Nearly two hours passed as Colonel Wayne and the enigmatic Cassandra Jeong spoke in the Mobile HQ. An air of uncertainty hung over the Green Knights' camp, as everyone awaited to see what decision the Colonel would make.
Eventually the Colonel emerged, his face still as hard as granite. Cassandra followed after, barely revealing a satisfied grin.
"Green Knights, listen up!" Gaius bellowed. "I want everyone to begin preparations to mobilize. And make sure you include a breathing mask in your gear; this place is going to get very dusty, very fast. Chief?"
Deck Chief Solomon Aadil perked his head up. "Sir?"
"I want an inventory of the munitions captured in the supply raid that are not compatible with our 'Mechs. Anything that doesn't fit into one of our missile racks or cannons, I want disassembled, and the warheads converted for blasting charges."
Without even taking the time to register the near insanity of that sentence, Chief Aadil nodded and set about shouting to the crew. "You heard the man! One way or another we're making some holes with this shit! Now move!"
As the technicians scurried about to their tasks, the Colonel called out to his combat assets.
"Mechwarriors! Sergeant Dalton! Chief Techs! Mission briefings begin in ten minutes! That's missions, plural! We're about to get very busy."
C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y
_________________________________________________________ Princess Diana of Themyscira _________________________________________________________ Amazon / Demigoddess | Princess of the Amazons, Protector of Humanity _________________________________________________________ Themyscira | Sovereign City-State | Mediterranean Ocean
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S C H A R A C T E R N O T E S
P O W E R S A N D A B I L I T I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ►Superhuman Physiology: As a demigoddess, Diana wields tremendous physical strength, speed, and durability, easily able to bend steel in her hands, lift dozens of tons overhead, dodge or deflect bullets effortlessly, and survive impacts from nearly all conventional weapons.
►Divine Weaponry: Diana's abilities are enhanced further by her arsenal of weapons and armor forged by the gods themselves. Her trademark weapon is the Lasso of Hestia, an unbreakable rope that compels those bound by it to speak only the truth. Recently, however, she has relied more on the Sword of Athena, a blade sharp enough to cut the skin of a Kryptonian, and the Aegis, the indestructible shield of Zeus. In addition, she wears Bracelets of Submission, a symbol of her servitude to humanity, which can deflect all but the most powerful of blows.
►Amazonian Training: Having been raised among a race of elite warriors, Diana is a master of combat. Combined with her innate abilities and magical weapons, Wonder Woman is nearly unbeatable in single combat, but she is just as adept at coordination and strategy. Her expertise reaches far beyond the bounds of warfare, as she is also a masterful diplomat and negotiator, as well as an expert in antiquities, arcana, and history.
A L L I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ►Steve Trevor: A former Navy SEAL and current agent of the counter-metahuman task force ARGUS, Steve Trevor was the first outsider Diana had ever met. Having crash-landed on Themyscira years ago, he was the one who convinced the Amazons to send an emissary to Man's World. Since then, Trevor has been Diana's most steadfast ally, most trusted friend, and on-and-off lover.
►Donna Troy: A younger clone of Diana made by the villainous sorceress Circe, Donna was originally created to kill Diana and take her place as Wonder Woman. However, over time, the real Wonder Woman was able to break her of Circe's control and help her choose her own destiny. Still distrusted by many as a former "evil doppelganger," Donna tends to avoid other superhumans unless absolutely necessary.
►Cassie Sandsmark: Diana's teenage protégée, Cassie was an unassuming high-schooler until learning that she was the last living direct-bloodline descendant of Zeus. She has only recently begun discovering her own divine abilities, and Diana has taken her under her wing to protect and train. While Diana has strictly forbidden engaging in heroics until her training is complete, Cassie has on multiple occasions disobeyed her mentor to save lives and fight evil as 'Wonder Girl.' -
For thousands of years, the Amazons of Themyscira thrived in peaceful isolation, until a stranger washed ashore on their island. An outsider, a soldier named Steve Trevor, had crashed his plane on a vital mission to save innocent lives. To learn how much the world of men had changed in their exile, the Amazons chose to send a champion and emissary to return Trevor to his home. A contest was held to see who would be their champion, and much to the shock and surprise of the Queen Hippolyta, the winner was none other than her daughter Diana, who had entered the contest against her mother's wishes. Having proved herself worthy of the task, Diana was granted weapons forged by the gods, vowing to protect not just the Amazons, but all of humanity, from the forces of evil.
Upon arriving in Man's World, she was dubbed 'Wonder Woman,' and was surprised to find herself just one of many costumed champions of good. For several years, Diana fought the good fight, joining forces with the alien Superman, the vigilante Batman, and many others to form the Justice League, in the hopes of being a guiding light for all in dark times. She won victory after victory, defeating the forces of the sinister war-god Ares, the bestial Cheetah, the brutish Giganta, the diabolical sorceress Circe, and even her own magical clone Donna Troy, eventually helping her duplicate redeem herself and become a hero in her own right.
These victories, however, would amount to precious little when the alien conqueror Despero came to Earth. Wonder Woman was one of the first to engage the brute, and initially had him defeated, offering to spare his life if he left the people of Earth alone. Despero would take advantage of this momentary act of mercy to blindside Diana, leaving her nearly crippled and out of the fight, helpless to watch as thousands died in the ensuing battle.
Blaming herself for Despero's rampage, Diana has spent the past four years pushing herself harder than ever. Even as she exhausts herself trying to make up for the blood she believes to be on her hands, she now finds herself questioning the mercy that Despero had exploited, and has begun to wonder if humanity truly needs another 'hero,' or if what it really needs in these times is a warrior.
This version of Wonder Woman has been operating as a superhero nearly as long as Bruce and Clark, and given the weirdly timeless nature of Themyscira, has probably been training and studying for far longer. In terms of her powers, she's roughly on par with her movie counterpart, strong enough and fast enough that she can perform incredible feats, but still has to rely on her skills and her weapons to contend with the real heavy hitters. Ever since the dissolution of the Justice League, she has kept fellow heroes at arms' length, even ones she had once considered dear friends. She has been in a crisis of confidence since then, wondering if the high-minded idealism of the League was ever a good idea. This is an especially precarious point, as she's now also responsible for the impressionable young Cassie, and has to decide what kind of lessons she is going to teach her protégée.
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )
Wonder Woman is a character that I feel suffers in a solo setting, since no two writers can ever seem to agree on the finer points of her mythos or her supporting cast. Because of that, I want to make her a roaming character, able to wander in and out of events with other players and play off of them.
I also think that given the nature of this game's premise, Diana is probably the best character DC has to play around with the relationship between superheroes and death. Like, we know Batman is never going to kill the Joker, so it feels almost like a waste of time when they bring it up. People get up in arms for years when Superman puts down a genocidal maniac in a movie, to the point where it's haunted the character for nearly a decade now. It's been hard-etched in stone that Batman doesn't kill, and Superman shouldn't kill. But Wonder Woman? She just might. And what's more, she might be completely right to do so. While I have no intention of turning Diana into a bloodthirsty warmonger (she's an Amazon, not a Klingon), I think she's the right character to explore the concept of powerful people having the power of life and death, and can make a persuasive argument for either side without coming off as a preachy, meta-aware lecture.
C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y
_________________________________________________________ Princess Diana of Themyscira _________________________________________________________ Amazon / Demigoddess | Princess of the Amazons, Protector of Humanity _________________________________________________________ Themyscira | Sovereign City-State | Mediterranean Ocean
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S C H A R A C T E R N O T E S
P O W E R S A N D A B I L I T I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ►Superhuman Physiology: As a demigoddess, Diana wields tremendous physical strength, speed, and durability, easily able to bend steel in her hands, lift dozens of tons overhead, dodge or deflect bullets effortlessly, and survive impacts from nearly all conventional weapons.
►Divine Weaponry: Diana's abilities are enhanced further by her arsenal of weapons and armor forged by the gods themselves. Her trademark weapon is the Lasso of Hestia, an unbreakable rope that compels those bound by it to speak only the truth. Recently, however, she has relied more on the Sword of Athena, a blade sharp enough to cut the skin of a Kryptonian, and the Aegis, the indestructible shield of Zeus. In addition, she wears Bracelets of Submission, a symbol of her servitude to humanity, which can deflect all but the most powerful of blows.
►Amazonian Training: Having been raised among a race of elite warriors, Diana is a master of combat. Combined with her innate abilities and magical weapons, Wonder Woman is nearly unbeatable in single combat, but she is just as adept at coordination and strategy. Her expertise reaches far beyond the bounds of warfare, as she is also a masterful diplomat and negotiator, as well as an expert in antiquities, arcana, and history.
A L L I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ►Steve Trevor: A former Navy SEAL and current agent of the counter-metahuman task force ARGUS, Steve Trevor was the first outsider Diana had ever met. Having crash-landed on Themyscira years ago, he was the one who convinced the Amazons to send an emissary to Man's World. Since then, Trevor has been Diana's most steadfast ally, most trusted friend, and on-and-off lover.
►Donna Troy: A younger clone of Diana made by the villainous sorceress Circe, Donna was originally created to kill Diana and take her place as Wonder Woman. However, over time, the real Wonder Woman was able to break her of Circe's control and help her choose her own destiny. Still distrusted by many as a former "evil doppelganger," Donna tends to avoid other superhumans unless absolutely necessary.
►Cassie Sandsmark: Diana's teenage protégée, Cassie was an unassuming high-schooler until learning that she was the last living direct-bloodline descendant of Zeus. She has only recently begun discovering her own divine abilities, and Diana has taken her under her wing to protect and train. While Diana has strictly forbidden engaging in heroics until her training is complete, Cassie has on multiple occasions disobeyed her mentor to save lives and fight evil as 'Wonder Girl.' -
For thousands of years, the Amazons of Themyscira thrived in peaceful isolation, until a stranger washed ashore on their island. An outsider, a soldier named Steve Trevor, had crashed his plane on a vital mission to save innocent lives. To learn how much the world of men had changed in their exile, the Amazons chose to send a champion and emissary to return Trevor to his home. A contest was held to see who would be their champion, and much to the shock and surprise of the Queen Hippolyta, the winner was none other than her daughter Diana, who had entered the contest against her mother's wishes. Having proved herself worthy of the task, Diana was granted weapons forged by the gods, vowing to protect not just the Amazons, but all of humanity, from the forces of evil.
Upon arriving in Man's World, she was dubbed 'Wonder Woman,' and was surprised to find herself just one of many costumed champions of good. For several years, Diana fought the good fight, joining forces with the alien Superman, the vigilante Batman, and many others to form the Justice League, in the hopes of being a guiding light for all in dark times. She won victory after victory, defeating the forces of the sinister war-god Ares, the bestial Cheetah, the brutish Giganta, the diabolical sorceress Circe, and even her own magical clone Donna Troy, eventually helping her duplicate redeem herself and become a hero in her own right.
These victories, however, would amount to precious little when the alien conqueror Despero came to Earth. Wonder Woman was one of the first to engage the brute, and initially had him defeated, offering to spare his life if he left the people of Earth alone. Despero would take advantage of this momentary act of mercy to blindside Diana, leaving her nearly crippled and out of the fight, helpless to watch as thousands died in the ensuing battle.
Blaming herself for Despero's rampage, Diana has spent the past four years pushing herself harder than ever. Even as she exhausts herself trying to make up for the blood she believes to be on her hands, she now finds herself questioning the mercy that Despero had exploited, and has begun to wonder if humanity truly needs another 'hero,' or if what it really needs in these times is a warrior.
This version of Wonder Woman has been operating as a superhero nearly as long as Bruce and Clark, and given the weirdly timeless nature of Themyscira, has probably been training and studying for far longer. In terms of her powers, she's roughly on par with her movie counterpart, strong enough and fast enough that she can perform incredible feats, but still has to rely on her skills and her weapons to contend with the real heavy hitters. Ever since the dissolution of the Justice League, she has kept fellow heroes at arms' length, even ones she had once considered dear friends. She has been in a crisis of confidence since then, wondering if the high-minded idealism of the League was ever a good idea. This is an especially precarious point, as she's now also responsible for the impressionable young Cassie, and has to decide what kind of lessons she is going to teach her protégée.
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )
Wonder Woman is a character that I feel suffers in a solo setting, since no two writers can ever seem to agree on the finer points of her mythos or her supporting cast. Because of that, I want to make her a roaming character, able to wander in and out of events with other players and play off of them.
I also think that given the nature of this game's premise, Diana is probably the best character DC has to play around with the relationship between superheroes and death. Like, we know Batman is never going to kill the Joker, so it feels almost like a waste of time when they bring it up. People get up in arms for years when Superman puts down a genocidal maniac in a movie, to the point where it's haunted the character for nearly a decade now. It's been hard-etched in stone that Batman doesn't kill, and Superman shouldn't kill. But Wonder Woman? She just might. And what's more, she might be completely right to do so. While I have no intention of turning Diana into a bloodthirsty warmonger (she's an Amazon, not a Klingon), I think she's the right character to explore the concept of powerful people having the power of life and death, and can make a persuasive argument for either side without coming off as a preachy, meta-aware lecture.
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to WHIH Newsfront! I'm Christine Everhart, and tonight, our guests need no introduction, but I'll be happy to provide them one anyway. Arriving from a parallel universe just in time to help save the Earth thirteen years ago, they've since become global sensations! Pioneers in science, captains of industry, best-selling authors, billion-dollar movie stars, inspirational figures for boys and girls the world over-- not to mention world-saving superheroes! The First Family of the Future, Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four!"
"A pleasure to be here, Christine."
"The pleasure's all mine, Doctor Richards. Now, first, if I may, love the new look. The beard really suits you."
"Ah, thank you, I guess, I, err, I've been spending a lot of time in the lab lately and haven't had much time to shave--"
"Though I did manage to convince him to trim it a bit before we came today. Poor thing looked like he'd been castaway on a desert island. Once he gets his mind on an idea, it's all he can think about until he cracks it."
"Well, I think I can say for everyone that we're all very excited to see what incredible new experiments Doctor Richards comes up with next. Now then, Miss Storm, you--"
"It's Doctor Storm, actually."
"Ah, yes, my apologies. Now then, Doctor Storm, you're well-known for running the day-to-day operations of the Future Foundation, a multi-billion-dollar think-tank and humanitarian organization. Given how well you handle running such a fast-paced and highly stressful position, enduring the rigors and strains of your activities as a super-heroes, and rebounding gracefully from your very public break-up with Olympic swimmer Namor McKenzie, do you feel like you set an example to the lonely older women out there that they can still be an inspiration in their advancing age?"
"Hey, did it just get colder in here?"
"*pffft* Oh yeah it did."
"....well, first of all, Ms. Everhart, I believe that everyone has the potential to be fantastic regardless of trivial things like age, gender, or status. That's what the Future Foundation stands for: helping every man, woman, and child on Earth achieve their best possible future. We believe everyone has the potential to make the world better, whether it's through saving lives, fighting injustice, advancing knowledge, or just brightening someone's day. It's never too late to start being fantastic-- and it's never too early to start pursuing worthwhile goals instead of, for instance, spreading tabloid trash."
"....yeesh, and I thought I was the one who handed out burns."
"*ahem*...which, ah, which brings us to you, Johnny Storm, The Human Torch! The thrill-seeking kid brother of the four, you were a teen heartthrob when you first arrived on our world! And throughout your twenties, you became the red-hot face of the Four, with six Teen Choice Awards and voted Sexiest Man Alive three years in a row! And then, this year, you lost that title to your best friend Wyatt Wingfoot, coinciding with your thirtieth birthday. Tell me, now that you're no longer the hot young face of the super-hero scene, what's next for the Human Torch?"
"Okay, well, first of all, thirty is the new twenty, okay? Secondly, I'm really happy that Wyatt won Sexiest Man Alive; he's a great guy and an even better friend, why wouldn't I be happy? And third, just because People Magazine gave some made-up award to someone else doesn't mean the Torch has lost his sizzle! I've still got Rise of the Rawhide Kid coming up this spring, and--"
"Actually, I heard this morning that the studio has hired James Gunn to take over the project, and he's replacing you with Euro-star winner Lon Zelig."
"...o-okay, that's news to me, but I'm sure it's just--"
"And lastly, we come to Ben Grimm, the powerhouse of the team! Sometimes known simply as 'The Thing,' Ben, you've become a real favorite to many fans out there! You've come to show everyone that you can be a hero even if--"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm ugly. Think that's gonna be news ta me?"
"....right, well. There are rumors that Doctor Richards has been attempting to experiment on your skin cells to create new building materials. If you don't mind my asking: why go through all the trouble to replicate orange rocks?"
"Well, first, it ain't exactly rock. My skin, it's made outta....ahh, whaddya call it, atomic lasagna?"
"Close, it's 'nuclear lasagna.' A somewhat whimsical-sounding name for a rather extraordinary material. The atoms in each cell of Ben's skin are so closely packed together that the nuclei form a lattice structure in flat layers. Layers that look like, well, lasagna. This material is so dense, in fact, that it is nigh indestructible, quite possibly the strongest substance in the known universe! And there are only two places in all of the cosmos where you can find it: the heart of a neutron star, and my good friend Ben here."
"Yeah, guess I'm kinda special after all."
"So with that in mind, why try to replicate this 'nuclear lasagna' as a building material?"
"Well, the possibilities could be limitless! The nearly indestructible nature of such a material could be the basis for entire new fields of mega-architecture! Infrastructure that would never have to worry about erosion and aging! Buildings, homes, entire cities that no longer need to fear the ravages of natural disasters! To say nothing of the fact that it would make the most high-profile threat of the modern world, the costumed 'super-villain,' a thing of the past virtually overnight! If we could unlock this secret, we could have an indestructible world....one that would never....never have to...."
"....Reed? Reed, are you all right?"
"Hm?....Oh! Oh, yes, I'm.....I'm fine. Thank you for your time, Christine, it was lovely."
"It was?"
"Yes, well, we hope you'll come back soon and--...I'm sorry, we've got a breaking news report. Sources are reporting an explosion and multiple gunshots here in downtown Manhattan. Police are attempting to cordon off the area, but eyewitnesses claim a super-human is on the scene, and--...Doctor Richards? Where are you going?"
"Mort!" The panicked voice came from the front of the Roxxon truck in the moment of silence following the pause of gunfire. "We've got a problem, there's something in the—"
The shouting was cut off by the abrupt sound of tearing metal and thick glass exploding, replaced by a short-lived scream of terror and a sickening crunch.
Mortimer Norris, leader of the assault team, took a step back as he witnessed a hulking figure drag itself out from the passenger side door - or rather, where the door had once been.
Standing seven-and-a-half feet with thick, armored plates decorating his massive, orange-grey body, the monstrous Antonio Rodriguez towered over the assembled men circling the tanker. His services retained to guard this particular shipment, he growled ferociously as the onslaught of bullets returned, this time harmlessly ricocheting off his body.
"You don't know who the fuck you just messed with."
As the enormous armored man loomed over the hopelessly outmatched gunman, a loud swoosh came from overhead. A gleaming white, T-shaped vessel, held aloft by fantastical anti-gravity technology, swooped down from the city skyline, depositing four figures in blue.
"Hey, pipsqueak!" the Thing called out, his fists making the sound of grinding boulders as he approached.
"How's about you watch yer language? There's kids about, y'know."
After trying to flesh out concepts where he's actually a mob lawyer, a devoted ninja of The Hand or an avenging priest, I came to the conclusion that Daredevil is one of those characters that isn't broke, so I shouldn't fix him. My main change from the regular canon will instead be that while Matt will still possess all the good stuff that makes DD a standout, his villains are gonna be nerfed a bit in order to portray a living, thriving criminal element for Hell's Kitchen. So while The Kingpin is the definite head of the snake, characters like Gladiator, Jester, Purple Man, and even The Hand are going to be folded into criminal factions of their own rather than act as gimmicky super-powered foes from the Lee/Everett days. Which isn't a huge shift for characters like Bullseye or Elektra, since they're largely just really skilled assassins, but it'll present a challenge for someone like Mister Fear, whose gimmick remains a little outlandish.
I eagerly await the gritty down-to-earth rendition of Stilt Man.
Hound55
Cyberlad
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mickilennial
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