To Stand Against Tigers

[Hermit]

"This is intolerable," Controller Leones frowned. That was his title, controller, but at the moment, Angelo Leones felt a distinct lack of control, "Are you meaning to say they landed ON the islands?"

 

The man reporting to him was a good man, he looked uncomfortable, but he didn't hesitate to deliver the bad news, "Yes, Controller. They had a full conversation there, casual like. Some theorize that they may not have had their government's permission to do so."

 

"Please," Angelo snorted, "We are talking about the Tiger Squad. They're barely allowed to go to the toilet without their government at least knowing about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they had to call twenty four hours in advance to get permission."

 

The messenger's attempt to hide his discomfort shifted to an attempt not to smile. Equally a professional then, "Are you asking my opinion, Controller?"

 

"Yes," Leones said. He hadn't been exactly, but now he was curious, "I want your opinion on the increasing brazenness of China's super hero activities."

 

"It's as you say, Controller," The messenger continued, "The Typhoon has distracted many of our own heroes, and while the Philippines has had many blessings, an abundance of superhumans is not one of them. This allows the PRC to use their Tiger Squad as political tools as they 'fight crime' and 'pacify' areas they wish to claim, yet at the same time they assure all it is not a military endeavor. Worse, it often works. Areas that do not have superheroes themselves but face villains are relieved to have superheroes, ANY Superhero show up, and it puts China's interests in a very good light."

 

The controller nodded, "I would agree. To make it worse, many of the Tiger Squad are decent individuals, truly heroic. Said individuals are still puppets, noble puppets to be sure, but puppets. Still, I see you grasp the problem, but you seem to have no solution."

 

"Perhaps hiring some American superheroes to..." The messenger reached.

 

The Controller saw where he was going, and shook his head, "No. First, any American who could be hired by us, might accept a counteroffer from China to just go away. Secondly, while they are our allies, we already rely on their navy too much for my own liking. American interference can be played against us too easily."

 

"At least it's annoying the Japanese at least as much as it does us, if that's any comfort" The agent spoke.

 

Angelo Leones suddenly smiled and moved to his laptop, 'Ah, the solution. Thank you, Agent..."

 

"Daplas, sir," The agent inclined his head, "You're welcome, Controller, but I admit I'm not sure what you mean."

 

"I mean I have been thinking of this as a problem for the Philippines when in fact, it is a problem for all of South East Asia. I am about to send you for more messages, to Tokyo, Seoul, and Tawain...perhaps others. It is time to show unity against the ravenous tiger by raising a superhero team for the rest of us, a super hero team for the South Pacific!"

 

Daplas raised a brow. He respected the Controller, and the man had a lot of pull, but the man had asked for honesty, "The PRC will not be pleased."

 

"Then we will point out that this is no more nor less militant than their own Tiger Squad and that we but emulate them," Angelo smirked, "And we'll see if that curbs their overuse of same."

 

"Don't you think the Americans will want in on this?"

 

"Oh yes, the American people are growing increasingly isolationist, but their government is not willing to cede the ocean to China any time soon. They will suggest, I will pretend not to understand their suggestion. They will press, I will say no. They will insist and I shall fake outrage...."

 

Agent Daplas noticed the unspoken finish, "And then?"

 

"By the end of it, Agent Daplas, I'll have the American government funding and supplying half of what we need all by themselves without getting any of the credit, and I might let one on the team yet , but never not in a lead position," the Controller smiled as he typed something down on his computer, "It will be a tricky balancing act, but in the end, merely a variation of things I've done before."

 

"Controller Leones?"

 

"Yes, Agent Daplas?"

 

"I request a transfer to be under this new department and under your direct command sir. However it goes, I want a ringside seat," Daplas confessed.

 

"Thank you, Agent. But in truth, I changed your orders five minutes ago to do just that," The Controller smiled, "You and I will be at the edge of the action and it may yet blow up in our faces, but as they say 'it should be a hell of a show'"

 

Both men smiled, and then got to work.

 

 

OOC: Pardon the long rough draft fiction, but I've been thinking about how to mix a little RL politics in the superhero action of South East Asia. I downplayed UNTIL a little, because we're not looking for something as broad as UNITY, but rather a new alliance that is particularly meant to rival the Tiger Squad and if need be, stand against them.

 

So I could use ideas for this superteam.

Members, from various South East Asian (and Possibly beyond) countries but not China itself, of course.

A name for the project and team that various countries could agree upon.

Where a base would be placed as a compromise and what form that base might take.

And ideas for story seeds and the like.

 

 

 

[Houston GM]

Pardon the long rough draft fiction, but I've been thinking about how to mix a little RL politics in the superhero action of South East Asia. I downplayed UNTIL a little, because we're not looking for something as broad as UNITY, but rather a new alliance that is particularly meant to rival the Tiger Squad and if need be, stand against them.

 

So I could use ideas for this superteam.

Members, from various South East Asian (and Possibly beyond) countries but not China itself, of course.

A name for the project and team that various countries could agree upon.

Where a base would be placed as a compromise and what form that base might take.

And ideas for story seeds and the like.

 

Base:

I did a campaign based on a UN team a few years back. Some of my ideas/resources could be adapted to your campaign.

 

In my campaign, there were five bases worldwide, and each base was paid for by the country where it was located. Therefore, my bases ended up in countries that wanted a UN team present for some reason. Some wanted the increased visibility on the world stage. (For example, Venezuela sponsored a base for this reason.) Others wanted the base to counter the implied threat of a larger, interfering neighbor. (For example, Ukraine sponsored a base in order to counter Russia's influence.)

 

However, since the host country paid for the base and the non-essential staff, the countries had to have enough wealth to support the cost.

 

I put a base in Jakarta, Indonesia, and that would certainly work for you. However, I could see Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia all offering to be the host country for the base. China would strongly object to the base being in Taiwan. South Korea and Japan might try to prevent each other from trying to get the base. Australia is a little too far away. Indonesia is a good compromise. And if your campaign also has jihadist supervillain terrorists, Indonesia would gain an additional benefit to having a handy resource to counter them.

 

Story seeds:

I plundered the following thread for every idea that I could adapt to my campaign. I changed the locations and villains as necessary to fit my campaign.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2788-from-little-plot-seeds-mighty-games-do-grow-share-your-ideas/?hl=seeds

 

There's more material in this thread than you could pack into a multi-year campaign.

 

Name:

Ring of Fire

 

It has a nice ring to it. It focuses on the geography. There's no objectionable subtext contained in the name.

 

Members:

You could have a caucasian, Australian ninja who runs around bare-chested, wears white pants and .... nah ... that would be too silly for anyone to take seriously.

[kahuna's bro]

team name project dragon

[lemming]

Sam ran a campaign based in the SE Asia area including Australia & New Zealand.  Everyone had two characters, I had a Martial Brick from Thailand, and an Adventure Archeologist from New Zealand.  He investigated old abandoned super bases and had collected quite a few items...

[TheQuestionMan]

Regions of Asia 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Asia#Regions

 

Representing all the regions that China borders. 

 

Northeast Asia  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Asia

 

Southeast Asia  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia

 

Central Asia  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia

 

South Asia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia

 

List of Asian Superhero  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_superheroes

 

Bayan Knights

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayan_Knights  

 

 

Cheers  

 

 

QM

[Hermit]

 

 

I put a base in Jakarta, Indonesia, and that would certainly work for you. However, I could see Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia all offering to be the host country for the base. China would strongly object to the base being in Taiwan. South Korea and Japan might try to prevent each other from trying to get the base. Australia is a little too far away. Indonesia is a good compromise. And if your campaign also has jihadist supervillain terrorists, Indonesia would gain an additional benefit to having a handy resource to counter them.

 

Houston GM- Actually, this all makes good sense to me. I can see Jakarta having a major base while the other countries had smaller stations to operate out of in case of temporary extended stay.  Thanks.

 

Kahuna's Bro- While H GM's Ring of Fire works, I think Project Dragon might be more 'comic booky' (No, I don't care if that's a real phrase or not) and that would work for me.

 

Lemming- Sounds like a fun campaign. I haven't decided on the sheer size of the team, but they're trying to compete with the Tiger Squad, so I imagine they'd want to try to match that rather large group.

 

TQM- Mmm, I see I used the term 'South East Asia' a little too clumsily in my first post. Err whoops?

[lemming]

Sams version of the Tiger Squad had these chars, of course it was a bit different of a focus in the 90s.

 

The Winds of Change, sweeping through the world, awakening every member of the proletariat to the great message of international communism

The Purifying Fire of communism, consuming the decadent regimes of the past and lighting the way towards a brighter future for all workers

Neverending Progressive Movement towards the glorious goal of worldwide worker solidarity

The Iron Resolve of the working class, united against western Imperialism

The Great people of China, reaching the Peak of Human Achievement through correct application of Marxist principles

Correct Thought, guided by the wisdom of Mao, free from the decadent weakness of the west

 

Our group, while having to deal with China somewhat, mainly dealt with some of the super team threats that were trying to find softer targets than the US.  There had also been a campaign in Europe.

[TheQuestionMan]

TQM- Mmm, I see I used the term 'South East Asia' a little too clumsily in my first post. Err whoops?

 

No interest in the expanded UNTIL Team UNITY. A Pacific Rim Super Group/Team? or Your version of UNTIL.

 

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

http://www.comicvine.com/search/?indices[0]=cv_arc&indices[1]=cv_character&indices[2]=cv_company&indices[3]=cv_concept&indices[4]=cv_episode&indices[5]=cv_location&indices[6]=cv_movie&indices[7]=cv_person&indices[8]=cv_series&indices[9]=cv_team&indices[10]=cv_thing&indices[11]=cv_volume&page=1&q=Thunder%20Agents

 

Stormwatch

http://www.comicvine.com/search/?q=Stormwatch&indices%5B%5D=cv_arc&indices%5B%5D=cv_character&indices%5B%5D=cv_company&indices%5B%5D=cv_concept&indices%5B%5D=cv_episode&indices%5B%5D=cv_location&indices%5B%5D=cv_movie&indices%5B%5D=cv_person&indices%5B%5D=cv_series&indices%5B%5D=cv_team&indices%5B%5D=cv_thing&indices%5B%5D=cv_volume

 

I.S.T. 

http://www.comicvine.com/profile/shoe/lists/international-super-teams/36759

 

 

 

 

QM  

[Enforcer84]

Pacific heroes?

 

There should be a Tibetan there. Or perhaps Dragon Master? 

He'd probably be the first to try and sign up. 

[Lord Liaden]

There are a few heroes in Champions Worldwide who might be persuaded to join such a group. Charm Girl of Japan is a solo hero and do-gooder with no particular connection to government or law-enforcement. Silverwing from Singapor is an operative for his government and has good relations with UNTIL, but would probably join this group if his government wanted him to. South Korea's Soaring Eagle is officially a vigilante in her country, but very popular with the public and allowed a large degree of unofficial freedom to operate. Atoll is a former Phillipino supervillain trying to reform and act as a hero.

 

Book Of The Destroyer mentions a Malaysian superhero, Biru Bintang ("blue star") who led the opposition to Destroyer's invasion of Indonesia in 2002. Although current continuity retconned that event to have been instigated by Shadow Destroyer, there's no reason to believe Blue Star doesn't still exist. (We have no other data about him/her, though.)

[assault]

Pacific heroes?

 

There should be a Tibetan there. Or perhaps Dragon Master? 

He'd probably be the first to try and sign up. 

 

The most obvious point here is that Tibet is nowhere near the Pacific...

 

Also, all of the nations that would be contributing heroes to this team recognise Tibet as part of China.

[assault]

I'd put the base in the Philippines. Partly, because it was a Filipino initiative, but mainly because the other likely contributing nations are unsuitable for the reasons Houston GM gave.

 

I'd see the core of the group being Japan (the main financier) and the Philippines. Other possible contributors would include South Korea (more through concern about the north, than China), Taiwan (for fear of isolation), and Vietnam.

 

All of these have good reasons *not* to contribute, of course.

 

South Korea doesn't need to get involved in a conflict with China, which is a restraining factor on the flakiness of the north. Also, anti-Japanese sentiment still exists.

 

Taiwan is increasingly moving towards rapprochement with mainland China. Chinese nationalists in Taiwan have been supporting China's claims in various disputes with its neighbours. Getting into an avoidable dispute with China could be suicidal for Taiwan.

 

Vietnam is still a bit of an outsider with respect to its historically anti-Communist neighbours.

 

It's unlikely Australia would join in the absence of the US.

[Old Man]

I'd consider putting the base of operations in Hong Kong or Singapore, either of which is a semiautonomous, built up city-state.  Which one depends on whether you prefer a high or low endemic crime rate.

[assault]

Hong Kong is part of China, and thus part of the Tiger Squad's turf.

 

Singapore is a sovereign nation. However, it's possibly too far away to be a good base. I'm not sure it would be a particularly enthusiastic backer for an anti-China group either.

[The Arc]

 

Dragon's Daughter

[Lord Liaden]

Much as I like Hermit's proposal in principle, there isn't much of a sense of commonality in Asia, even against the growing influence of China. Not even to the same degree as in Europe. The various nations have their own distinctive cultural identities, priorities, and alliances. If they were to look toward cooperation beyond their borders on the superhero front, I would expect them to concentrate on the United Nations, particularly on Champions Earth given the existence and effectiveness of UNTIL.

 

In the real world and on Champs Earth, the growing rival to China in the Far Eastern sphere is India. CU India has hundreds of superhumans, and both government and private hero teams, including some very powerful members.

[Hermit]

Okay, I don't know who "Dragon's Daughter" is, but she looks great.

 

I suppose I thought anything UNTIL tried would get nixed by China on the security council, hence the end run in the fiction. Unifying the various cultures and such for a true superteam would indeed be hard. Like Assault pointed out, there's a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment to get around for some countries.

 

But then again, the various superheroes who can seemingly barely stand each other but then unite and even grow fond of each other despite themselves is a pretty classic situation here.

 

Which does make me wonder just what dynamic would work out best...

"This is a job, not a friendship"

"This is a calling, not a friendship"

"Oh #$#$, it's become a friendship"

or "Look, it's an American on the team after all, let's all resent him together"

[The Arc]

Dragon's Daughter is an energy projector from Bhutan.

[Enforcer84]

The most obvious point here is that Tibet is nowhere near the Pacific...

 

Also, all of the nations that would be contributing heroes to this team recognise Tibet as part of China.

The most obvious point is Tibet wants to be apart from China(or at least it's a popular western idea). I knew it wasn't a pacific nation, sorry if I implied that.

[kahuna's bro]

they could have allies in and from tibet

[Lord Liaden]

 

The most obvious point is Tibet wants to be apart from China(or at least it's a popular western idea). I knew it wasn't a pacific nation, sorry if I implied that.

 

Just keep in mind that, politically, there's a big difference between creating a superteam to balance China, and including in that team a representative from what China considers part of its sovereign territory without its permission. Particularly since China tags anyone suggesting a more independent role for Tibet as seditious and a terrorist. Like the Dalai Lama, for example.

 

Look at Taiwan. Even the suggestion of Taiwan openly declaring itself an independent and sovereign nation has China threatening retaliation, up to and including military action.

[Hermit]

Well, if this were a comic book, we could have:

 

A fellow who who is half tibetian or half tawainese  on the team (Perhaps our American if we throw one in) and told not to advertise it too much.

A spy from China itself with a nice cover story until he or she is eventually discovered

More than one person from the same nation

[csyphrett]

Hermit, I don't see how many members you are looking for. Is it one member per country, ten members overall, or as many as we can fit in?

CES

[The Arc]

Since it seems that Indonesia is the front runner. Here is...

 

 

Pesilat

 

I know the name isn't too original.

[Ranxerox]

I'm willing to volunteer Captain Cambodia to the team.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/index.php?/topic/80551-captain-cambodia/?hl=%2Bcaptain+%2Bcambodia