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Reporting for Duty

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Reporting for Duty Empty Reporting for Duty

Post by Shimazu Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:48 am

Self Discovery
Academy Graduation.
Division Selection: Seated, Squad Two.
Zanpakuto: Muragarasu.

Thread List
Shimazu meets a human woman who refers to herself as Serpent. After their instructor is killed during training drills in the world of the living, his classmates abandon Shimazu, valuing their lives over their mission. Together, Shimazu and the human woman manage to take on the hollow threat. Apologizing for his “friends” lack of resolve, with shot nerves, he leaves shortly after proving victorious.

Shortly after his meeting with the human woman, Shimazu interacts with a second, less fearsome hollow. It took the form of a simple crow. During the encounter, it seemed his zanpakuto again and again reached out to him. Jealous, afraid of this hollow crow. After dispatching the hollow crow, his blade grew silent once more.

Rescued at last! Stranded and without any means of contacting his allies back home, Shimazu has wandered the hub of the known spiritual world. When at last he is to be rescued, another hollow rears its ugly head. His rescuer, suffering from crippling hollowphobia, was of little help besides providing him with a ride home. Having slain two other hollows at this point and engaged in combat with many others, he was confident in his capacity to handle his foe. Reacting to the resolve in his heart — or perhaps the need for an ally in stressful times — Shimazu was made aware of but a fraction of his zanpakuto’s true abilities.

Zanpakuto Ability Request
Inner Spirit: The spirit within Muragarasu is a near identical representation of Shimazu himself. The biggest difference is how the thing stares: it has such intensity. It has shown no capacity to speak in words, preferring the vocal calls of crows and ravens instead. Sometimes it’s very clear what Muragarasu is saying... other times, not so much.
Inner World: A dense forest setting occupied by a dense thicket of trees with sprawling branches. Fruit trees bearing many different kinds of fruit are spread throughout the setting, as are berry bushes and other such food bearing plant life. Insects of many different shapes and sizes inhabit the place, their song reaching crescendo from time to time, but always with the ravenous calls of the murder in response. The chorus usually stops shortly after.

Sealed Zanpakuto: Muragarasu takes the form of a standard katana 34" in length with a slight arch. Its hilt is wrapped in silk dyed a deep violent, with a tsuba in the shape of raven's closed beak. At any given moment, the blade is sheathed in a pallid black scabbard, resting at Memnoch's hip. While in contact with the blade either directly or indirectly -- physically wielding the blade, or carrying it upon his person -- Memnoch can commune, command, or attune to the senses of his flock.

Release Command: No distinct command, Muragarasu is a constant release-type.
Released Zanpakuto: Muragarasu maintains its bladed form while released.
Release Ability: There are two distinct parts to what is going on when Muragarasu’s ability is being utilized. The murder, and joining the murder.

First, the murder. A collection of hundreds and hundreds of crows all living together in the forest world within the zanpakuto. They are lead by two larger birds, two ravens, one white and one black. Shimazu is capable of manifesting a dozen of these crows, alongside both the black and white raven. The murder flies away, going wherever Shimazu dictates they go, and in what numbers they go in. They subsequently become extensions of Shimazu’s eyes and ears. Should he focus, he can personally cycle through live feeds of their fields of visions, or if they’re grouped together, view all the feeds at once (though that is somewhat disorienting). He can mentally communicate with any them individually or together provided they’re in the same dimension as Shimazu is. This allows Shimazu the ultimate capacity for undercover intelligence gathering. One crow planted in each of the division’s courtyard, with six remaining to travel together as a group under Shimazu’s orders. The two ravens are seen near Shimazu at all times.

While the ability has been guarded as mostly a secret, even among the Shimazu clan, the blade is regarded as cursed by each of its previous owners. Unbeknownst to Shimazu, all living things that are cut by this blade have their aspect stolen, stored inside the zanpakuto where this aspect is then transformed into another crow in the murder. This stolen aspects dictates whether the crow is a violent, peaceful, cunning, witty... type of crow. They’re each unique, after all, with personalities all something else’s!

Summary
With cowards for teammates Shinazu is abandoned and stranded in the world of the living and left to his own devices. He meets a human woman with natural prowess that rivaled those of the shinigami, a thing he never heard of prior. Determined to prove his worth not only to himself, but to his foolish teammates, he and the living woman managed to take down the hollow together. Shortly afterward, he meets a hollow crow. Unaware of his zanpakuto’s abilities, he’s unable to piece together why his blade seemed to speak out against the crow. He listens to his blade and dispatches the creature. His blade has never spoke out to him before this time. It all comes to a culmination when another shinigami  is sent to rescue him. Considering Karakura is the point in the world of the living with the highest concentration of spiritual activity, again Shimazu suffered an attack by a hollow. Tired and worn out, and with no help from his hollowphobic rescuer, his zanpakuto reveals but a portion of its abilities and together, they slay the hollow and are able to return home.

The threads are short, I think, but they also ended where I think they should have. Basically, this is the rest of my character’s history: he found out who he was, successfully communed with and worked the ability of his sword. I think that means this is an Arc Request, an Advancement Request, and a Power Request.

What do ya say?
Shimazu
Shimazu

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Post by Kisho Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:21 pm

This, to me, constitutes an Experience Request (aka Arc Request) and a Release Request (which I think you meant by both Power/Advancement) let me know if you think it's a different form of request.

Also, before I move forward I want to clarify: Do you want your response public or private? Specifically Approved/Denied will obviously be public but my break down can be delivered privately or publically or, I suppose! Not at all.
Kisho
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Post by Shimazu Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:51 pm

Privately lol!
Shimazu
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Post by Meridith Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:29 pm

I bullied him into letting me do this publically.

So before we get going, THANK YOU! For making this request, for diving into the unknown boldly, with as much force and will as you could muster. I really appreciate it, and anyone else who chooses to do so. The more requests we get the better.

I also want to say I'm setting out to be 'hard' on this request in terms of feedback for two reasons, one it is the first request and I want to clearly establish what we're looking for and why, and two, you're staff and when reviewing ourselves we should make sure to set the bar just a little bit higher. So, for those reading please know, this feedback is as you wish it, if you don't want it you don't have to get it but I recommend allowing SOME. I can be gentle if you want!

To whit, for those curious, this process will be transparent as possible. Everyone on staff has read over it and given their assent aside from our dear Shimazu here. The way this system will work is on a pass fail for the release request. I'll be handling that first, then the experience request which I'll get into after.

So the four categories I will be weighing against you are:

A) Writing - How good is the actual writing? In a First Release I'd expect to be able to mechanically read what you are writing and understand. Further, I should see signs of character development over the course, nothing broad or sweeping but the more the better.

B) Release - The mechanics of the release, the power and how it suits the character both thematically and literally, the depiction of the aesthetics and how evocative and interesting they are. The release should be suitable for the level, with early being more subdued than later ones.

C) Moment - This is particularily important in the Release request, how poignant was the moment? It should be built up, emotionally cathartic and physically significant. Specifically, I want to see the need for the release highlighted, and for the reveal to be big and dramatic. The more significant and emotionally powerful the release is the better, but this obviously scales as you go further along.

D) Impact - Specifically, did you play well with others? Who makes up the cast of this story and what did you offer them in your threads? This is the relationships of the site, and I think is best when you are both interacting with a diverse range of people, and more than that, leaving them altered in some way for having met you.


So. Let's go down the list. Truthfully, I'd probably want a pass in every category to pass a request, but a strong pass in one category can cover up for a weaker in another.

A) Pass - Writing - The writing is good. I understand what you're getting at, and it isn't punishing to read. I think the use of NPC's is always something I wanna steer from, but not so much so that they don't have a place especially as we work on developing our numbers. This is a fine use of it. I get a good sense of who Shimazu is and the hectic and tiring 24 hour period that tests him. I think some of the weirder aspects of his tale (tiny crow hollow, MORTAL WHO CAN SEE AND FIGHT HOLLOWS) are undersold, but we have a weak definition of our universe as it stands and I won't hold that against you as a writer.

Specifically, I think the fallout to these encounters deserves to be told, and I look forward to seeing how you tell it.

B) Pass - Release - It's fine. I like the inner spirit, I'm not sure why it looks like Shimazu but the crow-like nature itself is fine. I'd say this is one of my central concerns is that I'm not sure what the imagery of the crow has to do with Shimazu, why this spymaster esque set of abilities matches the nature of a man who launched into fights with no small amount of bravado but that can be a good contrast. The idea of the inner world growing silent when the murder is called, especially if the murder is out for too long and what that means in the literal and metaphysical sense! It's a very interesting angle I hope you explore!

The idea of a family blade is, I think, very cool especially if the spirit, normally formed by the wielders own conflict, comes into conflict with their heritage and the ways they clash with the past.

I understand mechanically why it is a constant release, and the power itself is fine however. Vitally, I think there's two points to establish:

1) A constant release has some drawback when mechanics are settled to a blade that must be release so bare that in mind. This isn't a big deal, and for such a subtle power that doesn't seem terribly combat focused I don't think it'll be a great concern.

2) This power can be extremely stupid in a meta roleplay sense. I'm not going to dictate an amount of birds, or a distance, or the ability for him to actively keep on top of it at a given time. In combat, this power is equal to others keeping in mind my first, if you wish it, and out of combat you should clarify with your thread partners what you know about them or what you can see. The Seireitei is a massive place, the Rukongai is a massive place, it should be easy to justify missing things people don't wantcha to see.

This is probably my harshest concern, but really I just want to make it clear that this power should be used to help people do fun things, not to stifle or shut down other peoples way more fun shady business. All of the problems with past sites and omnipotent sensing are possible here, I think it is absolutely and okay and potentially very cool power so long as you wield it responsibly. I'll be the first person to darken your door if you don't!

C) Pass - Moment - So! The release I was pretty heavy on, but please know it's not because I think anything there was bad, I just wanted to be very upfront with the potential for it to be a problem and steer you away from that. Why am I discussing that in the moment!? Well, it's the same reason I wrote that preface it's because this is definitely the weakest aspect of this request! Sorry! It's still a pass, but I want to focus here because this is the kind of thing that would definitely ding someone on a second release and I want to clarify the importance of the moment.

The moment is the culmination. And in this culmination there really isn't much going on. I like that Slevin is involved, I like that he is defending someone. But what does this moment have to do with him as a person? What is the significance of the threat he is against? What is his history with them? In this case they're an imagined npc, and he also has no relationship with the person he is fighting along side. NPCs are fine at this stage, but less so as you move up, especially without some kind of significance to that NPC. Further, what did his Zanpakuto want from him to attain this power? What new understanding has he reached? What has changed about the way he sees himself, his family as attached to his blade and spirit?

So, to stress, I think this is acceptable for a first release, but for a second really try to develop that conflict into something more meaningful, and the apex of his attaining this new power set up against some kind of significant personal development.

D) Pass - Impact - Three threads, three people in each, each person appeared to walk away with something. That's enough for me at this stage. Going forward, I'd want to see more obvious impact in the development of the people you thread for, but that's something that gets easier as your develop the character's relationships, which you've begun to do. I really like that he passed the badge to Melinda but the Shinigami are typically speaking fiercly against farming out the duty to humans, hence the purge and if he doesn't feel that way I think it could have been worth giving a little bit more on why.

Ultimately, this is a very good example of a First Release. Thank you for making it and giving us a chance to cut our teeth on it. Please forgive any of my words, I promise! As a first request made by staff I really wanted to set expectations as clearly as possible for all moving forward.

Congratulations, Shimazu, from me and the rest of staff, you are approved for First Release!!!

Please stand by for the arc rating and your experience reward!
Meridith
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Post by Meridith Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:11 pm

So I'll be a little bit less verbose. Experience requests are a quick grade on the collection of threads, given a rating from 1-10. Unlike the play store, a rating of 5 is 'good', and what I would expect from most of the requests unless anything in particular stands out.

The four criteria are:
A) Writing - See above!
B) Overall Story - A little different than before, this is how well the story ties together and tells a cohesive narrative.
C) Character Development - How have you grown and changed as a result of this story?
D) Impact - See above!

C and D are probably the most vital to shooting beyond 5, with A and B vital to getting there.

A) Writing is fine! Nothing especially pops, but I am not distracted by the odd error here or there but it is evocative at times and sells the situations well
B) The overall story is great because all the threads are chronologically tightly packed 'one crazy day' is a good framework but thematically I'd say the threads feels a little unfocused. The interaction with the human, then the curious encounter with the Hollow followed into yet another frantic encounter with the Hollow. I think it hits the same notes but the connective tissue between them is good.
C) This one is a bit dicey, it is a release which is great but I don't have a very good sense about what, if anything, he has learned. A moment to follow this request of his reflecting on how he has changed would have worked, or just more details on the request that highlighted some of the more subtle changes. I think that due to the fact this is release helps but some more work done to establish the changes would have helped.
D) Same as above it's fine! Three threads with people that seemed to take SOMETHING away from it!

Congrats! This is a solid FIVE STAR request! Go ahead and link this post to your profile and redeem for

3 Threads x 5 Star Rating = 300 EXP!
Meridith
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