparently the cops had been called. She glossed over the rest of it, looked up the area, and added another location onto her growing map.
Only a few hours had passed since the incident, and she couldn't sleep. She couldn't do much of anything, really. She had changed out of the clothes she'd worn on the date, afraid of what might possibly gotten on them that night. Thrown them away, too. She'd buy another dress and shoes for her next door neighbor later at some point. She spent a good hour brushing, rinsing, and then re-brushing her teeth
After an hour of trying and failing to get some sleep, due to Saph urging her too, she gave up and hopped on her computer. She needed answers, and while she wasn't entirely sure where to find them she was determined to at least try. After plugging her laptop in and booting it up, she opened up the web browser and got to typing...
--- 1st Day:
Six hours later the sun was up and birds were chirping outside. Her search had been fruitless so far, but she wasn't entirely surprised. From what she knew of the monster, he was good and vanishing without a trace after his crimes. She had, however, stumbled across a forum in which one person had mentioned a cockroach like mutant.... And while his story was a little hard to believe, considering it included a government conspiracy, it was currently the only lead she had to go on. Printing the minimal information the post had, she pinned it to one of her blank walls and hopped back on. With little to go on save for her own experiences, she took the time to create her own account and posted her own query. Perhaps there were more people out there who had seen or encountered him... perhaps they would be willing to share information with her through the anonymous veil of the web.
She left that page open on it's own tab, and opened another to get back to searching for any and all news stories that may have involved the Roach.
---
Hours in and she was starving, but had found some pretty good leads... in her opinion. There were quite a few sightings mixed in with various other stories from around the city. A lot of them were honestly pretty nonsensical, like a report she stumbled upon that had to do with a giant bug-man who more or less fit Roach's description, abducting a woman and then throwing her off of a building. The lead, however small, also linked her to a web address for a video; poor quality, probably done with a phone.. but there was just enough there for her to hear an echo of the cockroaches booming voice in the background, shortly before the woman was tossed from the top and the gathered crowd below started screaming. She added it to her small stack of currently info, took a moment to stretch and stare at the ceiling listlessly, and then dove right back into the search.
Hello, I hope someone can help me. I'm looking to compile a list of credible sightings in reference to @odessawasaninsidejob's post about the giant cockroach that has been terrorizing the city for some time now. If anyone has any stories, clips from newspapers, articles, or pictures, please post them here. As a community I am hoping that we can take this monster down and make him pay for what he has done. I'm specifically looking for details about the creature himself; Traits, abilities, ect. I have reason to believe that he is somehow able to track people and events without actually being present.... either via some type of ability, or through some kind of extended network of people.
Please, if anyone out there has anything that can help, post it.
PumpkinSpiceEverything:
Who's posting this even? Lol. Seems like something the cops should be handling, not some message board troll. gtfo
OmnomnomCookies:
Omg! Scary!
ZetaSpaceBoi:
Sounds like a classic case of an alien hiding among us. Think about it, what closely resembles an insect, like a cockroach? Grey's. Clearly we have a host of them among us, probably using the rampant Genetic Mutations out there in order to hide in plain sight. The CIA probably knows all about this, but of course they wouldn't make the records known to the public. Good luck.
She watched him as he spoke, looking for that sincerity that had been there the last time. When she saw it her brave front nearly crumpled. She couldn't put it into words how happy it made her to have him there. To have him swear that he would protect her. Jesus, she felt like a little girl trapped in a hellish nightmare. So helpless...
she sucked in a lungful of air, snapped her jaw shut and nodded her head jerkily at him. "O-okay..." Steeling herself, she saw another officer approaching. She glanced at Saph again before the man got there. "I will go back with you. I trust you." Her features pinched again, and she fought back another wave of tears. "I won't let this take me out. We'll beat it. We'll survive." She quoted back, managing a small strained smile.
The other officer was there, she squatted down before Shelby and with a hesitant, jittery sigh, she started to slowly, shakily walk the woman through the events of the night. One painful step at a time.
She shook her head slowly. She was surprised to hear that his adopted daughter had dealt with such a maniac and survived. There were clearly many things she didn't know... but that wasn't what was important here. That wasn't what she had been focusing on since he had come back.
"I can give a statement." Her voice was soft, hollow. Damaged. She finally looked at him, eyes watery and makeup smudged.
"I can't go back there." Her bottom lip trembled. "He isn't going to stop. Not until he gets what he wants from me." She didn't know what that was. She highly doubted that it was really her 'art'.
"I-I can't put this on you. I can't... I.. can't." She pushed her palms up behind her glasses, wedging them against her eyes. "I can't bring this kind of danger to you, to that school... to your daughter." Especially if she had managed to escape him.
He verified that it was actually him. She didn't need to look at him to see it. As soon as he had taken hold of her though, she latched on like he was the only thing keeping rooted to the ground. Without him she'd just float off into space. She didn't say anything as he led her out, she still couldn't form any words. It was hard enough just breathing at a pace that wouldn't make her pass out.
She didn't let go of him until someone else was there, and when she did her fingers ached from clenching. He moved away and she was vaguely aware of that other person. Someone touched her shoulder. She paid them no mind. Tears were still flooding down her cheeks and she was staring at the pavement just past her shoes in an unfocused, dazed manner. She could hear words, perhaps someone trying to ask her questions or console her. Someone wrapped a blanket around her shoulders at some point.
Then Saph was back, his sat beside her. She didn't look at him... she couldn't. More tears fell and her expression screwed up into absolute anguish. "Do...You want to go back to the mansion?"
"... He was there..." She managed to get those words out somehow, and took in a shuddering breath. "He was there, in that kitchen."
There were too many things to focus on. Nowhere safe to look. She couldn't get her legs to work... Shock had overridden her motor skills. She had to suck in a breath, her scream dying in a whimper, and then she focused on the large cockroach on the other side of the room from her. All of the color washed from her face.
"I gasp! Shelby my dear! Let me guess. You came back to compliment the chef! Don't say it! You liked the main course! No. It was the salad, wasn't it? Is was! The Kale al-la Jen! That blood sausage really is a family recipe, and let me tell you... Jen really put her all into it."
Her stomach rolled again, eyes impossibly widening more, and she emptied her stomach on the floor next to her. she couldn't breath properly, only in short horrified gasps. She felt like she was suffocating all over again. A deafening clatter broke out from the other room, and then suddenly the sole source of her nightmares was leaving.
"I'm assuming that's my curtain call! Stein! If you could... Careful not to hurt her hands. She's an artist!"
Someone new entered the room and she barely had enough wits about her to recognize him as the man who had snapped pictures of her horrified face when all of this had started. (pictures that Roach had left on her database, as it were) All she could do was shake her head at him, a silent pleading 'No!' His grin widened. He got in a few steps toward her before the doors to the kitchen burst inward. Suddenly Saph was there. She fixated on him, wanting to reach out and latch onto him. She needed the comfort. Something stable. But, she couldn't really move. Her arms twitched in response to the thought. She couldn't even form words. She simply watched the x-man engage the metal man, Stein, in a fierce battle.
By the time he had put the other man down, she had managed to curl in on herself. Her face tucked into her knees, her arms wrapped around her head. She had managed to find her voice, as damaged as it now was, and was sobbing uncontrollably. She flinched visibly as Saph approached, not daring to lift her head and even see who it was who had won the fight.
She nodded enthusiastically, "Yup! My whole paper was based on his particular brand of ego! Names withdrawn of course."
The waiter hurried back in, a fancy silver platter in his hands. Balanced perfectly. He set it down between them, hand on fancy little nob that sat atop it, and spoke. "I hope you enjoy this. The chef prepared it special for you."
The lid lifted, and the smile slid right off her face. She plunged right back into the pit of icy horror. Jen was right there. Jen's face was right there, sitting atop a pile of decorative greens with garnishes framing the sides.
Instantly, her stomach rolled. She stood in a flash, a scream so shrill and broken ripping past her lips that it actually damaged something in her throat pretty much instantly. Her chair tipped violently backwards and she ripped her eyes away from the horror in front of her to the waiter, who started to shift into another very familiar face before her eyes. Pudds. The very same man that had attempted to kill her no more than three days prior. "Roach sends his regards. He cannot wait to see your art."
The screaming didn't stop. She lurched away from the table, hip-checking another on her way past and sending all of the contents on it sprawling to the floor. She needed to get out! She needed to get out of the restaurant! She wasn't sure where, she wasn't really thinking so much as acting on impulse, she just knew that she needed to get away from that things and... and from the grotesque reminder of her dead friend that had been served to her on a platter.
A lot of things happened at once, then, but the only thing she was aware of was a tendril of pudd's whipping around her waist, hoisting her off the ground, and effectively hurling her through the air towards the back of the building. She hit the metal swinging door and rolled into the kitchen beyond. Pots and pans clattered to the floor around her as she slid into a metal rolling cart, and when she stirred enough from the attack to try and pick herself up her eyes landed on an entirely different kind of horror...
The whole kitchen was drenched in blood.
Another barely human shriek left her, echoing out through the still swinging kitchen doors.
She scooted back politely in order for the waiter to deliver her salad, and waited for him to finish speaking before she picked up her fork. With a 'Thank you' before he left, she set about trying her first bite.
It was... salad-y. Kind of like a a variation on a vinaigrette. Enjoyable, at the very least. She munched on a fork full as Saph started talking, turning her attention back to him. His comment caused her to laugh, and she covered her mouth with her hand. "Really?!" She kept her voice mostly quiet, but didn't bother tying to hide the excitement in it. "I thought that the recap video looked a little too easy. I just figured it was how they had edited it! Poor blondie." She chuckled, reminded again how funny the whole thing shad been.
"I can't imagine what that must feel like. Being able to do that." She tried, really, she did. Feeling someone moving on the other side of a wall would be... creepy, in her opinion. At the very least, it would be weird.
Then again, she was 100% lacking any kind of mutation. Any kind of power would be weird to her. For a moment she reflected back on all of the various mutants she had ever met. In one hand, most of them had been... eh, pretty interesting circumstances. There were definitely quite a few that she was more than terrified of, and rightly so. Sewer monsters and giants. People who could literally look like anyone if they put their minds to it. Dragons. Yep, she'd met quite a few spectacular people. Saph was actually one of the more normal sorts. She was glad for that.
"You know, after I had first moved here I met a dragon at the school?" She paused, trying to remember his name, "... I've forgotten his name, unfortunately, but I wrote a paper on him." She smiled, plucking some more salad off her plate.
"Yeah, seems that way, I guess... She's really good at not acting how she feels, though. Bit like you in that regard... Eh, no offense, there. I say things without thinking sometimes. But Yeah. She's been through a lot. People tried to turn her into a weapon... I saved her, I guess."
She shrugged the comment off; Took no offense. It was something she actively recognized with herself anyway. She focused on the empathy she felt for the teen instead. A frown settled on her face and she played with the drink set before her. "None taken. Sometimes it easier for people who have a lot on their plate to act like they don't, you know?" A moment later she forced the frown to retreat and placed a small smile upon her lips instead.
"I imagine that's probably also why she acts out so much with you. You probably stepped into a space that had previously been empty. You know, filled a hole. She's probably trying to adjust to having someone who's actually stable in her life."
"I guess I left myself open for that one, huh. I guess it's a bit of a long story. I made bad choices for a long time. Going to the mansion was the first good choice I'd made in a long, long time. From there, I just sorta... fell into the X-Men. I owed the place a lot, and I wanted to help the best I could. I guess that's it... I sorta drifted into what I do now... But the thing is... It's me. Nothing feels quite as natural to me as being an X-Man. I'd go crazy sitting at some desk. It's weird, though, being recognized by people. We don't really wear masks or anything anymore."
"Admirable, still." She laughed, "You get to be yourself and help people." She took a sip of the drink, wrinkled her nose as she swished it around in her mouth to try and pinpoint what it was.
"Can't really say I envy you." She started, after swallowing. "I'm not a fan of lots of people knowing who I am. I think that one TV appearance has filled my quota for a lifetime."
