Andreah

(( reserving space -- comments below welcomed ))

(( Character Description for Lady Warspite )) Name: Victoria Crawford Date of Birth: May 24, 1988 Place of Birth: Birmingham, England; Empire of Britain; Dimension Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46 (Restricted Red-5) Origin: Natural latent psy ability When her ability was discovered, Victoria was conscripted into Imperial Meta Command; a force of meta-humans as auxiliaries to conventional combat operations, inspire the commoners of the Empire, and most of all, to go toe-to-toe against the American colony's Super Force. As all MC members, she was assigned a code name from a famous Imperial warship of the previous century - Warspite. Victoria has the Medallion of Superior Order, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, and was knighted alongside several other Metas by Emperor Charles III after the Slaughter Spring suppression in 2009. When the world was destroyed in nuclear war against the Americans, she and a few others escaped to Earth-1-1.

((Character description for Major Megaton )) Name: Jeanette Winters Date of Birth: January 1, 1946 Place of Birth: Bismarck, North Dakota; North American Federal Republic; Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46 (Restricted Red-5) Origin: Nuclear Test Accident, May 18, 1980. Jeanette Winters was one of the first women to graduate from the Nuclear Forces Academy. Her career led to an underground nuclear test intended to maintain North American deterrence against the British-European Empire they had fought many devastating wars with over two centuries. The device unexpectedly detonated nearby Uranium and Thorium ore, and caused it to over-yield tremendously. Everyone in the sensor crew was killed, except Major Winters. She was steadily becoming bionuclear as super-heavy transuranic elements replace their low-mass chemical equivalents. A British scientist caused The Ravaging, and Jeanette's world was utterly destroyed in desperate nuclear war. Only a few escaped.

** SERAPH Refugee Status Determination Report, 23 April 2019 ** ** Subject: Jeanette Winters, AKA: Major Megaton 1. Subject Jeanette Winters, referred by Portal Corps via Unscheduled Remote Dimensional Transfer, case# 1718239, has been examined and interviewed for status determination and disposition. Ms. Winters was cooperative and compliant, despite having undergone severe dimensional transfer and traumatic emotional disturbance. 2. Findings of Fact. (a) Ms. Jeanette Winters, referred from here forward as Subject, is from a Delta-Zeta dimensional timeline cluster, as per Portal Corps report and examination of lingering dimensional shear. (b) Subject has apparent age and health of early 30's. (c) Subject confirmed metahuman powers in the security level 50+ range; with strength, resilience, and power. (d) Subject's claimed origin from nuclear accident consistent with measured radiation traces and elemental makeup of cheek swabbings. DNA was made up of transuranic chemical compounds recognizable in structure as AGCT. Samples extracted from body of deceased co-transferee confirmed as fully compatible with Earth-1-1 biological processes. (e) Subject's metahuman condition is compatible with Earth-1-1 environmental conditions. Respiration and ingestion are normal, with internal bionuclear processes active but shielded by dense skin. Trace radiation emitted by Subject is within FBSA regulatory norms. (f) Portal Corp scans of source dimension confirm extinction of human life. 3. Recognized Claims. (a) Subject was a citizen in good standing of a variant United States, hereto referred to as the North American Federal Republic, or NAFR, comprised of the United States, Mexico, and Occupied Canada. (b) Subject is presently 73 years of age, with date of birth being January 1st, 1946, from Bismarck, North Dakota (analog). (c) Subject was a serving officer in a super-powered branch of NAFR's military, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. (d) Subject claims clean criminal and military records. (e) Subject claimed she and her companion (deceased) were to be the security vanguard for a local group of approximately 200 refugees attempting to flee certain death from her home dimension. Subject believes she is the only survivor of this group. Subject further claims no specific knowledge of other portal facilities by her former government or its adversaries, though abstract multiversal physics was being widely researched, and NAFR had plans to move tens of thousands of refugees out of dimension. 4. Findings of Status. (a) Subject truthfulness confirmed via biometric monitoring indicating near zero probability of deception. (b) Initial physically combative and emotionally distraught state of Subject interpreted by staff psychologist as within normal range response to extreme violence, deaths of compatriots, and loss of her entire nation and world. (c) Subject experiencing intense survivor's guilt. (d) Subject has odd prejudices against British, Canadians, and Australians. Subject briefed on prevailing Earth-1-1 social norms. 5. Directives on Disposition. (a) Jeanette Winters, AKA Major Megaton, is hereby granted Permanent Residency Status, work-permitted, with provisional citizenship eligibility hearing on April 23, 2020. Appropriate notifications to be sent to Naturalization and Immigration Service, and Internal Revenue Service Department of Taxpayer Identification. (b) Provisional Veteran Status notification to be sent to Dimensional Analogs Evaluation Group, Department of Veterans Affairs. (c) Jeanette Winters to sign Final NDA regarding all nuclear weapons technologies per Department of Energy MoR 2019-04-22-A16b (TS/Noforn) following final DoE debriefing. (d) Jeanette Winters to be enrolled in SERAPH as Hero, Public Identity, Security Level 50 (Plus*) (Tanker*), and referred to Icon, PPD, Freedom Corps, Hero Corps, and Vanguard. (e) Notification of residency and employment eligibility to be sent to the Paragon City Commissioner for Refugees and Resettlement. By my signature it is so ordered, ~~Signed~~ Jonathan St. John Smythe Director, SERAPH

--- Portal Corps Official Record, Do Not Destroy --- ** Memorandum for Record 02 May 2019 ** ** Subject: Dimensional Divergence Analysis Report ** ** Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46 ** Following are summary notes of recollected historical events from extended debriefing of Incident 20190419-B3 Subject Two to delineate dimensional divergence within the Delta-Zeta-17 cluster. Reader advised no testimony or rebuttal available from opposing geopolitical side. 1776, Beginning of Revolutionary war in British North America. No deviations identified prior to date, consistent with other known Delta-Zeta phase dimensions. 1783, War continues in North America, with American colonies fighting war of independence with British forces through period. 1803, Napoleonic wars in Europe start. American Colonies continue to fight for independence. British forces hard pressed to fight in North America and continental Europe simultaneously. 1806, British reluctantly abandon colonies in North America. United States established. 1806-1818, Large numbers of immigrants flee war-torn Europe for North America. 1819, Emperor Napoleon killed on battlefield. War in Europe begins to wind down. British forces resume war in North America invading United States. 1821, Napoleonic Wars end with France devastated, Russia in throws of revolution and Great Britain in control of most of Western Europe. King George III declares Empire of Europe, with Himself as Emperor. War in North America with the United States continues until 1824. The United States takes over all former French territories in North America, and lays formal claim, if not control, to all former Spanish territories there as well. Border to Northwest with British possessions remains unsettled, with frequent skirmishes and raids with British and indigenous allies. 1834-1837, Great North American War. Emperor George IV attempts to seize former French and Spanish territories from the US. Under President Jackson's three terms, the British assault is beaten back, and war in North America ends in a draw. South America is taken by the British European Empire. 1838-1862, British society militarizes to enforce control over Europe and South America. Attempts to take additional territory generally thwarted by local insurgencies led by French and Spanish refugee-fighters. Russian Czar recovers control over Russian territories, continues imperial expansion into South and East Asia. Continuous proxy and border wars in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ferghanas, Mongolia, and Manchuria between British-European and Russian Empires. 1862-1873, Second North American War. American patriots provoke industrializing United States into colonial war with Empire of Mexico. British Imperial forces intervene, and American government nationalizes all slave populations in the south, forcibly inducting all healthy males between 16 and 50 into military service. War fought to stalemate in the south, border stabilizes south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. United States Annexes former Canadian Colonies and all of Mexico north of cease fire line. 1874. President Lincoln manumits all slaves in aftermath of war, uses seized wealth of Canada and Mexico to compensate former owners. Amendments to constitution forbid slavery and civilian forced labor except by national government in times of declared war. Military conscription of whites and blacks alike continues for decades. French language speakers and culture forcibly repressed after attempted succession of Quebec. British European Empire loses control of India to mass uprisings sponsored and supported by Manchu and Russian Empires – nearly a million former colonists killed. 1875-1903. Continued Imperial militarization of Europe, reports of brutal repressions of unrest and local rebellions in Central Europe by Internal Imperial Security come out. Nations of world progress technologically and economically; large-scale national identities coalesce in protracted cold war between American, British, Russian, and Manchurian Empires. 1904-1911. The Great World War. Russian and British European Empires fight over Slavic nations. Poison gasses, automatic weapons, mechanized warfare become widespread; Fifteen million dead. Imperial subject states in South America participate heavily. British citizenry in South America expands, forming new ruling class in place of former Spanish elites. Unrest from subject populations increases, British rule becomes radically harsh. Increased ethnic and national hatreds between many world populations enraged by war. Research in hard sciences and engineering becomes nationalized and systematic in all major world powers. April 19, 1919. United States formally reconstitutes itself as the North American Federal Republic. Spanish and English declared national languages. Nominal legal and civil equality between Americans, Mexicans, and Canadians but ethnic stratification of society persists; with White and Black Americans as an informal elite, former Mexicans being the bulk middle class, with British and French Canadians becoming the oppressed lower strata. July 3, 1920. First self-sustaining nuclear reaction at the Montana Buttes Atomic Research Center. 1921-1922. The Atlantic War. Fleets of American and British-European warships clash as British attempt to halt NAFR-Russian Trade. Washington, DC, briefly shelled by Imperial Navy. Battle of Denmark Straits ends inconclusively with fifty dreadnoughts from both sides sunk. Trade resumes across Pacific Ocean and the Bering Route after Russians complete Siberian Rails and Roads project. Tens of thousands of European prisoners from the Great War die in forced rail and road construction in Siberia, Alaska, and northern Canada. NAFR Capitol moved to Detroit-Windsor. 1922-1945, Guatemalan and Honduran Wars. British and Americans fight proxy wars in Central America; region's already poor populations undergo continual famines, millions die. Much economic progress and industrialization in North America, especially Mexican areas under Federal control; British Europe, and Manchu Empire in Asia. Stark difference between the rich, industrialized NAFR Mexican States north of the Tehuantepec Demilitarized Cease Fire Zone, and the subsistence poor living in hovels south of it. Jan 1, 1946, Bismarck, North Dakota. Jeanette Winters born to Kenneth and Miriam Winters. Unusual for the times, Jeanette is an only child. 1946-1950. Rapid technological advances in short interregnum cold war. Both sides intensively research and develop rocketry and nuclear technology towards weaponry and power systems. 1950-1955, East Asian War. Manchu Empire conquers Japan and most of Southeast Asia with American Support. British Imperial troops clash with Federal Expeditionary forces in Thailand. War escalates, with naval and aerial clashes over Western Atlantic. War finishes with most territories in region under Manchu control, but with several small but heavily fortified British Imperial strongholds remaining. August 3rd, 1950. First Space Satellite. February 2nd, 1951. First American in Space. March, 1952. First Imperial in Space. 1950-1955. South Asian War. British European Empire attempts to reconquer Russian puppet-states of Pakistan and India. Fails with high casualties on all sides, especially Russian Empire. 1957. In the North America Federal Republic, the Nuclear Force is established, with control over all short and long range nuclear weaponry now deployed by the NAFR. Intense intra-service rivalries between Navy, Army, and Nuclear forces for budgets and prestige. 1961. Permanent orbiting laboratories and reconnaissance facilities. Massive Federal Space Launch facilities in Baja and Cuba; similar scale Imperial facilities in East Africa and Diego Garcia. October, 1962. The October War. Short nuclear exchange between NAFR and Imperial Britain occurs due to radar malfunction mistaking American satellite launch as a ballistic missile attack. New York, Baltimore, and Mexico City hit, millions dead. Several other cities spared by Spartan ABM system. British cities of London, Manchester, Paris, and Berlin hit in retaliation strikes before rational minds on both sides bring conflict down from the brink. Both publicly disavow accidents, blame each other. Tensions rise; all-out nuclear war becomes a constant threat but both sides restrain from using nukes against each other's core areas. 1963-1970. Major world powers greatly expand nuclear programs, pursue many wild-eyed research projects for advanced weaponry and systems in secret; anti-missile defenses, chemical and nuclear-pumped directed energy weapons, nuclear rockets, miniature nuclear-electric batteries and gamma lasers. Stirrings of concern over atmospheric radiation levels from widespread deployment of nuclear technologies; dismissed due to security concerns. First meta-humans with extraordinary powers noticed; most 'disappeared' by national governments. Use of nuclear weapons in space and on Moon in minor skirmishes not uncommon. June, 1964. Jeanette Winters and 157 other young women arrive at the Federal Nuclear Forces Academy in Colorado to be the first females to attend the formerly all-male school. 1964-1969, British Imperials attack South East Asia from their Singaporean Holdout. Numerous small tactical nuclear weapons used against Manchu forces in the field, and three strategic weapons used against Manchu cities in southern China. War ends with American retaliatory strikes against Imperial strongholds. South-east Asia falls into total chaos, Manchu empire breaks up into numerous smaller warring states, major powers withdraw. 1965-1975. Further militarization of space. Orbiting missile defense stations, space control facilities buried on the Moon, and entire constellations of orbiting nuclear weapons. Plans for orbital high-power bomb-pumped ground attack radiation weapons in development. May, 1968. FNFA Class of 1968 graduates. Second Lieutenant Jeanette Winters and 96 other female officers are commissioned, forming fully 10% of the graduating class. Lieutenant Winters is awarded a B.S. in Nuclear Weaponeering. September, 1974. Captain Winters assigned to the Baja Test Site, as Beta Team lead for the Device Effects Prediction Group working on ultra-high yield weapons. February, 1976. Captain Winters awarded below-the-zone promotion to Major for outstanding work on the Upshot Strake underground test. Test results in new ground penetration weapon designs going operational to threaten deeply buried command and control facilities British Imperials established after The October War. March, 1978. Major Winters completes Master's Thesis by correspondence in Nuclear Weaponeering, titled "Fourth Order Yield Boosting via Pinch Accelerated Ion Catalysis" May 18, 1980. Operation Radiant Phalanx culminates in Aqua-Rose device test. 17 megaton device detonated at depth of nine kilometers. Major Jeanette Winters supervises her crew of five for sensor data collection in Instrument Station C-2, four kilometers horizontal from the device. Detonation occurs on schedule at 1530 UTC. Device yield in precisely on-specification; however, undetected mass of Hadeon-Age Thorium and Uranium ores sympathetically detonates, resulting in yield of additional 900 Megatons. Mount St Helens in Washington State, which had been entering an semi-active phase, erupts when shock waves from Radiant Phalanx arrive and trigger landslides. June 24, 1980. Rescue bore-hole and rad-protected extraction team reach Instrument Station C-2 finding the heavily armored station damaged but not collapsed. Ultra-high neutron flux has killed all occupants except one. Major Winters was found comatose. Investigation team finds radiant blue glow from traces of Element 126, Unbihexium-316 and nearby quasi-stable isotopes. Element-134, Impervium-340, also detected. Decontamination followed. September, 1980. Major Winters comes out of coma. Medical examination shows no ill-effects from ordeal, only minor alterations in blood-chemistry; Nuclear Force Nuclear Medical personnel perplexed; Major Winters' estimated exposure 2.4 million rem was five thousand times the standard fifty percentile lethal dosage. May, 1981. Jeanette Winters medically retired from active duty and moves to Independence, Missouri. Miss Winters fills her time with volunteer work for local charities. June, 1982. South Atlantic War. South Americans slave labor force on Imperial Falkland Islands rebel and overcome Imperial security forces there. Quick reaction NAFR attempt to reinforce rebels and establish forward operating zone in Falklands fails as Imperials use saturation nuclear attacks on the islands. Emperor Charles III declares that any imperial ground Americans take will be burned clean with atomic fire. Jan 1, 1986. Jeanette celebrates her fortieth birthday. Friends and acquaintances continue to be surprised at her youthful appearance. At the time, Jeanette attributed her appearance to exercise, good diet, and healthy living. May 24, 1988. Victoria Crawford born to Lord Edward and Lady Elaine of Crawford on Crawford Estates. August, 1990. Middle Eastern Conflicts. European Empire formalizes annexation of Arab colonial states. Uprisings brutally crushed, several Arab cities and cultural centers sterilized by orbiting radiation projectors. October 19, 1995. Linda Korben born in Columbia, Missouri. Jan 1, 1996. Low-key party for Jeanette's fiftieth birthday with close friends and relatives. Jeanette secretly concerned over her lack of aging. 1998. Victoria manifests psionic potential, is tested and graded at Level A for psionics, "Individuals showing direct voluntary ability to influence objects in excess of 50 grams or self-aware minds at a distance up to 50 meters", Level B for clairvoyant precognition, "Individuals showing the ability to know outcomes of radiologically driven random card draws more than one half second in advance and with 75% or greater accuracy, and not more than 5 seconds advance and with greater than 95% accuracy" and Level A for Psychotronics: "Individuals with ability to alter computing memories or instruction sets in progress, at rates sufficient to foil Roberts' counterintrusion systems." March, 2003. NAFR Agents incite riots and rebellions in Middle East, Northern Africa. Imperial forces respond with nuclear and radiation strikes in region and attempt to attack Federal Moonbase One with sequenced nuclear and space marine attacks. American drive off assault, and use radiation projectors against Imperial launch facilities in East Africa. Millions of Kenyans die alongside Imperial forces. April 28, 2004. NAFR publicly reveals new "Super Force" military branch; meta-humans who had secretly been conducting clandestine warfare against the Imperials. Imperial Government counters, announcing existence of Imperial "Meta Command". Each side spreads propaganda stories of their own heroic exploits and the others' atrocities. June, 2004. Victoria graduates primary school; receives her certificate in Imperial Service, and spends summer with an internship at Headquarters, Imperial Meta Command, as aide de camp to Duchess Neptune, Director of Special Foreign Operations. Jan 1, 2006. Jeanette Winters turns sixty, receives standard notification from Social Security of ineligibility for retirement due to military pension, citing 1987 law prohibiting "double-dipping" by Federal employees. Jeanette decides to start a second career, and signs with the Paragon Daily Mirror as a Web Correspondent and Columnist. Fall 2004-2008. Victoria attends Evendene Court Meta Academy in Malvern; graduates with Honors in Psionics and Philosophy and receives an Imperial Commission into Meta Command. Jan 1, 2009. Jeanette Winters is concerned by weight-gain of twenty pounds, despite no change in her clothing sizes. Seeks medical attention. Spring, 2009. "Slaughter Spring". Mass uprisings in Middle East against harsh Imperial rule facilitated by new social media technologies. NAFR Super Force and Imperial Metas intervene, causing incredible loss of life and devastation. Tens of millions dead, more regional cities totally depopulated; Charles III declares victory, and publicly awards medals to Meta-Command members "Sir Invincible", "Lady Royal Oak", "Lady Repulse", "Sir Hood", "Lady Warspite" and "Sir Britannia". Announces long-term program to eliminate literacy in subject regions. April 4, 2009. Victoria, now code named "Warspite", performs infiltration and extraction mission during Slaughter Spring. She abducts and extracts a high value target from a defended compound outside Bagdhad, and in the course of this operation, kills NAFR Super Force operative Astounding Man, detonates large cache of hidden munitions, and absconds with her HVT and three gigabytes of resistance data records. Victoria is awarded the Medallion of the Superior Order for this feat. May 15, 2009. Warspite and a team of three other Meta Command operatives, assault resistance marshalling point, killing hundreds of insurgents, their support elements, apprehending several resistance leadership cells, and causing Super Force to abandon efforts to destabilize the Levant Province. Warspite first manifests ability share precognition within her team and to short-distance teleport teammates in grave danger. Warspite awarded Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, and knighted, alongside her team, personally by Emperor Charles III. Mar 14, 2010. Jeanette Winters' condition defies conventional medical diagnosis; weight gain of fifty pounds, increased skin resilience, increased bone density, and increased muscle fiber response indicate incipient meta-human abilities. Patient referred to Oak Ridge Federal Laboratory for further testing, and notification of a long-term potential candidate was sent to Super Force. Jun 1, 2010. Radiomedical analysis was completed and Subject Two's meta-condition was documented. Catalytic bionuclear reactions were occurring within cell mitochondria alongside their standard ATP biochemical reactions. Reaction rates were low at the time, but increasing, and were replacing normal elements with chemically similar ultra-high Z-number isotopes. Her lack of aging was determined to be from high-efficiency endogenous replacement of tissues and energetic telomerase activity due to Rg-281 deposition. Subject two's weight-gain resulted from bionuclear absorption of environmental fission by-products and natural radionuclides through respiration and ingestion. She had increased strength resulting from the high relative energy production of the bionuclear reactions in her mitochondria. Her increased resilience and toughness were from massive electron-shell binding of multiple hyper-heavy stable nuclear decay products in skin, connective, and structural tissues. Subject two was subsequently referred to Super Force Biomedical Research Division for further monitoring and re-evaluation of meta-human conscription eligibility status, and eventually conscripted into service. 2009-2012. Lady Warspite participates in numerous Meta Command operations to counter NAFR activities, suppress resistance, and root-out subversives around the Empire. November 30, 2012. Professor Jonathan Forbyn of the Imperial Internal Security Research Division had a biological accident in a laboratory hidden in the Guyana mountains. Forbyn transforms into an ever expanding Amoeba-like blob monstrosity. Rapidly spreading biogenetic plague accompanies, infecting existing life forms at a viral level. Although man-sized at the beginning, the Forbyn-Blob's unstoppable growth outstrips local and regional ability to manage the crisis. Locals name the effect of the blob's spread the "Ravaging Plague". December 15, 2012. "Last War" begins, as British Imperial Strategic Forces begin all-out nuclear assault in Guyana to halt Ravaging spread as local security forces are infected and mutate first into ravenous monsters, and eventually dissolving into Ravaging slime. NAFR Forces immediately drawn into conflict. Plague spreads at edge of hot zone expanding in all directions as fast as walking speed, The Forbyn-Blob grows as large as a stadium and marauds through jungles, absorbing all living matter, leaving bare rock and pools of infectious slime behind. Refugees are found to be infected as well, with outbreaks occurring and only stopped by high temperature plasma incineration or hard gamma exposure. January 1, 2013. NAFR Forces temporarily stop retreating Imperial Forces at Isthmus of Panama, and attempt to halt stampedes of refugees, many of whom are suspected of being infected. Nuclear weapons used to seal Isthmus, but fail. Orbiting radiation projectors employed, but do not produce the gamma flux intensity needed to kill Ravaging biogenic processes. Further refinement and use of projectors impaired as full-scale war erupts throughout near Earth and Lunar space. 2013-2015. Lady Warspite assigned as Meta Support to conventional Eradication Brigades in South America; searching out infected animals and persons spreading Ravaging effect. Such could be detected by skewed mentational processes of infected nervous systems. 2013-2018. Rapidly escalating nuclear war by major world powers against Ravaging Plague and The Forbyn-Blob, and against each other; mutual hatreds being far too high to overcome, even in the face of extinction. March 11, 2015. Jeanette is conscripted into Super Force with code name "Major Megaton", participates in multiple three-way clashes with Meta Command forces and Ravaging mutants in the devastated Central American Theater of Operations. December 2016. Warspite assigned to Orbital Command as political-psionic officer to ensure loyalty and responsiveness of operations staff of Radiation Projector Nemesis 12 while it conducts bomb-pumped anti-population sweeps of infected north Africa and Southern Europe. Warspite executes two weapons officers via brain hemorrhage before they sabotage the station's critical bomb-processing "Pit", saving the station. 2017. Warspite spends two months in Meta Command rehabilitation, suffering from "shell shock", submits resignation, which is denied -- unknown to the public at large, Imperial High Command expects the Earth to be lost to the Ravaging. May 27, 2017. Linda Korben graduates Ph.D. program in Gravitational Dynamics, Missouri Polytechnic Institute. 2018. Doctor Korben conducts post-graduate work at the Spencer Federal Quantum Gravity Dynamo Complex; interrupted by power surge incident and subsequently inducted into Super Force. 2018-2019. Climax battles of Last War; tens of thousands of nuclear weapons used. Billions of civilian deaths. Last-ditch research uncovers technique to portal to other dimensions. January, 2019. Warspite assigned to Project Ultra in a secret facility under the huge military and orbital launch base at Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean. There, Science Command is constructing a portal generator, which is believed to be able to contact other dimensions, and provide for a means of escape for the Imperial Aristocracy. 2019. After frantic construction of single-shot dimensional portals, hundreds of senior NAFR military, civilian scientists, and meta-humans, including subject two, Jeanette Winters, find homes in random scattered dimensions. She believes if other escaped, they could easily have taken the Ravaging infection with them. 13 April 2019. Ultra Gate is tested on living matter, the first time. Meta Command security and reconnaisance force including Lady Warspite proceed through. Most are seriously injured by gravitational sheer, only Warspite survives more than an hour on the other side -- and finds herself in custody of strangely dressed and overtly suspicious humans, in some place they call "Grandville". April 2019. Unknwon to Lady Warspite, the Ultra Gate is used succesfully seven times. A number of Meta Command and Imperial Aristocrats find refuge in scattered random dimensions, some approximating Human Earth. 2019. Last War ends with Earth overwhelmed by ravaging infection, orbital habitats sterilized by radiation projectors and nuclear warheads, and likely extinction of all higher life forms on and near Earth. 21 April, 2019. Warspite is psionically interviewed by Fateweaver Araxxis, told she is a "destined one", inducted into the Fortunata Corps, and referred to Kalinda for disposition. 25 April, 2019. Warspite infiltrates Arachnos computer systems and sets herself up with a passport and emmigration permit to leave the islands. Arachnos security notices, but takes no action. 27 April, 2019. Warspite arrives in Paragon City, applies for superpowered refugee status, which is granted after interviews and Longbow approval. July 29, 2019. Portal Corp orbital scan shows Diego Garcia site crater consistent with 250 to 500 megaton deep penetrator. No gravitational or portal emanations detected from orbit. Assessment of radiological residuals on subject two difficult due to high internal nuclear reactivity, but consistent to those from subject one. Dimensional probe dispatched to source dimension and returned with confirmation of unicellular devouring life dominating planet surface, with many large debris fields and cold stations in orbitals. High levels of Radiation detected from orbit down to planet surface. Quarantine level Red-5 advised and travel is prohibited. Addendum, 21 Nov 2019: Additional material from debrief of Lady Warspite, A.K.A., Victoria Crawford added after full debrief and dimensional probe scan. Subject Warspite granted FBSA registration and approval. Longbow maintains surveillance due to subject admitted extra-dimensional military service which would be consistent with war crimes on Earth 1-1. Similar precautionary surveillance levied upon Jeanette Winters, A.K.A., Major Megaton.

--- Portal Corps Official Record, Do Not Destroy --- ** Memorandum for Record 29 April 2019 ** ** Subject: Gate Incident 20190419-B3 ** ** Dimension: Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46 ** On 0948 UTC April 19th, 2019, Peregrine Complex Portal Generator Two suffered anomalous activation on axis +3.71,-0.42,+1.22, delta-zeta phase, with synchronization A-35 and amplitude 17.46. Two humanoid subjects passed through, and were immediately intercepted by gate security. Subject one expired within minutes due to dimensional shear stress. Subject two survived transit due to apparent metahuman condition. Subject one was wearing an inactive exoskeletal combat suit, apparently destroyed during dimensional transit. Identifying marks were limited to dog-tags, equipment serial numbers, and a shoulder patch resembling an American flag in Scarlet, White, and Black with 88 stars. Radiation residuals consistent with nuclear fallout were detected and sanitized prior to securing body. Personal data review of subject one later identified him as Colonel Robert Harriman, Commander, 3rd Kansas Cybernetic Regiment, Tactical Operations Command, Federal Republic Super Force. Interview of subject two identified her as one Jeanette Winters, citizen of the North American Federal Republic of the source dimension. Subject two speaks unmodified American English and was readily apparent as a meta-human with high strength and toughness. Subject identified herself as being a Lieutenant Colonel in the same Tactical Operations Command of this Federal Republic Super Force. Both subjects had fled through an experimental dimensional portal to escape "The Ravagers" which had been about to overwhelm their base near the ruins of Lawrence, Kansas. Later debriefing revealed "Ravaging" to be local dimensional term for biogenetic plague approximating Earth-1-1 Devouring effect. Further debriefing revealed subject's dimension had been heavily militarized with frequent outbreaks of large scale fighting up into Level-3 nuclear exchanges. Largely bi-polar geopolitical structure with main antagonists being a North American superpower dominated by a United States follow-on nation against a British-European superpower. Subject two vehemently insisted British empire was a totalitarian dictatorship which had been the aggressor in many conflicts with democratic North America for over two centuries.

--- Portal Corps Official Record, Do Not Destroy --- ** Memorandum for Record 29 April 2019 ** ** Subject: Gate Anomaly 2-20190429213405 ** ** Testimony Summary of Senior Gate Tech Robert G. Andersen ** Several groups of heroes had been using Portal Generator Two through the night, and Generator One took primary on schedule early in my shift. At this time I began to conduct routine gate resonance calibration. As I was getting through section 2 of the checklist, axial coherence fluctuated twenty three percent, and I pushed the emergency response. Something had locked onto gate two, and was establishing a transfer link. The membrane flashed, and I saw a machine of some sort extend out about two feet from the center of the gate. Cyclical resonance was optimal, so I still had positive control. I was about to hit the link cutoff, but then on my monitor, which was zoomed onto the device coming through the gate, I saw the flag. It was off a little; colors were wrong and it had too many stars on a black background, but it was recognizably American. I quickly checked my other readings which confirmed it was a Delta-band line, and Delta Protocol does not require emergency disconnect, but calls for securing the gate and establishing quarantine. The device in the gate withdrew back to the connecting dimension, and then the gate flashed, grew turbulent, and the two subjects came through, feet first, and fell onto the platform. Then the link severed from the other end. This was when the ready team entered the portal room; two squads of gate security, and the two duty heroes, Ultrastreak and Mister Astounding. I engaged the quarantine field when Ultra and Astounding were on the platform, while security covered them from outside the field, as per normal procedure. The two heroes attended the two bodies; one was a male, fairly large, in a powered armor suit. I saw lights on it as it came through, but they were already dimming and the suit was motionless. The woman had collapsed onto the platform floor, and then pushed herself up. I heard her scream through the field, and she began pounding the platform with her fist. The room shook. Ultra and Astounding attempted to restrain her until decontamination finished. The woman fought against the heroes and had to be sedated via Mister Astounding's psionics. The man was pronounced dead.

Spencer Memorial Technology Center Research Bunker Delta-9, one hundred and fifty meters below ground. A voice comes out over the intercom. "Shunting main power to capacitors. Exofluid revolutions up to four point seven megahertz." Technicians gathered around banks of consoles furiously work controls. "Ready countdown; five, four, three, two, one, mark!" a supervisor calls out. The capacitors discharge, and the spinning exotic matter fluid inside a channel on the floor came abruptly to a halt. Brilliant electrical discharges flash up out of the toroid in all directions, hitting conductors placed to intercept, leaving a glowing surface behind. Tiny ripples in the field appeared, no more than millimeters high, and then more, and more; chaotic waves steadily building in length and amplitude within it. "Exterior security is out, lock-down protocol engaged. We get one good connection, everyone goes through. Stand ready. This is for all the beans, folks." "Source portal stable; managing surface turbulence within parameters." "Destination portal confirmed and stable. Initiating probe extension." A long pole with a cluster of instruments extends down through the shimmering surface. "Transit confirmed. Quantum uncertainty confirmed. Lightspeed confirmed. Gravitational constant confirmed. Free space permeability confirmed. Positive matter confirmed. Radiation count low. Local gravity normal. Nitrogen/Oxygen atmosphere confirmed. Destination portal is -powered-! ... Locking ... now ... Locked!" "Withdraw probe. Send--" The ground leaps and the room shakes. "Nuke strike! High megaton range! Secondaries inbound!" Centered above the portal, two people stood on a gantry. One, a man in powered armor emblazoned with national symbols and a woman in a close fitting military uniform. The first, serenely confident; the second unsettled and alert. Behind them, down the gantry stairs, more pairs of people waiting in line. More military personnel, people in lab coats, others in the mixed outfits of technicians, managers, executives, even civilians, rich and poor. The woman glances behind her to one group of civilians in the line. Eyes make contact, and heads nod slightly to each other. The woman stands steadier and readies herself to drop into the portal as soon as the directive is given. The ground leaps and the room shakes. "Nuke strike! High megaton range! Secondaries inbound!" The undulating surface of the portal shocked angrily. Silvery waves surging inches high, taking on rainbows of color, droplets of portal surface separating and evaporating with electric discharges. It was going unstable. "Team one, NOW! Go, go, go!" The two step off the gantry, and fall through the portal, as explosions rake across the portal room. The other teams won't make it, much less the billions of people already dying in the cataclysm above.

((I needed an origin story for a couple of my characters, and I thought using an alternate dimension could be interesting, especially if dystopian conditions could lead to complicated pasts, unusual attitudes, and even prejudices out of the ordinary from our world. This Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46 represents a world where two nations that have been best of friends for a very long time in reality become mortal enemies and face mutual extinction to a new threat.)) Dimension Delta Zeta 17-46: Spencer Memorial Technology Center, Federal Republic Super Force, 15 Kilometers outside Lawrence, Kansas The fences were being assaulted. Uniformed security forces defended the base perimeter from hastily dug-in positions. A battle raged furiously, but the exchange of fire was one way - those assaulting the base had no weapons. No weapons that could be seen as such, at least. They walked, ran, lept against the fences. They walked, ran and lept into the ditches. Many were hugely fat, others were grossly distorted. Heads bent back sharply, with open maws filled with tentacles. Arms twisted and held high, with fern-like fronds extending from spread fingers like bizarre antennae. Strangely colored protuberances and huge boils from all parts of their bodies, only shreds of clothing remaining. They would take fire, and slow down. Unless that fire was actually fire. Fire worked well. It slowed them down a lot. But it did not stop them. Sometimes they would get up and start walking again. Without arms, without heads. With legs missing they would crawl. Sheets of fire flew out from flamethrowers. The things would catch fire and burn in heaps. There weren't enough flamethrowers. Earlier, there had been aircraft to deliver napalm, but orbiting counter-air had taken a toll, and now, nothing on the planet flew. The burning heaps moved. They undulated and bled out goo from the bottoms. The goo sank into the soil and the grass trembled. One body came very close, and fire was called out for it. Too late, the grossly corpulent body exploded; throwing out hundreds of slimy finger-sized worms. The worms hit the ground for a dozen meters around the husk and start crawling. One worm hit a defender on the face, and he screamed in pain as it started burrowing into his left eye. Another soldier shot him in the head and ran. Headshots help, but only to slow them down. The defenders were thrown into disarray, trying to get away from the certain death crawling at them. More explosions of worms commenced, and the surface facility was overrun as the entire security force, locked outside out of the secure areas, was Ravaged. From high above, a bolt of lightning struck down. A straight line; reentry plasma lighting the path of a warhead. The ABM system was silent. Megatons of energy released from the gamma flux enhanced weapon and finally, the worms were stopped cold. But only here. In the distance, more bolts of destruction came down from high. But there weren't enough warheads; the line of advance of the infection stretched across the state, through Nebraska and the Dakotas to the north, over through Missouri to the river and down to the gulf. More on the western side of the continent. More in southern Africa, and across Asia. There simply weren't enough nukes. And even if there had been, well, that would've been another kind of problem, too.

I did some experiments of my own, and can say that the Alpha slot recharge buffs do not affect Mind Link. It took the same stopwatch time to come back up with and without a +45% recharge Alpha Boost slotted.

How about letting us self-exemp ourselves down (and only down) to the base level of the zone we're in, without needing a lowbie teammate? Perhaps from a bubble menu or such.

1. Incarnates are post-level 50 progression. In story-terms, it is The Well of the Furies noticing you and lending you its a bit of its mythical powers. The origin stories for Statesman and Lord Recluse involved their finding the Well of the Furies and gaining their powers from it. This is far beyond what normal metas can do. 2. You want it because it continues your progression, introduces you to new solo and group content, and follows through the story-lines of the game. Incarnate abilities can be used to fix problems in your build, such as having too much endurance consumption, not enough accuracy, too little damage, and etc. You can make your character better at what they already do, or add some flexibility or utility to it. It also can make you awesomely powerful. 3. In this version of the game (i25), you will automatically begin progressing into the incarnate system once you reach level 50. You don't need to do anything special. You will start seeing combat log entries about earning new kinds of experience to unlock your incarnate slots, starting with the Alpha slot. You will also earn experience towards Veteran levels, which will award you a variety of incarnate merits and incarnate threads, which will get you started on the way to making the abilities to put in your unlocked incarnate slots. You can also do it the original way, by finding Mender Ramiel in Ouroborus, and doing his story arc: "Power Overwhelming".

Purples go all the way down to one, iirc.

I had this problem, and identified that it was the Windows 10 display scaling that was causing the problem. You find this by right-clicking the desktop and pick Display Settings from the pop-up menu. It is the "Scale and layout" listed there. If it's set to anything higher than 100%, you will see this issue in CoH when it's running at the full resolution of your screen. However, changing the display scaling may be worse than the original problem; for example, if you are on a 4K monitor, it will be hard to read for other programs, and inside CoH you will want to enable the window scaling you you can read and use the UI. The answer is to run CoH in windowed mode and set the CoH resolution to something smaller. There's a way to do this even if it starts up with the problem you have -- unfortunately I can't remember exactly how. Hopefully someone else will post, too.

In most MMO's, you have to have certain elements on your team to be good enough to do content. It's a negative system -- each missing tank/dps/healing element severely reduces your team's ability to play the game. In Cities, it's a positive system -- you start good enough almost no matter what or how many on your team. As you add various elements; buff/debuff/tanking/etc, your team's potential power grows greatly. Given the ways power sets complement each other, there's many ways to build a team that turns out to be awesome - there's no one trinity formula you have to follow. You don't have to follow any formula at all.

I had the pleasure of interacting with him a few times on live. Outstanding RP'er, very imaginative, and willing to work with other people patiently. It was a terrible loss, not just for us in CoH, but I imagine even moreso for people who knew him in real life.

City of Heroes is very forgiving for modest latency. It's been doing very well from me also, from the center of the US. I'm curious which city(ies) in Canada the new providers' data centers are located?

I questioned them both in detail, it was Torchbearer.

This is more a possible bug report, than a request for help. Two players in the (smaller) discord I am active in have reported they've been able to log in fully without being put in the queue, even while the server is known to have a long queue at that moment. Both say they were completely signed off, one for over an hour, before logging in. I can't vouch for the truth of the report, but I questioned both people in chat to make sure they were themselves certain and knew it was going on. One had just joined in while I was Torch's queue at position 585/1042 about an hour and ten minutes before this post. Have there been any other reports of the queue s/w being a little janky?

With limited resources and too much demand, there has to be a means to ration this out. The queue serves that right now, as a first-come, first serve basis. I'll grant it's not fair, I've managed to play about an hour since Yesterday, and that was in two off-peak sessions. The queue is a feature of the game pre-existing these new volunteer teams. I don't think it's likely they can make a lot of modifications to it in the short term. However, if one could, or looking down the road, it might be more fair if people could be given a daily ration of play time. So that a few people don't stay logged on almost without end (we know some people will do this, and even hot-wire around the afk timers to do it.) But you can imagine the upset from something like that too --who wants to be kicked off a task force because you exceeded your daily two hours (notional) of play time? Not me. Or how about people sign-up in advance for a log-on window? Basically, reserved play-time. You can see there'd be problems with that too. Rationing sucks. But it has to be, because otherwise we'll swarm the shards like locusts and leave an inoperable mess that serves no-one. The only real solution is more shards capacity, maybe from other teams. I really like and appreciate the Homecoming teams' work, but they're in a bind without having a means to fund server resources through the community at large.

It also means, that those who do get in game will be reluctant to leave, for fear of not being to get back in later. I still think they're a good idea. It beats having the server crash constantly and be down hours at a stretch.

There are thousands of players right now, but no telling how much that will change, but I have a feeling it will drop quite a bit. Would the long-term player base be enough to sustain a Wentworth's style economy? I don't know, but I hope it could.

Agree, looks terrible in my opinion. Glad it's an option for those who like it.