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SJBroadside — Mari Posada, Contract Rider Papillon
#kamenrider #tokusatsu #ttrpg #kamenrideroc #tokusatsuoc #contractriders
Published: 2022-01-05 15:45:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 12943; Favourites: 48; Downloads: 9
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Description
When Mariela Posada left university, she was ready to take on the world. Hoping to kickstart a music career, she took up work in menial, minimum-wage positions in order to make ends meet... but as her musical endeavours stalled and the soul-sucking work wore her down, Mari began to lose hope that she would have any chance to do something meaningful with her life. Because of this fear of failure, when the Adonis corporation approached her with a unique opportunity, she jumped at the chance.
Adonis proposed that Mari test out an experimental Mahourider system they had created as a Geister-fighting streamer, acting as a public representative of Adonis's technologies. Thanks to Adonis's significant marketing budget — bolstered by a lucrative sponsorship from Ganma Labs, creators of the disgusting beverage-adjacent syrup Game Juice — her streams as "Contract Rider Papillon" streams proved extremely successful, with her close friend and roommate Tara N. Teller (they bonded at university over both having bug-themed names) acting as her stream moderator and social media handler.
Despite her enthusiasm at the opportunity, being Contract Rider Papillon was highly stressful for Mari. Already keeping her identity as Mari a secret from the public, she found herself drawing a strict mental divide between her quiet, introverted everyday self and the peppy, boisterous "Papillon" persona in order to cope with her feelings of depression and anxiety. Making this stress worse was having to deal with the Adonis corporate structure — particularly her slimy, unpleasant "handler" Herman Scrugg — and their demands that she focus her Rider work on the more upper-class, "presentable" areas of Elysium rather than going where she was most needed. The only solace she had was the time she could spend at her apartment with Tara and their adopted cat, Bug.
Mari's life was turned upside down when she was attacked by a sapient caterpillar Geister — the mutated Gerry Ecruci , a former Contract Rider and streamer who resented Papillon for overshadowing him. In investigating what had turned Gerry into this monstrous form, Mari was drawn into a bizarre conspiracy involving anonymous informants, secret laboratories and more than one dead body — and at every step, she felt more powerless to do anything. This reached its peak when, after Mari lost authorisation to transform into Papillon, her fellow Adonis employee Contract Rider Goo was horribly injured trying to emulate her when an intended upgrade form backfired on him.
Fortunately, Mari was able to find new resolve in the aftermath of this. She realised that she had value as Mari as well as as Papillon, and agreed with her new friends — the other Contract Riders — that she would determine who she wanted to be. With her friends at her side, she broke away from Adonis to forge a new path for Papillon... and to bring down Golgom in the process.
Contract Rider Papillon uses the Crystalis Driver, an experimental Mahourider belt that uses seven small K-stones linked together. This K-stone circuit lets Papillon change between seven different colour-coded forms with unique abilities, making her one of the most versatile and reactive Riders in Elysium... in theory. Out of a desire to drive #engagement, Adonis set up a system allowing Papillon's stream chat to collectively decide which form she should use, which can lead to poor match-ups between Papillon and the Geisters she fights.
In addition to specialised combat training provided by Adonis, Mari makes use of her dance skills in battle, resulting in an agile combat style focused on misleading and distracting enemies. Her main weapon is the Shutterfly, a bō staff/laser rifle with a built in camera that allows it to function as a selfie stick; Papillon can insert individual K-stones into the weapon for more powerful attacks. Her Rider Machine is the Machine Pogger, a stylish road bike. Papillon's signature finishing move is the Commercial Breaker, a butterfly kick imbued with different elemental qualities depending on the form she's using.
By default, Papillon's seven forms are:
- Blue Morpho — Papillon's primary form, which Mari favours when not using the stream chat. Lacking the gimmickry of her other forms, Blue Morpho plays to Mari's strengths with illusory "after-images" that aid in evading and misleading foes.
Papill-On! Idol in azure! Blue Morpho! - Cinnabar Moth — Papillon's flashiest form, Cinnabar Moth focuses on ranged attacks imbued with the power of fire. For obvious reasons, this form is a favourite of the stream chat, and Mari finds it useful when she needs to completely eliminate a target.
Papill-On! Crimson fury! Cinnabar Moth! - Atlas Moth — A heavyweight form that trades out Papillon's usual focus on agility for sheer physical strength. Another chat favourite, this form is equipped with heavy gauntlets and boots that can disable opponents and knock them prone.
Papill-On! Orange tectonic! Atlas Moth! - Tiger Swallowtail — Papillon's speediest form, armed with a pair of deployable arm-claws. Tiger Swallowtail's attacks are capable of rending and cutting through opponents' armour, leaving them more vulnerable to attack.
Papill-On! Yellow melee! Tiger Swallowtail! - Queen Alexandra's Birdwing — A form capable of flight via the wings equipped on its back. This form imbues its attacks with gale-force bursts of wind that can send enemies flying.
Papill-On! Verdant cyclone! Queen Alexandra's Birdwing! - Death's-head Hawkmoth — Focused on stealth and infiltration, this form was favoured by Mari during her investigations of the Golgom conspiracy. When facing human and parahuman opponents, its shadow powers can be used to spook and psych out the foe.
Papill-On! Indigo incognito! Death's-head Hawkmoth! - Purple Emperor — Styled after a magical girl, this form imbues Papillon's attacks with the power of starlight to dazzle and stun enemies; in particular, its finisher can leave foes completely starstruck.
Papill-On! Violet majesty! Purple Emperor!
After Papillon was caught on camera aiding a group of rogue Contract Riders in fighting Marianne Chaumet and the Common Rider, Adonis disavowed her actions and remotely removed Mari's authorisation to use the Crystalis Driver, locking her out of access to the belt. Anxious to keep fighting and being useful to her friends, Mari asked Parker to take a look at the Driver, and they improvised an override device to allow her to transform again.
- Fracture Spectrum — The result of Parker's override, Fracture Spectrum is a mis-matched hybrid of all of Papillon's basic forms caused by a flawed transformation. While Fracture Spectrum is clumsy, unbalanced and hard to fight in, Mari was simply happy to have the ability to fight at all, and the form proved capable of subduing the out-of-control Goo Geister with the aid of the other Riders.
Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-ERROR. UNAUTHORISED TRANSFORMATION. - Full Spectrum — When she managed to reclaim the Papillon access codes from Adonis, Mari obtained an unexpected bonus: the schematics for the Prismorpher, an add-on for the Crystalis Driver that would allow her to use a new, more powerful form. This form debuted during a mission to rescue the captive Gerry, with Mari affirming her desire to take control of her own destiny in a public battle with Contract Rider Fleur . Full Spectrum uses all seven of the energy wavelengths of Papillon's base forms, allowing Mari to manifest tools such as Atlas Moth's gauntlets and Queen Alexandra's Birdwing's wings as needed. In this form, Papillon's finishing move is the Rise and Shine Breaker, a powerful flying kick that causes a butterfly-shaped energy blast on impact.
Papill-On! Radiant in Rainbow! Full Spectrum!
With her newfound resolve, Mari reached out to allies like Contract Rider Tanuki , the newly-pacifistic Gerry, and even the disgraced Golgom grunt Onca , using her understanding of people to bring them on-side... but despite her efforts, using the Papillon identity as best she could, conditions in the dome continued to worsen — and only got worse when Senan Lexley revealed his twisted gambit to become the god-like Ultraman Caesar .
It was during her battle with Adonis's "replacement" for Papillon, a monstrous insectoid tank named "Contract Rider Hephaestus ", that Mari realised that she couldn't rely purely on an identity that had been built for her as part of a wider system of control and exploitation. Instead, finding courage and strength within herself, she used her streaming gear to reach out to the people of Elysium for help, revealing her identity as Mari to the world. Through this, she was able to manifest a new transformation item: the Monarch Geode, an oversized K-stone embodying the agency she was now claiming for herself.
- Monarch Butterfly — A form that shimmers with golden light, Monarch Butterfly embodies the best of Mari and Papillon alike. In this form, Papillon is capable of moving at incredible speeds, appearing to be in multiple places at once, and wields the Mariposaber, a rapier that channels her Rider form's light to sunder enemy armor. Additionally, Monarch Butterfly is accompanied by the Camera Crew, a group of camera drones that she can control remotely, which can be used to form hard-light constructs — both to strike at foes, and to form shields and platforms that she can use. Her finishing move is the Sequence Breaker, a twisting Rider Kick delivered with frame-perfect precision, which swarms and dazzles the target with hard-light butterflies.
Papill-On! Goddess in Gold! Monarch Butterfly!
Mari was consistently a really fun character in Contract Riders; despite being what Sean would call an "internet person" I really feel like she's the most "grounded" of the cast, which made for an interesting dynamic with the other characters. I really enjoyed playing Hannah off her and particularly loved her friendship with Sean. Speed_Freak01 , who played her, created some really fantastic designs with a great sense of toku costuming.
To hear more about Mari, you can listen to her episode of The Home for Wayward OCs podcast !
Templates by Taiko554 , obviously.
(Edited 2022-01-31 to add Full Spectrum and untransformed Papillon; edited 2022-04-08 to add the Shutterfly; edited 2022-07-03 to add transformation gear; edited 2023-01-01 to add Monarch Butterfly.)
