Stateslad

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OK - here's the most likely outcome...

If you own both games, you get all options - the new CoV sets will be accessible for your heroes.

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O_O

Oh, please let that happen. I at least want the faces [there's such a variety in CoV!], Omega chest emblem and the Motorcycle 2 jacket. Maybe forehead spikes so I can give my troll horns. And the fishnet shirts... okay, I'm gonna stop now.

Soulmates: The Saga of Ryokai and Latricia, part 2.

Ryokai Matsuda stands at his own funeral. He watches as his body, which he no longer inhabits, is lowered into the ground. He watches on from his girlfriend's eyes.

His parents glare across the cemetery at him. They appear to blame Latricia for what happened, for the loss of their son. He wants to tell them that he isn't lost, that he's still here, but he knows they'd never believe him. He wants to tell them also that it wasn't Trish's fault at all. He doesn't want them hating her, especially with himself trapped in her body.

Latricia is called up to say something. Ryo looks around, not sure what he should say. What would Trish have said? He doesn't want her to seem out of the ordinary. He doesn't want to hint at what's really going on.

He steps up to the front, and looks down at his casket, lying in the ground, not yet buried. "Ryokai was..." He begins, but cannot think of what else to say. He looks up, toward his parents, but they simply glare at him, hatred in their eyes. Its all too much for him. "I... I can't do this..." He says through Latricia, as tears stream down her face. Ryo steps down and hurries back to Latricia's car, leaving the funeral.

* * * * *

Ryo hasn't called anyone in weeks. Latricia's family keep coming over, trying to get through to her, but she isn't there. Ryo is, and Ryo's family hates the body he inhabits.

Latricia's apparent depression worries her family, and her mother sets her up to see a psychiatrist, at her mother's expense.

After a few weeks of blowing off Trish's mom and causing her to waste a lot of money, Ryo finally decides to go. These things are confidential, right? Maybe he can finally explain to someone what really happened. Maybe if someone other than him knew the truth, he could recover.

* * * * *

He's not recovering. The psychiatrist refuses to believe him. As a matter of fact, the psychiatrist is telling him that he actually is Latricia. That she'd felt so bad about Ryokai dying that she'd made up this elaborate story in which she had died instead of him, allowing him to live on through her sacrifice.

Every week, he tries to get Latricia to admit to it, and to start being herself again. To let go of Ryokai.

Ryo begins to believe it might be true.

* * * * *

Latricia has been trying to let go. The psychiatrist has to be right, she just made this whole story up out of surviver's guilt. It is unfortunate that Ryokai died, but she needs to live her life.

"Hey, chica..."

She'd been walking to her car from the club. She'd tried hanging out with her friends tonight. They said she seemed different somehow, but that they were glad she finally came back out. She had an alright time, but felt uncomfortable, badly uncomfortable, when one of her male friends hit on her. She figured it was her feelings for Ryokai.

"She's ignoring you, man."

Trish just realized someone had called for her. She turns to look , and sees two white-painted faces. Painted like Skulls. As in the gang. She knew she was in trouble.

"Now we've got your attention girl. Good."

"I wanna cut her."

"She looks like the kind that cuts herself."

Latricia narrows her eyes. She's scared, but she can feel something welling up inside of her. An urge, primal, instinctual. Like a hunger.

"You like the nighttime don't you girl? One of those goth chicks."

"Yeah, you like the darkness, huh? We can show you darkness..."

The Skulls laugh, but they stop soon after. Tendrils of shadow whip around Latricia's body. Her flesh darkens to a deep purple color, her hair changes to a stark white. From each of her major limb joints, large bone protrusions emerge, spraying acidic green blood as they do.

Latricia's body leaps forth, tearing into the Skulls with her freshly-grown weapons. All the while, the darkness leaking out of her reminds her of something.

That thing that pursued Ryokai... that wisp of darkness that broke the barrier! It must have come with him, somehow they're sharing her body!

Ryo snaps out of the near-brainwashing that the psychiatrist had done to him, once again realizing the truth. Only now, he looks down at the transformed body that was once Latricia. He drops to her knees.

"Latricia... what have I done...?"

I haven't done anything like this on here before, writing out a detailed backstory for a hero, but here's my first shot. Feel free to leave C & C if you have any. Without further ado, I present:

Soulmates: The Saga of Ryokai and Latricia, part one.
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"I can't let her die."

That was the last thing Ryokai Matsuda remembers thinking. His body is stiff, and all his muscles ache. He tries to move, but it only hurts worse. Deciding to let himself rest, he thinks back to the events that led up to the accident, hoping to recall what happened since.

* * * * *

Ryokai Matsuda loved Latricia Reilly. This had been true since high school, when they had dated for six months. Latricia felt that Ryo was a little too clingy, though, so she broke it off. He never got over it, and how could he? She kept telling him they'd get back together. Eventually. He kept waiting.

Sure, he'd dated other girls in the time since, but a part of him always longed for Trish. Every time his girlfriends broke up with him, he went back to her. He tried again to make her remember her feelings for him.

His friends teased him, called him a stalker, but he knew they just didn't understand. Couldn't understand what it is like to find the person they are meant to spend the rest of their life with, and not have that person realize it.

Finally, Ryokai had talked Latricia into a date. They would go to dinner, then they would hang out at the nightclub that Trish frequented. Ryokai was confident that he could make her remember her love for him.

* * * * *

It went great. Trish picked the movie, but her and Ryo's tastes in movies were pretty in synch, so they both enjoyed it. They hung out at the club, as planned, and Ryokai not only seemed to be entertaining Latricia, but he got along great with her friends as well.

Everything was going perfectly!

In the car, on the way to drop her off, Ryokai asked Latricia if she would go back out with him. It took her a few minutes of contemplation, but she said yes. Ryo was elated, this was the happiest moment of his life!

Then the headlights came, speeding from the right. The other car was going to hit Trish's side of the car! He had only one thought, "I can't let her die." He knew he'd never make it past the car in time, so he turns the car in a hurry. The speeder smashed into the back of Ryo's car. His airbags failed to deploy, and his head rocked hard against the steeling wheel. Blood running from a gash in his forehead he looked over as he lost consciousness. He could think only one thing.

"I can't let her die."

* * * * *

Ryo clenches his eyes shut. He knows there's more. He can start to remember, but things get... strange... at this point. Strange to the point of being unbelievable.

* * * * *

Ryokai was being tortured. He was being flayed and torn apart. Sentient wisps of darkness spun around him, a whirlwind of evil energy that tore into the fabric of his soul.

"I can't let her die."

He couldn't lose that thought. He couldn't let it go. He'd just gotten her back, after all this time! How could he let her die?

No matter what the things did to him, no matter how bad the pain they caused, nothing was as bad as the thought that Trish might be dead now, because of him.

Ryo tore free, losing parts of himself in the process. He didn't care. He didn't know why he'd ended up in some sort of hell, but he had to rescue his love. He spent what seemed like weeks chasing spectres that looked like her, each time only to be recaptured, retortured. Something was trying to break him. Something was trying to keep them apart.

"I can't let her die!"

Every time, he broke free. Every time, he chased fleeting glimpses of her to no avail. He finally came to the realization that they were toying with him.

She wasn't there at all. He had to escape. He had to find her, save her. He couldn't let her die.

Ryokai battled his way through demon after demon. He felt like he must have passed through a thousand different hells on his way back, but he made it.

Only one barrier stood between his soul and the world fo the living. He could see two bodies being sped down the hallway of a hospital. He could see Trish's dyed-purple hair, it was them! He'd definately made it, right bakc to their bodies!

He couldn't pass through, the wall between the living and the dead was too thick. Before he could try to think of another way, he was attacked. One of the shadow-things had followed him!

A struggle ensued, and it raged on while the world seemed to move in slow motion around them. Oppurtunity came when the creature's attack missed, tearing a hole between the worlds of the living and dead.

Ryokai leapt through the tear, with only one thought in his mind. "I can't let her die."

* * * * *

Ryokai can't believe his own memories, it all seemed too strange. He shrugs it off as fever dreams while his body struggled to recover. Finally, as feeling returns to his body, he realizes that he's covered in a sheet, which he reaches up and tosses aside. He has to find her.

Ryo sits up and hops off of the table, but he must have moved too fast. He stumbles, light-headed, not fully aware of his surroundings. He realizes that his body is mostly numb, but everything seems to move just fine.

As he stands to move, he stumbles again. Something isn't right, his balance is off. Like his center of gravity had moved. This isn't important, though. He has to find Latricia.

He stumbles to a door, and fumbles with the knob. It feels so large in his hand, and with his mostly-numb fingers, its difficult to get a grip. Finally, he turns it and shoves the door open, lurching forward out of the door, leaning against the wall on the other side of the hallway so as to remain upright.

He looks over, his vision finally clearing. He can see Latricia's parents. Her mother is sobbing, her father holding her tight. No, it can't be! Is he too late?

"Latricia!? Oh thank God, Latricia... you're alive!"

Ryo looks around, having heard Trish's mother call out. He can't see her anywhere. What's going on?

Suddenly, he feels arms around him. Trish's mothers arms. "The doctors told me you were gone... you died on way into the hospital! How did you... oh it doesn't matter... my baby's not dead!"

It all makes some kind of strange sense. The changed center of gravity. The smallness of his hands. The general awkwardness of his movements.

He'd climbed back into the wrong body!

To be continued...

Do we really -need- metal tankers? How would they be any different, powers-wise, from Invulnerability tankers? Slap the metal pattern on a character, make them invuln/ss and whammo, instant Colossus knock-off.

Got 21/21 on both. Geekhood intact. Booyaka.

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Depending on who you ask, many also refer to Greek (and Norse, etc.) Gods as being more inherently human like. They lusted, they wanted, they needed, etc. Whereas the Judeo-Christian God is "perfect" and "wants for nothing." So the old gods were not evil, they were just human....kinda.

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I'm just going to argue that there isn't, per se, a "Judeo-Christian" God. There is a God of the Hebrews and there is a God of the Christians, and never the twain shall meet.

And the God of the Hebrews is not perfect, he's a jealous God. He says as much himself.

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Jesus was a Jew and claimed the God of the Hebrews as his own God. This links Jews and Christians right there. Even in the Koran (spelling subject to change) Mohammed is told that Moses and Jesus are prophets of Allah, linking all three religions. But this link is downplayed for the same reason that Hell was created around a thousand years ago or so.

Competition.

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I didn't know that last part. I know Christians were a spin-off from the Herbrews but I had no idea about that link.

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Depending on who you ask, many also refer to Greek (and Norse, etc.) Gods as being more inherently human like. They lusted, they wanted, they needed, etc. Whereas the Judeo-Christian God is "perfect" and "wants for nothing." So the old gods were not evil, they were just human....kinda.

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I'm just going to argue that there isn't, per se, a "Judeo-Christian" God. There is a God of the Hebrews and there is a God of the Christians, and never the twain shall meet.

And the God of the Hebrews is not perfect, he's a jealous God. He says as much himself.

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If either of their religions are the truth, then said God is indeed one, and not two seperate ones. Seeing as how Christians split off from the Jews, believing Jesus Christ to be the son of the Jewish God, they both do, in fact, worship the same entity. The Christians just happen to have altered their vision of him since their splitting off.

I thought Discord was just made up for Hercules/Xena. Well, I hate that character not at this point, if she was merely a renamed goddess.

I still totally hate the Herc/Xena version of Dionysis/Bacchus though. Rrr.

And Back Alley Brawler can't be the CoH analog to Hercules. After all, Herc was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman.

Stateslad is the "son" [through cloning] of Statesman and Countess Crey.

Haha... -I- am Hercules [or at least, if this theory proves to be true, that's who Stateslad will incarnate]!

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I have a question though. I was watching the DVD content with the movie ad for CoH. It shows Statesman over the course of several generations. Is it the same statesman and he's Immortal? or is it a title thats passed on under certain circomstances?



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It is the same man, Statesman is immortal. Look for more details about his origin, his powers and how he is tied to Lord Recluse this fall in the upcoming novel: The Web of Arachnos.

~M

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There goes Stateslad's dreams of replacing him...

I love Rage as it is right now.

Let me get this out of the way right now; I'm primarilly a soloer. Therefor, the 'no attacks' downtime at the end, and lack of aggro control when it drops, doesn't hurt me so much.

Rage lets me deal damage. Rage lets me deal damage that feels close to being on par with what a character with Super Strength should be doing. Rage lets me solo, when I want to.

Rage isn't a good idea for a team-tank. A team tank is all about aggro-management, and that 10-second downtime could spell doom for the squishies in the group.

There are two solutions for team-tanks as far as Rage is concerned. Do as I do when teamed and don't use Rage, or just don't get it at all.

No one forced you to get this power. Its situational [provided you don't solo often] but powerful, like a lot of the later powers. It works well when you're alone, or not the primary tank.

I love Rage. Please don't let it change again.

Meh. There are already plenty of superhero RPGs out there. I'd say those looking to do something like that should simply plug the Paragon City setting into the system of their choice. Champions, the DC game, the new or old Marvel games, Heroes Unlimited, Mutants and Masterminds... there are plenty of options out there.

They might be showing the many people who've been asking for smaller breasts on the females that its possible now. Or that slider might control the entire upper torso, the back and whatnot too, and using said sliders will result in some pretty freakish-looking hunchback women [strangely appropriate, given the size the breasts would become? Hmm...]. This happened in some wrestling games with similar sliders.

This shoulder kitty thing is really gonna bother me.

Civilian 1: "Hey, look... some girl is fighting crime with a cat on her shoulder."

Civilian 2: "Its a cute cat."

Civilian 1: "Owwwch... I bet that hurt!"

Civilian 2: "Yeah, he punched her right in the face!"

Civilian 1: "What? No, I meant the cat holding onto her shoulder for deal life with her claws as she fell. She's going to have one scarred up shoulder."

There's only ever 1-2 groups of enemies between the entrance and Icon. Its not a difficult journey.

Face sliders? Like... SWG type face stuff? That's the only thing I really miss about that game. XD

Nope, no KR vendors to my knowledge... but I always use that Icon if I need to change a lowbie's costume.

Easiest Icon to reach with a lowbie is actually the IP one. Go to KR, and walk to the IP entrance. Then carefully navigate past the 1 or 2 groups of mobs and you're there.

With some sort of stealth power, its a cakewalk.

Stuffed shoulder kittens make baby Jesus cry. And then implode.

Jackets. XD Trollkin Hacker's gonna drag out his jacket from his ganger days. =)

Greek helmets would be awesome... because Stateslad would TOTALLY rip off Statesman then. =P

MindMaster is the manifestation of a teenage comic-book fan's mutant psionic energy. That teenage boy's powers have formed themselves as a cheesy, silver-age style hero... being the master of psionics, he is the MindMaster.

Lytus is the character's given name.

Spirit Liger's name comes from the fact that he shares his body with the spirit of a liger.

Trollkin Hacker was Hacker's position within the Trolls. Just as there are Trollkin Bruisers and Trollkin Gunners, he hacked things with his sword, hence Trollkin Hacker.

Omega Ranger inherited his powers from the previous Omega Ranger... he is a bad Japanese superhero knock-off, which is why I named him as I did.

Stateslad is my vision of what Superboy would be if he was in the City of Heroes universe. Instead of being cloned from Superman, DCs premiere hero, he was cloned from Statesman, Paragon City's premiere hero. I would have called him Statesboy, but it was already taken on Virtue.

Sourei is Japanese for Poltergeist, an old code-name for the character. Her being Japanese, I feel the Japanese version fits her better.

I always figured since it was called "Blyde Square" that the statue was a person called "Blyde". *shrug*

I always figured since it was called "Blyde Square" that the statue was a person called "Blyde". *shrug*

Its not that he stopped hitting on her that bothered me. Its that he stopped hanging out with her altogether. The guy practically ignored me for the rest of the time I played Galaxies. That's what I'm afraid will happen again. What if I start playing a female character, make a pretty good friend on here, and it happens again, this guy I teamed with a lot stops talking to me because he finds out we share the same genitals? I'm not looking forward ot that again.

MindMaster is actually a teenage boy who works at a comic book store. He doesn't even know that he's really a superhero, his powers manifesting themselves subconsciously in a psionic manisfestation elsewhere.

Trollkin Hacker is an ex-gang member [guess his old gang!] who has dedicated himself to wiping out the Skulls, Trolls, Family, and anyone else related with Superadine. He cares not for a job, and probably wouldn't be hired at most places anyway.

Lytus isn't native to this dimension. Where he comes from things are all fighting... fight fight fight fight fight. That's all he's ever known. CoH feels pretty natural to him, but he realizes that there can be more than just combat for him here, and he's curious to explore that.

Spirit Liger is a manga artist, who used to draw a lot of furries, and now chronicles his own adventures [not bothering to hide his identity, since his powers were gained in a very public museum robbery].

Speed Freek lives just outside of the world, in an overlapping Paragon City where everything affects him just the same except for time. Time creeps along at a snails pace to him, which is why he seems so fast to everyone else. A job would be incredibly boring. Only the thrills of combat can really get his heart pumping.

Stateslad works for Crey Industries, a fledgeling hero cloned from the DNA of Statesman in a failed attempt to replace him, therefor superheroing is his job.

My other characters aren't very well fleshed out yet, although one was a scientist before becoming a superhero, I know that much. He created the technology that gave him his powers.

When I played SWG, I played a female character. This was shortly after the release of the Holocrons, and I admit, was done in part in hopes that I could rely upon the kindness of strangers to be able to get the holocrons I needed to unlock my Force-Sensitive character slot.

However, I am an RPer at heart, and used to have no problem playing female characters. Since most of my online roleplaying was done in chat rooms designated for roleplaying, the players could deal with the fact that a female their character is with is played by a male.

Spending so much time in a cantina as I did [she was a dancer], I got a lot on IC interaction in. This is where things went bad. A regular at the cantina I frequentedstarted a bit of a friendly relationship with my character. We talked, he hung out with me while I danced [he was a part-time musician, I usually listened to him play while dancing], things were fine. When his character began making more romantic-type gestures toward my character, I informed the player that I was male. Not that I minded my character being hit on, I just wanted him to know, didn't want to be accused of lying later on or something.

I got an "oh... oh that's okay..." kind of response, and he practically never talked to me again. My character lost her best friend because of my lack of [Censored]. It sucked badly, and its prevented me from getting into RPing any of the female characters that I've made on CoH, and they've all therefor hit the chopping block.