Lord Liaden

I just realized I should have clarified, HSA II updated most of the material related to UNTIL in SA to 4E. Sorry if I misled. 😔

For Fourth Edition use, we should also mention Hero System Almanac II, which updated most of the material presented in Super Agents to 4E stats.

If a COVID vaccination has to become an annual ritual like a 'flu shot, that will be a minor inconvenience compared to where we are now. Eventually the shot will become normalized and most anti-vaxers will fall in line. I suppose it's too much to hope that COVID will eliminate the rest of them from the gene pool.

Evidence that China is still figuring out capitalism.

Hey, where did you find my favorite marble? I lost that years ago.

Book Of The Destroyer pp. 113-14 adds quite a few members to the Medina family. As of 2008, the following were the most notable Medinas. Family patriarch Pacorro Medina directed the family's affairs for Destroyer. Pacorro's son and heir apparent Casimiro had a daughter, Estefana (age 6 at the time) already demonstrating talents like those of her aunt Isabella (Mentalla). Jorge Medina was Pacorro's uncle, with precognitive and probability-altering powers he used to promote the Medinas' interests, despite his deep resentment for DD making Pacorro the family patriarch. (Jorge was over 100 at that time, but the Doctor could have given him antigeria treatments because of his usefulness). Rafael Medina is secretly the European supervillain Superior, with super strength, speed, and flight. An Argentinian branch of the family, the Carranza-Medinas, is more or less under the control of Pacorro's sister Desideria, and have varied business and criminal interests across Latin America. The son of another of his sisters, Ciceron Indriago-Medina, a murderous but charming psychopath, takes care of family business in the United States.

I'd guess it's for the same reason she maneuvered the Qularr and Gadroon into renewed attacks on Earth. She's weakening Earth's defenses preparatory to her next invasion, by promoting a group bent on destroying existing power structures. As for how Istvatha could aid Eurostar, a few loans of V'hanian technology would be extremely useful. Imagine what terrorists could do with devices to completely bypass conventional security by stepping across dimensions.

You leave a fake plastic rock around an otter, you deserve what you get.

Yes, thanks to Bill "Bunneh" Keyes and Denver "Hermit" Mason. Digital Hero #31: EUROGUARD Someone has to stop Eurostar! And this team assembled for that task has a mighty good chance. PAGE 20

A couple of thoughts regarding Fiacho. One, in his 4E incarnation, Danar Nicole's change in mindset came not just from disillusionment with European politics, but from political rivals actually fabricating a scandal to destroy his reputation. (Individual GMs can decide whether they acted at the direction of some controlling agency.) Their actions could have included altering Nicole's perceptions and behavior through drugs or psionics to cause him to say and do incriminating things; and that alteration may have had permanent effects on his mind. Two, Fiacho's name, "very bad," in conjunction with the radical alterations his 5E version made to his body, strike me as potentially significant. He could have developed a psychotic perception of Europe as a chaotic, self-destructive monstrosity, and because he was once a believer in it he too is a monster. So he changed himself to reflect that distorted perception, one he doesn't consciously recognize in himself. While Fiacho professes to have the goal of uniting Europe, and believes that to be true, he's actually acting out of destructive self-loathing, trying to destroy everything that reminds him of his past idealism.

I thank you for clarifying the circumstances under which you presented this information. The way in which you addressed some subjects in your post, such as your Esperanto remarks which aren't officially stated for 4E or 5/6E Eurostar, led me to erroneously conclude you described Eurostar to your friends from your perspective. I also apologize that my attempt to contextualize their perceptions of the team by raising other possibilities came across as attacking them personally. I should have been more careful in my wording, and I'll try to think that through more carefully in future.

Very interesting analysis, Terminax. I have to wonder, though, how much of your friends' response may be due to the way you presented Eurostar to them, since your framing sounds rather biased to me, no disrespect intended. I tend to concur with Opal that much of your stereotyping sounds rather thin. First off, Bora was already dead in the continuity Fifth Edition introduced. Nowhere is it said that Fiacho wants to "shove Esperanto down people's throats." He took his name from it as a symbol, and the rest of the team uses it for code words precisely because most people don't understand it. There's nothing from Ultrasonique's background implying that his paranoia has anything to do with being French. Pantera is kind of a catgirl, which carries plenty of stereotyping, but her description doesn't even mention sexuality among her passions. Durak and Scorpia, I'll grant you can fit the stereotypes you mention if you're looking for them. Durak is my least favorite member of the team, both due to lack of characterization and because his code name as most commonly used in Russian translates as, "fool." I don't think that name was chosen by his creator other than as a Russian word that sounds tough. I'm aware that Europeans have comics, and their own heroes and even superheroes, but as I've heard from Europeans including posters to these forums, superheroes aren't as culturally ingrained as in the States. They have much other domestic folklore and mythology to draw from and make fiction about, including comics. Tech, I concur that Eurostar's targets will be primarily governmental, but also symbolic, such as national monuments, as well as supports for the establishment such as banks (headquarters, not branches). However, there is some strategic value in destroying infrastructure and killing large numbers of innocent civilians, which last is quite common for modern terrorism. Terrorists who view a particular society as an enemy want to shatter that society's faith in the ability of their system and institutions to protect them, to keep them safe. In theory that makes it more likely said society will tear itself apart. In the case of Fiacho I would suspect he also assumes that lack of faith will also make the peoples of Europe more pliant to being molded to his desires. I do believe the characterization of Eurostar as thugs is fair, though. Most of them want to hurt people, first and foremost, but also want wealth, power, and status for themselves, which they expect Eurostar's campaign will ultimately give them. Fiacho uses those desires to steer his team where he wants them to go. I remember in the description of Professor Muerte's motivations in Classic Enemies, his conclusion that history's most successful conquerors were the ones who were most feared. Then there's this rather telling passage from Champions Villains Volume Two p. 98: "Fiacho’s name — an Esperanto word meaning “very bad” — encapsulates his background and personality perfectly. It’s a word from a created language intended to unify mankind, twisted to other purposes — just like Nicole, once an ardent pan-European patriot, has become twisted by rage into a vicious conqueror. And the meaning of the word is important, too; it reflects Fiacho’s attitude about both himself and the people of the world. The fanaticism he once focused on unifying Europe through politics has been transformed into an obsession with conquering Europe and forcing it to unify under his rule — an obsession so strong it literally drove him to “improve” himself through radical surgery and bio-engineering." From that perspective, actually persuading people to agree with his conclusions is irrelevant if he can force them to comply in practice. So, I would say it's fair to call Fiacho a "bow before me" would-be conqueror, who uses his political philosophy as a rationale for his true desires, which he probably doesn't recognize in himself. The above description, and CV2's subsequent assertion on p. 99, "Where once he was gentle and peaceful, Fiacho is now cruel, brutal, and ruthless" also suggests that Danar Nicole wasn't completely mentally stable in the first place. Although not stated anywhere in published text, I'd call it fair to conclude for your own game use of Fiacho that his extensive "superfying" body alterations also affected his mind, driving him to even further extremes.

I suspect there may be a measure of defensiveness and denial to their protests. I remember the Red Brigades in Italy. I remember ETA in Spain and France. I remember ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. That's not even bringing up the examples in Germany and Ireland that everyone thinks of. Anyone who believes that violent extremism can't return to Europe hasn't been paying attention to what's happening to global societies. One protest that has some clear validity, though, is an American perspective. Superheroes are an American cultural invention with no comparable tradition in Europe. Your friends may not consider that with superpowers, a small group of fringe extremists like Eurostar can gain the power to cause harm out of all proportion to their numbers. To flesh out Eurostar I would start with the personalities and motivations of the individual members, particularly Fiacho. Then I'd look at the campaigns of real-world terrorists such as those mentioned on this thread.

Maybe American police were closing in and they tried to deep-six the evidence?

Less than a quarter of the American population has been fully vaccinated. While the risk to the rest of contracting COVID outdoors is very small if they maintain social distance, you often can't do that. This is not the time to relax, and anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is literally contributing to killing people.

I haven't had so much as a cold in over a year. Less than a quarter of Americans have been vaccinated. While the risk to the rest of contracting COVID outdoors is minimal if they maintain social distance, that's often not possible. But Carlson is framing mask wearing as a political statement rather than a public health precaution, when it's the extreme right which has made not wearing a mask a political statement.

And appeared in the first Enemies book. Covers all the bases.

Completely ignores people who wear masks due to compromised immunity systems, who are undergoing chemotherapy, who have respiratory problems due to pollution or allergies. Carlson may or may not have thought of that, but that doesn't matter because he doesn't care. Agitating his ignorant, bigoted audience is good for his ratings. On the "turnabout is fair play" front, this is an outstanding example of cancel-culture at its most toxic. I should also like to know why I should give a damn that my wearing a mask in public makes Carlson or anyone else uncomfortable.

Hmm... maybe for Obama, or Trump now. But there are so many Washingtons, Jeffersons, Lincolns, Grants, Nixons, Fords, Carters, Reagans, Bushes, Clintons... The name really needs to stand out.

Not upset at all, I apologize if I gave that impression. It's just that your OP asked for what Eurostar does, how they go about operating. The way they're officially defined, they're terrorists. That's one of the things that sets them apart from other supervillains, that makes them unique in this setting, why one might use them in lieu of the Ultimates or the Crimelords. My "insistence" was just trying to keep to what you appeared to ask for, that folks seemed to keep missing. Of course you can modify Eurostar in any way that would be more satisfying for the games you want. But then this becomes a thread about modifying Eurostar. If that's what you prefer, that's fine.

I'd call Emma Peel more of a sexified weapon.

Nope, still not getting it. Eurostar does not demand a billion dollars or they blow up a bridge with everyone on it. Eurostar blows up the bridge. Then claims responsibility. The critic of Eurostar does not get to apologize or else a loved one is tortured on public broadcast. The loved one is tortured. Did Al Qaeda demand money before flying a jumbo jet into the World Trade Center? Terrorists attack and kill without warning, that's what makes them so terrifying. They don't extort, they make graphic statements. Since this is the Champions forum, perhaps someone has been watching the recent The Falcon and the Winter Soldier streaming series. That's how terrorists operate. The way this plays out in dramatic fiction like our RPGs is that the heroes learn of a planned attack by some means -- an informant, electronic eavesdropping, piecing together the pattern of the terrorists' previous activities -- and then intervene before the attack takes place, usually at the last moment.

Ariel as a mermaid doesn't offer quite as much...

You are not. I've mentioned the same thing elsewhere on the forums, after privately raising the issue with the Secret Masters. For me it isn't simply the length of the products, but also that their layout is very basic, not up to the standards of any previous Hero ebook; that they're nearly devoid of artwork and maps; and that some of them are even thin in providing NPCs. As one Herophile I corresponded with put it, we're paying professional-grade price point for amateur-grade product. FWIW I have it on good authority that Hero considers these sectional ebooks to not be finished products, and more will be done with them when they're collected in a single volume. But if they're going that route I believe that should be reflected in the price. That also convinced me that I should wait for the whole book rather than buy any more individual chapters. Which really bums me out, because I thought the sectional book concept had potential, but IMHO this approach will torpedo it before it gets a fair chance.

Yeah, they're all cute at this age. Then they grow up to be Tai Lung.