With Great Power is an animanga superhero roleplay set in an original universe featuring a freeform and easy to learn system. We are inspired by the likes of DC Comics, Marvel Comics, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, Tiger and Bunny and much more. The possibilities for characters and powers are almost endless and players are free to let their imaginations run wild! With such great power, what will you become?
SKYFATHER
Owner
BRAVEO
Admin
NACHOS
Moderator
STAFFER NAME
POSITION
FEATURED
Anti-Heroes and Vigilantes are our most desired member groups at the moment! Do consider making one!
These were empty words to Yseult. She tossed garbage bag after garbage bag onto the wheelbarrow, suppressing a grimace as the woman began her spiel. Yseult might speak in the abstract, but when it came to business, she preferred to deal with the quantifiable. She liked to see numbers in her bank account, bills in her wallet. Anything other than that came with the ball and chain of responsibility. If she wanted to be worshiped, she'd have stayed an angel.
The rest was shaping up to be a pretty sweet deal, though. Pharmaceuticals, superpowers—Yseult could almost taste the earnings that would come of combining the two. The work didn't sound all that bad either. She had been hired to obtain isolated DNA samples before. This was just a step up from that.
In the end, what it all boiled down to was whether Yseult was willing to invest. She could slave away for this woman for years, only for the scheme to unravel due to a Reign crackdown, a particularly disastrous clinical trial, or one of many other ways this could implode into a black hole from which no profit could escape. There was a reason she only played casually with stock markets and gambling rings. A fortune could disappear at the drop of a hat.
Then the woman sliced her palm open. Yseult blinked as the blood flowing from her hand swayed at her behest, swelling into a web that wrapped around some of the larger debris and carried it to a garbage bin. If the woman was to be believed, this was the result of her miracle serum. And it wasn't even finished yet.
Well, that changed things.
The woman had demonstrated her powers, so she might as well return the favor. Yseult clasped her gloved hands together, murmuring, "May you hold your scalpel steady. Should it slip, may it produce hilarious results." As she spoke, white light gathered at the edges of the woman's self-inflicted wound and pulled them together, closing it as if her fangs had never pierced her flesh.
"Usually I would charge ten pounds upfront for that, but you can put it on my tab for now. I'm in," Yseult said, unclasping her hands, "under two conditions. The first is that I get fifteen percent of the net market profit." This was negotiable, but not by much. "The second I will think of while you tell me the rest of what I need to know."
Yseult went back to bagging debris, though she was working noticeably faster now than she was before. "I'll throw in my own DNA for an extra five percent. Not too much, though. I prefer my body intact."
1) Yseult doesn't know she has worked for Reign and instead thinks she works for various individuals or shell companies. She's a useful asset, given her capabilities, but ultimately she's still an outsider, and an expensive one at that. Though she might have some suspicions, she doesn't care enough to investigate. As long as she gets paid, she isn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth.
2) Yseult doesn't have a single loyal bone in her body. If she were to somehow find out enough about Reign, she would happily sell information or double agent work to the highest bidder. This could be a point of conflict between them in the future.
I'm not sure how Francesca would react to Yseult, but I think they could have a very interesting dynamic. Yseult is pretty much a sidekick for hire (among other things) who will do anything for anyone, whether they're a hero of light or an agent of darkness, as long as she's paid enough. She's loosely contracted to Reign so she receives most of her jobs from them, but she does plenty of freelance work for people of varying allegiances. Francesca might see her as a threat for this reason.
However, Francesca would benefit very much from a working relationship with her. Yseult essentially has two powers: she can heal, and she can temporarily enhance someone else's power by twice as much while halving its drawbacks. She's also a semi-immortal being who cannot age or die by natural means. Francesca has money and connections; Yseult has powers that would strengthen her and a physiology she could study. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Maybe they can do a mission together. What are your thoughts?
Yseult Lachapelle, who sometimes moonlights under the name of "Carte Blanche," is a knife-happy fallen angel whose divine abilities allow her to heal and temporarily enhance the powers of one other person at a time. She was kicked out of the celestial plane for succumbing to the vice of greed. She's technically allowed to return if she purifies her heart and does enough good deeds, but she has no intention of doing so. She likes her freedom on Earth too much for that.
Clients: Yseult will do absolutely anything for money. She fronts as both a maid and mercenary (aka sidekick) for hire, so if you're either a young heir to a family fortune or someone in need of a clean kill, she has probably already given you her business card. She can use her powers for good, such as by curing a disease or helping a hero save a town, but she receives most of her jobs from Reign.
Friends: Yseult doesn't see people as anything other than walking ATMs, so it's almost impossible to form a genuine bond with her. Though she does sometimes take a liking to people who play along with her bizarre sense of humor, that doesn't translate to actual loyalty. You can pay her to act like your friend, if you're really that desperate, but that's about it. This may change after extensive character development.
Enemies: There are plenty of reasons that Yseult can rub someone the wrong way, all of which are described in some way above. If you dislike people who are greedy, derisive, amoral, and all around a shamelessly terrible person, then you will dislike Yseult.
Yseult worked meticulously but slowly, scraping concrete dust from every last blade of grass before moving on to the next patch of land. The woman in red might have volunteered out of the goodness of her heart, but Yseult never did anything for free. She planned to squeeze every last pence she'd demanded from the park warden, and that meant racking up as much hourly pay as possible.
Surprisingly enough, the woman was not deterred from small talk by Yseult's story. Instead she asked about Yseult's choice of outfit, and whether it was preferred or vocational. "All of the above," Yseult said with a twirl, her ruffled skirt flaring out beneath her. She then returned to her work, though she kept an eye on the woman as she perused the contents of her business card.
The woman spoke her name with the pronunciation one would expect from a fellow French speaker. "That's what the government believes, so it might as well be true," Yseult said in lieu of a simple yes. This statement was not as bizarre as it sounded. Yseult had not been born in France nor given birth by French parents, but she'd forged her identity documents to suggest otherwise. In her experience, admitting that she was from the celestial plane was more trouble than it was worth.
Upon flipping the card over, the woman reacted in a way few had done before—she laughed. Her lips parted wide, revealing the fangs of a vampire. So that was something. Yseult pretended not to notice for now, keeping her gaze on the ground as the woman put the card away.
"I'm a can-do girl," Yseult said monotonously, flexing an arm. "Anything you're thinking of hiring someone else to do, I can do better. I have testimonials, if you would like to see them."
The woman asked about alternative forms of payment. Yseult almost smiled. "I do prefer that sweet sweet cash money," she said, "but I will accept anything of value, as long as there's enough of it. Stocks. Jewelry. Organs. Why, what are you thinking of?"
Behind her came the sound of delicate footsteps and a voice. Yseult turned and saw red, literally—red hair, red lips, red eyes. This woman wouldn't struggle to stand out from a crowd, that was for sure. Yseult tilted her head, acknowledging the question but taking a few moments to ponder it first.
"It's quite a sordid tale," Yseult said at last, her voice hushed. "A concrete automaton and his creator were having a fight. The automaton had fallen in love with a lovely young woman, so he begged his creator to grant him independence. But the creator had fashioned him out of her ideal lover. She couldn't bear the thought of him leaving her for another. She pressed the self-destruct button on his remote, and now we walk among his remains. Let it be a lesson to you, young lady, that a cat lies in wait when a bird spreads its wings."
As her morbid (and utterly fabricated) story drew to a close, Yseult came across a pile of garbage bags, brooms, rubber gloves, two wheelbarrows, and other assorted supplies left by the park warden. She passed some of them to the other woman, as well as a business card she'd procured from her apron pocket. It read:
Beneath that, in smaller print, was a phone number and a string of numbers and letters that was clearly a link to a site in the deep web. Behind the card, in tiny print, was an extensive list of services ranging from housekeeping to power augmenting to murder, all marked with exorbitant price tags.
Yseult tugged on her rubber gloves, picked up a broom, and started sweeping powdered debris into the mouth of a garbage bag.
Ah, Greenwich Park. It was one hundred and eighty acres of sloping green expanse, the air warm and sweet with end-of-summer sunlight. Dozens of families, friends, and couples were picnicking among the rose gardens and duck ponds on the upper level, enjoying the view of the River Thames here, Canary Wharf there, and, down on the lower level, several tons of demolition waste.
"One of the villains had the genius idea of throwing a dump truck at the hero," the park warden was saying to Yseult, lifting the barricade tape enclosing this section of the park so that she could enter. "He missed, and here we are now. We got what was left of the truck airlifted out, but the rest is up to you and anyone else we can enlist."
Asphalt and drywall crackled beneath her Mary Janes. "You're in luck, sir," Yseult intoned, tightening the ribbon of her apron. "I happen to be a maid of the highest caliber. I will expunge the impurities from this hallowed land for the low, low flat rate of five hundred pounds, with an hourly pay of twenty."
The park warden blinked. "Uh, you do know that this is volunteer work, right?"
"Please have my remuneration prepared before close of business," Yseult said, already wading deeper into the mess, "or I will be forced to charge interest."
Yseult is a ruthless mercenary and a methodical maid. Sometimes she's one or the other, other times she's both. Whether she's being hired by Reign as an anti-hero support unit or by an old-money family as a housekeeper, her goal is the same—to squeeze as much money from her employer as possible.[break][break]
This greed is Yseult's principle vice, and it shows. She'll do just about anything for material goods, whether it's healing a child's terminal illness, tending to the young heir of a fortune, or setting an orphanage on fire. If she isn't getting as much of a salary as she'd like, she'll resort to scamming and stealing without a hint of remorse. Nothing makes her feel more alive than a bank account bursting at the seams.[break][break]
Also, she tends to deadpan. Obnoxiously so.[break][break]
A young angel was cast from heaven, stripped of her wings and halo. "If there is no repentance," said the archangel overhead, radiant with the light of justice, "there can be no pardon. Do not despair, o lost one. You are no longer divine, but you still have divine gifts. Use them in service of what is now your fellow people. Cleanse your heart which has been blackened by greed. Then, and only then, will the gates open for you once more."[break][break]
"So I must pursue the path of virtue."[break][break]
"That's right."[break][break]
The angel looked down. "In a French maid outfit."[break][break]
"That's, well, that's supposed to emphasize the whole service—it wasn't my idea, okay? The other guys thought it would be funny, since we're dropping you in Paris and all," the archangel admitted. He was more radiant with embarrassment now than anything. "You can change once you've got your bearings."[break][break]
"I'd rather not, actually," said the angel, running her hand over the frills. "I've always admired the French. Bonne soirée in the streets, une soirée in the sheets. Maybe I'll take on a French name. Something that starts with 'Y'."[break][break]
The archangel sighed. "Sure, but don't get too attached. This is a temporary arrangement, remember? You'll get to go home soon if you do this right."[break][break]
"I'd rather not, actually."[break][break]
"What?"[break][break]
"Well," said the angel, "why bless mortals for free when you can do it for a price?"[break][break]
And so the angel fell to Earth. There she would remain for likely the rest of her days, lending her divine abilities to Reign for exorbitant amounts of money.[break][break]
Carte blanche. Blank check, complete freedom. Oh, life was good.[break][break]
Having been exiled from the celestial plane, Yseult has lost most of her powers. At this point she more closely resembles a human than an angel. However, she is still somewhat immortal in that she can't age or die by natural means. She is always at her prime both physically and mentally, as well as resistant to demonic or cursed energy. Furthermore, she has the ability to channel divine power for various purposes, which are listed as powers below.[break][break]
X - Yseult can only use her divine power for the benefit of others, never herself.[break] X - Yseult can only reach the physical peak of a human.[break] X - A true angel will always be more powerful than her.[break][break]
Yseult can heal others by clasping her hands together and reciting words charged with divine power, which become more effective the longer she speaks. She can heal wounds, ease pain and fatigue, cure diseases, and restore sanity this way. If given enough time, she can bring someone back from the brink of death.[break][break]
X - The prayer must be uninterrupted. If Yseult is attacked or otherwise distracted while she's praying, the prayer will end and she will have to start over from the beginning. The same goes for if her hands are unclasped.[break] X - Yseult can't heal anyone who actively refuses to be healed. She can, however, heal those who are unconscious or asleep.[break] X - The prayer would hurt rather than heal any demonic or cursed beings.[break] X - Yseult can only heal one person at a time, and that person must be within earshot of her whether they're conscious or not.[break] X - Yseult can't heal herself.[break][break]
Yseult can place a blessing upon someone that will amplify their power by two and reduce its drawbacks by half for five posts. What this means will vary from power to power. A telepath with a range of ten meters might have their range increased to twenty meters, for example, or a fire manipulator's flames might become twice as hot. In that same vein, the telepath would experience half as much mental fatigue and the fire manipulator would have more resistance to water magic.[break][break]
X - Once the blessing wears off, Yseult must wait three posts before placing it again.[break] X - Yseult can't heal anyone who actively refuses to be healed.[break] X - Only one power can be augmented at a time, and Yseult must know what it is. Additionally, only one person can have their power augmented at a time.[break] X - The recipient will not necessarily know how to deal with their newly enhanced power, and they may end up becoming overwhelmed.[break] X - The blessing would hurt rather than help any demonic or cursed beings.[break] X - Yseult can't bless herself.[break][break]