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!
"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..."
After taking a few steps in suit of Penny, Dolores stopped as she did, not at all surprised. "Oh I am very aware, my blind, sweet dear. You are but a child in the dark, of course you are at no liberty to choose the people in your life, and in certain fields of work it is never beneficial to grow attached to people." A wicked smirk grew on the dark seer's face as she continued to walk on, this time with the intention to walk in front of Penny. "However... absolutely none of that matters to Madame Dolores Esmeree and her noble children, as well as any she holds dear for the meanwhile." Turning with a nice spin of her dress, she crossed her arms.
"I am at full liberty to choose who enters my and my children's lives, what those individuals do in said lives, and why." Giggling like a child, Dolores sighed. "Of course you are not my child, however I am sure we both have secrets that could be shared. In time, perhaps you might trust me enough to share them with me... or perhaps not. Do trust dear, I have all the time in the world to test many trust building 'activities'."
Wagging a finger with two 'tsk''s she stepped a little closer. The thought of this person's clothing line being anything special at all was laughable at best. She knew from experience that the only true fashion guru's were long and dead or too preoccupied to release anything else worth while, especially for her unrealistic, specific tastes.
"You are not brash at all dear, it is common to motivate yourself to aspire to be more! Shall we enter this fine establishment to ensure your clothing remain at the back with the common wear?" She asked innocently, pointing at his jacket and then back at the store. "My son's tastes may be misguided and often times 'alright'... however I believe you to be more guided than he and know your quality of work."
Dolores gave him a good look down, an exaggerated one, before nodding. "Or perhaps not... your kind are rather egotistical..." At that last word, her visible red eye flashed for a brief moment.
Shaking her head while retaining her smile, she felt disrespect in her soul. Of course, she knew of Aunt Maye's, however with her son being a special case they would never have what she was looking for, something so strange and plain yet distinct it would be hard to miss. "It is not my taste," she said simply.
Upon hearing the incoming clothes were his, she giggled a bit before laughing softly. All the rage? At the front of the store? Calming down, she looked at the man with a newfound interest. "Of course, of course!" She said happily, her hands now crossed. Her smile turned to a slightly sadistic one. Looking at his jacket, she shrugged, flicking her finger at it. He would then feel a force push against him lightly; a mocking telekinetic gesture. She, being one for fashion, was not impressed.
"Oh no... those poor future buyers of yours... if that is the case, the dress I am looking for will also be displayed in front with your product. My son has no taste."
Happy to have her needs met, Dolores hummed in approval. "Yes I am dear. I am looking for a certain Victorian slim cut dress someone I care for wants. A Lorsette special of sorts. Do you know where I can find it?" Pointing to the store, her eyes narrowed. "I am aware some clothes are supposed to be arriving today soon. I rather not have my dear son be seen dead nor alive wearing such poor attire."
Turning back towards the man, she politely waited for a response, not truly caring for her surroundings. There wasn't a soul present that could phase or deter her from her motive.
What in high Heaven Dolores Esmeree was doing so close to enemy headquarters only god (and herself) knew, and that reason was simple. There was a certain type of outfit she was looking to buy, one Ozaei wanted and one she surprisingly didn't have. They were, after all, her child. That was the only reason, for once she had no alternative motive... but that didn't stop her from taking the life of a few small cats that dared graze her dress without permission.
Wearing something that made her look so much younger than she actually was, the dark seer walked quietly and respectfully, weaving through the crowds of people dressed in the color of undeath before stopping at the clothing store. Noticing someone else eyeing the building dressed... well, according to Dolores, dressed in something that looked thrown together but somehow neat enough, she walked up, a smile on her face. "Disculpe, I am looking for something and judging from your choice of attire, I believe you may be able to help me." Her voice was soft as she looked down at the shorter man, not at all surprised they weren't taller.
Humming in amusement, she started to carress his head. "Clothes and food you shall have then. Do not worry, I will not hurt you. If I did little one I would have crushed you a long time ago," she cooed, her eyes starting to glow with anticipation. Returning to her feet she offered her hand.
"This way, there is a public food stand very nearby. Maybe there I can convince you to come back with me, for some real housing, all the food you could eat, and most importantly, all the books you can read."
Her signature deceptive smile widened on the Esmeree's face at the answering to her question. Food was something she could provide, and this one seemed young and naive enough for her to take as well...
"You have come to the right lady, dear," Dolores exclaimed happily, She didn't bother to move from where she was standing, she could do without the extra aches of pain her mental power produced. With a beckoning finger she used her telekinesis to attempt to move the boy closer to her until he was arm length away. Regardless of what happened, her expression never changed. "Oh my, my, my... your attire is simply rancid and you look so frail... yes you do need something to eat, and something for your feet as well." The seer would then kneel down, so she was at eye level.
"What do you think they see of us? Up there, in their pearly houses?" Dolores Esmeree's voice was soft, soothing and absent of any foreseeable flaw in all ways minus the morality department. The day was beginning to fade away into night as the dark seer cooed her words to seemingly no one. In truth, she was talking to someone, someone that didn't even know they were being spoken to yet. She brushed her hair away from her pure red eye, keeping her golden one covered neatly. Dressed in the finest of clothes and accessories, she stared into the sky, longing to tear each and every star down from the heavens before turning. She sensed a presence entered her space long before their actual presence was known; she was practicing through watching.
Turning, she smiled at seemingly normal human boy. "What, do tell, brings you here? You are far too young to yearn for Heaven."
The air was abnormally normal around the tall Esmeree as she stood smiling, dressed in her silk black dress imported straight from Eurasia. Her hair was neatly placed in a pony tail as the bangs in the front served to cover her powerhouse of a golden eye. Today wasn't a day of absolute energy, she found herself in a public local library only to see what kind of literature she didn't have back home in HQ.
Her eyes scanned the shelves as she tuned out the sound of children behind her. She would scan through those dearies later, there could possibly be one she could groom finely present, but the book came first. Without even looking around, she raised her hand, a book flying straight into them lightly. "They are so far behind, lo siento..."
Dolores released the deer she was keeping captive against their will and gave Penny Grey a very warm smile. "The long way, is it? Mm... very well, the long way it is. Walks through the forest, while dangerous, can always be relaxing my dear... even if it was just vision chasing." She forcefully held back her urges to say something- anything- more. Progress was going well, far better than other potential nobles in the recent past. Anything that got in her way now would just be plain foolish, or at minimum suicidal. It was now time to reel her catch in with the charm of a 'mother that lost her children'.
"Ah yes, unfortunately mortals are cursed with the ability to die quite easily, especially pets. Perhaps I will get you one that does not have such a curse, Penny. I am sure you would not mind, since you are nothing more than a name, and nothing less..." Dolores played with the things the young girl said to her, attempting to make it clear she meant what she said earlier. The Esmeree then began to make her way behind Penny, placing two hands on her shoulders if she was able to get close enough.
Laughing lightly, she nodded. "Of course dear. I feel rather light headed anyhow." A lie; in truth her head was swelling with pain, and she could only use her prowess to keep the pain at bay for so long. Refraining from using her telekinesis would be for the best until she can rest. It would seem like this situation was win win. "Please, after you. I still would love to treat that injury of yours, as your uncle is away. As I have said earlier, you are someone that matters to me."
"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?"
"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.
Yet again, the sadistic Esmeree couldn't help but begin to laugh out loud, but she controlled it this time, and so it didn't sound as psychopathic nor loud as it would have been, simply a playful laugh as if she was being tickled. Proving to the girl that she was all Dolores knew she was and perhaps could be more... or less... would be both daunting of a challenge as well as an extremely entertaining one.
"If you insist, dear... but in time, you will see things differently, and Heaven knows I, Madame Dolores Esmeree, will be there to see it..." Dolores said with a twisted look, her odd eyes shimmering with magic. "But alas... if it truly was a headache, it is all the more proof..." The last sentence she spoke was more directed towards herself than Penny Grey , as she of course knew all seers suffered from the ailment that was headaches. In her mind, there was absolutely no chance this girl wasn't of heavenly origin, and just like last time, the thought sent warm shivers down her spine.
As Penny declined her offer of a meal, and replaced it with her own offer, she frowned momentarily before springing to life. "Wonderful!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening and her own headache worsening. "Ozaei is not the best of chefs, a meal would be a wonderful thing to have for such a starved soul such as myself." Stretching as she spoke, her sadistic grin grew. There was a plethora of things Dolores wanted to do and say to Penny, half of them simply unholy, and the other half purely immoral, but she didn't care. She will be hers, and she was willing to bide her time, even if that meant suppressing her desires... however, she wasn't going to suppress them right now. As she did with Amy, an instillation of dread and authority was in order, or at least an attempt at one. A way for others to know she was both mother-like and monster-like; someone not to be dealt with lightly.
As she finished stretching her arms, she raised her left arm towards the direction of the thick of trees that blocked the way Penny entered, and destroyed every single one with the flex of a few muscles, the bark being reduced to small pieces of wood, and the leaves crushed to nothing. There was now a path lined with sharp splinters, leading the way out of the Ivory Woods, but Dolores didn't stop there. Noticing a few more animal life around the newly created path, she forcefully and rather unnecessarily dragged them to her, across the splintered ground.
Glancing at Penny, she hesitated. She so much so wanted to just close her fists and reduce the animals to a bloody mess, slowly, painfully, and mercilessly... but that would only serve to worsen her relationship with the little seer. Loosing her grip and losing her smile, she gently pulled the three deer towards the duo, letting them go when they were within arm's length. Reaching out to pet one, she returned her attention to Penny. "This is the way you came, yes? Or was it another direction?" Dolores asked, ready to depart. "Animals... they are such interesting creatures are they not? Perhaps you can keep one of these as a pet, if that uncle of yours would allow it! As I was saying, dear, let us go, it is getting rather early for a pre-breakfast meal."
To the best of her abilities, she maintained an innocent demeanor, fixing her hair to hide her golden eye as she spoke, but on the inside? She was thrilled. Dolores couldn't believe she was making such steady progress with Penny, and she was loving it. Soon, she would be inside her household to have a better idea on how to entrap the girl, but for now, she would refrain from doing anything too sadistic, as she "accidently" did with an unlucky deer earlier.
"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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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.
