Blackhoof

I can't remember actually. Perhaps he got confused- I would probably get confused as well, keeping track of what info I have revealed and what info I haven't. I doubt he got them mixed-up per say, as in only Obliteration or only NS was ever in Oregon, but just thought that he had already told us that NS had been in Oregon when he might not have. Maybe he revealed it previously and we missed it? well Atrophy is waiting on a reply he can only be silently contemptuous of everyone around him for so long!

That's because the thumbs he is twiddling are not attached to his hands, nor do they belong to him

nah journey teleported off and teleported back with dragoon. Blackwave never moved.

haha this is the text describing the meeting place

The only way to tell them apart is the knowledge that Different is distinguishable and Distinguishable is different Didn't they meet in a warehouse on the docks? I think that is what it is.

The Aussies will have caught up by now and be following them along.

ITS ALIIIIVE!!!

The idea of Nighthound being able to interact with people and continue to be creepy as a ghost or zombie after death is too horrifying to put into words...

???

Obviously "Disco Inferno" for Obliteration https://youtu.be/4YH5MEyNuIM?t=30

I think using Epic-derived tech is entirely plausible even without the Foundry-worker backstory. He could have those awesome threat-cancelling goggles and just leave it unknown how he got them until after Calamity- when Calamity comes out, you an fill in the details as required.

True enough, and the Cracked article did a good job in explaining why the Capitol was an ineffective dictatorship. Still, 2 dead (maybe 1) dead children a year out of a population of tens of thousands in each district isn't too bad if you think about it. What would you prefer- a minuscule chance that a relative or someone you know will be sent to the games, or a near certain chance of mass death, punishment, torture, and possible genocide if you rebel? Especially since you have no real method of knowing that any other districts will rebel with you, making your lone, single-district rebellion doomed to failure? I guess at this point living in Panem isn't too much different from Newcago- death is frequent and common, a ruling upperclass that flaunts its wealth and cruelty with impunity runs rampant, and any rebellion is likely to be short-lived and put down with extreme prejudice. Also consider that District 12 seemed to be the poorest and worst-off of the Districts (although the agriculture district was certainly policed more heavily, and we don't know too much about the other districts) so they may have had better conditions, and certainly did in the case of 1 and 2. I think conditions in Newcago are certainly a lot worse than for anyone in Panem.

At first I thought you meant communists The realization that you didn't is much, much worse

I feel like that would make her even more of a target. Why would any High Epic not take a few days out of their luxurious and care-free life to hunt down and destroy this state-levelling (and defenceless) Epic that could easily wipe out their kingdoms?

As much as it pains me to disqualify our RP from canon, I tend to agree. :'( Although of course it depends how NS actually accomplishes this destruction. For instance, if NS used her (I keep picturing her as a her, is that right, or am I making things up? Do we know NS's gender?) power/s to literally blow up the entire state, in one blow or by systematically blowing up/wiping out every town and city in the state one by one. Or if she somehow poisoned or irradiated the entire state, forcing people to leave and rendering Oregon uninhabitable. Or if the turf wars destroyed the state, and NS simply manipulated events so as to continue them indefinitely and prevent any one winner. Because from Megan's description, it sounded like the Oregon turf wars were either still going on (which BS apparently ruled out by describing the state as uninhabitable or something, never read it directly myself) or were the reason that the state was destroyed. I sort of feel like if one single Epic blew up the state, and she knew about it, then she would blame that single Epic, instead of the general state of anarchy and chaos, you know? For instance, someone who had survived Hiroshima's destruction would not describe the horrible and deadly island-hopping campaign in the pacific between the US and Japan and state that that sort of fighting is what destroyed hiroshima and that is why tyrants are justified. Like say NS blew up Oregon, and David knew about it. Then replay the conversation they have: Megan: I'm from Portland, do you know what is left of Portland? David: Uh... nothing Megan: exactly, nothing! Warring Epics tore it apart, Portland has nothing left. People here have power, and utilities, and- David: Wasn't all of Oregon blown up by Night's Sorrow? Isn't that why Portland is just rubble? Megan: Well... yeah, but before that, there were lots of warring epics around, and- David: well yeah, but doesn't that undermine your argument? I mean, Night's Sorrow could do the same thing to Illinois on a whim, Steelheart can survive that, but he can't stop it. His presence makes no difference. Megan: hmmm... guess you're right. lets get back to bombing things! In addition to that, it also seems simply inconceivable that Night's Sorrow could have the power to single-handedly destroy an entire state, when an also top-tier Epic has to wait in the sun for a week to destroy a single city. Why does the entire country not gang up on this absurdly over-powered Epic? Why doesn't Steelheart, Nightwielder, and every other High Epic in the country (other than Obliteration, who would probably consider Sorrow his BFF) not immediately drop everything and try to kill this immense threat to the existence of the very country? So my bet is that while Night's Sorrow is responsible for the state's destruction, she did not personally destroy it, but (like Malevolence) manipulated other Epics into keeping the chaos going and the entire state was collateral damage. In many ways, that is almost worse- manufacturing a neverending war and watching for your own amusement. If it is that option, then I think it can be worked in with relative ease, if we want to. And of course, it also depends upon how much of NS we see in Calamity, if any at all. I've always thought the same thing. Yeah I know registering people based on an inherent and un-chosen quality is fundamentally crappy, but mutants have amazing and potentially incredibly destructive abilities. The government would be criminally negligent not to keep tabs on their wearabouts. Although this information shouldn't really be public-access, to prevent vigilantism or social exclusion. That does seem very lazy on the part of the writer and the Silvers. Bold- omg yes. You know the bank robbing scene in the beginning of The Dark Knight? I'm picturing a gang of Epic bank-robbers who keep back-stabbing and sabotaging each other over the course of the heist XD I am greatly amused Indeed. The already annoyed and discontented populace of Imperial Russia tolerated about three years of World War 1 before finally kicking the Tsar out of power. And they tolerated 6 months of ineffective and corrupt interim government before having another revolution after that. that sounds like it is getting towards cartoonish evil. I mean, how does the population even continue if EVERYONE is conscripted like that? I actually disagree that the Hunger Games is an example of a badly done evil government. Yes, it is true that the lives of the people in the Districts are terrible, and that once people actually rose up, the revolution seemed relatively easy. However, the Capitol certainly utilized propaganda to convince people that the costs of another rebellion would have been too high, and ended in defeat for the districts just as the first one had. And on top of the hunger games, they would face an even worse permanent punishment if they failed. And as found out, the Capitol had the firepower and the will to completely wipe out entire Districts (as people thought had happened to District 13). A combination of "safer and stronger together", plus the isolation between the districts making an uprising of more than one at a time difficult and thus discouraging all of them, plus the fear tactics and intimidation in the form of the games, gives strong incentive not to rebel. Rebellion could mean death for you, your family, and your whole district. And while the Capitol seemed relatively easy to overthrow once the rebellion started, this is consistent with many real-world rebellions and despotic regimes. They tend to be pretty fragile and their power is often more illusion that reality. Going back to Russia, when the February revolution occurred, not a single shot was fired. People took to the streets, soldiers laid down their arms, and the government realised that they needed to force the Tsar to resign. And he did. Just like that. And the October Revolution was also really easy. The Bolsheviks stormed the winter palace, barely any fighting occurred, and only a little fighting occurred in Moscow when they took that. It is true that a civil war followed several months later, but for the time being the Bolsheviks were in control and it had been very, very easy.

me too, I'm intrigued That seems plausible, yeah. Both are distinct possibilities

We'll just have to wait for Calamity before working out how this will affect us, I guess. And as a bonus, if Calamity comes out we can write whatever we like for all the canon Epics mentioned previously, since it can't be contradicted!

hahaha or Lucentia could rename herself to be extra melodramatic if something bad happens. I can see Mary going goth if Nighthound rejects her, or she finds out about Red

The Metal? He could fight toe-to-toe with those guys, and destroy the entire state relatively easily.

hahahaha I can see it Hahaha XD A less amusing thought though was Funtimes going dark and becoming Night's Sorrow :\ I have a feeling that we will get at least a throwaway mention of Sorrow, or at least a little tidbit about her powers, in Calamity. Brandon has namedropped her a few times after all.

The Dalles is a tiny city on the edge of the state, whose existence relies on not being well-known enough for any High Epic (or even moderately powerful lesser Epic) to bother attacking, out of principle or the desire for control. Of course he doesn't know much, if anything, about it Wouldn't be a place he likes anyway. Work for worms? In exchange for minor comforts and no servants that should be his right anyway? Inconceivable! OOoh! Big news! Now we know that one Epic in particular destroyed Oregon in some fashion. If he/she does, then we will know enough to write him or her. If he/she doesn't.... then we can write her and make her up entirely! An idea occurred to me- in either situation in Calamity, we could theoretically write for Night's Sorrow. And if their powers (if we find them out, if not even better!) are the same as someone else's powers in the RP already, we can have them change their name to Night's Sorrow at some stage. If we don't find out Sorrow's powers, then we can pick ANY of our Epics (within reason of course) and rename them. We can remain in-canon after all! Maybe

This just in- Atrophy suggests heresy! How will Cornucopia respond???

"I'll get to the point then, some kind of... creatures have been apprehended in one of the fields, they're feral and with some kind of enhanced physical capabilities so we believe them to be part of an attack on the city by an unknown Epic. They've been restrained for now but moving them in their current situation may prove difficult so I'd like for you to sap their strength and perhaps assist in a little bit of, shall we say, forceful interrogation?" Atrophy nodded thoughtfully as the helicopter rose into the sky. How interesting. First the riots yesterday and now an attack by some creature-spawning abomination of an Epic? If this Epic was successful in its attack, Corvallis would fall and his simple, carefree lifestyle would vanish. It would be unbearably tedious finding a new place with comparable services, certainly no other city in Oregon would do. "So to that end we'll be taking you to the fields for a while, the city of Corvallis thanks you for your cooperation in this matter and will ensure that you are duly compensated for all efforts you make on behalf of the city." Atrophy bowed his head slightly once more, and replied. "Creatures? How bothersome. Very well, I can perform all of those tasks. I'm indeed quite curious as to the... nature of these creatures. But do not enlighten me just yet- it would spoil the surprise." The rest of the short trip proceeded in silence, with Atrophy sitting motionless, deep in thought as he considered other options for places of residence should Corvallis grow too restless for him. "Portland? No, the gangs and turf wars bore me. Bend? Hmmm.... no, all the mining sounds unsightly and dusty. Astoria? Potentially, but all the diamond was just distasteful last time I visited. Salem? A strong possibility, although the idea of competing in hedonistic blood-sports isn't too appealing." Eventually the helicopter landed in an open patch of asphalt, and looking out the window Atrophy could see many bodies- both living and dead. Vans too were parked in orderly lines nearby, with larger and more imposing armoured cars scattered around, the insignia of the Corvallis Security forces emblazoned on the side. The door flew open, and a servant appeared to help Queen Cornucopia descend to the ground. Another offered a hand to Atrophy, but without looking he weakened the servant's arm muscles and the hand dropped away on its own. An armoured security officer, a captain, approached the pair, and bowed to both of them in turn. "Queen Cornucopia, the rebels remain secure in the field. I sent some men to interrogate them, but the traitors merely growled and hissed. We are also scouring the field to look for survivors, and have begun questioning the survivors that we have already found. Shall I have one brought to you?" Before Cornucopia could answer, Atrophy raised a hand. "Excuse me, Captain Terra." Atropy chuckled at his joke, and then again at the puzzled look on the officer's face. The base rube didn't even know that terra in Latin was earth, so he had just been denigrated as Captain Dirt. "My wit is lost on these simpletons" "Uh... yes, sir?" Atrophy smiled coldly. "If you would be so kind, please prepare your men and vehicles to receive these... creatures, as prisoners. I think a sensible plan would be for you to take me to each one, I shall weaken them, and then their restraints can be cut away and they can be moved, so that the Queen here does not need to follow us around for the next hour. I reason that that is a more efficient use of our time and resources."

@Kobold: Newcago has two million people? I'd heard it was 250'000. I think it goes without saying that Iconoclast would make a terrible ruler

but isn't that what anarchism is all about?