Greycat

I looked back at my old (from live) guide to the status of EATs - live, dead, ongoing/unknown - thanks to another post. One of the very first ones to go from "proposed" to "dead" were... Avilans. These were a winged AT, proposed as a way to give players wings when they thought putting them in as a costume piece would be "too difficult." Obviously, we have wings and no Avilans. So, I thought to myself... why not fix that? What would this look like if we brought these into the game now? Now... yes, this is almost more of a thought experiment than a suggestion. EATs were a handful and a half for the *live* devs - not least because they also involved writing 1-50 story arcs (EATs being tied to bits of lore, after all - I always looked at them as being "deep dives," the points where COH went deep instead of wide in its story.) It'd be even more of a handful for our much smaller, volunteer team. But still - I thought it might be interesting to come up with a take on them. So: Avilans (2.0) Theme: Speed and flight. Setup - why are they here? Avilans were an ancient offshoot or near-human species. In their eyries, they developed while wars and disease slowed humanity. They developed technology and magic of their own - and a blend of the two. However, as humanity advanced, their resemblance to such creatures as the Furies led "monster hunters" and "heroes" (small H) to start hunting them down. Never a *very* populous species, they fought - and retreated, eventually dwindling down to the highest places they controlled. Before Humanity could reach them, they enacted rites, shaping the landscape to hide their homes and putting them to sleep... for a time. Now, with evidence of them having been found in the form of old bones and unusual tech and magical artefacts, curious (or greedy) humans have triggered their awakening. They've emerged into a vastly different world, one in which they'll work alongside humanity - or try to take out their vengeance for long-dead friends. (Full set of blue, red, and crossover storyarcs, chance to cross over (change of heart) at 15, 30, 45.) Already in game: We have ONE clue in game about them already, as you recover artefacts from the Hellions in the Hollows - a bone that looks human but hollow and lighter. (Honestly I'd like this to trigger something.) Characteristics: Wings are a must. All Avilans have them. Note, though, that they do *not* have to be feathered - there can be costume pieces for emergent "points" for energy/magical wings. There are points where these *will* emerge during gameplay without "I turn on fly." Flight is inherent to them - it's their birthright, and they absolutely master the air. Also - they've got the low end of resist caps (hollow bones, remember) and some vulnerability to knockback for the same reason - *though,* that's one of the points the wings emerge. They're knocked back, they instinctively brace themselves in the air and gain resistance to it for a time. So, if hit with (say) three KB attacks, the first *wiill* (ignoring IOs) knock you back, but instead of being on the ground you'll be hovering, wings out, the second will have little to no effect, and the third mostly gets a "... really, you're still doing this?" look from the character. 🙂 This will pretty much *not* be a character to tank with. But again... speed. Won't take, or will take *very* minimal, damage from falling. Damage increases with speed - while there aren't always maps you can take advantage of this, if you can drop on an enemy, you *do* get a damage bonus. But you don't have to *drop* at all. You start rushing an enemy, or continue kiting them (stay in motion,) you get that same damage bonus. Plus, the wings emerge for their own additional damage on top of it. (Likely Lethal plus something exotic.) Where is it in combat? (Fast) Melee, range (which should be obvious) and control. Melee's going to be similar to what some people request as "speedster" combat. You want to keep moving for that damage bonus (and probably +def too.) Range... might be interesting to have "Movement = faster attacks, though lower damage, stationary = higher damage but longer recharge" to give some tactical/gameplay options. Starting alignment: None set. Not side restricted - but the starting side determines the start of your story chain and contacts. Are you of the mindset of "See if we can reach out to the humans - and others, wow - and work alongside each other, sharing our knowledge?" Or do you want vengeance for the long-dead and you'll start with the first human you see? (Note this sets a hidden flag on the character. There are three change-of-heart crossover missions that can set their own as well, and will affect how contacts on the *other* side treat you, for good or bad. Mostly affects dialog.) Visuals: Really the main thing is the required wings (or emergence points for natural/magic/tech wings, for those that don't want wings on their back ALL the time - lorewise, have their culture have advanced enough that there's a lot of crossover between what's "natural," magical or technological.) I do somewhat envision some of the attacks having wing-related options for visuals - ranged shooting quills (magic or otherwise,) for instance, melee "wing hits" leaving feathers at the combat site, talons emerging (even if not as a permanent costume piece - again, either showing up or sprouting magically/tech-ly) for up close slashing or other attacks. Powersets: Honestly haven't developed them. They'd have to be extended sets, much like Kheldians, with more choices to handle everything unique to them. (Unlike Khelds, these extended sets wouldn't leave anyone slot-starved more than any OTHER AT - they're not getting forms with their *own* set of powers, after all, and some of the powers would likely be one-slot wonders that wouldn't really need anything added.) Main thing is working with flight and *motion* as their theme and the source of buffs or power state changes. Other thoughts: This is an EAT. It's story based. Honestly, I'd kind of love it to have you rewarded for *going through the story,* rather than being PL'd 1-50 (which for me kind of misses the point of Epics.) Yes, you get reward merits, you have your own contact and story chain with their own rewards, but something like having your *own* ATOs drop if you're an Avilan finishing an Avilan arc, for starters, as a bonus for at least playing through the stories. Other ATs wouldn't have them drop if they were playing along or Ouro-ing them. And yes, I'd extend this to the other EATs as well. You'd end up with 10-11 of them - the crossover arcs don't drop one. Maybe an Avilan themed TF - similar to Moonfire vis-a-vis Khelds - would drop them as well, and of course... market, merits and conversions. There aren't many chances to fly while fighting and have that be the location and *point* of the fight. Yes, people hoverblast and such, but there are almost no midair fights. There *should* be - at least for these. Maybe some of what would need to be developed for these could go into underwater fights... and, well, another never-finished EAT, but that'd be another post. (Further edits) Lorewise... I kind of want Thoth (the ancient Egyptian god) to have either been or been inspired by an Avilan ambassador to deeply ancient Egypt. Obviously didn't have a bird head - that was put in as a representative of the fact he could fly. And could also tie in to, say, Blood of the Black Stream being part of why they had to eventually go into hiding. Yes, I *do* want some ancient/modern Egyptian stuff going on in game, regardless! Mapwise - some of the EAT-specific missions take place in EAT-specific *maps.* As in, designed for characters with flying, and after all they were defending in their last days. So there'll be gaps that "only" a flyer can cross easily. If you play the maps as a non-Avilan, but play with them on the team, what's essentially an invisible Group Fly generator lets you cross with them over the gaps, even if you don't have fly. (Similar to the Seed of Hami's buoyancy mito.) If you're ouroing it on a non-EAT and don't have fly, there'll be a way across - you'll just be hopping across rocks on the side, or (for areas that were attacked in the ancient past) having to find the invaders' tunnels to cross.

Attaboy. Cat. Stone. Whichever.

Weeeeeelllllllllll..... yes and no. Incarnates were, along with Coralax, Nictus, Blood of the Black Stream and Avilans (still not sure about that spelling) mentioned as Epic ATs *waaaaaay* back. Actual ATs in and of themselves. How far back? Nov 13, 2004. ... that "Jack" being Jack Emmert. I want to say the next mention of them we had was a stone tablet kind of showing them as a "lost origin," and that kind of fizzled. And then, of course... we got what you describe. (And that would have *kept* branching... presumably as long as COH ran, from Incarnates to Ascended to ... I forget the chain, now. But it was, and still is, so... un-COH.) So, yeah. Lore and plans for lore *absolutely* change, but Incarnates have been planned as *something* since the start. (Yes, I've been interested in Epic ATs for quite some time...)

For one SG (that... frankly was fairly overpowered) I'd written some AE arcs with a villain group of Time users. With all *sorts* of -rech. Wasn't so bad when *I* playtested it - smaller groups, after all - but when we had full teams vs full-team-size groups? Yeah... it was brutal. So it's not just a low level thing, if - let's say overdone. 🙂 You want to see your team standing and waiting, stack that -rech. ... hmm. Maybe I should throw an arc out there with that group...

... I mean, there's everything (for the most part) that was there pre-Incarnates. Malta's just "anti-meta" (or "If you're meta, you're either with us or against us.") They're there til 50. The Knives... I just kind of roll my eyes at what happened there, but if you don't *touch* the Incarnate content, it doesn't happen. Carnies, sure, magic/psy, but I'd still call them "non incarnate," after all. They're still using swords/mallets, breathing fire and throwing weapons at you. The BP are still the BP, the Circle are still the Circle - there's quite a *bit* of level 50 that doesn't touch Incarnates. Now, there's no *post-50* content - that's all on the Incarnate train, and that's where post-50 leveling happens, so... but saying "there really isn't a ton of level 50 content that isn't incarnate related," I just have to disagree with. (I'd say it's just not *run* or noticed because Incarnate stuff trivializes so much of it.)

Come to think of it ... do any of the dialog boxes like this have a "back?"

Emp merits do not stop at VL100. Just what you automatically get from "leveling" at that point. It's not the resources that make Incarnate powers finite - it's that you really *can* build them all. With enough time, you could build one of every power of every level, if you so chose to.

Part of why I don't play Praetoria is that it feels like it's ambush city. Walk down the street, ambush. Read a newspaper, ambush. Fight an ambush, get another ambush. No thanks. I don't care how many merits or extra merits it gives. And if you have an issue with the way some people play, don't play with them.

"Fix" involves "Broken." It's not broken. Only your expectations are.

So, you have to go plaque hunting. The gist of it is that 'dyne does more than just buff you up and make you green. In some *very* rare instances, it lets you see and travel between dimensions - and, as I recall, drives you insane. During a raid, the Phalanx and/or Regulators learned about this and hushed it up... one of the *other* people who knew about it (again, from memory) was Dr. Webb - the founder of Portal Corp. (Scholastic badge, Just Said No to Superdyne, both touch on it. Also - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Dr._Brian_Webb https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Scholastic_Badge https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Portal_Corporation https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Just_Said_No_to_Superadine_Badge - monuments 2 and 4 )

I seem to recall "extra slots" breaking things when it was tested back when.

No problem with the mission itself, but there's one thing that makes me dread this mission. The *intense red atmosphere.* It's actually tiring to the point of uncomfortable to have to stare at for more than a few minutes. And being in the Praetorian underground, you're going to be... even on low settings. I don't care about the "fog" effect limiting vision - it works - but just the coloration is a bit *much.* It's bothered me since live. Any chance this could be toned down some?

I'm assuming you know about their connection already?

Or if you really want tights, try the Olympian Guard for some texture... it's kind of a go-to for me most of the time I want tights, unless I really want the flatter look. (personally not a fan of the horns, but ... not my character, so I don't know if there's a reason for them.)

Main reason I have so few has nothing to do with numbers but instead all the handwaving swirly silliness Nascar Melee has. Gets to be kind of like Dual Pistols... "Just hit/shoot him already!"

The answer, as always... "it depends." Sometimes a character starts with a name, sure. Or part of a story or a theme, and I'll start with that. Sometimes I'm making things with others. Sometimes a character can be inspired by something I saw or heard, or a new powerset (or one I haven't played in a while) or - rarely, honestly - a costume piece. Different things get different weight for each character. For instance, the very first character I made way back when on live (issue 3,) Memphis Bill, was me trying to find a "closest match" to a character I'd played in a PnP Silver Age Sentinels game. The look that *character* had was never going to get replicated in game (still can't, really,) so the costume creator was mostly there for "well, find something I like." (The original costume didn't really last long past upgrading my Matrox Mystique 440 - 4 Mb card.) On the other hand, another - Sweet Child o'Mimes - quite obviously had costume fairly high on the list for a mime-like look or the joke would have fallen flat. Same with Celery. So... yeah. Varies by character. As far as random, while I've hit it occasionally for amusement (or horror,) no, I don't really use it. Never really have run across something I liked.

I have characters with alts from Praetoria, sure - they don't necessarily do the "Good character = evil alt" thing though. Not a lot of them, though.

No "replacing," thanks. People *do* actually use this power, besides MMs. And this sounds more irritating to keep up than anything - I can't imagine trying to do so during an MSR on my MMs, for instance, especially with resummons.

Does it work for Granite?

Eh. Personally I can do without more incarnate slots, unless their use is very limited (IE, *only* Incarnate/multi-star content.)

You're asking entirely the wrong person 😄

I'm going to assume a "no" here, at least currently, since those pretty much replace the player model with those for Nova and Dwarf. But it's a guess on my part.

You trust Requiem? 😉 Besides, something like that (a) would still be worth investigating and (b) - well, the actual Kheldian war story isn't *really* touched on a lot, and I don't think people *really* see the Nictus as a threat other than "another enemy group" (and even then mostly interact with them in Cimerora... which ... yeah, that whole storyline's just weird.) I'd like to expose more of that - and having an arc where you basically get into "an end result" of what the Nictus can do might help that out. (Or, perhaps you manage to spark what we see as Warshades there...) (I'm biased towards seeing more squiddy stuff in game, what can I say 😄 )

Sorry, *way* overpowered if we did that. 😉 I'm assuming it's in every channel because of being an "admin" type message and they don't want you to miss it - which, if someone doesn't have a window to show tells up, makes sense (instead of getting "The AH isn't working!" support tickets.) But less spammy would also be good.

So I'm running through Maria Jenkins' missions, fighting stuff in Warrior Earth and thinking... why is it like this? That Earth, not the mission. While we have (obviously) a "deep dive" into Praetoria, we get 1-2 missions in many other dimensions that probably could have some interesting lore - or do, but nobody wanders onto the wiki to read it. So why not give Portal corps more of a purpose? Instead of just sticking a toe into Axis Earth for a mission or two, get a chance to fight them - or as an alternative mission, since not every character's theme is "front line fighter," run aid and suppliess to resistance groups? Get at least a full arc in Warrior Earth. Get a good look at a Nictus-ized Earth - there's got to be more *somewhere* than War Wolves. Portal could be a wellspring of missions full of "what ifs." And it could open up some creativity, too. Stuff that wouldn't necessarily fit with lore *now,* but might be fun to poke around in. What horrors await on Catgirl Earth? (Empress Mynx?) What if ancient Egypt never fell, but really did conquer the world through tech and magic (yes, I do still want Blood of the Black Stream arcs, which have a *touch* of the same thing, but this is a "writ large" of that - at one point I'd created an AE which included an "Egyptron" group, so... it's been brewing a while for me.) What if there's an Earth where Hamidon really is the hero? Use Portal to give more of a look at some of the side lore, some of the 'other worlds,' and arcs for stuff that wouldn't necessarily fit in existing lore but might still be fun to explore without an impact on the main timeline.