Lord Liaden

BOTD points out that Dr. Destroyer monitors potential opponents and rivals closely, and has developed strategies for dealing with them when he needs to remove them. I think one could make a case for the Golden Avenger of PRIMUS being an iconic Champions hero. There's been a Golden Avenger in the CU since Third Edition through Sixth. Granted, it hasn't been the same man using that identity for all of that time; and the original Avenger's motives were questionable at best. But his successor in the role is unquestionably an honorable and heroic person. If the CU time line continued to progress normally, we'd probably be on our third Golden Avenger by now. Another spot where the CU could use an update.

Well, what Eurostar does is shaped first and foremost by Fiacho's motivations, both intellectual and emotional. As far as I can tell from his backstory and activities, Fiacho believes that Europe's inherent potential for greatness is being held back by all its nations' entrenched political, economic and cultural structures, which keep it divided and weak. Fiacho seems to have decided that those structures need to be irrevocably smashed before a new united Europe can arise. I don't get the impression he's thought through what specifically should replace them. It's as if Fiacho makes an almost Marxist assumption that something better will inevitably evolve once the old order has been swept away. Of course a lot of Fiacho's philosophy is rationalization for his personal anger, bitterness, disillusionment, and resentment. He wants revenge on a system he feels failed and betrayed him, and his campaign is his intellectual excuse for venting. It's no coincidence that he recruited violent psychopaths for his team. They follow him out of a combination of their natural predilections aligning with Fiacho's activities, personal gratitude and loyalty, his persuasive charisma, and the wealth and power they expect to get out of his campaign. I would imagine Eurostar's activities generally follow the pattern of most normal human terrorists, to cause death and destruction targeted at a particular group in order to sow confusion, doubt and fear in that group. Of course their superhuman power allows them to be more direct and obvious than normal human terrorists. Their specific targets would likely fall into two main categories. One would be the power structures underpinning European society: governing bodies and political parties; law enforcement and the military; industry, banking and other linchpins of the economy. The other would be symbols of the standards and values of the old order, and of its aura of strength and continuity: national monuments; great achievements in technology and engineering; particularly prominent and famous politicians, business people, intellectuals, and media/entertainment figures. Because Fiacho resents America's economic and cultural "imperialism" in Europe, that's more than enough justification for Eurostar to cross the Atlantic to strike at similar targets in that country. So you don't have to confine their depredations to the Old World.

[Agent Ward] "Somebody really wanted our name to spell out P.O.L.T.E.R.G.E.I.S.T." [/Agent Ward]

Dr. Destroyer's supervillain operatives do serve a useful purpose in a game context, though. They give PCs who aren't ready to tackle DD directly someone to fight who's more in their weight class. With everything the Doctor has going on in the world he must need to delegate the supervision of some of his operations. In going up against his lieutenants the PCs can have the satisfaction of putting a dent in Destroyer's schemes. As they become more powerful and prominent they'll grow from annoyance to actual threat, until the D-man decides they warrant his personal attention.

Doctor Destroyer in 5E/6E isn't completely "locked" into his armor, but he does wear it nearly constantly, because his aging is slowed by its systems. So, practically the same deal. My problem with DD isn't his concept, or any "cluttering," but that as a character he's very superficial. You can summarize him in three words: power, intellect, arrogance. That's it. There are no layers to him, no shadings. I admire Steve Long's writing for several qualities, but in Book Of The Destroyer he wasted the opportunity to put some role-playing meat on those megalomaniacal bones. Despite going over Albert Zerstoiten's whole history, the book gives almost no sense of what people and events shaped him, what led to him becoming the man he is. His attitudes seemed to emerge nearly full-blown from childhood, like Athena from the brow of Zeus. He does make for a cool-looking avatar, though.

[From "epelesker" on the Champions Online forums] I've got the positive news that Thundrax is once again back home-- and fingers crossed that this is the one for sure! [From "guyhumual" on the Champions Online forums] He was actually just on CO! Sadly I missed him but that's really great news

I remember Reed Richards remarking he served in the army during the Korean War. Of course that was in a comic from the late 1970s. But Marvel characters may be immortal, artificially de-aged, get longevity treatments, are kept in suspended animation, travel through time, are cloned, get resurrected, and experience all other sorts of birthday-defying phenomena.

Eh, that's debatable. President Kennedy increased the number of "military advisors" in Vietnam from hundreds to thousands, and direct military aid to South Vietnam grew to well over $100 million per year by 1963. By that point the United States was already the SV government's primary foreign backer. I believe it was what Hero was trying to do with the Champions Universe, but the effort couldn't be sustained. You can see a number of in-setting events and changes listed not just in News Of The World, but between the 5E and 6E editions of Champions Universe, and other books advancing the time line like Book Of The Destroyer. The events in published Champions adventures like Champions Battlegrounds, Shades Of Black and Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth became incorporated into the official time line, in the years in which they were published.

Oh, is there a snake too?

Iron Man debuted in 1963, and his origin was based in the Vietnam war, not Korean. So you can shave off around a decade from Tony Stark's age FWIW. The purpose of Champions Universe: News Of The World was to update the setting with ongoing events in the world in general, and the Superhuman World sub-culture in particular. It was all but stated that that book would be the first in a series, to keep the setting fresh by rotating retiring characters out and new characters in, changing the dynamics of organizations, etc. Unfortunately the downsizing of Hero Games curtailed those plans. I've mentioned elsewhere on the forums that IMO it's past time for another such official update to be released.

Why women are bearing the brunt of COVID-19 vaccine side effects

The Shadow Queen often hires Earthly supervillains for her schemes, particularly supernatural ones who fit her medieval/fantasy motif. For one story arc I gave her a whole cadre of "knights," her Obsidian Table, led by Black Paladin and including Hell Rider, Morningstar, Lightning Man, Matachin, Shadowdragon (from a different culture, but his code-name pleased her), and Harpy (Brangomar's jealousy normally precludes women, but she saw Harpy's bird-form as ugly and therefore non-threatening).

That has to be Ming of Mongo's personal limo.

I'd also look at Takofanes. The Turakian Age almost is Middle-Earth, after all. Tak might think he's gone home.

Sure, there are lots of ways you could take DEMON after Black's scheme (presumably) fails. It's just that if someone wants to use DEMON as written in their games, including the buildup to Black's apotheosis gambit, changing his birthday is the only conceptual modification needed. As I mentioned before, I've liberally adapted 4E characters to the new continuity for my own games. For example, the Rose from 4E DEMON works just fine for me as one of the lieutenants for Takofanes. Ditto Mordeki the Unspeakable, whom I retconned as one of the Archlich's followers from the Turakian Age who endured to the present day. There are other members of that earlier incarnation of DEMON whom I worked into the structure of the 5E group.

Brangomar, aka the Shadow Queen, most recently written up Champions Villains Volume One: Master Villains, is essentially Disney's Maleficent (the classic animated version from Sleeping Beauty, not live action); except that instead of being a dark faerie queen who can transform into a dragon, Brangomar is a dragon using magic to appear as a human-like woman. Her personality and style are very much like Maleficent, and like the evil Queen in Disney's Snow White. Brangomar rules a land called the Shadow Realm in the dimension of Faerie, that being the sum of all the lands, races, creatures, and gods from human myth and legend. The Shadow Queen is also a powerful sorceress in the aforementioned "fairy-tale" magic style.

Easiest way I found to deal with 5E DEMON is to move Luther Black's 100th birthday a few Leap Years later. 2024 or later is just as good as 2012, excepting that whole Mayan calendar apocalypse business.

Looking at some examples from fairy tales: accelerating the growth of/animating plants, e.g. walls of thorns, grasping tree branches or vines; conjuring/summoning animals, solo or in groups; changing one's form into an animal, a monster like a dragon, or to resemble another person; transforming someone else, such as making them old or hideously deformed, or turning them into an animal, possibly under the magician's command; cursing someone with perpetual sleep, or madness; enchantments through an object, e.g. poisoned fruit or sharp items whose prick brings a curse; enchantments through crafts, like spinning straw into gold, or forging weapons. Beneficial effects are also possible, such as blessings of health, strength, or beauty, especially on newborn children.

I'm curious as to the background of Elisha Mulraven. I wasn't able to find info about him on the Internet. Anyone else know anything? If so, is there anything in his story to suggest a supernatural element?

I apologize if you thought I was misrepresenting you. I was making an assertion about a particular element of this incident other than the points you listed, which I believe needs to be taken into account when determining culpability in this case.

The officer used the strobe as the instructions explicitly say one should not. That's fair to say. That's not excusable.

Indeed. But if the police department issued strobe lights for weapons without training officers in their use, the department may also be culpable in this tragedy. If said officer acquired a cool toy on his own, without learning how to use it, and that contributed to the shooting, then he was negligent regardless of other circumstances. As Beau and Unclevlad point out, instructions on how to use strobes are readily available. A further question of concern is how many of the department's officers carry strobe lights on their weapons without training?

I always wanted to ask Steve about the Vornakkian city-state of Kurum-Sathiri. In its main entry in TA it's described as a mageocracy, with social status and influence directly tied to skill with magic, and its ruler, the Ar-King, being the state's strongest mage, having proven that through "duel arcane" with any challenger. Yet the Religion chapter of TA asserts the Sithians are monotheistic, worshiping a supreme deity called Mahin, and its priesthood following a strict hierarchy topped by the Mahinturi, literally "the voice of God." I've long wondered how this dynamic played out in Steve's games, or how he imagined it playing out if he never actually gamed Kurum-Sathiri. For one thing, where do priests of Mahin fit in the social hierarchy? Does divinely-granted magic count the same as wizardly spellcraft in determining status? For another, the Ar-King and the Mahinturi sound like two very powerful poles of authority sharing the same space. Does one traditionally defer to the other? Do church and state have clearly defined spheres of control which never overlap? Or are they like the Pope and the Emperor in the Holy Roman Empire, constantly jockeying for control over various issues? (FWIW for my own games I moved the Mahinist religion and priesthood to another city-state, which I made a true theocracy. I don't like focusing too much Vornakkian weirdness in one place, I'd rather spread it around.)