(no subject)

[pati]

PLAYER

Name: Sam
Age: 26
Contact: magickal
Other Characters: Chance ( barded )
Interests: Character-driven roleplay, a focus on how characters feel and develop. Anything that pushes characters outside their normal comfort zones is great. Political intrigue plots tend to be a favorite.

CHARACTER

Name: Kara Line
Canon/OC: Original Character
Canon Point: About half a year post-injection
Journal: pati
Age: 23

Canon World

( Expanded version found here )

The world Kara comes from is set about 30 years into the future of Modern Earth. While the landscape of the planet and technologies have changed/advanced, nothing has gone so far to not recognizably be from earth. Guns still need ammunition, implants are starting to become a thing but have not reached advanced levels of usage yet, etc.

The biggest change to Earth comes from the invasion of beings colloquially called angels and demons, or more broadly as spirits, to Earth. At Kara's current canonpoint, exactly where these creatures came from or how they came to Earth tends to be only discussed in theories with not enough proof to have definitive answers. What is known is that when they invaded earth, the angels and the demons (also called virtues and vices) were able to infect humans to become like them. Those infected by the vices tended to succumb to infection almost immediately, especially if they strongly embodied the same type of vices the demon that touched them was associated with. Virtues made other virtues, but at slower raters. Some speculation around this phenomenon theorizes that the virtues came to Earth first, seeking to enhance their numbers for their own war, but failing to do so. Communication with spirits has been impossible thus far to find this information out directly.

With demons being created quickly and numerously in the early days, Earth become infested with evil creatures. The remaining society was driven back into tightly crammed cities covered in domes for a semblance of protection from the spirits and their infection. As dome cities became overpopulated rapidly, and the Earth outside becoming more unlivable, people began to look to mental escapes from society. It was at this time that technology began to rise to meet these demands, the creation of cranial implants only coming in the last 20 years and becoming predominant in the last 15 years. These implants allowed people to non-stop indulge in media and even virtual realities. Drugs also began to morph and rise in these cities, providing cheaper escapes from those unable to afford the implants called clips.

Experimentation also began to run rampant during these times, people constantly looking for ways to either generate escapes for the masses to profit off of or to defeat the spirits outside the domed walls. One successful experimentation for the US Government came in the form of creatures called Sprites. Injected, rather than infected, by the essence of a spirit, people found compatible with certain essences could be forced into an incomplete transformation so long as they didn't embody the virtue they were injected with. This created people who were turning into spirits, but at a much slower and controlled rate, allowing the government to weaponize these people.

In Kara's time, the world seems to be on a turning point with innovation, experimentation, and magical revolutions from the creatures who invaded the planet and forever changed the way the world worked.

History

( Expanded canon history here )

• Kara was born shortly before the erection of the new domed city of Glasiel. Clips were available not too shortly thereafter, and Kara's only caretaker, her mother Casey, managed to get a clip for herself and retreated into virtual reality in Kara's youth.
  
• The more Kara's mother retreated into virtual world, the more Kara had to wonder out onto the streets in search of food and survival.
  
• Kara made a friend in a boy only slightly older than her, Damen, and soon his mother, Arlene, helped take care of Kara as well. Arlene worked as a dancer in a local club, and had some modicum of respect for being good to her customers.
  
• Kara and Damen grew up together, doing odd jobs in Lower Glasiel for gangs but keeping from joining any as a promise to Arlene.
  
• At twenty, Arlene died. Damen swore himself to the Golden Greed gang, and Kara became further disillusioned with the world she lived in.
  
• Needing to take more jobs without Arlene's support, Kara started intentionally ruining her jobs to try to mess with gangs' hold on lower Glasiel. At first, Damen managed to keep her out of trouble. Soon, though, she owed too much for Damen to save her anymore.
  
• Now in danger, Kara called on some favors to get guards to look the other way as she snuck out of the domed city of Glasiel, hoping to take her chances in reaching another city or finding a rumored settlement outside the walls of Glasiel.
  
• Cornered in a nearby dying forest by a Gluttony spirit, Kara spent most of the next week trying to dodge the spirit and too afraid to leave the cover of the forest or else get caught by the spirit.
  
• Glasiel military scouting the area for the Gluttony spirit found Kara and tried to help get her back to safety while fighting the demon. Sprites for Temperance, Patience, and Kindness were on deployment. Temperance ended up being slowly poisoned to gluttony, driving him insane. Patience tried to help fight off the turning Gluttony, but was falling to the newly turning demon. Kara threw herself into the fight to try to help Patience, ended up infected by the changing Temperance.
  
• Having run out of energy, Kindness was ordered to retreat with the infected Kara and leave Patience to die and Temperance to fully turn.
  
• In Glasiel, military experimented with injecting Kara with remaining Patience essence to see if injection could beat out infection. In the end, it did. After a week of blinding pain, Kara became a Patience Sprite.
  
• Given no choice, Kara was kept a part of the military and given formal training over the past year or so. During this year, Kara discovered that Gluttony hadn't totally left her, either. She has some minor powers and feelings of it within her. She's yet to tell anyone about this, as anyone with any remnant of vice in them is usually killed. Or worse, she could end up in more experiments.

Personality

With her mother having checked out on life while Kara was still young, Kara has always had to look out for herself. This became something of a fact of life. Kara tried not to dwell on how her mother abandoned her for another reality where she didn't have to have any responsibility. For the most part, she's managed to keep most of that bitterness out of her life. However, it did push her to be somewhat of the opposite of what she perceives of her mother. Not really knowing who her mother is, Kara views her as weaker and irresponsible. As such, she tries to be responsible in a way her mother never was. This leaves her to care for her mother, even if she is mentally checked out. Kara has always striven to not do as her mother did and abandon her responsibilities, even if it's her mother's own weakness that's led her to be completely helpless.

The family Kara found in Arlene and Damen helped her feel less alone amidst her forced independence. She never wanted to be dependent on anyone after she'd already been let down once, but loneliness was very real. Arlene and Damen brought some joy back into Kara's life, even some semblance of a purpose. That's why her death left Damen and Kara both suddenly lost. Damen sank deeper into crime, while Kara just became angry at the exploitation of people like her mother and Arlene and Damen.

Angry at a world of injustice and feeling powerless to do anything about it, Kara now tends to have a blase disregard for her own life. If society is so lawless and meaningless, she tends to throw herself into situations that pit her morals against others with little care for what might happen to herself. This leads her to getting in trouble with many people around Glasiel, and her own reckless behavior of leaving the city itself.

At her core, Kara cares deeply for the world around her even if she feels powerless to do anything about it. Being a Sprite now gives her some purpose, though she doesn't quite know how to channel that power properly. Being at the hands of the military and always fearing turning completely into a spirit, Kara is still left feeling somewhat powerless. At least knowing that her life will end soon regardless gives Kara a bit more perspective on how to live her own life. She acts more casual, carefree, and loose than she really feels inside. An attempt at faking it till she makes it essentially. If she acts so happy and carefree, maybe one day she will be. It's somewhat of an internal revolt against having constantly needed to be the adult all her life.

Kara deeply wants to find purpose and meaning in both the world and herself. She's constantly feeling like a pawn in a larger game, however, but she never seems to stop striving for meaning in chaos.

Strengths & Weaknesses

HAND-TO-HAND combat - While military trained, Kara's abilities tend to lend better to more hand to hand fighting. As such, Kara's had a stronger focus in hand to hand combat than her peers. There's a foundation of martial arts training, such as jiu jutsu and karate, with some mixed in krav maga mechanics, Kara herself tends to prefer a brawler type fighting style. Raised on the streets, she tends to use her more formal training as a way to get an in before preferring to grapple, disarm, and pummel.

WEAPONS training - Kara's powers only take her so far, so weapons training was used to supplement when Kara runs out of energy. Being from a modern Earth, her weapons training has been a focus on guns, especially semi-automatic weapons.

SPRITE abilities - Having been made into a spirit/human hybrid, Kara has some abilities of the spirit she could one day turn into. Her abilities tend to give her inhuman strength and speed for a specific duration of time, as well as becoming more durable while she's expending her energy. An example of her durability would be that a bullet could still pierce her skin, but wouldn't get buried as deep in her as it might otherwise. Her strength caps out at nearly double peak human strength, while her speed is that of near peak human's. Strength and durability tend to be her greater skills as a patient Sprite. In order to harness this energy, it does take concerted efforts for Kara to sit patiently and gather her own magical essence into a pool. When gathered, she then expends it in bursts. For any given amount of time that Kara actively meditates, she gains half that in stored energy. At most she can only store half an hour of energy to expend, sometimes less if she pushes limits too far.

ENERGY weapon - As a Sprite, Kara has the ability to create a weapon from her own magical essence. Her weapon takes the form of pure light strings that she has learned to use as snares and traps, sometimes setting up areas to lure enemies into to give her fighting advantages. These strings are fairly strong, almost like chains, but not unable to be broken or torn free. Kara can also use her stored energy to rig them to have a small explosion if they are triggered. This does use up a significant amount of energy at a time, about 10-15 minutes of her stored energy to do this. In desperate situations, Kara sometimes winds her strings around her hands like a garrote to use in a fight.

VICE abilities - While it's not clear why Kara retains some abilities of the vice that's still trying to take root in her, Kara has some abilities she's yet to disclose to her superiors or anyone else. Kara is able to touch someone, draining some of their energy to feed her energy. This touch does leave the person feeling tired. It's not an unnoticeable effect, though sometimes hard to place immediately. Kara has not tested the limits of this ability, as it does start to poison her mentally and tempt her further into becoming a vice spirit. Kara does not use this ability because of the dangers of it.

BASELINE human - When not expending her powers, Kara's a baseline human. She heals at the same rate as other humans and has average strength and speed. Hence the need for formal training when she runs out of stored energy to call on.

SPRITE weaknesses - Despite having superhuman abilities, Sprites are taught not to heavily rely on them. Using one's abilities more and more tend to run a risk of becoming a full spirit. As such, the more Kara uses her powers or pushes her limits, the more likely she is to turn. As such, Kara struggles to keep control of herself at times. Meditation, while helpful for storing energy, also tends to take her deeper into a place of patience. Kara personally struggles to meditate as she fears that this takes her closer to becoming her patient spirit self.

Suggested Nerfs

SPRITE abilities - With Rifters having to use more energy to use their native abilities, halfing Kara's stored energy to a maximum of 15 minutes seems to make sense to me. It'd be more an example that it takes twice as much of her own essence to use her abilities to the point of exhaustion. Also, placing more of a drain on her post-energy use that leaves her lagging in the field. This would also limit her ability to use her energy weapon's charge. Either use it and lose her stored energy, or don't use it and keep her energy.

VICE abilities - While not an ability Kara prefers to use, a nerf for it could be that she either loses it all together or she caps out at only taking enough energy for 1 minute restoration of her energy with no potential to push it further.

Arrival Inventory

| Clothes on her back ( jacket, tank top, belt, pants, boots, hair ties for braids )
| Semi-automatic rifle ( resembling a Colt AR-15 but smaller )
| 1 magazine ( 30 rounds )
| Military Dog Tags

'Human'ization

N/A as she is human in appearance, though her eyes do tend to glow brightly when using her Sprite powers. Not sure if that'll need to be normalized.

Fit

A little more easy going than Chance, Kara's more willing to throw herself into the thick of things. She's used to being a soldier and doing her part, and would be more willing to interact with the Inquisition and aid them on proper missions more frequently. She's pretty laid back about things that just kind of happen, as that tends to be the way her life goes, so she's pretty willing to roll with the punches. Thedas, though, would give her more freedom that Glasiel ever did, and potentially help Kara find herself without government and gangs breathing down her neck.

SAMPLES

TDM TOP LEVEL
TDM CRYSTAL THREAD with d'artagnan

Comments

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS.

[pati]

↠ What was Kara's military training like, and how did she adjust to her sudden conscription? How long did her training last, and what if any combat experience has she had between the incident in which she was infected and her arrival in Fade Rift?

For Kara, military conscription is only a step above the plans the Golden Greed gang had for her. Knowing she has limited time on Earth, as well, there's no real use fighting a lifestyle she's grown accustomed to. She's bottom of the barrel, always working for someone else. As such, she's more or less accepted military life. Maybe even taken some pride to it, though she does prefer her Sprite training over actual assault training and that's where more of her pride comes from. She has no respect for the military and knows it doesn't care for her, but she's also tasted a life outside the walls and isn't quite sure she has any options left to try to explore beyond cooperating.

Military training has been extensive, though slightly irregular than everyone's experience. Her weapons training, while utilized, was kept to more minimal training. Hence her typical usage of close range guns over long range, as her weapons were more taught to her to enhance her current Sprite skills rather than something for her to depend on.

Hand to hand combat was her primary focus. As a Sprite, she was thrown into harsh training from the moment she started. Military drills, daily training sessions, and sparring straight from the get. Her initial training involved a lot more being hit than anything else, and running her until she would nearly throw up from exhaustion. In time, she was taught how to use her Sprite abilities to enhance her defenses as well as not just throwing her full power into a punch. It helped her absorb more impacts of hits from others, and how to hold energy for the right moments.

Her military training was highly isolated in the beginning, for fear she might eventually turn. Her time was originally spent with officers, scientists, and Aidan. Aidan was used to heal her often from training, and the opportunity also gave the pair a chance to bond over their current positions in life. After Kara improved in training, she was allowed to socialize more with other soldiers that worked in her units. This was to help foster the humanity in the Sprite so they wouldn't lose her, as well as build up trust between herself and those she would work with. Training then started shifting to running drills and working as a unit, rather than just as an individual.

Since her turn, Kara has been deployed several times on scouting missions. Most of the time, these missions have been searching for sources of demons and tracking their movement patterns, as well as driving some demons back. Only twice has she had to engage in full combat against demons. The first time, Kara was reprimanded for reckless behavior the first time. Disregarding her training as a unit, Kara acted more independently and nearly died in combat. Her second time wasn't much better, but she did learn to bide more time and not act nearly as reckless. A lot of combat does fall on her shoulders, though, as Aidan is not a heavily combat Sprite and a replacement for Temperance has yet to be found due to lack of remaining essence after a failed attempt. Recent deployments have involved search parties for angels, but have so far turned up empty in the surrounding areas.

↠ Are the abilities described in your app the full potential of Kara's sprite abilities, or will they continue to develop over time? If they'll continue to develop, please describe how that happens, how long it will take, and what the ultimate full scope of her abilities would be.

There is only one further ability Kara could gain with time. This would be empathic abilities to sense the emotions of one person at a time, and also calm these emotions. This would be an ability Kara would develop when she is dangerously close to full turn as a Spirit; it is more regarded as a danger sign rather than an advantage. This could happen one of two ways: Kara becomes closer to becoming a Spirit through her own actions or she nears the end of her time as a Sprite ( the time frame is usually a couple of years, though 3-4 is not completely uncommon either ).

Full spirit would involve Kara losing her humanity, completely changing form to something a little more neutral in appearance ( and very bright ). The powers would involve permanent form durability and strength, as well as the ability to manipulate emotions to a more calming effect on a grander scale. This is at a basic level, as individual spirits do tend to have one additional power. Kara's additional ability would involve her traps, which she would be able to lay without movement, only mere line of sight and gesture, and would be able to explode at will. She would also lose full ability to communicate with others on a physical level.

Once turned full spirit, there is no returning from this form. So this is something Kara wants to avoid becoming. She will not have access to these abilities in her current Sprite form.

↠ Your app states that if Kara isn't careful, her sprite abilities and/or the lingering taint of the vice could have side-effects or develop/transform her in unwanted ways. If this is something you plan to RP at all in-game, please describe what those side-effects would entail.

This refers to her potential to transform into a Sprite of Vice or a full spirit, as these are the only two options available.

This is not something I plan to utilize in game, as both sides are precursors to her becoming a full spirit of virtue or vice. I do not have any intention of taking Kara that close to becoming a Spirit in-game, as it could potentially render her unplayable. Her in-canon goals ( and future development ) is to stall/completely halt/reverse this process. These goals are something I'd explore in a canon update, but there's no intentions of ever writing her going that deep ( especially into vice territory, it is more a warning of what might happen from a militaristic perspective in the future on others, not her - as just a heads up of where this canon is more developing towards. ).