With Andy's blessing, I submit the biggest challenge of my RPG career...
The "World of Heroes" DC RPG Season IX Application
Screen Name: Batman
Character you would like to play (please include the color and font you plan on using to portray the character): Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El
Powers and Brief Origin (provide at least two sentences): In the endless reaches of the universe, there once existed a planet known as Krypton, a planet that burned like a green star in the distant heavens. There, civilization was far advanced, and brought forth a race of supermen, whose mental and physical powers were developed to the absolute peak of human perfection. But there came a day when giant quakes threatened to destroy Krypton forever - one of the planet's leading scientists, sensing the approach of doom, placed his infant son in a small rocket ship and sent it hurdling in the direction of the Earth just as Krypton exploded. The rocketship sped through star studded space, landing safely on Earth with it's precious burden, Krypton's sole survivor.
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - the infant of Krypton is now The Man of Steel - Superman! To best be in a position to use his amazing powers in a neverending battle for truth and justice, Superman has assumed the disguise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
(Taken line-for-line from the intro of the 1941 Fleischer shorts)
Group your character is aligned with (if applicable): The Justice League of America, honorary member of The Justice Society of America, Team Superman, The World's Finest
Write two complete sentences using proper English grammar. One to explain what you plan to do with the character you've chosen. The other to explain why you've chosen this character. (i.e. What are your goals? Will you be doing anything different with the character than is usually seen?): My plan with Superman is rather simple, but it's probably one of the hardest things I've ever attempted in the games. Give Superman -
the Superman, not some alternate universe variation - an ending. We're in the final season, so I see no reason to not just go all out with it and try to do some ballsy stuff. I want to attempt to write a a story with the partial mentality that this will be the final Superman story ever conceived and that I've been the one tasked to bring the character to a close. It may actually not live up to even my own expectations, because that's just how daunting the task is. But I'm willing to do what I can with it in the final weeks that this season has.
My reason for choosing him is equally simple. He's Superman, and he deserves a farewell worthy of his seasons upon seasons of continuity. From SuperFerret and LibrarianThorne, to myself and Andy, we've all tried to bring something of our own to the character that seemed to have work. Now I want to try and combine past and present to create something of a story to go out on for DC's biggest and most iconic character.
Do you have an Instant Messenger? Which one, and what is your screen name?: [email protected] - MSN
If you know how to post pictures, please provide a picture of your character you wish to be used for the Character Roster (if you do not know how, or do not have a preference, please say so and a default picture shall be picked for you):
Please provide a small sample post with original content in the style that you plan to write your character in (must be at least 3 paragraphs long and contain at least one line of dialogue):
Lex Luthor was dead.
To say it aloud was all a little too surreal for anyone living in Metropolis. True, he had garnered one of the most notorious reputations of any living historical figure of the modern age, but to actually wake up and greet The City of Tomorrow with the innate knowledge that Luthor was well and truly gone had somehow left a thorough impact through every corner of the city's creases. Of course there were the obvious ones, the ones whose only reaction to the news was "Good, it's about time that maniac got what he deserved", but few had actually known Lex so personally that they could truly call him a monster or a saint. To the public at large, he was the living symbol of triumph over tragedy. A man who clawed his way out from under a miserable existence in Suicide Slums to find his way to true wealth and power, establishing Luthorcorp and taking control of every business in sight.
To others, like The Daily Planet's editor-in-chief Perry White, he was known for his hand in hundreds of criminal activities, having funded thousands of known terrorists ranging from the miniscule to the superhuman, even having a personal hand in creating a few choice monstrosities. One of The Planet's most controversial-yet-record breaking headline sales actually came from an article that Lois Lane had written years ago, calling the shrewd businessman Luthor, plain the simply, "the greatest criminal mastermind of our time". And it wasn't entirely an unfounded claim. For all of his charitable work, Luthor was driven by a single goal in his twilight years, and no secret had been made about it's malicious intent to those who knew the truth. His dream was to humiliate, discredit, or perhaps even utterly destroy Superman.
So one had to wonder, in the midst of the media circus surrounding the mysterious nature of the life that Lex Luthor had lived, what impact that his passing had made on what became his greatest enemy. A man Luthor had despised for simply being the hero that he felt Metropolis overtly glorified him as. The answer was surprising.
Rainclouds formed above the hill in the Metropolis Memorial Cemetary, where Luthor's remains had just been buried days prior. He had received no visitors since his funeral, and hardly anyone was surprised. Some had even taken the liberty of desecrating the gravestone bronze bust of the man, painting "fraud" on the back of it's head. Yet today brought the most unlikely visitor of all. His bright red boots floating above the site, they finally touched down upon the grass and their occupant silently stood, contemplating what he was looking at. After a few moments, he noticed the graffiti applied to the bust. With little more than a light blast of heat vision, the paint hardened and cracked, turning to dust in the rain, renewing the grave.
Superman stared back at the visage of what many called his archenemy. Even Wonder Woman, one of his closest allies, had once equated his and Luthor's rivalry to that of Zues and Hades. Men so similar in their power that they were practically cut from the same cloth, sent onto two completely different paths. But even when The Man of Steel thought of Lex at his most diabolical, willing to turn over entire city blocks just to see him struggle to keep them from falling, he only had pity. There was no bitterness, no hard feelings or even a hostile glare in his eyes. All he saw was a man with unbridled potential, of which had been completely wasted on some meaningless vendetta. Even with every reason in the world to hate Luthor, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"I was told that I shouldn't have come."
He wasn't exaggerating. Even his own wife, a woman that would never hesitate to support such a gesture, was unable to look directly into his eyes when he mentioned that he'd be visiting Luthor's grave. She didn't see the point in trying to patch up old wounds - the man was gone, and even if he weren't, the last thing Luthor deserved was the recognition. He literally used his last breath to spite Superman, and Luthor's final revenge was now slowly killing him.
"And perhaps there's some truth to that. Maybe I should be angry with you, after everything that you did to try and kill me and the people I care about. I've even been told that I should be celebrating the fact that you're not around to torture me anymore."
With a heavy sigh, Superman rested his left hand - a palm capable of carving diamonds - onto Luthor's engraved name. Ironically so, his only true subtitle in death was humanitarian. Superman nearly smiled, the joke far from lost on him. But the tone of his voice nearly sounded somber, as if he were in mourning.
"But the fact is, Lex, I've never allowed myself to really hate you. It's just not in me in to feel contempt for anyone. You knew that better than most, and I'm sure that's part of why you felt the need to despise me. I'm also sure that if our roles were reversed, and it were you standing above my grave, you'd have spat on it. You probably even took the chance once, but that doesn't mean that I---"
In the distance, a sudden cry for help caught the acute attention of The Man of Tomorrow as he was still in mid-sentence. Turning back to the grave, as if he were engaging with a living person, Superman politely gave it a nod.
"Excuse me, I have to take care of something."
With little more than a gust of wind, he was off, barreling at incredible speeds towards the other side of the world.
?
GET ON IT!
