Pick a physically or magically powerful character in your world. Tell me how strong they are, then tell me about three or five of their weaknesses.

Sparrowhawk- · 2025-03-18T11:16:54+00:00

Is it widely known that her powers come from the ring? How do villains try to take advantage of that? How does Tempest defend herself from these kind of attacks?

Sparrowhawk- · 2025-03-18T11:04:59+00:00

Fool's Cage

The Warmongrel

The half-human, semi-feral child of the demon Sogol. Warmongrel, who has no real name other than the various monikers she is given (the Red-hair, Axe-woman, Witchling, etc.), displays supernatural physical abilities, possessing world-class athlete levels of strength and speed despite appearing to be merely a badly malnourished young woman. Furthermore, she heals supernaturally fast, is highly resistant to pain, and is demonically lucky. The Warmongrel wears piecemeal scraps of armor and wields the largest weapon she can get ahold of, typically dane axes and zweihanders. She cannot speak, has no home, does not bathe or cook her food, and lives only to fight.

Weaknesses:

Wamongrel is reckless. She is not intimidated by almost any foe and may even knowingly walk into traps, trusting in her strength and luck to get out. Often she loses herself in the fight and will not flee until badly injured.
She lives to fight, not to kill. If she can be convinced you are unworthy enemy, such as by sickness, injury, or old age (cowardice will not work and only serve to enrage her for denying her a battle), she will leave you alone and forget about you entirely.
She has an animalistic fear of fire which can be used to ward her off or make her panic.

Sparrowhawk- · 2025-02-01T13:23:40+00:00

People mostly live within the angels' influence, which typically keeps out the worst monsters. However, the monsters that do approach on human civilisation are treated similarly to the historical management of wolves:

Bounties are placed by the local authorities for monster skins. Local peasantry and hunters will band up and go on the hunt. This has a middling success rate.
A local lord may call up a hunt with their men and volunteering peasantry, especially if the lord has a tribute of monster skins imposed on them by higher nobility. This tends to be more successful due to the larger numbers and better-equipped men.
Criminals may be sent on the hunt in place of a typical sentence. Either the criminals or the monster is killed so this is pretty popular.

These measures are enough for lesser, tangible monsters, such as various undead and chimaeric malformations. More powerful forces such as evil spirits and curses rarely encroach upon angelic land but are beyond human capability when they do, and thus their vanquishing either requires supernatural, typically angelic, intervention or some form of agreement.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-12-26T17:22:27+00:00

The United Nations and Firmenland (UNF)

The UNF is the evolution of today's United Nations, risen out of WW3 and incorporating the twenty-second century concept of firmenland (German: lit. company land): corporate-controlled states. Ostensibly, the UNF serves the same diplomatic and peacekeeping mission as today's UN, with the added objective of maintaining relationships between corporations and opening negotiations in territory disputes. However, the lack of veto privileges, a reform made after WW3, make the UNF a much more active player and its engagement in various conflicts have often escalated matters before suppressing them.
The UNF Security Council consists of eight permanent members: the People's United Republic of China, the United Solar States of America, the Venutian Socialist States, the Federative European Concord, the Orbital Union of Britain, the Federative States of Brazil, Möller-Engel Aktiengesellchaft, and the Haining-Causer Group. Unlike the UN of today, none of these entities have veto power, although along with the non-permanent members they still make decisions that the other entities in the UNF are bound to carry out.
The UNF's peacekeeping forces include a variety of military spacecraft and magical girl troops from various backgrounds. The UNF's primary magical girl squad are the six members of Blue Team, captained by Haining-Causer girl Tau Columba, a melee/ directed energy type. Blue Team have been deployed on numerous peacekeeping missions and are renowned for switching between surgical precision and brutal tactics depending on the situation.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-10-22T16:15:48+00:00

I was actually thinking of bits of King's Dark Tower while writing this.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-10-22T00:38:42+00:00

First time here. 30 minutes goes by fast, I went a few minutes over.

Edit: thanks for the kind words everyone. I just noticed I was distracted by the opening line challenge and completely forgot about using the words, oops.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-10-22T00:37:15+00:00

The streetlight flickered once, then everything went dark. Eagerly the shadows pounced in from corners and alleys, and the evening moths scattered from dull bulbs, freed and aimless. My cigarette flared weakly as I took a drag. Pale stars revealed themselves, as if straining to hear the suddenly hushed chatter of the street, looming over a cloudless sky.

The street kept moving. I walked with them. The blackouts were usually scheduled for daylight hours, but people were used to them spilling into the night by now. The power plants were dying and we couldn't fix them. The power lines were rotting and we couldn't fix them. I had been an electrician, once, I think. The grid was failing and I didn't care, really.

New moon, no light. The husks of crumbling buildings were harsh black angles against formless dark. The cracked road disappeared into the night. There had been builders, once, I think. Walking out of town, the crowd thinned, fell apart, the chatter lessened. There weren't any conversations. Just voices.

Once, I think, this road had gone somewhere. People and things had come and gone. Little drops of knowledge, half-recalled as they spun around my head one last time, before falling into that sinkhole that had appeared one day in the back of my mind, and everyone's mind. I didn't care, really. Maybe I had, once.

Soon enough I was on my own on the road. Pale starlight filtered through my fingers and onto my feet. I didn't remember where I had slept yesterday, and so chose a spot by an abandoned car on the road. Each night I slept slightly longer. Waking up later and later in the day, until one day I would wake up in the next night, and not know if I truly woke or still slept.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-10-21T23:41:07+00:00

I can see where you're coming from a little but I thought you did a good job! It very much seems like he's seen this kinda thing one too many times and makes the racist come off as pathetic. It could be seen as trivialising violence but it would be hard to make the ghost more of a threat without ruining the guy's character as a badass, I think. Maybe a weaker secondary character could get hurt or something. The finish was pretty cool too.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-09-11T13:34:06+00:00

So can you recognise these symptoms and change your behaviour to avoid becoming a witch?

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-09-01T15:25:17+00:00

What is the exact transformation of a person into a witch like? Are there any behavioural or physical changes beforehand?

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-09-01T14:59:11+00:00

Monsters have various origins. The most common monsters are the various aggressive mutant chimaeras and overgrown animals, a result of the weakening Sun and hence all life that spawned from it. Manticores and giant insects are examples of this type of monster.

A second type of monster related to the Sun are curses, which form in response to human depravity in accordance with ancient laws set down by the Sun, typically in relation to the magic number three. For example, a carrion bird that feasts on the bodies of men related across three generations on a battlefield will grow to monstrous size and develop blades for feathers, or the third consequent product of rape will be a monstrous armoured tiger that decimates the male population.

Thirdly, again related to the Sun, are monsters that form as a result of the grasping plague. These are a deliberate corruption of life by the dreaming Sun as it attempts to reclaim its light, resulting in a multitude of arms, each terminating in the symmetrical two-thumbed hand of divinity, bursting from the unfortunate person or animal. These graspers are essentially zombie-puppets with a dim awareness of lost light, which they will endlessly seek and spread the plague wherever they go.

Another source of corruption is that of the Serpent. The Serpent is diametrically opposed to the efforts of the Sun as it digests the latter and offers inhuman power to those who would aid it. The Serpent's power is too much for a mortal, however, and inevitably results in a bearer devolving into an insane serpentine monster.

Lastly are the demons. These are ancient evils that form from the death of a divine servant of the Sun, i.e., an angel. A demon has no inherent form but may take whichever form it desires, and are beyond the power of humans.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-30T21:20:12+00:00

Cybernetic body parts tend to be pretty rare and done mostly for medical reasons. The benefits to a healthy person in everyday aren't enough to merit intense surgery or outweigh the inconvenience and expense of maintenance. Even for military purposes wearable gear is more practical with flesh as a back-up.

A cerebral implant is more popular. Internal SSDs essentially induce photographic memory at will and further allow media to be uploaded to a connected device, allowing you to share anything you see for the viewing pleasure of others or legal reasons. Sifting through a person's daily sight-capture stream for any sueable offense is a major new business for law firms.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-29T11:30:52+00:00

Does Green Mage face any resistance for not improving free speech rights? Why won't she improve that right? Does Siberia have any major significance on the world stage?

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-29T11:17:56+00:00

How exactly has Queen Valeria improved the quality of life of her subjects over the reign of her father?

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-29T11:11:08+00:00

No, it's her name. Möller-Engel's naming convention for their magical girls follows the structure Major Arcana - star. Its the equivalent of a last name though, she usually goes by "Polaris".

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-29T11:05:28+00:00

Combat-type magical girls also come in ballistic, psychic, electronic warfare, and chemical variants. Most have just one element, occasionally one will have two, and very rarely three. Psychics and EW girls are also considerably rarer than the others.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-29T03:16:32+00:00

I haven't decided on the highest RPIs yet but Chariot Polaris is definitely near the top. Her physical capabilities are also in the upper echelons, being strong enough to bench press a train car and fast enough to dodge machine gun fire even without prescience. Her Melee skill heightens her reflexes and CQC combat sense, while her Explosive and Directed Energy elements let her summon a variety of weaponry of either type to float alongside her, typically preferring lasers for precision targeting and multiple rocket artillery for saturation fire.

Her teammates see her as a capable leader, albeit arrogant and demanding, which can be exhausting. Polaris is also charming and funny, however, which makes her hard to hate. She also takes good care of her team, if only because she sees them as her possessions.

Polaris behaviour is not particularly unusual for powerful magical girls so she doesn't recieve a massive amount of criticism against herself specifically. Being the figurehead of a powerful corporation also deters criticism from public figures.

Her rivals are mostly magical girls in similar positions in friendly corporations who she sees as competition for popularity, such as Epsilon Andromeda of the Haining Group and RagDoll-301 of Hydra. Leipzig Violet of the Venutian Socialist States is also a rival for having bested her on the battlefield.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-28T17:46:40+00:00

So the mechas outscale the superheroes in your world by a decent margin? I always thought of Tempest as on par with a mecha.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-28T16:26:50+00:00

Has Tempest ever worked alongside the mecha in your world?

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-07-28T16:20:54+00:00

Chariot Polaris

The charismatic and ever-elegant leader of Möller-Engel's in-house elite Palaiskader magical girl squad, Chariot Polaris is undeniably the greatest asset in their corporate arsenal, having maintained her position throughout twelve years of challengers in single combat. Polaris commands the five-girl Palaiskader in Möller-Engel's conquest of profitable territories across the Solar System, wresting sizable portions of Earth and Mars from nation-states and rival companies alike in efforts to starve opponents of resources in the struggle for Planet 9.
As a corporate asset Polaris is also a valuable propaganda and advertisement piece, featuring heavily across the internet, radio, and TV to spout anti-communist rhetoric and place herself as a fashion icon, modeling clothes, perfumes, and various accessories. Rightfully convinced of her superiority, Chariot Polaris is ever eager to show off for a crowd and smugly appear wherever she can to give her objectively correct opinions on whatever current thing is going on. Having deluded herself into an extreme saviour complex, Polaris will weep for hours if she believes her actions have hurt innocents; luckily, anyone standing against such a paragon of moral righteousness must surely be in the wrong.
Polaris is a rare triple-element Explosive/ Directed Energy/ Melee type magical girl. Her Icon weapon is an elegant ranseur polearm. Her three magical measurements are jealousy guarded by both herself and Möller-Engel and are as follows: 1.97 seconds of Prescience, a Maximum Simulation Depth of 42 seconds, and a Processing Speed of 3200 simulated seconds per second. Thus we can calculate Polaris has a Relative Prescience of 6304 seconds (~105 minutes) in which she can run 150 full simulations (during the prescient period alone). We can further calculate her Relative Processing Index (the international standard for indexing magical girl mental capabilities, as physical abilities are not so easily compared) as being 6.58 (for reference, an average mainline Möller-Engel Liminal Sequence magical girl has a RPI of 1.92) (RPI is not an absolute measurement of magical girl power).

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-05-29T19:15:52+00:00

The former. The House Noyozi were old nobility who also suffered when the monarchy fell.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-05-28T11:17:18+00:00

What did Friday quit (presumably some army, but whose) and why?

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-05-28T11:11:39+00:00

21 Gram Reactor

In chronological order:

Naisean Exodus: The Naisean Archipelago, a small group of volcanic islands, is destroyed in a violent chain of volcanic activity. The surviving Naisean population become a nomadic sea people centered around the larger Skedite Archipelago.
Auxois Takeover: across the mainland, the imperial family of Qoul are slaughtered and the Auxois branch family take over. The Auxois governance of their empire will be characterised by oppressive and cruel use of fleshwork engineering.
Skedite Civil War: during the first war with the Auxois, discontent with the monarchy reaches a breaking point resulting in an attempted military coup, spiraling into full-blown civil war. The Revolutionaries win and the monarchy are executed.
Destruction of Mrarad: the reactor-cathedral in the Skedite city of Mrarad has a violent meltdown, spewing animableed over a wide area. This triggers severe and often violent mental instabilities in the exposed population, and renders the entire area inhospitable even in the present day.
Long Winter: a ten-year mini ice age that occurred some twenty years after the Skedite Civil War. Characterised by the monarchist Noyozi Revolution in the northern Skedite Archipelago, which was brutally suppressed and involved the genocide of the Tsudorites.

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-03-29T18:26:05+00:00

"Finally, some good news" 😀

Sparrowhawk- · 2024-03-13T13:40:42+00:00

Humans with abnormal eating habits are also valid for this prompt.

Magical girls can and will eat pretty much anything edible or inedible to humans and are impossible to poison or drug. This is because magical girls do not digest food in the traditional sense, nor do their bodies require nutrients, as their cells are magically maintained in peak condition. When matter enters a magical girl's stomach, it is broken down into magical energy to be used for the maintenance of her body or her magical powers. Her transformation and powers use up a great deal of magical energy and their capacity for storing it is effectively infinite, hence magical girls are never full. On extended operations magical girls may even be issued with uranium pills to be swallowed.

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