**Spoilers** Why Not Revive Statesman With A Ritual?

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Just- I mean, original thread subject.

I'm on the fence regarding why Statesman can't be brought back, and about his death in general. As mentioned many times before, the devs have been somewhat quiet about the whole thing (apart from the fact that it was going to happen, which I find a little suspicious).

What comes to mind specifically would be something brought up within the first few issues of the comics, which is that ressurecting on the spot has a time limit.

When Statesman dies the first time around, Manticore brings him to Numina, who claims he's too far gone to bring back. Manticore then kills himself to personally drag Statesman's soul back from the brink of eternal peace (it's also here that Statesman snaps at him for not letting him rest, though, Manticore was the one to kill him in the first place, so aggression wasn't a surprise).

On another note, it's explained that Incarnates can't be killed by traditional means, and with Wade planning for so long, it can also be assumed he covered his bases when it came down to the goody-two-shoes heroes coming in hot on his heels. Perhaps Wade, who does pride himself on his immense arcane knowledge, is aware of the time limit, and chose to make the heroes fight Ruladaak's avatar to keep them busy while Statesman slips away.

If you really want to push it, though, it can also be said that, perhaps he had no option to not die. The ritual in question wasn't just to take the powers away, but to use that power to kill the original owner. With Statesman not having any superpowers other than his Incarnate powers, it was a Zeus powered blast hitting a bog standard human being. To that extent, perhaps the vision of his wife Monica was a part of a rapid progression through the stages of grief; a delusion to allow him to accept his death before he stops breathing.

Again, this is pushing it, but still possible. Only barely though.

In regards to the ressurrecting ritual used in that honestly terrible arc in the D? That has to be taken in two ways.

If the heroes tried it before the Red Widow incident, then it's likely that, as stated before, Statesman shook his head and politely declined (possible character based reasons to this I'll put forward later). The Conduit's explaination holds true, and the ritual fails due to the target saying no.

If done afterward, it's essentially the same story, with another possibility. In the story arc, Red Widow is a little... 'unstable' upon returning to the world of the living, requiring to go and get Cupid's bow and his last existing arrow to calm her down enough to think logically.

With the arrow possibly broken upon use (though those things are so damn blunt and sturdy, it's not so much an arrow as a rock on an iron rod) and with Statesman's love being back in the afterlife, there'd be little to calm him down if he does go crazy.

Those are my two cents on how, I guess I can take a crack at why.

In my opnion, and if I'm brutally honest, Statesman hasn't been the most well written of characters, both in the game and in the comics. His personality varies based on different things. In the comics, he was an all business, no nonsense, can't crack a smile if he tried hero, often talking down to the rest of the Phalanx. In other comics, he was fairly pleasant, and seen as a good friend and equal in many others, sharing hugs and the such. In the game, it varies a lot too. Sometimes he's really nice, others he's a little timid, and the rest of the time, it's hard to judge how far up the stick is. Sure, it's good to have a character who's capable of hitting the entire spectrum, but it's hard to judge what he'd do when he mentally jumps around a lot of the time.

In the story arc, Ms. Liberty tells you that the two of them have a rather heated arguement at Alexis' funeral, with Statesman flying off in a huff afterward. Next mission, he's cool, collected, and willing to stand by his personal morals even when facing the guy who's just killed his daughter. Doesn't help the fact that he was walking into an obvious trap, but that's a whole other story.

All of this makes it difficult, for me at least, to judge what is exactly in character for Statesman, though I'm pretty sure the 'no killing' thing has been a part of it through all itterations. It just seems a little inconsistent is all.

What gets me about the whole thing is that he was killed off in the middle of the arc. I would have accepted Kurrent's interpretation, despite the fact that it wouldn't have come to light, seeing as the players would be forced to watch instead of interact.

Knowing that, by the superhero law of physics 'no hero or heroine stays dead for long', chances are, Statesman may come back. When that is, we don't know, regardless of whether it will or not (though, he may of used his 'get out of death free' card already).

One thing Prometheus explains in Ouroborous is that when an entity dies, their power is taken to the Well, to be given to the next thing found worthy of its power. If the thing that died returns to life, the power they lost will immediately be given back to them upon returning to the world of the living.

Wade broke the rules on that. I'm under the impression that the Well will not be happy about this, and will try to intervene (unless, of course, Wade's actions exploited a loop hole in the plot, but that's yet to be seen).

It's understandable about what it's designed to do. Statesman was to Paragon as Superman is to DC. Game world wise, the indestructable Statesman was, well, indestructable. Essentially, on the good guy team, he's meant to be the top rung in power. He's been the face of the game, and gone toe to toe with the likes of Reichsman and Lord Recluse, enemies that are astonishingly powerful. Someone so strong falling to someone as relatively unknown as Darrin Wade is meant to provide shock, induce a feeling of lost hope. However, we're stronger than Statesman by that point. As stated by the devs, reaching Level 50 switches the roles around; no longer do we call on the Freedom Phalanx, they call on us. Perhaps another reason why Statesman is so comfortable being dead is that he can finally recognise this, and has total confidence in us. Whether that confidence is misplaced is another story entirely.

Anyway, that's what I make of the whole thing. Perhaps I'm wrong, but at this point, I'm just wondering if Sister Psyche is gonna survive what Wade throws at her in the next instalment.

I think that Statesman's death could have been written better than it was.

What I don't know is how much the game mechanics inhibited what the Devs might have wanted to do to give Statesman a proper sendoff.

Would most of the people who played the game be happy if Statesman had died saving their character from death at the hands of Darrin Wade?

Does the game mechanics permit a scene where Statesman staggers through a barrage of power from Wade and delivers a punch that knocks him down before finally expiring?

Personally, I kind of like the idea of Wade being able to steal Statesman's powers, but the Player Characters manage to step in to save-- perhaps inadvertently Redside-- Marcus's life.

Then the next two episodes would play off blueside with our heroes attempting to help a depowered Marcus-- who's perhaps a Dual Pistol/Street Justice character-- get his powers back. By the end of the last episode age would have caught up with the now-mortal Marcus who sacrifices his change to regain his power in order for that power to be used to stave off disaster-- either to save the life of Ms. Liberty or-- better still-- temporarily empower the Player Character with enough energy to prevent the Rularuu from invading Primal Earth once more.

That way the Devs get to kill Statesman, Marcus gets a heroic sendoff, and the Player Character gets to be important.

I look at how this thread went from "use the ritual to bring Statesman back" to debates about godmodding, players stomping all over canon stories, and fan fiction, and I wonder how to tie it all together.


So...

Quote:

... Still reeling from witnessing the loss of statesman, Chase paused mid-ritual, wondering... not for the first time... whether it was right to bring back such a ruthless assassin while leaving such a champion of the world dead. Fighting back these doubts, he raised his hand over the ritual circle and released the last two obols. Watching them fall, one last terrible thought runs through his mind.... And so it was that Statesman's soul was brought back into the world of the living.... ...and placed into the body of the Red Widow.

Realizing that he HAD to cover up the mistake somehow, Chase used the Cupid arrow to stop Stateswidow from spilling the beans.

I now leave that thought in the hands of all the fanfiction writers, canon specialists, and roleplayers out there out there. What happens next? does it qualify as slashfiction? Was the arrow even needed to bring those lovestruck kids together? Imagine the possibilities of a "Course of a superVILLAIN romance" book, then curse me for bringing it up.