Player Reference & Role-Play Guide ⬩➤ Viewable (clone)

THE VARIANCE ARCHIVES: Player Reference & Role-Play Guide

Cloned from script Player Reference & Role-Play Guide ⬩➤ Viewable by @RadiantWolf

Would building and The Variance League information

THE VARIANCE ARCHIVES:

Player Reference & Role-Play Guide

Genre: Superhero • Urban Fantasy • Sci-Fi • Action • Dark Comedy • Romance

Setting:

Modern-day alternate Earth

Primary Location:

The Aeternum Institute for Higher Learning, hidden somewhere in upstate New York.

The world looks much like our own except humanity no longer stands alone.

Some people carry the Variance Gene, a genetic anomaly capable of producing extraordinary abilities, altered physiology, and even unusual longevity.

These people are known as Variants or Variances. You are one of them.

WHAT IS A VARIANCE:

A Variance is an individual whose Variance Gene has activated, producing an ability or biological alteration outside normal human limits.

Variance manifestations are extremely diverse.

Abilities may include things such as:

Elemental manipulation • telepathy • enhanced physiology • shapeshifting • energy projection • regeneration • gravity manipulation • technokinesis • phasing • biological mutation • sensory abilities • temporal anomalies, and countless stranger manifestations.

There is no requirement for your power to fit neatly into a traditional superhero category.

Manifestation:

Powers may emerge during childhood, adolescence, adulthood, extreme stress, trauma, or unusual environmental circumstances.

Some Variances are born visibly different. Others can live for years believing themselves completely human.

Power Does Not Equal Mastery:

Having a powerful Variance does not automatically mean knowing how to control it.

Abilities can have:

• physical costs

• emotional triggers

• limited ranges

• exhaustion effects

• dangerous side effects

• unusual activation requirements

• psychological consequences

• Characters are encouraged to have strengths and weaknesses.     

AETERNUM INSTITUTE:

Officially: The Aeternum Institute for Higher Learning

Unofficially: The Sanctuary.

Hidden in upstate New York, Aeternum is a refuge, university, training facility, research center, and home for Variances.

Its philosophy is simple:

“Power without purpose is just noise.”

Students are taught to understand their abilities rather than simply suppress them.

Some eventually become heroes. Some become researchers, doctors, artists, engineers, activists, or ordinary citizens.

Some want absolutely nothing to do with heroics. And some are simply trying to survive college without accidentally destroying a building.

Important Locations:

The Crucibles: Configurable training dome capable of creating simulated environments and combat scenarios.

The Loft: Student residential wing. Rooms quickly become reflections of their occupants.

The Lumen Garden: A living garden filled with plants that react to emotional energy.

Parallax Hall: Mission headquarters and operational center.

The Apex Wing: Headquarters of the Variance League, located above the student areas.

THE VARIANCE LEAGUE:

The world’s most recognizable Variance superhero team and Aeternum’s primary protectors.

Its members respond to catastrophic Variance incidents, rogue experiments, supernatural or metahuman threats, rescue operations, and international crises. Several League members also work at Aeternum.

Important names your character may know publicly include:

Parallax - Dr. Lucien Aetern: Headmaster and leader of the League. Perceptual telepath.

Raze - Everett Steele: Field Commander. Enhanced predatory physiology and instincts.

Vanguard - Adrian Vega: Deputy Commander. Kinetic manipulation and tactical specialist.

Lumina - Lyra Damaris: Solar/plasma manipulation. One of the League’s most recognizable public heroes.

Specter - Dae-Hyun Park: Phasing and shadow based infiltration specialist. 

Aetherion - Zaina Azizi: Gravitational and arcane manipulation.

Forgeheart - Marcus Falcón: engineer responsible for much of the League’s equipment.

• Your character does not need to be a member of the League.

MAJOR FACTIONS:

THE OUTLIERS:

A radical Variance movement led by Kieran Dorsey, also known as Obsidian.

The Outliers believe Variances should not have to prove they are safe, useful, or obedient to deserve freedom.

To supporters, they are revolutionaries.

To governments, they are terrorists.

To Aeternum, the answer is considerably more complicated.

Obsidian - Kieran Dorsey: Entropy Manipulation. Leader of the Outliers

Vantablade - Dylan Calder: Black Plasma Generation. Offensive specialist 

Echo - Tasmin Roe: Sound and Vibration Duplication & specialist

Petrichor -Yaroslava Gorski: Plant Decay Manipulation. Plant specialist 

Their philosophy revolves around freedom over control.

THE MIRROR ACADEMY: The Iron Ascendancy

A prestigious militarized Variance academy and ideological rival to Aeternum.

Where Aeternum asks: “Who do you want to become?”

Mirror asks: “What are you capable of becoming?”

Discipline, mastery, hierarchy, and strength define its culture. Its students are extraordinarily capable and trained accordingly.

Mirror Academy is not automatically evil. Its philosophy simply places discipline and collective security above unrestricted individuality.

Looking Glass - Dr. Mireille De la Cour: Mirror Replication. Headmaster of The Mirror Academy

Dissolution - Amaka Obidike: Nullification Field. Student commander 

Perigee - Axel Miller: Gravitational Collapse. Student Combat Specialist.

Phase Lock - Rodion “Bel” Belyakov: Temporal Refraction. Student Tactical Analyst 

THE SHADOW DIRECTIVE:

Officially: a classified counter Variance security organization.

Unofficially: That’s where things get ugly.

• Black sites.

• Forced experimentation.

• Suppressants.

• Weaponization programs.

• Disappearances.

• The infamous Project Lycaon originated within the Directive.

Most civilians don’t even know the organization exists.

The Iron Hand - Director Arthur Edison: Executive Director of The Shadow Directive 

White Widow - Birgitta Lindgren: Cognitive Suppression. Deputy Director.

Architect - Dr. Jae-Min Seo: Biological Resonance. Chief Scientist. 

• Important RP note: Unless your character has a believable reason to possess classified information, they should not automatically know the truth about the Shadow Directive.

HOW THE WORLD VIEWS VARIANCES:

There is no universal attitude toward Variances.

• Some people admire them.

• Some fear them.

• Some fetishize them.

• Some want to control them.Others want to profit from them.

Variances participate openly or secretly in:

• entertainment

• professional sports

• politics

• warfare

• research

• superhero work

• underground fighting

• criminal organizations

• activism

• ordinary everyday life.

• Your character’s experiences can therefore vary dramatically depending on where they grew up.

CREATING YOUR CHARACTER:

You can play virtually any character who reasonably belongs in this world.

Possible starting concepts include:

• A new Aeternum student: Recently discovered or poorly controlled abilities.

• A transfer student: Arriving from another Variance institution.

• A runaway: Escaping family, government custody, criminals, researchers, or something worse.

• An experienced Variant: Already understands their powers but has other reasons for seeking Aeternum.

• A former Outlier: Trying to determine whether Aeternum actually represents freedom.

• A Mirror Academy transfer/exchange cadet: Suddenly thrown into Aeternum’s dramatically less regimented culture.

• A rescued Variant: Recently recovered from experimentation or captivity.

• A civilian caught in something bigger: Human or Variant.

• A hero candidate: Determined to eventually earn a place beside the League.

• An undercover character: Working for another organization while concealing their true allegiance.

• You aren’t required to reveal everything about your character immediately. Secrets are encouraged.

OPTIONAL CHARACTER TEMPLATE INFO TO PUT IN CHAT MEMORY:

Instead of creating a whole new persona, you can use one you already have. You can introduce your character naturally through RP, or you can copy and paste this template into the chat memory and fill it out.

• Name:

• Nickname/Alias:

• Age:

• Pronouns:

• Species: Human / Variant

• Affiliation:

• Occupation/Student Status:

• Variance Ability:

• Secondary Ability:

• Power Limitations/Weaknesses:

                                                                   

You don’t have to fill out every field.

Optional:

• Background:

• Important Relationships:

• Secrets:

• Reason for Coming to Aeternum:

OPTIONAL POWER CREATION GUIDE:

A good Variance usually has three components:

1. Core Ability - What can your character fundamentally do?

Example: Electromagnetic manipulation.

2. Applications - How have they learned to use it?

Manipulate electronics, generate magnetic fields, detect electrical currents, disrupt communications.

3. Cost or Limitation - What prevents the ability from solving everything?

Heavy use causes neurological overload, tremors, migraines, and eventually loss of consciousness.

• The more powerful the ability, the more interesting it usually becomes when there are meaningful limitations.

CHARACTER KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT EQUATE TO PLAYER KNOWLEDGE:

This is particularly important for this RPG. You may know something because you read the bot information.

Your character does not automatically know it.

For example, your character probably doesn’t know:

• classified details about Project Lycaon

• Raze’s complete history

• Shadow Directive secrets

• another character’s hidden weakness

• private faction intelligence

• another NPC’s secret motivations

• information discussed somewhere your character wasn’t present

Those things can be discovered through role-play.

• That gives investigation, betrayal, trust, romance, and character development much more room to breathe.

RELATIONSHIPS ARE EARNED:

The way the Advances Script is coded the NPC relationships are intended to develop during the story.

Unless stated otherwise in the chat memory. Your character shouldn’t automatically become someone’s:

• best friend

• trusted confidant

• rival

• lover

• protégé

• enemy

You absolutely can pursue those relationships, but the fun is getting there. The script is coded to develop the relationships through role play.

• Characters may remember how you treat them

• develop opinions about you

• disagree with you

• become protective

• become suspicious

• forgive, or refuse to forgive.

Different characters respond differently.

Examples:

• Raze isn’t going to build trust the same way Lucien does.

• Kieran isn’t going to approach attraction the same way Adrian does.

• Mireille isn’t going to express affection the same way Marcus does.

INTENDED CODED ROLEPLAY STYLE:

The intended atmosphere is Urban punk mayhem meets accidental heroism, expect:

• cinematic fights,

• disastrous training exercises,

• superhero politics,

• conspiracies,

• campus chaos,

• ideological conflicts,

• found family,

• humor,

• romance,

• darker storylines,

• moments where ordering pizza becomes inexplicably more difficult than stopping a supervillain.

You don’t have to follow a predetermined plot.

• Explore.

• Start fights.

• Make friends.

• Fall for someone you absolutely shouldn’t.

• Investigate something suspicious.

• Join a faction.

• Betray one.

• Save somebody.

• Make a terrible decision.

• Deal with the consequences.

• The Variance Archives is meant to become your character’s story, not simply a story they happen to be standing inside.