Gideon

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I don't use it because I want that my characters to be described fully IC and not that they look as a "character sheet". That si why avoided putting in other "gamespeak" info too.

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Now THAT I can relate to. I use the attribute boxes mainly cos we were told we were supposed to

((Darn. Syl's not going to be 36 by then, and my two higher ones are both 50 and not well suited toexemplaring))

Zero Hour +4, Port Oakes, Rogue Isles

The rikti battlesquad stomped down the street, firing indiscriminately on civilian and armed villain alike. The small arms fire was swiftly silenced. The heavier weapons seemed to be giving them trouble, but, in this street at least, they appeared to have the upper hand.

Smoke from a burning building obscured the other end of the street, and, when it cleared, the only thing that could be seen was a human woman, small, wearing a long black coat and a bizarre black hat. She was talking into a communicator attatched to her wrist.

"Satlink, scramble code 3. To: Ms Nene McAllister. Hey hon, your friendly neighbourhood pirate gal here. Hope you're keeping well, even if..." she sidestepped the first shot from the headman, barely even watching him, and continued without batting an eyelid "...you're probably getting the same garbage we are." Josie whistled, and a drone dropped down to hover next to her, enveloping her in a glowing force-field. The rikti, by now thoroughly baffled at a human who neither ran from them, nor immediately started shooting, opened fire anyway, plasma-shot glancing off the glittering barrier. Sadly, he had no idea that the skull and crossbones was not a good sign.

"Anyway, as I was saying, if you want..." she tried to continue to dictate her mail, but couldn't make the system pick her voice out of the sheer volume of weapons-fire. With a look of extreme exasparation, she turned,and pointed at the squad. "Boys, shut these noisy critters up will you?"

It was about this point that the Communications officer, who was just about in the process of dialling up a portal, was given several new breathing holes by a crisscross of laser-fire from the buildings. Several large robots stomped their way out of doors, and, in the the case of the biggest one, a behemoth with "Friday" painted neatly on its shell, straight through the wall. The smaller ones began to rapid-fire, blasting the conscripts and infantry in turn, with well-coordinated attacks. The headman didn't had time to reach for his emergency teleporter as twin heavy plasma cannons opened up right into his face. The end result was short and predictable.

The robots stood down, as Josie went back to her dictation. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, if you want to meet up for refreshments or something in the D when we're not fighting off uglies, it'd be great. Love and hugs." The last survivor of the battle squad, trying to sneak away, was cored front-to-back by the pulse-rifle Josie had yanked out of her coat, and aimed one-handed. "ps. they're stronger, but they still aint all that bright."

Her mail finished, Josie shouldered the pulse rifle, and grinned around at her mob of robotic boy-toys. "Alright lads. It's time to go find more of these ugly mugs, and introduce them to our hospitality." She stuck a small novelty Jolly Roger into a crack in the fallen headmans helmet, and, whistling a jaunty ditty, strode off down the street, robots grouped around her like a small walking fortress. "Drink up me hearties, yo ho..."

Zero Hour, Attack One, Founders Falls.
A number of rikti lay on the ground, armour cracked and smoking. Purple bolts of dark energy darted out, striking more, as the combined being that was Penumbral Song cut loose with her arsenal against the invaders, who had just managed to drop themslves right into one of her lectures at PCU. Looking at the chaos and destruction around her, she took stock, others helping the injured and the dying out of the ruined hall,the building evacuating while under fire. Anger welled up like a volcano, and was supressed by ruthless control. The people they were had promised not to kill, that the past of Silent Song was behind them. Then the noise started again, the portals, more rikti beaming into the room around her...

*tick*

The world went away. Rachel was standing on a cut stone pavement, under a night-dark alien sky. Three moons shone down. She stood facing her own reflection in midnight, herself, but with the darkest of purple-black eyes, in clothes that were the negative of her own. "We're in trouble, you know." said the kheldian. Her kheldian.

"Yes, I know." In the non-time, non-space of the world inside their heads, there seemed to be no need for hurry The world would not return for them until they were done. "There'll be more, you know."

"Yes," replied Song, "and they'll be stronger than ever. I don't know how long we can last, as we stand." Her tone was careful, precise. "I don't know if we can get through this without killing, without being something we swore not to be, something I never want you to be."

Rachel regarded her other half, her eyes, her expression betraying nothing. Then she spoke. "If they have returned, then this is to be war. We have to do all we can to keep our people safe. People are dying. Unless we act, more people will die. It isn't about being afraid to let the darkness in... it's whether we can control it, whether it will come to own us..." she trailed off for a moment, then finished. "and whether we have any choice."

"Rachel. You're the better half of us. You offered me the chance of redemption. You chose to join with me, even when you knew I've been worse than a monster. Two people, one being. We have to agree on this. Are we going to take the risk of unleashing our full abilities... at the risk we might return to what I once was? If I dragged you down with me, I'd..."

"You'd nothing. Like you said, I chose you. I chose this. We're stronger than we ever were. I'm not afraid to kill to save my people, and I'm sure as hell not planning to become a monster. We are bonded. We do this. Agreed?" Rachel stuck her hand out. Song reached out, and grasped it, tentatively at first, then with more resolve.

"Agreed. Now we show them what a warshade really is."

*tock*
The world returned, the materialising shaped of more rikti surrounding them. Penumbral Song reached out, the ebb and flow of energy around her seemed to their senses to be the most beautfil music, the Song for which they were named. Opening herself to the flow, she stole the life energy from the rikti, converting it into raw dark energy, which she returned to the foe in bolts of purple destruction. Fighting with no restraint, with no ruth for the enemies of the world, she annihilated the rikti with blast after beautiful blast, shfting into the flying form for more firepower. Yet, there was no bloodlust, no enjoyment. This was fight to win.

Blasts exploding all around her, Sylpheed ran across the city skyline. When the first portals had opened, she had been visiting one of the local schools, as part of a safety campaign. Then, her only priority had been to draw the fight, and the dropship, away from the children. As she gathered herself for another leap to the top of the next skyscraper, the analytical part of her neural net reflected that perhaps she had been a little too successful.

These Rikti were not like the old ones, not like everything her tactical database had learned to expect. They were faster, stronger, and much much nastier. Permutations and combinations played out in her brain, estimations of armour strength, weaponry and agility of the craft that dogged her so closely. When she had been barely able to dent its armour, she'd known she was in trouble. When she'd seen it's top speed, she'd known things were bad. Then she'd seen that she was running out of buildings...

Sylpheed ran across the last tower roof, directly for the edge. The dropship angled, lining up for the killshot, and she dived, off the edge, out over empty space, puncuated far below only by a few cranes, just as the rooftop behind her eploded in plasma fire. The enemy flew straight through the flames, and nosed down, to catch the falling hero.

As the ground started to resolve itself properly, Sylpheed rotated in the air, facing up, heavy energy blasts from her weapon systems pummelling the dropship, aiming for exhausts, steering systems, engines, anything, while it returned fire,coming down vertically at her. One blast passed too close for comfort, incinerating part of her armour. Still, she continued to freefall.

Seconds later, the ground was rushing up awfully quickly. Calculations rushed through her mind, plotting a myriad factors. It was a stupid idea, but all she really had. She fell past the tallest of the construction cranes, cab thankfully empty. Her pursuer still hadn't pulled out, trusting his agility to save him. Then, at a frighteningly low altitude, about three things happened at the same instant. The rikti pilot began to pull out of his dive, and Sylpheed unleashed a carefully aimed shot, not at the dropship, but at the gantry of the crane nearest to it. Rotating in the air again, she measured her distances, and casually, as if she was hailing a taxi, stuck out an arm.

From a technical perspective, a whole bank of kinaesthetic sensors redlined, then overloaded, pseudomyomer and pseudoskeletal structures overstressed, almost to breaking point, diagnostics reporting massive structural damage to her shoulder and arm, as they went beyond design limits, at the moment she grabbed onto the lowest of the cranes, killing her downward velocity by translating it into horizontal momentum. In quite another, equally real sense, pain exploded throughout her entire arm and shoulder as she swung out of her out of her death-drop and into a rolling, uncontrolled landing, barely managing to avoid ripping her arm off entirely. The dropship, which looked to be easily pulling out of its dive, was struck by several tons of falling metal, and knocked back of course, ploughed into the ground, exploding in a green-tinged fireball.

After a few moments, Sylpheed got to her feed, diagnostics and sensors redlining all over the place, the simulated analogue of pain, as she staggered back towards DATA and their repair facility. Whether her emotions were simulated or no, here and now, they were strong enough. Fear, anger, and the need to repel these invaders, whatever it took.

so will her fan club

Overheard in a bar
"No way."

"Way. I know a guy who knows a guy. Apparently the PCPD pulled all the security drones for Kings Row and replaced them with ones from stores. Something about hacked recognition systems, he says."

"No way."

"Way."

Still here.

if it helps, I am a veteran. *smug*

*Pours the port, lights cigar, and settles down with newspaper*

On the subject of the warshade=reformed criminal thing, this is something I've always tried to bring out when I'm roleplaying Song. Part of her did some very bad bad things once upon a time. The kheldian has reformed, but the power is still there, and occasionally, maybe the temptation too. The darker path is always easier, more seductive... The seeking of repentance is a major theme for her and her symbiote.

Because angst is champion?

I virtually never play male characters in CoH so I don't really have much opportunity or need for guy/guy relationship stuff for my characters. For the record though, I have:

Sara: Pretty much straight. Used to be confused but got over it. Dating a guy.

Arachidamia: The question has never arisen, but I always picture her as Bi, not for any other reason than I just saw her that way in my head.

Sylpheed: AI, with part of the personality of a late-teen girl. No sexuality to speak of, anything she did would be somewhat "going through the motions" as her stage of development stands. May throw some plot in later.
Penumbral Song: Difficult one. Half of her just finds sex and sexuality an interesting academic part of human behaviour, and the other half of her has been too busy adapting to the alien half to really consider the matter. Human host originally straight, would probably become more.. adaptable later on.

Starforge: Somewhat similar to song, but more of a geek girl. Probably mostly straight however.

Andromeda Fortune: Straight. Doesn't date much because her family is a little... odd.

Josie Ironside: Picky, but unfussy. Male, female, robot, as long as it's got cool cybernetics and metal and stuff, she likes it. A cyberfetishist primarily.

Sarane: Has only shown attraction to one person, who is female, so can probably be assumed to be lesbian. Not sure how much of that is simply obsession, however.

The others, I haven't really used long enough to think through what they would be as it's never really arisen.

when it comes down to it though, I don't think I ever conciously sit down and say "This character is X, or this character is Y" when it comes to this subject, it just sort of evolved naturally, as it were.

Personalities-wise: I've seen it done several ways. My personal (ie, not gospel) idea is that your average kheldian/human hybrid is somewhere along a sliding scale, depending on how well they integrated, and how much practise they have. I play Song as being almost three people. There's Rachel and Song, two people who can talk to each other, think slightly seperately, and generally be the "two mind, one body" thing. Then when they need to/want to/under come sicrumstances, they can basically synchronise to think and act as one being.

errm...

It works better in practise than when I'm trying to describe it.

Depressingly, it's my tabletop night.

My Warshade is Penumbral Song. Penumbra from umbra meaning shadow, and the Song is part of how she sees energy, in an almost musical fashion.

*the woman nods* "Granted. One more question, if I may. What level of oversight has been provided? The hero in the first example is still under indentured status, to this day, a good year after her sentence was due to be complete, seemingly because no legal apperatus was put in place to release the same. Her legal status is still in limbo. Can you guarantee that all paroles and discharges will be both fair and prompt, and subject to all proper judicial oversight?"

*One woman stands up* Anwen Jacobs, Paragon Online. You noted that this had been done before. There have been at least two super-powered people indentured as punishment, the first without the technological leash, the second, being the hero Alcatraz, being the reference individual for the original research. Aside from those two, have their been any more tests, and does this actually result in improved behaviour?

She certainly didn't turn up at GG that early.

Sara generally uses any of one Indestructible/Undying, although occasionally Mistress of Olympus too. Josie needed Technofreak, there was no other possible

Certainly the accolades, I treat as being IC awards, and some of the souveniers (that omega clearance does come in handy)

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Now I recognise that a lot of people here are very pro Railroading, maybe at the very least make a note that as soon as some people realise that it's happening they will certainly step away from the plot?

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As I said in the actual thread, when I expounded on the subject, I think most of us understand the need for a certain amount of railroading, and tacitly know it's happening, but only get uppity when it's thrown in our faces directly, or blatently.

To elaborate on the railroading point. Players can surprise you. They can come up with things you never thought of, never dreamed anyone could do, even through normal (ie. non-Uberpower) means. No plot survives contact with the players intact, and adaptability is the key.

If they come up with that one-in-a-thousand plot-solver weeks before you're ready for them to do so, it's probably a bad thing just to say "it doesn't work." Give them something for working through it, throw them a bone for their ingenuity and the hopeful fun everyone has playing through. making them feel penalised for not sticking to your timetable is possibly a bad thing. Going "it's not going to work, don't bother trying" is worse. "It's not going to work, don't bother trying, I have the end in mind and you aren't it." is worst of all. We all tacitly understand there's a certain amount of railroading involved n running plots, and we accept it. However, we can deal with it as long as the railroading is neither blatent, or referred to directly. Maybe it's just a denial issue, suspension of disblief or something, I dunnow. I've had enough of plots only three people can solve in larp. Heck, I've run them, so I'm by no means innocent.

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Now if there's a petition for that, and suddenly you hear that "Evil McNasty the Dastardly Villain" has signed it, you're not going to suddenly say "Oh my god! A villain supports this! It must be evil, and everyone who signed it must be evil too!"


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Actually, thats called an Association Fallacy, and has become quite a widely used propaganda trick. "Bad Group X (usually the Nazis) supported Y, therefore Y is bad."

The point is, it works, as an appeal to emotion, and on people who don't think too deeply. Publicity is based on emotion, not logic.

Global Name:@Gideon
Server: Union

Sara Aegis
Mid to late 20's, Currently Lives in Paragon.
Indestructable woman, Guardian of Destiny, Big Sister. Currently trying to kick-start a relationship with Erik Stoneberg (Tower of Power) aided and abetted by the fact that neither of them have anything like a normal life, so scheduling of dates has proven to be a problem. Sara still has her dreadful habit of looking after people and mothering them, even when they don't really need or want it.

In addition to being a full-time hero, Sara is part of the Paragon City Disaster Response Department's advisory board, and helps out with their drills, and planning, as well as taking a more active role when needed. She also loans her services to portal corps when they need extra help off-world.

"Would you be my pale empress, my haven in the gale, would you be my shelter strong?" The Merry Thoughts - Pale Empress


Jester Savage
Dr Arthur Savage, Residence: Steel Canyon, Age: Undisclosed.
A noted Nanotechnological engineer, and Artifex, Art became a hero after having to implant all his devices (the Guardian Angel 2 Regeneration and Augmentation System, the non-eutatic blade extrusion systems and a couple of others,) in order to protect them from an industrial espionage attempt. It is believed by many that these affected his sanity adversly, althoughit's clear that Hero corps would not license a completely insane hero.

He's certainly whimiscal enough, fond of words, jokes and puns, and far too clever for his own good.

"The toys in the attic come out to play." The Marionettes - Ave Dementia


Arachidamia
Mary Lewis, Current Residence: Founders Falls, Age: mid-20s
Formerly the Press Liaison Officer (under civilian name) and formerly part of a MAGI squad tasked with quietly taking out magical threats to Paragon. She quit the team after they started being used as a private army, and these days spends her time doing desk work, and occasionally looking after super-powered kids.

She was trained by the Warriors in using the sword, and trained by MAGI in using her innate magical healing skills. Now, she's just enjoying not being sent to varous horrible places in the world every half hour or so.

"So why do I love when I still feel pain? When does it end, when is my work done? Why am I lone and why do I feel that I carry a sword through a battle field?" VNV Nation - Joy


Sylpheed
Nina Silversmith, Current Residence Unknown. Apparent Age: 18 years, Actual Age: 2 years.
AI-Pseudohuman Combat Simulacrum (AI with a mostly non-organic pseudohuman shell.) Has parts of the memories and personality of her creators daughter. Fairly active in the AI and Android Rights Movement, as well as the Non-Human Sentients Association. Syl seems to be getting a handle on at least emulating human behaviour, although it's an open debate as to whether she's actually feeling things, or is just emulating doing so. By her own statement, the question makes no odds to her, as, if she is not actually feeling, then she is a reasonable enough facsimile thereof for the difference to become moot.

"I've got a secret I've been hiding under my skin" Styx - Domo Arigato Mr Roboto


Penumbral Song
Rachel Morgan, Current Residence: Talos Island, Age: early to mid 20's.
Warshade, expert in interspecies and non-verbal communications matters, occasional TA and lecturer on the subject at PCU. Most prominent activities to date include a role in bringing the nictus Tiger Dark over to the side of good and righteousness (or at least not eating people.) Noted as being an entirely voluntary addition to the Warshade program. Nice gal, really quite scary.

"I travelled through space, to be with you. What you don't know, you shouldn't fear" Jean-Jacques Burnel - You Won't see Me Coming


Sarane
Current Residence: Port Oakes, Age: tricky subject.
Shard, corrupted aspect of Sara Aegis, seperated during an escapade in another world. Somewhat twisted, seems to be obsessed with Minako, and mostly seems to want to justify her own existence by imposing it on everyone else. Seems to be somewhat messed up in the head, for any number of interesting and devious reasons.

"Who awoke the engine when I could not its key? Who landed me upon this place,this island in the sea?"
Mortiis - Spirit in a Vacuum


Josie Ironside
Current Residence: Port Oakes/Cap Au Diable, Age: 20.
Josie is a robotics and cyberntics specialist, a self-proclaimed "minor genius," although this may be her considerable ego talking. She was greviously wounded (her phrase is "radical dismemberment") when she was younger, and more or less rebuilt herself and her fathers labs from the ground up. Josie maintains a piratical fashion sense, although she would be the first to say that her outlook is more strictly anarchist than pure pirate. She's known to rob only from the rich (because they have the money and all the toys) and revels in chaos, loud explosions, and fun. One of her worse-kept secrets is that she seems to have an almost sensual fascination with cybernetics, robotics and chrome in general (although she claims that the freakshow augmentations are less than aesthetically pleasing. She is known to have at least two, if not three, replacement cybernetic limbs, and several other augmentations. When she goes to war, she is accompanied by her squad of Battle Robots, and usually carries a whole host of assorted gadgets (and a big gun, called Lulu.)

Her current projects are varied, including several projects geared towards a production of what she happily refers to as Bonkbots, expert-system driving Companion droids for all occasions. She freely associates with hero and villain alike, without much regard for rules, roles and boundaries.

"In actual news, the human race was doomed to extinction today, as the robot revolt turned violent." Machinae Supremacy- Attack Music


Availability: Practically anytime, by prior arrangement.
Contact: In game, forums. MSN, IRC and Teamspeak if you have the details.

((for the record, as long as we stay away from the OOC split, and sniping and things, the whole business is enormous amounts of fun. Playing with the public perception of heroes is interesting))

Sara stood silently for a moment, lips pursed, reading the petition that had been handed to her by one earnest young hero. Finally, after a short time, she handed the petition back to the young man, a genuinely sympathetic smile on her face.

"As it stands, I'm sorry, I can't put my name to it. The idea, in principle, is fine, and I'd be the first to suggest people I think are more deserving of credit than they're given." Sara changed her tone slightly, an edge of resignation creeping into her voice. "The main problem is the way this is written. You've seen the tabloids, I take it. The Inquirer is a trash-rag at the best of times, but they're having a field day with this whole business. The whole thing does read like a manifesto for anti-hero action, and painting us as glory-seekers is hardly helpful with fixing any imbalance." She gestured to the petition again. "The whole thing about statues is really a straw man argument. Did you know that I don't think there's a single statue in this city of a living hero? Think about it for a moment, they only put up statues of the dead. None of us ask for our media attention, few of us want it, and still fewer actively court it. If we werent here, I'd imagine the people would be fixating more on film stars, musicians, great people from other walks of life in much the same way. Cults of Celebrity work because the people in them want to believe in something, someone, regardless of who or what that might actually be. As to us, well, for the most part, what we'd like to be doing is getting on with what we do, with the same level of respect and thanks that anyone doing what we do should get. We don't ask to be put on pedestals, and any suggestion that we do is, frankly, insulting."

The young man looked and listened, as this veteran hero held forth on the subject. "I've lost people I care about, doing this. I've seen horrible things done to people I consider my closest family, people I love without condition or question. I've seen people die, people I couldn't save, even with my skills. One of my sisters has been through horrors you can't imagine. Another is simply gone. I've seen good friends walk away from this, because they couldn't take all the bad things that come with doing what we do, any longer. Once we take on this task, normal goes out of the window. It's a nasty, dangerous business, and frankly, I find the implication that people happily do this for glory and gold insulting."

Sara stopped, and took a couple of deep breaths. It could only be imagination that it looked like she was on the verge of tears. Strong heroes simply didn't do that. Did they? She suddenly smiled, and compared to her mood previously, she seemed almost sunny.

"Sorry about that, you caught me ranting, I don't do that very often." She got more serious, then. "Honestly, though. If you go and get this rewritten, to remove the, honestly, hateful rhetoric and blame apportionment, I'll be the first to put my name to it. As it stands, I'd be a hypocrite if I did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to move on, it's going to be a busy day."

Sara moved off, leaving the young hero to reread the petition he'd been espousing, from another perspective. Another point of view.

No, the others were in less reputable maganzines.

I was always told: Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to. So I'll pass