Cipher

Thus creating more of a "We get a respec every issue" perception and giving rise to more "Do we know if we get a respec with Issue MCMLXIX?" threads.

Personally, I'd NOT issue a respec just to try breaking the issue = respec stranglehold. They've said they don't want to get into that, so it might be time to run with that theory.

Very nice.

I'm a big fan of the Malta story arcs. Aside from featuring my beloved Indigo, the Malta group is just one of my favorite groups out there. They have that whole will-to-power thing going on -- it's always reminded me of that quote from the Usual Suspects about not needing the guns or the money or anything else -- except the will to do what the other guy won't.

Also, the Malta have what is bar-none the BEST named boss in either game (a particular Titan).

They can be a pain in the butt to fight, but they're one of the groups that really makes me feel like I've arrived as a hero or villain. Locking horns with the global conspiracy is great fun.

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Oh, I thought you just meant "well-aimed".

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Whoops, I can see where that would cause confusion. My apologies.

Yes, which is why I said "If it was a good shoot."

That sort of implies "particulars of the case."

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What if I'm registered? That person still died. I do time for that? Or is it quietly swept under the rug simply because I'm a government agent wearing flagboy colors?

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Let's see...

You get yourself a gun and walk around for a while. You see a guy robbing a convenience store and open fire, hitting the perp and a customer.

You go to the police academy and get yourself a badge and a job on the force. You intervene in a convenience store robbery and shoot the perp, accidentally hitting a bystander.

In the first case, you're clearly a vigilante who screwed up.

In the second, you're a government agent using government-sanctioned force. You'll probably get a review and assigned to a desk while under investigation, but if it was a good shoot, you'll be cleared.

It's the same thing in the hypothetical you presented.

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I hear she got no face.

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Word on the street is that she's really a WWI fighter pilot who developed mystical powers and now impersonates wealthy man-about-town Lamon Cranston in a never-ending fight against evil.

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both the ethics and practices of prosecutors are wildly variable from locale to locale.

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I think the problem is partially that too many of my soon-to-be-bretheren are basically overgrown hall monitors who enjoy rules for the sake of rules.

I've always tried to cleave closer to the "officer of the court" model of ethical behavior, and I hate prosecutors who give the field a bad name.

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lol. Good for them.

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Oh, I hope you're joking.

And I really don't think the state has an advantage as such in criminal trial. Whatever perks you get as the prosecution balance out from having a pretty fearsome burden of proof.

It's called the CSI Effect, and it's VERY real.

I've heard from prosecutors who have gotten cases where they literally apprehended the guy with the weapon AND the loot -- but the jurors acquitted because the prosecution didn't offer DNA evidence.

Also, Jack McCoy is my role model. I may be one of those people who started law school on account of Law & Order, but in all honesty, I stayed because I *really* want to be a prosecutor.

(Edit: I DID watch a lot of Court TV, too. But I think it was Law & Order that really sold me. And it wasn't a choice I made frivolously, so I don't want to give that impression either.)

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I assumed Rhode Island had similar statutes to what I'm familiar with: a dangerous assumption for Rhode Island, apparently, whos criminal statutes look like they were written by the DETH KICK guy. Frostfire should have been convicted of first degree arson, if anything.

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There's a... law review article, I believe, examining the 5 best and worst written criminal codes. My recollection is that Rhode Island appears on the "worst" list.

Edit:
Oh, and Rhode Island case law specifies that manslaughter is defined as it traditionally was at common law.

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Nah. Those two are just sending love notes back and forth.

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You shut your dirty mouth! Indigo loves me and me alone!

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Essentially instead of being reckless, its negligent homicide, like a doctor forgetting something that causes a patients death. intentionally or not, then it becomes manslaughter (IIRC).

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Again, if it was arson, it's felony murder.

I concede the point to the extent of the facts we have available.

We have an incomplete record, though, and I'd like to think that the prosecutor didn't charge FF without sufficient evidence to sustain the indictment.

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When they offered him 5 years and he wanted no punishment at all for deaths, could that have been construed as recklessness or even a total disreguard for life?

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No. You have to examine those issues at the time of the act, not after the fact. And certainly not during plea negotiations, which are not admissable as evidence.

Arson 1, per R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-4-2:

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Any person who knowingly causes, procures, aids, counsels or creates by means of fire or explosion a substantial risk of serious physical harm to any person or damage to any building the property of that person or another, whether or not used for residential purposes, which is occupied or in use for any purpose or which has been occupied or in use for any purpose during the six (6) months preceding the offense or to any other residential structure, shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than five (5) years and may be imprisoned for life, or shall be fined not less than three thousand dollars ($ 3,000) nor more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($ 25,000), or both; provided, further, that whenever a death occurs to a person as a direct result of the fire or explosion or to a person who is directly involved in fighting the fire or explosion, imprisonment shall be for not less than twenty (20) years. In all such cases, the justice may only impose a sentence less than the minimum if he or she finds that substantial and compelling circumstances exist which justify imposition of the alternative sentence. That finding may be based upon the character and background of the defendant, the cooperation of the defendant with law enforcement authorities, the nature and circumstances of the offense, and/or the nature and quality of the evidence presented at trial. If a sentence which is less than imprisonment for the minimum term is imposed, the trial justice shall set forth on the record the circumstances which he or she found as justification for imposition of the lesser sentence.

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And, per R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-23-1, any death involved in an arson as defined under 11-4-2 (above) is murder 1.

Actually, at common law, arson could be proven without specific intent.

It was enough to show that the fire was caused with reckless disregard of the risk that the structure was burned.

If we accept the charge of arson under reckless disregard, then we can charge Frosty with felony murder.

He got lucky.

No, I didn't say that. In fact *I* didn't say anything about my hero at all. That was you.

Edit:

My hero would have attempted to stop the robbery. However, he also would have accepted the consequences of his actions if it had gone bad.

He was acting as an actual vigilante.

Heroes in Paragon are supposed to register their powers and operate with governmental oversight. He didn't do so and reaped the consequences.

I don't know that the patrons would have risen to any appreciable rank in Arachnos twenty years ago. Was Widow even DEAD then?

I have to confess, before reading the novel, I didn't really have any feelings on Positron (the character). He was always that guy who gave out the really long task force and was part of the "and the rest" in the comics (which were "Manticore, Statesman, and the rest").

However the book left me with a definite fondness for him. He reminded me of Sam Beckett (per Quantum Leap) -- the brilliant scientist with an idealistic streak that's somewhere between sainthood and Quixoticism. Statesman lost the faith somewhere over the years. Saving the world became just this thing he had to do over and over again. Positron reminded him why he got into the hero biz in the first place. (Hoping that's broad enough to avoid ruining anything for people who haven't read it thus far.)

The question I was left asking is that if Paragon goes through these cycles of crisis and rebirth -- which are we in now? Are we on the high end of the sine wave or the low end?

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That's what confused me when it came up earlier.

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Well, I guess it's technically true that she's in instance 5, but... kind of not, until it spawns. Until then, she's in instance 1 (etc).

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She's in Croatoa, and an alternate-universe version (apparently) is in D5.

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She's in ALL the instances of Pocket D, isn't she?

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Yeah, I'm used to him getting stuck. That's why I took teleport friend.

Oh, that's ANOTHER trick they've been doing.

I go up the elevator, the pet doesn't follow, I TP friend him to me and he runs back down the elevator.

Nope. I've had a variety of difficulties.

Pets coming up the elevators slowly (1 at a time, some dawdlers showing up 30 seconds later).

Pets not coming up at all.

Pets coming up and running back down.

Pets coming up and running through the wall to points unknown.

Issue also shows up with doors inside missions (the kind that don't force a loading screen, like in Mayhem Missions). Pets will stick around outside (or inside, as the case may be). And not follow. When I was running my Mayhem Mission the only thing I could do to get them to respond was fly up to the flight ceiling and make them warp to me (thereby losing the hostage).