City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Fodder for the Canon: Ask your lore questions here

Abraxxus

By Abraxxus,
Posted on: 2009-05-29 10:25 in Developers' Corner

 

Posted

Thanks for the answer, MGoblin!

 

Posted

According to various bits of lore, Ravenna, Italy is the center of power of the Nictus by way of the Path of the Dark. Requiem was created in caves under Ravenna, and more than one mission from Colleen Nelson involves the Council sending troops over there who return as war wolves.

1) If Ravenna is so important, why is Arakhn (the leader of the Nictus) near Paragon City? Or does she reside in Ravenna and travel to the area every time heroes and villains encounter her?

2) Where is Cimerora compared to modern day Ravenna? I'm guessing it is close by, if not the same place, since Romulus is one of the first humans to be merged with a Nicitus.


...I forgot what experience means.

 

Posted

There are several character who have appeared (sometimes multiple places) that, to my knowledge have no names. One such place is in this image (unknown characters are circled).

If they have in fact been named, who are Heroes #1 through 4?


 

Posted

the "where is the COH lore actually?"
was a great question and I found the answer a little troubling. essentially there will be no effort to compile this stuff into an easy to access, paragon studios sponsored, single source.

Just asking someone who may have been around for such and such an event and reading every novel and doing every mission and putting together the tapestry yourself seems so scattered, sloppy and arbitrary. It is more something to be ashamed of than proud of.

There really should be a place in game where you have access to common history and this library could expand as you learn more, no matter which character you lerned it with.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
the "where is the COH lore actually?"
was a great question and I found the answer a little troubling. essentially there will be no effort to compile this stuff into an easy to access, paragon studios sponsored, single source.

Just asking someone who may have been around for such and such an event and reading every novel and doing every mission and putting together the tapestry yourself seems so scattered, sloppy and arbitrary. It is more something to be ashamed of than proud of.

There really should be a place in game where you have access to common history and this library could expand as you learn more, no matter which character you lerned it with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like what you want is the story bible. There's no way they'll release that to the players, since it contains all the plot points that have been written up to this point, and several years of development's worth of plot into the future. There is a lot of information that we as players AREN'T supposed to know until we get a character up to a certain point.

ParagonWiki has done an excellent job of assembling all the plot so far, including in-game stories, novels, etc. and knows as much as any player possibly could.


...I forgot what experience means.

 

Posted

I don't want them to give away things that haven't happened in game yet or to give away things that a player hasn't done yet. I said common history, things everyone playing should know without having to go to 4 different places and ask a few people to find out, also a section that expands as you learn more, as to not spoil anything. That information should be somewhere in game.

I doubt there actually is, at this point, a story bible. If there ever was one, it was likely written on a napkin by statesman and they have gone a long way off of the path it layed out. Or it is a very negotiable document, changing according to what the players seem like they want. For example, I seriously doubt Ouroboros was ever in a "story bible" players asked for a time travel system so that they could play old missions they outleveled, and this secret time traveling cabal was cooked up for us.

Is there any other game that doesn't have its back story in the actual game and relies instead on the players to build a fallible database of their own to peace events together through scattered lore gathered from event testimony, novels, contacts, cutscenes, in game dialog, stuff the dev's said at the con, Ghost Widow's diary, the website, the forums, the old paragon newspapers and the comics (some of which may contradict eachother)?

 

Posted

I've got just one question.

Are Viridian and Shadow Spider the praetorian versions of Crimson and Indigo? Crimson and Viridian are very similar in appearance, and in their battle suits they are nearly identical. The only way to tell them apart is one wears Red and the other Green.

Shadow Spider and Indigo seem to have similar powers as well. They also share personalities closely.

So, are they praetorians? Or did someone just want to make an equivalent of Crimson and Indigo with no real relations to the other?

Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero

Got Inf?

 

Posted

Ok, is the 5th Column only back for just I15 or are they actually back and staying back. Part of the reason I ask this is because last time I looked on test Striga isle was still full of the Council. I thought that odd for a group that was supposed to be "back in the game".

 

Posted

You devs have mentioned that you're big mythology fans, and have enjoyed making it a part of CoH and CoV, so this question will hopefully tap the deepest recesses of that knowledge!

[u]Really Long Question:[u]
It has been mentioned that the Rikti destroyed the gods of their own world, ultimately resulting in the disappearance of magic from their lives. It has also been shown that the Greek pantheon of deities exist, as exemplified by Statesman and Lord Recluse's incarnate abilities of Zeus and Tartarus respectively, and is further reinforced by the story arcs that take place in Cimerora.
So tl;dr, what is the nature of divinity in the City of Heroes setting?
The gods of the Greek pantheon are "real", but so too are deities of the Banished Pantheon, the Mu, the Snakes... the list goes on!
Does each Earth, each universe have its own set of gods and goddesses, its own demonic and heavenly realms? Or, among the infinite number of alternate universes, does each Earth share (or not have, as the case may be) a set of divine realms which influence one another?

As a fellow mythology fan, and a player who enjoys making characters with mythological roots, I'm very curious to know how you imagine all of these ideologies coexisting in the same setting!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
After defeating someone like Frostfire, the Hellions don’t hold a lot of challenge for a hero and it’s time to move up to greater threats.

[/ QUOTE ]

You meant to say Outcasts instead of Hellions, correct? Also, any chance of the Hellions actually getting their own AV/EB at any point in the future? And the Skulls too? It seems like just about every other group has some big-wig calling the shots except them (I'm not remembering every group right now, there's probably others without AV/EBs too, and I wouldn't be against them getting their own as well). Vahzilok have Dr. Vahzilok, Clockwork have the Clockwork King, CoT have quite a few, Outcasts have Frostfire, all of the higher level groups have at least one AV. Even if the Hellions and Skulls are just rival gangs in a never-ending turf war, it seems that there should be more than just a few named bosses running the show.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hellions have 3K Kelvin, and Supposedly have a leader, and the Skulls have Brothers that lead it, The Hellion Leader is likely just a Fire/Fire Insert AT here, and the Skull leaders are probably a Dark/Dark corr and a Dark/Dark Brute.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I'm not mistaken, the brothers (they are brothers right?) that lead the Skulls are just mundane Bone Daddies who have names. I think you fight both of them in game, in seperate missions, heroside. I might be wrong though.

 

Posted

Question: Are we ever going to learn anything about the Magic Enhancement Deities Joule and Grey? Are they male or female? Will we ever have contact with them in-game? (Or have we already? *eyes DJ Zero suspiciously*)

My COX Fanfiction:


Blue's Assembled Story Links

 

Posted

I've got a question.

Why are certain Rikti (namely Lord Hro'Dtohz, Dra'Gon and U'Kon Gr'ai) considerably bigger than their subordinates? Is there a lore-based explanation for this, or is it simply a design choice?

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Why are certain Rikti (namely Lord Hro'Dtohz, Dra'Gon and U'Kon Gr'ai) considerably bigger than their subordinates? Is there a lore-based explanation for this, or is it simply a design choice?

[/ QUOTE ]

They picked the Huge Rikti body at character creation.

The Players' Guide to the Cities

 

Posted

These ought to be fairly easy:

1) What is Lady Grey's first name?
2) Does she have a praetorian double that will be involved in G_R?


(and the fact that my main villain is Praetorian Grey has noooothing to do with this... Honest. )

All that is planned fails. All that is born dies.
All that is built crumbles. This will always be true.

But memories remain, And that is beautiful.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Here are some questions about Pocket D.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna take a stab at a few of these. Feel free to agree or not with my conclusions.

[ QUOTE ]
1) Is there actually supposed to be a full blown power suppression field in the D, or is it just a McGuffin to keep the supers in line?

[/ QUOTE ]

Since DJ Zero has made it well known there is no fighting in Pocket D, I'd say there is some sort of suppression field at work.

[ QUOTE ]
2) Why is Snaptooth so obsessed with destroying DJ Zero's portals?

[/ QUOTE ]

My guess is they have a long history together...probably some dimension hopping rivalry.

[ QUOTE ]
3) Why, if there's no gambling in the Monkey Fight Club, are there slot machines and blackjack tables on the main floor?

[/ QUOTE ]

You REALLY think there's no gambling in the Monkey Fight Club? SERIOUSLY?? Yeah...that's exactly what Nemesis WANTS you to think. It's a plot, y'know.

[ QUOTE ]
4) If the D is so popular, why don't more well known heroes and villains occasionally grace it's halls? As it stands, War Witch is the only super-regular, other than the players.

[/ QUOTE ]

Statesman, Recluse, et al, take their super heroism/villainy WAY too seriously to spend more than token appearances in Pocket D. As for Ghost Widow...well she's EVERYWHERE, man. She IS a ghost after all.

[ QUOTE ]
5) Who is Trina, and why does she have such poor taste in outfits? ()

[/ QUOTE ]

I...don't know.

[ QUOTE ]
6) Finally, does DJ Zero ever plan on revamping the club to include other themed areas like a garden café, a beach cabana, and the like?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you'd have to ask DJ Zero himself, and he's notoriously tight-lipped around the press. Good luck with that though!

- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie

Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I'd like to ask, is there any chance in the future that Lord Recluse and Statesman may re-unite to fight a greater evil that will threaten both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles? (i.e. a Dev-created story-arc, not something we do in the MA)

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe if Rularuu gets loose again.

- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie

Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
The Hellions *do* have a leader. His name is Nick Pocker, aka Tempter, who runs his gang while being imprisoned in the Zig (see here for more info).

Of course, you never face him in game, except in a couple of MA arcs (one of which, The Unleashing, is mine ).

[/ QUOTE ]

See, it's stuff like THIS that MA was made to create. I'm gonna make a point of checking out your arc next time I'm on. Oh and nice job on the self promoting, too!

(Hey it worked, didn't it?)

- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie

Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I have a question on morals for statesman/manticore.

Statesman frowns upon manticore's under cover way of doing things, such like his TF involving crey. Though statesman himself sends heroes to stop recluse undercover. How can statesman deem what is okay and manticore cannot?

[/ QUOTE ]

Errr... because Statesman is a self-righteous, egotistical jerk?

"Don't you know who I am? I'M ZEUS, [censored]!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty much the answer I was going to give. I figure Statesman gets a LOT of leeway where superheroics on CoX Earth are considered.

Doesn't make him right, or consistent, just that VERY few people bring these issues up with him I'd suppose.

- Green Lantern
"Say, Jim...woo! That's a bad out-FIT!" - Superman: The Movie

Me 'n my posse: http://www.citygametracker.com/site/....php?user=5608

 

Posted

Thanks for taking the time to make this thread.

My questions:


1) What's the deal with Nemesis? I've scoured the Wikis as well as the game itself, along with reading "The Web of Arachnos", but I still don't get Nemesis at all.

Is he a Human Intellect turned Artificial Intelligence a la The Doctor? (Given in the Vanguard arcs he plans to download his intellect into the Rikti Homeworld Datanet)

Is he a Pre-Well Metahuman with effective immortality? (The Web of Arachnos)

Or is he akin to the Clockwork King, in that his brain is functional but his body has long been replaced?



2) Similarly, the Nemesis Army. Is the bulk of it Human Followers, or are they mostly Nemesis Automatons? I know he has Human Officers, but it seems to me his Automaton technology is to such a degree there'd be little incentive to introduce the wild card that is the Human Element. Then again, I suppose Nemesis does need some outlet for his massive ego.

Night-Raider, Thoughtforce, Demon Digger
Grinmace, Intonation, Armsman

You Shall Be Missed.

 

Posted

If I'm not mistaken, Nemesis replaced his original brain with an artificial one by the end of the "The Eternal Nemesis" arc from Maxwell Christopher. Basically, all of Nemesis' living body is gone, replaced with mechanical parts.

As for his soldiers, most of them are assumedly brainwashed humans, though I wouldn't be surprised if there are some automatons in that mix, especially if they're serving in the place of more valuable command personnel on the front lines.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Just out of curiosity, when was posi born?

[/ QUOTE ]

According to the Calender, Positron was born June 16, 1962.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

1) What is Lady Grey's first name?


[/ QUOTE ]

Um ... her first name is "Lady."