Planeocracy
Here (since purged, this is an archive from 2010).
This Journal Roleplay takes the "spooky jamjar"-style RP and completely inverts it. The characters are agents of a Celestial Bureaucracy dedicated to keeping the infinite worlds of the multiverse from spilling into, merging with, and destroying each other.
Tropes used in Planeocracy include:
- Actor Allusion - For the Halloween party, Toko wore a chain-mail bikini, with pieces that looked suspiciously like Persona 3's FeMC's Battle Panties. Both characters are voiced by Marina Inoue.
- Solid Snake also dressed as Captain America since they both were at one point voiced by David Hayter.
- Alternate Timeline - Normally the kind of thing CO is out to prevent... but what happens when people from two separate timelines that were once the same show up? Just this has been a situation thanks to the Fate/stay night cast and the two World-YT timelines that have appeared.
- Alternate Universe - Part of the premise. The characters themselves aren't AU, though, unless they come from canon AUs (like the Fate/stay night cast) or mod-approved AUs.
- However, there was an event that showed that every member of Confuto Ordinatio has an AU counterpart.
- Anyone Can Die - If Elion and Roland are any indication.
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Void: I will murder the fuck out of any NPCs if I think it suits the plot. |
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- Anything That Moves - CEO Hideki Morichika of Kourindou Multiversal wandered the compound looking for a consort for a month. He propositioned Reisen, Edgeworth, Rider, and Raidou AND GOUTO. And then he propositions Cheryl Bugg. Who happens to be an ant who can be measured in feet.
- Apocalypse How - The world of Aethr suffered a Class X-4. The Children of Entropy's ultimate goal is a Class Z.
- Ax Crazy - Terrus of the Children of Entropy is this. He just likes to kill and is so batshit that he's stuck in a straitjacket at all times.
- Bad Future - When Hideki Morichika arrived, the characters got to see glimpses of a Gensokyo which had risen up to destroy the Hakurei Border and take control of the rest of the world. It includes such things as Hell being frozen over due to the death of Winter, the Sanzu River being dammed, and Mokou and Kaguya living peacefully together and just putting on fights for show.
- The Cameo - Check the NPC list. The Carecrow from Toonstruck? The Beholder from that Dragon magazine April Fools cover? Friend Computer? (Although at one point he actually wasn't an NPC). The Chief from Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego??
- Can't Argue with Elves - Averted by Kyonko's discussion with Senior Councilor Elion.
- Celestial Bureaucracy - Confuto Ordinatio.
- Continuing Is Painful - Characters can die in the line of duty, and they can be resurrected. However, it costs a ridiculous amount of money, and if the character can't pay it, he/she might find him/herself indentured to a Councilor or a corporate executive who paid the fee. An exception is made for characters killed by another member of Confuto Ordinatio - in that case, the killer pays the fee or is indentured to the person who pays - but only if they get caught. This also doesn't apply to characters from Aware Worlds -- they need to have the money available up front, which is why High Councilor Statham hasn't been rezzed yet.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment - Commander Ramirez doled out some of these for people who failed to show up to a training session. Examples include:
- Darkwing Duck having his wardrobe replaced with pink clothing and fluffy, squeaking slippers.
- Lucifer of Pride being forced to tend to an old, incontinent Councilor.
- Jin Kisaragi and Luc having their abilities nullified.
- Ranma Saotome being locked into girl form.
- Tewi Inaba not only having her good luck negated, but being given cripplingly bad luck.
- Rider also found that a good way to keep Omi in line was by threatening to tell Sakura that he's been reckless or otherwise misbehaving.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive - Several have been popping up now that the game has had playable characters killed and resurrected, trying to coerce them into working off their debts doing less than ideal jobs with high odds of being killed again (thus their indentured servitude continuing even longer). The exception is Devorah Kebi, CEO of Gilded Comet, who is most certainly NOT corrupt.
- Creepy Child - Mireille of the Children of Entropy.
- Da Chief - Chief Enforcer Morrison.
- And when he was missing, he was replaced by the Chief from Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego??.
- Deader Than Dead - Poor Elion...
- Defeat Means Friendship - post-canon Izanami, apparently, much to Souji's deep confusion.
- Department of Redundancy Department - Yup, they have one.
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Souji: It's actually pretty handy since they always have extra forms if you need them. |
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- Dirty Old Man - Hideki Morichika.
- Dungeons & Dragons - several of the NPCs are from Dungeons & Dragons-esque fantasy worlds. This might be left over from the game's original concept of being set in the Planescape setting.
- Embarrassing Nickname - Much of it thanks to Kyoko; so far the list includes Kyonny (Kyon), Kiki (Kaito), Yoshi (Joshua) (who has since left the game), Princess (Luc), and Pedobear (Archibald) (who was one of the gate-crash enemies).
- Enemy Civil War - Both of the enemy organizations so far are in a constant state of this. [Humanity] suffers from infighting among various factions, and the Children of Entropy are so disorganized that they need protective fields around their bunks to protect them from sneak attacks in their sleep.
- Evil Twin - So far we have documented cases of evil Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, evil Kyon, evil Shizune and her interpreter, and evil Phoenix Wright.
- Add Kyonko and Ivan to the list. And evil Kyon happens to be a certain someone in disguise. Who is that certain someone? Why, Aenathia, of course.
- Kyonko's clone subverts it, though, as shown by her Heel Face Turn.
- And one more: Yukari.
- Add Kyonko and Ivan to the list. And evil Kyon happens to be a certain someone in disguise. Who is that certain someone? Why, Aenathia, of course.
- Harem Cast - Souji Seta and Ky Kiske both have them, though the latter doesn't realize it. Kazumi Hagino has one as well, both in Confuto Ordinatio as well as home.
- The harems of the first two have dwindled, though -- the former due to his hooking up with Shizune, and the latter due to drops.
- Harem Seeker - Kazumi Hagino. Both at home and at Confuto Ordinatio, and she's quite successful.
- Hive Mind - Every version of Chief Enforcer Morrison is connected via psychic link. Ivan learned this initially by using Mind Read on him. The result overloaded his brain and put him in the hospital wing.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl - Shizune is deaf, and since the translation function on the PDAs only works for spoken language, she needs an interpreter. She gets one in Naoki, a ten-foot-tall oni. The two are seldom seen apart.
- Humongous Mecha - A mecha hangar was constructed owing to the presence of multiple mecha series represented in the game.
- Knight Templar - Most of the high-ranking members from the Transcendent Republic and Syltherian are stuck in this. It's to the point where their worlds' divisions, 0001 and 0002 respectively, would blow the Children of Entropy base right out of the Astral without bothering to take captives and glean information on their plans in the process if they knew its location.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia - This is what happens to characters who are dropped.
- Les Yay - Quite a few examples of this.
- Loads and Loads of Rules - ICly, at least.
- Loophole Abuse - Confuto Ordinatio's modus operandi when implementing passed bills.
- Love Is in the Air - Has occurred for all Valentine's Days to date. The first year, a senior councilor dressed up as Cupid and shot arrows at personnel. The following year, he packed two Thompson semiautomatics, a kevlar vest, and a Jet Pack. Oh, and his bullets could also inflict a desire to Murder the Hypotenuse. And THEN he appeared in a miniature B-52...
- The Men in Black - In everything except the suit.
- Although there have been bills to introduce uniforms.
- Mister Muffykins - Schnookums the cat is an irregular NPC who escapes from his overbearing owner. Agents are usually tasked to take him back, usually feeling guilty. Come on, the poor kitty got dyed GREEN for St. Patrick's Day.
- However, it's advised NOT to confuse Gouto for one.
- Mood Whiplash - The game is generally lighthearted, but there are jobs where shit gets real. During the first major event, the agents investigated the disappearance of the Persona 3/Persona 4 world. Serious jobs of lesser magnitude have occurred, too, such as dealing with renegade Espers powered up with GN Drives.
- Taken to its most extreme during the OS update event. It started out with silly malfunctions for wacky hijinks, then BAM -- virus hits, everything shuts down, and evil twins are roaming the compound and abducting people.
- And then, of course, was the Aethr integration event. The mods had already said that this would be a major event, so it was obvious that the 'happy' parties wouldn't stay happy.
- More Friends, More Benefits - Kazumi volunteered herself as an ANIMa pilot. Given how many of the cast she had bedded, Super Robot didn't even BEGIN to cover her ANIMa...
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot - some of the NPCs qualify, but has far as for PCs, U.S Marshal Virgil Klima takes the cake, being an Elven Federal Marshal in an Alternate Old West - with Psychometry -- and now, we can add Bifauxnen and Dropped A Bridget On The Entire Game to the list.
- No Fourth Wall - There are doujinshi of the various represented series for sale in the marketplace. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
- Add in one Guybrush Threepwood and several Nippon Ichi characters, and well...
- Let's not forget the Kyons. Kyon often recognizes people from different canons and even did research on them after the Man In Red tried to take control of Haruhi's powers. Kyonko, on the other hand, will actually argue with her player in her monologues and comment on the game's format when the other player forgets.
- Kazumi Hagino was a big offender of this trope during her early months in CO, blatantly breaking the 4th wall by recognizing (and even verbally saying she recognized) people from the games she played. However, her ability to break the fourth wall has recently taken a huge hit from the Nerf bat.
- Non-Player Character - Several Councilors and Senior Councilors were introduced for the first major event, as well as Chief Enforcer Morrison, CEO Devorah Kebi, and the occasional other staff member.
- Noodle Incident - Not planned as such, but how precisely does Guybrush Threepwood best Evangeline A.K. McDowell? All that's known is she broke nothing important, and apparently he flat-out humiliated her enough to make her write a letter of apology for the incident in question (she still balked at calling him a "mighty pirate").
- Obstructive Bureaucrat - Most of these are NPCs, though The Computer played the part well when it was around.
- And they've been outdone. Meet Senior Councilor Ksthellixis.
- And as it turns out, it was Senior Councilor Aenathia that suggested that particular measure. Ksthellixis does make a career out of obstructing bills, though.
- And they've been outdone. Meet Senior Councilor Ksthellixis.
- Oh Crap - The moment when everyone realized that Haruhi had been kidnapped by Senior Councilor Aenathia, disguised as Kyon.
- Omnicidal Maniac - The Children of Entropy is a terrorist group populated entirely of these.
- One Steve Limit - Averted with Yukari and Yukari, Naoki and Naoki, and Mao and Mao. Technically, there's a whole bunch of Sergeant Morrisons, but only one at the branch the game takes place in.
- Ontological Mystery - Inverted.
- Original Generation - There are quite a few OCs, including the OC world Earth-YT ("Yakuza Theatre") and OC World Earth-NCaHN ("No Chance at High Noon").
- Kyonko's clone is a more literal version of this, having been born during the Mainframe Crash event then becoming a player character due to her popularity among the playerbase after her mind gets downloaded into a different body.
- Morrison was recently revealed to be one of these as well, saying he never had another world to call home but Confuto Ordinatio.
- Our Elves Are Different - The NPC Elves are high magical, long-lived, and arrogant - they're also disdainful of worlds that have religion that doesn't manifest Physical Gods and can't be argued with.
- Virgil on the other hand, along with the elves of the world are get along with humans quite well, only live about a decade longer and manifest Psychic Powers among a small percentage of the population... the majority of them are Methodists or Lutherans
- Person of Mass Destruction - Too many to list, but when you have worlds like Dragon Ball, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Xenosaga, Ancient Domains of Mystery, and Disgaea, it's unavoidable.
- Ramming Always Works - Sasami decides to ram the Children of Entropy's main battleship with the ship form of Tsunami to save the other battleships and mecha from its main cannon. It works, but for her troubles, it leaves her drained and shot at.
- Real Life Writes the Plot - The reason why the Persona 3/Persona 4 world was picked to vanish? The game's P4 cast trickled out within a short period of time.
- And then they get their original Souji back, as well as a Minato.
- Baron Archibald Von Strauss exists due to Kyon's player desperately needing an in-character reason for him to stay in Confuto Ordinatio after Mikuru dropped and requesting a subplot.
- Kyoko's player originally intended to either let her die or be transferred to another branch, but when the other players expressed their love of her, she decided to keep her around and officially app her into the game.
- Running Gag - Many:
- Georik Zaberisk is not a Councilor.
- Neither is Shizune.
- Now she is!
- Neither is Shizune.
- WTF? A cat is talking! How can this be?!
- WTF? Giant bug?!
- * insert character from low-tech world here* cannot operate a PDA.
- Councilor "Kthxbai."
- Tenshi would like to give you directions.
- Lucia thinks everyone (especially Matsu) is a pervert.
- World-P3/4 being constantly threatened by terrorist organizations and eldritch beings.
- Georik Zaberisk is not a Councilor.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Ksthellixis, of all people, decided to say "screw it" to the red tape for once in his life and run in unbidden leading the cavalry to help out during the Aethr plot.
- Shut UP, Hannibal - Shizune punching her clone in the face when she has her Villainous Breakdown.
- Smug Snake - Senior Councilor Aenathia.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum - The Children of Entropy.
- The Older Immortal - The Touhou cast are pretty old, but even they're not as old as chaos.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill - How former Senior Councilor Aenathia was ultimately defeated. It needs to be seen to be believed.
- Time Crash - The result of Guybrush breaking a magical voodoo clock. The gates to other worlds were thrown into flux, characters were aged up or down, some characters got either sped up or slowed down, some characters regained items that should not exist in the present (such as Phoenix receiving Dahlia's locket or Ragna receiving his severed arm), and multiple versions of characters appeared at the same time.
- And then new characters arrived during the madness, which gave us things like Lucifer as a stake, and Alice Margatroid as she appeared in Mystic Square.
- Time Travel - Characters can travel to or originate from any given point in a series. Exceptions are characters who are Killed Off for Real - they can only come from a point prior to their deaths.
- Temporal Paradox - among other things, Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh were from the same continuity, but different points in time. Meanwhile, Souji commented that it should have been impossible for his and Minato's world to have been taken away in two different points in time.
- Trapped in Another World - Averted. Characters are free to come and go between worlds as they see fit.
- Weaksauce Weakness - Terrus has a bomb strapped to his neck to keep him in line. Unfortunately for him, the makers didn't bother making it resistant to external stimuli...like an electrically-charged blade.
- Wham! Episode - And how. After an episode of the CO branch having to organize to host discussions on whether the world of Aethr would be synchronized to CO. After the bill passed, there were wonderful parties... and then Nyarlathotep set off bombs alongside a new interdimensional terrorist faction, the Children of Entropy, which doomed the world to a horrific extinction in a matter of weeks and spread a horrific taint across it... All to create the Shining Trapezohedron, full of things mankind was not meant to know and capable of bringing despair to God-knows-how-many worlds.
- Aid efforts started immediately. Unfortunately, soon after the taint started taking effect, all abilities not of self-originated power began to be corrupted. Like, say, Bolverk, the seal that keeps Noel Vermilion's repressed hatred in check? Only the very lucky intervention of Ragna, Jin, and Ky Kiske stopped Mu-12 from murdering more people.
- Meanwhile, chaos is kidnapped while investigating, and the Children of Entropy are out to stop all rescue efforts. Nyarlathotep's goal in this is to break chaos, by making him watch Aethr's destruction first-hand. Of course, the physical tortures weren't as bad as forcing him to feel all of humanity's negative emotions and hatred. And then, of course, using the same spell on the rescue party. chaos did try to reason with one of his captors, but it wasn't appreciated.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? - During Carmen Sandiego's series of heists, Locke (one of Carmen's accomplices) arrives in My Network Places, only to find a team there. How is he eventually captured? By WinME trapping him in a .zip file.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous? - Sasami has gone to great lengths to hide the fact that she and Tsunami are bonded, mostly because she's an Agent and Tsunami's a Councilor. However, the people she's told - by her own volition, by force or by accident just... don't care. Granted, she's an eight-year-old with severe self-esteem issues concerning that, so...
- Year Inside, Hour Outside - Or in the case of the aforementioned World-YT, three months in CO, eight years (and the introduction of a nasty Alternate Timeline) out of it.
- In general, time flows differently in Confuto Ordinatio than it does in the rest of the worlds out there.
- You Can't Fight Fate - Characters may not mess with events as they are to happen in other worlds.
- To clarify, characters technically can go back in time in their worlds and change events as they're supposed to unfold. Doing so, however, results in both a heavy fine and being forced to go back and Set Right What Once Went Wrong. Characters who use in-universe technology to travel through time, however, like Lucca and Frog, are left be.