Welcome to Gaia! ::

DCCI Headquarters is located in an old warehouse not far from where Ophelia found you. It doesn’t look like much from the outside and in a panic, worried for both your life and your sanity, you try a phone call to your closest relative - but the line falls dead. There’s no signal.

“You won’t be able to use that here until I reprogram it for you,” the cat says.

You can’t tell if she’s scolding you or not.

She takes you inside the warehouse, and then up a flight of iron stairs where there is an iron door.

“Wait here,” the cat says, slipping through a cat flap that looks like it might have been installed just for her.

A moment later the iron door swings open on freshly oiled hinges. Standing on the other side is a woman in a long red skirt, with hair the colour of dark fire. She beams at you, gestures for you to step inside.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she says, “I’m Sailor Vulcan.”

As far as gyms go it isn’t the most amazing set-up you’ve ever seen. Everything from the treadmill to the boxing ring is obviously second-hand, and the training mats look worn out, but there’s a complete set of weights in one corner and what looks like a brand new door labelled “shower” so you know you won’t have to go home a sweaty mess.

An assortment of what appear to be everyday household items hang from hooks on the far wall.

“Sometimes when we fight, we have to fight with the most accessible thing,” Vulcan explains, crossing the room to take a golf club off the wall. She swings it so hard through the air that it zings. “Destiny City Infantrymen train with items like these so they’ll be ready for anything on the battlefield.”

Vulcan returns the golf club to the wall, puts her hand on an old battered-looking crowbar.

“I used to protect myself with this,” she says, “My dad patrols with a baseball bat. His code name is Big John.”

And then she smiles.

“Would you like to choose your weapon, soldier?”

Is this an event?

No. This is me experimenting with a concept for a TEAM that I hope will mean long-term, sustainable plots and RP for everyone involved. I’ve designed the HQ thread as a semi-permanent base for team RP that takes place at the DCCI HQ.

What do you mean by long-term, sustainable plots?

As far as I’m concerned - the more people involved in this game, the better. But the trouble with potentially large groups is that they’re difficult to keep up with and maintain for long periods of time.

I’ve set up Vulcan as this team leader, but it isn’t sustainable for me to write an introductory RP for her and every new team member. The HQ base thread is designed to cut through that step, and to streamline game play so that Amitotic and I can run other events as your friendly dungeon masters.

But, doesn’t that mean every OC has the same joining backstory? Where’s the fun in that?

On the contrary - feel free to consider the story intro above more of a guideline then a hard rule. The introduction sets up the space. You know now that DCCI HQ is in a warehouse. There is a cat flap in the front door. There is a fridge, and there are bunk beds upstairs. It sets up the parameters for selecting code names and weapons.

By all means you should not feel constrained by what I’ve outlined here. All of my Roster OCs are available to meet your OC at the door (not just Vulcan). If you want to coordinate with a friend to have their OC show yours the ropes, that’s great too!

If you RP even once in HQ then you have my express permission to write your character as knowing Vulcan, Syrtis, Ophelia and Mr. Rae (my token hot dad OC).

What if I want to fight with a sword?

This is not a question for me to answer. I’m not official shop staff - just your friendly dungeon master. In this thread I’ve set up the civilian weapons to coincide with things I know were considered acceptable in the past. Super Van’s crowbar, for example. And Zachary Esther’s lacrosse stick.

Dungeon Master?

Yep! I don’t really know what else to call myself and I’ve spent a total of like six hours playing Dungeons and Dragons so I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, but if you come and play with me -- we’re going to have some fun.

What kind of fun?

The most important thing for me about this game and this team is for it to have a story, but I don’t expect to be the only one contributing to that story. This means collaboration and idea sharing, and also - things like IC rewards and IC consequences. Your characters are your characters and they’ll get to make decisions that will have impact and influence the future of the DCCI.

There will be prompts for you guys to respond to and (if there’s enough interest!) hopefully an event or two.

(I think Ami has experience with dice games and stuff, so expect to see some of those~)

I want to play, but I can’t think of a weapon for my OC! Can you help me?

YES PLEASE.

Why civilians?

Because I love them. Also because they’re a really important institution in moonshop that I (personally) feel get overlooked a lot.

Can I participate with my powered character?

You bet! I want all ur characters. Order AND Chaos. Order characters are free to participate as full-fledged DCCI members and allies. Chaos characters - we need you for battles! Infiltration is also totally possible, but this is something that needs to run through me and Amitotic first.

Can my character get kicked out of the DCCI?

If you want them to! This is an example of what I mean when I say your character’s actions will have IC consequences and rewards. If you want this specific kind of drama for your OC then let me know and we can work something out.

Can we do a one x one recruitment RP?

The answer to this is both yes and no. The point of the thread you're reading right now is basically to cut this step out - because I honestly just don't want to do a lot of these? Details of recruitment can be discussed and handwaved so that we can both work on deeper connections between our characters than the 'meet + greet' style of a recruitment RP.

However, if you have a really specific reason for wanting this, and you feel it is necessary for your character's story, then definitely ask and we can talk about it. heart

Character Name: Nadia Ravenwood
Code Name: the cat lady
Choice Weapon: staff (literally just a long stick)
Who recruited you?: probably another member <3

I hope it was okay to post ;;

Character Name: Alphonse/Erytheia of Cosmos
Code Name: White Phoenix
Choice Weapon: Traditional bow (if that is too much, a wooden staff)
Who recruited you?: Ophelia (we can role-play if you want!)