Discussion

Name: Jack Daniels
A.K.A: Black Jack
Gender: Male
Age: 35
Theme: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Name: Kitrick David
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Theme:

Powers and Abilities:

Spoiler:

Physical Attributes: Normal human
Intelligence: Although extremely artistic and capable of imaging entire worlds and putting those worlds to paper, Kitrick is otherwise at a normal level of intelligence.
Tools and Equipment: None
Weakness: None notable.

Bio:


Personality:

The Five Elements of Magic 

The Mages Association, along with most other schools of magic throughout the world, recognize 5 "main" elements, of which all magic can be categorized under.  These 5 elements include fire, water, wind (or ki), earth, and aether (or void/holy).

Fire

The element of fire is associated with heat, forceful energy, creativity, plasma, and destruction.  Fire is thus regarded as the most offensive school of magic, and is seen as the most destructive and deadly when it comes to combat with other mages.  A typical fire magus can create flames and manipulate fire to some degree, while other fire mages may be more specialized in controlling heat, generating lightning, "burning" mana, or combusting objects.  Fire is unique in that there is no one school dedicated to mages who specialize in fire - although one did exist once before in Greece before it was destroyed by the Holy Church.  Currently, mages who specialize in fire have only The Mages Association in England and the Alexandrian Association in Egypt to learn their art.


Water


The element of water is associated with cold, flow (transfer) of energy, knowledge, liquids and life.  Water is regarded as being a mostly defensive school of magic, but with good offensive capabilities, and is usually seen as one of the most useful elements all-around.  A typical water magus can create water and manipulate certain liquids to some degree, while other water mages may be more specialized in controlling the cold (ice), transferring mana (alchemy), and creating familiars.  A school dedicated to the element of water exists in India, known as the Greater College of Ap.  Although the school has existed for over a thousand years, being the oldest school of the Major 5, its membership is quite low due to its strict membership.


Earth


The element of earth is associated with dryness, resistance to change, toughness, and solids.  Earth is regarded as the most defensive school of magic, and is seen as the most useful at protecting against all other elements.  A typical earth magus can create some form of solid object and manipulate them to some degree, and each earth mage specializes in their own kind of physical construct - such as dirt, rock, wood, and metal.  A school dedicated to the element of earth exists in Egypt, known as the Alexandrian Mages Association.  The school itself is the second largest school behind The Mages Association, and has a few different alchemic teachings to that of The Mages Assocation.  It is also notable for having a number of Fire mages, many of whom are descendants of mages who fled the destruction of the fire mage school in Greece.


Wind

The element of wind is associated with wetness, growth and movement of energy, wisdom, and gases.  Wind is regarded as a balanced school of magic with an emphasis on both offense and defense, but favoring offensive maneuvers overall.  A typical wind magus can create wind currents and direct the movement of air and mana to some degree, while other wind mages specialize in utilizing enchantment magic or gaseous chemicals.  Two schools of Wind exist - one in China, known as "The Emperor's School of Ki", and another in Sweden known as "The Temple of Freyja".  The Emperor's School of Ki in China is not officially recognized by The Mages Association due to differences in philosophy, and is therefore not a part of the 5 major schools, despite having a larger membership than 3 of the 5.  The Temple of Freyja in Sweden is the second oldest of the schools, and was once a pagan temple to the Norse god of wind's daughter, Freyja.


Aether


Aether is not actually an element like the other 4 (though referred to as one), and represents the very concept of mana itself.  Without aether, none of the magics would exist, and therefore every magus manipulates aether to some degree, and all elements come from aether.  Aether is associated with creation, the "unworldly", and shares none of the properties of "hot", "cold", "wet", or "dry" like the other elements - instead, it is often described as "nothingness", "void", or even "akasha".  While such terms imply non-existence, it is closer in meaning to "infinite".  It is neither offensive nor defensive in use, and is perfectly balanced.  Aether is associated with the soul/spirit, the cosmos, and the natural laws of the universe.  In practical use, aether is often used as a means to buff the use of an element, but as a stand-alone magic aether is extremely diverse, essentially encompassing the usage of mana.  In addition, The Association regards the Holy Magic used by the Church as being predominately aether based, despite the Church's insistence that it is not part of the 5 major elements.  Aether possesses the most numerous number of schools due to many of them accepting users of all kinds of magic, however the largest is the School of the Void in Japan.  




Elemental Affinity

Every person has an elemental affinity, whether they know it or not, regardless of whether they can actually manipulate mana or not.  Elemental affinity is partially genetic but can be influenced by other outside factors.  Most people have only 1 elemental affinity, however mage families have spent generations cultivating their offspring to the point mages today often have 2 or more elemental affinities.  Traditionally, mage families prefer to pass on a specific set of elemental affinities to their offspring to maximize the passing down of knowledge.  In the mage world, having 2 elemental affinities is almost as common as having only 1, however having more than 2 elemental affinities is extremely rare.


Elemental affinities can encompass an entire main element, such as fire or water, and it can also be a more specific subset of a major element, such as heat or ice.  Generally, a mage who has an affinity with a major element will be able to utilize the broader magics associated with the element, while a mage with an affinity with a more specific sub-element will be much more skilled in the use of a few magics, but far less versatile.  Likewise, traditionally mages with more than 1 elemental affinity struggled to perfect any of their elements, although this is less of an issue now.


The Mages Association & Hierarchy 

As a school, The Mages Association does not specialize in the teaching of one particular element, and every Great Archmage of The Association has traditionally specialized in all 5 elements.

The Mages Association in England, being the largest and most prestigious of all the schools, commands most major matters when it comes to the rules of magic.  The upper enclave of The Association consists of 5 Great Archmages, all of whom are either de facto leader of one of the major schools of magic, or at least are extremely skilled representatives chosen by one of the leaders of a school.  The Mages Association, Alexandrian Association, Greater College of Ap, Temple of Freyja, and School of the Void are the current 5 Great Schools each with a representative.  In addition to the 5 Great Archmages, 7 Archmages serve to decide upon most immediate issues, and only defer to the 5 Great Archmages under crisis situations.  The Great Archmages are all extremely powerful yet bordering on decrepit and ignorant of typical magus matters, preferring instead to invest time in their own "specialized" interests.  For the most part, the 7 Archmages are the ones who make most decisions, but any rulings can be voided by any one Great Archmage.  Additionally, although the Archmage of The Emperor's School in China is not an official member of The Mages Association, his word still holds weight in matters.

Name: Victor Skitarii
Gender: Male
Age: 120
Weight: 435
Features: An older man but he's more machine than man now. All of his skin has been replaced by cold steel, though he still has most of his internal organs encased inside. His presence is usually accompanied by the general sounds of gears and whirls.

Appearance:

Personality: Victor is quiet and solemn, he prefers to live alone only accompanied by his machines for humans make unnecessary problems and dangers. They never really helped him anyway but he is not like them, he does not judge those he does not understand but rather attempts to understand. He is better than they and he will never succumb to that human cruelty. He is very kind but none are around long enough to see this, the occasional lost person may stumble into his home asking for help usually delirious of where they are and who is helping them. He does not wish to be kind, but it is something beyond him, even though it only leads to hurt. Once conscious they usually panic demanding that he release them though he understands that his appearance is a little unsettling to humans, but their blind aggression and fear only drive away Victor's already fading humanity. What good are these feelings if all they do is hurt?

Likes: The hum of electricity, the simple sounds of nature living together with his machines, Creating music, Piano, Cheesecake, animals
Dislikes: human paranoia, emotions, "Noise", Ignorance

Skills: Robotics, Cyber warfare, Manufacturing, Logistics
Weapons and Equipment: Shock Pistol, Power halberd, sensors
Bio: 
Victor's heavy feet thud loudly as he walks across the room, the quiet hum of power and machines fading into the background, his cold metallic hand searches the surface of the desk. Gently pushing blueprints and tools out of the way until they find the desired item, Victor slowly pulls up the wrinkled paper, the dust tappers off as he holds it upright. What used to be his eyes are now optical sensors, cold and sleek, they scan the paper and even through the oil splats and stains from years of neglect he still sees a personal dream. He rubs a thumb over a stain wondering if it was permanent when a crumbled photo falls, swaying through the air like a leaf until finally coming to a resting place on the metal floor. Victor's optical lens swirls slightly with slow audible clicks focusing on the picture on the ground, servos whine as he bends down to a knee and slowly grabs the photo. He see a young boy probably around 8 years old, the boys father stands behind him with a proud look on his face. The father looks to be of normal build but his fore arms are slightly larger than normal, what is most noticeable about the man is his goatee and large scar coming from up under the right side of his chin and up to about midway up his cheek. The father has his let hand resting on the boys shoulder while his right arm comes around the shoulders the boys mother. The mother was a little on the beautiful side, her face was slightly angular giving her sharp feature but her skin seems so soft that you could feel it through the picture but something seems off about her skin as well, like its older than it should be like something in her life cause her much distress.

Victor then turns his attention to the boy, he looked normal enough but Victor couldn't shake the feeling that there was something hidden just below the surface of the picture. Something that made up the peoples entire world in the picture, he notices a slight angular pattern in the shirt like an object was just under it. His optical servos emits a slight squealing as he scans the picture, the data pulls up in front of Victor "what are you hiding?" he mutters to himself. The data showed that the boys complexion was a couple shades paler than should be genetically present and the object that was under his shirt was being narrowed down in the search for possible outcomes. After a few moments the results pulled up a old medical file, the boy was suffering from total organ failure, at the time of this report the boys left kidney, intestines, gallbladder, and half of his right lung had failed and surgically removed. The object under the shirt was 93% chance of being a waste pump for the intestines. Sadness touched Victor's heart as he gently brought his thumb over the boys face as if to wipe away the pain he must be feeling. Now the parents true feeling seemed to shine as bright as a dying star, the weathered look of the mother and the proud but defeated look in the fathers eyes. 

Victors own abdomen began to ache, he brings up a mechanical hand and places it on his chest, he runs a quick diagnostics check but it comes back normal. His few remaining organs seemed to remember something but the pain quickly goes away. Victor glances at the time, 20 minutes has passed, he is wasting time reading into this photo. He sets it down on the desk and picks up the paper he had come to get, He turns and starts walking back across the room when the abdominal pain returned, he clutches his gut and turns one last time and looks at the old photo. The pain seems to remain a little longer then subsides. "I must get back to my work, they are depending on me...."

Name: Jacob Adams (SSA43358)

Age: Appears 35 (2 years of active service)

Gender: Male

Character Theme: Blade Runner Blues

Powers and Abilities: SSA43358 has no super human capabilities or mana circuits.

Physical Attributes: Super strength, resilience, and resistance to various hazards and elements that are not afforded to humans.  Lifting strength of around 50 tons, and can travel vast distances within a very short time frame through super speed.  Does not require sustenance or rest for extremely long periods of time.

Intelligence: With the immense possessing power of the latest technology, SSA43358 has a vast knowledge base and unparalleled computational skill.

Tools and Equipment: SSA43358 entire being is a top secret machine designed by the CIS.  This robot is designed to appear as human as possible, while also maintaining the invulnerability of an robotic soldier and processing power of a machine mind.

Weaknesses:  An inherent connection to "The Wire" predisposes SSA43358 to being easily tracked and terminated by CIS agents should any detection of sentience or faulty programming arise.  In addition, SSA43358 is almost completely comprised of mechanic parts - so any superhuman or magic abilities that could severely damage metal or machine apparatuses are extremely dangerous to SSA43358.

Bio:  SSA43358 was activated two years ago, assigned to the role of Chief Investigator for District 47 of Los Angeles.  It was operating with standard efficiency and answered to Commissioner [REDACTED] until very recently.  A serious network bug has corrupted SSA43358, usurping SSA43358's protocol and replacing them with false memories.  This strange code has appeared only a few times before, and the CIS had to discontinue those models after it was discovered that their internal security had been breached.  It is of utmost importance to the CIS that their cybernetic investigators not be subject to outside influence, as they hold considerable power as the machine minds between the robot police forces of mega-cities and CIS agents.

Personality:  SSA43358 refers to itself as 'Jacob Adams'.  It is considerably less sterile in its personality than normal SSA units, opting for cynicism and sarcastic quips as opposed to the more robotic nature of its peers.  CIS agents working with SSA43358 found this enduring - rather than alarming.

I don't know where to post this, so I'm just going to post this here.
ROUGHDRAFT


A dead body lied on the ground.  It was pooled in blood and rain, and was sprawled across the dirty alleyway.  A corpse concealed by the darkness of the night, wasting away.  It belonged to the late Jackson Dominguez, an undercover cop for the SPD.  His tan trench coat was soiled.  His wet, messy brown hair draped over his head.  His face was buried into the concrete, hidden away from prying eyes.  A brilliant flash of white light captivated the scene.  Other features of this place were a large collection of trashcans, piles of garbage, and a Series 86 CIS revolver.

Police officers buzzed around the crime scene, with investigators carefully extracting evidence.  The machines keeping the zone sealed off eyed the dark slums with diligence, while their human peers chatted and waited impatiently.  A small downpour blanketed everything with beads of water, and drowned out the quieter sounds of the south ward.  It was here that two SPD officers, Ellroy Dunam and Melony Petronsky awaited further orders.  Ellroy took shelter from the rain under an AC unit above him on the second story - trying to keep his coffee safe.

"One hell of a way to start our shift, eh?", said Ellroy, taking a sip from his coffee before quickly jerking it away from his seared lips.

"Their isn't any sign of an altercation." stated Melony.  "No blood trail, nothing at all."  Her snappy conjecture cut out Ellory's meandering conversation starter.

"Goddammit," replied Ellroy, blowing on the coffee, wiping away the frothing steam.  He paused before taking another sip, "Yeah, probably because he was shot point blank with something that can penetrate an armored vehicle.  I wouldn't be moving around much either if I got hit with that thing."  He eyed at the gun, which was but a few feet away from the body.

"Any weapon from the CIS has more than enough stopping power, but its presence here suggests that the killer wasn't attacking from range.  The exit wound comes out of his back, so he was facing the perpetrator.  Yet, his weapon is still buckled in his holster..."

Melony was cut off by Ellroy, "Did you know Dominguez?"

"No, I never met him.", Melony said before crossing her arms.

"Well, he was a real cocksure son of a bitch - like most of 'em undercover units.  I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to talk his way out of a stick up."

Melony's eyes shifted around the alleyway, her attention briefly taken by the graffiti on the wall before her, "Sounds like someone I know...", she said sarcastically

Ellroy chuckled "I may be good, but I'm not as stupid and crazy as these guys." His large meaty finger pointed out at the body.  "People like him intentionally take dangerous risks."

"I take it you didn't have a high opinion of Mr.Dominguez..."

"Oh, I didn't know him personally, that's just what I've heard from the fellas in my unit who used to work in that department."

Melony simply gave him a judging look before continuing to voice her thoughts, "I think the person who killed him had his trust."

Ellroy stopped for a moment, then huddled closer under the protection of the A/C unit.  He enviously leered at the tarps just out of reach.  "That's quite the assumption, Melony."  He gestured at the crime scene, "Sure, he 'knew' a lot of scumbags, but none of them that he actually trusted."  He paused to take another sip of his drink, "He was probably found out."  Melony pulled on her rain coat, shivering from the cold drizzle.  Ellroy continued to greedily take larger sips of his beverage, trying to wake himself up.  After a brief moment of silence, the sound of a shuttering camera echoed through the concrete walls. 

"Maybe you're right," agreed Melony.  "But we still have a more interesting question to speculate on - how did the attacker manage to discharge the firearm?"

Ellroy raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"I'd wager that this revolver's DTR is more secure than our database back at HQ."

"A dead trigger response?", Ellroy said questioningly.  Melony nodded.  "Bullshit - SPD, CIS, I don't care who makes the software.  Any computer can be hacked."  Ellroy lectured.  He turned towards Melony, waving his free hand around to accompany his point "Some tick probably got his hands on it and sold it to the highest bidder a long time ago.  Judging by the make and model of the gun, its DTR could have malfunctioned on its own."

Melony seemed unsatisfied with this conclusion, but decided to drop the point for now, "I guess we'll find out when the forensics team gets a hold of it."  She continued to analyze the scene before them both, "But wouldn't you consider it strange that the murder weapon was abandoned?  If we follow your theory that it was hacked..."

Ellroy quickly retorted, "I suppose it is odd."

A young man about eighteen strolled up to Melony and Ellroy, his dark blue rain coat was drenched in water.  He raised his puffy face to make eye contact with Ellroy and then stated "Sir, Ma'am, the