The Non-Human Alliance

[Persiflage]

I've heard rumors of this group being on campus since I first arrived. Esentially, it can be hard for the students of St. Joseph's to be super powered teens. The uniform, for those in the know, is a code for 'freak.' It can be hard for any of us to be what we are.

But there's a subset of young people who are different in an entirely different way. They're not human. They may be aliens, androids, nonhuman species, or genetically engineered people. Walking across Steel Canyon, when you see the glaring posters which shout "Earth for Humans" or "They Walk Among Us" or "Report your suspicions about non-humans to the nearest authorities!"--well, you get the idea. It can be a little freaky.

I'm thinking that Persiflage is part of a St. Joseph's non-Human Alliance, but not the leader. I'd probably create an NPC to be the defacto leader. But I can be the contact person for this.

Mostly, I don't see the NHA being a group that gets cliquey with their non-humanness. I see it as a place where the non-humans can socialize, trade tips on 'passing' or dealing with harassment, and generally find support among their peers for getting through the day in a hostile environment. It'll be something you maybe refer to, a sort of 'set piece' for establishing RP relationships with others, that sort of thing.

Let me know if you feel your toon ought to be a part of this group, here.

[Storm Scream]

Well...is this gonna be for just students who are "abnormally abnormal?" Or, is it gonna be like those Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Trans- whatever groups who have "allies..."people who don't swing that way/s, but who support that community?

At any rate, you said genetically engineered...that applies to me...I think I'd like to join!

[Gravwarp]

I think for the purposes of the group it would just be for the characters who were different and not their supporters.

It would be fun to have a place where Bryan isn't welcomed.

[Nox]

You could also have an associated group for people associated with NHA. Kind of like AA and Al-Anon.

[Misericorde]

Devil's Advocate says:

Where are you going to draw the line for "membership?"
How do you define "non-human?"
Are mutants allowed?
Kheldians?
Kids mutated by the Lost?
Atlanteans?
Catgirls?
People who just look weird?
What if you look entirely human until you powers manifest?
What if you're completely human, but from another planet?

Just somthing to mull over.

[Gabriel Templar]

I'd say membership is basically based on need. People who need a support group can find it, people who don't, don't need them. Just like I can't imagine the campus LGBT center telling someone they're not 'gay enough' to use their reading room or campus minority outreach telling someone of mixed ancestry that they're 'not minority enough' to attend a function I can't see them saying "well yes, you're a half-robot from an alternate dimension, but you see you look mostly human and you're not really from an alien world, so get the heck out!"

[Nox]

As a suggestion, how about the character's origin was socially alien. You know, raised by cuttlefish, assembled from random machine parts, left in a cage and raised by the maintenance robots, came from the deep jungles of Africa, etc.

Why? Because the club would be a place to go where they could share what it means to be alien. "Where I come from, a look like that means you want to fight. I have to keep resisting the urge to hit everyone or just run." "Did you know you have to maintain a personal distance of about two feet to be friendly with someone?" "What do you mean you can't see into the ultra violet range! That explains so much about the terrible mismatching color schemes here!" "You mean that was a perfume and you weren't scent claimed by an iguana?"

I think of it as the kind of club where characters could commisurate about the general oddity of human interactions with others that are just as distanced as they are. They could also practice doing what it would take to be more acceptable with each other and share tips and tricks.

[Oby]

Devil's Advocate says:

Where are you going to draw the line for "membership?"
How do you define "non-human?"
Are mutants allowed?
Kheldians?
Kids mutated by the Lost?
Atlanteans?
Catgirls?
People who just look weird?
What if you look entirely human until you powers manifest?
What if you're completely human, but from another planet?

Just somthing to mull over.

Fer instance: Oby is for all intents and purposes human, but doesn't look it. His mutation changed his look, but his DNA, aside from the mutant gene, would be human. If being a mutant is enough, you will have a membership of most of the school.

[Misericorde]

However, it cannot be based solely on need. That is welfare, guaranteed to anyone...and this is an exclusive group for "Non-Humans," not anyone. Billy Savage can't join just because he's from Pango-Pango in the Pacific and feels confused and lonely in Rhode Island.

Examples:

Misericorde was "grown" in a lab. He looks human, speaks like a human, has some human mannerisms, etc. However, he is markedly different. He does not have an odor. He can digest damn near anything. When he moves, when he looks at someone there is something just a little subtly wrong about the way he does so that makes people uncomfortable. Something primal in their mind remidns them that this is a thing that was meant to hunt people. However, if you didn't spend much time around him, you'd never know. He'd be allowed in.

Girlactic is human...but bonded with a Kheldian. She claims, however, to be from "Space." No one is terribly sure, because she was so confused when Children's Services came across her that she now has roughly six origin stories floating around the school. For an alien, she knows quite a bit about current events and popular culture. Unless she took flight or switched forms, you would never know she was bonded with a Kheldian. She fits in pretty well, aside from her hostile attitude. She'd be allowed in.

Austere is a mutant. He is 17, almost seven feet tall and his corneas appear bone white due to ice deposits. He has a specialized form of psychokinesis that can affect the temperature and certain weather phenomena. His size, creepy eyes, and temperature/weather fluctuations that occur near him with severe emotional states set normal people aback. Of the three, Austere is most likely to be persecuted for his appearance on a day-to-day basis. Now, since mutants are often still considered "human," he would not be allowed to join...although he'd have the most need of the three characters above for a support group.

This is why it's important to nail down who exactly can and cannot join. It won't always be "Fair," to an outside observer.

[Gravwarp]

Hmm... I think I may have misunderstood something. It seems to me like this may fall more under a school provided support group than a "club". Is this group going to be for forum based roleplaying. Or for in-game meetings and such.

Also, as I thought about this a little more. What would the "diffeent" kids think if the "normies" started a club and keep students out based on not being normal enough?

We are already discussing the fact that many new students don't feel included in rp. So, I guess we should ask a few questions here...

Are a lot of our new students physically different from the human "norms"? Is this club, going to bring these students togethermeaningful story telling? Is it going to leave others feeling alienated OOC?

[Misericorde]

I don't think it would be school-sponsored at all. It sounds to me more like a "secret club."

From an RP/IC perspective, it won't necessarily seem fair. It's exclusive. Someone may take it too far. Someone on the outside may use it as fuel to accuse the "freaks for freaks" of banding together to conspire. Conflict makes good RP, if only players can look at it objectively.

However, the true intent of such a group (so far as anyone knows) would be a place for those who are persecuted 24/7 to not be persecuted for an hour or so. A network of friends for them to go to, when they're prevented from going to mundane places every day. When people are denied everything, they want any small thing to call their own. I think that's the point.

[Gravwarp]

I don't have a problem with the concept at all. I think the idea.

I'm merely wanted to state the concern that we already have students that apparently feel left out, and I don't want us to do anything to further this perception.

Basically it boils down to whether this is going to be a plot device for students to share their stories on the forums, which I think is a great idea. Or is the group going to be meeting in the SG base and shooing away anyone not in the club once a week?

[Persiflage]

Urk. This is waaaay more complicated than I had first thought. But hey, discussion fosters growth.

So, originally? The Non-Human Alliance wasn't even my idea. I was talking to Faster, ooc, about in-game stuff (best way to talk to Faster if you're playing a catgirl) and Fastermun said that "Faster's heard that Nennya dumped Bryan because he was 'too human.'" And Fastermun said, "((Wow, Faster's going to be dropping out of the non-human alliance club, she's not going to want to STAND being around Nennya after that.")) And I said ... (("There's a non-human alliance club? I'm a part of it? Where is this on forums? What's going on there?"))

So that's where it came from. I was thinking it was some sort of scene in an unused classroom with cheap donuts and kool-aid, where the students sat in a circle talking about non-human issues. "Hi, my name is Persiflage, and I'm not human." "Hello, Persiflage." YOU know. Like you do.

I'm clearly out of my depth here. Help? M'aidez?

[Gravwarp]

So that's where it came from. I was thinking it was some sort of scene in an unused classroom with cheap donuts and kool-aid, where the students sat in a circle talking about non-human issues. "Hi, my name is Persiflage, and I'm not human." "Hello, Persiflage." YOU know. Like you do.

No see, this this great this is exacly what I was thinking you meant. A forum entity for a group of students sharing what it's like to be "strange".

I think this a fine idea. Though, I think that you Persi being the contact person should set down a set of guidelines on what the group would think strange entails, probably a list of alienation anxeities rather than a body part check list.

Just like Billy's post on the other group. Here.

I'm thinking the group would be one of those 'understood RP' things. I'm trying to create connections here between players who seem like they have something big in common, who might not otherwise be thrown together socially.

All I'm really asking is that people who feel their toons fit the bill, who join, READ the profiles of the other toons in the group, and then, when opportunity arises, RP a little with each other, decide if your toons like or despise each other. t's a way to shake-and-bake some friendships or enmities. It's not meant to be starting a new clique. It's just a way to cast a large net and draw together a wide sample of players and characters.

[Stasis Kiss]

possibly related thread - Normies vs Muties