Reaching Salvation

""The year is 2121. A mysterious apocalypse has struck the Earth, leaving little left. Strangely, animals, plants, and animals remained unharmed. Buildings, houses, and structures stand with little harm done to them. The human species still exist, but only in form of children and teenagers no older than the age of twenty. In this dystopian setting, it is hard to survive and even harder to meet another one of your species. However, the apocalypse, called the Great Storm by many, left the presence of Flow. The Flow is a mysterious essence that is found in air, water, and earth. It is intangible and odorless, and can be-reused again and again. Usually, in its dormant state, it is also invisible to the human eye. A gift granted to all those left on the Earth is the ability to manipulate Flow. When being used, the Flow is usually visible in a sea-green aura, though it may change according to the user. Each user has a Flow ability specific to them, whether it be the ability to manipulate wind, change sizes, or cause plain destruction. Flow is used to hunt and fight, and is a valuable tool to those who wield it."

""Our protagonists are normal teenagers who find themselves looking at a vermilion tower appear in the distance one bleak night. Curiosity overwhelms them, and they each make a journey to the mysterious tower before them. Along the way, they meet others with similar goals: all to reach the tower. Sharing common goals, some of the teenagers group together and make their way to the tower. Eventually, they make it, apparently before anyone else. Seeing as the tower is closed, the group decides to bust in and do so by breaking a large hole in the castle. They make their way in, only to be stopped by a mysteriousadult.What's even more strange is this man has a mechanical arm and looks deceivingly like a scientist. After some conversation, the man tells them of a tournament coming soon, dubbed 'The Acer Tournament.' After a scuffle, the group is dumped out in the front of the castle again, where many more teenagers have arrived. A large drawbridge is opened, and five adults-- including the mechanical armed one-- introduce themselves as the hosts of the Acer Tournament. This tournament is for all participants who must endure tasks for three weeks in order to reach the ultimate prize: a promised spot in an utopia. Some protagonists jump in right away, while others are a bit more skeptical but join in eventually. The contestants are allowed to live inside the tower for the duration of the tournament, and are given bed and food. While it's definitely shady to how the adults manage to get all this (and how they even are alive at this point), the contestants are grateful and reside in the rooms with one other roommate. They are split into groups of three, and they must work together to complete the tasks.""

- Reaching Salvation summary taken directly from the Info Thread found here

Reaching Salvation is a Role Playing experience set After the End in a Teenage Wasteland in which the majority of adults have seemingly vanished, with a few notable exceptions in the Big Five and. The RP was originally created by LastPrelude and is hosted on This is Not A Forum over on Fan Fiction.net where we are in the process of playing out the first half the second week and are currently on Part IV with lots more on the way, no doubt.

Reaching Salvation displays examples of the following Tropes:

 * Action Girl: You'd be hard pressed to find a girl who doesn't qualify as this in RS. I think the only true notable exceptions would be Elena and Mitsu, for obvious reasons of course. Both Anya and Lillian also count, seeing as being an adult makes them very powerful by default, however they lean more towards Lady of War due to their age.
 * After the End: Reaching Salvation is set after The End of the World as We Know It, which is somewhat of a big hint.
 * All There in the Manual: The information and character creation threads count as this.
 * Alone with the Psycho: Poor twins...
 * Always Someone Better: Luke feels this way towards Nathan, Nathan seems to feel this way towards the Big Five.
 * Anti-Hero: And then some with Nathan. However, everyone has at least displayed some symptoms of this in the past, sliding up and down the scale for various reasons. Most fall between Types II and IV.
 * Nathan is slowly moving towards Type V in the eyes of most other contestants.
 * Anti-Villain:.
 * Anyone Can Die: See Killed Off for Real and Infant Immortality for details.
 * The Archer: Minerva of the twins most certainly counts as this.
 * Artificial Limbs: Thadius' mechanical arm makes him a subject of this trope.
 * Word of God states that Thadius' arm also doubles as an Arm Cannon.
 * Though given what we've seen so far, he did generate a force field by using the controls built into the arm, so having it morph into an Arm Cannon may not be so hard to believe. We'll have to wait and see.
 * Asskicking Equals Authority: How the contestant food chain is ultimately decided.
 * Attack! Attack! Attack!: Some contestants seem to think of this as their main battle strategy.
 * Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: Doonjor could count, considering his sheer size when compared to everyone one else present in the RP.
 * It's more along the lines of a subversion when you think about it, seeing as he hasn't gone above twenty feet - yet.
 * Author Appeal: Nobody would want to make characters they dislike role playing as, would they?
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: The Big Five can easily do a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on any of the contestants - hence why no one is dumb enough to take them on.
 * Ax Crazy: Some characters have moments in which they come across as rather Ax Crazy.
 * Luke's creator has stated this is what happens to him during his Back-to-Back Badasses moment with Kira during the Breakout Arc.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Tom and Eithne count during the first half of the chimera challenge.
 * Luke and Kira also have their moment during the Breakout Arc (see Battle Couple below).
 * Badass: Mandatory if you want to live.
 * Badass Boast: Shit loads of it at times.
 * Badass Longcoat: Eithne's makeover during the second week has him rockin' one of these.
 * Badass Normal: According to Word of God, Thadius most certainly qualifies as this.
 * Ballistic Bone: One of Shima's Eleven can do this.
 * Funnily enough, he was fighting Paul at the time when he displayed this ability - one, if not the only, other person in the RP who uses a ranged weapon as their primary offensive weapon.
 * Battle Couple: Nathan and Kira.
 * With the strained relationship now going on between Nathan and Kira at the moment it's now more of a Subversion, they still seem willing to compete as teammates in the current challenge but it's unclear whether or not Nathan's little Hannibal Lecture after his fight with Eithne has seen their relationship go down in flames
 * Joey and Erika may also count, however I don't actually remember them throwing down together since I joined (which was early on in Part II) so less so than Nathan and Kira.
 * Luke and Kira also count as a Battle Couple in the sense that they have so many Shippers on Deck.
 * Berserk Button: Everyone's got one - some just have bigger buttons than others.
 * Eithne and Nathan recently took to pushing each others buttons and ended up trying to do a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on one another. Eithne came out on top, if only just.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Kira. She's probably the nicest character in the whole damn RP and despite her Shrinking Violet statues we've yet to see what she can do when someone well and truly pushes her Berserk Button.
 * There's a good reasons for that, probably.
 * Big Bad: Shima is setting himself up as the current Big Bad,.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Luke feels this towards Kira according to Luke's creator.
 * Others would disagree, however. Though those fancy goggles they're wearing probably aren't helping.
 * Eithne has adopted this attitude towards Tom, Heidi and Simon. Not that he's told any of them this.
 * Bigger Bad: Presumably, the . Though, with their true motives hidden from us it's rather debatable and all down to guess work.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Parodied and subverted, if only accidentally (though it was completely hilarious) by the Big Five's fashionably late arrival during the Breakout Arc when Shima called them out before brushing off a few of the contestants stupid enough to attack him.
 * Big No!: If we've not had this yet, I'm offended. Seriously.
 * We've officially had a few examples of this trope now.
 * Black and Grey Morality: I think it's safe to say that in Reaching Salvation, there is no good in the traditional sense of the word.
 * It's more Grey and Gray Morality to be honest, seeing as the ultimate goal of The Big Five has is unknown.
 * Blatant Lies: Arugably what the Big Five are feeding the kids.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Eithne fit this trope to a T. in his earlier appearances, though he's mellowed out now.
 * Boom! Headshot!: Paul killed a chimera this way, if I remember correctly. Eithne did this with one of his apples in the same challenge.
 * Broken Pedestal: The Big Five are on one of these after Shima planted the seeds of doubt during the Breakout Arc.
 * Butt Monkey: Joey, much to his chagrin, is this for a number of characters - Heidi in partciular at times, made all the more funny by the fact she's nearly five years younger than he is.
 * Captain Obvious: Everyone's pretty much had a shot at being this.
 * Challenge Seeker: Nathan has shown signs of being this.
 * Character Development: Once again, everyone is subjugated to this.
 * The Chessmaster: The Big Five and Shima fit the bill here.
 * With both showing shades of Manipulative Bastard and the Big Five even moving slowly towards Magnificent Bastard(s) whilst for the time being, Shima is more of a Smug Snake than anything else.
 * With his reappearance Shima has also changed direction from Smug Snake to Magnificent Bastard. Oliver also shows shades of this in his own way.
 * Children Are Innocent: Played with a lot. The one's referred to kids in the actual RP, Elena and Simon play this rather straight.
 * Everyone else? Yeah... not so much, really.
 * Children Forced to Kill: What it may lead to in the final week, though YMMV on some previous occurrences.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Not as much as one would expect, but there have been a few nasty cases of it as well, hopefully, things can't get any worse.
 * Clothing Damage: Played straight and subverted - differs from character to character.
 * Cool Big Sis: Heidi and Erika could be seen as this to Simon and Elena respectively.
 * Cool Sword: A few characters, including Nathan, Luke and Zackary, all carry swords with them. I'm pretty sure someone even carries a katana. Why? Simple.
 * Eithne gets himself a BFS that's an expy of the new Zangetsu design from the latest arc shortly before defection.
 * Crapsack World: Oh dear God!
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Played straight with Eithne when first introduced, as he was a bit of an idiot, but Character Development helped him out and he Took a Level In Badass. Joey might count as this, if he actually won a fight or two.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: We've had one or two of these thus far, no doubt with more on the way as things progress.
 * Confirmed. There are several Curb Stomp Battles planned in the near future.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: As Rand pointed out, Reaching Salvation is set after The End of the World as We Know It, so this pretty much applies to everyone.
 * Special mention goes out to all those that actually put some though into their characters Dark and Troubled Past, at least enough to shed some light on it during the actual RP, anyway.
 * Darker and Edgier: A lot of the characters have become this via Character Development.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Everyone's had a shot at being this at least once.
 * Little Miss Snarker: Heidi is this when not talking to the few people she actually likes.
 * Erika has moments of this.
 * Deal with the Devil: Agreeing to join Shima could be seen as this.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Nathan and Eithne subvert this during their first few clashes, though no one really wins any of those.
 * Even after finally having a full on fight their situation is closer to Enemy Mine due to the fact both just want out of the Acer Tournament, though both want out for completely different reasons.
 * Designated Monkey: Joey.
 * Determinator: Eithne fits the bill. Others, such as Luke and even Paul during his battle in the Breakout Arc could also qualify.
 * Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Fits some of the interactions with the Big Five rather well.
 * Double Entendre: All over the place.
 * The Dragon: Oliver is this for Shima.
 * He's more a Dragon-in-Chief seeing as he's the one that oversees to the day-today running of Shima's base and maintaining the peace between the residents.
 * Elemental Baggage: Jayden can only manipulate water, he can't create it.
 * Energy Absorption: A take on Nathan's power - debatable.
 * Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Inverted, Averted and Subverted on occasion.
 * Expy: Oh dear God, where do I even begin?
 * Most ideas of the plot in the first place are related to The Hunger Games
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Heel Face Turn: A character doing one of these could be doing either, depending on who you view as more evil - Shima or The Big Five.
 * Flash Step: Eithne's invented his own version which he calls Kinetic Step.
 * Nathan's Super Speed may also count.
 * Fighting Your Friend: Bound to happen as things move along.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Eithne and Nathan are planned to become a rather good example of this during their time with Shima, however at the moment their still stuck on The Rival and/or Enemy Mine stage.
 * Five-Bad Band:.
 * Exactly who fills which position is exactly unclear for the most part, but it's clear that, everyone else's position within the group is still up in the air for the time being.
 * Five-Man Band: Nathan's little group seems to be shaping up to be one of these.
 * The Hero (read: The Anti-Hero) Nathan.
 * The Lancer: Luke.
 * The Smart Guy: Eithne for the most part, he also doubles as a second Lancer.
 * The Big Guy: Tom, though he an Eithne will occasionally swap roles when the situation calls for it.
 * Finally, Kira doubles as The Chick and The Heart.
 * Foreshadowing: Lots of it from certain characters, to see some of it you gotta read between the line.
 * Genre Savvy: A few characters have shown symptoms of this, but the closest to being full blown Genre Savvy is, surprisingly, Percival.
 * Lampshaded on various occassions and a few people have tried to play this for laughs. It didn't work.
 * Great Escape: Breakout Arc.
 * Could double as Meaningful Name - seeing as that's when the plot was dialed Up to Eleven and things really began to breakout out all over the place.
 * Gun Kata: I'm waiting for Paul to pull this off myself.
 * Eithne has started playing around with this trope as off his fight with Nathan, though he mainly averts it as all he does is shoot out the lights in the training room to help set up his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Nathan.
 * Guns Are Worthless: Many contestants seem to believe this, for some reason. Paul, and of recently, Eithne being the only exceptions.
 * Hand Signals: How the character of Silence communicates with others, because for some reason, his Flow takes away his ability to talk.
 * Hand Wave: Played straight during the chimera challenge when one of the contestants asked The Big Five where the chimeras had come from and they got waved off as an answer then they lampshaded the whole thing as they walked off to resume the challenge.
 * Even if accidental, it was completely hilarious.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Nathan attempted to give his own little version of one of these to Kira when he found her waiting from him to wake up in the Infirmary after his fight with Eithne.
 * Genre Blindness made him forget one important rule when doing this however: Beware the Nice Ones. Kira delivered a spectacular Shut UP, Hannibal which doubles and/or sets up what appears to be Kira taking a level in Bad Ass.
 * Eithne also gave Nathan one during their fight by way of pushing his greatest Berserk Button.
 * Hates Being Touched: Eithne counts in his own way.
 * Simon too, given that direct skin on skin human contact in any possible form could kill him.
 * Hello, Nurse!: A rather morbid example. Eithne wakes up several hours after his fight with Nathan to find Ameila is the one assigned to look after him.
 * Hidden Villain: I wonder who it could be...
 * Honor Before Reason: Eithne is very guilty of this, usually doubles up as a Leeroy Jenkins.
 * Averted in the Leeroy Jenkins department at least ever since he achieved his new level in Bad Ass, that doesn't stop him from considering his code of honor before all else at times, though.
 * Hot-Blooded: A few characters could be classed as this.
 * Ho Yay: Loads of it all over the place, really.
 * Foe Yay: Just as common.
 * I Am Not Left-Handed: Everyone is guilty of pulling this at least once.
 * I Am Your Opponent: A few cases of this.
 * I Can Still Fight: Eithne during the chimera challenge - which also earns him his Determinator status.
 * Image Song: If the themes picked by the characters creator count.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Zackary plays with the trope slightly.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Paul averts this, seeing as her already has plenty of experience with guns prior to the start of the RP whilst Eithne invoked this trope in his fight with Nathan, though it also counts as a subversion given he's been shown throwing and aiming things, mainly apples at various points prior and it's taught him to have reasonable aim, yet he'd never really fired a gun prior to using it in the fight.
 * Infant Immortality:.
 * Irony: See Mama Bear entry below.
 * It Got Worse: This seems to be the main premises of the entire RP at times. I mean, each day there's a new challenge which is suppose to be harder than the day before and as a result each day that passes is harder by default.
 * It's All About Me: Nathan has moments of this.
 * Jerkass: Nathan, unsurprisingly.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eithne is this at times, other times he's just straight up Jerkass. Joey had a moment as one of these during the Breakout Arc during the face off with Shima.
 * Kick the Dog: Nathan does this brilliantly at times. Others are just as guilty, Nathan just does it better.
 * Killed Off for Real:  thus far, along with numerous other random characters.
 * Kill It with Fire: Luke, Luke and Luke. And who else... oh yeah, LUKE!
 * Kill It with Ice: Nathan.
 * Lampshade Hanging: On a few occasions, though only one or two are note worthy. And others are just groan inducing.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Surprisingly, Percival is more guilty of this than anyone thus far. Must come with the territory of being the most Genre Savvy character we have...
 * Leeroy Jenkins: Once again, Eithne is very guilty of this during his first confrontation with Heidi.
 * Averted from this point on as no one has been guilty of this since Eithne invoked said trope in the above example.
 * The beast Joey's team is paired up with during the Beast Tamer Challenge thinks about pulling this off, Joey Lampshades that it would be a very bad idea.
 * Love Triangle: Depending on how the next few days go, the situation with Luke, Kira and Nathan could end up morphing into one of these.
 * Now I have no idea what the hell it is. Doesn't seem like either ship has much chance of winning now.
 * Magic A Is Magic A: Book on the Flow is essentially a rule book.
 * Mama Bear: Heidi and Erika to Simon and Elena, respectively. You so much look at either of these two kids wrong with Heidi and Erika around and prepare to run.
 * Ironically, Suvi plays both Heidi and Elena, whilst Rand is the reverse with Erika and Simon. Hmm...
 * The Medic: Shepard and the NPC nurses.
 * Amelia has also been added to the list as pf Part III.
 * Mind Rape: The fear-inducing fog in the maze challenge, also hint to Anya's Flow. No doubt more on the way.
 * Does what Shima did to  count as this?
 * Morality Pet: Heidi, despite saying that she wouldn't think twice about killing someone, treats Simon like her own little brother.
 * More Dakka: Subverted with Paul in that he knows exactly what he's doing.
 * Though this trope may or may not have been played straight during the chimera challenge.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Big Five. Shima now also qualifies as this. Nathan likes to think he qualifies for this. He doesn't.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Debatable, but a few characters are probably rather guilty of this.
 * See Hello, Nurse! above from probably one of the best examples in the RP thus far.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: For the time being, The Big Five and Shima have this going for them except against each other. Oliver too, presumably, seeing as he too is an adult with a few years of experience under his belt and knows everything there is to know about his own Flow.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Eithne and Nathan try to do this to one another after a round of insults results in both pushing the other's Berserk Button.
 * One or two true examples to come in the future.
 * Odd Couple: I think both Nathira and Joka (Yes, I did make this up just this second) count as this.
 * Oh Crap: Sabina's Golem coming to life qualifies as the most recent, I think. Plenty of others, though.
 * No longer the case as off the survival challenge, one of the best Oh Crap moments to date in the entire RP.I'm pretty sure someone say's this trope word perfect, too.
 * One Steve Limit: Shima's group has two character's named Oliver. One is The Stoic Dragon-in-Chief whilst the other is an Elite Mook.
 * Only Sane Man: Shepard has shown signs of being this, at times.
 * Some of his thoughts at times seem to support that he agrees with this statement.
 * Playing with Fire: Luke most certainly qualifies.
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Subverted in that we've had the one liner, yet no ass kicking to speak of. Zackary has had a good few of these.
 * Power Trio: The teams of three.
 * Psychic Powers: No explanation needed.
 * Put on a Bus: The contestants sent to the Disqualification Room most certainly count.
 * Shima and Co. also went for a trip on the bus after the events of the Breakout Arc but it looks as though The Bus Came Back as of end of the first fifth of Part IV.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Eithne's Hannibal Lecture during his fight with Nathan doubles as one of these.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Eithne and Nathan. Nathan and Luke also count, but they seem to be growing apart as Nathan slowly turns more and more antagonistic.
 * Red Shirts: NPC count in their own way.
 * Nathan loves making the Red Shirts do as they're suppose to.
 * Revenge:.
 * Say My Name: Percival,
 * Scars Are Forever: Thadius, once again.
 * Eithne also counts due to the fact he can't get a skin graft for his burnt right hand, it's not his only scar.
 * Heidi also carriers a few scars on her arms.
 * Seeking Sanctuary: A synonym of the title of the RP itself; mainly what the characters are all after.
 * Serial Escalation: We've had a fair few good examples of this.
 * Shipper on Deck: People, both in and out of the RP, seem to be cheering for Lukira over Nathira.
 * Ship Tease: Oh so much.
 * Shout-Out: Full list to come.
 * Clever Girl - courtesy of Paul.
 * Neo said "Well, excuuuuuuuse me princess!".
 * Does double duty as The Legend of Zelda Shout-Out, given how it's the Trope Namer and all.
 * Fan Nickname The Big Five, originally coined by Dobi Boshi and becoming a term used in and out of the RP is used at first as a passing Shout Out to Yu-Gi-Oh! on one of the discussion threads.
 * Various powers count as Shout-Outs, too
 * Slice-and-Dice Swordsmanship: We have a few characters who are skilled enough to deserve this.
 * Smarter Than You Look: Eithne is this, as are many other characters.
 * Smug Snake: Shima, was this prior to his return in Part III. Nathan is this trope at times.
 * Stock Super Powers: See Superpower Lottery below.
 * The Stoic: Shima and Tom fit this quite nicely.
 * Not anymore.
 * Oliver is this trope.
 * Story Arc: Each day seems to count as it's own arc, so to speak.
 * Superpower Lottery: Some of the characters hit the jackpot in terms of cool and unique powers, others, not so much.
 * Sword Sparks: Happened once or twice, I think.
 * Talking Is a Free Action:
 * As Book, who suggested this Trope said "I'll be damned if no one has invoked this trope." I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
 * Teenage Wasteland: Need I explain?
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Shima seems to have this going on with the Big Five.
 * Time Skip: A few are used to speed things along when needed.
 * Took a Level In Jerkass: This applies to Nathan. he's slowly gotten worse as things have progressed.
 * Trap Master: Paul proved he was this during the chimera challenge.
 * Trauma Inn: The Infirmary, duh.
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: With his limited knowledge of electronics and desserts, along with calling his father by his first name, Simon is known to show this to Heidi without even knowing it.
 * Tsundere: Heidi personifies Type A of this trope to a T.
 * Understatement: Shit loads of 'em.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Could apply to some.
 * Up to Eleven: And then some. The best example would probably be the mass power boost upon becoming an adult.
 * Utopia: What the Big Five promise the contestants. See Blatant Lies.
 * Video Game Flamethrowers Suck: Subverted(?) with Paul and his use of the Flamethrower during the Breakout Arc.
 * What Could Have Been: Shepard was suppose to be a Redshirt, yet he's still around in the second half of Part III. Hmm...
 * Simon was also a planned Red Shirt that was meant to add more vulnerability to the RP.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Nathan gets called out a lot on his own actions by those around him, more so than anyone else, at any rate.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Could have saved Shima a hell of a lot of trouble during the Breakout Arc.
 * Wild Card:
 * World of Badass: Rule of thumb.
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Played straight by the likes of Eithne, Luke and many more including Heidi - if her attachment to Simon is anything to go by.
 * Subverted by Ven (an NPC), though a vast majority of the main characters could also subvert this if it meant protecting themselves and their teammates, because technically, they all are still kids.
 * Big Five anyone?
 * They play with the trope in a most bizarre fashion. Whilst none of them have directly hurt any of the contests thus far, from what we've seen, they're hardly protecting them by making them compete in life threatening challenges for a shot at Utopia.
 * World of Badass: Rule of thumb.
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Played straight by the likes of Eithne, Luke and many more including Heidi - if her attachment to Simon is anything to go by.
 * Subverted by Ven (an NPC), though a vast majority of the main characters could also subvert this if it meant protecting themselves and their teammates, because technically, they all are still kids.
 * Big Five anyone?
 * They play with the trope in a most bizarre fashion. Whilst none of them have directly hurt any of the contests thus far, from what we've seen, they're hardly protecting them by making them compete in life threatening challenges for a shot at Utopia.