City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Count this as a vote for the Ring of Fire option. Especially for the rest of the world not being sure exactly what happened. You bring in the super-science to study the mystery and the new industries trying to create a defense against it.

 

A variation on the Ring of Fire is now bubbling in my head after all the good suggestions.

[Cancer]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

If you scoop a hole a couple of miles down into bedrock, you have just made access -- temporarily -- to minerals at those depths. That might be useful & valuable enough to bring in exploitation.

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

If you scoop a hole a couple of miles down into bedrock' date=' you have just made access -- temporarily -- to minerals at those depths. That might be useful & valuable enough to bring in exploitation.[/quote']

 

An excellent point. It also means... wait for it...

 

 

Mole People...

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Well, that goes without saying.

[Hermit]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

An excellent point. It also means... wait for it...

 

 

Mole People...

 

Ahem.... they prefer to be called 'Subterranean-Americans'

 

 

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Well' date=' that goes without saying.[/quote']

 

I have an unhealthy obsession with the Mole People. If the (real news) reports a lake disappeared, it's mole people. If a building collapses, it's mole people. If Spider-Man has a psychedelic trip through underworld caverns, it's mole people!

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Ahem.... they prefer to be called 'Subterranean-Americans'

 

That is so 2002. We've given up on Sensitivity. However (and you old timers will get a kick out of this), I was looking for famous Philadelphians and came across Noam Chomsky!

[New Hero]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Consider this thread bookmarked.

 

What a fascinating idea to play in Champions! While I don't have anything constructive (or would that be destructive? We are talking about annihilating (more or less) Philadelphia here) to add, I like the idea that after the city gets rebuilt, scientists discover another event (Windstorm Storyline) might be occurring at any time. I know that it would keep me on my toes as a player.

 

Well done and good luck!

[MisterVimes]

The Philadelphia Experiment (with apologies to Charles Berlitz)

 

The weather was cool that Friday in Philadelphia. The 25th of May in the year 2000 marked the 213th anniversary of the Constitutional Convention convened to write the Constitution for the United States. The Historic District was filled with late spring tourists, school children on end of the year field trips, re-enactors, shop-keepers, and Dr. Emile Lasombre, second rate super-villain.

 

Across town, in the Nielsen Physics Building of the University of Pennsylvania, an experiment was taking place. Mark T. Kindle and Sarah G. Jacobi, students in the University’s elementary particle physics theory group, had discovered something amazing. By using a collider to collide protons with their anti-matter counterparts, anti-protons, the pair had noted a small deviation in the time-keeping devices in the lab. Their suppositions were much like those that anyone would make, that the events were causing a dimple in local space-time. The details of their experiments are lost to us, but Jacobi’s blog recorded enough information to guess what happened next: The students, without supervision, changed the conditions of the experiment and activated the collider. What happened next is a matter of history and public record. Philadelphia vanished.

 

Scientists have speculated that, rather than protons and anti-protons, another sub-atomic particle and anti-particle collided. The exact nature of the particles of how they were isolated have been guessed at for nearly a decade and have become meat for endless internet discussions from arm-chair physicists and the subject of science term papers for just as long. And every year on May 25th we revisit the story, the day that 1,516,022 people ceased to exist.

Scientists also calculate that the Event lasted approximately 4.7 microseconds. The particles collided and created a massive shift in space-time and a sphere, 7.32 miles in diameter, left our reality and was replaced by an equal quantity of “somewhere else.” Where the Other-Space came from we may never know. Where Philadelphia went is another mystery. Speculation as to the final fate of the city will likely never be known. But the aftermath, for those of us that survived, will never be forgotten.

 

While the collision event took place in microseconds, the resulting wave did not. Traveling at around 80 miles an hour, it took the wave 2 minutes and 45 seconds to travel the full 7.32 miles. Survivors in the Historic District and citizens of neighboring Camden, NJ report that the Event appeared as a wall of pale gray light suffused with dark gray clouds that slowly crawled across the city and to the Delaware River where it terminated for reasons that have never been fully understood.

 

After the wave had passed, nature reacted to the absence of all that matter as one might expect: An earthquake struck the region that registered a mere 4.8 on the Richter Scale for a duration of 12 minutes with a short (48 second) aftershock (measuring 1.4 on the Richter Scale). The quake was felt as far away as Manhattan. Gale force winds occurred in a 400 square mile area as air slammed into the 7 mile diameter vacuum. Air temperatures dropped, clouds formed, and a storm struck the same 400 square smiles bringing baseball sized hail and sheets of lightning. For those who witnessed it, the Event looked like the end of the world. The storm, the earthquake, and the missing section of reality lasted, as noted, for a few seconds less than 12 minutes – then Other-Space arrived.

 

The material that filled the missing area, that was once Philadelphia, came from somewhere else. Newspapers at the time stated that it was from “some other space” which became known publically as Other-Space thanks to CNN News. What replace our reality was a gaseous atmosphere under pressure above a collection of ultisols (mineral soils which contain no calcareous material), unknown high-density metals, and bedrock. Then the Event was over.

 

The pressurized atmosphere dispersed in all directions over a 44 hour period. Eyewitnesses described the smell of the gasses as a “cross between cotton-candy and motor oil). Scientists have since rated the Other-Space gas as a Class-1000 mutagen and points to it as a contributing factor to the high level of Sigma level abilities in the area around the Event.

 

But if Philadelphia vanished, how are there survivors and witnesses you ask? Better one should ask how the Historic District of Philadelphia survived the Event as it lay within the radius of the area supplanted by Other-Space. The answer is one of record and has been memorialized along with the Event itself. Dr. Emile Lasombre, second rate super-villain, was, as noted, present in the Historic District the day of the Event.

 

Eye witness accounts of what occurred in the Historic District number in the hundreds, from the children, to the tourists, to the local re-enactors and shop keepers. As the gray wall of nothingness crept across the landscape toward the area, Dr. Lasombre stopped. The strawberry ice-cream cone in his right hand fell to the street and he freed his left hand. He coughed once and spread his fingers wide and held his arms above his head. He spoke a single phrase – a prayer – heard by those immediately near him: “God, please let me be enough.” Then he used his second rate power – he created shadows.

 

Emile Lasombre has had many biographies written about him, many have the truth in them. Dr. Lasombre was a French scientist whose experiments into dark-matter had given him the ability to create shadows --or rather that was the misconception. What Dr. Lasombre could do was use dark-matter to create mass shadows that appeared as inky darkness, without getting too scientific, Lasombre warped photons by changing quantum gravity. Emile knew how his powers worked (even if other people didn’t) and, for the first time, he concentrated on creating a sphere made of quantum gravity that would bend particles around the sphere – it was the largest and most complex thing the doctor had ever done with his powers. As the wave approached, the wall of gray nothing curved around the sphere, bypassing the area and the change in space-time was diverted. Now, as you recall, the area of the Event was in all directions and the absence of matter in the 7 mile sphere meant that Lasombre’s sphere should have fallen into the resulting void. That would have been true except that Dr. Emile Lasombre warped every particle that came in contact with his power – that included gravitons. For 12 terrifying minutes Dr. Lasombre held the lives of hundreds of people in his hands and, when reality was replaced by Other-Space, he held on for 5 minutes more as the alien atmosphere dispersed. Through the Storm and the Earthquake he held on and then he stopped bending the particles away and slumped slowly to the ground.

 

People say Emile had a heart attack from the strain, but the truth is that it was a massive brain hemorrhage that ended his life. As his life bled away he smiled lightly and reached out with the left hand that he had freed to do his work and took up his daughter’s hand again. You see, Lasombre had not come to the Historic District that day to commit a crime or do anything one might expect from a super-villain, he was there to take his daughter, Sophia, on a field trip of her own.

 

Today in the place of Philadelphia stands a bright and shining city that provides its citizens with ultra-modern conveniences, it is the model city. How it got there and what happened over the 10 years that followed is another story. But atop of the steps of the new Museum of Art stands a bronze statue of Dr. Emile Lasombre. The pose is one of quiet reflection, a man looking down at his hands with a small smile on his face. The inscription on the base of the statue echo his final words, they read: “Dr. Emile Lasombre – He was enough.”

 

Dr. Sophia Lasombre

May 25th 2010.

[Doc Samson]

Re: The Philadelphia Experiment (with apologies to Charles Berlitz)

 

My top 3 (I live there too):

 

The labor unions choked the entire city to death.

The MOVE organization tried to reform causing the Mayor to drop an even bigger bomb this time (yes it happened before) destroying the entire city.

The police arrested everyone affiliated with organized crime leaving noone left.

 

These movies took place in Jersey and Philly, maybe they can provide some inspiration.

 

How about an outbreak of some sort? - 12 Monkeys (Philly and Camden)

The plants killed everyone? - The Happening (and all his other movies take place in Philly)

Something cause an epidemic of indestuctable mad slashers. Jason Voorhees (named after Voorhees NJ, took place in the Pine Barrens), Micheal Myers (took place in another state based on Haddonfield NJ).

Zombies - Night of the Living Dead

A Demon did it - Fallen

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_Pennsylvania

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania

 

My actual suggestion - A secret war between the Freeasons and the Illuminati resulted in the use of an ancient artifact that destoyed the entire Philadelphia area, leaving only Old City and Camden in its wake. Noone knows who were the good guys and who were the bad. The nature of the artifact (magic, alien technology, extradimensional forces) is not known as it was never recovered.

 

-edit-

Just read your last post, good stuff and repped.

[MisterVimes]

Re: The Philadelphia Experiment (with apologies to Charles Berlitz)

 

My actual suggestion - A secret war between the Freeasons and the Illuminati resulted in the use of an ancient artifact that destoyed the entire Philadelphia area, leaving only Old City and Camden in its wake. Noone knows who were the good guys and who were the bad. The nature of the artifact (magic, alien technology, extradimensional forces) is not known as it was never recovered.

 

My buddy John recommended the following (tongue in cheek).

 

The Mennonite Central Committee casts off their usual anti-violent tendencies and, with the New Order Amish, and The Religious Society of Friends and declare that 'ground zero' has become New Zion. Eschewing the technology that they say caused the cataclysm that wiped away Philly, AND pointing to the 'miracle' the protected the historic district. Their claim to the area goes back to a little remembered clause in a long forgotten revision of the city charter that Ben Franklin sponsored. The provision states, which he meant only as a humorous dig at the burgeoning 'technology' he in part was purveying, that IF any disaster should befall the city, that the land and anything left be given over to the 'peaceful, Amish brethren' to create their Gelassenheit and that the land be ruled by the Ordung.

 

Subsequently, we see a city grow lit by gaslight, limited use of electricity, no motor cars allowed in the city limits, and NO computers. Some tech is allowed, but is limited to the simplest of machines. The environ could be a Amish/steampunky mix. Techonology always pushing the limits of the Ordung.

 

Technology and modernists flock to Camden. Almost in spite of 'New Zion', Camden becomes super industrialized in a high tech way. In the middle is The Old Historic District...a meld between the two extremes.

 

Not a dichotomy between Utopia and Distopia, but one of the Old Gods and the New Order. Each extreme think they live in the former and their neighbors the latter.

 

Or I may be full of crap.

[MisterVimes]

Re: The Philadelphia Experiment (with apologies to Charles Berlitz)

 

-edit-

Just read your last post, good stuff and repped.

Thank you very much.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

I'm glad to see that there was a solid component that ends up taking the place of all the underlying rock strata that would have disappeared. Continental plates are 25+ miles thick so I don't think there'd be that much chance of a volcanic rupture of the crust, but I would imagine you'd have massive subsidence around the edges of a 3 mile radius spherical hole. And the frequent minor earthquakes that would go along with that.

[Hermit]

Re: The Philadelphia Experiment (with apologies to Charles Berlitz)

 

The weather was cool that Friday in Philadelphia. The 25th of May ....

....much goodness snipped.

 

Sadly, I cannot rep you again yet.

[concord]

Re: The Philadelphia Experiment (with apologies to Charles Berlitz)

 

The weather was cool that Friday in Philadelphia...

 

Dr. Sophia Lasombre

May 25th 2010.

 

Excellent... but alas... You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to MisterVimes again.

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Thank you all. I am very flattered that you liked it.

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

I'm glad to see that there was a solid component that ends up taking the place of all the underlying rock strata that would have disappeared. Continental plates are 25+ miles thick so I don't think there'd be that much chance of a volcanic rupture of the crust' date=' but I would imagine you'd have massive subsidence around the edges of a 3 mile radius spherical hole. And the frequent minor earthquakes that would go along with that.[/quote']

 

This is what I am thinking. More than one Villain will try and take advantage of the potential instability and imagine a villain with gravity powers trying to lift the city...

[Enforcer84]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

ooh I'm gonna have to spread rep too. That was a nice bit of fic

 

I like Dr. Sophia already.

[Drhoz]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Climate Change makes F-6 tornadoes possible. To misquote a line from the novel Heavy Weather "And on this channel... Philadelphia is being eaten by a giant donut. Why is this?'

[RexMundi]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Anyone but me remember Marvel's New Universe, and the cataclysm event that happened in it called The Pit? I know you don't want a villain wasting the area, but how about a Hero?

 

~Rex....usually blows up Chicago, because Chicago annoys him. In his old A.T.A.X. game, it was an Alien Terraforming Pod that splashed down just off lake Shore Drive that did/is doing the damage, heh... Most of Chicago though seems oblivious to the Chtorran's running amok in their city and continue life as usual....

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

ooh I'm gonna have to spread rep too. That was a nice bit of fic

 

I like Dr. Sophia already.

 

Thanks. I like her too. The more I write about her the better I like her.

[MisterVimes]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Anyone but me remember Marvel's New Universe, and the cataclysm event that happened in it called The Pit? I know you don't want a villain wasting the area, but how about a Hero?

 

~Rex....usually blows up Chicago, because Chicago annoys him. In his old A.T.A.X. game, it was an Alien Terraforming Pod that splashed down just off lake Shore Drive that did/is doing the damage, heh... Most of Chicago though seems oblivious to the Chtorran's running amok in their city and continue life as usual....

 

I did read the Pit and I loved it. I actually settled on the villain saving the day. See here: http://www.herogames.com/forums/entry.php/1589-Sigma-Cataclysm-It-s-the-End-of-the-World-as-we-know-it

[RexMundi]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Great stuff, I'd Rep but the Site is being Stingy......

 

~Rex....fires up the Rep Signal

[DusterBoy]

Re: City Killer - Only you can destroy Philadelphia

 

Most of Chicago though seems oblivious to the Chtorran's running amok in their city and continue life as usual....

 

Well, they also ignore all the vampires, weres and necromancers and other assorted weirdness, so that doesn't surprise me.