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.
Nothing quite like a spontaneous hair change. She was actually feeling excited. Shelby gathered up her things and was ready to go. Zinnia delivered their dishes to the sink (surely in a place this big with this many kids they had cleaning staff) and sent a quick text to Jac, then she was ready too.
“No problems for me! Bus ok for you, or would you prefer a cab?”
Sometimes the smallest little things could be a trip-up for someone who was suffering.
“I should probably buy a hairbrush as well. I lost mine and have been borrowing my Mom’s.”
An embarrassing statement of fact that, not only was she currently living with her parents, but couldn’t even keep track of a hairbrush. She knew exactly where it was- on the edge of the sink where she stayed while on placement. Or perhaps by now it had found its way to the bin.
“What colour do you think?”
She wanted all the colours! Which made it tricky to choose one in particular. Perhaps she needed to see all the little hair swatchies to make her choice.
She’d done it herself, which was super cool. Zinnia was suitably impressed. Her own hair-related skills included straightening and ponytail. That was about it.
“That would be amazing! I’ve never been brave enough to just waltz in and go ‘hit me with your rainbow’, but I could see me doing it with a friend.”
It was then just the walking out afterwards that would be the bravery test. Well, that and not being too matchy-matchy with a certain rainbow prawn.
“Actually… do you have anything on for the rest of today? Because I don’t know how long this brave moment will last.”
Rip it off like a bandaid and get it done. The thrill of the thought made her feel like a little kid, sneaking in to her Mom’s make up. If Shelby was allowed to leave the mansion accompanied well, she may just have to accompany her down to said drugstore for supplies. Then she could show Jac her hair and cry ‘supplies!’
Was that a smile? Success! Sometimes just turning away from despair for a short time could give the energy to keep on keeping on. She was pleased to have had some little influence on that.
“Ouch, phoneless, that sucks.”
She retrieved a business card from her handbag and placed it on the table in front of Shelby, it had her contact details on it, both phone and email. It was neater than scrawling on a napkin whenever she needed to give someone her number.
“I’m glad that I saw you painting, it really looks like it will be a lovely piece. Glad to help a little with the feeling side of things as well. Hold tight ‘till you see the professional, you’ll pull through.”
She surveyed the girl, she seemed to be less on the brink of despair now, and Zinn felt it was safe enough to turn to other topics.
“Where did you get your hair done, by the way? It’s really cool.”
She had dabbled with the idea of maybe adding some fun colours to her hair, but she suspected clip-ins were the only way to get the colour to stick to her natural hair.
Sometimes she was too, but surprisingly often she wasn’t. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and all that jazz. It would be nice not to have the nightmares though. She wasn’t so naive to think she had forgiven him, she was sure she never would. But she had forgiven herself for being in that situation and mostly moved on. She was even happy to hold other people’s babies, eager even.
Maybe one day she would be strong enough to try again. Or maybe not, seeing as how she was dating a female prawn-person. They could always adopt or foster though. She put that thought away in a ‘later’ box. It was definitely too early in the relationship to be thinking such things.
Shelby promised to try to let others in. But the thought of doing so seemed so overwhelming that she had to draw strength from the cool tabletop. Zinn patted her back briefly as she delivered the ingredients back to their homes.
“I can’t even imagine. You aren’t helpless though, you’ve got yourself to a safe place, and you‘re following all the right steps in regards to the police and the counselling. Really, all things considered you’re doing remarkably well.”
Stress was a sneaky bastard, always slipping in and whispering in your ear that you weren’t doing enough, trying enough, that you weren’t enough. It was like finding a cockroach in your kitchen, you thought everything was clean, then that one little bug made you question every time you ever mopped. Freaking cockroaches.
“You said you’re relying on people to accompany you, I know we’re pretty much strangers but you can always shoot me a text if you find yourself stuck somewhere and I can try and help out. I’m generally out and about whenever I’m not at work.”
The school had been advised. That was good. Sometimes pretty extreme extensions and leniencies could be granted in the right circumstances. She had certainly extended the deadline of a few assessments based on her situation while she was experiencing some… repercussions. Something about throwing up on her exam about supporting a caesarean operation.
“That’s good that they’ll be flexible for you,” she smiled, “my situation was a bit different to yours from the sound of things, I called things off with my ex, broke both my arms and lost a pregnancy all in the same week. If there’s one piece of advice I would give above all else is: let other people help you. All I wanted to do was push people away and not talk about it, but once I started letting people in was when the real healing started to happen.” She shrugged a little abashed to share so much with a stranger. “For me, at least.”
The fact that the three misfortunes happened to all be woven into one particular incident did not need to be shared from the blue. The girl was already dealing with enough.
“Yeah, it was the first META I ever saw in real life. Kinda put them in a bad light in my opinion. But what can you do, we’re a scary species, people like to feel safe”
She imagined if there was a list it would hardly be publicised, nor need to comply with any laws. Probably just live streamed into a bunker full of data somewhere, to be dragged out if there was a mass mutant hunt, or something on a larger scale. For now all the ‘wanted’ adverts she had seen still featured grainy, security camera type footage of fugitives, mutant or otherwise, and she hadn’t recognised the viewpoint of a META.
“Yep, it would suck for sure. They could be a pretty big asset, if they could just get the glitching under control.”
Shelby had almost finished her milk, and made a solid effort on the porridge. Zinnia only hoped she could manage to keep it down long enough to gain some nutrients from it. It wasn’t good to be hungry for such a prolonged period. The body started to shut down and only focus on the essentials like breathing and a beating heart, and less on things like thinking and having the willpower to eat. It was a dangerous spiral.
“So are you studying by distance while you’re staying here?”
Could you take an art degree by distance? Scanning assessments, or sending photos of them just seemed so contrary to the traditional practice she had mentioned.
Ah, breath powers, a mutation close to her… lungs. She nodded to the mention of proving it. No point going big and flashy at a school where people were sure to ask for a demonstration. Better to go with something subdued, heavens knows she couldn’t prove her own power without so pretty flashy medical instruments. Or a METAbot, but the further those trashcans with guns stayed away from her the happier she was.
“Yeah unfortunately. IDed me as a mutant, demanded that I shut my mutation off and then chased me down with a gun when I couldn’t. Scary stuff. My mutation is a little similar to your cover – I can breathe gases other than oxygen. Difficult to prove, impossible to switch off.”
Definitely not something to be chased down and shot at for.
“If they only had a brain… On paper they sound, fine, I guess. They just have too many problems and I don’t like that they could just be compiling a big list of mutants and their mutation somewhere. Just a big too much like registration, if you get my meaning.”
Could anyone who wasn’t a mutant truly know the terror of hiding an X-gene, knowing you were being hunted for what you couldn’t control by someone you couldn’t understand?... Well, if there was anyone who would understand perhaps it would be someone who was being hunted down by a mutant.
She was coughing and choking and Zinnia had the sudden realisation that not only had she killed her friend but she had killed her on her parents’ living room floor and there was no way she would be able to move her from there… She needed a wheelie chair. No, thank goodness, the coughing fit was over. Phew.
Jac caught her breath enough to clarify and Zinnia nodded over the top of her mug, somehow managing not to spill the whole contents down her front. Just.
She thought so, if she thought so. Well she did think so. She grinned and planted a kiss on top of Jac’s bald head, careful to miss the antennae.
“I’m game if you’re game.”
Girlfriend. She couldn’t think of a better rainbow shrimp to share that title with. She snuggled as far down in the covers as the coffee cup allowed and wriggled up against her girlfriend. Yes, this was indeed going to be an excellent day.
Tradiiiiiition. Tradition! So she was more of a fruit bowl and windmill type of gal, and less of a manga and mutations type. Apparently very less on the mutations type. She dipped her head in agreement to be secret keeper. So it was witness-protection-from-a-mutant type deal.
She couldn’t imagine how scary that would be, to be utterly powerless against the person who pursued you. Mutants so often operated outside the law too. Perhaps that was why the X-men had taken her in, dealing with what the law couldn’t. As often was the case.
“Heh, secret’s safe with me, Heidi. Do you have a cover mutation? Power yodelling?”
Was that racist? She couldn’t remember anything other than the cover of the book entitled by the same name. But it definitely had goats and a mountain on it.
“I’m glad to get your mind off it for a bit. And glad they’ve got you in here. For sure if there was anywhere to be safe from a mutant it’s surrounded by them. I don’t believe in the METAs, to be honest, ever since one tried to arrest me for breathing, but the X-men,” she shrugged, “the ones I’ve met are nice guys.”
Even though she had only met one fully-fledged X, and the other was a trainee and had punched her in the face the first time they met. But still.
Good, good, let the oats flow through you… She ate her own porridge with occasional nods at Shelby to encourage her. She had a little more colour in her face now, and didn’t look like she was about to upchuck. All in all a success.
“That’s pretty far. Did you come to New York to study... or…?”
Or because it was one of the largest mutant hubs and one of the most accepting, despite the riots and the occasional disappearance. That was nothing compared to the hate some places dished out.
“What’s your mutation? If you don’t mind me asking…”
Some people did mind. For some it was the registration act still too raw a wound, for others it was too personal a question, still others had powers that just didn’t bear talking about. Like the fart-mancer in her class a year ago. Man, she wished she’d never asked about that particular mutation.
The tiny giggle made her grin into the pantry. Thinking about Jac did that to her anyway, but the fact that the thought seemed to have cheered up Shelby made her doubly pleased. Plain porridge it was. She scooped the oats into the pot, measured out some milk and stirred carefully until there was a smooth consistency to the grain paste. She sprinkled in a little salt for flavour and tested a little bit on a teaspoon to make sure it was done before tossing the teaspoon into the sink and dishing the porridge evenly into two bowls. She set a pot of honey and a banana between them and added a banana to her own bowl in neat slices.
“You don’t have to eat it all,” she encouraged, “just enough that you aren’t running on empty”.
It was hard to make good decisions on an empty stomach, and the last thing she wanted was to find out later the girl had done something stupid because she was too hungry to think better of it. She had been in that position too.
“Have you always been artistic?”
Taking up an art degree didn’t seem like something you just did for no reason. Plus, it was a safe topic. She hoped.
BFA=… Best Friends Applesauce? Pinkie clarified and she resisted the urge to smack herself in the head with a ‘duh’. Of course it was an arts degree, that made much more sense. Zinnia let out a tiny chuckle as Shelby admitted this was a sneaky piece.
“Sure, just don’t tell her her girlfriend is buying it, that would ruin the surprise!”
She winked conspiratorially. She hadn’t actually checked with Jac if they were referring to each other as girlfriends in public now, but Shelby seemed like she could keep the secret. Plus she seemed like a little bit of humour would do her good. Zinnia moved to put the milk into the fridge as Shelby agreed that the Mansion was a safehouse. If she wasn’t safe here she wasn’t safe anywhere.
“I agree with the idiot statement. It takes ages just to get let in!”
She rummaged about in the fridge and found a few ingredients which might tempt the pink one into eating, although if gummy worms wouldn’t do the trick, what would?
“Do you want porridge or rice pudding?”
It was like giving a kid the option between carrots or broccoli. They didn’t actually have a choice about eating their veggies, but they –felt- like they did. She moved to the cupboard and retrieved the grains. Even if Shelby only managed two spoonfuls it would satisfy her. A girl can live on bread alone, you know.
Zinnia nodded along with the hollow laughter. It was marginally better than tears. Marginally.
“I hope so too. And I hope you don’t have to hide it for too long.”
Not that she could really talk. Only a few people knew the details of just how bad her abusive relationship had become before she escaped it. It was something she rarely spoke about. It also wasn’t stopping her from eating, drinking or carrying about her business though. So.
“Painting is good, it uses the other side of your brain and literally takes your mind off things. Lots of people colour for the same reason. Plus lots of people aren’t as good at painting as you are.”
Even unfinished she could see the skill behind the brush strokes. It was way better than anything she could dream of doing. It helped that the subject was one she held in highest regard too.
“When it’s finished I’d be interested in buying it, if it’s not promised to anyone else.”
She needed more nice artwork to hang, bare walls were just so… empty.
“Do you feel safer here at least?” Sometimes it was hard to distance oneself from the fear enough to actually realise that this was a safe space. The girl managed to force down some more milk and Zinnia was proud of her effort. It wasn’t much, but for an empty stomach anything was a boon. With gummy worms seemingly off the menu she cast about for anything else easy to eat. She needed plain rice and sugar. A chef she was not, but even as handicapped in the kitchen as she was she could make a mean rice pudding.
Good, she had an appointment in the wings. Sometimes it was booking in that was the hardest part. Although, the fact that she would need a buddy did complicated things a bit. Hopefully it meant that she would make it to the appointments though. The fact that the counsellor was police appointed was good as well. She didn’t doubt the X-men or their abilities for getting stuff done, but she worried a little about their post-incident support.
Nightmares plagued her still. But they had been worse before.
“I always dreamt that I was suffocating. Getting out of the situation I was in helped most of all. I was on sleeping tablets for a while, which helped with the sleeping bit but not so much the nightmares.”
In fact, not being able to wake up from the nightmares was almost as bad as not sleeping at all.
“I guess removing as much of the issue as you can, then trying to be peacefully resting before actually going to sleep. I sleep better with someone else, but that’s not always an option.”
The childlike reaction of ‘I’m scared, can I sleep with you?’ only worked to a certain age, after which certain trade-offs were assumed. She wasn’t ashamed to admit sometimes she had made those trades just to get a good nights’ sleep. It was really only as selfish as the other participants’ side of the deal.
“At the beginning I made little rules as well- ‘he can’t hurt me if my phone is on the charger’ or ‘I’ll be fine as long as I take my vitamins’.”
Perhaps it was unwise to share the actions of terror. But at least then Shelby would have something to hold onto until she got to the shrink.
Yes she did. Have to. A tiny sip made its way down and Zinnia observed the turbulence from over the top of her own mug. It seemed to be duel something-digestible-hitting-stomach-acid and memories of whatever caused her to be put into mutant witness protection. Whether it was protecting a mutant witness, or protecting the witness from a mutant was yet to be seen.
”…It’s been quite a few days now.”
No food or sleep for ‘quite a few days’? No wonder she looked like a mess. It was a wonder she could even muster the energy to go out and paint.
“Once you stop eating for a while it gets harder to keep anything down, but you need the energy. Do you like candy?”
She had spied an unopened packet of gummy worms behind the coffee tin, no doubt put up high to keep out of little hands. I didn’t have a name on it, so technically it was fair game.
“I would recommend seeking out a counsellor if one isn’t already organised for you,”
she retrieved the packet from behind the coffee tin and set it on the table so Shelby could open it herself, no meddling fingers from this one,
“I know that really helped me when I was going through a… rough patch.”
A messy breakup. The loss of something so small it wasn’t yet someone. The escape from the cycle of abuse. Shelby wasn’t the only one with secrets at the table.
