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I13 Mish Creator Info (from Hero 1)
 
#26
Quote: Why are all the trolls male? Wouldn't there be female abusers of superadine?
One answer: There are, you just can't tell them from the males. Superadine is among other things a super steroid, and part of the
troll transformation is exaggeration of male characteristics and the atrophy of female ones. And with the mess a troll's brain becomes, they may not even
notice...

What I want to see is an answer to why the Freakshow (except for Clamor) and the Lost are all-male. And, presumably, the Rikti, but who can tell?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#27
There are female Rikti, though are indistinguishable from other rikti, at least to us. General Bu'Dekka (in Dark Watchers Arc) for example, is a female.

Oh and also, Alexander I don't think is the leader of the warriors, as there is a badge for 'negotiating his surrender' Redeemer Badge, I believe.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
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#28
Quote: Logan Darklighter wrote:

What if the plot of an arc dealing with them is finding a cure for their addiction/transformation? (You could even use the Hollows contact Julius the Troll
for stuff like this.) I mean, they let you "cure" the Lost. Why not the Trolls?



Oh man, Logan, that spawned another idea. I totally want to do this. It has to be done...

A tale from a girl named Yin.

A story of the Once and Future King.



A quest to save a sovereign. To mend the mind of a broken being.

A king, a man...not a machine.
-- Acyl
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#29
Ah, you're right. Alexander isn't the leader. I can't recall who is at the moment.
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#30
BRING ME THE HEAD OF WESTIN PHIPPS.

That is all.

--Sam

"Evil is bad, but eating kittens is just plain... plain WRONG! And no one should do it EVER!"
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#31
Quote: Acyl wrote:


Quote: Logan Darklighter wrote:

What if the plot of an arc dealing with them is finding a cure for their addiction/transformation? (You could even use the Hollows contact Julius the Troll
for stuff like this.) I mean, they let you "cure" the Lost. Why not the Trolls?







Oh man, Logan, that spawned another idea. I totally want to do this. It has to be done...




A tale from a girl named Yin.




A story of the Once and Future King.




A quest to save a sovereign. To mend the mind of a broken being.




A king, a man...not a machine.


You magnificent BASTARD! ^_^

Now - is the end result of this story the redemption of the Clockwork King and making him sane? Does he get a new body?

Or does it FAIL and we're left in the end with the status quo so as not to upset continuity?

If we go the redemption angle, make references in the story to stuff like what happened in the Lady Grey Task Force and the Faultline story arcs? Just so that
it's clear that all of this happens AFTER those events?

Incidentally, does anyone else think that the Clockwork King having a crush on Penelope Yin is just a bit creepy as it stands? I mean - amusingly creepy in a
Tim Burton sort of way...

Hey. But... whoa... WAIT. A. MINUTE.

The Psychochronometron... what if Penelope wanted to "un-destroy" it and use it to REWRITE the Clockwork King's mind and history so that he never
had that body destroying fight and got stuck in that mechanical monstrosity?

She may have destroyed it. But maybe it imprinted on her mind so that she knows how to create a new one? And part of the plot involves the Hero(s) gathering
components that she can't acquire? Like, say, time travel components from the 5TH COLUMN? (After all, how DID they get back to Cimerora, eh?)

Maybe a slightly more grey version of events has her needing for the heroes - or villains - to make the ULTIMATE heist, and grab the secret of the Pillar's
of Ice and Fire from OUROBOROS itself?

Then she has to be escorted to a properly equipped lab (or mystic chamber?) so she can put them together?

Meanwhile, we have to protect her from the forces of whoever owns the labs. Crey? Malta? NEMESIS? (Or the mystical angle - the Circle of Thorns, or maybe the
Banished Pantheon? And wouldn't it be scary if the Banished Pantheon got THEIR hands on the PCM?)

In addition to those forces, the CLOCKWORK KING makes a play for the device too! Out of a misunderstanding of what Penelope is trying to do?

In the end - does it succeed or fail?

We could literally have the end be a FAILABLE mission. With Penelope disconsolate because the defeat erased the PCM permanently from her mind so that she
can't help the King that way. (sob)

And if you succeed? Have the Clockwork King fade away and be replaced by a young man about Penny's age with a clockwork motif to his superhero togs, and a
few little clockwork bots tending to him (Agatha Heterodyne style ^_^).

How's THAT for a story arc?
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#32
Logan: I -like- it.

Hm. In no particular order:

* Devs have already stated that whatever we create will not be canon (with a caveat that if it DOES happen, which it won't, it'll be exceedingly rare -
but really, it won't happen [Image: smile.gif]), so I'd say we can give the finger to post-arc continuity. We can do whatever we want! If nothing else it can be
handwaved as happening on Earth-X, rather than Primal Earth. *nods*

* * On this note: what if the only way for Yin to be happy is if she relocates to a different reality? Where it CAN happen this way? We preserve continuity AND
make our own. Heh.

* This would work well as a 25 - 35 mission arc, I think. It's at the high end of lowbie, but it's not competing with UBER ENDGAME stuff.

* I think Circle would be good repeating enemies in this arc. Yin's stuff is mystical in origin, anyway. Components coming from other groups is win. You
need a Whosawatzit from Portal (Crey) to open the portal, and MagiGoo from Circle, and of course the Gidgammit from Nemesis that gives THEIR bots such power --
oh, and we need something Sands left behind when he fled. Arachnos are looking for it too, though. Be careful!

* Too much win, I'll add more to the discussion later

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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#33
Quote: [SCENE: A bloodied GUNSLINGER lying on the floor, clutching a piece of paper.]




GUNSLINGER: They were all in it together. From the start! They made us think it was a war, but it was one big shell game! The truth has to get ou-




[A sniper's round punctures his kevlar vest]




LONGBOW WARDEN: Take everyone in here down! Hard!




[SCENE: In front of CRIMSON, on Peregrine Island]




CRIMSON: The Longbow operatives that attacked you are phantoms. They don't officially exist. However, the Malta left us a clue of where their next proof
is.




[SCENE: MALTA spread out amongst a cemetery, until one shouts out that he's found something. The tombstone reads MONICA COLE]




[A bloodstained paper taken from one of the Malta Gunslingers. Three names are present on the ship register. Marcus Cole, Monica Richter, and Stefan Richter.
The latter is circled in red.]




[SCENE: INDIGO in Founders]




INDIGO: We've got trouble. A Senator Kerry in Washington's gotten ahold of this intel too somehow. He's petitioning for the disassemblement of
Freedom Corps, to be replaced by an exclusively un-metahuman agency for metahuman oversight.




[SCENE: The Senate Floor]




SENATOR KERRY: For too long, we have let these "heroes" have their own private kingdoms, outside our jurisdiction, under the assumption that they
were on our side. But recent evidence indicates that some of Freedom Corps may have been collaborating with Arachnos for years, or even decades! All the way
at the top of the organization! I cannot stand by and watch while this metahuman faction slowly uses the cover of a "war" to turn this great
country into a superpowered dictatorship!




[SCENE: Peregrine Island]




CRIMSON: Kerry's new troops are to be outfitted from this facility. This isn't even remotely legal, but if this is what I think it is, I'm
willing to gamble my reputation on it.




[SCENE: A warehouse. A LONGBOW WARDEN shifts forms into a GREATER DEVOURED.]




MOMENT: Why, hello again, hero! Did you miss me?




[SCENE: Founders]




INDIGO: You need to get the truth about this from Statesman. I'm the first one who'll say some people deserve their secrets, but this one could tear
this country and its heroes apart.




[TITLE: CITY OF HEROES: BLOOD TIES]
...no. I haven't been thinking about what to do with the arc creator at alllllll....
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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#34
I will also chip in on the love for the clockwork/yin arc. But right now I don't have the time to fully express the joy that such an idea contains.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
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#35
I knew once you people got going it would be nothing but win...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#36
Quote: * This would work well as a 25 - 35 mission arc, I think. It's at the high end of lowbie, but it's not competing with UBER ENDGAME stuff.

I agree, except that The Clockwork King and Penelope both appear in that one mission near the end of Dark Watcher's arc. Which you really can't get to
until level 40.

But does level range even really matter?

Who says we can't write a Hellions arc and allow full level 50 characters to use it? Granted, the Hellions don't really have as many tools in their
arsenal as, say, the Carnies or Nemesis. That's why you crowd more of them into the mission. Quantity over quality. Heh. ^_^

Now - this wouldn't work as well in reverse. I would NOT sic a Carnies mission on a lowbie team even if the power levels scale down. The Carnies are all
about the END drain and mez, and nobody, not even Tanks, has defenses against that crap before level 12 or so.

Time is funny in this game. But I think - GENERALLY speaking - that there is a linear progression of sorts that does follow what level your character is at.
Your story starts at level 1, and however long it takes you, it goes forward to level 50. All the stuff that you do at level 15 happened before the stuff that
happened at level 40.

Your suggestion of a level 25-30 mission arc is good from a game standpoint level to a point. It does (using my logic above) take place after the Faultline arc
and after the Synapse arc where you defeat the Clockwork King (presumably he escapes).

But a level 25-30 arc really wouldn't let us use some of the groups that appear later in the game. Aside from the Invasions, Rikti don't show up until
level 30. Nemesis is hinted at around level 30-35, but doesn't really appear officially until you're in the late 30s around 38.

(Using Circle of Thorns presents no problems. They're universal from level 1 to level 50. One of the few groups that last the whole game. Damn them.)

So - make sense? For compromise, how about making it an arc open from level 30 - 45? It's a pretty wide range. And it covers the same ground as the Rikti
War Zone stuff.

Of course, this is even assuming that level range even matters in the mission creator. No guarantee of that,
really.
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#37
My idea for the Hellion/Skull revolution would have been a 20-25 arc - have them against Freaks, Sky Raiders, BP, and Family. I think the lower stuff in the
game has the most potential for stories.
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An Entirely Different Proposal - can we combine the two?
#38
Correction: Penelope Yin and the Clockwork King feature in the Lady Grey Task Force, not Dark Watcher's arc. The LGTF can be run early as level 35, just
like the ITF. This means a 25-35 arc, as was suggested, is entirely possible.

Anyway.

I think...Logan's idea is damn sweet.

I'd like to suggest an entirely different approach to this arc, though.

This is, er, actually what I had in mind when I posted that teaser. I...wasn't actually throwing out random doggerel, you see...I had a particular thing in
mind.

'course, I'm amused that Logan took it and ran with it in a manner COMPLETELY outside what I'd imagined - but that's what good ideas do! Spark
others. And Logan's idea is just...better than mine, I think. More accessible. My original concept draws from far too many other arcs and stories in-game.

Perhaps the two can be reconciled, though? Can we possibly combine elements into a really epic thing?

Or....well, there's nothing to say we can't do more than one of these stories. I could do this on my own...

...okay, picture this:-



Once and Future King

A cry, a plea, from Penelope Yin. The Clockwork are going crazy. Berserk. Destructive and violent. Something is wrong. Very very wrong. And so you
must find the source of this wrongness - a mission against Psi-grade Clockwork.

The end boss is a Herald of Bat'Zul.

For months there have been Clockwork in the Rogue Isles...a puzzle, for that is out of the Clockwork King's psychic range, as his powers are now. And they
have never behaved like 'normal' Clockwork. So who, or what, has been animating them? The answer lies deep within the Power Transfer System in Cap Au
Diable...an energy plant tapping not geothermal energy, with conduits not of steel but cold iron - an ancient demon at its core. (Reference: CoV - Cap
Au Diable arcs, Tarikoss Strike Force)

So these are demon Clockwork - but now, across Paragon, they're all becoming demon Clockwork. Something's happened to the King.

Penelope sends you to investigate, reaching with all her senses. She can't contact the Clockwork King, but she can sense those who've been in
contact with him
, especially since those minds are screaming across the astral plane.

You enter a sewer, where there's a battle raging - and you join on the side of the Clockwork, the remnants of the King's true legions.
Helping them...to defeat the Lost.

It transpires that...the Lost have captured the Clockwork King, and passed him on to their Rikti masters.

A powerful psychic can open the gate back to the Rikti Homeworld. They tried and failed with Penelope. People cared enough to save her.

Who's going to shed a tear for the Clockwork King?

A girl named Penelope, that's who. And now, either because the risk of the Rikti is too great, or because no man deserves this fate - you're going
after him. A rescue mission, then, into the Rikti mothership. Find and save the Clockwork King, and lead him out through the waves of Rikti ambushes.

But as you find, when you emerge into the light of day - his sanity, already a fragile thing, has been further shattered by his Rikti captors.

Something needs to be done. But what?

Penelope sends you to speak to Sister Psyche. Whose reaction...is more sympathetic than one might think. Penelope, the Clockwork King, they're natural
telepaths, just like her. She's helped to heal a broken mind more than once in her time...most recently that of her troubled but brilliant protege,
Malaise. But this, this isn't going to be so easy.

Thankfully, she has just the thing. A psychomystical device that, with Penelope's assistance, will let you enter the astral plane. (Reference: CoH
- Harvey Maylor's arc, "Upon The Psychic Plane", also shades of Croatoa)

And so you venture into...the mind of a King.

The final mission is the Clockwork unique map from the Synapse TF - one with massive gears and weird lighting, filled with half-assembled robot bodies. The
mind of the King is a tortured place. Psychic Clockwork are your foes, and it is hostages you need to rescue...

First the Conscience of a King - a figure that looks not unlike Penny Yin herself.

...and finally, at the end, where the imposing form of the Clockwork King AV stands, a floating brain in a metal body, surrounded by his Clockwork legions...
the cowering figure of a young man, haggard and worn.

The Heart of a King.


...here's what I'm thinking. Can we put this sequence of events before what Logan suggested? We'd need to modify both plans to fit,
but with some hacksawing I think we can assemble these two ideas into a single long arc.

Save the King.

And then Heal the King.

Suggestion II: if you use the PCM to alter history...I like, really like that end image of a young man surrounded by Clockwork. But I'd also suggest a
throwaway closing dialogue line from Penelope...something to the effect that her friend's really busy now...

...because he's Blue Steel's sidekick.

You see, THAT's what you changed. That one fateful encounter, where an angry hero fought a young mad scientist.

This time, it didn't end in tragedy.
-- Acyl
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#39
Channel feedback suggests that one way to link the sequence of events I described to Logan's... is for the astral-plane-mending of the Clockwork King to
simply fail - whatever the outcome of that astral mission, his mind is simply too badly broken.

What that mission might do, though...with that insight into the King's mind and memories... that might give Penelope the idea to use the PCM.

Because she now knows what has to be changed.
-- Acyl
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#40
Oooh! I LIKE that!
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#41
Seconded. That's going to be a powerful and majorly cool arc.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#42
Edited chat log from The Legendary channel. I think by this point, Atlantea and I are officially doing this. Totally has to be done, and our ideas are
just meshing here. This is really coming together.

Definite thanks to Ops, Matrix, and all the others who've chimed in on this, though. As this continues to take shape, we'll definitely need more input.

* * *

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Oh, Acyl? That Clockwork arc of yours was utterly brilliant.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Never thought to tie the Paragon Clockwork to Bat'Zul like that

[The Legendary]Acyl: It's a CoV canon linkage.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Yeah....especially since the CoT bring Bat'Zulians in their CoV mobs...

[The Legendary]Acyl: A bit of a stretch, but you need, narratively speaking, a first 'wtf is going on' mission to build tension.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: A few get to Paragon isn't out of the question

[The Legendary]Acyl: Exactly.

[The Legendary]Acyl: I thought Atlantea's use of the PCM was inspired as well.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: ...even if I'd love for the CoV mobs to be identical in both sides.

[The Legendary]Acyl: And the two /can be combined/, the more I think about it.

...

[The Legendary]Atlantea: I have no issues with the Clockwork King arcs being 25-35 is good now that it's clear that the LGTF can be run at level 35. (Or at
least you can participate in it.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: So it works as that level.

[The Legendary]Acyl: My thinking is, really...

[The Legendary]Acyl: For Penny Yin to want to use the PCM, she's gotta -really have reason-.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: One of the things I mentioned that I didn't see anyone else pick up on was the possibility of running a mission against Ouroboros
in order to get a component.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Else it looks like she's doing something really /really/ dangerous...well she is, but I think you can justify it more if you /build it
up/.

[The Legendary]Acyl: I saw that, yea.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Grand Theft Ouroboros. =D

[The Legendary]Acyl: I dun think there are any regular Ouro mobs tho.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Which means that the attempt to fix the mind of king happened before he broke out and went after Yin again.

[The Legendary]Acyl: In fact I don't know of any combat Ouro characters besides Lazarus in one mish as an ally.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Yeah. There are Midnighter Mobs, but no Ouros, I think.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Well there is Mender Silos.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Scuze me....

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Mender LAZARUS

[The Legendary]Atlantea: My bad.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Heck, I apply the mental image of swarms of Clockwork busting into the Zig.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Even the psi-shields there aren't strong enough

[The Legendary]Acyl: Could always steal the Midnighter pillar.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Since it's already unlicensed anyway. =D

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Actually, I had a differing image I'm actually writing now.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Heh

[The Legendary]Acyl: Just borrow it for a moment.

[The Legendary]Acyl: We'll return it honest.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: I mean, look at Breakout. Have you SEEN the interior of the Zig?

[The Legendary]Acyl: Make that mish one that can reasonably be stealthed.

[The Legendary]Acyl: If you have a stealth power.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: That place is pretty much asking to be made into Clockwork. [Image: laugh.gif]

[The Legendary]Acyl: In fact that mish should -encourage- you to stealth. And...

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Heh.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Heh.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Attempts to hold him/cure him keep failing as parts of the zig come to life and bust him out Tongue

[The Legendary]Atlantea: About Penny. How telepathic is she? She's got some kind of deep connection with the Clockwork King, I'm thinking.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: At least as powerful as the King and Psyche, apparantly

[The Legendary]Acyl: She mentions that she talks to friends across the world, during her Faultline arc missions.

[The Legendary]Acyl: As in she specifically mentions a friend in Tokyo and so on.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Yeah. It's stated several times that she's one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: And you get the impression she's NOT using a phone

[The Legendary]Acyl: Yes. =D

[The Legendary]Acyl: Because she says she can't contact her father.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Ooh... yeah. You'd have to keep the King in a big plastic prison like Magneto. Or maybe even THAT wouldn't work! Plastic
Clockwork anyone?

[The Legendary]OpMegs: The King's concept essentially makes any prison he's in impossible to foolproof.

[The Legendary]Acyl: I think that's one reason -why- trying to heal the King becomes important.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: He's telekinetic

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Yeah. Good point.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Sister Psyche's assistance is logical - she helped with Malaise.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: The original Clockwork were running off his MIND animating them

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Yes.

[The Legendary]Acyl: So that's why I wanted to see a mish where you get to go Astral and look in his head.

[The Legendary]Acyl: And that lets us re-info dump the King's history.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Killed by Blue Steel, so on.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Right.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: I loved the image of the shattered "representative" psyche

[The Legendary]Acyl: Yeah, you rescue and fight bits of him alternately. =D

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: The clues are statements from each part of the King on his past

[The Legendary]Acyl: I like that idea.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Exactly!

[The Legendary]Acyl: Exactly that!

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Does he have a NAME in canon other then the Clockwork King?

[The Legendary]Acyl: ...no.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Nope

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Conscience: I just wanted to help people... my powers let me help so many at once...

[The Legendary]Acyl: Well, his original Clockwork were annoyance-level thefts.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: He's always been referred to as "a young man"

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Wow. I like the mindscape/shattered psyche idea.

[The Legendary]Acyl: They were dismantling air conditioning units and stealing plumbing and so on, which is why the police got involved.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Well, building his army to help....

[The Legendary]Acyl: Yeah, there might not have been malicious intent.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: True that.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Maybe a touch of "A god am I" to minor effect.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Steel flipped because when they try to take him in at the factory, a propane tank exploded and three cops were killed.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: He has a wider perspective. He knows he's acting in the better interests

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: He told his minions to build more, and didn't notice the small details

[The Legendary]OpMegs: For all we know, he's like Frostfire

[The Legendary]Acyl: I don't really think we want to paint him as a -saint-, but...

[The Legendary]Acyl: Misunderstood and sympathetic is a good way to go.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: He was *trying* to help, but dangerously naive/unnoticing

[The Legendary]Acyl: And hearing it from inside his head gives you the chance to skew things anyway.

[The Legendary]Acyl: It doesn't have to be accurate, it's how HE perceived or perceived it.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: And then, by "accident", cops are killed.

[The Legendary]MicroShade: Sister Psyche might be one of the chacters you have to unlock so don't expect to be able to plan on her assistance... she's
busy elsewhere....

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: "I was making things better, and Steel was JELOUS!"

[The Legendary]Acyl: And after the whole mindtrip astral mission...

[The Legendary]Acyl: No, I mean.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Use a fedex mish to her.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Nah. More like Steel overreacted.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Just talk to her.

[The Legendary]Acyl: She'll let you use the astral thingy.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: He's had 20 years to brood on it

[The Legendary]Acyl: Which is canonically from Harvey Maylor's arc.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Steel wasn't Jealous so much as he didn't let the King explain

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Like I said, he's had a long time to brood.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: It was ALL his fault. Because he didn't do what heroes are supposed to do, and try to talk first.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Steel lost it and beat the shit out of a defenseless guy.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Obviously, that's going to horribly skew his memories

[The Legendary]Acyl: There's really no way around that. Pity there's no Blue Steel combat mob yet.

[The Legendary]Acyl: EVen with shields in I13. =D

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: He'd try to figure out why

[The Legendary]Acyl: Else we should totally have Blue Steel present in that astral mish.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: And, naturally, he wasn't going to be mobile for some time

[The Legendary]OpMegs: The Clockwork had to develop a way to sustain him.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Yeah. And the shattered psyche thing - he might have become unable to focus because each little clockwork runs off a portion of his
mind. He didn't notice at first what it was doing to him. By the time he did, he wasn't able to care.

[The Legendary]Acyl: One of the early Clockwork arcs has the King freak out about you, the hero, because you remind him of the hero that did this to him.

[The Legendary]Acyl: It's clear it's a great source of fear for him.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: ... He was a broken wreck, calling out for someone to help him... so the Clockwork did, in the only wat they knew how

[The Legendary]Acyl: Yeah.

[The Legendary]Acyl: We need to find the most elegant way to phrase all of this...

[The Legendary]OpMegs: I always referred to it by the Hamidon analogy. The King is Hami, in the middle, the guiding force. The outer pieces are tied to him,
gain direction, but he doesn't control them directly

[The Legendary]Acyl: ...but this is all /excellent/ content for that key exposition mission.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: They're antibodies

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Course, that leaves the question of how indepentant they are...

[The Legendary]MicroShade: ... where's my dictionary....

[The Legendary]Acyl: The key thing is to try and create at least some sympathy for the King, and provide -reason- for...what would otherwise be damn drastic.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: I mean, they are extensions of his will... but can he control directly?

[The Legendary]Acyl: Using the PCM.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: You don't control the antibodies in your body. Your body can even get sick and do suerious damage to you by *trying* to help you.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: I imagine the Clockwork are much the same for the King

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Ooh.... maybe he's developed a fixation on Penelope because she's like a psychic beacon. She's SO powerful and SO focused,
that he's actually ABLE to pay attention to her in a singlular fashion, and some part of him recognises his need for help, and...

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Yin: He was trying to make things better... He messed up, yeah, but... he didn't deserve this...

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Or maybe because, instinctually, he just knows she can fix him.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: That's where I was going, yes.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: More subconcious than concious, but it would *take* a psychic of her magnitude to remotely approach fixing his brain

[The Legendary]Acyl: The fact that you get a temp Clockwork summon from Penny Yin - she gives you a handful of parts...

[The Legendary]Acyl: And the fact there are deactivated Clockwork lying inside Yin's market's shelves...

[The Legendary]Acyl: Suggest at least to me that to some degree /she/ can control the Clockwork directly.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Well, the modern clockwork are sort of independently mobile

[The Legendary]Acyl: Or that, at the very least, she sees to them in a way not unlike the King; after all, she had to have the handful of parts to give you,
and there are Clock pieces in the place.

[The Legendary]Acyl: No, early arc suggests they really all are psionically motivated.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: So it's not surprising their minds are at least "programmable"

[The Legendary]Atlantea: And I think, on some level, it would be neat/poignant if he actually comes to care for her in a real way, and she can see that. Maybe
see what he really is/was/used to be. She wants to help him be human again.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Oh.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Yeah.

[The Legendary]Acyl: I see what you mean.

[The Legendary]MicroShade: anyone even looked at the paragonwiki article about the clockwork king? or am i coming into the discuission lafe?

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Psychic constructs = parts of his mind?

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Essentially, I imagine the Clocks now are sort of "Mk.IIs"

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Their bodies are actually functional, but the mind is all the King

[The Legendary]Atlantea: I have looked at that. But it's been a long time.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: As opposed to the earlier ones that're implied to be purely telekinetically animated.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Which then built the functional ones, which build more advanced ones....

[The Legendary]Acyl: Some of the Clockwork seem to speak on their own.

[The Legendary]Acyl: They do have dialogue.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: They've been active long enough to form their own mind?

[The Legendary]Atlantea: I seem to recall that in the arc where you rescue that mechanic Lou and his family, that he comments that the Clockwork shouldn't
really work. Or was that one of the Hero Corp contacts?

[The Legendary]Acyl: I figure that's a case of fragmented personality.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Oh,m the whole arc tells you that the Clockwork make no sense mechanically.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Right.

[The Legendary]Acyl: If that stays true, then yeah, they rely on telekinesis to 'bridge the gap' where their mechanical bits would stop working.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: So what I was getting at is ....

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Each clockwork has a "psychic construct" as part of its workings. And that essentially is or is linked to a part of the
Clockwork Kings mind. What's awesome to think about is his potential power. HOW many of these things ARE there anyway?

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Well, Psyhic Clockwork world demonstrates that

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Most of the smaller ones aren't much of a drain, and don't have much in the way of intellect. Like animal level instinct.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: But the larger ones I think actually have parts of his personality in them.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Psychic Clockwork King, the psi-version of the AV, is originally from a heroside portal arc.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Yep

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: I meant that version of him

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Yeah.

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Not the local one in a Yin-related panic attack Tongue

[The Legendary]Acyl: Where Clockwork are the only thing in that world.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Yeah.

[The Legendary]Acyl: The local one doesn't have full access to that power level yet.

[The Legendary]Acyl: But the point is he -has- the potential.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Which is why I see the Rikti/Lost grabbing him and trying to use him like they did Penny.

[The Legendary]Acyl: I mean.

[The Legendary]Acyl: C'mon they ain't gonna give up.

[The Legendary]Acyl: And while Penny's well guarded now...

[The Legendary]Atlantea: In the LGTF, were the Clockwork attacking in the first mission the regular kind? Or the psychic kind?

[The Legendary]Acyl: The whole episode revealed another powerful psychic...

[The Legendary]MatrixDragon: Psi

[The Legendary]Acyl: Psychic kind. Clock King and the whole spawn are Psychic Clocks.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Yeah. And the Rikti will try and grab him. It makes sense.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Bio info and suchlike says the stress has driven him to tap into his latent potential.

[The Legendary]Acyl: And if you remove the Clock King, cut him off from psychic contact...

[The Legendary]Acyl: Which the Lost/Rikti CAN do - they shielded Yin's father from her mind...

[The Legendary]Acyl: ...what happens to the Clockwork outside?

[The Legendary]Acyl: Either they just go berserk, stop working...

[The Legendary]OpMegs: They stop working

[The Legendary]Acyl: ...but there's another force hacking the Clockwork.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Yeah. A new motivator

[The Legendary]Atlantea: OH!!! Potential plot element: What if the Clockwork King is SO potentially powerful, and because of his fractured mind/link with his
minions, that the Rikti have discovered that he can not only open the main portal to the Rikti alternate earth, but...

[The Legendary]Acyl: The Rogue Island Clockwork hijacked by Bat'Zul.

[The Legendary]Acyl: ...connect to his alternate selves everywhere?

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Yes.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Open portals WHEREVER THERE ARE CLOCKWORK.

[The Legendary]Acyl: Kingdom Come. =D

[The Legendary]OpMegs: It'd bypass the magical barrier

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Smuggle Clockwork back to Rikti Homeworld, let them replicate...

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Now mind you, that's something that would only be a text element, I think. The contact letting you know what's at stake if you
fail.

[The Legendary]Atlantea: I don't know of a way to work that in as a mission element.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Well, assuming the Assault Portals are selectable items...

[The Legendary]OpMegs: A test run

[The Legendary]Atlantea: Ah yes.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Rikti beaming in without dropped War Walls

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Because the local Clockwork are providing "anchors"

[The Legendary]Atlantea: And you have to shut them down. And - ooh... They're being generated by clockwork! You could use the graphic element of the
Clockwork framing a portal with their little electric arc fences, the way they hold captive in Faultline!

[The Legendary]Atlantea: You destroy those little Clockwork and the portal shuts down. But there's a LOT MORE clockwork and Rikti in the room guarding
them.

[The Legendary]MicroShade: But the question would need to be asked... who would gain from getting rid of Psi King and potentially wipeing out the clockwork...
and didn't I read somewhere that the clock work in one dimension was invented by Evil!Synapse and Evil!Positron?

[The Legendary]Acyl: Who would gain from getting rid of the Psi King and wiping out the clockwork? That's not really an issue, I mean.

[The Legendary]Acyl: We're pointing out what can be gained from exploiting his powers.

[The Legendary]MicroShade: ... it was in one of the comics I remember reading that.

[The Legendary]Acyl: And the potential pathos and sympathetic element of his character, as a means of helping him.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: And unlike, say, Frostfire, he's sympathetic, in a way.

[The Legendary]OpMegs: Frosty overreacted to a tragedy, but he's obviously not gonna turn cape any time soon

(From this point onwards, the conversation topic moved to Frostfire's backstory, speculation on Sister Psyche's powers, and other assorted weirdness.)
-- Acyl
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#43
a tiny suggestion - make the Clockworld Wasteland/Astral mish dependent on survival of the Conscience mob..
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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#44
Bob - How about a separate thread/board to discuss 'Mission Planning'?

Someone mentioned a possible arc/mission about the lack of female among certain groups... I can tell you why there are no female Trolls... there are no female
troll models in the game. As as someone who demorecords I can also state that there are no female Outcasts in the game... nor any female Hellions.

Hellion Mobs Models and Thug and Outcast Mobs Models

That said, here's something I'd like to toss out for discussion/melting pot: (Note I typed this out in the wee hours of the morning so I might have
gotten the contact wrong)

------------

Contact: Meg Molly (Hollows)

Text: Hello once again . You know something that's been bothering me lately? Lt. Wincott just mad a coment to me that got me thinking. You may
not have noticed but take a good look around you and people you arrest. Notice that they tend to be mostly male? I want you to look into this a little further.
First go and investigate this Trolls lair that just got called in...

Mission: Clear all Troll in Lair

Boss text: Superdine no work on girlies. Superdine make men strong.

Clue text:

Return to Contact text:

Next Mission: Interesting. It seems that you have uncovered something previously unknown about the latest batch of Superdine. That will explain the lack of
female troll lately. Now what about the Outcasts? A group of heros noticed a gang of Outcasts setting up shop in this building, and I want you to clear it out.
Interrogate them first though.

Mission: Defeat all Outcast in Building

Boss text:

Clue text:

Return to contact:

Next Mission: Great! The last group I want you to ask is this bunch of Hellions. You've proven capable so far. Maybe we'll be able to piece together
this puzzle at last.

Mission: Defeat 3K Kelvin and gang

Boss text: Yeah, I had a girlfriend. Till you capes came along!

Clue text: After a heated debate with the hellion boss you discovered that the gang as a rule doesn't allow female members. Aparently they object to going
without their hair.

Return text:

Souvenir Text: ... arc you like to call Selective Breeding. Investigating the mobs around Hollows on Meg Molly's behalf you discovered some disturbing
trends in the villians of Paragon City. First the Trolls tend only to be male due to the type of Superdine they use. Then the Outcast... And finally the
Hellions just want girlfriends not members. With this sort of selectiviness is it any wonder that these groups are losing strength? You just hope that rest of
Paragon isn't also like this.

---------------
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#45
A separate mish planning area is a good idea, but I'm about to run out the door. I'll do it when I get home tonight.

ETA: Done. But you know that already if you're reading this.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#46
Well I started playing around with the mission creator in the open Beta this morning. Before something kicked me off. I'll be checking back in there in a
little while to see if it was server crash or just me being AFK too long in the creator. But I just thought I'd mention that I've started working on
the Clockwork King story arc that me and Acyl were collaborating on. I -think- I've got whatever I have completed so far saved. I'm not sure where to
look for that file if it is saved.

But Acyl? You and I need to really start on this one now. We have the tools now to work with!
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#47
I made a mission that places redcaps on a decent sided CoT cave map and saved it locally as "Snap1"

(The mission is published on Test Server as "Red Hat Discovery" by Jelidan1)

This file lives on my computer at: cohtestMissions

The file is called: Snap1.storyarc

Be sure you have AutoSave turned -ON-.

Hope this helps.
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