The fact that Rank 2 in the group remains "Commander" when everything else has that "myth" theme going has been rankling me for a long time. I finally came up with a possible solution, which I'm throwing up here for people to comment on.
The current structure is:
* Legend
* Commander
* Myth
* Tall Tale
* Rumor
I'd like to offer the new term "Chimera", which besides its immediate mythological and biosciences meanings can also mean something generically mythical/fictional.
We can either rename "commander" to "chimera", or, if people think that doesn't rank right in the metaphoric scale, we can rename "Myth" to "Chimera" and turn "Commander" into "Myth".
Thoughts, opinions?

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

I've finally gotten around to fleshing out that prototype site for the Legendary. It's nowhere near complete yet, but it's got a bit more than it did when last I directed people to it. It's under construction, of course, and it will get better as time goes on.
www.eclipse.net/~rms/legendary

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

From the 1967 Movie "Doctor Doolittle"
Talk to the Animals
If we could talk to the animals, just imagine it
Chatting to a chimp in chimpanzee
Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting to a cheetah
What a neat achievement that would be.
If we could talk to the animals, learn their languages
Maybe take an animal degree.
We'd study elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle,
Alligator, guinea pig, and flea.
We would converse in polar bear and python,
And we could curse in fluent kangaroo.
If people asked us, can you speak in rhinoceros,
We'd say, "Of courserous, can't you?"
If we could talk to the animals, learn their languages
Think of all the things we could discuss
If we could walk with the animals, talk with the animals,
Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals,
And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to us.

Doug okayed this one a year or two back...if he ever decides to talk to Pen-Pen in the EVA step (with Asuka, Shinji and Misato watching)...this would be great!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

So, I recently, finally, got around to watching the last half of Gundam Seed. And, while not without it's flaws, it's definitely a good series that I enjoyed a great deal.
Naturally, I'm taking another look at the fic I started in that universe, and have even been writing a bit on it.
Since I'm a shameless mech-head, and since at least half the reason I started seriously planning the thing in the first place was to prove that I could come up with more model kits than we have in the real world without ever resorting to the absurd rationalizations Bandai has inflicted on us, I've also been doing a lot of technical planning.
Which, finally, leads into the bit I need help with.
See, in an action-based series like this, a big, tense fight is a vital part of the climactic arc.
At this point, I'm planning to have four main characters actually directly involved... and I don't have enough boss designs for them to face.
And one of them is just the Providence from canon.
The other is at least temporarily tagged the Achilles, and its schtick is defense. Specifically, besides having reactor-fed phase shift armor, its armor is layered with the same kind of ultra-durable ablative material that other suits in this universe carry on their shields: IE, it's proof against pretty much anything short of a capital ship's spinal gun.
So I need at the very least two more 'identifying concepts' for these boss mechs.
Any ideas?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

Considering what happened to the last shared-world we had going here, and what killed it, I've started saving off the more "important" posts. I
have yet to save any of the stories (bad Rob - they're the most important posts), but I've
got offline copies of The Rules, the Ship Registry, the characters in the Character Thread, the Glossary entries, and the Gazetteer entries.

Just in case... although I think I might end up turning them into a "writers' guide" PDF, just for fun. I'll let folks know if that happens.

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

one part general Combat Enhancement
one part improved tracking abilities
two parts fascination over area affected (all targets)
The Cure -- Lovecats

Quote:

---

We move like cagey tigers
We couldn't get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss
We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night
Let's go and throw
All the songs we know...
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to tea huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up by the fire
And sleep for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to dinner huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up in the fire
Get up for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
And always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
I love you... let's go...
Oh... solid gone...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb

---

Whats your view?
Personally I've never thought much of pure Battery powered Vehicles. Batteries are an old technology that hasn't really improved significantly in about 50 years.
The Electric/gas Hybrid was a little better, but still severly limited by the batteries, which require heavy electric moters and expensive, heavy and relatively short lifespan batteries.
I've always thought a gas hybrid flywheel power storage system was a better bet than the gas hybrid battery system.
I've only quickly glanced through the website, but if this vehicle engine is truely a dual use device able to operate with compressed air or regular liquid fuels it will have several big advantages of both battery and flywheel type vehicles. They have replaced the heavy batteries and electric moters with a single engine a high pressure air tank and a regular liquid fuel tank.
here is the website
-----------------
www.theaircar.com/
-----------------
Off the top of my head I do see a few possible problems, such as the chance that the compressed air tank's failure creates fuel air mixture on a large scale that should only be found in a piston.
NOTE:
I don't plan on any further replies to this thread. Put it here in case it started an argument.
Just thought this idea might interest the Engineers on the list.
whats your view?
Have any interesting websites with other alternate approaches for hybrid vehicles?
howard melton
God bless

Again - all screens were at 1080x768 size. Full size on request.
I'm in the Icon store, and I come up from the tailor screen to behold this looker. Whoa. Then I'm thinking, "This is pathetic, Logan. It's an animated character... unrealistic proportions... She's nothing but pixels on a screen, man!"
Stare a bit more, then Bugs Bunny voice in my head pipes up, "SO? So she's mechanical!!" Homina, homina...


I am SO proud of this shot of Vigdis! What an iconic image!


A nice portrait of Vee.


This is a one-joke villain I came up with after a particular meme... er... resurfaced in my brain. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
He's an energy melee stalker. I present to you...
LAND-SHARK!!


A couple of shots of Falconseye over on Infinity. Trick Arrows/Archery Defender.



And one last one of Kara Sky over on Freedom server. Pretty decent shot of her flying.

-Logan
-----------------
The only good Marvel is CAPTAIN MARVEL!
SHAZAM!!
-----------------

Well, C8 made it to level 30 last night. And I went to go get his aura and cape missions done. It had completely slipped my mind until now to do his cape mission because I initially couldn't think of any costume variant that would use a cape.
But I figured I'd better go ahead and do the mission anyway. Glad I did! Came up with something pretty darn cool.
This outfit is both a bulkier, more armored look for him, and at the same time another homage to a slightly more recent vintage of hero. That of the sentai hero that came about in the 70s with Kamen Rider. I added a wrap and scarf to him, plus gave him "Lightning Eyes". The electricity effect point sources are hidden by the visor, but the electricity arcs themselves are visible, which makes for a cool effect. Even cooler is when I discovered that at superspeed, the electricity effect streams back from his head as far back as the tips of the scarf in the wind!
Here - see for yourself. ^_^


These next two show him with one of the alternative prestige sprint powers turned on as well as superspeed. It's a really cool effect, but it's not practical to run all the time. Because the effect tends to stream back into the camera POV when running so far that I have to really pull the camera WAY back to see where I'm going! Plus it tends to play havoc with my framerate in high traffic areas.



Now does that just totally look like a scene out of Kamen Rider or what? ^_^


Wow!

-Logan
-----------------
The only good Marvel is CAPTAIN MARVEL!
SHAZAM!!
-----------------

This is a set of screenshots taken during the recent Synapse Taskforce.
From the Legendary -
Brightsky
Lora'Lai
Starshot Dove
And leading, from Liberty F.O.R.C.E. -
Stateslad
All of these were taken at 1080x768. Full size pics on request.

Here's Stateslad sporting his Captain America homage -


Starshot Dove and Lora'Lai, in SG uniform.


Here, we're taking down Babbage with the help of a LOT of people called in throughout the zone.


And he's down!


Next was the fight with the Clockwork King. It was tough finding a screenshot that actually shows us all in the shot. Brightsky tended to be obscured from my POV by the King himself most of the time. This is as close as I ever got.


Here's one that has a better view of Stateslad in it.


Lora'Lai wants BIG BADA BOOM!!


And finally he's defeated -


Here's a few victory shots. The one in the air, we were hoping to all fly in formation towards the "camera", but everyone had their flight powers slotted for differnet speeds. Oops. The hovering shot was the best we could do.
The other's we're posing with Synapse himself. First in Team uniform, then in our individual outfits.



-Logan
-----------------
The only good Marvel is CAPTAIN MARVEL!
SHAZAM!!
-----------------