Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

In my current campaign I'm running on HeroCentral' date=' V'han has arrived in a single shark-shaped ship (about a thousand meters or so in length - about the length of an Imperial Star Destroyer) in Earth's orbit. Inside the "belly" of this shift is a huge technological dimensional gate where the invasion ships (about 100 meter diameter disk-shaped) come through one at a time to descend into Earth's atmosphere to invade. So, on the one hand, she has a fleet capable, but on the other hand, it can only arrive piecemeal. (The mother ship can carry four of these ships to begin the opening volley.)[/quote']

Umm... I have a question...

 

If she can only bring ships through one at a time... why the heck did she come into orbit, then start bringing them through? For pity's sake... hang out somewhere far enough away (among the asteroids, perhaps?) where she's not likely to be easily detected, bring through a few hundred or a few thousand ships, and move them en masse to Earth!

[TheRealVector]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Why? Cause that's where Vector keeps all his stuff, that's why!

[TheRealVector]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Umm... I have a question...

 

If she can only bring ships through one at a time... why the heck did she come into orbit, then start bringing them through? For pity's sake... hang out somewhere far enough away (among the asteroids, perhaps?) where she's not likely to be easily detected, bring through a few hundred or a few thousand ships, and move them en masse to Earth!

 

Uh, because then the heroes would be defeated, the Earth enslaved and the campaign would be over?

 

See where your Vulcan logic has taken us! Are you happy now?

[Mike W]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Speaking entirely hypothetically, I would expect one or more of the folowing to apply:

 

1. The bigger your empire gets, the harder it is to govern and the more revolutions you have to worry about. For example, one concern the English kings had for much of the middle ages was that any time they wanted to put a major force in Europe they had to be concerned about the Scots seizing an opportunity to rebel. Maybe she's worried about having to commit so many elite troops to conqueroring Earth that revolutions might spring up on already conquored worlds.

 

2. Earth's dimensional defenses might be better. She can't commit as many troops as she would like because the Earth's mystic defenses are much higher than a normal planet's.

 

3. It's not just the number of supers but super mystics around Earth that is the problem. And don't forget that certain evil mystics might not like some interdimensional interloper to come by and try and conquor the Earth. Do you really want to tick of Takofanes?

 

4. She's worried about her own safety. Sure, she has endless numbers of troops who could certainly take over the Earth easily, BUT Earth has a lot of super powered types who might be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and try to go directly to the source and attack her directly(and maybe win). Conquoring the Earth does her no good if the Champions(let's say) capture her while the battle is going on.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Uh, because then the heroes would be defeated, the Earth enslaved and the campaign would be over?

 

See where your Vulcan logic has taken us! Are you happy now?

 

Gee, thanks, Doc A. All of Earth's greatest champions are in extradimensional reeducation camps.

 

 

That "Vulcan logic" thing reminds me of that one episode where Spock was trying to restrain a drunken Scotty, who yelled out a slurred "Get your Vulcan hands off me!" That line provided quite a few laughs back in high school, especially when we were drinking.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

I repped OddHat for he's take on the Empress.

[Victim]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Umm... I have a question...

 

If she can only bring ships through one at a time... why the heck did she come into orbit, then start bringing them through? For pity's sake... hang out somewhere far enough away (among the asteroids, perhaps?) where she's not likely to be easily detected, bring through a few hundred or a few thousand ships, and move them en masse to Earth!

 

Because the fabric of space must distorted sufficiently in order to open stable dimensional portals? So it'd only be possible to cross over near a planet, star, etc and not in vast empty space.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

You wanna know what I think the real reason that V'han hasn't

been able to conquer Earth is?

 

She hasn't been able to conquer Earth because Union 808 of the FEC

(Federation of Extradimensional Conquerors) has told her that she

can't take over any more dimensions until the other extradimensional

conquerors out there in the Multiverse have had a chance to make

their quotas of conquered dimensions.

 

 

 

Major Tom

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Of course the scariest possibility is that she already has, and it just hasn't been publicly announced yet. Major world governments, militaries and corporations have been shrewdly persuaded, bribed, subverted or coerced into accepting V'Han's rule. Watch as political corruption begins to be weeded out, warring factions unexpectedly declare peace, extremist movements of all sorts are suppressed with unprecedented efficiency, poverty and other social ills start to be effectively addressed, and the security and standard of living for most of the world's populace rises noticeably. Your PC heroes may start to wonder if a wave of sanity is sweeping the planet.

 

Then comes the day of the global press conference, and a beautiful but alien face appears on every television screen...

[Hermit]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Of course the scariest possibility is that she already has, and it just hasn't been publicly announced yet. Major world governments, militaries and corporations have been shrewdly persuaded, bribed, subverted or coerced into accepting V'Han's rule. Watch as political corruption begins to be weeded out, warring factions unexpectedly declare peace, extremist movements of all sorts are suppressed with unprecedented efficiency, poverty and other social ills start to be effectively addressed, and the security and standard of living for most of the world's populace rises noticeably. Your PC heroes may start to wonder if a wave of sanity is sweeping the planet.

 

Then comes the day of the global press conference, and a beautiful but alien face appears on every television screen...

I like this one.

 

Perhaps because I can see some mentalist superhero clutching his head and when his team mates ask what's wrong, he replies "I felt a great disturbance in the world, as if millions of conspiracy theorists cried out 'Ah HA! I knew it' and now won't shut up.":D

[ghost-angel]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

All this talk of Vahn taking over governments assumes one thing:

 

She thinks on such a small scale.

 

She's a Dimensional conqueror. At this point in time (2000AD CU) Earth is the least of her worries. You have those weird Nibu Gemani neat the Magellanic Clouds. Space Gods. Hzeel. Varanyi. Xenovores.

 

Geesh, with just those what the heck would controlling Africa do for her?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Well, we're not just talking about taking over African governments and institutions, but every major power and player in the world. And if she does have aspirations to conquer this galaxy (as in the C3000 era), a comfy planet tucked onto the far edge of the galaxy - which just happens to have a large native population of potentially draftable supers - would make a good staging area.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Well' date=' we're not just talking about taking over African governments and institutions, but every major power and player in the world. And if she does have aspirations to conquer this galaxy (as in the C3000 era), a comfy planet tucked onto the far edge of the galaxy - which just happens to have a large native population of potentially draftable supers - would make a good staging area.[/quote']

 

Africa was an example.

 

Why infiltrate Earth and not the Varanyi Empire - an entire race of Psionically powerful beings.

 

And I'm still not convinced she would think on that scale. Why waste resources to take over a sub-section of a sub-section of the Dimension?

 

I'm just saying - she hasn't done any conquering because she thinks on such a large scale it's not worth it if the initial advance doesn't take a good chunk of area.

 

Imagine the US Invading Iraq and stopping at the first house they came across and going "Right, got this part. Let's rest."

[McCoy]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

All this talk of Vahn taking over governments assumes one thing:

 

She thinks on such a small scale.

 

She's a Dimensional conqueror. At this point in time (2000AD CU) Earth is the least of her worries. You have those weird Nibu Gemani neat the Magellanic Clouds. Space Gods. Hzeel. Varanyi. Xenovores.

 

Geesh, with just those what the heck would controlling Africa do for her?

UNLESS there is something unique about Earth, like Two (or maybe even four) dimensional gates in the Solar System in a reality where they average one per galaxy.

[Susano]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

She wants to add all of the hawt human superheroes to her harem.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

UNLESS there is something unique about Earth' date=' like Two (or maybe even four) dimensional gates in the Solar System in a reality where they average one per galaxy.[/quote']

 

I'm not saying Earth isn't a starting point, or the entrance to the Dimension.

 

I just don't see her thinking on a small enough scale to infiltrate Earth governments. You have to go in somewhere, but we're just the beaches of Normandy, she wants to take the beaches, pill boxes and a few miles past to assure a safe zone for more troops to get the rest of everything.

 

She just may not consider it worth her time until she can assure she has control over several systems inside this galaxy as a beach head. That's what I mean by sense of scale.

[Susano]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Okay, here's an idea: she starts her landings on Mars. Near the face on Mars, because that's where she tried untold thousands of years ago, only to be countered by... uhm... someone. Anyway, you get to play War of the Worlds all over again, and get to mix in say... The Montauk Project (http://surbrook.devermore.net/herosource/montauk/montauk.html)?

 

Fun for everyone!

[McCoy]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Now I'm tempted to start a game. V'han has requested, requested, an opportunity to address the General Assembly of the United Nations ASAP. Someone puts the PC's together as a group without official sanction "just in case." Their first task is to stay under the radar until they find what V'han wants this time, maybe preparing to go to the matress if she used an AoE Mind Control on the General Assembly so that they vote Earth into her Empire.

 

Among other things she will need control of the Earth, Orphius, Mars, and Tiamat gates, and she can most efficently get control with the cooperation of the Earthlings and the Martians.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Of course the scariest possibility is that she already has, and it just hasn't been publicly announced yet. Major world governments, militaries and corporations have been shrewdly persuaded, bribed, subverted or coerced into accepting V'Han's rule. Watch as political corruption begins to be weeded out, warring factions unexpectedly declare peace, extremist movements of all sorts are suppressed with unprecedented efficiency, poverty and other social ills start to be effectively addressed, and the security and standard of living for most of the world's populace rises noticeably. Your PC heroes may start to wonder if a wave of sanity is sweeping the planet.

 

Then comes the day of the global press conference, and a beautiful but alien face appears on every television screen...

 

If she could do all that, then I say, bring on the alien conquest.

 

"All war is at an end, politics are cleaner than they've been since the Roman Empire, poverty is a thing of the past, and the global standard of living makes what we once had in the US look like life in a medieval peasant's hut... tell me again, Defender, why is this a bad thing?"

[Susano]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

If she could do all that, then I say, bring on the alien conquest.

 

"All war is at an end, politics are cleaner than they've been since the Roman Empire, poverty is a thing of the past, and the global standard of living makes what we once had in the US look like life in a medieval peasant's hut... tell me again, Defender, why is this a bad thing?"

 

Because we have no say in our own destiny.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Because we have no say in our own destiny.

 

That's going to be a hard sell to the masses, given how few people really have a say in their own personal destiny.

 

I, for one, would welcome our new interdimensional overlord.

[Susano]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

That's going to be a hard sell to the masses, given how few people really have a say in their own personal destiny.

 

I, for one, would welcome our new interdimensional overlord.

 

I was just sayin' ya'know.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Die on your feet or lives on your knees.

 

Once her attention turns to the next conquest it'll be back to business as normal only the dimension owes resources and taxes to a really foreign entity.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

Of course the scariest possibility is that she already has, and it just hasn't been publicly announced yet. Major world governments, militaries and corporations have been shrewdly persuaded, bribed, subverted or coerced into accepting V'Han's rule. Watch as political corruption begins to be weeded out, warring factions unexpectedly declare peace, extremist movements of all sorts are suppressed with unprecedented efficiency, poverty and other social ills start to be effectively addressed, and the security and standard of living for most of the world's populace rises noticeably. Your PC heroes may start to wonder if a wave of sanity is sweeping the planet.

 

Then comes the day of the global press conference, and a beautiful but alien face appears on every television screen...

 

 

 

I so owe you rep for this, if I used the Empress I'd do just that. I'd love to see my players squirm with wondering if this was good or bad for the people of Earth.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth?

 

If she could do all that, then I say, bring on the alien conquest.

 

"All war is at an end, politics are cleaner than they've been since the Roman Empire, poverty is a thing of the past, and the global standard of living makes what we once had in the US look like life in a medieval peasant's hut... tell me again, Defender, why is this a bad thing?"

 

 

Because we have no say in our own destiny.

 

And the people who insist on making that point publicly are rounded up and imprisoned. Those who violently resist being imprisoned are executed.

 

The ugly side to even a benevolent dictatorship, is that it can't afford to tolerate dissent. And for purposes of running this scenario in a game, that feature can be played up to motivate PCs to action.