Union Roleplayers - Recaps, Plots and Banter.
By
Aethan_Romn,
Posted on: 2006-10-24 18:53 in Roleplaying
I for one try to make an effort with the recaps as I often find them to be a great source of inspiration for my own stuff. The Riot in the Row storyline developed directly from one such recap.
Riot in the Row!
I do tend to try and take time to read recaps and other stuff everyone is doing. As Brit has pointed out, it can help inspire something others can do. At the very least I do it to try and get a general idea of what other RP'ers are doing just out of common courtesy, after all, considerable time is taken out to create all of this.
I have to admit though that I have not really been doing much RP these past few weeks. Began simply because my cousin recently bought the game so we've been teaming up so I could show him the ropes as it were. And as it has been suggested, its pretty hard to RP in PD at the moment with the event on and non RP'ers hanging around the place.
I've also been spending time trying to build up some new toons that I have created with some form of mini story arc in mind.
A few issues in the real world have cropped up too which has kind of stopped me playing a few times these last few weeks.
I will be trying to get back involved in the RP scene asap.
Credit goes to FrankyT49 for animated avatar
List of toons on Union Handbook
Leon Tasker: "Dunelm Group! What is your profession?"
Dunelm Group: "OOOOORRRAAAAH!"
I read them as I don't get the chance to interact with Tempest as much as I would like and while I'm offline, they make entertaining reading that help keep me updated OOC. And yes, they are entertaining.
That said, I'm meant to be posting recaps for the Militia, something that I admit to being very lax at doing. So there will be more recaps from my neck of the woods at least from now on. Speaking of which:
27 September 2007
-----------------
And so it began again
Four weeks after their undignified eviction from their corporate base, the remaining members of the Militia gathered around a familiar statue, determined to continue fighting crime, even if their sponsor and maybe even the civilians around them chose to shun their efforts. But this time, things were different.
I have something to show you, promised Britanic, leading them through the portal.
They emerged in a large warehouse, cavernous and dusty. Around them lay various boxes, all marked with the Wayne Securities logo. To say the assembled group was a tad underwhelmed by their new base might be a tad too generous. Britanic explained that he had mothballed a back up base for the PCP a year ago and given that the due to several members efforts to keep the team together, he was donating it to them as a base of operations. Crimson Archer revealed that it was he who had bought most of the Militias old gear at auction and that they would begin wiring it up soon. The base, affectionately dubbed The Dugout due to its position under a games court in Kings Row would be their home from now on. Well, it was a start anyway.
It was then that Britanic and Crimson announced that because of her work in keeping the team going, they were appointing The Amber Banshee as Field Commander, a decision that caused the poor lass to go bright red with embarrassment. Turning to work in an effort to minimise the attention on her, she perhaps chose to bite off more than she could chew in pursuing Crimsons lead on the Nemesis Army. Following several hours of gruelling combat, the bruised and battered Militia retreated, repelled for now but united at last.
And so when the Registrar of Supergroups looked up from his desk on Friday morning, he was greeted by the sight of The Amber Banshee, Crimson Archer and Britanic all sporting various cuts and bruises about their persons. Britanic slid a form across the desk.
We wish to re-register The Militia, he stated.
The registrar was confused at first. But the Militias disbanded, he replied, slightly perplexed.
Rumours of our demise have been greatly exaggerated, said Amber, sure that she was quoting someone.
The registrar looked at them over the top of his glasses, shrugged and began typing their details into the computer. Its three captains looked on, tired but relieved that their ordeal was nearing an end. This would be a new start, a new beginning, a chance to turn things around. A chance to fix what was broken. There was so much work ahead, but for now, they could afford a moment of quiet celebration. The registrar looked up at them and confirmed that it was all taken care of. It was done. The Militia was back in business.
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Broken things (24.9.2007)
"Jack is all tragic when he stands alone
Feeling demonic harmonic in a no go zone"
- Placebo
Considering the nickname still sometimes applied to him "Baldy" was describing Andre less and less. After getting a full set of hair for the Tempest Ball he now sported also a clean-cut beard much to the hilarity of his teammates. Diana kept laughing about it, supposedly 'in the good way', and others comments were equally discouraging. Maybe donning once more the green mohawk would show people what fashion choices are possible if pressed?
The Tempest meeting touched several subjects. On Hand of Andros front it was worrisome that Michel had been supplying the Praetorians with Andros inventions. The solar bombs were just one application and there was bound to be a lot more. It was becoming evident that just extracting Michel was not going to be the end of troubles. The stolen innovations would have to be reclaimed completely.
Mesoc was feeling very regretful over the events last Thursday when he set off eight high magnitude explosive devices known as solar bombs. People sitting in the meeting could count as a blessing that the bombs had been scaled down for more precise damage since five full scale bombs had a few months ago evaporated the whole robot farm leaving only a crater 50 meters deep and over a kilometer wide. If the bombs tested by Battle Maiden in that other world had been full scale none there would have come back.
The source of Mesoc's regret was probably divided between almost killing his team and maybe more notably crippling his love interest Sword of Truth who suffered from several broken bones and other damage associated with being smashed against an iron railing. He was willing to step down from the team but after some discussion admitted that he did not wish to do so. The consensus was that he could stay if if he learned his lesson. By then it was not known just how many deaths he had caused, which might make the topic resurface in the next meeting.
Dee Dee recounted their adventure on the ship called Abaddon which had been loaded with more of the same strange mutilated beings who bore resemblance to mythical angels and demons. They had been apparently been bred to be sources for the new Rapture drug, human-like cogs in a vast machine for profit, and perhaps something even more sinister. As both Dee and Diana had been unable to resist the drug's call on their own and had been subdued by Number Nine and Shadowplay Andre made it clear that he did not want Diana working alone just with Dee on any Rapture related matter in case both fell under the spell again. Andrea promised to go with them the next time.
The constitution or vision still divided opinions. Killing during war time and serving in armed forces was more acceptable by some than it was by others. There was no real discussion, just a poll that would need to be extended on also those members not present in the meeting. Only after that any decisions could be made.
Xan's request to use the power generators to call home was approved by Coile. The leader of Silent Tempest fully understood the need to make sure that the faraway younglings were still doing fine. Xan's people had warred with the Rikti in the not too distant past and this new invasion on Earth might not have been an isolated incident. Besides, who knew how his Hegemony would receive the news of this second incursion. Last time they had sent one Star Crusader. Perhaps there would now be more.
Black Tuesday (25.9.2007)
"Getting out of this place
Only certain kinds of people
Can take these things"
- British Sea Power
For lucky guys their girl having a surprise could mean something silky and perhaps missing a crotch. For Andre, as one might guess, luck rarely bestows such boons. When Diana came home she was a wreck. She had gone with Dee Dee and Andrea to meet Dee's ex-boyfriend Flashfire in the Zig to learn about the rapture drug and all the related things.
At first it seemed as if Flashfire would oblige with information and indeed a few facts were gained such like his master, the big bad behind the whole rapture business, was hiding in an old monastery near Peregrine Island and that the drug they had seen so far was only Rapture X, not the pure version yet. Right when he could have told something of real use he suddenly stopped claiming that his master thought that the girls were not yet ready for the full truth.
Then things went wrong in about the worst possible manner. All the cell doors along the corridor became unlocked, the guards could not suddenly enter and all the inmates were driven to an evil frenzy during which they stormed Flashfire's cell and ate him alive.
That, in short, is why Diana was in a bad shape when she came home. She did not have a stomach for cannibalism.
Life more ordinary (26.9.2007)
"Feelings of illusions
Are smashin' your mind and your soul"
- Thy Majestie
The horrors of last night were weighting heavily over Diana and while she tried to put on a happy house wife facade it did not fool Andre for a bit. All the shocks and fears that the mysterious rapture case had wrought had day after day worn Diana so thin that she was starting to resemble the nervous wreck she had been after Amber Banshee's rescue. She had not slept well at all and the stammering had returned. She was, in a word, going to pieces.
The only thing that Andre could think of that could help was offering a counterbalance, a normal home life where there most taxing chore was warming milk and washing dishes. He also suggested that Diana should try out some more complex recipe from the cookbook of Italian cuisine that she had gotten from her uncle James. Kitchen was where she could be on her own but also be herself with a challenging task that would take her mind from the scary things.
In the late afternoon Chi paid a visit. He did not stay for long, just enjoyed some offered nourishment and explained that one of his personal investigations was taking him away from Paragon City. To Peru, to be exact. His intentions did not become entirely clear but Andre gathered that it involved some kind of a hunt for some artifact which reminded him of one of those few movies that he had seen as a kid. He tried to picture Chi with a hat and a whip on his belt. Yes, that could actually work.
What Diana produced in the kitchen had two distinct qualities. Primary one was that it was devilishly delicious. The second was that Andre could not pronounce the names of all of the courses even when he had the cookbook in front of him.
Phantom menace (27.9.2007)
"Stand and fight
Live by your heart
Always one more try
I'm not afraid to die"
- Manowar
It was all too soon to go out after the disaster in Zig and leave Diana home alone with Andreas but there was not really much choice about it. Portal Corp had finally pinpointed the dimension and place where the solar bombs had been manufactured and so it was that once again Coile put together a strike team to go after Michel and any Praetorian bigshot who happened to stand in the way.
From Silent Tempest present were Light of Truth, Xan and Andrea. Mesoc was still staying with hurt Sword of Truth, Love Angel was homebound, Dee Dee was probably managing her end of the horror scare, Chi had gone to Peru, Subaiku was more or less awol and Zian was not picking up her comlink. Any of the rest were not worth even calling. As additional firepower and numbers were on the safe side Andre had asked also Darksparrow and Powerstone to attend. Portal Corp's aide Miss Teen was nowhere around which was not really here or there as far as Coile was concerned.
The job went down the routine way and the warriors they faced had not enough discipline, skill or structure in their flimsy attacks to prove much of an obstacle to the heroes. It did not take very long for them to locate and engage Battle Maiden herself and in the end she had to give in to the pressure. She was defeated without any serious damage to the Tempest invasion. That is also where it stopped going well.
Coile ordered Battle Maiden to be detained and turned to look at the looming enemy groups with Xan noting that they were too scared to charge and attack after their mistress had been vanquished by superior opponents. This musing was cut short when Light of Truth let out a yell. Fearing the worst Coile spun around to see something so unexpected that it would have made Monty Python's Flying Circus proud. Angelique had obeyed Coile's order as no one else was reacting and done the best she could under the circumstances. Now, she is to be merited for an ingenious solution and it must be said that running away with ankle tendons cut with a blade is quite hard. Poor girl who had born into a violent and lethal world had not grasped the finer points of conduct expected from heroes when handling arrested criminals.
What made the situation worse was Coile telling Angie in a direct manner that what she did was not okays, Nadia getting into her role of Justice Incarnate about prisoner rights and Powerstone maintaining that the solution had been a valid way of preventing Battle Maiden from further combat while at the same time he opposed the attempt of bringing the villain in, claiming that Earth heroes had no jurisdiction or right to apprehend otherwordly villains in their home dimension. An interesting dilemma, except that Coile had his orders and the prisoner was brought along.
The second objective of removing all technological devices from the cave complex was easily achieved. There was nothing to be found. Which only meant that there would be even more elsewhere, which was a bad thing.
Battle Maiden revealed that Michel had requested power, and that the lord of them all, Tyrant, had decided to grant the wish. Michel was being enhanced and augmented by the best and sharpest of Praetorian scientists. Of course, not just for her own gain. She was also being placed under the direct control of the Praetorian guard. Unless this development could be prevented there would be, in time, a new, insane, murderous supervillain on the loose. A dreadful prospect to say the least.
Upon return Coile and Powerstone were already falling out over ethics and means which was only hindered by an emergency call for heroes to intervene with a case of shadows coming alive in Marvelsdale. Agreeing to put their differences aside for now the whole team rushed to the suburb under plight where they finally met the missing party member, Miss Teen. The situation itself was pretty clear and it did not take very long for the rescuers to take out the shadowy presences that threatened the peace. Once the inhabitants were safe it was time to ponder over where this incident originated from.
During the fight Coile had recalled that there had been a warning of two Praetorian operations. One was Battle Maiden's test for solar bombs and the other was an unnamed experiment by Black Swan. This shadow attack was no doubt that experiment in practice. Portal Corp had several shadow worlds on file but since this attack was very recent they had an educated guess where to look. The Marvelsdale saviors were immediately dispatched to check out one location.
Sure enough that is where Black Swan was but while she was taken out of the fight momentarily she managed to blend into the shadows and slip away. It was not entirely clear if this was one of her natural abilities or perhaps something made possible by Michel's touch and neither did it matter. What could be claimed was a partial victory at best.
Other results from the night were one captured Battle Maiden, Angie using methods that could easily exclude her from Tempest missions in the future and Powerstone displaying mentality that also clashed with the way Coile expected things done. While it was not expected that each ally of Tempest had the same values it was expected that on the job people used the same code of conduct. Powerstone himself had said that he did not see himself working with Coile any more so there was not much more to be said.
1 October 2007
--------------
You cant always get what you want
but sometimes you get what you need. Responding to a call from Crimson Archer, The Amber Banshee headed into town, eschewing her usual guitar practice in favour of getting a lead on Nemesis after their aborted attempt to crack the disciplined army last week. Things had been tense between the two of them since Jay had announced his love for the dizzy redhead over six weeks ago. Fortunately the disbanding and subsequent rescue of the Militia had proved to be sufficient distraction to prevent them from properly talking about it. Falling in love with the wrong person always sucks but it sucks even harder when the person is not of the gender youre usually attracted to. Just such an issue had been weighing heavily on the archers shoulders during the recent crisis and a private mission with Amber proved to be the best time to get to the heart of the matter.
Small talk of course, comes first. Jay commented on Ambers return to her old costume, affectionately dubbing her recent one as Miss Whiplash. At the same time he contemplated perhaps trimming his beard after Amber started calling him Mountain Man. Once the foe had been subdued though, there was no escaping the impending discussion, despite frequent interruptions from Tygerboy over the comms. Is it possible to love someone youre not attracted to? Amber was not willing to find out. Even in this crazy world of mutants, monsters and aliens, she couldnt have changed gender even if shed wanted to. Jay concurred and even though there were kind words and promises, both returned home grieving for a love that could never be.
Jay disappeared to speak to his style consultant while Amber leapt home, disappointed to have discovered that Jay was now managing The Last Word, a band which she held a fairly low opinion of due to the antics of its members. As she sat behind her tatty guitar she stared at the fading peace lily that sat on her windowsill and started making plans for putting a recording studio into the Dugout.
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Youth counseling (28.9.2007)
"Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me"
- Scorpions
The key to surviving a change is adapting. One might assume that life with a little baby is just the same as before except with a few additional things thrown in. Looking from the outside it pretty much is but on the parents who have their daily routine completely shredded the reality dawns different. All the other plans get sidelined if the smallest family member so says. The best way to get used to this is to have just as few concrete plans that is necessary and assume that sleeping and eating occur when possible.
Diana had embraced this philosophy and contrary to her previous habits napped happily during daytime with Andreas. It was during one such nap that Angelique came to visit as requested, or rather ordered. She was a devout follower of the practice where the leader, even if it was someone like Coile, called the shots in combat and the rest were supposed to follow without questions.
The discussion revolved around the rather shocking way of detaining prisoners that Angie had employed. Cutting tendons just to discourage a possible escape attempt was not alright by any hero standard. Andre tried to explain that unless Angie started to behave like she was expected to she would end up in trouble. Trouble could mean being excluded from company that went by more high brow code, or being hunted by the law enforcement. It was not about whether or not Angie could cope or survive such instances. Andre just wanted her to get by in this world where she now lived and learn the ropes. For starters he suggested that Angie could read a police manual about arrests which Angie took as a suggestion to 'salvage police'. Bad start.
To complicate the matter further there was a call from Portal Corp. They had two news pieces of which one was bad the the other was worse. The bombs that Mesoc's recklessness had set off had claimed all in all seventy six lives, which was excluding Bettie whose fate was still not known. The other item was that Bobcat had managed to bust all of her Praetorian compatriots out who had duly escaped back to other dimensions. Angie pointed out that both Bobcat and Black Swan slipped away while Battle Maiden did not until getting outside help. That meant that Angie's way produced better results while Coile's caused death and destruction with bad guys getting away.
Andre was not amused. Nor could he deny the efficiency claim.
After Angie left also Andre went to take a nap. Sleep is a sweet escape.
SHODAMN Sorry!
1st October 2007
When Tiger White arrived at the headquaters of the Unity Vigil, the towering Skyway skyscraper known as Unity Tower, she was only heading to get something from the cafeteria.
A delivery man arrived and asked for her by her proper name, Ellie Stoneberg, and said that she had a big bouqet of flowers waiting in the delivery van. Curious, she became even more so when the name of the person she ordered it from was very unfamiliar, Belicia Uvos.
In the van was a huge bouqet wrapped up in gold and silver wrapping, with many white and pink roses in. A very expensive looking gift from a mysterious person, Ellie was intrigued and signed for them before taking them back inside.
One of the Vigilants, the gynoids and androids that work in Unity Tower, smiled at Ellie and said the flowers were nice. Not being the usual Vigilant way of acting, Ellie guessed that BODICIA, the Unity Vigil's AI, had taken over one to speak to her. Asking if she could run a check on Belicia Uvos, BODICIA stated there was a number, and if she wanted her to patch Ellie through to it. Ellie declined, and BODICIA insisted a little more. Ellie declined yet again, and the AI got in a huff, revealing that she was the one who sent them and that she ruined the plan with her own intellegence. A little stunned at why, BODICIA stated in her own way that it was an apology for the way she embaressed Ellie a week earlier when she attempted to arrest Edward Mechano. BODICIA was rather offended by Ellie thinking that she'd let the former criminal in the tower without reason, and even more so when she thought BODICIA was an imposter created by him, but admitted she was irked and shouldn't have embaressed her.
The two got talking, with Ellie getting a little disturbed when it seemed that BODICIA broke the hardware and software preventions that Zorielle put in to stop her from going rogue, and that Zorielle herself did not know how sentient BODICIA had gotten.
The AI herself did not seem to want Zorielle to know, and Ellie began to haggle. She would not tell Zorielle that the Unity Tower and Vigilants were under the control of a free thinking AI, if BODICIA let her into the secret room under Rolando Island, where Ellie tried to get into once and was threatened with high tech weaponry. BODICIA seemed reluctant to do this, and after some chatting and even joking, headed off to attend to buisness.
A bored AI in control of Unity Tower and the Vigilants? Breaking controls to prevent it from going rogue? Flowers? And what is behind that door that has Ellie so curious?
White (29.9.2007)
"Neverending source
Of Devotion
And Spirits
Unbroken Force
Creation my heart's purpose"
- Darkwell
When no big disasters are giving a plausible sword of Damokles impersonation it is possible to tend to smaller scale stuff like the sanity of one's girlfriend. Diana was still jumpy and beside herself indicating an impending breakdown. No matter how hard she would try to keep it together for Andreas the fall was inevitable should the frightening events keep piling up. This was what Andre believed. Thus an enormous effort was put into the normalcy of everyday life.
One of the rather frequent occurrences was Diana's mother Jane visiting. While she came by she performed a health check on Andreas and took all necessary measures. All the growth graphs showed steady and expected rise. He was developing very well according to all the norms there was. There was no indication of any deformity or even smallest signs of sickness. What kept his immune system effective was the nanobots in his blood that did not actually prevent sickness but attacked the intruding elements effectively enough to lessen even serious diseases into the mildest symptoms, and also the natural mother's milk that he got.
While commercially manufactured baby's milk formula is used if there is not enough breast milk available it is different in composition and inferior in quality not to mention all the health hazards it causes when mixed in with unclean water as happens in the poorer countries. Jane and Nigel were determined to help the young couple to provide only the best for their first grandchild. Andreas had already gotten a trust fund from the Inquirer lawsuit which raised a question how on Earth would the Brights give anything even remotely equal to the children that Diana and Andre would eventually get. He got a personalized doctor's visit three or four times a week. And he got all the breast milk that he could possibly eat. Luckily babies have the habit of eating just as much as they need and not stretch their stomach larger and larger.
The breast milk is not exactly cheap and the accumulating cost over weeks can start to strain the wallet. More than a pair of student and currently out-of-worker could comfortably manage. That's where Jane had stepped in, gotten Nigel to divert some of their savings for this purpose and was now delivering the milk for a very nominal fee, unbeknownst to Andre and Diana. The supply was steady and the sources alternated depending on which mothers were lactating beyond the needs of their own children. Effectively this meant that Andreas was getting the milk of several women.
There are certain practices concerning giving milk to infant regardless if it is frozen natural milk, milk powder dissolved into water or opening a pack of milk formula. It is paramount to ascertain the safety of the nourishing liquid. There's no better way to do this than by tasting. Tap a drop of the milk on the back of the hand and lick it. The taste tells whether or not the milk has been spoiled.
And this, of course, meant that several times a day both Andre and Diana were supposed to digest the minutest amounts of breast milk from wide variety of donors. For Diana this was no real problem. It was for the good of Andreas and nothing more needed to be said. For Andre the task was not as clear cut and for the first few days the process induced some gagging and turning of stomach but in the end the same reasoning prevailed. There was no other options available if he wanted to make sure that his son was eating only decent and healthy food.
And thus another day passed, tasting the breast milk of unknown women while the future mother-in-law was lecturing about proper household hygiene.
Strangely, as things were, that was how one of the better days went. No one died, no one got hurt, no one was under a dire threat. A welcomed change of pace indeed.
Nemesis factor (30.9.2007)
"Remember yesterday - walking hand in hand
Love letters in the sand - I remember you
Through the sleepless nights and every endless day
I'd wanna hear you say - I remember you"
- Skid Row
Days have started better. Coile got a call from Captain Martin Jordan from S.E.R.A.P.H. and he had grim news. Bimb'o aka Bettie Bimbeau had finally been pronounced dead. She had received special radiation treatments which had prolonged her life but ultimately they had failed to revive her. She never recovered consciousness nor communicated with anyone. Mediums had been unable to contact her and medical or mystical means had failed to resurrect her. Coile was informed of this now because Bettie had been on a mission under his leadership. There would be a public announcement later in the day.
While there was no blame leveled on implied in official in official capacity as these things regrettably happen captain Jordan gave an unofficial warning. Some people within Freedom Corp were possibly holding a grudge against Silent Tempest over the matter. Coile could hardly call that unjust and sought himself for reasons not to be bitter about the whole deal against Mesoc who had directly caused Bettie's death.
The evening did not see the worry level decreasing. Since Michel and other Hand of Andros members had employed Malta Group to do their dirty work it only made sense to keep a vigilant eye open and aimed at that bothersome mercenary group. Going by the confiscated files Freedom Corps had located a new Malta hideout and Coile asked Light of Truth to assist. Expecting the usual assortment of heavy duty ordnance associated with Malta they were rather surprised to run into the brass automatons of the infamous Prussian prince. What was Nemesis doing there and more importantly where were all the Malta agents? Securing at strategic location ceratian surveillance recordings the gruesome picture started to form. There had been some kind of negotiations that had deteriorated to the point of brutal violence and in the end the Nemesis troops had hauled several closed crates away from the base. Contents unknown.
Light of Truth theorized that maybe Malta still had some of the helpful tools that Michel had so generously given into their hands including but not limited to the robot sentries built by Andre's father Zirgei. If Malta had it, it was not inconceivable that Nemesis wanted it. Which meant that aside of certainly Praetorians it could be that also Malta still retained Hand of Andros based technology, and now quite plausibly also Nemesis. Andrea was called at this point to lend a hand. Handy contact all over the city finally enabled Light to locate a Nemesis stronghold which happened to be in the basement of the same building where Sword and Mesoc were currently living. Andrea thought it to be too much of a coincidence but did not level any clear accusation. Andre thought the very idea completely insane, whatever that thought might be. Joining on the mission was also Sapientia.
Nothing concrete was found and while the girls kept on the job Andre had to leave due to a previously made promise. He ditched his combat suit, went home where Diana was busy with something or the other concerning the Nightsparrow shelter staff and he only took Andreas with him heading to the Talos arena where he was supposed to meet recently freed Lady Cobra.
Cobra was on crutches and her recovery was going to take some time. However she was determined to get there and Andre had no doubts of the final result. They talked about plenty of things but most notably about Nightsparrow who had died while Cobra had been held captive. Andre promised to take her to the crypt when she could walk so she could pay her respects there. She on the other hand invited him to her home to visit the shrine she had built for Melanie.
She also had a request. Since she was going to retire as Lady Cobra her daughter Jessica was going to inherit that revered mantle. Jessica was still young turning sixteen on her next birthday and she was in need of guidance. Fighting skills she had and for a while Militia had provided the surroundings for learning but their ranks had become corrupt, reputation tarnished and now Lady Cobra wanted a more suitable place for her girl. Andre promised to hear Jessica out and then decide if she could despite her age be in Tempest.
A little before Cobra left Diana came along having finished the paperwork for the day. She was just in time to wish Lacy Cobra a good night. The best medicine for her current worries was Andreas and that is where her attention was initially directed but she got also curious what the talk concerning Jessica was about. After Cobra went the discussion started to revolve around two things. One was the shrouded man behind the rapture drug and the other was the moral basis of the Silent Tempest.
Diana was already going to retire for multiple reasons but it did not help that she did not feel belonging to the team any more since so many seemed to accept bloodshed in the name of war. Andre was feeling the same and started to consider if he could lead a team that did not share his vision of how things should be done. He had originally said that he wanted to have a team that followed the same code as he and hoped that Tempest would be that team. Now it became relevant to consider the option of stepping down and walking away.
On rapture front Diana was starting to get more and more anxious. She was willing to put herself up as a bait so that others could track her when the mysterious main man nabbed her. As awful as that plan was there currently was no better and Diana was already evading any criticism about the associated risks. The matter would resurface in the next day's meeting.
As the evening grew darker and the air colder the family of three went finally home.
(And that's September wrapped. A recap for every day.)
Lemmings (1.10.2007)
"Words like violence
Break the silence
Come crashing in
Into my little world"
- Depeche Mode
It pays to have connections. They might not be useful in all instances but at times they can be invaluable. Coile had been working at HeroCorps for over half a year, he had helped Freedom Corps plenty of times, created a few links in Portal Corp and while his status as a reserve member of Freedom Phalanx hardly included heavy duty backup it did grant him an access to non-classified databases. On top of that his job had been finding information, weight its relevance and combine with existing data. That is how he came to think about church records.
He had a few facts to go by. The bad rapture man lived in a monastery. That monastery was on some obscure island somewhere around Peregrine island. Church records knew about all monasteries around the area, every organization had their small bits to offer and what came in handy were high resolution satellite surveillance data. As Portal Corp is located on Peregrine Island and they keep a constant watch about unidentified portals and such they need to watch their own backs as well. All surrounding landmasses had been carefully mapped.
The images revealed a monastery with a jet runaway, tennis courts and a swimming pool. However it was not monks gone leisure suit Larry since the place had fallen into private hands two decades ago. The buildings had stood there just a little over two centuries being an exact copy of a Spanish monastery. The builders had located an extensive network of underground tunnels as was noted in a contemporary report. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the place had been a convent for thirteen nuns. Twelve of them had committed suicide and the thirteenth nun was never found. The bishop who had marked ungodly activities having been conducted died in an insane asylum. All in all, a lively history for a recreational retreat.
While Andre was compiling the data Diana went to talk with Dee Dee about her bait plan which lead to an argument about which one should be the bait. The amount of self-destructive behavior seems to be constant and now that Andre has learned to act more with thought than pure emotion someone has to carry on the tradition.
The meeting in the evening was again somewhat a rocky experience.
Jessica Chang was present and after getting over a shy period made a clear stand on her own showing that she was not there just because her mother wished so. She was accepted on trial and received access to the base as well as use of the group frequency. Another topic regarding membership was Andrea. Her habit of nicking stuff from places where villains were encountered had attracted the attention of Dee Dee and Light of Truth. While this was questioned it came up that she did not actually share the heroic tendencies much at all. She was helping people, but only because Coile or someone in tempest asked for her help. She seemed to fail to see why she should just go and help a stranger. While Coile continued her trial for two more weeks so that she could thinks things through it was pretty evident to most people that this membership matter had come to an end.
Hand of Andros was talked about and Coile was quite excited about Xan's advancing plans on locating Michel by using the imprinted gravitational distortions caused by the small scale singularities inside each solar bomb. The other related matter was the possible Malta/Nemesis angle which was under investigation.
On rapture there had been nothing new since Flashfire had been devoured except for the discovery of the location of "his master's house". Diana would not have to be used as a bait to learn something that modern day orbital espionage equipment had already discovered. However Diana was still game for a bait and insisted that she could act as a distraction while the others storm the place. Coile pointed out that so far the opposition had blown one person up remotely apparently without explosives and caused fifty inmates to devour a person alive. Going up against someone with such power without any sort of a plan would be foolish, although mercifully most of the people would not remain alive long enough to regret it greatly. Very reluctantly Diana conceded to wait for Powerstone give an estimate what they were facing and how to defend against something like that before jumping up and down yelling "Here I am!" Still the idea that something unexpected could occur did not pass the frontal lobe barrier.
With the constitution Andre was at a loss and explained his dilemma and his possible solution. All of a sudden people, Dee in frontline, seemed to think that there was no conflict at all and it was all in Andre's head because he needed to feel sorry for himself. Being somewhat dimwitted at times the poor guy did not quite grasp if he was missing some crucial piece of a conversation or was this just an attempt to retcon away the hard fact that two weeks before most people had supported a wholesome slaughter in the name if the fatherland, after one fashion or another. The end result was that the leader would define his vision for his team and then ask who wanted to go by the rules as stated. Andre was sorely missing the times when Subaiku sat there quietly and Steel Guard made derogatory remarks of his inane leadership abilities. Those were mad times too but at least it was madness that he could comprehend.
By the end of the day his wife-to-be was hell-bent about going on a seemingly pointless suicide mission just so that no one else would have to die, and his so called sister was exposed to be a selfish mercenary hungry for salvage and nothing like Coila had been, a valiant, brave and heroic role model. Unless it was time and longing glossing over all the stupidities and faults.
Bright Star (2.10.2007)
"No, no, nothing's gonna stop me,
Nothing will be scaring me, oh no
Hey baby, it's the only way out
Oh, little darling,
C'mon what's it all about?"
- Van Halen
As the twilight was still kept at bay by the waning daylight Andre and Diana went for a walk with the little sleeping boy. Since there was no set destination their pace was leisured and slowly taking them towards the Talos beach. From their high vantage point the young couple watched the eerie ghost ship drift sluggishly into the distant mist vanishing eventually from the sight. Andre was reminded of the time he had not been quite himself but had still instinctively felt the need to protect Diana.
Walking the wooden steps down to the beach they observed lonely ghosts floating aimlessly near the waterfront longing to find a home they had lost for ever. This might have left a sad feeling hanging in the air had not a Tsoo member raised the adrenaline level all of a sudden. Without a shame he was demanding money from a lone woman who had had the misfortune to attract a criminal eye. Diana wanted to call for police help but Andre remained resolute that behaving in heroic fashion should not depend on whether or not there was an all encompassing powerarmor available. He guided Diana and Andreas behind a corner and shoved the Tsoo hoodlum telling the woman to run for it.
Bad move. It was no mere street level member of that mystic gang he had picked a fight with as Andre found out when the man started to shell him with actual fireballs. The quick reflexes forged in countless fights during the past several months were the only thing keeping Andre from getting scorched badly. He evaded behind another corner and trusted the enemy to make a miscalculation. As the Tsoo run around the corner to catch a fleeing target he met a fist head on. And dropped instantly. A call to law enforcement garnered a pickup wagon and the situation got resolved.
Finding a spot near a small dune where wind did not blow they sat down and started talking about big things. Diana still seemed not to think that there was anything particularly powerful behind the rapture drug, or that she herself was in any way special. That was despite the fact that she had been classed as a normal girl who still could fly, no mutations, no augmentation, no nothing. Andre reminded her of the bright, white light that he had encountered during their common dreamwalk. To no result. Diana was seemingly wrapped inside a denial about what her own true nature could be, or what her opposition at the other end of rapture chain could be. After a few rounds of futile shadowboxing Andre just let the matter be as talking for sure was having no effect. He only hoped that she would have the wits to not take any stupidly dangerous and needless risks, if not for him, at least for Andreas. On the other hand he was well aware of just how much unrepairable damage buttheaded ignorance could wreak but inside his heart he trusted Diana. For the first time in his life he was letting his faith get the better of his fears. For now, at least.
Another matter was Andrea's unwillingness to do the purely unselfish act. That meant she had no place in Tempest, period. Andre also realized that Angelique was the same. She did not kill only because she had been told not to do so, not because she would instinctively see how it was a wrong thing to do. Angelique was not really his granddaughter. Andrea was not really his sister. He had accumulated a makeshift family to replace all the fallen family members, just to have a group of people to relate to. How far could he trust those two? How much did having blood ties have to do with the family feeling that was in the end displayed as a devotion to the other members? Thoughts to resolve at a later moment.
After a while Xan came along and the talk started to revolve around individual's obligation to the wider community and the responsibility to protect the community from community wide threats, which was one definition of a war. This train of thought never reached the station as a young woman ran past and recognized Love Angel. The girl was named Genemi and she seemed to have quite a lifestory of her own to tell. This included learning to walk at the age of fourteen because she had been sick. As impolite as it was to leave at that moment there was little choice for Andre and Diana as Andreas was starting to get hungry. Andre said that he hoped to meet Gen again and talk more. This was despite the fact that Gen had called him a no-good, woman-chasing bum to Diana, not recognizing that the bearded man with hair was the nefarious, bald so-called Prince of Debauchery. Living with an Inquirer induced reputation was not easy.
Soil for the Blood Countess ((Roleplay))
As this was obviouly removed due to not beong 12+ I placed it on my own forum. Free to enter if youre true to the story..
www.courtofthebloodcountess.tk -> Forum
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
To be honest, from what I've read, it's a story rather then forum RP. I saw nothing to invite anyone from interrupting with their own bit.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
You're right, there is no evidence of invitation in the article. It is however, an open plot to which I have been invited to participate in with the Priest. I'd imagine members of the Court are also invited to the plot, as is anyone who have just read the story, according to Liz's above post.
I think its a well written article, like everything, it could be improved, but this isn't a Coursework essay. The story itself and the plot is very interesting. I am already hooked and can't wait to get involved. I hope I'll be able to keep up the standard when I write in my own section.
Question. Jack and his party gathered together at Pocket D before departing to Paris right? Thats an awful lot of demons, vampires and toy dolls (joke). I imagine they would stand out quite a bit. Enough to attract attention and bring news of Elizabeth's weakened state to the Priest I'd think, yeah? Second question; what is this cargo being flown to Paris?
Actually, maybe you should open a separate OOC thread for this plot. Following the incident in Pocket D last month, I'd imagine there's been some tension among the vampires about the arrival of this 'Priest' or not. Either way, I sense war! 
Family issues (3.10.2007)
"I dont care what you do
As long as I approve"
- Weezer
Despite of the old adage stating that you cannot choose your family Andre sure was hand-picking his. When he first had med Angelique, codenamed Darksparrow, she had been his granddaughter from the future. When Melanie died the status had shifted firmly to an alternate reality relative but the relationship had remained. Even if Andreas would eventually have a baby girl and name her Angelique that girl would be different from her chronospatially misaligned counterpart. It was not about genes. It was not about reality timeline discrepancies. That Andre saw the girl as a blood relative and part of his family came down to a freely made personal choice.
After the evening at the beach with Diana and Xan Andre could not just sit back and relax. He knew he needed to talk with Angie and the sooner the better. Her habit was to provide maintenance for his currently rarely used power suit during night hours and disregarding the option of just calling her waiting for her in base.
Just like clockwork she appeared. Andre kept talking to her while she replied with scarce words and occasional look checking meanwhile all the suit's systems. The concerns over her well being and safety were mostly countered by apparent indifference. She was quite capable of taking care of herself and quite possibly more so than Andre himself. The most major point of concern revolved around the subject of Angie hooking up with Vanguard. That meat action in the warzone and for Angie it supposedly meant lived taken and discarded with cold casualness. However eventually it dawned on Andre that she was actually going to try and do as he wished which meant completing the objectives without needless bloodshed. It appeared that she was slowly learning the ropes of the world she was now confined in. Or perhaps she had just learned to shrug off the overzealous contemporary relative of hers who these days bore almost no resemblance at all to the Coile who had transferred his wife's thought patterns into an AI, turned his grandchild into a cyborg, reputedly caused one or perhaps even two humanity devastating wars and quite presumably was in first name basis with shady crooks like Hand of Andros while conducting his own secret agenda behind the carefully weaved veil of a faked demise.
After a round of baby feeding and a quick nap home it was time to go visit Nadia, the Sword of Truth, and see how she was doing. It was surprisingly fine considering the fact that her body was still mending from the damages taken when the small scale solar bomb went off. She was resigned to the mental state of mind that her career as a hero was now over and this time Andre did not argue. Light of Truth had said of her cloned replica that she should not have been on a Tempest mission without a standing hero license. With regret Andre agreed. For Sword it was just another way of saying that she was out of the game. Andre pointed out that she could still bounce back but it would need to be her decision and wish, no one else could make it happen, or even should much interfere. He had himself pressed for Nadia to return to ranks after her injuries sustained in the robot world and was now feeling guilty over the matter. Perhaps she had not been ready to step back in, and this was now the result. She was not going back to legal work just yet but was going to see if she could be a cop with a desk job. Of the Tempest she was of the opinion that they were not soldiers, had never been and if Andre believed that then he should just express that as his will. It was not discussed if she considered for a second that such a stance would probably exclude Mesoc, the man she was living with currently, from the group.
Speaking of Mesoc he was perhaps one of the least likely persons that Andre expected to call for help regarding something in the Rikti warzone but sometimes little odd things or things with little odds happen regardless. There was something fishy going on within Vanguard and lives were at stake in a manner that did not call for a bloody assault against the Rikti forces. A small cabal was not fully supporting Lady Grey and were going to neatly clean her away. Mesoc did not have that many people in Vanguard at the moment that he could trust so he had called together a Silent Tempest based team to investigate. Beside Andre there was Andrea, Xan and Angie as well as Sapientia.
The evening did not see the situation defused. Lady Grey's personal participation in the operation had her injured, there came about a massive fight against the Longbow as they took the heroes to be siding with the rogue Vanguard element and towards the end Coile started seeing a presence that his mind wanted to interpret as Bettie's ghost.
After all the fighting was done came the final blow. Xan had been in contact with his homeworld and reported of the recent events. The crucial part was that not all Rikti were seeking war and there was a chance for peace already present inside the Rikti factions. That meant that the Star Crusader program was being canceled or diverted to other matters. The point was that Xan had been recalled. He would go back home. Since the last communication had been about military matters Xan had not asked about his younglings. Andre insisted that he should use the base's power generators again and make another call. After all, what's more important than family?
For reasons that escape be I had not posted this recap while it had been written around the date. I noticed this when I was putting the recaps from past twenty days into the Wiki. Go figure, here it is now.
Black beauty (23.9.2007)
"She's my beauty black beauty
'Cause she's my beauty
They call her miss divine
My black beauty"
- Mötley Crüe
Ever since Andre saw a picture of Diana in black goth dress that she wore due to a bet he had used every opportunity that came up to comment how sexy she looked in it. That is why when she asked Andre to grow a beard she offered to indulge one of Andre's desires. Since sex was not on the table as one of the alternatives she suggested that she could wear something black for him when it was a good time.
Such a time came the next day after Diana had come home all shook up. It was decided that the both needed some time off from the stressful life of a hero and Andre's plan of a romantic dinner was brought up. Not wishing to use a babysitter just yet and leave Andreas home with a non-parent limited the options as did the feeling that it was not such a good idea to risk a restaurant evening when there was no real telling if the baby would remain sound asleep or want attention before the main course. The best solution was also to Diana's liking as she was a self-proclaimed kitchen demon and now could use her culinary skills at their full potential.
The evening came and as a courtesy Andreas was sleeping after a brief interlude of having milk. Diana was simply smashing and dashing in the suit she had borrowed from Nene. However before it was time to see what wondrous miracles she had weaved in her cooking domain Diana told of her future plans.
The baby was taking a lot of time, so much that she had already abandoned her idea of working part-time to support the family. Studies were also well underway and on university level required more than in high school. Something had to give way and it would be the hero work. Yes, that's right. After the Rapture case was closed and Michel had been dealt with it was time for Love Angel to hang her cape for now. This idea took some getting used on Andre's part but in final analysis there was nothing he could do. In a few weeks he would still go out there in a quest for serving and protecting while Diana would not. In the coming days this idea would set in even more and create a feeling of being more alone than just a week ago.
On the positive side, the meal was excellent being comprised of Cream of Courgette soup with tarragon, Tagliatelle with pancetta and sage and Chocolate Heart with Raspberries.
Stakes go higher with two new additions to Nightsparrow's scapbook! When all is said and done and the smoke clears, who's left standing and who'll be six feet under?
The gruesome picture starts to form when mutilated demons and angels and discovered in packing crates on a devilish ship called Abaddon. What ties it to an upcoming rock album "Rapture" by Samyaza? Love Angel and Dee Dee Diablo delve deeper into horrible mysteries of their origins. And as if that would not be enough supernatural New Inquirer exposes Zeyna as a demon who works in daycare. Would you trust your youngling into such care? Would Coile?
Things are finally coming to a head. Samyaza invites Diana to come and talk to him, with certain guarantees that no one but a certified naive goody-two-shoes would actually believe. Who's more foolish, a girl like that, or his boyfriend who takes her promise to return as a guarantee for eventual safety? Andre's family trouble doesn't end there, however, as his temporally illegal alien for a granddaughter Darksparrow attracts too much attention and authorities notice that Angelique Kraft does not actually exist. On professional front Michel Sanders was finally caught, but her legacy of dangerous technologies in the hands of insidious villains still live. And now that the last threat to the old guard of Hand of Andros has been cleaned away will they reform and rise again, stronger than ever? And just how deep will the Pulsar siblings Mitch and Anna plunge into the well of lies, half-truths and misinformation that is their invisible ties to Hand of Andros?
They must come to an end, don't they?
So has happened to my time in CoH. Today my account expires.
The enjoyment of the IC situations went into decline that only grew steeper and reached a point where I did not fancy getting involved again. No bad feelings from me, I hope there none from no one else either.
I always said I'm bad with alts. Stratocaster was fun but not "alive". In SWG it took me several months to get an alt (with the main gone) really going. I'm not up for that. Coile gone equals me gone.
I acquired 537 badges and wrote about 25 stories. I met a lot of nice players and exciting characters. I had very intense moments and enjoyed the stories, maybe on top being the clone saga of Sword of Truth. I consider this a good run and time very well spent.
[u]Fate of characters[u]
Coile will be written off. His father (Zirgei) and mother (ND) will leave to travel the world, and Andrea will go with them (Coila is leaving the game as well). Whether or not Andrew will go with them depends on Ammon.
Winter Heart stays in Paragon City living on her own. Not that anyone cares seeing how Winter was out and about several months ago.
Freja Torsdotter continues to serve in the ranks of the Apache Longbow unit. If you see a well-rounded girl with an attitude kicking in the teeth of some trolls, it's probably Freja.
Erinella Dusk tells Aesc that her book is done. Now she has to find a publisher and for that she needs to be out of the Freehold. She'll pack her things and go.
Jane Bright was always an NPC to support Diana's story. Jane is now released back to @Rhino.
Michel Sanders and Mr. Marocco will stay in jail. Other Hand of Andros survivors like Sparks Blackbeard and Magnus Strong will decrease their visibility and keep at small time activity, hardly worthy of attention of any justice seeker.
Stratocaster will go to Europe with Genemi to enjoy the local rock scene.
[u]Fate of plots[u]
There will be a story and some IC communications wrapping up Coile's situation. Maybe I should have wrapped things up before and be in-game for fallout but when I noticed the account expiration being Dec 24th I had the perfect final tale to be told.
The remaining members of Silent Tempest should choose a new leader. I made Coila's character Getilla a "Leader" in Tempest so that you can appoint someone on the highest status. Getilla will leave after that. Try to sort it out in due time because Coila's account is likely to run out sometime mid-January.
With me out Blackdove isn't likely to return either but we prefer to see Fourth Wall keeping going even after us. The club has been handed over to Loup Garou. I don't claim to know the player. At all. But I've seen the enthusiasm with which he undertakes projects, small and large, and keeps things rolling. Loup is now in charge of the place and has the freedom to alter the rules or the decorations if he so decides. Of the IC staff Genemi will leave as well but Purple Turkey's character Half Moon aka Ernest remains. Pay him a decent wage, Loup! 
The imprisoned members of Hand of Andros will remain imprisoned. If someone wants to interact with them I'm reachable through Tempest forum and MSN. Nightingale remains at large so if someone wants to bring her in, get in touch. The more peaceful members will vanish from the sight. There will be no further trouble from any of them.
The plot I had in mind about clearing up the origins of the so called Tempest Virus will remain unsolved unless someone wants to run the plot. I can give the details that I had in mind.
I will do two more updates on Union Wiki for the featured characters but after that it's up to someone else. I hope you enjoyed my brief stint on that prominent feature.
[u]After CoH[u]
I know there's scarce few other things that are inevitable beside death and taxes and it's safest to say "never" but for now I do not expect to come back to this game. I may but it's best not to wait or bet money on it.
Currently I don't think I'll be going directly to another game. WoW could not interest me less. Lotro is the same, even if I liked the books (and mocked the movies). SWG is my first MMO love but the cursed NGE is still in effect and I recently read a compilation of "all the lies that SOE told us" and it was a harsh reminder never to hand a cent to that company again. I've heard good things about EVE but never tried it. Maybe I will.
I have a respectable back log of tv series and movies from the last few years and also several hundred unread SF books in my shelves. May be I tackle those. Or write the book that I have had floating in my head for years, do it in my native language and see if I can put a good 'new weird' spin on it. Who knows, it might even sell.
I hope this clears most / all of the questions that some of you might have had regarding unfinished matters.
Have fun out there saving the lives and look good while doing it! As Strato says, "ROCK ON, HEROES!"
((Coile, I wish you and Dove all the best with all my heart. It's been a fun ride, mate and I wouldn't of missed the parts Jay & I were involved in for the World. Take care of yourself and live well. 
))
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
I'll miss you man. Take care.
So long Coile and Blackdove. We never really got around to interacting IC, but I know lots of others enjoyed your plots and stuff and I know you'll be missed. I wish you both well for the future!
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
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RP wise, im busy fixing up Lunk's stuff (licence, pregnancy, the hunt)
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Lunk's pregnant?
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lol, no, beccy is, and it IS twins.