Sure we know "Who"... but "HOW?!"

And after a rushed visit to the lavatory in his Sanctum of Solitude, he cringes when he realized what he 'went' in and flushed down was actually the sole source of the Well of Furies.

With all incarnate powers suddenly gone from the universe, States is promptly slaughtered by the enraged masses of players...

...Is it wrong that I wish for this to actually happen?

Would I get lynched if I did a demorecord of States buying it to the soundtrack of Harley Quinn playing "Amazing Grace" on the kazoo? (Especially if Recluse is the one giving the eulogy?)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Dark_Respite's Farewell Video: "One Last Day"
THE COURSE OF SUPERHERO ROMANCE CONTINUES!
Book I: A Tale of Nerd Flirting! ~*~ Book II: Courtship and Crime Fighting - Chap Nine live!
MA Arcs - 3430: Hell Hath No Fury / 3515: Positron Gets Some / 6600: Dyne of the Times / 351572: For All the Wrong Reasons
378944: Too Clever by Half / 459581: Kill or Cure / 551680: Clerical Errors (NEW!)

No, no. It was Miss Scarlet, in the bedroom, with the candlestick. <_< >_>

Oh, please do. I'm grinning about it already.

Hey I like that.

...Nemesis is secretly Brad Jones?

I've always played with the idea that Statesman will kill Recluse in anger, and then have a mental breakdown. Unable to accept the fact that he, Statesman, has killed his best friend, he decides that he MUST be Lord Recluse instead.

Marcus Cole becomes Lord Recluse, leading Arachnos in their invasion of Paragon. And when your villain goes forward in time and beats down the future's Lord Recluse, what you bring back is proof that the REAL Recluse is dead by then.

So, Recluse tries to avert that by having you take down Statesman in this time.

I was thinking more along the lines of what is suggested at the end of Twinshot's storyline, that Praetoria is actually Primal Earth's future rather than an alternate dimension.

- Berry temporarily losing his powers (SSA #1) could cause untold damage to his sanity.
- Tammy Arcanus being forced to make a deal with villains to save her father (SSA #2) could make her realize that such deals can actually be profitable.
- A nuke going off on Primal Earth (SSA #3) could unleash Hamidon's wrath.
- Miss Liberty's murder (SSA #3) is at least partially attributed to Duncan due to her involvement with Malaise.
- Malaise harming Tilman's body (SSA #4) might force her to take over Aurora.
- Sinclair's paranoia (SSA #4) is getting out of hand.
- Marcus Cole killing Lord Recluse (SSA #5?) could make him decide to throw away the burden of his ideals.
- Calvin Scott's story being partially retconned (Ouroboros flashback) could mean his marriage to Aurora might be ficticious.

I'm sensing a pattern, that's all ^_^

Interesting theory, but I'm afraid several facts about Praetoria make it an impossibility. Spoilers follow.

- Praetorian Stefan Richter was killed before (possibly from the mustard gas in the Great War) or immediately following (the gas was the reason they looked for the Well, after all) his and Cole's empowerment by the Well of the Furies. Regardless, he never became Lord Recluse, never usurped Arachnos from The Weaver, and never conquered the Etoile Islands/Rogue Isles.
- The Carnival of Light has never been known as the Carnival of Shadows. Vanessa DeVore was never corrupted by Giovanna Scaldi's soul, nor is she the all-controlling, central figure of the Carnival of Light like her Primal counterpart is.
- The Praetorian version of the Midnighter Club was destroyed from within when Diabolique decided to enslave a majority of its members souls for her own use, including her father's. Several members of Croatoan society, including Percy Winkley and the War Witch, have alternate persona and were never known as heroes.
- Primal Penelope Yin spends her days convincing up-and-coming heroes to save her daddy, while being rescued from the Rikti by Heroes of the City. Praetorian Penelope Yin is a broken girl, spending her days convincing rising members within the Resistance to save all the people and teddy bears in Mirror Kingdom, while her father plays the opposite role in attempting to free her from Tilman's control. Yet both characters are, at least visually, the same age.
- Lord Nemesis doesn't exist, nor ever existed, in Praetorian history. As a result, the Rikti War does not exist in Praetorian history either. Interestingly enough, neither does the Lady Grey.

There are plenty of other contradictions, but you get the point. Praetoria is and always has been an alternate reality. Where the timeline deviation first occurred between the Primal and Praetorian Earths is more difficult to pin down, however.

All of which could be explained with creative use of cloning and brainwashing, which is something we've already seen Emperor Cole do, Col. Duray and Calvin Scott being prime examples of it. But you're absolutely right, it's a really wacky idea...

... Unless you consider two more facts, Ouroboros (the snake that eats itself) and the old, retconned Praetoria (with goatee Tyrant sitting on a throne of skulls).

Let's make a mental exercise, and assume that Primal Earth will eventually coalesce into pre-retcon Praetoria, meaning Tyrant ruling with an iron fist and essentially wiping out all life in the planet. In that future, an unknown time-traveller will come into the conclusion that this terrible outcome is all Nemesis' fault, and proceeds to go back in time and kill Gerhardt Eisenstadt in the 19th century. A new reality is instantly created, and all evidence of the old Primal reality ceases to exist, except in the fading memories of Montague Castanella.

The butterfly effect ripples through the past, settling down as a very different world where Marcus Cole was never adopted by Stefan and Monica Ritcher's father, and thus never adquired his adopted father's strong sense of morality. Instead, Cole relied on his street smarts to survive on the streets, being forced to witness, and perform, countless questionable deeds that hardened his personality. After WWI, when he drank from the Well of Furies, instead of a champion a vigilante arose, one just as committed to bringing about a better world as Primal Statesman, only willing to use methods the former would never have considered. Nukes, Hami, and Nova Praetoria is born.

Eventually, a group of Praetorian metahumans lead by the ramblings of Montague Castanella will come to the conclusion that someone is messing around with time, and track down the focal point in the 19th century, where they prevent some hapless civilian named Gerhardt Eisenstadt from being killed by an unknown time-traveller. With the Prussian Prince left alive to grow up and becoming Nemesis, Praetorian reality collapses again, and Primal reality takes over once more.

We're back at the beginning, however, and Primal Earth's future will inevitably lead to goatee Tyrant, which will cause the unknown time-traveller to go back to the 19th century and murder Nemesis, which will recreate Emperor Cole's Nova Praetoria, and so forth. Ouroboros, the snake that eats itself.

Only one thing can save us from this endless time-loop, and that is figuring out who exactly it is that is making sure we remain trapped inside the loop. Do we trust Mender Silos? Do we trust the mysterious letter writer?

Just saying ^_^

That's what he wants you to think. After all, it is all just a Nemesis plot