SDN in the Wormverse! (RAR)

[Ahriman238]

While I do like the idea of using science and reason to fix my starting problems in a humane way, I doubt it will work. Bonesaw had to ditch the first few generations of clones because the shards would only bond with reasonably correct personality profiles. If they're close enough to have the same psychological issues, they're too close to grow them just for killing. There may be possibilites for cloning though, Scion isn't going to be bothered by repetition in our frontline types but you can never have enough tinkers.

The Toybox organized in the first place to be neutral and watch out for each other. Tinkers, mroe than any other capes need resources to get started, and are ripe for exploitation. A better tactic might be to keep a careful eye out for tinker talent we can nurture, shield, and recruit.

Let's talk very, very carefully before we make anyone a brain in a jar? It's sort of a major life-change, through with phred it might not be irreversible.

[Imperial528]

I'd honestly rather be a brain in a jar with my original body as a tinker-portal-linked flesh puppet than be as vulnerable as the rest, but others may not feel the same ofc.

Also, I am not saying we necessarily have to convince Toybox to forgo their neutrality, rather I think out tinker members should integrate with them and be members in good standing so we can get a look at some of their nicer stuff, if only to reverse engineer it later.

Of course looking for tinkers without a home is a good idea as well.

[Ahriman238]

The Protectorate tinkers all shared designs over a secure network overseen by Dragon. Taylor thought she might have instigated the whole thing to get more ideas to steal and improve on, we might consider doing the same.

[LadyTevar]

The Nine Members that we know were cloned include Mr. Nice Guy, a stranger whose talent was that no one saw him as a threat. I wonder if that would have worked against Scion.

[Ahriman238]

The Nine Members that we know were cloned include Mr. Nice Guy, a stranger whose talent was that no one saw him as a threat. I wonder if that would have worked against Scion.

Almost certainly not. With the exception of Contessa, cauldron formula and maybe one or two others who got shards they weren't supposed to, all the shards were crippled or restricted very carefully to prevent their being a threat to the entities, much the same as Scion's main body is in a seperate, locked dimension.

Even if it worked a bit, Scion has Contessa's "I win" power, it's just so draining he only uses it intentionally or as one of several contingencies. We know it activates automatically if he's about to take a hard enough hit, I'm thinking a stealthy approach might too.

[phred]

Let's talk very, very carefully before we make anyone a brain in a jar? It's sort of a major life-change, through with phred it might not be irreversible.

I'm pretty sure braincases from GITS are totally doable. Hooking braincases up to a remote control body are probably someone else's area of expertise.
Actually, that would be really useful for whoever is Siberian now. I could probably hook you in to the actual Siberian projection, which would make the problems related to your real body go away.

[Zwinmar]

Honestly, I would prefer to go more of the 40k space marine route myself rather than a brain in a jar, personal preference and all.

[Ahriman238]

Let's talk very, very carefully before we make anyone a brain in a jar? It's sort of a major life-change, through with phred it might not be irreversible.

Actually, that would be really useful for whoever is Siberian now. I could probably hook you in to the actual Siberian projection, which would make the problems related to your real body go away.

Which is the context the idea first came up in, though I'd prefer we get a Biome/Mannequin onboard to make the whole set-up indefinitely sustainable. And be really, really sure that Cycloneman's completely ok with it.

Honestly, I would prefer to go more of the 40k space marine route myself rather than a brain in a jar, personal preference and all.

phred may be able to pull it off, or at least a Halo Spartan. Well, the original made the S9 pretty much immune to a casual stabbing/shooting and immune to Cherish's emotional manipulation powers. Maybe faster too.

[Cycloneman]

Which is the context the idea first came up in, though I'd prefer we get a Biome/Mannequin onboard to make the whole set-up indefinitely sustainable. And be really, really sure that Cycloneman's completely ok with it.

Hooking my brain into Siberian is short-sighted. It'd be very important to keep my phylactery elsewhere a good portion of the time, such as when going up against Heartbreaker, Cherish, Gray Boy, or any other individuals whose powers are extremely dangerous to me if my brain happens to be anywhere near them. I mean, my powers are basically a pure hard counter to Gray Boy's so long as I'm not ACTUALLY near him. He catches a projection in his thing? No biggie, I'll make a new one (if our powers interact like that, anyways; probably too much of a risk to take if we've got anyone with the ability to perform long-distance brain surgery on the fucker).

We really need a Teacher, Doormaker, and Clairvoyant. I mean, we can get on without them, but their utility powers are incredibly useful for our mission and goals. Imagine: all the world's best Tinkers, in a secret facility on Gimel, provided with low-level Thinkers and Tinkers to their specifications by Raw Shark and Teacher. Imagine: Siberian, instantly projected anywhere in the world, her phylactery kept safe and sound and hidden in a different secret facility on Gimel, specially constructed by Raw Shark's servants.

[phred]

The problem with Clairvoyant and Doormaker is that they got pretty screwed over by their powers. Doormaker went blind IIRC and Clairvoyant is basically just his/her power now, and gives the sight to whoever touches them.

Here's the thing: If we all have powers it means we are taking option #1 which means Cauldron and Contessa already exist. So we don't really need a Clairvoyant and Doormaker, we just need to figure out how to take them or get control of Cauldron. Our best bet is probably to convince Contessa to join us and take over Cauldron.

[Starglider]

I would not be surprised if the rules of dramatic narrative were in effect, e.g. plans that would make for thrilling reading are likely to work, plans that would make for a boring novel don't.

[Raw Shark]

Do we ever see any evidence that Nilbog is limited in his creations by any physical means that are limited in this scenario? We know that, once created, they need to eat, but given many fully-cooperative-or-defenseless, not-necessarily-developed worlds and a Doormaker, that's kind of a lot of buffalo just waiting to be harvested for protein... Assuming everybody works together this time, we've got pretty much unlimited controlled super-parthenogenesis under the control of somebody who's only a little nuts, so run wild with that.

[Ahriman238]

The problem with Clairvoyant and Doormaker is that they got pretty screwed over by their powers. Doormaker went blind IIRC and Clairvoyant is basically just his/her power now, and gives the sight to whoever touches them.

Here's the thing: If we all have powers it means we are taking option #1 which means Cauldron and Contessa already exist. So we don't really need a Clairvoyant and Doormaker, we just need to figure out how to take them or get control of Cauldron. Our best bet is probably to convince Contessa to join us and take over Cauldron.

I like this plan. Do we know when to do this to get the pair? Leaves us in the same position of getting Cauldron's resources and likely having to do morally ambigious things, but we can probably find lots of volunteers and at least let them keep their memories.

I wonder if GUs power could be used on failed Cualdron subjects, and what the heck I'd get. Also, I don't want to be a psychopath and propose hunting people down for their powers, but we might consider doing so in Bakuda's case. She was going to die anyway, and would have been seriously dangerous if she'd been less petty. Oh well, we have abundant time to figure it out.

Anyone have an opinon on hiding out or showing our faces during the 5 years people didn't know there superheroes?

Anyway, I can't believe we have so many people and are neglecting the best part of living in a superhero story (besides free-flying, that is) coming up with a colorful nome de plume and disguise. I'm thinking go with the mystic theme some people are doing, power armor under a cloak or trenchcoat and the Necromancer. Or if the armor is too bulky to be hidden easily, slap a horned skull helmet and call it the Horned King. That should confuse most people aplenty.

[phred]

Here's the thing: If we all have powers it means we are taking option #1 which means Cauldron and Contessa already exist. So we don't really need a Clairvoyant and Doormaker, we just need to figure out how to take them or get control of Cauldron. Our best bet is probably to convince Contessa to join us and take over Cauldron.

I like this plan. Do we know when to do this to get the pair? Leaves us in the same position of getting Cauldron's resources and likely having to do morally ambigious things, but we can probably find lots of volunteers and at least let them keep their memories.

We can get together and start searching Africa as soon as we think we have enough to deal with them. If we don't find it by the time the case 53s start showing up, we can just start making noises about them in the press. We can talk to Contessa when she shows up.

I wonder if GUs power could be used on failed Cualdron subjects, and what the heck I'd get.

Don't see why not. You would probably get weird looking shadows to play with.

Anyway, I can't believe we have so many people and are neglecting the best part of living in a superhero story (besides free-flying, that is) coming up with a colorful nome de plume and disguise. I'm thinking go with the mystic theme some people are doing, power armor under a cloak or trenchcoat and the Necromancer. Or if the armor is too bulky to be hidden easily, slap a horned skull helmet and call it the Horned King. That should confuse most people aplenty.

Well I'm giving myself wings, so Bat-dude* or Hawk-guy* or something like that... Maybe I'll go with a flying squirrel motif. It'll help throw people off to my real superpower, and surprise the hell out of them when I tie them down and literally rearrange their faces.

*Not to be confused with that detective or the other winged dude from some other universe where people have powers.

[Rossum]

I for one am claiming Dinah's precognition power, just to ensure we don't run into the scenario that led to Coil's downfall. That would grant a pretty huge force multiplier for our side and help detect threats before they happen. Team me up with someone with Coil's power and we could effectively double the number of predictions I can make per day (might even get more if another super has the power to cure headaches or whatever it was that limited Dinah in the story).

At the very least, I could play the stock market and make enough money to stay comfortable until the end of the world.

[Zwinmar]

Id be going more of the Dr. Doom look myself. Just like it alot.

[Raw Shark]

Anyway, I can't believe we have so many people and are neglecting the best part of living in a superhero story (besides free-flying, that is) coming up with a colorful nome de plume and disguise. I'm thinking go with the mystic theme some people are doing, power armor under a cloak or trenchcoat and the Necromancer. Or if the armor is too bulky to be hidden easily, slap a horned skull helmet and call it the Horned King. That should confuse most people aplenty.

For my superhero name, I'll need something low-key with a virility / life theme, such as KING PENIS. (What?)

My costume will normally just be self-grown biological "power" armor that looks like a really large, muscular, and functionally-winged version of me, with umbillicals and "periscopes" and whatnot to keep me alive and aware like Nilbog had with his clone during that meeting with Jack and Taylor, except I'm inside the clone instead of underground. I can still create new creatures while I'm inside this thing; don't ask where the exit hatch is.

[Ahriman238]

Raw Shark, where's the exit hatch?


Still haven't heard anything like a real plan to take down Scion earlier and with less casualties than the canon. Cauldron wanted to force the confrontation sooner rather than later, because in 18 years they would have lost much of their best talent and firepower in various Endbringer fights and been worse off. Perhaps we should try attacking before Scion flips out, but only if we can come up with something that has a reasonable chance of victory.

We know he's not invulnerable, just really tough and connected to a nigh-endless pool of biomatter that replaces lost flesh faster than anyone can notice or exploit his injuries. Considering his dimension lock, without setting him up very, very carefully this link is the one connection we have to the dimension his real body is kept in.