Lycantropus

Not that I'm not sexist. Quite the opposite. Free will, and intellegence, go both ways.

That aside, it seems that there's a bias in Praetoria. Thiery and Psimon are prominent male Psychics, as well as a number of others. 'Mother' does seem to have a bias, especially if you look at First Ward.

Been running that arc recently with my 'native' Praetorians, and have seen quite a few male Awakened, and I think I can say with some authority that there are male psychics in addition to the Syndicate that exist that just don't fit within "Mother's" scope of usefulness, for whatever reason. (though some have been given here).

So does that mean that Lord Recluse and Ghost Widow (or Red Widow, depending, but GW seems more appropriate due to her popularity) will be completely removed from the history of the game entirely, including any ret-conning of badges and story involving them?

Just curious. I'm not bitter or anything... >.>

Reading over on the comic hero/culture forums about the Superman case, that got me thinking.

What if they have to remove Statesman and Sister Psyche, and things associated with them, from the game for legal reasons they can't explain, making this seem like a petty change?

Hear me out. If they are required to put up in the comics/promotional material that these two characters were created by Jack Emmert, he may still have some legal control over them, causing difficulty when it comes to keeping them in-game or making changes to the characters. For all we know they may be contractually obligated to pay him when their image is used in game, and they want to close that door. (As for 'promotional material' that may not be included in the clause, making that safe to still use, for example)

Now I'm not saying this is true. I have no idea. I'm just tossing that out there as a possibility. It's really bothered me that these moves seem very out of character for our Dev team, with little to no response from them regarding, or even defending, these moves.

Remember, Positron isn't the lead Dev anymore, it's War Witch, and I really feel if this was just a petty move on Matt's behalf, she'd would probably have had something to say about it, yet these 'broad stroke' changes dealing with these characters are being made as quietly as possible, with little fuss or defense on their behalf.

Again, just tossing that out there. I have no clue what the actual situation is, so I could just as well be spitting in the wind. (Still don't like the badge changes though)

Really?

Really?!

That's just sad. They need to fix it so we can have both. I have to say I'll be really, really disappointed if this goes live.

I'm sure there are lots of characters (and players) those badges mean something to. I remember someone mentioning they were looking forward to the Statesman helmet from the recent loyalty program, because they tied their character into Statesman's lore, and wanted to honor him. I forget who it was, but I bet they'd be upset to hear this.

I daresay those badges mean even more now that they are dead. (even if you can get them via Oroborous- Those of us who were around for the whole thing... Yeah this can't be allowed to stick.) I really hope they fix this.

What would I like to see?

For those who remember the not-too-far-in-the-past Justice League animated series, You may or may not remember that after two seasons they changed formats to Justice League Unlimited. While Justice League focused on the 'core' group, the JLU focused on individuals or groups coming together to solve whatever case was up. Mix and match, get to know the whole DC universe and it's miriad characters. I liked both styles, but there's a key here that really hit a chord with me.

I want us, the players, to have the chance to become the "Unlimited" to the Freedom Phalanx. Make us the newest members alongside Penny. Give us the opportunity to take the signature characters as mentors like villains can in Arachnos. Give us story arcs that make us care about each of them and why they believe the way they do, to earn their trust so they may teach us their secrets (like the villain patrons do). Come up with story arcs both hero and villain side to expand upon that relationship/understanding of lore that makes us give a pancake about any of them and why they're in 'our' (the player's) world.

The trick here is to do it without putting words directly in our character's mouths, but by drawing us lines that give us understanding (whether we agree or not) into the heroes passion and/or reasoning for doing what they do in a way that anyone can respect (again, whether we agree or not). Not as easy as villains, but just as possible.

Many have made a lot of 'broad brush' strokes for the various hero's motivations/faults during the SSA, but what else do we have to base on them? Don't tell me comics and novels (though I've read them all myself). Most players, especially new ones, won't get it, and don't know there's story outside of this game.

I see a lot of empathy for the villain Patrons in a lot of these replys (which is funny, since apparently nobody likes to play villain side) compared to the disdain we have for the signature heroes. This, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons for this. We never get to see their story, or ambitions, played out in a way we can get 'in-game'.

I have characters that would be honored to join the Phalanx and finally get to understand the 'premiere' heroes of Paragon. Don't you? Let's join Penny in getting to know the Phalanx and be a part of the team! (disclaimer: This, like the villain patrons, would presume this would be pre-incarnate content.)

That's what I really would like to see.

A lot of great answers in this thread. I've asked myself these kinds of questions myself, and I think it really depends on how something is portrayed, and what it can do.

My 'main' villain is Science. He is a Robot/Dark/Elec MasterMind. Like Doctor Doom, he weilds technology, science, and magic like tools. I chose Science because no other one origin would be able to encompass what he's about. He started out just a natural (but ambitious) man with a high intelect (possibly mutant levels of intellect) who can design fantastic Robots to do his bidding (Tech- human minions are too unpredictable) and weild the forces of eldrich electricity and dark magics (magic... obviously). Not to mention he can fly, teleport, has strong leadership skills, and miraculous molecular stability rearangement devices (healing)! Only through Science could he be able to do all these things. Experimentation, education, and practiced mastery of all the tools at his disposal.

Now, for a robot not to be tech based, I would have to say it would have to lay in the concepts behind it:

The first and most simple question. Is it sentient? That opens the door right there for it to be almost anything. A simple robot is only able to do what it's programmed to do, like any good computer. A well programmed robot can emulate human behaviour and emotions, and may appear intellegent, but ultimately someone else is responsible for it's development. Now a true A.I. blurs those lines, or can erase them entirely, but then you start getting into the context of a soul and other things that can make it more than the sum of its parts. Like someone mentioned, Transformers could be Natural origin for that reason.

Is what makes it truly sentient be some strange power source? Take Tin Mage for example. He is decidedly a robot but is powered by arcane energies, making him Magic. What about 'Cosmic Energy' (al-la the Fantastic Four). That would defintely be Science!

Does it have strange components? Is it's brain and nervous system some new bio-mesch developed to mimic human capacities for senses, emotions, etc? What if it's a Psychic Mutant's brain in a robot body. The body is tech, but it's powers are obviously Mutant... where does that sit on the scale?

How does it work? Take Warlock of the X-titles for example. He's a part of a species of Cybernetic 'techno-organic' viruses that take over living hosts. Is that Natural (techno-organic virus) Cybernetic (being that techno parasite that takes over hosts) or Science (just because both can be applied)? Warlock is also considered a Mutant because unlike any other member of his species, he has compassion, which is why he's part of the X-titles.

For me, I have some characters that are obviously "X" but more often than not, I have to give it a lot of thought. It seems you are too. I hope all our feedback helps!

Funny thing is, I usually do. I have quite a few that I discovered I still have from the last transfer off my old comptuer from about a year ago (that doesn't save the loss of my current projects unfortunately). In fact, most of my personal files (not programs, but pictures, music, etc) are on a remote drive, more because I'm lazy and never really 'moved in' to the new computer. I just keep a link to my remote drive on the desktop and use that like most people use their personal folder.

Unfortunately, City of * doesn't allow for a change in where I store my AE files at, and when I got that bug, my computer crashed hard, so I couldn't get to them.

Anyway, I was only working ahead on 3 of the new arcs in the series, and only one complete; the other two had only framework and a little setup, but mostly bare bones work, so it could have been a lot worse. Just going to be a setback is all, and wanted to keep folks who are interested informed.

Hey all. I made an announcement early last month that I would be starting a series of re-writes in the MA, based on the old unconnected core story arcs that gave so much information into the history of this world we live in (when we log into City of, that is )

I want to say first of all, that I really appreciate the support of the few folks that ran my "001-Bonefire: FREEDOM Style" arc gave me, and that at the beginning of this month I had planned to introduce "002(A)-The Clockwork Captive" with Carla Brunelli as the next installment. Unfortunately, I had finished it, but before I published it my computer got sick (a virus).

I just got my computer from the shop this afternoon, unfortunately, the nature of the virus called for a full factory re-install, and that arc (and the following "002(B)-The Mind of a King" that I'd already started on) were lost. For that, I apologize. You couldn't begin to get how heartsick that realization was to me when I found out.

I WILL re-write them, but that means that my FREEDOM Style arcs are going to take another month to produce, but I promise that I will re-write them and by next month you'll learn what it means for a community to stick together and help a hero get to the bottom of a poor man's distress!

Watch for it!

Again, thanks to those few that supported the first one. I will get the next one out as soon as I can get it re-written (even if it's before the end of the month- I'll do what I can in my spare time to get this one and the next one out by the end of the month if I can help it)!!!

Lyc~

I'm betting Batallion isn't going to be magical. Just sayin',