mattingly

Re: "Neat" Pictures Is that where ghostwriters send their letters?

Re: Gestalt's Tyranny League In Prosperum Dominatus THE TYRANNY LEAGUE Membership: Imperator (leader), Computor (lieutenant), Hand of Chaos (lieutenant), Jericho Bronze (field commander), Daimyo (field commander), Berserker, Mindwarp, Poltergeist, Scarlet Knight. Energy Master and Bloodkite are two deceased members of the League, and Fatemaster is a traitorous former member. There are rumors of secret members of the League who have not yet appeared in public. The following names are rumored to belong to secret Tyranny League members: Battleship, Herobreaker, Myrmidon, Twenty-One Gun, Discharge, The Castellan, Ion Inferno, and Viral. None of these gestalts, if they even exist, have ever appeared in public. In addition, the Tyranny League is on good terms with Trakker, the Deregulators, the Firestarters, Weng Chiang, Britain’s Destruction Society, and many independent villains. Cannon Fodder, the sole survivor of the Devastators supervillain team, has been given an open invitation to join them, should he choose to escape from prison (he was denieds parole last year). The League is on poor terms with the Psionic Seven, the Leviathans, Influence, Fatemaster, and Hel and the Philosopher. They are on good terms (albeit secretly) with Powerjack. The arch-enemies of the League are Columbia, but Kinestar and the Titan also hate them with a passion, and the Hollywood Knights and the USMC Vanguard would not shy away from a chance to stop them. The Magician and Flayer (of the Firestarter) are both Tyranny League operatives, though only a handful of people know their true allegiances outside the League. (The Magician also owes loyalty to Influence, but would like to be free of both obligations). The Tyranny League have many of hidden operatives in high places, in the White House, the United Nations, and Wall Street. Few webs in the Gestalt world are as tangled as the one that Imperator has woven, yet the League is more secure than any supervillain team in history. They are actively recruiting new members, testing new prospects with telepathy and loyalty trials. Their next recruiting drive will probably be at the Copenhagen tournament. Background: The Tyranny League is the continuation of a dream - a very sick and twisted dream. Joel Roberts was one of the most arrogant men on the planet. He thought of himself as the center of the universe, and called himself the Big Bang (it didn’t hurt that he had tremendous explosive powers). He dreamed of being the ruler of the world. He dreamed of devastating nations, and killing anyone who stood in his way, and he put together a team of superhumans to make his dream a reality, the Devastators. Enter the most powerful supervillain team on the planet, Take One. The Devastators might have pulled it off, but they were stopped early in their careers by Columbia -- barely. For several years afterward, no major alliance of supervillains emerged. Columbia grew in strength and experience, and many thought it was unlikely that a supervillain team would ever emerge that could effectively challenge them. Phil Dansen, an assistant to Dr. Mathias Power, thought differently. When Mathias‘ career as a supervillain was brought to an end by Columbia and the Canadian superheroine Crucible, Dansen ransacked Power’s bases and made himself Imperator, the Master of Conquest. Imperator would put together a team of villains that would succeed where the Devastators failed. Imperator’s first step was to unite a core of five New York based supervillains who had less than stellar careers fighting (individually) against Kinestar: Energy Master, Jericho Bronze, Mindwarp, Scarlet Knight, and Bloodkite. All of these villains were capable, and with the except of Jericho Bronze, demoralized by their defeats. Serving on a supervillain team would be good for them. The other charter member was found at one of Dr. Power’s bases, a red cloaked figure who was contained in a stasis chamber. The Hand of Chaos explained that he was a pure gestalt that Dr. Power had tapped into as a power source. The Hand’s powers were immense, and gave the Tyranny League a weapon that enabled it could establish itself as more than just a team of thugs. Their first operation was the defeat of a fledgling New York superhero team, the Bronx Guard, in 1994. When the battle was over, Imperator ordered Bloodkite and Scarlet Knight to execute them. For the first time, an entire team of superheroes had lost their lives on the field of battle. If Imperator wanted to get people’s notice, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. The media went into a feeding frenzy. With the League’s reputation established, Imperator’s next step was to find a secure hiding place and bolster his forces. He also began a plan to infiltrate his enemies, enlisting a number of operatives in key positions in the United States government, most notably the Magician. The League’s machinations were noticed by a one of the world’s leading programmers, the programming gestalt Computor. Computor felt that national governments were an impediment to business in the modern age, and saw the League as a way to engineer social reform. Imperator quickly took a shine to him, and made him his first lieutenant. Computor used his mastery of computer networks to purchase a network of safehouses and transportation for the League, making it much more difficult for their pursuers to locate them. (Though it’s rumored that the FBI knew where the League was holed up, and didn’t want to incur the casualties that a fight on the League’s home turf would have incurred). Seeing a need for more muscle, the League contacted Taros Vlacek, the strongman gestalt Berserker. Berserker had been a fugitive from justice for several years and was glad to get some security, as well as revenge. Combat prowess was also a major concern of the League’s until the addition of Daimyo, a ninja jonin, whom Imperator found in Japan. Daimyo refused to join the League as a member, but he’d work for them if the price was right. Daimyo is currently an employee of the League, with a five million dollar annual contract The League performed a number of crimes, to finance the team, and serve as training exercises. During a political crisis in Haiti, they took over the country, then abandoned it before the US military landed. Imperator’s greatest concern is that the Tyranny League would become susceptible to developments by the US military in creating anti-gestalt weaponry, so they announced their opposition to US battlesuit programs. The anti-technology offensive culminated in 2000, when the League assassinated the world’s most famous gestalt scientist, Dr. Astra. Dr. Astra died, but Columbia arrived in time to intercept the League, and the battle was bloody. In the end, Bloodkite was killed, but so were Columbia’s Rex and Reactor. In spite of Bloodkite’s death, Imperator was very pleased with the results of the battle, which achieved his objectives and humbled Columbia. He decided to boost the League’s roster and added a very powerful gestalt named Fatemaster. This proved to be a mistake. In 2003, Imperator was worried that the League was being forgotten. He decided to reenter the spotlight in a big way by destroying one of America’s quintessential symbols: the Liberty Bell. Fatemaster, hoping to eliminate the League and take control of their operations, informed Columbia. Columbia was ready for them, and in the ensuing battle, Energy Master was killed, and Columbia might have captured them if it hadn’t been for the intervention of someone whose existence Imperator had kept even from the other League members, Poltergeist. With Poltergeist indicted into the League, the team finally found a secure HQ, as Poltergeist could create a gateway to a place in the Gestalt Dimension which serves as the League’s HQ. The League’s most recent activities have been more cautious and underhanded. While continuing to seek ways to boost their combat complement, the League has escalated its infiltration operations and its war against the United States government, particularly in the firebombing of Atlanta and the strike against Project Capricorn. The United States government is making the capture of the League one of their chief priorities, and there are some reports that Liberator’s obsession with capturing the League is pushing him over the edge. In 2008, the League found a new target --- the media. Without explaining their reasons, the League launched a simultaneopus coordinated attack on the facilities of every major network and cable news network, plunging the nation into "television darkness" that lasted over a week in August. Attacks on Internet service providers followed, until Columbia entered a cyberspace-like dimension and drove off the attackers. No one is quite sure what the League's motivations were, however there's a very strong possibility they planted a Trojan Horse in the system when it was reassembled, Tactics: It’s hard to describe the full array of combat tactics of the League, especially when you add someone as versatile as the Hand of Chaos into the mix. Despite their reputation for brutishness, the League is actually a well disciplined unit. The most dreaded move is the triple kill; Berserker grabs an opponent, Jericho Bronze grabs Scarlet Knight and rams him at full speed into the helpless opponent, impaling him at top speed. Ouch. Another favorite tactic is the Hand’s Moment of Chaos, the use of Flash/Dazzle over a wide area to blind many of the opposition prior to the League’s attack. The League reserves their actions until the moment their opponents are blinded; Jericho Bronze sweeps as many opponents as possible, then the others open up. Group Relations: The Tyranny League gets along very well, surprising given that they’re a pack of psychotic sociopaths. There are a few individuals with personal agendas (such as the Hand of Chaos and Computor), but they rarely get in the way of the team. There are team members who are not popular (such as Berserker), but even they’ll find someone on the team with whom they get along. As Imperator has said (privately): "Make a freak feel half-welcome, and he’s yours for life... or for as long as you can stomach them." Bases: The Tyranny League have (secret) bases in New York City and in Washington DC. The New York base, unknown to everyone, connects to a pocket in the Gestalt Dimension that gives them almost total security against attack. Reputation: The Tyranny League is known and feared by nearly everyone on the planet (although with the exception of the Haiti operation, they’ve never been active outside the United States). They are the world’s most infamous team of villains, and with very good reason.

Scott Bennie has begun a series of posts about the Tyranny League villain team from his Gestalt book, over at the BlackWyrm forum.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I remember the Lewis Carroll poem, but had never seen it illustrated. Cool find.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Do they need a volunteer to kiss under their mistletoe?

Re: Smiley in the sky

Re: Jokes An old couple and a newlywed couple were having tea together. The young wife asked her husband, "Pass the honey, honey." The young husband in turn asked his wife, "Pass the sugar, sugar." The longtime husband decided to get in on the act, and asked his wife...

Re: "Neat" Pictures Why does this elevator take so long?

Re: The Cat Launcher Telekinesis, Physical Manifestation. That allows for the grab (reducing CV), the squeeze (cat scratch damage), and the manifestation may possibly allow for blocked sight. Either that, or borrow the Opaque Adder from Entangle.

Re: Painted into a plot corner and the muse has fled! When I GM, I just have the bad guys go about their business without any clear idea of how the heroes will stop them. They always come up with something, so I let them have at it. If they seem to be stuck, I fall back on the old chestnut of their third idea being the right one.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine He adjusts to the oddity of time travel with the greatest of ease. Geek!

Re: Abbot and Costello Meet Doctor Destroyer I must confess, I was repped under false pretenses. I can only dream of using Photoshop one day. That's all done using MS Paint, baby!

Re: Lady Liberty Here's another handy picture for her. Be sure to check out all the other free character art in BlackWyrm's Extras section.

Re: THE ULTIMATE BASE -- What Do *You* Want To See? I'd like a good breakdown of security measures. How do you build a museum's invisible laser detection grid? How would one defeat it? How would you build a series of deathtraps in a pyramid? Can a base be Megascaled? How can I build a "city in a bottle?"

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Half Skull is a superhero? I'm not sure I'd want him to rescue me from a burning building.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Defibrillatrix.

Re: Search-Fu Failure... Utility Belt? It includes bat shark repeelant spray, which only repels bat sharks.

Re: NAZI Villians I still have print copies. Anyone wanting to order The Algernon Files or The Fires of War can contact me directly.

Re: Ape Name Needed ...the sausage kingpin of Chicago

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Speaking of dance-offs, here's one with the Presidential candidates. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVvmrum3cUA

Re: A Thread for Random Videos The Star Wars Dance Off reminded me of Fett's Vette.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Amazing striped icebergs Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with melt water and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Zippo, the Amazing.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos 10 Things I Hate About Commandments

Re: Tips for Evil Cult Members I generally tip Evil Cult Members 20%, just to be safe.