Vaga: The Quest for Eternal Youth

by **404NameNotFound** August 4th 2013, 6:09 pm

Vaga
The Eternal Youth

Basic Biography

Real Name: Vaga
Renegade/Hero/Villain Name: Vaga (He's quite creative like that)
Title: The Eternal Youth
Alignment: Neutral to Chaotic Good (Naive, mostly)
Age: 2313 years old. But who's counting anymore? Besides, it still doesn't get you a beer if you look 12.
Gender: Male
Race: Human?
Hair: Stock white.
Eyes: Also white. Looks like he's blind.
Height: 58"
Weight: 85lbs
Blood type: AB

The Looks

Although born with the appearance and speaking capabilities of the above-average 8-year-old, Vaga has been around for a very long time. Funny thing is, Eternal Youth isn't what it's cracked up to be. His appearance stopped around the age of 12, leaving him with shaggy unkempt hair that descends around his ears and farther. He's of a tanned complexion, having spent a few hundred years in Rome back in the day (they had the BEST entertainment, though he hated seeing the lions get hurt). Now he wears typical clothes for an up-and-coming pre-teenager (though he's been there for too long): baggy pants and a light blue hoodie. More often than not, he's a little scuffed up from jumping into fights to help others. When in SuperHero mode, he's covered in arcane symbols. He has black gloves with transmutation circles etched into them, over which his blades extend. The blades are fastened to his arms, allowing for wrist movement freely. His cloak descends behind him, and flows frequently AS IF BY MAGIC^TM.

With Talismans Image:

The Legacy

Personality:
Rambunctious to say the least. He's headstrong, naive, and he loves every minute of it. If you've got a plan, he'll support it. If you don't have a plan, he'll wing it. If you don't want to talk to him... well... I hope you can listen.

History:
In 300 AD, Druids were quite the fad. In fact, many believed it was a way of life. Turiomo was one such druid. He had practiced rituals, mumbled over crow bones, eaten frogs that gave him visions, and done the whole shtick for nearly a century. He was probably one of the best druids out there, truth be told. Though that never really got you much in those days. Maybe a nice little angry mob action now and again, if you were lucky. Not like those Dragon bastards. What with their Virgin sacrifices and such. Why did it have to be a virgin, anyway? What was wrong with a nice hymenally-challenged lady of the night? Why waste the good lay? Particularly when there were lonely druids about who had years ago reached 'hermit' status?

Ah, but I digress. You shouldn't distract me so much, reader. Or just hit me when I get off on a tangent. No, not like right now. Fine, fine. I'll get back to it. *ahem*

Turiomo, as I mentioned, was a capable druid. When he stumbled across the spell for "Eternal Youth" in one of his spell books, he nearly soiled himself. Fitting, for a student of nature. Regaining control of his bowels, the druid immediately went about trying to collect the necessary ingredients for the spell. The talon of a falcon. A dash of lizard tail. More stereotypical brewing ingredients. He mixed them together with the proper chants and such (wondering absentmindedly if he had remembered to pick up more toadstool root extract from the nearest stonehexchange), and prepared to drink the brew. As he peered over the cauldron's edge, however, he noticed something odd. A fungus-like growth was quickly expanding in the bottom.

It formed a ball and Turiomo cringed.
It formed an oblong shape and Turiomo turned away.
It formed little arms and Turiomo thanked the makers that he hadn't gotten around to drinking the potion.
It formed little feet and Turiomo started to look for his pot-cleaning supplies.
It formed the rest of the body it was becoming, and Turiomo turned back to the pot.
It stood up and said "Hi!" and Turiomo's heart went in to arrest.

He clutched his heart, sinking to the ground. He realized his error as his vision began to swim. The spell was not one that GRANTED eternal youth... it CREATED an Eternal Youth. He collapsed, muttering only the word "Vague" aloud. (He didn't realize it, but he had fell back on his old Italian habits, and had instead said the equivalent "Vaga." It's not that Turiomo KNEW much Italian. He just liked the strange cinnamon flavor it gave many of his spells.) Turiomo watched the boy climb out of the pot, and smiled. If only he could've lived to laugh at the other Druids. He had finally figured out how children were made. Turiomo died with a smile on his face.

The boy stretched. His toes felt strange. Well - everything felt strange, really. That sort of thing happens when you have an entirely new body for the first time. Sort of similar to the feeling you get when you drive a new car for the first time. Sure, you may have had some driver's education courses, or maybe played your fair share of Grand Theft Auto... but it's still strange. The windshield isn't where it's supposed to be, and the mirror is too high. The seat has never felt so comfortable (and never will again). Even when you go to fill it up with gas, you notice that- OW! What the heck? Why did you hit me? Oh. Right. The story. Good call, reader. As I was saying, everything felt new to the boy. As it should. And he had no idea where to start. He had some grasp of languages, so he knew "Vaga" meant "Vague" in Italian, but there was no way this strange old man spoke Italian. Obviously he was trying to name the boy.

"Vaga. Vah-Gah. I like it." The boy bounced on his heels, looking around. There was some interesting things in the room. And Vaga had all the time in the world to look at them.

***

He grew up (slowly) over the next couple centuries. His physical appearance stopped changing after it hit 12 years old, much to his dismay. He learned much from the world; everything from finances to engineering, cultures and languages to biology. He quickly became weary with the world - things got boring quick after a few hundred years. Having no need for food (despite his enjoyment of it), Vaga retreated to his home in the woods. It was there he finally decided to learn to read. It seemed like an enjoyable pastime when he saw others doing it. They got much less confused when trying to find stores. Vaga plopped on the dusty floor and pulled out one of the smaller of Turiomo's books. The title was too large a word, so he ignored. Vaga had once attended a reading and looked over the reader's shoulder - so he did have some exposure to some letters already - but that word made no sense. He tried his hand at the first line. "T-T-Tehll mee, Mooze, of t-hat man, so..." It was going to be a long summer.

***

It was a lot later in Vaga's life, so to speak. After years and years of sitting and practicing his words, he had finally managed to read most of Turiomo's collection. Much of it made no sense (such as Oh-Ee-Die-Puss the King, by Sop-ho-cless), but much more of it gave him a strange feeling inside. There was an entire section of books that appeared hand written by the dead guy in the back yard (Vaga had moved the body halfway through The Illiad when the smell started attracting predators). The handwritten notes were mostly ingredients, durations, and instructions. Intriguing stuff for a youth who had just finished reading about Gods and magic spells. Vaga embraced the knowledge, as he often did these days, and took to learning the arts of the Druids. It would only be another ellipses before Vaga would be every bit the Druid that Turiomo wanted to be.

***

See? I told you! Just look at what Vaga is doing now. He's hard at work throwing all sorts of scary herbs into the pot. There's no telling what foul brew he's concocting now. Invisibility from squirrels? A potion to allow floating in water? Love Potion #9? The pot bubbled, and Vaga grinned. This was probably his greatest creation. He eagerly dipped a ladle into the heady brew and withdrew it cautiously. A simple sip, and Vaga set down the ladle. IT WORKED! Already he could feel the power running through his body. The warmth creaked through his emaciated frame, and sent a surge of contentment to his skull. Vaga retrieved a bowl. This was the very first time he had ever made Chicken Soup, and he wouldn't let it go to waste.

***

Time passed, as it always does despite our best protests. The metaphorical hands of time (metaphorical because Time rarely USED hands. He preferred just doing things telekinetically) always turned. Their course was felt easily by the world, if not by the Youth. Rome was built (in much more than one day, but who was counting?), and eventually fell (also in more than one day, for those keeping track at home). The world grew too big for itself. Wars started, ended, and started again. Vaga avoided almost all of it. There was a few years during the Rome era where he was a slave, but his inability to grow made people fear him. Was he some sort of Demon? Was he a God in disguise? No one else could even COMPARE to his soup. He eventually escaped and started wandering the world. He read more, learned more languages, and tried his best to avoid being in the spotlight. Pedophiles were rarer now than in Rome, but there's no telling what they'd do with a kid that never got older. Eventually Vaga made his way to the US, where he took all sorts of names. "Vaga" was not much of a name for a 12-year-old (even if he was over 2k years old by his accounts). Probably his favorite point in history was the creation of Superheroes. He loved summertime, when he could play all day with other kids and pretend to be heroes. Come fall, however, the kids would return to school and Vaga would be all alone once more.

So when you're an eternal kid, with a superhero fascination and nothing else to do, what's the typical course of action? I'm assuming you're guessing, unless you also happen to be the hero of this story. Well in any case, the answer was to try to be a superhero, of course! And Vaga was going to be the best of them all! See, the best part of druidics (or Alchemy, as some referred to it) was that you could do nearly anything with it and the proper amount of imagination. Granted, most of the druids back then were old hermits (which is why it didn't really 'take off' as a religion after the first few hundred years) whose imaginations had long been replaced by more sensible things like responsibility and knowledge, but the spirit was still there. Vaga tied sticks to his arms to practice with at first, until he could get the materials for his spells. Being the world's foremost Druid had its perks, of course. When he finally got the metal he needed, Vaga's spells transformed them into razor-sharp blades as hard as diamonds. This was all well and fun, until he used them to rip through a concrete block. The blades were sharp enough, but Vaga's small body kept him from generating the strength he would need. He quickly drafted plans for Gloves that would increase his strength. When he got hurt shattering the concrete block, he made a vest that made him tougher. When he got caught running around outside with blades on his arms, he decided to make Boots that helped him run faster, and a cloak of invisibility like the ones he had read about. While he was at it, why not let the cloak make him fly too? All 12-year-olds deserve to fly!

Thus was the Superhero Vaga born. It took him another 30 years to truly master his strange fighting style, and even more years to craft each individual piece of his power set. Still, it was going to be SO worth it. He had seen the news about New York and the ignoble fall of GUN. Heroes were finally back in style. And this time, Vaga was ready for it.

The Powers

Although he's nearly useless without his Talismans, he does boast a lifespan that appears to be an '8' turned sideways. This has allowed him a decent accumalted knowledge - such as being darn near omnilingual. He's also practiced a lot with his sick arm-blade Kung-Fu, though he'd need to summon them for use. WITH his Talismans, he's capable of:
Above average speed, strength, and toughness
Temporary Invisibility
Short-term Flight

When he's not sporting his sweet arm blades, he hands are free to cast the few spells he's learned.
Spells: (cannot be cast while Talismans are active)
1) Minor - Small ball of light
2) Minor - Throwing his voice

Item Applications
App: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Occ 8 - Wolf's Paws
Occ 8 - Falcon's Talons

Grid Without Talismans
Intelligence: 0
Occult: 8
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Durability: 2
Ability: 0
Fighting Skills: 4
Magic: 1
Spells: 1
Flight: 0
Wealth: 0

Totals: 20 without talismans.

Grid With Talismans
Intelligence: 0
Occult: 8
Strength: 5
Speed: 4*
Durability: 5
Ability: 2
Fighting Skills: 4
Magic: 0
Spells: 0
Flight: 2
Wealth: 0

Totals: 30 with Talismans.
*Speed of 6 when Wolf's Paws are activated

by **Chellizard** August 5th 2013, 1:44 pm

Okay! :]

So, to make your life one hundred times easier, I am going to walk through your app with you.

404NameNotFound wrote:Power 1: Immunity to Aging and Hunger

Power 2: Above average speed, strength, and toughness

Power 3: Temporary Invisibility

Power 4: Short-term Flight

Power 5: Omni-lingual (Or at least Mostly-lingual)

Power 6: Some sick arm-blade Kung-Fu

Spells: (cannot be cast while Talismans are active)
1) Minor - Small ball of light
2) Minor - Throwing his voice

Okay, we'll start here with your powers.

Power 1: Aging is an RP mechanic. As is "immortality." Looking 12 and being thousands of years old does not require any ability points. It's just a fluff power.

Power 2: This would be 3-4 points in STR, SPD, and DUR. Average is ranked at 2, sometimes 1 when it comes to human stats.

Power 3: Invisibility is always temporary. 2 points in ability will cover this power.

Power 4: Pseudo-flight is what this reminds me of; unless you want control while flying, then 2 full points in Flight.

Power 5: This would be tied with INT/OCC. If you mean by languages he speaks. Not to mention, he's been around for thousands of years, so, even with lower INT or even 3-4, he'd likely be able to speak more then 3 languages easily, imho.

Power 6: This would be FS. Simple enough.

Spells are on a whole different level. Basic spells are your spells you get with the first slot of 'Spells.' Magic is what 'powers' the spells. You need 1-3 points in Magic for basic spells. The spells you've listed seem to only require one to 2 points in magic at all. Your grid seems to reflect this perfectly.

404NameNotFound wrote:Item Applications
App: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Occ 8 - Wolf's Paws (Stat boosting item, 8 OCC allocation, +2 to speed w/ Talismans)
Occ 8 - Falcon's Talons
Turtle's Vest
Panther's Claws
Drake's Cloak

Items work in correlation with your OCC or INT level.

You are only eligible for 1 stat boosting item per INT/OCC stat. Stat boosters start at level 7. At level 8 OCC you are able to increase 1 stat by 2 points, or 2 stats by 1 point for a period of posts. And, after the duration, there must be a cool down 2x the length of the duration. So, if it's 1 post duration, then it's 2 post cool down.

Also, when making the character, items are typically made separate, and are usually used as bonuses to the character, not as the main focus of the character.

Albeit, it's a rad concept you have here. It's like Ironman, like you said. (:

404NameNotFound wrote:Grid Without Talismans
Intelligence: 3 (Free with OCC)
Occult: 8
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Durability: 2
Ability: 0
Fighting Skills: 4
Magic: 1
Spells: 1
Flight: 0
Wealth: 0

Totals: 20 without talismans.

Grid With Talismans
Intelligence: 3 (Free with OCC)
Occult: 8
Strength: 5 (Only while wearing Panther's Claws)
Speed: 6 ([4]+2 Stat-Changing Item from OCC, Wolf's Paws)
Durability: 5
Ability: 2 (Immune Age, Invis while wearing Drake's Cloak)
Fighting Skills: 4
Magic: 0 (He loses his ability to cast spells do to magical interference with his boots)
Spells: 0 (He loses his ability to cast spells do to magical interference with his boots)
Flight: 2 (Full flight, only while wearing Drake's Cloak)
Wealth: 0

Totals: 32 with Talismans.

Before I dive into the grid, I want to explain INT and OCC to you. INT and OCC "share" the first three point slots by having the same definitions per stat. AKA; the points are not free, per say, but the RPer has the ability to use the stat as an RP Mechanic. Per example: OCC users would have the ability to have up to 3 INT in basic knowledge of technology. Aka, they'd be up to date with computers, phones, basic weapons, etc. But, the points do not need to be shown on your grid. It just causes confusion.

Okay, now, on to how your base grid should look, imho.:

Grid Without Talismans
Intelligence: 0
Occult: 8
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Durability: 2
Ability: 0
Fighting Skills: 4
Magic: 1
Spells: 1
Flight: 0
Wealth: 0

Totals: 20 without talismans.

Grid With Talismans
Intelligence: 0
Occult: 8
Strength: 5 (Only while wearing Panther's Claws)
Speed: 6 (+2 Stat-Changing Item from OCC, Wolf's Paws) This can only be temporary, and cannot boost this stat permanently. Also, is this boosting to 8? Or is it 4 speed that's being boosted to 6?
Durability: 5
Ability: 0 (Immune Age Age doesn't need ABI points, Invis while wearing Drake's Cloak Items can give you invisibility, so long as you have a cool down on the item. No points are needed spent here.)
Fighting Skills: 4
Magic: 0 (He loses his ability to cast spells due to magical interference with his boots)
Spells: 0 (He loses his ability to cast spells due to magical interference with his boots)
Flight: 2 (Full flight, only while wearing Drake's Cloak)
Wealth: 0

Totals: 30 with Talismans

You cannot breach 30 points as a starting character.

I hope I've addressed everything in question.

Oh, and, your bio is great.

But, I don't remember who you are. Sad

by **404NameNotFound** August 5th 2013, 2:46 pm

Wow! Thanks for the long reply! Let's see if I can keep up:

Chellizard wrote:
Power 1: Aging is an RP mechanic. As is "immortality." Looking 12 and being thousands of years old does not require any ability points. It's just a fluff power.
Power 2: This would be 3-4 points in STR, SPD, and DUR. Average is ranked at 2, sometimes 1 when it comes to human stats.
Power 3: Invisibility is always temporary. 2 points in ability will cover this power.
Power 4: Pseudo-flight is what this reminds me of; unless you want control while flying, then 2 full points in Flight.
Power 5: This would be tied with INT/OCC. If you mean by languages he speaks. Not to mention, he's been around for thousands of years, so, even with lower INT or even 3-4, he'd likely be able to speak more then 3 languages easily, imho.
Power 6: This would be FS. Simple enough.

I thought the powers portion would be a quick guide for other RPers to see what I'm capable of. But I'm guessing this is ACTUALLY a list of feats tied to the ABI stat. Fair enough. I'll take them out, except for the Invisibility (which is convenient, I already had 2 points in ABI for this very power!) Power 2 referred to when he was decked out in his Talismans.

Chellizard wrote:
Spells are on a whole different level. Basic spells are your spells you get with the first slot of 'Spells.' Magic is what 'powers' the spells. You need 1-3 points in Magic for basic spells. The spells you've listed seem to only require one to 2 points in magic at all. Your grid seems to reflect this perfectly.

Sweet! Got it right for once. Kitty Face

Chellizard wrote:You are only eligible for 1 stat boosting item per INT/OCC stat. Stat boosters start at level 7. At level 8 OCC you are able to increase 1 stat by 2 points, or 2 stats by 1 point for a period of posts. And, after the duration, there must be a cool down 2x the length of the duration. So, if it's 1 post duration, then it's 2 post cool down.

So my speed will be 4 when wearing the boots, and (upon activation) can be 'overclocked' to pop my speed to 6. I just have to let them 'cool off' or 'recharge' in between uses. Any criteria on how long they can be overclocked? I'm assuming only a post or two.

Chellizard wrote:
Also, when making the character, items are typically made separate, and are usually used as bonuses to the character, not as the main focus of the character.

I put in an application for the items as well, and listed all my items together, so they'd be easier to see. Technically the Talismans are items, even though I spent PP on them rather than OCC/INT. Would they still need allocation? Or does the fact that they're only items for flavor's sake get around that? (Exceptions for the Talons and Paws)

Chellizard wrote:
Albeit, it's a rad concept you have here. It's like Ironman, like you said. (:

Thanks! I was afraid it might be a little too complex, which is why I suppose I should've made an easier character to start with. Still. Go big or go home, right?

Chellizard wrote:Okay, now, on to how your base grid should look, imho.:

So in the basic grid I should drop Int for sanity's sake. Other than that it's alright.
In the Talis Grid, I accidentally counted the boost in my points from speed. It was 4 speed being boosted to 6 when the boots were active.
For the ability points, you dropped them to 0 since my items were doing the work. But would it be possible to have 2 points there to cover the invis instead of having to spend more OCC allocations? Similar to how I paid for the flight here, despite the power TECHNICALLY coming from an item? If I delegate the invisibility into an actual item, it would require me to increase the number of actual items I own, which would in turn make my boots boost less. If it's unavoidable, I understand. I'll just have to fund those points elsewhere. Smile

Chellizard wrote:
You cannot breach 30 points as a starting character.

Yeah, I accidentally counted the boost, like I mentioned. It was 30(+2 temporarily), with 4 in speed and 2 in ABI.

Chellizard wrote:
Oh, and, your bio is great. But, I don't remember who you are.

*Background music ques. "Shot through the Heart" by Bon Jovi starts.*
And after all those times on DeviantArt and Facebook you were trying to get me to come back. Wink

(But I'm gald you liked the bio, at least! Very Happy

)

((I'll edit the original post ro reflect our changes here as soon as I know how you want me to handle his cloak.))

by **Chellizard** August 5th 2013, 5:36 pm

Haha. Also, you can list your powers like "Average Strength, etc" and you can keep all your powers listed, I was just explaining them for the sake of making your "complex grid" feel less complex. It's not too complex at all. Your character's grid just becomes full with the use of items, so it's no biggie at all.

And, waaaait a tick... Hm... I may know who ya are. When you get everything fixed up, I give it one more glance over and we'll be good to go. (:

by **404NameNotFound** August 6th 2013, 1:50 am

Edited and added a picture. Just a pencil sketch, but I think it turned out alright.

So what do I need to fix next? Kitty Face

by **Chellizard** August 6th 2013, 6:59 am

You're good to go. And nice sketch. Kitty Face

I like how he looks feral w/ the talisman on. Very Happy

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