...and that means it's Friday.

Well, whaddaya know. There's Chapter Six.

Enjoy!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Sorry I haven't been on much lately, I've been simultaneously REALLY tired and/or Playing spore. I'll be back soonish, just gotta decompress.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Can I get a HUZZAH?

Quote: The Court approves the corrected referee's report and John Bruce Thompson is permanently disbarred, effective thirty days from the date of this order so
that respondent can close out his practice and protect the interests of existing clients. If respondent notifies the Court in writing that he is no longer
practicing and does not need the thirty days to protect existing clients, this Court will enter an order making the permanent disbarment effective
immediately. Respondent shall accept no new business from the date this order is filed.

This is big. Here's Positron's letter on the subject.

Here's the full text for those who can't go to the site (Bob's Nazi work computers being the main culprit)

Issue 13: So big it can't be contained in a single update!

Good morning! When we announced Issue 13: Architect a couple weeks back, we were overwhelmed by the positive response. Much of the
feedback was centred around the Mission Architect system which allows players to create their own missions and story arcs. We have been actively following
forum threads and private messages about the feature, and have even discussed it with players in person at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

It became apparent that you guys really want this feature, but in order to fully realize your dreams of writing your own missions you need creative
control in one more key area: The ability to create "customized" characters to fight with or against in your missions. Adding custom characters has
always been on our Mission Architect feature list, but we had considered it a "stretch goal." That is, we could launch the system without this
feature because our confidence was high that the rest of the system was incredibly robust.

But after listening to you guys, we realize that this feature simply must be in at launch. You have convinced us that it is an integral part of the
Mission Architect, and we have reworked schedules and timelines to accomplish this. Rather than push the launch of Issue 13 out completely for one
(albeit really cool and very complex) feature, the Mission Architect is going to see a slight delay. What is not going to be delayed
is the rest of Issue 13. To that end, the previously announced feature set for Issue 13, together with new features that we are announcing
today, will become Issue 13 and Issue 14.

Issue 14 will take on the name "Architect" and contain the Mission Architect feature along with other features we'll announce at a
later date. We are planning Issue 14: Architect to be released Q1 2009. Issue 13 is now called "Issue 13: Power and
Responsibility" and will be launched this autumn.

Issue 13: Power and Responsibility

Issue 13: Power and Responsibility will contain the bulk of features we've announced previously, including:

• Shield and Pain Domination powersets
  
• Merit Reward system
  
• Day Jobs (that include a suite of new costume pieces)
  
• Additional Cimerora and Midnight Squad mission arcs
  

• Levelling Pact
  
• Multi-Builds
  
• PvE & PvP Powers rebalancing
  
• Villain Patron Power Respec
  
• Supergroup Base Repricing
  

I think all of us can agree with that.

This probably won't be nearly as hilarious to those of us of a conservative persuasion, but you have to admit it was remarkably bad judgement of McCain to
cancel his interview with Letterman on an excuse like that and then get caught at another interview down the street.

This one should summon the local analog of Vash "The Humanoid Typhoon" Stampede.

Cotton Eyed Joe - Rednex

Thought of this while I was working today. It would take place at the big End Of The World party at Pluto...

Myk arrived in his little green Mini Cooper S, as we'd arranged, at the largish modern barn that I'd managed to rent from a friend of a friend of a
friend to house my latest, and likely greatest, little 'Wave project. It had put me even more deeply in 'Dane debt, but it would be well worth the
effort.

"Hey Myk," I called as he got out of the car, that we'd 'Waved a few months ago and called 'StarJumper', even though it had never seen a single star minute.

"Hey Jeph. What the hell are we doing out here, anyway?" He looked around. We were in the plains of Colorado, well north of Denver, so there
wasn't a lot to see except a lot of rolling fields, the far off mountains, and the occasional shrub of far off tree groups.

"I'm getting ready to do what I said I'd do, Myk, when I got that can of goop at the convention."

"Oh shit, Jeph, you aren't..."

"Can't stop me."

Myk sighed. "Yeah, guess not. Especially since you've even stopped coming over for the bike rides. So... what is it?"

"Here, follow me." I led him over to the side door of the 'barn', and inside. The lights were out, only the telltale leaks around the doors
providing any sensation of the space inside.

"OK, big dark room," he grumbled. So I hit the lights. And he gasped for a moment, lost in the awe of what I'd wrought.

It was large as Earth built Fencraft go. Sitting on four landing legs that looked almost too spindly to hold up its mass, most of it made up of three large
spherical sections that had started life as large industrial tanks. The forward one had two large windscreens set in it, looking almost like lazy eyes. The
center had some antennae, and a large hatch on the right side. The back one had two large turbine engines poking out the top, over a deck, and the bottom of
that had two opened doors and a ramp leading inside.

Past that, it was painted a particular shade of Vegetation Green, and big white letters in Microgramma Black Extended proudly proclaimed the vehicle to be
'Starbug 1'.

"...so you built a Starbug..." he said, still somewhat stricken. "...you do know you're likely to crash in it, right?"

I snorted. "Well, it was the only vehicle that, even with Nene and Geo's help, that I could build here without attracting undue attention from the
authorities that would also enable me to stretch my legs." I slapped a hand on one of the legs, which thankfully didn't attempt to lean in this time.
"Besides, it didn't really crash all that often. C'mon in, I'll give you the grand tour."

We went ahead and parked StarJumper inside the little hanger bay that I'd only half grudgingly given the space for inside, and I showed Myk around. The aft
section was three decks full, although the uppermost was basically two engines bolted onto a flat spot that we'd cut into the large storage tank that made
up the base hull. The center deck of that was a cargo bay, and the lower deck was the tiny little hanger, barely big enough to house two full size sedans.

The middle section was two full decks, plus some leftover. The main deck was the common room, with tables, chairs, and a miniature galley, but also with a tiny
little workshop wedged into the back that could be sealed off from the rest of the ship. The upper deck had two cabins, each double occupancy, with a single
refresher unit of sonic shower and low flo toilet unit.

The forward module was filled almost entirely with the four person cockpit, and computer and navigational equipment, mostly a collection of stripped and
rearranged used laptops for the consoles, and larger desktop computers 'waved into something resembling a central computer core. This, I'd taken some
pains to ensure that it wouldn't develop an AI spontaneously, mostly because I'm not sure how intelligent Holly would come out if he/she manifested.

We quickly settled into seats in the cockpit. Myk was looking understandably nervous. In fact, he'd completely failed to notice that the seat he'd
chosen was currently the one kicking out bits of peanut shell and masticated toenail clippings. I'd given up after a day on the idea of excising whatever
it was that was generating them. Nene took up the operations officer position right behind me.

"So, where are we planning on going for this little test flight?"

"Well, I was planning on us going to Cheyenne. If we make it in one piece, we can go to Godfather's Pizza up there and have a congratulatory pie, then
come back to Denver and drop you off before I head up to space."

"And if we don't make it one piece?" Myk asked.

"Well, either we'll have less than a minute to get to our cars... or we'll be pretty flat before we know we're in trouble."

Myk groaned at that one. "Way to put me at ease, Jeph."

"I try. Nene, are we ready?"

"Turbines are green, Jeph. Geo is reporting that the power plant is rumbling smoothly, and in fact, he's kinda bitchy about it." She pulled her
earpiece, where I could just hear the astromech's squealing tones.

"Right. Prepare for liftoff." I flipped the hold switches to OFF, and lifted the wheel a bit. The ship wavered a little bit, and we all got that
curious floaty sensation you'd usually get on a boat on the water. "Open the pod bay doors."

Nene ticked the little garage door opener velcroed to her console, and the large warehouse/barn/ door ahead of us rolled to the side, giving us a door out to
the wild blue yonder. I'd done the measurements, it was a tight fit but we'd pull it off. I carefully nudged us in line, and pulled back the throttle
control to the first notch.

Or, at least, that was the intent. Instead, it stuck, and then slipped, and went to the third notch, and we shot
towards the door like a solid shotgun slug. On top of that, the wheel decided it wanted to slip ever so slightly to the right. The end result was a resounding
bang as we clipped the edge of the door on the way out... not enough to really cause us any problem, but with some
violence that made us grab at our restraints.

"Well, that was damned odd... Nene?"

"Checking... no damage, Jeph. Any idea what that was?"

"No." I moved the throttle a bit, and the wheel seemed to not be pulling any longer. "I certainly hope that wasn't a quirk we'll have to
deal with. It felt like Starbug wanted to hit the edge."

"Told you the 'Wave was a bad idea," Myk muttered under his breath. I didn't bother shooting him a look, we'd had that discussion before
about it. Mostly after we'd waved StarJumper.

"Well, it appears to be fine." I aimed us towards Cheyenne, and opened up the throttle. Not all the way, I didn't want to annoy the farmers with
sonic booms. We proceeded for a bit, I was watching the miles count by on the little GPS unit I'd glued to one corner of the console.

"Jeph... I'm picking up a couple of aircraft, closing in."

"Any idea who, Nene?"

"Looks like a couple of jet fighters. The radar profile is all wrong for Fen craft. And they're moving too fast to be civilian."

"Wonderful, must be the welcoming committee, so to speak. Put anything military frequency looking on the loudspeaker, and patch the radar through to the
screen up here." Nene fiddled with it, and the radar paint popped up, showing two little red specks on it… and I realized, not much else. And they were
closing pretty fast. A little blue label came up on one of them saying 'LCK DTCT', which meant they'd gone for a missile lock on us. That is came
complete with a loud pinging noise that was the audible cue I'd decided on.

"Attention, unidentified aircraft! You are conducting an illegal flight, and are hereby ordered to land at the nearest airport and surrender yourself to
authorities. Be aware that we are authorized to open fire if you do not do so."

I groaned. That patrol flight, despite our relative proximity to a major Air Force and National Guard facility, had gotten onto us pretty quickly, despite the
fact that I'd been trying to fly us reasonably low and through fairly unpopulated areas. Yes, I'd gotten a pilot's license, but I really didn't
want to advertise exactly what it was that I was piloting, especially since I hadn't registered the craft with the FAA. I picked up the ham radio
microphone that I had clipped to the console, and clicked it on.

"Patrol flight, this is Starbug 1. What is it about my private flight that is illegal?"

"Ahem, 'Starbug One', you are proceeding with an unauthorized flight in what is currently restricted airspace. I repeat, you will land immediately, or we are authorized to open
fire and force you down."

Myk stage whispered something to Nene, "I want off. Right now." He looked a bit upset. "Being accosted by the military was not what I had in
mind when I agreed to come on the test flight." Normally, he was pretty unflappable, not quite Jamie Unflappable, but even this was a bit past, otherwise,
he'd have thought it through.

Nene was obviously a bit more level headed at the moment, as she responded, "What, you can't be serious, they'd shoot you down before you got like
half a football field from the bay doors." I toggled the PTT button again.

"Hold on a moment, we're having a rather serious discussion here about whether or not you're planning on shooting us down or not if we offload a
passenger," I stated calmly into the microphone. I didn't expect it to really work, but I had to try. I wasn't intending to be shipped off while
someone disassembled Starbug 1, or even worse, Nene and Geo. But Myk was another matter.

"Not likely. I repeat, you will begin landing immediately or we
will open fire, acknowledge!" was the reply back.

"They sound pretty damned serious Myk, are you sure you wanna go out in StarJumper?"

"Well, moving into space wasn't what I had…" he started to say, as I heard the ping of the radar paint become the buzz of the alarm as the little
radar label went red and read 'MSL DTCT'. I waited half a second, then yanked the wheel over, making the 'Bug tilt alarmingly for an instant.

"...HEY! They SHOT at us!" Myk exclaimed as he saw the contrail of
the missile zoom past the 'Bug's windscreens, barely evaded by the quick last minute twitch. "Never mind
dropping me off!" he exclaimed.

"Nice of you to see reason," Nene replied dryly. "Jeph, they've locked on to try another bout of Galaga with us!"

"Fuck this," I grumbled, and yanked the throttle all the way back even as I made Starbug 1 stand on its end.
My seat slammed into my back as the engines went to 100% atmospheric thrust, and we could all hear the oddly muted 'bang' as the ship slammed through
the sound barrier with all the subtlety and grace of a bowling ball tossed through a pane of plate glass. The radio was a sudden chatter of 'holy shit'
and 'fucking goddamned' from the pilots of the jet fighters as we took off from them, quickly climbing to, and exceeding, their flight ceiling. It
wouldn't have stopped them if they'd have decided to fire another missile at us, but thankfully they decided to break off rather than risk another
loose missile.

Soon enough, the sky outside the windscreen darkened to black, signifying our achievement of orbit, and the edges frosted up. I unbuckled my harness, rotated
the seat (which decided to make a rather intense squeaking noise as I did so), and wiped my hands down my face until they covered my mouth in an Optimus Prime
mask made of fingers.

"Well, that was a fucking mess of a flight test. So much for pizza."

"Damn straight... I... damnit, I'll be upstairs," Myk spat out, and he left the cockpit, and I heard him climb the stairs to the modest quarters
at the top of the middle module. I stood up, almost to follow him, then I slumped back into the pilot seat, resting an elbow on the armrest, and doing my best
facepalm on that hand. The sigh I let out must've been heard on Venus.

"Jeph... it wasn't your fault," Nene said.

"No, I know... damnit, he wasn't supposed to come up with us, you know that. We'd talked about it when the 'Wave hit the scene... he's
Fendane, this life wasn't what he wanted." I straightened, turning back around and punching up the radar picture of our plot of Earth orbit. "Any
more indications of why, to put it crudely, the air superiority boys got their panties all twisted up into a pretzel?"

Nene glanced down at her console, not really bothering to comment on my colorful description, and pressed her Uhura earpiece deeper into her ear. "Some...
looks like someone tried to get a group in Wisconsin who somehow got an old Russian space shuttle. They managed to
hightail it while we were preflighting, and... yeah, thought so. They grounded all air traffic, and there's some
chatter, part of it among some other contacts that are bouncing around trying to evade, that they're trying to get as many 'waved craft as they can
before word gets out."

"Wonderful." I sighed, even more deeply. "Guess Myk's not getting back any time soon. Odds are they're gonna crack down, and crack down
hard, on the 'Wave."
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor

OK, I've been thinking again (Run! Run now!), and I've had a few thoughts from what I've read in LoGG. First off...I believe that
currently that's actually viewed in canon for Fenspace? I've read some posts and comments that lead me to believe it is. If so, there are some really
interesting possibilities from it. If not, the following musing would really only hold true for the crossover universe. If you haven't read the
LoGG chapters yet and don't want some minor spoilers for them, you might want to skip the following.

First...Doug's gift worked in Fenspace. Therefore, it's not a strictly technology-only universe. This was also implied/hinted at by the Indeterminate
mana level given in the Infinite Worlds writeup, but this is the first indication we have that magic is real and can work there.

Second - handwavium seems to be able to sense/react to magic. At the very least, it certainly didn't like Doug's little foray into investigative
magery. Admittedly, it could simply be a reaction to his thoughts of what he was doing - the stuff does seem to be at the very least reactive to thought - but
it certainly looked much more like a reaction to the probing magic itself. This would imply that magic might be a part of the makeup of handwavium, or that
whoever created it at least knew of the possibility of magic.

That's as far as I'm willing to go right now with what we've seen in the story so far. If someone were to ask Skuld about it, we might get some
very interesting answers, but I'm not sure if things will develop that way. But now comes the fun part - wild-assed speculation to get people discussing
the ideas. The Jason's views have been listed before - that the stuff is at least partly magical in nature. This certainly seems bumped a little in
probability by the reaction it had to Doug, but it's not conclusive. But it does lead to some lovely ideas. First, the thread that originally led me to
post the Jason's views mentioned the idea that people investigating/observing handwavium noticed all sorts of different things when they did so...things
that fit their own viewpoints on what the stuff was. If anything, the goo seems to be almost the ultimate expression of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle,
where the act of observing changes what's observed. However, it might go further than that. Perhaps handwavium has such a varied number of effects because
it's truly acting differently for every person, based on what they think it does. They might have a general idea of what a strain does - memory,
biomodding, general upgrading - but how the stuff actually works is affected by how the person THINKS it works. Perhaps some of those odd Indetermine readings
that the Infinite Worlds people are getting are from the witches and neopagans using the stuff; if it has any magical properties/components at all, it might
only exhibit them when used by someone who thinks it's magical...which could certainly cause odd fluctuations for anyone trying to detect magic.

Even wilder speculation - this one is completely out of left field, but I'm hoping it will get some interesting talk going. Perhaps the Indeterminate mana
level is because most of the magical energy is currently in a non-energy form, at least around Earth. In all sorts of interesting forms, actually - solids,
goo.... Has anyone ever thought that the stuff might be solidified/gelled MANA? And given that a number of stories talk about aspected mana, it could very well
be solidified/gelled mana with a technology aspect. How it got that way would be anybody's guess....but it might explain some of the really weird effects
we've seen with it. It might ALSO explain the reaction of the handwavium that Doug tried to examine. I'm not sure - Bob, does he draw in ambient mana
when he's using his gift at all? If so, and if he was holding something that was actually solid mana, that could explain why it seemed to implode.
He started to use his gift while holding it, it reacted to the song, but also started to be absorbed to power the song - a feedback loop? That might also
explain why he was knocked unconscious.

So - thoughts? Am I ready for the comfy sweater with the wrap-around arms yet? It's been a while since we've discussed handwavium's nature, so I
thought we were up for another go at it.

Like most MMORPGs, City of Heroes suffers from the classic Zero Sum
Game problem. That is, no matter how often you stop Countess Crey, or capture Frostfire, or beat Imperious, they'll still be there later, and all the
heroes hard work won't make a difference. That said, CoH is nowhere near as bad as some games about this problem, and updates such as Faultline and the
Hollows revamp actually do give the impression of change. Of course, the missions often don't quite fit... I wouldn't complain about an update that was
mostly just zone revamps and mission rewrites (Keep the old one's in Ouro, problem solved )

Still, I was giving it some thought, and I realised that the Zero Sum Game effect can often be handwaved rather easily, and without stretching my disbelief too
much. And so, out of a sense of random curiousity, and the fact OM just called it a night and I'm wide awake and bored, here's some various excuses.
And also, some ideas on how to nudge the story along slightly, which I may look into with the mission designer

Hellions: They've got a fairly easy out, in that they're pretty much just a gang with some mystic abilities. An
impressive gang, to be working in the Rogue Isles as well as Paragon, but still, small fry. Given that Paragon is under seige by groups like Nemesis, the
Council, Devoured Earth, and of course the Ritki, most heroes damage their black marketing and minor crimes, but then move on to much larger problems before
they can do any real damage. Thus, the Hellions greatest weapon is their low status in-game

The Future: Has actually already started with the Hollows revamp. Along with the Lost and Skulls, they've expanded their territory and embarrassed the
Trolls and Outcasts. It's the simple things that make the universe a little more believable. OM's idea for Perez is nice too

Skulls: Pretty much the same as the Hellions. Small group relative to the big names, expanding into the Hollows.

Lost: This is where it gets a little interesting. Originally, the Lost were something of a mystery, their mutations,
their goals, and their masters. That changed years ago, as pretty much everyone knows that they're being converted into Rikti by the Reconstructionists.
They're still around, collecting converts by bribery or possibly force, but I12s Midnight Squad arc served as the beginning of their story continuing, with
the creation of a cure for the drug Shift, along with their expansion into the Hollows.

The Future: There is no way the more devout Lost are going to take a cure lying down. I'd love to see them targeting the Midnight Squad, making for some
good story potential. Preferably with a Lost/Rikti mix in the mission spawns.

Trolls: You'd think a drug that turns you into a green skinned moron wouldn't get too many people taking it,
but real life tries its best to prove us wrong Combined with the fact that the Trolls are too stupid to know they're outgunned, and you can see why
they'd be damn hard to get rid of. Their slave hostages wouldn't help matters either. Still, with the outskirts of the Hollows being claimed by the
Skulls, Hellions and Lost, they're on the defensive.

The Future: I want a Wincott hero character as his police task force, Longbow allies and heroes make a push against them in the Hollows. (*Makes mission
developer notes*) At the same time, the Trolls often appear in other gang regions such as Steel Canyon. They could easily make an attack for territory in the
other starter zones.

Clockwork: The King may have been captured and held at the Zig at times, but even the psi-shields there aren't
enough to stop his army from existing, and even freeing him. Luckily for everyone involved, it takes a great deal of effort for him to tap into even higher
powers as seen in the LGTF. Which means that for now, his clockwork continue to hunt and scavenge across the lower regions of the city, as he can't make
them powerful enough to go picking fights with Tsoo and Nemesis... yet.

The Future: I had this idea for a Zig breakout map mission where the Clockwork are trying to free their King. Heck, you wouldn't even need his body in this
mission, just a glowie that holds his brain... or maybe they held you off long enough, or possibly you have to deal with breakouts they set off as a
distraction. On top of that, while it shatters his mind to unleash an army of Psi Clockwork, what if he tried it on a smaller scale?

I've got more ideas, that I'll post as I get the time.