The patrol car ride was, surprisingly, uneventful. Carmelita took a short rest halfway between the Endless Dunes and the Camelot gates, using her eyepiece to catch up on her Dataverse traffic.

Checking her junk mail, she swiftly emptied it of spam, phishing and catalogues, but was surprised to find a message from Amber buried deep in the filter. Deciding to rectify the mistake, she edited the rules of her inbox and began writing a reply.

---

Half an hour later, after accidentally deleting her first draft due to an ill-timed sneeze, Carmelita sent her email winging on its merry way. Satisfied that she had used the break wisely, she returned to driving and proceeded to the Camelot gate.

She slowed down on approaching the gate. Like the Coruscant gates, it was closely guarded, though she was pleased to see that the security seemed limited to some guards asking questions of those who approached.

As she dissolved her patrol car to proceed through on foot, one of the guards wandered over.

“Evening,” he said, ignoring the fact that the Nexus had no indication of day or night, “You headed through to Camelot?”

“I am,” she replied. “Is something the matter?”

The guard chuckled at some unknown joke before shaking his head.

“Well, aside from the usual, not really. I just wanted to get rid of these flyers my cousin dumped on me. For some tea festival or other, it’s not really important, but hey, I did promise him I’d get rid of at least one. So here, have a flyer.”

Carmelita took the flyer and tucked it away.

“I’ll take your stunning salesmanship into account, I assure you.”

The guard chortled loudly before waving her through.

“Yeah, yeah, save it for improv night.”

With those parting words, Carmelita stepped through the shiny surface of the gate.

Since I've made it to the finale of the last three Dante's Abyss's I've competed in, I 'd like to think that I've pretty experienced in competitive sagas. Below, I've come up with some tips that could be beneficial for saga rookies, or even for vets that wish to learn some new tools of the trade.

• Don't go into a saga with a narrow objective
  Obviously, as writers we feel compelled to generate a storyline to give our characters reasons to join events. And that's fine. The problem often stems from narrowing your storyline objective to the point where it's hard to carry it through an entire competition. In competitive sagas, situations change so rapidly that it can be difficult to correlate the 'then-and-now' to your ultimate goal. The best bet is to form a very broad or vague storyline--something simple that doesn't require to you to limit your writing freedom. 
  
  
• Friends are still rivals
  Just because you grouped up with a party of other Primes does not guarantee an easier ride through the saga. Usually, your work will be compared to your allies more closely than other participants. In elimination scenarios, out-performing a teammate can mean the difference between life and death. This does not mean you should betray your comrades, it just means you should constantly stay aware of how your writing stacks up against theirs.
  
  
• Writing Trumps Stats, but Strategy Trumps Writing
  While the quality of your writing will be the ultimate determiner of your success, sound tactics can greatly improve your chances of survival, even more so than writing prowess--you can't die in a fight you were too smart to get involved in. Trust your logic; if you're outnumbered, or know that you're the least skilled writer in a battle, don't be prideful, be smart. 
  
  
• Dictate your own pace
  What I mean by this is do not let the saga host continually progress you through the storyline. It's exasperating, and boring. Progress things yourself; make the host react to your actions, not the other way around.
  
  

Walking down a path, it seemed familiar.

Dust, sand, gravel. The sound of drilling. The whiff of cordite and the clink of opal.

Yuendumu.

She’s in an office, the Interpol office in Venice.

“Inspector Fox, we’ve got a lead on the Cooper Gang. Here.”

Australia. Ayers Rock. Her support unit, a fine band of gorillas, jet off in different directions, searching for signs of the ringtail and his friends.

She heads to the mining town incognito, looking for clues.

Clues overlooked. Signs ignored. The miners here have been lying about their impact on the area. Cooper matters more.

A dark chanting. The hackles on her neck rise, followed by her fur standing on end. It’s not the thrill of the hunt, though she convinces herself it is.

Miners wounded, beaten, and not once does she pay attention to their ‘hallucinations’.

Then it finds her.

Darkness closes in, she can’t breath, the mask is on her face and it won’t come off, she can’t stop the heat, the fury that begins to seep like tar through her thoughts. Her intentions turn procyonicidal.

The heat, the pain, and then a piercing. She can feel the drug coursing through her, and as it does so her grip, the bit of her that still resists, falls asleep wide awake.

Dark energy courses within. Everything shrinks, smaller and smaller, and then she’s throwing dynamite and chasing after trucks. Her own troops return, and attack what they see as a threat. The ringtail prises the horrible thing from one ear, and she can feel the energy begin to seep away, and then it goes from the other, and blissful peace descends over her.

But the mask, illuminated by the rockets hitting it, sinks into the soil. Somehow she’s still attached and as she tries to walk away she drags it behind her on an invisible string.

“It’s here…”

The feeling of being pulled into a Recall Station from outside the verse it was in was not one that Carmelita enjoyed. It was what she fancied bubblegum might feel as it was used: unwrapped, chewed, blown up to ridiculous proportions, chewed, stretched and twisted, chewed, and finally spat into a suitable receptacle.

Shaking out the feeling of being put through the wringer, Carmelita opened her eyes to the inside of the clear plastic tubes that made up the recall station. She entered the code necessary to exit the tube and stepped out into the cold desert night.

You like having more people to play with, right? That was a rhetorical question, because having more people to write with is awesome. Do you also like OM? If the answer is 'yes', which OBVIOUSLY it is, then please vote for us on the following sites!

RPGfix (every 12 hours. If you register, your votes count as x2. Worth the couple of minutes to make an account if you're going to be voting every day)
Top RP Sites (Daily)
Forum Roleplay (Daily. Please also leave a rating/review/comment!)

When you vote, please post here with your total vote count for this month. So "Voted: 1", "Voted: 3" or whatever. Just keep track of 'em. For our counting purposes, clicking vote on all sites, or on RPGfix if only that is available, counts as 1 vote. If you post less than twelve hours since your last post, we won't count it. This means you can get up to two vote counts a day if you vote exactly every twelve hours. Simple? SIMPLE.

At the end of the month, if you posted ...

7-13 times: You get 100 OM.
14-23 times: You get 200 OM.
24+ times: You get 300 OM.
Every day: You get 300 OM, and a hug from me for being so damn diligent.

If you have an alternate character and wish to claim your reward on that account as opposed to your main one, please let us know in the topic before the month ends. If you don't, we'll assume you want the OM on the account you posted with.

We're going to trust in this that people actually click the links and don't just reply. I mean it only takes a few seconds to click these links anyway, but if there's a discrepancy between the posts here and the number of votes, and people really want to try and scam their way to a few hundred extra OM without voting, then we'll just remove this. Capiche?

Thanks for voting everyone! If you have time, please also leave a vote and review for us on Top RPG sites (once only) and Distant Fantasies.

We could start a guild? People?

If you're looking for a fun MMO, it's free and fairly easy on computers' systems.

:foreveralone:

Character name: Shinji Ikari

Character source: Neon Genesis Evangelion (The Original Series)

Character history: Shinji was brought into the Omniverse while inside the body of Leliel, the extra-dimensional Angel that absorbed both him and Eva Unit 01. After having spent days trapped inside Unit 01, the life support was beginning to fail, and as Shinji grew closer and closer to death, the mind of Leliel assaulted his mind from the inside out, causing him to question his very nature and existence. Then, just before Unit 01's internal power failed, Omni snatched Shinji and the Eva from within Leliel and into the Omniverse, fusing the Evangelion and Shinji in the process.

Physical Description:




Stats:
ATK: 3
DEF: 3
SPD: 2
TEC: 2


Starting Proficiencies:

Physical Proficiency (1000), Ranged Proficiency (1000), Area Shield Proficiency (400)

Starting Powers:

Growth (800), Shapeshifting (1400), Master Acrobat (400), Master Super Jumping (800), Super Speed (1000), Basic Regeneration (1300), Survival (2000)

Starting Moves:

Evangelion Unit 01 [Tier 1 Power-Up] (1000)

Shinji reaches deep into himself and summons his inner strength, causing his body to rapidly become covered with the gleaming violet and green armor of EVA Unit 01. While he does not grow to the full size of Eva 01, he does grow to 12 meters in height. Becoming Unit 01 grants him increased defensive abilities and an abundance of raw, brute strength. The increased muscle tone also gives him a natural boost to his speed.

Regardless of SP usage, Shinji cannot remain in this form for more than 5:00 minutes, whereupon Unit 01's internal power wears out. This either forces Shinji to revert back to his human form, or if he is unable to do so for some reason, become entirely motionless, frozen in place.

ATK: +2
DEF: +2
SPD: +1
TEC: +0

11,100 OM Spent

I confirm that I have read and agreed to the Rules of Conduct.

I do indeed.

Where did you find us?

In my Favorites bar.

If the nice moderators could change my name to Kal'roc that would be great.

Character name: Kal'roc

Character source: OC

Character history:
 Kal'roc was from a universe that had every ideal and truth you can think of, there were basically every faction (steampunk, sci-fy, even modern) He was a commander of the 10th army regiment for his faction. His faction or the Wu are made up of draconian esk creatures, and basically anyone who will join there cause. The Wu lifestyle is a slightly modified Spartan lifestyle. the major exceptions are that they don't execute the weak people but put them to work where ever they can, and that they can use some mercy on there foe's. He was taken here when he was on a march with his regiment and they got blind sided and he was taken as they were going to kill him.
Physical Description:

He is seven foot tall, of major Chinese decent and is of a age of 150, Draconians can live to be much older than humans the oldest one's are rumored to be around a thousand years old but he is on his death bed. His alignment is neutral good.
Stats:
ATK: 4 
DEF: 3
SPD: 1
TEC: 2

Starting Proficiencies: (3000)
Physical Strength (1000)
Ranged proficiency (1000)
buff Proficiency (400)
Area attack proficiency (600)
Starting Powers: 0/8000

Starting Moves:
Katana: (600 om) (requires physical strength proficiency)
The katana is a foot in length for the blade, the sheath can also be used to parry melee weapons and acts as a bludgeon weapon, He is not really slowed by the weapon nor does it put a strain on his mind. It can be dropped (either the blade or the sheath) but it is unbreakable. (as rp fodder it will flash a red light at a normal rate and will hum slightly till its picked up.) The katana for what it looks like is in the reference photo.

No retreat no surrender! (300 om) (requires buff proficiency)
When the battle is looking grim he will hold his ground and start to say some moral improving stuff, the buff lasts a half a minute and the effect makes at most three people remember what they are fighting for, and they will become 5% stronger, and slowly it erodes to 1% for the last couple seconds. (another debuff to this move is that if its people who don't have a real good reason or if the fight is not righteous in his mind the buff is useless aka if the people who are fighting are not of his alignment or better. neutral good or higher) (the time it takes to initiate is around five  to ten seconds)

Fire nova (tier one super move) (1000 om) (requires range proficiency and area attack proficiency)
Kal'roc puts his katana away if it is not away yet, and smoke starts to bellow out of his mouth. He will open his mouth and fire a ball of flame two inches in diameter (it can be any color), When it hits the ground the ball will increase in size to about ten feet then collapse in on its self to combust quite rapidly for a max distance of twenty feet before disapating (the farthest distance will basically singe someone but the closer it is to the person the worse the effects are) the move basically tires him out, and is a last ditch effort most of the time.
Total spent OM: 4900

[INTRO POST]

 
Twenty foot LED screens bordered a darkened gateway, bright lights positioned at the edges to facilitate in silhouetting anything behind the threshold.
 
Outside, a ramp, then a concrete floor with a single box in the center. A raised platform with ropes strung across each side, hooked to posts at each corner.
 
Everywhere else, the roar of the crowd. Tiered seats encircling the arena, only cut through by the gateway. Hundreds of tickets sold, every, spot filled. Above them, in a mesh of catwalks, wires, and electrical boxes, lamps and spotlights cycled through white, purple, and yellow. The cheering and bellowing of the mob sang throughout the entire building, vibrating the walls, echoing out through every interior hallway and room.
 
There was a crackling sound that somehow overpowered the cacophony, followed by a man’s voice project through multiple speakers set up strategically throughout the space.
 
“Laaaadiiiies and gentlemaaaan…”
 
The roar ceased to rumbling chatter, groups of fans with ear-to-ear grins whispering and pointing at the screens that suddenly went black, the lighting that suddenly dimmed.
 
“Welcoooome… tooo…
WWOMNI SMACKDOWN VS RAW!!”
 
Everything started up again. The crowd, the lights, the screens now displaying images of a silhouette figure. It was kind of bipedal, humanoid mass, but with raised heels and smooth pieces of something all over its body. A kilt hung down from its waist, next to a massive sheathed blade.
 
“Frooooom teeeaaaam Smackdooowwwwnn…
HOO-uh-HOMIN RA-Ray? Rat?- RATIONE! THE NOVAN FUR-FUER-FUR-TUM-IN-did I say that right? Whatever-TRAINED AND SEASONED VETERAN OF THE FIFTY-YEARS WAR AND PARTICIPANT IN THE LAST STAND OF MULCIBUS!- wait what even is that?”
 
For about a second or two, the entire crowd went silent. All that could be hear were a few murmurs, a kid crying, everyone scratching their heads and raising eyebrows. Eventually, the quiet was broken by a single bearded, portly man with two beer cans strapped to the side of his baseball cap and hoses feeding to his mouth stood on top of the fence at the front row.
 
“WOO ALIENS!”
 
Instantly the roar resumed, chanting the phrase in a rhythmic holler.
 
“WOO ALIENS! WOO ALIENS! WOO ALIENS!”
 
At the door way, the silhouette from the screens melted into the light. A hulking, massive figure with solid steel armor covering every inch of their body. A helm with two prongs at the front and a glass visor scanned the crowd. Half of them applauded, half of them booed. In a steady pace, he made his to the ring.
 
The supports creaked and almost buckled under his weight as Ratione stepped up a ladder, holding up the top rope and threading himself through, before taking a position one corner.