If you were able to sit down and actually talk to your Heroes...

..about the matter at hand. What would you say to them? How would you explain to them what is going on? How do you think they'll react?

Would they burst with flaming rage? Would they cry and cause a downpour?

Hmm... I am trying to figure out... Would it be their Paragon City, their lives and the people they protect? Or would it just be a video game and they'd be separate from that?

*Brain needs clarification!!*

Sorina Tavarisch would probably look at me for a long time, not saying anything, but with a look of resignation and sadness on her face. Then she'd go to Fort Trident, wish the Phalanx good luck, hug Positron hard enough to dent his armor, and tell Numina to take good care of him. Then most likely she'd go back to the War Zone to join Vanguard's efforts in saving Last Bastion in Praetoria, secretly hoping all the while that she'd get killed in the process.

Andrea Blake would probably just shrug and go back to partying in between her efforts in saving the world. As an Incarnate of the Netherworld, oblivion is a concept she is quite familiar with. And as far as she's concerned, every time she thought it was all over, she came back. So why should this time be any different?

Jo Sinclair (aka Mender Anomaly)... hers you'll see in my farewell video.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

"Recluse still can't have his helmet back."

so wait, you are not remaking me in hello kitty online..crushing disappointment

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

"I'm already a myth, Dave, so I'm no stranger to non-existence. Bring me back when you can so that we can kill more bad guys."

"Hey, Doctor Leo."

"What's up? Why the long face?"

"Well, you see, I have some rather bad news. You know how Rularuu devours entire dimensions? Something like that is going to happen to Paragon City in November 30th."

"Crap! Okay, I've punched aspects of Rularuu in the face before, just let me get a team ready and we'll get right on it. TURG!"

"No, Doc, sit down. This is worse than Rularuu. It's not a villain or a god doing it. The universe itself will... run out of energy, to put it some way."

"Energy? What are you talking about?"

"Well, imagine the whole universe is a program, okay, running on a computer. Then, on November 30th, they shut off the computer. What can a program inside the computer do about it?"

"Punch whoever is shutting down the computer in the face!"

"Yeah, a program inside the computer can't do that. They don't have physical form where the computer is. Their entire world is inside that computer."

"So... the thing that is going to suck the energy out of our universe... it exists in a higher dimension, and we can't reach it?"

"Basically, yes. They live in a dimension above Paragon City, above the Origin Point that created all the realities that Portal Corp has catalogued. All our realities are feed by energy that emanates from their dimension, and on November 30th, that energy will dissipate. All our realities will... well, not cease to exist. But time will freeze."

"Okay, so how do we kick time back into starting again?"

"We don't know yet. We have broadcasted a message to the entities in the higher dimension, but it's unlikely they acknowledge it. After all, we don't exist in their reality. It'd be like noticing that a bunch of ants, inside their ant colony underground, are waving protest signs. "

"Well this bites. Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm afraid not. We have a backup plan, though..."

"Oh?"

"There's some Omega level incarnates that have the power to shape new worlds. Codewalker, Guy Perfect, and others."

"Never heard of 'em."

"They don't operate at full power in Paragon City, and in fact they use multiple alter egos. Their level of power is so immense that they can't exercise it fully. But since they learned about this, they've been working on shaping a new Origin Point, with its own set of realities."

"That is... dang. That's more power than Rularuu ever had. They'll just recreate our entire multiverse?"

"Not quite... they can create the new Origin Point, with its set of realities, with all its worlds and cities... but they can't create life. Those worlds would be empty of people."

"Well, that... would totally suck. I assume the plan is to move us to that new reality, and populate it?"

"Right. They have created a giant quantum scanner, the Sentinel Extractor. It's already scanned many heroes, including you. Their essence has been stored in a higher plane, safe from the energy drain. When the new reality is ready, you'll reappear in it. You might not even notice anything changed."

"Except for a whole lot of people missing."

"Yes. They'll place us in the new reality as soon as its ready, and they'll deal with the details later."

"The details of creating a new Origin Point for a Multiverse with all its realities and worlds. Promise me I won't wake up with my eyes on my butt."

"Don't worry; the people themselves will be fine. There'll be a lot less of them, but you'll be fine. The supergroup bases, though... most of them are located in secret places, and so they will not be recreated."

"All that damn rent paid for nothing. But I guess Power of Illusion can rebuild."

"You might find there's no crime on the streets at all and the city is only populated with heroes talking to each other."

"Okay, now you're yanking my chain. Does Ms. Liberty serve margaritas in that Utopia world you're thinking about?"

"Maybe! I'll ask Codewalker about it. But no, I'm serious. Recreating an entire multiverse of realities takes time. They won't bother populating it with all the villain groups until they know it can take it."

"So, I'm getting a vacation from crimefighting starting November 30th, then?"

"Pretty much. November 30th will come, and then... well, I don't know when. But at some point, you'll be in a new reality, and I'll let you know how much time it passed since ours ceased to exist."

"Okay. Well, November 30th is still a ways away, and I promised Medi-Kat to help her with a Task Force tonight. So, I better go get ready."

"Sounds good. Keep fighting the good fight, Doc!"

"Will do!"

heh, nice little banter with your alternate ego leandro

So....we'd be semi-omnipotent beings with the power to step into the CoH reality and inform them that their entire reality might be just wiped out?

Isn't that just a bit masochistic? I don't want to tell anyone everything they know is probably going to cease to exist. It's like telling someone they have terminal cancer with no chance of a cure. I'm happy to let my folks continue on in their reality, because whereas City of Heroes is NCSoft and Paragon's game, my characters are mine, and they'll never go away.


S.

I guess this is the spoilsport thing to say, but my heroes aren't tied to Paragon City. The fate of City of Heroes has no real impact on their personal stories, which I've always taken great care to craft independent of the game specifically so that I could use them elsewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Cheese Slicer would probably shrug his shoulders, then tell me he's off to Millennium City to make their villains hail the Big Cheese.

Contact me in-game: @CheeseSlicer

Agent Standin would tell me, " Okay. But Mot is running amok at the moment. I have people to rescue and evil to pound."

Serenity Dark would say, "Until that day comes, there are still innocents that need protecting. You do what you can to save this multi-verse, I'll take care of protecting the innocents in it."

There will be full-scale efforts into creating a portal to another universe, one that won't be shutting down. I hope they don't wind up in *our* universe -- it's too f'ed up already.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

*hug*

What can you really say?

Characters: "So... you're deleting us... again."

Me: "No... you see... it's not my fault this time..."

Characters: "That's what you said last time... and the time before that... just admit it... you're restarting that stupid tournament of yours..."

Me: "NO... it's not my tournament this time... I'm not restarting anything..."

Characters break off into individual mutterings:
"Oh! Can I be a Dominator instead of a Controller this time around? Pew! Pew!"
"Aw, man! I just hit 40th level... I was ALMOST there!"
"Next time make me a female.... What? Don't judge me!"
"Do I HAVE to be blue this time? I'm getting freaking tired of all the smurf and Avatar jokes..."
"Great... and I was just beginning to be really tough... early level Regeneration sucks..."

Me: "AAARRRGGGHHH!!"

"So. Veronica."
"Yes!"
"... I have some bad news."
"Hmmm?"
"The universe is going to end in a couple of months."
"Oh! Well, that is okay. I have saved the universe before on much shorter notice! Please tell me who I will need to beat up and at what location!"
"Well, er. It's not really the kind of problem you can beat up. ... there's pretty much nothing you can do about it, I'd—"
"._."
"... please not the pouty face, this is hard enough as it is..."
"._______."
"... YOU'RE NOT MAKING THIS ANY EASIER..."
"._________________________."
"AKLDF;ALDFAIEALDIPFD"

Not sure I could tell them even though I know how they would all react as an RPGer even if I havent written a bio I know how they think.

Hell if it was oiur reality that was shutting down I know how they would take it even all the villains

Wait a minute is it our world that is being shut and left to run on eternal loop!!!

The Nemissary would remind me of something that he, as a Death Mage, knows entirely too well... That all things have an end. But he'd also add that given his own experiences, coming *to* that end isn't always or necessarily as bad (or final-) as it might seem. All in all, Nem's pretty up-beat for an eons-old dead guy.

Palrah, big teddy-bear that he is, would probably try his best to convince me that everything was going to be okay, and so not to worry about him and the others... And he'd point out that since he belongs to me in more than one form, he really won't be going anywhere. He'll just be a little quieter.

Kestrel wouldn't take it well. She'd ask if I was f-ing kidding. After that, I suspect she's just look across the room at Scir for a minute, shake her head and ask how she's supposed to protect him from something like that... "Alien invaiders, office politics, interdimensional nut-jobs? No problem. Evil reanimated death gods? Bring it... But what the hell am I supposed to do about the end of the whole damned world?"

My characters are already aware of the situation. For all the lives they have in RP terms, I also tend to reuse characters a lot, so there ends up being a little place between the fourth wall and the stage, working like Osamu Tezuka's "Star System" where my characters are actors on a movie studio, here's the gist of some of their reactions.

Takezo "Akuma Ryu" Himura: *Now speaks with an English accent* Hmm, seems I'll be jumping studios again, this time to the Guild Wars 2 RP scene. I'm worried, my stint in Guild Wars 1 didn't work out so well, but, the show must go on as they say. They don't have samurai armor in the game yet and Cantha's not open? Oh... How I bleed for my arts.

Adam Frankenstein: Oh no no no no, this is terrible! I'm a hundred years old to find another gig- Continued in Freeform? The death of my career!

Ubiquitous/August Star: Hmm, so we're moving to freeform? MARVELOUS! I shall kick Recluse from his throne and I shall be the main villain over those cheap imposters! THE ROGUE ISLES CAN AT LAST BE MINE!

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.

I don't picture it as an apocalypse so much as my characters will continue their lives and adventures without me. So a conversation like that wouldn't be about the game ending, or even so much for their sake as it would be for mine, a chance to say goodbye to them before letting them scatter off into the sunset. I suppose it could be awkward if they knew I was "God" ("you know, my life has really sucked because you thought it'd be dramatic!" "Erm, yeah, sorry about that... but that's what makes you heroic!"), but I'd prefer that they just think I'm an old friend who stopped by to take them on a night out on the town. We go out, have fun, reminisce about old times until it's almost morning, and I wish them luck on their crazy adventures before leaving again, waving happily until they're out of sight and then sighing a little as I realize that I won't be coming back, that it's truly their world now.

Once he'd be able to wrap his head (I suppose helmet would be the more accurate thing here), Knightward would probably charge straight down to the Isles taking down all villains and Arachnos operatives that he could. Oblivion doesn't negate duty or justice: it gives it a time limit. Better to give the oppressed citizenry a brief taste of freedom and security than to forever abandon them in a fit of nihilism.

Ragnarok's Bane would shrug and say his goodbyes. He knew he'd eventually return to Valhalla. He'd take time to consider what wisdom he's learned and strength gained while in Paragon and then brace himself for the next phase of his einherjar training, whatever it may be.

Admittedly this is focused on heroes for good reason. Cause if I told my villain, Owain Venomdrinker, he would immediately tear me apart, order his soldiers to gun me down, or both simultaneously. He would then frantically try to steal whatever means I had of meta-dimension hopping to further postpone his own death. Oh, and to conquer a world without supers.