Dark soul (Modern fantasy roleplay)

[bend]

Hello everyone!

This is an idea that has been roaming around my mind for a bit, and I want to play it.

Setting

The setting is that of an Italian comic (Jonathan Steele, first series)

In July 2011 (Oh look what a coincidence! :D), overnight, the world as we knew it changed all of the sudden. What can only be described as "magic" stopped being a myth and became very, very real. People woke up transformed into creatures of legend, or possessing strange and awesome magic powers. Although the best minds in the world tried to discover what happened in that fateful night, no one has a clue yet.

Now it is 2019, and things changed much. People still try to adapt to wondrous and scary new things: elves and cat-people walking in the streets and mages able to fly on a carpet. And while the governments worldwide are trying to keep the pace with the changes, dangerous criminal groups are rising to harness the power of magic for very, very sinister purposes.
Those that changed during that night are known as mutants, and many face the racism and fear of "normal" people.

Story overview:

I'm planning to keep this game light on sex and mainly story-driven, although there will be some very adult-oriented content.
Everything will start with the playing characters (PCs from now on) gathered together by a wealthy British aristocrat. He will explain them that his daughter, apparently a powerful sorceress, has been kidnapped and hires them to look for her. But soon what seems like a routine investigation will reveal far darker sides, and the PCs will end up involved with criminal organizations, ruthless mercenaries, cultists and powerful warlocks, while a terrible power rises to threaten the whole world...

System:

Although a d20 system could help a lot, this setting has so far proved to be impossible to recreate in such a system without major tweaking and extensive playtesting, so I decided to go for a freeform RPG.
Bear in mind that there will be combat scenes, so I'll try to keep them playable and judge the outcome of fights on how well the scene is roleplayed and on the abilities the characters have. Don't expect someone who never used a gun to pull of a marksman stunt without some very good description.

Characters:

I'm looking for three to five players, one character per player. Use the following template to apply.
Players will be selected on a character basis, thus selecting those with more detailed and coherent characters. Applications will close in five days (08/01) but can end sooner if many people apply, or later if few people apply.

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Mutations: The character can be a regular human or a mutant. Mutants used to be humans, but during the Night in 2011 they changed to display characters from their long-gone nonhuman ancestors. Their mutations can vary from mythical creatures (elves, satyrs and so on) to animal traits (from simply a tail or cat's ears to all-out anthros) to more exotic changes (devil's tails, rudimentary wings, strangely coloured skin.) Changes never heavily modify a norman human frame (no extra limbs for example) and are usually only cosmetic in nature. If you wish your character to have a mutation with in-game effects it's best placed in the supernatural abilities entry (see below)
Physical description: You can add a picture, but it won't be required if the description is good.
History and background: Pay special attention to why your character would accept to be hired for such a dangerous mission, and to how he/she reacted to the Night in 2011
Skills: What can your character do? Is he/she good at shooting, talking, driving, using computers...? Write down a list of abilities. Keep in mind you need a background reason for possessing them.
Supernatural abilities: These are uncommon abilities granted to the character during the Night. They're innate and cover things like supernatural strength, resistance to fire or the ability to shapeshift.
Magic abilities: Some people learnt to do something more than using supernatural abilities. Trough study and dedication they learnt how to actively control magic. These people are called mages, sorcerers and so on and usually they possess a natural attuning to magic. Many of them already believed in the supernatural before the Night. If your character is one of these individuals, list here the powers he/she has and how he/she casts spells. Does he/she need specific rituals or focuses? A spellbook?
Personality:

Please try not to overpower your characters. They sure have some experience but I won't accept Rambo or Merlin.

I hope this will tickle your attention. See you all!

[Luella]

Really interesting. I'll linger around to see if there will be more people joining this!  ;)

[Sarasham]

Ohhh! I did something like this a while back, it was a similar concept but much earlier in the "oh shit magic" time line.
I would be very interested in this, would you like me to just forward you my profile or wait until we have more players?
-Sarasham

[bend]

Feel free to post your character Sarasham.
Actually the original comics were set in 2022, but I decided to set it earlier both to depict a more chaotic situation and to avoid conflicting with canon (some of the events in the comics had worldwide consequences).

[Sarasham]

Just post it up here?
I'm also curious as to how powerful our powers should be. I'm thinking of using a girl who can communicate with animals and I'm curious as to how powerful that should get. I could take it to communicating telepathically with the animals, seeing through their eyes, even taking on their shapes from time to time.
So is there a limit to how powerful I can get? A suggestion?
Lemme know,
Sarasham