Phoenix Academy: A Mass Effect Universe RP [Extreme sandbox, LGBTQ friendly]

[thebobmaster]

Background:

It's been some time since the defeat of the Reapers. The galaxy is a better place, with no threat of something enslaving all intelligent species, or annihilating them. But not everyone is pleased with the current state of the galaxy. After all, at least one organization, Cerberus, was demolished through the efforts of Shepard. But even from the ashes, the Phoenix will rise! However, it is not enough to just copy the efforts of Cerberus, considering how that ended. To make Phoenix powerful enough to prevent one man from being able to destroy it, standards must be loosened for admittance, but not eliminated. Perhaps a recruitment drive could be beneficial...


What is this RP all about, anyways?:

This RP will basically take place about 25 years after the ending of Mass Effect 3. Which ending? An alternate ending where the Reapers were destroyed, but other AIs were left intact. Essentially, our characters will be "students" of the Phoenix "academy", training to earn their place in the group. It will not be easy, but should our characters succeed, they will have a place in a rising power, one hoping to do what Cerberus could not: take power and control of the government, and eventually the galaxy.

You may have noticed the line about standards being "loosened for admittance". The new Cerberus, going by Phoenix, is no longer human-centric. It's not about making humans the supreme power, but about making Phoenix the supreme power. For that reason, any species capable of helping with that goal is allowed a shot. That said, the rigors of the admittance process may not be easy for non-combative species.



What kind of character are you looking for?

Quite simply, this RP is open to all sorts of characters. As long as they are at least capable of working in violent situations, that is. Voluses are a bit risky due to the lore saying what happens if a bullet penetrates the suit. In addition, there should be some sort of reason for Phoenix to accept your character. After all, loosened standards doesn't mean there are no questions about who they accept.



I haven't heard any talk about the plot!

I suppose I have been rambling a bit, haven't I? Well, this isn't entirely a story that will be driven by me. I have ideas for plot elements, but this is more of a sandbox style game. Think of it like the Mass Effect games. There is a specific plot that will be followed up on, but that doesn't mean it will be railroaded. Rather, I'll be allowing for plenty of subplots. This RP is more about the characters than the overarching plot.


Are there any rules?

There are only a few rules, but I'll take them seriously.

First rule is simple respect. Before you post, think about whether you would want another person to do what you did in the post. That means no god-moding, no out-of-character insults, and things of that nature.

Second rule is to respect boundaries. Not everyone is all right with what you are all right with. While I don't have a problem with that in posting, persay, content warnings are meant to be used so people don't have to read things they are uncomfortable with.

Thirdly, if you have issues with the RP, or feel the need to pull out, or are going on an extended please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm fairly easy-going, and I won't take it personally, as well as being able to work on issues if alerted to them. What does bother me are people vanishing with no warning.

Finally, do NOT maim or kill another player's character without permission. While violence is a part of this RP and should be expected, anything permanent should be agreed between the involved parties. I will veto anything of this sort if I do not have confirmation that both parties are OK with it, and that means a confirmation from both parties, not just one side speaking for both.



All right, I'm still reading and interested. What do I do now?

Simply post! Once I get enough interest, I'll put up the character sheet template to be filled out, as well as an OOC topic. Once enough of those who have interest have sent me a character sheet via PM, I'll put up the story topics.



Wait, topics?

Yes, topics. The academy is a fairly large place, and there will be happenings in several areas simultaneously. To keep things somewhat orderly, I'll have the academy divided into five sectors, with another topic for more carnal fun, for a total of 6 topics.


CHARACTER SHEET TEMPLATE:

Code Select Expand

[float=right][center][img height=400]http://placehold.it/400x400[/img]
[img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][/center][/float]

That image section is for use if you have a picture of what you want your character to look like, as a reference. If you don't have one, that is perfectly fine.

[b]Name[/b]: What is your character's name?

[b]Gender:[/b] Should be self explanatory.

[b]Race:[/b] Consider the goal of Phoenix Academy, and what they would be looking for. A volus isn't much use in a fight, for example.

[b]Age:[/b] How old are they? If they are alien, put their approximate age in human terms in parentheses next to their actual age, to give some idea of their expected maturity.

[b]General Appearance:[/b] This is where a general description of your character would go. Be as descriptive as you can, especially if you don't have a picture. Make sure you could use the character sheet to picture your character.

[b]Personality:[/b] Quite simply, how do they interact with others?

[b]Skills:[/b] This would be the place to put any abilities they have. Try to keep it reasonable, to avoid your characters being great at just about everything. Phoenix Academy exists to train people, not to take in people that already know it all.

[b]Weaknesses[/b]: All well and good to have skills, but it's more interesting if the characters have weaknesses as well.

[b]History:[/b] Why would Phoenix Academy recruit your person? How did they get noticed? What happened in their past to define who they are? Keep in mind that your characters are new recruits. The RP start is basically their arrival at Phoenix Academy.

[b]Ons and Offs:[/b] What is absolutely a no-go, and what is all right?

[b]Other:[/b] This is where you'd put information about your character that doesn't quite fit anywhere.



Character Sheets

OOC

[la dame en noir]

Oh? Kinda like Grissom Academy?

[thebobmaster]

In a way, but rather than being for "gifted" students, it's more along the lines of Quantico or any other training facility.

[Inari]

So Biotics would be a no?

[thebobmaster]

Biotics are not only fine, but welcome. When I said it isn't for "gifted" students, I didn't mean that biotics weren't welcome. I just meant it wasn't solely for biotics.

[Inari]

Ah ok. From what I remember of the universe; Biotics are gifted and sent to Grissom Academy to train their powers properly and eventually make them able to take part in combat and such. So I am guessing Biotics would be transfer students that are stable enough to be safe around normal students?

[thebobmaster]

Ah ok. From what I remember of the universe; Biotics are gifted and sent to Grissom Academy to train their powers properly and eventually make them able to take part in combat and such. So I am guessing Biotics would be transfer students that are stable enough to be safe around normal students?

Well, stability isn't as much of an issue. Remember, for all their talk about being more inclusive, Phoenix is still looking at taking power in the galaxy. Having a few less-than-moral figures would help with that. Total nutjobs that couldn't be controlled, however, would probably not make the cut.

[Inari]

You mean like the time they took in Biotics to Teltin facility? :o

[thebobmaster]

No, nothing like that! Basically, Phoenix Academy is more along the lines of black ops training, not "muahaha FOR SCIENCE!" experimenting.

[Inari]

Sorry for all the seemlying oddball questioning, I am just trying to get a bit of an idea about what this is gonna be like. XD That said; I am very much interested. :3

[thebobmaster]

Sweet!

[Juggtacular]

I'd be down for this.

[thebobmaster]

Yay! It's officially a group game!

[Clala]

Ooh, interested!

[thebobmaster]

There's three! Well, four if you count me. :P

[pdragon]

I think I'd be interested in giving it a shot. I've only played a Mass Effect rpg (real life) once before, but our session was amazing, so I think it'd be fun to revisit it. Quarian biotics ftw.

[thebobmaster]

All right. I'm not closing interest, as this RP can work for any number of players, but I'll be posting up the character sheet template at some point today.

[Kalive]

It been a while sense I played the games but I loved them all and waiting for the new one to come out. I think it's some time next year it will come out, still I like to see how well bioware will do this time. Anyways I would be interested, however are you going to add new race's in this or would it be best to stay with what's already known?

[thebobmaster]

Stick to what's known would be best, I think.

[Kalive]

Fair enough, I'll wait to see who are all playing as and I'll go from there.

[thebobmaster]

As promised, here is the character template! You don't necessarily have to follow it exactly, but this is the information I'd like to see. Once you have your sheet filled out, send it to me so I can look it over for approval.

Code Select Expand

[float=right][center][img height=400]http://placehold.it/400x400[/img]
[img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][img height=100]http://placehold.it/100x100[/img][/center][/float]

That image section is for use if you have a picture of what you want your character to look like, as a reference. If you don't have one, that is perfectly fine.

[b]Name[/b]: What is your character's name?

[b]Gender:[/b] Should be self explanatory.

[b]Race:[/b] Consider the goal of Phoenix Academy, and what they would be looking for. A volus isn't much use in a fight, for example.

[b]Age:[/b] How old are they? If they are alien, put their approximate age in human terms in parentheses next to their actual age, to give some idea of their expected maturity.

[b]General Appearance:[/b] This is where a general description of your character would go. Be as descriptive as you can, especially if you don't have a picture. Make sure you could use the character sheet to picture your character.

[b]Personality:[/b] Quite simply, how do they interact with others?

[b]Skills:[/b] This would be the place to put any abilities they have. Try to keep it reasonable, to avoid your characters being great at just about everything. Phoenix Academy exists to train people, not to take in people that already know it all.

[b]Weaknesses:[/b] It's all well and good to have skills, but it's more interesting if your character has weaknesses as well.

[b]History:[/b] Why would Phoenix Academy recruit your person? How did they get noticed? What happened in their past to define who they are? Keep in mind, your characters are new recruits. The RP start is basically their arrival at the Academy.

[b]Ons and Offs:[/b] What is absolutely a no-go, and what is all right?

[b]Other:[/b] This is where you'd put information about your character that doesn't quite fit anywhere.

[Kalive]

You might want to move it to the first post, it would get notice a lot faster, also being this is an Academy I would have to guess that most people would have to start there characters at age 16-18 or how would you want characters to start in this? I have one in mind already but I figure I ask this first before I do anything.

[thebobmaster]

I mentioned in the first post what post the character sheet is on, but you may have a point.

As for age, they don't have to be younger. Basically, it's not like a military recruiting, where they are starting from scratch. With Phoenix, they take notice of you for some reason and recruit from there. For that reason, having older characters would work just as well.

[la dame en noir]

Might i suggest adding a code link to the profile so its easier to copy

[thebobmaster]

Sorry! Never did that before, so I didn't know how to do it, but it is done in the main post, and I'll do it in the other.