The forums moved on March 1, 2021. Please read this page for more information.

The Big Villains Thread

612 posts / 0 new
Last post
Ehkrickor
Ehkrickor's picture
Offline
Last seen: 4 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Jul 05, 2017

Final recording from F.I.L.T.E.R. outpost 2.11.Delta.117.B: Video Footage of first encounter with being known as Golariq

Video recording from Labratory 12B, paroximately 53 seconds of recoverable footage.

--Play--

"Hey, Jensen, we finally got the footage back from the telescope. You might want to take a look at this, man. The formation the quasars are in is unreal, like a knife fight in a closet." the man crosses the Laboratory to another man in a jumpsuit checking images on a computer screen. Their faces visible in the camera,

"Wait, Quasar 's' as in multiple, are you sure you're polling the right coordinates." Jensen replies, turning to glower at the first man.

"You know I did, you came along and checked my work after the fact. Here let me pull up our footage." they shuffled about so that the first astronomer was at the computer, "Okay, I'll play our last 2 years, See that?"

"Four Pulsars!? Orbiting eachother? how stupid do you think I am. I swear Clint the pranks are one thing but doctoring footage to screw with me. I mean look at those two, as the go over and under the pulses go faster on that side from our perpsective. If you're gonna prank me with stars at least get them right."

"I'm telling you, it's the truth. These are the co-ordinates you gave me as the origin system of that black stone that hit Olympus Mons and I'm giving you the data we have." Jensen's voice growing defensive, "Wait, did you say the pulses are faster on the far side?" Jensen turns back to the screen and begins working the computer to change what they are viewing.

The second doctor leans in, Jensen's obvious curiosity seeming to convince him the footage is genuine.

"Watch, there are four, they must be the first four names on the stone, the language boys have any luck?"

"No, they identified one of the languages as Maerynian, but we're not about to fly back to earth and just Ask Tempest for help, it would alert Wagner we are here for starters and that's bad. We've identified five words that are the same accross all the languages though, guessing they're the stars." The Doctor leans in putting his head level with Jensen, "Five names, an object between the Pulsars would explain the faster pulses on the back end,"

"Well yeah, but only if they are rotating on their axis and pointed towards that obje.... This isn't a natural formation. How did.

"Wrong question man, Why. If it's not natural the first question should't be how, it should be Why. And this footage is old, the pulsars could be misaligned by now, or collapsed. It takes what, around six hundred years for light from that system to reach earth?" The doctors turn to face each other, 

Jensen's gulp is visible even in the camera, "Six hundred and sixty six light years,"

"Well, that's not Ominous at all." 

*Crash*

"THE FUCK IS THAT!"

"Screw the Science! Run!"

A shadowy deamonic figure obscures the scientists, untill Jensens face is raised into view again, being held off the floor by his throat by the winged figure

"what are the coordinates and direction of that system."

"HERE, HERE THEY'RE WRITTEN DOWN! JUST DON'T KILL ME!"He squirms trying to get away, the figure drops the scientist to sprawl on the floor, turns and flexes his shoulders before launching himself upward with the sound of smashing glas and escaping atmosphere

--end playback--

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 11 (Orbital Station Equis)

The station that was originally constructed around Equis II was meant to be a symbol of peace and security.  

Three species--the Voltarrish of Kalek IX, the Entarium of Entar IV, and the Priliians of Nocarus II--had been at war for decades.  Planetary bombardment, raid on ships, blockades of mining outposts and other resource gathering...all these things had brought these civilizations to their knees.  

At long last, the leaders of the three planets called a cease-fire.  Diplomats, artists, and leaders of all stripes descended upon Equis II, a neutral planet almost exactly midway between all three planets.  There, a much needed peace was forged.  After so many years of conflict, the three planets finally expressed a willingness to work together.  There, they declared their intention to create an orbital research station:  a tripartite creation devoted to science, engineering, and advancement of all three races.

Construction on Orbital Station Equis flew by.  Volatarrish alloys proved to work phenomenal within Prilliian metallurgical techniques.  Entarium computing processors allowed Voltarrish machinery to work beyond peak efficiency.  Together, the races created a place of wonder, which no one individual race could have possibly made on their own.  

No one knows exactly what happened aboard Orbital Station Equis.  Some thought that the Prilliian quadrinary computing code was incompatible with the Entarrium hardware.  Others blamed the Voltarrish metals, leaking some sort of corrupting haze into various subsystems.  Others blame a strange solar pulse emanating from the star Equis itself.  Regardless of the source of the madness, death reigned aboard Orbital Station Equis.  With luminaries of all three races aboard the station for its grand opening, the station's subsystems went berserk.  Basic defensive subsystems mowed down unarmed politicians and celebrities where they stood.  Service robots tore apart civilians with basic maintenance tools and implements.  Within 14 minutes, no living being stood within Orbital Station Equis.  After 26 minutes, the station itself had retrofitted its core reactor into a fusion-driver device, sending a beam of superheated helium into Equis II's surface, turning the lush planet's surface into an uninhabitable waste.

The great monument to peace had literally become a symbol of eternal war.  The three races once again descended into warfare, each blaming the others for the tragedy aboard the orbital station.  Meanwhile, Orbital Station Equis drifts through the void, laying in wait for any sentient creature that dares step foot aboard its harrowed corridors.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 12 (The Men in Dark Coats)

Marty Fineman was abducted by aliens.  He knew it, he was sure of it, and he wouldn't shut up about it. 

Everyone in Red Grove knew about Marty's abduction.  No matter the subject of conversation--from town hall meeting to small talk over pie at Velma's Diner--Marty always managed to divert the topic to his abduction.  

Back in '92, Marty was was out fetching one of his cows out from his neighbor's field.  One of the trees that marked the property line had fallen in a recent storm and Marty just hadn't quite made it out there with his chainsaw to take it down the rest of the way.  And, of course, that Guernsey calf just wouldn't stay at home.  As the sun set over the fields, Marty started marching through his neighbor's rows of corns, calling out for the missing calf.  

Three lights appeared like giant spotlights over the field, illuminating the night.  Marty'll be the first to tell you--"it weren't no flying saucer; it was a triangle!"  A greenish light beamed down on the farmer, lifting him aboard the strange craft.

From there, Marty's story always gets a bit hazy.  Sometimes he gets probed, other times they only take his blood.  Sometimes the aliens are lizard-like, other times they're the "Greys" of urban legend, most recently they were these tentacled creatures with giant suckers--never mind that Marty had just been watching a Lovecraftian-horror movie a few nights ago.  

The one constant in all of Marty's tellings, however, have been The Men in Dark Coats:  two men wearing black trenchcoats, standing behind the aliens, watching the medical processes as they transpire.  One of them, tall and thin, watches intently, his eyes hidden behind black mirror shades.  The second, shorter and stockier, takes notes on a pocket notepad with a #2 pencil.  

Marty Fineman's become nothing short of the running joke of Red Grove.  While he still goes about his daily life, he insists that he was abducted, that hideous experiments were conducted on him, and that the world's governments have been in on it the whole time.  And now, with Maerynians living on Earth, he's even more convinced that the conspiracy goes deeper than anyone knows.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 13 (Species Dirthial-13c)

The world of Dirthialan is a forbidden place. 

The original Dirthialans were renowned throughout the galaxy as masters of genetic manipulation.  Even before they turned their eyes to the starry heavens, the Dirthialans had all but eradicated disease within their populace.  Obesity and heart disease were unheard-of, literally edited out of the Dirthialan genetic code.  Birth defects and other genetic disorders became a footnote in their history, as they walked that tenuous balance between dystopian eugenic cloning and allowing individual autonomy over personal genetic information.  Hunger was unheard of, as genetically modified crops were bred for maximum yield and nutritional value with minimal impact upon the modified Dirthialan physiology.

When the Dirthialans made first contact with another race, however, they were swift to expand their reach to other planets and share their findings with other species, in exchange for inorganic technologies.  While many expected the Dirthialans to trade for weaponry, the creatures instead focused on transport ships, holographic emitters, and defensive shielding.  Only the closest of Dirthial's allies knew the reality behind this:  Dirthial already had all the weapons they ever would need:  long range viral torpedoes, capable of decimating the population of whole continents within hours, leaving any Dirthialan troops utterly unscathed.

And, as seems to be the case throughout the cosmos, war changes everything.

After a resource-sharing deal on an uninhabited planet went awry, the Dirthialans found themselves in conflict with the Kantorax of Ilio-IV.  As threats escalated and a Kantorax expeditionary force attacked a Dirthialan supply convey, the viral torpedoes were loaded and fired.

Perhaps it was a rare genetic aberration in the Kantorax genome.  Perhaps there was some error in the Dirthialan gene-splicing.  Perhaps it was some rare radiation that mutated the viruses in their torpedo canisters.  Regardless of source, the Kantorax were not merely slain by the virus bombardment.  Rather, something began to emerge.  Something sentient.  Something malevolent.  Something with a vast hatred of all other life.

The pestilent creatures that emerged from the Kantorax corpses were like something from a fevered nightmare.  Skittering on taloned legs, they clutched and ravaged at the occupying Dirthialan forces, sending them fleeing for their drop ships in a fighting retreat.  Were the creatures to have been trapped on Ilio-IV, that might have been the end of them.  But, just a few of the species now referred to as Species Dirthial-13c managed to sneak aboard those ships, ravaging the crew and running free across the surface of Dirthial itself.

And now?  The entire population of Dirthial has fallen beneath the claws and teeth of a genetically-perfect apex predator.  Expeditions have been made to reclaim Dirthial have been fruitless; the few survivors of such expeditions have often unleashed untold horrors onto their homeworlds as Species Dirthial-13c makes its way to another planet.  Kill it with fire; it's the only way to be sure.

TakeWalker
TakeWalker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Feb 26, 2016

Oops! :D

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 14  (The Hounds)

The mere concept of their mere existence is nothing short of fuel for children's nightmares.  They are implacable, unstoppable, indomitable.  

The known worlds refer to them as The Hounds.

The creatures known as the hounds are no mere canines, though some believe that they may have some degree of genetic similarity to certain breeds found even on Terra.  However, in most manners, appear to be more insectile, with clacking mandibles and a soft 'whirrr' released when they breathe.  Some believe that The Hounds are not natural creatures and, instead, have been genetically crafted by some malevolent force.  None have ever managed to incapacitate one of The Hounds to perform a full genetic autopsy.

Every known encounter with one of The Hounds describes them as wearing a terrifying mask or helmet over their head, providing both protection and enhanced sensory arrays.  The Hounds are known weaponsmiths and armorers, wielding armament unlike any seen throughout the cosmos.  Anti-coagulant laced flechette rounds ensure that their targets continually bleed during the pursuit.  Seeker drones and mechanical entrapments pursue and corner The Hounds' quarry, ripe for the harvesting.  In melee, the Hounds are unmatched opponents, wielding jagged, serrated blades meant to disable and maim.  They have no weakness.  They know no fatigue.  They exist simply to hunt.

The pertinent question, however, is "Why?"  Why do The Hounds pursue their targets?  How do they choose them and why those targets over others?  To date, The Hounds have provided no answer and the only being known to have compiled a database on The Hounds' victims was Kalo Treenal, one of the Kantorax scientists slain on Ilo-IV.  Kalo was rumored ot have discovered the homeworld of The Hounds--both the place from which they originated and from which they mount their attacks.  However, following the devastation on Ilo-IV, that database seems lost to the ages...

MindWanderer
MindWanderer's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Playtester
Joined: Oct 29, 2015

Nice Fahrenheit 451 reference! Sounds like you lifted Bradbury's words exactly, though, if memory serves.


Sentinels Statistics Project -- Statistics updated daily!

Submit your games here!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Wait, what? I'm not sure what you mean...
It's been ages since I've read Fahrenheit 451; something may have leaked into my subconscious.

(Edit--Ohhh! Lol. Totally unintended, but awesome regardless. I didn't see any accidental plagiarism, but if I did get too close, do alert me!)

MindWanderer
MindWanderer's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Playtester
Joined: Oct 29, 2015

Nah, looked it up, and it's not even as similar as I thought. But the insectoid shapes, the drugged weapons, and their sightly ambiguous reasons for choosing their targets definitely evoke Bradbury's Hounds.


Sentinels Statistics Project -- Statistics updated daily!

Submit your games here!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

MindWanderer wrote:

Nah, looked it up, and it's not even as similar as I thought. But the insectoid shapes, the drugged weapons, and their sightly ambiguous reasons for choosing their targets definitely evoke Bradbury's Hounds.

Honestly, when i sat down to write these ones, my impetus was more "Let's do a canine version of Predator."  

As mentioned, it's been years since I've read 451--I did re-read "Something Wicked This Way Comes" about a year ago, and I used to teach "A Sound of Thunder" to my freshman English classes, typically alongside "The Machine that Won the War" from Asimov and "Harrison Bergeron" from Vonnegut.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 15 (Dendralus of Molandor II)

The Molandan people excel at one thing beyond all others:  the art of healing.  Regardless of species, regardless of genetic anomaly, the Molandans have a distinct grasp of the medicinal arts.  

Partly, this comes as a matter of necessity.  The Molandan race is notoriously long-lived, but also has an equally notorious low birth rate.  Molandans are rarely able to carry their young to term, and the act of birthing is highly lethal to Molandans.  However, their genetic framework innately contains an ability to channel a rare, positive energy which fosters regeneration and natural healing.  Even a single Molandan, untrained in actual medicine or pharmacology, can heal even the most grievous of injury with only a few minutes spent laying their hands upon the injured area.

This, of course, has made them into great allies to races throughout the galaxy.  Molandan healers have treated great artists, philosophers, warlords, and thinkers from across the cosmos.  And none of them have touched so many lives as Dendralus.

But, little did any of those know...Dendralus is more than a Molandan healer and physician.  Dendralus has tapped into a vast reservoir of psychic power, which he is able to enmesh with his own genetic gift for healing.  Whenever Dendralus uses his gift, he threads the new tissue with a psychic membrane which leaves his patient with a hidden psychic anchor.  This anchor holds a two-fold purpose:  it makes the patient much more resistant to any form of psychic control or assault...aside from that from Dendralus, for whom it serves as a gateway into the subject's mind.  Dendralus can, with ease, tap into the mind of any being he has healed and control them from light-years away.  

The list of beings who have come to Molandor for healing is long and luminous.  And, of course, Dendralus' services in particular, are in high demand.  He needs merely wait for the right individuals to come across his clinic door to rule the entirety of the cosmos...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 16 (Blazaar)

The appearance of Blazaar in the cosmos is nothing short of an anomaly.

It first appeared on the very center of the Andromeda Galaxy, near the supermassive black hole around which the rest of the galaxy orbits.  The area was believed to be a dead zone, though as the OblivAeon event raged across the cosmos, something new began to coalesce within that area.  

First contact with the being known as Blazaar occurred with the Xaolans of Arigas VI.  Silicate-based beings, the Xaolans were quick to take to the stars and began colonizing numerous worlds, as their unique biology allowed them to thrive in a number of environments.  However, the Xaolans had little recourse when they responded to what they thought to be a distress call...but turned out to be a blast of phenomenal cosmic power, utterly annihilating whole worlds and driving the Xaolans to near-extinction.

But, what is Blazaar?  Xenobiologists believe that it is something akin to a living quasar, formed by the intense pressure and denseness of the Andromedan black hole.  However, something seems strange about Blazaar.  It seems to, in fact, have an intelligence.  Those who have survived encounters with Blazaar claim to hear screams of pain, anguish, and desperation, as if a multitude of voices were crying out from some continual torture and devastation.  This has caused some scholars to believe that Blazaar is no mere compression of cosmic energy, but rather a compression of emotional resonance:  in effect theorizing that Blazaar contains the consciousness of all those beings slain by OblivAeon.  While this theory is little more than conjecture, the information available does seem to fit the theory rather well.

As for what Blazaar wants--who knows?  Perhaps the best possible end for such a strange creature is simply the eternal rest of death itself.

Phantom5613
Phantom5613's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Playtester
Joined: Apr 24, 2013

Just so I know I'm understanding: Blazzar is a psychic storm of despair and other feeling that's been floating around space?

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Yup!

Phantom5613
Phantom5613's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Playtester
Joined: Apr 24, 2013

Ah, Okei-Doke. Again, just wanted to make sure I understood. :)

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 17  (The Harmonic)

*from a blog entry released to The New Patriot online magazine*

My name is Adam Vith.  There's a two inch diameter hole in my chest.  

I'm looking at it right now.  I'm not bleeding, I'm not not in shock.  Well, I'm shocked, but not *in shock*.  To my knowledge, I am sound of body and sound of mind.

As I write this, I am sitting at my kitchen table.  My wife has gone to work.  My daughter just left for school.  Ten minutes ago, I called into my workplace, claiming that I had an emergency dentist appointment.  

There is something living in the hole in my chest.  I can hear it talking to me;  Its voice is in my head.  The voice is a little sibilant, but overall it's comforting.  It keeps reassuring me that everything is okay.  It says it's one of The Harmonic.

I'm not sure what happened that caused this, truth be told.  I woke up two nights ago to get a glass of water and ended up falling asleep on the couch.  I remember something biting me on the chest right where the hole currently sits.  When I awoke, the hole was there--no blood, no pus, no signs that a wound was ever caused, outside of the hole itself.  

I didn't tell Julie.  I probably should have.  She'll likely have a lot of questions.  I'm going to try to do this cleanly, so it's easier on them.

The thing in the hole in my chest stopped screaming at me a while ago.  It knows what I'm going to do, but it's the only resort that I have.  It has a good degree of control over my nervous system, but I think it has an alcohol sensitivity.  Two shots of vodka, and it's gone quiet.  That'll give me time to finish.

A few things to know:  it's not alone.  There are others out there, living inside of people, just like me.  They're weak, apparently, outside of a host body, but they can take a new host in seconds.  I'm banking on that.  I'll have to move fast, but I can do it.  The forceps are heating up on the stove right now.

It said that they came from a dying world, that they used to breed their own hosts specifically to 'ride', but that a plague nearly destroyed all of their host bodies.  So they're looking to move in.  Not here.  Not me.  

This is going to go one of three ways:  it's not going to work and it'll take control of me again; it won't work and I'll die, or it'll work and we'll go to war.  I hope, for the sake of everyone, it's the last one.

*Editor's Note--Adam Vith was found dead at his kitchen table, with a scalpel and set of forceps embedded in a vast incision in his chest.  The only fingerprints on the items were Adam's own.  A small trail of scuttling claws could be found through the blood of the kitchen floor, but the trail ends in a nearby dog park.

 

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 18 (Ta-Lor-En-Da-To)

There is a world on the edge of the known cosmos where the lines between being and vibration enmesh.  This world, designated Setinas 34c-Gamma, is not a homeworld for any recorded species; while it has a dense, oxygen-rich atmosphere, no race has ever managed to maintain a colony here.

That, quite simply, is because of the Ta-Lor-En-Da-To.  This creature is unlike any within the Multiverse; Jansa Vi Dero approached it once, believing it to be an Endling, though the Ta-Lor seemed to not even recognize Jansa as anything more than another stone or rock.  After several hours of observation, Jansa returned to her Enclave, as confused as she had ever been in her centuries of existence.  

However, in her observations, several items became quite apparent:

  • The Ta-Lor seems to simultaneously exist as a solid, serpentine creature and as an ephemeral being of pure sonic energy.
  • It seems to alternate between something of animalistic intelligence and true sentience, though in both cases, it seems to know no recorded language.
  • The Ta-Lor can, in its sonic form, rift reality and enter the Void itself.  Such portals remain for moments following its passing, but provide a potential venue for others to enter the Void physically.
  • The area around the Ta-Lor seems to warp and wend in its presence, shifting in and out of the Void with each blink of the eye.  

However, the strangest fact about the Ta-Lor-En-Da-To is on its underbelly.  A sigil is emblazed on its chest, as if the crest of some master artisan, of an open eye enclosed in a diamond.  Needless to say, this only raises more questions than it answers...

TakeWalker
TakeWalker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Feb 26, 2016

Outside of potentially being harmful to be near, and impossible to reason with, it doesn't sound too villainous, or even that threatening...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

It's more of an obstacle than outright v villain, but still usually an adversary for the PCs.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 19 (Avarrus)

Traluaa II is a world without metahuman abilities.  Not by design or chance, mind you, but by purposeful theft.  

No one seems to know Avarrus' real name.  As a Traluuan, it is likely that he originally hails from either Traluua II or its colonies on Nilanda VI, though Avarrus has never returned to either place since his emergence into the cosmos.  However, after being tailed for years by the cosmic magus known as Fallen Vanos, several clues have emerged as to what Avarrus has become and what he is now.

Vanos claims that Avarrus is not in control of his full faculties and is, rather, possessed by a spirit of The Host.  Specifically, Avarrus's consciousness is consumed by a Spirit of Desire, which drives his every waking thought.  As such, Avarrus travels from world to world, seeking out the most powerful of a given species, defeating those individuals and tearing away their powers in a strange ritual, adding them to his own abilities.  This tends to leave the original creature enervated and weakened, often on the verge of death, if not provided with immediate medical care.

Vanos further notes that Avarrus is further able to drain the abilities from arcane or otherwise empowered artifacts, though his ability to utilize these powers seems to be limited.  While Xavix, Wielder of the Staff Perpetual, was one of Avarrus' first targets, the powers of the Staff Perpetual returned after mere hours, while Avarrus was light-years away.  This has not stopped Avarrus from targeting empowered artifacts, though he typically only does so when in pursuit of some other, more permanent goal, such as the defeat and absorption of another, stronger metahuman.

To date, Avarrus has collected a number of potent abilities:  the prescience and reflexes of Kanala the Undefeated, the light manipulation of Brilliant Xex, the durability and resilience of Mongor Unbroken, and the density shifting abilities of Can-Arek Tel.  Vanos has pursued Avarrus across the vast reaches of space, merely observing and learning his target's strengths, rather than interfering and presenting himself as a potential target.  However, Vanos has spied quite the desirable target for Avarrus:  a planet which might provide a theater for his inevitable confrontation with the Traaluan and his possessor spirit.  Earth.

 

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 20 (Atroclos the Multiplier)

Atroclos knew he was the greatest.  He needed only find the proper avenue.

A silicate-based being originally hailing from Kalarias II, Atroclos the Multiplier was not born with powers.  Rather, a freak accident involving black-body radiation transformed him drastically, turning him into something of a living blend of silicate and dark matter.  This alone would might provide most beings power--if it didn't kill them instantly--but in Atroclos, something quite strange occurred.

Atrcolos was gifted a unique ability from his exposure to the black-body radiation.  Any force which acted upon him would be rebounded upon its actor in an exponentially greater magnitude.  A punch that might bruise Atroclos' face would be met in turn with a recoil capable of shattering a man's arm.  A blast of energy that might send him careening away would be met with a blast in kind that could overload and annihilate the initiator.  

And a beam capable of destroying a planet?  Infinite power at his fingertips.

As a soldier on Kalarias II, Atroclos was already a part of the military complex, but his newfound powers granted him a high rank and access to classified information, including that of Kalarias' numerous enemies.  It was an easy thing for intelligence to fall to the worlds' enemies, for schematics of planetary defenses to disappear.

Atroclos' opportunity arose as the Ixthantu fleet surrounded Kalarius II, their orbital mass-driver focused on the Kalarian capitol.  At the center of the capitol, awaiting the bombardment, was Atroclos himself.  

The initial mass-driver impact detonated the Kalarian capitol, but the backlash from Atroclos destroyed everything within the entire system.  Atroclos alone floated in the void, conscious and reveling in the demonstration of his power.  Still feeling the kinetic energy vibrating within him, he rocketed through the cosmos, eager to find the next multiplication of his power.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 21 (The Dholes)

Ixthain IV is a world coveted by many, but explored by few.

While many interstellar drives work by using either a fusion generator or upon a more traditional graviton-engine running on what humans called Einsteinium, the energy released in a reaction utilizing Natadium-166 dwarfs nearly any currently used in any known fuel source across the cosmos.  Further, Natadium-166 is a stable isotope, making transport easy and manipulation particularly safe.  If that weren't enough, even the most rudimentary Natadium-166 reactors function at over 95% efficacy, producing only miniscule, stable waste, while releasing phenomenal amounts of energy.  And, of course, Ixthain IV holds more Natadium-166 than any other known world.

And yet, Ixthain IV is deserted.  It is a realm ruled only by The Dholes.

Mankind's only interaction with The Dholes came through the landing of the USS Challenger III, an international effort to reverse-engineer graviton-engines and retrofit it to current space travel designs.  The Challenger III leapt through hyperspace, emerging and establishing an orbit surrounding Ixthain IV.  When structures were discovered from orbit, the commander of Challenger III sent down two drop ships to explore the planet below.

The horrors endured by those away teams were nothing short of cataclysmic.  Even the barest noise or vibration seemed to cause the surface of Ixthain to rumble.  As the teams began to explore what they swiftly learned to have been a Qubrin mining base, the attacks began in earnest.  Massive creatures, resembling many-mawed earthworms, breached the sandy surface of Ixthain, swimming through the silt and sand as if a swimmer through water.  Out of 18 individuals across two teams, only 6 individuals managed to make it back to the Challenger III, screaming all the while.  One such individual, Sergeant-Major Emily Torohama, slumped into a seat in a briefing room aboard the Challenger III, her mind reeling back to the weird fiction she read as a teenager.  "Lovecraft had it right," she said, "there are some things out here that we should just leave well enough alone."

But of course, samples of Natadium-166 made it back to Earth.  And, unsurprisingly, a sample found its way to Nautilus Industries who, despite the protests of numerous world governments, has begun preparing a return mission to Ixthain IV...ready to take the fight to the Dholes themselves in search of a way to power the world for centuries to come.

VGBM
VGBM's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2018

PlatinumWarlock wrote:
Villain of the Day:  April 21 (The Dholes)

I know it's probably pronounced like "doals", but I can't help but read it as "d-holes".

Anyway, I love seeing all the inspiration your villains take from other pieces of media and wondering how much of it is intentional. For instance, Ixthain IV reminds me a whole lot of the moons in Starbound.

TakeWalker
TakeWalker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Feb 26, 2016

Dholes are actually a type of dog! :D

...These are bad doggies. c.c

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

VGBM wrote:

PlatinumWarlock wrote:

Villain of the Day:  April 21 (The Dholes)

I know it's probably pronounced like "doals", but I can't help but read it as "d-holes".Anyway, I love seeing all the inspiration your villains take from other pieces of media and wondering how much of it is intentional. For instance, Ixthain IV reminds me a whole lot of the moons in Starbound.

If we're going from Lovecraft's ilk, we'll likely never have a true pronunciation. I tend to say "Doals" though.

As for pop culture references, yeah they're likely overt. The Harmonic was meant to be a take on the Goa'uld from Stargate, there have been takes on Alien and Predator recently, as well.
But, occasionally, its also meant intentionally in universe. Major Emily calling these things Dholes, for example, was meant by her to homage Lovecraft.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 22 (The Preservers)

Halicos IX was a doomed world.

The Helicans there had stripped their planet of resources, had cracked their world's crust to excavate its minerals, and had befouled their atmosphere with the byproducts of unchecked industry.  Without miraculous intervention, the Halicos IX faced oblivion.

That's when the ships arrived.  Great oblong ships appeared in orbit around Halicos.  The Helicans attempted to make contact in every language they knew; the ships did not respond.  After two days, the Helican military launched a pre-emptive strike, firing six ultra-dense neutron warheads into the lead ship.  The torpedoes never made it within 1,000 meters of the ship, instead falling harmlessly to the ocean below, utterly disarmed.

Within that hour, a message beamed across every Helican screen.

"We are The Preservers.  Your world faces annihilation.  We will preserve it.  Do not resist.  Do not attempt to leave your world.  You will be preserved.  You will live forever."

The Helican authorities scrambled to provide a response.  A scout ship was launched, attempting to dock with The Preservers' lead ship.  As the ship broke through Helican ionosphere, a coruscating purple beam emanated from the nose of The Preservers' ship, tearing the scout ship in twain.  A Helican fleet was swiftly assembled, but by the time the Helican authorities gave the launch command, it was too late.

Halicos IX had vanished.  Its moons, free of their gravitational bonds, flew off into the void of space.  No evidence remained to show that Halicox IX had ever existed...

...outside of the handful of witnesses that watched The Preservers remove Halicos IX.  A ship of pirates--part of Sonny Jim's Blackflag fleet--had hoped to pillage Halicos before its self-destruction, only to have a front-row seat to the opening of a rift in reality, through which The Preservers shoved the entire Helican homeworld.  That ship, captained by a Tholaquian named Braxxic Ell, immediately abandoned its mission of piracy, bringing a message of panic and alarm across the galaxy.  

The Preservers were coming.

TakeWalker
TakeWalker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Feb 26, 2016

Okay, that's really cool! :D

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 23 (The Hierarch Mandate)

"Chaos was the law of nature.  Order was the dream of man."

In the wake of OblivAeon, entire worlds and societies were left reeling.  Even those few worlds to have never encountered the timeline-shattering Leviathan still felt the shockwaves of the chaos and madness of its destruction.

Thalomian entArnd had none of this.

A mathematican and programmer on the far-off world of elmOng, Thalomian was witness to the devastation left behind by OblivAeon, and even that of the so-called heroes who drove off that creature.  Their conflict bred calamity, calamity devolved into chaos.  As one of the few citizens of elmOng who remained in "flesh-life", rather than a fully automated, technologically augmented existence, Thalomian took it upon himself to turn the universe back towards order and stability.  

As one of the few elmOng still in flesh-life, Thalomian was trusted.  That trust was ill-founded.

For what seemed to be months, Thalomian toiled in his morgue-workshops, experimenting with those few beings of elmOng who dared approach true-death.  Within their semi-conscious minds, Thalomian found what he believed to be the answer.  He called it The Hierarch Mandate.

The beings of elmOng began to reformat their cybernetic bodies, creating a systemic, organized hierarchy capable of enforcing order throughout the galaxy.  Their flesh-remains, still screaming against their synapto-programming, were re-engineered at the genetic level to match one another, forming a perfect order across the whole of elmOng.  Within days, Thalomian himself was the only being still in flesh-life remaining on elmOng.  

The Hierarch Mandate, having ordered all of elmOng, began to strike out to nearby systems.  Three whole worlds were brought under the order of the Mandate, with any beings in flesh-life joining the Hierarch in both mind and body.  And they will not stop until the whole of the universe turns with all the clarity and complexity of clockwork.  It is their mandate.  It is the order of things.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 24 (Stolon, Prime Extensor of The Exciccatus)

To all appearances, Virgate III is a verdant wonderland of life.

Plant life teems across the planet's surface, green foliage and bright flowers burst into vibrant color and aroma, and roots sink deep into rich topsoil.  Small creatures scuttle between the branches, carrying nuts and seeds from place to place, allowing new plants to bloom with ease.

On many worlds, this is not out of the ordinary.  On Virgate, the 'ordinary' couldn't be farther from the truth:  these plants have gained consciousness.  

While life on Earth and most other planets evolved from animal species, consciousness arose on Virgate from the plant universe, with particularly long-lived trees and mounds of moss able to learn and communicate telepathically.  While life began to evolve into animalistic forms, the plant creatures quickly learned that any higher form of animal life soon started to rip and shred the biosphere, utilizing it for its own ends.  That could not stand.  Banding together under a leader known as the Prime Extensor, the plants of Virgate III choked out any animal life larger than a squirrel, ensuring that they would maintain dominion over the planet.  Vines strangeled, thorns impaled, sap poisoned, and nearly all animal life on Virgate III died.

That would be fine...if The Exciccatus--as the plants call themselves collectively--had chosen to stay on Virgate III.

As the Prime Wardens and Freedom Five first defeated Akash'Bhuta, the primal spirit's scream let loose a telepathic signal across the Multiverse.  Of course, Stolon, the current Prime Extensor, heard this call, vowing to take action.

Great star-seeds were flung into the cosmos, each with a thick shell designed to protect the innermost contents.  Across the cosmos, the star-seeds of the Exciccatus began to spread the plants' influence across entire worlds, tearing down civilizations with the patience, persistence and fury of nature unleashed.  And, of course, deep within the jungles of Costa Rica, a massive seed has crashed to Earth, beginning to sprout forth with a new growth of plants.  The beings of Earth will surely pay for their crimes against plants...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 25 (The Floating Tomb of Ubavi)

While the overwhelming majority of the civilizations throughout the cosmos reside on planets and moons, countless asteroids and meteors drift ceaselessly through the void.  Most times, exploration of these are limited to mining operations or salvage operations for the numerous ships that crash against them accidentally.  Rarely does any race truly try to colonize these celestial bodies, as they have little or no atmosphere, nor do they provide any natural resources that foster life.

All this only makes The Floating Tomb of Ubavi all the more strange.

A non-descript asteroid drifts through the void of space endlessly, though observant space-farers may not a carved archway leading into the depths of the asteroid itself.  Above the archway, strange circular writing covers the archway.  While this writing went untranslated for years, an astute linguist managed to locate references to the language in an ancient database aboard a long-forgotten hulk, crashed into barren world.  The language, called Ubavi, has not been spoken or written in the known universe in centuries.

Dlanaic, the scholar in question, translated the archway as such:  "Enter you now unto the final prison of the Alanami.  The watchers stand ready to cease your ingress.  Enter to give life to the Alanami and enter to die.  Enter to take the power of the watchers and enter to die.  Behold now: the light-breaker, the world-shatterer, the husk of galaxies.  Enter now the end of days."

Only one record exists that shows anyone to have actually entered the floating tomb:  the journal of the explorer/anarchist Dranax the Mad.  Dranax describes a strange realm within the tomb in which gravity and direction are meaningless and a clockwork labyrinth lies waiting, with skittering beetle creatures commanded by blank-faced statuary.  Dranax makes notes that he fled the field, truly a rarity for a creature such as Dranax.

In this day?  Few could ever find the tomb of Ubavi, much less reach the light-breaker within.  And who would know to even look for the tomb, much less dare search out such a thing?

MindWanderer
MindWanderer's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Playtester
Joined: Oct 29, 2015

Hm, could the Tomb of Ubavi be related to Adam's character's origin story in the Sentinels Live game?


Sentinels Statistics Project -- Statistics updated daily!

Submit your games here!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Wasn't intended that way, but could easily become just that!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 26 (The Kas-Valo Mercenaries)

They are the scourge of the spaceways.  They are the armored fist that crushes worlds.  They live for war.  For each one that dies, entire systems die first.  They are the best in the multiverse. 

They are The Kas-Valo Mercenaries.

In truth, the Kas-Valo are not particularly large in number.  A mercenary company of just over 1,000 beings, the Kas-Valo recruits the deadliest, most bloodthirsty from the known worlds, placing them in areas to best suit their distinct talents.  The technically minded are furnished with the finest of salvage and stolen goods, creating masterpiece weapons and armor.  Those suited to shipboard combat are trained in engineering, maintenance, and navigation, making the Hive Ship Dralor's Maw into one of the sleekest dreadnaught-class ships in the cosmos.  All are trained in the arts of warfare.  

At the helm of Dralor's Maw is its helmswoman, an Entarrian named Linalis.  A stern enforcer, Linalis brooks no insurbordination and has been known to discorporate any of her underlings who dare question her orders.  Despite this, she seems near indefatigable in hand-to-hand combat and in marksmanship, and the crew of Dralor's Maw flock to her like none other...save The Commandant.

Rarely seen outside of an active conflict, The Commandant is the true commander of the Kas-Valo mercenaries.  A hulking figure clad in gargantuan modular battle armor, only the highest ranking officers on the Dralor's Maw have ever claimed to have seen his face.  To those, The Commandant has claimed to be have once been a military officer from that backwater world of Terra III.  Since those days, The Commandant has turned his armor into his true face--an engine of war, an indestructible platform of destruction.  He has scoured the galaxy for the hardiest, most dedicated warriors, preparing for a conflict that will shake the cosmos to their core.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 27  (The Chordatus Parasite)

It was designed as the ultimate weapon of war.  It became nothing short of a blight upon the entire cosmos.

Originally engineered by the beings of Llamor II, the protozoan loadout now known as The Chordatus Parasite was meant to enhance the the Llamoran soldiers in ways that cybernetics and genetic engineering never could.  Delivered as an orb of protoplasmic goo, the Chordatus Parasite absorbed through the subject's skin, bonding to its host's spinal column and brain stem.  Fully bonded, the creature found itself with enhanced reflexes, advanced neural processing time, and heightened senses.  However, it quickly became apparent that by letting the Chordatus Parasite exude over their skin, the subjects would also gain enhanced strength and durability, as the parasite itself served as a biological exo-armor.

However, this was not enough for most of the subjects, nor was it enough for the Llamorian military.  Further experiments were undertaken, to push the limits of both the parasite and its hosts.  Over time, the hosts began to develop various metahuman abilities, growing stronger and stronger...until the day they overthrew the Llamoran governmental authority.

At that point, it became more than clear:  the hosts were no longer in control.  Rather, the parasite itself was driving the host like a remote pilot, only manifesting externally when in combat, to enhance its hosts already-augmented abilities.  Designs were immediately made for expansion...

Llamor was annihilated by orbital bombardment, under a an alliance of fiften neighboring systems.

Since that day, a few instances similar to those of the Chordatus Parasite have appeared throughout the cosmos, most notably through the star-faring hero known as Sophont Praxis.  However, even a casual observer might note that Sophont Praxis' behavior has been erratic of late, and that it has not seemed itself...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day: April 28 (The Gamesman)

The Wager was made. One lost. One won. Many more watched.

But as the universe sprang into being, one of those primordial watchers took notice of something peculiar. It reveled in the collisions of chance and consequence, of strategy and tactics. It finally knew what it truly was: a Gamesman, set to test the universe to its limits and provide the challenge necessary to truly question the worth of its denizens.

The Gamesman most often appears as a purple skinned, robed figure with delicate, long fingered hands and a dispassionate smirk. It has appeared throughout the universe in various societies, particularly interfering in the doings of legendary heroes or storied villains. As one might imagine, it has a propensity for games of all sort. Challengers have met The Gamesman in gladiatorial combat, in gambling halls, and in long forgotten labyrinths built by the universe's precursor races.

However, one species fascinates him more than any other. A species that prides itself on its myriad methods of self amusement, cleverness, and its designs in new games. From the dark side of the moon, he watches, waiting to test the Earthlings as they make their first forays into the galaxy...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 29 (Ajida Kesakambali)

The Earth was not always viewed as the backwater, squabbling third cousin of the Milky Way.  However, mankind's greatest change to join the ranks of the cosmological elite came and went with the sage once known as Ajida Kseakambali, once and now called Charvaka.

Charvaka's philosophy was first documented in one of the lost scrolls of the Ramayana in the 6th century BCE, as a branch of Hindu thinking.  In his discussions with Rama, Charvaka (also known as Lokayata) espoused a tripartite way of thought, meant to bring about a valid state of universal, metaphysical knowledge.  While the Rama disputed Charvaka's way of thought--a way of thinking still at odds with current Hindu orthodox--Ajida did not relent.  Taking his followers to an island off the eastern coast of modern-day India, Charvaka continued to rail against the more prevalent philosophies of the day.

Such was his downfall.  The rulers in his region greatly despised Kesakambali's ways, which were viewed at odds with traditional Hindi religiosity and with the standards of decency at the time.  Warlords landed upon the island, only to be greeted by a phenomenal sight.  Charvaka's still mortal form sat in the position of the Buddha, his spiritual form rising rapidly out of his body until it was naught but a speck of golden light in the sky.  Charvaka's followers reveled--their leaders was unto like that of the Prince, Siddhartha!  With but a word, they were put to the sword, and the overwhelming majority of Charvaka's teachings went up in smoke.

Charvaka, meanwhile, had actually transcended the necessity of a mortal body.  He had become thought made manifest, a creature of pure intellect and will.  For centuries, he travelled the cosmos, learning all he could from the myriad alien races across the the galaxies.  

In truth, he learned only one thing:  disgust.  No matter how he attempted to approach others, no matter how reasonably or intelligently he attempted to bring enlightenment to the races of these worlds, he was greeted almost unequivocally with conflict, war, and death.  While he gained followers, each time they faced the same persecution and lack of understanding as he had seen on Earth.

Over time, Charvaka became bitter.  Tired of losing his friends, tired of failing to bring universal truth to so many, his message has become a darker one.  Those unwilling to accept the universal truths of the universe had no place in it.  Those unwilling to accept reality would be consigned to a place without it.  Charvaka has no stomach for violence himself, but nor does he seek to keep anyone in this universe who would deny his truths, instead casting them into the void outside of space and time.

After years upon years of travel, however, Charvaka has set his eyes upon that place where he once trod as a man.  And when he finds that Ajita Kesakambali is all but a footnote in history?  The Earth will surely face a reckoning...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  April 30 (The Living Gate)

Space.  The final frontier.

Even for the hardiest and most adventurous of species, the perils of space travel make charting the cosmos a difficult proposition at best, the dreams of a shrieking madman at worst.  A single faulty hatch, a blown engine gasket, a misfired electrical system could turn a 'routine' mission into a deadly nightmare.  Thousands of souls aboard worldships have died screaming due to naught but a minor mechanical malfunction.  

Add in the prospect of space-faring raiders, power-hungry warlords, and the strangeness that roams the cosmos on its own...

...but what if there were a way to avoid it all?  A method of perfect travel, perhaps, which could circumvent the entire need for a space-faring fleet.

Such a thing exists, in one entity:  The Living Gate.

Once a singular entity, believed to be a consort or kin to the horror known as OblivAeon, The Living Gate drifts in a slow orbit around the ultra-massive black hole at the center of the universe.  Where its body has gone, no one knows; only the disembodied skull remains, its off-white jaws opening and closing in some unheard celestial rhythm.

What lies within those jaws, however, is the stuff of legend.  As The Living Gate opens its maw, a swirling purple vortex forms in the void, emitting a burst of beta radiation visible across the cosmos.  That vortex, if entered, is capable of transporting an individual to any singular point within the cosmos.  Even the most inaccessible places in the multiverse--The Void, the Realm of Discord, the Source of the Host, the ancient Cthonic realms, even that ur-space beyond reality itself--become accessible through The Living Gate. 

Instantaneous travel across the cosmos could be possible...if not for the greed of the living.  While remote and hazardous as it is--the black hole alone would be enough to deter visitors, to say nothing of the quantum horrors that lurk amidst the temporal anomalies that surround the gate itself--The Living Gate is the site of a phenomenal conflagration between countless known worlds, each trying to claim The Living Gate for themselves.  Entire war fleets circle the severed skull, with commanders making and breaking alliances on a near-daily basis.  Of course, any who dare approach The Living Gate itself are destroyed in a fusillade of neutron torpedos and ion cannon blasts.

However, something strange has begun.  The Living Gate, often totally inert, has begun to stir and even move under its own volition.  Could it be that the most coveted passage in the cosmos is on the verge of reconstituting itself?  And, if it does, what does that mean for a cosmos which barely survived one cosmic singular entity?

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

With that, we've reached the end of Alien April!  120 Villains down, 245 left to go!

Starting tomorrow, we're on to Mechanical May--full of all things robotic, cybernetic, artificially intelligent, and otherwise techological.  

VGBM
VGBM's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 10 months ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2018

Whoo, nice finale. I wonder though, do you already have a theme planned for every month? I'm very curious about what J words you've come up with for the following two. Not gonna lie though, I was kinda hoping for a Mutant May cause I have more villains that would fit that category.

Phantom5613
Phantom5613's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Playtester
Joined: Apr 24, 2013

PlatinumWarlock wrote:

Even for the hardiest and most adventurous of species, the perils of space travel make charting the cosmos a difficult proposition at best, the dreams of a shrieking madman at best.

Space Travel: the difficult proposition of a raving lunatic at best. ;P

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Yeah, yeah...edited for your pleasure.  :P

@VGBM--I don't have a theme planned out for every month yet, but I think I'm going to have to drift away from alliteration by the end of the year.  We'll see, though...

Also, don't feel obliged to stick to my theme.  That's a restriction for myself only; you're welcome to forge your own path as you like!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Welcome to Mechanical May, home of all things technological, cybernetic, automated, and transhuman!

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Villain of the Day:  May 1 (Chopper)

Greg Kohler had quite the run of bad luck.  A drug runner for The Organization in Rook City, he far too often found himself on his superiors' bad side, with threats of concrete shoes and visits to the morgue for dropped shipments and abandoned sales.  No matter where Greg seemed to turn, the heroes of Dark Watch seemed to be on his tail, leading to exponentially greater consternation for both himself and The Chairman's lackeys.

Things couldn't get worse.  Until they did.

In charge of moving a heroin shipment through a Rook City warehouse, Greg found his operation raided, yet again, by Dark Watch.  Threatened yet again by his employer, Greg drew a pistol.  His underlings pleaded with him to make a break for it, but Greg was incensed--he wasn't going to lose another shipment.  He wasn't going to lose again.

That's when Mister Fixer--still the bitter, undead soul inhabiting the martial artist's corpse--shattered his arms.  Greg managed to pull the trigger twice, both to no avail, as Fixer released a Vibrating Palm strike just above Greg's right elbow, shattering his radius and ulna into fourteen discrete pieces.  As Greg howled in agony (and as Setback dashed forward to hold back his irate comrade), Fixer unleashed a fearsome Howling Lemur Roundhouse towards Greg's head; reflexively, Kohler tried to block with his only good arm, only for Fixer's kick shearing his arm in a horrifying compound fracture.

As the remaining drug runners fled and Dark Watch beat a hasty retreat, talking down Fixer all the while, Greg blacked out, his blood pooling on the concrete floor.

He awoke in a hospital bed, though Greg was sure he was in no hospital.  Looking down, his arms were gone.  In their place were a set of sleek silver steel prosthetics, which he flexed tentatively.  A smirking blonde man, clad in bloodstained surgical garb, smiled towards Greg, "Sadly, there was little we could do to save the originals.  I think you'll find these will provide a much better alternative anyway."  The man moved closer, the dim light glinting off eyes that could only made of some metallic bronze.

Within days, Greg had learned that his new arms were no mere prosthetics.  Rather, their cybernetics provided him a phenomenal degree of strength and manual dexterity...and a series of deadly weapons.  With but a thought, Greg could project four ultra-sharp blades from the forearms of each of Greg's cybernetics, which whirled with intense speed, not unlike the blades of a helicopter.  The blades themselves were made from a ceramic nano-fluid allowing for a sharpness akin to that of obsidian, which itself is capable of fracturing down to a single molecule.  The servo motors within his arms were able to maintain a rotation speed of over 700 rotations per minute, allowing him to rise from the ground not unlike a helicopter.

Taking on the name Chopper, Greg struck out on his own, disrupting armored car shipments, chemicals firms, and new technologies companies.  While most of his crimes seem to target either liquid assets or those that would easily be sold on the black market, Chopper was recently sighted scoping out the Megalopolis facilities of Blackstock-McCalley Aeronautics.  What he could be seeking out there (and why) is still to be determined...

MindWanderer
MindWanderer's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Playtester
Joined: Oct 29, 2015

Is that an intentional reference to Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodsman from The Wizard of Oz?


Sentinels Statistics Project -- Statistics updated daily!

Submit your games here!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

MindWanderer wrote:

Is that an intentional reference to Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodsman from The Wizard of Oz?

Nope.  Was meant to be more of a pun on 'helicopter', considering that's Greg's jam.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  May 2 (EMS Express)

It's been hailed as one of the greatest advances in medical technology.  It's been railed against as a direct attack upon the heroes of every disaster.  In the end, the tool currently called EMS Express sits as the pinnacle of drone technology in Megalopolis.

A joint creation between the Department of Health and Human Services, Nautilus Industries, and Aldred Industries, the first waves of EMS Express drones were created to deal with the massive clean-up and recovery efforts following the OblivAeon crisis, particularly in cities like Rook City and San Alonzo.  Most often appearing as a sort of aerodynamic coffin, EMS Express drones were expressly designed to replace search-and-rescue crews and paramedics, featuring a number of robotic arms with attachments meant for extraction and careful manipulation, a number of scanners and medical devices (including autoinjectors and other similar equipment), a carbon nanofiber chassis with micro-repulsor VTOL engines, and an AI capable of discrete, analytical thinking.  In an ideal circumstance, an EMS Express drone could scan the wreckage of a collapsed building, identify and extract survivors, restrain survivors into itself, and fly to the nearest hospital or rendezvous site within a matter of minutes.

While the first few missions for EMS Express were unequivocal successes, backlash immediately came from the unions for paramedics and firefighters.  In addition to what was seen as an attack on their livelihood, first responders on site claimed that the EMS Express drones often got in the way of human rescue efforts and interfered with buildings' structural integrity, making it even more dangerous to enter given buildings.  Nautilus president Eliot Marklund has been quick to counter with the number of lives saved by the EMS Express drones, though controversy continues to rage throughout Megalopolis over their efficacy, their vulnerabilities, and the potential security risk for patients both in terms of their well-being and their health records and genetic information.

Perhaps the greatest point of controversy for the EMS Express drones came during the failed rescue of one Davonte Wallace.  EMS Express drones were dispatched to aid with a fire at a major apartment complex in Megalopolis, in which structural damage had made the building dangerous for firefighters.  An EMS Express drone located Wallace in his 8th floor apartment, pinned under some debris, and moved to intercept and extract the young man.  When the drone landed at nearby St. Ignatius Memorial Hospital, Wallace was already dead.  City medical examiners began investigating Wallace's death when chemical analysis noted a lethal level of opiates in his bloodstream.  While Nautilus and the HHS have done their best to keep a lid on this controversy, leaked video from the EMS Express drone expressly shows Wallace alive and protesting as the drone's mechanical arms desposited him inside itself and latching an autoinjector around his upper arm...

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  May 3 (Fortress)

The US government's Bunker project has been the single most successful armored-suit program throughout the world.  It's provided the template for at least a dozen other world government's similar programs, most notably Israel's Project Jericho suits.  

The armored villain known as Fortress, however?  Something else entirely.

None know Fortress' true identity.  Their enmity towards Bunker and his derivatives, though, cannot be understated.  Fortress appears to be wearing a salvaged version of the Bunker armor; Tyler Vance has identified the chassis as a modified version of the 6.0.2c suit, which was believed destroyed in the attack on the Freedom Five's headquarters during the Vengeance incursion.  While not every piece of Bunker technology were discovered, the ruins that were found from the 6.0.2c suit seemed to indicate over a 96% loss.  Regardless, Fortress seems to have that very chassis.

However, the operator of Fortress has made a number of substantial upgrades to the armor, mainly made up of other salvaged weaponry.  Fortress has used weaponry including a shoulder-mounted Disintegration beam (presumably taken from an Omnitron drone), a number of flechette launchers (last seen in the hands of Desert Eagle during his days with the Slaughterhouse Six), an electricity field generator (based on a Baron Blade design), as well as a beam cannon similar to Time-Slinger's Masadah.  In all cases, these weaponry appear as if they were taken wholesale from their respective 'donors', but the items held by Fortress seem to show no wear and tear, no ill effects, and no misuse.  It's as if they were taken while brand new.

Omnitron-X, however, posits a different theory.  Initial scans on Fortress seem to show some degree of chronal energy emanating from Fortress, as if the armor itself had some degree of time travel ability, though in practice, Fortress has never exhibited any ability in that regard.  As for the mystery of who's within the armor?  Still undiscovered...

TakeWalker
TakeWalker's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Feb 26, 2016

Okay, that's cool. :D A pretty classic style villain with just a bit of a twist!

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  May 4 (Lacquer)

Baron Blade's numerous experiments under the guise of Revocorp had a notoriously low survival rate.  The mad baron's continual quest to unlock the genetic potential of humanity (and use it finally defeat that cursed Legacy) came at the cost of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.  

Roxanna Hernandez was not one of those.  A high school dropout, she spiraled into a series of increasingly-violent crimes, resulting in her incarceration.  After shivving a fellow inmate at Stanton Penitentiary, Roxanna was found guilty and placed on death row...that was when a Revocorp representative came calling.  Offering her the 'standard' Revocorp deal, the representative filed Roxanna under an experimental nanite group and went on his merry way.

Over the next few months, Roxanna was subject to countless experiments, intending to perfect the blood-borne nanite robots so oft used by Baron Blade to heal and regenerate during the heat of combat.  An implant was placed at the base of Roxanna's skull, allowing her to control and dispatch the nanites, moving them throughout her body.  Despite the agony of continual invasive surgery, Roxanna found herself becoming something new completely.

Under most circumstances, the nanites under Roxanna's control act as simple bio-regenerative creations, repairing damaged cell structure and providing her a phenomenal degree of healing.  However, Roxanna's control of the nanites is so minute and finite that she can use them to a much greater degree. When first encountered by Daybreak, Legacy (Pauline) noted that Roxanna's first action upon seeing the heroes was, quite literally, to stab herself in the stomach.  As she did so, blood flowing freely from a seemingly-lethal gut wound, the nanites bonded within the micronic iron in Roxanna's blood, forming an ultra-hard, nigh-impervious Lacquer over her full body.  Roxanna, while so armored, exhibits enhanced strength, incredibly durability, and the ability to create appendages from the lacquer, providing her additional limbs, tentacles, or other features as she so desires.

Since escaping from the Revocorp facility--during the OblivAeon event, naturally--Lacquer has used her newfound abilities to their full effect.  Roxanna has taken control of her old gang, turning their operations from simple snatch-and-grabs and chop-shops to active, targeted heists.  Her primary target, of course?  Revocorp plants, capable of producing the same nanites as the ones that inhabit her bloodstream.

Godai
Godai's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 3 weeks ago
Joined: Feb 01, 2016

Awesome concept. Are you picturing her blood armor as deep red, or something else?

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Godai wrote:

Awesome concept. Are you picturing her blood armor as deep red, or something else?

I picture almost like a rust red, since her armor is effectively a shell of blood, nanites, and microscopic iron being exposed to air.

PlatinumWarlock
PlatinumWarlock's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 1 month ago
Joined: Feb 10, 2013

Villain of the Day:  May 5  (HaXXor)

Dwayne Montgomery was a troll.  The stereotypical overweight, neck-bearded, pasty nerd, Dwayne had just gotten banned from his favorite internet forum and hoped to blow off some steam killing some noobs in his favorite online MMO.  His day job of server maintenence never seemed to be enough digital prescence for him; as soon as he was back home, Dwayne was back behind a screen.  Even in the midst of the Deadline event, Dwayne sat at his computer, cursing the omnipresent lag and optimizing his trickster-warlock for higher DPS.

However, something strange happened that day.  As Dwayne stared at his screen, debating between his off-hand weapon options, his screen began to flicker and pulsate with twisting purple light.  Cursing all the while, Dwayne stood up to unplug his monitor, though he never made it that far.  Flaring with that strange energy, the monitor opened into a static-filled portal, pulling Dwayne in bodily.

After some time, Dwayne awoke in quite the strange place.  Bits of light flickered past him in a static-gray background.  He floated there, as if swimming in warm pool of salt water, disbelieving his situation entirely.  That was when he realized:  not only was he no longer in the real world; he was in the Internet itself.  

Within days, Dwayne had managed to use his knowledge of system infrastructure to master his new environs.  He could travel through even the most secure sites with ease, slipping through firewalls and secured accounts with the ease of a practiced gem thief.  Money from hundreds of hedge funds, retirement IRAs, and countless other accounts started disappearing as Dwayne, now calling himself HaXXor, shunted those funds through the labyrinthine pathways of the internet into a fund of his own.

HaXXor did find that he could re-emerge into the real world, though he was only able to stay there for a short time, about two hours.  Further, he no longer appeared as human; rather, he appears as a static-y outline of a person, holding the same shape as himself, as a being of flickering, buzzing energy.  

Only one group claims to have actively confronted HaXXor, the Sentinels of Freedom-trained group now calling themselves The Liberators.  Mister E, the group's tactician and investigator, was bodily sucked into the internet, captured by HaXXor.  His compatriots, Miss Marble, the Hemogoblin, and Scalpel, had to send their consciousness into the digital ether to confront HaXXor within the depths of his favorite game...a place in which HaXXor himself was able to control the very landscape, summoning orcs and goblins to thwart the group, to say nothing of his lightning-spewing dragon, his lethal traps, and his monolithic fortress.

Pages