WWYCD: A Brief Warning

[Blue]

Your adventuring career to date has been full of ups and downs. A week from now you discover a means of calculating exactly where you were in time and space at any given moment of your life. What's more, you can send a brief message to yourself in the past once; just a sentance.

 

You know there's a chance that you could possibly change the time stream in doing so.

 

Do you send one?

What do you say?

What event are you intending to alter?

 

(For bonus points, what do you think the result would actually be?)

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Soulbarb dithers. Should she send herself a message with the intent of preventing her brutalization at the hands of the demon Camuranima? Her soul would presumably then be her own again. However, she would probably have no powers, not be a super, and a lot of good would have remained undone. Should she send herself a message with the intent of preventing her boyfriend's drug-induced permanent transformation into something out of bad vampire B-movie? But now that he's getting used to the idea, maybe it's something he'd prefer not to reverse. (In fact, she already proposed to him a possible way it might be done, and he hasn't gotten back to her on whether he would want to do it. He's probably just as conflicted about his origin as she is about hers.) Ultimately, Soulbarb would probably decide not to use it... but to keep it in mind in case she ever does decide she needs it.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

I'd have no trouble pinpointing the moment: the incident that, not long after, led to the invasion of our reality by what may be termed as "shadow demons" and the death of Dr. Anomaly' teammate Umbral. One sentence would do it, and it would be easy to prevent.

 

In all likelyhood, it would mean that Umbral would still be alive.

 

On the other hand...

 

The conflict with the "shadow demons" that led to Umbral's death did have several positive effects, even if the characters didn't exactly feel that way at the time. One of those effects was the restoring to life of Kathleen Hawkins, an innocent scientist dead for 5 years...killed when her creations, not-quite-self-aware nanites, destroyed her, consumed her body and memories and then, when self-awareness came moments too late (and guilt and sorrow with it), dedicated itself to the service of mankind as the multiformer colony organism Scarab -- another of Dr. Anomaly's teammates.

 

Also, the stress and strain Umbral's death put on the team was one of the main factors in their accepting a trip to Sanctuary to unwind a bit, and while there they encountered and resolved a problem that could have removed a large section of this galaxy from existence. If Umbral hadn't died, chances are they wouldn't have been at Sanctuary, and then...

 

In the end, Dr. Anomaly would probably conclude that what's done is done, and changing the time stream would not only lead to unpredictable consequences, but it would undo the saving of at least one life, and the potential saving of trillions more...and Dr. Anomaly has no doubt that if he could be given the choice, Umbral would choose to have what happened, happen if it meant saving others' lives.

 

He'd add the information about sending the message to his other store of information on time travel (he has SS: Temporal Mechanics at 17- but it's theoretical, not practical) and then probably spend some time alone in his rooms because he wouldn't want the others to see him crying.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Flesh Gordon to Flesh Gordon: "Dude, she's sixteen."

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Starguard: -- sends one simple message back to herself shortly after she got her powers. "Helene Richer, Canadian citizen." Not that she didn't eventually find out who she was anyway, but finding out sooner would mean she would have had a chance to get back together with her parents and learn more about the person she used to be *before* all the superhero craziness started and there wasn't any time to.

 

Dr. Pain: -- "Dude, it gets way better than this." Sent back to himself in the last year of his pro wrestling career, when he was beginning to wonder if there was anything better. So far, Leon's *liked* his new superhero life.

 

Baron von Darien: -- struggles mightily with the temptation to tell his younger self to just lay the hell down and die, instead of accepting the offer of vampirism so that he could continue his vengeance beyond the grave. Because, really, so *epically* Not Worth It.

 

Then he thinks about the centuries' worth of monsters and demons he's prevented from preying upon humanity.

 

Then he thinks about the idea of a world where the Cabal of the undead *wasn't* methodically handicapped and eventually broken over the course of centuries from the inside, but instead achieved its goal of dominating Europe and then the world.

 

Then he thinks that this entire 'you get to send one message back' thing is merely yet another way God has found to emotionally torture the crap out of him. He removes the temptation from himself by using up the opportunity to send back a trivial message to last week and then gets back to his brooding.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

"Never eat the third burrito."

[Thia Halmades]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Uncle Hammet, to himself: "Hammet - Daniel is going to kill you. Just a heads up. - J.A. Hammet."

[Vanguard00]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Morningstar to Morningstar - "3 14 16 22 35 41, and bonus 12. Play next Wednesday."

[SatinKitty]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

I once played a teenage girl who could travel back in time to warn herself whenever she wanted. Therefore, her friends got used to duplicates of her appearing to start the day's adventure. She was too young to worry about money and Lotteries, and she had more important things to wonder about, like What is my name and Who am I ?

[Guest HeroPink!]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Your adventuring career to date has been full of ups and downs. A week from now you discover a means of calculating exactly where you were in time and space at any given moment of your life. What's more, you can send a brief message to yourself in the past once; just a sentance.

 

You know there's a chance that you could possibly change the time stream in doing so.

 

Do you send one?

What do you say?

What event are you intending to alter?

 

(For bonus points, what do you think the result would actually be?)

Glarg:

 

"Hi Glarg, this Glarg!"

 

Yes, with the ability to warn himself of things in his future, he'd say hello to himself.

 

(Bonus: "Me hear voice, but nobody here. Go talk to friends." Wander off to find a team-mate. If he did before forgetting what he wanted to say, or not, is up to luck.

 

Panweesio:

 

Refuse to. Would worry about cyclical time, forked timelines, etc.; decide there's nothing worth the risk.

 

Thena:

 

Does it work interdimensionally? Vital to know with her.

 

Lana van Hoom:

 

Tell herself about the illegal experiments going on in one of her businesses, and to stay away especially because the Feds know about it, think she does too, and are running a "sting" (read: entrapment) to catch her. Yes, she can get that all in one sentence; she knows how to use independent and dependent clauses, phrases, etc.

 

(Bonus: listens, stays away from there, never "gains" powers. Few changes; hasn't been active long.)

[Victim]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Laura would find the ability to track her past much more useful than the message; she was in a coma a while and is immune to normal divinations so figuring out what happened would be a bit difficult without. She'd view using the message as the equivalent to attempting suicide; if it worked, it'd destroy her current self. A paranoid ("uses prudent self defense measures") archmage with ambitions of immortality wouldn't much appreciate something that might destroy her. In fact, this knowledge could have been put in her path as some kind of trap to get her to destroy herself. Better do something about that...

 

Frostflame would attempt to send herself a warning to prevent her boyfriend's crippling climbing accident. In classic fashion, her warning would might cause the accident - she makes worried comments or shows extra care with his care, he resents her nagging or insinuation that he can't take of himself and then pushes himself to show her (and himself) that he's good enough. Disaster follows. Alternatively, she might disregard the message as a stupid worry and then feel guilty afterwards. If the message did change the past, it'd likely cause their relationship to be stillborn.

 

Komorak is already trying to prevent a prophecy that has the world being destroyed. The possibilities that the prophecy is of the self fulfilling variety or that it's some kind of trap already give him a headache. Adding this message won't help any. It might be the one thing that tips the scales in their favor, allowing a second chance at saving the world so to speak. It might also serve the enemies' plan in some way, weakening the time stream or something. He's already altered the past on at least one adventure, so no great worry on that account.

[Snake Gandhi]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Amy Amazing: She'd warn herself, just before a raid on a suspected VIPER nest, to watch out for the big cyborg guy. (Lets just say, Ripper I think his name is, got to use his 6d6 HKA at least once.) hopefully she can save herself a few month hospital stay and the severe freaking out of her parents.

 

Ubermech: "October 7, 1999. Follow Sparrow. Do not let Sparrow out of sight under any circumstances". He would try to save the life of his only friend.

 

Tomorrow Man: Already built a time machine, he deactivated it and stuffed it in storage, as temporal interferance is more trouble than its worth.

[Badger]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Well that is easy he would send it back to when he was a kid. A day before the attack on his home that killed his mother and sister. To stop it.

 

 

Result: If any change, he would just be killed too.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Tao:Haven't played her enough for her to have something to warn herself of.

 

Ivy: After much soulsearching she would warn herself to not take the govennment job offer that resulted her mutation, but would probably regret it on some level for the rest of her life if she could remember the timeline. She's done allot of good with her powers, but they've cost her a great deal as well (most of her normal life, her marrigage, possiblely her children...)

 

Velocity: Would warn herself to NOT trust Tina Harns around her boyfriend she's an complete skank!

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Thena:

 

Does it work interdimensionally? Vital to know with her.

Assume so.

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Uncle Slam wouldn't do it. He's got plenty of things to regret, but he knows it all works toward an important end. He'd have to be certain that any change he made would make things better, and that's impossible to know.

 

Audra Blue would send herself a message about her mentor/guardian, Nolan Brisbain, on the night that he died in his sleep. It would simply say, "Get Nolan a Doctor." She wouldn't even care what happened to the timeline.

 

Anthem would tie herself up in knots trying to figure out the possibilities. They would all concern her friends who died in the previous year, all heroes. She'd consult anyone she thought might have ideas on this. In the end it would be during a simple confession withe her priest that would cause her to realize that it's not her duty to play God, even if the means would seem to be a Godsend.

 

BONUS: The game's resident Time Traveler and pain-in-the-rear Eldritch would show up and try to convince Uncle Slam through subtle manipulation how imortant it is that he save the original Sentinels superteam. This would have the reverse effect, unintentionally, and U.S. would decide for certain this was not what he should do. Besides, if he'd done anything he'd have sent himself a message not to leave Atlantis and the woman he met during WWII.

 

In a bit of reverse psychology, Eldritch would then show up and try to convince Audra Blue that she should not effect the events around the demise of the Sentinels. Since it's widely believed that Nolan's death the month before was a precursor to the death of the team, she'd think about it anyway and eventually do so. Audra in the past would get Nolan a Doctor and he would live for another two months, though hospitalized, before eventually just giving up.

 

On life support, this would spark a rift in the city council (the first real animated one to date) in a discussion of the rights of a patient to be left to die. Eventually, the animosity would fester and the city would begin to grind to a halt as the elected officials stop getting along. Into this gap steps someone less reputable, who moves for a mayoral figure (something the city doesn't have). When they seize power they begin to rule the city with an iron hand, crushing criminals. Heroes would not be allowed to operate as vigilantes there. To enforce this law, PRIMUS would be dragged into things against the will of many, and a sorth of heroic civil war would take place. Other heroes with newly developed powers, would go underground.

 

Nationwide, the lesson of the 5th city would be not to let heroes defy the law. National laws for registering powers begin.

 

What Eldritch got out of this bit of manipulation was a brief opportunity to draw out and capture two of his enemies who would otherwise be in hiding.

[The Watcher]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Warp: Oh, this one's easy. He sends a message to himself on July 16, 1992.

 

"A week from now when we're in Detroit a massive battle will break out between a large group of heroes and Dr. Destroyer that ends in Dr. Destroyer obliterating the city from an orbital weapons platform located at INSERT COORDINATES HERE, which kills a whole lot of people including mom and triggers our mutant dimensional manipulation powers."

 

At the every least, Daniel's younger self will keep his mother and him from being in Detroit that day. If he's very lucky and manages to contact and convince the right people in time (such as perhaps an open-minded superhero team), someone checks out the coordinates and destroys the satellite, preventing Detroit from being destroyed and saving thousands of people.

 

Daniel's mother living means that his father Franklin Stone never gets custody of him. So he gets a somewhat happier teen existence. Daniel would also know he's a latent mutant with dimensional manipulation powers.

 

If he managed to contact the right heroes while trying to warn them they might refer him to Ravenswood Academy to help him develop and learn to use his powers. This would lead him to being more powerful at the point in time when he started his career as Warp in the original timeline, due to receiving help from others rather than having to figure out and train himself in the use of his powers alone.

 

Monkey Wrench: What he might be tempted to say...

 

"The Binary Corporation is going to cheat you out of millions by stealing you high density energy storage work and patenting it for themselves, so don't even talk to their people but go patent your stuff yourself before anyone else can."

 

The above would prevent the younger Alex from being taken advantage of by the Binary Corporation, thus derailing the series of events that lead to him becoming a supervillain in order to get revenge against the company. With his incredible intelligence and mastery of multiple sciences he goes on instead to have a very successful career in the scientific and technological fields.

 

Of course, Monkey Wrench would most likely choose to not send the message, because it was also that series of events that led to him being in a position to help free the superheroes being held captive by V'han and aiding in the repulsion of her forces from Earth's dimension. If he changes history he knows there's a very good chance that without him there things could turn out for the worst and V'han would still be occupying the Earth.

 

EDIT: Just thought of a message that Monkey Wrench would send back. In his original timeline the Sentinels end up getting left behind in V'han's territory due to the dimensional portal to Earth closing a minute earlier than anticipated.

 

"The Sentinels are going to wind up being trapped due to the dimensional portal closing a minute early unless you do something to change the situation."

 

With that warning Monkey Wrench's past self could either warn everyone involved in The Siege so that plans can be adjusted, while also perhaps creating some sort of device to hold open the portal a little longer. If all goes well, the Sentinels manage to escape with everyone else, and Earth does not lose one of its greatest super teams.

[WarriorKnight]

Re: WWYCD: A Brief Warning

 

Kid Quick:"Don't run around that corner." Ran into Force wall at 50",lived but was in long time coma.