JackZodiac

What I'm saying is that it's no urban legend. Whether it's true or not, it doesn't demonize Neo-Druids in any way. Certain Pagan religions praciticed human sacrifice before the Roman Empire rose, but those reformed religious practices today don't suffer from the idea that they still do it. The poster was talking about being a Druid like they were persecuted every chance someone had to stick it to 'em, which simply couldn't be true considering the majority of people today don't have the vaguest idea what a druid is.

That's not an urban legend. That's crap. No one's demonizing Neo-Druids.

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I just want it on the record that we Druids are not the monsters that the urban myths make us out to be.

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What urban legends? I'd like to think I'm pretty boned up on my mythology and religious history, so if I'm missing out on some obscure note about Druids being evil, I'd like to hear it.

The Malleus Mundi?

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Forest of Dread exist in Celtic, Norse and Germainic Mythology. I do have one complaint. Being a rather big fan of Celtic Mythology....The Tuatha de Dannan were not evil...the fae just dissappeared and became the Gods and Goddess of the Celts....It is a little disturbing that you would make them evil...will they all be evil...will u turn the good Gods and Goddesses evil as well...or will the contacts maybe be connected to various dieties trying to protect us from the evil ones????

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Once again, we do not know if they are evil yet. But in context to mythology, the Tuatha De Danaan were invaders who violently conquered two other races. To the Fir Bolg and Fomorians, they were pretty evil.

I'll bet that Croatoa will be a battleground between the three races of gods that battled over Ireland in Celtic mythology and we're thrown into the middle of it, not taking sides, but kicking every single selfish god and goddess' [censored] respectively.

Yep!

Bow, [censored]! Issue Jack!

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Only thing that kind of, doesn't work for me, is the use of the Tuatha De Danann as a 'villain group'. Obviously you guys did some studying of Irish mythology and history. Me being Irish as well as the practitioner of the Old Religion, the Tuatha De Danann (or People of Danu (earth/creation goddess) for those who don't speak gaelic hehe) are a holy people and many are even worshipped as saints by modern organized religion.

Couldn't we find a different name for the 'nature monsters' besides basicly defacing the holy peoples of ancient ireland, and thus the religious beliefs of people who consider them their ancestors today?

There are other 'beasts' and 'villains' in ancient ireland besides the Fir Bolg. The Fomorians for example pre-date the Tuatha De Danann as a people who laid siege to the peaceful citizens of early ireland and would probably make a more suitable 'villain group'.

Just some suggestions but really if your going to use the Tuatha De Danann in the game, make them magical but fairly peaceful. You could even move forward in time and use the more war like 'decendants' of the De Danann known as the Fenians. They were warlike protectors of their land and closely tied to nature and would work wonderfully in your new zone.

I suppose I am probably one of a rare few out of the player base who is affected by this. Really using the Tuatha De Danann as a villain group wouldn't bother me to much because this is just a game of course. But it'd be on my mind when ever I entered the zone.. and I'd always somehow feel.. disturbed by it.

Just a thought. But I'm sure if you used a modern religious group or set of gods as a villain group you'd find others with the same, or worse feelings then I have, and probably an outcry from the community. However with likely so few of us being of the Old Religions, that isn't going to happen with the use of the Tuatha De Danann.

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To be fair...

The Fomorians are less "villainous" than the Tuatha De Danann. The Fomorians were earlier inhabitants of Ireland who were invaded by the Fir Bolg. Later the Fir Bolg and Fomorians were invaded by the Tuatha De Danann. They completely defeated the Fir Bolg and made peaceful relationships with the Fomorians. In the grand scheme, all of them were pretty villainous.

And to make a point: we don't know who or what will make up the Tuatha De Danann. That giant monster looks a lot like an Irish monster called the Jack-in-the-Green, and the giant himself (who I'm guessing is a Fomorian) looks an awful lot like the mythological Jack-in-Irons. Remember, the Circle of Thorns aren't all humans and neither were the 5th Column or the Council. They could just be showing off the new "giant monsters" of the villainous groups in Croatoa.

And finally, you have to realize that not all aggressive NPCs in RPGs are villains. In World of Warcraft, there are races of Centaurs that either attack or remain passive depending on your alignment with them. This might be one of those cases. Or, they're all villains to us seeing as how they've usurped this part of our city to wage war on one another.

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I dont recall Superman doing much shopping.

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No, but for about a decade there, his powers changed every other year; a privilege not given to us.

Not that I'd want my character to mysteriously grow a mullet or turn into two [censored] super heroes anyway.

Any backstory for any hero. I wanna' know just how Keyes became Positron, I wanna' see what Cole was like before he became Statesman. I wanna' see Atlas' last stand against the 5th Column in the Forties. I want a nice, little story about Miss Liberty and her lineage. I wouldn't mind seeing the Backalley Brawler getting some spotlight with, maybe with an explanation about his Regulators.

And I'd love to see a story recounting how the Dream Doctor all-but shut down the Circle of Thorns. In fact, I wouldn't mind a whole story arc about the Midnight Squad, because I love magic themed heroes.

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Basically its about a guy that was so good at the art of healing that he could bring people back from the dead.

Hades was pissed at this cause his subjects were being stolen so he complained to Zeus and Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt.

So yes the only thing Hades cared about was his own souls/subjects and basically he kept to himself always.

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Actually, it wasn't that he was a great healer. It was because Athena told him the secrets of the Gorgons, that the blood of the snakes from the right side of their head had the power to bring the dead to life while those on the left were instantly deadly poison.

Zeus made the decision himself to kill Asclepius and then honored him by placing him in the heavens as the thirteenth sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus- the Serpernt Bearer.

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21/21. A number of these were gotten by process of elimination. If there's no red in it, you can probably rely on the fact that it ain't the Crimson Avenger. . . .

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Actually, the original Crimson Avenger's costume was bright orange-yellow.

21/21 on the super heroine quiz. This time, Sonja almost got me. Wouldn't have a clue who she was if I hadn't worked in a comic book store for three years.

Almost got me with Commander Courage and Nova, but 21/21.

Issue Five: "Tesseract" or "The Foolish and the Weak".

Time travel, brother.

Woodsman. You learn all about him during Numina's task force and can find him on the southermost rock of Eden, near the gate to The Hive. He gives you a trial in the Eden Spire, the tallest rock formation in Woodvale.

Thanks for all the hard work over the last year, Cryptic!

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Comprehend and reserve a modicum of the comic book knowledge I have.

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...isn't?!? Amazing Jack, you're in rare form. I'll e-mail Webster's now & request that they put your username & avatar next to the word hypocrite. 2 unenviable accomplishments in one day, wow, you rock. Bravisimo, te felicito.

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I know you can read. Try going back and reading the two posts that was in response to instead of sifting through my "previous posts" button like some sad Internet stalker.

And I'm not even a scrapper.

You should, too. Being broadly condescending in one post and dancing around flat-out calling me an [censored] in your next. Five star posting, champ. Or rather, GJ!

I heart mah television references.

He sounds like a mix between Tony Danza and Jack Klugman. Which means I can hate and love him in equal amounts.

Great column, Ernie. And great name, "Doc." Althought, admitedly, I enjoy your Jackson Turner persona a lot more, since sportscasters and sports columnists piss me off ninety-nine percent of the time.

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Hmm, those look like the Charlton Comics Blue Beetle Issues in that pic. Kudos & cookies for anyone who can tell me how many Blue Beetles there were & who originally created the Scarab.

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Those are, actually, the DC Blue Beetle comics he's holding. As to your questions:

There's the ancient Blue Beetle (though I don't know if that is what he called himself) who made use of the azure scarab to aide Prince Khufu as the ancient Hawkman.

Then there was Dan Garret, the original Blue Beetle from Charlton Comics, who used the power of the scarab to fight crime (although this origin was re-written, since he originally gained his super powers through a vitamin called "2X"). After his death, he passed the title of Blue Beetle onto his student, Ted Kord, who fought crime with technology, martial arts, and crude detective skills since Dan's scarab had been destroyed after both Ted and Dan deemed its power evil. How it returned, and why, is a complete mystery to me. And why Ted started with how he "couldn't get the thing to work" is probably a huge oversight on the DC editorial staff.

Now, as for the scarab itself: it was, originally, an alien being composed of pure energy that the wizard of Shazam had trapped inside a beetle. Hence why it's influence was considered evil by both Dan and Ted.

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Double bonus: name a few of the most popular other Charlton Heroes, the shortest-lived one by the most famous artist AND the most obscure one.

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Well, aside from Blue Beetle, DC also acquired the characters Captain Atom, The Question, and Thunderbolt. The Question is probably the one you're thinking was created by the most famous artist since Steve Ditko helped create him. And, in my eyes, he's also the most obscure (detective-style hero with no face?).

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I've been reading comics probably longer than most of you have been alive...

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That, obviously, does not matter.

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As the game grows I will continue to try and clarify things that have been contradictory or confusing.

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To do this, you should probably consider giving Gilgamesh the task for recording character history on the site itself with more accurate information.

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Bastion has been upgraded recently and is now called Citadel.

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Booooooooooooo!

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Due to the upcoming Power Sets Manticore is actually a Trick Arrow, Archery Defender. Also, his arch-enemy is called Protean, not Doppleganger.

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One, those power sets better cross archetypes.

Two, why did your arch-nemesis' name change?

Three, thanks for the updates.

Why does he have to be Dorian Grey? Why can't we compare him to cooler literary figures with apparent immortality? Like Jesus.

Chimera. His minions are Basilisks, lieutenants are Cockatrice(s), and bosses are Gorgons. All petrifying Greek mythological monsters. Great scheme. Best of all the Praetorians.

Plus, ninjas fuggin' rock.

(Post edited. Wasn't a stupid question, man. "Does Manticore have a Praetorian counterpart?" Yes.)