Paradigm_Shift

The heat profile showed that the egg was unnaturally cold - Even in the somewhat-above-normal heat of the wasteland, the surface of the metal was at -345 kelvin, although it was getting warmer at a steadily climbing rate.

The metal itself was a refined mixture of carbon, steel and titanium - It was capable of resisting gigantic applications of force while still retaining very high fracture resistance. It might have been noted that it should have at least been scratched and banged-up by its sudden landing. Mysteriously, there were no markings on it all, not even thrown-up dirt that had settled on the chassis, to indicate that it had carved a mile-long gouge in the wasteland.

There was no movement around the egg itself, although there was a small indication of repetitive motion that would cycle endlessly just on the surface of the contained blast-door that had been revealed when the upper chassis had drawn back.

Hence, there exists a form of anarchist who is, by default setting and by your own reasoning, a moral anarchist.

There is such thing.

Morality cannot be confined to Black, White, and Gray. You forgot to look at orange and puce, along with muddy greenish-yellow and teal. Let's throw in purple while we're at it.

Humanity is so maleable and so clay-like in nature, that there is no existing system that can effectively even come close to pinning down the traits and nature of a person. You could, right this very instant, change ALL of your world views, on a dime, just like that. ALL of us could. That we don't and that we aren't going to is irrelevant. We know it CAN happen because it HAS happened. It is STILL happening.

Your zealotry, at this point is...Disheartening, to put it politely.

No, but by their perspective, it's turned out fine.

On the contrary. However, it's somewhat irrelevant. The problem is convincing the populace given the methods being used to prevent just that. There are no means, no methods, elaborate or finely planned enough, small or large scale, that can undermine the opinions of the majority in Praetoria without also undermining order and social contract. The brainwashing and propoganda just serve as even further proof that your idea of liberating the Praetorian people would end in disaster. :P

Nope. You emphasize that the people would have the freedom to establish their own government. It's none of our concern. You are welcome to help, but by your comments thus far, you would be entirely intolerant of any system that is not purely democratic in nature. Never mind that democracy is awesome - if the people want something else, who do you think you are to deny them that?

Oh, and of course, you are allowed to assume that with the ongoing (albeit weakened) invasion forces of the Rikti, the return of the 5th Column, the looming threat of the Coming Storm, etcetera, etcetera, there will be enough heroes left over to aid the Praetorians, BOTH in establishing a new government AND fighting back the DE. That's fine - Given the state of world affairs in-game, that is entirely reasonable. Which is why the villains will be just as free to have their own merry way with the place. And one thing that has been proven over and over throughout both games - Good and evil are locked in a perpetual stalemate. For every effort that is made to counteract the DE and to establish a government? An equally large effort, if not larger, will be put into either weakening said government, the remainder of the populace, the Primal heroes, and of course, the establishment of additional threats. And that is just the villains from primal Earth. You forget the ones already present in Praetoria.

ONE world of super-heroes is NOT enough to support TWO worlds of super-powered threats.

They already did. They overthrew their old government in order to establish their current one.

Incorrect. That actually implies that the majority of the population genuinely believes that the so-called dictatorship is actually an entirely legitimate and effective form of government. Regular civilians still form the bulk of the population in a world of super-powered beings, regular citizens who, E.G., cannot prevent their minds from being read. What we have here is the mind police, their main targets CANNOT resist them, and yet there is still a standing population.

It can only be concluded that the citizenry of Praetoria - perhaps not as a whole, but within a very, very overwhelmingly large majority - think that everything is just grand.

Quite frankly, if you head into Praetoria with yours plans, your ideals, your beliefs? You will be branded as a member of the lunatic fringe, a borderline anarchist. You're image would be one of a seeker of destruction and mayhem, of civil collapse. These people LIKE their system, their ignorance and questionable governing tactics aside. You can't actually win them over without HARD evidence that implicates the ENTIRE government, not just a single member of it - That includes Emperor Cole. Merely overthrowing him just makes the way for, say, the coincidentally entirely innocent Antimatter, or the reknowned and benevolent engineer, Neuron.

And then what? Assuming you can SOMEHOW convince the majority of the population via incriminating evidence against the entire foundation upon which their government is established, what are you going to do? Just say, "Ok! Pick the bits you don't like and toss them out!" That. Would. Not. Work. Because the bad bits are, sadly but inevitably, the bits that make the rest of the system work, because the system was built to support the bad bits from the ground up. You would essentially be creating a MASSIVE power vacuum, throwing everything into disarray in the process, and effectively be creating utter anarchy. Even the Resistance would be entirely ineffectual here - Even if you incriminate the government they oppose, they are still just a bunch of lunatics who may have, in their own crazy way, been right. That is not going to make people listen to them. The Resistance would still be viewed as a terrorist orginization in the event of the government's collapse.

Oh, and in the meantime? The Devouring Earth has taken advantage of all of this and is retaking the world. Have fun with THAT mess.

We can all agree that the way things are in Praetoria are fundementally WRONG, but your method of fixing the problem would just make things even worse.

"THAT..." Tafari said, turning to face them after a brief moment to view his handiwork, "Was me." He winked at them, and then thumbed his nose. His eyes flared the same golden-orange color of the energy he had just blasted the imps with. "And as far as I go, I'm still thinkin' I need to introduce myself to you." His arms rose before him, palms turned up. The air darkened once more, and the man's eyes flared. The sudden darkness was filled with the golden-orange glow of the energies that were suddenly coursing about his body.

"I am..." He spoke, TAFARI!"

And as quickly as it had all come, it all snapped off. The golden-orange energy and lighting faded, his eyes stopped glowing, and the air returned to normal.

"Sorry about not telling you before. I always like my introductions to have flare." He confessed.

Tafari took a few steps forward an size the imps up.

"...*snerk*..." He attempted not to snicker and only partially succeeded. "Oh jeez, you guys are adorable. Not in the 'cute' way, but in the 'you're smaller than a pint and you're in the way' kinda adorable."

The Captain and Smith would both notice that the air around Tafari had dimmed slightly, but could not see from behind that Tafari's eyes had started to glow. Suddenly, the gigantic man shot forward like a bullet, and was suddenly pointing an index finger at the leftmost imp's forehead.

"Boom."

The imp was blasted by a surge of golden-orange energy, which coursed through its frame and seemed to continually explode. There was suddenly another-burst, and a bolt of more golden-orange energy shot from the first imp into the second, and then into the fourth and so forth until it reached all the way down the line, as if it had been chain-inducted over.

The Captain turned to see Tafari already looming over him. Smith would have seen him cross the beach, walking at the same speed most people sprinted. And now that he was this close, it became blaringly obvious just how tall he was - at a solid eight feet, he seemed like a giant. And a closer look at his physique revealed that it was perfectly proprotioned, as if a person had literally chiseled his form, giving it the appearance of a Grecian statue.

"Way too many, right 'bout now." He supplied cheerfully. "Something a bit like this has happened to me a few times before. This early on, I have no clue what the game is supposed to be." He then looked carefully to both sides before asking "...So, I'm assuming you aren't all secretly cannibals who want to fillet and then eat me? 'Cause if not, then hey, nice t'meet."

"Those words make for an interesting choice!" Tafari called up as he hopped off the whale onto the beach. "Depending on how things go, we may very well have some 'righteous' thunder before the day is out." He glanced around, noting the spears and the flocking birds. Deciding to ignore them, (the strange old man didn't seem to be paying attention to them, so it was probably nothing) he thumbed up at the sky.

"I don't suppose you were colony-dropped here after being forcibly ripped from...whever you would be from?" He shrugged. "And what, if any, name shall I call you by, apart from old man?"