Comatose

Love the name and the fleshing out of her powers! Can't wait to see more. Also, she and High Epic (I think I might go with Rainmaker) would be a good team, since Rainmaker could always make certain the sun was shining on Cornucopia during the day, and intensify the sunlight when Cornucopia needs to heal faster. EDIT: Another character idea for someone to take: Euphoria is the weak point of Rainmaker's regime, so it would make sense for Rainmaker to keep her well protected with loyal epic bodyguards. Since Euphoria goes missing, said body guards could have a fun plotline trying to track her down, while feeling guilty about losing her. EDIT 2: Soo, Rainmaker and Euphoria have basically developed full fledged personalities and looks in my head. I'm probably ready to write them. If I can finish studying the legislation I need to tonight, and there's still time before bed, I'll see about getting them up. If not today, then maybe if I work hard tomorrow there will be time. WHY did this have to happen during finals, lol?

She's yours! Can't wait to see what you do with her . Remember that Corvallis already has an extensive Arboretum at the University, so she could have quite the garden using the Arboretum as her headquarters. I'll do another roll call in a bit, but the force-field epic (sick of writing 'bubble epic') is still up for grabs, or could just be an NPC. Corvallis is also open, of course, to any other epics who would like to join, either as citizens or invaders . Heck, we could probably even add more Queens to the inner circle, if people so desire.

I figured out how to print out little fold-able booklets with double sided pages on Adobe Reader today. I get four pages per piece of paper this way, which means I save a LOT of paper, and I now have cute little copies of the Divorce Act, the Children's Law Act, and Child Support Guidelines . As you can see, studying today has been very productive.

I'll keep working on that power then, maybe put in some reasonable limits so its less mind controlly. The need for physical contact to rewrite emotional perceptions of memories would be one limit on her doing it against other Epic's wills. As it stands now, I don't have her changing what happened people's pasts, just what they felt about it. It also wouldn't affect how they perceive their present (that's what her other power does, but it's limited to Vanillas). Basically, someone affected by her history altering power (let's say she made their history happier) would wake up and go about their day, and be affected by stimulus normally (things that would normally perturb or bother them would continue to do so), and they would be left wondering why only yesterday, the same things had been enjoyable. It's powerful, for sure, but I see it more as a confusion tactic to dissuade rebellion than outright mind control. She's changing how people think they feel about their pasts, but she's not controlling how they feel in the present (unless she is using her pleasure giving power, which can only be used on Vanillas). I think it's the two powers used in combination that make her so powerful and mind-controlly. For the record I think the possessive gender neutral pronoun under that model is 'zer/zir' rather than 'zis'. I have also seen 'zes' though, and wikipedia is no help sorting things out . I really want to do a scene of an Epic overseer supervising vanillas on a pancake plantation now .

Remember, Euphoria's power only works on Vanillas, not epics, so I'm guessing word of mouth would spread in the Epic community. Also, I wouldn't necessary equate her power with "mind-slaving". Is it used to control people, yes absolutely. Does it totally negate their free will? I would say that it more just severely inhibits people's ability to utilize their free will. Someone who realizes that their positive emotions, though wonderful, with enough will power could potentially fight off the addiction. It would be incredibly difficult, but not infallible. That being said, I think the primary form of word spreading would be through the epic community. I think Euphoria only uses her second emotional history altering power on epics who are causing trouble for Corvallis, either making them remember things so negative that they leave, or so positive they decide to stop causing trouble.

Gotchya! That makes sense. I deliberately haven't fleshed out the duplication epic's powers because I'm still hoping someone else will take her, but I'm hoping she'll be distinct enough from the Financier. Perhaps, if we still want to go the "epics based on powerpuff girls" route" then the Blossom epic and the duplication epic could merge. Instead of just duplicating things, her power could be to "plant" and "grow" anything (which would also increase the need for the High Epics perfect weather control). "Blossom Epic" could plant things like generators, bread, cupcakes, silk, weapons, etc, and then grow plants that bear the original object she planted as fruit. I think this could be enough to distinguish her from the Financier (moreso than if she just made flat-out copies) and it fits in more with the garden/paradise motif I have in my head for Corvallis. In my mind, new epics or people are held at the border (outside the bubble), where they are checked out. Then, once a day, or every other day, or some other time-frame, "Bubble Epic" drops the field to let epics wishing to enter come in, and epics wishing to leave go out. Again, I'm open to suggestions and further world-building in this area. Basically, the intent of the bubble is a defense for the city (in times of siege, no one would be let or out) and a means of controlling population movement. If you can think of other ways to accomplish these goals, I'm open to suggestions. As for the one major epic causing trouble problem, inside the bubble, Corvallis isn't exactly defenseless. I'm certain the High Epic has enforcers ready to defend her realm, and would also fight against invaders herself, should the need arise.

I'd forgotten that Lucentia used her diamond powers to fund her empire! How did I forget that? For duplication epic I was thinking more of necessary resources, such as food and power, and then luxury items as requested by other epics, rather than precious resources to be sold, but I still love the comparison. Now I have an image of Lucentia coming to Corvallis to end the duplication epic for "stealing her idea." I imagined her power to generate and give positive feelings as a form of gifting, so it would not work on other epics. Her emotional history rewrites would work on other epics though, but she needs skin contact for that. As I work on her character though, I feel more and more like I don't want her to die right away. Maybe, she senses that things are turning against her, and that her life is in danger, and so she vanishes into the city? She could also be a part of some bigger plot against or with the High Epic. I'll have to keep thinking about it though. I agree with her being a prime target (that's the intent), but since her power is so valuable, my hope would be that any epic seeking to remove her would also want to use her to help control their own city state. That might be wishful thinking though. Thanks for these points! They are really helping me flesh things out On the "Bubble Epic" point, there are a couple of ways around it. My original intent was for the action to start with epics already inside, and then add exterior epics as we go along. Epics from outside though could get in the normal way, by entering the city as immigrants, pledging loyalty to the high epic, and promising to abide by her laws, and then start to break those promises. Even if they got one agent inside (either by teleportation or other means), all they would need to do is threaten the "Bubble Epic" for an instant, get her to drop the bigger shield, and the rest of a team could get in. I'm also sure some of the existing citizens have ties to the outside, and have found ways around the shield, such as going out of town for 'business' and then smuggling other people or epics back into town. The overall purpose of the "Bubble Epic" in my mind is to delay an all out free for all for as long as possible. I think it would be more interesting if Epics had to struggle to get in, and then bide their time before making their moves. If people feel like it is too difficult to get in, I'm open to adjusting "Bubble Epic's" power. I would not object! Your crossroads idea sounds awesome, and since it is a thoroughfare, people could start developing their characters there, and then bring them to Corvallis when that thread is ready, or slot them in elsewhere. It could be a good place for new players to train their characters too (I'm thinking like, a prologue level, before they pop into one of the more complicated threads).

Uniqueness it what I was hoping for. In the mean time we can do some world building and make it special. I'm thinking that I might put the other two epics I thought up earlier into the mix as epic citizens. It seems like a relatively 'safe' environment for the two of them (thought it won't be when things start going south). I like the idea of presenting Corvallis as a sort of paradise for epics, where they can be waited on hand and foot and live in lives of luxury, in exchange for submitting to the High Epic's rule, and defend the city when needed. On the surface it could be peaceful, with lots of intrigue as epics compete for favour and slaves. Then, when Euphoria vanishes (still plotting that part out), everything could start to fall apart. And then the destruction will begin

I would just want to do the opening post with one of the queens, and at least of the High Epics powers and name, but I could probably get that done. Maybe I could do the opening post as Euphoria, since she's more developed, and then go from there. I'm pretty booked until next Wednesday, and while I would love to procrastinate and do posts instead, I probably shouldn't. Would getting a thread up and running by next weekend be soon enough? That would give new players time to develop characters, and we could do some plotting and world building, but still give me some time to focus on exams Wednesday/Thursday and get my epics in a row. I love that in one day I doubled my number of characters and started world building a brand new town. RP ADDICTION!!!!

I have two exams next week, and an exam and an essay the week after, so it probably wouldn't be responsible of me to get things running until after that, but that's okay because I think I need some time to develop High Epic character (and find a name). We can also keep adding in some epics and rounding out the cast in the mean time. So if by "soon" you mean probably some time this month, then yes, a new thread will be starting soon. Unless you were talking about a different thread. In that case, ignore everything I just said. "Bubbles" was more of a placeholder name than anything. As long as the powers aren't too similar (now that you mention her, I remember the post where Paladin and Ranger are fighting her) I think we should be fine.

I was kind of hoping to stay away from resurrection, since we have a decent number of those already. Also, I am still thinking about the weather control bit, and might go back on it, but in terms of character history, would including Snowfall in the history be an option? Also are there any other ideas for large scale epic powers for High Epic?

In terms of maintaining canon (as in a reason why High Epic (really need a name for her) is not mentioned in Steelheart), let's just assume she doesn't make it out of the destruction of Oregon alive . Idea for High Epic's name: Rainmaker (Looper reference - yay!) Also, I'm having trouble coming up with a PI, any ideas? EDIT (ugh, why can't I remember everything in one post?): Also, Iconoclast is also welcome in the thread, of course, presumably in the 'invader' category

Not negative at all! I just want to be careful not to step on anyone's toes. And sorry about the mix up about Snowfall and Khoine. I'll blame my ignorance. Consider their existence noted! I think I'll stick with the weather powers then, but I'll make sure they have no effects beyond a certain radius to avoid conflicts with these other epics! *Crosses fingers and hopes no one else posted... (also goes off in search of further info on Snowfall and Khione

I love both of those ideas EDIT: Sorry I keep doing this. I am in class trying to do too many things at once. What's the consensus of giving High Epic Weather powers (limited as I described above)? I am totally open to this being a no-go, if that's what you guys would prefer. List of Characters of Corvallis so far: High Epic (Maybe Weather Powers) - Comatose Euphoria - Comatose Chase - Winter Winter's Vanilla - Winter Possibilities: Artemis Epic (Twi or Kobold?) Bubbles Duplication Epic (these two could also be NPCs if no one wants them)

The weather manipulation epic was the high epic I was becoming attached to and hoping to take, along with Euphoria. Any of the others would be open for adoption though! I haven't seen other weather manipulators in Oregon, so maybe you could RP one of the ones from California/Alaska and bring them in (if Kobold and Twi okay it, or start a different one). If you are really attached we can talk more, and maybe the high epic could have other powers. We'd have to see though. I agree on the gender pronoun point! I have seen ze and zay (sp?) used, but they aren't really common knowledge. For the weather point, my conception was that the high epic's powers had a distinct (but large) range of altered weather, that (in defiance of laws of physics like any good epic power) has no effects outside of the range (kind of creating a bubble of altered weather). If this doesn't work though, I can change her powers. EDIT: Too many posts! Just saw Twi's, so I guess I was wrong on the Weather point (haven't made through the list of epics yet). So should I change high epic's power then? ALSO, I like the Euphoria idea, just rewriting the emotional content!

Sorry, missed these. I more just have a personality at the moment. Still thinking of details on powers. What I have right now is flight, some sort of PI, and large scale weather manipulation, which she uses to give Corvallis perfect whether every day (including a gently clouded noon hour to avoid sunburn, and morning and evening showers to keep things green), and surround the area around the city with awful hurricane like storms. Somewhere between making someone more fit and giving them all the skills of the top secret robotic program? Again, I'm still figuring this power out. Not sure if I want to keep the power or not. I'm open to suggestions for limits Sorry for the double post, I didn't want people to miss this response.

I had an image of a similar sign, but I like yours better. The sign is now canon. EDIT: Powerpuff girl ideas: Blossom - fertility powers, makes plants grow better, provides raw materials for foods, that duplication epic can then duplicate. Could have a base in the Arboretum. Buttercup - Drawing a blank. All I'm getting is, 'shoots butter out of fingertips' but I feel like we can do better.

I LOVE a good Mean Girls plotline (you should see the Colette's Posse plot going on in MBI) . I like the greek diety connection too, so I'll file that away as an option. So right now, two members of the inner circle (or the Queens of Corvallis, as Kobold dubbed them) are really jumping out to me (High Epic and Euphoria), so I think I'd like to take them, if ya'll are okay with that. The others could be open for adoption. Ideas for other Queens of Corvallis (Names Can Be Changed): 1. "Bubble" - can make forcefield like bubbles that stay in place. The force fields she makes are selective, meaning she can set them so certain things (wind, air, water, etc) can get through while others (metal, living things) cannot pass in or out. Even if created as a dome, the field actually extends under ground, with the earth being one of the things selectively allowed through (tunnelers however could still be kept out). Bubbles she makes will stay in place, but she can only make so many at a time, and every bubble she makes must be the same size. The bigger the bubble, the fewer bubbles she can make. The bubble she keeps maintained around the city is her max capacity, meaning that as long as it is in place, she cannot make any other bubbles. PI: When threatened, she will automatically make a protective bubble around herself to repel harm. However, this would also cause her to drop the protective bubble around the city, meaning High Epic keeps her VERY well protected. Weakness/Personality/MO/History - all up for grabs 2. "Duplication Epic" - Can duplicate any non-organic item. She supplies Corvallis with its wealth of both luxury items and necessities such as food. She also powers the city by duplicating fully charged generator batteries. She can destroy individual duplicates by touching them, or has the option of recalling all of her duplications at once. Everything Else: Up for grabs. Would be nice if she had no PI though. Her power could also be altered or adjusted as desired. I also had another Euphoria idea. I was thinking that since, objects have little value in a society where duplication epic can copy anything, Euphoria's gifted positive feelings could a secondary form of currency among Vanillas. Once gifted, Vanillas can choose whether or not to use their feelings or save them, or the rate they use up the positive feelings (due to the addictive nature, this is hard). They can also gift the positive feelings to other Vanillas in exchange for things or services. That would make Euphoria's disappearance even more crippling. I'm also thinking of removing or limiting her history rewriting power, and emphasizing the pleasure gifting more, since it seems to have more potential. Epics would come to the city by leave of the High Epic and "Bubble" where they would be given Vanilla servants. When Epics please the High Epic or Euphoria, their slaves are given more happiness, which makes them better servants. When epics displease the High Epic or Euphoria, then Euphoria cuts back on their positive feelings ration, creating discontent among their workers. Thoughts? Of course, there is still plenty of room in the inner circle, among the other epics of the city, among the Vanilla slaves, or among the envious invaders waiting for an opportunity to destroy the high epic's little utopia. EDIT: I almost forgot, Winter's Chase character would definitely also be welcome in the Inner Circle, as another Queen of Corvallis, or in any other faction. An Artemis/Wonder woman cross would also be welcome. They could be High Epic's enforcers.

I like this idea. Perhaps his arrival is at the start of the RP? I wasn't thinking that, since that restriction would limit character creation, and the Amazon trope can get old. I was thinking just that the inner circle is a girls club, rather than implementing an Anti-male policy. What do other people think??

Just thought of a cool support epic, and a good contender for the one to go missing: Name: Euphoria Ability: Can rewrite people's memories/history by touching them. The effect is both mental and physical, but there is no chain reaction (example: changing one person's past will not change the pasts of people connected to them). Her ability is what allows the epics in charge of Corvallis to control their large population of slave Vanillas. At least once every two weeks, every vanilla must visit Euphora, where she rewrites their history to give them a perfect life up until this point. This means that despite the awful conditions the slaves work under, they only ever have up to two weeks worth of angst, and thus never get around to actually rebelling. Secondary Power - the ability to gift good feelings to people. Being gifted this power can be addictive, as the gifted feelings are so unnaturally positive, that even natural happiness feels lesser in comparision. Another way of controlling the populace. MO: What, you aren't enjoying your work, here, now you LOVE scrubbing epic's feet. What's that, you still want to rebel, GOOD NEWS, you just became a slave today because of something you did and know was wrong, but up until this point you have lived THE BEST LIFE EVER!!! EDIT: Cool idea! I think she could definitely have a place Also, is anyone else starting to imagine the governing faction of Corvallis to be all female? Because I am for some reason, and I think that would be awesome!

With finals on the horizon, it's the last thing I should be doing, but I may or may not be worldbuilding "What Happened in Corvallis" just because I can't turn my brain off. If no one has any objections, stay tuned till later in April (or sooner if I can't get this out of my head) for some more concrete ideas . Disclaimer: I'm not necessarily saying a new thread in Corvallis should be started or anything, just that I have ideas for it, if people are amenable and there are no objections we could potentially start a new thread there. If this were to happen, I would definitely be open to LOTS of collaboration. I'm thinking of doing some sort of standard plotline where a High Epic has maintained control of the city with the help of a coalition of weaker, but specifically useful lesser epics (like Steelheart, and most of the other tyrants). The twist would be when one of these super useful weaker epics who has helped maintain the rule of the high epic goes missing/is killed/ goes rebel/ some other thing I haven't thought of, and the High Epic and company must struggle to maintain control of the city while facing off against intruders and challengers to their power. EDIT: Similar to what happens when the Reckoners steal Conflux. For ideas (and these are just basic), I thought the High Epic could be a super powerful large-scale weather controller. My overall idea for Corvallis is that it could be a place of luxury (perhaps because one of the weaker epics is a matter duplicator, who can duplicate non-living items, giving the city a wealth of resources). Another weaker epic could have some sort of large scale selective force field power to help keep the city safe, etc. I think there could be the potential for some cool scenes based at the University, especially at the Peevey Arboteum, or something. I think high epic (She's a she in my brain) would present the city as some sort of Utopia for epics, and use Vanillas kind of like skaa. Anyways, that's just what's been buzzing around my brain today as I google things about Corvallis. Like I said, stay tuned for more fleshed out ideas, and feel free to make suggestions if this gets your brain buzzing too.

Personally, from what I've read thus far, I LOVE Backtrack, and would totally take him over. Of course, part of why I enjoy him is due to Kobold's writing, so obviously the best option is Kobold not dying so he can continue to write great Backtrack posts. I think Backtrack is my second favorite character in The Dalles right now (behind Autumn Glass, and not counting Koschei since he's dead). To be fair, I haven't read much of the Portland or Astoria arcs, so maybe if I read more these opinions would change. I have also been having difficult separating the real Taylor Swift's personality from Epic Taylor Swift's personality. Me while in the line for a cashier at the grocery store: "Oh look, there is Taylor Swift on the cover of a magazine with a super model. That's weird, why hasn't she ripped that model's face off? Oh yeah, that's the real life Taylor Swift, who does not have murderous tendencies and shape-shifting abilities (as far as I know)."

Great prank, soooo confusing.

So weird hearing all you guys complain about heat after coming out of a short (4 months instead of 5 or 6) but freezing winter. I definitely was born in the wrong latitude. I'm always cold, and love the heat (while our summers are short, it can get up to the 30-40C range). I would love to live somewhere where it is above 20c for more than three months a year Maybe Arizona or Australia would be too much for me, but I LOVE California weather, and would enjoy being some place where winter days don't run the risk of being colder than Mars.

No need to hide the post. I don't think there is anything wrong with expressing frustration, and I don't think you came even close to the unreasonable or offensive rage line. As a whole, I think your criticisms were legitimate and well phrased. I'd also like to add that my reply was meant to be from the perspective of a fellow fan. I wasn't intending to be wearing my admin hat (I usually PM in those situations), so I hope the comment wasn't perceived that way. Sorry you are feeling crappy, and I hope it passes! I also had to wait