Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Four: City of the Dead)

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Time flows strangely for those who can cross the boundaries between universes.

For Arnold Fogge, it had been a few hours since his selected combatant had won the Grand Battle. It had also been five months and sixteen days. It had also been a thousand years.

Regardless of how he chose to measure the time, there was one constant - he was bored now.

Oh, granted, more battles had popped up since the first had begun - or possibly before then, depending on temporal perspective. But those hadn't been the same. He wasn't involved in them. It wasn't even the fact that he had a stake in the outcome; it was his ability to influence the battle, even if only by selecting the most unorthodox contestant.

The fact that said contestant had won the battle was simply the icing on the cake.

Then Fogge's perpetual smile grew slightly wider.

What if he selected eight combatants?

For the course of the Grand Battle, his ability to manipulate the dimensions had been held in check by the Director. But the battle had ended. The restrictions were no longer in place. He was entirely capable of locating fighters for a battle of his own.

Ah, but he would need a suitable identity, wouldn't he? The Director, the Observer, the Composer... for them, it was always about the title. He couldn't simply present himself as Arnold Fogge. No, he would have to be The Something. But what?

He got up from his chair, and by the time he turned around, it had been replaced with a chest. He opened it, and found precisely what he was looking for.

A colorful outfit, a mask, a deck of Tarot cards, and a scepter.

In the space of a moment, he donned them.

The man who was once Arnold Fogge was now The Fool. At least while it suited him to be so.

With that critical task done, he turned his attention to the multiverse, looking for contestants.

And while he was at it, he sought out other beings like himself. After all, he thought, where's the fun in only starting one battle?



Welcome to The Grand Battle Season 3. Thanks to gloomyMoron for the logo!

RULES
Most of you with some interest in this are probably aware of the basics by now, and you can check numerous topics (particularly the first battle) for the rules, but I'll go over them again in case anybody's new. There are also a few new points to be covered while we're at it.

There will be eight players. Each of the players submits a character. Those characters will be thrust into a battle to the death, with no advance knowledge. (Unless you can work said advance knowledge into your character concept and I accept it. It has happened before.)

One of the things that makes this game distinctive is that you can write for another player's character if you want them to do something. Just make sure you can justify why they'd do it. ("Because it would be cool!" may work as a justification, but not if they're acting seriously out of character.)

Every round, one character dies, possibly two in the case of severe inactivity or resignations. Ideally this won't happen and we will have seven rounds.

At the end of each round, whichever player has the worst writing will have their character eliminated. As host of this battle, I have the final say in who goes, but I will be looking for opinions from the other players and the readers to guide my decision.
Avoid godmodding, watch out for plot holes, and keep an eye on your spelling and grammar - we aren't total sticklers about that, but we do appreciate polished writing.
Also - you may not kill another character until they have been marked for death. The writer of the respective character gets the first shot at writing their death scene; if they pass it up or take too long, I will either write it myself or pass the duty on to another player.

Related to the above is a new rule, which we have generally been following but I am now going to make explicit. Do not inflict permanent damage to another character without the permission of their player. This doesn't apply to characters who are marked for elimination, but for the rest of the round, contact another player if you want to make their character lose an eye or break their legendary sword. If they aren't up for playing the game that way, then don't try to make them do it.

The most important rule is, make the story interesting. To this end, feel free to plot and scheme with your fellow players, either over PMs or by hopping into #grandbattle on EsperNet. This may technically be a competition, but we tend to play it cooperatively for the sake of getting a better story out of it.

Some tips: Take opportunities to interact with other characters, and even more importantly, take risks with your own character. Passing up chances to get your character in the thick of things can really hurt you in the long run.

Also, we have a lot of characters die due to lack of commitment. Please please PLEASE try to stay active.

And now, the signup sheet!

Username: Yes I know it's on the side of your post, stick it in anyways. It is a tradition, shut up.
Name: Your character's name, obviously.
Gender: Gender. If unusual or not applicable, note this here.
Race: Your species. This can be pretty much anything, and we mean anything. The very first battle was won by an undead vacuum cleaner, and we've had much weirder entrants since. Or you can be a human, that's cool too.
Color: Pick a color that you'll post in, and your character speaks in. Helps differentiate the posts and dialogue. 0034DF is reserved for my use, so make sure it's distinct from that at a glance.
Weapons/Abilities: What crazy things can your character do? What weapons do they have? Maybe the weapons and ability are the same thing, who knows! Basically, here is where you explain how they fight.
Description: Here we want a physical description of your character, as well as an outline of their personality. This is important in helping other characters figure out how to work with yours.
Biography: What did your character do before joining this battle? This is an important section to fill out, because it will give me an idea of how you intend to run the character. I am going to be picking out the characters I find the most interesting after leaving signups open for a day or so, and this section is probably your best chance to sell me on them and give me a sense of how well you'll be writing.

One last thing. There will be eight battles this season. No player may enter more than three battles in this season. As wonderful as all of Malky's characters in S2 were, we want to have a chance at getting some new players involved.

There will also be a championship battle for the winners of the eight regular battles, but that is aaages away.

That's pretty much it! Now, swarm me with characters. I know you've all been waiting for this to start up.

1. Anomaly - Dr. Tengeri Nyoka - #00FF98, background #0070FF - profile
2. Lankie - Murdoch Miles - #000066 - profile
3. Schazer - Benjamin Jetsam - #4B647D - profile
4. Pinary - Tor Kajan - #702020 - profile
5. Lord Paradise - Saint Scofflaw - #003300 - profile
6. Valter - Kerak - #337014 - profile
7. Solaris - Velobo Calidad (aka 2106062) - #9A0000 - profile
8. SleepingOrange - TinTen Naamxe and Huebert Henderson - #333399 - profile