White Cobra

Sometimes a prompt will generate an unexpected outcome. I couldn't help think this image had a distinct "@Snarky having words with La Marquesa after she triggered the ambush on a Positron One" vibe!

Thank you so much J She exists in a variety of different in-game versions but all intended to mimic mostly “natural” abilities, so she has an AR version, an archery, a dual pistols, a staff fighting, and a war mace (baton). Her secondary across ATs is Electric Armor but is mostly intended to be just “trained/determined normal” physique, so it should ideally have been WP, but I had existing WP characters for everything so went for this as a hopefully plausible “natural” alternative J. Her “White Lotus” version is actually spines/Energy Aura, but the spines part doesn’t make any IC sense, so I will have to get around to some name changing/recreation! Edit: Sorry forgot the ATs - it is sentinels, scrappers, and one stalker!

I have been trying to make some story illustrations for my character Lakshmi de Castellon aka “La Marquesa” and also codename “The White Lotus”. She is a sort of modern day Pulp heroine, investigating primarily cases of supernatural mystery, crime, and espionage. The image results are a bit hit and miss for any reasonable measure of consistency and likeness to the in-game costume creator, but I still feel the images help bring her stories more to life.

From the close to “lowest common denominator” perspective of someone who loves playing the game but doesn’t really have any insight or understanding as to the “underlying numbers”, for me the different mob types and the difficulty sliders offer great opportunity to tailor the experience to match what I am looking for at any given time. On my main characters when soloing, I mostly play on +4 and then adapt team size to character resilience; on less well known characters I would start on default difficulty. I tend to prefer “enemies” that have a more slow-scaling difficulty curve as opposed to those with “sudden death” or many “high annoyance” mechanics. The most fun I have had in game in a long while came from doing one of the new repeatable KW missions against the new Skulls. The setting was +4 x5 and it was in one of the "new" warehouse maps, and I carelessly aggroed a whole side room that was much more populated than I had thought. The subsequent minutes of being swarmed and almost overwhelmed by enemies, but with a more slow-burning erosion of health that gave me a constant fighting chance was extremely fun and immersive, and almost took me back to those nostalgic days of 2004 patrolling KR and running into a bone daddy boss and his friends for the first time. So – I hope this isn’t too poorly explained – but I just wanted to applaud the designer behind these new skulls as they are just perfect for someone with my (somewhat limited) skill profile!

I am definitely suffering from out of control altitis that leads to a lot of internal “mental conflict” between playing beloved old characters and creating/playing new ones. The most recent page launch and the new powersets took me above the 1000 50’s mark and I still keep getting flooded with ideas for new characters. In addition to that I struggle with some - borderline or actually - obsessive compulsive concepts, like having at least 2 50’s of every powerset for every AT, and a 50 “everything” for WP, MA, STJ. Before the latest proliferation I had that for Energy Aura too, so now I have a lot of new EnA tankers to play to catch up on that front! So for me there is certainly a lot of this “neglected beloved characters” going on, and an almost daily inner struggle as to whether to replay some old characters for a few missions or continue leveling the current new ones.

((Thank you so much - I am thrilled that you enjoy it, and you are more than welcome to do anything similar - I love reading stories from the many talented players/writers/RP'ers out there - maybe we can even do a crossover or something if it can fit/make sense! And thanks so much again for the kind appraisal - you really made my day!))

Just the short walk across the car park left Emily shivering as if she had been winter bathing in Prudhoe Bay. And this was wearing a coat suited for the hostile elements. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like venturing outside again far less adequately attired, let alone how it must be for the poor girls who had to do it for real, night after night; defying the elements and putting themselves in danger. Inside the motel room it was not exactly much warmer, but at least the blizzard gales were met with some challenge even from the poorly insulated walls. Spending a night there would probably be as frigid as making your bed inside a chest freezer and only slightly less claustrophobic. Luckily, Emily had no plans to do so, and by the look and state of décor, most room bookings would be for professional purposes of short variety anyway. A particularly nasty draft wind, effortlessly penetrating the paper thin window glass, engulfed Emily as she was changing, making her tremble again. It wasn’t just the harsh weather causing her to question the sanity of her impending venture outside. The Truckstop Terror was not a menace to be taken lightly, and Emily was painfully aware of the risk that Thompson was coming for her and could have been watching her too. The thought of facing the Killer Clown alone made her stomach turn, and placing herself in potential harm’s way of two serial killers at the same time was nothing short of madness even for the Lady Cobra. Painfully much could be said about Emily’s deficiencies and shortcomings, but madness was not one of them. She checked her messages one last time, picked up the purple wig, and closed her eyes in mental preparation for what was to come.

The moment he entered Rei Mizuni’s office, Mouse knew that the young heiress was consumed by ice-cold rage. As head of Rei’s security detail for close to two decades, the gentle giant knew only too well that she had been taught by her father never to show emotion in public and, usually, Rei was flawlessly skilled in honoring these parental instructions. But being close to Rei for so many years and knowing her better than probably anyone else, Mouse had also discovered that the perfection of Rei’s emotional poker face was tainted by one small tell; one that most people would never notice, but one that they would overlook only at their own peril and misfortune. Rei’s eyes were the darkest brown Mouse had ever seen, but on rare occasions they would turn obsidian black and sizzling, and Mouse knew this only happened when Rei was truly enraged and struggling to contain the overwhelming anger. This was one such rare occasion. Mouse was not afraid of much but whenever Rei’s eyes turned black, he was relieved not to be the object of her wrath. Today the black flames in her eyes appeared to be caused by what she had been told on the phone. As Rei checked her knives, guns, baton, pepper spray, and taser, Mouse waited patiently for her to finish and issue her instructions. -0- Ten minutes later Mouse, Makarov, and Mbida were in the Lambo SUV struggling to keep up with Rei in the black Lexus. Racing experience notwithstanding, she seemed dangerously undeterred by the treacherously icy conditions, and Makarov behind the Urus wheel had nowhere near Rei’s skill and confidence. Far up ahead, Mouse could just see the LFA almost drifting into the exit lane, and he instructed Makarov to follow. The way she was driving, Mouse had no doubt Rei’s eyes were still black and that someone was in for a very bad night. Despite knowing what their target had done, Mouse almost felt sorry for him.

Alejandra Guerrero had never thought she would be wearing the costume again. But as she finished wriggling into the skin-tight suit and felt the soft fabric hugging her from neck to toe, she had to admit that it felt good. Or at least not as bad as she had expected. It gave her a faint recollection of how things had been before, and it left her feeling just a little bit better and more confident than she had done for a long time. The two calls had changed everything. The one from Dr. Shawcross had been devastating and threatened to destroy whatever sliver of hope and spirit Alejandra had left. It was the realization of her worst nightmare. The horror that had left her crippled and cowering behind locked doors was no longer just a debilitating fear but now a soul-crushing reality. Chester Theodore Thompson had escaped, and Alejandra had no doubt whatsoever that he was coming for her. She had never understood just how the Killer Clown had gotten the jump on her. As the Crimson Leopard, she was confident, smart, invincible. At least that was how she had felt. Of course the occasional bruise or scratch was inevitable, but never had she felt any real danger. Perhaps it had made her complacent. Perhaps she had just underestimated the Killer Clown and never met anyone with powers, strength, and a burning rage and hatred like him. By the time she had realized her mistake it was too late, and she was helpless in his power and at his non-existent mercy. When Shawcross said goodbye and Alejandra had finished being sick, she had barricaded the apartment door and gathered any weaponry she could find. But she knew it was to no avail. When Thompson finally did find her and came for her, Alejandra knew she wouldn’t have the strength to fight back. In a way it would be better just to let him finish her miserable imitation of an existence. She could only hope his rage would make it be over relatively quick. And then the second call had come. Alejandra owed Emily Chang her life. If the Lady Cobra had not arrived when she did, the Crimson Leopard would have died. There might have been a couple more hours of torture first, but the finality of her predicament had been inevitable. It was a crushing, terrifying thought, but Emily had come, and Alejandra’s battered eyes had watched the Thai Mistress of the Martial Arts first be ambushed and almost garroted but then destroy the Killer Clown in that basement. Thompson had been defeated and the Crimson Leopard had survived in body, but her spirit had been too far gone to save. Or so Alejandra had thought. But now Emily had called. The Killer Clown knew the Lady Cobra’s real name and presumably where she lived. Emily was in danger, and the Crimson Leopard needed to rise from her superhero ashes. It was the one cry for help she could not ignore. It felt good wearing the costume again. Or at least not as bad as she had expected. If she just kept telling herself that, it might actually stand a chance of coming true.

Like others have posted, I think there are many good opportunities for social interaction between hero and villain characters, and even more so now that you have a nemesis. In my personal experience, I have had many great discussions and sessions over the years between characters from different and opposing “moral” factions. Obviously, if Player A has a purely law- and justice driven character unwilling to even consider that other factors could be relevant, and if Player B has a purely “evil” character eating babies for breakfast and torturing old ladies for fun, it may be difficult for those two to find much common social ground let alone mutual “fun”, but from the player OOC perspective it could still be fun for such characters to say meet in PD and exchange “banter”, particularly if it is done in a civilized manner. For me, the best interactions come with characters that have more depth and complexity to their personalities than just being purely good or evil. It’s like the old saying that every villain is the hero of their own story/narrative, and sometimes a villainous character may do something that is legally and morally unacceptable to a heroic character, but the villainous character may have a motivation for their actions that the heroic character can somehow relate to. As an example that I guess many people may on some level relate to, the Angela Biwaban protagonist in J. F. Trainor’s books served time in prison for embezzling corporate funds that she took for the purpose of raising money for her dying mother’s operation. That doesn’t make what she did right but it becomes more “morally” relatable than if she had say robbed a family corner shop to finance a luxury cruise. Running a storyline with some sort of dimension akin to this might work well with a nemesis. I had a fun story exchange with @Sabrehawk with their character abducting homeless people and my Lady Cobra trying to stop it. When they finally met face to face in PD Emily was quite nervous about how it would go, but it was a very civil discussion and ended with them actually finding a mutually acceptable non-confrontational solution (good for Lady Cobra – she would very likely not have survived a violent confrontation) and also developed a certain level of mutual respect, with Sabrehawk even helping Emily in subsequent perilous circumstances. Also, the many cross-faction interactions over the years has changed Lady Cobra’s own moral compass and what she is willing to do, as she has become more accepting of sometimes resorting to more “vigilante” methods when she finds a goal sufficiently important and she sees no other way to achieve it, like for instance using hard intimidation tactics or even (threat of) violence when she saw it as the only way to rescue a shipment of trafficked girls from her homeland. So a cross-faction interaction or series thereof may also change how your character sees the world and behaves/reacts. Apologies for the wall of text – but I really think you have many good possibilities to explore some fun scenarios with your new nemesis and/or other opposing faction characters.

The thing that really sold COH to me was graduating to Kings Row and street sweeping there. I mostly play street level characters and it was just such an immersive experience and gave a sense of real danger, especially overlooking and running into Bone Daddys the first 5 times and trying to understand just what went wrong. Amazingly, when HC came, I was actually able to recreate this special sentiment when I ran my resurrected Lady Cobra through KR for the first time. The street level immersive feeling also works very well for me on the docks of IP and in Sharkhead Isle. Additionally, I like zones that offer something different, like the jungle section of Nerva, the Rikti Monkey enclave part of PI, Striga Isle, Cimerora, and Croatoa to mention some that leap to mind. What I would like to see above all is a winter/snow zone. I love the winter event, the snow in Atlas park and the Christmas missions – I think last year I only played those two missions for the entirety of the event, and I was genuinely sad when it stopped earlier than I had expected. I also like the idea of a western zone and/or a medieval zone as suggested by @UltraAlt. Come to think of it, I actually like Night Ward too, as it also offers something different in several places.

Thank you so much @SeraphimKensai

My first ever SG experience back on live was also my first ever try at RP when I joined a new RPSG concept group on union called the Militia. The idea was for everyone to create a new character at 0 XP and then to only level together in weekly sessions of base/mission/social RP. I used one of my fictional characters Meriam Keser, the Masked Angel, and it was tremendous fun. I particularly remember fondly a session where Meriam contracted the Vahzilok disease and everyone was trying to help her get well. Later, when the Asian faces became available, I created another fictional character Lady Cobra as a new Militia member, and she formed many great in-game relations and has been my main ever since. For me the ability to bring a story character to life and to interact with other players and not just be able to control everything that happens like you (mostly) do in a written story (even if the characters and plot sometimes seem to take control and move you in unexpected directions) was an amazingly immersive experience and something I have enjoyed ever since. Another good live RPSG experience was with a group called the Silent Tempest that also had a weekly scheduled RP and mission session. As per my usual modus operandi, I created some fictional characters for this, including Shadowwoman (Marisol Hidalgo) who became my first ever 50 tanker. There were two similar villain RPSG concepts that also had weekly sessions and were a lot of fun. On HC I have just created SGs for my many alts to be in and the White Cobra Society and the White Cobra Cabal are both full. Currently I have to place them in my VG created to represent Lady Cobra’s archnemesis, the ruthless crime syndicate called Ngo Damh. Apologies for the late post on this topic, but I have just emerged from a longish hospital spell and am finally able to catch up a bit. Hopefully I will be able to start playing again as well soon J

Chester Theodore Thompson enjoyed driving the stolen Chevy pickup in the heavy snow. With its tuned engine and worn tires, the black K10 was a constant accident waiting to happen and it was giving him something close to a real thrill. The only problem was that the Asian bitch he was following was driving so slowly, obviously struggling to navigate the treacherous roads. It had been like a sign from above when he found out what that jerk of an ex-husband had done. Leaking your superhero ex-wife’s secret identity to the public to hurt her seemed like a pretty shitty move, even to the Killer Clown. The Killer Clown! Chester had grown quite fond of that moniker with the passage of time. It seemed like half the world and their grandmothers were active or latent coulrophobes and it gave him and his gruesome deeds an almost otherworldly or supernatural air and filled his potential victims with dread. It didn’t mean he was going to spare that arrogant prick Shawcross’s life for writing that book about him though, but it meant that he was going after the women first. Who knew, perhaps he would wait for Shawcross to write a sequel before taking him out. In any event, William Chang’s spiteful transgression had furnished Chester with the Lady Cobra’s real name, and after his escape, Chester had wasted no time tracking down the correct Emily Chang. Once he had her, she could surely be “persuaded” to lead him to the other one. Unfortunately the Crimson Leopard hadn’t had a disgruntled ex-husband or lover helpfully provide her real name. Finding the address had proven the easy part. She must have been warned about his escape of course, and superhero or not, she had wisely opted to confine herself to the relative safety of barricading up inside. But Chester had bided his time – sooner or later she would have to start living her life again and venture outside – and tonight in this raging blizzard, his patience had finally paid off, and as the white Audi in front of him struggled through the icy patches to exit the freeway ahead, he had a pretty good idea why the Lady Cobra had emerged from her hiding. A new fiend dubbed by papers the Truckstop Terror was preying on vulnerable ladies of the night and runaways, a menace almost as terrifying and prolific as the Killer Clown himself, and Chester was willing to bet his rubber nose that the Lady Cobra had felt compelled to try and stop him - either unaware of, or forced to accept, the pertinent double jeopardy this could lead her into. Chester shook his head as he watched the slender Asian woman exit the Audi and head for the truck stop motel. Looking so frail it was hard to imagine the power she had wielded when she had brought him down. Well he certainly wasn’t going to underestimate her ever again. Chester closed his eyes and sighed as she disappeared inside, his mind already racing to plan how he could exploit this vulnerable position she was placing herself in to finally bring the Lady Cobra down.

I have been suffering from a combination of one clear Main character and a pretty severe case of underlying altitis. Lady Cobra is my main character with her STJ/WP scrapper orginal version at VL 1099 and her secondary STJ/WP Emily Chang brute version at VL 778. A far cry from Veracor standards, but even so they have been played quite a lot. It total I have 325 50s that I don't get to play as much as I would like because I also have around 350 other characters currently being levelled (exact number not immediately determinable due to some characters made by my kids for fun that I don't count). These other characters are currently mostly in the 14 -23 level range. After I reached my initial goal of having at least one 50 of each powerset for each AT, I have been trying out other combos often based on the various threads on the forums suggesting either good, bad, or interesting/unusual combos. My original plan was to get them all to 50, but I have (perhaps somewhat understandably...) been feeling a bit of levelling fatigue these past months, so now I am just playing along at a more leisurely pace shifting between these characters and playing them one mission or level at the time and not worrying about getting them to 50.