Deep Six

[Aether]

Wanted to start getting some things down on our plans for a Villain Group. Here's some points for brainstorming:

Which Server?
We talked a bit about the Pros and Cons. It probably makes the most sense to keep it on Pinnacle so it's open to interaction with SGI. Jade Dragon and I already have the characters we're going to use created there. Nori is still low, but I don't want to make Jade start again. Is there a possibility of moving SGI someplace else once character transfers is enacted?

A Theme.
I think having a theme for a group is a good way to solidify it. It's good for RP and bonding the characters together. One of my ideas, was to have them be diametrically opposed to SGI's theme. SGI seeks to find the truth behind mysteries, so this villain group could be one that strongly believes in covering things up. Obviously this will put them in opposition with SGI, however I don't want them to just be arch-enemies in the classical sense. By that I mean their motto shouldn't be "We must destroy SGI at all costs!" and blindly do nothing else. They should have their hands in many sinister soups.

A Name.
Obviously you need a name. Should give an idea of what they do and hopefully sound a little intimidating. A loose connection with "Shades of Grey" could be a plus. Nothing too similar, because this group is going to be more than just a thorn in our detectives sides.

Members.
A few of us already have some villains in line. Talk a bit about your villain, his back story, how s/he'd fit into the group. Discuss ideas for new characters. This can be a chance to create a character from scratch for a specific group/theme.



Though not quite villains we might also want to use this thread for that "alt-world" SGI group that we were playing around with.

[Gaia]

Hmm. A name. I'm had this one group backed up in writing for a few years. They are called R.U.S.T. Ruthless Underworld Strategies and Tactics. Usually they are diametricly opposed to Nick Steele and Team Steele (could always build Nick for SGI. . . ;) ) but they are always open to the highest underworld bidders, cover up their involvement and have secret agendas. They are a massive underworld think tank and employ every resource to create chaos.

[Jade_Dragon]

Well, on the subject of Server, I do think Pinnacle is the best choice because it allows us to "split up" between SGI and the villain group for hero/villain teaming. I don't think the Valentines event was the last we're going to see of that, and in fact, the new "club" they are opening up in Pocket D would very likely be open to both heroes and villains. So crossover teaming is very possible in Issue 8.

OTOH, while I have plenty of slots on Pinnacle, I don't know about you guys. I will say that I think counting on server transfers is a bit of a gamble, we know that the devs are working on it, but they've continually said it's a lot of hassle. Plus, I don't know that we WANT to move SGI, I think it's right at home on Pinnacle.

If you guys are short on slots, though, don't worry about 4L4N. I've left him at level 16 intentionally, and if I have to start over, it won't take that long to get him there again.

I do think that we need a theme (and name) that allows us to work with OTHER supergroups besides just SGI. And vice versa, SGI shouldn't just be there to be the opposition to our villain group. They can have connections in their individual members (which is likely since we are probably going to create villains with connections to our heroes) but they come together because of a common interest, rather than having common enemies.

The idea of "covering things up", I think, is a great theme, and one 4L4N would be involved in. He wants his future to take place, and it's possible that will take more manipulation than just eliminating Alan. So if he sees the opportunity to pull some strings, he will pull them. Being the "Illuminati" (or at least, getting the Illuminati on his side) means operating behind the scenes, so he would welcome allies who are good at keeping people in the dark.

I've been trying to think of a name, though, but I'm stumped there. I hadn't thought of this theme, though, maybe it'll suggest an idea.

My villain most of you have already met, he is 4L4N M1DN1T3, an alternate version of Alan Midnight from a different future. Alan came back into the past because he found evidence someone was tampering with it, well, what he doesn't know is that his tampering drew another Alan back to see who was tampering with HIS timeline. So in a sense, these two Alans created each other.

4L4N is a Robots/Traps Mastermind, and is currently level 16, as I said above. I decided to stop there to let the rest of you catch up with me. (I had a backup Mastermind named Psycommando on Virtue, and when I7 came out I created a Thugs/Dark based on Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. I'm enjoying her so much that she's my main Mastermind now, and is level 20 and still going. So no hurry for 4L4N)

4L4N is essentially everything Alan is not, while Alan hates AIs and thinks they're inferior, 4L4N hates humans. Alan refuses to use any other implants besides his Matrix interface, believing human willpower to be superior to any machine, while 4L4N has completely replaced his body with cybernetics and distains "animal instincts" and (to him) empty bravado. Alan has only Rachel as his one trusted companion, while 4L4N has an army of robots with R4-CHL merely as the most powerful of them.

I actually see 4L4N seeking out Noirbot, he has been tracking his double for some time, and is aware of everything that is going on in SGI. He would reason that his similarity to Noir, both being robots, might help him to gain Noir's trust. And even if not, if Noirbot makes the obvious argument that he was once a human, he can at least offer to help him hide from SGI until he can overcome that. By demonstrating that they have a shared hatred of humans and SGI, he figures he can probably get Noirbot on his side.

Noirbot is going to want to do more than just hide from SGI, though, and 4L4N can probably help with that. He would probably be closer to figuring out how Noirbot's technological body works than Alan. And he can help him research into the occult side of his background as well. Likely such a search would lead him to the people he is looking for, people he can manipulate into helping him change the future.

R.U.S.T. is actually an amusing concept, given the robotic nature of the two founders, but it's possible that they seek out this R.U.S.T, or it seeks them out, and they join forces. But let's not steal some other concept's rival group. :D Maybe we could think of something else along those lines.

[Gaia]

R.U.S.T like I said is a big think tank of an organization with various branches. They could even be thought of as cells who do not even know each other. The ones who truely know are the inner circle. About 9 men, women and possible aliens that have complete control over everything. The place is run like a huge conglomerate business/bank of evil geniuses.

Say you are Dr. Chaos and you need an army of robots to help you take over your corner of the world. You have the finances but you don't have the time to build the army of robots. For a fee RUST is contracted for the job. They hire your scientists and thugs to guard the fortress they provide. You can also take out a loan if you need additional help once that irritating hero shows up to try to stop you. OF course you will have to account for your equipment lose to a requisition department. As per the contract your logo is placed on your scientists, thugs and robots along with any decorations for your lair. Thus RUST is involved yet hidden. They will however tag you with a chip to keep track of you at all times. Should you try to leave to other places without paying your bills they will track you down.

My other offering to you would be the OSIRIS Corporation. Its run by a Jacob Belial. Their products have to do with consumers and winning over the masses. They produce home electronics, computers, dvd players, defensive items for the military, toys and foods. People are flocking to their fast food restaurants and buffet places. However this is all a front. What this company really is interested in is bringing about hell on earth and winning a certain war. The more people eat up their products the bigger their soul taking margin becomes. 3/4 of the work force is unaware of what the company is about. However the upper echelon is comprised of beings from the underworlds.

[Aether]

I appreciate the offers Gaia, but I'd rather develop something from the ground up. Your organizations do sound interesting and they'd be great groups to interact act with, with either our villains or our heroes.

I'm still trying to think of names. I have some options, but nothing that has quite jumped out yet. A name would be nice 'cause then we could create the VG in-game and start from there.

Some Name ideas

Names along the theme of "keeping things covered"
Burial Group - kinda simple but there's ominousness there
Deep Six - not a bad name, but makes it sounds like there should only be 6 of them.

The theme of "a place for keeping secrets"
Undercroft - a synonym for a crypt, usually one beneath a church.
The Vault - simple but functional.

Assorted
The Undercurrent - an underlying feeling or force. Something that can sweep you away.
The Black Box - a system in which input is entered, output received, but you don't know what happens in-between. Also a synonym for a "black body", something that absorbs energy but reflects none. Information goes in, doesn't come out.


I kinda like the last 2 as well as "Undercroft," but I'll keep thinking of things.

[Fantasmo]

While reading through your names, a name had jumped out at me. You mentioned Burial Group, Black Box, Deep Six and Undercroft.

How about a name that incorporated a little from these names. I just thought I would throw it out there, no biggie. I'm thinking:

Six Feet Under

[Aether]

Six Feet Under

It's not a bad name but when I hear it I just keep thinking about the TV show. Maybe some variation on that could work.

[Jade_Dragon]

I would like something a little more subtle, but I think that's the idea we're looking for. Maybe I can come up with something.

[Elemento]

Seems we're getting this cemetery theme here. One name I could think of at this early time is The Chosen.
I created two villains but never started them and have two in the making.
Time has been busy in all with my wife's recovery lately.

[Jade_Dragon]

Seems we're getting this cemetery theme here. One name I could think of at this early time is The Chosen.

Aha! How about "The Conspiracy"? :D

It's probably too obvious, it may already be taken. But it might be available, or if not we might come up with "The <something> Conspiracy".

[Gaia]

How about "The Hidden Agenda", "3 A.M. Conspiracy", "Nox Illuminati" "Hand of <make a villain and name him here>", "<villain name> and his army of many" "Behind the Scenes", "Silent Majority"

[Jade_Dragon]

I like "Nox Illuminati", I was trying to think of a name that used that.

"Hidden Agenda" and "Silent Majority" have promise, too, but I don't want to name the group after any one villain.

Although, "Hand of the Illuminati" might be interesting. Sort of parallels Shades of Grey, although it's four words not three.

[Aether]

I'm not too keen on an "illuminati" reference, I just think it's been overdone. I like the idea of "Hidden Agenda" and "silent majority". Another theme for a name I thought of was something tied to smothering or suffocation, since they cover the truth trying to kill it. I couldn't think of a good name along those lines though.

----------

Here's the current look of our friend Ledger Demense
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c256/naisvb/CoH/Demesne.jpg
I think that's the spelling I prefer. This guy's had more name changes than Prince.

The term "legerdemain", meaning sleight of hand, is where his name was originally derived (Thanks Elemento!). it went through variations like "Leger DeMaine" "Ledger Demain" and combinations thereof. I like "Ledger Demesne" because a ledger can be defined as "a flat slab of stone laid over a grave" and demesne, now a days often used as a legal term, means your land or your domain. I think both of those concepts fit with the character.

For those of you new to the team Mr. Demense was one of the antagonists to one of our early, uncompleted, stories named "Bloodshot." It involved Demense, a disgraced ex-member of the Midnight Squad, searching for a magical artifiact called "The Eye", which granted it's user insight from parallel universes. He enlists SGI's help to find it and they do, after many trials, including a run in with the CoT and a sorceress (I believe her name was Nefretti.) Some complications ensue, of course. I don't want to say too much because I hope we reboot the story someday. Demense winds up bound to the Eye at which point it mangles his body into a demonic sort of mess and teleports him to a parallel dimension.

I'm playing him as having pieced together some humanity (and human form) in order to come back to Earth for motives only the Eye knows for sure.

Anyway I'll be playing around with him, as well as some of my other villains, tonight if anyone would like to join in.

[Jade_Dragon]

Hmmm.... Something "Obscura"? I was thinking of "Camera Obscura", the form of projection that predated the photograph.

[the_starcrosser]

OOoo. Great ideas! My favorites so far have been "Black Box", "Behind the Scenes", and "Hidden agenda"... I also liked Deep Six, though it does give the idea of only six. If we don't end up using it and nobody wants it, i could take it and run with it..... >:]

Or something Obscura, Camera Obscura is good (would technically mean "hidden room", which would be cool), though it has a rather heavy 'photography' feel....

*keeps thinking*
XD Random band name generators are great for VG/SG ideas, too.


Edit: Funny term i picked up from a hardboiled slang dictionary:
Highbinders
Corrupt politician or functionary; Professional killer operating in the Chinese quarter of a city

[Elemento]

I just thought of the Silent Eclipse.

The word eclipse itself means
Eclipse: occult; put out of sight, sweep under the rug, keep under cover; cover up one's tracks, lay a false scent, hide one's trail; hide one's light under a bushel

(this is verbatim taken actually from Roget's International Thesaurus 5th Edition)

I saw the word and immediately like it. Whether it be silent or some synonym adjective for truth in front of it, I think it fits the theme.

[Aether]

I like Obscura, though preferably not attached to camera.

"Eclipse" or "Silent Eclipse" ain't bad. My only gripe with it is that Eclipse was the original code name of the character we now know as Aether. It's still a consideration though, since he doesn't use the name and I could drop it out of his history.

Something else just hit me. I was thinking about how the leadership of this organization would work. I haven't really delved into any leader-type characters yet because I had been trying to think of the type of person it would take to lead a group like this. Then rather than just one person, I'd considered something like a triumvirate in order to have sort of balance. Plus, triumvirate is fun to say. Say "triumvirate". Three is a nice number for balance, but also for backstabbing and fragmentation.

Then I got to thinking about "Deep Six". Six is a good number. It's twice as many triumvirates. So what if this group's leadership is called "The Deep Six". So why 2 groups of 3? There's some possibilities there. Maybe the 2 trios disagree on some principle or strategy. Maybe 3 of them are the visible leaders of the group, while 3 others covertly pull strings. Being a sextet, one could be from each continent (Antarctica be damned.) Maybe there are many cells and interspersed amongst the cells are the six, but no one knows who they are. The six are deeply undercover. Was also thinking of some sort of logo involving two intersecting triangles.

Just some brainstorming, so pardon any lack of coherence. Even if we go with an idea like that, we'll still need a good name for the overall organization.

[the_starcrosser]

Yeah. I've been thinking about "deep six" all day, frankly - either for the group name or, if we didn't end up wanting it.. *shrug*. I like the lines of thought! Two groups of three, six populated continents, lots of backstabbing. >:J And the obvious reference to "deep-sixing" something (to kill and bury; to get rid of). All sorts of great pun references. "Yeah, that lab got Deep-Six'ed."

[Jade_Dragon]

I like the concept. If 4L4N and Noir met up with a third founder, that could be one group of two, while the others could have come together independently and decided to join in as well. Plus, there's the fact that once 4L4N gets his entire force, as with any MM, he will have six henchmen. There's a completeness in the number.

The only problem is actually coming up with six founding members. I think we've got enough folks to do it, though, we just need to all get together.

[edit] Another thought would be to have 3 as the "leadership" wing of the team, Masterminds would clearly be in this group, while the other 3 are the "arm" of the group, actually going out and doing the work. In actual play we'd all work together, of course, but we might divide the character concepts into thinkers and doers.

In this case 4L4N and Noir would be in different categories, each others' counterpart, so to speak.

[Aether]

Noirbot doesn't strike me as the leader type. He's probably not ruthless enough and he wouldn't particularly care for the human agendas. Also not knowing exactly what he is or where he came from would make it hard for anyone to trust him to lead.

He'd join the group more for what they could do for him. Mainly the resources to maintain his food supply, help in his search for his origins and purpose, and to keep SGI off his trail. He'd be willing to be the strong arm as long as they kept up their end of the bargain. I think there'd have to be something else they'd want him for too.

We also don't have to define every member of Deep Six. We can keep a few secret for the future. It might be fun to have a running mystery as to who they are and what there purpose is.

[Jade_Dragon]

Sounds like the latter idea then. 4L4N and another can sign on as the "leaders" of the team while Noir and one or two more tough guys handle the "dirty work". We can even hold off the "leader of the leaders" as a mystery for later.

What AT is Ledger?

[Aether]

What AT is Ledger?
Dominator. He's Grav/Psi for now and I think I'm sticking with that.

[the_starcrosser]

What AT's do we have going for it now? A MM (4L4N), a dominator (Ledger) and a brute (Noirbot)? I've got a stalker, sort of, though i could try corruptor.

[Gaia]

Hmm. Guess I'll have to build something eeeevil over here. *grins* Dusty's arch-nemesis unless someone would like to take the role so we could actually fight each other. Then I could take the other person's archnemesis so they could fight each other. What do you think?

Name: Dr. Emil Lawson
Alias: Dr. Lock-up
Occupation: Evil Genius and hopeful ruler of time
Powers: super intelligence, power armoured suit capable of various effects

I included a picture

[the_starcrosser]

Oo! Lockup looks quite evil. >:] What AT would he be?

Okay, to start off the voting of the Villain Group names...
for me,
First Choice: Deep Six
Second Choice: Hidden Agenda
Third Choice: Black Box (goes well with the color theme against "shades of Grey")

[razoras]

Whatever the name ends up, I'd like to participate...

http://www.wawco.com/images/razvillains.jpg

I have two villains free that I can drop into the SG to fill any AT holes: The lizard guy is a Sonic/Sonic Corrupter, and Snig is a Plant/Thorns Dom

Znearl is magic origin, so I could come up with some sort of generic "wants to keep the magical secrets he's mastered his and his alone" story to fit with the cover-up theme. Snig would take a little thought to work in, or I'd just make something totally new.

[the_starcrosser]

Oo hey, cool :D Either one of 'em would be great, depending on how ya worked 'em in. Or free to make a new one, of course XD

[Gaia]

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d78/kid_atomic3/CoV%20Characters/PyroFrostalt.jpg Fire/Ice corruptor, what do you think? And I don't have a back story for him :(

[Aether]

Pyro Frost looks real keen to me, Gaia. I like the face mask and the color scheme.

For those of you who may have missed it, and I apologize for not saying so earlier, but the villain teams' official name is now Deep Six. I also thought Undercroft would be a good name for the small creepy European town that is home to their HQ.

Also, would anyone like to schedule some ToT time for Villains?

[Jade_Dragon]

That might be fun. We should also get together and set up an SG, or you can do it if you're already at 10. 4L4N can set it up, if no one else can. (We don't really need to be together to start the SG, just to invite everyone :D)

[Aether]

I already picked "Deep Six" with Demense in order to hold on to the name before we decided. So we can just go from there. I don't think he'd be a leader, though. More of the secret "demon" they hide in the closet for when he's needed.

I'm free tonight if anyone wants to join up on the villain or hero side.

[Jade_Dragon]

I've got a bunch of Halloween Salvage on 4L4N. (I think I have like 3 full sets and a some extra) Maybe Tuesday we can get together and invite 4L4N into the supergroup and then he can invite everyone else. Then we can put together a base real quick and drop a Salvage Storage into it.

I think I got about 3 extra sets with Alan and Rachel as well, and they're in the Storage in the base.

[Aether]

Is there any night of the week that we could turn into a Villain night?

Deep Six needs to be made strong!

[Jade_Dragon]

Well, I'm finding it hard to manage Tuesdays. :D However, if we can come up with another day I can probably add it to my schedule. If worse comes to worse, we can alternate Tuesdays with heroes and villains...

However, I won't be able to make the next two Tuesdays, or any day in between. I'll try to make this upcoming Tuesday to finish the Task Force, but I will probably have to leave early for work. So I may not be able to show up at all.

[razoras]

I've had difficulty getting my villains on for Tuesdays, too. For some reason Tuesdays haven't been real good for me.

[Aether]

Could someone already on Deep Six let me know when they are on so I could get an invite for Gold Cross (the leader-type concept I had discussed with some of you)?

Also any good times where we could all get together on our villains and get them up to speed?

[Jade_Dragon]

Well, I'm doing okay for Tuesdays again, but if everyone else wants to pick some other night, that's fine. I don't know that we can all get together more than once a week, so maybe we just need to bite the bullet, and play lowbies one week, our "regulars" another, and our villains the third, and stick to that schedule. (Or at least shuffle it around so everyone gets a turn)

I don't think I'll be online tonight, but I'll see if I can, sometime around 8 or 9 CST. I can probably duck out for a few minutes during Heroes as long as nothing too strenuous is going on. :D

[Jade_Dragon]

Okay, sorry, my cable box decided to go out, and I spent a whole hour trying to get it to boot up so I could watch heroes. So I wasn't able to get online. It's 9:30 now and I'll be around until 10:00 just in case you happen to catch this.

If not, we can arrange to get you in the VG on Tuesday.

[Aether]

... so maybe we just need to bite the bullet, and play lowbies one week, our "regulars" another, and our villains the third, and stick to that schedule. (Or at least shuffle it around so everyone gets a turn)

I'd personally be okay with that. The problem is that some of us still don't have villains and I wouldn't want to have a Twisted Tuesday that they couldn't participate in.

[Aether]

First a little bit on how I imagine the structure of Deep Six. At the moment everyone's organized into levels going from Six-One at the top to Six-Five at the bottom. There may be some folks that the Six-Ones answer to (and maybe these are the literal "Deep Six") but no one else has seen them or knows anything about them. All this is still up for debate and simplification.

Here're the villains I'm playing and some info on them. From the most familiar to most of you to the least familiar.

Noirbot, the Dark/Elec Brute, is at level 15. Deep Six uses him as muscle. They don't particularly trust him but he's fairly loyal as long as they fulfill his distinct needs. Organizationally, he'd probably be a level Six-Three or Six-Four.

Crimson Conjurer, the Gravity/Mental Dominator, is at level 13. Ledger is, for some still unfamiliar, a magician that once hired SGI to find an artifact called the Eye. The case ended with Ledger being possessed by the Eye's otherworldly evil. He's recently pulled himself a bit together looking marginally more human then what SGI saw the Eye turn him into. Demesne's lingering on the edge of sanity and what does keep him together is the vicious control of the Eye. Deep Six keeps him in the closet (not literally like Noirbot...) and only deals with him when necessary. Only agents fairly high up know about him and what he is. As a Six-Four (or so), He advises Deep Six on magical matters and works on some of the messier affairs (magical wetwork). D6 is weary of what he may be capable of and make little effort to control him.

Gold Cross, a Fire/Kinetic corrupter, is at 28. He's one of the brains behind the operation, so I imagine him as a Six-One. How much pull he has over the entire thing, I'm not so sure.

The man lives for facing trials. He throws himself into situations just to see if he can get out victorious. This lends his personality towards a moral ambiguity. He is equally capable of doing good as doing evil, as long as it challenges him. Deep Six interests him because of the ability to essentially pull the wool over the entire world's eyes. To him, knowledge is power (see last paragraph) and controlling the flow of knowledge leads to a high degree of power.

He is constantly testing himself to his very limit and is scarily good at just about anything he puts his mind to. Part of this is due to his innate ability of being able to logically predict the outcome of just about every action, even accurately guessing it's effects years down the road. He uses this power to subtly and not-so-subtly manipulate persons and events to suit the outcomes he seeks. While churning through the ramifications of every event, Gold Cross often focuses himself by wrapping his hands with gold thread in a "Cat's Cradle."

He also seems able to use this knowledge of chain reactions to affect things on a microscopic level causing items and the air itself to burst into flame. (I haven't decided whether this is directly connected to his power or instead a technological enhancement). He has alternately refers to this power as "The Trial of Fire" or "The Crucible." To Gold Cross, the fire is symbolic of purifying and testing the worth of its target .

Gold Cross can also be a bit superstitious at times. For instance he never reveals his real name to anyone in the belief that knowledge of his true name would give that person power over him. In a similar fashion he keeps quiet about his past, not wishing to share any knowledge which could give one an advantage over him. This rule is sometimes broken when GC thinks the information would give him an advantage instead, for instance in intimidation. Even still any history he reveals rarely goes back before he first adopted the Gold Cross persona.

[Jade_Dragon]

I wanted to add a little note here. Since Six One is the Leader level, we're constantly having to deal with people being demoted out of Six One because they've been away from the character for like two weeks. I can't remember who's Six One right now, but it's not 4L4N, and I don't think Gold Cross is Six One either. I think it's someone else's character, but for the life of me, I've forgotten who.

Anyway, we should probably treat Six One and Six Two as the same level, organizationally, since we're not likely to play our leader characters all that often, especially if we outlevel everyone else. (As you seem to be doing with Gold Cross :D) I would suggest setting the permissions of Six One and Six Two the same as well, so we don't have to constantly be promoting outselves back into Six One to get things done.

[Jade_Dragon]

I've already posted 4L4N's description, but since you posted yours, I think I'll put in a little "refresher course". Plus, I've also added a second character of mine, Sandy. I'd created her on this server, but wasn't planning on playing her. But once I created the SG, I wanted to use her to "pad" the roster to help set up the base. Plus, she's level 6, so she can help the lowbies get up to 4L4N's level.

4L4N M1DN1T3, of course, is the evil counterpart to Alan and Rachel. He's a level 16 Bots/Traps Mastermind. Essentially, he has the same weapons and tactics as Alan, except with a laser rifle instead of firing bullets, and an army of 6 AI Robots instead of just 1. Right now he only has 3 of his bots, though.

The names P4-TTY, H34-TH3R, and P4U-L1N4 for his robots are a sort of running joke. I've always used those names for any RPG game which let me name my characters. Patty is Patty Smyth, the lead singer of Scandal from the 80's, Heather is Heather Locklear, and if you watched the first couple of episodes of Dancing with the Stars this season, you'll know who Paulina is, too. His last three robots will be named Michelle (Pfeiffer), Fiona (Flannigan, another little known singer from the 80's), and finally, Rachel. (And Rachel's name will be spelled R4-CH3L, distinguishing her slightly from the "good" Rachel's spelling of R4-CHL)

Honestly, I'm thinking of setting up macros for the bots that will be jokes based on their "true" identities. I haven't quite decided what I'll have them say, though...

Anyway, 4L4N is definately a Six One/Two, and a co-founder along with Gold Cross. He usually follows Gold Cross's lead in terms of the heirarchy, though, as his only concern is to ensure his history goes the way he wants it, and eliminating Alan. Outside of those goals, he's willing to let others make the plans.

My second character, Sandy, is the Praetorian version of one of my main heroes on Virtue. She's a Fire/Energy Dominator, level 6, although technically she should be Fire/Electric. (The good Sandy is Electric/Fire) I'm waiting to see if the devs will introduce Electric as a Dominator Secondary, and if they do, I will recreate Sandy. So I have no intention of levelling her very far, since she could be recreated at any time. Or never.

I also got really bored with the character until I started playing Dragon Lord Morgon (my main Dominator) and came up with the idea of using the second costume slot for a different look in Domination mode. I had originally made her look much like the good Sandy, just "more robot", but after they came out with the new robotic legs and arms, I tried out updating her appearance. Then I came up with the idea of her having the smaller, more compact look normally, and then "unfolding" into the larger, more robotic frame when in Domination mode. I kind of like the way it turned out, although I can't make her MUCH bigger, which I would have liked to do. (I can make her legs longer, which makes her a fraction taller, but you can't change the height slider at Icon, which I hate...)

Anyway, the good Sandy is just a sweet, somewhat shy teenaged girl, that had this experiment go wrong, (thanks to Crey, of course) and these mechanical implants replicated inside her body and tried to turn her into a military cyborg. She was able to escape with much of her brain and free will intact, but the machine half still "ate" half of her body, including her legs and arms, replacing them with mechanical limbs. She is forced to fight crime to satisfy the programming of her machine half and keep it from overwhelming her. But she hates fighting, and just is really tortured by what she is forced to do.

The Praetorian version is what Sandy would have turned into if the transformation had been allowed to conclude. She still went out of control, but there's almost nothing left human of her, her body and brain have also been completely taken over, although she still has some skin left. She looks something like a cross between a zombie and a robot.

I originally made her Six Five when I added her to the group, as I figured she would probably just be a mindless automaton following orders, but I bumped her to Six Four when I realized Six Five couldn't get to the Salvage. (I used a set of Halloween Salvage to give her her costume for Domination mode) She's somewhat paranoid, and extremely difficult to control, a by product of her overcoming Crey's controls. Once she can be convinced you're not out to get her, however, Sandy will probably follow orders to the letter.

[Aether]

I wanted to add a little note here. Since Six One is the Leader level, we're constantly having to deal with people being demoted out of Six One because they've been away from the character for like two weeks. I can't remember who's Six One right now, but it's not 4L4N, and I don't think Gold Cross is Six One either. I think it's someone else's character, but for the life of me, I've forgotten who.

Crimson Conjurer is currently at Six One, which he technically shouldn't be but got promoted when everyone else dropped down. We just never changed the inactivity timer for leaders to be more than 15 days. Right now I have it at 45 days, something that seems more practical. Elemento helped me get Gold Cross to Six Two and I can get 4L4N to Six One tonight. I meant to ask last week what level you wanted him out but I plum forgot. I really do wish they'd fix the Supergroup system so you can promote/demote players who are not currently online. It would make SG management so much easier.


Anyway, we should probably treat Six One and Six Two as the same level, organizationally, since we're not likely to play our leader characters all that often, especially if we outlevel everyone else. (As you seem to be doing with Gold Cross :D) I would suggest setting the permissions of Six One and Six Two the same as well, so we don't have to constantly be promoting ourselves back into Six One to get things done.

I'm pretty sure that Six One and Six Two are almost exactly the same permission wise. I can't think of where they might differ and I'll check it out and make the appropriate changes. The only real difference should be RP value.

[the_starcrosser]

Ready for action tonight!

*cues up "Career of Evil" on the playlist*

Edit: I'm currently on as Neverwake, but if anyone has my global, gimme a yell when they get on. :3

[Jade_Dragon]

Sorry I missed it tonight if everyone got together, but I didn't get in until 10:00 pm. Maybe tommorow night I'll be around.

I notice Six One and Six Two are at the same permissions now, and 4L4N's fine at Six Two. I think that's essentially why I don't want to worry with it, it's so irritating to get characters together just because they were automatically demoted I'd rather just not worry about it. Let whoever winds up as Six One end up there, unless there's a real good reason otherwise. (Like you need to demote someone else at Six Two)

I don't know how Shades of Grey is set up, but I suspect there's a similar problem. Your Lead Investigator right now is Father Thomas. :D

(Also, it was Crimson Conjurer that I noticed was Six One before, but I thought I was remembering it wrong since you said he was going to be about Six Four. We can't demote him until he's automatically demoted by the system. Six Ones can't demote each other)

[the_starcrosser]

FT is Lead? I wonder how that happened.... ah well, we'll all sort it out eventually. >_>

Aeth invited one of my villains to the group, not sure if she'll fit, but i think i can work her story in there. She's a SS/Energy brute.

I'll hopefully have a corruptor also, if i can decide on that one, and then either a stalker or ninjas mastermind. Or both. I'm greedy.

Will we be trying villains again next week? I may be in transit as i'm moving to an appartment over the weekend and following days, but i'm sure i can get some internet between home and the new apartment.

[Elemento]

FT is Lead? I wonder how that happened.... ah well, we'll all sort it out eventually. >_>

Aeth invited one of my villains to the group, not sure if she'll fit, but i think i can work her story in there. She's a SS/Energy brute.

I'll hopefully have a corruptor also, if i can decide on that one, and then either a stalker or ninjas mastermind. Or both. I'm greedy.

Will we be trying villains again next week? I may be in transit as i'm moving to an appartment over the weekend and following days, but i'm sure i can get some internet between home and the new apartment.

Father Thomas happened cause you all had something to confess:chuckle:

Aether knows the stories behind my villains in Deep Six but I have to write it out first before posting anything about them. Meanwhile Lone Plains Drifter does have a short bio

[the_starcrosser]

Sorry i wasn't there today for villains, it turned out to be very bad timing on my part (again). I'll hopefully be making up some time between now and next week, and definitely be on for tomorrow with heroes. :D

[Evion]

Hey, is okay, no one else was on when I checked at 7:30 ;3 Probably busy having Heroes Finale parties! :D And MAN what an ending!!

I've been enjoying Nethermoon a lot lately, so I might be dragging her around on Mondays, we'll see! Also managed to write up a brief background for her in-game. I feel accomplished!

[Jade_Dragon]

Ack! I'm sorry, I completely forgot about it! I was a bit off schedule, I took the day off to take care of some personal business, and it felt like Sunday all day...

I dunno, I caught Heroes, so I knew it was Monday. My brain just wasn't working. Well, I'll be around for tonight.

[Aether]

I showed up a bit late (had to help friend with computer, so I missed Heroes too) but when I did get there no one was there. I thought maybe everyone left. Ah well, we'll try to get back on sched next week.

[Evion]

It's okay! Next week should be better anyways since there won't be any Heroes to distract us from villainy. :D

[Jade_Dragon]

Heh. That's probably the only good thing about season 1 ending. :D

[Aether]

Sorry I missed Malicious Monday last night. I got home late and was too tired to play. I'll be on tonight for the heroes.

[the_starcrosser]

No worries! Shardre and i were a little late, but we played for a while and had fun. :3 We'll see you tonight!

[Jade_Dragon]

I'm putting this is the Deep Six thread since it's about a villain. But it could go in the regular Twisted Tuesdays chatter thread too, I guess.

Anyway, 4L4N has hit level 18, and I'm trying to decide what power to pick next. Oddly enough, two of the powers available are heals, of a sort, but really bad ones. One is Repair, which only works on my Robots. While this might sound good (especially since it's a full heal, and not just a partial one, although I'm not sure if it needs to be slotted to get the full effect) I've got my Protector Bot and it's pretty good at keeping the other two up to full HP. Once I have two, they should be even better, and can heal each other, too.

The other is Triage Beacon, which is notorious for its bad reputation. It is a "dropped" item, which means you have to be standing near it to get the benefit, and it doesn't heal you, it just makes you regenerate a bit faster. So it's not really good during the battle (because you'd have to stay where I drop the beacon) and it's not really good after the battle. (Because it doesn't really heal fast enough)

The truth is, there's no reason to take either of those when it seems like Aid Other would work better -- on both my teammates AND my Robots, unless I miss my guess -- and it's in keeping with both 4L4N's concept as a gadget-user, and as Alan's duplicate, since Alan has Aid Self and Stimulant. Alan doesn't have Aid Other yet, but we don't seem to have a problem with healing powers on the hero side, while on the villain side I was noticing the lack of healing until Nova joined the team.

My other choice, though, is Acid Mortar. Acid Mortar's a nice debuff power, it will boost our accuracy and damage (by debuffing Defense and Resistance) and thus play up 4L4N's role as more of a Defender-type, compared to Alan. I'm also noticing that I'm very short on Secondaries, I spend a lot of time standing around doing nothing while my bots do the fighting. (Although Acid Mortar wouldn't really chance that since it fights on its own, too)

I think I can continue to make do on greens, for now, so I guess the question is, do we need more offense, or do we need more defense? I can still get Acid Mortar down the road, or I can wait until 20 or so to get Medicine. (I'm trying to remember when Alan got Medicine, I think it was well into his 20's. But that really shouldn't make a big difference overall, since he's not a buff-type character)

I suppose to be consistent with Alan, 4L4N should be limited to only repairing his robots. And robotic members of the team. Then again, we've got quite a few robots on the team. And 4L4N's a cyborg, so repairing organic systems might be in his knowledge base. :think:

[Evion]

I'm leaning towards the mortar personally, just because one of the problems I've been having and others have complained about is being unable to hit the enemies all the time. It's MISS MISS MISS or deflected or the like, so the debuffs would be a big help for everyone, I think.

Nova has healing, and when I play Nethermoon I have a heal power as well, as long as I'm standing near the people needing to be healed. But, in the end, it's up to you. Just throwing in my pennies ;D

[Jade_Dragon]

I'm leaning towards the mortar personally, just because one of the problems I've been having and others have complained about is being unable to hit the enemies all the time. It's MISS MISS MISS or deflected or the like, so the debuffs would be a big help for everyone, I think.

Nova has healing, and when I play Nethermoon I have a heal power as well, as long as I'm standing near the people needing to be healed. But, in the end, it's up to you. Just throwing in my pennies ;D

Hm. Hadn't really thought about that. Alan has Targetting Drone, which takes care of all his accuracy issues, but then I'm also usually going up against purples hero side, while with the villains I'm the one who is the highest level in this case. So I'm probably not noticing you guys missing all the time.

Tactics would be another possibility, much as I suggested giving Alan that power at one time. (He would use his own perception implant to spot the weak points, and then relate them to his allies) I was going to abandon the thought of Leadership since 4L4N isn't really a leader, more a loner like Alan is, but on second thought it would fit concept. And 4L4N is one of the founding members of the SG.

Acid Mortar would still be faster to pick up, though, as I'd have to get Manuevers or Tactics first. And I suppose it could be thought of as the counterpart to Targetting Drone. Is it a mortar firing acid, or nanobot probes that 4L4N is using to scan for weaknesses? I guess it all depends on how you role play it. :D

[Jade_Dragon]

Okay, first off I got Acid Mortar. I'm not totally happy with it, as it has a long recharge and can't be moved, so about half the fights it's not available for me to plant it. OTOH, if used judiciously it can be quite effective, you just have to choose the right moment. With a bigger group with more foes per fight it should be even more useful.

Anyway, after Conjurer and I finished up last night, I stopped by the base to upgrade it a bit. I got the beacons for Mercy Island, Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable and installed the Cap one in the base. I tried to get the beacons in Nerva, but at level 18 I'm just too weak to survive that zone. I managed to get the first one, in that Longbow Park, on top of the pillar (Watcher on the Knoll) but as I was going for the second a turret got me. I figured if I could be killed that easily in the weaker part of the zone, I'd never survive the Circle of Thorns section.

I may go back and get Sharkhead's beacon, it should be easier to get even at level 18. (4L4N does have stealth, after all, I just need to stay well away from the spawns) I think the Cap beacon is the best on to use right now, it provides quick access to the higher level ferries, as well as the Black Market and several Quartermasters and the Arbiter. (You appear in the center of Aeon City)

I also added an Inspiration Collector. It was either that or a Vault, but we wouldn't have had the Prestige for the beacon then. And the Vault really doesn't buy our SG anything we can't get from the public Vault. (Which is also in Cap, coincidentally) We can't use it to trade Salvage or Recipes, and right now I don't even have enough Salvage to store in a Vault. So I'm sure I can make do with the public one. If anyone else would prefer the SG Vault, though, say something.

Finally, we already had an Enhancement Collector, so I added a bunch of IOs that I made to it. As with Alan, I am building random stuff for the badge, so if you want some IOs that don't cost you anything, just grab whatever you want. :D There's even a Set IO in there right now, an Air Burst. (Targetted AoE) I had a Time and Space Manipulation too, but of course I used it on 4L4N since it fit theme. (And I've already done the same with Alan and Rachel)

I believe I have two other Set IO Recipes, but I don't remember what they are. I will probably have to start another thread like the one for heroes. I don't want to mix the two up since heroes can trade with villains. At our levels, though, we're not really ready to start thinking about IOs. (You want to start getting them at 30, when you'll no longer want to keep replacing them to make the stronger. A few are fine, though, like the Time and Space one I used. And hey, free is free, the IOs are built, and they'll just be wasted if no one uses them. :D)

I also got a Draconic Wings costume piece, but that is going to Dragon Lord Morgon. Sorry, you won't talk me out of it. :D I'll probably have to sell it on Pinnacle and transfer the money to Infinity, since DLM is on another server. I'm sure I could never transfer the recipe itself, not without the 10 mil to start with...

[the_starcrosser]

Ah hah hah hahh.... err... okay, i may not be able to make it tonight, as i have to go to my grandmother's and then procure a birthday gift for a friend... but i hope you'll all have a great time! I'll see you on tuesday if not beforehand :D

[Jade_Dragon]

Argggggghhhhh! I missed it again! Well, better luck on Tuesday, I hope.

[Evion]

...wow, I was more out of it this evening than I thought. I'm sorry, I totally forgot about CoV D: I didn't even remember it was Thursday. Today was just... crazy. All around. Hope to be around for next week!

[Jade_Dragon]

'Salright, it was just me and Aether this week. He exemplared Gold Cross down for one of my missions, then we picked up a Stalker and ran some of his missions. Got me to level 19, anyway.

I'm kind of thinking of getting 4L4N to 20, even if that means getting a little ahead of everyone else. I've been doing a lot of testing with Masterminds lately, playing 4L4N and my main MM on Virtue (Mandy from Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, for those who might not have noticed me mention her in other threads) and I've kind of gotten in a Mastermind playing mood. :D

I also got to name my second Protector Bot, since I was exemplared up to 32. :D

On the hero side, I'm thinking of sticking with Alan until I get him to 35, instead of switching with Rachel. However, that'll just be the normal Tuesday play times, I probably won't play him the rest of the week.

[edit] Heh, I forgot that I had mentioned Mandy earlier in this very thread. Mentioned the new bot's name, too, F1-0N4.

[Aether]

Thriller Thursday is on!
Who's in?

[Jade_Dragon]

Sorry about this, Aether, but it turns out the Executioner's Contract in the base was a Damage/Range, not a Damage/Recharge. I had written it down on a consolidated list of all the Recipes I have, and the "RNG" looked like "REC" to me. So I'm sorry, I told you the wrong recipe.

I don't know whether you got around to checking the base yourself, but IIRC you logged out first. So I wanted to let you know.

On the good side, I went ahead and finished off levelling 4L4N to 21. I'm also working on raising some inf to clear out some of the Recipes I haven't built yet. It's annoying how much work goes into Inventions if you're serious about them...

[Jade_Dragon]

We were talking about an Essense of Curare for Crimson on Thursday, and I just put a Acc/End one level 34 in the base storage. It was a duplicate of one I had on Virtue. If you happen to have a duplicate, or one you can spare, I'd really like it as I need another to have two. So you can either trade, or just pick that one up.

That Decimation also turned out to be a duplicate, so I may go ahead and make it and put it in the base, in case someone else wants it. Decimation's a major IO, though, it takes Enchanted Impervium, which is hard to find. So I'll probably hold it for a while.

[Aether]

Thanks for the team tonight Jade. As I was logging out you were asking me which mission I preferred. You must have missed me saying I was calling it a night and thanks for the team. Didn't want you to think I just bailed. Anyway, some good XPing and fun times.

[Jade_Dragon]

No, I heard you say that, I was hoping I caught you before I logged out. I went ahead and picked Lorenzo Ansaldo, not for his missions, (honestly, I hate the Sea Witch) but for the Contact after him, who gives the missions against Golden Sphinx and Blue Phaser, which is a good team mission.

I will probably pick up Crash Cage as well, I love her story arc. (And that dormant Leviathan is spooky as hell)

After you logged out, I basically Trick or Treated on 4L4N and Hitwoman Mandy at the same time, setting their henchmen on auto. :D I got about a bar for both. I guess technically that's not dual boxing, since they weren't on the same server. :D Trick or Treating is sure easy for Masterminds, though.

4L4N got to about three bars from 22, so I may go ahead and play him some more this week to get the level. More importantly, Mandy is a bar from 35, so I definately hope to get her there soon, and turn my attention to some other characters. I want to get as many characters as I can into the RWZ, as well as be able to do some of the new missions in I11. (Although I think I've heard that anyone can get into the Oroboros Portal, you may only be able to do the non-Flashback missions if you're over 35 or something. Not sure)

Anyway, villain side I'm definately planning on bringing a Dominator, Dragon Lord Morgon, over to Pinnacle so I can get him into the SG. He's stranded out on Infinity right now and I could really use to team with him. Also I will be recreating Loopy Loup Garou in I11, as I've mentioned. So I'll have a whole range of characters from Loopy (and probably Lady Loopy) as lowbies to 4L4N and Morgon in the 20-25 range. In fact, if I can get Morgon to the 30's by teaming with Gold Cross I'd like to do that.

Also, I forget Crimson Conjurer's only 19. I will probably trade that Curare for a 33, since Mandy can use it at 35, and it'll open up for you a level earlier. Not really that much difference between 33 and 34 in terms of strength.

[Aether]

I won't be able to make it to our play session tonight. Sorry. I'll see you all Tues!

[Aether]

With the new acquisition of CoH by NCsoft, everyone is getting City of Villains for frees! So now you have no more excuses to not have a villain.

Has anyone who previously only had CoH checked if they can access CoV yet? Let me know. We could have a newbie fest this Thurs if you'd like.

[Jade_Dragon]

I've pretty much always considered it as free, at least once I bought the box back last year. :D There may still be some holdouts who haven't tried it yet, though, so hopefully that'll get them.

I'll also be free tonight, so I'll be able to join in if we do get a group together. Or even if we don't, I'll be around. :D

[edit] Oops, by "tonight" I mean Thursday. Didn't realize it was only Wednesday. I totally lost track of time over this late shift. :D Anyway, yeah, I'll be free tomorrow.

[Jade_Dragon]

Okay, as I mentioned in the other thread, I finally got 4L4N to 26, and picked up his Assault Bot. So finally 4L4N has his Rachel. :D I also set up some new chat binds for the girls, and I'll add some for Rachel as well. It's only one line per bot, but I tried to have them say something that defines their personalities. Rachel will have a set of 5 chat binds, so I'll have more opportunity to define her personality.

I am probably going to keep 4L4N in his 20s for teaming with the lowbies. My new transfer from Infinity, Dragon Lord Morgon, I'm going to try to get up around the same level with Gold Cross. And Loopy Loup Garou still needs to be levelled, so he's going to need some lowbie teams, too. So for a while I probably won't be playing 4L4N.

I have picked up some pretty cool costume recipes, as well, the Burned Wings, and Piston Boots. Burned Wings are pretty popular and valuable, so if anyone wants them, you'd better speak up. I'm sure you'd rather get them for free than pay for them in the market. :D The Piston Boots are pretty cheap, but if anyone wants them they're available, too. Sandy has Piston Boots on Virtue, and I really like them, they fit Sandy's concept and her look, and the little puff of steam that comes up when she lands is pretty cool.

Honestly, I have a Sandy on Pinnacle, of course, and she could use them. However, I'm not sure if I'm going to delete Sandy, or move her over to my second account so my sister can use her. So until I decide what to do, I don't want to risk using the boots on a character that will be deleted. So they're up for grabs, I will probably sell them and buy them again later if I feel like it, if no one else wants it.

Also, there are THREE Quickfoot IOs in the storage bin in the base, between levels 22 and 25. If anyone here has Swift, or three slots in Sprint, that's not a bad set, the bonuses are resistance to Immobilize, and 0.75% more HP. The Endurance one would be a waste in Swift, but the Run/End one would give half a bonus, and of course the Run is a full one. Slotting it in Sprint would probably be better, if you have the slots available.