Destine Enormity
"They say that heroes have been dead for years now . . . they were wrong."
—DE's tagline.
Arcadia, the city where the villains won.
No-one knows when Arcadia was founded, or why it was named that. All anyone can say is that there was a war fought with superpowers, an epic conflict between good and evil - and good didn't prevail. Fifteen years later, Arcadia is ruled by the iron fist of the Wise Men, Orwellian dictators with superpowers on their side. People without powers are confined to ghettos, and any attempt at defiance results in the troublemaker being whisked away to Tartarus by the Wise Men's secret police, the Elite.
But there is a ray of hope. A group of self-styled heroes, the Messiah Complex, are fighting against all odds to take down the Wise Men. Whose side will you be on?[1]
A Play-By-Post forum rpg with some MSN chat roleplaying to spice things up - they're always accepting new members!
They also have a tumblr for their art and various short stories focused on shipping.
- Academy of Evil: SIN Academy
- Affably Evil and Faux Affably Evil: Most of the villains
- A Glass of Chianti: Gabriel.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey
- Alternate Universe: The out-of-continuity threads Another School Life and Prison Break are set in an alternate future in which Arco has taken over Arcadia and eradicated the Messiah Complex.
- Asskicking Equals Authority
- Bad Future: The second generation Arcadia AU in Another School Life et cetera.
- Beware the Superman
- Black Comedy
- Boarding School of Horrors: Where else but SIN Academy?
- Character Blog
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A few of the characters that were neglected by their creators had this happen....
- Class Trip: A horrifically twisted one forms the premise of The Lesson
- Death by Origin Story: Applies to almost all the characters and their parents/guardians
- Differently-Powered Individual: In this case, the term is "Power Users" -although the nature of the setting is such that more commonly they're called "people" or "us," as opposed to the powerless Normals.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: Done by the heroes in Lights, Camera, Action
- Enemy Mine: Done in The Minos Incident by Valentine, Gaelic, Aidric and Clara.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Elysian Citadel for the Wisemen
- Fantastic Racism: Against the Normals
- Fascists' Bed Time
- Foe Yay: Apparently Chloe's Foe Yay-dar is hyperactive.
Gabriel: 8D Val!
Valentine: Briel! Good to see you!
Chloe: . . . GOD JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY
- Hero with Bad Publicity: The Messiah Complex
- Home Base: Cafe Richard for the Messiah Complex
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Tartarus
- La Résistance
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Card Guardian is essentially the Arcadian magical girl franchise equivalent of Pretty Cure. It started as a silly joke during the Halloween thread (where Laura cosplays as Lovely Heart and Aryil cosplays as Sweet Spade), but quickly grew into a boardwide thing.
- Loads and Loads of Characters
- Locked in the Dungeon
- Love Triangle: Several, including Carlotta, Syrin, and Alexandra.
- Metaphorgotten: In Lights, Camera, ACTION!
Aidric: The vents... *gestures dramatically* OF JUSTICE ...wait, that... doesn't work because it's a building of evil, so I guess it's... more like vents of sodomy and villiany and... *pause* ...okay, this is getting away from me now.
- Mistaken for An Imposter: Aidric, by Aryil
- Morality Kitchen Sink: On the one hand, the government boasts such characters as Arco, Valentine Svarc and Anya Mori. On the other hand, the rebel forces feature such characters as Aidric and Ackerly.
- Mundane Utility: When you live in a society where the entire upper class has superpowers, this is a given.
- Next Sunday A.D.: The story's setting.
- Non Sequitur Thud: The end of the Aidric vs. Arco fight.
Arco: *Sits up* "Why yes, Andre, I'd like some more of that kiwi pie, it is simply explendid! Uuuh..." *Falls back, unconscious*
- Noodle Incident: Hitler Duck.
- All There in the Manual: The tale was told by Digi in a livestream.
- Not So Different: Delivered by Gabriel to Valentine.
- Not Wearing Tights: But Badass Longcoats are all the fashion
- Police State
- Putting on the Reich: The Elite's red armbands.
- Secret Police: The Elite
- School of Hard Knocks: SIN Academy again
- Sleep Cute: Hector and Anya in A Day Off (part two)
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Aidric, Arco, and James most often, Hector and Isaac less often.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Every time Aidric meets Val. Every time.
- And now Ackerly is getting in on that theme.
- The Alcatraz: Tartarus again
- The Bad Guys Win
- Villains Out Shopping: Gabriel hanging out with Valentine and eating pastries at Cafe Richard.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The Wise Men and the Elite
- Villain World
- What Measure Is a Non Super
- Why Can't I Hate You?: Resa to her roommate, Anya.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters
- ↑ Feel free to apply and join us anytime!