Khellendrosiic

"Aw hell," Toy said as he noticed that he was the last one with an egg.

"Aw hell oh [censored]," he added when Moonscribe started bending reality around him. "Mini Bot! Dog! Combat Toy! Dumb fire!"

"WOOOO!" Mini Bot shouted as it jumped at Rosie, trying to tackle her to the ground. Once there, the drone would probably try and wrestle some as it was kind of bored right now and didn't feel like actually hurting anyone.

"Nobody touches the boss!" Combat Toy shouted as its missile racks clicked and the tips of twenty missiles were suddenly poking out, ready to be fired. "Savvy?"

Twin pistons deployed from its rear lower legs, swinging down from their normal, flush against the metal, position and stabilizing Combat Toy without the assault bot having to crouch down. Combat Toy pulled its arms back as the missiles fired, screaming out of the racks and crisscrossing eachothers smoke trails until they burst overheard in a very loud and very bright display, almost like very close range fireworks. These missiles were pretty much non-lethal and useful for little more than blinding and deafening one's opponents for a few crucial seconds.

Which was hopefully all Toy needed as he activated a limited range dispersion field to ward off some of the increased gravity and keep a tighter hold on his shielded egg as his own anti-grav system fought to get him up into the air.

"AH!" Solid shouted when he heard his name, jumping about a foot into the air and almost losing a hold of his bag.

"Tell Tony I'll pay him the rent next week god damnit!" Solid groused as he scrambled to make sure nothing fell out of the bag. It took him a few moments to actually look in Essex's direction and in that amount of time he had probably already been glomped or whatever it was Essex was about to do.

OOC: *curses Essex and Hal for making him join this thread with their presense and wonders if all the other people will leave...again...like usual....which makes me sad.....like I'm a plague victim........sniff*

BIC: "That will be $500.43, sir," said the clerk as he finished packing the several boxes into a white plastic bag.

"Uhh......You sure you added that right?" asked the grey colored combat android standing in front of the counter, his fingers poised to open his leather wallet.

"Of course I am, sir," the clerk said, looking as though he had run across this many times before. "Cooke's Electronics stand by their employees ability to manipulate a cash register."

"Right, right," the hero said, pulling a blue credit card out of his wallet and passing it to the clerk. The clerk swiped the card, checked to see that it wasn't rejected, and then handed the card back to the android with a wan smile.

"Enjoy your purchase, sir," the clerk said as the hero took the bag, muttered some meaningless goodbye, and walked out of the store.

"Stupid broke heroes," the clerk muttered to himself as he sat down and waited for the next customer to come around.

***********************************************

"I hate Rikti," the hero muttered as he threw his bag over his shoulder. "I hate Rikti armor. I hate broken guns. I hate Rikti armor that can break my guns. I hate having to buy new guns. I hate being broke. I hate having to work a job other than heroing. I hate not being paid sometimes for rescuing a kid from a burning building. Stupid Rikti."

While this tirade was going on, the hero walked right past Rosie and Essex on his way to the up escalator.

"Mine!" Mini Bot shouted, both tentacles lashing out with force belying their apparent fragility and knocking Kaloaten off course, sending him tumbling into the sand while the battle drone carefully snatched up the egg with its hands and dashed back to Toy Dispenser, also careful not to trip over anything.

Combat Toy, senses still a bit addled from running into the tree but still reacting to Toy's commands, picked up the tree in its hands and wielded it like a massive broom, sweeping the tree in front of it. Of course, in front of it happened to be Acid, but that was probably the point.

"Distraction is quite important to keep your enemy off-balance," Toy said to himself as his sensors worked overtime.

[When did you recieve this report!?!] rang out a telepathic shout.

[Just moments ago, Warmaster!] cried out a Conscript as it flinched back from its commander's glare. [I brought it to you as soon as it arrived.]

The heavily armored Rikti, one Warmaster Chertak, slotted his repulsor rifle back into the holding rack and turned away to once again read over the transmission.

Around him, the normal crack and sizzle of the repulsor rifles that was a constant sound in the firing range in the secret sewer base had gone silent as the soldiers therein waited anxiously to hear what their leader said.

[There is to be war,] Chertak announced and then held up his hand to silence the joyous shouting that started. [This will be our last attempt to seize control of this planet. The heroes of the Freedom Phalanx have already been removed, as have the leaders of Arachnos.]

There was an eery silence as not a single Rikti talked or shifted in the slightest, listening to their commander raptly.

[The first offensive was scheduled to have begun thirty human minutes ago. Portal Corp will be destroyed in the first wave as planned. Our objective is to take and hold City Hall. With the leaders of both the heroes and civilian population either dead or captured, our conquest of this city will be greatly expedited.]

[Shall we begin preperations, Warmaster?] asked Chertak's second-in-command, the Chief Mentalist named Dra'tix.

[We shall not begin ordinary preperations,] Chertak replied, making sure that all of his men could hear. [Everything will be mobilized. Every drone, every monkey, every suit of power armor.]

A quiet murmuring started up at that command. Normally the lower ranks didn't wear power armor due to the amounts of reaction mass they consumed and the lack of supplies to keep all of the armor functioning. This was one of the reasons adventuring heroes only encountered leading Rikti wearing armor.

[This is our moment of glory,] Chertak said, crumpling the paper message in one hand and throwing it into the small stream of sewer water that was in this room. [We shall not fail again. Regardless of our affiliations or faction, the time is now. Withdraw your weapons, link with your squads, and suit up. We are going to war.]

*************************************************

SHaking his head to clear away some of the muzziness aquired from ramming an apparently immovable object with his head, Wielder stood up and looked over at the ninja leader. Lifting his pipe in the air, Wielder waved it around a few times before sucking in a deep breath and running for the door and beyond.

If Toy Dispenser could have blinked, he would have right at the moment when his egg, shield and all, vanished and reappeared about a dozen feet away.

"Mini Bot, go get it," Toy said as he crossed his arms and waited.

"On it!" Mini Bot chirped, it's acknowledgement coinciding with Combat Toy slamming into the tree with a horrendous bang.

The tree fell over with yet another loud noise, giving Mini Bot ample distraction to dart forward and retrieve Toy's egg.

"What is it now?" Archlich sighed as he turned away from the window as his throne room door was pushed open.

The purple robed official froze for a second as he beheld the Overmagus for perhaps the first time of his life and then scurried forward to stand and bow in the standard location. Waving his hand to hurry up, the lich walked back over to his throne and sat down, leaning his jawbone on hand as he listened.

"Reports have reached us of a possible meta-human incursion in Paragon City, milord Overmagus," the man said with a remarkable lack of nervous stammering. "The Army of Life has already arrived on the scene and estimates capture within the hour."

"Hmm..." was all Archlich said as he thought. "Very well. Inform the commander of the forces there that he shall recieve my personnal thanks as well as the standard bounty for capturing any non-Empire meta-human. That should motivate him quite effectively."

"By your will, Overmagus," the man said with another bow. "Also, the Blessed One in command of the Army of Death force in Paragon would like your permission to assist the Army of Life."

"Inform Demitri that he does not need my permission," Archlich said with a heavy note of exasperation in his voice. "He needs to remember that one does not always need to ask me for permission. Sycophantic idiot."

Pretending that he hadn't heard that last bit, the official bowed again and then backed away a few steps before exiting the throne room.

"Odd," Archlich said to the air.

*************************************************

But the golems didn't really have a will to be overwhelmed, thus rendering Schizo's attack fairly useless. The golem stepped forward and appeared ready to swat the pink and purple man out of the air when it suddenly hesitated and went after Hal instead. It's compatriot golem was dragging itself along the ground toward the illusionist as well, intent on nothing but destruction.

Oddly enough, the Steel Troopers also ceased fire on Schizo, choosing instead to pull back away from the sword wielding man that was approaching.

"Hello class!" the man shouted up at Schizo. "My name is Mr. Stegall and I shall be your teacher for today!"

There was a shimmer around the demented school teacher and suddenly he was mere feet from Schizo.

"Let the first lesson begin!" he laughed as he dashed forward in an attempt to cut Schizo in half. His sword glowed with red energy as it whipped through the air. This probably meant that it would hurt extra hard.

***********************************************

"The Ivory Engine is not a ninja," Engine said as the door flew past, now chopped cleanly into two halves. "It is an assassin. An assassin that shall carry out its objective and slay you and your officers."

Reaching up with one hand, the robot pulled the dagger out of its neck and hurled it at Cortianna before jumping through the air and slashing downward at Rosie.

***********************************************

Rebels fleeing toward the exits and escape hatches would suddenly find their progress blocked by a wall of seething shadows. Odd chittering noises almost like laughter issued from the wall, sometimes echoing eerily from itself. The walls heaved as though they breathed and occasionally things pressed against the other side, making odd slithery bulges that were gone almost as soon as they showed.

One rebel hesitantly stepped forward and prodded the wall with a sword. The tip sunk in easily and nothing much seemed to change. The man stabbed a few other portions of the wall before he backed away and motioned for a buddy. The power armored man passed his less armored friend a high powered assault rifle. The two took aim at the wall, not trusting the dark magic, and waited for some more reinforcements to arrive.

The sword, now completely black from where the shadow stuff had covered it, writhed and shot upward, stabbing cleanly through the unarmored man's jaw and up through the top of his head. The other rebel didn't even have enough time to shout out before four heavily muscled arms reached through the wall of darkness and pulled him in.

The Army of Death had declared the rebel base a 'quaratine zone'.

OOC: Anyone I'm forgetting?

OOC: Gonna have to ask for another posting pause while I get my bearings and read stuff. I just got back an hour ago and shall have a response up to various things shortly.

Actually, more like an hour. You people wrote a LOT.

"Awww man," Mini Bot whined as one of its tentacles reached down and popped open a panel in the drone's back. Yellow egg yolk started dripping out as both tentacles dove in and started scooping the mess out as best they could.

"This sucks," the drone sighed as it craned its head back to try and see how the excavation was going.

"No, this is quite interesting," Toy said as he watched the shield around his egg flare brightly for a moment. A brief analysis indicated that someone had tried to teleport the egg away from him. Good thing it was in a detention field then. The only thing getting inside there would be the code to destruct the egg and only even that because Toy felt like being fair.

"Now what, boss?" Combat Toy asked as it stomped back over to the mastermind. "I don't see any more eggs."

"Go knock over Acid's tree," Toy instructed, waving his hand in the direction of the lizardman.

"Sweet," Combat Toy said as it turned around and lined up for its charge.

"CHOO FRIGGIN' CHOO!" Combat Toy shouted as it hit its bootjets and shot forward at the tree that Acid and Morsko were in.

"Well that's a bummer," Solid said as he wringed his hand, trying to get some of the yolk off of it. "Why do the heroes always get the messy jobs?"

"Cause you do things for free," Toy said as he leaned back in the air and twirled his egg around on his finger. "People take all sorts of advantages over people who do things for free."

"I'm not even going to bother answering that," Solid huffed as he put away his gun.

"BANZAI!" Combat Toy shouted as it charged one of the people that hadn't lost their eggs yet.

OOC: Would make an actual post, but I can't seem to think straight at presently. >_>

MUST FINISH FIRE EMBLEM!

Hal and Schizo are in the midwest in one of the city's that the war between Orangeba and the World Empire ruined. It's around noon there. Which means for everyone else in Europe, it's some point at night. Something like that. And Hal? Moonscribe is approved, you can make yourself a small base thingie now if you want.

EDIT: Essex, Midas, Acid, and the gang are in Paragon, which is on the east coast. Just clearing that up right there. >_>

"It's clobbering time!" Combat Toy shouted as it charged into the midst of the group of people. Rapidly windmilling its arms, the assault bot's only goal was to startle people enough so that they crushed their own eggs. But if the bot came out of the other side of the group with some egg yolk on its arms from hitting a few 'targets of oppertunity', it didn't think Toy would care.

"Aw hell," Solid said as he ducked under one of Combat Toy's arms, keeping his egg tucked carefully in one hand.

OOC: Bloody hell, slow down! I'm going to be posting a lot slower until Monday so try not to run ahead of me, ok? And Hal, make a post about Moonscribe getting Kef into his HQ. I'll introduce the Dark Animator and Wielder after you do.

BIC: The bullets that Rosie fired froze mere milimeters away from the bright white exterior of the assassin droid. After the entire clip was expended, the bullets rained to the ground.

"All communications to this room were severed approximately 0.7 minutes ago," the machine said in a flat mechanical voice that matched it's blank white face. "White noise device located within this units chest will prevent all sound from escaping this room."

Reaching behind it, the robot pulled a bladeless hilt from a hollow in its back. With a snik, a long blade extended out, runes flashing briefly over the naked adamantium. The blade was painted as white as the machine's armor, meaning that this was no ordinary assassination.

"The Ivory Engine does not fail," the assassin said as it started walking forward. "The Engine merely slays and slays until it is ordered to stop. Prepare for your death."

Quickly dashing forward, Engine brought its katana down on the table, splitting it in two with one stroke. Pulling its sword back, the android lashed out with a lightning fast stab at the now exposed Rosie.

**************************************************

The unladen helicopter physically interposed itself between the Phantasm and the unloading pair, taking the beams of light and shuddering all over as smoke began streaming from several rents torn into its thin hull. Taking advantage of this distraction, the last two helicopters descended and landed, their ramps unrolling as soon as they touched down.

Heavily armed and armored Blood Knights leapt down from the hovering helicopters, hitting the ground with synchronus thuds. After deploying about fourty of these soldiers from each copter, the transports pulled up and away, attempting to flee the scene.

The golem that had thrown Schizo re-oriented itself and lumbered forward, jumping up into the air to try and knock the pair down by hitting them with itself. The Blood Knights began spreading out in support of the Steel Troopers, unable to see what the robots were firing at but able to blast bolts of darkness in the general area anyway.

From the final two helicopters deployed another forty Life Troopers, their machine guns ready and waiting for combat and their goggled faces searching for a target. Behind them walked a man clad in a business suit with an utterly serious look on his face and a long, thin sword clutched in his right hand. But belying that exterior was the mind that Schizo had sensed earlier, the one whose mind was lost in madness.

Turning, the man's glasses flashed in the sunlight as he looked directly at Hal and Schizo.

"Someone's in need of detention," the man cackled as he began walking toward the fight.

OOC: Quick mention here. Aside from the history of the world since WW2 and the general perceptions of the populace, nothing has changed. You can still access power through lines of thought that Archlich hasn't persued and the level of technology is at that which the CoX universe is currently at. Magic is just a lot more common then it used to be and the world is generally a lot less well kept.

Also, I really, really encourage talking with me on AIM, MSN, through PMs, or in-game to map out your posts. I find that it's really good for getting the real quality kind of stuff. My AIM, MSN, and global names are all Khellendrosiic. However, I will be extremely unaccessable until Monday due to Fall break and me being home.

Toy Dispenser looked at Mini Bot and Combat Toy and then glanced at the other contestants.

"Combat Toy, you're offense," the mastermind said as he moved to stand next to Mini Bot. "Mini's on defense."

"Oh yeah," the assault bot said as it smacked one fist into a palm with a heavy clang. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

The first golem groaned and stumbled forward as one of its feet suddenly broke off and ran away. It fell forward almost onto Hal before it caught itself with its arms. At this point, the golem looked almost as though it was doing a push-up.

The second Adamantium Golem came up behind the first and grabbed Schizo, attempting to hurl the blob away where it could be safely fired upon by the Steel Troopers.

The Troopers were sturdily built, and while an EMP pulse wouldn't shut them down, it certainly did damage them. But a few of them recovered quickly and opened fire on Hal with their dual plasma cannons.

And up in the air, the helicopter that had deployed the Army of Steel unit flew back up into the air and opened fire on the Phantasm while two more helicopters retreated and hovered down to the ground, preparing to deploy more soldiers.

"Oh this is gonna suck," Solid sighed as he held his egg in one hand and whipped out his assault rifle with the other. "And yeah, I loaded rubber rounds for just such an eventuality, so sue me."

"This will be easy," Toy countered as he tossed his shielded egg into the air and then snatched it out of the air before handing it to Combat Toy. "A quick question though, are my bots allowed to participate or do they have to stand out?"

Mini Bot looked down at the egg in its claw, looked up at Lyden, looked over at Toy Dispenser, shrugged, and threw the egg through the air over the water.

Four of the helicopters scattered, dodging the blasts of light with an agility belying their size. Machine guns whirred and chattered as they opened fire on the Phantasm.

Meanwhile, the lone dropship that hadn't changed course slowed to a stop and let its back ramp drop open. About a dozen Steel Troopers jumped out, foot jets blazing as they touched down, immidiately spreading out to surround Hal and Schizo, their sensors unimpeded by Hal's hallucinations.

Then, the helicopter seemed to tilt heavily toward the rear until a massive, gleaming white shape jumped out of it. The twenty foot tall man-shaped statue hit the ground with an earth-rumbling crunch, almost knocking several of the Steel Troopers over. Swiftly rising to its feet, the Adamantium Golem turned and focused its empty eye sockets on the two metahumans. A silent roar issued from its mouth as a second golem leapt from the helicopter and then it rushed forward, lumbering over the ground to smash the two into a smear on the ground.

OOC: >_> You people are hijacking my thread. <_<

Not that I'm complaining. I like where this is going.

BIC: As Schizo's mind reached out to the black dots, now recognizable as massive double rotored heleicopters, he encountered a sort of psychic shield. He felt, or knew, that at such a range his powers would have no effect on whoever was in those craft, not even something as minor as giving them a slight headache.

And the number of people were slightly unusual. One helicopter only had two minds in it that Schizo could detect, both of them in the cockpit. Two other helicopters had a multitude of minds belonging to some very fanatical soldiers. The remaining two had minds that creaked with age but were filled with the same zealous devotion as the still living ones. There was also a lone anamoly, a mind that seemed almost as mad as Schizo's.

What Hal saw were a quartet of massive black cargo helicopters with glowing runes enscribed on their sides. The runes pulsed angrily, as though reacting to something, and the bulbous machine gun turrets on either side of the helicopters were aimed directly at Hal and Schizo. Hal also sensed that the helicopters began moving even faster, if that could be believed.

Within half a minute, the five helicopters would be overhead, machine guns blazing at the two, while their troops deployed.

**********************************************
OOC: DAMN IT! Stupid people confusing me from the truth.

*************************************************

The target was sighted. The target would die. Like all the others. And then the other officers. They would die as well. Quickly, perhaps, or maybe messily.

Messily would work. It would put more fear in the survivors.

Clinging to the ceiling, the assassin known as the Ivory Engine silently crawled forward, following Rosalind and waiting for the oppertune moment to strike.

"This should be fun," Solid said as he reached down and plucked egg 8 from the carton. "I wonder if we'll get to throw them."

"Probably something more along the lines of an egg race," Toy Dispenser said he retrieved egg 11 from its carton, putting a force shield around it and tossing it back and forth between his hands.

As the two androids meandered down to the beach with Combat Toy tromping along behind, Mini Bot looked around it suspiciously and slowly edged past the cartons, one of its tentacles snagging egg 12 as it went by.

"-and Commander Danya informs us of another cell rooted out of the Third District in New Mu itself. The inhabitants of Complex 15 were all found guilty, executed, and re-animated according to standing orders," said the black robed Blessed One, ending his report with deep bow of his bone white skull to the throne in front of him.

Overmagus Archlich studied the fingertips of one hand as he thought and then leaned forward, the blue glow of his eye sockets just barely illuminating the skull of the lesser lich standing before him.

"Inform the Commander that while more zombies for the mines are useful, I would rather prefer them to be alive and industrious until they died of natural causes. Tell him to be more active in his interrogations. The less unnecessary deaths, the better."

"Of course, Overmagus," the Blessed One said, bowing deeply once more. "Shall I inform him personally?"

"Yes, you shall," Archlich replied. "But also make a stop at Lab 17. They have been working on those mind reading devices. Procure a prototype or two and bring them to the Commander. using them on potential subversives will make for good field tests."

"Your word is my will, Overmagus," the Blessed One said as he bowed once more and backed up a few steps before turning and swiftly exiting the large throne room.

Temporarily devoid of pressing matters, Archlich stood up and walked over to one of the windows, whose semi-transparent screen folded up and away as he approached. he lich looked out over New Mu, his city, from his tower, the Edge of the World. Contained within it and the massive complex of government structures around it and below it were all of Archlich's most secret and costly programs as well as the offices of hundreds of beaucrats needed to run a kingdom with any sort of efficiency.

"Toy Dispenser," Archlich said without turning around. "Attend me."

Lining the walls, inbetween the windows, were suits of armor styilized after ancient protective wear. At the mention of his name, one of those suits of armor twitched and then stepped off its pedastels, the hologram dropping away even as the android neared his liege.

Archlich did not have to look to know exactly what Toy Dispenser looked like now. Where once he was painted in a cheerful, if haphazard pattern, this new iteration was colored the deepest black with red highlights on the spikes of its shoulder pads and the blood grooves running down its arms and legs. A pair of flat, black goggle-like eyes sat on the front of its head, the sensors contained within capable of things that Archlich required magic to even attempt to see. A rather menacing looking rebreather was also attatched to the lower half of the android's head, enhancing its martial air and giving it an even wider range of detecting equipment. The cape that almost dragged along the ground behind Toy Dispenser was as black as his master's, although it lightened to a blood red at the jagged tips. Finally, arcs of red electricity crackled over his frame, giving him an air of such malevolence that it was well known that Toy Dispenser was the second most feared being in the World Empire. The first thing being not a single person, but the entire country of Oranbega.

"Yes, Overmagus?" the android asked. "What do you require?"

"I believe a time of reckoning is at hand," Archlich said enigmatically. "Forces are arriving, forces beyond even my control, that may disrupt my grand design for this world."

Pausing, Archlich walked over to his throne, the massive metallic chair looked very uncomfortable for anyone still alive to sit in for very long. Pressing a button under one arm, Archlich caused several holoprojectors to activate, displaying a map of the world in the air in front of him. Lightly touching the insubstantial globe, Archlich circled it, thinking, until his hand froze in one spot, a location in the midwest of North America, near the border between the World Empire and Oranbega.

"Send a large force here," Archlich said. "Include one or two of the Soulsworn, for safety's sake. If anything alive is there, I want it dead. If any building is standing, I want it razed. Do you understand me?"

"Of course, Overmagus," Toy Dispenser said. "You have ordered a scorched earth tactic for the area you are indicating."

"Yes," Archlich said, sitting back down in his throne and flipping off the hologram. "Now go, I expect a report by the time the Treasury official is done briefing me on the progress of the newest gold mine."

Bowing stiffly, Toy Dispenser spun on his heel and exited the throne room, exiting so suddenly that a green robed official almost threw himself to one side to avoid getting in the android's way.

Such was the respect granted the leader of the Soulsworn and General in Chief of the Triumverate.

**************************************************

Slowly, but surely, the tranqualizer applied to Kefetsura was wearing off, allowing the demon to hear voices every now and then.

"-ucking Oranbegans," someone growled. "You hear about the massacre in Paloma last week? [censored] bastards. I've applied for a front line p-"

"So what the hell is this?" came another voice, some undeterminable time later. "Some sort of carnival attraction?"

"The field mage said it's some sort of demon," came a youngish voice, barely out of his teens. "So we've been ordered to transfer it to New Mu."

"Hmm..." said the other voice as there came a light rapping on the top of the cage. "Let's not send him the-"

"-fensive positions!" roared a hoarse voiced woman. "Don't let those damned rebels near! This convoy needs to get to Paragon, now!"

"They've got biologicals!" shouted a voice, nearly incoherent with panic. "We're all gonna die! We're all gonna die!"

"Shut the [censored] up and get out there, conscript! Dying is only another chance to serve the Over-!"

There was a long pause.

"Hey, hey! I think I found something! Looks like some sort of slave. What do you think, Animator?"

"I think that we should take him with us," came the reply, the voice heavy with age. "Let my boys take the lead position while you fellows carry the cage."

And then a sudden sensation of movement.

************************************************

From where hal and Schizo were walking, they would be able to see five black dots suddenly appear on the edge of the horizon, rapidly coming closer to their position.

The ring of mages looked at their leader before returning to stare at the odd device. Their dark red robes fluttered slightly in the breeze and a small crowd had gathered around them composed of people not already frightened off by the emergence of the machine.

The leader, a proto-lich, snapped shut a scroll case and slid it into a deep pocket lost amidst his pure white robes. His thin, drawn face twisted in an expression of unholy glee as he gestured for his men to heed him.

"The word of the Overmagus is law!" the proto-lich announced. "And the Overmagus condems this structure! Erase it from this Earth!"

As one, the mages removed a scroll from their robes and began chanting in unison. The proto-lich recited the spell from memory, weaving the energies into one massive spell. Together, the combined might of the disintigration spell would shatter the machine unto dust, ripping it apart at an atomic level. This proto-lich was also very good at his job. He really liked making things not exist any more.

OOC: >_> Note to self: Outline history and current situation before letting people into post-apocalyptic world ruled by Archlich.

BIC: Excerpt From the History of the World Empire

Before the Overmagus arrived to save the world, the world was split into dozens, even hundreds of countries, each with their own government, leader, and agenda. Needless to say, each country argued with one another and fought, as such a system could never work. Two massive wars, known as the World Wars were waged, one after another due to the hubris and pride of those ancient leaders. Then there came a brief time of peace, a mere sixty years that turned out to be a lie of truely great proportions.

For the meta-humans of two countries, the United States of America and the Rogue Isles, had been plotting to throw the world into chaos and take it for their own, believing that they were God's true children, being more powerful than any mere human. And so the third World War began. Not with nuclear bombs and radioactive winters, but with might super-powered beings waging war against the rest of human-kind and those few metahumans that stood with them. These were known as the End Times as it seemed that the world itself was coming to an end as every country started fighting, trying to conquer the others or eliminate them altogether.

The End Times culminated in the Great Battle, where the last surviving armies of each side met and clashed in what used to be Spain, scarring the countryside and killing thousands. It seemed that the world would truly fall into darkness under the heels of these metahumans, that is, until the Overmagus decided that enough was enough.

Descending down from the heavens, Overmagus Archlich smote the metahumans with great pillars of flame and boulders of earth. Attempting to minimize human casualties as much as he could, the Overmagus led the fight over the Atlantic Ocean, where he slew, once and for all, the leaders of the metahumans, ending their reign of terror and destruction.

Then, the Overmagus gathered up the remnants of the countries, shattered by war, and concocted a brilliant plan. He would unite them all under one banner, the banner of the new World Empire, and thus would save them all from another such End Time. For a world ruled by a government of one is inherently more stable than a world divided up by race or nationality.

But of course there are always dissenters, and while the Overmagus was solidifying his hold in the east, the horrible Oranbegans, known to some as the Circle of Thorns, made their own bid for power in the west. They seized control of South America and western North American and immidiately began waging a war against the Overmagus and the new World Empire.

But rest assured that the Oranbegans will be defeated and the captive populace freed. But until then, we must endure every hardship stoically, knowing that one day, soon, all of it shall be worth it when the world is truly united.

************************************************

Treatise of the Armed Forces of the World Empire

The Triumverate is the massive, but simple, beast that protects the World Empire and fights against the Oranbegans and their demons and the various rebel groups springing up here and there. Composed of three seperate armies, the Army of Life, the Army of Death, and the Army of Steel, the Triumverate is led by the elite General of the Armies, Toy Dispenser, who is also the head of the Overmagus' bodyguards, the Soulsworn.

The Army of Life is the closest linked to the grand armies of old, composed entirely of human troops with the occasional enlisted non-human or demon. Equipped with state of the art machine guns, rocket launchers, and body armor, each trooper of the Army of Life is well prepared to take on the ravenous demon hordes of Oranbega. However, a small portion of the Army of Life is made up of slave units. These groups of up to a hundred men are given plate mail armor, swords, and sheilds, and then released into combat. Do not pity the slave units, as they are former violaters of the law, attempting to make good their parrole and eventually win their freedom. Better fanatics could not be found anywhere else. The leader of the Army of Life is known as Outlaw Jack, a veteran of the metahuman conflict.

The Army of Death is, as its name suggests, the darkest of the three armies. Composed of former humans animated by official Reanimators in costly rituals, the Blood Knights of the Army of Death fight with the strength of three men and can fight tirelessly until killed. Among the Blood Knights, which make up the bulk of the army, are zombies, used as cannon fodder, and proto-liches, those mages that are applying for lich-hood but must spend a certain amount of time in the army before being accepted. The number of applicants for lich-hood is never lacking, but only one or two ascend each year to the Overmagus' tower and return with his blessings. Those are the most powerful of the mages and fight only in the most dire of circumstances. The leader of the Army of Death is none other than the apprentice of the Overmagus himself, Death's Right Hand.

The Army of Steel is perhaps the most unusual of the Triumverate, composed as it is of beings that have no life or indeed, some argue, no souls. Robots and golems, one and all, the Army of Steel is an implacable force of good, trielessly righting the wrongs that the Oranbegans have committed against the World Empire. The standard Steel unit is composed of drones, massive, hulking brutes of metal and circuitry armed with the best weapons money can buy. More specialized units abound as well, such as the Scavenger scout unit and the slow but powerful Adamantine Golems, created in lengthy rituals that can last weeks. This army is commanded by an android called the Malevolith.

Finally, seperate from the Triumverate but linked to all three, is the Secret Police. Publically led by Feliks Danya, the Secret Police makes sure that no Oranbegan sympathizers exist within the boundaries of the World Empire and are also the Empire's first line of defense against the rebels spawning from the Rogue Isles and Paragon City. Little is known about the Police and even less can be written.

OOC: There we go. More info. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to PM me. And remember, there is technology along the lines of the CoX universe, but magic is also a lot more common and wider used.

"FOR GREAT JUSTICE!" Wielder shouted as he slung the Painpipe at his side and grabbed Nena.

Looking around, Wielder saw Reggie dive into the portal, a sight that seemed to make up his mind.

"INTO THE JAWS OF EVIL!" Wielder shouted as he ran for the portal. "FOR THE HAMMER OF GOOD CANNOT BE STOPPED BY THE FLIMSY ENAMEL ON THE TOOTH OF-!"

And then he was through.

Once free of the table, Toy shook out his cape and waggled his arms and legs back and forth to make sure they still worked. After one gyration nearly knocked the pan out of Essex's hand, the mastermind carefully withdrew until he was opposite Solid Shot. The two robots glared at each other for a moment before shifting their gazes elsewhere.

"So what's the challenge for today, short stuff?" Combat Toy rumbled as it stomped into the common room where Lyden was sitting, arms crossed and eye strip sweeping back and forth.