Cog_Warlord

Initial system programs online.

Sensor programs loading... ... ... load complete.

Optical scans online, initiating reticle targeting system...

Targets sighted, initiating dialog programs.

Greetings, heroes. It has come apparent to me that as I am asked frequently of my origin, I should present to you some matter of information describing it. The King has granted me permission to do so.

Recalling memory files... ... ... Data File 00:13:34 09/04/04.

Greetings, my Warlord.

Greetings, my King.

You are finally complete, and I have many plans for you... However, it will involve a great deal of infiltration and feats of leadership. Are you ready to accomplish my needs?

I am, my lord. I exist to serve you.

Excellent... As an extension of my will, you are unique for your kind... many do not know the Clockwork’s secrets, and if they did they would defile the court. You possess more will power and sentience than the others. My court has spread far and I cannot always focus everywhere at once. I am leaving it up to you to manage when I cannot.

I have used the minds of many mechanics and scientists to create you, you are equipped with an independent power source, protected against many elements, and are capable of functioning when I am away. I will use you to lead my minions on the field, but before you can do so, you must study the new generation of heroes. We must learn their tactics before we risk a large Clockwork invasion.

Yes my lord. Tell me how to accomplish this task.

Perez Park is a large haven for my court, however, there are a few new groups meddling in their work. First are the heroes, who are attempting to reclaim the area, and the second are the strange new creatures, the Hydras, who seem to have no objective except to claim the lake territory to themselves. The kingdom can not afford to lose access to this area, the common mob fighting occurring between the other factions provide excellent cover for gathering more supplies. Before you can convince and lead minions in the Perez Park area, you must first deal with this Kraken, the largest of the Hydra within Perez.

Yes my lord. I shall destroy the creature.

Excellent... I will leave you to your duty for now. Perhaps I shall view your status from time to time. Return to my location once you have accomplished this task.

Yes, my King.

I leave the region of the court, and venture into Paragon city. I know much of the city already, it has been programmed into me by my King. He has prepared me for the tasks at hand. In order to be allowed access to the Perez Park region, I must appear to be a hero. I reached the City Hall by night, and told them the truth that I was indeed a Clockwork, but had broken the King’s hold over me and was willing to work as a protector of the city in order to sustain myself. Having access to the heroes’ network would benefit the King. Not only could I upgrade myself through the trade of supplies, I could also keep my King updated on current events, and there was no way anyone else could tell.

Naturally, the humans were speculative at first, but I proved my loyalty to them by stopping a few Hellion incursions in office buildings (Preplanned of course, the Hellions accepted payment in order to be caught.), as well as retrieved a sample of Clockwork machinery, (A mock form of a Sprocket, created with a wrong design by an Assembler and combined with a stolen Vahzilok communication device in order to throw the humans off the trail.). With the humans now seeing my usefulness, I was put to work defeating Hellions (This time for real, working incognito, the Hellions never putting two and two together.), as well as other minor threats such as the Vahzilok and Skulls. Naturally, Clockwork disturbances happened when I was already out somewhere else, a convenient way to never be signed up for such a task.

By the end of the week, with no need for rest when working with a small tactical nuclear reactor working inside me, I was ready to venture into Perez to find this Kraken. I had learn much of the city already, it’s warring factions, and heroes constantly working to stop evil where ever it occurred to the point of exhaustion. I have no sense of evil or good, I do whatever is needed to get done for my King. I suppose humans would consider some acts evil, some good, however, for one that possesses no morals, it does not matter to me. Other heroes did not treat me well, I was considered an outcast and a mockery. In order to accomplish my goals efficiently the King made sure I had no emotions, and this perhaps angered a few heroes even more when they realized nothing they did could discourage or frustrate me. Other heroes felt pity, because I would do nothing for myself or not attempt to “feel,” because the King did not design me to do so.

Nighttime is te best time to work, there is lesser traffic and lesser targets to sort through. The Kraken was soon spotted by a few of my scout Oscillators. Princes in the region made sure to cause disturbances in other parts of the forest, to keep all others busy and away from my goal. It was time to get to work.

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The moon was high, and I leapt from a roof top after consulting with my scouts, and landed deep in the soft moss and mud of the forest. Being mid-autumn, it was cold and wet, with leaves and other soft bio-matter making stealth easy. I had learned stealth and silent maneuvers over the last week, finding it convenient in order to avoid heroes and civilians who wish to complicate things for me. I found a scout about 100 feet off the ground, hovering over a ridge, indicating the location of the creature. Climbing to the top of the ridge I first scanned the creature. It was about 20 feet tall, and at first I had difficulty finding a single target, since it seemed to consist of multiple viruses and cells to form one large bio-mass, all working together to form the monster. The Kraken was just plodding along, not seeming to have any current objective.

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Wasting no time I leapt from the ridge, concentrating energy around the outlets of my fists, and slammed them into the Kraken. The energy singed the mass slightly, the affected areas steaming and recoiling, but the rest of the creature seemed unaffected. It did, however, notice the attempt and with a sudden movement knocked me aside with a large arm. Hitting the ground led to minimal damage, since the earth was soft. Since I expected to get knocked around a great deal more, judging from my calculations of the creature’s kinetic output and velocity, it was good that the ground was soft. Leaping to my feet, the beast was already upon me, swinging wildly, and stomping, and once more I was knocked to my feet, the creature slamming a gelatinous foot down upon me, causing me to sink into the ground as well as the foot created a slight mold around me. I could sense the multiple single cells working with seething anger in an attempt to destroy me.

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We continued to fight for some time, the Kraken’s rapidly regenerating mass covered with energy burns, and I was covered in scrapes and mud. It seemed to be a standstill.

Concentrate your energy, my Warlord. Smashing it will do nothing, since it will simply absorb the blows. Use the energy to burn away at it, until it is a smoldering pile of slop!

Yes, my king.

Running the reactor on full, the metal of my fists threatened to begin to glow with heat and possibly deform from the energy streaming through them. Hitting the creature’s body did nothing, since it was such a large mass, so I began to work on the limbs. Each time the creature hit me I fell, but it also lost a part of one of it’s limbs. After working in this way for a while, my fists threatened to slough off from the intensity of the heat. The creature was badly injured as well, it’s right limb no longer had enough mass to support the weight of it’s fist, and was dragged as the creature moved. It’s knees were badly burned as well, but not to the breaking point.

A surprise swipe hit me and a fell back, unexpectedly, into a large boulder. Optical scanners flared, and abruptly use of my right arm was disabled. The creature roared, and limped quickly toward me, possibly hoping to smash my metal head against the stone. As it raised it’s fist to land a blow, a small bolt of lighting shot down and hit the Kraken, creating a violent chain effect in it’s organelles, causing it to vibrate dangerously. It was not destroyed, but very angry, and turned it’s attention to the small Oscillator hovering above it. The Oscillator flew down and rammed the beast, not budging the Kraken but slicing into it with it’s blades, sending bio matter splattering around me. Enraged even further by this vain attempt, the creature grabbed the Oscillator in it’s fist, crushing it as the Clockwork squealed, and then tossed it far, scraping across a rooftop behind the wall of the forest.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Oscillator.jpg

The Clockwork’s sacrifice gave me the time I needed. I was up on two feet, and with my remaining fist I gathered a dangerous amount of energy, the fist would be ruined in a few seconds. I crouched on the rock, and shot headfirst towards the Kraken. My fist, outstretched, hit the Kraken’s stomach, and with one point of impact towards a large mass, sunk deep into it’s exterior. The creatures body glowed from the inside, as the light energy released from my fist sought outward. The Kraken panicked and wildly swung at me, however I wrapped my legs around it’s waste and held tight, it’s fists beginning to loosen plates of armor and tear at exposed wiring and mechanics. For a few minutes all I could see was the creature’s vaguely luminous form, but as the heat spread through the creature, it’s limbs began to slough off and lose shape. Losing it’s support, it’s mass hit the ground and spread out, bubbles rising as it began to boil. Within another minute the majority of it’s mass had seeped into the earth, the area around me steaming.

Struggling to my feet, I pulled my fist out of the muck, to find that it was now a solid ball of metal. It took a few minutes to regain control of my other arm, and with my task finished, I leapt from the area. I found the Oscillator’s mangled form, and brought it with me when I returned to the King’s court.

Greetings, my King. I have accomplished your task.

I know, my Warlord. You have done very well. I have concluded that you need to be upgraded with better metals to withstand large amounts of heat. However, you proved affective to remove the Kraken and remain mostly operational.

Thank you, my lord.

I have one more question before I inform the Assemblers to begin their work on you. Who’s decision was it to return this, although heroic, destroyed Oscillator?

I suppose... I suppose it was mine, my lord.

Yes... yes I suppose it was. Very interesting. That is all for now, my Warlord. When your repairing and upgrading has been complete, I will have more jobs for you.

Yes, my lord.

I recommend we begin a campaign against these "non-roleplayers," since they are now challenging our territory. Removal of these individuals would help the Clockwork a great deal, since it would mean less heroes running the streets, albeit most of those removed will be of lesser intelligence.

I recommend if someone challenges your character, don't let them understand what you are tring to accomplish, because by an insult or whine they have already blocked themselves from a much more advanced way of seeing things. I recommend ignoring them or treating them like they are obviously ignorant and out of place.

Then once a sufficient amount of heroes are removed, the Clockwork can easily attack and disable the nuclear power plant at Terra Volta, therefore turning off the shield walls around the zones, and the heroes and Rikti will destroy each other in combat, leaving all the scrap for the Clockwork.

It is obvious what one should do if another individual attempts to berate you for your ways. For example, I simply bring to me multiple Clockwork minions, courtesy of the King, and watch as they take care of the abrasive threat.

I have recieved many strange questions as well, when I am about in Paragon, the question I get the most is whether I possess the capability for sexual reproduction, which shows the intelligence of the one asking the question, considering I am Clockwork in origin and possess no biology. I find the best thing to do is to ignore them or thrash them, although as of late the latter has drawn the attention of the Freedom Corps to me more than once.

Despite these instances, I see no reason not to continue. How do I feel about cussing? I consider those cussing of limited intelligence, because they possess no other means of insulting, or even putting up a reasonable retort, to the arguements they wish to start with me. I simply tell them that they have few cognitive abilities, which of course makes them cuss even more, it is most interesting.

I suppose I possess an advantage over others since I am a machine under the influence of my King, because I possess no feelings or morals that would allow me to be offended by these denizen heroes.