Averick

Honestly I can't see why you'd go with anything but thugs. Seriously, nothing else says greed like stealing even from your own minions. I mean if you're going to go after a base human being psychological profile you might as well be thuggish and thick as well as painfully greedy. Someone who would attract other thugs who wouldn't mind smashing open windows and snatching purses from old ladies, if you get my drift. Someone who would steal candy from a convenience store, which always seemed a little too "low brow" for a bots mastermind, and hardly worth waking the dead over. I mean, ninjas can't be bothered with daytime jewelry store theft, they're bloody ninjas!

So until they come out with Pirate MMs, [Do you hear that devs!?] thugs would be where I would start. Low brow, stupid, drooling thug who's just greedy as his main motivation.

Wait, Cleave's a sword, why would [SERIOUS QUESTION HERE] he not just be able to cut through the bonds?

And why would webbing work and not say, the ground grabbing him, or dark tendrils or anything like that?

[ QUOTE ]
The only thing that really bothers me in an RP is people trying to railroad people into a situation they want to happen despite any and all attempts, whether successful or not, to get off the train. And you and Devious are both guilty of that at times, from my point of view at least.

[/ QUOTE ]

What? That’s an honest question. I’ve never, to my knowledge, done that, so I’m curious what you’re talking about.

Devious wrote this [ QUOTE ]
At the end of the tunnel, Chorstis would've done well to cast a teleportation spell right now if he had one. Otherwise, Cleave would be through him in a matter of seconds, whether or not he put up a protective field to try and prevent that - and outrunning that thing just wasn't in the cards.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which, to my knowledge, was nothing more than an attempt to warn whoever was writing for Chorstis that any attempt at defense would be futile. I don’t see how it adds to the story, is descriptive of the events, or is in any way role playing. It just seems to be an entire paragraph dedicated to explaining that there’s nothing Chorstis could do to defend himself. He then goes on to write for Chorstis, making Kasoh have to go back and rewrite a scene as an illusion.

[ QUOTE ]
My broadsword scrapper does that all the time. Ditto for my Dual Blades stalker. It's called Build Up.

One hit - fine. Three or four hits maybe not so much.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, there’s hit and do damage, and there’s hit and the fight’s over. The way Devious wrote it, the only reason Chorstis was even still standing was because he was impaled on his sword. Fight over, interrogation beginning. He was about to drag him back for questioning when… Kasoh actually wrote for his own character and Devious was confused. What, wait, how’s that possible?

I know this might come as a shock to you, but I’ve played the game before. I’m aware of build up and aim. I don’t one shot same level bosses with 6 slotted damage with build up and assassin’s strike, see, cause the game’s balanced to make bosses have so many hp, that you really can’t just one shot them. Don’t get me wrong, you can mess up their day, or double snipe them, but no one is so uber that they can take out a boss in one shot. Would it have hurt him to write a pitched battle? Would his fingers have bled?

[ QUOTE ]
I seem to remember a certain elderly archmage somehow getting to the end of a CoT cave without a scratch on him, then having a pleasant chat with a boss who by all rights shouldn't do anything other than attack on sight.

Later, that same character ran back through those same tunnels with. in your own words, 'about seventy Circle of Thorns' chasing him. Despite being a blaster and thus rather squishy, he survived.

Just saying, can't really [censored] at Devious for doing something with his character that your own character did not too long ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

Running… fighting… two different things. In the game I can run through an entire map in tunnels with eye of the magus on and the wedding ring temp power and never take enough damage to make my bar go down significantly. In the RP, if you’ll bother to read it, Mystic has been popping potions (ie blues and greens for him) since the start, and is now battered, bruised and bleeding waiting for the cavalry charge to come to an end so he can finish his exodus.

Super uber Mystic, couldn’t even be bothered to finish his own fight, and in an attempt to do nothing more than flee, was cut off by the enemy and very nearly had to retreat down a scary passage way. If the rest of the party hadn’t intervened when they did, he would have had to run to avoid death. So yeah, I’m so uber and so are all of my characters. Meanwhile, some chick is kicking the crap out of Riley in his own apartment. Oh yeah, I do the same thing all the time.

We’re not talking about me. What you’re engaged in now is misdirection. If you want to talk about me, you don’t need to put it up in a public forum, you can just PM me. I’m reasonable. I’ll listen to you and we’ll work something out.

The reason we’re here… hold on…

Siekon! – eyes over here a second, hon.

The reason we’re here is because we’ve tried the whole “hey Devious” in PM thing before and it gets wildly out of hand rapidly. So be embarrassed if you have to, come to me and tell me how I’m wrong if you like, or even guilty of the same stuff, that’s fine, or even don’t read it. If progress is to be made, people must be allowed to discuss things. That’s not always pretty, it’s not always nice, it’s not always YOUR idea of mature and constructive. This is because people don’t all think like you.

So my apologies if this offends, but telling people to stop talking or stop arguing or to devalue interaction by referring to it as “bickering” or “childish” isn’t constructive. It makes you the antagonist, and presupposes your position regarding discourse is the superior one from which you’re handing down lofty judgments of other people’s behavior.

This is all in a public thread because the public has a right to have a say on this. People, and I mean everyone who’s had experience with this, should have a say in what’s going on. Yes, my position is well known in general, but there’s specifics people don’t know that really color my opinion.

Three people have spoken to me in private about Devious. They all say the same thing. The god moding is out of control and he’s really creative.

I agree on both accounts. Trying to “calm this down” is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen. Discouraging others to add their voices to this is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen. Devious needs to see that it’s not just 1 or 2 people who hate him personally for no reason and who are attacking his writing. He needs to see that while we laud his creativity, the god moding is out of hand and needs to be SERIOUSLY reigned in.

I'd like to suggest one. "God moding".

No, really, explain to me why it's realistic that a sword would cut clean through a barrier that an archmage throws up in a world where that archmage can punish up to four or five average super heroes?

Explain to me how it's realistic that Cleave, a spirit bound to a sword, can suddenly thwart archmages attempts to detect that he's spying on them?

I want to know how realism plays into this. Enlighten me.

And stop trying to write for my characters. You don't know anything about me, what I've done or not done with regards to your characters and what you've said doesn't make any sense.

You act as if I'm prejudice against you for some reason (other than you're a god moder). Well I'm not. I looked at your posts as best I could.

When I see your character ignore a poison dart attack because you feel that poison darts wouldn't penetrate a leather jacket "in a realistic setting" I laugh.

A 1 FPS dart wouldn't penetrate 5 solid feet of leather. However, a 1300 fps titanium strength dart would penetrate 5 inches of leather, pretty easily. So what strength dart was fired at your character? Oh, the 1FPS dart right? Because well, even though this whole thing is based off of a game, realistically, you're uber.

You're just plain better than everyone else, aren't you? You're characters are all stronger, all the time, in every way. OOOOH, that's really dramatic. You wade through enemies hip deep never once suffering any damage. Awesome!

You win TEH intarwebz!

When are you going to sit down like an adult and stop being so hyper defensive and have an honest conversation that doesn't involve one time attacking the people you feel are attacking you?

Oh, and Rebel, where is it someone else's fault? His first post. [ QUOTE ]
Harrier, seriously - why didn't you just say so? If you'd just given me a heads-up that this was to be just between Zeta and you, I could've invented any number of reasons for Big V not to be the protective teammate.

[/ QUOTE ]

See!? All he had to do was ask.

Seriously, you're an enabler. I know you think you're helping, but you're not. I get you're his friend, but you need to let him grow up some. This has been going on for a long time. It has NOTHING to do with realism and EVERYTHING to do with god moding. Once that veil is torn down as well, MAYBE we'll get him to see that we're really just concerned with a little balance.

Devious: I've tried several times to have a reasonable conversation, but you're just too defensive. I say "hey, you're a little too loud" and you say "YOU'RE TOO LOUD!! TAKE THAT!!"

It goes nowhere, because there's no constructive criticism so well worded that it's strong enough for him to see the problem is actually a problem and so lightly worded that he doesn't feel attacked and lash out.

So, yeah, how bout we just beat you up with sticks until you settle down some?

My next character in any RP you start is going to be living unobtainium, and he's going to pound all of your bad guys to pulp, be completely immune to all attacks of any variety because, well, he's entirely unobtainium, and we all know you can't mind control metal, he's not magnetic, he's immune to heat and cold damage, can't be corroded, bullets bounce off, and unobtainium is magic proof.

So yeah, be prepared for unobtainium man. Did I mention he also can teleport anywhere in the multiverse and beyond and can instantly know what bad guys are thinking at all times no matter how hard they try to conceal their thoughts?

I mean, it's only realistic.

Smart enough, smart a$$. And I'm no william wallace. If william wallace were here, he'd consume the English with lighting from his eyes, and fireballs from his [censored]. Oh no he wouldn't because they'd all be grounded and fire proof, and we'd have to have Devious come through and realistically kick them all in the head with one kick, all 2000 of them.

[ QUOTE ]
If this upsets you, then I'm sorry, but I prefer to keep things more as they would be if this were a real-world environment.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait... what?

What does a real world environment have to do with your characters constantly being more powerful than GOD himself?

Numerous weaknesses? Like 15 types of Cheese from the planet Zorbidden on the other end of the univers that no one even knows about?

Oh, I see, you're just immune to all damage. Oh well, then, here I thought you god modded all the time. Your characters just so happen to have bathed in the sacred Monk pool of Kvah, so they can walk through the map without drawing aggro from whatever bad guy we're dealing with. They all have undefined game powers that spring into existence whenever that allow them to [ALL THE WHILE THEY'RE UNDETECTABLE AND UNSTOPPABLE, DON'T FORGET] see anything, know anything and you just happen to have in your bag the very thing required to save the day while all of the other PCs efforts are fruitless ala you.

Yes, please, don't refrain from this in the future. It adds character. It's so realistic.

GOD THANK YOU HARRIER for finally saying it. I thought I was taking crazy pills. It's like he's trying to RP a lvl 75 character in a game that caps at 50. I could provide endless examples of this, but I don't have to, because he does.

And when asked to ratchet it down... well... you can see how that goes. Realism? REALISM?

Damn, four minutes late...

I predict this will go nowhere constructive and you'll just see a massive post by Devious proving that it's all your fault.

HA! I called it first!

[Posted on behalf of Ninjin]

Justin felt good to be among all this extra power. In between homework and football practice, he wasn't able to get out much to do the hero thing, but when he was, it was always amazing for him when he was in the mix.

Thankful for Alana's save, he reacted with two side steps and swing down on the now-electrified Hellion's arm with the pistol. He dropped the gun with a yell of pain that was subsequently followed up with an additional yell from another jolt electricity.

"Who else wants some," Justin exclaimed and turned to the training Hellion. He was truly enjoying this team effort.

"Not me," the Trainee turned on his heels and ran toward the street. His only hopes was that he'd be able to make it as far as another group of Hellions. The only thing is that they might end up taking their defeat out on him because he left. Hellions were taught not to be cowards, although in his short span of life, he'd seen quite a few of them take off at the sight of heroes. Now that their girlfriends were hanging out, they tried to maintain that sense of bravado that was instilled with the package deal of a bat or gun or lead pipe. If he made it far enough, he'd let him. He enjoyed cleaning the city. To Justin, this was a game still. He had yet to understand the importance of careful planning. He was a smart kid in school, with exemplary grades, but in the streets he wouldn't last a day in King's Row.

"Seems to be all of em," Justin dropped the bat and wiped his hands clean, "So, where to next? I need some experience, I'm trying to get my levels up. I want..." Justin stopped and looked down at himself. He was still out of costume.

"Crap," Justin rolled his eyes and dropped his head back, "I'll never get anything done like this. Well, I mean I could... I rocked it back there a little with the whole kick and flip and take the bat and boom and unh!" Justin made hand guestures that tried to resemble everything he did. He watched everyone just stare.

"What? I was- we were doing it back there! We should team up. What do ya say?" He had already forgotten again that he didn't have his costume.

Averick's back.

I don't think Mystic has had a chance to react to the cause for his gooberness! Will be posting today

Mystic was able to absorb most of the blast that hit him, as his shields were all he was concentrating on, and the flame was easier to absorb for him. He was no less confused and disoriented as the shockwave pushed him into a large planter. He hovered above and spotted Pyra. “Oh, dear Pyra. Such a tragedy for you to come to this. I’d hoped you would have learned from the last time.”

“What?” Pyra turned to face mystic. “Didn’t you used to be blue? What’s with the dark colors? Nevermind, a change of costume won’t help you. You know fire isn’t very effective on me.” She waved him away with a shooing motion.

Mystic drew his wand from under his cloak, “oh yes, I know you’re resistant to fire, but I’ve been branching out.” Pyra’s eyes widened as he leveled the wand at her and tip began to glow with black and purple energy. Just then Quex’s battlecry ripped through the air. Though it didn’t sound exactly like him, it did enough that Mystic turned his head to see if it was his old friend come back from the dead. “Picker?”

It was then that the Skull jumped him from a nearby table. They toppled to the ground and the Skull’s mask grinned at him as he wrestled for control of the wand. More than just his costume had changed, though. There was something darker about Mystic on the inside as well. More than just his sense of humor. He stared up into the eyes of the Skull and smirked, “this isn’t a very good place for you, chap.”

Fire erupted in a circle out from the mage, and the Skull began to scream. He immediately let go of the wand and began running out of the bank, on fire. Mystic stood and let loose a bolt directly into Pyra’s back, causing her to stumble as the black energy drained her, weakening her defenses and slowing her reactions so Brian would be able to subdue her more quickly. They traded shots of flame back and forth, Pyra trying to roast Mystic, and Mystic melding and welding things around her, trying to block her escape routes, and collapse things on her for physical damage. He ended with one shot from his bow and arrow, the shaft penetrating her right thigh just before Brian finally closed with her, preventing Mystic from launching any more flame, for fear of injuring his friend.

“Is it space, or time I am out of? Space, definitely space.” Mystic reached out in both directions with his hands and pushed on the lens-like purple shimmer that separated him from stark white lightning bolts dancing around him as balls of noise that looked like fuzzy bubbling ponds, only nearly transparent and bubbling out in all directions as if without gravity, slowly closed in around him. “I’m sure it’s space, as things are still changing. I think those things are wondering why I’m in their universe… or reality, or perhaps just a shift in the…” Something began to beep. His com was flashing red on his arm.

It was the all call from the Two Six. This call was reserved for when someone was truly in trouble, but he hadn’t been back in… this really did bring up an incredibly question to his head. “I’m still getting cell service in another dimension? That stupid company drops my call if I go under a bridge!” Looking in all directions for some inkling of how this could be, Mystic spotted a shaft of light below him. The portal was still open. The radio waves were coming from there.

With one shift of his weight, he pushed against the foreign reality and thrust himself back through the portal. It snapped shut behind him as the Rikti Magus finished his sentence. “Nuisance: Removed”

“Sorry chaps, no more time to play, my mates need me. You understand.” The disbelief had almost worn off by the time Mystic finished his incantation and channeled all the magical energy he could muster into one solid bolt of flame that burned into the chest of the Magus. For a moment, Mystic was staring at the Chief Soldier behind the Magus through the sizzling hole in the Magus’s chest, but then there was a heavy thud as the venerable Rikti fell to his knees, and another as he crashed over onto his face. Not that the Chief Soldier heard it over the sounds of the emergency teleporter taking him… anywhere but there.

Police had started opening the huge, rolling doors to the warehouse. He had wished to stay and explain to them what all the lab equipment was there for, but he had to respond to the beacon.

His black robes and cape, trimmed with a deep red, flowed like a flag as he cut through the air over the heads of the police and out into King’s Row. He climbed suddenly, then banked hard toward source of the beacon [saints forgive me for the pun]. He saw the familiar teleportation signature of Newton growing ever closer to the bank, but due to the urgency of the call, he didn’t wait. He flew directly into the lobby and said in a loud booming voice that commanded respect and announced his authority, “Brian? What…”

The Pit had become a deathtrap. Foremen screamed for Scrapyarders to abandon their shafts and duties and flee to high ground. Arachnos soldiers began emergency evacuation procedures as the metal of their fortress began wrenching apart under the power of the Earth shaking. Spiders slipped into the black water, never to be seen again. Soldiers scrambled for higher ground. Mako swam among them in a bloodlust he’d not experienced for a very long time.

There were rescue efforts, of course, to minimize damage. At each of these attempts, Lacerta fought to impede or simply destroy the rescue efforts. Flyers came under droid fire and actually had droids landing on them, welding them apart with their lasers while they tried to load Arachnos troops. Cable buckets being used to pull workers from the Pit came under attack from ninjas and mercenaries, often exploding or having cables severed, sending Scrapyarders plummeting into the icy cold waters. Cage consortium guards hurled ropes off of the end of embankments and were rewarded with energy blasts from Technocracy powered weapons.

The Graveyard was the worst. Circle of Thorns mages used their magic and ropes to pull fellow mages from the water as it washed through all but the highest areas of the graveyard, only to find zombies climbing out instead of fellow Thorns. Flame and ice descended on them from all sides. Red lightning and inky power lanced at them from the sky and the water. Each priest took turns orchestrating the death of as many of the Circle as possible. Few survived, and the rescue effort of their brethren was quickly abandoned.

The only happy group seemed to be Merulina’s children. The Coralax came to the surface to feed in force. Ships were boarded, people fought, eventually moving away from shore to save themselves, and abandoning survivors on crumbling shores to the merciless deep, and its ravenous inhabitants. Screams and blood filled the water. Those villains that could escape, did so. Those that could not, perished. Reclaimers worked overtime.

Throughout the night, there were more deaths, more feeding, and more raids. It wasn’t until morning that the sky was filled with Arachnos flyers, and Recluse re-exerted his will over the quartet of Sharkhead Islands.

The Circle was gone. The Graveyard now mostly submerged, was abandoned to the sea. Cage survived, with a handful of Scrapyarders working hard to build defenses on what was to be called “Pit cove”. The portion of the dock that remained was filled with the bodies of the Family who had held off attack by staying indoors and shooting anything that moved. One working pier, heavily damaged, was all that remained. The Freakshow, what remained of them, were sole owners of a chunk of land now. Just four, no more, all the rest claimed by the sea. The only bodies were those on land.

Everyone knew what had happened, but no one knew how, except Recluse, who now called furiously for Mako. This call would go unheeded for long periods of time. Mako was full, more full than in a while. Not because he couldn’t eat whenever he wanted, but because of how he had eaten. It was a complete indulgence of his shark side. Something he’d never experienced before. He would not answer Recluse, in fact, thought of him as a no longer necessary evil. Let him send his representatives into the newborn isles. Let him lose them, one at a time, trying to track him down.

It was in Grandville that Professor Eviella walked proudly into Recluse’s chambers, no droids in tow. Recluse’s guards raised weapons toward her, and he waved them down.

“I have a message from the Avatar.” She said as if she were telling him she were there to pick up dry cleaning.

Recluse sat back in his throne. “Go on.”

“It reads, ‘do I have your attention’?” She quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh, I think my attention could safely be said to be on your group and its activities. You dare-“ Eviella turned to walk away from him.

“Imagine what the Leviathon could do to Grandville. All these tall towers. Now imagine what it could do to Paragon City. We will have suggestions on how you could woo us. I must convey your respects to the Avatar at once.”

Recluse snarled behind his mask as she left. He gave an almost imperceptible hand signal to allow her to leave, half hoping that a mistake would be made and he could enjoy the guilty pleasure of watching her die. For now, however, he regarded her as the representative of a powerful tool. The only question is how to control it. In the mean time, war would be expensive, and ultimately useless.

No. He would bide his time. He would learn about this previously ignored faction. He would infiltrate it, crush it, and bring it before him on its knees. “Bring me Scirocco, I have work for him regarding a previous subordinate of his.”

I think you should work on making your characters unique. People will doubtless recognize the recycled theme, plot, message, but what makes a story unique nowadays is the characters.

I started with Mystic Inferno, who's now just recently made 39. He flies, lights things on fire and has the most temp powers I have on any character. He's loads of fun to play.

That said, my breakout character was MSG Riley. I made him without travel powers, which has been a HUGE challenge. He's humble, says "yes sir" a lot, and does nothing more than try to do his part and make sure the heroes get out alive. He's lvl 50 and I play him more after lvl 50 than I do Mystic. I thought he was going to be such a chore to play, but he was an absolute blast. Maybe I know too many ex military people IRL.

He just grew. Now he's even in charge of a moderately succussful SG. Just a normal origin, AR/Dev blaster with no travel powers. Who knew? Bam-> right to 50. Couldn't stop playing him. Now there's flashbacks and... I swear I'm an altaholic, can't play one character for more than 4 missions without going "Oooh, I haven't played X on Y server for a while". Still, there he is with his new costumes and new rifles and, oh, just two more missions!

I just can't wait to run across Talos Island again with my fitness running power.

Mako held the Freak Tank by the leg over the pool of sharks he kept in his lair. "Disappointing." The Tank screamed as he splashed into the pool and the sharks began tearing at him, pulling off his mechanical parts to get to the fleshy bits. A red light came on near Mako, and he turned his mostly Shark head toward the screen on the wall.

Lord Recluse himself was talking to him. Lots of talking. It all boiled down to Sharkhead isle was experiencing a disturbance that required Mako's personal attention. Mako ended the screaming of the Freakshow Tank himself, on his way out to the caverns.

When Mako arrived, he found scrapyarders standing outside of the tunnels near the Pit. The whole island was experiencing tiny tremors every now and again. He rose out of the water and entered the caves as people pointed and stared. No one calls Mako unless someone is seriously going to get torn apart.

The first thing he encountered were Arachnos guards. Slaughtered. Maybe thirty of them, the caves were painted in their blood. Then the machines. They were in pieces throughout the caves. Some scrapyarder bodies were among them, as if they were trying to fight them off. Some of the Scrapyarders had a strange mark on their chest, just below the neck that looked like an octopus.

In the first, large chamber, he found the Coralax intermingled with Arachnos troops. Biting, stabbing and shooting, the Coralax Hybrids were not giving ground to the Arachnos assault, and several Arachnos soldiers were walking away with wounds and poison that they would likely not survive.

"Captain, we've tried to breach their defenses. I sent in a commando team through one of the breaks in their lines, but I haven't heard back from them. They went down that tunnel there!" The Arachnos soldier reported to Mako, who sneered and pushed past him toward the tunnel indicated.

With one hop he leaped over the lines and disappeared into the tunnel. He was not pursued. The darkness was familiar to him. The caves smelled of the ocean and of blood. When the cave was mostly filled with water, he slipped into the dark ocean and sped along the now coral walls. He emerged to find a flare in a dank cavern. The coral reflected the red light. There were three Arachnos commandos there. One dead, his entrails sprawling toward the only other exit. One holding his arm and shivering on the floor, and one just sitting on an outcropping of rock.

"Report." He stood in front of the commando who was sitting. The commando looked up at him, but said nothing. "Report!" He repeated himself, yelling at the commando.

"They're impossible. Merulina. Merulina. They can't exist." Mako took a step back, then turned toward the tunnel. He found the others, slashed to ribbons and being fed upon by creatures that looked like they hadn't seen shallow water in millennia. He eyed them for a moment, before being confident he could move past them without being attacked. They shambled about, sucking the marrow from the dead commando's bones and snapping their gear with their powerful teeth. The hallway reeked of their fetid smell. Captain Mako was not daunted, but he was well aware of the limitations of his human counterparts.

He pushed on until he heard the sound of rushing water and chanting. When he arrived at the mouth of the cave, he saw the Coralax Hybrids ringing the outside of the massive cavern and the opposing wall was constructed of the parted lips and teeth of the Leviathan.

Virtae swayed in the pools of water that had collected in the caverns as they chanted in a mystical language. Up near the top, strange reptilian creatures were offering a mob figure to the jaws of the Leviathan.

Near him, a human woman, bearing the same octopus like mark stepped forward surrounded by her droid slaves. "Ah, Captain Mako, so glad you could make it. You're just in time. We even saved you a seat."

"Arachnos sent me to stop you." Mako's posture changed, expecting a fight, but the nearby Coralax parted instead.

Professor Eviella smiled at him. "Now why on Earth, would you want to do that?" She looked back at the sacrifice in progress. The Avatar of Mu crushing the young thug against the Leviathan's teeth, the dark red blood looking for an opening. "You're about to get a huge promotion."

Above, Sharkhead Isle began to tremble. Small quakes at first, then growing in size. Soon, it became one solid quake. Pipes began to burst, and fall away. Every villain capable of flight quickly took to the air. Arbiters called for assistance over the radio. The ferry made its way away from the dock, and several small submarines closed their hatches and pushed off.

Large pipes broke away from their restraints and came crashing down. The alarm in the Pit was sounding and Scrapyarders were quickly moving out to find higher ground. One or two buildings collapsed. The Black Market closed it's doors and started heading toward the dock. Arachnos flyers were dispatched to pick up troops stranded inside the fortress. Cracks began appearing in the ground.

Below, Mako stood next to the Avatar of Mu. "You're really going to awaken it?"

"Oh yes. And then we will feed it." The Avatar looked over at Mako, who smiled a toothy smile.

The tankers detached themselves from the docks and made their best efforts to get away from the island. The waves were already dangerous. One tanker came smashing back into the dock and started taking on water. A crane fell, smashing the bow of the ship under the waves temporarily, and that was to be the end of it.

The ferry dock was crowded with those seeking refuge. Parts of the cemetery were falling into the ocean. Buildings were now collapsing, and the smoke stacks were in going down in freefall mode. Waves crashed up onto the shore higher than they'd seen in any storm.

Down below, water began flooding the caves. The Arachnos troops tried to get out, but most were drowned or eaten by the creatures that were flooding in to see the Leviathan come to life. Soon, the chamber that housed the Avatar and Mako was completely submerged, and Professor Eviella and Overstrike were wearing their breathing gear. The rest of the Cult of Mu were unaffected by the lack of air. They actually preferred the water.

As the Leviathan began shaking free of its sedentary prison, the Avatar instructed all the weaker members to leave for safer ground. The underwater cave had become unstable. Were it not for the field generated by Force Tech, they would have been crushed by falling rocks.

With one powerful push, the Leviathan lifted its head, and the Island of Sharkhead was sundered. Water poured in, and people fell into the icy depths. The Leviathan's head rose sharply, sending debris flying in all directions. There was no fighting it, there was only getting away. Countless lives were lost in the trench that was now the center of the island, as the Leviathan devoured villains and victims alike, to gather its strength. As the creature crawled up onto what remained of the land, it scooped entire buildings into its mouth, chewing through them for anything nutritious. Once it had ate its fill, it disappeared back beneath the waves, leaving the small series of islands that were to be the marker of where Sharkhead once stood above the ocean.

So you're saying that, given humanity has no worth, what should be done with it? The answer to that seems to be easy, get rid of it.

Unfortunately that's not an answer humanity is very good at following. There have been several attempts. Some partial successes too!

Context of a question needs to be outlined thusly. "Does humanity do more good or harm to life in the universe, in general?" See, there you have context. When you just say "a local context", you're not picking a context or outlying one. How can I tell you if something is generally good or bad if you don’t tell me what "good" or "bad" are? That's what I meant by context for the question. Not region.

You asked what should be done with humanity. You then followed that with "basically, do you think humans can achieve equilibrium with their environment again?" First off, this is wholly incorrect thinking. We, as humans, applied a standard of "giving no more than you take" as equilibrium and therefore some sort of "natural state" humanity fails to achieve. We're by far not the only species on the planet (multi-celled and everything) that takes more than it gives back. Truth be told, because resources are so scarce for other animals, there are few that wouldn't over eat given the opportunity. If goats had evolved to human like status, we may very well be dealing with a world without anything green left. I digress. You followed one question with the other hard upon it, suggesting that they're related. The worth of humanity seems to be contextually tied to their ability to reach an equilibrium with their environment, a goal I don't see us having as humans.

I think we want more than our fair share. I think that, since no other species on the planet has attended ANY of the meetings as to what is to be done with these resources, they can go pound sand. We posted the signs clearly and no one from any other species has shown up to say "hold on a minute", or perhaps if they don't speak English "einna minuten bitta".

As to your excessively wordy definition, if we don't have any reason to believe that there's anyone participating in this conversation who is not human, or who is privy to a perception not originating from humanity, we may as well not include the other X%.

How do we educate people on a mass scale? Time. We let them do all the things that are wrong, until they're all "wronged out", essentially. We let them drink too much, fornicate too much, do too many drugs, sell themselves, harvest their organs and essentially make every mistake until it's made to death. Until it's no longer fashionable. Until there's no more "well maybe it will be different for me if I smoke crack", no, if you smoke crack you'll lose your house and your teeth too.

Anything else would require an incredible amount of force and the knowledge that those setting the criteria had the ONE TRUE way of doing things. Few are arrogant enough to believe that they possess this formula.

Well, Devious, I wasn't specifically referring to your question, rather the discussion. Your question also lacks context.

What does humans living in "equilibrium" with their environment have to do with their worth in the universe? And obviously "everything" wouldn't be better off without them, humans and human made systems would fail. Since we're the pinnacle of evolution (god help us all), I think that if there is anything involving a higher plan, we're its only chance. Is there another option to what, living in a state of equilibrium? Not having humans? The behavior is obviously motivated by greater forces than men, though from an origin far smaller than most would look to for a "god" influence.

There can be no "greater plan", because nothing in this universe matters. Nothing in this universe connects to something outside this universe, therefore the entire effect of any cause will be contained in this universe. Thus, there cannot be any meaning beyond the effects we suffer here in this universe. So, while building a skylight might invite aliens onto your breakfast nook, the highest "plan" you're going to run into is essentially going to be "man made".

Aside from the deranged few of us who claim not to be human, we haven't encountered any intelligence in the universe outside of humanity that's anywhere comparable in capacity. What should be done with humans? Educate them.

This is the greatest probe ever built, and given time it will get eyes on the entire universe.

The question lacks context. What will happen when? Are we presupposing some sort of hidden purpose for humanity which will eventually be reached? Is that why the question is phrased like it is? Are we assuming that there will be one "thing" that will happen?

Is the question "what part will humanity play in the future of the universe as we know it?" Is the question "what will be the next big thing to happen?" Is the question tied to the end of humanity? Is it "what's going to take humans out?"

I mean, the ravings of a self important madman seem as poignant and purposeful as a top tier lecture on astrophysics if you don't have context.

What exactly, gentlemen, are we discussing?

((M-113 is waiting for who to report to. I thought we were doing some sort of portal mission))

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....rt=257&vc=1

Here it is. This is what I mean.

I wrote a scene in the Whitmoore thread that had people creeped out, but it was pretty Mod proof because it didn't describe what was going on, so much as focussed on the walls, floors, and nearby furniture. Neighbors hearing screams, etc. Instead of "blood" it was "red dots appeared on the wallpaper". You can get away with quite a bit if you leave most of it up to the imagination.

"Very good, sir. To whom shall I report?" M-113 snapped off a salute that was the exact perfect angle and distance from where his eyebrow would be, down to the micromilimeter.

((Waiting on Wolffe))