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!
Penny carries herself like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and when she tries she can pass off for a young adult. Closer examination will reveal more youthful futures, though. Large purple eyes carry a false promise of innocent and rosy cheeks help that idea along. In public she wears her purple hair down and it falls just beneath her shoulders, but when she’s doing her job or training she keeps it tied up.
Practicality always comes before fashion. She doesn’t understand why people would want to wear frilly skirts or high heels. Most of her wardrobe is darker because that makes it easier to blend in, and the few dresses she owns are painfully simple.
Years of training make defined muscles inevitable, but Penny otherwise looks fairly breakable. Looking at her it would be very hard to guess her profession. She is 5’5” and weighs 125 lbs.
It can be hard to guess what goes through Penny’s mind. She is quiet and observant, believing conversation should be saved for when it has a purpose. She won’t be rude though. Walking into a room she’ll offer the bare minimum conversation required not to seem rude and if someone talks to her she will respond.
It almost seems like Penny is never in charge of anything. She likes to play the subordinate, and if she’s not naturally she’ll find a way to take the role. That doesn’t mean she can’t take responsibility. In fact, when the need arises she can be a good leader; she’d much rather follow orders.
Honesty is a tricky subject for Penny. White lies like “Oh I like your hair” are almost impossible for her, but if she needs to keep something secret it’s almost second nature. She doesn’t understand a lot of social cues, so she can be bluntly honest without seeing how it affects others.
Just as she doesn’t notice when others are hurt, she doesn’t notice when they’re judging her. If someone were to tease her about her lack of skill, she’d be content to let them. She’s content to prove herself through actions. In this sense, she is quite arrogant but doesn’t flaunt it. Very few people have heard her brag about doing something well, but she takes failure hard.
Usually she keeps her emotions in check. It takes a lot to get a reaction out of her, but anger can easily build up inside and when this happens she’ll lash out - either verbally or physically. She’d rather stab someone than start an argument, though. Otherwise her actions are well planned out. She isn’t impulsive and she assumes others aren’t either, which means when someone else is rushing into a situation she might be pulled into it assuming they have a plan.
As grown up as she thinks she is, Penny is still young. She’s fairly cynical, but she’s naive too. She doesn’t think the world is a good place, but she does think there are good things about it. She thinks people will stick to their word and has strong ideals on loyalty that could come back to harm her later.
abilities
Seance ~ Moderate ~ “A bad effect of stress and sleep deprivation” Dealing in death, Penny has had some strange experiences with this ability. When she knows about people that died, she tends to dwell on who they were beyond the reports. If their spirits have any interest in talking to her - for positive or malicious reasons - they can appear before her. They can’t be touched but they can move things. She usually freaks out when she sees dead people and forces the communication shut, causing a massive strain leaving her emotionally and physically drained for hours to days depending on the ghost. After talking to a ghost she always ends up with a headache. She calls these uncommon interactions sleep-deprived hallucinations.
Psychometry ~ Beginner ~ “An active imagination” If she had any experience harnessing her abilities, it would be pretty obvious that she deals better in the future than the past. If Penny wants to know the history of an object, she can tell by touching it. This ability takes a certain type of focus that’s uncommon for her, so it doesn’t come up accidentally as often as some of her other abilities. Usually information comes by in a swirl of images she can’t sort through accompanied by a headache. She has very little experience accidentally triggering this ability.
Telepathy ~ Beginner Telepathy is one of the few abilities she doesn’t have to find a reason behind. After all, when she communicates a thought to someone else, she doesn’t know she did it. It is rare for a thought to go through. When she’s particularly exhausted and thinking about someone some of those thoughts may be projected toward them. Alternatively, if she really wants to say something but is biting her tongue the message may be heard anyway.
Telekinesis ~ Worse than Beginner ~ “Strange accidents” As a seer, Penny can move objects with her mind. Like her other powers, she doesn’t know she has this ability which at times can be a safety hazard. When she gets angry and presses down her emotions sometimes her power will lash out and throw something across the room or explode a cup of water. She has zero control over this and usually just brushes it off as a strange coincidence. Depending on the strength of the outburst she may be left drained.
Future Sight ~ Moderate ~ “Nightmares” If she had any idea about her abilities, Penny would be particularly capable in this area. There is no way of knowing what bit of the fortune she’ll see, but visions usually come through to her in nightmares that she’ll wake up from in the middle of the night feeling more tired than before she went to sleep with a building headache. These dreams will flicker through different scenes and, while they may feel like they take hours, she will remember approximately 30-90 seconds of the detail and if she doesn’t make an effort to remember or write it down that will begin to fade too. This ability also manifests itself in gut instincts. For example, if a storm’s coming she may have the feeling she should stay inside. These instincts may have saved her life in the past, but they’re impossible to sort from regular instincts and could be interpreted wrong.
Natural ~ Mind Control Immunity and Enhanced Memory
backstory
The First Traces -- 0-8 y/o
Penny was a naive child. Very little of that innocence is left. Her father was always the quiet type, and her mother died when she was too young to remember. She spent a lot of her younger days following in her dad’s footsteps. She didn’t mind, though. She loved her childhood. She doesn’t remember much of it, but she thinks of it as the happiest years of her life.
Good Times -- 6 y/o
Penny’s life had always been different. She knew other kids. On a day off like this they’d be running around at the playground or watching tv. That wasn’t her, though. Her father wouldn’t allow for that type of life. Sometimes he said “It’s my past coming to curse you too,” but she didn’t agree. Her father was too hard on himself. She was grateful for the life she had, and she had faith that it would be for the better. Things always seemed to turn out well in the end, especially for those who had suffered the most. Otherwise Cinderella would still be a wretched servant girl and Rapunzel would still be locked in a tower.
Silent as a shadow, she followed in her father’s footsteps through the back alleys of Lorsette. “Alright girlie,” he said, coming to a standstill at a seemingly random corner. Were it not for years of this meandering, she wouldn’t have been able to tell this corner apart from any other. His voice was rough, as though it had been worn down over years of hard work. She didn’t know how, exactly, he managed that considering how rarely he actually spoke. She’d taken after him in that sense. It only got her dubbed shy, though. She didn’t know what she’d have to do to seem intimidating like her pops. “I gotta go into this alone. You’re gonna stay right here, right?”
Penny nodded dutifully. “I’ll keep watch, pops!”
A smile lit his face, a rare display of affection that felt more like an insult than anything else in that particular moment. “Of course you will.” he chuckled, patting the top of her head before disappearing around the corner.
Penny crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, leaning her left shoulder against the wall. He didn’t think she could do it! Well she’d show him! She was going to be the most attentive watch person he’d ever met. Assuming anyone came down this alley… She wouldn’t be able to hear them if they came from somewhere else. If only she’d been a shifter of some sort so she could take advantage of their heightened senses. That would certainly make the job easier. But no. Try as she might, she couldn’t pick up on any new sounds. She was just a boring old human like her mom had been.
Penny didn’t know much about her mom, but over the years she’d written a story in her mind. She was the most beautiful woman in the world with hair like gold that she’d passed onto her child. She’d grown up in London - an exotic foreign country in Penny’s young mind - and when she’d first seen her dad she’d known instantly she was in love. But her responsibilities in London called her home and she had to take over someone’s job in this weird place called ‘the afterlife.’ One day when Penny was older her mom might just be able to get some time off and come whisk her away to her happily ever after. Until then --
Penny’s let out a small squeak as a hand clamped down over her shoulder. She’d gotten distracted! She was supposed to be keeping watch. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned around to see a familiar face. Mr. Clover, a man who worked with her pops, loomed over her.
“Hey Penny! Where’s your dad?”
“Uhm... He went over there!” she pointed in the direction her dad had walked off in. She glanced down at her feet, knowing this wouldn’t do anything to help her image as a good watch person. “If he asks can you tell him I was paying attention and saw you coming? I was supposed to be keeping watch.”
He smirked and offered a tight nod before stalking off. A flush crawled up Penny’s face and she slumped back against the wall, actually paying attention this time. She’d been caught off guard, but it wouldn’t happen again!
The Letter -- 8 y/o
My Dearest Penelope, You’re a big girl now. I don’t think your mother would have believed how responsible you grew up. I must travel to England on Business. I’m leaving you in Mr. Clover’s care. Do as he tells you and you’ll be alright.
~~Your Loving Father
Initial Training -- 8-10 y/o
Penny’s father left only a letter before disappearing. She’s always kept that letter close. Following it’s direction, she went to live with Mr. Clover. He began a training regime, and she took it on without much complaint. Her father had told her to listen to him and so she would. There was no questioning him in her mind.
The training involved pushing her body to its very limit. Eventually, she adjusted to the soreness and exhaustion. She couldn’t see the improvement as well as others might, but she liked having something to do. There were other children - apprentices they were called - but she never bothered getting to know them. She’d never cared much for friends. Even when she was young meaningless small talk bored her.
Penny wasn’t given a purpose behind her training until she was 10 years old. She knew she was being trained to be a part of an organization called “the Black Order,” but the name didn’t really mean much to her besides being overly cheesy.
The Path She Travels -- 10 y/o
Dear Diary, I now know what life they want for me. I’ve never questioned the path I tread. Why should I? Does my pops know where he sent me? To kill for a living.
Would that make me a bad person? It should. It really should. But a weapon isn’t innately good or bad. I heard that somewhere… I don’t remember where. If a weapon can’t be good or bad, what difference is someone following orders? Someone who’d pay to get you to kill someone else would find a way to kill them anyway. My job’s just to help the Order profit from it.
They told us we need to be loyal. They showed us what would happen if we weren’t. There was so much blood…. So much screaming. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget it. It’s obvious. If we stray from the Order, all we’ll know is pain.
I don’t think I’m afraid of that. Betraying the Order would have been a stupid idea anyway. It’s the only life I know and it’s the life my pops wanted for me, I wouldn’t fit anywhere else.
Only one way to go from here, P
A Block in the Road -- 12 y/o
Penny was led down a corridor by a man much larger than her. He’d picked her out at practice and told her to follow, so she did. She didn’t like it though. This was different and in her life different usually meant bad.
The man stopped in front of a heavy looking door and pulled it open, motioning for her to enter. She complied, blinking as she tried to adjust to the dim lighting. “Sit.” the man said. There was a table in the center of the room, and she cautiously pulled out a chair. The door shut and the man was gone.
There was a different guy though, standing in the corner. He was familiar. How could he not be? The face was etched in her memory from their examples of what happened to traitors. He was there to cause pain. The flash of recognition on her eyes was met with a twisted smile that set her skin crawling with disgust. She reviewed her recent actions in her mind. She’d done nothing that could be deemed traitorous. Besides, it seemed like if she was deemed a traitor they’d make a much more embarrassing show of bringing her in to try to strip down her dignity. Maybe this was a test of some sort.
Penny leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms over her chest. She wouldn’t break and beg them to tell her why she was there. Despite what the warning bells ringing across her mind, she knew she could be patient. She did her best not to react when she heard the door opening again behind her.
“Penelope Grey.” the voice echoed from behind her, an effect that could have been intimidating if her attention hadn’t been caught on something else. That name. Penelope. Every time she heard her full name she hated it. What kind of person named their kid ‘Penelope’? She’d been told it was her mom’s choice but she didn’t know enough about the woman to respect that decision.
As an unfamiliar man came around the table and sat across from her, Penny’s attention was drawn back from errant thoughts. “Do you know why you’re here?” he asked.
She shook her head.
He seemed disappointed by the silent response. “Are you going to be good and talk to me easily?” There was an implication behind his words Penny didn’t quite understand. She didn’t care. She just shrugged. His glare told her that wasn’t a proper answer. She still waited a few moments to see if he’d go on with his questions anyway.
“I’ll speak when you ask something that demands my words.” she offered. She didn’t want him to think she was trying to be defiant or anything. She just didn’t feel like wasting her words. She hesitated before adding: “Will this take long? I have training to do.”
“Alright, let’s see if this question ‘demands your words.’” sarcasm laced his voice. He had ignored her question. For all she knew he could be planning to keep her here all day. “When were you last in contact with your father, Ashford Grey?”
Penny’s eyes flickered to the brute in the corner. Now more than ever she wanted to know what this was about. How much damage could asking do? Too much. She’d probably already hesitated too long and she doubted this man had much patience. “Four years ago when he left me with Mr. Clover. He left a letter.”
“Do you still have the letter?” Conflict boiled up in her stomach. If she said yes would he take it away? But could she lie? The answer was yes. She could lie about this just as well as she lied to people outside the Order. Although she could picture exactly where the letter was in her room, she shook her head. The man pressed his lips in a thin line and she had to wonder if he could see through her lie. If he did he didn’t say anything. “What did it say?”
“Pops said he was going to England on business and I should do what Mr. Clover says.” Irritation began to trace her words. This seemed like a waste of her time. She could be training instead.
The questions continued on. She tried to answer as quickly as he asked, but she had to pause after each one to think and try to figure out what was going on. A lot of the questions were about her pops, but not all of them. She was young, but she’d always thought she was old enough to at least connect dots and figure out what was going on behind the scenes. She felt the urge to ask, but he seemed more like he was there to ask questions than answer them and she didn’t want to make him mad. Not with the brute still in the room.
A part of her told her she should be afraid. A part of her was afraid. But she knew her rank. She was a weapon in training and she’d be a good one. She hadn’t done anything out of line, so if they killed her, or tortured her or whatever their plan was, it would just be a waste of the resources they’d already spent training her. The Black Order was full of scary people, but being scared was a waste of energy and a distraction when being focused really mattered. She’d overcome the feeling long ago.
Finally, after longer than she cared to keep track of, she was dismissed rather brusquely and she went off to try to find her mentor. She’d ask him what this had been about. He’d have the answers. He always had the answers.
Renewed Dedication -- 12-16 y/o
Penny was shaken by the interrogation. She hadn’t connected the dots with questions coming so quickly, and Mr. Clover had been oddly silent about the entire thing, but it didn’t take much to see. Her father must have betrayed the order. She wanted to ignore the fact, but she couldn’t. She remembered the torture she and the other students had been forced to observe, only now she saw her fathers face on the limp excuse for a human body when it haunted her nightmares.
Dwelling on the matter brought up questions. She was loyal to the order because her pops had told her to be. If his loyalties had changed should hers too? But he hadn’t exactly said to be loyal to the Order, he’d said to be loyal to Mr. Clover.
A few weeks after the interrogation she’d asked why her pops had done whatever he did. Mr. Clover said “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you prove you won’t.” In that moment she had to wonder if he’d suffered from her father’s betrayal too. He’d always seemed to think his worth was reflected in her abilities. She didn’t want to let him down so she began pushing herself harder in training, seeing everything as an opportunity to grow and every minor mistake as a failure.
She’d never had much time off, but now she filled her free time on academics, trying to teach herself what other kids her age might know. She knew it would help her blend in if she had to. She liked math. It wasn’t practical, but she looked at problems like little riddles and she liked them.
A Death in the Family -- 16 y/o
Penny never really noticed how much like family her mentor had become… Until he died. He was out on a mission on his own and he didn’t come back. It hit harder than she expected, but she didn’t have time to mourn. The Order placed her with a new mentor quickly. She was ok with that though. She didn’t want to waste time moping and the only way to move on was having something else to focus on.
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resource sites
affiliates
credits
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.
