Question 20

[Bladestorm]

1 minute ago, Weirdpersonx said:

Someone had mentioned the light bubbles/ghostly flowers before, I liked that idea. It's not exactly unique, but it is different.

How about constellations based on the dreams of the epic? Looking at them could get you enraptured in the story being told, causing you to forget everything for a time. Brilliant shooting stars and aurora borealis type effects could be used.

[Comatose he/him]

32 minutes ago, Weirdpersonx said:

Someone had mentioned the light bubbles/ghostly flowers before, I liked that idea. It's not exactly unique, but it is different.

That was me haha.

30 minutes ago, Bladestorm said:

How about constellations based on the dreams of the epic? Looking at them could get you enraptured in the story being told, causing you to forget everything for a time. Brilliant shooting stars and aurora borealis type effects could be used.

I like constellations!  Maybe they have a coloured glow (violet or green or something) and kind of overlay the actual moon and stars.

[Voidus]

Just some off-the-cuff thoughts of other visual cues

Everything seems to be underwater, gravity seems lessened, harder to see things in the distance, etc. (Still perfectly breathable)
Surfaces seem to become reflective to various degrees and, regardless of how things are angled always seem to be reflecting the viewer.
Weird little glowing mushrooms that shoot spores up and if you get caught in the spores you experience one of the effects from the Epic
Will-O-Wisps and if you follow one you get exposed to the effects
Not a physical phenomenon so much but kind of a localized tunnel vision, so anything that you're looking at directly seems bright, vivid and realistic, but everything in your peripheral seems murky and indistinct.
Patches of darkness
Fading of colour
Non-mist related weather effect (Rain, snow, cloudy, lightning, windy) which is not accompanied by any normal sensory effect, so you can see the rain but not hear or feel it.
Something non-visual like whispered voices, white noise, strange scents, ghostly touches.

[Bladestorm]

4 minutes ago, Comatose said:

That was me haha.

I like constellations!  Maybe they have a coloured glow (violet or green or something) and kind of overlay the actual moon and stars.

Like a cooler, less terrifying version of nightwielder!

 

Also, factionwise, Orbit could run a sector. Maybe the mall? That seems the most appropriate section for him. I have some ideas for the waterpark and stores already.

 

EDIT: @Voidus @Drake Marshall I love the tunnel vision concept for Epoch. It seems very appropriate for some reason.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Bladestorm

[Voidus]

Also only just read that but the MEE would also enjoy the mall, or I suppose the university? That would be a pretty big draw of attention, medical supplies, knowledge, technology.

[Bladestorm]

1 minute ago, Voidus said:

Also only just read that but the MEE would also enjoy the mall, or I suppose the university? That would be a pretty big draw of attention, medical supplies, knowledge, technology.

Who are the MEE? I swear I have to re read the last few question pages.

[Voidus]

Just now, Bladestorm said:

Who are the MEE? I swear I have to re read the last few question pages.

Canon fodder.
I mean... the Minor Epic Empire from Portland.
A group of very low-powered Epics who banded together to try to overthrow the big guns. They were not all that successful. Also a great outlet for my compulsive need to create new Epics.

Probably won't be the same group but I can see another group of Epics in Edmonton getting a similar idea, forming one of the city factions through numbers rather than having one big gun ruling their faction.

[Bladestorm]

4 minutes ago, Voidus said:

Canon fodder.
I mean... the Minor Epic Empire from Portland.
A group of very low-powered Epics who banded together to try to overthrow the big guns. They were not all that successful. Also a great outlet for my compulsive need to create new Epics.

Probably won't be the same group but I can see another group of Epics in Edmonton getting a similar idea, forming one of the city factions through numbers rather than having one big gun ruling their faction.

Gotcha. They may have a better shot here considering our only PI is resurrection!

EDIT: On second thought, who would the current strongest epic be? Voidgaze, maybe. Orbit isn’t bad, per se. Epoch is fairly low powered for combat. The creator takes a while. Armageddon is persuasive.

Sentinel is pretty good, but against a mob he dies instantly. I’m really not sure.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Bladestorm

[Voidus]

6 minutes ago, Bladestorm said:

Gotcha. They may have a better shot here considering our only PI is resurrection!

EDIT: On second thought, who would the current strongest epic be? Voidgaze, maybe. Orbit isn’t bad, per se. Epoch is fairly low powered for combat. The creator takes a while. Armageddon is persuasive.

Sentinel is pretty good, but against a mob he dies instantly. I’m really not sure.

Metronome. The strongest Epic is Metronome.

[Bladestorm]

16 minutes ago, Voidus said:

Metronome. The strongest Epic is Metronome.

Steelheart v metronome: who would win

[Voidus]

2 minutes ago, Bladestorm said:

Steelheart v metronome: who would win

Steelheart would never start a fight he knew he couldn't win. 

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

5 hours ago, Comatose said:

arena

And now I have a mental image of Epoch kicking back and watching minor epics fight it out in a big stadium, fast-forwarding the matches he finds boring and watching especially entertaining ones in slow-motion.

3 hours ago, Comatose said:

Here's a map of Edmonton.  Eventually we will need to make a custom one like we made for Oregon, but for now this should help with visualization hopefully.

If you go directly to the east of Edmonton, you will see a bedroom community called Sherwood park - I think this would be a great sector for one of our factions.  I was thinking, the obvious choice for a vanilla run government would be the legislature building (their old centre of power - Edmonton was the Albertan capital) - but it's also an obvious place for an epic to take over.  What if the vanilla government is holed up in Sherwood park instead, sitting back and plotting to 'take over the city'.  

What if instead of grouping the different parts of the city (And maybe allowing for a "no man's land" down town, we have different populations kind of grouping together?  Something we could do is pick landmarks, and think about which epics/factions would use those as a home base, and then look at the area around that and build the territory from there?  Like I said, the River Valley is very large and steep, so it works as a good barrier.  

The West Edmonton Mall (North America's largest shopping mall) would be an interesting fortress.  It's got hotels attached, a wave pool waterpark, an indoor amusement park complete with a roller coaster, both of which could probably be transformed into something neat, and a big building with not many windows which could be defensible.  

The aformentioned legislature building could also be another base, unless it's destroyed.  I assume Epoch will want to be central to cover a lot of the city, so this could be a good place for him.  

The University of Alberta and the attached Hospital could be a base for another group.  Maybe an Altermind style coalition of intelligentsia?  Or perhaps the opposite, a bunch of drop outs reclaiming the space?  

We could have like, a "young epics" coalition - essentially a group of hipster 20 somethings with powers to large for their ages or ambitions, who take over Whyte Ave (82 Ave on the Map) in the Strathcona and Garneau neighbourhoods) and don't do much but hang out in formerly trendy spots while harassing passersby

This is interesting.  I kind of like the idea though, if the time dilation thing is happening, of keeping Epoch as a separate epic, and having another epic creating area wide effects making the city zany.  The idea of changing up the effects is interesting though.  You could also have the effects change if the character is sleep deprived or sleeping too much?  

I'm not sure how I feel about mists any more (I really don't want it to be too similar to Mistborn, but maybe it's too late and the idea is stuck).  Did anyone have thoughts about light bubbles or ghostly flowers as a manifestation of the sleep power instead?  Or have any other ideas?

The river seems like a fairly natural boundary, also.

For various factions, these are a good way to go. I also advise however that people who have their own ideas for a faction create one, like what bladestorm did with Orbit.

And then there are also factions of peoples from out of town, but I imagine that those coalitions forming will be part of what goes on in our RP 

2 hours ago, Bladestorm said:

How about constellations based on the dreams of the epic? Looking at them could get you enraptured in the story being told, causing you to forget everything for a time. Brilliant shooting stars and aurora borealis type effects could be used.

I actually really really like this idea for some reason.

 

Also, for the visuals of Epoch's power... Not many visual effects you can use for something this abstract, but:

What if slow zones made colors appear more dull, tending towards monochrome, and fast zones made colors appear more bright and exaggerated?

Just saw Voidus' suggestion, and I also quite like the tunnel vision idea. If people think that works, lets go with that.

Slow zones would also usually have wire fences around them in most places, to make sure people don't walk into them accidentally.

 

Also, I had a couple more ideas for interesting power sets.

I have really too many of those. If anybody wants to take one off my hands let me know, otherwise I'll just keep them in reserves and tell myself that if I ever have a good way to kill off one of my characters, I will already have a new character to write for ready to step in.

But in any case, I threw them all in my character post.

One of the characters might possibly be responsible for a landmark of sorts in our new Edmonton, if people want to acknowledge them as part of the RP. I remember somebody a little while back said something about a dangerous epic being trapped in a slow zone with the potential to get free eventually, and this character is more or less expanded off that concept.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Drake Marshall

[Voidus]

25 minutes ago, Drake Marshall said:

 

Also, I had a couple more ideas for interesting power sets.

I have really too many of those. If anybody wants to take one off my hands let me know, otherwise I'll just keep them in reserves and tell myself that if I ever have a good way to kill off one of my characters, I will already have a new character to write for ready to step in.

But in any case, I threw them all in my character post.

It will only get worse. Soon you'll be making filing systems for your filing systems to keep track of the hundreds of thousands of Epics you've made.

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

1 hour ago, Voidus said:

It will only get worse. Soon you'll be making filing systems for your filing systems to keep track of the hundreds of thousands of Epics you've made.

Oh dear. I'll have to invent an epic with an ability to index all those 

[nmgrgtna he/him]

@Drake Marshall I think Borrower would be more of a Trump 3. Also he would probably be a Changer. I like what you’re doing with these ratings though.

[Edgedancer he/him]

11 hours ago, Drake Marshall said:

Brute/Mover sounds like a good conclusion, yes.

I might actually say Brute 2 Mover 2. Brute 2 because the power significantly increases survability, and while it lacks other common brute enhancements, and isn't a major concern for nonlethal containment, it's still noteworthy. Mover 2 because she can control where she reappears to an extent, and could technically suicide to gain a limited teleport.

The closest I can think of in the wormverse for resurrection is Grey Boy's time looping, since that is basically reverting his body to a previous state. Except he does that constantly. Also, I'm pretty sure the PRT has him down as a shaker.

Eh, even ignoring the whole "kill yourself" part, I wouldn't exactly call it a practical way of traveling.

5 hours ago, Bladestorm said:

Gotcha. They may have a better shot here considering our only PI is resurrection!

EDIT: On second thought, who would the current strongest epic be? Voidgaze, maybe. Orbit isn’t bad, per se. Epoch is fairly low powered for combat. The creator takes a while. Armageddon is persuasive.

Sentinel is pretty good, but against a mob he dies instantly. I’m really not sure.

I think there was also one with a healing factor somewhere in the batch?

Orbit probably has the most raw power but Voidgaze and Epoch have a rather decisive advantage over him thanks to the whole no perma-death situation. So it seems like a toss up currently.

On the discussion of Edmonton's design, let me tally if managed to follow this right:

• Multiple factions

1. Epoch (Sherwood park) (East)
2. The Belt/Orbit (Occupies the West Edmonton Mall)(West)
3. MEE (University of Alberta) (Central~South)
4. Old government hold out ( Alberta Legislature Building) (Central~North)
5. No man's land (Likely the border areas and far north and south edges of town)
6. Refugees (for a very loose definition of faction)

• City wide effects/special sights

1. Time zones that cause a kind of tunnel vision
2. Hypnotic constelation
3. Phytomagnet's plant structures
4. Pharia statue
5. Mist? (or did we cut that for the constelation?)

Thinking about it, the character profiles could maybe use a faction afiliation for comprehensiveness.

[Voidus]

Phew, finally managed to track down all the public profiles I made for old Epics. Also posted the new profiles in the new Epics thread.
If people are interested in power breakdowns I'll post my versions once I've categorized the two newbies.

I'll pick out some characters for the MEE too at some point.

EDIT:
Also Portland character updates just so they're here as well:
PPPPP & Sacharine will have moved nearby but not actually into the city, their services are available as creators of Epic tech (Canonical pieces that would be available from the start of the RP are: Gloves that can turn things they touch into pressure-sensitive explosives, a belt that repels any fast moving pieces of metal.)
Scribbler became fully corrupted after the fall of the Dalles.
MV became fully redeemed after inevitably facing her weakness. Is currently barely able to use her powers due to emotional trauma.
Neverthere escaped Portland and is somewhere in the vicinity. Hasn't particularly changed personality-wise in much of a noticeable way.

[Comatose he/him]

Yay Neverthere!!!!

I thought Epoch would be more central than Sherwood Park (I kind of still like the idea of the government being out there).  

And a new landmark/relic of an epic battle would be super cool!

For memory epic (or anyone else), I still like constellations idea, but I thought of another cool city wide effect due to an epic based one Voidus’s suggestions: intangible slightly luminescent rain that falls up from the ground into the sky.  

[MacThorstenson he/him]

4 hours ago, Edgedancer said:

 

• Multiple factions

1. Epoch (Sherwood park) (East)
2. The Belt/Orbit (Occupies the West Edmonton Mall)(West)
3. MEE (University of Alberta) (Central~South)
4. Old government hold out ( Alberta Legislature Building) (Central~North)
5. No man's land (Likely the border areas and far north and south edges of town)

I think that maybe we should start out the Thread with more areas in competition. Over the course of the thread each section could be taken over by a single faction, but at the beginning the sections should be disputed. 

Also, the Creator is the kind of person who would tear down old buildings and build new ones with his powers for fun. He would be willing to do that for others in exchange for willing maples to serve him. 

[Voidus]

Updated with one of the Maple characters I'm working on and also categorized out the new Epics so I added the power breakdown for my Epics there. (My system, not based on anything so inconsistencies are probably aplenty.)

[MacThorstenson he/him]

I just added a character called Justice to the epic page. I think that they are reaonably powered, by here is their profile.

Justice

Spoiler

Primary power

The ability to make binding promises between people. Both people have to know that they are entering into a deal though.

Secondary power: 

The ability to punish those who break said promises. This can take any form, a lightning bolt from the heavens, earth quake, or drowning in a sea of rubber ducks. The only constraint is that the effect of the punishment has to be agreed on when the deal was made. 

Tretiary power: 

The ability to let certain people make a certain number of promises, but not enforce them. She could give an agent of hers the ability to make 10 contracts in a city, then they would have no more power. 

Passive: The ability to remember at all times any deals that her power has made. 

Weakness: she was mugged on the street, but the mugger wasn't prosecuted. They were released. They came back and attacked her again. She is afraid of the guilty who walk free.

 

[Comatose he/him]

13 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

I just added a character called Justice to the epic page. I think that they are reaonably powered, by here is their profile.

Justice

  Hide contents

Primary power

The ability to make binding promises between people. Both people have to know that they are entering into a deal though.

Secondary power: 

The ability to punish those who break said promises. This can take any form, a lightning bolt from the heavens, earth quake, or drowning in a sea of rubber ducks. The only constraint is that the effect of the punishment has to be agreed on when the deal was made. 

Tretiary power: 

The ability to let certain people make a certain number of promises, but not enforce them. She could give an agent of hers the ability to make 10 contracts in a city, then they would have no more power. 

Passive: The ability to remember at all times any deals that her power has made. 

Weakness: she was mugged on the street, but the mugger wasn't prosecuted. They were released. They came back and attacked her again. She is afraid of the guilty who walk free.

 

Sounds cool!  One thing I would mention, for the tertiary power, it sounds like gifting, which is a distinct power which works the same way epic to epic.  It would still allow Judgement to gift her ability to make a certain number of promises to an agent, just like you have set out there, but she would likely be considered a gifter.  

[MacThorstenson he/him]

7 minutes ago, Comatose said:

Sounds cool!  One thing I would mention, for the tertiary power, it sounds like gifting, which is a distinct power which works the same way epic to epic.  It would still allow Judgement to gift her ability to make a certain number of promises to an agent, just like you have set out there, but she would likely be considered a gifter.  

Ok, sounds great.

If she is a Gifter, then she could gift away all of her powers correct?

[Comatose he/him]

Yeah that was one thing I had to edit for some of my characters.  If you can gift you can gift everything and before I knew it was a distinct power I had epics with weird restrictions and had to change.  

She could still choose what to gift though so she doesn’t need to gift the punishment power 

[Bladestorm]

1 hour ago, MacThorstenson said:

Ok, sounds great.

If she is a Gifter, then she could gift away all of her powers correct?

Her and any of her agents seem like appropriate agents for the town hall *thinking*