Believe in Justice and Hold a Determination to Fist

[prof]

In the not too distant future, humanity is under siege. The world was thrown into a panic by the first appearance of the Noise. Their origins and motives a mystery, these monsters appear from nowhere and strike where humans gather, seeking nothing other than our total eradication. Conventional weapons were useless against them, bullets and rockets simply passing through them harmlessly. Humans they touched turned to ash in a moment. While they disappeared as quickly as they appeared, meaning this wasn't an extinction-level event, the Noise regardless killed countless people, and were declared a worldwide crisis. We had no weapon to raise against them, until the invention of the Symphogear System.

Symphogear, formally FG-Type Revolutionary Specialized Armor, is a new kind of weapon that blurs the lines between science and myth. Each Gear is built around a shard of a different ancient legendary weapon or item, known as a Relic. The Gear allows the wielder to harmonize with the relic, and transforms into a set of esoteric battle armor around them. Every Gear is unique, and while the form of their weapons is usually rooted in advanced modern technology, the power behind them is far greater than anything known to man, and is the only force we have capable of damaging and destroying Noise. The power at the heart of the Symphogear System is the power of song. While it's possible to use a Gear silently, their true capabilities are drawn out by singing during combat. Song draws out the power of human emotion, and manifests it in a form that can harmonize with the Gear's relic, resulting in a weapon powered by music and the strength of the human heart. In addition, a Gear is not a static weapon; each is not just unique, but also evolves constantly to grow alongside its user. The more a Wielder fights, the stronger they become, and the more new abilities their Gear will develop. The young candidates found with the rare ability to harmonize with relics are called Symphogear Wielders, Harmonizers, or just Symphogears, and are recruited by the international disaster prevention organization Forte to act as mankind's last line of defense.

However, this is not a clear-cut story of man against monster. There are human forces lurking in the shadows of the world, sprawling sinister conspiracies that would use the Noise, or even the Symphogear System itself, to further their own ends. In addition to fighting the Noise, Forte must contend with dangers from within the world of humans, and uncover the countless dark truths hidden behind the veneer of civilization. Where did the Noise come from? What forces manipulate the conflict between humanity and the Noise from the shadows? Who is the true enemy of this world?

For humanity to survive these trials, you must rise to foes and dangers beyond imagination. Believe in the power of your heart, and your bonds with each other. Never let your valor waver, and you'll shine like shooting stars.

What the fuck
Symphogear is a big anime franchise with the perfect combination of cool ideas and annoying crap that makes me want to take it apart and recreate it in my own image. So, Symphogear V is a Valor Alter campaign based on it! A quick primer on what to expect and what's different from canon:

• The vibe of action is somewhere between magical girl anime, mecha, and 90s action movie stunts. Ramp a motorcycle off a cliff into a giant monster, flipping off the motorcycle in midair to henshin into a cute robot battle suit to shoot missiles at it.
• Expect over-the-top action setpieces, huge world-shattering plot reveals, and befriending tragic enemies while exploding the asshole ones.
• Recruiting antagonists as party members is a series staple, so at least one villain PC who later teams up with the party is a must.
• "Gear" Refers to the magical armor weapon itself. "Wielder", "Symphogear Wielder", or "Harmonizer" refers to the person inside the armor. "Symphogear" can refer to either.
• Canon only gives us female Symphogears - I'm going to say that about 90% of Wielders are female in this setting, but in theory anyone can become one.
• Most Harmonizers are somewhere around the 16-22 age range - the system only began use about a year ago, so it's not known if the powers are lost later in life.
• While canon just has a handful of existing Wielders and they're usually all in one place, Forte is an international organization managing small teams in multiple countries. All in all, there's around thirty active Symphogears in the world at present. The main focus of the campaign will be the Tokyo branch.
• Each Gear is based on a weapon or object from mythology. Any source can be used, including making up your own; canon weapons already used include Gungnir, Nehushtan, Dainsleif, Dur da Blá, the Antikythera Mechanism, and a bunch of others in the mobile game that I'm not counting.
• Inactive Gears generally take the form of a pendant with a red crystal containing the relic fragment; by singing out an activation phrase in an ancient language, it awakens and transforms into a suit of powered armor around the wielder.
• Named attacks are a thing, although not in the usual attack-name-yelling sense; in canon, attack names briefly flash on screen in cool dynamic ways when used. That's generally going to be your Special Techniques.
• Symphogears have a special kind of ability called a Climax Song (or Superb Song or Ultimate Song, based on your translation); this allows the user to wield powers far beyond what would otherwise be possible to turn the tables in a dire situation. However, even the slightest disharmony between the Gear and its Wielder will cause immense backlash damage, potentially destroying the relic or even killing the person using it. Use with extreme caution.
• This takes place in a parallel universe where Gears are allowed to include pants.

When's this starting?
I dunno!

What do I do here?
Ask questions! Pitch character concepts! Shitpost!

Comments

[axmeowder]

i want in i want in i want in i want in,,,

also this is emily obvs.

A COUPLE DIFFERENT CHARACTER CONCEPTS, GO

THE SPINEL
I let somebody unrelated to the game come up with a villain. Either they or the GM plays out their first confrontation with the players, after which they lose all of their memories. Then I take over playing them, without going back and rereading the fight.

TRASHY CRIME GIRL
Somebody SUPER shady, a snake oil salesman played straight except also inexplicably on the good guy side. Somebody nobody can trust and who owns that. Relic something that inspires great distrust, possibly the cursed Kris Mpu Gandring, which is cursed to kill its wielder and seven others.

TIME TRAVELER
Look, let me have this, there's never going to be another game with a setting as bonkers and anime as Symphogear where I could get away with this,

[emberserker]

Jisu here, throwing a few ideas around:
-An Agi/Str build whose Gear is a motorized wheelchair that transforms into powered armour and hovers above the ground moving her around the field. I don't know how feasible that is, but also, zoom. Maybe was injured in a Noise attack?
-The genre tradition of the scientist's or commander's kid/grandkid/niece who was selected for the project as much based on connections as aptitude (because explaining to a civilian's parents why their child should be regularly thrown into mortal danger is too much of a pain in comparison). Really gung-ho about the whole protection thing, probably has an existential crisis or two with the inevitable conspiracies.
-Comic relief bombastic overgrown chuuni whose plans always blow up, but secretly conflicted by some backstory drama.

[selfdisdain]

hi there i'm sable and i'm just kind of baseball sliding in a character idea--

- so the first idea i had was based off quinn saying that ze's gonna include the real ass abe no seimei in this, so clearly i wanted to do something adjacent to ashiya douman because of this. reincarnation? descendent?? really strong case of chuuni??? fucked up remilia scarlet situation where we Just Don't Know???? i haven't decided yet
- either way she'd be some kind of screwed up, dramatic mess who's angry at the heavens and keeps trying to prove herself in new, mostly awful ways. definitely the sort to anger easily and is very likely to fuck around and find out REALLY hard.
- spr/guts build, some kind of reckless spellcaster type who's Gear might serve as a companion/potential malevolent entity; either way it's got some level of influence over her. maybe a bunch of ofuda??
- not entirely sure on a backstory in entirety; i could swing just some kind of amnesiac who maybe arrived in the tokyo branch a long while ago and showed promise despite being Aggressively Herself with someone else writing up a backstory, or i could just have her be some ordinary girl in a family of diviners who showed promise or something. i haven't decided
- if i go the amnesiac route, her name is gonna be nanashi. otherwise i'll think of something else!!

[forwantofahorse]

heyo this is doom and YES PLEASE i have a few ideas

The Legacy
A timid young man who would really rather not be here, but due to possessing certain qualifications is able to wield a unique gear that no one else can and he has just barely enough resolve in him to know that if he gives up, he'll be personally condemning people to die through his inaction. Still kind of a huge loser who feels constantly out of place.

The Artificial
Exactly what it says on the tin; a homunculus or autoscorer or what have you that was created with the intent of wielding the highly dangerous Gear Der Freischütz—after all, if you're a being without a heart that can't care about anything in the first place, the contract of the final bullet will never be fulfilled. Requisite sad robot feelings will likely be involved.

[justicedevil]

Yes yes, this is closer to happening!

Anyway, Mags with a couple of concepts here:

Villain girl turned eventual hero

Look like stated right above we need to have at least one of them. Probably a super serious edgelord type who's gear is a sword of some sort, who ends up fixating on one of the heroes for a while with the whole 'I will be the only one to defeat you' thing. Possibly being someone who when she joins the good guys isn't necessarily even good just working with them because the alternative is being killed by former boss or the new villain showed up and working with them would be terrible for some reason and crap I just basically proposed singing sword girl Vegeta didn't I? Well, at least she won't be someone who'll deliberately let enemies get stronger to test her strength or something stupid like that.

The "Heroine's" BFF

Basically a girl that's the friend of someone who's the archetypical magical girl protagonist, the typical supportive best friend who would usually not get involved in the fighting herself. Only instead of her friend being the one who gets roped into the whole thing it's her instead for reasons. If I go with her, I'll probably use a relic that's either a spear or a staff.