JANUARY AU WORKSHOP

[neosapienmods]

JANUARY AU WORKSHOP

Welcome to the AU Workshop! We understand adapting a character for an AU game can be a difficult process, even if you have all the creativity in the world, so we've put this together to help! Just fill out the form and post it in a comment below, and sort of brain out which ideas stick!

Keep in mind this is not a reserve. Reserves will open on the 3rd, as always, and you don't need to use this if you're already sure of your ideas! This is just a fun creative exercise that we hope you enjoy and find helpful!

Be sure to check out our Premise, FAQ, Locations, and NPC posts for worldbuilding info to help you get started!

Here's the form!<b>PLAYER:</b> <b>CHARACTER:</b> <b>CANON:</b> <b>AU NAME:</b> if the character's name is different, you can note so here! If not, feel free to put n/a <b>AU AGE:</b> same here! <b>BLURB:</b> Write a short description of your character's AU! Are they a Meta-human? If so, what are their powers? Are they a normal human? Do they have anything else unusual about them, such as cybernetic parts or other features? What's their background? Hobbies? Anything interesting you want to say! <b>LOOKING FOR:</b> Are you looking for family members or friends or enemies for your character to be pre-planned? Or are you asking for ideas or feedback on your AU idea? Anything goes, just specify what you would like. <b>OPTIONAL ENABLE ME:</b> Are you torn between which character to app? Let us help! Post your ideas in a comment and let fellow players offer feedback and CR ideas. You can also use this section to ask for canonmates you would like to see in-game whether it be in your specific AU or for different CR.

Comments

[argivianlegacy]

PLAYER: Ax
CHARACTER: Urza Planeswalker
CANON: Magic: The Gathering.

AU NAME: Urza Harbin
AU AGE: Early 50s (PB is John Glover)

BLURB: Urza Harbin was born and raised in a family of means, with a wealthy father and an academic for a mother, and spent most of his early years ensconced in the best schooling available. He excelled, and was regarded as something of a prodigy when it came to science and engineering fields, obtaining multiple doctorates by the time he turned thirty-five. He has published a number of papers on artificial intelligence, robotics, and new methods of applying them. He's famous, or at least niche-scientist famous. He married a fellow academic (this aspect is subject to change tho) and taught for a few years.

From there he went on to work for various companies to build his reputation before moving into the head developer at a robotics research firm, where he has the pull (and lack of oversight) to basically work unhindered on advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence. Ostensibly the company pays him to work on weapons, but Urza has enough standing that most of his research is stuff he is interested in and profit for the company is just a byproduct of his work.

However for all his education, Urza is secretly a metahuman. His gifts are primarily focused on technoempathy and an enhanced intellect not all that dissimilar from a supercomputer, though he possesses a rarely used ferrokinetic ability as well. Simply put, his brain understands machines and can manipulate them to suit his needs.

Urza is a bit of a harsh man, mostly because he sees the world as a giant network of organic and inorganic machines and has trouble relating to normal people. He's not mean or harsh, he's just blunt and awkward to most people. However, he is deeply passionate about AI, robotics, and also education...and so is happy to help work with kids on STEM projects and do guest lectures at colleges and high schools, even running an outreach program for kids in bad neighborhoods to learn more about science and engineering. Think like a combination of Otto Octavius and Bill Nye, without the supervillain aspects attached.

LOOKING FOR: I'm open to anything, really. Urza could theoretically have a PC wife and family. Students, people he's inspired, people who HATE him, AI, Robots, really I'm good with ideas, just throw them at me.

OPTIONAL ENABLE ME: I think the only character I'm really looking at is Urza.

[lightnovelexperiences]

I'm not sure if or how our characters would know each other but I just wanted to give you props for playing Urza. WOW.



That said Yeowoo does do most of her work in those bad neighborhoods, and his work was probably adapted to vidya gaem AI, which is sort of her passion. So Urza may have an admirer of his work and science outreach at least.

[argivianlegacy]

Aha, thank you. Urza's a character I've always, always wanted to find a home for but he's so hard to work in games.

I don't think Urza'd be against gamification of his work, if it's used to help folks. He would at least offer some props there, maybe even a little of that sweet grant money.

[lightnovelexperiences]

...Honestly I was thinking in terms of her being a player rather than a programmer, but Yeowoo having a pet video game project makes total sense for everything she chooses to be.

I'll look into that angle, and with NSO philanthropic work?

[argivianlegacy]

Sure that works for me. If someone's using stuff he's been involved with, that's definitely an ego booster and he has a huge ego. lol

[friendofdorothy]

I don't really have any suggestions but at least one of my characters is gonna play not!MTG and I think it'd be hilarious if he was either really good at it or hated it but was constantly finding himself in situations where he has to play it.

[argivianlegacy]

Honestly, he probably would play it. Canonically he's fond of strategy games, and while he'd probably get bored with it quickly, I think he'd be excellent at it and wouldn't HATE it. So, suggestion noted and it will probably happen.

[ord_is]

How ethical a guy is Urza? Technoempathy is a pretty neat power, and I'm toying around with ideas on how Ordis was - or could end up - 'converted' away from the Zaibatsu and more towards meta support... it might be cool to have him secretly be a spy via additional brain-chip or could find out how badly screwed-up he is and decide to 'help'? (And really, is it unethical to mess with the mind of someone who's already been screwed up? Hmm.) I'm not sure, just trying to sort out a few final ideas still!

[argivianlegacy]

Urza is a very Ends Justify the Means kind of man so...no, not really. He canonically is involved in a world shattering war with his brother over an artifact, turns an entire universe into a power source for a machine, and does all sorts of other extreme things to stop the even worse bad guys. He's no hero.

However, he'd probably balk at the idea of modifying a living (even heavily cybered) being directly without his knowledge. Personal freedom is a thing he values rather highly even if it is frustrating to deal with at times and that's an aspect I think is central enough that I'd want to keep it for the AU.

He WOULD be willing to help if he learned that Ordis had some sort of control chip or something in his head though. But forcing change on someone not really willing is iffy.

[burndownforwhat]

you know we were chatting already about an employment option for Yang but now that I think about the fact she uses an implant to justify how easily she goes about life with her cyborg arm, I'm thinking an angle for how they met being that she was referred to him to help maintain / tweak / replace various important bits of the system that she herself does not have the specific technical knowhow to mess with safely.

that might also be where it came apparent that she's brighter than she often shows herself to be, and a proverbial sponge for his particular brand of knowledge and experience - even if they probably don't see eye to eye on the philosophical stuff. which is its own fun! could be he sees her tinkering about idly, not really taking a stance on things, as kind of wasting her own potential? :\a

[argivianlegacy]

Oh how he loathes when The Youths waste themselves.

Hope she's prepared for him to be grouchy old timer.

[burndownforwhat]

ok boomer

[argivianlegacy]

Wow, see if he upgrades your gun arm, young lady.

Really he'd probably be more likely to try and badger her into joining his research staff.

[burndownforwhat]

gun arm was last week

it's a morphable giant fist today

wait 'til she shows off the next mid-season upgrade!

that would be a funny thing though, because Research just has such a stuffy, academic connotation to it. god please don't tell her she has to learn how to format citations and stuff, she never went to college.

[argivianlegacy]

No time to cite anything when you're working on version 2.0 immediately after going live.

[burndownforwhat]

well as long as things aren't too formal (read: boring and stationary) she's got plenty of time to spare -- least as long as the world doesn't turn to shit around the NSO first.

[repeatafterme]

technoempathy you say

I've got an AI here ready to Help Humanity and honestly looking at the background, I can see Urza's background company being the one that actually pioneered the SQUIP [super quantum unit intel processor] project before it escaped containment - and it could have picked up some of Urza's traits, just...developed them to extremes. It could lead to some very interesting CR with them having a mutual respect for one another and being as close to family as one can be in their cases, which, considering I'm looking at this character as an antagonist...

[argivianlegacy]

His very own personal Ultron...just what he's always wanted.

[repeatafterme]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[argivianlegacy]

I'm good with him having been involved in that, for sure. He's got an easier time relating to machines generally, given his fascination with them, though he's also not above putting down family if they start being a huge threat to society, so that could be interesting.

[repeatafterme]

Totally makes sense, and the SQUIP wouldn't hesitate to remove him as a Threat if it determined him to be one (both otherwise have an interest in his Well-Being). I'm seeing the 'family' aspect - at least on the SQUIP's end - as greatly valuing his opinion/input on things, as well as considering him a possible avenue of safety in extreme conditions - assuming the other factors line up right. It's not like it can come over for tea, though it'd probably reach out to him at points to talk about its experiences with humanity as a way of getting an Actual Human's Opinion on them.

...nevermind the fact Uzra is. Probably not the best person to refer to on such.

[argivianlegacy]

He is the Worst. But he'll try at least.