Wolfram

Our team was scarily effective. I wish I could've been there to see the final battle. Many thanks everyone who was involved, good fun all round.

Looks like we're well-set for defenders, so I'll bring Autumnfox. Claws/SR scrapper.

I don't have any heroes in the 20-25 bracket, but if you've got room for an exemplar to tag along, I can offer a Defender or a Scrapper.

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...for some reason someone's already registered with my name which is a tad disturbing.

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Hmm. Same thing happened to me - I guessed it was some sort of bug.

Honestly, right now I don't really mind where we end up, just so long as it's stable. Although the Suddenlaunch forums have promoted me to "Forum God", which is pretty cool.

Elshire Technologies, Brickstown, 22:48

Malcolm Elshire signalled the door of his shop to open and regarded the Portent balefully from behind his counter and his cup of coffee. "This better be good," he grumbled, as the other man crossed the room.

"Vigil." The Portent reached to retrieve a backpack slung over his shoulder. "I would like you to take a look at a robot for me."

"Uh-huh." Malcolm sipped his coffee, and nodded. "I'm, uh, not seeing a robot, though."

The Portent set the bag on the shop counter and undid the zip. The Zenith WarCry Mech's head had been quite securely fastened to its body, and the process of prying it free had done little to improve its appearance. Elshire recoiled, swallowing a mouthful of scalding coffee on impulse. "Jesus! All right, get that damn thing in back before someone sees it." He pinched the bridge of his nose as the Portent casually lifted the detached head and carried it into the workshop behind the counter. "I could've done without this."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Elshire was hunched over his worktable, studying the robotic cranium closely. Wires ran from the concealed housings in his arms to the exposed circuitry of the damaged head, and his eyes glowed slightly as the subprocessors hidden behind them performed their calculations.

The Portent stood watching quietly from a short distance away; behind him, Asuka Miyamoto, vigilante engineer extraordinaire, held up a medical scanner, examining his injuries. "Tell me again why you're bothering us with this?
Thought the Militia was meant to be back in action."

"I did not wish to disturb Juniper at this late hour. And the Militia may possess the skills to assist me, but they lack your equipment."

"Well, it's probably for the best." Elshire looked up, the glow fading slightly from his eyes. "The thing that makes this robot special... it's invasive. Viral. If you hooked it up to a normal computer, you'd have a fight on your hands to keep it from taking over."

Asuka nodded reluctantly. "So someone made a virus that turns the Mechs against the Council? Pretty impressive."

Malcolm shook his head. "I don't think this was done on purpose. I think the machines did it themselves."

The Portent frowned. No-one could tell. "How is that possible?"

"Originally, I couldn't say. My guess is that the Council were trying to upgrade their Zenith AI, and didn't realise how far they were going. This robot thinks it's alive."

Malcolm glanced in the direction of the computer beside him, which began to display reams of 1s and 0s. "It's broadcasting now, trying to contact the others like it. I'm jamming the signal, but I can see what it's trying to say. This... it's a level of machine intelligence I've never seen. If it's not digital sentience, it's close."

"You are telling me," the Portent said, quietly, "that I have just decapitated a living being."

Malcolm sighed. "I'm a scientist, not a philosopher. You tell me whether it's alive. But it's smart. Self-aware. And angry."

Asuka nodded. "And a self-replicating viral intellect. If these... things can get the equipment together they could spread worldwide. Your proper informational apocalypse."

"They're not giving anything away, though. I've searched for any clues as to their plans, but if this robot knew anything, it's deleted the files. They must have a headquarters somewhere, but - "

"I'll find them." The Portent turned to leave. "Thank you. I will inform you of what transpires."

* * *

Asuka watched him leave, shaking her head slightly. "What goes on in his head, Malcolm?"

"You're asking me?" Elshire shrugged. "Whatever it is, it keeps him going." He paused as Asuka opened her locker in the corner and began gathering her equipment. "You're going to follow him, aren't you?"

Asuka looked up from fastening her bracers. "Kid's got the right ideas, but he's going to get himself killed." She glanced toward the door. "And if he's got it in his head that these robots are alive... well." She pulled down her goggles. "One way or another, this thing isn't going any further."

((I originally wrote this for the Militia forums. Then they imploded. So, here it is. Feedback, comments, you get the idea.))

Crey's Folly, 19:43

The warehouse was cold and quiet. The Portent ducked behind a stack of storage crates as his audio receptors picked up the dull clang of metal feet on the floor grating, a squad of the Council's Mech Men approaching. Or at least, the Council's design; the human soldiers manning this base had fled scarce minutes before, their half-panicked radio chatter yielding little explanation.

As the footsteps receded back into the warehouse's halls, the Portent rose to his feet, watching the departing robots carefully. Basic vision, radar, passive EMR showed nothing unusual; if these robots were more, or less, than they seemed, it wasn't obvious from their construction. Not Nemesis' facsimiles, or illusions. The Council built them, or someone with full access to their methods.

He powered up his stealth suit and moved forward as quietly as he could. Ahead, the corridor broadened into a loading bay, where several more squads of mech men were patrolled, some accompanied by the anti-gravitic Hoverbots. Nothing seemed exactly out of the ordinary, except for the lack of any living troops alongside the mechanical.

Atop the gantry at the far side of the bay, a lone Warcry mech stood supervising the scene. That was no more unusual; the larger, more intelligent robots were built specifically to oversee their lesser kin. But there was something different here. As the Portent crept closer, he realised that the armoured giant seemed... restless.

He slipped behind part of the stair railing and ran a full scan. Again, the Warcry mech seemed externally to be a standard design, but for a slightly increased heat signature in what appeared to be its central processor. But its movements were off - it was pacing slowly along its gantry, and when it paused to silently direct its subordinates, it seemed to be gesturing to them. The Portent scanned the local frequencies to try to hear what orders it was giving, but nothing he could find matched any Council encryption, just an intermittent stream of binary code.

A proximity alert flickered on the periphery of his vision. He remained still, letting his visual focus pan around to identify the cause: a group of three Mech Men that had reversed their patrol route and were approaching his hiding place. Had they noticed there was something out of place? His stealth field made him hard to see, but not invisible, and these robots were not limited to the human senses. He tensed, ready to move.

More alerts flashed up - the robots had changed from a patrol to a search pattern. As quickly as he dared, he moved his hand to the controls on his wrist, setting his systems to combat mode. As his gauntlets began to charge with power and his helmet went into its targeting routine, he felt the equivalent process taking place in the back of his mind, his skills awakening at the scent of combat. He took a deep breath and slipped effortlessly into the all-too-familiar patterns engraved in his memory.

He launched the attack in a trance, as always, springing from cover and loosing off a volley of charged bolts at the nearest patrol. The ionised bolts needed a higher charge to deal with a robot than to stun a human, and the energy drain caused his stealth field to flicker. He darted behind fresh cover before cutting it off, redirecting the power flow to his gauntlets. His motion sensors told him that one of the Mechs he'd fired on was still active; two more groups were now circling to cut him off.

He waited until the nearest Mech was almost on top of him before forsaking his cover, firing a burst of suppressing fire as he bore down on his enemy. He jumped, kicking off the Mech's head for extra height, and engaged his flight harness in a short burst, curving in a slow backflip onto the upper gantry, across the room from the Warcry mech. Below, the lesser robots spread out to find cover, forming a rough circle in the centre of the bay. The Portent crouched behind the low railing as a hail of energy bolts hissed through the air toward him.

The scream of jets told him what was coming next seconds before a Hoverbot rose into view, its gyros whirring as it took aim. The Portent crouched and leapt for it, visor flashing a dozen warnings, and clung on, grappling the machine with gauntleted fingers as it twisted and struggled to right itself. He fought down an inexplicable instinct to trying tearing it apart physically, and reached to his belt for one of the explosive charges held there. He strapped the bomb to the back of the Hoverbot, set its timer, and kicked off, firing a volley of energy to repel it as he fell to earth, amid a circle of waiting Mechs.

The next few seconds passed in a blur. The Portent reached for his suit controls just as an opening volley of fire slammed into his armour, staggering him. The second volley would likely have finished him, if the careening Hoverbot overhead hadn't chosen that moment to slam into the hapless Warcry mech, and explode.

The Portent would wonder afterwards whether the robots paused from the disruption of their command transmissions, or from genuine shock, but one of the two bought him the time he needed to disengage the safety locks and channel his power supply's output through the absorption cells of his stealth suit.

* * *

After the echoes had died away and his systems had begun to recover, he found a crowbar in a side room and climbed the ramp to where the Warcry mech had stood. Impressively, it had managed to crawl several meters in spite of its shattered legs. It aimed one of its arm-mounted weapons at him, but he kicked it aside and hefted the crowbar. Secrets and lies. I need to know which ones it's hiding in there.


((To be continued...))

I've had a few ideas for new characters linked to my existing ones, but most have gone unused, or been deleted. Wolfram and Starlit Spirit are linked, and most of my alts are in one of three SGs (so most know each other), but that's as far as I've taken it.

I think part of the problem is that I tend to 'collect' cultural backgrounds, and I don't think any two of my characters were actually born in the same country.

That's just me, though. Linking your characters' backgrounds can make for some good RP potential.

A thought on the incentives, partially inspired by the original one for Big Game: perhaps it should be more like a bet? Our organising millionaires or whatever approach each hero individually, and show them a briefcase full of money. They're told that if they acquire Item A for the group, the money will go to the charity or cause of the hero's choice. If they don't, it will be given to whatever villain group the hero finds most distasteful. Villains (other than ones like Big Game for whom the above would work) could be offered the money for themselves, or some other similar reward. Again, each character is told they're the only one who's been offered this deal, and is not allowed to tell anyone.

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One thing to consider is that while villains most likely have next to no qualms about stealing, it could be an issue for a hero. Even if the motivation is in place and the illegal act happens for a greater good it might still compromise the hero's moral standing.


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But you don't necessarily have to steal. And part of the fun is seeing how characters of total integrity go about acquiring stuff that's not theirs in a desperate situation.

For the IC masterminds of the event, I know it's kind of been done, but how about a Mxyzptlk-style trickster, just out to toy with the heroes and villains? Having that sort of powerful figure behind it all allows you to explain away any weirdness that arises from the setup (because weirdness is pretty much the name of the game).

Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.

I like the idea that it will be a free-for-all rather than heroes vs villains. It's all about the interesting RP situations, and pitting characters against their friends and allies would certainly qualify there.

The incentives could be tricky to get right. Putting a loved one in real, mortal danger could have the wrong sort of effect on some characters, especially if the scarcity of items to retrieve drives them to desperation. A fun event about stealing people's pants shouldn't be marred by random, casual murder.

I'd certainly like to be part of it. I don't think any of my characters are anywhere near well-known enough for anyone to go looking for their stuff, but it sounds like far too much fun to pass up.

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Instead, I will try to do a more limited version - with Coile's permission (still to be formally obtained ) using the ST-forum.

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Consider the permission obtained. There's the dedicated section for forum roleplay which should be ideal.

Tempest forum requires registration and activation by hand as well as rights granted before posting is possible. Yes, I did grew weary with spammers. Plus my online presence during early evenings is tentative at best. Just so that those concerned are aware.

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So we should all be signing up on the Tempest forums? Just want to be clear, I wouldn't want to barge in uninvited .

Since it's here...

Ghost, did you get my reply to your PM before everything fell apart? I'm not sure whether it really sent, as I can't log into my real account anymore. I can send you the essence of it on here if you want.

I posted this on the Plot RP section shortly before it disappeared, so to reiterate: Wavekite is still in hospital after the Terra Volta saga.

And, I think that's all I've got.

Once again leaving it till the very last minute... I should be able to make it. Starlit Spirit, level 26 Honorary Peacebringer.

((Good fun indeed, though a little chaotic on the hero end. A nice epic finale to the Militia's biggest challenge yet. All those henchmen really gave a sense of magnitude to the whole setup.

Leon, apologies, missed your last post before it all started - the Portent's just a little touchy about the whole death and killing thing. Also, Claws/SR ftw!))

The Portent rose to his feet.
"I expect some of us are thinking that their best course of action is to cooperate with the authorities. Turn themselves in and trust in the system to find the truth. I disagree.
"Sabrina San is legally dead; yet, Dragonfly is still pursued by the authorities. Force Commander is facing fabricated terrorism charges. The Amber Banshee is missing altogether, as are several others. This is no ordinary criminal proceeding. We're being set up.
"If the Militia go on trial, we will miss our only chance to get to the bottom of this mess before whoever is behind it destroys us. Someone wants the Militia out of the way, and I for one will not sit in a prison cell while they achieve their aim.
"Some of us have been falsely accused... some less so. I don't have time to sort the guilty from the innocent while we're in this kind of danger. For now, we run and hide, and find out who's doing this to us. Anyone disagree?"
The Portent sat down, awaiting further input.

The Portent landed on the courthouse roof, found a good hiding-spot over Dragonfly's courtroom, and set up his microphones to listen in.

The Portent sat in his hideout, his head in his hands. Around him, the tools of his trade hummed softly as they processed data, cross-referenced evidence, built the framework upon which his mission rested. He paid them no attention. Lost in thought, he stared at the floor, trying to come to terms with the wreck of his existence.

"Going brilliantly well, isn't it?"

The Portent ignored the voice.

"Why can't you accept the facts here? You know there's a way out. A way that's always been open. I can make all the pain and doubt go away. Just give me what I want."

The Portent raised his head. "You don't want anything," he barked irritably at the room at large. "You're a figment of my imagination. You don't exist."

"So you say. Well, you just opened your mouth and spoke to this 'figment.' What does that tell us about your mental state?"

The Portent sighed. "Maybe I am crazy. But I will never, ever give in to what you represent."

"Stubborn fool. I can solve all your problems - Jervis, the evidence, police. I can get you out of this city."

The Portent gritted his teeth, remaining silent.

"What else will you-"

"*Keyword: Militia.*"

The Portent looked up at the sound from across the room as one of the monitors on the wall switched to a newsfeed.

"...ago the Militia were praised for their efforts in defeating the 'Clockwork King.' Now, serious allegations made by the Paragon City Police Department suggest that there may be trouble ahead for these so-called heroes."
The Portent sat bolt upright, staring at the screen.

"Asian vigilante Sabrina San was sentenced to death in China for multiple counts of murder, and extradited from Paragon City to face that punishment. Now, official sources state that she escaped and is being harboured by the Militia, under the alias 'Dragonfly.'
"PPD sources that they have issued an arrest warrant for San, and that investigations have been launched into the general operation and membership of the Militia. Some allege that suspicions already exist of members with long-standing gang ties, to the Outcasts and other organisations, and-"

The Portent rose to his feet, picking up his helmet from the desk. As he glanced around the room before putting it on, a different man looked out from his eyes.

As I understand it, what we're looking for are both new Militia members (we always want more Militia members! ) and outside heroes/groups interested in taking part in our big RP plot. Level 25 is actually a little bit high at present, but easily workable.

For my part:
The Portent will of course be on the illegal side of the divide - he doesn't recognise the authority of the law or government and will fight to protect Dragonfly and others from capture. However, he's pretty picky about the people he teams up with, and he doesn't like killers at all.


One question though, does anyone know if there was ever a plan for the true nature of the Ministry, or are we making is up as we go along?

Aww, it's full... Oh well, I'll put Starlit down in reserve in case a place opens up.

Sounds like fun, I've been waiting months to take my revenge on the Sister Psyche TF. I can offer a low 20s Peacebringer, Starlit Spirit.

By "low 20s", I mean she's currently 19... but I can get to 20, maybe 21, by the 19th.

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I mean, for example.. Sabrina gets the Militia into trouble with the law and suddenly th eentire supergroup project is under arrest, our security clearance and hero regisration are revoked, blah blah blah.. and somehow, we manage to clear our name.

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This'd be especially interesting when everyone finds out the Portent doesn't have a hero license and is wanted by the police on numerous counts of corporate sabotage... [img]/uk/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
For me, roleplay is all about storytelling. The more plots and intrigue, as far as I'm concerned, the better.

Being on camera sounds interesting, as long as we get a warning so we can keep OOC speech to a minimum. [img]/uk/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

As for team leaders, FC seems to do a good job; he's good at it and it fits his character. For an overall leader... I dunno, we still technically have Agent Tremeur (I think) to do the administrative stuff.

And for the TF... I should be around tomorrow as usual. I'd rather not abandon it, but after what it did to the last meeting we may have no alternative.

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Thanks for an awesome night, TF players!

Sorry for being a bit "bossy" and "Commander" like at the beginning.

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Being bossy and Commander like (not that you were, overly so) is Force Commander's right. Sometimes roleplaying means being less than polite, but if it's in character, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
Anyway, you led us to victory so we've no right to complain.

I greatly enjoyed taking down Babbage, and have the whole thing on a demo recording. Looking forward to finishing the TF now and reuiniting with those who were sadly left out .

A uniform sounds like a cool idea, I think we've seen suggestions from Pious/'Dragonfly/Mer'de already. Whatever we come up with, I'm sure I can attach it to the Portent's costume with a decent amount of fudge (he's a paranoid anti-social anarchist, but he also likes and respects his friends in the Militia, so he'll stretch a point).

Onward to more epic triumphs for the Militia!

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< Clicky >

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This looks excellent. I'd second the motion to continue posting all important notifications about the Militia's activities here, but... beyond that, I can see real benefits to having our very own forum. Exceptional work.

Maybe the best way to keep up to date on all these Militia alts is to start a new thread dedicated to being the Militia's membership roster. Post up your character's name, current level of activity, and whatever other information you want - explanation and description of powers, background as it is presently known IC, plots you're part of; all the little details that might be hard to get across when actually in character. It'd be a very handy reference for newcomers (and indeed oldcomers) to be able to just read through a detailed list of militia members, and thus keep up to date with events they've missed or people they've yet to meet.


Edit: On reflection, this is probably what everyone else just suggested. So I'll just make this a vote in favour.