Observer

Mitosis came with some Epic files, which was how we knew Regalia's past and details before the book was released. I'm reasonably sure that's where we got the info from.

He seems to be very different from normal Epics. He showed up right after Calamity arrived, so it might be safe to bet he has a similarly large pool of abilities.

My copy of Firefight is being read by a friend. What are all the places where Regalia's range are mentioned? Trying to figure out if David ever said radius, and how likely it is that he doesn't know how circles work. If Tia said it, then we have a genuine error. If what there's five of or in what is left unclear, then we're good.

Steelheart has virtually no way of hurting Phaedrus. If it came to a fight where neither could flee, Steelheart is far and away the most likely to leave in a body bag, if at all. Between the utter contempt and hatred that might eventually erase all fear to simply starving him out, Phaedrus has a lot of options. Also, Steelheart has impenetrable skin. Does that mean gas-based or internal weaponry could work? If so, force-fields inside of his body might be able to harm him. Even at a draw, Steelheart would still be losing.

Does she ever outright say they could tell Calamity was a person via telescope, or did looking at him trigger a conversation or something else that would give it away? Did Calamity use his powers to block observation? Normal Epics can defy physics, the big man himself must be able to completely alter reality at a whim. If he doesn't want to be seen as human while he charges up, I doubt science could make it happen. What if he really did just show up as a star on telescope? What if the same abilities that shine so brightly in the sky and leave him in orbit did something as well? Personally, my money is either on Calamity actively blocking attempts to be seen, or looking like an extremely abnormal but nonhuman celestial object early on. The wings and other details probably only show up for new Epics, and who's to say the thing is even human? There's a lot we don't know, but I'd honestly be surprised if looking at him during the first year didn't do really wacky crap.

Keep in mind, Sourcefield from Firefight was weakened by partial exposure to her weakness. Her weakness was drinking Kool Aid, because of the poisoning. Touching it still dampened her powers, it just didn't shut them off completely. They could have just been close, but not quite, with Fortuity's weakness. Also, keep in mind: Epic weaknesses don't seem to be a "greatest fear", since most of them apparently haven't seen a connection between weaknesses and fears before. This means Fortuity could have had a bad experience with women once, but it didn't impact him super-dramatically and he still takes the chance to enjoy himself all the same. Or perhaps, as I suggested above, he knows his weakness, but doesn't realize being attracted to somebody also dampens him?

How does autophobia work into Epics? Every mechanic of it would work to produce an Epic than can never use their powers...

gj, from looking at the way you're approaching this, you appear to be confusing sane and justified. I lack information, but for the sake of argument, I'd argue that Obliteration is, even if only barely, sane. He does things using logic based on what he knows. From what he can tell, people have the potential for evil and it's his job to cleanse it, or whatever it is that he believes. Dropping back to the 9/11 example, those people could totally have been sane. That was the point. Not that what they did was right, because it wasn't. it was horrible. But with the information a bomber has available to them, an attack like that is logical. We're wondering if Obliteration is more alright in the head than other epics, not if what he's doing it right. What he's doing is wrong, he killed a whole bunch of cities! But there's still a chance he's doing this for reasons other than Calamaty's corruption, which would make him the most sane, albeit the least redeemable, Epic.

It's still interesting the Prof has two High-Epic defense powers, something that might actually be unique to him. The "How would you kill Prof" thread is also going to have to reassess itself since Prof's shields can apparently be used for instant kills and limited telekinetic abilities, as well as flight. His portfolio of powers is amazing, so calling him "Just another powerful Epic" is selling him a little short.

Hasn't he done this twice? I could be wrong, but maybe he's talking about two different occasions there. Other than that, the way David talks can change depending on who he speaks with, so it could be that.

A sane person who has been given reason to destroy millions of people will do so. In a world like this one, all bets are off with what's logical. Something happened to Obliteration to make him more focused on religion than his own powers and glory, and something about the way he views God's will led him to blow up a lot of innocent people. What he did is not right, but that doesn't mean it wasn't logical from the information he was or thought he was working with. Obliteration is still nutty and evil, like the vast majority of people in this setting, but to say he's every bit as cracked and unstable as the other epics without understanding his motives takes it a bit far.

That would be the aforementioned Scholar's Mate, which basically means "Schoolboy's mate", for convenient reference. Not to be confused with the Fool's Mate, so named because it's the kind of mistake you can only make once and only if you're really bad at Chess.

Was that a variation of the Scholar's Mate I saw there? Except he used the bishop and queen in each other's places. Nice improvisation there, I'm impressed.

Challenges sent to both of you, OP edited to be more up-to-date.

I believe the point of that workout is to draw the game, as victory isn't really possible anymore. Could be wrong though, I can't fully load that one.

re: http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=100985122 For future reference, move 14, moving the pawn to g6, was the critical moment there. If you had responded with Bishop to c3, my plan would have sunk, thanks to the extra threat on the middle. After the pileup and the loss of your rook, there was pretty much no other way for the game to go.

It's rare for anybody to actually get infected just for visiting a site. That's usually a pretty dedicated attack the average joe doesn't need to worry about. If you store things or download things, though... then you get either be traced to other things and messed with there, or you could get infected. Unlikely visitng'll be a problem though.

If by "dang good" you mean me blundering away special pieces for no good reason, yeah. Pretty dang good =P

Huh, I've heard of 960, but up until just now I'd never actually made the connection. No matter how this game goes, I'm rematching. Gonna have to keep playing until I can get back into the swing of things.

Mistborn and Warbreaker before you even think about Stormlight Archive. It's so stuffed with Cosmere goodies and it'd be a shame if you missed them thanks to just no having read his other works first. Doubly so for Words of Radiance. That there is a Cosmere goldmine if you've read his other works. Also I'd recommend The Emperor's Soul. it's like, an hour read, but a very well-written novella.

Added my other challenge games to the OP. Anybody else have their one links? Bishops and Knights are worth 3 points a piece. They're powerful when played right, but they become paper tigers if their target simply isn't worth dying over. For those who don't know, the bishop can only stay on the same color of square. One bishop is stuck to dark squares, the other to light. White's light bishop is usually the best one, since it can attack a castled black king. The reverse is true for black.

I was planning on running the King's Indian Defense, a very passive and reactive playstyle for black, but when you didn't take the middle I switched to a more aggressive variation and lodged my pawns in the center of the board, and then covered them with the knights when things got hairy. So I'm still running a very loose KID formation, but it's all out of order and the whole style has changed with the game. EDIT: The castled formation I've made on my kingside, with the King tucked in behind the pawns/bishop and hidden beside the rook, is basically the mark of a King's Indian formation. Normally I'd have gotten to that formation earlier, but better late than never.

The King's Indian Attack is a flexible offensive option for white. The Sicilian Defense is widely viewed as the best opening black has in response to white's best opening. Links for all who want. I'd suggest them because they're powerful and fairly easy to arrange even if the other player tries to stop you.

Often a good trick to Chess is learning a solid opening. Usually having a set of opening moves planned out helps the midgame kind of play itself. I have no idea what anybody else uses, but for white I usually recommend the King's Indian Attack, and for black the Sicilian Defense. One of the most important things, though, is understanding to perfection exactly what each piece is capable of, knowing the value of pieces in the event of a trade, and looking carefully enough at the board before moving so as to avoid stupid mistakes. Know that pawns are some of the best pieces on the board, because no piece will ever dare enter their attack zone because they'll always get caught. Know that the Queen is often a paper tiger, and things get in her attack zone all the time because she can't afford to attack them back. Know what each piece is worth, it what positions, and when you should and should not trade. It sounds complicated, but it's actually not that difficult once you get the hang of it. Chess is a game with fairly simple gameplay rules. It's just applying them that gets tricky.