AU Planning Meme

[bravenewmods]

Given the nature of AU, below is a form that can be used for planning purposes when plotting out your character. While it is not required to fill out the form, we encourage you take a look at the listings in this post and use them as a guide when setting up plots or planning character backgrounds.

<b>Player Name:</b> (What name you go by in-game) <b>Contact Info:</b> (What is the best way to contact you for plotting purposes) <b>Character Name:</b> (The name of your character) <b>Canon Name:</b> (What canon they come from) <b>Brief History:</b> (A brief blurb about the character, does not have to be overly detailed. This is used to give a basic idea of who this character is) <b>AU Ideas:</b> (Here is where you talk about what plans you may have for your character's intended AU. Reading this, others should hopefully get an idea of what you intend to do with your character's back story pertaining to the game's setting.) <b>Looking For:</b> (This section is for hypothetical things you would like to see, be it events, people related to them, whatever; canon parallels, character proxies, all of that goes here.) <b>Anything else?:</b> (Anything that you feel has been overlooked or that should be noted goes here.)

Comments

[trollycarbellwether]

Player Name: sxizzor
Contact Info: Message to sxizzor.tumblr.com or a Skype request to sxizzor are the best ways to reach me.

Character Name: Jake English
Canon Name: Homestuck
Brief History: Grew up on a deserted island with his grandmother and has been living alone ever since she died when he was a child. Since then, the only connection he's had to human society has been through his three internet friends (plus whatever movies and comic books he could get his hands on). He eventually meets them all in person, and, even though there are about as many problems as you would expect from a group of four horribly socialized teenagers caught in a love square, he cares about them deeply.

AU Ideas: I have only a loose idea of what Jake is going to be doing in this AU. Fairy/Normal type, starts with Eevee, kindred soul + delver (plundering ruins!!!!!). Grandson of a Pokemon researcher, eager to get started on his journey and become the brave tough Pokemon adventurer he has always wanted to be, thinks it'll be a blast and is proven both right and wrong. Still gotta work through the cultural stuff and all. But mostly I think I'll end up sitting back, seeing what happens, and making stuff up as I go along - which is conveniently in-character :)
Looking For: I'm really interested in Jake's canon character arc and I'd love to explore various aspects of it here! Themes about growing up, becoming brave, taking on responsibility, reclaiming personal agency, gaining faith in himself, rejecting deeply internalized societal norms (particularly wrt gender and sexuality), building a sense of self-worth/esteem/respect, and learning to solve problems instead of running from them. All wonderful things I would have a lot of fun with. But I'm also interested in Jake going on cool adventures, meeting new friends, and being cute and happy. So it doesn't have to be all heavy stuff.

Anything else?: No, I think that's it! Everyone prepare yourselves for levels of friendliness, cheerfulness, eagerness, and obliviousness that fluctuate wildly between "endearing" and "obnoxious".

[synchronous]

Hey there research buddy

[leadergreen]

Look at you claiming the second page like a boss :D

Green and Jake are both the grandchildren of Pokemon Researchers!! Can they be old friends and get into tons of trouble together omg? (Green as a child is an overconfident braggart but it's not like Jake's never dealt with those kinds of assholes before; also he's like 200% excited to talk about his obsessions with people. CAN YOU IMGAINE THEM LOOKING AT POKEMON BOOKS and talking about pokemon all day omg.)

[bravian]

Player Name: Julie
Contact Info: lightningbolt is probably easiest; PMing is also cool and I have both AIM and Skype, just let me know if you want them!

Character Name: Yosuke Hanamura
Canon Name: Persona 4
Brief History: Yosuke is a REAL LIFE MODERN DAY PRINCE of a department store in creepymurdersville japan. Several months before the start of the game, he transferred in from the big city to help his family with their brand new aforementioned department store, which unfortunately resulted in a lot of resentment from the existing small business owners. That kinda became the least of his problems when his actual flawless goddess crush was murdered and he (1) earned a persona in the form of a super rad caped disco ninja (2) made like seven new friends wow (3) never stopped crashing into garbage bins like a pro. He definitely has a major role in the game as the first friend the protag makes in Inaba, and as one of the most personally motivated to solve the mystery of the Midnight Channel (thus often driving the plot forward). Despite being a social dweeb who doesn't know when to shut up sometimes (and also complains about everything, and also ruins your stuff don't lend things to him), he's surprisingly adept at keeping the team focused and can be pretty quick about putting things together. If you're a close friend, you can count on him to have your back, and if you're a cute girl he'll be extra nice to you and also have no idea how to talk to you.

AU Ideas: I don't have a whole lot of concrete ideas yet but I was so excited that I couldn't put off posting here. His parents could be in upper management at the Pokéco (closest equivalent to a department store) if that's cool with the mods, which I'm assuming would lead to a fairly comfortable middle-class life. I'm envisioning that he would have been struggling with his career choices for a few years if his parents expected him to work with them, and that discovering he was an Enlightened would change everything--he'd realize he was capable of a lot more than retail, and try to figure out his goals from there.

As for his typing, he'd be Flying or possibly Normal/Flying, with the Mastery of Battle ability (the closest I can think of to acknowledge his strong combat skills).
Looking For: Castmaaaates, but also any friends at all! If you want a Yosuke to grow up with, I will totally give you a Yosuke to grow up with. I'm personally looking forward to having him deal with feeling like he wasn't very special at anything all his life to suddenly being part-bird and possibly growing wings in the distant future. (Also, teaching him Brave Bird.)

Anything else?: I'll consider myself a failure of the highest measure if he doesn't eventually obtain a Blaziken and name it Susano-o tbh.

[leadergreen]

I can't figure out whether I want to troll you or troll with you BUT EITHER WAY I DEFINITELY WANT TO TAG WITH YOU

[gravcon]

Player Name: Rift
Contact Info: sistercomplex

Character Name: Claire "Lightning" Farron
Canon Name: Final Fantasy XIII
Brief History: A former member of the military who resigns and ends up fighting against her world's incredibly corrupt government for the sake of her little sister. For the sake of making this as unconfusing as possible, I'll avoid using her canon's incredibly obfusctating jargon, and simply describe her as a magical insurgent who rides around on a giant horse to fight gigantic talking mechanical beings that rule over humanity from the shadows through some sort of bizarre rube goldberg scheme. Once she finally succeeds and defeats them all, she's rewarded for her efforts by getting thrown into a giant chasm and getting stranded at the end of time, where she becomes the incarnation of a goddess (???) or something and commands an army of monsters to fight another army of monsters forever.

She eventually loses and gets frozen, only to return in the very straightforwardly named title Lightning Returns.

AU Ideas: Despite how ridiculous strange and complex her actual canon is, Lightning's background isn't too hard to adapt to a new setting. Basically she'll have been orphaned at some point in her life, at which point she took it upon herself to take care of herself and her little sister. To that end, she'll have joined the Guard(ian Corps)s, and more or less chill doing that. It's kind of hard to really come up with how she relates to her sister in this setting in case anyone actually comes along who wants to app Serah (hint hint: you should totally do this), but if she's to follow along in her canon's footsteps, something would happen to said sister and lead to Lightning changing her circumstances.

For the sake of simplicity, I will forego trying to incorporate somehow making her a goddess fighting to defend the timeline at the end of the world (or coming back once the world is facing its demise in order to destroy it). Because that's just silly. (Warning: I will totally incorporate those things somehow if at some point the plot allows it, though I can't really see how it would).

Looking For: Lightning basically serves as team big sister of sorts in her canon, so having other characters she could coldly mentor and care about what (while pretending not to) would be cool. Likewise, if there are other characters who are going to be members of the Guard, establishing some sort of pre-game working relationship between them would be natch.

Anything else?: To reiterate: man having a Serah around would make creating a working AU for her much easier.

[lelisjaune]

So I heard that you've been stealing clothes from my closet. What do you have to say for yourself, Light?

Also going with the orphan (but later adopted) angle with Aerith here, maybe we can work something out?

[steeldragon]

Player Name: Dave
Contact Info: PMing this journal is fine!

Character Name: Gajeel Redfox
Canon Name: Fairy Tail
Brief History: Gajeel is a gruff, short tempered, fight loving Iron Dragon slayer mage and a member of mage guild called Fairy Tail. Initially he started out as their enemy, going as far as to brutally attacking and literally pinning up a few of the guilds members to put them on display and incite a guild war. But his guild loses and is disbanded and he’s eventually invited to Fairy Tail.

AU Ideas: Not all the sure. Probably would be a God of War Enlightened with Steel/Dragon/Fighting as his type. Would probably keep bits and pieces of his past, like he would have been raised by another Enlightened who was a Dragon Shifter and one day they randomly disappeared on him. I could probably see him as a Delver, if only because he’d get to venture forth and possibly encounter tough pokemon that he could fight with.

Looking For: I don't have anything specific in mind at the moment. So just castmates, plotting, anything. I'm completely open to ideas.

Anything else?: (Anything that you feel has been overlooked or that should be noted goes here.)

[triple_d]

Player Name: Minki
Contact Info: AIM at zeaob and Plurk at froncentrate both work well!

Character Name: King Dedede
Canon Name: Kirby
Brief History: Dedede's the reigning king (or at least, self-proclaimed king) of Dream Land, only because he has castles and armies. He does no real administrative work. In Kirby's Dreamland, he was responsible for stealing ALL of Dream Land's food and the magical artifact, the Sparkling Star, that grows them. Kirby kicked his rear and took it back, cementing their rivalry. But despite pretty much intentionally spreading worldwide hunger in the most cartoonishly evil way possible, Dedede's always been more of a bully than a mastermind.

He's been possessed by real evil like Dark Matter several times, helping Kirby beat them usually after being freed. Back when Nightmare was about to revive, Dedede headed off to the Fountain of Dreams, the place good dreams are born, and scattered the Star Rod, giving them to his best soldiers with the final piece for himself. But because he can't pass the opportunity to do something ridiculously jerkish, he bathed in the fountain for kicks.

So Dedede's an outrageous bully who picks fights and pushes people around, but he has lines that he just refuses to cross. Lines that evil entities and aspiring evil entities in the Kirby world have no problem hopping around. He's Kirby's biggest rival and Dream Land's resident anti-villain, willing to actually step up and fight when things get bad enough.

AU Ideas: Dedede's a Piplup Shifter. Though normally an already proud species of Pokemon, his pride was abnormally high, enough to rival the strongest Empoleon. It lead to him to being ostracized by his kind at an early age. Eventually, the Piplup began taking notice of human society and its incredible growth. It didn't feel as big as it used to and he developed a burning need to be greater. His wish was answered by the sheer volume of it and the Piplup gained human form.

In a place like Union where opportunity is open, he worked his way up under the alias of "King Dedede (King being his first name)", eventually reaching the position of a city administrator (or a high ranking Guard). He isn't particularly bright and received low marks on tests, but sheer tenacity and time got him where he wanted.

Dedede's main goal is to see that wall go up higher and fast, even at the expense of food, education, the arts... anything "unnecessary" (even though he enjoys his share of food and theater more than the average person). What I want is for Dedede to clash with people's interests in favor of his own military-focused expansion. More than anything else, Dedede's trying to make a name for himself, though in truth? He honestly doesn't comprehend that his personal actions will make lots of people unhappy. He'll keep going as long as he thinks he's in the right and the guy's only starting to learn what it means to live with each other. Piplups are lonely creatures because they're so full of themselves.

Looking For: People to regularly clash with! Dedede will be something of a one(?)-man fun police. Vigilantes won't go forgiven!

Maybe a particular rival like Kirby (or heck, Kirby) and a right-hand guy (like Meta Knight, who follows the guy for his personal interests... or hell, Meta Knight). This is probably asking way too much, but if an Escargon ever apped in, I just. I'd be at a loss for words.

Anything else?:

[shortcutter]

Player Name: Din
Contact Info: phindin

Character Name: Levi
Canon Name: Attack on Titan

Brief History: In a world where regenerating giants appear suddenly and start gobbling people up, humanity is forced to hide behind these big-ass walls so they don't all die. Levi is a captain in the Survey Corps, which is a military group that consists of people who are craaaaaazy enough to explore and fight these giants outside the walls with the ultimate goal of winning back their land. Levi is (accurately) known as humanity's strongest soldier and is The Best at killing titans by being supah fast and strong. He was once a thug living in an underground slum, then was essentially forced to join the Survey Corps after being discovered by its commander. Character-wise, he is blunt, short-spoken, rough and dour-looking, also 100% loyal to helping humanity and values human life very highly. He's also a clean freak, but still enjoys a good poop-related quip.

AU Ideas: He could originally be dragged out from a similar underground slum, though it would likely have to be outside of Union so as not to overlap with the Old City (totally works though, because members of the Corps would discover him on the outside while doing their thing). Definitely making him a God of War ranger, and the steel type will be involved. Thinking of including flying and dark type as well. I suppose the Survey Corps could still exist as a much smaller group of organized rangers whose primary focus is aggressive exploration (with a lot of tough, dangerous fighting involved).

Looking For: Other PCs to join the Survey Corps?? That could be neat. Sign up for a cool jacket with a side of untimely death! Specifically, I'd be stoked to have an older commander-y type to fill in for Erwin (or actual Erwin cough). I would also be happy to have younger characters — perhaps would-be warriors — for him to mentor or be bothered by. Also weirdos! Yes. He must be constantly surrounded by weirdos. Tall people too. Levi is 5'3'' so. Tall weirdos would be A++.

Anything else?: lazy

[comparative_insanity]

Did someone say tall weirdo?

Also we all know that Levi loves being surrounded by eccentric, overly enthusiastic science freaks that will stop fighting to gush over how amazing they think the thing attacking them is. He loves it. And this one would easily attach himself to the Survey Corps or a similar organization because hey, it's so much easier to do pokémon research if you trail after the people who go into dangerous and unexplored regions! Don't mind him, he'll just be making notes while you fight~.

[struckbylightning]

Player Name: Steve
Contact Info: Abnormacus on Plurk

Character Name: Snow Villiers
Canon Name: Final Fantasy XIII
Brief History: Big. Damn. Hero.

Snow's the charismatic young leader of a ragtag neighborhood watch (of sorts) known as NORA (No Obligations, Rules, or Authority). He's very driven and passionate, though he can often be kind of brash and irresponsible. He's also madly in love with a girl named Serah, and if something awful were ever to happen to her, you can bet he'd do just about anything to save her.

AU Ideas: Not too terribly different from his original background: Snow would still be a self-sufficient young orphan who grew up on the streets and taught himself just about everything he thinks he needs to know to make it in the world. He'll have likely established a small group like NORA as a team of misfit rangers who, while they may not be very effective, still do their part to protect those in need.

His type will be Ice (though I might give him Fighting as a secondary type), and I'd love for him to start off with an Eevee, and for that Eevee to eventually become a Glaceon. Because Shiva.

Looking For: Shenanigans, be they with rambunctious youngsters who join Snow and NORA, or with moody, broody types who can rain on Snow's parade.

Seconding our Lightning, a Serah in-game would be absolutely incredible as well.

Anything else?:

[yvnyet_uv_mekrdhehk]

You should also consider Steel for his secondary type. :P Since, yanno. STEELGUARD!

[yvnyet_uv_mekrdhehk]

Player Name: Korii
Contact Info: asondeiru, koriinchan

Character Name: Rikku
Canon Name: Final Fantasy X
Brief History: 15-year-old spazz who's smarter and more aware than she seems. She's from a race with swirly eyes (Al Bhed) that's openly despised by most, steals things, works with machines that are totally verbotten in her world, and fights monsters with a claw. Will move heaven and earth to protect her cousin, Yuna, and anyone else she cares about. Also, terrified of lightning. Wiki link here for further reading.

AU Ideas: I'm working out fine details with the mods, but right now it's looking like the Al Bhed are going to be a group of exiles who live in the Wilderness because they were kicked out generations ago for messing with machines that are totally verbotten. They still fuck around with said technology. Because reasons. The average person probably wouldn't be able to pinpoint an Al Bhed person, but it probably wouldn't take very long to figure out that Al Bhed are kind of blasphemous after talking to one stupid enough to actually say everything they believe in public. Also, they're keeping their swirled pupils (see icon) and funny language.

As far as Rikku herself is concerned, she's probably going to be a Flying/Water Enlightened (because speed and underwater breathing and massive weakness to electricity) with the Engineer ability. She does her best to be discreet about her Al Bhed background, and has been in Union since she was about 12 or 13. She's 110% for the idea of exploring outside the city, and will happily help groups that are looking to do exactly that.

Looking For: YUNIE! TIDUS! Other FFX people! Also, cross-canon CR is love. I've been talking to Snow-mun about Snow and Rikku having pre-established CR, and we'd love to get other people involved in that! Rikku's incredibly friendly and eager to please, so fellow friendly people and cranky grumps would both be fantastic to play against.

Anything else?:

[thehandhungers]

Let's get to derp.

[thehandhungers]

Player Name: Spazy
Contact Info: PM this journal or spazy

Character Name: Owain
Canon Name: Fire Emblem: Awakening
Brief History: A dark dragon god woke up and raised dead soldiers to basically wipe out the world. His world is lost with what's left of humanity slowly meeting their inevitable death. He is one of several scions of heroic warriors who die in the conflict. Lucina, daughter of the royal lineage, lead Owain and a group of other scions to the past to aid their parents in a time they could stop the dragon from rising.

AU Ideas: This is still a work in progress with a lot subject to change or be expanded on. Owain is already from a bleak, sparsely populated future. In his original world they are overrun by undead soldiers and a powerful dark dragon god, so maybe this place is a little less bleak. He goes on about being the scion of legends and having the blood of heroes, so being an enlightened will fit this purpose as well. I don't know if I am going to stick with the dead parents or not, I guess it depends on cast mates apping in. Since it doesn't seem like him being from a terrible future will fit here, it'll be interesting to work out the AU's with people who might be apping his in canon parents. I am going to have him go Master Trainer route because of his canon knack for caring for, fixing, and maintaining weapons like they are cherished allies. He's going to start with a Honedge and potentially just keep collecting more of them. I am thinking his type is going to be Fighting/Steel. He is going to give his Honedges grand names and care for them like they are heroes of legend. He's going to also care for his own sword in much the same way.

Looking For: Cast mates to help work on combined AU's or at least bounce ideas off of! He's a derp who is good natured and believes himself a hero. I'd love to bounce him off of other warriors, trainers, and what have you. The game he is from focuses on working together to beat your opponents, so I'd be looking to have him partner up with people for exploration and building on tactics together.

Anything else?: If he gets 30+ Honedges, I want you to know that you had pre warning this was coming.

Oh, yeah, working on getting red haired Owain icons.

[struckbylightning]

Let's be heroes together

[netting_nettles]

Player Name: Erry
Contact Info: Either via AIM at errycupid or at cupiditas

Character Name: Kariya Masaki
Canon Name: Inazuma Eleven GO!

Brief History: Kariya's from a version of Earth where the sport of soccer is (a) played with ridiculous super-powers and (b) taken absurdly seriously by, like, everyone. After his father fell victim to a financial scam, he was left at an orphanage near Tokyo and, now equipped with some serious trust issues, focused only on the game instead of connecting with anyone new. Eventually, he transfers to Raimon, a school famous for its soccer. He causes some initial trouble because he's a two-faced little shit who excels in manipulating others and presenting an "innocent" front to a sometimes very jerk-y interior.

But ultimately he bonds with everyone and helps Raimon's team defeat a shady organization that's rigging Japan's youth matches and abusing young players. Later, he joins the team on a time-travel adventure to save soccer itself from being erased from time and, somewhat inadvertently, future!Earth from being conquered by adolescent mutants.

It's a strange series, what can I say.

AU Ideas: AU!Kariya will have lost his mother early on (thinking of having her be a non-Enlightened trainer who met an unfortunate fate in the Old City), leaving his father to support the family on the own. That led to dad getting involved in a really shady financial scam and ending up with a ton of debt and legal troubles when it fell apart. As a result, Kariya got dropped at an orphanage supported by one of Union's prominent families at age 11. Not a bad place but not somewhere he fit in, and he basically cut himself off from everyone, skating through school and only really caring about Union's sports culture. Not a promising future at all.

Until his Enlightened powers start making themselves known and suddenly his future's important and people are concerned about him and god just leave him alone ugh gross. So, yeah, he's going to come into game minus all the maturing he does in canon, sneaky and mistrustful and kind of a dick. I'm thinking either Dark/Bug or Dark/Grass for his character types - Dark to reflect his shifty, deceitful side and Grass or Bug because his special powers in canon tend to involve "trapping" prey like a hunter. (So, entangling with vines/webs/etc. would be the parallel there.)

Also probably Mastery of Trading for his perk, because hey he knows what it's like to be passed around. 8|

Looking For: Most anything, but especially: Potential adventuring buddies, esp. ones Kariya could initially be a pain in the butt/rival towards. Maybe fellow orphans that Kariya might know? And also grown-ups that he could possibly inch towards a "We're totally not family, okay...!" family-like bond with. (Just about any canonmate would be exciting, too, obvs.)

[antiseptic]

What kind of adventuring do you have in mind? I'd be up for Jade and Kariya forming a bond of some sort (while being dicks to each other)! Jade is going to be a Ranger so it's likely they'll run into each other if Kariya goes adventuring out of the city.

[trashcanninja]

Player Name: Lauren
Contact Info: kivaember

Character Name: Yosuke Hanamura
Canon Name: Persona 4
Brief History: A city kid that moved to the middle-of-nowheresville called Inaba. His dad is the manager for a new supermarket called Junes there, which is successful enough to drive local business into bankruptcy. This, of course, makes him super popular! When the protagonist (Yu/Souji/whatever) rolls into town, they end up having misadventures into the TV World, solving mystery murders and having the broest of broships!

AU Ideas: Considering I made a snap decision to try and app about ten minutes ago, t-this is my beginning idea of him that is sooo subject to change! Criticisms or suggestions are open and welcome-!

I think Yosuke's family would have some sort of Farmer/Smith tradition - I'm leaning more towards farmer tho, since supermarkets generally specialise towards foodstuff than items. So Yosuke was born into a farmer family, and is sorta expected to be a farmer himself, supposing that that kind of stuff still happens, despite the equal opportunities thing this society has. Yosuke thirsts for something more adventurous though, not really wanting to spend his life growing plants for a living, so he's trying to either be a Ranger or a Delver.

Looking For: Uhm, I don't know yet! Just fun, exciting stuff - castmates or non-castmates!

Anything else?: I hope I've done this right...!

[indy_wannabe]

Ez here is also going to be a Delver, and already active at a young age. He's also kind of a punk, they could be bros.

[britannicide]

Player Name: Al/Artie
Contact Info: PM me here!

Character Name: Lelouch vi Britannia
Canon Name: Code Geass
Brief History: In a world where America lost the Revolutionary War, the empire of Britannia remains a world power well into the modern age and has colonized nearly a third of the world's territory. Lelouch is a son of the Holy Britannian Emperor, but forsook his title after the assassination of his mother left his younger sister crippled and blind. His father blatantly disregards the situation, instead sending Lelouch and his sister to Japan as political pawns. This is where Lelouch meets Suzaku Kururugi, the Japanese Prime Minister's son, and the two boys eventually become friends, a friendship which is cut short when Britannia invades Japan. The resulting conflict is ended by the Prime Minister's apparent suicide, forcing Japan to surrender. Lelouch takes advantage of the political unrest to fabricate his and his sister's deaths, ending his father's ability to use him as pawns. The two begin living ordinary lives under the protection of a friend of his mother's family, the Ashfords, and both using their mother's surname, "Lamperouge," as an alias.

Seven years after Britannia forcefully colonized Japan (renamed Area 11), Lelouch still harbors an underlying bitterness of his father, and is incredibly disapproving of Britannia's social dominance over its colonies. He is extremely dissatisfied with his own life, but feels he lacks suitable power to change anything. When he's mistakenly caught up in a terrorist attack, a strange girl grants him the power of Geass, allowing Lelouch to give an order to anyone he comes in eye-contact with that they cannot refuse. Seeing this as an opportunity, Lelouch uses his new-found Geass power to take on the vigilante guise "Zero" and lead an underground group of terrorists known as the "Black Knights" to thwart Britannia's hold on the world, create a peaceful world for his sister to live in happily, and take revenge for his mother's death.

AU Ideas: Reflecting his royal lineage in canon, Lelouch comes from a powerful, high-class line of Psychic/[Other] Enlightened (Lelouch himself is a Psychic/Dark type). His father his a well respected and influential member of the city council, his mother is a Pokémon Researcher, specializing in Shifter knowledge (she's a Shifter herself), and I'm running on the assumption that Lelouch's many half-siblings would also have the capability to hold prestigious positions throughout the city, should they so desire.

Oh yeah did I mention that Lelouch's dad has a lot of kids? Lelouch's dad has a lot of kids. And maybe a few wives. Probably. Casually flaunting his ability to procreate and also provide for his multiple offspring. You know how it goes.

His mom's death has translated to Marianne was doing terrifying research/experimentation she shouldn't have been (which is reflective of canon spoilers) and ended up being exiled because of it. The situation surrounding this discovery also resulted in Nunnally's crippling, and Lelouch has no idea what the hell happened, just that his sister is injured and his mom was exiled for no apparent raisin. And that his father, by virtue of being on the council did nothing to stop her from being exiled (couldn't really give a rip about his kids either). He's taken in by Genbu Kururugi (for the man's own gain more or less), which is a short-lived stint that ends in Genbu's death, just like in canon. Lelouch and Nunnally are then taken in by the Ashford family.

Basically, if there's not supposed to be a lot of corruption in Union City, Lelouch has seen pretty much all of it and is a little bit disenchanted with the idea of staying in a society which he perceives to be falling into corruption and stagnation. He follows the Pokémon Researcher education track up until he's 18, if only to gain the knowledge and then give his family a big "fuck you" when he decides to drop it in favor of becoming a Trainer, which he does in hopes of finding his mother in the wilderness and giving himself some breathing room from people. He more or less feels like there's nothing profitable for him to stay there, which is an oversimplification but hey, you can't have Lelouch without a little ~drama~.

In recent history he's taken up

Basically I've done a HUGE AMOUNT OF WORLD-BUILDING on his backstory and not so much thinking out what I'd actually like to do with him in the game. Whoops.

He's also got the Analyst ability because EVERYTHING IS CHESS. His Evolutions will probably involve some sort of bat/demon aesthetic things because of his Dark type (also Zero. Also Code Black.) which I haven't fully designed yet. I'd like to soften them with some more Psychic reflective stuff but what does that even mean? I've tossed around the idea of him being vaguely uncomfortable with some of these things because he's used to being pretty aesthetically pleasing/an attractive person and dark nails/claws are decidedly not pretty, but I'm not sure if that's a character quirk I'm going to keep yet.

Looking For: Canonmates?? Any more than my Suzaku is probably too much to ask with a bit of a dated fandom, but I'd love to see some of Lelouch's half-siblings join in, especially Euphemia, Clovis or Schneizel. If someone apped Milly you'd have my heart forever. If someone has any bright ideas or suggestions throw them at me I like plotting. :3c

Anything else?:

[antiseptic]

SO jade here was involved in unethical research as well although he managed to get off scot-free (for now). Maybe he knew Marianne and realized what happened to her? Although they probably worked on something different or Jade would have been caught too

However I have no idea if the timelines would match up. He's 35 now and probably quit around his early twenties, although I can be flexible with that.

[seven2zero]

Player Name: Vikki
Contact Info: PMing me at this journal. :V

Character Name: Suzaku Kururu(rurururururu)gi
Canon Name: Code Geass
Brief History: In a world where the right to Japan's store of the amazing energy source Sakuradite is highly prized and contested amongst three major world powers - Britannia (North America + England), the European Union, and China - Suzaku is the son of the Prime Minister of Japan. Then the Fire Nation Britannia attacked! In a convoluted set of circumstances that involved saving the life of his best (only?) friend, Suzaku ends up killing his dad at the age of 10, throwing Japan into chaos and resulting in the country's unconditional surrender, which probably saved a lot of lives from horrible battle but kind of totally left Japan conquered and renamed Area 11 for extra pathos.

Suzaku is consumed with guilt over murdering his father and the resulting turmoil (which isn't helped when one of his dad's compatriots says he should commit suicide for killing his father - in fact, it turns him into the passively suicidal wreck we all know and love). He joins the Britannian military in hopes of rising through its ranks and eventually getting into a position that will enable him to bring some relief to Japan's oppressed citizens - and maybe get himself killed in the process. Unfortunately, when that childhood best friend of his - you know, the one he saved by killing his dad? - gets it into his head to free Japan via revolution, Suzaku finds himself fighting to keep the revolution suppressed.

It just gets more complicated from there, but I think that's the relevant stuff.

AU Ideas: Suzaku is Far From Ordinary and he will have the Kindred Souls ability. He doesn't know it's special that he can talk to the Fletchlings that hang on his windowsill for the longest time, but when the adults around him find out his ability is put to a lot of use - since hopefully his father will be working with Pokemon Habitats and he might be around researchers a lot.

Thanks to the mods being AWESOME I can almost directly translate this history into Brave New World. I'd like his father to be administrating or even in charge of one of the important towers, such as the Pokemon Habitats or some such? Suzaku may even be adopted because (a) his father is impotent and raising children is an important part of Union City life and (b) he has the Kindred Souls ability, which is useful to his father's job. He meets his canon childhood friend, Lelouche, when Suzaku's father becomes Lelouche's caretaker as well. Then in complicated circumstances where Suzaku is totally convinced he is saving Lelouche's life or some such, he ends up killing his dad (probably was just trying to stop him, but things escalated. Did I mention his dad is kind of totally secretly crazy?)

So he gets placed in a foster home for young criminal minds rehabilitation, probably with the asshole that told him he should commit suicide in his original canon, and spends his life from the ages of 10-17 in a highly disciplined environment. He emerges from all of this pretty much determined to make it up to the City come hell or high water and would be looking for the most dangerous jobs a guy can take on - Ranger, Delver, anything that involves a higher percent chance of dying. It's then that he'll meet up with his childhood friend that he rescued and, yeah, it's britannicide/Lelouche and hopefully other, less passively suicidal people. =D

Looking For: Fellow Troubled Youth to be raised by Mr. Asshole-Who-Tells-Kids-To-Kill-Themselves? And of course, canonmates. ;A;

Anything else?:

EVERYTHING is better with spinning.

[britannicide]

You need to leave.

[antiseptic]

Player Name: Rei
Contact Info: PM journal or private plurk arrasailsup

Character Name: Jade Curtiss
Canon Name: Tales of the Abyss
Brief History: As a kid Jade was a creepy child genius who accidentally murdered his teacher and used a glorified magical cloning technique called Fomicry to try revive her by creating a copy of her. Needless to say, that didn't go well. He was then adopted by a powerful military family and continued Fomicry research until he almost got himself killed, and his best friend the prince punched some common sense into him. He then banned Fomicry research, rose to the rank of Colonel, and at age 35 helped save the world in the events of the actual game despite his poor aching old limbs.

His personality is quite different from his creepy younger self: now he's usually quite playful and teasing with his friends, prone to a mildly sadistic and quite condescending form of humour, all the while claiming he is always serious. Despite that, he's verrrrry competent and almost scarily cold and logical when the situation calls for it.

AU Ideas: Jade's life is much the same in this AU, except Fomicry fuckery is replaced by ghost-type shenanigans. Jade's gonna be an Enlightened of a ghost/something type, possibly psychic.

tl;dr version of his history: accidentally murdered his professor, failed to resurrect her with his ghost powers, got fostered by the Curtiss ranger family and became a respected researcher specializing in weapon development, all the while carrying on unethical and dangerous experiments in secret with the aim of bringing back the dead by creating copies of them. Sees the errors of his ways after an experiment gone awry, quit his researcher job and joined the rangers instead, where he rose up the ranks.

Looking For: Former researcher buddies/rivals/enemies! Hopefully both from the legal, official world and from the secret unethical side. Also, ranger buddies! Drinking buddies! I'd love for him to have CR with older or more mature characters who he can respect, but also with bratty characters he can mock and be mutually antagonistic with. Would also love younger/more playful characters who'd tease him back in return.

Anything else?: i think that should be about it! feel free to ask any questions etc etc

[condescent]

Joshua is somehow both a mature character he can be condescending with respect and a younger and playful character who will totally tease him mercilessly so this might either turn out amazing or horrible for everyone involved who knows

[myfedorarocks]

Player Name: Nin
Contact Info: plurk at kamex or aim at ninael88

Character Name: Dr. William Flemming
Canon Name: Metal Gear Ac!d
Brief History: Idiot Metal Gear villain who did research on creating a psychic super child who could then control soldiers because that's how the military works, right? Also he built Metal Gear and tried and nearly succeeded in convincing Snake that he was actually his partner/possible ex-boyfriend while also being blackmailed by previous mentioned psychic super child.

AU Ideas: Flemming is an engineer who has spent the better part of his career helping salvage things for use in the city. He's in charge of a small team of about five-ish people whose job it is to try and create either current technology or to try and make new ones.

He hasn't directly made anything in the game, but he probably was involved in making something or other even if it was a vacuum. He's less horrible scientist and more hard to work with jerk in this AU.

He also is possibly involved in an underground study of ancient weapons if any of them turn up.
Looking For: Someone to be a second in command in terms of the research party or otherwise an underling. As much as Flemming would want it, I don't expect to find an underling that enjoys working with him.

I'd actually prefer someone to be rather combative since Flemming is a massive asshole.

Anything else?:

[antiseptic]

well Jade got a job change to the Rangers, but he was a military Researcher in the past (around ten years ago), so maybe they had worked together before?

[highliber]

Player Name: Eric
Contact Info: AIM: EricOverbringer, PLURK: overbringer

Character Name: Zarvora Cybeline
Canon Name: The Greatwinter Trilogy
Brief History: 40th century Australian librarian/computer scientist who duels with flintlock pistols and declares war on ancient AI control space stations orbiting the ruins of Earth.

AU Ideas: She's still going to be a post-apocalyptic librarian, but she'll have a magic bird instead of the power to have people executed by firing squad at the drop of a hat. Her big thing will be trying to use ancient books to rebuild a computer, and doing illicit research on Pokeballs.

Looking For: Short sighted people to criticize her methods, smart people to have battles of wits with. VERY smart people to be horribly attracted to. People who see her vision for the future and think it's great. Fellow enthusiasts of ancient technology. A fencing teacher would be good, as she has a rapier in this setting (Her canon weapon of choice is a pistol, but guns are kind of fatal, and we frown on killing people in this setting.).

Anything else?: Somebody TELL me next time there's an AU planning meme! :(

[mopedsandtofu]

Player Name: Eric
Contact Info: AIM: EricOverbringer, PLURK: overbringer

Character Name: Beast Boy
Canon Name: Teen Titans (TV)
Brief History: Shapeshifting teenage superhero. He's green, he likes tofu, pizza, video games, and saving the world.

There's really not a lot else to say.

AU Ideas: He's a ditto shifter, and can thus turn into any pokemon (with limitations). His parents were rangers/researchers who traipsed around the wilderness with their young son, because they were well meaning but bad parents. They got themselves killed, but Beast Boy's powers let him survive. He made it back to Union, and now has a hero complex about stopping any kind of similar tragedy from happening to anyone else. After a brief stint as a Sword of the Savior, he didn't quite make the cut and had to leave. Now he's in the guard, which isn't quite so...intense.

Looking For: People to stand in for the other Titans. So a serious leader-y/plan-y guy, a grumpy gothy introvert, a cheerful alien, and an energetic tech expert.

[sixwholeplates]

Player Name: Tex
Contact Info: texside on Plurk

Character Name: Cecilia Adlehyde
Canon Name: Wild Arms
Brief History: She was a princess of a kingdom that got sacked, so she left on a journey with a hobo and a swordsman to save the world. She can also use magic and summon Espers Guardians. She's friendly, sometimes kind of angsty, and eats a lot. She also loves to read.

AU Ideas: Cecilia is from a noble house in Union, rather than a princess, obviously. She basically had a similar upbringing; her family sponsored a festival a couple of months ago, outside Union's walls, which was supposed to be well protected. Then wild Pokémon showed up and sacked it; Cecilia feels responsible (and a family heirloom got stolen) so now she is attempting to be an adventurer to get it back, explore the wilds, and the like.
Looking For: I definitely would love friends and such that she had! And people she knew and the like. Early on, I plan to see where the game goes, and then sorta move from there.

Anything else?: Nyet.

[stardustreverie]

Player Name: Kati
Contact Info: PMing this account or Plurk really. (GlideAisu)

Character Name: Marisa Kirisame
Canon Name: Touhou Project
Brief History: A runaway from a family who hates enlightened. Hops from home to home and tries to help out as much as she can.

AU Ideas: She's basically going to be a house hopper unless someone can convince her to stay in one spot. GOOD LUCK ON THAT. But seriously she will need a few friend to stay with consistently/people to rat her out ever once in a while.
Looking For: EVERYTHING

Anything else?:

[graffitis]

Player Name: Chez
Contact Info: ochrona

Character Name: Sanae Hanekoma
Canon Name: The World Ends With You
Brief History: Casual, coffee-drinking Angel who watches dead kids fight monsters to win back their lives. Famous street artist/designer under an alias. Hugely powerful; loves humanity and his city; offers cheerfully cryptic life advice.

AU Ideas: Ghost/Psychic/Flying God of War and a Historian, though given his abilities he sometimes accompanies Delver teams to help out in a crisis. Works occasional shifts at some Union café and is probably paid in coffee. Creates huge, colorful graffiti murals in the less-posh parts of town -- and is a designer in several areas -- under the alias CAT. Strongly believes in human life outside of Union.
Looking For: Anything and everything! Delvers to work alongside, people who know of CAT's artwork, friends met through coffee and chattiness. People to meet in the wilderness. Café employees.

[crimson_scholar]

So how influential are you planning to make Hanekoma within Union? I may have a proposition for you.

[condescent]

Player Name: Cappy
Contact Info: madcapjest

Character Name: Joshua Kiryu
Canon Name: The World Ends With You
Brief History: Acts like an obnoxious snobby giggling brat with a ton of knowledge he's not willing to share. Is actually God. Loves teasing people and getting under their skin. Cynical enough to destroy a city because he believes the people in it can't change for the better, but not a total lost cause. Gothic lolita clothing gives him stat boosts.

AU Ideas: He's a Psychic/Ghost type and formerly the heir to a high-class family of Psychic Enlightened until one day he died and was resurrected a week later (hence the Ghost typing). Now he's all about getting out of Union and alleviating his boredom. Used to intern with the Scholars, but these days he's more often than not found with the Delvers looking for anything interesting and working closely with Sanae Hanekoma. Hobbies include composing music and high fashion. Closer to twenty than fifteen even though appearances say otherwise.

Also he has absolutely zero respect for the gods. It's not something he really thinks about now, other than occasionally being disdainful at how much humans worship these creatures, but that may change in the future.

Looking For: Friiiieeeends. Snobby types he can connect with, broody types he can tease and irritate, fellow trolls, people who love fashion, etc. He's a hell of a lot less of a massive dick in Union than he is in canon, so he should be easier to get along with. (But not too easy.) Seeing as how he can somehow simultaneously be an immature brat and a fountain of enigmatic wisdom, he'll happily hang with either adults or teenagers.

[alwaysfaithful]

It's unfortunate that the only version of Joshua I know is his Kingdom Hearts version. But since he works with Delvers he probably saw Chris around.

[tinytactician]

Player Name: Jolee~
Contact Info: ceedawkes

Character Name: Armin Arlert
Canon Name: Jesus Christ It's A Titan Get In The Car (aka Attack on Titan)
Brief History: Once upon a time bb He-Man had a grandpa and some buddies and was hella cute and happy. Then his buddy's mom got eaten by horrible naked giants and they were all orphans and they joined an army where they can fly and kill stuff. Child soldiers in horrible situations: the anime!! Also they rly wanna have a beach episode. (Wiki is here for more info~)

AU Ideas: Okay so: in this AU Armin is basically a human Ralts, hairdo and everything. His Enlightened powers manifest themselves in him being extremely sensitive to other people's emotions, and in a post-war city, there are a lot of negative emotions, obvs. While nice emotions make Armin happy, sad or angry or scared ones tend to give him horrible headaches, leading to his overprotective grandfather keeping him hidden away for most of his childhood. The fact that his parents -- both Delvers -- died when he was little didn't help with this.

SO BASICALLY Armin is very sheltered, very socially awkward, but well-meaning and earnest. He just wants to make friends that aren't his Pokemon BFF (also a Ralts, duh) and see the world someday. He's on the track to become a Historian to appease his grandfather, but he has ambitions of being a Delver like his parents, or even a member of the Guard. Anything that means he can get out of Union.
Looking For: FRIENDS!! ppl to think he's weird, ppl to think he's interesting, ppl to tease him or want to befriend him in all his nerdiness. Basically since he hasn't had his in-canon transformation from believing "I'm useless, everyone hates me, I suck" to "I'm kind of a badass and my friends love me~", that'll need to happen some other way.

Anything else?:

[ladyofluminosity]

Oh no that picture.

Hello fellow sheltered psychic/fairy type, we should be friends! They can gush about history and stories and cool things.

[for_altea]

Player Name: Shar
Contact Info: plurk: sharlayan or PM!

Character Name: Marth
Canon Name: Fire Emblem
Brief History: Marth is a whiter than white prettyprince of a western nation named Altea which was invaded, now little more than a refugee. He eschews staying at the Union with the others and lives life on the road, helping small settlements in the outlands deal with things like bandits, wild pokemon attacks, and generally bad stuff WHICH TENDS TO HAPPEN in a post-apocalyptic world and no law enforcement. Marth is recruiting pokemon, man, and enlightened to form a militia with the eventual aim to take Altea back.

AU Ideas: As stated above, Marth's end objective is to take back Altea, but he's aware that he doesn't have the strength to even reach the border at the moment. Therefore, he needs people and pokemon in order to do just that. HOWEVER. Since Marth's been fighting for the good of the outland villages and settlements, he's become concerned about what's going on in his country too and probably it'll be a really long time before he makes for Altea, even with a full militia.

Looking For: I'm after~

- Fighters for Marth to meet in the outlands, and attempt to recruit. Being recruited means your character would travel with Marth, but your character's more than welcome to bail if/when they want.
- New characters which could put Altea into their AU, in order to be idk, a knight from Altea Marth thought dead but isn't, or even some characters to fit the unnamed refugees that Marth brought back from Altea. Or anything like that, I am so open for suggestion
- People to bump into on the road.
- People to bump into on a provisions trip back to union, or in any outlying settlements.
- JERKFACES. People attacking settlements, just being jerkfaces, etc. Anything like that works!
- Mist survivors. Looking at you, Rydia and Tiki >/

Anything else?: