lepidopter

so, uhhh, apologies to everyone who read this, and especially anyone who I replied to. I had a clear memory of thinking recently "huh, I wonder if there's any public info yet about Titan from all those years ago" and looking into it, and finding that there wasn't any. According to my search history, I didn't actually do that. If I thought there was the slightest possibility that memory wasn't ummm real I would have done basic research before writing any of this. I try not to waste other people's time with nonsense (I like to waste it with other stuff instead haha). Getting older is weird. So, I'm sorry folks. 100% my fault, in case that wasn't obvious. (I still think they were good questions, IF you ignore all the reasons why they weren't.)

I stopped following the story several years before that came out, apologies. I didn't know about it. Speculation is because I found it interesting.

sure, and some of the people who made the OG version, which I'd argue has zero to do with the version you seem to be talking about, saw this coming years ago. We have a pretty good idea what Nu-Blizz would do with a superhero MMO, fail and make something corporate plastic, oh look there's Overwatch.

Of course this is mostly based on old rumors. But there was solid info Titan was the project name, was superhero-based, and was going to be their next MMO.

EDIT-- ignore this whole thing, turns out it's nonsense. I thought I'd checked a couple months ago to see if any info about this stuff had been made public in the last 10 years, but apparently I uhhhh didn't actually do that. Sorry! So finding out this game is actually really good (flawed ofc) makes me wonder about the old Blizzard project, Titan. Mods feel free to move this to a different section. Or delete it, or paint it pink and make it about cartoon bunnies, it's your forum after all. But I think this is about CoX in the same way questions about Blizzard creating WoW are Everquest questions. Since outside of Diablo (different studio) what old-skool Blizz did was make really good copies of other games, and it seems likely they tried to do that with CoX. What I heard years ago (while WoTLK was live, or maybe even TBC) was that Blizz pulled a lot of their A team off WoW to work on a secret project, their next MMO. Later the name Titan comes out, and then much later word leaks it was actually a superhero thing all along. We also hear they went through many versions, scrapped all of them because they could never "find the fun" but the last version was the basis for Overwatch. My questions are about the first(?) version they scrapped, and that period of early development. Rumor about that version was, 2 parts, day-job system and then hero system. First question. Who decided the fun hadn't been found? The dev team? Or the new Activision corporate overlords that thought Cata was a good idea, and pretty obviously wouldn't know a fun game if it bit them in the ass... or maybe just walked into their office calling itself Project Titan... I always thought it was a tragedy and a surprise Titan didn't manage to weez the juice, I'd say it's one of two things that killed MMOs. But what if they DID weez the juice, and had the framework of a really good superhero game years ago, which Activision stupidly buried? Second question, do you think the copy would have captured what makes CoX so uniquely good? Personally I think not entirely, partly because both the CoH/CoV music and writing betray an understanding of culture (and even subculture) that video game dev houses almost never have, and Blizz pretty spectacularly didn't. Ofc I also think Blizz completely failed to copy or replace a lot of what made early EQ so good, we know how the market voted THERE. And a lot of game systems in CoX could desperately use some polish, like well ALL of them. Old-skool Blizz was really good at that. Anybody here know anything about any of the above, that you're in a position to divulge? I assume anyone with direct knowledge is under NDA, but there must be rumors... Maybe a long shot, but this is one of 2 maybe 3 non-discord places on the internet I think it's worth asking.

I'm impressed this went over 30 pages, shine on you crazy diamonds etc. I was interested in the talk but then somebody started posting spoilers ("No, what's actually wrong with the game is all these important things that happen in the story, here I'll list them") so I left back on page maybe 8 or 9. I don't as a rule ask this, but did I miss anything especially good in the last 20 pages or so? It looks like now people are talking about the True Meaning of Christmas Farming, but really that lives inside each of our hearts or something right? I like to look at the whole forum as Praetorian roleplaying. You got heavy-handed "for your own good" attempts to steer the way people think speak and behave, you got sycophantic forum citizens looking to curry favor with those in power and REALLY PUNISH dissenters for the ungrateful swine they are, you probably even got people looking to use the realities of the power structure for their own self-promotion. Some in the Resistance use heinously inept slang that likely qualifies as a war crime, and mock themselves with feeble attempts to somehow seem punk or otherwise counterculture, which reminds me of NOTHING and NO ONE on the forums, I'm just putting it here for no reason. Others just want to see forum stuff catch on fire or explode, metaphorically speaking. So I'd like to thank everyone for doing their part, especially those in power (I am an obedient and content citizen player, see?). For real though, thanks, I enjoy playing the game and I enjoy reading the forums, and I'm pretty sure I only get to because of people putting in work. Work that I could never do the public-facing parts of unless I was allowed to stab fools. In-game.

BEGIN TRANSMISSION Don't dust that, Cecil, you'll switch it on by accident ...well YES Cecil of course it's really dusty, it's the communicator I use for gloating at the pathetic earthlings. Not much chance for THAT lately after the whole mess with Attila the Hundred... Oh lovely, it's time for dessert. Blechh! Ptui! Good grief, this is absolutely revolting. Alphonse! For the last time, Peach Cobbler is just a name, the recipe does NOT involve shoes in any way whatsoever ...YES I'm sure, just like the all the other times we've discussed this. Alright, that does it, I've had more than enough of your nonsense, AND of your wretched cobbler. Check his pockets, boys! Ready Torpedo Tube One! In he goes, and FIRE! Farewell, failed pastry chef! Parting is such ~SWEET~ sorrow. Mwahahahaha! Wait, what's this on the television, and why is it interrupting Welcome Back Kotter? Hold on, it looks like the Mission Mulcher 5000! What is Project Stonefish doing on the earthling news? Stop that sniggering immediately, TODD. Project Stonefish is a fine name. Bring me my space-phone at once, lackeys! **Beep-boop-beep** Glorak, turn on the earthling news! ...Oh, I think ANY earthling news will do ...Yes, that IS Project Stonefish! Hang on, I'll be right back... What's so funny, Todd? It's the name Project Stonefish, isn't it? Do you think Project Stonefish is a stupid name, Todd? Perhaps you feel just plain Stonefish would be better? Oh, you do?! Well it was taken, TODD, as were Stone Fish and Stone-Fish. Empty his pockets, boys! Torpedo Tube Two! FIRE! Enjoy your up-close look at the wonders of the solar system, Todd! There are many people just ~DYING~ to see them! Mwahahahaha! ...sorry about that, I'm back now, just more insubordination from the imbeciles ...why has Project Stonefish gone so hilariously haywire, you ask? Do you remember the, erm, small problem with my marvelous murder machine Attila? ...yes yes Glorak, good one, anyway only CERTAIN SECTIONS of his logic circuits were muddled by one of my moronic minions. The glorious BEHAVIOR of conquest by nuclear apocalypse remained intact, but sadly he had the TARGET LIST meant for the Mission Mulcher. That's why, when Attila gave that hideously embarrassing speech to the earthlings, he was standing in the still-smoldering wreckage of an AE building ...indeed, he pillaged a little too hard ...PLUNDER? I barely KNOW her! Hahahaha! Well, in turn Project Stonefish must have got Attila's target list but kept his own fundamental behavior, and right now he appears to be AFK farming Belgium. Bwahahaha, did you see that? He spined that policeman square in the yarbles! Splendid work, Project Stonefish! Play that funky music, spike-boy! ...you know, Glorak, this is real old-fashioned CRAFTSMANSHIP. It might not be nearly as efficient a means of genocidal jihad as what I programmed Attila with, but each individual act of villainous violence is HAND-MADE, with true attention to detail. Well, except for the AFK part. Best of all, this is step, what, four I think, on Attila's itinerary. Belgium, Brussels, NATO headquarters. Incidentally, the only way he's likely to have successfully travelled to Belgium from North America is by SWIMMING, clearly Project Stonefish is no stranger to the ways of the sea! But this means he's already gotten jiggy wit it in no less than THREE other strategic locations! Ha! ...I can say 'jiggy wit it' all I want, Glorak, there's no need to be jealous of my swag. Get your OWN game straight, player, rather than trying to pull ME down as if we were crabs scuttling around in a bucket ...Glorak? Are you still there? Drat. I keep forgetting how sensitive Glorak is about any mention of crabs, can't imagine why old Pinchy gets so offended, haha. Hmm, it appears the communicator DID get switched on. Don't look nervous Cecil, you're in no danger, it was a simple mistake that could happen to anyone. Ahem. GREETINGS, PITIFUL EARTHLINGS. We hope you are enjoying your evening news... as much as ~WE~ are! Mwahahahaha! END TRANSMISSION

BEGIN TRANSMISSION Cower, miserable earthlings, for the diabolical device has been deployed, and Attila the Hundred will soon begin his REIGN OF TERROR! Attila demands that you immediately play the song "World Wars III and IV" by the earthling musical group Carnivore, to help prepare you for your inevitable fate! Attila does grudgingly admit that he cannot force you to do anything YET, and also the built-in loudspeakers keep melting. Moving on, then. We see some of you thinking, "What reign of terror?" This is a very good question, for a pathetic human, and we applaud the effort it must have taken for your feeble brains to produce it! Ha! Let's hear the answer from the malevolent machine himself! What does the reprehensible robot have to say to his new subjects? Attila, come to the stage! ATTILA! WHAT? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!! We mean, umm, this was all just a little... Space Humor. There's absolutely no fiendish plot to conquer your world and enslave the few of you who survive. Erm. As you were, earthlings. Stupid lackeys! Not again! One of you cretins has clearly mixed up the logic circuits of the Mission Mulcher 5000 with those of my beautiful creation Attila! When I find the one responsible, you will pay DEARLY, I assure you. I should feed ALL of you nincompoops to the Zleebwat this instant, and I would if I didn't need stooges to lay out my afternoon finery and shine my Zlitsi-skin boots! Wait, is this thing still on? END TRANSMISSION

GRAPES OF WRATH 2: FARM HARDER a Space Opera I made a part 2, so now I'm sticking the parts together and giving the whole thing a name. It's not going in the RP section because I don't want it touching my REAL thread there and getting it all slimy, but also because the characters in here break the 4th wall by being aware on some level they're in a video game, which is almost always a no-no in RP. Soundtrack for part 2 is "Still On Tha Grind" by The Squire of Gothos, because of course it is. Language.

OTHER ONES Lucy Goosy (WarMace/Shield scrapper, natural) theme song: Sonic Youth-- My Friend Goo (( Straight outta Sharkhead, daughter of a Scrapyarder activist, grew up around all the fighting with cops and mob goons. Sort of a Joan of Arc figure to the yardies, which is why they gave her the gear they pulled off a SWAT they got. Looks like the helmet didn't survive intact... )) Stool Pigeon (Thugs/Sonic mastermind, magic) theme song: Kid606-- Phat With a Phd

What up thread, really love this thing, there's some truly amazing stuff here and there. My favorites so far are Purr, Overkill, and The Growth. So most of my characters are in a thread called A Motley Crew in the RP section, yeah I like to play make believe with the pretend people I make. Just finished it, it's got well over 100 costume screenshots now and also some of my scribblings. I got one character for this thread though, he doesn't quite fit into the same pretend world as the rest of them, you'll see why. You better believe I'm still doing make believe with this one. Hope the pictures load right. Here goes... BEGIN TRANSMISSION Cower, miserable earthlings, for the diabolical device has been deployed, and Attila the Hundred will soon begin his REIGN OF TERROR! Attila demands that you immediately play the song "World Wars III and IV" by the earthling musical group Carnivore, to help prepare you for your inevitable fate! Attila does grudgingly admit that he cannot force you to do anything YET, and also the built-in loudspeakers keep melting. Moving on, then. We see some of you thinking, "What reign of terror?" This is a very good question, for a pathetic human, and we applaud the effort it must have taken for your feeble brains to produce it! Ha! Let's hear the answer from the malevolent machine himself! What does the reprehensible robot have to say to his new subjects? Attila, come to the stage! ATTILA! WHAT? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!! We mean, umm, this was all just a little... Space Humor. There's absolutely no fiendish plot to conquer your world and enslave the few of you who survive. Erm. As you were, earthlings. Stupid lackeys! Not again! One of you cretins has clearly mixed up the logic circuits of the Mission Mulcher 5000 with those of my beautiful creation Attila! When I find the one responsible, you will pay DEARLY, I assure you. I should feed ALL of you nincompoops to the Zleebwat this instant, and I would if I didn't need stooges to lay out my afternoon finery and shine my Zlitsi-skin boots! Wait, is this thing still on? END TRANSMISSION so yeah, I made a farm toon, a rad melee fire brute. edit-- I saw the thing Troo made AFTER I made this, if you're wondering. Altho while I was making it I did think "I can't possibly be the only one doing three skulls on the clockwork chest, this is CA$H."

So the thing I did is finished for now. Likely no changes until I get more characters to a completed state, which is usually a slow process for me. A lot of these I've been working on for the 2 months I've been on Homecoming. Problem with putting this here while I built it up, it was very much a rough draft for a while there. The writing all changed, sometimes a little sometimes a lot, but in every case the change is IMO significant. Also now it has theme songs and PICTURES. Please let me know if the formatting on the pictures is screwed up, it worked out really neatly on my screen (Chrome browser on a PC) but I sort of don't trust it because it seemed too easy, like it auto-filled to the text width.

MISCELLANY (( I'm going to need this page for at least one more character, which is actually the 2nd one I ever made but I still don't really have an origin story sorted out, I'm honestly leaning towards "Gypsy casts a spell on a pigeon" which shows I'm sorta spinning my wheels and also why would the gypsy do that, pigeons aren't loud enough to wake up drunk people for one thing, plus how could you tell which one did it, usually I just naturally think of this stuff while I'm in the character creator )) (( For now this is going to be a space for notes, which I realize is self-indulgent but c'mon so is this whole thing. Like I said, for most of my life this would be going in a notebook but it felt easier to type it out and then print it, jeez it feels so modern )) (( Ok that's probably enough double parentheses, just imagine the rest, this is all outta character on this page for now )) (( )) No more, I swear. So anyway, it feels surprisingly good to get that stuff written down, I'd been keeping most of it in my head for a month or two now. Didn't want to forget it. Now I can think about important stuff, like how I wish there was a group called Bell Biv DEVO doing new wave versions of late 80's and early 90's R&B hits. Anyhow, on that note (the getting stuff written down one) I think there's only one more thing, which isn't in here yet because the character it's for isn't finished, can't get the costume right. That thing is "(Name's) Laugh Riot, The Cheapest Clowns in Town." It's for my clown-flavor tribute to Reid Fleming World's Toughest Milkman, it's the only place willing to hire a guy and having a job is a condition of his parole. Hilarity ensues! Well, it does once I get the costume worked out. The first actual NOTE, like I said this was gonna be for, is about the weasels. Thing one, and this is VERY important, the Garden Weasel is my all-time favorite infomercial, so I was really happy having the weasels live in a garden worked out so naturally. I actually didn't even notice for a while after I wrote it. Thing two, it's pretty obvious Balloons isn't going to stay hero-side for long right? So who takes care of the weasels then? Don't worry, he thought of that, his very reliable niece Loyola will take over in the event of his incarceration or escape. She knows how to make the special cakes, too. "Remember, young Loyola, the liver makes their noses quiver!" I feel like I'm still using the voice of my anonymous narrator sometimes here, the one where you only hear his part of the conversation. Do I talk like him or does he talk like me? One hand clapping... Which is what I decided NOT to name Pow Gong because I realized, in these intellectually troubled times, I would probably have to explain why it wasn't an off-color joke. Anyway, I sort of apologize for the narrator's limited vocabulary, but to be fair there's probably at least a 50% chance he thinks a "vocabulary" is a fancy piece of luggage for carrying hats, and maybe another 10% he thinks it's a certain room in a church. Okay, here's the juicy one. Stop reading if it starts to bother you, I almost certainly would if I wasn't the one who wrote it. Although I only wrote it accidentally. Anyway, the doctor Luca Bravo meets, the unethical one who gives him the Gorilla Juice, I wanted to make it pretty clear that was Dr. Shelley Percey, right? I like the idea of seeing what kind of immoral trouble she causes when she's not running the story arc, but let's think about this briefly. How does Luca meet Shelley? Under what circumstances do they actually have a conversation? Especially the kind Luca remembers? That's probably not even an at-the-bar conversation, not for those two. Right? So, next thing to consider, then. Dr. Shelley Percey chooses this particular goon to Gorilla Juice, right? The one she's having, umm, conversations with. INTIMATE conversations, from the sounds of it. Okay, why does she choose this one? It can't just be opportunity. There are goons all over the place, and she has some working relationship with Aeon so it'd be easy to have one kidnapped and stuck in a lab for observation. So, only reason she'd choose THIS goon is so she could observe the whole process very VERY closely, right? The gradual change from human to gorilla? The increased bloodflow, the engorged muscles, the impossible-to-ignore instincts, are we keeping all those details in mind here? Was Shelley? So, for how long did Dr. Shelley Percey continue her very personal research into this matter? Did she, in fact, ever abandon it? I forgot one, because I was sorta troubled I accidentally wrote the above angle into Scrilla Gorilla. I mean, does my subconscious ERP??? Probably not, but yeesh. Anyway, for this next one I'm bring back the double parentheses! Just like Rig Turner and bringing back Hypercolor clothes. (( Okay, Big Pygmy and the "elegant hands" thing that scares our narrator. The hands thing is very real. I saw it mentioned in a Spenser detective novel once, assassin the mob brings in, thought it actually sounded plausible. I know people watch a lot of movies, most of the stuff they put in there is super fake and then sometimes something real. So, if you've seen something like this in a movie, 99% chance it's got you barking up the wrong tree. )) (( If you want to see what I'm talking about, look at Stu Grimson. Yeah, the hockey player, the Grim Reaper. Don't watch video of his fights, check out his broadcasting career. Watch the way he sits, the way he moves his hands, listen to the way he speaks. You'll understand what I mean right away. I forget how to link stuff, but if you put the words "Stu Grimson chats about The Grim Reaper" into the youtubes, that's the clearest example. )) (( There's one more thing connected to Big Pygmy, which I really REALLY don't want to talk about, but probably need to... )) (( So lately our corporate overlords have found it convenient to focus on certain types of racism, and along with that comes a lot of well-meaning nonsense. Maybe if somebody decides they're really offended I'll talk at length about why I absolutely don't think this character is inappropriate, but not in this thread. Couple points, though. Yeah, Big Pygmy has dark skin. Yeah, he actually is evil in some ways that lots of real people were accused of being, back in colonial days. So? Big Pygmy isn't of African or Aboriginal Australian descent. Look up the Orang Asli, or the Kunlun. Then ask yourself, would this be a problem for you if Big Pygmy was Ainu and was named Fish Thief? If the answer is no, why not? Do you think it's possible to talk about an individual without that being a commentary on every other person who shares the same (perceived) skin color? If the answer is no, how dare you call anyone else racist? And so on. Since "reinforcing stereotypes" is the only face-saving way to respond to any of the above, let's notice that I don't seem to write heroes. So, if I write a character, they'll usually wind up having troublesome aspects to their uhhh character. Stuff like robbing banks, or wanton indiscriminate violence, or attempts at vigilante justice that will sooner or later harm the innocent if they haven't already... or headhunting and cannibalism. Does this mean I should practice RACIAL SEGREGATION on my character roster? Well, if you really think so, tell the mods, but I already did! First thing I did after I dropped in the Big Pygmy pictures was report my own post and ask if I needed to wield the scissors of censorship. Current word is, nope. )) Ugh. Sorry about that, gentle reader. To try and cheer things up, here's another of Arvid Balloons Lyssos' rhyming reminders regarding the recipe for the weasels' special cakes. "Remember, young Loyola, the wine makes their coats shine!" New feature! Question and answer time! Q. You said Eugene Banks used "undertaker stuff" to cover the smell of long-dead corpses? Surely that wouldn't really work? A. Shut up. I don't know, maybe, probably not. Do undertakers ever use glue or varnish? I was thinking a nice thick coat of that. Q. The apartment tower the nuclear cult lives in, surrounded by a shallow sea. You said the only sound to be heard was birdsong and religious chanting. What about the gentle lapping of waves on concrete? That sounds nice. A. Yeah I thought so too but it was gonna make the sentence messy. Well, messier than my sentences are already. Q. About the birdsong, you said the geiger counter readings would floor an elephant. How are birds living there? A. Shut up. I don't know, isn't there a lot of wildlife around Chernobyl? Q. So birds yes, elephants no? A. Shut up. So I actually have a real urge to do a full machinima music video with Scrilla Gorilla and that Squire of Gothos song, sneak in the skull rave for footage and everything. Pretty sure I'd need a better computer, so you're all safe for now. Okay good news, I've gotten vague assurances (from, well... me) that the questions will be less RUDE this time and so we're going to give the question and answer thing another shot! Q. Now that you actually FINISHED WRITING the Neon Go story, sheesh the rough draft was pitiful, there's a question... A. HEY, I thought the questions weren't going to be rude, this is really not an encouraging start. What's the question? Q. Is Neon Go and Pow Gong a love story, you weirdo? A. Could be. I don't write this angle into stuff intentionally I swear, but then when I look back at what I wrote, well you gotta wonder right? Other thing you gotta wonder about, okay it's possible Pow Gong has FEELINGS but is scared of Neon's father for obvious reasons. Thing is, this kingpin sounds remarkably cagey. Finds out his daughter plans to split and he doesn't stop it, that's smart. If he stops it, she'll just run away later and he won't know where, right? So, obviously he sends Pow Gong because his daughter already had some kind of axis with him, they get along. Useless to send him otherwise, because Pow can't protect her unless she wants him around at the clubs etc. Whole point is she's running away from all the bodyguards, right? Okay, so the kingpin is smart. Expecting "I'm sending you to watch over my daughter, alone, don't lay a hand on her or you're dead" to actually work is dumb, under the circumstances, for several reasons. The kingpin isn't dumb. So, could be he chose Pow Gong for this task pretty carefully, maybe he actually expects events to unfold a certain way, possibly even hopes they do... he'd probably leave the implied death threats open as a test, you know, "Do you wuv, twue wuv, my daughter enough to risk horrible death by goon?" but he could be thinking about stuff like son-in-laws, succession plans here... it would be smart, which he is. So like I said, you gotta wonder. Q. The nuclear cult sent Fountainheavy, a child, alone into an urban area destroyed by nuclear war. How awful are these people? How could they do something like that? A. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's the worst thing that happens in the stuff I wrote. Fountainheavy is probably 7 or 8 years old at this time. He's big and strong, but has the pain tolerance of a child (one reason he's a blaster btw) and a child's fear of the dark. So there he is, alone for the first time in his life, wandering scared in the dark night, just looking for a dry place to sleep, it's probably covered with concrete rubble and bits of broken glass. Thing is, I do think what the nuclear cult did was wrong, but I also think it was understandable on some level. Fountainheavy is really, really dangerous. I didn't spell this out, but he is uhhh differently abled (I sincerely hope that's still the currently acceptable terminology). I mean, technically every superhero is differently abled, but that's not how we use the phrase generally. On top of that, his reaction to the sudden deluge of radiation... well, certain curves of development were accelerated, others were retarded... and some of the curves that got accelerated involved size, strength and super powers. He almost killed someone, about a week before he was sent away. Maybe not intentionally, nobody can be sure, but he put a grown man through a window with one of those "manifestations of visible physical force" during meditation. The man luckily went through a window instead of being mashed into the concrete walls, there was luckily no glass in the window, he fortunately landed in water 4 stories down instead of on concrete, and there was fortunately no serious injury. But everyone could see, maybe the next time wouldn't be so lucky. Or the time after that. Q. Why didn't his parents go with him? A. They had other children, too. That's the more comfortable answer, and what they told themselves. Truth is, they were afraid. Look, I don't like it either, but it happened. Q. Hold up. You got what, 18 characters here, Fountainheavy's the only one who fits into the "hero" category. The only hero you wrote is DIFFERENTLY ABLED? A. Uh huh. Q. Tell me that's not just another way to mock heroes... A. Absolutely not. Don't get me wrong, I really hate heroes (except Fountainheavy!) and think they're turbo-lame. But I really like and admire Fountainheavy, and sincerely believe that ANY change would make him lesser. If we can't see that, it means there's something wrong with us, not with him. Fight me. Q. Is Arvid 'Balloons' Lyssos actually a talented artist? A. Yeah, enormously so. Fair question, the way I wrote things. But let's think it over. He's been holding a position at Childe's Jolly Japes and Jongleurs for years now, we know that. By doing balloons and bubbles. We know Childe's is getting PAID, or at least their clientele is some combination of the rich and the scholarly. I don't see how he does that, unless he has real talent. I did put "magic" for his origin, which I feel is a clue as to how on earth he's managing to be that good with some balloons and soap. But the magic doesn't create his artistic ability, it just gives him more ability to express it through his chosen medium. Q. I'm a little afraid to ask this, but how does Spoils know about diaries and underwear? A. "Once they start naming the Forbidden Names, they're like fortune cookies. You just crack em open..." (horrible noise, truly horrible grin) "...and you can read em." --Spoils Q. How do you pronounce Givaud? A. Soft G sound like giraffe, rhymes with DeVoe as in Bell Biv DeVoe. That's why his nickname's G-Vo, and why the new wave R&B cover band was on my mind earlier. Which I'm convinced the world needs, BBD's Poison, some Boyz 2 Men, a little Heavy D maybe... fuggedaboudit. Q. Is Gun Shy Italian? A. Cuban Q. Why does his jacket have a Greek letter on the chest? A. It doesn't. It's the letter I and the letter O, for Island Outlaws, which was the Rogue Isles baseball team for years until other teams started refusing to play them because of all the, umm, regrettable incidents. Turns out it's a bad idea to play baseball against a team lots of supervillians are rooting for, who knew? You still see the gear a lot on the isles and elsewhere, sort of a Crooks & Castles thing. The real stuff is pretty expensive.

REVOLVERS AND SEMI-AUTOS Rig Turner (DP/Devices blaster, technology) theme song: Yellowman-- Duppy or Gunman (( Praetorian native, Resistance, Warden faction. Nobody really knows anything about him. The top 2 outfits are street clothes, I wanted to give a sense of coming from another world with its own fashion. Middle 2 are tech camouflage suits of different types, provide the near-invis from Devices. Bottom 2 are a lower-tech Resistance tunnel camo, works sort of like the old Hypercolor from our world, nothing like invis but much better at fooling the eye in the visual environment of the Praetorian Underground than traditional camo. )) (( I wanted the guns to look like they couldn't come from here, but also not be full-fledged science fiction. )) Mag Pull (DP/Kin corrupter, science) theme song: Sir Lord Baltimore-- Lady of Fire INTERPOL DOSSIER #4387 name: Mag Pull born: Magrid Pulovda citizenship: Russian/Israeli dual citizen known powers: Kinetics notes: Born in Russia, moved with her family to Israel at a young age, recruited by the Mossad during her teenage years. Initially this was because of her beauty, but they soon realized she was an excellent shot with a pistol (winning several target-shooting competitions) and a fearless (albeit reckless) pilot of cars, motorcycles, boats, airplanes etc. Was given full training as an operative. Activities unknown during this time, but it appears likely she was responsible for at least 3 murders in her private life (protected because of her Mossad status?). Developed her kinetic powers during an attempt to kidnap a scientist who was known to study gravitational and other forces, and believed to be working on ways to weaponize them. While climbing through a sort of gravitational equivalent of a wind tunnel, she was discovered and the tunnel was turned on full blast. Her current powers are the result. She escaped from the tunnel, captured the scientist and as many of the high-tech weapon prototypes as she could carry, and disappeared. The preceding information was recorded by surveillance cameras in the lab. What follows is mostly conjecture. She did not return to the Mossad, or hand over the scientist and his weapons. These latter items (including the scientist) were, according to rumor, sold on the black market, although this is uncertain and in any case the buyer(s) are unknown. She then dropped out of sight completely, although she was briefly spotted around a year later working for a notorious South American dictator. Subsequent whereabouts and activities unknown, suspected of appearing in costume since she is wanted by the Mossad and likely other organizations as well. Should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Neon Go (DP/Martial blaster, magic) theme song: Melt Banana-- Free the Bee So there's one more person you oughta know about, this one's a young lady. I'm gonna quote something from a BOOK, ready? Here goes... "The clothes said she had money, but that someone would make it worth your ass if you tried to get it." Pretty good, huh? Well, this young lady is connected HEAVY somehow. Maude says the clothes are all designer, sunglasses worth a lotta stacks you know? I think she's a gangster princess, right, like her daddy is some kinda kingpin. You can tell from how she acts, heedless, like she just KNOWS nothing gonna happen to her no matter what she does. Don't get me wrong, she can take care of herself pretty good, Mickey said if you try to put the moves on her, she will kick your balls so far up into your body you'll need a box of tissues and a half hour to get em out of your sinuses. I don't know about that, but he WAS walking pretty funny when he told me. And she did this thing to Vinny called a Key Push, didn't look like much but it knocked him back like he was light as a feather, had to be 20 feet back and over the boat railing and into the drink. Talk about making a big splash... Which, yeah we all laughed our heads off when we saw it, but you know how big Vinny is, this Key Push thing is no joke. Still, she don't take care of herself THAT good to be carrying on the way she does. So first Pow Gong shows up and now this young lady, and you can tell they know each other from before. Pow Gong, nobody messes with him right? Well, she teases him, schoolgirl stuff. She will steal food from his plate, take the hat off his head, stuff like that. And they will talk for hours and it seems like they're having a real good time because they laugh a lot and get pretty loud, can't tell what they're saying because the whole thing's not in English even though they both speak it, before this nobody saw Pow Gong even smile. Maude says they're not an item, she says you can tell from how they stand next to each other, and Maude's almost always right about stuff like that. But Pow Gong seems real happy to have somebody who he can be himself around, so I think that's nice. Here's what else I think. If this young lady really is a princess (and she is, she's the kinda crazy you only see if they're born into the life) why is she here? Well, she showed up alone, no bodyguards. No way her daddy wants her here, and NO chance he lets her go anywhere without protection. So she ran away, see life a little, you know how protective kingpins can get. Why here, well we got that music, that wildstyle stuff, right? She's at all them clubs a lot, that's where Mickey tried to put the moves on her. Can't see why else she'd choose here of all places, except it's probably about as far from daddy as you can get. So, big coincidence Pow Gong's already here, right? I think the kingpin sent him. I think the kingpin found out his daughter was gonna split, found out where, and sent Pow Gong here ahead of time. Why the Zig and all that, for cover, so the young lady don't think daddy sent a bodyguard. Spook Horse (DP/Temporal blaster, magic) Back in the Wild West, there was a legend about a terrifying horse sent from the netherworld, seen only at night. Different native tribes had different names for it, and different explanations for exactly how it managed to kill men without leaving any marks on them, but the legend existed across hundreds of miles. The cowboys called it the Spook Horse. There was an outlaw, his name long-forgotten now, who was about as feared as an outlaw could be. Dead-eye shot with a revolver, a braggart, mean when he got to drinking, but nobody could say they'd ever seen him afraid. One night he was playing cards with other rough characters in a little shack far from town, but not far from blackout drunk. There was an eerie noise outside the door, a sort of unearthly scream that didn't sound human. One of the hard cases turned pale. "It's the Spook Horse!" he whispered. The outlaw laughed. Another hard case stared at him. "Shhh! You don't want it to hear you!" "Hell!" the outlaw said, "I'll ride the damn thing." Before anybody could stop him, he'd kicked open the door and strode bow-legged out into the night. The hard cases looked at each other, hid under the table, and waited for the gruesome sounds of supernatural death. Instead they heard drunken cursing, a sort of scuffle, and the sound of increasingly distant hoofbeats. The bravest of them peeked cautiously around the doorframe, just in time to see the Spook Horse galloping over the horizon with the outlaw clinging to its back. Nobody expected to see the outlaw again, but the next night they did. Best not to speculate where the Spook Horse took him, because all the flesh was gone from his bones and his empty eye sockets glowed with a strange light. They only knew it was him because the clothes and hat were the same-- but they'd been brand new and now they were worn, faded and threadbare. For years after that, every so often the outlaw would be seen at night. Sometimes riding the horse, sometimes not. But just like with the horse, men would be found dead without a mark on them to explain what happened. Nobody knew where the outlaw now known as Spook Horse went when he wasn't roaming the Wild West night. He didn't seem to move through time and space the same way normal men do. But wherever it was, everybody sure hoped he'd stay there.

AFTER THE BOMB Ginsu Rain (Kat/Rad scrapper, mutation) theme song: Voivod-- Overreaction (( The hockey mask is bugged, it's white but it keeps turning the color you see here, no I haven't filed a bug report I keep forgetting )) (( This is proving difficult to write, probably because I find the post-apoc urban setting so fascinating. Going to leave a framework both to remind me and to let YOU, gentle reader, know whats up. So this guy is Givaud Crane, people called him G-Vo. When they were alive. Big city, Great Lakes, local nuclear plants go BOOM and nobody knows why, or if there were bombs too. Power and water out long-term, no help from outside, you can't see city lights on the horizon at night so whatever happened it looks big. Nobody can find a working radio, cell phones all dead including satellite, EMP pulse maybe. People are mostly still alive, so things turn into a nightmarish meatgrinder fast. G-Vo survives and keeps what he considers his community safe because he's REAL NICE WITH A SWORD and if he suddenly drops into a crowd of 30 armed looters going door-to-door, he can scatter them. This works, barely, until the Ginsu Rain starts. Rain like knives. Nobody knows what's in the fallout clouds overhead, but this rain cuts the skin. Rains for weeks, eventually kills almost everyone. G-Vo journeys out of the urban wasteland, hits the fringes where gas stations still work and there's power sometimes and the grocery stores have food. Buys a car with currency he scavenged, IT'S A NICE CAR IT LOOKS SO MEAN, puts all his things in it, and drives to Paragon City. Turns out he can't get away from the Ginsu Rain that easy, because it changed him, he carries it with him now... )) Fountainheavy (NRG/NRG blaster, mutation) theme song: Coughs-- Colors and the Way They Make You Feel In India, you can find parts of the landscape-- hills, ponds, etc-- that are said to be the direct physical result of the actions of a god. You can also find, in ancient Hindu manuscripts, surprisingly precise descriptions of what we would understand as nuclear warfare. So that the fringe cult believed nuclear bombs, radiation, fallout were sacred-- the divine, albeit terrible, breath of a god-- was not as completely unexpected as you might think. This is not to say they were tolerated, which is why so many of them had immigrated to the San Francisco Bay area. Several members of the cult were enormously wealthy. This fact greatly aided the immigration process and explained why a large apartment tower was occupied almost exclusively by the sect. They created a garden on the roof and numerous hydroponic gardens on parts of lower floors, and devoted a large section to a temple. Here they lived a communal life with surprisingly few connections to the outside world. Around this time, the child who would be known as Fountainheavy-- the Atom Flood-- was born. He never showed any attempt to speak, and it was unclear how well he understood the speech of others, but he displayed an uncanny ability to perform the various yogic disciplines and spiritual focusing exercises practiced by the temple. When the bombs dropped, the prophecies and teachings of the cult were immediately vindicated. The waters rose to the 9th floor of their tower, but soon dropped to the 4th. This left them plenty of room for living and for their gardens. The slight lean of the tower was angled in such a way that the lower-floor gardens got enough sun. The radiation had killed every human for miles around them, but they remained quite healthy under geiger counter readings that would floor an elephant. The tower was beautiful, with hanging gardens and climbing flowery vines, only birdsong and the faint noise of ritual chanting and prayers from the temple to be heard, the unnaturally golden light of the sun shining off what windows had remained intact in the nuclear blasts and illuminating the calm, relatively shallow sea by which they were now surrounded. Fountainheavy underwent numerous, sudden changes. Over the course of only a few weeks, his body to grew to normal adult size, and then continued growing. His third eye opened. When performing the temple yoga and meditations, he manifested visible physical forces capable of crumpling concrete walls, or punching holes in them. The swami of the temple, trying to convince himself that he spoke from religious conviction rather than fear of the terrifyingly overgrown and spiritually precocious child, pronounced that it was time for Fountainheavy to go forth, spread word of the temple and its teachings, and seek knowledge. He was taken to the edge of the shallow sea in a rowboat and taught how to scavenge food and drink from ruined and abandoned grocery stores. Carrying all his simple possessions and several bundles of religious pamphlets in a brightly-colored school backpack, he set forth on a journey that would bring him, much later, to the unfamiliar world of Paragon City.