Lucian

Ban the Person above you

Banned for making references enough not Battletech.

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Mexican Pancho

what has the avatar above you been put in jail for and why?

Jailed for breaking the Rule of Two.

Ban the Person above you

Banned for only coming back to the guild to comment in spam because I told you there was somebody making Battletech references.

(You nerd)

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

Black Adam ♦ Hostile Takeover

"The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish."
-Charlie Chaplin

"Chaplin did not account for Black Adam."
-The Wizard Shazam

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Shiruta ♦ Khandaq ♦ November ♦ 2015 A.D.

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Like many middle-eastern cities, the streets of Shiruta, the capital of Khandaq, were abuzz with life. The occasional Car horn blared its jarring warnings, messengers on bicycles dinged their little bells, children screamed or laughed or cried, while men chatted away in open-air cafes. It seemed every single thing on the street leading to the royal palace had it's own little voice, it's own noise to make. Almost every thing. A black-cloaked figure walked purposefully through the throngs of people and animals, and never made a sound. The crowd didn't part before the hooded figure, not exactly, there wasn't room for such a reaction in the crowd, but many shifted uncomfortably when forced to pass too close. Children shied away, the youngest of them bursting into tears as they neared the figure. The cloaked man ignored them all, moving inexorably toward the palace of Shiruta, the seat of power of Asim Muhunnad, the current "president" and dictator of Khandaq.

Khandaq itself was a small country, having fallen further and further into irrelevance in the eyes of the world, focused as they were on it's more noisy neighbours in the middle-east, such as Israel, Pakisatn, and Iraq. This allowed Muhunnad's regime a freedom of movement that few leaders in the area could enjoy. As a result, the regime in power was corrupt and despotic, with Muhunnad himself at the decadent head of the country's affairs, sucking much of the wealth from his citizenry and living in relative opulence compared to the common folk of Khandaq. The country had a serious homeless issue, and both drugs and weaponry were moved through it's cities discreetly for the highest bidder. In short, it was a mercenary country, who's borders could be opened for the right price, and whose leader was a symbol of despair for it's people. A revolution was surely in the works. A new leader would be installed, and though nobody had risen to take the charge yet, those of a rebellious nature were confident that it was not possible for their leader to be any worse.

The man on the street reached the checkpoint in front of the royal palace compound. The throngs of people tended to avoid this area, as the guards of Muhunnad were not particularly well-known for their pleasant demeanor. One such guard, in a military uniform and holding a firearm strapped to his shoulder, approached the hooded man, holding a hand up in the universal gesture for halt. The hooded man held his ground, but did not step any further forward, raising his head and sweeping his eyes across the palace. Different than I remember.

"Hey, what're you doing? No visitors expected today. Who are you?" The guard asked. The cloaked man ignored him, removing his hood to get a better view of the palace. The guard raised his weapon to the man's face and switched off the safety. The sky above Shiruta had grown dark with storm clouds, and they rumbled threateningly now.

"I will shoot you." The guard said calmly when the cloaked man did not respond, flicking off the safety on his rifle. Abruptly, the cloaked man looked the guard in the eye, fixing him with a glare. Thunder boomed as the cloaked man narrowed his eyes on the guard's face. The guard took a step back, and his comrades behind him stepped forward, raising their own weapons at the dark figure. It began to rain, lightly at first, but the frequency of the drops was increasing steadily. A bolt of crimson lightning streaked the sky for a moment, catching the eyes of the guards momentarily and bathing the area in bright scarlet light.

"I said what are you doing here? Answer me! Say something or we'll blow you away!" Shouted the first guard, nervous now.

"Shazam." The cloaked man said calmly.

High above the city, the heavens seemed to roar in protest as the eldritch lightning shot down to meet it's caller. Somewhere, Mephistopheles gave a quiet chuckle. The bolt of blood-red lightning seemed to carry with it the screams and wailing of a hundred people, and struck where the man was standing. There was a massive explosion of hellfire at it's point of impact. The guards, and many of the citizens who had gathered to watch the spectacle, were sent hurtling backward covered in hellish flames that the rain did not put out. At the epicenter of the blast, crackling with crimson electricity, and wreathed in hellfire, stood the cloaked man, now transformed. Slowly, the powerful figure levitated off of his feet, and began to float toward the gates leading into the compound surrounding the palace. An alarm went off from somewhere within, and air-raid sirens called their mournful cries through the peels of thunder.

The gate to the palace compound was a chain-link fence on wheels, twenty feet high, and topped with barbed wire. Without slowing, the man lifted a hand and pointed to the gate casually, and the red lightning surrounding his form traveled across his arm, pooling in a crackling orb at the tip of his finger for a moment, and then shot forward in an arc of crimson plasma that struck the metal fencing and spread all throughout it, melting the gate into nothing. The man floated through, over the molten heap.

Gunfire rang out across the courtyard, the insistent popping of automatic rifles, and the occasional louder crack of a larger-caliber from atop the palace's roofs. Bullets struck demonically-enhanced flesh, bouncing off of the man and ricocheting across the courtyard. The rumbling of thunder, popping of gunfire, and crackling of lightning served to cover the sound of a tank engine roaring to life. The cloaked man stopped his forward momentum, and looked up toward the highest-reaches of the palace's spires. He began to ascend, scanning each window he passed, hunting his query.

The tank took aim, adjusting it's barrel to account for the movement of such a small target, and fired, the boom rivaling that of the thunder above. The man had enough time to turn his head and search for the noise before he was struck with the highly-explosive shell and was rocketed into the ground many yards away. The commander of the tank crew popped the hatch and looked at where the man had fallen, though smoke and dust obscured his view, and he couldn't see anything. He lifted his binoculars to his face, and looked through them just in time to see a large fist before it shattered them, and his head, spreading gore all across the tank's back flank. The cloaked man no longer held his composure, his eyes wide in anger, his mouth pulled back into a snarl. With a grunt of effort (or perhaps simply rage) the man lifted the tank above his head, and with a magically enhanced roar, threw it into a group of the guards who had been taking ineffective potshots at him. The tank smashed into the ground and rolled several times, shredding several of the guards into pulpy pieces.

The guard's were running now, no more gunshots could be heard. The cloaked man flew toward the gates and into the palace itself, smashing through the large wooden doors with his shoulder. All was quiet, save the patter of rain and the rumbling of the thunder above the city. After a few minutes of quiet, the crowds started to move in out of curiosity. Nobody heard the man say the word, but another massive, blood-red bolt of lightning shot down toward the compound, this time into the palace itself. There was another explosion, then silence again. For nearly five minutes, the quiet deepened, as did the density of the crowds surrounding the palace.

Quite suddenly, a section of the roof blew apart, and the cloaked man flew high into the sky through the breach. In his left hand, he carried a man by the ankle, who was screaming and flailing. The assembled crowd murmured and exclaimed in awe, but a bolt of lightning from the sky and a crash of thunder forced them to silence, and the man spoke.

"Behold! I am Teth-Adam, God-and-king of this land since ages long past!" He shouted, his voice magically amplified, as if the thunder itself carried his words, "I return to the land of my people, only to find you weakened. What have you accomplished in the thousands of years without me? You have withered away, until the superpowers of the world have nearly swallowed you up. No more. I have returned! Fear me and rejoice, mortals, for I have come to lead my chosen people into glorious prosperity! As my first act as your God returned, I will rid you of your weak leaders, for I am a jealous lord. Let none but me sit upon the throne of Khandaq, from now until the end of time!" As he finished speaking, he tossed the man in his right hand to his death, his body falling to crushing destruction on the street below. As the crowd gathered to see who it was, hushed murmurs ran through the group. Asim Muhunnad was dead.

"Now, prostrate yourselves, or die as he did." Adam commanded, and the people did so.

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

(Image editing courtesy of @Wade Wilson)

Black Adam

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^{"I have returned, and Hell follows behind me."}

^{Teth-Adam ♦ 1200 BC ( Ancient ) ♦ Male ♦ True Neutral (Chaotic Evil when empowered)}

C O N C E P T A B S T R A C T:

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The idea is for Adam to have obtained his powers from darker, less neutral sources than the Egyptian Gods or Shazam, thanks to a plot by Mephistopheles. This Adam's powers come at a cost, and are as much of a curse as a blessing, making him think twice before transforming. I intend to have Adam hunt for a way to be rid of his curse, while also getting caught up in the scheming of Mephisto.

N O T E S:

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Powers

As stated above, the entities form which Adam receives his powers have been altered to darker beings. When Adam says the word Shazam, he is granted powers and abilities by these evil beings, though each aspect comes at a price. Here's a listing of said entities and their respective contributions to his power in relation to the word Shazam,

S

For the Forbidden knowledge of Stolas. Primarily a psychological and intellectual boon, this grants Adam access to a vast internal catalogue of linguistic, historical, and arcane knowledge. However, Stolas will often whisper to Adam, sometimes unintelligent, mad ravings, other times horrific arcane secrets one is better off not knowing. Adam cannot control when this will happen, except by reverting to his mortal form.

H

For the pride of Hades. Mostly a psychological boon, this aspect of power allows Adam the confidence and surety of the King of the Underworld, even in the face of insurmountable odds. However, with this pride and confidence comes egotism and megalomania, which are present in Adam's personality, but are amplified when transformed.

A

For the destructive power of Abaddon. This aspect is what allows Adam to perform feats of horrifyingly superhuman strength. The counter to this is Adam cannot keep his strength in check. Doors are pulled form hinges instead of opened casually, glasses break in his hands, and physical interaction with any human he doesn't wish to maim or kill is nearly impossible while in his transformed state.

Z

For the swiftness of Ziz. This aspect of power not only allows Adam to fly, but also to move at superhuman speeds, and to react inhumanly fast. Because of the cruse associated with this aspect of his power, each time Adam transforms, his mortal form ages considerably, ensuring that eventually Adam will be fully in Mephistopheles' service, or will simply wither away of old age.

A

For the rage of Aeshma. Calling on the undying fury of the demon of wrath, Adam is capable of shrugging off powerful blows through force of his rage alone, as well as healing swiftly any damage that manages to harm him. Using this aspect of his power, he is able to self-sustain, and will never tire or require sleep. The cost of this power is high, however, as Adam can lose control of himself entirely when transformed, entering a rage-fueled sort of fugue state. Even when not in this state, when transformed, Adam is prone to violent outbursts of temper and terrible mood swings.

M

For the power of Mephistopheles. This aspect represents the contract of Mephistopheles, and binds the rest of the aspects of Adam's power (as well as the curses that come with them) together. It fuels the eldritch crimson lightning which transforms him, as well as augmenting his other abilities. Perhaps the greatest curse of all, this aspect of his power ensures that, should Mephistopheles command something, Adam will obey once transformed. For instance, if Mephistopheles commanded the death of a specific person, as soon as Adam transformed, he would feel strongly compelled to carry out the task. This compulsion can be resisted, but only at the cost of great mental taxation, and intense physical pain.

Timeline to come soon.

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Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

<Snipped quote by Lucian>

That means me, just by the way. *cough* I did that.

@Wade Wilson

Pfft I'll do a mention or something geez.

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

P A S T - P A R T O F T H E W O R L D A T W A R S T O R Y

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T H U N D E R A N D L I G H T N I N G

L O N D O N E N G L A N D

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^{September 7th, 1940 - 10:55M | A City on Fire}

Though the sun had set, the clouded sky wasn’t dark. It burned with the reflections of the fires in the city below. At the moment, things were calm, relatively speaking, but the tension in the air was palpable. One did not need the wisdom of Solomon to know that the Germans would return for another run. Billy Batson had the wisdom of Solomon though, and he was currently using it to access historical accounts of battles and warfare that might assist him in determining where the next assault might come from.

So far, he hadn’t gleaned anything useful. He wasn’t sure that Solomon actually had any knowledge pertaining to aerial superiority or the weaknesses of the german Heinkel 111 bomber. He was contemplating the limits of this particular facet of his powers as he assisted in putting out fires where he could, and moving rubble to free trapped people. The civilians and authorities were wary of him at first, several military officials had initially trained firearms on him, but once he had made his intentions clear, people seemed to relax, and several people he had never seen before insisted that they had been saved by another like him quite recently, though he didn’t know of any others like himself. He was too busy to question anyone about this phenomena, but he certainly made note of it.

He alighted on the roof of a (mostly) intact building, and took a moment to survey the surrounding area. There was a large tenement building which had been toppled by the concussion of one of the german bombs. There was a lot of noise in the city, even now, and it was hard to isolate sounds, but he thought it unlikely that the building had been safely evacuated. He took flight, and as he neared the building, he increased his speed, sure now of what he thought he heard before. Several voices, a family, perhaps more than one, were calling for help or groaning in pain. This wasn’t the first situation like this he had found. He was confident it wouldn’t be the last.

He rocketed toward the building from the sky, concerned now that the fire would spread and burn the people alive. As he approached, flying above and parallel to a street intersecting with the one the building was on, he heard a rush of air, and the crackle of electricity from below him. He looked down, barely making out a red and blue streak moving swiftly in the same direction as him. The thing, whatever it was, also seemed to be producing a trail of lightning behind it, and moving quite a bit faster than himself, he noted.

Billy was stunned. Faster than Mercury? What was that? The electrified blur shifted direction suddenly, pausing just long enough for Billy to make out that it was a man. At least, it appeared to be, but it certainly didn’t move like anyone he had ever met. The man shot off toward the flames, and started running circles around them. Billy didn’t have time for introductions, and this gale-force-made-man seemed to be helping, so he instead focused on the task at hand. As he reached the building, he began to move the rubble, dislodging the smaller pieces with ease, until he came to a large slab, the culprit behind the civilians predicament. He gripped the slab in both hands and heaved, floating into the air and keeping the giant stone above his head.

“Better hurry, folks!” He said to the dumbfounded families who stood staring up at him in awe. He noticed that some of them were wounded, and likely couldn’t walk. He had shifted the rubble in so much that he couldn’t drop the slab without dropping the entire building on them now though. For a moment, he panicked, then he looked over at the man-shaped lightning bolt putting out the fires,

“Hey, they can’t all walk, and I can’t let go. Can you help, mister?” He called to the man, then cursed himself inwardly. Mister? You can’t talk like a kid anymore!

---

It was another day, another bombing. Part of him wondered when the time would come that Britain or the United States turned around and went ‘No, that’s enough’. The time was coming, that he knew. Though it wasn’t coming fast enough for him. Jay sped through the city, by this point people knew what the sirens meant. The call to shelter, the sound of bombs. He had been nipping between cities for the past month, living as close to the coast as possible and trying to predict the destinations of any planes that flew overhead.

His sole mission was to warn the people who could make a difference, dim the lights and man the guns. Once that was done, it became a job of evacuation. Jay grabbed people, moving them to the underground. Shifted debris out of paths of the emergency services and in general did as much as quickly as possible before the bombs came anywhere near the city. By the time he could hear the bombers approaching he was standing atop a building overlooking part of the city. Obviously not everyone was evacuated, it was a massive city after all. Instead he tried to predict where the Germans might strike, he’d find out soon enough how good his predictive skills were.

As he heard the first bomb drop there was a break in the clouds, Jay caught sight of the bombers and was off in a flash speeding towards the target of the bombings. Jumping over obstacles and running around fire engines and ambulances. He spent the better part of half an hour rushing people to hospitals, and putting out fires. As the bombing let up he paused for a brief moment, looking for the next source of flames he turned and ran as fast as he could. He ignored the stench of flesh, the taste of smoke. Approaching a fire near a building he began to run around it in a circle, a new trick he had recently learnt. That if he run around a fire fast enough, the ensuing vortex would starve the fire of it’s oxygen putting it out.

Faster than running back and forth with buckets.

He didn’t even notice the flying man - dressed in a similar outfit - land nearby until he spoke up, and Jay had to take a moment to get around the fact that he was holding a significant chunk of building above his head. Jay couldn’t really judge however, I mean he was able to run faster than anything he had ever seen on the planet. With no real prompt necessary Jay ran underneath the slab of concrete, grabbed someone and then ran towards the nearest hospital. Then back again, grabbed another and back to the hospital. He saw everything going past him, while to anyone watching the exchange he would have just been a blur grabbing people and then disappearing before returning for another.

As he returned to the building once cleared he gave the man a tap on the shoulder, before running back out from below the concrete. “You can drop that now, buildings clear.”

Billy watched the man zip in and out of the building, and in less than a minute, the man gave him the go-ahead to drop the slab, and the rest of the building with it. When the dust settled, he got a chance to look at the man finally. The lightning bolt…

“Do you know the Wizard? He didn’t tell me there were others.” Billy said, raising an eyebrow in curiosity before putting one hand forward, “You can call me Shazam. What’s your name?”

Jay clasped the man's hand, and shook it. A considerably larger hand, with more muscle than he had ever seen. It didn’t seem really possible, what was happening to the world? “Names Jay Garrick-” What was weirder than the name was the mention of a Wizard. Was it some kind of alias? That would make sense.

“Also I don’t know this Wizard fella’, he some kinda scientist responsible for-” Jay gestured to ‘Shazams’ entire body “-Well… that?”

Billy was taken slightly aback by Jay’s response, but he quickly corrected the look of confusion on his face, and smiled,

“Scientist? Uhm, yeah. Something like that. Maybe I’ll explain later. For now, I think we were pretty effective working together on this one, Jay. Let’s keep it up, wadda ya’ say?” Billy was more than curious as to how this man could do what he could and not be mystically empowered, but he figured he’d ask the Wizard when he returned to the Rock of Eternity.

“Well, try and keep up. We’ll speak after.” With that Jay turned and sped off in the direction of another building, part of him liked the idea of someone else like him. Another part couldn’t help but be suspicious that someone else just so happened to turn up also using the symbol of lightning where he happened to be.

Billy did try to keep up, but after a few hours of working with Jay, it became apparent that he would need to leave the speed to him, and stick to the heavy lifting. Regardless, their alliance proved a successful venture, and stories of the Thunder and Lightning duo would be told in years to come by many British survivors, and lucky German pilots.