Who do we look up to now?

So with States gone, who is a shining example of all that's good? Sure we have people who we can hope to emulate in terms of power and ability, but who is the moral centre now? Who is the heart of Paragon?

States was our Superman, the guiding force, the one that, no matter how bad things got, if you as a civilian saw him arrive on the scene, you knew you were going to be saved and everything would be ok. Now, of course, there are plenty of heroes who can save the day, but there is no one person to exemplify the ideals of the heroic side.

I understand the desire to kill him off. I do. I know that with the introduction of Incarnates, we are intended to really become the pre-eminent heroes of the CoH universe. But, frankly, the game still doesn't allow it the way it would for an NPC. No matter how many pedestrians walk by and say "Character X fought the Tsoo and saved that news reporter!", we will never have our characters go accept medals from the president, or even the mayor. We'll never hold press conferences. We'll never give speeches before dozens of the next generation of heroes. We'll never stand on a dais, sharing our wisdom to help someone level up.

No matter how you might feel about Statesman as a player, the everyday people of Paragon should sleep a little (or a lot) less comfortably now.

So given that we are supposed to become the biggest and the best of all heroes, who amoung us will stand up to be a Paragon of Virtue? And will the game really allow anyone to notice, beyond a few random pedestrian remarks?

Me.

Nemesis, of course.

I kid.

The actual answer is: Blue Steel, and any other hero who agrees to submit to democracy and the rule of law by only using his or her powers against other human beings under the color of law, subject to the legal process and chain of command, any super who becomes a police officer or a soldier instead of a vigilante.

Statesman's heart was in the right place, and he loved America, but his support for the Citizen's Crime Fighting Act, and all of the horrific fallout of that catastrophic legal mistake, showed just how little he understood what America means. Replacing American government and the rule of law with an incarnate theocracy, where anyone with an FBSA rating above 40 is treated as a god, as a force of nature, instead of being treated the same way any other citizen would be treated who used force against another person, was a monstrous crime that deserves to be remembered right alongside all of the times that he saved the world.

Why Flambeaux of course.

I thought the point of all this was to remove the unreachable icon hero status from the game and give players the lead.

Adolphe Menjou.

Seriously. Adolphe Menjou had the greatest mustache of the silent film era. How can you not admire the guy?

And I was going to volunteer for the job....

Oh, well, someone beat me to it. But, honestly, would you really want the job? No downtime, never five seconds to yourself. Everywhere you go it's "can I have your autograph" or "can you get my cat out of a tree" or "pardon me, but there's a giant meteor heading our way. could you do something about that please?"

More seriously.

Statesman will still be available as an icon. Assuming that he does not return to the main game, he will become part of the game lore alongside Galaxy Girl, Dauntless, Atlas, The Illustrated Woman, the Omega Team and the other fallen heroes that are already established parts of game lore.

There will probably be statues, and days of mourning, and, eventually, a "Statesman's lost briefcase" taskforce where we get to track down the one and only reliable map to the well of the furies complete with instructions and an estimate of how much dynamite he felt was needed to get rid of the thing once and for all.

I suppose you can look up to me if you like. I'd really prefer if you just throw money.

By making sure the PC the hero in the story and not the NPCs temporary sidekick.

I say they're setting it up for Recluse to have some sort of epiphany, see the error of his evil ways and take up the mantle of his fallen friend.

The upshot of this is, of course, that we will never get Statesman's cape.

I would volunteer if I was not evil.