The Phenomenal Fracas (GBS2G6) [Round Five: The Ambitus Phenomenon]
07-13-2010, 02:46 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by whoosh!.
In a study, somewhere in the eternal sway of the universes, a man sat in his favourite armchair by the fire and sipped red wine. Each movement was perfectly precise in its motion, a sharp contrast to his slumped position within the chair. The crackling fire blazed at his back and draped the rest of him in shadow. The silhouette of a sharp suit was still obvious, even if you had to overlook the ragged sleeves and other telltale signs of wear.
His eyes flicked over to a corner of the room, where the rich decorations of the walls behind him had progressed into peeling paint, general mold and decay, and a colossal mirror shard that reached to the lofty ceiling. In it flashed a thousand images in the blink of eye, swept away and replaced with equal speed that should have made it impossible for a human to process.
Fortunately, The Prestidigitator wasn't quite human. That kind of mess was far too inefficient for his liking.
He leaned forward deeper into the gloom, as if his interest had been piqued by a particular scene, but he slumped backwards almost immediately. He sharply chucked the remains of the wine over the carpet.
"A vacuum cleaner. And roughly a myriad of bearded swordsmen."
On the carpet, the wine evaporated into a cloud of brilliant butterflies, but the Prestidigitator was clearly not interested. He covered his face with his hands.
"Where has the elegance gone? What day is this when a damn cleaning implement may walk all over a Grandmaster? What of flair? And a skill? And a cock-sure glint in the eye as a gladiator stand over his fallen prize, then turns his face to the overseer of the match for the final confirmation?" There were murmurs of dissent around him, disembodied but clearly sharing his worries.
One whispered more clearly. In the background, the butterflies withered and fizzled in the heat, before blackening and vanishing without ever being noticed. The Grandmaster sat up.
"Host one? Why, the prospect is certainly alluring. To host a proper show, with all the glint and charm of a true performance sounds like fun. But I'm afraid that would require too much effort. To pick out, among universes of elegant and stunning acts, merely eight? I may as well challenge the Director to boxing," he drawled. Bored, he snapped the fingers from where his empty wine glass dangled. A flash of shadow and a silver switch blade had replaced it. He absently admired the gleam while the voices chattered. Suddenly, another separate one rang out clearly.
The Prestidigitator froze. "The - the Monitor? He has leftovers?"
A silence dropped into being and stretched out, punctuated only by the crackling of the fire.
"So I can just choose some vaguely correct combatants from there? No treacherous sieving of the universes?"
Mild assent.
He slid from his chair in a blur, smashing the switch blade into the glass with a deafening crash. Millions of minuscule chards ricocheted and swirled over the room, a lethal tidal wave of crystal. The light was blinding, but the Prestidigitator was somehow still wrapped in the gloom.
"Then what are we waiting for?!" He roared, booming above the cacophony, his hands and gaze raised to the stars blazing over the room.
"Let's make this a <font size="4">Phenomenal Fracas!"</font>
You know how this works. Eight players, eight characters, seven rounds, one winner in a fight to the death. The written word is your weapon of choice, with the most ineffective writer dropping out each round. If you still need to reiterate on the rules then you can find the original ones and a good read in this thread.
The rules for reserving are the same as usual, and they will be respected for two hours. Possibly more, if the other players are willing to honour it. No chain reserves and all that jazz.
CHARACTER SUBMISSION FORM:
So you want to join a Grand Battle? Fill this in and your wish will (likely) be granted. Please note that although the Prestidigitator would prefer combatants with a bit of flair and elegance to them, that doesn't necessarily mean that's what he's going to get. I'm a aware that some people have premade characters for this, and that it's likely they won't fit that theme. Don't worry about it. It's just more fodder for his moaning.
Name: The name your character goes by.
Gender: Male, Female, N/A, or Other. Sometimes if they're N/A or Other it might help to just choose a set of pronouns to refer to them by anyway.
Font colour: For post differentiation and because it looks pretty. Everyone's should be different, but #400040 is taken. Background colours are acceptable, but from past experience I'd say it's better to stay away from the shiny non-standard fonts. Likely as not they won't even show up for most people.
Race: The species of your character. This being a Grand Battle, very nearly anything goes. Sentience and some basic motor functions would be good though.
Weapon: What does your character fight with? Describe it for us.
Abilities: Do they have any special powers, specialised abilities or even magic? Tell us about it. This will give us some idea of what they're capable of, though as per usual it shouldn't really be an exhaustive list of what they can do, merely a guide. It leaves more room for you to get creative with it. (It should be noted that this part will normally be the main reason they were picked for a fight to the death.)
Description: How would you describe their appearance? How do they act? What are their motivations?
Biography: What has happened to them in the time leading up to their disappearance and entry into the Phenomenal Fracas?
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
MrGuy: Ripper Blackmask - #800000 (profile)
Anomaly: Syvex - #400080 (profile)
NotTheAuthor: Miq - #404000 (profile) LOST IN THE VOID
SleepingOrange: La Aguja del Dolor and High Priest Muriegro - #666666 (profile)
MalkyTop: Eureka Finch - #543948 (profile)
Wojjan: Riko (Scientist #31) - #804060 (profile) TORN APART BY THE RIPPER
granolaman: Tamerlane - #BF8040 (profile) STABBED, DECOMPOSED AND HATLESS
Ixcalibur: Thatix - #BF0000 (profile) ENCASED IN GLASS
In a study, somewhere in the eternal sway of the universes, a man sat in his favourite armchair by the fire and sipped red wine. Each movement was perfectly precise in its motion, a sharp contrast to his slumped position within the chair. The crackling fire blazed at his back and draped the rest of him in shadow. The silhouette of a sharp suit was still obvious, even if you had to overlook the ragged sleeves and other telltale signs of wear.
His eyes flicked over to a corner of the room, where the rich decorations of the walls behind him had progressed into peeling paint, general mold and decay, and a colossal mirror shard that reached to the lofty ceiling. In it flashed a thousand images in the blink of eye, swept away and replaced with equal speed that should have made it impossible for a human to process.
Fortunately, The Prestidigitator wasn't quite human. That kind of mess was far too inefficient for his liking.
He leaned forward deeper into the gloom, as if his interest had been piqued by a particular scene, but he slumped backwards almost immediately. He sharply chucked the remains of the wine over the carpet.
"A vacuum cleaner. And roughly a myriad of bearded swordsmen."
On the carpet, the wine evaporated into a cloud of brilliant butterflies, but the Prestidigitator was clearly not interested. He covered his face with his hands.
"Where has the elegance gone? What day is this when a damn cleaning implement may walk all over a Grandmaster? What of flair? And a skill? And a cock-sure glint in the eye as a gladiator stand over his fallen prize, then turns his face to the overseer of the match for the final confirmation?" There were murmurs of dissent around him, disembodied but clearly sharing his worries.
One whispered more clearly. In the background, the butterflies withered and fizzled in the heat, before blackening and vanishing without ever being noticed. The Grandmaster sat up.
"Host one? Why, the prospect is certainly alluring. To host a proper show, with all the glint and charm of a true performance sounds like fun. But I'm afraid that would require too much effort. To pick out, among universes of elegant and stunning acts, merely eight? I may as well challenge the Director to boxing," he drawled. Bored, he snapped the fingers from where his empty wine glass dangled. A flash of shadow and a silver switch blade had replaced it. He absently admired the gleam while the voices chattered. Suddenly, another separate one rang out clearly.
The Prestidigitator froze. "The - the Monitor? He has leftovers?"
A silence dropped into being and stretched out, punctuated only by the crackling of the fire.
"So I can just choose some vaguely correct combatants from there? No treacherous sieving of the universes?"
Mild assent.
He slid from his chair in a blur, smashing the switch blade into the glass with a deafening crash. Millions of minuscule chards ricocheted and swirled over the room, a lethal tidal wave of crystal. The light was blinding, but the Prestidigitator was somehow still wrapped in the gloom.
"Then what are we waiting for?!" He roared, booming above the cacophony, his hands and gaze raised to the stars blazing over the room.
"Let's make this a <font size="4">Phenomenal Fracas!"</font>
_______________________
TO REMIND YOU THAT WE HAVE RULES AND STANDARDS TO OUR MADNESS:You know how this works. Eight players, eight characters, seven rounds, one winner in a fight to the death. The written word is your weapon of choice, with the most ineffective writer dropping out each round. If you still need to reiterate on the rules then you can find the original ones and a good read in this thread.
The rules for reserving are the same as usual, and they will be respected for two hours. Possibly more, if the other players are willing to honour it. No chain reserves and all that jazz.
CHARACTER SUBMISSION FORM:
So you want to join a Grand Battle? Fill this in and your wish will (likely) be granted. Please note that although the Prestidigitator would prefer combatants with a bit of flair and elegance to them, that doesn't necessarily mean that's what he's going to get. I'm a aware that some people have premade characters for this, and that it's likely they won't fit that theme. Don't worry about it. It's just more fodder for his moaning.
Name: The name your character goes by.
Gender: Male, Female, N/A, or Other. Sometimes if they're N/A or Other it might help to just choose a set of pronouns to refer to them by anyway.
Font colour: For post differentiation and because it looks pretty. Everyone's should be different, but #400040 is taken. Background colours are acceptable, but from past experience I'd say it's better to stay away from the shiny non-standard fonts. Likely as not they won't even show up for most people.
Race: The species of your character. This being a Grand Battle, very nearly anything goes. Sentience and some basic motor functions would be good though.
Weapon: What does your character fight with? Describe it for us.
Abilities: Do they have any special powers, specialised abilities or even magic? Tell us about it. This will give us some idea of what they're capable of, though as per usual it shouldn't really be an exhaustive list of what they can do, merely a guide. It leaves more room for you to get creative with it. (It should be noted that this part will normally be the main reason they were picked for a fight to the death.)
Description: How would you describe their appearance? How do they act? What are their motivations?
Biography: What has happened to them in the time leading up to their disappearance and entry into the Phenomenal Fracas?
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
MrGuy: Ripper Blackmask - #800000 (profile)
Anomaly: Syvex - #400080 (profile)
NotTheAuthor: Miq - #404000 (profile) LOST IN THE VOID
SleepingOrange: La Aguja del Dolor and High Priest Muriegro - #666666 (profile)
MalkyTop: Eureka Finch - #543948 (profile)
Wojjan: Riko (Scientist #31) - #804060 (profile) TORN APART BY THE RIPPER
granolaman: Tamerlane - #BF8040 (profile) STABBED, DECOMPOSED AND HATLESS
Ixcalibur: Thatix - #BF0000 (profile) ENCASED IN GLASS
ATTENTION!
The most up to date scheming in all of this grand battle can be found here, hot off the press of cunning minds.
The most up to date scheming in all of this grand battle can be found here, hot off the press of cunning minds.