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EDIT: Oh hey, new page. Shanghai city stuff is over here, ok? Miami Location: The New Wave The New Wave stands out in the local club scene in that it exists both physically and in the virtual world. Cameras and projectors line corner of the club space, which allows people from around the world to project their online avatars into the club as if they're actually there. Not exactly practical in any sense, but it's a popular novelty to add with the old-school ambiance. A fun way to chat with distant friends and get high (real or simulated) in a backdrop of disco balls and searing psychedelic lights. Either way you get in, don't forget to show your license. And wear a mask. Don't ask why, club rules. (Online visitors can purchase virtual masks for their avatars.) Aspects: Lights, Cameras, Holograms!; Masks Only; Untz, Untz, Untz  Miami Face: Lazy Joe They call him Lazy Joe because he's always in the New Wave. Always. Does he get out? Does he have a day job? It doesn't help that Joe himself exists as an avatar hologram, so for all anyone knows his (or her) user's just a shut-in from a distant corner of the globe. Well, nobody really cares in the end, because Joe's a cool cat and makes sure you're having a good time at the club. Like, seriously, loves to help out, love to buy drinks for newcomers, posts the most in the New Wave forums, buys and wears a new virtual mask every night. With all the money he throws away regularly, why bother to kick him out? Not everyone realizes that someone who hangs out so much in this club probably got some hold into it. True enough, Joe's tapped into the cameras all over the clubs, recording all sorts of interesting things. He's snooped into a lot of clandestine meetings, angry spats and drunken confessions throughout his time in club. All while taking center stage and dancing Travolta. He's got a few secrets to sell you. Aspects: Forums Superstar; I Love The Nightlife, I Got To Boogie; Eyes and Ears All Around Goals: Snoop in your business, become a disco superstar too Mitama fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Apr 16, 2013 |
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Apr 16, 2013 18:21
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Kai Tave posted:but I especially want to leave some room for Destrado and MadRhetoric. Oh, I wouldn't worry about me. I'll just dump what I have so far and tweak it after I've actually slept. Feel free to discard at will. MIAMI M-M-MEGAPOST Theme: Skin Deep Sure, people come for the beaches, but there's another kind of tourist that turns up in the sand. As nanocosmetics become cheaper and more advanced, Miami's becoming a hotspot for people looking for that cutting-edge nip and tuck... or a new face entirely. Until you scratch beneath the surface you'll never know if that pretty young thing is actually a grandmother, a wanted criminal, a N'athm, or all of the above. Everyone has a past life they're hiding from, and even Mythos abominations want to kick back in the sun and order a Mai Tai occasionally. Location: No Sudden Moves  Every bar on the strip has to come to terms with the constant tide of shady deals, coked-up clientele and sporadic gang shootouts that make up the Miami "scene". Some hire on-site security squads. Some put in cheap furniture (and cheaper staff), so nothing of value gets broken. At No Sudden Moves, Barry has installed an auto-tracking minigun in the ceiling that opens up on anything moving faster than a leisurely drift. Usually the siren and a gun platform swiveling suddenly is enough convincing to slow your roll, but occasionally people have lost hands to waving at a friend too excitedly. No Sudden Moves has become a favourite with people looking for neutral ground, thrill-seekers looking to test the gun's limits, and people too drunk to move particularly fast anyway. Just try not to sneeze. Aspects: Better Sip It Slowly; We Only Serve One Kind Of Shot; Face: Barry Godwin  Barry is a master of his craft. Or at least you hear he is from people who've had the time to wait for him to prepare a cocktail. There are rumours that setting up No Sudden Moves was at least partly a measure to slow his clientele down to his own glacial pace. As if to compensate, he fills the time through slow infusions and experimental combinations with a constant stream of banter about the finer points of mixology, remembering you from the time you were in nine months ago, what you've been doing wrong in your life since then, the rumours and gossip he's heard, and various juicy tidbits that could be useful if you can pick them out of the six simultaneous conversations he's running. Seriously, just skip his quest for potable perfection and just get a beer from one of the slowly orbiting waitresses. Aspects: Taking His Sour Time; Stirred, Not Shaken; Goals: The perfect Sazerac, Faction:  Like many children raised to the wealth and privilege that Miami is built on, the loose association of teenagers that make up the temporarily-named Inferno Collective believe that all property is theft and that all government is tyranny. To that end, they've previously organised sit-ins, sternly worded petitions, and aggressively-distributed leaflets. Of late though, a new faction within the movement has been linked to targeted arson, violent rioting, and a couple of high-profile shootings. Informants within the Collective (read: a couple of concerned parents) point to new Non-Executive Figurehead "Aoi" as the driving force behind the change in approach, but are unable to decipher the pop-culture pidgin that their kids actually speak to understand their intentions. Needless to say they're one of ExoCute's target markets in the area. Aspects: Sorry Dad, I Was Late For The Riots; No, we're Neo-Proto-Post-Marxists!; Droogs Don't Shiv Goals: To settle on a name, to Smash The State, to be home before 10. Face: Aoi  Aspects: Non-Executive Figurehead; You're probably pronouncing it wrong anyway Goals: To Smash The State, to totally not be an agent provocateur or anything Destrado fucked around with this message at 10:27 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 16, 2013 20:54
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Ronwayne posted:I had an idea for writing out Central America as a green hell sort of thing, ancient temples dedicated to squiggly things, places to fight an all out brush war, etc. but I think I'll hold off until we're one or two chapters in and we've burned down enough stuff to start casting for new targ-er, settings. If you need something like that, remember more or less a third of the south American continent is already in that position thanks to the Green Fury. That way central am can be used for another good hook and some of the groundwork is laid down already.
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Apr 16, 2013 22:54
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Alright, here we go - been working on this for a while so hopefully it's not too awful. Pictures coming as soon as I find five or six hours to go hunting for them! Theme: Flowers Among The Flotsam The '60s were a bad time for China in general, and Shanghai in specific. Bad, bad times. Chaos, Anarchy, Death...and all washed away by fear of the unknown and the future when the Migou entered the scene by obliterating the Xanthic Storm. There was a time when the Crown of the Orient was little more than a wasteland, where only the toughest, craftiest, deadliest, most embittered survivors managed to eke out a living, let alone prosper. In a way, Shanghai has skipped a couple generations: the only people who live there are those who came in after it was fully rebuilt not so long ago, or the people who were already there before the Storm rolled in and were too stubborn or lost too much to it to get out. Face: Lao Long In chinese mythology, dragons are considered divine creatures, unmatched except for the greatest heroes and gods. Without dispute, Lao Long is the head dragon of Shanghai's hacking community. He's old. Even before the Xanthic Storm hit, the man known as Jiang Longyan had already made a name for himself as one of the best security crackers in the world. The Xanthic Storm took away his family, his home, most of his faith in mankind and his hopes for the future, but not his talent for codebreaking. Since then, he's followed an ironclad policy: Get paid upfront, do the job perfectly, and get out. Shoggoth, Triad, NEG, doesn't matter who wants his talents, so long as the bills are paid. Things of Note: The Dragon of Shanghai has always been surrounded by rumors - anyone with such a storied history tends to build up a legend around himself, even if he wants to remain anonymous. Over time, to his disgust, he's built a cadre of 'followers', people who learned hacking from him and still respect him as their teacher. Recently, strange rumors have surfaced: One of them is that the Dragon's pupils have started to band together, with aims to become an organization (some say he's behind it, some say he's not). The other, and stranger rumor, is that he's been recently doing work...pro bono. Nobody knows who exactly is the beneficiary and the Dragon isn't telling, but everybody's certain it's a thing and desperate to know who has the Dragon in their pocket. Another rumor says he's doing work for G://0st, and by extension, the Soul Network. Aspects: The Dragon of Shanghai, Living For The Work, Don't Believe In Nobody Goals: Keep Living, Get Paid Other Face: Cypher Santiago's closest contact in the Soul Network at the moment, Cypher's actual name is Alsairsephy Dalarine Went, or Sephy Went for short. Australian by birth, Sephy is one of a million Akathar kids who decided tech sounded like a great idea and got into hardware tinkering, before moving on to ripping out software's innards instead. How she got into the Soul Network is not entirely clear, considering G://0st usually only picks up competent, tested operatives, but she's extremely eager to "help fight the evil aliens and save the world along my human friends!" (sic). She used to live in Perth, but recently immigrated to Shanghai because 'I was sick of my old neighborhood, and Shanghai was pretty close and sounded. So. COOL!' (sic). Needless to say, she chose her hacking alias herself. Aspects: Wet-Behind-The-Ears Hacker, Militant Networker, "Everything's So Great! ^_^" Goals: Have a fun, exciting life; Clean the world up, one hack at a time!
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Apr 17, 2013 00:42
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Alright, I'll be sure to get to work on my other aspect phase shortly. In the meantime, allow me to kick off the Shanghai city building with something a little noir. Threat: I Hate It When It Rains Shanghai has always been choked by pollution of one form or another, and the Xanthic Storm sure as hell didn't change that fact. Some say the gods look down on the earth and try to punish the mortals for their carelessness and abuse of nature. Those days are when the Rains come. When the Rains show up, the local alarms go off and people keep inside until it passes. Doesn't keep everyone in, of course. After all, crime never sleeps. But neither do the gods, and they have a lot of carelessness to punish.
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Apr 17, 2013 00:56
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Transient People posted:If you need something like that, remember more or less a third of the south American continent is already in that position thanks to the Green Fury. That way central am can be used for another good hook and some of the groundwork is laid down already. I for one am looking forward to how Exo-cute manages to pull off a flamethrower/deforesation system while maintaining trademark aesthetics. Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 01:10
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Making a Miami post I can link later. More info on this and the last page! MIAMI    quote:THEMES AND THREATS Ettin fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 01:22
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 Miamiiiii Location: Havana  Cuba's capital and largest city, Havana is major port of trade and tourist destination with a constant influx of people and goods moving in and out on a regular basis which makes it a good place to come and lay low or to find those occult ritual ingredients or black market weapons you were looking for. In addition, buildings aren't the only bits of history that have been preserved over the centuries; Havana's occult underground is a pan-cultural jumble of styles and practices from all over the world, and you can find Santeros debating the finer points of theology with Houngans and Mambos and Catholic priests swapping exorcism tips with Daoist monks. If you need help translating some weird tome nobody else seems to know anything about or want to know how to banish a particularly troublesome monster back to whatever outer world it hails from, chances are you can find someone who knows the score here. Aspects: If You Can't Find it Here Then You Can't Find it Anywhere, Mystical Melting Pot John Talbot  Once upon a time John Talbot (probably not his real name) worked for the OOI. Then he retired. The fact that he got to retire at all is impressive, the OOI doing what they do. The fact that he got to retire without any major psychological scarring or debilitating injuries tells you just how good he really is. These days he lives a quiet, comfortable life in Havana, spending his time fishing, playing cards, and hanging out at Lola's Cafe (home of some of the best mojitos in town) swapping stories. But you never really retire from the OOI, not completely. Sometimes he gets a phone call and disappears for a few days before he eventually returns, sliding back into his life like nothing happened. The locals never ask him where he goes off too, and in return he does what he can to ensure that nothing follows him home when he's through. Aspects: Retired Spook, Knows People Who Know People, Been There Done That Goals: Enjoy a peaceful retirement, keep the neighborhood clean, get "that one last job" done as quickly as possible
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Apr 17, 2013 01:35
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Faction: Armed Forces of the New Earth Government The Migou cleaned up the worst of Asia's trash when they appeared, but a lot of filth has tried to take the place of the Xanthic Storm since then. Not wanting another major uprising, the NEG responded by reallocating the forces already in Asia to preventive duties: Find cultists and assorted eldritch nasties, gun them down, move on. In practice, this hasn't affected day-to-day affairs, as the government still functions (as well as it normally does, at least) and they are too overworked and busy fighting at the frontlines to have more than a small garrison out there most of the time, but nobody in the criminal underworld wants to make really big moves at the moment to avoid bringing a couple dozen armored divisions to Shanghai. So long as there's a bigger fire to put out, nobody will get hurt by a large-scale military purge. Aspects: Fighting On All Fronts; Our Heroes Are Disposable; Don't Wake Up The Sleeping Giant Faces General Zhongda While not as permanently active as the South American Front, the Eastern Theatre has perhaps been the one that has most heavily taxed the NEG's forces. While major engagements have been short and resolved quickly in most cases, it has always been at a tremendous cost in lives: millions of troopers have fallen in the line of duty, and terrorist attacks have killed many at all levels. Chinese by birth and one of eight brothers born to one of the most influential politicians in the NEG, Zhongda has risen meteorically across the ranks of the military, even though he was quite reluctant to become a part of it, believing the NEG's days were numbered. Much of Zhongda's current station is owed to the Red Fever Crisis that wracked Shanghai not too many years ago: The then-captain's handling of a situation that stumped his superiors was cause for condecoration, and the recent assassination of the previous general in charge of the warfront finally pushed him over to a position in control of the Eastern Theatre. He currently resides in the Former French Concession, and claims to be trying to clean up the city 'without moving a single man from the warfronts'. Ashcroft Foundation Analysts have studied him repeatedly, and each of them has come to the same conclusion: "A man to watch, respect, and fear. He shall climb as high as he is allowed to." Aspects: Man of Intelligence; Hidden Ambitions; The Impossible Is My Stock In Trade; Shanghai Will Be My Playground; Sima Yi Reborn Goals: Power and control; Bring an end to war, by whatever means are necessary; To do it in ways nobody else could even have thought of. Reina Aldrich The second of the three Project Warchild First Class graduates, Reina is a hell of a nutcase. Some people like battle, some people love it, and some think it's better to stay dirty bathing with any other water than the blood of their enemies. Reina belongs to the latter group, possessing a kill-count that easily dwarfs that of her two fellow Warchildren, Santiago Aden and Sophia Aquinas. Born in the States, she lost her parents to a biological virus and was taken in by the Project soon after. She pilots the Red Blaze, an extremely advanced power armor model, capable of achieving supersonic speeds, designed for up close and personal fighting. She was stationed at the asian front a year ago, and arrived to Shanghai a few months later. She is a perfectionist with insane confidence in her own skills, who strives to be the best of the best of the best, a soldier without paragon. She used to be extremely popular with the other warchildren (and rather close to Santiago), but has been completely immersed in her work. As of late, she seems to have developed an odd fascination with the Triads, particularly its assassination methods. Aspects: "KILL THEM ALL! SORT IT OUT LATER!"; Transient People fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 02:06
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Faction/Problem: The Gold Dragon Triad Aspect: Digging Themselves Deeper, Too Much Power With Too Little Sense Goals: Consolidate control over their holdings, drive their foes mad, appease their dark masters... After Zhang left them, his old gang fell on some hard times all around. Pressed by stronger gangs and a number of high-profile members falling dead to revenge killings now that it was clear their killer of choice was gone, the Dragons resorted to more esoteric measures. Now their homes are defended with arcane wards, and their enemies find themselves plagued by psychological maladies and strange dreams. But they may have made some deals they may no longer be able to get out off... Face/Lead: Mo Shen-Ming, "Last of the Traditionalists"  Aspects: Two Gun Bandit, What the Hell is this Magic poo poo, gently caress the Police Goals: Get back to where we were before, stay alive Mo Shen-Ming built his reputation on two pistols and perfect aim. So he's a bit perturbed to watch his superiors delve so deep into this strange magic poo poo. If he can't shoot it, he doesn't trust it. For this reason, he maintains a fondness for Zhang San, who he saw as a sort of protege before his disappearance. Unlike Zhang, he's still loyal to the Dragons- they're the only family he's ever had, and his own sense of honor and loyalty keeps him killing even as he worries more and more about where this train of madness and dreams ends... Location: The Lucky Buddha Gambling Parlor  Aspects: It's a Trap, Leyline Nexus, No Seriously It's a Trap The Lucky Buddha is one of the Dragon's new... investments. Carefully rigged with symbol and power, the Triad hopes to lure their foes within and set off the magic equivalent of a pipe bomb, annihilating the souls of their foes. The channels are set up so they can even target specific rooms, or even single chairs. Other than that, the only risk is losing all your money...
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Apr 17, 2013 02:15
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Miami up!
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Apr 17, 2013 04:23
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More Miami because why not Location: Port of Miami  The largest container port in the state of Florida and the "Cruise Capital of the World," this is where millions of tons of cargo move in and out of city every year. Massive cargo megaships and extravagant luxury cruise liners come and go while a steady stream of cargo trucks shuttle newly loaded goods down the Miami Port Tunnel and into the Metroplex proper. If this sounds like the perfect recipe for smuggling and illicit goings-on then you're right, it is! The Metroplex takes port security seriously...it's not just a vital part of the Metroplex economy but the entire state's as well...but it's simply too vast and too busy a place to effectively police in its entirety. With the gaps in security and a few bribes in the right hands, many of the local gangs and cartels also like using it as a clandestine meeting spot for deals and handoffs because they're pretty unimaginative that way. Rumor has it that more than just guns and drugs make their way into the city from the port as well, and security guards occasionally turn up dead from causes that are decidedly not bullet related...or sometimes simply disappear altogether. Aspects: Big Maze of Shipping Containers, Security Blindspots, It Came From the Ocean Face: Marty Schmidt  Not everyone in Florida is a stylish multi-millionare or a well-heeled crime boss. Some people are just that, people. They get up, they do their jobs, they maybe go out and have some drinks, then go home and watch TV or whatever the future equivalent of TV is before going to bed. That's Marty Schmidt in a nutshell. He works security down at the Port of Miami and tries to do his job as best he can while staying out of trouble. He might take a bribe now and again to look the other way while some dirty deals go down but that doesn't make Marty a bad person, that's just how things work in Miami. You do what you gotta do to get by. In fact, the only thing that's really noteworthy about Marty is the fact that he's been working for the Port of Miami for nearly ten years and hasn't been shot, stabbed, eviscerated, or mysteriously disappeared never to be seen again. Whatever it is he's doing to keep his head down it seems to be working, and his job means that he hears and sees all kinds of interesting things. Maybe he could remember them better if you helped him out with a little scratch? Nothing personal, that's just how things work in Miami. Aspects: Reliable Source, Just This Guy Y'know? Goals: Get by, keep his head down, stay out of trouble And another face for good measure. Face: David Royce  The Director of Special Projects at Algol Extraterran Interests' Miami branch, David Royce, is for all practical purposes Juliana's boss while she resides in the South Florida Metroplex. AEI Miami is mostly focused on off-world imports and exports thanks to their controlling stake in Armstrong International as well as a surprising amount of biotech research and development. That's not really what Special Projects deals in. It's not fair to say that Special Projects is the ultra top-secret black ops wetworks side of AEI because, well, it isn't. AEI is genuinely not interested in clandestine murders and murder-related activities, but in a world full of weird monsters, crazy cultists, eldritch terrorist networks, and a variety of supernormal and paranatural outside-context problems it helps to have some dedicated troubleshooters on hand who can deal with such troubles, frequently by shooting them. In other words it's the perfect department for player-characters to belong to. And sometimes they actually work on special projects too! What sorts of special projects? That's classified. Royce seems to have wholeheartedly embraced the Miami mindset, or at least the more glamorous, jet-setting aspects of it, dressing in high GQ style, taking meetings over drinks, and spending his evenings at the trendiest clubs or ritziest casinos, but beneath the affable playboy exterior is a canny and calculating mind with a keen eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to furthering the company's goals, and more than one person has underestimated him to their loss and AEI's gain. Aspects: Metroplex Playboy, Hidden Depths Goals: Live life to the fullest, look out for AEI's interests Kai Tave fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 11:16
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Ronwayne posted:I for one am looking forward to how Exo-cute manages to pull off a flamethrower/deforesation system while maintaining trademark aesthetics. ExoCute Yandere™ Area Denial System - Set his heart ablaze~ <3. Now enriched with potassium for the most adorable of infernos! Destrado fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 19:40
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Faction: The Reformation Consortium: It is of no doubt that humanity's production capabilities are stretched rather thin with the war's and infighting that have plagued the planet, with the loss of chine to the storm in a wave of destruction large swatches of manufacturing and industrial were hit... when the re population effort was attempted, business interests decided to finance and guide the regrowing city of shanghai to help their interes, the NEG did not exactly have much say considering these interests also produced the arms and armor, the monitoring software and a host of other elements necessary for continued production. As a PR move the consortium also had to take on more... benevolent members, who have been surprisingly hard to silence, causing their current industrial developments to be halted in a half developed state. Currently locked with internal bureaucracy the consortium could be useful for anything from resources to contacts in the government... if you can manage to wrangle the board of directors to a specific decision. Aspects: Money is Power, Just fill out form 2168B, We really want to help... really. Goals: Redevelop Shanghai and the surrounding area, Improve the Life of people in Shangai, Maximise Profits. Location: Development District BS21A: In the shadow cast by the main city of shanghai Arcology was where the Reformation Cosrtium began, soon enough they were paving over the ruins and remnants of the old and erecting the block construction of new buildings, new houses and businesses supposedly. They were half way through construction when suddenly everything stopped, before most of the buildings even hard working utilities just big shells of concrete that were almost eerie. Soon enough people starting moving into the empty buildings, after all the consortium could not justify wasting manpower on empty buildings. If you can't find it topside you can certainly find it down there, cheap housing (almost free), drugs, illegal firmware. The fact the corporation has jurist diction over it's own territory keeps most of the police out (so long as nothing too terrible goes down, then they start sweeing and clearing). Aspects: A place to be forgotten, Anything for a Price, Not the best part of town.
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Apr 17, 2013 21:31
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Faction: Unity Inc Unity Inc is by no means a mega corp, it has little influence outside of the SEAA. It is though, the primary go-to for the local armed forces R&D needs. The corp is primarily tasked with reverse engineering arcane and alien artifacts for military use. It's an unusual corporation in that it has no world HQ, just a bunch of regional HQs scattered across southeast Asia. Unity Inc has recently eared the ire of the OOI do to several of its high-level employees being suspected (and in some cases caught in the) of illegal activities. It is suspected that Unity ether has ties to an occult criminal organization or is actively being infiltrated by one. However, do to Unity's closeness to the military, it well require some damning evidence before OOI can start a full investigation of the corp. Aspects: Buddy Buddy with the military, New and improved artifacts, Back door dealings aplenty Goals: Keep the military in there pockets, One-up their rivals (by any means necessary), Unlock the full potential of their artifacts. Location: Lab 52 AKA the Forbidden Arcology  Located a couple miles outside of Shanghai proper is a small, inclosed arcology know as Lab 52, though most people call it the Forbidden Arcology. On paper it is one of the many labs that are use to research and contain dangerous artifacts that the OOI or other NEG organizations find, though it was one of the few no to be directly run by the NEG. Instead, the site is mostly run by Unity Inc. The outside is patrolled be a relatively small garrison of NEG troops. No one but the top brass and Unity employees that have clearance can enter the Forbidden Arcology and all shipment inside are placed on remote controlled robots to be carried. All that is know about what's inside is that a number of Unity employees and their families live and work there. Only top level employees may enter and leave the Forbidden Arcology as they please, though all employees have (highly monitored) internet access for interacting with the out side world. Aspects: Beyond your clearance, Fortified vault of dark secrets, company town of over [redacted]. Charlie72 fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Apr 18, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 00:46
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You can thank PublicOpinion for Madoka's art, by the way.
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Apr 18, 2013 04:54
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I have to say, this city creation is really fun so far. As proof let me dump a ton of stuff. Still more to come! Faction: HeavenLeaf Inc.  Feel free to replace this crappy logo Aspects: For A Greener Future, Feeding the People, Gotta Grow Faster Goals: Clear the pollution of Shanghai, rebuild the ecosystem, get out from under the Green Fury Scandal, get into the big leagues HeavenLeaf Inc. is one of those kind of obnoxious companies that prides itself on "all natural products" and "green energy" and "not being soul crushing parasites". The company specializes in food production, alternative energy and biological research. At the moment, HeavenLeaf Inc. is more of a movement backed by a small corporation than anything else. However, what they lack in size they make up for in determination and belief in their cause. This did end up coming back to bite them, though. A couple of years ago, the company was hit with a scandal that lead to a witch hunt for members of the Green Fury among their staff. Though they still haven't lived that incident down completely, HeavenLeaf and its associates still carry on in hopes of a brighter tomorrow. If they can gather enough assets to start some really big projects, that would be nice, but the important part is that they're helping the people right? Face: Ai Tián, The Avocado Lady  Aspects: Grandma with a Green Thumb, Always Look on the Bright Side, Here's an Old Family Remedy Goals: Help everyone be happy and healthy, replenish the natural life in Shanghai Ai has always been a well respected lady among the community. Even when she was spending her time at a humble kiosk, she developed a reputation for having the highest quality fruits and vegetables in stock, and serving with a bright smile and a kind heart. She even took the time to volunteer for work at the few parks that managed to keep up and running. When HeavenLeaf Inc. was forming, it was a dream come true for Ai. Now she's become somewhat of a face for HeavenLeaf, spreading the good word of a greener future whenever she can. Of course she still sells fruits and vegetables, but now she sells them from a market, along with a couple of restaurants and and some rarer international condiments. Everything's all natural of course, just like how it's been for 40 years. Faction: Pentex Electronics Aspects: Shiny Plastic Everywhere, You Can't Prove Anything, Only We May Profit Though many saw the tragedy of the aftermath of the Xanthic Storm, profit-seekers saw opportunity. Let it never be said that Pentex Electronics was not interested in profit. They pounced on the opportunity like a lion, sinking their claws into Shanghai as fast as they could sign the documents. Since then they've been the perfect picture of a production company, exploiting the natural resources and the people in equal measure. They've ruthlessly expanded like a cancer, peddling shiny new phones and electronics to hipsters and spoiled teenagers everywhere. Oh sure, people have tried to stop them, but thanks to bureaucratic red tape and exploitation of loopholes, no one has gotten Pentex to pay so much as a dime. Needless to say, everyone in the know tends to hate Pentex. But no one cares, so long as the latest gadget is on the horizon. Face: Ling Bai  Aspects: "Criminal" Lawyer, I Never Lose, Suspiciously Snake-Like Goals: Accept high profile cases, win no matter what it takes, keep to himself otherwise Sometimes you're a large company with some legal trouble you need to take care of. Maybe someone's claiming you stole their patent, maybe it's due to your factories not exactly being up to code, or maybe that assassination attempt went south and you totally had nothing to do with it. Or maybe you're just a legitimate business man with absolutely no ties to the triads whatsoever. In those times, you want to win, and when you want to win you call Ling Bai. Ling Bai is, for all intents and purposes, a mercenary. The only condition he has to work for you is that there's money in it, and lots of it. But you get what you pay for, and what you're paying for is a lawyer who has never lost a case. Ever. Of course Ling Bai doesn't exactly play by the rules, but neither does anyone else these days. Then again not everyone turns into a mob boss when a key witness is about to take the stand, but that's beside the point. Also don't pay attention to the rumors of him actually being a Serpent Man, those are ridiculous. Though he does tend to keep to himself when he isn't on a job. Location: Nine Dragon Pillar Shrine  Aspects: It's Quiet...Too Quiet, Please Donate for the Health of Shanghai, Whispers from an Unseen Dragon A little over a hundred years ago, there was an urban legend regarding a certain pillar at the Chengdu Bei Lu and Yan'an Lu intersection. As a maze of overpasses and highways was being constructed, there was a patch of ground that would not move. No engineer could determine the reason for this, and so they brought a priest out to the site. After many lengthy prayers, the priest came back and declared that there was a dragon beneath the work site. The construction had apparently awoken the dragon, and in its anger it was stopping the pillar from being installed. So, the priest suggested that in order to appease the dragon, they offer it a noble gesture. So, they dedicated the pillar to the dragon, and so it was appeased and work continued as usual. The pillar itself was dubbed the Nine Dragon Pillar. Then the Xanthic Storm arrived and wrecked Shanghai. Of course that doesn't mean the urban legends stop. After the clearing of the Xanthic Storm it was found that the Nine Dragon Pillar still stood despite the entire intersection collapsing around it. Rumors spread like wildfire about the pillar, almost all of them involving the dragon it was dedicated to. Eventually it was decided that the pillar would become a monument, a testament to a strong future. So, a shrine was built around the pillar, and the place was declared a holy site. Now there's a fair community surrounding the shrine, and people commute there to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and donate so that the dragon may bring good fortune. Of course, there are rumors that the dragon is awakening once more, and serenity could still mask dirty secrets. While we're at it, why not throw in a Case for our band of investigators to solve? Problem: Blood Rains in Shanghai Face: The Cyclops Butcher  Aspects: The Hell Is That Freak?!, Cyberpunk Slasher, Public Enemy Number One Goals: To find "Anna", to be a slasher film villain All cities have their scumbags, that's just a fact of life. But sometimes a real psycho shows up, arresting the attention of the media and sending the public into a panic. This summer, the Cyclops Butcher is that psycho. This mysterious killer appears to be dressed in some form of military gear, with a helmet with only one large lens. The killer is inhumanly strong and fast, his weapon of choice being a simple carbon nanofiber katana. No one knows who or what the Cyclops Butcher is, or if they do they aren't talking. Can the mystery of the Cyclops Butcher be solved, or will the investigators be slaughtered at the edge of its blade? One weird thing about this case is that literally everyone of note wants the Butcher dead. They don't want it dead just on a professional basis either. In one way or another this thing has gone out of its way to attack people closely related to key figures in Shanghai. Another thing of note is that the Butcher is unaffected by the Rains. In fact a majority of the murders attributed to him have happened when it was Raining. Perhaps strangest of all, the few survivors of the Butcher's attacks have spread rumors that it is searching for someone named "Anna".
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Apr 19, 2013 00:51
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I'll make a Shanghai collection post in the next day, I think we have a good lineup here. Also, more art!  You can thank obfuscobble for Kaiya here. 
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Apr 19, 2013 05:21
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Problem: And then they were gone. It's not uncommon for a person to disappear in a big city like Shanghai every once and awhile. It is uncommon, however, for 6 people to be snatched out of their homes in the middle of the night. Over the past 2 weeks, 5 Akathar,in addition to one of the victims human live-in girlfriend, were abducted by unknown assailant(s). There were signs of struggles in the houses and apartments of the victims, yet the assailant(s) left not traces to identify them with. Arcanic means are suspected, but not confirmed. There have been no ransoms have been issued and no signs that show that the victims are ever alive or dead have shown up. Aspects: Not safe in your own home, a growing paranoia in the Akathar community. Location:The City God Temple  The temple proper and surrounding area are the same as they ever were. It looks almost uncanny next to the techno metropolis that is the rest of Shanghai. There are rumors that the temple radiates a mystic energy that effects the arcane when exposed to it, though most locals believe this was just something made up by nearby merchants to up tourism. Not that would need to, the place is already popular among visitors and listed as a got to site in many tour guides. Aspects: An Echo from the distant past, Lot's of nearby antic shops, Annual festivals that attract big crowds. Faction:Channel 9 News  Biggest local news station for Shanghai and the surrounding area. Giving up to date news, weather, and traffic both through television broadcast and a 24 hour streaming website. Most of the stories come in 3 flavors, local events like new years and dog shows, vanity/celebrity news, and the international stuff everyone is reporting on. Crime reports are given 2 to 4 sentences and a sound clip before being shuffled away for the next headline. New involving the arcane is generally left out, the station wants to avoid it lest they accidentally over step there bounds and have OOI pull their plug/ Aspects:The (mostly) free press, Lot of tabloid garbage on now-a-days, New and improved weather satellites Goals: Keeper from steeping on OOI toes, Keep viewership up, Be the first to break a national or international story Face/Lead: Xiuxiu Lu, Investigative reporter She started out doing reports on local restaurants, but after doing a in depth report one restaurants health violations, she was rocked into the world of investigative reporting. Responsible for outing numerous corruption scandals and criminal rings. Do to the nature of her stories she often comes into conflict with her bosses at Channel 9, as well as the OOI. Many of her reports get relegated to her personal blog and the only reason she hasn't gone freelance is that she needs a stable source of income to provide for her family. Right now she is investigating to big stories; the recent abductions, and the mystery surrounding the Cyclops Butcher. Though now, it seems her fame is getting in the way of her investigation and is unable to handle these cases on her own. Aspects:"I'm kinda famous around here", Many old contacts, Can make what you are doing headline new( whether you want it to be or not) Goals: Find the Truth!, Become (more) famous, Find time to spend with family
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Apr 20, 2013 00:07
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CIRNO NO! Seriously though, the next ACTION SCENE in Trigger Warning: Anime will happen when he gets back. Ask Madoka and Kaiya questions, do some more research or just chillax until then, I don't care.
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Apr 20, 2013 07:53
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I don't know how people in the Miami game feel about splitting the party, GM included. It's the sort of thing Juliana would suggest, but I'm not married to it as a player if it'll be a hassle/less fun.
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Apr 20, 2013 08:46
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Kai Tave posted:I don't know how people in the Miami game feel about splitting the party, GM included. It's the sort of thing Juliana would suggest, but I'm not married to it as a player if it'll be a hassle/less fun. You probably just gave Mistaya PTSD.  (Just had to joke about this, Miami amuses me entirely too much to not comment upon it a bit.)
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Apr 20, 2013 08:59
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I don't mind it (especially since communication is easy), but yeah, I'm gonna put it up to Ettin.
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Apr 20, 2013 09:01
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I am okay with it!
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Apr 20, 2013 09:24
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Excellent. We can do more damage this way.
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Apr 20, 2013 09:39
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Faction: The 4 Beasts Triad Aspects: Let's Make a Deal, Sellouts, Hand of the Monkey King Goals: Defeat the Golden Dragons, get back out from under the hand of Wukong, survive The 4 Beasts used to be contenders, real monsters and real money. Then the Golden Dragon made some deals, and the 4 Beasts found themselves pushed against a wall by a foe they could not fight and could not stop. In some ways, they took it better than their rivals had, back in the day- they only sold their souls to mundane masters. The 4 Beasts, while nominally under their own recognizance, now effectively function as agents of the Wukong Corporation- in return, Wukong keeps the magical heat off them, stymieing the Golden Dragon... for now. Face: Ya-Long Guo, "Dragon of the East"  Aspects: Could Be Worse, I Guess, Looking to Get Out of This Mess, Not Too Old to Kill Goals: Survive retiring, make sure the 4 Beasts survive his retirement as well Ya-Long Guo has been a Triad for nearly 50 years, now. He knows it's time for him to leave the life behind and retire into the country somewhere, but he also knows that without him, one of the 4 Beasts that gave the drat group its name, they will never survive- especially not without him pushing back against the Wukong. So he keeps his duties going and keeps his head down, and hopes beyond hope that he can make it through to the other side. The fact that he can still easily gut a man half his age tends to help. Faction: The Wukong Corporation  Aspects: They Who Fight Monsters, Rage Against the Machine, Kings of Metal Goals: Purge magic from the world, slay elder things, apotheosis In legend, Sun Wukong fought against the armies of heaven and won until the Buddha himself intervened. The Wukong Corporation knows drat well Buddha isn't helping this time, and they intend to make the armies of "heaven" squeal. Formed by a powerful group of angry rich men after the Xanthic Storm, Wukong Co specializes in magic neutralization (public), anti-caster weapons (public), shielded equipment and homes (public), the killing of things that can't die (secret), and [REDACTED] (top secret.) A lot of men and women die in their experimental labs... this being Shanghai, nobody notices. Face: Dong Zhou, Vice President of Division 4  Aspects: Rich rear end Motherfucker, Not As Stupid As He Looks, Consummate Liar Goals: See Wukong Co + Make self even richer People who meet Dong Zhou do so in one of two ways. Those who see him in his office leave with the impression of a goofy, lovable man who only wants the best for his employees. Those who meet him in the labs at Site 19 know he's the coldest, most ruthless employee Wukong has- and he'll stop at nothing to achieve its goals. Not after what happened to his family. Location: Site 19 (Division 4 Secret Lab)  Aspects: Sometimes You Can Hear the Screams, Sacrifice Zone, Null and Void Report 2094 FYEO 24/06 Site 19 Status: Operational Containment shells for Specimens 1274-1294 (Designation "Shoggoth") completed 15/06 Containment shells for Specimens 2149-2179 [REDACTED], completed 17/06 Incident 0124A, [DATA EXPUNGED] contained. Human specimens 1256-1350 obtained via "Stone Lions" external forces. Bodies of 1200-1256 disposed of.
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Apr 20, 2013 14:43
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Ettin posted:I'll make a Shanghai collection post in the next day, I think we have a good lineup here. Thanks obfuscobble! The art for all the NPCs has been awesome, but Kaiya's is my favorite on a personal level. I should commish some art of Sun Yue I think. Also perhaps a character from another game who fits that style. Comrade Gorbash fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Apr 20, 2013 |
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Apr 20, 2013 16:26
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Okay, just to be clear: That is an actual gun. Kaiya just actually shot herself in the head in an actually lethal way.
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Apr 21, 2013 01:27
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Well that escalated quickly.
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Apr 21, 2013 01:48
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Ettin posted:Okay, just to be clear: I blame the Persona FATE games 
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Apr 21, 2013 02:58
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Arthur (and I) are betting that it's a fake body. So, probably not like Persona FATE. In other news, the jokes about Arthur and Da'ud are hilarious.
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Apr 21, 2013 03:00
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Alternatively, the body is real and Kaiya just reuploaded herself to another body, Eclipse Phase style. It's another possibility.
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Apr 21, 2013 03:53
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Kaiya's animu gift was the Magical Gun of Escaping Awkward Conversations.
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Apr 21, 2013 05:23
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Shanghai will go up sometime in the next day (unless I break my promise again, sorry). Good news though: I have totally As with the others, more info on this and the previous page! SHANGHAI   quote:THEMES AND THREATS Ettin fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 21, 2013 14:38
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We're actually still missing features for our hideout, aren't we? Someone get on that and start pitching good ideas for a lair tia
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Apr 21, 2013 17:39
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Sorry I haven't been posting here recently. I'll put up Maynard's last aspect soon, as well as a few city parts. As for our base, I think it'd be cool to have it in a pretty dense, warren-like urban area, with concrete passageways connecting it to a bunch of OOI fronts and other places as well as some regular back-alleys. The sort of place you could easily shut down and evacuate from if it came under threat, where everything important is portable or easily-destroyed. If we went with this, the OOI fronts could be things like a bookshop that distributes censored arcane texts or a small cafe where the local rumour-mongers gather (obviously the passageways would connect to out-of-site places like store-rooms and kitchens), or other regular things that nonetheless help us somehow. It wouldn't be very cushy, but it'd be hard to track people in the tangle of alleyways and it'd be thoroughly integrated into the local social structures.
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Apr 21, 2013 19:37
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Location: Sewer Station Number 6 This labyrinthine sewer control station used to be a state-of-the-art facility. The system was completed in 2054, though there were some irregularities in construction that delayed operation by a few months. Things went downhill when the maintenance crew went missing in their first bi-decade checkup on the automated systems, and then the follow-up investigative team went missing, and only half of the second follow-up team returned alive. The NEG took a real interest then, and from the debriefings they found more than a few strange points: first, a high rate of hallucinations; second, bizarre and hostile creatures whose forms defied description; third, cats. Lots of them. Nowadays they keep it locked down, and whatever's in there doesn't seem keen to come out, but the place is so confusing that you can get in unseen with a little effort and some knowledge of the layout. Aspects: Dreams and Shadows; What's Up Pussycat; “They're coming out of the god-drat walls!”; State of the Art Fifty Years Ago; One Wrong Turn and You're Lost Faction: The Crab Trappers This squatter collective of artistically-inclined political subversives has thus far managed to avoid the attentions of the Chinese and global authorities, mostly by presenting themselves as harmless ascetics. In truth, nobody really knows what these artists are working on most of the time, or where and when they reveal their works. There's the odd rumour that they were behind the spate of a certain sign being painted and AR-tagged all over walls in the Southern export zone, or the attempted performance of a certain banned play in one of the few public spaces of the Deng Xiaoping Memorial Arcology. These are just rumours, though, and the OOI has never connected them with any arcane crimes. Yet.  Aspects: Guerilla Propaganda; Clarity and Insanity are Not So Different; gently caress the NEG, gently caress the OOI Goals: Get the truth out; Make trouble for the authorities Face (Lead): Xiaofan Yun At some point in her life, Yun must have been pretty crazy – crazy enough to file her teeth down to points just to intimidate people. She's not so crazy now, though. As the representative of sorts for the Crab Trappers, she manages their supplies and utilities and somehow convinces the police to look the other way. She seems to have no ambitions, and there's an emptiness in her eyes. Mostly she just gets by, waiting to die. Aspects: Sawtooth Smile; Hollow Woman; Used to be Somebody Goals: Live quietly; Die painlessly Faction (Problem): One Path Through Heaven These people sprung up relatively recently, plastering posters over public transport and meeting above coffee shops to discuss their crank beliefs. The OOI thought it was the kind of vaguely-organised, pop-spiritual group that would just wind down harmlessly of its own accord, and declared it a low priority group to keep under surveillance but otherwise leave alone. That all changed six months ago when the cult performed an assault on a nuclear processing plant. The attack became a bloodbath as the cultists mutilated the workers, engineers and security teams, then stole fully-prepared fissile material and went off the OOI's radar. Their behaviour had completely changed. In the few times they've surfaced since then to steal more radioactive material they've been highly-aggressive and precisely-coordinated, and their propaganda now speaks of a 'glorious fulfilment', 'the splendid cacophony' and two figures referred to as 'the maiden' and 'the priestess'. The OOI has set up a substantial task force to identify these people and stop the cult, but they've made meagre progress so far. They still don't even know what caused the switch.  Aspects: Perfect Command; Radioactive Maniacs; Not So Harmless; Snitches Get Melted Goals: Gather nuclear material; Find the maiden and the priestess; Achieve the Glorious Fulfilment
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Apr 22, 2013 00:24
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They were going to surprise you but Madoka used her manga to place Trigger Warning. :iamafag:
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Apr 22, 2013 03:58
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Hideout update: by consensus and to continue the dragon theme of Shanghai, the front for the hideout is a library known as Shenlong Books. We now return to your regularly scheduled already running games after this helpful public service announcement.
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Apr 22, 2013 04:27
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OOI game here! Sorry it took so long.
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Apr 22, 2013 14:32
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