Dark_Respite

Third generation American. I spell it:

"colour"
"honor"
"armor" AND "armour" (and "amour", but that's something else entirely)
"theatre"
"center" AND "centre" (depending on my mood)
"tire"
"fae" AND "fey"
"aluminum"
"schedule" (pronounced SKEH-juhl, not SHEH-jool)

And I have the occasional odd tendency to use British slang that gets some really weird looks from people, especially the ones who know I'm a native New Yorker (sans accent, I just talk real fast).

*shrugs*

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I discovered Twitter, started writing the next chapter of TCoSR II, and found four pieces of music I'm sorely tempted to use for an I-16 teaser.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Not a prob, and we will move on from here.

Depending on how slow things get this week at work, I'll see about getting the Minor Arcana posted. Of course, if David actually does end up doing the art for this, he gets a tray of brownies with his choice of alcohol ALL HIS OWN at HeroCon. And a hug.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Need more hints of what I-16 storyline stuff might be, if I'm gonna come out of retirement and make a trailer. Come on Hero 1, talk to me. Gimme hints here... you know you want to.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Yay for new forums - still getting the hang of it, and wishing I could set a default to just take me to the English forums, but oh well.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

For those of you with SUPPORT NERD FLIRTING in your signatures, don't forget to update them to reflect the new link!

Also, I have begun designing t-shirts for TCoSR - I hope to put these up on my CafePress site fairly soon! They will be white text/red text on a black t-shirt:

"I HEART NERD FLIRTING"
"NERD FLIRTING FTW"
"MY OTP IS RAYMOND/SORINA"
"MY OTP IS STEVE/ANDREA"
"FIGHT EVIL. FIND LOVE. SAVE THE WORLD."
The "Did you kiss her?" dialogue

If you have other suggestions for stuff for the t-shirts, do share!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Are they moving over threads, too?

Or just our PMs?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*waves hello to the EU forumites*

HEYA!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Here, CEM.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I'd REALLY rather this not turn into a "it's BS or not" debate. Them's that accept it/use it/believe it, fine. Them's that don't, that's fine too. Leave it at that. Please.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

When I actually have more than 3 minutes to collect my thoughts, I'll be happy to post my reasoning for current card selections. That's not to imply the list is finalized - a lot of folks are posting really good suggestions.

As for whether these are just ornamental or not... well, take it for what it's worth, but I have been known to frighten people when I do readings. Doesn't always happen, but John can attest to me scaring people into leaving parties when someone goes, "Oh that's just BS" and I then do readings for that person.

If these could get done by HeroCon, I would be THRILLED, but I doubt it'll happen. So I will just have to bring one of my other six or seven decks with me. *counts on her fingers*

Dragon Tarot
Russian St. Petersburg Tarot
Chinese Tarot
Samurai Tarot
Feng Shui Tarot
the new deck I just got that I can't remember the name of, damn it

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Okay, so now I have two days to work all sorts of devious and forbidden magic so I can win the $102M Powerball...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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The World - Paragon City

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Surely this should be Atlas holding the globe on his back?

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ARGGGHHH!!!

Damn you, I should have thought of that.

*dashes back to edit her original post*

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Seems good, my only disagreements would mostly be the result of it simply being a matter of having first read different readings of what the Tarot mean, but otherwise it seems good.

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I know what you mean - I've got six or seven different tarot decks and the meanings are always given differently. So the meanings *I* use are MINE after roughly 20 years of tarot study and use.

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I'd move Recluse to the Devil, Mako to Death, replace either Akarist or Foreshadow with Sirocco, move Synapse back to Fool and put a Rikti Mothership as the Chariot.

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Hmmmmm. Of those, the one I agree with is the Mothership as the Chariot... the others don't quite resonate right for me. Scirocco I think I'd be FAR more likely to make either the King of Swords (for obvious reasons), the King of Cups (especially that emo thing), or the Seven of Cups (the card of bad choices).

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You have made the single most grave error any person could make when making anything CoH based.

You left out Blue Steel.

Of course in this situation Blue Steel would be all the cards if things were to make sense. However I think making him stand for "Strength" would be good enough to appease him.

-Rachel-

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Actually, now that you mention it, I'd put Blue Steel back to back with BAB on the Justice card (BAB facing away and slightly behind, Blue Steel facing forward, shield dominant). The two 'sides' of justice, and the warning that it's a very fine line between justice and vengeance.

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The only one I might take issue with is the Hierophant, but that may be mostly due to my interpretation of the card. The priest element is superficial, but if you want an actual priest, Tobias Hansen is a vicar. On a different level, the Hierophant is a guide to the mysteries, rather than a source of wisdom; Talshak the Mystic would be a plausible Hierophant in this context.

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For me, the Hierophant has always been the card of faith, in all its myriad forms, hence the semi-obvious choice of Sister Solaris, priestess of the sun god. Talshak might be a good choice, now that you mention it.

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How would you approach the Minor Arcana? Assign an element/symbol-appropriate faction to each suit? Warriors would be the obvious choice for Swords. Perhaps CoT (or Legacy Chain) for Wands, Carnies for Cups, and Family for Coins? Maybe have each suit follow a story arc or task force featuring the faction?

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See my response to someone else's suggestion below.

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First rule I was ever told about tarot...
DO NOT LOOK AT THE MEANINGS!!
the cards are a tool for your psychic ability to interpret, the readings you find in books are nothing more than what the writer has seen while reading. each card can possibly have an infinite number of meanings. thirdly the cards are not innately magical in themselves, in fact they started as a game, and someone discovered that they can be used to aid in psychic prediction.

For example Ive pulled the world card for a friend of mine and interpreted it to mean that she's gonna do whatever she feels like regardless of what others say, it turned out true and is growing truer everyday (unfortunately) even another friend of mine who's done tarot for a lot longer has said she's never looked at the card that way before.

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Not too far off what I've said about that card. I've surprised other tarot readers by relating the World card and the Death card both as cards of transition of self. Then again, I've taught classes on the tarot before, so I'm used to surprising people.

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Now, that being said, would this be a functional deck? if so I would totally buy one and use it. If not, I would totally buy one cause it'd be cool.

Possibly for the four suits:
Wands: various wands from in game, for CoT mages to the Nemesis Staff
Swords: ...yeah, not even gonna start explaining this one
Cups: now this one's a bit difficult, Helmets maybe?
Coins: Enhancements

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See my response below.

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I would put Positron as the Hierophant - he's got that 'knower of things' thing goin' on, and Blue Steel as Strength or Judgment. Or Blue Steel as Justice and BAB as Strength.

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I was actually tempted to make Positron/Daedalus the Magician (the knower, the creator, the artificer), but went for the potentially more obvious choice of Akarist. Should I change it?

And I also really like the suggestion of Blue Steel as Judgment, and swap him out for Foreshadow. Damn, now I'm torn where to put him.

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As for the Minor Arcana, you should take things that mean things in CoH.

Pentacles - Salvage
Pentacles are a practical thing, and Salvage is used as a building block for other things. So I can see them

Wands - Inspirations
Wands are a Fire sort of thing, often directing the flashes of Will. Inspirations seem to fit there.

Swords - Enhancements
Enhancements are more methodical than Inspirations, but are still part of continuing self-improvement. That fits with the Swords use as a tool of directing focused and premeditated Will.

Cups - Influence
Cups are about containing and, ultimately, support. Influence underlies most of everything in the game. It ebbs and flows in a tidal way, which fits the watery nature of Cups.

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Now THIS I like. Only problem is how to represent certain concepts using these things... not to mention what the generic symbols for each (Enhancement, Inspiration, Influence, Salvage) would be.

Other ideas I'd tinkered with (going back to the more classic interpretations) were:

Four of the five Origins:
Technology as Earth (logical practical experimentation)
Science as Air (mental leaps but not mystic, just those EUREKA moments)
Mutation as Fire (a useful tool if controlled properly)
Magic as Water (the ebb and flow of power)
Yes, this leaves out Natural, but that's more the 'human' element controlling all.

Fire, Earth, Lightning/Storm, and Ice as the four elements.

The four patrons each representing an element:
Ghost Widow as Air
Black Scorpion as Earth
Captain Mako as Water
Scirocco as Fire

You get the idea... there are so many ways to do this.

I'll go back and update my initial post for choices of the Major Arcana.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Thanks for the MA and SS vids. But I fail to see what is so exhausting about sitting there talking to people.

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You've obviously never been to / worked at a convention booth.

Imagine a mile-long hike, through a swamp. A noisy, hot, smelly swamp.

That's one-way through the con building. Now, imagine that around 50 thousand people are also trying to go through that same smelly loud swamp. To get to YOU. To ask you questions. You have to stand there, make sure your booth isn't falling apart, making sure that no one's stealing your equipment, creating nasty words on your screens, badmouthing your product, trying to get company secrets, asking valid questions that require 20+ minutes to answer...

If you have ever worked retail or food during a huge lunch rush? Multiply that by about 60x and you have a brief glimpse of the convention.

Oh yes: they're not sitting. There are a total of 2 chairs at that booth and one of them was Nakayama's. they did have a little back room but "little" being the key word there. They stand 10 hours a day doing this.

Try it some day. Guaranteed that if you spend most of your time behind a computer desk typing? You're not gonna want to stand more than an hour before you get a huge back and foot ache.

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So, instead of sending the Devs a gift basket, we should be sending them cushioned stools. Got it.

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Or massage gift certificates.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Someone tell me that these ladies will also be at HeroCon? I think it would be AWESOME to have Ms. Liberty standing on a podium and running the Live Mission event.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ragonguys2.jpg

So, that's Mod08, Bruce Horatio Harlick, Vince The Dark Watcher D'Amelio, Matt Positron Miller, Brian General Manager Clayton, Joe Hero1 Morrissey, Ross Marketing Borden, Unknown Woman, David Nakayama.

Who is that Unknown Woman... Mynx?


And congratulations to the guy who teabagged Positron!

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Fixed that for ya Z_M. At least I refrained from putting (Foxbat) in with his name.

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Bah, he will forever be Foxbat to me. Anyone who creates a character foofball enough to try and steal every VW Bug in Manhattan is STUCK with that character for life.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite - Proud member of the "Foxbattalion"...

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Thankew thankew!

Or is that thank ewe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ewe're welcome.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

While cleaning out files, I found the notes I'd started a while back on creating a City of Heroes/City of Villains tarot deck. Got the Major Arcana done (and no, they don't necessarily follow what's in the Mystic Fortune power). Minor Arcana will take me a lot more work...

UPDATED VERSION
The Fool - Fusionette (or Synapse)
The Magician - Positron or Daedalus
The High Priestess - War Witch (her + coven)
The Empress - Lady Grey (the power behind the throne)
The Emperor - Statesman/Imperious (overt power)
The Hierophant - Sister Solaris (or either Akarist or Talshak)
The Lovers - Sister Psyche and Manticore (duh)
The Chariot - the Rikti Mothership
Strength - Back Alley Brawler
The Hermit - Dark Watcher (of course)
Wheel of Fortune - the Ouroboros Menders (put Laz, Tess, Silos, and Pilgrim at the four cardinal points) - alternately, use Foreshadow (good, evil, good, evil, etc) or the mandala graphic that appears on the Mystic Fortune power
Justice - Blue Steel (street justice, baby)
The Hanged Man - Ghost Widow (perpetual stasis)
Death - Lord Recluse (of course)
Temperance - Numina (she strikes me as being in balance, not too much of one thing or another)
The Devil - Nemesis (too good not to - false choices, temptations, machinations...)
The Tower - Grandville (or Ghost Widow's Tower in Mercy)
The Star - Shadowstar (this card and the two that follow are always related, hence three Kheldians)
The Moon - Moonfire
The Sun - Sunstorm
Judgment - the Arbiters (in retrospect, how could I have NOT thought of this before)
The World - Atlas holding the globe

Anyone else think we should get David Nakayama to do the art for the cards?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Got my stuff downloaded, which is great. Not quite up on the whole database thing, though - so if anyone DOES come up with a way to export it into something a bit more friendly, please let me know!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hippo birdie two ewe
Hippo birdie two ewe
Hippo birdie, deer Z_I
Hippo birdie two ewe!

And many moar!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

YouTube can handle WMVs just fine. I do it all the time.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Just showed these to my husband. Repeated lines include:

"Oh nice!'
"It's about damned time."
"NO MORE POO HAMMER!"

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

It dawns on me I should have waited until AFTER Comic-Con to ask the devs these questions... they're all partying it up in San Diego at the moment. *sighs*

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Let’s face it.. Most of us here are addicted to the Forums and use it as a way to pass the time and keep in touch with our fellow gamers… Unfortunately, the Forums will be shut down for 72 hours in the next week…

Please use this thread to list possible things we Forumites can do to survive this horrible void…
• (Specific to Dark Respite) Friends ask you to help video tape their wedding during the time off… Without thinking scream “I’m RETIRED DANG IT!” … Immediately apologize.


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I thought for sure you were going to say, "Plan your comeback video for I-16... although, calling it a comeback assumes that we accepted your retirement in the first place, which, of course, we didn't."



Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite