SpoilerIt's a grand battle. You most likely already know what those are, but if you don't, or if you want a refresher, you can go here.

There are a few conditions to this battle. First, priority will be given to new players, but players of all experience levels are welcome to join. Second, there will be a limit of 500 words per post, and a further limit of two weeks per round. Each round will end after two weeks- no exceptions. The Abhorrent is lazy, nearsighted, and encourages you to post quickly and briefly. A few hundred words per post or less is an ideal length.

Spoiler Name: What your character is called, if called they are.
Gender: What pronouns they use, if pronouns they use.
Color: A unique color you will use to identify your character in-text. #330033 or a similar color is not advised.
Species: The type of critter they are, or were.
Description: General physical appearance and overview of personality.
Powers & Abilities: More or less what sets your character apart; what they can do and the extent of their abilities. May include important items as well.
Biography: No need to write a novel here, but a summary of relevant events in your character's life is always useful.

Signups will remain open for one week, or until a satisfactory amount of players is reached. If you have questions, feel free to PM me or ask the community at #grandbattle on the irc. Happy writing!

Spoiler
"Real" Profile:

Name: Nova (Translated from Reptilian)
Codename: Alexandria “Alex” Albright
Gender: Female
Color: Still Pink. #ff00ff
Species:
A reptilian vampire disguised as a human. It is both a common reptilian practice to insert reptilians to control and monitor human culture, as well as to become vampires as the vampire curse originated on the reptilian home-world and is integral to their continued domination of this sector of space.

Description:
A significantly modified reptilian, a human doctor would not be capable of telling the difference unless they cut deep into her flesh. Like many others of her kind, she was given a mission to infiltrate human celebrity circles to keep hold over the lesser species. Because of her unique singing voice which was fostered and enhanced from a young age, she was embedded as a musician. Above all else, she takes pride in serving her people and the mission.

She maintains a carefully constructed persona, many aspects of which she couldn’t care less about, such as charity or kindness. If given the chance to, off camera, Nova might literally tear a criminal apart with her bare hands. She has issues, but she can’t express them for a multitude of reasons, mainly that a tenant of being a reptilian soldier is not feel anything but rage, but her placement in human society prevents her from even expressing that, as she has to appear as a good role model with a strong sense of ethics. She tries desperately to mediate the disconnect between who she pretends to be and who she really is but, it might just be the end of her.

The only thing she does find incredibly exhilarating about earth culture however, is the music. Reptilian music is almost all monotonously formulaic war ballads, while on earth music is about expression. Nova often doesn't know what to do about the feelings she gets from certain songs or musical pieces. Sometimes, if even for just a moment, she feels like the music might be worth throwing away her ties to her racial allegiances, but then reality sets in and she remembers there would be nowhere in the universe to escape their retribution.

Powers & Abilities:
Vampires are thought-forms that inhabit a specific body, replacing one’s soul. This means that the more people Nova can get to think about her in a specific manner, the more those thoughts affects her mentality and physicality. Of course, this is often why many vampires are known for being so bloody and monstrous, so she walks a delicate line of public opinion. The only absolute abilities vampires really have that aren’t directly influenced by the thoughts of those who perceive them is their immortality. As long as someone continues to believe in their existence, they continue to exist. In this way, vampires feed of the creativity, thoughts and fears of people more than they do actual blood. (That is, until the consensus is that they feed off blood, and then they begin to do that too)

Reptilians however are stronger and quicker, as well as being more durable than the average human. Once these “superpowers” were noticed in Nova after she announced her crime fighting career, people naturally began to exaggerate her natural abilities, which in turn made her even stronger, faster and durable and the cycle would repeat. Her singing abilities arose out of this same sort of feedback loop, the only difference being that she actually is a great singer, which is not an ability typically found in reptilians. Vampires are also known to be capable of an ability called “sway” in which they can use to manipulate others to their will. The totality of her singing abilities likely are some combination of her natural singing talents and the “sway” working together.

Biography:
Unlike most reptilian sleeper cells, "Alex" was raised as a human, so that the identity would take more fully. Her actual reptilian parents were quite wealthy as reptilians on earth typically are, but she was sent to live with an impoverished family as it would fit the narrative that was being constructed. Her whole life was rigorously planned out to create a superhero and a star that the masses would worship on a scale never before achieved. From a young age she sensed that some part of her was different than others, that maybe she was crueler and less empathetic, but that was all pushed aside. Every aspect of her life seemed to push her towards music, and a certain audition, and little did she know it actually was.

The American Talent show was all an elaborate act set up by reptilians embedded at various stages of production, all to make “Alexandria Albright’s” introduction to the world as smooth and memorable as possible. At the night of the finale, the truth of her reality was revealed, and the world as she knew it came crumbling down around her. From the rubble of what was, she reconstructed every piece that didn’t seem to fit together the first time she had experienced them. Things like her lack of emotions besides rage, all the visits to the strange doctor, how she seemed to be more physically and mentally gifted than others, and every coincidence that occurred seemingly too fortunate to be statistically possible. She didn’t even go into denial, her life made sense for the first time. She wasn’t like everyone else.. She was engineered to be better. She only had to do one more thing to complete her destiny. “Will you accept the bite?” her handlers asked Alex.

They lied about the origin of her powers. A radioactive solar flare fit the narrative much better than being turned into a vampire. She went to work taking out common criminals, and her fame skyrocketed. More powerful enemies stepped up to defeat her and she never hesitated... At least, not when the cameras were turned on her.

SpoilerRound One: Humanity’s Only Hope!: Draconis-II, a far-flung starship colony in the outer reaches of known space, has been cut off from all support following a devastating attack by a mysterious alien force. The colony’s only weapons are a series of mech prototypes designed and built before the attack- highly experimental, their capabilities can only be guessed at. Only with the arrival of a shipment of pilots (you), the only beings capable of using these machines, does the colony stand any chance of defense...

Don’t forget, round one will end in about two weeks! Keep your posts short and sweet if you can, and good luck!

SpoilerName: Also Wilhelm
Gender: Male
Color: A blank slate
Species: Probably Dead Human
Background:
When Wilhelm was born, a Celestial Stork came to visit his parents, as always happens when a child comes into the world. Like all other children, Wilhelm's parents were given his name which corresponded with the baby's birth date and destiny from the Celestial Record. Given that he was the son of Jarnland's strongest earl, his parents were pleased that he had been given such a strong name. The bureaucrat finished filling out the form for the lad and was about to leave when the countess asked him what their other son would be named.

The Stork was confused. He looked over the paperwork that he had brought with him, looking for a sign of another boy to be named, and shook his head. With a shrug of his wings, he broke the bad news to the parents.

"I'm sorry," he told her, "but we have only one name here."
"Well that isn't right. We have two sons. We need a second name," she insisted.
The Stork was perplexed. He had to admit that there did appear to be two children. However, the Celestial Record was never wrong, and the Record insisted that there was only one name to give to the household. After a moment of thought he suggested
"Why not call him Willhelm?"
The earl and the countess looked at each other, briefly confused, and then both began to protest at the same time.
"We can't just call them both Willhelm!" "We have two sons and we need two names!"

The Stork thought that he was being perfectly reasonable. He patiently explained "Willhelm is a good name - a strong name. I'm sure that with a name like Willhelm he will have an excellent destiny."
"Yes, we know that and we're quite happy with the name -"
"But?"
"But our first son is named Willhelm."
"Yes?"
"So we can't name our second son Willhelm."
"Well, look, as far as the Record is concerned you have all of the names that you need."
"So Willhelm and..."
"Also Willhelm."
"Also Willhelm? Well, I suppose that will do."
The stork nodded, satisfied. He already had the paperwork for Willhelm filled out, after all, and as long as they were both Willhelm, nothing should go wrong. As he left, he heard the earl speaking softly to his second son.
"Now then young Also … "
Also. That wasn't a name, was it? Well, the Stork had a busy schedule and had already wasted enough time at the castle. He was sure everything was all right.

-

Throughout their lives, the brothers Willhelm and Also Willhelm were inseparable. Though Willhelm was older and expected to inherit their family keep and longboats, Also did not resent his place and was a fierce friend and loyal comrade to his brother. The pair went viking when they were only fourteen, and learned the ways of battle when collecting tribute from the Aes Sidhe. The fae had traditionally paid the Jarnlanders in glamoured goods as a part of their most recent peace, but treaties between the sacred folk and the mound dwellers had always been an uneasy affair. Peace was broken for the fourteenth time when a drunk Jarnlander pissed on a mound entrance near the mouth of the river where their boats were tied. This impropriety made that year's tribute collection challenging.

The young brothers proved themselves in that conflict and continued making their names known in the numerous squabbles between the Jarnland houses. They were an even match with axe and sword, but Also had by far the better eye. Whether it was with bow or javelin, Also became famed for his remarkable accuracy among the sacred. As a result, when Willhelm claimed a suit of gilded armor from a conquered Sidhe hall, Also took an enchanted sling and satchel of bullets to take advantage of his prodigious talent. They diverged further when it came to personality, though this was likely the result of their difference in status rather than anything inherent to their nature. While they had the same baritone,Willhelm became renowned for his booming voice and aura of command, whereas Also was frequently seen as something like his shadow, standing quietly at his side.

Given that they had lived their lives together, it came as no surprise that Also Willhelm was there when Willhelm died. Taken by surprise by a mountain's collapse, Willhelm's skull was crushed by a falling stone. Also saw to his funeral, burning the body in preparation for the Celestial Carp to claim the remnants of his soul and close the record. Whereas the Stork was a well regarded and frequently seen figure, the Carp was an official of much less pleasant circumstances, and she was typically seen only by the dying and the dead. As a result, when a wide, sleek figure came to the cold remnants of Willhelm's pyre, Also Willhelm believed it to be some sort of beast or desecrater. He drew his enchanted sling and immediately began to try to drive it off.

There was a fierce struggle - Willhelm desperately fired stone after stone into the pale figure, and the Carp desperately tried to figure out what this lunatic was shooting at. It had been so long since she had seen such opposition that it took her a while to even realize that he could see her. Since only the dead were supposed to be able to, she decided to check the record of this man to see if she needed to claim him as well. That was when she discovered that the infallible Celestial Record had an error.

"Well," said the Carp, "This is not good at all." Also Willhelm paused his onslaught upon hearing her speak, realizing that this creature could be from the Celestial Bureaucracy. After he asked her who she was, the Carp was forced to admit that, given that he could see her, Also was officially dead. Probably. There wasn't much precedence for this sort of thing.

Given that Also was quite confident that he was not, in fact, dead, he found himself in the awkward position of needing to convince the Carp to not eat his soul. Fortunately, she was nowhere near the stickler that the Stork was and so she decided to offer the man a job. While accidents such as his were all but unheard of, there were many people that intentionally tried to cheat death. While internal alchemy and healthy living were all well and good, when it came to necromancy the Carp was much less understanding. Those that used such magics to keep her souls from her were a constant problem, and she was far too unpopular to have enough acolytes to hunt them all down. As a result, the services of a renowned warrior like Also Willhelm would be quite valuable in releasing souls from their unnatural fetters. Seeing as he had never been interested in taking his brother's role as earl, Also Willhelm accepted the position and became the Carp's first human assistant.

Description: Also Willhelm is a sturdy blonde man that stands just over six feet in height. His hair and beard are both long and braided, hanging down to his chest, and it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. His nose has been broken and set a few times, and he has a few scars scattered across his cheeks. Like all sacreds, he has silver-grey eyes, but unlike those still living, his are capable of seeing clearly even in total darkness.

Though he still wears the long coat of chainmail that he had used in life, he now usually covers it in a cape of sleek silver and blue scales to mark his position as an agent of the Carp. Used both as a sign of rank and protection against the necromancers which his work pits him against, the cape is capable of deflecting most magic flung his way. As useful and honorable as the cape may be, his prized possession is still his glamoured sling. Made of a soft gold material, the weapon seems to blur and multiply when it is used, making it appear as though three or more slings are twirling at different angles. When it is released, all of the illusory bullets fire as well, though only the shot that finds its mark materializes. Whether this is on account of the enchantment in the weapon or simply its wielder's unerring accuracy, the fact remains that Also doesn't miss.

Aside from the cloak and his sling, his equipment all appears to be fairly mundane. He still fights with a sword in his left hand and an axe in his right when engaging in close quarter combat, but he has no particular attachment to any individual blade and the weapons currently filling his belt are an ancient looking pair looted from a cadre of skeleton guards. Part of his duties as an assistant to the Carp is seeing to funerals for those whose families were unable to provide them. In addition to his weapons, he always carried a spade, a skin of oil, and fire starters for this ancillary work.

Also Willhelm is frequently reserved and quiet. He lacks his brother's desire to take charge of any situation, and often has no issue with heeding the advice of others. He is used to being accorded respect as a result of his reputation more than his noble birth and sees no insult in not being given such respect before those around him have seen that he has earned it. That said, he is quick to disregard those that are unwilling to do the same and will usually ignore those that he thinks are acting haughty without a right to their arrogance. As a result of his line of work, he has developed an animosity towards necromancers and sees killing them as righteous rather than simply a part of his work.

Spoilerthis was gonna be a single post but it got long so i thought i'd split it up but then i thought well i've already written the thing so i'll just post it anyway