(SPOILERS) The Freedom Phalanx novel
By
Alloric,
Posted on: 2006-05-30 08:25 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
To be fair to Azuria, Sister Psyche just mentioned her in passing. We don't really know what happened to the mask after the story ends.
I liked the fact that Positron had his own mini batcave going despite having no visible means of support. I guess he must live off of patent royalties or something.
I think I already mentioned the fact that these guys should all be middle-aged or better in the current day. Sister Psyche is one sexy senior citizen!
Probably because the writing assingnments were done at around the same time, the novel conflicts a bit with the comic in regards to Protean's existence. The Back-Alley Brawler would have to have been really out of the loop for the last two decades to be surprised to find Protean alive in the current day.
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While Statesman has the power of Zues, Lord Recluse has the power of the titan Tartarus.
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Good, it's not Hades like everyone predicted.
I've been looking, but I can't find any substantial information about the titan Tartarus, only the place. Does anybody know anything about this guy?
From what I remember, there is no Titan named Tartarus. Tartarus is where the Titans are held captive. Although, IIRC, Hesoid described Tartarus as both a deity and a place, maybe a personification. Anyway, it's a CoX mythos novel. I wouldn't be surprised if it's as accurate as Hequat's connection to the RL mythological goddess Hecate.
My main villan's incarnate-hood would pwn them both... if I could somehow hack the game to convey his true power.
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I see no contradiction between Azuria getting the mask and it being found in Venice later.
In fact, Robin Laws doesn't play the game much, as I understand it.
I wonder what the story bible says about Azuria.
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Tartarus the deity doesn't have a well developed ancient back-story. Like Nyx, who is personification of 'night', Tartarus is the personification of the place lower than Hades. He was the original ruler of the underworld... dark, glooy, and torturous.
Where the spider thing comes from, who knows... perhaps he just picked it up from Weaver when he took over Arachnos. At least it's not the spirit of Arachne in him.
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I suspect Recluse has the smarts to realise that on many levels the spider is the ultimate predator. If they could grow large enough to compete with lions and tigers you'd quickly see spider's being the #1 predator on the planet. So it makes perfect sense for Sefan to want to change himself into a spider/human hybrid.
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Tartarus on wiki
[/ QUOTE ]Like I said, it doesn't say anything about the diety Tartarus.
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I see no contradiction between Azuria getting the mask and it being found in Venice later.
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Poor Azuria! She gets no respect! I'm pretty sure that Laws tossed that in there as an in-joke to the players of the MMO.
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In fact, Robin Laws doesn't play the game much, as I understand it.
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He said in an interview that he avoided playing the game while writing the novel to avoid the distraction and to avoid getting too focussed in on the in-game content. His job, as he saw it, was to use the story bible as a foundation to add to the existing content.
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I wonder what the story bible says about Azuria.
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I'd be curious about that also, actually. I imagine there must be an idea for a novel in her background someplace.
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I wonder what the story bible says about Azuria.
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I'd be curious about that also, actually. I imagine there must be an idea for a novel in her background someplace.
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Notes for her story got lost somehow 
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This novel, while a good read, still bothers me on the timeline because if its in canon at all, then Synapse, Positron, and Manticore are way too old compared to how they're depicted in the game and the comics. Synapse and Positron are pushing 50 and Manticore's age is never given but he's still got to be somewhere in the late thirties to possible mid-40s.
I mean, maybe Synapse has an excuse for his appearence due to acts of science and nobody knows what Positron looks like, but Manticore is the normal one.
I mean, this didn't bother me too much during the book, but it's still not being addressed. I don't suppose that some rednamed bastion of the Story Bible could clear the age descrepency up?
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The novel isn't given an exact date, except it's in the "80's". So lets call it 1987 or 1988. That would be 18 or 19 years ago.
Positron is in his mid 20's in the novel, with Synapse in his early 20's. Manticore is in his late teens.
So, by that logic, today Posi would be in his early 40's (but theoretically has slowed his aging since the Rikti war injuries). Synapse would be in his late 30's, but the Crey experiments have altered his metabolism so much that that he has the spring in his step of someone in their late 20's.
Manticore is in his mid 30's, and is in Olympic-athelete shape even moreso today.
Sister Psyche's body does not age while she is mind-riding in another physical body. She's done this several times in the past, which explains her youthfulness.
All in all, we're emulating comic books here, so character ages tend not to have relevances like they would in other forms of fiction. There are characters in comics that were teenagers in the 60's who are in their 20's now, in the year 2006. It's safe to assume that the "current" ages of the CoH characters are thier "permanent" ages for purposes of the fiction, i.e. 5 years from now, we will probably still say Manti is in his mid 30's.
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It's safe to assume that the "current" ages of the CoH characters are thier "permanent" ages for purposes of the fiction, i.e. 5 years from now, we will probably still say Manti is in his mid 30's.
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Just like Spiderman. Or Fred Flinstone. Or Scooby-Doo.
or Apocalypse, Ra's al ghul, Samuel Guthrie, or....oh wait, never mind....:P
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This novel, while a good read, still bothers me on the timeline because if its in canon at all, then Synapse, Positron, and Manticore are way too old compared to how they're depicted in the game and the comics. Synapse and Positron are pushing 50 and Manticore's age is never given but he's still got to be somewhere in the late thirties to possible mid-40s.
I mean, maybe Synapse has an excuse for his appearence due to acts of science and nobody knows what Positron looks like, but Manticore is the normal one.
I mean, this didn't bother me too much during the book, but it's still not being addressed. I don't suppose that some rednamed bastion of the Story Bible could clear the age descrepency up?
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Never worry about the age of a hero. Batman has been 39 forever and will stay that way until the storyline needs it to change....:>
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It's safe to assume that the "current" ages of the CoH characters are thier "permanent" ages for purposes of the fiction, i.e. 5 years from now, we will probably still say Manti is in his mid 30's.
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Just like Spiderman. Or Fred Flinstone. Or Scooby-Doo.
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Dick Clark.
Umm...a few of the backstories kind of don't mesh with what they they seemed to be in other sources. (i.e. Synapse volunteering for the experiment that gave him his powers vs. Dr. Null forcing him to be subjected to it)
And more importantly, unless Azuria lied about her birthdate to MAGI, she's less than 10 in the book. So...um...what about that?
"And of course, Steven Jay Blum is in it...He's the Sam Jackson of anime." -AmuroNT1
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And more importantly, unless Azuria lied about her birthdate to MAGI, she's less than 10 in the book. So...um...what about that?
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Wait, so Statesman has the essence of a god, Recluse of a titan...and yet Recluse doesn't pwn the stew out of states??
I thought the titans were more powerful than the gods.
(unless you happen to have a gorgon head in your pocket, I guess.)
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I thought the titans were more powerful than the gods.
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No, just older. The gods did usurp the titans after all. In fact it was Zeus who "pwned" his old man, Cronos, and send all the titans to Tartarus.
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I'm a freak for continuity at times when I shouldn't be. This has bugged be since the book was announced. Finally, closure.
Hey Positron, now that you're around and all, got one more question. The book implies that Ray doesn't have any superpowers and the suit does everything. The game and comics imply that he has powers that are presumably being focused by the suit (and later contained). Am I missing something?
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I thought the titans were more powerful than the gods.
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No, just older. The gods did usurp the titans after all. In fact it was Zeus who "pwned" his old man, Cronos, and send all the titans to Tartarus.
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Only with the help of other Titans, though. Gaia (Zeus' grandmother) helped him take down Cronos. (well, in one set of the stories anyway)..and Cyclopse and some others helped fight the rest.
It's been a while.
It may just be that they were more powerful because they had more experience and wisdom or something.
The Freedom Phalanx was a good read and gave some more insight into the world of CoH. Here are a few of the interesting tidbits I noticed. Anybody else find some goodies hidden in the story?
Synapse gets tossed around like a rag doll. This has become a running joke. (Get it? Running joke? Synapse?)
Positron's suit can repair itself in 180 seconds - which just happens to be the time it takes Rest to recharge.
While Statesman has the power of Zues, Lord Recluse has the power of the titan Tartarus.
Lord Recluse's bladed spider legs do no harm to Statesman in this book. In The Web of Arachnos they could pierce his skin.
Doctor Null was forever trapped in his power suit, now Positron is too.
We still don't know the identity of Ms. Liberty's father. (not MISS Liberty)
It seems likely that the ivory mask in the story contains the consciousness of Giovanna Scaldi and is the same worn by Vanessa DeVore, head of the Carnival of Shadows, in modern-day Paragon City. If this is true, though, there are some apparent contradictions in the CoH backstory. The villain group dossier on the main page indicates that Vennesa found the mask while in Venice, old and discolored, in the back of a curio shop. The book indicates it was given to Azoria for safe-keeping (har har).