Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#1
In Earth's mid 21st century, pollution had reached an all-time high. After 1970, no 'green' movements took hold. No city beautification acts were passed. Water pollutants, improperly dumped garbage, hazardous chemicals and other waste had caused widespread sicknesses and diseases in most previously virgin environments such as forests, deserts, and even the first few miles of most shorelines. It was generally believed that some sewers were more hospitable to native life than more obvious locales due to the water runoff through the trash did not connect to the sewer systems.

This by no means meant that the world resembled a gargantuan trash barge; it did however have potent biohazard and chemical pollutants that easily affected approximately five times the space that the hazards physically took up. No place was pristine, but no place was completely destroyed, either.

The job to clean it and save more species from extinction was left to the geneticists. In order to cut cost, so the governments of the world would complain at least slightly less about funding, a single creature- made of genetically engineered enzymes- was created with a heavily instilled instinct. The instinct, of course, was to consume plants and animals from the environment it was placed in order to adapt to that area, and rise up the food chain. It would gain the evolutionary benefits of the organisms it consumed; such as it could gain wings from a bat, scales from a fish or reptile, horns from a goat, etc.

Whether the plants or animals were alive or not meant nothing. As long as the amount of mass was within 40%-120% of its own current size, the entirety of the new DNA would be available for its own use. To begin with however, the engineered enzyme was a single cluster of stomach-acid bearing cells, closely resembling ravenous clear slime. If the slime consumed less mass than the aforementioned percent, it would only 'unlock' some of the organism's traits; if it consumed over the percent, its body would concentrate on growing in size, and not on 'learning' what it absorbed. The slime's great weaknesses, however, was that it was highly likely that diseases and toxins would affect its entire body, its unstable DNA replicating and transmitting its newly discovered chemicals through each cell, before it could generate a venom or bacteria sac. It's other weakness was that whenever it grew, it would get hungry from using up mass. As it regenerated, which it did quickly, it would become hungry as it used up mass to heal. It would also get hungry as it used up mass to change its form, even slightly. All its additional hunger was in addition to becoming hungry anyway, as a matter of course.

The scientists were fearful that a single slime dropped into an environment on its own may die easily, and so it was given four additional skills that no plant or animal has.

One- each slime, while still kept in its ID coded canister, was given a small piece of DNA from a difficult to obtain, endangered, or simply out-of-place species. An example might be that Venus Flytrap leaves could be fed to a slime meant for the ocean; as it is a species guaranteed to not be encountered there. A handful of fireflies could be given to a desert slime, abolone shell given to a forest slime, or even whale given to a slime meant to be released in the sea- ensuring the slime would not have to bother hunting such a large thing later on.

Two- the slime may evolve into anything, but the scientists would need to know which creature was theirs if they needed to retrieve it or study it further. In order to ensure they always knew if a creature was theirs, no matter where it was released or how it evolved, they hard-coded the slime to eventually evolve into a creature that represents the unquestioned ruler of any food chain but does not exist in nature, which causes it to stand out easily- a dragon. The scientists knew that dragons could be many shapes, from Chinese, to wyvern, drake, dragon, linnorm, land, ampithere, sea, or wyrm. A slime could become any of these, and decide for itself its colors, patterns, skin types, etc, but it would clearly be a dragon to any who look upon it; though it would only use traits of plants and animals it had consumed in order to tailor its looks.

Three- to fill out a dragon's ability list, guarantee benefits over all other life, and help with diseases and cures, the slime could gain elemental powers from chemical agents, and could replicate any medicines, poisons, or diseases it encountered.

Four- if the slime found a deceased human, then the slime could consume the human's brain to learn at least most of what they knew. This was meant as a possible environment save, since the human would SURELY had died due to toxins that they released themselves and the slime would have to find how to counter it. Surely.

With all that planned in scrutiny, the slimes were ready to be released in order to do their four jobs- 'rise to the top of the food chain they are introduced to', 'quell the numbers of overpopulated species', 'deal with' infected or diseased organisms, and 'become a dragon'.

A safeguard was put in place to make sure that the slimes would only be in the area demanded of them, making sure they stayed out of each other's territory, and within the area of most dire need of their services.

But one test had to be run first at the main facility in Southern California. Three ants were placed in a seperate container with a slime that had not yet had its first meal. The slime was uninterested. Considering the slimes to be a wasted effort and failure, they were disposed of in a completely irresponsible manner, out of spite. The scientists acted like angry poorly-behaved teenagers and they stole the canisters of various slimes, smashing the canisters open as they threw them out the window of their vehicles while joyriding. The synthetic territory marker chemicals were left at the lab, unused. The slimes were free.

CHARACTER SHEET
Name: (remember, your character will not recognize itself as having a name yet, but you should still come up with one for us to recognize you as)
Bonus DNA: (the name or link of a real life, non-extinct species of plant or animal you want abilities from. I will unlock 100% of this species' DNA and powers for you)
Starting location: Choices are suggested to be desert, forest, beach, swamp, or sewer.
Description: a small, fist-sized clear slime (everyone starts this way, but it changes probably before the third post)
Equipment: (just a placeholder until you start finding DNA and special abilities, which is likely the second post)

--CHARACTER REFERENCES--

I constantly update the character sheet with unlocks, senses in use, slime locations, and event request information here.

For the events themselves, that information is here.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#2
OOC @ Lakashi: I like giving a plain English, out-of-character introduction to each player to set the stage, so you can understand exactly what is happening from your own human perspective, and then give an in-character introduction at the same time, so that's what I'm doing here for you. Probably also a good idea to do it anyway on a new site in case someone else might find this setup useful.

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@Lakashi: The mediocre amount of buoyancy in the canister from the lack of liquid (or air, as air would have activated the slime) kept it afloat, bobbing amongst the waves. Whether it was positive or negative luck that kept it from reaching the shore, none can say. But eventually it was deposited on a surprisingly sandy stretch of land along the edge of the sea. A large roundish boulder was gently pressed into the sand up an uncomfortable-to-climb though not unassailable incline, and a small jagged shoal pierced the groundscape of sand below. High tide was clearly to blame for the canister's emplacement.
A ditzy, though not inebriated human was climbing the sand toward an awaiting vehicle, and she used the upper rock as a better foothold so she could sprint with better traction to get to the parking lot easier. She succeeded. However, in making use of the rock, it shifted and its weight and angle made it slide far enough to decapitate the canister's empty space. The shoal had done its job as well.

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@Baschorn: Hot, but salty. The slime's first senses were immediately confused. The feeling of heat and taste of salt in the air must be related... maybe? Only the slime knew. Or didn't. But it didn't have anything telling it what to do, and before it got the chance to attempt to make a decision, it was interrupted. Something surprisingly heavy touched the slime on top (top was relative, it had no organs). Something... organic? It tasted funny, like inorganic... the slime didn't know much but it did know that inorganics weren't supposed to have a flavor. Were they?

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#3
No, there's no way inorganics were supposed to have a flavor, that wouldn't make sense. This must mean it's something organic that's pretending to not be. Baschorn's instincts tell him to spread himself out as much as much as possible in order to surround the organism and try to suffocate it or start absorbing it alive. He wasn't really sure how big the thing was but he had no reason to not trust his instincts here.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#4
I'd like to start in a watery place, I don't really mind if it is the sea, river or lake. 
And for my free dna, I'd like to have a tarantula hawk.


And I suppose I'll be called Domon.
Currently writing-                                                              
The Forgotten Lands
No Time Like Tomorrow
Sunken Sailor

https://i.imgur.com/SSyXrQz.png
   

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#5
OOC @ Everyone: Please remember to include your slime's name in your updates so its easier for me to keep stories straight.

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@Donkeymonsterz: The canister of slime had been in the sewer for quite awhile, and more than enough water runoff from people's driveways had drained down along with grass clippings, torn-up newspaper, and other mostly safe organic matter. The canister in question was sitting down there for quite awhile, as well as a lot of the debris around it.
Something further up the wash dislodged when it absorbed too much liquid, and made a log resting on it break the rest of the obstruction. Whatever the tide hit was sharp and heavy and fell on the edge of the slime's canister, breaking the surprisingly fragile glass.

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@Domon: The slime's first experience was wet. Cold wet, with traces or organic, and... something yucky, touching it. It could feel that it was inside a strangely shaped, smooth inorganic... thing. Whatever it was, it wasn't above it, because that's where the wet was. Something heavy and organic fell on the slime. It wasn't heavy enough to injure it, and it wasn't very big... but since the slime never felt anything before, anything would be heavy.

@Baschorn: (unlocked: tissue- you can use this as a skin type) The outermost, and majority, of the strange pretending organic didn't move, except when the slime spread over it. It was able to encompass it rather easily, and found that it was less then effortless to absorb. But there was something else! Little hard bumps hidden within the organic, and that's where the flavor was coming from. But the slime was already starting to feel strange, though it was probably fine. Maybe that's what it was to experience absorption?

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#8
OOC @ Everyone: I was writing updates early this week, but couldn't finish because they were fumigating my apartment and I didn't wanna put passwords in all over a public computer. I'm back now, though.
Also, Halloween is a holiday that Azure Wyrm celebrates! I'm on the East Coast of the United States, GMT-5. Using my time zone, on October 29 at 11:59 PM until November 1 at 12:01 AM, you can qualify for an event reward. On page 1 I have the link to my site with event information, so you can tell what kind of general classifications there are to choose from (Trick or Treat). Request it in the thread or in PM or on Facebook messenger or through my Skype. If you post within the event time, you qualify and I'll figure out a way to get the request to you.

OOC @ Donkeymonsterz: Remember, please make sure you put your slime's name in the post.
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@Baschorn: (unlocked: magic rocks) Whatever it was wasn't organic, so it wasn't a creature... but it was very delicious despite the odd feeling and... the slime was hardening! It was getting very difficult to move at all. Since it had no senses besides touch, there was nothing to do but wait until it could move again, if that even happened. After a very, very long time, the slime could finally move again, and it felt much better; but much hungrier too. What was it that it had eaten?

@Domon: Getting out from under the heavy thing wasn't easy, but the slime hadn't evolved in any way, so nothing kept it from flowing like a slowly moving, thick liquid. It was able to escape, and get away from the yucky flavor. There was wet all around, and inorganic, and grainy inorganic. It eventually touched what felt like a rough and inorganic shape that sloped upwards to such an angle that it would be impossible to climb. But near that was something else- something organic, and it didn't taste bad at all. It was so thin that the slime barely noticed it until it was tangled in it. There even seemed to be something the slime accidentally got stuck against itself that was hiding in the thin things, whatever they were.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#10
OOC @ Donkeymonsterz: It looks like you have the skill to be able to post as a slime in first-person, but I worry about two things: Will you be able to have the same enjoyment level if you keep posting first-person instead of second- or third-, and when you start interacting with other players (including ones on other sites), would it be too confusing for you, and them? Just things to think about.

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@Domon: (unlocked: golden orb weaver) The bump of a thicker thing in the middle of the tasteless organic strings was... hard? It didn't really have that much of a taste, per say, but at least it wasn't yucky. The slime had been starting to get a bit tired, even from simple movement, so the organic was a good thing to find, though there wasn't much of it. The slime felt the last of the thing inside itself start to dissolve and cease to be, and that's when it noticed how hungry it really was. There had to be more organics around that were worth bothering with... but it only knew the direction it came from and what was there.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#12
Baschorn

After a while, the slime realized that it could kind of control how the hard parts outside its skin grew (magic rocks), so it decided to make itself look like the inorganic it felt like and became more of a ambushing predator. It looked like a rock, and would form the hard parts in to something that looked like a cave and wait for the prey to walk in, before collapsing on it and absorbing it. Now it just waited for something to enter...

*It's Halloween so I would like to take part in that event. I would prefer the trick option to be some kind of poison that secretes from the body and paralyzes or for treat I would like to be able to produce some kind of syrup that smelled very good and could lure prey to the slime, but also be thick enough to trap the prey. I don't know, do whatever you think is best, obviously.*

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#13
Event Information!
-requests- -who- -when- valid? (between Oct 30 11:59 PM EST & Nov 1 12:01 AM EST)

-None yet, will decide later- Zeditha - Oct 31 10:21 AM EST - qualified
-Treat: salt water taffy- Evil Sethoss- Nov 1 12:23 PM EST - not qualified
-none stated- Dragonmage - Nov 1 12:37 AM EST - not qualified
-Trick: Fire breath materials- Dragonmage - Oct 31 12:10 AM EST - qualified
-none stated- Raptor of Dragons - Nov 1 4:57 AM EST - not qualified
-Treat: Jelly beans- Raptor of Dragons - Oct 30 7:32 PM EST - not qualified
-Treat: ghost pepper candy- Emeelia - Oct 30 3:17 PM EST - not qualified
-Trick: wild almonds- Avialae - Oct 31 5:29 PM EST- qualified
-none stated- Lakashi - Oct 31 11:38 PM EST - qualified
-none stated- Donkeymonsterz- Oct 30 1:42 PM EST - not qualified
-none stated- Chloecat194- Oct 29 11:49 AM EST - not qualified


So I've got a few qualifying requests, written for the slime, not player:
Aster: Trick: Wild Almonds
Zeditha: (to be decided)
Celiysetherri: Trick: Something to help unlock fire breath
Baschorn: (to be decided)

I've been pretty depressed lately though, and when I feel this bad for this long, I get generous. But what do you, the players, think? Should I just say 'eh' and validate everyone?

OOC So, I'm an American. I apologize to all my players across the world for that. I'm desperately trying to make my game as fun as possible, as fast as possible, so you guys have an escape and distraction. If my overwhelming terror seeps into my posts, it isn't intentional. I've taken a few days longer than I wanted to to try and reach emotional equilibrium, so hopefully I do okay for everyone. Me, I'm on permanent disability and only have a home because of government housing assistance, get food stamps, and have medical issues that will kill me if I don't take medicine daily. If even one government thing that the President-Elect hates gets revoked, I won't live much longer. I'm not trying to make anyone flip out; I'm just letting everyone know that if I disappear one day and never return, it's because I died. I have no family or friends offline, so no one would be there for me to let anyone know if/when it happens.

THANKSGIVING event is going to go on as planned, as is Christmahanzakwannikuh or whoever I spell it. Event information, as always, is on my site that you already have the links to.

I'm writing updates; I just needed to post this immediately since I already took too long as it is.

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RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#14
OOC@Donkeymonsterz: The "golden orb" is actually "golden orb weaver" and is a spider species. You can generate spiderweb now, have poison, and can mix and match that species' body parts and instincts. Also you can decide to just make use of its colors or color pattern and use some other body parts instead if you want. Whatever you feel like doing with it, really.

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@Baschorn: It took a long time, but the slime grew its outer slime into a hardened form that almost seemed like it had a mouth, though the slime itself remained largely immobile. Hopefully it would change that soon, because not much of any organic was lured by a baitless trap. But one small creature did when the wet pushed it at an inopportune time right into the slime. It attempted to burrow into the slime's rocky shell, but it didn't work. Luckily, it was still stuck inside. The slime wasn't able to finish its growth yet, and the creature touched the slime's slime, making it able to be absorbed if an effort was made.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#15
Baschorn

*OOC I would like to pick the treat option and have molasses, because it can have a strong, sweet smell and is thick enough to catch prey. I was hoping to use this to bait the trap when it was available.*

The slime wasn't quite done setting up its trap, but something already wandered in! Better yet, it even buried into the slime itself so it could be absorbed immediately. The slime set to work appropriating the creature, while trying to finish setting up its trap.

(If I have it available, I would also like to have the slime start creating the molasses along the bottom of the cave in the back in a way that will make it easy to absorb trapped prey)

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#16
OOC @ Lakashi: If you weren't at the beach, that might work. The smell of saltwater overpowers all other smells. Plus, all event requests have to still be hunted down; you don't automatically get or find them, and you're making yourself immobile.
Also, I don't know why I didn't mention this before (probably assumed something), but make sure you don't try to have your slime think like a sentient individual would- I'm right now considering its 'cave' to just be a mouth on its back without a jaw. It has never seen a cave, or anything else, for that matter, and it would have to develop its genetic complexity and intelligence to be able to think that way. Since you don't have the ability to grow a mouth, I'd say its probably your slime thinking about its shell and just moving its location or something.
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@Baschorn: (unlocked: sand crab) The creature was hard, and round, but longer than it was round. The creature's body was hard, and it had little pokey parts all over its bottom side that was being dug into the slime's ooze, and they hurt! But absorbing it was dulling the spiky bits and pulling the creature in, making its movements cease. After a short while, it was broken into pieces inside the slime's slime. The pieces would take a little bit to dissolve. Using this new biomass, the slime was able to complete its tiny open maw on top of its body, but it made itself extremely hungry.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#18
@Tenebrae: The vial containing genetically engineered slime sat motionless on the side of the road for a long time. It had been thrown out of a jeep many weeks ago, but it failed to hit anything hard and didn't break. The impact's force was even decreased due to how it landed! This would be considered very lucky, but the exact opposite was true- the slime inside was unable to activate, come to life, and go free.
The jeep driver had made this trip multiple times since then, and was making it again. They tossed the remains of a cigarette, still lit, out of the window, not caring what happened to it. It landed on some garbage and ignited after a very short while- the desert was hot and dry. The heat from the burning litter was just enough to crack the glass of the vial, though most of the fire was already out by now. The glass had begun to break, and continued on its own. The slime inside began to pour out, which smothered the remaining cinders, but then it recoiled back into its vial. It was too big to stay where it was; the liquid level was more expansive than the remaining glass.

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@Quest: Hot. The slime awoke for the first time, now counting as a life form. It felt itself start to ooze down over something sharp but inorganic, and touch something even hotter! It recoiled in pain. It tried to stay where it was only hot and not extremely hot, but it couldn't pull itself back in for some reason.

RE: Azure Wyrm- RP Thread (New players always welcome)

#20
OOC sorry, had a lot of RL problems and my hypoglycemia is getting worse, so every time I eat, I fall unconscious. Makes it pretty difficult to concentrate on writing. Also, I've been writing a book. Let me know in PM if you want a link to it.

I'm also expanding the Christmahanzakwannikuh event, but just for this year, cuz I've been so erratic about my posting. As soon as this is posted, until Jan 1, you're considered qualified with your event request.
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@Quest: The slime had no idea what direction there wasn't hot; it seemed to be everywhere. The inorganic it was trapped in, in every direction except up, felt even hotter than just the air around it. It had to go... somewhere. But since it didn't have any sensory organs besides its own slime-based skin, it would have to wander around somewhere in hopes it could find somewhere safer.