This group is based on Scott Westerfield's Midnighters series. It will be taking place after the third book. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Midnighters series, allow me to give you a bit of a rundown on the history of the world in which Midnighters live.

What is a Midnighter?
Midnighters are people who were born within one minute on either side of midnight (From 11:59pm to 12:01 am) on any given day.

What's so special about Midnighters?
Midnighters get 25 hours a day, not 24.

What do you mean?
Well, here's how it works. In ancient times, human beings were hunted by unbelievable predators. These predators were capable of taking the form of humans' worst nightmares (often things like large black cats, spiders, etc. These guys are called darklings. There are also "lesser" darklings called slithers. They usually take the form of snakes, bats, etc.

As mankind grew and developed strength (both in numbers and in intelligence), they eventually began to find ways to protect themselves from darklings. When the hunted became the hunter, the darklings formed some kind of pact that caused their world to exist for only one hour a day, squeezed into an instant - the moment the clock strikes twelve.

In this instant, everything (and I mean everything) freezes. Cars stop working, people are frozen in time and space, all power turns off. For the space of 60 minutes. And in those 60 minutes, the darklings are free to hunt. Now there are some forms of protection against such beings. For example, they can't abide technology. Or things with 13 sides, points, etc. So the chances of them entering your home and killing you are slim to none. But if you're out in the woods when the clock strikes twelve? Well, then, someone may one day find what's left of your body - typically teeth and anything metal inside your body or on your person.

And midnighters can... what, exactly?
Well, they don't freeze. Biologically, they are a part of midnight itself. And so, they can move in it and they have (once again) found ways to protect themselves against such beings. Such things are pieces of metal that have not been touched by a darkling before - examples include pipes, hubcaps, trash can lids, etc. They typically are inscribed with runes and also given names - tridecalogisms (words with 13 letters). For an extra punch, they're given 3 tridecalogisms as a single name. For instance, "Belligerently biodegradable blamelessness."

These guys are basically our protectors. But, unless you lived in Bixby, Oklahoma, it used to didn't matter. The midnight was there, and only there.

So what do I care, then? I don't live in Bixby, Oklahoma!
Right. But now, it matters everywhere. The midnight is growing wider and wider, and will one day envelop all the world. And there are only a few out there who can stop it from destroying the human race.


Now, Midnighters are pretty cool guys, especially when you look at what they do. Each has a specific ability - some can read thoughts (and influence them), some are acrobats - for whom gravity barely exists in midnight (although their bodies react the same for the other 24 hours a day). Others are Polymaths - people who can work numbers like they breathe (and they're often the source for most tridecalogisms as well as most weapons), and some are seers, who interpret the lore of past midnighters and create new lore. Every once in a while, there's even someone who can actually use technology in the blue time (as it's often called). There are a variety of other abilities that have not been seen for hundreds of years, but are there for people to use them.


And so. Here's how it's going to work - All players are visiting Washington, DC (or they live there). What happens when suddenly, at midnight, everything stops and the world turns an odd blue color? Raindrops hang in the air, glistening like diamonds. Falling leaves just stop. Cars are all at a standstill in the roads, and everyone near you suddenly look like they're mannequins. What do you do? How do you find others like yourself? And once you do, how do you figure out what's going on? And, more importantly, who is this polymath who shows up and offers to teach you all you need to know? Can you trust her, or is she in league with the beasts that prowl your city?

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PLEASE PM THE CHARACTER SHEETS TO ME. I'll look them over and either approve or suggest changes to them. Once your sheets are accepted, post them here and feel free to post in the IC thread.

The IC thread

Just a quick question. How does that metal-as-a-weapon thing work?

Okay. It's a little bit confusing, but here's what it boils down to.

Things created using human technology cause damage to darklings/slithers. This would mean that while gold, silver, etc, probably wouldn't do much damage (as they occur naturally), alloys such as steel and iron would.

Anything that's been taken out of its natural state and been blended or turned into something "other," is capable. While it's not mentioned in the books, I would assume that plastic has the ability to harm, as well, although not as potently as metals.

The darklings are OLD. Like, hundreds of years old. I mean, think about it. Since they only experience one hour every "day," it takes 24 of our days for them to experience a full "day" in their world. If I'm doing my math correctly (which I'm probably not), it averages out to about 500 of our years for them to live a full year of their own time.

And, well. You know, there's a hint of magic surrounding this world, too. Of course.

Thank you for accepting me. Here's my character sheet:

Name: Jade Connors

Age: 19

Place of Employment/Education: Jade lives nearby in Arlington, Virginia, and goes to DC every day to work at her job, as a worker for the National Children's Museum.

Background: Jade grew up with a drunk father who never was sober enough to keep a job. From an early age, she had to get a job to help her mother pay for the bills. To top it all off, her bosses kept giving her sexist jobs, something which led to her beginning to dislike the whole male gender. Then, one day, her mother died of a rare genetic disorder. Her father, unable to take care of her, put her up for adoption. There she met a boy named James. Originally distrustful, she grew to like this young man. They even started dating. But one day, he disappeared. The police finally found the one "responsible" for his disappearance. It was a woman who had been driving drunk. This shook down her belief that only men were bad. Around that time, she also succumbed to a mental disorder, brought about by her messed up genetics. Because of both of those things, she was sent to a mental hospital, where she was rehabilitated for a couple of years. When she was finally let out, she was the person we know and love today.

Personality: Jade on the outside seems a bit random... totally out of it, to tell you the truth. However, once you get to know her, you end up seeing that there's a method to her madness, and that she actually has a very keen insight to a lot of what goes on around her. You also end up seeing that, yes, she is a bit crazy too.

Appearance: Jade is tall and thin, with a rather bookworm-ish sort of look. She is tall and skinny, wears long, perpetually messy clothes, and is easily identified by her large round glasses she wears. She has a veritable mane of brown hair, which always covers her piercing green eyes.

Specialty: Slider - A slider is a person with a very limited grasp of reality. A slider can, at will, move through any non-living substance. (Yes, this includes things that were living and are now dead, like wood and corpses.) This does not mean, however, that a slider is unable to touch non-living things. A slider chooses what it will move through and what it will not, and is able to change its mind at any time. However, when a slider is moves through an object under a force that is not its own (i.e. falling down or being pushed) then its speed is decreased as it goes through the object. When a slider decides not to be able to go through an object while already going through an object, an amount of that object directly proportional to the amount of the slider already in the object disappears for the rest of the midnight hour. If the midnight hour ends and the slider is still in an object, the slider is forcibly removed from the object at a very high velocity. (i.e., thrown away from the object very fast.) Whether or not the slider is still there, however, the material is replaced in the object. A slider can also temporarily give a non-living object the same ability, as long as it's touching the object.

Also, if you would, I would like to expound a bit upon the nature of darklings. The Darklings weakness comes from the inability to adapt quickly to new "technology". They hate anything created after they came around, including, but not limited to, mathematics (especially the number 13), language, heat and light, and alloys (such as steel). These are the things that they are weak against.
The darklings do feel a certain affinity for certain things as well. The number 12 and a variation of the rune language, for example.
And as to the way a darkling grows... Besides the fact that most of them are grotesque monsters who can live for who knows how many "years", the fact is that their time is different than ours. Because it takes them 24 days to live a full day's worth of time, they grow at a rate of 1/24 as fast as us. So for them, it would only seems like a year went by, when in reality, it has been ~24 years.

Just though it would be good to note that.
Oh, and one more thing:

Such things are pieces of metal that have not been touched by a midnighter before

should actually read

Such things are pieces of metal that have not been touched by a darkling before

Thanks. Fixed it.

Place of Employment/Education: Joel is enlisted in the Marines while Kylie works part-time at the YMCA but both are still in school.

Background: Joel and Kylie Banks were born to a single parent, their mom, who had become pregnant with twins at the age of 17 as a waitress. She then became a bartender at the age of 18 which tied up most of her time. She later moved out of her parents‘ house, leaving her two young children to live with their grandparents in the outskirts of LA, believing that the elderly couple would do a better job of raising them.

Joel used the absence of his father along with these other inconveniences as an excuse to act out. He was caught spray painting his name on the side of his elementary school at the age of 6. It seemed that Joel had been dared by the older boys of the community who were in the local gang. Heartbroken by this, Joel’s grandparents searched for an alternative for her children to take part in so they wouldn’t get caught up in the community around them.

They were both enrolled in a free after school program that taught the fundamentals of karate, gymnastics and even dance. Before long, Joel took a strong liking to martial arts, much to his Marine Grandfather’s liking. Though Kylie really loved gymnastics, her grandfather decided that she too should keep in the spirit of martial arts. Due to this, she is at a lower belt then her brother but greatly excels in her status as a gymnasts. By the age of 13, the two found funding in other family members so they could continue their productive habits without straining the limited income of their retired grandparents.

By the age of 16, Joel had decided that he wanted to be in the Marines as his grandfather had been and the two both got jobs to fuel their own habits. Joel then enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17. As teenagers, Kylie branched socially. She had Jr. High and High School figured out to a science and was soon living the life that people saw on TV. She went to parties, drank alcohol and never missed a school function; even if it was just to show her face and comment on how lame the get together was. She felt like a celebrity when a new rumor was started about what her and her clique did at parties held by the jocks and loved to be in the mix of drama.

Joel became much of a recluse. He had friends, real friends unlike the fake people that seemed to flock to his sister. He tried his best not to judge her and didn’t tolerate other people saying mean or hurtful things about her character. His philosophy was to fly underneath the radar as far as high school went.

The two usually spend their extra hour together. It’s the time when the two are most comfortable around each other and they both let down their walls to be themselves. They have never seen a Darkling before and do not know that other people can do what they do.

Personality: Kylie is more outspoken and abrasive. She gives little thought or care to the words that come from her mouth but is very picky about her outside appearance. This attitude often makes her personality acquired taste though her outlandish sense of humor often saves her in the friend department. She can be very immature at times and often gets on her brother’s nerves. Kylie may be a good person underneath all of the show that she puts on for high school but only her brother knows the real her.

Joel can be described in one word, calm. His background in martial arts has taught him to ignore the foolishness that most teenagers his age engage in. Unlike his sister, he has never drank alcohol, stayed up late or done anything illegal since his run in with the law at the age of 6. Like most teens, he finds high school annoying and can’t wait to escape into the real world. Most of his friends are from live chats or are older and much more mature then the kids his age.

Appearance: Kylie is short standing at 5’1 with a thicker build then most teenage girls. Her muscular build is offset by her childlike features. She has full even chubby cheeks that are dimpled to compliment her wide bright brown eyes. Her curly brown hair is painstakingly straightened every morning to a short bob that stops at her chin in the front but stops just below her shoulders in the back. Her skin is a lively light shade of brown, free of scars and blemishes though bruises can be found on her legs due to her extracurricular activities. Due to her buff arms and built body, Kyle goes out of her way to be as feminine as possible when amongst friends. She often spends atleast 2 hours getting ready for school and rarely ever wears tops that expose her arms.

Joel is about regular height compared to his sister, standing at 5’11 with a lean yet very muscular build. Oddly enough, when put side to side, Kylie looks as if she is bigger then Joel in the muscle department. He is a little lighter then his sister, his skin tone more of an olive color rather then brown. His eyes are a dull brown framed with thick lashes and dark unruly eyebrows. He keeps his hair short in a buzz cut with the top long enough for small curls to form. His face is always clean-shaven exposing his strong jaw line and dimpled chin.

Specialty: They are both Acrobats. With their background in martial arts, both are skilled in using weapons and hand-to-hand combat.

Edit: Correcting typos here and there .

Taefaros wrote:Sweetness, you've seriously got me intrigued. I've been meaning to read Midnighters, well, foreeeever, so thanks for reminding me. Let me think long and hard on a character sheet so I can do you justice.

I'm glad you're interested. It does happen to be one of the more interesting trilogies I've read in a long time. It's much different than his Uglies trilogy, but you can still tell that it's Westerfield writing them.

Ghost_x1000 wrote:And as to the way a darkling grows... Besides the fact that most of them are grotesque monsters who can live for who knows how many "years", the fact is that their time is different than ours. Because it takes them 24 days to live a full day's worth of time, they grow at a rate of 1/24 as fast as us. So for them, it would only seems like a year went by, when in reality, it has been ~24 years.

Would it only be 24 years? Yeah, I guess it would. Hmm.

Name: Kyle Harth

Place of Employment/Education: FBI Agent

Background: Kyle has always lived this way, and it never has seemed too different for him, until lately, as things get more and more strange. One of the hardest things for him to adjust to, was that when investigations went on late into the night, everything would freeze, leaving him to himself, in the usually abnormal situation that he was in. Now, he lives in Washington D.C., and wonders if there are any more like him. After all these years of keeping the secret to himself, he's dreamed of knowing, and befriending someone like him, where he can share what's bottled up inside of him, since he has not been able to tell anyone for all these years.

Personality: Being a FBI agent, he is not afraid to give someone a piece of his mind, but at other times, he can be quite conservative, and a thinker. Also, his former family taught him to have respect for others, and ever since they had been killed, he wanted to live up to their high expectations, and help others, and his ability only makes that so much more easier.

Appearance (pictures accepted):


Special Ability:
Kyle has a very extreme scent of smell, and can pick up a trail almost like a dog. His fellow investigators know that he has a sense of smell, but don't know about this special aspect of him, since Kyle knows that they would never believe him, no matter how hard he could try. When he enters the blue time, the scents seem to come alive to him, and he can see them and track them, easily, since they are right in front of his eyes.

I suppose I should post my person's character sheet.

Name:
Trixie. Just Trixie.

Age:
22

Place of Employment/Education:
Trixie went to school at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she double majored in Art with a Specialty in Sculpture and Engineering Technology with a specialty in Manufacturing Technology. Needless to say, she's smart. She is now in Washington, DC to help the Midnighters there learn what they need to keep the nation's capital safe.

Background:
Trixie was born Anna Wilson, in Richmond, Virginia. She was an only child, and excelled in school thanks to an inexplicable ability to manipulate numbers, as well as a highly developed artistic skill. When she graduated from high school at 17, she made her way to the University of Southern Mississippi to receive her double majors. It was the day after her graduation that a strange email arrived, inviting her to join a "networking group" of like-minded individuals - those who were terribly skilled at mathematical reasoning.

Already a member of MENSA, Trixie joined. And it was there that she learned what she needed to know about the coming "blue time," as the head of the site, a woman named "Dess" put it. Trixie thought Dess was nuts, until members closer to the midwest began verifying her accounts. Then, Trixie just got scared. Volunteers were chosen from around the United States and after heading to a podunk town where she met "Dess" in real life (and experienced the "blue time") as well, she was taught how to create weaponry and what survival tactics were vital to pass on to others of their kind. Upon completing the "seminar," each student was given a map of places to go. Trixie's first stop - Washington, DC. And it is there that she finds herself tonight.

Personality:
Trixie is a bit nervous, and a bit less assertive than she likes. She's hoping that a major situation will give her a stronger backbone, and she is hell-bent on having her first "assignment" go well.

Appearance:
Trixie is short and thin, with close-cropped red hair and thick framed glasses. She wears thrift store clothes, often long and flowing skirts, and despite her appearance, is quite charming and far less "weird" than one would expect. Her user name on most websites for years was "TrixiePixie" (since she believed she looked rather pixie-esque with her narrow cheek bones and frail looking body) and since Dess agreed that Trixie was very pixie-like, the nickname has now become her preferred name.

Specialty:
Trixie is a polymath and a weapons specialist, insofar as weaponry goes in the midnight hour. She can work numbers like few can, and she sees the world in mathematics the same way others see it in colors.

Thanks for accepting meh! I toned down his ability a little. Hope it's enough! I'll tone it down more if need be.

Name: Victor ‘Sly’ Housen

Age: 19

Place of Employment/Education: Hunter

Background: Victor Housen was born to a middle-class family in West Texas. Like other West Texas boys, the young Victor enjoyed the whole guns and cowboys thing. However, a hunting accident left him blind in his left eye, and he has stayed away from guns since. In fact, Victor began abhoring all sorts of technology. He ate whatever his parents provided him, which was usually good, but when it came to doing things on his own, he liked to do it the natural way. He did enjoy one particular invention, though. Weed.

As a growing teen, Victor became involved in drugs. Unlike the rest of the boys, he didn’t hunt or shoot clay pigeons for enjoyment. He felt excluded, and the addict crowd welcomed him with open arms. Long story short, Victor hit rock bottom within a year, stealing from the donation plate at church. Angered and worried, his parents sent him off to a camp.

At camp, Victor was again excluded, but he knew better than to seek refuge in drugs. Camp was a social kind of activity, and that kind of thing didn’t suit him. However, one activity the camp hosted felt like home to him.

They called it Muay Thai, and said it came from a place called Thailand off in Asia someplace. Victor took a liking to it. He showed excellent battle intuition, decent dexterity, and he could throw a right jab like none other, despite his small build. His blind eye almost stopped him from pursuing training after camp, but a man by the name of Robert Samth offered him lessons – free ones.

Needless to say, Victor’s parents were happy that he had gotten away from drugs and found something else, even something healthy. They weren’t as happy when Samth told them he would need to suspend Victor’s schooling for some time. They initially refused, but when Samth offered to home-school Victor while he was away, as well as pay a stipend each month to the family, they couldn’t find a reason to refuse.

The 14-year-old Victor began training under Samth. He learned grappling, locks, strikes, and several other body mechanics that Samth categorized as “martial combat”. Victor was smaller and weaker than other fighters, and he had a giant blind spot on the left side of his body. He was, however, quick and intelligent. Most of all, however, he was determined.

For nearly the next three years, Victor trained exceedingly hard. He developed a skin condition on his hands and ankles where a break in the skin would bleed excessively. To combat this, he wears special hand and ankle wraps 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During his last year of training, Samth began to slowly integrate what he called “The Blue Midnight” into conversations. At first, Victor thought it was a joke. That is, until he first experienced the blue time, and saw the darklings first hand.

Now, two years later, Victor is called ‘Sly’, because of his hunting style. He continues to wear his wraps. He also wears a black bandana covering his eye so it feels less awkward. His battle intuition has been sharpened dramatically, and his martial combat skills have vastly improved. His latest assignment: Washington, D.C. There, he will pose as a hobo during the day, wearing self-stitched rags, and hunting darklings during the blue time.

Personality: Although he hunts under the pretense that he hates the beings that feed on people, and his sole duty is to protect them, he secretly enjoys fighting. He has a fond love for the clash of two beings, who throw everything at each other, and the one who triumphs is the better man. He is quiet, but constantly judging. He hates cowards that run away from death, and respects those who have died in battle, especially the darklings. He and the darklings in his hometown have even begun to develop mutual respect for one another.

Appearance: Sly isn’t much to look at. He’s short, has a small build, and has thick shoulder-length brown hair. His bangs hang messily over his sharp blue eyes, adding to his hobo look. Add to that his dirty hand and ankle wraps, torn brown shorts, and makeshift half-cloak, and he makes the perfect hobo-by-day, hunter-by-night.

Specialty: Sly’s ability is to temporarily form metal gauntlets, a natural weapon against the darklings. Even after being sullied, Sly can keep himself alive with evasive fighting maneuvers. The real secret to his fighting lies in his ability to break and reform his gauntlets at will, which lends itself to a hit and run strategy. Breaking is instantaneous, but forming takes, on average, around 10 seconds. Under dire stress he has been known to form his weapon in as little as 7 seconds. Unless broken willingly, his gauntlets will break after half an hour.

Lit.Angel, I think we should hold off on the posting until the others come back. Lol, our three characters are having their own tea time it seems.

I think we should wait for the others for a while. =)

I'm fine with you guys continuing on. We can't do much to always interact until midnight. After all, DC's friggin huge. You guys just let me know when you're ready for me to bring about the blue time.

I deeply apologize for what happened. To put it simply, I got totally screwed over by my internet company. I've finally got it back on, but it is only for the rest of the month. I've pretty much decided to use a different company, seeing as how my current one sucks. But this also means that I'm going to have to drop out of this roleplay, at least until I can find a better internet provider.

Like I said before, I'm very sorry. Please forgive me, but I think it's my only option at this point. I hereby withdraw my request to join.

Take care and join us later if you feel so inclined!