One question I have is what reaction to you envisage coming from the Carnival on our Earth? Would they be working with this alternative Carnival or would they be opposed to them and involved in a kind of Circus themed Civil War? 
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
In the game, generally, villain groups that meet up with their other-dimensional equivalents tend to band together. The big thing about the Carnies, though, is that they're a personality cult centred around DeVore. As such, I can much more easily see it coming out as a Carnival civil war. It might, in fact, be one of the good investigation points for heroes (or villains) looking for an in. Carnies have been attacking each other, why?
*nods* That was pretty much what I was thinking. Finding burnt out circus tents and broken masks could be a fun way figure out someone is targetting the Carnival of Shadows, but not why.
One additional aside, seeing as the Carnival is very much connected via their masks, I can see a world ruled by them as being quite faceless. By that I mean that everyone in their world is forced to wear masks, which prevents anyone from knowing who is part of the Carnival and who is part of the Audience.
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
Well, a shadowy invasion from another dimension tells me that Bureau 17 would like to intervene, while on the invading side I can offer an alternate version of Edgar "Captain Maximus" Suarez as a bit-part Strongman. 
Knights Exemplar: Wolfram, Autumnfox, Starlit Spirit.
Militia: The Portent, Wavekite, Mr. Sandman.
The Cadre: WarpLocke, Zajin.
Numerous others.
This sounds like an awesometfaboulistic (that's a word now) idea. Would enjoy joining in.
...Was about to type no idea as to who as, but. Idea. You mentioned assimilating other groups...I get the feeling a Harlequin style (assimilated) Knife of Artemis would be fun. Alternate version of my assassin, that is.
Think that'd be okay?
i do like the idea, couple of thoughts, the carnies are all basic humans, so how would you handle mutants and characters clearly not standard human pattern ? and given the carnies powers how will you handle characters with non powerset related, ie concept based, mind defences?
Sounds awesome.
Brawling Cactus from a distant planet.
First, questions!
Quote:
Yep! Carnie-Earth is in a position where most if not all of the villian groups have been stamped out, assimilated, or pushed to the point where they're little better than a small street gang, on the run from their ren-faire overlords.|
...Was about to type no idea as to who as, but. Idea. You mentioned assimilating other groups...I get the feeling a Harlequin style (assimilated) Knife of Artemis would be fun. Alternate version of my assassin, that is. Think that'd be okay? |
Quote:
| i do like the idea, couple of thoughts, the carnies are all basic humans, so how would you handle mutants and characters clearly not standard human pattern ? and given the carnies powers how will you handle characters with non powerset related, ie concept based, mind defences? |
And concept based psi-defence would depend on how that's plotted. Someone with training could very easily have just never had that training, mutants would probably join, be on the run, or be dead, that sort of thing.
Okay, I have a few ideas for the Carnie-Earth aesthetic.
In the first vision of their world, the influence of the Carnival is thick and heavy. This is a very cinematic design, the world is covered in big tops and tents, and lanterns, torches and spotlights are the only source of illumination as sunlight weakly struggles through metre after metre of solid canopies of bunting and leftover party streamers. The few people who aren't members of the Carnival are either fully aware they're only being left alive until DeVore grows hungry again, or are too deep in drug or alcohol fuelled haze from the latest "party" they barely escaped alive from to notice. The heroes here would be arriving in streets of buildings converted into funhouses or theatres under the perpetual twilight of the big top. It'd be a very alien, creepy sort of place, and definitely under the "obviously evil" tag.
The second vision is a world that, to the surface, looks like ours. Maybe more like Praetoria. People go around their daily business, the trains run on time, and there are just as many celeb gossip columns in the magazines. Only, in this world, the businesses are all owned by rich playboys who are all eager to listen to some pretty young thing in a white porcelain mask. The trains are all scheduled and arranged by a man who comes home to his mistress, a raven-haired illusionist hovering through the satin-covered walls of their home. Every single piece of gossip has been tacitly approved by the magazine's "publishing advisor", a woman who none of them can quite remember the name of, but who all of them trust implicitly. In this world, people generally believe they're in a world exactly like the main Paragon, only behind the the door, every vital service, function, and mass media opinion is being controlled by DeVore's cult of personality.
The last idea is something of a mix between the two, and implies more of a world where the Carnies recently took over, full scale. The heroes who arrive here would be easily fooled into thinking that they're in Paragon, just in the middle of Mardi Gras, and they aren't technically wrong. When DeVore came onto everyone's televisions and proudly announced her newfound control of the world, she ordered a celebration be held. Everywhere. All the time. The Mardi Gras the people are celebrating has been going on for years. The people take shifts between resting, working to keep the party going, and periods of forced joviality during which the Carnies take their pick of the souls available, and particularly bright or strong people they see are brought in to join their ranks.
I like number two
Also, the Carniebubble Harlequin Troupe is ready to invade, though their true allegiance will depend on whether its CarnieBubble or CarnieMental running the show.
Carnie!Dusk has her cossie And I'm working on background/personality, as little as I need to do.
For the record, her mask is supposed to be completely blank...did as best I could >.>
Oh, and like Primal Dusk, she's an assassin, for when it comes up.
Here are some of the costumes so far, courtesy of Bubble, Kallandra and Echo 13.
The pictures were taken from Echo 13's PC, as I don't have a good track record with good graphics settings, so thanks for that, Echo, and thanks for standing still long enough for him to take the pics, Kall and Bubble!
EDIT:
And now, courtesy of Tyger's screenshot taking skills and Crimson1, Bubble, Nitro v. IV, Kiken, Kallandra and Crimson Commonwealth for standing still and coming up with the awesome costumes.
Clarifications, proposals, and an idea I've bandied on URP.
Firstly, a clarification. You don't need a psychic character and they don't need to be kidnapped to be part of the plot. The plot will be leading to the eventual conflict between the Carnies and denizens of Primal Earth. We need people to play for the home team, too!
Secondly, most people seem to be in favour of a mix of ideas 2 and 3, that the Carnies are somewhat mysterious, but omnipresent and are viewed as benevolent. The Carnival world is free of most serious crime, and everyone's international relationships are good, because ultimately everything is controlled by DeVore. And they celebrate with parties. Weeks-long festivals with downtime during which people get on with their peaceful lives. And people who're disruptive, who don't fit in, or just refuse to have fun vanish during the revels... The Carnival's psychic network is a lot stronger here, filling most people with a sort of generic feeling of goodwill towards the mysterious women in porcelain masks and helps everyone get down at the parties. For people staying for any length of time, one of the challenges would be resisting the feelings themselves and not ending up as another happy Carnie-Earth citizen.
The third idea, that I bandied around on URP today, involves the idea of a menagerie kept by the Carnies, possibly in the sewers or in secret rooms in buildings. Mutants, aliens, other weird "things" that the Carnival finds would be thrown in here. Ones with useful powers would be made to work to keep their abilities useful. Other mutants or oddities would end up as a behind-the-scenes freakshow to be prodded, laughed at, and ooed and aaah'd over. I think this could be a great source of allies for the psychics, and could also give light to some creepy scenes if the Primals stumble into it by accident.
As a rough outline for how the plot will take place, I propose this. Obviously, at all points players could drive things in different ways, so really, take this as "assuming everything goes to plan":
1. The Carnies move from their world to ours, kidnapping some of their doubles to serve as stores of information, amusements, and emergency rations.
2. Carnies take the places of the people they kidnap. URP suggests this be done with a PM sent to me, for witch-hunting, "who can you trust?" fun later down the line. If there are objections to this feel free to voice them, though. At this point, the people kidnapped are stuck in the Carniverse, captives of the Carnival of Shadows in their own world.
3. Infiltration and sabotage occurs, along with the moving of Carnie-Earth people into Primal. Primal Earth's Carnival notices this and the skirmishes break out. At this point, some people have broken free on Carnie-Earth and would be trying to find their way home.
4. Hero investigations time! There is now mounting evidence that things are Going On. Some villains would also be investigating, I imagine. The investigations could be helped by some of the psychics who do escape.
5. Carnie Earth invades, having realised they're compromised and attacking before significant opposition can mount. Primals fight back, and most likely succeed since they're our protagonists here. The psychics could be rescued here, if they haven't escaped yet, or...
6. Counter-invasion is launched. This'd be a "maybe" depending on how the plot goes, even more so that the other bits, since I can easily see the argument for just being alert. However, if some psychics are still there, a rescue mission might be more likely.
Large update, so please don't hold back on opinions.
If you need kidnap victims, i am happy to offer up Mr Orn, he is a behind the scene, secret type that even his co worker know little about, so he would not be hard to replace, i can provide in depth back story stuff if you pick him.
For saving the world hero side i offer either Whisper, a co-worker of Orn's, or my psychic clown, who at least should look right..
For the carnie side, any one have an idea of how to make a Strongman cossie, mostly helmet wise.. i do have a couple of free slots to make some badguys, and with advanced warning i can 2 box.
Am I right in assuming, using the Primal Earth Carnival as the base model here, that the Carnival-Earth society would be a Matriarchy? Perhaps even a Psychiarchy (society where status is based on level of psychic abilities)?
It might also be quite cool if their are Captial Carnivals, similar to Captial Cities, and the further out from them you get the less circus-y everything feels. Primal Earth characters crossing over into Carnival Earth might notice less differences until they start to travel closer to the Capitals.
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
Hello people, I thought I'd pop in to say I've developed a movement bind for people who want to be illusionists, which you can download via this elegant and hand-crafted link.
1. Extract all the files to C:\binds\carniefly
2 .Enter CoH and type /bind_load_file C:\binds\carniefly\powers.txt
You'll need to have hover for them to work. What will happen is when you press tilde (well, what the Americans think it tilde) you will switch to Carnie Mode.
Now whenever you move using the WASD keys hover will automatically turn on (if it isnt on already). You can then enter the rather cool looking villain stance 2 by pressing z (once youve stopped moving completely). Even better, for very small adjustements to your position, villain stance 2 will automatically activate (mostly, you might need to press z anyway).
To revert to normal, just press tilde again.
Also, Kornak.
Strongmen.
This message brought to you by Sarcasm. Accept no substitutes.
9/13 - Never Forget.
8/31 - Never Forget even more.
Quote:
I like this idea. Maybe Portal Corp have found this dimension, but don't realise something is amiss because they arrive in the sticks, then the Carnival happens upon one of their expeditions, interrogates them, then sends their duplicates back to investigate Primal Earth, thus kicking off the whole debacle?
|
Originally Posted by Crimson_Archer_EU
It might also be quite cool if their are Captial Carnivals, similar to Captial Cities, and the further out from them you get the less circus-y everything feels. Primal Earth characters crossing over into Carnival Earth might notice less differences until they start to travel closer to the Capitals.
|
The idea also goes very well with the concept of a recently turned Earth that doesn't really get that the Carnival is bad yet. It lets them have a base, nearby to everything, and everyone would overlook it due to the network's effect on them. Everyone knows there are Carnies, but everyone just thinks they're nice, clever folks with slightly weird, if awesome, fashion sense.
Another variation on the Carnie Capital idea that struck me as I woke is that there could be only one. But it moves. Each town would have it's troupe of Carnies (or several, in larger cities) who would keep things running nicely. Towns would be very normal (apart from how peaceful and nice they are) with the troupe perhaps using an old warehouse for their own small parties. However...
When Vanessa DeVore's traveling Carnival-Captial hits town, the whole place becomes one huge party for a couple of weeks, before they move on to the next place. Leaving the townsfolk to get over their hangovers, quietly celebrate those lucky few who have been chosen to go with the carnival and then get back to their busy and productive lives.
It just struck me that it would play to the whole nomadic circus theme as well as fit with the hardly noticeable at a glance idea.
However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator
Oooh yes, i do like that idea Kiken, the travelling asspect lends itself to so many options, and makes following the trail very interesting.
Yep, officially LOVE that idea, Kiken! 
Might make for an interesting finale too, when the Carnival-Captial crosses over onto Primal Earth and all (circus themed) hell breaks loose!!
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
New recruits
Should of stuck around with Mister Mussleini but it was food time.
Brawling Cactus from a distant planet.
one Strongman created and deployed to Redside...
I really like some of the costumes. Nice ones there, Bubble.
However; Stop sappin' mah War! D= It's hard enough with AE broken as it is!!
(
kiddin')
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
|
This is planning and discussion area for my proposed Carnival Earth Invasion plot. I've proposed this to the URP channel, and it seemed to get a warm reception, which has passed my "need proof it's not just my crazy idea" threshold. I am, therefore, going to actually have a go at running it.
Before I go any further, I should probably also note that next week, from this weekend onwards, I am much, much more likely to be available to Email, which I can PM you, or on there here forums, because I'm really not sure what I'll be getting in terms of internet for at least a little while.
The basic idea sprang to me after some discussion of alternate Earth’s where the psychics of Paragon are the Ring Mistresses of Carnie Earth. The idea would be that Carnival Earth would be trying to take over Primal Earth, and the psychics of Primal would be their first target, to be replaced with their Carnie doubles. This would serve as groundwork for a proper Carnie-Earth invasion of Primal, with wacky hijinks doubtless ensuing as people meet their circus-themed doubles.
The obvious addition to this, and a facet which was overlooked, is that the Carnival don't just have psychics. Characters who are brawlers or SS tankers could easily slot in as Strongmen doubles. The second thought is that in a world where the Carnival have taken over, they would most likely have absorbed and assimilated other groups as well in the process, a la the Carnival of Light in Praetoria. I'm seeing a Spider's Web Troupe full of what, in another world, are Soldiers of Arachnos, instead being macarbe-themed acrobats and freakshow performers, or a Taleteller's Guild of what remains of Oranbegans and the blood of the Mu. In short, an easily adapted other world. It would ideally still have a majority of women in bustiers and men in iron masks though.
A closing thought would be towards the nature of the eventual invasion. I would imagine that it would be more of a slow infiltration, with the Carnies taking the places of people in our world and ensnaring others with subtle sorcery, then the slow moving of groups of troops in under the cover of new circus acts before a shadow war is fought across the city. This could do for some good "who's been compromised?" witchhunt type drama, some "trapped in another world" drama for the people who have been kidnapped, and eventual action packed scenes to close. Since it's the Carnival, it'd be very easy to get lots of theatrics involved, as well.
So, any comments, questions, suggestions or criticisms? I'm primarily interested in making this an entertaining event, so please do pitch any and all ideas!