Ex_Libris

[ QUOTE ]
/bind enter beginchat <color blue><bgcolor black><border silver>

no spaces or parenthesis between the ><

[/ QUOTE ]

I copy pasted that right there, and made sure there weren't any spaces after the silver> and it didn't even change the speech bubble's color.

Meddik -
If I understand you correctly you wish to modify my /bind for
Sprint. However, as you may have noticed some people do
not like the limitation of using only one key at a time while in
flight (combo dir keys can 'break' the toggle). Therefore, I
have to warn you that even thought the answer to you
question is ‘YES’, you might still run into the same problem
with using more then one direction key at a time while using
Sprint.

lastly, I'm playing with the idea in using a type of 'Toggle'
button for Flight that when pressed+held the Char will
switch from Hover to Fly and back again only when the same
key was released. This could also be modified for Sprint only.

I'm also having problems getting this to work. The best results I've had are having one line of speech come out in color, and then the rest following it being normal black and white. It doesn't seem to save itself when it does happen.

Loading Data......

File: First Contact Log

Log entered by Guard Drone 1232.
We are landing on the Planet earth in the Northwestern Region as
commanded. Update: region known as New York Central Park
We landing in vegetation grove of some sorts.
We made a inventory list of drones:
400 Workers
200 Healers
150 Guards
500 Warriors
3 Carriers
1 Queen A.I. System
It appear the Humans have come to greet us. Perhaps peace will be
smoother than the last mission. The Workers and Warriors were dispatched
to greet the Human force waiting outside
Error log discontinued
Scanning.....
Making Artificial log
The humans have attacked our forces and destroy two Carriers
Disconnecting from Hive Systems.....
The Humans in this region are not ready for contact from off worlders we
must retreat.
Error System outage

www.anestian.com

Sly's verbal sparring with Deth was too obscure for Lobe to pick up on, and even with Deth's obvious anger, Lobe was unable to connect the two like he would a push and fall. So, it was to the fortune of everyone else in the vicinity that his rage at the mishandling of women wasn't invoked. However, Deth's obvious distress wasn't to be ignored. Seeing her fume out of the shop focused Lobe much like Helsing's previous bout of cussing did, and with predictable results.

Proud of his ability to remember not to stand to his full height, Lobe made his way to the front door and opened it.

Now Lobe's mental processes can be abstractly yet accurately described as trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Much to the chagrin of insurance companies, his actions can be described with the same analogy.

Having avoided damaging the ceiling further, Lobe, focused on comforting the nice lady Deth, walked through the door....and wall, and windows of the shop. If anyone had been watching the big fella's face instead of the disintigrating store-front, they would have seen a very brief look of confusion. It passed and he began to look for Deth. "Ms. Deth!" he called out. Failing to find her he began leaping down the street, trailing flashing shards of plate glass like droplets of water. "Are you alright maam?" he shouted, hoping she would hear him. "If someone hurt you I will thump 'em good, yup I will." Lobe smiled beatifically, continuing down the street.

[ QUOTE ]

2. Gathering Spot – This could be as simple as adding a lounge to the Freedom Corps HQ. A nice place with couches, some plants, maybe even a bar. If it could be accessed from any instance of Galaxy City, that’d be great, but even if it was instanced along with the rest at least you could go there expecting to find some people who wanted to relax / RP in a non-combat fashion. Make the seating wide enough and the yoga emote is fine for sitting. I can suspend disbelief enough to not require that I actually sit in a chair. SG headquarters may have this feature next year, but what if I want to meet someone not in my SG? Or what if I want to meet them now?


[/ QUOTE ]

For a gathering spot, if the Dev's would put one in, a neutral bar where hero's and Villians could hang out (when CoV comes out). It could be called Tigerman's Secret Hideout Club. For more on the history of this name go here;

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...o=&fpart=1

Does anyone have a list of the available color names for color, bgcolor, and border? I can't seem to find one.

By the way, you can integrate colors into your bindings without using the beginchat command...

for example:

/bind i "local <bgcolor brown> I'm afraid that sometime during that battle, I may have soiled myself."

Super Volt, you're hit.

AFAIK there's no way to correct the empty space issue with loading bind files.
Not that it CAN'T be done, I just don't know any way to do it.

"Hello Mr. Keller."

"Mykal. Glad I could get a hold of you. You're a hard man to track down. I just wanted to reiterate that the people downtown are very grateful for the work the Millennium Paladins did in fighting the Circle Of Thorns."

"That's what we're here for."

He wasn't stupid. No one called him anymore unless they wanted something.

"So, what can I do for you Mr. Keller?

"Please, call me Josef. And you're right...we need your help again. Seems that there was break in at the Paragon City Museum. The thieves stole two stone idols to the Aztec gods Coatilcue and Tlaloc. These were on loan from Mexico so the pressure is on to get them back. The night guard said that the thieves were part of the Banished Pantheon cult."

The Banished Pantheon. These guys were demonic and into all sorts of witchcraft and sorcery. He tangled with them a couple times briefly.

"The Banished Pantheon hang out at..."

"Perez Park. Yeah, I know. I've run into them before."

"So...will you get the artifacts and arrest the Pantheon for the theft?"

Mykal paused. Keller knew he wasn't going to say no and he also knew why. The Circle was mixed up with the Pantheon.

"Consider it done."

"Thank you."

"It's what we do. Not to cut you short, but we've got to get on this and some other things. I'll let you know how it goes."

"O.K. Thanks again."

Mykal looked out over the city again.

"Well...time to get to work."

(OOC) Here I plan to lay out the story of Iron Brute. It will start with how he gets his super powers, and his introduction into the hero community. From there it will follow his adventures. Each post to this thread, by me, will be another chapter. Please comment and let me know what you think of the story. Pull no punches, if you think it is aweful, I can deal with that, just tell me WHY. Also, if you see any inconsisencies with the official storylines of CoH, let me know so I can correct for that. Thanks! (/OOC)

The Chronicles of Iron Brute

Chapter 1 – Revenge is a Dish Best Served Quickly

“At least this piece of crap has a CD player in it”, Jim Morson thought to himself. The drive from Paragon City to San Fransisco used to be a lot worse. For most of the nation, the only radio you can get is country. Jim hated country. Thankfully, his old rig had shot craps, and he had inherited this beauty. Air conditioning that actually worked, a nice little bunk in the cab for when he pulled over for a power nap, and, thank the lord, a functioning CD player.

“Lay down your arms, Lay down your spear, The chief's eyes were sad, But showed no sign of fear”, Jim liked to sing along while he drove his route. Later, he would not grasp the irony of the situation. Of course, by that point in time, Jim would have much more important things on his mind. “It is a good day to die, Oh my children dry your eyes, It is a good day to die”

BANG! “Man, not again”, Jim sighed. Another blow out was something he could do without. Getting a new tire onto an 18 wheeler, packed to capacity with God knows what, just isn't a good time, no sir. He slowly pulled his rig to the side of the road, jumped out, and walked around to the side to check the tire. Totally shredded.

Jim felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. His head began to swim, and he stumbled off the shoulder of the highway into some grass. He turned, trying to figure out what had just happened, simultaneously pulling his revolver from it's holster. In a tribute to his intense training with the Crey field agents, he reacted so quickly that he actually got a round off. However, the element of surprise is extremely difficult to overcome, training or no. Before he could get his pistol leveled and aimed, another blow struck him in the back of the head. He barely even got a look at his attackers before all went black. All told, Jim would lay there alive for another 3 hours before he bled out. Fortunately for him, however, he would never regain consciousness, and therefore went on to the other side rather painlessly, considering.

“Go grab the spikes, Grange! Don't leave a single one on the highway. The rest of you, load this crap into our pickups, then burn the truck. Don't open anything until we get back to the warehouse, or you'll answer to me.” The others took him seriously. Dreck was not to be fooled with.

************************

“Hey Angel.”

“Hey Brute.” He chuckled a bit at the exchange, though it was nothing new to him. No one uses their real name in a strip club. “Feeling up to the challenge tonight?”, the lithe dancer asked.

“If you are”, came the reply. “Hey, is that creep with the P on his chest still bothering you?”

“Nah, he was just your average perv. Don't get too worked up about him, k?” Angel looked over at Brute to make sure he got the message. Brute was a great guy, but could be over-protective at times. Nothing was worse than losing out on a big tipper because your bear of a bouncer overreacted. And Brute was a bear, for sure. Shaved bald, with a brown beard and sparkling blue eyes, he had the look of a lumberjack. His frame, however, looked more like that of a bodybuilder. Seven feet tall and rippling muscle from head to toe, Brute was quite a fitting nickname.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Brute leaned back into his door chair, and felt cracking at his joints. Maybe getting a bit too old for this, he thought. Maybe. He could still whip any fool who tried something funny though, and as long as he had that capability, he could do his job. He just didn't know if he wanted to deal with the ever increasing aches and pains that went with the territory. The clientèle seemed to get rougher every day that passed. Maybe it was just nostalgia, but Brute fancied he could remember a time when people had a little more self-control, even in a strip club. Ever since dyne hit the streets, thugs had become more than just thugs.

No sooner had Brute began wondering if he was gonna face any serious trouble that night when trouble walked right through the door. Pale tattooed face, mo hawk, and a wicked smile said it all. A freak. Freaks were a new street gang. Not much set them apart from all the other gangs out there, except maybe their fashion sense. Only reason it worried Brute is, gang members are often dyned up, which can be bad for for the dancers health. Dyned up gang bangers have a tendency to get violent, especially around attractive women they'll never have for themselves. He decided to be proactive on this guy. Before the freak could get both feet through the door, Brute had him pushed firmly against the jam, his massive bulk of a forearm barred across his chest.

“You gonna cause any trouble tonight, little man?”, Brute asked, looking down at the unsuspecting gang member. Brute expected one of two responses. They were always the same. Either this guy would start yelling back, maybe even pushing a little, at which point he'd hit the pavement in two seconds flat, or he would sulk his way into the club, muttering about “just wanting to see the girls”. For the first time in a long time, Brute was surprised while on the job. The freak stared into his eyes, smiled, then laughed a small but menacing laugh. It was the look of challenge and fool-hearted bravery in his eyes that caught Brute by surprise. Usually they were brash, arrogant, and loud, or they were cowards. This one seemed quietly confident, and seriously mean.

The freak had surprised Brute so much that he had, instinctively, loosened his hold, allowing the freak to slip into the club. Brute quickly thought about approaching the freak, maybe kicking him out, but decided against it. The club wasn't doing all that well, and one plus to a dyned out customer was that he spent a lot of money on drinks. Brute would just have to be extra careful.

************************

“What is this crap?” Dreck bellowed.

“Looks like...some sort of medical supplies?” responded his lieutenant, Soloman.

“Great. What happened to the dyne that was supposed to be in that truck?”

“Got me boss. Want I should go pound on Sully and find out why he led us wrong?”

“No...no, not yet. First, let's find out exactly what we have here. Take this stuff to Ron Jackson, he owes me a favor for the hit on his boss last month. It's his time to cash it in. Have him work his chemistry magic on this stuff and find out exactly what we have here.”

“You got it boss.” Soloman slunk out of the room, wondering if Dreck knew something he didn't. He had never known Dreck to react to adversity with such calmness.

After Soloman had gone, Dreck leaned back in his chair, took a double dose of dyne, and relaxed. In the back of his mind, he knew that he should be raging. But something was different now. He could feel it. Something big was coming. Dreck had learned to trust his instincts in his path from a lowly Skull to a boss of the Freakshow. They had gotten him where he was today. And right now, his instincts were telling him, against all of his fiber, that he should remain calm.

************************

It was 3 AM when the trouble really hit. Things had died down, there weren't but a couple people left in the place. The freak had disappeared an hour ago; the only people left were harmless regulars who would stay until they were kicked out. Brute decided to close the doors for the night. He locked the doors, which could still open from the inside to let the stragglers out, but were now closed to the outside. That done, Brute began to see to his nightly closing duties, which mainly consisted of moving anything too heavy for the cleaning lady to take care of. He was in the middle of taking a couple empty kegs to the back loading area when he heard screams.

Brute busted into the main dancing area to find that freak attacking Angel. He didn't know how he had gotten back in, but that was going to change fast. In two strides Brute was at the stage, his hand gripping the freaks neck. The freak pulled a gun, but Brute swiped it away with ease, sending it sliding under a table in the corner. Instead of the cowering fear Brute now expected from the unarmed and trapped freak, he again got a menacing smile. Infuriated, Brute pounded the freak in the face twice, busting his lip and breaking his nose. The smile never left his face. Brute brought his hands in the air to deliver another blow, but then reconsidered. Was it really worth troubles with the law? It wasn't likely that any cop or hero would give him any trouble for this despicable dynehead, but you never knew. There were some slick lawyers out there that could cause some problems for the club, if nothing else.

Brute strode to the door, dragging the freak by his mo hawk, propped it open and threw him out on the street. As the door swung to, the glint of his eye caught Brute's attention. The last he saw of the freak, he was still smiling, blood running into his mouth. “My name is Canker. Remember that,” he boldly proclaimed as the door clicked shut.

************************

Soloman strode into an old foreman's office, now converted into Dreck's base of operations.

“So?” Dreck asked.

“Jackson analyzed a vial of this stuff. Said he had never seen anything like it. Said the only thing he could tell for sure was that it was designed to be injected into a person or animal. He could tell by the type of bottle it's packaged in. He said the compounds could have some dangerous results on humans. Something about adrenalin and neural somethings. Was a bunch of gobbledygook.”

“That is all you have for me?”

“No way boss. I wasn't gonna come back here empty handed. So, I took a bottle of the stuff and injected Jackson with it to see what would happen.”

Dreck smiled. He could tell Soloman was relishing telling his story slow, and decided to indulge him. He had begun to have a feeling that hitting that truck was bigger than he knew, than any of them knew. This feeling had him in a happier mood than normal. “So, what happened?”

“Well boss, he fell onto the ground, and started shaking for a while. I thought I had killed the poor jerk, but suddenly he stood up. Then, and this is where it gets weird, then he started to grow. Soon his shirt and pants were tearing at the seems. And he wasn't getting fat, this was muscle, pounds of it, growing right in front of my eyes. Suddenly, his eyes glazed over, and he attacked me. I emptied two clips into him boss, 30 bullets, and nothing! I actually saw the holes closing up as he busted out his office window and went running off.”

“Interesting. How much of this stuff do we have left?”

“Well, thats the one thing I did right. Before I injected him, I had him make a bunch more of the stuff. He said once he found the chemical compounds, making it was easy. I've got at least five thousand vials of the stuff loaded in the back of a couple pickups, plus what we lifted off the 18 wheeler, which has got to be another thousand vials.”

“Give me a vial.”

“I...I dunno boss...you shoulda....”

“STUFF IT,” Dreck screamed. “Hand it over.” he said, holding his hand out, immediately calm again.

Soloman did as he was told. Dreck produced a syringe from his desk drawer. “Call a meeting of all the bosses,” he said, as he filled the syringe with an entire vial of the drug. “After you've confirmed that they are all coming, I need you to take care of something very special for me.”

************************

Canker knew that his revenge would come. Fate would provide. He had always relied on fate to provide what he needed, and look where he was now. He had power and respect. He wasn't a boss, not even a lieutenant yet, but he was somebody. The powerless losers he passed on the street every day cowered in fear, or, even better, ran screaming like a little girl, hands waving in the air. Soon even the big corporate bosses would cower as well. He would take pleasure in watching them soil their expensive Armani suits at the mere sight of him. Fate would deliver this to him, he knew, just as fate would provide revenge against his new enemy. It was just a matter of time.

He had just begun to think about how he could help fate along, when Soloman entered the room.

“Ok, I need two teams, and I need them now. One team is going to go kidnap someone. I don't care who it is, I just need someone strong, physically fit, not to young but also not too old. The other team is going to hit some warehouses in Kings Row. So split up, get organized, and do it fast.”

Canker saw that fate had acted quickly in this case. Volunteering to lead team number one, he knew someone who fit that description to a tee.

************************

The darkness seemed to drown Industrial Avenue. All the factories were shut down for the night. There was once a time when they ran 24 hours a day, with 3 separate teams of workers on shifts to keep things running smoothly. The economy had gotten worse recently, however, and lay offs were effecting everyone. Things were especially bad in Kings Row, where the businesses were hit hard by the clockwork scavenging. While the clockwork might steel a TV or air conditioning unit from some average joe in Atlas Park, and he might complain about it, Kings Row businesses had a different story altogether. Their factories were, from the ground up, built completely out of parts that the clockwork scavenged. They didn't arrive in the morning to find a doorknob and some hinges taken, they arrived in the morning to find an entire wing of the factory had simply disappeared overnight. When the factories ran 24/7, the also often arrived in the morning to find an entire shift of workers fried so badly that they resembled a bucket of Major Flanders. The owners of said factories did not kid themselves; it was not the well being of the workers they were concerned about. It was a shortage of people desperate enough, even in such a bad economy, to risk working at night in Kings Row. As such, the factories were quiet at night, only housing a few security guards. Most of the inhabitants of Paragon City bemoaned this situation, but not all. In fact, at least one used it to her advantage.

She was perched on top of an old Paragon Metalworks factory. The darkness hid her from any casual observer, but it did not hamper her at all. In fact, her eyes were closed. She did not need them to see what she was currently looking for.

She let her mind stretch out before her. In her minds eye, she could see the dormant machinery. She could see the circuits, the wires, the power supplies, the surge protectors. It was like looking at bright stars in the night sky. But there was something else she could sense also, something more sinister. Messages traveling on the air, but not in microwave form. These she could see like the smoke trails that airplanes leave, criss crossing the sky.

She could, for the most part, read these messages, as she had helped design the encryption methods. However, lately some of the messages had changed. The percentage of messages she could read was dropping daily. Something was going on, and she needed to know what.

The messages continued to scroll by in her mind. They were generally short, either status reports or location updates. These were of no help to her. They were to short for her to get a mental hold on where they were going. She needed something long. This was what vexed her, because sometimes there were long messages, but they invariably went in the wrong direction.

A message of just this sort passed through her head that night. Long enough to lock onto and follow, but, as usual, going the wrong way. Well, it was better than nothing. She would follow it, as she always did, and hope to find some key clue at the destination. She had little real hope of this, but it was all she could do.

Eyes still closed, she leaped off the roof of the factory. Arms tucked back, head held high, she propelled herself through the air, leaving a crackling blue streak behind her.

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone thought about doing a CoH movie? I lack the equipment but I'd love to participate.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a pretty cool idea. Does anyone got a fan film in the works?

Monday, May 24th, 2004

I know it's been a few days since my last post, but that's manyly because of the fact that friday I fell into a giant crevasse in Faultline and had been stuck there FOR THREE DAYS!! After barely, and I mean barely surviving the fall, I wandered around this thing, calling for help while trying not to get the attention of the mass of CoT goons that outnumbered and outpowered me, thanksfully someone who's name escapes me right now was kind enough to finally help me out.

-Once I got out, I met up with this woman named Cheryl at the faultline gates. She was looking for a team to hunt with, her big thing was force fields and could amass one of a pretty impressive size. So I tried to offer my assistance, but she didn't want it. I think it was because she was level 16 and I am only level 15, big deal. Had I not been in a giant HOLE for three days I would have been level 16 by now! So after continuing to ignore me, she went off with another hero, level 20. It must have been that time of the month......

-Met up with a young kid named Nathan Strong who was impressed at my sniping skills. Really awestruck with the damage I could inflict. So we palled around for a while, he was a good kid. One to look out for as a new member of Black Chapter.

-I went back to normal hunting and missions, took out some tinkers, some column. Then I met up with this tounger guy names Vectro who needed help on a tinker mission, so I helped him out, I was getting literally nothing from beating these guys but I wanted to help the kid out. He was very greatful, and swore he would repay me. I didn't need it at the time, but it's good to see that kind of loyalty. Shows promise.

-All in all I am very dissappointed with the young blood in paragon. I hit Atlas Park today to scout and found no one of any interest to me whatsoever. We're always looking for new members, but it's hard to find new members for a group. Well, if you have any standards, it is.....

-Ended my night by tackling a group of 5th Column hostage takers. Took out the minions no problem but dear lord, there was this "Education Officer" fellow, impossible. I tried some hit and run tactics but couldn't put a dent in the guy. I was lucky enough to escape from the building alive, and will try to come at him with some numbers tommorow.....

Until next time......

Name: Heroes Inc.
Motto: Teamwork is the key to our success
Leader: Captain Comet
Number of members: 40+
Current member levels: 1-25
Normal time of Gameplay: someone is always on
Other Information: One big family, everyone helps everyone else, and we all enjoy hanging out, having a good time.

One more question... Say you don't like it. How do you take it off?

Thanks much Metallica_Dan!!

Hello,

Fire and Fury Super Group is now actively seeking to recruit members who are both willing to dedicate a good amount of time to the guild, and to reaching the high end game. We are looking for skillfull players who are quick on their feet, fast learners and enjoy fighting in a small tactics unit.

Our motto is "To do with less... what others do with more." what we mean by that is, by forming small tactical units of 4-6 people. we can execute devistating attacks on the villain populous with condenced, intelligent, thought out strategies that ensure the safest, quickest, and most enjoyable path to the upper teir's of this game.

If you are a hero that is dedicated and willing to do what it takes to stick it out to 40+ and see everything Paragon City has to offer, listen and follow instructions on how to get the most out of your time, and witness teamwork at its finest... please fill out an application and send me an email in-game letting me know that you are interested and that youve posted your application here.

please, only serious offers! if you are a casual player and do not have the time or the means to work towards the end game, do not waste your time and ours. If you are a player looking to get a hand-out, or to have your character power-leveled... then check your ego and your attitude at the door. We are here to help one-another and to experience everything the game has to offer. through missions, story arc's, task forces, etc...

Once the Super Group is established and well oiled, we will maintain a stricter recruitment policy. This is not a zerg-force guild, and will NOT be ran as such.

Those new recruits who can prove their dedication, and willingness to succeed in Paragon City will begin their trial period. At this time the Trial Period is set at 2 weeks. If you plan to join to get enhancements, influence, and a free ride to the high end .... get lost. you wont last a day in this Super Group.

To be invited into the Super Group as a Pledge, you must have a clean record and pass a vote with 100%. Once you are invited in as a Pledge, you will be on probation for 2 weeks. Although you will have "Grunt" status, you will not retain any of the benefits of a full member. After your 2 week Probation, you will be put up for vote a second time. To be invited into the Super Group as a Grunt and a Full member you must pass with no less than 75% of the votes in your favor. Your initiation period may be shortened or lengthened at will by the General or at the discretion of the Captains.


Currently we are recruiting the following Archetypes:

Tanker - lvl 10-40

Defender - Lvl 10-40

Blaster - lvl 10-40

Controller - lvl 10-40

Scrapper - lvl 10-40

If you can fulfill the requirements, please fill out your application in the following way:

Hero Name
Hero Origin
Hero Archetype
Security Level

Primary Power Set: (current powers for this set)

Secondary Power Set: (current powers for this set)

Pool Powers: (current powers for this set)

What you feel you can contribute to the guild?

Your goal's for your Hero

and lastly, any other comments you wish to add about your Hero or yourself.


Once you have done that, I will review your application and contact you via: in-game email or /tell to the character name specified.

To wrap this up, for those interested in joining Fire and Fury, you will get out of this Super Guild, that which you put into this Super Group. No more, No less. The point of this guild is to have fun and feel a sense of comraderie. This guild is run by a Democracy. ALL full members will have a say in the dealings of the Super Group.

If you have read through this entire post, and still feel you have what it takes to be in Fire and Fury. Fill out an application and myself or a Captain will get back to you as soon as we can.

thank you for showing interest in Fire and Fury.
-------------------------------------------------
Rolling Stoner - Stone/Ice Tanker and General of Fire and Fury guild on Guardian server. (no my name is not a reference to pot or pot smoking)

When I choose a dark background and lighter font, it's hard to read. Is there a way to make the dialog font and border for the dialog box bold?

So instead of 'this' ----> this ?

The thick steel door slid almost soundlessly back into the wall, as the retinal scanning unit slid back into its place within the small chamber. As the attractive woman in the very stylized gray business suit, her modest skirt coming to rest, at company dress code specifications, just above knee level, looked back at the thick steel door closed shut behind her, sealing off the chamber that many Blackwell employees did not even know existed. Frank the security guard smiled past the chocolate donut he was eating at Dr. Miranda Carter as she passed through the thick doorway into one of the most tightly secured areas in Paragon City. Dr. Carter gave Frank a brief friendly smile, despite his weight, he was one of the nicest men she had ever met. Dr. Miranda Carter stood for a moment at the large window that overlooked the laboratory she had worked in for the last two years. Several technicians were already there, calibrating the machines and getting ready for the battery of tests most of the scientist’s like herself, that would be ordered that day. Sr. Carter smiled at Ernie Miller, the Tech she most often worked with as she walked past him. Ernie was a student at Paragon City University working on his doctorate, and got lucky to be invited to take part in this project. Blackwell had a lot of clout, so it was easy to promise him that he would graduate, without any problems what so ever. And they were true to their word; Dr. Carter had even went to the ceremony. He was young, just under 23 years old and very handsome, his brown hair very wavy and his eyes a deep piercing blue, at just over 6 feet tall and with a nice body, he was very dreamy. It is no wonder that after repeated attempts asking Miranda out, that for his graduation, she finally agreed. Although at just a couple of years over 30, she had felt like she was robbing the cradle. However, after that night, well that thought got buried very quickly.
“G’morning Dr. Carter,” he said as she passed close by, ever the professional that was rule number one of their relationship, not at work, ever.
“Morning Ernie” she replied, a standing rule if hers, she made no value judgments on what kind of morning it was. Still a brief smile played across her lips, since that ws not the first time he has said good morning to her. That would have been much earlier this morning in her condo.
The smile stayed with her as she made her way to her modest glass office and sat her briefcase down and pulled off her suit coat and hung it up taking her lab coat down to put it on over her silk blouse. She then sat down behind her desk and turned on her computer as she started to gather together some of the sheets of data she had collected yesterday and looked them over again. They were getting close, she knew that for a fact the strange Cybernetic-electronic interface that the strange robotic things called the Clockwork used. And that would revolutionize the high tech industry. The smile Miranda had been wearing was gone now as she chewed on her bottom lip and adjusted her glasses a bit as they had begun to slide down her nose. She had her auburn hair pulled back into a manageable pony tail, but as always, there were strands that always seemed to escape and she brushed at all day long. She sighed at the figures, and glanced over at the deactivated samples of the Clockwork that Blackwell had managed to acquire. Ernie was not going to be too happy; it was going to be a very rough day. Just how rough though, even Dr. Carter did not even realize, yet.

---End part 1------
OOC any comments welcomed, but please be constructive

Captain Jorganson joined the Paragon City military at the age of 24, having graduated from Paragon University with a degree in mathmatics. After becoming a Lieutenant he was assigned to Signal Group Seven, a black ops unit within the military.

Having distiguished himself several times, now Captain Jorganson was picked for the Mobile Armored Shock Trooper program. The brainchild of Dr. Leon Fastow, the program is an effort to design a powered suit of armor for troopers to fight the foes of Paragon City. Essentially giving super powers to normal men.

The suit is a layered system, with the base layer composed of a synthetic muscle like mesh. When stimulated by electricity the mesh reacts like muscles, with a minimum of bulk, there by boosting the strength of the individual. The next layer is composed of "wet" ceramic layers of armor. Basically weaves of ceramic with semi liquid interiors. The liquid provides extra ballistic protection and helps to dissipate excess energy.

The suit is controlled by a direct feed from the wearers central nervous system. This system recieves every impulse sent from the brain and spinal cord. The suit takes the information to resond just as the wears body does, and amplifies the impulses to improve reation time. This system, when first tried with Capt Jorganson sent him into shock, and rendered his body incapable of sending the impulses on his own. Because of this, the suit must now provide the power for his brain to function. Because of this, the suit is keeping him alive and can not be removed.

The weapon system consists of the GPR-8X assualt system. Built around a 7mm caseless rifle, the rifle can fire in 5 to 6 round bursts up to 2000 rounds per minute. Firing any faster as yet overheats the barrel. Attatched under the barrel is a 12 gauge shotgun firing both buckshot, or slug rounds for short range fire power. The shotgun is also capable of firing a flexible baton for a non leathal option. For long range punch, Dr Fastow added a 12.7 mm tungsten rod fired through a rail gun system. This rod has a laser seeker, and terminal guidance through controlled fins for near terminal guidance. For the explosive option, the system is equiped with a 40mm breach loaded grenade launcher. Rounding out the system is a flamthrower igniting a jet of jellied gasoline.

The suit is not equiped with weapons, it comes with a variety of gadgets courtesy of Dr. Fastow. To enhance accuracy the suit ejects a pod which provides exact range and weather data for precise targeting. The pod uses a ducted fan to stay aloft, and can for nearly 20 min at a time.

The suit is also equiped with a anti-grav unit which allows hovering and flight. The system, designed by Dr. Fastow, controls the flow of gravitons around the suit to provide flight. Dr. Fastow believes he can use this unit to project gravity, and even open rifts and perhaps travel through them. This research is ongoing. Recently added, this system has been adapted to bend light around the suit. This system creates a field 1 nanometers wide attuned to the quantum frequency of visible light, and infrared light. This field renders the wearer invisible to both visible light, and heat.

The M.A.S.T. system, though still in testing, looks very promising. As more and more suits come online the technology will continue to evolve. These suits will hopefully provide the protection Paragon City desperatly needs.

From the Author Anyone on the Liberty server who wishes to tie a character in to the M.A.S.T. story is welcome too. You can tie in any way you like, I only ask you make an honest attempt to stay true to the storyline. You can contact me online, Capt Jorganson, or email me. Check back in to stay with this story as it evolves as I will add more later. Don't forget to rate this orgin!!!

Recent personal events have made me think about the roleplaying (or lack thereof) in-game. Obviously, a scan of this discussion board shows that we have plenty of creative talent. The question is, why doesn’t it show up in-game very much? So, I started thinking about the Pros and Cons of how the game’s support for roleplaying.

If your feel these topics have been discussed ad nauseum and you'd like to avoid this discussion completely, feel free to hit "Next Thread" and ignore my ramblings.

Pros...
1. Character Creation – from costume design to power selection you can pretty easily create the character you envision. May be a few things that are still missing, but some planned power set improvements should help that.

2. Player History – Its kind of cool that you can put your origin on your hero card and have other people see where you came from. Although, heaven help you if you try to type in that box. Better cut and paste from notepad or something.

3. Emotes – The emote support is pretty decent. Newspaper, taunts, etc. are kind of fun and can be used effectively.

Cons...
1. Combat – Let’s be honest, this is an action/combat oriented game. Nothing wrong with that in the least. I enjoy the combat in CoH very much. Good tactics actually mean something most of the time. … BUT … combat is so faced paced and chaotic that most of the time trying to RP while fighting is suicide. By the time you can type “Storm, blast these guys.” She better have done it, because the Eidolon isn’t standing around waiting for you to toss out your pithy sayings.

2. Lack of Other Activities – Because of the strong focus on combat, there really isn’t anything else to do. Pretty much you login, solo or find a team, fight for a few hours, and logout. I’m not saying you CAN’T do anything else. And I’m sure some of you hang out around town and roleplay in a more free form manner, but there isn’t anything in the game to encourage doing anything other than fighting. I also know Statesman has said he plans to include some crafting in CoV a year from now.

3. Lack of Places to Gather – Unless you want to stand around Ms. Liberty, your chances of meeting someone else and talking to them are very slim. Sometimes people hang out around tram stations, but there really aren’t any good gathering spots other than that. And with instanced zones you almost have to know who your meeting and where and when to get there. Just bumping into someone new is kind of a crap shoot.

4. Always a Hero – You don’t really have a choice but to be a hero 100% of the time you’re online. When I played Anarchy Online, I spent more time in street clothes than I did in armor carrying around a weapon.

Suggestions...
1. Alter-Ego – I know its been mentioned before and have seen some really good ideas from folks on how to work this. But I think most of them border on being too complex. All I’d like to see is the option to have two “costumes” and switch between them. I don’t need to lose my powers, change my name, etc. Just let me get out of the spandex and into some jeans and t-shirt. Make me pay for the costume (just like I will have to pay the Tailor to change my hero uniform). But let me switch between one or the other based on whether I decide to be “on duty” or not.

2. Gathering Spot – This could be as simple as adding a lounge to the Freedom Corps HQ. A nice place with couches, some plants, maybe even a bar. If it could be accessed from any instance of Galaxy City, that’d be great, but even if it was instanced along with the rest at least you could go there expecting to find some people who wanted to relax / RP in a non-combat fashion. Make the seating wide enough and the yoga emote is fine for sitting. I can suspend disbelief enough to not require that I actually sit in a chair. SG headquarters may have this feature next year, but what if I want to meet someone not in my SG? Or what if I want to meet them now?

3. New Emote Animations – My first thought was a few dance moves. Used to enjoy going to the clubs in AO once in a while. A hug or kiss emote would be nice too. Personally, I’d put this whole category low on my priority list.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I know very well that you don’t NEED any of them. Roleplaying is about imagination first and foremost. I just think that if a few things were added to the game, it would encourage more people to try.

::raises a brow:: Hm, I was curious why that building was smoking and a horrible stench came from it.

Rosalyn-"As Heaven Is Wide" by Garbage
Backstory: Rosalyn was ***** and murdered in her early twenties, in order to bring her murderers to justice she had to kill the one guy she trusted and loved in life, the same man who killed her


Chayleanna-"The Thing I Hate" by Stabbing Westward.
Backstory:Chayleanna's father ran out on her mother before she was born, She is part Ice Queen, and believes she is also part human, her father's genes....She was lead to Paragon to search for him as her mother's last request to her, her mother wanted him to clear up exactly why he left.


Liu Mai- "Last Dragon" by Dwight David
Backstory:Liu Is an actress in a series of popular Martial Arts Action films, regretting her life's choice to be in the spotlight all of the time, She has changed her name in hopes of putting her training to use in fighting real crime.


Jandella Visco-"Unprodigal Daughter" by Alanis Morrisette
Backstory: Jandella was a recruiter of souls for her father's army in hell, She could instantly tell a good soul from a bad one, no matter how they behaved with her. She accidentally uncovered an extremely pure soul, an almost perfectly good soul that was being tortured by her father and his men, slowly being corrupted, she had no idea how long he had been there but she devised a plan to release him, giving him the way out of hell that she had planned for herself, her father discovers this and fearing the worse she approaches her father and awaits her punishment, her father sends her to earth before his men found out what she had done.


Lasavia- "Enough" by Gravity Kills
Backstory: Lasavia was kidnapped and tortured by the Rikti shortly before their invasion in Paragon, She was in charge of R&D for Defense. Her entire staff was murdered and only three people were taken from the lab, Two of which were her bosses...while they eventually cracked they only knew what was passed on to them on paper, she eventually escaped and returned to Paragon, alerting them to the attacks as the Rikti descended.


Tru Strife-"On My Own" by Alanis Morrisette
Backstory: Tru was a Scientist who felt useless during the attack on Paragon, seeing the aftermath she was inspired to use her gadgets for the fight against the rise in criminal activity.

Aridella-"vow" By Garbage Lasavia's main boss, Tortured and altered by the Rikti, her mission is simple, Find and Destroy Lasavia. Thoughts of their friendship still haunt her and she is currently uncertain of what to do.

Kharrissa- "Faith" by The Cure Kharrissa was a normal patient in the hospital, being treated for a small stomach infection when the Rikti attacked. They found her and her doctor, They mutated her face and body into something hellishly repulsive, the mutation also gave her supernatural powers. Her doctor studied feverishly to return her to her natural appearance, but she retained her powers.

Erin Freeman- "I'm afraid of American's" by David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails
Backstory: formed a patriotic crime fighting duo with her husband after realizing what Paragon had become after the attacks.

So far the Sentinals have been very kind and helpful in my training. Often taking time out of their busy lives to assist me in my treks through the city.

The City itself, wow what a shambles it was when I arrived. I know one man can not clean the entire city, but I feel that through my efforts that they city is not getting any worse. I had a run in with a group of people that call themsevles the Lost. True to their name they have gone into hiding now as I cleaned out a lot of their members the other night and am now having difficulty finding them.

I think I will expand my patrol routes further and further each week to try to get a better idea of how the city is. Further updates on my progress will be coming soon.

[ QUOTE ]
1000 words, hmmmm...

... can I serialize my story then?

Emerald Cloak

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That's a good question. No WAY could I cut Martin's story down to 1000 words. :P

Hey everyone, I re-wrote a few insignificant details in some parts of Martin's story. There were some chronilogical and exposition problems, but I think I fixed them. Enjoy.

I'll see about posting another part to it soon.