Welcome to Gaia! ::

During World War II, the hero known as Captain America gathered together the first group of super-powered individuals. Calling themselves "The Invaders" they were responsible for turning the tide in what was proving to be a costly war on all sides. During a secret mission near the close of the war, Captain America and the Invaders were sent to a secret Arctic Lab on a tip that the Nazis were developping a weapon that may have been capable of overwhelming the allies. The mission put them up against a host of engineered metahumans created by the Nazi regime.

Captain America was thought to have been killed during the battle. His body was never found, but his shield was later recoverred by an expedition during the 1960's.

After World War II, the surviving members of the Invaders formed the organization known as the Justice Society. A secret society dedicated to the education and training of super human individuals in the hopes of using their combined powers for the betterment of mankind. At the core was a publicly known team of super humans, several of whom had been part of the Invaders. Deeming the name Invaders too threatening and misleading for their cause, they decided to call themselves "The Avengers".

As membership of the Justice Society grew, so too did their roster of active teams. Eventually, they society became known as the Justice League. A League of Superhuman teams with the Avengers as their Flagship. Few people are aware that many of the active teams were linked under the continued secret society in the legacy of the Justice Society.

One such individual was General Nick Fury, commander of SHIELD, and by all accounts... a man that doesn't exist. Though originally founded in the United States, the organization has grown beyond any national border. The purpose of SHIELD is the protection of human life and liberty on the planet Earth, though the methods they employ to this end are more often questionable than not. As Lois Lane of the Daily Planet is quoted: "SHIELD, if they do exist, is the lock that keeps the Bogeyman in the closet."

Under the sanction of SHIELD, a team of superpowered humans hand-picked by Nick Fury are combined into a team known as Force Works. Aside from protecting the world from maniacs and despots... their underlying code was to keep the secret society known as the Justice League in check.

War, however, can make for strange bedfellows. When the Mutant extremist known as Magneto started the Genetics War, the teams that comprise the Justice League as well as Force Works worked along side one another, as well as several independant metas that fought on either side. One such independant was a young Avengers hopeful who had made a name for himself in Metropolis. The press had dubbed him "Superman".

The war ended with a confrontation between Superman and Magneto, the official story being that Superman was responsible for the death of the tyrant. Only a select few individuals know the truth of the matter.

SHIELD used the war as an opportunity to gather genetic material of several metahumans both "loyal" and "non-loyal" to their organization. With this material attempts were made to clone or alter existing subjects in hopes of having a weapon to use against the original...

After the Genetics War, Superman was a hero and named a member of the Avengers. As his popularity began to soar, he was eventually named leader of the Avengers, becoming the youngest hero ever in charge of the Justice League.

His popularity would come crashing down, however, when it became public knowledge that his powers were not the result of an experiment or mutation, but because of his alien origin. The world may have been ready to accept a mutant in such a position of power, but when the League stood by an alien as their leader their loyalty came under question by those who knew of their existance.

Tensions are high between the League and SHIELD, with both sides fighting a heated battle of public oppinion. Both sides believe themselves to be the legacy envisioned by Captain America... perhaps only the man himself would have been able to tell for sure. Violence between the two organizations is not unheard of, but so far has been kept under control. A single spark, however, could ignite a vicious rivalry and cause it to explode into an all out civil war...

Or worse yet, forces from outside both organizations may seek to use a divided front to conquer what they could not if the two groups were to stand together...

Canon Character Application::

Anybody unfamiliar with Pandangel RPs... this is our basic "Who-Why-What-How" application. Who is it that you want to play? Why do you want to play them specifically? What do you know about the character? How will you intend on playing them?

Explaination:

Character Name: (Obviously applications for "That guy in the bat suit?" aren't going to be approved. The first thing I check for is to make sure you actually know the character's name)

Why Them: (Tell us what about this character makes you want to play them with us? Why are you driven to this specific character? Why should we choose you to play them over any/all other applications for the character?)

Background: (Tell us everything you know about the character. I don't want to see a copy of the Wikipedia article, either, and I will check. Tell me everything you think is relevant to their character as you want to play them. Hopefully this shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 paragraphs... don't feel pressured to write me a novel about them. Make sure to mention what team you want them affiliated with. The JLA will cap out at 7 members, but probably have a rotating roster.)

RP Challenge: (you must respond to at least 2 of the RP challenge posts that will be listed in Post 6 if this is your first character. This is because that we feel a response helps us gauge better how you play than a solo-post or a sample of something you've posted previously. After you are approved for your first character, you only need to show one RP challenge for each additional character)

SPECIAL NOTE:: Extra Freedom! What's that mean? Well, because this is a completely new universe you have a bit more breathing room in the application of a character. Say you really like some aspects of the version of Wolverine portrayed in the movies as well as Ultimate Wolverine? Go ahead and mix 'em up to give me a new Wolverine. If I like the way you present it, you might even be able to convince me to let you change the gender of a character... who says Juggernaut has to be a dude? But if you're making these changes to the character, make note of it in your "Background" portion... I want to make sure that you at least know the canon, after all. 3nodding

The RP Challenges::

So what is an RP Challenge, you ask?

Go ahead. Ask. It makes me feel better to answer, that way.

Well, you know how most RPs ask you to submit a sample post before you join? Often they'll ask you to write out a solo post... or show a sample of your writing. Well, we found that mathod to be a poor means of judging one's skill as an RPer.

Why is that? Well, think about it. RP skill comes from being able to read, interpret, and respond in detail to something posted by somebody else. Often times, however, even the best RPers will feel uncomfortable having to intro themselves to a scene or especially to write something stand-alone. Likewise, the greatest writers in the world aren't necessarily the best RPers.

So, we developped the RP challenges. 6 posts, you choose at least 2 the first time you apply a character, and respond to them with the character you are applying. Responses should be at least a paragraph or two, but you're probably pushing it if you hit like five paragraphs. You don't need to feel pressured to write a novel.

The challenges are divided into the 3 primary categories of RP. Action, Social and Romance. Action is the fights, Social is the common interaction, and Romance is well... the gooshy stuff. I don't care what anybody says, every RP needs at least some amount of all three of these things to survive. You pick at least two that you feel show off your best attributes as a player. You may respond to more if you feel like it.

The Challenges are intended to be written in such a way that the applicant could be responding to anybody they desire. In some cases it's more specific than others, pin-pointing at least a set of powers. But the applicant can elect to change the genders or descriptions of the post they are responding to. As long as the response is still in the spirit of the challenge.

So here they are. The Challenges:



There's two sides of every battle. Winners and losers. Eventually you're going to find yourself on both sides. In this post, the applicant is obviously at an advantage. The post clearly shows a character who could be at the mercy of a more powerful character. So, how do you handle being on top? It's an important test of character.



Normally, I try to use a fishing post as my first Social challenge. A fishing post is a post a player will put out of a character in a clear social setting to try and get interaction from other characters. It's sort of the pre-requisite for an intro. This post, however, implies that the two characters have been engaged in a conversation for at least a moment as well as the two characters apparently knowing one another. I don't really have anything particular to say about it, but it should be noted that Social interaction is kind of the main chunk of RP. Fighting and Loveydovey... neither of them happen without the social stuff going on between.



As always, I'm going to say that I'm sorry. I kind of suck at romance posts. This is set up so that it could go either way... maybe he's getting a warm embrace, maybe he's getting slapped. Romance shouldn't always be the happy easy stuff, it's more satisfying to the players if they have to kind of work for it. So how does the other party respond here?



Remember when I said there's two sides? Well, now the applicant is very clearly on the losing side. This might even be a little unfair. The applicant is told that their character's powers have been removed for this fight, and they're obviously up against a Kryptonian. I might not get too many responses for this one... *laughs* not many people like a fight that's this one-sided.



Who doesn't wanna go to a ballgame with Captain America? This could be a fishing post, because the way it's stated his companion may have just met him there. Or it could be a continuation of two players that have been on their way to the ballgame for a couple of turns. In all honesty, as important as social rp is for the rp's survival, scenes like this probably wouldn't be too common. After a few turns it needs to be either skipped or interupted. Not because of questionable content, but because it would probably get a little boring. Still, they can be a good tool to use when you need a safe way to reveal some plot information. "Steve, I'm pregnant," or "Steve, I am your father," or "Steve, I hate the Yankees," or even the all popular, "Steve, Tony's gonna get your a** capped..."

Also they can be a good way for a group of good-guy characters to fish for a bad-guy or two to come and start some stuff. Think about it, Steve Rogers and Clark Kent taking in a baseball game? If Lex Luthor doesn't send a giant robot to stomp around somewhere near there then the world isn't right.



My motto on romance interaction is that it's essentially the same as action interaction. Except romance is metaphorical and emotional as opposed to literal and physical. In this case, the applicant is placed in the position of "losing" in the romance scene. They're placed on the defensive against a very hurt, very angry... apparently very powerful woman. The wrong choice of words could turn this into an action scene, as well.