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[OOC][PLOT] Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
10-04-2016, 10:49 PM
Alright, here we go! A thread specifically so we can plan out the finer details of the plot.
Before we dive in, though, just some bullet points that I have in mind for this first arc.
- Villains will be around, though for the most part the Demons are keeping them contained... for now. This will change about midway through Arc 1, and then things will start to go downward spiral on us. So far, the ultimate big-bad I have in mind so far will be Salem from RWBY, but if anyone has any other ideas, I'm open to them.
- Who all do you think should be counted among the number of villains? Ideally, I'd like at least someone from each of the worlds you're pulling characters from. More would be great.
- I'd like it if things will ultimately start bringing us up into orbit and into space - towards Arc 3, the bigger scene is going to be the galaxy at large, along with maybe a few others.
Alright, so right off the bat, we got the issue of Government Involvement. My two major issues are 1) how do they notice and 2) consequences of their being involved. I already know that the consequences are going to be different from one country to another, and there's going to be some very definite conflict. (Particularly here in the USA, as there'd be some that feel that we're not at all qualified for this sort of thing.)
So, thoughts?
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RE: [OOC][PLOT] Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
10-05-2016, 01:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-16-2017, 09:06 PM by robkelk.)
In the same order:
1. Salem's powerful enough to give most of our guests a run for their money, but not so powerful that she can't be defeated by all of our guests working together. I think she's a good choice.
2. Hmmmmm... tricky. Most bad guys from both of my series end up completely defeated. While it wouldn't be unreasonable for Therestina to make an appearance, she tends to be noticeable. (Does her Capacity Down system work on metahumans who aren't espers?) As for a villain from the other group, let me ponder that.
3. Two words: Sailor Teleport. Although they could use logistical support.
As for Government Involvement...
First, I think I moved a bit too fast there. Pulling that scene was probably the right move, no matter what the reason was.
Second, how are the characters going to relate to governments? I know there are some people out there who think "citizens shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their citizens," but I've never understood either side of that reasoning. Governments are made up of citizens.
My thought is "get the governments on-board, get their help with logistics, get them to run interference for the characters" - but I am a bureaucrat myself.
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all my people have governments as part of their problems and no special abilities to fight back. of course the interaction between Mal, Zoe, Kaji and Shinji is going to be epic
Rob, if you want to discuss that chestnut with me via email i will explain at least my understanding of it, maybe its a southern thing, i'm not sure.
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Well, another reason why I went with Salem is that she apparently strongly believes in having competent minions doing the legwork for her. After all, we all saw how horribly Cinder and her team fucked things over. The only thing that went bad for Salem's side was that a Silver Eyed Girl happened to be there.
That's alright. We'll need the initial fodder. 
I mean actually having a plot-related reason for going there. Like Heinz Doofenschmirtz has somehow lobbed a laser into orbit, but flubbed it somehow and it will soon explode in the vicinity of the ISS... To put this into perspective, I plan to eventually have our own Super Dimensional Fortress: SDF-00 (Occam's Shotgun).
As for governments... well, part of the issue we have here in America is how the people that make up the upper echelons of our government are seemingly more and more disconnected with the citizens each election cycle. Not that I don't think there's decent people working in the bureaucracy - I know there's plenty. The issue comes in that these people have a framework they have to work within, and it doesn't really have much wiggle room.
I have the odd idea of something happening very much like in the Coneheads movie - someone at just the right level knows that something is up, they won't simply let this rest - it offends their sensibility that something out there does not fit their world-view and it must be brought into line, one way or another! (I love that the agent wants to deport them, never mind that they don't have the means to send them back home!)
And so it would go... At least, until this agent's incessant pushing comes to the attention of someone even higher up - someone who still remembers that his paychecks come out of the earnings of hard working types and works to do his job fairly and justly. They're not illegal immigrants, he decides. This! This is a refugee crisis! And these good Americans represent American values at their finest by taking care of these displaced people as best as they can.
A new agent is placed on the case, the old one is given a new posting. (Not Alaska. The higher-up isn't evil like that. Hawaii, though, will probably get this fellow to relax a bit while still providing him appropriate targets.) This new agent will make their credentials legitimate and act as a liaison between them and the rest of the government. In other words, this agent is someone who's done legitimately good work and has had experience working with other agencies such as Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Thoughts?
Oi! Bro, don't forget that I was the one that pushed for having Salem as the Big Bad! Why I liked her for the job was that a) we already had a number of characters from RWBY, so she would end being around anyhow, and b) Salem has displayed the sort of attitude that is needed for this project, she WILL want to see everything burn and not even a tag-team Befriending from both Naruto and Nanoha will change her mind. That is why I picked her for it.
When it comes to the Government, honestly we're likely to get attention in San Antonio first, unless someone else has some really spectacular event or another apartment complex ends up somewhere that would attract attention faster than Black Aeronaut and I. That alone would be interesting, considering some of the people we'll have around.
As for the consequences, well... First are we going by the actual real world for the world leaders? If so, I think Obama would handle it well, if he gets in the know that is...
Though, I would love to see how some of the characters would react to Trump's BS.
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Bloodfox64 Wrote:Though, I would love to see how some of the characters would react to Trump's BS. There are two groups established as being in Canada. I can't speak for Seraviel's building, but mine can squeeze in ten people if they don't mind sharing one-bedroom apartments.
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Well, at least -now- it's looking less and less likely that he's gonna be elected. :p
Although, here's something for a possible First Event:
Rescue and Aid Mission to Haiti
Hurricane Mathew is about to pound Haiti and it doesn't look good for the thousands that still live in shanties in the aftermath of the quake. And many of the Tennants will not sit still for that!
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Washuu-chan or somebody else will have to supply travel documents for all of our boarders, since none of them have valid IDs. Other than that... yeah, it's a good cause, it'll help save lives, and (alas) Haiti has been hit with so many disasters in the last decade that relatively few people pay attention to what's happening there now.
EDIT: And four of my group would probably volunteer to go, anyway. The one with x-ray vision, the teleporter, and the electrokinetic all have obvious roles during disaster relief, and the computer specialist can do what she does best at a command post.
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Hmmm.... I'm thinking we go full-tilt on this thing. Like, pop-in, pop-out. Sure, they'd be seen, but there's going to be so much chaos that the victims will just be glad for the help. Pop out before anyone can ask too many questions. We got characters with both teleport and portal capabilities. Add in heavy-lift, shielding, flight, and phasing... And that's just on my SI's end!
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I'm not likely to be adding much to the overall plot - my setup is more geared towards S.C.P. and keeping infopocalypse-level threats from doing things like using the world's GPS system to mind-control humanity.
I'll add in vignettes about how the various AIs, infomorphs and other entities in my warehouse are looking out for their 'little sister', the Internet - and I'll probably be working on Anti-Chessmaster countermeasures with the smarter ones who are willing to co-operate (or who just do it for the lulz).
Also, feel free to use me as a (James Bond) Q-lite, especially for software. I'm basically going to be playing the role of IT support and 'Grey Goo Scenario Overwatch', especially in the later arcs.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
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Quote:Black Aeronaut wrote:
A new agent is placed on the case, the old one is given a new posting. (Not Alaska. The higher-up isn't evil like that. Hawaii, though, will probably get this fellow to relax a bit while still providing him appropriate targets.) This new agent will make their credentials legitimate and act as a liaison between them and the rest of the government. In other words, this agent is someone who's done legitimately good work and has had experience working with other agencies such as Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Thoughts?
And then the old Agent runs into Lilo and Stitch 8P
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Snrrrrk. If someone is willing to set that up, then I say go for it. 
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alright i have my next part ready for discussion before possible posting, i think i need one more, call it an aftermath session, for this before i post it, thoughts would be appreciated
Quote:Misato and Kaji were the next ones down, and James was apparently glad about this, “Misato, Kaji, there is something I need to explain to you that I think you don’t realize quite yet, and unfortunately I have very little to prove it. However, I need to tell the adults before I tell the kids because it’s going to tougher for you to believe, maybe Asuka will be a bit difficult to convince, but that’s mostly because she never paid attention to her teacher’s lectures.”
The pair looked at James a bit skeptically and then Misato shrugged, “We’re not on our Earth, or at least not in one that followed our original timeline.” Misato said flatly causing James to look at her with surprise apparent on his face.
“Alright maybe it won’t be so difficult to explain,” James muttered half to himself before shaking his head. “Alright then, you’re right in that aspect at least, this world never saw second impact, there was never a Gehrin prodject, never a Human Instrumentality Project, no U.N. Council on the matter.” Looking at the pair and the astonished looks on their faces he continued, “The fact of the matter is that to this world, your world is nothing more than a story written by a clinically depressed man who had a vision that was tragically cut short by idiot television producers when they forced him to wrap what should have been the third season up in a two-hour movie using minimum resources. It wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last unfortunately.”
“So what happened?” Kaji asked as Misato stood there with a shocked look on her face.
“I’ll loan you the DVD set I have of both the original and the remake,” James responded. “Greed of course won out on the producers and because the fandom has been building over the years they decided a few years ago to go back and redo the series in a series of movies. I haven’t even watched the remake, it hasn’t been finished yet, however the fan arguments that started not long after the third movie came out haven’t been giving me hope.”
Kaji nodded to this but Misato finally managed to get her brain back into gear to ask a simple question, “So who was responsible?”
“Depends on what they were supposed to be responsible for,” James responded. “SEELE, who you knew as the U.N.’s Instrumentality Project council was responsible for your father’s death and partially responsible for Yui Ikari’s intentional absorption during her contact experiment, you could also connect them to Kyoko Zepplin’s partial absorption during her contact experiment. They are nothing but a bunch of old men who want to be gods of their own world.”
Turning around James saw that they had drawn a small crowd of the remaining tenants during his answering session which caused him to sigh. “Alright folks,” he said catching everyone’s attention. “Shinji and I have most of breakfast prepared, if you want a traditional Japanese breakfast speak to Shinji and he will set you up, if you want a western style breakfast tell me how you want your eggs and grab your extras while I fix them. Once everyone is eating I will hand out your phones and explain somewhat what has happened.
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Looks like you're following my lead, but with the addition of actually explaining things instead of tossing the tenants into the deep end. I like.
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Looks good. Let's see where you go with it. 
Does anyone have any thoughts about government involvement? Particularly what form it may take and how it might happen in your respective countries?
Also, ideas for other sub plots are very much welcome!
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Government involvement is going to happen eventually. Real-life, I'm a bureaucrat, so I'm inclined to trust governments. However, I also have a good idea of how slowly they can move, so IC-Rob isn't likely to count on governments to bail out the tenants for anything.
My tenants are 80% "superpowered and trustworthy", 10% "superpowered and probably trustworthy", and 10% "normal and probably trustworthy". I can see my apartment building getting a red telephone installed and kept under a clear glass cake lid, right beside a bust of Shakespeare. (You only get one geek point for knowing the reference.) And then the phone never rings, because the average age of my tenants is 14 and the median age is 15.
As for subplots, why not mix-and-match some villains? Let's see how well the NERV staff can handle Therestina, or whether the Academy City girls and Sailor Senshi can hold their own against Doctor Clay, or how well Tenchi's harem does against an Angel... Is this random, or Salem pulling strings to get a feel for the opposition?
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Quote:(You only get one geek point for knowing the reference.)
I'll take it. I was laughing before I hit the open parenthesis.
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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It... will be random at first.
The way I'm playing this is that all the truly dangerous elements are being kept in specially secured facilities operated by the Demons, but at one point here in the near future, they'll break out. Perhaps it's an inside job?
Things will be messy, but that isn't readily apparent right away since a lot of these guys aren't stupid. They'll lay low, and, like you suggested, Rob, attack where their counterparts are not at.
My questions regarding this: when do you guys think it should happen? Who should be at this facility? (First off: Definitely Salem. Maybe Kyubey as well - that would be a good way for Salem to get OC meguca minions real fast.)
Note that things will domino later on, as Salem will arrange for prison breaks at other facilities. Don't forget that her goal is to destroy the Multi-verse.
BTW, did someone call dibs on the Meguca Five already?
Rob, RE: Government Involvement in Canada; I can see that happening for you.
As for government involvement here in the USA, you guys have seen my ideas already. Did anyone else have any ideas?
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Black Aeronaut Wrote:...
My questions regarding this: when do you guys think it should happen? Who should be at this facility? (First off: Definitely Salem. Maybe Kyubey as well - that would be a good way for Salem to get OC meguca minions real fast.)
...
How difficult a fight do we want?
Answering my own question, I don't like curb-stomp battles in my fiction.
Black Aeronaut Wrote:...
BTW, did someone call dibs on the Meguca Five already?
...
Not yet. And, considering the events of Rebellion, does Homura count as a villain?
(Slight digression, for when it becomes appropriate to add to the story thread:
"Rui-chan, I've watched Madoka Magica. Kyubey's process for granting Skills is somewhat less safe than the Level Upper process."
"The Level Upper put me into a coma."
"But you got better."
At which point Ruiko deletes Kyubey's contact information from her phone.)
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Rob Kelk
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I say have what's his name from Serenity, the antagonist, break Salem out and somehow drag Kowaru along for the ride
That isn't really the Agent's style, he knows what he does is evil, but he feels that it is for a greater good. Honestly, I could see Hild taking the Agent up and turning him into an asset.
Someone to arrange a break out... OH! I just came up with a wonderful idea! What if one Richard B. Riddick was put in the same facility as Salem and Kyubey, for the safety of the people of Earth more than anything else. But Riddick being Riddick, breaks out and Salem just takes advantage of the chaos. As for how Riddick breaks out, in the second film (Chronicles of Riddick) it is basically stated that Riddick holds within himself the rage of all the Furyan people and it is implied that this gives him some from of power to work with.
So, what happens when you lock up an Alpha Furyan that has the rage of the entire Furyan race inside of him?
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Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:Black Aeronaut wrote:
...
My questions regarding this: when do you guys think it should happen? Who should be at this facility? (First off: Definitely Salem. Maybe Kyubey as well - that would be a good way for Salem to get OC meguca minions real fast.)
...
How difficult a fight do we want?
Answering my own question, I don't like curb-stomp battles in my fiction.
Ah, no. No curbstomping here. This is gonna be the long haul. There will be a few battles that may be curb stomps, but mostly because either Salem has nothing in play there, or because she wants us to have an easy battle. Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:Black Aeronaut wrote:
...BTW, did someone call dibs on the Meguca Five already?...
Not yet. And, considering the events of Rebellion, does Homura count as a villain?
(Slight digression, for when it becomes appropriate to add to the story thread:"Rui-chan, I've watched Madoka Magica. Kyubey's process for granting Skills is somewhat less safe than the Level Upper process.""The Level Upper put me into a coma.""But you got better."At which point Ruiko deletes Kyubey's contact information from her phone.)
No, this would be pre-Rebellion Homura. Besides, I haven't seen Rebellion yet, so I can't really say if I think she'd be redeemable or not.
Either way, this cycle is going to be broken, and Madoka might need a limiter placed on her due to all the power she's accrued through the loops Homura has been going through (because her wish and Homura's wish together create a positive feedback loop).
Quote:Rajvik wrote:
I say have what's his name from Serenity, the antagonist, break Salem out and somehow drag Kowaru along for the ride
Quote:Bloodfox64 wrote:
That isn't really the Agent's style, he knows what he does is evil, but he feels that it is for a greater good. Honestly, I could see Hild taking the Agent up and turning him into an asset.
This. I like this. It fits perfectly in Hild's style.
Quote:Bloodfox64 wrote:
Someone to arrange a break out... OH! I just came up with a wonderful idea! What if one Richard B. Riddick was put in the same facility as Salem and Kyubey, for the safety of the people of Earth more than anything else. But Riddick being Riddick, breaks out and Salem just takes advantage of the chaos. As for how Riddick breaks out, in the second film (Chronicles of Riddick) it is basically stated that Riddick holds within himself the rage of all the Furyan people and it is implied that this gives him some from of power to work with.
So, what happens when you lock up an Alpha Furyan that has the rage of the entire Furyan race inside of him?
Riddick... Isn't as dangerous as he is made out to be.
Oh sure. He's dangerous alright, but the man is no worse that a wild animal. So long as you give him no motivation to do harm to you, he is more content to remain unseen and unmolested.
Which means we should probably have a place that can house such people... people who are indeed dangerous... but do not go out of their way to cause needless harm. People like Riddick, who have been shown to even spare people on occasion, if only that he has no real beef with them.
(Note: after having seen the bit from RWBY about Vacuo, Riddick would probably feel right at home there - "As long as you got what it takes to survive, you'll always be welcome in Vacuo.")
More to the point: I'm not saying someone broke Salem out.
I'm saying that Salem broke herself out! Or at least arranged for it to happen. You guys have to remember that not only does Salem have a good amount of power of her own, but she's also a chess master. Her preference is to work through COMPETENT minions (ie, Cinder) who support her own vision, and, if needed, to have those minions hire on COMPETENT help (ie, Torchwic).
Kyubey is a perfect fit for Salem. Salem wants to erase all intelligent life. Apocalypse is a very efficient method - pretty sure if Remnant had a similar kill-switch, she'd have flipped it a long time ago. Maybe she had and the Grimm are the result?
Either way, Kyubey could care less about the Apocalypse. All it is interested in doing is providing energy for its masters - masters who, in practice, no longer exist - whose only interest is in riding out the heat-death of their universe. How they do so is of little concern.
If Kyubey takes Salem on as its new master... well! I'm pretty sure you can see how this would be a real bad thing. :p
And exactly the kind of villainy that we need.
Yes, this shit is gonna get dark. But this is definitely not Evangelion or ASoIaF. There will be heroes, and they are going to fight.
There will be no single magic macguffin. There will be no single climactic victory. The battles will be everywhere and the tools will be many.
Sound good to you guys?
Okay, fine... Uhh, ASoIaF???
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A Song of Ice and Fire. You know, those books where George RR Martin kills everyone you love?
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Black Aeronaut Wrote:A Song of Ice and Fire. You know, those books where George RR Martin kills everyone you love? I think perhaps that question has two extra words at the end.
(Digression: "Winter is coming." "Weiss will be happy to hear that." "Ruby...")
But that brings up a question: Do the tenants have plot immunity? (Are they guaranteed to go home at the end of all this?)
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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