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Lord Liaden

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Lord Liaden last won the day on March 15

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    Canada
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    theatre, history, mythology, fantasy, sci-fi, supers
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    Drama Teacher.

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  1. There may be no dark matter in our universe after all.
  2. What Antarctica would look like without ice.
  3. Area of Greenland compared to other countries/land masses.
  4. That's a really intriguing suggestion. The Dragon's origin being a mystery, it's not impossible; although IMO justifying that would require a major paradigm shift from what's been officially revealed about the CU. But for one's own campaign, why not? 🙃
  5. On the above front, the Empyreans did give covert aid to their human cousins when they (or I guess I should say, we ) overthrew our Elder Worm masters, around 100,000 years ago. The impression I got is that it was less of an open war for the Empyreans, and more of a resistance/sabotage operation. Humans also benefited from the aid of our "proto-gods," supernatural beings created out of our collective imagination. Ymir from 4E Champions Universe could date from that era. Since the Worm need hot and moist conditions to survive, a god of cold and ice would be a natural being to imagine opposing them. Champions Beyond notes a few worlds in space which still have Elder Worm survivors, as well as some of their enslaved or created servant races, notably the Thane, if you want space encounters to involve them. The Prime and its ilk from Wrath of the Seven Horsemen would easily fit as their servants, and would explain the difference in reproduction between them and the Worm. Since you want Nimue to be summoning "extra-dimensional entities," beings from the Qliphoth would make for the easiest tie-in to both the Elder Worm and DEMON. There are several options there. The Kings of Edom are of course the classic example, although perhaps rather obvious and overdone. The gods of the Elder Worm, as mentioned in CB, would also be a logical option. Personally, I'd lean toward the mysterious "Presences Beyond," which empowered Sharna-Gorak the Destroyer who brought about the Atlantean Cataclysm. These are explicitly the same beings who are the patrons of Shadow Destroyer in the modern era (see Champions Villains Volume One), so they have a history of granting knowledge and power in exchange for sacrifice. One other tidbit about Champions Universe history might be worth considering. During the ancient Turakian Age, the island nation of Thûn worshiped five unique gods who were not the same as other gods of Men. They were in fact Elder Worm, of such tremendous magical power that they could not be destroyed with the other Worms, but could only be imprisoned deep within the Earth. The Thûnese sought the means to free their gods, believing they'd be rewarded. There's no mention of what happened to those creatures over the intervening millennia, but Takofanes' own prison survived to the modern era... (The Turakian Age source book describes Thûn and its gods.) This is in no way official, but I've long suspected that the gods of Thûn might be the same "Old Gods of Earth" worshiped by the Dark Druid cult and its leader, Cairngorm (Champions Villains Volume Three). Just a thought to play around with.
  6. That's a lot to digest. I'll need more time to give a thorough response. In the meantime, I can tell you that the most information about the Progenitors can be found in Champions Beyond. Let me offer you a few highlights. Scions of an ancient, very advanced and enlightened race, for millions of years the Progenitors have studied the rise of life and intelligence in the Milky Way Galaxy. What they call their Great Mission is not only to promote the evolution of sapient species, but to guide their development so that wisdom and compassion will ultimately prevail over hatred and fear. Many races have had their prehistory and genetics studied and altered by the Progenitors, including Humanity. Humans' superior potential for developing super-powers was inserted into their genetic code by the Progenitors. They also evolved proto-humans into the superpowered Empyrean race who co-exist with Humans on Earth. The Progenitors continue to conduct new experiments and periodically monitor previous ones, but very few beings alive today are aware of the full scope of their activities, or have even heard of them. They're very secretive, and practically impossible for less-advanced beings to perceive unless they wish it. The Progenitors may be concerned that knowledge of their actions will compromise the results of their experiments. At least one early project of "uplifting" a race to sapience developed such biological and social flaws that the Progenitors wiped out the species as irredeemable. This example highlights that while the Progenitors' goals are ultimately benevolent, they're capable of great ruthlessness in the name of the greater good. They're also not infallible, or even always in accord -- occasionally a Progenitor has disputed the Great Mission and chosen a different path. While not stated in CB, it would not be unreasonable to assume a Progenitor might want to perform some "followup" experiments on one of their subjects, such as Humanity, which could lead to the origin of a superhuman. They might also intervene if they discover an outside force tampering with or threatening one of their projects. The Progenitors long ago transcended mortality and the need for physical bodies. They exist as pure energy, although they can resume corporeal form at will, in whatever shape they choose. Only a few dozen of them remain, most still engrossed in the Great Mission. In the official setting the Progenitors are actually much older than the Elder Worm race, and did not war against them directly -- the Worm's eons-long rivals for control of the galaxy were the Malvans. You are of course free to change that for your own games. What you describe does give me a few additional thoughts, though. Referring back to Champions Beyond, what is now the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was once a planet, inhabited by a sapient botanical (plant) race called the Phytians, who were also the subjects of Progenitor experiments. By the time they'd achieved a level of civilization comparable to 20th Century Earth, one of their supervillainous scientists discovered some Progenitor devices, and attempted to use them to blackmail his world into submission to him. But he didn't truly understand the fantastically advanced tech, and shattered his planet. As CB notes, it's possible that some relics of the Phytians are hidden in the asteroid belt, as well as a few Progenitor artifacts. If you want to arrange a space-borne encounter with a Progenitor, that would seem the likeliest spot for it to happen. I have some thoughts regarding the Elder Worm, and Old Gods, but I need sleep right now. I'll try to revisit this topic some time tomorrow.
  7. Congratulations! I'm sure Aaron is smiling.
  8. Always a risk to meet your childhood heroes. More often than not they fall short of your expectations.
  9. There was a period when deconstruction of the superhero genre was fresh, interesting, and useful. Deeper analysis of what and why certain characters and conventions are the way they are, contributed in the best cases to stories with a richer, more mature undercurrent, while keeping the ideals and hopefulness that made us love superheroes. But too many comics creators are still stuck in that tearing-down phase, thinking that being "dark" and "edgy" is enough. They forgot, or never understood, that superheroes have endured for generations because they inspire us to strive to be better than we are.
  10. Petra is elsewhere on this thread. Well worth the viewing.
  11. Those water gods have been fickle toward California over the past few years. Much of the state in cultivation now would be desert if not for extensive irrigation. But Cali's profligate water use will not be sustainable under pressure from global warming. One day that "temple" will be an ironic ruin.
  12. I thought at first that Peter Jackson was that person. Then The Hobbit trilogy happened.
  13. I guess the company uses "Third Edition" for everything pre-4E, even if it used another iteration of Hero System than Champions.
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