Vic Raiden

Map: V_Sewer_to_Ofc_45_layout_02 The transition room between the office part and the sewer part is bugged to Hell and back. The connectors/doorways on both ends aren't quite properly connected, resulting in views of a black void when looking at them. Collision works fine, but texture culling doesn't.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Peacebringers and Warshades both have their Nova and Dwarf forms, which turn them into alien creatures focused on ranged and melee attacks, respectively. So I looked through powerset customization when pondering whether to make a PB, and noticed all off the attacks exclusive to the Nova and Dwarf transformations have properly functioning animations for a human character model using them, and thus my wish to make it actually possible to use them without necessarily having to take the form of a hovering squid or mutated gorilla first.

I'm all for giving the Rogue Isles Police a greater role than just low-level thugs. Ousting Arachnos from the position of the Isles' official government would probably require a good number of map changes, if only to get rid of the omnipresent Arachnos banners or replace them with a new Rogue Isles flag. Summoning contacts from past arcs is already in the game, kind of. You can call upon your NPC teammates from Sgt. Schorr's arc once you complete it and satisfy certain requirements for each of them, and Mr. G's arc has some other folks summonable like that, I think.

As cool as this would be, I'm still going to advocate for either lifting the level restrictions on zone radio missions or making them auto-exemplar players to the zone's level. Paragon City is big, and it's kind of dumb to lock highest-level characters out of most of it barring the few places Greycat mentioned. Nevermind that half of those aren't part of the city.

Also, yeah, letting players access radio missions in all zones regardless of level would be the best. Now if only there was a way to auto-exemplar a toon without locking them in Task Force mode...

Yeah, I don't like that place either. It's just... I don't know how to call it... not as interesting as pretty much anywhere else in Paragon City? And it very much sucks how it's literally the only place a maximum-level hero is allowed to do anything because the game's leveling system arbitrarily declares you don't care about anything below.

This read makes me wonder if the Rogue Isles have always been part of the plan for CoV, and whether the devs weren't considering indeed going with Paragon City's criminal underworld instead. As things stand now, I feel like redside lore would need a LOT of retconning before it could actually start making sense. Digressing a bit, but I've been doing some pure for-the-heck-of-it exploration of redside zones, and I have a newfound appreciation for how much more distinct eacch zone feels compared to blueside's monotonous cityscape.

In regards to the Longbow war crime digression, I'll just add that international law in a setting where superheroes are commonplace is a whole other rabbit hole. You gotta account not only for people with superpowers, but also for countermeasures against them for use by "normal" people, and then you remember mundane weapons may or may not be technically also superpowers alongside martial arts, and ultimately it gets so confusing that you go 'screw it, there's no such thing as war crimes anymore' because it's easier to just not care than to try and make sense out of any of that.

Either way, the amount of rogue Longbow operatives giving their force a bad name is staggering.

Okay, guns and flamethrowers work up until around level 30, but past that? They need something better suited for taking on high-end forces of evil. That includes choice of attire because there's just no way goofy plain spandex suits would be giving any protection at that level. I guess the problem is less the mere fact of them carrying such equipment and more their eagerness to employ it even in populated areas, with no regard to collateral damage or even the flamethrower soldiers' own descriptions. As well as, of course, failing to have any credibility as a force of good.

Maybe it used to be three separate traps... I mean games long ago, but it's no longer the case. No point in acting as if it still was. Going back to this, I can half-imagine a new, more genuinely good organization being created to replace Longbow in the event they go rogue.

I have taken to updating my redside main, Emperor Stahleon, not too long ago. And then here's an overhauled Major Liberty, now even more American.

A couple distant shots of Peregrine Island.

Real talk, an ability to play a hero or vigilante outside of the FBSA and Freedom Corps' bureaucracy chains would be dope. And regarding Longbow itself, like I said, they really need some touch-up. Making them just unsympathetic enough to let redsiders have no remorse fighting them is one thing, but that whole stunt with trying to dismantle the Vanguard really ruins what little heroism they have. And even where they're actually doing proper peacekeeping, it kinda falls flat when you consider Longbow was literally created to hate Arachnos above all else... and that seems to leak into hating the Rogue Isles' denizens as a whole, going by their dialogue (other than random moments of kindness towards civilians in Nerva). I mean, I get humanity is complex, but why can't we have a genuinely well-meaning major force of good in this setting? But I digress and may not even make sense.

The idea of lifting the zone alignment locks is 100% gonna get you a /rudra, but I personally like it. Could shake things up a little, I suppose. Also, 100% on the Longbow fix. I get that they're supposed to be just unlikable enough for redside players to not feel guilty fighting them, but come on, it's just too corrupt for what's supposed to be the primary large force of good. Right now its job is better done by the Vanguard, you know, an alignment-neutral faction.

Operative Stickmann belongs to @owt. The draconic humanoid and the Eastern-robed man belong to @Juan Pablo. The characters were all used with their owners' permission.

Chapter 1: The Breakout Twenty years. Twenty God-forsaken years. Deep in the bowels of the Zigursky Correctional Facility, in the sector reserved only for the most notorious superpowered criminals in history, Axel Shade was shaking in frustration as his thoughts drifted to the past again. Just two decades ago, the world knew him as Emperor Stahleon Hephaestian, a fearsome cybernetic warlord who had almost brought the world to its knees with his innumerable legions of mechanical soldiers. But now? He was just another prisoner, another number on the list, another fallen star of supervillainy. For twenty years now, he had been held in the highest-security prison on the planet, trapped in a weakened and severely disarmed body and suspended in electromagnetic shackles designed just for him. Just how much longer am I to remain here? It feels like I would need a miracle to leave... Just then, with perhaps coincidental timing, Axel could hear a loud rumble paired with the cell around him shaking violently. Then another one, now accompanied by alarm sirens blaring. And suddenly, everything around him went dark. THUD! The disgraced archvillain's body dropped to the floor with a loud noise as the electromagnetic shackles suspending him in mid-air went out. He slowly got back on his feet, taking a moment to dust himself off and get used to being able to move again, before approaching the cell door and knocking it open with a well-placed punch. By the time the Zig's emergency power generators went online, he was already gone. As he made his way through the prison complex's halls, Shade would notice he wasn't the only one taking advantage of whatever just happened. Countless criminals of all kinds have likewise used the sudden blackout to break free from their cells, and were already in the middle of a rush to get outside before the compound's security guards catch up. In the midst of all this, Axel wound up bumping into one individual who, curiously enough, was resting calmly against a wall, apparently not even interested in escaping. It was a man appearing to be in his thirties, with his blonde hair in a buzzcut, sporting a neatly-trimmed beard and a pair of heavy goggles on his eyes. "Hey, watch your step!", exclaimed the prisoner when he got crashed into. "You get out of my--", the cyborg was about to reply before noticing who he was talking to. "Hard Time? Do you have any idea what is going on?" "I'm not sure. There was some kinda big explosion that shook loose a bunch of the cells. Most of the cons made a break for it and ran out into the Yard, only to be recaptured by security." "That much I do know. Tell me something I do not." "Lots of people are saying Arachnos is involved, that they're trying to break out some sort of special people." Hard Time paused for a second. "Could even be you, I guess." "Arachnos, you say... About time they remembered about me." Axel deliberately left out the part where he used to be a formidable competitor to the spider-branded organization. "Heh. They must think you're pretty important to them if they're willing to raise this kind of ruckus to break you out. But I'd watch myself if I were you. Just because they think you're special doesn't mean they'll give you a free ride. You'll have to prove you've got what it takes." "What is there to prove? I have been in their business for fifteen years, I think that is proof enough." Shade was about to rush off and continue his escape, but stopped in his tracks after a few steps and returned to Hard Time. "I just remembered that all my weapons were stripped off of me when I was imprisoned here", he muttered in mild embarrassment. "Do you have any clue where to look for them?" "I know everything about this place", the goggled prisoner replied. "There's a whole vault of confiscated gear up on the top floor." A pause. "Wait. Just so I don't mix things up, how long have you been here for?" "Fifteen days from now would make the twentieth anniversary of my arrival." "That's rough... I'm afraid whatever gear you had, it's long since been disposed of." "Curses... Looks like I need to improvise something. Still, thank you." The ex-archvillain was about to depart again, but turned back upon seeing his interlocutor hadn't joined in the mass breakout. "Are you not coming along?" "Nah, I choose to stay. I'd rather serve my sentence to the end than risk prolonging it." "As you wish. Farewell, then." With these words, Axel left the sector, this time for real. On his way up to the facility's ground level, the escaped cyborg would come across a scene of a huge mob of his fellow convicts storming the main gate, with a force of guards clad in heavy riot gear struggling to keep them in check. Shade himself opted to stay back and look for alternative means of escape - in his current state, as a naked inner frame with a prison jumpsuit haphazardly cast over it, he stood no chance of making it past this many opponents. If only I had my armor, he thought. Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps rung out against the upper levels' walkways, followed by some all-too-familiar-sounding noises coming from above. A detachment of three Paragon Police officers clad in advanced hardsuits arrived to back their lesser-armored comrades up in containing the riot. As one of them skid close by his hiding spot, Axel's eyes locked onto it in a mixture of awe and anger. Could this be...? Indeed, the powered armors' designs bore an uncanny resemblance to Emperor Stahleon's own armor, their blue and white coloration doing little to obfuscate their overall shape. Unbelievable that they would desecrate my engineering like this. Sensing an opportunity present itself, the cybernetic convict snuck his way closer to the gates as the three hardsuits began closing in on the prisoners. The already-violent brawl only escalated, with makeshift melee weapons, rocks and taser rounds flying left, right and center. Soon enough, a golf club would find its way to Axel, certainly dropped by one of the convicts. Soon after, a hardsuit dashed into view, facing away from him and towards the mob. The machine-man in hiding raised his club, stepped out of cover and smacked the armored officer on the back of their head, his mechanical strength being enough to knock them out cold. A little while later, Shade would have peeled the powered armor off the prison guard and applied it to himself. It feels so good to be back, he said to himself as he took a moment to test his spoil. Much to his satisfaction, everything worked flawlessly, as if it was still his old body after all those years. And with all that out of the way, he hurriedly engaged the thrusters on his new outer shell's soles and dashed away from the slowly unwinding brawl, landing himself near one of the floor grates in the center, lifted enough for a person to pass through. Stranger still, he could hear a raspy, almost gravely voice shouting "OVER HERE!" from below. Naturally, it attracted the mechanized villain's attention and led him down to the Ziggurat's sewage system - and a platoon of Arachnos soldiers, all clad in unmistakable jet-black body armor with eight-eyed helmets and silver harnesses patterned after spiders. One of them in particular stood out, with very lanky body proportions evocative of a stick figure and mild signs of decomposition on his exposed lower face drawing even more attention than the collar and cape present over his uniform, denoting him as commander of this squad. "AXEL HERBERT SHADE, IS IT?", the stick-like officer spoke, revealing himself to be the source of that voice from before. It took Axel a couple seconds to get over the shock of being addressed by his long-abandoned true name and muster up a response. "That is indeed me. Who is asking?" "ARACHNOS OPERATIVE STICKMANN, AT YOUR SERVICE." He backed his words with an Arachnos salute: hands crossed on the chest, palms inwards, with fingers curled to resemble a spider's legs. "I could already tell you are of Arachnos. Now, what business do you have with me?" "SHHHHH... THIS AIN'T THE BEST PLACE TO DISCUSS THAT. FOLLOW ME." With those words, Stickmann turned to go deeper into the sewers, with his soldiers (and Axel) following. Before long, they emerged outside, in the complex's outer yard. It was a veritable battlefield at the moment: escaped prisoners and Arachnos soldiers on one side, security officers and Longbow guardians on the other. But none of that was of major concern to anyone in this little group as they advanced towards a futuristic black helicopter which seemed ready to take off. Operative Stickmann entered first... before emerging from it with a frustrated look on what little of his face was visible. "DRAT. THE DEMOLITION GUYS DIDN'T DO THEIR JOB RIGHT AND THE RADARS ARE STILL UP. TYPICAL." "What happened?", asked Shade. "I SENT MY CO-PILOT JENKINS TO ONE OF THE RADAR BUNKERS WITH A BOMB TO FINISH THE JOB, BUT HE HASN'T RETURNED YET. IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE, SOMEONE'S GONNA HAVE TO BITE THE BULLET AND GO CHECK UP ON HIM." After the Arachnos officer, two more figures emerged from the aircraft: a man in dark Eastern-style robes, and a black-scaled draconic humanoid in a purple bodysuit. "Another Destined One, eh?", asked the latter upon seeing Axel. "Can't wait until we all make it out of here... There's so much I want to do over in the Isles!" "Destined One? What even is the meaning of that?" The cyborg villain really couldn't stand being out of the loop at this point. "That Stickmann guy didn't tell you? Lord Recluse is looking for powerful villains who could help him take over the world." "Let it be known that I am not interested in furthering the goals of anyone but myself. Especially if said goals pertain to world domination." "HEY!" Stickmann saw fit to interject. "YOU CAN ALWAYS STAY HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO ESCAPE. LORD RECLUSE IS OFFERING YOU MERCY, I'D ACCEPT IT IF I WERE YOU." Axel let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. I will take your offer, then." "SO, AS I WAS SAYING... I NEED SOMEONE TO GO INTO THAT BUNKER, RESCUE JENKINS, GET THE BOMB HE HAS AND MAKE SURE IT GETS PLANTED IN THE RIGHT SPOT. WHO VOLUNTEERS?" The man-dragon and the Eastern-looking mage started arguing, each trying to push the other into the task, while the Arachnos troopers cowered away. "Okay, I volunteer", said Shade after a while of that frustrating impasse. "GOOD. THE ENTRANCE'S OVER THERE." Stickmann pointed towards one of the short tower-like buildings surrounding the prison's perimeter. "AND TAKE OUT ANYONE WHO GETS IN THE WAY, OKAY? THEY'LL ONLY SCREW THINGS UP FOR THE REST OF US." "Can do." Upon crossing the radar bunker's door, Shade would bear witness to a scene of an Arachnos soldier standing against a wall, interrogated by two agents clad in tight white-and-red bodysuits with unmistakable Freedom Corps patterns on them. "FREEZE!", shouted one of them as he tried to look back at his captors. "Hands against the wall!" "Who are you guys supposed to be?", replied the spider-man. "We are the ones asking questions here. Who is Arachnos busting out? I want names, and I want them now!" "I'm a trained Arachnos soldier, you won't get me to spill the names of--" Before the captive could finish, his oppressors both felt a nasty electric shock on their backs. The one who was asking questions thus far turned around to see the person responsible, his eyes now graces by an oddly familiar silhouette outlined in the doorway. "Stahleon? B-but..." "Good to see somebody remembers me." With these words, he punched the Longbowman squarely in the face, before firing an energy bolt from his gauntlet towards the other one's chest. Both of them dropped to the ground, unable to fight back. Seeing that, the Arachnos operative recoiled in fear before turning to face his savior. "Whoa... Emperor Stahleon himself... And I thought we were here to rescue YOU!" "Cut the small talk, Jenkins. Where is the bomb?" "R-right h-here, sir." Jenkins handed over a bundle of dynamite sticks with a digital detonator strapped on one side. "W-was supposed to put it at the mast's base, b-but then these guys showed up and--!" "Irrelevant. Just stick by me and watch how a professional villain does it." Axel and Jenkins went deeper into the bunker, knocking out several more guards and Longbowmen along the way before reaching the central chamber: a small octagonal room with a pillar in the center and computer terminals lining the walls. "This is it", said the soldier. "We just need to plant this bomb at the pillar and we're golden!" "Not so fast!" The two villains stopped and looked behind themselves to see themselves cornered by a Warden - a high-ranking Longbow officer, distinguished by his cape and helmet. "You are not going to take this station down. Not while I stand!" "Well then, go ahead and try to stop us." Shade put the bomb back in Jenkins' hands and tackled the officer of justice. They went on to exchange a few punches and kicks, taking the fight back and forth between the control room and the corridor leading up to it while the Arachnos soldier planted the explosive. Eventually, it would let out a beeping noise indicating that it has been armed, attracting the attention of both combatants. "I did it, sir!", shouted Jenkins with satisfaction. "Oh, you little--!" The Warden broke away from the struggle in a bid to disarm the bomb while it's still ticking, only to find himself snagged by the cape and flung against a wall by Shade, who then proceeded to maul him with a burst of rocket-assisted punches and then electrify him in the face. With the last of his strength, the Longbow officer tried to reach out and stop Shade and Jenkins from escaping, but to no avail. The duo managed to leave in the nick of time, with the radar station bursting into flames behind them. Operative Stickmann and the two other Destined Ones were still waiting for them. "I SHOULD LEAVE YOU HERE FOR YOUR STUPIDITY", said Stickmann to Jenkins while bonking him on the forehead, only to get interrupted by another explosion. "ANYWAY, IT'S TIME TO GO. I HEARD THAT THE FREEDOM PHALANX ARE ON THE WAY TO BUTTON UP THIS BREAKOUT, SO WE'D BEST BE LEAVING QUICK." Without much further ado, everyone gathered climbed aboard the helicopter, which would promptly take to the skies and - along with several others - departed from Paragon City's airspace, directing its movement towards the far-off Rogue Isles, the eponymous City of Villains.

Also got a bit of soft spot for Dollface's mansion from the final Dr. Graves arc. And Manticore's from Twinshot arcs, just because it blends three tilesets in a fun way. Really wish there were more mansion and abandoned mansion maps tho.

Sounds interesting. Kinda like Devices, but primary-- hold on, if this is a ranged powerset, which I doubt will be a Defender exclusive forever, wouldn't that allow one to have a double Taser attack?

As it currently stands, the jetpack is part of a shoulder detail, which is pretty weird if you ask me. But yeah, Wyvern costume pieces in general would be great to have.

Here's what I got for Nemesis: Are you racist? If so, how much do you show that online? Are you into steampunk? Do you mind wearing a goofy GLORIOUS Prussian-inspired uniform? Are you smart enough to keep track of complex multi-layered gambits AND know how to operate an overly ornate gun? Are you okay with being potentially stuffed into a giant robot forever when you inevitably die for our lord's sake? Can you tell if I'm an automaton?

Uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh... What?

Yeah, and the redside routine-ness of that is quite a problem. I get that evil doesn't cooperate well with evil, but come on!

Okay, sure, blueside toons start small as well... but do you ever feel bossed around, taken advantage of, or otherwise disrespected by blueside contacts? I, personally, don't. Maybe it's just a different mindset, where you're just helping people in need because it's the right thing to do.

You got me there. I guess it's just kinda less annoying because you're still doing hero work like you signed up for?