Welcome to The Duality of Man, an original animanga role-play that features numerous supernatural creatures. Unfortunately, these various species have distanced themselves because of the war that occurred thousands of years ago, plaguing some with eyes that only see their dualism. While others meddle themself with their differences, two groups fight, each attempting to eliminate the other in for their definition of worldly peace. These two groups of the Terror Response Syndicate (TRS) and the Assembly of Phantoms (AP). With individuals fighting merely over their differences, it brings uncertainty to the outcome of this war.
We happily accept all role-players as long as they obey the rules and are capable of meeting our word count of 50. This does include those who are unfamiliar with this style of role-playing. The staff of The Duality of Man are willing to happily help those who are new to the role-playing world so they feel comfortable on site. Feel free to message the staff if you need help, they can be found here or in the site Discord and will gladly answer questions alongside calm concerns. If you have any suggestions we would love to hear them; guests may use the support board as a suggestion area as well. Should you decide to join, may I say welcome to the site and we all hope you enjoy your time here.
Yours Truely,
The Staff
season
Summer 2024
Heat has broken through into a glorious summer. The snow has entirely dried through the spring, leaving to the brilliance of the warmer months. Terror activity has risen as people are brought out of their homes, leaving the TRS in a position of consistent work. Each are attempting to maintain victory in the endless struggle for power.
Since the wonderful members of TDOM enjoy the site enough to play around on it, this thread is to assist with the site's tidying! Functionality is important and we want to make the site functional even if its activity will be minimal at best!
It was a rather cold winter day, with all seen wildlife burrowing away for protection and warmth. The trees were barren of colorful leaves and looked far more dead than they truly were, but inside the Dark Market all was warm and full of life, even the flora despite not being of evergreen genetics. Dolores was taking special time away from her day to attend to one of her most beloved nobles: Amy Steele . Of course, she did this frequently, but today, due to the weather, the time taken was far greater. They were simply walking through one of the many halls of the large underground headquarters, the hallway adequately lit with candle fire, each one flickering in a way that resembled bowing as they passed. Even though this was only a simple, "harmless" walk, Dolores was dressed more elegantly than she usually was; her hair was neatly done, not a single strand out of line, and she wore a similar, yet noticeably cleaner, sharper version of her dress, all topped off by her sadistic motherly smile. The only questionable thing about her right now, besides her herself, was in her left hand she twirled her pistol around her finger by the trigger guard. Earlier in their walk, she "accidently" shot another Dark Market personnel dead... but shrugged it off when inquired about it. The only thing that mattered was Amy's attention. She had her suspicions the young faekin was thinking rebellious thoughts, and intended for today's walk to be both reassuring... and utterly terrifying.
Still swinging around her pistol, she slowed down, breathing in a breath of fresh air. "I do believe the occupants did very well with these scented candles... it only took five rounds this time as well! Simply delightful... do you agree, Amy?" Her smile never left her face as she spoke with a voice too warm to originate from her cold lips, but they did. Such is the way of manipulators like her. The Madame would start things off slow, then inquire about her suspicions, an easy task in theory, easier in practice, she believed.
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[attr=class,Amysidebox][attr=class,Amysidetext]Hope this works!
[attr=class,Amytextbox][attr=class,Amytext]Amy was wearing a pretty pink dress with a pretty pink bow and a pretty white jacket. She’d done a quick twirl in front of the mirror that morning as she put it on. She was supposed to go on a walk with Dolores, an event that demanded she look her best. She spent plenty of time with the Madame and she always tried to put her best foot forward. Everyone always seemed to be terrified of the woman and Amy didn’t want to run out of use… Then again, lately she’d begun to reconsider. She’d been here long enough. It was so easy to get trapped in this beautiful world, but she was sure people in real life would miss her by now. She couldn’t have her sister moving on before she found her.
Dolores was dressed in an elegant gown and held a pistol in her hand. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but she looked particularly terrifying today. She couldn’t help but wonder what had called for the show. Had Amy done something wrong? There was nothing to suggest that but the nagging feeling persisted anyway.
"Oh yes, I think all the scented candles are great!" she nodded with a toothy smile. "We didn’t have them back home. Have I mentioned that before? I think I’ve mentioned that before. You guys have a lot of stuff here that we didn’t have back home. I really do love it here." she rattled out the string of words in the span of only a couple of breaths. The luxury of the Dark Market always took Amy’s breath away. She was lucky to have the Madame’s favor. Lucky to be able to live here. Lucky to have the life she’d grown so restless with.
As a distraction from her thoughts, her hand snaked out and caught the pocket watch of a passing stranger. She held it up and grinned as it’s jeweled surface glimmered in the candle light. It was pretty, embedded with rubies and mother of pearl. She liked pretty things. Who in the world carried around pocket watches? Old people, that’s who. She glanced behind her and confirmed that the man she’d taken it from was, in fact, very old looking. She tucked the watch in the pocket of her dress, deciding it was hers now.
Her mismatched eyes turned to gaze up at Dolores. "How are you doing today, Madame?" she inquired. She wouldn’t care how most people were doing, in fact it was a question she rarely asked anyone but Dolores. But for all Dolores was doing for her it was the least Amy could do in return, especially when she could often help with headaches or other minor inconveniences. And yet for all she’d do for Dolores at the drop of a hat, she didn’t think she could stay here much longer. She didn’t belong here, she belonged with her sister, and she wasn’t making any process towards finding the other girl. She had plenty of friends here, but she was homesick and she’d never intended to hang round forever.
"Well of course," Dolores replied, delighted, "My herald home of dark information has many things the outside would does not... and the things we do not have can be easily gained. There is no true reason to leave such a safe place." The Madame watched as Amy, with swift of hand, took a rather old pocket watch from an unimportant old occupant, taking it for herself. Her red-gold odd eyes sparkled in the candlelight as she stopped walking. In any other situation, she would have called out such thievery and dealt with both the thief and the weak individual who allowed themselves to be robbed, but of course nobles like Amy had special privileges. Normally. Today was all about establishing two things, and she will make herself clear.
The seer then bent down until she was at the young girl's eye level, staring intently at them. It was one of the many things she adored Amy for, her eyes almost matched her own. They held no special properties, as far as she knew, but they were quite nice to look at. "I am doing quite well, thank you for asking. Today, though, is about you. How are you doing this evening?" Dolores was slow with speaking but her words were clear. "Clearly something is bothering you, else you would not have taken that poor, fool of a man's watch. Are you low on money?" A perfect question to begin her establishing goals, a question to allow her to inflict terror and weave in important information.
The Madame again spun her pistol around her finger before catching it at the barrel for just a moment, resuming her passive activity as she waited for an answer. She was quite patient this afternoon, and had absolutely no intention on rushing the topics of this conversation. As she said, today was all about Amy and her desires, and that, at least, was no lie.
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[attr=class,Amysidebox][attr=class,Amysidetext]Hope this works!
[attr=class,Amytextbox][attr=class,Amytext]'There is no true reason to leave such a safe place.' The words rang in Amy’s ears. They were wrong. She’d forgotten for a pretty while, too dazzled by the glimmering luxuries of the Dark Market, but there was a true reason to leave. There had never been a reason to stay forever, she was just supposed to be a temporary resident until she found her sister. It was true that she’d considered bringing her sister back here when she found her, but she kept getting too distracted to look for the girl and it would remain that way as long as she played princess in this gilded trap.
Dolores was talking again. Amy blinked in confusion. What an odd assumption. Something was bothering her but it had nothing to do with financial issues. She didn’t hesitate too long before responding in a matter of fact tone. "It was pretty and I wanted it so I made it mine. If I was low on money I would have stolen his wallet."And she wouldn’t have done it in front of Dolores. Innocent and naive as she knew she was, Amy had picked up on a few tricks from Madame Esmeree. For one she wouldn’t wear her weaknesses so plainly. If she wanted the woman knowing about any financial issues she would just ask, otherwise she wouldn’t give any indication that there was a conversation to be had. As it was, she was doing quite well. The Dark Market provided more than she could ever ask for. It had almost grown boring how easily everything came.
"Madame, how can I get low on money when there’s so little I’m interested in buying?" Wide eyes awaited an answer, but behind them Amy was debating why she’d been asked in the first place. Gracious as Dolores was, she was a busy woman and she didn’t make a habit of thinking of others unless she could use them for something. She already had Amy hooked so there was no reason to butter her up. Unless there was. Did the shark suspect Amy was holding something back? The question gnawed at her stomach. The way she was holding that pistol didn’t help.
"It was pretty... and you made it yours." Dolores repeated the words back at Amy, smile absent. The way the Esmeree was looking at Amy, one would think she was about to either scold her or quite simply kill her then and there, but neither came, only silence as the seer pondered her words. She was of course one of Dolores' best nobles, if not the best, and the majority of her time and resources went into anything and everything she could ever want... as well as ensuring she was up to Dolores's standards of course. Her words, while blunt, made sense, yet a part of her knew it was simply the wrong way to think of things that are desired. Breaking the planned tension, she raised her firearm up in front of Amy Steele.
"This is pretty, is it not? Covered with red gold, silver and linen of silk... yet you do not make it yours." Again, Dolores twirled the gun on a finger before catching it in her hand, using her mental prowess as a seer to utterly crush the pistol in her hand like putty. Simple telekinesis with advanced usage, the act of influencing gravity and air to destroy an object. "My dear Amy, patience is a virtue. You do not take what you want. You wait, and ensure you have used the bearer of what you want to its fullest extent before taking what is rightfully yours to take. Such as... the Dark Market. A smart... or foolish... person would use the resources here to pursue their own goal, and when this resource has been exhausted, they take what they were after, and leave." Tossing the remains of the firearm to the side, as an extremely subtitle example of what happens to those who do actually leave, she gestured towards where the old man once was.
"The one you stole from, while an utter fool, was assigned to protect you. Now how will he do that without his watch? Standing back up and chucking a bit, her smile returned in all its glory. "And just like that, you have caused his inevitable death! Surely I will punish him for arriving late to his shift. Perhaps I will allow you to choose his execution." The seer said, warmly.
Upon being asked how she could possibly run low on money, Dolores quickly answered back. "It is not things you buy. It is information. Many here seek something, some seek things without telling me first. Is there... anything you secretly seek, Amy..." Dolores was sure to emphasize the word secretly, while at the same time staring into Amy's eyes with more intensity than she had been, pausing before continuing her speech. "...such as more of your books? I do believe we have ran out... however this may be a blessing in disguise, your knack of playing with dangerous science experiments is quite tedious..." One of Dolores's favorite tricks was seeming like she was asking a damning question, only to follow it up with an innocent one in its place. It was quite fun for her, but either way, she would have instilled enough fear of retaliation or traitorous actions, so she thought.
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[attr=class,Amytextbox][attr=class,Amytext]Dolores' every word set Amy on edge, as did the display of power. She'd seen this played out before, but rarely towards loyal allies. There was no way she thought Amy was innocent. But she had yet to do anything wrong so she didn't know what she was being accused of or how to defend herself. She wished she had her stuffy to cling onto, but she'd left it in her room.
Amy shook her head slowly. "What... do I want?" she repeated carefully. Had what she wanted changed? That was the only reason she could think of for Dolores asking, but what the younger girl wanted had held fast. Just because she was looking at different tactics didn't mean she sought anything new. If she did, Dolores would be her best bet of getting it so she'd never try to hide her desires.
"You know what I want. I want to have people to play with and I want you to be happy and I want to find my sister." she replied with a touch of frustration. "And I don't take your pretty things because if I took your stuff you wouldn't like it and if you didn't like something that would mean you're not happy. You're my friend and I want my friends to be happy and I don't want my friends to be mad at me."
"But what I want right now is to do something fun! Come on, what are we gonna do today, I'm getting bored." Amy didn't know what game she wanted to play today yet, she'd wanted to see why Dolores was so insistent on talking first, but she'd grown tired of trying to figure out the older woman's puzzles. If she wasn't in trouble she was fine and if she was she'd still want to do something more entertaining than this.
"I know what we should do! You should teach me to shoot those guns! Why do you use guns anyway? Can't you just telepath a bullet through someone's skull? Oh oh oh!! That's how you should kill the old guy! But not through his skull, that's boring." Amy's words were strung together in excitement and not really thought through. She knew Dolores liked bloody displays, and this suggestion would certainly be one. People would be terrified! Amy herself didn't like blood, it always made her stomach twist, but, as she'd vaguely mentioned before, she liked Dolores being happy.
"Ah yes, that sister of yours..." Dolores said with a coo. "I did not forget, my dear, in fact, I believe an informant has new information for you." The seer, while speaking the truth, had no true plans towards the girl's relative goal. In reality, the things she sought, she as took, making half of her bitter words hypocritical in a sense... however when it came to keeping children, especially those she regarded her nobles- her own- personal goals and desires they sought often seemed to slow down. "Esta en mis estudios personales si los quieres, mi quierida Amy." The foreign words rolled off her lips as naturally as the sun sets in the west. With a smile, she reached out to gently pat the top of Amy's head. If Amy had been paying attention to anything the mental Dolores had been saying days prior, she would have understood the Spanish she spoke, however considering she was but a child who was more driven by fun, the seer doubted it, and she definitely wasn't going to translate what she said.
Another cruel thing she has done today, making it much harder for someone to find another they hold dear. "Sin embargo, I truly do appreciate that you keep my happiness in mind. I do hope one day I become your... bestest of friends." Madame Esmeree smiled.
When Amy expressed her desire to move onto a more entertaining activity, she mouthed the word "oh" before nodding her head in vigorous agreement. "Of course, this has been a rather lengthy talk... quite usually they do not go on for this long." She did believe she had made her point quite clear, both the confusion and terror the conversation caused was to her liking, and she too began to aspire to different activities, preferably any that did not counteract the words she spoke previously.
Dolores's lips twisted into a sadistic smirk, quickly corrected to a less threatening, motherly look as she listened to the child's quick rant. Clearing her throat she crossed her arms and began. "Very well, for pleasure and rest, yes of course, perhaps, and most certainly, I assure you dear, his execution will be wonderful and succeed your expectations..." Dolores paused briefly as she remembered who she planned on putting in charge of the execution preparations. "Hopefully, mine as well. That new noble I gathered, Dolores, will pay if not." Dolores's answers, said in the same order the leading questions were received, were given in a clear voice, one by one. She didn't want to give too much of certain things away prematurely, especially anything about Dolores... which wasn't Dolores.
"Regarding your desire to learn, I will only permit you to begin with basic revolvers. Afterwards, I will give you one of my own to keep and practice. Is that fine, dear?" Of course it was fine! What else would it be in the eyes of a sadist? To Dolores, the question was rhetorical when in true reality it was not. "I believe there are some in the armory. Is learning how to use one truly what you would like to do today?"
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[attr=class,Amytextbox][attr=class,Amytext]Amy beamed as Dolores stated her desire to be the bestest of friends. Of course, as far as people within the market went she was pretty sure they already were the bestest of friends. As far as her favorite people went, Dolores was only beneath Amy's sister and a childhood friend she'd grown up with but hadn't seen since coming here.
"A new noble?" Amy perked up curiously. New nobles always proved to be interesting. It was only natural that they did. Madame Esmeree wouldn't choose someone boring to be one of her nobles. She wondered what that defining characteristic would be this time - personality or ability. She so hoped it was the former. She had friends in the Dark Market, but she found that they ended up boring her after a few hours. She wanted someone that could actually keep up with her energy and her mind.
With wide eyes, Amy nodded as Dolores laid out her plans for gun training. There had been hunters back in her colony and they used long guns that Amy had never been allowed to touch. Despite her time in the market, she didn't actually know much about firearms. She knew some of them had pretty handles, and she wanted one like that. If Dolores wouldn't give her one now she could always just steal one from a passerby later.
"What makes a revolver different than other guns?" she asked, chewing at the inside of her cheek. "And how does a gun even work. Is it magic or something? And if not, can it be magic? It seems like that would make it better. Magic is pretty cool."
"Si! A new noble. Of course my dear no one will ever replace you, not truly, unless..." Madame Esmeree knew that the only time she would ever consider replacing Amy is if someone more malleable with abilities far more similar to hers came around, however in the countless years she has been alive on the Earth, she highly doubted it. Ozaei Dolores would simply have to do in the worst case scenario, for now.
"Think nothing of it Amy. You just might like them. A new playmate for your devious fun antics."
Upon being asked about the difference between the two firearms, and how they operated, she smiled warmly, quickly drawing her own. Pointing the barrel at Amy's head, she paused. "Revolvers must be loaded often, they are more personal and up close than today's modern weapons. There are mortal guns such as the ones you see in this Market, and there are special... "immortal" magical ones, ones that can be manipulated through other means. Such as this one."
"They operate as so." With those words, she squeezed on the trigger of the already cocked gun, a bullet speeding out but disintegrating mid air before it touched Amy's skin. "Pull this trigger here, it will spark a reaction in the machine to combust and fire the projectile. The bullet, this time, is magical. Practice smoke bullets courtesy of the usurped devil queen. They are harmless! Here, my child."
Tossing the gun freely to Amy, she chuckled before turning to walk away. "Take from this little talk this: Everything I just told you is a partial lie. I am curious to see what your childish mind retains..."
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The skin is created by Wolf of Adoxography and Gangnam Style. The thread and conversation remodels are by Kagney. The Strange Reality board list, Heal My Soul info center, I Remember Now mini profile and Electric Requiem profile remodel is made by Pharoah Leap. The Who's That Member member list remodel was made by Tictactoe. The Cbox.ws Shoutbox remodel was made by Trinity Blair. All templates used for claims, information sheets, applications, etc are credited to their owners; credits for these can be found in the threads the templates are use on. Images that are used on The Duality of Man are credited to their owners, however, they have been edited by Zac with a few being edited by Chibi Magician. The plot, rules and various other information pieces for The Duality of Man are written by Chibi Magician with the assistence of her co-admins, Finnegan and Dremulf, alongside other unlisted people who were kind enough to give their input. The TRS, AP and face claim were all created by Fleur for specifically the use of TDOM. All plugins used on The Duality of Man are credited to their owners. The templates my members use are credited to their maker, if you find a template that belongs to you, but is uncredited, please speak to Chibi Magician or the member themself. Characters created on The Duality of Man are credited to their owners and should not be used elsewhere without the creator's permission.
Special thanks for the members of TDOM who make suggestions to help make this site better. Even though we can not accept all suggestions, we immensely appreciate it. Thus, we give credit to any additions that you thought of and were later implimented by the staff, because we are glad you give us these excellent ideas.
