Greycat

So what is a Kheldian? In game, “Kheldian” refers to the Peacebringer and Warshade archetypes (and to the Nictus enemies, technically, though they’re usually considered separate.) These are Epic ATs (EATs, or Hero EATs – HEATs,) meaning that they have specific game lore that helps define them. When first introduced in Issue 3, they required a player to achieve level 50 on a character to unlock them. Later this was reduced to level 20, or a store purchase. Currently on Homecoming you can make one as your first character right out of the gate – I would not recommend this, though, as they do have some complexities built in to them. They initially were tied to a specific origin as defined by the lore – Science for Warshades, Natural for Peacebringers. In game, you will run across Kheldians in the form of the NPCs Sunstorm (Atlas Park, Peacebringer contact) Shadowstar (Atlas Park, Warshade contact,) Moonfire (Striga Isle task force contact,) the Paragon Police “Awakened” and, of course, the various Nictus (Find the Shadow Seed, Imperious task force, etc.) as well as Requiem and Arakhn. But what ARE they? Kheldians are matter/energy beings from outside of our galaxy. (COH) While not specifically defined as far as “where,” their home is “a nearby galaxy” (KLB.) This was later refined (AMA, 2013, Matt Miller) as not another galaxy such as Andromeda, but more like the Magellanic Clouds. While much of the Kheldian home world was never fleshed out (2014 AMA, Matt Miller,) the KLB describes their home, Kheldia, as It also mentions So Kheldians – and most of the other native species of their planet – are energy beings with the native ability to change their entire form to whatever they need. They shapeshift by changing to alternate forms as a whole (COH, KLB.) Kheldians do not appear in Praetoria. The only reasoning we have for why we don't see them there (and, really, the only other dimension with them is War Wolf Earth in the Portal Corp missions) is a comment from the 2014 AMA, where Matt Miller says Types of Kheldians There are three types of Kheldians, and the why of that goes into the bits of Kheld culture we have from the KLB. Kheldians followed a similar path to humans, as far as going from predators to farmers – though the more clever of them are the ones that figured out how to herd and corral the beings they “ate” (also energy beings from their ring system.) Science and intellectual curiosity became highly prized in Kheld society. The earliest leaders were the ones who could most effectively domesticate animals for food, and they, the breeders and more were the ones looked up to with an almost religious devotion. Science essentially became a religion. Kheldians eventually developed a caste system, or a technocracy, consisting of the leaders (often referred to in the KLB and CB as “Science lords,” though this title is never referred to in game. This leads to the split we see in game, though we’ll touch on the history a little later. Peacebringers: These are best thought of as the “natural” Kheldian (as referenced by their original origin lock.) They were the workers, explorers – and now the army that fights against… Nictus: These were the leaders, the “Science lords” mentioned in the KLB and CB. They’ve scientifically modified their energies and fed, vampire-like, off their Kheldian followers. The Nictus are literally “inverted” Kheldians, the negative to their positive. (“Nictus” is the word for demon in one of the alien races they subjugated and fed off of.) (KLB) Warshades: These are still Nictus, and are more a philosophical split and label for rebel Nictus. They refuse to do things the way the Nictus have done, looking more towards the Peacebringer ways of coexisting and of cooperation. Flavor from KLB: This is also backed up by the game description as well as information in the Kheldian arcs. (Web, COH.) From the Moonfire task force: There are no official Nictus arcs in game, though you can (of course) side-switch. And much like Nictus and Warshades, there are “Rogue” Peacebringers (COH) which fight alongside or otherwise support the Nictus for reasons of their own – the ones we run into are opposed to Sunstorm’s alliance with the Warshades.

Bias, weighting and handling on lore sources: There aren’t many sources. There’s what’s in game, there's what was released on the live websites, there’s direct (original) developer quotes, there’s the AMAs, there’s the Kheld design document and the comics. I take what’s in game, what was put out by Cryptic on their site/announcement, and direct developer quotes as A-tier. Everything else would be less reliable – mostly because the design doc (and original Blue King comic story arc) were written up or transferred before release (and alterations,) or for the comic have third party artistic license, and the AMAs did happen post-sunset, when the devs responsible were largely gone and there was no access (obviously) to “official” documentation that they may not have kept copies of. (And for obvious reasons, they never mention keeping any.) I will endeavor to cite the sources where possible. Source key I’m using, by order of reliability: “Tier 1” – absolutely rock solid COH – this is in the game. For purposes of the document, this will trump anything else. DQ – Developer quote (live game devs pre-sunset) Web – Typically an archive of the live website, such as www.cityofheroes.ca or a copy on archive.org, the more recent the better (unless being used to show progression of an idea.) “Tier 2” - Post sunset, strong source ##AMA – “Ask me anything” from a specific year (IE, 14AMA = 2014 AMA, see note above) AKA “Loregasms.” “Tier 3,” – Weaker, mostly due to age or other factors. May be the only source of info. KLB – (the Kheld design document, that is - I have a habit of calling it the Kheld lore bible.) = while sometimes superseded by development, gives a look at intent. However, it’s the only source for some info, especially deeper background. CB – Comic book (based off KLB, including scrapped sections) HCW – homecoming.wiki (just because “anyone can edit,” not a slam on the site or those who run and maintain it. It and the work's much appreciated.) So, for example, if something only shows up in the KLB (like much of the Kheldian “history” pre-game,) but isn’t contradicted, revised or obviously removed by a “higher” source, it’s being used with a note of its source. If something’s listed in the KLB but is obviously removed (see “Synths,” later,) or otherwise revised by something that made it to the live game and/or website, at most it’ll be mentioned at the end in a list of things that were dropped, but the “higher” source (the game, the website, developer comments) takes precedence. Where I’m making my own comments or suppositions, as opposed to statements backed by sources, those will be marked out as such. I will use, quote and point to older sources, even if other things in them are superseded, either for them being the only source or specifically to point out interesting ideas had *at that time* for what they could be or do – even if that was changed or the technology wouldn’t allow it later. And yes, I’ll endeavor to call that reasoning out as well (“The KLB says this, but it’s also noted “if code allows” – which apparently it didn’t and was dropped,” for instance.)

Table of Contents Yeah, this got a little long. 1. Introduction to the guide. 2. Bias and lore sources - what I used, and how much weight each is given and why. 3. What is a Kheldian? - what they are, types/faction overview. 4. Kheld Life - Lifespan, reproduciton, senses, communicaiton, care and feeding. 5. Kheldians and forms - the whats and whys of shapeshifting, relationships with hosts 6. Kheeelllds  innnn spaaaace - How they travel, Kheldians and Earth. 7. Nictus science - The dirty deeds done by the bad guys. 8. Kheldian leadership - a who's who, with a little what and when. Also includes a section on naming. 9, Non Kheldians - Kheldian adjacent folks affected by the Khelds - or more often, the Nictus. 10. "What could have been" - bits that were planned and dropped or changed, mostly stuff I find interesting that was noted in some source. 11. Sources (Bets on if I remember to link to the individual posts? -MB)

Kheldian Backstory and Lore Guide 2.0 Original version (Kheld backstory guide 1.0) posted on the live forums, 1/19/2006 (https://web.archive.org/web/20120905121326/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114391) Long overdue update, thanks to game changes. Some of this may be Homecoming specific, but at time of writing, that shouldn’t be a huge amount. – MB/GC What is this all about, then? This is not a guide on how to slot or play a Kheldian, what powers are best, what IOs to look for or what powers are best. Most every Kheld of mine is different, with powers chosen as part of their own story and leveling experience. This is a guide to what a Kheldian is in the game world. It will (hopefully) answer questions about what they are, why they’re here, what we know of their history and culture and why they can do the things they do. Why this guide? Because ever since seeing a Peacebringer pop out of a mission in the Hollows in Nova form and fly off in issue 3, I’ve been interested in Khelds. I’ve used them to expand stories for my characters, for entire story arcs for supergroups, for discussion – I like Khelds, and Epic ATs. When it comes to COH, I’m very much more in the RPG side of MMORPG. I enjoy the lore. I enjoy backstory, almost regardless of what world it’s in. Tolkien, you’ll find me rereading the Silmarillion more often than The Hobbit. Narnia, I found published order (the way I had them) to tell a much better tale with the Magician’s Nephew being the second last book, opening up a glimpse into the beginnings of the world you’d spent the last several books in just before the end. Star Wars? TOTJ, thanks. All about far pre-prequel, intrigued by the Tho Yor and the Je’daii. So when I came across Epic ATs, ATs that had a unique way of being tied to a specific bit of lore and dove deeper into it, rather than skimming the wider surface of COH’s story arcs, I was hooked by that and how it entwined with how it shaped gameplay for those characters. They may not be the most powerful, they may have quirks and challenges that keep them from being more widely played – though, for me, that’s part of the fun – but I love my Kheldians. And digging into them is part of that fun for me – and led to the original Kheldian backstory guide. And with more information available now, some only available after the live game’s sunset, well… it was past time to revisit and expand it. Some people are just going to ignore everything and gripe about a source they don’t like. I’ve decided, frankly, I don’t care – you don’t like it, or have a beef with me, don’t read it. This is for my enjoyment, and it’s my choice to share this for others who might be interested. It’s part of *my* enjoyment of Kheldians. -MB/Greycat

Pfft, didn't say you had to PVP, just that it'd give you a 50. 🙂

Someone PVPd? *marks calendar*

11. That's cute. 😄 Anyway. If you want to get a character past that first ten levels? 1. Keep trying new combos. You really haven't gotten the "flavor" of them yet, by 10. But the ATs play differently, and the combinations of powers in the ATs play differently, so you may just not have gotten THAT ONE yet. 2. Do you RP? Find an RP group. Yes, RPers do more than stand in Pocket D. Such as RP teams. If you don't RP, but might want to, pick a character and decide what they're like. What sorts of things got them to start fighting, what they do or don't like, something in their background. Start picking missions and contacts that match that, and while playing, think of what their reaction is... congrats, you've now gone from some pixels and powersets on a screen to a character. You've dipped a toe into RPing. You'll find you spend a bunch of time on that character and... unless you deliberately choose not to, you'll find yourself at 50 with thousands of threads, shards and merits, wondering when that happened. 3. Desperate for a 50? Make a temporal warrior. They can only run around in PVP zones, but hey, they start at 50. 😉 4. Find (or make) a supergroup. When you have a group of people, it's easier to just play and keep leveling. It can be a fairly big one like Chaos United, or one of a few people that happen to be playing the same time you do you can join up with to run stuff. 5. Are you goal-driven? There are plenty of goals (besides "hit 50") in the game, from those (like badging) that are built in to those that you give yourself - for instance, while on Live, I had things like "One of every control set to 50," "one of everything electric," or "one of each melee primary" that you set for yourself. For what it's worth, I even made a guide to this back on live... it's from 2011, but you can see you're not alone in this!

Stuff drops as you play (and continue to level, up to vet level 100.) Things to avoid for now: Hard mode, Magisterium (which I typically see as advertised for 50+some levels, IE your level shifts.) Things to run: Lower itrials (BAF/Lambda.) Dark Astoria - it's specifically incarnate content. Also "anything else," stuff will drop as you play. Tip: If running Mender Ramiel's arc to unlock alpha? Just drop the difficulty to -1x1, skip as much as you can (basically stealth non-talk-to missions 1 and 3, IE finding Trapdoor and the well/fighting the minotaur.) Why? You get Alpha unlocked at the end *anyway,* so why go through all the effort? *shrug* Always feels like the ixp you earn during the arc is basically wasted ixp at that point, to me.

Sooooo... looking at this on the Homecoming wiki: It mentions specifically "HEROES and vigilantes." If that's not awarding while as a hero you might need to put in a bug report.

Everyone has their own enhancements. I don't pull them out because (a) it's usually fairly easy to afford the enhancements - it's easier to transfer INF, which can help with other enhancements, after all, and (b) even if I don't play the alt a lot, I still *play* them, and want them ready to go when I am.

I wouldn't want them rotated - I'm typically looking for consistency. But different ones being added wouldn't be bad. As far as animations and such (and we need some new dances, too...) it's all up to what the dev team can do.

*Reads title.* No. *Reads initial post* Still no. Yes, something more needs to be done with the "How do I make Group Fly not affect me" - honestly, if the token that's granted could be automatically granted on sets/powers that must have ground or near-ground contact, it'd probably fix ... 70%ish of the complaints. (With the option to toggle it off, still.) It's not obvious, it's not explained, it's not convenient when you're - say - in a raid zone. Other than that? Flight pool's fine.

The only problem with the Warburg nuke - hate to say "mission" - is that the scientists are obviously the dumbest scientists on Earth, as ramps are insanely difficult for them to figure out. Other than that - which is a problem with most NPCs - it doesn't really need to be made easier or buffed. Though the suggestion of two more for the other origins seems interesting.

Not reading through 8 pages of this... Honestly, it'd be nice if: (A) the options at Null were more widely known, and (B) Null were available in more zones. At the very least in the raid zones, where you often don't *want* to leave the zone because you might not get back in. (Or, (C) which apparently can't happen/is exceedingly difficult due to spaghetti, the option were in the player's options menu.)

I'll say I've gotten to appreciate "mouse mats" more - when the thing's also under your keyboard, probably part of your monitor as well, it's not going *anywhere.*

... but to run DBZ missions, you have to have flight, float in the air and scream for half an hour while glowing before launching an attack. Having a costume with a change of hair color helps.

I'm done with a character when I'm done with their story. Might be done at 20, might be done years after hitting 50. Might not be done any time in the forseeable future.

*nod* It's ... had to be mentioned many times. It's also why I try to refer to the power pools that unlock at (now) 35 as "ancillary" and not "epic," because they use ... as I recall, kind of the D&D definition of "epic ability/level" there!

... see the Patron missions. Hey, hey, now, this is a T-for-teen rated game... 😉

So we've all seen the question, "I want to get into RP, how do I start" by any number of new users - or just people who've played and want to try RP. What about the mirror of that? I have, in the past, co-led a fairly sizable RP SG. We had literal years of history - between SG RP and AEs with ongoing story lines, personal storylines that went back before and twined into the group... if I wrote a book on what we'd done and everything leading up to it, Tolkein would be going "... that's a bit much, isn't it?" And I *know* this was an issue, because we had people join - or decide not to after a "get to know you" period - just telling me "it's just too much to try to wrap my head around." Now, obviously some of this was some of them feeling they had to know *everything,* diving in headfirst to see the connections and such rather than gradually working in and getting a feel - but on the other, there was still a valid point there. We had a *lot* of history. The founding of the group itself tied into some of the leaders' backstories (as far as why some things were the way they were,) and those stretched *way* back. It would take a lot of time to get to know even just all the "relevant now" stuff, and that can be daunting (and that fish-out-of-water feeling isn't pleasant for some.) As I'm looking at some of my - not even SGs, necessarily, but even just character groups - I think I'm getting there again. So what do you do when your RP lore gets to that point? I do have one group that's a generational successor (not "their kids," but just the next batch that inherited the mantle) of an old group. For them, it makes it somewhat easier as we introduce a few new people - it also doesn't hurt we only really meet once a week for SG stuff - to just have "well, this is a new chapter of this group's story" as a thing. We can point stuff out, "we have this because of the original group," and that's good - they don't have to know about this giant threat they dealt with, or those wacky interdimensional hijinks, or any of the years of other stuff the first group did. There's a dedicated cutoff point, and we have exactly one character who can act as a bridge between the two if needed (rarely is, other than a cameo of being checked up on.) But that's not really feasable for other groups. So, if you've had a group like that, where if a new person wants to join and asks what the group's done, they're potentially facing the Library of the Legion's Lore... what have you done to make it less daunting and more welcoming?

My two cents? I've played with AI a little. For image generation... blah. Just not fond of it. I've wanted to see what it would do with a character description and had it decide "purple hair" meant a purple superbikini outfit and get "hung up" on that to the point of extreme annoyance... that's without going into the whole "what it was trained on and who has rights to it" thing. For writing - well, I write. I have ideas. Reading what AI comes up with is... obviously AI. Even the "good" ones seem to have an AI feel. HOWEVER, if you don't use it as a text generator, but an *idea* generator... well, I don't know if anyone ever used the "They fight crime!" website. It (or one of them) used to just take a list of words, slap them together into two... fairly unlikely "buddy cop" type partners and spit it out. Some friends and I used this to create a group, even. I don't remember what the full result was, but we had "He's a fast talking werewolf sorcerer with a robot buddy named Sparky, fleeing from a secret government program. She's a (something, it could spit out things like "a grizzled demonic fashionista with a taste for fast cars." I don't remember what the actual prompt was.) Together, they fight crime!" ... if anyone met Lucky Murphy, well, yeah. That's where he came from. I'd say "Don't use AI to do the work," but if you want to use it to come up with prompts, be they for characters, just busting through writer's block, etc? For *that* I tend to see it as an evolved version of that same site. "I have a story about a fireball-weilding hero who must save someone, but cannot use his powers or innocents will be harmed. I need to introduce a group to assist him with this. Give me ten prompts of paragraph length with ways to approach this." Then pick and choose, facepalm, share for laughs...

Hmm. Thanks. I remembered the Primalist, but I wasn't sure that they'd be an Epic or if they were being looked at as a normal (or, from the last little section, possibly a "premium" or paid) AT. I'm not sure what they'd be tied into with lore. I'd love to find out just what they were planned as - "normal" (which, with that complexity, I doubt,) Epic (with what storyline? Inquiring minds want to know!) or Premium (got to get that money after all that work!) For now, I'm going to edit and stick them in under "premium" unless/until there's more info. When I read the term "hyper-advanced Clockwork," it read to me more like a description than "this is the name we're settled on." Can tweak that, certainly. Thanks for the info! And @Glacier Peak, given other things were mentioned as put off due to Goldside fatigue, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

Which I suspect is part of why they were looking into the purchased ATs. Though it's completely up in the air as to if those would be exceptionally unbalanced or not. On the one hand, going by what we *have* and know was planned, there'd be fewer sets which would make it easier to balance than, say, a Controller (where Earth/FF, for instance, is safe but painfully slow, but Fire/Kin could be an effective farmer.) On the other... they'd want to put in some bang for the bucks. And I don't really like the way that tends to go in other games...

I think the confusion here is just the somewhat sloppy multiple game definitions of "combat." We have mechanically "in combat / out of combat" that affects long and short versions of snipe and AS. We have "I'm in a mission/my team is fighting" ... let's call it social or overall action definition of combat. Scenario: Melee prepares to engage mob of Malta. Blaster sees a Sapper - Blaster hasn't attacked anything, they're (mechanically) "out of combat" despite (socially - target picked, they're aiming at the sapper and starting the snipe) "in combat." Friendly buffer says "Missed you in the buff!" and hits blaster with buff. Buff interrupts (mechanically "out of combat") snipe that they were trying to use in (socially) combat to take out the sapper, snipe fails, END is taken anyway. (Or they hit the Stalker who was not being engaged or targeted, thus having the mechanically out-of-combat full AS while being socially in-combat while buffing the tank with an AOE buff.) Short form reword of the OP? "Don't have friendly buffs interrupt long snipe or long AS, many buffs currently do and they cost the END and time already spent." And I still want a "disable fast snipe" IO.

The final form of EATs: Purchased ATs Also just given a brief mention. Epic ATs are, as described, a lot of work. Not only are you coming up with a concept for them, the powerset(s) and related graphics and animation, but you create specific contacts and story arcs for 1-50 - that are restricted to just those ATs playing them. (Obviously you can bring teammates, but only that specific AT type can start the arcs.) There was mention in the AMAs that thought was given to just creating purchased ATs - I could see these being listed as “Premium AT” or something, with whatever unique quirk they have but no storylines involved. And I’m only giving them a brief mention because (a) no examples were given, and (b) without the storyline, they’re not really “Epic” ATs - remember, by definition they’re tied to some aspect of the story or lore. But with COH Freedom and a cash store, this (d)evolution does make sense as a direction to take “special” ATs and their availability. UPDATE: For the moment, I'm listing the Primalist here. (And a couple people have mentioned it.) I hadn't initially added it to this little discussion because I don't know if it would be an Epic AT (and don't know what bit of lore it'd be related to,) a standard AT (though as I type it here, that doesn't make a lot of sense with a single known primary/secondary) or Premium. It was essentially finished, but never implemented in game (with some pieces going to other sets,) with the AT itself being called "too complex." It's another shapeshifting AT - and I'll just point you down to @BillyMailman's post for links to City of Data for the inherent and powersets. So one more "Almost," there. (And yes, whether it has lore or not, complex or not, I'd be for having it in game, just to see what ideas and characters it would spark - especially if it doesn't have anything lorewise behind it. Just see what people come up with.)