Sample App The Copper

A. OOC INFORMATION

1A. WHO ARE YOU?

What is your name, or if you prefer, online alias? What is your age?

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2a. WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?

Where have you roleplayed before, and who did you play there? If you're new, how did you find out about us? If you play here, list all of your current characters. If you have played here before, but do not at present, list your prior characters here. If you are requesting a 7th or 8th alt slot with this application, say so here.

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B. CHARACTER SUMMARY

Your Profile/+Finger, +Advantages, and +Disadvantages are your face on the MUSH. They tell people who your character is, what they are capable of, and what their failings are. Please remove the examples/explanations below each of these sections.

1b. PROFILE

Name: The Copper

Faction: Confederate

Function: Tyr of the Lavadome

Series: Age of Fire-1

Rank: 7 Ensign

Quote: "They can hate as hard as they like, as long as they fear."

Profile: Unlucky since hatching, this copper dragon is the nameless outcast of his clutch, having lost the battle for dominance among his male siblings. Through an unlikely series of events, he became ruler of the vast dragon empire hidden in the underground Lavadome, warring against the Upper World to reclaim the surface from the hominid empires. As a dragon, he has great physical strength, although his body is crippled and he's hardly a typical specimen. The copper is unusually rational for a dragon, particularly for one in a position of power; approaching problems with caution and logic. Though new to authority, he manages his power carefully, aware of politics' dangers; though his rule is sometimes harsh, it's considered fair. Even if he doesn't respect others he will exercise civility. What his ultimate plans are, though, few could say. The crippled, canny Copper is a hard one to read.

2b. CHARACTER TYPE

What kind of character are you applying for? Categories are FCs (Canon Characters), OFCs (AU takes on canon characters), and OCs (Original Characters).

OFC, due to slight timeline tweakings.

3b. ADVANTAGES

This is a lengthy section divided into four categories: POWERS, SKILLS, ASSETS, and NPCs. If your character doesn't have an advantage in a specific category, just write down None or N/A. Some Advantages may fit multiple categories, in which case you may choose what category to put the advantage in. Wizards or other characters with many minor sub-powers aren't expected to list EVERY spell, but shouldn't have things like Wish, Teleportation, or Resurrection without listing them.

3b-1. ADVANTAGES: POWERS

List your character's POWERS. Powers are usually superhuman abilities of some kind, encompassing things like a wizard's spells, super speed, mind control, telepathy, etc. This can sometimes overlap with Skills if your character is superhumanly good at something like crafting.

Fire: The Copper can spew a volatile hot oil that... doesn't ignite. In any other dragon this would be fire, but this oil can still cause severe burns. Since it's still a liquid, it can seep into things, and it can also be ignited by other means.

Natural Armour: As a dragon, the Copper has a coat of eponymous copper scales protecting his hide. They're enough to stop arrows and small projectiles, or turn aside weak blades. (Effective against non-Elites, but otherwise used only for fluff and missed attacks.)

Natural Weapons: All dragons have certain weapons at their disposal, and the Copper has most of his intact. His jaws and teeth are strong, his claws are sharp, and though stiff from old breaks, his tail is a useful bludgeon. In spite of his somewhat runty size, his bulk is also good for smashing smaller targets.

3b-2. ADVANTAGES: SKILLS

List your character's SKILLS. Skills are exactly what they sound like. Things that your character has been taught to do, or which they learned to do themselves.

Dragon-Dash: Though he can't run for extended periods, the Copper can make a concentrated dash to overcome and subdue targets. This short-range sprint is meant for closing ground between a dragon and its victim, but it's not sustainable over long distances. Although his in particular is a three-legged gait, the Copper can still manage a passable dragon-dash.

3b-3. ADVANTAGES: ASSETS

List your character's ASSETS. Assets can be their Batcave, Stark Enterprises, their Evil Empire, etc. This can sometimes overlap a bit with NPCs. You aren't expected to list minor assets like owning a home, but if your character's assets are a major part of their advantages, they should definitely be here.

Holdings: The dragon empire is a sprawling entity. At its head is Tyr RuGaard, the Copper, herald of the Age of Fire. Its heart is the Lavadome, a vast underground cavern system hidden from the Upper World. On the surface, it boasts allied Upholds managed by dragon governors, which import valuable resources back to the Lavadome. Most of these are fairly insignificant, contributing meat and vegetables for the empire, but some of them produce valuable luxury goods, or metals for dragon consumption.

3b-4. ADVANTAGES: NPCs

List your character's NPCs, along with a summary of what they can do and the Power Level you would like them to have. This is a bit more specialized, and is meant for characters with named subordinates from their own series, or characters like pokemon trainers.

The Bats: These ubiquitous cave-creatures are monstrous things the size of hunting dogs, raised on a diet of dragon blood. Swift and sure in the air, they're good messengers and spies, and their numbing saliva makes them good for cleaning wounds. A nip of blood is the usual price for their courier-work. (No PL)

Uthaned: Chief among the bats, old Uthaned is the original grandsire of the dragon-blooded bats. He's better at getting around than he lets on.

The Griffaran: These half-avian, half-draconic creatures are the agile bodyguards of Tyr RuGaard and the Imperial Line. They're fast enough to rip a dragon to shreds in the air, sharp claws slicing right through scale. The griffaran are also tasked with guarding the Lavadome's Confederate visitors. (PL 28-31)

Yarrick: Former captain of the griffaran guard. Though old, half-blind, and unable to fly much, he's still a welcome ally of the Copper. (PL 28)

The Imperial Rock: Most of these dragons are servants of the Imperial Line, and they don't get out very much. Although they have no official active combat roles, it's their duty to ensure the Lavadome functions like a well-oiled piece of dwarven engineering, and as dragons, they can still defend themselves if they're backed into a corner.

Nilrasha: The Copper's mate, a former Firemaid and a cunning opponent all her own. Nilrasha is a keen huntress, and one never quite knows what she's thinking. Her sole interest is keeping the Copper in power, and while it's true that she has some attachment to the title of "Tyr's mate," her feelings for the Copper are real. Probably. Nilrasha is also captain of the Firemaidens, the defensive arm of the dragon army. (PL 30)

NoSohoth: The silver majordomo of the Imperial Line, he's in charge of arranging daily functions in the Lavadome, and organising feasts and other grand events. He screens the Tyr's visitors, escorts foreign dignitaries to the Imperial Rock, manages Lavadome resources, and generally ensures things run smoothly. He's also in charge of Confederate correspondence. (PL 29)

Rethothanna: An Anklene scholar, this large-eyed female has an interest in history. Her duty is to chronicle the Lavadome's history. She's also in charge of Confederate correspondence. (PL 28)

The Thralls: These creatures are generally humanoid creatures who serve the Copper, bound to his service for the rest of their lives, or until he sees fit to release them from that service. Although many dragon-thralls resent their service, the Copper treats his thralls extremely well. (No PL)

Fourfang: A blighter, a muscular and primitive race that are fierce and stout-hearted in spite of their lack of brains. Though he's lazy and slovenly, Fourfang is nonetheless dedicated to the task and to the Copper. Named for his prominent canine teeth. His tasks generally include fetching and preparing food.

Rayg: A human thrall in charge of engineering projects, a freed slave trained by dwarves in his youth. His importance lies in keeping the Copper's crippled wing functional through a mobile brace. A bit like an absent-minded professor, always dreaming up new projects. (No PL)

Rhea: A human woman rendered mute from some past childhood trauma, Rhea is dedicated to her dragon master. Her tasks generally include cleaning the Copper's teeth, horns, and claws, and maintaining his scales.

The Troops: As Tyr of the Lavadome, the Copper has an enormous army at his disposal. Strongest among these are other dragons (PL 28-32), but there are also subjugated hominids from half a continent's worth of conquered kingdoms (PL 20-28). These include humans, elves, dwarves, blighters, and demen. The overwhelming majority of these are non-Elite, but he does have lieutenants that have proven themselves. Troops include dragons, infantry, archers, siege engineers, and cavalry. (Troops may be up to PL 32, including dragon lieutenants or the Copper's presence.)

HeBellereth: Once a duelist, this hulking red Skotl now captains the dragons' Aerial Host, and nothing gives him more pleasure than the prospect of a good scrap. A veteran of many battles, his scarred hide and great bulk is enough to give the stoutest warrior pause before facing him in battle, but he's surprisingly jolly and tolerant... for a dragon. (PL 32)

4b. DISADVANTAGES

Excepting that these are not divided into sub-categories, these are identical to Advantages and represent a character's failings and weaknesses. We would like to see a minimum of three solid Disadvantages, with at least one of them being a deficiency in your character's personality.

Crippled: The Copper was badly injured throughout his life, mostly as a hatchling. One eye is compromised, his left wing is almost crippled and relies on dwarven engineering to function, his tail was broken and set badly, and one of his front legs is withered from a badly-healed break. These are all obvious vulnerabilities in combat, impairing his mobility to a certain extent.

Dragon Politics: Seriously, it's worse than Rome.

Fire: Most dragons can manage about three or four good blasts of flame before their fire bladders run empty. The Copper can't manage any. The oil from his fire bladder doesn't ignite on its own, and comes out thinner than it should thanks to an old injury.

Great Bulk: In worlds meant for humans, the Copper can have trouble getting around. Squeezing through buildings and other obstacles can be tricky, and outright hazardous if he has to be able to manoeuvre freely. Smaller, more agile foes could potentially get the better of him.

Great Weight: With a coat of fully metallic scales, the Copper is a very heavy creature. Even as a crippled runt, he weighs in at several tons, and he can't navigate places that aren't designed to support weight like that. Wooden flooring, bogs, sand, quicksand, deep mud, and other natural and artificial hazards could spell his doom.

Metals: Dragons instinctively hoard metal, but it isn't through pure greed. Instinct drives them to consume this metal to maintain their metallic scales, or their natural armour begins to rot away. Skipping metallic meals causes scales to become brittle, break, and fall out. Though he has a respectable hoard, if the Copper were cut off from it, his scale would deteriorate over time and leave him vulnerable. Furthermore, the mere smell of metals can agitate most dragons and pierce even the Copper's vaunted calm.

Supply Lines: Dragons aren't made for living underground, and the resources they import from their Upholds are necessary for their livelihood. Bleeding the Lavadome of these critical resources can be incredibly detrimental to their collective health. The Copper isn't exempt from this, needing the food and metals that come from the surface.

Underestimation: Dragons are proud creatures, and they think of hominids as lesser beings. This leads to nasty surprises in the multiverse. The Copper is a little more careful than his underlings, but he's still a mortal beast and still prone to underestimating the multiversal wealth of curious hominids.

5b. THEMELISTING

If a +themelisting does not already exist for your character, you will have to write one yourself. This should be a concise description of the setting from which the character comes, and if it is a modified/non-canon theme it should usually explain how it diverges from the original.

In the beginning, the Four Spirits created the land and its varied races. Mightiest among them were the dragons, who created a shining, glorious culture in distant Silverhigh... but this golden age came crashing down at the hands of the hominid races, who took their place on the world's stage.

First came the blighters' Age of Wheels, creating simple tools and learning how to harness these basic techniques. Next came the humans' Age of Iron, building on the blighters' base of knowledge, learning how to work with metals. This would prove the downfall of the dragons.

With the Age of Iron came the systematic slaughter of dragons. They fled to the most remote regions of the world to escape the vicious siege engines and weapons of their hunters, while others fled underground in their desperation.

Now, the dragons are poised to rise again, uniting (somewhat) from their underground bastion of the Lavadome. After a series of political whirlwinds, two short-lived Tyrs, and a final desperate power-grab to save the Lavadome, the crippled but charismatic Tyr RuGaard now holds sway over his fellows, ruling from beneath the earth and setting the stage to reclaim the Upper World.

From there, his dragons and their armies of subjugated hominids are poised to sweep across the land in a tide of blood and fire, wresting from the aboveground empires what they consider rightfully theirs... and perhaps Tyr RuGaard will not be content with his world, turning his sights on the multiverse itself.

C. CHARACTER INFORMATION

1c. PERSONALITY

Describe your character's personality, in 500 words or more. Give an overview of their motivations, hopes, fears, failings. Why are they in the faction they're in, and why would people enjoy RP with this character? Show that you understand how your character acts, and why. If you give us too little, you'll be asked for more.

For a supreme ruler among his race, many would be surprised at the levity of the Copper dragon. He treats his human and blighter thralls with surprising consideration, considering most would as soon eat them as look at them, and also treats his mate with fairness despite their checkered past. His dragons subjects are always given a fair hearing for their issues, and though his judgement is sometimes stern, he is nonetheless fair.

The Copper thinks little of his rule, and had in fact gained the mantle of Tyr quite accidentally – or at the very least, not intentionally. Driving the intruders out of the Lavadome had been his sole motivation; killing SiMevolant and assuming the title had only been a coincidental bonus. He takes to his duties with relish, enjoying the challenges of running the dragon empire.

Under his authority are the daily trials and tribulations of settling dragon squabbles, overseeing surface Upholds, overseeing imperial thralls, awarding laudi, making war against the "hag-ridden" dragons and their ambitious men out of Isle of Ice, and other duties.

Though there are problems from time to time, and there are headaches that come with such rule, the Copper takes to it with pleasure. It's a challenge, and (in most cases) much less challenging than the usual sort of life-threatening types that he once faced.

Unlike many dragons, he is concerned with matters beyond where his next meal comes from, and enjoys learning about things; a trait for which many cite potential Anklene heritage (and sometimes whisper disapprovingly about). He likes to understand things, to know better how to use them for his advantage; and sometimes, more rarely, knowing for the sake of knowing.

There are several individuals the Copper views with respect, even though he may not seem to have a use for very many individuals in his current station.

First of the line is Tyr FeHazathant, the adoptive grandfather that took him in and gave him a name. If not for the Tyr's intervention, he would never have had a home, or a place to (somewhat) belong.

In a roundabout sort of way, he also looks well on the griffaran, who inadvertently saved him. Were it not for the intervention of the griffaran, no matter how mistaken they were, he'd still be roaming around the Lower World. There he would have eventually died, bones returning to the cold earth.

The Copper also has a healthy respect for his human thrall, Rayg. If not for Rayg, he would never have flown, his damaged wing unable to open fully without the aid of complicated machinery to stabilize it. He is wary of the thrall's intelligence, but he respects that Rayg holds contracts as sacrosanct, thanks to his dwarf training. His freedom won't come until he finishes building a great bridge through the Tooth Cavern, and with the way Rayg gets distracted... well, the Copper can expect to have his wing seen to for quite a long time.

Nilrasha is another important figure in the Copper's life. Though he admires her for a great many reasons, he will never fully trust her, either. He still suspects that she murdered Halaflora, as there were no witnesses but his human thrall, Rhea, a mute. Most times he tries not to think too hard about it; it only serves to put him into a dark mood, and accomplishes nothing.

Lastly is Halaflora herself; sweet, quiet, sickly Halaflora, either killed through happenstance accident or murdered by the premeditation of Nilrasha. Though their arranged pairing was not something the Copper had approved of at first, he had grown to like the quiet Imperial daughter; she understood him, and to him, that counted for much. He still feels guilty over her death, and he still hasn't fully ruled out the possibility that Halaflora was murdered by Nilrasha. The Copper is loyal even to her memory, and will not suffer insult or slight against the dead dragonelle.

Where his newfound power is concerned, the Copper is extremely wary. He navigates those treacherous waters with care, well aware that the slightest metaphorical misstep could cost him his life. Dragon politics are vicious, and they are in many ways more short-sighted and ambitious than the humanoid empires they hold sway over.

Many others would oust him through political means or have him outright assassinated for the power he wields; there are some who don't agree with him as the choice of Tyr. For now, they wouldn't act on it, and in his eyes, it's up to the Copper to make sure they stay powerless. He's never been one for politicking in the past, but thanks to the potentially precarious situation he finds himself in now, he's had to learn quickly.

His favourite schemes are ones of elegance and simplicity; the better to not backfire in horrible ways.

Where the war between the Union and Confederacy is concerned, the Copper is a little more aloof. He views the Union and the Confederacy on fairly equal terms, not quite certain of what to make of their ideology. After some internal debate, the Copper decided to ally himself with the Confederacy, observing that the Union is more inclined to meddle in his rule and muck about with his territories. The Confederacy, however, will let him run things the way he wants to, and leave his Upholds (and their attached Upholders) alone.

He feels no inherent disgust or derision towards the Union; at the end of the day, they just don't matter to him. The Union is just one more obstacle for him to remove in the path to conquering worlds in the name of the dragons. It's nothing personal, just business. That they behave in a manner contrary to their own survival puzzles him. He does, however, have some respect for its commanders – anyone who can beat some form of uniformity out of such a diverse group deserves some token show of respect.

The Confederacy itself is a strange beast. Never before has the Copper dealt with such an alarmingly diverse force, and while there are moments of culture shock from time to time – having to adapt to the idea of dealing with such a bewildering variety of life forms, for example – the Copper is generally even-keel about it.

He views them with distant interest, interested in their methodologies and the like. Though on the surface it seems like a vast alliance of humanoids in various states of competency, the Copper grasps the notion of Elites, and understands that they're not the same barbarian hordes that he seeks to conquer.

2c. BACKGROUND

Give us a short and concise overview of your character's background. More thorough backgrounds are expected of non-canon takes on characters, high-powered original characters, and some other special cases. Otherwise, keep this shorter than your personality section.

The Copper hatched as the runt of his clutch. He lost the battle for dominance among his male siblings, crippling him and marking him outcast; after betraying his family, he fled to the Lower World in shame, wandering until an accidental rescue brought him to the Lavadome, the hidden dragon empire. More accidental happenstance saw him adopted into the ruling line as a grandson and given a name, Rugaard.

Still more accidental happenings shuffled him around various posts as he learned the history of his benefactors (and grew to learn that the politics were worse than Rome, seriously). Politics saw several changes of leaders but the Copper was never really considered a threat.

Then, humans riding subjugated dragons invaded the Lavadome's aboveground holdings, their actions declaring war. The current Tyr, leader of the Lavadome, was tangled in politics and wanted to join the free dragon empire with the dragon-riders and dragon-hunters through some mad alliance, which would have spelled dragonkind's doom.

The Copper was drawn into a group of seven rebels who saw the inherent stupidity in this plan. Through an ingenious plan to use his blood-sucking bats to bleed the humans' riding-dragons dry, they were virtually dead before they could even take off. The usurper-Tyr challenged him to a duel, naming the human dragonslayer, the Dragonblade, as his champion; through sheer accidental happenstance, the crippled Copper managed to kill the man.

So ended the reign of the usurper-Tyrs, and so began the rule of Tyr RuGaard, cripple, and thoroughly cunning dragon, ushering in the new Age of Gates...

3c. POWER LEVEL

Put your desired Power Level (see Power Levels) range here, and justify it to us.

PL 32.

Though he himself is crippled and merits no more than a PL 28 on solitary terms, the Copper does have command of many dragons and stranger creatures that support him and will do battle at his word.

4c. SAMPLE POSE

Include a sample pose here, if you like. This field is mandatory for Guests, optional for standing/returning players. If you include a sample pose, it should be at least 150 characters long, should include both action and dialogue, and should not focus on how strong your character is. Do a mini-scene with somebody if you want! Staff may occasionally request a sample pose during the revisions process (if there is one), so it never hurts to put one in anyway.

N/A.

5c. MISCELLANEOUS

This is just a miscellaneous field. If you have any notes or special requests (potential defection notices, for example), this is the place to put them.

N/A.

6c. +INFO FILES (OPTIONAL)

If you wish to use our +info system to have Staff-approved extensions to your Advantages, this is where they should go.

N/A.

6c. +INFO FILES CONT'D (OPTIONAL)

If you request more than one or two +info files, please include a formatted version of each file that you are requesting. This is so staff does not have to hand-format every file (which are by design allowed more wordiness than regular +powers/+flaws), which can slow processing down considerably. For example:

N/A.