Zombieluvr

I've had some questions since Beta about certain events in I23, and now that it's in the larger public eye, maybe some of you out there can help me figure them out (or at least help speculate):

1) Where do the Black Knights come from? Bedwyr's arc makes it pretty clear that they are not from Night Ward, but he doesn't say where they came from. They are apparently searching for something or someone, but again, it isn't explicitly stated what. From other things going on in his arc and the general storyline, I gather that they are looking for either Black Swan, Excalibur, or both.

Are they from elsewhere in Praetoria? Perhaps Praetoria's British Isles would make sense. Pendragon mentions wanting to use Excalibur to bring Tyrant to justice, so they evidently are familiar with Praetoria, and one wouldn't think a group that existed solely within Night Ward would otherwise care about Tyrant. This all goes further into wondering what/where else in Praetoria is still free of the Hamidon's control, and what their political situation is.

2) Where exactly does Serene's plot fit into continuity? The whole Night Ward arc seems to follow almost immediately after First Ward's storyline, yet somehow Serene- though dead after FW- has already managed to infiltrate the Black Knights via the Black Queen, and institute a rather convoluted plot to free Lamashtu.

Her dialogue with Pendragon- where she refers to their affair d'amour- would seem to indicate that she had been involved with the Black Knights long before the events of First Ward. Indeed, the Lamashtu liberation would seem to be a complicated affair that must have taken some time to implement. Yet, oddly, it also seems to be predicated on Serene dying in order to implement it. (What's that saying about no self-respecting villain's evil plan should revolve around getting themselves captured or killed?)

I'm also not quite clear how/what this plot with Lamashtu fits in with her First Ward plans. Her ultimate plans with Lamashtu require Lamashtu to have a living vessel, so I am either led to believe that Serene planned for her own death in First Ward (making the whole Lamashtu plot a contingency plan to the plot she had going on involving Diabolique), or was she going to do both, but getting killed was just a minor setback?

A Thorny Problem: It's a race against the clock! The hordes of the Circle of Thorns chase you endlessly through a constantly shifting maze of Oranbegan corridors. Will you find the exit in time?

Don't much care about the wolf pet, myself. I'd just like to get the shard cannon. It's the only costume piece from that that I'm missing, and there are a couple of characters I have that it might work well with.

I can't help but think there should be one for Dr. Vahzilok. Something related to Pain Domination, or his Wasting Disease (Debuff?).

Something psychic for Clockwork King would be cool.

I think Praetorian Infernal is really Tyler Durden.

I think it would be kind of cool to see Perez Park get taken to Hell by the Hellions, although that's kind of going OT.

They could even do a Praetorian "going undercover" style mission format, where you'd make choices during missions that would be either Vigilante or Rogue choices, and culminating in an alignment story mission where you'd cement your alignment on one side or the other, and which would affect your contacts and mission choices.

I'd especially like it if it fleshed out Hero Corps more (an organization well suited to the "shades of grey" style of play), as well as putting a "good" face on the Crey Corporation- they can't be entirely evil, can they?

I've long thought that a Rikti EAT would be great. It certainly fits into the mythology of City of Heroes in a great way, and since you could theoretically be either a Restructurist or a Traditionalist, both Red and Blue sides could equally participate in the Rikti fun.

Given the ever evolving Rikti story, as well, it could further expand on the current Rikti in Primal Earth situation (from both viewpoints).

I wouldn't mind seeing a Praetorian EAT, just to balance out the sides, though I doubt it will ever happen. For one thing, you'd kind of need one for both Loyalists and Resistance- or at least something that can cross the lines (which I can't think of offhand; maybe an Interrogator EAT and some kind of Resistance EAT?). For another, given that story is currently cut off at 20, I'm not sure they'll bother.

Otherwise, I'd rather just see them do something to expand the meaning of the existing Origins. I liked the starting "bonus" power of the Origins that came way back when, but I'd like to see something more done to further the depth and differences of the Origins. Back in the day, the starting content was slightly geared towards different stories/missions for the various Origins, but that became increasingly murky, and is generally nonexistent these days. (Add to that so much of the old content is just vanilla compared to the more complex story arcs and missions these days.)

I posted a thread in the Beta forums suggesting that they add a black market and abandoned lab to First Ward (both of which certainly fit the theme); they are two things that would add a lot to FW, which- I agree with you- is an amazing zone. (Someone even suggested making the lab into an abandoned D.U.S.T. facility, which, with just a few map changes would make it even more fitting.)

I hate that FW's arcs ended before really even delving into the southern part of the zone, and I think your suggestion of making it a 1-20 would be kind of cool, actually; there is plenty of room there to expand things for characters. You'd have to either move some of the current assets/story arcs around a bit, but otherwise, it might be a really cool idea.

I'm just assuming he is Incarnate through the Kheldian Well, and not Humanity's.

If not, it raises some interesting questions vis a vis Requiem's Nictus powers, Twilight's Son, Prometheus' comments about the Kheldian Well and the Battalion, and the prospect of Requiem having access to two Wells (humanity's and the kheldian's).

Something someone in another thread mentioned got me to thinking- we should just send Vernon von Grun to deal with the Devouring Earth on Praetoria.

Oh, sure. Let's give the Praetorians some land to settle on before we decide to lift a finger to help the Rikti Traditionalists. They've only been helping- at sometimes dire cost- to try and stop the war between the Rikti and Humans for years, while the Praetorians just walk through life in an Enriche fueled fugue, turning a blind eye to atrocities and dangers all around them.

"Earth Is For Humans" indeed. Sheesh.

This is Nemesis we're talking about. It's already happened.