Your NPCs

It occurred to me one day that plenty of the characters that make my character lore aren't actually ones that I play. Some are enemies that appear in AE arcs only, while others are just NPCs or extra people that have positions in lore that are not other heroes/villains.

Sometimes you just need to have that extra person to add more depth to the character, or a nemesis so evil (/good?) that you can't play them and just have to make them a character that your antagonist has to fight. Maybe it's a regular contact that you have for AE arcs.

So, what are your guys' NPCs? I'll post up mine later.

I actually have a hard time with making NPCs because I eventually find some reason to play them, or lose the interest because I know I can't play them the way I'd like, or have the intention to retcon them if that one powerset comes along to make them playable.

The biggest example I have of the first point is my detective character, Gumption. He was originally supposed to be an AE contact for a supergroup mission, but I fell in love with his concept (he's a mutant with adhiesive skin, hence the name) and his written dialogue... and it, well, stuck.

If anything, he does get less screentime than some of my more dedicated characters, and usually to fill that "contact"or bridging role for other toons (mine and others included), but I can't find myself not playing him, now.


For the last point, I have another AE mission featuring a villian with duplication powers. ... I think it's still published, but it's not that good. :P

A lot of NPCs tend to be friends, relatives, minor heroes, children, partners, when it comes to writing and roleplaying my characters.

Rushmore has his 'Cavalcade of Villainy' from back home in South Dakota. That includes CSA fangirl and empowered hero Confederacy Caroline, the man who inflicts 'why bother?' on his enemies Captain Apathy, crazed mastermind Ad Liberace, the four armed Communist Manyfisto and his eye-beam blasting partner in crime Red Glare, the easily angered by minor details Bridezilla, urban superthief and archer Robbin' Hoods, fallen basketball player and singer mutant Slamfunk, and the healing witch queen of the seas Sovereign Pacific.

For the longest time I wanted to make my own special enemy groups and share them with other players, they were The Black Cats Gang and the Thule Society.

Thule society was designed to be sort of a dark(er) counterpart to the Midnighters and Legacy Chain, in the case of the elementalists of the group, they even used the elements the Legacy didn't (Ice, Lightning/wind, and Dark to LC's light, fire, and earth), and in my mind I think that these guys, in canon, would have been a great villain version of the midnighters for players to work with. They would even send you to Cimerora to fight the Fifth Column because, the Thule Society got backstabbed by the Nazis in the Night of Long Knives historically, so these guys would be horribly hateful of the Column.

Black Cats Gang was mostly just to make a semi-low to mid-level all female gang who had (mew mew) style and grace, but also a bit of a visceral, feral pride streak to them that both defined and sort of kept them in line with groups like Hellions, Skulls, Warriors, Family, and Tsoo. Plus I wanted an excuse to have a boss that used DP/MA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

At least for the purposes of my characters' bios, which is all most people know about them, I try to avoid making references to NPCs. Descriptions that rely heavily on alts/SG-mates/NPCs that nobody's ever heard of create a barrier to entry and prevent readers from understanding the full story. Far better to use established characters that the audience can instantly relate to.

Alright, I have three NPCs that are really worth noting. All of them pertain to an AE arc that pertains to my first character.

First is Natasha. She is a Crey Vigilant that was re-skinned to have a blue suit and skirt. Natasha handles incidents in concerning Crey by acting as a liaison between Crey and super-heroes, recruiting them to take care of manners that capes would normally oblige to. She really doesn't have that big of a role, except to act as a contact to the AE arc and all forseeable AE arcs I make in the future.


Second is the first "antagonist" of my series, Van' Ruhle.

At an astounding 8 feet tall, this guy is the secret inner demon that occupies my first toon. Van' Ruhle is an interdimensional astral being with a very peculiar trait: He's heavily dependent on the observer effect. His body takes form dependent on who is observing him, and likewise his power manifests in chaotic ways. Normally in space he's lucky to encounter just one person, but upon coming to Earth his power grew and corrupted him. He was fought off by another astral being, and before dying he poured himself into the nearest person to rescue himself. That person happened to be a homeless blind girl who gained super powers the next day that were eerily suited to her.

As to whom he was fighting, well, that is another creature that wanders space but otherwise has NOTHING in common with whom she fought. That would be Nim Nerathim.

Now, Nimmy here has the ability to glean zero-point energy from changes in potential differences of the fabric of the universe, giving her near limitless power. She is capable of detecting "potential" with those feelers of hers, which allows her to find focal points of hypothetical abstraction. Earth is a big collection of potential, so she frequents it a lot. She instinctively acts in a manner to preserve diversity, which can be both a help or a hindrance to superheroes. Upon meeting Van' Ruhle, she instinctively sought to kill it. She still does. Highly curious, Nim likes to play dumber than she actually is. She doesn't have as much of a critical plot point in any of my AE arcs, but nonetheless she exists.

My family trees, mostly. Grandparents, parents, and kids, who wouldn't be viable as heroes, but my characters would be a lot weaker without them.

I had originally intended to leave the Unquiet Bride's "other half" as a behind-the-scenes NPC... just your average, run of the mill Death Mage... But I ended up wanting to play with another defender around that time, and Dark seemed as good a choice as any. So, the Nemissary ended up a player character.

Anteros' Praetorian human girlfriend, Semnai, is similar. She started out as an NPC (A psychic who was co-opted into the Seer program, which prompted Teri to join the Resistance and go looking for her) before she became a regular part of my crew. (She's a Psi blaster "former" Seer possessed by her own Apparition these days. With a bit of a grudge against Mother. )

Grey Kestrel's Mu adept partner, Red Cardinal, is another one who worked out that way. He only existed in "NPC pet form" until I decided I wanted an Electrical dom. He's still mostly around in pet form, since I ended up not being as fond of the set as I'd hoped.

Other side-line NPCs don't ever get the PC treatment. Palrah, Ty and Ash have adoptive human parents, since they were very young when they came to Primal Earth... They're a pair of Portal Corp dimensional researchers.

Mister Bibbles and Mister Mistoffolees, my two rival cat-boys, are both NPC spell-caster's familiars. Bibbles belongs to a Cabal witch named Beatrice and Meff belongs to a Legacy Chain sorcerer named Hong.

Surruna has a Preatorian scientist friend who works for Vanguard. She was indended to be sort-of a mirror-universe version of Naylor.

Steam Monk's owner and sifu is an elderly priest and retired kung fu master named Enlai. The robot was originally built by engineer and would-be power-armored hero Tao Tiger as a helper and bodyguard for the old fellow. He's her grandfather. Both Tao and Enlai are NPCs.

While I'm not a roleplayer, I do have a number of such "supporting" characters. In the following list, I'm including only characters who appear in more than one bio or AE arc and whose appearances in each one of those can be understood without knowing about the rest of my "player cannon." All the following characters appear only in bio text or, in a couple cases, in AE missions, either by mention or appearance as a contact or other NPC.

Radiant Aurelius, a Legacy Chain Radiant of Light, is the uncle of Zachary Aurelius, a.k.a. my hero, Sidereal Knight. The Radiant appears in both Sidereal Knight's bio and an AE arc. Sidereal Knight is a reluctant mage (he's an astronomer by profession) and reluctant hero, and since his parents are both deceased, his uncle is described as his mentor in the mystic arts. Aurelius was officially assigned by the Legacy Chain to monitor problems related to Dark Astoria. (For use of him in this role, see the AE arc, "The Key and Chain.") Given the current upheaval there, I imagine he's gone missing, and Sidereal Knight is probably looking for him while working on those difficult DA incarnate missions.

Eros, Psyche, and Aphrodite, the god and goddesses from Greco-Roman myth and Apuelius's writings, are the father, mother, and adoptive grandmother of my hero, Kid Eros, and his older sister, the rogue Maiden Bliss. They are mentioned in the appropriate bios.

The Agitator is a nineteenth century villain mentioned in the biographies of several of my Victorian-themed characters. Rather than a frontline fighter, like a player Mastermind, he is a "mastermind" in the more traditional sense of a manipulator behind the scenes. He can apparently create seemingly impossible technology, such as the steam-powered battle suits worn by my villain, Industrial Revolt, and my hero, Particular Lad, and he has some kind of power related to time travel. Not only has he sent at least one character through time; he has already successfully altered history by such deeds as doing away with the existence of Paragon City's original age of heroes in the 1800's, the Constitutional Tsardom of All the Russias, and possibly other historical developments. While his goals remain somewhat mysterious, they appear to involve promoting Communism and eliminating warfare entirely. (My characters have yet to discover his shocking identity; can you guess it, reader?)

Zoetrope, who appears in some AE arcs, is a refugee from Praetoria who leads the only known Crusader cell on Primal Earth, seeking to wipe out Longbow, the hero registration system, any number of villain groups, any Praetorian Loyalist emigres, and anyone who isn't willing to join her cause.

Jordan DeVai is the father of Oliver DeVai, who is also my heroic necromancy mastermind, Citizen Zombie. Jordan is an activist and attorney whose main goal in life is to see the Citizen Crime Fighting Act declared unconstitutional, thus putting an end to "hero violence." When Oliver's ability to communicate with the dead manifested and Oliver chose to use it as a hero, Jordan cut off all contact with him. Jordan appears in Citizen Zombie's bio and in an AE arc.

The Portal Corporation program to investigate Praetoria, while not a "character," is mentioned in several of my characters' biographies to explain the fact that they are Primal Earth characters whom I began playing in Praetoria. It seems likely that Primal Earth would send undercover agents to investigate the situation in a hostile dimension, and I decided that Portal Corp. made a less obtrusive patron than, say, Longbow or Vanguard. I also threw in a mention of this program as a minor clue in an AE arc once.

That's all I can think of offhand.