Vanguard00

I'm slowly but surely creating a fantasy world of my own. There are elements of medieval Europe, ancient Rome (and Greece), myths and legends, Tolkien, D&D, more books and movies than I can shake a stick at. Some of these references are glaring; others less so. I haven't set out to take any one aspect from any one source--this is an ever-changing project for me because I keep going back and rewriting source material. In any case, I'm going to start posting some of that material in the hopes that outside perspective can aid in narrowing my scope and/or focus, and/or finding flaws or simply contributing ideas. I'll start with a very brief historical overview, and I'll post more later as I clean it up a bit. Thanks in advance for constructive criticism, folks.

Re: How can you feed this many people?

Re: CU Laws Though the two terms may indeed overlap in description especially as applied to the above discussion, you're right. I should've used 'sapient' instead of 'sentient' throughout most of my post. I dummied-down without even thinkin' about it and I should've known better.

Re: How can you feed this many people? Perhaps the sweet fruit of the Illium vines are small apple-like fruits that are as filling as if one had eaten a full meal, and the scented flowers (from which certain ungeants and potions may be distilled for medicinal purposes) can provide one with the feeling that one had rested well for many hours. Used sparingly they can provide sustenance through lean winters, and they are often used to supplement travel rations for the military, but overuse of either fruit or flower has short-term addictive properties and long-term debilitating effects on the body and mind. Yeah...I like it...

Re: Why no heavy cavalry? That is a pretty darn nifty idea. Consider it stol--er, borrowed.

Re: CU Laws Same thing applies: if the AIs are property they are not sentient and are accorded no special rights by law. If they are viewed as sentient being then they cannot be considered property. It is also unlikely that any government would make official policy based on the threat of a supervillain retaliation. In short, the US government isn’t going to recognize AIs as sentient simply to appease Mechanon, nor would they necessarily prevent the recognition of such because they’re afraid of what Mechanon might do. Again, though, a lot of the issue will be based on the type of campaign being run, the tone of the government in said campaign, and similar plot points. Ultimately it’s going to be up to the GM.

Re: Mystic Superheroes s'okay. I forgive ya

Re: Mystic Superheroes I get no respect...

Re: Mystic Superheroes I'm nitpicking, I know, but it's "Damian Hellstrom" aka "Son of Satan" aka "Hellstorm". Also, for Marvel: Gargoyle Clea I hope this doesn't burst your bubble (cuz I really do appreciate your efforts), but I was browsin' around and found a whole list of mystic heroes from a variety of comic publishers. Note that the list includes anyone associated with magic or the supernatural and not just magic-wielding heroes. http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dungeon/2864/Super_Magic.html

Re: Your Character's Comic Book Raptor, should he ever warrant a solo book (I swear I accidentally created a perpetual b-list character...) should probably be done as a mini-series by some up-and-comer and not given to someone with a good name in the business as he’d likely regret doing it later. Either that or Brian K Vaughn, with Joe Quesada doin’ the art. Helios (and the whole Genesis team, I think) scream for the Perez/Wolfman touch. Or maybe Levitz. Yeah, Levitz and Wolfman. Black could use the style of Mike Oeming as an artist, and maybe Geoff Johns or JMS as writer. My as-yet-unnamed character who just turned into some sort of golden electrical guy I’d like to see done by Peter David and Keith Giffen. If everyone in the story finally gets together it’d probably be a good book for Bendis (think ‘Powers’, not Marvel books). Or maybe Kevin Smith.

Re: CU Laws Something else I just thought of: regardless of what rights you grant aliens, AIs and the like, remember that part of the reason we treat noncitizens so well is that there is always some form of government behind them. Tourists, visitors and even illegal aliens (of the human variety) have a national government at least moderately willing to support their rights. So it’s sort of a courtesy thing—we treat your people nice, you treat our people nice. Aliens and undead and whatever else you have in mind might not have that support, so there’s no incentive for our federal government to grant them any rights whatsoever, beyond common decency and courtesy (which might be in short supply, depending on your campaign).

Re: CU Laws It might be easier to relate to when you consider that citizenship really only guarantees a few things: the right to vote, the right to hold (at least some) public office, and the right to enter the country. Everything else is subjective. Thus, noncitizens (which would include 'aliens' and all the subclassifications of non-human beings) can't vote, can't hold office (well, some) and can't be guaranteed the right to enter the country. They are not granted the same provisions of criminal and civil law, but are still considered 'people' when it comes to the right to live free from harm and harassment. You'll just have to wing it, I'm thinkin', but try and think of aliens as visitors from another country. Undead...well, I'd probably not recognize them as people per se. They lost all their rights when they died, and since it's not like they came back to life (which is what 'undead' means) they don't really have any rights. A fully cognizant vampire by the truest definition of the word is still nothing but a reanimated corpse. Artificial Intelligences would cause the most problems, I think, because then you get into all sorts of definitions of what constitutes "intelligence" and being "alive". An AI might be seen as property by some, an abomination by others, and a threat to humanity by yet others. This classification would be the hardest to pin down, in my estimation. No more so than bounty hunters, IMO. Why wouldn't they? The degree of caring might vary, of course, and the government might assign a pair of intrepid Park Rangers to discover what has been killing Ents, or a Mulder'n'Scully type of federal agent. If, however, the Ents had already been designated as intelligent beings by the government, then they'd be almost duty-bound to discover what had happened. There are always activist groups eager to raise a stink over something, and this would likely qualify. You'd have every pagan, wiccan and pseudo-druid yelling until the government (local, state or federal) did SOMEthing. That's a political discussion I don't want to get into (as I don't believe illegal aliens of any sort should have drivers licenses or subsidized health care), but it would/could mirror whatever form of government you so choose. In short, it's up to you.

I thought I'd share to give people ideas, and to recommend the books if you are so inclined. Jim Butcher has a new series out (the "Codex Aleria" series--good stuff), wherein most everyone has at least one "fury". It's a sort of elemental that they can call upon for a variety of effects. They usually "discover" them during the pre/early teen years, though it hasn't been said how this happens. In rural and wilderness settings the furies are very strong. In urbania, less so, but they're also more skilled. Academias believe the wilderness furies are strong because they are more primal, wilder, less tamed. They also believe that the urban furies are weaker but more skilled because they have been 'recycled' over generations, finding a new 'master' once their old has passed on. The furies do have a tangible presence when needed—one earthcrafter’s fury appears as a large dog, another firecrafter’s fury appears as a fiery hawk-- and many people in the wilderness and outlying areas name them. They believe this makes them more personal, and thus stronger. It requires will to control them, but depending on the strength of the fury it’s possible to do most of their crafting with little thought. Only large-scale projects require concentration. It is also possible (and not all that uncommon) for people to have more than one fury in their control. Usually the secondary (and tertiary, if applicable) furies are weaker, but that could be relative. Water furies aid in distance communication (and eavesdropping), flooding, travel on water (of course), and (surprisingly) healing. Watercrafters are notoriously sensitive to emotions, such that they make great lie detectors. This can backfire, however, causing them to lose concentration or, in some extremes, get all kinds of whacky. Water furies do not cross fire and will not go too far up off the ground. Earth furies lend strength and stamina (and some resilience) to their crafters. In addition, they aid in travel using earth ripples and the like. They can shape stone (from very small openings in walls to creating a large castle-like structure), and sense who and what is around them (if they're on the ground). There is some evidence that they can affect certain base instincts in people—fight, flight, procreate…that sort of thing—but this hasn’t been developed much in-story. Fire crafters do about what you’d expect—draw and release heat from their environment, shoot fireballs or blasts, etc. They haven’t been developed as well as some of the others, but like earthcrafters they can elicit emotions, usually of the anger/fear variety. Air crafters can fly, move very fast when they need to, and have limited TK-like abilities (the wind moving something to or fro, picking it up, etc). Again, not as developed, but getting there. There are also other furies of a less-classic nature. Metalcrafters, for example, can forge items that are nearly unbreakable. There are also a rare few that can become godlike swordsmen, speed and strength and sheer fighting prowess, but I can’t remember if they gave their fury a name or not (I think they are similar to metalcrafters). Woodcrafters are nearly as versatile as earthcrafters, but instead of using rock and stone they use wood (duh). They can make trees bend and twist, cause arrows to warp and even turn back on their caster, strengthen or weaken wood, etc. Related in some fashion are some barbarian tribes. Nomads for the most part, each of the tribes has a totem animal; wolf, fox, horse, herdbane (like a giant carnivorous ostrich or something), gargant (a cross between a mammoth and an ox, I think), etc. The tribes work closely with their animals, and often take on characteristics of their totem: gargant tribesmen are very strong; wolf tribesman are fast and deadly; fox tribesmen are quick and sly; and so on. There’s more, but only lightly touched on. I recommend the series anyway, but it’s a fairly cool way to model a non-traditional magic system. I’m very interested in seeing how it turns out.

Re: Why no heavy cavalry?

Re: Mystic Superheroes Spark plug? And, just so I'm contributing, from the "Days of Vengeance" miniseries we have Nightshade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightshade_(comics) and Detective Chimp (no link) and Jim Rook aka Nightmaster (no link).

Re: Mystic Superheroes I think he's just doing DC for the moment. I'm sure QM will cover all the bases. He's anal--er, thorough like that.

Re: How can you feed this many people? Back in my D&D days I played briefly in a game where this village was built around a rune-carved stone (like a single monolith). Food and other 'gifts' (knives, trinkets, etc) regularly appeared by the stone. The village thought it was bounty by the gods. One of our players (a sage-like cleric) figured out the runestone was a magical transport. Somewhere else was a village that made offerings, did a bit of chanting, and thought the gods were pleased for taking their 'gifts'. We didn't finish that campaign so I have no idea how it was going to end, but I do remember that the wrong chant pretty much screwed someone using it to travel, and no one could read the runes to figure out the right chant. Still, it was a cool idea.

Re: ARAGENT Super Villians Not one vote for Steel Commando? Man, he could be their demo model...

Re: New Avengers? I like the characters. Not necessarily the team as a whole (cuz I'm awfully tired of Wolverine), but I do like Spiderwoman, Cage and Spiderman being on the team, and I remain open-minded about what they'll be doing with Sentry. That being said, I thought it'd be nice if the "New Avengers" were indeed new. Not that they couldn't have people who hadn't been on the Avengers before, but it would have been nice (in my mind) to have the Avenger 'greats' (Cap & Iron Man, in this case) perhaps give their blessing, but to have a group step up a la Thunderbolts to take their place. Proceed with the story as was laid out, but instead of Cap and Iron Man being there, why not two other non-Avengers? Or reserve Avengers, maybe...or whatever. Bring the team together and say, "Hey, there are no Avengers anymore. Let's step up and do it." I like Bendis for the most part, but I think he could've done better on this one. The team just seems so disparate and contrived. That could just be me, though.

Re: Another take on fantasy campaigns Radiation leaks? Depending on the actual catastrophe, it may be exposure to greater amounts of ultraviolet radiation (i.e. weakened ozone) that drove some men underground in places like the Karlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, and over time they simply evolved (devolved?) into mishapen man-like 'orcs'. Trolls could be some sort of evolved gorilla, even--over time they grew 'up', grew a little smarter, changed their look slightly, etc. Heck, go with a Sasquatch/Bigfoot type creature and call him a troll... Still lots of possibilities.

Re: What's in a Name? I wrote this but didn't get a chance to post it 'til now. I know MisterBaldy got in before me but I didn't want to let it go to waste. When one thinks of the protectors of the United Kingdom one invariably pictures the stately grace of those noble souls from England who fight to protect the land from evil. A mix of heritage gives the superhero community a diverse flair, from the brave and courageous Golden Lion of England to the whimsical and mischeivous Leprechaun of Ireland. Even the so-called Arch Druid has his place as protector of the countryside. And that's as it is, but that's not all it is. To the west of England lies the beautiful, hilly country of Wales. As little as two thousand years ago they were the strongest people on the Isle, but for some eight hundred years they have been subjects of the British Empire, with all the good and bad that brought. They had their protection from the Empire, as they still do. But old traditions are not forgotten, and pride runs strong in the Welsh people. Their history of druids is no less great than that of Ireland, though perhaps overshadowed by modern history and the media. Strong were the Welsh in arts of Druidry. Close with the land, they were. They are. It is said that there is nothing to bring a modern supervillain to the land of Wales, and perhaps that is true. They would find much more than they bargained for in any case, for out on the hills, in the marshes and the bogs, deep in the forests and nestled in the barrows of ancient kings there is a protector, the spirit of the land itself, one who sees all and knows all that transpires within the realm of Cymry, known as Wales. She is known only as Myngu, The Grandmother. She has been described as an old woman, spry and spirited despite her weathered features, bent back and gnarled hands. She walks with the aid of a cane-like cudgel, a piece of solid oak polished to a high sheen. No matter the weather she always dresses the same--homespun woolen dress, simple shoes of old, and a threadbare shawl around her shoulders. For all her appearance of frailty and age she exudes a power and confidence that even the staunchest find daunting. Her powers are as mysterious as she is. If the people who know of such things can be relied upon, Myngu has been in Wales since before the turn of the last century, some one hundred and ten years at the least--and she was old even then. She has been known to call the weather to her, to bring the ground up in her defense, to calm the wild animals with whispered words and gentle touches. She never speaks in English, preferring the mother tongue of her land, but she always seems to understand what is said to her, and to those with whom she chooses to speak her meaning invariably becomes clear. No one has challenged the might of The Grandmother in a long time. It is said her last true challenge was a sneak attack by some of Hitler's superhuman soldiers. It is said that of the twelve men of power who snuck to the shore of Wales, hoping to catch England off-guard, one returned. Graf Panzer, inhumanly strong and wielding great powers of destruction, returned to Germany a shattered man, his mind and courage gone. Rumor has it that Eurostar was once forced to hide in Wales, to rest after a particularly gruelling campaign of terror. Within days they left the country, preferring to face the united superheroes of Europe rather than stay any longer in the realms of Myngu. Whether the truth of the matter will ever be known remains to be seen. The people of Wales sleep a bit easier, though, knowing that they are watched over by Myngu, The Grandmother. In ages past it was not uncommon for individuals to hire guards to protect them. There were no law enforcement agencies outside of a regional or national army, and thus the private citizen and businessman had little recourse but to supply their own security. Guards and mercenaries were common in those days, but in today's world of national pride and complex political dynamics, mercenaries are often simply thought of as soldiers-for-hire brought in to protect this business's interest in that foreign country, or something similar. In steps Franchise. A former soldier, Franchise is a metahuman of intermediate power; strong, fast, durable, more so than the common man, but perhaps not nearly on par with many of the superheroes and villains of the world. His one true power lies in the fact that he is never alone. After a brief stint as a criminal, and an even briefer one as a hero, Thomas Roderick chose the professional path. He took all the appropriate courses and made himself a legal bodyguard. In most of the countries around that world. At the same time. That's right, Franchise is a duplicator, capable of generating a dozen incarnations of himself, all equal in power and temperment. Remaining in close proximity generates a sort of neural feedback excrutiatingly painful and debilitating to both (or all) duplicates within range. Except during the recombining process, Franchise works alone. When he does recombine with a duplicate, he learns everything they learned since they were apart. All their skills, memories and emotions are passed on to him. This causes no small amount of anguish on occasion, and Franchise uses both regular counseling and various meditative techniques to maintain a tight rein on his sanity. Franchise takes jobs all over the world, safeguarding individuals, acting as a courier for sensitive items and information, and at times simply bolstering a particular agency's offensive capabilities. In addition to his metahuman powers, Franchise is an expert in most forms of armed and unarmed warfare, is an experienced intelligence operative, speaks a dozen languages fluently, and has a talent for strategy and small-unit tactics. Franchise has many emotional issues, but for the most part maintains a healthy and active lifestyle when not on the job. All of his commissions are honorable, though not all are legal. He performs thorough background checks on all potential clients, and researches the target as ably and as completely as time and the contract dictate. He does not perform murder for hire, but if someone dies due to getting between him and his objective...well, that's going to go on the final receipt. Franchise is disliked by the superhero and law enforcement communities of most First World nations, but he always smiles when he hears this, as if he knows something no one else does. He is tolerated among the supervillain community only because they know where they stand with him. When one is in need of specialized service in the areas of security, protection, delivery or intelligence gathering and even bounty hunting--and when one does not need to have one's needs brought to the attention of law enforcement, or one cannot garner the attention of a true superhero--one needs only call Franchise. Next name: Primal

Re: Find weakness I like this set of limitations, but I'd attach 'em to an Aid/Heal power. Also, I'd probably include "gestures", as well. Then I'd give him a lab/clinic that boosts his skill rolls.

Re: New Avengers? I like the series, too, but I didn't take that scene the same way. I viewed it more along the lines that this is a different world and Cap's way might not be the best way anymore. Not that I'd pick Wolvie to represent the new mentality, myself, but I think it's their way of saying they might need to get their hands dirty sometimes - Cap won't, Wolvie will. Might be a perception thing on my part, but there ya go. Either that or they're saying that Wolvie is more of an iconic character than Cap now, and that he sells more books. But that could just be me. I, too, am happy to see a very cool Jessica Drew back in action, by the way. As much as I actually like Bendis (I know, boo hiss), I agree. JMS is doin' a fantastic job.

Re: Super City Gotta wait to hit ya with rep, Hermit, but darn good stuff!

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I'm still in the dark...but I'm kinda amused in a weird way.