(It's fine for multiple concurrent plotlines to be going on in different locations too. So for example, some players might be Eggman and his robots in his fortress, and maybe someone else is playing some animals in Green Hill Zone just doin' their thing.)
(Universe is mostly based on the games, but feel free to adapt characters from the cartoons and comics if you like; Just try to "Sega-fy" them so they make sense within the context of the games universe.)
(Also, if someone claims an official character and they go - say - two weeks without posting, that slot will open up to be claimed by someone else.)
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Up within his mountaintop fortress, beneath a golden statue bearing his grinning mustachioed likeness, the nefarious Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik was working hard on his latest creation.
"Whew!" the doctor wiped his brow, setting his torque wrench aside and gesturing for a Motobug to approach. The Badnik wheeled over a snack cart bearing a tall glass of water and a plate of hard-boiled eggs. The doctor grinned and took a sip, "Ahh! All this building sure works up an appetite! Hoho, I've got to eat up to keep my big bad brain energized!"
He turned back to the machine he was laboring away on; It appeared to be a human-sized mechanical suit of some kind. On it were seven conspicuous power slots - each just the right size for the _*Chaos Emeralds._
*
"Heh heh..." Eggman chuckled, "That heinous hedgehog has thwarted my schemes by using those wretched rocks to power himself up one too many times! But with this... _*this..._* Hohoho, _*I'll_* be the one to go _*super_*, and then I'll ruin _*his_* day! Oh, I'm so brilliant it almost hurts!"
He took a blowtorch to the stainless steel hull of the suit, and then, stepping back, paused to admire his work.
"Mwa ha ha ha! It's done!" Eggman grinned, looking over the super suit, "Now... I just have to go find the Emeralds to power this baby up!"
The doctor turned dramatically, and began to stride toward his Eggmobile, storing the power armor in the back, "To South Island! I'll search for those mysterious portals to the _*special_* zone, and then - once I find them all - I'll be as powerful as Super Sonic himself! Oooh hoo hoo hoo!"
The sinister scientist took off, heading to Sonic's old stomping grounds to begin his latest scheme.