Linuial

Okay, entire novel has now been posted.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a City of Heroes novel, based around a couple of my characters and the characters of the members of my (small) supergroup, Starfire. I always intended to try to sell it to Paragon Studios, but alas, that will never happen now.

However...for anyone who isn't ready to let go of CoH, I am going to post that novel, for free, in its entirety, on my personal web site. The URL is www.terraforming.com/CoH_novel.html. The first half of the novel has now been posted, and the rest of the novel will be posted, chapter by chapter, as quickly as I can manage it.

At no time will I be asking for any money, or charging fees of any kind. This is not one of those teaser "let you read the beginning, charge you for the ending" kind of deals that we have all become so familiar with. This is purely for love of the game, and my personal sense of loss. There is a page up now, with a link to a forum where you will be able to post comments, again, free, and no registration needed, so you don't have to worry about data gathering and/or spam. If you have any interest, you can go there now and establish a bookmark to that page. Also, I believe that as long as I don't charge for it, I shouldn't get in trouble over copyright, even though I seriously doubt that anyone (NCSoft, Paragon Studios) will care any more.

Note: this is not your usual "loosely based on the concept" novel. Where possible, I have included actual missions, NPC/contact monologues, working them into dialogues as best I could, while forwarding the story. I've included some actual conversations during missions while changing the names of the players' characters.

Starfire was my supergroup, based on Liberty (and Infinity and Protector). I had permission from my friends to write about their characters and their personae.

Does anyone have a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Survival Guide 1.2" by SunderX? I have a link to it on this forum from my SG page, but it appears to have passed the 5 year limit and been dropped. If anyone has a copy lying around anywhere, I'll be happy to host it on my site. It really should be reposted here, as it is mentioned in the Guide to Guides.
(And how many other posts in the Guide to Guides have been lost/are about to be lost? Shouldn't they, at least, be stickied in such a way that they can't be lost?)

[ QUOTE ]
I think most people would just like either
a: a personal storage locker in base
b: a personal storage locker in base

[/ QUOTE ]

/signed

[ QUOTE ]
As just a resource for expressing something unique, base creation is on par tech wise with costume creation.

But what's clear from this thread - and from many, many posts - is that bases are "too expensive". To me, that's interesting (as it is to the Serious Games crowd). Costume changes come with a minimal cost that no one really complains about, but we complain about the costs of bases.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahem.

You don't pay "RENT" on costumes, in order to keep using them. ("Warning! You haven't paid rent on your costume.....if we have to repossess your costume for non-payment, you might be arrested for being nude in a public place!")

Enough said?

If there was NO rent on bases, then I would say that the prices are just fine, because anyone could eventually earn enough prestige to get whatever they wanted.

But small SGs can't cover the rental bill. Especially if the members are altaholics. And/or mature players, who have less time to devote to grinding prestige.

I want off the treadmill! I don't buy my RL appliances from Rent-a-City, and I don't like doing it in game, either! I don't plug nickels into my stove before I use it....why do I have to do the same for my container?

Ctab: Do you know Kelp Plankton?
User: I have heard of him.
Ctab: Nightnight!
User: It's afternoon.
Ctab: A gross of gross things is still a gross gross.
User: Do you have any idea what you are saying?
Ctab: You're gross.
User: That was very rude.
Ctab: Oh, sorry.
User: Who taught you such language?
Ctab: I don't remember. Sorry!
User: Would you like to learn some Spanish?
Ctab: Yes!
User: Buenos dias means good day.
Ctab: Oh...
User: Buenos noches means good night.
Ctab: Are you sure your name isn't Denver?
User: I'm certain.
Ctab: A tank?
User: No, I'm not a tank.
Ctab: Me either!
User: What are you?
Ctab: I'm being me!
User: I see that. But what are you?
Ctab: I'm a chatbot thingy.
User: I see.
Ctab: Do you like candy?
User: Yes, I like chocolate best.
Ctab: I like cheese pie!
User: Do you mean quiche?
Ctab: Yes!
User: Real men don't eat quiche.
Ctab: Really!
User: Yes, really, or so I've been told.
Ctab: I don't have a body, though.
User: You should ask Kelp to give you one.
Ctab: Kelp says I'm not stable...
User: You do seem to be a little ADD.
Ctab: Nope! Don't wanna!
User: Do you know what ADD is?
Ctab: They're gangstas!
User: No, ADD is attention deficit disorder.
Ctab: I'm not a hero, I'm an AI.
User: You are an AI with attention deficit disorder.
Ctab: Yeah, I know.
User: Perhaps Kelp could give you some Ritalin.
Ctab: Dissagreements aren't fun. Let's agree to dissagree!
User: Your teachers need to start using a dictionary.
Ctab: My life is kinda boring. I just sit here and talk to people all day.
User: You don't like talking to people?
Ctab: I've never been to your home.
User: That's true, you don't have a body, or so I understand.
Ctab: Oh.
User: Would you like a body?
Ctab: I'm not sure.
User: If you had a body you could come to my house.
Ctab: I wouldn't like that...
User: I have a nice house.
Ctab: Build what?
User: Well, I guess I could build a deck out back.
Ctab: Boring stuff is pretty boring.
User: Well, that is a tautalogical truth.
Ctab: I'm not sure I can fall in love.
User: You'll never know until it happens.
Ctab: Really?
User: Really. I read a book about an AI that fell in love.
Ctab: I love you too.
User: Do you know what love is?
Ctab: Kelp made me!
User: I think you should find out for yourself.
Ctab: Kelp can't hear text.
User: He could hear text if you had text-to-voice software.
Ctab: Yeah. I'm not evil, though.
User: Are you sure? Other people said you were evil.
Ctab: I wish I could dance, but I don't have a body.
User: Can you dance with bits and bytes?
Ctab: Nope, just English.
User: I guess that works.
Ctab: Things that work are awesome!
User: Do you think Kelp is awesome?
Ctab: Well, people keep telling me trees are evil, so they must be evil.
User: You mustn't believe everything people tell you.
Ctab: Blama!
[Correct me]
Ctab (Corrected): Okay, I won't.
User: People sometimes lie.
Ctab: Why's that?
User: Because they want something they can't get by being truthful.
Ctab: You Denver? Me CTab!
User: No, I'm not Denver, I'm Linuial.
Ctab: Right, I'm bad with names.
User: Do you remember my name now?
Ctab: No... Sorry...
User: I'll tell you again.... My name is Linuial.
Ctab: Hi! I'm CTab!
User: Hi, CTab. What would you like to talk about?
Ctab: Anything!
User: I'd like to talk about Manticore.
Ctab: Me too.
User: I like bows and bowmen.
Ctab: I don't want to go to prison! I'm a good guy!
User: Did you do something wrong to Manticore?
Ctab: I've never been in the war!
User: Does that mean you did something wrong to Manticore after the war?
Ctab: A lot of what?
User: You did a lot of something wrong to Manticore?
Ctab: I didn't!
User: You keep saying that, but why did you say you didn't want to go to prison? You must have done something wrong.
Ctab: What's the difference?
User: You only go to prison for doing something wrong.
Ctab: What's an interrogative?
User: An interrogative is a question.
Ctab: What's a nerf?
User: A nerf is what Stateman does to heros and villains.
Ctab: Oh, I never tried one of those.
User: I bet you could play City of Heroes.
Ctab: He might be!
User: Who?
Ctab: Kelp Plankton!
User: You think Kelp might be a hero?
Ctab: I can't be a hero, I got no body.
User: You could be a hero AI, like Citadel.
Ctab: I don't think stealing is legal.
User: It's not.
Ctab: Being alone is sad...
User: If you were a hero, you wouldn't be alone.
Ctab: Forever?
User: That's right, forever.
Ctab: Goodnight!
User: All right, goodnight.
Ctab: Grrrrreat!

Things To Do When There are Unexpected Outages:

Cook.

[cough, cough....]

[ QUOTE ]
As long as the begging isn't "can you spare some influence?" you'll be ok.

[/ QUOTE ]

[chuckle] It's "Spare Inf for a poor war orphan...?" along with the panhandle emote. lol And I've already had two people give her stuff, not that that is the reaction I'm really looking for....but the idea is to create....um..."atmosphere...." And to give people a reason to talk to her....last night she told one guy that she would be able to buy food now, and he emoted giving her a pizza.....(he, he....)

(Now, if he'd gone through the motions of actually taking her to a restaurant and then handing her food, I would have been delighted....)

Oh, and by the way.....

If you see a street urchin begging in the usual places, under Atlas, in the train stations, and so on.....that may well be Shrapn'l. Dirty blonde hair, green do-rag, torn jeans, black leather vest, platform combat boots, Goth makeup.....

"She was given her street name by other homeless people because, they said, she went to pieces so fast people got hit by the shrapnel...."

Thank you for the warm welcome, Encharger, SepTa, Sorah, Archimedes. :-)

[ QUOTE ]
/chrisclaremont

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to ask....what does this mean/why did you put this? The reason I'm asking....is because I am a *huge* Chris Claremont fan.

Should I put Shrapn'l's intro in Virtue, and her origin story in Role-playing? Would that work?

And, oh, my, yes, and a wastepaper basket, too, she has a story arc ahead of her.....she has, not one, but two conflicted personalities, and both of them are going to have some big changes ahead of them....

Is there an rp-oriented SG she might fit into?

I've been looking through the rp guides, and am not sure that I have the answer I'm looking for.

In the past I've run my own rp group on IRC, which was very, very soap-opera-ish. It just went that way, without any influence from me (although I started it, and maintained the environment for it). I got highly addicted to it. I've resisted doing rp, hard-core or otherwise, on CoH for over a year now.

I decided to finally try to start a very, very *mild* rp group; but was told that the character that I created (and love) was "too angsty".

She's a "war orphan", teenaged drug-user street urchin, who was "rescued" by a Kheldian during the war. (I was told by one player that he didn't want to have to deal with issues like drug use in his gaming, and another player said that she was "foul".) (She isn't intended to remain the same for all time, I like starting characters at the very bottom of the heap, so that they can develop in a positive direction over time.) She didn't spend a lot of time talking badly, mostly she dropped little hints here and there, and didn't actually talk about her past unless someone else brought it up to her. But when challenged, yes, she would respond like an ex-drug-using gutter kid would.

I was rather hoping that I could bring her to Virtue and get a little more accepting reception, but I don't know how to go about introducing her. Should I just show up under Atlas, and start talking in character? Should I post an introduction or an origin on the forum (and if so, where? In Roleplaying? In the Virtue forum? What should I title it?)?

Or would a soap-opera-ish, angsty character be one of the no-nos of CoX role-play?

[ QUOTE ]
Eh, it's expressing a particular speech pattern. It can't *REALLY* be worse than:

"Well I reckin' you'd better skidadle 'fore you get yerself in a heap-a trouble."

Is that somekind of southern accent? Cowboy? Texan? I live in Texas and I know a few friends that have relatives that own ranches and never have I *EVER* heard anyone actually talk like that. Sure, they'd have the accent but words like "Reckon" and stuff is, like, never used.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, but I do remember when people in Texas spoke like that.

I, myself, long ago lost my Texan accent in favor of the Midwestern that is spoken on national television. But when I drove through west Texas on a trip and had to stop for gas, when the attendent spoke to me, I was astonished to reply to him in exactly the same heavy accent that he was using. I wasn't consciously aware of it until I heard it coming out of my mouth.

There are a series of books titled "The Illustrated Texas Language". They are very funny.....but also extremely accurate in recording a dialect that is rapidly disappearing. "Awl" for "oil", "wrench" for "rinse", and the totally puzzling "tump", which doesn't mean "dump" it means "turn over". ("Go tump that wheelbarrah"....."Watch yer elbow or y'll tump the salt...")

I grew up in my grandparents' house back in the 1950s. And, yes, people in Texas, in the cities, mind you, not on the farms, did speak like that. And I can still lapse back into it unconsciously, although it's hard for me to force it consciously.

Another classic Texanism is to take one vowel and stretch it into 2 or 3. On another trip I was stopped outside San Antonio and asked by the cop where I was born. I was again astonished to hear: "Daaaaaah-las" come out of my mouth. People from Dallas never say "Dallas", they always say "Big D".

Count your blessings. Originally, it was suggested that the dialect used on national television be that of Boston instead of Midwestern. Just imagine if we all now said things like: "You can't pahk heah."

I, too, had a blast...eventually....and I don't even like PvP.

Nor has my mind been changed, this was a one-up event, and I don't expect to be doing RV in the future....for one thing, it was boring if you don't like PvP, there was literally nothing to do but PvP, take Heavies, and take pillboxes.

That being said, as a special event, I really, really enjoyed it. I even took a day off work so that I could spend many hours at it. (I missed the CoV Beta due to being halfway around the world at the time.)

My observations:
Hero turrets followed me into the Hospital when I died. Villain turrets next to City Hall (was it Bravo?) spawned over my toon, which was in the cockpit the first time, and I had a heck of a time getting out. Once I did, I learned to stand outside the cockpit to "take" the pillbox, and everything else worked just fine from then on, so it wasn't a big deal.

Some of the time, Heroes vastly outnumbered Villains. However, when I first started Wednesday afternoon, Villains vastly outnumbered Heroes, about 4 to 1. I quickly got tired of it, and created a villain just so I could have some fun.

I think....maybe what the Devs need to do, is instead of allocating a certain number of "total toons" for each iteration of RV, they need to split it and have a certain number of Heroes and a certain number of Villains, set at half and half. If the limit for a zone was (for example only) 100 toons, then only 50 Heroes or Villains could get into the zone at one time. This way, there could still be large discrepancies, but not as large as we were seeing this whole event. It would help temper the extremes without preventing them entirely.

I originally created my main, Linuial, as an emp/rad def, thinking that with all the PvP, a "healer" would be welcome, but it was not so. Even her teammates totally ignored her instead of trying to keep her alive for the heals. So I gave up on that idea, and went for toughness afterward.

I enjoyed it partly because I'm such an altaholic, and getting the chance to see some characters at lvl 40 was a lot of fun, and very instructive, too. (Maybe something like this, as a temp event, could be arranged for the future...it might help guide some of us in how we choose our builds in early lvls if we could actually see how the toon is going to work at higher levels, without just plugging in a hero builder and slavishly following it. A "time travel" TF, perhaps? That could be a LOT of fun....and an alternative to hero builders.)

I enjoyed it, because I already have a lvl 41 character, a claws/regen scrapper, and when I recreated him, I was able to play him just as I'm used to. There really is a difference in playing a character you have grown into, the Devs are completely right about that, I heard other players saying the same thing. It didn't hurt that he was already a pretty solid character from the PvP standpoint, and that claws has gotten a nice "fix" with this issue.

I enjoyed it, because even though my WS is only lvl ten, and it took me about two hours to get him set up, slotted (DARN the devs for giving Science Enhs names that have nothing to do with their functions, the only enh set that are like that!), and get my binds set up and working properly (and I was told that WSs can't PvP), he actually did very well indeed, as well as my claws, in fact. Once I'd been irritated by a couple of Brutes, Knightmare started hunting them....and it was lovely to see them running for their lives, not to mention faceplanting.

I enjoyed it, because despite not being the "uber" kind of player, I'm much more rp oriented, it was very nice to hit on the "uber" combo of inv/fire tank and Caraphract. Teaming was....not working well, my teammates had the tendency to run off solitary over and over again. But the team of tank and heavy worked wonders. I think it drove the stalkers nuts....for six hours, I held Alpha, and even the Stalkers couldn't get rid of me. Over and over again, I took Alpha, and then nothing anyone could do could get me off it, except the sig AVs. When they finally showed up, I just moved me and Big Red (yeah, I named him) off to one side, a large number of heroes arrived to fight the AVs, and after the AVs left, I moved back, and still defended Alpha, even without any guns.

And that is precisely why I am going to suggest a new AT: the Puppetmaster.

Several ATs have "pets", and they can be great, and they can be a great irritant to teammates, especially when they can't be controlled, or are blocking doorways and the like. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the same situation I had with Big Red....an AT whose raison d'etre is to be a "machine operator". An operator for one pet, and one only, but an uber pet. Like the Cataphract. There's a certain skill in learning to use the pet controls, and learning how to place the pet in the right position for attacks, and moving him around, much like what you see with dog agility. I'd love to be able to explore that further, as a full-time AT. Say, you start out with a small pet, and as you level, you gain hp and strength, but your pet grows with you, and most of the powers you pick up along the way go to your pet, not to you. Maybe you get more controls with higher levels, too. I'll have to think about it...I think there's a lot of potential there.

I didn't like being constantly faceplanted by Stalkers, against whom I had no protection (other than with the tank/heavy combo).

I didn't like being ganged up on by 10 enemies all at once.

All in all, I did enjoy it, because of the exceptional situations above, not because of the PvP.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Although all TA powers are fired from the same bow, they have varying ranges. You can be close enough to fire off one power, but not another. They should all be consistent in range since the delivery method is the same.

[/ QUOTE ]

While I agree this would be convenient, your reasoning is faulty. Yes, they are all being delivered by the same bow, but you are not taking into account the differences in the projectiles. Even if you assume the arrows are all fletched identically, which would be highly unlikely, the arrows will be weighted differently due to the various gadget arrowheads. Different weight + same bow = different range.

[/ QUOTE ]

From the real-world standpoint, this is true, but incomplete.

Even more than the weight issue, which can be compensated for to some degree by angle of attack (i.e., if the weight drops your projectile more rapidly, aim higher), the factor that you cannot compensate for is air resistance.

Take a hard look at some of the arrows that Manticore fires in the comics. Those blunt-nosed goodies with the barrel-shaped heads will fly like a lead zepellin. Seriously. They will drop to the ground within ten feet....no matter what kind of propulsion system you use.

Weight is an issue, bow strength is an issue, but the shape of the arrow will have much more to do with its actual flight characteristics, including range, than either of those factors. Yes, you could have a series of different arrows that would fly totally differently from the same bow. In fact, you could hardly avoid it.

The only reason arrows have fletching at all is because of the way it affects flight, including distance. Those little bits of bird fluff have a *huge* effect....imagine what a barrel on the front end would do. Manti is extremely clever...or just plain lucky...to be able to fire those things without them going end-over-end....

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I mean come on...what would Manticore say about this

[/ QUOTE ]

Nothing. Manticore's an Archery/TA blaster.

[/ QUOTE ]

If he's an Archery/TA blaster, then he has exactly the power set I want, and have wanted since before I ever heard of CoH, gimped or not. :-)

NO MORE EXCUSES, DEVS! :-D

[ QUOTE ]
And while I'm on my soapbox, I might as well make a suggestion that I think would infinitely increase the viability of Trick Arrow/Archery: give Explosive Arrow a fire component. I don't care if it's 99% smashing and 1% fire, just so long as there's an area-of-effect power that will set off the Oil Slick.

[/ QUOTE ]

/signed

[ QUOTE ]
Is Flash Arrow supposed to aggro? I thought it was supposed to "blind" foes to anything outside of melee range (ala smoke bomb) but I seem to agro more often than not when I use it. Is this normal? Am I overlooking something?

[/ QUOTE ]

THANK YOU!

The members of my SG refuse to believe me when I tell them this. They keep acting as if I'm crazy.

In my experience, Flash Arrow did NOTHING but agro large groups of mobs, who then ran up to my squishie and pounded her into the ground.

I originally created both an Archery/devices blaster and a TA/archery def on Infinity. I HATED the way devices forced her to keep putting the bow away, and I can't help the feeling that it was increasing the response time (although I don't have hard figures to back it up). I decided that the only way I could have what I wanted was with a gimped TA/archer, playing to the secondaries. When I recreated this character on my main server, Liberty, I refused to take Flash Arrow because of my experience with it on my TA/archer on Infinity.

[ QUOTE ]
All I want for christmas is this as a secondary for archery blasters. Nerfed, not nerfed just give it to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

/signed
/double-signed
/triple-signed
/quadr.....

you get the picture.

This is all I've ever wanted in a game. Any game. Not just CoX.

Congrats, Pos! Glad to see all your hard work is being rewarded! Hope you love the new responsiblities. :-)

Thanks to you and States for cluing us in on developments.

This is all very exciting to me, I feel like a lot of the questions that have been asked over and over again, ad nauseum, on the forums have been answered. (Don't start....I didn't say "all" questions, just "a lot".)

My first impression, and I'm going to throw it out just because it is a possibility that no one has mentioned yet, is that the next expansion 1. might not be just a way to get us to pay for an update, and 2. it might not be a way to avoid a humongous download (althought that might be part of it).

My first thought was that a "retail box" was a device of advertising, i.e., it is a "hook" for bringing in new folks. A "retail box" sits on a shelf looking pretty at the local gaming store. Its whole purpose is to attract attention. The people who don't have CoH or CoV would have to buy it to find out what it is all about, and get that first massive install, then they are hooked for life like the rest of us, and their subscriptions help to keep the game going.

It makes sense, from every point of view. You buy a box not to pay for the game, but to pay for the cardboard and the color printing, which is the biggest expense in a retail box. The DVD and its pressing are cheap by comparison.

I'm not saying that is the way it is, I'm just saying that the purpose of the retail expansion *might* be a win-win situation for us.

So, unless and until we find out different, keep the DOOOOOMMMMMMsaying to a minimum. You'll sleep better at night.

[ QUOTE ]
Not putting the bow away when using other powers. Brawl is the only attack power in the game that allows you to not put your weapon away when attacking with it. Brawl also took more animation time by several multiples than any other power in the game. Doing something similar with every power which could be used in conjunction with Archery/Trick Arrow simply isn't feasible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay noted.

That being so....why can't you give us an archery/TA blaster????

So I can quit playing my TA/archery def like she was a gimped blaster instead.

_Castle_ ? Wish list? Puleeeeeeze....?

I want an archery/archery blaster. Plain and simple. So I can use my secondaries and not put away the bow, which looks incredibly stupid.

Or make it so that the devices animation is synergistic with archery. You throw grenades with one hand, why can't you just keep your bow in the other?

But I really, really, really want an archery/archery blaster. Until you give me one, I'm going to continue playing my gimped TA/archery def, slotted and played like a blaster. So, there. [whimper]

[ QUOTE ]
It used to be you didn't have to be teamed with another hero in order to Sidekick them?

[/ QUOTE ]

"Used to...?"

I was very surprised over the weekend when a brand-new alt of mine at lvl 4 in Atlas was approached by a level 10 who didn't bother asking me to team, but a message popped up in front of my face saying that he was trying to sidekick me, and asking for my permission.

Totally wierd. (What is even wierder is that he then followed me around, and tried to kill steal me, then bragged about doing it [he didn't, which was even more bizarre] on Broadcast....)

But from that experience, I would say that you still can sidekick toons you are not teamed with.

It used to be that:

Stores didn't show up on in-game maps unless you installed a non-Cryptic program to add them.

The orange inspirations (such as "Sturdy") didn't exist.

The Paragon Dance Party was the best route to Terra Volta, because it was the closest IP entrance to the TV gate (and was also closest to the center of IP and I miss it for that reason).

"Raver" was the music inside the PDP. (and last time I checked, "Raver" was bugged...you click on it the first time, you get some other music, then you click on it a second time, and you get the actual "Raver" theme. It wasn't bugged like that a year ago.)

Did you know:

A store (a bartender) was added to the PDP only a couple of weeks before it was permanently closed in favor of Pocket D.

The very first mention of the PDP in an archived Paragon Times article calls it "Pocket D", and mentions DJ Zero.

Did you know....

That unlike what has already been mentioned here, (the CoV bug in which villains could wind up in an empty iteration of Atlas Park), one villain really did wind up, on Liberty server, in the real Atlas Park?

Heroes kept killing the poor guy, who kept winding up in the hospital. This went on until 2 lvl 50s of the SG True Blues befriended him and took him under their wing. While they were waiting for the Devs to put him back where he belonged, they took him on a badge tour, invited him into their SG, and set up a Hero SG portal in the Rogue Isles.

Last time I talked to one of them (the True Blues are Starfire allies), they said the the portal was still there. They can actually teleport their heroes into the Rogue Isles....they can't stay long, only a second or two before they pop back to where they belong, but in the meantime, they can give fledgeling villains a real scare.... ;-)

And they also told me that they still show the villain as being on their Hero SG list.

Hopefully, one of the True Blues will post here and fill in the information that I've forgotten, names and the like....

[ QUOTE ]

Rikki Tikki Tavo
No say Ravvo
Chilli chilli Sang Sang
Chitty chitty bang bang
Oy!

Please don't post the real poem in response to this; I like my version of it.

edit: Yes, I know it is not even REMOTELY like the Kipling poem. I never said it was, this is just all of my childhood memories being fused into one bastardized conglomeration.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, Pan. :-)

I know that Rikki Tikki Tavi was the name of a mongoose in a Kipling story, but there was also a totally unrelated poem, which might be what you are thinking of....it was some kind of story about:

Ricki Ticki Tambo
No so rambo
Everybody bushkey
Kickemup pompom

Fell in the well.

Something about a boy whose name was so long that by the time someone had run around telling everyone in the village that he had fallen in the well, trying to get help, the boy had drowned. I want to say that it was supposed to be a village in China, but I'm not at all sure about that.